(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 6)

[Oldmansour]

I still have my suspicions that someone got inside and waited for them to leave.

That sounds a valid theory to me. I'm fairy certain there's SOMETHING in there myself, but I'm damned if I can figure out what. Dowsing around the area outside sounds a good idea.

[DracoOmega]

>To clarify, do we think the door can be unlocked from the inside without a key?

>You believe so, yes.

[Hello Purvis]

>Have we asked about anyone else being down here? If not, do that. If so, what did he say?

No time to read back right now.

[DracoOmega]

>Have we asked about anyone else being down here? If not, do that. If so, what did he say?

>You did not, so you ask this.
>"Sometimes other workers come down with me to help carry things up," she replies, "But I was alone both these last times."

[Oldmansour]

>"About how heavy was the missing case?"

[DracoOmega]

>"About how heavy was the missing case?"

>"Several pounds," she replies. "Probably not much more than that. The cost is in the quality, not the volume. It wouldn't be hard for one person to carry, if that's what you're asking."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Now, just to be certain about the situation, you know for a fact it was here when you locked up last time, and you didn't notice anything else awry when you saw it was gone?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Now, just to be certain about the situation, you know for a fact it was here when you locked up last time, and you didn't notice anything else awry when you saw it was gone?"

>"That's correct," she nods, then pauses a moment. "It's... possible a few things were moved around a little, but I didn't see anything else missing."

[Oldmansour]

>Does our dowsing ability give us the ability to sense tunnels, or at least hollows in the earth?
>If so, does that 'thin' earth feel like a tunnel, or simply more loosely packed earth?
>Would we be able to detect the presense of wood, in this case worked wood, when surrounded by earth? Or perhaps the metal in the crate?

[DracoOmega]

>Does our dowsing ability give us the ability to sense tunnels, or at least hollows in the earth?
>If so, does that 'thin' earth feel like a tunnel, or simply more loosely packed earth?
>Would we be able to detect the presense of wood, in this case worked wood, when surrounded by earth? Or perhaps the metal in the crate?

>Not directly, in the sense of being able to map them specifically. You can't dowse for air and empty space is, almost by definition, an absence of things to detect. You can sometimes get a sense of places that might be more empty than others, due to an absence of materials present in their surroundings, but solid space is typically not made up of a single coherent material, making this work a little fuzzy.
>It most certainly could be a tunnel, now that you think about it.... Although you think it would have to be more than one, given the breadth of the sensation.
>You cannot dowse for wood, and while there are likely nails in the case that would give it metallic content that you could detect, they would be far too small and mundane to dowse for usefully among a city filled with countless thousands of nearly identical objects. If you had to find the box in the middle of a field somewhere, on the other hand...

[Oldmansour]

>Can we discern how far these tunnels extend, and/or in which directions? If we can, and have not done so, break out our rods again and do so.

[DracoOmega]

>Can we discern how far these tunnels extend, and/or in which directions? If we can, and have not done so, break out our rods again and do so.

>From what you sensed earlier, you are cannot be certain how far they extend, although it felt like it might be a considerable distance. They were concentrated along the direction of the left wall of the cellar, although you think they fanned out after a while, or became larger in some other fashion. You don't think you're likely to be able to get many more specifics by dowsing again, unfortunately.

[Oldmansour]

>Can we determine how wide they are? Hate to expend this much effort for a bloody mole nest, or something.

[DracoOmega]

>Can we determine how wide they are? Hate to expend this much effort for a bloody mole nest, or something.

>You can't be specific, but you're relatively certain it's quite a bit larger than would be created by an animal. In any case, this would be extremely deep for any mole to have burrowed; they usually stay within a foot or so of the surface.

[Oldmansour]

>Can we recall hearing reports, or seeing notices, of recent construction or remodeling in this part of town? Something that would give someone a prime opportunity to dig out a tunnel or two?
>"Has anyone in this part of town done some big remodeling jobs recently, any new buildings go up, old ones come down?"

[DracoOmega]

>Can we recall hearing reports, or seeing notices, of recent construction or remodeling in this part of town? Something that would give someone a prime opportunity to dig out a tunnel or two?
>"Has anyone in this part of town done some big remodeling jobs recently, any new buildings go up, old ones come down?"

>Nothing comes to mind.
>"Not as far as I know," she replies, giving you an icy look somewhat mollified by her own poorly-masked puzzlement. It's not hard to tell that this isn't quite what she expected when she hired a Seeker.

[Oldmansour]

>If we were to employ our dousing rods from other locations, would we have a better sense of how far these tunnels extend?

[DracoOmega]

>If we were to employ our dousing rods from other locations, would we have a better sense of how far these tunnels extend?

>You might, although you suspect it would be rather harder to do from the surface than underground.

