Just before he heads toward the office, "One little detail of the sword before I get too involved with the searching the office below. The sword has quite an interesting bit of lore behind it. I recall--during my studies in Caliphas--that many years ago, the Mayor of Carrion Hill at the time was in need of aid. So he called upon the High Priest. In exchange for the current area from which the Church of Pharasma currently resides, this weapon was forged. The weapon was wielded by the commander of the Crows, and they themselves descended below the city never to be heard from again; along with the abominations the weapon was forged to destroy. That is all I can recall at the moment." He then starts out toward the office, stopping momentarily as he nearly forgets about the last bit of information he's uncovered. "And it's made from cold iron, in case any of you are wondering about it's material substance."
I've never heard that story and I sat at the knees of Crows all my boyhood days... it must be ancient.
I'll take it for now - we will need it if its forged to hit the creatures of the Void.
He rises and jerks the blade from the corpse with a sucking echo emanating from the corpse's lungs as it clears the wound.
He looks down at his matched blades, and extends one of the short swords on his belt to Valiard.
Use this if you can for now - its one of a matched set so make sure if you do lose it, its because its wedged in an enemies gut.
He then starts cleaning the new blade.
That blade isn't an ordinary one - it can cut the hide of creatures who would normally shrug off plain steel
I wonder if I should just throw the box against the wall...that way I have a plausible excuse for why it popped open...
Your first examination made it clear that a trap is likely there, though you just can't find it...
Valiard looks around, startled for a momement. He blinks, then turns to Grigor, realizing that he was being talked to.
"Uh, what? Yes. Thank you Grigor...a sword. I ah, I don't know if I am one to get in and fight the way that you do...but I guess if it comes to it, I have a blade now...." Valiard trails off, obviously thinking about something.
So if I can get the crow, the priest and the investigator downstairs...that should be enough...I don't really care if Miri sees me working on the lock, her view of right and wrong is...flexible anyways.
"You know...if the attacker went and rifled around downstairs, he might have made a mistake and left a clue as to who they are..."
"You know...if the attacker went and rifled around downstairs, he might have made a mistake and left a clue as to who they are..."
hmmm.
Grigor gives Valiard a curious look but seems to give a mental shrug as if dismissing something.
I'll check it out.
He turns to the others.
I'd like to go down there armed, which means a torch isn't practical - can I get that spell again, the one that makes light?
"You are quite adamant about us moving downstairs, Mr. Tessar." He looks to Valiard as he speaks and then catches Mireza out of the corner of his eye. Turning his attention toward her and then back to Valiard... his eyes instantly narrow as the realization as to why the herbalist is so determined to get them away for a bit. "We will not be long, Mr. Tessar, I assure you." He says pointedly. Iozef then casts light upon his holy symbol. "There, Mr. Vachkov, that ought to benefit us. Is there anything else? Or do we all continue to stand around and accomplish nothing? Time to move." As they start towards the office, he stops a moment and turns back to address Valiard. "Oh! Mr. Tessar. Remember... Not. Long." He gives him a look as if he knows exactly what he's up to. He then returns to his objective.
What...? Oh, oh! heh...
"Right. Not long." Valiard says with a wink. Valiard turns away from Izoef, laughter in his eyes. He then walks over to Mireza before asking, "Mireza, you were asking about what it felt like to be paralyzed? It was pretty awful. It felt like being wrapped in a cold blanket where you cannot move your limbs an inch."
Grigor, his sword the focus of a light spell, leads the way down, followed by Windle and Iozef, while Mireza and Valiard stay nearby, doing stuff...
Grigor moves to check out the desk and the books.
Before Windle follows Iozef and Grigor down the hole, he looks over at Valiard with his usual amiable expression, then turns away, shaking his head slightly.
Once into the onetime basement, he casts light on the head of his mace and looks down the tunnel before joining Grigor at the desk.
Taking your time, you meticulously study the desk, looking for clues. Small smears of blood indicate that Hyve's killer slipped in here after his murder. He or she has been going through all the drawers, and it seems removed some things. A faint smell of smoke leads you to a metal bowl on the table with the alchemical equipment, where you find fresh paper ashes. The light film of dust on the other items indicates the burning was not part of some experience, but more recent.
