"something moving, doors locked" magda says nodding to Yazi to continue as she moves back
Vera asks Magda for a bit more healing and receives it!
All her wounds from that sneaky elf have been healed.
Erasmo gets to work on unlocking the door after it's checked carefully, and nobody finds any traps.
After a few rounds, Erasmo pops the lock and is able to open the door.
Within, among the painting supplies, is a tawdry-looking divan, a small shrine to Shelyn, several scandalous portraits of what must have been the wig-festooned zombie when she was alive, and a man clutching a dull paint knife as he brandishes it towards the party. Shaking, he exclaims, "stay back! Uh... please?"
He looks terrified.
The half orc woman perks over the shoulder of the wall. "hey you are not a zombie. We aren't either!"
As Magda waits to see the man answering, her eyes take in the tracks around the area to get a feel about what happened.
He exhales, relieved but apprehensive, ”thank the gods, how… is … forgive me. I am Ausio Carowyn. I thought I would perish in here. I… we were greeting the Westerkiers when the elven acrobat we hired as an entertainer went crazy. I saw her open fire on one of my guests with her crossbow, laughing all the while in the most frightful, shrill way. I’ve been locked in here for days, and every time I got up the courage to sneak out, I heard that horrible laughter above. Is she dead? Is it safe?”
How to explain everything to this man who was clearly traumatized?
"She fled. We put down all the zombies in the manor, which I assume used to be your guests. Who hired this acrobat? And what of the other entertainers? We are looking for a Varisian boy."
Well, she could be diplomatic when she wanted to, but right now she was short on patience, and the lavishness and excess displayed everywhere in this place reminded her of the injustice and inequality in Korvosa, so this Ausio wasn't getting the velvet glove treatment, at least not from her.
Vera is surprised and delighted that someone is alive--even if it's not Ruan. She tries to set expectations, even if Yaziyah was being blunt about the situation.
"You're the man of the house? It's really, really horrible down there. We had to kill all the zombies. I think we've cleared out the house, but you'll have to tell us if we missed any rooms. You're really lucky to have survived."
"How did you survive for Days?" the half-orc asked.
Marcus as the first one he sees makes sure to raise his hands slowly. Not that being unarmed really made Marcus any less dangerous. "Calm. Nobody wants to hurt you." The others were bombarding him with questions, so Marcus keeps his silence. He steps out of the doorway so the man can exit, and sets up a watch for any unwelcome eavesdroppers.
”Not just my guests, my wife? Did you see my wife? Maybe she escaped…” he seems to be very concerned and also close to being hysterical.
Breaking the obsession that was starting to build, he turns to Magda, embarrassed, ”um, I caught a rat and tried to eat some of it. But I couldn’t finish it - it made me too sick - I couldn’t cook it of course.” He looks a little emaciated but humans can live for a while without food.
Yaziyah offers her waterskin to Ausio and digs into her pack for a dried sausage, some hard cheese and an apple. "Eat slowly."
Her tone softens. "What does your wife look like? What was she wearing for the party?" The chances that she was alive were slim at best, but even if she was angry with Ausio for abandoning his guests and hiding here like a coward, the man had been through enough.
"Look, upstairs is... bad. Do you have someplace else where you could stay for a few days? Friends, relatives, an inn? We can fetch you a few things to take with you, like a change of clothes and whatever else you need."
He accepts the water and then points to one of the paintings of the nude woman, ”like that. I’m sorry for the … indecency in the paintings. They weren’t meant to be seen by anyone except us.” He blushes, somehow embarrassed and anxious at the same time.
Magda looks back and forth between the man and the others. She isn't trusting for some reason
While Yazi becomes more sympathetic and continues talking, Vera decides she's not much use here and decides to search around for magical auras or things of interest. She was definitely curious about how this man had survived in this place, even though his story generally seemed believable.
Magda grumbles, still no liking him despite believing him. Maybe it is the excess he lives in, she'll have to figure that out later. "The elf lady turned the people into zombies?" she asks, as she helps Vera with her searching. Nonmagical eyes to her friend's magical ones.
