While Miranda and Varuzhan move through the opened doorway, Boros returns to the stairs leading further down into the hidden halls, once again making sure that their explorations suffer no inconvenient interruptions from behind. Particularly since a fight now would definitely draw unwanted attention from the boarding house's other residents. Though this sort of work isn't much to his liking, he understands that it needs to be done to properly secure this place, and he's rather pleased that he has competent companions to manage the parts he'd rather avoid doing himself.
Aldous stands in the hallway, wondering why the rest don't file into the room. Ahhh, the light. Impatiently, the barrister hops from foot to foot, squinting into the darkness. Sending a whisper towards the strix, Aldous pushes his glasses up his nose. "Well then! What do you see?"
The first thing Varuzhan does is pick up the book on the ground and put it back. The second is to lock the only door into the room, if that's possible. The third is to go back to the others to report. "The room is clear, and is very orderly. We can probably look around, but be sure to put everything back where you found it."
Varuzhan peers carefully at the stack of papers, wondering if that would shed light on the identity of the resident here.
Varuzhan places the book back where it used to be, then takes a look at the door. No key is in place, as such, locking it(if indeed it is unlocked) would require someone more skilled. On the other side of the door, some muffled talking can be heared, but likely a good distance away.
After reporting to the others, Varuzhan takes a look at the stack of papers. It's letters or correspondences, invoices and similar adressed to one "Sabato Varus", albeit without opening them there was little else to learn...
Slipping into the room, Aldous squints at the documents Varuzhan stands by, the name "Sabato Varus" kicking around his head. "Varus, Varus... sounds like it should be familiar."
Miranda carefully tip-toes into the room after Varuzhan, looking for any obvious personal affections. If this room was indeed still in use maybe they could give a hint? Oooh! I really do hope the summoner doesn't come back anytime soon!
After her quick search she shuffles back to the other and shares Varhuzan's discovery in a hushed whisper. "Sabato Varus?"
.
Varuzhan sets down the papers. The name was utterly unfamiliar to him, but someone else might know. He whispers to the others.
"Anything else we want to look at? I'll keep an ear at the door for trouble if there is." Varuzhan will play lookout if anyone else wishes to probe further. .
The name did sound familiar. You think you remember it with something work-related...a year or two ago...not a case your law firm handled, but still something you picked up. A middle-aged bastard son of a noble family from outside Kintargo...he was aquainted with one of the older girls from Lady Docur's school for girls, who went missing - he was one of the suspects, but was cleared of charges when nothing could be proved. Also, he had an alibi from the servants of having been at home all night when she disappeared.
Aldous snaps his fingers, obviously pleased with himself. "Of course!" he says, the barrister's voice flushed with excitement, "Varus is a middle-aged bastard from a noble family outside of the city, and also possibly a predator. He was acquainted with one of the older girls from Lady Docur's school for girls, a student who went missing, and to my knowledge, never found. Varus was a suspect, but ultimately produced an alibi: his servants claimed he was home all night when the girl disappeared."
Wandering over to the bookshelves, Aldous examines the titles, looking for themes or sections of like-minded works, trying to get an idea of what type of person lived - or lives - here. "Think this was - or is - one of Varus' properties? A secret meeting place, perhaps?" Running his finger along the bookshelf, Aldous holds it up to his glasses, looking to see how much dust he's picked up.
Aldous runs his finger along the bookshelf, and is surprised to find almost no dust at all. Repeating his action on top of the bookshelf, his finger is still almost dust-free.
When Nissim arrives in the room he begins to look about for any signs the occupant is a practitioner of magic. He checks the bookcases first, then moves on to other areas for any signs that would point to an interest in summoning, or if not that, a particular type of magical specialization.
"It's interesting that you mention the missing girl Aldous. If he is the one responsible, his motive might have been more... esoteric than the usual. Were there any signs of human remains near the summoning circle?"
There's a wide range of books. One of the book-cases is entirely devoted to entertainment of varying sorts, from children books to opera plays. One of the cases contains scientific books on all kinds of topics, magic among them but not a main focus. The last one has religious texts, stuff on politics, diplomacy and etiquette, as well as those books that did not really fit any of the other categories.
"Hmm." Miranda hums softly as she looks around in the room, searching for *something*. Not sure what though. But I can't seem to find it ..! "There was an awful lot of bones down there. Hmm."
Varuzhan gives Nissim the Guidance of his Strix ancestors.
