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
