Chapter 3: At the covenant

[color=red]Yannick we have a Quasitor in residence I do not expect a magical assault on the covenant. If there is an ambush it will be for you in your pursuit. I and two bodyguards will accompany you

Unless ordered otherwise, Alberich will go as well, ready to protect Yannick if needed.

The hunt is on… Rushing and dashing through the dark canopy the magical dogs have a clear scent to follow. There is no mistake to where the murder has gone. In normal cases the dark and sinister nature of the forest at night would have made the dogs uneasy, but in the thrill of the hunt there is only a single purpose. They are searching, seek and destroy.

A short time after, the scent of the murderer is really close. Yannick can feel the tension in the pack, rending flesh from bone seams to be their purpose. Then he can be seen, there is a man who stands somewhat hunched, seemingly exhausted, holding an axe. He can’t run anywhere and the sound of the monstrous dogs are to close. He raises his axe, a grim determination or desperation is gleaming in his eyes. He won’t go down without at least cleaving the head of one dog. The pack readies themselves for the attack, for the kill.

Back at the covenant the guards deploy in a pre planned manner, axes ready, standing in scattered formation in case of area spells and hidden in corners so that an teleporting assailant wont see all of the guards in a room before it is to late. There is a tension amongst the guards, they have all seen what magic can do and now they are in the receiving end.

From they skies there can be heard a great thunder and the sound of rain coming down is heard. The first thunder strike make the guards jump, clutching their axes. There is only the wait now…

For those who followed the dogs into the forest there is only, darkness, the sounds of dogs in a distance and the pouring of rain. They rain almost amplifying the depressing mood of the Pomeranian.

Yannick feels his blood drumming loud in his ears, his breath going heavy. Exited as the dogs are, he smells the murderers fear, paces back and forth to find something to seek his teeth into...
Slowly they draw the circle closer, bark, growl, make him nervous, make him lose his head...
There is your prey, there is the murderer...

Wake up Yannick, you're a man, not a beast! This may not be as easy as it looks.

GROWWWWWL!
([color=blue]Arm of the infant! Now try having fun with your axe!)

Cursing Mariella quickly throws up a spell to proetect herself against the rain (Re Aq 4).
Then carries on cursing foolhardy Ex Misc mages without the common sense God gave to anyone. Rushing off ahead on his own has left him, her and the covenant exposed to attack if he had just had the sense to stick with her then the situation would only be half as bad.
If only the mages of this covenant had the discipline of a proper Milite then this would be so much easier. Remembering that trails of life are set by God for us to overcome she pauses to come to a conclusion.

There is no point pursuing Yannick he has got out of sight ahead and without his senses or the hounds the trail is difficult to follow and if the enemy should decide to intefere simple spells could cause her to wonder aimlessly without even needing to effect her Parma.

[color=red]We return to the covenant in case this is a diversion. Magus Yannick can handle himself against any likely threat out here. Quickly now

The woodsman panics as his arm shrink to an infant’s size. He drops the heavy axe and starts to reach for it with his other arm. The man is seemingly desperate and he smells of fear. One of the dogs attacks the man as he reaches for his weapon. The fangs of the furious beast fall into the woodsman’s arm as he is desperately trying to fight the brute beast of. The forest darkness is pierced by his cry of pain and his pleadings of help.

Once Mariella returns to the covenant a terrible scream can be heard from the kitchen area and a clamour of overturning pots can be heard. A few guards look uneasy at each other, neither wishing to leave their post nor ignore the sound of someone in plight. The captain orders two men to go and examine the source of the scream. An other rolling thunder echoes through the night.

Mariella goes to investigate the commotion in the Kitchen.
To her guards [color=red]Be careful , but do not overreact this is most likely an ill timed accident
At the same time she casts a protection against Metal weapons upon herself

As he couldn't follow yannick, Alberich came back with mariella.

Hearing the sound from the kitchen, he takes up his weapon, and heads for it aside the maga. Duty first.

[color=green]ENOUGH! Yannick growls as soon as the woodsman looses his grip of the axe, [color=green]We need him alive. We bring him back home, keep him in the middle of the pack. You all did well, and shall be rewarded. Follow me now.

