Need to catch up on this Porter. Last thing we need is the police to step on our toes.
Sniffing around like a hound, Alice starts canvassing the room. "Look for anything that may help us track him. A scrap of paper with an address, traces of mud or blood, and of course the pendant."
Nodding, Miselle began hunting to see what could be found, although Alice seemed to be doing a very solid job.
Az goes to assist Miselle, trying to cover ground and point out things that seem like they might be useful.
The doctor's room has clearly been picked over with a fine-toothed comb prior to your arrival here. Officer Porter is thorough, it seems. Luckily, you do find a document inside a false-bottomed trunk: a copy of the doctor's lease for this room.
Full name: Doctor Wolfgang von Recklinghausen
Birthplace: Arrovia, a minor nation in the Malice Lands
Citizenship: Danor
Occupation: Surgeon
Degrees in surgery (from Danor) and spellcraft (from Risur)
Character References
- Dr. Barnaby Camp (teaches at a surgery theater in North Shore)
- Professor Lynn Kindleton (professor of human biology at Pardwight University)
"Think you'll remember his scent if you encountered it in the future Alice?" Corynne asks as they wrap up the investigation, taking the document with them.
Squeaky clean, except for this trunk. I have a bad feeling about this.
"I think so, yeah. You know of anything that might have caused me to get so sensitive? I know pregnancy can do it, but... well, not the case."
She rustle through the papers. "Now that's a name I won't even bother trying to learn. But we have two names to track, and if he's really a doctor, should we fail, my brother could know something."
I'll need to pass by Requisition and pack something for a manhunt.
"So is nothing else to find here...where to now?" Az asks the others, content to follow their lead.
Corynne raises an eyebrow for a moment, looking at Alice then grinning. Tilting her head for a moment as if listening to something she nods slightly before looking back at Alice. "It might sound strange but, cities...sometimes whole nations can be said to have a spirit of their own. A sort of power and almost intelligence that recognizes it's champions and protectors. Apparently you wouldn't be the first person to develop.....enhanced abilities through devotion to a land or ideal. There are more types of magic that the philosophers have words to describe."
"Since it is night now," Miselle suggested, frowning, "We should rest. If we meet back at Headquarters at dawn we should find any further information that has shaken loose in the night and can approach with fresh eyes." She shrugged. She didn't especially want to stop but...tired officers made mistakes. They could not afford any.
"You're right, it has been a bit of a long day, and fresh eyes and minds will get us further." Corynne replies stretching.
"Magic, huh? From the land itself... It's quite the honor. Anyway, yeah, let's catch some shut-eye and see you at HQ early in the morning. I'll get some supplies for a chase if needed: tanglefoot bags, caltrop beads, that sort of things. Any advice?"
"Hm. Could it be something to do with that fey island? As for gear, the Battalion has a whole list we were supposed to memorize, I'm sure I've got it written down somewhere..." Ellena says, stifling a yawn and making to leave.
"All sounds good to me. That and a good night's rest." Corynne says, stifling a yawn of her own.
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Works for me!
Sometimes Ellena really did loath the Battalion. Mostly it was while she was lying half-drowned in a swamp on some asinine 'Wilderness Survival' exercise, but sometimes it was mornings like this one - because anyone who made it through their first year there was physically incapable of sleeping in past dawn.
Thanks to that, when she walked into Headquarters she'd already been up for a few hours and had had some time to do some thinking. Sitting across from a cup of coffee large enough to be a bucket, she tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at the others. "So, um, we want to be talking to Officer Porter now, right? Or, at least, find out if he really is an Officer? Because he may have done some of our work for us, or have taken evidence or things that we need... right?"
Before heading to her desk, Alice stops by the Requisitions office, stuffing her belt and jacket with all sort of unstable concoctions.
Sinking her teeth in a creme chantilly-filled croissant ‒say what you want about Danorans, their skill at pastry is unrivaled‒ she listens to Ellena.
"Aye. Police headquarters and Pardwight are both in Central, so we can look for Professor Kindleton afterwards."
5 flasks of Acid - 50 gp
2 Smokesticks - 40 gp
2 Tanglefoot bags - 100 gp
1 Entangling shot cartridge - 40 gp (total of 2)
2 Vanish Potions - 50 gp
2 Caltrop Beads - 80 gp
Sling (loaded with the above) - free
"Is seeming like good plan to me. Alice seems to have picked up all the gear we might be needing...one day Az is going to have to invent things like that entangling shot for rifle and not just scatter-guns!"
You're quick to discover that there's nobody on the force by the name of 'Roger Porter.'
"****ing called it, son of a motherless goat!"
A steel-toed boot violently kicks a pebble against the wall with an unsatisfactory thuk. "Who's betting those scum-suckling Danoran pigs are covering their tracks?"
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"Possibly," said the scum-suckling Danoran in the room with an amused smile. "But not definitive. It seems most odd that they would have a fake officer ready to go so quickly after a robbery gone badly. And the accent is...est difficile de se débarrasser de. Not proof, but it makes me wonder." Scratching her head, she added, "But who would be able to create such a fake officer so fast?"
Elena's mouth twists into a thinking expression, and she mutters half to herself and half to the group. "Hm. Pretending to be an officer wouldn't be difficult, but who else would be investigating this? Could be the Danorans, doubt it though. Feeling they're on their best behavior right now. Could be Gail, if Nilasa was better friends with her than we thought. Would that be better or worse?"
