Simeon waves Vigilance over to him "That sigil on the book tickles a memory but I don't have time to look in the library....look for Lickthon's Ustalavian Heraldry: A History. Petros must have a copy, you may find what we seek there. "
He then wearily stands, grabs a slice of bread and the papers he brought with him. With a distracted wave he leaves making his way across town to the town hall.
Father Toth and Lament visit 'The Silk Purse'.
The building is a relatively new one it seems, with a lot of the other houses having been built at least a generation or two ago if not going back to the start of the township.
It is very study construction.
You mount the small walkway outside and enter the shop to a gently chiming brass bell hung over the door. An armed and armoured man (scalemail, spear and a sword) who is sitting near the glass topped counter stands as you enter but says nothing.
The room smells faintly of polish and incense, as well as a more recent smell of burned beeswax.
A middle aged woman dressed well but not overly flashy bustles from the back of the shop and gives you a smile.
Welcome to The Silk Purse Father Toth, I am Quess Yearburn. I wasn't expecting you. How can I be of assistance?
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Elidal takes advantage of Simeon leaving the house to get into the library. Vigilance gives her a tight smile.
Lickthon's Ustalavian Heraldry: A History, help me find that - as well as look for information on Ustalav nobility in general - I think Simeon is right in this, he says.
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Jorminda heads home to gather a few more things preparatory to staying another night.
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Simeon lets himself in to the townhall but closes the doors so as to give the impression that the place is closed to forestall further interruption... he knows he is on the trail of his answer - it just needs time.
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Nighteyes finds something unusual. The Temple is closed, locked in fact. There is no response to his knocking at the front doors.
There will be no research done there this afternoon unless he can get entry. Maybe there is some sort of religious observance or it could be another reason.
When Baradlon finds the temple closed, he goes to look for the Sheriff to ask him about it. "The temple is locked and there's no response from within. Is something wrong?"
The sheriff pauses in his rounds.
Can't say it happens a lot - but its been known to happen. If they don't open again in the morn I'll look into it. Last time they had some sort of ceremony or such and didn't want to be disturbed.
"Thank you," Baradlon says and makes his way back to the Lorrimor house. He meditates until near dusk and then goes to find a place to hide with a view of the statue.
There is some brown rough gorse that has survived the winter near the river bank that may be suitable as a hiding place.
Jaru bows. "This is my companion, Lament. We had some questions about a former employee. Is there someplace we might speak in private," Jaru asks with an inquiring glance at the armed man.
Ahhh - business is it? No need to be shy. Who is the employee? My guard here has tight lips, they all do - they are here to maintain the integrity of the shop.
If you would still like a private room then this will take time to arrange - I'll need to fetch my partner and an extra hand or two to stand without the door while we converse - I would need the better part of half an hour to arrange this.
"I believe it would be better to speak in private. We can wait. Sorry to inconvenience you, but we'd like to respect the privacy of those involved."
Hmmph... Very well.
Within 20 minutes you are shown into a back room with a table.
Within sits a middle aged man who gathers up a set of ledgers and rises to take both your hands in a warm handshake.
I am Luramin Taigh - the other owner of 'The Silk Purse', I hope Quess Yearburn is able to meet your needs. I will tend to the shop during your conference. In the interim, the security of the room will be ensured by a pair of guards outside the door. He slides out of the room, murmuring something to someone nearby.
Quess gives Luramin a smile and a nod.
She points you to a pair of chairs set up within and once you enter, shuts the door after you.
Now... how can I help?
"Thank you again for your assistance with this. I understand that Gibbs was an employee of yours. What can you tell us about him?"
Was? Was an employee? No. He is a current employee however we employ him in a temporary capacity. Simply put if illness or some other factor makes one of our security staff unavailable he is brought in to fill the gap. He stores some equipment here and we've issued him one of our uniform tunics.
"Ah, I misunderstood. We're looking for information about his demeanor. Is he reliable? Well mannered?"
Well now, he'd hardly be very good as a guard if he were. He's polite enough to get paid and he serves well.
Jaru frowns, "I would not describe the behavior we've witnessed polite. He's been violent and made very nasty threats against my companion. He is suspected of participating in some of the disturbing incidents in recent days. You haven't noticed any macabre behavior or interest in the prison or graveyard?"
She frowns, making a spiral over her heart.
No. No I haven't - that sort of interest, its... a serious accusation to make, as you are well aware Father Toth. While I don't condone his lack of manners, I will not condemn it during his own time and as for the rest, a macabre interest in the places of the dead? I've not seen such.
She frowns again.
This is hardly standard business Father. Have you anything business you wish to engage in that is not questions about one of our employees?
