• PM To Join • Almund's Missing Children

[Balthazar Black]

43 Zi'Da 719

Time had helped Balthazar grow more accustomed to the cities of Scalvoris where it seemed that work was always around the corner for a private investigator like himself... though he was arguably becoming more of a bounty hunter. He'd been in The Siren's Embrace looking for leads on another case he was working on and while listening in on the conversations he could get close enough to, Balthazar found an alarming number of the wealthy patrons lamenting the death or disappearance of their children. This struck a cord in Balthazar he'd not expected it to. It made him angry and small blue sparks began to arc off his fingertips as a result. One of the girls in the brothel looked over at Balthazar's sparking hands and he crossed his arms to try and hide them. He gave the woman a small nod and left the brothel. There was a killer of children about and Balthazar would not let them go unhunted.

He found a listing for the job on one of the various boards posted around Almund and added a note for anyone interested to meet in The Scalvoris Sapphire Inn. This was done for two reasons, the first being that he was hoping to assemble a group of investigators so they could cover more of the city or at least be more thorough in that of the city which they covered together. However it was also done in part with the hope that it would draw out the killer or someone connected to them looking to strike down the would be investigators before they could find anything. He thought the latter less likely but having modified the notifications already posted, he might have drawn someone's attention. All the same as the sun set on the forty third trial of Zi-Da, Balthazar was waiting at a table in the corner of The Scalvoris Sapphire Inn for the other investigators.

[Nir'wei]

"It's been so long..." Cold sighed as he breathed deep from the chill midnight air, steam hissing from his muzzle and nostrils and for a moment turning him into a dangerous fire-breathing beast in the dappled shadows of the empty street. "Almost long enough to forgive the stench of human clouding up my fresh air." Cold was still getting used to the taste of air again. Admittedly, they all were. He didn't really know when he'd ever stop, but ever since his return from Emea, he found it all the more important to enjoy it while it lasted. Plus, his newfound wolf-senses made it so much easier. Even outside of his wolf-form, he could smell the lilac-infused soap drifting through someone's shuttered window as they took a bath. A roasting pie; beef, perhaps, with... were those mushrooms? The moment he slipped back into the comforting skin of a shaggy-furred wolf, he remembered what it was like to roam, and hunt, and dominate the Spectral Forest like it was his own. "Oh, you miss that, huh?"

"Behave, the pair of you," Greyhide sighed from the other side. "You don't want to end up frightening guards with a whole pack of wild wolves, roaming the streets, do you?"

Vabina snorted from behind them. "And what if they do?" All five wolves stopped to look back at the giant lightning-cat. "Think they're going to recognise you while you're this?" she asked, lifting her chin towards Nir'wei in the middle of still adjusting to his wolf-form. Indistinguishable from the rest of them, apart from slight differences in colour. He was perhaps even more anonymous than when he wore his charms. Just a feral wolf that managed to sneak past the gates and now roamed the streets. What would they do? What could they do? He was almost eager to find out, just to terrify a few bored guardsmen on duty with the sheer spectacle. Make a drunken lout or two crap their breeches on the street and be forced to waddle home in their own mess.

There was something darker in their minds, though. "Remember those notices hanging on the boards?" How could he forget; they were caked with cries for help with everything from collecting plants to hunting down dangerous beasts. "And the killings?" Well, that too, but he'd intentionally scanned over those.

It wasn't his area. Hunts could always be justified by the need for survival, for the protection of territory and those that used it, or in the extreme cases, the personal gain of the kill. But this was a human. Not a common beast that didn't know better, or wanted to contest them for superiority, or even protect itself for self-evident reasons - it was killing just for the sport of it. And by hunting it down, they'd be no better. Hunting for the fun of hunting down a human. Justice was a hollow shield to hide behind. A thing of many faces depending on from which angle you looked at it, and always defined by the victor. To call it protection against a foul beast would be no better justification than what the killer likely used himself. The more he looked at it, there really was no other way to look at it. It was hunting for sport.

