Sarano considers a color spray, but hesitates. Andrietta intimidates.
Neither Peach nor Blue notice the stealthy Stali.
The Peach townsman freaks out. “Those birds defeated a dragon! RUN!” He runs.
Meanwhile, blue shouts, “Hell if I’m running!” He turns towards the group, prepared to attack, when Chak’s readied attack goes off and he goes down... bleeding.
Gallako and Stali are up!
Stali sneak attacks Green. Green is still standing, but he looks like he's about to fall over.
Gallako is up!
Milandru is a good kid, and the heavenly fire gently envelops the boy with an almost ethereal glow. The flames shimmer for a moment all over the boy's body before finally winking out. Though still unconscious, the tied up boy seems to breathe easier, no longer rasping for each breath.
Yellow blinks. "What the...?" He stares at the glowing boy in awe.
Gallako is still up!
"Damn sneaky bird!" Furious at having been jumped, Green punches Stali...
...And then falls over, as his own wounds finally catch up with him.
Yellow is dazed.
Purple's eyes widen. He has one friend bleeding, one running, another unconscious, and a fourth dazed. Not only is he outnumbered, but what appears to be an Erastil derived miracle has happened before his very eyes. "The old bird is right! The boy is innocent! Oh, what have we done?"
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Stali asks "Can someone stop the bleeding on the one that General Chak put an arrow in?"
He unties and removes the hood over Milandru's head. He then releases the kid from the tree and carefully lowers him to the ground.
Looking towards Irv, he asks "Any recommendations on handling this? I would much rather chase the real culprits. Can we just have them give their word of honor that they will report to the sheriff tomorrow?"
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Stali looks towards Gallako. He pauses a moment before replying.
Gesturing towards the townsfolk, he says "They live here, and are unlikely they will leave town. Having them turn themselves in -- which is what I'm suggesting -- allows us to go after the people causing this chaos."
"I agree that Milandru needs to be escorted back to the circus, but worry this might be another distraction. We might not want to split up right now."
Irv looks at the group of townies with a long cold stare. “Everyone of these bozos is someone I’ve picked up for drunk and disorderly.” He writes down their names. “If you guys don’t check in with the jail later today, you won’t like what happens when I or the Sheriff find you!”
The bozos in question promise to check back in, and start sheepishly dragging their still unconscious buddy, Green, with them. Milandru is still unconscious.
Irv nods. "Yeah, let's get the kid back. Let's be quick about it though... the Sheriff needs you to look at Legg's body."
Milandru's eyelids flutter, then his eyes go wide with panic. "Are they...?" He turns as he sees you. "What happened?"
“Thanks.” Milandru blushes. “You’re right. Mom will kill me. I just wanted to find my friend, Grayson. You know, the blond boy from town I was hanging out with? I’d met him several times after fetching you, and we’d... uh... you know... hang out.”
He looks down at the ground, miserable. “Then the quarantine happened, and I was worried sick that I’d never get to see Grayson without saying goodbye.”
When you make it back to the circus, Janira says to her brother, “You are soooo busted, Milu! Everyone’s been looking for you! Where have you been?”
Milandru and Janira’s family run up. When they hear what happened, Milu’s parents are aghast. “That romantic idiot.” Milu’s mother says, her face and tone softening the harshness of her words. “Maybe he thought that Grayson would run away to join the circus just like I did when I met your father.” Then she turns to the rest of you. “Thank you for rescuing my boy. We don’t have a lot, but I can never repay you for all that you’ve done for us.” She hands you a lovely hip scarf, scarlet and covered in beads and bells. “Please, take this. It's a family heirloom, but you brought our boy back to us. We insist.”
Aura faint enchantment; CL 1st
Slot belt; Price 3,000 gp; Weight 1/2 lb.
DESCRIPTION
This silk scarf is embroidered with all the colors of a flame and tasseled in tiny beads. When wrapped around the hips, it grants the wearer a +5 competence bonus on Perform (dance) checks. The scarf adds +1 to the saving throw DC of the wearer’s fascinate and suggestion bardic performances.
Meanwhile, Irv clears his throat. You can see him mouth the word, "body," while pointing back down the road.
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"Might want to think about what Master Venlock will have to say as well. If you had spoken to him before acting, he might have been able to arrange something." It is a wonder this fledgling didn't get killed. Let's hope that the pain of the beating gives him something to remember the next time he considers something like this.
Stali keeps looking around nervously as the family is reunited. He lets someone else grab the scarf.
He does ask one question, "Is there anyone else with the circus unaccounted for?"
He nods to Irv and announces "We still have some work to do, finding the culprit for all these crimes. Sorry, but we've got to run!"
Master Venlock shakes his head to Stali’s question. “There’s no one else unaccounted for. We’ve done a top to bottom count since we discovered Milandru’s disappearance.”
