The Sharn Inquisitive Episode 1: The harder they fall

[mcnathan80]

The people have dispersed leaving the streets empty save for you and the body. Looking at the ID gives you a name and a face, with an address to follow up on. He was just a kid, probably no more than 19 years old, and a student to boot with his whole life ahead of him. How could something like this happen? Now all that's left to do here is begin the unsavory process of examining the dead body.

[sblock=Reech, and Zenthil]Working together you begin to ferret out clues concerning young master Haris's demise. Zenthil watches as Reech begins to shift it's appearance to match Haris and even more unnerving, begins to develope horrible wounds all over it's body and face. Soon after Reech begins to lay on the ground in an attempt to mirror the scene of the crime. Unfortunately, there is too much blood, and contamination from the onlookers to deduce much from the scene. If the body had fallen 50 feet, perhaps it could have been noted if he were pushed, or even how he landed. But this is Sharn, and the possibility of the body falling over mile before hitting ground is very likely, the body is too damaged, and extensive bouncing probably occured. However, searching body reveals this.[sblock]

[/sblock] Two rings, one ornate, the other, sort of plain are on Haris's right hand. No other information can be deduced[/sblock]

[sblock=Kalserath]While sending your mindlink to Anders you are greeted with that familiar sensation of distilled chaos, and terror. You remember a time when you were a child and fell in a vat of congealed cooking grease, the feeling is not unlike that. After your message you turn to the blood-soaked girl. "Are you okay?" you ask, putting a hand on her shoulder. At your touch she immediately lets out a blood curdling shriek -like the one you heard in the office- and recoils from you. 'So much blood, so much blood! Oh gods, he landed right in front of me!! I can't get it off!!'. You see her look at you, or rather through you as she mumbles to herself and rocks gently back and forth cradling her knees.[/sblock]

[Sblock=Anders]You feel a smug sense of confidence as the goblin blanches at your statement, and then you walk towards the girl. On the way you hear her shriek, and begin babbling something to Kalserath. Upon arrival you see she's almost catatonic, and in a state of emotional shock. Your read thoughts power is still active so you turn it on her, and her the jumbled mass of terror that is her mind. In the midst of the confusion, you can pick out few coherant thoughts: 'He died in front of me, there was no warning why didn't he scream? I'll never be clean, get it off, the blood, oh gods the blood!'. That is all you discern before her mind descends into garbled madness.[/sblock]

[sblock=Pohl]After handing the coin to the goblin, Anders walks up and calmly says 'the goblin is trying to deceive you' then he cocks his head and calmly walks away. The goblin stares at you on horror and mouths "how?" before painting a fake smile on his face, "Surely I wouldn't dream of cheating an heir of House Tharashk, there is a misunderstanding. Here, take the coin. See I'm no deceiver, please believe me." As he slowly begins backing away.[/sblock]

[sblock=ooc]Okay guys its the holiday and I'm gonna be out of town for a while. The posting will be pretty infrequent until I get back on the 1st. I'll do my best to get a couple posts in till then. In the mean time though have a happy holiday and I'll catch you all later, when you catch the perpitrator.

[sblock=Bento]the site is invisiblecastle.com it's an online dice rolling program just roll the dice then copy the url and paste it on the post in a wrapped url code and it will link me to the roll itself, its pretty easy once you get the hang of it[/sblock][/sblock]

 

[mcnathan80]

[sblock=ooc]Hey guys, I wasn't saying that I won't be posting at all, just that it's a little spotty. I've noticed no one has posted in almost a week. Is everything okay. Well, if nothing else this is a bump to get us back up in the boards. Happy Thanksgiving[/sblock]

 

[Enforcer]

As the blood-drenched girl freaks out uncontrollably, Kalserath holds her close and whispers gentle words meant to console her.

"It's not your fault. You've done nothing wrong. Everything will be okay once we've gotten you cleaned up. There was nothing anyone could do to help him. My friends and I are going to bring the person responsible to justice, don't worry."

[sblock=ooc]Diplomacy Check (-1 Cha, +2 racial=+1 bonus: Diplomacy Check to console blood-soaked girl. (1d20+1=14)[/sblock]

 

[stonegod]

Anders cocks his head to the side again, as if looking at something curious as the woman breaks down. It was a feeling somewhat familiar to him, though such madness he kept at bay.

Usually.

Not finding anything he can help on there, the young man makes his way over to the body. Dead things always looked peaceful to him, even when destroyed and mutilated like this one was. At least it did not suffer any more.

As the other two continued to investigate the body, Anders looked for something he could use his particular talents on. "Those rings. I can read them. Are you done with them?"

 

[Cthulhudrew]

After the crowd starts to lose interest and the rain begins to pick up, Zenthil walks over to the prone Reech. "So... was it death by sudden impact or something completely different?"

Still lying next to the body, Reech replies, "It would seem that the cause of death is much as it appears." Its limbs twitch grotesquely as it works through possible crime scene combinations. "I do not believe there is much else the physical state of this body can tell us at the moment."

As the other two continued to investigate the body, Anders looked for something he could use his particular talents on. "Those rings. I can read them. Are you done with them?"

Reech's now mangled face turns at an unnatural angle towards Anders. "As you would. The ring on the body's smallest digit seems somewhat unusual, do you not agree?"

