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The details told to her sounded solid information.
As Braids is halfway in motion to turn, Xindyra gently holds her shoulder.
"Sounds like a life saver, thank you Braids.", and she gives the stubborn woman a friendly peck on the cheek.
"See you around.", as she walks to the others, giving a short wave over the shoulder.
She relays everything to the others.
Zendara responds quietly so that hopefully it doesn't carry past their group.
Oh wow, that is good to know. Thank you for following up, Xindy. Bless that woman for reaching out to help us. ... I liked her a lot from the very beginning, but I wish she weren't wrapped up with that cult. ... Although way better than the other cult of course. If there is anything we can do to help her before we leave town, we should.
Zendara checks her canteen, making sure it is topped off.
Well, I have some water here if we run into creepy deathwife this morning with her husband. If not, then we'll have time for all of us to get a bit before taking her down wherever else she is.
Yukarii was rather oblivious to most of what the others noticed as there were a number of spirits around and they were yammering at her incessantly. Though she was distracted she knew they were in a dangerous position the next morning and she called Yukaari out into her incorporeal form and had the spirit shadowing her movements inside her own form as usual so that if there was trouble she would be prepared.
When she was asked to stay towards the back of the group after their tail the next morning was spotted Yukarii did so without comment leaving her seemingly vulnerable self exposed to lure out any attackers.
Edwin entered the Da Vorre residence and took a seat in the waiting area.
After a few minutes waiting a small bell rang and Ethel said, "Follow me please."
She took you out of the waiting room along a oak paneled corridor to what was evidently Niels Da Vorre's study. This oak paneled room had a warm fire, rich carpets, expensive looking but unimaginative pictures along with a large oak desk with a green leather top. There were four chairs arranged in a semi-circle around the desk. The other side of which sat Administrator Da Vorre. On his desk there was a pile of neatly folded correspondence, a quill pen, blotter and ink well.
He looked up as you entered and said, "Good morning, how can I help you?" Something about the tone of his voice irked you, this was a man used to getting his way in life. Da Vorre himself was in his early forties, but he looked younger with a full head of luxurious dark brown hair.
Zendara waits until everyone is in the room and the door is shut with Ethel on the other side. Zendara also makes sure she is between Niels and the door.
Then she responds pleasantly.
Good Morning.
But it doesn't really stay pleasant after that.
We're investigating the murder of Andrea Mendes. She sent her research to this office, where it was somehow intercepted rather than sent on to the university, even though you have the means to send it to them directly. Now Andrea is dead and her research is missing, without this office having even made a copy as we understand it.
It seems clear that your utterly ludicrous policy of sending the research by ship rather than directly to the university is the reason that Andrea was murdered and her research was apparently completely lost. We've also heard that you are hanging out with some prominent cultists. I'd just like to understand whether you on their payroll, and if not, why the HELLS you are allowing them to intercept documents, and why you haven't reported any of the problems here to the university, or to the authorities.
"We're investigating the murder of Andrea Mendes."
Looking troubled Da Vorre sighed, "Yes I heard about that, terrible news. To have a potentially brilliant career snuffed out like that, is just awful."
"She sent her research to this office, where it was somehow intercepted rather than sent on to the university, even though you have the means to send it to them directly. Now Andrea is dead and her research is missing, without this office having even made a copy as we understand it."
Sounding affronted he replied, "Now look here madam, sending voluminous reports and dissertations via enchanted quill pen is time consuming, error prone and expensive! Andrea's thesis was a hundred pages long! Of course we sent it by airship mail, its what we always do. An how might I ask do you know it's been intercepted? Well?"
"It seems clear that your utterly ludicrous policy of sending the research by ship rather than directly to the university is the reason that Andrea was murdered and her research was apparently completely lost."
Looking incredulous he retorts hotly, "Transcription fees are ten silver per page! Money may grow on trees where you're from but I can assure you poor Andrea did not have that kind of money to waste. Besides surely Andrea made a copy, we advise all PHd candidates to complete their thesis in triplicate."
"We've also heard that you are hanging out with some prominent cultists."
A dark shadow crossed his face, he was about to say something but Zendra plunged on.
"I'd just like to understand whether you on their payroll, and if not, why the HELLS you are allowing them to intercept documents, and why you haven't reported any of the problems here to the university, or to the authorities."
He looks shocked by the accusations.
