Elsie nods in thanks and takes out a small pouch with a glowing gemstone affixed on a necklace. She closely examines first one of the untouched plinths, and then moving over to the one Miss Quarn was laying on.
"So this one plinth is the one she...the corpse arose from? And were any of the other plinths occupied at the time? Do you recall whether she was murdered? Who was the previous corpse that was laid upon this plinth?"
Happy that Mister Singhh is being forthright, Tella concentrates for a moment, muttering a phrase in a language long lost to the ravages of time. Her eyes open wide and the edges of her irises glow white as she takes in her surroundings.
"Ah, there's a boat from the Watch," says Varian upon seeing it. "Darc, is it? You're obviously a well-built fellow. Care to see if we can fish out a body while the women investigate up here?"
Varian is interested in trying to look for the body, assuming that task seems straightforward as opposed to unusually dangerous.
At Varian's question, Darc looks questioningly at Elise, "See his lordship wants to go fishing." At Elise's nod, he joins the noble and looks over the rowing boat. Looks like it might float!, here we go. He says thumping the side of the wooden boat to make sure its structure is sound and feels the oars. "Get in then." he says in a monotone, ready to push the boat into the dark and dirty cess pit of a river. His face is grim as the stench reaches his nose.
M'Hajeet shakes his head sadly when Eliseera asks whether there were any other corpses awaiting cremation on the night in question, "No Miss, young Miss Quarn was the only body on the slabs overnight... folks tend to avoid having their loved ones sent on their way on the same day as criminals or their victims - some say that it is bad luck to make your way into the Boneyard at the same time as such folks... and Miss Quarn, I would say her wounds suggested a violent end".
"As to the previous occupant? Let me think... three days ago, it was Mister Enrico Lambias - a merchant fallen on hard times and, I would think from the way people were whispering, a suicide... then two days before that there was Inkmaster Trule, you probably read about his passing in the papers?"
Returning to the matter of the overheard argument, "It can't have been very far away... my hut is just over there", M'Hajeet points towards a small, improvised flotsam shack next to the slabs, "and I'd only just awoken".
Whilst her companions quiz M'Hajeet, Tella walks amongst the slabs feeling for some kind of resonance... and gets nothing beyond the background whispers that can be heard anywhere within the bloated city of Castorhage - faint echoes of lives lived amongst the filth through the centuries...
The boat moored at the edge of the water is sturdy enough, as one might expect, but that is little guarantee of safety out on the great river... slow moving and corpulent it may be but Sister Lyme is ever hungry, her cloying waters pulling the largest vessels into her embrace when they move too far from the charted navigation channels... and then there are the predators that have evolved to make the river their home - rapidly approaching fin, reaching tentacles or thrashing tail being the last sane thing seen by many an unfortunate over the years...
As he scans over the sister, his nose twitching, Darc continues, "But don't think I'm going away from the shelter of the bank, I've heard enough tales of sister's minions feeding her and themselves with the blood of good honest sailors." Darc looks at Varian, assessing his aptitude for the journey, a noble sitting amongst such filth, very strange indeed. This noble may either be a fool or undeniably a very strange noble.
"Be careful Darc. I don't relish diving in after you!" Elsie replies, a note of concern in her voice.
It takes a moment for Elsie to realize just who M'Hajeet had been referring to but once she realizes who it was, a shiver runs down her spine. Pulling the other two ladies aside, she says in an undertone, "Inkmaster Trule had been a tattoo artist for many years in East Ending. While the exact circumstances around his death haven't been made publicly available rumor has it a sigil that opened a portal to the Abyss was the cause... both he and the bearer of the tattoo perished in the ensuing chaos." Glancing around her nervously she adds, "I suspect his death and the incident with Miss Quarn MAY be related."
"I don't intend to thrust us into danger, but knowing Constable Fidelus Crop, he was probably too busy to do a thorough search." He sets aside his coat, then rolls up his pants and sleeves. "If you row, Darc, I'll try my luck with this hook. I suppose under different circumstances, this might be considered a quaint fishing trip." Varian seems quite willing to give it a try.
"Perhaps," Tella whispers back thoughtfully, "but let me see if there's anything to glean here. I had thought that a corpse rising and bursting into flames would have left some impression, but..." Tella's voice trails off before she turns back to the slabs and mutters another arcane incantation.
