"I'll scan the area for magic," Jessi tells the others. She turns to Zea, grins again, and adds, "I'm still getting used to the mask. I'm called the Magpie, by the way. Thank you for trusting us."
Zea hesitates a moment before shaking the bard's hand and watching her curiously. "What are you doing, exactly? Magpie." The last word seems to be an afterthought, with a note of bafflement at her choice in names.
"Just being thorough," the Magpie admits. "Though it's a longshot, there's always the possibility that either the victim or killer lost a magical bauble during or shortly after the attack, and it could be hidden in the snow and slush. Such an item could provide a valuable clue! Also, as the Magpie, I feel a certain obligation to collect such things: Might find something valuable!"
Nyxra stands back and effects an air of stereotypical elven aloof detachment as Jessibel and the others get to work.
It's abruptly shattered when she notices something in the snow... it looks like an intact tooth.
"Hold on now, what's this?" She bends down and picks it up.
Vantine asks Zea "Who collected the body and took it away?"
Alexius stands quietly and does his best not to die of boredom while his old, boring family members and their old, boring associates talk of things that do not matter. Oh dear! The southeastern dock crane will be out of operation for two weeks while it's repaired! Whatever will we do!? Since uncle Sendi would dismiss his bid for access to the long-term records out of hand, he would have to wait for the archivist to, at the very least, not be surrounded by people who outrank Alexius.
Zea tilts her horned head, goat-eyes narrowing slightly. "I guess. I don't think Arator was wealthy enough to have magic stuff... though I guess he could've had some stuff from his dear old dad." She takes a quick look around again, as though to reassure herself of that fact.
At Nyxra's dental discovery, the young woman blinks and lowers her head, as though to let her horns protect her. "A tooth, looks like. Might be from Arator, might not." She shrugs. "It's damn near impossible to tell."
To Vantine she replies. "Me and a couple of folk from around the block. We don't exactly have graveyard privileges down here, and if we want bodies treated right, we gotta take them ourselves. And whatever else he was, Arator was one of us."
The archivist, a woman in her middle years with mousy brown hair already turning to gray, looks up sharply at him. "Lord Alexius. Can I help you?"
Jessibel--nay, the Magpie--catches the possible significance of something Zea just said. As she searches the snow around the crime scene for any footprints that are unusual (barefoot, cloven, smaller or larger than the others, etc.), she casually asks Zea a sneaky question.
"By 'one of us,' do you mean those who wear that symbol on the pendant you wear around your waist?" she asks Zea with a reassuring smile. "We did some research before coming here, and one of our number noticed the prevalence of that symbol," she explains. "Is it a holy symbol of some kind? What does it signify?"
Zea freezes, her eyes widening before she scowls darkly and steps away, looking ready to bolt. "I don't know what you're talking about. We don't cause any sort of trouble here." While that's clearly a lie, it's equally clear she does not want to talk about it - perhaps because it's the middle of a public road, or perhaps simply because she doesn't trust the Ravens yet.
Vantine notices the symbol Jessi mentions. She still doesn't see the slightest resemblance. She doe try to repair the situation though.
Deflect. Distract. New Topic
"It's very beautiful Zea, such a unique style to it. It's something I might wear."
Ignorance to trivialize the inquiry about the subject.
"I was thinking if the poor man's body could still be viewed we might check to see if the tooth belongs to him."
Zea shoots Kantine a short glare. "I wasn't wearing anything like what you've described." She says, her voice harsh.
"As for the body, you can't see it. Like I said before, we don't have graveyard privileges. We cremate the bodies within a few hours of finding them." Though the young woman's hackles aren't quite down yet, she does seem more comfortable talking about the crime.
Jessibel sucks in some air in surprise and concern at the sudden turn in Zea's demeanor. Her eyes narrow in suspicion as the tiefling gets defensive and starts to lie to her and her friends.
