As the friends, old and new, catch up on their recent journeys, the year’s first flakes of snow begin to fall softly on Sandpoint. By the end of the week, when the civil ceremony Sheriff Hemlock had promised arrives, the snow has begun to accumulate in the streets and on the rooftops throughout the city and its hinterlands. The ceremony itself is a rather small affair: in the church square, the Sheriff gives a speech praising the bravery and success of the marked, with all his signature brevity, and Mayor Deverin pins each of the six with a gold brooch bearing the city’s seal. A crowd gathers to watch and to cheer Sandpoint’s heroes, but with last minute preparations for winter in full-swing it’s a fairly sparse crowd.
The snow continues to fall as days turn to weeks, and weeks to months. The city slips into something of a hibernation as knee-deep snow keeps most people homebound. Within the Cathedral, everyone, including the marked, settle into the normal rhythms of religious life. For Marcus, the cycle of prayers and chores, and learning and chores, and eating together and sleeping in beds seems very foreign, but by the time the days begin growing longer once again even he feels a sense of normalcy that makes the events at Thistletop seem like a distant memory. Little of note happens during these cloistered months, save for the blossoming relationship between Tera’s roommate and a certain choirboy (and all the juicy gossip which accompanied it) and, eventually, some of the antsier initiates and acolytes begin quibbling over who will be allowed to go on any errand that gets them out of Cathedral.
Just as Autumn must eventually give way to Winter, however, Winter always succumbs to spring and before a third month has passed the snows melt and the first signs of green begin breaking through. With new life in the trees and the fields, a new liveliness hums through Sandpoint: neighbors mingle and catch up in the streets, the farmers from the hinterlands come more frequently to merchants and the market as they work to get fields plowed and crops planted, and traffic in the harbor increases greatly as fishermen return to work and trade routes open back up. It seems as though Sandpoint might finally be back to the idyllic city people remember it being before the Cathedral fire, and the other tragedies which accompanied it.
That hope, sadly, is short lived. The sheriff causes a bit of a commotion as he hurries into the morning prayer service seeming a bit put out. He waits, impatiently, in the back of the sanctuary for the service to conclude before making his way purposefully through the crowd to gather up the marked. ”I need to talk to you,” he states flatly before looking around at all the other people and then heading out the door into the courtyard. Leading them across the cobbled court and into the stables before checking once more for listening ears, he continues, "First, let me thank you again for all you've done for Sandpoint. It's fortunate you've proven yourselves so capable, because we got a problem I think you can help us with- a problem I wish I didn't have to involve anyone with, but one that needs dealing with now before the situation grows worse… "
He takes a deep breath that ends up sounding more like a sigh and explains, ”we have a murderer in our midst… one who, I fear, has only begun his work. Some of you, I’m sure, remember the Late Unpleasantness, how this town nearly tore itself apart in fear as Chopper's slayings went on unanswered. I'm afraid we might have something similar brewing here… Last night, the murderer struck at the sawmill. There are two victims, and they're ... they're in pretty gruesome shape. The bodies were discovered by one of the mill workers, a man named lbor Thorn, and by the time my men and I arrived on the scene, a crowd of curious gawkers had already sprung up. I've got my men stationed there now, keeping the mill locked down, but the thing that bothers me isn't the fact that we have two dead bodies inside. It's the fact that this is actually the second set of murders we've had in the last few days.”
"My men are good, but most of them are also green… They were barely able to handle themselves against the goblins, and what we're facing now is an evil far worse than goblins, I’m sure. I could use your help… But, um, I'm afraid you're gonna need my help too. See, this particular murderer knows at least one of you as well…" he concludes as he holds out a folded piece of parchment. On the outside of the parchment the single word “Tera” is written in blood. On the inside, the crimson letters read “You will learn to love me, desire me in time as she did. Give yourself to the Pack and it shall all end.”
The sheriff's brow furrows as he internally debates how much to share before receiving any assurance of aid. "I suppose you'll hear soon enough anyways..." he quietly answers, "it was Banny Harker and Katrine Vinder... the note was pinned to Harker's body and, as you can see, the murderer's pretty interested in having you join them..."
