Department of Paranormal Investigations IC

[Llyarden]

It is not your first day working as full-fledged detectives for the Los Angeles Department of Paranormal Investigations. Perhaps that would be dramatically appropriate, but unfortunately criminals care little for narrative convention.

After being introduced to each other on the first day by Cpt Hatheway, you have more or less been left to your own devices since, without any interesting cases coming across your desks. You haven't been completely without work, of course, but it's all been very mundane stuff, much like the tasks you spent most of your time doing as probationary agents - for the most part, you've been checking over the scenes of crimes that were prevented by the main police department. It's stuff you could more or less do with your eyes closed, with no surprises lurking in wait.

It is just after 5am on a Friday morning when this changes as Sgt Newman calls to request your presence at the scene of a murder.

You are called to the outskirts of the city, a fairly peaceful suburban street. Crime scene tape is stretched around a small corner shop and an alleyway besides it. You are met by Newman, who has apparently found the time to get himself a cup of takeaway coffee. "Morning, gents," he nods up at you. "The Department of Paranormal Investigations - interrupting a good night's sleep since 1843," he adds with a wry grin.

For most cases I think I'll just start the scene at the crime scene itself, but since this is literally the first post of the game I figured I'd give you a post to do some characterisation before getting into the investigation proper.

Also yeah for reference the cases that the game will focus on are not the only things you will be spending your time doing - they're just the interesting ones. DoPI agents have to examine any crime scene where magic is used (even if the only magic is used by the police officers that respond to the crime), mostly because bureacracy.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Although never welcomed, it hadn't been the first time his cellphone rang with the emergency ringtone in the middle of the night; this time, though, was special. With what he liked to call his "hurry routine", as soon as the call ended Thalgram went into the kitchen, flipped the switch of his coffeemaker, and disappeared into the bathroom to get ready while the much-needed sleepiness-counter brewed.

Twenty minutes later, he was walking out of his apartment and donning the usual pair of round sunglasses, the tinted lenses offering no impairment whatsoever to his dwarven sight despite the sun not having risen yet. Soon after, he was speeding through the still empty roads of LA in his beloved Challenger, feeling slightly elated and kind of guilty about it.

***

"Newman." he greeted the gnome. "Well, I hear sleeping too much is bad for the skin." he retorted, returning the grin. "Kind of reminds me of my days with SWAT."

He turned to his young elven partner. "Ready for our first real case, kid?"

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien didn't really know how to feel about the training he'd received.

On the one hand, the vast majority of everything the officers and trainers had explained to him were things he had either known from the beginning of his personal career, or which he had quickly figured out for himself throughout the its course. But, on the other hand, there was a genuine sense of camaraderie inherent to the process. A sense that, in the act of joining the DoPI, he was becoming something far greater than what he was before. That he was, from this day onwards, a crucial piece of a manifold and gargantuan machine, designed solely for the pursuit of answers and justice.

Whether or not such a feeling was empowering in its sensation, or suffocating in its limits was another matter entirely.

Lucien was not too bothered by the desk work. He had no love for it, to be certain. But there was a certain calmness to be derived from the act of simply drumming through pages and pages of simple, easy paperwork. Especially when the young Elf’s superhuman intellect allowed him to work through the masses of files and reports at a breakneck speed. Nevertheless, the normally stoic young man could not hide the upwelling excitement he felt as he was, for the very first time, handed a case by the illustrious organization to which his services had been rendered, the Paranormal Detective all but too eager to rise from his rejuvenating trance in order to forge towards the task ahead. Even as the young man arrived dressed in a weighty longcoat and dress shoes, and the crime scene revealed itself to be rather simplistic in its outer shell, the former PI couldn’t help but savour the early morning air as he stood before it. Having parked his motorbike on the curb and approached the yellow tape with a deep sense of irreverence. The scents somehow feeling starker and ever more intense, with the promise of a newly minted case following in alongside them.

The Elven Investigator nods to Sgt. Newman, the constabulary liaison acting just as chipper and upbeat as he did during their previous interactions. A habitual jokester. Consistent in his levity and upbeat attitude. The dragontouched Elf offhandedly thinks, his mind unconsciously running analyses on his surroundings as his mind revs up in preparation for the crime scene ahead. Realizing he was being both rude and conspicuous by just staring at his surroundings, the pale Elven man permitted himself a smile as he responded to the Gnome Officer’s greeting. “Count yourself lucky that you don’t have spellcasting to attend to. I’m almost certain it’s the only reason they still allow us a full eight hours’ rest.” The young Elven man jokes, his voice deep, yet flowing, with a tonality and meter that made every syllable sound as though it were both a whimsical tune, and a weighty stating of authority and fact.

As Lucien’s partner, a staunch and well-experienced dwarf in his own right, chose to break the silence between them, the young Elf could not help but cut loose a bit of witty repartee, in the face of the older Detective’s use of the word “kid”.

“My first real case, Detective Ironmaster, was a murder-suicide three years back, where it looked as though the murderer had shot himself, and then the victim. This is simply my first official one.”

“Though, to answer your question honestly. I am more than ready for what’s come.” He lets slide, the sudden defiance fading as the young Elf made a genuine attempt to banter with the man he would be working with for the rest of the foreseeable future.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Ow, ow." Thalgram lamented with fake pain, bringing his hands to his heart as if clutching a wound. "Hit and sunk." he announced with an amused smirk, admitting defeat.

~He really did.~ a voice whispered in his mind, unheard to anyone else.

He then turned to Newman again. "So, who's the victim?"

[Llyarden]

"Ah, you're going straight for the tricky questions today," Newman replies to Thalgram with a slight grin at the banter between the two detectives, turning and leading the two of you to the alleyway, where it becomes immediately obvious why the identity of the victim might be a 'tricky' question.

