Burned Circle - ThirdWizard's Dresden Files Game

ThirdWizard · Oct 10, 2012

Sandra's house is dark. There's some light coming in through the windows so that you can walk around without bumping into things, but if you want to make out any details, you'll probably need some light. Overall the place looks cluttered but clean. There are clothes strewn across chairs, books, magazines, and opened mail piled up haphazardly, and various sized boxes situated in most corners. However, there seems to be little dust or cobwebs in the home.

The back door entered straight into the living room. There are little to no electronics in here. No TV, no stereo system, no computer. The clock on the wall looks like a windup and the land line is an old rotary. There are several unlit candles situated about the room.

From this vantage point, you can see a door to a closed off kitchen and a hallway that leads to three closed doors.

Shayuri · Oct 10, 2012

Juno looked around, taking in the details.

"Looks like she's no stranger to not having electricity," she comments. "Because she's poor though, or because she doesn't want it?"

She nods at the kitchen door.

"I'm gonna check the kitchen."

Bluedevil · Oct 10, 2012

Malcom looked around the house, taking in the surroundings in the dim light, "Practitioners have problems with electronics, we get along like oil and water. Guess this means we are in the right place and explains the ward, weak but well crafted."

Malcom nodded at Juno's movement towards the kitchen, "I will take the hall then, might want to light a couple of candles so that you don't trip over anything."

Malcom moved down the hall, looking for the bedroom the obvious place to start any investigation about a young lady. People probably would have been surprised, but you could find out more about a person by what they left around their bedroom then what most people could find in the rest of the house. It was a nesting instinct that practitioners tended to have. You always wanted to sit in bed reading books or doing something before you went to sleep.

Malcom was a little surprised that the bedroom appeared neat and orderly unlike his own. It was simply decorated and smaller then he might have expected. A nice floral wallpaper lined the wall with a small number of older pieces of furniture including a single bed. Perhaps this girl had less in common with him then he thought, clean and doesn't need a lot of bed space.

Books were scattered around the room like he expected and Malcom pulled his lighter out of his pocket after checking a few of the jacket pockets and finally locating it and its small blue flame ignited a couple of well placed candles on the dresser and side tables.

ThirdWizard · Oct 12, 2012

Juno steps into the kitchen, a small simple affair. There isn't even a microwave in there, just a tiny fridge, a gas oven and stove top, and a double sink. On the far side of the room is a doorway leading to a laundry room, and by that a small wooden writing desk that looks quite old but somehow still holds together.

This room is similarly kept to the rest of the house, disorderly but fairly clean. There are no dirty dishes in the sink, but opened junk mail and bills are piled on the counters. Clean dishes are piled haphazardly onto a rack by the sink, and the writing desk is covered with loose papers and received letters. It looks like she kept regular correspondence with others through snail-mail, a thing to do when one can't treat email or even a cell phone with any trust.

Opening the fridge, the light flickers on and off, irregularly illuminating the inside. It contains mostly soft drinks and quickly prepared meals like hotdogs, coldcuts, and frozen dinners. Over by the desk, the failing light from outside as the sun sets isn't enough illumination to read any of the letters. However, you can tell that she has kept in regular contact with several different people, and there are some unfinished works of hers still laying about.

Meanwhile in the bedroom, Malcom uses a lighter to look over the various books in Sandra's room. There are several books on spell casting, from beginner's books to books that would give Malcom a run for his money in understanding the concepts within. Most of these more advanced books are on glamours and veils. The beginner books vary in topic from quick elemental based evocations to intricate thaumaturgies.

The room seems fairly plainly decorated. It's hard to tell what reflects her taste and what came with the house or was bought because it was a functional adornment to the room. There is nothing for reading for pleasure, save a few travel-oriented magazines dated back at least a year and a few books of riddles, heavily paged through.

Malcom also finds, in an undecorated leather bound book, what looks to be a personal and research journal in one. Flipping through pages and skimming a few entries, she writes about home and friends, her displeasure with both the Summer and Winter Courts, her distrust of the White Council, and some philosophy into the nature of magic. It also appears that she's been researching magics of her own. The research is fairly intricate in nature - no beginner's work here - and it will take some time to read over to gain any insights.

Bluedevil · Oct 13, 2012

Malcom looked over the material with a small look of surprise on his face. He understood she was a practitioner of some kind, but this was advanced stuff the kid was looking into and some of it was even beyond his gifts.

Her knowledge of spirit appeared to be equal if not better than his own, and combined with her heritage seemed could easily combine to be quite a potent combination.

Well potent and dangerous. With her natural gifts either court would benefit from her recruitment or see her as a potential danger. To make matters worse, any number of demons, neutral Faye, or other creatures might have been attracted by her work. There didn't seem to be any indication she was breaking the laws of magic, but there was also much of her texts that were beyond a simple 'once over' from a wizard's eyes.

He flipped through the last few pages of the small leather tome containing her personal notes. If she had left of her own volition, she wouldn't have left this.

