Magnar looks concerned. "A drink or two, sure. But a contest? If Kílien is right and orcs are on the move, they would likely attack at night. We cannot have Trunau's defenders inebriated or hungover."
He tries to dissuade Rodrik and Kurst, "What kind of shape will you be in for your watch shift?"
In an effort to be friendly, he partakes a bit, nursing his drinks and trying to convince them to slow down. Once he's finished two, he says, "Torag forbids it. In another time and place, maybe, but responsibility comes before pleasure. Good night, Rodrik, Kurst. Let's check out the Plague House in the morning."
He calls to the innkeeper, "Cham, save me a room, or at least a bed. I'm going to go take watch shift."
He leaves the tavern to head to a watchtower. He'll come back to the tavern to sleep afterwards.
A wide smile broke out on Geim's face. "Well, the only thing better than killer orcs is drinkin' dwarven ale. Cheers" he said as he raised his first mug.
Towards the end his cheeks turned a dark red and puffed out, his eyes crossed and swayed ever so slightly on his feet. He swallowed hard but it was not enough to keep all of the ale down and soon it stained his fine dwarven beard.
"Bah. Must be this human food. It's why you should never trust a belch" Geim said as he dusted his hands off on his pants.
Kílien feels uncomfortable, perhaps as much as Magnar, but his refusal to participate makes the dwarven "elf" feel even more stubborn about demonstrating her quality. Narrowing her eyes, she accepts the mugs and quietly stares down the two men while she drinks them down.
She tries to stand unhappily as the alcohol begins to come back up, and falls over next to her chair. Breathing hard, she curses herself as she begins to pass out. Clearly, her elven heritage has betrayed her, as everyone knows elves have a poor constitution.
Jorani participated happily in order to grease the wheels of further social encounters.
”Bottoms up, ladies and gentlemen! and he raises his mug and has as many drinks as he can stomach.
And after his fifth drink, Jorani is too drunk to continue. ”Hah, you’d think they would teach you how to hold yer liquor at Bard school ... then again, I never went to bard school, hic!” Jorani is drunk and begins to pontificate loudly about the relative merits of one type of stone vs. the other, which is only interesting to him.
Geim and Jorani are out, and only Kurst, Rodrik and Geim remain
Rodrik is going strong, and continues,
Kurst
Both kurst and rodrik get 2 more drinks in before they try to knock back another and they spill it on themselves
A loud CRASH opened Geim's eyes again. He squinted and blinked several times.
"HAH, that's some good stuff. You boys look 10 feet tall." He did not realize he was lying on his back, still clutching his empty mug. Then his head rolled to the side and he started snoring.
Rodrik and Kurst stop after you fall over, and you can somewhat make out (Almost as if a dream) Rodrik saying slurredly "Cham, you wouldn't happen to have 4 bottles of antitoxin? Put them on my tab but make sure they get them tommorow as I won't be here to give it here to give it to them myself. C'mon Kurst, let's bring these three up to their rooms."
You can somewhat remember Rodrik and Kurst bringing you up to your rooms, settling you in bed then going to get your companions. And it's a tired blur as
Magnar makes the rounds, checking the fortifications and listening for sounds beyond the range of his Darkvision. When it is time for his watch to end and another shift to take over, he goes back to the Ramblehouse.
I hope the others didn't get into too much trouble.
i realize i didn't say it in the post, but the tired blur is when you first wake up after a night's rest, so Magnar would be there to see the post
As Magnar does his watch, he sees the crosses or swords.
Perhaps he can make something of them, perhaps not.
Magnar wakes with the halfling's scream. He runs to see the problem.
"No! Rodrik!"
He tries casting Stabilize, but it is too late.
"Stay back! Don't disturb the scene - it may not be what it looks like."
He casts Guidance on himself, then examines the body, the position of the knife, and the blood. Does it seem like Rodrik killed himself, or was he murdered?
Kílien gapes and then quickly examines the scene looking for clues.
Jorani wakes up, blearily, at the sounds of screaming and commotion. He quickly readies himself and makes his way to where he hears the sounds. ”Rodrick... what happened?” He surveys the scene.
The snoring ended abruptly as Geim woke up, the screaming echoing throughout the establishment. He sat up slowly, rubbing his head with both hands. "What? What is it?" he asked to no one in particular.
Finally he swung his legs out of bed and soon the rest of him followed. He followed the bustling activity towards Rodrik's room, his eyes still half-closed as he walked, occasionally bouncing off the walls as he went. "What seems to be the trouble?" he asked, unable to see clearly into the room with so many already investigating.
