|
Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 15, 2016 22:12:19 GMT -5
The ride was mostly uneventful, but it allowed for a good opportunity to get a view of the local Silverfern village. Off in the distance, dark-haired, pale skinned humans in a mishmash of modern and not-so-modern clothes did their daily chores. A group of hunters educated their young on how to use a spear while some older men used drills to carve through the ice in the nearby frozen lake. Another group could be seen explaining the significance of a wooden carving to a Salm Industries worker. It was a community of modernizing natives. They obviously held their way of life in high value, but they weren't at all averse to communicating and trading with outsiders.
The Silverfern tribe were always very kind and accepting of foreigners. Many other tribes preferred to remain isolated from the rest of the world. A few were openly hostile towards anyone outside their tribe, and especially aggressive towards Salm Industry personnel. Thankfully, this area was far away from the territory of any of those tribes.
"We're here," the old driver said as the sled came to a slow halt. "The last known location of Nathaniel Rebock. We in the village took to calling him 'moonhead' because of the way the moonlight reflected off of his scalp." She laughed weakly and frowned. "He was a good man. I did not know him well, but he did not judge us, and he gave us no reason to judge him."
The immediate vicinity looked to be an abandoned camp site. A tent was hung up, and there were open boxes filled with small Geist Crystals.
"He was going to plant those crystals in the ground. When buried under the snow, they crack open and the roots of the crystal trees grow. He never got a chance to plant a single one."
In addition to the boxes, there was some nearby electronic equipment, a camera, and various miscellaneous worker supplies. The site was also half a mile away from the aforementioned frozen lake.
"Everything that was here has been left the way it was when he disappeared. Druid Haguta cast a spell to ensure that no snow would fall upon it until after you are finished investigating."
|
|
|
Post by SlvrNight on Jun 18, 2016 23:04:43 GMT -5
[[Quick post before I die on my keyboard]]
Sasha nodded at the driver's words storing them within her mind for future reference and gently patting her shoulder in a showing of sympathy. The detective looked at the area, her eyes studying every detail possible. Honestly part of her wished there was blood of some kind. If she could catch its scent and its taste it would have made tracking this Nathaniel fellow significantly easier. But that wasn't the case here, so there was no point in wishing for what wasn't. She would simply have to rely on her other investigative skills.
The snow crunched under her feet as Sasha moved forward, examining the camp. She approached one of the tents and looked down at the boxes of geist crystals, crouching to get a better look at them.
She took her glasses off and narrowed her eyes, quietly whispering her thoughts to herself. "Small remnants of human skin flakes, so a small insignificant amount of DNA. Tracking this way would be impossible since I have no way of discerning how long ago these are. Wouldn't be able to tell where he went next and if I was going forwards or backwards along the trail."
The female detective moved on to the electrical equipment and camera next. If any footage that could be of help was captured on the camera, Norman Salm would've likely handed it over already. But she made a mental note to check at some point anyways. Sasha continued slowly moving throughout the camp, focusing her eyes and occasionally sniffing as she used those two senses primarily in an effort to find some sort of clue, leaving Mars to his own endeavors meanwhile.
|
|
|
Post by Jisui on Jun 23, 2016 2:23:35 GMT -5
The trip was uneventful and mostly filled with silence sans the occasional comment from the cheerful driver, but it didn't bother Mars too much. He wasn't one to initiate conversations, and couldn't really think of anything to say to the detective anyway. Best to keep it professional he supposed.
The eye of a Silverfern tribe member caught his eye, who enthusiastically waved at the mercenary as if recognizing him. Letting a rare, if not slight smile slip, Mars raised a hand in response before the sled carried them away from view.
To think that someone had the audacity to target a peace-loving group like the Silverfern tribe...
It was an unthinkable crime that threatened to surface his dormant bloodlust. He hoped that Norman knew what he was doing, and that Sasha was more than she seemed.
Sometime after passing the Silverfern tribe, the fields of rolling snow began to melt into images.
It was not memories of Mars' creation. The familiar feeling of a vision seeped into him, as if drowning into a pool of vivid imagery.
But...
It was different. Violent. Crushing. Melting crumbling solvable breaking apart screeching-
Hatred. Nausea. Power lust. A man's name came to the light. He had to kill him. He had to kill him. He needed strength to kill him. No matter what. No matter how.
There was only one that would answer such trivial vengeance. And so it spoke:
Ingest.