Slumped against a dumpster a couple of feet into the alley is...well, a humanoid body probably about six feet tall. More than that is rather difficult to determine, because someone seems to have taken the time to set the body - and the alleyway around it - on fire, leaving it little more than a charred corpse. "Body was found by the owner of the store," Newman explains, "when she came to open up. She's inside," he adds, gesturing back to the storefront. "We're guessing if anyone else walked past in the night they didn't see the body in the dark."

Just for reference and because I forgot to mention it earlier, the standard protocol for crime scenes (at least as far as this setting is concerned) is that nothing gets touched unless it's unavoidable until the detectives working the case arrive to examine things. But you can generally assume that by the time you get to a crime scene there are already people there to, like, dust for prints and take any bodies away and generally do all that crime scene...stuff.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Well, this explains the smell.

"And no one noticed an entire alleyway on fire?" Thalgram asked, dubious. "Well, hopefully the corpse can still speak." he then added with a shrug, and proceeded to examine the scene.

Will a combination of Explosive Devices and Investigation let me determine things like where the fire started, accelerants used, etc.? Also Perception [roll0].

BTW, what's the protocol on using magic? I imagine things like Detect Magic are allowed (and I'm using it, if that's the case), but for something like Speak With Dead do I have to wait until the body is brought to the Department's labs?

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Alright. I'm pretty sure our friend here has a slight case of Burning Hands." Thalgram announced, his preliminary examination concluded. Then, he reached out for something in mid-air and his hand disappeared into a small portal, coming out soon after with an evidence bag in its grip.

Carefully leaning the body forward to reach the gun he spotted, he grabbed it and put it into the transparent bag. "And it looks like he wasn't here for a leisure stroll." he added, shifting his attention on the tusks. "Hmm. I'd say orc. Perhaps half. Seems like we can get a dental print if we need to, anyway."

"Detective Whitespark!" he called. "Found out anything interesting? I need you to examine the aura over there...I think the killer got away while invisible given the magical trail, but I can't say for sure."

Even if Lucien doesn't have Detect Magic there's spectral sights, am I right?

[Capt. Infinity]

"Well then. At least we aren't being wasted on anything simple or banal." Lucien muses as he takes a step into the alleyway. As he peruses the area, a part of the Detective's mind casts outwards, gauging the mystical auras of the surrounding area, attempting to divine further towards the means and methods of this heinous crime.

The young man opens his eyes, exhaling as he brings his mind back down into the Prime Material. "Your guess, whilst by no means outlandish, is correct, Detective Ironmaster. This was indeed a magical assault, though it seems our perp was at the very least smart enough to mask his Aura." Lucien bends down to get a better look at the marred corpse of the victim as he speaks. Though, even as he begins to look more closely, his eye is drawn to a set of scuff marks leading out of the alley. Scuff marks which, as coincidence would have it, line up perfectly with a trail of the assaulter's remnant Aura.

"Well now, isn't this interesting." The Elf mutters, following the trail out of the alleyway, and across the front lawn of the store, before coming to a stop at the tree in front of the simple little building.

"An Aura trail reaches from down the road, up to the tree. And then a physical trail leads from the tree into the alleyway. Why?" The young Elf tilts his head up to look at the tree's uppermost leaves, attempting to scan the whole of the structure in a swift and discerning gaze. Even as he says this, he hears Thalgram voice his suspicions of the tree as well.

"Don't worry, Thalgram! I'm already on it." He nods to the Dwarf behind him, before casting out his senses towards the large plant's mystic state, hoping to glean some information in the process.

Alright, first and foremost, Perception on the tree to see if there's any remaining physical evidence of the crime.

Perception: [roll0] + [roll1]

Divine on the tree to sense any remaining Auras, and then Knowledge (Arcana) to discern the Aura's nature.

Knowledge (Arcana): [roll2] + [roll3]

[Hyperbolic sine]

Too bad for the invisibility theory.

Leaving the auras to his partner, Thalgram returned his focus on the physical side of things and examined the scuffle trail: from the looks of it, if was very plausible that the (half?) orc was unconscious, if not dead already, when he had been dragged to where he was now. ~So he didn't suffer...I'm envious...~ a woeful voice resound in his head as he then proceeded to ezxamine the corpse again, this time checking for wounds other than burns, but without finding anything: it looked like they'd have to wait for the coroner to do their job.



At this point, there was one thing left to do. "Excuse me, Father." he called to a man sporting a religious symbol. "Can you come here for a bit? I'd like to question the soul's remains."

[Llyarden]

The Pharasmin priest in attendance is a middle-aged human man with a doleful expression, his ceremonial black robes somewhat tattered with age. He murmurs something under his breath, holding his holy symbol in both hands, before looking around as if apparently waiting for something. Nothing seems to happen, which seems to be what he expects, because he lowers his hands again after a few moments and nods to Thalgram. "Proceed, Detective," he instructs.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Thalgram nodded as a thanks to the priest, produced a small notepad and a pen from his extradimensional storage, then focused on the corpse. He made no gestures nor spoke any arcane words, as his magic required neither: instead, he projected his consciousness on the remains, the power of the bond between his and the spirit of his deceased partner acting like a magnet for the soul fragments that still lingered in the orc's body and making them coalesce into a single piece.

Then, once he'd confirmed the spell had taken effect, he uttered the first question. "What is your full name?"

I guess I might as well exploit the fact that for once the GM doesn't live on the the other side of the world. :smalltongue:

1/3 asked.

