The Years Have Not Been Well to Thee

[EvilRoeSlade]

Grauff directs Puck and Raven to Dolly's room, which is behind the kitchen and considerably more spartan than those available to guests. The door is partially open and inside you can hear ragged snoring.

Peeking over the ledge, Miira disturbs the snow caked on the roof, which sprinkles to the ground in clumps. Below, only one thing stands out in the pristine white aftermath of the snowfall - what appears to be a rope lying haphazardly on the ground, near the wall.

[Deepblue706]

Puck turns to Raven as he peeks into Dolly's room from a distance. "I think she might be sleeping. Think we should knock? Or maybe come back later...?"

[The_Snark]

Miira

"Look!" Miira calls to the others, motioning to them over to look at the rope. She peers down at it, trying to see if any footprints can be discerned in the snow. They should be obvious, if there were any. Shouldn't they?

"Maybe they did leave this way. But how would they have gotten through the trapdoor if it was locked?" She blinks as something belatedly occurs to her. "And how did they get into his room?"

[KIDS]

Raven listens to the snoring with a somewhat saddened expression on his usualyl merry face. "Depends on what you wanted to ask... if 'twas something important, go ahead. If not, let us rejoin others, we can always come back later." Peeking into the room after Puck just to be certain if everything is fine there, he shrugs. "What was it?"

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

Ibrigil peeked over the edge, got a good look, and then drew back. "That's...strange. Really. Look: no footprints. The snow's pristine. If we're dealing with someone who needs a rope to climb off the roof, you'd also figure that they'd leave tracks walking away. If they had some sort of flight spell available to them, then why would they need a rope? Like I said, it's strange."

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OOC: Any indication how deep the snow is?
Is the rope partially buried by snowfall, or is it pretty much on top of the snow?

[Deepblue706]

"I dunno, I just wanted to know if she talked to that guy recently, or saw him do anything peculiar or talk to strange people...I mean, it's her job to take care of the place - right?" He remembers his distance from the door, and tries to keep his voice a little lower. "Poor thing...let's let her rest for now. We can always come back later." He scratches his head. "So, where did everyone else go? The roof, was it?"

[KIDS]

Raven studies the sleeping shifter in the room silently, feeling a strange sort of compassion. Once he sees that there is nothing dangerous or unusual in the room he slowly closes the door and lowers his voice too. "Somewhat like that... you are right, Puck. Let us join others on the roof, perhaps they have found something."

[EvilRoeSlade]

Inside Dolly's room, there are dolls everywhere, most made of cloth, a few made out of clay and other less wholesome substances. They are all ragged and unclean, and seem to be positioned about the room so that every one of them stares at Raven as he peeks in. Closing the door does not wake Dolly, and Raven and Puck are able to rejoin the others.

The rope, though hard to see on the ground below, does seem to be submerged in the snow.

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

"I guess the most straightforward answer is that the snow covered over the tracks as it fell, and that the murderer is long gone. If I were a devious murderer, though, I'd drop a coil of rope off the roof to mislead any pursuers. Or maybe the rope was how the murderer got here." He started looking around for any obvious anchor points, or any signs of a hook having been lodged in the roof. "If the murderer used the rope to climb down, how did he or she get the rope to follow? I've heard of being able to tie a knot that stays as long as there's pressure on it, and then releasing if you shake the rope the right way; but I'm guessing that they're not that easy to do."

"At least we might be able to get a fix on how long ago this rope was dropped. The snow's deep enough that the rope wasn't here before it started; so if we can correctly gauge the amount that it's now covered, and how long it would take, we can get an approximate fix on the time it was dropped there."

He chuckled. "In theory, anyway. I have no idea how to figure it out, myself. My personal experience with snow is kind of limited."

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Is the snow still falling, or has it stopped now? If it's stopped, is there anyone in the party who knows when it stopped?

[The_Snark]

Miira

"I... oh," Miira says, blinking as she tries to keep track of the options presented. "I've been in snow, but I don't really know how fast it would pile up." She peers over the edge, trying to think of something she can contribute.

"Maybe he climbed up the rope, not down the rope?" she asks hopefully, turning to Ibrigil to see what he thinks of the idea; the librarian was much better than she at piecing together the reasons for things.

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

Ibrigil nodded. "Right. I don't know."

[KIDS]

Raven takes a moment to recall the directions to where others went, then quickly navigates through the inn to reach the roof. Halfway though, he stops abruptly and turns to Puck. "So many dolls in her room... well, I wouldn't expect anything else given the name but... so strange, as if they were symbols or fetishes or some kind, not just toys. I hope she can tell us about it later."

Rejoining others, Raven quickly approaches the edge to stare down on the dislodged rope. "I would be glad for this to turn out more mundane than it appears... from what I recall, everything in that room was locked. Even a rope wouldn't have helped with it..." Detaching his gaze from the sight, he informs others of their findings - rather, their lack of findings for now. While listening to suggestions, his eyes wander away into the distance, to where snow has covered what little there was of a road and the frozen landscape around them.

[The_Snark]

Miira

"Oh." Miira seems to be out of ideas, and turns to listen to Raven and Puck as they arrive.

