"We have just got here, so no. Not yet."

Chaenath is slowly sipping her ale, only looking up to greet the newcomers.

"If the gang claims every kill around here it makes things much easier for everyone else," she says to Seraphine. "Seems foolish, as the bartender said."

"About that," Ethan assumed the least annoying mentoring tone he could come up with. "Before we start chasing leads we should try put in order what we already know. Maybe then we can come up with any leads."

Seraphine takes a deep gulp of her beer. "Yes, coming up with leads definitely makes it a bit easier to chase them, Ethan, was it? Though there's not much we know till we actually go talk to the guards."

Atonement, remembering that him and his team have a job to do, pulls himself out of his somber mood. "Well, I could go and talk to the guards that are posted just outside; if you'd all like. Also, before I forget, I got each of you a gift of sorts." He swings his pack around to get to the main pocket, reaches inside and pulls out four vials with a red liquid inside them. "I went and got each of us a simple healing potion. I know you all might not trust me, but I hope this is a start." He doesn't hand the healing potions to each of you specifically, but just simply holds them in his open hands. 

"Not trust you? Is this a tiefling thing?" Ethan raised his eybrow and reaches out for the potion. "We are not illiterate peasants who shudder at the sight of your horns, or so I hope, anyway. Get over it."

He takes a sip from his mug.

"As for leads... Well, true, we should talk to the guards ands see the body first, before we start building any theories, although... nevermind. Let's approach them."

 Chaenath smiles at Atonement and takes one as well.

"Most of us are the kind people wouldn't necessary trust in the human society, that's why we're in good company," she says. "The gift is appreciated, either way."

At Ethan's suggestion she nods.

"It's better if we all go. It should show in the eyes of the authorities that this is an official mission, and they're more likely to cooperate that way. Hopefully," she adds, mostly to herself.

Seraphine gratefully takes a potion from the tiefling. "These things are great. I'm not blessed with the natural fire resistance you tieflings do, so having a potion or two on hand is always a good plan."

"I'm ready whenever y'all are," she adds, taking one last large gulp from her drink.

Mirim gingerly accepts a potion, taking it with the tips of her fingers and putting it into one of her many pockets. She eyes her drink and doesn’t touch it

Atonement nods and smiles, "Well then, let us be off; this mission isn't going to solve itself if we keep faffing about." And with that he weaves his way back through the tavern to entrance to talk with the guards.

[Atonement/Whoever accompanies Atonement]

You stand, moving through the bar back to the entrance, and then emerging outside, just as a few other patrons are leaving. Just to your left as you exit the front door, you see an opening to an alleyway, and the same 3 guards are standing there. 

You walk the short distance over, and as soon as you get within a few feet of their little blockade, their leader stops you. It is the bulldoggish man with no helm. Up close, you can see his facial hair is unkempt and his eyes look tired, but sharp. He regards you with a practiced cynicism.

"Ho, there, citizen." He grunts. "If you're lookin' for an alley to piss in, find yourself a better location. Unless you're secretly a guard or a representative of the Dawn, you can jog on." He motions to the side, attempting to dismiss you.

Atonement holds up the Silver sun he has hanging from around his neck, "My comrades and I are with the Order of Dawn and we were tasked with helping you find whomever is behind these murders. If we could examine the body or if you could give us any information that you have, that would be most appreciated."

[Atonement/Others]

The guard captain lifts his hand and gently lifts up the sigil you present before him, squinting his eyes a bit to examine it. He looks at it, then back up at you, then back to the two guards under his command.

"Right. Looks proper enough. Didn't realize they'd be sending a runt team for the job, but we'll take what we can get. My name's Hawthorne, I'm a guard captain and unfortunately the sorry sod who got assigned to this part of the Lowers. Follow me, and I'll fill you in on what details we have. You two! Keep the street clear. I'll show our guest here to the victim."

He yaps that last command to the two other guards, who salute, stepping forward and blocking off the alleyway with their armored bodies and long spears.

He gestures you to follow him into the alleyway proper, and you walk past the two guards into the relative darkness between the two buildings.

The alleyway itself has a unique stench, different from that of the rest of the street. The lot of you realize, whether from experience or otherwise, that this is the stink of a dead body. The alley itself is dark, and damp, but there are torches on iron stands that are illuminating some of the areas of the dirt. At the far end of the alley is a dead end, and you can see the strong stone of the Wall that separates the Lower and Upper Wards stretching upwards into the sky.

As you walk the shot distance towards the back wall, you can see a dark lump, illuminated by torchlight, on the ground ahead. Around the slumped figure, there is a pool of red-stained earth. The victim. You draw closer, and you begin to make out some of the features, and as you do, you start to understand why the Order is involved.

The victim is a male human, but his features are unrecognizable, because where his face once was there are two deep gouges that carve out his nose, eyes, and most of his jaw. He is wearing tattered brown robes, and lies face up in the dirt. There are two large gashes across the chest that appear to be open wounds. 

The lower half of his left arm is lying a short distance away from the actual corpse, severed completely. 

