(PF) maggie's Rise of the Runelords: Skinsaw Murders IC

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Sirus

A well-aimed drive of Sirus's shin into the soft space behind its knee succeeds in bowling the zombie over, showering all of you in boggy brown water. Between the yielding ground and the natural resiliency of the zombie, however, Sirus is able to do little more than crack the smaller bones within its pulpy body, pounding the zombie further into the mud with his feet.

*****

Red and Setsuna

The soft marsh ground hampers the swiftest of your group's fighters, leaving them to clump their way awkwardly towards the zombie in a bid to defend the magic-users.

*****

Rico

Fortunately, Rico, ever-ready, ploughs through the reeds, snorting and tossing hair out of her eyes. A swift overhead slice easily separates the zombie's head from its putrid shoulders, the yellowed teeth in its mouth champing and its stiff puckered lips curling back like an ape's before it shudders once and moves no more.

Zombie Lord is now dead.

Brin can save her Channel if she wants.

Combat is over. Initiative ends.

*****

Perception DC 14 - ONLY on Zombie. If you want to search the area, roll another check.

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Those of you who recover sufficiently from dealing with a gruesome enemy this early in the morning to think to search the zombie's body for clues as to who its master might be are quickly disappointed. Other than its clothing - a bedraggled white smock and breeches of the sort a hospice patient might wear - there are no identifying marks on the corpse.

Some of you might observe, however, that the sickly odour of this zombie is nowhere as bad as what you smelled back in the sawmill.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

The arrival of Rico put a decisive end to things, as always. Sirus barely has the time to move away as Rico falls on the zombie like the wrath of Pharasma itself. Sirus can only snoop around the remains afterwards/

"Strange. This. Thing. Does not. Smell. As bad. As the. Other. Corpses.

What is that. It is. Wearing?"

[Miraqariftsky]

Rico gives her wave-edged blade a flick,
Sending brackish blood back into the muck
The sword reforged, made new by her own hand
Now tested in battle, stood true her comrades and her duty.

"Arright, y'all, good work.
Red? Wouldya mind zippin' over
To El Capitan an' tellin' 'im wot happ'd 'ere? Thankee kindly."

Still, she sheathes it not,
And casts about, with ears, nose and eyes
Wondering if there's a second wave or flankers afoot
Or if, like saltbeards' legend holds,
Bogs are places of ill-luck
Places where death walks

Frowns at the beast they bagged
Then she casts her gaze down
Poking at it with swordpoint
And rumbles in her throat,

"Yer right, Sirus. This thing's like... wot, been pickled? Preserved... somehow. This? Hospice smock... but that'd mean... Sister Brin? It's pointing at your theory. Wot you pointed us at. That... looks like the inmates' uniform at the Habes' Sanitorium."

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Hrmmm. Taking 10 on two Perceptions, +11 on both. And on Know: Local as well. (With a circumstantial bonus?) IS there any other hospice in the local area?

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Did I say that? She wonders at Rico's suggestion. I think not, but I'll take credit if no one else will.

"It's just an idea, Rico. I've never been there before, nor spent much time in Sandpoint. The Sheriff said that you were there this morning. Did you see the inmates in similar smocks?" She says as she picks through the muck for additional clues. She gathers her cloak up in her arms to prevent any more of the fetid muck from soaking in. She feared her boots were already a lost cause.

Once she's finished her sweep, she gathers with the others near the body. "I hate to ask this, but it is my duty to see that whatever this husk is properly seen to, lest it rise again. Will someone help me haul it to drier ground, where it can be loaded on a cart and taken to the nearest cemetery?

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Perception DC 20 on surroundings

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As you help Brin try to gather up what's left of the zombie, you notice that not far from where you first spotted it, there is a relatively dry spot of land that bears several clear imprints of barefoot human tracks. If you approach this spot, you will realise that the footprints - like the sawmill - stink to high heaven.

Survival check to see if you can make anything more out of this. No take 10s.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Taking a moment to make sure the zombie isn't going to get back up, Setsuna sheathes Maethilur and pulls her cloak tighter around herself to at least give her the semblance of decency at a distance. "I do not think I have heard about this sanatorium, is it far from here?"