"She did not make it, mister... I'm so sorry." Erasmo says, averting his eyes from the paintings.
The man opens his mouth, agape, and then closes it. Tears come to his eyes and he buries his face in his hands. ”Gods. What did we do to deserve this…” He is sobbing a bit, and a few moments pass that are uncomfortable. He shudders and collects himself, then asks, ”If… if you can escort me to a friend’s house… I would appreciate it.” He adds as if remembering, replying to Yazi, ”and if you’re talking about Ryan, miss, yes. We hired him. The last time I saw him was on the second floor where he was performing. If you didn’t see him upstairs, I don’t know what happened to him, I am sorry.”
"So sorry, sir," is all Vera adds, unsure of how to provide this poor man comfort. "Whoever's behind this is truly wicked."
Frustrated that they still have no answers, Magda starts exploring every room, even ones they have already been on, taking her time, looking for anything that might provide answers.
With a bit of sleuthing Magda is able to figure out that there are boot prints that are not accounted for in the manor, ones which stepped in blood, and seemingly were carrying a heavy load from the second floor. It looks as if three of these sets of prints are visible, and lead outside. They’re probably not more than two days old, but it’s hard to say exactly. Where they lead after leaving the house is unclear, because the prints seem to wear out quickly and are lost in the general grime of the city.
"Someone escaped, with... Stuff?" Magda points out the prints, "Looters, but I can only see footprints out..." she looks around for the same boot prints throughout the house to see if she thinks they came from inside once there was blood, and not In then Out.
"Well, that is bad news for the owner, but perhaps they saw something of what happened here and can lead us to Ruan. We can search the grounds of the manor for more clues."
Just to be sure, Yaziyah does another, closer, inspection of the destroyed zombies to see if any of them was their lost Varisian musician.
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Vera is troubled by the lack of clues about Ruan. "Yazi--is there anything here that looks like it might have belonged to Ruan? I could try to get some psychic impressions from it if so . . . it's an uncomfortable feeling not having any sense of his fate."
After Yazi just looks at her, Vera looks down, embarrassed. "Sorry to have asked--obviously nothing in this bloody mess, right?"
Unsure of what to do next, Vera heads on outside, only to see the sneaky elf's trousers still lying around. And a thought comes to her. She lets out a long sigh, blowing her bangs upward. "I'm totally going to regret this, aren't I?"
She approaches and picks up the pants. "So, what kind of exciting memories do you have to offer?" And she begins to concentrate.
"Um..." Magda says to Yazi, while Vera works on pants. "You see the city... gave me the ability to speak with Dead People, this morning." she seems uncomfortable at best with the notion. Odd with it being from a young woman who is more acquainted with death than most old people. But still, she is, and is apparently asking for help. "I know how to go about it, but not sure which one to ask and what to ask. Anything other than do you got anyone we should talk to for you and what do you want us to tell them, seems Selfish. Very selfish. But... I need help."
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Yaziyah nods slowly. "That could be very useful, although the dead can be stingy with their secrets. And think of it not as selfish, as you are not asking for your own gain, but to try and save someone." She offers her arm to Magda. "Come, let us find someone who was on the second floor and who looks a little amicable. Perhaps they can tell us what happened to Ruan, or anything useful in general."
Although they had gathered the former zombies outside the house, ready to be taken away and buried, the colourful costumes made it easy to remember where they had been encountered. She points to one that had been in the second floor art gallery, close to the musicians' alcove. "Let's try this one. And don't ask any questions that could be answered with 'yes' or 'no'. We want to know what happened to Ruan, the description of those who did it, and..." The Shoanti stops ticking investigation points off her fingers, looking at Magda. "And perhaps the last question can be for them, if there is anything they wish to be done for their family, or if they have other desires beyond death."
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The half orc nods while chewing on her chuckle. One of the ways she expresses worry, but she tries. Kneeling down next to the body, whispers, "The city is where you were born, at least some of us, but its where you eat, sleep, scratch, smile, spit. Where you Live, and die.... sorry about that, After all that the city needs your help, so Wake Up" she nudges the corpse as she casts the spell.
