The Ballad of Bloodmarch Hill

Game Master Joana

Alicia is alone in the barracks at the moment, as all the Patrol members are occupied with the tragedy. She doesn't see any obvious way out other than the way she came in; clearly, the builders of the Longhouse were more concerned with withstanding a seige than with the danger of a fire. As she stands at the foot of Kerst's unused bunk, Marikel enters from the corridor, looking neither pleased nor surprised to see her there.

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Outside, Vhailor takes a seat against the wall and waits to see what may happen next. He watches most of the crowd disperse, while a handful of Patrol members mill about somberly, wanting neither to intrude on the Captain's grief nor to be too far away if needed. After a short time, Halgra Blackblade comes out of the Longhouse and seems to give some instruction to the loitering guardsmen; a few follow her toward Ivory Hall while others set out in other directions, given purpose, at least, for a while.

A few moments later, the Graths, father and son, emerge as well. The Patrol Captain maintains a military bearing and heads off to the east resolutely. Rodrick moves more slowly, his steps dragging and eyes downcast. He doesn't appear immediately to notice Vhailor as he heads around the corner of the building toward the precipice at the back of the Longhouse.

"What'd you see?" she says after a fraught silence. "Or what do you know, anyhow-- true as blood runs, I know you know somethin'. If someone hurt him--" Banny's voice catches, and she has to take a breath, stare up at the canvas ceiling a moment before continuing, "--if you got any clue who did this-- then speak, teacher. I'll see 'em pay, whoever it is."

"I ... I don't know who would hurt Kerst," Brinya replies haltlingly, "... who would want to. But I know that the hopeknife in the wall isn't his. It belongs to someone else. Maybe someone who wanted to make his death look like a suicide."

Pausing for a few seconds, Vhailor then swiftly makes up his mind - standing suddenly enough to spill Carbonel from his lap. As the gnome hustles to catch up with Rodrick, the cat rawrs a disapproval at his back before curling up again.

Vhailor coughs a mite sheepishly as he draws near enough to Rodrick to speak, hopefully gathering his attention. Haltingly he starts "Qayg'u, gravare, huzuni, saudade, pogrešati, sehnsucht... grief. I can say it any number of ways in languages sweet, soulful and barbaric... but I can't fathom how you must be feeling..." a sadness upon his eyes showing empathic solidarity for Rodrick.

The gnome follows the bereaved half-orc around the building, but Rodrick seems barely to notice Vhailor's overture. Instead, he is staring at the hopeknife he just pulled out of the mortar between the stones. "This isn't Kerst's," he says simply, turning it over in his hand. "So ... who put it here?"

Easily distracted from his attempts at grief counselling to dagger investigation Vhailor pushes back his lens-less glasses and shuffles forward. Holding out a hand he asks "May I?" after seeing the blade a little closer.

As he looks it over he shrugs and muses "Don't know who... but it'd be a good place to start looking for answers?"

Ali waffles between trying to hide under a bed and brazenly walking out of the Longhouse past Marikel (and the patrolwoman). After a moment's hesitation, she decides on the latter.

Vhailor pushes back his lens-less glasses and shuffles forward. Holding out a hand he asks "May I?" after seeing the blade a little closer.

The dagger looks like a perfectly ordinary hopeknife ... which is not to say a perfectly ordinary dagger. The hopeknives of Trunau are a step above a common blade, forged for endurance and crafted with meticulous care. Despite the knife's misuse in being driven into hardened mortar, the point remains unchipped, and there are only faint scratches along the blade where it was buried in the wall and pulled out again. Apart from those cosmetic marks, it would appear to be a brand new knife.

"Don't know who... but it'd be a good place to start looking for answers?"

Rodrick meets the gnome's eyes and nods. "Come on," he invites him, bringing the hopeknife as he heads back to the front of the Longhouse, moving with renewed vigor.

Needing to hustle to keep up with Rodrick's intent Vhailor out-of-breath asks "What's different with Kerst's hopeknife? - anything on it that'd help us identify it?"

As the pair pass by Carbonel's recumbent spot, the moggy raises his head suspiciously.

Ali waffles between trying to hide under a bed and brazenly walking out of the Longhouse past Marikel (and the patrolwoman). After a moment's hesitation, she decides on the latter.

Marikel follows Alicia out with his face disapproving. If anyone attempts to stop them he informs them, "Sorry, I'll deal with her." and keeps walking.

"I ... I don't know who would hurt Kerst," Brinya replies haltlingly, "... who would want to. But I know that the hopeknife in the wall isn't his. It belongs to someone else. Maybe someone who wanted to make his death look like a suicide."

