Tev knew that if they killed these minstrels without being able to prove anything, it would make the townsfolk think less of him and his fellow executors. So he was glad to see Alyssa not immediately moving to kill them. For Tuoni, he could offer no answer at this time. Unless someone else had a better idea, his was to search and escort the bards the rest of the way out of town with a firm warning never to come back.
After focusing on them for a moment, Tev drew back and said quietly to his companions, "I think they're actually telling the truth. If we let them go nicely enough, they might not tell the next town about the scary outsiders who almost killed them in Ravengro." And searching them was now out of the question to him as well.
Not meeting the older man's eyes, Radim shifted from foot to foot timidly. "I-I, ah, I was wondering if I would be able to do some research here..."
"Fah." Alyssa let the sound out in place of a curse when Tev confirmed her suspicions. She lowered her voice "Of course we're going to let them go. But we should be on our guard. It might not have been them controlling the stirges. I still don't feel that we can write this occurrence off as a coincidence."
Alyssa was right, and thanks to the way she said it, Tev had an idea. Keeping his voice calm but with an edge behind it, he took a step closer to the bards and asked them, "Did anyone approach you last night? Maybe while you were playing, or perhaps after, and say or do anything unusual? Maybe give you something or ask you to play a certain tune that wasn't normal for the time and place?"
However, there were times when one simply had to gamble. Radim hated to do it, but he had no other obvious options. "Information," he whispered quietly. Then, with a pause and clearing of his throat, Radim shrugged slightly. "I'm looking for information on... on the Whispering Way." Another pause as he pried a loose thread form the hem of his sleeve. "We have reason to believe they had a hand in the Professor's death..."
As the Father relays what he already knows, which is nothing new to you, he points you towards a bookshelf for further research.
"Well if I knew who did it I would have dragged their asses in here already! When I get my hands on whatever damn bored kids who have been doing this I'll..." and Riff trailed off when he finally noticed you.
The sheriff looks at you, "Sorry about this, it's just that apparently my deputies can't take care of a simple case of vandalism." With that statement he shot a look over at Riff, who turned a deep red. "What can I do for you today Janasen?"
Exact details on the society are difficult to discern, but chief among the Whispering Way's goals are discovering formulae for creating liches and engineering the release of the Whispering Tyrant. Agents often travel to remote sites or areas plagued by notorious haunts or undead menaces to perform field research or capture unique monsters. Their symbol is a gagged skull, and those who learn too many of the Way's secrets are often murdered, and their mouths mutilated to prevent their bodies from divulging secrets via speak with dead.
The stirge attack may have been thankfully easy, but Tev still wasn't satisfied with its conclusion. Things didn't just show up randomly in the middle of town to attack people, so even though the bards were probably innocent, something was still going on. Perhaps Tev was wrong in thinking that someone wasn't already on to the executors' intentions. For now, though, it couldn't be helped.
Tev nodded a greeting to the acolytes who had gone with him to the crypt yesterday and went right up to Father Grimburrow and the crypt loot. Leaning over with his hands on the desk, he cracked a friendly smile. "Morning, Father. I didn't get a chance yesterday to thank you for letting us explore that place yesterday. It's a huge boon for us as we try to find out what happened to the Professor. Can you tell us anything about the items that were in that case? We have reason to believe the Professor took some of them shortly before his death."
Alyssa spared a glance to Radim in his corner with the books before she too came closer to father Grimburrow's desk. She remained standing behind Tev, giving him deference in the conversation, though it was clear that she was listening intently. Her fingertips itched to have a closer look at the vials filled with what appeared to be swirling smoke. Their further request at research and investigating through the graveyard could surely wait long enough for her to sate her curiosity.
"Well, I've not paid much attention to these scrolls and vials, but what is in the box is very interesting. It appears to be a spirit planchette with its reader and these glass tubes are haunt siphons, though it appears that a few of them are missing. This probably had something to do with what the professor was investigating..."