Belor frowns and turns his attention to Tera before continuing, "I know that business with Lonjiku was mostly a, uh, 'youthful indiscretion' but I have to ask... you're not already mixed up in this somehow are you?"
Marcus' face goes pale as he hears the contents of the note. "Tera, I don't think you should go anywhere alone for a while. Did either of those two have any enemies?"
I knew it was too good to be true....it's just unnatural for this many people to live so close together for so long....
Tera feels her knees begin to buckle as she reads the note and a raw, sickly feeling churns in her stomach. A cold chill runs up her spine despite the warm clothing and the fur-lined cloak she wore over her robes as she hands the note back to the sheriff and hears his question along with Marcus' assertion that she probably shouldn't be anywhere alone.
And just two hours ago she'd been teasing Lizzy about her growing relationship with Tavor Dallus. Now Tera was only afraid, not just for herself, but those around her.
"Sh-sheriff, p-please believe me when I say that this is the first time I have heard of the murders, or even knew there was a murderer on the loose. I... I'm scared. I'm scared Sheriff Hemlock. I don't know if or when this lunatic will go after my friends, or who else is going to die in my name," she tells him as tears well up in her eyes.
She'd always been small, but with her clock getting pulled tighter around her and the way she was huddling somewhat behind Salomae made her look more like a child than a woman grown.
Why? Why would someone do this? Much less tell me to join this "pack" and that they want me in a note pinned on someone they murdered! Why do they want me to love them and desire them. If they want that, then killing people isn't the way to do it!
Kaede response to the note is simply to get even closer to Tera. She's the one in danger, she's the one that needs to be protected, she assumes before looking toward the sheriff.
"You said this was the second. Who and where was the first? Can we see the mill too?"
The sheriff nods, apparently satisfied with Tera's answer. When Kaede asks to see the mill he seems slightly relieved. "If you're volunteering to help you can, yes," he replies, "I need to get it cleaned up pretty soon but I ordered it to stay undisturbed until I got back. We can go right now..."
As he leads the marked through the streets of Sandpoint, south and then east to the lumber mill , Sheriff Hemlock offers information on the first murders whenever there's nobody within earshot. "It was a few days ago... three men turned up dead in a barn down by Cougar Creek... we're pretty sure they were swindlers I'd thrown out of town before... didn't think much of it at first, figured they must've crossed the wrong mark... but now with these next two, and the same symbol... they'd hired a guard too- poor sod's gone completely mad..."
When they reach the mill the sheriff stops and signals one of the guards. "Well," he concludes, "I have to go to tell Titus Scarnetti why his mill isn't running. My men all know that you've been deputized to look into this and they'll help however they can."
"Being one of the Marked didn't stop someone from killing two people and telling me there'd be more if I didn't join them," Tera points out. "And what do any of us know about catching criminals, Sal?"
After a few more steps, she shivers again, pulling closer to Sal and Kaede.
"I... I think I'm going to be sick," she mutters as the churning sickly feeling in her stomach intensifies.
"Uh, 'witness' probably isn't the right word," Sheriff Hemlock replies shaking his head, "Sevilla... Grayst Sevilla, but whatever he saw knocked him clear off his rocker. When my patrol found him he ran at them screaming and flailing. We never got a name from him, muchless any useful information; we only knew who he was because some of the men recognized him from some time he spent here thugging for the Sczarni. We had him in the barracks but I had to send him out to Habe's- for his own good, but also to make room to bring in folks for questioning about this mess..."
Tera just nods, not very convinced, but not wanting to argue the point either.
"I've heard Sister Amet'Ra talking about Aeryn Habe and his sanatorium before. It seems that he and the priests at the Cathedral don't get along," Tera says after Sal's admission, "I'm guessing there's not much that could done for him if he's there. We may be able to get a description of whoever did the deed out of him, but I wouldn't bet money on it."
She shudders as she remembers some of the descriptions of the few sanatoriums around Magnimar and desperately hoped that if they had to visit Habe's, those tales would not prove to be true.
"Maybe after we look at the mill, we can visit this Habe," Kaede adds, looking to Tera worriedly. "Hopefully, we can coax something out of that poor man. That aside, do you have any suspects for this, Sheriff? I don't anyone in town would do such a gruesome thing, but you know the townsfolk better then I."
