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+ | < | ||
+ | turn:46 | ||
+ | title:A Scene of Death | ||
+ | start: | ||
+ | end: | ||
+ | posted_date: | ||
+ | weather: | ||
+ | location: | ||
+ | xp_johannes: | ||
+ | xp_kay: | ||
+ | xp_kreemon: | ||
+ | xp_ardith: | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kreemon broke through the crowd, drawing his sword again as he | ||
+ | rushed the door. He slowed enough to try the doorknob, but nevertheless | ||
+ | crashed into the door with the momentum of his run, causing it to | ||
+ | squeak and crack. The door was locked, but gave easily at a second | ||
+ | rush. Ardith and Kay arrived on the scene just in time to see Kreemon | ||
+ | break the door in. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The door opened into a small eating room with a round table | ||
+ | and two well-used chairs. To the right was a kitchen, and forward and | ||
+ | to the left was an empty hallway. Directly ahead was a door. Two men | ||
+ | entered behind Kreemon looking aghast. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kree hesitated. The house was silent, at least as far as he could | ||
+ | tell with all the noise outside. No, there was one sound, quiet against | ||
+ | the background. Something made an occasional creaking noise. Bork | ||
+ | sniffed the air curiously, facing the hallway. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kree moved carefully down the hallway, whispering, "Go boy" to his | ||
+ | dog, who rushed ahead. The two men, with Ardith and Kay behind them, | ||
+ | followed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The hallway was short and empty, with an old and poorly-constructed | ||
+ | floor. On the right, the top of the wall opened up at an increasing | ||
+ | angle, revealing a staircase going up in the opposite direction. The | ||
+ | hallway ended in a small room with a damp and severely warped wooden | ||
+ | floor. A faint smell of mildew was present in the air. Directly ahead | ||
+ | was an open door leading outside, and a soft breeze revealed it as the | ||
+ | source of the creaking noise. The door was loose on its hinges, and the | ||
+ | doorknob, which had been violently bashed in, was lying near the wall | ||
+ | with a good chunk of the door still attached. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Along the edges of the room were tall piles of wet towels, but there | ||
+ | were a few dry towels at the base of the staircase to the left, | ||
+ | presumably to dry off shoes and keep the stairs from warping. Bork was | ||
+ | standing with his front paws on the second stair, swinging his head | ||
+ | back and forth to look both at the top of the stairs and at Kreemon. | ||
+ | Further to the left was another room with an even wetter floor. The | ||
+ | door creaked again. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What happened here?" A voice said loudly from the front door. A | ||
+ | confused chorus attempted an answer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kreemon looked back over his shoulder at the question. He kept his | ||
+ | voice low, but heatedly told the two men behind him to back the other | ||
+ | townspeople out of the house and tell them to be quiet. They did as | ||
+ | they were told. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Outside the front door, Johannes appeared, exhausted from the run. | ||
+ | He attempted to push his way through the crowd, letting out a constant | ||
+ | stream of apologies as he passed. " | ||
+ | that..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kreemon motioned Ardith and Kay forward to him. He indicated that | ||
+ | they should stay by the stairwell, and then went to the wall, where he | ||
+ | bent down and picked up the doorknob. It had clearly been broken off | ||
+ | recently; the sharp splinters showed none of the wear or discoloration | ||
+ | of time. He put the doorknob back and looked outside. Two steps led | ||
+ | down to the ground, which was slightly damp from dripping towels. The | ||
+ | dampness made it possible to make out several sets of footprints. | ||
+ | Directly in front of the doorway, there had been too much activity to | ||
+ | learn anything, but the prints became clearer behind that. Further | ||
+ | away, they faded into the distance as they dried. Of the most recent | ||
+ | footprints, at least five sets, or at least four unique sets, came from | ||
+ | the direction of the bathhouses, which were clearly visible from the | ||
+ | doorway. At least two unique sets left toward the bathhouses, only one | ||
+ | of which matched an incoming set. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Who is he to give orders?" | ||
+ | front. "... Well he's definitely got a point there. Back off, everyone! | ||
+ | The law will handle it from here! And quiet! ... Who are you?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kay, who was listening to the conversation from the back, imagined | ||
+ | Johannes stopping his struggle to get to the door, and giving a slight, | ||
+ | formal bow. " | ||