[color=blue](Spont MuAn to gain speach. Duration: concentration)
Yannick turns to the woodsman:
[color=red]Follow me. If you make one false move, the pack will tear you to pieces. You will not get another warning.

Then Yannick picks up the axe between his teeth and leads the way home, not to hasty for the dogs, but surely quick enough to keep the man out of breath.

Yannick successfully saves the accused murderer and manage to drag him back to Ad Fons or wherever he wishes. The wounds on the man in light as Yannick pulled apart the dog and the man with ease.

In the covenant… Rushing towards the door to the kitchen everyone braces themselves, who knows what happens this time. The door is opened and guards and Mariella with accompanying bodyguards enters the room. Within the room only two kitchen maids can be seen, one of them is soaked in water and with a red skin tone upon her arm and on the floor there lies a cauldron. Both women looks mighty surprised when the guards barge in to the room.

Mariella laughs briefly
[color=red]An accident during an alert .
She waves the guards away turns to the servants and says
[color=red]Do not be alarmed we are on alert in case of an attack and we reacted to the noise. No one is in any trouble. If you wish I can see what I can do about the injuries youhave recieved.

One of the women in the kitchen has some slight burns on her hand, painful but cold water will ease them. They sighs in relief as there where no danger.

[color=red]Everyone back to your posts then
Mariella makes a quick tour of the covenant checking on the Library and vis stores in case there is a problem there. Then she settles down to wait for Yannicks return

The covenant is quiet and there is nothing that disturbs the peace except for the thunder and the rain. Does Yannick return with the prisoner and what happens then?

Yes, Yannick returns.
He delivers his prisoner to the guard and will ask the quaesitor to help with the questionning. As our opponent seems to be proficient in Mentem, I'd like to know if he influenced the murderer somehow. Just to make sure.

If all looks like a "normal" case of murder, we can probably let the guard go off guard. Yannick has an idea for the proper punishment up the sleeves.

The dogs get some extra bones and meat.

Bartolomaeus are summoned to interrogate the prisoner. Bartolomeaus search the murderers mind and question him, at the end the murderer in thoroughly examined both by mundane and magical means. The quesiatoris returns after awhile and reports to the magi; [color=red]This man shows no sings of magical intrusion, nor fae manipulation and I think that we can rule out divine for obvious reasons. I tell you as much as possible and then I can find out more or answer your questions. The man here has slain his wife and her lover. They moved here when the covenant where founded in hope for a better start. However his work as a woodsman meant that his wife seldom got to enjoy his company, thus she choose the company of another man. He begun to suspect this sometime ago, perhaps six months or so ago. His early memories of this suspicion clearly indicates sings of sadness. It seems that he felt some affection for his wife at the time. After a while the sadness turned into resentment and then resentment turned into anger, though not the anger that makes a man a brutal murderer. In his more recent memories there are however a significant increase in the wrath felt by this man, enough apparently that he would sneak home from his forest hut to ambush his wife with her lover. He had hid in the hut to await them and strike while they where in the bed. Any questions?

[color=red]Any idea why he didn't just give the man the beating he deserved right away, instead of waiting half a year doing nothing to kill him then?
I find this a rather odd behaviour...

[color=red]It seems to me, Bartolomeaus hesitates for a moment, [color=red]that the first anger of the man was that made him angry enough to kick his dog rather than face his wife but there seems to be a significant increase of murderous rage within this man. Almost as if he had been corrupted…

[color=red]So you think someone encouraged his anger?
Maybe even shortly before the murder?
We need to find out if the womans lover had ennemies that knew of the relationship.
I would not like to let go unpunished those that incited the mans anger to the point of murdering.

[color=red]Yes, someone or something has affected this man and I can't detect any traces. Investigate this man as good as you can I need to see a investigation specialist. If you think that you can handle this situation, at least until I return, then I can help in your quest. There seems to be an unusually high amount of mysteries here at Ad Fons, Bartolomeaus sounds a little worried.