He had to kill him.
Krizno.
As if he had been underwater, Mars' eyes snapped open, and the mercenary greedily sucked in gulps of air. After taking a few seconds to catch his breath, he looked around. Luckily, Sasha had already begun investigating, leaving a rather concerned looking driver staring at him. Ignoring him, Mars quietly muttered a personal cantrip to himself.
"I'm here."
Yes, there was the rolling snow that had been greeting them all trip, with an abandoned campsite in the distance. He was right here. Mars took a few seconds to push the vision to the back of his mind before getting up from the sled and beginning to walk to the detective. The mercenary had no idea what the hell that vision had been, and quite frankly he had no desire to find out at the moment. One went mad when overthinking of possible futures. He had a job to do.
Mars moved nearby to Sasha so that he could protect her in the case of an attack, although he was careful to stay out of her actual investigation. The mercenary's scarlet eyes cautiously peered at the detective as she began muttering to herself and sniffing the nearby equipment. There was really only one deduction he could have made from the sight, which he unfortunately muttered out loud instead of in his head.
"...Enhanced senses or crazy..."
|
|
|
Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 23, 2016 4:42:01 GMT -5
It was no wonder that the detective before her couldn't find anything. There was almost nothing to indicate which direction he was taken. The possibility of following a set of tracks was ruled out entirely by the snow covering the ground, and the equipment was almost completely undisturbed. It was an abnormally sterile scene.
Any normal person would see this as a dead end. However, Sasha was far from normal. She had the ability to see and understand beyond the limits of the average human eye. Where all others saw emptiness, she saw her first clue.
The lack of skin flakes and signs of human activity in the center of the camp were the giveaway. The place looked as if all evidence of DNA or life had just been magically removed....which it may have been.
Unfortunately, while noteworthy, this did not present Sasha with a lead. However, she knew that no magic spells existed that could simply erase traces of DNA passively, or at least not any that could be cast by mere mortal mage. It was very unlikely that he was simply dragged away.
There were, oddly enough, also very few signs of an arcane spell being cast. Usually, when arcane spells are cast, they leave behind a floating, colored gas-like residue called Mana Smoke. This residue is usually invisible to the human eye, except for in large concentrations. However, Sasha's enhanced senses should have allowed her to see it if it was there. Norman would have certainly have had technology capable of detecting traces of it as well.
How could the culprit snatch people without leaving any trace of DNA or magical residue? It was impossible. There had to be something left behind.
The answer dawned on Sasha. Up until now, everyone had been for the wrong things. DNA traces in the center of the camp had been erased by magic, but not the type anybody looks for. At least, not anybody raised in JX City.
There were faint traces of something glittery. It almost completely blended into the snow flakes. Even Sasha's keen eyes were momentarily fooled by its camouflage. A magical residue not of the arcane variety.
Faerie dust. Faint, sparkling residue left behind by gaiac magic, more commonly known as fey magic.
|
|
|
Post by SlvrNight on Jun 26, 2016 20:16:04 GMT -5
Sasha heard Mars and replied to him while still moving about the camp and searching for any sort of clue. It wasn't really a surprise to her. Most people immediately went to the conclusion that she was crazy or, as many others liked to word it, "eccentric", so she was thankful for the mercenary's open-mindedness at least.
"Enhanced senses." The detective said as she moved. "I can hear extremely well, pick out individual scents, see far distances, feel slight vibrations, and the like."
She narrowed her eyes and looked at a specific spot of snow on the ground, crouching on one knee and silently studying it for a few seconds. "And if I focus my eyes enough-" She continued. "I can even pick out traces of material completely invisible to the average eye due to size or other factors. Such as this."
Sasha pointed at the snow directly in front of her.
"I was having difficulty finding any helpful trace of anything at first. That was because I was simply looking for the wrong thing. It wasn't until my mind began running out of options that I started turning to things I would normally deem to be ridiculous or highly improbable. Such as this."
She pointed at the ground again, as if expecting Mars to see what she was talking about.
"Faerie dust. Residue from spells cast using fey magic. This is extremely uncommon as only a select few kinds of people are even capable of using it. Shamans, for example. Which means we're dealing with something I'm not as familiar with as I wish I were."
The redhead looked down at the snow once again, narrowing her emerald eyes at it and adjusting her glasses. Her lips curved down into a slight frown as her mind ran through the revelation.