+ | may have some relevant information... but first I have to see what | ||
+ | happened." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | from out of town. I'd assume the later looking at your clothes, so let | ||
+ | me tell you something about Dunweig. I handle strange noises in the | ||
+ | middle of the day, and if not me, someone who works for me. You don't | ||
+ | work for me, and neither do whoever made it inside before I got here. | ||
+ | So stay back and let me do my job." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Out of town, sir. Duerstadt, actually. And very well, I shall leave | ||
+ | this to you." Kay imagined Johannes turning away, struggling to keep | ||
+ | his expression calm and neutral. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kree made a snap decision when he realized the door had been busted | ||
+ | in, not out. It was what he really thought must have happened upon | ||
+ | seeing it, but he needed to study it to be sure. Now, he moved back to | ||
+ | the stairway and headed up the stairs, motioning Ardith and Kay to | ||
+ | follow him, and nearly tripping over Bork. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fourth step bent and creaked loudly under Kreemon' | ||
+ | the rest were solid. The staircase ended in a short hallway. At one end | ||
+ | was a small door that likely opened to a closet. At the other end was a | ||
+ | sparse room with a bed leaning, on its side, against the far wall. | ||
+ | Directly ahead was a larger room, with its door opened half-way. | ||
+ | Through the doorway, Kreemon could see the edge of a queen-sized bed. | ||
+ | The smell of blood was in the air. Bork stood nervously whimpering at | ||
+ | the door. Without hesitation, Kreemon entered the room. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kay's attention was caught again by the talking outside. It was | ||
+ | difficult to make out from upstairs, but she filled in words when she | ||
+ | couldn' | ||
+ | then stopping and turning around. Johannes must have stopped as well. | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | Just what were you doing with that butcher, anyway?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I saw the disturbance at the butcher' | ||
+ | curious as to what had happened. One of the people on the scene was a | ||
+ | traveller who had recently befriended the butcher and was disturbed as | ||
+ | to what he saw as unusual circumstances of death. As I have received at | ||
+ | least a small amount of training in the College of Medicine at the | ||
+ | University of Duerstadt, even if I was based in the College of Moral | ||
+ | Philosophy, I thought that I might be able to help this man by seeing | ||
+ | if I could ascertain the cause of death." | ||
+ | say, the condition of the body _was_ very unusual." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't care what your curiosity tells you; you don't go poking | ||
+ | around dead bodies in my town. The king ain't taking over here, not as | ||
+ | long as I'm around. It was pretty strange though. No one in Dunweig... | ||
+ | On second thought, you'd better come with me. You too." Kay couldn' | ||
+ | imagine who the second person might be. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "King taking over?" Johannes said. From the footsteps downstairs, he | ||
+ | had to be following the constable into the house. "I fear rumour has | ||
+ | exaggerated my station. My employers are private persons, with no title | ||
+ | of nobility, and have no connection to the crown. Be assured that I am | ||
+ | travelling simply to learn what I can, as I can... not everything there | ||
+ | is to learn is in books, after all." He laughed slightly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kree drew his sword, and pushed the door open to the left. The door | ||
+ | hit something and bounced back part way. With a disconcerted look on | ||
+ | his face, Kreemon pushed the door back again with the tip of his sword, | ||
+ | but not far enough to hit what it hit before. He looked into the room | ||
+ | as the door would allow, and down at the floor. In the room was a | ||
+ | round wool rug next to a queen-sized bed. At the right of the bed was | ||
+ | a nightstand. The sheets were mostly torn off, and were pulled to the | ||
+ | left. He checked through the crack in the door, and saw a wardrobe | ||
+ | against the wall. Near the door was a part of something he couldn' | ||
+ | make out. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kreemon slowly and quietly entered the room, looked on the other | ||
+ | side of the door, and jumped back. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Two men lay on the floor behind the door. One was a crumpled mess, | ||
+ | folded unnaturally in on himself, his forehead nearly touching his | ||
+ | belly. Kreemon would have assumed he was dead, but the fingers of his | ||
+ | left hand were still twitching. He had a severe bruise on his bald | ||
+ | head, which was too many minutes old to have been caused by Kreemon' | ||
+ | opening of the door. A trickle of blood came from the corner of his | ||
