Beast in the Sky Quest 9

Twitter:
>twitter.com/AM_in_PM
Previous threads:
>suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=beast in the sky
For Crew, Location and Ship information, please refer to the pastebin below:
>pastebin.com/u/AM-PM
Now with themesong!
>youtube.com/watch?v=5eVrlMoombE

Previously you made your way to Kakei's to discuss the assassins/spies following you around. You weren't quite pleased with the idea of it, but he assured you that it was simple formalities should the citizens of Ao discover that they're harboring pirates. He promised you had nothing to fear in the form of sudden knives in backs, but you're still wary of him. He offered to make it up to you, which you accepted in the form of having Tabby be the one to hang the barbarians that were kidnapping people for slaves.

Kakei agreed to your request begrudgingly, but left you with a warning; executioners go through extensive training to handle the mental strain they experience with their job. The strain can often be too much for unready minds and cause problems to arise. You ignored this warning and went through with it, only to discover Tabby had a predisposition to an...addiction to killing. She became blood drunk and wanting more, her mind addled with thoughts of the ending of lives. The twins have said it can be treated, but it will take time.

And to make things worse, Neil, the less than pleasant leader of the bandits, is missing after supposedly perishing from mysterious circumstances in his cell. You sensed foul play was afoot and chose not to inform Kakei.

You then attempted to sweep for any of the Nine Tails aboard your ship, which you confirmed, but couldn't find their whereabouts.

Welcome back to Beast in the Sky Quest!

It's getting a little later in the day and the sun has begun to set. What would you like to do now? Speaking to the crew is still an option, as well as seeing Wong about either the job or searching for Neil. Going through proper channels to find the missing bandit leader is pretty much off the table, as you don't currently have much faith in Kakei. Could he really be behind the disappearance, or is something else at work here?

Go see Wong about Neil.

Search for the Neil.

Writing!

You head to Wong's "tea shop" to see if there's anything he can do about a missing person. He appears to have connections to the underground, at least. Maybe he's heard of something.

The tiny shop is right where you left it; smashed in the middle of a dingy alley where you're sure no one goes looking for herbal remedies. You push open the door with a gentle ring of a bell and the medicinal scent of dried leaves and roots hits you. Not unpleasant, but strong.

"Ahhh, Mr. Isaac!" the aging man greets you from behind his counter, the well-dressed, but dangerous looking men watching you carefully from across the room, "Welcome back! I trust my services were of help to you. Perhaps you're back to take me up on that job I offered?" he folds his hands neatly, smiling.

You should choose your words carefully here. He helped you before, but is still a dangerous man. What do you say to him?

Ask him if he can help us find a 'missing' person first, and then about the job.

Not today Mr. Wong. I am actually looking for someone that disappeared on me. A Neil.

Writing.

"Not today Mr. Wong." you say, returning the smile, "I am actually looking for someone that disappeared on me. A Neil."

"'A Neil'?" Wong says, leaning back slightly, "That's a rather vague request, Isaac. I doubt anyone in the business of finding people would be able to do much with just a name."

You nod. "Well, this Neil is a person of interest. He was the leader of the bandits that were recently hanged. Only Neil wasn't. Neil 'died' in his cell, but the body itself has disappeared. No records of it being moved, no evidence of foul play, just...gone."

Wong strokes his thin beard thoughtfully. "Mmmm, I see...well, should someone be interested in doing such a job, I imagine it would be expensive. Quite expensive indeed, in fact. Thooough, certain favors are often rewarded with favors in return."

You give him a "how much" look with a knowing smirk. He chuckles. "Seven thousand. As usual, no haggling, no discounts. This is my price. Buuut, if you were willing to take on my job, free of charge, I would be willing to scratch your back, as the old adage goes. You see, my young friend, you have a ship. A ship that lets you leave and enter the city unmolested. One that, if my information is accurate, is currently being worked on at the docks right now. All I ask is for you to transport some important cargo to some associates in a few cities.

It's nothing inherently dangerous, of course. No explosives or weaponry of the like. You have nothing to worry about. But I have important clients who are waiting for this delivery and have my hands tied. So, what do you say?"

>Pay him the money
>Take the job
>Neither, I'll look elsewhere
>Other (write in)

>>Pay him the money
If we keep doing business together do I eventually get a discount?

>Pay him the money
How much do we have left anyway?