"Faerie dust blends extremely well into snow. If all the disappearances took place outside, then it would be an effective way to hide their tracks. Damn."
|
|
|
Post by Jisui on Jun 26, 2016 23:20:38 GMT -5
Mars was caught between slight embarrassment over his slip of tongue, and being impressed upon seeing the detective go to work. In the end, he settled on the latter. It was admittedly quite interesting watching the detective investigate the scene using her abilities. Enhanced senses were perfect in her line of work.
"I see..." The mercenary muttered, watching as Sasha's eyes raked over the snow in front of them. Although he initially planned to stay out of the way of the detective's investigation, he obliged her by looking over to where Sasha pointed.
Faerie dust, huh... interesting. Mars wasn't completely ignorant of magic. He had a small talent for it unlike Duster, although it wasn't nearly on the level of Selatia. And this talent transferred over to knowledge of certain branches of magic, such as fey magic.
Very rare was the sighting of a fey, and even rarer the sighting of their magic. The existence of fey magic residue here didn't make any sense in relation to the case. Still... there was something that was bothering him.
"I... don't understand." The half-akma questioned quietly, eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Is the dust that hard to see? Its right there."
|
|
|
Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 27, 2016 9:28:09 GMT -5
It was beyond bizarre that Mars could see it as easily as he claimed. Sasha could only see it because of her incredible perception, while for Mars it was as plain as day. Nothing in the dossiers suggested that Mars had supernatural eyesight.
Baffling as the idea was, Sasha understood that if Mars could see it so easily, he could potentially track it. The very thing that prevented the former, retired investigator from making any progress became a trail that could lead them straight to the culprit. It was a jarring and sudden leap forward, but a very welcome one nonetheless.
Could it really be so easy? There was still reason to be cautious. Perhaps especially so now that they had a new lead.
|
|
|
Post by SlvrNight on Jun 30, 2016 11:07:47 GMT -5
Sasha sharply turned to Mars, giving him a confused look which quickly changed to her simply narrowing her eyes at him as she tried to decide on whether to believe him or not. Her hearing gave no hint that he was lying about being able to easily see the faerie dust, so she chose to believe him. That was both a good and bad thing. It meant that she had another pair of eyes that were reliable besides hers, although the reason as to why he could see the dust was unclear at the moment. It was possible his eyes were simply well attuned to the arcane and didn't have powerful vision like hers, which meant his eyes would be useful in only certain situations. It was also possible, however, that Mars was involved with the kidnappings. Perhaps he noticed the dust earlier on and kept it to himself for some reason. After all, it would make sense for Norman Salm's talented mercenary trio to try their hand at this investigation before her. But there was no mention of that by Norman himself. So she was either simply being overly distrusting or Mars came here of his own volition, unknown to the others.
Or he was simply just spotting it for the first time with whatever natural ability was allowing him to do so. Not everything was a multilayered conspiracy after all. Sasha gave a small sigh of relief as that thought entered her mind.
"Since you can see it so easily, then it looks like you'll be useful for more than just keeping me alive." The detective immediately became aware of how rude that could have been taken and hastily added: "Not that I don't appreciate that and not that that isn't a big help already anyways."
Sasha cleared her throat and took a few steps to the side, her eyes slowly moving from the faerie dust as she looked for any sort of trail.
"Think you can help me track it then? It's our only lead so far. The fact that faerie dust is so rare in the first place should merit some investigation anyways."
|
|
|
Post by Jisui on Jun 30, 2016 17:37:51 GMT -5
The mercenary simply returned Sasha's suspicious gaze with his own stoic one, cat-like crimson eyes peering into hers silently. As usual with him, it was difficult to read what Mars was thinking, even if his partner at the moment was a detective. Judging from his calm outward demeanor however, he didn't seem too offended by the slight suspicion Sasha had put him under.
It was perfectly logical to him anyway, her fears. If she had been so quick to trust someone that she had just met, Mars might have thought her a fool.
"Since you can see it so easily, then it looks like you'll be useful for more than just keeping me alive."
A rare sound let loose from his throat, and it took Mars a second before he realized that he was laughing. It wasn't a raucous, crude noise like that of a mercenary, but more akin to a quiet chuckle. Interesting. A detective who couldn't help but speak her mind... certainly, she hadn't been what he had been expecting at all.
But it seemed like they had more in common than he initially thought.
