Mael stands from his leaning position.
Sounds great boss. We need to get moving, ladies and gents. Lucky, can you read that on the way, please?
He opens the door, and motions everyone out.
Osk nods in agreement that things are better done on the move, We will be in touch, captain. and the oread rises to move past the elf.
"We'll see you again when we know more." Cedany gives a little wave as she departs.
Tirkala nods, standing, and follows the others out as she waves to the captain.
I wonder if acid-melted faces of gang members will raise questions? Eh, I'm sure it'll work out...
Harrison would hop down from his chair with the folder tucked under his arm. "Indeed I can. Though Osk will have to make sure I don't walk into anything," he says with a smile.
Then, after giving the captain a quick salute, he takes up a quick pace behind Osk. A pace that seems to just meet the larger man's leisurely pace.
The 6 of you wind your way from the guard station to the storefront of the gnome. "Bastqualmie's Gear & Clock Works" is a modest affair sharing one half of its building with another shop "Emphelia's Gold and Silver".
Both storefronts feature one large plate glass window which look in on modest counter tops, a few display racks and work benches and stairs that lead up to what is surely living quarters.
Bastqualmie's store for its part looks well organized and maintained. It is clear from the file that you have a key to the front door in your possession, something that many owners do with the local guard houses for just this sort of ocassion (or more mundane events like out of town work and so on. The Ivy prides itself on civic service and safety and so it is well thought of as a benefit not an impediment to safety. IT is, however, a purely voluntary program.)
Other shops litter the row but many of them look empty or otherwise shutdown. The gold smith next door, for instance, is plainly without stock or supply.
A pair of guards patrol the street but there are otherwise no people on the streets to speak of.
"We should take a look inside, any of you got any experience with investigating crime scenes?"
"Looking for any signs of forced entry seems like it might be a good place to start," Harrison would say as he starts to make his way around the building looking for any signs that someone might have tried entering the building through a more non-conventional method than the front door.
Aye, I will take alook as well.
Mael circles the building in an opposite direction from Lucky, staying to the shadows.
"I'll stay here, but keep an eye out for trouble."
Tirkala smiled darkly.
"But if you need magical assistance immediately, feel free to yell. If not an emergency, feel free to come and get me."
For the moment, she looks at the building, trying to make out anyone moving around inside it.
Osk frowns slightly and turns to Cedany, I want to make sure things are solid at the Gallery. I know the captain, he is a good man but if things are as complicated as he claims he may not be the only one who knows what we are doing... The oread nods at Tirkala and makes his way back to the inn.
Mael emerges from the shadows, back in front of the location. When Lucky returns, he tells what he has seen.
It looks like some fine lockpicking took place on the back door in the alley. In addition, the windows to the second floor in the back are readily accessible to a good climber. Let's have a look inside, shall we? I believe you have the file and key to the front door, Lucky?
Tirkala shakes her head and then points to the front windows.
"No climbing. Those windows have some kind of cloth over them. It could be a security feature." She frowns. "I need to get closer to see more."
"Right lets open up then." patience is not generally one of Cedany's virtues.
"I found nothing more of use beyond what has already been brought up," Lucky would offer with a smile while looking for the key. Upon finding it, he would move to the door and slide it into the lock before proceeding to unlock and open the door.
Harrison opens the door with an easy *click* the door and lock both being well maintained and cared for.
Iniside four glass cases form a square of sorts, each is roughly two and a half feet wide and 5 ft long. Each case is well cared for and contain a variety of devices though most of them appear to be watches there are other things that look like clockwork animals, devices that function on alchemical mixtures and a few other oddities like stones of unusual appearance and liquids of uncommon colors.
The northernmost case is covered with a wood panel that appears to serve as a work bench/service desk. A few well cared for tools and and an array of magnification and bracing equipment appear very organized and "put away".
A single open doorway leads to a set of stairs that leads up, stepping into the doorway reveals a turn that goes to a store room/storage area and the back door. The storage area is meticulously organized with fabric and wooden boxes all meticulously labeled in gnome.
