"Glowing silverware and gutting pillows. This is a new one for me." Marvin pauses for a moment before continuing "got one I can take a crack at?"

Zanibri nods, "Oh yes, I can cast Identify."  She looks at the pillow and all the feathers.  "What exactly should I focus on?"  

Assuming there is some direction as to what to focus her spell on, she begins a chant over roughly 10 minutes (11 minutes to cast as ritual actually).  'Akello Ornale Legmon!  Akello Cigine Slogia! Kianho Gousli Ultion!'  She repeats the sylables over and over as she focuses her magic on the item, trying to reveal its secrets.

"We're here to investigate Marvin but thank you for your enthusiasm." Inquisitive said with a tired sigh. "Nyral, can you try to single out which feather or which feathers that carries the magic you detected?" He then turned and asked the drow.

As the dragonborn reveals the golden ticket to the circus Nyral smiles and says "Amazing Truador.  So they went three days ago.  Does it seem like she was sick before or after that three day mark in the journal?  Even if there isn't any dates I can imagine she'd write about her excitement going to the circus.  If she was sick before she might even mention worries about being sick on the day of and missing it."

Nyral hands the pillow over and points to the center point of the top of the pillow.  "There Zanibi.  I can still see a magical presence there just not anything physical.  Hopefully there is enough magical presence there to get some kind of reading from it."  After handing the pillow off to the gnome, then he hear's the name Mick Mac Magnus MacCawley right as Marvin walks in and says it doesn't mean anything to him.  The drow looks at the man again and just shrugs saying "I'm not surprised you don't know anything.  I'm sure you'll be delighted with this but it sounds like a stage name to me." 

Nyral seems to think on the name for a bit trying to remember if in the adds, flyers and other advertisement for the circus if that name came up at all.  After giving it a bit of thought he looks back to Marvin with their question and says "I don't think we need anything cracked but I'll keep you in mind for that."  The drow looks to Inquisitive after the slight to Marvin and asks "Kidra. She's the neighbor right?  Did they see someone come in here after the first responders arrived?  Someone tore this bedroom up looking for something."

History: 17

"I wouldn't characterize Kidra as a very reliable witness I'm afraid. She didn't mention anything about anyone entering the house after local law enforcement arrived, but of course we didn't ask about that specifically. We could easily go and ask her now though." Inquisitive answered Nyral then turning to Marvin. "How would you feel about that Marvin? Can you go over and ask her?" He asked Marvin politely as he realized it was a mistake to bring him and Nyral together. He then turned to watch as Zanibi worked her magic, curious of what she would find out.

 "Sure. I could use the fresh air anywho" Marvin turns to leave and return to Kidra's house to see if she is still around.

Zanibi:

Nyral:

You make the trip back to Kidra's house, to find that Kidra is still sitting in her chair. She continues gazing at the moon and when she notices you, she waves you over. "Marvin, what brings you back here?"

"Not that I could tell," Truador answers, "Most of what I read just had to do with how miserable she felt. I can look again though,"  He will open the book to either the same page that the ticket was stuck between, or to a few pages before the ones he read. "And I agree, If that was not a list of names, It could indeed be a stage name. However, if someone did break in here to destroy evidence. It seems odd that they would leave such an obvious clue."

Investigation: 12 (rolled in game log)

Once her spell is cast, it takes Zanibi a bit of time to collect and process the arcane information. "Yes, it is definitely not a part of any of the established schools of magic. I've never seen the like of it before,  but it's a 'Couchmare' spell.  First triggered four days ago."

"So, some sort of nightmare spell then, placed on Elibyn's pillow, not neccessarily what made her sick and killed her. If it was triggered four days ago someone would have had to come here and placed it on her pillow before that, and that would have to have been before Elibyn visited the carnival. There could still be a connection of course, but it doesn't seem like this started after she visited the carnival." Inquisitive said, pondering the new information. "I suppose she could have visited the carnival earlier as she bought the ticket, unless someone gave it to her. We have a lot of questions for her wife when we can get in touch with her." He added, then turning to Zanibi. "Do you think you can extract any more information regarding this magic, if it could be the cause of her sickness and subsequent death for instance?"

"Oh, I guess we forgot to ask you something, but I have a question of my own." Marvin steps up onto the porch and sits "What can you tell me about the demons in the carnival? Have you seen any from this carnival moving around town?"

"Oh, these demons aren't the type to walk upon the waking world, no, no. They get into your mind, makin' you think twisted things and do dubious deeds." Kidra's once again all riled up, and is now standing up in her rocking chair. "Some of 'em like to make deals with people, that's how some folks get magic. That's known, and all well and good, blah, blah, blah," she makes little mouthing gestures with her hands as she says this, "But others don't care for makin' deals, no sir, cause it tethers 'em down." She hops from one seat to the next, until she's standing right next to you. She gets close to your face, Marvin, looking at you straight in the eyes. "These kinds of demons work in places like carnivals, fairs, even markets. They hate it, but thats where they find their next victim." She stands there for a few seconds, then hops off your chair and on to the ground in front of you. "Would you want to come inside, Marvin? I gots some lemonade, water," she takes a beat, thinking, "And ale. We could talk more with refresher-ments."

