98 Vhalar 721
Two children had been out playing with wooden sticks near the docks and they'd strayed a little too far from their parents in search of adventure. They'd been having the time of their lives playing pirates until they happened across a few boxes in the river. Thinking they'd found treasure they opened the boxes... and within the trial the Elements had amassed to investigate the bodies found inside. Balthazar was called, despite the opinions on mages in Egilrun, because he'd proven several times now that he could find evidence better than most others. His involvement was supposed to be brief, but as the three Flame Troopers stood over the opened boxes down by the river he knew it would be anything but.
He'd investigated murders before but it had almost always been a crime of passion. The killers had some extenuating circumstance that lead to them burring the blade in another... but this- this was too clean. Too planned. Too... perfect. The bodies had been cut into pieces so they would fit in the boxes and there were at least three boxes. Cutting them up stopped Balthazar from using his Final Moment ability to witness the death and gather clues from it. Even if reassembled, Balthazar could feel and see the deaths were too old for the ability. The boxes had been used to move the bodies from where they originally fell, further disabling the investigative aid Vri's mark normally gave him.
A crow perched on a nearby building cawed at Balthazar, drawing his attention for a moment before it flew down and landed beside one of the boxes. Fuego had a name but Balthazar had not yet really acquainted himself with the spirt of Death that followed him at all times now. He was aware of the creature and what it could do, but he did not think to employ it until it had cawed at him. "Very good, Crow." Balthazar whispered before the crow hopped closer to the box. "Show me." The winged creature took to the sky a moment later and began circling around while it waited for Balthazar and the other Elements to be ready to move.
"The diri," he did not know if it was accurate to call the spirit of Death a diri, but it was how he perceived the creature, "will lead us to where it happened. We can look for more clues there. Reinheart, could you take the bodies to the local Hall for a better autopsy? Jenkins, I'd like you to follow the diri with me." Balthazar's tone implied it was a suggestion and the other two didn't argue. Reinheart wasn't particularly happy about having to move the bodies but he had Land Troopers to help him with it.
Balthazar pulled his hood over his head just a little more as he and Jenkins, the other Flame Trooper working with him on that trial, passed through the Land Trooper perimeter and into the Egilrun streets. He could feel eyes on him. Angry eyes. He'd already experienced how uncooperative they could and would be towards him but he was there to do his job. The spirit flew in a relatively straight but slow path along the water towards the docks. Jenkins and Balthazar kept up on foot and when they reached the docks the spirit flew further out over the water. Not towards another island, not circling to indicate it had happened at the docks, it flew out further into the Hollow Sea and Balthazar recognized where the trail would lead them.
"The killer takes his victims out into the sea, kills them, and dumps their bodies. Three washed up here but there are probably more." Balthazar explained to Jenkins.
"We should send word to the other islands to be on the lookout for boxes matching the same description as the ones we found." Jenkins suggested.
"And we should request they put more Elements on the docks. Whoever is doing this has access to the water- probably a boat."
"That doesn't narrow down suspects in Scalvoris."
"Maybe not, but it would still be remiss not to be on the lookout."
