"What, really zealous about worshiping The Serpent? A few... And then of course there're always exceptions now and then... A House that doesn't take it seriously but one person who does anyway, and vice-versa, too..."

Allura laughs a bit, "No, I mean, well I guess all Houses pay lip service they have too. I meant more in general, like your the first Sawall I have met. I just meant have you had the chance to meet a lot of people from other Houses, not necessarily their views on the Serpent."

"You seem alright, though rumor has told me not to trust House Sawall. I guess individuals make generalizations and stereotypes get fuzzy."

"Oh sure, I know people from lots of different Houses."



"Yeah. Still, Sawall is pretty, I dunno. Scheme-y. I mean, I think almost every House is, but Sawall's extra-good at it... I don't have anything to do with that stuff, though." He thinks. "Although I guess I'm involved with a scheme now, though. Is this a scheme? Because I like this one."

"It's not really a scheme, I wish I could exact revenge but unless the assassin is a human or a demon, I doubt I could actually take action. I don't like that a friend could just be killed Thelik and I can't do anything because some big House is behind it, but at least I might be able to find who the assassin is. That might lead to someone I can take action against. Of course if your family just bullied someone into it then I don't suppose it would be fair for me to kill someone who was threatened with death in the first place."

Allura slouches looking sad.

"Hmm, well, don't think about that part yet. We'll just see what we find out. ...Good point about the actual killer's motivations, though..." He thinks. "So how did this demon get killed? Sword? Knife? Poison? I only ask in case that tells us something."

"He was killed and his body left by the water, I didn't get to see the body."

She slouches even more, "I wish I could have gotten closer."

"...Wait... by the water? No way. Anyone moving the body that close would have dumped the body into the lake, to get rid of the evidence. Are you sure about the details of this...?"

Nods, "Yes I am sure, it was startling to some that found the body that the Vempreys didn't get it."

"Oh, if it was IN the lake, they totally would've gotten it. So why wasn't it? Were they interrupted in moving the body? Did somebody see them? Was there more than one?" He pauses. "Was your demon friend big, medium, or small?"

(Answer: bigger than the average human. Maybe around Laomer's size and weight.)

"Your friend Laomer, about his size, so bigger then human but not huge."

"Okay, so either they were really strong-- which of course is totally possible-- or there was more than one of them. ...I don't want to make you sad, but we're gonna have to ask these kinds of questions during this investigation: how exactly did he die, do you know?"

"I don't know but since you live by the lake maybe we could ask people you might know, people who might have seen ? His name was Squig." Describes what he looked like.

"Hmm, yeah-- let's go investigate! ...Where was his body, exactly?"

As best she can tell she will try to show him where she thinks it was.

Thelik looks around. "Huh. Not much of a crime scene... Hm, I wonder what demons do when one of them dies. I mean, I know what they'd do at home, they'd throw 'em in the Pit of Chaos-- I just mean when they don't die in the Courts." He thinks. "...We need to see another one of my friends, a different one... a demon, this time. C'mon, let's go."

Follows along quickly.

Thelik heads to the north side of town, where near the edge of town is a largish-shack (certainly larger than his, anyway).

He claps twice outside the door, someone inside yells something that apparently signified to enter, because he does. Allura follows.

Inside are various demons, and a few humans. They're all sitting around listening to one human playing a stringed instrument. The human is pretty decent, not fantastic.

There's a bar set up over in the corner. Thelik heads over there. "Hey Safos," says Thelik to the bartender, a demon who looks like he's made of half-mossy rocks, "you know a guy named Squig?"

"...Yes?" says Safos, in a tone that means What about him?

"I just today heard he's dead."

"Everyone just today heard he's dead. Happened last night."

"How'd it happen?"

"Magic."

"What, seriously?" Thelik glances at Allura. Thelik seems particularly alarmed.

"Yeah. You know the one where a doorway's filled with whirling blades? Someone did a version of that where the blades only showed up when someone entered the doorway, and that someone was Squig."

"I heard the body was found down by the lake?"

"No. I haven't heard that. Everything I've heard is that it was the doorway the spell was placed on."

"I heard the body was found by the water, but Squig was excellent with magic. He could twist and capture and reshape spells. It was his job." Looks shocked then remembers she had heard that but only now remembered about magic being used.

Safos sort of shrugs. "Being good at magic doesn't mean you can smell when it's in danger of going off when you're not expecting it. ...Unless you can. Guess Squig couldn't."

She slumps in her chair, "I didn't know that is how he went, that definitely means murder. No doubts."

"Anyone doing anything about it so far?" Thelik asked.

"We demons are keeping our eyes and ears open. If it was a House member, not much we can do. If it was a demon acting under orders, they might have a little accident, depending on who it was. But it probably wasn't a demon. That kind of spell-work says House stuff, in general..."

"Squig was a friend, were working on it too."

Safos does his rockslide-shrug again. "...Good luck with that, then..."

"Thank you." she nods to him then looks to Thelik.

"We learned more then I knew."

Thelik sidles up to Allura. "Any other questions you wanna ask? If not, any opinions on what we should do next...?" he asks quietly...