2-3 “Spiritual Severance”

“Is there something blocking the spell?” Frustration is clear on the investigator's face.

“No, there's nothing blocking the spell but the spirit is out of contact.”

“Can you tell why?”

“I'm afraid not, there are several reasons this could happen. From simply not wanting to talk to being the victim of a soul devourer. There are two that I would say are most likely though: He may have been slain by an enchanted weapon designed to sever spiritual connections, or his spirit may have been twisted into a vengeful wraith or specter due to the circumstances of his death. Have any such ghosts been reported in the area?”

Ghosts aren't our jurisdiction, though we generally get reports of them. Those get sent ahead to one of the nearby temples, the priests carry out any necessary exorcisms or exterminations. The thought of destroying a ghost always gives me a chill.

“No, it was probably the weapon. They are easy enough to come by, their legitimate use is for dealing with the undead. Unfortunately, they also make murder harder to trace, and prevent resurrection in high profile cases where the victim can afford such treatment. Did you bring the stuff you need to cast that viewing spell?”

“Yes, of course I can give you the 'Eyes of the Dead.' The rest of you should step outside for a moment if you don't want to be caught up in the spell too, it isn't an altogether pleasant experience.”

Kristoph pulls a very grim face with that. Kenneth and the four that carried the coffin turn and leave. I'm not about to be scared off by something like that.

“I'll help however I can.”

“As you wish, sit on the floor with Mr. Freeman. It makes the experience more bearable at the end.”

Kristoph starts taking various vials, and small pouches out from his sleeves. Investigator Freeman sits down at the foot of the stone slab resting his back on it. He pulls out a pair of embroidered silk gloves and puts them on. Then he takes a pen and notebook from a pouch at his belt.

“Okay, Nivar, I bet you haven't done this before. We're going to experience some of this poor fellow's last day, and see what we can gather from his point of view. Just try to focus and remember what you can of the places you see. I'll focus on the details. Oh, and be ready for this to hurt.”

“Pain is something I'm used to, Sir.”

I sit along the wall nearest the stone pedestal, not the most comfortable thing to do in armor. Kristoph makes an outline around the body with some sort of fine red powder. He begins a chant and the world starts to get hazy.

2-2 “Spooks”

We arrive at the Temple of the Hammer's mortuary. The rancid scent of the body immediately dissipates. Always happens when we come down here, there's probably a spell of some sort responsible for that. Torches line the walls, offering a good amount of light to see by, though the lack of windows is still apparent. Whenever we have an unidentified body, we take it here. They keep the body in some sort of stasis for a few days to let us find out who they are before burial, let loved ones know. We also take the time to see if a wizard can gather any information from the body or spirit, according to them, temples amplify magics relating to spirits.

'Spooks' shows up to prepare a slab for the body to rest on. The clergy of this temple leave the mortuary to him, only coming out here when funerary rites need to be performed.

The local gravedigger and manager of the bodies awaiting burial, Lawrence Tunneler, looks so much like a corpse himself that he's earned that nickname among the watch. Add to that the way he moves, stiff, jarring motions with the least joint bending possible. If anyone could be mistaken for the walking dead, it would be Spooks. Investigator Freeman, greets him.

“Hello, Lawrence, same song and dance as usual. Has the wizard shown up yet?”

“No, sir. Was just me an' the dead until you showed up.” Even his voice rasps in a way that you could easily imagine coming from someone not quite alive.

We open the coffin, and hoist the body onto a stone platform.

“No clothes? We'll have to fix that a'fore burial. You find 'im this way?”

“Yes, I thought it was odd that someone would take the time to undress a body after killing them. Hopefully it'll help us find the killer.”

“Well, I s'ppose I'll leave you to your business then. Give me a shout when you're done. Sooner they get frozen the better.”

Spooks totters off, leaving us alone with the body, for a while. We seem to have hired a loud one.

“Hello! Your master diviner had arrived!”

He bounces his way into the room, brightly colored robes contrasting sharply with the stone walls.

“So this is the errant body? Well then, let's find out what has befallen this poor fellow!”

“You can cut the act, Kristoph, there's no-one here for you to impress...” Freeman looks annoyed, and his tone engenders familiarity.

“Cut to the chase is it, my friend? Well then I shall, first I will try to speak with the departed spirit, if that fails I will see what I can gather from the body.”

Kristoph begins his arcane chant placing a crystal ball on the deceased's chest. A slight radiance issues forth from the sphere, followed by a vulgar sound and a sizable cloud of light gray smoke bursts forth. If that smoke usually had a smell, it's deadened in the mortuary. In just a few moments the smoke rises and leaves through one of the funnels in the ceiling. I'm fairly certain the spirit world just passed gas at us, master diviner indeed...

“Well, I see this is going to get complicated...” Kristoph looks both amused and disappointed at the same time.

2-1 “Found”

Investigator Freeman Holds a cloth over his face, I would too if this helmet wasn't in the way. How many days has this body been here.

“Looks like the missing person cases just got knocked up a few notches in priority.”

“Probably the only thing you don't want to find in a case like this.”

Investigator Freeman was put in charge of the reports of people going missing over the last week or so. At first they were randomly positioned, now they seem to be focused around a particular area of the city.

“No clothes, that's odd. Neck wound. Probably a knife. Rats have done a number on this one too. Stay here and keep an eye out, I'm going back to the guard house to get a few men to properly clean this up. Hopefully the killer wasn't high class enough to have something to prevent a divination spell.”

Divination spells, amazing how useful and useless they are all at once. Most criminals have enough of a brain to use something to prevent the simpler less powerful magics from spotting them. You need to have important objects to cast the more powerful ones, and even those can be circumvented. Some of the materials for the spells are fairly expensive, so we can't just resort to them for everything. There are a few wizards in the city that cooperate with us who focus specifically on such magic, perhaps they'll be able to solve this quickly, talk to the spirit of the departed or something like that.

“Yes, sir.”

The investigator heads off leaving Watchman Kenneth and me to look after the body. The rookie has been learning a lot more quickly since I was put in charge of training him. He still does some unusual things, but he isn't quite as embarrassing to work with as he was a few days ago when I first worked with him. I give a clear hand signal, and he turns to keep watch on the southern end of the alleyway. I keep an eye on the northern and western branches. Why are there so many alleys like this anyway? I bet if we had built all of the buildings closer together, the crime rate would be less than half of what it is now. Though I'm no engineer, perhaps there is some point to it.

After what must have been at least an hour, Investigator Freeman comes back with four men carrying a casket. We place the putrid corpse inside and close it. The four men lift the casket and we make our way toward the mortuary of The Temple of The Hammer. Investigator Freeman briefs us.

“We'll be met there by Kristoph Mitchelson. He'll attempt to allow us to speak with the spirit of the deceased. Let me ask the questions, the spell only allows for so much time. After that we inform the family of the deceased, and continue the investigation. If we get good enough info we might even be able to make an arrest right away.”

Kenneth and I nod. People get out of the way as we proceed down the streets. Some out of respect, some out of disgust at the stench.