+ | mouth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The other, younger man was much more conventionally dead. A dagger | ||
+ | stuck out of his back, and a coin pouch lay loosely in his palm. His | ||
+ | body was also bent, but more as if he had fallen while huddled over | ||
+ | than anything else. A stream of blood wound its way from the wound and | ||
+ | pooled on the floor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was a confused series of bloody footprints that danced around | ||
+ | the two men, some under the bleeding man, and one which made a distinct | ||
+ | outline in a puddle of blood, near the pair but separate from either. | ||
+ | The puddle seemed to be the source of the prints. Two footprints led | ||
+ | away from the men and toward the bed in large steps. After looking for | ||
+ | a few more seconds, Kreemon noticed several fainter, drier prints | ||
+ | coming from the other side of the bed back to the two men. It seemed | ||
+ | that someone had run from the men, crossed the bed, and walked calmly | ||
+ | back. All the footprints were the same -- from the same or very | ||
+ | similar shoes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There were three windows in the room, all with open shutters. Kree | ||
+ | knew he had to make sure the room was clear of danger before he could | ||
+ | spend time examining the two men. He backed up to the corner of the | ||
+ | room to the right of the door, and then followed the wall to the next | ||
+ | corner. He followed the far wall a few steps until he could see to the | ||
+ | floor on other side of the bed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This had been a violent scene indeed. Crumpled in the corner was a | ||
+ | woman in plain clothes and smock, facing down, her arm reached out in | ||
+ | front of her. A few inches from her hand was a dented two-stemmed | ||
+ | candelabra. The pulled bedsheets were streaked with red, and the floor | ||
+ | around her was sploshed with it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kreemon paid no attention to the people talking downstairs, but Kay, | ||
+ | still standing just outside the door, listened. "Yeah, strange is | ||
+ | right. And now we have six strangers in town that no one knows... You | ||
+ | say they were at the back door? No one's outside; they must be | ||
+ | upstairs. There' | ||
+ | or the whole lot of you are under arrest for murder." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kree approached the wardrobe, reached out, yanked the door open and | ||
+ | stepped back, sword ready. Feeling a bit foolish after nearly attacking | ||
+ | some disarrayed and entirely unarmed clothing, he went to the window, | ||
+ | motioning to Ardith as he walked. " | ||
+ | pointing in their direction, "and a woman over here." There were no | ||
+ | obvious signs, but the windows were definitely large enough to allow | ||
+ | escape, if one did not mind falling eleven feet onto hard ground. There | ||
+ | was no sign of impact on the ground below. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After checking the window, Kreemon bent down to check the woman' | ||
+ | neck for a pulse. The neck was cold -- far too cold to be natural -- | ||
+ | colder even than the butcher' | ||
+ | pale as old, dirty bone. There was definitely no pulse. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Just like Moren, cold as ice." Kree remembered Johannes and yelled | ||
+ | for him, still looking down at the woman. " | ||
+ | someone call the constable!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | voice. He pushed past them, dragging Johannes and another man along. | ||
+ | Johannes looked a bit green when he saw the carnage. Bork barked | ||
+ | ferociously, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "By the Great Healer herself!" | ||
+ | the man Kreemon had sent out. "How many of these people did you see | ||
+ | come in? The live ones, that is." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "All of them, sir." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And where did they come from?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't know." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well we'll see about that later... Will you look at that? Three | ||
+ | killed in a week -- and in Dunweig! What happened to that man? Looks | ||
+ | like someone folded him in half." He stopped and composed himself. | ||
+ | "And what do you all think you're doing here? This is town business. | ||
+ | I'll bet you're the same group who was muddling around with the butcher | ||
+ | yesterday." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kree looked up at the constable, barely restraining the rage in his | ||
+ | face. "Aye, and if you handle this the way you handled Moren' | ||
+ | ye'll never know what happened here, either. Take a look about this | ||
+ | room." He held up a finger to the constable. " | ||
+ | disturbing anything, and tell me what you believe happened here." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The constable glared at Kreemon. " | ||
