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With the carnival's merriment long worn off, the group decides to retire for the evening.
The following morning greets you with a summons to Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin's office. As you enter, you see him sitting at a table with a varisian woman adorned in a finely-tailored robe and much jewelry. He motions for each of you to have a seat, not saying anything until everybody arrives. When the party is fully assembled, the varisian woman stands up and says "Greetings, adventurers. My name Almara Delisen and I am the founder and owner of the Umbra Circus stationed outside the city. I appreciate your efforts yesterday in the regrettable incident with our dragon. I fear I could also use your help with another matter. You may have heard there was a murder in town last night. The circumstances, I am told, implicate people from my circus; something I find very hard to accept. I’d like to contract you to represent the Umbra Carnival to determine who is really responsible and preserve our reputation.”
The Venture-Captain adds to this by saying "I've spoken at length with the good lady over this and we've agreed to take the job. If you've got questions for either of us, now is the time to ask them."
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Nope, things hadn't gotten any better. Sighing inwardly at the Venture Captain's acceptance of the mission, Arthrax starts to ask questions.
"Who was killed?"
"How were they killed?"
"Were there any witnesses?"
"Who was the first to find the body, if not?"
"Did this person have any known enemies?"
"Was any evidence found?"
He lets his fellow Pathfinders fill in the gaps and ask follow-up questions, lamenting his luck. Who knew he'd end up working for the Circus?
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Almara responds to your questions with "The victim was a man named Archivin Walder, a local moneylender. Unfortunately, most of the information surrounding the murder is being kept under wraps by the deputy sheriff assigned to the case. I beleive her name was Kyra Feldane. You'll want to speak to her to get the information you need. What I do know is that they're trying to blame the murder on our sphinx, Jerizhana, which is impossible! There is absolutely no way that she could ever be invoved."
Almara then takes a peice of paper from within her robes and hands it to the group, saying "This is a signed, sealed letter to Sheriff Feldane, identifying you all as my chosen third-party investigators. Present this to her and you should be able to get whatever information you need from her."
With that,Ambrus speaks up and adds "All right, you have your assignment. Get to it, Pathfinders. And try not to embarass us out there."
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"Almara, how can you be so sure that Jerizhana did not commit this crime?" Dar'erthan asks. "And why blame such a crime on her or the circus? Do you have enemies here?" The cleric seems a little uncomfortable, after their brush with the sphinx last night.
"Unfortunately, I can't offer any solid proof that Jerizhana wasn't involved. You'll just have to trust me."
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Leaving the Pathfinder lodge, the group heads for the guard barracks in search of deputy sheriff Feldane. Upon arrival, a guard escorts you back to an office where a tall, thin woman with short blonde hair and a scowl on her face pours over some manner of paperwork. In fact, she's so engrossed that the guard has to clear his throat before she even notices your arrival. Looking up, she quickly asks "Something I can help you folks with?"
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Dar'ethan steps forward, his right hand motions as it touches his forehead as he nods towards the woman. "My most humble apologies, honorable Sheriff Feldale, arm of the law. Let me introduce myself and my companions, I am Dar'ethan follower of Sarenrae. These are" he motions to each in turn as says their names, "Dolph, Athrax Bellringer, Evenstar and Misforstatt. We are here on behalf of the Almara great entertainer of the circus. There has been a murder of a moneylender Archivin Walder, that one of her employees is the main suspect. She has asked us to find the truth of the crime, to aid you in your inquiries. So we have come to discover the details of the murder and follow leads wherever they may take us. I hope we can work together to bring the murderer to justice, whomever it shall be." The priest bows again waiting for a reply, or his companions to add further questions.
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Looking over Almara's letter, Deputy Feldane chuckles as she says "So you're who she picked? Well, I'll take all the help I can get on this case. I've spoken to several people so far and this is what I've put together as of right now; the victim was Archivin Walder, a local moneylender and sometimes pawnbroker who owns a business called the Locked Box over in the Coins District. Walder was found mauled while walking to his home after the circus last night. Walder’s wife, who went looking for her husband when he never came home, discovered the body. Agnes Walder begged her husband’s four guards who lived at the Locked Box for help. Three of them left their post to search, and one guard stayed behind to secure the office. Thieves, presumably in league with the creature that killed Walder, burst into the Locked Box, killed the remaining guard, and stole everything they could carry out. It sounds like the robbery was interrupted when the guards brought Walder’s body to the office instead of his home, and they glimpsed two humanoid figures fleeing in the night. Upon finding the other guard dead and the building burglarized, the three remaining guards secured the building until I could be notified."
