Rosa just starts looking about for evidence, only sparing the man another snort of disgust.
Upstairs you find little more of importance. Seren picks out some papers, but finds they are merely bookkeeping documents from the original owners before the riots and evacuation.
Downstairs in the workspace, you collect what you can from the bodies of the slain Cow Hammer Boys. The meat locker is cool, and holds a few curing cuts of pork and beef. The killing floor is gruesome, the air thick with the reek of slaughter and its floor strewn with blood-stained straw. The apparatus has seen much recent use. Hidden between the large boiling vats, you discover a small chest, filled with coins and valuables.
"Let's just get what we need and get out." Demitri just sees the cuts of meat as well, meat. He then starts bagging the valuables.
Melianthe turns to Rosa, her eyes violet pools of rage. "Those sun-cursed murderers. This meat is humanoid."
"It is what?" Absinthe says, her voice rising several octaves.
The next moment, the tiefling's eyes burn like coals, and she turns to the captive captain, her tail lashing and a growl rising from her throat.
Rosa immediately pales. "Bloody hell....Goddess...I...." After a brief moment of looking like she might throw up, she compulsively draws her dagger.
"Are you sure? How do you know?"
Fairly nonchalant about the man before, this latest revelation narrows Seren's eyes and he grips the papers tightly, asking quietly of the Vancaskerkin man, "Care to weasel your way out of this one with some fine excuse?"
Melianthe pauses with a slightly embarrassed and morbid smirk, then assumes the role of serious teacher of the healing arts, her entire countenance changing.
"Only humanoids have that muscle, Demitri," she says, pointing to his derriere. "In animals it is known as the gluteus superficialis to reflect their long shanks, connection to a tail and generally quadrupedal stance. That white fiber there on the meat is the iliotibial tract, which is long in humanoids and connects to the...larger gluteal muscles of humans. Or elves. Or orcs. Or whomever this light-blighted scum cut up and FED to people."
She ends with a snarl and stare directed at Verik.
Rosa snarls and twists her dagger around to bring it down on Verik's neck. "You....you...sick, vile, disgusting little worm. Why? What the hell were you trying to do?"
Demitri drops what he's doing and rushes to aid Rosa in her interrogation. "At first I thought you were just a scumbag criminal trying to make some gold and avoid his responsibilities. You're worse than that. You're a monster. Maybe I should let Rosa cut you up and serve you?" He gets the bound man in a chokehold.
"Why bother cutting him up?" Absinthe snarls. "Just toss him in a hog pen. Swine will eat anything."
Vancaskerkin is visibly taken aback by your collective vehemence. "Are you mad? Who would do such a thing?" He remains defiant until he gains sight of the evidence, then he turns pale in an instant. "How did... but who? Parns!? I... I... By the gods, I swear I had no part in this evil!"
"Who is this Parns? And why should we believe you?!" Demitri remains unconvinced.
"Parns. He was the butcher. I didn't see him among the dead... did he escape?" Vancaskerkin shakes his head. "Our idea was to break from the guard to help feed the people, but using livestock, not... I don't even know where they got... people." He looks ill at the thought.
"Yes, unfortunately I believe he did. Do you know where he might go? And if you wanted to help feed the people, why turn away the mother and her children?"
"I don't know," he replies, dejectedly. "The way the city is now, he could go anywhere. Look, I was trying to do something good here... some of the guys were rough, but I didn't keep a tight leash on them. I don't know what they were up to, or how it came to this."
"So what was your role then? Do you know anything about this Parns? And why shirk your responsibilities to the guard to do this?"
Absinthe's eyebrows drawn down in a thoughtful frown.
"This Parns. Describe him; his character, his background, his appearance."
She briefly turns to Rosa and Melianthe.
"One is tickled by a fragment of a memory, but it will not come forth. Is there some occult purpose to feeding people... people?"
Despite not being asked, Demitri ponder's Absinthe's question.
"He was a guardsman, like all of us. When I mentioned my idea, he said he was butcher's son, and had some experience in the slaughterhouse. Seemed lucky to have his skills."
"I told you already, we were trying to help the poor and hungry. When things started shutting down, no one was there for them. Not the guard, not the temples, no one."