I keep an up-to-date record in the Beast pastebin. After paying, you will be at 48,300G.

Writing.

You decide to pony up the cash in lieu of the job, handing over the money to which Wong seems a little disappointed, but not entirely so. He does still get a large amount in his pocket.

"Very well, then." he says, weighing the coins and writing some notes on a ledger, "Though maybe I can convince you to take up the job later?"

"Gonna stick with maybe for now." you say, "But I'm curious, if we were to keep doing business together, any chance of a discount eventually? Loyal customer, and all."

Wong frowns at you. "No discounts. Discounts encourage greediness. Greediness encourages aggression. Aggression encourages my protection to do their jobs more than necessary." he smiles again, "So I'm sure you understand. Anyway, for now, I will look into your 'Neil' problem. It will probably take a few days depending on how resourceful man is. I'll send for you if I find anything." he places the money below the counter after weighing it, closing his ledger, "Now, I have much work to do and some people to talk to. We will speak again later. Good day, Mr. Isaac."

You leave the store with the soft tinkling of the bell once again, the blinds being drawn and door locked behind you. That's that, then, you suppose. It's evening now. Not everything is closed, but most people are turning in for the night. What would you like to do? Odds are the airship rental place is open late, though you'd have to travel through the night to reach Blakkaz by morning.

Go back to the ship and check everyone is doing fine. Blakkaz can wait till tommorow.

Go to the airship rental anyways

Do some research on smaller planes, the ones we've got onboard, what we can buy, and what training will be needed to fly them.

Conflicting ideas here. Also, your ship is outfitted with, as far as you can tell, 40 standard fighters. You're not super knowledgeable about them, but they look dangerous enough. You'd probably need to find someone either ex-military or with extensive knowledge of military machinery to get anything else. Porphyra isn't too keen on handing out sensitive information on their armaments. And if you wanted to get anything above a civilian transport vehicle, you'll either need connections on the black market or, being a pirate, steal them.

I'd say do this to break the tie.

but we could get training on civilian transports, and just improvise from there?

Understood. Writing!

As much as flying a civilian plane would help you learn to pilot an F-16, but it'd be a start.

well there's time to hash things out before we actually start getting the hanger online.

You head back to the ship, the mechanics having finished for the day, granting you merciful silence for the night. Your crew have begun turning in, Freyja is tucking Lisa in, reading her a story. You figure she's too busy to talk right now. Tabby is sleeping off her eventful day for now, Weiss and Tia in their beds as well. Ruul is putting the finishing touches on the barrier with Wella, but they probably have some time to talk right now.

Up on the roof, Rei and Kei are meditating quietly in Ay'ia's miniature forest and the dryad herself is watching them quietly from the branches curiously.

Who would you like to speak to right now?

Ruul and Wella see whats up.

The engineers.

Writing!

You head down to engineering to check on your hard working mechanics. You find Ruul yelling at Wella, referring to her as "assistant", barking various orders to which she happily obliges with a bit of a spring in her step. They're both in their element, Ruul working on heavy machinery and Wella helping him. They're an odd dynamic, but they make a good team.

"Hey, cap'n." Ruul says, not taking his attention away from his work. A sizable pile of scrap parts lying around him with various metal shavings and tools mixed in. They seem to appreciate the tool boxes you got them.

Wella turns to actually look at you. "Hello, Isaac! Oh, um, or should I call you captain?"

You wave it off, not really minding either way. "How're the repairs coming? Everything on schedule?"

"They will be once my assistant learns to do less chatting and more assisting." Ruul grumbles, wiping grease from his hands onto his jumpsuit. "But yeah, it'll be fine."

"This is an incredible machine, Isaac!" Wella says, apparently ignoring his obvious chides, "So many intricate parts all working together for the good of the whole. It's just like clockwork machinery, only on a much, much grander scale!" she's beaming, truly loving what she does.

"It's neat, yeah." Ruul agrees, "Though it could be cooler. I mean, there's more than a few areas that could do with improvement."

"Like what?" you ask.

"Like more guns." Ruul says matter-of-factly, "Bigger guns, too. And maybe some more accommodations. We've got a bunch of unused space that's just gathering dust. We could always add in some cool shit there. Like, I was thinking since we're basically a small flying town covered in guns, maybe we could bring in some commerce. Bring in money rather than spend it, y'know? Nobody's gonna fuck with a flying fortress, so we'd have free reign to buy, sell and trade whatever the fuck we want, right?"