But why did the idea excite him? Was it the conquest of the streets and the criminal that roamed them? The satisfaction of pitting his strength, every once of it, against an opponent? Or just the overwhelming feral need to sink his teeth into something?

Unfortunately, all this energy was wasted. They didn't even have a direction to start in. It wasn't the same as taking down a deer; they had to be precise when they went for the kill. None of it could be accomplished within a single night... and as much as it utterly galled him and the others to admit, neither could it be done alone. If they were going to hunt a human... well, they were going to need at least one or two humans to help point them all in the right direction. But then... yes, and then they would take their prize.

Nir'wei swallowed a deep, slow breath. And he stood on two legs once more, the wolves and Zephyrus nothing more than shadows on the wall, visible only to him. "I hope this isn't going to turn into a habit." Losing control of his own thoughts and instincts wasn't anywhere near as fun as it sounded, and it was almost out of reflex that he snatched the vaguely familiar scrap of paper from the nearby job board and scanned through it a second time. "... Huh." The notice at the bottom hadn't been pinned there the last time.
 

***

 
He absolutely hated bars. Too crowded, too noisy, too full of people... drunk, loud, unpredictable people. He had to resist making a face as he pushed between two barrel-chested sailors, too lost in laughter and drink to even notice him pushing them aside to make it to the furthest corner of the inn. "You the one?" He looked the man up and down and back up again with a faintly disinterested eye. "Hope you've got something to bring to the table besides looks. How much do you know? Where's he attacked last? How'd he manage it without being seen?" As far as he knew there were plenty of people that wanted this guy dead that wouldn't mind the opportunity to rip this guy a new one, and he could probably start with the parents and family members of each of his victims; no need to settle for second best in matters like these, especially if he was going to get his much-needed satisfaction out of it.

[Oram Mednix]

Escape from Birthdays

Among Oram’s travelers, it was customary to make a fuss over a person on his birth-trial. Among Oram’s travelers, it was customary to play pranks on a person on his birth-trial. And so, as the 45th of Zi’da approached, Oram grew increasingly interested in being somewhere away from Scalvoris on that date. He could, of course, have simply slipped away without explanation for an extended hunting trip, but his troupe might take that amiss. On the other hand, everyone would forgive a single man for leaving town for a good job, so the hunter simply decided to tell everyone that he was off to work in Almund. Oram couldn’t be sure everybody believed his story, but only his brother Osric challenged him, and when Oram refused to give any details about his “job”, his brother had simply shaken his head as he looked at him with a knowing smirk.

He had asked around the marketplace if there were any notices for work in Almund, and had been told that, if he was interested in finding work in another town, it was best to just go and ask there. So he did just that, taking his mule and both goats with him to Almund, and now he stood in the Bazaar, gaping at the heaps of wares and the menagerie of people here. He had never seen so many Biqaj in one place before, and he thought he may even have seen a mer. A mer on dry land! That would be a story to share when he returned.

Though he disliked crowds, Oram knew he needed to go to places where townies got together to talk business if he was to find work. His blunt queries mostly got surprised stares, although one or two bazaar vendors promptly invited him to come assist in their stalls. But Oram was not interested in that sort of work. Come to think of it, he was not quite certain what sort of work he would actually be suited for, apart from the obvious hunting and fishing. Yet he was convinced somehow that this was the place, if any, to find something that would both interest and reward him. After asking around fruitlessly for awhile, he noticed some people gathered around what looked like a notice board, talking excitedly about one of the pieces of paper on it. As he approached, the onlookers were saying things like: “It’s awful!” and “Who would do that to children?”

”Who would do what to children?” Oram asked, as he joined the knot of townies poring over one of the notices.

”Well, just read the notice!” one of the townies suggested, gesturing at the leaf on the board.

”What does it say?” Oram asked.

The towny took the notice down and handed it to him. ”Right here!” he insisted.

