*Crickets chirp*
Cassiel goes with Steef and Ezekiel to the Unfurling Scroll.
"Good evening, sir. We've heard that you have a book that may be of some interest to us. Mind if we take a look?"
If Alendru lets them see the book, Cassiel uses Detect Magic on it.
"Ohhh...a collector, eh? Be right back."
He heads into the back room and quickly comes back with the books. It is a plain leather book, very well bound, but with no apparent title.
"It doesn't really have a title, but most call it the 'Flesh Golem Manual'. All kinds of nifty things in here for those with the magical know-how and funds to make use of it."
"I'll be quite honest with you...I'm pretty sure it's stolen. Only copy I know of belongs to some professor at Lepidstadt University. Probably can't sell something this hot or this valuable around here, really, so I kinda want to pass it off before someone comes looking for it. But it's a valuable piece, can't just part with it for free, you know?"
"I hear you guys are going to Lepidstadt in a month. Whoever 'lost' this book is probably willing to pay a pretty penny to get it back...probably more than market value, it being so hard to find a repalcement. I'll tell youw hat, I'll give it to you before you go on two conditions. First, you put in a good word for me at the University when you get there. Tell them old Alendru is paying them back and then some for a favor they did me a while back. I want back in, to continue my studies. Second, find out who the hell is behind defiling the Harrowstone Memorial. My cousin died in that fire, sweet lass she was, and I won't be having someone disrespect her memory."
"Hehe, I knew it. A fellow practitioner of the finer arts? I tell you, getting the chance to flip through this thing is the opportunity of a lifetime. If we're being perfectly honest with each other I may have sneaked a peek myself, jotting down some of the more applicable formulae for future reference."
Ezekiel doggedly searches for clues.
"Sounds like we have a deal!"
Cassiel takes the book and shakes hands with Alendru, then follows Ezekiel to the defaced memorial.
He uses Detect Magic on the statue and the surrounding area while Ezekiel searches for mundane clues.
"Hold on there, sonny. You get the book AFTER you've investigated the desecration. Don't worry, I won't try to trick you or hold back...you know where I live after all! Kehehehehehe!"
------------------------------------------------
Ezekiel finds nothing else around the area, even after searching for the better part of two hours. Cassiel also finds little...but there is a faint trace of Necromancy magic hanging over the area. In fact, Cassiel notices that the entire town has undertones of it. Nothing large or ostentatious, and barely noticeable, but there. Whatever magic there is here is extremely weak, or remains as the last lingering vestiges of a spell of Necromancy performed a VERY long time ago.
It is now approaching late afternoon, around 5 PM.
Shoukichi takes a stroll around town, gathering rumors about the desecrated statue.
Rumors abound about the descration. Some say it was ghosts, others say it was just some pranksters, and others still think it could be anything from Necromancers, to vampires, to hobgoblins.
You do stumble across a rumor repeated a few times...but not related to what you were searching for.
"You know, I heard Jominda Fallenbridge does more than brew potions—she brews drugs and poisons as well and sells them through agents in other towns."
"You know, that makes perfect sense! Why else would the sheriff be so interested in her business?"
Ezekiel goes to ask the Sheriff if he's got any leads on the desecration.
"Nothing concrete, and nothing I'd share with you. Get lost."
Jules decided to head into the Ravengro Forge; sure, his unused shortbow and finely sharpened Kukri had done him good, but he longed for a blade more swift, more briskful, more . . . agile.
"Hello, welcome to the Forge, how may I help you today?" a middle-aged dwarf woman asks as you walk in the door.
"Hello there, miss! I am, with the accompaniment of some friends, on business here of retrieving and delivering tomes borrowed from the late Professor Lorrimor; however, being a native of Lepidstadt since birth, I know the dangerous trek to follow." Jules let the flow of his words resonant through the air as he told his need to the blacksmith.
"And thus, in such haste, I have visited you today to inquire about obtaining some more powerful weaponry."
"Well, I've got most of your common weapons here, short and longswords, pikes, bows, and so on. I can make anything special you need pretty quick so long as you can describe it to me."
