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[h2][color=darkorchid][i][b]Victoria Belmont[/b][/i][/color][/h2][i][b][color=9932cc]Half-Elf, Bard, Level 5[/color][/b][/i]
[color=9932cc][i][b]HP:[/b][/i][/color] 33 / 33	[color=9932cc][i][b]Armor Class:[/b][/i][/color] 16	[color=9932cc][i][b]Conditions:[/b][/i][/color] N/A
[color=9932cc][i][b]Location:[/b][/i][/color] Coach House (Cellar/"Study") 
[color=9932cc][i][b]Action:[/b][/i][/color] Spellcasting: [i](Speak With Dead)[/i]
[color=9932cc][i][b]Bonus Action:[/b][/i][/color] [color=black][b]Morty[/b][/color]
[color=9932cc][i][b]Reaction:[/b][/i][/color] N/A
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[right][img]https://i.ibb.co/ZzgLdXRt/Victoria-Alt-8-ss2.png[/img][/right]
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	Victoria was fully willing to go along with the idea that the party would hand back anything they find on what was going to eventually be Lizbeth's vineyard. It would have been less advantageous to go against it if it meant ostracizing herself from the group. This whole situation looked like it was going to become something very ugly, but with the potential to amass a ton of useful knowledge. Victoria was keen on learning more, especially concerning her fields of expertise. Power was a close cousin to knowledge. And overall, the Bard was looking to develop herself into something more powerful. She kept quiet and smiled approvingly to her companions, and to Lizbeth. Things could be worked out later, preferably with a well-meaning conversation. Victoria was good with those. 

	It looked very much like Victoria's research-based abilities were going to get a workout, both practical and magical, if the party had anything to say about it. Bold of them to assume that she would jump right into that, but being honest, [i]of course she was going to[/i]. Victoria wanted to know about everything they had been uncovering just as much, maybe even more, than the others did. While they were all very good in matters pertaining to staying alive in the thick of combat, this was her personal zone of competence. The first piece of business came from Baronfjord - a collection of fine and questionable wands - and his desire to remove them elsewhere for further study along with much of Arnaud L'Rose's personal writings. [color=9932cc]"I agree. We have some things here that need to be looked over, as well."[/color] Victoria had to admire the fact that the Monk gave no hesitation in laying everything out for the rest of them to see. After being with these people for some months now, Victoria really should have let a couple of her defenses down and be more open about things like this. They were not the more mercenary-like group of which she was formerly a member. Trust was hard sometimes, though. 

	Kosara's concern about her injuries after her fall was quite animated, but also a little heartwarming. She extended her arms to her sides and twisted from one side to the other, smiling slightly. She wanted a good look, and that fine. Victoria was ever the showgirl. [color=9932cc]"I appreciate the offer, dear Kosara; truly I do. It is already handled. I have some very minor ability to heal, especially compared to yourself, but it was enough in this instance. Thank you."[/color] 

	It seemed that Kathryn and Kosara had similar concerns, as it came to the fall and bits of her blood upstairs. So Victoria stopped being vague about it, as hopefully this would get them past the topic and focused on the present. [color=9932cc]"When the surge happened, I was teleported to several places over the course of a minute. This room, the taproom, the roof..."[/color] She trailed off for a second, not particularly liking the events on which took place above them, [color=9932cc]"...and when I slipped and fell off the roof, the last teleport put me in Kathryn's room upstairs. This form of teleportation [i]did not[/i] negate the inertia of the fall."[/color] Hopefully, this was enough of an explanation to get the gist of her little adventure across. 

	But to Kathryn specifically, [color=9932cc]"Naturally, Kat. I have a ritual that can help us figure out what these things do. It will take some time, but I am capable. The wand I'm holding onto from before,"[/color] and Victoria made sure to specify these words as she didn't want to lay definitive claim to a thing that wasn't [i]obviously[/i] best suited to her in this party, [color=9932cc]"only reveals the presence of magic. It does not identify, except for the schools of magic represented."[/color] Victoria adopted a thoughtful look as she tried to remember what she saw from her very brief time in the "study" with the active [i]Detect Magic[/i] spell going. [color=9932cc]"These wands radiate Enchantment, Abjuration, Necromancy, Transmutation, and something ...well, random. I would need to get them under scrutiny to know more."[/color]

	There was one thing that she could do in the meantime, and that was to engage in a little party-sanctioned Necromancy. In this case, a couple of them had asked her to have an informative conversation with the dead guy in the bottom most cell. So Victoria set to it. She set her part of the haul on a crate nearby and flourished her hand, producing her violin bow, which she immediately set to her strings. A quiet set of notes, barely a whisper in comparison to the volume possible from her instrument, but enough to invoke her spellwork from the sheet music of the Weave. Her face relaxed into a warm, genuine smile that reached her crystal blue eyes; pale orbs which now sat within pools of deepening darkness, now reaching down her face in quiet rivulets of tear-shaped necromancy. Victoria's voice adopted simultaneous qualities of power and soothing, melodic intonation, as her whisper to the dead seemed to echo in this small room, [color=9932cc][b][i]"Come, fallen one. Speak with me."[/i][/b][/color] 

	Victoria's face shifted to confusion, then a more profound understanding of the situation. The heaviness of her magic, a thing which was hard to notice until it had passed, lifted from the room. Her smile remained, though her eyes, still colored from her access to the Grey Requiem, sharpened in inquisitive intensity. The Bard's personal Thrall, Morty, took a few selected shuffles back in the direction of the young Wine Heiress, Lizbeth, at Victoria's mental command. [color=9932cc]"Lizbeth, sweetheart?"[/color] she began, sparing a quick glance at the young lady, [color=9932cc]"Would you please take the things we just found and step behind Morty? Our friend here isn't dead."[/color]