Standard Mission: Singing Bones

- Cleo -

"I believe you might be a little mistaken about Bastion." Cleo chuckled, reaching out to give the horse a pat on the shoulder. "He left me here so the he could rush off and investigate last night's victim."

"The two of us are nothing alike." Cleo paused for a moment, looking at Rohan before he continued. "As a man with martial training, I suspect you'll understand what I mean by this. I'm like a bull whip. You can use me to attack or defend, but I'll always go precisely where I need to be to achieve the goal. Bastion is like a bow and arrow. You can only hold him drawn for so long, and once he's loosed, there's no pulling him back."

Taking a step back, Cleo rested his hands behind him. "I suspect you'd know best about who else I should ask about the demon corpse from last night. Are there any older villagers that might have served in the watch when they were younger? It's possible that some of them might have seen something like it further back than the more recent guards can recall."

Cleo bit his lip for a moment, pondering, before moving to the next topic. "I'd also like to talk to Vayu. He's no stranger to the area, and despite your misgivings, I can trust him to be more forthcoming with me than you or any of your men." He raised a hand before Rohan could speak. "It's not that I think you'd intentionally withhold information, but you have mentioned that there are politics at work here. So, I suspect there are some things you can't tell us."

Mountain Village

Healer’s House

“Come, come…” she said, waving him over. “This man has gone missing ten days ago.” She looked expectantly at Bastion.

The body on the table didn’t look like it had spent nearly a fortnight outside. The skin that was left was dry and emaciated and appeared almost mummified. Aside from the obvious wounds inflicted by the feasting demons, the body looked more or less intact. The actual decay was minimal.

“He died of starvation,” the healer continued. “From the inside.”

She waved Bastion’s face closer to the body. “See here?” she asked and pointed at two very specific and oddly round holes just above the collar bones of the body. “That’s how he died.”
------------------

Barrack’s Stable

Rohan looked up and laughed when Cleo corrected his assumption. “Interesting analogy,” he commented, sounding amused. “Though often times different personalities complement well in a team.”

“Good idea,” he said when Cleo had laid out his questions, becoming once again more serious. “I’ll have someone ask them to come up to the assembly hall?” he expressed it as a suggestion, to see if Cleo agreed with the idea.

Once he did, he left the stable for a few minutes to send one of his men on the way.

When he came back, he tied his horse to the side.

“It’ll take a while to gather everyone. So meanwhile I can accompany you to talk to Vayu,” he said. “You probably have concerns about me coming along, but if I allow you to do your job, you’ll have to allow me to do mine.”

“Yes, there are politics at work, but they’re not my politics. I just want what’s best for this village.”

He started to walk to the barn door. “Shall we?”

The Mountain Village - Healer's House

- Bastion -

Bastion stared in shock at the state of the body. The goring and feasting he’d expected, and that was what he’d largely noticed yesterday. But under the fresh sunlight, he could see the gaunt and desiccated nature of the body in full view, and it was quite unpleasant. It appeared as though he’d been sucked dry through a straw. But… how?

The healer waved him over and showed him two holes above the collar bone. Well, then… his description was fittingly close. It did indeed appear as though whatever demon had caught him had sucked out his insides through these puncture holes. How horrible that must have been. And probably not very fast…

Swallowing, he turned away from the body and gazed out the window, letting his mind wander.

Two pin-pricks near the throat. A drained body. Only male targets. Attacks at night.

With that evidence, it appeared to be something vampiric, or… insect-like. He winced. He didn’t like insects, and he didn’t like demons. But an insect-demon… How awful.

The more he thought about it, though, the more it made sense. It wasn’t just blood it seemed to feast on, but rather whatever it could suck out. As a child, he’d seen insects wrapped up in a spider’s web. His father had explained how the spiders wrapped them up tightly to prevent their escape, then liquidized their insides before draining them all out. It turned his stomach then, and it still did now.

“Madame,” he said, turning back to the healer. “Did you find anything else unusual on the body? Webbing or strange fluids of some kind?’

- Cleo -

Cleo frowned at Rohan's response, clearly not sharing in the other man's amusement. "While I can respect that having opposing viewpoints around is good for problem solving, it's less than ideal when those viewpoints are so polarized that they negatively impact the team. That's one of the reasons they like sending us out in groups of three. It makes it easier for us to effectively communicate with one another when opinions differ."

