Sigil: City of Doors

(The post should be fixed now and it should be in line with what Blitz and I both agreed on, sorry for any confusion.)

wrote:I was having a private discussion with a woman named Lucelle last eve in one of the side-rooms of the Foul-Olde Spirit, in part to get free of several annoying berks on the street. While we spoke I heard a scratching on the door from some sort of animal, but I ignored it, due to speaking of business.

Which was fortunate for me, because a few moments later the beast somehow forced its way into the room. The thing was covered in magic and, no doubt, meant ill will. Even after a handful of warning shots it charged forward in attack, bringing several destructive spells in the process.

It became apparent that the trespasser and assailant was one of the berks from the street, when it called for a massive scaled creature in its attempt on my life. It only gave up after suffering serious wounds and left the inn, leaving the room in shambles.

While I saw the most egregious damage fixed in the room (particularly pieces that posed structural and safety risks), the door is going to be left in its present state until it can be examined by additional parties of your choosing.

Muriel, Rena, and, I imagine, several other patrons can reaffirm my recollection of the events.

~Nienna

After reading the report Shawin forwards it to his superiors and then writes a letter to Nienna:

wrote:
Greetings,

I am pleased to inform you that we started the investigations on the case.
If you have anything to add to your initial report especially anything about possible motivations for this attack please inform me.

Signed:

Shawin Garstass, Notary.

He does not think his investigations will lead elsewhere, believing this attack to be just another barmy guy's deed. And the cage is full of people who break the peace just for the fun, ignoring the suffering they cause. But a disturbance of the peace cannot be ignored. Sighing inwardly he makes his way to the inn to examine the damage and to interview the staff.

A response is given.

wrote: That is good to hear, Notary Garstass.

The only motivation I know of was that the one in question was denied entry to sit in on the conversation; in part because I knew he would escalate it in some ridiculous fashion.    He also seemed to have a personal and biased dislike of me, even though we had never truly spoken before.

I only know that it was one of the sods from outside because the beast shape-shifted several times into more advantageous forms; at one point returning to his normal shape to call a large reptile.

~Nienna

On his investigation...

Room: Shawn finds the room much as Nienna mentioned. The door itself is mostly intact, but there are heavy scratches on the front and the lock itself has been severely damaged. While the lock heavily jammed from the inside, someone else managed to force the tumblers open from the other end.

On the floor, just inside the door frame, there is a half-quiver worth of singed arrow holes arranged in a tight semi-circle the size of a large house-cat. Some of the arrow-hole angles are inconsistent with the others. The line of attempted shots move from the entrance to the far left corner. Judging by the angle of the arrow holes, that's where the shooter must have been standing when this began. From there the arrow-marks are more spread out and from different angles, the shooter must have been forced to move and reposition as the fight went on.

The benches and floor are singed with lightning, magic, and what appears to be countless insect bites? At one point they must have blanketed the entire area and bit anything within.

Judging from the deep, distinct, claw marks in the floor and damage to the doorframe; some sort of large clawed beast joined the fray. It stood on two legs.
Some damage to the room was fixed magically, but it seems it was mostly concerned with putting out small fires and seeing the ground whole enough to walk on.

Interviews:

Shawn is treated somewhat coldly by the Indep heavy patronage and staff. After some prodding, he manages to piece together the following from the witnesses.

Two elves walked into the side-room and locked the doors to converse. They were soon followed in by a man in yellow and a small dragon who paced around outside the room, clearly attempting to eavesdrop. Eventually the dragon left.

A few could recall the man tampering with the door at least once, and more can recall a woman within shouting something along the lines of "Don't mess with the door again, trying to eavesdrop is bad enough." One man who sat towards the back mentioned it sounded like something was shoved into the door.

Not long after, a small panther cub approached to scratch and meow at the door. It was ignored for some time, until the man in yellow forced the lock and opened the door for the cub. He then retreated to the corner.

Out of those who saw the start of the conflict, most claim that when the cub entered the room a volley of arrows was loosed at its feet, then it attacked. Some go as far to say that the cub began with some sort of magic, and others state that arrows were shot as soon as the door was open enough to see through. While most agree that the cub wasn't harmed from the first few volleys, some state that it seemed more due to arrows oddly veering off course and the cub's own swift footwork rather than the archer's lack of intent.

One Xaos gave an incredibly enthralling finger-puppet show for their answer.

Once the fight began, most couldn't help but notice it. While the order of events are jumbled, a majority of the witnesses say that there was: smoke pouring from the room, thunder and lighting, a plague of insects appearing from nowhere, and a man-sized reptile thing charging into the room to fight as well. After a prolonged battle an orb of 'swirling wind' and the reptile fled the inn.

One of the elves took a moment to put out the fires and mend some of the damage as the other spoke with her tersely. After the worst damage was dealt with, the woman who fixed the room went to speak with Muriel, and the other spoke to the yellow man.

Most of the witnesses stated they left soon after, or even fled during the fight.

Muriel is less than pleased about the damage done and uses quite colorful language in her own, relatively similar, recollection. She, Rina, and most other Indeps put blame squarely on cub-thing.

while shawin is inquiring in the inn, jall, who's coming down from the
inn's second floor where she was resting, sees him asking people about, and walks up to him.

''greetings notary Garstass. you're investigating on the mess here? ''

Garstass does not wear his 'lobster suit' when he visites the inn, preferring his casual leathers and carrying only a small blade on his hip- not unlike the time when he took a certain girl there for dinner or a enjoyed a drink with his friends.

