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@Kittenmancer: I very much enjoyed Skalla’s backstory. Not one to be missed. out of curiosity, I just read it -and indeed! It's a great story, beautifully told.
I can access both the map and the who's who!
Best of luck! Making a choice is never easy!
I'm finished with Selkyon!
Shame it ended so abruptly, but it was fun while it lasted. Pleasure to have met you and played with you guys :) Best of luck for the future!
Still here!
Selkyon is happy to do the walking, and leave most of the drinking to Raziel and his young friend. He adapts to their pace, letting them stay a few yards ahead or behind should they desire some intimacy.
Before going back to his bedroom, Selkyon is of course willing to walk back to the carnival with Zelladania... Except if Raziel would rather do it himself, and would frown on any additional company.
Selkyon raises his glass with a strained smile, and carefully avoids to drink from it. Glancing over at Raziel, lost in conversation with Zelladania, he clears his throat and stands up: "I'm feeling quite tired. I'll leave you to enjoy your evening, and meet you tomorrow morning."
"It's risky, but worth a try," Selkyon says after considering Pelipe's idea. "Are you sure you can cast the spell without getting caught?"
Selkyon gladly has a go at the bottle of liquor that Pelipe offers him. He takes a sip, coughs, winces, and puts his glass down. "Were did you get that?" he asks, with the face of a man who has just bit into a lemon and can't take the taste away from his mouth.
"I don't expect the Gilded Hand to keep a conveniently low profile while we rest," Selkyon admits."But we don't know exactly what we're facing, and I think Ivar has got a good point. We don't want them to know we're investigating. Maybe it'd be safer to wait until tomorrow. What do you think, Raziel?"
"As edifying as this was, it seems that we don't know much more about Red Beard," Selkyon comments as the party leaves the shop. "Shall we pay a visit to Robella Monchello, or wait until tomorrow? I assume the street performer could potentially know about the Gilded Hand as well."
"A yellow painted hand... Do you know anything about the meaning of this symbol? Is it tied to any religion?"
"We will," Selkyon assures the man. "Thank you for your honesty. One more question: have you seen a red-bearded, human man among your clients or outside your shop?"
"I understand," Selkyon says, not at all deterred by the tailor's shock. He takes the empty vials out his pocket, and shows them to Lefann: "These vials were found on the crime scene. They used to contain an unusual alchemical product aiming at transforming someone's body. Whoever made it must have mixed it themselves. We have a list of several persons in town that occasionally shop for esoteric herbs and reagents, and unfortunately, your name is on it. I'm not accusing you of any criminal activity, I just need to cross you out of a list of suspects. Now, if you please, can you tell us what ingredients you usually buy?"
Selkyon thanks the boy on his way out before addressing Levann: "Good evening. We're investigating the murder of Sister Woodmere. We need to ask you a few questions." He briefly pauses, in case the tailor should want to close the door or lead them into another door to avoid any customers or workers eavesdropping. If not, he continues: "We know you are a frequent purchaser of alchemical substances. Can you tell us a bit more about the type of herbs and reagents you buy?"
Selkyon grimaces as he glances through the window. "Crowded in there," he tells his teammates gloomily, before entering the shop and addressing the first worker he sees. "Excuse me, may we speak to Ifay Levann?"
"How come you suspect her especially?" Selkyon asks Pelipe, perhaps regretting it slightly as the wizard's explanations are probably lengthier than he expected. He doesn't interrupt Pelipe, and, even though it's clear that he never could have come up with such a reasonign himself and that he occasionally struggles to follow, he still appears impressed by her analytical skills. "If we get to the bottom of this case, you might start a career as a detective," he tells the spellcaster with a mixture of playfulness and awe. "Let's get to the tailor's before it gets dark."
"Here you go," Selkyon passes the note to Ivar. He takes a look at Pelipe's deductions as she shares them with the group, his eyes widening as he reads through. "That's... thorough," he eventually says, after racking his brain for a proper adjective. After glancing through the wizard's scribbling, he goes back at the beginning to read it a second time, and his expression turns thoughtful as he slowly reconstructs Pelipe's reflection. "I guess it all makes sense. Shopkeepers are also more likely to be put in contact with Redbeard, and participate in establishing trade with the Skulks."
Even though Selkyon's question seems not to have been noticed by either halflings, he does not repeat it, thinking that interviewing the tailor in person would be better. "Thank you both for your time," he eventually says, if no one has any more questions. As they walk out of the shop, he shares the contents of the halfling grandmother's note with his teammates: "I'd say it's best to pay Ifay Levann a visit. Interesting that they should have mentioned that Redbeard was well dressed. Maybe they were brand new clothes..."
Of course he'd make himself look like an eyewitness, the ranger thinks to himself, hiding the beginning of a sarcastic smile. What a nerve. "Does Ifay Levann count the carnival workers among his clientele?" Selkyon asks.
"Thank you ma'am," Selkyon replies. He looks over at the list of names, letting Ivar ask his own questions.
"Self-transformative?" Selkyon repeats, feeling uncomfortably out of his depth already. "What kind of transformation are you thinking of?"
"We would like to know what these vials used to contain," Selkyon explains to the older halfling. "It appears to have been some alchemical mixture."
"Good afternoon, miss," Selkyon addresses the young halfling. "We're here looking for some information, if you don't mind. We've got vials containing alchemical remains that we would to have examined. Could you tell us what they initially contained?"
"Maybe," Selkyon ponders on the possibility of Skulks infiltrating the carnival. "Though not without some layers of make-up to hide their grey skin. It may explain the clown disguises. Lead the way," he replies to Ivar, ready to follow him to the merchant district.
"It'll be too difficult to prove that the no one at the carnival pocketed the coins," Selkyon replies. "Ivan is right, we'll have to find the culprit ourselves. Shall we move to the alchemist's shop?"