Mildly disappointed at the lack of a psychic signature, Tella instead looks for something arcane - and this time finds even less than when she was reaching into the occult...
As the group watch Darc and Varian cast off, M'Hajeet considers Ruby's question about Miss Quarn, "I'm not sure I could tell you too much about poor Lenice Quarn, she came over from the Mortuary the evening before... I suppose some family may have come to her cremation but I guess events overtook that. If you wanted to know more, if you thought it was useful, then I guess you'd have to head over to the Grime Street Morgue".
Whilst out on the river, the current starting to pull the boat away from the shore, Varian starts to trail the hook into the inky-black waters... a couple of children, giggling as they see Darc struggling to keep the boat on an even keel, shout out, "Careful you don't fall in... they were dumping barrels int the river upstream a coupla' days back... least it'll keep the sharks away" ...and as Varian pulls the hook back for a third time, it catches on something.
"I got something," says Varian as he feels something snag. He starts to pull. .
Having trouble, he asks for help. "I can't seem to get this. Do you want to try, Darc?"
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"Sadly, little else in here. I am now about to retrace her steps from the pyre to the docks, or at least as close as I can get." Elsie responds with a determined look in her eye. "I do not want to leave any clues unearthed here."
Presuming no one has anything further to add here, she proceeds to slowly retrace the burning corpses steps all the way to the water's edge..
"I can't seem to get this. Do you want to try, Darc?"
"You hold the rope, I'll take use back to shore so we can haul it back together. I don't fancy mucking about in the boat. If you has trouble tie the rope to the boat." Darc says as he reassesses the noble, he'd best have some use....
Tella shakes her head at Ruby's question.
"Nothing. We might as well plan to see if we can find where this argument that Mister Singhh mentioned happened and see if there are any clues there before moving on to the Grime Street Morgue. Dreadful place, that, and one I'd just as soon not step into if it can be helped."
- the Grime Street Morgue is but a brief interlude before the 'end destination' for many of the down at heel folks in this part of the city... suspicious deaths, illnesses and 'persons of interest' (there are rumours that the Office of the Watch routinely carry out interviews, with a little occult assistance, with the dead at the morgue) all pass through the small building near the river... it is probably no more than a fifteen minute hike downstream from here.
With the hook well and truly caught on something, Varian can't get any force behind his lift without risking capsizing the boat and tipping Darc and himself into the muddy waters of the Lyme. So, taking the other man's advice, he slowly lets out the slack of the rope and Darc rows them back to the steps. As they draw close to the shore something solid bumps against the hull of the wooden boat, there is a moment of concern... both Darc and Varian have read stories or heard tales of the things that dwell in the bloated river... but then they see their 'attacker' - the sodden corpse of a dead dog floating to the surface a few yards downstream from them before, with a accompanied by a hungry sucking noise, sinking into the murk once more...
Back ashore, Darc and Varian enlist the help of the other investigators... and pulling hard on the rope, feeling a scraping of metal on metal as the hook works itself loose, they jerk the hook clear of whatever it was caught on. Dragging it back in, like some kind of perverse fishing competition, they pull the hook clear of the opaque waters... dragging a tattered rag of white fabric with it.
Elsie breathes, "This must be from her pyre gown!" Careful not to ruin the tattered fabric Elsie lays the fabric down on a clean spot of the docks. She then looks it over for any scorch marks for confirmation.
Once it is verified this is indeed Miss Quarn's burial garment, she turns to Tella. "Perhaps this holds more clues that you can decipher."
Varian does not share in Eliseera's excitement. "Damnation, I thought for sure we'd get the whole sodding body. Master Singhh, do you recognize this cloth as belonging to the woman?" Varian looks for singe marks or other clues.
Mr Singhh, at Varian's suggestion, squints and takes a look at the shred of fabric offered to him, "I suppose so... it is white and look here, that's a scorch mark on the cotton... it must be from Miss Quarn. I told you that the Office of the Watch were too quick to say that she had been swept away... you will retrieve her so that she can be properly cremated? It is not right to just leave her to the slop sharks".
"We're going to try this again. We just need some better leverage. Maybe the right angle." Varian gets out on the boat again as needed to make another attempt.
