Ghost Rage, Episode 3 – Vote Now!

You carefully examine the room, trying to determine how something large enough and powerful enough to rip Lord Julian Trimogena to shreds could have entered.

Very few answers are forthcoming. There is no sign that anyone entered through the window, and the windowsill is smooth and unmarked, without the sort of scarring that a grapnel would leave. The thick carpet holds footprints well, but that tells you nothing – the only footprints you see must have come from the iron-nailed boots of Cenorix and his militiamen.

You walk around the bed, examining the strange symbol in blood painted on the wall. You don’t recognize it, but you see something glittering in the center of the symbol. Frowning, you tug it free.

A betrothal ring, the sort made by the Temple of the Hearthmother when nobles pledge their troth.

Interesting. You hadn’t known that Lord Julian had been betrothed.

You examine the door. The lock has been smashed, and recently.

“Was the door locked when you found him?” you ask.

“Aye, lass,” says Cenorix. “One of the maids heard him screaming, and ran to fetch the innkeeper. The door was locked, and so the innkeeper bashed it down and found…this.” He hesitates. “Do…you know who he was?”

“Julian Trimogena, the new Lord Commander of the Eighteenth Legion,” you say absently, fiddling with the ring as you think.

You can’t figure out how Julian was killed. It’s like a thousand-pound bear entered the room, ripped Julian to pieces, and left again. All while avoiding detection. And without being seen by anyone in the Inn, or the street.

Impossible.

“Gods!” said Cenorix. “A noble? There will be hell to pay for this. Lord Julian was a Militarist, and the other Militarists will scream over this.”

You nod, still thinking. The Empire’s nobles have three loose factions: the Loyalists, the Restorationists, and the Militarists, and they’re always at each others’ throats. You doubt the Loyalists would kill a Militarist noble, but the Restorationists surely would.

Still. That business with the betrothal ring and the bloody symbol. Hard to see a political murderer bothering with that.

You can’t figure out how Julian was murdered. But if you can figured out why he was murdered, then how might answer itself.

And, more importantly, who.
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