Se’ket, absorbed by the wounds on the man’s body, almost completely forgot about the dagger in Gaunt's hand. Prying it lose from his grip, she tosses it to Sven as she can’t seem to make heads or tails of the design or meaning.
As Sven turns the dagger over in his hand, examining it further, he can tell that it is that of traditional goblin design. It has a bone hilt etched with strange writings that the man recognizes as religious symbols venerating the Dragon Below. These are not arranged in a coherent message and are only a group of jumbled symbols. This is very typical of goblin design.
As everyone is satisfied with there search of the room, they decide to split up and carry out individual tasks, setting a time and place to meet up later.
[sblock=SAELLIN]
As Saellin makes his way out the door and into the hall, he has noticed that many of the students have already dispersed. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was due to Matron Marta showing up.
Spending sometime on campus asking questions and trying to gather as much information as possible, Saellin is able to find a few facts that might prove useful. Delvron Gaunt had been spending time working on a project for an unknown professor. He obviously made an effort to keep the details of this a secret. But the young elf is able to find out that whomever Delvron was working with, he was introduced to this unknown professor by Patron Helcondate, a gnome from Zilargo.
Other than working on this mysterious project and spending time in classes, Delvron Gaunt could have been found at the Gold Star Over Cyre, a dive bar favored by the refugees of that land. He would usually spend the evenings there; always bringing a bottle home with him. It is rumored he spent time there with a woman.
Saellin's Gather Info check (1d20+8=25)[/sblock]
[sblock=SE’KET]
As Se’ket closes the Matron’s door behind her, she lets out a soft sigh. She looks down at the paper in hand that gives her the person to ask around about any other deaths that may have occurred.
After a little over an hour of asking the guards of any other deaths on campus, Se’ket is able to find out that the Morgrave guards found the body of one of the University’s professors this morning. The body belonged to that of Professor Kelmini, the chair of the Antiquities Department.
Following this lead, the young asks around a bit, and after about three hours finds out that there is no tie to the death she was tasked with investigating. It appears Kelmini was having an affair with a young student, who happened to be the daughter of a minor member of the Karnathi embassy. The girl’s father approached Kelmini last night as the professor’s home and after a bitter argument, killed the professor for spoiling the chastity of his daughter.[/sblock]
[sblock=SVEN]
Following the trail of the address, it takes Sven quite sometime to locate the place. It is obvious he hasn’t spent enough time in the city proper and has been spending too much time on campus working.
After a few hours and many more questions, he is able to track down that the address on the piece of paper is located in the Castleview District, just south of Brokenblade Castle. The district is home to many royal and parliamentary bureaucracies and their bureaucrats. Feeling a little out of place, able to locate the home he is searching.
A simple but nice brownstone stands in front of him. This two-story home is crammed among similar houses, which stretch down King’s Circle in both directions. Its small front yard is crammed with flowers and tacky garden statues. Lace curtains grace each clean and sparkling window. Not far from Hawker Market, it is obvious affluent members of the royal bureaucracy favor this neighborhood.
Sven Gather Info (1d20+0=17)[/sblock]
[sblock=TOME]
It doesn’t take long before Tome is sitting at a table in the library with a group of books stacked high next to him. For the next few hours, the warforged thumbs through texts, manuscripts, and other writings in hopes to find as much information on planar convergence and mirrors that might explain the reflective stones or the phrase carved into Gaunt’s chest: "Aryth in Tiamat they come."
After a few hours of searching through the books, Tome doesn’t find much in regards to the reflective stones. There are no writings, references, or diagrams depicting or describing reflective stones that have a texture similar to flesh.
His luck in regards to the phrase "Aryth in Tiamat they come", is no better. He does come across a reference to a professor who challenged the established order of the universe back in 845 KY. It is said the man, Belental Heirm, a troubled genius and master of planar research, made a name for himself due to his complete and utter understanding of the thirteen planar paths and their cryptic movements. In his life’s work, Deviant Celestia, Heirm advanced the theory that Eberron’s planes’ sometimes-erratic movement could only be adequately explained by the existence of numerous rogue planes lying just outside the paths of the main thirteen in a place he called the Deeper Astral.
Tome knowledge arcana (1d20+7=25) [/sblock]
[sblock=DRIGG & KARMANA]
Beyond an archway, crowned with the words “Mind the Rule of the Chamber”, lies the Chamber of Messengers.
The place is a small sea of enclosed wooden booths, similar to the confessionals featured in some of the churches, only much larger. The circular chamber’s ornate domed ceiling is awash with bold and colorful mosaics detailing the accomplishments of the University, crowned with its centerpiece, the creation of the campus in Sharn. A single pillar encrusted with lapis lazuli supports the hall’s ceiling. At the tope of the pillar, facing in the four cardinal directions, are carved heads of Aureon, the Soveirgn Host god of law and knowledge, as the majestic blue dragon. Each of the eight eyes glow with arcane fire.
The entrance to the hall is separated from the rest of the hall by a glowing semicircle on the floor. Within the semi-circle at the entrance of the hall are almost two-dozen intricately carved Xen’drik bird stands. On a number of these, expeditious messenger homunculi perch and wait patiently. Others fly into or out of the chamber by way of a small opening in the far ceiling, disguised in the mosaic as a porthole of a House Lyrandar Airship. The rest fly to and from the various booths around the room.
Hanging from each stand is a wooden nameplate. It doesn’t take long to find Helcondate’s stand, unfortunately his homunculus is absent from it.
Even though both Drigg and Karmana haven’t spent much time in this chamber, they have been at Grea Tower long enough to know the rules of the Chamber of Messengers. A student can call upon a patron by way of their messenger. If the messenger is absent, they must wait at the entrance for it to return or try and reach the patron later. All students are forbidden from entering the main hall until the patron gives them permission – by way of their messenger – to pass the glowing semi-circle.[/sblock]