[Llyarden]

Some of the - presumably newer to the job - CSU workers flinch away slightly as the scorched head of the body moves slightly. Rather unsurprisingly, the poor state of the body makes the corpse's voice grating and difficult to understand, but not unintelligible. "I...am...R'otak...McDewitt," it rasps, the orcish given name and human surname suggesting that the body is that of a half-orc.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Thalgram wrote down the name, nodding in satisfaction at the answer. "What was the purpose of your presence in this block last night?"

[Llyarden]

"I...was...meeting..." the raspy voice begins, before going quiet for a few moments. Thalgram feels the reconstituted soul struggling, like a fish caught on a line, against his magic, and somehow it manages to break through the spell. "...someone," the corpse-voice concludes, and despite having a magically-powered, near-emotionless tone, it nonetheless manages to add a definite air of satisfaction to the word.

So, er, you know that natural 20? That was McDewitt's save against speak with dead.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Behind the tinted lenses, Thalgram's eyes narrowed at the defiance the soul remnant showed. He pondered what to ask next: the name of the killer was obviously out of the question, as evidence pointed to the fact that MCDewitt wouldn't be able to answer; the name of who he was meeting seemed like a good choice, but again the half-orc might not have known. Hmm...

Well, there was something. Carefully choosing his words, he uttered his last question, his voice colder - although almost imperceptibly so - than before. "What was the ultimate purpose of the meeting that, last night, you came in this block to attend to?"

[Llyarden]

This time there is no hesitation, nor evasiveness, in the spirit's reply. It almost seems like McDewitt's soul is happy to have been asked. "To bring down...the corruption...that infests...this city's government."

[Hyperbolic sine]

And just like that Thalgram's power faded, the piece of soul again splintering into countless fragments.

"Ohi ohi. This is a big one." he muttered, before turning to the priest. "Thank you, Father. I'm done here."

"Newman! I've got a name!"

[Capt. Infinity]

"Better than what I got on my end!" Lucien shouts from his position by the tree, walking away from it casually.

"Nothing left by the tree that indicates the killer did anything else other than drag him over from it. BUT, I did manage to figure out something of worth. Your suspicion was right, Thalgram, that blast was definitely Burning Hands. What's more, it was done by someone with very strong spellcasting ability. In excess of the output limit of the spell. The second spell, the Divination one, seems to have been initially cast outside of the current location. Meaning it was likely some form of long duration Divination spell that the culprit activated before ever having arrived." The Elf elaborates as he walks up to his newfound Dwarf partner, before gesturing to the evidence bag he now toted.

"I'd like to have a look at that gun when we get back to the station. The last owner may be dead, of that much we are certain, but the owner before him may well be alive and kicking. And may prove to be a delightful insight into why our poor victim might've needed the gun in the first place." The Elf looked back out the alley, towards the storefront, in which there remained one possible source of clues. "R'otak McDewitt, was it? Well, let's see if our dear proprietress has anything to say in regards to our dearly departed friend." With elegant poise, and a straight-backed gait, the pale-skinned Elf makes a stride towards the storefront door, attempting to make a casual greetings once he steps through the portal.

"Pardon me, madam. I'm Detective Lucenehel'nesen Whitespark of the Department of Paranormal Investigation. I don't suppose I could ask you a few questions?"

Let's go for a deep analysis combo!

Reassurance, Flattery, and Interrogation, all to get this woman to talk freely and honestly about what exactly she may know in the talk to come.

[Llyarden]

The proprietess, as it turns out, is a tengu woman, with slightly bedraggled feathers being the only real sign of her advanced age. She is currently being kept company by a police officer, who occasionally encourages her to take sips of the cup of tea that she grasps in trembling talons. "Oh, y-yes, of course," she says quietly after a moment or two, looking up at Lucien with wide, almost fearful eyes. "I'll help how-however I can, but when can I re...reopen my shop? I j-just want things to go back to normal," she admits, with a downcast expression as if she expects to be scolded for her selfishness - the discovery of the body has obviously shaken her quite badly.

Outside, meanwhile, Newman reemerges from his car bearing a laptop. "R'otak McDewitt, half-orc, 37," he reports. "Married, no children. Pretty easy to look him up - he's got a record. Multiple misdemeanour charges going back ten years for disturbing the peace and unauthorised protests, but he never did time. Got charged with inciting a riot three years ago, but the charges were dropped. Seems he quieted down after that." He tilts the laptop so that Thalgram can also see the screen; the unflattering mugshot at the very least displays the tusks that Thalgram noticed on the corpse. "Apparently he's the leader of a protest group, 'Citizens Against Corruption.' Pretty sure I've arrested some of those guys before," he muses. "Got a last known address."

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien puts on his best airs as he addresses the Tengu women before him, wandering into the store in order to stand at customer side of her clerk's desk. He gives the woman a warm smile.

"You don't have to worry ma'am. We'll be out of your hair as soon as we're done collecting and cataloguing evidence from the scene. It shouldn't take us that much more time to do so. But it might take us even less if you help our investigation by telling us exactly what you saw coming in today before you phoned for the police. Please, don't consider any detail too tangential. Some of these cases are blown wide open by something as simple as a pencil being knocked off a table. And I should know; that's how I cracked my fourth ever case." The pale Elf smiles, doing his absolute best to seem confident and jovial as he attempts to talk the woman down from her frayed and worried high.

[Llyarden]

The tengu woman manages a small smile at Lucien's joke, though it doesn't really reach her eyes. "Well, okay, but I'm...not sure how much help I can be. I closed up at midnight, as normal, I must have left before one? Nothing unusual had happened then. And then, when I got here this morning, at about...half four, I think? And then I was just about to park, when..."