"It must have gotten through the lock somehow..." she thinks out loud upon being reminded that the door was locked, trying to imagine how they could have gotten in without leaving a trace. Well... no traces aside from the- what was inside, anyway. "Sorcery?" she suggests, unable to think of much else.

"Maybe we should go and look at the storeroom. I don't think looking at the rope will help us much?" She ends in a question mark, looking about at each of them for agreement.

[Deepblue706]

"Yeah, sure." Puck says, seeming a bit out-of-his-element. "We uh, went to talk to Dolly, but she was asleep. So we'll check on her later." He glances around, not really sure what to suggest. "So, I guess in the meantime, the storeroom sounds like a good idea, right?" He glances around, scratching his head some more.

[KIDS]

Raven nods, though still looking down at the rope and trying to grasp some elusive connection. "Anyone can lower me down there safely enough? I would like to pick up the rope, perhaps there is something hidden by the snow or we can compare it with something later. Just remember where it lay after we remove it."

OOC:

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how long is it down to the rope?

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

"I don't have any way of letting you down." He shrugged and shook his head, slightly dislodging his woven cap. He pulled it down tightly on his head again, trying to maximize its protection from the frosty air. "Checking the storeroom sounds like a good idea, if only to get out of the cold."

[If nobody else intervenes:] He pulled open the door leading down into the inn. "C'mon. Don't want to let all the heat out."

[Deepblue706]

"C'mon, Raven." Puck called to him as he was already half-way back into the inn. "Let's go back inside."

[The_Snark]

Miira

"I could lower you over the edge, but I don't think you could reach it unless I dropped you, and then you wouldn't be able to get back up. We can always come back for it, if we need it for something," Miira suggests, waiting for Raven to start back before she does.

[KIDS]

"Very well, some other time then." Raven turns back and shivering slightly retreats from the cold air. "What was it then, the storeroom? Perhaps we can find something there."

[EvilRoeSlade]

The storeroom is extremely dark, without any light or windows whatsoever. You can barely discern vague shapes of boxes and other supplies, some of which look strange in the shadows.

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

Ibrigil led the way downstairs. When they reached the storeroom, he opened the door. Seeing little in the darkness, he called upon the divine lore he had collected and prepared in order to provide illumination. He then studied the room closely, as if to fix the arrangement of its contents in his mind. He also compared it to the earlier--albeit brief--view he had of it when he had fetched the innkeeper. The craggy scar on his cheek twitched with the mental effort.

Spoiler

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Casting light.

WIS or INT check to recall his earlier view of the room and compare it? Spot? I don't expect anything would be different, but it's the sort of thing he'd do.

[Deepblue706]

Despite having little patience or lacking a particularly keen eye for detail, Puck looks around the room for clues, as best as he can.

Search: 12, Spot 15

[The_Snark]

Miira

Miira blinks at the sudden light, glancing at Ibrigil. The dim light makes it hard to tell, but she looks a touch uneasy in the moment before she turns and heads a bit further into the storeroom. Her brown hair is almost invisible in the dark, but her movements and the light tan garments she is wearing mark her out in the dark. "Does anyone see anything?" her voice floats back softly. "What should we look for?"

[EvilRoeSlade]

The storeroom is cluttered and dusty, despite its expansive size. There are all sorts of useful goods, from potions to water clocks. Other less explainable odds and ends are also present, such as an immense humanoid skull, a rusted sickle, and a jar filled with dirty feathers.

There is a door leading outside, slightly ajar. Blood is smeared on the knob and frame.

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

"Hey...." He drew the others' attention to the bloodied door. "This looks like the exit, then; and the rope was for the way in. Probably."

He looked at the blood smears and tried to discern any prints--hand or otherwise--that might give any more information about the murderer.

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Search = 11
Spot = 14
(see dice-rolling thread)

[KIDS]

With a raised eyebrow, Raven picks up the skull and inspects it, staring into its empty eyes for a moment. When his shoulder-length hair accidentally brushes off against the dead thing, he shudders and sends it back. "Must be some trophy from the war," he whispers.
But when Ibrigil points him out the bloodied door, he realizes that this is no stroll-along they have embarked on. "Victim's or murderer's?" he whispers, stalking to slightly apart from the door, nerves twitching.

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

"I wish I had some way of knowing. If there's a blood trail outside, then perhaps the murderer was injured. It seems a little suspicious that he (or she) made the exit point so obvious. I think, though, that a creature capable of such thorough brutality--" he shivered at the memory of the carnage upstairs "--might not fear any pursuers that might come. It was almost...demonic."

He tried to open the door and look outside.

[Deepblue706]

"Jeepers..." Whispered Puck, at the sign of more blood. Once Ibrigil moves forward, he pulls out his shillelah, following him close behind.

[EvilRoeSlade]

Outside, the chill air bites at your exposed skin. The cold is palpable. Ahead, there is what looks like a supply shed. The door flutters in the freezing wind. Before you, the only disturbance in the pristine white are dark brown stains within the snow.

[The_Snark]

Miira

Miira shivers and nods in accord with Ibrigil's statement. As she sees Puck readying his club, she draws her sword from her belt, her gloves too thin to block the chill of the metal haft as she steps outside. "Look. Are those... footprints?" She crouches by one to look at it more closely, not touching it.