The Years Have Not Been Well to Thee

[Deepblue706]

Puck stops to think about the situation for a few moments, completely forgetting about the potion he had by then tucked into his belt pouch, and the woman who gave it to him. "Is this really the kind of guy who could have done it?" He looks at the body. "I mean, didn't somebody say that man murdered was a wizard? I thought it was hard to sneak up on those kind of folks." He scratches his head. "Not very smart to attack us when he was clearly outnumbered, too. I'd think you'd have to be a bit more clever than that to make it through the inn with no problem." He glances back the way they came. "Maybe he had some help?"

[The_Snark]

Miira

"Wait. You think..." She shakes her head, bewildered. "You think there was more of them? There wouldn't be two murderers here, could there? Not unless they were together," she finishes, disenheartened. That was all too possible around here, it seemed. Corruption spreads like rot in timber, if not found...

[EvilRoeSlade]

There is little else to find besides that which you have already turned up. The door to the next room is barred with a rusted padlock, and a blood-stained blanket indicates where the attacker had been sleeping.

[KIDS]

Raven

"Well, I cannot say but what do those people in the living room know? I got the impression that they were quite carefree and anyone could have sneaked past them. I wonder whose blood exactly was it on him. So stay sharp for some more time..." Raven has only a few comments while searching, discovering nothing else. Encountering the padlock barring them from another room, he looks to others if they have means of removing it normally and shakes the mechanism with his left hand. If that fails, he points his other hand at the metal from very close and starts channeling into it the magical energy which could eventually overload the lock...


OOC:

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Spend 10-15 seconds searching the door for traps or oddities, that is two checks.
using Eldritch blast to melt the padlocks. As untyped magical damage it should ignore hardness but deal half damage to objects (there is an invocation to make it deal full damage instead of half)

[Deepblue706]

Puck stands about silently, watching Raven work his magic.

[KIDS]

Raven maintains his channeling for half a minute, but upon noticing that he hasn't even gotten the lock significantly warmer, gives up and lets the rainbow beam disappear. "It seems beyond me to melt, at least for a time. It is iron after all, even if rusted. Anyone else has an idea?

[The_Snark]

Miira

"We could ask Grauff if he has a key," Miira says, clearly reluctant to try breaking the luck; she'd backed away a bit and glanced away sideways when Raven began using his magic.

[Deepblue706]

"Yeah, let's go talk to Grauff." He takes a step towards the door, and then halts as he remembers the potion. "Oh! Since we don't need this, I think I'll go return it. You fellas should go meet with Grauff and we can meet back here, okay?" Not giving anyone much a chance to reply, he is already halfway out the door.

[KIDS]

"We will wait for you here," Raven says to Puck as he moves after him to the door, just out of instinct to watch him until he is safely in, within the main building. Remembering something he waves at the departing man and raises his voice a bit to carry through the ice-laden air. "Inform Grauff too, if you find him! A thought comes to him while waiting and his fair face alights with the essence of someone pleased to find his mind hasn't switched off yet. "Miira? Don't we have those keys, that set Grauff gave us? Where are they? I foolishly tried to damage the lock before we could use it but hopefully it will still work."

[Deepblue706]

Puck

"Oh, why did I have to go alone?" Puck asks himself, as he makes his way through the storeroom. "Who knows if that guy had friends. Who knows..." He stops talking to himself and just presses on. "No, we got him. That's it. No reason to be afraid..." He returns to the bar, glancing around for the woman. "Dark-red hair...blue coat...Dark-red hair....blue coat...pretty looking..." He mutters to himself, to jog his memory of her appearance.

[EvilRoeSlade]

The back room obviously hasn't been disturbed for a long time, as the grudgingly cooperative lock and the thick layer of dust within makes clear. It looks like it might have been an office once from the battered desk, but now its used to store dry goods and emergency supplies.

The dark and cluttered storeroom is as hard to progress through the second time as it was the first. There is no light or windows, and though the floors are clear of obstacles, there is little room to navigating. Making his way past a suit of armor on a display case that wasn't there before, Puck - no wait, there is no display. It seems the armor is standing up on its own - or rather with the help of its occupant. And just as Puck realizes he isn't alone, a rough hand grabs him by the wrist.

