Pirknok sighs. How em ah sposed ta comfert 'um? You gunna teach me thet too?
He glances around, and seeing no peacock in evidence, sighs again and begins searching the premises.
Ventus grimly gets to work, examining the bodies and looking over the crime scene but the savaged state of the bodies makes it difficult to find anything useful.
"We'll need to talk to the witness," he says absently while turning the head of one of the corpses from side to side to look at the wounds around its neck.
Distracted by a moment's recollection, Ysme nods in absentminded agreement. Looking up at the shaken guardsman, Ysme pats him on the shoulder reassuringly. "Not to toot our own horn; Jesper, right? As I said, not to toot our own horn, but my companions & I were only made aware of these murders yesterday."
"We will find the party responsible & bring them to justice."
Ysme improves the young guard's attitude but it's difficult to tell if it's her words of simply the attention of a beautiful young woman.
The guard nods and smiles slightly.
"Oh!" he says. "We found this on one of the bodies. I almost forgot."
He offers a bloodstained note.
Messrs. Mortwell, Hask, and Tabe,
A deal has come about that I need capital for. It involves property and gold, and though I am not at liberty to tell you the exact details, it will make us all rich. Come to the third warehouse east-most on the docks tonight. We can meet there to discuss our futures.
-Your Lordship
"Who's et fer? Thuh ded men?"
Oh.
Bother.
"Adventus!" Ysme calls out. As he & the others turn towards her, she holds out the note the guard just gave her.
"Who's et fer? Thuh ded men?"
"I dunno", the guard says with a shake of his head. "I'd assume these men were Mortwell, Hask, and Tabe."
Eyes narrowed, Ysme counts the Warehouses along the shoreline. "This note was the bait." She states flatly.
A young-looking woman enters the warehouse, looking around. She blanches briefly at the sight of gore, but smiles -- dimples showing -- as she sees the group investigating. She's wearing studded leather armor, with a shortbow slung across her back and a pair of shortswords at her belt.
"Sheriff Hemlock told me to find you and tell you what we found out about these three," she says. "The victims are Tarch Mortwell, Lener Hask and Gedwin Tabe - local con men and swindlers, well known by the law. Hemlock said he knew their cons would get them beat up or worse some day but he never expected something like this. He thinks something worse than revenge afoot.
"The mad man the guards found near the scene is Grayst Sevilla, a local Varisian thug. He's not known for much other than being as muscle for the Sczarni."
"Oh, and me? I'm Jessamy Pierce, at your service. I've been in Sandpoint for a while, looking for a Devil, but so far I've just been working under Shalelu."
Pirknok stares at the newcomer uncomprehendingly as she blathers on, then frowns. "Thuh sheriff sent you?" he asks, not quite sounding as if he believes her.
"Yes. I was helping him since Shalelu left, and I guess he decided we should join forces."
"Hum... who's his lootenint?"
Quickly turning her face away to hide her smirk at Pirknok's rather clumsy attempt to force this newcomer to corroborate her story, Ysme turns once more to the young guardsman. "How many Caravans have been through lately? Have any of them mentioned problems with Sczarni?"
Turning back to Jessamy. "Ai folosit pentru a lucra cu Shalelu? Am crezut că ea a lucrat singur..."
"Two or three", the young guard says after a moment's thought.
"There's always trouble with the Sczarni..."
"Who owns thuh warehouse?"
The guard shakes his head again.
"Nobody. It's been abandoned for months. We have patrols come by here occasionally to try to keep the thugs and such from using it for their business but we can't be here all the time."
The dwarf nods. "Alright. Let's go talk ta thuh man who found 'um."
"Cred că ea a decis să facă o excepție pentru mine. Am fost ucenic ei." Jessamy gives a what-can-you-do shrug.
"I guess she decided to make an exception for me. I was her apprentice."
Ysme laughs out loud at Jessamy's response. She quickly stifles it, but her lips continue to quirk up for several minutes.
"Adventus, you have yet to say anything beyond declaring that we should question the survivor. Have you any thoughts regarding this?" As she once more presents the note.
Eli gets to work when he gets home. Marysin is disappointed but knows better than to badger him while he's in his lab.
Eli takes the vials he collected at the crime scene and starts to examine them under a microscope (not literally). He applies all the types of analysis he can imagine and invents one or two.
By the time the sun has been up for a couple hours, he is still at it, and he packs up and goes to meet the others, and missing them, he finds them at the newest crime scene, looking tired, but determined. He looks over the bodies.
The arrival of Jessamy gets a look from him, but he is too involved in his work to make too much note of her just yet.
Looking at the note, Jessamy looks around.
"Certainly looks like they were killed here. Did you lot look around?"
She gives the area a desultory once over, clearly assuming you've already looked to see if any clues were left behind by the killer or killers.