"Absolutely, let's head inside. I could go for an ale." Marvin gets up and follows Kidra inside "say, Kidra, have you ever heard of someone named Mick Mac Magnus Crawly?" He pauses a moment "I think that's right. It's been a day, I may be misremembering the name. Also, any tips on stopping those demons from penetrating your mind? I have a feel before this is all done and over, I'm going to have to step foot into this carnival again"

Zanibi replies to Inquisitive. "There is not really anything more I can determine magically right now.  I would presume the spell could very well be the cause of death.  But without even recognizing the school of magic, it is hard to say." She sets the pillowcase she had been touching back on the bed, glancing at the wastebin and the tissues there.  "Did anyone look through this? Certainly has an awful smell." 

Inquisitive nodded at Zanibi. He found it intriguing with this strange unknown magic placed on the pillow, a very insidious way to take a life. He recalled an old case where the victim had been killed with slow working poison hidden in the victim's toothpaste, making him waste away and succumb to madness before he finally died, also considered death by natural causes by local law enforcement until he and Zanibi had been brought onto the case by an aunt that suspected foul play.

This killer had likely counted on this being written off like a death of natural causes as local law enforcement would surely not look close enough to notice the magic that Nyral found. Inquisitive wondered if there also was a point to the torture the victim seemingly had gone through, like the killer wanted her to suffer for some reason. The nightmare magic certainly suggested that this was the case.

"Alright, we'll bring the pillow cover, the journal, the ticket and the box with the letters. Did I miss anything? We can take a closer look at those things back at Nyral's room later." He said, looking around the bedroom again. "Anything else here or do you think we can wrap it up and move on to  Thaymoor's?" The tiefling said after a while, looking at Zanibi, Nyral, Truador and Amy.

Nyral looks at the pillow case and has a thought.  A sudden thought that if solved might give a suspect.  A simple question "How was the pillow cursed?" he voices it not expecting an answer.  He looks like he's pondering it at first then follows up saying "Sorry, I'm not expecting an answer.  Magic is finicky.  It often requires touch, sight or foreknowledge of some kind, rare is a spell that doesn't." Nyral voices their concern as they look at their companions.  The detective, the assistant, and the hunter.  All spend their lives fighting crime in some way.  Bringing murderers to justice and finding the hows and whys.  They definitely seem to know their stuff and they don't seem like the good kind of people that fight crime.  

At Zanibi asks about the wastebasket full of phlegm, blood and waste Nyral shakes their head 'No, I am barely holding my lunch down as it is."  Indeed the drow looks sick at just the thought of going through that basket.  The remnants of blood, waste, and filth in this room wasn't so bad Nyral couldn't stomach it but the images it painted in his mind were horrific and the drow was very much looking forward to drinking himself to sleep to avoid any unwanted nightmares this will undoubtedly spawn.

As the tiefling man sums up their evidence Nyral ponders it a bit and says "I'm ready to move on Inquisitive."  he eyes the basket definitely not checking it "It's getting late so we will want to hurry.  Let's head to Thaymoor's."  they will then follow the group to the next location.

Amy nods. "I truly dont think there is anything else we can gather from here."

"As am I," Truador states after Nyral is finished talking. "I think we have found just about all we can in this place. This is truly an interesting case." He ponders Nyral's question about how the pillow was enchanted. He had some theories, but he decides to keep them to himself until they gather more information.

Truador:

Marvin, you step inside Kidra's kitchen as she turns the light on. She proceeds to scamper about, handing you an ale and cleaning up a little around the kitchen. "I don't think I've ever heard the name, it sure is a strange one," she remarks, gathering a few of the papers that were spread out on the table. She sets them aside. "As for keeping demons away, I'd say just don't go to that carnival at all." She clambers up onto a chair, settling down on its back. "But I s'pose you gots to go. Best thing to do is to never show fear. Don't be 'fraid of nothing. And I do really mean nothing. Killer clown comin' atcha? Just step aside and say nothing, with a solid iron face. Like this." She stares at you with a blank but intense face. She stays still for a few seconds. Then, as sudden as the loud bang of a gun, she continues vehemently. "These demons love fear-amongening, so don't give it to 'em. Plain and simple. Going to the fun parts of a carnival and screaming of happiness helps, too." 

Zanibi makes a motion with her hands and quickly chants 'Obclec Orrevi' causing a ghostly hand to appear above the wastebasket. Keeping a step back she uses the ethereal hand to glance through to see if there is anything more than tissues, just in case.