Not Today, Death!

Salvia ponders for a moment, her face scrunched up in thought. Then she exclaims, "Grizzibulg!" Arne's eyes glance over at her for a moment and then return to scanning the environment.

Salvia expands upon her exclamation, saying, "Grizzibulg. That's the name of the deity the idol likely represents. A minor deity of blight and pestilence...Unpleasant fellow, really. But it sounds like this Taika or whoever is someone we should look into, yeah?"

"How would he know you even had it? Seems you didn't advertise the items," Kade wonders. "And seems all three items was obtained at different times. What do they have in common?

Salvia shrugs and says, "The perpetrator transmuted stone into mud; therefore we can assume whoever did this had access to such magic. It is an easy step to assume they could detect magic as well, which allowed them to identify that the other items were likely also objects of power and, thus, valuable. So we are looking for a single person with access to higher level magics. I myself can cast the spell in question--but it is not one novices could cast."

Hermann gives Salvia a subtle side eye. That was a name that shouldn’t be known, and should be said even less…

He would have to pry more out of this Evensong along the way. Inquiries must be made, after all…

And now she makes herself a suspect with a timely admission…

"And how did you come to acquire this spell exactly?" Hermann asks cooly.

Salvia turns to Hermann and says, "You misunderstand me. I do not know the spell in question, which is a Geomancy spell known as Move Earth. What I mean is that I have the ability to cast it should I find it--on a scroll, for example. But this is only because I am an expert in matters arcane. A novice of such magics could not cast such a spell even with a scroll, which means our culprit has arcane skill. Keep up now, young man!"

Nearby, Arne suppresses a chuckle.

"Well, seems we know all there is to know here," Kade says. "Should we look for this Seth Tyka. We should also check with the city's fences, can't be many that deal with such high class items. Unless someone has any other ideas?"

Hermann drops the matter, but only externally. If he had heard a semi-retraction once, he had heard one a thousand times.

"Let us look around here… in private, before we leave the scene of the crime. We may find a clue that will lead us directly to our perpetrator!"

Salvia nods, half-listening to the others, and begins to wander around the house and grounds, conducting her own investigation. She walks past Mya, informing her quietly that she intends to view the vault as well as the wall that the thief used to enter. She does not ask, mind you; she informs. Perhaps it looks suspicious to Hermann that the elven wizard wanders off without explanation, but her man-at-arms follows without a word when she departs.

Once out of the library, Salvia inspects the scenes of the crime--the vault, the wall with the hole in it, and the areas in between. She brings all of her investigative magics to bear when studying these areas. She also takes a stroll around the grounds and other areas of the house while she's at it, scribbling notes and peering at (and through!) things as she goes.

Hermann does what he does best: Interrogate.

The two guards are questioned, as the inquisitor paces the space before the two of them. He took a sort of pleasure in the beads of sweat that such discussions usually caused men like these.

He goes over and over the facts of the case as they see them until he is satisfied that they are telling the truth and that their stories are told the same way over several painstaking retellings.

Salvia returns from her investigations and reports to the others, "So, it was a mixture of expert magic of geomancy, or perhaps alteration, to get through the wall, but the culprit used a strong acid of some sort, or some other alchemical reagent, to burn through the lock. So we seek someone with magical ability and access to advanced alchemical compounds and the knowledge to use them." Then, looking directly at Hermann, she adds, "And alas, I lack the alchemical skill required to know more."

"Then we should take a sample and try to find an expert that could tell us more," Kade suggests.

It was starting to come together for Hermann, even if the biggest piece of the puzzle was still missing.

"I shall inspect the tree the shade was spotted at first, before I venture out into the streets. Perhaps we shall find something there!" he says, before marching out to look for signs, symbols or otherwise on the tree!