"I agree with Callie," says Alika. "He needs to rest up some more anyway. If Orsini's kitchen is empty we might even want to grab a few things from the market so he has some food. It will take him several days to get his full stamina back."
Amin is still asleep when you group leaves; between the poison and the stress, he's truly exhausted.
Callie surveys the ramshackle abode that the locals say is Scream's home. "Hardly what I'd imagine a beloved artist, weird and sickening though the art might be, would live in. Those nobles should have offered better patronage."
Standing at the edge of the property, she casts sift a few times to see if there's anything lurking by the docks or water nearby.
You don't find anything in particular in the dirt or ground, but as you are searching you feel the vibrations of a large creature moving under the ground - more specifically, moving away from you.
The other thing of note you find is that there are fairly recent tracks on the ground near the shack: booted tracks
Callie raises her hand in warning. "There's something underground near here. It's moving away from us. Outside. I say let's try to avoid whatever it is as long as it doesn't keep us from the house." She then points at the path by the house--muddy footprints. "Someone's been here. Any of you good at analyzing tracks?"
Garran kneels down to look at the tracks. "I learned how when I was a caravan guard - knowing how to read tracks in an area can help alert you to any dangers that may be lurking."
Alistair remains quiet and looks at the party. He watches as Garran inspects the tracks and nods slightly. His vision moves around the area looking for any signs that something is amiss.
So you find 3 sets of relevant tracks.
The oldest set of tracks match a large group of Humanoids that walked aroudn the house and then left in a group.
The second set leads to a large collapsed hole near the house. These tracks look like...ropes? that dragged a large rock around. Actually, by your math, it looks like three different sets of ropes that were used to haul large-sized objects from the hole....but then back to the hole? it's very confusing.
The newest set is a single set of tracks that walk to the house and do not leave.
You're not sure, but you think you hear something coming from inside the house.
Garran grunts, standing from the tracks. "There are three sets of tracks that might interest us. The oldest belong to a large group of human or human-sized creatures that walked around the house and then left in a group. The second set leads to that large collapsed hole. It looks three different sets of ropes were used to haul some large-sized objects from the hole, but may have then been moved back into the hole. They don't make a lot of sense to me.
"The final set of tracks is the most important. They are the newest, and they are the tracks of a single person that walked up to the house and did not leave," Garran finished, telling the others what he thought. "We should approach and knock - it appears that someone is there."
"For the hole, my spell picked up something moving underground. Maybe whatever they threw in was to draw whatever that thing is. Or to feed it. Or they were throwing something away and that accidentally drew whatever it is. I don't fancy figuring out what's there, but we won't figure it out unless we check it out. Still, if someone's in the house right now, you're right, that takes priority. After you," she waves.
There is someone inside...or something?
"Whoever it is wore boots, so they are likely human-shaped in general. It also looks like they were...skipping. Very odd, to me."
Garran walks up, waits to see if everyone else is ready, and knocks on the door.
"Skipping? Well... nice to have something different, I guess?"
Callie is ready.
Alistair steps away from the building and looks at the house. Trying to see where someone could be looking out at the group.
"Strange indeed. Well, only one way to find out," says Alika.
Garran knocks on the door, but there is no response. The door itself, however, is slightly ajar, such that his knocking actually opens it.
Looking into the first room:
The smell in this entryway is of must and mildew, much of it coming from the mud tracked over the floorboards, as if a small army had marched through the room. To the south stands a single empty set of shelves.
Your earlier suspicions about the first set of tracks were quite accurate: it appears a large group of people, which by your count is about a half dozen, drug away another individual, as indicated by drag marks in the ground. You can also see signs of the freshest set of tracks, and the wander around for a bit before leading into one of the back rooms.
Looking over the mud, Garran whispers to Callie, ”Message spell, please.”
Callie nods and quietly casts the message cantrip.
With the cantrip up, Garran whispers over it, "I was right about the first set of tracks. It appears that a large group of people - around half a dozen - drug away another individual, leaving the drag marks on the ground. The newest tracks wander around a bit and lead into one of the back rooms."
Garran points at the door the tracks lead to.
Callie sneaks up near the door and listens at it, leaving room if anyone else wants to join her.
You hear someone muttering to themselves in a language you don't understand. You can hear the words clearly, you just don't know the language.
Garran moves to the door, then looks at Callie. If she gives the okay, he'll open the door.
