The sheriff holds up a hand to forestall Andrezi as he watches Kiera read the note. Once she has had a chance to collect herself, he answers the both of them.
"Kiera, if I thought for a moment that any of you were involved, I would not be asking for your help in solving this. I do not know what game is being played, but that is what we are going to find out. There are a couple of reasons that I don't believe that this is the same person as last time.. Stoot was guilty and is dead and gone. I am afraid, however, that whoever is responsible here is trying to use your new fame against you. I brought all of you over here to show you this in private because I don't believe it.. but I don't want to incite the public either. Gods only knows what they might believe, and we don't have time for that nonsense!" He shakes his head sadly.
Turning back to Andrezi, Sheriff Hemlock replies. "We have a couple of leads, but once again, we must keep all this as quiet as possible!" he emphasizes.
"First off though.. I am going to deputize you again. I will be helping you, but I suspect that I am going to have my hands full preventing all out riot and panic. You are now all my deputies, to speak with my voice and act with my authority."
That out of the way, he pulls another slip out and hands it to you. "This is what we have so far. It's not much. I suggest that you start at the lumber mill and get a feel for this yourself. From there, you can follow wherever the clues lead you. Besides, the sooner you take a look over there, the sooner we can take care of the bodies and get the mill back up and running."
Ibor Thorn: Sheriff Hemlock has interrogated Ibor, the man who discovered the bodies, and doesn’t suspect the frightened miller knows much more.
Ven Vinder: This merchant is sheriff Hemlock’s only suspect, although the sheriff is fairly certain that Ven is innocent and that the murders were committed by someone else. Father of the female victim, when Sheriff Hemlock informed him of his daughters demise, he flew into such a rage that the Sheriff had to lock him up for everyone's safety. He is currently cooling his heals in a cell.
The First Murders: Three con men from the town of Galduria were found murdered in an abandoned barn south of town a few days ago—their bodyguard survived the assault but has gone insane and is being kept at a nearby sanatorium.
The Rune: The star carved on Harker’s chest certainly has significance to the killer, but Hemlock’s at a loss as to what it means. Perhaps an expert on runes (such as local scholar Brodert Quink) can be consulted?
"A- all right," says Kiera as she struggles to regain her composure. "If nobody else knows about the letter, then I sure won't tell anyone."
She turns in the chair, squirming uncomfortably, and says, "Gents? What first? I think we should check the freshest scene and see what we can learn."
Andrezi nods, putting a comforting hand on Kiera's shoulder. "If you are ready, yes, the lumber mill would be our best starting point."
And thank you.. I tend to get migraines rather often. Thankfully this one was able to be headed off by just going to bed, lol!
The team packs it in, promising to speak to Sheriff Hemlock later.
The Sandpoint Lumbermill lies on the shore of the Turandarok River. A sizeable crowd has gathered outside by the time you arrive, and groups of nervous looking town guards stand at the mill’s entrances. The guards part for you, relief replacing wariness as you approach.
As you approach through the crowd, you can see that the mill is a well built wooden structure with very thick walls. The roof is made of wooden shingles, and the doors are simple timber. A well made timber pier extends into the river, presenting an idyllic picture with soft marsh and greenery stretching across the far bank.
Inside, you find the spacious work floor eerily quiet. Large machinery, blades, and belts of various purpose are sitting idle across the expansive room, linked together by platforms and push chutes enabling the lumber to be moved from one station to the next. Near one of the machines, a large splash of fluid and pieces dominate a puddle of blood around one of the equipment stations gives warning of the first body here, Katrine Vinder. Her mangled, ruined remains lie on the mill’s floor amid heaps of bloodstained firewood, and it is messily obvious the big machine meant for hardwoods had an easy time of handling a human body. A pale-faced, obviously upset guard stands at attention nearby. The log splitter itself is powered by a waterwheel and consists of a chute in the ceiling with rotating saw blades that cut logs as they are fed in.
Andrezi winces, seeing the gory scene. Turing his attention to the guard he asks, "Has anybody but Hemlock's men been in here since the discovery of the bodies? For that matter...not that I'm really sure I want to see the other, give the state of the first...where is the other body?"
