10:00 A.M.
February 17
Frostmonth 19
Limeroom, Veotera
Gary and Delilah walked back into Limeroom at roughly mid-morning. They had stopped by a small stream nearby to wash off the ‘evidence’ and smell of sweat from the ‘gathering’ of such. He’d taken the initiative to simply sit in the cold water as she worked at cleaning herself into presentability as best she could; letting the chilled water and need to be vigilant for predators keep his bare bottom and privates from reacting to the mental map of her body he now had. His camping gear was stowed away on the backpack he’d brought it with, and he parted paths with Delilah a few minutes into the border city.
The gray-eyed teenager found himself worriedly spotting a gathering of people in front of Saint Shepherd’s Church with the town guards chief among them. Remmy was at the closed doors of the house of God and waved to Gary once he spotted the tall young man at the back of the crowd. People saw the old priest wave, and most turned to see Gary walking up. They parted for him and he quickly made it onto the grounds to warily eye the town guards who looked at him with concerned expressions.
“Gary! Good timing. There’s a problem the guards need to consult with you about.” The guard captain - ol’ bushy facial hair himself - nodded at Remmy’s words and critically eyed the camping gear Gary had on his backpack.
“Well met, Delver. I need to ask you some questions.” Gary gave him a confused look but shrugged.
“Fire away, captain.”
The man coughed politely and began speaking in a way that the crowd in the street would find difficult to hear. “As I recall, you’re a Plunderer; yes?”
“I am.” Gary’s clouded gaze must have led the man to Gary’s current thoughts, which were quickly and vigorously waved aside.
“Oh, no no. I’m not accusing you of anything. The watch saw you and the miss leaving yesterday quite clearly. I think we have another sneaky type on our hands. You recall when you and Father Wikloss here were handing out alms, and you came across us with that wounded guard?” Gary nodded as he felt his expression lighten a little bit. The captain’s own seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at the loss of tension in the Origin-grade Plunderer. “Well, we think he might be one of the Classes that can use「Stealth」. The bastard’s started moving out of the slums and we can’t figure out how.”
“..Plus the fact every time he attacks he vanishes without a trace.” The captain nodded and Gary made a ‘hrn’ noise under his breath. “Yeah, that sounds like 「Stealth」. It’s not proper invisibility. It more makes people’s gazes just kinda slide off you. Can’t see someone coming and going if you can’t perceive them in the first place.”
“Exactly. Could I get you to come with us for a while and see if you can help track this bastard?” Gary pondered a moment, then nodded.
“Let me switch into my armor real quick.”
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The entourage made their way to the slums; Gary now clad in his armor sans his cloak. As they passed by the slum’s entrance he was familiar with after helping Remmy with his almsgiving, he couldn’t help but think about his own problems. Hunting down a serial killer in a Middle Ages-like city was going to be difficult at best, and Gary wasn’t really sure he had the heart for it right now. It wasn’t that he thought the victims didn’t deserve justice but at this point there honestly wasn’t anything really holding him here except for Remmy gathering responses from his contacts about the possible validity of his ‘System as an invader’ theory.. And trying to do right by Delilah before he left her alone.
The walk was uneventful and Gary found himself looking at a bloody crime scene where more town guards kept onlookers from interfering with the surroundings. Gray eyes shifted over the details of the area: a woman of simple outfit lay on her side in the mouth of a narrow alleyway between two buildings, a single forceful splatter from a full-strength swing of a blade through her throat, and the interrupted shape of the misty remains of arterial spray that angled as she’d dropped. He’d seen enough crime dramas in his day and had forensic data files to call on that gave him a lot to tell.
He gave a deep breath before he spoke up so the nearby guards could hear him. “This reeks of an ambush. The blood splatter says the killing blow was a single high-strength attack. It was from the front arc, as the arterial spray is interrupted there. Your attacker caught at least a sleeve-worth of blood as they stopped to watch their sick work.”
“..Arterial spray?” The captain was looking at the duo of bloodstains and trying to wrap his head around the idea. Gary elaborated as he pointed to the two types of splatter.
