Deer-ly Departured

**Deer-ly Departured** is a case featured in *Criminal Case*. It takes place in *The Search For Kassandra* chapter of Graecita.

## Plot

**You are experiencing the story in third-person view.**

In Nova Roma, Simona Severa is on a cliff over the beach looking at the sea which was crowded with Ancient Roman fleet. Nova Roma had just been informed they’ve been “blessed” with a new emperor and she was standing in fear on what the future of the empire would look like. Suddenly, she feels someone grab her from behind and she flinches, believing she was being pushed but the person instead grabbed her for an embrace and started kissing her neck. The person was Sussus Amogus and realizing who it is, she gives a laugh in relief but tells him to stop. Sussus eventually lets her go and says he knew he’s find her here and he’s got good news, revealing that he told his mother about their engagement and she gave her blessing. Simona was relieved to here this but didn’t show much excitement as her mind was elsewhere. Sussus notices the worry on Simona’s face and asks her what’s wrong and she confesses that she feels nervous about how Augustus’ rule would be like. She turns to see how Sussus would react to her bringing this up, but he shrugs it and says that while it sucks their under invasion they will live through it, an answer that Simona didn’t like hearing. She tells Sussus that their lives may stay the same as nobles but the people whose lives will be affected and who she was thinking of were the slaves and working class, who were promised better lives under Livius’ rule but will never see it fulfilled as he had his throne snatched away by a man claiming to be some “old age capitalist”. When Simona brought up Livius’ name, Sussus groans and tells her Livius wouldn’t have done shit and he thought by now she’d realize he was no different than any other emperor. Simona argued against this by bringing up his plans to abolish slavery, but Sussus tells her that Livius probably only sprinkled this in to impress his late fiancée, that if he was being genuine on ending slavery he’d have done it as soon as he was in control but nine months passed since he was crowned emperor and slaves still exist in almost every household. Simona tried to defend Livius by pointing out that he’s probably still mourning the loss of Nebet, but Sussus sighs and tells her he knew Livius since they were children and he’s not courageous enough to do things outside the norm. Simona eventually realizes she’s probably giving Livius too much credit and sighs and Sussus tries to cheer her up by telling her that things under Augustus will probably be no different than how they were under Claudius Messalinus. While they were heading back to Simona’s estate, the two were approached by a number of centurions riding horses, one of them being General Carolus. This approach takes them by surprise and Sussus quickly moves closer to Simona to take her hand. Carolus moves forward to greet the couple with faux politeness, and tells them he hopes they aren’t ruining their ride. Sussus asks Carolus what he wants from them and the General sarcastically tells him that he came to congratulate him for his engagement but also to inform him that the marriage cannot happen. Confused, the couple ask him to clarify and he tells them that Emperor passed a new law forbidding the marriage between Roman nobles and entertainers, prostitutes, slaves or freedmen and (freed)women. He turns to Simona and he tells her that nothing can be done with her previous marriage as her first husband is already dead, so she will get to keep his property and whatever she inherited by him. But as a woman, she is no longer allowed to run her gunpowder business, per another law Augustus had implemented. He advises her to start looking for a male relative or a family friend to manage her business and financial affairs before riding away with the centurions.

