Nebbin listens to the man's words and then looks at Tassira.
"Maybe you shouldn't look, if he's naked? Regeris has seen that before, so if you want to go help Kayleigh -- or at least let her know she shouldn't come back over here until we say it's OK?"
When the others are ready, he nods respectfully to the Pharasmin and pulls back the cover so they can look at the body. Though he tries not to look at the man's ... unmentionables. He shouldn't have to suffer that indignity after he was killed. After a couple moments, he tries to cover the man's groin again.
Once he's comfortable, he gets down to inspecting.
Tassira ignores Nebbin and waits for the Pharasmin to show the body.
Her eyes flare green as she checks for any magical auras on the body.
Thanking the Pharasmans, Regeris sets to work inspecting the body. Before he does so, he places his hand on Nebbin's breast and chants. "The divine insight of the Everbloom be with you Nebbin - look with the inspiration of the Goddess."
------------------------------------------
Jeggare Museum
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Regeris unwraps the body to find the horrible mess the priest described. This man has been slashed repeatedly with a very sharp weapon, opening him at the neck, the chest, the face. He's also been impaled through the lower abdomen by something like a rapier.
Looking over his limbs, Regeris notes a ring on his right hand and a lack-of-tan on his left hand where a ring should be. Peeking over the inquisitor's shoulder, Tassira notes that the ring on the right is mildly enchanted.
---
Mercival replies to Kayleigh in stutters, struggling to contain his grief.
"His mother, his father, we were all very proud of him. Top of his classes, a brilliant writer. He was an historian and prehistorian specialist. He was to be my successor here."
But he had no legitimate business here last night. The place was locked up - no one else would have been here at all. The way his clothes were scattered about, I believe it had to have been a tryst that somehow went horribly wrong."
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Castle Korvosa
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Emi judges that the Queen's speech was a mixed bag, probably positive in the net. People don't seem to trust Togomor the wizard. Being from Kaer Maga doesn't really convey neutrality to Korvosans, but rather depravity and ironically enough, lawlessness. Being from Cheliax, it's possible the Queen does not understand the city-sentiment very well where this is concerned.
On the other hand, the news of professional medical help on its way to the city is universally lauded, and this seems to be the biggest takeaway from the speech. The pestilence has the populace frightened, and vague threats on the city's administrative fabric are not resonating very well. The integrity of the royal succession seems to be a forgotten question, buried by more immediate crises.
Emi picks her way through the dispersing crowd and heads over to join her friends at the museum.
Kayleigh thanks Mercival for his information and again offers her condolences for his loss, adding that her companions will take a look at the crime scene presently. Then she heads to the Pharasmin wain to fill in her friends on what Mercival said and take a look at the body; the second job would be a lot easier if Nebbin would quit blocking her line of sight. Having the orison prepared, the cleric casts detect poison and then checks the corpse for lingering toxins.
To Regeris she adds, "Milani has granted me a new set of spells to do her bidding. I am now capable of speaking with the dead...though I did not prepare that spell this morning, thinking the field marshal's request was more likely related to the plague. So many evils are currently affecting the city...it's impossible to try to battle them all at the same time. Anyways, assuming I prepare it on the morrow, the spell would enable me--a spiritual neophyte--to ask but two questions of Kentarion's spirit, so we'd need to make them count. I was considering asking, 'Did you know your killer?' as one of them, but I think we already have strong suspicions on who is responsible. Maybe a better question would be 'What did your killer or killers say to you?' Any other suggestions?"
Tassira tilts her head at the ring and attempts to determine what kind of enchantment is on it.
Since she's nearby, Kayleigh tries to help ID the ring Tassira's focused on.
Maybe why he thinks they killed him?" Nebbin tentatively suggests.
Kayleigh detects no trace of poison in the corpse.
Tassira decides the ring is a key to a magical lock. Its enchantment is akin to knock, but applied more specifically to an unknown arcane lock.
When Emi reaches the museum, she decides to wait to tell the others what she heard. Nothing about it was pressing, or even particularly important, as far as she could see so there is no need to break anyone away from the investigation.
When she is filled in on what has been discovered so far, she makes a couple of observations.
"Unclothed and wounded by two different weapons? This was not opportunistic. An accomplice was used, and Rolth has a woman helping him correct? She sets him up to be here so Rolth can kill him, but both of them strike him down. That's different from before."
"It makes me think this was not just about killing him, but killing him here at the museum specifically. Why go to the extra trouble otherwise? Either the museum must mean something to Rolth, or it was done here so something could be stolen from the museum as well. An inventory should be carried out to find if anything is missing."