“The big thick splash here was the killing blow. One strong swipe, probably aided by「Sneak Attack」to ensure a kill shot. Took the blood and viscera of the neck and gave a big splat along the stroke of the blade’s backswing. The tiny thin splatters here were from the victim’s heart trying to pump blood up the neck to the brain. Your blood’s under more pressure going ‘up’ in the direction of your head, so if you get a puncture in one of those high-pressure areas it’ll launch blood out as a mist cloud when your heart beats. It’s worse when your heart’s beating fast…”
“Interesting,” the man drawled as he looked down at the dead woman and back up to the blood on the wall. Gary knelt and forced himself to look at the unmoving face and lifeless eyes of this poor corpse. As he reached out towards the face, the man spoke up. “A damn shame. Her husband is inconsolable. Poor man fell out in the street when he went to find his wife and found.. This.”
Gary’s fingers touched the slack face as he gently closed the woman’s eyelids. He bowed his head slightly and spoke over her mortal shell. “Go with grace, ma’am. Justice will be done for you, and those who sadly came before you.” He felt「Gentle In Death」pulse in the back of his head and a sad little upturn of his lips came to him. He then reached towards the woman’s blood-soaked dress and it’s neckline. A sound of protest came from several throats near him but he simply turned his head a little bit. “Relax, I’m just making sure things stay put so she can be moved with dignity. I’m not into desecrating the dead. Brings you bad luck.” He gave a gentle tug on the upper hem and made sure it was in place.
His touch had also given him a chance to feel the skin of the corpse more towards the body’s core area. It was super-inaccurate but the body was ice cold to his touch. A frown etched itself onto his face as he reached towards an arm and raised it a bit before letting it drop. It met no resistance in moving or falling. He leaned in to look at the wound on the neck closer. His stomach churned a little but he reminded himself it was simply meat at this point. The important part was gone.
The neck wound looked weird. Gary’s unshielded fingertips risked touching the edges of the wound and found some of the blood there flaked off onto his bare fingertips. It was ice-cold. It was literally ice-cold. Emboldened, Gary probed a bit deeper into the wound as he was now intrigued with this finding. More ice-cold flesh and perhaps flash-frozen blood? He withdrew his fingers and flicked the staining melting juices off himself with a single strong jerk of his hand.
“The body’s ice cold. It was cold last night, but nowhere near cold enough to freeze blood. Plus the man would have reported his wife missing last night, presumably. Rigor mortis hasn’t set in so it hasn’t been too long. How much traffic does this street usually get this time in the morning, captain?”
Confused by the deluge of observations, the man crouched right beside Gary and tried to understand what he was asking and talking about. “This street’s not too busy this time in the morning. Lots first thing, and during the later parts of the day but not around midmorning. So this was done this morning?”
“Yes. Pretty recently, in fact. I think your killer’s going around with some flavor of ice magic or relqa. The body’s too cold for being dead for a short time, even in this weather. Wouldn’t happen to have a list of people in Limeroom who have such things, do you?” Gary gave him a side glance. “As I recall, that guard from before said something about a blade, so I think it’s a relqa. Can’t be a curse weapon since Remmy healed the leg.”
The captain rubbed his chin as he thought. “These are good questions. I was right to seek you out. As you’re no doubt aware relqa are pretty rare due to their sheer expense. Might be a knife with a sapphire in it used as a focus for an ice-flavored magic of some sort. Though why use mana if you can kill with a single well-placed blow?”
“Bastard probably wants to keep the carnage contained to a small area to keep from being drenched in blood. Two ways to keep blood from spraying fucking everywhere when you kill someone like this would be cauterize the wound or flash-freeze it. The killer probably chose what they can do, thus freezing.” Gary looked to his fingertips and rubbed them together as he shuddered a tiny bit. That was his first time touching a fresh corpse, let alone his first time trying to analyze a crime scene. He was a complete amateur at this and was only sounding confident because he had so much in-field forensic manuals and information to draw on. Not for the first time he thanked silently the technology in his head for these wonderful gifts.
