Paths of the Damned, Pt. 2: Rats in the Walls

[Wilphe]

"Ottokar, are you happy that he died from poison? It's not some attempt at misdirection? If so, can you guess what type?"

"I s'pose we oughta find out and return the favor,"

"One good turn deserves another. I'm sure Sigmar would hate to be outdone in such generosity," she says grimly, "What have you found Torillan?"

 

[Torillan]

"What have you found Torillan?"

"Scratch marks on the sill, my lady." He examines more closely for another moment, then smiles and turns towards the dwarf.

"Sorry, Ragnar, but I don't think it was greenskins this time. Something else made these marks. Can't be sure what, though.".

OOC: I'm assuming that these scratches do look like claw marks. Does he notice anything else?

 

[Lot]

Ottokar comes back to body.

"From what I can tell, I'd say it was poison. No other visible wounds and his bones appear intact. Now you say scratch marks by the window? Are they fresh? Because poison points to a professional killer. Scratch marks...well, an animal? I'm not liking where this is going..."

Ottokar goes over to examine the scratches himself.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Torillan: They're claw marks, although you can't tell what from. You don't notice anything else.

Ottokar: You notice nothing that Torillan hasn't already pointed out.

 

[Lot]

Ottokar steps back from the window.

"Since I can't figure out how fresh these claw marks are, they could have been here for a while. But since they are by the obvious escape route, let's figure that they are connected...as we don't have anything else to go on. What has claws but also uses a weapon as specialized as a blowgun? Maybe some kind of mutant...or other chaos creature?"

Ottokar paces the room while thinking.

 

[Wilphe]

"Might not be claws, might be some sort of climbing tool. We'll take a look outside later, let's finish up in here first. Body, done. Now lets have a look at anything else amiss in here, any locks forced, anything broken or taken other than the artefact. I know the priests don't have an inventory and the answer is probably "we can't tell", but lets give the place the once over before we go outside."

 

[Torillan]

Ottokar steps back from the window.

What has claws but also uses a weapon as specialized as a blowgun? Maybe some kind of mutant...or other chaos creature?"

Torillan turns to face Ottokar. "Ratmen?" he says. "But what could they possibly gain from the murder of a priest?"

A look of confusion settles over his face.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Winifred: There are no indications of any locks being broken or anything being forced, and nothing amiss or a mess aside from the scattered sheets of paper all over the floor.

Torillan: You look at the scratch marks again, and, fresh with Ottokar's indirect suggestion and your own conjecture, you're fairly sure that the scratch marks are consistent with rodent-like claws, although much larger than your standard rat's claw marks would be. If the Ratmen did exist (and some argue that they're no more than a legend), the claw marks would probably match their claws fairly well.

 

[Wilphe]

"Okay, let's take a look outside. And let's not resort to fairy stories and old wives tales for explantions hmm?"

 

[Old Fezziwig]

[sblock=Assumption]The party heads outside to look around.[/sblock]No one finds anything outside the window. The cobblestone streets are dry and dusty save for a few odd puddles here and there.[sblock=OOC]Unless someone has some specific plans that they'd like to undertake, I'll push this along tomorrow sometime, with the party returning to Schutzmann to report their findings.[/sblock]