Aldous nods, grim at the possibility that Nissim has raised. "Indeed, master Siverto. I'm both ashamed and happy that the thought didn't occur to me... Oh, magic!"
Pulling a random book on magic from the shelf, Aldous flips through it idly, his mind tumbling through the possibilities. If he were pressed in a court of law, Aldous Beauturne would have to admit this was kind of... fun.
"The school for girls is nearby. Have there been other disappearances, I wonder?"
Lily looks over the selection of books, having eventually followed the others into the tiny room, finger tapping her lower lip. "Whoever it is... seems to be very meticulous. I don't see any dust, and everything is 'in its place' so to speak. Maybe it's simply that someone has been hired to keep everything organized, but if not..." she trails off. "None of the bones seemed to be human." she says, looking to Miranda. "Mostly just various sorts of animals... if that's what you're suggesting..?"
"Okay, so let's summarize. Sabatu Varus is a serial kidnapper and summoner of evil creatures. He's taken over our tunnels to use as his own personal laboratory. And he bought a pet lizard, which we've now knocked unconscious. Seems like scum to me, right? If he's actually eloped and abandoned this place, then our best option is to just seal this doorway up. But if he sleeps here at night, it seems like we could easily capture him tonight for some questioning. Does that sound right?"
Varuzhan is perhaps surprisingly indifferent to attacking this unknown man in the middle of the night. In his view, Sabato is a perfect example of the type of human villain that corrupted his homeland.
As is his habit, Nissim is far less tuned in to the tenor of the conversation than he is concerned with sifting facts.
"He may have had a hand in the girls disappearance, but was her death ever certain? With a second girl, a friend of the first's, also involved with him, she could have left town due to her discovery of them. Or something else may have happened. His focused attention on the school's students is suspicious though."
"There's nothing here in his library that suggests more than an avid and well-educated reader's interest in arcana of any type, but he may have kept such books down in his... experimental rooms to keep his interest a secret. It seems there were no human bones downstairs, so my speculation has no basis beyond coincidence at his time. It is nearly certain he dabbled in summoning."
"All of that said, Lily is certainly correct about his meticulous habits. It would not necessarily be easy to figure him out from a swift examination of his room if he did not want to reveal anything."
Rexus steps closer, also taking a look at the room:"So...what now?"
Varuzhan, who's mostly just guarding the door listening for sounds of approach, simply shrugs. "I'm done here, I say we erase our tracks, seal up, and investigate the tunnel in the other direction."
"Yes, I think we've done almost all we can here, for now at least. There is one more thing though..."
Nissim searches around the room for a handwriting sample. Something that is portable like a list or some notes would be best since he plans to take it with him. A paper discarded in the garbage would be perfect.
"Yepp, let's explore the rest!" Miranda agreed. There didn't seem to be much of note here anyhow, not even some little trinket ...
Even though Miranda tried several times, nothing in the room pinged for her. It seemed that whatever psychic residue had ever been attached to any objects here, it was gone for a while already.
Nissim, meanwhile, found the garbage can. To his dismay, the inside of the can was cleaner than the plates in most of the restaraunts he knew. Nissim does remember some written notes downstairs, with the ingredients next to the magic circle, though. IF they are from Varus, of course.
Inspecting the room, the books, then exchanging information all took a while, and when you eventually decide to hide your tracks and withdraw into the tunnel to be able to talk more easily, it's not a moment too soon, as Varuzhan hears someone approaching the door.
You manage to quickly hide behind the bookcase and move it back into position even as someone knocks on the door, calling out the tenants name. You decide to stay behind the bookshelf, to listen in and not make too much noise. You hear a female voice whistling a merry tune, only interrupted by an intonation of some muffled Draconic that roughly translates to "Death to Dust", albeit it seems pretty clear from intonation that the owner of the voice has no idea how to pronounce Draconic.
If you were to wait that long, about 20 minutes later, the voice leaves again and the room door is re-locked.
Eventually, however, you make your way back down.
The pet lizard is still soundly asleep. But again, you find yourself at a crossroad again. While Nissim checks the Alcove for a handwriting sample, some others take a look at the bones again...no human remains, there, still.
Eventually, both of these tasks are done, too, leaving as directions the secret door you found when the amphibian surprised you, or the watery path it came from.
Varuzhan is quite glad that they both got out in time and managed to have housekeeping come in to clean up the place. Seemed like a perfect way to ensure that their tracks were covered!
After getting enough distance to ensure safe conversation, Varuzhan discusses their next course of action. "I think we agree not to enter the water, right? If so, we should move on to the other secret door next."
