Dayo looks down at his tambourine and the ribbons on his sword, contemplates how someone could be angry at them, and then turns to follow Justin.
When out of sight he comments, "I would have illustrated our adventure with origami but I have a feeling he'd be less respectful than those goblins we encountered."
Ven looks ready to throttle Justin.
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"Anyway, let him stew here for a bit. He's innocent in this case, but he deserves punishment for fraud anyway. Might as well do that right now. We'll come back for him later once this murder business is solved."
"Ven was a big ol' meanie. Who hates ribbons?"
"In short, Ibor seems to be innocent. He's a little shaken up, but as far as we can tell, not the killer. He even exonerated Ven, though he did say Ven was stealing money from his own business. But that's none of our concern, that's for you to decide what happens with him.
As I said before, we're haven't found a motive yet, nor a clue to the killer's actual identity. I'll trust your judgment as to whether a curfew is necessary. I've already explained that he or she is quite strong and smart, so (s)he'll probably be capable of avoiding patrols and remain unseen if he/she wants to."
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"They're both innocent of the murder. On the other hand Venn may also be involved in some sort of illegal monopoly on mills by the use of force. You're probably going to want to ask Ibor about it " he twitches his whiskers at that and adjusts his adadaran holy symbol. "he definitely needs to stay in there until our investigation is finished. I'm far too valuable to be throttled with a murderer running lose. "
Vitro is sketching down some notes, drawing lines between names, and whispers to the others. "I thought I was the only one that had trouble telling humans apart?"
More loudly;
"There may be some scamming and cheating going on but the whole murder looks far more occult than that.. also that smell. I don't know if there's something special about these people that made them a target, or if they were in a place that's a target, or just in a place with maximum grizzly death potential. But I think we need to look for a different murderer than them. We should investigate the locations where something that smelly could hide. And we should take a look at the Old Light, since there's definitely some similarity there. And it's a place where a smelly thing could hide. And just in case, let's be prepared for something not human or necessarily alive. Could be a demon, could be undead. It's not like we haven't run into of those before. And plenty of stories about executed criminals rising from the grave to to an encore."
The Sheriff nods along to your story.
"The disturbing thing is, this is not the first murder. Two days ago, a patrol of guards along the Lost Coast Road were assaulted by a deranged man near an abandoned barn south of town along the banks of Cougar Creek. The man was obviously sick and insane, his flesh fevered, eyes wild, mouth
frothing, and clothes caked with blood. The guards subdued him, but when they checked inside the barn they discovered the mutilated bodies of three men. Although all three bodies were far too disfigured to identify, one
of them carried a piece of parchment."
He slides is over to you.
" As you can read, the note identifies the bodies as Tarch Mortwell, Lener Hask, and Gedwin Tabe, three notorious con men and swindlers
known well to me. They are local troublemakers.
I personally forbade the three of them from operating their con games and barely legal operations in Sandpoint, and honesty, I wasn’t particularly surprised at the time to find them murdered—it was only a matter of time before they tried to swindle someone worse than them, after all. But in light of the mill murders and the fact that Mortwell,
Hask, and Tabe all bore the same seven-pointed marking on their chests that Harker did, I am convinced there is something worse than revenge afoot."
The sheriff sits back in his chair. Their bodies are currently kept in the basement untill their family comes, or wants to, claim them. They are probably starten to ripen by now, even in the cold down there. But you could examine them if you wish."
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Justin writes out a note , in triplicate
Please. burn . all bodies. In case. it's one. of those. Contagious. monsters.
and a receipt for all the lamp oil he's going to buy. Or rather have Eoghan buy, since he gets charged extra, Dayo and Vitro don't seem to understand the concept of money.
Justin is definitely going to mage armor dayo.
"If something weird happens back out I'll cast my spells and theyn we'll go in. "
Eoghan pales. "Sir, with all respect, why haven't you told us about this as soon as you heard about that seven-pointed star being present? It might not be completely related, but I'm betting it's more likely than not. Is that man still around somewhere? Has he been identified by now? As Justin says, he might be contagious. I'd like to inspect the bodies, and perhaps the patrol guards as well. I'm not a medical expert, but I've seen a few bodies in my time, I could take a look. Oh, and were your guards injured by the man? That's also good to know."
"So somebody..'invited..or lured these three to come to a hut in the middle of nowhere, and than these three get slaughtered. Looks to me somebody is taking out the competition. Competition to the Scarnettis maybe. Maybe we could ask Ameiko if she knows where we can contact those"
Vy turns towards the sheriif'
"This deranged man. Can we talk to him?"
Sheriff Hemlock steeples his fingers. "The insane man has been identified as one Grayst Sevilla, a local Varisian thug. He’s been given over to the care of Erin Habe, caretaker of an independent sanatorium south of town. Grayst has no emediate family in the Sandpoint region, and he was a danger to himself when we found him so we had him admitted.
Grayst is a bit off his rocker I wouldn’t expect much. I'll write you a letter of recomendation to give to Habe."
"As to why I did not tell you first, I did not want these first murders to influence any ideas or theories you had formed about the murders here in town. See those without any preconcieved notions."
When you go into the cellar to inspect the bodies:
Eoghan and Snowflake check the bodies. All three bodies bear claw marks similar to those that you found on Harker’s body. All three also have the Sehedron Rune carved into their chest.
