After a quick breakfast, Zota heads in the general direction of the Arcanamirium. It won't be necessary to go the entire way to the school, of course, it's just that some graduates (and teachers) of the Arcanamirium have set shop in the vicinity.
The streets are busy by the time Zota arrives, and here his odd appearance draws more curiosity than fear. Of course, it's the kind of curiosity that might lead to magical probing or worse in some cases, but it's still a change. Several signs on shops along the street advertise assorted magic-related services, and without any real reason to do otherwise, Zota enters the nearest one that mentions identification.
It's a small shop, with assorted potions, scrolls, books, and a few wands on display (along with dire warnings about wards against theft). The proprietor is a human who looks to be in his 30's, sitting behind a small counter leafing through a book. He looks up as Zota enters.
"Welcome," he says, simply. "What are you looking for?"
Zota peers around the shop. He knows in an area like this, full of arcane masters, he will draw attention. The way his shadow seems to cling to him, wrap around his features and face will not be overlooked here. He also has a feeling Bellis would cause anyone scanning for magic to raise an eyebrow.
"Greetings, I recently acquired a magical item I cannot identify. I have some skill in the arcane but this is a bit beyond me." Using Mage Hand Zota pulls out the ring and lays it on the counter.
"Identification services? I do provide those," the shop-wizard states, eying the ring but not touching it after Zota's obvious caution. "Twenty-five gold, if I can discern its properties easily. Fifty if it takes longer. Agreed?"
"A bit steep...nothing less for your first customer of the day?"
Zota shrugs, "Very well." and he places 25 gold crowns on the counter.
The wizard snorts derisively at Zota's suggestion, but takes his gold readily enough. He murmurs a spell over the ring and stares at it for several seconds.
"It seems to be enchanted to ward against fire," he states. "Not a particularly powerful one, but sufficient. Unless you plan on facing dragons sometime in the near future."
Zota nods, "You interested in it? I don't fight dragons very often, how much would you be willing to spend on it?"
The wizard frowned in thought.
"It's a fairly common enchantment, as such things go. Adventurers are forever wanting to fight things made of fire and such. So... 4000 gold crowns."
:Pricey but no thanks, I'll keep it." Guessing it is safe Zota takes the ring and puts it on.
Zota nods, "Thank you, sir." and leaves.
Zota feels a slight coolness as he slips the ring on, but otherwise, nothing seems to happen.
Zota returns to his quarters, Bellis trailing, though at some point the cat vanishes down a side alley. Perhaps he spotted a rat or something.
After a casual look down the alley Bellis went down.
Zota saw nothing of note down the alley save a cat watching a hole, tail lashing in anticpation.
Nothing else of note happens on his way back to his room, and soon enough Zota is sleeping through the day. His rest is interrupted in the evening, however, by a sudden, insistent pounding on his door.
Zota opens a pale eye and sighs heavily. Unusual among his kind, Zota enjoyed a nice long nap, doubly so during the overly bright days on the Material Plane. The garish colors and loud sounds aggravated the summoner.
'Who is it?" the fetchling asks, changing into suitable clothes.
Zota notes that Bellis returned sometime during the day, and is currently doing his best to pretend he's sleeping through the pounding, curled up in a corner of the front room.
"Let me in!" a desperate voice cries in response to Zota's question. It's not one familiar to the fetchling. "You're the one who tracked down that killer around the Beast, right? Someone's after me!"
Zota had, indeed, assisted in finding a serial killer who had stalked the area around the giant crane known as the Beast a couple of years back.
Zota pauses in his dressing and rushes to the door. He hits the lamp as he runs, turning it down very low. Weather the person is friend or foe, darkness was always Zota's ally. Standing just to the side of the door,t he summoner opens it, letting the person in. He begins scanning whoever it is with Detect Magic as they enter.
A half-elven man, dressed in what was once finery but now is a muddy mess, stumbles into the room as Zota opens the door. He throws a furtive glance behind him.
"Quick, close the door!" he whispers urgently.
Zota picks up some kind of magic on him. Does he concentrate to try to pinpoint it?
