The Devil of Baskerville

Solana eagerly nodded along with the man's word right up until the end. She gave a wide smile and placed both her hands on her hips, about to respond. Before she could speak, a door opened up and a man called "Sarah" entered the room. Solana wasn't one to judge names, only actions. His actions seemed to show patience and perceptiveness, considering he quickly pointed out the lost walking stick. Solana straightened out, now noticing it for the first time as well. She let out a giggle, covering her mouth with the back of her hand and rocking on her heels. "So it seems!"

As they went on with their conversation without her, Solana's eyes seemed to glaze over and travel across the room. She gave a small spin as her eyes went over every part of the room. Before she could get too lost in her sights, she was addressed once again.

Sarah overshared, now saying his name was Hans, telling her of the chief and pointing out a shadow Solana had assumed was an apparition. "I have many friends, even shadows can be among them!" She would disregard the shadow for now, there was business to attend to now! "I will say, I don't appreciate being kept waiting so. A noble servant of Eala should really be shown more respect." She sighed, picking her pointer finger with her thumb. "I am not one to complain though, just a warning to cease the wanderings of the near ghost. I'm far more patient than the others." She tilted her head, giving a sweet smile. "I am Solana Ardor, inheritor of the phoenix flame, humble servant of the princess and solver of problems."

She rocked on her heels and leaned forward ever so slightly. "I've heard there is a murderer afoot! I wish to stop them. Also..." She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. "You're skin and bones, are you having a food shortage as well?"

With the business on the table, she'd finally turn around, giving the shadow an inviting smile. "There's no reason to hide anymore, shadow-friend. Come out in the light and join us!"

Just as the old man was about to begin his tale, the scene was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of another man, one that looked rather scrawny and nonchalant. The old man named the younger one as 'Sarah', something which made Kassandra blink for a moment. Such an odd choice for a name, and it made her suspect that either his mind was rather addled, or there was some sort of hidden history she was not aware of. Nevertheless, she shrugged the thought aside and observed the scene play out, observing how Sarah had to quite literally point out that an item the old man was looking for was right there in his grasp.

Yeah, addled mind might be the case.

Something she did find truly confusing however, was how the young man mentioned he would address the guests. Was her cover blown completely? Her skill couldn't be matched by a thief, but she has felt she employed enough subterfuge to remain undetected. True to form, Kassandra didn't spring up right away, and chose to just stay where she was in just case; maybe everyone in this room was crazy, who knew at this point.

But no, everyone doubled down. Sarah, how revealed himself to be the eponymous chief Hans, pointed out her existence again through a question directed at Solana. And she replied in a rather lax manner, almost as if she always knew Kassandra was tailing her from the start. Or maybe she didn't know? It was hard to judge based on Solana's odd behavior. However, at least she managed to learn her identity, marking her as a 'servant of Eala', which only made Kassandra groan internally, especially when he tacked her name on with titles like inheritor something something and servant of whatever.

Kassandra was a woman with no love for those that would place ostentatious titles on themselves, more often than not it lead people to being arrogant and haughty. Royalty just happens to be the kind most susceptible to this.

Nevertheless, even if Hans didn't request it directly, Solana would be the one urging Kassandra to join them, something that made the wanderer cringe. Part of her body was aching to just walk away and leave this weird woman alone, but she was never one to back down so easily, plus doing so would make her look like the suspicious party anyway. With a small sigh, Kassandra opened the door slowly and presented herself to three in the room, her expression frozen in a tired look. Her one solitary eye went from the old man, to Hans, to finally resting on Solana, a mere blink the only sign she showed of being responsive. "... So, you are some sort of soldier from the Princess' army? Pardon me if that doesn't make me feel any less weary." She said, a flat tone of voice in her words, before she turned to Hans and the old man properly. "This woman has been seeking council with the chief, and something about her made me feel suspicious. I have been following her trail to make sure she wasn't up to something. I am not her friend."

Hans listened patiently to Kassandra's explanation and nodded. "So you're just a passing good Samaritan. Very well. If that's all then feel free to go about your business. If you need a place to stay, they do meals and board at the Grey Bear in the outer district."

He turned back to Solana and nodded thoughtfully.

