Crawling from the Darkness

[lesser_minion]

2200Z, 28/12/09. Bath, England

This was no place for a cold snap.

After almost an entire decade of relatively warm winters, nobody was really prepared for actual winter weather. The snow wasn't really a problem - the ice was far worse. Some people hadn't even been willing to leave their homes for fear of slipping.

Even so, a few people hurried past the corner between Brunswick Street and London Road. Some in cars, travelling into or out of the city. Others walked past - a few students going to a party, some suits on their way back from a late meeting, and the occasional shop worker going off-shift.

Then the screaming began.

It seemed to come from somewhere on Brunswick Street, but most people hadn't heard a scream quite like it. A few people instinctively moved away from the screaming, and a few people stopped their cars and got out, looking towards what seemed to be the source. A few drivers seemed to simply want to get out of there, and beeped angrily at the gawkers.


OOC:
For whatever reason, all of you were here already. What did you do?

[Sanguine]

Walking home from the store Jonathon pulled one of his fresh bought smokes out and lit it up. Moments later the screaming began. Quickly Jon turned toward source of the screams to see what was causing them.

[Narmoth]

A 30 something skinny man in a blue biker jacket was standing just outside a coffee shop with a coffee to go and some baked goods.
As the screaming began, he dropped what was in his hands and started running. But not away, but towards Brunswick Street.

[V for Victory]

Walking out of the small store with the a wallet he had just taken from an unsuspecting passer-by Patrick looked around when he heard the screaming and saying softly to himself "This ought to be fun". He walked slowly towards the screaming thumbing his newly acquired wallet.

[lesser_minion]

Brunswick Street/London Road, Bath, England. 2201Z 28DEC09

The three took about a minute to navigate through the crowd and head for what appeared to be the source of the screaming - a house, with the front door hanging from its hinges. Looking inside, there were signs of new work being done - naked patches of plaster and board all throughout the hall.

From where the three stood, several rooms seemed to be missing doors and doorframes. The sound appeared to come from upstairs, but from here, it didn't sound so much like a scream - more of an animalistic howling.

OOC:

Jonathon:
Even from here, you can see that at least some of the missing doors were removed as part of some building work of some kind.

You don't feel any sort of presence at the moment.


Ezriel:
You don't notice much else.


Patrick:
It doesn't seem like a struggle has taken place here. At least, not in any of the rooms you can see from here.


What did you do next?

[Narmoth]

Ezriel looked around for any signs of police

[V for Victory]

Once inside the house Patrick closed his eyes for a moment and tried to visualize what could have made the scream.

OOC:
Patrick used his MindVeiw power to examine the rest of the house from where he is standing.

If he sees anything that looks threatening he grabs a near-by object (Hammer, Lamp, Coffe Pot, Kitchen Knife, etc.) to be used as a weapon if needed

[lesser_minion]

Much of the building reeked of fear and panic, but there seemed to be little there.

Casting his senses from his body into the house, Patrick saw two things of interest - a pool of some liquid flowing from a wardrobe in the master bedroom, and the source of the screaming - seemingly from the spare bedroom, although it seemed empty apart from a small cat.

The screaming stopped abruptly as Patrick awoke from the vision, wondering exactly what it was he had seen.

Thus far, there seemed to be no police presence in the area, although sirens were audible in the distance - it sounded as if someone would be here in the next couple of minutes.

[Narmoth]

Ezriel then ran toward the location of the screaming

[V for Victory]

Patrick cheerly walks into the spare room and says "Why hello there Mr.Kitten-kins how are you doing today ?" as he picks up the cat and scratches it on the ears he looks at the liquid on the floor of the master bedroom to see if he can recognize it on sight.

[lesser_minion]

The cat seemed nervous, and bolted away at Patrick's touch, hiding beneath the bed.

The liquid in the master bedroom seemed dark in colour - almost black, and relatively greasy. The door itself was ajar, and smelled faintly of some sort of game.

For a brief instant, Jonathon felt a presence - possibly a spirit of some kind - but it vanished quickly.

[Sanguine]

Following the others up the stairs Jonathon grew markedly tenser when he sensed the spirit. But ignoring the pit in his stomach he knelt down and the floor and reached out with the Sight to touch the cat's mind.

What the hell, I'll use Mindsight on the cat

[lesser_minion]

Almost immediately on opening his mind to the cat, Jonathon felt a few flashes of emotion - mostly terror, and confusion. Something the cat had experienced had clearly frightened it, and it seemed to get worse as Jonathon tried to commune with it.

The few flashes of emotion Jonathon received were abruptly cut short as the cat suddenly collapsed - alive, presumably, but no longer conscious.

OOC:
Jonathon scored a 1st-level success - he was able to catch some of the cat's emotions, but nothing more. The cat felt the intrusion as well, and seems to have fainted.

[Sanguine]

After the cat faints Jonathon begins to search the room for any sign of what had terrified the cat while muttering, "That wasn't quite what I was hoping for."

[Narmoth]

Ezriel opens the door to the spare bedroom

[lesser_minion]

The small bedroom was fairly dusty - it seems like some work was being done here for some reason. The whole room was filled with negative Essence - presumably not just from the cat. Something horrible must have happened here.

