[center][h3]Valthyr[/h3][/center]

[sub]Interactions with: Lord Coswain [@PrinceAlexus]
Mentions: Flynn & Kira [@The Muse], Ayel [@Dezuel]
Location: Forest[/sub][hr]
[color=yellow][i]Top quality ? Hell yes, your level of assholity is hard to parallel indeed![/i][/color]

Just what kind of major malfunction was this ? Lead poisoning ? If Valthyr remembered correctly, lead could be used to make really nice looking white pigments. If this joke of a man had been using the wrong kind of 'top quality' makeup for long enough, some of it must have ended up in his mouth inevitably and caused this madness over time of exposure.

[color=yellow][i]I don't even have a house yet, you imbecile moron! And if I should actually decide to settle here, I'll make sure to either stay away from yours or make your life in it as miserable as possible![/i][/color]

The past couple of minutes at that point had clearly shown Valthyr that there could be only one thing between Ayel and him on the long run: war. The druid was already looking forward to the high probability of having more allies, but maybe most of the townspeople just lacked the means to really do something about this lunatic ?

[color=yellow][i]If you are of such a great year like a bottle of wine, then maybe I should savor you ? That would be the only way to actually sense and enjoy your greatness, wouldn't it ?[/i][/color]

Valthyr kept all his thoughts to himself while listening to the retard. He could have retorted once more before turning into the wolf, but afterwards it was no longer possible. He could still feel Ayel's greedy eyes staring at him as they proceeded further into the woods though.

Two more people appeared, again neither of them being familiar to the druid. The man obviously was a guard of sorts which probably was not a bad thing in this sutuation, but the woman ? She had hair of a color not so unsimilar to his own, but that didn't say anything really yet. Valthyr took in both their individual smells and tried to memorize them the best he could. Otherwise there was not really much for him to do while apparently some decisions were being made by others -- he was a wolf without a voice or many facial expressions available to him.

[color=yellow][i]Ohh what's that! The annoyance on two legs is suddenly going critical ?![/i][/color]

Wolf-thyr had the ultimate pokerface. Nobody could see him amused as he watched Ayel's skin turn into rocky mountains due to bulging blood vessels. Had Flynn given a lecture about more bearable behavior or what exactly had happened ?

[color=yellow][i]Oh no! The makeup containment is failing, I can see some red shining through! Everybody run! But you can do it Ayel! You are my personal hero who can make some tiny blood vessels in your eyes pop and turn them red, too! Could use something else than pale white in your face, rea...[/i][/color]

Just at that moment, Ayel's bestest friend had refocused his eyes once more and things started to cool down again.

[color=yellow][i]Damn you, Flynn! Couldn't you have waited just a tiny little longer ? I already know that this hollow douchebag can't slip on his own trail of slime. I would have liked to see something different continue![/i][/color]

At least now Ayel waddled away through the snow like a lame duck. The prince apparently had some verbal disposal method that worked even in this very particular case. Unfortunately though, Valthyr strongly suspected that this success had to do much more with rank and noble standing than with anything he himself could adopt. Valthyr turned his head back and found only the man looking like a guard, Lord Coswain, left accompanying him.

[color=yellow][i]That investigative effort has been quite enduring so far, hasn't it ? So now the ruler of this place has officially left half the task of tracking down a brutal killer to a complete stranger who also is the most unsuited and incapable person not only for this kind of affair according to said ruler's bestest friend ? How charming.[/i][/color]

Good thing he did not know that Ayel also suspected their new prime investigator to be the killer himself and had told his bestest friend about this, because what would he have been supposed to do with that knowledge ? Run in circles on the hunt for his own tail for a while and then just claim that he had made his very best effort to stop the scoundrel's daring escape, but failed unfortunately ? It would be the degree of stupidity this overblown noble definitely deserved for an answer, but only if all of it happened right in front of Ayel's eyes so there was visual proof for the claim.

Maybe everybody above a certain standing was just suffering from mental degradation ?
Maybe they all suffered from subtle lead poisoning ? Or was this mercury level already ?

Had Wolf-thyr still been able to look completely dumbfounded, that would have been exactly the kind of expression he would have presented to Lord Coswain at this moment. The way things were however, he could only let his nostrils hover close above the ground again to pick up new smells. There was something odd here, something like... blood! Human blood, but the trail didn't lead back to the village but further away from it. Faint. Might the murderer have carried a trace amount of his victim's blood with him, rendering him trackable without knowing ?

Wolf-thyr looked at Lord Coswain, then towards the direction the olfactory trail was going, then back at the man... and then just started following the trail slowly. Hopefully his fully human companion would make enough sense of the gestures to follow.