"So you work for her majesty. Welcome to Baskerville. We would've set up a proper greeting if we'd known you were coming."

Hans took a sip of tea and paused.

"Mmm. Food shortage? Well nobody's getting fat here, but we're doing fine," chief Hans stated. "So you're here about the rumors are you? That's reassuring. What exactly do you need?"

"AH!" Solana cried out in shock as someone other than her shadow friend walked into the light. She stared at the newcomer for a second, before looking back at the chief, then towards the figure SHE was seeing over in the corner.

"Ah, woops. The shadow does not exist. You're quite the hider." She giggled, looking towards Kassandra. As she spoke, Solana shook her head, placing her hands on her hips in pride. "Just a servant, though simple soldiers couldn't hurt me with a candle I'm afraid." She laughed, completely butchering the analogy. "Therefore, feel relief!"

Kassandra explained why she had been following her, but Solana's mind had moved elsewhere. The chief has asked her something previously yes? She waited till the sound of Kassandra's voice stopped reaching her ears, then spoke up. "Rumors? Tell that to the spirits about. One ghost a month, every month without fail? These are truths, do not mistake them." Solana leaned forward, a gleam in her eye. "I aim to stop these deaths with one more. As you know, the punishment for making ghosts is to become one yourself!" She beamed. "The first thing I need is a lead. Might you know where I can get one?"

Oh!

"New shadow, might you join me on this excursion? While I am quite perceptive, I often see other things. A clear head might suit the investigation well!"

'Servant', she said. Well, that still wasn't wrong! Which made Kassandra's expression to remain unchanged as Solana clarified what her position in life was. As for Hans, at least he seemed cordial enough to not see the intrusion in a negative light, in fact he event called her a good samaritan, something which she knew Trebax would chuckle at, her brow furrowing at the thought.

What called her attention, however, was the mention of strange rumors by Hans, which was followed by Solana saying... something. She couldn't decipher well what she was saying. Spirits? Ghosts? A lead? And suddenly, she was asking Kassandra if she'd like to join her in this investigation! "..." She visibly took one slight step back at Solana's offer, while turning to Hans in an attempt to not have the strange woman look at her in the eye. "... If I may, I'd first want a proper clarification of these 'rumors'. From what she's saying, this town is in danger of... something?"

Hans blinked in confusion but looked like he was listening quietly and patiently.

"Mmmm... well I don't know if it's a ghost but we do have a strange and suspiciously regular incident for a while," Hans stated. "My people have come to refer to it as a local devil. Whatever it is, its taken a victim on specifically the new moon. At first we thought it was just some corrupted beast, but despite the bodies looking torn and bitten, there's no sign of any flesh or organs being eaten. Many of the townsfolk are rather disturbed by this. The guards swear they've seen no beasts approach or leave the town. To be frank I'm quite on my wits end on this."

Hans closed his dark eyes and sighed.

"Mmmm... I'm not sure if this'll help but as you know there was a new moon just last week," Hans stated. "Somebody else from the capital is here. You see the hardest part is when we bury the victims. They're so ripped up that it thoroughly disturbs the family to see them that way when we hold rites. But we don't really have anybody who could do anything about that. People round here usually die of old age or sickness so just wrapping and burying them is enough.

"So we called in an expert from the capital to take care of.... cleaning up. They arrived just a few days ago. They should be down in the village crypt. Maybe you'll learn something useful if you ask about the body. Its in the outer district. It's a stone building with wood pillars on the four corners. I hope that's enough to go on."

Solana let out a sharp laugh as Hans seemed to misunderstand her words. Something that happened all too often it seems! "nonono! He's making ghosts! Thissssss...devil you say?" She grinned, tilting her head slightly. Her face briefly fell passive, though, as Hans explained the nature of the crimes taking place. Ripped up bodies, yet nothing eaten. Solana had dealt with aggressive beasts before. She was no expert, but these beasts attacked when hungry or when one was encroaching on their territory. Either way, they didn't let bodies go to waste often. The only other beasts that could be intelligent enough to mangle the bodies and cover their tracks...

