[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/VMubzaX.png[/img]

[color=peru][center][h2]Stratya Durmand[/h2][/center]
Time:[/color] 24th, Morning
[color=peru]Location:[/color] In the woods → Leaving the woods
[color=peru]Interactions:[/color]
[color=peru]Mentions:[/color][/center]


Thank the Gods for the hound. She was not likely to have found the site on her own. Finding the place was a feat, certainly, but identifying that this was, in fact, a [i]body[/i] was its own. For something that was apparently done last night, this was horrifying. What was left of the body was a disturbing slop, all in a pile. She pulled on the leash as the dog inched closer, covering her nose and mouth while she steadied her gut, “[color=peru]nae, ye may no’. Come, sit, stay.[/color]” The dog did so, only laying down instead.

A guard had followed her from the train station, his captain having recognized the unaccompanied knight with a bloodhound on a seemingly urgent task. Stratya approached the large glob of remains and turned as she heard the guard approach, “[color=peru]ooh,[/color]” relief, “[color=peru]a guard. Haaaaah, ‘ere I though’ you migh’ ‘ave been.. someone else.[/color]” She'd been ready to spring back and draw, but that wasn't necessary. She looked briefly at the mess, grimacing again, before she turned back to the guard. The guard who seemed just as ill-at-ease as she was, or more so. “[color=peru]Could you ge’ me a fouraging ki’, please? Tell the apothecary in the Adventurar's Guild tha’ Ca’n Durmand wull compensate them for th’ supplais. Don' tell ‘em i's urgent unless you ‘ave to. Vials, cloth wrappin’s, everythin’. It does nae need to be very large nor plen’iful. Vaguely plentifully and various. I have.. one complex sample to collect from. Time is fleetin’, go nao.[/color]”

The guard gave her a salute and followed the trail Stratya had marked through the forest to get back out. Snapped branches and crushed bushes, things like that. She always loved the opportunity to leave a Stratya-shaped hole in the underbrush, but she wasn't deep enough in the forest for the bushes to be so thick.

While the guard went to fetch the requested supplies, Stratya considered things. She'd requested a camera. If she was going to make use of that request, she should leave the scene be for now. This pile of mush.. what used to be Darryn, the stable boy. He was seen yesterday, was he not? She saw him, in passing. He was alive [I]yesterday morning[/I]. This sort of impossibility had one quick explanation.

Another point. Why do [i]this[/i]? Why kill him, sure, but [I]melting his body?[/I] Was it out of pettiness? Or was there something to hide? One way to find out was to find the hidden evidence, if it existed.

Her requested equipment arrived, camera and foraging kit, at the same time. "[color=peru]Aah, thank ye both.[/color]" Fortuitous. She sent the two guards to monitor the perimeter and had the cameraman impress the scene on his copper plate. To protect his equipment, Stratya held an umbrella for the man, to ward off the drops falling from the canopy above. Once his job was done, the captain sent him away immediately (he was very happy to leave, even with instructions for secrecy), and then started gathering the evidence in front of her. Having long since tied her handkerchief over her nose and mouth, she began working through the pile with her parrying dagger and sword. She'd slice off a layer of melted body slop with her dagger from the top, onto her broadsword, and sift through it for any interesting bits before dumping the amount aside and repeating the procedure. Occasionally, she filled a vial with some of the slop, and she took several samples of bone meal and other, seemingly district masses within the slop. Bits of fabric, shards of bone, mass of bonemeal. What in the world had the boy done? Just a stable boy..

She closed the small box that her gathering supplies had come in. It was now filled with mushy remains. She wasn't even sure if the boy still had parents, or where they'd be. Stratya couldn't help but think of how heartbroken her own ma would be, and after being so proud of her. It filled her with a fury, but she knew she must temper herself. This was no commoner's crime. Probably.

She had to have someone analyze these remains. Done with her gathering, she called the guards back and led the way from the forest. She supposed she should return the hound, and probably deal with the remains at the site, somehow, too. Now, where to find a good chemist?