Story
The tavern by the harbor had emptied and filled again twice by the time Amaxia stopped counting cups.
The sun had gone, replaced by the steady glow of lanterns strung along the quay. Steam drifted from the bathhouses farther up the slope, carrying the sharp scent of herbs and minerals even this close to the water. Sailors laughed at the next table. A pair of pilgrims argued softly over wine gone thin. Everything sounded normal.
Too normal.
Amaxia sat with her back to the wall, arms folded, eyes tracking the door each time it opened. She did not fidget. She never did. Mbaru sat opposite her, broad shoulders hunched slightly forward, hands wrapped around a mug he had long since stopped drinking from. He watched the street instead, the flow of people past the open shutters, measuring gaps between footsteps.
“They said they would be back before dark,” Mbaru said at last.
Amaxia nodded once. “Nasheem does not forget meetings. And Cassandra would not leave him waiting.”
Another hour passed. The tavern keeper changed shifts. The lamps were trimmed. Someone began singing badly near the docks. Still no sign of them. No laughter drifting in. No familiar voice cutting through the crowd.
Amaxia rose first. “We’re done waiting.”
Mbaru stood without comment. He left a coin on the table that was more than enough and did not look back as they stepped into the night air. The harbor felt different now. Quieter. Not threatening, just empty in the wrong places.
They walked to the Blue Marlin in silence.
By the time they reached the gangplank, Amaxia’s jaw was set and Mbaru’s hands were clenched tight at his sides. Whatever ease Ostranos had offered earlier was gone.

Thaleia Myrinos

Purpose of the Incident

This incident serves as escalation, confirmation and leads. The disappearance of Thaleia Myrinos reinforces that what is happening is not random and not limited to beasts or chance. Curiosity itself is being punished.

Her trail is meant to be easy to follow. This is not a second mystery. It is a signal that the investigation is moving in the right direction and that someone noticed.

Thaleia’s Theory

Thaleia becomes convinced that a previously undocumented predator is active in Ostranos. Not supernatural in her mind, but rare, intelligent, and territorial. She theorizes a beast that hunts selectively, removes victims cleanly, and avoids attention.

She speaks about this theory constantly.

To healers. To bath attendants. To cooks. To guards who are trying to eat. She sketches diagrams on scraps of parchment. She asks irritatingly specific questions about where people vanished, at what time, and under what conditions. She is excited, convinced she is close to something important, and entirely unconcerned with how dangerous her conclusions sound.

Her enthusiasm leaves a trail.

Following Thaleia

Thaleia’s investigation leads her steadily uphill, toward the wealthiest districts of Ostranos. Her reasoning is flawed but directional. She believes the creature nests near abundance and concealment. Large buildings. Private grounds. Quiet streets.

Many people remember her.

A bath attendant recalls a woman asking about screams and insisting they were not human pain. A street vendor mentions a scholar arguing that too many slaves were sold. A guard recalls a thin woman with ink stained hands sketching mansion layouts in the dust.

None of these people are concerned. Thaleia was odd, loud, and clearly a tourist. They remember her as an annoyance.

Capture

Thaleia gets too close.

Whether through observation, careless questioning, or being noticed by a masked Carnee, her interest is flagged. Unlike the crew victims, she is not chosen for beauty or presentation, but because she is asking the wrong questions in the wrong place.

Her capture is quiet and efficient. No tavern. No accomplices. She vanishes between streets, taken into a private residence under cover of night or invitation.

The coven recognizes her as a liability. They intend to decide her fate later.

Local Reaction

No one looks for Thaleia.

She has no fixed lodging, no powerful patrons, and no local ties. To Ostranos, she is another visitor who arrived, asked questions, and disappeared back into the flow of the world.

Her absence generates gossip, not concern.

For the crew, however, her trail is clear. Her noise makes her easier to follow than the careful silence surrounding the earlier disappearances.

This incident should reward investigation rather than replace it. Thaleia does not provide answers yet. She provides direction.

Investigation

This is an open investigation segment. There is no correct order, no required scene sequence, and no single source of truth. The players are meant to move freely through Ostranos, ask questions, follow instincts, and assemble fragments into a coherent picture.

No one in the city understands the full situation. Each person knows something small, partial, or misinterpreted. The truth only emerges through accumulation and comparison.