It took Jon a few minutes to notice a few drops of oily black liquid seeping from under part of the wall - which seemed to be made of MDF or something similar.

On the other side of the same wall, Patrick had seen a pool of the same liquid seeping from under a wardrobe.

Ezriel: On opening the door, you saw a man searching the room. From footprints in the dust, you could tell that this wasn't the only person to have been inside.

The sirens in the distance stopped - presumably the incident was being written off as a domestic episode.

[Narmoth]

"Excuse me, sir, but I heard screams. What's going on?"

[Sanguine]

"You've got me hanging. I heard the screams as well and came to see what was happening."

[Narmoth]

"I see. Anyone else in the building?"

[Sanguine]

"Well there's the cat..." Jonathon says as he gestures at the unconscious feline, "...And I think I saw another guy come in around the same time I did."

[Narmoth]

"I doubt it was the cat that screamed. Maybe you will help me look for a person that might have screamed?"

[Sanguine]

"Sounds like a good idea, the names Jonathon." Jon says offering his hand.

[V for Victory]

Patrick walks out "Hey guys, looks like we've got a party here. Did you follow the screams too?"

[Narmoth]

"Yes. Indeed we did. My I ask for your name?"

[V for Victory]

You can call me Pat

[Sanguine]

"Hello Pat. My names Jonathon."

[Narmoth]

"Well, Pat and Jonathon, I'm police inspector Winterset. I'd really like your help looking for whoever made the scream"

[Sanguine]

"Okay Mr. Winterest, something that may be of interest is this." Jon says leading the group to the strange liquid.

I assume you would have told me if I knew what it was but I'll still ask. Do I recognize the liquid?

[lesser_minion]

The liquid didn't resemble anything any of you had seen before - it wasn't paint, although it was the same sort of viscosity. The pool seemed to have expanded since you last saw it - seemingly the source was somewhere inside that section of wall.

Patrick:
You recognise this part of the wall as being opposite the wardrobe you examined, although you didn't search it, presumably because you were interrupted by Inspector Winterset.

[Narmoth]

"And there's no other humans in the building? Are you sure?"

[Sanguine]

"Not sure no. But I haven't seen anyone."

[V for Victory]

There's a little cat under the bed in the bedroom, i'll go get him. Patrick leaves to go into the bedroom, he opens the wardrobe to look around

[Narmoth]

Ezriel stops up, looking emotionlessly on the fluid and then the wall

Chronicler:
Ezriel activites Divine Sight

[Sanguine]

Jon walks up to the wall and puts his ear to the wall knocking on it to check if it is hollow.

[lesser_minion]

The first thing Patrick notices on opening the wardrobe is a faint smell of game. Inside, there appears to be a small beer cooler, from which the black goo appears to have come. It seems pretty well-made - some of these things make enough noise to keep a whole house awake.

Glancing around, the next thing Patrick sees is a little less innocent. A second cat, lying dead with part of its skin missing. It appears to have died fairly recently.

Finally, there is a bag. Opening it is unnecessary - instantly on seeing it, Patrick's senses shift, showing him the contents. Among them is a skull.

The next thing Patrick hears is Jon's knocking on the wall - it appears to be coming from the back of the wardrobe, and Patrick also notices a small gap underneath the wall.

@Sanguine: It doesn't sound like the wall itself is hollow, although you do notice that there is a gap of some sort underneath it, which is where the goo is coming from.

[Sanguine]

"Well this is interesting." Jon says as he kneels down to look into the gap.

[V for Victory]

Patrick places his hand over the beer cooler and concentrates

MINDVEIW ON THE COOLER

[lesser_minion]

Patrick and Ezriel:

Patrick's senses leave his body for just a second. The beer cooler seems to be filled with something, but it's hard to make out using the psychic senses, almost as if it was protected in some way.

Ezriel saw this as well

[Narmoth]

"There's someone at the other side of the wall!"
then he looks around
"Where's Pat, by the way?"

[Sanguine]

"I think he ran off saying something about the cat."

[V for Victory]

Patrick calls the other two into the bed room. he says Winnie, I got something for ya, look at this as he points at the beer cooler. Why dont you check out what's inside?

[Sanguine]

Hearing Pat's voice Jon goes into the bedroom his curiosity piqued.

[Narmoth]

"Found him! Pat, how do we get to the room where you are?"

[V for Victory]

Other side of the wall, honey Patrick adds You better come quick too, i found the source of the oozey stuff. As Patrick says this he reaches into the bag with the skull, standing by the door way and holding the skull infront of his face to jokingly scare whoever comes in next. BOO patrick shouts as someone enters the room

[Sanguine]

"Funny." Jon says sarcastically as he enters.

[Narmoth]

Ezriel follows Jon
"Okay, some rules. First rule: don't say things that aren't true. I was just about to break through the wall to get to you.
Second rule: all stuff here is evidence, so don't touch anything unless you have to
Third rule: this is place is dangerous, so don't walk around alone. Actually, since you're civilians, it's probably best that I show you out from here..."

