PALGA AND THE BODY CHANGER

It had been a few weeks since Palga started her training as a detective under Chajomi. Today was her first case as the lead. Palga was a young mugwump from the Balach Swamp that decided research wasn't her calling. She found peace in helping others by solving crimes.

Chajomi and Palga walked into the sectioned off blacksmith within Stewartsville that had become a recent crime scene. As they approached a commanding officer there, Chajomi smiled, "Hello. You must be lead officer Motan. I'm detective Chajomi, this is my assistant, junior detective Palga." The officer took the two over to the door of the blacksmith.

The officer spoke with a monotonous voice, "I don't understand it. They didn't take anything of real worth. But they sure did take a decent bit of it. It appears several bags of coal were stolen. Nothing else seems to be missing." Motan glanced at a house in the distance. "The village babies that are often taken for the Glomdorian rituals are still here, so it doesn't seem to be an attack by that forest."

Palga looked at the mansion on the hill before she spoke, "What about the Countess? Is she doing ok? Or has another attempt on her life been made?" The Countess never seemed to catch a break with all the murdering going on within her home. Two investigations within the village could prove to be a rather bad thing. Not to mention that those who try to murder the Countess always seem to be let go and return to the mansion.

"There doesn't seem to be any extra people within the mansion, Palga." replied an officer on the scene. "But I do agree that the constant murders going on there could be used to cover the tracks of this murderer."

Over the next few days, Palga, with the help of her mentor Chajomi, who watched closely but stayed far enough back to let her skills show, carried on the investigation. Each day proved to be less helpful than the last. Each new day showed that the killer was toying with the officers by leaving a new body. The killer did stay in the same general area of shops even when officers stayed the whole night.

"I don't understand, Chajomi. The victims were seen only a few hours before their deaths. And yet their bodies show signs of being dead for much longer..."

"Just follow what you know so far. Use your gut to lead you to more clues." replied Chajomi.

Palga shrugged a bit as she reviewed the case in her mind, thinking of any possible crazy reasoning behind how the bodies got cold so fast. As the case of the murder attempt at the mansion finished and the cook was taken away while the rest of the staff rejoiced in their employer not being dead, Palga noticed something looking out from the window. A shadowy figure that only lasted for a moment before vanishing. Palga ran into the mansion and looked around to make sure she wasn't crazy in what she saw. After a few hours of looking, she ventured down to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, the cook greeted the detective and asked if Palga needed anything. Murder attempts in this village didn't seem to be taken too seriously as the ones charged were let go only a day after being caught. Never the less, Palga questioned the cook on her recent crime, taking notes, and trying to figure out if she knew anything or if she was the killer herself. All the answers pointed to the cook having nothing to do with the other killings, but one strange thing seemed to stand out. The account of the attempt to murder the Countess didn't match what actually happened.

Once the cook saw Palga had figured this out, the cook started to run, trying to get out of the mansion. Palga quickly pointed her weapon at the cook and fired the weapon. The body flew back and slammed against the wall of the mansion. As blood flowed out of the open wounds, a cloaking spell faded from the cook's body to reveal it was someone else.

"...I didn't expect that to happen." Palga commented.

It turned out that the murderer was a human male by the name of Cawabo who used illusions to hide his identity and try and blame the cook for not only the most recent attempt on the Countess but also the people from the village as well.

"Cawabo here thought that she could use the guise of the murder at the mansion to hide and make people think that killer had branched out. It was a rather clever thing to try but still failed "

Palga completed her first case on her own. The pride clearly shown on Chajomi's face as they took Cawabo away.

THE END