To Be: Eladrin Investigator Assassinated

[*Rhicora]

This strangely-written column appears under the title "Tomorrow's Bazaar", with no authorship line. It really is the sort of thing that would only be published in Sigil - it doesn't share the same font as the rest of the newspaper, and reads more like a Signer prediction than a piece of genuine journalism. Then again, this is the same paper that publishes "Lana's Gossip Column," so this can't be the most speculative article the Editor-in-Chief has ever cringed at...

Eladrin Investigator to Die by Assassination

Over the next few days, in a deviation from standard procedure, the Fraternity of Order will decide to hide a murder from the eyes of the Cage. They will be briefly successful, but within a week it will become clear that Nero Urbane, the controversial Eladrin notable, has died in his inn room in an act of premeditated murder.

From the very beginning, Factotum Green of the Fraternity of Order assumes complete control over the investigation. As the week progresses, voices in the market start to suggest that Nero's body was somehow removed from the scene. "His clothes were on the floor, cleaned very carefully, some even folded," an anonymous source tries to tell the public. Poison and a warded document are suspected as possible murder weapons. A manhunt for the murderer occurs and several persons of interest are taken in for questioning. Most are released immediately, save for a halfling named Emeraldin Undren.

Two low-level Harmonium guards, including Namer Brom, are quietly dismissed from the faction, and a rumor spreads that they were weak links in the Guvners' attempted cover-up. The Fraternity's carefully-laid secrecy begins to unravel. Their failure causes them great shame and embarrassment, and even Factotum Green eventually admits that he believes Nero's death to have been an assassination. He begins to appear as a projection rather than in person, a gesture many interpret to be a sign of weakness and timidity. As a direct result of pressure from the public, Emeraldin is released from Harmonium custody.

In related news-to-be, cheese prices will rise slightly in the Grand Bazaar as a major commodity supplier - Galore Cheese Limited - collapses under mismanagement. Even when a suitable interim manager is found, it is expected that Takers will step forward and levy a new round of taxes against the ailing industry.