[Sanguine]

"I'm not going anywhere. And I wouldn't suggest forcing me."

[V for Victory]

Speaking of that, with your biker jacket and everything, you don't look like much of a cop. More like a hippie or a biker patrick says tossing the skull between his two hands

[Narmoth]

"Why?" Ezriels turns surprised to Jon

[Sanguine]

"Well first off I don't like your tone, second I think your in over your head, and third like Pat said you don't look like a cop. As for why I wouldn't suggest forcing me well let's just say you would regret it."

[V for Victory]

so there, its settled. Were one big happy family

[Narmoth]

"Actually, my question was about why you insist remaining here.
As for my being a cop, here's my documents. Picture and everything. Of course, you can get this stuff for 200 Pounds in London, but I wouldn't go to this place if I wanted to abuse it, would I?
He takes out a police id with his photo and the name Edward Winterset

[Sanguine]

"Not too good a listener are you? I told you why I'm staying first. And while this looks official enough I did list other reasons."

[Narmoth]

"Stay if you want, but I will take no responsibility for your safety if your best reason to stay is complaining of my tone"

(OOC: anything I detect here, as in the previous room?)

[Sanguine]

"Actually the most important one was reason number two. Now Pat what was it you found?"

[V for Victory]

Pointing at the skull patrick says "Mabye we are forgetting but this is a homicide so fake cop and matrix wannabe put your egos away and try to figure out who killed baldy here. Protip: it wasn't me" patrick then puts the skull on the bed and tries to coerce the kitty out

[Sanguine]

"Pat the oozes source?" Jon asks getting slightly annoyed.

[V for Victory]

"Right! In the wardrobe there's a cooler that's spewin' the stuff." After saying this Patrick walks into the far corner of the room, just to be safe.

[Sanguine]

"Well let's see what's in this cooler. Jon says walking into the Wardrobe. As he reaches it Jon opens it up peering inside.

[Narmoth]

Ezriel looks closer at the skull. Does it seem old or new?

[lesser_minion]

Opening the door to the cooler causes the smell of game to intensify. The contents spill out - small unlabelled bags, each containing a different kind of meat. The cat doesn't seem interested - in fact, it leaves the room almost immediately. You don't recognise any of the meat, although some of it might be some kind of cooked rabbit.

The goo's origin seems to be the space around the cooler itself, rather than the inside of the cooler.

The skull is clearly human, and seems quite fresh - there is actually some tissue visible around the eye sockets and on the inside. How its owner died is a mystery, however.

The other contents of the bag seem like they might be more helpful - the paper counterpart to a driver's license, endorsed with nine points for separate speeding offences. There is also a motoring section from the Sunday Times, with one headline circled in what smells like more of the black goo - although seemingly dried.

Ezriel:

Your sight doesn't really tell you much about the game, although the 'cooked rabbit meat' doesn't actually come from a rabbit.

Your sight does tell you that the skull's owner is also the license holder. The paper's purpose isn't clear.


Patrick:

Your senses suddenly leave your body, alerting you to a small leather-bound file inside the bedroom cupboard.

[Narmoth]

Ezriel puts on plastic gloves and take a closer look on the paper, trying to find: name on the license, date on the Sunday paper and reads the article with the circled headline. He then put's them in a plastic bag.
(The one from the bought doughnuts, as he doesn't have any criminological equipment on his person when off duty)

[lesser_minion]

The license's name reads: Martin Thomas. His address seems to be this house.

The article seems to be something on how the UK has one of the largest DNA sample databases in the country, with a popular tactic for minor motoring offences being to give the offender a choice between a £75 or a £75 and three points, with the latter punishment carried out if the offender refuses to give a DNA sample. The paper is about three years old, so this is an odd place to find one.

Martin was one more offence away from losing his license.

[V for Victory]

Watch out! Patrick says sarcastically You just contaminated the evidence for the "Dougnut Killer" case. Laughing Patrick leaves the room and goes to get the file in the bedroom

[Sanguine]

"Damn I think I know what did this." Jon begins to mutter as he paces around the room.

[lesser_minion]

The file is pretty easy to find - it's just inside a cupboard in the next room along. This bedroom seems to have been partially repurposed as a study, and has a desk. On the desk is a laptop, secured to the desk with a Kensington lock, and a small kettle. The only remaining room upstairs is a bathroom.

The file itself appears to have been dyed white. It also has a small mark on it, in what seems to be yet more of the goo.

Back in the bedroom, the goo around the beer cooler appears to be drying, and is also smoking a little.

[Narmoth]

"The skull seems to be the remains of the owner, Martin Thomas..." Ezriel tells the rest

[Sanguine]

"Any clue as to what he did for a living?"

[Narmoth]

"Not yet. I just hope it wasn't driving".
after a while he asks
"You said you thought you knew what did this. So, what's your theory?"

[Sanguine]

"Heard that did you? Well it's just a theory and you probably won't believe me but, based off of the remains and the cooler my money is on a Wildling. A Wildling is a corrupted nature spirit that possesses the body of an animal usually one that is recently deceased."