Furiously he retorted, "What the blazes are you on about?! Andrea's research was about making a bunch of dumb rocks sing, why the hell would anyone want to intercept that?! Besides I know the dispatches get to the airships safely, either I or my wife takes them there directly. We've been using the same few trusted captains for years! And as for the authorities, I don't suppose you've noticed but this is Port William where the gin lords and casino managers are what passes for authority! Damn useless lot they are too..."
Also you think he's about to throw you out, or at lest try to!
Edwin figured that Da Vorre's reaction to Mendes' murder was genuine
He did think that Da Vorre was exaggerating the transcription cost. Was he making some extra money off the transcription somehow?
Da Vorre seemed to be shocked at the idea of the documents being intercepted.
I think we have to consider the possibility that someone found out about Mendes' research, and killed her to stop it. If we can figure out who would motivated to kill for that, we would be much closer to finding the killer."
Edwin sensed considerable animosity directed towards his wife,
"I take it that you and your wife weren't on the best of terms?"
He could tell that the man was getting agitated, and tried to calm him down, "Andrea's murder has naturally upset the other researchers a great deal, and jeopardized the University's research efforts. We're just trying to get to the bottom of what happened."
"I take it that you and your wife weren't on the best of terms?"
He snorted, "Yeah you could say that it was a marriage of convenience, I know she's sleeping around. Anyway she wanted an immigration visa, I needed money. You see her father had bought my gambling debt and well lets just say he's not one to take no for an answer unless I fancied a nice new pair of concrete shoes. Anyway I had a comfortable admin job lined up in Essex Island, one I could do in my sleep and never have to worry, but oh no they drag me out here to the back of beyond, knowing I have a gambling addiction. Jokes on them though, I've not visited the casinos here once. Ha! They're all rigged anyway."
"Andrea's murder has naturally upset the other researchers a great deal, and jeopardized the University's research efforts. We're just trying to get to the bottom of what happened."
"Yeah I bet, but running around casting aspersions seems a strange way to help. Look you're wasting your and my time here, if you want to know what happened to Andrea's thesis go ask Clara or perhaps her minder Mr Teller. They arranged that batch of post to be sent by airship."
He crossed his arms and there was an air of finality and dismissal to this statement.
From the conversation and Edwin's reactions, Zendara is surprised. The man might be innocent... and he had information that they needed.
She bows low to the director and says
I apologize for my rudeness, sir. Since we have ascertained through magical means that your wife was likely directly involved in the murderer, I concluded, obviously erroneously, that you were in on it, and part of the conspiracy perpetrated by the cult that she belongs to. But I see that you were unaware of her involvement in the situation, and I beg your pardon.
Asking your wife won't accomplish anything other than forcing a confrontation, unless she kept the copy for some reason, which would be a very good thing, but I am not sure what hope there is. To the best of our knowledge Andrea was murdered to suppress the information in her thesis... all of her notes and writings were destroyed. But you talked about singing rocks. Am I to understand that you actually read it? If so, you might be our best hope of not only catching the murderer, but understanding why she was murdered in the first place. Can you tell me what else you remember about it?
(just trying to calm him down and get him talking again, help him know he is important to the investigation, and that we really are trying to be the good guys)
His eyes narrow for a moment when Zendara apologies but he sighs, "Well actually it's common knowledge that the standing stones sing when the wind is right, not heard it my self but I'm told it's a bit eerie. All the researchers know Andrea was studying them. Her thesis was in a protective binding so I didn't want to disturb that, but I did read the covering note. She claimed to have proven that as long suspected the groups were arranged in such a way that if the wind whirled round them, they'd play a tune. Her note said that in addition they resonated with woodwind music from Elodin's holy book. She then went on to claim there was some kind of metaphysical relationship between them that she had decoded enabling her to understand their original purpose."
With a far away look he added, "Clearly I don't know Clara half as well as I once thought, but I do know this, she's a collector. If this thesis was something truly important like you say, there's no way she'll have destroyed it. She'll keep it to gloat about."
That's really helpful information, thank you. Along that line, when do you think it would be easiest to catch her at home? We'd best have a conversation, although I am not sure how well that will go. Is there anywhere else that she stays or keeps things, that you know of?
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Edwin added, "We'll want to find her thesis, given its potential importance. Thank-you for your time; you've been most helpful."
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"Watch Mr Teller and she'll come to him." predicated Da Vorre, "She keeps a little bit of this, a little bit of that. She has a magical briefcase, stowes everything she values in it."
Zendara suggests that they go to pick up some supplies, and then find Teller.
