Ross follows along, looking around the apartment as well.
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Jennifer is there, too!
Median takes water our to the plants but finds that the plants themselves seem well-fed, the soil most without being oversaturated. Why so many of them seem sickly and dying is confusing.
Searching the room, Joseph finds a small bundle stuck behind the TV. Inside is a bundle of sticks in the vaguest sense of a humanoid shape. It has a crude face and long black threads for hair. There is something inside, but finding out what would mean snipping the string that holds the twigs together.
Confused, Median casts detect magic to see if there is anything affecting the plants. Clearly they didn't need to be watered.
"Look what I found", Joseph addresses the apartment. "Some kind of 'curse totem', perhaps?"
Ross holds out his hand, "Let me check it out."
He studies the item, the odd sensation of his own knowledge blurring with Zaoth's vast amount of blasphemous lore returning to him as he examines it.
It is a poppet, a doll with a connection to someone or something and usually attuned. They are very rarely used for friendly or pleasant purposes, and most of them are used to curse the target.
Something glows for Midian in one of the larger plant pots. It radiates magic.
What Joseph found sounds interesting, but Median is in the middle of a spell so she doesn't react immediately. Instead, she moves in closer to find out what is in the plant pot.
Moving aside the dirt in a large plot with what might have been some kind of small shrub or tree, once, Median finds...another poppet, almost identical to the first. This one seems to have different kinds of twigs, and the hair is silk thread. But the idea is the same.
With her detect magic still up, Median walks around the plants and then the rest of the apartment, checking to see if there are any more of these things.
As she passes the others, she tells them about the one hidden in the plant pot.
Median finds a third one behind the mirror in the bathroom. This one had real hair taken from, given it's matted state, the shower plug.
She brings the ones she found over to the group.
Jennifer, you said you were in communication with whoever is hiding Hanna... can you find out from her if she made or knew about these? I am inclined to destroy them, but if she knows about them, there might be a reason that I am not seeing. Are they what is keeping her spirit here?
A quick text to the mysterious caster gets a message back stating that Hanna has no idea what the hell these things are and is really creeped out by the fact they're in her home. And that you're in her home, too.
She's dead, and we have permission from her mom. Tell her to chill. They don't know what they are? Ugh. So... what happens if we destroy them? What do you guys think?
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Joseph wracks his brain looking for any religious connection.
"These poppets were part of the ritual that killed her. They did their job, but destroying them would sever whatever connection they've got left. I see this going one of two ways. Either it'll put Hanna a bit more at ease or...well, it might untether her from any semblance of mortality. God knows what that would do, but I doubt it would do anything good. There are odds of nothing changing, but it's rare with dark magic like this."
Well, they creep me out. If we just don't know, then let's err on the side of destruction of evil.
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Ross nods, "Yeah, real bad vibes from them. I can handle destroying them."
He closes his eyes for a moment, "Hey, Zaoth, I need you to do...whatever it is you do with those invisible things and destroy those poppets for me."
Seemingly out of nowhere, the poppets are lightly plucked from the hands of whoever was holding them as invisible tendrils pull them apart, unraveling the strings with surprising finesse.
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With the poppets destroyed the little apartment seems brighter, happier somehow. Like a layer of filth had just vanished.
Err Jennifer, can you check with your contact and see if that affected Hanna?
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The message came back clear - nothing had changed. It didn't seem whatever had happened here was related to whatever else was going on with the undead part, at least, or it had only began to unravel that issue.
Median gathers up the remnants of the poppets, to make sure that no one can use them to redo the spell. Then she says
Well, we seem to have accomplished something, but we don't know exactly what. Are we done searching this place? Does anyone have the ability to trace these poppets back to the person that made them? If not, should we move on to the next victim's family, or does anyone have a better plan or another possible lead?
"I think that gathering what information is easily available makes sense. Who is next on your list?"
Well, let's see.
Hanna was killed here, in this apartment... so are other dolls going to be found at the sites of the other killings, or are they in each person's home?