She pauses, and gestures out towards the direction of the body (though, probably fortunately, it can't be seen from her current location). "...I saw that poor person. I...well, I sat in my car for a few minutes, I'm afraid. I know I should have checked if they were alive, but I didn't want to get out and get close to them. The smell was..." She trails off, suppressing a shudder. "Any...anyway, I called the police, and they got here about five minutes later, and they made me move my car down the road. And then Officer Wilmshurst -" she nods to the policewoman who has retreated to the other side of the shop, who gives her an encouraging smile in return "- made me a cup of tea while we waited for you. And then, um, you arrived."

"I, um, didn't see anything unusual with the shop beyond that. Everything is how I left it last night."

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien nods as the Tengu woman gave her story, taking mental notes.

Only about 3 hours and change spent outside of work. She must be carrying some form of sustenance-based magic item. That means she's tied to her work. Which means she'd never jeopardize it or her job. She's almost definitely clean.

"Thank you ma'am, that's very helpful. You needn't feel any shame in how you reacted. As a matter of fact, given the circumstance, you are acting exceedingly bravely." The Elf looks out the window-laden doors for a moment, recalling the final murmurings of the burnt-out corpse.

"I... Don't suppose this place is often witness to any unsavoury types? Not by any direct association, obviously, but do you ever notice ruffians or irreputable people frequenting the general location? Gang members? Career criminals? Anti-establishment types? Nothing against you or your building, of course, but we do have reason to believe that the victim of the crime may have been some form of anti-government protester. Which lines up with the fact that this was some form of criminal-on-criminal assault. After all, you don't tend to kill someone like this over something like a purse-snatching or a drug sale gone wrong." Lucien spoke evenly, and clearly attempting to normalize the horrendous topics through his casual demeanour. A psychological tactic he's found has a moderately soothing effect on shell-shocked witnesses. Speak as though it is not the most traumatic event in their life, and a small part of them will choose to believe you.

He only hoped it would be enough to get another lead out on this case.

[Llyarden]

"Not that I've ever heard of," the tengu woman replies, after a moment's thought. "I mean, I know the store over the road is used by rough sleepers who don't trust the official shelters, but none of them would do anything like this. Although..." She pauses for a moment, obviously considering something, but it seems like Lucien's soothing demeanour has engendered the older woman's trust, because after a moment she looks back to him.

"In the winter, when it's really cold, I sometimes bring anyone over there hot cocoa," she admits. And for the first time since Lucien had spoken to her, there's a confident, almost defiant note in her voice. "I know that they're there illegally, but those people have done nothing wrong. Everyone looks down on them just because of what they are. And...I know what that's like firsthand. Forty years ago, L.A. wasn't the cosmopolitan place it is now." She seems to rouse herself from whatever memory she'd been reliving. "Anyway, if there was anyone there last night, they might have seen what went on. And the regulars there trust me. I might be able to reach out to them, see if anyone knows anything."

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien's eyes light up as the connection is made to possible witnesses to the crime. He smiles kindly and nods in turn at the Tengu woman's story.

"I understand completely, ma'am. I would never fault you for an act of sympathy and kindness." Reaching into his jackets outer breast pocket, the young Elf produces a pen and notepad, and quickly jots down the number for his personal work phone. He tears off the page, folds it, and hands it to the store clerk. "Here's the number for my personal work line. If you manage to get anything of note from the people who squat there, or especially if you find anyone willing to give a direct testimony, please do not hesitate to call." He takes a step back and bows kindly to the Tengu lady. "Thank you very much for your cooperation. With any luck, this can all be over before you know it." Lucien then turns, and makes a polite exit onto the city sidewalk outside.

He turns to speak to Thalgram and Newman. "We have a lead on possible witnesses to the crime. Apparently the shop across the street is known for attracting homeless people looking for shelter in the night. The proprietress of the store apparently has a good relationship with some of the regulars there, and has offered to smooth over relations, and ask them if they saw anything the night of the crime. Now, we could go and investigate ourselves, of course. But something tells me those spurned by the majority of society would be a lot more talkative with a kindly old Tengu woman than they would a pair of government-funded Detectives." Lucien finishes with a wry smile, taking no small pleasure in the honour and illustrious nature of his newly minted career.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Well then, let's hope she can find out something." Thalgram replied. "I think we're done here, then? Newman, get the body shipped to the lab ASAP, I want to know if he was already dead before being cooked."

"I'm heading to the victim's home, want a lift?" he then asked Lucien with a smirk, fully knowing he arrived at the scene on his own.

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien pauses for a moment to consider his Dwarf partner's offer.

"Honestly? It wouldn't be a terrible idea. Assuming your car has the room, I'd much rather keep my bike hidden in there than put several paychecks worth of faith into whatever sort of neighbourhood our victim could afford on a serial anarchist's salary."

[Llyarden]

McDewitt's house is about a twenty minute drive away - normally more like half an hour, but it's still too early for there to be much traffic - during which time Newman phones through to report that the gun found at the scene is registered to the victim.

As Lucien had suspected, the neighbourhood could not exactly be described as upmarket, though there isn't too much in the way of graffiti and vandalism to be seen, and there are a number of cars parked on the street that seem to have survived the night untouched.

The house in question is a bungalow terrace with about two feet of well-maintained front garden. There are some signs of life within, and the door is answered after a couple of minutes of waiting. "About bloody..." The occupant is an orc woman, probably in her mid to late thirties, reasonably tall and slim (by orc standards, that is), who looks rather surprised when she opens the door fully and sees who's there. "...oh. Who the hell are you?"

[Capt. Infinity]

Lucien was not exactly expecting the Orc woman's appearance at the door. But the man was a trained detective, and he wasn't about to let such an upset throw him off his game.

"Hellow miss. My name is Detective Lucien Whitespark. This is my partner, Detective Ironmaster. We've come here to do some basic investigative work in regards to a crime that happened at a local convenience store. And we'd be very thankful if you could help us answer a few questions." He speaks smoothly, trying his best to maintain an air of calm and calculation.