Awakening early Corynne draws herself a bath, taking herself through an almost ritualistic process of clearing her mind and body, readying herself for the day. Finishing her bath, she moves to her bedroom sitting crosslegged on the bed, her journal and pen before her as she allows the spirits to touch her mind, bring with it the altered sense of time, where past/present and future are far more malleable. Her eyes go white as her hand begins to write, abstract bits of information, leading to a point.
Corynne smiles at Miselle's wry response, managing to stifle a snicker. As they begin to work through the possibilities, she runs a hand through her still damp hair. ”Setting up a false investigator seems a bit…subtle for Gale given her usual M.O. no?”
"Quick, sure, unless they had a mole, a sleeper, this whole time! Perhaps Risuri born, so that they wouldn't have an accent."
"Let's see it from another perspective, with Doctor Wolfgang not being the Shadowman. Let's assume Nilasa was stealing some important document, like that barge deed. LeBrix, or someone he's covering for, finds her, they fight, blood stain under the carpet. Then Nilasa jumps through the window; Gale's exceptionally skilled at wind magic, she may have enchanted her to jump further, perhaps with the pendant. Not far enough, though, as she gets stuck on the fence. Bang, bang, LeBrix shoots her twice to reinforce his story, but she manages to pass documents and pendant to her accomplice the good doctor, who's now on the run from both us and whatever assassin Danor has infiltrated in the City Police under the name of Roger Porter. Sounds likely?"
"Gale's fervently anti-Danoran. Also, Nilasa was apparently dealing with some Crisillyiri guy, and they are tied with the fey as for who hates industrialization the most, so we have motive. Danorans likely want to get their documents back, giving motive on their side too. I just wish we had EVIDENCE!"
Woe
"Hmm...is lots of assumptions in any theory at this point, no matter how likely theory is. Either way, is not right now enough to go on to divert from going to Pardwright next." Az contributes.
"Agreed," Miselle added, nodding along with Azaghâl. "What we need to do, of course, is hunt the Doctor. If our fake detective too hunts, then it puts us on the same track."
The "campus" of Pardwight University weaves through many streets and occasionally shares buildings with other offices in Central District. As it turns out, this is the case for Professor Kindleton, who's office is directly above a butcher shop. When you arrive, she's in the middle of meeting with a few students, but according to the schedule posted on her door, her Human Internal Anatomy 401 class begins in approximately 30min. The classroom (a hospital morgue) is a few streets over, so she won't have much time to talk if she wants to get there on time.
"Hmm...looks like this might have to be quick." Corynne comments.
"Az will be mostly leaving it to talky people."
Not sure if she counted as a talky person, Miselle headed for the morgue. On the plus side, she was getting quite used to seeing dead people...
"Let's get talky then." says Alice, nonchalantly pushing an entangling cartridge down her gun's barrel before knocking.
Corynne takes a deep breath as they approach the morgue. While she was quite accustomed to it, there was always that moment when entering anywhere like a morgue or graveyard, where she had to mentally prepare herself. For her, it was entering the foyer to another world that firmly overlapped their own.
On the periphery of her vision she could catch the occasional flicker of a face or outline, a sign of agitation in the small entourage of spirits that clung to her.
The Professor arrives shortly after you do.
It was a fight, but Ellena just about managed not to come to attention when the Professor stepped into the room. "Excuse me, Professor? No, I - I'm not a student - we're with the RHC. We need to talk to you about a reference you provided. Could you step out for a few short minutes?"
Translation: Can we not talk about the dead lady in the creepy room?"
After checking your badge, the Professor nodded. "Of course, constables. I have a class to teach shortly, but I can spare a few minutes. How can I be of service?"
Corynne takes the time to quietly scan the room and the students before stepping outside with the others.
You see nothing out-of-place in either the room or the students.
Alice picks up her notebook, flipping to the last page. "We're looking for a man named, uhm, Wolfgang von Recklinghausen, a surgeon by trade. Do you happen to know where we could find him, other than his apartment?"
Professor Kindleton looks surprised and shakes her head. "No, I'm afraid I haven't heard from him in quite some time. Not since he contacted me about putting me down as a reference, in fact. Is everything okay?"
There's something off about Kindleton's aura. She's either lying, omitting something, or both.
Az keeps quiet, letting the others do the talking, while he stays as observant as he is able, trying to pick out anything that may help the group in their investigation.
Subtly taking advantage of Alice's commanding presence, Corynne shifts to move outside of the Professor's line of sight, down the hallway before calling upon her arcane power, increasing her ability to deivine exactly what it is she's seeing.
You detect nothing aside from the expected preservation magic on the corpse.
"We're looking into him as an accessory to murder. Do you have any idea where he might be, other than his place? Any girlfriend, relatives, a place he could crash?"
"I can't help you, I'm afraid. As far as I know, all his contacts are in Danor or Ber."
"Then why did you feel comfortable letting him list you as a reference? How did the two of you know each other?" Ellena presses.
"He's an old friend from our college days. We haven't seen each other for quite a few years, but I trust him wholeheartedly."
"College days as he was studying surgery here? Also, since you were that close, would you happen to know what his views were on the tradition versus industrialization debate?"
"Here? No, we studied together in Danor. Even worked together in Arrovia for a bit before going our separate ways. As for his views, I'm not sure how that's relevant, but he was never particularly political. When we worked together, he'd use whatever he felt would best get the job done. Sometimes that was cutting-edge medical science, sometimes it was an old folk remedy, and sometimes he'd blend the two together."