Town Hall: Office of the Magistrate
Warren Whitewhisker's office is sized to hold little more than a desk, a few chairs, and some bookcases, but that doesn't stop him from cramming it full of tree-stump carvings, tapestries, maps, charts, and cartographic supplies.

The Magistrate is seated behind his desk when Anisa and her friends troop in, but he quickly stands to greet them. Behind him, the large Rhian from last night stands, his arms folded over his barrel chest, a stern but neutral expression chiseled into his face. "Ahh, come in, come in," says Warren, gesturing at the heavy wooden chairs. "Please, sit down."

The white Lapi leads the troop in, trying to act confident and assured, although deep down she doesn't have a clue as to what she's going to say. "Thank you, sir," she says as she takes a seat, putting on a pleasant smile.

Warren steeples his fingers together, and leans over his desk as Gibson settles into the chair by Anisa, and Wanda and Royce jockey silently for the one remaining. "Now, first I want to express how glad I am to see you're all safe and sound … and I want to thank you for rescuing my daughter, as she and Spencer spoke of last night."

Anisa widens her smile. "It was no problem at all, sir! She's just like a sister to me!" The female Lapi keeps the pleasant look on her face. "And how is she doing?"

"Oh, she's a little shaken, but she'll be all right," replies the Magistrate, nodding. "But I do want to discuss what happened that night. We've had rows before, but nothing this … strange."

The white rabbit shrugs. "I came in and found those ruffians robbing the inn, so I acted." She crosses her ankles, and smiles. "Took care of em too!"

Warren nods, but turns his head to once side so he's only looking sidelong at Anisa, and his ears fold back a little. "Yes, but that's what worries me. I'm sure you were around for when one of them … uh … well, for lack of a better term … melted."

One of the white Lapi's ears twitches, and she's silent for a bit, frozen with only her smile. "Oh … uh … that… " She shrugs, "I don't know what all that was about. Seems kinda dumb to rob a place and melt yourself because you goofed up."

Gibson fidgets uneasily, and Warren nods. "Yes, it would be. There was a second ruffian who didn't escape, in either sense. He lies in the charnel house. Were either of these men familiar to you at all? Do you know how they might have arrived here, or what they might be after?"

Anisa shakes her head. "I've never seen them before in my life, which isn't hard for me around here." She smoothes her ears back. "I guess they were after the shekels in the inn. I mean, that's all that was there."

The Magistrate scratches his head, and shrugs his shoulders, settling back into his chair. "Well! A most curious mystery. I'm sorry that had to happen to you four in our fair town. I'll make sure some militiamen keep watch on the inn, in case any of those strange fellows stray back. Kurt is examining the one remaining at the charnel house. If we learn anything, we'll let you know."

"Great!" The white Lapi smiles, hopping up from the chair. "Thanks for looking out for us, sir. We won't let you or Piksil down! C'mon guys, we got an inn to run." She winks at Gibson, making her way to the door.

---

Back at the inn, things are mostly tidied up, with a little extra dusting and such taken care of by Spencer and Janice, who're waiting there. The nutshells hanging over the door clatter as the temporary innkeepers arrive. Gibson shakes his head, his ears flopping around. "Well, that takes care of that for a little while … but we can't keep this up forever! Those thugs could be back any day, maybe more in number, and I don't want to risk anyone in the town getting hurt or worse."

Anisa nods. "Which is exactly why we have to go to Levitha's Pearl," she states matter-of-factly, walking over to the bar-top and dusting it off, a solemn look on her face.

Spencer tilts his head. "The Pearl? Why would you wanna go there? It's full of crazy stuff, it is. We had one man, a Skreek named Zieekal, go out there, and when he got back … Dagh, he wouldn't shut up for two weeks! We couldn't make much sense, he talked so fast, but I caught a look at the chitin armor he'd been wearing that he brought back, and something'd blown it inside out."

From behind the steel tome, Royce mutters, "No … no, I think Anisa's on to something." He lowers the book, revealing it opened to the map.

The white Lapi blinks, her eyes wide as she looks up. "You mean… I was right?" She walks over to Royce, and looks at the map. "What did you find?"

The patchy, younger rabbit points at the symbol-covered island off to the side of the map. "Anisa noticed earlier that a lot of significance is placed here, and wondered if it might be a city. It seems to make sense that, even if it's not, there's something there. Some of these symbols appear later in the book, where it gets impossible to translate."

Anisa nods, "That's kinda what I was getting at. They're after the book, and the book seems centered around that Pearl thing." She idly scratches one of her little brother's ears as she looks the map over. "Maybe that's why those guys want this thing so badly."