Do not rush this phase. Let uncertainty breathe. Don't let every person they talk to have information. Let the frustration build with people who don't know anything, then sprinkle some leads.

Structure and Flow

The investigation is intentionally diffuse.

Players may visit taverns, bathhouses, markets, temples, docks, private homes, or official offices. They may speak to locals, visitors, slaves, priests, merchants, guards, and criminals. Most conversations will not feel immediately useful. That is intentional.

Clues should overlap, contradict, or reinforce each other indirectly. Avoid any single conversation that solves the mystery or points directly to the coven. Instead, allow patterns to emerge gradually.

If players pursue a line of questioning that makes sense, reward it with information. If they pursue something irrelevant, let it consume time but not punish them.

This phase tests patience, judgment, and synthesis rather than cleverness.

Ramping It Up

Use Thaleia Myrinos as a pacing lever. Introduce her name, theories, or disappearance when you need to either break a dead end or deepen unease. This moment should feel like an expansion of the mystery, not a solution, and should reinforce that the crew is no longer alone in noticing something is wrong.

What the Crew Knows at the Start

At the beginning of the investigation, the crew knows very little.

The missing crew members were last seen in the old quarters near the harbor. This area is a popular tourist district filled with taverns, inns, and bathhouses.

Another crew member encountered them earlier that evening while they were looking for a place to eat. They appeared relaxed and unhurried. They did not express concern or urgency.

That is all.

There are no witnesses to violence. No signs of struggle. No known enemies. No demands or messages.

Everything beyond this must be uncovered through investigation.

Tone to Maintain

Ostranos does not become hostile during the investigation.

People are polite. Conversations are civil. Most are mildly helpful. A few are evasive. Almost none are alarmed.

Disappearance is not treated as extraordinary here, especially among visitors. This indifference should be unsettling without becoming obstructive.

The horror of the situation lies not in resistance, but in how easily absence is absorbed into routine.

Guidance for the Game Master

Do not gate progress behind specific NPCs or locations.

If players ask reasonable questions in reasonable places, give them something. It may not be useful immediately, but it should feel true.

Avoid revealing the Carnees directly during this phase. The goal is not identification, but convergence. By the end of the investigation, the players should feel that something refined, wealthy, and carefully hidden is involved, even if they do not yet know what.

Let the city remain beautiful, busy, and unconcerned while the crew digs beneath its surface.

Person Gallery

Old Quarters Tavern Staff

These NPCs are cooperative, mundane, and unconcerned. They are witnesses, not suspects.

The Tavern

The tavern is one of several along the main streets of the old quarters, catering to visitors and sailors. Outdoor tables, cheap wine, better food than it looks, and constant foot traffic. Nothing about the place stands out beyond being busy and forgettable.

Staff here are used to tourists lingering, overspending, and leaving together with people they just met.

Tavern Keeper, Leonas Keryth

Leonas is a broad shouldered man in his late forties with thinning hair and a permanent look of mild exhaustion. He runs the tavern competently and without curiosity. He remembers faces when they matter to business and forgets them when they do not.

He clearly remembers the missing crew.

They ate well, paid promptly, and did not cause trouble. Leonas recalls that they were joined by a man he did not recognize, well dressed, polite, and wearing a wide brimmed hat. Leonas thought it odd but not suspicious. Visitors dress strangely all the time.

He remembers that the man laughed easily, spoke softly, and let the crew do most of the talking. When they left, it was together, unhurried, and in good spirits.

Serving Girl, Phera

Phera is a young slave, sharp eyed and bored. She has worked the tavern long enough to recognize patterns even if she does not think much about them.

She remembers the table clearly.

She recalls the man’s hat more than his face. Too big. Too careful. She remembers thinking he was hiding from the sun. She assumed he was some kind of performer or minor noble, as his face had makeup.

Phera saw them leave together and remembers the direction. Uphill, toward the quieter streets and better wine shops. Not toward the docks.

She does not recall any argument, pressure, or discomfort. If anything, the missing crew looked amused.

Kitchen Runner, Tomaso

Tomaso, also a slave, is a boy barely old enough to work, tasked with carrying dishes and scrubbing tables. He saw very little, but what he did see stuck with him.

