City of Mist (Inactive)

Game Master inxpitter

Wade quickly leaves the crime scene the way they came, making sure he isn't being followed. After some time and distance, he sheds the face he took for this meeting, and gets back to their base of operation.

Not quite content with his research, but knowing where to quit, Luke shelves the books he had picked up. Giving a passing nod to one of the librarians, Luke makes his way back to the hideout.

Seeing other people start to show up and reach for cellphones, Donovan will rely on the darkness of the alley by pulling his out and turning on the flashlight as both a momentary distraction and to prevent them from recording him as well as they might like. He will then turn and flee down the alley, making a mental note to destroy the clothing, including the shoes, that he is currently wearing.

Zenna changes appearance before deliberately getting "seen" at the scene of the crime. She then takes off into the night with the others.

Frederick makes a quick detour down another side alley, away from the focal point that Zenna has placed on herself. The puddle he steps in steams sharply, as the ambient heat around his body begins to build. His hand seem to claw into the brick of the building as he begins climbing. From his new vantage point, away from the neon lights and street lamps, his eyes seem to glow with a golden hue.
I'm trying to be less of a stick in the mud. As both those aided you in getting this height advantage, go ahead and take two clues. Preferably relate them to your vantage point.

Detective Wade Walton, his appearance already changed was quick to move away as well. It would be a good ten minutes before his instincts tell him it's alright to shift back. He's away from the Strip by now, far away. He emerges from behind a small family diner, the exhaust of fried chicken wafting from the vent ports. Hm...smells good.

Luke takes his stacks of books back to the deposit slots. The librarian overseeing the front desk gives him an annoyed look as Luke slides book after book to be returned to the stacks. Still, the old man picks up one of the tomes, recognizing the title, and nods in approval over your choice in reading material. He offers you a slight wave as you exit the public library's doors.

Donovan, mind racing. Being photographed always made you nervous, jumpy, and just....wrong. It was evidence, it was a loose thread. A thread that needed to be taken care of and thrown into the riv-

no....no...

It was easy for the urges to take over, much more so than when you first found this....connection. Still, there was a balance, enough of one where the urges wouldn't take over completely. At least, not without your say so.

========================================================================

Back at the hideout, the team comes together to compare notes and discuss leads and information.

"Okay, so we have the first guy, who came to us about his dad possibly being involved in drug use. Then when we start looking for the drug dealer, we find a dead woman. While I'd like to think that it's just the city being awful, the timing of it is a bit strange, even if the deaths were committed differently."

Question 1: Are there any vantage points over the alleyway where the woman was killed that appear to have been recently occupied?

Question 2: What is at the far end of the alleyway that we had entered?

"I'd love that to be a coincidence." Sighs Wade, looking at a fried chicken leg he's been pecking with not much appetite. "But it just can't be it. It's all connected somehow."

He looks at the photos of the body they took at the crime scene. "This gets worse with every hour."

Investigate: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 4) + 1 = 10 +An eye for details
Anything obviously unusual with the body?

Zenna shrugs. I wish we could know for sure if the deaths were related. It does seem likely, but that could just be our perspective.

She says a bit sheepishly, You'd think that superheroes would have more to go on.

"Well, let's take a leap here and say the events are connected. By what, then?"

Luke sighs. "I mean, I don't want to sound like a bigot, but I guess I am. Would it be too far out of left field to say this woman was doing the same drugs Mark was dealing?"

"It's likely. Wade should at least be able to find out her name, and if he can't, I'll see what I can find out. If she was a drug user, I wonder if that is the cause: maybe it's some sort of magical drug?"

"Sure, I'll ask around the precinct. Rumors spread fast, and there certainly will be rumors."

