Spirits of the Earth

"And you're sure of what you saw?"

Molly Starklein trudged up the steep forest path, sword slung over her shoulder. Behind her was another ranger- an older man named Enoch. Leading them up the trail was a very shaken looking man with a ponytail. "Y-yes, I'm sure." he said, glancing back at them worriedly. "I- I can't explain it. You just need to see."

Molly rolled her eyes. They'd been called here to investigate a body, but had recieved no additional information besides that. This man clearly wasn't going to be of help until they reached whatever he'd found- and they'd already been hiking for nearly an hour! If this was all a big nothing...

She shuddered- there was something off about Wyrm Mountain. The sky was clear, but the air around them was could and dry. The trees were devoid of birdsong, and the ranger hadn't seen any of the squirrels and rabbits you'd expect to find in such a forested area. Molly could feel an odd prickle on the back of her neck, too- as if something unseen was watching them. "Myyla's underwear..." she muttered grumpily. "Are we almost there yet? This place gives me the creeps."

As if getting sent out on a case wasn't bad enough, the rangers had to trek up a mountain too! Enoch grumpily plodded along the path, his head pointed to the ground as his mind wandered its own trail. Bodies turning up was always a saddening affair, and one had to wonder what could have led to such an event. Sure, it could have been an attack from a creature of the forest, but from the way their guide was acting, and the seeming lack of any creatures at all, Enoch sensed something far more disturbing. Suddenly, he was brought out of his own head when his foot caught on a fallen branch in the road. He stumbled a bit, then continued walking as he had been, trudging behind silently save for the occasional grumbling to himself.

Pulled from his musings on corruption and the horrors of the world, he turned his mind instead to his companions. There wasn't much to be said for the man in the ponytail. He was jittery and generally unhelpful, but he seemed to be a decent enough guy. Even then, that didn't mean he would be saved an earbashing if all the hiking turned out to be for naught.

Then there was his partner, Molly. He couldn't say he knew too much about her, only having seen her a handful of times, and unable to remember any specific interactions. Really, the only reason he remembered her at all was the obnoxious-looking bright pink uniform, which only made her look even more like a teenager. She definitely wasn't, of course, but it would be easy to mistake her for one at first glance. The sword she carried, however, was a definite giveaway that she was no mere child. It made Enoch feel a bit self-conscious as he looked down at the two empty sheaths, strapped at his sides to his belt. He could only hope they wouldn't be filled that day, but he knew the hope was in vain. "Murder or not, those bloody things'll come along at some point."

With this, his thoughts once again turned to negativity, and he was only interrupted when his partner posed a question to the ponytailed man. "W-we should be there pretty soon. Just a little further." Hearing this, Enoch picked up his pace slightly, eventually walking almost side-by-side with Molly. "He'd better mean it. Too much more of this and my legs'll give out."

Molly smirked. "Come on, gramps." she said teasingly. "You're not that old." She repositioned her sword to her other shoulder, kicking her legs in front of her as she walked. It felt good having Enoch around- it made her feel young by comparison. "Next you'll be telling me you threw out your hi-"

The ponytailed man's voice cut her off, and Molly stopped walking. The three had reached a clearing in the forest- a perfect, circular clearing. Tall grass and lupin flowers grew wildly, and looked very much like an overgrown garden. Small boulders were strewn about in an oddly shaped pattern, barely pokinh out above the foliage. Molly squinted as she tried to figure out where the body was supposed to be, and was- oh.

Oh.

Laying on the top of each rock was a small bone, positioned in such a way that each would have connected were they not seperated. Wading slowly through the grass, the ranger counted under her breath. ""Twenty-five, twenty-six..." She looked at Enoch, face grim. "Twenty-seven. They look like... finger bones."

