(That is correct)

[Awesome, only just noticed I’ve got a Light Crossbow, I’ll probably end up selling the Bow actually]

Quote from JSenecal >>

Kylaski's form shifts and changes color. The horns and tail get pulled into the body, the hair gets shorter and beard hair grows. The armor doesn't change other than getting tighter where it was loose and loose where it was tight. 

In a moment, instead of a tiefling woman, a half elf man stands there. He puts a hand to his face and says quietly, "I keep telling her not to do that when people are around, but does she ever listen? Noooo..."

Sehaethas then starts looking around for some rope, since he doesn't have any in his pack.

 (I think we posted / wrote at the same time, so I missed it).

The Djinni Warlock looks to this new form of their companion. 

“You say pact but I see a curse. Do you … do you get on. Whose form is worn most, and do you have any say?”

Xaul has little to no reaction to Kylaski/Sehaethas's shift. All he says is 'A half-elf? Can you dance?' 

Damros frowns but slowly nods his head, "Blessing or curse... it could have been much worse, trust me.  Now, Mister Mundane -- any ideas about what the hell happened here?" 

Standing up from his inspection of all the bodies, he moves over to Skye, "Think you can take care of this until we are done?"  He spills the collected coin into her palm.

(( I may be meta gaming here... would 'we' understand the basics of being able to 'turn into smoke and go into an object'?   ie... holding the coin in her fancy hidey hole?  ))

Quote from NycrolB >>>

 (I think we posted / wrote at the same time, so I missed it).

The Djinni Warlock looks to this new form of their companion. 

“You say pact but I see a curse. Do you … do you get on. Whose form is worn most, and do you have any say?”

 (I've done that a few times myself).

Sehaethas answers, "I find that I cannot disagree with you on that. Usually we are in this form, until something peaks Kylaski's interest. She can take over anytime she likes. it would rather if she was more discreet."

Kylaski's voice can then be heard, "Sehaethas is just an old fuddy duddy, who never wants to do anything fun."

Quote from Shiverquill >>

Xaul has little to no reaction to Kylaski/Sehaethas's shift. All he says is 'A half-elf? Can you dance?' 

Sehaethas answers, "I can sing. I can dance. I can tell stories. I just can't cast spells. I'm not a bard, just a wandering minstrel." He finishes with an elaborate bow complete with arm waving.

Quote from Kol_Drake >>

Damros frowns but slowly nods his head, "Blessing or curse... it could have been much worse, trust me.  Now, Mister Mundane -- any ideas about what the hell happened here?" 

 

 Sehaethas looks around as he says "Good question. I was not expecting so many bodies."

He starts checking things out (Investigation 22), starting with talking to our prisoners and asking, "What were your instructions? Who gives you orders?"

“Yeah!” says Skye. “Tell him!”

She turns to him with a wink and an encouraging nod. Unnecessary interruption that it is, there’s no clue that she thinks anything other than that she is being helpful.

Quote from JSenecal >>

Quote from Shiverquill >>

Xaul has little to no reaction to Kylaski/Sehaethas's shift. All he says is 'A half-elf? Can you dance?' 

Sehaethas answers, "I can sing. I can dance. I can tell stories. I just can't cast spells. I'm not a bard, just a wandering minstrel." He finishes with an elaborate bow complete with arm waving.

 Xaul grins. 'That's good to here, you'll have to perform for us later when this is all sorted'

Quote from Kol_Drake >>

 

(( I may be meta gaming here... would 'we' understand the basics of being able to 'turn into smoke and go into an object'?   ie... holding the coin in her fancy hidey hole?  ))

 I don't know. Would you? You can treat your knowledge being whatever you would assume if you saw it happen without knowing any of the rules around genie warlocks (if you haven't read the ability before, assume player knowledge is character knowledge, minus anything about what was inside)

The prisoners respond:

In a deep voice with an orcish accent: “Xanathar sends its regards.” followed by the sounds of fighting and pained screams.
In a thin, nasally voice: “Tie up and grab that pretty boy in the back room! Follow the yellow signs in the sewers.”
In a scratchy voice: “No time to loot the place. Just get him to the boss.”

(just to make sure I haven't missed anything, no one has tried the balcony or small room at the back yet have they? It is just the main room that has had investigation checks)

Xaul listens to the Kenku's replay closely, and says 'Seems it's fairly cut and dry what happened here. Members of the Xanathar's cult got into a brawl here, and escaped down the sewers with Floon, following some yellow signs to reach their boss. They were also in a rush and didn't have time to loot anything. Maybe that means they left some stuff for us.' he says with a carefully concealed smile. He then thinks to himself 'Let's hope this boss they mention isn't the Xanathar itself. We'll be in a whole heap of trouble in that case.' Xaul then goes into the smaller room at the back, looking for any clues to an opening into a sewer, or any more valuables to be looted, but can't get a specific Eladrin marching tune out of his head, and is more interested in trying to remember the ending. Investigation: Nat 1 for a total of 2. 

Skye heads to the Balcony to look for valuable clues. 

Damros sits down hard on one of the few undamaged surfaces and spends time shrugging his shoulders and examining the spot the arrow had pierced his chest.  'I must remember to not be such a target next time,' he thought as he watched the others scour the area.

"If there is nothing else of note, perhaps we should be preparing to travel the sewers... as distasteful as that all implies?  Do we have means of lighting our way down there?"

Grunting as he rises to his feet, he moves over and retrieves his crowbar.  'Silly old thing,' he thinks as he packs the length of iron away and pulls a couple of torches from his pack.

Xaul: The cramped chamber smells strongly of sour fish and vinegar. It is filled with discarded ropes, canvas tarpaulins, and splintered wood from smashed barrels. You are humming the tune to yourself, when you hear a cough from the back of the room under a tarpaulin.

Skye you find a bunch of crates, with all sorts of junk, including moth-eaten bolts of cloth, bottles of spoiled olive oil, and hundreds of pairs of wooden-soled sandals that were all the rage last summer but are now out of fashion. None of this junk is valuable. You can also see the offices, each of them having a little bell that seems to be connected to a string going into the wall. From the windows outside of the office, you see the rooms have desks, chairs, and bare shelves covered with dust and draped in cobwebs. The doors are currently closed, and the bells don't seem connected to the office door.

Xaul opens his eyes wide at the sound of the cough; something must be beneath! He goes to take it off, but then stops himself. It might be an ambush or trap. Instead, he crouches down from a 4 foot distance and uses his quarterstaff to lift up the tarp, then looks underneath, maintaining a distance from it. 

The Genie warlock considers the spoiled olive oil, but it represents too much graft for too little squeeze. One pair of sandals she takes (when they were in vogue she could not afford them, and now they are ripe for the taking).

She considers the office door for a while, looking at the strings that attach to the bells. She tries the door to see if it’s unlocked.

Under the tarp is a man. Looks a bit similar to the description of Floon, but not quite. He is unarmed and looks to be not a threat.

The door is not unlocked, and opening it doesn't affect the bell in any way.

Xaul keeps his distance, quarterstaff still outstretched and his left hand on his hip flask, and asks the man ‘Are you Floon Blagmaar?’ It’s a fairly straightforward question, but Xaul could glean some information from it. Could just be his twin brother, Bloon Flagmaar. 

Unaware of the developments elsewhere, Skye considers the door. She has nothing to tackle the lock of the door directly. 

Time to be creative. 

She takes the pitons from her pack, normally used to climb things and inserts it in the crack of the door in hope of prying the lock open. Failing that she tries to use it to break or lift the hinges of the door, to create some space. Space enough to then insert a crowbar and pry it open.