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A short time later, you make it to the clearing where Sheriff Feldane is pacing back and forth, impatiently. “Oh good, you’re here. What do you see? I don’t want to miss anything.”
Filton’s corpse is suspended by the neck from a dirty and torn Varisian scarf. His eyes have been gouged out, his mouth has been stuffed with rags, and his left hand has been severed at the wrist and is missing. A sheet of paper has been pinned to the body’s shirt and is stained with blood.
What a sharp-eyed group! Everyone spots a harrow card of The Desert, depicting an androsphinx, stuck just inside the body’s vest, and a dingy, heavily creased, note appearing to be a few days old in the trouser pocket.
This man is a probationary employee of Braeton Inland Shipping. As such he is authorized by my signature to purchase on company credit such apparel and sundry items as he requires for the performance of his duties.
(signed) Arhaneem Braeton
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Reading the paper attached to the body, Stali announces "It is in Varisian. It says, 'We take care of our own.'"
Pointing to the note, Stali asks "Does anyone know the meaning of that harrow card? I suspect it was picked because of the picture, but it would be good to know in any case."
He clucks a few times, shaking his head in dismay. He softly mutters "Shows no respect for the cards!"
Then he carefully takes the creased note out of Filton's trouser pocket. Looking at it, Stali adds "Looks like someone needs more practice forging. The ink is barely dry, at most it is two hours old. Someone tried to age the note and failed miserably."
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The grandmotherly figure is actually rather quiet, though she does a fair bit of fussing over Milu making sure the child is physically healed.
The emotional scars of being beaten nearly to death she can't do that much about. At least, not right now, at any rate.
"Good eye, Stali, I completely missed that."
"Remember what we heard about the sphinx from that one wise woman? The card is there to confuse the waters, it isn't being used in the proper... context? I'm not a Harrow expert, but nothing here is related to what the card's supposed to mean, I don't think?"
Pins and feathers, why does that hand thing... OH!
Andrietta's feathers lay flat as she looks at the hand, nodding grimly.
"Old tradition that some of the underworld elements may have stolen from Kwanlai right there, with the hand chopped off. If you lack a hand, you can't use half the sword forms, but you can still work if you have to.
It'd be whatcha'd get if you racked up some debt with a 'quiet-market' moneylender and then threw yourself on the mercy of the 'government' and not handle things straight-up with the money lender.
Heard tell of a group of foreign thugs that came in the area but didn't last very long... humans don't have the right expressions to fit in with a nation of tengu.
But where they headed back to was rumored to be that city... what was it... Kaervasa... Kaernaga... NO... KORVOSA. Wouldn't be surprised if they revived that practice to spread fear and dissension, and make sure that their debtors paid their debts in a timely fashion once word got out.
Filthy barbaric practice.
But that's an OLD practice.
So whoever is doing this has been doing this sort of thing for a while. Lessee. That happened after I got mated the second time and then the kids, carry the odd year..."
The grandmother does some math with her hands as she tries to figure out the time-frame.
Maybe some twenty to thirty years ago in Kwanlai, so if they got a fast ship back or a good guide over the Spine, figure maybe ten to twenty years ago in Korvosa?"
There's a bit of a pause.
"And yet again, they were very careful to clean up all their tracks. If they were smart, they would have grabbed some boots from the folks at the carnival and made tracks leading to the carnival, but just wiping it like this? Nah, this looks like a buncha thugs."
Andrietta will look to the rest of the party quietly, waiting for any insights they may bring up.
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Chak glances at the note and confirms it is a forgery.
"Of course, this is certainly a fake, forgery and falsification! That much is apparent, obvious and unmissable."
Looking at the card, Chak nods and caws triumphantly.
"Of course they try to use something Varisian with a sphinx picture to frame, setup and falsely implicate the carnival. But this actually does more to call that conclusion into question, suspicion, and doubt! no Varisian is going to use a harrow card so crudely, ignorantly and unsubtly. Those who do not know, understand, or comprehend the harrow would be too superstitious and cautious to not misuse it like this. Those who do, would know better. The members of a carnival would likely know better."
"Still, we must find, locate, and uncover some hard evidence. This was a move to play on superstitions of the Chelaxians, reason, logic, and rhetoric will likely not sway them."
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Perplexed, Stali thinks a moment before answering. "More like no one who respects the traditions."
Pausing from his inspection of the card, he looks at Gallako and says "In every generation there are some who fail to realize that such traditions are born of multiple lifetimes of experience. Knowing those traditions helps you avoid mistakes."
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Chak continued to ponder the card, his speech becomes slow any lazy as he begins droning...
"Desert, desert, desert... des-sert... dessert."
Anyone else want, desire and crave pie right now?"
"No wait, that card was about sand. PTBLUHH! Sand is definitely not tasty."
The Sheriff sighs. “This fourth murder leaves me no choice, you know. When word gets out that the body had a body with a Harrow card on it with an image of a Sphinx on it, the town’s rent-a-mob will storm the circus en masse. I need to buy time for us to solve these murders, so I’m going to have to bring Jherizhana in.”
