The Unknown: A Game of Fear, Ignorance, and Adventure

[Dragonearl]

"Gak!" came a sudden squeak from the crowd. Something small was pushing its way through the crowds, ducking and weaving through the wall of skin and armor that was before him.

"Coming through!"

"Dwarf on a mission!"

"What are you looking at you half breeder? Come down here and say it to my face will you?"

"Get out of the way!, can't you see I'm trying to move to the front?"

Alexis managed to push through the crowds just as the man called Raven was placing a cloak over a prone body. "What's all the ruckus about eh?" he began oblivious to the horror before him "Do you know that it's still in the wee hours of the morn- OH!" The fleeting glimpse of the body before the cloak concealed the savagery of the attack was enough to silence Alexis.

"Who is he?. What happened here?" was the first question that chimed to his head but he refrained from jumping to those questions yet. It was clear that everyone on the deck was gathering their composure and collecting their thoughts, the looks of mixed emotions and clueless stares was self evident. He turned to find the other dwarf Mareck but failed to spot him amidst the crowds, turning again he watched Raven say a short prayer in a foreign tongue to the deceased body before asking aloud "Should we not bury him at sea? Or do we return him to his family once we get to Tyb?".

Deslock was the next to chime in, " I don't know what we're doing with the body--that's Grummond's call, and it looks like he's busy glaring at the knight. I'd say we'll probably send him to his family from Tyb, since we should be there soon. We have a murder. If anyone knows who did it, or has any information that might help us, come and tell me or the captain. The sooner we figure out who did this the better."

"A murder?. On this ship?!"Alexis stood looking around with his jaw open. "Who could have done such a thing and why and how?. Why did no one hear anything? he said turning around looking for someone to speak to.

"You there sir!" he walked around the corpse to address the man in the blue cloak. "I heard they call you Raven, my name is Alexis Moonspear" he said hastily extending his hand. He wasn't sure who to trust at the moment and he had never trusted humans before but either because of the rush of adrenaline pumping through his blood or the entire barrel of ale from last night, he felt strangely compelled to talk with this man. "Looks like someone was busy last night! What a mess huh?. Do you know anything about this or hear anything funny and this maybe a bit of a weird question but, are you a priest of some sort?" he asked looking up at Raven

 

[Zombie_Fish]

Mareck listened patiently to the others talking after his, fairly obnoxious statement. The corridor was a riot of people curious about what had happened and if it happens again, to whom it would be done unto. He stood there patiently, looking up at Explorer Deslock eagerly awaiting his answer.Eventually the noise and swelling of voices died down and then became silence, as Deslock prepared to speak on behalf of the captain.

"We have a murder. If anyone knows who did it, or has any information that might help us, come and tell me or the captain. The sooner we figure out who did this the better." Mareck looked up, slack-jawed from shock as if he had broken his jaw the night before and did nothing about it. He stayed like this for a minute or two, before trying to think rationally.

Okay, I need information, and fast! But what to do? I never needed to worry about this before. That man was killed in his sleep for no apparent reason, that could easily be me next.

He glanced about frantically, as if this information he was after was a treasure hunt of some kind. He stayed in this state of panic and paranoia for about a minute, before starting to try and think rationally about it.

He looked down at the bloodied floor of the deck and the remains of the crew member. Whilst he knew virtually noting, one thing was blatantly obvious: He wasn't the only one potentially in trouble.

 

[MasterSqueak]

Marneus looked to Derlan. "I know you are the one who snuck into my cabin last night."

He turned, not waiting for a reply, and headed down to his cabin. Retreiving a bag of horsefeed from the chest, he made his way to the hold. Approaching his horse, he fed him before starting his morning training session.

Drawing his sword, he slashed away at imaginary targets and tested every slash and stab he knew.

Moving on to parries, he acted as if his blade was clashing with another.

Sheathing his sword, he lunged forward and grabbed a phantom ice elf, slamming it down into his knee. A fake painted elf came at him, and he swung around and launched a fist into its chest. It fell to the ground, and he stomped on its skull. An orc charged him, and he dodged right, simultaneously kicking at its legs and grabbing its head. Breaking the neck of the imaginary orc, he headed to go get a cup of water.

 

[Dastardos]

Absorbing the scene in front of him, Mark wasn't really surpised. The people around seemed rash and crazy, and Mark figured a tragedy would happen. The body didn't gross him out, he'd seen enough of disfigured corpses in his time, and he just stared at it with an unemotional look.

