"Ah, finally, you are here." The voice from the mysterious figure was condfident and, although not threatening, had an air of curtness to it. A tall woman now stood before them, the dim light of the cave interior shrouding most of her in darkness, with the barest of light reflecting off the round glasses she wore. Grugg held out Thud and his voice came out in a low growl.

"Who are you?"

[I'm getting a bad feeling about this.]

"My name is not important at this stage. What is important is; what do you know about the murders of both of the Béraud brothers?"

Grugg paused for consideration. Was he being questioned about a crime? That was exciting, although he would prefer to be on the other end of the interrogation. Technically, he did kill at least one of those two wizards, but he wouldn't call it murder, given Bart was still living in his hat. This momentary concern washed away and was quickly replaced by curious excitement.

"Is lady a detective?" His eye gleamed electric blue as a wide grin grew on his face.

[I think you should deny-]

"Please answer the question." The tone and posture of the woman was unflinching, and as the cyclops grew more used to the cave's low light, a few more details about the mystery person became apparent. Indeed, she was taller than most humans he had met before, but still had a well-built feminine figure. She was draped in what appeared to be a long, black evening dress - or perhaps some kind of coat. Grugg was no expert on clothing, and it looked to be layers of black on black. However, the sizeable wide-brimmed hat that sat atop her long locks of hair, again both jet black, did pique his interest. It didn't have the cool peaked cone shape of his hat, but as far as hats go, it was pretty nice, he would admit.

"Grugg wants to be detective too," he admitted, skirting her pressing of the matter and sitting down on one of his lop-sided rock chairs. The maybe detective followed him with her eyes but did not move from her position, aside from folding her arms across her chest. Grugg could not hold his tongue in check. "Actually. Grugg is also investigating brother's murder."

"You are?" This time, there was a little shock in her otherwise immutable tone. "And, to which one are you referring to?"

[My brother's name was Harlon.]

"Brother name Harlon," Grugg repeated, nodding to nobody in particular.

"And do you know that Barthélemy has also been reported dead very recently? Also, that you are wearing his hat."

The cyclops sat unblinking, with a now blank expression on his face. Perhaps his body had been found, as unlikely as that seemed, given the remote location. Other than the yeti, he knew of few others that lived on this side of the mountain. Apart from the group of goat-men, but they generally move down into the valley at this time of year until winter passes. Shame, as they owed him some furs that he could do with before the snow started to fall here. Although he may not be in his cave in a few-

"Honestly," the woman sighed, and her arm slipped out of her pitch mass of cloak/dress to remove her spectacles and rub the bridge of her nose, "It's like I am talking to my brother, who is equally a brick wall. And a moron." She glared at Grugg with light gray eyes, and it surprised him how gray-scale she was and how well-muscled her arms seemed.

"Sorry, what was question? I am sad that Grugg friend is died now. Gave me hat as gift, when, err…" a slight stammer as his brain tried to formulate a reasonable timeline.

[When we met in Alberma two months ago.]

"When two months ago, met in Abla-Alberma."

The woman put her spectacles back on and retrieved a small notebook from one of the many layers of her outfit, flicking through a couple of pages before returning it to the hidden pocket.

"Very well. There is something I do not trust about you… ?" she openly admitted, tilting her head, expecting a name to be produced.

Grugg just nodded, awaiting the next question. He was not astute enough to notice the pale woman clenching her jaw.

"My name is Lady Peony Valoth; you may use my title to address me. And your name is?"

"Grugg. And this is Thud." He held the club up proudly.

"Amazing. Perhaps I overestimated you. Barthélemy was reported poisoned. However, as you are one of the few inhabitants in the area, I thought it pertinent to ask a few preliminary questions to rule you out of the investigation. Unfortunately, the local establishment at Helpart did not seem too interested in pursuing this lead, or any at all, to be frank."

[Poisoned?]

Frank? Grugg sat and returned to his stoic poker face. Primarily because Lady Valoth had just used a lot of long words in quick succession, and his brain had not fully caught up. Secondly, he was also somewhat shocked that people tasked with investigating crimes were not interested in doing their job. Finally, he was pretty sure the wizard would have looked slightly worse off than a poisoning, given how many bones were crushed. He was green to this game, but his nose smelled something was off.

[Ask her why she is investigating Harlon; I didn't know anyone else was looking into it.]

"Why investigating Harlon wizard? Is similar poisoning?"

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

There was a brief pause as the Lady weighed up how much information to give out. "There are suspicious circumstances surrounding his supposed 'accidental' death. My employer has tasked me to find out if there is indeed anything untoward in regards to his passing. Now that the second brother has also been killed, it only raises the suspicions further."

[Ask who the employer is.]

"Who is employer?"

"That is confidential."

"Oh, not heard of them before." He shrugged and idly scratched at his collarbone wound, which, although mostly healed, was still sensitive. In fairness, he hadn't heard of many people at all.

