Leads

The next day Luca was awakened by a sound he hadn't been expecting... Due to yesterdays events, he'd thought he would be hearing Sarr'vuln commanding the hunters and other tribesmen in preparations for an attack against the Gutizia Tribe... But that didn't seem to be the case today...

Throwing his bearskin over his shoulders, he stumbles out of his hut and finds Sarr'vuln solemnly sitting in front of his hut, the hunters around him quickly dispursing with relieved, confused, and angry looks on their faces.

Luca pushes past them and approaches Sarr'vuln, giving him an odd look, "What happened?"

...

Not immediately getting a response, Luca continues, "Did the Gutizia attack again? Did they attack the Olmnar tribe?"

Sarr'vuln slowly and somewhat solemnly shakes his head, "The Gutizia are no longer a problem." he states.

Luca is surprised to hear this, but the tone Sarr'vuln delivers this information only surprises him further... The man is acting as if they'd all just ritualistically killed themselves to curse them... Wait, is that possible? "Sarr'vuln, what happened?" he asks again.

Sarr'vuln stands and grabs his spear and gesture with it for Luca to follow him, "Come, we'll look at what is left of the Gutizia." he states.

Luca halts midstep, "Ah, I want to visit Sarr'ina though-"

"Bah! Let her rest, she has been through much." he says, continuing to walk and obviously expecting Luca to follow.

Luca takes one last reluctant look at the hut where Sarr'ina should be staying before following Sarr'vuln. He and a few hunters walk through the forest towards the Gutizia tribe. Soon enough, the forest becomes slate and gravel, and the group are standing on a ridge overlooking the tribe... Or at least, what's left of the tribe...

Almost every single hut had been burned to the ground, and hundreds of bodies were scattered around the place... Men, women, children, no one seemed to have been spared. The smell of burnt human flesh was thick in the air, and plumes of smoke were still drifting to the sky, as if they were a signal of the atrocities committed here.

Luca sends Sarr'vuln a sideways glance, "D-did we do this?" he asks, not having expected Sarr'vuln to break the foundations and tradition of the Sua'jiki, if he was responsible, he'd essentially thrown away any semblance of honour that the other tribes so respected them for.

Sarr'vuln scowls and holds his new copper blade up to Luca's throat, "Do not make such serious accusations... If you were anyone else I would have cut you for that... No. It was not us that did this." he states, and Luca becomes further confused at the situation.

If it wasn't the Sua'jiki who'd done this... Then who was it?

"Wouldn't the hunters you sent out know who did this?" Luca questions.

Sarr'vuln nods, "They would, if they were still alive. All of the hunters I sent to scout last night were killed. Tortured and beheaded by whoever did this..." he says in a solemn tone, clearly saddened by the loss of his men.

Luca leaves Sarr'vuln to his thoughts as he makes his way down to the camp for some investigations of his own. He wasn't the best tracker in the tribe had, but he felt that his modern knowledge and reasoning would help him find the culprit.

He searches around the camp, using his limited knowledge from the past times he'd come here. The first stop was Gaiztoak's hut... Or former hut. It'd been razed to the ground and was just a pile of wood scraps, mud, and ashes at this point...

Still, after sifting through it for an hour or so, he finds a skull... Judging from all the missing teeth (That Luca may have personally knocked out the night before) it was Gaiztoaks... This didn't help much, but he wasn't going to say no to his new trophy. He'd nail it to his hut to show everyone that you don't fuck with him. Of course, he would have to clean the skull, as there were still dark bits of flesh, dried blood, and other gross materials stuck to it.

The one thing that was clear though was all the missing valuables that should still be in the rubble... If the people who'd attacked the village had only wanted to raze it to the ground, they wouldn't have stolen all the valuables while they were at it...

Gaiztoak's hut contained many antlers, horns, teeth, and other trophies from the animals he, or more likely his tribe, had hunted. But, they weren't here, meaning someone had stripped the place clean before setting it on fire.

The Sua'jiki continue scouring the burnt tribe sight for hours, and eventually, they recovered all of the bodies... Luca glares at the pile of charred bodies and skeletal remains with a confused look plastered across his face. "This isn't right..." he mutters, loud enough for Sarr'vuln next to him to hear.

"What is not right? Well? Speak up boy." he asks in his usual gruff tone.

Luca counts the bodies again before looking at Sarr'vuln, "Are you sure these are all the bodies here?"

Sarr'vuln nods, "It is everyone."

Luca shakes his head, "Last night there were far more people here... Even if I'm mistaken, the Gutizia tribe should be much larger than just this." he gestures at the pile.

Sarr'vuln raises a brow at him, "What are you saying?"

Luca frowns, "I'm saying, either most of the tribe ran... Or someone kidnapped them." he states.

...

Sarr'vuln runs his fingers through his beard, "If this is true, then it would be easy to find the culprit... All we need to do is find the tribe holding the remaining Gutizia people."

...

Luca crosses his arms in thought, "Doesn't this seem... I don't know. Like the same thing that happened to the Karaskir?" he questions, feeling like there was something he was missing.

Sarr'vuln's eyes widen at his words, "Yes... Maybe this time the one responsible had to retreat faster due to us approaching."

Luca rubs the bridge of his nose, "Ugh, I feel like this is gonna be a massive headache..."