Log-7-28

An autopsy report in another more careful hand has been slipped between the pages of the log.

'We went on an investigation beyond the city limits on a murder,'

A small scribble of the involved group drawn from behind, gathered around a halfling guard opening a fence gate leading to two red splotches. One splotch strewn with few drying portions not entirely cleaned up, and another more rotund corpse laying about. Someone has closed the latter's eyes, at the very least.

'In shorthand, behind those gates is grotesque, further detailing on the missing corpse lies in the autopsy itself, and I wince at the struggle.'

Then further attempts at drawing what little flora existed along a trail.

'We tried to track down the missing body parts, and we'd been dumbfounded to learn one of them were still moving about. We followed that path as best we could, and it lead to a supposed dead end.'

There are numerous arrows pointing towards a specific corner of an alcove, beside that is a drawing of mask fragments, leading with an arrow pointing to the mended set. It has a stern, not quite angry expression.

'Doroteya had done a ritual, and I'd thought it'd been some sort of greeting. At least one in a different language none of us could understand. I found it mildly amusing when it simply vanished afterwards.'

Two symbols, separated enough from its muse may as well be recognized as tumbleweeds to those who've yet to see the original glyphs.

'Disappointed, we lay with our silence and scratched the sand for further clues. We drifted for minutes, until explosives beneath Iggy had detonated, for those few seconds the cavern was alight. He'd been charred and unconscious, just as a fray would crawl out of those walls. It wasn't the first time I've come across the likes of it, but it spoke in a common tongue and a familiar voice, one familiar enough that one of our own would order to cease hostilities. Many of us were too busy running away, or dragging the unconscious goblin elsewhere to have any change of plans.'

A legion of shades guided by Lyx's hand is drawn holding back the large frayed, the group is portrayed in various states of disarray, be it running off or fighting back, and a minute scribble of a pigeon attempts to drag an Iggy off by the collar.

'Something about the fray's presence, or aura, had warped, the witch, I recall seemed to talk it down, calm it even. Doroteya with her quick thinking managed to pull the goblin back to a conscious state, and with a shot from his crossbow he took the frayed down.'

There's a drawing of something muscular and aquatic, waving behind some fences and pots.

'We returned to the city after collecting our bearings. Other than Iggy who somehow managed brinksmanship, we were relatively... arguably unscathed. We spoke amongst ourselves on the way down, of the group responsible for this, the names of the frayed. I recall a thought, there may've been something walking on the surface, amidst the mist, watching us through the walls.'

'Leaving Iggy with the hospital staff and the others to their errands, we parted ways. I'm left with this unsettling, hairy, feeling that this may be the start of our unraveling in the nature of the frayed, the mist and the soul.'

Signed at the bottom are the initials 'A.A'

At the scene of the murder, much of the conjecture during the autopsy was reaffirmed. The tracks in the sand confirmed that the assailant approached the victim from behind and the two fought a bloody battle, owlbear included. His soul was taken, though his beast's was left. Though we did not pursue the avenue: It might be possible to resurrect the owlbear and ask it to relay its death. This is outside of my expertise, however. I am unsure how effective it might be to interrogate an animal that has died.

After the battle, the assailant severed the tongue of the victim. Presumably, they took it with them, as it was the only known piece of the body that was not accounted for. I utilized a tracking-type of magic to potentially pinpoint where this macabre 'trophy' may have been taken. This lead us to a nearby cavern. It pointed 'upwards'.

We speculated that there might be a small pocket-cave directly above us, though given the severe presence of the Fray, it's more likely that the killer retreated to the surface.

Close to the place in which we lost our trail, we found a small alcove amidst the desert cave, where multiple things were found:

1. A shattered porcelain mask.

2. A spell glyph, and several scattered beads.

3. A symbol of Death on the wall.

Alpine was able to re-mend the mask. Once fixed, it held a sort of exaggerated, theatre-like expression to it, the cracks sealed with golden inlays. This is important to note - I later reaffirmed this detail with Ash, who performed a scry on the killer and witnessed other masks: She mentioned 'six golden lines' being a significant detail.

She also heard an unknown language. Similarly, I also heard an unknown language spoken when I placed the mask within a circle of examination glyphs. It vanished from my hands shortly after.

I am unsure what the significance of the mask was, though I highly doubt that it was not coincidentally discarded. My concern is that handling it may have imparted some sort of mark onto me; I will be getting routinely checked after this report is published.

We decided to investigate the beads left in the sand afterwards. Iggy was the one to test them. In doing so, numerous detonations were set off directly onto him- enough that would easily kill most anyone who suffered such an attack in one single, horrific blow. In the same moment, a frayed monstrosity was summoned, and the air was heavily tainted with the Fray.

While we scrambled to save Iggy, we found that the area was doubly charged by this creature. It seemed to be actively sapping all manner of positive energy/vitality straight out of the air. Healing magics failed. We were only capable of stabilizing him through mundane methods.

Worse yet, while we fought the Frayed, it cried out in a woman's voice.

It said, "Please no! Don't leave me in the dark again! You said you'd help me!"

We attempted to subdue the frayed, but ultimately, we failed, and it crumbled into dust.

Morrigan was evidently familiar with who this woman was. She cited, 'Elowen and Isolde, the Shadow and the Muse'. A soul that was captured by this person, or group of people, and is being actively utilized as a Frayed beast.

It is believed that this may be the work of the Understudy. Investigations point toward any information involving the Understudy next.

IN CONCLUSION

- Utilizing some manner of Frayed weapon, the murderer is tearing the souls out of living people.

- In this instance, Fraying directly affects the body ONLY while the soul is present.

- The souls are being repurposed into renewable, summoned Frayed.

- Some semblance of personality is retained, but they cannot control themselves. They are suffering.

- They set a trap that was made to both kill someone and summon one of these trapped Frayed. Why?

- This could have been an attempt to have this summon reap the soul of whoever it was that came to investigate the murder.

- It is highly likely that Beast Tamer has been added to this legion of renewable Frayed soldiers.

- The Understudy is involved.

ꕥ Tatloch