Vladka looked taken aback by the implication that any reticence to assist the investigators could lead to indemnity on her part. She considered for a long moment. As unhappy as she was to be rousted from her house late at night she had just as little desire to be portrayed negatively in the most widely publicized criminal case Lepidstadt had ever seen. Laying aside the personal toll, the effect that such publicity could have on her business prospects was incalculable.

At length she nodded to Shade.

"Wait here." She said.

She retired from the drawing room for some minutes and at length re-emerged wearing a dark, stout dress of fine cut, a small and fashionable hat, and a long bladed dagger at her belt. She wound her green scarf around her neck and motioned for our heroes to follow as she moved out of her rooms and into the foggy Lepidstadt night.

They walked several short blocks to the offices of Ledov's Chiurgery Merchants, which Vladka unlocked with a large brass key. She opened the door, poked her head inside, and said "Bindlestiff." in a loud, clear voice. She waited a moment, then led our heroes inside. Clearly the well-to-do establishment secured their premise with an alarm spell during their off hours.

Vladka led them past a small auction room with a stage at one side and seating area on the other, through a warehouse, and into a cramped office. She produced a tindertwig and candle, which she handed to Constantine to hold over her shoulder while she pulled out several boxes of old sales receipts. She reference the item and date from the bill of sale that Hora had provide and, presently, pulled out a very similar slip from her own records.

"Let's see. Lot number 17823-B, purchased Gozran 18th, 4708, held at primary warehouse until auction on..." She flipped to the next page. "...Desnus 1st. Purchaser used a letter of credit redeemed the following Oathday at the Lepidstadt Temple of Abadar. Lot 17823-B and four other items sold to...Klud Radniche, of Radniche's Medical Supplies." She said.

The name stirred a faint memory in Shade's mind. Could it be the same shop? It had to be. She had purchased a case of tonic tinctures from the shop some years previously on commission for the Lepidstadt Home of Orphaned children.

---

Vladka provides the name of the person who bought the surgical tools, one Klud Radniche. It just so happens that Shade is acquainted with Klud already, having done some business with him in the past, and knows just where his shop is located.

“Might we borrow that bill of sale or can you make a duplicate for us to take to court?”

He looks to his companions
“Do we already know then our next destination?”
This message was last edited by the player at 20:33, Mon 20 Jan 2020.

Remaining brusquely professional, Vadim had kept his thoughts mostly to himself during this leg of the investigation.  His aged and swamp-stained appearance did little to lend any air of sophistication to their enquiries, but his presence did add a certain dogged gravity to the proceedings.  A simple nod and a word indicated his gratitude on behalf of the Court, and he turned to address the others.

"Do we drag that barrister from his bed to start his work now, before we go on?"

"A thanks, Madam Kostel, for your diligent service in the cause of justice," Shade says, giving her a smile to cover up her recognition of Klud Radniche's shop.  "Sleep well."

Once Madam Kostel has departed company with them, Shade turns to Sir Constantine and Vadim.  "We've got about half t' thread here.  I want to see where it's tied.  Klud Radniche's shop has done some good things; made me some tinctures a while back for... a project I was working on, but we don't know what else he or his employees are up to on their own time.  We've got enough time to find it, but we'd have to hope Radniche hasn't gone to sleep early."

“Lead on then this sounds like the final merchant the wares passed through.”

SCG wondered if this final merchant would be as cooperative as the first were.

Shade led the way to Radniche's shop, a small and cluttered storefront in the mercantile district. Not far from the Anatomist's Alley, as luck would have it. How odd the circuitous routes that goods take on the way to market.

This late at night the storefront was darkened, as well as the windows in the upper floors of the building. Unfortunately no amount of knocking, pounding, or calling raised any sort of response from the interior.

Like most shops in the district Radniche's was two stories, with the storefront on the ground floor and living quarters on the top. A large window showed the deserted interior of the shop, it was mortared in place and didn't have a mechanism to open. The front door was secured with sturdy lock and key. The rear door had a pull handle rather than a knob, it was likely secured with a bar lock on the interior as well.

Shade purses her lips at the darkened shop and home.  "Probably would look bad to break into the shop to get Radniche's testimony," she says, her tone casual, as if mentioning that apples probably don't go well with steak.  "But maybe a little look uptop wouldn't hurt.  Nook?  You're up."

