After anymore leaves, Truador will say to the others, “This finger has clearly been dead longer than Calda has. I can tell that it has been embalmed. This is very odd to me. It almost seems like Calda kept it around for some reason. Perhaps in the music box?” He thinks for a moment, “Do we know if her father is still alive?”

Zanibi nods at Truador's comments. "I have a theory. Perhaps in the music box, but what if she didn't put it there?"  She pauses a moment, glancing at Nym and Nyral. "Do we know when the box was thrown?" 

Marvin looks at Amy then Inquisitive after Amy asks her question "what about strangers or passersby who left an impression recently?"

Group 1: Truador, Zanibi, Nyral

"She kept a few. She kept a regular diary, a sketchbook, and another notebook that she wrote in every day immediately after she woke up. She never missed a day, but she'd never tell me what she was writing." Nym gets up, wiping away the last few tears left on his face. "I'd better get going. I'll be sure to let you know if I see anything else. Take care." With that, he steps out of the room.

Group 2: Amy, Inquisitive, Marvin

"I'm not really sure what you mean by 'a friend that was drifting,' but not that I can think of. Nothing strange. In fact, he was very excited to see people start setting up a carnival he said was passing through. He and Tare met up with a couple they met that were visiting from a neighboring town. It was the happiest I'd seen him in a few months, so there wasn't anything out of the ordinary or strange."

Zanibi glances at Nym as he goes. Once out she says, "Did you learn anything Nyral?  I did find a sketchbook, with some rather scary sketches of a shadowy figure.  It seems to match some of the other descriptions."  She glances over to Truador, "We didn't find any notebooks, did we?"

Inquisitive listened and nodded to himself. They would obviously need to find out more about that visiting couple, but Thaymoor's widow would be in a better position to tell them more about that. "Thank you for your time then Mr. Rogers, we appreciate the cooperation you have given us, please contact us at the Lazy Peacock in Esperal if you think of anything else that might be relevant to the investigation." The tiefling said politely and hung up the phone. "Well, we got something I guess." Inquisitive said a bit dryly before picking up the phone again. "I would like to speak to Valrel Rondro at extension 555 please." The tiefling said with a firm voice, looking up with a small smile at Amy and Marvin.

As Nym leaves Nyral turns to their allies as they reply, "I learned a bit.  First off, the symptoms seem consistent.  Several days of nightmares and sickness.  Hopefully we can find anyone else before they succumb to the killer.  I put some words out to people I feel can be trusted.  So I might receive word of someone being affected.   Second thing, Calda doesn't seem to have a direct connection from themselves or their parents to the civil war.  Apprently her family hailed from a more neutral country.  Third, the carnival was setting up in town perhaps before her symptoms started but they had not had any shows yet.   I'd like to find all three of her journals to see if there is mention of her visiting them while they setup or being approached by someone.  You asked about the music box, it was smashed after she got sick and only a couple days before she died."

Nyral nods towards the othe two, "You say you couldn't find the journal or the dairy?  What did you find beyond a severed finger?"

Zanibi explains to Nyral about the music box they had found as well as the two notes. "One says, 'I know what you did.'  The other says, 'Check the music box.'  They were both tucked into the bottom of a box with some sketchbooks and rolled up paintings."  She sets down the box she had taken from the other room. "She had sketches of the dark creature.  Maybe there's something in the other books? Going through them quickly I didn't see a diary or anything. Any comments were mostly about the paintings."  

As she starts to go through the box to find one of the books to look through, she adds. "I'm trying to imagine what happened with these notes...  I wonder if maybe the 'Check the music box.' note was left for her.  She did look in the box and perhaps found the finger.  That might cause someone to throw the box, despite it being a prized possession.  The 'I know what you did.' note might have been in with the finger?  It all seems to point though to a possibly motive.  Someone had found out some secret about Calda and they were punishing her for it."  

"Of course, that's a lot of conjecture." 