Enoch stared, first in horror, then in despair. For what felt like an eternity, the gaps in the trees at the edge of the clearing seemed to become wider, each blade of grass becoming more and more defined until they faded into the peripheral, replaced by the unknowable shade that lay beyond the visible horizon. He noticed as Molly moved to count the bones, and quickly stowed his resurfacing emotion, following slowly behind. "This is unusual", he commented blankly.

Once his partner finished counting the bones, he turned to her to express his thoughts. "Looks like some sort of ritualistic killing." He then looked over to the man who'd brought them there. "Hey you, when did you find this... Thing?" He didn't blame the guy for being so rattled.

"What kind of damn lunatics are there around here?" For the first time in a while, Enoch felt like drawing his knives, even with no particular target in mind. He was glad they hadn't decided to show up yet.

The ponytailed man flinched at the question, swallowing nervously. "Uh, um..." he stuttered, hands raised flat to his chest. "A-about a week ago. I had- I had to convince the others I wasn't c-crazy before they sent for you."

Molly exhaled sharply through her nose. "Well, you're lucky you got us. My Blade of Seeking will make this easy-peasy." Stepping up to the nearest bone, the woman gently lowered the tip of her blade to it. "Find me the rest of the body." she commanded. The cyathil weapon began to glow, and then...

Nothing.

Molly narrowed her eyes, lips pursed. "Come on, really?" she muttered, shaking the the blade back and forth. "Shit." The ranger turned to look at her companion. "Something's blocking it. We may need to search the old-fashioned way."

Enoch nodded slowly, mulling over the task ahead of them. It seemed almost ridiculous that there could be more bloodshed, but then again, where there's finger bones, there're other bones. Before figuring out how to start the search, he took another look at the putrid display of remains. "And the rocks... That would have taken a while to set up. I suppose it is quiet around here. A person could have just come in here and-" He stopped himself quickly before he tortured himself. Still, the fact that someone could so easily have pulled off such a complex killing here was creepy, to say the least.

"I've never been too well-versed in my world knowledge, so forgive me for asking, but do you know any gods of Le'raana that like... Hands? Fingers?" As much as he thought, none worshiped in Serendipity came to mind.

Molly gave her sword one last shake before lowering it, lips pursed. "Beats me. I don't really follow religious stuff besides Myyla." The woman sheathed her blade, resting her hands on her hips. "Well. The rest of the body won't find itself!"

"Um..." The ponytailed man spoke up nervously. "There is an old legend..." He swallowed nervously as Molly turned to face him. "I-I don't know the details of the story, but people say this mountain was cursed by a fae-lord back in ancient times..."

Molly squinted. "Huh. Enoch, have you heard about this?"

Enoch gave a slight chortle at the question. "I've not heard about much to do with fae, or this mountain for that matter. And I'm guessing you haven't either." Pausing to think for a moment, he did suppose the mountain elicited a rather unnatural air. Even so, fae this far south seemed rather unusual. "Must've been a bloody long time ago!"

He turned to look at Molly, before tilting his head over towards the ponytailed man. "Well, can you tell us anything more, or are we off on a body-hunt?" Enoch fixed his eyes on him as he spoke, attempting to discern the man's thought process.

"Ah... um... no."

The man shifted uncomfortably under Enoch's gaze, mouth thin. Was he merely shaken by his unsettling discovery? Or was there more to his behavior? "That's... that's all I know." he mumbled. "I didn't stick around after finding this-"

"Oh? Oh. Ohhhhhhhh..."

Molly straightened herself up, seemingly having crouched to pick something up. "We may not need to find the rest of the body, if we can identify who this belonged to."


The woman held up a yellow gold ring, a grim smile on her face. It had a cluster of tanzanite as it's centerpiece, and looked to be rather worn. "Tacky, huh?" Molly said. "Though I guess fashion advice won't do any good now..."