Oram looked blankly at the marks on the notice for a moment, than back at the towny. ”What does it say?” he repeated.

Realization dawned in the towny’s eyes, and he turned the notice towards himself to read it to the unlettered gypsy.

There was apparently somebody murdering children around Almund, and there was a bounty on the killer. Also, someone had attached a note to this particular notice, saying that parties interested in pursuing the bounty should meet at the Scalvoris Sapphire Inn.

——————

Oram walked unhappily into yet another crowd of townies, this time a drunk and loud one. Most of the patrons didn’t know anything about any bounty hunters meeting there, or weren’t about to tell the traveler if they did. He was about to give up and just get a drink when he noticed two men sitting in a corner near the back. They seemed to be having a more serious conversation than most of the other folks here. They were both odd-looking men, yet Oram guessed that they were most likely the ones he sought. At worst, the quiet that seemed to pool around their table would give him a break from the press and hubbub he had waded through to get here.

Shuffling over to the pair, he cleared his throat, trying not to break in too rudely. ”Good evening,” he said to them in Common. ”I saw a notice asking for people who wanted to hunt that killer were meeting here. Am I at the right place?” He looked hopefully back and forth between the two men for an answer.

[Balthazar Black]

43 Zi'Da 719

The Scalvoris Sapphire inn was more than equip to occupy Balthazar while he waited for any who sought to help with the investigation. The pleasant smell of lavender and roasting meet filled the air to disguise the less pleasant smells from the seedy district of town that the inn resided within. Balthazar- who had been in Almund for a longer time than he'd planned, had picked the inn specifically because it wasn't located in the best part of town. His work at Nellies had taught him that making yourself a target (when you could get yourself out of the danger) was a quick way to move along any investigation. He also knew that whatever killer stalked the streets, so expertly taking the lives of children, they'd likely see his note on the board as well. Balthazar's hope was, discretely, that the killer would send trouble their way and they'd be able to use that trouble to get a better lead.

Balthazar sat waiting for so long that he noticed how his skin seemed to glow in the room as the rest of the light faded from it. It was the mutation that made him hot to the touch which also made hims glow slightly in dark rooms. Most of the time it wasn't noticeable but it certainly seemed noticeable to Balthazar then. The flame on the candle in the lantern at his table leaned towards him as if trying to give Balthazar a hug and Balthazar, in his idle time, waved his hand around the lantern to make the flame move passively. When Nir'wei approached, the mage sat up a little straighter in his chair. Who was this who'd come to see him? Another do-gooder orsomeone more sinister? The man before him was unkempt to say the least but that didn't bother Balthazar beyond the curiosity it stoked. Where had he come from? The man was smaller than Balthazar as well, not that it really mattered, and he addressed the mage with pointed questions.

"You're here for the hunt?" Balthazar asked Nir'wei before another suddenly arrived at the table. Balthazar turned his head to the newer arrival, Oram, and listened to his question. He gave a simple nod in response and then introduced himself. "Balthazar Black." He held out a hand to both Nir'wei and then Oram. Whether or not they shook his hand, Balthazar would continue with what he'd learned in the time he had to investigate on his own. Balthazar was fortunate that he was as good at finding information as he was, it made contributing to groups easier. "This is the place to be if you were looking to help stop the murders." Balthazar confirmed for Oram before turning back to Nir'wei. "I only recently saw the notice, but I've started asking around. I agree we should go visit the victims families and inquire but when I attempted to do so alone, the families didn't seem open to discussing what had happened. However I did convince one-" Balthazar fell silent and his eyes narrowed. He looked around and then leaned a little closer to the duo. "I convinced one father to speak with us but he refused to do it in his home. He wants to meet in the Witchwood Graveyard."

[Oram Mednix]

Birthdays won't look for you in a graveyard

Now that his senses weren’t being assaulted by the lights and noises and crowds in the front of the inn, Oram could start to take his surroundings in properly. He had a moment to savor the smell of the place: roasting meat and some sort of herb. He thought he recognized the scent, perhaps his sister-in-law had worn it sometimes, whatever it was called. This inn burned well-seasoned wood, too. With that, plus the relief at finding out that he had come to the right place, the traveler was able to relax for the first time since he had walked in.

