*KnOcK kNoCk*

 Moria knocks at the front door and stands in the middle of the doorway waiting for the door to open.

An aged, grizzled gentleman opens the the weather worn door.  While his face and snow white beard reveal his age, his body was another story.  The man would have had to bend down to get through the door, probably 6'5 feet tall maybe, with arms the size of trees, to say nothing of his legs.

With a look of concern he addresses all of you; his voice low but booming none the less...

"Can I help you folks?"

 " We came to see the body.  Of the Apothecary?  Should be the freshest one." she said, looking back to the others with a look of, 'I don't know....'  " May we see him please?" she asked a bit over cheerfully to be tactful.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:45, Fri 17 Feb 2017.

In reply to Moria (msg # 128):

Larzander shook his head at the girl's musings but kept his tongue. He was comfortable letting her do the talking when it came to dealing with the undertaker as well. His size and appearance had the unwanted effect of intimidation, even when he was trying to be delicate.

"We're investigating the murder, by order of the Captain of the guard." the barbarian added.

In reply to Larzander Gunderzen (msg # 129):

"Yep the guard captain sent us."

Leaning on his stout friend Raghnar.

"Are you in any need of sanctifying or blessing, clearing out evil spirits?  I am sure this place is riddles with spirits that won't rest.    I am a trained professional at this, and my fee is very minimal."

Glancing around the room now nodding at "said spirits" trying to pay for his habits.

"Oh yes, of course, that poor man.  Been a few visitors to see him today...final respects and all.  I must warn you, it's not a pretty sight."

He points toward a back wall made of stone with multiple openings built into it.  Several contain what appear to be corpses under dirty canvas sheets.  Despite a small fire in the corner nearest the door, a definite chill seems to hang in the air.  As you venture further inward it seems to be concentrated in the area of the corpses.

"We can always use a good blessing in a place such as this, dear friend, but I have very little in the way of payment for such services.  Can I offer you a drink, perhaps?  Something to stave the cold off?"

In reply to The Powers That Be (msg # 131):

Letting go of his friend, and quickly walking to the man giant. Like an eager child going to candy.

"Drink, well, er um, possibly.  I have very sophisticated palate, though....but I guess a bottle or two will do."

Stoney is pushing a little to refill his stash.

Without another moment passing, Stoney pulls out a small holy symbol.

"You all see to the body, I dont care much for the sight of decaying flesh."

Waving his hands in a religious style fashion, and muttering under his breath, Stoney starts to "bless" the property.

Stoney does really have good intentions to rid this place of evil or negative energy.  He is a priest by training, but in his current state not sure any spell would work due to the alcohol & lack of prayer to a specific god.  This is his personal struggle, finding the "right God"  he feels many of them are relevant.   

 Moria moves up to the dead bodies and looks over them eagerly.

 " Which one is it?" she asked curiously.  She looked as though she wanted to peek under one of the blankets, but couldn't quite get herself to do it.  Seeing how young the girl is and how strange she seemed, it was hard not to feel sorry for her.

The giant man walks over and reaches in to one of the openings.  You hear a slight grinding sound as he pulls out a long wooden table.  Atop rests an unknown body beneath a stained sheet.  He looks longingly towards the group...

"Again, I must worn you, he is in a terrible state.  No living soul should have to see such horrors as they forever imprint in ones' mind...believe me.  Are you certain you wish to proceed?"

Moria rubs her hands together and watches with in barely contained excitement.

In reply to Moria (msg # 135):

Momentarily stopping his blessing of the property.

Coming up behind the young girl and poking her in the side, to startle her.

"Have you ever seen a dead body, young one?  It isn't for the weak of heart, it can be very disturbing.  Maybe you should turn away, or wait for a...a...a less mutulated body"

Returning to his sanctifying duties.

 She whirled around to look at Stoney, her brow twisted in a confused but delighted way.

 " I have never seen a dead body, have you?  I just wanna see it. I want to see if we can figure out what killed it.  This is exciting isn't it?"" she asked in wide eyes excitement.

The air immediately surrounding the wall was near freezing; it caused the hairs on your arm to stand erect.  Slowly the undertaker pulled back the sheet revealing what was left of the apothecary's face.  His throat, as previously reported, had indeed been opened damn near the entire width.  The cut itself was perfectly clean, almost surgical, with no tearing of the flesh whatsoever.  On closer inspection it becomes clear that, although it was a single cut, it was deep enough to expose the spine.  The gentlemans' face, however, was quite the opposite.  Almost no human features remained, no eyes or nose to be found.  It looked as if his face had been clawed at by a small animal; the small, parallel lines leaving ripped, mangled flesh in its' wake.

 Moria stiffened up as she looked down at the corpse.  She instinctively went to look away, but forced herself to look.

 OOC: Moria succeeds on a constitution check to be able to stomach the sight of the corpse.