Flattery, Reassurance, and preemptive use of Interrogation. This MIGHT get a little ugly.

[Llyarden]

"You're cops," the orc woman surmises, with a dull, almost resigned tone. "Fine," she sighs. "Come in. What's my husband done now? Something big, I guess, if you have to come knocking at six in the morning."

She doesn't wait to see if you follow before heading back into the house, which is clean and tidy if not exactly lavishly furnished. "Have a seat if you want," she adds, gesturing to a squashy-looking sofa situated in the middle of the living room and moving back to the sole seat at the kitchen table where, it appears, she was eating her breakfast before being interrupted. "Just make it quick; I gotta be at work in an hour." Interestingly, despite having obviously picked up human patterns of speech and speaking Common perfectly fluently, she still has a strongly orcish accent.

[Capt. Infinity]

A wife. Lucien muses to himself. To die so brutally with the knowledge of a wife waiting for him, the man was either very loose with his life inherent worth despite his responsibilities, an accomplice alongside her, or far in over his head when he died. Whatever the case, this entire investigation just got more complicated.

Lucien sat down on the couch, turning to face the Orcish woman, and absently glad that she had already had the good sense to sit down.

"Madam, I'm sorry to say that this isn't in regards to a crime your husband's comitted.
At least, not directly." The pale-skinned Elf takes a deep breath, taking on a rather serious, if soft-edged tone. "This morning, around 5 am, your husband was found dead in an alley beside a convenience store, just down the road from here. At this point in the investigation, we have absolutely no doubt that he was murdered." He refrained from mentioning the immolation of the woman's husband so swiftly. Worried that such a thing, even now, would be too much too quickly.

[Llyarden]

Lucien's revelation gets the orc woman's attention, and she puts her cutlery down with a forceful clatter of plastic. She remains silent for a moment or two, giving the two detectives an intent look. "Well, damn," she says, after a moment. "I thought he was just passed out drunk on someone's couch." She gives a brief, mirthless chuckle. "Wouldn't have been the first time. I was all ready to snap at him when he got back." She looks down at her plate, a faint smile creasing her lips for a moment.

After her first initial shock, though, she seems to be taking matters quite stoically, and looks back up at the two of you, any trace of whatever nostalgia she was experiencing gone. "Guess I ought to introduce myself, then. Varo'k Mar." She puts quite an emphasis on her surname. "A pleasure to meet you, I guess."

She gets up from her table and takes a seat on the television, so she is facing the two of you instead of awkwardly talking over her shoulder. "I'll answer whatever questions you have, but...do you know how he died?"

Orc culture, even in the modern day, has a bit of a militaristic slant with something of an emphasis on personal honour. Every citizen is technically a reservist, trial by combat is a legitimate way of settling criminal or civil cases, and dying 'dishonourably' is almost as dishonorable to the deceased as it is to any responsible parties. Obviously, this is diminished somewhat in the United Human States, but it's not completely absent.

[Capt. Infinity]

"It... He was incinerated. Burnt to a crisp by someone with high level magical ability using Burning Hands as a means to take him out. He was apparently trying to meet... Someone. Who exactly, we don't know yet. Apparently he was following some lead on a way to "overthrow the government", or some such ideals. But, whatever happened, it likely went south, and cost him his life." Lucien looks Varo'k straight in the eyes.

"However he died, my best guess is that he died for what he believed in. All we're trying to figure out is who would have a big enough problem with that to want him dead and gone. Did he have any specific enemies? Did he seem shifty or off before he'd left, or said anything about any big plans?" The young man presses forward. Hoping to unravel some clues along the way.

[Llyarden]

Varo'k's eyes narrow for a few moments as Lucien describes the manner of her husband's death, but beyond that she doesn't really...react in any particular way. "Enemies? Yeah, he had a few." The orc woman gives a brief, mirthless chuckle. "More than a few. He was always getting himself in trouble. I'm sure you know that already. The gods know the police have been here asking questions about something he's done more than once."

She pauses a moment. "But something like this...yeah, I've got a pretty good idea what it was about."

"It started about three years ago, just after he took over the CAC. There was this diviner who worked for the city council, predicting the future for them. Her name was...Vera something, I think. Anyway, R'otak made this big, public proclamation about how she was corrupt - taking payments to pretend that her divinations were giving results different to what they actually were. She denied it, of course, threatened to sue, and then, about two weeks after R'otak made his statement...the police arrested her for corruption. Turned out R'otak had been spot on."

"There were about five more times that happened. It was always the same. R'otak would learn about something like that, make a big song and dance about it, and then a few weeks later the justice department would prove him right. It wasn't much in the grand scheme of things, nothing explosive and earth-changing like he wanted, but it turned him into almost a cult figure with the CAC." She gives another small smile. "He loved the popularity."

"I never wanted to get involved with that ----. I always told him it was way too dangerous. So he never talked to me about it. Until a week ago. He told me he'd found out something big, bigger than anything he'd found before. I don't know what." She looks between the two of you. "That's got to be it, isn't it? Whatever it was he found, that's why he died."

[Hyperbolic sine]

"After hearing this...it's likely, I'm afraid." Thalgram replied, after having worldessly listened until that. "Was there some place he went often to, lately? Or someone he often met?"

[Llyarden]

Varo'k gives a slight shrug. "Not that I know of. I mean, he always went out drinking every Thursday with people from the CAC, but I never got the impression that was anything to do with his...investigations, or whatever they were. That was just him...enjoying his fame." She gives a slight scowl. "I think the bar was called...Flux, or something like that."

"Other than that, you'd need to ask someone at the CAC. They'd know more than me. He never did any of that ---- here."

[Hyperbolic sine]

Thursday night. In other words, the CAC people might be the last ones having seen R'otak alive.