"I know you are the one who snuck into my cabin last night."

"Wait? The elf broke into your room? I'm not surprised, those fuckers are always destroying everything. If that little shit is robbing people, whats stopping him from murdering people?"

 

[Saskwach]

As the ship lacked any kind of investigator - or perhaps it didn't? who could tell on this ship of rogues? - Jonas decided he would enter the role as best he could. He stooped beside the body and examined the poor man's head - or rather its remains. Perhaps the wound could relate the weapon.
Holding back the desire to vomit (perhaps the wound, or perhaps something else) he scrutinised the line of the beheading, and of the slit throat. He checked whether the cut had been quick or drawn out, even more of a hacking affair; whether the throat had been slit in a swing of the blade or a long drawing across the jugular (a sign of whether the killing blow had been stealthy or direct and quick); whether it had pushed in the bone at the point of impact or had simply sliced it - a crude check for the sharpness of the murder weapon, and the manner of its use.
Finally he passed over the wound. He observed the man's apparel and rummaged through his pockets; he patted the man down for any hidden trinkets; he checked the man's sword, whether it was still fully in the sheath or he had had the time to draw it some ways.
All these things he inspected, and more.

 

[Zemalac]

Grummond stared as Jonas began examining the body.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded, starting forward only to be cut off by Deslock.

"What does it look like he's doing?" the explorer snapped. "He's trying to figure out how and why your man was killed, Grummond."

The captain subsided into a solid, glowering presence on the deck. Jonas, looking up only briefly at the exchange, continued his examination.

Deslock massaged his temples with his fingertips, trying to rub away the headache that was trying to erupt in his skull. Damn...now he'd got Grummond mad at him, too. Wonderful.

This was going to be a long, long day.

 

[Dragonrabbit]

Reeko's eyes were closed, he was still in his bed, ignoring the swarm of voices from outside his cabin. "You would think at least a Dwarf could keep his mouth shut until a reasonable hour." He lifted his hand and rummaged through his vest, pulling out a small handful of tropical nuts. "Breakfast."

He sat up and looked out a porthole, he figured it was about twelvish. Reeko pushed himself out of his bunk and slumped out of his cabin onto the deck. He noticed the large group of people and walked over, "Good evening, you louts what's all the commotion about?" A sailor pointed at the corpse getting manhandled by Jonas.

"What does it look like he's doing? He's trying to figure out how and why your man was killed, Grummond."

"You don't need a detective to examine that body to know why and how he was killed, it's easy if you know anything about Painted Elves. Certain tribes back in the Jungles kill like this, you can tell because someone took his brain, it's all very ritualistic you know. I don't know much about it, but I've seen it a couple times before. Yup, it's pretty clear that a Painted Elf did this."

 

[BoVinE]

"No really, an elf?" Kirk scoffed from the edge of the crowd. "Well, why need it be a ritual then? I've never seen one of you need a reason to try something funny." He spat on the deck.

"But, my past experience with elves aside, who's strong enough to shatter a skull like that? Hell, the most I could probably do is give it a nice crack, but shattering it like that takes some muscles. Or some kind of magic."

Spoiler: Zem, Clarification?

Was Faron's head shattered or sliced open, you describe it differently in two posts.

 

[Shapsters]

Delan came back into the conversation,

"That definitely needs strength to do, not many people have that many muscles. Except of course Orc's, and I believe there aren't too many of those board."

Derlan looked at the group, there was panic and people were starting to blame other people.

Pretty soon everyone will be at everyones throat, I had better watch my back

 

[Zemalac]

Spoiler: Zem, Clarification?

Was Faron's head shattered or sliced open, you describe it differently in two posts.

Spoiler: Your Answer

From what you can see, the head has been scalped and the skull sliced or cracked open. Whatever did it is either unnaturally sharp or very strong--you haven't taken the time to examine the body in detail and possibly figure out which.

For further details, await the results of Jonas' examination.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Tickyvanillius watched the hubbub quietly, his arms crossed on his chest. Questions were fired, answered, asked again, and someone began examining the body. Ticky rolled his eyes; desecrating a body. The nerve of these barbarians.

Ticky wove through the crowd and tugged at Grummond's shirt. Leaning down, Ticky whispered something in the man's ear before nodding and stepping away. Ticky slunk to the back of the crowd, watching dispassionately as the men cavorted about the poor man's corpse.