The man seated at the table surprised him by offering his hand and his name, both of which Oram was happy to return with his own. ”Oram Mednix”, he said simply. Balthazar’s hand was surprisingly hot; Oram wondered idly what he had been doing just before to cause that. The other man, whose name he had not caught yet, was small, unkempt, and a tad feral. That was not something the hunter took amiss, though. Attractive, urbane, and well-adjusted people didn’t usually give a gypsy like himself much time, nor did he want it. If he was going to be stuck with company at all, he would just as soon it be a scruffy misfit like this one seemed to be.

Oram got the impression that the other two had already been talking a bit when he walked up, and Balthazar seemed to be in the middle of answering a question the other one had asked him earlier. About talking to the families of the children who had been killed. Not surprisingly, he learned, they didn’t want to talk to anybody, except one father, who had set an odd condition.

He made the evil-eye sign reflexively when Balthazar said where the father wanted to meet. ”An ill-favored place with an ill-favored name,” he observed. ”I’d rather meet somewhere else, and I’d like to know, too, why he would not.” It might be that they had little choice in the matter, though, so he didn’t press the point. Nonetheless, the prospect of this furtive meeting made him uneasy.

”Can we back up a pace, though,” he said after a moment, changing the subject, ”and go over what we already know about these murders? I just came into town this morning, and I know next to nothing other than: somebody’s stalking and killing children in Almund. What else have either of you heard?”

[Nir'wei]

Nir'wei took the hand and shook it with a light touch, noting absently the abnormal heat from the grip - and the way that he seemed to glow in the room. Almost uncomfortable, to his heightened wolfish senses, but he tried not to wince and show it while he maintained eye contact. "Vaid'ner," he answered. No, of course he wasn't going to use his real name. At that moment he wasn't even using his real face. It was much easier that way. Just another face in the crowd. He might have even looked slightly out-of-sorts for the place Balthazar had chosen, but nobody had bothered to call him out on it yet and he wasn't going to push his luck any more than that.

"Witchwood Graveyard. Not familiar with that one." If the name was anything like the place, however, he'd prefer to go with Oram on that - hard pass. "If he has something to tell us in secrecy, then speaking about it in the middle of an open space like a graveyard, where anyone could be leaning in and listening, makes him a bloody fool. The families are traumatised already, it's not as if the inquiries of complete strangers is going to ease their nerves, so trying to speak with them any further is another pointless errand to begin with." They needed eyewitnesses. They needed to know the scenes of the crimes. He needed blood. But how to bring it down to a confrontation?

He opened his mouth to bring forward a suggestion, and suddenly snapped it shut. Wait. Crowded place. Damn it all, crowded place! Why hadn't he noticed this before? The killer could be in the same room as them, listening to everything they said. Was he being paranoid? Perhaps. There was nothing to actually suggest that the killer could just so happen to be at the exact same place as them, at the exact same time, apart from the fact that Balthazar had placed a note literally in the middle of the town announcing their location, and that meant... that meant it was almost an open invitation to the killer, should they see it, to come and visit them at the woods. His eyes widened slightly. Okay. So maybe this is slightly more put-together than I gave it credit for. Unless the killer went straight for the father.

Alright, perhaps he was moving forwards several steps at a time in logic, but they were also tracking something intelligent. Something connected and coordinated, to be able to kill so indiscriminately and still evade the Elements and the Fire Soldiers. This wasn't a stupid beast killing for the pleasure and never thinking ahead of the next hunt. Otherwise they'd already be dead. "I don't know anything, besides the fact there's a man on the loose that needs to be put down." Sounded like as good a reason as any to go on a hunt, after all. "Witchwood Graveyard. Let's go." Yes, his change of heart was quite sudden, but it had taken more than a moment to piece together exactly what was being done here.