+ | business. If you're the foreigner I think you are, you have no | ||
+ | protection here." He walked to the center of the room. "So watch your | ||
+ | words." | ||
+ | disturbing anything, eh? Which one of us was kneeling over a dead | ||
+ | woman? That makes four in a week!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Uh, constable?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | The constable looked back at the man who had come in with Johannes. | ||
+ | He followed his finger to the bald man on the floor. "By Andritha' | ||
+ | holy name!" He rushed over to the bald man, and crouched on the floor, | ||
+ | soaking his knee in the puddle of blood. "His finger! This man's still | ||
+ | alive!" | ||
+ | moving. After a second or two, it started again. "Well don't stand | ||
+ | there staring! Get a healer!" | ||
+ | said nothing for several seconds. "On second thought, stay. I might | ||
+ | need you. What was I doing? Uh... King's man, or whatever you are -- | ||
+ | you said you're a bit of a healer; what could bend someone in half like | ||
+ | that?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Johannes gasped. " | ||
+ | dying man, desperately trying to dig every half-remembered technique | ||
+ | from his studies at the College of Medicine to the surface of his mind. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first concern was that the man was hardly breathing at all. If | ||
+ | Johannes hadn't known the man was alive, he would have thought that | ||
+ | the light trickle of air against his hand was an effect of the open | ||
+ | windows. This case was totally beyond Johannes' | ||
+ | was caved in, but not in the way of a heavy blow. It was more like his | ||
+ | ribs had become too small for the rest of his body, and his body had | ||
+ | folded in on itself to compensate. Indeed, when Johannes gently felt | ||
+ | his chest, the ribs seemed a bit concave, and the chest was soft. Some | ||
+ | bones were broken, but others merely bent. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Johannes was afraid to do anything, for fear of making things worse, | ||
+ | but he realized that hesitation would be more harmful than any other | ||
+ | mistake he could make. He took a dagger out of his belt, and held it | ||
+ | near the man's neck. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What are you doing!" | ||
+ | Johannes' | ||
+ | the man's shirt. His chest was dark blue, bruised over its entire area. | ||
+ | There was nothing Johannes could do. " | ||
+ | shouted. "Well! What did that?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Unable to restrain herself, having just discovered that the " | ||
+ | man" was still alive, Ardith brandished her Holy Symbol like a shield | ||
+ | and forcefully pushed both Kreemon and the constable out of her way and | ||
+ | knelt beside the victim. They were both surprised at her forcefulness. | ||
+ | As she had that fateful time in the Temple, with Kay beside her, | ||
+ | Ardith prayed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ardith remembered the strange dream; the dream that led her to heal | ||
+ | so many fishermen and other workers in the Temple. Hardly believing | ||
+ | herself that she had performed those healings, she prayed the same | ||
+ | prayer as before, this time in Sarnam. She remembered the voice that | ||
+ | had insisted that Ardith "was ready," | ||
+ | the hurt and find the lost." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Holding her holy symbol in her left hand, she reached out to touch | ||
+ | the injured man's chest with her right. In a voice not much louder than | ||
+ | a whisper, but which carried a surprising tone of command, Ardith | ||
+ | intoned in Sarnam, "Holy Mother Andritha, we pray for this man's | ||
+ | healing." | ||
+ | as she had been taught. She hoped beyond hope that, if the poor man | ||
+ | could not be saved, he could at least tell them what had happened here, | ||
+ | to prevent any more strange deaths. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kay stood open-mouthed watching her friend. Then she remembered the | ||
+ | miracle in the Temple when Ardith healed the burned man. She stood | ||
+ | aside waiting to see what would happen, and remained alert for foul | ||
+ | play from any quarter. Though she had pledged herself to Andritha | ||
+ | before her friend, she was not entirely convinced that the goddess | ||
+ | cared anymore. Yet, still Ardith had performed the healings in the | ||
+ | Temple... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Whether Ardith was a "holy one" or not didn't concern Kay. That she | ||
+ | was her friend did. And she would protect her friend no matter what. | ||
+ | Keeping her eyes on all in the room, Kay bowed her head and added | ||
+ | aloud, and actually believing it intoned, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | Yay! A turn in a month! Great stuff, from all three of you! Other | ||
+ | than random compliments, | ||
+ | already started the next turn. Oh, I got tired of seing the " | ||
+ | orders" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||