"Trust works both ways," she tells Zea. "If that symbol is that of an illegal god that some of your people worship, we really don't care...unless it's an evil god that sanctions the murder of innocents. Look--the facts are that there've been ten tieflings murdered in your neighborhood over the course of three weeks and the one possible clue one of our group found while investigating is the prevalence of that symbol. If we noticed that, the dottari could notice it as well. Whereas we don't really care who some of your people worship--so long as it's not an evil deity--the dottari are unlikely to be as ambivalent."
"And we're gonna find out what it means anyways," the Magpie adds matter-of-factly. "Like I said, it's the one clue we've got so far--not including the tooth. I can either show the sketch of the symbol to dozens of strangers at Alabaster Academy, or you can come clean to us now. You and your people aren't the only ones at risk here--ten people are already dead, and we've offered to put ourselves in harm's way to help end the murders. A little cooperation here would be appreciated; lying to us is suspicious at the very least! Like I said, that symbol's our biggest lead at the moment. Maybe folks who wear it are being targeted by the killer; maybe it's unrelated to the killings; it's even possible that symbol marks the members of some crazy cult that's responsible for the killings, right? We're outsiders--we don't know one way or the other."
After the fact, Jessibel realizes that her words came off as more confrontational than diplomatic (which is what she'd intended). Still, she stares at the young tiefling, trying to read Zea's reaction to her words.
Zea's expression hardens into a stormy frown, an expression only enhanced by her fiendish features. "If you insist on prying into matters that aren't yours, Magpie, then you may well investigate on your own."
She does get the sense that the young tiefling is convinced that Jessi's suggestions that the symbol is related to the killings are wrong.
With that, she turns on her heel and begins walking away. "If you're truly so concerned about us, you'll shut up about that." She calls over her shoulder as she leaves.
Which is, Alexius knows, past the Shackles, who have been even more hostile to Chelish ships than they alway have been since the naval fiasco of three years ago.
"As for your question, yes, I am in charge of the archives. What is it your mother wants you to do?" An eyebrow arches inquisitively.
Jessi can hardly believe the words she's hearing from the uppity tiefling.
...or maybe we'll just leave the investigating--or should we call it 'body disposal'--to you and your secret society? the angry bard thinks in response to Zea's first barb.
And if you're truly concerned about keeping that symbol and its meaning a secret...maybe you fools ought not be wearing it openly!
Fortunately, the bard keeps her thoughts to herself...for now.
Nyxra shakes her head. "Let's just let this go. We're not getting anywhere here."
Vantine shuts up. She doesn't seem to be able to say anything to help smooth things over, which is unusual territory for her to find herself in. As things get rawer between Jessibel and Zea it makes Vantine's stomach hurt. Unless her temper is engaged, she doesn't like conflict.
But when Zea goes to leave, Vantine decides she must try something to smooth things over. She goes after Zea and catches her at a slight distance, enough to give them some privacy.
"Zea! Stop! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. If some things are none of our business, you can say so. We'll not bring it up again. It's not what we're here for anyway."
"I'm also sorry for J... uh, Magpie's behavior toward you. She's very young and used to getting her way. I'll say it, she's quite spoiled. It's something we all put up with from time to time. Could you please overlook it right now for the sake of helping us stop the murders?"
"Agreed," Jessibel growls in response to Nyxra's words. She's still staring daggers into Zea's back. "Maybe we should go deal with the Red Jills instead," she suggests. "I've got some righteous anger built up and I'd like nothing more than to take it out on a bunch of tiefling b----es!"
"Maybe later. You know what I know now, anyways." Zea calls, her shoulders tight and footsteps swift and furious.
Vantine comes back, now fuming.
"Well done 'Magpie'." The sarcasm heaped on the last word is a foot thick.
"Why do you think you deserve to know things about people whether they want you to or not? Righteous anger my ass, a self-important and stymied hissy fit is what it is. You didn't get what you wanted, boo-hoo. Grow up."
Jessibel's eyes widen in surprise at the tongue-lashing Vantine gives her, but then narrow again in anger. She answers her friend tersely.
"Well, if I'M risking MY life to help save others...I deserve the truth for starters. I explained to her that that weird symbol is like the one real clue we have at this point. Did she say, 'Oh--I can't tell you what that symbol's about but it's got nothing to do with the murders'? NO! She lied and denied she was even wearing the thing, then told me to shut up when I pressed her a bit. Her whole demeanor changed the instant I mentioned that symbol.
