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There are 4 rooms to choose from - Ingrit, Tagheema, Tiki, Ekkie. Which one will you check first
Acrid smoke hangs in the air and broken glass crunches underfoot. The still smoking exploded corpse of a hefty bird lies in the middle of the lab, and burned feathers are scattered everywhere. Although many of the stone pieces of alchemy equipment came through the fire intact, the same cannot be said for the lab’s bookshelves. The charred books crumble when touched.
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You enter Ingrit's room. This is a wizard’s dorm room. Books lie open on the bed, the floor, and all over the small desk. A pile of laundry has been kicked under the bed.
You find a few small vulture feathers mixed in her dirty clothes, and some empty reagent bottles in amongst their personal hygiene items. You also discover Ingrit's notebook, which includes detailed sketches of the wayfinder of the open road.
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Miladistra identifies the feathers as those belonging to a vulture. Khaldan and Miladistra further find fibers from the fuse and determine that the bird was long dead before the explosion. You surmise that explosives were stuffed into a vulture carcass and lit with a long fuse. The why, however, escapes you.
You find unusual clues in Ingrit's room. You proceed to Tagheema's.
This dorm room is covered with the homesick Tagheema’s drawings of horses, including horses racing at Serpent’s Run. There is a large supply of makeup on the desk, a crafting repair kit next to the bed, and a weapons rack.
If you succeeded with the above check:
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Stepping back and leaning on his staff, Khaldan will pronounce "That's the strangest stuffing I've seen before! Explosives in the bird and a long fuse - not what I would want to see in my Solstice dinner. However, it was very effective and created quite the diversion. I assume it was planted beforehand with the intent of providing the thief with cover. We can't have missed them by much! So, shall we go back to the dorm and see how the others are going?"
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Delorn discovers a series of marked racing programs from Serpent’s Run in one of her drawers— indicating that Tagheema is a regular gambler—and a bill indicating a huge debt to Mendesil Loans company.
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”Solving a crime requires three components: Motive, Method and Opportunity”, Delorn proclaims, as he starts slowly pacing in front of the others.
”Motive: Tagheema is a compulsive gambler. She borrowed heavily from the Mendesil Loan company, and needs to pay them back soon if she wants to keep her legs. Ingrit has a notebook with detailed sketches of our missing wayfinder; selling it would fetch a pretty penny.
“Method: Ingrit has been doing some alchemical work in her spare time, and has vulture feathers on her dirty clothes. Someone has a set of taxidermied vultures, of which one is missing. That seems to tie in with what you found, Miladistra”
He stops pacing.
”And finally, Opportunity: we confront our suspects, connect them to the day’s events, and recover our prize before it’s sold off”
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"An excellent summation of the situation Delorn and Miladistra." Khaldan will note as Delorn finishes
”A fair point”, Delorn replies. ”Perhaps the wayfinder offers something mere gold cannot…and perhaps that’s where it’s headed”"But if they wanted money, why not sell the tea set? It was right there." Miladistra frowns.
"But sounds like you have a plan."
"Yes, this crime isn't just driven by greed - if so then the tea set would be missing and we would be in the maze by now. However, the debt could still be a motive - perhaps blackmail to retrieve a unique item, or even the wayfinder specifically? That said, it seems clear that Ingrit is involved in the alchemy explosion, or that someone really wants us to think she was. Oh and she would be more likely than most to know the runes to disable the wards in the tower. Obsession with the wayfinder would then be the motive. The thief was pretty athletic though, climbing to the tower, escaping over the trees - is Ingrit up to such feats of strength and agility? I'm still not convinced we have reached the answer."
Khaldan will then muse for a moment.
"I agree it is time to talk to witnesses though, but let's start with those who don't seem to have a direct link yet. So Ebrylis and Tiki first? Then perhaps the lodge staff? Oh and we should hold our information to ourselves - if only to avoid tipping anyone off, but also to avoid causing a stir until we are certain."
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You manage to find Tiki Stitchfeather standing outside Common Room. Tiki Stitchfeather is a female goblin with a somewhat shy and nervous manner. Her blouse has the feathers of many different bird species stitched to the collar and sleeves.
"Y-y-yous looking for me?" she asks nervously.
Khaldan will hang back for now while the more charismatic members of the party take the lead. He'll be keeping an eye on Tiki to sense motive around her answers
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You easily win Tiki over with smiles and Deroff's wet tongue. She giggles as Deroff shows her some love.
"Oooh, yes, loves birds! Gots up early this morning. I's goes to carp pond to see some of the birds before they flies South. Also goes there for reeds and medicine plants. I hears boom and sees lab on fire!! Lab is my life! Not know who would want to boom it!"
You notice that although Tiki has singed feathers on her tunic, she also has mud on her pants up to her knees. Although the mud makes it hard to ascertain, she doesn't appear to have anything on her clothes that would cause a fire (i.e. accelerants).
Although Tiki is putting on a brave front, she's more distressed by the lab fire than she's letting on
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"Okay, boy. Don't drown the goblin. Sorry, goblins really like Deroff." She holds him back and he whines a bit.
"I do like checkin' the crops around here, but I never thought about the birds too much. Usually they're eatin' my harvest!" She chuckles. "But never the rutabaga. They knows best to leave 'em be!" Deroff whines again when he hears the dreaded word. "Ah hush, you. It's part of yer diet."
"Tiki, you said you saw some birds, did you see a vulture? Probably not, but I heard rumors there was one around here."
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Ebrylis looks at the party. "I was told ye might be comin' around. What can I do fer ye?"
Ebrylis scratches his beard. "[b]Hmm. Now that you mention it, yeah. I've noticed Ingrit and Tagheema sneaking out late at night several times in the past month. Not sure where they're off to though. By the time I notice them they're gone. Can't tell you much else.
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Anything unusual that happened you can remember these past few days will be of great help. We know that you are innocent so feel free to speak freely. asks gently Elondel.
After hearing what Ebrylis has to say he turns to his comrades.
So I think Ingrit and Tagheema are our next subject to speak to.
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When you ask Ebrylis about the fire, he scratches his beard, saying, "I was pulled from the gate by the screaming of Tagheema and Ingrit, who swear up and down that they saw their fellow novice, Tiki Stitchfeather, fleeing Eurythnia house just before the explosion. If it’d been an explosion in Barakhan house, I’d have first seen if the Pathfinder novices could take care of it and viewed it as another training session. But a fire in an alchemist lab can go bad fast, so I yelled for help and joined in the fire fight right away."
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"How interesting that they threw Tiki into the fire, as it were, so quickly. Almost as if they knew there was something suspicious about the incident." Khaldan will muse. "Yes it does seem time to talk to that pair. And how interesting that the two of them were together"
turning back to Ebrylis, Khaldan will say "Thank-you for talking to us - you have been very helpful."