Late the following morning, one way or another, each member of the party finds themselves at the Crossroads's cafe enjoying a substantial breakfast. The dining area is buzzing with activity. It seems the Aspis take their morning meal seriously.
Kalam chuckles appreciatively at Halsanna's tale while tucking into his own plate with enthusiasm, washing it all down with his second mug of ale that morning.He gives the mercenaries a wink, "See, I knew there was a proper lass of ill repute hidden under all that discipline. My advice, nurture it. You'll have need of it in company such as this..., he gestures to the throng of silver agents surrounding them.
He shoots a glance around the table, "Now, once we're properly fortified we'd best see about finding our overly large taskmaster."
He offers Yolanda a suggestive smirk, "Provided of course he made it through last night with all his faculties remaining?"
Eggs made his tummy turn. The mere smell of boiled eggs was enough to ruin his mood so Abramov made sure to sit across the table and away from Halsanna. Some bread with a thick layer of butter and a small block of cheese, with an apple and a glass of milk on the side, was all he needed. Truth be told, Abramov only had an apple for breakfast whenever he could so he could play around with his knife. Peeling it in one go meant that if he succeeded, the day would be a good one. Early failure spelled doom.
A firm nod was the greeting he gave his comrades, but he was otherwise too busy studying his book of extracts while consuming the food in tiny precise bites.
Interrupting the party's meal is not the massive Ursus but a slip of a girl, barely old enough to be considered a woman, with pale skin and limp dark hair. She shyly clears her throat. "Sirs and Misses, Mistress Zelda would have a word with you. It's urgent."
During breakfast Yolanda orders -- literally -- one of everything. You suspect that perhaps dark pacts and fell rituals are what help her keep her figure. When the servant girl comes for them, the Lady Yll stands and toss her napkin down. "Passable."
"You should start eating fruit and get in the habit of taking walks in the sun, young girl, otherwise you might develop bow legs .. and we wouldn't want you to start looking like a dwarf, now do we? "
There, he had accomplished his good deed of the day by giving the girl some much needed advice.
Strange company this Zelda keeps. But I have agreed to serve.
Daeron stands wordlessly, ready to follow.
Kalam sports his customary grin, "Well we wouldn't want to keep the the poor lady waiting. Lead on my dear!
He drains his ale while snatching his coat from the back of his chair and moves to follow the pale girl.
Following the waifish courier, the party is brought to Zelda's office once again. The older varisian waits within, a cup of strong-smelling tea clutched in her wrinkled hands.
"Now that you've had a day to acquaint yourselves with the Crossroads, I have a job for you. Normally I'd reserve this kind of thing for a gold agent at least but they're all occupied at the moment and you're some of the most promising silvers I've seen in a while."
She slides a slim folio across her ornate desk toward the party.
"This information came to us from a high ranking member of the Council of Ushers. He wants our help investigating a string of messy murders that have been going on around town. Normally the Aspis wouldn't bother itself with work of this kind but we take the political world very seriously."
Abramov knew that sooner or later the group would pass the document to him so he simply waited until they were done with it. If the documents contained the details of the murderscenes, the victims and so on, he'd be busy with it for quite some time.
Now, this is what I was meant to do.
"What's it say, Kalam?"
Kalam gives Zelda a nod as he picks up the folio. He flips through the document briefly to get a feel for it, talking without looking up, "And what is our dear council member's connection to these murders? Surely they aren't simply offended by the brutality of it all?"
Having finished his preliminary look, Kalam passes the document over to Abramov, "What's your expert opinion Doc?"
"Let me see."
Abramov peruses the papers within the folio to get an idea of the contents.
”Magnimar is no stranger to bodies showing up on its doorstep but for some reason these murders have the Council worried. I doubt our patron has any real connection to these killings except that he wants the credit for bringing the killer to justice and making the streets safe again.”
Kalam's brows furrow, "Is there anything else pertinent you can tell us about these...incidents?"
Zelda steeples her bony fingers. ”It’s all there in the file. 17 bodies have turned up all across the city that are believed to be connected. It looks to be a mix of men and women all on the younger side. All of this information comes to us from the watch so take it with a grain of salt.”
”One important bit of information that I know for certain is that we’re not the only group looking into this. Some are involved as part of the official city investigation and others are a bit more off the books as we are. It’s important that the Aspis be the ones to close this – even if it means the other groups’ investigation suffers a few setbacks... Do we have an understanding?”
A firm nod is half of Abramov's answer to her rhetorical question. "Yes ma'am. Seventeen bodies, seventeen opportunities for a mistake to have been made. I think I got a good idea of how to approach this one. If we have any further questions, we can forward them to you by way of a written letter or note, ma'am? Other than that, I'm ready to move on and get the investigation going."
Kalam grins, "Oh, I'm sure their investigations will meet with frustrating failure. I imagine the competing parties are well detailed within?"
Inside the folio is a series of parchments embossed with the seal of the city watch. These are the official records on the gruesome serial killer or serial killers, who we have dubbed as the Dockland Murderers. The common thread seemed to be the excision of the face and replacement by a gruesome demonic mask in each case, which is what was used to compile this dossier.
3rd of Abadius - Prominent Merchant, Sir Brabantio, was murdered early in the morning, on a visit to the docklands, and his body was left on the street. First suspected crime of serial killer
19th of Abadius - Judge Goron of the Docklands Poor Courts was murdered in his chambers during a court recess. His body was found outside leaning against a lamp pole.
