A Curious Case

(Going the extra mile and giving yall some ambiance music ^^)
Tavern Music

It was a cloudy day in Briarhart. The city was of a smaller, sleepy sort of town, but it offered respite from a harsh bog just a few miles away. Fog would often roll in, making the streets much more sinister than they seemed. Usually, the town was anything but.

Usually.

A hunter by the name of Silas Erya had just received his drink and was pondering over his papers. He was getting on in age, that was evident by the gray in his long hair and beard. Despite this, the man was still able bodied and fit. He wore leather armor with patches of metal sewn into more vital areas. A sword could be seen at his hip, a knife on the table and a crossbow hanging off his belt. He seemed pensive as he poured over the notes on his table. One could see gruesome sketches, with names and dates written next to them.

After a few seconds, he took a drink, his eyes sweeping over the tavern in the meantime. He was to meet the travelers he'd hired soon. He didn't like asking for help, but he doubted this was something he could do alone. Too much ground to cover with too little time.

Currently, the tavern itself was bordering on empty, though, that could change in an hour or two from what he'd heard. Currently, there were five other people in the tavern itself. An enkidu in a heavy cloak along with a young man dressed in robes sat at the bar. The enkidu's head was resting against the bar their catlike ears would twitch every so often, but that was honestly the only sign they hadn't drank themselves to death. The young man was simply reading, not having touched his now cold food.

There were two men on the verge of an argument towards the back. If shady had a look, they would fit it perfectly. Silas often found his eyes wandering over, simply to make sure they weren't plotting anything. Finally, off in the corner by herself sat a morose looking woman sat, staring out a nearby window. She'd been there for quite some time...

Cassima looked at the tavern as she got closer to it. She never went to a tavern before and there wasn't much tavern's back at Eislelyn, if they were at all, so this would be exciting. She just hoped that she wouldn't encounter anyone shady at the bar. She was only here to meet her travelling partners and that was it. She wasn't here for drinking as she didn't like to drink, it messes with her mind and perception.

As she walked through the fog that had set, she looked around at the quiet and sinister looking streets of Briarhart before entering the cafe. She hoped that Liseran didn't know what she was doing, she didn't want to freak her out.

Upon entering the tavern Cassima was surprised to find that not much people were here and they seemed to be quiet, well except for the two men that were arguing. She looked around, wondering how she was going to find her travelling partners.

She might as well ask.

"Which one of you gentleman." Cassima briefly looked at the quiet Woman. "Or gentlewoman, is here for business reasons. Such as discussion with travel partners that you have hired?" Cassima asked in the Tavern as she continued to look around for Slias.

Saki had arrived at the bar excited. With Leo and Rosie out of town, she had been left to her own devices and that had been boring. The Grimm Guild had refused allowing her on any of the guild quests alone, mostly because it was rule that one didn't go on patrols alone for safety. However, the Grimm Guild didn't stop them from going on quests outside the organization, and she could totally do those on her own.

Almost bursting through the door, her hare ears stood alert and tried to pick up on the conversations taking place. It hurt head a bit, the swimming chatter and loud laughs of the tavern drinkers, but after asking around, she was directed to the lone man sitting with a drink.

Silas would be faced with a lithe and chirper Enkidu girl. Her hair was long and a bright brown and her eyes were large and orange. Her hare ears stood straight, a lighter hue than her hair, and her attire, which consisted of a shirt covered with a chest plate, shorts, a utility belt, gauntlets, and iron-clad boots, suggested she was combat ready.

"You Silas?" she asked with a big smile.

Both Cassima and Saki were relatively ignored as they entered, save for a small glance from both the woman in the corner and Silas himself. As Cassima asked aloud who hired her, a few more looks headed her way, though it was short-lived. "That would be me." Silas' low, scratchy voice echoed through the relatively quiet tavern. Satisfied that the question was answered, the other patrons went back to their respective businesses.

Silas would wave Cassima over as Saki approached his table and spoke. He gave a short nod to her and gestured for her to sit down. "If you'd like, you can order food or a drink. We might be speaking for awhile." He gathered up his papers, straightening them out and sorting them before continuing. "As far as introductions go, my name is Silas Erya. Is there any questions before we begin?"

Cassima was grateful to see that Slias had managed to find her...And Saki, who she met at the beach one time when Rowen ended up washed ashore. At least Silas wasn't the shady looking lady at the back of the tavern. "Oh Saki, nice to meet you again." Cassima greeted Saki as she sat next to Slias at his table.

