Hello, folks!
As many of you know, the Runespoor plot/investigation is an intermingled, tangled web of intrigue, danger, and, you know, all-around scallywaggery. (Scallywagishness?) Runespoor venom, eggs, and now grown Runespoor have started to appear in Britain. Runespoor are valued pets to dark wizards; their venom is crucial in several potions. Who is purchasing these creatures? Who is selling them? Level Two is trying to figure this out.

As you can see from the wiki, thus far, we’ve managed to get quite a few people involved in the plot in the past. Below are key figures who are currently plotting, to my knowledge, threads regarding the Runespoor trade.  If you are not on the list, that does not mean, by any account, that you are cut from Runespoor trade plotting. It just means I don’t know what you’re up to these days or whether you're wanting to continue involvement, so post ideas and we can be off!

The purpose of this plotting thread is to determine who wants to continue their involvement, reintegrate themselves, or break in for the first time on this plot. What we are now looking for are new turns, breaks in the case, hitches in the plot, follow-ups from previous threads/subplots, and tie-ins to already existing plots and character storylines. There is a lot of potential for criminal activity, collaboration with Level Two, victimization, journalistic ventures, etc. etc. etc. You name it; chances are we’ve got some way to bring you in!

Criminals: Vendors & Buyers
Terry Katsaros: A former associate of Burke’s (primary Runespoor smuggler). Has recently been contacted by Burke (who, to Katsaros, is known as “Webb”) to see if there is continued interest in the trade. Has possessed Dreogan Eleor, at which time he was privy to Dreogan’s thoughts and knowledge on the topic.
Unknown Assassin: Attempted the murder of Kabir Ahmed. Thought to be an Indian Muggle female in her early twenties (though this could easily be the effect of Polyjuice potion). Suspected to be dead, murdered by her superiors, but no further information on her is known. Possibility that this person is still a key figure and can make a second attempt on another individual.
Trevor Reid: Ministry official over international trade who cast a blind eye, fudged paperwork, and even facilitated the Runespoor trade’s reentry into Britain. For a price. Currently in custody; awaiting trial.
Nate Briggs: Brought in for questioning after disposing of Runespoor venom, which exploded in Diagon Alley. Sells Rafe Sellaphix out.
In the past: Richard Burke, Dazmond Weidman(?)
More needed; particularly purchasers!

Suspects/To Be Interviewed
Liadán Ó Móráin: Owner of a magical creatures farm which has, in the past, sold Runespoors. Suspect.

Investigators
Adon Eleor: Lead investigator of the Runespoor case. First encountered illegal Runespoor trade when he was serving in the IDF in 2004; became a magical law enforcement officer for this reason. In May 2008, came to London to investigate potential links between Jordanian-Israeli trade and a now thriving UK black market trade. Is rumoured that he will be murdered by Katsaros.
Jonas Trevelyan Hired on by Tamis Raynor as a private investigator, Jonas has been working collaboratively with Adon to investigate potential corruption within the Ministry, as this seems to be a trend in Jordan, India, and now Britain. Has worked in the past on another private case with Katsaros.
 Tamis Raynor:  Also a former victim. Asked Trevelyan to come on to the Runespoor investigation. Is Eleor’s supervisor and has in the past, with Archer Radley, caught two African Runespoor smugglers in Spring 2008, just prior to Adon’s arrival in Britain.
In the past: Tait Aldridge, Archer Radley (with Tamis Raynor)
At present, we probably have all the investigators (i.e. Aurors) on the case that we need. However, there is certainly the potential that other cases Aurors are assigned to can have links to the Runespoor trade (Runespoor traces found on the scene of the crime; suspect has known involvement in other, Runespoor-related crimes, etc.) And of course, we are happy to have consultants!

Consultants
 Dreogan Eleor: An international diplomat for the Middle/Near East who noticed irregularities in Reid’s paperwork he was submitting concerning the approval of Middle East-Britain trade transactions. With Trevelyan and his younger brother, Adon, he helped gather evidence for a case against Reid prior to his arrest. Has since been possessed by Terry Katsaros, in which he potentially gathered important information on the investigation.
Azize Mulogo: An international diplomat for Africa who has noticed Dreogan’s involvement in Level Two proceedings. Wants to be of service.
Griffon Manley: Head of Beasts Division.
In the past: Covadonga Gertrudis, Kabir Ahmed
Happy to collaborate with more!