His attention diverted, Enoch moved to glance over Molly's shoulder at the ring. He certainly agreed that it was quite tacky. "What ever happened to simple bands with a gemstone?" As he looked at the ring, a thought came to mind. "Where'd you find this ring? Like, where exactly in this... Arrangement?" A ring would certainly not be out of place in such a deadly diagram as this. Really, though he wasn't going to admit it to himself, the questioning was half about doing his job, and half about stalling for any possible amount of time before he had to start walking again.

Sighing, Enoch muttered to himself. "This belonged to someone..."

Molly held the the ring up to the sun, squinting as she examined it. "It was laying in the grass near the pinky bones." she said. "This is a ladies ring, looks like. That means either the victim or the culprit had to have been a wo- ohhh."

Molly tossed the ring to Enoch. "There's an inscription on the inside. Check it out."

Assuming Enoch caught the ring, he would see two initials engraved on the inside of the shank. Off to the side was another, smaller engraving- an oddly shaped symbol that looked to be gibberish.


Molly gave the man a relieved look. "That'll help narrow things down, huh?"

Taken away from his musings by the flash of the ring flying through the air, Enoch quickly moved his hands into a cupped position below it, catching the flying jewelry after it bounced off of his fingers a few times. He unintentionally flashed Molly a scolding look for throwing a valuable piece of evidence in such a carefree manner before turning his attention to the inscription.

After scanning his eyes over it for a moment, he turned to his partner. "You're right, this certainly does help." He proceeded to hold the ring up to his face and squint at the strange glyph. "You have any idea what this is? The symbol here? It means nothing to me."

He stepped over to Molly and held the ring out for her to take, a rather passive-aggressive demonstration.

Molly held back a smirk as she took the ring back from Enoch. The man seemingly had no sense of fun- or maybe Molly herself was wasn't being serious enough?

"No. Enoch's just being a butt." the ranger thought to herself. "I'm fiiiine."

Pushing this insecurity out of her mind, Molly took a closer look at the engraved symbol. "Um..." she said, pursing her lips. "Yeah, I have no idea. A maker's mark maybe?" She looked back at Enoch, shrugging. "Not sure where we'd go to find out... Unless you wanted to take it all the way to Seren and ask the jewelers there maybe?"

"Ugh... I'd rather not." Enoch glanced down at his legs as if to commiserate with them on the fact that they would have to travel back down the mountain at some point. Still, there was no helping it. Enoch mulled over the situation as he'd done on many a case, and thought about the ring, and the pattern, and whatever annoying magic that was stopping Molly's sword from working. Though it was only rough, and more than likely very inaccurate, Enoch began to piece together some sort of links between these things.

Obviously the killing was of a ritual nature, or at least that's what the killer wanted them to think. Considering the fact that the victim's ring was placed as part of the pattern, they were most likely not wearing any other accessories on their hand, for surely those would have been placed among the display as well. Before he could come to a definite conclusion on how the perpetrator might go about fitting a glove into the segmented diagram, he was interrupted by a sharp snap from behind him.

Whirling around to face the origin of the intrusion, Enoch scanned over the area, finding nothing but a twig in two pieces on the ground ahead. It seemed as if a small branch had fallen off of a tree at the edge of the clearing. "Nothing to be worried about." Still, if Wyrm Mountain's general atmosphere of unease hadn't creeped him out, then that certainly had.

Enoch attempted to refocus on the task at hand. It seemed that the options from this point onward were to either try and find the rest of the body, or investigate the ring. Either way, the only info they were getting was that of the victim. Tired, spooked, and a tad depressed by the situation, the ranger turned to his partner and sighed. "It's up to you what we do next. I just want to get this over and done with."

Molly quickly raised her sword, spinning to face the source of the noise- only to find a branch had fallen from a nearby tree. "Damned mountain..." she muttered as she sheathed her blade. "...Gives me the frickin' creeps..."

The ranger huffed decisively, crossing her arms. "Well, I don't know about you, but I really want to spend any more time here." she said. "Not if we'd just be searching aimlessly for the rest of a body that might not even be here. I'm taking the ring to Seren."