(cont)

"Or we could add something the crew would like, like a commons room or something." Wella adds, "Morale's important, right? We could make a little home within home. A few tweaks here and there could make everything a little more livable. Not that I don't mind cold, metal walls everywhere, but it is a little bit of a downer every day."

"I LIKE the cold, metal walls." Ruul huffs.

What do you say? Both sound doable, but time-consuming.

Common rooms sound nice, we can get the commerce stuff happening later.

Both but get the crew rooms done first.

Both are great ideas, encourage them to keep coming up with stuff.

For now, the commerce area would be good, eapecially if we can get it up and running to restock in the town before we lift off.

Commons would take up one (1) empty room and require four days to complete, as well as cost 1,500 for furnishings.
Commerce would require one large room (2 rooms total) and only take 2 days to set up, but you'd need to find some merchants and traders willing to set up shop aboard the Beast.

Should they set up the rooms after they finish the barrier, or would you like to work on another project first?
Current projects available, for future reference:
Mechanical Knight: 1 day
Hangar: 4 days
Bombing bay: 3 days
Long-range radio: 2 days
Commerce room: 2 days
Commons: 4 days, -1,500G

Finish barrier, then commons.

Finish the barrier then the commons followed by the hangar.

Finish barrier first, then Knight.

In the mean time, get around asking everyone what KIND of furniture they want. Keep things within budget, of course.

Understood! Starting tomorrow the commons will begin construction!

Would you like to speak to anyone else, or would you prefer to begin the next day?

Set up a small box that people can drop ideas into. Nothing that expensive though.

Dryad. Just....sit there, and calm down. small talk about plants, I guess.

That's not a problem. Your crew will most definitely have their opinions heard...though you can't be sure said opinions will be of much help. Certain parties may or may not be full of idiots. ELF
To the leafy lady it is!

Writing.

Continue work on the barriers

Shit. I completely forgot those idiots. Set up one especially for them.

You thank the mechanics for their input and tell them to come up with more ideas. Anything is welcome as far as ideas go, you're kinda flying by the seat of your pants here.

You decide to head up to the roof to speak with the enigmatic dryad. She's sociable enough, but it's easy to forget she's there. You find her in her usual spot, watching the twins in their meditations, her wound closing up rather nicely over the last few days. Several more of her flowers have started to bloom as well. She waves to you.

"Isaac," she says quietly as you approach, pointing to the girls, "they have been coming up here to do this every night. They are so quiet and still. Aspects I can appreciate. So many of your species rush about so much, it must be so strenuous for you. This is a welcome change of pace, do you not agree?" she smiles.

You nod in agreement, looking around the trees she calls home. They're all adjusting very well considering they're...well, a bunch of trees on top of an airship. You can even see a few of them growing the beginnings of fruit. Her abilities are awe inspiring to say the least.

"They will be ready soon." she says, stroking the branch shes on eliciting a happy shake from the tree, "They're grateful to you, Isaac. They cannot wait to show their gratitude once their strength has returned in full! Though they do have some concerns regarding one of the crew." she has a worried look on her bark-clad face now, but is still watching Rei and Kei, "Today some very...unpleasant emotional radiations have been in the air. Malice, violent urges, a dangerous aura of death and destruction...but at the same time, joy and a corrupted sense of...an emotion I am not familiar with. Peace? Relief? A powerful form of enjoyment? It is difficult to express. Has something happened?"

(cont)

You're confused for a moment, but it clicks after a second. "Ah, yeah...that'd be Tabby. She uh...she learned some things about herself today...she seems to have a thing for hurting others." Ay'ia gasps, recoiling in fear, "She's harmless to you, don't worry! She's getting help for it. Believe me, I'm just as worried as you. But she has a lot of pent up anger from a rather nasty past, but it will be corrected soon enough. She has experienced teachers that will find a way to calm her anger." you motion to the twins, which the dryad looks over once more, nodding. She smiles at this.

"That is good to hear, Isaac." she says, relaxing, "They have clouds of unrest in them, but are in control. Their lives have seen strife, but also quiet. They are like a forest recovering from a fire. Steady and sure. You humans are a bevvy of emotions and thoughts. They are most entertaining. You, in particular. I look forward to seeing how you grow in the coming days."

