Atal, unable to help himself on seeing the contraption with such clear directions, steps forward rings the bell.  He then also quickly steps back, being sure to keep Uthal and Kel's bulk between himself and whomever answers the door.

Pulling the rope didn’t illicit any type of immediate sound; no chime or ring, at least not any that the party could hear. After only a few moments though, a scraping sound came from behind the door. A small slot about three quarters way up the door slid open, and a pair of eyes peered out. Had the slot not opened, it likely would have gone unnoticed altogether. The eyes were thin, and a pale blue in color, the rest of the face hidden behind the door and shadows. They shifted around the members of the party standing outside the door.
“May I help you?”

Kel spoke up. "I am Kel Iscariuss, Hellheart of the Order of the Wall. I was directed here for inquiries into monster lore." Kel cocked his head to one side, a somewhat dubious look on his face. "Is this something you can help us with?"

“Ah, a referral. One moment please.” The slot slid closed, once again blending into the grain of the door. Several locks could be heard being unlocked, on the other side of the door, before the door itself swung inward. The hinges creaked and whined as if the door’s weight was well beyond that of its appearance. 

Beyond the door was a dark room, mostly in part simply to the difference compared to the natural sunlight of the day still surrounding the outside. Even those members of the party without dark vision would be able to see, eventually, after letting their eyes adjust. The room itself seemed to be decorated in shades of red and furniture made of dark wood. As best as one could tell from first glance, it was a shop of some type, but of a very high mannered sort. However, what the shop offered was somewhat of a mystery. Although the shelves and glass display cases were well stocked, they were filled with boxes, chests and pots without markings or any specific indicators of what could be within. Even the shelving with books was nondescript as none of the spines held any markings or words. There were several doorways around the room, without doors, though more red cloth and ropes draped across them. These measures would not do well to stop someone from physically going through, though they did obscure any line of sight to what was beyond.

”Come in, please. I only ask that you do not touch anything without assistance.” The voice and the earlier seen eyes, now had a visible figure to go along with them. The man seemed to be human, though a picture perfect version of one. He had paler colored skin, though flawless, and his whitish-silver hair was long and straight, though required no additional means to keep it in place. He was tall, approximately six and a half feet, and slender, though muscular. His clothing consisted of a white shirt, beneath an outfit of a black jacket, cloak, pants and boots, all of which were trimmed with what could possibly have been actual thread of gold, and buttons of polished bone.

He closed the door firmly behind you all, as you entered. “May I ask the name of that who recommended you here?”

Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Anearis began looking around the shelves and displays to figure out what sort of stores they were in. He didn’t touch anything, but would come closer to some items to have a better look at them.

Kel entered the shop, slowly giving a look around the building and its various shelves and glass casings. "Good Blemish, the aide de camp of the Arbitrator himself." Kel responded to the seemingly human individual. Kel returned his attention to the person before him, hooking a thumb in one of his many belt loops.

Anearis: 3

Kel: 1

Upon further inspection of the boxes, the differing materials, sizes, and shapes that made up the boxes confused both Anearis and Kel even further,  creating even more questions than answers.

Even when one of the boxes shook, in front of Anearis, exactly what type of shop this was, completely mystified the pair.

”Ah the good Pas D’armes, himself. A most esteemed colleague. Well if what you day is true, and he did indeed recommend your coming here, I must believe you all to be much more than what meets the eye.”

The man walked behind a bare counter, the only bare surface in fact, in the middle of the room. “Now then, how may we be of assistance.”

Atal walks into the shop cautiously, on edge from the surroundings.  The shop screams of magic to him somehow; everything is just a little too neat and perfect, right down to the proprietor, and it's raising his hackles.  He crosses his arms in an almost sullen manner and remains silent for once, spending his time studying the man before him rather than the shop.

(Insight check - what's up with Mr. Perfect?  Is he glamoured or something?: 19 )

Uthal doesn't much care for reading but he is curious about what is in the chests and display cases. He let's his eyes wander the room to see what he can learn. 

