Manami approaches the innkeeper :
"Excuse me mam, I know this must a tough time and all and I would bet finding Rodrik wasn't the best experience you ever had. I know that seeing someone you know in such state isn't easy and the only help I can provide is the solace of knowing those who did it got what they deserve."Manami says empathically and pauses for a second .
"My friends and I have been requested to look into the matter and it would be of great help if you could tell us about anything odd that happened last night , people who talked to rodrik and the likes and provide us access to the room in which the murder took place. If you want some credentials you may ask Kurst and he'll give you the proper info"
attracted to manami
Manami looks with at the inn keeper intently with slight puppy dog eyes as aching for any info she might have...
+1 on top if potentially sexually attracted to Manami
Black takes the hope knife and looks at it intently. Trying to determine if he can get any inkling of information pertinent to the suicide, or rather murder according to Kurst, from the weapon.
Kurst shakes his head at Hugh. ”I did not notice anything unusual. After we left you we played two more games with Ruby, then Rodrik left to spend the night here.”
“He spent the night here because our father.. was not at all happy that Rodrik was courting a half-orc. He’s an old-fashioned halfling, and he does not support such.. pairings. I don’t mind that myself - whatever makes you happy - but I advised Rodrik to heed to his father, just to keep the family at peace.” He shakes his head ruefully ”Rodrik had a mind of his own.”
Kurst sighs, and looks somber. ”Anyway, I need to get going. I have errands to finish, and a funeral to plan. If you need me for anything else I’ll probably be in the Longhouse. Even if I’m not there, leave a word for me there and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Good luck!” He waves and leaves.
Cham Larringfass is rather tall for a human, and her wide friendly face looks mostly tiered today. Her long dark hair is tied in a long braid, and the wisdom in her eyes suggest that she is older than she looks. She wipes her hands on her apron and seems somewhat uncomfortable. ”Terrible, terrible. I’d never expect that in a thousand years, such a bright lad.” she clicks her tongue. ”Of course, the militia have already searched the room but you can go up there too.” She looks kindly on Manami and smiles ”You seem like a nice girl, I wish I could help you more. Rodrik didn’t talk with anyone, he just went straight to his room. He was an impeccable guest, not like other ruffians who passed through and vandalized the rooms.”
Black wraps the hope knife in a clean piece of cloth and puts it in an inner pocket. Looks around him and approaches Manami and Cham.
"Excuse my interruption, but do you by any chance know where Brinya Kelver or Omast Frum live?"
chan say ''I dont know this place too well yet... maybe Hugh-Jackman or Pumpkin will know and if not we code find out after we will look at the room up stairs... Do you think he chooses Because we are new to this place? '' He ask as if thinking aloud
chan thinks ''Did he choose us Because we are new to this place? '' as he looks around on the local faces
after Kurst leaves Hug addresses the group. "I think we should look into the room, and then start talking to the various people Kurst suggested, and then we can decide what to do next... Shall we?"
Cham scratches her head. ”Brinia? I think she lives in the area of the Commons. Don’t know about Omast though, he visits here rarely.”
She quietly shows you the directions to Rodrik’s room and leave you for your own devices.
This sparse room contains only a single cot and a writing desk. The cot is a cheap affair with a straw-stuffed mattress, now stained red with blood and stripped of its linens, while the desk is a slightly nicer piece of furniture that has nonetheless been chipped and worn by time. A cracked window in the southern wall is the only exit other than the room’s door.
When entering the room Hugh grimaces, both for the blood and for the lack of materials in the room. "Let's do this right. Chan, see if you can find anything here. Maybe in the mattress or possibly the dust patterns or something. I'm going to look outside this window.Please poke your head out so I know from outside which window this is."
After saying this Hugh takes a look outside the window scanning for anything suspicious and then heads outside and spends time investigating the area around/underneath the window.
Black looks around the room carefully paying special attention to the door and window.
or
wby did they take the linen?