"Oh that makes sense!" Miranda comments once the maid is well out of hearing range. When finished sharing her brief thoughts she nods in agreement with Varuzhan. "Let's at least save the water for last! Secret doors here we come."
Straining his ears, the barrister leans against the back of the bookcase, hoping to catch the tenant's name as the cleaner works.
" Agreed Miranda. We've had a taste of what the water down here is like already. Other options are better options."
With the rest of the party back from the room upstairs, and just in time by the sound of things, Boros once more assumes a guard position at the rear of the group. He keeps a wary eye on the water, just in case, but figures that the bound lizard would have seen to anything weaker than it and avoided anything else, so it's likely safe enough. While the door is opened, he makes sure to keep off to the side, in the event that there are any defense present to be sprung. "Can't wait to see what's behind this," he says with an amused tone. "It feels like a month gettin' to this point, you know?"
"Well... some of us have." Lily responds, being the opposite of nonplussed. She refreshes the light spell on the bolt loaned to Boros - despite there being a voice-activated light with them - it was a good idea not to rely on something that could be turned off by anyone who happened to actually own this location, after all... and while it seemed clear the man had disappeared, that didn't mean he hadn't simply sequestered himself down here with his work... whatever that would mean.
Varuzhan does what he normally would at a doorway, and make sure that it's not trapped in some way.
If he doesn't see anything, he opens the door.
Varuzhan presses the stone, causing the secret door to unlock with an audible click. It can be pressed open easily enough after that, opening the view to the room beyond.
The walls and floor are of the same make as outside the chamber, suggesting this area was not newly excavated. It may, long ago, have served as a premium storage area for contraband of all sorts.
Right now, the contents are slightly more macabre.
There's a small caged-off area in the southeastern corner of the room, the emaciated corpse of a female person inside - at least the clothing would indicate that it's either a young female, or a male that liked wearing dresses.
In the southwestern corner, there's a mattress, with a rather well-conserved second female corpse on it, wearing a black linen tunic. Next to the mattress, there's a mutilated body that would need a medical examination(and a strong stomach) to identify, it's clothing torn and mutilated beyond recognition(same as with the innards).
There's also a table, with an open book on it, and several more books on a cupboard mounted on top of the table, and a single chair in front of it. The sweet stench of decay permeates the stale air in the room.
Gagging a bit as the reek hits him, Boros staggers back from the open door, though both reactions are more due to surprise than revulsion. While the room's contents are certainly unpleasant, he's been around worse and his stomach is pretty nard to turn. "Well, it looks as though the mystery of Varus' disappearance is solved," Boros says conversationally, having gotten a briefing of what the others learned on the way down to the hidden door. "Because I'll wager a good sum o' coin that the corpse with most o' its insides turned to outsides is his, and the other two are the missin' girls he was messin' with." Giving the cage and its occupant a grim look, he shakes his head briefly. "Sure hope she was dead before this happened, though I somehow doubt it."
Varuzhan turns his face away as the initial wave of stench reaches his nostrils. But he endures the odor. "A sensible hypothesis," suggests Varuzhan at the scene. "If only that body wasn't so torn apart. The body of the girls I understand. But that body? What could've killed him while he was in this secret room?"
Entering the room, the stirge looks for signs that might indicate a particular kind of creature. Perhaps a bloody footprint or the like. He tries to see whether the mutilated body looks like it was eaten, or if it was just mutilated for fun.
"Make sure that door doesn't close until we're certain it opens from the inside" Nissim says as he looks at the scene. "If the girl on the mattress starved like the one in the cage seems to have, that could be the reason."
"I wouldn't bet against your idea Boros. The thing I wonder about is the order of deaths. Was Varus last to die, and responsible for the girls? Or first, with the girls left to their fates? Of course other combinations are also possible."
Nissim takes out a small vial of peppermint oil and applies some to a handkerchief. He holds it up over his nose to mask the odor.
"Anyone else?" he asks, holding up the vial.
"I carry this for my headaches, but it is also good for times like this."
Nissim waits to take a look at the corpses. He is not anxious to do it. Instead he walks to the desk and shelves to look at the books.
Miranda exclaims in disgust and scampers to cover her nose. When Nissim offers his vial she eagerly accept, applying some directly to her finger and rubbing it underneath her nose. "Much better ... Thanks!"