The others are a man, Mr Chaytor, who was killed behind a small pawn shop off main street, and Ms Anders, who was found in a park.
What time is it? If it is open, maybe we should go look around inside and outside the pawn shop and see if there are any interesting dolls around.
The park victim was killed in the morning. We should definitely check that too, but maybe in the morning we could get some possible witnesses. There were none reported, but that doesn't always mean there actually were none.
Thoughts?
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"Let's head to the pawn shop, next. Until we find out more about our new friends," she jiggles her cell phone, "let's not let them know that we're also interested in Mr. Chaytor and Ms. Anders.
"I'll stay outside and look for any curious parties."
The pawnshop is not the friendliest looking place, with iron bars clearly stating a belief in physical barriers more than electronic ones. Jennifer does recognize it as the same one she visited to get information previously. On the plus side, the neon sign does say 'open', or is at least lit.
Median walks in. Normally she liked little places like this. They were usually overpriced, but it was fun to browse, and every now and then you would find a treasure. Used book stores were much better than pawn shops, threat-level wise, but they were both interesting.
Joseph follows behind Median. Wonder how many copies of The Emoji Movie on DVD this place has?
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When Jennifer recognizes Genuine on a Dime Pawn Brokers as they pull up, Jennifer explains to the others that she is fairly certain that the proprietor isn't human. Although he wasn't involved in the missing museum artifacts, he seemed knowledgeable about the situation.
"So don't take him at his word if he says he doesn't know something."
With that, she starts her look around of the perimeter of the building.
The pawnbrokers is impressively jam-packed of glass cases and displays, with less valuable items - such as an unknowable number of Emoji DVD's - on shelves and cases to one side. An old man stood behind the counter, looking vaguely bored as he read a gun magazine. He looked up when the door opened but didn't move much, just nodding before going back to finding out what the best shotgun for shop defence was this year.
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Jennifer doesn't see much, but it wasn't hard to find the police taped section behind the pawnbrokers. It looks like the police have gone through the area with a fairly fine-toothed comb looking for evidence.
Median looks around for doll like things. If she has to cast detect magic, she will, but even knowing the proprietor isn't human, she is reluctant to perform magic in public like this.
There was nothing obvious around the store, and Detect Magic did not register anything like the poppets. It did make looking at a heavy looking safe behind the counter difficult, as the various auras of different strengths is difficult to focus on without making your brain water.
Jennifer doesn't see much, but it wasn't hard to find the police taped section behind the pawnbrokers. It looks like the police have gone through the area with a fairly fine-toothed comb looking for evidence.
Jennifer walks up to the police tape. If she doesn't see anybody resembling an authority figure, she'll lift the tape and go in to look around some more.
Median asks the proprietor
"Were you here when the body was found nearby?"
No one is obviously watching the crime scene, and Jennifer able to slip in without any screams or yells to stop. The crime scene was as unpleasant as one might imagine, having yet to be cleaned. There are a number of tags in the location, and a lot of blood. Even after having seen quite a lot of violence Jennifer is surprised that one person could lose this much.
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The old man snorted. "You a cop, or just nosey? Eh, don't matter. I was here, and the cameras can prove it. Didn't see nothin', hear nothin', know nothin'."
We're actually investigating as representatives of the supernatural community, which I assume you are part of because of your safe that lights up with magic like a disco ball. I understand if your answer is no, but do you mind if we look quickly through the employee only area of the store? We found some disturbing things at the last crime scene, and want to make sure you are going to be safe.
"They're small. About the size of your thumb. Poppets. Nasty sh|t."
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The old man laughed. "Oh, sure, just drop the mask, why dontcha. Look around if you want. You try stealing anything I'll make sure you live to regret it. And I know what a Poppet is. You'll want to look for those where the person lived, not where they died. They're a start, not an end."
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Feeling a little out of her element examining blood splatters instead of creating them, Jennifer focuses on the police tags, trying to determine what they're marking, and if any of those markings are unexpected.
Thanks for the information.
She looks around the employee areas anyway, just in case.
