((Well, I'm letting Roberto run with this, so this thread is effectively yours until I say it isn't... 
It's not on a strict time limit, but you're free to investigate to the fullness of what you need, wither IC or OOC.))
In that case, Roberto will seek out Jaques next. And Invite Alexi. See, we Flambeau are used to being assertive with each other. Another magus may take offense, so I ask Alexi to help mitigate my natural brusqueness. And Fiona too. We should discuss this in a circle and seperate fact from conjecture.
Jacques can be found in the Library in this season. He is avoiding the Tribunal.
Probably wise.
Roberto sense a servant to ask Jaques and Fiona to meet with him and Alexi.
((Might be better one-on-one with Fiona since she is secretive. Just sayin' 
))
Jacques will arrive at the appointed time. He is dressed like a solider. There is nothing on is clothes that would say he is a magus.
[color=brown]Greetings. I require your assistance. Alexi and I are trying to reconstruct the incident where Apollodorus was apparently killed. Trying to seperate fact from conjecture. There is also the matter of some writings he left behind that are difficult to translate or decipher.
I would ask you to tell me everything you saw in the battle. Just facts, no guesses or presumptions. I have a hunch that some important details are being overlooked.
Jacques is thoughtful for a moment.
I answered an alarm. I armed myself, send out my friends as scouts and went to the courtyard to rally the guard. I saw 3 figures, darkly clad, come out of the regio entrance. I shot at one with my arrow but they had some magics to block it. I then tried to entrap them with Entangling Vines.
I heard Apollodorus say something but I did not hear it all. He did speak up and say that Valerian was there to kill him because Guernicus is a House of assassins. Or something like that. Knowing one of them was Valerian made me change my tactics somewhat.
Everything got kind of confusing with Magi popping around. One of them went behind me and was making a break so I pursued. I kept shooting arrows at him, and hitting, until Alexei popped in close and took him out.
((Correcting some facts. Jacques saw the figures from a whole in the tower that was blasted open. He never saw the trio cross the regio boundary, as it was the interior regio boundary that was used, the one that is enclosed by the manor house on the mundane (or +3) side, and the castle, with the tower that goes 50 feet into the air on the magical/+5 side.
https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/1222-2b-the-fall-of-night/6575/9, note that later Jacques was placed in the courtyard...
Not sure that it is reasonable that anyone but Alexey and Deykin heard what was spoken among Apollodorus and Valerian and the two others. But, such is the error of memory...))
Fiona arrives in a simple gown (green outer layer over a tan or homespun undergarment).
She smiles as she greets Alexei, then turns to Roberto. [color=blue]"Fiona ex Miscellanea, Kore tes Kirkes," she says. [color=blue]"I don't think I've head the pleasure."
Fiona raises a brow. [color=blue]"Do you feel that the Quaesitorial investigation may have been incomplete?" she says with a hint of a smile.
((If I recall, one of the terms of the charter was that Q was to investigate his untimely passing to be sure that he wasn't killed by one of Mons Electi, but I don't remember just who did the investigating. I almost want to say Laetitia, but I wouldn't swear to it.))
Is there a murder without a body. I attempted to pose this to the troupe earlier. Admittedly, there was some turmoil with players during that time, but it's very possible that Apollodorus was never claimed to be dead...
Laetitia may have reasonably cautioned that without the body, there is very little ability to claim murder, and we can handwave that attempts to contact the ghost of Apollodorus or find his body magically have been unsuccessful...
((works for me.))
I am starting to think this may be a case of twilight....
Roberto can continue the investigation here.
And the SG advises the player not to jump to conclusions before additional testimony is heard.
Gotcha. Roberto is still in the war room with a gathered few magi, right?
I am presuming this takes after "Friendly Duel" and before "Kangaroo". Correct?
It can be whenever you want it to be... Even immediately prior to the Tribunal/trial of Calefacto. It's immaterial to that trial.
I'm poking this anthill... It's up to the player(s) to progress this story.
Well, here's what we know, as best I can recall. Some of the information is stuff that only one or two people know.
- Apollodoros was last seen alive when Valerian and his lackeys arrived in summer of 1222 to kill him (although this last was a surprise to his lackeys, apparently – they thought they were doing a little b&e.)
- He was felled by a knife to the chest, although this was only seen by Ulrich and Deykin (I think).
- His body wound up at Fiona's feet when she was trying to [strike]hold the regio portal between Mons Electi and the Magic Realm open[/strike] anchor the regio (at Apollodorus's request), to prevent the regio from being torn apart and cast into the Magic Realm. His body was, to the best of my knowledge, never recovered, his body or spirit or shade or whatever was still speaking to Fiona at this time, and she didn't notice if the body wound up in Magic or back in Mons Electi.
So, Twilight is a distinct possibility. Or his body wound up in Magic, in the Blacksmith's house somewhere (?).
Fiona's probably assumed, since she was in Magic for a while (a couple of weeks? A month?) that the body had been properly...I want to say "disposed of," but that sounds disrespectful. And no one's really bothered to ask her about it.
And Fiona is the one that makes Roberto the most nervous, because he should have been questioning her. But he has been avoiding her politely 
((Actually, and I don't mind if Fiona "knows" this, but Fiona was standing between the regio and the mundane world. She was effectively anchoring the regio. Apollodorus had her stand there to prevent the regio from being torn apart and cast into the Magic Realm. Fiona's tripping and falling just let me send Fiona to the magic realm. She wasn't the original person I had planned to send there.))
((original post edited))