Malcom closed the book and slid it into his jacket pocket. It still might contain clues with a bit of research and he was unwilling to simply discard it.

Malcom's heavy bootsteps echoed through the house as he left her bedroom and decided to see what was behind the other doors. He tried the second door and found it firmly locked. A locked room in an abandoned house? Intriguing.

Malcom called down the hall to Juno, "Cleared the bedroom but got another locked door here. I could use magic, but perhaps you have something more useful?"

Malcom left the door and wandered into the bathroom. Medicine cabinet might tell him a bit about their quarry.

Shayuri · Oct 14, 2012

"Maybe," she replies. "She keeps her mail in here."

Juno glanced at the answering machine, thumbing the 'Play' button if it's blinking or indicating there's messages. As it plays she fishes out her keys. There's a little LED flashlight fob on the keychain. It's meant to help find the car lock in the dark, but held up close it sheds a little light on those letters.

She looks for dates on them, looking for something close to the time of her disappearance.

ThirdWizard · Oct 17, 2012

Malcom looks through the bathroom. Tub and toilet are both clean. Sink is also clean, but piled up next to it are mounds of makeup and facial cleansers. Apparently changeling natural beauty has its limits. The medicine cabinet opens with a groan, and inside are only over the counter medicines: NyQuil and DayQuil, and other various usual suspects. Malcom leans over and checks the trash can, a tiny bucket lined with a plastic bag from the local Wal-Mart. The only thing in there are two boxes of Extra Strength Tylenol and the accompanying empty plastic bottles. Looking back through the medicine closet, there is a lack of any pain killers in there.

Juno flicks the flashlight on and flips through the piles of letters. The newest stamped envelope, close to the top of the pile, comes from an address on Atlanta's Alabama Street in Downtown. It looks like it arrived sometime late last week. There isn't a name on it, but there is a return address. Looking through the pile a bit more, it looks like whoever sent the letter has been in contact with her quite a bit over the last few months. There are also several letters from Michelle and someone by the name of Robert Mills, although nothing postmarked less than two weeks ago. It seems Mr. Mills's correspondence was sporadic, though. Other than those, there is little contact with anyone else for more than one or two letters, though it does seem that she received several one offs from about a dozen or so people.

Bluedevil · Oct 17, 2012

Malcom turned one of the pill bottles over in his hand before dropping it back in the waste basket. Magic had its costs, one of which was mental strain. He could still slightly feel fatigue creeping on the back of his mind from the spell he worked earlier.

He shook the feeling lose, empathy with this young lady wasn't going to make his job any easier, and life as a warden had trained him to keep a distance from the mages that he was investigating. It was much harder to go after someone for breaking the laws when you liked them.

Malcom felt his jaw tighten at the though and he found it hard to stand. He leaned forward over the sink, his eyes drifting up to the mirror which clearly displayed the man before him. Disgust washed over him for an instant, at the idea of what he might have to do and what his presence represented to much of the magical community. She might have run just at the sight of him. Warden was probably a curse in her vocabulary, not a word of comfort.

He turned the tap on with a quick motion, letting the water run over his hand before splashing it across his face. The Cool splash brought him back to the moment.

"Cant assume she broke the law, only that she had some skill. This is a friends case, not a warden assignment. Get a grip and get it done." Malcom's words came out in a whisper as he spoke to himself in the mirror and took a moment to compose himself.

Shayuri · Oct 23, 2012

ThirdWizard said:
Juno flicks the flashlight on and flips through the piles of letters. The newest stamped envelope, close to the top of the pile, comes from an address on Atlanta's Alabama Street in Downtown. It looks like it arrived sometime late last week. There isn't a name on it, but there is a return address. Looking through the pile a bit more, it looks like whoever sent the letter has been in contact with her quite a bit over the last few months. There are also several letters from Michelle and someone by the name of Robert Mills, although nothing postmarked less than two weeks ago. It seems Mr. Mills's correspondence was sporadic, though. Other than those, there is little contact with anyone else for more than one or two letters, though it does seem that she received several one offs from about a dozen or so people.

Juno fishes out her phone and puts the return address from that top letter into it. She puts a little note entry in about Robert Mills, and the date of his last missive, in as well. Lots of letters...but what else did you do when you couldn't email and even phones were unreliable.

No wonder magicians usually had 'old world' attitudes. They were quite literally stuck in the past.

"Okay," she called as she gave the kitchen one last once-over, looking for anything that seemed out of place. "I think we've got what we're going to get for now. Anything useful in the bedroom?"

She came out of the kitchen and looked over towards the hall. "Malcolm?"

Bluedevil · Oct 23, 2012

Malcom quickly pulled himself together and exited the bathroom, "Found a couple of things: Journal and Pain meds."

Malcom moved down the hall smoothly towards the locked door, "Though I still think you should take a look at the locked room before we head out." He smiled boyishly, "Cause locked doors usually beg to be opened by investigators."