Those looking around can see scattered coins and gems on the ground, along with broken glass now piled up around the room as though it had been hastily cleaned, assumably by Agnes. No tracks are visible—if there had been any, they would have been cleaned away when the glass was swept up. No rat holes are visible anywhere, and it doesn't look like any particular attention was paid to any items—looks more like a smash and grab job.
Durnim nods and replies, "Have you had a chance to start to clean up, Agnes? And do you have the records of who defaulted on the items that were taken? Maybe they had more than sentimental value."
"Why yes, I have—the cleaning has kept my mind off of the things I don't want to think about. And I do have them somewhere, though it might take a while for my to find. Archie took care of those things more than I did.
"Could someone have opened the vault with the keys?"
Talgil makes a mental note to carefully search Archivan's effects when they check the body
Dennie casts Detect Magic.
"Maybe you could show us where you have cleaned and where you haven't. We might be able to discover something important in here. Also, it would really help to have the names of the people who defaulted on the stolen items. Please let me know how we can assist you with that."
"Well yes, someone could have opened the vault with the keys, but I checked in there, and nothing was missing. Anyways, no one could have gotten out because of the...Oh goodness! The pit trap! How could I have forgotten to check the pit trap!?"
Agnes rushes to the north end of the room toward the double doors that lead to a staircase.
Gareth sets off after Agnes at a trot, one hand dipping inconspicuously into the recesses of his duster.
Denessrael follows Agnes closely.
Azubah falls into step behind Denessrael. He cannot shake the feeling that something is wrong with this situation.
Talgil keeps pace behind Agnes and gets a hand on his sap.
Durnim follows Agnes matching her pace but not her emotional state. He tries to make eye contact with ilKhan and makes a hand signal attempting to communicate for him to stay where he is.
Agnes rushes down the stairs, shouting over her shoulder.
"Either stay near the bottom of the stairs or come into the vault with me. There's a pit trap down here, which is triggered inside the vault, but only opens when someone leaves it. I can't believe I was stupid enough not to check it when I checked the vault! I just disabled the trap like I always do before leaving—my mind was elsewhere."
Durnim catches up with her.
Denessrael continues to stay with Agnes.
Agnes walks quickly to the vault doors, but stops just outside them.
She walks back a few paces, and gently reaches out a foot and presses on the floor. A trap door swings open, revealing a pit 20 feet down into the ground. A smooth-skinned, hairless humanoid with pale skin that almost blends into its surroundings is crouched down inside.
Talgil moves in to form a wall with Durnim.
Gareth harrumphs, then calls down to the Skulk.
"Looks ta me like you're in a spot a'bother down there. You understand me? You want out?"
Dennie peers into the pit trap briefly and then resumes scanning the area for clues.
Durnim follows and stands beside Agnes watching her open the trap door. He softly whistles and says, "What have we got here? Who are you, my white one?"
Perception
Knowledge
"If he does not understand you, Gareth, then it will make for a short trial. He is in the trap of a murdered man. Without an explanation he is doomed. In fact, all they will have to do is tie the noose." Azubah says this while glaring down at the figure in the pit.
Intimidate along with casting of Enhanced Diplomacy cantrip
"We could take it back to the Carnis; one of them might have an idea on communicating with it."
Talgil grabs the manacles from his backpack with his free hand and starts idly swinging them.
ilKhan looks down into the pit.
You cannot make an untrained Knowledge check with a DC higher than 10. If you have access to an extensive library that covers a specific skill, this limit is removed. The time to make checks using a library, however, increases to 1d4 hours. Particularly complete libraries might even grant a bonus on Knowledge checks in the fields that they cover.
The skulk looks out at the group of you surrounding the pit, terrified. He speaks quietly, his voice shaking as he does.
"P...pp...please don't kill mmmmeeee. I..I..I can help yyyyouu."
"Exactly, what can you help us with? And how?" Azubah nearly chuckles as he asks his questions.
Durnim keeps an eye on Agnes while scary (bad cop) Azubah interrogates the skulk.
Dennie will try a 'Detect Magic' just because.
Durnim keeps an eye on Agnes while scary (bad cop) Azubah interrogates the skulk.
The pale-skinned humanoid, still looking frightened, speaks up.
"We were sent here. I can give you the information that you're looking for—but you need to let me out of here first, I'm starving."
ilKhan listens, but he does not appear to have any reaction to the creature.
Gareth's eyes narrow threateningly.
"Ye're not rightly in any place ta negotiate, neighbour," he says. "Anyhoo, if it's food ya need ta loosen yer tongue, I can throw ye a trail ration."
"Gareth, please throw it a trail ration and resolve its hunger." Durnim says as good cop.
Gareth grunts, and tosses the captive a single trail ration. "Your health," he adds with mild sarcasm. "Long as it lasts."
Sense Motive
Sense Motive
azubah wonders why Durnim decided to comply with the creature's request. Gareth was right about it being in no position to demand anything. But he waits to see how this plays out.
Talgil sets the manacles down and pulls out the rope. He then sits down near the ledge with rope in hand. He mutters under his breath, "Anyone know how high one of these can jump?"
Hefting the rope so it can be seen, Talgil shouts down the pit, "We gave you that food in good faith, now you owe us some. Make good on that faith and we'll help you out some more. Sound like a deal?"
The skulk catches the ration and shovels it into his mouth. He looks up at Talgil.
"I have information about the men that sent us here. But if I tell you now, how do I know you won't just close the trap on me again and leave me here?"
"I'm not like that," Gareth says, his eyebrows lowering dangerously. "Even if you were a cold killer, I wouldn't leave ya to starve to death. You'd need to be much worse than a hired knife and a thief for that. Truth for truth."
"How do you know we won't do something far worse if you don't tell us now? Besides, if you give us the information we have no need to do anything of the sort, the constables will want to hear it from you in any case."
He considers for a moment, and then nods his head in a begrudging agreement.
"My tribe, the Niksu, we do work for some humans from around here. They get us...well...shiver. It's a drug, see?" You notice, now that he says it, that he is shaking, as if going through withdrawals. "We don't like 'em, but they get us what we need, so we do favors. Now, I don't know exactly who they are, because they send us messages through Kymeth and Onamae—two of us who went to work for them full time. But if you can find the shiver, you can likely find them.
Talgil lowers the rope part way down, not quite far enough to grab though.
"What exactly were your orders here?"