The orange-eyed cat oozed off of Shade's shoulders, and considered the building and looked for a route an agile feline could climb.  Shade rubbed her hands together, invoking the magic of the thin gloves to help Nook over the rough spots.

OOC: I'd like to have Nook climb up to see if he can see anything on the second story through the windows (or perhaps find an open window for some stealthy snooping).  Nook has a +6 to Climb, but Shade would like to use her apprentice's cheating gloves, which have mage hand at will, to assist Nook up any difficult spots in the climb, if that's possible.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:25, Thu 23 Jan 2020.

“Will your cat be singing the song of his err her people outside of the upper window?”

SCG knows that a cat caterwauling outside a window is nearly enough to wake anyone...

"Not if I don't have to.  Batting open a book or drawer and reading my moonlight, Nook can do that though.  Catterwalling will be for a back-up," she says, giving him a cheeky grin.

Nook leapt nimbly over the shop's eaves and padded carefully over the tile roof, alternately hopping and scrambling up the building's facade. Bright cat's eyes peered in the upper windows, and Shade tuned into her empathic link to receive a host of information.

As always Nook's feline mind was running over an undercurrent of caution, curiosity, and a sort of off-handed, near arrogant assurance. At the moment curiosity was at the forefront, and excitement. Shade felt a spike of anticipation as Nook drew up to the upper floor windows that quickly faded back to boredom. There didn't appear to be anything there to arouse the rangy cat's interest.

Shade knew at the least that indicated there wasn't anybody there, and likely nothing that would be of interest to a cat either.

Shade shakes her head, and braces herself as Nook climbs back down, in case he wants to leap dramatically onto her shoulder.  "No one in residence.  Either he lives elsewhere or he's out for the night.  We could check more thoroughly, if the records are there, though that might take a mort 'o doing.  Merchant records aren't my best..."  She pauses, thinking.  "All right, I'm gonna ask the city what it knows about Radniche and where he might be.  Don't say anything for a minute."

Shades takes out a tiny piece of crumbling brick from a belt pouch, whispers a few words, one of which Sir Constantine recognizes as Lepidstadt, and touches her ears.  Her eyes grow wide and unseeing, and she seems to be seeing and hearing things that he cannot.

OOC: Casting ears of the city - https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic.../e/ears-of-the-city/ What it knows about Radniche and where he lives/might be tonight.
21:11, Today: Shade of Lonwood rolled 18 using 1d20+10.  Perception.
21:11, Today: Shade of Lonwood rolled 30 using 1d20+10.  Perception.
21:11, Today: Shade of Lonwood rolled 14 using 1d20+10.  Perception.
21:11, Today: Shade of Lonwood rolled 16 using 1d20+10.  Perception.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:24, Thu 23 Jan 2020.

SCG nods his head silently and wonders about this magic, is it then a spell called ears of the city or something else...

If nothing else he can send the others to bed and himself keep watch here up until the start of the trial.
Though someone will have to get the gator head and hide to the courts as evidence....

A whirring cacophony of noise filled Shade's head, whispered voices and snatches of conversation from all over the city distilled into a roar of information pumped magically into her brain. The trick of the spell was not seeking relevant information, but focusing to cut out the nearly overwhelming tide of irrelevant information.

It took her a few moments to find her bearing in the compressed landscape of the city, the stones and bricks speaking to her. At last she picked up the thread. Someone had spotted Radniche leaving his shop at closing time. Another overheard a conversation with a news boy as he paid a copper for a Lepidstadt cut sheet. A bartender passed him a drink. A doorman knuckled his forehead as he swept past.

All in a rush Shade was able to track his movements through the city. He closed his shop at the normal time, took his customary stroll around the city, and as evening fell went to call at the estates of Sir Edouard Bresnik, a retired knight once in the employ of the crown prince. The near overwhelming rush of the spell lost his trail after that, he must still be at the Bresnik estate. Shade's keen focus had followed Radniche's every step through the city, and she knew just where the large manor house could be found. It was near the center of the city, conveniently close to the courthouse in fact.

