Archie swings the door open further and beckons Corlith to take lead, "we got a large darkened room, with two servants, try to get them on side and find out where the mother is." She says more to Corlith than anyone else, but loud enough to inform the other party members without alerting the occupants inside.

As Archie opens the back door to the gallery, the light from the early afternoon sun pours into the room.  The woman dusting the shelves, stops what she is doing and turns to look at what is going on and the man that was pacing with a lantern, turns on his heel to face the party, confusion etched on his face.

As you all file into the room before the guards realize what is going on, you close the door behind you and face the man who has now walked over to face you.  Black curtains are drawn over the windows to the south, keeping this room dark and cool.  A wooden staircase is located just to your left.  The gallery contains an eclectic collection of tapestries, paintings, and alabaster busts on pedestals obviously meant to impress, but it is a haphazard assembly.

"Who are you?  What do you think you are doing here?  How did you..oh, sir Amrik."  He bows towards the man held up between Wilfred and Virro, and as he stands back up he holds his nose.  "Why, a little early to be so um, well I'll just be honest, inebriated?"  He looks at the rest of the group, his voice becoming a bit more annoyed instead of questioning, "I assume you want a reward for bringing the master home.  Well, it is not going to happen.  So just place him in that armchair and begone.  Thank you."

Corlith steps through the door and looks at the two servants as the others enter and close it behind them.

As he listens to the lantern holder he looks for an item to light up. 

”Good day. A reward will not be necessary. We are looking for the lady of the house. We have to break the news to her on behalf of the Flaming Fist that her son has been consorting with fiends and cultists. This fact has ultimately led to his demise”.

Roo keeps quiet as they make their move into the compound, past the guards, and finally as 'the help' blocks their path and begins telling them how things are going to be.  

"Well, that's quite forward."  Roo says, nodding in approval at Corlith as he looks at the two helpers and tries to assess their reaction.  They're far too simian, however, and his avian brain has trouble deciphering the looks on their faces.  "My associate here is quite right, unfortunately.  We think it only fitting to inform the lady of the house ourselves.  We wouldn't disrespect her by passing the word on to her through a third party.  Buck."  

Virro says “We wouldn’t want to be a bother, yeah?  Best to speak directly, with no intermediaries, like.”  Virro pauses, looking at their hands, doing his best not to stare too long at their fingers.  He gives help to Roo in his persuasion efforts.

Archie takes in the dark room, looking around and not much paying attention to the servants and their obvious distain for the intrusion. She walks ahead, a little further into the room and past the servants, just to test whether the servants are scared or will have the balls to do anything in opposition.

Reed smiles as he enters the room. He lets the others talk to the servants. While they do that, Reed goes over to the curtains and opens them up to let a little light in but not all the way so there are still lots of shadows.

The man holds up his lantern as Corlith makes the light coming from it even brighter.  He looks at it a moment, then back to Corlith, his words registering.  "His demise?"  He takes the lantern and shines it toward Amrik.

The older man's mouth goes agape and he stumbles a bit as realization dawns on him, his other hand going up to his brow.  "Abby, Abby, you better leave.  I don't know if you know what happened to the maid before you, but we shouldn't be here when she finds out her favorite son is dead."  He ends up sitting in the armchair himself as he tries to let the information sink in.  "Flaming Fists you say?  Oh, she has no love for you guys.  This is so very bad."  He sets the lantern down shakily, reaches in a pocket and pulls out a handkerchief, and starts dabbing his forehead.  

When Roo'Stor comes up to him, he tries to listen... feeling completely overwhelmed "Third party?" He looks over at Virro, "No intermediaries?"  He puts his handkerchief away, apparently having come to some decision.  "Alright, you have persuaded me to not make you leave, but as for introducing you to the mistress of the house?  With that?" pointing at Amrik, "Never."

Abby stands there watching her superior start to fall apart with the situation and watches Archie as the fire genasi moves past her.  She makes no move to stop her, but does raise her arm to block the light when Reed opens the curtains.

Without saying another word, she sets her feather duster down and skirts around all of you to the back door and leaves, never looking back.

Virro sees Abby moving toward the door and says quickly “Heads up!” to Wilfred and Corlith, meaning it literally and figuratively.  He moves quickly to the door that Abby was going to leave through and closes it, standing in front of it, smiling at her.  “Not yet, we’re just have a chat, yeah?”

"Everyone just take a breath.  Buck."  Roo says as he lowers his voice, trying to become a little more placating.  "I understand this is an emotionally disruptive thing.  However, we are working a murder case here.  The master of the house will be upset, no doubt, but we are still searching for a third party that is responsible for this most heinous, most egregious trespass against the life and liberty of this citizen of Baldur's Gate.  Did I mention that arson was involved?  These foul dogs not only visited undo harm upon poor Amrik, but the lady who owns the Low Lantern is now homeless and without her business, as they burned it to the ground to hide the evidence.  No, no...Abby, was it?...I'm afraid that I must insist that you remain here at the moment while we sort this out.  Justice must be served, and any leak of the information which we have could be devastating to the investigation and prevent us from bring down those responsible."  