"It's fine. Its true that I'm not good for much else but a fight anyway." There was a strange countenance to his words, as if he had meant more than he had let on. But before anyone had time to think about it, Mars nodded his head to the left, eyes trailing the snow carefully.
"That way."
|
|
|
Post by Tokrochiru on Jun 30, 2016 18:35:01 GMT -5
"Careful out there, you two!" the musher called, shouting so she could be heard from a distance. "I plan to give you a ride back to Agria once you return to the village! Not enough folks been taking return trips these days! Make sure that changes, yah!?"
The woman was apparently not aware that they had a device that could simply teleport them to Skaldra whenever they needed to.
With that, the old woman grabbed the reigns of her sled. Her beasts knew what to do, and rode off towards the Silverfern village.
Moving on, the duo found the trail to be quite long. In addition, over time it somehow became simultaneously easier and more difficult to follow. Concentrations of faerie dust widened into less dense concentrations. This made it easier to stay on the trail, but harder to spot the Faerie dust itself. This, in and of itself, was a clue.
When a powdery residue falls from an object or creature, it's reasonable to assume that the width of the area it falls in is influenced by the height of which it falls. It is also effected by wind, which unfortunately presented another problem for Mars and Sasha and they continued their trek. Much digging into the snow was necessary in order to follow the trail.
Time passed. Day left and night arrived, bringing with it an extra dose of chill. It's fortunate that the two brought camping equipment. A single tent inside of a capsule, bags with flint and tinder....the works.
Continuing to follow the trail now would bear little fruit. Setting up camp was the only logical course of action now.
|
|
|
Post by SlvrNight on Jul 5, 2016 15:30:19 GMT -5
Sasha massaged her brow in frustration, her head down and her eyes closed. They had followed the trail for a decent distance but the dust was beginning to spread, widening the trail and gradually making it harder to pinpoint an accurate path as well as harder to even see the dust since it was being spread thin. On top of that, night was practically here. Her investigation would have to be put on hold for now and camp would need to be made.
Sasha took the capsule and pressed a small button on one of its ends, tossing it a few feet in front of her. The capsule split apart and pieces of metal emerged from it, folding into shape as if being molded by the hands of an unseen master of origami. Deep green cloth fell from the metallic frame, draping itself over it and finishing up the tent. In the end, it was a fairly large tent, and the cloth had faint lines of green light racing along it, indicating the security (likely powered by a small geist crystal within the frame) was active and ready.
The detective turned to look at her ally, the mercenary. She wondered if he had brought his own equipment with him. There was more than enough space within the tent for them both but there was certainly a sense of awkwardness that came with the thought. Her emerald eyes turned to the sky as she studied the clouds. It was very possible that more snow could fall during the night, or even soon. The tent had enough space within it for a campfire within, and the cloth was very resistant to flames. If desired, they could spend their entire time within the warmth of the tent's walls. Personally, Sasha was preferring that option.
"So, Mars." She started, looking towards him. "It's nearing night, the dust is spreading thinner and is becoming more difficult to see. Advancing at this time and point wouldn't really be a good idea. You have your own tent or..." A brief pause as she hesitated slightly. "Will you have to share mine? There's more than enough space for both of us, as well as a type of indoor campfire, if you'd like to avoid any random snow that could be falling soon. Only thing we'd have to figure out is food." Sasha did bring some food for the journey, but she was curious if Mars had done the same. She would have liked to avoid being the only one providing such things.
Ah. Norman Salm. She would have to contact him soon. Not much progress was made, but they had found a trail. It was far better than nothing.
|
|
|
Post by Jisui on Jul 5, 2016 16:24:41 GMT -5
Mars had begun seeing the telltale signs of frustrations on the detective's face about halfway through their trek. Granted, he supposed that he couldn't really blame her. The trail went deeper and farther than either of them had anticipated, and it became difficult for even him to track the dust as the sun fell. They would most likely have to set up camp for the night. He wondered, had she thought to bring a tent? Perhaps she needed help setting it u-
Just as he entertained that thought, the mercenary silently watched as Sasha's capsule folded itself into a large tent within seconds.
...He'd never get used to that, Mars thought, mind wandering to when the days when they had to set up the tents the old fashioned way. Mars had been instructed to teach Sasha some survival techniques, but that tent seemed to have it covered for him.
"...Advancing at this time and point wouldn't really be a good idea. You have your own tent or..."