"How sad. The poor boy had done nothing wrong. As far as I know... he might have had a tag on him from some syndicate. Hell, I'm sure everyone on this boat has run into trouble with some organization." Ticky sighed, scrubbing his hand through his hair. "I'll need to get to work tonight..."

Glancing about the deck, Ticky sought Tiber's Elfin form. The need had arisen, and services were required.

 

[Saskwach]

Jonas, having pored over the body, reluctantly stopped, and stood up. He kept his eyes pointed at the sad mangled remains of Feron, as if he expected more clues to emerge. He sighed, and looked towards Deslock and Grummond.
"I'm no detective, but I've found a few things. Whether they're of any value, though..." he trailed off, then continued, "The scene is quite neat overall. No signs of struggle that I can fathom. There are many footprints in the blood-pool, but too many to learn anything useful. The throat wound is quite ragged, but the weapon was clearly sharp enough to have done the job smoother. Either the killer was rushed, amateurish, or very bloodthirsty."
Jonas then gestured towards the skull, or what was left of it, "Which makes the scalping all the more perplexing: it's quite good, in a grotesque way. A very neat job. I can only imagine that the attacker was very strong and handled this Feron in a rough manner during the actual slaying, but then worked on him in a manner befitting a barber-surgeon. But there could be any number of explanations. Perhaps Feron had the time to struggle as his throat was cut. Perhaps the killer isn't experienced. I don't know..."
Jonas paused a time, then looked lower down the body.
"His trappings are what can be expected. Liquor, assorted coins, a knife and a lock of blonde hair. I assume his wife was blonde?"
Jonas crouched down again and lifted one of the dead man's hands.
"This is the most interesting clue. You see? A missing finger. There's little blood, but it's still a recent wound. I can't guess its importance though."
Jonas stood up again.
"I'm afraid that's all we have to go on. If there's anything else I certainly didn't find it."

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Raven stopped short from replying when he heard the voice of a dwarf addressing him. "Alexis Moonspear?..yes, I vaguely remember you from the tavern at Buron" the man nodded in a distracted manner. "I am Raven, Raven del Cid" he said shaking the dwarf's hand.

"Did I hear anything?. No, nothing except for this morning when I was woken by the sound of feet rushing about, guess that was the deck crew discovering the body. Odd that no one heard anything when the actual murder happened though!. No scream, no sound of a struggle, I guess the poor guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time" Raven sighed as he looked down at the corpse that was now being studied by Jonas.

"The nagging question to me is why?. Why him?, Is it a message to us?..a warning perhaps?. Or did someone genuinely have a grudge against Feron?. Why remove the brain and finger?. Questions, riddles, voices in the dark!" Raven stroked his beard in a thoughtful fashion, eyes turned towards the eastern sky. The sun was now passing its high quadrant, given the time spent at sea, Raven estimated that the ship should be approaching Tyb soon. After a moments silence he turned back to the dwarf suddenly,

"A priest, master dwarf?. What makes you think I am a priest?" he asked suppressing a chuckle

 

[Dragonearl]

"The nagging question to me is why?. Why him?, Is it a message to us?..a warning perhaps?. Or did someone genuinely have a grudge against Feron?. Why remove the brain and finger?. Questions, riddles, voices in the dark!"

Alexis listened to the man speak, there seemed to be a cold logic to his thoughts. The thought that he was a small fish in a really big pond suddenly crossed his mind, this wasn't like dry land, if a murderer was loose on the ship ones options are severely limited.

"The sooner we find this culprit the better it is for everyone onboard and like you say, we better find out why this happened in the first place!" Alexis followed Raven's gaze out to sea.

"A priest, master dwarf?. What makes you think I am a priest?"

"Oh!, I heard you say a small prayer in some language, for our recently departed . I just assumed you were a priest of some sort. I take it that I am wrong then?"

 

[Saskwach]

"Oh!, I heard you say a small prayer in some language, for our recently departed . I just assumed you were a priest of some sort. I take it that I am wrong then?"

Jonas heard this over his shoulder and turned.

"Not every praying man is a preacher, master dwarf."

Jonas cast about the group, noting crazy gibbering loons, painted elves (probably the same), the seriously deranged, a man who would live in stifling heat at all times by wearing plate armour even at the dinner table, rogues, thieves, bawdy sailors who did gods knew what in the hold on long voyages - and somewhere amongst them, a killer. He turned back to Alexis.

