Visions of the Deep

Drangleic, Asendavia
0357 Hours, March 28th, 3688 AA (1951 AD)

In the darkness of the pre-dawn morning, two men, Runar Rindahl and Adelar Laursen, both detectives in the Drangleic Police Department, arrived at the scene of a gruesome murder, one in a series of murders perpetrated by a man known by the media as the Bogeyman of Drangleic. Both men approached the alley slowly and nodded to the officers guarding the entrance.

“She’s the fourth one this month, Runar,” Adelar whispered to him as he led him into the alley where the victim had been found.

There were a multitude of officers already on the scene who quickly glanced at Runar as he was led to the body. The other officers made space for him as he knelt down next to the body. The body had no clothes on and was mutilated nearly beyond recognition.

“No eyes, a slit throat, and multiple deep lacerations across the rest of her body,” he muttered to himself. “Aye, the method seems similar to the other murders. It’s either the same man or possibly a copycat, though the method is similar enough to the first three to discount a copycat. How long has she been here?”

“We found her here half an hour ago and came to the conclusion she’d already been here for an hour before we came,” one of the officers responded.

“And who found her?” Runar asked.

“Just some hobo, we brought him to the station earlier to ask him a few questions. He’s almost certainly not the murderer, but he might help us find out what happened.”

Runar nodded and lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag before continuing. Only a few flashlights lit up the alleyway during the early-morning darkness. “Any other witnesses?”

“Two, a couple was taking a walk with their dog when they said they saw a man hurry out of this alley around the time when the victim would have been murdered. The couple said they thought nothing of it at the time because the alley here is often used as a shortcut to get from the park to many of the apartments around here.”

“Did you ask them what he looked like?” Runar pushed.

“Of course. They said he had short blonde hair, about to his ears; that he was stick thin; and that he looked roughly 6’2”. They didn’t catch his face though."

“How about identification, she got a name?” he pointed at the body.

Adelar chimed in. “Yeah, Arnfinn here showed me her license, says her name was Kristina Haestad.”

“You contact the family just yet?” Runar questioned.

“No, not just yet Runar. We plan on taking the body back and examining it closer before we contact the family. Probably’ll take a few hours, but we’ll be done before 8.”

Runar rose to his feet. “Alright, I think I’m done here for now, make sure this area stays secure though, we may need to look it over again later. Right now though, I’m going to the station to question this hobo.”