The new young Watch member gets a sharp lesson in judging others. An apology is to be made first, and then they must learn to observe others, and get to know them, before making judgement calls. It's a rather... interesting piece of disciplinary action.
@internutter/challenge-04003-j351-many-moving-parts -- Anon Guest
Officer Pembroke was learning, almost against his will. He had already learned that short-haired Elves aren't necessarily criminals. He'd very recently learned that the Halfbred Harukh walking around with sacks in the early-early morning was the town's baker.
He was about to learn some more about his previous assumptions.
The Hellkin woman came alongside a small brace of Adventurers, all bright colours in bardic motley, dancing as she sang. The song was fit for public consumption if one didn't know what innuendo was, and the bright ribbons in her indigo hair or on her tail was distraction enough to make the rest of them suspicious.
He followed them all the way to one of the cheaper examples of Aldelyn's inns. One of the places that the criminal element frequented. Half of those scattered like roaches when Pembroke strode inside.
"See?" said the Hellkin bard. "I told you we had more than the usual amount of tails." If it weren't for the fangs, she would have had a winning smile. "Good morrow, officer. We're just passing through between adventures. We shall be paying for everything we take. With legal coin."
Which was automatically a suspicious thing to say.
The half-orc Cleric bore the sign of the Dawn Lord, as most Unwelcome did. They either turned to Aurorus or the Church of Two Kind Hands. This one attempted to loom. "Is there going to be a problem, sir?"
The half-Elf fighter and half-D'varuh mage consulted the nearest timepiece, counting on their fingers. One of them mumbled, "Give it five minutes and there will be."
No doubt, they were traveling with suspicious documents. Best to catch them on that before he could make other charges stick. "I need to see your papers," he said. "There's been some fraudulent entities roaming the neighbouring realms."
"Two minutes," said the half-Elf, elbowing the mage. "Fork."
The half-D'varuh rolled their eyes and handed over two gold.
They were enjoying this, and Pembroke couldn't fathom why. Not until the Hellkin bard produced a small leather folio. Stamped with a royal crest. While he was staring at the very official wording within, the woman had put a ring on her right pinkie finger. It bore the same crest.
She sighed and rolled her eyes as she recited, "You have the honour of being in the presence of the Princess Joyful Sincerity Maripose Whitekeep, trueborn daughter of the Thrice-Sworn King, Kormwind Arachis Felbourne Whitekeep, ninth of the name, and his Princess-consort Cordelia Maripose Heartsalve Whitekeep, nee Bellarin, fourth of the name..." she rattled through some very impressive titles that matched the ones in the paperwork before his eyes. "...and I'm meant to be traveling incognito as part of my coming-of-age quest. Thank you so very much for breaking my alias. Again. I despise having to use privilege for these petty interactions." She leveled a baleful glare his way. "Your supervisor shall be receiving a reprimand."
And that was how he wound up spending ten years on public service, fully understanding the plights of the poor and downtrodden. Under the hairy eyeball of the Bugbear cleric Snarghle, who took no horseshit at all.
King Kormwind was very amused that he had the gall to complain.
[Photo by Rhodi Lopez on Unsplash]
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