Pellius frowns. "Do you have an idea of where he might have left to? We were just at his work and they pointed us toward here."
He smiles warmly at the woman. "I didn't want to say this before, but my name is Pellius. Yes, the Pellius. My good friend here is wanting to have a music box commissioned to play the tune I sung to in my last performance on stage. The sooner we can find him, the sooner we can pay him to make such a masterpiece."
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“It was exquisite,” Adonara agrees enthusiastically, continuing to lay it on thick as her glance flickers in the direction of the manager’s pointing hand. “Or, you wouldn’t happen to know if he’s got too many people waiting already? I do hope we haven’t missed our chance to talk with him for the day.”
She knocks gently on the wood of the door as if to satisfy fortune, but also to send a discreet hint to the other Ravens.
She offers the old woman an apologetic smile for the barrage of questions. “Of course, you must be far too busy to worry about one tenant coming and going. We’ll get out of your hair. Only, if you do happen to see him return, just call up the stairs so there’s no chance of us missing him in the evening rush? But no harm done if you don’t. In any case, here, for your trouble.”
She pulls a careless gold piece from her purse, before turning to the others expectantly, hoping she looks more like an eccentric, starry-eyed, music-obsessed fan than an adventuress all too ready to break and enter and generally get up to mischief and then some if the opportunity presents itself.
"I think he goes for walks through the district when he is having a problem with what he's working on, sometimes for hours, do you know sometimes he even goes for walks late at night. There's no one else waiting for him at the moment."
There is no response to Adonara's knock and the door seems securely locked. The manager, unfortunately does not have a spare key.
Valekar will continue to keep a look out.
Kira sighs. "He might be gone for hours? Are you sure you want to wait that long?" Under her breath, (although still loud enough to be audible), she mutters, "'Go shopping with us', she said, 'it'll be fun,' she said." Folding her arms, she sighs again. "Fine, I suppose if you must have your music box created by this particular artist, we don't have much of a choice in the matter. But if this takes too long I'm going home, with or without you."
After saying her piece the manager leaves and returns to her office.
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While waiting for the manager to leave, Adonara settles (to all appearances) contentedly in one of the chairs by the door. She shrugs and grins cheekily at Kira’s show of displeasure. “Oh, never without, surely. It will be fun!"
"And at least we’re not looking at shoes, or hats, or…” she puts on playful airs of someone making a gracious concession - at least, until her expression turns positively gleeful as she realizes that working with Haetamon can only help her get into character today, and she gives Kira a considering look, “Or actually, we’ll have to stop at the Devil’s Threads! I saw the most darling jacket in the window the other day, and I think it would suit you wonderfully in cerulean…”
Adonara gives it a few minutes to make sure that they’re not likely to be disturbed anytime soon, eventually quieting and then, with a gesture to the others to keep an eye out, padding over to Wex’s door. Pressing close all the better to conceal what she’s up to, she checks the door for any obvious traps - hopefully only a bell or something to warn of intrusion, if anything - before, reaching into a bracer for a lockpick and murmuring a quick prayer, she sets to work.
Valekar keeps an eye on their surroundings. While Adonara works on the door he uses his pearl of power to get vanish back before returning to watch
Once he sees the manager leave, Ryker gives it a minute or two then joins up with the rest of the group. [smaller]"Ah, I see we've broken out the toys. Never would have pegged you as the one to have those skills," he comments with an approving grin.
He follows Valekar's lead and keeps an eye out for anyone paying them any mind. I doubt the Gray Spider would be so bold as to attack us all at once, but you never know...
Adonara tries to pick the lock but it is made of sturdier stuff and the lockpicks seem to stick.
Taking your tie, after about 5 minutes Adonara manages to pick the lock. The interior of Wex's home is very clean with bouquets of fragrant flowers arranged artfully around the space. Several full bookcases sit against the wall.
"Could always be benign, but if our information is correct, these flowers might be covering up something more... unsavory. Anyone smell anything besides flowers?" Ryker asks, immediately suspicious of the bouquets. Wouldn't be questioned by typical visitors, but effective in overpowering most smells. Lucky for us, we aren't just some random customers.
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“Who doesn’t like toys?” As the lock clicks, Adonara turns to Ryker with a belated wink as she waves the others over too, her chit-chat whispering as she lets herself in, commenting on her own tastes. “I suppose that might explain the clockwork. The delicacy is delightful…”
She stills for a moment as she sees the interior of the apartment, nodding her acknowledgement of the swordsman’s suspicions. “And for someone so unreliable, keeping this many nosegays in fine fettle seems odd.”
