Sasha stands by Yola and takes the medallion off. Tossing it to Malvick she watches as he snatches in mid air.
"I want that back when you're done with it." Sasha says matter of factly.
"I want to see the bodies" she says to the Sheriff. "I want to know what my 'suitor' has been doing."
With that the three adventurers turned investigators head to the garrison's cellar in the sub-basement. The bodies of Mortwell, Task and Habe have been wrapped in oil cloth and placed on a mound of saw dust in the centre of the cool room. After some akward hesitation, Malvick unwraps first body for the two women to inspect.
The corpse is no longer quite the shock as when Malvick first beheld it - two days of decay and the cold enviroment having taken their toll. The body has been cut all over. In addition to the seven pointed star cut into the chest, the arms, legs and face have been superficially sliced in many places by a thin fine blade. The corpse also bears many bruises and defensive cuts that suggest he put up at least something of a fight. None of the wounds on their own seem serious enough on their own to have caused death. It seems as though the murderer carved up his victim then let shock, blood loss and exposure finish the job. The two other corpses tell similar tales.
Ariva wines nervously at the doorway, uneasy with the odour of decay, and despite Malvick's urgings, will not venture close enough to the corpses to pick up any useful scents.
Having learned all they can from the three bodies, Sasha, Yola and Malvick head back up one level to the jail, where Hemlock has the three "prisoners" - Ibor Thorn, the man who discovered the latest victims this morning; Ven Vinder, owner of the General Store and father of one of the victims; and Grayst Sevila, the sick man that Malvick brought in the night before.
Malvick stretches his neck from side to side and says to his two companions, "Well I couldn't make sense out of anything Sevilla was saying, but you two are welcome to try. And I admit seeing the man so unhinged sets me ill at ease. I think I will head over to the lumber mill and see what I can find at this latest murder site. Malvick and his big grey hound lope up the stairs leaving Yola and Sasha with the jail's three guests and the stoic Shoanti jailer Vachedi.
OOC: Sasha and Yola - in the comments, please indicate who each of you would like to approach. All three are sullen and uncommunicative - its up to you to start the dialog.
When Malvick arrives at the lumber mill it is still early, but he has to push through a small crowd of locals to get to the front. As Hemlock stated, the guards posted there are expecting him, indeed even seem relieved to see him, and quickly usher him inside. Into another charnel house...
The main floor of the mill is covered with sawdust strewn with footprints and splashes of blood - it is obvious that a desperate struggle took place here only hours before. There is a lingering scent of decay in the air. The body of Banny Harker has been affixed to a wall by hooks normally used to hang machinery from. His body has been horribly mutilated, with his face cut away and his lower jaw missing completely. The seven pointed star carved into his chest is livid and raw. The mangled, ruined remains of Katrine Vinder lie on the mill's lower floor among heaps of blood stained firewood, below the mill's huge log splitter.
OOC: Malvick is free to explore the scene for additional clues...
Chapter 2 of Paizo's Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, using the Pathfinder RPG system.
Chp 1:Burnt Offerings
Chp 1:Burnt Offerings
Party Status
Yola: 60
Sasha: 42
Malvick: 49
Xer: 40
Li Kao: 30
Ariva: 27
Sasha: 42
Malvick: 49
Xer: 40
Li Kao: 30
Ariva: 27
Malvick's Journal
Blog Archive
12 comments:
Yola: squats down to try to look Ibor in the face, his head in his hands. " Ibor, what happened at the mill" - Yola's pointed question jerks Ibor out of his daze and starts to shake violently.
OOC: It seems that blogger ate my last post. So I'll try and recap the genius.
IC:
Sasha, crouches beside Yola and smiles. "We're going to figure this out and find who is responsible."
Sasha fingers the hilt of her new whip as she speaks.
"We know you've been through a lot but if there's anything at all you remember, anything different in the last day or so ...."
Sasha, feels part of her heart-break as she speaks. Poker, black maiden, and blind-eyed dragon were so much easier to bluff in. She was putting on a brave front. Something tugged at her.
She could see the note written in flowing lines and strange angles in her minds eyes.
"... it would be very helpful." She finished with her tone perfect and the most sympathetic smile she could muster.
By the gawds were was Xer. She was the smart one. Even stranger ... Sasha wanted her medallion back from Malverick even more. Like her whip it comforted her.
---meanwhile, at the mill---
"Two people at once... and no one got out before it all ended? Who could pull something like this off?" wondered Malvick aloud.
Scanning both scenes of carnage he noticed one of the town guards, a younger fellow, peaking into the space. "Hey there, you think you could help me get Mr. Harker down from this hook?" The guard didn't say a word as he sheepishly came over with much regret for reporting to work that morning.
Five minutes later, as the guard emptied his stomach in one of the barn's corners, Malvick was no further ahead. The body was solidly attached the hook and the flesh, soaked with blood, did not aid any attempt to get the dead weight down.
"How did one man do this?"
Malvick brooded over the questions in his mind. How big was this suspect? How strong? And most importantly, why? How did all these locations end up being connected, or was this a random act?
Heading below to Ms. Vinder he took in everything, from blood spray patterns, foot prints, and a theory of how it all happened... It wasn't the first time Malvick had seen such a horrific event in his life.
---
@ Malvick: The sawdust stewn floor has capture a tale told in foot prints. Three sets of prints are visible. One in particular is not only barefoot, but reeks of rotten meat. Malvick follows it back to a high open window overlooking the river. Running around to the outside of the building he picks up the tracks again and follows them back to the timber pier on the river bank itself. It appears that a barefooted man clambered up from the mud under the pier, crossed over to the mill, and scaled the wall to the upper floor window.
