As the lot of you explore the boutique, Issceran heads to the hole in the outer wall, picking through rubble. Simza and Rasil both notice something blue underneath a rock he just accidentally kicked. Dusting it off, Issceran holds out a piece of heavy blue paper, clearly a torn off corner. By the tear are two straight lines making a right angle, but the legs of the angle disappear over the rip. in the bottom right corner (unripped) is some sort of logo.
Knowledge: Local checks to identify the logo, please.
"Well, look at this..." He paused, looking the paper and offered it to his companions to take a look at. He mused as his attentive gaze looked the paper over, flipping it over. He licked his lips and furrowed his brow, thinking.
Issceran recognizes the logo as belonging the the Magnimar City Planner's Office.
"What is it Issceran?" asked the gnome.
"This paper is produced by the City Planner's Office," he commented, nodding as he looked down to Rasil. He offered it to him to look over as if to reassure him of his finding. He then opened up his scroll case he carried on his person, opening it up and offering up his hand to take it back. "Here, I'll hold onto it for safe keeping. Its like a puzzle piece, we need to find the rest of the sheet it was torn from. Maybe the person I want to meet at the other site will help me figure this out."
"The City Planner's Office..." Simza murmured, peering at the torn piece as Issecran held it out to Rasil. "Like the blueprints you wanted to look at perhaps? If someone wanted to collapse the building then having the plans would have helped, right?"
"Possibly. You would still have to have a working knowledge of architecture, however." He nodded and began to think on what could cause the building to collapse even if one was armed with blueprints. Magic? Explosives? Inhuman strength? Reverse engineering? He murmured again, looking at the large hole as he stood there in the middle of all the clothes.
"Mmm, of course." Simza agreed, and then left Issecran to his musing, spending another couple of minutes examining the shop and debris in the Boutique, before gingerly progressing through the damaged wall into the largely collapsed antique's store, peering up for a few moments through the holes in the roof, before starting to once again search for anything that seemed out of place, or to see if she could determine any sort of pattern to the collapse.
"Well, we found it here, so it looks like we'll need to search around carefully." Rasil searched around, careful not to disturb anything, and only moving debris if absolutely necessary to insure that no more pieces of the plans are buried.
Issceran proceeds to investigate the site with the rest of the group, looking around and carefully moving items as not to overly disturb potential clues. He glances here and there with an easy going smile, his attentive gaze trying to find every detail possible.
The group begins combing through the rubble of Irefoot Hall. They are meticulous in their search, and after an exhausting hour of study, find...
Simza sighs as the long search fails to turn up anything else of interest-at least to their case anyway. She heads back to the central courtyard area to convene with the others.
"Well. That was discouraging." she admitted. It seemed they found everything of interest within the first five minutes or so... "Did anyone else notice that the damage meant we could get into each shop without entering the main courtyard?" she queried, wiping dust and a light sheen of sweat from her brow.
Barin follows the others muttering under his breath now and then. He surveys the structure of the building relying on his dwarwen expertise to determine if something unusual might have caused the cave in.
Perception check:
Stone cunning definitely helps here, though not much on that roll.
With Barin's help, however, you can determine that some of the foundation stones of the building in the northwest corner have cracked and shifted.
Dusting off the dust from his clothes, Issceran met up with the rest of his unit after a fruitless investigation. He looked dishearted as he glanced from Simza to Barin. "Well, shall we load up the body onto the carriage?" He arced a brow and produced the small ripped parchment from his scroll case that he had found earlier. He inspected it once more before looking towards the northeast, contemplative.
"I think we should move to the next site. I think we might begin to connect the dots with more information."
He nodded and considered Simza's observation. He believed they needed to see another site before they could make a good judgment on what was going on. From the paper he found, he believed it was part of a set of blueprints that allowed someone to exploit the site. He rapped his fingers on his satchel, looking to see what everyone else was ready to do. There were many questions left unanswered.
