Meri examines the outside while the others chat up the locals.
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Between the Son of Cayden, Arin, Baretta, & Ushi silvery tongues, you hear the following (which all is you can discover outside the house):
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Thank you very much for that information. I will leave you to tend to these children now. May they scream through long lives.
Rejoining the group he compares notes with the others.
The first thing Arin does after they enter the threshold is to focus his divine eye of magic on the place where it is pointed out that Yuenosh was found.
Then, searching for other clues in that same room... .
Meri looks around with her trained eye.
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You enter the house to investigate there. While you detect no magic, Arin & Catushlara, aided by Ushi and Meri, find out the following:
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"No signs of forced entry." Catushlara notes as she takes a look at the door and the windows. "Hmmm. Bleaching is a slow and gradual process isn't it? It shouldn't have left her face in such a condition. I've heard of the phrase "scaring the life out of someone" but this looks literally the case.
Standing up from her investigation of the corpse Catushlara squints as she takes a closer look at the wall Ushi is pointing at. [b]"What's this? 'Help me. I am the ghost of Humush Mum. A necromancer is holding my family hostage and forcing me to kill. They are in—'." she ponders for a few moments. "Quil, do you know anyone by the name of Humush Mum? The message here says they are a ghost being controlled by a necromancer. Any necromancers around here?"
Bodies. Meri says flatly. Or proof of concept...if they made something and wanted to test it...who knows...
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Ah, this makes much more sense as a potential cause. Now, we have a necromancer on our hands. We have to hope the other victims left us more clues to find them. Humush Mum. I wonder if this person was well known in town.
He nods at Meri's intuition. It usually is the simpler answers. He waits to hear if Quil has any info on necromancers in the area, or Humush Mum.
On the way, Arin will knock on the neighbor's door just one more time to ask if they are familiar with Humush Mum as well.
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Quil shakes her head. ”I’m afraid I do not know Humush Mum…not all gnomes here come to the temple…and if a ghost, she could’ve died quite a while ago. I also have no knowledge of necromancers about…but perhaps we can find more clues at the next victim’s place. Are you ready to go there?”
Arin finds the neighbor is not familiar with Humush Mum either…
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Quil takes you to the next victim’s residence in Kalsgard’s Amber Quarter.
Somberly, she says, ”This was the home of Dion Wuglist, owner and proprietor of Wuglist’s Whiskey, he spent much of his time brewing throatburn, a style of gnome whiskey popular here in Kalsgard. Please take your time to look things over…”
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Well, I supposed we should move onto the next victim, but we certainly got some key clues out of that visit...
Throatburn... clearly to counteract the cold here.
Arin wanders across the street to see what Dion’s patrons might say about him. When he returns he informs the party that he's learned Dion had a knack for getting carried away with things. He settled in to inspect the body and look around the house.
Just like the last one. No force.
Arin looks particularly at his face to see if there's an expression of fear, as the first victim had.
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"A popular gnome, mostly well-liked and will be missed though sometimes annoying." Catushlara ponders as she finishes interviewing the surrounding businesses. Inside Dion's house the cleric takes note of the body. "Same as the last scene. No signs of forced entry, no wounds or injuries on the body. Is Linnorm's Breath his brew or was it bought somewhere?"
Nope...no signs of entry...even a good burglar would be hard pressed to make it look this clean...either they got in magically...or they were let in...wait... she says as a thought strikes her.
Perhaps the drink was what did it? Can one of you check the bottle by the body? Any residual magic?
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For a moment, the whiskey bottles give rise to considerations of larger batches and distribution, before the reality that Dion will never be able to offer such a partnership now strikes it down.
"If we are dealing with a ghostly assassin, the lack of force still holds true. I see no motive beyond cruelty, as well as an easy cover with the Bleaching." Ushi surveys the scene with magic, despite the feeling that no auras will reveal themselves.