Kayleigh reports that there's no poison in Jeggare's body and then nods to acknowledge Emileva's return. She shows she's still upset that Emi wandered off alone, frowning when Emi herself points out that Rolth has an accomplice, making him twice as dangerous. The priestess doesn't belabor the point, however, instead going over to Mercival and asking him if anything's missing from the museum. She also name-drops Rolth and 'an elf named Jo' in the hopes that either might be a regular patron at the museum.
Regeris steps away from the body after his examination, listening quietly as the group talk things over. "The spell will be ideal, he obviously saw his attackers. I think we know who it was but it will be good to confirm."
After Emi rejoins the party Regeris nods once. "I will be interested to see if House Jeggare has any recent political enemies or rivalries. An inventory is a good idea. I'll also want to see if we can determine how his assailants entered the museum."
"...the ring..." Tassira blinks. "...it looks like it's a key to some manner of magical lock. Specifically, it looks like a knock spell, but keyed to a single arcane lock."
"Nothing that's been noticed, no. He was killed in an upstairs gallery so we started our survey there. I have two employees combing over the other displays now."
"One display in the gallery where he was found featured a prop weapon, a rapier, which was found next to his body and coated in blood. The investigator told me this was the weapon used to make the wound in his abdomen. The other wounds were made by this blade that was shaped like a key. The murderer left the weapon stuck in his corpse. The investigator took that weapon with him."
"Investigator Wyndser also said he found no signs of forced entry at any of the entrances to the building, and that Kentarion likely let the murderer in himself. Probably brought them here - maybe in a display of power or access meant to impress a love interest."
When he hears the offered names he shakes his head in the negative.
"Neither of those names means anything to me."
"So, that means they weren't trying to get to whatever's inside, right? Unless they didn't realize it was the key? Maybe there's something in there that can help us, though," Nebbin suggests.
But he's not sure how to get it. Maybe if they ask Mercival if they can have it?
Emi doesn't see how she can add much to the efforts already made or still underway. She waits for the others until they are ready to go.
Kayleigh shrugs at Nebbin, honestly not sure she can answer his questions satisfactorily. After giving the matter some more thought, she slowly leaks her half-formed ideas and theories to the others.
"If Kentarion's key indeed opens a lock, I'd guess that lock would be one of three places: at his home, at the university, or here at the museum. It's possible the killers have already used the key and simply slipped the ring back on his finger after the fact."
"Another thing that's been bothering me.... The murders haven't all been committed with the same weapon. The same kind of weapon, sure, but we've found an engraved replica at Gaedren's fishery, part of one in the derro catacombs, and now a third one here. And there's no telling if blades or parts of them turned up in the old murders several years back. My point is: Someone had to make these blades. Maybe Rolth's a part-time necromancer, part-time weaponsmith, but that doesn't sound likely to me. I think the Keylock Killer had and likely still has multiple accomplices or associates."
Turning to Regeris, she gives the inquisitor a smile. "Do you think you might find something at the murder scene that your friend Tallisan missed or shall we trust in his honesty and competency and move our investigation to the University?"
Regeris insists on at least seeing the scene of the murder to get a sense of the space it happened in.
Mercival leads the group through the front doors and up a wide central stair to the upstairs galleries. The double doors to all of the other galleries are shut, but the doors to the murder scene stand open and two laborers are working inside to mop up the blood pool. It's a typical museum gallery with long glass cases filled with labeled curiosities. One corner of the room has a taxidermed yeti looming among skins and furs of every sort. One large, thick fur is on the ground at the yeti's feet. Its luscious white hair is marred by stains of crimson blood. On top of a glass case just to the left of the yeti is a rapier with ancient wrappings. Mercival indicates just how the body lay when it was discovered. Where his clothes were found strewn. You're left with the impression that this was a bloody mess.
"It seems like a murder of passion, all the evidence points to it, doesn't it?" Mercival ponders, stroking his red mustache.
"And certainly Kentarion's personal life was his own, it's very plausible he had a lover I'd never met. But the connection to a serial killer?" He shakes his head.
"Please keep me informed as your investigation progresses. Our family is large, and there will be alot of grieving and alot of questions asked about his death."
"It looks like another ring is missing," Nebbin points out in case the others missed it. "Was he married?" "Or maybe whoever took it thought it was the key ring? Or maybe it opened something else? Should we take this one too? Maybe Mercival would say it's OK..."
He looks around upstairs when they arrive, trying to see if he can notice anything important.
Kayleigh helps Nebbin as he searches for clues. "Good point about the missing ring," she says. "If you're going to remove all your clothes for a midnight tryst, I suppose you'd remove your wedding ring, too."
Regeris nods over to Nebbin. "Considering this ring unlocks something, I'm curious why it wasn't taken while another was. A wedding ring would tie this to a crime of passion although it doesnt' fit Rolth's pattern. Whatever the ring was he could have been killed for the ring and the gory scene used as a distraction."