"Though perhaps he is when the rest of us are all godless heathens."

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

"I am not a man of the gods, let alone a humanitarian" Raven said with an amused smile. "Like our friend Jonas pointed out not all those that pray are fit to preach. Verily, many that preach often don't practice their own creed. So no, master dwarf, I am not tasked with a mission from the gods" he said looking at the corpse of Feron for one last time.

"I do have a simple belief though, that a man robbed of his life should have in the very least a prayer as a proper sendoff from this world, to ensure that the soul finds it's way to the Encallyn fields for eternal rest. Especially when the death is not of the peaceful kind. It's the least that can be done for this chap, besides finding who did this and why".

"As for the language Master Dwarf, Tualin is a bit obscure for those that haven't studied ancient history. Even back in the days of the Zancharian Empire, Tualin was only a sub language spoken by the elves during ceremonial councils but then Old Jack happened, and well, the rest is history. Very few speak Tualin now, only those that have visited the tribe in the Illarym mountains and those that have studied ancient history can figure out what's being said"

Raven paused to look back at the crowds around him. They had begun seeking one another, plots, alliances, conspiracies, no doubt the death of one man is enough for everyone to sleep with an eye open from now on. The only problem was that one of them could be the murderer, plotting his next move and victim. He turned to Jonas and Alexis

"So any theories, speculations about this?" he gestured to the corpse

 

[Dragonrabbit]

Raven gestured towards the corpse, "So any theories, speculations about this?"

Reeko's ears had perked up earlier at the mention Tualin, and he had been eavesdropping since its mention. As Raven finished his statement Reeko forced himself into the conversation giving Alexis a pat on the head at the same time, "Well I've already said my piece about the murder. And, really the only kind of people insane enough to do something like this would have to be a Painted Elf, myself excluded of course, or an Orc... or a Human... or a Dwarf." He laughed at his own realization of the depravity of other races, "At least we can rule out or good friends Ticky, Tiber, and Old King Ko'el." He paused, thinking to himself, "We can also count out everyone's favorite adventurer Reek Jalbrook."

He smiled and looked expectantly at Raven, "I do believe my good sir that I've made the case a thousand times easier for you and any other would be detectives, as such I demand a reward, but not just any reward no," Reeko kneeled down and took Raven's hand staring him in the eye, "I would like for you to be my wife, good sir."

 

[Dragonearl]

Alexis stared after the painted elf that suddenly intruded into the conversation. "Bah!, trust a painted elf to bring some enlightenment into a conversation. And look what the lad is doing now!, proposing to the human no less?!"

"Excuse me laddie!" Alexis began as he stepped next to Reeko who was kneeling before Raven

"But how exactly have you made this investigation any easier?. All you did was point out that everyone is a suspect except for your friends...who might I add, I don't trust very much and neither should anyone else."

Alexis scratched his head before continuing,

"Any why do you want this man as your wife?"

 

[Zemalac]

While the Expedition members had been talking, Grummond had stalked to the helm of the ship and now paced behind the helmsman.

"We're taking the river, sir?" the helmsman asked, his voice not revealing what he thought of the idea.

"Deslock insists," the captain growled.

"Ah," said the helmsman, and the two shared a look that said without words their opinion of landsmen and their knowledge of the ocean.

"He knows about the pirates, even," Grummond said wearily. "Says we have some clinger on board that we can throw at them. Seems to think that'll somehow magic the pirates away."

The helmsman made no comment, hands posed on the wheel. Grummond growled an orcish curse.

"Head for the river," he said, and the helmsman spun the wheel. The ship turned in its ponderous course and headed for the shore of the huge island that formed the majority of the Merchant's Water, moving carefully for the mouth of the river Ferios, haven of pirates and mercenaries.

____________________________________​

From the shoreline beside the river mouth men watched through hidden telescopes. They read the name of the ship, saw the crew on deck and the crowd gathered, clumped and talking. They recorded it all and sent off a messenger with a report.

They were so focused on the larger ship that they missed the black-marked boat trailing behind it.

I'm going to be away for a few days for the Fourth of July. On Monday I shall return, and stuff will happen.

In the meantime, keep roleplaying.

 

[Saskwach]

Spoiler

Edited out.