Moving around to look for any clues about why the zombie was there, or to find any errant parts that may still be animated, the tiefling eventually notices the footprints that reek of the same overpowering odor as those in the sawmill. "I think that the murderer was here, these are the same footprints, right? It was probably the one who made the zombie."

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Rolled in dice thread, can't believe I actually made the perception check

Perception! (1d20+1)[20]

...and optimism has me go ahead and roll the survival (1d20-1)[7]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Survival DC 15

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Judging from the depth of the impressions on the ground and the way they are scattered, it would seem that the murderer crouched on the ground opposite the sawmill for an extended period of time.

The prints, if you follow them, start and end from the edge of the river. It would seem that the murderer had come out of the river, squatted on the bank for a long time, then went back into the water.

*****

Red

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Survival: (1d20+7)[18]

Breathing a sigh of relief as Rico chops off the zombie's head, Red is about to volunteer to help Brin carry the zombie bits back when Setsuna points out that there are more smelly footprints on this side of the river. Walking over to where the tiefling is, Red crouches, fanning her fingers out just over the footprints to see how large they are, wrinkling her nose at the smell and frowning.

Someone had come out of the river, hunkered down here for a set, and then left... Big feet too. Must have been really smelly if a dip in the river couldn't make it smell less bad.

Red frowns, then looks up at the others. "The smelly thing... it... was here. Waiting... I'm not sure. It came up from the river... and went back. Maybe it was... swimming? Or a boat..."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Thinking about it for only a half-second before saying the words, Setsuna voices a thought continuing from Red's speculation. "If it is an undead, it might not need a boat. They do not breathe, it might just have walked along the bottom of the river if it was strong or heavy enough to not get swept off."

[Miraqariftsky]

"I said it looked like it. Not exactly so."
Rico mutters, with shield shouldered,
While cleaning her curved blade

Grunting and then heaving a sigh,
Rico holds her tableshield
By its legs, then heaves
The body up
Carefully carries it
To where the good Pharasmin directs.

Catching up, she sees Red on the trail,
Follows her friend, follows the tracks
Ears twitching, nose crinkling
Brow furrowed
Rico nods.

"Aye, 'tis so. Strange.
Either swam here, or had a boat
Stowed 'mong the reeds,
Or crewed by an accomplice.
Or the damned frigger was undead as well.
An' bein' such, didn't need breathin',
Mightha just walked beneath
Onna dang riverbed."

Arms crossed, Rico crouches beside Red,
Scratching at her chin, she says,
"Holdonasec. Y'all ever think
What the heck this zombie
Was put 'ere for?
If 'twas ta kill something,
The killing's already done thattaway.
If 'twas ta guard something, then what was it?
Was it set here ta dissuade pursuit?
But if it wasn't even here
Then we wouldn'tha
Seen these other tracks.
Summin's right dang fishy, here..."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Once the body is near enough the road for it to be seen by anyone they send for it, Brin is satisfied. She wasn't the one in charge of Sandpoint's cemetery, after all, and it would be best not to step on toes. As long as saw that the remains were buried in consecrated ground, her obligations would be discharged.

Rico's speculation spark her interest. "So someone wanted us to find it, you think? A bit of misdirection? Or maybe they wanted to make sure we saw the tracks. They left that note for Sirus, so they must want attention."

"Which reminds me. Sirus, do you still have that axe from the sawmill?" She holds her hand out, expectantly. "I'd like to take a closer look at it, if you don't mind." Once she has the weapon in hand, she examines it closely for any clues, and compares it to any weapon marks on the zombie--it was certainly helpful that they had mostly hit the thing with fists and positive energy.

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Rolled a 16 perception check in dice thread,

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Brin

Perception check

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The blade of the axe is coated with fragments of bone and rotting flesh, while the handle is smeared with dried blood. If you force yourself to examine the putrefying remains, make a Fort DC 13 save to avoid being sickened for 1d6+4 minutes by the stench of the rot.