He remembers the man’s voice.

Soft. Educated. Pleasant. Not local. Tomaso recalls that when the man stood, he bent slightly to keep his hat from brushing the doorframe, and that he held it in place with one hand as if it mattered a great deal.

Tomaso also recalls that the man paid for the last round before they left.

Street Merchants of the Old Quarters

These NPCs reinforce movement and mood. They confirm direction, timing, and emotional state. None of them perceive danger. Their testimony collectively strengthens the idea that the victims left willingly and without distress.

They are incidental witnesses, not informants. Each knows very little, but together they remove doubt about where the trail leads.

The Market Street

This stretch of road rises gently away from the harbor, lined with stalls selling food, cloth, trinkets, and tourist luxuries. It is busy most of the day and well into the evening. People slow down here. They browse. They linger. It is not a place where panic or force would go unnoticed.

Nikareon the Cloth Seller

Nikareon is a middle aged merchant with careful hands and a habit of smoothing his wares even when no one is looking. He remembers faces that pause in front of his stall.

He recalls the missing crew walking uphill with a well dressed man wearing a wide brimmed hat. They stopped briefly at his stall. One of them ran a hand over a bolt of dyed linen and joked about the color being too bold for the sea. Nikareon remembers laughter.

The man in the hat did not touch the cloth. He stood slightly back, watching. Nikareon noticed his slim hands with expensive rings and assumed he was wealthy or vain.

They moved on together at an unhurried pace, continuing uphill.

Ione of the Spice Table

Ione sells small jars of spices and scented salts meant for visitors to take home. She is sharp eyed and quick tongued, used to reading moods to judge prices.

She remembers the group clearly because they smelled the wares rather than buying them. One of the missing crew asked what a green salt was used for. Ione explained it was good for aching muscles after bathing.

The man in the hat smiled and paid for a jar anyway, saying it would be useful later.

Ione recalls no tension. The group looked relaxed, curious, and in no hurry. She watched them go because they walked toward the richer streets, where her own customers rarely linger.

Philemon the Fruit Monger

Philemon is old, sun darkened, and slow moving. He remembers patterns more than details.

He saw the group pass by, laughing, heads close together. He recalls that one of the missing crew tasted a slice of fruit and made a face at the sourness. The man in the hat laughed softly and paid for the slice anyway.

Philemon noticed the hat because it cast too much shadow. He remembers thinking the man must burn easily.

They continued uphill, away from the noise of the docks and toward quieter streets with fewer stalls and better stonework.

Entertainers

Amir al Javeen

Amir provides the first indication of a second location. His information narrows the trail from public streets to a specific kind of place without revealing what happened there.

He is not investigating. He simply saw something while doing what he always does.

What Amir Saw

Amir was performing in the old quarters that evening, moving between small crowds and taverns as he usually does. He remembers the missing crew because they were familiar faces, who paused to watch for a short while, smiling, relaxed, and clearly in good spirits.

He also remembers the man with them.

Wide brimmed hat. Careful posture. Standing just a little apart from the crowd. Amir thought him a wealthy patron slumming it or a noble hiding from attention. Nothing about him felt threatening.

After a time, Amir saw the group peel off from the main street and turn into a narrow side alley. This caught his attention only because people usually go uphill along the main road, not into that particular lane.

The alley leads to a small bar rather than a proper tavern. Fewer tables. Dimmer light. Mostly locals and heavy drinkers. The kind of place people go to keep drinking rather than to eat or be seen.

Amir did not follow them inside. He had an audience waiting.

What Amir Does Not Know

• Amir did not see them leave the bar.
• He did not hear raised voices, argument, or alarm.
• He does not know what happened inside.

To him, it looked like a natural continuation of a pleasant evening.

The Back Alley Bar

This location confirms the method rather than the motive. It explains how the victims vanished without witnesses and why no alarm was raised. Everything that happened here fits accepted, if ugly, norms.

No one here believes a crime occurred, and if it did, they don't care.

The Bar Itself

The bar occupies a former private home tucked into a narrow side alley. Its sign is small, its windows shuttered, its entrance easy to miss unless you know it is there.

Inside is one main room with a low ceiling and four narrow side rooms once meant for family living. Now they serve as places to drink away from noise, gamble quietly, or sleep off excess wine. The air smells of sour drink, sweat, and old stone.