He paused, considering Rohan's suggestion, before nodding in approval. "Yes, bringing them to the corpse is probably preferable to dragging it all over town."

While the man was gone, Cleo considered how differently things might be going with Vayu around to be a buffer between Bastion and himself. While working with someone as rigid as Bastion wasn't a pleasure, by any means, Cleo could suffer through it. The other Vanguard produced results, and that was hard to argue with. If the two of them worked together, based strictly on facts and procedures, they could get the job done. However, the experience lacked the camaraderie that Cleo felt with some of the other Vanguards.

Cleo plastered on a half-smile when Rohan made it clear this wouldn't be an unsupervised visit. To be honest, he'd expected as much. It wasn't difficult to see the similarities between Rohan and Bastion, although Rohan was easier to read because Cleo understood the man's motivations.

"Of course. Lead the way." Cleo gestured with his arm, indicating that he would follow. "We all want what's best for this village, but I owe no allegiance to it, nor do I plan to bow to its politics, yours or otherwise. I'm here to perform a service, and while I realize how callous that may sound, it's best that you're aware of it. Because if performing that service requires me to go over the heads of your local government, I'll do what it takes to finish the mission."

Mountain Village

Healer’s House
The healer watched Bastion think, the sharp eyes in her wrinkly face staring at him closely.

“You can call me Kira,” she said amused, “I’m far too old to be a madame.”

She turned her attention back to the body. “We found nothing else, but look at the body. We are lucky that these punctured holes didn’t get destroyed…”

“I cannot even tell you if he was restrained or no, because the skin is so dry.”

“I could test his blood if you want, but it’ll take a while…” she offered after deliberating for a few moments.

Suddenly they could hear the front door open and close. A few moments later, Akio entered the greenhouse.

“Good morning” she greeted Bastion.

“I brought the family. They’re waiting outside until we’re done,” she said, which earned her a stern look from Kira. “She insisted she wanted to see him.”

Kira waved off any more explanations. “You better go make them a calming tea. They are gonna need it after this.”
------------------

Prison Buildingn

“I respect that,” Rohan said and simply left it at that.

Relieved that Cleo agreed, Rohan led him over to the “prison building”, which in reality was just an extended part of the barracks with additional cellar rooms. However, that didn’t dampen the dark mood that the stone walls and the bars emitted.

When they stepped down the stone stairs, they could hear a low conversation. As they got closer, Rohan realized it was the guard talking with Vayu and the conversation sounded pretty friendly.

The view they were presented with, reflected that feeling. The guard was leaning on the bars to Vayu’s cell while Vayu was sitting backwards on a chair in the middle of his cell, his arms laying of the back of the chair. It was immediately obvious why the chair was closer to the bars. That way the chains were hanging loosely on the floor.

As soon as Rohan and Cleo came into view, the conversation died down. The guard immediately straightened up and Vayu lost his relaxed expression.

“Oh, look who decided to show up,” Vayu said. “What do you want?”

Rohan decided to ignore Vayu’s sharp tone.

“Cleo came to visit, possibly to fill you in on what they found out,” he replied and stepped aside to allow Cleo to walk past him.

- Cleo -

"You know, I always expected this scene to be the other way around." Cleo gestured to the bars in between Vayu and himself. "Seeing as how you're the semi-responsible one between us, and all..." His smile didn't quite reach his eyes as he spoke. Although he was trying to lighten the mood, this situation was far from a jovial one.

Still, there were some advantages in this meeting. Now, Cleo knew where Vayu was being held, and what type of security was in place around him. Maybe he should consider it a lack of security instead. Aside from the chains binding Vayu, this entire scenario felt like a token effort at keeping a Vanguard captive.

"Your brother is surprisingly tight-lipped." Cleo glanced in Rohan's direction. "I bet he sucks at pillow talk, although I won't be the one to test the theory."

"He also appears to be in a situation where he doesn't have a lot of control over his choices." Cleo continued as he turned back towards Vayu. With a bit of a smirk, he gestured to the chains. "I could practically choke on the irony."

"Since we have an obligation to fulfill our Vanguard contract, Bastion and I have agreed to look into the village's problem, in hopes that your situation will be resolved once we've completed that."