Molly would begin to walk off, a youthful spring in her step. The ponytailed man looked at Enoch nervously, as if waiting for him to leave first...

Enoch glanced at the ponytailed man, a mix of worry and suspicion upon his face. "You'll be alright getting back down, I assume?" The man simply gave two hurried nods, followed by a "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Good." With that, Enoch looked on towards the path down the mountain and sighed. "On we go..." He began to follow Molly, cautiously stepping over the two halves of the fallen branch. Just before the scene of the crime disappeared from view completely, he took one long glance back and frowned. Something about the murder seemed far more complicated than he'd hoped it would be. He quickened his pace in order to catch up with Molly, leaving the ponytailed man to make the journey in his own time.

The man with the ponytail lingered in the clearing for a few more minutes, contemplating what had just transpired. He had lucked out- neither ranger had bothered pressing him on why he'd been on the off-limits mountain to begin with. Myyla willing, he'd have just enough time to hide the illegal mining operation he'd been running before they inevitably returned to search for more bodies. With a sigh of relief, the man began the long trek down the mountain...


One of the busiest towns in Altas Verde, Seren always had something going on. Today was no different- a large art festival was being held in the center of town. Rows of stalls lined the street, each one showcasing the best local artists had to display. The evergreen trees that provided the town with it's natural roof were beginning to grow cones, and sunlight shined from bewteen the dense branches in beams. It was a nostalgic sight for Molly- this was her hometown.

The woman took a deep breath, smiling at the familiar scent of pine trees and oil paintings. She turned to look at the older ranger. "You still have it, yeah? You didn't drop it or anything?"

"Seren". Enoch strolled down the street behind Molly, walking fast enough to keep up, and slow enough to take in the fresh air. It was a beautiful town, no doubt, but the ranger couldn't help but feel that the whole festival was a bit pointless. It was a bit difficult to enjoy the experience when he constantly had to remind himself that he was supposed to. He couldn't deny that there were some extraordinary pieces.

At Molly's comment, he reached into the pocket of his uniform and pulled out the ring,  holding it up to the light and inspecting the curious engravings for what might be the tenth time that day. "Of course I still have it". After one more glance, a fruitless attempt at coming to an epiphany over the markings, he shoved the ring back down into his pocket. They'd just have to see what the experts said.

As he walked, Enoch noticed a flash of red out of the corner of his eye, and turned his head. He found that it belonged to a curious and vibrant portrait on display, boasting vivid autumnal hues. It was the kind of thing he'd buy if he had the time and the coin. Suddenly, he realized he'd fallen behind, and quickly half-walked, half-jogged to catch up.

"Great!" Molly chirped happily. "With any luck, we'll find our answer with enough time to properly enjoy the-"

Having turned to look at the older ranger, Molly suddenly realized he was no longer listening. "Never took you for an art lover..." she thought as he hastily walked to catch up to her. "Weird."

The ranger shrugged, putting her hands on her shoulders. "Anyways, lets see if I can't speed things up for us!" She drew her sword, holding it out in front of her. "Were do we go~♪?" she said dramatically as the sword began to glow. "Show me the way~♪!"

Molly smirked as the blade began to move on it's own, scanning the crowds of people gathered around the art stalls before settling on... a beggar (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=25123.0) on the side of the street? The woman made a face as she lowered the sword uncertainly. "Um...  guess that guy might know something?"

Enoch flashed Molly a confused look. "You sure about this?" He was expecting the sword to point to a jeweler's shop or something of the sort, not a beggar sitting in the street. "You need to get that thing checked out." Still, despite the seemingly wonky nature of the sword, he supposed it couldn't hurt to check the situation out.

Without waiting for Molly's response, Enoch began to stride over to the young cripple. He certainly seemed an unfortunate person, but in this society, anything could be more than it seemed. "Hey, you. We're with the Ranger Corps. We want to ask you about a certain... Thing we've found."