Frederick, a puff of smoke spills from your mouth as if you had been enjoying a crafted cigar. When your focus really demands it, and you call your "powers" to the forefront and your perceptions sharpen, who can blame you if other elements spilled out from your concentration? Unfortunately, as you scale over to the buildings that cover the deceased woman's corpse you find what you'd expect, swill from the rainwater mixing with the normal bird shit and plastic bags that rode the wind up here. At the far end of the alleyway, you spot what appears to be a makeshift shelter for part of the homeless population, and it seems two of their number are hastily packing whatever worldly possessions they have to make a hasty getaway, specifically the two men who told Donovan to piss off.

Wade you pour over the hastily taken photos of the deceased and crime scene. Its grisly to say the least, and probably plays at the lack of appetite you seem to have currently. Still. There doesn't appear to be any other injuries. It was if their spine was ripped out, though you'll have to get the coroner's word on it to be sure.

And word comes fast, as with your cop connections you're able to get a "discrete" summary of the case. Nothing "official" but people talk, including police.

It seems that she did indeed die from trauma as her spine was ripped out. No word on ID yet, though she was confirmed to be a known homeless woman in the area. It also seems that she nice enough, but no one on the force knows her well enough to know more.

Donovan spends his time talking to nearby shelters and churches, seeing if anyone recognized the woman. He represented himself as a member of the press from a different city; his cover story is that there were several homeless murders a few years back, and after seeing this, his editor sent him to investigate.

If anyone asked, he's just writing a bio piece on the deceased woman, trying to humanize her.

Finishing off the sandwich that he had stopped to purchase on the way back, Fredrick will wait until everyone else has spoken before leaning forwards slightly. "I tried to see if I could spot any clues to whoever may have done this on the rooftops above the alleyway, but I couldn't find anything. As for the far end of the alley, it simply ended at a small grouping of homeless shelters. So unless one of those other people in the alley was the individual who did this, we might potentially be up against an individual who can cloak themselves from sight."

Would Luke have shared his lack of success in his research at the library?

"While you were finding a dead body, I decided to follow a more academic route. I looked through a few books on mythology, trying to find anything related to taking hearts. Not much luck, though."

"And I don't want to go back to the library and ask about cultural figures who kill homeless people." Luke jokes, trying to cut the tension. It doesn't.

Looking over at Luke, Fredrick paused for a moment before speaking. "Both off these deaths appear to be very ritualistic, coming from the clean 'cuts' and removal of only one body part. The only major ancient society that I can think of that made a big deal of taking hearts would be the Aztecs. Was that one of the mythologies you investigated? If not, we may wish to look into that."

"No, I didn't look into it. You have a lot more experience in history than I do, Fredrick. A bit more reading could uncover some new information."

"Vikings too, according to my uncle google." said Donovan from the computer. "Let's see here; Babylonians, Sumerians, and Egyptians all had rituals involving removing hearts."

That's interesting. The only way I can think of it being relevant though is if we're up against a superhero that gained power from or is associated with one of those ancient societies.

Perhaps "Wizard" is such a being... a superhero as Luke suggested previously. Or, since he is a drug supplier, the term supervillain might be more appropriate.

Maybe we should cast a wider net for similar murders, or look into this "Wizard" more, since that is who we were trying to track down when we witnessed this last murder.

Or, we could return to the alleys of Saffron street, Goldenrod Lane, and the vicinity of the Starlight Strip where he was reported to do business. Since he theoretically has a loyal customer base, he may be continuing to work from that area, despite recent events.

... I know, they are thin threads, but it's all I can think of.

"Why don't we keep investigating the drug dealer. I should have added that we were there asking questions about him when we found the dead homeless woman. We should stick to that until the thread is played out."

Donovan, your search takes you back to the area and in the midst of the homeless population of the city. While the those who stayed on the streets may be reluctant to answer your questions, you do find at least one lady who's willing to talk. At least, for a crisp donation of charity.

She's old, rail-thin, and is spending the charity of the morning working her way through a freshly bought pack of smokes. As she speaks, you're reminded of the low rumble of a gravel truck as it paves out a road.
"Yeah, Tina and I go way back. Even had little pet names for each other. I was Copper, and she was Tin-Tin. We stuck together, just in case some of the locals wanted to get handsy. Then two weeks ago she got some offer to make a little moolah on the side, hawking some new drug or something. Told me to stay away from the stuff, no worries there long as I got old Nic near me, but then she just sorta got busy then got dead. Can I get another twenty?"

Her attitude reflects someone who's used to people moving in and out of her life, comfortable just to look for moments of respite where she can.

For now, with a few hard nights past, let's have some downtime for character development or whatever you wish to use your downtime for. (check player moves link). Go ahead and make a post on what you're spending your time on. We'll say it cover the span of two days, to re-align sleep cycles and such.

Zenna will work the case during her downtime.

Primarily this will consist of looking into the background of each of the victims, and also trying to research (but not contact) this "Wizard," trying to ascertain whether he is just a drug dealer / criminal or whether he also seems to be associated with supernatural events.

However, in addition, she will mention the second murder, in the alley, on her blog (seemingly in passing), mentioning how tragic such random violence is, and how we need to be better as a city. She feels like there is an off-chance with all her fans that someone will have more information about it and either post in the comments or attempt to contact her through her publisher.

Donovan will Give Attention to work. While he manages to stay ahead of his assigned tasks (mostly due to having automated much of his job via scripts), he still has to at least be there 8 hours a day.

Wade will catch up (and work a bit overtime to have some free time for this investigation) on his other cases, and the general precinct things - paperwork and helping the colleagues.

I'll Give Attention to my City Detective theme.

Luke dusts off one of the books on his shelf. He'd forgotten the relaxation of reading, but studying the myths had reignited that part of him.

Sitting in his leather armchair, Luke slowly flips through an old text. He remembered most of it, but there was always something seemingly new to discover despite its years.

Luke will Give Attention to Neural Expert

Fredrick will spend a significant amount of time over the next couple of days meditating, hoping to gain some sort of insight into the case they are working on. As part of this, he will also be practicing with his flaming wings.

Fredrick will Explore Your Mythos on his Wings of Flame theme.

Frederick and Zenna, do you have specific aspects of the case you'd like to use your clues on?

Fredrick would like to attempt to learn what the source of the murderer's power is.

No specifics other than what I already stated. I was just hoping for crumbs from the research, or that some of my fans could put some information together in a new way... so really any clues you want to toss us. :)

The rains have settled into the normal dreary weather that cover the City of Mist in....well.....mist. Morgane's bookstore Fey Scripts, is empty save a few older folks and maybe one or two kids skipping school on a Friday. Morgane has a side room that she has set aside for you as you subway tunnel hideout can smell a bit musty and damp after a heavy rain.

Zenna, you have deadlines to meet and drafts to draft. Still, between the chapters and the calls with your editor, you still manage to find time to look into this "wizard" character. The names and events seem too coincidental and have that strange "mist" flare to it. As for your blog, you get some hardcore (pressing the refresh button constantly) fans in the comments, mostly praise on how dedicated you are to your writing. There are a couple spambots but a few comments do catch your interest.

1. Someone claiming to be a big fan of yours is currently homeless and says he lives in the alley the crime was committed. The group is moving to a different alley, but he said he got part of Tin-Tin's stash before she got killed.
2. A local fan has mentioned that they've tried what the Wizard is dealing, it goes by the street name "emeralds" for their bright green hue.
3. A thorough disbelief of the earlier commenters claim, they go on to describe seeing hallucinations and a feeling of flying.

Not something you can learn from meditation or running around the skylines of the city, so I'm giving you a different clue.
Frederick, while not maintaining your collection, you go out in the late nights and practice manifesting your flame wings. Now that the rains have gone, it is much easier for them to emerge, ripples of heat working up your spine and out your shoulders. You find yourself by the local inner city school, where the first victim went before he was killed. It's a nice enough place, and you have an amusing thought of trying your hand at the long jump to measure your progress if it wasn't for the possibility of cameras. Still, the proud lion roaring insignia of the school mascot hanging on the tallest building looks like it would be a good place to take a breather if you did consider running laps.

The other downtime activities don't need responses, and so the party reconvenes.

Zenna passes on all of her leads, no matter how dubious, to the team so they can judge for themselves and decide what to follow up on.

"Emeralds?" Luke says out loud. "Maybe I don't know enough about drug abuse, but I don't think I would take anything that was bright green."

"So I suppose we could try to find these on the street, but I'm more interested in what Tin-Tin had. Maybe we can find a reason she was killed."

"That's probably a good place to start. Find out what your 'fan' wants for the stuff and we'll go in assuming it's a trap."

Zenna has her publicist contact the homeless fan and offer to provide room and board during this difficult time in his life in return for his help, specifically any information he can offer about this recent crime and access to the "stash" for research purposes. (She makes sure that her lawyer looks it over to be sure she won't be accused of drug dealing or using.)

At a family diner near the Starlight Strip, those of you who decide to go find yourselves seated across a middle-aged man happily chowing down on the fried chicken and cream of mushroom soup. Wade would recognize this as the place he picked up his own order, and it seems their friendly to the local homeless population as well.

The man, who introduced himself as Samuel, is a bit gaunt, though his cheeks are bit pink as his face warms from the cold. He would confess that he had borrowed someone's hose to clean himself off, even in the cool winds, to be more presentable. He had brought his most cherished possessions with him: a scarf belonging to his late father, a Holy Bible, and a copy of one of Zenna's books. Glancing at the title Zenna, you recognize it as one of your earlier works, when your prose wasn't as polished and the prime target of your critics of your ineptness. Still, he had a copy however battered, stained, and wrinkled.

"I haven't had a proper meal in weeks," Samuel admits, gulping down his mug of coffee as if it would disappear if he wasn't fast enough. He tears through each plate, mug, and serving placed in front of him, until at last he rests his fork and spoon, leans back, and sighs contentedly.

"So what did you want to meet for?" he asks.

As the group went in to meet the homeless man, Donovan was sitting in a car parked across the street, loaded pistol on his lap covered by a folded newspaper. He was not only watching the diner, but also watching the surrounding area.

Hi Samuel. I wanted to talk to you about what you found in the alley. You mentioned that you got part of Tin-Tin's stash? May I see what you got?

Samuel nods, and opens up the rigid bible to reveal a dirty bundle of dollars, a usb stick, and a dirty plastic baggy filled with pills.

He opens the baggy and shakes the pills into his hand, but most (4 of 6) fall out and onto the table. The pills are colored a bright, almost shiny gleam. Looking even closer, there seems to "NO" inscribed on the side of each pill.

Donovan performs his normal recon routine, though it seems someone had the deecency to get him some take out. A styrofoam cup of chicken noodle soup and a plate of fried chicken rest on the passenger seat, as he monitors the situation.

So far....no sign of trouble.

Did I notice one of the group members put the food there?

Samuel, do you mind if I take the USB drive and see what is on it? And maybe these pills that are on the table? They might help us figure this mystery out. ... Also, do you mind if I sign your book?

She would like to do more for him after this, if there is a hotel/motel that he is willing to go to she will pay for it, and she will get him copies of more of her books to read, and even help him get a job if he is willing, or has a marketable skill. I can ask him about all of that during this conversation as needed, but wanted to include it here so that we don't just leave and dump him back on the street while chasing another lead.

"NO?" Luke takes a look at one of the pills, then another which had fallen differently. "Or ON. Neither of which make a lot of sense."

"Who did you get these from?"

