Mary screamed.
Thomas' hands shot to the hilts at his hips, ensuring that his daggers hadn't been taken somehow to frame the group. Moira stood, energy crackling at her fingertips. Lucian stood and pulled his cane from under the table, holding it like a sword and turning it to face the many unknown guests. Ferp cowered slightly, his eyes darting between Lucian and Thomas, waiting for a cue. Nut stared at Arian's dead body, mouth agape.
A man who must have been the captain of the guard stepped into the room, his ornate armor glinting in the light of torches flanking the serving door he entered. All the color drained from his face as he stared at Arian's macabre posture. "My gods…" He gathered and positioned himself over Mary's left shoulder, searching the faces of his guards with indescribable fury.
Wasting no time to survey the shocked expressions of the bewildered diners, Moira shouted.
"Get Alfred! We need to ask him what he knows about these guests."
A moment of eye contact was shared between Lucian and Moira and he vanished, leaving wisps of iridescent mist in his wake. He reappeared almost instantly next to Alfred, who still gave no sign of surprise. The guard on the other side of Alfred gave Lucian a suspicious look, growling, "Nobody's goin' nowhere till we sort this out."
Nodding at the guard with a smile, Lucian placed his hand under Alfred's elbow and gently escorted him to the bloody table.
"Does anyone have an explanation for this?" The assembled nobles and travelers stared back at Moira in disbelief. All of them except the Dwarf. "Is that Dwarf alive?" Moira's voice was pitching up as she contemplated a second corpse. She looked to Thomas who gave the Dwarf a mighty slap on the chest.
The Dwarf stood up and immediately took two fearsome swings at the air in front of him, owing only to Thomas' quick evasion. "Git off me you no good—" His voice cut off as he turned and saw Arian lying dead just feet away from him.
Nut was leaned over his body, humming an incantation and passing his fingers over the body, the food, and the knife. Alfred shifted uncomfortably at this breach in formality. "His food was poisoned. And the knife was… enchanted with something that acted like a poison." He paused to smell the blood he was rubbing between his fingers. Before he could continue his forensic suppositions, the man who had been talking to the beleaguered woman when they entered stood.
"Now wait a minute. Why the hell are you all suddenly in charge?"
Irritated that he hadn't spoken up until now, Moira countered, "Nobody else seems to be."
"Yeah, I mean if someone else has any amazing ideas, bring 'em forth," Lucian chimed.
"Excuse us for being shocked at our friend's death." He was unpleasant to behold. His teeth were stained and chipped in several places, and he put them on full view as he spoke with exaggerated pronunciation. The patches of his face not pockmarked were heavily weathered. His hair was silvering, but in an unflattering way. His voice was pure gravel, and his armor smelled of wet horse.
"Who are you?" Moira's tone was noticeably icier.
"Martin." He replied with a grin, raising his eyebrows. "Who the hell are you lot?"
Deciding now was not the time to explain the acquisition of the group's ironic name, Moira responded without hesitation or flourish. "We are adventurers hired by the late master." It was true, even if Arian didn't know they weren't the adventurers he had initially invited.
"So," Martin shifted his mangled face into something that was like a smile but was clearly not meant to express joy, "a group of wandering people he doesn't really know. I see."
"Perhaps," Moira didn't like to lie, but she wasn't oblivious to the need for it at times. "But he knew us well enough to bring us here before his untimely death."
"I am Lucian Light-hammer of House Helm. If I wanted this man dead, my sword could have done that. Not a problem. No need for these theatrics."
"And I could have killed him before you all got here." Thomas had appeared out of nowhere and whispered into Martin's ear over his right shoulder.
Nonplussed, Martin turned to stare at Thomas' eyes. "You say that now, but it's just your words. No proof." He shrugged. Thomas grimaced at the man's breath and rejoined the group.
"Well, since you know him so well, you would know his enemies." Nut looked positively feral standing over a fresh corpse with his bloody hands and his leather druid's robes decorated with bones and roots, his antlers framing his figure. His voice was flat as he stared Martin down. Almost anyone gazing upon him in this state for the first time would have been intimidated into compliance. But Lucian of House Helm had a way of ruining things.
"Mossy has a good point," he offered unapologetically.
Martin rolled his eyes at the paladin's impromptu nickname. "Awful lot 'a talk about potential murder." His eyebrows arched.
"Potential?" Moira's eyebrows arched higher. There was clearly a dead body. This was no time to question her expeditious interrogation.
"Yes. Look around sweetheart. There's a lot of talk right now about you and your mates committing a potential murder."
It did seem suspicious that they were all splattered with blood at the same table as a dead man. And Thomas and Lucian were only making things worse.