"So, strange as it may sound, I could use your help with something. Information, specifically." With his thumb, Cleo gestured to Rohan over his shoulder. "This one won't tell me anything useful regarding why you're in here, and I have a feeling that might be wrapped up in whatever situation is keeping his hands tied."

"Figuratively, unfortunately."

The Mountain Village - Healer's House

- Bastion -

Bastion smiled at the old woman's rebuttal to his use of madame.

"Kira, then," he corrected. "Yes, please test the blood as quickly as you can."

Perhaps the results would come too late to make a difference, but it couldn't hurt to try. It was too bad that was all there was to be done, but as Kira said, they were fortunate to find the puncture marks at all given the state of the body thanks to those infernal demons' mauling.

A moment later, Akio stepped into the greenhouse with the news that the victim's family. Bastion could understand their desire to get some closure through seeing the body, but he also knew it was only going to bring more pain at the same time. And that it would be difficult to get anything out of them after that.

"If you don't mind," he said to Akio, "I'd like to ask them a few questions first."

It was more a formality than actually seeking permission, as he headed out to find the deceased's family standing outside.

"Excuse me," Bastion said gently. "But I'm one of the Vanguards sent to help your village, and one of the people to find... your family in there." He braced himself, then pressed on. "Before you go on, I'd like to ask if you can remember any details from the night he disappeared. Anything might be useful and save more innocent lives."

Mountain Village

Healer’s House

The old woman nodded and then headed off into her house. They could hear some clanging as she gathered some jars, tubes and needles.

Akio nodded and watched as Bastion left the body and headed to the front door.

Outside, he found a middle-aged woman and her daughter. They were sitting on a bench surrounded by some bright blue wisteria. The daughter had blonde hair that was braided into pigtails and she was may seven years old. Too young to fully understand but old enough to be nervous.

Her mother was a little more composed.

“Are you the one who found my daddy?” the little girl asked, looking up to Bastion with her big blue eyes.

Her mother reached forward and the pulled her on her lap.

“I don’t remember much,” the mother said, looking down. “We went to bed and everything was normal and the next morning when I woke up, he wasn’t there.” Her voice faded.

------------------

Prison Building

Vayu crossed his arms, clearly not happy to see them. While Cleo spoke, he kept staring at Rohan who didn’t react to any of the side-way comments Cleo threw at him.

“Why I’m in here has nothing to do with the disappearances that have been happening,” Vayu said. “And since I’m not keen on repeating myself once Bastion decides to grace me with his presence, I’m not going to tell you right now.”

He finally looked at Cleo, clearly not in the mood for his jokey attitude.

In reality he felt frustrated. He hated being locked up and he hated that had no control over the situation. It felt like it was out of his hands to change anything about it. He wanted to be out there taking action with the other two Vanguards and not cooped up inside.

“What did you find out last night?”

The Mountain Village - Healer's House

- Bastion -

A wife and child… how tragic. Bastion swallowed as he gazed back at those innocent blue eyes and nodded.

“That’s right,” he said gently. “It’s my duty to help people, like you and your village.”

As the mother pulled the little girl onto her lap, he turned his attention to her. Unfortunately, her account didn’t provide anything of use. It was frustrating, but he kept it from showing.

“I see. Thank you for your time. And I’m sorry for your loss.”

As he stepped away to leave, he paused to face the daughter one last time. It was a longshot, but he might as well try. Kneeling down to her level, he looked her in the eyes and asked, “You didn’t happen to see anything strange, did you?”

- Cleo -

"It might not have anything to do with the disappearances, but it is currently keeping you on that side of the bars, and that's making this job more difficult than I'd like." Cleo shrugged. "If you don't want to talk about it right now, I won't push you though. You've been nothing but an upstanding citizen since I've known you."

He glanced at Rohan for a moment, looking for any sort of emotion, before turning back to Vayu. "Well... For starters, I found out that your sister is kinda hot, but I imagine that's probably not what you actually wanted to talk about." Cleo waved his hand, as if brushing his comment out of the air between them.

"After nightfall, Akio and I were walking the perimeter of the village and stumbled upon some demons consuming what I assume is the most recent victim of the disappearances. After a short, but violent, altercation, we were able to put most of them down and retrieve their corpses, along with the victim."