Meanwhile at Mount Pelion, Achilles is riding a wagon getting pulled by Chiron’s mares, Hippe and Ocyrhoe, and in the back Marionette, Jennifer and Alex and sitting with Jason, Anne Bonny and her pirates. Alex is playing cards with one of the pirates and when he gets defeated, Anne and her crew celebrate and she tells him and his companions to “pay up”. This confuses Alex as he didn’t recall them agreeing that the loser would have to pay the winner and Jennifer argues with Anne but when the pirate captain threatens to pull out her crew from the mission, Jennifer groans and removes her earrings to give them to Anne as “payment”. While they had been arguing, Marionette was staring at Achilles and she decides to sit next to spark a conversation with him. Achilles however doesn’t pay attention to her and when she manages to get it, he asks her what she wants and tells her he is not interested when she asks him to chat. Marionette however doesn’t back away and tells him that they need to get to know each other if they were working together and then starts asking him questions about the Hydra, how she looks and what was fighting her like. This is when Jason steps into the conversation and tells Marionette that Hydra was killed by Heracles and not Achilles, a name Marionette is unfamiliar is. Alex also joins the conversation by telling Marionette she might recognize Heracles by his Romanized name “Hercules”, but Marionette asks him if he’s referring to the detective hero from Agnes Kristy’s (Agatha Chistie parody) novels. This gets Alex speechless and he asks her if she really has no idea who “Hercules” is and even brings up the *Mr. Sparkles* (Disney parody) movie and the wagon roars in laughter from Marionette’s obliviousness. The search party get close to the swamp and the “mares” start getting nervous and Achilles begins calming them down. Marionette points out how Hippe and Ocyrhoe seem very intelligent compared to most animals and Achilles tells her that its because they weren’t always horses and both were once Chiron and Chariclo’s daughters. This information shocks Marionette and Achilles goes on to tell her how the two of them turned to horses in two separate occasions and mentioned that the centaur and his wife also had two other children, one of them being Achilles’ grandmother. Marionette gives a weird look and asks him if that means he literally hooked up with his great grandfather which Achilles shrugs off and Alex brings up the fact that Marionette fell in love with a necrophile so she shouldn’t be judging other peoples’ character. Alex exposing this knowledge offends Marionette and she asks him if he’s seriously defending what Achilles just revealed and Jennifer tell her that if that disgusts her then she can’t wait and see how she’ll react to the relationship of the king and queen of the gods themselves. Curious, Marionette asks them what’s wrong with it and when she learns Zeus and Hera are siblings, she was not only shocked and disgusting, but knowing that her mother, Athena, is the daughter of Zeus, she starts worrying that she’s technically a product of incest but Alex assures her that Athena is not Hera’s daughter. As they got deeper in the swamps, Marionette hears the swishing of arrows and Achilles announces that they’ll need to step back but the pirates disobey him, jump out the wagon and start charging toward where the sound was coming from in thirst for battle. Just shortly after, the pirates start running back to the wagon and joining them was a man wearing a cloak made of a lion’s skin. Achilles recognized the man as the might Heracles and when he notices Achilles and Jason, Heracles expresses how glad he is to see them and tells them they need to hide him. They question him on who he’s running away from but the question was answered when the Huntresses of Artemis appear and start aiming their arrows at Heracles. Achilles uses his shield to try and cover the group, but Jennifer gets out of the wagon and, using her charmspeaking magic, she yells for the huntresses to stop. This calms down the huntresses for a bit, but eventually they get back to business and point their arrows at the group, but they don’t shoot and the one leading the attack tells the group to step aside and let them deal with Heracles. Achilles however doesn’t obey them and demands to know why they are attacking the Greek hero and Fatima Bent Asaduddin, who appears to be the leader, tells him that Heracles killed their lady’s sacred deer. Hearing this, everyone turns to face Heracles, who denies even touching the deer and the huntresses accuse him of lying, pointing out they saw him standing next to the deer’s dead body. An argument breaks out and Alex puts a stop to it by promising the huntresses that they’ll investigate the Ceryneian Hind’s murder to see if Heracles is really responsible or not. After this he suddenly gets a headache and Jennifer rushes to his support. Alex has yet to recover from his injury and won’t be able to help with the investigation, so Achilles decides to step in and offers to assist Marionette in solving the mystery. The huntresses lead the two to where they found the hind’s body which was floating on the swamp water with a dart on her rear.

**You are now playing as Marionette Patrick.**

When Achilles sees the dart, he points out what a “funny little arrow” it is and how he’s surprised it could hurt anyone, but Marionette knew what it is and educates him about poisoned darts. The hind’s body was sent to be looked at by one of Anne Bonny’s crewmates, Agwé who had experience in performing autopsies and while he was busy with that, Marionette and Achilles start investigating, talking with both Fatima, who was leading the pack temporarily while Artemis is on a break, and Heracles, who reveals that he’s come to Pelion to hunt down the Hydra, just like them. They also find reasons to suspect a satyr by the name of Rolland Overton who claims to be out hunting for food but denies that he’s the one who shot down the Ceryneian hind. During the investigation, the duo get attacked by a crocodile, but were saved a woman who scared it off with her shotgun.