His hopeknife is covered in blood, and his writs are both slit. As you look around you see a peice of paper on the dresser. Cham says to Geim "It's Rodrik, he killed himself. " and someone runs off to get the guards
Magnar wants to be sure. He notes details of the blood pool, the position of the body, the position of the knife, and tries to reconstruct the scene. Was Rodrik sitting, standing, or lying down when he did the deed? Which wrist did he start with? Are there other significant recent injuries?
Note that I don't actually need answers to these specific questions - really just "Does everything fit"? Magnar is being very meticulous and got a 20 on his Heal check.
There are no other significant injuries, it looks like he was lying down in bed when he did the deed. His head is propped up on a pillow. He started with his right wrist and then did his left. the knife is held straight up in his hand. on the hopeknife you see the words "To Rodrik, my love" Engraved on it
The note says "Dear Kurst. I'm sorry my brother, but I had to end it. The drama with father has become too much for me to bear, and I fear Brinya might never forgive me for losing her hopeknife. I hope you become the chief patrol sergeant, as I obviously will not be taking the position. Tell the strangers that they don't have to investigate the Ramblehouse, before I died I wanted to do the deed, so I went there, and defeated the three river trolls that had taken up residence there. Brinya, on the chance you're reading this; I'm sorry my love. You mean the world to me, and I'm sorry that it wasn't enough. I guess this is all, this is the last the world shall see of Rodrik Grast."
Also Kilien as you search around you look between the headboard and the wall, and see a peice of paper that says
Reciepte of Purchase
Customer: Rodrik Grath
Order: One Hopeknife
Additional Options: Engraving (This one is checked] Silver (Not checked) Matching Sheath (Not circled)
Engraving should read: For Rodrik, my love
Smith: Urnsal
Also with that perception, you search the drawer and see that there is a false bottom, but there is nothing in it.
Magnar is still suspicious.
"Awfully lucid writing for somebody who was up all night drinking. Oh, it gets better, first drinking, then fighting three trolls and receiving no injuries? Something stinks about this. We'll have to break the news to Kurst that his brother is dead, but I don't think it's suicide. I'm sure I missed something. Maybe there are samples of his writing we can compare. Or maybe he was under some magical effect.
And we will also have to tell this Brinya - looks like he commissioned a Hopeknife to replace one she gave him but he lost.
AND we'll have to check out the Plague House. Lots to do."
”Aye, seems to me that there’s trouble in Trunau. There’s no other explanation for the note. Do we contact Kurst, well... first?” Jorani shakes off some of the sleep and inebriation he’s been feeling.
"That would have to be powerful magic!" Kilien spits. She looks curiously at the knife he used. "I wonder," she muses, "what happened to the other knife. Perhaps he said more to the weaponsmith? It seems odd that he would commission a new one just to kill himself with it."
You hear the sound of armor clanking, and a gasp as Kurst enters the room, along with another man. Kurst begins to back up against the wall "Rodrik, no. Rodrik why would you do this." the man just says solemnly "Rodrik. Oh Iomedae, no. and he walks out of the room "Cham warm up the bar right now" and he pulls a flask from his side and takes a swig of it.
”Well, that solves the problem of telling Kurst. Should we try talking to him now or wait until later?” Jorani asks the party.
"Aye, that's a good question lass. Seems someone don't like what these boys where up to. That settles it then. Time for us dwarves to get involved...and you too Halfelf. You're on Team Dwarf now."
"Now first things first. Let's see if we can calm old boy down some, maybe have a few drinks in the process as well. I think better after a few ales. See if he can get us that writing sample while we're at it."
"Then we'll go see this weaponsmith, or what passes for one around these parts. After that, the plague house."
Kílien nods to Geim, and she breaks into a smile at being conscripted into "Team Dwarf". If she has reservations about being considered a dwarf, she keeps them to herself for now.
Jorani follows Kurst when the party is ready.
There he tries to engage Kurst in condolences and conversation
"Horrible business Kurst. Just horrible. Let's share a drink... what could have caused such a terrible event? He was so happy last night." Jorani tries to comfort Kurst by trying to make sense of the situation.
Kílien uncomfortably sits with Jorani and Kurst, nodding in what she hopes looks like sympathy.
Magnar keeps an eye on the surroundings, looking for anybody poking around or acting suspicious.
Of course, this situation is bound to attract attention, but he's interested if there is anybody acting more than just curious. Like somebody trying to cover some tracks.
