Olivia nods to Artegal and follows behind the party as they go to investigate. The Sertino home is located in the northeast section of town (5 on the map). It is a simple structure, roughly 20 feet square and two stories tall. The woman reaches out to Nicu as he approaches, grasping his shoulder and slumping against him. Her weeping has escalated to a nearly incoherent keening. She is shaking and in shock. She speaks only between sobs, "Please... tell me... I... I didn't... see him... like that... Oh Franco!" She barely gets the words out and then erupts into fresh wails, thick tears streaming down her face.
The door stands open to the home. Inside the first floor is comprised of a single room that serves as kitchen, dining room and living room. It is full of the normal clutter of a lived in home. Folded clothes lay neatly stacked on the table, tools hang from one wall and a few childrens toys lay scattered about. It is not a wealthy home, but it is modestly decorated and clean for the most part.
Olivia guides the woman to a seat inside and assists Nicu in detaching her grip from his shoulder and speaks to her gently. "Maria, are they upstairs? Where is little Giselle?" The woman is quieting as the tell-tale signs of shock set in. She merely nods and points toward the stairs and then stares blankly at her hands, still hitching with wordless sobs. Olivia stays with Maria, trying to soothe her but looking pale and frightened herself as well.
Rannveig appears, crouched in the open door, sword in hand. The low mist swirls in around her feet as she begins to circle towards the stairs. Ylva, disregarding her usual preference for the outdoors, follows close behind, her nose twitching back and forth. Neither stops to inquire about the situation, taking it at face value. They take their time, surveying the scene, before heading up the stairs.
The dwarf scoffs and pushes past, not needing light he will move up the stairs first or second if someone beat him to the scene. "Boote on my heels." The orange ember of his cigar glowing brightly.
I'll follow Luc, but without light it sort of reminds me of heading into the Burial Mound after a weasel or badger, and that makes me a little nervous
"Wait, Luc, don't be hasty."
Right on cue. He thought grimly.
Donovan had barely remembered the run down the street. He didn't wait to survey like Rannveig, or stay to listen to the woman. He simply moved, dashing up the stairs three at a time, his wavy-bladed rapier springing to his hand and lighting up from the Pharasman spiral set in the pommel. It glowed like a silvery torch.
Nicu extracts himself from the grip of the distraught woman, with help from Olivia, then hesitates at the bottom of the stairs instead of following the group. "I'll stay vigilant here, the lady said a murderer was on the loose, be watchful, be careful."
As the group approaches the stairs they hear what sounds like a young child humming a tune.
Donovan bounds up the staircase, the light from his blade casting wild, distorted shadows around the room. The upstairs hall is clear and there are two curtained off doorways to the bedrooms ahead. A small gasp is heard from the southern room with a blue curtained door as Donovan’s heavy step hits the hallway floor. The northern bedroom has a red curtained door, and it is silent as the grave beyond it. At the end of the hall is the privy by the smell, but the tang of fresh blood is by far the more powerful odor.
Behind the blue curtain, a little girl sits with her legs crossed, rocking back and forth on a small bed. She looks to be about five years old. She is clutching a doll to her chest and humming a lullaby while gazing blankly out the window. She does not look up as Donovan moves the curtain and steps inside.
The room is clean, but several toys litter the floor here too. Against the southwest corner of her room are some crates and basket hampers. It looks as if this room serves as a storage area for the house as well.
"Luc..." he says, directing the dwarven priest's attention to the little girl, knowing that he and Boote would likely have a much easier time soothing a scared child than he would.
He stepped aside to give them room and opened the red curtain.
Luc follows Donovan into the room and checks the child. He does touch the child to get a sense of any ailments.
"Aye, this room is cursed."
I will stay in the hall, staying as close to the center of the space as I can, between both curtains, and remain vigilant
The little girl is showing signs of shock, but she does not seem ill or hurt. Her skin is cool to the touch and the only response to the Dwarf's touch is to hum louder. These curtains are weighted on the bottom hem so that they close on their own after someone passes, there is a tie to move them aside so the doors remain open. The doors are side by side, so the little girl cannot see into her parents room while she is in her own.
