>>5418248>>5418306This is suspicious.
Pine looks around the tower for any signs of foul play.
Noi’s potion shelves looks normal.
The lanterns around her room have extinguished a long while ago, with barely any candle wax remaining.
She didn’t see anything unusual downstairs either. The spiral wooden stairs to this room looks about the same.
Fearing for the worst, Pine returns and puts her ear against Noi’s chest.
Her heart is still beating. There’s still air coming out of her nose, so her lungs are also working.
She spots something on Noi’s desk, inside a half open drawer are several vials of unusually shiny blood.
Huh. This looks odd.
Before Pine could think about entering the rooms above the study, Noi’s private room and the observatory, Noi wakes up.
Pine shifts her fingers away from her nose and ask her if she’s alright.
Noi says she’s fine and recounts what happened last night…
Last night, Zeal, Cris and her had a meeting with the giant, Bow, in her study.
A few days ago, Zeal and Cris came to her about Sira’s message - the Catchers Corporation do not want another abortifacient producer in Clawflash.
They still want to help people in the capital, and ask for Noi’s help in getting them into an organization sympathetic to their cause.
Rather than making or selling abortifacients in Clawflash, they could send ingredients while letting an already established group produce it.
Noi herself has a few eyes and hands in Clawflash, selling potions to people in the life. After looking through the gangs, she concluded that Red Winter seems to be most likely to support their actions.
After sending a recommendation letter, and a few days of investigation, a representative of Red Winter was sent to evaluate them.
(Cont.)
