Irefoot Hall resides at the base of the Irespan itself. There, they find a large crowd of spectators gawking at a scene of curious destruction. What used to be a grand, single-storey stone building of pale golden marble is now a partial ruin. The northwest corner of the building is a pile of rubble, and several other spots of the slate-tiled roof are sagging dangerously. The main entrance opens in to what used to be an open-aired courtyard, from which customers gained entrance to the five businesses. A perimeter of alert City Watchmen stands guard against looters and curiosity-seekers, while several well-dressed men and women huddle in a group, looking anxiously at the devastation.
As they arrived Krojun turned to Lady Trace: "I don't know how you want to handle things, but I thought, we should talk to the Chief Building Inspector first and then interview the merchants?"
He then stops, shakes hands with on of the officers. "Good morning Officer, I'm Krojun Hora. Has there been any looters or suspicious persons?" After the watchman answers he asks: "Could you point me in the direction of the Chief Building Inspector?"
"Krojun, Why don't you..."
She started then stopped and listened to Krojun and followed him over to the guards.
She will look over the rubble
(Perception )
on her way to the highest ranking (or the one in charge) watchman present.
If the building inspector is around she will speak to him, if not then she will help Krojun talk to those sifting through the rubble.
For the Inspector or the sifters,
intimidate
diplomacy
The two City Watchmen glance at each other and give both of you imperious stares. "Move along, citizens," one of them says.
She flashes her Inspector badge as though she had it her life.
"I know the MSI is new so allow me to introduce myself, I am Inspector Lady Tracy Shannon and this is Inspector Krojun Hora. What are your names?"
She lets them answer then re-asks Krojun's question.
"Hmm.. Yes and no Lady Trace, I would really like to hear what the building inspector's take on this is. Perhaps we should see her first and then I could go talk to the merchants?"
Turning to the guards irritated by their dismissive response he produces his badge: "My mistake, me and the lady are with the MSI."
For the building inspector:
Diplomacy -
if needed Sense Motive -
For the merchants and workers shifting through the sands:
Diplomacy -
if needed Sense Motive -
The officers snap to attention after having a good look at the badge, finally waking up enough to clue in to Krojun's uniform. "Sorry, uh, Insoector Lady, errr, Lady Inspector. We didn't rec- I mean, how can we help you. I'm Brogeran Vaskins, and Wrik Tumersal. The other Inspectori mean, the building inspector, Ms. Rumblemountain, she's over there."
"Thank you Officer, now has there been any looters or suspicious persons?" After they answer he begins walking with or after Lady Trace in the indicated direction.
"At ease,"she looks where the guard gestured "Thank you."
She walks over to the Inspector looking at what all is going on as well as looking around.
perception
as she approaches the inspector, "Good morning Inspector Rumblemountain, We are from the MSI, we were hopeing to speak to you about what happened here."
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Before leaving MSI headquarters, Grigory apologizes to the Captain for his tardiness and inquires about the possibility of the Watch providing each of the members of the newly-formed investigative unit with a set of manacles and locks in case the need should arise to detain suspects.
En route to Irefoot Hall, he catches up on the rest of the group's small talk conversations from earlier in the day with Dublaine and Eudonius.
"Eudonius, being a naturalist I assume your primary interest when we arrive on scene will be investigating the unfortunate individual who got himself squished last night?"
"I'd like to inspect the area for any signs of comings and goings that may have occurred from time just before the collapse until our arrival, so I'll need a little room to maneuver and I'll also need for the scene to remain as undisturbed as possible."
At Irefoot Hall, Grigory flashes his new MSI badge, mumbles something unintelligible to the nearest Watchman and sets about his work.
Yes you are correct Mr Reinhold.
When they arrive at the collapsed market he approuches the officer in charge showing his badge while Grigory starts to inspect the premises.
Hello officer, we are with the MSI. I am inspector Lynch, this is inspector Dublaine and that over there is inspector Reinhold.
After giving the constable a few seconds to inspect his badge.
If you could please take me to the body that was found inside. Also, did anybody saw the collapse of the structure?