"Well, at least we have a better measure of our foe. Oi!" Ventus called to one of the guards, "Spread word around town that people should ignore missives from anyone claiming to be nobility, lest they want to end up like these men and tighten the curfew. Probably won't help much in the long run but it might stop a few of our foe's schemes," with that he dismissed the man.
"I doubt we'll have much luck looking for a motive to the killings, they look pretty opportunistic to me."
Studying the tooth and reading up on ghouls, Eli learns about the flesh-craving undead. They are undead and carry the typical traits common to the walking dead in addition they have a few unique abilities. First, they're horrifically strong, easily as strong as the strong as the strongest man - despite their emaciated frames and withered flesh. Second, they can spread a disease that putrifies the organs killing the victim and eventually turning him or her into one of the walking dead as well. Third, their claws can render a victim paralyzed - helpless for the ghoul to feast at their whim.
Perhaps a fresher specimen might uncover more information.
Studying the scene, Eli confirms that the three men were killed by the same creature as the other victims. Whatever attacked them most have been quite fearsome as the three victims were all quite healthy and fit in life. The monster appears to have not left anything behind at this scene.
***
Besides confirming that the whole scene is a gory mess, Jessamy uncovers no additional clues.
***
Ventus does indeed eventually find tracks leading back out towards the water.
"Interesting..." Ventus says as he finds the tracks.
"It appears our assailant strikes from the waters. The tunnels should take a backseat. I can't track a swimming creature but we can watch the waters more easily than the entire town."
Considering Adventus' revelation. "All the waters flow out to the sea, leaving little in the way of evidence...
Or !"
"We know the killer is Undead & generates an horrific stench. Their lair is undoubtedly well away from the town so no-one notices the stink."
"Wull... we shud still go talk ta thuh wun thuh guard found, shudint we?"
Ysme is aware that though many of the Sandpoint noble families have townhouses and holdings throughout the city, all of their estates are in the northern Alabaster district. This area is close to the coast.
"I don't know if it'll help -- the man's insane -- but maybe he can tell us something," Jessamy says, agreeing with the dwarf.
"Otherwise, there's a lot of water to search, and while I can swim a little, I'm no pirate."
"Assuming this person was truly a Noble in life, it would seem more likely they would be found near the Alabaster district, South of the Harbor." Ysme replies.
"However, yes, we should speak with the survivor, if for no other reason than that he is presently unique...
And we would like to find out why..."
The dwarf frowns. "You wuzint listenin, wuz you? Thuh note only hed three names on it, an' there wuz three bodies. Thuh wun they found izint uh serviver... eether he dun it or he jes happind ta seen et dun."
"Alright, witness then."
"And I know he could just...
He's not Pirknok, he couldn't be the killer!" Ysme responds exasperatedly.
Pirknok stares impassively back at the impertinent young woman. His voice when he speaks is flat and low, in the tone of an adult correcting a child; gentle, but with an undertone of the obvious. "Ah didint say he is."
Jessamy's head swivels back and forth as she sees the two argue.
Man, I don't know if I'd bicker that much with a dwarf? Doesn't she know they eat humans!
"Actually...
You might not have said he was, but you did imply he could be...
At least you implied he could be the killer." Ysme teasingly corrects her only companion now shorter than she.
"You want a ride?" Ventus asked the new girl, obviously ignoring the semantic argument occurring nearby. He did not wait for a reply before whistling shrilly. With a slight gust, Beaks swept over the nearby building and landed next to her master. The hippogrif chirped inquisitively at the newcomer, cocking her head to get a good look at the lady before nudging her with a large beak.
"And we'd better examine the witness too. He may have contracted an infection from the Ghoul." Eli says. "Hello, Jessamy, my name is Eli. You may have heard of my shop in town. I am an Alchemist." he offers his hand to Jessamy.
The dwarf just shakes his head at Ysme's statement, then dismisses her by turning to nod at Eli. "We shud go on over... thar's nuthin' else ta see here."
Jessamy shakes his hand, oblivious to the hippogrif approaching until it nudges her.
"Ahh!" she lets out a startled yell, jumping.
Dear gods above and below, what did they do to that poor horse?! They put a bird's head and feet on it! How is that even possible?!
Her hands reach momentarily for her blades before she realizes the foul -- fowl? -- creature appears to be under control.
"Um, no, I think I'm good. Thanks, though."
I bet people would be mighty impressed if I killed that thing. It looks fierce though.
Jessamy frowns at some thought.
"Should we, um, go?"
Pirknok looks over at the new girl, a slight frown creasing his forehead. That's what I've been saying... why is the Sheriff sending young girls to 'help' us? They're going to get themselves hurt.
After a moment, he turns and leaves, heading for the asylum.
The Saintly Haven of Respite, better known locally as Habe’s Sanatorium, is a grim three story building of hard stone lines.
A single iron door allows entry to the building with a sign warning visitors to knock in order to be granted entrance.