"Oh, no thanks, I already ate before I departed to meet you three." Cassima smiled. "Oh, It's nice to meet you Slias. My name is Cassima Addington. I am happy to meet your acquaintance and I will do the best I can to help out in the situation." Cassima introduced herself to Slias and Saki again as she waited for Saki to introduce herself as well.

The moment Silas suggested they order food or drinks, Saki swung onto a stool.

"Oh, great! I'm starving!" she said. "One meat pastie and cider please!"

Once she had made her order, she turned back towards Silas and Cassima who had been introducing themselves. At this, Saki grinned.

"Saki Nousagi!" she said. "Fast on my feet and quick to the punch!"

She started making boxing gestures, but paused. "I should change that logo. Fast and quick are redundant huh?"

Silas had also asked if they had any questions, to which she nodded.

"Eerrr actually yeah. Basically...everything. I didn't really read the notice so...what exactly is the matter?"

"It's good to meet you Cassima. I appreciate your help on this matter. Hopefully it won't take up too much of your time, but it's fairly complicated." He sorted through a few more of his papers before Saki began to speak.

A tavern worker nodded and quickly scurried away as Saki gave an order. It would only be a few minutes before the food was ready. As Saki was in mid conversation, she would find that her drink somehow made it's way into her hand.

Silas considered her words carefully with an air of bemusement. "Not when you're describing two different actions. Fast reflexes and coordination are both necessary." His hint of a smile faltered just a bit as Saki admitted to not having read the notice. "You took a job without fully reading what it was about?"

Well...whatever. "Either way it's fine. You two are aware of the recent attacks that took place in town correct? Two males, one age fifteen, the other age thirty-two." He pulled out two papers and placed them on the table. A rough sketch of the two victims was drawn onto them. The scene they portrayed was gory at best. Both of them had been practically torn apart. Long clean gashes have been made across their bodies. Both had their throats torn out and much of their flesh had been torn off.

"Now, looking closely, what do you think could've caused this?"

Cassima liked Saki's motto although she can't help as though but find a sort of innuendo in it. "Fast and quick. I like the motto myself. I think it fits you're character." Cassima complimented Saki's motto as she explained that she didn't really read the notice for this mission.

"Who goes into a mission without reading the notice...For this mission in question." Cassima played with her hair, implying that she too did not read the notice for the mission. Slias showed the girls an image of two victims of what appeared to be a monster attack. Cassima really liked the drawings. "I'm impressed with this much detail, but if i'm going to guess what attacked these two men, do you think it might be either a Tinder or Bad wolf?" Cassima looked at Silas and Saki as she waited for a response to her theory of the men's killers.

Saki smiled sheepishly when he asked her if she read the full job description or not. Her hare ears slightly shied backwards and she chuckled.

"Well...erm...it's not that I didn't read the job description," she said. "It's just that I only heard about it through hearsays! So I'm going into this blind...totally, yeah. Eheheh..."

And then raising a finger, "But I'm sure I can do it! Just trust me on this!"

Silas went on to brief them in. Saki had indeed heard of the killings, and pinched her chin trying to answer Silas' question.

"Judging by their mauling one would assume they were attacked by a beast yeah, but it's not like corrupted beasts to not finish off their meals?" she said. "Or at least leave the scraps around. Maybe an Incantus?"

Silas' lips formed a grim line at the two. Neither had ended up reading the full request? An attention to detail was relatively important to this quest. Then again, they were also the only two that took the job. People already figured beasts had done this, and were off hunting in the bog nearby.

Well...whatever.

He let the implications die there and moved on. "Like Saki said, a corrupted beast wouldn't leave the body there. If it was a tinder wolf, there would be burns. A bad wolf could be likely but. He reached forward, pointing to the wounds on the neck and body. The cuts are too clean and the biting around the neck is a little too small."

At the mention of an incantus Silas took a moment of consideration. "That could be an option, though there's not enough evidence to be certain."

He leaned forward. "I'm asking for your help in investigating these questions. There's a lot of inconsistencies and I'm not comfortable with just writing it off as a beast attack...That being said, we have a lot of ground to cover." He began to sort through the papers once more. "I have the areas where the attack took place marked on here." As he spoke, he planted down a map of the city. Both markings appeared to be in alleys inside of the city itself. "The bodies are being prepped for a burial in a gravesite nearby." He tapped his finger on another mark on the map. "Finally..." He lowered his voice considerably. "There's a guard with some insight into this, apparently. He was nervous though. Wants to meet at his home near midnight."

Finally, Silas leaned back and crossed his arms. "As I said, a lot of ground to cover. The way I see it, it might be best to split up and investigate individually or, you two can stay in a group. Two pairs of eyes might end up better than one after all."