"Right now, Bastion is looking into who the guy was and how exactly he died. So, I don't have those details yet, but I would like your opinion on the demons that were eating him." Cleo shifted backwards to lean against the wall behind him.

"There were two kinds. One of them was mostly wings, but they also had pointy ears and seemed to generate fire somehow. Akio said she'd seen them before, but not usually at this time of year. So, I'm not as concerned with those."

"The second type had an exoskeleton, with pincers and a scorpion-like tail. At this point, no one in the village has been able to identify them, which means they're either new to the area, or they rarely venture this close to town."

Mountain Village

Healer’s House

“Thank you,” the mother said. “We knew there wasn’t much hope. But at least you found him. That’s more than most can say who lost someone here.”

The little girl squirmed in her mother’s arms after Bastion asked her until her mother finally released her. She stepped down from the lap and waved Bastion close to her.

“My mom says I was dreaming,” she whispered, glancing back at her mother, who was giving her a cautionary glance. “And she says I shouldn’t tell anyone., but you’re nice, so I’m gonna tell you, okay?” she looked at him expectantly for confirmation that her secret was safe with him.

“I saw my dad that night…” she continued with her conspirative whisper. “It was really dark and I was really tired, but my favorite teddy bear had fallen out of bed and I can’t sleep without him. Is that silly? My mom says I need to learn to sleep without it, but I love it so much and I love to cuddle with it.”

She pursed her lips, clearly sidetracked by the thought of her teddy bear.
------------------

Prison Building

“WHAT?!” Vayu instantly exploded. “You listen to me, you leave my sister alone!”

He stood up. The chair tipped over and the chains stood under sudden tension as Vayu stepped as close to the bars as possible. “I know how you get with women, Cleo. You better not touch her!”

Vayu glared at Cleo, looking like he was trying to rip out the chains with his bare hands. Meanwhile Rohan was leaning on the opposite side of the wall. He stifled a laugh unsuccessfully into a cough, drawing Vayu’s glare to him.

“What’s so funny?”

“You,” Rohan said amused. “You get so emotional when you should be focused. You missed all the important information.”

“Oh piss off with your holier than thou attitude,” Vayu said, still sounding upset. “In fact, why don’t you go get some fresh air? Don’t you have some soldering to do?”

Rohan shrugged and contemplated for a few moments. It was obvious that his presence didn’t make things easier. So, after a stern look at the guard still standing in the hallway he left and went back upstairs.

“I’ll be at the assembly hall,” he said to Cleo.

Vayu shook his head and picked up his chair, sitting back down. He crossed his arms. “I don’t know either of the demons you described,” he said to Cleo, still sound salty. “I haven’t been here in over five years, so a lot of things could’ve changed.”

The Mountain Village - Healer's House

- Bastion -

Bastion didn't really expect much when he'd asked, but the girl's response about seeing something her mom said to keep to herself caused his pulse to spike.

"You can trust me," he said back, nodding encouragingly.

The girl then confirmed that she had indeed seen her father that night. She'd gotten out of bed to get her teddy bear and... proceeded to get sidetracked. Despite growing impatience, he couldn't help but feel a touch of sympathy at what she said.

"It's not silly at all," he told her. "I had one of my own when I was a young boy. My father took it away when I was seven so I could grow up faster, but... I think you should hold onto it as long as you need."

Seeing her smile, he pressed forward to get her back on track.

"So when you got your teddy bear, what did you see?"

- Cleo -

Cleo watched the interaction between the brothers with mild interest. If not for the current setting, he could easily see the way that the two of them might have played off one another growing up.

"I'll be along shortly." Cleo responded to Rohan as the man left the room. He was honestly surprised that he'd given into Vayu's suggestion so easily, but maybe the tension in the room wasn't lost on the captain of the guard.

"Yeah, time does have a way of changing things." Cleo smirked. "Bet you wouldn't have heard your little sister called hot before you left." He raised a hand before Vayu could get up in arms again. "Relax. I won't do anything inappropriate. My reputation is earned, but I don't cultivate it intentionally."

He sighed, looking at their surroundings once more. "Unfortunately, I don't have a lot to share beyond the information about the demons. The locals aren't exactly forthcoming about everything. So, Bastion and I are stumbling through what we can with the information they will give us."