"Who is chasing you?" Zota asks, hand on the door. 'Why here and not the Watch?"
The man seems nervous, glancing back and forth between the door and Zota. The summoner is able to pinpoint the magic aura to his belt pouch--perhaps the man is carrying some potions?
"Because they might be in on it!" he whispers, urgently. "I don't know who to trust! And you... well, it seems unlikely you're involved in it."
"Your vote of confidence is overwhelming." Zota says dryily and closes the door. With a quick motion he blots it and then turns to the half-elven man.
"Please, have a seat." The fetchling waves to a chair. "And tell me everything. Start at the beginning."
Zota gives the half-elf a good, hard look as he speaks. His dress speaks of wealth, but not habitual wealth--perhaps a well-to-do merchant who dressed up for an occasion. Half-elves are hard to pin down in terms of age, but he seems fairly young.
"I was just spending the evening with my business partner--we're Jegan and Roriary, you see, or... we were... and then he... there was someone there, and he..."
The half-elf shudders, struggling to compose himself. "They... stabbed him, and I, well, I panicked. I felt something fly past me--they threw a dagger at me! And then I was in the street and, and... well, I remembered hearing about you, and I don't know who would do this, but it could be anyone, and, well..."
He trails off lamely, as if realizing that coming running here was perhaps not the most logical idea he'd had.
Zota holds up a hand, 'I said start at the beginning. You said you and your...business partner? Which one are you, where were you eating?"
He turns to Bellis, 'Mind taking a walk outside to see if anyone followed our client here?"
Turning back to the half-elf, "Now, try again, slower."
Bellis nods, shifts into an orangutan to open the door, and slips outside.
The half-elf watches this with a numb expression, as if he's seen too much today to really feel surprise. He shakes himself slightly as the shapeshifter slips out, as if to bring himself back to reality.
"I... okay. I'm Martel Jegan. I and Roriary run... ran... a shipping company. Just a few ships, nothing big. But recently, some of our longshoremen had been reporting seeing funny characters standing around, but when we went to the watch they just laughed us off. And then..."
He shudders again at the memory. "So we were in our office last night, talking over a deal, when I noticed there was a draft. I looked up and noticed the window was open, which was strange. I went over to close it, only to hear Roriary cry out! I whirled and saw someone dressed in red with this horrible jagged sword in his chest, and, well, the window was already open..."
He trails off for a while, before summoning the strength to continue. "It was sheer luck, I think. I kind of... tripped out of the window, which is when that dagger missed me. I managed to get out into the streets, and I'm not sure how I lost them. Maybe they didn't want to attack me in the open? I don't know."
Zota nods, "Interesting. So a body is lying in your office as we speak? I don't think we can allow that. In any case, clues may be found..."
As he waits for Bellis to return he says, 'A shipping company? Any idea who these strangers were? Any new enemies? A rival business? Did Roriary have any enemies you knew of? Gambling debts, distraught lovers?"
"Yes, well, assuming no one else has..." Martel can't quite seem to bring himself to say more about the body.
"We didn't really have any ideas on who would be interested in us. I mean, we'd done well recently, especially after we managed to get in on the pearl market a bit, but this... who would kill someone over pearls?"
Still waiting to get the all clear from Bellis Zota asks, "I have seen men killed over far less. Pearls? Just in the market or some new bed found? Just shares or do you have vaults of pearls somewhere?"
"We lucked out, and found a seller who'd just lost his shipper just when we were in position to move a box of pearls for him." Martel barks a short laugh. "That one box was worth more than our ships, though! Even with just our small cut of the value it was the biggest profit we've ever pulled in. He even gave us one of the pearls--a big, almost iridescent one--as a bonus. We didn't hold on to that one, either. Some bald Osirian bought it for... well, for a lot."
Just then, Bellis's voice comes through the door. "We seem to be clear, if you'll let me back in."
Pearls...Ekakshat....Manthet!
Instantly it all flows together in the fetchling's head. A thrill fills the investigator and he turns to Bellis.
