Mysterious Deaths
The anomalies in each of these deaths suggest they are not accidental.
MEMO
The following memo was extracted from the corporate servers of Hippolyta Mining and Logging, a corporation operating in the Balamtok Shard. It is from a corporate security outfit named Sky Ladder and addressed to Hafþór Odinsson, the CEO.
Re: Death cluster
Date: 13.1.17.2.2 Long Count
The following is an interim report regarding the cluster of recent deaths in the executive suite which you asked us to investigate. We tentatively concur with your suspicion that they may not be accidental.
To recap: Nils Thustrup, Director of Human Resources: Mr. Thustrup was found dead of a snake bite. While it is true that Mr. Thustrup was an amateur herpetologist, his preferred exotic pet store, “Snake Snake!”, confirmed that he only collected nonvenomous snakes. It is unclear where he might have obtained the Lachesis acrochorda (aka “Bushmaster”) pit viper found in his terrarium, from whose venom he apparently expired. There are no Bushmaster pit vipers in the wild with 300 kilometers of Mr. Thustrup branch office, and it is illegal to sell one.
Björn Ragnarsson, Sub-Director of Logistics: Mr. Ragnarsson was crushed by a 500 kg falling branch while surveying future roads in the rain forest. While the branch was dead, investigators were unable to connect it with any tree from which it could have fallen.
Inga Nilsson, Chief Engineer, Logging Operations: Died while undergoing a Magnetic Body Scan (MBS) near the main office in Sundervik, Aesir Shard. Investigators found 50 diamond-shaped pieces of iron, of roughly half a millimeter width in the shreds of her internal organs. A “health drink” found in her home contained similar iron balls. The packaging claimed they were “healing crystals.”
Per Lindholm, retired former Chief of Operations for the Kiché region: Died eating pricklefish sushi in Sundervik. The pricklefish contains lethal poison in its liver, which must be removed by a trained chef. Mr. Lindholm employed such a chef, but either the chef failed to remove the liver, or another pricklefish with its liver intact was substituted on Mr. Lindholm’s plate. Moreover, all of Mr. Lindholm’s framed photographs seem inexplicably to have been replaced by drawings of tapirs.
Mr. Lindholm’s death is extraordinary because (a) he is retired, and therefore not likely to be the target of sabotage by a competitor, and (b) he was well-loved and known for his charity. He even adopted a young Native boy whose home hunting range had been destroyed during normal logging operations. Noting the boy’s skill with traps, Mr. Lindholm sent the boy to the best schools, culminating in the boy obtaining an advanced engineering degree. Mr. Lindholm was grooming the boy to succeed him in the operations department. However, it is unclear what became of the boy later. He seems to have disappeared, along with any records of him.
The anomalies in each of these deaths suggest they are not accidental. With your approval, we will continue to attempt to find out what entity might be behind them.
