Preach had to hold it together! The idea of half the embassy high on Faepepper was so ridiculous he was sure their superiors would accuse them of making it up. Softly to the other constables, he said "I suppose if you're desperate enough to steal from the embassy getting the staff high would be a boon, but wow surely there's an easier target? What was she doing here?"
The woman looks to the others, "I would appear that we have gathered what information we can from here, shall we take our investigation, to other venues?"
"I think so. Can someone grab the rest of the candies and place it in the evidence bag?"
With the realization that the candies might have been tampered with, there's a bit of a mild panic amid the staff, especially when it becomes clear that the consulate's staff physician isn't around. Everyone is more than happy to turn the contaminated sweets over to you all.
Alsah will ask around for witnesses outside
The young bard follows the lead of Aslah, making her way outside to ask around to see what she can gather. She gives a polite nod to the officers still there as she passed by and continues opposite the witch.
She mingles and makes small comments attempting to illicit any sort of information from the onlookers.
"What a a tragedy." she would add.
Along with playing those not fond of the Danorans, "The poor girl, what did they do to Nilasa?"
"I wonder what really happened?" shaking her head.
"Chief, it looks like anything found on Nisala was already removed. Can you show us what was taken from her?"
Adam nodded, this was a good question, he felt a foolish for he should have thought to ask it too.
Lebrix is happy to show Bryn the collection of small, but valuable oddments that Nilasa had on her person.
Stepping outside, you make arrangements to have the body removed from the embassy and taken to the city morgue for further investigation.
Spending some time canvassing the crowd outside, Millicent and Alsah pick up a few credible pieces of information:
1. One witness claims to have seen someone up in the window, after the crash and gunshots. They looked like they were completely black, except for something shiny held out, perhaps a gun. A moment later they had vanished.
2. Another saw a man with a goatee run up to the dying woman on the fence. She handed him a bundle of papers and folders, and spoke to him before she died. The man yanked a yellow pendant and necklace off the woman’s neck, before running away.
3. Following up the second lead, you find someone else who saw a man sprinting down the street, carrying an armful of something, before turning down an alley. They also are able to point out the alley in question.
"I suppose we should look at the alley, but it sounds like this man with the goatee is long gone." sighed Preach upon hearing what the crowd had to say. He paced for a bit before adding, "The fact they stone papers is very interesting, I'm beginning to think this is more serious than we thought"
If possible Preach will speak to Lebrix again and ask, "Sir, sorry to take more of your day, but have any papers or folders been stolen? If so was anything important taken and could you describe them?"
If he admits to the loss, Preach will say, "We will attempt to recover the papers, but this is beginning to sound like a professional job and that that may be very difficult."
The young woman will wait for the others and relay the gathered information. She will want to quickly investigate the alley before moving on to the Thinking Man.
Not just papers but a pendant as well. Magic, or maybe valuable? We best check the alley
Alsah will cast detect magic and investigate the alley
"I suppose we should look at the alley, but it sounds like this man with the goatee is long gone."
"Still, he may have left something behind... and if we're lucky, a trail,"
Investigating the alley Bryn is able to find signs of a brief scuffle, and a fallen piece of paper in the mud, which looks like a copy of a deed of ownership for a canal barge, marked with the seal of the Danoran consulate.
While you are nosing about the alley, a man, garbed in the livery of a city carriage driver, steps into the far end. He call out, "Oi, are you folks the constables?"
There has been some magic used here. Electrical in nature.
Turning to the driver Alsah replies Yes sir. Can we help you?
Bryn picks up the paper and after reading it, passes it along to the rest of the team to look at.
"It looks like we have another lead. I wonder if this is what Nisala acquired? Or maybe the key piece is what's being made or stored at this location," Bryn ponders.
Seeing the carriage driver hail them, Bryn does a quick scan of the alley for others that may be waiting for them.
Preach quietly replied to Bryn, "It seems likely Nisala stole this, we shall have to check the barge out."
When the carriage driver hails them, Preach nods and listens patiently to what he had to say.
