D& D - Greyhawk - Night Watch Read Online Free

first thing a man noticed about her. The second was her startling beauty. The third was the hard gleam in her cobalt eyes, which said she didn’t take dung from anybody.
    “Trouble, Captain,” she reported crisply. “We’ve got a patrolman downstairs. He says Acton Kathenor has been murdered.”
    Garett and Burge exchanged looks. Garett hissed an unintelligible curse and rose from his chair.
       A swift walk down the Processional brought Garett, Burge, and Blossom to the Street of Temples in the sector of Greyhawk known as the Halls. It was in this part of town that most government offices were located and where most of the day-to-day bureaucratic activities took place. Greyhawk University was also located here, as well as most of the city’s major religious institutions. It was a refuge for intellectuals and scholars, clerics and priests.
    Rudi, the fourth member of what Garett considered his personally selected, elite team, was already on the site, blocking entrance to Acton Kathenor’s inner sanctum. He was short, a mere five feet, two inches, and sensitive about it. He was as cute as the proverbial bug, too, almost cherubic, being a mere seventeen years old. His size and his looks had made him the victim of a lot of teasing in his earlier years. No one teased him anymore, though. Not unless they were damned good with a sword.
    Two men from the patrol that Rudi led had a big, rough-looking character at sword-point between them. A score of
    acolytes and novitiates crowded the narrow corridor from the main hall to Kathenor’s sanctum, demanding access to the chamber, shouting questions and accusations and demands in very unpriestly language.
    “Shut up!” Garett yelled at the top of his lungs, and to his surprise, the priests fell silent. “All of you, back out into the main hall. Boccob alone knows what evidence you might have trampled on, pressing back here like this. No one gets into Kathenor’s sanctum until I say so!”
    One of the priests stepped forward. Garett didn’t know him, but from the red sash the man wore around his waist, the captain guessed he was a priest of some rank. “This is our temple,” the man said gruffly. “Your orders have no weight here.”
    Without a word, Blossom stepped next to the priest and glared down at him. He looked up, finding himself suddenly eye-to-cleavage, and his cheeks began to redden, but whether from embarrassment or anger, Garett couldn’t guess. Nor did he care.
    “If it’s weight that concerns you,” he said dryly, “I can order her to sit on your chest. That ought to keep you out of the way.”
    The priest sputtered and threw up his hands. Turning, he pushed the acolytes out of his way as he stormed back into the main hall. Most of them followed. A few others lingered, but Rudi drove them off with a scowl.
    “Who’s this?” Garett said, indicating the tough Rudi’s patrol had nabbed.
    “Not sure, Captain,” Rudi answered, returning to Garett’s side. “We found him wandering around outside. Definitely foreign. He had a sword, but couldn’t produce a license. We haven’t had time to question him further.”
    Garett stepped closer to Rudi’s prisoner and looked him up and down. “Ratikkan, I’d say, by the look of him.” He pursed his lips and nodded, content with his assessment. “Mercenary?” he asked, expecting no answer other than the stubborn glare he got. Ratikkans were like that: too stupid to know when trouble was worth getting into.
    Garett shrugged and turned his back. “Bring him along,” he said, pushing open the door to Kathenor’s sanctum.
    Boccob’s high priest was bent over the cauldron, which was slowly filling with blood that leaked from countless deep lacerations on the old man’s face and throat. Blood had also spilled down the outside of the cauldron. A pool had formed on the floor around the iron tripod’s legs. Something crunched under Garett’s boot, causing him to look down. Shards of glass were scattered