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The Professor fills in Ejtehah quickly: "Everyone else ran after the thugs, who've scattered. Some may have gotten away. Perhaps you should try to calm the children. I think they saw someone looking like me do awful things." Possibly to their parents. Where are they? She then moves to the double doors at the top of the stairs and peeks inside.
Ejtehah (-6 damage)
BM (-5hp, unconscious, stable)
Gilded Thugs (#1 sickened -4 damage, #4 unconscious 2hp/4nonlethal)
Salmok (-10 damage)
Magdelina
Nilah (-6 damage)
Molvil (-1 damage)
At first the children don't believe @Molvil, and the older girl hugs her younger brother tightly, but when Ejtehah is awakened he is able to convince the children they mean them no harm and Molvil isn't the same person as before. It helps the nice brunette lady told them you all were working for the Sheriff too.
An oversized bed rests in the middle of the room, and two wardrobes face each other on opposites of the room. This room is a scene of macabre theatre. A woman’s body sits on the floor with her arm and face draped on the bed. A man's body reclines in a chair, with his eyes closed as if resting. Rapiers, wet with sticky blood, hang from their limp grasps—as if they had been fighting and finally succumbed to their wounds.
For a second felt cocky after getting away from the pink demon lady , but now... oh boy, he doesn't feel so good. The BossMan can fend for himself.
Ejtehah (-6 damage)
BM (-5hp, unconscious, stable)
Gilded Thugs (#1 sickened -4 damage, #4 unconscious 2hp/4nonlethal)
Salmok (-10 damage)
Magdelina
Nilah (-6 damage)
Molvil (-1 damage)
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Professor Maesandri stifles a cry at the sight of the apparently murdered parents. "Oh! Those poor souls." Since it seems that there is no imminent threat in this room, she continues across the landing to check the remaining rooms on the east side of the house for threats. As she strides away, she calls back to Ejtehah: "I'm going to make sure there aren't any more criminals hiding up here. Keep the children in that room where it's safe for now." It is taking all of her willpower to focus on the task at hand. She's seen death before, but the sight in that bedroom and the knowledge that the children likely witnessed their parents' murders... Her stomach churns at the thought. There is no curse in any language I know to accurately communicate what I think of those...Ugh!
Leather sofas dominate this sitting room. Large windows with curtains drawn are set in the wall behind them.
A large dining room table sits in the center of the room with enough chairs for a large family meal.
Cupboards here hold spices, flour, and other cooking ingredients. Baskets are filled with fruits and vegetables, while meats hang from the ceiling.
Two large stoves and adjoining preparation tables sit in the center of the room. The two northern doors are locked.
This is a modest bedroom with a chest of drawers, and a few simple paintings on the wall to lend it some cheer. The bodies of an elderly servant couple, recently slain, are a shocking contrast to the tidiness of the rest of the manor. The manner in which the bodies have fallen shows the man was killed trying to shield his wife from further violence.
This is a large and well-appointed office, with a large desk sitting in the center of the room. The walls are taken up with bookshelves and trophies and curios put on display. The desk has been rifled through and papers are scattered everywhere. One piece of documentation is inside a metal scroll tube with a scrimshaw cap carved with the likeness of a turtleback ferryboat.
A billiards table occupies this room, and appears to have been recently used. A sideboard sits in front of the drawn curtains. Eight small glasses are set out in various places around the room, all of which smell of whiskey recently poured.
A chest of drawers stands against the western wall between two twin beds. Each bed has a window above it. The walls are painted with fanciful nursery rhyme characters. The maimed rogue lays on the ground by the window, covered with a sheet by Magdelina.
An oversized bed rests in the middle of the room, and two wardrobes face each other on opposites of the room. This room is a scene of macabre theatre. A woman's body sits on the floor with her arm and face draped on the bed. A man's body reclines in a chair, with his eyes closed as if resting. Rapiers, wet with sticky blood, hang from their limp grasps—as if they had been fighting and finally succumbed to their wounds.
These rooms are extra bedrooms, some of which are also being used to store furniture.
This is a personal washroom, with a small sink and an empty bathtub.
This room stores clean clothes and bedding.
The children tell you they haven't left this room, the scary people woke them up and locked them in. (They are not aware of their parents deaths yet)
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Professor Masaendri returns to Ejtehah with the metal scroll tube from the office in her hand. She stands just outside the door, in case the sight of her would frighten the children. "Oh dear. Those poor children. Well! It looks like the thugs were after some information. The office has been torn apart, though they left this behind for some reason. There were eight glasses of whiskey in the billiards room, though I only found four...um...residents of this house: the parents and two older servants." Her expression falls as she meets Ejtehah's eyes. She shakes her head to indicate that all have died. "It is possible that this was the result of a business deal that got interrupted, or perhaps went sour." Speculation swirls in her mind as she opens the scroll tube and dumps its contents into her hands to read it.
The scroll tube contains Arhaneem Braeton’s last will and testament. The contents say in the event of Braeton’s death, his business is held in trust by the town council for Braeton’s two children. However, if there is cause to suggest the business may deteriorate before they come of age (the children appear to be about 8-11 years old), the council has the option of selling the business on their behalf.
@Molvil make either an Intelligence or Perception check (your choice).
You have about 10 minutes to explore the house before the Sheriff arrives - let me know if there's anything else you would like to do in the meantime.
Recovering with Help: One hour after a tended, dying character becomes stable, the character must make a DC 10 Constitution check to become conscious. The character takes a Penalty on this roll equal to his negative hit point total. Conscious characters with negative hit point totals are treated as disabled characters. If the character remains unconscious, he receives another check every hour to regain consciousness. A natural 20 on this check is an automatic success. Even if unconscious, the character recovers Hit Points naturally. He automatically regains consciousness when his Hit Points rise to 1 or higher.
