Nilus doesn't really know what to ask her, just if there is something else she might know about the "murder".
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Cham Lassingfrass breaks down, and starts crying. She says, "There was a man who came in last night, and who didn't give his name. He paid me a fistful of gold. He said he'd be gone before morning. I didn't think that... I thought he just wanted privacy. I had no idea that something like this would happen!"
She shows you the registry. The man checked in last night, before Roderick had checked in, and before any of your group had checked in, last night. Indeed, there is no name in the registry.
"He was a human, very tall. Well, medium height, I guess, for a human. Brown hair. Nondescript face. Wearing travelling clothes. I guess that's not very helpful...." the halfling Cham Lassingfrass says, chocking back a sob.
Hrmph. You did nothing wrong. You are a room renter and you rented a room. Zavier says in a gruff yet consoling tone. But what room was he in? Can we see?
Indeed. This is troubling... perhaps others can remember seeing this man. Can we see the room he rented?
"Yeah, let's see the room. Definitely suspicious, but not necessarily a guarantee that he had anything to do with it."
-Posted with Wayfinder
"GROK WILL FIND AVERAGE MAN."
He scans the room quickly looking for any humans. If he finds any male, even not similar to the description, he stares intently and angrily.
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There are definitely average humans in the room. They are not quite sure what to make of an oversized Oread glaring at them.
"Oh, he's not here now, none of these folks are him," Cham says to Grok, as she sees him looking around the room.
She leads you to the room where the nameless man had been staying.
Just as in Roderick's room, there's a "trick drawer" in the desk-- a false bottom in one of the drawers. Here, there's something potentially interesting underneath it. It looks to be an incomplete letter, which reads:
Melira,
I shouldn't be away for much
longer. We still haven't found
what we're looking for, but
it's only a matter of time,
and the other preparations
are proceeding as planned. A
meddling militia patrol captain
has been poking around, but I
don't foresee him being a threat
for much longer. Once our work is
done, it won't matter anyway,
and I can return to you. I
marvel that I found you in the
midst of all this, and think of
you constantly. Soon, my beloved.
(If you guys find this, I'll upload a copy of the image to the Wiki.)
Thank you Cham. If this man had anything to do with Rodericj's death, we will find him.
Nilus enters the room and begins searching it as completely as he did Roderick's.
Many minutes later Nilus knocks on the desk Do all your desks have false bottoms? Nilus says as he lifts the panel
Well. What's this then... adn he reads the note
This man almost certainly knows something about Roderick's death...
To his allies Nilus says Who is Melira?
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A copy of the note is on the game's Wiki
Cham Lassingfrass shakes her head. "I do not know the name," she says. "And, yes, this compartment is in most of the drawers in here."
She wrinkles her nose and frowns before adding, "Well, perhaps not the rooms all those half-orcs were staying in. Those thuggish tall-folk really made a mess out of them."
Nilus goes searching for the one named Melira and it takes him hours.
Grok follows Nilus around town, insisting to help in his investigation.
It comes down to a lot of "IS THAT HIM?" every time Grok sees a human of the rough description. ...Which is a lot.
"You numb-skull, just because all humans look the same doesn't mean they're all him! Calm down!" Racket chastises Grok from his shoulder, also helping to ask around.
Unfortunately he's more hurtful than helpful with his quips about humans.
Zavier does not like what these preparations must be that got best investigator in place murdered
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With some effort, and despite the social gaffes of Racket, you are able to determine that there is nobody in town, or visiting town, named Melira. Whoever the unfinished letter was written to, it's not somebody local.
It's been a long day with a few times looking around, and by the end of the day you're pushing evening. In the twilight (still normal lightning conditions, though) you're heading back towards the Ramblehouse, where three of you are staying. The street is empty when you hear some growling, and from around a corner ahead, three evidently rabid wolves poke their heads!
Initiative Order: Zavier, Ratchet, Wolves, Nilus, Grok
Zavier and Ratchet are up!
Wolves? Hah! I make wolves BLEED.
As the nearest wolf is just outside of his range Zavier moves up 30 feet to F13 and dares the wolves to come at him; promising to make them bleed for their audacity.
"Ah, they're just dogs. Hardly worth our time."
Racked pulls out his light crossbow and loads it.
Nilus moves forward and casts Magic Fang on Brawd who moves next to him.
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Zavier runs forward to confront the wolves while Ratchet draws his crossbow.
The wolves see Zavier as a tempting target. Two of them run to him, while two others streak by to engage Nilus and Brawd.
Two wolves attacking Zavier:
Both wolves, in their rabid enthusiasm to attack Zavier, fail to connect.
The other two wolves spend their full round moving.
All of you are up. Updated combat map on the Wiki.
Nilus: you may want to change your move given that on their turn, the wolves moved foward.
To act: Nilus, Grok, Zavier, Ratchet, Wolves
Racket fires his crossbow at one of the wolves on Nilus.