[Narmoth]

The police officer doesn't seem puzzled by the statement at all.
"Possibly, possibly. Still, the newspaper and the documents here isn't what I'd expect from such a Malevolent..." He uses malevolent as a noun rather than adjective, possibly even a name
And it doesn't explain the scream. Are we absolutely sure that there's no humans in the building?"

[Sanguine]

"Like I said none I've seen, but I do have a theory as to what made the scream. My knowledge on the subject isn't perfect but are you familiar with the Bast?" Jon is a little taken aback by the police officer but quickly regains his composure. But filled with an insatiable curiosity Jon peeks into his mind.

Mindsight!

[V for Victory]

Patrick opens the laptop, turns it on and tries to see whats on it

[Narmoth]

(OOC: I'm not sure what you'll see, that's up to the Chronicler)

"Met sometimes. Still, I doubt it was the cat that made the sound"

[Sanguine]

"Could easily have been if it was a High Bast."

[Narmoth]

"I somehow imagine it would be more strongly involved in that case: either as attacker or as attacked, in stead of simply lying motionless"

[V for Victory]

As the computer loads patrick looks for some paperclips to pick the lock holding the laptop down to the table

[Sanguine]

"That is what I meant the Wildling attacks the Bast in human form the Bast screams as it dies and reverts back to a cat. I'm not saying it's definitely what happened and it may not even work as I don't know if that would happen when a Bast dies but it seems likely."

[Narmoth]

"I hate to say it, but we will have to look at it's brain then. The High Bast would have a noticeably more developed one. But I'm really not happy about this turn of events"

[Sanguine]

"Would you be able to tell the difference? Cause I for one wouldn't be able to."

[Narmoth]

I think so, although I've never seen a Bast brain before. I expect it to have a bigger frontal lobe than an ordinary cat brain. There's another problem with it though. A High Bast is a person, and should have an autopsy. That means, I will not do it here, and preferably have a veterinarian or a medical doctor to do it."

[Sanguine]

"Do you know a veterinarian or medical doctor who would do it? Preferably without blabbing about finding a super intelligent cat?"

[Narmoth]

"Not really. I'm not from this city, you see. But I don't think anyone would have anything to say. It's a weird cat, that's all he's bound to think. I'm sure I can come up with a convincing reason for the police to want an autopsy of it as well. "

[lesser_minion]

The laptop boots up rather quickly, before switching to a loading screen of some kind - a progress bar marked 'Fedora 11'.

Finally, a login manager appears, although it isn't one you're used to. The user name 'Martin Thomas' appears, although you're not sure you'd be able to see the password.

Unfortunately, the lock seems to be combination-based rather than key-based. More usefully, however, you do notice that the desk isn't fixed to the ground - the laptop appears to be held in place by what amounts to a wing-nut.

Jon:
You don't seem able to see into the Inspector's mind - presumably he's shielded somehow.


Ezriel:
The cat's still alive, and looked traumatised and a little worried. It seems otherwise normal, however. This is about the point that your sight begins to return to normal.

[Sanguine]

Slightly peeved by the shield Jon continues the discussion. "But there is also the question of whether there Intelligence is wholly part of there supernatural aspect or if there supernatural aspect alters the brain in order to create the enhanced Intelligence. We seem to be assuming the later but that may not be the case."

[V for Victory]

Patrick tries to poke around and see what is on the computer, while the computer is loading any pages he looks around the room for any valuables or things of use (Specifically hammers, or other large sturdy objects)

[Narmoth]

"Then you assume that there's a soul or spirit that animates the body of the Bast?"
Ezriel goes over to the cat that isn't a corpse and put's a hand on it
"This one is warm. I don't think it's dead."
he strokes it carefully

[Sanguine]

"As I recall the Bast are a mix of Nature Spirits and Cats created in Ancient Egypt. And when a Bast dies it's Essence immediately seeks a newborn cat to inhabit. So I would say yes there is a soul or spirit." Approaching the cat Jon attempts to channel healing energy into it's body.

Mindheal

[lesser_minion]

Touching the cat, Jonathon didn't feel any of its pain - evidently, its injuries were spiritual or mental in nature (OOC: it's totally drained of Essence, partly from fear)

Clicking the name in the login manager only yields a box asking for a smart card. Apparently Martin wasn't too keen on taking chances (although he had stuck his PIN to the monitor).

The desk mostly contains files - a large folder marked with an unhappy face contains tax assessments, each of them numbered. Another folder marked with a smiley face contains bank statements - this guy seems to have quite a bit of cash floating around.

None of these files seems especially interesting, although the way they are organised suggests that there is some sort of database on the computer.

[Sanguine]

"That's interesting. It appears as though it's injuries are entirely metaphysical, that is not good."

[V for Victory]

Patrick searches the computer for the databased and grabs all of the files, he looks through them.


Do I have enough banking information to commit identity theft?

[lesser_minion]

OOC:
You aren't inside the computer yet, and your ability to commit identity theft is dependent on how good the police officer in the next room is at e-mailing the credit reference agencies to inform them that Martin is dead.