You do note, however, that the smell coming from the axe is rather stronger than that coming from the zombie. It is unlikely that the zombie was the one that wielded the axe.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

She should have known better than to hold the axe blade up to her face for a closer look. The stench coming off the weapon was enough to stagger a horse at arm's length. Up close, well, Brin spends the next several minutes divesting herself of the pastry she'd grabbed on the way out of the Rusty Dragon.

"That smell is...remarkable. There's no way this came from that zombie." She forces out once there's nothing left to void. "Let's move on. The barn mentioned by the Sheriff, then the asylum? After we've seen to this poor soul that is." If no one stops here, she returns to the sawmill to inform the authorities of the third body across the river.

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Red had never been very good at figuring things out or making plans. Even back when she'd earned her bread by swiping it off the baker's table, her method hadn't consisted of anything more complicated than running faster than whoever was running after her. It'd been only after she'd found her sister again that she'd learnt how to do something else besides run away. (Like how to break into houses. And how not to get caught. And where to kick someone if you did.)

She stares down at the smelly impressions in the mud, all the talk about zombies going right over her head. Little pools of scummy water had gathered in the shallow dish of the footprints made when the someone - or was that something? - had moved about. Neck romancy. What a weird name. How did undead things move without needing to breathe? And if they didn't need to breathe, then why did they have to eat things that weren't dead? And what did any of that have to do with romance?

She thinks of Katrine and Banny's bodies back at the sawmill - they'd been going steady, hadn't they? - and shivers, rubbing her arms as she hugs herself. No. Murder wasn't romantic at all. Not in the least.

She looks up worriedly as Brin starts puking out her breakfast. Something was missing. Something didn't make sense. But what?

"... I don't... understand." Red gets back to her feet, feebly grasping for thoughts that wouldn't come. "Why... why would the smelly thing... go underwater?"

[Desril]

Setsuna

"I am not sure, but if it is undead and it reeks this badly from just its footprints, then it probably had to go underwater to avoid being seen. If it had walked through the town someone would have smelled it and it would be easy to track down."

Agreeing with Brin, Setsuna stays away from the odious hatchet and pulls the spare shirt she'd been keeping with her at all times for situations like this, slipping it on after turning away. "I agree, we should check out the barn and see if there is the same scent. We might even be able to find a trail, though it it is as foul smelling as these I doubt the Watch would have missed it."

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Shirt roll in the dice thread. Thankfully no 2, given that the bulk of them are in her backpack back in the Rusty.

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Tracks. Red squints her eyes shut with the effort of thinking, pinching the bridge of her nose. The smelly thing had gone underwater to avoid being tracked. You couldn't smell things or find footprints in the water, that was true. That was why Chanda had always said to cut across water if she was being chased. But if that was why it had gone underwater...

Red opens her eyes and gazes worriedly at the others. "The river... it goes for... miles. And it flows... into the sea. This thing... it could be anywhere."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"Or right here. Setsuna could have swam right over it." Brin observes with a shiver. All the more reason to track it down as quickly as possible. "If were lucky, it's only using the river to hide its trail and not living there."

"I hope one one drinks that water." She adds, gagging a little as she remembers the concentrated chunks of foulness clinging to the axe.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus


Sirus has been silent, watching the tracks, the axe and the distant mill.

"Too many. Things. And not one. Is good. It seems. We have. An intelligent. Undead. Or someone. Controlling it. With a. Connection. To me.

And a. Different. Undead. Active.

We must. Appraise. The sheriff. And then. Visit. The other site. The survivor. And the. Suspects.

As soon. As. Possible."

Pharasma. I will do your will in this too. Should I trust your wayward cleric here? Is his presence here a sign? I will not fail you, Mistress of the Spire.

[bcool999]

Taladron

After the recent scare with the zombie charging at him, Taladron takes a few moments to catch his breath and return the scroll to his bag.

Quietly he thinks about the situation. the murders, the Sihedron, the letter to Sirus, the undead and possibly the necromancer that controls them... what does it all add up to? This is obviously more than mere pleasure killing. There is a message here... A warning? Or a threat?