Mountain Village

Healer’s House

The girl smiled back at Bastion when encouraged her in her love of her teddy bear. She lowered her voice again when she answered his question.

“My bed is in the big room in our house, so after I grab my little bear, I hear a sound. At first, I don’t know where it came from.”

Then she looked a little guilty. “I get scared, so I hid under the bed,” her voice became a very low whisper. “But I also wanted to know, so I peeked and I saw my father walk by, but he wasn’t walking normally...”

“Maria, don’t tell the Vanguard any of the nonsense you dreamt,” her mother interrupted, looking slightly embarrassed. She tried to grab her daughter, who decidedly stepped back.

“No! He asked about it. And it didn’t dream it!” Maria said.

Her mother turned to Bastion. “Please don’t believe her too much. She’s just a little girl with a lot of imagination.”
------------------

Prison Building

Rohan stepped outside the building. He threw a long glance back and then sighed. This all certainly had turned out more complicated than he thought. Finally, he turned around and headed to the assembly hall.

Inside the building, Vayu ground his teeth when Cleo re-turned the topic to his sister. However, at least this time he stayed seated.

“Look, you may not think the highest of the people here, because of what happened when we arrived. But this is a lot different than Chaldea and the people we see on a daily basis. You don’t have libraries and bars and shops.” He crossed his arms.

“Information and knowledge doesn’t exist in a structured way, but I’m sure Rohan and Akio too are doing whatever they can to help. Everyone who lives here, lives here by choice. And nobody wants to give that up, so if their safety is at stake, surely they’ll all try to help.”

The Mountain Village - Healer's House

- Bastion -

He wasn't walking normally...

Frowning, Bastion puzzled over this information. So, it wasn't a demon that invaded by stealth and snatched its victims. Rather, it lured them out through some spell or enchantment. A potentially spider-like creature who could also entrance victims from afar... did such a demon exist?

Before he could get more information, the girl's mother interrupted, insistent that none of this account could be trusted. Did she not understand the situation they were in?

"Ma'am, while I appreciate your intentions, I'd respectfully request that you don't interrupt her account," he said, maintaining his politeness as best he could. "If there's even a small chance that your daughter saw something that could prevent another murder like your husband's, then I need to pursue it."

Turning his attention back to the girl, he nodded encouragingly. "Is there anything else you can tell me? Anything at all."

- Cleo -

Cleo sighed when Vayu had finished speaking. He didn't want to be the one to disillusion his comrade, but they didn't exactly have the time to beat around the bush.

"You haven't been here in a long time, right? Who's to say that things still work the same as they did before?"

"I'm not saying that your siblings haven't been helpful in the capacity that they can." Cleo glanced at the guard for a moment, but then turned his eyes back towards Vayu. "However, there are definitely some kind of village politics at play here. Someone in charge isn't happy that the Vanguards were summoned to take care of this job, but it sounds like they caved to the pressure of the situation. At the moment, we're being given the full cooperation of the guard, but I can't help feeling like there's something we're not being told."

After a deep breath, Cleo pushed himself away from the wall. "I need to go see if anyone else can identify that demon. After that, I'll track down Bastion, and the both of us can come bounce ideas off of you."

"The sooner we solve this, the sooner we can spring you out and head back to headquarters."

Turning on his heel, Cleo made his way up the stairs. The discussion with Vayu hadn't been as enlightening as he'd hoped, but at least he wasn't being treated too poorly.

A few moments later, he walked into the assembly hall, where Rohan had said the demon carcass would be brought. Hopefully, someone here could shed some light on things.

Mountain Village

Healer’s House

The mother blushed with embarrassment. “Okay,” she mumbled.

“Mh…,” the little girl looked thoughtful, trying to remember. “No, I think that’s everything I saw. I did call out to him, but I was very quiet, so I don’t thin, he heard me.”

She paused and then looked at Bastion again. “So, you think you can find whatever is doing that now?” she asked.

------------------

Prison Building

Vayu shrugged in response to Cleo’s doubts. Cleo could be right, but Vayu’s gut told him, that nothing had changed since he left. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be in here.

“Right…,” he said in a low voice as Cleo left.