After a moment of assessing the area she spots something in the mud and moves forth kneeling down. She examines the blood she has found and after a whiff of the odor she smells. ”Odd, steange blood here.” she points it out to the others
"Good eye!" Preach said softly to Millicent before bending down to inspect the strange blood she'd spotted.
The driver introduces himself as Jack Byron. He explains to you that he picked up a man coming out of this alleyway. "He had bloody hands, and was carrying a bundle of something. He said he was a Doctor, so I figure they were probably his tools of the trade. So he runs out of the alley, hops into my carriage and asks to be driven to the House of Blue Birds. That's a hostel way over on the western edge of the North Shore district. He gets to blathering, saying that he was a doctor in the middle of a procedure, and that he needed to get his special surgical equipment. I mean he did look the part, all prim and proper, and I could tell he was a foreigner because spoke with funny accent, like you get from folks out of the northlands. Anyways, we get to to the hostel and he tells me to wait and that he'd be right back for the return trip. Waited a half an hour before figuring that he wasn't coming back."
He spits, "Picked up a fare for the return trip and figured I would nose a bit around the consulate to see if anyone knew the fellow, so I could get paid. I found the coppers instead and they sent me to find you lot."
Preach listened carefully to the man and when he had finished he told him, "You did the right thing by telling us. Could you describe the bundle he was carrying in more detail? Could it have been a bunch of paperwork or files?"
Turing briefly to his fellow constables he suggests, "I think we should pay this House of Blue Birds a visit, shall we ask Mr Byron to take us?"
He considered what he knew of the hostel as he asked the cabby, "How much was your fee this doctor absconded with?"
The woman comments quietly to her colleagues, There was some sort of electric magic used here recently. Perhaps a cause of said blood.
She waits for further information to be gathered before commenting. Noting the information found about the ‘doctor’ in question.
The driver nods thoughtfully, "Aye it could have been that. It was a leather-bound bundle. Honestly, it could have have had almost anything in it."
The driver lets you know how much he's out and agrees to transport the team to the hostel for the same fee
"Hmm. replied Preach, "This case is getting more and more complex by the minute. First a woman who by all accounts can darn near fly, then it turns out she fed half the staff drugs and stole a load of papers. Now we learn she had an accomplice and there's weird blood and electrical magic has been discharged. Whatever next?"
"Time to find out. Take us to the hostel Jack," Bryn commands as he starts getting in the vehicle.
Priorities change. The hostel first, the rest later Alsah gets in the carriage
The bard jumps up on the carriage with the driver, if there is room. Along the way she will chat him up and start to cultivate the man as a potential asset in the future. After all drivers see and hear all sorts of going ons within the city. It can never hurt to have such information passed along.
Jack tips his cap and climbs into the drivers seat, while you pile into the carriage. Hardly luxurious, the carriage still proves to be far from the worst you've seen and your trip progresses with only moderate jostle and bounce. Still, the hostel is fair jog from the consulate, and you are properly tenderized when you finally emerge back on to the street.
Jack points out a building with a trim decorated with bright blue birds. "There it is. Do you want me to wait for you, or shall I be off?"
...
From the outside the estabiliment looks respectable and well maintained. Stepping inside you are greeted by a neatly dressed man of middling age. "Greetings and welcome to the House of Blue Birds. Are you interested in a room?"
Preach gives Jack a generous tip and says, "Give us an hour, if you're still here when we're done, there's more where that came from."
Inside Preach takes note the surroundings, looks reputable enough he thought. He presented his warrant card as he responded to the man, "Actually we'd like to ask you a few questions. Do you have somebody claiming to be a doctor staying here? The person we have in mind is foreigner with a northern accent. They might have checked out in a hurry not long ago, and they might have been acting oddly..."
"We'll take a room as well. We might as well sit down and have some food and drink while we talk," Brynn interjects, greasing the wheels.
The man frowns, "As I said to Officer Porter earlier, yes Dr. von Recklinghausen is a guest here. Lovely man. Impeccable references. Flew in and out in quite the hurry a couple of hours ago and hasn't been back since."