Hearing the others talk about the barn where the other murders took place, Taladron pulls himself out of his musing. "I agree we should check out the barn and possibly try to get some answers from the crazed witness. I also think I should study up a bit on Necromancy since I never bothered with the filthy subject in my magical studies I feel slightly out of my depth... and possibly look for any connection Necromancy has to the Sihedron... I will go visit Brodert later."

[Miraqariftsky]

With her fellow ladies of the Auxiliaries,
Rico passes agreements and backpats,
Grumbling curses about necro-rats.

She gives Sirus a nod, deep and grim
And offers Taladron her wineskin
And asks, "Hey. Ye arright, bub?"

When her skin has made the rounds
Rico leads the way
Back to make
A report.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Heading back towards town to report your findings to the Sheriff, you are spared from making the entire journey by the sight of the man himself and a few other constables in tow crossing the bridge - clearly intent on following your group to the spot in the marshes.

Sheriff Hemlock is stony-faced as you elaborate your findings to him and the others, folding his arms across his broad chest and snorting under his breath. The possibility of a necromancer with cult connections crawling around Sandpoint is not a pleasant one to entertain. Nor is the prospect of paranoid citizens hurrying to the Boneyard in a knot to uproot and pile all the extant bodies there on a pyre. He remembers well enough, as do those of you who were here, what happened with the goblin prisoners and when Nualia's body was brought back.

"You can leave that zombie here, Rico. I'll get some of the boys and girls to cover it up and cart it back to the Garrison." The Sheriff sucks in his cheeks and shakes his head. "My apologies, ma'am priest. But I cannot let you conduct the proper burial rites for this body until we can be sure that it contains no clues as to our murderer. We will, however, in consideration of your faith, do our best to treat it with respect. Should you wish to bless it to prevent it from rising or the like, however, I'm sure our Brother Vosk and Father Zantus would much appreciate the aid."

*****

It is about 1230hrs now. You have not eaten lunch.

The Sheriff has left it to Sergeant Hannah to conduct your group as far as Celvin's barn, where the first bodies were found, before she is to return to Sandpoint to assist with the investigations. Hannah is none the worse for her adventure with you in the Thistletop goblin lair, and she chats amiably with any who are willing as you walk south down the Lost Coast Road.

"Celvin's just a crummy ole barn down by next to Cougar's Creek. This would have been before your time, Rico. Farmer Celvin - he was kinda crazy, know what I mean? Had this idea that he could grow all these 'pensive foreign veggies and fruits from Mwangi and Tien Xia what no-one else would have, and he'd turn a profit on paying for the seeds and seedlings within a year or so. Hah!" Hannah nods regally at a farmer's donkey cart laden high with sweet-smelling apples as your group goes past. "'S the wrong soil and rain, see. Everything died and Celvin didn't have two pennies to use for pinching out his beard within two years or three. Had to abandon the place and move to Magnimar to live with his brother."

"Now, that barn we're heading to - 'twas Gareth and Dagmar who had to check the place out when the report first came in. They got there and found a sight, I tell you - three chopped up dead fellas and one alive, in the corner but all trussed up like a chicken made for roasting!"

Nobody has bothered to tell Hannah that the Sheriff has told you most of this already, and her voice takes on a conspiratorial air as she gleefully shares all she knows about the barn with the gaily irreverent air of one whose profession brings her into contact with death all too often. "The dead ones were all messed up too - no jaws and like whoever offed them was tryin' to make artwork or something. Once saw something like that down in Korvosa, y'know, when I was visiting me auntie. Some fair full of stuffed dead Shoanti people, all with plenty of chest markings and tatts and such."

"Anyways, Gareth recognised 'em right off - Tarch Mortwell, Lener Hask, and runty Gedwin Tabe. Troublemakers, all. Once worked for the Deverins, until they got kicked out for skimming the coffers. Been working con-games in the Feedbag and cheating merchants at cards, causing plenty'a grief until the boss said he'd toss 'em in the clink on sight if he caught hide or hair of them in Sandpoint. If you ask me, their criminal ways finally caught up with 'em. Someone they took money from musta decided he wanted repayment in blood," says Hannah with lazy satisfaction, hefting her halberd to her shoulder.