Calistria - No murders were found during this month
7th of Pharasma - Cleric Garal was impaled on a pike and thrown into a mausoleum a few days before he was discovered, on the 7th, by a grieving family.
Gozran - No Murders were found during this month
4th of Desnan - Four unidentified bodies were found flopped over the walls of the marble district. Three of them were identified as Varisians and the fourth was too mutilated for portrayal.
3rd of Sarenith - Prominent Paladin, Sir Veryl, was assassinated by the dockside. He fell into the water and his body never recovered, but unholy arrows decorated with designs consistent with the demonic masks were found nearby.
Erastus - No Murders were found during this month
1st of Arodus - Three bodies were found in the cargo hold of three different leisure ships, with no identifying marks.
6th of Arodus - Family of four was found dead, with their bodies seated at the dining room table. The smell of the decomposition alerted their neighbor, who discovered them dead on the 6th of Arodus.
26th of Arodus - Fire at the Silver Dragon Inn, suspected rumors of killer association in the community.
Kalam mulls over the information for a moment, "It seems our killer or potentially group thereof have been at this for the better part of a year. Why the sudden interest now?"
A quick assessment of the facts presented in the document comes out of the doctor's mouth,"The pattern so far is that there is no consistency in his or her or their chosen victims. Two men who served the Gods, a man who serves society by enforcing justice, a merchant who lives to make a profit, a family of four and then a few more cases. Since the trademark of the killer or killers seems to be what can be described as 'demonic influences', perhaps the answer may be found in matters occult. That, alas, is not my forte. Eight cases of confirmed murder, but which of these can be accredited to the killer? The fire at the Silver Dragon Inn and the three bodies in the cargo hold are prime suspects to be smitten off this list, while the four unindentified bodies that were thrown over the wall could also be something else - perhaps they were the victims of a criminal fued? We should start mapping out our approach and then get to it."
Kalam's brow furrows, "I'm not certain we should be so quick to disregard the three in the cargo hold or those thrown over the wall. If I read correctly, each of the seven were given the same mask as the others. Provided it's not someone simply trying to pass off their own killings as the work of our occultists they are still part of the pattern."
"If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that something's happened in the Council of Ushers to light a fire under their asses in regards to this killer. Our patron just wants to be the one to take the credit for ending it."
Kalam simply nods, "Fair enough, is there anything else you believe is relevant to our investigation, ma'am? We wouldn't happen to have gotten our hands on one of these masks, would we? Or at least a decent depiction of one? Beyond that I imagine we had best get to work."
He pauses for a moment, Oh, that reminds me. If we aren't to be working with Ursus on this one, who would we talk to about getting paid for our little job at the Kitten? We'll no doubt need some funds to cover expenses for our investigation."
”Ursus will be around but I have him working on something else right now. Your work at the Kitten was intended as an unpaid trial but I like the way you think”, Zelda says with a shrewd smirk.
The old varisian woman quickly jots down a note on a scrap of paper, folds it sharply, and offers it to Kalam. ”Show that to the quartermaster and he’ll get you some equipment.”
Kalam takes the paper gratefully, "Wonderful, thank you. So that's a no on the mask? I suppose we'll have to appropriate a proper rendering somewhere. Shouldn't be too difficult."
"I'm certain you can handle it. If I wasn't, you wouldn't be in my office right now", the woman explains as a matter-of-fact.
Kalam grins and takes a sip from his flask, "Of that I have no illusions, ma'am."
The unidentified Varisians were actually members of a Szarni gang, escorting a prostitute. They were bringing the woman to their prized fighter, a champion in one of the Serpent's Run's off-the-books fight clubs.
The family of four ran a local butcher's shop. They were known to squabble, often violently. On more than one occasion the watch was called when their arguments got out of hand.
Kalam bows to Zelda, "Well, I imagine we had best be off then. Do we report developments to you directly, or should we bring them to Ursus' attention instead?"
Exiting the office, Kalam heads down to meet with the quartermaster . He smiles and hands over the paper Zelda gave him, "The good lady thought we could us a few things..."
"You might need to track him down, but Ursus can handle your reports and any problems you might encounter", she answers before Kalam and the party leaves.
***
Reporting to the armory, Kalam is greeted by a tall half-orc woman with scarred jade skin and a frame of taut ropy muscle. She grins at the inquisitor as he approaches between sharp polished tusks. "New silvers eh? What do you need?"
Looking the paper over, she nods. "Whatever you're working on must be big for Zelda to give you this much of an allowance. Come inside..."
Kalam grins, "Delicate situations call for expenses, the trick will be proving we were worth it. If we don't grab everything right away, are we free to come pick up a few things in future?"
The tough orcish woman nods. "I keep tight records", she says with a wink.
The grin spreads a little wider, "Your diligence is most appreciated, I assure you. Now, with typical Aspis resourcefulness, you wouldn't happen to have any uniforms of the city watch squirreled away somewhere would you, my dear? Even one would be ever so helpful?"
"I might have something that's close. Give me a minute."
He slips the flask from his belt and raises it in a toast, "Cayden truly smiles on me this day. Or at least thinks it will be terribly funny..."
Without a smile the doctor makes his request. "I could use some scholarly clothes, the boring kind a lawyer or notary would wear. An overthrow coat and a hate would do just fine. "
He then turns to Halsanna, noticing she's a little lost. "If you want, you can join me in my dusty trek through a desert of records. It's all manual work that requires a sharp mind and an attentive eye."