”Well,” Sheriff Hemlock answers with a frown, ”Ibor Thorn apparently found the mess, so we brought him in for questioning. Katrine’s father, Ven Vinder, has a serious temper... I don’t think he has the temperament for these murders but when my men told him about his daughter’s death he flew into a rage and hit one of them. I don’t know that I’d feel good calling either of them suspects, but they’re both being held in the garrison still if you want to talk to them? You’d have to do it soon though, I can’t hold ‘em forever without a reason... plus, I’m hoping to end this before it happens again...”
”Anything else before I go?”
At a loss for anything useful to add to the questioning, Marcus settles into trying to protect as best as he can. Grabbing his friends sleeve, he weaves his magic and tells her, "I'm sticking as close as I can until this is over."
Tera looks up at the Sheriff, fear having drained the color from her face, but she seems to have taken some strength from the solidarity that the others have shown her.
"Does Shayliss know," she asks, feeling a dull, burning shame as she remembers some of the things she'd said about the younger Vinder girl.
Dressed in blue and green, with his golden brooch pinned proudly to his breast (where it's stayed for the last few months), Zache's bright face turns to pale dread when Hemlock gathers the group into the stables. "A murderer?" he asks, his voice hoarse and disbelieving. "Killing for Tera?" He glances toward her as he speaks, but seeing the girls already pulling closer around her, makes no move.
Zache continues listening and nodding along, occasionally glancing at Tera to see how she's composing herself (or not). "Maybe something will turn up here," he sighs. "I'd hate to see a second Unpleasantness."
As the marked turn their attention away from him to each other and the task at hand, Sheriff Hemlock gives an appreciative nod then turns and walks briskly away.
The Sandpoint Lumber Mill stands on the shore of the Turandarok River, a well-built wooden structure with very thick walls, a roof of wooden shingles, and broad simple timber doors. A sizeable crowd has gathered outside and groups of nervous looking town guards stand at the mill's entrances.
Upon entering the building, the marked are confronted by a truly gruesome sight: crimson clumps of sawdust are scattered throughout the mill; next to a log-splitting machine the remains of Katrine Vinder lie in two pieces, with only a mess of blood and entrails to unite them; somehow worse, however, is the body of what must be Mr. Harker- hung to wall on the hooks that usually hold tools, the whole lower half of his face has been removed, including his jaw bone, and a large seven-pointed star has been painstakingly carved into his chest and abdomen. The whole space stinks of rotten meat.
The main area of the Sandpoint Lumber Mill is an open workspace roughly sixty feet wide and twenty-five feet deep, situated right on the banks of the river. The large mechanical device that does the bulk of the rough splitting is positioned near the riverside wall with a large shaft extending from it, through that wall, to a water wheel outside that powers it. Two large doors, both of which are currently ajar, provide access to a short ramp into the water (for dragging up logs that were floated down the river) and a dock that extends some forty feet into the river. To the north of the workspace is a small wing with an office and something of a break room, but there are no signs of anything unusual in there. Next to the log splitter an axe is stuck in the floor with blood smeared on its handle.
Tera swallows hard as nausea washes over her with the smell of rot.
"The mill was running last night. It's too soon for rot to have set in," she splutters as she pulls up a newly purchased scarf over her nose and mouth.
Something unnatural was afoot, she was certain. She looked around, blocking out the horror and the godsawful stench of it all and forced her mind to work. She didn't know how they would catch this killer, but she was certain that they'd need every clue they could glean from this scene and probably more. She follows Sal's finger and studies the Sawdust with narrow eyes. She moves over to one of the clearer prints and pulls down the scarf for just a moment to take a whiff, only to jerk back as her complexion turned pasty at the smell.
"And one of them was barefoot and reeks of rotting meat," she adds weakly to the woodswoman's observations. She takes a moment to gather her composure and then moves to the axe, being careful not to disturb it or the dust around it.
The reek of rotten flesh proves too strong and Tera has to turn away and retreat for a moment while she fought down the bile in her throat. After a couple of shakey moments, she turns back and examines the axe as best she can.