Banny rocks back on her heels on her side of the counter, her face drawn into a scowl that is inadvertently all the more foreboding because of the scar that twists its way across her face. Someone planted it...?

"...it did look kinda new," she says after long seconds of silence. "If Kerst ever used his in battle, it wouldn't have..."

She trails off, still gripping the edges of the counter. Banny is silent a few seconds, then clears her throat, eyes darting back up to Brinya's face. Awkwardly, Banny asks, trying for gentle in her tone--

"...do you have his real knife? I mean... did he give it to you-- as-- you know--"

Pursuing that line of enquiry vanishes from Banny's mind in the next second. "--blood and brimstone, we'd better get back up there. A dog might trace the smell of it, if someone else planted that knife-- but not if half of Trunau handles it first. C'mon--"

She hurries around the bar, grabbing Brinya by the elbow, and, for once, forgetting about the drink she'd been meaning to have.

Heading back up to the 'scene'/wherever the knife has gotten to, if Brinya doesn't object.

Needing to hustle to keep up with Rodrick's intent Vhailor out-of-breath asks "What's different with Kerst's hopeknife? - anything on it that'd help us identify it?"

Rodrick answers Vhailor with a quick nod but fails to elaborate further. He hustles around the front of the building and bursts through the door, startling the Patrolmen who are still lingering a bit awkwardly around the dead body. "His weapons?" Rodrick demands of them breathlessly. "He was armed when you found him?"

Alicia saunters casually out into the corridor, Marikel following, as Rodrick arrives and makes his inquiry.

"Aye," a Patrolman replies hesitantly. "Sword in its scabbard, bow next to the body. Broken in the fall, of course."

"And his hopeknife? Did you look for his hopeknife?" Rodrick asks brusquely.

A few of the search party exchange glances. "He left it in the wall...," another soldier begins gently.

"But did you look?" he insists. When a positive affirmation isn't forthcoming, he looks to the tarp-covered body and hesitates. Unable to bring himself to search the body, he ventures to Marikel, "Padre? You're a healer, aren't you? Would you check to see if he was carrying anything? A hopeknife? We could lay him out on the desk, respectful-like."

"...do you have his real knife? I mean... did he give it to you-- as-- you know--"

Brinya reaches for her hopeknife; a Trunau native, she instinctively reached for it as soon as the alarm sounded, even if she didn't take the time to dress. Banny can tell at a glance that this dagger, unlike the one at the Longhouse, has seen some use. More to the point, as Brinya draws the dagger from the scabbard, sharp, new engraving can be read on its blade: Brinya, may our love conquer fear.

"Mine had seen less use," she stammers, "but it says, Kerst, may our light conquer darkness. Sara Morninghawk will tell you; that hopeknife isn't his"

Pursuing that line of enquiry vanishes from Banny's mind in the next second. "--blood and brimstone, we'd better get back up there. A dog might trace the smell of it, if someone else planted that knife-- but not if half of Trunau handles it first. C'mon--"

She hurries around the bar, grabbing Brinya by the elbow, and, for once, forgetting about the drink she'd been meaning to have.

"They wouldn't let me do anything," Brinya explains semi-coherently as Banny leads her back up the hill. "No one knew. His father didn't approve."

Huffing along behind Rodrick, Vhailor gives Marikel a quick wave as he stands catching his breath. He nods along sagely at Rodrick's suggestion.

"But did you look?" he insists. When a positive affirmation isn't forthcoming, he looks to the tarp-covered body and hesitates. Unable to bring himself to search the body, he ventures to Marikel, "Padre? You're a healer, aren't you? Would you check to see if he was carrying anything? A hopeknife? We could lay him out on the desk, respectful-like."

"Of course."

Brinya reaches for her hopeknife; a Trunau native, she instinctively reached for it as soon as the alarm sounded, even if she didn't take the time to dress. Banny can tell at a glance that this dagger, unlike the one at the Longhouse, has seen some use. More to the point, as Brinya draws the dagger from the scabbard, sharp, new engraving can be read on its blade: Brinya, may our love conquer fear.

"Mine had seen less use," she stammers, "but it says, Kerst, may our light conquer darkness. Sara Morninghawk will tell you; that hopeknife isn't his....

"They wouldn't let me do anything," Brinya explains semi-coherently as Banny leads her back up the hill. "No one knew. His father didn't approve."

Banny shakes her head at the words of Jagrin Grath not approving. Two people find love, with the world bein' what it is-- especially with life in Trunau bein' what it is-- why's anyone got to go sayin' no? Furthermore, what the hell's wrong with the schoolteacher? She'd understand Jagrin not approvin' of her-- but Brinya's a respectable, proper woman, however you reckon things.