Harrison would start to look around the first floor, while keeping an eye out for anything of interest including evidence, shiney objects, and things of value.
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Martin leans his tower shield against the door, once all are inside, so it will clang if anyone enters the room. Poking around the room he draws his Kurki and starts to poke through the tools and various supplies taking a note for anything that seems strange to him or particular valuable worth stealing. He also tries to find the most Recently project this gnome was working on. As Martin moves around the room the Kurki he bears seems to soak the light and leave him within the shadows.
Tirkala closes her eyes for a moment, muttering under her breath and gesturing, calling upon the magical energy in the air around them to flow through her and power her spell.
She then opens her eyes, focusing on maintaining the spell as she carefully looks around, trying to pick out any auras hiding in the room in addition to whatever else she can see. She also tries to quickly identify any magical auras she finds, as well as find out what they are attuned to.
After hearing Tirkala invoke the power to Detect Magic. Harrison will follow suit.
Cedany being mostly blind isn't likely to spot anything she will however cast Guidance on someone (probably Harrison), to give him a smidgeon of a boost.
Assuming it's obvious Tirkala is casting Detect Magic Cedany won't do so, if Tirkala's not being obvious about Cedany will cast it and look around.
The lot of you work your way through the room looking over various facets of the space.
Mael sees little out of the ordinary other than a number of objects of fine craftsmanship
Martin notes a distinct *lack* of a current project. Everything seems to be incredibly well organized, clean and put away. Based on Harrison's file that may just be the gnome though as he is known for his detail and precision. He may very well just clean up after he works. Many of the objects both tools and otherwise have obvious value due to their intricacy or materials (some of the tools seems to be made from exotic metals, many of the watches are in gold, silver, platinum or feature gems for instance.)
Martin ,thinking it over with his trader's brain, thinks the upfront value for the collection of the pieces in the room is tens of thousands of gold pieces before one considers any increase in price due to artistic concerns.
Many things radiate magic but almost all of them are minor, clearly some of the clockwork pieces (like a small wind up falcon and another clockwork soldier) as well as some of the exotic materials radiate magical potential.
The auras on the pieces suggest basic transmutation and enchantment. Tirkala's guess is that these powers give the clockwork power that reinforces the mechanisms for the clockwork to move "better" or lends precision to the timekeeping aspects of the watches. these are only obvious auras given what she sees it would be no surprise to discover other pieces inside some of these devices radiating magic.
The materials are another thing altogether. Almost all schools are present save divination and necromancy and the materials seem to be in the realms of components or otherwise. No real signage exists but given their presence Tirkala could guess that these things might enhance casting, aid in magical forging of items and so on. (Think power components, alchemical admixtures, etc.)
Tirkala notes, that the door and the key in Harrison's hand radiate a few auras that are very similar. {Enchantment, Trasnmutation and Abjuration} The door and key are tied together and the door would be quite hard to break down without aid from the key.
Its Harrison who notes three distinct items of interest.
1. The back door is not enchanted like the front, it was magically trapped and disabled. By someone good enough to thwart the trap but not good enough to "reset" the magic. It appeared to be a non-lethal snare trap of some kind.
2. There is a hidden panel in the floor next to the back case. Roughly 2 feet by 2 feet. New checks needed to determine status of panel or to find a means of opening it.
3. Harrison also notes a small strip of white cloth on the front window, similar to what Tirkala noted before.
What did you find there, Lucky? Is that a panel of some sort?
Harrison would raise a finger to Martin in a manner that suggests he needs a moment as he suddenly becomes a bit more serious. Eyes still gleaming with the magic of his Detect Magic spell, he takes his time in looking for any potential dangers that might be placed upon the panel.
As he looks for danger, he'll note any possible ways to open the compartment as well.
Lucky looks the ever focused type, eyes gleaming with *true* discovery. Slowly and laboriously Lucky looks over the panel; A hidden "false" latch with a needle trap; another -better- hidden false latch and the barest glimmer of thread of magic tied to that latch. A trap of explosive power to be sure.