Hands in the air, innocently, Tomas clarified, "I'm just saying we could have done it. It's not like we were going to kill a man who was going to pay us."
"Yes," Nut took Thomas' lead, "We were going to get paid to work for him. We wouldn't throw a chance like that away."
"And who are you?" Lucian had enough of this defensive stance. "What's your story?"
"I'm Martin, as I've said," he swept a hand behind him to indicate his group of friends, still at their table each of them with hands on hilts. This was not a handsome group of men. They did not appear to possess any gentleness. Martin continued calmly, "We adventured with Arian years back."
"Aha. So maybe he didn't pay you everything you wanted?" Lucian looked from Martin to his cohorts and back searching for confirmation. "Maybe you had some deep-seated hatred?"
"Nonsense."
"Is it? What proof do you have?"
"You can ask anyone," Martin growled, "but stop staring at me and do something if you're going to do it."
Lucian and Martin, locked in a death stare, looked like two stags about to charge. There were scrapes and creaks as the heavily leathered men at the table behind Martin rose to assume offensive stances. Several of the guards took a step towards the men, but the captain stopped them with a grave shake of his head and a warning glance.
Was this really all going to fall apart because two hot-headed sell swords couldn't manage an interrogation? Moira hadn't traveled all this way in the rain with a wet rodent and a new group of travelers just to see a murder and leave with no answers. She was a Seeker, after all. She was one of the un-cloistered acolytes of her order, roaming the world pursuing any knowledge she may. She would have another night of insomnia if she didn't get some answers soon, and neither Lucian nor Martin seemed like they were about to be helpful. "Alfred! Please help us deal with this man."
Everyone stopped and stared at Alfred. The poor old man had no idea why he had been invoked, but years of service had rendered him nearly incapable of refusing a request, "Yes?"
Moira took a step to him and took his hand in hers, looking deep into his eyes. "We need to hear from someone who actually knows what is going on here. Alfred, of all the people in this room, who do you trust the least?"
Alfred flushed hotly as he stared at the floor between him and Moira for a moment. He returned her gaze with resolve, "Shall we talk privately?" He indicated the doorway that lead to the kitchen with a graceful gesture.
"Yes," Moira felt nearly giddy to finally have assistance but maintained her composure, "but please ensure that the guards keep the guests here until we identify the culprit." Alfred shared a moment of eye contact with the captain, who settled into his post with a grunt indicating his compliance.
Moira entered the kitchen with Alfred in tow and heard a clatter as a surprised Dwarven woman turned around and made an awkward attempt at a curtsy. At least, Moira thought it was a Dwarven woman. Her bust was quite massive. Then again, her little blond mustache and beard made one wonder. Moira had never spent much time around Dwarves but had to assume that the men didn't curtsy, or at least that if they did they would have the presence of mind to do it better than that. She returned a perfect curtsy to the floor and gave a little bow as she smiled back at the cook who, by the looks of things, had never been the recipient of a curtsy before.
"Yes, Grumly," said Alfred as he repressed a frown and performed nearly acrobatically to get around Moira's sudden curtsy in the doorway without touching her. "There's been something terrible. You'll need to head to the dining room."
Also not accustomed to entering the dining room, the short woman managed to make her surprise look surprised. Moira couldn't help but think the poor, dazed Dwarf had no idea what shock really was, but would soon enough. It took a few moments before they heard her stifled cry through the kitchen door, but once she assessed the situation outside, Grumly was stricken with grief.
Returning to the grim work at hand, Moira peered up into Alfred's tired eyes. "Do you know anyone who might have wanted Arian dead?"
After qualifying that he was only willing to answer these questions because of the improbability involved in them committing the murder, and after assuring his loyalty to his late master, Alfred reluctantly began to parse out information on the assembled guests. Some of it they had already surmised, like the Dwarf in the dining room having a bit of a fondness for spirits. Some of it was new, like the fact that Elodin was hopelessly in love with Mary, Arian's wife.
"He does have a hot wife," Lucian opined haplessly. Moira snapped him out of his reverie with a sharp elbow to the side. "Yep, didn't mean to say that… did not mean to say that."
Alfred continued with the rest of the information that he had to offer, and it became increasingly clear that there was something off about those Halflings. But there was a more immediate suspect to deal with.
"I have an idea," Lucian offered as he threw his head out of the kitchen doorway. Moira and Alfred exchanged slightly confused glances as a perturbed Elodin strode in.
"Alfred, what is all this about?" Elodin was wide-eyed as he demanded information from the bowing old man.
"Well, we were just wondering," Lucian said while putting a hand on Elodin's shoulder, "why you killed that man out there. I'll even help you out of this mess if you just let us know why."