Still, she doesn't waste breath on it-- just hurries up the street quick as they can. She doesn't offer further words of consolation, either-- Banny's someone who acts, not talks, and the only way she reckons to do right by Kerst, or even his lady, is to do what she can to find the truth of this.

When they get back to the area of the hall, Banny's head darts around left and right. She snags the elbow of the first Patrolman she sees. "Hey! Kerst's knife they found in the wall-- where've they taken it? 's important!"

(I'm assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that there ARE dogs, specifically dogs trained to track, in Trunau. But as Banny would probably know if there weren't any such dogs, it being a small town and all, her grand idea/my assumption may be inaccurate.)

The Patrol members initially hesitate to obey Marikel's instructions ... but Rodrick is close kin of the dead, and it was his request. The handcart is trundled to the office doorway and the corpse within reverently lifted and placed carefully on the surface of the desk, the tarp still in place.

A few of the search party remain in the room to keep an eye on the Iomedaean priest, but most, through squeamishness or respect, file back into the corridor. When Marikel uncovers the body, Rodrick stares a long moment, stricken, then shuffles out after the rest, leaning against the wall, his eyes on the floor. A bow, its limb cut cleanly in two and its string slack, lies in the bed of the handcart.

Inside the office, Marikel methodically checks through Kerst's gear. He is dressed in the same clothing he wore at last night's Hopeknife Ceremony. As reported, his sword is in its scabbard, and no arrows appear to be missing from his quiver; the smaller sheath, however, which should hold his hopeknife is empty. There is a money pouch at his belt, but it contains no coin.

As for his injuries, Kerst has deep scratches along his arms and torso, which have torn through his tunic, but the mortal wound is at the base of his neck, where his skull is crushed. Striking the back of his head while falling could certainly have caused such an injury, but oddly he seems to have no other broken bones, which one might expect in a fall from such a height. Also, if the alarm bell was sounded immediately when he was seen to plummet from the precipice, Marikel would have expected the blood to be warmer and more copious; if it weren't for the witness to ascertain time of death, the cleric would have said Kerst had been dead for at least a few hours.

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When they get back to the area of the hall, Banny's head darts around left and right. She snags the elbow of the first Patrolman she sees. "Hey! Kerst's knife they found in the wall-- where've they taken it? 's important!"

The Patrolman gives the unlikely couple of Banny and Brinya a look askance. "Chief Defender sent Rodrick to fetch it. Believe he took it in the Longhouse."

Doesn't say there aren't dogs, so I see no reason why there shouldn't be some. They're not up to the snuff of modern drug-sniffing dogs, more hunting dogs and/or dogs specialized in orc-detection, but you should be able to get some tracking done. If no one has Handle Animal, you'll probably have to bring the dog's handler in the loop to direct it.

All I ask is a shot!

Banny nods her thanks to the guardsman, and charges onward, half-dragging poor Brinya (well, given that Brinya's legs are longer, she might manage to keep up regardless).

Bursting into the longhouse, Banny is oblivious to the fact that her big news is already known, at least to some-- she yells, "It ain't Kerst's knife, meanin' someone put it there to play us for fools an' cover up them killin' my friend! Don't nobody touch that knife no more!"

Then she blinks, at the scene of those already assembled.

Marikel replaces the tarp over the body and sighs before turning to Banny. His eye's briefly register surprise at Brinya's presence.
"Banny," Marikel's soft voice floats through the silence.
"Perhaps we should have a quiet word with Roderick. In private. And maybe speak with Halgra too."
Marikel looks to Roderick.
"I believe Kerst was to be laid out in the Ivory Hall?" Marikel asks, louder, so his voice easily carries to the Patrol members.

When Banny makes his outburst Vhailor nods and adds to Marikel and Rodrick "He knows too!" before frowning "How did he know too?"

Outside of that he goes on tippy-toes to try and get a look at the laid out body... but Marikel's lack of sesquipedalian loquaciousness and his own legs of diminished lineal measurement conspire to leave him thoroughly in the dark.

Rodrick is startled by Banny's sudden and loud entrance. He locks gazes with Brinya as he opens his hand to reveal the hopeknife in question.

Brinya touches Banny on the shoulder. "Aye, a quiet word. And I have to dress before school starts. Perhaps at my house? It's not far."

Alicia chooses to fade into the background as the investigation takes its latest twist. If that's his hopeknife, then who made the hopeknife that was planted in the wall?

Vhailor's like an attentive puppy in this circumstance, and will follow on wherever the interesting thing takes him.

