Bloody...yet not so

It was behind one of the houses of the village, by a cellar door. The talk of the village-folk made it seem like that this was the house of the victim, so it was probably the victim's cellar. It helped that next to the body was a barrel that seemed to have been thrown to the ground violently as it cracked open, and spilled its contents. It seemed to have been rice...maybe storing some food they recently bought? He'd have to ask around the marketplace, if there were any who were cooperative.

And who was this victim exactly? It was a man who was native to this village, born and raised. He went by the name of Darien, and he was a carpenter. It was a rather bad target to pick, either the murderer was new to this whole thing or just didn't know the village well. Carpenters were very important to village life, and they'll always be noticed.

How exactly did he die? Well, there was the giant gash in his throat that would suggest a bleed out. Marius inspected this cut carefully, even rolling the body onto its back completely and used his gloved hands to spread open the wound.

"Just as I thought...knife wound." He looked at the area and noticed something peculiar. There was some blood on the ground and on Darien's person, but not nearly enough for a slit throat. The blood went elsewhere.

"Hmmm...vampire, maybe? Though, if it was a vampire, they're a messy eater. Blood mage? Maybe both. Only one way to tell."

He took out a knife and cut away at Darien's clothing. And, sure enough, there was five intricate stab wounds in the poor man's chest. Marius nodded to himself, "Right...ritual kill. Curious it happened right here, sparing no time to go elsewhere or even hide the body. A blood mage restocking their supply...and on the run. Be my luck they're also a vampire. I'll need to hear about the time of day this occurred..."

Marius stood up and nodded to himself, "Think this is all I'm going to be getting out of looking at the scene alone...might need to try elsewhere. I've got some clues as to where I should head next."