Tev stroked his chin and thought about what that meant. "So Harrowstone is haunted, and the Professor may or may not have sought guidance from the planchette. I wonder whose spirits haunt the prison. Perhaps those more infamous inmates, or the captain who sacrificed himself. Maybe that's what the planchette can tell us, if we can use it." He looked toward Grimburrow and Tuoni. "You would know better than I: what causes spirits to haunt a place on the Material Plane and what could we expect from their haunting? "
Hoping to find the missing pieces to connect the Whispering Way to Harrowstone, Tev went over to Radim to ask him what he may have learned from his research today. "It looks like the prison is haunted, since the things the Professor took were haunt siphons. Found anything that may be a connection with the cult? I'm suspecting that the ones haunting Harrowstone are most likely to be some of the more infamous inmates, or maybe some of the guards who died there."
Talking about it, he gave himself an idea. He asked Father Grimburrow, "Where in town might there be more records on those inmates? Would that be here or in the town hall?" Speaking back to his comrades, "If we can find anything else about them, we probably should. Then we still need to investigate the graveyard and start talking to the council members for permission to investigate Harrowstone itself. The latter might have to wait till tomorrow."
Alyssa carefully picked up one of the haunt siphon vials by her fingertips, turning it this way and that, staring at it with such intensity as though to intimidate it to give up its deeper secrets.
She nodded in agreement as she listened to Tev. "Anything you would be willing to part with from this cache, Father, I assure you we could make good use of."
The voices chattered in her head, Infernal especially loud in its gleeful whisper Following in your father's footsteps...
It took Radim a few moments to realize the arrival of the others, but when he did, he dlumped lower in his chair behind the stack of books, hoping not to get noticed. Father Grimburrow spoiled that all, and his direct use if Radim's name made the small man sit straight up in his seat, staring suspiciously at the assembled group. How did he know his name?! Radim had not given his name out, and he would not be surprised if half of his new 'companions' didn't know it yet. He would have to be more cautious.
When the elf approached him, Radim sunk in his chair again, gaze downcast. He half-listened to the elf before murmuring "Makes sense. They like haunts." but beyond that, he offered nothing else. He doubted that the elf even heard that much, as he had already returned his attention to Father Grimburrow.
He didn't miss Radim's mumbling. He didn't know why the man would be unwilling to share what he had been learning, not if he was serious about helping the group. "What do you mean, 'they like haunts?'"
Radim gave the elf a blank stare. It seemed as if he would not reply, but after a moment, Radim finally spoke. "The Whispering Way," he said quietly. Who else could it have been?
"Well, since I don't know much about them, I can't be sure. However, the Temple records are generally more detailed than the town hall records, less of the mundane council work. I would say that your chances are better off here. He points to a door that leads to another room full of dusty tomes. "In there are records that I have not even bothered to look through they are so old. They generally have no use for what the Temple of Pharasma deals with today, feel free to look at those as well."
Turning to Alyssa to answer her question. "Well, I can't imagine that we would need these anytime soon. I'm assuming you mean to take them to Harrowstone. Well, since that is currently forbidden, I would suggest that the temple hold onto these items until such time that the council sees fit to let people back on the grounds. If that becomes the case, you are free to take what you need from it."
The timid man's response was not really one, and it was starting to get exasperating for Tev. What was Radim even doing looking for this information if he wasn't going to share it? He had a duty to the Professor as one of the executors. "We know it's the Whispering Way, you -" he was just barely able to stop himself before uttering the epithet he had in mind for Radim. "I mean, yes, we figured that much. Have you learned why? What do they do with them?"
Alyssa had hoped to convince the priest to give them leave to the items now in the hopes of being able to study the vials and board at her leisure. When he stated that the temple would be holding onto them for now she carefully replaced the vial in its box, hoping that she hid her disappointment well.
She cast a glare to the diminutive Radim who, as far as she could tell, was either doing his best to be uncooperative in helping the group or had truly not learned anything of import. No matter, she would, as she always did, simply take matters into her own hands. Her suspicions that the mousy man was hiding something only grew.
Why do you tolerate such a useless human? Infernal sighed.
Fodder for our enemies. Abyssal chuckled.
