The apartment is still and quiet.

Olven frowns.  "I'm a little concerned now," he says.  "Let's see if everything's okay."  He pushes open the door and looks inside.  "Anyone have a torch or lantern on them?  I can go grab one from my house if need be."

Tarhall pulls out the glowing pebble from earlier. "This will burn for days.", he says, handing it to Olven. The he subconsciously brandishes his staff, ready to follow.

"Okay, well, here goes," Olven says, gathering himself before entering.  He holds the pebble out before him and scans the apartment.  "Hello?  Is there anyone here?" he repeats.

As the heroes searched through the apartment, there was more of nothing. The apartment looked much like any other, things were in their place, but it was definitely lived in. And beside the magicked pebble, there was only darkness. But that all changed when they entered the bedroom.

The first thing they noticed was that they were stepping in something sticky and that the smell was off compared to the rest of the apartment. And as they continued to look around, they found a single, alive and unharmed and awake, but silent, human boy child less than a year old, with cloth wrapped around his loins, but otherwise unclothed. The cloth partially soaked by the red liquid the boy sat in.

And then they discovered his mother. And she was worse off than the child’s father. No one had stopped the monster this time. Her flesh eaten. Her blood all over the floor. Fortunately all three heroes kept their lunch.

"By all things holy!", Tarhall exclaims as the scene presents itself.

Unfortunately, things are turning out to be as they feared, and the terror of the event strikes like a blow.

But already part of his mind is also forming questions, soon to surface.

Why does the boy live?

Before of after? Who died first? Has the monster struck here AFTER the predation on the husband?

Where did it enter? A window here? No bloody trail through the house after the feasting ...

"The child ...", he says and bends down to secure it in his arms, his white garments staining with bodily fluids on the floor. As he looks at the innocent survivor, he suddenly feels the pain of his own loss, and the sting sets tears flowing slowly from burning eyes.

"Gods preserve us," Olven mutters, glancing wildly around the desecrated apartment as he holds the bright pebble in his left hand.

He had not been prepared for such carnage.  Thank the gods the wizard had sought fit to continue inside.  Olven had intended to continue to his own home.  He shudders to think of the boy spending the night in this place.

"We must alert the authorities at once," Olven says.  "And the boy must be seen to.  Tarhall, I shall go open up my home, and you and Handar can repair to there.  I'm going to retrieve my spear and report this to a watchman."

Olven hands the glowing pebble to Handar and hurries outside to his own home.  Entering, he rushes to his bedroom and grabs up his spear, then heads out into the night to find another watchman.

Wiping away his shame, Tarhall brings the child to Olwens apartmentand starts seeing about getting cloth and blankets so as to clean and warm the boy.

One nagging thought will not leave him.

Did I cause this by my failure to retrieve the beast?

As the heroes left the neighbor’s apartment, trailing red footprints behind them and carrying the child, they ran into two watchmen.

As soon as the watchmen noted them, they asked for the heroes papers.

[OOC: As you've cooperated so far, I'm assuming that you will continue to do so.]

They looked at the papers.

“I see you have preceded us to another murder site,” the watchman said, though neither of them had been at the previous site with the heroes. “That’s not going to look well on your record.”

"Our records be damned," Olven snaps.  "This boy's parents have been savagely mutilated, and you talk about our records?"  He spits on the ground.  "So much for being concerned about my neighbors, eh?"

Looking over at Tarhall, Olven says, "This beast must be stopped before it claims more lives."  Shaking his head, he turns his attention back to the watchmen.  "Sorry, men.  I know you're just doing your jobs."

"I know what you're saying," the watchman said. "Our colleagues didn’t think you’d killed the husband, so I don’t think you killed the wife. But now I’m sure the Seekers would like to speak with you, just to make sure we Watchers haven’t messed things up. A couple of them will likely be around later tonight to investigate the scene of the crime. Just don’t do anything stupid like leave the city before they get the chance to talk to you. That would look very suspect.”

[OOC: As the watchmen are the beat cops, the seekers are the detectives investigating the crime.]

Handar sighs and nods.  "Ah well; I guess this gives us a little more time to prepare for once the seekers realise we're not guilty."

"Of course," Olven says, nodding his head, his temporarily flare-up smoothed out almost as soon as it began.  "Please let us know if we can aid you in your search."