Shade blinks her eyes, seeing around her once more, and looks at Sir Constantine with a fierce smile.  "He's at the Bresnik estate, right next to the courthouse.  Guest of the knight, as you will.  Let's go!" she says, Nook purring loudly.

“Well come on kit cat we have an estate to tour.”

SCG thinks he knows the way to the courthouse so he turns in that direction

“That’s quit a spell i never saw it before, you must have been a better pupil than I.”

Shade walks in silence for a few minutes, taking in the late-night sounds of the city, before answering.  "I once spent a few moons in the sewers below the Halls of Justice, hiding from people who wanted to kill me.  Nook found me there, and all the echoes from the pipes... I started to be able to see and hear the city in ways others couldn't."  She laughs a little, a bitter, small thing.  "I was still a self-serving wench with barely a charitable bone in my body though. Wasn't until I damn near dropped into the abyss that the Judge's clear sight let me see the city as something more than just something to use."

“I see, so Nook the kit cat wast your first true friend. Apparently you learned more than you even realized.”

The image of a rag tag tiny girl living under the city was a sad image...
“Thanks for sharing it I felt saddened.”

They chatted as they walked through Lepidstadt's nighttime streets. It was as safe a city as any in Ustalav, but even in these urbane surroundings doors were shut and locked after dark, windows shuttered against the mist and the black.

They made their way to the Bresnik estate where a rap on the large, ornate knocker brought a disgruntled looking butler in a gown and night cap, holding aloft a guttering candle. He looked down a long, spindly nose at the adventurers and harrumphed loudly.

"The estate is closed to visitors while Sir Bresnik is away. Return when you have business with the household." He said with an air of pompous finality, and began to shut the door.

---

Shade, with a 30 on your knowledge check you know a great deal, even things that are hidden or only rumored. You know that the butler is correct, Sir Bresnik is currently out of the city on a hunting trip and is not expected to return for several days. His household staff and his wife are the only ones home.

Radniche doesn't have a sinister or criminal reputation, and while he is in the medical supply industry he's a salesman and not a practitioner. There isn't a readily available reason that he would be calling on the Bresnik estate this late at night, at least not an innocent one. You have heard it whispered that he is much in the favor of the Lady Bresnik, who is significantly younger than her husband-of-convenience Sir Bresnik.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:46, Fri 24 Jan 2020.

“Apologies we were here to call upon another guest who we hoped might be here;  Klud Radniche .”

Sometimes it’s good not to know !!!
This message was last edited by the player at 00:01, Sat 25 Jan 2020.

"Of course, sir, it is quite true that the estate would be closed to visitors.  But what about close associates come to tend to the affairs of the mistress of the house?" Shade's eyes are wide with innocence as she speaks to the door dragon, but she puts subtle emphasis on the words close, affair, and mistress.  "Please, convey a word to Guildman Radniche that we just need a few moments of his time and expertise."

OOC: 22:32, Today: Shade of Lonwood rolled 13 using 1d20+11.  Bluff check.  Hopefully I'll get a little bonus from dropping the right rumors...
This message was last edited by the player at 15:18, Sat 25 Jan 2020.

“Ms. Lonwood, your company is greatly appreciated on this long night.  Once we get set for the night i will include you in my keeping of the watch spell, it should allow you to be refreshed in the morning without sleeping.”

SCG pauses
“Also should I succumb to a magical sleep do not hesitate to injure me awake or have nook bite my nose.”

The butler's eyes narrowed instantly and his posture assumed an unfriendly air. In any other man it would be a curling, turning, inward gesture. In this well-to-do servant the exact same effect could be seen in a prim stiffening of the spine, a raised chin, and the withering glance that he shot down his nose at the urchin and the knight.

"IF there were such a person in the estate, his presence here would be the business of the lord and lady of the house. Not yours. Good evening." He said with finality, and slammed the door in their faces.

---

The Bresnik estate is a three story townhouse near the center of Lepidstadt. The upper floors are all shuttered so simply peeping in the windows will likely reward no results. You know based on the designs of similar houses that there is likely a back porch area enclosed by a wall at the rear of the houserow, with a back door leading to the interior of the house.

“Correct and IF the man is here have him leave immediately and meet us at his shop, as that is our business!  Good night sir!”

Looks to the witch
“Should we leave and meet the man at his proper place of business?”