"Well, perhaps we should interview the business owners before we leave?" she suggested, both out of thoroughness, and because she thought they might be able to help. "It looks like the owner of those offices... what was it, Leaps and Spells? He offers teleportation services, perhaps we could prevail upon him to transport Brynden Flynn's remains clear of the building without risking it falling on top of our heads as we did so." They'd just spent an hour in there without major incident, but she was still wary of disrupting the structure, especially near that roof beam.
"Simza! That's an excellent idea!" exclaimed Rasil.
The gnome sets out to find Constable Willers to ask him the name of the owner of Leaps and Spells, and where they might find him.
Issceran had already identified the man earlier when looking over the shop owners. He approached the wizard and produced his badge, putting on the best facade of being official. He was official, he just wasn't used to it yet. "Excuse me, sir," Issceran spoke, showing the man the MSI logo. "I'm with Magnimar Special Investigations. We're concerned with the state of the site, the body being moved may cause more damage and become damaged itself in the process. On behalf of the department, might we request in your assistance in transferring it for movement?"
The dwarf nods and smile, somehow in a sinister way:"I agree. Interrogation is one of my strong point, after all"
Master Trintarian, deep in discussion with one of the other merchants, turns to look at Issceran from head to toe, inspects the badge, all with a sneer of contempt on his face. "You wish me to teleport a body from beneath rubble?" he asks, as if it were the basest and most beneath him task that could possibly exist. "And your department is willing to pay the charge of 280 gold pieces for such a service?"
"Trintarian!" a Varisian woman in bright silks scolds. "Shame on you! Mr. Flynn was a good man, you even said so yourself. We've all lost our businesses today, but the least you can do is help the poor man find some solace and justice."
Trintarian sighs. "Fine. Whatever. Lead the way, wizard," he says mockingly.
Despite trying to make you feel like the most worthless bug of a worm for bothering him, he does come, lay his hands on Flynn's protruding leg, and with a word, the two of them are suddenly out in the middle of the ruined courtyard. He dusts his hands off and returns to the group of merchants.
Maybe I should mock him with a letter of appreciation?
The elf wizard chuckled to himself after the wizard had helped him out in moving the body. The haughty wizard wasn't given the time of day with his sour demeanor. He recalled having an arrogant, self centered instructor during his years at academy as a youth. The instructor felt that teaching was beneath him, only having taken the position as the head of the conjuration department to pay off a debt to an old friend.
Once the body was moved and he thanked the wizard, he returned to his companions. "The deed is done," he said. "Now, we can begin questioning the shop keeps at your leisure. I'll help get the body loaded onto the carriage."
Rasil approached the brightly dressed Varisian woman. "Would you be Madame Ivana?"
The gnome stroked his lavender mustache as he awaited her affirmation.
"When did you close up shop yesterday, and did you see anyone suspicious loitering around?"
The woman nods. "I am. I closed my shop at precisely 6 pm, according to the cathedral bells, as I do every night, tidied up, and left by half past. I'm afraid I didn't notice anyone loitering."
"What about the other shop owners? Were any of them still in their shops when you left?" inquired the gnome.
"Rav usually works late, and Trintarian can be in his office at any time of day or night. He doesn't usually walk home, you understand. I did not notice if either were there when I left, however."
Simza follows Isseceran to request the Wizard's aide, frowning slightly as he tries to charge them, and she was just readying an argument herself when a varisian woman scolded him. She pauses a moment to look at Madame Ivana as Isseceran lead the grumpy Master Trintarian over to transport Mr. Flynn's body. "Thank you for your aide Miss Ivana, and it is a shame to see your fine work dirtied so." she complimented the woman, before turning and heading towards the body to examine it as Master Trintarian transported it free. She gave it's former position and uncertain eye, before gingerly approaching.
"Issecran? Can you provide me a light? I want to see if there was anything left behind when the body was moved." she suggested, waiting for Issecran to oblige before giving the former area of the body a careful examination.