"A water wheel, and a mill that is quiet?" Volkar noted as he looked away from the grisly sight on the floor. "I agree Andrezi, we should expect the worse if this is any indication."
"N.. No..." the young guard stammers, studiously avoiding looking at well, anything at all in particular. "Sheriff closed off the building soon as we got here. Just tha people that found.. them.." he manages to get out, visibly swallowing and trying not add to the mess. Words failing him, when Andrezi asks about the other body, he silently points up to the hole in the ceiling, then to the stairway at the far end of the room.
Kiera looks slightly green as she pulls her scarf up to cover her mouth and nose. Slightly muffled she says, "Um. We need a tracker. Maybe that elf woman who comes into the Rusty Dragon? Sharon or something?"
She looks over the crime scene from a distance. Was the body moved? Did the killer leave bloody hand or footprints?
"Andrezi, can you tell if she was tied up, or overpowered? Does she have bloody fingernails or bruises?"
Kiera forces herself to look upon the remains of the girl, trying to work through this methodically. Unfortunately, the remains of the girl are entirely too.. tattered.. to be of any use. The log splitter the poor girl fell into was thankfully quick and efficient at its job, but did not leave much to be examined as the body was crushed through the multiple sharp blades from above.
I walk to the mill with everyone else, my new armour reflecting the light in a golden glow, a fiery lizard emblazoned upon my chest and my new cloak billowing behind me, making the lizard appear to be walking. I stop at the entrance and say a few encouraging words to the guardsmen before stepping into the mill.
I see the body of the girl and though I don't want to be disrespectful I look to see if she is wearing any clothes. "Maybe she was here with a lover? Was she pushed or did she fall? Why was she here in the first place?"
When he saw the guard point up to the hole, and then over to the stairs, Volkar walked across the mill in a way to avoid the mill machinery. He looked at the stairs and the started his way up to the other body. "If she was pushed it was from up this way. Let me peak down into this room from that hole."
As Daelric observes the body, he believes from the tattered shreds of clothing littering the area that Katrine was clothed when she entered the machine.
Volkar leads the way upstairs, where he finds an equally gruesome sight. This area is coated with sawdust strewn with footprints and splashes of blood and has a lingering scent of decay wafting through the air, almost as if something died in a wall and was allowed to ripen. A bloody ax lies embedded in the floor as if dropped, and nearby sprawl the desecrated remains of Harkers body.
Harker’s body has been horribly desecrated. The poor man has been affixed to the wall by several hooks normally used to hang machinery. The body is mutilated, the face carved away and lower jaw missing entirely. His bare chest is defaced as well, bearing a familiar rune in the shape of a seven-pointed star. The body is only recognizable as Harker’s by a faded tattoo of a raven across his lower abdomen.
Andrezi covers his mouth in an attempt to keep his most recent meal in his stomach as he surveys the carnage.
"Looks like Harker put up a fight with whomever did this." the cleric states. Taking a closer look at the body he adds, "Make that a whatever...claw marks. Man-sized, five-fingered claw marks." Sniffing a bit at the wounds, he says, "A rather putrid smell on those claw-marks too...the smell of rot, a rot too strong to be Harker's own flesh this soon."
Kiera approaches Katrine's remains, then mutters, "At least it wasn't worse." She furrows her brow, then says, "This means... the attacker was enraged? Or at least, his goal was purely violence. Massive violence."
She makes her way upstairs and sees Harker's remains as well.
"Well, now we need to find Thorn and ask him what he heard or saw, and why he wasn't here with Harker. Usually they work late together."
Volkar looked at the desecrated body and then looked away. "Orcs or goblins don't even get this vile. Plus, what is that smell? Some thing different did this, that did not kill the woman below."
Volkar looked about floor trying to get some sense of what had occurred in this part of the mill.
"This symbol looks like the Sihedron Rune, but that's weird," says Kiera. "Like... nobody uses it any more. That magic ring that Volkar has is from an ancient civilization." She tugs at her lower lip for a moment as she thinks. Her eyes wander across the various parts of the scene of gore. "Katrine was killed by being thrown onto the saw, and Harker by claws... so why was that bloody axe left there? If it wasn't used? Or if the attacker used the axe and then discarded it and used claws, or vice-versa?" She moves to look at the axe and see if it, too, has handprints on the handle, or if perhaps Harker used it in a failed attempt to defend himself.