Shade winks at Sir Constantine and walks down the stairs with him, and starts to walk around the back of the house.  "Conny, now don't be so easily discouraged!  Every rich man's house has more servants than a dog has fleas, and they won't be so backwards about coming forwards."

She heads around the back and tries to find a servants' entrance, and possibly some servants too.

For the most part Vadim had kept his own counsel since encountering Vadka in her home;  he had kept a weather-eye on the mist-shrouded doorways and alleys that they passed, and an ear out for any sounds of anyone who might have taken an interest in their small group moving about well after dark.  In the main his thoughts tended toward a yearning for his pipe and an appreciation for the sombre quietude of the city's streets at this hour;  he felt more at home when the streets were lined with darkened mausoleums of the living than in the bright bustle of day.

When the others approached the manor entrance Vadim had held back, near enough to hear but far enough not to be immediately obvious, loitering hands-in-pockets on the street and looking for all the world himself like some ne'er-do-well tailing a mark.  After the exchange he strode up to the estate, seal of Lepidstadt in hand.  With a nod he motioned to Sir Constantine, inviting him to join while Shade went around back.

"We try again," he pounded a gnarled fist against the reinforced wood.  "Open up in the name of the City!  We have reason to question the Master, Mistress and any guests present regarding murders committed and the desecration of corpses!  Open up!"  Vadim hammered until the door boomed resoundingly into the hallway beyond, prepared to continue bellowing until the door opened once more.  In the past he had found himself unwelcome in enough well-to-do neighbourhoods when under the Court's business;  as often as not the upper crust were more interested in maintaining a sense of propriety and preventing scandal than they were in justice being done, so he expected that the door would open given time.  That, and if he wasn't sleeping this night then others might as well share the same inconvenience.

And with such a disturbance at the front of the house, Shade might well catch someone making a hasty exit through the stables or servants' quarters.

"We will also be questioning the neighbours!"

@Shade
“Conny? Conny?”

Just as suddenly Vadim strolls up..


@Vadim
“I say old man, I thought you had turned in for the evening.”

SCG looks aghast as Shade heads around back and the large man starts pounding on the door.
is the badge power going to the man’s head???

Vadim's pounding yielded no results, and even his bellowed protestations on behalf of the law of Lepdistadt brought no response from the interior of the house. The flickering light of a candle could still be seen through the transom. Clearly the supercilious butler was standing just behind the door, listening to Vadim knock and refusing to respond.

Shade herself padded through the night to the end of the houserow and down the alleyway that ran behind the row of town houses. The Bresnik home was the sixth from the end and so it took her a minute or two to circumnavigate the block, Vadim's hammering growing fainter and then louder as she re-approached the rear of the house.

Just in time.

Moving through the dark alleyway, she could see the rear windows of the houses in the row and the high garden walls that separated the alleyway from the smallish yards. A sudden jolt of awareness and amusement spiked through her empathic link with Nook, which cued her to to focus through the darkness at the rear of the Bresnik house.

A dark figure was struggling over the garden wall. Obscured by darkness, she could tell little more about him than that it was a man in his shirtsleeves and trousers, with a small bundle hitched under one arm. As he dropped to the paving stones he spotted Shade, cursed, dropped his bundle, and began sprinting the opposite way down the alleyway.

---

Shade, you're about 20ft from the rear of the house when you spot someone sneaking out over the garden wall. You have a round to disable him before he's lost in the slightly twisting alley.

If it's relevant I'll sketch out a map of the street and alley, but more likely you'll either catch him, or if he passes his save we'll move into a skill check based chase sequence.

Constantine and Vadim, you're at the front of the house about 120ft from the end of the street. To get to where Shade is via the street you'd need to run 120ft to the end of the street, then around the end of the houses and 120ft down the alley. As the crow flies you're about 50ft from her, through the row of houses.

Shade takes a scrap of sticky silk from her beltpouch, says a few words of binding, and flings her hand towards him. A huge web grows across the alley and partially over the runner, Shade hoping to mire her target. She then walks forward and picks up the bundle so she can get within conversational distance.

"Stay still, I don't mean any harm to your person or reputation. I want information utterly unrelated to the reason you're in smallclothes.

OOC: Casting web across alley, catching the runner in the first five feet of it. DC 15 Reflex save.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:51, Tue 28 Jan 2020.

