Zandora reached out to stop Rigel when she realized where he was going.
No need she smiled, adjusting her sleeves and suddenly appearing in a slightly more upscale and tailored version of the uniform that Rigel was wearing.
She waits for the others to be ready, and then glides through the tenement door, checking the mailboxes in the front lobby area for the names that Rigel discovered.
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It hands the pen and paper to Junior, asking, "Sons Junior, obviously, myself is no carpenter, but we were thinking something like this. Care to provide a quote? I'll give you 5 shinies now if you could write your thoughts on some of my designs, I'm quite proud of this one."
The blue thing flashes five gold pieces at the son, grinning with its mismatched teeth and its too wide mouth.
Rigel rolled his eyes at himself for forgetting the resourceful woman's magic clothing, chuckling, "Of course. After you, ma'am." He bowed a bit at the waist, letting the aasimar walk in front and eyeing the minotaur. "Just act like you have every right to be here with us and you should do fine. No one wants to ask a big, burly guy questions."
While Raton bargains, Drahkn flaps around the shop, making a pretense of looking at the merchandise, but mostly looking for any scraps of paper that might have handwriting, or anything else of interest.
A look of awestruck confusion washes across the young man's face. He barely suppresses a smile as he says, "Well yeah, I, uh, we could maybe make that work? Probably even do something less...well...creative. I'd have to wait for my old man to give it to go-ahead, but we could send you the receipt once he's back."
Drahkn notices a ledger sitting on the desk behind the counter.
Two mailboxes stand out. One for Hjelst, the other for Murtos, both on the same floor.
Zandora looks around the mailbox area. Is there an apartment on this floor near where the packages are delivered? Are there packages left from the mail here now? Are the mailboxes themselves big enough to contain packages? What kind of security is there in the building, if any?
After assessing the area, Zandora goes up the stairs to the floor where the Hjelst and Murtos domiciles are. She locates and identifies both of them to her companions in case someone runs from either while they are talking, and then, after pulling her hair back into a businesslike bun, knocks politely on the Hjelst door.
When someone comes to the door, she says
We have some questions for you about Ezvix and an associate, Aylincha Murtos. May we come in?
It places the coins on the counter with what it hopes is a kind smile, hoping also it was providing enough of a distraction for the dragon to have ample snooping opportunity.
The inside of the block is quite run-down, though cheap locks on the mailboxes suggest there's at least a little thought to the residents. If there was every security here, they haven't been by in a long while.
The door creaks open, ever so slightly. The voice of an older woman is audible behind it, tinged with an accent that's just barely impossible to place, "Why are you looking for them? Why should I let you in?"
[spoiler=V&S]
The young man shrugs, "I mean yeah, we can do it. Probably make it less, well, unstable if you want. It doesn't look great as it is. Ah, give me a moment."
Junior flips through the ledger and tears out a sheet of paper, writing some things down, "Here's what I can give for a quote. Custom jobs ain't cheap, but we wouldn't need to use much material." He inspects the back of the page before saying, "Ah, just ignore that on the back. The old man started writing a letter to my aunt on here, looks like."
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Despite paying for the quote and taking the phone number, the fairy clearly doesn't intend to pursue following up on the dining room set .
The bald blue thing pauses, considering something. "This is hard sell, I understand," it starts, "but as a craftsman, are you close with folks in other trades? Found a beautiful silk handkerchief and been wearing it around sometimes, would like to have same tailor make me an actual outfit. Obviously this tailor is skilled working on small things, which, as a small thing, I value."
It smiles, waiting for laughter after its joke, then continues. "You carpenters is having a mark to say you are proud of your work, yes? You write V&S on things you make, but do tailors? How would I find the correct tailor, should I wish to give them money?"
As the trio entered the tenements, Rigel saw the mailboxes and whispered to Kolaiah, "Keep an eye out for me, will ya?". He then pulled out a few picks from his pack and tried to pick open the cheap locks before the group tried to gain entry and question the two families.
Drahkn had been just about to try and create a distraction when the younger Vitruvio mentions his old man’s letter on the back of the paper. Flapping up over the furniture and back toward the door, he looks to the younger Vitruvio and says
Hello Ma'am. Not sure whether you heard about it, but there was a big mixup over at one of the clubs... singer was found dead. Ezvix was at the club and got mixed up in it, and we're just gathering information to find out who was behind the whole thing. Don't want people to be going after upstanding citizens when I know there has to be someone else behind it all, you know? We're not after Ezvix or Aylincha, so any questions you can answer to help us clear things up will benefit them.
(Using Silver Tongue)
Kolaiah, intimately familiar with this sort of operation, puffs out his shoulders, and makes himself look large, in such a way as to obfuscate to any watchers just what Rigel might be up to.
Rigel pops the lock without any issues, though he finds little of interest, only some advertisements for a few local businesses.
There's little that can stand in the way of Zandora's powers of persuasion, and this old lady is no exception.
She opens the door wider, and the party realizes that she, too, is a tiefling. Her horns are knobby and weathered, as is common for older tieflings, and her hair is a faded purple.
"You with the police? They cause too much trouble around here as it is. If you aren't, come in, but be quick about it."
Zendara proceeds into the apartment, waving the others in.
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Junior chuckles, "Well, we're no carpenters, either. We get carpenters and tailors to do the work, and we put the furniture together. There're some great ones downtown, though they're out of our price range."