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"Taking 20 means you are trying until you get it right, and it assumes that you fail many times before succeeding. Taking 20 takes 20 times as long as making a single check would take (usually 2 minutes for a skill that takes 1 round or less to perform). Since taking 20 assumes that your character will fail many times before succeeding, your character would automatically incur any penalties for failure before he or she could complete the task (hence why it is generally not allowed with skills that carry such penalties). Common “take 20” skills include Disable Device (when used to open locks), Escape Artist, and Perception (when attempting to find traps)."
"Retry? No. The check represents what you know, and thinking about a topic a second time doesn’t let you know something that you never learned in the first place."
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Having found all you can at the second scene, Quil leads you to the third crime scene is the in Kalsgard’s Ice Quarter.
Quil nods towards the house. ”This is the home of Nockzet Griddlu, a merchant by trade. Nockzet recently won big in some of the high-stakes games run by me at the temple; she had been on a bit of a spending spree before her death, acquiring several expensive items.”
“It’s a real shame what happened. Poor girl comes into sudden wealth, dies a few days later from the Bleaching, and she’s barely in the ground a day before some no-good thief breaks into her house and ransacks the place. That sort of thing doesn’t happen often here in Kalsgard: we’re a lot better to our neighbors than cities further south.”
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As they approach the third house, Arin tries to start asking around about the new name they've received.
He gets a strangely cold reception. Perhaps his very un-gnome-like stoicalness is finally catching up with him.
I shall have to think on my manner the next time I try to chat up the locals.
Shrugging it off for now, he heads inside the house to look around.
The gnome's keen eye quickly observes several interesting details. His scan quickly darts around the room, and as he sees things he calls out to whomever from the group followed him in, absent-mindedly of who it specifically is.
Well, there is certainly more going on here than the first two houses. A window in back was smashed open from the outside. There is glass all over on the inside. Snow has blown in over it through the broken window, but still, please watch your step in that room...
After noting the minor hazard he moves onto the bedroom.
Ah! Here is the shrine to her gambling. He opens the closet door to reveal it to the party. It contains a couple of small candles, a handful of lottery tickets, and an oversized golden die with gemstones in place of standard pips, with an extra gem on the “six” side.
Arin then more specifically looks around at his companions, asking Are any of you studied in religion? I think I have guesses about what this represents, but I would prefer those with knowledge confirm it.
If Quil is nearby, he also addresses her and asks Or perhaps you know outright given the association of the shrine to gambling. This is associated with your diety, temple, and its activities?
Back in the living room, he takes a lap around a cluster of scratchings on the floor before finally coming to rest and one point and eyeing them intensly.
Ah, there's a message here. Very faint, almost invisible! It reads “Help me. I am the ghost of Humush Mum. A”, then there is a sizeable gap. It continues... “arlin Lane. Save them.” This is certainly ghostly ectoplasm, just as at the previous house. Strangely, there is a large rectangle outline where blank space is. Perhaps a painting or rug or some other object held the rest of the message. Hmm...
He turns to Quil again. Do you know any townsfolk who's name ends in that way? "Marlin Lane"? "Darlin Lane"? Something similar?
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While his fellow agents inspect the third house for clues, Son of Cayden gathers information from the neighboring citizens and establishments, remaining polite and respectful.
"The painting thief, Madame... who caught him? any chance we could talk to those guards? and do you know if he had any relatives, friends or a boss in Bone Quarter? what is the Bone Quarter, if I may ask?" asks Son to the baker lady.
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"Someone came and ransacked her place? This looks more like an assassination than natural bleaching. Someone is triggering bleaching on the gnomes!"
Inspecting the inside of the house Catushlara follows after Arin. "That is the symbol of Nivi Rhombodazzle."
"That's the second mention of Humush Mum we've seen. We need to find whoever this person is. If his family is being held hostage they should be recently deceased."
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If Quil is nearby, he also addresses her and asks Or perhaps you know outright given the association of the shrine to gambling. This is associated with your diety, temple, and its activities?