[The_Snark]

Miira

"Oh! Yes." Flushing faintly, Miira digs at her waist; the fur pants she has on over her normal clothes are covering the keys. She looks at the keys, selecting the one that looks most likely to fit, then inserts it into the lock and carefully tries to turn it, moving it about slowly so as not to break it by accident.

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She'll repeat until she finds the right key, breaks one off in the lock, tries them all, or d) Other.

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

"He has a blanket here, and was obviously using it. If he's a drifter, then he was making this his shelter from the storm. If he was a hired killer or a man with a grudge, though, I'd have expected him to hit the road--snow or not--as soon as he was able to get a head start on any pursuit. If he were thinking, the snow would actually be in his favor: cover his tracks. At least, I doubt we would have found him if he weren't still on the premises. And that mace. Something carved up that man upstairs; it didn't flail him. But there's still the blood, and the unprovoked attack on us. Something doesn't add up."

He ran a finger through the dust on the shelves. "Grauff must not have much need for this stuff. Don't know why he'd put his office in an outbuilding, either. A workshop, perhaps. Meh. Maybe he's just the solitary type. Doesn't seem very sociable, anyway."

[Deepblue706]

Puck

Puck screams out, as he immediately tries to pull away. "AHH! D-D-DON'T HURT ME!"

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Escape Artist: (1d20+2)[14]

[EvilRoeSlade]

You think you can hear someone screaming in the distance.

The hand releases Puck and Grauff's harsh voice speaks out. Calm down. Can't think of any reason to hurt ye, can you? A pause. What the hell are you doin'? Where are yer friends?

[Deepblue706]

Puck

Puck holds his hand over his chest as he breathes deeply. "Don't do that!" He takes a moment before answering. "They're outside - in that shed. We found someone - he tried to hurt us, but...well..." He gestures the way he came. "Would you like to see for yourself? I think that'll explain things best."

[The_Snark]

Miira

Miira straightens, leaving the key ring dangling from the lock. "What was that?" she asks, hand going to her sword as she looks towards the doorway. "Did you hear someone yell?" She moves for the doorway leading out of the shed, quickening her step as she reaches it and goes back out into the snow.

[KIDS]

"Hmmm.... no such luck. It seems no one was in here for a long time," Raven acknowledges as he leans down to brush off a layer of dust from a crate or two. "I know I know, I was wondering the same. Perhaps the snowstorm scared him off from that route... or he was not connected with this at all and our own search came in at the most innoportune moment...?" He muses some thoughts aloud and some silently, trying to make sense of this.

Raven almost misses the scream, only realizing that something is wrong when Miira rushes back to the door. "Besides, that shout hasn't bee...wait, what was that?" Realizing that something is going on, he rushes off after her.

OOC:

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take 10 on searching the room for 12; or if someone more skilled is doing it, use it for aid another...

[EvilRoeSlade]

Making your way back to the storeroom, you encounter Grauff and Puck midway. Grauff isn't particularly intent on conversation, he stumps past you until he arrives at the supply shack. His eyes narrow as he stares down at the half-orc corpse. What happened here? His voice is a growl.

[The_Snark]

Miira

Miira stops as they encounter Grauff and Puck, getting caught up in their wake as they head back to the outlying shack. "He stabbed Ibrigil," she explains, gesturing to the bloody knife lying on the floor. "Do you know who he was?"

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

Ibrigil rubbed his back, just above the kidneys. Still feels like that hunk of steel's sticking me there.

"He had a knife, so he might have been the one to carve up the magicker. Had a mace, too. He jumped us without any provocation--we just came in here and he attacked. He seems to have been bunking out behind these shelves."

Satisfied with his summary, he watched Grauff for any sign of recognition.

[EvilRoeSlade]

Grauff frowns, silent for a long moment. His head slowly tilts toward the entrance door as if hearing the arrival of another person. Then he shakes his head and looks back at the body. Know him. Wouldn't really say that I know him, but I know who he is. Drifter that's been coming here for the last year or so on and off. Dolly lets him sleep in the stables. She figures I don't know about him but... Dolly isn't too bright, and I know everything that happens here. Abruptly his gaze jerks from the corpse and fixes first on Miira and then on Ibrigil. Figured he was harmless so I let it happen. His frown bears blunt accusation. He isn't the killer. We caught the killer while you were out here. And the thing about your story is... you don't look particularly stabbed. He now falls silent, brow furrowed, fingers tapping the hilt of the axe at his belt.