When you guys ask him a question he looks beside him, as if he expected someone else to answer his question for him, and then he begins crying even more. Through his tears Kurst says "Nothing, He didn't kill himself. I know my brother better then anyone, and He wouldn't have killed himself. Even if he hated his life he would have stayed strong for Brinya. THey were going to be married, no matter what father and the rest of the town said. I won't dishonor his memory by believing this farce, he didn't kill himself. Rodrik was the best investigator the guard had, now without him there are a bunch of half-wits who don't know jack about investigation, you guys need to find his killer. I'd reccomend talking to Brinya or Omast, Brinya was his Fiance, and Omast is a longtime family friend, an uncle to me and Rodrik."
The events of the morning brought Jorani out of his stupor and his mind into focus. This was no time for a hangover.
”Aye lad, we’ll investigate for you. I can’t say we’ll get to the bottom of it - Golarion is filled with uncountable magics of obfuscation, but we can put our best foot forward and try. You were with him last night, when was the last time you saw him? We need to establish a time of death so that when we get suspects we can determine whether alibis are reliable. We don’t think he killed himself either, it doesn’t seem likely.”
"Yes," says Magnar, "I don't think it was suicide either. Just a hunch. If an investigator is murdered, a good place to start is to follow up what he was investigating. The Plague House? If this note is a fake, and I think it is, somebody wants us to steer clear of there. So that's where we should go. But we should to go Brinya first, I think."
"Brinya's is closer...I think, and shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Then we can go to the Plague House and see what secrets she holds."
Rodrik has a generous drink, but not very much, he wants to stay top of his game for the day. "You might want to talk to Omast about the plague house as well, he might know something. I appreciate you doing this for me. The last time I saw him was when he brought me home last night, about 15 minutes after we brought you up to your room."
Kílien is stunned and frustrated, but tries to remain calm and composed like her elven family taught her. More delays, more obstacles! she frets, and she easily gives in to the paranoia that there are enemies all around. They must have already infiltrated the town! she thinks. Then she breathes deeply and looks at her dwarven companions. Fortunately, these dwarfs I happened upon are above reproach. And I think we can safely cross Rodrik off the list of potential traitors.
Grimly, she nods to the others and prepares to get down to an investigation."I suppose we must figure out what happened before those responsible can undermine the town's courage and defenses. This seems to me like part of a carefully crafted plan, not a spontaneous act. Our adversaries will surely have left evidence of their interference here."
"Let's go see Brinya then, I'm ready when you all are." He turns to Kílien, "This may even be part of the attack - or it may just be bad blood. We have to determine which."
Magnar nods. "She's going to think it's her fault. If she was angry at Rodrik for losing the Hopeknife she gave him. We'll have to tell her our suspicions that it wasn't suicide, and ask if she knows of enemies he might have had. But I think his investigation was the most likely cause of his murder. Maybe it relates to the orc movements somehow?"
Kurst says "Maybe it is part of the attack, it does seem odd how he was murdered as you come into town bearing news of an orc invasion. Do you have any questions about Rodrik or about town going-ons."
Kílien says, "Did Rodrik make any new friends in the last few days, that you know of? It seemed like the two of you did a lot of things together, so did he spend time elsewhere on things that you weren't invited to recently?"
"We'll talk to Omast about the Plague House and Rodrik's investigation there.
Were there any other investigations he was working on?
And did Rodrik keep records of his investigations? A journal, perhaps?"
Magnar stands near the human and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"If it wasn't suicide - if it was murder - we will find the culprits and avenge your brother."
"Aye, aye, less talk, more walkin'. We gots things to do. People to question, a Plague House to search and an invasion to stop, eh Halfelven?" Geim's humor was lost on most.
"Did anything else happen in town that is different? Was anyone acting differently or did anyone else disappear or arrive recently?
He smiles sadly "My brother and I spent much time together, but we were adults with our own life. I don't know about any new friends, I always assumed when he didn't invite me he was fooling around with Brinya or writing one of his plays. I'd go to Brinya first, that way she might be able to hear it from the investigators. Hopefully, the news hasn't reached her yet if you visit her first. I'll see if I can find a journal that I might not know about, he was always a better investigator then me. The only other thing he was mildly interested at the moment was the white crosses painted all around the town. I can't think of any disappearances or odd going-on. If there were any visiting family members I'd know about it, but I wouldn't know if someone stayed at the Ramble house, you'd have to ask Cham."
"Looks like we have a lot of leads to follow. Let's start by visiting Brinya as Kurst suggests."
"Agreed. Kurst, we'll check in with ya in a few hours. If ya don't hear from us, come lookin'."
Jorani nods and prepares to go with Magnar and Geim.