The courtesan looks almost a bit jealous, then at the bouquets consideringly, weighing her options for subtly encouraging her own clients to provide. She shakes the thought off to get back to work.
“Unless it’s really just potpourri, of course,” she says, checking to see if all the flowers are really fresh, and their scents actually match. The possibility of artifice also suggests another idea that she should have asked at the shop, but she can at least check now anyway. I ought to have asked if Wex has any gift for magic, if the Vespam Artisans even deal in a bit of it.
Pellius takes a quick peak inside, then stands watch by the door, keeping an eye out for Vex if he returns early. "Don't break anything in there, just in case. I will keep an eye out and distract him if he comes back early."
You can see that the books on the shelf concern clockwork theory, tinkering and machinery.
Pellius, now that the door is opened you can see that Wex seems to have placed a thin strip of black thread between the door and the frame, presumably so he could see if someone entered the room.
Ryker you can detect that the flowers are there to mask the smell of the slurk grease. In addition in the washroom of the apartment there seems to be a secret door with a few telltale drops of blood between the bedroom and the washroom.
"Oh, there it is. That slurk s+#+ again," Ryker comments, taking a big inhale of a set of flowers before resigning himself to forever noticing the smell.
As he notices the blood, he motions for everyone to come over. Pulling his sword free, he points at the concealed door. "There is no telling what we're about to find, be ready for anything," he warns.
Once everyone is ready, he tries the door.
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As they get ready to go further inside, Pellius motions to the leather strap. "Put that back in place before you go further. Don't want him getting suspicious if I have to bring him inside."
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Adonara hisses an Elven curse in response to Ryker’s discoveries, taking her whip in hand. She scoffs, “I’m sure there’s a perfectly innocent reason for a bloody, secret oubliette in a place like this.”
In a rare display of reserve, she doesn't elaborate. She follows Pellius’ advice, getting ready to cover her burglarious tracks as he takes up his watch. “You be careful too, alright? He could be especially dangerous if he catches any of us on our own.”
Turning back to the others, she says, “Let’s see what Mr. Wex is hiding.”
The crawlspace within the room itself is just under 4 foot tall and a fine throw rug of Qadiran manufacture adorns the floor along with a few cushions. Heaps of books and papers are stacked around the rug while sitting on a small stand opposite the secret door is an ornate-looking kukri with a bloodstained ivory handle and a blade faintly glowing red.
The majority of the books and notes are concerned with medical and alchemical notes. They would seem to suggest a disturbing interest in anatomy; the nature of blood,and theories on the source and ultimate fate of the mortal soul.
Many of the notes seem to focus on the history of Kintargo's time under the Temple Hill Slasher. One note considers the possibility that Mangvhune may have been manipulated by supernatural forces beyond this world, and that his spirit may have somehow become anchored to Kintargo due to some strange eldritch and primordial feature of the the region.
Kira lingers in the doorway, arms folded, nose wrinkled, the perfect picture of an unwilling socialite being dragged along an adventure she really had no interest in. Until the secret door was opened, at which point she carefully made sure there were no peeking eyes about before vanishing into the new room.
"I suspect there's our kukri." She wrinkles her nose genuinely this time, and moves on to check other areas. "Which implies this actually is our stalker, and not someone framed by him. Ryker, do you mind watching the stairs for us in case he comes back? There are a lot of documents to go through."
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“Cozy,” Adonara remarks, her instinct for impertinence as strong as always, as she bends just a bit awkwardly to peer through the low secret door. Given some of the idiosyncracies of her own meditative practice, she’s not being dismissive, though huddling in a crawlspace wouldn’t be her way of doing things.
The sight of the kukri, though, and Kira’s assessment, if they don’t quite sober the courtesan, induce a modicum of restraint, even as she remembers Ryker’s professional opinion about such blades, and this one in particular: magical (that obviously, now), and used 37 times on its most recent victim.
“There’s no way we could possibly leave that thing for him to come back to, then,” she says, crouching into the space in turn and reaching for the weapon. She probes at it with her sense for magic, checking for an enhancement consistent with the killer’s vicious attacks, and any other clues.
After a few seconds, it's clear that the kukri will resist her dilettantism, and she hands it over with a shrug to Valekar, suspecting the arcane warrior might have better luck with figuring it out.
For now, she scoots back closer to the doorway into the crawlspace, where it will be easier for her to jump up if necessary, and starts helping Kira sort through the books and papers instead. She smiles apologetically up at Ryker, "Unless, of course, you've developed a new interest in..."
