[Center][h1][color=B490B0][B]Anastasia[/B][/color][/h1][/Center]
[center][h2][color=B490B0][i]Something Smells Fishy[/i][/color][/h2][/center]
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[List]
[*] Location: Bath House
[*] Mentions: [@PrinceAlexus]
[/List]
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Well, [i]rotten[/i] was probably a more accurate word, but something was amiss about where the stench originated from. 

Anastasia had only recently returned to town. While she was out, scouring the landscape for corpses to decompose, an intense blizzard locked her in place for quite some time. It was all she could do but turtle down next to a tree and connect with the interwoven fungal network beneath the forest to sustain herself until it blew over. When she could finally see and move around again she quickly came to the realization she'd lost her path back to Dawnhaven. One adventure led to another, but eventually she found herself back in the place she called home. 

It was only then that it hit her. Not another realization, but the stink of something that smelled suspiciously dead. A heavy stone nestled itself deep within her stomach as she followed the smell all the way back to the local bath house. As grim as it would be for someone to have died in there, and as much as she didn't want to discover a broiling body or acquaint herself with the heat of the establishment, she felt that she [i]had[/i] to investigate. At the very least if she was the one to discover something morbid she might save someone else from a traumatizing experience. Anastasia was good friends with the dead by this point after all, so it wouldn't scar her nearly as bad. 

When she walked inside she nearly choked on the warm air. It filled her lungs and disrupted the spores that resided there. They liked the cold better. She balled her hand into a fist and brought it to her mouth, muffling a throaty cough. With a wheeze and a prayer she tentatively pushed forwards and inspected each room, examined the spring waters, looked under furnishings and such all in an attempt to find the body. It was lost on her that it might be a bizarre sight— a wheezing, sickly looking woman with half a body of fungus looking for something in a place she'd never been to before. 

The scent had faded. Anastasia had checked just about everywhere she could think of and she was about to decide to just call it quits. There was one place she hadn't looked yet though, and if that was where the body lied then she wouldn't forgive herself if someone less suspecting discovered it when she'd already come here to look. So, she wandered into the deepest area she could— where the heat was at its most intense and the water was assuredly its warmest. It was then that her eyes caught sight of what had to be a [b]giant sea serpent[/b], but on closer inspection it was just a woman.

Anastasia only knew her as the “innkeeper.” The serpentine cyclopean woman had a memorable appearance, but then again most blight-born did. Despite living here for so long, she’d never taken the opportunity to talk to her. Perhaps they’d seen each other in passing occasionally, but that would be the extent of their interactions for the most part. 

[color=B490B0]”Sorry to intrude and this may seem like an odd question, but…”[/color] she pursed her lips, wondering if a good way to phrase this question even existed. [color=B490B0]”..have you happened upon a dead body here, just… laying about?”[/color]

This was truly the last place Anastasia could think to look. If the innkeeper hadn’t seen anything, then… maybe she just imagined the smell? Her nose had become more attuned ever since she changed so she didn’t think she was mistaken, but it wasn’t impossible that she misplaced the scent. She’d feel a little foolish though if she went out of her way to make herself so uncomfortable in this heat for nothing.