But he misses. "Crammit!" He reloads.
Zavier cracks his knuckes and tries to smash the wolf in front of him in the jaw.
Nilus attacks with his spear as Brawd does this same
Grok steps forward(F20) and attacks the wolf in front of him.
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Although Nilus doesn't quite critically hit the wolf in front of him, the thrust with the spear is enough to take the beast out, and it falls to the ground, bleeding and dying. Brawd instinctively turns to the other wolf next to him, and also hits, simultaneously with Grok missing (what weapon is Grok using?) and Ratchet missing with a crossbow bolt.
Brawd tears deeply into the beast's neck and wreches it around, but does not manage to pull it to the ground.
Zavier, meanwhile, cracks the wolf in front of him across the jaw, and the rabid beast recoils with the force of his blow, blood and slobber flying in a pasty red-pink mist. The tearing in the jaw leaves the wolf bleeding, and it faints on its turn as a result of the blood loss.
The other wolf in front of Zavier bites at him.
However, it only manages to scrape at the large brawler's skin, leaving a nasty but mostly superficial laceration on his shin. (I need a fort save from Zavier.)
The wolf that Brawd attacked bites back at Nilus' animal companion.
Brawd is able to dance back out of the way, and the young rabid wolf's teeth close on air.
All y'all are up again.
Nilus and Brawd continue to attack the wolves
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As the wolf dances out of the way of Nilus's spear, it ducks right into Brawd's teeth. Brawd tears a piece of flesh out of the best, and it falls too the ground, unconscious and dying.
(Only the wolf that bit Zavier is still up.) Nilus and Brawd, you still each have a move action you can take if you want.
Grok step to flank(C18), and try the attack again.
Racket drops his crossbow, then runs forward and leaps up onto Grok's back, climbing up to his shoulder. He then lobs an alchemist's fire at the wolf directly in front of Grok.
Grok's movements when swinging his sword seem to offset Racket, and his alchemist's fire lands in square E20, splashing Grok, Racket, and Nilus for 1 point of fire damage each.
"Seriously! I can't hit the broad side of a barn!"
Zavier turns and tries to give a very big boot to the second wolf's race.
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The fight is over quickly, and the four slavering wolves lay dead or dying in the street. Another citizen of Trunau pokes her head out of the door, gasps, and says something about getting the city watch to take care of the bodies.
You are all unharmed, except for Zavier. Zavier didn't take much damage, but the wound smarts, and looking at it he thinks it may be diseased.
Do Wolves run around here all the time? Zavier asks. Also I think the one who bit me had sickness
Grok walks to the least mutilated wolf. With one chop he removes the head, then he pulls out the organs and hefts the beast over his shoulder.
Grok then looks around, as if expecting disgust from the others, or at least Racket.
"GOOD MEAT. STRONG WOLF MAKE GROK STRONG."
Grok follows the group back to the inn, but rather than going in, he makes his way to a more secluded area to work with his prize.
He will find a tree or something to hang the wolf, pull out an iron bar, and use his ferrous growth ability to form a skinning knife.
After skinning the wolf, he roughly cuts large chunks of meat and wraps them in the hide. Once his meat is secure, he buries the bones and carcass of the wolf under the tree, pats the tree and says...
"WOLF MAKE YOU STRONG TOO."
Many minutes after the group returns to the inn, Grok walks in quietly, covered in blood, and sits in front of the fire. He pulls a javelin and proceeds to roast and eat chunks of wolf like they were marshmallows, charring them black.
Racket, used to this sort of thing from Grok, sighs and goes along with Grok, looking forward to some wolf meat himself.
"You really should warn people when you're going to do stuff like that, ya big lug. Some folks can't handle the gore. Not everyone has spent as much time around orcs as we have."
Hah, we won't go hungry out in the wilds with Grok and Wolves around Zavier laughs but then asks Where is healer? I think the wolf bite is making Zavier feel funny
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Cham Larringfass (who now has a picture up on the wiki), the halfling proprietor of the Ramblehouse, comes over. She seems a little taken aback at the blood-stained Grok grilling hunks of wolf meat. Those nearby can hear her mutter, "Almost as bad as a half-orc" under her breath.
She looks at Zavier. "Are you all right? It looks like you got bit! There aren't usually wolves wandering around town, and especially not rabid ones! What happened?"
Nilus attempts to give long term healing to Zavier if at all possible.
Racket will inspect the wound, once Nilus mentions that there is some alchemical nature to it.
"Hmm, we'll need to find some herbs or something to try to deal with this. Or you could go to one of them fancy clerics."
Wolves did not seem like Alchemists to me Zavier says It makes nonsense
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Summary of where we are:
Trunau is a human (and half-orc, and other "civilized" races) settlement within the Hold of Belkzen. Half of it is on an easily-defensible natural bluff, which is probably why it's survived as long as it has. Interior walls in the town allow people to retreat to the upper half if it comes under siege. It does engage in some trade with representatives of local orc tribes.