[Oldmansour]

>Do we know any other winerys around town that a theif could sell his goods to here in town? Or anywhere else, for that matter?
>To the best of our knowledge, is this the first time this place has had trouble with dissapearing goods, or theivery, before?

So the way I see it, we can either
1) Break down the wall of this cellar and get into the tunnels, but I sincerely doubt missy Owner here's gonna go for that, given her attitude.
2) Go talk to this other keyholder, see what she has to say, if anything.
3) Start dowsing around the general vicinity, see if we can determine where those tunnels, if they are tunnels, go, although I doubt our success on that front, given what our parser said not long ago.

I'll give the problem more thought while I'm at work, but if any one has any ideas on how to proceed, don't wait for me.

[DracoOmega]

>Do we know any other winerys around town that a theif could sell his goods to here in town? Or anywhere else, for that matter?
>To the best of our knowledge, is this the first time this place has had trouble with dissapearing goods, or theivery, before?

>You don't imagine many wineries are in the business of buying wine, though you're sure there are other bars or particularly private collectors who might be interested in apparently distinguished vintages. Unfortunately, that doesn't narrow it down very usefully.
>You don't recall seeing any previous jobs from them posted on the board, at least, and the proprietor hasn't mentioned anything.

[Oldmansour]

>In all the time we've been down here, have we heard anything from that patch of earth? Or any noises we couldn't attribute to either us or the woman with us?

[DracoOmega]

>In all the time we've been down here, have we heard anything from that patch of earth? Or any noises we couldn't attribute to either us or the woman with us?

>No. It's pretty quiet down here.

[Oldmansour]

>Turn again to look at the 'tunnel' wall, and indicate the detritus in front of the wall.
>"Mind if I move some of that stuff out of the way? I can't shake the feeling there's something back there."

[DracoOmega]

>Turn again to look at the 'tunnel' wall, and indicate the detritus in front of the wall.
>"Mind if I move some of that stuff out of the way? I can't shake the feeling there's something back there."

>You take another look at the suspect wall and gesture towards the stacks of crates and sacks piled against part of it.
>The woman gives an irritated frown and seems about to speak, then pauses a moment and sighs. "Do what you want," she says, a resigned note in her voice. "Just make sure you put everything back where it was when you came here."

[Oldmansour]

>Ingrate...
>"Sure."
>Shift enough of the goods, carefully, to give us a better look at that wall, see if we can see any signs of those 'tunnels'.

[DracoOmega]

>Ingrate...
>"Sure."
>Shift enough of the goods, carefully, to give us a better look at that wall, see if we can see any signs of those 'tunnels'.

>You grumble inwardly and then assent.
>Then you start to move some of the inventory aside to get a better look at that part of the wall. You start with the smaller cases on top, shifting them onto another stack of crates against a different wall. When this fails to reveal anything notable, you start on the larger and heavier boxes, slowly and carefully dragging them aside. Through it all, the woman looms over the room, saying little and simply watching your work with a dismissive attitude. It grows to be quite vexing after a while, but you suppose at least she isn't complaining at you. For now. You have little doubt she will start again if you don't find something for all this effort.
>You clear off one of the full stacks of boxes, revealing a several foot wide chunk of wall. It looks fundamentally indistinguishable from the segments of wall to either side of it; you try not to let the woman's sour gaze burn a hole in the back of your head, but you don't even need to turn around to feel it on you. Instead, you set in on the next stack of boxes, this one in the corner of the room. Quite a few heavy sacks of flour and meal are piled up against them, so you start hauling them away to free a path to drag the largest of the boxes out.
>As you clear most of the sacks away, your eye catches on something. There seems to be a sizable hole in the side of one of the largest wooden boxes, previously obscured entirely. It appears to have been crudely smashed in.

[Oldmansour]

>"Well, now. What have we here."
>Point out the stove in crate to the woman with the bad attitude. "Whaddya make of this?"
>Assuming we didn't DO it. If we did, hide the evidence as best we can and say none of that.

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, now. What have we here."
>Point out the stove in crate to the woman with the bad attitude. "Whaddya make of this?"
>Assuming we didn't DO it. If we did, hide the evidence as best we can and say none of that.

>You most certainly had no role in this. You call the woman over and point out the damage. She takes a look at it and frowns, for once not in apparent disapproval of you. In fact, she looks genuinely dismayed.
>"What happened here?" she asks.

[Oldmansour]

>Can we determine if the crate was smashed in from the outside, or broke outwards?

[DracoOmega]

>Can we determine if the crate was smashed in from the outside, or broke outwards?

>Examining the fractures in the wood, it looks like it might actually have been smashed from the inside, as unlikely as that might seem, though you see very little sign of debris outside the hole. There are perhaps a few scattered splinters on the floor below it, but certainly nothing even approaching the amount of wood that had to have been removed.