The dark figure was looking over its shoulder at Shade as she barked out the words of her spell and consequently bumbled directly into the spreading web that erupted from the narrow walls of the alleyway. He was stuck fast, and although he struggled savagely for a moment he quickly seemed to grow resigned to his fate.

As Shade drew abreast of him she glanced at the bundle that he had discarded. It was just clothing--a jacket and waistcoat, cravat, and top hat.

He crossed his arms, wobbling slightly in the sticky webbing, and screwed up his face obstinately.

Radniche was tall, well manicured, with normally coiffed hair currently in disarray and the faint scent of pomade about him. His shirt was untucked and his trousers unlaced, obviously donned in haste.

"Since when is it illegal to...go...walking at night?" He said, somewhat lamely, searching for his words and clearly understanding how transparent his defense looked.

---

Radniche fails his save and is caught. He could try struggling out each round, but as Shade and the others close in on him it looks like he's going to talk his way out of trouble.

Unless Shade or Nook raise a fuss I don’t see any reason we would be charging that way as of yet...

@Vadim
“I don’t think we have enough cause to batter down the door, especially of a notable resident.  I have left word for him to meet us at his place of business.  Perhaps we should collect the alley cat and head back to the shop.”

Shade widens her eyes in innocence, Nook on her shoulder imitating the expression.  "Why, never, of course!" She waves in an off-handed manner and brings out the drawing of the scalpel in question.  "Now, this fine scalpel was used to mutilate some corpses related to the Beast murders.  We've found the maker, the purchaser that sold it to an auction house, and now it leads to you, Radniche.  So."  She holds the picture in front of his eyes.  "Tell me all about it.  In the cause of justice, of course."

Radniche looked over the drawing, both ignoring the oddity of a commercial consultation in his present predicament, and grateful that it was the only topic that Shade seemed interested in pursuing.

"Hmmmm, medical instruments like this are common fare at my shop, it would be impossible to say who purchased it based on this drawing. I may be able to give you more information if you can be discrete about our...meeting this evening. Come to my shop tomorrow." He reached absentmindedly towards his waist and found nothing there, then strained toward the bundle that he had dropped and failed.

"You'll find a calling card in my jacket pocket. My shop, Radniche's Medical Supplies, is in the surgeon's flats. If you call on me in the morning I can locate the information you require."

Grudgingly Vadim relents in his thumping, glaring at the candlelight visible within, and harrumphs at Constantine.

"Obstructing this investigation is reason enough for arrest;  the last known owner of a weapon connected to a crime is inside," he grumbled.  "And if it is 'open the door or you are under arrest' and this door is not opened, reason enough to break it down and put someone in irons.  I am not out late on the Judge's business for my health."  Despite the perceived affront to Judge Daramid's authority, the old gravedigger wavered.

"There is no time to wait for morning, you must see this.  We must find the connection to the Morast crimes before deposition.  If the Beast had an accomplice, or master, it should be known.  Also, now I am annoyed," he scowled back at the ornate door and cracked his knuckles.

In reply to GM (msg # 32):

"Tomorrow is a fine day, no doubt, but the trial starts tomorrow and I would love nothing more than the information tonight.  Hour is quite advanced as it is, and my patience is, unfortunately, very short."

Nook oozes down her shoulder and scampers off as Shade makes a request to bring Sir Constantine and Vadim around to where she is.

"And nothing of what I saw or surmised here will be known, if we can get the name we need tonight.  A most fair trade, don't you think?"

@Vadim
“Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.  If the man was or is here I have told him to get to his shoppe.  I have collected the paper trail and have every intention of getting a copy of his bill of sale.”

SCG is also curious as to all merchandise the man trades in, perhaps an apron, tent, or the darkvision potion....hopefully on the same receipt!

Radniche waffled for a moment and then acquiesced, his shoulders slumping as he gathered up his belonging and led the way to his shop.

Radniche's Medical Supplies was tucked away behind several of the larger firms in the surgeon's flats, located at the terminal end of a twisting little blind alley little more than a grimy corridor through the city's streets. Radniche produced a key ring from his trouser pocket and unlocked two deadbolts and two door locks to open up the door.

