Nualia continues to lie on her cot, her eyes closed. "Hello, Jessica DuMorne. I wish we could meet under better circumstances." Although her manner is mild, her speech is slightly slurred, and the empty liquor bottle in the cell attests to the fact that Kiley and Sunday weren't the only drinkers last night.
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Tal takes the offered support of Delendir to stand up steadily.
"Fine, let's head out while they are still distracted. I want this whole affair over as quickly as possible so we can all get along with our lives." He moves away from the stall and wobbles only slightly. Once outside he recoils slightly from the bright light of day and puts on his sunglasses. He moves with Delendir to the sawmill and tries to take in as many details as he can.
Waiting for Tal to adapt to the intense sunlight placing his sunglasses, the half-elf starts walking to the side of the wizard "Have you known the people working in the sawmill? I just heard Titus Scarnetti is the one controlling the lumber trade in the area."
Delendir seems to try give conversation to Tal so he does not thing anymore on the Kiley affair. Little by little, the couple close by the sawmill to gather with the others and start the investigation.
"Really Kiley", Elisai continues in a superior tone "You don't need to kneel to me, I'm not royalty"
Half-drunk, half-hung over, Kiley is really easy to take down. What is impressive is how quickly and sneakily Elisai manages to get the wide belt she was wearing over her shirt off.
Fortunately for the young woman's modesty, she is wearing something underneath when she finds the tail of her shirt above her head.
"Whu? HEY!"
Kiley fights to get her clothing back on straight, and gives Elisai a mock glower.
"Y'know? Thish means war! Now gimme back my belt before Shunday shees the resht of my underwear!"
Kiley tackles the skald, groping for her belt, and likely grabbing something else by accident.
Nodding while still huddled over Sunday will quickly crawl out of the room.
Kiley puts on her belt, giving Elisai a questioning look.
"Taking it shlow? Whu... Whu--ulp, uh oh," Kiley's face goes from flushed to green and she bolts for the door, barely making it to the hallway before her stomach tightens and she loses her breakfast all over the floor.
"Ugh... Th-- That was horrible," Kiley croaks before another heave brings up more.
"I take it the prisoner is safe and sound then?" The Sheriff rolls his eyes.
"Oh come on Kiley, lets get you a nice breakfast of of bacon and eggs, mmm I bet you can smell it, all that lovely food and all that grease" Elisai rattles off, highly amused by the green face of her friend, and idly waving her hands, treating Kiley to all the smells of the various food she starts listing.
Hemlock arches a brow as the group comes streaming out in Kiley's wake, a foul pool of bile in front of the short warrior. The Sheriff sighs, then says, "Your friends are likely at the Lumber Mill waiting for you, if you are done here."
"S-sorry. I-I can clean that up," Kiley mutters as she's lead away by Elisai.
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I hope the guards didn't dirty up the scene too much."
With his glowing eyes Tal also checks out the body and the scene. He pays close attention to footprints and anything out of order.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Tal scans around for magic, finding none. As the pair walks in, you see an obviously upset guard standing near the bottom of a log splitter. It is apparent that the machinery in the building has been cut off. Lying at the bottom of the log splitter is a mangled mass that is only vaguely recognizable as a human female's body.
As Tal looks around, he notices a jumble of footprints in the sawdust of the mill, many of them bloody. He notices a faint scent of rotten meat, almost as of a decayed body.
Delendir hesitates a bit "Perhaps we should wait for the others" but he nods in the end at Tal's instructions "Ok", turns towards the people around and asks "We have been asked by Sheriff Hemlock to investigate this event. Please, move a bit, we are going to look now for hints."
The half-elf looks outside at the street I hope Grace found the others without additional problems, then goes inside the scene of the crime.
He takes a general look on the room, looking for anything amiss.
One of the first things he does, is checking the corpses, trying to find clues about the way they died and the weapon of the crime.
Then, before even more signals can be missed, he explores carefully the area looking for tracks or any other signal of the murderer or other people who might have been in the scene.
After that is done, he will starts checking the scene, meter by meter with a methodical approach until the rest of the party arrives or lunch time begins.
Delendir enters the mill, and is greeted by the grisly sight of the mangled body on the floor at the end of the log splitter. From the generous amount of hair, you would guess this was a woman. The sight is quite gruesome, and the single guard inside the room takes pain to avert his gaze. You see numerous tracks in the room, but one set in particular is barefoot, and reeks of rotten flesh.
Elisai heads briskly to the Sawmill, her friends close behind. The bard is slightly surprised however, when she arrives at the location and finds Tal and Delendir already there. "Oh, hello guys, did you find anything of value or importance?"
Delendir points to the corpses "We just arrived Elisai. There, the dead ones. Who can have done these horrible slaughter? And why?" he points over to something that has taken his attention.
"There are some barefoot tracks, and they reek of rotten flesh. What kind of person can smell that horribly? And why to walk barefoot into a sawmill full of splinters?"
The half-elf tries to approach the woman body and identify it.
Following with Elisai, Jesica sees the bodies and blanches, quickly going to a nearby bush and getting violently ill. "Oh goddess, please watch over their souls as they go to their judgement," she barely croaks out after her stomach is emptied and the heaves stop.