When they arrive at the collapsed market he approuches the officer in charge showing his badge while Grigory starts to inspect the premises.
As Eudonius takes the lead, Dublaine happily follows as his keen eyes take in the surrounding devastation. "What a mess! Whoever did this, sure didn't take any chances!"
Moving amongst the scene, Dublaine turns to Reinhold, Its not so much a case of their being not enough evidence as there being too much. Anyway I'll give Eudonius a hand with the body."
Ab
As the guards guide Eudonius to the body he looks around the devastation looking for anything out of the ordinary.
"Uh...no, Inspector? No looters yet and no suspicious...uh...people."
Picking your way through roof tiles, crushed furniture and shards of glass, you find a stocky dwarf on her knees examining some foundations and making notes in a small journal. Dust and grime cover her clothing, face, and balding scalp. Smudges of dusty ink stain her nose and left thumb. She looks up as you approach, a sour grimace marring her features. "Watch your step. I've been telling these other fools time and time again these walls are still not safe, and the whole thing might come crashing down on our heads at any moment, but they're still picking through the dirt. How can I help you?"
The officers have a close look at Eudonius' badge, but then nod. "We were told to wait for your arrival, Inspector. The scene is secure, though a few bits of debris have been falling every now and then since we arrived. Nobody's really come forward to tell us they saw anything important. The body is this way."
The officer leads you in through the askew front doors into the main courtyard. This used to be a grand entrance hall, all of the local businesses with entrances along the walls, identified by carved mahogany plaques. A classic piece of sculpture sits in the centre of the room, with benches provided for resting and viewing the art. Several expensive oil paintings line the wall, clearly for sale before being ruined by dust. The northwest walls have collapsed, leaving mounds of debris. Protruding from beneath several large pieces of rubble are a pair of human legs.
"This used to be the Cherished Chelish," the officer says, gesturing to the most devasted area of the building, before returning to his post.
Eudonius sets to work looking about the area with Dublaine. It doesn't take him long to realize that although the man looks pinned beneath the rubble, the large beam that lies across the body doesn't actually touch or contain it in any way, and the amount of rubble on the body should not have really hurt or impeded him in any way, unless the man took a blow to the head. Removing him from the rubble should be a simple matter of pulling him out.
As Eudonius is about to pull him out, he notices two furrows in the debris leading from closer to the main entrance, right up to the dead man's heels, and there are nasty scuff marks on the backs of the man's boots. Partially obscured by the two small furrows is a much larger, longer, winding trail in the debris.
Grigory doesn't find any tracks outside the building in the NW corner, but there's very little there to actually hold tracks, as the ground is cobblestone.
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Well that's odd..." Reinhold muses after Eudonius alerts him to the trail through the debris leading to the body. "Someone went to a lot of trouble to make this look like an accident, and that beam can't be easy to move. I'll see if I can find out where the dragging began and, ideally, who or what was doing the dragging."
Grigory can follow the heel marks back towards the main courtyard before the random bootprints of the City Watchmen obscure the trail completely. He does find a few instances of the larger single furrow, however, without heel marks closer to the main doors. He can't tell if that trail comes from the door itself, however, as the layer of dust and debris doesn't reach all the way to the main entrance.
Also, it doesn't look to Grigory that the beam itself was dragged anywhere. As best he can tell, it just fell where it lies.
Eudonius sets to work looking about the area with Dublaine...Removing him from the rubble should be a simple matter of pulling him out....
"Quite a mess just to cover a body!" Dublaine says to Eudonius as he walked slowly and deliberately around the pile. He'd noted the tracks and nodded approvingly when Reinhold had gone to follow them.
Turning back to Eudonius, he said, "Right now this is the only witness we've got to something or someone behind this. I guess we'd best move with caution." He added as an after thought.
.
She nods at the dwarf and carefully picks her way closer, "We are from the MSI. I'm sure you've heard of the collapse this morning, we are investigating to see if these incidents are related and intentional, and if they are, we want to find out who did it. So what have you discovered about this collapse?"