The kid certainly didn't seem the type to know anything about ancient runes on jewelry. In fact, he didn't seem the type to know anything about jewelry at all.

Molly pursed her lips, puffing out her cheeks slightly. "Do not." she muttered as she followed Enoch in a huff. "The sword just likes to take the scenic route sometimes, that's all."

The beggar was unresponsive to Enoch's question, and continued staring off into space. Molly snapped her fingers twice, trying to get his attention. "Hey, we're talking to you!"

The young man narrowed his cloudy eyes. "Huh? Me?" he said, still not looking at the rangers. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes!" Molly snapped. "We are!"

"...Why?"

Molly groaned, looking at Enoch for help...

Enoch took a deep breath inwards, preparing himself for more frustration to come. "This is going to be a waste of time..." Still, he supposed it would be best to just get the questions over and rule the boy out for certain. He squatted down a bit, to better match the beggar's height, and, after a bit of fumbling, pulled the ring from his pocket and held it up at face-height in front of him.

"You know anything about this?" Feeling the boy may not be the sharpest sword in the armory, he added, "It's a ring." The ranger continued to hold it up in front of the beggar's face as he waited for a response. "Where it cam from, who it belongs to..."

Enoch decided to hold off on mentioning the engravings until he'd established the boy's ability to answer a question. He quickly glanced back at Molly, as if to say "That sword is crazy".

Vincent was beginning to get annoyed. Annoyed, and really confused. He could hear the man's voice getting closer- was he sitting in front of him now? And how was he supposed to know anything about something he could't see? His nose wrinkled, lips curling into a smile. "Look here, jackass." he spat angrily, eyes still staring blankly ahead of him. "I don't know what's going on, but if-"

"Vincent, dear? What's going on?"


Molly's head quickly turned in the direction of the new voice, eyes still wide from the boy's verbal attack. A rather round woman in green robes (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=25741.0) had approached them, a concerned look on her face. Immediately recognizing the woman as Seren's priestess of Myyla, Molly bowed her head in respect. "Hello Sister Apirka."

Apirka glanced at the two rangers apprehensively. "What's going on? Vincent isn't in any sort of trouble, is he?"

The beggar shut his eyes tightly, groaning under his breath. "I am now that you're here..."

Before he could get angry about the outburst, Enoch turned to the source of the voice, and seeing Molly's reaction, decided he'd best do the same as her. Giving the boy one last look of disapproval, he stood up quickly and bowed his head alongside his partner. "Yes, um, hello Sister." Upon closer inspection, it was clear that he was talking to a priestess. He coughed into his hand before answering her question. "Not quite. We're from the Ranger Corps. You seem to know this one. Er, is he alright... You know, in the head? We're trying to ask him about a case we're working on, but he seems less than cooperative." He turned once more to the boy, curious about the expression on his face, before quickly looking back at the priestess.

Molly winced at Enoch's remark, shutting her eyes tightly. She knew from experience just how difficult the priestess could be when she got annoyed, and an incident like this was bound to set her off...

"Hey!" the begger cried angrily. "What's that supposed to mean, huh?"

Apirka's eyes seemed to flash dangerously, though only for a moment. In an instant her expression had changed, a sickeningly sweet smile playing upon her lips. "Vincent?" she asked, voice like honey. She moved closer to the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Vincent is perfectly fine- more than fine, actually!" The gave the boy's shoulder a squeeze, causing him to mutter something under his breath. Ignoring this, she continued. "I'm sure that this misunderstanding can be cleared up. What was it you were asking him?"

Enoch sighed, oblivious to the woman's change in behavior. "This is ridiculous". He was caught between a non-compliant beggar and a priestess of Myyla in a supreme trial of his patience, and they had yet to offer a single answer as to the origin of the ring. Gritting his teeth, he once again held up the ring, this time offering up its gaudy visage to the priestess. "We found this ring, and we need to know where it's from," he explained hastily. "It has some initials and a strange marking engraved in it. We just need to know if either of you know anything, if you'll cooperate."

