(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 6)

[DracoOmega]

>Swanky. Smell for cheese with the wines.
>Approach the woman. "I'm from the Seekers. I understand there was a request put in at the guildhall?"

>You think you may smell a little coming from somewhere, anyway.
>She glances at your badge. "Yeah, that's right." She jerks her head towards a door behind her. "Want to step back here for a bit?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Of course." Follow the lady.
>Does our treasure sense work on wines?

[DracoOmega]

>"Of course." Follow the lady.

>The woman nods and walks into the back. You follow after her into a hallway running behind the bar. You can spot the kitchen off to your left, and also hear and smell it. Hmmm.... pasta with mushroom sauce, and grilled chicken. Also cabbage rolls.
>"Daisuke!" the woman calls out towards it. "Take front for a few minutes."
>You hear a "Sure!" call out to answer her. Without breaking stride, the woman leads you past the kitchen and into a small office, then shuts the door behind you as you enter.
>"So," she says, turning to you. "It's like I said in the notice. We lost a whole case of the pricey stuff right out of our storeroom, and I don't know how. The place doesn't look broken into, and there's only one person besides me that has the key, and she wasn't even here that day."

>Does our treasure sense work on wines?

>Not generally, no. It's possible that an especially valuable one might give off a slight vibe, but you aren't certain.

[Oldmansour]

>"Is that why you went to the Seekers instead of the Watch?"
>"I assume you both still have your keys, neither one of them's gone missing?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Is that why you went to the Seekers instead of the Watch?"
>"I assume you both still have your keys, neither one of them's gone missing?"

>"Yes and yes," she replies.

[Oldmansour]

>"I also assume you've spoken to the other woman involved here about the issue, and that she has a solid alibi?"

[DracoOmega]

>"I also assume you've spoken to the other woman involved here about the issue, and that she has a solid alibi?"

>"I'm comfortable it isn't her," she says, her expression firm.

[Oldmansour]

>"Alright, just covering all our bases."
>Still might be worth checking out.
>"What about the previous owners, if there are any. Might they still have keys to the place?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Alright, just covering all our bases."
>Still might be worth checking out.
>"What about the previous owners, if there are any. Might they still have keys to the place?"

>She gives you a curt nod.
>Just because she's satisfied (or at least claims to be) doesn't mean that you are. Wouldn't be the first time someone was wrong about an employee's trustworthiness.
>She shakes her head. "Nope. Locks were changed years back."

[Oldmansour]

>We know how to pick locks. Could we do it and leave no visible trace on the lock in question?
>"Mind if I have a look at the room?"

[DracoOmega]

>We know how to pick locks. Could we do it and leave no visible trace on the lock in question?
>"Mind if I have a look at the room?"

>Even if you're good, picking a lock usually leaves some internal scratching in places that keys wouldn't touch; you could generally tell on a close examination. Of course, you wouldn't expect someone without experience of their own to be able to detect this, unless a rank amateur went at it with a screwdriver or something.
>"Of course," she says, nodding. "This way." With barely a pause, she exits the office.

[Oldmansour]

>Follow the lady.
>Do we know how difficult it is to duplicate a key based on memory?

[DracoOmega]

>Follow the lady.

>You follow the woman as she leads you back towards the kitchen and then takes a different turn ending in a heavy wooden door. She produces a small key from her pocket and opens it, then leads you down a rather extended series of cramped stairs, doubling back on each other several times as they descend deeper. The air cools noticeably as you proceed. Eventually you arrive in the wine cellar.
>It is a very neatly arranged space, though the construction is rudimentary and coarse, with little more than packed earth and support beams for walls. A couple of lanterns hang from the ceiling beams, shedding soft light on the space. Within it are several filled wine racks, along with a multitude of wooden crates and barrels, both large and small. Several large sacks are piled against one corner of the room.
>"It was right here," she says, gesturing towards the top of a small stack of crates. "And then the other day it wasn't."

>Do we know how difficult it is to duplicate a key based on memory?

>Constructing an functional reproduction of a key based only on memory of having handled it would be essentially out of the question, as far as you understand things. Unless the lock was extremely crude, but this one did not appear to be so. Perhaps if one had taken precise and detailed measurements beforehand, but even that would require a high degree of skill.

[Oldmansour]

>Examine the lock for signs of disturbance.
>"This room have any tunnels, secret passages, that sort of thing?"
>Are there any signs of mice down here?

[DracoOmega]

>Examine the lock for signs of disturbance.
>"This room have any tunnels, secret passages, that sort of thing?"
>Are there any signs of mice down here?

>You go all the way back upstairs and take a closer look at the lock, while the proprietor looms over you. As best you can tell, there is no indication that it was picked or forced open in any manner that would leave a trace.
>"Of course not," she replies curtly, giving you something of a mild scowl. "It's a wine cellar, not a smuggler's hideaway."
>None that you can tell.

[Oldmansour]

>"You'd be surprised what sort of things you can find..."
>Head back down and check the walls for secret passages.
>"You ever had mice down here?" In expectation of the strange look, "Humor me."

