"If you would be so kind as to note the address for us, we will call upon him after our discussion here is concluded," Gil interjects. "As he was handling the Lyev Column's interactions with the late Senator's investigation, I have to imagine he will be able to provide further insight into the aforementioned investigation for us." She turns to Terrence. "Apologies for the interruption. Please, continue."
Terrence listens calmly to the Doctor speak. When she apologizes he makes a dismissing wave towards the Doctor. ”It is no trouble at all.” He turns his attention back to the Arbiter. ”My companions here recently did an autopsy on the body of the Senator. They unfortunately found the marks of the Massacre Girl on the body. Do you have any information on her that could provide?”
He easily gives up the assistants’ address, and as soon as he begins speaking a wave of eerie shivers runs across your skin. For the address he gives you is the exact same one from the Senator’s notes.
”Do try to be courteous when you visit, I don’t want to disturb him too harshly on his day off. He’s a good man, he deserves it.”
”As for the Massacre Girl, what would you like to know? She’s been a thorn in the side of the Azorius for years now, although we are still uncertain if she is one woman of a collection of criminals working together. I’d be willing to answer any questions you may have.”
"Any information on where we believe this person or people might operate mainly in? Do they stick to specific districts? Any commonality in the victims, like all wealthy, male, etc? Anything along those lines would be greatly extremely useful."
"Well we actually have quite a bit of information on the Massacre Girl, as she has been around for years without being able to be caught."
He motions to one of the bookcases beside him, indicating it may be full of cases and books full of data on her crimes.
"However, we have no reason to believe she is involved, as the signature calling card details aren't exactly as normal. It appears as if someone was trying significantly hard to make sure we thought it was another Massacre Girl murder. Alas, I don't believe that it was her at all."
Gil turns to the others. "If you would all please excuse me, I have business elsewhere." She pauses. "Felicia, if you would be so kind as to accompany me?" She turns to leave.
She blinks a bit as she comes back to reality, having spaced out just a little bit during the conversation. "Oh, sure." Getting up, she nodded at everyone and moved to follow after her.
”I’ll tag along if that’s ok.”
Terrence turns and takes a slight bow to the group before they leave. ”I wish you all the best of luck”
”Leaving so soon?” Sarv exclaims loudly before laughing genuinely.
”Oh, no bother. I’m sure Terrence here has quite a bit of questioning left for me, don’t you?”
Gil initially makes as though heading back to where the corpse is kept. Once well clear of the Lyev Column, she turns to her companions. "I am certain you caught it, as well. This Alabastor that Arbiter Sarv defers to, it was his address the late Senator left for us. I am concerned that, as we speak, evidence is being destroyed or buried. To this end, I propose that we make our way there, quietly, that we might observe from afar the comings and goings. If something is obviously afoot, perhaps we intervene. But let us plan on only watching until Terrence has concluded the interview and caught up with us. Is this agreeable?"
Thomas nods his agreement
"If you think that's the way to handle it, I'll follow your lead boss."
"Mm..." Gil offers, noncommittally. She leads the group towards the address on Tin Street. As they get close, she whispers to the others, somewhat muffled by her mask, "Look for some place we can observe the house without seeming conspicuous. Oh, and try not to draw attention as we approach."
roll + WIS + rank + trained + untyped (Alertness)
Try not to look too conspicuous
roll + DEX + rank + trained + ACP
She nods and shoots Ermengilda a thumbs up, before starting to look around as subtly as she possibly could.
”Well, now that it’s just you and me, how is the investigation going? How do you like your new assignment? And your partners, what do you think of them?”
The houses’ stone stairway leads up into a luxurious porch, complete with engraved wood columns holding up the ceiling so as to create some shade for the excessively comfortable looking bench on the porch. Sitting on the porch is a figure in darker clothing, a book in his hands. He seems to be engrossed in the book completely, although after a short few minutes you notice he hasn’t turned a page yet.
Around an hour and a half after you arrive at the marketplace (), another woman strides confidently up the stone steps, stops to talk with the man on the bench shortly, and then passes into the house.
”I feel quite proud to be assigned to a task like this. The investigation has been well done until now. The group has been surprisingly well organized and are putting quite the effort into it. Their progress on their own has been surprising and beyond my expectations.
So by the time the woman, conveniently dressed in the dark reds and blacks of the Rakdos cult, made her way to the porch and entered the house, Terrence has joined the group and assisted in the surveillance.
Gil turns to the others. "Well, something suspicious is going on. How do we want to approach this? I figure we can try to force our way, talk our way, or sneak our way into the house."