"we have a sanitorium because we are close to the sea, with a beautiful view of it from the cliffs. People come here to slow down, heal at a slow pace of mind"
Vy looks at the claw marks
"Does anyone have some measuring device? Like a ruler? I wonder if those claw marks are exactly the same szie, meaning they are actually cause by a weapon, instaead of a real claw. I lived here almost my entire liefe, and I never saw any kind of Sandpoint Devil. Maybe somebody is trying to make us think he isone"
Its hard to say if the claw marks are exactly the same. The marks on these three bodies do look like they came from a five-fingered, human-sized hand, just like the marks on Harker's body.
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Justin Uh Huuuuhs at Snowflake.
"Do we have any other leads besides the sanitarium? I want to be back before the sun goes down the town can't see the thing trying to kill them all. "
He hmms..
"So lets run through the possibilities. One, an occult killer just happens to hit scarnetti businesses non stop. I don't know how likely that is here. Back home the difference between organized crime and basic government infrastructure was a bit blurry. Could be the same here and you can't toss a pebble without hitting two people involved. Two, the scarnetti hired someone that... likes to make it look like its anything BUT a scarnetti involved murder. Three... they offed someone, and now they've come back to take it out on them and they really don't care who gets in the way? "
"Scarnetti and Sczarni. Why do bad people put the word "Scar" in their name? As intimidation?"
"Have you heard of Apsu and his son, Dahak?"
Vy looks askance at Justin
"You do know that the most fryghtening vigilantes wear scar-fs, right?"
Vy looks pemsive
"i'm still thinking about contacting Ameiko. She might has heard more about the 'scar'ry crowd"
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Vy looks askance at Justin
"You do know that the most fryghtening vigilantes wear scar-fs, right?"
Vy looks pemsive
"i'm still thinking about contacting Ameiko. She might has heard more about the 'scar'ry crowd"
Justin facepalms.
"I think i heard that one in the orphanage. Lets head to the sanitarium before I need to go to the sanitarium. "
Dayo obligingly follows the group wherever they decide to go. "Investigating" isn't something he's knowledgeable about, but he's happy to assist however he can.
"What is a... 'San terrum'? I do not think these words translate into Hermean."
"It's a human thing.. they think the treatment for unhinged people is to lock them up in a low stimulation location" Vitro says scornfully.
Dayo meditates in Vitro's explanation, and then smiles.
"Maybe they'll be happy to see my ribbons!"
Gathering the horses and bitey from the stables, you head off into the hills.
Its a pleasant few hours on horseback. The area under the devils platter is mostly farmlands interspersed with small copses of trees.
Before you left, the Sheriff told you that "The Saintly Haven of Respite, better known locally as Habe’s Sanatorium, is run by Erin Habe, an expert on disease and mental derangement. Independently wealthy from his years as a doctor in Magnimar, he chose to build this sanatorium in a remote dale south of Sandpoint because of its seclusion. He hoped that here, his wards would find the peace of mind they needed to heal.
The squat, stone building that serves as the sanatorium has three floors under a stout, stone-flagged roof, and is built in the lee of the limestone escarpment known as Ashen Rise.
The front of the building has a wide wooden veranda with a few comfortable chairs. The boards creak a bit when you walk across them. The front door has a big brass door knocker in its center.
"Does a great dragon live here?"
to Justin
"Depends how well the investigation interview goes and refrains from turning into an intake interview"
to Dayo
"Do you ask due to the size of the building? Here on the continent we have access to a lot of resources for building stuff like this, unlike on an island"
With a perfectly straight face Vitro answers Dayo. "I don't think a dragon lives here. But humans seem to have plenty of horror stories about what goes on in the sanatorium. You know, vampires feeding on the insane and going made from the tainted blood and all that."
Knock knock!
A few moments after knocking, you hear someone approach. The door opens, revealing a broad shouldered man with a mottled red skin. A small horn grows from the side of his head.
He looks you all over for a moment.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen. Welcome to The Saintly Haven of Respite. How can I help you?"
"Good afternoon, sir. The Sheriff of Sandpoint has deputised us to investigate a case for him. We have a letter of recommendation, if you need it. It's about Grayst Sevilla, I hear he's in your care? We'd like to have a word with him, if that's possible."
When Eoghan gets the chance, he whispers to Vitro and Justin, "He has a burn mark on his neck. Dunno what that's about, might be relevant."
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to Justin
"Depends how well the investigation interview goes and refrains from turning into an intake interview"
"Right, So i let... " he looks up and around "WHO do the talking? "
Justin would be remiss if, as long as he's at this height, not checking the planar creature over for a set of claws. His whiskers bristle a bit as he gives the guard a sniff.
The man smells of breakfast and cleaning products.
He nods. "Yes, that man has been entrusted into our care. Alrough I could not say if his condition would allow him to entertain visitors. If you would wait for a moment, I will fetch the doctor."
He leads ypu inside into a small reception area. There is a small desk in the room and a few chairs. "Excuse me for a moment." He leaves the room.
"He has a single horn... Maybe this IS the home of a dragon!"
" I do not know what race he is, although I dislike him from somewhere deep inside me, almost irrationally. But there's something sad and equally joyfull about his past, Dayo. He was once a slave, but he's a free man now"
"He probably inherited his benevolence from some draconic progenitor. That's so nice to dedicate your life to helping people. Maybe after our investigation is done I can help out here, too!"