Now that they have some light to work with and the others seem to have the servants in order, Reed checks out the other exits to the rooms, listening for anyone coming or sounds of anyone talking (were there more exits other than the stairs?).

Virro starts nodding as Roo speaks, continuing to smile at Abby.  “That’s right.  Amrik is really the victim here.  We are trying to hunt down the killers.  Of people.  And torturers.  For the good of Baldur’s Gate!  I’m sure that you would agree that is a worthy cause..”

(Virro helps Roo with his story, and hopes that the fib fooled the poor child.). 

Archie scratches the back of her head as she peruses the shelves finding nothing of interest, stopping and looking at Roo with guilty look across her illusory face as he speaks of the owner of the Low Lantern, and the 'foul arsonists' who laid that Lantern Lower.

Corlith allows the spectral hand to dissipate on Virro's warning about leaving Wilfred holding the body, but he makes no move to help. Wilfred is more than capable of holding Amrik on his own.

As he listens to the others speak, he becomes a little confused at the need for more deception, but tries not to show it. He does not engage in the ruse though. As far as he is concerned he has spoken on the matter of Amrik's death. He takes the time to focus himself.

After waiting for an opportunity to speak again, he will ask his questions.

"So, is the mother of the deceased in residence, and if so where might she be found? And what of others? Are there more staff, family members, guests, pets or anything else we should know about that we will come across?".

Abby's eyes go wide as she is cornered into staying in the manor.  "Why?  Why do you need me to stay?  The guards, they already let you past I am not going to say anything."  She still stands near the door, hoping you'll let her out.

Fendrick's face goes grim, but his mouth holds a thin line with eyebrows starting to look cross, "I have no interest as to what goes on at the Low Lantern and some third party that you are eluding to.  The fact Amrik died because of this third party, tis awful yes, but I have no interest in justice or finding out who is responsible.  That should be left to the authorities, shall I go fetch the Watch while you are here?  That way you will be able to tell your account of what happened to them first hand."

Abby nods at Virro, but in a small voice, "Yes of course, sir.  But please, I do not want to be here when the mistress finds out."  She starts wringing her hands and looking very nervous.

While Reed looks about the fairly large room, he notices with the door they came through at the North, that there are a set of double doors in both the east and west walls almost halfway down the room, and a single door in both the east and west walls further north into the room.  With all the doors closed, he does not hear anyone beyond the room they are in.  

He does, however, notice a life size wax statue of Duke Thalamra Vanthampur cradling what appears to be a cat with wings.  This creature has a wax rat in its mouth.  It is very lifelike and located just inside the single east door.

When Corlith starts asking his questions, the butler sighs, "Duke Vanthampur comes and goes as she likes.  I am sure the eldest brother is up in his room as always, and yes, the cook is here as well.  Pets?  Slobberchops is probably lurking around, most likely in the kitchen looking for scraps."  He looks over at Abby and concern starts appearing in his countenance.  "Please, may we leave, we will be of no hinderance to you and your investigation."

Wilfred takes the brunt of Amriks weight as the others do there talking. He looks to Amrik, then looks for a chair or something to put him down in. Not finding anything, he resolves to having to carry this literal dead weight.  He sighs, then looks over to the two servants. "Hey there, we are going around talking about stuff here and you all haven't introduced yourselves. Who might you two be? And you mentioned a cook. Where would he be right now?"

Once they point the direction, Wilfred will place Amrik gently down in a corner and head to the kitchen. "I'll bring the cook along here. It'll be better to have everyone in one place, yea?" 

"Do you have a basement in this place?" Reed asks as he heads to the set of double doors to the east and opens them to take a look inside. "Basements seem to have a way of turning out to be the most challenging."

Reed pauses as he looks through the now open doors. 

"Unless you've got something to say about how this place is laid out and where all the secrets are, I've got nothing to say to you," Reed says to the air next to him.

Fendrick, seeing Wilfred laden with the weight of Amrik, stands up and wipes his hands on his pants.  Moving over so Wil can set the body in the chair, he runs his hand through his thinning hair.  "Yes, yes, my name is Fendrick Gray and that is Abby Fallwater."  

Abby, visibly shaken by the ordeal, points to the east double doors, "Cook is in the kitchen."

Fendrick turns to Reed, "Basement?  Why yes, of course we have a cellar, where else do we keep the dried goods and the wine?"

Reed moves on to open the double doors in the east wall.

Virro puts a hand under his chin, saying “You never know what clues might turn up in the investigation, some offhand thing you may have noticed, something you have heard…. We must make sure of all suspects, yes, yes.  Let me… let me see your hands, must examine your fingers for clues… you never know..”. Virro looks at the fingers of Abby and Fendrick, and when he examines them, he sees his own hands holding theirs, pale, sinewy strong, with subungual hematomas on several fingers, scratches, cuts and bruises…. “We went through quite a lot to bring him here….”