"Don't ask me to sneak, because I have no experience in that sort of thing. Can talk and fight pretty good though."
"I can do some sneaking if required, but it seems like I might be the only one who can do it." He looks over at the other party members, getting an idea of how well each could hide themselves. "I can sneak ahead and get an idea of what we are dealing with. If you consider yourself somewhat good at stealth you are free to join me."
”I can skulk about a little, but I’m probably more use as backup.”
"So that leaves forcing or talking our way into the house, then. I am personally inclined towards talking, but I can see the potential utility of violence in this situation." Gil looks to Felicia, then Thomas, then Terrence. "If we are smart about how we go about it, we may be able to overwhelm the lookout before an alarm can be raised. That becomes much less likely if we open diplomatically." Gil gestures at herself. "I just want to be clear that, whichever approach we take, what I can offer once we initiate our approach is limited, so I believe it is more important for you all to be on board with whichever route we so choose."
”We should let Terrence take a look around outside the house first. Maybe he’ll overhear something. Or a least get an idea of the layout.”
"Uh... Yeah! A little bit of scouting never hurt!"
Terrence nods to the group and that looks over towards the house. If he is Terrence will not be scouting, if he isn't then he will.
The man has not left the porch, but he does appear to be somewhat distracted by the book he is reading.
Other than the one man on the porch, there does not appear to be any other guards of any sort hanging around the house.
Terrence scans over the building and surrounding area for a minute before turning back to the group. ”Okay, I think I see a good spot I can do a bit of scouting at.” He points to the wall that is near the cafe. ” If any of you can pull attention from over there for a few minutes, it would make my job a bit easier.”
"A distraction? I can do a distraction, easy."
Terrence gestures towards the street away from the building. "Very well. After you"
Felicia walks over to the porch without a care in the world, waving at the man on it. "HELLO! Excuse me, can you spare a moment?"
The man suspiciously sets his book aside and glares down the party, his face especially unfriendly.
”How can I help you? What do you want?”
You feel as if he doesn’t know who you are, and certainly doesn’t trust you in the slightest.
"I was just wondering if you could tell me where Willix Longhorn lives? The fool told me it was in this area, but didn't tell me anything more!"
As Terrence sees the man getting pulled into a conversation with Felicia, he gets up from the cafe and begins to make his way towards the side of the house to try and get an idea if whats inside.
The man’s look switches from suspicious to legitimately confused as this strange half-elf walks up to him and asks him a seemingly random question. His guard seems to have been lowered by the innocent questioning.
”U-uh....I don’t know a, Willis, you said? Did he give you an actual address or just give you the general location?”
Failing to see Terrence sneaking around the corner, the man’s attention seems to be solely focused on Felicia.
Inside the few windows the house does have, Terrence sees thick curtains draped across the openings, making it somewhat hard to discern what is inside. What he can see, however, is piece after piece of crude Rakdos celebration equipment. The entire house, from what he can see, is full of the spiked wheels, racks, explosives, and other accoutrements of the Rakdos cult.
"No, the idiot didn't. He just said come to this general area and look for the spire, you can't miss it. I think he forgot that there's a LOT OF SPIRES in this area."
She throws an arm out to gesture widely at the area around them.
Terrence scans through the windows as best as he noting everything he sees before making his way back to the group still waiting at the cafe.
Right as he turns to leave, Terrence sees the lady from the porch earlier inside one of the windows. She walks into the room slowly, carrying what seems to be a fancy ritual knife. She makes her way over to a corner of the room Terrence can’t see, her back to him, and raises the knife above her head. Swiftly bringing it down, Terrence hears a faint, muffled scream that quickly dies out as the woman continues to move her arms around.
The sound of conversation can be heard just barely as Terrence actually does leave, but the actual words cannot be made out.
Terrence speed walks up to the the group waiting at the cafe. Clearly in a bit of a hurry, as soon as he is close enough he speaks. "We need to go in now. The assistant might have just been stabbed with a ritual knife by a Rakdos cultist."
”Through the front door? Or is there another way in?
Felicia blinked and her eyes opened wide, looking over at the building. "Fastest route is a straight line!"
"I agree with Felicia. We don't have much time to lose." Terrence looks towards the door and the man sitting next to it. He takes a deep breath for a moment, his hands resting on his two shortswords at his side. "Is everyone ready?"
"Doesn't matter if they are!" She walks back up towards the man at the door, raising her hand and waving at him. "HEY! EXCUSE ME, I need just one last thing!"
Terrence watches Felicia start walking towards the man. He smiles as he follows behind her.
"We have not the t-"
"What she said." Gil follows behind the others.