After black is done looking at the room he goes back to the common room to wait for the others.
Black approaches the party member/s and asks
"what do you think?"
chan is looking and searching, trying to find things in mattress and the floor, looking for hidden notes or secret panels, dust patterns, and tray to smell the air.
sow much blood...
: coming up from the window and looking on the roof as well
or
You split up and spend some 20 minutes canvassing the room and surrounding area.
While searching under the bed, you find a scrap of paper stuck between the headboard
and the wall (See Handout 1 in this link).
In addition, while searching the writing desk you discover a false bottom in the desk drawer, though the compartment underneath is empty.
You did not discover anything that seems relevant on the roof, and the street outside the room has been recently trampled by scores of feet (both curious locals and Jacksville militia), nothing else is left there to find.
once Hugh is certain that (to the best of his ability to determine) there is nothing suspicious on the outside, he heads back in to talk with the others.
chan show him the paper and ask ''when i looked on the hotknife i saw there were a plaice for enishels on on it but there were non , just a blank space, could it be that it's wasn't his knife?''
after seeing the note and hearing Chan's words about the hopknife, Hugh looks confused. "So Rodrik ordered a bought a hopeknife with an engraving dedicated to himself, and the knife we found here has no engraving on it. This raises 3 questions: why would Rodrik dedicate a knife to himself, where is that knife, and whose knife is the one we have here? I think we should pay Urnsul the smith a visit, maybe there we can find a couple of those answers... What do you guys think?"
Hugh's face lights up like he had an idea "Hold on, I'll be right back"
He walks up to the bar and addresses Cham "Terrible business this! I am sorry that it happened and that it happened here. We are doing the best we can to figure this out so that we can all return to our regular lives... I was hoping you could answer a couple of follow up questions we had? The room Rodrik... passed in, I understand that he used to come here often. Did he regularly stay at that specific room? Did you keep it available for him? I'm wondering who (if anyone) had access to the room while Rodrik was away?"
Cham looks a bit frightened by this line of questioning and answers “Um.. A.. I mean, no one had access to that room but Rodrik and myself. When he stayed here he was in that room more often than not, but it’s not like I could keep this room just for him.. why do you ask?”
"I was just wondering if someone could have hid in the room waiting for Rodrik? Or possibly could have tampered with it. I assume the cot and dest are standard in all your private rooms? Could you tell me, for how long did Rodrik pay/reserve the room this time around - I assume he would ask to book it in advance at least because as you said, it's not his private room, and you need to make a living while he is not here?"
chan is going with him and listen to what High is asking
''This one is very inquisitive ...'' and smile
Cham looks uncertainly at Hugh, but when her gaze moves to manami her expression softens and she replies ”If you want, you can look at the inn’s registry, it’s all written there, every guest.”
Manami Looks at the piece of paper and ask cham :
"I would be grateful to have a look in it " Manami smiles.
she turns to hugh and asks:
"Can you pay a visit to this store and 'inquire' if Rodrick's lady friend have made this order, and if not who had. Also check if it was fulfilled . I have an inkling that whomever holds this hopeknife is the perpetrator of all this."
she turns again to cham and asks softly "Do you know of people who were oppose to Rodrik's romantic escapades? Ex lovers or people highly disdained with the relationship ?"
chan will say in a gloomy voice and demeanor ''let's start questioning the people - Brinya Kelver , Omast Frum and go to store and to the Sanctuary.
I prepus to start with the Sanctuary , before thy will handel the body to burial. We didn't found information in the room, maybe we will find answers there''
Cham, the innkeeper chuckles ”Rodrik was well-loved in this town, I can think of nobody who might hold a grudge against him. The only person opposing their relationship (and the reason they kept it a secret) was Jagrin McJack, Rodrik’s father.”