Callie reports through the cantrip, "There's someone in there talking in a foreign language. Don't hear any hostilities though."
Since quiet is called for, Alika says nothing. One hand rests on the hilt of her sheathed scimitar, the other clutches her golden holy symbol. She stays halfway back, between Callie's retreated position and the men at the door.
Both of this room’s windows are tightly shuttered, yet the air inside seems strangely fresh and scented, no doubt because of the six large candles that burn within. Each candle has been affixed by a glob of melted wax to the crown of a gleaming, polished skull, and each of these impromptu and grisly candleholders has been placed atop an otherwise clear desk to the west, arrayed in a gentle arc. A chair sits before the desk, and a careful stack of papers and scrolls sits inside the arc of skulls. To the south stands a nearly empty cabinet,
its shelves barren save for a few paintbrushes and a cracked pottery urn.
There is a what appears to be a Young Elven Woman standing in this room, with her back turned towards the group, her attention firmly fixed on a Painting.
She turns when the door opens and says "Oh, hello. I had hoped you might be Mr. Scream, but it seems that is not the case. May I ask what you are doing here? I think I recognize some of you from somewhere, but I'm not sure..." she taps her lips with her pointer finger as she examines your group.
"We were looking for Mr. Scream ourselves, Miss...?" Garran replied, looking at her questioningly.
Taking in the elf's choice of gear and fascination with the painting, Callie assumes the woman is a fan of Scream's and hopefully had nothing to do with the earlier tracks found.
"Given Garran here noticed signs of someone dragging him off awhile ago, we're a bit concerned," Callie adds.
"Oh, how interesting. Do you not give your name first before requesting someone else's here? How fascinating!" she says excitedly.
"My name is Laori, and as you might have guessed, I am here looking for the master artist. Perhaps we should work together to find him?"
Her gaze returns to the painting for a moment, then says "It is fascinating, is it not? You can almost feel the malevolence radiating off the dragon." with a shiver, she turns back to the group and says "but I digress. You were just about to agree with my sensible suggestion to team up."
"Sometimes we do, but in this environment, caution is sometimes prudent. My name is Garran Fain. While your suggestion is sensible, may we discuss it amongst ourselves first?"
"And I am Callie Cobalt. I also echo the sensibility; as we consider this, do you mind if I ask how you know Mr. Scream and why you'd like to find him?"
"I understand that you want to talk to each other a bit before agreeing. That's totally fair."
At Callie's question, she says "I do not know him personally. He is tangentially involved in something that I am working on and so I hoped to ask him some questions." with no other pending questions, she goes back to looking at the painting.
Alistair remains quiet.
You get the sense that she's been honest with everything that she's said so far, but it's clear from the way she said the things she did that she is withholding some information - which only makes sense considering she doesn't know you.
Garran moves the others in, then whispers over the spell, "She seems sincere, but I don't know much about her. As long as she doesn't intend the artist harm, I think we can work with her. What do you all think?"
"I agree. I'd like to know more about her business with him, but can understand why she's not going to disclose it to a bunch of strangers. She seems to admire his work at least, and I doubt she has anything to do with the prior group that was here. Given she's the first non-hostile entity we've met here, apart from the kid from this morning, we can use all the help we can get."
"I think she's a worshipper of Zon Kuthon, the god of suffering and sadism," whispers Alika. "Be on your guard as appropriate."
Via message spell
Zon....leave her and be done with this. Let us continue our own search without...that
"Well, we should get whatever information we can, at least," whispers Alika. "But I expect her methods will... not mesh well with ours, in the long run."
Callie frowns at Alika's information, and at Alistair's reaction. "It's not like the leather and the spiked whip weren't clues. Nor is it atypical of Scream's fans. It doesn't mean she's going to tie us to a rack--but it doesn't mean she won't either. Still, I trust at least she has a vested interest in Scream's survival. So do we. It might be better that we work together than at cross purposes, when we have a shared goal."
Alistair returns Callie's frown with one of his own and crosses his arms.
You guys hear her start humming from the other room, and there's rustling from the other room.
Garran frowns, thinking over their conundrum, and looking at the others before he says over the spell, "I suspect that she'll continue looking for the artist no matter what we do. If we work with her, we can keep an eye on her, as opposed to her maneuvering behind our backs. Perhaps she'll be willing to accept some ground rules as part of working together. Does that work for everyone?"