"I see. Do you mind if we search through his stuff? There might be some clue." Thalgram asked, then something occurred to him and he added: "Ah, did he always go around with a gun, or did he start only recently?"

[Llyarden]

"Go ahead." Varo'k gestures to a closed door on the other side of the room. "That's his bedroom. He kept all his stuff there. And yeah, he bought the gun about a year ago. He kept saying he expected someone to come after him." She gives another small, sad smile, before looking over at the clock and muttering an orcish curse. "I gotta phone my boss, let him know I won't be in for work. You don't mind, do you?" She's already picked up the phone by the time she asks.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Nah, go ahead." Thalgram replied, heading for and entering the bedroom.

Let's see what we can find.

Investigation, plus (I think you said we can do this? Or am I imagining things?) Perception [roll0] in place of a spend.

[Llyarden]

The bedroom is, for the most part, none too interesting. It was obviously a study before being a bedroom, as the bed in question is little more than a camp bed that has been set up in one corner, with various bits of the study having been moved around it and a chest of drawers in which McDewitt's clothes are stored. A (locked) gun safe sits on the chest of drawers, so at least McDewitt had some consideration for health and safety.

On the desk, though, is a laptop. It isn't password-protected, but even when you get into it there doesn't seem to be much of interest. There is a calendar and contacts list that presumably is synchronised with McDewitt's phone, which tells you that last night he was indeed intending to go out drinking (the calendar entry is simply labelled 'pub,' and is obviously a repeated entry because it occurs every week.) He doesn't seem to have many contacts - Varo'k is one of them, and you would assume that 'Home' refers to your current location. There are some others, though - "Diupleo," "Seok," "Liat" and "Arendsey."

His web history is also unexceptional, although it turns out the CAC has a website. It's quite slick and professional, but more importantly for your purposes, lists a number of 'success stories' - people the CAC has accused of corruption and other similar crimes and who have subsequently been charged with the same. Aside from proasic and flowery denouncements of the corruption of these individuals, it very helpfully includes links to a number of news articles to prove that the CAC made their comments before the actual indictments, and pictures of the people in question.

Vera Chayka - Female human. Used her status as a diviner for the city council and big businesses to manipulate them into making decisions she was paid to get them to make. Not arrested, but ordered to pay back all the money she made.
Greer Lowry - Female dwarf. A worker for the state fire department who was part of an arson-based insurance scam. Arrested.
Achiel Cadeyrn - Male...aasimar? He looks like a slightly larger and more powerfully built elf, with a curious gem set into his forehead and vibrant eyes, one purple and one green. Whatever he is, he was an aide to a council member who conned information, through various means, out of members of opposing politician's entourages, which he fed back to his boss (who, the page stresses, was unaware of the illegal source of his information). Arrested.
Sara Seymour - Female undine. Insider trading. Arrested.

It's when you're looking at the CAC website that things get interesting. McDewitt has two bookmarks labelled as being the CAC site. The first leads to their homepage, which you found already. The second, though, leads to what seems to be a hidden page on the site. There's no link to it on the main site, and no link back off the page - to find it you'd need to already know it was there. It doesn't have a title, but the address of the page on the server itself is 'bolo.' It lacks the fancy formatting of the main site, but otherwise could be mistaken for another success story until you actually read the text. It refers to a councillor called Patrick Seward - a name you've only just heard about, because he was the council member who received information from Achiel Cadeyrn. The page does exactly the opposite what the success story on the main site took pains to state, and accuses Seward of being not just a part of the plot to gather incriminating evidence on his opponents, but the mastermind.

The laptop itself doesn't have many files on it, and those files that are there aren't particularly relevant (drafts of posters for meetings six months ago and so forth)...but there are a lot of shortcuts and 'recently opened' files that aren't anywhere on the system - a brief examination shows that the files the laptop is looking for were on some external device, like a flash drive, but you can't find such a thing in McDewitt's room, nor was anything like that found at the crime scene.

[Hyperbolic sine]

When he finished searching the PC, Thalgram had a satisfied smirk stamped on his face. That was a pretty good lead he found (or at least looked like it). There was to hope he hadn't brought the USB to the meeting though - but, even then, it was unlikely that someone like R'otak wouldn't have had backups.

"Ma'am, if that's ok with you, I'll need to take this with me." he said, notebook in hand, after returning to the living room. "I also have a couple more questions. Did R'otak give you an USB pen recently, or did you see one he guarded closely?"

[Llyarden]

Varo'k, when you return to the main room, is glaring at the phone she had recently been talking on. Presumably whatever her boss had to say wasn't what she wanted. "Hmm? Oh, sure." It almost seems like she forgot you were there. "Yeah, he had a hard disk he always took everywhere with him. He was paranoid about leaving it behind."

[Hyperbolic sine]

~But now, they're apart...~

"I see." Thalgram replied. "Did you ever hear anything about councillor Seward?"

[Llyarden]

Varo'k pauses for a moment before shaking her head. "I haven't heard of him, no." Given that Seward is a councillor for a different district, it's not that unusual that she wouldn't have, though it does suggest that she, unlike her husband, pays little attention to politics.

Just for the sake of expediency given PbP, if you have other questions it might be worth just putting them all in a spoiler or something instead of going back and forth across posts.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"I see. Alright, thanks for your time. Detective Whitespark, let's go. We have a lead."

Thus, unless Lucien had more questions he wanted to ask, Thalgram would take his leave. He was already at his phone before havin taken three steps.

"Newman? Yes, it's me. I need everything you have about the Cadeyrn case by the time I get there."