The murderer has been very thorough, but you can be as well, and find empty envelopes marked with the seal of Caliphas, though the sender is unknown, the quality of paper and ink, as well as the calligraphy, suggests a person of great wealth and power.
These thoughts bring you back ages, and your hand moves by itself to your flask...
Stick-in-the-muds safely dispensed with Valiard, turns to Mireza, placing his index finger over his mouth, he then moves swiftly over to the box, and with the ease of long practice flips out his lockpicks, shoving a few in his mouth, several between his fingers and the last he grasps with his index and thumb, as he probes the intricate workings of the trap.
Here we are pretty. Let me see what you are made of....
Valiard turns to look at Mireza, pulls the letter out and hands it to her. He then grins wolfishly and carrying the box, he then walks out into the main area of the church.
You can tell quickly that some books are missing. It seems someone went through this collection and took some items. Taking your time, you try, from the order of the books, to guess what Hyve might have put there. Slowly, your mood darkens and you turn silent as the missing books start pointing out to subjects like resurrection and life after death.
Armed with this information, you look at an empty space and, from the void visible through the coat of dust covering the shelves and the book, make out the usual format of the Life Beyond the Grave: Wisdom of the Tyrant, a scandalous book banned and destroyed on sight, spreading the malignant philosophy leading readers to the Whispering Way...
His face stern, Windle looks from the shelf to the cleric, then back again. "Damn him, and may Groetus sup on his soul. If he wasn't dead already I would kill him myself for that alone." The inquisitor pauses. "Wait. 'If he wasn't dead already....' I wonder...." He looks up at the ceiling in the direction of the body, lost in speculation.
Grigor almost seems fussy as he goes through careful and practiced motions, muttering loud enough for the others to hear him.
Blood smears... likely the killer - not enough blood to be the victim... hmmm... someone has been though this desk - thorough job... the papers here, he works over the credenza, carefully riffling through various documents, ...and the envelopes there... probably removed a few things... .
He sniffed around the desk, and then fussed around the alchemical equipment, ending up peering into a bowl.
Burned papers... damn but I would have paid to see what the killer burned.
He returned to the desk, picking over the murderers leavings...
Thats some expensive envelopes there... the script... hmmm... I'd say well educated... wealthy even? Could be....
Oh Gods Blood - not again. He blanched, and grabbed his flask and took a slug. The burning of hard liquor was a welcome relief and comfort against the cold of old terrors.
As he replaces his flask, Grigor stops and grunts, then carefully pockets the envelopes.
These will come in handy...
Valiard pats the box once and then winds up a hard overhand throw, whipping the box towards a distant stone wall.
Windle's usually pleasant expression returns as he looks to the Crow, although it seems a bit forced. "What have you found thus far, sir?"
Valiard pats the box once and then winds up a hard overhand throw, whipping the box towards a distant stone wall.
The box breaks and acid explodes in a wide sphere of sizzling green.
"Oooh, nice." Valiard grins, watching the acid etch the stone wall. "That certainly would have been an unpleasant trap don't you think?"
"So I think we can say we found the letter in the remains of the box, no need to mention that the box was whole...or opened...right?"
"Right. Not long." Valiard says with a wink. Valiard turns away from Izoef, laughter in his eyes. He then walks over to Mireza before asking, "Mireza, you were asking about what it felt like to be paralyzed? It was pretty awful. It felt like being wrapped in a cold blanket where you cannot move your limbs an inch."
"Like the moth my spider caught last night," she muses, "if her web was spun of ice. I have been in a cage, but I have never been cocooned."
