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Stali gratefully accepts the food and thanks Sister Es.
Once he is done with the meal, he asks Sister Es "Was there anything you found strange about Daro's body when it was delivered to you? You said you had cleaned it up -- other than the obvious blood what was there to clean?"
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When the sheriff mentions having a list of names, Stali asks "Can you find someone in town that is a good tracker, preferably someone who is honest but likes talking? If they could figure out more about those tracks, it might give us a clue as to what sort of animal attacked Archivan. It might also help the rumor mill if people hear from someone they trust that things may not be what they first appeared."
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Stali is ready to go to the Locked Box.
Just before leaving the temple, Stali says "One thing you should know, Sheriff Feldane. We were supposed to pick something up from the Locked Box. It was closed yesterday because of the carnival, so we couldn't do that."
Sister Es suddenly laughs, snorting out her nose in a rather undignified fashion. She smiles at the little raven. “Thank you, Vralk. I sorely needed that laugh. Let’s make a deal! Use those sharp eyes of yours and catch the real villains here, and I'll make you all a couple pies, and throw in some Elkbutt Ale, too."
The Sheriff walks with you down to the Locked Box. Most of the crowd has melted away, but there’s a teenaged girl of about nineteen on guard outside. Her uniform has a patch with the Locked Box logo on the jacket. It looks like she’s trying hard not to cry, and she wipes her eyes on her sleeve as you approach. “Sheriff, any news?”
“We’re still in the information gathering phase, Hari.” The Sheriff hands the writ to the girl. “I’ve given these Pathfinders permission to help with the investigation. Can you go get Widow Walder please?”
The girl’s eyes widen as she stares at all of you, but then she nods and runs inside. A few minutes later, Agnes Walder stumbles out, eyes red from crying and still wearing the clothes she had been wearing the day before. She looks over the writ, then looks over all of you. Once. Twice. Like she's not sure she's reading it right. “You birds are supposed to help the Sheriff find Archie’s killer?”
She looks to the Sheriff for confirmation. The Sheriff nods, then turns back down the street. Agnes watches her go, then turns bleakly to all of you. “Come in, then. Let’s get this over with.”
You follow her inside. Lamps illuminate this large showroom. Glass display cases, broken in a few places, line the walls, while two additional cases sit like islands in the center of the room. The cases contain an eclectic mix of valuables such as unusual tools, masterwork weapons, jewelry, fine china, antiques, and artwork. A set of merchant's scales rests on top of one of the display cases.
“Careful of where you step.” Signs of the recent burglary are everywhere. Many of locked glass cases have been smashed, their contents scattered, though much of the broken glass has been swept up into careful piles. “I’m still... I’m still trying to pick up the pieces here.”
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"How can Gallako not trust me? I be good. I ALWAYS good"
Vralk looks around the room
"Wow. Shineys. LOTS of Shineys. Nobody would notice if I took one. Maybe two."
Vralks wings briefly flutter
"What? Who, me? Never thought about it. Damned Empathy."
Vralk slumps onto Gallakos shoulder, visibly disappointed.
"Um... I don't know if..." Agnes waivers a moment.
Then she looks around the group. "Maybe if each of my guards works with two of you?"
She points to Sarano and Andrietta. "Why don't you two help Hari clear some of this broken glass, and make sure there isn't anything that we missed there?" She gestures to Gallako and Stali. "And you two can help Tomaso sort what we've found?" Tomaso is an older guard with a mustache, bent over some papers. Then she points to Chak and Hikaru. "Maybe you two can assist Ricardo and double-check his paperwork?"
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Nodding, Stali starts working with Tomaso, Gallako and Vralk sorting through and organizing the inventory.
As he is doing this, he starts talking with Tomaso. "Were you here when this was discovered? Could you tell me what you noticed? All the cases were smashed rather than unlocked. Was the door locked, and what were Davo's orders if anyone came to the shop?"
Once they are done with the inventory, Stali will take a look at the front door to see if there are any signs of tampering.
If he finds anything of interest, he will point it out to Tomaso.
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Chak's eyes alight with the mention of paperwork.
"Yes! We must examine every scratch scribble, and marking of all the paperwork. There is always abundant, plentiful, and numerous clues in the paperwork!"
He wasn't much of a merchant, so he gathered up every scrap of paper he could find looked for forgeries as well as odd patterns.
He finds somewhere to spread it all out and in a few moments looks like a bird that has built himself a nest out of paper.