Once the crocodile went away, Achilles turns to thank the woman but she points the shotgun at him and demands to know why they were standing on protected parts of the forest. Confused, Achilles and Marionette decided to talk it out with the woman and eventually learn that her name is Noelle Lloyd and she is a ranger who is entrusted to make sure that all sorts of wildlife here are protected and that tourists don’t misbehave. During the conversation she subtly flirts with Achilles and when they tell her that they’ve come across a hind’s corpse at the swamps, she was horrified and quickly gets back to duty, telling the duo to stay back while she heads to scare off the hunters. But obviously, they do not listen to her and get back to the investigation, finding reasons to suspect a Canadian tourist named Wayne Adetuyi who was travelling in Greece with friends and had misplaced his passport. They also find out that the hind had eaten food which Heracles had packed for his journey and that the huntresses had come to Pelion in a quest to kill the Hydra but Artemis removed them from the mission as a way to punish them after learning that some of the pack members were messing with the hind, giving them another reason to speak with Fatima. While they were recapping the case, the duo get approached by a frustrated Alex who asked them why they didn’t mention that they’ve seen Rolland Overton.

Achilles and Marionette were puzzled as Alex had never mentioned Rolland to them and they asked him what makes that satyr so important. Alex then tells them about the history he, Jennifer and their friends had with him back in Cambright and that he is almost sure he was the satyr Pirithous was dealing with and his presence in the investigation just confirms it. Alex asks for a chance to speak with him and when Rolland sees Alex, he immediately recognizes him and tries to make a run for it. But Alex catches him and starts to chew him out for everything he was involved with back at Cambright. Hesitant, Rolland apologizes for his actions back then but swears he’s changed, which Alex didn’t believe and he confronts him further above the sacred items he and Pirithous are hunting for. Eventually, Rolland proposes a negotiation, pointing out that they’re all here for a common motive: Looking for the Hydra and they could work together instead of fighting each other. Alex distrusted Rolland but the group decided to take him to the wagon anyway where the pirates would guard him until it was time to fight the Hydra. After Alex had confronted Rolland, Achilles and Marionette turn their focus back to the murder and they discover that Noelle was an infamous huntress back in her youth but had quit the sport and is now dedicated to protecting animals. They also find a photo taken of Wayne Adetuyi and his buddies posing with an animal they’ve hunted which they found suspicious and worthy of another interrogation and indeed their suspicions came true when they ended up convicting him for the Ceryneian Hind’s murder.

Wayne at first denies responsibility for the murder but when eventually loses his temper and confesses to killing the Ceryneian Hind because she “destroyed” his life. He reveals that once had a family, a wife and three children and one day they decided to go in a camping trip. Wayne was driving the car but he was not paying attention to the road and was arguing with his kids who were making a lot of noise and so, didn’t notice the deer blocking their way until his wife yelled for him to watch out. When Wayne saw the deer, he panicked and to avoid running over it, he took fast turn that led the family to a fatal accident. Wayne survived but his wife and children lost their lives with the last memory they had of Wayne was him being mad at them which he regrets to this day. Wayne spent years mourning his family, remembering how they died and growing resentment toward the deer that led to that crash. While hiking on Mount Pelion, Wayne saw the Ceryneian Hind and he immediately recognizes her from her green scarf- She was the same deer he saw a moment before his family died. He was sure it was the same deer and it brought back painful memories which turned into a thirst for vengeance. Wayne separated himself from his group and began sneaking after the hind. When they reached the swamp, he pulls out his dart blower and shoots the hind, watching as the poison claims her life. Although they empathized with Wayne, Achilles and Marionette take him to the huntresses where Artemis was waiting for them to bring the Ceryneian Hind’s killer. Initially, Artemis was going to serve Wayne the same punishment she had given to Wu Ming and turn him into a Roman slave but decided against it since Wayne is black and that would be racist so instead she instructed the duo to hand him over to the ranger where the Greek authorities will decide what punishment he’ll face for illegal hunting.