"I think its safe to say that somehow the killer knew about that finger.  It is possible Calda knew about the finger.  However, given she broke the music box and didn't retrieve the finger; I think she learned something about the music box and whatever secrets it held.  If she found the finger why did she leave it and not dispose of it or put it in something?  Was there something else in the music box as well?  Did the music box having any writing or markings on it?  You said there were notes?  Do they match any handwriting we know?  We should compare it to anyone that seems to get drawn into this matter.  We should also search more thoroughly for the missing journal and dairy.  It is possible some vital clues are in those.  I'm going to take a look around as well.  We need to be certain we didn't miss anything here."  Nyral uses Detect magic tapping into his natural ability as a drow to view the pressence of magic. He does a slow scan of the area they are in as well as looking at the finger and ring that his companions have.   The drow get up after looking at the two items in question and look towards the bedroom and begin heading that way unless Truador or Zanibi ask Nyral anything or slow him down from searching as well.

Perception: 7

magical guidance to reroll Perception 1 sorcery point

15

I did find this diary,” Truador offers it to Nyral, “It’s very similar to what we found in the last victim’s diary.”

(if you read it you can read the spoiler labeled Truador part2)

Group 1: Zanibi, Nyral, Truador

The aforementioned 'Truador Prt. 2':

Nyral:

Group 2: Inquisitive, Marvin, Amy

"Will do. Have a nice day."

A different switchboard operator answers the phone when you pick it up, giving you a cheerful "One moment!" before switching you to the requested line. The phone only rings once before it's answered. "Who's this?" The person that picks up has a rough voice, further amplified by the scratchy quality of the phone's sound.

"Ah! Yes, Truador did grab the other box to look into!  Anything interesting in there?  Or I guess I could read the thing myself," Zanibi says.  "Anyhow. Yes, a little odd Calda left the finger. But also left the music box. If it was later on in her illness, perhaps she was just not well enough to pick them up?"  

Nyral reads the dream journal.  He specifically takes note of how many entries there are once the dreams turned into consistent nightmares towards the end of the book.  He wanted to know how many nights this couchmare spell was affecting Calda before she died.  Trying to find a timeline of how long a person has once they begin to have nightmares.  It'll be good to know in the future if it's consistent with the other victims.  

Nyral nods towards Zanibi, "I didn't realize the music box wasn't picked up either.  I suppose you're probably right and she was too weak to go pick up either.  This dream journal doesn't mention anything of nightmares of her parents so the only place that would be mentioned would be her dairy.  Where was this dream journal found?  Also, where was the sketch book found?"  

Nyral pauses and looks back at the dream journal.  They hand it to Zanibi for them to check out after and says "They began having spelling issues like the others near the end of the entries.  That's a very odd and specific symptom for a spell to cause.  I don't known what it means but it's something of note at least."

After handing the book to Zanibi the drow begins to search specifically for the dairy.  They might come across something else while searching for books, and notebooks hoping each coupd be what he seeks.  He checks under the bed and between the mattresses as well as begins to search in dressers and drawers.  The entire time with his magic sense up.  He takes note that the couchmare spell seems to be lingering on the pillow.  It's odd to him as she was the first victim. He thinks; shouldn't the spells lingering effects have worn off by now?  He was a bit curious why it's still there.

Perception: 18

Investigation: 14

"This is Inquisitive Embershade speaking, also listening in are my associates Amy and Marvin. We have been asked by the mayor of Esperal to help out with the investigation of three deaths that have occured here recently. One of the victims is Elibyn Ambershadow whose parents were killed in Esperal some years ago. We were told by Sergeant Yul of the EPD that you were the one in charge of that investigation. We think the motive for killing Elibyn might have soemthing to do with the death of her parents so if you could tell us all that you remember about that investigation it could be very helpful to our investigation." The tiefling said with a firm but gentle tone, glancing up at Amy and Marvin to see if they had anything to add so far.

"The books we found were all in boxes underneath the bed," Zanibi says to Nyral. 

"I agree, these spelling mistakes are interesting. Perhaps it is the killer's signature, so to speak." Truador responds, disgust clear in his voice. "Maybe if Thaymoor kept a journal, we can find out what it means."

Group 1: Zanibi, Nyral, Truador

Nyral: