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Santiago - FP: 1 "Poor guy. Didn't go out on style, exactly." Santiago said, inspecting the scene. "Ah well, not everybody gets a graceful exit from this world. Lesse...I'm gonna take a look at the roof. You guys make sure he's not holding on to the clue pointing us to his killer while I get up there." In a matter of moments, Santiago was hovering in place above the roof of the arcology. With a mental order, the White light began running scans of the area. "Tell me what it is you're hiding. I've got internet arguments to win back home." He murmured. Rolling Investigation to analyze the roof. Got a result of +/+/, or 7, from Krysmbot.
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Apr 26, 2013 16:32
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Zhang San FP:4 Zhang San dispassionately evaluates the body, then snaps on a pair of sterile gloves and gets to work searching it. The others tend to let him do this- he has the most direct experience with murder scenes of this type.. admittedly because he caused them (and not all of them know that), but that's not the point. He then proceeds to evaluate the rest of the area, starting from the body and working his way out. "Hm." Rolled Burglary with stunt and got a 0, rerolled to get +3. Assigning aspect "Assassin's Insight" to the scene. What do I find in his pockets, and what insight is it that I share with the group?
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Apr 26, 2013 16:34
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Maynard FP: 5 The police and then OOI containment lines let him through when he flashes his ARID, and he mentions to some of the cops to keep video tabs on the crowd - if this is a murder case, the killer could've come back to the scene. While he's searched more than a few bodies in his career, he leaves San to this one, as his own talents are better applied on the roof. He makes his way into the building and away from the gawkers and troopers. One short lift ride later, then through the emergency door and he's out by the ritual site and a little more in his element. "So what do we have here," he mutters, then takes a sip of tea while surveying the scene. This would've been where Lin came out. So, if he was the one who drew the circle he was probably the one who set up the projector, which means the laptop would be his, or stolen. Then he'd have drawn the circle over here, and fell from there... Maynard would check the laptop right away, but he knows how paranoid sorcerers are about their porn or whatever else they don't want people to see. Who knows what kind of hosed up traps there could be on there - one time when he was working on a serial murder case, a rookie CSA took a look at the wizard suspect's PC and ended up vomiting cockroaches for half an hour. Of course, there's one easy way to find out whether Lin drew the circle. He posts on the team's AR noticeboard - San should've done the preliminary check on the corpse now, and Santiago's been up in the air long enough to have at least some data on the rooftop. [MSong: Does Lin have chalk on his fingers/hands/cuffs? Any in his pockets? Any personal electronics that might have the decryption for his calls?] [MSong: Santiago, what do you see?] Going up and checking out the rooftop: 4dF+5 6 (using Occult Profiling/Investigation to look for general clues - signs of a possible fight, any signs of anomalous gravity being exerted on anything on the roof, anything else that might be important). I'm also checking the circle - now that he's up close, does he have any better idea as to what they were trying to draw in? Are any of the non-standard runes for this ritual associated with any creatures he's aware of? Also, telling the cops to keep a discreet eye on the crowd and get us some video footage if they can.
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Apr 27, 2013 01:10
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Aidan Frost: FP 2 Aidan stepped onto the crime scene with a scowl and a flash of his badge. He attracted a few looks of his own with his out of place outfit. He gave an agitated glance to the crowd, restrained mostly by the fact that they were kept from breaching the crime scene. Well, that and the bomb inside his chest, but who's keeping track? Aidan didn't even stop to look at anything before heading directly to the rooftop. He felt like he needed to get to the scene before the wizards went and messed things up even more. Upon seeing the laptop and circle still there, he brought his palm to his face for a moment and started to walk in. He was just about to push one of the keys on the keyboard before realizing just how horrible of an idea that was. This was a wizard he was dealing with, you can't simply stumble into the affairs of wizards. Especially when those affairs might involve terrible dating sims and gigabytes of biblical getting down. He had to disarm it somehow if he wanted to get the dirty little secrets inside. The arcane related ones, not those other kinds. First things first, getting a cigarette and lighting it up to the protest of a nearby probationary officer. Aidan thought about creating a little ritual to sweep away all the little magical mouse traps this guy had set, but then he thought about the tedium that went with it. To be honest, with the incident with the old lady and hearing Santiago hum "Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round and 'Round" the whole trip over, he didn't want to deal with tedium. He wanted results, he wanted them now, and he wanted to ideally throw something to get those results. Suddenly, like the apple hitting Sir Isaac Newton's head, he found how to do all of those at once. A little squirrel was minding its own business, climbing up one of the few trees that manage to exist past the Rains and the omnipresent asphalt. It was soon warped through a mathematically impossible field that its mind could not possibly comprehend, landing in Aidan's waiting hand. With a quick toss, the squirrel went head-first towards the computer. Its life was unceremoniously ended by a sudden crack of energy, frying the poor rodent with prejudice. Without even bothering to look at the rodent, or the shocked probationary officer behind him, Aidan fired off a couple of posts on the AR noticeboard. pre:TTouchdown: Yo Zhang, when youre done touching the dead guy come up and hack the gibson or whatever TTouchdown: Wanna figure out whats in his computer TTouchdown: Wait dammit who changed my ar name again Use of Thaumaturgy to disarm the computer. Ritual process: 1) Light up cigarette. 2) Decide a proper ritual would take too long. 3) Grab squirrel and toss it. 4) It's Zhang San's problem now. In other news, flipping on The Sight to look at the area, using I guess Investigation to read all these weird auras and crap.
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Apr 27, 2013 08:06
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Tower Roof The ritual was being performed on one of the arcology tower rooftops. It's like most of the rooftops all around it - pretty bland, save for the obligatory air conditioning and antennae and other standard rooftop features, and accessible by a stairwell door and an elevator for people getting here from the lower levels. Sometimes people erect makeshift sheds and things up here to have parties in or live off the grid, but this particular roof is mostly just lined with old, empty boxes. It was probably chosen for its lack of anything interesting that would draw someone here mid-ritual, and its distance from any rooftop parks or swimming pools or other amenities. Santiago From above, Santiago starts noticing patterns! The stairwell door is hanging open, some of the crates are scattered, and from this angle Santiago can see patterns. It looks a lot like someone (or something) barged in through the stairs, started a fight which led to the edge somehow, and Mr. Lin decided to go play with gravity for a while. Or something, anyway. He definitely wasn't alone. There are bloodstains here and there - some of them are near the circle and some are off by crates near the entrance, which would suggest two people had some kind of ranged-weapon fight. There was a melee confrontation around the circle too, though; either this dude was fast or there was more than one intruder. Maynard A lot of crates have been scattered or nudged off to the sides. Unless there were a lot of people here who were simultaneously fighting Mr Lin while pushing empty boxes around, there's some magic at work! If it was "anomalous gravity", it would be gravity deciding to work in the wrong direction - a lot of rooftop junk between the circle and the edge Lin fell off seems to have dragged itself that way and to the sides a little. Behind the set of bloodstains by the circle, an AC unit has been scorched by some kind of line - could be a magical blast that tore across it. It certainly doesn't look very accurate. Aidan Frost Yep, that sure is a ward disabling! It's gone now. Aidan can see traces of magic hanging in the air. People were firing blasts of magical energy for sure - one of them at Lin, which ended in the scorch mark on the wall, and most of them from him. The guy was a few minutes into an hour-long ritual and stopped to take pot shots at two targets. In this sight, only seeing the magical effects people leave behind and not the people themselves, the second intruder was like a floating point of force that pushed things around. The effects are fading, but Aidan can tell this intruder tossed Lin off the side and lingered at the bloodstains before leaping away. Zhang San Lin's hands are stained with chalk. There's some chalk in his pockets too, if that matters. There's also a wallet with ID and an apartment keycard in it and a smartphone (it cracked on impact, but that might not stop Zhang!). Examining his head is pretty much a lost cause but there are signs he suffered a heavy blow to the neck before he fell. When you're fighting a mage it's not uncommon to go for the next to stop them chanting, though. Marcus Nearby cameras suggest some people gathered around to see if he was dead before everyone decided to just back away and stare at it. One guy took his wallet but he only took a credit chip. Stay classy, Shanghai!
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Apr 27, 2013 08:42
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Zhang San FP:4 Zhang looks at the little message popup and sighs. "Aidan. You don't have to use text anymore, they support full voice and video," he mutters to himself, but then realizes he doesn't really want to hear him anyway and responds in kind. pre:Gu4nYu: be right there Gu4nYu: just protecting my neck Gu4nYu: someone seems to have snapped/crushed his so hed stop talking While he sits in the elevator he takes out the smartphone and has his AR rig remote into it. Within a few moments he's in. "Name and birthday, really? How are people still this dumb in the 22nd century..." As the phone's memory is dumped to a virtual PhoneSim partition his HUD buzzes as the man's now dewarded computer comes into range. He could hack it from he- "Same password again?! SERIOUSLY?!" Ah, whatever. Actually, he could do something from here... Zhang smiles a little and runs a program. The computer suddenly logs in and immediately a caricature of Aidan springs up. "I AM A BIG JERK WHO DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO COMPUTER" it displays, and begins to do a ridiculous little dance. pre:Gu4nYu: I think I got it Gu4nYu: RTFM, motherfucker to assign "Computer Moron" to the scene K Prime fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Apr 27, 2013 |
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Apr 27, 2013 14:02
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Maynard FP: 5 A ritual that takes time to complete, seclusion from civilians and other observation, a hasty fight. The roof is relatively open, the crates are pushed toward the side Lin fell from, and he didn't end up too close to the building. So he was conducting the ritual up here, got attacked, a fireball flew wide... considering the trajectory Lin couldn't have been the one who shot it. That sort of fireball doesn't leave bleeding wounds, so these bloodstains might be the assailant's. Whatever shifted the crates was very different in effect to the fireball, could be multiple attackers were up here. Then Lin was pushed over the edge by whatever compelling force shifted the rest of this junk. He could've been stunned at some point, explaining the first few seconds of the video. As for the assailants' course of actions - if there are wards at his home, or they didn't know where he lived, they would've tried attacking him elsewhere. He had this ritual planned though, and if they had him under close surveillance they might've known and laid in wait - there's enough cover here to ambush someone. Maybe they were pursuing or hunting him, and maybe he knew about that, and maybe that was what he was going to ask about with the ritual, but that's a lot of maybes. In any case, Lin fought back, it wouldn't have been that easy to kill him alone. So there were probably multiple assailants - one distracted or disabled him, the other killed him. Professional, or cunning at least. San's messages pop up and things shift into focus a little more. They went for the neck - they knew what they were doing. Almost certainly professionals. Considering the bank balance that hasn't been accounted for, maybe he was working with the triads after all, or getting paid by them at least, and when he did something to piss them off they sent some hitmen who tracked him here. pre:MSong: Aidan there is only one likely suspect you don't need my help with this one
MSong: in any case, suspect 1 is a sorcerer, could be injured/bleeding.
Suspect 2 has wind/gravity/kinetic control or similar, could also be injured/bleeding.
Suspect 2 could be a servitor of Ithaqua or a poltergeist or similar.
Could be the same person as suspect 1 but unlikely.
MSong: can we get security footage of the entrance? Suspect/s arrived on the roof mid-ritual. Probably came here shortly before.
Bank transaction details on the unexpected money would also be good - could be triad fronts sending money through him.Asking for recent security footage of entrances to the building. Also asking San and/or Zhong to check out the transactions in more detail, seeing if they can trace any odd transactions to specific sources.
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Apr 27, 2013 16:26
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 This laptop has a pretty fancy custom UI. Just a glance at it tells you it's loaded with magical apps - though Zhang San would rightly suspect they're the kind of apps set up by an actual cybermancer that plebes don't need to know poo poo about besides which button makes them go. While you poke at it, the onsite forensics officer wanders back from the vending machine downstairs and stares at the newcomers. Li Feiyun  Aspects: OOI Forensic Investigator; Perfectly Justified Paranoia; Speak Softly and Carry a Mean Glare Li Feiyun is weird. Not funny weird, like those people who work with dead bodies in crime shows. Word is the young prodigy had been in some bad situations even before the OOI picked her up, and she refuses to even go to work without a gas mask. She'd probably wear it all the time if she didn't need to lower it to chug more soda and painkillers. Now that the OOI has been here for a while, the scanners she has running AR displays of local environmental data haven't detected anything poisonous and nobody's vomited their lungs up or anything, she's deigned to join you in the land of unfiltered air breathing. And she has a question to ask! "The gently caress killed a squirrel up here?" Gonna catch some Zs, I'll answer more questions in the morning!
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Apr 27, 2013 16:51
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Maynard FP: 5 Maynard looks up from the the little digital dancing Aidan: "Only the latest in Ashcroft Foundation precision anti-magic. Were you able to get an ID from any of the bloodstains?"
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Apr 27, 2013 22:47
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Marcus FP:4 "Miss Feiyun, glad to see you were able to join us in breathing the fresh air or justice tonight, do we know roughly how much blood there is scattered around the scene... should we be assuming our assailant or assailant's may be in need of medical attention?"
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Apr 28, 2013 01:51
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Zhang San FP:4 Zhang San acknowledges Maynard. "I'll see what I can do once I get the full dump scanned. Don't want to fry myself on some sort of memetic bomb." He hears Marcus start speaking, and stops dead. pre:Gu4nYu: 1 feiyun is her first name for the last time Gu4nYu: 2 'miss' in chinese implies prostitute and has for a century Gu4nYu: seriously how old is your translation module
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Apr 28, 2013 02:20
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Marcuspre:marcusbaudric123: Oh My I did not know marcusbaudric123: I do not use such things, I spent rigorous time training my most glorious muscle the brain to converse with you all in the correct dialect marcusbaudric123: My family library was well stocked with various texts on the matter!
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Apr 28, 2013 02:34
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Zhang Sanpre:Gu4nYu: aiya Gu4nYu: you probably still use Wade-Giles
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Apr 28, 2013 02:36
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Aidan Frost: FP 2 "The computer killed it." Aidan replied flatly. He looks over at Maynard. "Foundation has a lot more paperwork." He then looks at the caricature of him on the screen, and briefly contemplates chucking the fried squirrel at San's head. Instead, he lets out a groan and takes a drag from his cigarette. "Something was here alright. I can see a little dot buzzing around here, looks like it threw this guy off then decided to stare at the blood for a bit. Then again you already knew that, didn't ya?" While he peers through the veil, he decides to look down at his feet, down at the circle in front of him. He gazes at the symbols, sifting through his memories as he tries to identify what all Lin was working on. Staring at circles and using that Lore. Possibly also Millionth Favored One, if it applies at all.
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Apr 28, 2013 02:36
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Maynard There are a lot of entrances! It's possible to cross the Metroplex without touching the ground thanks to shared walls between the towers, hundreds of walkways and even an internal tram network. Maynard has some luck checking cameras on the nearby floors, though - two figures loitered around here before hustling up the stairs to the roof at about the right time, one tall and heavy-set man trying to pull off a hoodie and shorts and a shorter, slimmer figure wrapped in a simple hooded cloak. Li Feiyun Feiyun glares at Marcus. "Fresh air? This isn't Miami where we can suck each other's neon dicks and ignore all the poo poo in the gutters. Be lucky not to get covered in poo poo rain before I get home tonight. loving filth city." Feiyun finishes the rest of her soda can and sits on a crate, popping open her laptop to check all the data she collected with her tools. "Anyway. Two people besides Lin. Most of the blood is a guy, Chu Min. Was linked to Neo China, a bunch of radicals that tried to clean up China's streets a while back. Chu Min's logged as dying when the triads gunned most of them down. Looks like Mr Lin blew chunks off him. This much blood on the ground, he'd have been lucky to make it back to the stairs. Dunno where he went." "No DNA match for the other one. Not SEAA, that's for sure. Maybe not NEG. Think they just took a knife to the side." Ettin fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Apr 28, 2013 |
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Apr 28, 2013 06:47
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Santiago - FP: 1 "So our second suspect is either a test tube baby kept the hell off the grid, or something that can shapeshift and thus wouldn't show up in our database in the first place, right?" Santiago chimed in, putting his brains to work on the crime. "Let's go with that for now. So we have a shapeshifter and a guy who was supposed to be dead as the likely killers. The question isn't who killed Lin now, but rather who decided he had to die. Whoever sent in the orders is bound to have a crapload of money to get people so capable of staying off the record on his payroll...so how many of the people who fit the bill would have reason to be afraid of a guy who was getting ready to obtain some info from an outsider?" "Oh yeah, and I almost forgot." He added, after a moment. "Who thinks a gas mask is useful in a place like this? It's not like the poison in the air's what's going to kill you in the next five decades, it's the thugs who feel like having some fun or making a quick buck instead. Don't see the point to it, honestly." Transient People fucked around with this message at 11:29 on Apr 28, 2013 |
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Apr 28, 2013 09:37
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Maynard FP: 5 "Actually without a mask you could contract that Martian brain-necrotising parasite. Chances of that are a billion to one though, but most of the terrestrial patients were in the SEAA. As for the reason these people killed Lin, that might depend on the entity he was trying to get in touch with. Speaking of that, let me check... I might have something on the specific formation here. This rune here, not the one that looks like a dick, the other one, it's unusual, but I think I've seen it before. Something like it, at least. Could lead to identifying the ritual's subject." He opens an AR window into his library - partly OOI and partly academic - and scrolls down the list, past texts with titles like Neuromechanism: Recruitment Methods of the Post-Soviet Machine Cults and Towards a Novel Azathothian Eschatology, until he gets to the list of papers from his uni days. A few of them were definitely on ritual runes... Examining the ritual circle: 4dF+5 6 (using Lore), spending an FP to invoke Faculty Wars for a +2. Compelling No Stranger to Death at the same time (freaking out Feiyun) for a FP.
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Apr 28, 2013 10:26
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Aidan Frost: FP 2 Aidan stops staring at the circle for a second and looks up at Feiyun. "...you got a point there, kid." He says in response to the comment about Miami. Then Maynard says something about brain parasites and oh boy does he have a story to tell now. He stops for a moment, before getting the slightest flash of a sinister grin on his face. "Oh yeah, I heard of that." He looks away, letting out a puff of smoke as he did so. "That reminds me of this one time in Antarctica. Don't ask me why I was in Antarctica." He walked over to the laptop, before reaching down and picking up the fried corpse of the squirrel. "Anyways, one of the new guys got this weird sickness. First it was typical stuff, you know. Then, outta nowhere his jaw just drops. Seriously. Like literally drops on the floor, separate from the rest of his body." He said this as he walked around the circle. At this point, he grabs a knife and pulls it out, taking a couple of steps back away from the circle. "Anyways, he starts freaking out, right? Nerves are dangling, flesh melting, whole big deal. Then, get this, he starts mutating." As he says this, Aidan takes the knife and begins to...he's actually skinning the squirrel. "So a couple minutes later, this poor bastard's got half his flesh peeled off, his bones are shooting out of his joints and being replaced by chitin, gnats are coming out of him and poo poo. Finally someone gave me a magnum and I shot him 'til he wasn't movin'." At this, he peels back the skin from the squirrel and dramatically bites down and rips a piece out of it. A few moments of silence and chewing, Aidan swallows the piece of squirrel. "Shame too, I guess. Stupid kid just got out of the academy. Turns out it came from a parasite he got from some squirrel he ate." At this, Aidan puts away the knife and steps back towards the circle, still taking pieces out of the squirrel as if this were a totally normal thing to do right now. This is in no way unconventional, and certainly a typical human thing to do. "Oh that rune? Yeah I saw that rune too. Man why do you guys always have to put dicks in your rituals? I mean, these creatures don't even have dicks most of the time. But there ya go, putting it right there for the whole world to see." He takes another bite of the squirrel, chewing and looking down at the circle right alongside Maynard, somehow managing to keep a straight face through all of this. AlanWhats fucked around with this message at 11:02 on Apr 28, 2013 |
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Apr 28, 2013 11:00
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Maynard FP: 5 "God damnit Aidan, you're gonna traumatise her," he mutters. Then the realisation hits: "Wait, gently caress." pre:MSong: Kim, Aidan and I are terrible and we'll need your help soon. MSong: but Aidan's more terrible let's just get that clear.
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Apr 28, 2013 11:10
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Santiago - FP: 1 Though no one else could see it, Santiago arched an eyebrow. "Where the hell did he get that squirrel from? I didn't think you could find them in Antarctica...or that they were tasty."
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Apr 28, 2013 11:33
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Zhang San FP:4 Zhang San rubs a hand across his face. "Aiya. You skip an important detail and talk about squirrels." He nods at Santiago then looks at Feiyun. "At least Santiago noticed. How long ago was Chu Min supposedly killed, and by which triad? Because I don't think a dead man left all that blood up here!" Something pings in his HUD. "Got the datadump. Let's see where his money has been going." Time to prod someone's bank securit- oh christ he wrote the password on his desktop. K Prime fucked around with this message at 12:44 on Apr 28, 2013 |
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Apr 28, 2013 12:34
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Maynard FP: 5 "Unless he was a re-animated corpse. Does West Solutions have any compounds in the SEAA? Actually, given how portable WS materials are, the second suspect could've come from anywhere..." Something clicks in his mind as 'Martian necrotic parasite' and 'suspect possibly outside NEG' collide. "Mars. Our second suspect could be from Mars. The Federation's semi-independent, the NEG wouldn't necessarily have records on its citizens." Academic papers keep on cascading down his peripheral vision as the library loads up another batch.
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Apr 28, 2013 12:57
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Magic Circle If you look at it closely, it looks a lot like the circles favoured by the Disciples of the Cold Ones when they try to summon creatures from beyond this universe - cold, stark lines, circles within circles, runes that look more like equations, that sort of thing. It's not actually a Disciple circle, but it definitely fell from the same general tree. Maynard matches one of the runes to something he last saw in a paper on the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan, an ancient Chinese philosophical text studying a broad range of subjects. The OOI has most of the work on file, though either they only have 5 of the books or the last two are beyond your clearance level. Long story short it's from Book Five, which talks about time and space and contacting creatures from beyond it. Also about Deep Ones and wicked magic drugs, but the rune probably isn't linked to that. The laptop helps! If you investigate it's mostly been loaded with apps to help set up the circle, add a few wards, maybe perform banishments and other spells in a fix. From what you can gather, this circle has been set up to contact an entity called Shuizn, bind it in the circle, and make a pact with it. The laptop also has a pre-prepared speech in Pinyin offering Shuizn his service for magical power. You get the laptop! It has the aspect The Laptop Of Shuizn and a free invoke on using it to study (or banish) any Shuizn-related stuff you might encounter. Lin's Bank Account Zhang San pokes around! He is pretty sure a lot of Mr Lin's transactions are with triad fronts - not that that's unusual in the Arcology, if you haven't done business with a triad front you're leaving the Arcology to do all your shopping - but he has a lot, especially with the Gold Dragon Triad! They're probably disguising other transactions - he's had a lot lately with the Pudong Arcology Consultancy (not a real company), who allegedly did a lot of repairing and redecorating of an apartment of Lin's in the nearby Bailin Subdistrict. Zhang San can get the address! Li Feiyun  "That's... I..." Feiyun gags. "sorry I need a minute" Feiyun turns and runs down the stairs, pulling her gas mask up and looking for a trash can outside the taped-off crime scene she can hurl into. Compel = Feiyun is too busy freaking out to help now! 
Ettin fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Apr 28, 2013 |
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Apr 28, 2013 13:21
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Zhang San FP:4 "Heh. Child's pl- poo poo." gently caress me. Of all the Triads in Shanghai, why'd it have to be mine? Zhang coughs to cover his irritation. "I've got an address on his house. Think we can get anything more here?"