Darc does his best to keep the boat under control and stop from rockin about too much as the 'noble' keeps up his fishing attempts. "You sure you know what you're doing my lord." he says through gritted teeth, "I for sure would rather you went for a dip, so I can drag you in with this here boat. Better than loosing the boat, my lord." his voice carries with it a steely determination.
Asking Darc to row back into the river, and trying to hold the boat over the place where Varian first dropped the hook into the Lyme... the pair once more attempt to drag the river for whatever is down there. At the first couple of attempts, Varian pulls up nothing more than sections of rusted ironwork... covered in barnacles and silt, the junk metal has been at the bottom of the Lyme for a very long time.
The third attempt at hooking their catch out of the river ends almost comically with Darc unable to control the boat and the current taking the boat some thirty yards downstream, Varian is nearly jerked overboard as the hook catches on something in the depths - fortunately, it comes loose before the 'noble' ends up in the water...
...at the fourth attempt, and being extra vigilant not to tip over into the filth, Varian pulls as hard as he can. This time, the hook catches something soft... feeling the weight at the end of the hook and the river pulling at his dislodged catch, he reels the rope in. And, as the rope shortens, bobbing to the surface comes the unmistakable shape of a body... face down, and with her white gown badly burnt, it is easy to conclude that this is the woman who M'Hajeet saw jump, running and aflame, into the Lyme yesterday.
"I know exactly what I'm doing - now hold the boat steady!" Nearly tipping into Sister Lyme makes Varian angry. Angry enough to properly pull the body back up. "Gotcha!" he says with a heave, before dropping the heavy chain to take a break. "Let me catch my breath and we'll get this back to shore, Darc." Which is what he'll do. (Unless the body wakes up and attacks him . . .)
Once the body is back ashore, he will help investigate the body for clues.
Dragging the sodden body aboard, Varian and Darc moor the boat and, with help from Eliseera, bring the corpse ashore... the most striking thing, now that she has been put onto her back is that the girl dies with the wreckage of her face drawn in an eternal, silent scream - surely not surprising given the violent nature of her end. And then Varian, looking at her injuries, notices that the majority of burns are on her face and neck... and that the shape of these burns resemble claw marks.
Coming up behind Varian to take a look, M'Hajeet stares at the woman in horror, [b["Oh no!!! This is not Miss Quarn... no no no... it is not her at all!!! How can this be???"[/b]
Tella once again casts a spell to let her see things normally unseen before studying the fabric.
When the corpse is pulled up and the full extent of the damage shown, Tella covers her mouth and looks away.
Elsie's face is a mask of stone, as she stares at the remains of Miss Quarn. Her voice completely toneless she asks the other members of the group, "Could you please verify the cause of her death?"
When M'Hajeet exclaims the corpse is not actually Miss Quarn, she turns to face the man. "Are you certain of this? Perhaps Constable Fidelus Crop recovered the corpse already and this is a different woman?"
.
Varian is extremely puzzled. "What are you saying, it's not her? Do you recognize the gown as Lenice Quarn's? And if this isn't Miss Quarn, can you tell us how long this woman's been dead? I'm guessing you're good at that by now."
Looking at the scrap of fabric, Tella can feel a powerful psychic imprint upon it… without further examination it isn’t possible to tell what the cause or significance of the imprint is however, making the assumption that it is from the woman who leapt into the river, it seems likely that the psychic vibrations are due to the violent death of the wearer – an assumption that is further reinforced when the burnt, and slightly water-bloated, body is dragged ashore.
At Eliseera’s insistence, M’Hajeet crouches down next to the body… the look on his face is one of confusion rather than one disgust – working as he does in this part of the Blight, the holy man has surely seen the product of violent death many a time, ”Hmmmm, let me see… the physical injuries are predominantly burns, do you see? Here… here… and here”, he points to the strange claw-like marks, ”But they are not extensive enough nor deep enough to be the cause of death. And look, here… there is bruising around the cranium. I would say, given the Lyme is in her lungs, that she struck her head when she went into the river, was knocked unconscious and Great Mother Lyme took the poor girl to her bosom. Death by drowning… and a small mercy that she was probably unconscious when she passed”. And then, responding to Varian’s question, ”This girl has been in the water for no more than a day… the flesh is not overly sloughed… and look here at her fingers and toes, there is precious little sign of the fish having fed upon her”.
