Holg takes a few steps towards the balcony railling. Then lowers his shoulder and rams it into the door, hoping to break it open.

The door is well built and does not give at all. The frame around the door is another matter - Holg slams his shoulder into the door and the frame cracks apart, sending splinters flying. The room presented beyond is orderly and well kept. A large bed with a silken canopy dominates the right side of the room in between two identical, black oak armoires. A writing desk sits beside a window directly across from the room's entrance. A large rug stylized with a roaring lion lays on the floor in front of the writing desk. There aren't any immediate threats that strike Holg as a problem.

Jodon offers his hand to the now-armed dragonborn.  "Since we may be fighting together, we should know each other.  I am Jodon.  This wise being over here, whose wisdom and perceptions you will come to trust, is Dathyra.  And the big man, the one who inspires me and who keeps me from jumping in rashly," he winces as heavy oak splinters behind him.  "That would be Holg."

“Well, that’s one way to do it,” Dathyra said as the door frame gave. She was waiting at any second for someone to start coming after them after all that ruckus. She peered around Holg, observing the ornate decor of the room. “I assume this must be Kristoff’s room.” She noticed the writing desk. “We might learn something from his personal effects. May I?” She motioned for the party to step in.

Mijira watches for any sign of trouble from the hallway. She really liked Holg's direct approach and if she was in better condition she would have done the same thing.

Jodon awkwardly puts his ungrasped hand down, shrugs a grin at the dragonborn, and follows Holg and Dathyra into the room.

Her eyes keeping a lookout for trouble, Dathyra approaches the writing desk with some caution, ever alert in this manor - could it even be called that anymore? The desk is a fine make and has a single drawer built into the center right above where a chair could slide under the desk. There is a stoppered ink jar and a few quill pens on top of the desk along with two pieces of written on parchment. There are also several balled up bits of parchment pushed to the side of the desk.

You could learn a lot about a person from the things they wrote when they thought no one could see. Though not one for normally invading others’ privacy, Dathyra wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to learn more about this Kristoff and what he might have to do with all these recent developments. She began going through the papers, and even opened the drawer.

Not wanting to disturb Dathyra's concentration, Jodon Messages to Holg.  "Down here.  Help me - there is something under the bed - something wooden, perhaps a footlocker or chest."

Mijira stood stone faced looking out into the hallway. She couldn't understand the halfling. He had no reason to be so friendly, so that meant he had to be working some kind of angle. Maybe. The dragonborn turned to say something, but the halfling had gone. It was for the best anyhow. It as better he did not know her, or her troubles. Mijira was enjoying this party's company, even though she wouldn't say it out loud.

Secure in this room and surrounded by more than one capable ally, Dathyra picks up one of the letters on the desk to give it a good read over. It reads:

Kristoff,

You have done many things asked of you and you are truly in a position of power, but do not forget how
you attained that power. The last two shipments were short - the first by seven bottles and the second
by an entire case. I am still watching you. I can still end you. You are not safe in your little city, even if I
have to take precautions to go there.

The letter is signed with a circled R, but gives no other indication of where it came or who it's from. The balled up notes are beginnings of letters. They are all different and all angry replies to the first letter. They don't go very far before the text turns to a scribble - probably out of anger. The other letter remains unfinished, but it reads as follows:

Times are hard with the winter coming. Fewer boats are coming into dock and I have already exhausted
my resources in the sewers. If I kill any more people in the park, it will look suspicious. I have had to set
up a post south of the city and waylay travelers. I have even had to build a tunnel into my estate for this
you arrogant -

The letter bears more scribbles over from there. The writer didn't even try and finish. Inside the desk drawer are a few coins laying on the velvet lining next to a silver dagger.

"Gods above!" Dhasca said breathlessly. "He...he really is trading in bodies. He's been kidnapping and killing people and...I'm not sure what these bottles are supposed to be. Is he draining them of blood, some sort of essence stealing? I don't know. But, that pit...it's a tunnel!" 

Up until now, she had been thinking aloud, not even sure if her companions had noticed the discovery. Holg and Jodon were examining something under the bed, and Mijira was guarding the door. Collecting her thoughts before babbling any longer, she called over to the two men. "What did you find?"

Under the bed, Jodon finds a discarded violin that only has a single string left. Inside is a small, green pebble.

Jodon says "I found an old violin...and a green pebble."  He hands the violin to Holg, "perhaps, as a musician, you will be able to glean more from this instrument than can I.  Dathyra," he continues, "twice now you have seen what I did not.  Green seems an unnatural hue for a rock.  Please examine this with me - there may be some manufactured or magical clue about it."  Jodon examines it closely, turning it over, checking for differences in size, shape, temperature, or any other physical or historical characteristic that might indicate this is more than a simple stone, or would have some use with which he would be familiar.  "Or perhaps it meshes with something you have already found?" he finishes hopefully.

To Majira, he casts Message rapidly in succession to communicate multiple thoughts.  "forgive the intrusion," he adds with a smile and small wave to the dragonborn.  "Yes, I can speak to your mind.  No, I cannot probe your thoughts, nor would I violate your privacy.  Still, it is a useful skill to communicate silently with those scouting ahead or guarding my back, and I would not surprise you with it in a crisis.  Thank you for watching the entry while we seek information on those who have done you harm.  Should you wish to add your skills to the search, I can relieve you at the doorway.  Know that when I speak to you this way, you can respond briefly in your mind, and I only will hear it."

Still clutching the two letters, Dathyra glanced at the stone Jodon was holding. She shook her head. "I'm glad you trust my intuitions. Not many do, but I'm afraid precious stones are not something I have a great knowledge of. But, I can at least look at it."

She watched as he observed it from every angle, trying to see if there was anything peculiar about it.

Jodon inspects the stone only to come up empty. Perhaps this was some long lost child's doing? Hopefully before the current events started to take place, were that the case. Shugging, Jodon hands Dathyra the stone she takes it from Jodon, her interest peaked. Rolling the stone between her fingers, it has the same feel and look as an ordinary stone. The color is a bit odd though.

Mijira stiffens at the mental intrusion. She makes no reply to Jodon, but she does step inside the doorway where she can still see the hallway some. "I do not like this place. Did we find something useful?" Mijira looks at Jodon awkwardly and shakes her head. She was brute force and a combatant through and through. This place and its riddles were putting her on edge. She kept thinking something was going to come out of that hole.

She returned the stone to Jodon. "It's unusual, but aside from that, there's nothing I can tell about it. I'm sorry." She returned to her first task. "But, I think you should see these." She handed the letters to him, and looked at the door, out where the great pit was. "I think our journey's about to take us down that dark pit. If I understand these letters correctly, I think it leads to a tunnel under the house."

Jodon scans the letters, and frowns.  "Our vinter seems to have gotten in over his head.  Do you have any idea who this "R" could be?"

Noticing Mijira inside the door frame, he gestures to the note "I am afraid we may have found what they had planned for you, and it is not pretty.  Dathyra may have uncovered some a next step in our puzzle, and it may help you get some closure out of this whole affair."  He gently lobs the green stone to Mijira.  "Perhaps you can make heads or tails of this, or of the letter she has uncovered.  I can take watch for you."  The halfling scurries to position at the door.