Considering his options, Broneslav decided that further investigation could wait while he visited Theosius the craftsman to find out what was needed. Then he would return and see if he could find out anything more.
Theosius, it turned out, did not need him immediately.
"Rum do, all this wit' murder o' Vorloi's niece," Theosius stated, "An' tryin' ta mix his lordship into it too. Not good. Now I've checked ye out, I'll send ye a message when I need ye. We've a bunch o' small jobs as might suit someone of your talents. Might just be lifting and carrying, Might be summat a bit more active. We'll see 'ow things fare."
Nodding his agreement to this, Broneslav left Theosius and returned to Goodwife Thanato's house, from where he entered the cellar and made his way back to Vorloi's basement. Thence, into Vorloi's house to search around again. He found nothing more in the house, but climbing back down the ladder into the cellar, he put his hand in something sticky. Checking it, it turned out to be pitch or something very similar. Clearly, one of the murderers had left traces of it on the ladder. But where had he got it on him? Broneslav's brain failed him (bloody dice!) and he could think of nowhere to start investigating that, so he decided to check the extent of the tunnels. There might be more clues there.
As he followed the tunnels, he realised that here was a group determined to literally undermine Specularum. His explorations found further cellars and more tunnels, but no more people. There were signs of people having been there, hastily abandoned shovels and wheelbarrows, but the people had clearly been disturbed by the guards' own investigations in the Vorloi cellar.
Broneslav quickly realised that these tunnels were limited to just this area. It made him wonder whether others existed around the city and why the Veiled Society was bothering. It was a lot of effort to go to for no clear purpose. Villains, eh? All grand schemes and no thought for efficiency!
His musings were interrupted by a chuckling sound as he entered a larger chamber covered in debris. It had once been the cellar of a house, but now it was filled with burnt out beams and was choked with rubble and dirt. A glowing, person-shaped light floated through the room. The sounds seemed to come from it. Broneslav paused warily, sword drawn, but the light ignored him and passed form the cellar. With it the sound disappeared too. He wondered who the ghost had been, but his ponderings were suddenly interrupted.
Something had grabbed his leg! Looking down, he saw it was a hand, and then several others thrust out of the ground, followed shortly by the rotting bodies they belonged to. The scent of the grave wafted to his nostrils as he felt himself being pulled down. He swung his sword hard. The zombie's head flew from its shoulders and the body slumped back to the floor. A second blow removed an arm from a second zombie. This zombie used the piece of floorboard in its other hand to smash Broneslav in the side. He grunted in pain as it hit with maximum force (4 DAM) but still dodged around the other zombie and avoided its attack. With a muttered curse, Broneslav swung high and his sword cleaved the injured zombie's head. It fell, twitching, to the floor. Then he stepped in close to the last zombie and removed its head too.
Spitting blood, he surveyed the room for more threats before bandaging his wound and preparing to continue his investigation.
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