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Sense Motive - Take 10 for 20.
"Once we have made sure that an area contains nothing valuable, Vralk can clean it all up afterwards"
Appraise=14
Perception=17
Diplomacy=17
If not allowed
Gallako whispers to Tomaso
"Vralk, my Crow friend, LOVES to collect shineys. Especially when he thinks nobody is looking. It is in his nature. Once we've made sure that an area contains nothing valuable, do you mind if I let him "take a last look". He will "steal" some things but it won't be valuable. Glass, a brass fastener, etc. Don't worry, he never takes anything that is actually valuable as he knows that would be wrong"
Assuming he agrees, he "happens" to stop watching Vralk from time to time.
Gallako sets to sorting what is found, using his appraise skill to get things ordered by value. He is careful to make sure that Tomaso can see what is happening at all times.
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"This is boring. Not even allowed to look for Shineys"
For the first hour or so, Vralk takes a nap on Gallakos shoulder. When enough of the store has been cleared he is woken up by Gallako.
"Yes, me clean this area"
Vralk summons the bird spirits to help him (casts prestidigitation for the pedantic :-)) and proceeds to clean the area
"Ooh. They missed something. Is anybody watching? No!!!!!"
He then "casually" flies down and picks up ...
A brass thimble
A spring from a broken clock
A whistle
etc
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"Dear, we'll be very careful to not take anything. This place was your husband's pride and joy, and we WILL respect that."
As the widow suggests assignments, the paladin will leave the following for the widow to mull over.
"Certainly, and if you need to talk, dear -- I've gone through the loss of my dear Wiun..."
Andrietta leaves the door open for a empathetic conversation with the widow for nothing more than support, despite her own suspicions about the mate of the deceased.
She will then move over to give Sarano and Hari a hand cleaning up the glass with no sense of insult at being asked to perform such a simple task.
"Hari, was it? How long have you been working for Miss Walder?" She might as well strike up the conversation as the work is going on.
"Thank you, dear, for allowing us here to investigate. The sooner we come to proper justice the sooner we can all begin to heal."
The widow kneels down. “What do you know about healing?” Her voice is bleak.
Startled that she is being addressed, she jumps, before looking around, ”Oh okay, yes I can help. .um. .do you have broom?”
Equally startled to be addressed, Hari blinks. “Yeah, let me get you one. Follow me?” She pulls Sarano out of the room, hands her the broom, and asks in a small and hurt voice, “Do you think you can find the ones who killed Daro?”
"Hari, was it? How long have you been working for Miss Walder?"
"Um, only a few months. Dar got me the job." She wipes her face, "Who would do such a thing?"
As he is doing this, he starts talking with Tomaso. "Were you here when this was discovered? Could you tell me what you noticed? All the cases were smashed rather than unlocked. Was the door locked, and what were Davo's orders if anyone came to the shop?"
Once they are done with the inventory, Stali will take a look at the front door to see if there are any signs of tampering.
“Yeah, I was carrying Master Walder home. In my arms.” Tomaso holds his arms open, as if still carrying the weight. “Then Hari and and Ricardo yelled, and I saw two figures running out of the store into the night. The door was open. Wide open. We’d left it closed and locked. Dar was supposed to hold tight and not let anyone in, but we didn't find Master Walder's keys on him.”
When Stali checks the front door, there is no sign of tampering.
"Yes! We must examine every scratch scribble, and marking of all the paperwork. There is always abundant, plentiful, and numerous clues in the paperwork!"
He wasn't much of a merchant, so he gathered up every scrap of paper he could find looked for forgeries as well as odd patterns. He finds somewhere to spread it out and in a few moments looks like a bird that has built himself a nest out of paper.
In amongst the paperwork, Chak finds a few interesting things.
There’s also a letter with the Heidmarch seal, thanking Archie for writing to her about the pearl tiara, and explaining that she would be sending proxies to pick it up a few days hence.
“Are you sorting this, or building yourself a nest? Mistress... I mean, Widow Walder will be upset if she thinks we're messing up her records further.” Riccardo comes to pick up the nest.
"Once we have made sure that an area contains nothing valuable, Vralk can clean it all up afterwards.”
"Vralk, my Crow friend, LOVES to collect shineys. Especially when he thinks nobody is looking. It is in his nature. Once we've made sure that an area contains nothing valuable, do you mind if I let him "take a last look". He will "steal" some things but it won't be valuable. Glass, a brass fastener, etc. Don't worry, he never takes anything that is actually valuable as he knows that would be wrong."
