Blood in the Water II
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2023 5:14 am
TIMESTAMP: Calid March 31, Searing 123
NOTES: -
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The young vampyr was, right away, fascinated. He hadn't really been told much in advance and, consequently, didn't have much in terms of expectations before he arrived. The first incident involved only one death, was ritualistic in nature and it would appear that the local investigators notated, but had failed to recognize, some of the symbols utilized by the perpetrators. And so at first, they came to the mistaken conclusion that the scene was orchestrated by a particularly deranged individual– however, because of their aforementioned failure to recognize the symbols used, their initial evaluation lacked any acknowledgment of the specific religious connotations that were present.
It had also been noted that Semblance and Aura glass had been used but that this part of Dardouen did not have access to more advanced quality dragonshards nor masterful practitioners of the rune. As such, the only thing their more rudimentary applications thereof had uncovered was the fact that whomever the perpetrator(s) were, they had access to magic themselves one way or another– either in the form of wards that prevented them from leaving behind remnants of themselves in the environment's Aura or they had some way to obfuscate their presence after the fact. Unfortunately, the Dardouen officials were unable to discern which method had been utilized.
The crime took place in a small village known as Görlitz, and the victim was a local man named Tomasz Lohr. Tomasz had, up until that point, lived a fairly normal, unremarkable life; he was the second son of a local businessman–owner of a general store sort of thing– and had thus far been quietly working for his family. According to the notes, he really didn't have anyone by way of noteworthy enemies and had most likely been chosen opportunistically.
He was found strung up in the attic of an abandoned house on the village outskirts. The scene was sloppy, but described as ritualistic due to the posing of the body and the symbols painted on the wall behind him using the victim's own blood as medium. More specifically, Tomasz had been found kneeling in a pool of his own blood with wrists tied together and arms lifted above his head in a way meant to force his torso to remain nearly upright courtesy of a rope tied to one of the ceiling's support beams.
The cause of death was exsanguination. He had been first flayed, as he was missing strips of flesh from his back, arms and thighs, all of which had been haphazardly discarded by simply throwing them off to the side within the same room. But ultimately, the young man had expired from having his throat slit– meaning the former flaying had been done for purposes of sadism or some rite requiring pain for one reason or another. The local investigation had found themselves at a loss to explain this.
Around, in the margins of, and sometimes overtop of the original writings of the case files were annotations penned in an elegant script– no doubt Nachtigal's, as she presently appeared to be in the middle of writing more of them over the second case whilst Hector continued to review the first. Most of her insights were focused on the symbols the locals failed to recognize; she had been a religious scholar before pivoting into this job. That was partially why this case had been relegated to her; many of the ones that were tied to one dark deity or another were.
In this case, the symbology had been associated with Xarakses– the fallen blood god. Any fealty to the dead gods was rare, but there were persistent, obsessive sects for each of them that still existed in pockets of the world. And in this case, the deceased appeared to be a sacrifice; as the old saying goes, 'blood for the blood god.'
The question, then, was as follows: to what end?
It was around the time that Hector had finished reading over the first file and had begun to ruminate on its contents when Vergil finally arrived. Donning the same uniform as the other two, the older vampyr entered the room with an expression bordering on apologetic and a tiredness to his eyes.
“Sorry– I came as soon as I was able,” he said with a brief bow of his head.
With all three parties now present and after a brief exchange of pleasantries, Nachtigal paused what she was doing to hand off the file about the second scene to Hector, and in turn, he gave the file concerning the first to Vergil. Nachtigal herself was left to pore over the brief bits of information she had been given concerning the third scene, though that one had yet to be properly processed– the local investigators were waiting on them in order to do so.
The second case was in a different village entirely– one called Monschau– though it did neighbor Görlitz. It was, however, extremely obvious right away that the two cases were connected because of the fact that the same strange symbols were marked in manners not dissimilar to the first. And even without that, the brutality of the murder might have served to connect the two.
Furthermore, another thread that tied the cases together was that the victim was actually a resident of Görlitz despite being found in Monschau. She was a middle aged woman named Monika Karau who was known to be something of a recluse; she worked alongside her husband, an apothecary, but it was rare for her to handle any aspects of their business that handled customers directly. As such, she, too, didn't have many enemies; most folks knew little to nothing about her.