Rannveig stared mournfully for a moment at the unfortunate child, then shakes her head and turns back to Donovan and the other curtain.
Her gaze passes over the dead man impassively. Ylva's hackles have risen, and the woman and wolf both look back and forth, instinctively looking in different directions to cover all possibilities - looking our for any threat to the pack.
Dimitrio shakes his head in dismay at the sight of the carnage, "Why can't people just have fun?
The rogue leaves the grisly sight for others to inspect and he goes to the little girl, "C'mere girl, we have to get you out of here. Where's your mommy or daddy?
Luc will help the girl, carrying her if necessary along with her doll, and he hands her to Dimitrio. "Let's all remain calm with what we say right now, lets investigate." No need to raise a panic down stairs.
Donovan had been prepared since he was a child for sights such as this. When he was twelve his great uncle put him thorough a number of grotesque illusions to help prepare him for the horrors he might see in his investigations.
Somehow illusions were not enough to prepare him. He blanched and took an involuntary step back.
The girl does not speak, but once Luc places her on her feet she walks slowly along with anyone who holds her hand. She clutches her doll and pats and strokes it's back like a mother would an infant. As the strange men lift her from her bed she begins to sing the words to the song she has been humming. Her voice is small and frightened and the bouncy tune sounds like a dirge in the shadowed halls. The wind howls mournfully across the open windows, pulling greedily at the curtains.
"We laugh in the morning and we laugh in the night.
Ha ha ha says goodbye fright!
We dance and we sing, all the day long.
He he he means nothing is wrong!
So dry all your tears and I’ll be your friend.
Ho ho ho! Now we’re happy again!"
The dwarf begins to exam the corpse for signs beyond the fact that he is holding his head.
As the events unfold upstairs, Dimitrio leading the little girl from the room and Sir Donovan reeling from the sight behind the red curtain, a terrible concern washes over Nicu. Turning his attention back to the distraught mother, Nicu looks for any traces of blood on her clothing.
Dimitrio held the girl's hand and escorted her downstairs taking care to make sure that the girl did not see her father's corpse.
Once below, she let the girl go to her mother and carefully watched both their reactions.
The rogue then knelt in front of the girl and tried to get some information from her, "Can you tell Dimitrio what you saw or heard?"
Olivia has calmed Maria Sertino and she seems to regain some of her composure as her daughter enters the room and they both extend their arms for each other. "Oh, my sweetling... Are you alright, Giselle? Oh thank Erastil you weren't hurt. Did mama wake you?" The woman looks over her daughter with an appraising look in her eyes. Finding nothing to concern her, she scoops the child up and holds her much in the way Giselle holds her doll. Fresh tears come to her eyes as she turns to Olivia and whispers, "Oh Gods, Livi... I left her up there! She was asleep when I checked on her right before I found..." she cuts off, unable to finish her sentence. She looks to Dimitrio and mouths a wordless "Thank you."
Nicu sees no blood on the mother or the child. Dimitrio and Nicu both get the impression that they are both suffering from genuine shock and grief.
Once settled in her mother's lap, Giselle turns her gaze on Dimitrio. Her eyes are a deep blue-grey, like an angry storm cloud, heavy with unshed moisture. She simply shakes her head no at first, but he gives her a disarming smile and she cocks her head with her brow slightly furrowed and considers for a moment. Giselle answers in her small, frightened voice, "Mama yelled really loud. It was scary." She hugs her doll tightly again and resumes humming her song. Her mother kisses the top of her head and rocks her gently, tears streaming down her face again.
Maria turns to Olivia and asks, "Are they law keepers, Livi? Where is Aldo?"
Upstairs, Luc examines Franco Sertino's body. The unfortunate man appears to have died from excessive loss of blood, probably half an hour ago or less. He looks to have been arranged and decorated post mortem. The neck wound and cuts on the face must have been made by something very sharp indeed. The room looks as if there was some struggle here, but not much of one. The corpse's leg is frozen at an odd angle, propping him up so he faces the doorway precisely. Upon closer examination, Luc finds the end of a small sewing needle sticking out of the body's upper right thigh.