But if they don't find anything, then she thanks the man and goes to see what Jennifer is up to.
Median doesn't spot anything within the shop, but as she approaches where Jennifer is searching, she does note someone casually recording the woman checking the crime scene on their phone.
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Jennifer notes the tags, but they're mostly numbered rather than annotated, no doubt referring to an evidence key the police have. Hunting around, she does find shards of what looks like dark glass...or, more likely, obsidian. Not an uncommon material for certain kinds of sacrificial tools. Judging by thinness, these were likely a result of sharpening during the crime.
Jennifer pockets one of the obsidian shards and makes to leave and rejoin the others.
Median spots someone recording Jennifer, and uses her silent/still spell ability to cast Prestidigitation without any external sign, uses the spell to interfere with the camera and wipe any data collected over the last day.
She taps the watcher on the shoulder and says, loudly enough for Jennifer to hear,
"Oh, are YOU here to look into the ULTRA MYSTERIOUS deaths TOO? I just KNOW the police are keeping something from us! Hi, I'm Median. Median Maxwell, I'm sure you've heard of me. I'm the author of "Vampires Among Us" and "Ghosthunting for Fun and Profit" among many, many other titles. Tell me what mysterious things you've seen... maybe I can get a good quotation for my next book! Would you like my autograph? I just happen to have a pen here..."
She also tunes in her telepathy to hear what the person is thinking.
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Jennifer about-faces and walks the other way. About a block away, she'll send a group text.
"Let me know when the coast is clear. Found obsidian slivers at the site. Like someone had an obsidian weapon and sharpened it there? Also, maybe someone detect for magic at the crime scene."
The figure jumped as Median hijacked them, her telepathy mostly picking up a series of impressive curse words as he nearly dropped the phone. "What the hell are you-oh hell, press?" He looks mildly panicked, hastily shoving the phone in one pocket so it's just about safe and pulls out a badge. "Hey, no, I'm a cop! None of that. If you want a statement, you call the PR guys. I'm not gonna talk about-hey, where that'd suspect go?"
He looks around, trying to see where Jennifer went.
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Oh, sorry officer, my mistake. You sure you don't want to give us a good quotation for Supernatural Stories? You'd be famous instantly. We have a huge following on our true crime blog. This one seemed interesting for sure. I'm betting it was a werewolf. It has all the signs. Is it true that you guys were issued special silver bullets, and that the tell tale footprints changed from human to bestial MID-STRIDE? I mean, this is the story of the century, really. Your name is going to be the first thing I refer to, in fact, officer...
She peers at the badge, saying the last name loud and clear.
"What-midstride? Are you kidding me? Why did you say my name like that?" the poor officer said, trying to work out what the hell was happening. "A qoute? No? No! Contact the PR guys." He stopped, turning around and clearly frustrated. "Damnit, my ass is going to be in the grinder if I-" He stopped, remembering the 'press' was there. "Look, you're interfering! Can you go bug someone else?"
Oh, sure, I get it. Can't tell the public all you know or you'd risk your job. Don't worry, we know you're really one of us. I'll mail an autograph to your precinct for you.
Let me just call on the spirits really fast to see if we can learn anymore from the beyond.
She closes her eyes and says
"Oh spirits, guide us to the truth."
She says other nonsense stuff, mixing in the correct gestures and words to cast Detect Magic and then opens her eyes to take a good look as Jennifer asked, holding it for at least three rounds to get an idea of what type of magic (if there is any there).
After she is finished, she waves at the cop and says
Okay, that was helpful. Farewell, and good luck on the investigation! Thanks so much for all of your help!
Median flashes him her brightest smile, and leaves to go find Jennifer and then go interview the parents.
Median and the others left a very baffled looking cop, who stomped over to the crime scene again, with only his cellphone footage of Jennifer. The party met up again, and unless anyone else had something else to do, headed for the Chaytor household.
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The house is small, a little corner market with the home in the back and above it. Needless to say, the shop is dark and closed. A note asks that mail and deliveries goes around the side.