Jaru sighs shaking his head, "No, I've no need of money at the moment. Again, I'm sorry to have bothered you. I wasn't really expecting to find anything here, but we wanted to be thorough. You did mention some belongings here. May we see them?"
[ooc]helpful halfling?[ooc]
Lament smiles kindly as the two talk. She adds, For your protection as well. If he has been compromised of late...we would hate to see it effect your business. Things have been rough around here for the last few days. We only want the best for Kendra and this town.
Our clients and our employees confidentiality and privacy is respected here at The Silk Purse. To set your mind at ease however there are no dark grimoires and such - merely a chain shirt and a morning star. If the is no other business maybe I could show you what we have to sell?
Staring at the mass of papers, Simeon sighed, then returned to the small island of oranization he had made in that ocean of paperwork.
Picking up a folio, he began to rummage through offical prisoner transfer orders, hoping for the tidbit of information he was looking for.
"Why yes, certainly. " Jaru allows.
She shows you to the front of the shop and the glass topped counter. Within there is quite the collection of old jewelry as well as unpolished and polished gemstones.
She gives you a patter on each piece and inquires as to your favourite stones and so forth.
Let me know if you are interested in anything.
Jaru makes appropriate sounds of appreciation, but it is obvious that he isn't reallyinterested in buying jewelry at the moment.
She notes this and puts away a piece she was showing you and closes the counter.
Perhaps later - if you have more coin on hand or a need for such as this we could talk business on these or other items we have.
I will not delay you any further this day but feel free to come back any time you wish to renew our discussion.
Simeon finds something... something to encourage him to keep looking.
You are hereby sentenced to live the remainder of your short life in Harrowstone, which, I hasten to add, is a blessing compared to the extent of your crimes and the suffering of your victims. There you will reside in the misery of your thoughts until such time as you are drawn, hanged, and quartered. May the gods have no mercy on your blighted soul.
—The final sentencing of Vance Saetressle (“The Lopper”) in 4661 AR by Jurisdeclaris Axenris the Third.
Nighteyes thinks that the weather is warming nicely and this will help but even so the nights would be very uncomfortable unless he took special measures.
Lament doesn't show interest in the jewelry. Thank you for your time.
Unwilling to freeze to death in service of his quest, Baradlon seeks out warm weather clothing at Kendra's house before returning to the patch of gorse.
Simeon finds something... something to encourage him to keep looking.
You are hereby sentenced to live the remainder of your short life in Harrowstone, which, I hasten to add, is a blessing compared to the extent of your crimes and the suffering of your victims. There you will reside in the misery of your thoughts until such time as you are drawn, hanged, and quartered. May the gods have no mercy on your blighted soul.
—The final sentencing of Vance Saetressle (“The Lopper”) in 4661 AR by Jurisdeclaris Axenris the Third.
Holding up the yellowed parchment in weary triumph, Simeon grimaces as he reads the missive. "Vance, my boy, we were a bad man weren't we?" he whispered.
Placing the document in a safe location, he dives back into the old records, now having an actual name to cross-reference.
It's late but you find it...
Vance Saetressle AKA The Lopper. When the Lopper stalked prey, he would hide in the most unlikely of places, sometimes for days upon end with only a few supplies to keep him going while he waited for the exact right moment to strike. Once his target was alone, the Lopper would emerge to savagely behead his victim with a handaxe.
The search through the Professors library on the scarab icon continues...
Exhausted but triumphant Simeon makes his way home to find Elidal and Vigilance hard at work in the library with some notes but nothing concrete... then a bit of work that they wrote down catches his eye.
Fraternity/Secret Society?
And that triggers a recollection. The symbol jogs a memory of being associated with some sort of esotoric group.... the 'Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye' in fact. A rapid search though the library uncovers a few crumbs that further serve to jog memories from Simeon and Vigilance both.
Its primarily an organisation of the nobility and certain of the Intelligensia and little is known of them. What you know of them is that its members of the Order delve deeply into political and arcane matters; and supposedly they are sworn to guard Ustalav and its ancient traditions. Members are secretive and communications between them are made up of a system of secret signs, countersigns and so forth.
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Lament and Jaru make their way to the forge... but are informed that the smith is working on a project this day and cannot be disturbed but will be available on the morrow, well before the town council meets with its citizens.
The day wears into night and the feeling of unease within the village from the recent events seems even to leech into the Lorrimor home, though it weighs less heavily within than without... but Nighteyes feels its greasy nervous chill in full as he has the self imposed onerous duty of keeping watch in the spring night out of doors.
Fatigue lies heavy on you all... and for some it is no burden to seek the comfort of their beds. For others? It is difficult to stay awake.
