Murder at Maida Manor
The Public Story
An announcement was made in all major city squares of Solar City. All of the guards at the Maida Manor in the Strife Ward in the Noble's Wing of Solar City were slaugthered in the night, and their bones were stripped of flesh and skin, including Lord Fernish Maida. This was discovered when locals noticed the lack of guards patrolling the manor's grounds in the morning. These reports made their way to Duke Burnheld, who's sister Mersaki was wed to Lord Maida two years ago. The Duke's men tore down the manor's gate and made the discovery.
Lady Maida was missing from the manor, though there were witnesses who saw her return home close to sun down. She is believed to have been kidnapped and that the purpetrators are planning to use her as ransom against the Duke. Any sightings of Lady Maida will result in an upfront payment of 20 gold, and successful retrieval of her will result in an additional payment of 200 gold. If anyone has information, bring it to the guard's barracks at the top of Guard's Way.
Duke Burnheld's Belief
Duke Burnheld personally retrieved Mersaki's journal from the study outside her bedroom, where Fernish had been chained to a bedpost and choked to death while half naked. The most recent entry foretold a story of Fernish's potential betrayal and that Mersaki was planning to confront him that night.
The duke is unsure of what occurred that night, but is certain the public must not know. He showed the journal only to a select few of the nobility, not even to the entirety of The Council of Callings. He is certain that Mersaki's suspicions about her husband must have been accurate, but he is immensely concerned due to the large amounts of blood staining the sheets opposite of where Fernish's body was. There were no cuts on the man, so Duke Burnheld believes that his sister was harmed greviously in the confrontation.
The Real Story
After being denied entrance into the manor earlier in the day, Day, Bree, Ryoshi, Norcan, and Seya infiltrated the manor late at night, or early morning. It depends who you ask. Bree created a large storm using Call Lightning once more and picked off the guards who were on duty outside. Then, the party moved across the grounds while Day turned invisible after casting Darkvision, though no one noticed. The doors to the manor were easy for Ryoshi to pick the lock of, and the group recklessly went up to the fourth floor.
Upon exiting the staircase without any secrecy, the group saw two guards at the end of the hall. One squared off to fight them while the other charged down the hall to warn others. Day immediately pursused the second as Ryoshi quickly disposed of the first. He, Seya, and Bree entered the room they were guarding to find a study, and another door that led to Lord and Lady Maida's bedchamber. The two had slept through the fight outside. Ryoshi dangled handcuffs multiple times as Bree pointed at Lady Maida with her weapon. Ryoshi gave up and tossed her a pillow to muffle any screaming as he clipped the handcuffs to Lord Maida and then to the bedpost. This woke the lord, who shouted and woke his wife. Before she could do much, Bree sliced her throat open, spraying blood into her husband's gaping mouth.
Ryoshi tried communicating with Lord Maida, with mixed results. The man tried responding, but was panicking too much to make any sense. The others left the room to search the study for anything useful. Norcan went on a hunt for other members of the household after speaking with the rats and discovering one of the cooks would murder them viciously with a pan. He slaughtered all of the servants and the two cooks before telling the rats to feast on their bodies.
Outside, Day ran down the fleeing guard and doused him in poison. He died screaming from the acidic burns. Day dragged his body behind a pedastle-shaped topiary bush, figuring she could deal with that later. She returned and warned Norcan not to let the rats eat that body, since it was poisoned.
Inside the study, Bree found various documents, but none that were highly interesting, along with a locked drawer. She did not attempt to pry the drawer open. Bree forged a deed for the estate and bequethed it to herself in the event that the Lord and Lady died, signing it precisely in Lord Maida's hand. Eventually, she also discovered Duke Burnheld's will, which endows the owner of the estate as his heir.
Ryoshi, having given up on given Lord Maida to speak, exits the bedchamber as Day returns to the study. After a brief discussion, Day takes it upon herself to calm the lord down and interogate him. She wraps the stolen cloak of Talona around her shoulders and sweeps into the bedchamber, acting perfectly like a priest of Talona. She finds Bree inside the bedchamber, reading through Lady Maida's journel. Bree sabotages the journal with an accusal that Lord Maida may be a traitor to the Burnheld family, and that Lady Maida will confront him that evening. With a small effort, Day convinces her to leave the room, as her presence makes Lord Maida highly distraught. Afterwards, Day calms the Lord down but he is unwilling to cooperate until he has been broken free of the bedpost. Day also gives up on the man and returns to talk with Bree.
Ryoshi, bored of the events happening upstairs, leaves to search for a cloak that could fit over his plate armor. Unsuccessful, he heads downstairs and runs into Norcan. Together, they head to the barracks that the manor's guards are housed in. The successfully stealth through the building and effortlessly kill the rest of the guards in their sleep. Norcan tells the rats to feast once more, but to leave the body outside alone.
Upon Day's return, she and Bree check the bookcases and find two items of interest. Day finds a family tree that shows Lady Maida is the younger sister of Duke Burnheld. Bree finds a fake book that has a hollowed out compartment. Inside, she finds an encrypted letter to Lady Maida and a key to a drawer. She hands Day the key and lets her open the drawer in the desk, as has been designated Day's sacred duty (opening suspcious things, such as drawers and doors). Inside, they find another encrypted letter, this one to Duke Burnheld.
Finally, they return to bedchamber to deal with Lord Maida. Out of boredom, Bree reanimates Lady Maida's body and has her slowly approach Lord Maida, seeing if he will reveal anything useful. As it becomes more obvious that the man will be of no use, she commands Lady Maida's corpse to choke him to death, then commands her to walk into the harbor without being seen (which miraculously happens).
All but Ryoshi leave the manor to return to their respective dwellings. Ryoshi remains in the manor for some time before realizing the others are not coming back to fulfill some random plan, then scales the wall at the back of the manor. Luckily, this is the wall that surrounds Solar City and he is able to half climb, half fall to the bottom and reenter the city, acting as if he had been out all night. No one would be able to suspect any members of the party to have anything to do with the deaths at the Maida Manor.
