8 Rova 4715 – Toilday

After much discussion, it is apparent that if we continue to put off investigations into the Night of Ashes, the more likely it is that any lingering information or evidence will be gone. But the moment we begin our foray into one location, it is going to draw attention. We made the decision to divide and conquer. 

Many ideas were tossed around on how to enter the noble district with everyone in attendance, but unfortunately a few of my allies will have difficulty blending in. The professor had a clever idea to enter as such with Lucia and I in tow as students. While we investigate the Victocora estate, Morgar, Adria and Niccolo will go to The Thrashing Badger to not only investigate the fire, but also to retrieve the instruments for our new faerie dragon friend.

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It seems so long since I’ve been to the Greens, but it can’t be more than a year or two. Not much has changed. There was a time I would have known every face guarding the walls, but I’ve been preoccupied with helping those less fortunate. The professor’s plan worked surprisingly well. I confess I was a bit worried when the guard hesitated but it turns out his sister is just in the good professor’s class. I’ll try to keep that in mind in case we need to find ourselves in The Greens again. 

It didn’t take long to reach the Victocora estate. I could tell almost immediately tell that the fire that consumed their household had been lit with intent. Nary a flame affected the neighboring homes. Highly unlikely.

It’s been 10 days since the fires. What did they know? Or what threat did they pose that would make them targets? Could it possibly be based on their chosen deities? The music shop was known to be associated with Sarenrae. The Victocoras have a Irorian meditation pool. But that doesn’t seem reason enough. These were strategic attacks that probably took months of planning. So why them?

Due to the time constraint, the professor, Lucia and myself split up to search the property. The professor managed to find a hedge garden housing a statue of Aroden, but not much else.

The average fire of a building tends to burn at 1,100 degrees. Bones, however, take another 300-400 degrees on top of that. I honestly expected to find some remnants of bodies, but whoever wanted the Victocoras gone were quite thorough, save for Rexus. That means they must know one Victocora lives. 

Lucia probably made the most important discovery, a half buried safe. No amount of fire is going to destroy that. The good professor made quick work of the lock. He says it seems like someone attempted to close it and just didn’t have time to finish rather than someone attempting to open it. That means whoever was caught inside may have used their last moments to save something.

Inside we found several parchments, deeds maybe? A keyring with 3 keys, with one bearing a stylized “F,” and a small framed picture. A tall mustachioed man, a beautiful woman and young child, perhaps 2 or 3 years old. I quickly put the contents in my bag and muttered a quick prayer to my own deity that the guards don’t ask us to show what’s inside.

After one last pass, we made our way out of The Greens, and headed for Adria’s abode. The rest of our companions were returning from the Thrashing Badger as we passed by Clenchjaw’s establishment. They successfully retrieved Vindalfeck’s hoard, but, just like us, found no bodies. They did, however, find a cat. Adria does have a soft spot for any creature in need. 

From there we made our way to the final victim of the Night of Ashes, The Silver Star. I was never able to get a close look with the dottari hanging about. 

The building looks to have collapsed into a subterranean level. Another one of Kintargo’s secrets I imagine. A small childish part of me wonders if it leads into secret tunnels. I’ve always wanted to explore secret tunnels…

V.