Elodin recoiled as he retorted, "Absurd that you would even think me capable! And help me out of this mess? What kind of a person are you?" Elodin shot Alfred a seething glance.
"It was a test, and you passed." Lucian was smiling, feebly, but Elodin was not.
"He's brash and uncouth, and I apologize for him. Please help us find who did this," Moira begged in an attempt to quell his fuming.
"I haven't the slightest idea."
Lucian smiled again. Lucian's smiles were quickly becoming something that alarmed Moira more than comforted her. Once again, he stuck half of his body into another room, and once again his head returned with a different person. Lucian then unceremoniously ushered Elodin back out of the room. As the door swung open just long enough to accommodate Elodin's body, they could hear Martin trying to blame Arian's death on poor Ferp. "It was probably the bloody Goblin they've got running around."
After Lucian and Thomas exchanged an odd-looking whispered discourse, Moira and Alfred followed them back out into the dining room. Thomas' finger shot out as he approached Arian's body. "I think I see something."
While she couldn't see how, Moira was pretty sure Thomas had conjured the spectral doppelganger of Arian now hovering above his body. Mary, looking as if she were about to faint, fell into Elodin's arms. He glared at the ghost.
Most people in the room looked shocked. Some looked offended. The two Halflings looked bored.
"My fellow friends…"
Arian's voice sounded off… maybe it was the fact that he was dead. But something just did not seem right about Arian's ghost.
"I have come to tell you that I am only here for the guilty. The innocent are safe…"
Several people in the room began eying others in the place with a kind of galvanized suspicion that made them look almost convinced of something.
I know who killed me, but I give them a chance at a pardon if they stand now.
There was no movement in the room.
"Then the killer must pay the price. They shall lose everything and everyone they love in a terrible and painful manner."
As it said this, the ghost turned toward the Halflings, hurling itself towards the male and disappearing into him with the final word. Nobody in their right mind should just sit there as unconcerned as this Halfling was with an accusatory ghost colliding into them. But, there they both were, eyes blank with apathy.
The Cheerful Necromancers began interrogating various guests. Through a heated exchange with Binwin, the seemingly narcoleptic Dwarf, they discovered a replica of the dagger used to kill Arian. It wasn't Dwarven, and it wasn't local. It was undoubtedly fine craftsmanship, but also eerily unfamiliar. After some gruff answers, the Dwarf had convinced the group that he wasn't involved and that the dagger had been placed on him without his knowledge. People tend to open up as they drink, and Binwin had downed enough spirits to stall a team of bison. The group just didn't believe he was in any state to maintain a complicated series of lies.
Further evidence of the blatant romance underway between Elodin and Mary continued to abound. Several guests were becoming increasingly perturbed by the constant interrogation of the group. Hours into the investigations, they were no closer to discovering the identity of the killer then they were at the outset.
Thomas saw Nut, never easy to predict, suddenly cock his head to the side, walk off, and whisper to a guard. The guard slowly pointed towards the kitchen as confusion crossed his face. As he crossed back across the dining room passing the rest of the Cult, Nut muttered in a whisper that only Thomas heard, "If you've got a better idea then speak up now before I kill us all…"
Ignoring the hyperbolic druid, the group decided it was time to ask the more obvious questions. If Mary was having an affair, maybe she had a hand in the conspiracy. Lucian whispered a prayer, his brows furrowing with intent, and waves of warmth began to cascade away from him, washing over those around him. Moira had never seen this magic before, never felt it before. Nobody in the group knew yet that she was a changeling. She knew she couldn't tell anyone yet. But she kept feeling subtle hints that maybe now was the time to tell the truth about it all. She couldn't determine why yet, but she was sure that as long as she remained close to Lucian's magic, she would not be able to utter a falsehood.
"Mary."
She froze as Lucian spoke her name. He looked determined, not breaking eye contact with her.
"Why did you want him dead?"
There was a moment of silence in which Moira wondered if Mary was somehow able to refuse Lucian's magic. She saw Mary break her gaze with Lucian as she drew her hand to her chest. She opened her mouth to speak as Elodin stepped in front of her.
"I poisoned him, alright? I put it on his plate in the kitchen. But I have no idea where the knife came from."
"Why would you poison your friend?" Moira hadn't had many friends in her life and couldn't imagine killing one.
"So that I could finally be with Mary." Elodin's tone was defiant. Discord settled on his brow as he hesitantly continued, "And so that we could live off of her inheritance from Arian."
"So it wasn't for love, but for money?" Thomas could understand that.
"Love and money are both nice."
"Well, you seem decent. I could make sure everyone forgets and thinks he died of a heart attack."
"As kind as that offer is, Arian died by stabbing, not by poison. So I'm still in the clear as far as I'm concerned."