"This is the 5th victim so far. The last 4 were similarly murdered. Weapon marks across the neck, face, chest area. All human, male and female. Various states of dismemberment. We were alerted to this one two nights ago by Maude, the old Tabaxi broad who runs the dive next door. Said she heard a scream, sometime in the middle of the night, and came out to investigate. Found the body like this." He regards the body with a look of disgust, almost trying not to stare at it directly for too long.

"We can't make heads or tails of it. Got a few gangs claiming the kills, the Black Jacks being the most prominent, but we don't have the manpower this far in the Lowers to start a ****in' turf war with a bunch of crazed lunatics so we haven't chased that tale too far. We've been on a rotating post the entire time after the body was discovered, waitin' for someone from the Order to show up. Tried not to move anything, we was told that the Order prefers it that way."

He shrugs. "That's all we got so far. Anything more you should try diggin' up yourself. If you've got any questions, let me know." He turns back to the mouth of the alley and makes his way there, leaving you behind with the body and the bloody dirt.

Alright, players! You've now encountered the body, as well as the Cat Scratch Inn. It's up to you now to push the investigation, and story, forward. Because it's our first scenario and all and we're still trying to feel out one another's playstyles and dm-style, I'll give you a few reminders on certain actions.

If you plan on investigating the body, remember that Anatomy Checks are very important for that. An Investigation check will allow you to check the material things on a body, like their pockets, jewelry, etc, but for detailed information about the time or cause of death, or to notice any irregularities that are not obvious with a dead body, an Anatomy check is required.

You can also, of course, search the area, looking for clues, or interrogate/question individuals that you think might be connected to the case. When doing so, remember to actively use CHA checks like Persuasion, Intimidation, Deception, etc or you may not make much progress with an NPC who isn't forthcoming with information.

That should be everything. If there's anything else you want to ask or if you're unsure of how a certain check or action would work in a certain situation, feel free to ask. 

"What I said," hums Chaenath, undisturbed, once the guard is out of earshot. "Not the most accepted lot."

She walks to the body, careful to avoid disturbing any possible clue. She crouches besides it, and leans closer to inspect the wounds, trying to figure out what kind of weapon could have caused it, and looking over the remains in general.

Anatomy: 13

[Chaenath]

You examine the body, and your sharpened Elvish senses are able to uncover several interesting details that the guards clearly missed.

Through various means, you're able to tell that the body is no more than 3 days old, which matches what guard captain Hawthorne told you a moment ago.

Secondly, and most prominently,  you realize that the wounds inflicted to the body couldn't possibly be from any kind of blade. The tears in the flesh are messy and not at all like the relatively clean wound you would expect from a sharpened blade, and the way the wound seems to have torn through flesh and bone alike is concerning - it would take quite a bit of strength, or very sharp instruments - to cut through both. From this, you deduce that the cause of death was not by any blade, but instead must have been inflicted by claws of some kind.

Finally, after a few minutes of intense study, you notice something that sticks out to you that has more to do with the torchlight than the body, at least at first. You frown as you look down at the shadow you make over the corpse while you examine it. Something seems off. Then it hits you - you can see your shadow, but the body isn't creating one. You blink once in surprise, but you're positive now after examining it closely - where the body meets the earth, there is no shadow whatsoever, but your shadow, and the shadows of everything else caught in the torchlight, are reacting normally to the flickering flame.

As perceptive as you are, you feel as though you are still missing something, perhaps related to the victims clothes? But you're not quite sure. Ultimately, you decide to let it go, given the amount of information you were able to uncover.

Atonement walks with Hawthorne back to the mouth of the alleyway leaving the others to investigate the body and area for clues, "Hawthorne, was is? I'm Atonement. There are a few questions I'd like to ask. You said this is the fifth victim correct, do you know how many days have been between each victim and would you know where the other bodies have been taken? It might be helpful to examine the other bodies as well to see if there are any links between them." 

Mirim follows the party down the ally and wrinkles her nose at the smell. The body comes into view and her eyes widen as she claps a hand over her mouth. She disappears into a different ally and comes back a moment later, wiping her mouth and shivering. Mirim stands at the entrance to the ally and averts her eyes

[Atonement]

Hawthorn turns towards you with a grunt, scratching at his stubble.

"Time between murders? Well, it's hard to say. A few weeks between each, maybe?" He shakes his head, and considers your next question carefully. "We... don't have any bodies. Didn't think they would tell us much, really. Had a surgeon from the Lowers take a look at 'em, then burned 'em, all except for this one here. This one we saved for the Order."

He looks a little embarrassed by this admission.

Seraphine leans in close to the body, burying her nose in her cloak so she can only smell the smoke that lingers around her. Something looks off about the shadows here... that's strange.

After her colleague is done examining the body, Seraphine takes a moment to search his clothes, looking for anything that might identify who he is, where he came from, or why he doesn't have a shadow. And perhaps to see if he has any gold on him... after all, he won't be needing it anymore.

Investigation: 7

"Claw marks," points out Chaenath to Seraphine. "Quite big ones, too. I wonder if the shadow behaves this way in magical light as well..."

She waves her fingers, says an alien-sounding word, and four glowing orbs appear on the same side of the body. (Dancing Lights)