He turned to give Oram a meaningful look. "It's a good idea. A place that we can discuss things away from a crowd. Secluded enough that nobody will know what we're doing." And where nobody would hear them if they screamed.

[Balthazar Black]

43 Zi'Da 719

There seemed to be a consensus forming against the graveyard and Balthazar understood why. If it were up to Balthazar he'd certainly have preferred to meet the man at the inn. But grief made people act in strange ways, or at least that was how Balthazar justified it in his head, and so he would go along with the request even if he went alone. The prospect of a trap didn't seem like a negative, it seemed like a shortcut to the solution and Balthazar was more than willing to walk into that shortcut if it saved a life, especially a child's. Hell Balthazar had set a trap for himself in the inn by altering someone's posted message to add a target.

"I've been in Almund for some time now working on other cases. I found out about the missing children recently though so I haven't had a lot of time to gather information yet. The Elements didn't have much but I made this," Balthazar said as he pulled out a small piece of parchment and slid it across the table towards the other two. It was a list of the names of the lost children which read: Jerec DeGrey, Ashara Holden, Jacob Barnes, Tilly Marston?, and Eddie Shireson. Balthazar hadn't written anything other than what he needed to read to remember and so the only unique marking on the list was the question mark beside Tilly's name. "Those are the names of the victims. The Elements have found enough to identify four of the children but are hoping that Tilly Marston is still alive." Balthazar had taken that to mean they'd found no identifiable body parts for the child yet when the trooper told him.

"And Vaid'ner is correct, most of the parents weren't in any state to be questioned but Mr. Marston seemed more angry than sad. He insisted that the graveyard was the only place secluded enough to talk. He said most people avoided it because it made them uncomfortable. Now I agree that the Witchwood Graveyard doesn't seem inviting, but if Mr. Marston knows something, we have to at least try and find out what." Balthazar was more than relieved to see the one he understood to be Vaid'ner suddenly shift his opinion and agree though it troubled him slightly for one reason...

Mr. Marston had changed his tune rather suddenly as well when Balthazar spoke a little too loudly.

But Balthazar let the suspicion slip from his mind because he wasn't quite as experienced as he thought he was and turned to Oram, the last holdout in the plan to walk themselves into a trap. "I'm not all too familiar with the city layout, but I think I can get us there if you are ready to go." Balthazar offered. He was beginning to get an uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched but it could easily have been his nerves muddling his discipline. However if Oram and Nir'wei were perceptive enough and left the inn with Balthazar, they'd begin to get a similar feeling.

[Oram Mednix]

Oram stared down blankly at the paper. Balthazar said it listed the names of the children, and there seemed no reason to think he did not speak true. But the hunter saw only scribbles. After a moment, he slid the paper over to Vaid’ner; perhaps those markings would mean something to him.

What Balthazar said next told him more. He looked up sharply. ”’Found enough?!’” he repeated, appalled. ”The bodies were mauled that badly? Were they dismembered?” If the notice at the bazaar had detailed such things, the townie who had read it to Oram earlier had not conveyed them, although he could hardly fault a man for that if it were so. He took a moment trying to imagine why anyone would do such a thing to a child, and found that he could not.

Another thing was puzzling him, and it was something these two might be able to answer. ”Why all this concern for secrecy, anyway?” Oram asked, looking back and forth between Balthazar and Vaid’ner. ”What’s the secret? That folks in this town are after a child killer? I hadn’t been in Almund two breaks before I found that out. If our quarry’s worried about bounty hunters, he’ll have gone to ground the moment those notices went up.” If someone hurt a child in his travelers’ troupe, there would be no mystery about who was looking for the culprit, because that would be everybody.

Oram sighed, regretting almost right away having asked the question. He suspected the answer was some fussy thing that might make sense to his brother Osric, but not to himself. Then a moment later he threw up his hands in resignation. ”Alright. Let’s go talk to this guy in the graveyard, I guess.” As distasteful as the prospect was to him, the trapper didn’t have a better idea. In a few moments, he was off after Balthazar, who seemed eager to get things moving.