She glances at the first handful of books and pamphlets she's grabbed. "... haematology, anatomy, and - sordid accounts of true crime?"
"Of course," Ryker says with a nod, eager to put ample space between this little den of Hell and himself. Sick and twisted f&+&s, every single time. He shivers a little before focusing his attention on staying alert.
Greatsword still out, he backs himself into a corner of a nearby room that offers him a vantage point of as many entry points as possible. Should be able to hear him coming from the front, thanks to Pellius, but who knows what secret entrances he's carved into this place...
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You do not find any other secret entrances.
Kira you recall that the knife is known as Balgorrah. It was a tool created by the Skinsaw Cultists. This particular cult uses many tools to work towards the culmination of Father Skinsaw's pattern of slayings, not least of among them being the crafting of specialised weapons to aid the bloody task of murder.
When one talented creator of such weapons, a sociopathic priest named Balgorrah, was murdered by his own blade wielded by a jealous rival, a hungry shard of the priest's soul infused the kukri's magic. It is rumoured that Balgorrah is an intelligent magic kukri that seeks those of weak will to continue Father Skinsaw's plan: to drive those who find and use it to kill and kill again. Balgorrah came into Professor Mangvhune's possession after he had already begun his work as the Temple Hill Slasher, but it was lost in the frenzy surrounding his swift arrest and execution.
Kira's eyes keep being drawn back to the blade. It looks familiar somehow, although she can't quite place how. Until she can.
"Drop it!" Her sudden outburst comes from nowhere as she stares at the kukri in Adonara's hands with wild eyes. "I remember now...that's Balgorrah! It's intelligent, it's a tool of Norgorber, it wants to kill..." She shudders and backs away. "Just...just don't touch it. Not barehanded at least."
She takes a few deep breaths and forces herself to calm down. "It was the favored blade of the Temple Hill Slasher. Scholars vary on how much influence Balgorrah had over him, although most think his first murders were committed before he found the knife so it's possible they just amplified each other's worst tendencies. Regardless it's not something to be messed with. It's been lost for over a century, how did Wex find it?!"
Valekar sets the knife down if he is the one holding it when Kira makes her pronouncement.
He doesn't seem to have much to add to the investigation, but he seems nervous about being in the house. He goes to watch the door.
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Valekar sets the knife down if he is the one holding it when Kira makes her pronouncement.
Adonara starts at Kira’s alarm as she hands the blade over to Valekar. She stares at the thing – Balgorrah – where the other elf sets it down after his examination, her own eyes wide as Kira explains.
“A living blade, or close enough,” the courtesan murmurs. “That might explain how Wex found it: such things are rare, aren’t they? The stuff of song and legend, however grim: a prize, for a certain kind of person. It was almost bound to surface eventually.”
She considers what she knows of Norgorber's profane religion with righteous disdain for a creature daring to trespass on her goddess’ domains. “And at the same time, with the Skinsaw cult’s lunatic obsession with ever crafting new weapons, by that time, they might have, generally, moved on, leaving some poor desperate soul to its whispers.”
“Can we break it?” she asks, turning back to Kira. It’s not entirely clear whether the fanatical priestess means it literally, or if she’s bold enough to think of setting her will against and dominating the weapon’s intelligence. Her subsequent amplification is unreassuringly equivocal. “Get Ryker to smash it with that huge sword of his, or could we … exorcize it?”
"Of course," Ryker says with a nod, eager to put ample space between this little den of Hell and himself. Sick and twisted f%!+s, every single time.
Even the name is damning, Father Skinsaw. Ryker makes a silent gagging motion with his tongue as his mind automatically prompts a series of increasingly disturbing images to illustrate the name. Like that one time we had to hunt down a pack of Ogres. There are some things people just aren't meant to see...
"I heard a similar cult was put down in Sandpoint, or something, right?" he asks quietly from his vantage point. Wonder if they're connected... Probably not from this far away, but fate has a s~$#ty way of doing things.
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“In Varisia? I hadn’t heard, but then Riddleport’s more my sort of town. High Priestess Pamodae’s a sweetheart,” Adonara comments idly as she continues to look through the stacks of papers. Being an elf occasionally has its advantages for getting around, if one knows the right gates.
She thinks a bit, and then suggests, “Apart from … Balgorrah, was it? which we really can’t leave here, whatever we do with it, we should probably take a sample of these books and things, especially the handwritten notes. If we don’t run into him first, Wex will definitely notice the kukri’s missing, and if he gets frightened…”
Gathering up some papers, she resists a shudder at the idea that Mangvhune’s spirit is bound to Kintargo. Is that self-justification or perverse inspiration, or is our man trying to resist more than one influence?