A fruitless few minutes and Simza moves away from the rubble to examine Mr. Flynn himself.
"Did you misplace the first stone I cast a light spell on?"
He raised a brow and glanced to Simza before he took a knee and grabbed another stone. He spoke in the draconic tongue, made a egsture with his hand, and the stone began to emit a bright light. Somewhere another light lost its magical light. He handed it to her and helped her look over the area.
Afterwards, the elf helps the Varisian woman look over the body.
Barin moves towards the wizard, still smiling, but not in a reassuring way:"So you would be mr. Trintarian, right? I'm Inspector Barin orcbane, and I would like to ask you a few questions... For example where were you when the building collapsed?"
Rasil saw Barin approach Trintarian out of the corner of his violet eye.
"Thank you Madame Ivana. I don't have any more questions for you at the moment."
The gnome strolled over to stand next to the dwarven fighter. It'll be interesting to see how the smug wizard reacts to Barin.
And maybe I'll be of some use to my dwarven companion during his 'interview' with Trintarian.
"Korvosa, actually, attending an evening lecture at the Acadamae, then I stayed over with acquaintances. I only discovered the collapse when I tried to teleport to my office this morning and was shunted into the back alley. Nearly landed in that homeless man's disgusting cart of refuse." Trintarian's contempt and scorn is completely absent when talking to Barin and Rasil.
Simza and Issceran examine Flynn's body and the surrounding area. You don't find anything of interest in the rubble where the body was, although you are able to definitively determine that the beam was not crushing or even pinning the body. As Simza examines the body itself, Issceran searches the man's pockets. In addition to the normal armour and weapons you'd expect on a night watchman, you find a handful of coppers and silvers, a wrapped-up sandwich, a flaming stone that produces no heat, a clear crystal about two inches long, and an invoice for services rendered from a company called Guards and Wards.
Simza's examination is equally fruitful. She does not find any evidence of Flynn's head being crushed or injured by falling debris, but she does find two pairs of puncture marks, one on top of the man's scalp, the other behind his right ear. They look fairly deep, although she doubts they alone would have been enough to cause death. Indeed, what seems more telling are the crushed and dislocated bones of his arms, ribs, and spine. While the untrained eye would probably mistake them for injuries sustained in the collapse, she realizes that the man was not in fact crushed from two opposite directions like you'd expect from having a large piece of rubble crush you against a hard ground, but all around, like something crushed him from all sides simultaneously. There is no way those injuries were caused by falling rubble, no matter how heavy.
If Barin feels put down by the wizard's answer he doesn't show it with his tone:"Korvosa. Very well... can you give us the names of these associates of yours? I'm sure they won't have problems confirming your story. And I suppose you can't tell us where to find this homeless man, right?"
"Korvosa! If he can teleport on such long distances there's no way we can be sure he wasn't around at the time of the cave in. He could have escused himself in Korvosa one minute, teleported back, caused the collapse with a spell and teleported in Korvosa... And even getting these people that supposedly were with him will take a lot of time! Let's hope we can find this homeless man, or this will be pretty complicated"
Rasil stood quietly, awaiting Trintarian's response to Barin's questions.
He absently tapped his walking stick against ground as he again surveyed the crowd, looking for any individuals that looked to be homeless.
Trintarian gives Barin the names of his associates in Korvosa, all of who have the title Master at least. As for the homeless man, Trintarian waves his hand dismissively in the general area. "He is usually about. We have asked the City Watch to remove him on several occasions, but he's always back, yelling at our clients to not touch his stuff, as if anybody would ever willingly expose their hands to his rubbish."
"The enchantment wore off some time during our search." she admitted with a slight smile.
Simza finishes her examination with a thoughtful look. She would have to see if she could get any trace of substances around those puncture marks when they got him back to the lab, although it might be too late now. As to the broken bones, it must have taken someone of significant strength to give him a 'bear hug' like that, or else a spell...