"I'm starting to think our killer was some kind of undead," she says weakly, "the reek's too strong and what's on the head is too rotten to have come from the victims."
She hated herself for calling Katrine and Harker that, but if she'd called them by name, she'd have broken down and wept for them after she'd finished emptying her stomach.
Feeling worse the longer she stayed near it, she stood up and staggered over to the wall where the smell wasn't as bad, hoping that she'd feel better in a moment.
It was a futile hope. Seeing little option but to continue, she looked over the corpses next, hoping to glean anything she could. She doesn't spend long on Katrine, thanking the gods that she hadn't suffered for long, if at all, after her fatal meeting with the log splitter. Harker, though, she spends more time on, choking back bile as she realizes that the killer had taken its time with him.
She turns away, but then turns right back around to look more closely at the man's wounds. Her brow furrows and she holds up her hand to them. The spacing of the claw marks is wrong for her small hand, but it should be right for someone taller and with bigger hands. Her eyes narrow more as another bit of evidence convinces her that they were not looking at a normal murderer.
If one could even use normal to describe someone who could do this!
Needing some air, she turns to the open doors leading to dock where the logs were brought in.
She looks around, then more closely as something catches her eye. She goes all the way to the end of the dock and slowly follows the muddy prints she finds to the wall and grimaces as she imagines what it would have been like for poor Harker as his murderer came in through the window. Another shiver runs down her spine as she walks back through the mill and waits for the others to finish up.
In relative silence, Kaede follows Tera throughout the mill, nodding at what she points out and reacts to. If Tera asks, Kaede simply responses, "I'm not leaving you alone until this is dealt with."
At the end she talks up, summerizing what Tera reacted to and says, "So, Some thinking undead came up from the river, climbed in the window can found these two. After a struggle, he shoved Katrine into the log splitter, and then ritually murdered Harker while carving.... a Lamahstan symbol into his chest? I didn't think the undead would follow Grandmother Nightmare. What does that star mean?"
docks...
wow Marcus is good at rolling! I'll get a post up tonight after I read all the spoilers, but not in time to edit this one.
Marcus moves through the mill with the others, trying to help decipher the horrible scene .
"I know very little about those things." Marcus says, when the undead are mentioned.
knowing it wasn't a resident of Sandpoint is somehow cold comfort
Careful to stay close to Tera as they move to the docks, it seems to bother Marcus even more that this threat emerged from the water.
"That's pretty much what I was thinking, though one of them got the creature with the axe first," Tera agrees with Kaede. "I think we'll have to read up on Lamashtu and her cult to find those answers I think. That or go ask Quink. He might know something and we did see that star in the old parts of Thistletop."
"I feel like I should know what might have done it, but I can't think of anything for certain," she adds, frustration coloring her voice.
Immediately after stepping onto the grisly scene, Zache takes a short, sharp breath and briefly fans his hands over his chest, one thumb behind the other, in a crude approximation of his goddess' holy symbol. "This is sick," he mutters, colour starting to drain from his cheeks. "Simply sick."
As the others begin poking around, he cautiously moves for the axe. Picking it up, he cautiously flares his nostrils and sniffs the putrid head of the weapon, before gasping, choking, gagging, and dropping it; it slams into the floor between his feet, narrowly missing a toe, and he wraps a scarf around his nose and mouth, coughing and sputtering.
He was six, hiding under one of the wagons, trying very hard not to breathe, the dirt filling his nostrils but doing nothing to hide the stench, the overwhelming thickness of it-
"I know what did this," he says with forced calm after his gagging and dry retching ceases. "You never forget that smell. We're looking for a ghast."
After a few minutes of mostly sticking in one big pack, the marked seem to have learned all they can from the chilling scene...
Tera's face turns paperwhite as she hears Zache's revelation.
"This thing may have used the river to get here, but it may still be wise to check the opposite bank." Marcus states as half thought, half question.
"I think we should explore the other shore before going to the garrison. Clues there could soon be washed away"
"Hai. I don't think we have much more here to note,"Kaede agrees. "Check the river, then go to the garrison and talk to Mr. Thorn and Mr. Vinder. " After a moment, she adds, "I feel sorry for him, losing his daughter like this."