After finding out who killed the hind, Achilles and Marionette back to their group to turn their focus back to their mission, which is taking down the Hydra. Jennifer suggested that since Heracles is already on the Hydra’s trail, they should leave the mission to him and focus on getting to Troy instead but Achilles refused to go down this route and so did the pirates, insisting that pulling out would only show their cowardice. With the majority making their vote clear, Jason pointed out that they can’t go look for and charge at the Hydra and they needed to know what the monster’s abilities and weaknesses are and what is her abilities. He also says that they also need to make sure Heracles knows they are onboard, explaining that Heracle is not someone who enjoys teamwork and will likely come in their way if they tried helping him against the Hydra. Achilles agreed this is a good idea and that they could also get information the needed about the Hydra if they spoke to Heracles. With this part figured out, Alex tells the group that he wants to interrogate Rolland Overton as they’ve got a lot to discuss.

Alex and Marionette went to interrogate Rolland, who was being held in the wagon with his limbs tied up. Rolland was relieved to see them, hoping they’re finally release him but instead Alex shows him the list of “sacred items” they’ve found near the stream and asks him what why Pirithous is looking for them. However, Rolland pretends he has no idea who they’re talking about and Alex was starting to lose his patience, leading him into getting a headache. Feeling intimidated, Rolland admits knowing about Pirithous but also accidently refers to him as “Sidney”, giving the team even more questions. But before Alex could make Rolland answer them, a huntress in a traditional Native-American dress approaches them in a panic and tells them that a girl in her pack was poisoned and needs their help. Concerned, Alex and Marionette leave Rolland be and went to the huntresses’ pack where they see that Artemis is still around and the huntresses were surrounding a tent where the poisoned victim, Malvina was being taken care of. Ahyoka, the girl who escorted Alex and Marionette to the camp, tells Malvina that she brought them and upon hearing this, Malvina immediately tells them to get away from the swamp. This causes the duo to be confused but they stick around until Ekho calms Malvina and she starts explaining everything. She tells them how bummed out she was when Artemis told the pack they aren’t hunting the Hydra anymore so instead of obeying her mistress, Malvina snuck out of the camp to hunt down the monster by herself. But as Malvina got deeper in the swamp, she was met by a fog which she tried to look past at first but she soon realized it was poisonous and she head right back to the camp to get help. Right at that moment, Malvina passes out and the huntresses start freaking out. Alex and Marionette look at Artemis, hoping there’s something they can do but Artemis assures them that her brother is coming to help Malvina and they should focus on warning their group instead. And the two did what Artemis instructed them and warned the rest, who started discussing a solution to that obstacle and Marionette suggested that they get masks to protect them from the gas. Alex thought this was a good idea but the others, who were used to another kind of masks argued against this so Alex had to explain what Marionette was talking about. He also suggested that the forest ranger may have a stash of masks in her office so Achilles and Marionette went to talk to her and she agreed to let them look around her office and borrow some masks. The duo searched the office and inside a metal drawer, they find a box of masks which they took back to their group.

Hoping to join forces and learn more about the Hydra, the group decided to go have a chat with Heracles, who was too far up his own ass to accept anyone’s help. Fortunately, the group managed to talk since into him and he eventually agrees to join forces and reveals the secret behind defeating the Hydra. He explains that the Hydra starts out with nine heads and in order to kill her they need to chop off all her heads. But he warns that whenever a Hydra’s head is chopped, two heads grow in its place and in order to stop that from happening, they needed to immediately burn the wound. The group understood what Heracles was saying and Jennifer searches her bag to bring out a deodorant and a lighter to test something out, but when she tries to light her lighter, it fails to create a flame and she gets frustrated. Achilles asks her what the lighter is supposed to do and after she explains to him its function, he tells her that they’ll just have to start fire the traditional way. But there was another problem- Per Jason, all the wood in the swamp is damp and won’t be suitable to create a flame. Luckily, Achilles assures them that he has a piece of flint with him that he keeps in case he’s in situations where a fire has to be started, but when he checks his pockets, he seems that the stone was missing. Supposing that he lost it during the hind’s murder investigation, he and Marionette went back to where they had found her body and found the flint hiding underneath a pile of pebbles before returning back to their group.

