It's dangerous to go out alone! (IC)

[Hefty Lefty]

The wind whips the ears of late-night travellers, just now arriving in Coremita. The temperate heat of this Coremitan morning feels twenty degrees cooler than it should. Shop keepers have been boarding their windows all morning to keep the tornadoes of sand out. The travellers are left outside to bare the grains of sand slamming into their face. However, they care little about the sand. Most of the walkers are stopped around a circle drawn in the sand, as a town guard tries to shoo them away. Inside the circle, another guard examines the remains of a brutal attack on a young human. His face, now a charred mess, still steams. His torso, however, bleeds from multiple stabbing wounds. The body lies stomach up on top of a sack. An aged, robed man, also inside the circle, after catching the papers, reads and reports the messages to the guard. As the wind once again picks up, the civilians give up on their attempts to self-investigate, and look for vacant inns. The guards remain, searching for clues to a killer.

[AetherFox]

Aust pushes past one of the others looking at the ring, steps in it, and bends down to examine the body.

[Qwinlan]

Looking down at the body, Tarren says "This is quite the sight. The face is charred just as if ravaged by a regular flame. Nothing peculiar or individual about it. And I should know. But the body, it remains unburnt. The wounds aren't even cauterized which probably means that whoever did this either had something specific in mind or was in a hurry. What do you think Hank?

[pyrefiend]

Once the crowd has cleared and he can get a good look at the body, Hank recoils slightly in disgust. Eventually, however, he finds he can't help but indulge his curiosity and try to discern how the human died. The burn marks on the corpse's face catch his eye.

"Some sort of fire spell, perhaps?", he wonders aloud."Evocation, most likely, but possibly some sort of fire-based transmutation gone awry?


He stands about 10 feet away from the human but cranes forward to get a better look at the burns.

Spoiler

Show

Spellcraft to try to identify a spell effect:
(1d20+8)[9]
Edit: Oh, good. First roll, and I fumble.

Hank snaps out of his train of thought upon hearing Tarren's question.
"Honestly, Tarren, I have no idea."
He frowns, obviously disappointed he couldn't to identify the effect.

[Qwinlan]

"Well, maybe you should look closer Hank."

Spoiler

Show

Spellcraft check to identify a spell effect:
(1d20+7)[23]
Edit: Woot!

[pyrefiend]

"Hm. No, I don't think so. This is a crime scene, we'll only end up being admonished. Look." Hank points to Aust. "I don't doubt the guards will shoo that elven fellow away."

[leostar2222]

Reina watches the small group from a doorway where she'd been sheltering from the worst of the wind, and debates as to whether she should take a closer look.

Hmm... On the one hand, it could be something interesting. On the other hand, whatever it is isn't my problem if I just walk away. Also, there's elves.

Her curiosity quickly wins over, however, and she walks over to the circle, peeking over a guard's shoulder. When she sees the body she arches her brows and sighs.

“Home sweet home. And to think I wasn’t sure if I should come back."

She looks sidelong at the others and comes closer, wrinkling her nose as she gets nearer to the body.

Dead human bodies and live elven ones. Y'know, for some reason I hardly feel homesick anymore.

[Hefty Lefty]

Upon recieving a new batch of critics, the disgruntled guard shoves the newcomers away from the crime scene. The robed man pulls the elf away before, however. "You seem to know your way around a burn victim. Alas, this is no magical scorch, but chemical." The robed man brushes away sand at his feet to reveal shards of broken glass. "The killer, I presume, used a flask of alchemist's fire as his weapon. I've deduced the chemical's main ingredient to be Ansper Fern, a flora which grows on the Cape of Raverris. Tarren, is it? I have a proposition for you. I suspect the alchemist creating this chemical is feuling a small guerilla army of Udoavan Orcs. If you can discover their motives for our investigation, I will pay you four hundred gold pieces. The journey to the cape is long on foot, so here is one quarter of your salary I suggest you spend on a horse and wagon." The robed man quickly slips a small pouch into the elven hand. Before letting go off the bag's golden threaded drawstring, the old, robed man asks, "Do we have ourselves a deal?"

((Cape of Raverris is the northern penninsula of Udoaver.))