[DracoOmega]

>"You'd be surprised what sort of things you can find..."
>Head back down and check the walls for secret passages.
>"You ever had mice down here?" In expectation of the strange look, "Humor me."

>"I suppose that is your business," she says.
>You head back downstairs. How do you intend to check them?
>"No, I keep the place tidy," she replies, then seems to hesitate. "No offense."

[Oldmansour]

>Check for loose stones, suspicious looking patches of earth, odd colorations in the wood, anything that looks out of place.
>"So the crate was here when you closed up shop two days ago, and then missing when you opened up yesterday?"

[DracoOmega]

>Check for loose stones, suspicious looking patches of earth, odd colorations in the wood, anything that looks out of place.
>"So the crate was here when you closed up shop two days ago, and then missing when you opened up yesterday?"

>The bare construction of the walls leaves little room to conceal things, but you inspect them nonetheless. The proprietor gives you a rather dismissive scowl as you work your way around the room, but doesn't interrupt. However, even upon a careful examination, no patches of earth seem suspicious or are less firm than you would expect, and the wood seems in fine shape. Everything seems fine and mundane, although the crates and such piled about the room mean that you don't get a chance to truly examine the entirety of the cellar walls. You do cover most of them, though.
>"Worse than that," she says. "It was here when I opened two days ago, and then gone when I came down later that same evening."

[Oldmansour]

>"About what time of day did you notice it missing, and how long since you saw it before then?"
>"Is the front door the only way in our out of the building?"
>Can our extrasensory perception detect trace amounts of magic?

[DracoOmega]

>"About what time of day did you notice it missing, and how long since you saw it before then?"
>"Is the front door the only way in our out of the building?"
>Can our extrasensory perception detect trace amounts of magic?

>"I noticed it missing around 8 PM," she says. "I'd been down here that morning, so let's say.... 9 hours or so?"
>"There's a staff entrance around the back, but I don't see how it matters considering there's only one way down here."
>Passively, it would likely take a fair bit more than trace amounts to feel. If you were to dowse, you expect you could detect anything that wasn't extremely subtle, given a little time and care.

[Oldmansour]

>"Obviously somebody, or something, got in here, so it'd be good to know how they snuck the goods out without being seen. And, for that matter, why only one crate went missing."
>"I'm gonna see if there's any kind of magic down here, see if there's a mage at work here. Bear with me a minute or two."
>Produce our dowsing rods and scan for magical residue, taking the time to do it right.

[DracoOmega]

>"Obviously somebody, or something, got in here, so it'd be good to know how they snuck the goods out without being seen. And, for that matter, why only one crate went missing."
>"I'm gonna see if there's any kind of magic down here, see if there's a mage at work here. Bear with me a minute or two."
>Produce our dowsing rods and scan for magical residue, taking the time to do it right.

>"I wondered that, too," she says. "They took some of our best stuff, though. Maybe they could only smuggle one case out?"
>She nods. "Do what you need to."
>You produce your dowsing rods and start to carefully scan for any traces of magic, being very slow and methodical. You can sense a variety of magical auras from the surrounding neighbourhood, be they from enchanted items for sale in the market or a scattered magician practicing their craft. Most of them probably mundane, and all of them too far away to be relevant. You draw your focus inward and tune out the noise. Despite your rigor, this room itself seems quite free of any magic you can sense, aside from the lanterns, of course. However, you do start to note something just a little odd after a while. It's a bit hard to tell, and you probably would have missed it if you weren't being so careful, but something about the resonances feels slightly different in one direction. On closer investigation, you think something is different about the earth itself in that direction.

[Oldmansour]

>Mutter, "That's odd..."
>Is there anything about the earth in that direction that seems visually different from its surroundings?
>Can we discern the nature of the sensation?

[DracoOmega]

>Mutter, "That's odd..."
>Is there anything about the earth in that direction that seems visually different from its surroundings?
>Can we discern the nature of the sensation?

>"What's odd?" the proprietor asks.
>Not that you can see, though it's not all exposed.
>It feels... less dense, you think.

[Oldmansour]

>"I'm getting something... odd, about that patch of earth." Point to the area with our tail.
>Can we discern if there's a living being behind or around that earth?

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm getting something... odd, about that patch of earth." Point to the area with our tail.
>Can we discern if there's a living being behind or around that earth?

>"Huh?" She looks at it, then back at you, her brow furrowed. "Odd how?"
>Dowsing isn't very effective on organic material, and people are plenty organic. You don't know that you could tell, unless they were radiating magic or wearing metal or something.

[Oldmansour]

>"I'm not certain. Seems... thinner, somehow."
>Put away our dowsing rods, then approach the patch in question, hand resting on Kumoru.

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm not certain. Seems... thinner, somehow."
>Put away our dowsing rods, then approach the patch in question, hand resting on Kumoru.

>"Thinner?" She screws up her face. "What's that even supposed to mean?"
>You put away your dowsing rods then approach that part of the wall, keeping your hand near your blade. Nothing bursts out at you from the kegs, at least.

[Oldmansour]

>"Like the earth in this part of the wall isn't as dense as its surroundings."