Dark Tidings
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_These stories were lost in the forum shift. Luckily I kept a copy. This entire thread was a player led murder plot I set up with Syne in his early days at the Gypsie camp. A few good hearted players decided to play along and it was a lot of fun. By itself the thread doesn't make much sense. You pretty much have to read between it and Desecrator to understand what was going on.
I'd like thank all of those who participated in this little mystery. :)_
Birth of the White Caterpillar
"I cut the flesh
and make it bleed
fresh skin
is what I need
I let it dry
out in the wood
all your crying
did no good, yeah"-RZ-
The winds of dawn bring with them a familiar chill and the spicy aroma of someone preparing a meal by the fires. Any approaching the warmth of the camp's hearth will notice a most macabre sight. The head of a young woman has been gruesomely mounted on a wooden shaft by the campfires. The woman's face is locked in a hideously bloody silent scream and it appears that her eyes have been violently gouged out. She has been disfigured beyond recognition.
A swarm of flies have already invaded the severed head, buzzing around it triumphantly. The smell of decay is overpowered by the spicy smell of boiling meat, coming from the lid covered ceramic pot placed over the fire beneath the bloody stake.
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Between the two roaring fires of the camp this day lies a pale, silent angel. His fair golden hair lightly flecked in blood, his smooth pale skin glowing softly in the firelight. His face has been badly wounded, scratched and torn, but has not been horribly disfigured. His eyes remain in their place, as does his tounge. The damage in fact seems minimal, but the silent angel is still in fact very much dead. The ants have only begun to gather and the carrion birds are beginning to circle high above. Between the roaring fires, lies the camp's beloved Jonni.
_And that was the last one before Syne saw they were closing in on him. The other stories in Desecrator were a part of "Sinister Melody" a murder spree that went unchecked and unanswered in Peltarch, well…unless of course you count Crusader Koreth, who by the way, if memory serves, arrived among us after rumors of these gruesome deaths reached his ears. He was determined to bring the vicious murderer to justice. :twisted:
I unfortunately don't have a copy of the "Sinister Melody"_
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The dawn of this day arrives with the excited barking of Scraps the dog, sniffing madly around a flame licked pot hanging idly over one of the gypsie fires. His worried whining and yipping bring with them a sense of morbid anticipation. The pot hangs closed, a small bit of steam escaping from under the lid. The smell of boiled flesh hangs limply in the air.
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After the ritual is completed, you see the last vision of the man was that of a large red feathered hawk with glowing red eyes that left traces when it moved and a coal black beak thrashing violently at his face. The man was filled with fear and a deep concern for the woman he knew was nearby.
The last thing the woman saw comes in two visions. One is that of the man she loves, being brutally attacked by the large hawk, reaching feebly for his longbow, and screaming. The other was the face of a raven, pulling out her left eye, glaring viciously at her, its eye, a strange milky white orb.
She seems more concerned for the man's pain than her own. Her mind seemed to have tried to unsuccesfully focus on something very powerful and complicated, her pain and fear making her incapable of doing so.
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Inspecting the surroundings you discover four long black feathers and three dark red feathers with black tips. Both stained in blood. There are two large blood stained blotches of grass near the water that smear in the direction of where the bodies presently hang.
Also, a single boot print is found on the muddy earth. It's shape and size suggest either a relatively young human man or woman, or perhaps even an elf.
There are very small flecks of blood staining the grass leading away from the waterfall, not towards the camp, but towards Norwick and Jiyyd
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Those crossing by the waterfall just south of the gypsie camp will be met with the potent, sickly, sweet smell of decay. On the north side of the waterfall, the body of a naked young man hangs from his ankles, his arms hanging limply below him, and his fingertips just touching the grass. Two arrow shafts are protruding from him. One in his right thigh, the other in his stomach under his right ribs. Both wounds bled greatly and stained the better part of his right side. His body has been viciously slashed in many places by a sharp edged weapon, adding to the blood bath. His face is a gruesome mask, his eyes torn out, his lip hanging in tatters and his right ear shredded. A thick red mask of dried, fly infested blood has made him unidentifiable.
On the south side of the waterfall, in similar fashion, hangs the body of a naked young woman. A single arrow protrudes from her chest over her heart and a long gash runs down her stomach, her innards hanging freely in a macabre pattern. She has been decapitated, her head placed carefully upright under her own neck, drenched in blood and swarming with insects. Her face has been shredded down to the very bone and her scalp hangs from her hair like wind chimes. Her eyes have also been violently removed and she is caught in a terribly distorted silent scream, allowing for ants to make their way in and out without obstruction.
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Scutum sees there is no arterial bleeding around the body. Her inspection uncovers a few stained leaves not yet blown away by gypsie winds that suggest the body was dragged to the tree from the southwest side of the camp.
An alchemical analysis of the blood taken from the ground indeed suggests the presence of a debilitating toxin, but its origin is unknown. It does not seem to have been secreted by a "natural" animal.
The ritual to divine the girl's last visions reveals two things. The first is a pair of madness stricken green eyes, wide and hungry, under thin black eyebrows and surrounded by pale white flesh. The second is the darting beak of an ink black raven.
Edit: In her last moments the girl felt feverish, weak of limb, and very, very afraid.
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Those leaving the camp this day will notice a new addition to the camp's nightmarish decorations. A young blonde girl, of no more than twelve winters, has been tied by her wrists to the large tree just before the exit. She is completely naked, her pearly blue tinted flesh is covered in bruises and long deep gashes. The blood from the wounds has dried and become a dark red crimson dress flowing in random patterns. The small pond below is darkened in blood. Two rag dolls sit under her feet, bathed in red.
The child has been disembowled. Her intestines dangle freely from her rended stomach. A swarm of insects has taken residence on her corpse, laying their fleshy maggots on her insides.
Closer inspection will show, if anyone dares approach, that like the head found by the fires, her eyes have been brutally removed and her face has been disfigured. She is also missing her tounge.