Perception: 9

Atal and Uthal join in the fun of failing to discover exactly what the party decided to walk into. Atal gained no further insight into their host. As far as Atal could tell, the man just WAS.

Uthal managed to learn that they were in fact in some sort of shop. The various boxes, chests, and pots contained items, likely for sale. Several of the chests had locks, keeping them closed. He too noticed the one that shook, and deduced that it was whatever was inside that caused the movement, and not the box itself. Uthal had no reason to suspect that the shopkeeper or the shop itself was malicious or meant any ill will, or was anything other than what it presented itself as (though that wasn’t exactly yet clear).

The man stood at the counter calmly and politely, awaiting a response from the party.

Atal spreads his hands wide and shrugs - he's not even sure why Uthal and Kel led them here, much less what D'Armes wants them to do in this particular shop.  Since the others aren't saying much, he tries to break the ice a little.  "For starters, maybe you could tell me a little bit about a creature we fought yesterday evening.  It looked like... well, for lack of anything better, a gigantic monstrous bat.  It was fighting side-by-side with a bunch of undead, but flew away before we could finish it off.  Do you know what those things are called?  Or if they have any weaknesses, in case we come across another one?" 

Kel blinked a few times to clear his thoughts. He was about to speak when Atal gestured with a shrug, asking about the bat from the night before. Kel gave an arched eyebrow and a side glance at nothing in particular, having fought a living version of a bat like creature earlier in the morning before entering the city. Whether it was a similar, though now undead, creature he couldn't say for sure exactly but suspected that was the case based on how it fought. A part of him was hoping the man before them would say something to that effect, but not enough to actively pursue it. Kel followed up just after Atal finished.

"I am here for anything you'd be able to relate to the Black Beast of the Castle, that which could not be killed, only contained by the Tribesmen of the Spire. Good Blemish gave me this address after I asked for the nearest Monster Hunters Guild or repository of knowledge to similar effect. So here we are."

“Hmmm. Fighting along side the undead, you say?” He left the counter only to pull one of the unmarked books from the shelves and bring it right back, opening it on the surface for all to see. “I can’t say much about a beast like that aligning with mindless undead. Stories of bats and legions of undead as armies of lord vampires, are simply fairytales. But if this is what you saw,” he pointed to a picture within the book.

It was a detailed sketch of a gigantic monstrous bat, as Atal had indicated. In the sketch it was attacking a human knight, who in comparison was a few inches shorter than the beast. “...then it is exactly what you say, a giant bat. They are like normal bats in every way, only larger, so of course they feed off larger prey.” He closed the book and returned it precisely to where he first pulled it from the shelf. “As far as weaknesses...” He stopped mid step and shrugged, before continuing the short walk back behind the counter. “Blades and hammers,” he said pointing to the party’s own equipment. “Fire? They’re still animals after all. Flammable hide, and it cannot swim. It’s one advantage is the darkness, and they do not hunt by sight, but by sound. If you could take away its hearing, or cause something to overwhelm the sense, you’d be fighting a beast that is blind, deaf, and dumb.”

He turned his head to directly address Kel, but as he did, a musical chime rang from someone in the store. “Please excuse me for a second. A scheduled appointment.” He slipped between the party and opened the front door.

A gristled older man, with white hair, though still strong and capable looking, entered, followed by a half-ogre, ducking and simply standing there filling out the entire door frame. He motioned to a larger crate against the front wall. The half-ogre picked it up, with ease, though the weight of whatever was inside shifted, as he did, and an audible growl emitted from it. The two men exchanged low toned words, and the older gentleman produced a small leather pouch, before leaving. “Happy hunting, Mister Quartermain.” Locking the door behind them, he returned to the counter.

 Uthal speaks up. "The Arbitrator went to the castle. We mean to go after him. Anything that could help us get there and trap the beast would be useful." 

“Well I feel that those two things are already laid out for you,” he replied to Uthal. “There is still a road that leads straight to the ruins, and as far as trapping the beast, well that would be the stronghold itself. The cage which currently holds it.” While up to now, the man had been completely forthcoming with information and lending of assistance, he seemed slightly reserved and suspicious of the group. “Exactly what are you intentions with the castle, and supposed black beast?”

