The Gelatinous Case of the Gobbo-de-Gook (A Final Report)
(Being the final report by Deputy-Shirriff Lancogard North-took, filed at the Watch Office in Brockenborings, appended by case notes and letters of a personal nature)
OFFICE OF THE WATCH, BROCKENBORINGS, Northfarthing in the Shire, on this the 1st day of Wedmath:
The Gelatinous Case of the Gobbo-de-Gook
CASE STATUS: Closed (Finally...)
This officer has been remiss in keeping with the Rules regarding the timely reporting of the activities of the Watch; I take full responsibility for such lackadaisical tidings - provisionally so. The events leading up to the solving of the case proved to be so swift and downright exciting that a proper chronicle was impossible. Therefore, this memorandum shall touch in brief on the events and incidents directly affecting the case, with aside mentions of events which impacted, good or ill, on the case.
As an ongoing sequel to the previous case file, myself and Bounder Bolingbroke contacted and held council with parties outside the Shire, namely House Bar-en-Acharn, whose company had a deeply vested interest in the ongoing case. Bounder Bolingbroke rode out from Falathlorn in the Elf-country as liaison with the Household; I myself joined up with the company near Woodhall. I offered and took counsel with their Head of House, the Lady Seregrían, regarding ways and means to proceed outside the Bounds; upon arrival at Stock, I learned of the conditions by which the Two Bounders would have to operate.
Much had transpired in the interim, but in the main this is the gist of the tale: it appears that my previous case file got major parts of the investigation wrong, in that Master Cutch Crane (aka the Black Fox) was not deceased as first reported; he had feigned his death so as to continue an ongoing investigation on behalf of the Rangers. Their investigation was directly tied into ours, and the Two Bounders offered their assistance to Bar-en-Acharn in mounting a rescue expedition into the Wildwood to recover Master Crane; I note here for record the rescue was executed with great success.
Bounder Bolingbroke and I parted company with the House and proceeded north into the Wildwood, there to meet up with contacts among the Rangers that Bolingbroke had cultivated. (NOTE: Bolingbroke's voluminous reports are available at the Watch Office upon request, I summarize here for the sake of reporting according to the Rules). What followed was a series of hair-raising and downright perilous sorties in company with the Rangers, the likes of which I am glad to report were both successful to the case and to the interests of the Shire at large.
In the main, there was a nefarious plot by foreign parties (known to the Rangers but kept in discretion) to produce a poisonous harvest of the Gobbo-de-gook large enough to foul all water sources from Evendim to Sarn Ford and all points between. Not only the Shire would be endangered, but Breeland, the Wildwood, the North-downs, and distant parts this officer has yet to see.
The sorties in company with the Rangers wrought a victorious resolution to the problem at hand, and provided this report with a successful conclusion to (quite frankly) the most baffling and involved case this officer has yet to see. The results of this episode include the recovery of the Black Fox; the revelations of the wider plot against all folk of the North; the dismantling and scattering of the parties involved; and the forging of stronger ties with both the Rangers and with House Bar-en-Acharn - which can, in this officer's opinion, only prove to be eminently beneficial to Shire interests in future.
Well, there it is: we solved The Gelatinous Case of the Gobbo-de-Gook at last. With this filing, I am closing the case file, and gratefully accepting a fortnight's paid leave to accommodate another duty - by personal invitation, I shall be officiating at A Wedding!
L-NT (his initials)
