I do believe this is the Lady Anita. Let's gather what books and research we can and also bring the body so it can be placed to rest.
Perception
Garion sits back on his heels after examining the body.She seems to have been drowned?! he says with a puzzled look on his face. The wound on her face where her eye was happened after she died. There's no blood. Yes, Samant, the sooner we can get the body back to the Lodge, the better. Upon hearing the clinking noise he jumps and exclaims, What was that?
Nik shows Garion and the others some of the stuff she has found:
"Drowned? what a sucky way to go! I sure hope Calistria gives me a more ... passion-like ... way to go when its MY time!"
NIK shows Garion and the others the vial
"I was looking through her stuff and found this: can you tell if its magical?"
NIK notices the small jewelry box on the dresser. She will check for traps or locks on it and open it see what's inside.
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Nik carefully examines the jewelry box and finds no sign of any traps. There is a small lock holding the lid closed, but the key is already inserted into it and it is a simple matter to unlock.
When the dancer lifts open the lid, she reveals the contents of the small box to to be a tangle of several necklaces of silver and gold, mixed with an assortment of rings suspended within the mass of coiled jewelry.
How is a drowning even possible? That her eye was damaged after her death proves this was no accident!
Zeldin looks to the wardrobes and starts to see if there is any magic in them, as well as trying to see if there is anything more mundane hidden there.
In any case, I agree with you Garion. We need to get her back to the Lodge. I am not in favor of spending the night with a dead woman, nor am I in favor of leaving this place open for who knows what to happen. We seem to have beat up the security system pretty good. I think some of us should guard this place and others head back to the lodge. I am willing to do either job. I do think moving through the streets with a dead body has it's own attendant risks though, and wonder if we might bring some of the Lodge here instead. I do believe this is a step worse than what they thought had happened.
I'll stay and guard with you, in one of the entry rooms. There is still the matter of the trap door to explplore too. Find anythign interesting there Nik? Notes? Books? He peeks into the jewlery box, You know the important treasures?
Samant also checks the room for signs of a struggle
Appraise
To Samant: "No IMPORTANT treasures in the sense the kind YOU like! Mre the kinda treasure that makes a dancing girl's eyes light up!" giggle
NIK makes sure all that tangle of jewelry and rings is safely secured in her purse-pouch!
"I agree Zeldin: we cant let poor Anita just lie there without proper rites being performed. Garion can you do something? Should I put coins on her eyes or something?"
NIK's initial glee at finding all those nice nice thingies goes away a bit when she looks at the dead Lady Anita
"Zeldin is right: we can't leave Lady Anita like that! Poor thing! She needs the proper rites so her soul travels to the next world! Garion can you do something? Should I put some coins over her eyes or something?"
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Nik has just hit the jackpot! The jewelry within the box is surely worth thousands! They did belong to the famous Lady Anita, after all.
The cabinets seem to contain only clothing of mundane nature, except for a set of pale blue robes which radiate faint abjuration magic... as Zeldin examines them, he becomes more and more convinced that their protective nature allows them to absorb the harmful energies of the magic missile spell, much like the more popular brooch of shielding.
Samant is only able to find the tracks of the group disturbing the layer of dust on the floor.
"Garion can you do something? Should I put some coins over her eyes or something?"
Unfortunately, Nik, I don't know which faith Lady Anita followed. I will do my best.
Garion bows his head and prays. Lady Desna, guide this fallen sister to her final resting place and protect her from any who would harm her.
"Even if she doesn't follow the Great Desna, I'm sure she will appreciate it Garion!"
NIK takes a moment to say a silent prayer to Desna for her soul, then one of thanks to Calistria for giving poor weird dead lady Anita such GREAT taste in jewelry!
"So we found her, but can we stop here or should we also find out what happened to her? Like how she died? What's this about drowning?"
After giving her quick prayers, NIK will look around the room for any hints she can find
"Guys any advice on where I should look? I'm at a bit of a loss here! How in Calistria's undergarments can Lady Anita have drowned?"
NIK looks for anything that could have water, like a tub, a pool, a fountain, or any signs of something like that
Water! Matted Hair! We saw something in the sewer the other night, or at least I thought I did! I bet that is not mere chance!
Zeldin takes the blue robe from the wardrobe.
This is magic.
perception
There's a good chance the sewer incident could play into this, but the person responsible would have had to know how to get the lady back here.
"Good memory Zeldin! Samant is right too: maybe they got her back here by using a secret passage"
NIK will start checking for secret passages here
Nik remember that there was the hatch we couldn't open in the other room too.
"OK then lets go check it out! Are you guys in?" NIK asks Garion and Zeldin.
If everyone is willing, NIK will check out that hatch in the other room for how to open it and for traps
Zeldin follows the group, and hopes this evening does not get any weirder.
I think we should carefully examine this room. There must be something here that sheds some light on how she died.
Calix
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While you're looking closely at the area around her however, you do notice that under the bed, just out of reach of where her outstretched hand rested before you moved her, is a rolled up piece of vellum.
NIK will finish that check then move on to the other trapdoor
Garion reaches under the bed and pulls out a roll of vellum. He opens it. I wonder what this is.
"Vellum that's something used to make parchment right?"
CALIX: Is there something written on the roll?
Perception:
"if the vellum is blank is it possible there is some secret ink? what about if there was something there but it vanished by magic after"
Samant continues to watch for any of those electric debris monsters.
Garion holds his holy symbol over the vellum and seeks enlightenment from Desna.
"What do you think this vellum is Garion? Its GOTTA be linked to Lady Anita's death!"
Zeldin, there seems to be some remnants of a magical aura on this that I can't identify. Could it be a scroll that someone used? Can you analyze it?
Yes, of course...
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Zeldin too can detect the traces of some expended magic on the scroll, but it is too old for him to make much sense of it. His keen eyes do notice some faint pale lines marking the surface though where some ink might have once been... if they could be made to stand out a little beter it might b possible to read what was once written.
As Nik searches the room, she finds a leather satchel carelessly dropped down the far side of the unmade bed, against the wall. The thick layer of dust covering it suggests that it has not been disturbed in a very long time.
NIK will carefully examine the satchel, looking inside
Is it fashionable by the way? or more the functional kind?
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Beneath all the dust, the bag does have a quite fashionable design, with a subtle floral pattern on one corner of the flap. Inside the main compartment is a leather bound book, and a couple more rolls of vellum, while in a side pocket is a stoppered drinking bottle within which a liquid sloshes around as it is moved.
NIK keeps the floral pattern satchel but shows the vellum rolls and the potion to Garion and Zeldin: "Hey guys are these magical?"
NIK will try to sniff and sample the bottle: is it perfume or booze? :)