This is not a place for meals or conversation. It exists for intoxication.

Bar Keeper, Kleitos

Kleitos is a thin, sharp featured man with a permanent squint and little interest in anything beyond coin and order. He remembers faces poorly but remembers trouble very well.

He recalls the missing crew arriving late, already drinking, accompanied by the well dressed man in the wide brimmed hat. They took a side room. Drinks were ordered. More than usual.

According to Kleitos, they became very drunk very quickly. Too quickly, in hindsight, but at the time it seemed like visitors overindulging.

When the time came to leave, the crew could barely stand. Kleitos assumed they had drunk themselves senseless.

He remembers no shouting, no argument, no resistance.

The Bar Maid, Thessa

Thessa is young, tired, and uninterested in questions that do not involve payment, and it is implied that she also provides personal services for payment. She remembers carrying empty cups and wiping spilled wine from the floor.

She recalls the man in the hat being careful. He checked on the victims repeatedly. Spoke softly. Apologized for the mess. Paid extra.

She remembers him asking if there was a way to get them home without drawing attention.

When the victims could not walk, help was fetched.

The Locals, Paid Muscle

Two local men, Dravos and Petros assisted in removing the victims. They were known to the bar as casual labor, doing any work, legal or not, the kind who can be found nearby most nights.

They remember helping carry the unconscious foreigners outside and loading them into a covered cart. The man in the hat directed them and paid promptly.

They assumed the victims were being sold.

Foreigners disappear this way often enough for it not to be remarkable.

They did not ask questions and would not now, unless pressured.

The Slave Market

This group establishes scale, pattern, and normalcy. What happened to the crew is not unusual here. It only feels unusual because the victims mattered.

The slave market does not provide outrage or alarm. It provides routine.

The Market Itself

The slave market sits on the edge of the commercial district, far enough from the baths to keep suffering discreet, close enough to profit from traffic. Stone pens, shaded awnings, ledgers, and guards who look bored rather than cruel.

Business is steady. Buyers come and go. Slaves are inventory.

No one here thinks they are doing anything wrong.

The Merchants

All merchants here know the man in the wide brimmed hat.

He is a valued customer.

He visits regularly, often several times a month. He buys small numbers, never in bulk. Always young. Always attractive. Always quiet about purpose. He pays well and never haggles.

Most merchants assume he runs a private brothel or hosts discreet gatherings for wealthy clients. A few believe he buys for foreign nobles. No one asks.

On this particular day, several merchants remember him clearly because he did not buy anything. He browsed, asked questions, inspected stock, and left empty handed. If he doesn't find something which catches his eye, he will not buy, and that happens every few weeks.

They recall the hat because it never comes off. Even indoors. Even in shade. His skin is pale beneath powder, but many wealthy buyers are vain.

To the merchants, he is respectable. Reliable. Profitable.

They do not consider him dangerous.

The Slaves

The slaves know him by rumor.

They whisper about the man in the hat when guards are not listening. They know that those he buys are never seen again. Not sold onward. Not returned. Simply gone.

Some say he owns a house where music never stops. Others say he feeds people to strange pets. Most do not speculate aloud. Fear thrives better without detail.

None of them have seen what happens after purchase.

To the slaves, he is not a buyer. He is an ending.

They know nothing useful beyond that.

City Officials and Guards

This group reinforces institutional indifference. They provide no new leads, but they close off the expectation that authority will help. Their presence defines what Ostranos will not do.

They are obstacles through apathy, not opposition.

The Officials

Clerks, registry keepers, and minor magistrates are polite, orderly, and dismissive. They listen long enough to appear professional, then redirect responsibility elsewhere.

Visitors come and go constantly. Records are incomplete. Names are misspelled. Lodgings change daily. Without proof of a crime, there is nothing to act on.

If pressed, officials will suggest the missing crew may have left the city early, sought treatment elsewhere, or joined another vessel. All of these explanations are delivered calmly and without malice.

They do not lie. They simply do not care enough to check.

The City Guards

The guards of Ostranos are visible but uninterested. Their duties focus on crowd control, keeping trade flowing, and preventing public disorder.

