Arden shakes his head, inundated with the history of the place, then looks at the chair Either that chair is drunk or I am. What is going on here? Then quietly under his breath.  What the fuuuuuuuuuck?

Is that chair halfway into the floor? Tahta tries to move it.

At first you think the chair leg is somehow stuck in a hole in the floor but upon closer examination you can see that it has been cut off, rather cleanly.

While examining the chair you notice something between two boxes. It's hard for your mind to comprehend at first but with mounting horror you finally realise what it is.

It is a finger tip.

Oh gosh, says Deet.  Do you suppose it's Mrs. Fletcher's?  He gets down on all fours and without touching it, he sniffs the finger, to see if it smells of widowed lodging house keeper.

It smells quite strongly of sulphur, masking any odours that might identify it as Mrs Fletchers. The cut that severed the finger is perfectly straight and the wound quarterized.

Hmmm, says Deet.  He looks up at the others.  Smells of sulphur.  An attempt to confuse us?  Something about the method of cutting?  Hmmm.  Excuse me a moment, if you will.  He wildshapes into a wolf, and begins to search around for signs of a trail of sulphur, or Mrs Fletcher, or anything else strange, initially in the room, then elsewhere in the house, then in the area around the house.

Deet, please roll an Investigation check with advantage due to your new nose.

Investigation: 11

Gods! says Arden, startled by the wolf, the finger, and the general ****y-ness of the situation. Alright, yes, sniffing for clues I suppose. Right... right, right, right. Hold on, there's a crate missing! Could this have been a robbery? What in the nine hells could Mrs. Fletcher have had to warrant such a theft? Hold on! A tenant! There's things here left behind by tenants, it could have been one of theirs. What say we go check her logbook? See if there's any likely candidates?

Deet, you start sniffing about. It takes a moment for your snout the filter out the overpowering sulphur compounds. You smell Mrs Fletcher. She was definitely in here. And now is not. Her last signature is on the circular stain under the chair. According to your nose she did not leave the room but is no longer here.

You then find two more fingertips rolled under various knickknacks. It saddens you to confirm that all three once belonged to Mrs Fletcher. All are quarterized with a clean cut.

There is also the smell of rats. Many rats. You can hear them scurrying in the walls and outside.

But there was one rat... that was not a rat. A rat that did not own it's shadow is the best way your wolfy brain can translate it. One Not Rat, that perched on the high windowsill and is now gone.

Did the Not Rat leave a trail Deet can follow?

The trail goes into the wall through a small hole under the sill. It then goes down through the house and out into the streets.

Did you want to continue onto the streets in the form of a wolf?

Deet doesn't really understand the ways of the city, so...

Yeah, totally!  Woof.  He'll try to persuade the others to come along, so that he can pretend to be a dog maybe?

Arden stares at Deetwolf for a moment Animal Handling? 14 What is it, boy? Walkies? You want to go outside?

*Frantic tail wagging*

For a moment Klee is rather perturbed by the sudden transformation of Arden into an animal, but he seems ok with it, maybe it's fine?

"do...we...need...a...lead?" She manages, unsure how the watch might react with that thing running around. 

Arden nods emphatically for Deetwolf Yes, it seems Deetwolf wants walkies, I could take him as I have a way with the Watch. he looks at Klee A lead is probalby not a bad idea... Could someone head down and check the guestbook? I believe there's only been three tenants so it shouldn't be too hard to disceren. We need to track them down, I think, and see what could elicit such a magically complicated burglary. He runs to his room and returns with a length of rope, he bends down and holds it out to Deetwolf May I?

The use of magic is almost a relief to Tahta. It means her own magic is less likey to be strange or frightening. She'll follow along but if fingers and chair were all cut in the circle...

She knows fire...did the circle become white hot and melt Mrs. Fletcher...no there'd be more visible burning...but the fingers are cauterized. Why would the fingers and chair be sliced by the circle and did the rest of Mrs Fletcher melt into the circle stain or go through the circle to somewhere else?

She poses these questions as she tries to keep up with the team.

Deet gives a short bark in the affirmative.

Klee starts to go and look for the guest book, considers telling them she already knows there isn't one, then can't think of a good reason why she'd have looked for it earlier so heads downstairs and makes a show of lifting things and looking under them.