"An Enkidu perhaps?" She mused, the tiniest drop of sanity coming back to her as she ignored the dancing shadows and songs moving in the air around her. Suddenly, she grinned, laughing to herself once again. "Maybe the moon is just maddening! Oh I suppose it doesn't quite matter until we know more! Come, new shadow companion, lets go speak to this expert of the dead. Oh! I wonder if I know them!" She beamed, obviously ecstatic to get on with this grim task.

"Thank you kindly for your assistance, I may call upon you with more inquiries quite soon!" She regarded Hans one last time before spinning on her heels and merrily making her way outside, regardless of whether or not Kassandra followed after.

Despite the suddenly chuckle Solana made in the middle of Hans' explanation, Kassandra tried hard to think about what could explain this strange premise. So, every new moon, citizens of this town would vanish and later found practically gored, but not eaten? It would be that unbeknownst to the two ladies, they were thinking of the same thing, as Kassandra's experience dealing with corrupted beasts showed her that they usually mangled their victims if they were planning to eat them. She has seen beasts attack others like that and not eat them precisely, but only when said beasts were threatened by those seeking to claim their heads. But that would conflict with Hans' account that these victims were 'taken', which could mean that either there was a problem with a statement... or maybe this wasn't caused by a corrupted beast at all.

Solana would speak first before Kassandra could get a word on, and while on reflex she turned her head to chastise her, she managed to process the statement before saying anything, and... it didn't actually sound very farfetched! "... Mmmh, if I understand well, Enkidus have the ability to alter their bodies, no?" She spoke up, wondering if perhaps Solana had a point with the moon being maddening to them. For a moment she actually felt she was on sync with the strange woman! But no elation took place in her face as Solana did a 180 on the spot, returning to her previous eccentric composure.

Kassandra made a small pout as Solana expressed gratitude for Hans' help, and marched ahead with little to no regard. "... Yeah, we'll try and deal with this situation." She stated, not sharing the same enthusiasm Solana exhibited, as she did a small nod at the man before going to follow the servant. It would be but a few seconds until Kassandra found herself following Solana out the house and into the cold streets outside, and she wasted no time in trying to assess what she was capable of. "So, if we are going to do this together, I am curious of something: What are your skills? You handle yourself in battle, or do you prefer using subterfuge." She asked, trying to keep a neutral tone when addressing Solana. Even with her reservations, it wasn't like she would antagonize the woman for her odd nature or her embroiled titles. Or at least, she hoped she wouldn't give her a reason to do so.

"Hmmm," Hans hummed thoughtfully as the girls voiced their deduction. "That would be a reasonable deduction, but there are no enkidu in this town, nor have any crossed by here in the recent months. They're pretty scarce in this country in general really. I don't see why one would attack the people here so viciously either. But, I'll leave it to you. If you need anything, I'll always be here."

Hans pushed himself off his perch on the corner of his own desk and walked around it to attend to the senile former mayor.

The girls went outside and would find both the inner and residential circles empty as noon drew higher and everyone was getting to their business.

The shadow was quick to follow her as Solana moved out of the room. She payed no mind to Hans' words, for they bore no more importance to her. She had her theories, her many many theories. She would need to see the bodies before any blossomed into anything more. She was giddy with excitement. It wasn't every day she saw a corpse that hadn't already been burnt to ash. She'd almost forgotten just what they looked like.

Suddenly, a clear voice spoke out amongst the whispers. Ah yes, her shadow friend had followed along no? She tilted her head towards the girl, eyeing her closely for the first time since she'd slinked out from the shadows. "Oh, my apologies! Its rare that my last name doesn't proceed me." She tittered. "The ardor family specializes in the pursuit of flame. As the inheritor of the phoenix's flame, I'm the brightest example of this. In terms of ability, I could probably wipe this village off the map without much effort." She giggled at the sheer absurdity of the statement. "Though I'd have to burn many maps after."

She let out a forlorn sigh after a moment, her previous excitement nowhere to be seen. "Subterfuge and subtleties is left to my betters. My sister may have been a better fit to shine a light on this mystery." Then, her smile snapped back and she puffed up. "Though, I should prove more than enough to find a simple murderer. Enkidu or no, they burn as easily as the rest.