They recall no disturbances in the old quarters on the night in question. No fights. No screams. No reports. This confirms rather than contradicts earlier information.

To the guards, foreign visitors disappearing is not remarkable. Some leave without notice. Some get drunk and miss ships. Some vanish into the wider world.

Unless a body is found in the street or a noble complains, it is not their concern.

Attitude and Tone

Officials and guards should not be hostile.

They are mildly annoyed at being interrupted, but never threatening. They will answer questions briefly, offer procedural explanations, and encourage the crew to move on.

Any attempt to escalate the matter is met with shrugs, paperwork, or referrals to another office that will be equally unhelpful.

Temple Healers and a Noticing Priest

This group introduces the first hint of preparation rather than opportunity. It does not identify a culprit, but it suggests intent and planning behind the disappearances.

The information here feels incidental, not investigative. It surfaces because the crew is asking the right kinds of questions in the right kinds of places.

The Temple

The temple complex of Irythe is busy, orderly, and overstretched. Healers move between baths, storage rooms, and consultation chambers in a steady rhythm. Supplies are tracked carefully. Waste is discouraged. Excess is noticed.

Most priests are focused on treatment, not patterns.

One is not.

Priest of Irythe, Melanthios

Melanthios is a senior temple attendant rather than a visionary. He is methodical, precise, and deeply irritated by inefficiency. He remembers numbers, orders, and deviations from routine.

He recalls a woman purchasing unusually large quantities of coagulant herbs over several visits.

Not poisons. Not stimulants. Herbs used to stop bleeding, slow shock, and keep wounds from becoming fatal.

The quantities were excessive for personal use. Too much even for a household healer. Enough to treat multiple patients repeatedly. He suspects that a noble house is trying to cover up a hereditary bleeding illness, as she had garments of noble style.

Melanthios did not challenge the purchase. Wealthy patrons often buy in bulk. He recorded it, approved it, and moved on.

What struck him was repetition.

The woman returned more than once. Always calm. Always well dressed. Always precise about what she wanted. She paid without question and did not ask about alternatives.

He remembers her because the orders were unnecessary unless someone expected prolonged bleeding.

Description Given

Melanthios recalls that the buyer was elegant, softly spoken, and clearly accustomed to authority. He cannot recall her face clearly, only that it was carefully composed and unremarkable.

He remembers her jewelry more than her features. Simple, tasteful, and expensive.

Docks and Harbor Authorities

This group closes off an obvious line of inquiry. It confirms that the disappearances did not involve transport out of Ostranos and that the man in the wide brimmed hat operates entirely within the city.

They provide certainty by absence.

The Harbor

The docks of Ostranos are busy, regulated, and well observed. Cargo is logged. Ships are inspected. Slaves are counted. Movement through the harbor leaves paper trails and witnesses.

If someone is exporting people, someone here would know.

No one does.

Dock Workers

Stevedores, rope handlers, and lighter crews are blunt and practical. They remember unusual cargo, difficult clients, and repeat customers.

None recall the man in the wide brimmed hat.

They have not seen slaves loaded under his direction. They have not seen covered carts arriving late at night for shipment. They have not been paid to look away.

Several dock workers note that men who traffic in slaves usually announce themselves here. Quiet buyers are rare, but they still leave marks. This one did not.

To them, the absence is notable.

Harbor Clerks and Inspectors

The clerks who keep shipping manifests and slave ledgers find nothing relevant. No entries match the descriptions. No permits were issued. No irregular shipments were recorded.

Inspectors confirm the same. No vessels left with undocumented passengers. No complaints were filed. No bribes offered.

If slaves were sold onward, it did not happen through the harbor.

Bathhouse Ushers and Side Staff

This group introduces the first note of discomfort. It does not reveal a crime, but it reframes the man in the wide brimmed hat as unsettling rather than merely refined.

This is the first place where someone noticed him and did not like what they saw.

The Bathhouse

The bathhouse sits close to the hill, a combination of public baths, private rooms, and discreet services for visitors with coin. Steam, perfumes, and murmured voices fill the corridors. Slaves and attendants are part of the business, rented by the hour or by arrangement.

Nothing here is illegal. Everything here is negotiated quietly.

The Usher, Kallixe

Kallixe is a middle aged woman who controls access to the bathhouse and keeps order among guests and staff. She is experienced, practical, and used to reading intentions quickly.

