Giantslayer: Battle of Bloodmarch Hill [IC]

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar nods and says,"I appreciate that. What we're trying to do is put everything in order from start to finish so we can get an idea of his actions prior to the incident and everything after. Do you recall seeing him come in and go to his room?"

[lostsole31]

She shakes her head. "No, sir, sorry."

Aasgar, you get a sense that she's hiding something, but obviously you don't know what.

[BuckGodot]

Gesturing to Cici to step away for a second, Aasgar says in a low voice, "She knows more than she's letting on. That much is clear. Do you know her well?"

[lostsole31]

"Not really," says Cici. "I inherited a small cottage, and never had need of coming to the Ramblehouse. Perhaps if you can convince her to let us look at the ledger for any guests whose names I don't recognize or she mentions seemed strange?"

[BuckGodot]

”Good idea.” and he turns back to Cham. “Excuse me again, but do you mind if we look at the ledger to see who was here last night?”

[lostsole31]

You convince her to let you look at the guest registry. The only entry of note in the register is a single human man who rented the Ramblehouse’s last room after Rodrik had reserved his room, but before the patrol captain had checked in for the night. This entry stands out because the guest’s name has not been recorded in the register.

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar turns the ledger around and points out the line to Cham…

”Can you tell me about this? Why is there no name?”

[lostsole31]

Cham breaks down into fearful sobs and quickly explains herself. “He refused to give me his name,” she manages between gulps of air, “and he paid me a fistful of gold. He said he’d be gone before sunrise. I didn’t ask any more questions. I had no idea that something like this would happen!”

If asked, the halfling can give a general description of the man, but she doesn’t remember any specific features that would help identify him.

[BuckGodot]

If there is anyone else in the inn, Aasgar will ask if we can step into a back room to discuss this further... If there is no one else around at the moment, he will ask for the description and also, what room the man stayed in and if we can see it.

[lostsole31]

She gave you "a description" (see above), but it wasn't much of anything, and nothing worth building a picture of. Just like a halfling to think that all longshanks look the same.

When asked about any other guests, she reveals her prejudice against non-halflings, claiming that “a bunch of half-orcs and other thuggish tall-folk” came in about a week ago and reserved practically every free room in the Ramblehouse. She didn’t recognize any of them from around town, but by the time Rodrik’s body was discovered, the travelers had already checked out. Cham has no idea where the travelers might be now. The Ramblehouse’s register confirms Cham’s statement.

What rooms do you wish to see? Please note the order you wish to proceed in, as well.

[BuckGodot]

First, the unknown strangers room, followed by Rodericks.

[lostsole31]

The room of the nameless man is checked first. A quick search doesn't turn up anything, when Cici then recommends a more thorough (time-consuming examination).

It is this that bears forth fruit, for there is a "trick drawer" in the writing desk. Inside the secret compartment is a slip of dirty old parchment containing an unfinished letter to a person named Melira.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

See Handout #2, Message to Melira, in the Discord Handouts channel.

Cici sighs after reading it and handing it to Aasgar. "At first, one would hope that this was a long-forgotten missive to a lover from a random lodger of time gone by. But the mention of a 'meddling patrol captain' is too close to our purposes, and might be the first piece of evidence to point to a larger conspiracy. But to what advantage?"

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar nods and tugs gently at his beard, thinking...

"It seems rather sloppy for a would-be assassin to leave a note like this. So I suspect that Melira may yet make an appearance to collect said missive. Does the name mean anything to you? I wonder if the 'we' mentioned are the others that checked in?"

After concluding this search, move on to the room of the deceased.

[lostsole31]

"Well, you said yourself," muses Cici, "a 'would-be' assassin ... who is likely not an assassin by trade. If this is the killer's note, very possibly he killed by way of opportunity rather than solid planning, and left hurriedly. Not being 'trained' in this sort of thing, this was left behind.

"Melira didn't get this, so it's not like it's missing. And it was written informally, so it doesn't strike me as regularized correspondence. I don't think we are the 'we.' If anything, 'we' are the unexpected fly in the ointment. An 'x' factor they didn't expect."

You step out into the hallway where Cham is nervously waiting, but Cici doesn't offer any information to the halfling gossip.

Per request, she then takes you to upstairs to the room Rodrik spent his last night. She stays outside while the two of you enter.

This sparse room contains only a single cot and a writing desk. The cot is a cheap affair with a straw-stuffed mattress, now stained red with blood and stripped of its linens, while the desk is a slightly nicer piece of furniture that has nonetheless been chipped and worn by time. A cracked window in the southern wall is the only exit other than the room’s door.

The militia has already removed Rodrik’s body, leaving only the bloodstained mattress behind.

Given the similarity in desks, both of you go to the writing desk and do find a false bottom in the desk drawer, but the compartment underneath is empty.

You then do a quick search of the room and under the bed you find a scrap of paper stuck between the headboard and the wall.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

See Handout #1 in Discord.

[BuckGodot]

"Cici, let's have a look at the Hopeknife. I'm curious if it's the same as listed on this receipt." he holds out his hand to examine the knife if she proffers it.

[lostsole31]

Cici shows Aasgar the Hopeknife. There is no engraving upon it.

[BuckGodot]

"Well, this bears further investigation. Do you think we should look at the other rooms? I don't feel the others may be connected to this." Aasgar muses.

[lostsole31]

"While I agree with your assessment," offers Cici, "I would still want to look at those rooms for completeness. We gain nothing through haste."

