Into the Woods

JP by Alexis, Islana and Gonyaul

Alexis let the two talk amongst them and used the time instead to get acquainted to her surroundings.
As far as she had understood Islana’s report, they weren’t really that close to the murder scene.
So, if the very same symbols that the young woman had found there appeared around here as well, what did that mean?

If this really was a cult carving this signs, what did that achieve? Gonyaul had said that he didn’t notice anything out of the usual, and given the confidence with which he traversed the forest, she felt that he would have.
So could that mean that something was about to happen rather than it already happened instead?

She slightly shook her head. She wouldn’t find the answers to any of those questions by just rolling them around her head. Maybe seeing the place would yield some insight.
She would like to compare this with the murder scene and hear what the foragers had to say.

If they really were to stop those responsible, they needed to understand their modus operandi.

Gonyaul took them deeper and deeper into the woods. He did point out the way he speculated Wim went when he was hunting the deer; however, advised against taking that route in favor of the one that they were taking. There was no apparent “path”, but the certainty with which Gonyaul led demonstrated he knew exactly where he was going.

And suddenly he stopped at the edge of the glade. To the trained eye you could observe the clues of where Wim’s leftover camp was set up; where the fire had been, where the deer was butchered, even the area on which he slept by the grass being bent differently. Gonyaul lifted his finger and pointed to the darker barked tree in the vicinity.

“Found image in this tree first” he declared. “Collect sap and gave to shop in town.” He then toured them around to the other trees, different bark, in the area. “I carve these to see what happen.” He shrugged, “nothing happen.” The other trees had the exact same images, he had done a very good job replicating the design.

Alexis stepped towards the tree and crouched down to take a closer look.

“So the other carvings are from you, and only this one isn’t. When did you first notice it?”

Gonyaul came near the original tree and stood next to Alexis. He confirmed, “Yes.” He was sure to reiterate though, “and sap only come out of this one.” He wasn’t sure why. He was not familiar with these type of trees, though he knew from the powers of observation they were different.

In answer to her second question he had to think. He thought all of this was interesting, but up until meeting Islana did not know they had anything to do with potential murders or possible danger. So he had not really taken meticulous notes. “Maybe week ago?” He tried his best. His response actually fell into the limits of the other circulating stories.

“Hmmm.”

The mercenary looked up at Gonyaul.

“Not sure if you can tell, but… do you think more sap has been taken from this than what you did?”

He responded confidently, “no. I came back again and try collect as much I can. Shop want more.” He recalls the painstakingly long time it took to milk the tree for more sap. He was certain no one else had tried, but he also thought they used that tree because the image looked more interesting with sap bleeding from the carved marks.

Alexis stood.

“Do you come by here every day, so you would have noticed this carving right away?”

“Not every day.” There was a better word to describe his frequency. What was it? “Often”. He was sure he did see it right away. “Saw it first time there as new on way back. No know who made it though. Never find them.” He tried looking, but whoever did it knew how to move well in the forest.

“Alright. Just wondering if the sap itself is important for the one who did this. Did you ever hear back from that shop you brought it to?”

“Have not been back to shop yet to ask.” In truth, he probably never was going to follow up with the sap and the marking if it wasn’t for all of them. He personally had moved on, to things like getting his special camp site winter ready. He added, “Ran test on sap. No good though. That why give to shop. They know better to test.”

“Probably.”

Alexis smiled a little.

“Do you remember the name of that shop?”

He nodded and squatted with ease into a baby-squat; he was limber. He did not know how to properly pronounce it, but he thought he remembered the words. He drew the letters in a patch of dirt with his left hand. “Cagliostro”. When he said it though it sounded more like “kagleestro”.

Almost Simultaneously he had two other thoughts. One, he was glad they had not inquired on where he was coming back from when he found the image in the tree. And two, with as powerful as Alexis could wield a sword, he deduced by the way she held her stances, her smile held probably more potency when barely unsheathed.

Alexis couldn’t help but laugh a little when she read the shop’s name.

“Of course it is.”

She looked back to Gonyaul.

“Would you mind if I asked them what they found out? Or would you rather go yourself?”

Gonyaul rose back to his feet and brushed any remaining dirt off his hand. He was not sure why they needed his permission to ask the shop. Perhaps it was a Salos property rights thing? “You can ask.” He then took a split second to daydream how interesting the interior of the shop had been. “I go with too.”

She nodded and turned to Islana.

“What do you think, Islana? It’s safe to say you know the most of this out of all of us. Oh, I was just thinking… at the crime scene, where there trees like this?”

Gonyaul likewise turned to Islana, eagerly awaiting her response.

Islana had decided to just pay attention to the conversation between Alexis and Gonyaul. When she was asked though what she thought she responded, "I'd really like to know more about the sap. It was very strange. The trees were similar to these. With the same carvings but there were more of them." She looked up, "The soul catchers were pretty high up."

Islana had been looking to see if she spotted another soul catcher but didn't see any at this moment.

“Interesting. You recon those are specifically the trees who are ‘calling’?”

Gonyaul who was now preoccupied with a small flower, which he had never seen before growing at the base of a nearby tree, chimed in when he heard Alexis’ question. “Strange. Wim ask me if I hear tree talking”

"Yes. I mean, the soul catchers got in the trees somehow. I was able to climb and retrieve one, so, its possible that there were people in the trees who were calling to the man that was found. I do not know his mental state before that occurred, but it's possible it did not take much to push him over that particular cliff." Islana heard Gonyaul's comment about Wim. "Wim said the same thing, basically, when he came upon Hendrick, Jiyn, and myself in the woods. He said that the trees had been calling to him. "

Gonyaul smirked. The idea of trees talking like people talking was amusing. In his experience, trees do talk, but not like that.

“That’s a ‘yes’, then, especially if Wim referred to this specific tree. It is likely then, that whatever afflicts him is the same as what afflicted the man you found. Hopefully not to the same degree. Yes. We should see if Nicolaus already had time to look at that sap.
Gonyaul…”

She turned to their friendly guide.

“… you might want to be careful if you wander this woods alone often. Given that the people who left that carving didn’t come back this place might lack what they seek, or you might have disturbed them. But you never know. Just… take care.”

Gonyaul had returned to be closer to the rest of them. It felt like they were concluding their business here. He smiled to Alexis in appreciation for showing concern for his well-being. With a vauxian sign of thanks, “I will. Thank you.”

It was quite possible one reason they hadn’t messed with him because they carved the image and just moved on. Or perhaps, it was because Gonyaul didn’t really look like anyone else populating Ostiarium. Or maybe, because he was carving the same symbol over and over they assumed he was a kindred spirit to their cause. There was no evidence for any of those three ideas.