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Iowyn beams a smile back to the woman and tries to find any hints of lies:
First, she will use her SLA Detect Thoughts to try to hear what the inquisitor is thinking (DC 15 Will save).
She will follow that up with trying to detect if the inquisitor is lying (assuming the Detect Thoughts failed)
I am a humble archeologist. A student of the human condition. Or... demi-human as it were. And this case against the Pathfinders has piqued my interested to say the least, Iowyn replied her smile never wavering.
I don't suppose you would be willing to help me with finding out any more information on what really happened?
Iowyn casts Charm Person on Ekira (DC 14 Will Save)
"Stop your incessant sorcery, infernal. You think a servant of Iomedae doesn't have the will to stand up to your trickery? What really happened is that those Pathfinders are guilty of murder! Make another move aginst me, magic or otherwise, and you'll join them!" Ekira stomps away in a huff before turning around. "The Voice of Iomedae has warned me against you and your evil ways - you and your companins are but mere villains. Now leave town before anything dire happens."
"Unlike Ekira, I have no bias or hatred against your Society. Come, I shall take you to their cell, though on condition that I'll be present for the whole interview. No funny business, or you're out. Sounds fair enough?"
Provided the two agree to the Sheriff's terms, he takes them to the basement, where simple cells have been set up, though they obviously don't see much use. The three condemned Pathfinders are Corwin Burke, a male halfling with well-traveled feet, Torum Grunsch, a male dwarf that you find praying as you arrive, and Dakota Spire a sturdy-looking female dwarf. They are frightened but unharmed, and they look to any hope of rescue with abject optimism. Burke is a short, thin, quick redhead with a wry wit even in these dire straits. Grunch and Spire could be fraternal twins, though they’re not related. Both are taciturn, thicker than they are tall, and wear their black hair in long braids. Spire has a wide scar along the top of his right forearm.
"Thank Torag!" whispers Torum as you arrive. "Our prayers have been answered. Have you come to free us?"
Interviewing the accused Pathfinders doesn't reveal much. The condemned know very little about the murders for which they were framed. They arrived on a mission to investigate a Sarkorian ruin and were arrested in their beds on their second night in town. They didn’t fight and haven’t tried to escape because they don’t want to risk harming Luin or any other innocents. They are well-fed and haven’t been mistreated, though all three are worried about their impending executions. They have no real refutation against the accusations but claim to have been in their rooms at the time of the second murder. Corwin Burke mentions that he thinks they first became suspects after Tobias Luin received a letter identifying them as the culprits, and Dakota confirms that the dagger found at the crime scene was hers, though she has no idea how it managed to get there.
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Iowyn's jovial facade quickly dropped. I would watch it with who you are calling 'infernal,' inquisitor. Rumour has it that you are not fully human yourself. In fact, I've heard you are entirely fiend. And I have no intention of leaving this town until I find out the truth of those murders. So how about we go down to the sheriff, and we can work this all out?
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Saera listens carefully to the words of the accused Pathfinders, and tries to figure out if they're telling the truth.
"Sheriff, could you please show them the note?" Saera suggests. "Perhaps they'll recognize the handwriting. It could give us a lead."
She then turns to the prisoners. "We'll keep the note just out of the reach off your arms. You should be able to read it just fine that way."
The farmer apologizes and lowers pitchfork and sling alike. "Mightily sorry, I dinnae know you were here 'bout this horrible business. Would ye like to see where this took place?"
As he walks you round his property, Otto gets more and more talkative. "Dreadful business, those killings. Ye know, I can't take the picture of that naked man hanging from that tree over there from my mind. I was coming out before dawn to feed the chicken, and there I saw him - bare naked. But not simply without clothes, no! I mean bare naked, with hardly a scrap of flesh on his body. Skinned alive, ye see! Dreadful business, I tell you." Otto seems to be quick shaken by the mere recollection of these events. He brings you to the tree he mentioned, allowing you to gather some clues:
Lastly, Otto's tongue loosens when you talk a bit with him. He's apparently relieved to be able to talk about this whole mess with someone. "You know, now that you mention it, there has been another stranger in town lately, this one tall and quiet with a patch of hair missing from the back of his head. He must have arrived about the same time as the Pathfinders. The weirdest thing about him? He sometimes asks more questions about the accused than is considerely seemly in these parts."