Nicu-Perception:
Nicu-Sense Motive:
Luc-Perception:
The needle gets Luc's attention as he carefully examines the needle and it's location. Is there a religious or cult purpose for the needle? Trying to recall his knowledge.
The needle concerns the dwarf greatly, for it is like nothing he has ever seen before. His knowledge and instincts lead him to suspect that dark magic is involved. From the position of the needle and oddly rigid leg, he suspects that this needle is affecting the nervous system somehow.
Don't tug the needle out...don't."Stand back folks,"Luc waits for everyone to exit the room before he removes the needle and the looks for other needs. I knew your curiosity wouldn't let it be.
He will detect magic and concentrate for three rounds on any auras that he detects.
As Luc removes the needle from the leg, it loses it's stiffness. Now unsupported, the body rolls forward onto it's face and Luc can now see another needle similarly "pinning" the man's left arm into the blood chilling pose. The manner this body was treated with speaks of intense malice. Not only was he made a fool of, his body was set like a trap meant to inflict horror upon those who found it.
EDIT: The needle itself does not emanate magic, but a cut length of silvery thread does emanate a faint magical aura. Luc cannot determine the school, however.
Once settled in her mother's lap, Giselle turns her gaze on Dimitrio. Her eyes are a deep blue-grey, like an angry storm cloud, heavy with unshed moisture. She simply shakes her head no at first, but he gives her a disarming smile and she cocks her head with her brow slightly furrowed and considers for a moment. Giselle answers in her small, frightened voice, "Mama yelled really loud. It was scary." She hugs her doll tightly again and resumes humming her song. Her mother kisses the top of her head and rocks her gently, tears streaming down her face again.
The rogue is taken back for a second but assumes all is typical of a frightened child. He left the girl with the mother and headed back upstairs, "Well, anything interesting or condemning?"
"Knuckles is inter-sting. He can dance and sing, you know? He's my bestest friend." Giselle stops clutching her doll and turns and stands the toy in her lap and bounces it up and down in a bobbing dance as she sings the tune again.
Dimitrio notices that this doll is much like the puppet Mari gave him when he first came into town. Except this one is dressed and painted to look like a baby doll, and is missing it's strings.
Nicu looks at the doll with no strings as the girl talks of it dancing and steps back unobtrusively to cast a cantrip. Starting with the doll, then slowly looking through the rest of the home, he searches for arcane traces that can provide a clue to what happened here.
Nicu scans the doll for magical aura but finds nothing. He continues to peruse the first floor but only notes that Olivia has a couple of magical items herself; her whip and the blue star pendant she wears.
Nicu continues his search upstairs, first with the child's room, then with the room behind the red curtain.
Unnerved by the man's grisly death, Nicu continues his search through the red room spotting the silvery thread attached to the needle in the corpse's left shoulder. "What's this, does an arcane assassin walk among us?"
Nicu is incredibly focused as he examines the nearly insubstantial thread. He feels the taint of necromancy about it and determines that the spell at work is used to paralyze the individual limb.
"Sickness is at the heart of this art, and the foul taint of necromancy fuels it. The needle paralyzes the limb, though the purpose here is lost on me." "We can't expect this villain to be logical or sane, but we should inquire if this family had any conflicts or enemies. Sir Artegal, do you still want to keep the constable in our investigations in this town?"
"Knuckles is inter-sting. He can dance and sing, you know? He's my bestest friend." Giselle stops clutching her doll and turns and stands the toy in her lap and bounces it up and down in a bobbing dance as she sings the tune again.
Dimitrio notices that this doll is much like the puppet Mari gave him when he first came into town. Except this one is dressed and painted to look like a baby doll, and is missing it's strings.
The rogue becomes visibly worried at the doll; he spits on the ground to ward off the evil spirits. "Desna protect your fellow traveler."
