A New Barovia: Chapter One

[steveflam]

The man behind the desk listens. Once the Gnome is done speaking he stands. "Just follow me, please." He moves from behind the desk, walking down the hallway. Stopping at a door, he opens it. Beyond are stairs leading below. Descending two stories he stops at another door and opens it. A short hallway is there. Two doors line each side. He turns to wards you all, speaking in Mordentish. "Each room is our archives. The doors have dates. If you need anything please feel free to ask. I must get back to my post. Good investigation, sirs and madam." He nods and leaves.

[VAN]

Adam follows the receptionist without talking, When he leads them at the hallway with the doors and he turns to leave the cleric just says:

"Thank you Sir."

Then turning to the others points the first door at the right and says:

"If you don't have any objections I would try that door."

With that he opens it and steps in.

[Ail]

Do you know anything about the dates of the murders?"

Robert asks.
If so, he suggests that each of them takes a different case into hand and searches for the corresponding data.


"Shouldn't be too hard"

he adds.

[BigBadQDaddy]

Thomas looks at the doors, looking for the archive for the most recent dates. Once found he will go inside and begin leafing through case folders, looking for any that correspond to the recent string of murders.

[kintire]

Marilee nods to Robert's suggestion, then winces, and makes her way to the appropriate spot on the shelves, taking her share of papers while holding her head very still

[VAN]

Adam on the other hand tries to find the data of the first case. When happened, who found the victim, her possible age, when she came to Krezk etc.

[Ken of Ghastria]

Khalfani rubs his hands excitedly as he sees the collected archives. Even in these gruesome circumstances, the allure of old information remains strong. He begins looking through records in the months preceding the first known murder. He peruses the files for incidents of severe maiming, whether through horrific accident or vile act -- female victims, specifically.

____________________________
Sorry for the lateness in posting. I lost track of time over the holiday weekend here in the States.

[steveflam]

For over an hour, you all search. In vain, no incidents of murders of these females turn up. You don't even find any from before these murders began. It is as if these reports have simply vanished in thin air.

[Ken of Ghastria]

Khalfani rejoins the others, and the bronze-skinned gnome immediately sees that his frustration is equalled by that of his allies. "Finding the right information will be like finding a coin in a sand dune," he says. "And as with digging into a sand dune, the direct way is a bad way. My friends, the foe that we face is a step or two ahead of us on the path. So... a shortcut must we create."

He removes the striped keffiyeh for a moment and scratches his bald head. The rest of the group can clearly see the tattoo of a black beetle - a scarab - across his scalp. He repositions the head garment and seems very much at ease. The frustration of a minute earlier is gone, replaced by an obvious excitement.

"The enemy has removed the facts of the cases. This tells us that, one, he is powerful or has a spy within the militia, and two, he is afraid of what might be discovered in those records! So instead of recreating the image of the murders, let us trace around that image. Here is what we must do while we are here....

"The records of the murders are gone, yes. But not the records of the families of the victims, or the records of the locations of each crime. Let us find out as much as we can about each family and each location. It is my hope and my belief that there is a connection between the crimes. If there is not such a connection, then our investigation may be lost.

"Please excuse my boldness. I do not wish to presume, but time may be very important. Robert, Thomas, would you please examine the... ah, what is the term... real estate, yes, real estate records of the buildings near the crimes. Marilee, Adam, would you please join me in examining the family records? I understand that we might not find all we need in militia headquarters, but we may at least shrink that sand dune." He looks at them eagerly, waiting to hear their ideas or assent.

[kintire]

Marilee stares at the Gnome as the stream of information flows over her, but she seems to grasp the main points

"yes! Family records. right. Hmm.. if he has a spy in the watch he'll learn about us... maybe we could trap him..."

[VAN]

Adam waves no with his head and then says:

"I think the only name we have is Vassili's sister, since the other poor women were decapited we don't know who they are and we can't find their families. But we can ask Vassili's family when the girl came here in Krezk and where she was before. Because I remember all the victims weren't from Krezk, so maybe the other women were from the same place Vassili's sister was. Or if by any chance Vassili's sister was from Krezk we can go to the near towns and ask if there were any missing women because for sure somewhere these women had a family and we can try to find them."

[Ail]

Robert nods at Khalfani's suggestion.


"I presume someone in this militia still knows about the places of the crimes... I hope. Also, we should ask who exactly has access to these records."


After this, Robert asks a guard for directions to the proper records.

[BigBadQDaddy]

"Perhaps we can discern if Vasili's sister had any dealings with anyone while in the city. Given it is the only lead we have regarding past cases I believe we should follow it. In the meantime I will have a look at the property records surrounding the crime scenes as you suggested. Doesn't seem like much but may be worth a look."

[VAN]

"We should also get a list of all the militia men. I agree that should be a spy among them to make the reports disappear. We need to check all of them, their credentials, where they were the morning of the murder and who had access to the records as Robert said. I know that this will not be easy but we need to check it. Maybe we can ask Dimitri to help us on that hoping he isn't the spy. In that point we can't trust any of them. Dimitri may also knows where we can find Vassili's family and if she had any dealing with anyone in town as Thomas said."

[Ken of Ghastria]

Khalfani's mouth twitches as Adam points out the lack of information about the other victims. The gnome is annoyed by his own forgetfulness. But as Adam further discusses the militia, Khalfani looks around to ensure that no eavesdroppers are nearby, and then he says in a soft voice, "Or if the killer does not have an ally within the militia, could the killer be one of the militia? Osiris watch over us all if that is true. Hmm, if so, then killing Vassili's poor sister may not have been a random act, but one of jealousy, revenge, or perhaps even a vicious ploy to ensure the clever Vassili would excuse himself from the investigation.

"My companions, humbled am I to be surrounded by your wise ideas. Let us uncover what we can."