”Oh… it is for certain that this is not Miss Quarn. This woman is a good six inches taller and I would suggest had ten more years of life… and this dress, this is not a dress for the pyre… look, look how it is cut to reveal the leg and to accentuate the bosom – and how it is laced to be easily removed – I am a holy man and not versed in such matters, but I think that this is a dress to entice men towards pleasures of the flesh”.
M’Hajeet looks slightly puzzled at Eliseera’s suggestion that maybe the Office of the Watch had already retrieved Miss Quarn, ”I have been here the entire time… it is as I said, the Watch dragged the river for five minutes and then left. There was no body brought to shore”, and then, with a troubled look writ across his face, ”But then, where is Miss Quarn? What has happened to her? You must help to find her… the Guild cannot be found responsible for losing the bodies of those that they take into their care – it would be a scandal”.
Darc speaks quietly in Varian's ear, "So much for your fishing, you got the wrong fish and just complicated things." Darc seems unhappy that they are no nearer helping M’Hajeet than they where before. He looks at Varian, "So you goin fishin again? Find the right fish?" He flexes his shoulders, ready to get in the boat again. He turns to Elise and catches her eye, shaking his head he signals his doubt in the 'nobles' abilities. "One more try then Lord Varian?"
She must have been a...*ahem* lady of the night. Murdered and her corpse exchanged for Miss Quarn. But for what purpose?
Elsie gives the man a reassuring smile. "Rest assured we will find Miss Quarn. In order to do that we will need to determine who this is...or was, is the more accurate term. She looks as if she was indeed employed for that purpose you stated. There are many places around here she could have plied her trade, that is certain."
She leans forward to whisper into Darc's ear. "I do not believe you will find anything else further, but by all means, humor the good Lord."
Tella is too busy studying the cloth to pay much attention to the conversation around her.
Varian waves his hand dismissively. "I doubt there's more in the water. This harlot seems to be the flaming woman you saw, Master Singhh, and not Miss Quarn. So we now have two mysteries, what happened to this woman, and what happened to Miss Quarn. We know that the woman was alive at the time, only dying after she entered the water, striking her head and drowning. We also know and the burn marks on her face look like claws. Perhaps some sort of animate fire elemental or similar fiery beast attacked her?"
Varian considers their surroundings. "Now that we know what we're looking for, perhaps we can find some clues related to this creature or to this woman?" Varian tries to find some of these himself.
"Oh, and Master Singhh, if you could use your talents to preserve this body, it would be most helpful if we later need to ask someone to identify her."
By now, having made quite the show of dragging the riverbed and then of bringing the girl who is not Miss Quarn ashore, the group have attracted a certain amount of interest... the two men on the roof of the church, who up until now had shown no interest, occasionally glance down towards the group. Whilst, mingling near the pie shop, three girls - their garb suggesting that each of them is of questionable employ, gossip amongst themselves... moving to try and get a better view of the drowned girl on the steps, they stop as they see the face of the dead woman... and one of them runs into the alleyways...
- the images coming from the cloth are somewhat hazy - it is dark and, silhouetted by the gas lit street lamps, there are the indistinct faces of two men... and the unpleasant smell of rotting teeth. Tella gets the feeling of trying to get away as one of them shouts something in frustration and then the world turns into burning pain... and then darkness.
Elsie's reflexes, always on a razor's edge considering her line of work, are triggered by the sudden actions of the onlookers. Seeing the women gawking at the dead body followed by one of them moving into the alleyway to loose the contents of her last meal, she judged. Still she knew they dead woman shared a common profession...which is all she needed...
"Darc, with me." She swiftly moved to the alleyway entrance where the girl ducked into. Once in position she calls out "Do you know that unfortunate soul?"
Seeing the increase in attention, Varian calmly puts on his coat again and prepares to leave. "I believe it's time to move on."
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Tella's too engrossed in her study of the fabric to notice the woman running. As a minute passes, the subtle signs of fear, then pain, cross her features.
- Holding on to the image for a few more seconds before it fades, the features of the closest face come into view... a handsome man, with an oiled moustache and neatly groomed hair. The second face though is hidden by shadow and, try as she might, Tella can't distinguish any features.