"Master Rockborn, should we remove the poor man's remains from the house so as to not cause anymore distress to his family, or do you think it is necessary to have one of the village Clerics come and perform a blessing in their custom?"
I want to concentrate on the floor of the hallway to see if i can sense any residual auras of evil, and perhaps get a feeling of whether the house is safe now or not.
Nicu takes a closer look at the silvery thread to determine if it could have been one of the missing strings from the marionette doll.
Artegal focuses on the floor of the hallway, searching for the residual taint of evil. He finds nothing he can confidently identify, but the leaden feeling of dread in his stomach will not fade.
Nicu’s acute senses lead him unerringly as he carefully explores the horrific scene. First he spots a smudge of blood on the window curtain in the parent’s bedroom. Upon first inspection, it looks as if the murderer escaped into the foggy night through this very window, leaving behind this trace to track him. But Nicu suspects that there is more to the situation and continues on to the child’s room.
A wicker hamper attracts his attention, as it too bears a small smudge of blood.
Nicu unfolds the horrible bundle, turning his face away as his stomach buckles. Showing the grisly display to the others, he considers the new clues as he casts detects magic on the bloody mess. "It's made to look as if the tiny doll committed the act of murderer, though we know someone with the skill of necromancy leads it's hand. The little girl downstairs had spoke of the doll dancing and singing and she has been singing a strange tune herself, perhaps she learned it from the doll?"
"Master Constine, I think it is time we found a replacement doll for the little girl. It is possible the doll did commit the murder. Such things are not beyond the realm of the possible, and I recommend we track down the puppet that was given to Dimitrio as soon as we can.”
I go down the stairs in a hurry, and focus on the doll in the little girls hands trying to detect evil
Dimitrio signs to ward off evil spirits, "Cursed toys! I heard a story once about a wizard who constructed an evil doll, similar to the way flesh golems are constructed. Dimitrio wonders if that could be the case here?"
He is visibly nervous, "So, are esure it was a doll doing this?"
"No." Donovan says, having been quiet and watchful while the others scanned the gristly scene. "But it's the best hunch we have so far. Anyone familiar with stitching? We should check this doll against others and ask around about who makes dolls like this. We might be able to figure out who made it."
Giselle holds Knuckles tightly in her arms, but the doll faces out from her now. As Artegal concentrates his focus on the doll and senses the malicious intent there, it’s painted face is suddenly terrifyingly aware. It’s wide, babyish blue eyes move impossibly and the thing locks gazes with the Halfling. It’s features twist into an evil grin and it winks before returning to its original innocent frozen expression. Artegal’s blood runs cold as his worst suspicions are confirmed. Could he stop the creature before it could harm mother and child? Remembering that the toy must have killed a grown man quickly and quietly enough to not rouse this household, he is not sure...
Suddenly the door slams open with a loud bang, startling Maria and Giselle. In the doorway stands a uniformed man with his hand on the pommel of a sheathed sword at his belt. As he steps inside and sweeps his gaze over the room, Artegal recognizes him as Aldo, the town Constable. His eyes narrow as he sweeps his gaze over the party members.
”Well, well, well… What have we here? Looks like some folk just can’t mind their own business, don’t it, Miss Olivia? I think you lot best find your way back to your rooms, and leave the law-keeping to the law-keepers, eh?” He flashes a grin that holds no warmth as three more men step through the door, all armed.
Luc speaks up just before the others went downstairs, "Who gave her that doll? We need an answer to that question." He eyes each of person upstairs with him. "Then we need t'follow the trail from the window b'fore the rain washes it away." He looks nervously at the brewing storm.
As Luc begins to follow down the stairs the door bursts open with the constable? Sobered up quickly enough. Besides how did he even know, or suspect, something was happening here...very odd.
Luc eyes the Constable askanse, wondering at his miraculous recovery. As he observes the man, he notices something is very different about him. In fact, he doesn't seem remotely intoxicated now.
Olivia is watching Aldo as well with a concerned look on her face.
Olivia-Sense Motive:
I'm just going to stop putting questions in the discussion thread