The posture of the investigator changed ever so slightly, a slight slump of the shoulders giving away her resignation that this was perhaps an inefficient use of her time. She gathered herself back together and began to walk towards the cave exit, heavy boots echoing with a dull thud as she did. As she passed the seated cyclops, she paused to lean over and look him straight in the eye.

"I am sorry about your friend, but I suggest you stay well out of my way in this. Stay in your mountain."

Grugg grinned in response. "Big Lady, Thud bets that Grugg solves the case first."

Behind the thin lenses, framed by soft silver, the right eye of Lady Valoth twitched. With a huff, she stood back up and continued her exit to the outside world, with no further word or glance given. A moment of quiet descended, as did the footsteps of the investigator down the hill into the distance.

"Lady seemed pretty nice. Strong too."

[I'm not sure about nice. She looked to be of Goliath ancestry - a lineage descended from a mix of humans and valkyrie. So they are often almost a good head taller than most humanoids, naturally strong, and pretty hard-headed and forthright. At least as far as the stereotype goes. I do wonder who she works for and why they are investigating my brother's death, though.]

"Maybe could have asked Lady to join Grugg's investigation."

[And my death too! Poisoned indeed. Something foul is afoot, my friend. There must be some motive for that…]

"Almost thought Lady was vampire, so pale and boring taste in clothes."

[Perhaps it is even more critical for us to get to Helpart as soon as possible now; we should go today rather than wait till tomorrow. If they are covering up my death, they could be trying to hide other parts of the plot.]

"But Lady must have to eat a lot of normal food to be that big and strong, Thud agrees?"

[Grugg, are you even listening?]

"Oh, Thud, what can you see right now?" He tapped the club with his hand and held it up, the familiar glow filling his vision momentarily.

[I don't think that is important right now. There isn't going to be anything in… oh - what is that?]

There was a small object outlined between two of the logs of Grugg's bed. He got off the chair and wandered over, holding the Orb over the area to grant it a small amount of light. Struggling to get the object out from the small gap, his fingers were too wide to fit nicely in between. With a frustrated grunt, he pulled his bed apart, the leather wrappings holding the mismatched logs together tearing and snapping, causing a couple of them to roll across the floor by his feet. But at least, success - and he picked up the small object.

[Here, hold it up a bit more so I can see.]

Grugg held it gingerly between his forefinger and thumb and held it just above his eye. It looked like some kind of stone to him and not a particularly precious one like the yeti seemed to covet. It was spherical and had some dark gray lines on it, but it was mottled and dirty, like some of the rocks he would sift through, looking for sharp ones down by the stream in the summer.

[Oh no, this can't be good. Grugg - go and throw this away as far and quick as you can.]

The cyclops didn't need asking twice. Dropping Thud and grasping the strange stone in his fist, he ran to the cave entrance as quickly as his heavy feet would take him, and upon reaching the threshold, he immediately threw his fist back and then launched the offending item forward. He watched it careen into the distance. It clattered against a rock and then disappeared into some foliage below. It was a pretty impressive throw for such a small stone; he was used to throwing much heavier things. And he didn't just mean dead wizards.

[Well, that should hopefully be good enough.]

"What was it, Bart?" He stood at the entrance, ready, as if expecting an explosion or something foul and occult to appear. After a few seconds nothing came to pass.

[Unsure. It was certainly magical in nature, though. Most likely left by our new friend. It is hard for me to properly divine or inspect the nature of magical things in my current state. One would assume it would be something either to monitor us or dispose of us. That means kill.]

"So Hat agrees, Lady is new friend?" Grugg took one last look around his surroundings with his singular electric blue eye, noting nothing out of the ordinary, before heading back inside his home.

[No, that's not... Sometimes I think you take the wrong end of the stick on purpose just to wind me up, you know.]

"No, Grugg always grabs the correct end of Thud." He walked over to his water basin and looked into the reflection so that the wizard could see the broad smile on his face.

[I'm glad you can keep your sense of humor throughout all of this. I think I would have died from the stress if I were still in my body, or Lady Peony may have snapped me in half instead.]

"Did mean what Grugg said, though. Grugg and Hat will solve the case before strong Lady."

[Then are you in agreement that we should head down the valley to the town as soon as possible to make sure any leads we have are not cut short? With how things are progressing, I am unsure if my contact will still be there.]

Grugg took a long look around his home, at all the terrible furniture in this dim light. It was a place of safety and comfort for him; as much as the idea of being a detective excited him, it would mean leaving all this behind for who knows how long. He went over to where he had dropped Thud and dusted the club off as he picked it up.

"Grugg agrees to this plan." It was said with a heavy heart and an uncomfortable knot deep in his stomach.

[Then gather what you need to take, and we will try to get there by dusk.]