 

[stonegod]

The strange man picks up the ring and then opens his eyes widely, lost in concentration. Speak to me. Tell me your secrets...

OOC: object reading

 

[Mr_Spicoli]

"Perchance a coincidence that this event happens right at the doorstep of an investigation outfit? The chances are slim, but that is still conjecture. Perhaps there is reason that this happened so close to our office, perhaps not.

Turning to examine the rings more closely, Zade speaks as Anders tries his best to discern information about it. "The plainer ring looks to be a wedding band possibly. It may have an inscription including the jeweller. That might not be alltogether to useful, but might be worth paying them a visit to gleen any more information about this person.

The other ring is interesting in its design, perhaps if not one of us a jeweler can distinguish any useful characteristics as to its design and symbol? Hmm, now where have I seen a ring like that if ever?"

Zade concentrates as he considers the make and design of both rings.


(OOC: plain ring appraise check=14

garish ring appraise check=11

 

[mcnathan80]

Turning their attention to the rings found on Haris' fingers Anders and Zade try to discern any relevent information about their owner from them. Meanwhile, Kalserath attempts to console a horrified witness of the crime scene. As this takes place, Reech and Zenthil conclude their studies of the body. Off to the side Pohl can be seen conversing with a city goblin.

[sblock=Zade][sblock]I like to roll in secret for certain checks, because I don't like the metagaming issues involved in knowing how well you rolled (Wow, he must be telling the truth, I rolled a 19 on sense motive) see where a problem can develope? Suffice to say: appraise is one of those rolls. However, it is duly noted that you wish to appraise the rings and using my rolls you discern the following[/sblock] You gingerly pluck the rings off the victem's fingers and inspect them trying to assess worth or craftsmen. You estimate the plain ring at about 50 Galifar's, and the ornate (gaudy) ring at about 1200 Galifar's the crafters of the rings cannot be identified at this time. After inspecting the rings you casually toss them to Anders who regards you with those odd pupilless eyes.[/sblock]

[sblock=Kalserath]As you cradle the near catatonic girl in your arms you are assaulted with waves of empathyfrom your Quori spirit. You are treated to visions of Serath cradling a dying deva in his arms, and for a brief moment you feel as if you are doing the same thing. Soon the feeling passes and you are aware of the girl who has recovered somewhat from her stupor and is crying softly against your chest[/sblock]

[sblock=Anders][sblock]Depending on how long you study the ring (you get a total of 30 minutes) you can determine more about the victem and each successful owner. I'll assume you are scanning the ornate ring, and are scanning until you have everyone or you run out of time, if I am incorrect just let me know and I'll edit the post[/sblock] You tightly grasp the ring in your and and those around you can just barely hear a low hum coming from your direction. A part of your mind that normally stays silent suddenly awakens and you are overwhelmed with blackness and an undeniable feeling of wrongness that passes as quickly as it appeared as the minutes tick by you begin to know the last owner of this ring. Human .... Male ..... 23 years old ..... Neutral .... Taken off the dead body of previous owner, freely given to you. It takes you a second to realize that you are sensing Zadrius. Cursing the man under your breath for the wasted time you return your attention to the ring. Human .... Male .... 19 years old .... Neutral .... Given as a gift by his parents, lost upon death .... ;Human ..... Male ..... 52 years old .... Neutral ..... Bought from previous owner, given freely to last owner; .... Changeling ..... Female .... 35 years old .... Chaotic Neutral .... Taken from previous owner, lost upon sale to last owner; .... Human .... Male .... 28 years old .... Neutral Evil .... Taken from previous owners home, lost upon death....; Human..... Female..... 43 years old.... Neutral.... Bought from previous owner, taken by last owner. Suddenly you snap out of your daze and become aware that you've been in a trance for the last half hour. The blackness of your subconscious receeds to the back of your mind, but you still feel the tendrils of chaos around your mind as you wonder not for the first time 'what am I?'[/sblock]

[sblock=Reech]You begin to pull yourself back together and look at Anders for a moment as the odd man tunes out of the world 'Now what?' you think to yourself.[/sblock]

 

[stonegod]

Anders wide open eyes stare at nothing... unblinking... for a quite a long time. Its... unsettling.

OOC: Anders is out of it for a half-hour folks. Have fun not getting yourselves killed in the meantime.

 

[DEFCON 1]

"Surely I wouldn't dream of cheating an heir of House Tharashk, there is a misunderstanding. Here, take the coin. See I'm no deceiver, please believe me."

Pohl looks down at the grubby little blighter, completely aghast that he'd try to put one past a man of his stature. Pohl's eyes narrow and he reaches down and grabs the goblin by the throat. Not one to normally make threats, he nonetheless angers at the thought that his generous offer of an ENTIRE COPPER piece would be thrown back in his face! Who does this cretin think he is?!?

He pulls the goblin to him by the neck, leans down to look into his eyes and growls "Listen here, you despicable little turd! A person's life has just ended and you're trying to profit from it! If you have any information about this accident, you tell it to me now or else I'll run you in so fast you'd think the Daughters Of Sora Kell were after you! Do you hear me?!?" (Intimidate check: 20)