That was what I was implying Donovan, though I guess someone has to volunteer to have brought you food in order for that to happen. If no one does, we'll say it appeared there mysteriously, with a small note that says "Don't work so hard"

Samuel's smile falters as he grabs the usb stick.
"That's mine, actually. Heh, heh. Just something to store music, books, and stuff on. And for the pills....I'm no drug dealer, but I was hoping to get some cash for them. "

But he does seem genuinely happy that you want to sign his battered copy of your book.

Zenna, make a Change the Game roll. We're going to treat Samuel's situation as a detrimental social tag and a minor social status. Effectively, a homeless tag and a down-on-his-luck status 3.

At Luke's question, Samuel looks a bit sheepish.
"I grabbed a bundle of Penny's stuff when it came up that she got offed. We're pretty respectful of fellows belongings while they're alive, but after....you've got to do what you need to survive."

Zenna signs his book "To Samuel, one of my greatest fans" and touches his hand lightly when she hands the book back to him.

When he mentions wanting to get some money for the pills, Zenna explains that she will buy him meals and give him a place to stay for a while, and help with other things which I will roll for below, but explains that they can only give gifts to each other, since her lawyers told her she can't be involved in a drug deal.

Try to permanently improve Samuel's situation (Change the Game): 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (1, 6) + 4 = 11

Power tags: Touch grants hope, Books teach hope, Bestselling novelist, wealthy

So, do you have more of my books on your USB drive, or do you need me to get you some copies?

"Did Penny have anything else besides these?"

Samuel carefully places the book beside him on the cusions, as if he doesn't want to dirty it with his hands too much. he chuckles as he slips you the pills under the table.

"Glad I could help you find some good research materials," he says, a bit embarrassed that he "conned" his way into decent reimbursement for at least a while.

The effects aren't immediate, but time will tell.

At Luke's question, he gives some time to consider.

"Not much else, at least nothing that catches the eye. She had some books herself, mostly kids stuff, you know, classic tales. She'd always read to Copper, who doesn't know how. Can't remember the book specifically though..."

"Copper? How close were they to Tin-Tin?"

Samuel shrugs.

"I mean, safety in numbers yeah? There was always talk that they might be a thing, but they were definitely loyal to each other, no mistake."

He goes on to describe Copper, who got her nickname from working with recycled metals and her brownish locks of hair, and this matches up with the description of who Donovan spoke with earlier.

Samuel coughs, and looks between the odd mix of people asking him questions and paying for his meal. He orders a banana cream pie and another cup of coffee, already getting some sugar packets ready.

Any other quesitons for Samuel?

Not from me.

When everyone is done asking questions, Zenna gives Samuel a smile and a hug, and makes sure that the help she offered is in place, and then bids him farewell.

If you need to contact me again, just leave a message on that same site where I found you the first time. I'll make sure to keep an eye out.

"Of course, of course." Samuel agrees. "Glad to finally meet you. I mean it, it's been great!"

Samuel is all smiles, and as he leaves the diner, your group catches notice of the other patrons. It seems no one is eating, and even the waitstaff had paused to watch something playing out on the small television mounted in the corner behind the register. From this far, you can tell that the image of a hospital is on screen as a reporter stands in front of a line of cop cars, police tape, and officers pushing people away from the perimeter. The waitress picks up the remote and turns up the muted volume.

-situation is still continuing. Officers have cleared the immediate area, but it seems there is a large number of patients and staff still within the building. Further reports are coming in that some kind of green gas has been released, blocking any law enforcement from entering until the CDC arrive on scene. What victims have been recovered with only minor exposure have been reported to be hallucinating wildly, putting them in an almost dangerous state."

The reporter takes a pause as someone comes on screen and whispers something into her ear.

"I've just received word that Miss Wilma Wicket, President of Wicked Cosmetics, was about to undergo surgery for a brain tumor when this terrorist attack began. There is no word of her condition, but we can only pray that the situation will end peacefully and quickly."

Well, that doesn't sound right. Zenna murmurs in a low voice to her fellows. Should we check it out?