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Apr 28, 2013 13:56
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Maynard FP: 5 "...Careful with that cough, you'll probably give Li a scare if she hears you. Anyway, I think we can leave this place to her and everyone else - we can check up on their progress later. The apartment should give us a better look into Lin's state of mind before he came here." He makes a mental note to ask for the police footage of the crowd. "Oh, did you find the decryption for his recent calls anywhere?" The library comes up front-and-centre in his vision again and he marks a note about the other two books of Hsan, then loads up another search, this time for information extra-spatiotemporal entities like Shuizn. Is there anything about Shuizn or similar entities in the database? Their capabilities, their links with other entities, what specific sorts of pacts they accept and so on. Lore and Scholarship probably apply here. Also asking about the phone decryption so we can listen to his recent calls.
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Apr 28, 2013 14:24
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Zhang San FP:4 "Here- I'll dump the data to base so we can look at it later. Fanghua, if you don't mind checking those phone records for us?"
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Apr 28, 2013 14:56
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Marcus FP:4 "I think that might be our next port of call yes" he said before rushing off after the errant forensics expert quickly pulling out a small paper bag from his pocket and opening it for her, it was quite useful to carry such a thing for both vomit and helping people calm down after a panic... a good man is always prepared. "Here a dumpster will probably not help your stomach" he offered, trying to calm the poor girl down after her hurling attack "Without your technoique we would be adrift in the sea of the unkown, we need you ready and able Feiyun" Popping Benevolent Benefactor to have just the thing on hand to help Then rolling Gentleman's Demeanor, Tagging pure hearted englishman to try and help her back on her feet <FlyinPingu> Or Hurt. They can't panic if they're dead. <StormGale> !r 4df+6 <foxxbot> StormGale, +-/++6 = 7 <KweezNArt> Am I allowed to change zones and perform a non-attack action in combat? Yes I know this is probably pointless but I am too nice FP remaining: 2
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Apr 28, 2013 23:28
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Kim Fp: 5 Kim is a little out of her element here, she's used to dealing with living people, not dead ones. And with no witnesses to interview, she has mostly just been taking notes. But when she sees Feiyun run off to blow chunks, Kim jumps into action. She runs over to the spot where Marcus helping Feiyun regain composure. "Hey, you going okay? Easy now, everything well be fine, just take slow, deep breaths when you can" Assess Feiyun's mental emotional state: 4dF+4 3 (using Empathy) Also, if a can I am using compel on Big Sister Complex Kim's not going to have trouble focusing on anything until she knows Feiyun is going to be okay.
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Apr 29, 2013 04:16
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You sure can! And with two helpers: Li Feiyun "Hah... haah..." Feiyun blows into the bag until she feels better, then pulls her mask on. "... Fine now. Thanks." Zhong Fanghua Fanghua makes herself useful! "Chu Min hasn't been seen since Neo China was wiped out in April 2117. A lot of triads helped, but Chu Min was supposed to have been gunned down in Gold Dragon territory. Most of their members who disappeared turned up in the river later. Chu Min didn't." "His last call was an hour before his death. Generating a transcript..." pre:???: Hello? Tang-yu Lin: Mr Ho. Ho: Mr Lin! How are things, my friend? Lin: Well, I'm ready. Are you covering my rear end or not? Ho: For the money you're paying? I'd do more than just cover it. Lin: So if I start my thing I won't be interrupted. Ho: Yeah. Listen - we tracked them to their hangout. Don't think they're 4 Beasts, but whatever. We've got tricks. Lin: Tricks. Ho: Magician tricks. Lay out some magic circles that trap humans - pow, you're good and we have something fun to do for the evening. Lin: What about akathar? Ho: Works on anything human-ish. Unless they're a bunch of rabbits in a man suit or something you should be okay. Lin: Any chance you could leave one alive? I'd like to know who they work for, maybe have them deliver a message. Ho: Ha ha! You are a man after my own heart, Mr Lin. Get bitten by the snake, you fear rope for a decade, right? Lin: Guess so. Hey, if this works out I might have more work for you. Ho: I like the sound of that. Lin: Alright. You do whatever you gotta do, I have a friend to talk to. Ho: Good luck. *Disconnected* Shuizn Shuizn's name mostly comes up in passing in a few old works, not all of them helpful: Book of Dyzan posted:[...] Siphonei had bargained with Shuizn to rewrite her clan's destiny, at the expense of her own. At the time it was a grave necessity, but Shuizn knew that in time this would change; the land fell, and the clan fled to Xigaze regardless. Thus must all stories end. Kuro Majyutsu: Kotodama no Gikô posted:[...] beings such as Shuizn and Unyuno understand the power of the word, but be wary of creatures who profess to know the art of the word: you will find that what is rewritten in the end is not your path, but the man who walks upon it. Celaeno Fragments, Shrewsbury's Original Notes, p.37 margin posted:NOTE: LOOK THESE UP AGAIN LATER BEFORE LEAVE LIBRARY Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan, Book One, Some Healing Spell posted:[...] for maladies of the mind, Shuizn-Unyuno-Ikzhao may be invoked instead, but do not do this lightly, for you may not receive what you desire. Man's schemes are inferior to those made by heaven. [...] Monstres and Theyr Kynde, Being a Compyled Historie of the Earlie Kings and Druuids, Bifore Christendome Come to These Shores, and Also a Bestiarie of Theyr Unhallowed Servants and the Means by Which They Were Brought