 She took a crystal rod out of her belt pouch and prodded the body curiously, examining the wound on the throat and the gnawed off face.

 Moria stood back upright, staring down at the body.  " Can you sit him up?" she asked those around her.

 " Nevermind" she said immediately after and pulls a strange metal loop from her belt pouch.  She slipped it on her finger and held it out, hanging off her finger and pointed towards the dead body.  She waved her other hand at the corpse and spoke words of magic.

 " Jella kuarma zummari tregal!Jella kuarma zummari tregal!Jella kuarma zummari tregal!" she chanted as she made a lifting motion.

 <<<Casting Levitate on the corps.>>>

 The corps begins to levitate in the air, while Moria moved slowly behind it's head and examined the back of the corpses head.  She used the rod with the other hand, while keeping the body afloat with the wire loop around her finger.

 <<< Examining the back of his head closely for any sign of gagging or anything wrapped around or placed over the head.>>>

In reply to Moria (msg # 140):

"The claw marks on the face look like they could have been made by those same little bastards that attacked us last night." Larzander remarked. "Wonder why the ripped his face off like that?"

In reply to Larzander Gunderzen (msg # 141):

Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, after taking a drink and finishing sanctifying the property.

Seeing the body levitating, and horror coming over his face with the sight of the mangled body.

"Maybe he went back on a deal, or wasn't honest with two opposing parties.  So they ripped off his face.  Whatever did this sure is sick!"

Turning his head away, and taking a long sip of drink.

"Maybe we need to find out who his clients were?"

In reply to Moria (msg # 140):

The back of his head reveals no further clues...no marks or indentations to speak of.  It would appear that the attack was completely directed at his face as nowhere else on his body appeared to have any wounds or odd markings.

 Moria watched the floating body as she listened to the short man's words. She raised and lowered the body and even tried to spin it by twisting her wrist, but to no avail.  She lowered it and raised it by concentrating on it and raising or lowering the hoop of wire around her finger.

 " So it looks like some beast gnawed off his face, and left the rest of his body unscathed. What does this mean?  And then someone slashed his throat with an extremely sharp weapon like a sword or something.  That means the suspect either has some form of pet, or he himself is a monstrous humanoid with the ability to make such a clean cut with a weapon." she said as she lowered the body back down to where it lay and examining the cut one more time closely. She shivered visibly and turned away.

  She turned back to her companions with a flourish, her black cloak twirling around her as she did.  The cloak she wore was exceptionally black.  It was even hard to see the creases in the dark fabric.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:13, Tue 21 Feb 2017.

In reply to Moria (msg # 144):

"A good, sharp hunting knife will do that Moria." Larz said flatly. "If done right you could take a man's head off with a knife." he added.

"There had to be some reason they destroyed his face like that." the barbarian said looking more closely at the corpse. "This is some sort of message, but to who?"

"I've heard of the assassins guilds making examples out of people who did something they didn't like. But what could this poor fellow have done to deserve such treatment?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:10, Tue 21 Feb 2017.

Reghar was mostly silent during the peaceful walk toard the dreaded corpse. He was also silent when he saw the bad shape of the body.

Barbarians and savages, this is what this place is full of

Whatever did this thing to this poor man is no stranger to murder and I mean that to the thing that made the perfect cut. It obviously looks like someone kill this person liek an assassin would and then asked his dog to chew his face. I doubt the face was chewed while he was alive.... well I hope it wasn't. Seems like a punishment indeed Larzander. If its an example or a punishment, then we can guess there is an "offense". We must find what he could have done to offend the killer.

 " Assasins do use poison.  Theft?  A dispute?  I have to say it is pretty gruesome.  Like who ever did this enjoyed it." she said, with that familiar intense stare at the body.

In reply to Moria (msg # 147):

Scratching his bare chin, in contemplation.  reviewing all of his training in the monastery, however intoxicated he was at the time, he retained some knowledge.

"Maybe a creature like the small batted demons?   Yes, that could be it.  Savagely and surgely cut his throat, indulge on his body, and then for some magical spell took his eyes and then ravaged his face."

Shrugging his shoulders.

"Just a thought"

 Moria's eye opened wide as Stoney mentioned demons.  " Demons?" she said timidly as she backed away from the small man, looking all around as if she might see a demon swoop down on them at any moment.  She backed all the way to the door and she looked nervously around the room making sure it was secure.

  " They're coming for me." she said in fear, sinking down into a crouched position, cradling herself in her black cloak.  The once brazen and thrill seeking girl had just changed rapidly to that of a frightened child.

The undertaker, till now, had stood some distance back from the group...not simply to allow them room to view but he seemed uneasy by the sight itself.  Seeing Moria, however, his facial expression changed to one of concern...

"Are you alright child?  What is the matter?  Here, have some water."