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There is a final thing of note on these boots. They have a very large, unique maker’s mark, which depicts a masked badger, of all things. When you make your way over to the foot of the bed with the aid of Strange-Staining and knock them over with the tankard as well, you are not surprised to see the exact same sort of punctures in the clear spots … though admittedly these punctures are not all dead center in these areas, and when you temporarily suppress Strange-Staining to get a better look at the boot itself, you find one in an area that has been completely covered with the Strangeness. Perhaps these boots were partially cleansed, and then were exposed to more Strangeness? It would make sense – as this was the pair that was closer to the bed, which is absolutely smothered in it.
Keeping Strange-Staining suppressed, you get a good look inside of the boot, and you take note of some dried blood inside. Not much, no where near enough to explain all of the rags in the fireplace, but its presence suggests that whoever was wearing this boot took an injury on the leg that this boot belongs to, the … the right leg. Beyond that, the only other thing that jumps out at you is this pair of boots carries the same maker’s mark. Perhaps it is a long shot … but as you are going to have to go back to the Cobbler at some point, it might be worth it to mention it to him, see if he knows anything about it. Obviously, bringing up a competitor unprompted is going to make for an awkward conversation any way you slice it, but … if you assume that these men are not from around here, which squares well with them checking into a public house, instead of heading to a prepared hideout, then getting the city or the town where they both bought their boots could potentially be the best lead that you get out of any of this.
Before you quit the room, you decide to check the shutters and the window. With Strange-Staining reactivated, you can see that there are some prints on the sill and patches on the shutters themselves, as well as one on the wall by the window. That one on the wall appears to be a print of a left hand, with the pointer finger absent. Judging from how lightly the hand must have touched the wall to make the print, it is possible that the pointer finger just never touched the wall. Or it is possible that the pointer finger was cleansed. Or in some sort of splint. Or had been cut off. If you had to guess, you would say that the man who was in the bed made that one.
Of course, you are assuming that these were men, based off of the size and style of the shoe. That is not definitive, by any reason. Stars above, you are wearing Oilers right now. You peek through the shutters and see that the window of this room overlooks an overhanging piece of roof as well as the expected alley. The spit of roofing slopes fairly gently, gently enough that someone could walk along it, hugging the building.
