Takashi doesn't notice anything particularly out of place. The mementos in the case are immaculately clean, clearly dusted frequently and well-taken care of. Archivin's personality also shines through these; there's a clear love of owlbears, including several hand-drawn cards from his children featuring them.
When Chack asks about the vault, Agnes starts a little and says, "Yes, yes, I have a spare key and can let you in. We haven't been able to find poor Archie's master key yet, but I can unlock it for you. Do you want to wait for the rest of your family so they can see what's in it too?"
"Of course, of course."
Agnes draws the key from her pocket and unlocks the vault. They swing open slowly and with a low grind - the doors are obviously thick and heavy.
Beyond the heavy steel door, the darkened chamber is lined with shelves, including freestanding shelving in the center. There is ample room in the vault, but labeled boxes, bags, weapons and armors are spread throughout.
Agnes lets out a long, "Oooh, I totally forget, what with poor Archie and all. If you leave the vault without pulling the switch by the door, a trap door opens right under, well, right under our feet. There's a pressure plate right inside the door."
She gives a tentative smile and backs down the corridor slowly.
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Tchucko calls out to his allies: "There's something in here, coming at us! It's camouflaged but I can just see it!"
He doesn't have enough time to draw his crossbow, but luckily he keeps a sword inside of his walking stick. He draws the sword cane and lunges at the approaching creature!
Unfortunately his aim is off and he stumbles and completely misses his target.
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Takashi squawks at the two pieces of news, one taloned hand shakily groping for his starknife while the other clutches his holy symbol.
"The switch! Where's the switch! Quick press the switch!" he shrieks as he manages to ready his starknife for battle, desperately looking where Tchucko is stabbing to try to find the creature.
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Andoliesa has a look in the northeast room. "What a collection of mementos! What do they all mean?"
At the mention of the kids, Andoliesa turns to look at Agnes. "Kids? I didn't know you had children."
Andoliesa mutters a prayer and gives Agnes an appraising look.
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She hiccups and says, "I'm sorry, I just - I forgot. I never go in the vault." She begins to cry again.
Dekarin - You're up
Enemy
Pazacku, Tchucko, Check-Qetchak, Takashi, Andoliesa
Round 1/2: The Vault
Enemy
Pazacku, Tchucko, Check-Qetchak, Takashi, Andoliesa, Dekarin - You're up
Tchucko sees the grey-skinned creature dart forward. A panel opens outside the vault door, opening a pit twenty feet deep under the feet of those standing in front of the door.
At the bottom of the pit is another grey-skinned creature, who immediately begins to try to climb the steep walls.
"No time to chat!" he says in a quick stammer, "that trap door closes in less than twenty seconds. Hold it open while we escape!"
As he's speaking, another of the grey-skinned creatures, a woman who had been slinking back, also falls into the pit.
"Zahkar?" the male creature says. "We've got to get out of here!"
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Tchucko looks surprised and gets the impression that the creatures in the vault aren't necessarily trying to kill them after all.
"Sorry for assuming the worst and stabbing at you, um, miss."
The tengu rummages around in his pack for a hammer and a iron piton, and wedges the spike into the open pit in an attempt to keep it open long enough for everyone to climb out.
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Andoliesa stands up and pulls out a rope.
"I have a rope here we can toss up to climb out, you know."
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"Roji, uh, I'm Roji. I fell into a bit of bad luck here, but yes, keep the door open and we'll climb out! Climb, yes!" The man who had been trapped in the pit talks quickly, as though he's trying to keep things moving at any cost. "Yes, let us climb out, yes."
The woman who had been trapped in the vault gives a long glare at the man. "We do not talk to outsiders. They tend to stab first and ask questions later."
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Tchucko nods at Takashi. In Tengu, he says, "Takashi's right. There is clearly something suspicious going on. I don't think they mean us any harm, but they also shouldn't have been here."
After Chack-Qetchack and Pazacku make their way up the rope, Tchucko moves over to Andoliesa and motions for her to pull the rope out of the reach of the two strangers.
"We'll be happy to help you out... but after you explain what you were doing in this vault. And, sorry about the stabbing bit. You just caught us a bit by surprise."
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Andoliesa climbs out as asked. She turns and addresses the creatures "Poor souls, I will couch for your safety in the name of grandmother crow, but we need you to answer some, questions, you know."
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The creatures look and says, "We can climb out, yes? You let us free, we tell you all we know. Don't turn us into the sheriff; he'll just kill us outright."
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"Really now, poor thing. You are lying to us. Don't you know that lying is not good? When you are a liar, people don't trust you. Here we are willing to help you and you betray our good intentions with deceit!" She shakes her head.
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Tchucko lowers himself to the edge of the pit and leans over to give the impression that he is speaking conspiratorially with the two skulks.
"Look, we've all ended up trapped in a pit inside a secure vault in a building that was recently robbed and whose owner was murdered before. It could happen to the best of us. Unfortunately, my companions are a bit more attuned to the straight and narrow than average, and they are probably pretty suspicious about what's going on here."
"Assuming you had nothing to do with the murder of this fine establishment's owner, and you return any objects you accidentally picked up while you were down here, I'll do my best to convince my fellow Tengu to let you go. But you need to cooperate and tell us what you know and why you are here."
The two skulks look at each other before the man squeaks out, "Rogi will talk. We don't kill, no no. We Nisku do favors. A little here, a little there, find the rich man's purse and the humans give us shiver. Sweet, sweet shiver."