Her body was discovered in the basement of an old windmill. The mill was on the property of the village's largest farm. Because the proprietor didn't often feel the need to go down there, this allowed the murderers to take their time with their kill but also make sure she was found right away. They'd drawn their symbols in blood on the door, which was, first thing the morning after, sighted by a farmhand. In turn, the farmer alerted authorities right away. Evidently, they wanted their work to be seen as freshly as possible.
This second killing was less sloppy, less haphazard, but it was more brutal than the last. In terms of her position, she was posed in a remarkably similar way to the previous victim, Tomasz– kneeling in a pool of her own blood, but sitting upright by arms tied together and secured above her head by a rope from the ceiling. Unlike Tomasz, however, she was not simply flayed. Rather, her back had been skinned and her lungs pulled through her ribcage. Resembling wings, her killers had suspended them behind her with fishing hooks and fishing wire.
Monika's cause of death was, much like the first, exsanguination from having her throat slit. Vergil noted that the local coroner was correct in their notation that in both cases, all other wounds had occurred either antemortem or perimortem. He also pointed out that while he could not confirm without seeing the bodies himself, he was inclined to agree with their further notation that their torture had been deliberately drawn out for one reason or another.
Much like before, applications of the local's resources with regards to Semblance and Aura glass also gained them little in terms of insight. A pity.
The same symbol as before was present, having been drawn this time singularly on the wall behind the body in the victim's blood. And as before, the local law enforcement failed to recognize it for what it was. Painted big and bold was the symbol of Xarakses. New to these scene, however: beneath the symbol was the phrase, ‘the death of the divine is not the end.’
In the margins, Nachtigal had written:
‘clearly, this is orchestrated by followers of Xarakses, but what is this?’
‘an attempt to revive?’
‘do they believe Xarakses still lingers?’
‘is this perhaps a call for something new to take the deceased's domains?’
Xarakses, the old god of blood, was a fascinating prospect to explore for Hector. It was hard for him to hide his interest, though he did try his best to present it as more academic than not.
The rest of the day was spent discussing potential theories, with both Hector and Vergil asking questions and offering their own input. Nachtigal asked Vergil, specifically, an array of questions that were more his expertise with regards to the coroner's reports. He did his best to answer her as much as he could and while his insights expanded upon what was there, he always added disclaimers onto his statements that he really ought to see the bodies himself before he can really offer suppositions of any real accuracy.
Before they split off for the evening, Hector and Vergil were given a location within the Inquisition headquarters to meet with Nachtigal the next day. From there, a portal would be made for them directly to the village, Erlau, wherein the third murder had taken place.
It had also been noted that Semblance and Aura glass had been used but that this part of Dardouen did not have access to more advanced quality dragonshards nor masterful practitioners of the rune. As such, the only thing their more rudimentary applications thereof had uncovered was the fact that whomever the perpetrator(s) were, they had access to magic themselves one way or another– either in the form of wards that prevented them from leaving behind remnants of themselves in the environment's Aura or they had some way to obfuscate their presence after the fact. Unfortunately, the Dardouen officials were unable to discern which method had been utilized.
The crime took place in a small village known as Görlitz, and the victim was a local man named Tomasz Lohr. Tomasz had, up until that point, lived a fairly normal, unremarkable life; he was the second son of a local businessman–owner of a general store sort of thing– and had thus far been quietly working for his family. According to the notes, he really didn't have anyone by way of noteworthy enemies and had most likely been chosen opportunistically.
He was found strung up in the attic of an abandoned house on the village outskirts. The scene was sloppy, but described as ritualistic due to the posing of the body and the symbols painted on the wall behind him using the victim's own blood as medium. More specifically, Tomasz had been found kneeling in a pool of his own blood with wrists tied together and arms lifted above his head in a way meant to force his torso to remain nearly upright courtesy of a rope tied to one of the ceiling's support beams.
The cause of death was exsanguination. He had been first flayed, as he was missing strips of flesh from his back, arms and thighs, all of which had been haphazardly discarded by simply throwing them off to the side within the same room. But ultimately, the young man had expired from having his throat slit– meaning the former flaying had been done for purposes of sadism or some rite requiring pain for one reason or another. The local investigation had found themselves at a loss to explain this.
Around, in the margins of, and sometimes overtop of the original writings of the case files were annotations penned in an elegant script– no doubt Nachtigal's, as she presently appeared to be in the middle of writing more of them over the second case whilst Hector continued to review the first. Most of her insights were focused on the symbols the locals failed to recognize; she had been a religious scholar before pivoting into this job. That was partially why this case had been relegated to her; many of the ones that were tied to one dark deity or another were.
