[ Cain is here to report. He stands, expression hardened, like an officer ready to issue orders. This side wouldn't seem so unusual for him if it weren't for how it...almost feels as though part of his natural brightness has been snuffed out.
On his hip sits a sword, and on his right ear hangs a silver twist earring. ]
I spent the night in the gardens along with Bradley, Hwylryn, and Sousuke. I woke up next to Sariel's body.
[ Who knew the biggest patch of dirt for him to sprawl out on would also be a popular choice for corpses to sprawl out over! He never wants to do that again. ]
Both livor mortis and rigor mortis had set in by the time I woke up. He had likely been dead for some time at that point. And, uh... He was in really bad shape, as you can see. [ Gestures to where Ish keeps the bodies. ] I'm not really sure where to start, so I guess I'll go from the top.
Most of the blood pooling under Sariel's body was concentrated beneath his head. I assume this was due to the bullet wound through his forehead. Someone more familiar with firearms may be able to understand that wound better than I could. Additionally, his hair was a mess and a many of his feathers were ripped up and ripped off.
The entire body was covered in tears. These tears cut through his clothes down to his flesh, making him a bloodied mess. The cuts generally went vertical, some more at an angle, but none were of uniform length, and while there were some sets of parallel tears, it's not a consistent pattern. The tears through to the flesh are clean, which suggests to me they were caused by something sharp.
On that note, I did find glass shards stuck in his wounds, which could be a possible cause. His body also faintly smelled of gunpowder, and there were splotches of soot over him, too. [ He has a thought or two about this, but he won't voice them here. ]
Moving on, his right shoulder was dislocated, and the cuts on the upper part of his right arm were pretty deep here. On top of that, the entire lower half of his right arm was missing. The flesh and muscles at the site of the wound looked torn, and the edge of the bone [ (the humerus, but this isn't a word he knows) ] was sticking out and fractured. It seemed to me that his arm was ripped apart at the elbow.
While moving him around, it felt like some of his ribs were cracked. These didn't line up with the cuts. But there did seem to see lots of dark bruising over his chest and back underneath the blood. While I don't want to rule out a fall completely, which I'll talk about later, his one remaining hand had the knuckles bruised red and scraped shallow. It feels more likely to me that there was a fistfight before he got severely cut up.
That's it for Sariel.
[ When he's done speaking, he'll pull out a piece of paper from his back pocket. ]
Hwylryn also helped with the investigation of the surrounding area, but we're excusing him from reporting. [ Gestures to him. Understandably. Mans might be getting kisses now but he's lost way more in this past week. Forgive him. ] I have his notes here, and I'll read them for you.
[ ahem... ]
"The wall of the balustrade in front of the castle doors has a large blood smear on it." I saw this, too.
"Right under the large stain of blood on the wall (noted above), there is a very bloody patch, shaped like a puddle, in the grass below." [ After a breath, Cain looks up to give his personal thoughts— ] Like I said, Sariel's injuries didn't seem indicative of a fall, and that drop isn't very far. I'm not ruling this out yet, but I want to consider other correlations first.
"Not far from the wall is a disturbed patch of ground that smells of gunpowder. There is a small box-bomb buried there." Hwylryn picked this up and gave this to me as well.
[ Produces the box-bomb from his pocket and gently places it down nearby. ]
"There is a bloody trail and flattened grass that leads from the bloody patch-slash-puddle in the grass, to the disturbed patch of ground, to where Sariel's body lies."
I also found these tucked into a nearby hedge. [ Cain pulls out from his pocket four eggplant-shaped sacks, made from fabric from the craft room, and also sets them down nearby. ] They were already empty when I found them.
garden - body & general
On his hip sits a sword, and on his right ear hangs a silver twist earring. ]
I spent the night in the gardens along with Bradley, Hwylryn, and Sousuke. I woke up next to Sariel's body.
[ Who knew the biggest patch of dirt for him to sprawl out on would also be a popular choice for corpses to sprawl out over! He never wants to do that again. ]
Both livor mortis and rigor mortis had set in by the time I woke up. He had likely been dead for some time at that point. And, uh... He was in really bad shape, as you can see. [ Gestures to where Ish keeps the bodies. ] I'm not really sure where to start, so I guess I'll go from the top.
Most of the blood pooling under Sariel's body was concentrated beneath his head. I assume this was due to the bullet wound through his forehead. Someone more familiar with firearms may be able to understand that wound better than I could. Additionally, his hair was a mess and a many of his feathers were ripped up and ripped off.
The entire body was covered in tears. These tears cut through his clothes down to his flesh, making him a bloodied mess. The cuts generally went vertical, some more at an angle, but none were of uniform length, and while there were some sets of parallel tears, it's not a consistent pattern. The tears through to the flesh are clean, which suggests to me they were caused by something sharp.
On that note, I did find glass shards stuck in his wounds, which could be a possible cause. His body also faintly smelled of gunpowder, and there were splotches of soot over him, too. [ He has a thought or two about this, but he won't voice them here. ]
Moving on, his right shoulder was dislocated, and the cuts on the upper part of his right arm were pretty deep here. On top of that, the entire lower half of his right arm was missing. The flesh and muscles at the site of the wound looked torn, and the edge of the bone [ (the humerus, but this isn't a word he knows) ] was sticking out and fractured. It seemed to me that his arm was ripped apart at the elbow.
While moving him around, it felt like some of his ribs were cracked. These didn't line up with the cuts. But there did seem to see lots of dark bruising over his chest and back underneath the blood. While I don't want to rule out a fall completely, which I'll talk about later, his one remaining hand had the knuckles bruised red and scraped shallow. It feels more likely to me that there was a fistfight before he got severely cut up.
That's it for Sariel.
[ When he's done speaking, he'll pull out a piece of paper from his back pocket. ]
Hwylryn also helped with the investigation of the surrounding area, but we're excusing him from reporting. [ Gestures to him. Understandably. Mans might be getting kisses now but he's lost way more in this past week. Forgive him. ] I have his notes here, and I'll read them for you.
[ ahem... ]
"The wall of the balustrade in front of the castle doors has a large blood smear on it." I saw this, too.
"Right under the large stain of blood on the wall (noted above), there is a very bloody patch, shaped like a puddle, in the grass below." [ After a breath, Cain looks up to give his personal thoughts— ] Like I said, Sariel's injuries didn't seem indicative of a fall, and that drop isn't very far. I'm not ruling this out yet, but I want to consider other correlations first.
"Not far from the wall is a disturbed patch of ground that smells of gunpowder. There is a small box-bomb buried there." Hwylryn picked this up and gave this to me as well.
[ Produces the box-bomb from his pocket and gently places it down nearby. ]
"There is a bloody trail and flattened grass that leads from the bloody patch-slash-puddle in the grass, to the disturbed patch of ground, to where Sariel's body lies."
I also found these tucked into a nearby hedge. [ Cain pulls out from his pocket four eggplant-shaped sacks, made from fabric from the craft room, and also sets them down nearby. ] They were already empty when I found them.
[ Folds the note and pockets it again. ]
This concludes our report.