They left Spartacus at the path’s start, and walked up the rocky track. There was an eerie sense of stillness from the bushes and tall trees they passed, with a mugginess unexpected for the time of year when cooler weather was around the corner. In 669’s, and likely, the other’s minds, there was a disruption to magic in the area.

“Be careful. Don’t do anything rash, Violet.” Not to state the obvious, but 669 thought to do anyway. Especially, in Violet’s case who could be a bit gungho with little fore thought and much more after thought once the moment had passed.

“I’m not stupid, Stinky.”

“Right. And I’m unconvinced.”

Before 669 and Violet could continue their tiff, a weird chime rebounded around their senses like ripples in the air. It was piercing into their brains like knives. So much so that all they could do was cup their ears and try to balance on the spot.

“Silk Wave: Clear.” Violet managed to say as she felt a pressure push her to ground. Her pixie body glowed with a purple light, which lifted off her body. Dust particles gathered within the light to transform it into a broad silk ribbon, which wrapped around them like a bubble. A magic sound attack to bounce off the material.

“Flame Sword: Break.” Detective Morse built upon her barrier spell, but casting a flaming sword formation over it to negate the sound magic’s virya and neutralize.

Violet cleared the barrier when the noise stopped and the mind and pain was cleared. Her eye caught a broken piece of clear crystal on the ground, almost concealed within a thorn bush, and noticed a few more near it. She used her silk magic to cut through the vines and carry the pieces to them.

“Light formation.” Detective Morse sighed when he saw the shards and had Violet pass them to him. He held up a shard before his eyes. “The crystals were preset to go off when a certain weight caused an impact next to it. A vibration.”

He turned to Violet to thank her. It had been fortunate she was able to cast a dampening barrier around them. He then was about to cause a fire impact that would cause the shard formation to shatter.

“Clearly there’s something here, no one wants us to reach.”

“Every bit of incentive to reach it.” 789 dusted off her hands.

They were able to finish the path without further incident and found themselves at the front garden and low wired fence of a small and run downed cottage positioned snugly between a dense clump of trees with solid bushes at the rear. But when they walked pushed open the creaky gate to enter the grounds, they saw patches of dead grass, which reeked of magnolia.

“Corpse Puppet Resin.” 669 noted as he examined the dead patches. Fortunately, the stench wasn’t potent so it seemed the effect had long past.

“I count at least seven patches of dead grass and the resin stench.” Detective Morse said.

“Are you saying, this where those weird corpses came from?” 789 asked.

“Possibly.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Everyone followed the detective lead and pace through the front door, which didn’t have any traps or magic prepared for them.

“By Zallayl!” 789 gagged like she was going to vomit her insides to the floorboards. A potent stench of rotting meat and musk assaulted their senses. She fumbled around her belt pouch and pulled out a green pill that shoved in her mouth then handed one to everyone else.

“It’ll keep the virya balanced and stop you from throwing up.”

Indeed, the stench was bearable after downing the pill. They could examine the pair of rotting bodies lying on the floor near two armchairs that faced a broken window, where the wall paneling was chipped in places with some of the wood showing rot.

Violet tilted her head as she looked at one of the bodies with her pixie eyesight. “There are mites on the skin. Silver ones.”

“Silver mites? Probably from the resin substance,” 669 said.

“I’ll call the Coroner and team to examine the bodies, and take them in.” Detective Morse shook his head with a sad sigh when the body before him looked like no older than 669’s age. He frowned when his navy leather armor was unmarked. More to say, insignia and emblems had been unstitched and removed from the material. As he examined the corpse's withered forehead, he saw a faded watermark of a lotus.

It was clear these deaths could be more than personal vendettas and connected to another form of underworld organization. Although, his rational and optimistic brain was saying unlikely. Considering the Demon Domination was, more or less, the underworld. And by deity power, you could only be one of the two orders. But should there be a shadow organization that somehow had the ability to play by an undefined set of rules to the Majestic Will game, this was a terrifying thought.

For now, he just needed to call in an examination team to take care of the scene. As he was making a mirror call to his base, 669 had been sieving through items in one of the night stands next to an armchair. There were a lot of small parchment paper that looked like talisman slips, yet the words held weren’t sigils of magic but a common list. His eyes widened when he realized the tiny slips might be crucial evidence and leads.

“Detective. Looks like I’ve found some pay orders.” He handed a slip to Morse who examined the paper then read the list, which was indeed a name, dates and times.

> Daramehair-Deurs - Noon - 1.0 barrels Alder Finch 50 credits

>

> Daramehair-Defri - 9am - 1.5 barrels Alder Finch 75 credits

>

> Artusdeireair-Desa - 9am - 1.5 barrels Alder Finch 75 credits

>

> To be paid in person at drop off - Simon Miller.

“To be paid in person?” Violet asked.

“Receive payment for labor in person. This is a pay order for work labor, which is filled in and handed to the manger for payment. The paper is the same used for talisman as there is a Pay Order spell embedded on it by special ink. The manager is indebted to the worker when the slip is handed to them and spell completed when payment received.” 789 explained.

“So what does that mean?”

“It means we need to have another conversation with your company’s guest. It looks like Simon lied about only having arrived. As these pay orders were completed a month ago.” Detective Morse said as he placed the slips in an evidence bag and magically stowed the pouch in his belt pouch.

“How do you know that?”

“The ink is black. When a Pay Order is active, the ink is red.” 669 explained.

They waited for a party of officers, who arrived within the hour to seal off the crime scene.

It was when they neared Spartacus who had been waiting patiently and, fortunately, nothing untoward had happened to him, that 669 smelt pomegranate wafting toward him from the bushes near the litter box.

The stench was stronger the closer they neared a large clump of rose bushes. He screwed up his nose as he glanced to see why.