“Sounds like I need to go combing the archives for residents that can use Sapphire magic,” the captain said as he stood up with a grunt. Gary looked up at him from his own crouch and raised an eyebrow. As if sensing the question the man responded. “These attacks have been going on for a while. Far too long for some transient soul. It has to be a local, especially with the increasing pace of the kills.”
Gary made a face and clicked his tongue at that news. “A serial killer, then. ..This is only going to escalate in number and frequency. There are people like this where I’m from, and it only gets worse until they’re caught or killed. It’s an addiction in their minds and the elation doesn’t last as long or as strongly so they have to do more and more. There’s going to be more death before this is over, captain.”
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The captain grimaced at the dark proclamation, and Gary heard other guards nearby sigh angrily as well. He finally rose from his own crouch and pointedly looked away from the woman’s corpse at his feet to gauge the surroundings. As he casually scanned the small crowd that was loitering in the area he snapped a few images with his Virtual Network and perused them as he made sure not to give his actual intentions away. Gary adopted a clear thinking pose as he stroked his chin with his right hand and held his right elbow with his left hand.
In his head he scrutinized the pictures of the crowd. Lots of the texts he’d read on investigative procedures and about serial killers - not to mention the various television crime dramas he’d watched here and there back on Earth - all agreed that killers tended to circle back and enjoy their work from afar in onlooking crowds. There didn’t seem to be anyone who fit that description; who looked a little too interested in the proceedings. At the end of the day Gary sighed himself and waved the hand that was stroking his chin into a vague gesture.
“I think perusing that archive would be a good place to start. You want help to make it go faster?” The captain ruefully smiled but shook his head.
“Getting outside help is stretching my authority as it is. Anything else you think about this before we part ways for now?”
Gary thought for a moment before giving another vague wave of his hand. “I’d have you advise the citizens to travel in groups; preferably armed. Any wound that can be inflicted on this individual can be tracked via the local healers if this guy’s stupid enough to seek medical attention; be they church-affiliated or something else. They’ll be looking for fingernail scratches or weapon-inflicted wounds. Also, this is gonna stir up panic between the killings and the measures you’ll take. Make sure people are assured you’re on the case, and advise anyone who asks that traveling in groups is merely precautionary steps for the time being. Maybe play it off as a particularly bold Ripper Rabbit loose in the city or something?”
The man nodded at the suggestions. “Wise suggestions. I assume the healers are to be subtle about their part?” Gary nodded back. “Good. Then there’s a course of action for now. That should be enough to assuage public fears for now. Can I count on you to assist if we get any leads?”
“Of course. Oh! One last question before you go. Are there any patterns among the victims? Like men, women, a particular hair color or body type? These people tend to have strong preferences.” The captain thought for a moment then responded in a low, serious tone.
“The preference seems to be for women, leaning heavily towards blond; now that you mention it. Should I include that?”
“No nonono. No mentions of methods you track by. Huge mistake. Hunters don’t let their prey know they’re being hunted. It’s why this guy’s using 「Stealth」in the first place instead of a good old-fashioned ambush or breaking into homes. Making them change their patterns causes higher body counts. Use subtlety until the last possible instant, then move like an avalanche. You may only get one good shot.”
The captain looked worried but smiled thinly. “This bastard’s been a thorn in my side for a while now. I’m happy someone with a calmer mind is offering sound advice. Now, I need to go look at those records.”
“Glad to be of help. Now, I have a few stops to make in response to this development…”
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Gary found himself at The Unusual Huntress after telling Remmy to be careful. He’d reported he had nearly all the responses he was going to get in a reasonable time, and would present them en masse once the last couple had arrived. The gray-eyed teenager was quietly surprised at the speed letters traveled here in Ridiana and abroad. Must have been some special Church magic messenger thing or something. Sometimes the anachronism was bouncing all over the place on Veotera; giving him a minor case of whiplash that set his neck to a twinge of phantom pain when he thought about it.
