Terror Totem

"Another corpse." Marla pointed at the shore. She had to thank the currents of the past few days for delivering clues to them. It seemed even the waves and sea breeze were welcoming them.

Whenever they came across one of those sea-serpent creatures' bodies on the way here, Marla carefully inspected it, afraid of missing even the slightest clue.

"Damn it, it's been tampered with. I can't determine when he died." Marla spoke with some irritation.

A Dark Ranger could judge the time of death by the growth of maggots, but the corpse before them differed from the previous ones. There were obvious jagged marks where flesh had been sawn away after death. Maggots of different sizes had mixed together, obscuring what should have been clear evidence.

Calila came over, observed it for a while, and gave her conclusion. "This seems to have been done recently. They took the thickest piece of flesh. There aren't many organs missing."

"You think pirates did it?"

"Pirates are indeed cruel, and they do desecrate corpses, but only by hanging them from masts to dry. They wouldn't do something like this."

"Marla! Calila!" Cleya's voice came from nearby. The two Dark Rangers temporarily turned their attention to her. "Look." Cleya pointed toward the sky above the depths of Dusty Swamp.

At first, Marla saw nothing. Only when she moved beside Cleya, with the sun no longer in their line of sight, did she squint in the indicated direction. A thin wisp of smoke drifted slowly toward the horizon.

"Interesting. I thought there were no living people left in Dusty Swamp." Calila noticed it as well. By the habits of the living, it was indeed lunchtime.

"It can't be Horde people. Grommash has no garrison here, and even Brackenwall Village has been relocated. Could they