(... and Mr. Hyde??)
"Torkol locked up in the Kantor Kabljauhof?? Mad Matho says it ... he is mad, after all ..."
Among other happenings, news, and the constant circulation of rumors--the application for citizenship by one Sesel, Voice of the Survivors, for instance, or the departure of most of the rest of the Survivors of the Tel on some secret ocean voyage--among all the talk in the taverns of goings-on in Cothon, greatest of harbors, perhaps none is so curious as the stories circulating about yet another Survivor--one Torkol, interpreter for Klackons, and constant liaison between his own barbarian company and the noble family of the Bani al Rashid.
Mad Matho (foresworn from adventuring after an incident in the Necropolis that melted his right arm and left him fit only to beg enough coin for his beer) swears that Torkol has been locked up in the Kantor Kabljauhof, by the great adventurer Durham, who owns the Ringing Anvil. As Matho tells it, he was in the Fischmarkt of the Kantor, begging of the well-to-do servants, when he saw Durham leading a small procession of his own servants with a long crate in tow.
From that crate came muffled knocking, as if someone were inside--and Matho swears that he heard Torkol's voice from inside, begging to be freed! How does he know it was Torkol? Well, Matho sometimes frequents the tavern Cothon-Under-Star, where Torkol would be regularly seen chatting with his friends there, the barkeeps Althalos and Tki'it.
And stranger yet--there also came the voice of a young woman from inside the crate, claiming that Durham was kidnapping her! And that she came of a good family, too!
Matho swears that Durham must have been courting the girl, and caught the twain in delicto, and hatched up a scheme somehow to trick them into sleeping together in the crate, which he then locked them into, and delivered to the Kantor--for secret revenge!
Odd as all this sounds, the broad facts are at least corroborated by other witnesses at the Fischmarkt from that day. Many heard knocking from inside the crate, and many others agree that the voice of a girl cried out for help, that Durham was kidnapping her. No Bani or House has come forward to accuse anyone, or report any kidnapping (other than Khadisha, but she's long been held captive by the Luwian Pirates, some months hence)--but that doesn't mean there aren't any secret bounties, or assassins' writs, to rectify such a situation in the shadows and without the Bani losing honor ...
It can be further corroborated that Torkol did indeed visit the Ringing Anvil, as the servants of certain clients--either collecting their commissions that day, or putting in for a new suit of mail, or what have you--when sought out for information over wine, indeed tell that Torkol came in rather furtively, looking to speak to Durham, and was led into the back rooms.
No one can say that they have ever seen Durham court a woman in the city, however, other than Vituria, one of the dancing girls at the Kantor, whose massages Durham often speaks highly of, especially after a tough scrape in the underworld. And Vituria is known to be dancing at the Kantor this very night, not locked away in any crate, or back-room prison cell!
It is also true that Sesel has been seen visiting the Kantor more than his usual wont of late, looking rather more pale and severe than usual--but surely the demands of one seeking citizenship would weigh on a fellow somewhat?
Anyway, whatever the case of the matter really is--Torkol has really and truly disappeared from his usual haunts. Althalos and Tki'it at Cothon-Under-Star are noticeably worried about their friend, and often ask those coming through the tavern if they have any word of his whereabouts or fate ...
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