"Let's look at the facts here and then speculate, shall we? Zea leads us to the alleged crime scene where we find a tooth that may or may not be related to the murder. Then she says there's no body to examine for clues because they get cremated immediately because...well, just because! She seems to be helpful without actually being so...until I ask a question she doesn't want to answer. Then her attitude shifts 180 degrees! You don't find that the least bit suspicious?
"Maybe she's part of a religious group that worships an illegal deity and didn't want to admit it...but then again, I told her we didn't care about that...unless it was an evil deity. So maybe she's part of an evil cult that may or may not have anything to do with the spate of murders, but would likely be a problem we'll have to address at some point in the future. Or maybe Zea's involved in the murders and brought us to the site knowing we'd find next to nothing there...and then flipped out when we brought up that symbol. Two of those possibilities paint Zea in a really poor light.
"But let's get back to the facts. FACT--Zea's willing to let more of her people die: Keeping her secret's more valuable to her than helping us solve the murders. I'm not sure why that doesn't raise a red flag with you, Vantine. But let's not forget one last fact. Regrettably, I told Zea that we'd find out what the symbol means, with or without her help. If she's willing to let her own people be murdered to protect her great secret, she'd almost certainly also be willing to kill a few meddling outsiders as well. We should leave."
Aisling sighs wearily. "We have enough enemies without fighint between ourselfves. Everone has secrets, and it's nomral to be curious. But we havent earned their trust. Let's find out what's killing them, and maybe then we'll get more from Zea than curses."
Aways the lawyer, she tries to sum things up. "So let's see what we know. 1. All the killings have happened in the southern central Devil's Nursery. 2. There was a tooth at the scene of one of the murders. 3. All victims so far are tieflings. 4. The tieflings are afraid to go out at night - ergo, the murders probably are thought to happen after dark."
She thinks for a moment. "Why don't we just hang out here after dark and see what happens?"
"Why don't we just hang out here after dark and see what happens?"
"Because tieflings and/or whatever's doing the killings can see in the dark, and we can't." Jessi grumbles quietly. "Or shouldn't be able to," she adds, turning her eyes briefly toward Vantine. Though the bard had always previously considered Vantine's ability to see in the dark as something cool and awesome, now there's suspicion in her glance.
Aisling shrugs. "I can summon light wehn it's needed. But we'll probalby be using our ears more. Having your teeth pulled out like that must hurt, if someone did it to me I'd make some noise." Sje looks around at the others, trying to see if they'll go for the plan. "What do you think? Come back here toonight, lay low and keep our ears open for trouble?"
Vantine folds her arms across her chest and her face goes stony. She's even more angry now.
Vantine keeps her voice low and even when she speaks. It makes her seem a little intimidating.
"Hers is the only behavior I do understand. She agrees to help us against her, rightly, better judgement. Then, instead of focusing on what we can find out from the murder site, the only help she can offer, you declare something she happens to be wearing the only clue we have so far. Wouldn't you be worried if you were in her shoes? No you wouldn't, because you would just buy your way out of whatever comes with your family name and money wouldn't you princess?"
"Do you not realize that all we would need to do is go to the dottari and tell them she was responsible, and they would be more than happy to consider the case solved with nothing more? She knows that, so of course she lied. You all but accused her of murder, or being an accomplice. You're making up clues out of thin air. She found the most recent body, not all the bodies. Why would she suddenly decide to link herself to the murders if she were responsible?" There's no body 'just because'? Were you not listening at all? They cremated the body because no graveyard will accept tiefling burials. And some 'illegal' religion? Since when were you all about law and order? Almost everything is illegal now, including almost every religion. Calistria is illegal, am I a suspect?"