"Oh, and we managed to identify the crazy one, Rico. The survivor what was rambling and screaming all the way to Habe's? His name's Grayst Sevilla. One of those 'boys' what keep hanging around Jubrayl Vhiski down at the Feedbag, did a little work as a bouncer there. Apparently tubby Gressel went to the boss this morning and said that Grayst hadn't been around for several days now, and based on the description - that's him all right."

*****

It's just over a two mile walk to Celvin's barn - more a rickety wooden affair no more than two dozen paces from the banks of the indolent Cougar's Creek. There are copious holes gaping in the thatch, a door falling off rusting hinges, and even a bird or two twittering under the mossy eaves. Save for the presence of the Sandpoint Watch cordon - a simple length of rope painted red at three foot intervals and short posts hammered into the soil - the barn looks quite derelict. It is clear that nobody has bothered to care for the place in years.

"You'll find it quite a pong in here. We'd thought it was just the bodies at the time though - they were two days old by the time the boys found 'em," says Hannah somewhat apologetically, as she kicks the barn doors wide enough for you to enter.

The air within the barn is musty, but Hannah is correct - despite it having been almost a week since this set of murders, the barn still reeks of something dead and runny. There are a few bales of rotting hay at the far end of the barn, burst open and apparently pushed aside to reveal patches of ploughed-up blood-blackened soil. A fatal struggle took place here as well - that much is clear.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus is silent all the way to the barn. It was soon lunch time but that was far from his mind. The various events did not tie together in any comprehensible way.

Finally, when they arrive at the barn, he starts to very precisely comb the place for clues.

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Perception (1d20+11)[14]

[Bhaakon]

Brin

At the Sheriff's arrives, Brin withdraws a decanter of holy water from her pack and sprinkles a few drops on the body, offering a prayer. It's less a ritual than an effort to make sure the taint of undeath has fled.

She frowns when the Sheriff mentioned delaying the burial. "There's no replacement for a proper burial in consecrated ground." She explains, "Anything less than that is more about comforting the living than taking care of the dead, Sheriff. If you make a habit of storing bodies in your garrison, perhaps this Father...Zantus, you said? Perhaps he will cast a ward there to head off any unfortunate incidents. If not, I can do so when we return, but it requires expensive materials, and would only last a few hours."

=============================================

Brin takes in the Sergeant's story without interruption. She seemed like the kind who liked to talk, and Brin wanted to get her thoughts in order, so why stop her? She eventually got around to saying everything important, so she held her question until they arrived at the barn.

"You said the bodies look like artwork? Like they were posed or something? Like, what do you call it, um...tacks...taxaperm...those stuffed animals that hunters like?" She inquires as she picks about the barn.

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perception: [roll0]

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Brin and Sirus's Perception checks

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You don't find anything of note in the barn, though given the amount of blood that seems to have soaked into the ground, those three men must have been very thoroughly sliced up.

*****

"Posed? Yeh, I guess you could say that. You know how poor Banny got pinned to the wall like one of them butterflies that Ilsoari has up on display in the school room? These three were hung from the rafters with rope. Right about there." Hannah raises her eyebrows and jerks her head in the direction of the barn rafters. "We took the ropes back - evidence, y'see."

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"That's...odd." She replies, not really sure what else to call it. Adjectives failed in the face of such wanton cruelty. So not arranged in a sihedron, then.

Finally she finishes examining the room, funding a great deal of blood, but little probative evidence. She shakes her head disappointed, but not surprised. The crime scene was old, after all, and already cleared by the guard.

"I can't find anything useful." She says to the others. "I'm not even sure this is connected to the sawmill, since there was a survivor here, but it would be worth asking him regardless. Even if they're not connected, one less murderer on the loose is always a good thing. To the sanitarium?"