The interior of the shop was small and cramped and smelled acridly with a stink that Vadim recognized immediately as embalming fluid. One section of the shelves held knives, scalpels, and other medical tools. But the larger part of the inventory was devoted to experimental supplies. Potions and powders with various applications in medicine, solvents and disinfectants, and alchemical extracts. There were several cadavers, some preserved with embalming fluid and some with gentle repose.

Radniche's workspace was a counter towards the front of the shop, and his office was a small filing room towards the back from which he produced several crates of documents and scrolls. He moved a large jar of pickled eyeballs to make room and stacked them on the front desk.

"Feel free to take a look." He said unhappily.

Radniche truly did take the anonymity of his clientele very seriously. His log of transactions listed item and price but only cross-referenced a client number, which Radniche refused to divulge until our heroes had located the correct entry. It took some time for our heroes to collate the mess but luckily Constantine stumbled on the correct filing box rather quickly, and they were able to locate the sale of the scalpel set.

When they showed the entry to Radniche he insisted on checking the bill of sale from both Hora and Vladka to verify that it was the correct transaction, insisting he could reveal only client information relevant to the case. Once he was satisfied he referenced the client number with a large ledger that was sealed with a brass lock.

"The surgeons tools were sold as a set to Master Vorkstag, who paid in coin at the time of purchase." He said. The transaction had taken place on Desnus 8th, 4708.

Vadim was familiar with the name. Vorkstag and his partner operated a chemical factory outside of the city, Vorkstag and Grine's Chymic Works, although he knew little more about it than the name.

---

You pass a Research check on Radniche's notes and locate the transaction, I rolled low on your time and finding the sale only takes 1 hour.

Vorkstag and Grine's Chymic Works are about an hour outside the city by foot. By cab it's about a 10 minute ride but you aren't likely to find any stables open this late. It's about 1:45 AM when you find the transaction record at Radniche's.

Constantine, Radniche wouldn't sell supplies like tents, aprons, or shovels, although an extract of darkvision would definitely be in his inventory. The transaction record indicates that Vorkstag bought only the surgeon's tools at that time, however.

Now having the client number SCG continues the perusal of the sales ledger; seeing if the same customer number shows up again after that sales date.

“It is important to protect unreasonable searches of persons transactions and comings and goings with no greater good to be achieved.  Is this man a good or valued customer?  Perhaps we can ask the judge not name the merchants when the receipts are entered into evidence.”

SCG takes his time in the sales...
“This is an impressive shop, the medical set was very good quality, so much variety.  I have to inquire this customer or one one his account ever buy an extract here?”

I rolled diplomacy first; and the result was low; then it looked like that was the wrong thing so I rolled intimidate;I think intimidate works better with the text


oday: Sir Constantine Godalming rolled 21 using 1d20+7.  Intimidate. 15:15, Today: Sir Constantine Godalming rolled 11 using 1d20+8.  Diplomacy
This message was last edited by the player at 20:19, Thu 30 Jan 2020.

Ambling around the store Vadim peeked under the sheet of each cadaver with idle, if morbid, curiosity whilst Sir Constantine re-checked the ledger.

"Vorkstag runs the chemical works, but I do not know him as a surgeon or mortician," he shrugged lop-sidedly, moving his lips as he ran a finger along a labelled shelf of powders.  "But then, I do not know Vorkstag."  Turning to a table of instruments, Vadim picked over the display.  Light glinted from the blade of a long, saw-edged knife as he tested its weight.  To judge from the old man's dark smile, its cutting surface was also satisfactorily sharp under his thumb.

"But you are buying these things," he waved the knife-point toward Radniche's neat rows of antiseptics and solvents, "Maybe you know more about Vorkstag, or his partner, hm?  If they have interests in testing their product;  purchasing bodies or parts perhaps?  From you or... others?"

When Radniche had agreed to help them (once Sir Constantine and Vadim were there), Shade had dissolved her web and held out the man's clothes, turning away so he could dress.  "For certain you are an upright man who loves his city and wants to see justice properly done," she says to him, her tone sincere.

At the crowded business, she looked around with the others, occasionally being distracted by the interesting objects in jars.  At the word that the next link in the chain is in a chemical factory.... a curious place.  And possibly disturbing.  The tools being sold on the 8th of Desnus... six days after the first "death" of the Beast at the jaws of a blood caiman.