She remembers the man in the wide brimmed hat.

He did not enter.

Instead, he lingered outside on more than one occasion, watching who came and went. He asked questions politely but persistently. Were any of the slaves for sale rather than hire. Were there young ones available. Were there arrangements for permanent transfer.

Kallixe refused him each time. The bathhouse does not sell slaves. It rents them. She made that clear.

What unsettled her was not the questions, but the way he asked them. Calm. Patient. As if he expected the answer to change if he waited long enough.

She describes him as courteous and unnerving.

What the Staff Noticed

Other attendants remember him as well, mostly because Kallixe warned them.

He never raised his voice. Never threatened. Never lingered long once refused. He simply returned on another day.

They noticed his hat because it never came off. They noticed his stillness, the way he stood without fidgeting even while waiting.

No one saw him with the missing crew. No transaction took place.

They simply remember him as someone who did not belong.

The Silver Moon

This ship sails the world, gathering strange and possibly profitable goods. It does not advance location or method, but it reinforces who the man in the wide brimmed hat is and how he moves through the city.

Captain of the Silver Moon, Kiran

Kiran remembers the man clearly because the purchase was made without haggling.

The man in the wide brimmed hat visited the Silver Moon during daylight hours, when most customers are browsing rather than buying. He showed interest in curiosities, handled items with care, and asked informed questions.

He purchased an ornate silver dagger.

The blade was decorative rather than practical. Filigreed hilt, worked guard, silver chased along the fuller. Expensive, but not rare. The kind of piece bought for presentation rather than combat.

Kiran remembers that the man did not ask the price until after he had decided to buy it. When told, he paid immediately and without comment.

There was no attempt to bargain.

What Kiran Noticed

The man’s taste was precise. He rejected several items quickly and chose the dagger without hesitation.

He did not discuss why he wanted it. He did not seem interested in resale value or utility.

To Kiran, it felt like the purchase of an accessory rather than a tool.

Rumors of Thaleia Myrinos

This marks a transition point in the investigation. The crew has moved uphill, both physically and socially. Here, the trail becomes louder, clearer, and more specific.

Unlike earlier witnesses, these people remember Thaleia vividly. She made herself memorable.

Her presence turns rumor into direction.

General Pattern

Once the crew begins asking questions in the wealthier districts, Thaleia’s name surfaces quickly.

• “She asked too many questions.”
• “She was drawing.”
• “She would not stop talking.”

Most remember her as an irritation rather than a threat. No one thinks her disappearance is important. Several assume she simply left.

Together, their accounts form a clear path.

Bath Attendant, Eirene

Eirene works at a smaller private bathhouse serving wealthy clients. She remembers Thaleia clearly because she would not stop asking about screams.

Thaleia insisted that certain sounds heard at night were not human pain, but something else entirely. Eirene laughed it off and told her all cities make strange noises after dark.

Thaleia sketched while they spoke.

Eirene remembers Thaleia asking which nearby houses were rarely entered and which had private courtyards. She gestured uphill while asking.

Street Vendor, Damon

Damon sells sweets and preserved fruits along the road leading deeper into the rich quarters. He remembers Thaleia because she argued with him.

She accused the district of having too few children for its wealth. Damon thought this was nonsense and told her so. Wealthy families travel. Children are sent away. It meant nothing to him.

He remembers her standing still afterward, staring at the hilltop mansions as if counting.

Junior Guard, Kleon

Kleon is a young guard assigned to foot patrol in the upper streets. He remembers Thaleia because she asked about patrol patterns.

She wanted to know which streets were watched at night and which were not. Kleon assumed she was a scholar studying city planning or crime.

He recalls pointing out a cluster of older estates with private walls and limited guard presence. He gestures toward the same direction Eirene mentioned.

Groundskeeper, Myrrhos

Myrrhos tends gardens and stonework for several wealthy homes. He remembers Thaleia because she watched him work for a long time.

She asked whether certain houses received deliveries at odd hours and whether carts came and went without announcement. Myrrhos answered casually. Rich people value privacy.

He recalls her asking about one particular mansion more than once.

A large house with high walls, minimal decoration, and limited staff. A place that pays well and asks no questions.