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Zendara buys a syringe and a packet of balloons, handing out balloons to the others if they also want to be ready with a water balloon to disable Clara's force field.
Yukarii was quite interested by what they learned about their possible enemy and that she had such an easily overcome weakness was quite interesting. That would certainly make dealing with her much easier and Yukarii was glad they took this chance. With their meeting done and their preparations made Yukarii considered just how she might be able to help once they dubdues the woman but she was sure she would come up with something.
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After having visited a number of extremely dodgy shops, Zendara manages to buy a syringe and a packet of brightly colored balloons.
Xindyra hits up the locals, asking for gossip and interesting information on local events. She is both surprised, and slightly worried, as far as an overly curious person can get, about an exhibition.
"Union Hall, sounds somewhat ominous.
Sounds like a gathering of madmen and madwomen."
Edwin responded to Xindyara's news. "It sounds terrifying, but I feel we must investigate!"
Edwin suggested, "Why don't we check out Union Hall ahead of time?"
Good call. Let's go take a look, but keep our heads down as much as possible as well.
After having been in town for a few days, you have a rough idea where the more prominent buildings are. Union Hall is a large event space near the air docks, owned by the Union Mercantile company who also run a number of mines on the island. Sometimes used as a festhall the space is also popular for local business events and apparently of late expos put on by cults.
You make your way towards Union Hall which leads you past some of the more gaudy and pretentious casinos and drug parlors. As you rounded the street past the golden nugget palace and brothel, you caught sight of Union Hall. It was a large detached cut stone building with a neo-classical Corinthian style facade and wide steps leading up to the foyer. Some workers are putting up a banner over the entrance which said, 'Witness the unutterable wonders of Nyarlathotep!'
The scene seemed mundane but still it sent a shiver down your backs. Nyarlathotep by all accounts was malevolence personified. The problem was this knowledge was obscure and the events that had lead to the sundering had fallen into myth and legend or where forgotten almost entirely.
You could try to fast talk your way in through the main entrance but already there's a small crowd of curious onlookers who are being shoo'd away by the building's staff. This is surprising since it's still early afternoon and it will be quite some hours before the event starts.
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It was a dull few days for Yukarii as they were trying hard to find what they needed to know. Unfortunately it was proving more difficult than expected. When they were approaching Union Hall and saw all the commotion Yukarii wondered what was going on as she tried to see anything useful while listening to the people around her.
She noticed something helpful to them and pointed at one of the side doors as she said to her companions, "That door there, it looks to be unlocked."
Thanks Yukarii. That sounds much better than trying to talk my way in.
She goes in with the others by the side entrance.
The door which seemed to be an emergency exit opened out from a long corridor, to the left there was some light suggestive of a large room, to the far right there were stairs leading up. The decor was utilitarian, clearly this was a service area meant for the staff rather than for visitors.
Edwin cast a spell to raise a magic shield before exploring Union Hall, just in case anything were to happen, as well as another spell to heighten his own senses. He also cast a message spell so he could whisper to his team-mates.
He whispered to the others, "I can hear voices coming from the left." He looked for a place to hide and tried to make himself inconspicuous.
There isn't anywhere obvious to hide behind but there are shadows and Edwin succeeds in becoming inconspicuous. After a tense few minutes you get the feeling that the voices for now are staying in the room at the end of the corridor to the left.
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(pass)
(pass)
Zendara nods her thanks to Edwin, then quietly whispers to the group what she knows.
She whispers to the others.
I'm going to scout the voices and see if I can overhear something. Should I meet you backstage (she indicates the stage to the south), or upstairs (she indicates the stairs)?
After they decide where they are going first, Zendara casts invisibility on herself and moves up to listen to the people in the room down the corridor to the left.
(invisibility bonus)
Xindyra's not in her sneaky element at the moment, so she decides to go to that one spot the not important people stand at.
Shrouded by invisibility Zendara feels the temperature drop as it always does since the spell isolates her from the environment, bending the light around her as if she wasn't there. Carefully she crept forwards until she found herself in a room behind a great curtain. This must be the back stage area. Inside are half a dozen workers and a supervisor who is directing them to lay out various peculiar and vaguely ominous equipment, including a gurney with beefy restraints and what appears to be electrodes.
(pass)
(fail)
Zendara realizes that there is a very dangerous bit of equipment here, including two high voltage sources and a plasma discharge globe.