[BuckGodot]

"I suggest we do a top to bottom of this room and then move on to the next room. Repeat, and so on."

[lostsole31]

A top-to-bottom of Rodrik's former room reveals nothing else of importance.

In searching the rooms rented to the party of foreign half-orcs, it seems they have been seriously vandalized. While most of the damage is reparable, the walls of some of the rooms are marked with graffiti that won’t come clean even after hours of scrubbing. Nothing else is of interest there.

All-in-all, it has taken a solid four hours of searching top to bottom of all of the various rooms.

[BuckGodot]

"Right. That's that. Let's take what we have and meet back up with the other two to see what they've found." says Aasgar, stretching a bit from all the crouching, bending, and hunching that deep searches require.

[lostsole31]

Once the four meet up together, here is what Abenor and Imrijka were able to find out in interviewing Brinya Kelver, Rodrik's beloved.

---

Rodrik’s fiancee, Brinya Kelver, occupies humble rooms in a boarding house just northwest of the Commons (area D). They caught her in an unenviable state, her face wracked with grief and stained by hours of tears. She composed herself as best she could during the interview, but broke into sobs periodically throughout the conversation.

Brinya was able to fill in the details of her relationship with Rodrik. The couple had been seeing each other for months, and Rodrik finally proposed to her using his mother’s ring. Even once they were engaged, Rodrik was careful to keep the relationship hidden from his father, who wouldn’t approve of the match.

Brinya grudgingly respected her beloved’s wishes for privacy, though his cowardice inspired no shortage of annoyance as well, and was a source of contention between them. It didn’t help that Rodrik soon became preoccupied with some sort of investigation, what he called “his greatest work”—the details of which he refused to share with Brinya. To make matters even worse, Rodrik’s father, Jagrin, did finally find out about the couple’s relationship, and repudiated his son for betrothing himself to a “filthy half-orc.”

Abenor knows that engaged or married couples exchanging hopeknives is a common tradition in Trunau. He asked if they had done so.

Brinya goes on to reveal that Rodrik lost the hopeknife she had given him in the course of his investigation. When she learned of the loss on the night of Ruby’s hopeknife ceremony, Brinya was furious, and she told Rodrik she didn’t want to see him again until he found it or otherwise made things right. If she had known that night would be the last time she would see her beloved, Brinya lamented, she would have acted much differently. With Rodrik’s death, Brinya’s anger at him quickly transformed into overwhelming grief, and she unfairly blames herself for his death.

When asked about Rodrik himself, Brinya talks at length about his beautiful poems (which initially attracted her to him), and about how Rodrik was always writing something. She confided that Rodrik kept a journal as well, and suggested the entries he wrote up to his final night might provide insight into his murder. Unfortunately, she has no idea where the journal might be. Obviously, there’s his room in the Ramblehouse, but Rodrik also frequently went to Trunau’s Sanctuary with his writing. According to Brinya, Rodrik said he had a “thoughtful muse” there, but he never elaborated. Brinya had always just assumed her lover was finding solace in devotion to Iomedae, but now she wonders if there really was someone at the church—someone who might know more about what happened to Rodrik, or worse, betrayed him.

[BuckGodot]

"Looks like a visit to Trunau’s Sanctuary might be in order. Shall we all go?"

[lostsole31]

The party arrives at the sanctuary (area F), Trunau's church of Iomedae, in search of Rodrik's journal (or at least his "muse"). The Sanctuary's high priestess, Tyari Varvatos (female human cleric of Iomedae), is happy to talk to the PCs.

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar will render proper respects.

"Greetings, Ma'am. Thank you for taking the time to see us. As you have been informed, we have been asked to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Rodrik Grath. The path of our investigation so far has led us here. We're told he would often spend time here? Did he have a room he used frequently or anyone he may have spoken to on a regular basis?"

[lostsole31]

"He did, he did," she says, nodding soberly now that she her attention is brought to bear on the recently deceased man. "I noticed the Patrol Captain meeting with Katreza, a long-time half-orc resident of the Sanctuary, frequently in recent weeks. I occasionally overheard the two muttering about ghosts, half-orcs, hopeknives, and white swords, but I wasn’t able to parse any of the information into more meaningful details. Katrezra claims to have visions, and though I can’t vouch for their prophetic accuracy, I do believe they are more than just hallucinations."

[BuckGodot]

"Thank you. When was the last time he was here? Did he seem in an unusual mood? Anxious, for example?" Aasgar asks, subconsciously tugging at his beard.

[lostsole31]

"I'm sorry," she demurs, "but I really didn't deal enough with Rodrik to note his comings and goings. He mainly dealt with Katreza and Brantos."

[lostsole31]

Abenor asks, "May we speak to Katreza?"

Tyari frowns, answering, "He disappeared a few nights ago without telling anyone. The half-orc left his bed neatly made, so I didn't suspect any foul play, though I do admit it was odd of Katrezra to leave on the same day that Rodrik’s body was discovered. However, I reason that the half-orc seer can’t have gone far, since his crippling condition causes him considerable physical pain and drastically limits his mobility. In addition, I believe he would be unlikely to leave Trunau (to return to his orc tribe, for example), since he sought sanctuary in the church long ago, and has become a devout follower of the Inheritor.

"Unfortunately," she says, standing up, "My duties call me on, and I have no more insight into your investigation. Iomedae’s light shines on those who seek the truth, however, and you are always welcome at this Sanctuary should you need healing or other assistance from the church.”

[BuckGodot]

"One last quick question before you go... Does the name Melira mean anything to you?" Aasgar asks.