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"All very interesting, particularly the information about the theft." muses the cleric as he pulls at his chin. "Honorable lady, with your permission, we would visit both the scene where Walder was beaten and the Locked Box. Have you been able to go through Walder's documents, maybe he had taken in something of particular importance?" Dar says as he thinks. "If you could provide a document to show that we are working with you to solve the crime, it would be most useful?" he once more touches his forehead and bows slightly to Deputy Feldane.
"My friends, what questions do you have for the Lady Feldale?"
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"Any enemies of note for Mr. Walder? Anyone who would have cause for such a thing? Perhaps his wife would be able to answer more ably." Arthrax agrees with the alchemist. An investigation of the body would be appropriate.
After the Sheriff answers his companions' remaining questions. "So where to first?"
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Replying to each of your questions, the deputy sheriff says "Sure, I'll inform the guard that you're an official third-party investigation team for this case. That should give you access to just about anywhere you'd like to look. I can also have a guard escort you to the area of the attack and to the Locked Box if you wish .That's also where the body will be. Poor old Agnes just isn't ready to move it yet. If you want to talk to the sphinx, you'll have to get back in touch with Almara on that one. And as for Archivin's enemies, you could probably spend half a day drawing up that list. He was a pretty honest guy for a moneylender and a pawnbroker, but he was still a moneylender. Usually not the most popular guy in the room when it comes time to collect."
She pauses a moment to let out a long, exasperated sigh before continuing. "Honestly, I'm not sold on the whole killer-sphinx idea. There are stories all over the place about a great four-legged beast flying over town last night after the circus closed down, silhouetted across the moon. Of course, I’ll be damned if I can find a single eyewitness who actually saw the sphinx. Now poor Walder is left dead in some bushes. It’d be one thing if these deaths were accidental, but the robbery angle has people thinkin’ of a Sczarni heist. I’m not proud to say it, but this stirs a lot of unworthy opinions about Varisians. Just get out there and see what you can turn up. I'd like to put this case to bed as soon as possible."
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"Thank you gracious Lawkeeper Feldane, your thoughts are well received. I think the time has come for us to depart and find the killer or killers. Let us see the scene of the murder first, before we examine the body and the late man's records. We shall happily be escorted by an armed guard for our protection and to show our work is met with official approval." Dar says bowing to the Deputy Sheriff.
He looks to the rest of the group, as his arm sweeps round, "Let us wait a moment, for the guard to turn up, then we are on our way." Once outside, he speaks quietly, "It seems even the sheriff believes our charge is innocent. Just because the sphinx is ill-mannered and of a quick temper, does not make her a murderer. Let's see what our inquires find and forget her for the moment. Please, are you ready to proceed?"
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Evenstar nods in response to Dar'erthan. Much more comfortable providing muscle than investigation skills, she had nevertheless seen her share of 'murder scenes' in nature, where the predator had captured its prey. Perhaps those skills could be put to use here, as well.
"Yes, let's check out the dead body, first."
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The young guard whose been assigned to you leads you outside the city walls to a spot on a small road just a few minutes away. At first glance, you immediately notice blood stains in the dirt road and in the grass nearby.
"Well, this 'ere be the spot where old Walder bit it. Feel free to look 'round. A bit waste 'o time though, it is. Ain't nothin' 'ere to find that the deputy ain't already found." says the guard with a slight sneer on his face.
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Dar in no hurry to get on, not whilst there are truths to learn of the crime. As he moves forward, "It's like this when I searched the pyramid of Ohvmet III, a little know ruler of the Osirian Empire. Despite the sand of the tomb being untouched from the time of his interment, we had to spend days marking out the floor and searching. Oh, it seemed such a bore, but if we hadn't of done that we would have missed the two doors hidden under the floor. The first was a trap, leading down to darkness and death. The second, well they wouldn't let me see, but many men went down there, it was said to contain the treasures, but I was called away. Sarenrae had other plans for me. Oh well..." Dar continues the search methodically, square by square.
As he looks at the marks Dolph spied, "Interesting Dolph, but see how deep the track is, and its shape. Now if I remember how large the sphinx was, it would make much deeper marks than this. And the shape, they are not the marks of a sphinx." He continues around the area, and stops. "See how beyond this point in the path is full of tracks, people going about their business, but here by the strange creature's marks, there are no tracks, as though the path has been brushed. As though someone was hiding their own marks." The cleric carefully looks again, almost feeling the dust and earth with his fingers.
"Someone hoped to implicate the circus in this murder, it makes it more likely the two crimes, the murder and the burglary are connected. " says Dar'ethan darkly.
Dar calls the guard over, and explains their findings, "You see, you are now a witness to these truths, and can confirm such to Lawkeeper Feldane, if she asks."