On edge as he followed the others the Barbarian seemed to mellow out somewhat oddly enough once they reached the sawmill, the smell of copper and hewn logs intermingling and filling his nostrils.
As Delendir points out the tracks and how they smell rotten Sunday goes to investigate, his sobering mind curious at to exactly what type of rotten it is.
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"Well it's obvious isnt it? The body is fresh so the scent of rot came from the outside. A zombie or ghoul killed these people I suggest. However, mindless undead would use their own hands. Perhaps a sentient undead, the letter indicates someone with some noble lineage and some intelligence that knows at least one of us. The reason they used the tools to kill I can only guess at for the moment. Perhaps some part cruelty, or a desire to destroy beauty."
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Letter? What letter?" Sunday asks before craning his head around to look at Tal expectantly. "... and knows one of us? Was it directed to me?" Almost unaware to himself he begins rubbing his signet ring inbetween his fingers.
I still have it, they can't take me back. They won't... Nair? No, she hated the Eaters.
Kiley wretches and heaves at the sight and smell. She'd killed goblins before, but this, this is something else. Her stomach is already empty, however, so all she can do is wait until the convulsions stop.
Tal, Kiley & Delendir try to identify the body of the unfortunate woman.
Sunday inspects the tracks, but succeeds only in determining that they smell like rotten meat, much as the others have already gathered.
"Th-that's Katrine, Ven's eldest. I'm surprised he's not on a rampage," Kiley says weakly.
Timidly Sunday will place his hand on Kiley's shoulder in an attempt at calming.
The guard on duty mutters, "Ven has been detained by the Sheriff as the only suspect in this murder."
Kiley moves a little closer to Sunday, close enough that he can comfortably wrap and arm around her shoulders.
"It's not him, unless he's a necromancer. It smells like death in here still, so it was probably a ghoul or a ghast," she replies to the guard, "I wouldn't breath a word of that to anyone but Sheriff Hemlock, if I were you. Start talking about undead this soon after goblins raid the town and you'll spark a panic."
The guard nods, looking more relieved than anything. "I'll make sure to report that to him, when I am relieved. The Sheriff doesn't really think it's Ven, but since Harker was fooling around with his daughter and there isn't anybody else with a reason to do this, there really wasn't anything else to go on."
Although holding her Sunday remains tense once Kiley mentions the likely suspects. [b]"The Eaters? I guess I didn't recognize the smell, it's been so long..."
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Tal moves to Jessica and helps her hold back her hair. "Yes it is quite a strong odor. If you have any perfume with you I suggest to spray it on a piece of cloth and keep it in front of you."
As Tal overhears the conversation with the guard he adds from a distance.
"That's what I said, ghoul or zombie did this, not Ven. The evidence is quite clear if you know what to look for. Now let's look around further. We haven't been to the second floor yet." Tal says and pushes Delendir upstairs and says a few words to him in elven.
"Ask if Kiley knows any nobles around town in a moment, I'll avoid her for now to avoid any further issues. And try to be subtle about it."
Glaring at Tal for not answering him Sunday stays with Kiley instead of rushing after the elf.
Jessica gets out a piece of cloth and does as Tal suggests after rinsing her mouth out. She ties it around her face to help with the smell before saying, "Thank you Tal." She gives him a hug, shaking a bit as she does.
"Next time you might want to see if I know the language first before using it to keep me in the dark."
"Tylko szlachta znam osobiście są Aldern Foxglove i Ameiko Kaijitsu," Kiley answers Tal in thin voice, "następnym razem może chcesz sprawdzić, czy znam język przed użyciem go, aby mnie w ciemności."
In Taldane she adds, "I am... I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. I know why you did what you did, but it still hurt to have a friend cast a spell like that on me. Still, I should not have held it against you like I did, that was... foolish, to say the least," she looks up at Sunday before turning her eyes back to the wizard, "Would you mind answering Sunday's question? I would like to know what all this is about."
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As Tal hears elven words come out of Kileys mouth he swears softly.
As she continues in Talden Tal turns to look at her. A small genuine smile appears on his face. "I am glad that you turned around. I feared our friendship would be over when you reacted so strongly. I know what I did is wrong and I will try to make it up to you Kiley."
As Kiley refers to Sunday's question concerning the letter Tal holds back at first and looks at Delendir and Grace. He sticks out his hand to Delendir and once the half-elf gives him the letter Tal shows it to Kiley. "I guess we should come clean about it. We had hoped we could have avoided it a while longer with all that happened recently, you have been through enough. But you would find out sooner or later, rather from us, than from the nutcase that did it. This is the letter that was found at the scene. It mentions you by name and was signed by "His Lordship". From what you said, the evidence points to that Aldern might be the killer, and for whatever reason he has his eye on you. Does anyone know what happened to him?"
Sunday looks surprised once Tal apologizes to Kiley, but that expression turns to shock once he says the killer might be after her as well. "Who is Aldern?" he asks to no one in particular as he holds the fighter tighter.
Having forgotten her earlier worries about Tal after his concern and kindness, Jessica stays close to him as they go upstairs. Maybe he really does care. I hope so.