[Desril]

Setsuna

The tiefling nods her head in response to Brin, "I agree. I can not find anything telling either, but maybe the survivor can help us."

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

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Perception: (1d20+7)[20]
Survival: (1d20+7)[27]
DEX check: (1d20+3)[22] - passed
Another DEX check: (1d20+3)[19] - failed

Finding the barn too cramped with people and bad odours for comfort, Red quietly excuses herself and steps outside. She crouches in the shaded area just outside the door, eyes half-closed, taking deep breaths to fill her lungs with the warmer and richer scents of drying grass and leaf mould. Gods above. If smells could kill...

Red pushes her hair out of her eyes and turns to gaze warily at the nearby creek. Setsuna and Rico had said the smelly thing might be walking underwater. Maybe it had come from this creek too, and gone back in. Maybe it was hiding in there right now. But if it was... then there would be more footprints, wouldn't there?

Stepping lightly, Red leaves the stoop of the barn and approaches the creek, on the look-out for more bare footprints. She is quickly disappointed though, for the ground here is hard, baked to a crust with cracks webbing through the banks. The creek itself is relatively shallow and filled with rocks - nothing could have swum here, unless it wanted to dog-paddle along on its tummy, bashing its head into crags all the while.

There are no footprints to be found. Mildly disappointed and yet relieved, Red is about to rejoin the others when something odd catches her eye - a sodden wad of what looks like crushed parchment, shoved into the crevice between a couple of boulders in the middle of the stream.

Balancing on the rocks to get to the boulders is easy enough. Trying to pick the parchment off the boulder is not, with the wet paper clinging to the rock and ripping down the centre. Biting her lip, Red manages to peel most of the parchment off, cupping it in her palms and carefully carrying it back to the barn.

"I'm sorry... It... broke," she says awkwardly, wincing as she presents the parchment to the rest of you. "It was... outside. In the... stream."

*****

GM post

You have found one very wet envelope. Or rather, most of one very wet envelope that is now in two very wet pieces, no thanks to Red not thinking about wet paper tearing easily before she picked it up. Either roll DEX DC 20 check to pick it apart with further breakage to see what's inside, or find some way to dry it in order to read it without any other checks.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Just as he was about to suggest heading back for lunch, Red comes back with her incredible find. Sirus looks at it almost reverently and nods approval to Red. Someone at last found something.

'I am. Not.Versed. In paper preservation. Perhaps. Leaving it. Somewhere. Dry. and warm?'

[Desril]

Setsuna

"That could work, but it would be faster to use magic. I know a spell that should work, if I can see that for a moment."

Should no one object and Red hand over the wet paper, Setsuna incants a short series of arcane words to dry and clean the paper. Doing her best to restore it to its undamaged form, followed by a different usage of the same spell to magically open the envelope to avoid damaging it further.

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Prestidigitation x2, first to "clean" the envelope and its contents, and then to open it up.

Best. Cantrip. Ever.

[Miraqariftsky]

With nods and note-taking, had Rico studious paid
Heed, her fellow constable and her tale
Of criminal shade and butcher's blade
Soon follows Red out,
Roots 'round, tracks about
She quickly crows her approv'l
Then doffs her helm, holds out its bowl
...Then stops, worried of keeping't whole

"Good work, Red. HOY, Y"ALL!
Tal, Hellgirl, mage-cleanin', if'in ye please?"

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Setsuna's spell suffices to do the trick - the parchment envelope grows crisp and stiff to the touch as the arcane energy repels water from the sodden wad, showering the ground below Red's palms with droplets of creek water. The envelope is technically already opened, no thanks to Red, but by using the same magic to carefully slide its contents out, you are able to put the pieces within back together.

The envelope appears to contain a letter of some sort and for those who have seen the missive addressed to Sirus, the spidery handwriting is quite identical.

Messrs Mortwell, Hask, and Tabe -

A deal has come about that I need capital for. It involves property and gold, and though I am not at liberty to tell you the exact details, it will make us all rich. Come to Celvin's Barn on Cougar Creek tonight. We can meet there to discuss our futures and our fortunes.

Your Lordship