Jack had greeted him as he came in, noting with a concerned look that Gary was acting casual but under his re-acquired cloak was wearing his half-plate and all his weapons. Gary gave him a look, and while frowning the Delver commander relented. He clearly had a reason. The two were sat at one of the tables closest to the Delver’s corner of the tavern, and Gary had brought his papers he’d acquired for the listings of dungeons in Ridiana and other spots nearby. It was a prop for him at this point as he’d instantly taken pictures for his archive the moment his eyeballs had glanced at them.
“A surprising amount, but nowhere near as bad as I thought,” Gary said as he set the papers on the table and lightly fanned them out towards his left side. “I was kinda worried they’d be like every dozen steps outside of Limeroom.”
“Thankfully not, or there’d be monsters up to the rafters around here,” Jack responded as he brought out the map for the local area once again. He casually looked over the markings even though he probably knew it by heart by now, and casually drummed his fingers on the large parchment. His expression was ruminating and seemed about to make a statement when Delilah sauntered up to the table with a serving platter heaped with food and two tankards.
“Here we are,” the blond barmaid announced cheerfully as she began setting food before the two men, then the tankards. He smelled beer in Jack’s and found his own to be warm water. Gary smiled despite himself as she continued to remember his preferences. “Would have poured more juice, but I think Sarah made off with the rest of that first jug. Sorry.” She flashed him an apologetic little smile and despite his reservations he smiled a little back at her. A flick of glance towards Jack and he knew the man had clocked the tone of the interaction.
“It’s fine, Delilah. I’m good with water. Everything doing good with you so far?”
“Oh, it’s marvelous! I haven’t felt this invigorated in a long time. ..That trip was exactly what I needed.” She leaned forward and quickly planted a sturdy kiss on his lips before straightening up with a blush to her cheeks and a suggestive saunter to her hips as she swished herself back to other parts of her work. Gary felt his cheeks warm a little bit too, and another glance towards Jack showed the man with a growing toothy grin as he scooped up his utensils.
“Not a word, Jack.” The stern tone only made the man grin wider.
“Good to see her happy, ‘s’all I’m saying.” He still had a glinty-eyed smirk as he tucked into his meal after setting the map aside. Gary looked at him for a few more moments before beginning on his own meal. The food was delicious as usual. Whoever was manning the kitchen of this place clearly knew their work; possibly being influenced by some high-grade Skill or even a whole Class. The meal passed in relative silence until the two were done with all but a few bites of the savory meats. Jack broke the meal-induced silence.
“Now as far as that list goes, you should understand that there’s a few on there that it’ll probably be a bad idea to try and close.”
“I noticed that annotation,” he replied as his eyes shifted to his papers. Certain dungeons had been marked as either ‘ask before destroying’ or ‘important resources’. He had a rough idea of the reasoning but spoke up to confirm the thought. “So I take it there’s some that are being.. farmed as it were? Like the monsters produce something vital to the area?”
“Aye,” Jack said as he waved a cut of pork in a wide gesture across the length of his plate. “Some of those are home to monsters that produce valuable body parts or come with weaponry that can be harvested for materials. The dungeons repopulate and regenerate through a currently not understood method, so if the population inside is carefully managed they can be harvested pretty regularly. A lot of leather, stone, copper, and iron come from this, not to mention the fact most monsters are highly nourishing to consume. Ridiana’s never really had much in the way of threats of famine thanks to these dangers.”
“Dangerous but convenient. They covered by the Delvers, or has the Crown stepped in to declare them a strategic resource and put an army around them?”
Jack shrugged a bit. “Bit of both. The ones that produce low-level things like Ripper Rabbits are managed by the local branches of Delvers and the big ones used as mines are controlled by local lords and detachments of standing army. They’ll be very obvious if you come across them.” Gary ate a couple more bites of his meal, and saw Delilah sauntering back over to their table. Jack finished his plate fully as the honey blond slid up to Gary and wiggled her butt against him very obviously to scoot him back from the table far enough to perch in his lap like it was the most natural thing. She smiled at him warmly and pointedly ignored Jack. Jack’s grin was back, and a silent salute was given to the young Plunderer as Gary chose to focus on the woman happily occupying his lap.
