Chapter 2: The Plot Thickens...
Session 8 (3-11-21):
Our time of more mundane work came to an end on the first day of summer. Inspector Delft called us to his office and told us he had a case of the utmost importance. Apparently a young woman had been killed at the Danoran Embassy. Details were sketchy but apparently the woman had “flown” nearly forty feet from a fourth floor window all the way to the fence around the compound and had been impaled on the fence’s spikes. What with our interest in Gale and all, Delft thought we might be the ones to take on this mission.
The catch was her body was half on Risuri soil and half on Danoran… meaning this was going to be a tricky international incident.
We took an RHC cutter (which I don’t think any of us knew we had access to) and sailed quickly up to the North Shore and the embassy. When we arrived, city police had secured the scene… kind of… The body had been quickly cleaned up by the Danorans which was very annoying but, nothing to do about it now. The officer on the scene gave a quick attempt at trying to remain involved but, obviously, had no real interest and gladly handed the case over to us after satisfying his desire to look tough before slinking off.
We quickly met with the Chief Security Officer of the Embassy named Julian LeBrix. He gave us some kind of excuse for why the body was moved from the scene of the crime but it was weak and made me feel he was lying to us about something or, worst case scenario, he was covering up for something or someone…
He took us inside and explained the woman who’d been killed was named Nilasa Hume. She’d been dating one of the embassy’s security guard for a few months and had been inside a few times. She’d brought food this morning (we later found out it was laced with fey pepper) and the chief claimed she’d been caught trying to steal valuables.
His story was that he followed her upstairs alone, caught her in the act of stealing silver and gold items, and tried to confront her. He said she ran, he shot her once in the leg and then a second time in the back as she was diving through the window. He said she literally flew in the air before plummeting down and impaling herself on the fence. He said he then saw a man in a grey cloak and goatee run up, take something from her and then flee the scene.
The story was mostly believable but there was still something a bit off. We were then taken to the body to inspect it and meet her boyfriend.
Sylvia distracted the grieving boyfriend while Vic and I gave the body a good look. I found a bail record that said she’d recently been bailed out by a “Heward Sechem.” There was also a receipt for several drams of some unknown material that totaled almost 2500 GP. On the back, it said, Silvo, Deorn Feldman, family wharf.
There was also a mostly empty potion vial with just a few drops of liquid left inside. Vic discovered that her bullet wounds… no longer had bullets in them!? The chief didn’t know anything about that and neither did the boyfriend. Also, just as strange, her face had four… claw marks? And, these marks looked like they’d been healed. Vic said she even thought they had been healed post mortem. Not sure what to make of that one.
Leaving the body, we ran into a very attractive woman named Raz Truffaut. Interestingly, Bellum seemed to have a VERY familiar relationship with her. She told us Ms. Hume had talked to a doctor who was at the embassy for immigration purposes. She said it almost looked like she handed something to him after whispering to him. Bell asked for his file which, fortunately, Raz agreed to give us.
When we looked at the file… he looked very much like the description of the man who took something off the body after it hit the fence. His name was Dr. Von Recklinghausen and he’d just become our primary suspect.
We searched the alley where bloody footprints led us to near the scene. We found evidence of a scuffle as well as a sheet of paper that had come from the embassy. It was a writ of sale for a barge but it was missing the name. We later spent a little too much time tracking down this specific barge as opposed to realizing the important thing she stole could simply have been another document that wasn’t dropped.
But, while in the alley, a coach driver came up to us and said someone had stiffed him on a fare and he described Von Recklinghausen almost perfectly. We asked him to take us to the location which turned out to be a sort of bed and breakfast.
When we went in, we were shocked to find out that another person posing (or maybe not posing) as a police officer by the name of Porter had come asking after the doctor only 45 minutes or so ago. We searched the doctor’s room and found only a stained towel that smelled up blood, grease, and ash.
We moved to a reference on Von Recklinghausen’s immigration form… another doctor in the area. He knew him but it had been some time ago. Frustratingly, Officer Porter had already beat us here as well.
Before heading to his second reference, we decided to go back to the Embassy one more time and talk to the chief inspector and try to get him to tell us more about what he was obviously hiding. Long story short… he didn’t comply.
The second reference on his form was a female professor at Pardright University. We made our way down to her and when we confronted her, she was lying about the last time she’d seen him. She wouldn’t say more though no matter how much we pressed and so I made the call to disguise myself and follow her while the others trailed behind me.
It wasn’t too hard tailing her to her apartment. But, when I followed her up the stairs to her floor, I had something behind me… someone else was following her! I saw a patch of shadow near the stairwell. I ran to her door and banged asking her to let me in… which she didn’t and I can’t blame her.
A couple of pistol shots rang out near me but I was able to deflect them away. The enemy tried to run away down the stairs but my companions were there waiting on it. I opened the professor’s door and tried to talk her down but she was quite frightened. Because of that, I didn’t get down into the fight with the rest of the team.
What they described later was pretty frightening. This man… creature… was wreathed in shadows and could teleport through them in addition to moving very fast. They dealt some incredible blows to him but he unfortunately escaped before they could bring him down.
Our frightened professor agreed to come back to the RHC for protection. She said she’d seen Von Recklinghausen the night before but that he hadn’t talked to her about any of what happened today. She said he seemed normal.
As we made our way back to the RHC for the evening, we began to put the pieces together. Von Recklinghausen was at the wrong place at the wrong time… probably… maybe? Hume was able to get him to go out to the alley and wait for her before she died. He took whatever she told him to take from her body but ran into this shadow man? Officer Porter? Same person? This is where they had a scuffle and the doctor is on the run now.
We’ve got to find Von Recklinghausen… We’ve got to learn more about this woman. In the morning we’re going to need to track down this individual who bailed her out of jail as well as the bar where she met our unsuspecting guard who let her into the embassy. We’ve got to make this all happen quick...