Whether or not Alyssa agreed with their assessment she showed no signs as she moved to the other room to begin sorting through the old tomes.
Although Tev had managed to contain the majority of his angered outburst, he did not do it quickly enough. The damage was done. His dark eyes had widened at first, then narrowed. Biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, Radim only shook his head in response. It was obvious that he was indeed hiding something, but the look he was giving the elf made it just as obvious that he would not divulge the information easily.
Radim's reticence only angered Tev further. He really wanted to persuade the man to cooperate, but knew that that wasn't going to happen right now. There were other things that needed to be done. Tev came to a conclusion and immediately set out to persuade the others (except for Radim) to go with him. "The knowledge we need is safe in this library and will be there when we have time to find it, but meanwhile there are other things going on under our noses. We still need to investigate the graveyard for clues about the people whose bodies were raised and who may have done it; if we wait, they could cover their tracks. Also, we should stake out the statue tonight to see if we can catch the vandals who are defacing it." If he could persuade the group to go along with him, he also intended to seek the help of the temple for the former task and the sheriff for the latter. It was important to have that official presence there to sanction the executors' actions.
Alyssa had been just about to leaf through her third tome from the other room and had yet to find anything. She was still twitchy and irritable from the fight with the stirges and when Tev suggested they change tactics for now she was only too eager to put the fragile book back down. She needed some fresh air and movement to clear this excess energy out of her, and she had an inexplicable headache.
Though she still wore a scowl on her face, she wasted no time in pulling her hood back up and walking briskly back to the door of the temple. She turned to father Grimburrow. "With your permission, Father, may we investigate the cemetery to see if there are clues? If you wish for acolytes to accompany us as before then we will understand."
Father Grimburrow pondered for a second. "Well, I don't see why not. I will not require my acolytes for you to go to the Restlands, it is a public place and all are free to go. It was just this crypt that I was more concerned about, especially dealing with church property."
"It might actually be better if someone from the Temple did come with us," Tev suggested. "If someone sees us outsiders going around grave sites we may look suspicious, but it will look less so if someone from the temple is with us."
"I believe I can spare a couple of Acolytes if you require. Let me know when you are ready to go and I will send them."
So it was thus resolved. Tev and Alyssa would take the acolytes and anyone else who would come with them to explore the graveyard. They just needed to wait for Janasen to arrive at the temple so they could share the plan with him, then he would be able to choose whether to join them or undertake something else.
While waiting for Janasen, Tev left Radim alone with his studies and made ready to go out into the graveyard. He didn't really expect that what they would find out there would have much impact on their ultimate quest to investigate Harrowstone, but it might help them figure out what was going on in the town and help the people to calm down a bit more. "My mother always told me I'd end up working the graveyard shift," Tev quipped as he picked up a shovel and various other implements for collecting any evidence of grave-robbers they may find.
He also had a question for Alyssa while they waited. "Are you going to want to be part of the stakeout on the statue tonight? I figured you and I would both be ideal since we have better eyesight, but that will mean we might have to get some early rest to re-prepare our magic. If you can prepare spells like Alarm, that would be useful."
Alyssa smirked at Tev's quip, which quickly fell into a scowl when he asked about preparing the spell "alarm" for the stake out. He would pick a spell that she'd never managed to get her hands on.
"Alas, I cannot prepare a spell that I've never had access to through a book or scroll..." she couldn't help the glare she gave the sorcerer in envy. She'd often been jealous of those who had magic in their veins,and a natural talent for wielding it where she had to do everything the hard way.
"I know there is a magic store in town,though my funds are very limited...and I did not come across any tomes of magical instruction in the Professor's library, though I was hardly able to go through everything."
Tev nodded in understanding, but at the same time had a quizzical tinge to his expression, till he finally understood. "At least you can do that. I can read a scroll to invoke a spell but I can't put the magic of a spell at my fingertips just by reading it the way wizards and magi learn to do. For our purposes tonight, the spell shouldn't be necessary per se; just a nice extra measure to have.
"As for the magic store, I don't think he'll let you copy his stuff for free; you'll probably have better luck with Kendra, assuming there's any spells to learn there."