"Good point," murmurs Gibson, tugging his whiskers thoughtfully. "I was at a loss, myself. We've got enough money for an expedition now, and the inn should be safe with the militia on guard… "

"First things first though," the white Lapi says as she grabs her oversized coat from the coat rack. "We need to go see what Kurt found out about that… ," she shudders, "body. It might let us know what we're up against."

Janice makes an "Ick!" face, scrunching up her nose, but Gibson nods, snapping his fingers. "You're right, I forgot. Well, we can pay him a visit, though I can't say it'll be pleasant."

Anisa nods in agreement with Janice, smoothing her fur back down. "Its gotta be done though. These guys seem serious, especially if they're willing to kill themselves over the book." She starts for the door, opening it to the cold air outside. "Coming?"

Royce sinks deeper into his chair. "Ugh. I'll … uh … just wait for whatever results you bring back, sis, if it's all the same to you."

Gibson casts a glance skywards before heading out the door, Wanda not far behind.

The white Lapi smirks, "Who's the dainty one now? C'mon guys, let's go." She leads the way out the door, then stops. "Um, you'd better lead the way, Gib."

---

Half Valley: Graveyard and Mortuary
A whitewashed wooden fence surrounds a modest plot of land dedicated to the eternal rest of Half Valley's equally modest folk. The grass here grows thick, but not shaggy, and bunches of forget-me-nots grow along the boards. Though the gravestones look weathered, it looks like they're cared for … old, but not dilapidated. The mortuary looks almost as old, bleak and functional, a drab and somber little building of gray stone huddled at the far side of the graveyard. The inside is appointed functionally, and a groundskeeper putters around in an attached tool shed.

A tall white crane dressed in black, the undertaker, leads the now-trio into the preparation chamber, where Kurt is already standing over a stone slab of a table, his brown paws stained red. "… Damnedest thing I ever heard," says the undertaker. "Hoy, Kurt. Your friends are here to see what you found."

Anisa peers inside the morgue, her eyes wide and ears back nervously. She follows the crane, and takes a deep breath as she enters. "H-hi, Kurt."

Kurtis turns around, wiping at his hands solemnly with a rag. A smock protecting his front seems to have seen good use, judging by the crimson smears all down his front. Behind him lies the body of the dead assailant, stiffened, his face still frozen in a mask of pain. His tunic is gone, and an ugly gash stretches from his neck down across his chest.

"Hello," he says.

The white rabbit's eyes go even wider, if possible, and she puts a paw to cover her muzzle, backing away from the twin, and behind Gibson. "S-so… wh-what did you find out?" She swallows.

The brown Lapi reaches behind himself, and holds out a small glass tube full of black liquid and streaked with gore. What looks like a long piece of vein hangs from the end, dangling a little over a foot. "Careful. It's delicate."

Anisa winces, scrunching her nose up and trying not to be sick at the sight. "Wha… what is it? The thing they used to k-kill themselves with?"

Gibson and Wanda crowd around to get a look as well, as Kurt turns the tube over in his hand. On the end of the tube is a small "cap" of gray stone, with white flames etched on it. "I think so," mumbles Kurt. "It looked like this thing was melded into the flesh. The vein was attached to the heart. You take the cap off, and twist the end of the tube, and it breaks. The gunk goes to the heart and spreads, then I think it reacts with the blood and turns into an acid. No way this could have been put in surgically."

Unlike the other two, Anisa makes no effort to get any closer to the tube. "Then how did they get it in there? Were they born with them or something?" She begins to chew nervously on the tip of one of her ears, a bad habit.

"Nah." Kurt lays the small tube back on the table, then splashes his paws around in a basin of clean water. "Too big. Coulda been grafted in with life magic, made the flesh accept it, but that's too tough a ritual for me to even think about. Expensive, too."

Gibson furrows his brow, then smoothes his ears back with a hand. "Whew … I heard there was an order of assassins that did something like this. They didn't want anyone seeing their faces, so if they were killed, something like this went off and dissolved the body."

The white Lapi keeps Gibson between the body and herself. "Then that either means that they have a lot of money, or have a lot of magic at their disposal." She grimaces, "Either way not good for us. Assassins?"

Gibson doesn't look comforted by that train of thought, but nods agreement. "This just gets better and better. But at least now we know how to recognize these fellows, if it comes down to that."

"If these guys are assassins, why do they want this magic stuff?" Anisa asks. "Did someone hire them?"

The black rabbit shrugs, giving the corpse an uneasy glance out of the corner of one eye. "Any number of reasons … power, wealth, fame, or something harder to quantify. No idea if they were hired, but then … they looked more interested in getting our stuff than killing us."

Following Gibson's gaze, Anisa's eyes once again land on the body, and she swallows nervously. "W-well, i-is that all? Can we go now?" She starts to back up to the door. "We probably n-need to pack."

Everyone is all too happy to go along with that idea.