Recovering without Help: A severely wounded character left alone usually dies. He has a small chance of recovering on his own. Treat such characters as those attempting to recover with help, but every failed Constitution check to regain consciousness results in the loss of 1 hit point. An unaided character does not recover Hit Points naturally. Once conscious, the character can make a DC 10 Constitution check once per day, after resting for 8 hours, to begin recovering hit points naturally. The character takes a Penalty on this roll equal to his negative hit point total. Failing this check causes the character to lose 1 hit point, but this does not cause the character to become unconscious. Once a character makes this check, he continues to heal naturally and is no longer in danger of losing Hit Points naturally.
When Molvil said: "The office has been torn apart, though they left this behind for some reason." @Ejtehah feels a mental alarm bell go off. He realizes that it is suspicious for the will to be left where they could easily find it. It wouldn't be the first time you've come across staged evidence.
The Last Will and Testament says in the event of Braeton’s death, his business is held in trust by the town council for Braeton’s two children. However, if there is cause to suggest the business may deteriorate before they come of age (the children appear to be about 8-11 years old), the council has the option of selling the business on their behalf.
You have a few minutes to decide what to do with the will, but very shortly after that the Sheriff will (finally) arrive.
The lights and sounds of fighting alerted the neighbors who sent a runner for the Sheriff, but with the Manor being on the outskirts of town, it took awhile.
Sheriff Feldane identifies the unconscious 'BossMan' as Borvius Monchello, and recognizes any slain/unconscious minions as his employees at Ilsurian Storage & Hauling, Borvius's place of business on the docks.
Sheriff Kyra asks you "What happened here?" How much do you fill her in on? Do you share or conceal the will?
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Nilah thinks for a moment, considering the ease of the fireplace.
We... could dispose of it easily. If it were me alone, that's what I would do to ensure the cleanest outcome here. But, I understand some of you would have a problem abiding that working smoothly with the Sheriff after. Further, we've earned some trust from the Sheriff and I believe she'll understand it was planted. It would be detrimental for the documents destruction to harm that trust.
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"Oh please. Burn this stupid thing. I wouldn't have thought you'd be so intent in sowing confusion and chaos in this town, Mr. Ejtehah... you of all people should be well-versed in ancestral rights and know that the estate belong to the children, fair and square. Instead, why don't you volunteer to serve as the children's trustee until they come of age? you could afford to flex your legalistic and administrative muscles for a few years yes?"
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"I think that if we make it clear that the circumstances make it obvious that this document was planted, it will be considered evidence against these criminals. It certainly highlights their motive: an extraordinarily hostile takeover. Without it, their motive is less clear. The sheriff seems a decent sort, and will no doubt agree with our assessment. Having the circus in town gives them the perfect scapegoats for their long-planned schemes."
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"We have enough evidence to send them to town jail without this will hanging over the kids' head and opening up future claims against their inheritance. We have the two kids as witness to their crime! Furthermore, I don't think we have solid proof that this will was planted. Do we? is it irrefutable?"
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"How about a compromise then? let us not burn this fake will, but let us delay its submission until the very end of the Sheriff's investigation... if her investigation agrees with ours, and the kids' future is not affected, we can permanently hold the evidence for safekeeping. If it instead turns out that the Sheriff has not enough evidence to conclude these goons are guilty, we can then submit this evidence to her to tip the scale. What say you?"
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Nilah flashes a grimace that transitions into a frown.
Witholding means we could have fabricated it later than we claimed we found it. Any funny business like that just puts us in a bad light. Burning it could work as long as everybody here can keep it under wraps, but that's the best (and likely only) non-forthcoming option.
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The Professor doesn't realize she's sticking her nose up in the air as she sanctimoniously states: "I've had my say, though if the group makes another decision, I will keep quiet on that score. I cannot promise that the children haven't heard any of our conversation, however. Whatever they say about it will likely be garbled by misunderstanding, but it may be enough to cast doubt on these men's guilt."
@Salmok Comparing it to the note you found on the body, the signatures DO match.
However, when you compare both to the papers found in the study, the study papers don't match either letter. Arhaneem loops his A's in a very particular way. The will and note appear to be forgeries.
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"Oh, how I wish some of us were trained in the occult arts... a little psychometry or aura reading here would help tremendously..." says Magdelina, looking at Salmok and Ejtehah...
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Upon Salmok's discovery, the Professor breaths an audible sigh of relief. "Ahh! Excellent! Yes, the plot thickens. Your expertise is evident, Salmok. Good job. Now, I can say that I feel much more confident that the sheriff will recognize this will as a forgery, and an amateurish one at that. Does that change anyone else's mind?" It seems that, when she promised to go along with the group, she hadn't anticipated how difficult it would be for her to deliberately flaunt the law. Now, however, she's brightened considerably and is confident that no shady shenanigans are necessary to foil the bad guys' plans.
@Magdelina I think you misunderstood - The will and note appear to be forgeries because when you compared both to the papers found in the study, the study papers DON'T match either letter's signature. The papers in the study reveals the true Arhaneem loops his A's in a very particular way that differs than the note or will.
Sheriff Kyra arrives about 10 minutes after the combat ends. "The neighbors woke up early to lights and odd sounds coming from the Braeton Manor, so they sent a runner to alert me. Sorry it took me awhile to arrive, but I see you had the situation well in hand. What happened here?" She looks around at the dead and incapacitated folks on the ground and looks surpised as she identifies the unconscious 'BossMan' as Borvius Monchello, and recognizes the minions as his employees at Ilsurian Storage & Hauling, Borvius's place of business on the docks.