Emerging from the mill, the marked are inundated with questions from the crowd...
"what happened?"
"who did it?"
"are you going to heal them?"
"is it more goblins?"
Once past the gawkers, they head north to the Undercliff Bridge and cross over the river. A low rock wall separates the marsh from what is usually solid ground, but the spring rains have left the ground soggy and the short walk down to the spot across from the mill is an unpleasant slog. Thankfully, its still early enough in the spring that the insects aren't abundant in they marsh yet. After a careful inspection, Marcus discovers a fairly dry patch of ground marred by footprints that look like bare human feet; the spot is concealed by a patch of nettles but offers a clear view of the mill, and it smells faintly of the same stink that Zache identified as the odor of a ghast. Sal is able to follow the footprints but finds that they emerged from the river, traveled to the spot Marcus found, and then returned to the river.
Marcus takes his time looking over the area, careful to keep Tera nearby. More at home digging through reeds and mud than in the cathedral, he casts light and detect magic to be as thorough as possible. When the others are satisfied, he knocks the larger clumps of mud off, and follows them to the garrison.
"I dunno," Tera admits to the others, "maybe we can find out more from the survivor of the other attack. Maybe Mr. Thorn knows something, but I think the sheriff would have asked him already if he did."
Although it's still before midday, it already feels like a long day as the marked trudge through the mud back to the Undercliff Bridge and head for the barracks. The gatehouse at this bridge is the smallest and least staffed of the three entrances into Sandpoint, but the few guards still pepper the marked with questions:
"Did you figure anything out?"
"What did you find out there?"
"Where are you going now?"
"Can you heal those people?"
A sloshing, slapping sound accompanies the investigators as they walk with wet boots and muddy clothes through the streets of the city. Its clear that news of the murders is spreading quickly as some people begin closing back up the storm windows they only recently opened, and others muster hopeful smiles at the sight of Sandpoint's heroes.
A clerk greets them upon their arrival at the Barracks. "Sheriff Hemlock said you might be by," he offers with a very slight bow, "Ibor and Ven are in holding cells and the old bodies are in the basement... where would you like to start?"
For once, Marcus is happy to still wear a youthful face. The guards seem to point their queries at the older members of the muddy sextet.
When the clerk asks about the next step, Marcus offers his thoughts.
"As gruesome as this day has already been, we should still see the other bodies first. They may bear clues about the murders that lead to questions for Mr. Vinders or Mr. Harker."
The clerk's complexion greens slightly at the decision, but he dutifully leads the investigators down into the basement and to a cell with an open door. He stops abruptly in the hall just before the cell and gestures towards it offering, "you'll find them in there."
The smell wafting into the hallway indicates that these bodies are a few days old. Inside the small, cool chamber three corpses are laid unceremoniously on tables. Each has the same seven-pointed star carved carefully into their chest, and each seems to have had their tongue ripped out.
Messrs. Mortwell, Hask, and Tabe-
A deal has come about that I need capital for. It
involves property and gold, and though I am not at
liberty to tell you the exact details, it will make
us all rich. Come to Bradley's Barn on Cougar Creek
tonight. We can meet there to discuss our futures.
~Your Lordship
As the needling from the townsfolk start anew after the marked re-enter town from the swamp lands, Kaede suddenly stops from her rear guard position and deeply bows to the inquisitive folk. Speaking loudly, but deferentially, the Tian priestess informs, "I'm sorry, but the Sheriff wouldn't like us to share information about this so easily. If you have question, please direct them to the guard at the garrison. My apologies." And with that, she returns to the others as they get to the garrison.
Like Sal, Kaede lets the search of the corpses to those with more experience in those fields. "Same star, and tongues removed, like this "your Lordship" doesn't want his victims talking. And if you're right, Salomae, then he's seeking certain people.... But why?"
"What's the connection?" Zache mutters, frowning. "Should we check the barn soon?"
Tera points out the scratches on these three bodies, and their similarity to those on Banny Harker.
As the conversation reaches a lull, the clerk in the hall clears his throat and then calls out, "I'll need to log that note as evidence... would you like to speak with Thorn or Vinder before you go explore elsewhere? Otherwise, we'll probably be turning them loose before you come back..."