**You are experiencing the story in third-person view.**

It was getting dark and the group were all ready to hunt down the Hydra. They were busy lighting torches for the battle when they were suddenly approached by Artemis and her huntresses. Heracles immediately draws his weapon and the huntresses do the same but Artemis commands them to put them down. The group ask Artemis what she and the huntresses want and the goddess tells them that they came to join them in the battle. She explains that Apollo had taken a look at Malvina and said that she can be saved, but the antidote they need requires the Hydra’s scales and for this reason they wish to help take down the Hydra. The group agree to join forces with the huntresses and when Rolland hears this, he immediately calls for everyone’s attention to ask if he could join as well. Alex was going to reject him but Achilles steps in and using his flint, he tears off Rolland’s bounds. Alex was shocked at what Achilles just did and he was about to tell him what he did was irresponsible, but Achilles shuts him down and tells him that he and Rolland can fight things out once they are done dealing with the Hydra. The group all wore the masks, they tied the horses somewhere safe and began searching the forest for any signs of the Hydra. Suddenly, Ekho calls for everyone’s attention and points on a deep footprint she found. Heracles recognizes it as the Hydra’s and the group began following it until they reach the monster’s den where they find her sleeping on a rock surrounded by shallow water. The group see this as a good opportunity but before they attack, they start whispering to each other to come up with a plan to chop off all the Hydra’s heads. However, while the group is discussing a plan, Rolland sees something shining in the water- scales, and he immediately runs into danger zone to collect them. The group yell for him to get back but he ignores them and continues collecting the scales. Eventually, he steps on something that makes a noise, causing the Hydra to wake up. When the Hydra wakes up, she goes ballistic and the group was now under attack. Rolland makes a run for it and the group go back into the forest for protection. The group then separates into several smaller groups, each one dealing with one of the Hydra’s heads. Those with bows shoot arrows at the Hydra to distract it while those with swords and melee weapons chop off the Hydra’s heads. Like Heracles had warned the others, whenever a Hydra lost a head, two heads grew on its place and the group needed to immediately burn the wound after slicing each of the heads to prevent the monster from duplicating. Marionette was by herself in the forest with only a gun on her hand which was useless in this specific battle. But when a head came out to attack her, she shoots it which, though harmless, was enough of a distraction for her to run away and start looking for the others. Eventually, she spots Achilles who had just sliced one of the Hydra’s heads but as he was about to burn its neck, she sees something approaching him- A living Hydra head detached from the body. She was shocked- How was the head still alive? But she immediately left that state when she noticed that the head was approaching Achilles’ left hood- His weakness. Before the head could bite him, Marionette shoots it, causing it to ignore Achilles and immediately attack her instead. Before the head could bite her, Achilles comes to her rescue and grabs it tightly. The head tries to fight its way out but loses energy and submits to Achilles. While Achilles and Marionette were dealing with the detached head, the one Achilles had sliced earlier finds time to regenerate into two heads and they rush to attack the humans. But before they reach them, Heracles and Jason come out of nowhere, slice off the heads and burn the wounds, saving both Achilles and Marionette. The group successfully chop off all the Hydra’s heads, defeating the creature and the huntresses of Artemis begin collecting scales to save Malvina before thanking the others then departing. All of the Hydra’s heads were dead, except one, which was fighting its way out of Achilles’ grip. Marionette asks about how the head is still alive and she gets a lecture on how the Hydra is actually an immortal creature, and while it has several heads, only of these heads is actually alive and is responsible for controlling the others. Heracles decides to take the immortal head, assuring the others he’ll be dealing with it before departing as well. Now with the Hydra gone, they group had another problem to deal with- Rolland escaping. Alex expresses frustration over this and how they needed to go look for him but Jennifer calms him down, telling him that Rolland isn’t that big of a problem and instead of wasting time looking for him, they should use it to rest before they go on their real quest- Traveling to Troy and searching for Kassandra.