[Llyarden]

Sure enough, by the time you return to the DoPI building, Newman has lined up a couple of folders on your desk. Everything the DoPI has on the Cadeyrn case, as it turns out, though, isn't a tremendous amount - it was originally investigated by the FBI, and Newman is still waiting for the files containing the meat of the case to be delivered. Cadeyrn is still in prison (though in the process of making an appeal), and Seward was, as the public part of the CAC website noted, cleared of all charges. What Newman has managed to glean, however, was that the investigation into Cadeyrn and Seward began before the CAC made their proclamation, though it hadn't been made public at that time.

You don't get much chance to examine the files in detail, however, before you are interrupted by Cpt Hatheway, who is accompanied by a crisply-dressed human woman in her mid-thirties with auburn hair. "Detectives," Hatheway greets you, in possibly an even brusquer tone than normal, "this is Assistant District Attorney Loreen Bisset."

"Thank you, Captain." Bisset smiles through perfectly-white teeth. "I take it you two are the detectives investigating the death of R'otak McDewitt, the spokesman of the CAC group?" She doesn't wait for much of an answer before continuing. "I've had a few dealings with the group's members in my time, and...well, to put it bluntly, they're not very keen on the government. When word of this gets out, they'll be screaming about government-sponsored assassinations or some such nonsense. The general public might not pay this case much attention, but it will be very important nonetheless. The point is, you need to make sure that absolutely everything you do is irontight, or the CAC will be crying out about cover-ups. McDewitt was a firebrand, but he kept them under control. I'd appreciate it if you kept me in the loop about this." She neatly places a pair of business cards on top of the Cadeyrn files. "Thank you for your time, gentlemen, Captain." She gives a brisk nod and turns on her heel, stalking back out of the department as abruptly as she'd arrived.

"Er..." Newman stammers, speechless for once. "...what?"

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Captain. Attorney." Thalgram greeted the women with a nod, before suddenly finding himself under a barrage of words. He then remained speechless for a while, staring at Bisset as she made her abrupt exit.

"...right. Anyway, we have a lead. McDewitt was investigating Councillor Seward, and suspected him to actually be the mastermind behind Cadeyrn. He stored everything on a hard drive that he always brought with him, but nothing was found at the scene. So either the murderer has it, or he left it somewhere before the meeting."

He turned to Newman. "We need to reconstruct his movements: get someone to examine camera footage while I read the files on Cadeyrn. His wife said that he always went drinking at a bar caled Flux with his CAC buddies on Thursday nights, that might be a good start.

[Llyarden]

"Keep me up to date," Hatheway...almost barks...before stomping away back into her office.

"On it," Newman nods - and gets about two steps away from his desk before his phone rings. After a brief conversation which consists on his end of nothing more than "yeah?..yeah...okay," he looks back to you. "ME's preliminary examination is done," he reports, before vanishing into the corridors of the station to carry out his task.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Actually, wait, I'll do it myself." Thalgram said, after a cursory look to his desk showed that there was far less material than he was expecting.

...

"Hmm...looks there's a chance he hid the hard disk before the meeting." Unfortunately, though, the necessary footing was unavailable.

He turned to Newman. "What does a poor detective need to do to get access to the damn cameras?"

[Llyarden]

"Behold the wonders of the modern age," Newman replies with something of a resigned smile. "One filled with bureaucratic nightmares and jobsworths who think that the city is safer if we can't track criminals. Might take half an hour, might take most of the day."

Overhearing Thalgram's remark as he walks past, one of the other detectives in the office - a surly, middle-aged human by the name of Griffiths - gives a snort of derision. "Pah, think yourself lucky you have some footage. Try piecing together a burglary that happened on private premises where the damned victim refuses to hand over the footage to 'protect their intellectuall property.' Complete --------."

Lucien, meanwhile, who had slipped away at some point, returns with a folder of his own, lurking in the background until Griffiths stomps away, still muttering angrily. "Well, I believe the ME has solved our problem of the mystery divination," he announces. "Certain telepathic attacks function by overloading the target's mind with vast reams of information, and there are distinctive signs of such an attack on McDewitt." He sounds rather annoyed that he hadn't thought of it himself. "One consolation, I suppose, is that he was apparently unconscious before being incinerated."

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Really? Alright, you win." Thalgram replied to Griffith, shaking his head in disbelief. That kind of uncooperativeness ought to forfeit help from the authorities, in an ideal world.

Then Lucien arrived with his announcement, which confirmed his suspects about McDewitt being turned to charcoal while incapacitated.

"...so they wanted to leave a message. Intimidate the CAC, I imagine."

"We need to find that hard disk."

Can't really think of anything else to do until either the files on Cadeyrn/Seward or the missing footage arrives.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Sometimes Later

Thalgram was in front of a door with a plaque reciting "The Stout Investigator, Discrete Investigations" - or whatever barrier Diupleo employed in keeping unwanted guests from entering his private property.

*RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!*

[Llyarden]

There is, indeed, a door with a plaque on it reading "The Stout Investigator." It's the front door to the building, and it swings open when Thalgram rings. Within is...well, sort of an office. It might, at one point, have started life out as an office, but nearly every surface, including the desk and chair, is littered with various papers, bottles of variously-coloured liquids and all manner of odd-looking contraptions. Thalgram recognises some of them that the police department has stocks of - foci for certain divination spells, tracking powder, and at least a few cards of a Harrow deck - but the purpose of others is not so immediately clear.

'The Stout Investigator,' as it turns out, is a middle-aged halfling with a receding hairline and an elegant moustache, sitting in one of two comfortable-looking chairs by the fire, sipping a cup of what is presumably tea. And he is, indeed, rather portly. "Welcome, welcome!" he beams at you. "Come in, please! Sit down. How might I assist you on this rather dreary day?"