Forth and Bound Faste posted:To bring up Thine Destinie thou shalt waite upon the sun in the fifth house, with Saturn in trine; then shall thou draw the pentagram of five, saying the ninth verse thrice, and invokinge that which is Bounde by the names Mannedelvecte, Dazekke and Shuizn which breede in the Outside Spheres [...] Searching most of those names leads to similar dead ends that hint at a group of the usual chump entities - you contact them, they teach you spells or whatever, in exchange you start serving them. Shuizn and its buddies in particular seem to be able to cure mental illness/brain damage, control written spells and "alter your destiny" (or as the OOI understands it, altering probability to increase the likelihood of certain events) but you risk your mind being altered to something inhuman. Must have been some sick spells for Mr Li to give him a ring. You are also pretty sure Mr Lin has a source the OOI doesn't if he knows how to contact Shuizn, which means he has something new and exciting(ly illegal). Alright! When you're out of questions you have a few options here and I've heard a few ideas already. Decide what else you're doing here and where to go next!
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Apr 29, 2013 15:23
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Zhang San Zhang looks at Maynard. "I've got all I can from here- the rest is up to forensics. I'm going to followup on his apartment. Would appreciate if you came along, maybe started sizing this guy up psych-wise. Knowing how he thinks is going to be key, because I smell Triad all over this, and that means his relationships with them are going to be key to getting inroads on things."
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Apr 30, 2013 15:58
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Aidan Frost Aidan narrows his eyes as he notices the familiarity of the circle's design. He has had more than a few run-ins with the Disciples of the Cold Ones, not the least of which that one time he had to go save Marcus. It clearly wasn't a Disciple circle though, strangely enough. Without much to go on, Aidan snaps a few pictures of particularly noteworthy runes and formations for later comparison. Meanwhile, as he did so, he tried to figure out if he ever encountered this being named Shuizn. At about that point he looked down at the half-eaten fried squirrel in his hands and started to grimace. He wasn't gonna lie, that squirrel was not the best squirrel he'd ever eaten. That and the fact that through the veil he could see the squirrel's body twitching and screeching was kinda freaking him out. With a blink, Aidan shut off the sight, returning to plain, boring human vision. He then took the squirrel and chucked it like a major league pitcher, the half-eaten rodent arcing through the air and landing straight into the crowd of civilians below. There was much screaming, and Aidan saw that it was good. Dusting off his hands as he views his handiwork, Aidan looks over towards San. "Yeah, let's check out this dude's place. I need a beer to wash out the taste of squirrel. poo poo, I might need to go join Feiyun down there." He then points to Santiago's armor, still floating in the sky. "Oh, and uh, about the squirrel. Dude ate it before being deployed. Seriously there's no squirrels in Antarctica, never were. Ever." One last thing before we head to the apartment, gonna try and see if Aidan knows about this Shuizn fellow.
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May 1, 2013 14:17
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Not off the top of his head, but with his aspects he'll probably find something he recognises soon! Also, since I was told Feiyun is coming: Friday February 10 2119, 6:59PM CST Location: Tang-yu Lin's Apartment, No. 8, Hall A, Yellow Neighbourhood/Level One [Tower Floor 107], Bailin Subdistrict, Deng Xiaoping Memorial Arcology Aspects: Standard Arcology Apartment Layout; A Wizard's Touch; ??? On the bright side, arcology corridors are colour- and number-coded with some built-in AR guide functionality, so it's not IMPOSSIBLE to find this guy's place. As you head there Feiyun gives some "Be careful. Arcology's mostly fine, but wizard dens... loving filthy. Magic leaking everywhere. Illegal familiar if we're unlucky. If you see one kill it. Probably into some bad rituals, that means hosed components. Blood, entrails, filthy..." She stops to drop another pill in her soda and you escape into Lin's apartment.  Well this place is a mess. You get the feeling it's been this way for a while. The obvious heirloom pictures and ancient chairs are well-maintained, but the artificial sunlight and anything else Lin can't repair well is just kind of lying there in disarray because Lin would rather that than actually let someone in here. You can make out the corridor to the rest of the rooms from here; the spare room has a standard ward painted on it that doesn't really do anything to you except let you know it's the magic room. Feiyun's gas mask eyes glow slightly as she switches on her scanning software. "You first." Here you are! Time to assess! The available rooms in your standard single-person apartment the Living Room, Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom, Laundry and Spare Room. Bedroom and Spare Room have windows, Spare Room is probably where the magic happens. Ettin fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Aug 2, 2013 |
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May 1, 2013 15:28
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Santiago - FP: 1 "Something tells me our resident expert in crazy cuisine might want to take the kitchen." Santiago said, thinking back to Aidan's anecdote. "Any way you guys wanna split the other rooms? Li should probably take the bathroom though, make sure it's all clear." Behind the White Light's plates, Santiago was winning. A little playful ribbing always helped to spice life up. "By the way, since we're about to rifle through the wizard's stuff...do any of you have any ideas why his friend talked about four beasts? That doesn't sound like any gang's name I know of, but whoever they were, Ho seemed to have a healthy respect for them."