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

"Well of course not. I'd be dead now if they hadn't intervened magically. You can see where the knife went through my clothing, though--right here. I can't see back there, but I'm sure if you look, the flesh is still puckered and red. It itches and throbs, but at least I'm not bleeding. And not all that blood on the floor is his--in fact, that puddle there is mine."

"What's this about having caught the killer, though? The trail of blood led outside here. Who was it? How do you know?"

[EvilRoeSlade]

At Ibrigil's explanation, the surly dwarf stomps toward him and grabs him by the shoulder, jerking him about face so that he can survey the magically healed wound. So ye've a rash. I'm not too impressed, boy.

The killer, aye. Brak Underly, one of my best customers. Comes out of the deal room like a madman. Killed two patrons and wounded one of my staff before his own bodyguard gets to subduing him. Bodies are in my stables, all three of 'em now. Brak's in my cellar, seeing as how Sergeant Haryl asked me not to cut his head off.

He shakes his head slowly, a troubled look on his stony visage for the first time since you've seen him. But that's back in my lodge, and we're here in my shed. Now here's what I figure. You come in here, see this poor sod, and either you jump to conclusions or you decide you'll get your pay quicker if you get yourself a scapegoat. So you kill him and fix things around all half-assed to try and fool me into thinking he's the killer. What do you think? Did I hit the mark, or do you have a better story for me?

[The_Snark]

Miira

Miira's mouth falls open. "What? No! You think we'd kill him for—for money, and let the real killer walk free?" She gestures indignantly to the bloody knife again. "He hit us before we'd even seen him! What were we supposed to think? We were following bloody footprints through the snow, and we knew there was a killer somewhere, and he stabbed one of us. What—I mean—" She shakes her head, clearly agitated. These people really think these things about one another?

[KIDS]

Raven lowered his head and muttered something that sounded like a dreadful curse - as far as Sylvan language could seem like it - staring at the half orc's corpse remorsefully. "So this was just a... passerby?" Does it change anything? We are tainted now too... Realizing what Grauff is thinking he gives the dwarf a disapproving glare. "No, you're wrong. We came in here after seeing blood on the handle there in the other room and the trail leading out in the snow; he attacked us and we retaliated."
Trying to think quickly, he tries to imagine how the situation looks from Grauff's side and go from there. "If he was not the one responsible for the magewright it's a sad thing, but he still jumped at us with a knife and there was no time to see who had done this and that. Really, what were we supposed to think?"

OOC:

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see diplomacy in dicerolling thread

[PolkaBear]

Ibrigil Mesto

Ibrigil groaned. "A rash? For the love of Aureon.... Here. You saw the blood in the snow, right? Started at the door and trailed out here, with a dusting of snow overlaying it. That shows that the blood was laid down sometime earlier. It couldn't have been in the last few minutes, like it would need to be if we were trying some sort of scam. Even if this boy was the one who carved up your guest upstairs, there was still some sort of funny business here. It would be best to assume that matters aren't as simple as a business deal gone sour or something like that. The wizard wasn't just killed, he was flayed. Even without the complication of two possible killers, it still doesn't make straightforward sense."

[Deepblue706]

Puck

"No, no, no! Nothin' like that, Mr. Grauff! Like they're sayin' - we were just lookin' 'round, and this guy attacked us. Don't mean to deceive ya, er anythin'. Just...didn't think you housed lotsa people who are prone to stabbin' each other, is all..."

[EvilRoeSlade]

Grauff frowns darkly and surveys the scene. Funny ye say? I'm not laughing. He nods, as if deciding something. I'd best put this one with the rest. Then I've got to get back inside and calm things down before someone decides to set fire to my Well. The dwarf grimly seizes the body by the shoulders and tries to lift it, but only manages it partially. Bit of help, would ye? Oh, and I'll have those keys back now.

[The_Snark]

Miira

Miira retrieves the keyring from where it had been hanging in the rusted lock, handing it back to Grauff and then helping to shoulder the young half-orc's body. She keeps quiet, but from her face she seems to be relieved that the dwarf is starting to believe them.