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Thank you, Mr. Diupleo." Thalgram replied, stepping inside ad reaching the chair. It was indeed quite comfortable (compared to those at HQ, at least). "I'm Detective Ironmasters, DoPI. I need to ask a few questions."

"Does the name R'otak McDewitt ring any bell?"

Sense Motive [roll0] to study how he reacts to the name.

[Llyarden]

"Ah, a fellow agent of the law!" Diupleo beams, when Thalgram introduces himself (though whether Diupleo could be considered an agent of the law is debateable). "Of course, I will help however I can!"

"R'otak McDewitt...yes, I can quite safely say I have heard of him. I have worked for him now...ah, is it seven?...times. Nice fellow, if a bit abrasive. Cares a bit too much about his reputation and not enough about getting to the truth of things, between you and me," he adds, in a slightly exaggerated undertone.

Diupleo pauses a moment, taking another sip of his tea - and though his tone is light and jovial, you realise that he's watching you just as you're watching him. He doesn't seem particularly nervous; more concerned than anything else. "What was it you wanted to ask me?"

[Hyperbolic sine]

Not enough about the truth? Hmm..

"Unfortunately, McDewitt was found dead this morning, and it's possible, if not likely, that his murder is related to what he was making you investigate. What can you tell me about that?"

[Llyarden]

Diupleo frowns at Thalgram's revelation, pausing for a moment. "Well, that's frightfully unfortunate." Despite his words, he seems...excited, almost. "Mr McDewitt hired me in his capacity as leader of the Citizens Against Corruption group. They had me on...retainer, if you like. If in the course of my work I discovered anything untoward and brought it to them, they - or more accurately, Mr McDewitt - decided whether it warranted further investigation."

"Recently I did indeed find something - quite sizeable payments from what appeared to be a shell company being directed to an account owned by someone who I happen to know to be a money-launderer for Humanis, the so-called 'political party.'" Diupleo's tone turns to scorn briefly, and perhaps with good reason - Humanis are well known amongst the police department as well. On paper they're a radical political party that believes America should be a predominantly human country instead of allowing equal opportunities to non-humans (and especially xiebuala, who they believe to be little better than infiltrators), but in reality a lot of their members have ties to anti-nonhuman violence. "Of course, there is always a chance that there is no Humanis connection, but given the efforts made to conceal these payments that seems sadly unlikely. I passed the information onto Mr McDewitt, and advised him to not reveal it anyone until I had investigated further. If he is dead, I can only assume he didn't take my advice."

Though it wasn't intentional, Humanis are basically like the Reclaimers/Defiant in Aranth, for an easy reference, except anti-nonhuman (and especially anti-xiebuala) instead of anti-Dreamer, and not quite so well-known to the public.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Ah, yes. Them." As a non-human himself, Thalgram had no simpathy for Humanis. "I see, I see. I will need names and all that, of course."

"Did he ever had you explicitly investigate Councillor Patrick Seward, or something related to him?"

[Llyarden]

"Yes, yes, of course," Diupleo nods. "I have the files...somewhere around here."

"As far as Councillor Seward goes," he continues, carefully placing his cup of tea down and beginning to rummage through a battered filing cabinet that seems to contain far more files than its size would seem to allow, "I did indeed investigate him - multiple times. Mr McDewitt was certainly robust in his beliefs that he was party to, and indeed instigator of, his aide's actions. There was no evidence to support this, but that didn't stop McDewitt from telling everyone at the CAC meetings that Councillor Seward was guilty. Truthfully I could not tell you why. Perhaps his distrust of government figures made the prospect that the councillor was innocent inconceivable. Or perhaps it was merely a better story to pad out his reputation. Either way, he kept paying me to investigate even though I told him time and again there was nothing to find. Aha, here we are." He produces a folder from somewhere within the cabinet and hands it over.

"When you are finished, I would quite like these back, incidentally, Detective," he adds. "I like to keep my filing system in order. Now, is there anything else I can help you with to do with this case? Not meaning to boast, but I am a quite competent investigator in my own right. I'm sure I could be of use to the Department."

[Hyperbolic sine]

Well, looked like Humanis just snatched the main suspect tag from Seward.

"Thank you." Thalgram replied, taking the files and storing them in his extradimensional pocket space. "I'll see that they're brought back to you as soon as we don't need them anymore."

And, well, if the CAC is so distrusting of government agents as it appears to be, we might indeed need your help. I'll let you know if we need something, but in the meantime, he added, taking out a notepad from the same extradimensional space, scribbling down something, ripping out the page and giving it to the halfling, "this is my number, should you need to call."

"So, given his obession with Seward: is blackmailing Humanis into finding evidence of his corruption something you think he could have tried to do?"

[Llyarden]

Diupleo glances at the note for a moment before setting it aside, frowning slightly at Thalgram's next question. "Humanis are not known for their investigative prowess," he remarks. "But forging is not beyond them...would he truly stoop that low?" He seems to be talking to himself more than anything. "If he did, of course, Humanis would certainly not be impressed at being blackmailed - especially not by a half-orc."

"Truthfully, Detective, I couldn't tell you. My relationship with Mr McDewitt was a strictly businesslike one, our shared ethics aside. I had no interest in getting involved with his protests. You might ask some of his colleagues in the CAC about that. Or his brother, of course, though I'm not sure how much they interacted since Seok left the CAC."

[Hyperbolic sine]

"I see, I see. Well, thank you for your time, Mr. Diupleo." Thalgram said, standing up and stretching out a hand towards the halfling. "I'll come back if I'll have any more questions. And keep an eye out for anything suspicious. If it's what you dug up that got McDewitt killed, you might be next."

Once he took his leave and left the house, he then called Newman. "I need you to call for Seok McDewitt and prep a room. Yeah, it's the brother. No, one of the fancy ones, he's not a suspect."