Saera senses that the Pathfinders are telling the truth. Before anyone can question them further the sound of a large crowd can be heard gathering in front of the jail. While Vincent and Kiyan are sauntering down the road with straw in their teeth, they hurry their stride as they see Iowyn chasing after a clearly irate woman.
"Sheriff! You get out here right now and explain why you allowed Pathfinders to investigate a crime that has already been solved!" As Iowyn trails behind Ekira the townsfolk begin to mutter their agreement, some even taking a small stone or lump of mud and throwing them clumsily at Iowyn. "You are the devil!" an anonymous voice from the crowd exclaims. "Ekira follows Holy Iomedae, her word is as good as law!" says another. However, you feel that some other people in the crowd remain silent, their thoughts undecipherable.
The crowd disperses after a while, and at the Sherif's suggestion you return to your rooms at the inn. A couple hours later, just after dusk, a cry brings a crowd to the alley just north of the Hearth and Harvest. When you arrive, you find a crowd gathered around the bodies of two murdered men with Iowyn's cold iron dagger still embedded in the younger man’s chest. An anonymous voice in the crowd shouts, "The dagger! It belongs to that one!" The crowd scowls at Iowyn and surrounds her to await the sheriff’s arrival, pushing and shoving but doing no real violence until Sheriff Luin arrives a few seconds later. "Now, now, what's all this ruckus about? Great Iomedae, not again! Very well, how can you explain this? You explanation had better be good." He's interrupted by various shouts in the crowd. "The easiest explanation is the best, Sheriff, they killed these people!" says one of the voices that carries well, "They're Pathfinders! Ekira was right!" says another.
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Iowyn quickly looked around for her dagger wondering how she lost it. There is some sort of trick happening here. I did not murder these men.
Iowyn quickly casts Prestidigitation to form a copy of her dagger while looking for clues and tries to convince them the illusory dagger is the real one.
That is not my dagger. This is my dagger. Someone is trying to frame me just like they are trying to frame the other Pathfinders. And I think it is Ekira. She is not truly a servant of Iomedae as many of you know but are afraid to say aloud!
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Approaching the crowd, Vincent grimaces momentarily at the voice from the crown. The easiest explanation is the best, if your looking for a scapegoat instead of justice. The truth, however, can be somewhat more elusive. Have any of you screaming for blood taken to time to ask your witnesses to describe the attacker? I doubt your good shopkeeper is going to describe either a halfling or a dwarf as tall and thin.
As he talks, Vincent approaches the crowd, looking to identify the source of the accusing voice.
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Balon also steps up to attempt to calm the crowd and keep them from becoming a mob.
"My friends, you must not act hastily. I guarantee you that Iowyn had nothing to do with the death of these two men. Let us be rational and find out who actually killed them."
He'll also try to determine who is the dissenter in the crowd.
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"I'm absolutely sure either Ekira, or the tall stranger some of you have seen, is behind this! Perhaps even both of them are!" Saera yells at the crowd.
She turns to address some of the quiet onlookers: "I know some of you have more information than you're sharing!"
Not sure of anything, except for Iowyn being innocent, but they don't have to know.
Saera scans the crowd for someone that stands out.
As you all scan the crowd, the only thing out of the ordinary is a peculiar looking raven perched atop a nearby building. Moments after noticing it, it seems to disappear.
The Sheriff scratches his head, hesitating. "As it happens, these two were with me most of the afternoon." He motions to Balon and Saera. "I can vouch for their whereabouts to a point, but it has been some time since we've parted ways." He turns to Iowyn. "There's nothing special about that dagger to indicate whether it belongs to you or not. You're free to go, for now at least. I'll ask you to stay in town for a couple of days so that I have time to investigate these murders and ascertain your innocence."