When the apothecary turns away from her suddenly, she frowns and perches on the edge of the stone altar next to the corpse, taking care to twitch her skirts and scarves well away from the blood before she sits. She watches him work at the lock with mild interest, takes the letter from his fingers and frowns at the incomprehensible writing. Following Valiard into the larger room, she flinches a little as he smashes the box, her hand moving unconsciously toward the shoulder Myre burned yesterday as the acid sizzles against the splintered wood and stone. "Secrets," she remarks lightly as he returns his lockpicking tools to their hiding place. "I'll keep your secret, Apothecary." She walks across the floor to the broken box to dip the edge of the letter into a tiny bubble of acid, then shakes it off before it can eat away more than the very corner. "We had to be quick to snatch it out before it was destroyed," she smiles back at him. "How very dextrous of you."
His face stern, Windle looks from the shelf to the cleric, then back again. "Damn him, and may Groetus sup on his soul. If he wasn't dead already I would kill him myself for that alone." The inquisitor pauses. "Wait. 'If he wasn't dead already....' I wonder...." He looks up at the ceiling in the direction of the body, lost in speculation.
Iozef looks at the inquisitor curiously, "What? What is your theory, Mr. Thetra?"
"Nice. I like the addition. And, thank you Miri. I trusted that you wouldn't be upset with some of my other skills...you have no idea how nice it is to have your faith in another borne out for a change."
"Well then, shall we go show the Crow and priest and see if they can make heads or tails of this?"
Valiard makes a full courtly bow, offering for Mireza to lead the way to the office, and its underground hidey-hole.
Windle's usually pleasant expression returns as he looks to the Crow, although it seems a bit forced. "What have you found thus far, sir?"
The crow gives Windle a slightly surprised look as he hears the word 'Sir' and its tone.
He rubs his face and then starts pointing around the desk.
The killer knew of this room and what he was looking for... he rummaged around for something... I am betting a letter or some paperwork, burned it in that bowl over there.
All in all a pretty neat job - whoever did it was a careful sod to try to cover up that he was even looking for. What I found were some envelopes - very very expensive paper and the handwritting? Well - you be the judge... maybe you know some magic or something to tell me more.
He extends Windle one of the envelopes for him to inspect.
Mireza smiles at Valiard's formal manners, re-enters the room housing Arlend Hyve's mortal remains, and calls musically down the trap door, "Yoo hoo! We found a letter."
To Iozef: "There are, as we both know too well, ways to use necromancy to evade Pharasma's judgment for a time. Myre was a necromancer, and if this is Hyve's study he seems to have traveled far down that particular path as well. It is not beyond belief that he somehow transferred his essence from that body to another, then killed his old body in a way that provides us with a potent weapon against that which the Elect called up. We kill the monster, we kill Crove, and Hyve is left to pursue his own interests without further interference. The only sticking point is that I know of no magic that would accomplish the transfer. I also cannot, frankly, see Hyve neglecting to remove that particular tome."
To Grigor: "The presumed killer also removed several volumes from the library here. Frater Iozef, would you care to examine this envelope as well?"
"Nor I know of any magic to accomplish such, Mr. Thetra, nor I. But what they have managed so far, I wouldn't find it difficult to believe that they have found a way. And as far as the tome... perhaps he left it there for a purpose, wanting us to find it. I'm just not sure why."
Turning his attention to the witch's call, Iozef sighs under his breath at her tone. "A moment, Madam Mireza. We have found a few items of interest as well that need examining." Iozef responds as he turns his attention back to Windle. "Very well, let's have a look." He says in his usual business like tone as he takes the envelope and examines it.
"Apothecary, they don't want our letter," she turns to Valiard, a little affronted. "After we were so clever to find it."
Stuff and nonsense girl, says Grigor brusquely as he climbs up the ladder. I want to see if its a match in either paper or hand writing... and maybe I can make heads or tails of it.
"Looks like you stirred up Grigor at least Miri."
Valiard gives the crow a hand up from the trap door.
"I only took a quick look at it, but I can't make any sense of it.", Valiard says as Mireza offers the letter.
The content {of the letter} is gibberish, implying some sort of code...
"I shall be up in a moment."
Windle looks for tracks that look like they might be going to or coming from the tunnel mouth.
The content {of the letter} is gibberish, implying some sort of code...
Windle has no luck looking for patterns, as Iozef has pretty much walked around the whole place before he could start his search.
Grigor finds the paper, ink and handwriting matching the envelope found.