Tomaso looks over at the widow, who’s talking to Andrietta, before leaning in to Gallako and Stali. “If that bird can clean up all the broken glass, I’ll throw him a couple coppers myself.”
“Dear, we'll be very careful to not take anything. This place was your husband's pride and joy, and we WILL respect that."
"Certainly, and if you need to talk, dear -- I've gone through the loss of my dear Wiun..."
The widow breaks into tears. “I argued with him, yesterday. Argued! It just bothered me to think of him ogling that winged she-lion whatsit—all that prancing about without a top on. But none of that would matter if only Archie was still here with me!” Then she slowly pulls herself together. “I suppose you have questions?”
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Stali gives Agnes the inventory they had taken.
"The murderous thugs who did this had no eye for value. They were more like magpie's, taking whatever glittered the most. They left several items that were worth far more than some of the items they took."
Looking to Agnes, he asks "Do you know about how long it was between the time you asked Tomaso, Ricardo and Hari to accompany you and you returned here?"
"Have Archivan's keys been found yet?"
Looking between Agnes and the remaining guards, he asks "Did any of you notice someone acting suspicious while you were leaving? Perhaps running off when they saw you?"
Whispering quietly to Hari, while she tries and sweeps up the broken glass,
”What do ya think happened here? We’re still looking for clues,”
Hari bites her lip. “I think those circus people killed the Master. Maybe he told the sphinx he was rich, just to impress her. Guys do that sometimes, right? Maybe that sphinx took offense. Then they found his key, and then broke in and caught Daro. No one from in town would have knowingly hurt Daro... Everyone in Ilsurian who knew him, liked him. So it had to be someone who didn’t care. Then they stole as much as they could and ran off as we came back.”
Looking to Agnes, he asks "Do you know about how long it was between the time you asked Tomaso, Ricardo and Hari to accompany you and you returned here?"
"Have Archivan's keys been found yet?"
“It was over an hour, maybe closer to two? I was so frantic, I wasn’t minding the time.” Agnes looks miserable. “We went up one road and down the other, going slow. I thought maybe he’d tripped. He broke his leg last year, just falling, and I imagined him hurt in some ditch, not able to come home. So I was looking for him everywhere, and couldn’t find him. Then we found him, torn up like that crazy she-lion had eaten him, and we brought him home. No, his keys haven’t been found.”
Looking between Agnes and the remaining guards, he asks "Did any of you notice someone acting suspicious while you were leaving? Perhaps running off when they saw you?"
All three guards shake their heads.
With the main showroom cleaned up, you continue your conversations as you walk into the guard quarters on the NW corner of the building. Two cots and a bunk bed sit in the room. Footlockers are tucked underneath the cots to store personal belongings. A table and chairs are in the room's center, a well-used deck of harrow cards on the tabletop.
A large, rusty red blotch remains on the floor. Riccardo speaks up. “This is where we found Daro. Just lying here in his own blood.”
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"Sorry to have to ask this, but any idea if he was dead long? Was his body still warm? Had his blood gone solid?"
Stali looks around the room, but does not disturb any of the guards' personal belongings. He does swing the door open and closed a few times, just to get a sense of how much noise it makes.
Tomaso looks down with sorrow at the red spot near the chair. "His body was still a bit warm. If only we'd arrived earlier..."
Looking around, none of you see anything special in the room. The guards kept their posessions orderly, and most of the blood was already cleaned and mopped up. The door makes noise when it opens and shuts.
"Do you want to see the office now?" Agnes asks.
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The widow kneels down. “What do you know about healing?” Her voice is bleak.
The paladin crouches down and looks Mrs. Walder in the eye. It's the eyes of someone who has been in her position, though the circumstances may be slightly different.
"Cuts and scrapes I've seen many, patched a few -- it's amazing what kind of mischief children can get themselves into. Seeing someone die by a thousand gasping breaths as their body just gives out on them? You don't *quite* ever heal fully from something like that.
Everything's raw for the first few months, everything's a reminder, every time someone tries to come and offer comfort just another jab in the gut, they can't possibly know what you're going through, and you get the side-ways looks, the folks wondering if maybe YOU had something to do with the loss of the one person that was your other half.
Good or ill, rich or poor, you'd made a good go of it and now.. nothing.