Victims
In the past: Tait Aldridge (NPC), Tamis Raynor, Kabir Ahmed, Salwa Bernier (NPC), Niobe Thursby, Maggie Groust
More is certainly a possibility!

 Sources
In the past: Nate Briggs, Niobe Thursby
Even more wanted now!

I will update this post as soon as the ideas and input starts rolling in! Can't wait.

I know that in the past, Liada's family was involved with runespoor trade- before her dad was arrested. I think it was mentioned that she might be a suspect. I'd like to do more with that- it's always fun to have the ministry harass Liadan so that she can complain she is INNOCENT. (And in this case she certainly would be. At least in the selling aspect.)

Griffon is also head of the beast division for the RCMC. So if he can get involved in anyway- that would be great!

My apologies in advance - this is ridiculously long.

So just to add to the recap with some of the recent plot developments in the continuing Runespoor saga (or at least the ones I know about ):

• Adon and Jonas (and Dreogan) have been working on an internal investigation of the Ministry, specifically Trevor Reid, since mid-December.
• Mairead turned her baby Runespoor over to Melanthe at the end of December (see here)
• Richard Burke has been moving back into the UK scene, making contacts with Kronos and Melanthe
• Burke anonymously sent Tait Aldridge's badge to the Head Auror, resulting in Tamis Raynor ordering a lockdown of the Ministry on January 2 (Daily Prophet article)
• The internal investigation led to Trevor Reid's (theoretical, assuming everything goes according to plan) arrest by Adon and Samuel Harcroft, which is ongoing in the thread here.

Which leaves us with a major IMC figure under arrest and the investigation currently on standby.

(Caveat:  All of the following is from the perspective of the investigation, just because that's what I've been involved with.    So antagonists, I don't know if you guys have plans or intentions on what you want to do, but feel free to jump in too.  It would be really awesome to keep interweaving everything.)

A few of us have been kicking around the possibility (which I think was originally Dawn's brainstorm!) of getting Azize involved in the Runespoor investigation.  The idea is that Azize could have overheard or seen Trevor saying/doing something that he wouldn't understand the significance of until after Trevor's arrest.  When Dreogan, Adon, and Jonas meet for their post-arrest debriefing, Azize tags along and turns over the new information.

I think the tentative plan right now is for the boys to decide to try and set up Azize as a target by leaking the fact that he turned over evidence to the Daily Prophet.  They're hoping that if they publicize the fact that Azize gave info which resulted in Trevor's arrest and potential conviction, someone will take a crack at him.  Since lead figures in the Runespoor investigation have a habit of getting assassinated (Tait, Salwa, Kabir), they're hoping that this would give them another lead.

So the question is, what sort of information could Azize give that would make someone involved in the Runespoor smuggling ring nervous?

The idea that I was messing around with is that Azize could provide intel on further Ministry corruption.  (Maybe Trevor was working with someone big, either within or outside the Ministry, whom he'd either be afraid to spill on or whose identity he doesn't know for sure.)   That would give the investigation another (potential) NPC to go after, and play up the whole idea that the Runespoor ring has many heads.

Dawn mentioned that the former Department of Mysteries Head (who was there during the 1990s) was the one responsible for Runespoor usage within the Ministry then, so that's one possibility.  Maybe we could set them up as an NPC or a secondary character?  Or some other high-ranking official (maybe someone on the Wizengamot?) could come into play.  It might be cool if someone powerful started getting nervous and did their best to squash the investigation because they thought it was getting too close.

Dawn and I were also kicking around the idea that this would lead to digging through Tait's old private papers (which are being stored at his mother's house), since the theoretical reason Burke murdered him was because he was making someone up top nervous.

Zayzie, Dawn, Melissa, you guys can correct me if I got any of that wrong or misrepresented anything!

Thea, I'm sure the investigation could harrass Liadan!  I know Jonas would obviously be down with that.     He's going to want to poke around her farm anyway because of the Robin kidnapping (and theoretically because of the other plot stuff we've talked about - I have a feeling he's going to do everything he can to indirectly make her life miserable  ), and "suspecting" her of Runespoor involvement is a good excuse.  Another possibility would be that she actually does have useful information in her dad's old files.

I'm pretty sure when the ministry took down her dad that they probably got all of the useful records or information then. Though if there are any old records- Jonas would be the last person she would relinquish them to

Mr. Burke and Ahmed have some unfinished business... XD

BUahahaha. Please feel free to use Trevor if it'll help in pushing forward any plots . I like the idea of him working for someone dangerous, which is a step up from simply signing papers to allow the smuggling, but I'm definitely open to the idea that he would have gotten more and more corrupted over the years.