"Then because she won't answer your questions about her private business, you tell her you'll just find out somewhere else anyway? That sounds like a threat. What if she had demanded to know the names of your parents? Would you have told her? And what if she had then told you that if you didn't, she would get their names elsewhere? How would you take that? What I learned is you acted aggressively and insufferably, and that she rightly left us standing in an alley because of it. FACT! She doesn't want to protect her secret at the cost of more killings; she thinks we're too stupid to solve anything, and as a reward for her wasted time she'd likely end up executed."
With that Vantine is finished talking. She turns and stomps back into the alley to have another look around for missed clues.
It looks like Jessibel's going to respond to Vantine's words with something both devastating and potentially friendship-ending; in the end, though, she clenches her teeth and keeps her hateful words to herself.
The Raven rolls his hidden eyes and chases after Zea, but not to further the questioning. "Miss Zea, if I may steal another moment of your time." He says as he catches up to her, finally breaking his silence. "I apologize for the behavior of my associates. They are..." He waves an arm back towards the other Ravens while he searches for the appropriate word. "Decidedly human. But I can assure you they mean well." He was surprised Zea had been willing to talk to them at all. Most of the tieflings would have nothing to do with the aristocracy. The relative wealth disparity between the Ravens and miss Zea would have been apparent at a glance; Aisling's breastplate or longsword alone were worth more than most of the houses in the Devil's Nursery. "I will let you be on your way, but I wanted to say two things. First: thank you for your assistance, we appreciate it. I know you did not have to speak with us, many would not have." With this, he withdraws five gold coins from his purse and holds them out to the young woman. Tempting as it was to give her all the coin he had, Zea suddenly spending above her station would attract predators. "Second: please do not assist anyone who comes around asking about murders and do not, under any circumstances, go with them anywhere. What if we were the killers and thought you a witness, or dottari looking for someone to blame?"
When her mentor races off to apparently console or apologize to Zea, the sense of betrayal Jessibel's feeling is essentially complete. True, she hadn't been particularly tactful in calling out Zea's duplicity regarding the strange symbol, but the girl's total denial was just...off the charts. Was it possible her allies hadn't even noticed that the tiefling girl wore the very symbol she denied even existed on a pendant on her belt? Jessibel even wondered if perhaps Zea had charmed her friends, but she didn't see how that would have been possible.
The bard turned her glowering eyes to each of her remaining allies. Nyxra, she felt, had never truly liked her. The taciturn elf seemed to tolerate her, suffering through her talkative, sometimes impetuous nature mainly for the benefit of her inspirational and healing songs. She wasn't certain Aisling liked her, either, but at times she felt that the holy warrior saw some potential in her. Jessibel generally didn't have the spine to go against Aisling or to challenge her...which is why she hoped that what she was about to say might get through to the Iomedaean.
"You're fond of saying, 'The revolution will not be improvised!' Shouldn't that same principle apply to an investigation into a string of murders? It seems to me you're suggesting that we camp out in the streets with no idea whatsoever about who or what the killer might be and just hope for the best."
Alexius sniffs and looks away from the mean lady. It would not do for a Vashnarstill to stoop to the level of name calling and threats that the common folk so often fall back on. "Miss Dolly, I don't want to be here any more than you want me here, if you could please just be a little more professional, I will be out of here in no time." Alexius says in a moment of unusual but not unheard of self-awareness. "Mother wishes me to compile a list of some of our oldest - literally - customers. Something about a 'customer appreciation' event. 'Appreciation'?! Is a ship not sinking to the depths not appreciation enough?!"
Nyxra, having listened to the argument so far with gradually clenching fists, puts a finger on Jessibel's shoulder.
"Jessibel. Enough. Let it go." She says while glaring at the bard.
She withdraws her finger and looks over at Aisling. "A stakeout of the area sounds like a good idea."
Zea waves the Raven away. "Leave off. I've lived here my whole life. I'm well aware of the dangers involved in this area." With that, she continues onwards, seeming largely unimpressed as she vanishes into the afternoon crowds of the Nursery. The Ravens are now the subject of several odd looks, and people rush by them, trying to avoid eye contact.
With that, she sets briskly off at a pace hard for Alexius to keep up with whilst maintaining the illusion of his disability. Ultimately, the two arrive at an ornately carved door, which she unlocks and opens, revealing a somewhat cramped single room with dozens upon dozens of boxes in shelves. "Who, specifically, were the customers you were looking for?"
