Chapter 2: The First Seal

"That's one way you could call us, true. We are seeking trouble as adventurers do after all." she looks inside. "Though I'm not ready to risk my hide when it can be avoided either. I say we stay here for a moment, eat a lunch while keeping an eye on the interior. And then go inside if the big bads haven't come back."

"I'm tempted to agree. I'm pretty sure they didn't see me and I got the skylight unlocked so we can drop in whenever it's all clear," Berry pulls out a piece of dried sausage, nibbling on it like a mouse with a piece of cheese.

Not having packed a lunch, Laurent simply sat cross legged on the roof, next to his companions. He had been very eager to leave the cloister and join this fabulous adventure. And he had never been a big eater, as was obvious from his frame and the general lack of muscle mass.

Waiting seemed a reasonable course of action, though now that he was sitting on a warehouse roof in a densely populated neighborhood, he felt a bit exposed. From time to time, he would edge next to the skylight and look down, as discretely as possible, his curiosity greater than his hunger.

Tilma takes out a sandwich. A simple one with two slices of brown bread, a salad leaf and a few pieces of tomato.
"So, Laurent? How did the two of you meet? Old friends? New friends? If I already asked, don't mind me. I tend to forget what I already asked or not. There are so many people, it's impossible to keep track on whom you say What. By the way Berry, when's your birthday? I and Norran had an idea for a gift for you. And no chance in hell I will tell you what it is so don't even bother asking."

"Oh, I wish I could forget things!", Laurent responded. "It was during spring session three years past, Professor Undaleseen's third class on Ontological paracontraptions and cosmological structures, a [thurdsay]. Guess you were there in the previous classes, eh, Timbers? I was so focused on that course! The professor wasn't a good speaker, but a great mind, no doubt about it. What about you two?"

"Relax, Laurent," says Berry of the scholar's discomfort, "People rarely look up, they have too much to worry about on the ground."

"Heh, I remember Undaleseen. He was probably the only professor that liked me."

"Uhhh...6th of Bloom. I rarely celebrate these days though," the gnome looks at Tilma, "No need for presents."

"Too late, we already ordered it. Berry saved my life in the sewers. Go on Goodberry, tell about it. I've never heard your version of our encounter."

"oh, I'm not good at telling stories..especially ones I'm in."

"Then go on. What are you waiting for? I'll shut up for once. Or at least I'll try. I promise!" she bites into her sandwich 🥪

You wait for a reasonable period of time where you've heard and seen no sign of the the black cloaks and their dapper leader. Confident they have vacated the premises, you enter the warehouse through the skylight, dropping into the main hallway.

With the skylights as the only light sources and the sun still being fairly low in the sky, it is dim light within. In the hallway you see the dead body lying in a pool of coagulating blood. There are unlocked doors on north and south side of the hall. On west end of the hall is the locked front door, and east leads to the main warehouse. Bloody footprints lead from the pool of blood east.

Berry checks the body, looking at his clothes to try and identify who he might be, an employee? A fellow criminal or someone else?

The corpse is dressed in workman's clothes - a long sleeved, striped roll neck jumper, flat cap, long trousers with wide, flared bottoms, and leather gloves. His shoes look a little off though - instead of workman clogs, he's sporting soft leather boots, the kind a thief might wear to walk silently.

Berry reports this to Tilma in a whisper, "Looks like he might have been part of the gang. I wonder why he was killed?"

"The others had hard boots, like soldiers'," Laurent mused, as Berry revealed his findings. He considered the corpse from his vantage point: was the face visible? Were his wounds and cause of death obvious? Would it be possible to examine him more closely without stepping into the pool of coagulated blood? AS he pondered these matters, he reflexively intoned his dissonant psalm.

"Inner squabbles, argument gone wrong, bad day, mistake, he knew something he shouldn't have, tying dead ends, accident, punishment... God knows what it could be. The options are huge. We don't have enough information. " she keeps her distance from the corpse and instead of looking at it looks around for clues and searches for the trap door or the escape route used by the others at the same time.

A cursory once-over of the warehouse reveals the following:

---

TOP FLOOR

Hallway: There's the corpse of warehouse worker with the thief boots, not to mention the skylight. More on that later.

North Room: Office There is a desk with drawers and bookshelf with many years worth of ledgers and other books that account for the comings and goings of goods and current inventories. The desk is littered with papers and writing implements. A small wood-burning stove is in the corner for warmth in the winter months.

South Room: Bunk Room: Bunks stacked 3 high, enough for 21 sleepers. Windows are barred, and the door locks from the outside, and feels like a prison - very sparse. You can hear noises from the orphanage on the other side of the paper-thin exterior wall.

Mezzanine: Surrounding the cargo bay on all sides is a railed balcony that overlooks the bay on the bottom floor. On the south side is a cargo lift for hefting cargo from one level to another, or loading cargo onto wagons. A large skylight illuminates the bay.

BOTTOM FLOOR

Cargo Bay: Many crates and barrels are stacked in haphazard piles, some of which are draped in white sheets. There are two dead bodies here, dragged into a corner. One is dressed like the worker on the top floor, including the unusual shoes. The other is dressed in a black cloak, like the men you chased away.

Supplies Room: A small supply room for warehouse workers. Has a small wood-burning stove, hooks with aprons and gloves, and a cabinet full of various warehouse tools such as crowbars.[/quote]

---

Laurent investigates the body as best he can without disturbing it. His face is visible, and it appears his throat was slit which accounts for the pool of blood. Getting a closer look, you see the corpse has the tattoo of a cockatrice on his wrist, the mark of House Bartoz.
Tilma follows the trail of bloody footprints goes from the top floor (originating in the pool of blood in the hallway) into the cargo bay and straight for the supplies room. There, the foot prints completely vanish, as if they went through the door and vanished into thin air. There is a half footprint in the frame of the door that is cut clean in the middle, leaving only the heel. It is clear they went into this room. This smells a lot like sorcery, but the door itself and the frame is an extremely ordinary wooden door.

Tilma calls Laurent, "Laurent! Come check this out. I found where they went but it seems magical. They went through the door and disappeared. Any ideas how they did it?" Tilme continues to ask the question while he's still on his way.

Berry investigates the barrels and crates, especially those hidden under sheets.

Following the elf to the supplies room on the lower floor, Laurent's mind rushed in multiple directions simultaneously. He was mostly curious about the office room, with the wealth of papers to examine. But that could wait, Tilma's words waking further suspicions in the excitable youth's mind.

Once at the threshold of the room he knelt to examine the strange, bisected footprint carefully, before considering the doorframe. He hummed his dissonant psalm once more as he examined the entrance to the room. "What an intriguing, discovery...", he murmured, mostly to himself.