The crowd flinches and pulls back from Balurks shouting
The Sherrif is quick to tell the folks to go back to their homes and he turns to the group.
I never thought you folks did this. The boy seemed a good sort. It looks like, by his dress, he came out here from sleeping...
Oh Quincey...Ancestors watch your journey.
Barek remains silent and looks at the head and at the Monument itself, trying to discern what could have done this.
Unable to determine how exactly the head had been removed from the body, Barek focuses on the Monument itself.
Following his examination, he pulls an old travelling cloak from his pack and covers Quincey's body with it.
"Sheriff, do you know of the Splatterman? Letters written in blood, one at a time, fits his methods. Do you know of anyone whose name starts with 'VE?' That may give us a clue as to how long before whomever, or, whatever, did this will strike again..."
Carla remains silent as the body is revealed. Her hands tremble in her pockets and Lawrence notices. He nibbles at her to try to break her out of stasis.
She finally looks around for other things to focus on. She tells Jack "Hey, maybe you can find some tracks here? I mean, I know I'm grasping at straws, but... isn't there something you can find?" Carla knows that it's a fool's request, so she adds "Maybe Lawrence can help? He has a great sense of smell."
Nodding, "Yeah, sure, I can give it a shot." Jack takes a look around, wondering if he can discern any real tracks.
He pauses in mid-hunt, turning his focus to Balurk. Grinning, he turns to the others and simply says, "See? Balurk gets it," before returning to his track hunting.
Lloyd stares at the screaming Balurk incredulously, and with an annoyed sigh he mutters to himself, "All that work to calm the townsfolk down and you went and scared them off."
Pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment, he turns his attention back to the sheriff, "You may not have thought that we committed this act of murder, my good sir," he explains, "but I overheard the people murmuring when we arrived. And whether or not they actually believe we did it or were just looking for someone to blame out of anger, I believed the best course of action would be to provide evidence to placate them. Wouldn't want an unruly mob now would we?"
The Sherrif looked at Barek like as if hed just said something sacrileges.
None of that kind of talk here. to say it is to invite the evil in. Cant excite the people more than they are. but no. I can think of no townsfolk whose name starts with the Letters VE
jack started looking around and Lawrence started to sniff around as well. The tracks were so badly obscured because of the crowd, it was night impossible to see anything and the scent was muddled because of the same.
However Jack did find were drops of blood had fallen on a plant's leaf and looking it was apparent every so often another drop would fall as they he and Lawrence moved away from the monument. When Jack lost sight of the next lawrence could find it by smell.
meanwhile The sherrif was nodding and agreeing with Lloyd.
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Carla sees Barek investigating the body and goes help.
She also asks "What did you find Jack? Should we follow that trail?"
She also mentions "If someone enchanted poor Quincey to sleep walk here just to be killed, then none of us is safe."
She also tries thinking of any historical figure or fact that could relate to VE.
As Carla moves to look at the monument, She sees the blood-stained plaque reading
In Memorium for the great sacrifice made for the citizens of Ravengro and Ustilav. Here is a list of the brave guards and people who gave their lives the night of the prison fire at Harrowstone.
A list of names follow. It looks to be about roughly 30 names. Starting with Warden Lyvar Hawkran, Vesorianna Hawkran, Gurtis Vortch, Antonis Balinea, Apostache Filosovei, Codrin Croditieraru, Constan Otvos
Costian Radachescu, Daniorec Iacobes, Dortlin Petrandrul, Dragominik Lahovary, Dragoslavian Korzha, Fonso Poenar, Garrikano Ghituc, Gunarin Lahovaci, Hanzi Pogoestescu, Horia Cernea, Ionaculai Giurescu, Khulaie Blerinesco, Kistin Cristescu, Lasho Predoiu, Liviu Donceanu, Marko Cretu,
Mazonn Lixandrescu, Mihail Radache, Nicolae Giurgiu, Patriel Mariu, Pitivo Blaga, Tawni Randulescu, Teodosie Salan, Valerikan Serban, Waltherum Stanca, Yanko Voica
It looks like Quincey had his head cut off almost surgically, but the odd thing, is his blood was collected carefully, not spilled all about.
"My apologies Sheriff. Ancestors know, I don't want to get everyone riled up again. I think our schedule for investigating Harrowstone has been shortened considerably." Barek shudders, not really wanting to get back to the cursed place. "You were right to keep people away, it truly is haunted with malevolent spirits. Some of us have the wounds to prove it..." Making a decision, he decides to trust the Sheriff, who has shown them nothing but understanding, and explain some of the stranger things found at the old prison.
"Q-Quincy? Dead?" Briar Rose stammers, the new warmth she was feeling inside suddenly snuffed out. She throws her arms around Barek, tears in her eyes. "This place is so horrible..."
She also asks "What did you find Jack? Should we follow that trail?"
Shaking his head, "Yeah, I'm not sure, Carla. It's hit or miss. I feel like I've got something, and then I seem to lose it. I just don't trust it enough to... well... trust it." He shrugs. "Sorry." He glances around at the scene, shaking his head in frustration.
and once again Lawrence moves toward a spot where a few drops of blood hit the plants nearby...
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Carla says "So, here are the names of all the Harrowstone guards. It would be nice to know who are their families here, maybe they have some more information for us. Although people are usually creeped out by me when I talk to them, I'm sure they'd respond better to someone else talking."
Then, she muses "I think following this blood trail could leave us to some cultists, maybe. It may be worth our time." She is trying not to admit she isn't eager to return to Harrowstone anytime soon.
"If nothing else, following the trail of blood will at least show us where he was murdered," Lloyd explains, "There's far too little blood here for this to have been where he died."
Barek gives Briar Rose a squeeze around the shoulders, briefly wondering if she can feel it through her armor. Seeing that the rest of the group has started following a trail, he takes her hand and brings her along, saying, "If we can find the person that did this, we may be able to bring his spirit to rest."
Catching the last of what Lloyd was saying, Barek nods along. "Do you think he was exsanguinated before death? His body should have been covered in blood and very strangely wasn't..."