Selkyon picks up the empty pouches, thinking it best not to let them lie around suspiciously. Walking back to the group, he pauses in awe at the sight of Pelipe in the dress. "Suits you," he clears his throat, as Pelipe's poise and elegance brings back the bittersweet memory of a love long gone. "One of the shopkeepers said he sold a kabob to a man with a red beard yesterday," he adds, regaining his composure and seriousness. "It might have Red Beard. I've also found these lying around," he says, showing what must be the stolen pouches.
Selkyon takes some time to look around and interview the shopkeepers. "Do you know if any tear-away clown costumes were lost or bought?" he asks around. "Have you seen Sister Woodmere today before she was found dead? And have you by any chance seen a man with a long, bushy red beard?"
I'm sorry that we didn't react adequately to your suggestions, Ivan. This module is sure difficult to figure out, it goes all over the place, and it can be a challenge to plan where to go next while staying RP (as you said, what a character would consider a priority based on their wants or beliefs might not be what's best for the party to do). I've played Selkyon as feeling strongly for the villagers who got robbed, but I think I've made a mistake in not considering that looking for the lost pouches could have waited. I was so confused by all the possible actions that we could do (look for the pouches, interview the tailors, interview the alchemist...) that I haven't backed up your idea of visiting the alchemist, even if I think it's probably our best lead and what we should have prioritized. I'll take more time to weigh our options in the future, and I'll be clearer in stating what 'I' (not my character) would prioritize. My apologies for not communicating better with the players involved, and I'll make more efforts so we can get to the bottom of this mystery :)
"Let's do that then," Selkyon follows the group.
"Thank you for your help, Almara. We'll certainly ask around, in case someone has seen something," Selkyon replies. "We can start with looking for the lost pouches," he tells his teammates once they've left the tent and are out of earshot. "As for interviewing the carnival workers, I think we know someone we can trust," he adds, glancing at Raziel knowingly.
"You'll need to keep the Sphinx safe and away from eyes, then," Selkyon says to Almara with a meaningful look. No tricks or illusions for a while. "We can visit the local alchemists and tailors. We'd also need some proof that carnival workers were not involved in either the pickpocketing or the murder. It'd help to interrogate the staff members, set up a timetable of where everybody was and what they were doing before all hell broke loose."
"The victim was a cleric of Erastil. Was she part of a temple?" Selkyon asks. "Was she known for having enemies?"
Predictably, the tracks become too muddled to follow, and Selkyon quickly comes back with a disappointed shrug. "We won't have lead here," he says, feeling like they're once again running out of options.
Poor kid! xD
"Definitely," Selkyon acquiesces. "We'll have to show it to a specialist. Do the carnival workers typically wear these kind of costumes?" he asks Almara, pointing to the tear-away disguises. "Has anyone spotted performers dressed up as clowns that looked out of place?"
"I don't know yet," Selkyon admits, taking a cautious sniff at its contents.
Selkyon picks up the three vials to inspect their contents, expecting them to be shiver. "Looks like someone infiltrated the carnival," he tells his teammates, pointing to the tear-away costumes.
Selkyon closely inspects the body, in case it presents wounds similar that the ones he found on Archivan Walder's corpse.
"We can try searching the carnival for the stolen purses," Selkyon says. "If the thief is among the workers, it's likely that the purses are still on his or her person. If someone is actively trying to discredit you, perhaps that they have left the stolen purses in the carnival to be easily discovered by an angry mob."
Although Selkyon has held suspicions towards the carnival workers' integrity since Almara has openly lied to the group, he doesn't want to stay aside waiting for the situation to escalate. Following Pelipe, he walks up to the townsfolk decidedly but without aggressively: "Everyone, please calm down," he says, loud and clear, hoping to put an end to the general confusion. "You will be compensated for the loss of your purses. Will you please tell me in which part of the carnival did these accidents take place?"
Selkyon lets out an almost inaudible sigh. "Let's see what this fight is all about," he says, clenching his jaw in repressed exasperation.
I've never played either, I'm afraid...
Pelipe's plan seems good to me. We can start with the carnival.
Finding out the identity of the drug dealers seems to me to be the main lead we have at the moment, but we don't have a lot of information to track them down in the first place. We can try to get Rogi to tell us where the Skulk lair is, and interrogate them. Alternatively, we can stay close to the tannery in hopes that it's a regular meeting point between sellers and clients. There's also the (faint) possibility that some NPCs might be shiver consumers, in which case rolling some Knowledge (local) checks or interrogate people could help. It's not a very reliable way to proceed, however, and it can backfire pretty easily. Maybe you guys have other ideas?
"The Skulks were supposed to meet the red-bearded man near the tannery once they were done," Selkyon says helpfully. "We did find footprints indicating that six humanoids met there, three of which were walking bare-footed, which corresponds to Rogi's claim of working with three accomplices. I doubt that they were stupid enough to meet in present of witnesses, but that's the closest we have to a lead if you want to ask citizens if they've seen a red-bearded man."
"This is Rogi. He is a Skulk," Selkyon says, as if it were sufficient explanation. "This way," he tugs slightly on the rope to guide the humanoid to the Sheriff's door, and knocks before entering. "Sorry to disturb your evening," he tells her, once everyone is inside the Sheriff's office and the door is closed. "But we have information that might interest you. This is Rogi. He was part of a thieving group that attempted to steal from Archivan Walder's vault. He got caught in one of the traps, and we found him with a broken leg. Apparently, his accomplices fled after hearing the screams of the victim upstairs. They were apparently working for a human man with a long, red beard, who provided them with shiver as payment."
Selkyon nods back to Pelipe, and tightens his grip on the silken rope. "Come on," he tells Rogi, leading him on the way to the sheriff.
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