Play@YSDC

The librarian bid Ascot take a seat at a reading desk and went off to find the information that he had asked for.

Can I have a library use roll?

1d%L20%

OOC:   Fail. Ascot playing to his strengths...

Ascot would be disappointed to find that the library had little more information that they already knew. The local paper carried the same story that had been syndicated to the Scottish Herald and the London Gazette, with a follow-up piece a few days later that stated the police enquiries were ongoing and Jamie McLeod was still in custody.

The information about Strathmorn was similarly limited. A local guidebook said the village was home to about 100 people, most of whom of working age were employed in farming or the local distillery. Lord Cawdor (an absent landowner) had turned over a good part of his land to hunting and shooting in recent years. A good place to stay (in fact the only place) was the the Strathmorn Hotel and the local manor was reputed to be haunted.

Ascot checks his map to see if there's a train line to Strathmorn. If there is, he'll head to the Train Station to check times all week for a train trip.

There was no train to Strathmorn. It seemed the bus ran twice per week; once on a Saturday and the second on a Thursday, which was market day in Inverness.

Ummm, yes. I should have checked the date before making up a spurious fact about markets in Inverness!

The market was busy, comprising forty or so stalls selling everything from fresh vegetables to clothes and hardware. The voices of the vendors could be heard as the called out, competing for customers, sometimes in accents so thick Ascot had trouble understanding them…

Eventually getting bored, cold and wet, Ascot heads back to the hotel to wait for the rest of the team's return.

1d%L30%

OOC:   Hard Success.

Accustomed to listening for animals in the wild, Ascot's hearing is a bit sharper than average.

A snippet of conversation caught Ascot’s attention, although he couldn’t see the women who were speaking.

“Poor wee lassie. What’s she ganna dee wi’ her fella in the grave?”

“She’ll nae ha’ tae cover up those black eyes he used tae gi’ her. He was a bugger when he’d had a drink!”

“Aye, he was at that! Mind ye, black eye or nae, that nivver stopped young Duncan poppin’ round when her husband was out poachin’! I reckon we both ken what he was there for…”

Both women laughed before their voices faded away into the general hubbub of the market.

Intrigued, Ascot attempts to politely thread his way through the crowd, trying to find the two women who own those voices.

Try as he might, one headscarfed Scottish woman looked the same as any other.

Ascot shrugs to himself and heads back to the hotel to await his companions.

The Station Hotel, Academy Street, Inverness
Thursday 19 March 1931. 11.30m

Ascot was treated to a pot of Darjeeling tea and some fine shortbread on his return to the hotel. He was just tucking in when the others returned from their visit to the Police.

A telegram awaited Cait. A friend had been taken ill and she had been asked to go to stay with her friend to help her to recuperate. Reluctantly she had agreed, promising to return if she could.

Unfortunately, Dany has had to drop out so I’ve retired Cait from the game.

The Reverend lives in Strathmorn. Is there anything else you wish to do in Inverness before we move on?

"Aye, I quite liked her," says Bonnie.

Rourke spreads out the detailed 1 inch: 1 mile map for the others. "Well, on the upside," he starts in his clipped colonial African accent, "I have a nice map."

"On the downside, I tried reading the recent back issues of the local paper but didn't have much luck. Truthfully, I normally don't read much past the sports pages."

"I can tell you the village has a population of a hundred. And there's a Strathmorn Hotel. Also, the bus runs from here to there Thursday and Saturday."

"Finally, I overheard some Strathmorn local ladies gossiping here at the markets."

"It seems the deceased was violent to his poor wife. She, in turn, may have been a trifle over familiar with a lad named Duncan, and good luck to her, I say."

"And the dead man evidently poached. Which may explain why he was where he was, when he was killed.

Exhausted from all this talking, Ascot gratefully returns to his Darjeeling and short breads.

BoyBlunder78 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 10, 2022 12:08 am

OOC:   I take it everyone has filled in everyone regarfing what we've found out?

If you’re not named in a thread then please don’t read it It wouldn’t have mattered up to now but it may become important further down the line of you go off exploring on your own/talking to other people, etc.

As Snapper/Ascot has done, it’s fine to just do a quick update on what you’ve discovered to share with the group. I’ll add an ‘Investigators’ notes’ thread where you can record anything you wish to remember without having to scroll back through dozens of posts.