"Can one of the guards run to the Rusty Dragon and see if Shalelu is there? Her help with tracking would be very useful."
"Wouldn't someone use the axe to ward off the thing with claws?" Volkar asked as he walked about the upper floor trying to look for things out of place.
I nod at Kiera's suggestion and step outside; breathing in the fresher air deeply, I head to one of the guards and ask if s/he is willing to run over to the Dragon and fetch this Shalelu person. I then step back inside and look to Kiera, "I've asked a guardsman to fetch Shalelu. Is it worrying that we have found this symbol twice in such a short period of time then?"
"Welllll... certainly we've found evidence that some things survived from ancient Thassilon - summoned creatures and runewells and such. I'm not sure how it's connected, yet. But... the note that was sent to me? That was written in Taldan, not Thassilonian, so... either they are unrelated, or whoever this attacker is, he - or she or it - is a person from our time, but like us has some kind of interest in old Thassilonian iconography and history," says Kiera slowly as she thinks through the problem.
Kiera closes her eyes momentarily and says, "Think about what this place looked like when the attacker arrived. Harker is... working late, but Thorn is already gone for the evening. Why is Katrine here? Is she seeing Harker for something? The attacker comes out of... somewhere, hopefully Shalelu is in town and can find some tracks... he kills Harker, Katrine tries to run, he follows her down and pushes her onto the lumber saw. Or possibly the other direction - the killer springs upon them downstairs, pushes Katrine onto the saw, Harker goes upstairs to try to get away or get a weapon or something, the killer follows and claws him."
Still thinking through the imaginary scenario, she says, "The killer probably came in upstairs. Because Katrine was here late with Harker and without Thorn, so they were having some kind of meeting that they didn't want other people to see. You can make your own guesses about the nature of that meeting, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Harker was lucky to die with his pants on. So..."
Her eyes flick open and she says, "Check for windows or other points of access on the second floor - ways that the killer could've climbed in."
Andrezi inspects the body, alarmed at the smell and implications of the attack. The team gathers around, discussing theories and implications. Kiera moves to look closer at the ax, to find it is a small hand ax, most likely used everyday in the lumber mill. The haft has a smaller, almost dainty, bloody hand print, while the head of the ax has some sort of greyish greenish and foul smelling ooze congealed on it. As she is examining the ax, the smell of rotting putrification reaches out to Kiera.
After several sudden retches, she is able to control her stomach and get her heaving under control, but the overwhelming odor is quite a bit more than any normal decomposing body should be able to produce.
When Volkar sees this, he can tell that his guess is probably close to the mark.
Volkar-
Andrezi-
Kiera-
Kiera reasons her way through the problem and reaches several conclusions.. most of which being that they still have too little information to go on just yet. Opening her eyes, she suggests that they spread out and look for a way in as she heads towards the window. Peering out, she can see the pier below them, languid water flowing smooth and deep below that. Just as she is about to pull her head in, she notices some muddy scrapes and splintered wood on the outside of the wall below the window. Scratches in the wood and a few clumps of mud also mar the window sill.
"I would wager that the claw marks on the body are from some sort of undead, based on the the smell and the style of the attack. As to what sort, that is a bit more difficult to discern just from claw marks."
"Wait, undead, where would those come from? Or, rather who would have brought them to back to this world to attack a saw mill?" Volkar asked as he looked about the continued to be distracted by the mutilated corpse.
I sigh and shake my head, "This isn't going to be the old father, resurrected by Nualia and friends, would it?"
Andrezi shakes his head. "I would hope not. By all accounts, Father Tobyn was a good and honorable man...if a bit on the ultra-conservative side."
"If the attacker is the same person who wrote the note... then this isn't some mindless undead," says Kiera.
"Certainly, but there are more varieties of undead that are not mindless than those that are."
"Yeah, just narrowing down the possibilities."
"But why would an undead suddenly attack folks in a Mill? Then what connection does all of this have to Mistress Kiera?" Volkar shook his head as he asked his questions. "Anyone know who might have a hunting hound to track the undead?"