The three they'd seen tonight had been decent enough.  Solid folks, respectable.  Only requiring a flash of official papers or a hint of scandal to get them in line.  As they got deeper into this, Shade was certain they'd encounter those folk who necessitated... stronger methods of persuasion.

Radniche moved to collect the filing boxes full of invoices but Constantine waved him off. He dapper shopkeep clearly wanted them out of his establishment as soon as possible, but seemed unwilling to go so far as to kick them out.

Armed now with the correct customer number Constantine was able to perform a more exhaustive search of the sales records. Stacks of receipts grew around him and Radniche hissed through clenched teeth each time one of his records was placed out of order, but said nothing. Although he didn't want to give our heroes the run of his shop he did begin to nod off eventually, perched on a chair behind his desk.

He jerked awake when Constantine and Vadim began to bombard him with questions about Vorkstag.

"Vorkstag is...just a customer. He comes into the shop from time to time. Tall man, hooked nose, thin build. I don't think I've seen him but he was dressed all in black, with white lace collar and cuffs. Rather dashing, actually. His partner Grine is an odd looking fellow, but gnomes are like that you know. Wide set eyes. A bit unsettling, if you ask me.

I think the only thing he ever bought was the surgeon's kit." He said. Constantine produced a stack of receipts for alchemical supplies.

"Well...and some supplies for the chymic works." Radniche amended.

---

Constantine does a search for all of Vorkstag's purchases in Radniche's records, the full list of which I'll get added to the journal thread. The search takes 3 hours. He never purchased an extract of darkvision, but you know that's not unusual. The extracts that an alchemist creates work differently than regular potions, they only remain potent for one day and can typically only be used by the alchemist that created them, although they can take a discovery to allow others to drink their extracts. Shade, you know based on your high Gather Information check that Radniche himself is not an alchemist.

You also get the feeling that Radniche is being evasive about the exact nature of his business with Vorkstag and Grine.

11:59, Today: Secret Roll: GM rolled 21,11,17 using 1d20+1,1d20+4,1d20+4.  Sense Motive Checks.

"Dear Radniche, please do expound on all you know!  Certainly we would not have drug you from the arms of your lithesome lady for a rooting around in old record if we only wanted half a story.  There is a hideous crime going on under the auspices of the Beast, and your client is either in it up to his eyeballs or knows who is.  So.  Like a wine bottle overturned, let the entire story spill out.  Or I will tell a story that reaches unwelcome ears such as those of a certain absent nobleman, Shade says, eyes half-lidded, gesturing in an off-handed manner.  Her manner of speaking has become more refined as she speaks to Radniche, taking on an upper-city accent as she speaks with him.

OOC: 00:04, Today: Shade of Lonwood rolled 19 using 1d20+11.  Bluff check.

Replacing the cutter within its display, Vadim returned to the cadavers and assorted jars of pickled parts.

"Are there so many hangings lately? Too many unclaimed dead for the crematory?" An oddly-shaped skull caught his interest. "You have records for all purchases and sales of bodies, yes?" He took out his glasses and angled the skull to better study the seams across its crown.

"How was the corpse business between Gozran and - what was it - Desnus last year? You made many purchases? Sales?"

SCG gives the man another look over...
“To be clear you are saying all business between you is on these receipts? That you and they never meet personally and have you yourself ever delivered to or been to their homes or places of business?”

Suspect the man is holding back, but maybe nothing to do with the case...

Radniche's demeanor grew icier and he began to pack up the filing boxes full of old receipts, stacking them and packing them back into the storeroom in the back of his shop.

"I've never been to their workshop, it's rather farther outside the city than I typically like to travel. And, as you have seen for yourself, I've kept a record of all of their purchases.

Now. You have kept me awake all night going through my records and I have business to attend to before the day begins. I'm afraid I must ask you to leave."

He stacked the boxes in the storeroom, locked it, and slipped the key into his waistcoat pocket. Then he marched to the front door and held it open expectantly, frowning at Constantine and pointedly avoiding Shade and Vadim's gaze.