- sitting quietly, Ruby listens to the voice of the city... indistinct at first, she is soon weaving the strands of Lenice Quarn's life together. By no means an exceptional girl, Lenice Quarn kept herself to herself... she received an adequate education through one of the charitable schools within East Ending and showed a modicum of aptitude for most things... but it was her singing that distinguished her from her peers - again and again the voices of the city come around to people remarking on her rich voice and her innate ability to captivate with a tune. From a poor background, she was never likely to receive formal training... until, maybe a week back, a man came down from the Capitol District full of promises of schooling and university. After that, there is little more beyond the gruesome sight of her body being found in an unlit alleyway... and the wails of her grieving parents.
- The girls, there are only two of them now with the one who ran into the alleyways nowhere to be seen, have tears in their eyes but are immediately petulant when Eliseera approaches them for information, "Might do... might not do as it happens. It depends on who's asking and why they'd want to know..."
...as Eliseera quizzes the girls, the man at the nearby pie shop looks on with bemused interest. Loading a handcart with hearty looking pies and pastries, he calls out to Eliseera and Darc, "When you're done there... how's about one of my tasty pies? I can do y'all a good deal if the lot of you want something nice".
Having gathered his things, Varian sees that more than one of his companions are in a trance-like state. Definitely more to this group than meets the eye, he thinks. Would explain why Ruby always knows more about the city than anyone rightly should.
"We should track down Miss Quarn's family and friends to see what they know of this man," he concludes at Ruby's revelation.
He then approaches the pie vendor and flicks a platinum coin at him. "That's for some pie, some drinks, and some information. We have a woman's body that disappeared last night, and now this woman who was on fire and drowned herself in the river. It would mean a lot to both their families to learn about what happened here."
Varian wasn't sure he'd get much out of this guy, but if not, at least he would keep the rest of the group well fed. As for Varian, he was salivating not at the pies, but at the prospect of finding Quarn's murderer.
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Elsie barely turns to face the pie vendor, instead keeping her main focus upon the two girls who are clearly buying time here. "Cut the act girls. I know you sent your friend off to inform your...associates what is transpiring here. Still, I am indeed in a hurry and I am willing to pay handsomely for what you know of your late companion..." She allows her hand to stray to her money pouch.
Tella blinks as she comes back to reality, She has a face, a suspect, if only she knew who it was! Perhaps she could recall. Handsome men rarely lead lives of obscurity, and he seemed too well groomed to be from the poor and destitute of Castorhage.
When Ruby mentions that the young girl they had been looking for had a talent for singing, Tella's expression turns somber and she gives a silent prayer to the Eternal Rose for the girl's soul. She then gives Ruby a comforting embrace as she notices the other woman's emotional state.
"We should," the investigator agrees with Varian, "we should round up the others though."
"Hmm, yes. It appears they are. Shall we help them," Tella asks, hoping to distract herself for the moment.
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- The two girls look petulant and, smearing makeup across their faces when they drive their tears, "What's it to you miss? Chantelle never done no-one no harm... and now you've gone dragged her out of the Great Lyme. That's not fair is it miss!!! And the Office of the Watch won't even bother to come back once they know it's one of us what ended up drowning".
- The Pie-Shop owner, Mister Cookcroft, grins as he spreads out a choice of Beef and Ale, Lamb and Mint and the, somewhat ambiguously named, Sausage Pies, "Take yer pick Sir... your coin buys the whole cart. Course you'd probably not want it after where I found it last night.... ha!!!! Anyway, that girl who went missing? Folks were saying it was just a trick by Ole Mister Singhh to raise some publicity... but it looks like you found her? Poor girl... what a way to go!!! Afraid I really can't help you mister... I was away for a couple of days... when I came back the Office of the Watch were crawling all over the Ghaats and my cart had gone missing".
"...anyway, enjoy your pies mister".
- the face in the vision doesn't really spark any recognition.
"True," Tella agrees before walking over to where Eliseera while filing the face away as one to look out for. She gets close enough to see and hear the distress of two girls and her pace becomes a trot as she hurries to help comfort them.
"The Watch may not do anything, but I will. I can't promise I'll find and bring whoever did this to justice, but I can promise that I will keep looking for them. Can you tell me more about what happened the night Chantelle went missing? Did she meet with any handsome, mustachioed men that were well groomed? Please tell me everyuthing that you know," she urges them.