"Both the food and the blade were poisoned," offered Nut helpfully as he maneuvered a large barrel through the kitchen door and laid it on its side to roll it.
Lucian was staring furiously at Elodin. Helm was the god of righteousness, of justice. What Elodin had done to a friend demanded to be revenged. He was reaching for his cane.
"Lucian, it was for love, they should go free."
Nut nodded his agreement with Thomas as he rolled the enormous barrel past the tight knot of interrogators and suspects.
"So when you poison someone it isn't actual murder?" Lucian's fury was making his voice quiver slightly.
Elodin shot back with more umbrage than was his share in the present moment. "Not if they die to do a knife in the chest."
Moira, who had been silently reaching out to her deity, came to a conclusion and pushed her thought into Thomas' mind. The group was running out of time to find the real murders, and Lucian's distraction was going to take longer yet. We need to question the Halflings.
Sure, Thomas replied in kind, Speak to them. They're weird little things.
Moira didn't realize Thomas could also communicate telepathically, but she didn't have time to ask about that yet. I don't speak Halfling.
"Leave Mary and me alone. You've taken enough from us tonight." Elodin took a step towards Lucian.
Oh, I can speak to them. Thomas looked at Moira waiting for her to respond.
Moira was determining how best to explain her unique relationship to her deity who was no deity and really just a voice she followed. But the voice was REAL. She knew she wasn't crazy. But would he? Thomas, it's hard to explain but I have a guiding inner voice, and right now it isn't very clear. But I have a feeling like we need to speak to them.
Lucian's fingers were gripping his cane. His eyes lifted as he silently prayed for discernment of Helm's will in this murder.
We should definitely speak to them. They threatened to hurt him bad earlier if he didn't deliver something immediately. Sounded bad.
Moira could have torn a hole through Thomas with her stare.
Did he deliver it?
No.
How had he failed to mention this before now? They were obviously the culprits. But now they had no way to apprehend them. The questioning with them had gone terribly. All they could do now was hope they were right and attack them and hope they would be more forthcoming while under arrest. If it didn't go well, they were all going to be slain by guards.
There was a loud pop as Nut removed the largest cork Moira had ever seen, and oil began pouring out of the barrel hole. Nut sat on top of the barrel, now positioned a few paces from the main entrance to the hall. As he searched his pockets, the pool of oil spread out, quickly ducking under the surrounding tables and chairs.
One of the guards took a step towards Nut, who finally fished a box of flint and tinder out of his pocket, held one hand up towards the guard. "As long as everything goes according to plan, there won't be any fire." The guard was entirely without words and continued to stare at Nut suspiciously.
We need to take the Halflings. Thomas nodded as he and Moira turned towards the Halflings behind them. I'll attack the female, you attack the male, Moira instructed.
"Alright!" Nut had finally lit the tinder with the flint and was using it to ignite a small, oil-soaked, wooden fork which was about to be a tiny torch. Nut smiled as he turned to look over his shoulder, finally ready to reveal his plan to literally smoke out the criminals.
He turned just in time to see Moira and Thomas turn away from Lucian, Elodin, and Mary. Moira's eyes squinted and crackling beams of purple energy shot from her hands as she held them palms-out towards the Halfling woman. Watching Moira, Nut hadn't noticed Thomas pull a crossbow from his shoulder and fire a bolt at the Halfling male. The bolt flew so fast that it landed before Moira's attacks.
The captain behind Mary rushed toward the Halflings to assess the damage.
Over Moira's shoulder, there was a blinding flash as Lucian's cane revealed itself to be, in fact, a magical sword. Mary screamed as his blade crashed through Elodin's torso in a slash of light, completely decapitating her last living lover. Two guards nearest Lucian began to move towards him.
The Halflings began to laugh. It was deep, hellish laughter that echoed throughout the hall. The female stood, and her flesh began to fall away from her body like a silk gown. As her skin parted, a giant demoness stepped out of the pile of human detritus and stared at Moira, who had no idea how a Halfling's body had contained such a large demon. "You shouldn't have done that." Her voice was deeper than any man's.
The captain stopped, horrified.
At her side, the Halfling man's head shot back as two, slimy, moss-colored hands reached out from within his mouth, pushing his jaw away from his skull. His body twitched all over, his fingers going akimbo. Blood poured down his torso as a sickening rip finally dislodged his jawbone. An imp climbed out of the maw and took its place next to the demoness as the second Halfling corpse hit the floor.
Nut couldn't believe them. It always ended like this with his friends. They were just attacking random folks. He sighed as he slid off the barrel, abandoning his grand, unattained scheme. He extinguished his impromptu torch with a furious gesture and prepared himself for whatever was about to happen.