„Not to die horribly from it, while stopping the Arbitrator from doing the same,“ Atal replies.  „The Arbitrator thinks the Beast is somehow escaping from its cage and went there personally to stop it, even thougn he was very heavily injured last night.  He sounded like he was fully expecting to not return from the encounter and we‘d really rather he did, so we were going to try and lend him some support.  We don‘t even know what we‘ll be facing down there, though.  And asking anyone else about it in the city gets responses ranging from It‘s just a legend to Stop making shit up before we arrest you.  It‘s not a figment of my imagination that nearly got the Arbitrator, the five of us, and what looks to be nearly the entirety of the Northern Barracks killed yesterday, yet no one besides D‘Armes seems to be taking this seriously.“

Atal rubs his chin.  „In fact, something I did remember seeing during all that was black ooze.  It took the place of the blood in the zombies we‘d fought, and it somehow managed to enter the blood of a living being and slowly taint it, as if the limb that has been infected was possesed enough to even attack its own host.  The only cure was to sever the limb, which was a hand.  The hand then escaped as though it had a life of its own.  What in the hells could you tell us about a monster that does that?“. He pulls out one of his necrotic arrows.  „And before you tell me I‘m blowing smoke up your ass the way the guards here did, this is an arrowhead that I dipped into that black goo.  You can inspect it if you like.“

He took the arrow and examined the dry black substance on the tip. “You do have to admit that your evidence is circumstantial at best. A charlatan of any skill could make the same claims during a time of opportunity. The undead attacked, that’s been witnessed, certainly, though a giant bat working with them, a poisonous ooze that replaced blood, and a living severed limb; it you can see why one might find it a little far fetched.” Lowering the arrow, from the close eye-line where he observed it, he hands it back to Atal.

”Come.” he beckoned the party to follow, as he walked towards one of the drape covered doorways. “The Arbitrator seems to have put faith in you all, though you would not at all be the first group to come through on your way to kill the fabled ‘Black Beast’. After all, legend does say that great treasure was trapped along with it.”

Uthal follows after him. "I don't give a damn about treasure. In my experience of this kingdom there have been exactly 4 decent people. Seems a shame to let the Arbitrator die and have that cut down to 3." 

“I agree, it would be. And not just because the stability his position brings to this city politically and economically. Both benefits to be sure, but he is indeed a good soul, and I would prefer him to stick around.”

As he led the party through the doorway, there were some immediate descending steps into the room beyond. Not enough to be going down a flight of stairs to a level beneath, but rather to extend the height of the room, so that from floor to ceiling it stretched approximately a level and a half. The room itself was a combination of a library, and a scholar or alchemist’s workshop. Book shelves lined nearly all the walls, with the exception of a few sections which were covered with great painted portraits. There were six long tables in three rows of two, each covered in various books, tomes, hand tools, weaponry, bones, jewels, etc. While the first room at the front of the shop was in a non-description precise order and exact, this room was nearly the opposite. Even thing on the tables, the floor, and even the shelves appeared to be in use and left in its position midway through.

He walked between the tables. “I will lend a hand in your adventure to assist the Arbitrator and silence the black beast.” He let out a sly short chuckle. “I do have quite the repository of knowledge, on the subject, at my disposal. Though I must warn that there is a very thin line between fact and fiction when sourcing encounters with the castle and beast, and they may at times bleed over. But still I will provide what I can.”

He walked around the last table, and assumed a position behind it, similar to that when he was at the counter, in the previous room. On the table, there were a few open books, however, a large tray of wood and leather took up a majority of the table’s surface. There was something organic on the tray, it was pinned down with thin metal stakes and wires attached to fish hooks. The organic thing of focus occasionally shook, though was held securely in place. It didn’t hold its recognizable shape, as it was split open and its layers peeled back. But the something organic, leaking a black ooze, was indeed, the Arbitrator’s former right hand.

"So that's where that got to." Uthal looks down at the hand. "So you knew about what Atal was saying did you?" 

Uthal doesn't wait for an answer but instead begins looking at the weapons around the room.