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It was 10am on a Sunday morning and The Ball wasn't answering his crystal. Normally Fabian would be in a bit of a panic but had convinced himself there were plenty of reasons their rogue wasn't picking up.
For starters they'd JUST spent the entire week helping him track down some celestial doo-dad for a case he was working on. They hadn't been given a huge amount of details, Riz apparently not allowed to share very many becasue it was top secret, but he'd given them enough that they were able to get the job done. There had been more than a few fights, an extended stay in Bastion city and even an interrogation that had left the goblin exhausted and non-verbal for hours afterwards. He probably wasn't answering because he was neck deep doing paperwork or in a meeting or something.
Either way Fabian couldn't just drop the matter, hopping on The Hangman and driving down to The Balls office at speeds that were probably just the wrong side of legal. He left the hellhound/bike to circle the block while he went and checked, just in case he needed backup, and climbed the stairs to the rogues office two stairs at a time.
He had a spare key, the only person other than Adaine trusted to hold onto it, and carefully let himself inside. The fighter on high alert just in case there was something lying in wait for him on the other side.
The office was dark, curtains drawn all the way across blocking out the light, and the goblins clue-board from this investigation was leaning up against the desk. Their rogue clearly halfway through pulling it apart so he could file away the clues and reuse the board for his next investigation.
Fabian had to wait a second for his dark vision to kick in after being outside in the sun but when it did he could see his friends crystal plugged in and charging on his desk. He couldn't see the goblin straight away though and crept into the office further to start his search properly. Finding him a few tense minutes later in the last place he expected... curled up under a blanket and fully asleep, crammed into a corner of his old couch in such a way that he wasn't visible unless you basically standing right next to him. It was neither paperwork or a meeting preventing him from answering his crystal, it was apparently the unexpected third option 'actually asleep for once'.
If he thought about it for a second it made sense, goblins were nocturnal and he hadn't slept very much during their whole little adventure. He'd probably wake up soon enough so the fighter decided to leave him be, carefully making his way across the office and lowering himself quietly into the old chair behind the desk to sit and keep watch for a while as their rogue slept.
He had to shuffle some papers off the seat before he could sit though and was now holding them awkwardly in his hand while he looked for a clear space on the desk to put them down. Not wanting to accidentally mix them up with the notes from their most recent quest that were spread out over the surface he instead started opening drawers, hoping to find an empty folder or something he could dump the paperwork into to keep it all together.
He found one in the bottom drawer, pulling it out and stuffing the papers inside before leaving them on the desk. Pausing when he went to shut the drawer again because it was full of envelopes, the top most one with his name written carefully across the front.
Fabian knew he probably wasn't supposed to see it given it was shoved in the bottom drawer but he couldn't help himself, glancing over at the sleeping goblin before pulling the envelope and the letter inside out and looking at it more carefully. It wasn't sealed, which was good because he doubted he could reseal it in a way that Riz wouldn't notice, so he pulled the letter out and unfolded it to read. The fighters mouth quirking in a fond smile when he realised the damn thing was written in code and pulling out his crystal so he could start translating it. It was one of Riz's more simple ones that he used for passing notes to his friends but it still took a little bit of work to read it, Fabian preferring to write down the text as he went on his crystal then delete it after he got the message.
//Hi Fabian.//
Okay good, if the first part was readable it usually meant he wasn't using the wrong cypher.
//If you're reading this I'm probably dead.//
That was... concerning. The fighter grimaced, glancing over at the sleeping Riz as worse case scenarios started running through his head as to why a letter would start like that. He hadn't noticed anything off with their rogue and he was really hoping it wasn't a suicide letter but now he had to continue with his snooping just in case he had to haul Riz down to Jawbone.
//I'm hoping you never do have to read this but I'm smart enough to realise it's more than likely that I'll end up going before anyone else anyway. I mean, I nearly got my head blown off by a dwarf for the crime of walking around while being a goblin and thats not even the first time that's happened. The memory of you guys making him throw himself out of a window for it has made me laugh more than once I hope you realise. Even if its not death-by-random-racist my species lifespan is still pretty sort in comparison to everyone elses, and my side job is pretty dangerous and I realise I don't have the best habits. Honestly my money is on a heart-attack before im thirty being the thing that takes me out but we'll see.
ANYWAY, I'm sorry. Even if it's not my fault for dying I'm sorry. If I was killed by someone I'm not going to tell you not to take revenge because I know you would anyway. If you do decide to there's a list of rogues hidden behind the picture of mom on my desk who would make a decent replacement for me, I've been keeping it updated fairly regularly so it should still be relevant whenever you find this letter.
I know its super morbid that I've kept a bunch of goodbye letters in a desk drawer just in case of this eventuality but one of the worst things about my dad dying is that I never got to hear him say goodbye. Didn't want to leave any of you with that sort of lingering regret so here I am, leaving my thoughts written down for you to find after the fact.
Fabian, you're super important to me. I know I say it constantly but you're my best friend and you mean a lot to me. Probably more than I'll ever say while I'm alive because I'm a coward but I can at least write it down. I love you. I'm sorry.
Take care of everyone and try not to get yourself killed too with any sort of ridiculous revenge quest.
Goodbye,
Riz~//
Fabian had to lean his head back and blink at the ceiling for a few minutes as his eye started watering, the translation on his phone getting deleted as he carefully refolded the letter and placed it back exactly how he'd found it. That was definitely something he was not supposed to have found, but he'd read it now and there was nothing he could do about it except sit with the words and hope that he'd never have to see that piece of paper again.