Quil nods. ”Your friend is right, the die is a holy symbol of Nivi Rhombodazzle. Nockzet was very fond of her golden die, having bought it with her recent winnings, and would use it whenever she got the chance.”
He turns to Quil again. Do you know any townsfolk who's name ends in that way? "Marlin Lane"? "Darlin Lane"? Something similar?...
”No townsfolk…but there’s a street called Marlin Lane…”
"The painting thief, Madame... who caught him? any chance we could talk to those guards? and do you know if he had any relatives, friends or a boss in Bone Quarter? what is the Bone Quarter, if I may ask?" asks Son to the baker lady.
The woman shrugs apologetically. ”I’m sorry, that’s all I know…the man was a drifter, no relatives here…”
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Having found all you can at the third crime scene, Quil leads you to the the last crime scene in Kalsgard’s Bone Quarter.
Quil reflects sadly. ”This was the house of Gebnirnar Tath. He was something of a drifter and layabout, got by on odd jobs and temporary work, as he was never one to be able to hold down employment for long…
“However, he was a staple of the annual ‘Linnorm Hunt’ festival, where he enjoyed dressing up as a linnorm to entertain the local children.”
“Yeah, I knew him. He owed me quite a lot of money. Had a taste for the races, he did. Terrible at picking out winners, though. Now that he’s dead, I’ll be lucky if I get half what he owes me, and it’s all tied up in the courts. What a mess! I know gnomes’ll just go bad up here with all the ice and snow, but couldn’t he have waited until he paid me back?”
“He loved the children. Couldn’t ever count on him for much, but if a child needed him, he was as dependable as night and day. Every year he took part in the Linnorm Hunt. I think he spent half of what he owned on his costume. And he did something new for it every year.”
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While his fellow agents inspect the fourth house for clues, Son of Cayden gathers information from the neighboring citizens and establishments, remaining polite and respectful.
Later, with the Pathfinders, Son says "According to the kids, Gebnirnar was being tailed and harrassed by 'big scary men', and since he was in debt to his next door neighbor, perhaps he was also owing to some kind of crime boss..."
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"So, good with children but lousy gambler." Looking through the pile of letters on the table Catushlara notes. "Creditors, creditors, creditors. Looks like this gnome is in debt to half of Karlsgard for over several thousand gold pieces." Finding nothing else of note among the pile of letters the cleric searches the gnome's room and pulls out an elaborate costume from under the bed. This must be the costume he uses for the Linnorm Hunt.
"'He me. I the gh t of Hu h Mum. A ne oma er is oldi my fa ly hos e an f r ng m to ki . They a e in t eme t of 23 M in La . S e em.' Looks like another message from our ghost. More garbled than any of the others though. The three victims died not too far apart. How could the ghost deteriorate so quickly?"
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Good work everyone!
Arin seemed distracted at the last house and others beat him to the punch. There is a team after all.
He looks over Catushlara's shoulder at the notes.
We certainly know what name to fill in there... and what Lane goes there. 23 Marlin Lane...
he turns to Quil.
Can you take us there?
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Having found where all the clues lead to, Quil nods to Arin. ”Aye, I can take you there forthwith…follow me!”
Quil guides you thru the streets of Iceferry till you come to thhe house addressed as 23 Marlin Lane…
This old wooden house has clearly seen better days, and sags slightly to one side under the weight of accumulated snow. One of the windows is broken, and another has been boarded up. A faint scent of mildew can be detected from several yards away.
You warily enter the house. The house appears to have been abandoned for some time. The main floor of the house lacks for anything of note, and is largely empty…
You notice some long gouges in the wooden floor near the cellar door; upon opening, you notice stairs leading to the basement…
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Son of Cayden drains the rest of the ale from his mug and places it back on his belt hook. He then wiggles his finders and sends some dancing lights racing downstairs to illuminate the path, allowing him to check the stairs for trip wires and other nasty surprises...
"Hey Meri? want to take a crack at this trap-checking stuff? your elf eyes are no doubt better at this than mine..."
That's what I'm here for... the rogue says as she looks about.