Le Parc Commémoratif - The Memorial Park.

(Alright, I'm just gonna leave this here.)

<Several days after the wedding>

It was a beautiful morning. The warm orange sun washed its rays across the landscape, slowly painting splotches of radiance through the trees onto the fresh green grass. Likely there would be joggers, dog-walkers, and even families getting ready to play, picnic, and have a good time.

But then some of them would notice a musk in the air. At first it wouldn't seem all that offensive, organic, heavy, with a hint of perfume. But as the morning progressed and the sun continued to rise, the air would turn nauseating. The musk would suddenly evolve into a vile, unbearable stench. A few astute observers would notice clouds of gnats beginning to congregate themselves into eager little swarms, like an international convention of detritivorous insects.

Then the first scream would be heard, followed closely by a second and a third. At the very center of the memorial park more and more people would start screaming.

"Appelez les gardes! Appelez les gardes!"

"Pourquoi mon Dieu pourquoi?"

"Qui a fait ça? Pourquoi?"

In the middle of the park was the monument, a place for people to pay their respects. But the only ones who appeared to be truly paying their dues were the dozen bodies contorted into kneeling poses, lined in two rows with a single person in front. They consisted of both men and women, young and old, their backs stratified with whip lashes until their backs were bright red with exposed muscle tissue. There were floggers at their feet, almost as if they had done this to themselves.

They were quite stiff, between the cold and rigor mortis. Upon closer examination one would find slits on all their throats, although the volume of blood spilled and soaked into the grass would be a bit less than expected. Perhaps the smaller insects had already finished feasting...

But who would notice something like that? The main attraction was evidently the monument, which had been tagged with blue azurite paint to say the following message.


The people would most likely start to panic and whisper. Then they'd notice something else. Underneath and to the side of the graffiti was a white cloth. There was nothing special about it. Closer examination of the bodies again would reveal another cloth, this one yellow, though stained with brown blood. The guards and investigators who stayed long enough to endure the full brutality of the scene would, perhaps after a while, decipher the true meaning behind the mysterious orientation, especially when they mapped it out on paper.

If one took some liberties with the blue message and mostly focused on the positioning of the other facets of the scene, the whole thing would be reminiscent of the flag of Gauldin.

Off in the distance, a single hyena would laugh and run off into the brush, not to be seen by anyone.

Diodorus arrived with serious eyes. Celach, usually so chipper, caught sight (and smell) of the desecration of the park and quickly stopped flittering in order to rest on Diodorus' shoulder.

The Arch Magus walked forward, and although her head information spill out of the mouth of a soldier, it did not seem as if the Arch Magus was listening. Staff in hand, and used as a walking stick although Diodorus appeared hale and hardy, he approached the kneeling bodies and bent over to closely examine the wounds.

His nose did not seem to be bothered with the smell of decay, but his bright blue eyes were ever vigilant as he looked around at the scene very, very closely...

(Any other visual clues left behind?)

Oswald would head towards the park, he had arrived at the hotel he had been instructed to wait at and had found a message there. It instructed him to meet the king at the memorial park. He made sure to bring the message along with proof of his connection with Grandma, he went alone though, as he had no entourage, for the moment at least.

As soon as he arrived at the park, he could see something was very wrong. It took him only a moment to reach the memorial where the bodies were. He allowed himself a small grimace, but his face stayed mostly as it normally looked. He looked around for the king, quickly locating him as he stalked around the park. He could tell the king was very, very upset by this. As he should be.

Oswald would approach the king, showing the letter to any guards if they would try and stop him. Assuming they let him through, he would address the king, bowing before he spoke.

“Your majesty, I am Inspector Oswald. Grandma sent for me and I am her representative for the Black Tower. I came as soon as I could, I just arrived and got your message at the hotel. It truly pains me that I couldn’t have arrived sooner and possibly put a stop to this tragedy…” Oswald shakes his head at the needless violence committed in the park.

Oswald would also offer proof to the king of his connection to Grandma, along with the letter the king had sent him.

The king looks up as Inspector Osvald addresses him, the kings face is a mask of controlled fury. Despite his obvious emotional state he manages to keep his voice completely calm and level.