Myrrhos can point it out.

Laundry Mistress, Thyra

Thyra oversees a communal laundry used by several wealthy households. She remembers Thaleia because she asked the wrong questions in the wrong place.

Thaleia wanted to know which houses sent linens most often, which requested replacement sheets rather than cleaning, and which paid extra for discretion. Thyra found the questions strange and slightly insulting.

She recalls pointing out one household that always sent linens wrapped and sealed, already washed, and paid for disposal rather than cleaning. Thyra assumed it was about blood or illness and did not press.

Thaleia became very interested after that.

Night Watch Runner, Pyrros

Pyrros carries messages between watch posts after dark. He remembers Thaleia because she followed him for part of a street without realizing she was doing it.

She asked where the watch changed shifts, which routes were avoided at night, and which alleys stayed quiet even during festival weeks. Pyrros answered out of boredom.

He assumed she was lost.

Wine Steward, Kallistrate

Kallistrate manages deliveries for a small vineyard that supplies the upper district. She remembers Thaleia because she asked about volume rather than taste.

Thaleia wanted to know which houses ordered wine regularly. Kallistrate found this odd but answered that it could be any of the mansions.

Thaleia wrote that down carefully.

Child Courier, Niko

Niko runs errands for coin, carrying messages between households. He remembers Thaleia because she paid him twice to walk the same route.

She wanted him to deliver notes to houses in a particular area, then asked which doors opened and which stayed shut. Niko thought it was a game. It didn't show anything, though, as servants or slaves answered the door everywhere.

Thaleia watched closely from hiding and took notes.

Street Sweeper, Orestes

Orestes is a slave owned by the city, who cleans the upper streets at dawn. He remembers Thaleia because she was awake when most people were not.

She stood near a fountain, scribbling notes while he worked. She asked him whether carts ever passed before sunrise. He said some did.

She nodded, thanked him, and kept writing.

He does not know what happened to her. He assumes she left.

Bath Towel Attendant, Lyka

Lyka folds towels at a private bathhouse serving wealthy homes. She remembers Thaleia because she talked while Lyka worked.

Thaleia asked whether guests ever arrived injured. Whether attendants were told not to ask questions. Lyka said sometimes.

Thaleia smiled, as if that confirmed something.

Lyka did not think much of it at the time.

Shrine Keeper, Iason

Iason tends a small roadside shrine near the upper district. He remembers Thaleia because she asked about offerings.

She wanted to know which houses made offerings regularly and which did not. Iason said rich people rarely come themselves.

She wrote that down.

Iason thought she was cataloging superstitions.

Door Watch Slave, Pytha

Pytha stands outside a noble house announcing guests. She remembers Thaleia because she stood across the street watching.

Thaleia did not approach. She simply observed for a long time, then left.

Pytha assumed she was counting arrivals.

Wine Drinker, Menon

Menon drinks at a corner wine stall most afternoons. He remembers Thaleia because she bought him a cup and asked questions.

She wanted to know which streets were quieter than they should be. Menon laughed and said rich people sleep better.

She thanked him and left.

Tavern Keeper, Philokles

Philokles runs a quiet wine house on the lower edge of the rich quarters. It caters to household staff, lesser officials, and merchants who do not want the noise of the old quarters. He prides himself on order and discretion and has little patience for scholars.

He remembers Thaleia clearly because she annoyed him.

She took a corner table, ordered watered wine, and proceeded to talk at him while he was trying to manage the room. She asked about missing people, strange sounds at night, and whether certain houses ever sent servants to drink there. Philokles told her he ran a tavern, not a gossip hall.

At some point, she spread a table cloth flat and began drawing on it with charcoal.

Philokles protested. She apologized absently and kept drawing.

She sketched the surrounding streets, the slope of the hill, and several large estates. She marked one house repeatedly, adding notes and arrows. Philokles does not know what they meant and did not care enough to ask.

He still has the cloth.

He has not yet had the slaves wash it because it is large and awkward, and because no one had time. The drawing is smudged but readable. It clearly focuses on a single mansion uphill, the same one mentioned by other witnesses.

Philokles is irritated, not frightened. To him, Thaleia was a nuisance who damaged his linens and left without paying for the cloth.

He assumes she moved on.

Confrontation