"Thanks, I think?" you say, unsure how to take that comment, "Is there anything you need at all? I feel a little guilty leaving you up here all alone with nothing to do."

"I am a dryad, Isaac." she smiles down at you, "This is how we are. Quiet and still are our lives. However...I would not mind a way to perhaps converse with you and the others aboard the ship at times...you are fascinating."

A radio is easily doable up here, just a matter of a quick purchase and install. What do you say?

A radio should be easy enough to get for you.

Do it.

It'll also have the opportunity for the grove to act as permanent sentries on the topside of the ship.

Sure. Simple enough.

Writing!

"I'll get a radio for you up here." you say, happily. You notice being in her presence has a sort of calming effect. Maybe it's some form of magical thing or just because she's pleasant company. Either way, you should come up here more often.

"That would be most appreciated, Isaac." the dryad replies happily, "It would be lovely to hear about everyone's day. I occasionally get shouts from the men working on the ship over the last few days. They are friendly enough, though I do not understand much of what they say. They often compliment my 'gams' and offer to assist in planting seeds. What are these 'gams' they speak of? I am afraid I do not have any seeds for them to plant at the moment, but I will be more than happy to share once I do." she grins innocently.

"Yeah they..." you begin, not sure how to go about this, "They're just being friendly...they're...it's a human thing. Don't think too much about it. We'll be leaving soon enough anyway. I wouldn't worry."

"Very well, then." Ay'ia says, though still a little confused, "Perhaps I shall discover more in time. Humans are so fun to learn of!"

You bid the dryad farewell, though find her wishing you well and telling you that you 'have nice gams too' difficult to not laugh at.

It's gotten late and you figure you'd best turn in for the night. You have a full day of doing whatever the hell ends up going wrong for you in the morning...

(cont)

You are woken up by your trusty mechanic whom swears he doesn't know the first thing about picking locks, though you don't exactly trust his word on that.

"Cap'n, news." Ruul says, tossing the morning paper onto your chest, "Figure you'd be interested in this."

You stare, wide-eyed. The headline is shocking to say the least:

PROMINENT MERCHANT AND ENTOURAGE FOUND DEAD EARLY THIS MORNING. NO SUSPECT AS OF YET. SUSPECT SINGLE KILLER.

The picture they use is one you recognize; it's the Class A woman from the guild when you first arrived in Ao. Her throat's been slit.

"Oh shit..." you murmur.

"This could be bad for us, y'know." says Ruul, an actual worried look on his face, "Kakei might look to us to find out if we're behind it...and I don't wanna be the buzzkill or nothin', but...we do currently have a kill-horny woman on board..."

Shit again...

What now? You could always feign ignorance and act like nothing happened and hope they don't come your way, talk to Tabby or speak to Kakei about it directly.

Go talk to Tabby.

talk to Tabby. Doubt she did it. If it was just the merchant, i'd be a bit suspicious but the merchant's guards as well? Highly doubt it.

Shit. Call Kakei. Get Tabby here with the twins.

Writing! I'm sure the bloodgasms had nothing to do with it.

I bet it was Neil, that Kakei set us up to fall. Which would explain why he was so forthcoming with allowing us use of their docks if he could pull this.

good thing we didn't leave in the night, but it would have been better if we left before the execution.

You head to Tabby's room, knocking and waiting for a response. Eventually a sleepy-eyed Tia answers.

"Isaac?" the elf asks, blinking slowly, "What is it? Something wrong?"

"Is Tabby up?" you say, "I need to speak to her."

"Yeah, I think so..." she looks back into the room, waving Tabby over. She heads back inside, most likely into bed again.

"What is it?" Tabby asks, rubbing her eyes. They have bags under them and she looks exhausted. She hasn't been sleeping well, you assume.

"Something's come up..." you say, unsure of how to go about it, "I just...I wanted to ask you...and I trust you on this, but I need to know...you were here last night, right?"

She goes a little wide-eyed for a second, but quickly stammers out a reply. "Y-yeah, of course. I was asleep! Wh-why?" she looks scared.

>Be direct and tell her about the murder
>Just making sure everything's okay...
>Other (write in)

>Sound relieved.
Even if she looks tired, she doesn't seem like she's got afterglow or anything. I'm willing to believe.
>And suggest she tries going to see the dryad. Might be more calming than these metal walls.