The crowd disperses quickly, muttering curses under their breaths, most still in shock of what happened, but all accepting the Sheriff's fair judgement. Later that night as you return to your rooms at the inn, Iowyn finds a note that has been slipped under her door. It reads:
Please help. I know you are innocent and that your friends are innocent. The real killer has me trapped in a house at the edge of town, near the fair. It’s the one with white walls and two chimneys. He made me write the letters to trap them and you. He has left to kill again and locked me in the attic. I will try to get one of the children at the fair to bring you this letter.
Please rescue me.
The note's handwriting is identical to the testimony Sheriff Luin received and the letter Jorsal got about the immiment execution of the Pathfinders.
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"If they just plan to ambush us, I'm not worried about that, but if we show up to find a dead body with one of our blades in it and that nice sheriff shows up a couple minutes later... Maybe we should let him know ourselves? Send him a message while we're on our way?"
"And check your weapons just in case. How did someone get yours, Iowyn? They've got to be sneaky."
Kiyanetikert checks the obvious spear slung in a back sheath as if it might suddenly have gone missing and then draws a dagger and counts the crossbow bolts, just to be sure.
Fetching the Sheriff does sound like a wise move, and after frowning and reading the note again and again, then comparing it to the written testimony, he has got, he agrees to come with you.
The two-story wooden house looms over you as the church bell rings twelve times. No living being is around, since most of the townsfolk are fast asleep.
You enter the building via the unlocked door. While Sheriff Luin shines his lantern just inside the doorway, the Pathfinders blessed with darkvision can see a hall with two openings, what seems a living room to the north and some bedrooms to the south.
A thorough search of the first floor reveals nothing out of the ordinary. No sounds can be heard, nor can any magic be detected. "Second floor, perhaps? Sheriff Luin asks.
As Vincent ascends the stairs he thinks he hears a noise and stops short...just as a dagger thrusts out of nowhere. "Son of a..." a voice is heard muttering beneath the sounds of footprints scampering across the floor. The crash of a window being shattered is heard next, followed by the thud of a body hitting the ground outside.
As you rush out of the building, the ambusher seems to realize that he's in a desperate position. The sounds of a large mob come from the east. About fifty villagers arrive, lead by Ekira. They are carrying torches, wooden flails, pitchforks and the like. The moment the mob gets there, the dark-haired ambusher cries for help and goes in the general direction of Ekira. He begs with a desperate, yet smooth voice. "Please, good Lady Ekira, save me from these murderers! They attempted to kill me! I swear by the gods, those are Pathfinders sent by the Abyss to wreak havoc in our good town. By Iomedae, you should arrest them!"
Ekira nods and steps forward. "Sheriff Luin, I demand that you arrest these people for murder, and attempted murder on the good citizen Dalton Krunne."
The Sheriff ponders for a moment, frowns and rubs his leathery feet. "I might do that. However, I was with these people and the man you're protecting seems as suspicious as these Pathfinders. I didn't see much, except for that man escaping by throwing himself through a window, so either way I'm not convinced of anyone's guilt. I say we give them a chance to make their case and prove who is guilty. Krunne, you'll start. You," he says to the Pathfinders, " hold your piece until he's done. You'll have a chance to make your case."
Dalton Krunne grins and stands. His smooth voice is entrancing, cajoling Ekira's ears at every word he speaks.
"Really, Sheriff, you didn't see - or at least hear - these people assaulting me? I shouldn't have to prove my innocence, but I will abide by Iomedae's holy law and your good sense of judgement, since it is the best course of action. I saw these people murder a young man earlier this evening, but they saw me, so they tracked me here and attempted to silence me for good. Were it not for your timely arrival, I would have met an early demise and the tracks of these murderers would have been lost forever."
Sheriff Luin nods, then turns to you. "Pathfinders, this is the time when you need to convince us of your innocence, and prove who committed these crimes. Submit your evidence at your leisure."
Dalton Krunne's coat is adorned with obsidian buttons, and it looks like he's missing one.