Turning to the others, Olven says, "What shall we do with the boy?  Should we leave him with one of the temples?"  Olven isn't equipped to take care of a child, and truth be told, he has no idea where to begin.

"I could take him," the watchman said, though Olven hadn't spoken to him. "That way at least he has a home until we can find any other relatives. If there are any."

As the heroes spoke with the watchmen, a knight of Solamnia approached them, checked them out, as well as the crimson footprints.

This message was deleted by the player at 06:34, Sat 13 Mar 2010.

"Greetings," Olven says to the knight.  "Are you the Seeker that these Watchers told us about?  Would you care to adjourn to my home?  It's right over there."

Olven makes every attempt to cooperate with the authorities.  These men are just doing their job, and if he were in their shoes, he'd be suspicious of three men found at each bloody crime scene, too.

"Im am not a seeker. My name is Sir Owain and I am here at the king's request to lend my assistance in a group venture. You seem to be the men I am looking for."

Owain's eyes flicker between the men, the stained child and the footprints leading from out of the nearby apartment. His brow furrows with concern as he asks "Have I come at a bad time?".

"You've come at the perfect time," Handar replies drily, "since we'll probably have most of tomorrow and possibly even some of the next day to plan our journey and work out what provisions we'll need.  I'm Handar."

"This is the son of my neighbors," Olven says by way of explanation.  "Earlier tonight, after we three had left the king's presence, we saw a personally brutalized by a giant wolf-like creature.  We hurried forward, but the beast escaped, and we discovered the identity of his victim, this boy's father, my neighbor."

Olven Wolf pauses and sorrowfully looks down at the boy.  "When we returned to my home, we knocked on my neighbor's door to inform his wife.  There was no response, and finding the door unlocked, we entered the apartment.  We found the boy huddled in a bedroom, his mother's corpse badly savaged." Olven chokes.  "I've seen my share of blood on the battlefield, but this was a char el house."

The boy was very young, too young to be overly traumatized by an experience such as this, as terrible as it was. Understanding beyond the basic "my mother is hurt" was likely lost upon him. Owain finds it odd that he was not crying but chooses not to read too much into it just yet.

Owain nods at Handar's introduction politely but is caught up with the situation and postponing proper introductions for the moment in favor of getting a mental foothold on what was happening. Although it was Owain's reason for meeting with these men, it did not seem appropriate in light of the severity of the situation to discuss other matters just yet.

"Husband and now wife, immediately I see a pattern in these killings. Isnt it odd for a beast to target a related couple? it cant be a coincidence.  Why does the child still live? did you chase the beast away in time?"

Owain asks his questions as he follows the footprints and enters the apartment to examine the scene.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:53, Sun 14 Mar 2010.

"No; we found the husband some distance away.  He probably managed to lead the beast away from the child, though we can't know for certain having not been there," Handar says.  "It could have attacked this house at random, while the husband was still at work, and still have been eating when he returned."

Tarhall nods his greeting to the Knight as he comes upon the scene.

He also notes the offer from the watchman. As he hands the child to the guardsman, he muses upon the situation.

"I believe that we should let the watch take the child into their custody. We are needed here for the resolvement of this situation.

Of course, we are as of yet not tasked to examine or intervene here by anyone, but I for one wish to offer my assistance, such as it is and can be.

As for what happened, I find your theory unlikely, Handar. As we entered, there were no tracks in the apartment that indicated that the beast had moved through the house in pursuit of the father - clear bloodspatter would have resulted from that. Just look at what our passing has acomplished. We - or at least someone - needs to get in and uncover what truths can be gleaned from evidence inside. For all we know, this attack may have happened after we lost track of the beast earlier. Still, it is anyones guess as of yet.", Tarhall finishes.

Owain is silent as he examines the gruesome scene within the apartment. He shows little discomfort with what he finds, the only indication showing as a slight stiffening of his back and a grim frown.  His eyes linger on the corpse for a time but then begins to examine the room.

"I am reluctant to let the boy out of our sight just yet. If the beast is targeting a specific family it may be back to finish what it started and I want to be there. We dont know the reason why the boy still lives, but we should not jump to conclusions, whether that be he is a target or not a target."

Owain pauses for a moment as if pondering the boy's situation then turns to Olven.  "How well did you know your neighbors? was it just three who lived here?"

Owain looked around the apartment.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:24, Mon 05 Apr 2010.