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Gary, watching the elf with crossed arms, just sits frowning. "I may not know Elvish words, but I am assuming that you are calling us things that should make even Amri blush. Gwen, what is he spouting off, and doesn't he know he shouldn't strain himself too much?" he asked, nodding towards the sorceress. The barbarian wasn't used to interrogation, but was starting to take mental notes of how to perform a successful questioning service.
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"Anera ... hm" Graka seems a little lost in thought, then slaps the elf on his back. "I'm sure you will find a new important person to guard. And if not in the spire, maybe try in Magnimar or something." with a wicked grin, she leaves the bodyguard, and goes to check what that Kilik is doing with the corpse.
Thanzeril nods, then squats outside the door and begins meditating, trying to regain his thoughts.
Sephirel's corpse is still in the room, the body magically preserved and rearranged in a more respectful position. "Killik said he was returning to his bunk." Thanzeril says. "Hmpf, he said the Captain would pay him extra for this. How inappropriate."
With the body preserved and the metallic smell of blood removed, you smell a strong, heady perfume permeate the room.
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"You just keep trying to kill him." She gags him and questions the other two individually just to make sure their stories match.
When she is done, she returns to Sephirel's chamber to find the others and compare notes, telling them what she's learned (translating as needed).
Giovanni, Gwen and Hawk enter and quickly smell some perfume. Where to next?
In the Captain's Cabin (Area 4), Captain Veane is at his desk, writing entries in his log book and comparing sea charts. "I heard you actually kept those intruders alive," he mentions, referring to the aquatic elves. "We're perfectly in our rights to execute them as a warning to other potential attackers." After that, he's head down in his books.
Azuretta, the half-elf, lounges on the Captain's bed, reading a fashion book and humming to herself. She holds up a hand as she finishes the chapter, then sticks a bookmark inside and closes the book. "Oh? Are you here for me?" She asks coyly.
Azuretta's perfume smells strongly of cinnamon, jasmine, and umberberries. This is the same scent of perfume that was at the murder scene.
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Walking behind the group, Gary starts sneezing up a storm as the sweet yet spicy smell of perfume invades his nostrils. Teary eyed, the half-orc looks at Azuretta, "What is wrong with you?! By the gods, I can't breathe in here with all that, that smell. How do you manage? Agh!" Rubbing his eyes, Gary moves outside of the cabin. As he is waiting outside, there is the sound of sniffing, snorting, and other noises giving away the face that the barbarian may or may not have allergies to something in the perfume.
Azuretta looks confused as Gary has a reaction, but then frowns as Will questions her. "Oh. Sephirel. I was going to write off the Mordant Spire elves as racist elitists." She sits up, then stiffles a yawn. "But Thanzeril... he is much nicer, by the way. He cheered me up once when Sephirel yelled at me, called me a dirty half-bred harlot. Hmpf. I wanted to learn more about the Mordant Spire, and thank Thanzeril in private."
She seems more animated as she goes on about meeting Thanzeril. "Oh no, don't tell me you think he's the murderer? When I last saw Sephirel, he was asleep on his bed. I asked Thanzeril to step outside, asked him for some privacy, and by the time we returned from the forward hold Sephirel was dead." She smiles, revealing her row of pearly white teeth.
Azuretta giggles, as she's clearly enjoying the attention. "No no, I was there before Sephirel was killed, when I propositioned Thanzeril. That meeting went well. Besides, I'm sure you've seen I'm not the strongest fighter here, unlike you all. I couldn't harm a fly if I wanted to." While she may have had more than a "talk" with Thanzeril and downplaying her physical strength, she doesn't seem to be hiding falsehoods.
"My apologies to Gary. If he wants to we can find out which scent he reacted badly to. Anything else I can help you with?"
"Now now, I'm not exactly the kind to kiss and tell." Azuretta giggles. "Buuut, the Captain distrusts the first mate. Of course he'd never say that out loud, we all like Marzack Millik. But the Captain talks in his sleep."
You hear the captain's exasperated sigh. "I'm right here, you know."
"I guess I'm saying too much already. Hopefully you find the murderer soon, I don't want to get stabbed in the middle of the night." And with that, Azuretta grabs her book and starts reading a chapter about hats that are in-season.
"A captain needs to remain neutral and loyal to his entire crew above all circumstances." Captain Veane glares at Azuretta. Her eyes are glued to the book, yet she smiles as the captain finishes. "My First Mate is well liked among the crew, as he should be. If I were to openly accuse him, without solid proof," he shakes his head. "Morale would certainly drop. Mutiny would be likely. It's why I need you all to investigate and bring me proof."
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"Right. So what you are saying is, you feel in your bones that it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the First Mate is involved in this little problem, but there is no proof. If he is as well-liked as you say, I do not doubt that he had at least one accomplice..."
Giovanni turns to the others.
"Whom would you like to speak to next?"
On the main deck , First Mate Marzack Millik is busy washing the blood stains off of the deck. This middle-aged human is whistling to nothing in particular. He smiles as you approach.
"Hey folks! Let's hope those clouds don't indicate a storm, eh?" He looks up at the clouds above. "Maybe the gods will smile on us for the next few days. The captain will need it when the Mordant Spire elves find out what happened to their diplomat. If he's lucky, he'll only lose his ship."
The First Mate seems pretty happy that the Captain will lose his ship when they arrive at the Spire.
"Hey! We don't talk about that kind of stuff here. My duty is to report any mutinous thoughts to the Captain. Luckily we're a tightly knit crew, so we'd never do something like that. But outsiders like Thanzeril? You know, he and Sephirel argued constantly during this trip. I wouldn't be surprised if the bodyguard 'failed' his duty on purpose earlier today." Millik swabs some blood on the deck away.
"Then again, I can see why you're so suspicious. I mean, Killik didn't even try to save Sephirel- he just preserved the body. Some cleric he is. And Anera? She hates elves. I mean, REALLY hates elves. I wouldn't be surprised if...no, she doesn't hate them that much." He then gives a knowing wink to the party, as if he doesn't have to say it out loud.
"Anyway, be off with ya. I need to clean this mess up."
"Well, Captain's fault if we're all punished." The first mate gruffly replies.
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"I have no clue as to what you all are mumbling about, but I think he's being genuine about the Captain taking responsibility for the matter. I just hope it doesn't hurt our relations with the elves," Gary sighs and shakes his head during the last sentence. Only if the murder didn't happen, he could continue having fun and making fun of those not used to travel.
"All I know is that whoever killed that elf wasn't me. If a bunch of outsiders like you are gonna blame the First Mate, you better have more than just a hunch."
He coughs and proceeds to mop more gore. He isn't talking to you at this point, focusing on cleaning the deck.
"So she hates elves huh? That's interesting. How exactly does that show?" Graka asks the man with a stern gaze.
"W-whoa, lady. Anera's always swearing about how she wants to kill all elves, get revenge on them and she cursed out Thanzeril and Sephirel plenty of times. Save that death look for her not me!" The First Mate recoils a bit as Graka stares at her.