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Vincent hands Balon the black button he found at the first murder scene. Our murderer dropped this at the first murder, it is not local in origin. Remember the description given by Orag, the shopkeeper. Nobody is going to mistake a halfling and dwarf of being tall. Also, Krunne himself provided both written testimony to the sheriff and the letter that drew up to this place, hardly an attempt on our part to track him down.
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"Sheriff, you have been with us for the last few minutes, and you saw the way that this man, Krunne, reacted to our attempts to determine what has really happened. However, we have several pieces of damning evidence against him..."
"If you remember, when we first entered the house here, the first thing that Krunne did was to throw a dagger at our associate, Vincent! Why would someone attack first and then run if they were not guilty of some crime!"
Balon produces the button. "Next, there is this, sheriff, a button we found at the scene of the murders earlier tonight. I think if you were to compare it to the buttons on Krunne's coat, it will be a perfect match. He, not us, was at the scene of the crime when it was committed!"
"And finally, this man matches the description of a man who several townspeople have described to us who arrived in town at the same time as the accused Pathfinders! I believe that HE is the one who has been committing these murders!"
Sheriff Luin considers each of Balon's statements. "Well now I didn't actually see the alleged attack; as I was in the back of the group. All I heard was some commotion and then glass breaking..which brings us to where we are now. Still…the fact that Dalton here was hiding on the second floor of a dark building that doesn't belong to him seems like a strike against him. If the did indeed track you here you would have had ample opportunity to escape while they came to fetch me."
"And ahh…that button. A coincidence, but hardly damning evidence. Sure the cut of that coat is finer that what you'd normally find around here; but you folk also come from the big city where such finery is more than commonplace."
"But the fact that he matches the description that several folk around these parts have given you? Why I'd take the word over someone I've known and trusted for years over your word or the word of Ekira in a heartbeat. So tell me a bit more about that…would ya?" As Kiyan speaks up the sheriff shushes him. "You've elected your barrister…he and he alone may speak."
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"To elaborate on the description... Orag the Shopkeeper gave us a description of the murderer, and said that he clearly saw a tall man running away from the scene of the murder. You may ask him yourself."
"The other piece of important evidence is that the handwriting on the note we were given is the same as those that you received implicating the accused Pathfinders in the first place. I am sure if you had this man write something down right now, his handwriting would also match."
"'It's true" The voice of Orag calls from the mob. "A man taller than all three of your prisoners stacked atop one another is the murderer. I was just afraid to speak up before well, er… Orag's voice trails off as he glances in Ekira's direction and then down at his shoes.
"Well then…" the sheriff continues. "That would mean that those we have imprisoned were wrongfully accused. If we were wrong about that…well we were probably wrong about a lot of other things as well." The sheriff takes a pair of notes from his coat pocket. "But Ekira even you must attest that the handwriting on these notes are quite similar. t'would be an easy test to have Dalton here scribble something down for us; a few seconds of his time would clear his name."
"You fool!" Dalton screams as he produces a dagger and lunges at the sheriff. He is quickly subdued by Ekira and the mob. "Well, I guess we should a space for you in the cell, Dalton. There will be plenty of room for you in there once we set those Pathfinders free." True to his word the Pathfinders set free and allowed to return to Nerosyan with you. You are escorted by Ekira, who wishes to apologize directly to the Pathfinder Society and atone for her severe misjudgement.
During your journey, you get to know her a little better, and she explains the reasons for her bias against the Society. She was first trained in the wake of the Third Mendevian Crusade, infamous for its witch-hunts to detect an inside enemy. While many other inquisitors changed their ways after the Crusade, she did not and remained ever watchful of treason. When Kenabres fell and Nerosyan almost did too, she learned that just prior to those events, Pathfinders had come en masse to Mendev... and thus were the cause for these ill times when demons return to invade Avistan.
Once you arrive in Starrise Spire, you are able to report to Venture-Captain Jorsal. Ekira chooses this moment to kneel in front of him and humble herself beyond compare. She formally apologizes for her actions and offers to assist the Pathfinder Society in the future as a means of atoning, kneeling and humbling herself in front of you all.
11+9+4=24
9+9=18
24+9=33
28+9=37
9+9=18