"Oh. Right," Banny says with a throat clearing to Brinya's words of needing to get properly dressed. "But look-- Rodrick, how many but you've touched that knife? Whoever put it there, they might smell of it, y'see? Don't the Patrol have a dog or two when they go out lookin' for orc spoor? Mightn't they be able to follow, by scent--? See who really put that knife there," she explains, even as she lets herself follow Brinya towards the door.

Keeping anything from the body?

"Aye," Rodrick nods. "Best take him to Ivory Hall. The Chief Defender's expecting him." As the honor guard tends to moving the body, he steps in closer to Banny and continues in a more hushed tone. "I'm the only one who's held the knife since I took it out of the wall. I don't know how many people may have touched it before then, though." He looks to Marikel. "Well, Padre? Did he have his own hopeknife?"

The small knot moves out of the Longhouse toward Brinya's small house.

Sticking with the group, Alicia, or investigating something on your own?

Alicia slips up next to Marikel and quietly says, "I saw Councillor Sawyer chatting with a half-orc I didn't recognize in an alley last night. After that, I tailed the half-orc to the inn and found out that he gave his name to Cham as 'Mr Freley.' Maybe we should look into that too?"

Marikel arranges the body for the honour guard, taking nothing, then leaves with the small crowd towards Brinya's house.

"No sign of his hopeknife," Marikel informs Roderick. "Would you know his sword? He has that."

But Marikel's eyes narrow at Alicia's message. "Did you?" he murmurs quietly.
He takes a deep breath. "Maybe you should join us too, Miss Alicia. Where's Ruby?"

Marikel looks about for his other ward.

Must be the height... why they're always overlooking me... I'm sure they meant for inclusion... Bouyed by his internal explanation Vhailor follows along.

As the group leaves the Longhouse, they are joined by another... even smaller and easier to overlook... a white cat.

Rocked slightly by a brief recollection, Vhailor fills the empty space "Ruby went down the hill with the other townspeoples."

"No sign of his hopeknife," Marikel informs Roderick. "Would you know his sword? He has that."

The half-orc gives a half-shrug. "Standard issue weapon. Nothing special. Still, it was made at Clamor; Sara Morninghawk would know her own work."

Brinya leads the group down the road a ways, the morning sun at their backs, and lets them in the front door of her small but neat home. "Have a seat ... if you can find one; there's not a great deal of room," she murmurs apologetically. "I'll be right back down." She hurries up a staircase to the second floor, leaving the others in a tidy combination sitting/dining room.

Rocked slightly by a brief recollection, Vhailor fills the empty space "Ruby went down the hill with the other townspeoples."

Marikel notices Vhailor and rewards him with the same frown bestowed on Alicia, though his voice is not lacking in gratitude. "Thank you, sir."

He addresses the others once Brinya leaves.
"As many of you may have guessed, we're dealing not with suicide, but with murder. Falling a ways does a lot of damage to a fellow, a lot of damage that Kerst didn't have. He took a heavy blow to the back of his head, but the only other real damage is scratches to his arms and torso. The body does things when it's been dead a while too and Kerst has been dead quite a while."

He pauses to let things sink in.
"I think he was killed earlier and dragged there. I don't know who they saw fall from the cliff top."

Vhailor's mouth half opens to query exactly what sort of things a 'dead a while' body does that a 'not dead for quite long enough' body might not... but the frown was still present in his foremind. Picking Carbonel up off the ground and restoring him to his shoulder perch, he purses his lips in thought before choosing directness over discretion... as Brinya was obviously not going to be away for long.

Blithely he ploughs on "Roddy, any chance this has got anything to do with what you and Ms Brinya talked about last night? You all sombre, she anxious... the shoulder pat and nod..." coughing into the foggy tension.

Rodrick looks momentarily offended that Vhailor was watching him, then sighs as he recalls the bigger picture. "Maybe," he confesses, "if I knew what it was. She was asking about Kerst. Said he seemed upset about something and wouldn't talk to her about it. I told her I'd talk to him if I saw him ... which I didn't. When he didn't bunk at the barracks, I figured they'd made it up."

He turns to Marikel. "That would explain the hopeknife. If they moved the body and only realized his knife was missing afterward, they knew the missing knife would raise suspicions so they found a replacement. That means it's someone who knows enough about Trunau to know our traditions. It also means, if we can find Kerst's hopeknife, it's probably where he was attacked."

Shrugging Vhailor circles back onto Marikel's comments "You might be right... I remember my Uncle Pinderfadbla trying to figure out how to fly. The top of the tower must have been about the same height as the cliff Kerst supposedly jumped off... the body looked a bit squishier and oozier then..." a beat "Oh no, wasn't my uncle... he threw a pig off first... with parchmented wings glued on. I can still remember the wee little trotters and his squeal..."

