LogFAQs > #906072903

The battlefield was empty now. There was no longer a place for someone like him.

"Wait, a moment, you say that you found a woman's corpse... a preserved corpse... and she looked like the wife of the local smith?" Torrin expressed in shock. This statement seemed to bring Aaron back to the past. He hadn't been paying attention to their conversation up until now. As Enoch confirmed what Torrin had just said, the older man's expression changed to a troubled one. "Oh, I don't like this."

"From what I can remember, Maria and Goetic found a diary that was kept by the same woman," Torrin explained. He shook his head. "It sounded as if she had been suspicious of Avel, and somewhat of Cainas as well. She had taken to investigating them and trying to figure out what they were up to in these lands."

"A troubling possibility indeed," Leone muttered. As someone with connections to one of the larger criminal organizations in Hendrake, he absolutely knew what the implications were. It wasn't uncommon for someone who caused problems to disappear before they could alert the authorities. If Cainas or Avel were up to no good, if they truly had ties with the Thieve's Guild at all, it wouldn't be a shock to fall back on such methods. However... "I just can't imagine how they were able to preserve her corpse or why they'd go that far."

"To silence someone, you only need to toss them into a river," Leone concluded.

Enoch shook his head. "Either way, I don't like it. It gives me shivers. I knew that woman, you know?"

"Yes, this must be especially troubling for you." Torrin put a hand on Enoch's shoulder and offered him a moment of warmth. "To see a disturbing scene like that, even if you weren't close to her, must be hard for the human mind to process."

Preserved corpses? Aaron didn't like it. It reminded him too much of the all-too-human statues that were on display all around this area. If Cainas or Avel had been doing such things while people were still living in the mansion it would have obviously drawn attention to whatever was going on here. But what did that mean...?

"Now I'm thinking we should probably investigate this angle further," Torrin concluded. He sat back on his perch on the wagon, rubbing his beard thoughtfully. "If that woman was taken here and killed, and they couldn't dispose of her body, but they had to freeze her in that prison... perhaps there are more clues about. Maybe we can find signs of whatever it was she was looking for, or whatever she had found."

It was hard to say if that would really be a possibility. Up until now, the Smith's Wife had been playing a game against Avel and Cainas. The pieces had all been lain out on the board and they had been making their moves until checkmate. But that checkmate had arrived. The Smith's Wife had already lost. She'd been captured by the enemy. The field was empty, already, and the game board had probably been wiped clean.

Still, it couldn't hurt to check. With that in mind, the trio of Leone, Jennifer, and Enoch went back upstairs to investigate the upper passages a bit more. While that was going on, Aaron and Torrin had more time to relax on the lower floors while waiting for the other party to return.

As it happened, the Moth Party would be arriving at the front gates of the keep before long. They were in much worse shape than they had left. While Torrin's Shell Party, meant to breach the gates, had taken a slow and cautious approach, the Moth Party had waded into some dangerous waters and suffered heavy losses already in such a short time.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
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