ARC

Lissandra decides to take the reliable gun, she knows that she doesn't know enough about such things to risk messing round with something more complex in times of pressure.

As for the task at hand though...

"Do you have a sense of what kinds of demon are inside you? This most recent one in particular?"

Riley removes the buckler, hatchet, haversack/bandolier and bow and arrows from his person, placing them underneath the bed, and moving the upper sheet of the bed to cover their presence - sure, the room was lockable, but if those didn't stop him...

now that he didn't look like a walking arsenal, he'd probably get better results out of wandering through town. but first...

Riley wondered... how many people were around in their rooms... at this time of day? how many locked their doors? how many left valuables behind? He wanted to figure out about how many rooms there were, how many were occupied, and what the traffic was in this floor. (and other floors further up - avoid the lower floors for obvious reasons.

to start, he'd sit at his desk with the door open, pretending to read from his journal (which was empty) for a half hour - probably enough to see if the owners of the inn patrolled the walkways on the regular. then, leave and lock his room (leaving no sign of his visiting the room) and walk slowly through the hall - listen for signs of people inhabiting rooms, check for squeaky floorboards, etc., all while listening for the possibility of others in the hallway. Then, listen in more closely on a door - if he was 100% sure it was uninhabited, try to open it - see how easily the lock could be jiggled loose with either his key, or one of his darts. Always keep up the appearance of a confused old man, not sure which room was his.

"Excuse me, while lady so staring at Pavel?"

Riley
The hall is quiet this time of day. Not a single person passes by during the half hour of pretend journal reading. Continuing on with his plan, Riley locks his door and steps out to investigate the other rooms. There are seven of them, plus his own to make eight: four on each side of the narrow hallway. The three rooms on the same side as his are quiet, but he finds them all to be locked tight - this inn has unusually good locks, apparently. On the other side, however, there's much better luck. The first and fourth doors he can hear some scratching behind, as if someone were inside writing a letter, but the second and third doors seem to have no noise coming from behind them, and better yet, a test of the doorknob on each shows that neither one is locked.

Lissandra/Pavel
"Forgive me, sir, but do you happen to be carrying any holy artifacts? The demons are making quite a racket about you. And the most recent one... that's the one that made my eyes go all red. Likes to scream a lot, too. Calls himself Korag. These guys are why I took up smithing, you see - it's so noisy back by the forge and anvil that I can scarcely hear them."

riley enters the second room, key in hand

"Are you talking about my... holy water?!"

Pavel flashes the water.

"Can I use it to cast the demons out?! Always willing to help!"

Riley
The second room has nothing of interest at a glance, but after checking some of the usual hiding spots for valuables, Riley discovers that the occupant hid a small box underneath the bed. It's locked with a bizarre, complex locking mechanism, but the construction seems cheap enough that it may be possible to break it open.

Lissandra/Pavel
"Do you think it might work? Just being near it does make them scream at me quite a lot - I try to avoid it for that very reason. But if you think it would cure me, I'm willing to try it."

Riley nabs the box, puts it into an inner pocket in his jacket, and leaves.

As Riley exits the room, he sees the girl from the front desk in the hall - luckily, she's facing the other way, but she certainly heard the door opening and closing. She's also standing, rather inconveniently, between Riley and his room.

Lissandra has a quick check to see if she has made any notes on Korag, but otherwise has a different pitch:

"I can't say for sure what the effects of the holy water might be - can I suggest that if you decide you want to go through with that, we take a measured scientific approach. Perhaps we first try exposing it to a part of you that won't hurt like your hair, then if that seems safe, move onto an... uninfected part of you, and finally the more directly demon-infused parts if you are happy to do so?"