She looked over at Issceran then, examining the items he had found on Mr. Flynn. She could understand everything, apart from the crystal, she didn't know very much about the casting of spells in general, so she hoped Issceran could identify that.
"Issceran. When a spell is cast, it sometimes leaves behind a... residue of a sort, correct? I was wondering if you have detected any such residues in our search? We should perhaps examine the area again if necessary." she suggested to her companion. "If you would like to do that now, then I shall see if there is a stretcher to transport Mr. Flynn in the wagon."
"Its dependant," he explained. "When it comes to arcane magic, it seems there are a handful of people for whom it comes natural to and those whom require years of study to master. For instance, I had to study to become proficient in spellcraft. I commonly require material components to cast my spells which could leave a residue when and if they are burnt up in the casting. There can be other signs which will require a thorough investigation. I'll go ahead and begin looking over the site."
He nodded to Simza and cracked his knuckles, returning to the building. He went to where the body was found and gently sniffed the air and looked about with attentive eyes. He knew already the wizard's shop was pungent with material components. He also was sure the body was dragged to where it had been found so if spells were cast to kill the poor man, they had to have taken place somewhere else. He swept through the building as he looked for any magical clues.
Simza listened intently as Issceran explained about the types of magic. She had a vague understanding of such things, but being gifted with her own Divine magic she hadn't looked into it too much. Perhaps Issceran could teach her about such things as they worked together.
She left him to his search then, heading out to where they had parked to carriage, to examine the section the Captain had mentioned for transporting bodies, hoping for a stretcher and something to cover Mr. Flynn against the gawkers who still remained outside.
Issceran doesn't find any evidence of spellcasting in the ruins. Simza finds that the compartment slides out from under the carriage to serve as a stretcher. There are no coverings to be found, however.
The puncture wounds are about half way between hypodermic needle and stiletto sized. As for the crush injuries, they could have been caused by a strong human, though only if he had four arms, or two really long ones, as there are two major crush sites adjacent to each other.
He absently tapped his walking stick against ground as he again surveyed the crowd, looking for any individuals that looked to be homeless.
He absently tapped his walking stick against ground as he again surveyed the crowd, looking for any individuals that looked to be homeless.
Barin keeps the interrogation going:"Good. We'll make sure to locate this person later on, and to check with these friends of yours, of course. Now: what can you tell me about the deceased? What was your opinion of the late Mr. Flynn? Anything about him that might help us shed some light on what transpired here?
If possible Simza simply carries the stretcher back herself, or if necessary asks one of the guards for assistance, glad that the carriage was so well made to handle such things. When she got it into the central courtyard she had the stretcher laid down next to Brynden, and assisted either Issceran or the guard in sliding him onto the stretcher. Then she slipped next door to look in Madame Ivana's to see if she could find some cloth to cover him.
After another fruitless search Issceran returned to Simza, asking, "Is Mr. Bathbone and Mr. Orcbane finishing their questioning of the shopkeeps, Ms. Caumlo?" He had assisted her when he was done with the reminder of her business with the guard's body. He had felt they had swept through the site with a fine toothed comb already and he was eager to go to the next site.
"My opinion of him? He was a decent sort, rather uneducated, but did his job well. Granted, he wasn't up for much more than scaring away simple burglars and lockpicks. Clearly he was unable to deal with whatever happened here."
Not noticing anyone unusual in the crowds, Rasil slipped away from Barin and Trintarian.
The gnome set about trying to locate Rav Kinmin. Madame Ivana indicated that the owner of the Cherished Chelish, Rav, worked late. I'll need to talk to him.
Hmm... I'll also need to talk with Magda Smirtrova of All That Glitters. And see if anyone was at Kovesna’s. So much to do!
Rogar nods, keeping the questions coming:"So you would describe your relationship with him as purely professional? And what about the other shop owners? What's your opinion about them?"