She examines it more closely to see if there are particular parts she can remove that might be useful:
Whether or not that works, she waits until the workers are not next to the gurney, and then attempts to disable its functionality, taking care not to make noise or move the gurney and tip off her location. She doesn't want anyone to die here today because she didn't take action when she had the chance.
(invisibility bonus)
Hidden by her spell Zendara manages to subtly sabotage the gurney, cutting part through the straps. If somebody was restrained the straps would surely break if they struggled.
Most of the equipment seemed useless to steal, but she pocketed a couple of small items including a collection of silverdisks . The most valuable thing by far was the voltage generators which had a number of uses, although they where bulky and fragile which made them impractical to take.
Her sabotage attempts where interrupted when several newcomers arrived to inspect the setup. One was a tall powerfully built man that matched the description of Mr Teller the other was a woman with long black hair who she didn't recognise at all.
[spoiler=Perception DC 18]Both are heavily armed but so far they seem oblivious to Zendara's presence.[/ooc]
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(pass)
Zendara moves out of the way into the shadows by the curtains so she doesn't get caught in the path of the newcomers, waits for them to pass (listening in on anything they might say), and then goes to find her party. She wants to attack, but she can't do so without her team.
(invisibility bonus)
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Zendara takes a closer look at the woman and after a while comes to the conclusion that she's a priestess likely of Nylarthotep rather than an assassin based on the following conversation.
The woman gave a cursory examination of the equipment before saying to Mr Teller, "Good it seems you managed to dredge up a halfway competent crew in this backwater. Do you have enough security for tonight? We're going to have a large crowd!"
Teller replied, "Should do. Got twenty doormen, solid reliable men. They know what to expect and won't get rattled by your experiments."
Not sounding massively impressed she asked, "If there's trouble, can they handle it?"
A little wearily he replied, "Depends. What are you expecting? You didn't mention, anything beyond crowd control when you contracted us..."
She sniffed, "The auguries are unclear, but your pet assassin will be there right?"
He nodded.
"Good! She has done excellent work for us. I'm expecting to need her services at the usual price tonight. Tell her to expect multiple targets."
They then made to leave, discussing other less interesting matters
When Zendara gets back to the others, she fills them in.
Edwin was very interested in what Zendara related. He conferred with his comrades, "If we can find a good out of the way spot, I can create a magic sensor that can allow me to explore the Hall. The sensor is invisible and can fly. I can also see in the dark when looking through it, so I might be able to detect hidden assassins; it sounds like at least one will be here tonight.
"It sounds like the priestess of Nylarthotep has something in mind for tonight. I'm thinking of starting the scan around the start time of the event."
As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to create a mind eye—a magical sensor through which you can see and hear. The mind eye is invisible and its size is Fine, giving it an AC of 18. Any amount of damage to the eye destroys it, but it can be harmed by only spells or magic weapons. The eye moves with a fly speed of 60 feet with perfect maneuverability and can travel up to 1 mile away from you. You must concentrate as a standard action to direct the eye and receive sensory images through it. The mind eye sees as your eyes see, including any additional senses you possess (such as darkvision or see invisibility). The mind eye lasts for 1 minute per occultist level you possess. You must be at least 5th level to select this focus power.
Yukarii knew that she was not the stealthiest person around, in fact she was one of the mos noticeable members of the group. Rather than try to sneak around where she could easily keep an eye out for anyone trying to sneak in the door without being obvious about it.
Zendara says quietly
In general I like the idea of getting a good scan, but I am not sure we should even let this event happen. And with 20 plus defenders and many others to face, we could easily get overwhelmed. Why not take those two out now, and then get the wife later? Plus, whatever they are planning, it can't be good, and will likely just pull others to their very nasty side.
Edwin headed east towards the stairs, with the intention of exploring the upper floor.
Zendara follows Edwin.
Upstairs you find a bunch of mundane offices, a canteen for the staff and a smaller empty exhibition chamber. One interesting feature is an observation deck for the main chamber below, there's several rows of seats which give an excellent view below . You get the impression based on signage that this area is intended for use tonight with a large crowd expected.
Several of the offices clearly had people doing paperwork in them, but absorbed in their tasks they didn't notice your passage. You think you could easily hide until the event starts, although the idea of picking a fight when there's hundreds of people around doesn't seem all that appealing.
One area does catch your interest however. There's a small conference room in the north west corner of the building in which the priestess and Mr Teller are lounging. He's supposed to be Red the assassin's love interest but he's flirting with the priestess.