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May 1, 2013 18:21
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Zhang San FP:4 Zhang looks askance at Santiago. "Did you even skim the faction li- ok, I guess it was a bit long, but still! The 4 Beasts are one of the major Triads still in the game in this sector, though the Gold Dragons are pushing them out bit by bit. You have to know who's playing to understand the game..." He puts on a fresh set of gloves and begins collecting the scattered papers, looking for something important in the mess.
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May 1, 2013 18:30
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Santiago - FP: 1 "To be honest, nah, I didn't. I figured someone else would take care of it, so instead I started looking up the local bureaucrats. Nobody thinks about them and they can bury you under paperwork, after all." Santiago shamelessly admitted. "What kinda game are we supposed to play, though? As far as most people are concerned we don't have any business here, we're not trying to claim their turf or anything." He asked, his interest piqued. He was always up for some games, of any sort. Transient People fucked around with this message at 22:48 on May 1, 2013 |
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May 1, 2013 18:45
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Aidan Frost Aidan stomps out his cigarette before he walks into the apartment, unscrewing the top off of his flask. "Comment aside," he says with a sidelong glance at Santiago, "I was gonna, 'til I realized I had a flask." He then stops and stares at the door with the giant sign that says "LOOK AT ME I KNOW MAGIC I'M SO SECRET AND SMART". "Who cares about what the others think anyways?" Aidan responds to Santiago's question. "We're here on business of someone who they don't want to gently caress with. That's all they need to know." He steps over to the door, ready to bust it down and see what's inside. Might as well get it over with, after all. "Alright, heading into the wizard's tower now. Anybody want to join me, go ahead. If you hear a pistol shot, I've got it. If you hear a magnum shot, start panicking." He then slipped on a pair of leather gloves and went to open the door.
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May 2, 2013 04:46
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Zhang San A lot of Lin's personal notes are on paper. Some people just don't trust electronics. In the mess, Zhang finds: • Psych evaluations for Mr. Lin, every copy he could get his hands on for the last few years. It's a little out of Zhang San's league, but most of them peg him as being overconfident. A lot of sections (like his IQ) have been circled with little + or - symbols next to them. • Papers with quick protection wards scrawled on them - used and creased, like they were stuffed in his coat weeks ago. • Personal reminders about a few things... including a Mr Ho. Apparently he lent Lin some money for his research project in exchange for sharing whatever it is with the Gold Dragons. • Old TTRPG character sheets. Most of them are very clearly based on Mr Lin, even to the untrained eye. The sign is back! Here it's been painted on the wall, between an old cork board covered in sketches of magical circles and other business and a desk with a throwaway laptop set up just for magic work (in case it melts). The panelled windows on the far wall have been shuttered and then sealed up again from this side. Someone really wanted to keep people out. The floor has a swanky but old magic circle rug, boxes full of arcane components and a lot of papers. Aidan notices two things: One, a lot of the stuff on the cork board is Dreamlands-related. Two, there's a monkey with softly-glowing eyes in a cage in the corner here. It is obviously a familiar, and screeches and threatens to throw poop when Aidan walks in.
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May 2, 2013 15:56
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Zhang San FP:4 Urgh. The Dragons again. Zhang had been hoping to make it out of this mess of a city without meeting them again, but it was looking like a collision course was already being plotted. "Maynard, take a look at these evals. I don't have your expertise, but this guy looks like a narcissist to me."
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May 2, 2013 16:05
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Marcus Marcus rapped on the door across from the apartment with a smile, he would leave personal matters to those in the apartment but people were his speciality. "Hello there, I am here investigating the affairs of Mr Lin" he said, taking out his badge and flashing it to whoever was behind the door through the Key Hole "Would you please be able to answer a few questions" he added, his usual warm demeanor in place. Making a first impression with Rapport <StormGale> !r 4df+4 <foxxbot> StormGale, /+/++4 = 6 Forgot my +1 from best foot forward so +7
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May 3, 2013 20:40
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 04:05 |
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The door opens to reveal... Lin's Neighbour  Aspects: A Soothing Voice, ??? "Yes, how can I help?"
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May 4, 2013 11:27
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