Pushing his glasses back up the ridge of his nose "Did someone actually see him jump?"

Beh, busy few days. *drags self back in*

Banny doesn't speak much immediately, glancing around at the close walls of the schoolteacher's modest dwelling with dislike. It's close. Not a lot of space to move. She doesn't take a seat, but restlessly hovers in the doorway, trying to catch drifts of fresh, if cold, air.

She listens to the talk while shifting her weight around, heel to toes, back again, and semi-consciously opening and closing her fists. Talk, talk, talk-- nothin' but talk-- Kerst is dead. She don't want more talking; she wants to strangle whoever did it, with her own two hands.

When there's a bit of a lull in the words, she jerks her chin towards Rodrick in a short gesture. "No, for you'll find Kerst's real knife in Brinya's hands," she mutters. "The one she gave him in trade for it, though, has writin' on it: Kerst, may our light conquer darkness. So we'll know it when it's seen.

"If'n it's only been your hand on the false knife so far, Rod, then we might have good odds of trackin' by scent, if we can get one of th' folk to lend us a dog. Don't Jess Meeson got a mutt?"

Banny resists the urge to pace, for the room's too small, instead drumming her fingers on her crossed arms. "Who'd do this?" she says, half a snarl, half a plea to the universe. "Kurst never... he never hurt a damned fly. Nobody in Trunau hated him, far as I know."

Marikel's stern countenance momentarily drops at Banny's revelation.
"May our light... were they...?" He looks to Roderick before resuming his demeanour.
"I'm sorry, that's none of my business."

He turns to Vhailor.
"Didn't one of the patrol see him?"
He looks askance back to Roderick.

"And his other stuff was with him. His arrows hadn't fallen from his quiver. His bow was cut cleanly in two. We should tell Halgra."

"Did someone actually see him jump?"

"Didn't one of the patrol see him?"

Rodrick nods. "Inger. She was on watch in the southern tower. She was the one to sound the alarm."

"If'n it's only been your hand on the false knife so far, Rod, then we might have good odds of trackin' by scent, if we can get one of th' folk to lend us a dog. Don't Jess Meeson got a mutt?"

"Aye." Rodrick produces the substitute hopeknife, holding it daintily between his thumb and forefinger as though his hand hasn't been all over it. "Anyone have a sack or a cloak or something to wrap it in so the dog doesn't go straight for one of you after it trees me?"

Marikel's stern countenance momentarily drops at Banny's revelation.

"May our light... were they...?" He looks to Roderick before resuming his demeanour.
"I'm sorry, that's none of my business."

"Yes, we were." Brinya's voice comes from the staircase where she has just reappeared, dressed for the work day and her hair properly pinned up. Her blotchy cheeks and puffy eyes betray that she spent some stray moments of her privacy giving in to grief, but she now stands tall and dignified, challenging Rodrick with a gaze that dares him to try to silence her. "We were secretly married. His family didn't approve of our relationship."

Rodrick sighs heavily and corrects her. "Our father didn't approve. Kerst thought -- we all did -- that it would be better not to openly defy him."

"Somehow, I think that if your father found out, there'd be an enraged beating rather than a cut bowstring and a blow to the back of the head. Would someone benefit from trying to pin the blame on Jagrin?" Alicia chimes in. "Maybe a councilor?"

"The bow was cut. The string was fine," Marikel corrects Alicia.
"I'm not sure how something like that could happen. There didn't appear to be a struggle. And I don't think it's a good idea, Miss Alicia, to make accusations without evidence. Especially of the council."

Marikel produces a sack and takes the hopeknife from Roderick. He wraps it then hands the package to Banny.

Vhailor's small face swivels upon his neck from person to person as words are spent and theories spill out upon the floor. Nodding and pursing his lips in thought alternatively he seems enamored with the proceedings... despite his lack of cogent input. He takes it upon himself to provide some kind of summary
"So... killed, but not by the fall;
Probapossibly surprised or knew the one that hit him in the skull;
The suicide knife wasn't his, but hopefully is smelly enough to lead a puppy to whose it is;
Secret hankypanky with the schoolmarm..." lightbulbs flash and he turns to Alicia "Ooh ooh... Gossip! Maybe if you go and scare the kiddies again we can see if any of them was in on it?"

Ali gives Markiel a dirty look, eyes narrowed and lips pursed. "We should go find this Freley guy. For all we know, he could be skipping town!"

"Somehow, I think that if your father found out, there'd be an enraged beating rather than a cut bowstring and a blow to the back of the head."

"What?!" Rodrick demands. "No! What kind of a person do you think my father is?"