Shade looks up at Radniche as he opens the door for them, her eyes hard.  "They've made a monster, stripped the flesh from the dead whose kin did not consent, and let mayhem loose to destroy, murder, and rob.  Everyone involved will get see the blood on their hands never be washed away.  Don't let your pride and greed sing a song so loud you'll ignore the screams of the dead and dying," she says.

OOC: 03:37, Today: Shade of Lonwood rolled 20 using 1d20+7.  Intimidate.

“Take heart young man! You have aided a noble and worthy cause, your discomfort will pass let us count this a success.”

“Your personal choices are not my concern.”

Sir Constantine Godalming rolled 22 using 1d20+8.  Diplomacy
This message was last edited by the player at 13:40, Tue 04 Feb 2020.

"Surely the Beast will burn for its crimes." Radniche said, eyes hard.

"The terror and mayhem that it has caused have nothing to do with me, or with my clients."

The harder Shade pressed the more closed and angry he seemed to become, and Constantine's conciliatory efforts yielded little change in his demeanor.

---

Radniche is becoming more and more uncooperative, and it seems as if your efforts to influence his attitude are only making him angrier.

Dumping the skull atop a jar of fingers, Vadim limped across to the storekeeper.

"In Lepidstadt you do not dismiss agents of the Court.  The Court dismisses you... when we are satisfied you have no more to contribute to our investigation."  The old gravedigger's left hand twitched as he glared at Radniche, "Perhaps you are arrested tonight for public indecency, or attempted burglary.  The cells are quite full.  Maybe you spend a few hours with the Beast itself."  A clinking rattle precedes the production of a pair of manacles.

"If there is a mistake then we release you with sincerest apologies of the City.  I am sure you have someone who will swear publicly to your good character and actions this morning."  He paused, left hand now spasming frantically.

"I think you look like the type who is intending to resist arrest."  Vadim cast a side-glance at Shade and Sir Constantine. "He seems violent."

“If we have any hope of getting there and back again tonight we can not linger here any longer.  I am going to see about securing horses or a carriage.”

SCG steps away from the doorway and nudges Shade
“Where can we get a ride at this hour?”

"Arrested, on what charge?!" Radniche demanded, drawing back from Vadim with a look of purest indignation.

"I have answered your questions, and at your requests I have opened my records to you. An act, I may remind you, that I have performed as a personal favor--seeing that you do not have a warrant to search my shop or my person.

You'll be hearing from my advocate! I'll that badge of yours revoked! I'll have you locked in irons in my place!"

His violent protests continued as he was manacled, although he did not resist the procedure beyond his loud protestations.

After the exhaustive search of Radniche's sales records the night had stretched nearly all away, the current hour was a quarter til five in the morning and Shade informed Constantine that most of the stables and farriers would open at dawn, in nearly an hour's time.

Shade looked over at Vadim and raised her eyebrows a little.  Well.  That had escalated quickly.  But now they had an hour to kill and one very cranky businessman to deal with.

"My colleague is making certain no stone is unturned.  This is a case of murder, thievery, body desecration, arson, and more, and feelings are running high for many folks. No one wants to miss anything, and every piece of information is vital, no matter how seemingly insignificant or unconnected. Now, we can wait quietly, perhaps having quiet conversation for a little while until we can get a carriage.  Or we can walk across the city.  Openly.  In the streets.  To the courthouse.  Which would you prefer, Radniche?" Shade asks pleasantly.

SCG was waiting to see if Vadim was going to actually slap the man in irons and drag him away to the constable.
Perhaps he would let it happen; would he and shade have time to get to the chymical works, collect evidence and return?

Quietly to Shade
“Perhaps we just let this play out and head to the next destination?”

Radniche argued vehemently with Shade and Vadim, only breathing a sigh of relief when the grizzled old investigator packed away his manacles and left the shop with a warning glance.

It was still an hour or two to dawn and Lepidstadt still slumbered, but our heroes made their way on to the next potential site in their investigation. The long night's activities weighed heavily on them, and they made a short stop at the inn to reconnoiter with their compatriots as the sun was beginning to rise.

---

I've rolled Fortitude saves on your behalves, Shade and Constantine are fatigued but Vadim is tough enough to muscle through without too many ill effects.

I'm also moving things back into the main thread since we've pretty much caught up there by now. Hopefully nobody who went to bed is feeling left out of the game during the nighttime investigation.