Taking his very sweet time, Regeris undergoes as thorough a search as time will allow, also checking for signs of entry, bloody footprints that weren't cleaned up, or discarded evidence.
"That other ring is probably key and we may want to ask people who knew him to describe it. Also any activities they were unaware of, unsavory company, and of course enemies. A house as powerful as Jeggare will have political rivals and powerful ones at that."
Emi assists Regeris in his investigation of the room.
Tassira assists in the investigation as well.
...or tries to, anyway.
When Regeris works the ring off the victim's bloated finger he notices that there is no reverse-tan ring below it. The victim only wore one ring habitually. On the hand where this ring was not.
It occurs to you that Kentarion was described as an eligible bachelor of House Jeggare. Questioning Mercival confirms this as true - there can be no question of a missing wedding band.
"If the ring is used like a key, maybe the killers replaced it on the wrong hand in their haste. It seems most likely that the lock we seek is nearby: either here at the museum or perhaps across the way at the University."
Nebbin nods, beaming as Kayleigh shows again how smart she is.
"Yeah! But maybe they already opened the lock and took whatever was in there out," he realizes unhappily.
Regeris checks the ring against the tan line, checking to see if it's the correct width.
Emi nods "It makes sense. If the ring was taken, used, then returned, it must have been the key to something close by. A person who was rushed or careless might make such a mistake. We should make sure the museum inventory includes items locked away out of sight."
As far as Regeris can tell, this ring could be responsible for the ring-tan.
When asked about the ring, Mercival draws the party away from the busy cleaners and lowers his voice.
"That ring must come back to my house. I saw it still upon his hand and that brought some relief, but it is a possession of my house, like this one."
He exhibits the ring's twin on his own hand.
"They are magical passkeys into the family archives here at the museum. I remarked to the priest that it should come back to the house and not go into the grave with my nephew."
Turning away from Mercival, Kayleigh flashes Regeris a skeptical look.
Are you buying that?
Nebbin waits to see what the others want to do.
Maybe we should check these archives...
Regeris frowns a little, looking over Mercival closely.
"The ring was moved from one finger to another, possibly the wrong one. This indicates that the archives may have been visited by the killer. Would you permit our entry to continue the investigation?"
Mercival's blanch seems genuine enough when Regeris tells him about the ring and he understands his archives may have been looted.
"The wrong finger... yes, of course you may come examine it. Come!" He beckons you to follow then hurries off back down the steps, through the lobby and down a hall. You pass his office and go through a door that's filled with row upon row of scrolls and books. He grabs up a lamp, then picks his way through the rows to a back corner of the room, to a panel just like every other one in the room, save that it has a handle.
Just as he's about to grab the handle someone spots a drop of blood on the panel frame down by the floor. Mercival leaves examining that to others and opens the vault anyway. The door recedes into the panel at Mercival's touch, then swings easily on a hinge. He holds it open and lets each of you step through into a smaller stone lined chamber with more shelves of books and scrolls. Mercival blows by these to the back wall of the chamber where his coat of arms is displayed on an ancient pennant. A sword and a spear hang on the wall over a bank of drawers. A suit of plate stands in the corner.
"Some of the heirlooms of my house," he mutters as he looks from place to place, opening drawers and taking mental inventory.
Finally he turns around and faces your group, a smile of relief spread across his broad face.
"They are all here! Every item."
"There's blood there!" Nebbin exclaims. "That means they probably were in here, right? Unless, this isn't where you found his ... um, body, right?"
He looks around once they're in the vault.
"Could they have replaced one of them? Or maybe gotten something from here that didn't involve taking something? Like a story or piece of information?"
Regeris pauses and takes a while to examine the drop of blood and the scene surrounding it before moving into the archives and looking for any more traces of blood or activity on the floor or with the scrolls and books.
"In which case something was probably read and memorized - or replaced. Check to see if anything looks disturbed or if there's more blood drops."
Kayleigh nods to Regeris, mutters a quick prayer to Milani, and helps Nebbin snoop around the chamber looking for clues.
With the aid of a couple of light spells the shelves reveal some answers. The first clue is a broad smudge of drying blood wiped across the spines of a catalog of books. This leads to a gap in a sequence of journals - a volume missing from the collection. Mercival comes over and pulls one of the volume's neighbors. He flips through some of the pages.
"These are the journals of one of my ancient kin, Norriat Jeggare. He was Montlarion's nephew and acting scribe, and he wrote first hand accounts of many of Montlarion's exploits. The missing years are 4408 through 4410. The years after the city's founding."