Manami flips through the registry (which is a thick book, bound in dark leather) and looks at the entries. The only entry of note in the register is a person who rented the Ramblehouse’s last room yesterday. This entry stands out because the guest’s name has not been recorded in the register (while all other entries have full record). The timing of this entry appears right after Rodrik had reserved his room, but before the patrol captain had checked in for the night.
"let's go together, more eyes more ideas. To the church or somewhere else?" chan ask
to Cham "What can you tell us about this guest?" Hugh points at the blank register page "is it common practice not to take details of some guests? Also, please tell me about the dresser in the room Rodrik stayed in - do all your rooms have the same furniture or was that one special in any way? Is it a new acquisition?"
to the group "I agree with Chan, we should stick together, if nothing else than to help each other out and not accidentally miss something due to oversight. I think we should list the places/people we want to talk to and then just start going through that list. Anyone have a piece of paper we can jot down our findings and ideas on?"
Hugh looks back through the register
he is looking to see patterns in Rodriks bookings: does he tend to always get the same room? does there tend to be blank entries (like the one we found) corresponding to his bookings? anything else suspicious?
"I agree" black says to Chan and the rest " I also think we should start with his paramour. To see when, if at all, she has seen Roderick"
Black looks at his brother what's going on with him... He's unusually quiet
Cham breaks down into fearful sobs and quickly explains herself. “He refused to give me his name,” she manages between gulps of air, “and he paid me a fistful of gold. He said he’d be gone before sunrise. I didn’t ask any more questions. I had no idea that something like this would happen!”
After a few moments she calms down and explains "There was nothing about him that was particularly memorable. A human of normal build, dark hair, traveled clothes. I.. I didn;t think twice about it last night. And he has already left his room by the time I checked on it this morning."
"As for the furniture, they are identical in every room. Why do you ask? What did you find?"
"we found a hidden compartment in the dresser. Are you aware of their existence? You say all rooms have the same furniture. Mind if we go check a vacant room for that compartment as well?"
While eavesdropping, it was easy for her to ignore the parts about "staying together".
" Jagrin McJack" She rolls the name quietly on her tongue. " Jagrin McJack, Jagrin McJack, Jagrin McJack " Saying the name three times doesn't make the man show up before her, how bad.
For an outsider it might look as Jaquelin is staring at the wall in front of her, but in fact she is battling herself. Maybe I should find him myself, Yes? No. Why not? It's none of your business! I know, but what harm can I do?, her eyes moving from side to side, as if she is watching two people argue. For her, it is so.
"Stop it! I'll go talk to the man, and that is it!" She yells at the wall. With a firm walk Jaquelin goes a certain direction. It isn;t a big village, eventually she'll find the man.
Cham shrugs. "Why, yes, many of the Ramblehouse’s rooms contain such “trick drawers” in which knowledgeable guests can secure valuable possessions. If you insist you can check it. Which room would you like to see?"
Chan will take out of his small bag a paper with a bit of chuck and then wait until Hugh will finish his questions.
He looks strangely on jacqueline as she speak to the wall ''What is she doing?...I gess there are many ways...''.
When she is near the door he say ''Jacqueline , would you come with us? we cod help one another in awar search for what really happened hir''
: he stares after her back and say "where we go then?"
he sters after her back and say "wete we go then?"
Hugh nods "That won't be necessary. I wasn't sure you were aware of this feature. Since you are, there is nothing to check. Thank you very much for your help. Again, I am so terribly sorry about this, and I promise we will do our best to resolve this matter quickly."
Hugh looks to the group
"So we need to move out. The way I see it, we need to talk with the Lover, the Blacksmith, and we should also swing by to offer our condolences to the Father on the way. In addition, I would very much like to get my hands on a copy of Rodrik's latest poem. Am I missing something do you think?"
Hugh turns back to Cham "I wonder, do you happen to have - or know where I could get a copy of Roderik's latest poem?"
chan say ''His good friend Omast Frum and The Sanctuary before thy handel the body to burial. Maybe we will find ther answers we couldn't find in the room''