The Flayed Man part 14

Gently, you've been requested to leave the temple to their work and thus you have the opportunity to go and inspect the burnt inn. It's probably not a bad idea anyway, and that's why you're there now. The inn in question's second floor is damaged, certainly, that much you can see from outside. There's a couple of city watch men standing outside the door.

Seldan was only too happy to leave. The smell of burnt human flesh, ointment or not, was getting to be a little much, and theyhad their own work to be about. Best they were about it quickly.

When they approach the inn, he surveys the top floor, but also the bottom, and the outside.

Malik walks up to the inn, the smell of smoke still heavy in the air. Noting the guards at the door, the tsuran does a rather quick mental calculation, nodding to Seldan as he heads around a different way, attempting to plot a path that will gain him entrance without having to deal with the local authorities. He leaves the other two to do the talking.

Iskandar watched Malik split away without comment. He strides up to the door. He nods at the first watchman, than the other. "Greetings," he offers. "We heard there was something of a disturbance here," he says and then adds. "A tragedy."

GAME: Malik rolls Perception: (8)+20: 28

GAME: Iskandar rolls perception: (7)+12: 19

GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (15)+5: 20

Malik looks up at the top of the building, inspecting the damage. He's already left the others behind for now, silently cursing that he has no better spell for communication prepared. The damage looks extensive, but not as extensive as he might have thought for such a fire. Quietly, he examines the surroundings, looking for the best way up to the room without interacting with the guards.

"More than a tragedy," Seldan answers, coming up behind Iskandar. "Forgive us. We knew the man murdered, and have reason to suspect foul play, here. May we look more closely at the room?" His Myrrish-accented tones are even and polite.

Soon, you're able to talk your way past the guards. It's not exactly difficult. Who wants to see a burned out room? You guys? Well, one guesses that's okay for heroes. Seldan's got a good reputation, and it's not like Iskander or even Malik are unknown around the city. Before long, you're able to enter the (smelly on account of burnt) inn and tromp up the stairs to the inn room in question. There are scorch marks around the doorframe, the door itself having been removed for the time being. Which is good, 'coz screw doors, right?

The inn room looks like an inn room. Things belonging to the paymaster are scattered around the interior in a way that fits that he was here. The scorch marks are the most intense around the desk in the corner which is *terribly* seared. The acrid odour of burnt flesh is still present.

Iskandar wrinkles his nose but otherwise endures the smell as best as he can. His attention is drawn almost immediately to the desk. "I wonder what caused the fire to begin with," he says. "Some sort of spell perhaps?" He walks in a circle around the desk, seemingly unwilling to put his hands on it.

GAME: Seldan casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 13 DC: 16

Wrinkling his nose, Seldan pads into the room, looking around at each of the effects, noting what is destroyed, and what is not, and his frown deepens as he does so. He lifts a hand and draws a swift sigil in the air before his eyes. He speaks an arcane phrase to it, and it immediately becomes nothing so much as a lense of golden-silver over his eyes, that he peers through to examine the room.

GAME: Seldan rolls knowledge/arcana: (8)+12: 20

Malik is about to start a climb, trying to make his way in through the window -- when he hears Iskandar and Seldan easily gain permission to examine the room, thus negating any need for the wizard (or whatever) to use a more subtle approach. He gives a little shrug, following the others up to the room, eyes scanning the surroundings briefly.

Stopping for a moment, he moves to the charred remains of the desk, and what appears to be the slagged remains of a brass lamp. He runs his fingers over the metal remains, looking at it curiously. "Sabotaged," he tells the others, sounding very sure of the fact, though how he would know is anyone's guess. Looking over his shoulder to Seldan, he asks, "Do you see anything active, still?"

"Sabotaged," Iskandar spits the word like a curse. "Then it's true, it was foul play. And just when we asked him to look into our case. That can't be a coincidence." He begins looking over the room, then the window. "I wonder if anyone at the inn saw something? The lamp being replaced, someone coming in here to clean the room." He pauses and then continues slowly. "And I wonder how, if indeed he was killed because of our investigation, how his killers knew that was what he was doing."

"Evocation," Seldan answers absently, still looking around at each corner, in the way of one whose attention is elsewhere. "Aught else, no, or else it has faded. I would venture that the lamp was enchanted to explode, but no arcane mark is present." He blinks, and makes an arcane gesture, dismissing the spell, then looks around. "What of his effects might yet remain, that might offer a clue?"

GAME: Malik rolls Perception: (19)+20: 39

GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (3)+5: 8

GAME: Iskandar rolls perception: (13)+12: 25

Malik shakes his head. "It takes skill to rig a trap like that. Unless the trap was built by another, and simply placed here. Dangerous, and less efficient, though." Looking to Seldan, "An area of magic that I know very little about, I'm afraid." The wizard turns, looking around the room as he looks for any other sign that might be helpful, though he answers Iskandar next. "It is a small town. People tend to see everything, and then deliberately forget anything unpleasant. The more dangerous what they saw, the higher the price of their memory tends to be. If he was killed after speaking to us, then either we are being watched, or he said something to the wrong person."