>Just making sure everything's okay...

>>Be relived but be truthful.

>>Be direct and tell her about the murder

She sounds innocent! Writing.

>>Be direct and tell her about the murder

You sigh, relieved. "Alright, I was just making sure. Your...uh...condition and all...to be honest, Tabby, uh...there was a murder last night. They found the whole scene this morning and...sorry...I just wanted to make sure you...sorry..." you feel pretty sheepish now.

"Killed?! Really? I... No, no, it's..." she's still a little wide-eyed and unsure of herself, "It's fine, Isaac. I get it... That's a pretty serious thing to hear, though. Scary... Do they know who killed her yet? I mean...are there any like...suspects or witnesses or anything?"

"No, nothing yet." you say, shaking your head, "Just that it was most likely one person. I'm worried Kakei might start asking questions. We're already on rocky terms and all. I wanna make sure everyone's nose is clean here."

"Yeah..." the redhead says, nodding, "Yeah, I got you...I'll be careful..."

"Maybe you should visit Ay'ia up on the roof?" you say, putting a calming hand on her shoulder, she winces a little, but doesn't pull away, "I don't know what it is, but something about her company helps me relax. Maybe you'll benefit from it."

"Um...sure." Tabby says, "I'll give it a try." she nods, "But uh, I think I should get ready. I have...the thing with Rei and Kei and all that. Sorry."

You nod and bid her farewell.

What should you do next? Do you confront Kakei or head elsewhere?

We may need to stick around longer so we don't implicate ourselves.

Get that civilian transport training thing going.

Call Kakei but no meeting face to face.

Just go about do our thing.

No need to call Kakei but if he does come knocking, we'll entertain him and provide all assistance.

I think Neil did it.

Writing.
Just so you know, if you wanted to buy a whole fleet of ships, you'd still need to get the hangar up and running first. Not to mention it would be rather pricey.

no not buy, just train.

You figure you'd be better off talking to Kakei first. It might be better to go to him first, you think. You head over to the comms and give a call to Kakei's office. It takes some talking and radio tag, but you manage to get through. Kakei's voice crackles through the line.

"Isaac?" he asks, sounding concerned, but still remaining pleasant, "How can I help you?"

"Hey, so..." you begin carefully, "I guess you've heard about the whole...uh...thing at the trader's guild, and-"

"We're not implicating you, Isaac." he says, "I know you don't like it, but I do still have my eyes on you. You were there all night. You're in the clear."

You sigh. "Thank god, I just-"

"But," he cuts you off again, "there is another matter we need to discuss..."

Uh oh. "What's that? Something wrong?"

"While you never left the ship last night, the Nine Tails did notice one of your crew did. They were heavily robed and hooded, so details are iffy, but they believe it was a woman. They weren't able to follow her, but whomever it was returned about two hours later. Timeframe does put it within the believed time of the murder, but they don't have any proof she did it. Did you send any of your crew on any late night...errands for you?" he sounds serious, a grave tone implying some rather nasty things.

>No, I didn't send anyone out last night
>Yeah, I needed them to pick up a few things for a construction job we're working on with the ship, that's all [lie]
>Other (write in)

How about you shut the fuck and let me finish fucking speaking asshole. If he tries to again speak over him. If anyone did that would be my concern Kakei and I would deal with them. But get your hoddamned spies off my ship.

>>No, I didn't send anyone out last night

>I dunno, I'd like to hear it first out of your Nine Tails. Maybe there's a distinct feature that just needs some reminding.
Fuck you Kakei, I know your game.

Stop it, sleepy. You're making a bad situation worse.

>No, I didn't send anyone out last night
Then confront tabby about her bullshit. If she's going to go all murder hobo we might be better off dropping her

>No, I didn't send anyone out last night
better to be straight about this.
I seriously doubt Tabby would be able to successfully sneak to where the woman and her entourage where and kill them and get back to the ship undetected.

>No, I didn't send anyone out last night

Stop with your fuckign hateboner for Kakei, jesus christ Sleepy.

>>No, I didn't send anyone out last night

>> Other
Was anything missing from the possession of the trader?

No I won't. He's been doing whatever the hell he wants in regard to us with no consequences. Fuck that.

>Class A merchant
>adventurer tier, gets into some deep shit
>dying to a freshly bloodied girl with no training and no evidence
yeah, no.