You need to find the smart card to access the computer.

There are a load of dead-tree files, but they are hopelessly organised. It would take a couple of hours to find the useful information, if there even is any here.


The cat awakens, slowly, and backs away from you, its hairs clearly on end.

[V for Victory]

Patrick looks around the room for the smart card.

OOC:


What is a "Dead Tree" file?

Speccifically do the bank statements I have give the info for identity theft, or do i need to acess stuff on the computer?

[Sanguine]

"Well the cat obviously doesn't like me, I'll go see what Pat is up to."

[lesser_minion]

The cat that bolted runs into the study, and bolts again on seeing a human at the desk.

OOC:

You don't really have enough to defraud anyone. To do anything useful, you're going to need at least something out of Martin's wallet.

[V for Victory]

Patrick gets up from the desk and looks around the room, he looks for the smart card and the wallet as well as anyother files I can find

[lesser_minion]

Looking around one last time, Patrick concludes that the only remaining folder is the one he came for.

Just before leaving, however, he spots a pair of bolt cutters on a shelf.

[Narmoth]

"Well, I doubt this cat will tell us anything useful."

[Sanguine]

As Jon enters the study he looks around and asks Pat, "Any sign as to what the guy did for a living?"

[V for Victory]

Not yet, But I found this Patrick says as producing the blank file that he had the vision of. I''ll finish up here and look for anything useful, can you do me a favor and leave so I can concentrate? I'm kind of ADD as patrick tries to push jon out of the door he hands him the blank folder Why don't you try and see what's on this one, I can't make heads or tails of it


Note, I am NOT showing/giving/implying the presence of the other two folders

[Sanguine]

"All right if you think it's best." Jon says as he grabs the file.
Mindsight

[Narmoth]

Ezriel enters the room
"Did you find anything useful in here?"

[V for Victory]

OH MY GOD I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!!!!!!!! Patrick screams at the top of his lungs. He breaths heavily, as if to calm down and after several minutes says I'm sorry for yelling at you, I gave a file to Jon, maybe you wanna look at it. It looks blank to me, I'm trying to find anything else that applies, I haven't found anything yet. Just some files about book-keeping He holds up the files with the happy and sad faces on them. I wanna finish searching the room, Please leave me alone. I get distracted easily.

[Narmoth]

"I'm sorry to ruin it for you, but if you get easily distracted, maybe I should search it in stead?" he offers rater kindly, but with a distinct undertone of police authority

[V for Victory]

Patrick takes a deep breath, No I've got it. I just wanna be left alone while I finish up here pausing Patrick says with distinct authority GO


The word "go" is under the effect of Mindrule

[lesser_minion]

The full weight of Patrick's words never reached Ezriel - instead, it slammed into a wall of Essence.

Jon:
You feel a tiny flash of Essence coming from the study

[Narmoth]

"I'm sorry, but this is still a crime scene. I can't just let you finish it up on your own, even when I don't pull in the rest of the force since they're not sensitive" he smiles
"To, well, the force"

[V for Victory]

Patrick sighs realizing he cant win Okay, well let me catch you up to date. This is a bed, this is a desk, these are bank statements he holds up the bank statements. this is a laptop bolted to the desk, and those over there are bolt cutters. Flustered patrick goes out looking for the cat that ran out of the bedroom initially

[Narmoth]

Ezriel checks the bank statements for something that looks like incoming paychecks (to see where he worked), last money spent and received (to guess at when he died) and any anomalies or interesting buys, mostly items that could be connected with the supernatural.

[lesser_minion]

The last purchase on the bank statement seems to have been made about a month ago. As for incoming payments, they seem to be all over the place, and most of them come from various different restaurants and Cafés all over the country. Most of them have a purchase order number attached to them, although you haven't seen the purchase orders.

The guy appears to have paid cash for virtually everything, unfortunately. The only payments he's made that can really be traced are what appears to be a standing instruction to clear his credit card balance every month, and his bills.

Martin apparently wasn't all that bright though - leaving wire cutters above the desk to which his laptop is secured by a cable seems a little odd. Admittedly, nobody would buy a laptop with half a Kensington lock still attached to it.

[Narmoth]

"I think that someone was here before us, or wanted us t find the stuff like this: look at the wire cutters next to the laptop. Then it's of course the skull itself. So I guess the issue will be to find out who put the skull where we found it..."

[V for Victory]

Patrick looks for a phone in the house

[Sanguine]

Walking through the house Jon opens the file to see what is inside.

[lesser_minion]

There is a phone in the kitchen, bolted to the wall.

The file seems quite interesting - it seems to contain details of a business called Martin's Meats, which appears to have a shop on Claremont Road. It also seems to supply about eight or nine restaurants and two cafés in the Somerset area, and at least one restaurant in Wiltshire as well.

[V for Victory]

Patrick grabs the phone and dials for the operator Hello? Hi can you connect me to the local police please? Thanks Once the police are on the phone Patrick says "Hi, um I was wondering if you could help me out here. I think there is someone impersonating a cop, I'll give you the number and can you tell me who the cop using that badge is, give me a physical descripton too, Thanks!" Patrick uses his photographic memory to recall the number on Ezriel's badge

[lesser_minion]

Bureaucracy naturally gets in the way at this point.

