Kasrjin was careful in binding their two charges with rope he'd carried on his person. He'd inspected the female knight's armour to make sure there were no sharp edges on her gauntlets, sabatons, or breastplate. It was likely that someone would notice their absence eventually, but for now they would have the time they needed.
"Interrogations would be fruitless," he commented to Roen, a sentiment that was confirmed by the female knight's baleful glare. The Xaela casually flipped the hawk-like mask the Marquis wore, revealing a fairly average-looking Hyur furrowing his brow. "It is doubtful they will tell us anything useful. We'll search the premises, then." The manor was smaller and less palatial than most other residences on the Pillars, but even Kasrjin with his limited understanding of the concept of wealth could tell that effort was invested into its appearance by the craftsmanship of the items. Ornamental weapons, finely polished woodworks, and large and garishly elaborate tapestries adorned the residence.
Kasrjin was quick to note, however, that other than superficial decorations, the residence was empty. There was almost no furniture save for a single desk and three chairs in the study, and a dusty couch in the hallway preceding it. The bookshelves were empty. There was no bed or anything to suggest that anyone stayed in this residence for any extended period of time. It was a house, but it was not somewhere anyone lived.
In the study, however, several scratches on the floorboards behind the desk caught Kasrjin's eye. They were almost imperceptible--one might mistake them for tricks of light--but it was the only place in the manor that seemed marred in any way. The Au Ra withdrew his greatsword and drove the tip into the boards. The wood made loud creaking and splintering sounds in protest, and it took him some time to dig the blade underneath the boards enough to pry them open.
Underneath the boards was a small box comprised of smooth, lacquered wood. A careful inspection displayed a numerical lock of some kind. The Xaela frowned. Another forceful application of the greatsword upon the surface of the box introduced a large crack onto the lacquered surface of the wood. Rather than pry the box open via its lid, Kasrjin instead cracked the side walls of the box and unceremoniously dumped most of the contents out onto the floor..
Within the box were sheets of parchment; notes from each Marquis or Marquise to the other. On the underside of the lid that Kasrjin had pried off was a small vial of vitriol, a complex mechanical mechanism intending to break and destroy the box's contents should the box be forced open through its lid; the initial break mark where Kasrjin had stabbed the blade into the box was only a few ilms away from it. It would seem that the designer was planning for thieves or conventional violence, and not someone simply sawing an entire side of the box open.
It appeared that the manor was the location each member of the Court used to confer with...whomever, and this box was what they used to update each other member of the Court as to their activities. There were, of course, no names or anything to implicate any identifiable persons; most of the documents were written in some form of code or cipher, and even the ones written in plainly legible Common used so many acronyms and shorthand phrases that without context it was more or less useless.
There were, however, a few pages that were clearly legible. One was an exhaustive set of alchemical notes detailing the nature of the dragon's blood within Spoken. Kasrjin could decipher very little of it, but he could recognise enough complete sentences to tell that it would be prospectively useful. The other was a map pinpointing some location outside of the city. It was made out of a translucent material, but directly beneath it was a rough map of Ishgard, indicating that there was some kind of...passage or other that lead to underneath Saint Reymanaud's Cathedral.
Kasrjin returned to the main hall, handing most of the parchments he collected to Roen who had just returned from searching other areas of the manor. "Very little seems legible," the Au Ra admitted. "Something indicates their presence beneath the cathedral." The lady knight fixed her glare upon him even through the bleeding bruises upon her face. Kasrjin folded his arms. "I care little for these Redeemers. It is unlikely that the two of us will be able to remove them from Ishgard alone. At the least, however, we can disrupt this 'ritual' you described and retrieve whatever was stolen from my kin."
"Interrogations would be fruitless," he commented to Roen, a sentiment that was confirmed by the female knight's baleful glare. The Xaela casually flipped the hawk-like mask the Marquis wore, revealing a fairly average-looking Hyur furrowing his brow. "It is doubtful they will tell us anything useful. We'll search the premises, then." The manor was smaller and less palatial than most other residences on the Pillars, but even Kasrjin with his limited understanding of the concept of wealth could tell that effort was invested into its appearance by the craftsmanship of the items. Ornamental weapons, finely polished woodworks, and large and garishly elaborate tapestries adorned the residence.
Kasrjin was quick to note, however, that other than superficial decorations, the residence was empty. There was almost no furniture save for a single desk and three chairs in the study, and a dusty couch in the hallway preceding it. The bookshelves were empty. There was no bed or anything to suggest that anyone stayed in this residence for any extended period of time. It was a house, but it was not somewhere anyone lived.
In the study, however, several scratches on the floorboards behind the desk caught Kasrjin's eye. They were almost imperceptible--one might mistake them for tricks of light--but it was the only place in the manor that seemed marred in any way. The Au Ra withdrew his greatsword and drove the tip into the boards. The wood made loud creaking and splintering sounds in protest, and it took him some time to dig the blade underneath the boards enough to pry them open.
Underneath the boards was a small box comprised of smooth, lacquered wood. A careful inspection displayed a numerical lock of some kind. The Xaela frowned. Another forceful application of the greatsword upon the surface of the box introduced a large crack onto the lacquered surface of the wood. Rather than pry the box open via its lid, Kasrjin instead cracked the side walls of the box and unceremoniously dumped most of the contents out onto the floor..
Within the box were sheets of parchment; notes from each Marquis or Marquise to the other. On the underside of the lid that Kasrjin had pried off was a small vial of vitriol, a complex mechanical mechanism intending to break and destroy the box's contents should the box be forced open through its lid; the initial break mark where Kasrjin had stabbed the blade into the box was only a few ilms away from it. It would seem that the designer was planning for thieves or conventional violence, and not someone simply sawing an entire side of the box open.
It appeared that the manor was the location each member of the Court used to confer with...whomever, and this box was what they used to update each other member of the Court as to their activities. There were, of course, no names or anything to implicate any identifiable persons; most of the documents were written in some form of code or cipher, and even the ones written in plainly legible Common used so many acronyms and shorthand phrases that without context it was more or less useless.
There were, however, a few pages that were clearly legible. One was an exhaustive set of alchemical notes detailing the nature of the dragon's blood within Spoken. Kasrjin could decipher very little of it, but he could recognise enough complete sentences to tell that it would be prospectively useful. The other was a map pinpointing some location outside of the city. It was made out of a translucent material, but directly beneath it was a rough map of Ishgard, indicating that there was some kind of...passage or other that lead to underneath Saint Reymanaud's Cathedral.
Kasrjin returned to the main hall, handing most of the parchments he collected to Roen who had just returned from searching other areas of the manor. "Very little seems legible," the Au Ra admitted. "Something indicates their presence beneath the cathedral." The lady knight fixed her glare upon him even through the bleeding bruises upon her face. Kasrjin folded his arms. "I care little for these Redeemers. It is unlikely that the two of us will be able to remove them from Ishgard alone. At the least, however, we can disrupt this 'ritual' you described and retrieve whatever was stolen from my kin."