AND IF IT NEEDS REMINDING, HE BASICALLY ADMITTED THAT A NINE TAILS IS IN OUR CREW.

We already know, anyways.

Actually, she wasn't "adventurer tier". If you recall her from before, she was actually rather plump and well-dressed. The kind of woman who has all the dirty work done for her, then sits behind a cushy desk and letting her money and business sense doing the rest.

Writing!

which means she would have her own group of hired fighters as bodyguards.

oh. From what you said before about Class As....

but now we can twist this to revealing who it is....fuck

Some are adventurous. The "Indiana Jones" type who like to get their hands dirty for big scores and a life of action. But most are the fancy-dress, high society types who just want to make money.

this. any high ranking merchant would have some veteran bodyguards with or near her

"No," you say honestly, "I didn't send anyone out last night. Though this brings up another issue. You have some of your spies on my ship and I want them the hell off. Following me around the city is one thing, but these people are invading my personal privacy. Not cool, Kakei."

"I..." Kakei sighs, "You're right, Isaac. Boarding your ship is...I'm sorry. It's a mix of pressure from my advisors and a general paranoia that my brother's supporters might be out there gunning for me. Running a city is hard work, Isaac. I've been getting next to no sleep and running around ragged because of this. Things keep going wrong or changing at the last minute...you don't need my excuses, though. Alright, you're right. I'll give the order for them to withdraw immediately...though...ah, I can't help but ask, and I will be completely understanding if you refuse, but..."

"But?" you ask, getting a little impatient.

"Would you consider letting the ones I have on board stay for now? I will have them come forward of course and they will definitely stay out of your hair. You will know their comings and goings as if they were your own crew...but if one of your people is responsible for for the murder here, we're going to have to discuss that. I'd like to think it was against your wishes and without your knowledge. And if so, we can figure this out together. I'm asking for your help once again, Isaac. To clear the name of your crew and bring evil to justice. Can I count on your assistance?"

What do you say?

"Alright. I can work with that."

No. Get them off. The pressure of being a governor only gets so much sympathy.

"Fine, but only until this murder business is sorted out."
What if it was one of the ELF people?
Or maybe it was Wella?
Or maybe the person who left the ship had nothing to do with the murders.

"Deal."

Tell him about Neil. Tell him what we found. We all come clean.

I'll place money on it being an ELF!!!
but seriously those guys were getting pretty bloodthirsty last we saw.

Writing!

Though should you tell him about what you know about Neil or leave it for now?

Definitely, but add the caveat that there's no hard proof the person going off the ship was involved in the murder. It's just a lead for now, nothing more.

Leave it for now. We're not yet certain he's really on the level with us.

Don't inform him. We've already been burned by Kakei, this time we're holding our cards close to our chest.

Did we have any contact with Ms. Class A besides the time we were attempting to smuggle the girls in to see the governor?

I doubt that would be a reason to kill the lady, and unless she was being shady on her own and Kakei killed her this whole murder might be an unrelated coincidence.

Tell him

Give and take. Inform him about the niel.

"Alright, fine. I can work with that." you say, sighing and wiping your face, "But only until this murder business is sorted out. Deal?"

"Absolutely, Isaac." Kakei responds, relieved, "Thank you for being so understanding. I realize much of this is hard to handle and I will do my best to keep more of this from falling your way. You have my word. I will have the girls come forward as soon as I can and they will work with you in figuring everything out. Then, once we have everything smoothed out, they will leave without incident and return to me."

"I'll hold that to you, governor, but I will admit there is a part of me that is very unhappy with you." you give him a stern tone, "VERY unhappy. For now, though, I'm going to trust you. Things will be sorted, the murderer will be found and we will be done with this whole thing."

"I agree." Kakei responds, "For now, though, do you have any information that would be helpful to us? Anyone on your crew that may have had a grudge against the deceased? Or perhaps someone you don't particularly trust? Anything would be helpful to go on. This has a lot of people with a lot of important influence on edge, Isaac. I don't have to tell you how important the trade guild is for the city."

What do you say? You could point the finger at Tabby, but you don't have any solid evidence she did anything. You could also implicate the ELFs, who have been violent and unruly in the past, but are also without any proof to their actions. Maybe someone else you suspect the killer to be? Or you could simply say you have nothing and conduct your own investigation in private.

I don't really have anything at the moment. I will however run my own investigation on my ship.