To Bryn he says, "We do have room available if you need one. Minimum stay is a week. Meal times are posted in the dining room."
”Officer Porter? Did he do or ask anything else while here?” The bard asks from the side of Preacher.
”Could we please have access to the food Doctor’s room? There may be some concerns for his well being.” At this point the woman takes an item from her pouch and covertly displays her Royal Homeland Constabulary for the man to see, smiles, and returns it to the same pouch.
Officer Porter? Adam considers if he knows of such an officer...
”Officer Porter? Did he do or ask anything else while here?” The bard asks from the side of Preacher.
”Could we please have access to the food Doctor’s room? There may be some concerns for his well being.” At this point the woman takes an item from her pouch and covertly displays her Royal Homeland Constabulary for the man to see, smiles, and returns it to the same pouch.
"We'll take his room for a week," Bryn adds.
Alsah looks at him wryly As long as you explain it on the expense report
"Officer Porter asked to see Dr. von Recklinghausen's room. He said something about looking for contraband. You're more than welcome to see the room as well, if you just let me have a good look at your credentials please."
The man frowns at Bryn, "I can't let you a room that is already been booked. We here at the House of Blue Birds pride ourselves at following the law. But, I believe there is another room available across the hall from Dr. von Recklinghausen's, if you are interested."
He takes a long look at your badges, and satisfied that they are authentic, he leads you up some stairs to a hallway with several doors. Pulling out a thick ring of keys, he finds the one he is looking for and opens a door. "I'll be waiting in the hall if you require anything."
The small room is pretty nondescript, with a bed, storage trunk and writing desk. The whole place is in a bit of a state, having obviously been searched in a rush. Your own follow up doesn't turn up anything that would provide any information regarding the identity of the in habitant of the room. Either the doctor didn't have any personal effects, or they've been removed. You do find one interesting item of note.
In the room's small waste basket, you find an oily pocket kerchief that's been stained with some sort of black viscous substance that smells like burnt axle grease.
Preach entered the room cautiously, he didn't really expect to find anything of note.
Still when the oily pocket kerchief was found he murmured, "What have we got here?"
Thank you sir Alsah said to the man.
Once in the room, she looks at the rag.
is that oil, grease
"I wonder what agency this Officer Porter works for?" asks Bryn, concerned at the relatively clean room.
"Still, the Doctor might have stashed something outside the room. Let's take a look around, ask the other guests about interactions, and then find out more about this Officer Porter..."
Just in case, there was not anything obvious the woman takes a look about the room in disarray. Take a little extra time as she moves about the room in a methodical manner.
As she searches she nods at Bryn's in wanting to know who this Officer Porter was and what they were doing.
Alsah and Preach take a good look at the kerchief. The lighter oil has the consistency and fragrance of high quality weapon oil, The darker substance has the consistency of grease, but some time with a full alchemical lab is going to be needed to determine its specific identity.
Bryn and Millicent do a little more investigation and determine that Dr. von Recklinghausen generally kept to himself, but was polite and friendly in the few interactions he had with his neighbors. You do find out that he had been dealing with the Danoran consulate to arrange for a travel visa.
The bard considers a moment once they have regrouped and compared notes on what they have found within the room.
"We may have to return to the consulate, as they would that information on Dr. von Recklinghausen if he was indeed attempting to attain travel documents and if they are still in a sharing mood. Millicent informs the group.
"Shall we move on to the Thinking Man’s Tavern to see what we can find any information on Nilssa and," she looks at her small book where she has been keeping notes before she continues making sure she had the correct name, "Mr. Sechim?"
Alsah smiles at the man who spoke them before.
Thank you for letting us see the room. Can you tell me how long ago officer Porter was here?
Preach suggested, "I could pop back to the consulate and enquire about Dr. von Recklinghausen and meet you at the tavern afterwards. I assume you'll be there for a while..."
"We could also drop this substance off for analysis on the way,"