Captain Odjour's Request

"It shames me to admit this, but we are experiencing difficulties in apprehending the culprit."

The captain of the guards stopped by Guild Master's office, finding Althea on its seat.

As he relayed his dilemma, his gaze wandered to the the Gorgon by the couch on the side, intently listening in on their exchange. The matter might be confidential, but Odjour would allow it since she was Althea's assistant.

"And you want to commission the Guild to catch this serial killer for you?"

Althea's question snapped Odjour's attention back to her.

"Precisely, but under a few conditions. I want whoever was responsible for these missing women to be caught immediately, ergo I humbly ask for the those ranked Diamond to accept this task." The captain of the guards twirled his moustache as he demanded.

Althea leaned back, "You do know how expensive it is to hire Diamond adventurers, right, Captain Odjour?"

Althea was not trying to finesse the guard captain, but hiring the best of the best costs a hell of a lot of gold. But once you do, you will find that their weight is worth in Gold.

"1,750 pieces of gold. Is that enough to cover it? This is tax payer's gold, yes, but since the city guards have been unable to catch the suspect for over a year now, I would gladly part with out funds if this meant that this monster would be put to justice."

Another shameful admittance by Odjour. He was at least willing to set aside his pride and government gold to catch this serial killer, Althea deemed it to be a tad bit admirable, their efficiency at their job much less so.

Nevertheless, she is not here to judge how the city guards perform their duty, and since the Guild owed them a few favors, Althea would take he quest in kind.

"That's enough. The other diamond ranks are busy with their own agendas, but since I am here, I'll take your offer."

The usually stolid guard captain raised his brows in joy upon hearing Althea's words, with her on the case, he might as well tag it as solved!

"Oh, how wonderful! I will have one of my men deliver the payment soon after!" Odjour gleefully stood, ready to head back to the Garrison and set up the payment.

"For all the times you let us bail out our adventurers, it's the least I could do. You said this serial killer primary targets women, right? What's the body count?"

"40, no - 41 since there is a new missing person recently, we believe that the serial killer already had her since it has been weeks after she had disappeared without a trace, much like the other victims. She is part of the reason why I cam to you. The newest missing woman is the daughter of a noble, Sophia. Her father had been putting quite a lot of pressure to recover this daughter of hers, if you see her - or at least what's left of her then please, let us know immediately."

40 victims! The amount made Yazmin turn her head in curiosity. For this serial killer to avoid dropping a single clue, they must be pretty good, Yazmin was intrigued.

A brown leather suit case with the insignia of Elarian guards, the symbol of a dragon clutching a shield, was suddenly propped at the desk.

"Here are all the documents pertaining to our investigation, I bid you farewell. And one last thing, please keep this case on the down low.

+++

Inviting the rest of her team into the office, Marionne and Telmano huddled around Althea's desk, glancing at the laid out map of the city where the last seen locations of the victims were marked with a red circle.

"How in the world are we going to find this culprit when the city guards don't even have a suspect!? Do they expect us to divine where this serial killer is holed up in!?" Telmano crossed his arms, airing his frustrations at the city guard's incompetence.

Marionne chuckled, "Like you know how to do divination, you oaf."

"At least I'm offering a suggestion on how to help, I know you're going to sit the scouting out since we're not surrounded by trees."

"Complaining is not helping."

"Both of you, that's enough!" Althea cut them off, not wanting to ruin the concentration of her lover who was staring intently at the map. "What do you think, Yaz?"

Normally, Althea would have gone to Yulia for assistance on this investigation. She has no need for that now since Yazmin was eager to work on the case. As someone who deals with death, Althea guessed that her lover was fired up if she can get in the mind of this elusive serial killer and bring him to justice. An assassin working to bring justice.

"These circles are not random. The places are carefully chosen to avoid suspicion. Since the distance of the circles are far apart, we can assume that our perpetrator travels via a carriage, bringing the women back to their hideout where they do whatever it is they do to the victims."

"Are we supposed to investigate the scenes one by one?" Althea asked.

"No, we only need to trace where the circles coalesce." With her finger, Yazmin drew a bigger circle where, a guess where the smaller circles originated from. "If my hunch is correct, our serial killer must be located around this area. The marketplace."

The centaur scratched his head, "I don't know, Yazmin, but that seems an awfully large area. And we don't even know if this scum is in that area."

Marionne chuckled, leave it to his centaur friend to contribute nothing, "Why don't you shut up, put your trust in Yazmin and let Althea have the final say?"

"Oh, fuck you, Marionne, all I'm saying is that we need to consider this carefully. Maybe we should employ more adventurers to help us look, since the bounty on this commission is pretty hefty."

Much like what Marionne had said, the last word would fall onto the leader of their group.

"No, there's no need for that. I trust in Yazmin's deduction. Everyone split up so we could search this area better. Ask around but don't tip anyone of our real objective, understand?"

The last thing that they wanted was finding out that this serial killer had accomplices, tipping them and paving the way for their escape.

With all four in agreement, Marionne and Telmano headed out first. Althea was grabbed by Yazmin by the wrist.

"You have my gratitude for putting your trust in my deduction." Yazmin said.

"Don't sweat it, it's totally an unbiased decision. You being my lover has nothing to do with it."

"Hmmm. I sense irony."

Althea laughed as she pulled Yazmin into an embrace, lifting her white mask and immediately putting it back. A quick action just so Althea could give Yazmin a good luck kiss before they start their quest.

"I'm kidding. Our culprit is a serial killer and you're an assassin. Since you both deal with death, I figured you might be our ticket in catching whoever is behind in targeting all these."

Telmano was irked, from right outside the door he voiced his impatience, "Are you two just going to hug all morning? I'd like to catch this serial killer by sundown, if you both don't mind."

+++

Thus, the four of them went on their separate ways, in search for clues. As Yazmin strolled around the market, and odd shop over by the market's edge caught her attention.

It was a shop with lifelike dolls as display.