He closes his eyes and smiles blissfully for a second. "But the humans take two of our own, Kymeth and Onamae, from our tribe into theirs. They tell us now what to do and when to do it. They've been asking more of us for less shiver now. Kymeth and Onamea used to be good skulks, good friends, but now they don't speak to us or tell us where we live. They think they're better than us, like humans!"
The guard downstairs looks up sharply as the party returns.
"You're needed immediately. There's a fight breaking out at the carnival."
As you walk through the town, it's clear that the townsfolk are angry. Several talk among themselves, holding out slit purses. A few grumble about "Those theivin' Varisians!"
At the parade ground, the situation has escalated into a full-blown fight between four Ilsurian men and two of the circus enforcers. The men carry saps and old short swords - clearly family heirlooms - advancing on the grounds.
"Return everything you stole and get out of our town," one of the men, clearly the leader of the gang of Ilsurian townsfolk, yells. "You have no right to corrupt this town with your thieving and loose women!"
One of the circus guards pulls his club, shouting back, "I've heard of your type. Tavain and I are good folk, making our money on the road. Your types need to blame outsiders for their misfortunes. You see us as less than human, when you're the ones who are."
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Pazacku approached the center of the gaggle and lets out a shrill squawk to get everyone's attention.
"People calm down at once. We are here investigating what has happened and we are going to need everyone to back down."
Pazacku adjust his armored coat and twist his head from one side to the other.
"We will figure out who or what is the cause of this turmoil. Once we get to the bottom of this, justice will be served and the guilty punished according to the appropriate laws. Then and only then the carnival will leave, and it will be between the two sides if they are welcome back."
He walks to the carnival guards."No one is to leave prematurely and must be able to be summoned immediately if asked for."
Pazacku approaches the city people"You all put your weapons down. Violence is senseless in a place where there are laws. Please, return to your residence and await our calls if we need you. We will make an announcement once we find something."
The guards are the first to put away their clubs, grumbling slightly about "the Beast-blighted bird saying we can't protect ourselves".
The townies grumble, with the leader looking at Pazacku and saying, "There's been a rash of pickpockets lately. It's been all since the carvinal opened. Just trying to protect our families. But," he grumbles and puts away his sap, "we'll leave. I hope you can fix this." He gives an exaggerated wave of his hand to indicate the entire carnival.
As the townies depart, Tavain, one of the guards, speaks up at Pazacku.
"These townies are all on edge like. They blame us and then take our need to protect ourselves as proof we're to blame."
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When the skulks spill their guts, Tchucko mumbles under his breath. "Harmless junkies..."
He looks around at his companions to see what they want to do, but if no one objects he kicks the rope back down into the pit.
"We're going to be heading out of here. When we do, wait a few moments before you sneak out - the constable is upstairs and probably would have more questions for you if she saw you."
He also hands the skulks a small bag of coins (25 gp worth). "We don't have any shiver, but we do have gold. If you'd rather work for our tribe, we'll do what we can to help you out. If you think of anything more about Nisku, Kymeth or Onamea that you think we would be interested in knowing, look for us at the Two Water's Inn."
Tchuko is impressed by Pazacku's speech outside, and pats his companion on his wing after his speech disarms the crowds.
"Well, here's what we know so far, at least as much as I've been able to put together:"
"First, Jerizhana the Gynosphinx is being framed. The tracks found at the murder site were poorly camouflaged. Archivin was murdered by humanoids, who then erased their tracks and attempted to give the impression that the act had been done by the gynosphinx."
"To me, that suggests that a group that's not associated with the circus is behind the murder and theft - I have a hard time imagining a scenario where the circus frames itself."
"Second, whoever robbed the Locked Box is probably the same group that killed Archivin. The two skulks in the vault named Nisku as the person who was giving them orders. They seemed to imply that he was human (though I don't know how well skulks differentiate between half-elves, elves, humans and other similar groups). Nisku is apparently the leader of a group - the skulks called it his tribe - and at least two skulks named Kymeth and Onamea seem to be important members of this group, serving as intermediaries between Nisku's group and the other skulks."
"I have a feeling that skulks are hard to track down, so I think we should focus our attention on Nisku. Let's see if the constable or the sheriff have heard of him. If they have, I think he's our number one suspect for the murder and the robbery."
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Takashi watches nervously as Pazacku manages to disperse the mob, a sigh of relief whistling through his beak as the situation defuses. He nods in agreement with the other Tengu.
"Yes, yes, we know about people wanting to find blame. Black feathers don't help make friends, my father would say," he agrees. "I just... hope we will find the right people."
The two skulks eye the money eagerly and immediately begin holding a hushed argument. "No, I get the bigger share. I got stuck in the pit. No, we should buy from John Peters, you know, the farmer? His is the best..."
The two guards look at each other nervously as Takashi talks about black feathers. As one of them looks around for, well, anything to discuss other than the murder and the present circumstances, he spots the panotti flying toward the group on its ears.
"Oh dear, oh dear" Phardaen says as he lands and begins to wring his ears in his hands. "There's been another murder. You need to come to the midway immediately."
He leads the flock to a large tent on the midway - the Lair of the Sphinx itself. Outside of the cage, but close enough to its edge to be reached from the inside, is the body of a woman dressed in robes. It is Sister Esrelda Woodmere of the church of Erastil. The sphinx is nowhere to be seen.
A crowd of shocked townsfolk cluster outside the tent, asking questions and repeating rumors of all sorts.