She holds up both hands. “I know that there’s been little evidence that the sphinx did anything. But I have an ill-informed mob in town that will attack at the slightest provocation. I’m worried they’ll storm the carnival en masse, setting fire to tents and beating up anyone they can find. The carnies have children and other vulnerable members... And Jherizhana may well be safer in custody than with a lynch mob on her tail.” She looks unhappily up the road towards the Carnival. “I’m going to make the bastards think they’ve won.”
She turns resolutely up the road to the Carnival.
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"Legg had a writ from his boss to purchase things? One of the things we noticed on the first day was the red jackets and the buttons, right?
And then the only person we know that could speak to the dead AND helped clean him up ends up murdered?
The closer we're getting to this, the sloppier they're getting..."
Andrietta pauses and squints at the Sheriff.
"Why does the town need to know about bogus information planted on a body to deflect blame?
Using that misleading information lets these criminals get exactly what they want.
It will help us narrow down who is spreading the fertilizer and who KNOWS what's going on if we withhold that information and the nature of the death of Mister Legg, right?
I understood the idea behind the quarantine, but this doesn't fit the context very well?
We found a body.
That's all anybody needs to know until we're done with our investigation, right?"
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Nodding as the sheriff speaks, he says "Preventing a lynch mob is good. Have you told anyone in town that you already have one of the murderer's in your jail?" We probably should have done more about the rumors flying around. Unfortunately, it is probably too late to worry about that.
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In reply to Andrietta, Stali says "The way I read it, the writ only allows him to purchase a uniform. We could check with Sally Needle."
Pointing back to the harrow card, he says "This is of little help. It is the cheap block printing, nothing unique or distinguishing."
Stepping back, he looks around. "Is there a Braeton Uniform around? There should be."
Looking towards Andrietta, he asks "The sheriff didn't seem to have contact with Filton, so who was Filton working with that caused the thugs to cut off his hand?"
“Yes, I've told them about you catching Davo’s murderer.” The Sheriff sighs. “The problem is that there are forces in town riling people up and twisting everything we do. I don’t make a habit of leaking information about the crimes, but every time someone gets murdered, key planted details are suddenly repeated all over town. My constables try to chase down the rumors, only to discover that they’re chasing phantoms. Mysterious men with bushy red beards, jackets and floppy hats. Old women in shawls. Sailors or or long-robed merchants or Braeton Shipping men that no one’s seen before. They’re everywhere and nowhere... Even worse, there’s been at least one rumor spread that all those skulks were a Carnie circus act, no matter how much Irv has told everyone of facts to the contrary.” The Sheriff looks grim. “There’s a group of people determined to sow chaos and I don’t know why. I just know that I want them CAUGHT.”
Other than the vest, there is no sign of the rest of Filton’s Braeton uniform. With the alarm raised by Gallako, the group chases down the road after the Shaman, trying to find whatever upset Vralk. Remembering that Vralk’s last orders were to watch over Arhaneem Braeton, you head towards town, asking about Braeton Manor. Given how everyone in town knows that you’re investigating the murders by now, it’s easy to get directions to the large, well-built house of the richest man in town.
Before you reach the grounds though, you’re assaulted by a panicked black bird who for once is screaming about something other than pie...
It took Vralk a while to reach the manor, but as he was watching it, he noticed something strange. Small groups of people, approaching from different directions. One man is in a Braeton Uniform, though the jacket and pants don’t fit properly. Then he approaches, rings the door, and others rush inside. The other exits are guarded by other people. Then you hear screams, and see one servant brutally cut down as he tries to flee out the back...
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Andrietta will likewise go running after Gallako when the word of alarm is raised with a sinking sense of dread.
Should have stayed with him. Could have nipped this in the bud. Should have been more firm about him going into some form of protective custody.
"C'mon you eggs! You wanna live forever??" The panting exhortation is as much to the rest of the flock as herself, to try and keep focused on the run to the Manor.
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Running with the rest of the group, Sarano'll get tangled in her large robes, falling in the mud, angered at her clumsiness, she'll throw her robe off, trying to catch up with the group, now just in her basic explorer's outfit. Her white feathering able to seen by all as she runs along with the group.
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It is hard to make out Vralk as he is speaking so quickly, flying around in an agitated manner, going back and forth.
"Quick, quick. People being killed inside. Bad men inside. Many of them. Children screaming. Quick, quick! Help. Watch out! Bad men watching exits. Hurry!! Be Careful!! Children on second floor. Get there. Over here. What? Tengu inside? What? But you all here? What?"
As he calls all of this, he ends up fluttering near a window on the second floor, on the left side and towards the rear (assuming that we are coming in from the front). I've put him on map 6. No idea which direction we're coming from
The front door stands slightly open, and there are lights on in the windows on the top floor. All curtains are drawn.