In celebration of the Hydra’s defeat, the forest dwellers gathered in Chiron’s cave and started a wild party to congratulate Achilles, Marionette, Alex, Jennifer, Jason and the pirates for their win. The party was fun and loud, and while he enjoyed every minute of it, Alex had to get out for some fresh air as all the noise was starting to give him a headache. Jennifer joins him and when he sees her, he chuckles and asks what she is doing here and she responds by rolling her eyes and saying that she needed to get away from the drunkards but also confesses she wanted some alone time with him. She then asks him how he’s feeling and Alex sighs then tells her that he's happy that they’ve slain Hydra, he is still mad that they let Rolland get away. Jennifer tells him not to think too deeply about it and that they have all the time in the world to bring him to justice but only a limited time to complete their prophecy. Alex looks at Jennifer and while he knew Jennifer was referring to finding Kassandra, he could tell she was thinking about another prophecy- the one about her love life. Alex asks Jennifer if she thought that, maybe, she isn’t doomed to be forever alone and that if a mortal “can’t heal her heart” then maybe it meant her soulmate if something else. When Alex brings this up, she groans and tells him she has no intention of being with a god but Alex tells her there’s more options to explore than just gods and he begins listing other creatures she could date, including centaurs, dryads and satyrs. When Alex mentions “satyrs”, Jennifer raises an eyebrows and repeats what he said, causing Alex to get flustered and he jokes that her options may not be desirable, but he just wanted to assure her that her love life isn’t entirely over. Jennifer laughs, thanks Alex and tells him him that she’ll think about what he told her before they both went back in the cave. While they had been chatting outside, Marionette was having a fun time flirting with and teasing the men in the tavern. Achilles was sitting across the bar, staring at her and Jason was encouraging him to go up to Marionette and talk with her. He resisted the temptation but after further encouragement from both Jason and Chiron, he finally goes and sits on Marionette’s table. Marionette was surprised by Achilles’ approach but she tries to act cool and make small talk with him but Achilles was not here for that and he asks her why she put her life at risk back at the battle against Hydra. He tells her that it’s public knowledge that he’s ‘indestructible’ so what she what she did was reckless, to which Marionette pointed out that the immortal Hydra head was aiming to bite his heel. To that Achilles becomes silent, but Marionette then asks him about his ‘immortality’ and why is it that his heel is the only part of him that’s vulnerable. Achilles corrects her by pointing out that he is not immortal, just ‘unkillable’ and he explains how he became that way after his mother dipped him in the River Styx. But when his mother dipped him, she was holding him by his left heel, which is why it’s the only part of his body that remained unaffected by the river’s magic. Marionette was intrigued by the story but something raised her curiosity- If Achilles knew what his weakness is, then why would he keep this part unprotected, to which Achilles laughed and he asks her where’s the thrill in that. Marionette tells Achilles he’s being an idiot and he decides to tell her a secret that the gods don’t want them to know and that they envy mortals. He tells her that they envy them because they’re mortals, because every moment might be their last which makes life more beautiful and he tells Marionette that she’ll never be lovelier than she is now and they’ll never be here again. As Marionette takes in Achilles’ words, she is suddenly invited to sing on the tavern’s stage. At first she was hesitant, but the tavern starts cheering for her and she eventually gets up to give them a show. The people in the tavern were having a great time and after her performance, Marionette jumps into Achilles’ arms and the two of them share a kiss.

At the palace of Graecita, the queen is picking the flowers in the palace garden. Behind one of the trees, Cambright is staring at her, thinking she isn’t being noticed until Leonora tells her “She can come out”. Embarrassed, Norah shows herself and tells the queen that she’s been told she was asked for and Leonora confirms this, saying that they have things to talk about. Norah knew where this was going and was about to talk, but Leonora beats her to it and reveals that she’s been thinking about what Kaleb told her and realized that she may have overreacted about Norah and Discordia’s , very, short-lived relationship. Leonora also takes accountability for pushing Norah away when she secretly liked her and acknowledges that it was stupid for her to expect Norah to “save herself” while they were on a break. Norah was relieved that Leonora was not mad anymore and chuckles, revealing she was just about going to apologize to her for almost “doing it” with Discordia and was glad it wasn’t necessary anymore, but when Leonora glares at her, Norah apologizes anyway for getting in a fling despite them not “officially” breaking up. With the apologies exchanged, Norah and Leonora share a kiss which is cut short by Kaleb’s scream.

## Summary

### Victim

* **The Ceryneian Hind** (Killed by a blow dart to the rear)

## Suspects

HeraclesFatimaRolland OvertonNoelle LloydWayne Adetuyi
## Quasi-suspects

AhyokaMalvinaAchillesArtemisHydraJennifer TanakaMarionette PatrickQueen Leonora I
## Killer’s Profile

* The killer has been to North Africa.
* The killer knows about botany.
* The killer takes Vitamin B.
* The killer is black.
* The killer has a rash.