No one to turn to, no one seems to want to be able to listen, nobody seems to care beyond some ungrateful wretches that want to know 'how much they get' from the estate. Meanwhile, you're still trying to keep it together, be strong, put on the 'brave face' because to be weak to others somehow seems like a failure.
Some folks give up at that point. It's too much for a broken heart to recover from, and they die soon after that. Other folks try to find something to point all their anger at their loss at, not realizing that there's nothing TO be angry about, that things happen sometimes and we're stuck trying to sort out the consequences. Other folks take a step back, and then refocus, try to live again.
None of this happens overnight, whether bearing the most callous or the gentlest of hearts. No amount of flowery words makes it better, and folks calling it 'straight' piss you off to the point you want to hurt them, even though both of those are the ways folks have been taught to help someone through a time like this.
What do I know about healing from the death of a loved one? It's going to take time. A whole lot of precious time. It's going to take patience. It's not going to be easy, it never is. Just when you think you're 'good' to go... someone will make a comment, you'll see a favorite clothing garment, you'll be eating that dish that only you and he had together... and it'll hurt.
Remember the joy you shared, and remember the good times. Remember the bad times, too, to kind of balance it all out. But most of all, don't forget. As long as you never forget, you still have him here--" Andrietta says, pointing to the widow's chest "--and no one and no power can take that away from you."
The grandmother pulls out a cloth for the grieving widow and offers it to her to help with the tears.
"You argued and fought, but it was for a good reason from what you could see. Are you sure that he was ogling the sphinx or attempting to learn from her? She seems really smart, maybe she was trying to give him advice on how to improve his business?"
It's not a lie, nor it is it a half-truth, but one of those comforting illusions to perhaps soften the edge when the harshness of a situation threatens to rise out of control.
"Do you have any family in the area to help you through this?" Andrietta will hold off on the other questions for now, the woman's already going through a personal hell that she's well aware of.
"When you're ready to head to the office, yes, please, thank you."
The widow looks up with her bleary eyes, looking at Andrietta as if seeing her for the first time. ”You know... I never thought someone like you would... Oh, I'm a damn fool.” She wipes her face. “You’ll catch the ones that did this to Archie, just like you would for your mate, won’t you? Don’t stop until you get them, and if it’s that damn circus that’s responsible for all this nail that she-lion’s hide to a wall.” She leads you into the next room.
A large polished desk dominates the office. Hooks for hanging lamps are permanently affixed to the walls, while mounted behind the desk is a large framed portrait. Running along the east wall is a large display case filled plaques, framed documents, trophies, and stuffed animals.
This was Archivin Walder's private office. The portrait behind the desk depicts Archivin and Agnes in their youth. The most recent ledger lies open on top of the desk. The desk is locked, but can be opened with Agnes's key. The drawers contain Walder's remaining accounting books. The display case contains mementos of personal value rather than treasures: Walder family portraits, a signed copy of the town charter, a stuffed and mounted bear, a mounted reefclaw, and a boggard short spear.
Meanwhile, the Widow Walder compiles a list for you of most of what was stolen from the main showroom. She looks at Stali. “You’re right ‘bout what’s gone. It was a bunch of flashy looking jewelry, but there was also a valuable piece stolen that I’d moved up from the vault to the upper floor, because someone was about to reclaim it. Belonged to some noblewoman from Magnimar. She's not going to be happy that it disappeared.”
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Stali doesn't appear surprised by the news. Flashy, pretty, not a surprise they took it.
With a small chuckle, Stali replies "I guess that just gives us more reason to find the culprits. Lady Heidmarch sent us to retrieve her tiara."
Gesturing towards Andrietta, he adds "She has the claim ticket. We had stopped by yesterday, but your shop was closed so you could enjoy the carnival."
He then moves to inspect the ledger. Gesturing to the torn pages, he asks "Is there any chance you can figure out what entries were removed?" He says it in a hesitantly hopeful voice. Rather a long shot, but might as well ask.
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"We'll make sure things are settled up. Grandmother'd have my feathers if we didn't do this right." Andrietta notes to Agnes, assuring her that it will get sorted properly.
Observing the torn log and the pages on the floor the paladin squints a bit. "Has that key left your possession at any point that you are aware of?"
If she's not responsible, then WHO tore the pages out of the log. The timing doesn't match up. How did the log get back into the secure drawer if someone didn't have a key? Is she being set up for this as a secondary plan to distract attention?