Well, that is a genuine number, but I can't exactly give you a name. Not straight away, anyway. Could you hold for a second please?

The phone goes silent. Then, a mobile goes off somewhere upstairs.

Ezriel:
You brought your mobile, right?

[Narmoth]

Ezriel picks up his mobile.
It's a really old model, the kind you could use as a hammer and bottle opener.
He looks at the number calling. Not recognizing it, he answers:
"Yes?"

[lesser_minion]

"Hi, this is the police department. Has your badge been stolen or anything like that? We just had a call from someone who believed that someone was impersonating you."

The receptionist sounds male, and has an odd accent that you can't place - it certainly isn't West Country.

[Narmoth]

"No, it's still on me. But I think I know who might be asking. Could you put him over on this line?"

[lesser_minion]

"Of course, sir. It will just be a couple of seconds"

Patrick:
The receptionist comes back on the line:

"The Inspector would like to talk to you. I'm just putting you through now"

The phone goes silent for a second, then comes back with a gentle buzzing sound to tell you that it's ringing.


Ezriel:
The receptionist abruptly ends the call, then your phone starts ringing a couple of seconds later.

[V for Victory]

Patrick fakes a spanish accent, Hola senior do you know where your badge ess?

[Narmoth]

Ezriel goes to find Patrick

[V for Victory]

When Ezriel walks in and sees Patrick Patrick hangs up the phone and says with a smile I had to check, you could have been anybody. You said so your self

[Narmoth]

"That's a bit insulting. If I was impersonating, I would at least get myself in the records. "
he sits down on one of the chairs:
"So, shall we get back on track? After all, there's a homicide, and at present I know only of the two of you that might have the abilities to detect the cause of it. That's my only reason not to hand this over to regular procedure..."

[V for Victory]

Pffffft If I were impersonating I wouldn't need to get myself in the records! laughing Patrick says So how do we go about this, do I get latex gloves, do I get a badge, CAN I GET A GUN!

[Narmoth]

"As if it would help." Ezriel smiles.
"But I guess we should get something in the clear, so we stop wondering about each other.... Let's get Jon here as well, and we'll have a talk"

[V for Victory]

Okay Patrick says looking for a seat

[Sanguine]

Walking into the room where Ezriel and Pat is Jon says, "Did I here my name?"

[V for Victory]

Yeah, Mr, Ezriel wanted to talk to all of us

[Narmoth]

"Yes, I think we should clear up in some things, so we stop wasting our efforts on things that are not important." he points for Jon to sit down
"First of all, the reason I haven't called the regular police into this is that they would not be able to find anything, since they are not sensitive to the supernatural.
We three on the other hand are.
Second, there's been a homicide, and the skull belongs to Martin Thomas, who we can not help in any way.
He has been dead for some time, and was thus not the origin of the scream that brought us here. Therefore I want to concentrate on finding the source of the scream and not the killer at present.
I expect that clears up any questions of my methods of investigation and crime scene management. Still, if you have any questions you'd want to ask, now is the time?" he finishes smiling kindly, waiting for your reactions

[Sanguine]

Sitting down Jon raises flips the folder around in his hand and says. "How do we know this Thomas guy didn't die recently?"

[V for Victory]

Wait, what do you mean "supernatural"? I mean, sure I've got some impressive skills but I wouldn't call them "supernatural"

[Sanguine]

"Stop being an idiot Pat. Your a Seer." Jon snaps rolling his eyes.

[Narmoth]

"He might have died recently, but not recently enough. He didn't die today, and most likely not yesterday either.
As for the supernatural, Patrick, let's go by the definition of "supernatural" as not explainable by science based on Newtonian or Atom-theory physics, like turning invisible, or angels, or the Bast or animal spirits and so on..."

[V for Victory]

What are you talking about? Patrick is getting uncomfortable and looks between Jon and Ezriel Are you two crazy?

OOC:

Patrick seriously doesn't know that he is a seer, he thinks he is just really lucky. He is completely unrefined in the supernatural and knows nothing, he doesnt even belive in them

[Sanguine]

"Pat as I said you are a Seer, one with 'The Sight' or 'Psionics' or 'Psychic Ability' whatever the hell you want to call it. I saw you use one of your powers. What power it was I don't know but I saw it. And no I'm not crazy, at least not about this."

[V for Victory]

Okay Patrick says uneasily, So if your guys are magic do some magic right now

[Narmoth]

Ezriel laughs:
"Heh, I can do some tricks, but to do real magic would be a bit to hard."

(OOC: how fast are essence points regained?)

[Sanguine]

"I can do something though, tell me how this feels. Also I use The Sight not Magic."
Mindkill to cuase pain

[Narmoth]

"It really doesn't matter what you believe. The point is what is. And somebody screamed here, most likely for help, and we haven't found that somebody yet. That's what I want to concentrate on. And I think we will have to focus more on invisibility and spirits than what we've done up to now."