I'm also open to anybody questioning Aileen about Trevor's involvement (either right after the arrest thread or later). I doubt she'd know much, but just in case anyone's looking for something to do, Aileen can have a new person to seethe internally at.

What else... Sparky! At some point I'd love it if Aileen found out about Jonas' involvement in her brother's arrest. We can see where the February 1st thread goes, but I think that development would be fun!

I'd really like to get Meredith involved in this somehow. I would imagine that if she had someone coming to her for Runespoor stuff, she'd sell it to them. I'm also more than open for having Ministry types coming in to investigate

Kat -- Haha! Sounds like fun. Let me know if you've got any ideas here or via PM! I think that Vic, Richard's RPer will be back soon, if I hear correctly.

Elle -- Yes. Trevor is fun and if you think it's plausible, I think we'd love to get him all sorts of tangled into Runespoor goodness (or in this case, evilness). I suspect that Adon'll be questioning Aileen after. And he kindly informs her that she better not seethe at him since he, you know, saved her from a hostage situation, kthnx. I'm sure their chemistry will be awesome/a trainwreck. I am also super excited to see how any Jonas/Aileen interactions go down. Bwahahaha.

And yes! I could definitely see Adon and/or Jonas peeking into Meredith's past and/or her being an involved criminal that they don't know about. Is there anything in particular that would tip them off/make them want to drop by to ask questions? A little Q&A could be fun. Meredith & Adon can be a scarface meets scarface scenario.

Buahahahah I am so up for an interrogation/questioning session .

I like the idea of him working for someone dangerous, which is a step up from simply signing papers to allow the smuggling, but I'm definitely open to the idea that he would have gotten more and more corrupted over the years.

We could even set it up so that he doesn't really know who was paying him.  (Or maybe they've threatened his wife/kids/sisters if he said too much - would Trevor stay mum if his family were under threat?)  But if you're up for it, Elle, I bet there's cool stuff we could do with it!

What else... Sparky! At some point I'd love it if Aileen found out about Jonas' involvement in her brother's arrest. We can see where the February 1st thread goes, but I think that development would be fun!

YES PLEASE.  If Jonas doesn't spill in that thread, Alberic has been announcing to everyone and their mother that Jonas is working with his nephew for the Ministry.  So I bet he'd be a willing and cheerful conduit of information. 

As far as the Meredith stuff goes, Stef, I know we were talking a few weeks ago about doing a thread with Jonas and his ex-wife in the Muggle Calaveras.  Maybe that would be a good way to set all of this up?  I don't know if she'd say anything that would give the boys reason to be suspicious, or if she would try to manipulate them (since I'm sure that word is getting out that Jonas is working for the Ministry.)

If Melissa's interested, I don't think it would be out of the question for Adon (and maybe Jacoba, if Mai wants in?) to tag along for dinner too.  Or we could have the Trevelyans run into her first, and then see what later threads come out of it.   

 I really looove the idea of Aileen finding out from Alberic that Jonas and Adon worked together. Perhaps (I'm just now talking to Sparky on AIM) Alberic butts in during the interrogation, or lets it slip on Feb 14th?

As much of an arse as Trevor is, yeah, I think he'd keep mum if he thought they'd threaten his family . If it works easier so he doesn't know exactly who he's working for, we could do that! I am also up for the unhappy people in the Runespoor business going after his family sometime after Trevor gets caught.

I don't know if it's at all doable- but Candice is working for Meredith at Calaveras now. She's an ex-Ministry employee, as we all know. I'm not sure whether or not they would find her useful because of that, but if Adon/Jonas decided they needed to "use" her for anything, that could be interesting. Especially considering that Candy is horrid at keeping secrets. So if someone needs to spill the beans, if Candy found out at all what they were up to, she could tip meredith off which could help to keep her safe during investigations? Just an idea. Not sure how well it works but thought I'd toss it out there.

Haha, looking at this thread and the wiki it still amazes me how this plot has taken off and grown. Its come a long way from Jason Marren reporting a Runespoor infection in a lady's garden to Covadonga Gertrudis taking the issue to Alexander Belisario and it eventually landing at the Auror's Office through proceeding events. Sorry, geeky moment, but its just awesome how its progressed.