Last night was the hopeknife ceremony of Ruby, the youngest daughter of the leader of the town, Chief Defender Halgra of the Blackened Blades. You participated in it, and met several people (whom Nilus already knew), including Roderik Grath (a prominent member of the town militia, the oldest son of Patrol Leader Jagrin Grath, and also something of a local poet and playwright) and his brother Kurst Grath.
This morning, Roderick Grath was found dead in his room in the Ramblehouse, evidently having killed himself with his own hopeknife. Kusrt (and some others you talked to) did not believe it, and approached the four of you and asked you to look into it. Leads you have include:
- Roderick was romantically involved with a half-orc weaver Brinya Kelver. His father was not happy about this, which is why Roderick was staying at the Ramblehouse. You've determined that she's occupying a boardinghouse just off of the Commons in the upper part of town.
- The first guard on the scene was Omast Fraum, a long-time family friend of the Graths and a recovering alcoholic. He had been something of a mentor to the Grath brothers. You've determined that he's been seen trying to wash off some graffiti that's been plaguing the town recently, and you've been told you should look for him near the south tower of the Inner Wall in town.
- You found a scrap of paper in Roderick's room. it was a receipt for a new hopeknife from Morninghawk's Fine Steel. The note requested an engraving reading "For Roderick, my love." You went to Morninghawk's Fine Steel and talked to Sara Morninghawk, a half-orc blacksmith. She went to look for the knife, but could not find it. She stated that a worker named Urnsul, who had just quit, had been responsible for it, and she feared that Urnsul had put it somewhere stupid. You were not able to find out any further information about Urnsul asking around town; it doesn't seem that that's the name of a well-known local.
- Cham Larringfass, the halfling proprietor of the Ramblehouse, said that the previous night, there had been a man who refused to give his name, and who slipped her some extra gold to keep her from asking. He was human, medium height, brown hair, nondescript face, wearing traveling clothes-- in short, she isn't even sure she could pick him out of a crowd if she saw him again. (This did not stop Grok from thinking that every human was the man in question, with the possible exception of Nilus and Zavier.) In the room, you found a letter (on the Wiki) in the "trick drawer" false bottom that seems to be present in the desk in all (or at least many) of the rooms. This letter was addressed to Melira, mentioned things happening "soon", and mentioning a meddling militia patrol captain who would not be trouble for much longer. You asked around, but nobody in town knows the name Melira.
- Whether or not it is connected, you were attacked by rabid wolves on the way back to the Ramblehouse after asking around town about Melira. As you've noticed, the wolves were diseased, but the disease seemed to be alchemically influenced. You're not sure what this means.
It is the night of the second day; when you are ready, we can progress to the morning of the third day.
Nilus is ready to go speak with Brinya Kelver and possibly Omast Fraum.
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One other thing I left out of the summary: there was a hopeknife found with Roderick's body. Kurst would be willing to let you have it to use in your investigation. It does not have the inscription on it that was described in the hopeknife order.
Day Three
You wake up the next morning. Unfortunately, because of the alchemical nature of the wound, Nilus was not able to provide the right herbs and such for treatment, and Zavier wakes up feeling a little weak. He notices that small nicks seem to bleed longer than they usually would, and his limbs are also feeling a bit stiffer.
Ratchet, looking at the wounds, determines that there is an alchemical blood thinning agent in it, but he's not sure how that was able to be mixed together with an infectuous disease.
The group heads to the boardinghouse where Brinya Kelver is staying. When they get there, they find her sitting alone at a table in the common room, finishing up breakfast. She looks up at you.
Let me know how you proceed.
I heal fast in usual the wrestler from Brevoy mutters as he looks at the wound that refuses to close This is not normal. I need to pay for healer spell. Maybe there is some one like this on way to Brinya or Omast?
Nilus approaches Brinya Mistress, a word?
If she deigns to speak with the group he says
We have knowledge that Roderick did not kill himself... We search now for those responsible. Any information you might have would be a boon to our investigation. Did he mention anything odd these past weeks?
Grok lets Nilus do the talking but gives an exaggerated head shake when it is mentioned that Roderick did not kill himself.
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Brinya looks up at Nilus as he approaches. He can see her eyes start to water when he mentions Roderick, and she gestures for him to sit down, and for the rest of you to sit down.
"You are nilus, right?" she says. She looks at the others briefly, not recognizing any of them, before continuing. "Roderick wouldn't kill himself. His father was mad, because of me, but Roderick was so full of life. It was his poetry that attracted me in the first place. His poetry, and the plays he wrote. He was such a beautiful soul."
She stops and falls silent for a moment, gathering herself.
Let me know how you proceed. (She may well have more to say, but I'm going to pause here in case any of you want to say something.)
"What did you do to draw the man's father mad? Can't say a woman has ever had quite that effect on me."