Looking around in the room he writes down a few notes, even draws a rough sketch of the scene. He is an experienced warrior and while he has no ability to use magic himself he was on the recieving end quite often- and of course some companions of his know spells as well. The note he takes reflect this- the damage and the arrow holes commented by him while the traces of spells are only reported in a neutral way.

Shawin is patient during the interviews, listening, writing down what he is told, the hostility of the Indeps he endures with stoic calm. He is here to help, not to fight- he is here to ensure peace is kept and not to break it.
So he is polite, his way of interviewing the witnesses more a casual talk then strict questioning. Indeed he seems to enjoy the Xao's show, smiling sometimes and taking more notes, the papers put into a leather folder- which is also where Nienna's written response is put after he read it.

He was just sorting his notes, sitting alone in a corner of the inn after dismissing the last witness, sipping some tea (he is on duty, so no mead for him this time!) as the Halfling approaches. Looking up he smiles as he recognizes her.

"Good day, Miss. Yes, I am investigating this.... matter. How can I help you... or how can you help me?"

*jall thinks over a second* ''hmm guess i can help by sharing what i saw with you?''

Gestures at a chair takes a fresh sheet of paper and readies his quill. "Please take a seat. What was it you saw?"

*she flops softly on the chair next to shawin, takes a look around as she smooths her clothes, then quietly begins her report*

''from the start: i was heading from bazar to the inn, encountering just out of it the yellow man and the dragon.
as i greeted them, they expressed their worries about nienna taking lucelle apart to discuss about something that apparently concerned her quite a lot. seems nienna was being irritable and rude in manners, which wasn't appreciated by none of them , lucelle included, as i gathered, and they feared threats would have come from nienna toward lucelle. As nienna was firmly intent in talking with lucelle and taking her aside with herself, finding their presence a nuisance, she did not want those two to bother and disrupt her business.

*pauses briefly, the resumes, quietly*

...i didn't know lucelle was ''her business'', if you get what i mean, for it is lucelle those two were actually mostly worried about, not the subject of the discussion nienna wanted itself. Despite her harsh behaviour, looked like they couldn't concern themselves with. But her behaviour does cause concern...
nienna isn't new to that and yet apparently demands and expects that others do nothing, even when the persons they care for have to deal with her.
guess she thinks she has the right to decide whether someone is allowed or not to have word and weight in matters related to their friends or beloved ones. not what i'd call respect.
Lucelle is always very diplomatic, so she complied to nienna's request anyway.

*another brief pause*
so, soon after the yellow man and the dragon entered the inn. i entered too, to get a meal and a drink, and, yes, curious about that occurence.
i sat to a table looking at the two who were clumsily but pointedly trying to eavesdrop standing near the door. i think one of them opened the room's door even, which was jammed back again by nienna. at a point the dragon left.
i went to the counter to get a drink from muriel, the yellow man still near the door, while a cub now appeared. i didn't grasp what cub that was in that very moment. then i sat back to a quiet table, but still able to see the scene.

the cub scratched and mewed at the door some times, the two elves still inside the room. after a few the door was opened, though i didn't exactly get how or by who, whether by the cub or the yellow man. the elves were sitting far from the door in that moment, so i doubt it was one of them to open the door.
as the door was opened, i noticed nienna had some wards cast on herself already, for some reason. maybe sick of being interrupted, maybe a warning, or maybe she was taking into consideration the eventuality to attack. or maybe she feared for an assault at her person, or she simply prepared herself for action, but whatever. *gives a shrugs at that*

so, the cub entered the room, doing nothing in particular besides mewing, and after a few moments nienna calmly took her bow, stood and attacked it with, flaming?, arrows without speaking words. how much the cub suffered from that first hail of arrows, i'm not sure.
the cub's reaction was to counterattack, cast a few spells, and call a dinosaur. the fight lasted some long moments, then at a point it ended, the cub now an air elemental and going out of the inn. i then assumed the cub was the dragon morphed. lucelle yelled at them a couple of times to stop that mess as they fought.

why the cub entered? i think it was to check on lucelle's well being and confirm or not the presence of threats being carried against lucelle. same reason for they were eavesdropping.
nienna's reputation is not of the best ones, not that she cares about such, mind, and her character doesn't help. so i think the initial preoccupation of the others wasn't that groundless, regardless of wheter it proved wrong or right in the end, about which i'm not informed of.
they hadn't much reasons to trust her...one guesses this is what happens when someone acts like she's used to, not taking into consideration the presence and feelings of those around, for as regrettable as it can be.

*another pause*

why the cub counterattacked instead of running away? dunno. some don't flee in front of threats and attempted shows of strenght. even animals may counterattack instead of fleeing on certain circumstances. i don't know if nienna attacked to kill or wound. she didn't gave such away. but she attacked for first.

about whether the cub had the intention to harm nienna from the start, my guess would be no. but sure it answered when she attacked

as for myself, i didn't see necessary to intrude or intervene. watching that show was enough already. i stood at my still quiet seat some more time, then saw nienna, lucelle and the yellow man speaking between themselves about what happened. the three then went in another room, closing it and speaking about only they know what. i headed to bed soon after.'' *and with that , she stops*

"Thank you"

He leans back sips from his cup, adding the notes he took to the others in his folder.

"You were most helpful and what you said fits well to what I already heard. Sadly I was not able to talk to Auric or the lizard.. Yssernthus. My report will be finished soon then it is up to my superiors and the courts."

(( If Yss and/or Auric want to add something please do so. I wait until tomorrow before Shawin finishes his report. And BTW- thank you for all who participate. Good RP.))

(@Selebius: Yssernthus made his own thread here, but no one replied to it.)