His attention snapped back to the detective, catching the rear end of her words and hesitating. He had brought a sleeping bag of course, but not a tent. Mars was admittedly more resistant to the elements than most because of his blood, and because of it generally just slept in the wilderness most of the time.
It was more so his preference than anything else. The roar of a good campfire with the backdrop of nature was... soothing. Cathartic even.
...But damn, did that tent look warm.
"Don't worry about it. I'll keep watch outside." Mars muttered, scratching the back of his neck. He wasn't an idiot, and could tell that Sasha wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of sharing tents. And while sharing tents with a young woman was undoubtedly not a bad thing by his standards, he couldn't deny being somewhat uncomfortable as well. Sasha was nice enough, but it took a while for Mars to open up to anyone, a fact that Duster and Selatia could attest to.
"And I've brought enough food to last us this trail... hopefully. If we need to, I can hunt..."
The mercenary's voice trailed off, eyes appearing to glaze over. His gaze seemed to refocus itself from Sasha to something else in the distance.
|
|
|
Post by SlvrNight on Jul 6, 2016 17:51:31 GMT -5
Sasha gave Mars an apologetic look while also mentally slapping herself. Being unable to hide her hesitance with sharing a tent with Mars was a rookie mistake, something an inexperienced fool with the inability to put the reins on their emotions would do. She wasn't like that usually. Then again, it had been a somewhat long day in the freezing cold so it was possible that she was simply letting her guard down from exhaustion. In the end, it was selfish of her to strip the mercenary of a warm night of rest just because of her discomfort.
Plus, if he tried anything her senses would detect it far more easily than a normal person's and would most definitely wake her up.
"No, that's not necessary." Sasha said this with a sigh. "There's more than enough room for both of us. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating that in an attempt to be kind or anything. Plus, the fact that this case is involved with someone who can cast fae magic means it might just get bumpier from here. I think it's best that we both try to get as good a night of rest as possible."
Sasha noticed Mars's eyes glaze over and move on to something else, interrupting his sentence entirely. She raised an eyebrow at this but turned to look in the same direction, seeing nothing of importance, and then turned back to him. She was curious about this but spoke nothing of it. Everyone had their own quirks and with Mars being half akma it was highly likely this was simply a type of genetic byproduct of that.
The detective made her way towards the tent, talking to Mars more as she went. "I have some food as well. We can combine what we have and see what we can make of it. I don't think hunting will be needed tonight."
The inside of the tent could be adequately compared to a small room. It was tall enough for Sasha to fully stand with two feet to spare and wide enough that it could effectively fit two more sleeping people if they were placed strategically. The ground was covered by a thick cloth flooring, similar to a carpet, with an opening in the center of the tent meant for a campfire. The left and right walls both had a single rectangle of a clear plastic material, acting as windows.
Sasha took her boots off at the entrance, bumping them together to shake off any loose snow and then proceeding to take off her backpack as she walked deeper into the tent. She left the entrance open, allowing Mars to enter if he wished.
|
|
|
Post by Jisui on Jul 6, 2016 18:05:03 GMT -5
Empty silence answered Sasha as she spoke, persisting as long as a half minute before suddenly the sound of snow frantically being crushed beneath someone's foot. If the detective were to look through the tent entrance, she would find the mercenary nowhere to be found with only a trail of footprints leading in a random direction.
He knew that it was foolish.
Idiotic even. Mars had left Sasha all alone back at the tent. He probably owed her an apology later for putting her at risk.
But, he recognized the location that he had just seen in the vision. And if there was anything that left a bad taste in his mouth, it was allowing something to die, when it was preventable.
...Or maybe, he just didn't like the color of red on white.
|
|
|
Post by SlvrNight on Jul 6, 2016 19:52:53 GMT -5
Sasha heard the crunching of snow and nodded in approval as she realized it was Mars finally moving, likely towards the tent.
Except the sound was getting fainter and fainter. She tried to rationalize it and avoid the most obvious cause because she had the belief the mercenary wasn't a crazy fool. Once she turned and took a look outside for herself, she knew she was wrong. Mars was nowhere to be found. All that was left were bootprints in the snow heading in a random direction. The detective's left eye twitched in aggravation as her mind's gears went to work trying to figure out any sort of reasonable cause that would result in this.
She found none.
Cursing under her breath, she put her boots and coat back on, leaving the tent and quickly following the footprints.
|
|