Calling her out for this forcefulness was hypocritical, and the situation had very clearly gone beyond anything he could rightly deny. If she wanted to play it publicly lovey-dovey, then he’d play along. He reached around the front of her towards his plate, stabbing a chunk of pork and smearing some of the light sauce it’d come with onto it from the remaining amount on his plate. Without a word, he lifted the juicy morsel up to his lover’s mouth and she obediently leaned forward to eat the offered forkful. As she pulled back from the bite, he swore she was giving him a smirking glance as her lips slid seductively off the prongs of the fork and she began quietly chewing.
Despite the public nature of the tavern’s surroundings, he could feel himself remembering the way she was warm against his touch and something began to react. She clearly noticed and the look on her face became sly as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him one of those half-turned-towards-the-person hugs and held position pressed against him. Gary set the fork down and patted her on the shoulder blade to let her know she was acknowledged. Jack had settled into a toothy smirk as he leaned back in his seat and sipped at his beer. Silver-gray eyes looked at him through a veil of honey-hued locks.
“Warms my heart to see young love. Now if I could just get Dina to sit in my lap like that in public…” A stuffed wool ball hurtled towards the man’s head from where Dina was watching the proceedings and would have smacked Jack in the temple had the man not clearly anticipated the attack on his person and grabbed it before it got past his shoulder. “Getting closer, Dina! Almost had me worried on that one.”
“Next one’s going to be a spear, you pervert!” Everyone nearby chuckled at the declaration of rapidly escalating violence. Gary laughed too; understanding it was clearly a long-running inside joke. Delilah hadn’t moved her head from leaning against his shoulder but he felt her shake a tiny bit with mirth as well.
“So, Delilah,” Gary murmured while people were mostly distracted. She perked up in her embrace of him, head lifting enough to let him see an amber eye through a hazy curtain of hair strands. “There’s been some happenings in town, and it’s gotten me concerned. I’m going to see to a few things around town then I’m going to come back here. I’d feel better if you’d let me escort you home for a few days, at the least.”
She giggled a little despite the look in her eyes showing she registered his hushed tone’s non-romantic urgency. Her one visible eye batted lashes prettily at him as she responded. “But Gary, I don’t want to keep Father Wikloss up at night.” Jack heard the murmured reply and his chuckle from before erupted into a loud laugh at the clear insinuation. Gary reached up from her shoulder blade to lightly and playfully thump her on the temple with his middle and ring finger in admonishment.
“Not my home, silly. Where you’re staying.” Jack’s laughter played out for about half a minute before he reverted to chuckling into his cup as he worked on drinking his beer with a look in his eyes. Gary studiously ignored the man - and more importantly his own light blush - as he spoke up in a quiet tone to disguise his words among what background din the tavern boasted at the moment. “The guards are a little jumpy today, so there might be some early closures around town.”
Jack noted the tone and so did Delilah, who finally released him enough to sit up and pay attention to his face while her hands rested on his shoulders. “Anything we need to know about,” asked Jack in that same volume as he jerked his head towards the Delvers desk. Gary shrugged a little.
“Don’t know, stay ready though. That one guard captain is looking into some stuff, and may come looking for some extra hands in short order. Quietly, I would hope.” That put a concerned look on both their faces as Gary looked each in the eyes in turn. His gaze came back to the woman in his lap. “So just be ready, Delilah. You’re not going home alone tonight. ..And I don’t mean that lewdly.”
“But what if I want you to,” she responded with a somewhat forced cheeky smirk and a flirty tone of voice. Jack laughed loudly again, and Gary facepalmed with his left hand, letting out a groan that turned her forced smirk into a genuine smile. This woman was going to make him die of self-inflicted cringe. He’d run full-tilt into that one and had only himself to blame.