Junior never expected to hear a dragon speaking Italian, but such is life in crossroads.
As the younger Vitruvio said, the best tailors are found downtown.
Zandora prompts the woman.
So, what can you tell us?
Rigel rolled his eyes as he quickly leafed through the mail, courteous enough to return it and close the small door before following Zandora in after she waved the all clear to the minotaur and himself.
He peered all about with the curiosity of a policeman, taking in the surroundings to see if there were threats about or possible clues that could help the group. He kept an eye out for bags or packages, but kept his mind open for other possibilities, deferring to the fake detective Zandora as she started pumping the old woman for information.
The old woman waves the party in before quickly shutting the door. The apartment is crammed with dusty religious paraphernalia of every sort, porcelain and glass figurines of angels, spirits, and even more esoteric beings.
”Is that why those two haven’t come home yet?” The woman sighs heavily. She shakes her head as her voice quavers slightly, ”Foolish children, always sticking their noses where they don’t belong.”
She puts her head in her hands for a moment before wiping away a tear and continuing, ”Thren was always pushing them too hard. Angels damn that man.”
Rigel looked about, noting the large assortment of religious items, wondering if the woman's faith was what she used to blind herself to the criminal activity of the two young people. Maybe it was for the best. The investigator made a mental note to jot down the name Thren when they were done here. For now, he finally settled near a wall, leaning against it with his arms crossed, looking disinterested as Zandora talked to the older lady.
Soothingly, Zandora prompts
What was Thren pushing them to do?
** spoiler omitted **
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[spoiler=Tenement]
"Always money with Thren. Nothing else mattered. I tried to steer Aylincha towards the light but coin runs life around here. Thren...Thren was Aylincha's father. Never did any good for her, for anyone."
She stands up, taking a simple crucifix off the wall before saying a short prayer and continuing, "The two of them always ended up in trouble when Thren was involved. The wrong side of the law, usually."
Do you know if Thren has contacts with other groups that he might be working for, or taking orders from?
"Don't know exactly. I've tried to stay away from him as much as I could. He's just down the hall if you need to talk to him for some reason."
Ah, that's a good idea. Perhaps we'll talk to him after we are finished here. What apartment is he in?
Before we leave, tell me a little bit more about Aylincha. Would she get herself in trouble if she thought it would help her family? We're not sure, but we suspect the motivation might have been some sort of help for her family if she agreed to do this. I'm wondering if someone took advantage of her good heart.
As she talks, Zandora looks around to see if there are any signs of recent wealth.
Rigel wasn't sure, but he suspected talking to Thren would be less pleasant than with the older woman here. Casting aside the thought, for now, he instead listened to the conversation, hoping the woman could provide some more motivation for Aylincha's murderous act.
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Zandora can't find signs of wealth at all, much less recent ones.
Meanwhile, Raton heads downtown, looking for leads on the handkerchief. What little he can find out is frustratingly vague. Though the make of the handkerchief is quite good, the initials DP are quite common.
Zandora is sure that Rigel has picked up on the fact that there is zero payout here, so she sits and listens to see if the woman has any other information about Aylincha, then thanks her and unless Rigel asks another question, she rises, signalling the group to leave.
As they exit, Zandora gives the woman a couple of gold as she leaves (whispering "for your time" as an explanation), and then waits until they are out in the hallway to see what apartment Rigel wants to do next. She also adjusts her sleeves, toning down the uniform look a little so she looks business, but not official, and prestidigitates her hair to a more generic color.
Thren’s apartment is just down the hall, and the door is locked if anyone tries to open it.
Zandora looks questioningly at Rigel about what he wants to do next, but getting no immediate response about whether to go to the other (Ezvix) apartment or to Thren's, she decides to try Thren first. She knocks, and getting no reply, she tries it, then tries to quickly unlock it.
The lock pops open without any issue. The apartment is fairly sparse, and nobody comes to the door as it opens.
Zandora looks around for any signs of recent wealth, or any paperwork or other incriminating or at least informative evidence about what Thren is involved in, or who he reports to. Her search is quick but thorough. She
relies on the others to warn her of anyone coming in.
Zandora tracks down a letter tucked into one of the few books in the apartment.
Thren, your money should be on it’s way soon. Your cooperation has been invaluable. -V
Zandora takes the letter, and seeing nothing else useful, exits the apartment, relocking it behind her. She then proceeds to the third apartment, to see if they can get any other information there.
Doesn't look like the payoff is here yet. What do you guys want to do now, stake out the place and intercept the payment?
Disillusioned after its four hours spent going in and out of tailor shops and being oh so charming but still coming back empty, the fairy alights back at the office of the detective. It pulls out a gourd and begins to drink from it, spilling the contents over itself and the floor.
Leaving Rigel and Kolaiah to figure out what to do next at the boarding house, Zandora takes her leave, returning to the detective office and finding Ratón there. She shows it where Rigel keeps the good stuff, and then kicks back on the couch with a book.
"Handkerchief was dead end. Furniture store though, the dragon and I found many many lucks. Also halfling left bakery receipt and loaf of bread, but then left. How was your end?"
The mom of some of the murderers was nice. We didn't find any evidence of a reward delivery, but Rigel and Kolaiah are going to stake it out and see. We did get another writing sample... guy named Thren also working for someone using the initial V, but that's all. No other leads. ... I wish we knew where the Black Starling had lived. That's the place that would help us.