Andrietta has an idea, though.
Archivin had loans throughout the community.
Thefts and murders, distasteful as they are, require money to get people to even get started on them. Folks who would most likely have the most money and/or standing in the community would have been here the longest -- and most likely to have a great deal of animosity towards the 'native' Varisians.
She walks over to the town charter and starts looking at the names signed to it, and then back to the accounting ledgers, to see what or who had loans from Archivin on a reasonably consistent basis, and any ones that might not show up at all ever.
It's just a thought and she doesn't want to blurt it out quite yet without some sort of backing...
‘Is there any chance you can figure out what entries were removed?" He says it in a hesitantly hopeful voice. Rather a long shot, but might as well ask.”
Agnes looks at it, and shakes her head. “Hard to say. These was from six to eight months ago? Lots of building projects going on then, all over town, and there’s always someone down on their luck. Archie didn’t share the details on those... He wanted people to be able to take out a loan without advertisin’ their misfortune all over town.”
Those studying the logbooks find a bewildering number of loans. Archie loaned to everyone from small businesses like family fishing boats, the Two Rivers Tavern, and the Semere Arms as well as many other dockside businesses not only along Braeton Docks, but also the unnamed docks on Lake Syruntula. Many of the businesses took out loans to expand or renovate. Even Sister Esrelda met with him at one point about raising money for temple renovations, though the tally next to her name indicates that Archie did not float her a loan, but donated to her current temple renovation fund, and fairly generously.
Comparing the charter to the account books, you can find loans in the past two years for most of the prominent families in town: the Kesterers, Ausperions, Hespions. The only prominent name you can find that hasn’t gotten a loan is the Braeton Family.
"Vault? You have a vault as well? What kind of things were in the Vault? Do you know if it was entered?"
“The Vault's the heart of the Locked Box.” Agnes stands a little straighter, pride evident in her bearing. “We stores a high-quality collection of items, gems and jewelry, and masterwork weapons and armor when not on display, as well as coins minted in Korvosa, Magnimar, and neighboring countries. There's even a few boxes belonging to prominent Ilsurian citizens who pay a fee to have belongings stored securely. Arhaneem Braeton hisself has a box stored here for family jewelry, and some of their shipping documents.”
Then she looks, stricken, towards the stairs heading down to the vault. “Wait a minute... if they has Archie’s keys...”
Agnes runs to the vault doors, and then pauses as she stares at the closed doors at the bottom of the stairs. "There's no way to know if anyone's been down there!"
She pulls out the outer key to the vault and offers it.
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Andrietta's feathers ruffle a bit as Agnes mentions that the Braetons have a box in the vault. Of all the founding families...
When the group goes rushing downstairs, she pulls out her shield and her blade, ready for just about anything as the door is about to be opened.
"I'm here, Stali, I'll take the brunt of it. Pop open the door, dear."
The bare corridor leads to the double doors of the interior vault. A hook for a hanging lantern is mounted on the western wall at the base of the stairs, and underneath it is a single chair.
At the other end of the hallway are the heavy doors to the interior vault. They’re made of thick steel with what looks to be a lock of exceptional quality on them.
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Having tested the floor, Stali looks over his shoulder at Agnes and asks "Do we need to know anything about the trap door before opening the vault?" as he gestures to the section of floor.
He then gingerly walks across the trap door to the vault doors. "Good thing she gave us the key." he quietly mutters to himself upon inspecting it.
“Oh, the trap door!” Agnes looks up, as if only remembering it now. “I’m sorry, I should have mentioned it. It’s something special that Archie installed to catch thieves. The floor’s solid on the way in to the Vault. However, unless you trigger a certain switch that’s hidden in a secret panel inside the vault, it’ll open and catch you on the way out!”
Agnes blinks. "That's possible, if the thieves got this far."
At Stali’s expert touch, the trap door springs open.
Everyone peers inside the shadowed interior of the pit...
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Andrietta holds up one finger, pointing down into the pit. She then holds one finger to the point of her beak in the way she's been trained to indicate silence, as she slowly reaches into her pack and pulls out a bundle of rope, uncoiling twenty feet and handing the rest of the bundle backwards through the group, pointing at everyone to grab it.
Once she's confident that the rope is anchored enough she will slowly lower the slack she took out of the bundle earlier towards the hiding humanoid.
Now, is this someone from the carnival that was forced into this, or is this something else entirely?