Your dreams are unsettled one and all but for one of you? They are quite vivid.
Ahhh - discourse. The balm to the soul of the educated man, is it not?, the man says with great condescension. In your dream you agree heartily and for a while conversation is made up of the back and forth on matters of history, the arcane and so forth, but its not pleasant, in fact it is tiring to keep up with the man as he jack rabbits erratically from topic to topic.
The man sighs at length and looks around the room. A pity that this will need to all go - some people are so... 'Limited' when it comes to understanding the various implications and advantages of less conventional avenues of instruction or fields of study. They deny themselves all sort of knowledge and stifle those who would pioneer new and exciting vistas of information. For instance - just taking a name from the air? Simeon - Did you know that it means 'Sign', its roots lie in ancient Azlanti. In another ancient tongue? 'One that hears' or in another translation? 'One that hears and obeys' - quite fascinating... especially the 'Obedience' implications when one considers the character of the individual that the name is applied to and the psychic nuances and resonance that an individuals name can have if applied specifically to a subject bearing this name...
With each mention of your name there is a twinge in your chest, a tightness that grows ever more uncomfortable until it feels like you cannot breathe and you find yourself awake and panting...
Jaru takes a direct approach this time. "Master Smith Jorfa," he greets her with a low bow. "As I'm certain you have heard, there have been many disturbing events around Ravengro of late. We suspect a notorious cult of necromancers have stirred up dangerous ghosts from Harrowstone and the town may be in danger. We have been told that you are one of the longest lived residents here and might remember events around the time of the fire. We are looking for any information on the five most dangerous souls that died in the fire."
"Our research has uncovered some information about Father Charlatan and The Splatterman. In fact, I have confirmed the bloody letters appearing on the cenotaph to the Fire are no mere vandalism and resemble the work of the Splatterman. Anything you an remember of the other three: The Piper of Illmarsh, Mosswater Marauder, or Lopper would be greatly appreciated."
Sitting up in bed, his bed clothes damp from sweat, Simeon's breaths come hard and fast, he heart beating a quick tempo within his chest, the taste of fine brandy on his lips turning to ash....
Puffing his cheeks, Simeon lets out a long, slow breath, attempting to calm himself.
A visitation! But from who, or what? So convincing, so persuasive! But this talk of obediance! That will not do!
Having gathered his wits about him, Simeon ponders the vision and its meaning, leveraging all of his learning into interpreting its meaning and source; trying to recall any details that may have escaped his inital notice.
Perception
Knowledge (arcana)
Not having seen anything, Baradlon returns to the Lorrimor house after dawn to get some meditative rest. When he's gotten his meditation in, he makes his way back to the Temple to see if it's open again.
Simeon sees nothing but from a magical theory perspective dreams can be conduits to various entities or allow communication or that is possible with the weakening of the barriers between the conscious and sub conscious perception... but is pure conjecture in some academic circles.
"We want to keep Kendra safe. Heck...we want to see the entire town safe! Please help us! The professor brought us here to help."
The dwarf is very cautious... but softens.
If'n we are only discussing the prison and its prisoners then aye. I can share somewhat about one villain I remember particularly. He was, to my shame one of me kind.
She pauses and thinks.
The Mosswater Marauder. He was called Ispin Onyxcudgel before he became infamous. Onyxcudgel was a well-liked artisan in the town of Mosswater, and by all accounts, was a doting husband. That all changed when he found that his wife... a human lass strangely enough. When he discovered his wife’s infidelity, he flew into a jealous rage and struck her dead with his hammer, shattering her skull and his sanity with one murderous blow. Wracked with shame and guilt, Ispin became convinced that if he could rebuild his wife’s skull she would come back to life — but unfortunately, he could not find the last blade-shaped fragment from the murder site. So instead, Ispin became the Mosswater Marauder. Over the course of several weeks, the cunning dwarf stalked and murdered nearly 20 people while searching for just the right skull fragment. He was captured just before murdering the daughter of a visiting nobleman from Varno, and was carted off to Harrowstone that same night.
I'll say little more - again I only remember him for the 'novelty' the humans expressed in when he was housed up in tha' stone prison and for the shame I as a dwarf felt for months and years afterwards for his acts of murder.
Nighteyes heads back to the Lorrimor house, chilled but not cold after the night spent watching the monument. It is a relief to get indoors again where Jorminda has made hot porridge for everyone.
Do you know what you will say at the council meeting tonight?, Kendra asks, nursing a cup of hot tea.
Its going to be a loud angry circus, Jorminda asserts. Those meetings can be difficult with only a little controversy such as border stones or whose pig got into whose yard but with all of this... this... chaos? I can't even imagine how bad it will be.