In this case, the symbology had been associated with Xarakses– the fallen blood god. Any fealty to the dead gods was rare, but there were persistent, obsessive sects for each of them that still existed in pockets of the world. And in this case, the deceased appeared to be a sacrifice; as the old saying goes, 'blood for the blood god.'
The question, then, was as follows: to what end?
It was around the time that Hector had finished reading over the first file and had begun to ruminate on its contents when Vergil finally arrived. Donning the same uniform as the other two, the older vampyr entered the room with an expression bordering on apologetic and a tiredness to his eyes.
“Sorry– I came as soon as I was able,” he said with a brief bow of his head.
With all three parties now present and after a brief exchange of pleasantries, Nachtigal paused what she was doing to hand off the file about the second scene to Hector, and in turn, he gave the file concerning the first to Vergil. Nachtigal herself was left to pore over the brief bits of information she had been given concerning the third scene, though that one had yet to be properly processed– the local investigators were waiting on them in order to do so.
The second case was in a different village entirely– one called Monschau– though it did neighbor Görlitz. It was, however, extremely obvious right away that the two cases were connected because of the fact that the same strange symbols were marked in manners not dissimilar to the first. And even without that, the brutality of the murder might have served to connect the two.
Furthermore, another thread that tied the cases together was that the victim was actually a resident of Görlitz despite being found in Monschau. She was a middle aged woman named Monika Karau who was known to be something of a recluse; she worked alongside her husband, an apothecary, but it was rare for her to handle any aspects of their business that handled customers directly. As such, she, too, didn't have many enemies; most folks knew little to nothing about her.
Her body was discovered in the basement of an old windmill. The mill was on the property of the village's largest farm. Because the proprietor didn't often feel the need to go down there, this allowed the murderers to take their time with their kill but also make sure she was found right away. They'd drawn their symbols in blood on the door, which was, first thing the morning after, sighted by a farmhand. In turn, the farmer alerted authorities right away. Evidently, they wanted their work to be seen as freshly as possible.
This second killing was less sloppy, less haphazard, but it was more brutal than the last. In terms of her position, she was posed in a remarkably similar way to the previous victim, Tomasz– kneeling in a pool of her own blood, but sitting upright by arms tied together and secured above her head by a rope from the ceiling. Unlike Tomasz, however, she was not simply flayed. Rather, her back had been skinned and her lungs pulled through her ribcage. Resembling wings, her killers had suspended them behind her with fishing hooks and fishing wire.
Monika's cause of death was, much like the first, exsanguination from having her throat slit. Vergil noted that the local coroner was correct in their notation that in both cases, all other wounds had occurred either antemortem or perimortem. He also pointed out that while he could not confirm without seeing the bodies himself, he was inclined to agree with their further notation that their torture had been deliberately drawn out for one reason or another.
Much like before, applications of the local's resources with regards to Semblance and Aura glass also gained them little in terms of insight. A pity.
The same symbol as before was present, having been drawn this time singularly on the wall behind the body in the victim's blood. And as before, the local law enforcement failed to recognize it for what it was. Painted big and bold was the symbol of Xarakses. New to these scene, however: beneath the symbol was the phrase, ‘the death of the divine is not the end.’
In the margins, Nachtigal had written:
‘clearly, this is orchestrated by followers of Xarakses, but what is this?’
‘an attempt to revive?’
‘do they believe Xarakses still lingers?’
‘is this perhaps a call for something new to take the deceased's domains?’
Xarakses, the old god of blood, was a fascinating prospect to explore for Hector. It was hard for him to hide his interest, though he did try his best to present it as more academic than not.
The rest of the day was spent discussing potential theories, with both Hector and Vergil asking questions and offering their own input. Nachtigal asked Vergil, specifically, an array of questions that were more his expertise with regards to the coroner's reports. He did his best to answer her as much as he could and while his insights expanded upon what was there, he always added disclaimers onto his statements that he really ought to see the bodies himself before he can really offer suppositions of any real accuracy.
Before they split off for the evening, Hector and Vergil were given a location within the Inquisition headquarters to meet with Nachtigal the next day. From there, a portal would be made for them directly to the village, Erlau, wherein the third murder had taken place.
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Aidolon Speech
"Kathalan"
"Vallenor"
"Common"
"Mythrasi"