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[h2][color=darkorchid][i][b]Victoria Belmont[/b][/i][/color][/h2][i][b][color=9932cc]Half-Elf, Bard, Level 3[/color][/b][/i]
[color=9932cc][i][b]HP:[/b][/i][/color] 23 / 23	[color=9932cc][i][b]Armor Class:[/b][/i][/color] 15	[color=9932cc][i][b]Conditions:[/b][/i][/color] N/A
[color=9932cc][i][b]Location:[/b][/i][/color] Brindleton's Woodworking
[color=9932cc][i][b]Action:[/b][/i][/color] Help (Investigation for Marita)
[color=9932cc][i][b]Bonus Action:[/b][/i][/color] [color=black]Morty[/color]
[color=9932cc][i][b]Reaction:[/b][/i][/color] N/A 
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[right][img]https://i.ibb.co/KW5Pyxx/Victoria-FC-3-II.png[/img][/right]
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	The fact that Marita blatantly ignored the message of greetings, passed along by Victoria herself from her faithful servant Morty (despite the fact that it was obviously a silly lie) gave the Bard a hint of a smile. She might call it a little fun at no one's expense in particular, but being completely fair, she did have a decent idea how much Marita disliked the signature trick of her College of Bardic Study. The thought passed briefly how the group might handle being in the presence of a group of people like her, with their undead personal assistants, trading pieces of lesser known funerary music or stories of Necromantic practices. They could be a somber lot sometimes. And sometimes when they weren't... It was best left unvoiced among her new companions. 

	Victoria shuffled off these thoughts, amusing as they were, and set herself back to the work at hand. Morty followed at her heel and slightly off to the side, as held to the standing mental command the animated beast had received. It stayed with Victoria in this manner as she led Marita through her observations of the woodworker's place. [color=9932cc]"I cannot speak to what Rickard might have uncovered,"[/color] she explained, [color=9932cc]"as he removed himself from the building without telling me a thing. But he gave a quick search to the private quarters, up those stairs. I shall give you a hand if you like."[/color] The only thing she might do was retrace her steps, maybe try to see what details the Elf might have also seen, but this was primarily up to the fresh set of eyes on the scene - Marita. And yes, she found something ominous. 

	This brought about a sigh and a rare serious look from Victoria. She shook her head and walked back down the stairs, into the main area. Completely off topic, she mentioned, [color=9932cc]"You know... this place might make an excellent fallback. The man who owns it is missing, and if we can secure the doors... It's not like anyone but Rickard knows that we were here, I think. Hmm."[/color] She shrugged. There was probably a flaw to her logic somewhere if she looked hard enough. But maybe a nugget of truth might be dug out of this as a desperate [i]Plan B[/i]. 

	This flight of thought passing, Victoria walked back to the workshop area and found a chair to rest upon. Morty followed, of course, though rest was not a thing he required. [color=9932cc]"I must admit, this is not my favorite part of an adventure,"[/color] she said in melodic tones. [color=9932cc]"I still think there might be something else to this place, but I can be the meticulous sort when druthers take me. What course of action would [i]you[/i] prefer to do next? If it were purely up to me, well... It's probably more responsible that it is not."[/color] Shallow and light-hearted words to partially cover for more serious internal brewings. [color=9932cc]"Obvious cleanup job, scratch marks, hair. People going missing at night. I hope the others have found out more than we have."[/color]