Jessibel steps away from Nyxra in an angry huff, stewing silently until Vantine and the Raven rejoin the party. Once there are less locals around to overhear, she speaks her piece on the matter. "A stakeout might be a good idea...eventually," she says. "But right now we know next to nothing about what we might be getting ourselves in for. What if it's a gang of wererats committing the murder? Gods have mercy on us--what if it's another imp? Four or five imps? We have a few silver weapons now, but I'm still waiting on mine!"
"My point is, there have been nine other killings and we haven't bothered asking for details about them--there could be similarities or clues left behind that will help us toward identifying the killer. With all the snowfall, there's a really good chance the killer left behind some footprints. If he didn't, that might be a clue in itself: It's either a ghost or can fly."
"We don't know if there's a pattern to the frequency of killings, some similar trait the victims share...heck, we don't even know if the killer only preys on lone victims. If that's the case, it likely won't attack a group of five ever, and unless it doesn't spot us lurking, likely won't strike anywhere close enough that we'll be able to prevent another murder. With our luck, we'd run up a minute too late to help, be seen, and then be accused of having committed the murder ourselves!"
"Un-be-liev-a-ble!" Alexius exclaims in shock and horror when he sees the archival room. He hobbles over to a box set on the floor and kicks it with his good leg. "HOW can uncle Sendi say there's no room for my above-ground wine cellar when he can dedicate an entire room to old paper?! No wonder the other families laugh at us. I never beheld such lopsided priorities." With his cane, Alexius knocks the lid off of one of the shelved boxes and glances at the contents. "I dunno." He finally says in response to Dula. "People who've been customers for more than a century." Anyone old enough to remember the Silver Ravens.
The Raven returns, feeling defeated. He places a hand on the excited Jessibel's shoulder, giving her a squeeze and a sad smile. "Be still, little Magpie. Let us not make a scene." He leans against the wall, looking in the direction of the crime scene but not really looking at it. "Miss Zea is not 'willing to let more of her people die,' I do not think. She has no reason to trust us with anything more than is readily apparent, such as the location of a murder."
"I am not so certain going around asking everyone we can find about the murders is a wise choice. Word will spread fast; no doubt the perpetrator or perpetrators believe they can get away with these killings because the Dottari care not for the tieflings, but if word gets out that someone seems to care," He nods at Aisling. "Especially one so heavily armed, they might go to ground. Serial killers have been known to go into hiding for years, decades even, between sprees." He steps away from the wall and looks to the roofline above where the body was found. He would strike from the skies if he were looking to assassinate someone, but he was always more comfortable on the rooftops. "If you did not find anything in the snow, dear Falcon, mayhap they struck from above. I can take a look. After, we can see about getting information from the families' of one or two other victims, if we can find them without attracting attention. As for keeping watch at night: our chances of success would be greater if we had some bait, which I think I can help with."
Vantine returns from looking around the alley, clearly flustered.
"I don't know what to do. Maybe if we knew where the other bodies were found we would at least know where to focus our efforts."
"If we can find anyone who will talk to us, maybe we should do it sooner than later. We didn't just burn a bridge with Zea. We burned a bridge with anyone Zea talks to now, who knows how many people that might eventually be?"
"Miss Zea is not 'willing to let more of her people die,' I do not think. She has no reason to trust us with anything more than is readily apparent, such as the location of a murder."
"I can think of 10 reasons," Jessibel grumbles. "Fine--she doesn't trust us. But that works both ways, and Zea just threw cold water on our hottest lead, said 'No I didn't!', and walked away scot-free. Let's all keep that in mind!"
The angry bard lets out a deep breath and some of the pent-up tenseness seems to melt away; she may finally be ready to let things go. She nods to the Raven and says, "Good idea. I'll come with you, at least as far as the alley. Maybe I can give you a boost or something."
She listens to Vantine silently, deciding that she agrees with more than she disagrees with, so she keeps her mouth closed and her unpopular opinions to herself.
