It took a little time, likely more than the wizard spent analyzing with magic, though Velma wished she could say she was happier with the results.  For every question answered, it seemed she received two more.<br/><br/>"He died between four and eight hours ago, so midnight to four, based on decay," she said, tapping her nose. "No poison or disease; exceptional health, means of death is exsanguination - bleeding out.  You're not going to like this Captain, but this Paladin was eaten to death.<br/><br/>"Bites are consistent with a swarm - yes a full-sized swarm - of warf or sewer rats, sewer being the most likely based on location and the presence of sewage-grime.  He died fighting off the swarm, unsuccessfully obviously..." she continued, adjusting her glasses as she formulated her findings and ideas into coherent words. "No presence of magic, so the rats actually came from a sewer, likely squeezed under the door to get to him..."<br/><br/>She stopped, standing, the wheels in her head turning, twisting...<br/><br/>"Did anyone touch that window?  There's a handprint there and no dust, did<em>anyone</em>touch it?" she called out, to the captain and the rest in the room. "I need to know if it was one of you, or if it was likely this man here who did it.  If it was him...<br/><br/>"Captain," she abruptly seemed to change topics then. "The Paladin died in a locked room, eaten to death by a swarm of rats, and by the looks of it neither him nor the rats left the path from the door to the body.  The rats were not magical, but were behaving in a blatantly unnatural way.  First, rat swarms do not congregate in that size nor do they attack like that unless they are starving.  Second, rats would not make such an attack and simply<em>cease</em>eating, meaning this is an attack, not hunting, suggesting humanoid levels of intelligence and aggression.  Conclusion: either he was already in this room waiting on something and was attacked, caught off guard... or he came in here, locked the door, and was attempting to stay alive, were he fleeing..."