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Returning your attention to the rags, you go back to your assumption that whoever tore then up and then attempted to burn them has left, without intending to return. That makes sense – but it hinges on all of this mess being made recently, as in either earlier today, or maybe yesterday. Public houses, at least the ones that you have experience with, check the rooms of guests before they leave, to make sure that … well, things like this don’t happen. For this room to have been left in this state, then that means one way or another, the men who rented this room and tore those sheets have not checked out. They could still be here, sitting in the common room – or they could have left without checking out, possibly through the window. Suddenly, it clicks! The men have almost certainly left for good, because they have left nothing behind in this room, save for their boots and the rags, one which they want to get away from, and the other they want to destroy. You breathe a little easier at the realization, but you keep your wand at the ready all the same.
Still, you cannot help but be pleased with yourself as you turn your attention back to the burn pile. Your first thought is to use your key to probe and pick through it, but as soon as you get the key out of your apron, you realize that this is actually a terrible idea. The key was given to you specifically. If the worst was to come to pass, and Strangeness was found on something that you were specifically known to have been touching … no, things are already bad enough for you. Likewise, the tankard is disqualified for the same reason, and you don’t want to get the Strangeness on your knives if you can help it.
It is only at this point that it occurs to you that if the men have well and truly left the room, then they might have left <span class="mu-i">their</span> key behind. You stop suppressing Strange-Staining, get to your feet, and head over to the nightstand. Sitting half-hidden in a shadow cast by the much taller bed, you find the key – surprisingly free and clear of the Strangeness. The bed, on the other hand, is a complete mess. On an impulse, you deactivate Strange-Staining once more. And as soon as the magical stains disappear, you can see the mundane ones.
Bloodstains. More than you would get from just some small accident. They are noticeably darkened, and browning, to the point that you would say they are three or four days old. Whoever rented this room must have got it for the week. Your sense of urgency restored, you get back to the hearth, and start poking around. Sure enough, once you get through the first layers of rags, you start to see rags that have been used as bandages. Some with blood on them. Your mind is absolutely racing, coming up with all sorts of explanations as to why someone would need to make bandages like this … but what you don’t get, is why someone would go to the trouble of tearing up the entire sheet – most of them in sizes too big to be used as bandages.
