Shrugging, Tainya waves off Miri and gives the door a gentle knock and a "'allo, monsieur?"

There's no response from inside. Not even the sounds of movement. You'd think he'd be awake to meet a guest he summoned himself. Miri goes to leave and return to the kitchen. Possibly to scream at Cooke for being an ass.

Tainya thinks this set of circumstances is far too suspicious, but isn't really sure how to approach the situation. She'll knock again, louder this time. If there's still no response, she'll make sure there's no one looking, then pull out her thieves' tools and attempt to pick the lock.

Thievery: http://orokos.com/roll/108879 (32)

A second knock yields as much as the first one did. Which is to say, nothing. Fortunately, the lock is no match for Tainya's skills at picking, and quickly yields. This also brings no reaction from inside the room.

Before opening the door, Tainya gives it a good once-over.

Perception: (to search the door for suspicious stuff like traps) http://orokos.com/roll/108883 (21)

Tainya can't find anything suspicious about the door, and turning the handle doesn't cause it to explode or anything.

Tainya will then open the door as slowly and quietly as she can and peer into the room.

Stealth for quietly opening the door (22), perception for looking into the room (33). http://orokos.com/roll/108890

Tainya slowly, carefully opens the door. Just a crack at first, and then all the way. And she finds herself still in one piece.

Which is more than can be said for poor, poor Cidri.

The most obvious detail about the room is the body slumped on the floor. It's been carved up and mutilated, with bits of gore scattered around the room. The blood pooling on the carpet is stained bright red, and contains chunks of flesh. There's pieces of him splattered on the drapes around the washing basin. How such a small body could have so much blood is quite the mystery. And where his head should be is a little bloody stump of neck, with one or two white protrusions sticking out. Likely his ribs, several of which you notice have been removed from the chest cavity.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Cidri d'Sivis is dead.

"Alarming," Tainya whispers, striding into the room on light feet. "'owever, it does mean zose present in ze dining cart 'ere likely not responsible for zhis--at least not directly." She'll investigate the room as thoroughly as possible, and look for any clues as to how he was killed or what killed him.

Take 10 to search the room.

Tainya examines the scene to the best of her ability, and makes several interesting discoveries.

First is the box on the desk. It appears to be made of a non-metallic element, though you can't discern what it is. A variety of small tools are still inside the case, which houses several small wires connected to a unit. The unit holds what looks to be a Cannith crystal, albeit a fairly small one. There's the broken remains of several capacitors and a black wire mesh that's been torn off of something. It's hard to place what this was or why it was broken.

Second is behind the curtains. There's a surprising amount of blood pooled on the water, and it has a mostly red tint. The odds of this much blood being displaced behind the curtains just through violence is unlikely. A better explanation is somebody tried to wash it off.

Third, there are absolutely no signs of forced entry. The windows can't be opened from the outside and the door doesn't lock itself automatically when closed.

From the corridor comes the sound of metal doors leading outside being thrown open, coming from west of Tainya's current position.

I really should have seen that coming. With these thoughts in mind, and taking what she knows into account, she fades into the darkness and reappears on the outside of the train, on the top of the moving car. There she will cling and climb along until she reaches the eastern side of the car, and provided the coast appears to be clear, drop down.

Use walk through shadow to teleport through the top of the train to the outside. Use ghost on the rooftops to safely climb along the top, then drop down on the eastern side of the car.

Before being caught in a compromising position, Tainya vanishes from inside the car and reappears outside. It's not very long until a shrill scream manages to pierce the thick walls and overcome the sounds of thunder and rain. It's followed by doors opening and shutting, then another cry that sounds like Lady Parthia. The door to the car is thrown open and Miri emerges in a hurry, running to the next car without even bothering to close the door behind her.

Once Miri is clear, Tainya will drop down back onto the outside of the train car and enter to see if Parthia is, in fact, standing outside the bloody room.

Whatever Tainya was expecting to find, it probably wasn't her patron passed out on the floor. Raki has one foot inside the crime scene already, but has the decency, or perhaps the gall, to prop Parthia up against the far wall. She seems to have noticed she's not alone, and relays, "Could I get a hand here?"

Tainya walks over and calmly supports her charge with one arm. She refrains from commenting on the incident, but does stare hard at the grisly spectacle, to indicate that it's caught her eye.

Between the two of them, it's pretty easy to lead the unconscious woman to her room. Raki explains that Parthia fainted dead as soon as she saw the carnage. Whether or not that's true, she looks pale. The door's still flung wide open. Documents are scattered on the floor from her hasty exit. Before leaving them to return to the crime scene, the detective inquires, "Did you know anything about this?"

"All ah know iz zhis: ze maid, Miri, informed me zat Cidri wished to speak with me. I never got zat chance..." the "eladrin" replies steadily.

Raki smiles cautiously, "I meant about your friend here, but thank you for that information." Certain that Tainya can carry Parthia, she leaves the lady in her care. She has a crime scene to investigate!

Speaking of Parthia, it finally dawns on Tainya that she should look her over and make sure she's okay.

Look over Parthia and see if there's any indication that anything happened to her besides fainting.

While Tainya's not a medical expert, it doesn't look like there's any foul play involved. Parthia's face is twisted in a look of great distress, however.

Tainya may not be a medical expert, but she knows what it looks like when a body has been attacked--even if it was attacked in a strange manner.

Heal check, 26 http://orokos.com/roll/109331

There's no wounds, nor any sites where an injection can be found. She doesn't look to have been poisoned, strangled, or hit with a blunt object. Parthia has all her bones where they're supposed to be, she's breathing normally, and her skin isn't clammy. She also has a pulse and a heartbeat, which is good. No traces of being slipped something like a goodnight tincture can be found either.

So she really just fainted, or she's been treated with a poison Tainya has never seen before.

With that much in mind, Tainya will heft Parthia onto the bed and lie her down. She will then walk out and stand in the partition heading towards Parthia's room, keeping a close look-out back towards the room and down the hallway. It sounded like the maid was already raising the alarm, so the assassin chooses to calmly await the arrival of the others.