[Nir'wei]

Cyshe floated unseen around Balthazar's head, making a slow figure-of-eight directly above his scalp. "How confident do you feel about this?" Though he felt almost dirty doing it, he turned to Balthazar and Oram in turn, feeling the telltale tingles of prey from each of them. Less so from Balthazar, but still enough to make him wince marginally. "The careless predator quickly becomes the prey, you know." He did. Perhaps he was letting emotions cloud his judgement, but... but even knowing this, even being entirely aware of how much he shouldn't be acting on these impulses, it didn't make them go away. If anything, it just made them stronger. A strong enemy, a furious battle.

"I will draw him out and chase him down. It will be a slow battle, but time is our advantage... and the more exposure of his abilities, the more we can plan in the future." All he needed was a single drop of his blood, and the game would be over. "We have the advantage against a single target. Surround, overwhelm, destroy."

Greyhide, still invisible, pressed both forepaws against the table and hunched over the paper, giving it a sniff that drew his attention to the list of names. "And if there is more than one?" He hadn't entirely considered it, but he supposed it was possible. Hell, perhaps it even made sense. A group could provide conflicting evidence, alibis... and they'd be much, much harder to track down, let alone fight should they decide to pull all of their resources into eliminating threats immediately. Nir'wei pinched his lips in annoyance. If push came to shove, he could escape. Vabina had him covered. Was his eagerness worth two lives, though?

"He wouldn't be concerned with the bounties if he's angry," he said to Oram, looking down to the list of names again. "He thinks the killer is stalking him. If he says anything, he'll be killed next, perhaps." There was another avenue he hadn't explored, but perhaps he was just getting too far ahead of his own thoughts. "Hopefully, he'll be more than eager to help us - out for revenge. Also means he'll be impatient though. We can't waste time." They seemed to be in agreement, so he gestured for Balthazar and followed suit. "Lead the way, because I honestly don't know where you're talking about."

[Balthazar Black]

43 Zi'Da 719

”I’m certain enough that it is our only lead.” Balthazar admit. Then Balthazar intended to wait till they were outside to address Oram's questions about secrecy but fortunately for him Vaid’ner had answered for him. Oram had a fair point in certain cases but Balthazar had been a mage for too long to think that there was only one way to spy on individuals. Balthazar wouldn't say anything, in fact, until they were about a block away from the tavern that they'd assembled in and comfortably in an alleyway between an timber shop and a blacksmith... poor city planning but who was Balthazar to judge?

"There was a level of dismemberment, yes." Balthazar confirmed about the bodies. Figuring that was one thing Vaid’ner hadn’t addressed. It was unpleasant but it was the truth and these individuals who were willing to risk some level of danger to help him investigate deserved a full idea of what they were up against. "That is part of the reason for the secrecy. I'm not so much worried about the killer knowing we are after them, the notices gave that away, but I admit I was curious what might happen if the killer knew where to look for us." And like that Balthazar put his cards on the table, unable or perhaps just not skilled enough to continue the deception that he hadn't setting a trap by saying where to look for them on the notice. ”But regardless, follow me.”

A few moments after he spoke, a faint buzzing noise could be heard. Faint enough that Balthazar didn't notice it at first but the buzzing would begin to grow louder, and louder. When he finally noticed it, Balthazar turned around to find a large black cloud rising into the night sky above a building- only it wasn't a cloud... it was a swarm. The black cloud turned in the air and descended towards the trio, as they grew closer the forms of what seemed to be diseased bees would become clearer to the bounty hunters.

Balthazar instinctively stepped back, placing one of his hands over the other as he began to conjure a ball of blue flames between them. His eyes were scanning the bees desperately trying to figure out how large he’d have to make the ball to engulf them all but it took him too long and the bees would reach them before he was ready without help.