"Ekakshat! Things are afoot." But he pauses and gathers himself. 'Bellis, please stay here and protect Martel. If anything big happens, get him to a Watch station. I am going to go investigate the crime scene., the clues are growing cold as we speak."
"Just as long as you don't end up needing protection," Bellis says, serious for once.
Then he turns to Martel. "Come along, then. We have some books you could read to keep your mind off of horrible death while you wait," he states blandly as he saunters past the two further into the room.
Martel looks from Bellis to Zota. "Uh... Just... is he... safe?" he asks the fetchling, nervously.
Meanwhile, Zota realizes something about the description of the assassin--a red-clad person and a jagged sword would both suggest the Red Mantis Assassins, the order of assassins sworn to Achaekek. They're very, very professional... and very, very deadly.
Red Mantis....deep waters indeed.
At this he changes his mind, "Never mind Bellis, we may be dealing with professionals. We will head tot he crime scene and dump Martel on the Watch as we go. We won't wait for them however, and will beat the Watchmen to the scene. Martel, hurry!"
Martel opens his mouth as if to protest, closes it, opens it again, but finally just sighs and says, "Okay."
Zota is quite familiar with the locations of Watch stations, and with Martel's (somewhat muddled) directions to the crime site, he is able to pick a station on the way. Based on where Martel's office is, he apparently fled quite far from the scene of the crime.
This Watch station is little more than a shack, basically a single-room building crammed between warehouses with enough space for some guard equipment and a tiny cell for holding criminals briefly. The Watch member on duty was a dwarven woman. She quirks her eyebrow as the odd group approached her.
"Something the matter?" she asks.
Zota bows to the Dwarven woman quickly, "Master Martel here would like to report a serious crime to the Watch. I have business of my own and must be off, but please, he is a friend of mine so keep him safe?"
Without saying anything else he whispers to Martel, 'Tell them the truth but take your time." and then the fetchling is off into the darkness, bidding Bellis to follow if he wishes.
"Right..." Martel says, doubtfully, but it looks like he's doing as asked as Zota leaves.
Bellis hangs back a bit, but soon enough a raven with a thin, red collar was flying ahead of Zota.
It takes some time to reach the Jegan and Roriary offices. As Martel had told you, they look deserted... but it looks like no one has closed that window.
Zota looks at the building and then slowly circles it, looking for clues.
"Bellis, I have to say, I like new look. I think we passed some garbage a while back that looked tasty." the fecthling cracks, trying to ease his own sudden stress.
Bellis caws harshly at Zota as he circles around overhead. It's hard to tell whether it was meant to be a laugh or an expression of displeasure.
Zota can see some scuff-marks around the window that suggest it was opened when it was supposed to be locked. Looking around the rest of the exterior of the building, he sees that there are several other windows, a front door, and a back door. All of the windows have heavy curtains blocking his view of the inside... except the open one, where the curtains are partly open. He can see that there is, indeed, a human corpse with a blade sticking in it lying on the floor in the room.
"Subtle.." Zota remarks, seeing the dead body.
Zota can tell this part of town is nicer due to the streets being paved with cobblestones... which, unfortunately, means there's little to see in the way of prints.
When he tries the front door, however, he finds it is unlocked.
Zota shakes his head, "Little chance a Red Mantis left behind much. But in case..." he takes a minute and summons Kokoro. He beckons to the dark creature, born out of his own shadow. The summoner slowly enters, looking if the assassin was still present.
Zota sees no signs of anyone alive in the office. The front room seems virtually untouched, with a small counter and two doors exiting from it. A shelf holds some books and papers.
Bellis remains outside, no doubt to keep watch.
Zota goes through the door into the room beyond.
This large room looks like a combination dining room and office. A desk covered with papers sits against the wall to the right, with several drawers and cabinets under and to the sides of it. Another door is set in the wall, and it hangs slightly ajar.
A couple of large cabinets line the wall opposite Zota, and the wall to the left has little but two windows, including the open one. A small table with two chairs sits in the center of the room, with a couple of used dishes still sitting on it.
The dead man lays on the other side of the table. It seems he fell face-first after being stabbed from behind by the sword still embedded in his back.