Deadly secrets

JP with Winteroak and Bandorchu
Stoneshade keep

Alexis tracked down Sir Zane to one of the Keep's kitchen's where the Knight was eating breakfast. He picked at a plate of dried cured meat and tore into a chuck of dark bread as the woman from Garrah approached him. "Morning Greyriver. What can I do you for?"

Alexis saluted her commander.

“Good morning, Sir. I am hoping you might be able to provide additional information related to the murders Hendrik was investigating prior to his disappearance.”

The grizzly veteran looked up grunting. "You found Wim Riese yet?" He motioned for Alexis to take a seat across from him while he broke his fast.

She took a seat.

“No. The young woman who was assigned alongside Hendrik has been looking for him, but to no avail yet. Apparently Riese has been hunting in the woods near the farms two days ago, and spent the night there, too. Was interested in a tree that carried the same carving as the ones at the glade where the murders took place.”

He looked at Alexis. "Your friend should have brought him in straight away." He told her straight. "He finds a man babbling about talking trees and someone else turns up the same day, in a glade full of bodies saying he was out for a walk to talk to the trees, and Hendrik doesn't think that's strange?" He looked on disapprovingly.

"Seems he only got himself to blame for whatever mess he finds himself in. In a city full of people with secrets it's expected that they city carries big secrets of it's own."

Alexis balled her fist under the table, but refrained to retort.
Zane was right, though. Why didn’t Hendrik bring Wim in?
Just because he was a noble? She would have to ask Islana and Jiyn about this.

“About those secrets, Sir. Has something like this happened before? You have been here from the start, correct?”

He nodded. "You mean like murders and people going missing in the forests?" He looked at her with mirth in his eyes. Alexis Greyriver was far too serious sometimes. "In a new settlement surrounded by hostile natives, animals and some plant life, with a city full of murderers and cutthroats, you are asking me if stuff like this happened before?" He grinned.

"Unless you want to ask me something more specific, I fear you already know the answer to that question, Greyriver."

“That young woman has continued her investigations on her own and made some important discoveries. The carved signs might relate to a cult called the Creed. One specifically targeted and persecuted by the inquisition long ago for conducting human sacrifice to their god, an entity called the ‘boar of winter’. So my question is wether there have been murders with the same modus operandi. Maybe during winter specifically considering that deity’s title.”

Sir Zane stopped chewing when Alexis spoke of the Creed and human sacrifices.

"You mean the Creed of Slivikhi?" He asked her pushing his plate away.

Finally got his attention. That probably didn’t bode well.

“That was the name, yes.”

"Who else knows about this?"
The edge on his voice was unmistakable.

No, clearly, it didn’t bode well.

“The two people that have been assigned alongside Hendrik. And the Friar, but I’ll assume that is no surprise.”

"Get to them. They are in danger." He said and shouted for a guard. "Go get Friar Jassin. NOW!!!!" He ordered a uniformed man nearby.

Alexis didn’t take time to question this, she jumped into action. She didn’t know where Gonyaul wanted to go, so she could only pray for him, but she knew where Jiyn and Islana were.