Clearly, this wasn’t the right situation to be discussing the village politic affairs.
------------------

Assembly Hall

Rohan was already in the assembly hall, talking to an elderly man in a low voice. Right at front, the carcass the of the demon from the woods was laying on the ground. Around it, with some distance, were mostly older people. There was a general murmur in the air as everyone was talking to their neighbor.

The murmur died down when Cleo entered the assembly hall and all eyes turned expectantly to him and Rohan.

Rohan eventually stopped the conversation he had with the elderly man and also looked up. At first looking irritated at the sudden silence. However, his expression smoothened when he realized Cleo had arrived.

“Thanks for coming,” he said and waved Cleo over.

The Mountain Village - Healer's House

- Bastion -

That was all then. Certainly not as much as he'd hoped for, but it was another step forward at least.

"Thank you," he said as he stood up. "That could potentially point us in the right direction."

He'd have to talk things over with Rohan... and Cleo, of course. But they might finally have something here.

The little girl asked him if he could find the demon responsible now, and he offered her a tentative smile.

"Yes, I believe so," he replied. Maybe it was a bit premature, but he had faith that things were coming together now to work this all out in the end.

With a farewell nod to the two, he headed off into the village to find Rohan and Cleo and share his findings. With any luck, they might be able to determine this demon's identity and close in on it before the day was out.

- Cleo -

As he entered the assembly hall and the conversation died down, Cleo took in the people before him. Almost all of them were older, which made sense. If anyone would have a good idea of local demons, it would be someone that had been here for a long time.

"Good morning." Cleo respectfully nodded his head to the group. "I'm sorry for disrupting your day, but my companions and I encountered several demons last night, and I'd like to know if any of you can identify this one." He gestured to the corpse.

"The other demons we met have already been identified, but no one was able to tell me anything about this one. So, if you have any information, I'd love to hear it. At the very least, I'd like to be able to confirm if this type of demon is totally unrelated to the current string of disappearances. It could just be something that doesn't often wander this far away from its nest."

Mountain Village

Healer’s House

Akio watched from the door as Bastion talked to the family. After he left, she walked outside, carrying a cup of tea in her hands.

She sat down next to the woman and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. The young woman began to talk to her in a low voice, pausing frequently to look at her. Clearly, she was describing the situation of when they found her husband.

Eventually the woman started crying, burying her face in her hands. Akio patted her shoulder and offered her the cup of tea when she finally stopped crying.

------------------

Assembly Hall

Another low murmur started after Cleo asked his questions. A couple people stepped closer to the corpse of the Pabilsag to get a better look.

Two of them shook their heads immediately and walked a few steps back, sitting down.

Soon most of them had examined the corpse, but it seemed no one recognized it.

Meanwhile Rohan was walking around, talking to some of them, asking them questions. Finally, he returned to Cleo and the demon corpse.

“No one I talked to has ever seen a demon even close to it,” he said and sounded apologetically. He scratched his head. “Unfortunately, we never really keep track of the demons we encounter. It’s more word of mouth that makes up the collective knowledge.”

The Mountain Village - Assembly Hall

- Bastion -

Bastion entered the assembly hall as a group of older villagers took turns surveying the demon corpse they'd acquired before shaking their heads one by one. After the last had finished, he moved from the back and approached Cleo.

"At least one lead has produced fruit," he sighed. "I spoke with the healer and the victim's family this morning. Between the two bite holes on the neck and the lack of fluids inside the body, it seems as though we're dealing with an insect or spider-like demon. Strangely, the victim's daughter also reported seeing her father walking out of the house as though in a trance. My theory is that the creature has some spell or power to inflict a trance on male victim's from a distance, luring them out into the woods where it drains the insides of the victim out through a bite."

He glanced over at the Pabilsag's corpse.

"The target demon doesn't appear to care for the... meat, as it were, of the corpse. It must have left it behind for the other demons we came across to feast on."

While this might help them to know how to deal with the enemy, it didn't do much to help them find it.

"That leaves us with two conundrums. How do we find it? Do we wait again to see if it entrances another victim and follow it? Assuming that victim isn't one of us." Bastion glances between Cleo and Rohan. "And that is our second problem. Even if we do locate it, its power to place men into a hypnotic state could make walking into its den suicidal."