Leaving Ausio in the basement, where it's safe, the party returns to one of the side rooms where they had stashed the corpses, and found the body of one of the zombies that had been an art critic.
Thankfully, the now dead-undead eyes flutter open without resistance, and it mouths some words before coughing. "Bother and rot, yes yes, I am here. Dragged back here... for what? My supervisor will be displeased, I just started my position - Aktun doesn't suffer fools, and I worked quite a while for this reward on Golarion - even if my ending was... violent and disappointing. I know this magic you use, erm... Magda the Wastrel. What do you wish to know? Mind you, I am bound by the rules, and may not give you more than what is allotted." The lips twich and the voice is cracked and somewhat unearthly, still haughty and pompous, but not cruel. Whomever this fellow was in life, he was obviously a noble.
The young half-orc street kid is about to ask What's a Wastrel, but catches herself. "There was a muscian named Ruan in this place... the house, please tell us everything you know that happened to him." she talked slow, worried she would get something wrong, and waste something important.
He mutters something, then there's an audible sigh, then a cough, "ahh, okay. The young man was a performer at the party. Before I died, I saw him knocked out, then dragged away by some of those... ladies and gentlemen in masks. The bird ones. Mind you, I was not in a state to object at the time. Is that all?"
Yaziyah mouths at Magda from behind the briefly animated corpse, raising an eyebrow.
'Aktun?'
The Shoanti tries to remember if any of the zombies they had found were wearing bird masks. There was the peacock on the first floor...
She files the information away, fully intent on asking Ausio about guests in bird masks.
Magda pats the man on his dead shoulder while she remembers that she has seen enough bird masks recently to gues who the kidnappers might be. "Those doctors." she suggests to her fellow speaker, as she does look at Yazi she sees her mouthing something.
Her hand is still in a rub motion, like trying to make a sick person feel a little better with contact. "Just two more questions, promise, then you can go back to your... um... reward. Tell me what you can about Aktun." she had to work her big-toothed mouth a bit to pronounce that enough to be correct.
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”Aktun - you know - the largest city on Axis?” Another unearthly sigh, ” What are they teaching children these days at the orphanages… I am dead - and my spirit passed on to the afterlife - to here. A fine reward, in my opinion. Much less chaotic than Korvosa - though Aktun is less chaotic than everywhere, isn’t it? Or I suppose you wouldn’t know. Hmm…” He clears his throat, ”this is Abadar’s realm, you know - the god of cities. You’re lucky you didn’t try to speak to my cousin - erm, he was also there, he followed the gods of mushrooms or something. Would’ve been no use. Me - Abadarian through and through. You may not be one, young lady, but you’ve got the beat of the city in your brain, you know that living in a stinking, teeming mass of a city is much preferable to the dull world outside.” He adds gently, ”I must return to my duties, and you’ve nearly run out of questions, is there anything else?“
Even with the words being what they are, Magda smiles. The warmth in her belly about her city is ever-present. "Just one more then..." she thinks about it "Is there anything we can do for you, anyone you cared about that we can tell a message, anything like that?" she remembers being left Here when all you loved was taken away. She would have given anything for one more word.
”How kind of you, Magda. I was a bachelor - I dedicated myself to commerce and trade, art and wine. I expect that I’m rare, though. There must have been some other guests with children or pets though - perhaps you could close out our estates when you can? And see that we are buried, at some point if you would. Also, erm, well, I suppose … could you find someone to mind my ravens? I raised them on the roof of my apartment. That’s all, I think.”
Magda nods "Raven's are excellent birds." she says wisely, mainly since they never seemed to try and peck her when she was sleeping in the street. Probably just smart enough to know dead from resting. "I'll make sure they are okay, and you get buried." she'll look up at Yazi "I'll need help on the estate's part though." she pats him again "Don't worry, we got it settled one way or another. Thanks."