"I must say that our gnome friend is rather thorough and paranoid. There is indeed a hidden panel here, complete with a not only trapped hidden latch, but two. One is a fake set with a needle trap, while the real one seems to have some kind of magical explosive trap on it that is beyond my ability to disarm."
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Martin nods and sheathes his kirki, drawing instead the hood off the everburning torch bracketed onto his shield, illuminating the room. He then brings the shield over near the panel and sets it up so it will be stationary (it had a small tripod to hold it in place). Lastly he reaches somewhere under his breastplate to pull out a couple picks and probes.
"Id suggest you step back. So far I am two for three with magical traps. havnt had issues with mundane ones before, but just incase. Let me see that Key that let us inside."
After being handed the Key, Martin will adjust the tower shield so that everyone else is behind it, so to speak.. So most of the blast, if any is reflected back to him.
"Ok, here we go."
With his body blocking the view of the others, he will attempt to use the Key on the panel.
if I fail the disarm
if I fail the disarm (no dmg if make it)
to see if there is a third trap upon it
Average Lock
Average Lock
to tumble out of the way
Tirkala hrmmed as she spotted all of the magical auras, looking at each.
"We should be extremely careful in here. There is a lot of magical items in this room, and some of them might be alchemical. Others might enhance spellcasting. It would be very easy to have things go very, very wrong if we're not extremely careful."
And then Tirkala sees Martin begin to work on a lock.
And now we get to find out if this place is going to explode or not.
Cedany keeps back, away from the traps and potential explosions.
Martin waves everyone back and gets to work, looking over the trap/ped door and attempting to maneuver and manipulate the traps and lever mechanisms. The needle trap is easily dealt with and Martin prepares to work with the magical trap and try to control its effect, but as Martin moves to soak up the negative impact of the magic the spell goes dark. Somehow, despite no true training in the matter, Martin's efforts disable the magic.
With no more perceived threats Martin pries the well made hidden door off the floor and reveals a safe. A flat metal panel, a dial with finely etched numbers and a steel lever are all that can be seen.
The safe radiates magic and the effects are clearly similar to the front door; the safe is warded to be protected and warded and against forced entry, proper entry of the combination will suppress the magic. Absent adamantine safe cracking tools you need the combination to get in.
"Hmm...perhaps it would be prudent to check the rest of the building before further exploring this safe. It is possible that we might find some kind of clue to combination somewhere else in the building." With that said, Harrison will move for the stairs while continuing to concentract on his spell of Detect Magic.
Mael nods in agreement, and he follows Lucky, staying to the shadows.
Tirkala lets out a sigh of relief as nothing goes wrong. Then she nods and moves to follow Lucky as well, trying to be stealthy as she moves. She keeps her eyes open, looking all around them for magic and trying to identify it.
Cedany follows up, a short distance behind, letting the scouts take the lead.
The stairs top out to a second floor that is a large single room apartment. One small 5ft wall enclosure has a door that faces south in the norteast corner otherwise the floor plan is open with a kitchen counter 5 feet out from the western wall and an equally long counter faced along the eastern wall. A bed, a nightstand and a dresser are the only furniture.
This work bench looks far less tidy with papers, tools, trinkets and uncleaned dishes. The kitchen is spotless mostly from a lack of true pantry, cabinets or much in the way of food or dishes. A sink radiates faint magic. Apparently the gnome has it create water.
Nosing around nothing jumps out although Lucky does find a hidden drawer in the work bench. The door on the northeast corner is closed.
Tirkala doesn't even hesitate; she heads immediately for the bench with papers, giving the sink only a cursory look before turning to the papers instead. She examines them, trying to see if there is anything related to their objective in what is written or if the papers in any way look interesting.
Thinking he has spotted something of interest. Lucky moves over to the bench and instead of inspecting the various items on top of it, he takes his time looking over the desk itself. Sure enough there is a compartment that is made to blend in with the desk itself. For a moment, he moves as if to open it, but then thinks better of such an action considering the formidable traps downstairs.
So after taking a moment to resummon up his spell of Detect Magic, he takes his time inspecting the secret compartment for traps. If he finds none, he will attempt to open it.