A lot of underlying Runespoor Trade issues seem to have become grounded in political intrigue on an international scale, and as a few others and I have talked about, it would be really neat to start bringing the more into the forefront, especially concerning the British Ministry. With Trevor Reid being arrested for involvement in the Runespoors and general uneasy growing about the Ministry in general and Sarah's brewing plots with her new Hogwarts Governor, it might be cool to bring that more to the forefront.

The premise with Tait Aldridge (a dead NPC) is that he was a Rookie Auror back in 1994 that stumpled across the Runespoor Corruption by accident. The Department of Mysteries Head (the NPC one before Analiza Snark) authorized bringing in Runespoors to further investigate the magical impervious nature of their venom as a part of one of their projects. Richard Burke was their contractor for bringing the runespoors in, and while he had a Get Out of Azkaban Free card with his under-the-table contract with the DoM, he sold to the Black Market on the side, which is how it drew MLE attention.

With everything else going on in 1994 -- the attack at the Quidditch World Cup, the TriWizard Tournament, the stirs among the remaining DEs, the on-going search for Sirius Black, and so on, complaints about Dark Creatures and Class-A-Nontradable Goods in the black market wasn't high on the MLE's priorities, so it landed in the hands of a rookie as his First Real assignment. 

While investigating the case, Tait Aldridge began to notice some trends that just didn't make sense. And the deeper he got into it, the more alarmed he became -- and so did the DoM. When they realized the MLE had ignorantly jumped on the case and that Aldridge was hot on the trail to discovering a scandal that if released to the public could result in ruin, the DoM Head of the time shut down the project and bid Richard Burke adieu with one last commission of silencing Aldridge.  Aldridge was murdered on December 21 1994, and the leads for his MLE investigation became cold very quickly. If it settles well with everyone, it might be interesting if it went Cold as a result of an agreement between the the then DoM Head and Amelia Bones as a part of that running cooperation between the DoM and DoMLE.

Alisha can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the reappearance of the runespoors was Analiza coming across the old project with Runespoor Venom and decided to apply it to her own research into the Origin of magic and what not, which could tie this plot easily into that one as well as the Egyptian Dagger. And which is how the idea of finding old journals of Tait's came up. If he was suspicious of something going on within the Ministry itself he would have written a record of his findings somewhere unofficial and away from Level Two, which could also be why they remained ignorant of it. Sparky and I also threw around the notion of him having a portrait around somewhere and I've had a pensieve scene of Tait Aldridge's actual death, written from Tamis' prospective for sometime now, which could be submitted as evidence. Just been waiting for the opportune time to reveal it. And that itself is riddled with hints of what was going on back in 1994 as well. And could put the heat on Burke a little more too.

I LOVE the stuff going on with Trevor Reid.  And think it would be awesome as well if he was a little more heavily involved in what was going on and maybe even working with someone even  over Burke, which as Sparky said, could give another Big Bad for everyone to chase after and be involved with, and still keeps Burke as a major player without putting the pressure on Vic (who is a bit preoccupied right now) to maintain high activity. And it keeps the plot from dead ending and allows for further growth. Haha. I'd personally pay to see Jonas interrogate Aileen. Please and thank you? lolol. Or better yet, pay for him to be put on a protection detail for Aileen xD.

I also love Meredith getting in on it! She's such a badass. And I think would be a perfect candidate for someone who has been involved for a while but is suave and intelligent enough to have floated under the radar. 

I also love the ideas floating with Azize, as the Head of African Relations, and the Runespoors originating from Africa. He would be a good source of intel in general on the investigation and early on in the investigation when the Aurors still thought the runespoors were coming from Africa, he could have been a key player? Griffon Manley too, as the Head of the Beasts Division would be heavily involved I think. Maybe from the political standpoint? With the runespoor regulations and stuff. We've concentrated heavily on the legal/black market side of things, might be cool to see it come over political on that end, too. I think Covadonga had some plans on that before Paz had some real life stuff she was dealing with.

Tamis herself has a bit of vendetta against the Runespoor Industry. Its the reason she became an Auror in the first place and she has a lot of unresolved personal issues surrounding it. With the reappearance of Tait's badge and old political issues and questions resurfacing, I think she will definitely becoming a bit more involved than just overseeing things and asking Jonas to investigate her own department and government for her, lol. Because she WAS a victim, she's been trying to stay out of the investigation, but if things keep progressing, I don't think that will be possible.