"This is the deal I am offering the Black Tower if they wish to have a base within Gauldin. Once established the tower you will consent to have an oversight team, that will operate within the tower. This team will be largely unobtrusive, the tower will supply them with written reports of the towers activities in Gauldin. This is so we aware of exactly what the tower is getting up to, so we can ensure that you are always doing the best job possible to minimize casualties. The tower will also be expected to work alongside our anti-magic task force on some cases, once the task force is active again."

The king pauses for a breath but he is quite clearly not finished yet.

"Assuming the Black Tower finds these conditions acceptable we have once final requirement. We want a test run, the primary suspect for this crime is the same man who lead the attempted kidnapping a few days ago. His name is Ukufa of the Lebafacto Legion, and I want him dead. If you can question him first that is good, but prioritize his elimination. I will grant you a provisional warrant, granting the Black Tower and its agents the right to do whatever they deem necessary to get me the bastards head. Succeed and the Black Tower will be approved to set up in Gauldin, with royal backing, that means exemption from taxes and partial funding. Fail and we have nothing to discuss."

The king eyes Osvald waiting for his reaction. The king knows the man probably doesn't have the authority to agree, but if the man thinks the deal is fair it is likely his employer will as well.

Along the outside of the perimeter, people would most likely begin to talk. After all, there would have been many witnesses to the crime. Their whispering might sound something like this.

"Did the honor guard really have something to do with this?"

"Were the murdered people responsible for the attempted kidnapping of the queen?"

"I'm not a fan of the rebels either, but doesn't that seem a bit harsh?"

"... I'll bet the old king would never have allowed this to happen."

There would be no riot, or anything of that nature, but surely people would begin to talk.

(If this is too much I can delete this post, but I do think it would reflect the reality of the situation).

(Ukufila what you have put down is a reasonable assessment of what the people would think and is fine.)

The king pauses to listen to what @diodorus has to say, before listening to Inspector Osvald response. Renaux nods his head once, and Gaspar appears with a rolled piece of paper, the king then says brusquely.

"This is your provisional warrant, security will be maximized until either Ukufa is caught or confirmed to have escaped."

The way he says the last part of that sentence indicates that he would find that outcome unacceptable.

"I will arrange to have the appropriate papers to be at the inn for whoever is sent over within the hour."

He then addresses Diodorus.

"Archmage this is Osvald, he works for an organization called the black tower that specializes in dealing with powerful magical threats. I want the person responsible for this caught and executed, if he can be brought in for trial and questioning that is acceptable, but not a priority. I would take it as a personal favor if you worked alongside the Black Tower to ensure that this is dealt with as quickly as possible. This bastard is killing my people, he is terrifying my populace, and he needs to be held accountable."

Lakuam steps out from the spirit world and into the memorial park, much to the guards distress seeing as a wolf that is eight feet tall at the shoulders is an intimidating sight. The wolf looks at the panicked guards and says in a low growl.

"I am here on behalf of the Black Tower, we will find your criminal do not impede use."

The guards who where advised to let creatures from the Black Tower pass look at each other nervously, but decide that so long as the wolf doesn't harm anyone its fine. A decision they regret as they watch the wolf stride further into the park, as in his wake more wolves step out from the ether to follow Lakuam.

Lakuam heads to the scene of the crime as the wolf pack begin to spread out to the city itself, the great wolf take one deep sniff at the memorial and growls in irritation.

"This will hardly be a worthy test of our skill, surrounding himself with poisons, magics, flowers, and hyena's even if he attempted to mask his scent he will be easy to find."

The wolf pack heads into the city proper it will not be long before they find Ukufa's scent. Once acquired there would be no place the mage could on this plane or any other from the wolf spirits.

Alecos strolled casually through the park, holding his hands together behind his back in the typical noble fashion as he made small talk with the beautiful Lady Eleniel Windsong.

"So, my lady, where was it you said you were born?"

As Eleniel asked him, Alecos' face darkened in anger from the... neutral stance it took before. He took a moment ruminating what he was going to say, appearing to physically chew the words in his mouth, before finally spitting them out in a cold manner not directed to Eleniel but to those that had deposed him. "The Cantiodolor Islands. An archipelago in the western seas. It was a beautiful place... once upon a time. I would imagine that's all changed, though..." As he spoke, his gloved fist clenched and UN clenched, trembling in a certain surprised rage.