>>5754609Your resolute step echoes on the rock in the cold streets of the western sector, attracting the attention of passers-by who repeat in fearful whispers speculation of what happen, all in the shadows not illuminated by the weak lights of the torches or the pale glow of the waning moon that watch in silence the commotion that has awakened your city.
To your right, your faithful friend and bodyguard Vaa-Haal charges his spear with a steady hand, glaring at those who stand in the way, irritated at losing a night's sleep.
To your left, Dothr-Kurr, captain of the guard, tries to explain what he knows to you, to put into words an image that makes his face pale and green.
You focus on the road, on the great crowd in front of you, pushing, jumping, shouting, and twisting so that you can see what awaits behind the cold faces and shields of the soldiers who stand in line protecting the entrance to an alley
When your feet stop before the tumult of onlookers and agitators, a single roar from your big friend is enough to scatter the mob, who hastily retreated from the path.
Advancing among the guards, you arrive at what seems to be the entrance to a winding labyrinth, but it doesn't take long for you to notice the drops of a dark liquid and a coppery smell on the air.
Following the sinister red guide, you come to a dead end, hidden by dusty wooden boxes.
You can see someone's feet on the floor.
"I don't recommend you see it." Dothr-Kurr beg to you again, though you're not sure if he's just trying to talk you out of it so he doesn't have to come with you to see the body again.
You ignore his words, you don't even look at him.
Passing between the boxes, you begin to understand his feelings.
Maybe she was a beautiful woman, maybe not. Maybe you two meet one day in the streets, maybe your life and hers were as distant as the earth and the sky. You can't know now, another mystery.
The woman's face is gone, ripped from her head in a way both savage and deliberate, leaving a red mass that stares at you with her one remaining eye.
The rest of her suffered no less.
What was once a humble but well-kept dress lay tattered around her, unable to hide how she was ripped open from her chest to her waist. Broken ribs and intestines were tossed aside, displaying how her tormentor had fumbled and frantically searched in her guts for something that you only can theorize.
The smell of blood and grease seeps through the black scarf that covers your face, forcing you to use your cane to stay on your feet.
"You are well?" Vaa-Haal whispers under his breath, standing at your side and covering you with his great presence. The way he manages to keep his composure better than you makes you think that maybe the annoying rumors spread by that spider of your sister, that he's half bear, has some truth to it.
You nod, not wanting to talk more than is necessary in such environment.