Yaziyah smiles fondly at Magda. "You have such a big heart, you know that?" Her serious expression returns as she considers the dead's request. "I don't know the first thing about estates, but perhaps Vera's friend at the Bank of Abadar can help. Sounds like something in their portfolio."
She offers a hand to the girl to help her rise to her feet. "Great work, Magda. Although I don't know what those doctors would want with Ruan. And are they connected to whatever happened here? That's a very grim thought."
Magda reddens a bit at the compliment "I'm a half-orc, everything in me is bigger." she grins wide. "Vera's friend," the inflection is delighted since anytime they mention him, Vera's cheeks get nice and red. "How do we find him if the doctor's took him away?"
Vera's blush only deepens as Magda teases her, and the harrower jabs the half-orc in the side. "Stop it, Mags! Be serious!" She tries to put on a more serious face. "Ishani might know more about these doctors for sure. Remember how they tried to stop our little potion distribution business? They can't be trusted!"
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Marcus suddenly chimes in, knowing he's breaking the strict bounds of the spell but hoping the situation allows for it. "What do we need to know about caring for ravens?" He pipes in, clearing his throat afterward from the hoarseness that had built up from remaining silent.
The voice is even more dislocated and ghostly, ”well, they’re omnivores, in the wild they scavenge a lot - but my … er the unkindness I suppose, they’re not really mine… I give them nuts, fish, berries, venison. They aren’t picky, for they do scavenge within the city some as well. They are tidy enough on their own but it would be good to help them clean their roosts. And I have a big basin of water for them - it might need to be filled if hasn’t rained in a while.”
Marcus nods thoughtfully. "Rest well."
He processes for a few moments, then turns his frown back to the party. "Let's get this place cleaned up."
That someone would care so much for what most others see as ill-omens that they would mention them beyond death, even above friends or family, softens Yaziyah's heart, and she commits the noble's features to memory so that she can ask Ausio about their identity and the address of their estate.
"We will take care of them," she promises. To Magda, she asks. "Can you use this magic again today? Ausio may want to talk to his wife."
Returning to the owner of the manor, she offers the man more food and water before talking to him. "What happened to you and your household is terrible, but we are going to try and get to the bottom of it. For that, we need your help."
She nods towards the ceiling. "But first, on an unrelated topic, there was a guest on the second floor, in a fox costume, do you know where their estate is in Korvosa? There is some business we need to attend to on their behalf. And, well, if you can make a list of the names of everyone who attended the party, that will help inform their relatives and settle their affairs."
She gives him some time to process and respond, then continues. "Now, I would very much like to know about this elf acrobat who attacked your guests. Who hired her, and on what basis? Did she come recommended by someone? Have you heard of her from somewhere else? Then, do you remember any people in bird masks being present - invited or not? It seems that Ruan was kidnapped by a few such people."
Ausio nods, ”the one in the fox mask is Pendleton Fisk. I will give you the list of the others’ names as well.”
He blanches at the thought of the harlequin again, ”no, I…I don’t know really. My butler hired her, he said he saw her busking nearby on his daily errand route, and thought her routine would liven up the party. She was efficient and brutal - she picked off the other guests one by one and I still don’t know how she didn’t find me. I mean, she obviously wasn’t a normal performer, right? Even if this wasn’t planned, and someone crossed her and she snapped, she had some skill at fighting. She cut down my house guard like he was made of paper.” He shudders a bit, his eyes having a faraway look. ”Anyway, yeah, I don’t know. Sorry. As for the bird mask people, only one person wore a bird mask at the party - one of my servants wore a peacock mask. Where did you hear about that? It doesn’t make sense.”
"I only got this one One today, but maybe tomorrow?" Magda admits to Yazi, before she gets into interrogating the untrustworthy one (complete bias). She stays silent during the ruthless questioning.
Vera returns from her psychic exploration of pants none the wiser, except perhaps in more worldly matters. She gives Magda a supportive side-hug. "Talking with one dead person a day is plenty," she notes. "Honestly, I was surprised you could do such a thing--you're very gifted!"