When hearing Parns described, Absinthe starts to swear in a dark, rigid language. She slaps the back of her own head with a flat hand while continuing to rant and rave at the heavens, her words incomprehensible but very unpleasant-sounding.
"I let him run!" the tiefling yells when she is finished cursing. "Curses on this unworthy head! I let him run because I did not want to shed more blood than absolutely necessary! Gahh!"
"It's alright. You didn't know that man was a monster. He cooperated so you let him leave with his life." Demitri tries to reassure Absinthe. "If he was a guard, maybe Field Marshal Kroft will know more about him. We can't let Parns roam free. And you, Vanderkaskin, are coming with us."
Rosa snarls and tosses her dagger....into the wall, in absolute frustration. "He won't get away. I'll find him, sooner or later."
Vancaskerkin sighs, but nods. "I still can't understand why. We had plenty of livestock, even if not enough for everyone. And that stash of coins you found... we we're doing this all for free!" He hangs his head in shame. "How could this happen?"
"Chaos," Absinthe says. "Chaos presents opportunities for good and evil both. You wanted to believe the best of your men, and at least one of them capitalized on this. Until chaos is leashed, or transforms into a new form of order, opportunities will continue to be pursued that are unavailable under more settled order. It is part of the cycle."
Melianthe is unmoved. "You are a poor judge of people, Vanderkaskin, and a miserable manager."
"And yes, Absinthe, there is a reason for eating people. It is performed by the vilest of covens, those who take the magic of beyond and choose the darkest inverse of what I follow. It is a complicated ceremony and not to be performed merely by handing out meat. Most importantly, it is pure evil."
"You believe this crap? That a trained guard officer of the highest order wouldn't know this is going on under his nose? B%#%~*&#."
"Entirely too possible. Dreams of glory, helping the populace and rising to popularity as a result," Rosa sighs. "Although the end goal is what separates the monsters from the merely incompetent. Mere fame and enough fortune to live and indulge, or power. Although I suppose it doesn't matter now. We have the truth of the matter, or enough of it."
"Some of us couldn't even tell the difference. It's not something they train you for at the academy . And besides, no one would be dumb enough to lie to us in this situation."
There is some plot here that is hidden from us. We can see it completely from where we stand. Let us report in with what we know and see if our commander can add to our knowledge.
"Some of us couldn't even tell the difference. It's not something they train you for at the academy . And besides, no one would be dumb enough to lie to us in this situation."
"I think he stands absolutely nothing to lose by lying to us, but regardless, he's responsible for what his hirelings did, whether through intent or neglect, he gave them the opportunity. As much as I am not fond of turning someone over, I believe that's the best path here. If we're done with this place, shall we return to Cressida?"
"We are very much done."
Melianthe take a moment to char a piece of wood with her tindertwig for a minute, until she has a length of charcoal to work with. She then crosses out the sign for ALL THE WORLD'S MEAT and neatly writes Closed Permanently Due To Tainted Meat.
Verik Vancaskerkin does not resist or struggle as you drag him in bonds across the city to Citadel Volshyenek. He remains with his head down in shameful despair. You reach the fortress well into the night, but even so your arrival is met with a few hearty cheers for your success, and a number of curses for your prisoner. The bailiff takes custody of Verik and heads off toward the dungeon.
You find Field Marshal Kroft in her office, much as you did earlier this day. She looks just as weary, but manages a grim smile as you enter between running couriers. "A job well done! I was just informed of Vancaskerkin's arrival. I will have your reward prepared immediately. I take it you did not capture any of the other deserters?"
Rosa sighs with a shake of her head. "Vancaskerkin was just the patsy for the real crime going on here, and yes I do fully mean worse than desertion. Although I'm not big on legal codes. What would you call 'killing innocent people and selling the bodies as the cut of the day?'"
"I think that's a 318. No, that's for illegally transporting livestock after dark. Verik is only guilty of being a fool and a deserter, a 213."
"A search must be made for a man named Parns," Absinthe tells Cressida. "A butcher's son by descent. The prisoner claims it is he who started cutting up people for meat, without his knowledge."
"The real of the deserters fought harder than him, and paid the price for it."