- Cleo -

Cleo's frown deepened as more and more of the villagers shook their heads and walked away from the corpse. Rather than confirming that this demon wasn't related to the incident, it instead seemed to be the opposite. While these demons didn't appear to be the ones luring out men at night, they were likely related to the demon that was.

A short time later, Bastion's findings somewhat confirmed this. If the demon they were seeking was insectoid in nature, it might share features with these, although its appetite appeared to be different. "It's possible that these might be like it's henchmen." Cleo said, gesturing towards the corpse. "Usually, demons that charm their victims aren't particularly strong when faced directly. So, it would make sense for such a demon to keep around a few tougher demons that it feeds as payment for their services."

Still, even with this information, they weren't any closer to tracking down the demon in question. Thinking back on their recent vacation, Cleo questioned whether or not this demon could actually influence him, but that wasn't a theory he could safely share with Bastion, or Rohan for that matter. However, it might give him an edge in a situation where the demon expected Cleo to be compliant.

"We can worry about how to fight it later." Cleo sighed, running a hand through his hair. "First, we need to be able to locate it."

"Do the victims have anything in common that we're aware of?" He directed the question to Rohan. "It might even be something as simple as eating the same dish for breakfast on the day they're taken or getting stung by a wasp. I've never heard of a demon that can charm someone with no contact at all. There has to be something that's allowing it to target them."

Mountain Village

Assembly Hall

Rohan was leaning against a windowsill, watching the whole spectacle. As usual most of them weren’t really keen on exploring the demon carcass.

He straightened up somewhat to listen when Bastion entered the assembly hall. These were quite some news.

“That is quite big news. You theory make a lot of sense. I wish we had some proof that it's more than a theory,” he said, looking thoughtful. “Excuse me for a minute.”

He walked over the villagers who had gathered in the back. He talked intensely with a few of them, gesturing back to the demon and the two Vanguard. Finally, they seemed to give in and two of them returned with Rohan.

“I asked them to take another look under the new circumstances,” he explained to Bastion und Cleo.

“Back to your question,” he said to Cleo. “We couldn’t find anything that ties the victims together,” he admitted. “Mainly because most of the disappeared at night.” He was hesitant to offer them that they could interview the victims’ families again. For some of them the pain was still fresh, but a few had already started to move on.

One of the men returned from inspecting the demon carcass.

“We took another look at it,” the older man grumbled. “We never seen it and we never heard of a demon that can lure people out.”

The Mountain Village - Assembly Hall

- Bastion -

With mounting impatience, Bastion gave a curt nod to the old man to dismiss him. It was obvious they weren’t going to get any of the help they wanted from any of these villagers. However…

He turned around and regarded the group of men, frowning.

“Are there any caves near the village?” he asked them. “Or some similar environment?”

While he waited for their reply, he glanced at Cleo and Rohan.

“If these demons are as like scorpions as they appear, then they should favor environments with rocks to hide under. There’s no rocks large enough to hide something that large, but a cave would be a suitable substitute.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I imagine a spider-like demon would feel quite at home in such a place as well.”

Mountain Village

Assembly Hall

“Wait,” Rohan called when the old man turned to return to the group. “Is that all you’re gonna say?” he asked. “You’ve lived here long enough to know that we come across unknown demons all the time. But we usually figure out a way to search them out if we try.”

He gestured to Bastion. “Bastion’s making a good point. If you were to go out look for it…where would you go?”

The old man took a long look, first at Rohan and then at Bastion and Cleo. Finally, he sighed. “We gave up demon hunting a long time ago. We figured out that if we didn’t encroach in their territory, they were less likely to bother us.”

“But I suppose under these circumstances, we have no other choice.”

He moved in closer to the demon carcass. “Yes, young man, from its appearance, I would also say it favors rocks. However, that skin doesn’t look very breathable. It’s hard, designed to protect against the elements. Therefore, if it were to live in a cave, it would have to be in a dry area. No rivers. Not a lot of trees. Certainly, no wetlands.”

He scratched his head. “Anyway, those are my two cents…”

“Thanks,” Rohan said, looking a little more relieved. “There’s plenty of caves in the entire area and all across the mountains,” he said to the two Vanguard. “But it’s pretty wet in the valley, so the best chance to find the right cave would be higher up in the mountains.”

“Is that something you want to check out?”