“Another of our number has fallen. This traitor grows bolder.” Az'Tereth says, lying through his nonexistent teeth. I manage to keep a straight face, not laughing in his face as he continues waxing poetic about Erik's death in the third person. It doesn't take long before I get tired of listening to that, and decide to call him out on his bullshit.
“Lord Az'Tereth, I apologize for the interruption, but I have noticed something I believe the Court needs to acknowledge.” I say, keeping it polite for now until I can direct the others to his claws. Prismatic eyes shift to me, locking with my own violet gaze as he pauses mid sentence.
“Yes, Lady Siris?” He says, annoyance barely audible in his tone.
“Well, I simply noticed the wounds on the body,” I gesture to the slowly cooling corpse, the claw marks easily recognizable. “Those are wounds from claws, yes? There are only so many present with the ability to inflict such injuries, and this was a recent death. Why not simply check the claws of those present with them? Any blood could reveal the traitor, and though a simple Cleanse or illusion spell could wipe away or hide evidence, any here versed in the arcane arts would easily detect such a spell being used. As no such spell has been used, there are only so many possibilities as to the killer.”
The other nobles begin to murmur amongst themselves, and Az'Tereth fixes me with a radiant glare as the others slowly begin to see the reasoning behind my statement. I present my own claws for inspection, letting Lord Bereth and Hulo see the complete lack of any blood on my glossy black nails. Keira steps forward from the darkness behind my chair, showing her own claws and lack of any gore. Bereth is quickly eliminated from the suspects as well, his gleaming armor clean and reflective. Hulo's claws are dull enough that they are barely even called such, more pointed fingers than anything, but also lack blood. Slowly, one by one the others present also show their own nails and claws. All of the varying beastfolk are clean, as are the humans and elves since they lack claws entirely. Finally, Az'Tereth slowly presents his assortment of arms for our viewing pleasure. The top pair is clean, not a scratch marring the shiny surface. As are the middle arms, nothing on them other than a tiny smudge that looks like a fingerprint. Which is equally as strange considering that he doesn't have fingerprints. And then the final set, where I spotted the tiny drop of blood.
The blood is gone entirely, not a mark on the crystal. Az'Tereth maintains eye contact with me the entire time, not flinching as he shows that he, too, is innocent.
I'm certain that I saw blood there. And no mana was used to hide it… so how?
The reason is clear a bare second later as he lowers his hands to their normal position; a faint reflection from the corpse, refracted through his gemstone body, looks like a smudge of blood when he isn't moving. His tone flat, the golem speaks again.
“It would seem the traitor has another method of concealing their deeds. However, Lady Siris has indeed made a great suggestion. There are only so many present that are physically capable of this carnage, and so I shall be ordering the staff to be on the lookout for each and every one of you.” The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹⟡𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⟡𝙣𝙚𝙩
Fuck. Now we're under surveillance, simply because I got confused by a reflection.
“If I may speak, milord?” The hawk beastkin says. I think his name was… Polly, or at least something similar.
“Yes, Lord Polin?”Ah, it was Polin.
“Might I direct your attention to the deceased? Both have been killed here, in the meeting room, upon their own seats of power. Perhaps simply sealing the meeting room when not in session would suffice?”
Oh you glorious feathered idiot, I could kiss you right now. I won't, but you might have just saved me so much effort.
“Hm. Yes, that may work. However, should another perish, that will leave only ten of our number remaining. The more that are assassinated, the more likely the killer will grow bold and attack directly. That would not end well for them, however nor would it be pleasant for us. Apart from myself and Lord Bereth, you are all mages or non-confrontational fighters. I have control over this Court, but it is imperfect. I cannot be everywhere at all times. For now, this meeting is dismissed. Return to your rooms.”
The nobles stand as one, all giving him a shallow bow before filing out the door. I quickly tap the corpse as I pass, using Looter on it and quickly grabbing the item that appears. Hurrying back to my room with my pair of ‘servants’ in tow, I check out what I got from the body of Erik. Again, the corpse didn't disappear like monsters do, and I'm not entirely sure why that is; probably something to do with sapience maybe? Anyway, the item is rather useless to me but still mildly interesting.
‘Righteous’ Blade (Uncommon, Slashing)
A silver dagger steeped in blood. Deals increased damage to any non-human entities. Can strike immaterial foes.
“Huh. He was so discriminatory that the system itself recognized it…”
Keira chuckles, Angelina rattling a bit as she mimes laughter. Shaking my head, I toss the dagger into my bag and wait for the inevitable next death. Keira slips out, planning on searching for any clues about the court killer. Angelina wanders off to report a fake version of events to Az'Tereth, after sharing a system message saying ‘Your Lord has called for you.’ I spend the time practicing new shapes for my constructs. As good as blades, spikes, and arrowheads have worked so far, that armor thing I made before entering here was significantly stronger than everything else I've tried to make so far. Flipping open the Primer book, I finally get to the section on conjuration instead of summoning. And even on just this first page, I can tell it's going to make me feel stupid for how I've been doing it so far.