[V for Victory]

Grabbing his head Patrick scream ARGGH!!! JESUS!!!! That hurts after the pain goes away Patrick says You've gotta teach me how to do that

[Sanguine]

"As soon as we solve this case I would gladly teach you."

[V for Victory]

Sweet! Patrick exclaims

[Narmoth]

"What I will do, is to search through the whole house again for any intelligent life forms. I propose you do the same, unless there's something more you wonder about and want to ask first"

Ezriel makes a move to rise from the chair

[Sanguine]

"No questions, I'll go search the house now." As he get's up Jon whispers into Pat's ear, "I can also teach you how to read minds."

[V for Victory]

Patrick is so excited he follows Jon around, helping him search. Cool, but what is it that I can do? I don't know why you guys think I'm a wizard.

[Sanguine]

"You're not a Wizard, you're a Seer. Or as it's more commonly known Psychic. What you can do I'm not sure what you could potentially do is another matter entirely."

[Narmoth]

Ezriel activates
Divine sight
again, as he searches all the rooms in the building this time (I expect he'll have to activate it more than once)

[V for Victory]

I wanna learn how too shoot lightning from my hands. Like that guy in starwars. Patrick makes a fwoosh noise while playing with his fingers

[Sanguine]

"That, would be Magic and thus outside my purview but you could theoretically learn how to."

[V for Victory]

Whatever Patrick continues his imitation of force lightning

[lesser_minion]

The building seems a little different compared with how you first entered - it seems like the black sludge that led you to the fridge and the file has disappeared, somehow.


Ezriel and Jon:

The house is tainted heavily with negative emotions, but the worst of them seem to come from the main bedroom and downstairs, by a door you haven't tried yet.

[Sanguine]

Running downstairs Jon rushes into the room that is overflowing with negative emotions.

[Narmoth]

Ezriel follows John

[V for Victory]

Patrick follows Jon

[lesser_minion]

The door is hidden just behind the stairs, but it looks like it leads to a basement of some sort.

It seems to be the only internal door in the house which is still in place. It also seems a lot sturdier than a typical internal door would be.

It seems pretty securely locked, with a padlock and a combination lock.

[Sanguine]

Looking at his two companions Jon says, "I don't suppose either of you know how to pick a lock?"

[V for Victory]

Laughing Patrick says And I thought you said you could read minds. I'll need a paper clip

[Narmoth]

"No, I didn't bring my gun" Ezriel smiles coldly.
"But we could force it"

[Sanguine]

"I can read minds I just prefer not to."

[Narmoth]

Ezriel looks at Patrick:
"Well, go get a paper clip then!"

[V for Victory]

Patrick runs around the house, he is looking for a sledgehammer, an axe, or something else large and heavy. Also, if I find a screw driver he grabs that.

[lesser_minion]

It takes a second or so, but Patrick remembers that the study had a pair of bolt cutters, which might be sturdy enough to cut off the padlock.

The combination lock might be a little harder to deal with, however.

[V for Victory]

Realizing that he in fact did not forget the bolt cutters, but they would not be the right tool for the entirety of the job. Patrick continues to look for a sledgehammer, chainsaw, axe or something else that could be used to beat the door down. He is also looking for a toolbox or a screw driver.

He goes to the shed to look for these things

[lesser_minion]

While searching the shed, Patrick also remembers that this particular person has a habit of writing down numbers.

The shed appears to contain a fairly heavy fireman's axe, a cordless hammer drill, a powered hedge cutter, a lawnmower, a 1 lb claw hammer, a couple of hand axes, a selection of meat knives, and a small box of tools including some jeweller's screwdrivers.

[V for Victory]

Patrick grabs the fireman's axe, he also grabs the tool box, a cordless hammer drill, a powered hedge cutter and the clawed hammer. He runs back to the locked door. When he reaches the door he drops the tools besides the axe and hacks down the door angrily, screaming angrily while breaking down the door.

[lesser_minion]

The noise presumably wakes up the entire street, right after they'd just got back to sleep.

Fortunately, nobody actually comes along to investigate.

The door is pretty tough, and takes several minutes to break down. Eventually, however, it shows some signs of buckling, and finally gives under your onslaught.

As soon as you break through the door, you are greeted by an overpowering stench and the sound of a number of fans of some kind. There is a short staircase, and a row of pegs which holds three dark blue coats. The floor is made of concrete, and you see a slightly charred card of some kind and a small reddish stain next to the door.

There is another door to the right, which doesn't seem locked, and seems to have a window, allowing you to see into the next room.

OOC:
It's pretty tiring work as well - Patrick loses [roll0] Endurance and [roll1]Essence.

[Narmoth]

"Good work, Patrick!"
Ezriels steps into the room, searching it the same way as he's done with the previous rooms. If he doesn't find anything of interest, he'll approach the other door.

[V for Victory]

THATS MY LOCKPICK! patrick says breathing heavily. He sits down for a minuite to catch his breath. While sitting down he tries to consolidate his tools into one container, he leaves the axe out though.

[Sanguine]

Jon walks over to the card and picks it up examining both sides.

