Onward!

With them outta the way, you moved quickly through the streets. Once you spotted folks moving in around you, but a closer look at your armor and weapons, combined with a distinctly flat purse convinced them to back off and give you a wide berth.

As you moved into the noble district, the close-in houses were replaced by large manors, set on fairly small walled estates. The streets grew cleaner, more prosperous, better lit and better patrolled.

The Marquis’ house was a not particularly impressive one, with a wall that was only about the height of the man, but it was well protected by a number of guards that only made sense if he had something to hide, or protect. Getting onto his estate would have been hard, if you’d bothered to try going in the front way. So you didn’t. Breaking into one of the neighboring estates, then going in over the shared wall was much easier, so you did. The house itself was run down in that way unique to gentile poverty, all the signs of prosperity were still there, it was the little things, maintenance not done, gardens not weeded, everything which wasn’t crucial going undone.

Slipping in the back door was easy and with so few servants left, no one noticed as you picked your way through the house, eyes open for signs of an ambush and your attention focused on the ring on your left pinky, which could detect magics.

You found nothing on the ground floor, except a number of creaky floorboards and empty rooms (and the occasional room with a servant, sleeping after a long day of doing far too much work). The cellar had nothing but provisions. The upper floor showed more signs of inhabitation, as you began to worry that you might have been wrong and the Marquis just wanted to kill the woman who’d killed his son himself and had hired a mage to bring her to him. A series of loud thumping noises gave you pause as you reached one door. After noting its location, you finished checking the upper floor, discovered a distinct absence of further floors above you and went for a climb.

After getting out and slipping around to window that let into the room the thumping noises had been coming from, you poked your head around, glancing into the room.