“…”
Either she didn’t hear you or she’s not going to ask.
Probably the former.
It takes you a couple hours of asking around to learn anything useful — there aren’t that many people out and about to ask, though as the rain stops there do start to be more of them — but when you finally get a lead, it’s a really good one. One of the people you ask turns out to be the sister of one of the watchmen who was involved with the incident, out doing some food shopping before supper.
“Nasty business, if you ask me,” she says. “The watch got a tip about some strange noises coming from the old pewter shop, the one that shut down after the bout of plague we had last year. They go in to investigate and what do they find but a pile of ashes and a fanged mouth with lava painted on the wall! Now, I’m no expert, but I hear that’s the symbol of a demon lord. Flauros, the name was.”
She sounds positively scandalized at the notion.
“The Watch is still looking for the people responsible, and gods willing it’ll turn out it was all some kind of stupid prank. …That bit about blood is all nonsense, though. It was just red paint, that’s all.”
“I don’t believe I’ll need assistance at the moment.”
Lionel immediately goes for the medicine section. Mostly out of familiarity.
6 perception beats 6 disguise, but if you’re Disguising yourself in such a way as to change minor details only, you get a +5 to the check
(i’m looking at the clothing and didn’t know what to roll for ‘determing which clothing is Decent’; that was what the disguise check was for)
There are definitely several books discussing alchemical remedies, but there are others discussing medicine that’s entirely nonmagical, not even in the sense that alchemy is. There are several books on identifying and diagnosing diseases, a book on surgical techniques, a book on the proper layout for hospitals, various books on non-magical treatments for illnesses…
One shelf on the Medicine bookshelf is largely devoted to texts in other-languages. Not strictly foreign per se, depending on how you count Draconic (not exactly regional), but there are some in Kelish and even a couple in Tien.
well in that case I don’t think you know 
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I think I would allow that to be Disguise at a penalty, but 6 fails regardless
Canary arbitrarily points out A Fabric.
It’s not really the best ever, but it’s… adequate if you want her to seem slightly lower class than you.
It’s… sorta green.
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Wanderer is intrigued. It is his duty to defeat demons where they show up, but he is out of resources.
“I believe I can help with finding the people responsible. Rather, I think I have the skills necessary. Is the old pewter a place that civilians are allowed to check out now that it’s been investigated? Or should I try to collaborate with The Watch more directly?”
“I think they cordoned it off, to make sure no one messes with the crime scene.” She peers closely at you. “You aren’t one of those cultists, are you?”
Paprika tilts her head a little. “Are you sure? We could do better for basically the same price.”
If she genuinely thinks that’s the best option here, I’m disappointed. If she’s picking worse on purpose, I’m disappointed.
She picks up a similar, but nicer, green-ish fabric, alongside some lace for accents, and rushes up to the girl working at the store. She calls back toward Canary: “We have more errands to get to. Let’s hurry.”
“Just this fabric.”
Does there seem to be any obvious points in the shelves where something is missing (aka if they got bought)
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His eye twitches, clearly out of annoyance that someone would dare imply that a puluran would support demons.
“Absolutely not! I have sworn to hunt them down as they reveal themselves!”
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(Nice outfits > status games)
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“…”
Canary cautiously follows.
(…group-external status games > group-internal status games)
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“Of course.”
She doesn’t make any mistakes as she cuts off the requested amount of fabric from a larger bolt of fabric, but it does seem like she’s cutting unusually slowly compared to the people previously working there.
“Have a good day.”
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Paprika strides outside with her new purchase, smiling to herself.
Once she passes the threshold of the door, she sighs a little and holds open her cross-body bag. A black cat excitedly jumps out and begins walking beside her.
She pretends nothing has happened and heads off to the bookstore.
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There aren’t places where things are obviously missing, but that’s not entirely surprising — given the interaction with Arius, it seems like the store’s modus operandi mostly involves making copies of books as needed in order to sell, rather than selling off copies. However, you do spot a gap in the books by an illustrated (i.e. not easily copyable) book of plants on the second to bottom shelf.
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