Kiera is still discussing the different types of undead with Andrezi while peering out the window at the muddy scrapes on the outside of the wall when a guard comes up the staircase.
"Pardon me, Sirs and Ma'am.." the man says. "But Shalelu isn't in town just now. She is still out ranging, I guess."
"So, you sir," Volkar turned to the man who had spoken. His fingers found his beard bead and was twirling it as he spoke. "Would you happen to know who might have dog that could help us track this killer? Unless there is a better idea?"
The dwarf looked about the mill and his companions making an obvious effort to avoid looking at the mutilated carcass.
"Baring that, I suppose we could try to track the killer ourselves." Andrezi comments.
"The muddy claw marks at the window seem to imply what ever the nasty thing was that clawed up poor Harker came in through the window. With all of the mud, the tracks should still be somewhat pronounced. Maybe that would at least give us a general direction."
"Agreed, but if the tracks came into the room, where did they go from doing that?" Volkar asked and then looked back down the stairs. "Or, did something come in, change and scramble out the window?"
"In through the window, chop chop Harker's done, down the stairs chasing Katrine, struggle push she's done, then leap out back into the mud and run away," says Kiera.
"I agree that we should check the surrounding parts of the land here near the riverside to see exactly where the thing crept up."
She takes a more cautious, slow perimeter to look, now that they have a slightly better idea of what they're looking for.
I nod to the others and join them outside, looking for tracks, hoping that all the guards haven't trampled any.
Volkar joined the others outside trying to see if there could be some indications in the surrounding grass, sawdust and mud near the mill.
Perception:
The team moves downstairs and out onto the pier, looking to pick up the trail of muddy prints from below the window. This pier serves as the main route for timber deliveries, as the logs float down the river and are hooked in by workers standing on the dock with long poles. Moving out along the extension into the river, Volkar is clearly able to pick out where the muddy footprints climb from the water at the end of the dock from the river and then move towards the mill itself, scrambling up the wall and into the window.
With a bit more searching along a widening perimeter and following the tracks back along the path they seemed to take, the group finds themselves on the opposite side of the river before too long.
Volkar-
Andrezi-
Kiera-
Kiera seems distracted by the mud and the bugs, but the rest of the team stumbles upon a relatively dry spot that bears a number of barefooted human tracks that match those from the mill and the pier. Once he sees them, Volkar is able to trace their path. There seems to be a path leading in from the river, crisscrossing and pacing, and then an area that has been matted down before the tracks lead back into the river towards the mill. The lingering stink of rotting meat is prevalent in this area.. as if the cause lingered for a while. Looking across the river from this matted down area you have a perfect view of the mill but seem to be sheltered from observation by anyone else around.
Trying to track the prints back on the path they came from is useless though.. the back trail leads into the water away from the mill and disappears into the depths.
"Ugh. I think I stepped in something smelly," complains Kiera. "This seems like a dead end. I think we should get these remains cleaned up for a funeral and see about investigating the other clues, unless you boys have thought of something else here."
Andrezi shakes his head, "No ideas what-so-ever. Let's get things cleaned up and I'll take the remains to the cathedral."
The team troops back to the mill, where they decide that they have found all that they can find here. With a few words from Andrezi to the guards, a wagon is summoned to carry the bodies to Father Zantus at the cathedral. When it arrives, it is pulled into the mill and the large bay doors closed behind it to give privacy as the bodies are loaded and covered. Once the bay doors are opened again, it is impossible to tell who.. or in what condition.. is being carted out.
The unsavory deed completed, the friends look to each other as they decide where to go from here.
Kiera sighs and folds her arms, looking decidedly unhappy. "I suppose we could try to interview the surviving witness at the sanatorium."
"Seems like as good of a plan as any. Honestly, I'm at my wits end."
With a smirk he adds, "Never really planned on staying in Sandpoint all that long, let alone becoming a detective here."
Finished with the murder scene, the companions return to Sheriff Hemlock before seeing out the witness from the first murders. As you enter the office, He looks up from a stack of paperwork, but sets it aside quickly as you fill him in on what you have learned so far. His demeanor becomes more grim by the word, until you finish.
"This is dire indeed. And nothing pointing out where they went after the murder? Damn!!" He exclaims.