Shoukichi goes to the Sheriff and asks him for any leads on the crime.
"I know you've probably been bombarded by requests for leads, but I've got a knack for investigation. Let's make a deal. You deputize me, and I'll get this case over if you give me the info I need."
"I already told your goat-headed friend to beat it. Next one of you that comes in here asking me for my evidence is getting you all tossed in jail under suspicion. Beat it."
Ezekiel goes to the temple and asks if they know what the "V" stood for.
"Vehicle? Variable? Vandalism, even? There are lots of words that start with V, and that's assuming it's not merely the initial of the vandal's name or something of significance only to them."
Ezekiel asks if they have a dictionary, and if they do, he begins carefully paging through the V section, looking for anything that would catch his eye.
Ezekiel decides to lie in wait every night for something to show up.
As Shoukichi walks back to the house, he comes across a group of little girls playing in the street, skipping rope and singing a song.
They trade off lines, and the song catches his attention due to its fairly...unique content for a children's song.
Put her body on the bed.
Take a knife and lop her head.
Watch the blood come out the pipe.
Feeds the stirge, so nice and ripe.
Drops of red so sparkly bright.
Splatters spell her name just right.
With a hammer killed his wife.
Now he wants to claim your life.
Tricksy father tells a lie.
Listen close or you will die.
Ezekiel rests up during the day. He also makes sure that all the others will go along with the plan.
watch this
1) something comes along
2) cassiel casts summon monster 1
3) jules and ezekiel smash it
4) steef and shoukichi shoot it
Nothing happens that night.
Cassiel gets ready to summon a Celestial Eagle on Shoukichi's signal.
Ezekiel rests up and then waits the next night.
You all see a number of tracks forming near the statue, heading in the direction of Harrowstone.
Shoukichi approaches the girls and asks them where they heard that song.
He then walks home and ponders the meaning of the song while scratching his ear.
Put her body on the bed.
Take a knife and lop her head.
Watch the blood come out the pipe.
Feeds the stirge, so nice and ripe.
Drops of red so sparkly bright.
Splatters spell her name just right.
With a hammer killed his wife.
Now he wants to claim your life.
Tricksy father tells a lie.
Listen close or you will die.
The children stop and look at Shoukichi warily, but are put at ease by his friendly nature.
"Oh, it's just something that's been around forever. All the kids around here know it." one of the little girls says.
Shoukichi passes by everyone, all waiting to murder some random passerby, and goes back to the Temple.
On the way, he keeps an open ear for any rumors and just general chatter.
"Hello again! I've come back for more studies."
He then promptly goes to the back of the library to find books about Harrowstone's great fire and the prisoners within the prison.
However, his research takes him nowhere further than his own prior knowledge.
Shoukichi finds some details on the prisoners. Besides all the other despicable criminals, there were 5 that were the most notable: Father Charlatan, the Lopper, the Mosswater Marauder, the Piper of Illlmarsh, and the Splatter Man.
Shoukichi focuses his research onto a prisoner known as the Lopper, looking to see if his criminal history has any relevance to a certain children's song.
When the Lopper (real name Vance Saetressle) stalked prey, he would hide in the most unlikely of places, sometimes for days upon end with only a few supplies to keep him going while he waited for the exact right moment to strike. Once his target was alone, the Lopper would emerge to savagely behead his victim with a handaxe.
On what? The footprints?
Cassiel uses Detect Undead on the footprints.
Cassiel detects no undead, per se. The footprints ping lightly, barely registering as an aura (even weaker than a faint one), and the vague outline of a wheeled cart becomes visible for a split second.
Ezekiel follows the prints.
They lead up to the entrance of Harrowstone...and then vanish as if they never were.
Ezekiel goes into Harrowstone.
Cassiel grabs the back of Ezekiel's collar.
"Now hold on a second, buddy. Do you remember what happened the last time you went parading through that gate?"
He casts Resistance on himself, Ezekiel, and whoever else is going in.
"Now's as good a time as any to go in, but that doesn't mean we can't be better prepared."
Ezekiel passes through the gate...and nothing happens. Whatever haunting was on the gate appears to have been expended.