At this, he flashed the boy a scowl. "What is it with him?" It wasn't just his demeanor. There was something about his eyes. It was like he wasn't looking at anything, vacant, yet obviously active in the rest of his body. It was like he could see right through him. Or not at all.

"Oh, shit."

Apirka lifted an eyebrow, plucking the ring from Enoch's hand. She clicked her tongue irratibly as she eyed the inside of the shank, eyes narrowing. Finally she handed it back to the ranger, shaking her head. "I can't say I recognize it. What makes you think that Vincent would know about this ring?"

Molly raised her hand slowly, laughing sheepishly. "Ahaha, that'd be me. Sword pointed us towards him." The woman pat the hild of her blade as if to illustrate this, trying not to make eye contact with the priestess.

Apirka glanced at Molly, a disapproving smile on her lips. "Are you sure it was pointing towards him, and not, say..." Apirka pointed to the building Vincent had been sitting in front of. "...The jewelry store behind him?"

Enoch squeezed his eyes shut, as if attempting to make them collapse in on themselves so that he would not have to see the shame he was feeling at that moment. He mumbled to himself: "...Should have just killed myself years ago." Sighing, he opened his eyes once more, reaffirming to himself that it was indeed a jewelry store in front of him. Silently, he turned his head towards Molly, shaking his head for the both of them.

Deciding against his better rationality, he moved away towards the shop entrance, silently passing Apirka and Vincent. He attempted a small "sorry" as he went, but it didn't come out audibly. He felt bad about leaving Molly to deal with the shame (and the ring), but at this point he was too embarrassed to care. He just wanted to find the information they needed and solve the case.

"O-oh... That, ah, would make a bit more sense..."

Molly stared at her feet, face flushed red in embarressment. She looked up briefly, immediately looking away again upon meeting the priestess's gaze. "Um... Sorry for wasting your time, Sister..." The ranger would quickly move to follow her companion, praying to Myyla that the shop would have the information they needed...


Carly Ovalstone slouched in her chair, drumming her fingers on the glass countertop. It had been a very boring shift so far- not a single customer all day! She gazed longingly out the window, watching the festival goers pass by. What she wouldn't give to have the day off...

A bell rang as the door swung open, causing the young woman to jump. Maybe she'd be able to meet her sales goal after all! "Welcome to The Dragon's Hoard, where we Bring Out Your Inner Sparkle!" she said exuberantly, running a hand through her hair so as to straighten it. "How may I assist you today!"

Before even looking at exactly who he was speaking to, Enoch mumbled at her. "Spare us the sales pitch". The more rational side of him had kept his voice low enough that hopefully the saleswoman wouldn't be able to hear exactly what he'd said. As Molly entered, he motioned for her to follow him, before walking towards the counter.

"We're with the Ranger Corps. We'd just like to ask you a few questions about a ring we have here. Would you mind taking a look?" As he spoke, Enoch cast his eyes around the store, looking over the merchandise. Though he would rationalize it as searching for any potential evidence, he was really just avoiding eye contact with the saleswoman. Seeing the gemstones on display, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to those he saw in older cases. Bad cases. Verdans lived and died wearing these precious jewels. He spaced out for a moment, wincing at the gruesome memories. "Topaz. Amethyst. Tourmaline..."

Carly's smile faded. "Ah-hah..." she said slowly, resting her chin on the palm of her hand. "Ranger business. Gotcha." Making note of which cases the older man was eying, she scooted her chair to the nearest one. "So is this an appraisal, than?" she asked. "Would you like a closer look at anything while you wait?"

"Ma'am, please." Molly said sternly, trying very hard not to ogle at the jewelry on display. "This is a very important matter. Please don't waste our..." The ranger trailed off as she caught a glimpse of a watermelon tourmaline pendant, leaning over to take a better look. "Ooh... That is pretty..."