She looks at the rubble the dwarf was studying and the dwarf's notes(though, if written in dwarven she can't read it)
Perception
"Oh! Somebody with a legitimate reason for snooping around. How refreshing. Thora Rumblemountain, City Planner's Office, at your service."
"As for the reason for this collapse, I'm not sure, but I have found something. Come, have a look, just watch your step." Thora helps Lady Trace over a large pile of debris and points down at the building's foundation stones, several of which have been cracked in two.
"Now, you start splitting foundation stones like peanut shells, and any building is going to come crashing down, but it's how the stones were split that I can't fathom. Look here. what do you see?"
Thora indicates the inside surface of the stones. Lady Trace's sharp eyes spot several round indentations on the inside surface. The closest thing that comes to her mind is dents a sledge hammer might make on stone, but up until two days ago, this part of the stone was on the inside.
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"The City Watchmen went and got their oafish bootprints all over the courtyard and trampled all over the trail," Reinhold fumes to his MSI squadmates, careful to avoid being overheard by the Watchmen who inadvertently destroyed useful evidence. "All I can really say for sure is that the body was dragged into the shop from outside and there seems to have been something else dragged through the courtyard closer to the main entrance."
"It looked as though the shopkeepers were gathered outside. I think it would be wise to have a few of the City Watch keep them close so we can question them later. Maybe after we've carefully checked the other stores for clues we can allow the merchants to go over their inventory and find out if anything went missing overnight. I'll head over to if I'm not needed here..."
"You say that like something else suspicious happened, not involving people or am I misunderstanding you?" Krojun askes the officer.
"I'll head over to if I'm not needed here..."
Dublaine shrugged, looking at Eudonius.
Perception check
Dublaine and Eudonius have found pretty much everything they're going to find without removing the body, as in there's nothing of any probative value to be found in the rubble. I'll need a Sleight of Hand check from one of you, with the other making a Sleight of Hand check as an Aid Another. Dublaine has a +8 bonus in that, so he should take the lead, and have Eudonius make an Aid Another attempt at DC 10 to assist.
She looks at that closely and thinks about what might have caused this, reviewing her studies, and anything she may have seen back home (her hometown's business is a quarry so she may have seen something there).
Knowledge arcana
to remember anything from home
I dont know what you would use so I'll make an int check
As she ponders this, "This is interesting, did this happen to all the collapsed foundations, or just a few? Was there any sign that someone knew where to hit the foundations, or just blind consequence?"
After having the guard elaborate on his answer, Krojun walks over to Lady Trace.
"Did you find the city building inspector?" he asks, then notices the build inspector. "Oh sorry ma'am my mistake. I'm Krojun Hora with the MSI." Seeing Lady Trace is studying something, he asks them both "What have you found?"
"Oh, no Inspector. Nothing's happened at all, just whiny merchants wanting to sift rubble." The guard seems more flustered than anything.
Thora Rumblemountain snorts.
"Oh, I'd say somebody knew what they were doing, or else were really lucky. These foundation stones, and the ones across from them, we're the ones holding the majority of the building's weight. Really bad design, actually. That architect needs to be filled with arrows, though maybe he's done the world a favor and kicked it already. Still, any building will go down if you do THIS to enough of its foundation. How this was done, though, I couldn't tell you, but you see it, don't you? Some keen stone sense there, for a human."
As the two of you begin maneuvering the body out, you get it out a foot before Dublaine bumps the roof beam, shifting it slightly. Debris begins crashing down from the roof above, small pieces at first, though a glance up shows you bigger ones about to come loose.
Grigory is close enough to rush back to help as stuff starts falling on them from the ceiling, but that roll won't do any good. Eudonius? Dublaine? Thoughts?
Grigory is close enough to rush back to help as stuff starts falling on them from the ceiling, but that roll won't do any good. Eudonius? Dublaine? Thoughts?
As the rubble started to fall Dublaine cursed his ill luck,"We've got to get out, body or no body, that roof is coming down."
Dropping the body in haste, he started to move toward the door, insisting the others follow as he looked nervously to the destabilised roof.
