DISCLAIMER: The Furship Chronicles narrate the adventures of our gaming group as we playtest the Age of Animus Storytelling Game. Bunwick is played by Frank, Emeraldine Fiera is played by Melanie, Raz is played by Steve, Wilhemina is played by Fab and Zouly is played by Lyne. The interactions you read are not straight transcriptions of their conversations in the game (My memory isn’t good enough to remember them all) but rather my interpretation of their characters as they played them in our gaming session. I hope I do justice to the fun we had playing.

They found the mayor just off the town square in the midst of reassuring a nervous goose. “Absolutely Gerty. A message has been dispatched through the Mouse Wing. We have to wait for the capital to reply.”

The goose honked at him, “But what will we do in the meantime?”

The mayor set his paw on the goose’s shoulder, “Whatever we can do,” He put on a brave smile, “But I have faith that Constable Copley will be able to bring the culprits to justice. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to the office.” He hurriedly made his way across the street before the goose had a chance to follow up with her concerns.

“This is a nightmare,” he muttered to himself as he walked along. He came up short as he came across the adventurers. “Oh pardon me!” His eyes narrowed as he examined the strangers, “Say, who might you be?”

Raz stepped forward, “Allow me to introduce myself, Mr. Mayor.” He extended his paw, “My name is Raz and these are my compatriots, Bunwick, Zouly, Wilhemina and Emeraldine Fiera.”

The mayor blinked, “Oh er, pleased to meet you I’m sure. You’ll have to forgive me if I can’t exchange pleasantries. There is a lot I have to attend to.”

Raz nodded, “Of course, sir. That’s what brings us to you actually. We would like to offer our services in whatever fashion you require.”

The mayor eyed him suspiciously, “You would?” He took another moment to look the group over, “Ohhh, you five are adventurers, is that it?”

Raz again nodded, “In a fashion yes.”

The mayor softened, “Well, the Six know that we could use the help. Constable Copley is handling the investigation. I’m sure he could use a few more paws.”

Raz made a face, “Eeeh, well actually, we’ve just been speaking with the good Constable and he…” he hesitated.

The mayor understood at once, “Oh right. Copley doesn’t much care for outsiders gumming up the works.” He patted his breast pocket, “Hmmm…let me see, where did I put my quill?”

Raz quickly offered his own quill from his pouch, “Here you are, sir.”

The mayor’s brow arched in surprise, “Oh! Uh thank you. I don’t suppose you have any parchment as well? Oh you do? Thank you.” He took the proffered parchment as well and quickly scrawled a note which he handed back to the wolverine along with his quill. “Here’s a writ authorizing you to act in my name for as long as this state of emergency lasts. Show it to Copley and he’ll back down, right as rain.”

Raz read the writ over and smiled, “Thank you Mr. Mayor. We won’t let you down!”

The mayor smiled grimly, “I know you won’t. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

Raz stepped aside and ushered the others to do the same to allow the mayor to be on his way. He then looked to his allies, “Now, let’s go see what we can find out about this mess, shall we?”

* * *

“Have you noticed that all the lampposts on this street have been chopped down?” Zouly asked the others as they made their way towards the storehouse.

Bunwick walked up to one of the stumps, “Looks more like it was gnawed down. See the teeth marks?”

Raz moved in next to him, “You’re right.” He smiled at the beaver, “Good thing you were with us or I’d think you had something to do with it.”

Bunwick bristled at the jest, “I would never do such a thing! I have better manners than that!”

“Easy now!” Raz soothed, “I was only kidding.” His look turned more serious, “You know, with no lamp posts, this street would be almost pitch dark on a moonless night like last night.”

“Perfect for sneaking around unnoticed,” Zouly remarked.

“What’s that smell?!” Wilhemina interjected as she sniffed the air.

The others picked up the scent as well. Zouly pointed to the warehouse, “It’s coming from over there. C’mon!”

He led the group to the front door of the warehouse and stopped short as the odour emanating from the room threatened his hold on his lunch. “Woo! That is a powerful smell!”

The others turned nearly a shade of green to match their small friend. “It’s terrible!” Emeraldine exclaimed.

Raz pulled his tunic up over his nose to filter the smell, “I can see why Constable Copley chose not to search the warehouse right away…”

Bunwick mimicked him, “Yeah, he wanted to let the room air out.”

Zouly gathered himself, “After several hours it still smells this bad. Whatever caused this must still be inside.” He inhaled as much clean air as he could and stepped towards the door and examined the lock, “That’s odd. No signs of forced entry.” He walked in.

The others followed him in a moment later. The smell made their eyes water. “What IS this?” Bunwick groaned, “Even skunks don’t smell THIS bad!”

“It’s not natural, whatever it is,” Raz replied. “Spread out and let’s see what we can find.”

Each fur picked a direction. The storehouse was almost completely empty. They could imagine how the shelves used to be lined with all manner of mouth-watering foodstuffs. Now, only the odd piece of equipment remained. It was Zouly who came up with the first clue, “Hey, check this out!” he called to the others.

Bunwick came over, “What is it?”

Zouly held his arm out to stop him from walking any further, “Careful!” He pointed down to the floor, “Look.” There on the ground was a layer of spilt flour.

“Check out in the middle!” Bunwick pointed in turn, “Are those boar prints?” Indeed there were a pair of hoof prints in the middle of the flour. He circled the mess on the floor.

“It must have been standing there when it spilled the flour,” Zouly remarked. He looked up and saw a nail protruding from the middle shelf. A small tear of fabric still hung from it. “The bag must have caught on that nail.”

“Here’s the bag,” Bunwick observed, pointing down to the discarded sack. “I guess they didn’t want to leave a trail and left it behind.”

“Aw Six! I think I found what’s causing this smell!” Wilhemina called out, nearly gagging. She reached under one of the shelves and fished out a small jar. “Oh yeah! This is definitely the stuff!”

Raz joined her in examining the jar. There was no identifying label. An oily substance coated the insides.

It was Wilhemina who spoke first, “I’ve heard of this trick thieves use where they use artificial musks to mask their scent so that furs with good sniffers can’t track them down.” She quickly added, “Not that I’m a thief! Or would ever use the stuff! I just heard about it in a watering hole somewhere.”

Raz ignored the latter comment, “Yes, I think I’ve read about something like this before. The thieves carefully open the bottle and chuck it into the room once they’re out the door.”

“What an ingenious plan,” Wilhemina marvelled. When she saw the disapproving look on Raz’s face, she quickly added, “Ingeniously evil that is.”

Before the wolverine could chastise her, Emeraldine Fiera’s voice cut him off, “I think I found something as well.”

The others crowded around her as she crouched down low to inspect under another shelving unit, “There are crumbs under here.”

“So what?” Wilhemina asked, “It’s not like the town can live off of crumbs.”

“These crumbs are fresh,” Emeraldine Fiera explained, “It’s as though someone stood under this shelf and had himself a snack.”

“Rats sneak into warehouses all the time,” Raz observed.

Emeraldine Fiera nodded, “Yes, but have you noticed there are no mouse holes anywhere in this building?” She gestured wavingly around the room, “I checked!”

Raz rubbed his chin as he did whenever he started thinking, “Then whoever left those crumbs got in while the door was unlocked. Maybe that’s how…”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY CRIME SCENE?!!”

As one, the group turned to see Constable Copley standing in the doorway. He did not seem at all happy.

“Uh oh,” Bunwick muttered.