Katrine's foot prints are thoroughly mixed in with the barefooted ones and drift closer and closer to the log splitter, where hers end abruptly among a spray of blood. Nearby a handaxe is embedded in the floor. The handle is covered in bloody finger marks. The head has what looks like rotten flesh and fragments of bone caked on it. The rotten meat stench is strong on it - so strong in fact that Malvick spends the next couple of minutes fighting down a wave of nausea.
@Yola and Sasha: Ibor Thorn, a young handsome man (if a bit narrow faced, was Harker's partner at the lumber mill. The two ran the mill on behalf of the owners, the Scarnetti family. He still seems to be in shock at having found his friend's body. When Yola and Sasha first approach him, he simply states that he already told the Sheriff everything, and stares sullenly at the floor. after some persuasion, he sighs heavily and looks up. He tells the two women that Harker had been having a semi secret tryst with Katrine, and they often used the noisy mill as a late neight rendevous. Ibor tells them that Katrine's father Ven is known to be very possesive of his children, but he can't believe he is capable of what he saw in the mill.
Sasha can tell the youn man is holding more back, and after some more coaxing, Ibor conides that Harker had been skimming money off the mill's profits for some time. Ibor asserts that he never took part in the scam. The Scarnettis are ruthless - there are rumours of them burning down cometing mills in the area - and Ibor wouldn't put it past his employers to hire someone to kill Harker if they found out he'd been embezzling money.
It is clear to Sasha that the young
Malvick takes a piece of cloth from his pack to carefully wrap the handaxe. "Maybe this is somewhere for the sheriff to start."
He signals to Ariva to take a scent from the axe and the foot prints on the floor of the mill. They both walk to the river bank where the trail ends. Malvick surveys the horizon, looking for anything that would make sense to him. Was there a boat or did this suspect swim here? Maybe that will help us set a radius for this attacker.
ooc: During this whole time Malvick will be using survival, spot, knowledge geography.
Scanning the tree line Malvick turns to Ariva as the dog keeps heading back and forth along the river bank. "What's the next puzzle piece?" Malvick wondered as he absent-mindedly fumbled with the pockets of his leather armor. His hand brushed over the medallion Sasha had lent him. Pulling it out he held the star to the sky, the moon and a few stars still spotting the edge of the world as the sun moved in to consume the day.
"Seven points - do you concern the sky or the land?"
Malvick made sure the medallion was securely put away in his pocket before turning back to the mill and whistling to Ariva.
@ Malvick: Ariva steadfastly refuses to go near the axe and whimpers pitifully when forced to scent the footprints.
Malvick pulls some dried duck from his bag he had hunted a few days back. "Sorry girl, that's enough for today." He makes sure Ariva takes it calmly from his hand. "Hopefully I haven't gotten us into something we can't handle."
Yola:
As Ibor tells his story, Sasha begins to grow agitated, and when Ibor finishes the story, Yola thanks the young man, and steps out of the jail, turning to Sasha she says - " I think we better talk to Katrine's father Ven to see what's going on with the owners of the mill, I don't think a father who is possessive about his daughter would kill people like that.
I'm thinking that Malvick should be done by now and let's see what he's found and talk to him about the daughter and Ven.
Yola - looking sideways at Sasha - you know, stop worrying about your friend Xer, she'll get here when she does, and then we shall see about getting more info.
Mich
"You'd be surprised what 'fathers' can do, Yola."
Sasha tugged on her whip matching Yola's stride and began rewinding it ensuring the leather wasn't curling to tightly.
"Not everyone has the benefit of a good upbringing, sane families or even a community that gives a snot's crap."
As the road continued a pair of children ran by squealing with delight kick a dirty ball painted with an orange star.
"Let me ask you something: did you learn to fight they way you have because you were trained by your father or because you were protecting yourself from him?"
The ball hit Sasha in the shin and she looked down at the children who stopped in their tracks with wide eyes. Displaying a little foot work Sasha kicked it to them and smirked as they cheered and went chasing after it.
"I know what 'fathers' are capable of both good and bad. I had two myself. Let me tell you ... 'killing', 'hurting' and ... well ... don't think they aren't capable just because they had a lucky roll in the brig."
The sound of the ball hitting Yola's shin reverberated through the air. The young children looked up her as they had just moment ago done with Sasha waiting to see the other heroes reaction.
"To be honest, I'm not worried about Xer. Yola, I'm worried about me. I miss Xer so badly that I miss her sideways. I'm losing myself. Everything with the snots, Poot gone and now this. I ... I just came here to play cards at a festival. I don't even recognize myself in the mirror any more."
Yola: Looks down at the children, grins and kicks the ball back to them, the kids run squealing away.
Sasha and Yola continue to walk,
Yola sighs and says to Sasha, I was trained to fight by the clan, and there were many test of strength, courage, and honour. The children in our clan are raised by all the adults, all adults take a turn in helping with the children, and also with punishment as well, and if you don't know how to fight well then you don't survive.
Yola runs a hand through her hair, looks sideways at Sasha, you know it's not easy for me either, both my uncles are here and Hemlock is keeping an eye on me as well for my family back home, and it;s very true that I can handle myself and don't need anyone to watch out for me, but I'm always proving to my uncles how good I am. The Shoanti take great pride in there children's skills, sometimes too much pride I think.
Whether Ven did something or not we still need to talk to him.
Just a word to you, you're not your father's daughter, you are yourself, and you've proven to all of us what type of fighter that you are.
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