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"What happened?!?" Grigory shouts as he rushes back through the door to see what's causing the commotion, nearly knocking the fleeing rogue over as they pass in the doorway. "You two were supposed to be uncovering evidence, not burying it! And now you're just going to run away from the mess you've made?"
Grabbing the dead s man feet Eudonius moves out of the ruined shop as fast as he can dragging the body with him.
What a charming fellow... Lynch thinks as he yells at the tracker:
Help me get the body out, this section is collapsing!
Eudonius (and presumably Grigory unless he's a complete hypocrite) each take points of damage from the falling debris, but the body comes out relatively unscathed, due to Eudonius' sacrifice and persistence. There's a loud crash as the beam shifts. A moment later, the Watchmen come running, concern on their faces.
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"Whew... That actually wasn't as painful as I expected," Grigory says to Eudonius as he brushes himself off and massages the shoulder that took the brunt of the impact from the falling debris. "Let's hope we managed to save some valuable evidence so our bruises won't be in vain. I'm glad I was still close enough to lend a hand, Doc."
"You certainly gained some respect from me for putting the investigation first and staying behind when Dublaine fled," He continues, glancing around trying to locate their wayward squadmate.
"It might be best to get the body secured in the carriage and inspect it further back at HQ just in case more rubble decides to sneak down on us... What do you think, Eudonius?"
"Whew... That actually wasn't as painful as I expected,"
Even as Reinhold helped Eudonius grab the body, a second pare of hands appeared through the dust and also tried to lend a hand. Dublaine, looked half shamefaced and half terror-stricken. But a wild look was in his eye even if he was to late for a change of heart.
"Sorry...!" He mumbled realising how much danger he put his new found friends in. He waited patiently for further orders for Eudonius regarding the body.
"I'm sorry, does what to the foundation? Are you telling me someone did this on purpose... or is it just bad craftsmanship?" Krojun says as he looks around at the destruction and then back at lady Trace and the part of the foundation she is sitting in front of.
"Oh, definitely someone, or something. Something smashed the foundation stones from the inside," Rumblemountain says by way of explanation.
She looks at the dwarf, "Thank you, I come from a quarry-town so I have seen plenty of stone."
When Krojun speaks, she turns to look at him and the dwarf in turn, "They obviously used either magic or some supernatural ability."
Looking back to Rumblemountain, "Is this all you found so far?"
Oh, nevermind that. Flesh and bones can be mended, but knowledge...once its lost it may never be found again... while pating himself to remove the dust.
Looking at the precarious state of the rest of the building.
Yes, lets secure the body in the carriage. Thank you for your assistence by the way. Lynch says while picking up one side of the dead guard.
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"Happy to help... I, too, would have hated to have a key piece of evidence destroyed by a few chunks of stone when a few bumps and bruises were all it took to preserve it. Then again, if much more of that roof had come down I might be singing a different tune." Grigory says, helping the doctor hoist the deceased.
"One of you Watchmen, back our carriage as close to the entrance as possible! We don't want the crowd out there to see this body if we can prevent it... Dublaine, can you try to find a sheet of silk over at Madame Yvana's with which to cover him up; We'll call it evidence as well."
"Yes, that's all I've found," Thora replies in a tone that suggests maybe Lady Trace doesn't know as much as she first thought. "Most of yesterday was spent securing the site and determining if any further collapse or danger was likely, so these fools could risk their necks and traipse all over the place gathering up broken junk. Likely I'll be doing the same over at Irefoot Hall after lunch."
"We don't want the crowd out there to see this body if we can prevent it... Dublaine, can you try to find a sheet of silk over at Madame Yvana's with which to cover him up; We'll call it evidence as well."
Dublaine nodded, wanting to cover his earlier flight of self preservation and welcoming the opportunity enthusiastically picking his way to the silk sellers.
"Thank you, City inspector. We would like to know what you find in Irefoot Hall as soon as you're done."
Krojun the turns to lady Trace. "Well that was part of the how, now I would like the why and the who. I'm going to talk with the merchants."