Looking out over the street... doesn't glean much more information. Other than his own, there are no footprints in the snow on the roof - even those patterns that seem like footprints at first glance are just patterns of melting snow.
Wait, there is something shining in the corner of his eyes - no, wait, that's just the sun reflecting off of the snow.
Vantine wanders about looking for someone who seems promising to talk to. When she finds someone who might be, she asks about the murders including how the people were killed.
The Magpie accompanies Vantine. They may still be a bit frosty toward each other after their recent exchange, but Jessibel does her best to help cajole whatever clues they can from the reticent tiefling locals.
Working their charm, the two young women manage to find a pair of tieflings who claim to have seen the body of the ninth victim, Sibilus. Somewhat unfortunately, they're in a tavern, and smell strongly of cheap alcohol.
"Oh, yeah. Weirdest thing. The wounds weren't like anything I'd ever seen. I'd call them knife wounds, but knives aren't shaped like that." One says, his three horns glinting in the twilight.
"Shears. Like the ones they use on sheep." His partner says sagely, as though imparting great wisdom.
"Nah, sheep shears are bigger than those." The first turns to her, frowning.
"I said like shears, stupid. Not actual shears." She looks to Vantine. "Sorry. He's a bit dim. Too many barstools to the head, y'see."
"Shut up, Meridia." The man says. "'sides, they were more like... like big pinches. But cutty." Meridia belches dismissively.
"So... small dull shears?" Vantine asks, feeling a little confused by the description.
Jessibel smiles--a real, legitimate, beaming grin--at Meridia's last words; they remind her of a little ditty she composed in honor of her grandmother's yappy and aggressive poodle:
"Oh Harcule! Sweet Harcule!
How I'd love to smash you with a barstool!"
She pays for another round of drinks for the two informants--using all coppers, so as to not appear too wealthy--and then heads outside. There she glowers again at Vantine, not sure they're back on speaking terms yet. But finally Jessi breaks, 'cause there's a question she needs to ask: "What the heck are 'cutty pinches?'"
"Maybe." The man says, nodding sagely.
"I think they look like spider bites would if they didn't swell up." Meridia disagrees. "Sharp, stabby, but..." She pinches her fingers together.
"When've you ever seen a spider bite?"
"Remember that time when Waithe had us digging up his basement? Some sort of-"
"No, no, no. I don't want to remember that..."
The tieflings continue arguing as the two young women leave the tavern.
Vantine frowns in puzzlement and shakes her head.
"I don't know what to make of it. I'm pretty confident it's not a normal weapon though. Maybe a mad craftworker with some tool of the trade?"
The pair spend the rest of the evening searching for more answers, but only come to the conclusion that what they've learned is about all that the people know. Most of the tieflings are very reluctant to speak on matters relating to the murders, and even those willing to do so have little more to add, other than the horror of the constant murders.
The Ravens reunite in a small ramshackle shed that adjoins to an abandoned house.
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Aisling is wrapped up warm, and has brought a few provisions from home to share - nothing terribly excieting, just a few pastries. It's as much a peace offering as anything, she hopes Jessibel and Vantine have made peace but if not she will stuff their moutsh with food to shut them up.
As the hours tick by, she does her best to listen for any sounds of trouble.
Vantine is feeling glum as they settle in for a cold night of waiting. She sits beside Jesi and wraps her cloak around the both of them, pulling Jessi in close so they can share warmth.
Jessibel uses prestidigitation each hour to enable her to continually heat everyone's cloak to ward off some of the cold. She also uses it to add some buttery taste to the pastry Aisling offers (and she offers to flavor everyone else's food, if they'd like). The teen seems to have recovered some of her manners, for she thanks Aisling for the goodies.
When Vantine pulls her closer, Jessi doesn't resist: Warmth wins out over a mostly-expired grudge for the young noblewoman unused to this level of cold. Still, she tries not to become too comfortable....
"OLD people, like yourself." Alexius says in exasperation. "Compile a list of our oldest and most loyal customers". Alexius recites in a tone mocking his mothers voice.