[V for Victory]

Patrick puts on one of the coats, he doesnt know whats down there and doesnt want to get his clothes dirty. He grabs the cordless drill, equips it with the largest drill bit and leaves the rest of the tools behind at the top of the stairs. Holding the drill like a gun he walks over to the new, thick door slowly pauses for a moment to prepare himself for whats next.


Patrick uses Mindveiw to see through the door

[lesser_minion]

Jonathon:

The card appears to be a smart card of some sort - it carries the logo of some computer manufacturer.


Beyond the door at the bottom of the staircase lies a pretty horrible scene - against the opposite wall lies a dark-haired woman in her 20s, wearing a black dress over a pair of jeans, and slumped in a pool of blood. A trail of blood leads up to her.

The rest of the room seems to be filled with more fridges and freezers. There is also a washing machine, and a shelf opposite, containing what appears to be a collection of unusual items.

[Narmoth]

Ezriel runs to the woman to see if she's still alive

[lesser_minion]

Examining the woman, Ezriel notes that she has cuts all across both arms, and a fairly nasty stab wound to the abdomen. At the same time, she appears to still have a pulse, and holding the phone up to her nose produces some condensation, so she's breathing as well.

She seems to have got off pretty lightly, although she could quite easily die if she doesn't get to an ambulance soon.

[Narmoth]

Ezriel tosses the phone at the next arriving: "Call an ambulance and report this in. Tell them we'll meet them at the entrance"

Ezriel starts on first aid:
"My name is Edward, I'm here to help you"

[lesser_minion]

She seems unconscious, presumably passed out from shock.

Ezriel is able to put her in the recovery position and apply a dressing to the stab wound, however. It should be enough to keep her alive until an ambulance gets here.

[Sanguine]

As he puts the smart card in his pocket Jon sees the woman and runs over to her. After catching the phone Jon throws it back and says, "You do it, and get the hell out of the way." Jon then lays his hands upon the woman and begins channeling Healing energy into her.

Mindheal channeling 2 points of Essence to increase the Strength.

[Narmoth]

Ezriel gracefully misses the phone and it falls to the ground.
He picks up the phone and calls for an ambulance:
"This is police inspector Winterseth, badge number 77, please send an ambulance to <he says the a address of the building>we'll meet you at the front door. The patient is a wounded unconscious woman. At present she's breathing and we're trying to stabilize her. I suspect internal bleeding, and she has several stab wounds, of which one is in the abdomen."

[lesser_minion]

For a few moments, Jon feels a searing pain in one of his kidneys, as well as a dull throbbing pain across both arms, as he absorbs the woman's hurt into himself. This subsides quickly, however. At the same time, he feels her grow a little stronger.

Jon succeeded in healing her, and didn't suffer any damage in return.


On the other end of the phone, a voice speaks:

OK, thank you. I'll just put that through for you... Right, an ambulance will be there in ten minutes, and a SOCO from the night shift will arrive in about half an hour.

Patrick:

Your Sight catches something that the others may have missed - a tiny patch of red fur behind one of the fridges.

[V for Victory]

Patrick walks over to the red fur Well Well Well, what do we have here? moving aside anything in his way slowly

[lesser_minion]

OOC:
You caught me in the middle of an edit, so I'm just going to go fix things so that this segment makes sense.


Searching behind the fridge yields slightly more than expected - as well as the patch of fur, Patrick finds a small animal of some sort - seemingly a rather small squirrel.

Pulling both out, it becomes obvious that the small animal is the owner of the patch of fur. It seems to be in rigour mortis, although not particularly decayed except where some of its skin has been removed.

[Sanguine]

Jon turns to Ezriel,"Come get me if she wakes up, I'm going to go see if Pat found anything." and with that he walked over to Pat and said in a calm voice. "Find anything interesting?"

[V for Victory]

Lifting the squirrel-like creature with his index finger and thumb, arm extended Patrick holds the squirrel around six inches from Ezriel's face Just this. Dead animals are gross, take it. Patrick drops the squirel

[Narmoth]

Ezriel lifts the body carefully up and carries it to the entrance of the building

[lesser_minion]

Sooner than expected, the ambulance arrives, and two paramedics disembark. One of them, a fairly short male, addresses Ezriel:

"Hello, would you mind showing us the casualty?"

At about the same time, Ezriel gets another call, from a number he recognises as a SOCO from nearby.

[Narmoth]

"She might be highly contagious, so I suggest you take precautions and don't touch me or her without full protection."

he takes the phone
"I'm a bit busy right now. Can I call you back?"

[lesser_minion]

2301Z 28DEC09 - Brunswick Street, Bath, England

Amanda assents and hangs up the phone, before sending a text message.

[hr]
The man seems surprised by Ezriel's comment, but responds

"Umm... OK, sure."

The paramedics grab gloves and masks from the vehicle before walking over to the victim.

"Were you really this desperate to clear the crime scene? Seriously, what the hell?" His tone of voice makes it clear that the second question is rhetorical.

"Well, you didn't make her any worse. We'll give you a call if she wakes up."

The paramedics carefully lift the casualty onto a stretcher, and depart.