He looks up from the text of the volume previous to the missing book, shaking his head sadly.
"I have no idea what would be in that book that would be worth Kentarion's life. The sad irony is, Kentarion would be maybe the only person I can name offhand who would have any chance of telling you. He really was a brilliant historian. No doubt he benefited greatly from having this catalog at his disposal. And the natural curiosity that comes with the blood."
Tears well up in his eyes again and he's forced to remove his glasses to wipe them.
"Really what hope does this city have if its best and brightest keep dying in such senseless fashion?"
"I guess, hope that new people will step up and stop it?" Nebbin offers, awkwardly patting the man on the shoulder.
He scratches his head at the dilemma that the only person who could tell us what the book was about is dead, but maybe Kayleigh's magic would be able to help them. They still had another question to ask, if he remembered right.
"That's a long time before the first murders, right? Unless ... could there have been someone using the key daggers that long ago? We know he killed a Shoanti too. Maybe there's something to do with that?"
Regeris looks to the distraught nobleman seriously. "Good people doing the right thing at every opportunity. Korvosa has a good heart and there is still hope for her. This is a cruel loss, but we will discover what happened."
With Mercival's permission, Regeris takes a moment to flip through the volumes before and after the book, not quite sure what he's looking for.
Kayleigh smiles grimly as Nebbin and Regeris give voice to her thoughts on Mercival's comment...some of her thoughts, anyways. The cleric had also been giving due consideration to the 'dying' part of the nobleman's statement, knowing that doing Milani's work can lead to martyrdom. Kayleigh pushes such thoughts aside by vowing to do her very best to keep her friends alive as they do her goddess's blessing.
Finally, she gives some thought to what sort of connection the recent madness might have to the time of Korvosa's founding.
"Is it widely known these books even exist? How many people could possibly know what's in them with enough certainty to plan all this to get to them?"
He shrugs at Nebbin's theory.
"I've never heard of these key-shaped daggers prior to the keylock killer, which was after all quite recent relative to the city's founding."
Turning to Regeris and Emi, he replies.
"Well, that volume you have in your hands is actually the most well known of the series, since Montlarion is so often quoted and his deeds cited, but you're generally correct. This archive is a well kept secret among the family and the historians of the city... and I'm most interested in keeping it that way. For someone to come in and take this specific volume and nothing else from the archive, your suspect is must be history-conscious, and must be looking for some very specific knowledge."
"The volume prior tells of the Shoanti wars and how Montlarion eventually helped take the fight to the tribes, driving them into the Cinderlands and away from the fledgling city. In the following years - the years covered by the missing volume - Montlarion helps secure and settle the lands won in the fighting. Settlement spreads off the island of Old Korvosa and much of the fingerprint of the current city is settled as migration picks up out of the empire."
"The next volume details the laying of the foundations of this building and the family estate in the Heights."
Emi struggles to make use of the information Mercival gives them. To her it seems little he says helps.
Why would the book be important enough for all this? Spite, monetary gain, information... that's all I can see. Money seems weakest, plenty of other easier stuff to take instead.
"Are the book's descriptions of the areas being added to Korvosa at that time precise enough to be used as a map? Maybe to find something that was built over later?"
Emi shrugs, a little annoyed with herself. "That's my only idea. If was just about stealing valuable items, there's plenty else to snatch besides an obscure book. But I can't understand why something in that particular book would be so important now."
Nebbin scratches his head.
"Maybe we can ask Thousand Bones if he has any ideas? He probably wants to talk to us anyway, so we can talk to him at the same time!"
"Do you know of any of Kentarion's friends or associates at the University?" Kayleigh asks Mercival. "Do you know any of the other history professors there, possibly one who might inherit Kentarion's position?"
Tassira looks a little lost as the party goes through the items.
...oh, heavens. If I knew more about investigating crimes... or knew more divination spells... I'd have some idea of how to help.
Mercival answers Emi's question first.
"Sure, Montlarion was a meticulous explorer who cataloged his finds and mapped many of the sites he was the first to open. It could be that there was something like that in the book that was taken. That's as good a theory as any I can come up with."
He turns to Kayleigh.
"There are other historians in the city, sure. Most work for the University in some capacity, and many work on retainer for the museum from time to time. Of course there hasn't been alot of activity on that front given the troubles we're dealing with here in the city of late. I could draw you up a list of names - of collectors and scholars who work with our institution."
Regeris looks at the book curiously. "Interesting. That would imply to me that the missing book details what was here before the building went up - or what the first of the city had to deal with in general."
Regeris very carefully returns the volumes. "Thank you for your help. Let's get to the University."
Kayleigh accepts Mercival's offered list and examines it to see if any of the names on it are the least bit familiar to her.