She looks back at the blade on the ground. As she unfolds herself from the sinister crawlspace, Adonara scoops up the weapon with a fleeting expression of distaste. She pauses, momentarily unsure, especially since the thing has resisted her and Valekar’s efforts at figuring it out. Can it hear me? She’s fairly sure it will at least sense her mood. Fortunately, the courtesan is a professional at setting one, and her particular specialization is perhaps apt.
Her lips whisper a breath away from the blade, voice balanced between playfulness and contempt. “Broken once already by a rival, Balgorrah? Behave, and maybe you’ll get a moment before we break the last flicker of your blighted soul once and for all.”
You all hear the sound of footsteps coming along the street, seemingly in the direction of the apartment.
Pellius props himself= against the doorpost in such a way as to indicate that he had been waiting for a while, and begins to idly whistle a tune loud enough that those inside will hear him.... and hopefully anyone approaching will not hear them.
Ryker looks to Adonara and Kira for direction. Either we're escaping out the back or taking him here and now.
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Someone’s day is over early, Adonara thinks. Whoever it is, if they’re really on the way here, we ought to be on the right side of the door, at least.
She abruptly stops her show of threatening Balgorrah, slipping the blade inside a boot for now, tossing her head and tucking an errant lock of hair behind her ear as she resumes the character of a spoiled collector of fussy baubles and objets d’art.
“I think we should make sure we don’t disturb the other residents while waiting for our workman,” she says brightly, cracking open the door for the others and getting ready to replace the anti-tamper thread on the way out. “Though I’m sure it says unflattering things about my patience, this afternoon didn’t go quite as I had planned.”
“But I was serious about The Devil’s Threads,” she smiles beatifically at Kira.
Looking out of the window Pellius can see a man in a leather apron walking along the street, heading towards the apartment. You think that it is Wex
Kira looks at Adonara with concern as she slips Balgorrah into her boot, but keeps her mouth shut for now. They have more important concerns. She quickly grabs any papers that might have been missed and shoves them into her bag before filing out with the others.
"Are we confronting him now?" she hisses. "Or tailing him for later?"
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Kira looks at Adonara with concern as she slips Balgorrah into her boot, but keeps her mouth shut for now. They have more important concerns. She quickly grabs any papers that might have been missed and shoves them into her bag before filing out with the others.
"Are we confronting him now?" she hisses. "Or tailing him for later?"
Having assembled a damning collection of evidence, Adonara slinks quietly back downstairs with the others after making sure to minimize signs of their passage through Wex’s apartment door.
“Probably now,” Adonara replies, exchanging a look with Ryker, who seems to know a bit about the horrors of such murderous cult business. “Once he finds out that his lair has been discovered, Wex will likely try to disappear. Worse, depending on what Balgorrah’s been feeding him, he might try to go out in fine form.”
At the street entrance, she whispers, “Let’s hurry. If it’s himself and we can loosely surround him, we might be able to convince him to go quietly.”
Probably have to put him down, she muses unhappily. Still, we’ll likely be gentler than any method of excruciation he can expect. Now, how to get his attention without being too obvious?
After a moment, it comes to her. Having seen (and then some) the weapon she’s absconding with, Adonara can imagine a highly interesting commission to quickly describe to the workman.
Wex looks sullen and tired and is heading in the direction of the tenement building
With Wex so close when the warning comes, Ryker steps out the door and pays close attention to his movements. Tired, but there's an efficiency to his movements. Bet he can handle himself in a fight well enough, we'll have to be careful with this one.
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"Alright." Taking Adonara's suggestion of surrounding Wex to heart, Kira takes a deep breath then starts casually walking across the street. Nothing to see here, just an ordinary gnome going about her business...
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Adonara moves with the others to stretch a loose line across the street, making sure her attention flickers over them as easily as any other passersby, but also that she more or less matches their pace so she can intervene quickly if Wex heads for any of the other Ravens.
She waits a bit until their movements bring both parties closer together before calling out cheerfully to the craftsman, prattling like an enthused aesthete. “There you are, Master Wex! I’ve decided on the details. Ivory, I think, and a bit of red. I’m sure it will look sharp.”
She hopes she can react quickly enough to however he might meet her pointed remark. Goddess help us now. Will he charge, flee, or try to brazen it out?
Wex seems unaffected by Kira's presence but Adonara's words seem to shock him and he tries to run into the tenement.
Big guy's fast! Ryker does his best to strike Wex with his sword as he tries to push past him and into the house.
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