"I'll go talk to Sara, who wants come with?" Balder says before he heads off.
Kuma swallows her jerky instead of enjoying chewing it for another few minutes. She moves over to Cham, rubbing her fluffy neck at Cham's legs to console her.
Lanneth looks over at her fox rubbing agaist Cham's leg.
You are lucky Miss. Kuma normally doesn't take to people that way. What made you go check on Rodrick?
But she is clearly not very good at comforting people and she seems more like she is Sherlock Homes interrogating a suspect then social worker comforting a traumatized innocent.
Do you make it a habit of going into your guest's rooms at night?
Dain facepalms. We are going to get run out of town, I know it.
As all of the others have been making a fuss Gran't' had been very deliberately searching the room. He may be slowish but he is thorough.
Kuma stares speechless at Lanneth. When all leave to question the smith Kuma stays with Cham. After a while she retreats to the first open and empty room out of sight and comes back...
... as Yorikata. She takes a seat besides Cham, hands her a handkerchief and puts her arm around her. Once Chan has calmed down enough to stop crying she asks "Wanna talk about it?"
Gran't finds that in the desk there is a fake bottom to the Drawer, there is nothing hidden but just odd that in the Longhouse there is something like this.
Cham takes the handkerchief and wipes at her eyes.
"Thank you, I do. I went to Rodriks room and knocked, doing the waking call that he had asked for. When he didn't answer I oepend the door." Her breath catches for a few moments and she cries for a few more. "I found him like that, the blood it was everywhere."
Gran't' walks back to his own room and checks for a secret drawer there.
Gran't's room does not have a secret drawer in it.
"Could you tell me, what his wounds looked like? Only when it's not too painful for you to remember." yorikata tries to get some more details out of Cham. All while still holding her.
More tears stream down the halflings face, "Deep cuts along .... Both wrists."
Lanneth stands back and just listens as the halfling woman talks to the strange readhead.
For some reason she reacts better to the woman. I'm not sure why...
Gran't' returns to the murder scene and inspects the drawer again. "Why does this draw have a hidden compartment?" He asks very matter of factly, doing his best not to look at the blood in the middle of the room, focusing on the drawer
Cham looks up, "Some of the drawers do yes, I forget which do and which don't anymore." She continues to cry.
"But why?" Gran't' asks, not understanding the answer given
The drawer of doom! Yorikata thinks, rolling her eyes.
Balder crosses his burly arms over his chest and listens to the questions and answers, or lack of answers get thrown around.
So who was Rodrik involved with? The engraving says 'my love.'
"The half orc Brinya. People hold the rooms for a while and want to keep their things private." Cham hopes that is answer enough
Like a treasure vault? Lanneth pipes up from against the wall.
Like snuggle fun times.
Yorikata looks anround, then speaks. "Cham, shall we go for a walk? The fresh air and change of scene might lessen the burden of that tragedy on your mind for a while."
Cham nods at the strange woman and gets up and goes for a walk with her. "You can check the ledger if you want"
There is a final room booed but no name recorded, the time shows that it was rented after Rodrik reserved his but before Rodrik had come in for the night.
Yorika leads Cham outside for a short walk to the pond. With the hopespring in sight and the small waterfall creating a nice view with some mist and the occasional rainbow when it's the right time of the day, it is her favourite place to relax. But in human form she notices that there is a lack of places to sit. "If we stay longer in Trunau, I'll buy a benc to put here."
She takes a seat on the ground. "Isn't it beautiful? And the falling water drowns out all noise around. Well, all but the smith."
Do you all have anything else you want to check here, or do we examine the body and talk to Sara or Brinya?
"Do you have someone in town, you'd call family?" Yorikata asks Cham.
There was a final room booked but no name. I say we go up and check it out. Dain will do so.
Cham looks at Yorikata, "I have the Ramblehouse, that is all really"
"Friends then? I heard halflings are like a big family. It may be just prejudice of large folk though. I've never really known a halfling myself." Yorikata tries to get to know Cham.
Silently Balder goes with Dain to check out the other room.
Dain and Balder get the master key and search rooms, most are empty by now and those that aren't they don't bother. Half way through the room searching they come upon a note in a secret compartment.
"Melira?" Balder asks questioningly and looks at Dain.
Yorikata sits there with Cham as one of the other halflings from town comes along to see how Cham is dealing with the situation. After the story is told again and Cham is at least a bit comfortable again Yorikata excuses herself to see where Lanneth went to.
Well it looks like there are at least two people involved, let us head back down and ask who this Melira is. Dain does so and asks the Ramblehouse owner.
Balder goes with Dain, obviously.
Gran't' spends a bit more time looking around the rooms. He makes his way outside as everyone seems to have left and puts himself on the rain barrels outside the inn. His thoughts drifting, hoping sonething will come to him as he sits.
To keep his hands busy he works on the fox figurine. It makes slow progress as he attempts to work as much detail in as he can. The image of the fox in the room giving him inspiration.
No one has heard of a Melira, you could go to the guard but everyone knows everyone in this town and if Kurst doesn't know them the guard is as likely to not.
In one of the rooms the walls are vandalized with ink that looks familiar to that on some of the walls and places in the town.
Let us go to the forge. Dain does so
Yorikata walks back to the Ramblehouse in her search of Lanneth. She stops at where Gran't' is sitting. "A nice figurine you are making there. What do you make them for?"
"I make them for many reasons. Now my reason is to keep my hands busy while I think. Yesterday was to make a figure for a child. Tomorrow it might be to capture a memory. Often times it is a combination of those and more." Gran't' says with a smile.
"Can I have it once you're done? It's beautiful." Yorikata asks.
"Of course." Gran't' says with an even bigger grin than before.
"It is nice to know my work is appreciated."
"Thank you." she replies with a big smile. Then she remembers that she was looking for someone and asks "Is Lanneth still inside, or did she leave?"
Dain and Balder leave the door of the Ramble house, telling Gran't and Yorkiata that they are heading to the smithy inviting them to come. Lanneth comes out a few seconds later with her stuff and tags along. The group follow the noise of anvil hitting hammer to the smithy better known as Clamor. Clamor is a squat, cramped building in the western
corner of lower Trunau, a Large half-orc woman is bending what looks like it was once a Long sword back into it's proper shape.
Yorikata looks down as Lanneth passes. Hiding her true identity from Lanneth becomes more and more of a burden. It was much easier in the forest, where she could listen to the monologues of Lanneth as a fox and no other humans were around. But here in Trunau, being a fox doesn't work.
Back out of her thoughts Yorikata asks Grant "Are you coming along?" before turning to follow the others.
Lanneth joins the others looking at the note, then as they leave she pauses a moment and looks around for her fox, but not feeling anything to worry about through her link, and knowing she is still close she heads out of the inn.
She would not be of great help interrogating people anyway...
Passing the Redhead and Stone Man she follows the two guardsmen to the forge, trying to listen for what they say.
As she heads to the forge she pauses for a moment to check the graffiti that is on the walls with detect magic to see if it was placed there magically or just with some paint that is very hard to scrub off.
A murder, strange writing and a note that seems to say the guardsman was looking into something... I wonder if they are related.
Then she proceeds to the forge.
Yorika walks after Lanneth and as the elf pauses to check the graffiti she walks past behind her. But then she stops and sighs. She plucks up courage, turns around and offers the elven woman a hand. "Lanneth, I haven't properly introduced myself to you. I'm Yorikata." she states, looking Lanneth into the eyes, her heart pounding like mad.