Iskandar wanders over to the window and looks out, checking what other buildings and parts of the street he can see - and, therefore, from where someone might have been able to see the paymaster inside his room. "Still," he muses, "That was the best lead we had left." Someone's been soaking up tales of investigations at Society meetings. "Perhaps if we could make it known far and wide what we are up to...the same people who killed the paymaster would come after us and try something similar. Only this time, when they find us..." Iskandar shrugs. "Well, it's us."

"Perhaps, although I doubt that they would take such a risk, when simple silence serves them far better." Seldan, too,searches the room for other effects that may have been left untouched.

Malik raises an eyebrow, kneeling down as he looks at the floor. "Everyone stop moving." The wizard looks around the room, moving very, very carefully as he examines the details very closely. "We are not the first ones here." Eyes flick here and there, following some kind of trail only visible to him. "The room has been searched, and tracks covered. By someone who knew very well what they were doing. Highly professional. Items are missing, but made to seem like they are not."

He stands, finally, looking back up at the others. "But they were working on a time constraint, it seems. A fire of this size would have attracted attention, not allowed for the level of thoroughness that less eyes could afford. We may yet find something of use. Especially," Malik muses, "if the man suspected he was in danger of some sort."

GAME: Iskandar rolls sense motive: (14)+14: 28

GAME: Seldan rolls sense motive: (12)+14: 26

GAME: Malik rolls Sense Motive: (18)+14: 32

Iskandar freezes when instructed. He whistles softly when Merek explains. Perhaps fitting the pieces together in his head. Or...or maybe it's actually because Iskandar was holding his breath as part of trying not to move. It's really hard to say.

Darius says, "Well... all I know is that he... blew up... and nearly blew me up at the same time... internal combustion is a horrible way to die..." He shakes his head in resignation as he pats the burnt spots on his armor and cloak.

Seldan freezes in his tracks without question when Malik speaks, now watching the wizard closely. This is more Malik's area than his, and he knows it well.

Malik looks around the room, reviewing the tracks of the one that came before, now that they're clear in his mind's eye. "They came in without attracting notice, but were not trying to be stealthy." He thinks a moment. "He was methodical, but not in danger from the fire. One does not sweep up and sift through such things while in mortal peril." Malik moves to the center of the room, looking bothered by something, clearly having some level of expertise in the methods of advanced criminality. "He got into the room unscrutinized, not worried about detection, methodical and hurried but not frantic. How does one gain access and avoid detection in such chaos? How does one ensure that they aren't caught, and that evidence is kept safe from discovery? Where you can see who comes and goes, without being seen?"

The wizard's eyes widen, and he lets out a bit of a groan. "You do all of that by posing as one of the gods damned guards," he says, turning back to the door and making his way back downstairs as he curses in that flowing tsuran tongue, clearly kicking himself.

Iskandar turns to watch Malik curiously. Once again it takes a moment for Iskandar to catch on. Then he gives a start and rushes after. "A guard!" he repeats.

Seldan's head snaps up, his eyes going wide. "Then we must learn who the guardsmen present at the time were, and speak with them. Begin with the one in charge." He turns to start for the door, his strides purposeful.

Malik starts to head downstairs, but pulls up a bit short, whispering to his companions. "Normally," he says, "this is the part where I pull out some manner of wand and ponder on how spending the rest of your life as something slimy and blind would be. Diplomacy -- is not my area of expertise." Sabotaging rooms with fatal magical accidents and covering your tracks, yes. Making nice with the guards to gather information in a non-hostile way? Not so much, it seems. "One of you may wish to try first, before we have to resort to my methods. It's hard to do so in the reverse order."

Iskandar skids to a stop. He nods quietly. "Certainly." Then he begans walking down the stairs in a more civilized pace. As he goes he puffs out his chest almost imperceptibly and adjusts his armor and cape, the way one might before entering at a fete to make the best possibly impression.

"Malik is well enough spoken, at times," Seldan replies with a grin for the wizard as he, too, turns for the stairs. "Darius, I will need your help to learn who was present at the time, and which may have gone missing in the confusion. Can you aid me at all in this?"

Darius nods and brushes himself off more and goes to try and question people to find those that slipped away in the chaos.

"If I understand all these clues Malik has found so far," Iskandar says, lowering his voice progessively as they descend. "The guards in question came after the fire. So perhaps sometime between the time Darius was sent to the temple, and the time we got returned here with him to the inn." As they descend the stairs and are about to reach the bottom floor he points in the direction of the front entrance - and the guards they met originally. "We can start by making sure they are the same ones we saw when we came in," he practically whispers.

"Yes." Seldan reaches the bottom of the stairs and strides outside, looking for whoever appears to be in charge, his bearing and set expression purposeful.