When questioned about the first murders, he rubs the bridge of his nose, considering his words. Finally, he continues. "Two days ago, a patrol of guards along the Lost Coast Road were assaulted by a deranged man near an abandoned barn south of town along the banks of the Cougar Creek. The man was obviously sick and insane, his flesh fevered, eyes wild, mouth frothing, and clothes caked with blood. The guards subdued him, but when they checked inside the barn, they discovered the mutilated bodies of three men. Although all three bodies were far too disfigured to identify, one of them carried a piece of parchment that may identify them. It also links these murders to the murders here last night, but I am not sure what the relation is yet."
He speaks as if reciting a report, the man emotionally drained at this point and just going through the motions. He rummages around his desk for a moment, and comes up with a sheet of parchment folded into quarters and hands it over to you to inspect. It is grubby with ground in dirt, and in addition to several suspect stains on the page, has been folded and opened many times.
A deal has come about that I need capital in. 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
The Sheriff continues. "Tabe, Hask, and Mortwell are all well known as local troublemakers. I have personally forbidden them from operating their con games and barely legal enterprises within Sandpoint itself, but there is little I can do out in the Hinterlands. I wasn't particularly surprised at the time to find them murdered.. it was only a matter of time before one of their marks caught up to them or they fell in with someone worse. By itself, I would not have worried about it. Gruesome, yes, but really it was a case of the trash taking itself out. But in light of our discovery this morning, and the fact that all the bodies were carved with that weird star rune, I am now worried that something much larger is going on."
"So, the undead sat along the river, crossed it, and killed those in the mill," Volkar said as the walked back into town towards the Sheriff's office. "What would be the purpose of killing the folks at the mill? Did the corpse know them?"
As he listened to the Sheriff talk after they had gotten comfortable in the haggered man's office. The Sheriff was tired and all of his actions projected that. When he handed the grubby, folded parchment over, Volkar looked at it and pased it on. "So who would have called them together and who would they have known as "Your Lord?" That really has to be someone who they all knew...maybe worked for?"
"That, I have no idea, Volkar." Hemlock says before chuckling ruefully. "Life would be a lot easier right now if we did, but that is the big question here." The small grin fades away quickly. "Someone that knows you. Someone that is capable of some incredible torture and killing innocent girls in one of the most grisly fashions I have ever seen in my life. Someone capable of carving up.. we presume.. live people in horrible ways."
"I think the note is just a ruse by which the killer got the three men into the barn to kill them," guesses Kiera. "I wish I were better at divination magic. Anyway, we have to find him and stop him, and now the only other lead we have, I think, is the witness in the madhouse. So we have no real choice... we have to listen to the ravings of a madman."
"That is as good of a guess as any that we are currently working with, Kiera." Hemlock responds. "If you want to see them, we have the bodies from the barn downstairs in a store room across from Ven and Ibors holding cells, but thankfully the bodies aren't stinking too badly yet do to the cool temperature down there. As for the madman, his name is Gayst Sevilla, a local Varisian thug. After we tried to question him, we decided that the best thing for everyone was to hand him over to Erin Habe out at the Saintly Haven of Respite. He's a prickly one, Habe. Eccentric and prickly would be among the nicer things to be said about him."
I walk quietly with everyone else, trying to work out who it could be that has committed these horrific offences. Unfortunately having spent very little time trying to be a detective, I am unable to make the murders fit into a greater scheme other than causing fear and panic.
I nod when it is suggested that we speak to the survivor, as we leave I turn to the Sheriff. "You should get some sleep, you look tired."
"Let's get a bit of rest ourselves and head out for Saintly Haven in the morning." Andrezi glumly says.
I nod at Andrezi's comment, "It's sapped my spirit, so you're probably right. By the way, I'm glad that you're still hear with us. I never intended to stay either, but looks like all my clues have dried up like a desert river. At least I can give my support and help catch whoever did these heinous crimes." While I look fine, my voice sounds exhausted and my eyes show that they can still see the image of the crime scene.
"Don't give up, anyone," says Kiera with the return of her usual chipper demeanor. "We can solve this crime, I'm sure, and then we can keep looking for clues about your family and the history of this place!"