Unwilling to poke around in the gory mess they suspected were Varus Miranda instead started off by finding something she could jam underneath the door to prevent it from moving. With that done and done she looked around in the room for any strong imprints; this really seemed like a place for that! "He did mess with demons; one of those could probably do this. And I'm not sure I want to know how!"
Lily doesn't even come close to entering the room. The cloyingly sweet smell emanating from the door tells her all that she needs to know - that she isn't interested in the scene. Unfortunately, it also tells her stomach a bit more. Her muscles, weakened by her particular brand of flu, have difficulty resisting the angry upheaval... but luckily, those muscles were tired as well.
She backs quickly out of the small corridor into the main room, panting as she tries to catch her breath. She stays kneeled down legs tucked towards her chest as she tries to keep a low profile, while staying out of the way, and noping just about as much as she can nope as the others reveal the scene in such a way that leaves her with only a build-a-block set of clues as to what happened and the horror within.
The bile rises in Aldous' throat as his stomach flips while the barrister takes in the horror within the room. "Excuse me... I'll see to Lily."
Swallowing hard, Aldous steps outside the room, checking the door as he does so to make sure it will open from the inside. Safely beyond the doorway, he turns to the young lady and nods, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Gruesome. They're better suited for this kind of thing than us more genteel folk."
Lingering in the doorway, Aldous scans the room, making sure not to take in the dead girls too deeply. However, he forces himself to look at the other body, in an effort to divine the cause of death.
Boros watches in sympathy as Lily quickly looks in and just as quickly leaves again, followed shortly thereafter by Aldous. "I'm guessin' this is well out of the usual experience for most o' you," the soldier remarks as he begins to carefully and methodically inspect each of the bodies in turn, though he refrains from touching them during his examinations. "Wish I could say as much myself, but I have actually seen worse than this. Hells, I've done worse, to be honest. And this likely won't be the last mess o' this sort we'll be seein' either."
"Bhe smell is bhe worsb parb." Miranda notes, still clutching her nose with both hands. The stench of decay was still threatening to overpower her senses. Bleh! Maybe if we started rebelling earlier? But then she didn't really think someone freshly disembowelled had a nicer aroma. "Ab leasb I can choose not to look!"
As Lily exits the room again, with Aldous remaining nearby, at the entrance, the remainder of the group more boldly(or reluctantly) enters(mostly so because the room in the doorway is limited, especially with Aldous there).
Nissim, handing out some aromatic oil to those who wish to partake in it, heads on over to the work desk. On a first glance, there's more handwritten sheets here, and the books, overall, seem to deal with demon summoning. A heretic practise, considering Cheliax's state religion.
As Miranda tries her best to read residual psychic energies, something seems to respond from the direction of the girl on the bed.
Varuzhan, cautiously, scans the room for whatever could have been responsible for the unidentified person's death. It would seem there's no tracks of any sort - especially since there's actually a fine layer of greasy dust on the surfaces of the room, marking your own passing with every step you take. If whatever killed the person was still here, it must have been dormant for a good while.
As for the cause of death, Boros attempted to find out more - the state of decay makes it hard to tell, but most things usually in a person's body still seem to be there - just not inside, where one would expect them. His experienced soldier-y opinion would be that the person was cut open and anything graspable ripped out with violent force.
As Boros turns to continue his inspection with the body of the caged female, the girl on the bed suddenly jerks upward. Without hesitation, or waiting, she launches herself towards the soldiers back, with Miranda and Varuzhan shouting out a warning simultaneously, but too late as her wail also stirs the other body's into activity.
Her claws dig deeply into Boros back, catching him off-guard for 11 damage. Boros feels paralyzed with fear for a moment, but it passes quickly as his trained reactions take over .
But only a moment later, the cut-open body on the floor grabs the soldiers Feet, the lower end of the torso ripping of from the violent motion and the already-inflicted wounds.
The girl in the cage raises, like a puppet on strings, glancing in the direction of the arcane caster near the books...Nissim. With an unnatural hatred, she spits a glob of acidic pile towards him, hitting the unaware witch straight in the face, causing 8 damage.
Nissim was lucky that he happened to blink that very moment, as the aggressive liquid may well have temporarily blinded him if not.
Surprise Round
Only Bed Girl gets to act...stands up and wails as she launches herself towards Boros.
Round 1 - the bold may act.
Bed Girl
Cage Girl
Evisceratee
Nissim -8 HP; 15/23
Lily
Varuzhan
Aldous
Miranda
Boros -11 HP; 2/19; grappled(by Evisceratee)
Rexus