Yay for more criminal activities-

I also love Meredith getting in on it! She's such a badass. And I think would be a perfect candidate for someone who has been involved for a while but is suave and intelligent enough to have floated under the radar

That tickled me so much <3

I would love to have her fill exactly that role- that's kind of how I envisioned a lot of her criminal activities. She does them, but wants the best of both legal and illegal gains. I'd love to say she's been quietly dealing and selling for awhile now and then have something or someone tip off the DMLE to start the sniffing around.

Thea- I really like the idea of playing with how gullible Candice is. Meredith and her criminal crew would probably try ad smalltalk with her to get her to drop any useful info about the recent inner workings of the Ministry.

Sparky- Yes! I was thinking about that thread the other day, actually. Meredith deals lots of information, so she'd probably know who Jonas was, if nothing else. Maybe she can test the waters to see how loyal he is to the Ministry? Not sure, but I'm sure we can figure something out.

As for other ideas with tip-off, maybe the DMLE can catch someone ins possession of a Runespoor eggs or venom and they swear they bought it from Meredith in Calaveras. Or maybe Jonas sees something suspcious like a wizard with a known record coming into the Muggle Calaveras and escorted to the backrooms?

Meredith has been bee involved in the wizarding criminal world for about 4 years now and balancing between business woman and dealer of drugs, info and illegal goods, so I'm sure we could find some tip-off. Maybe the DMLE comes to investigate cannibalism rumors (which she encourages) and ends up finding a connection to the Runespoor trade instead?

If it settles well with everyone, it might be interesting if it went Cold as a result of an agreement between the the then DoM Head and Amelia Bones as a part of that running cooperation between the DoM and DoMLE.

I think this is an AWESOME idea.  I was assuming that Jonas got ordered off going anywhere near Tait's death, because no one in their right mind would let a hotshot, inexperienced young Auror go bulldozing around after his best friend just got murdered.     But it would be totally cool if there was an ulterior motive to that besides just not wanting to turn the metaphorical bull loose in the metaphorical china shop.  Jonas would have never put two and two together there.

Alisha can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the reappearance of the runespoors was Analiza coming across the old project with Runespoor Venom and decided to apply it to her own research into the Origin of magic and what not, which could tie this plot easily into that one as well as the Egyptian Dagger.

This is another totally awesome idea.  Maybe the spell on the dagger is somehow linked to Runespoor venom?  (Or the Egyptian wizards used the venom in creating the original curse?)  Ahhhhhh.  It might just end up being a background detail, but I think we could do some really cool stuff with that, especially since I don't think there are any plans on how to actually break the curse yet.

I'd personally pay to see Jonas interrogate Aileen. Please and thank you? lolol. Or better yet, pay for him to be put on a protection detail for Aileen xD.

I feel like this might possibly be the worst idea on the planet.     Although it would give Adon an opportunity to play good cop for a change, hahaha. 

Sparky- Yes! I was thinking about that thread the other day, actually. Meredith deals lots of information, so she'd probably know who Jonas was, if nothing else. Maybe she can test the waters to see how loyal he is to the Ministry? Not sure, but I'm sure we can figure something out.

I am totally down!  It probably makes sense to just do a thread with the Trevelyans and Meredith, then, and see where things go from there (with the potential of it tying into either the Robin investigation with Aberdeen or the Runespoor case).  Jonas is pretty sharp, so he might make a connection on his own, or Meredith could offer to be "helpful" in the future so that she could play him.  Might be fun to just see how things turn out?

Anyway, I am going to catch up on posts in the next couple of days, so I can finally start something up!

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So it sounds like we are all good on Trevor working for a higher power, who could be our next Big Bad?     Which I think will be a lot of fun.

Just a couple of my own questions:

- Does the former Head of the Department of Mysteries already have an identity, or is s/he up for grabs?  I thought I remembered Analiza having a mentor in the DoM, but I don't recall if she was the Head as well.

- Is there a character/NPC that works for our mysterious Big Bad?  (Who I guess doesn't necessarily have to be the former DoM Head - it could be someone who was working underneath him/her, or was secretly financing the experiments for a reason of their own.)  If not, it might be neat to come up with someone who has ties to characters already in the game!  Especially to people like Griffon, who we want to rope in but don't have a super clear connection to the case yet.  Maybe a politically-minded figure who is good at pulling strings behind the scenes?