Hathaway, Harker, and Walton make their way in their limo to the park at the Fresh Pond reservoir. The pond is encircled by a running/walking/cycling trail and includes a dog park.
The pond itself is a kettle hole. Ten thousand years ago the retreating glaciers left behind a chunk of ice so large and so heavy that it sank into the earth here and then melted away. The pond served as a source of water and ice to indigenous peoples for millennia before European settlers pushed them out. In the 19th century, the pond was privately owned, and its ice was sold far and wide, carried by rail and steamer across the country and even into the tropics far to the south.
To the north is Alewife Brook. The brook and the pond are historical spawning grounds of alewives, an oceanic fish that returns to these estuaries to spawn.
Hathaway stands looking as the team work.
"get samples of everything, plants ground and water."
he instructs them.
Jonathan encircles the Fresh Pond and walks up to Hathaway, "I cannot detect anything supernatural. Any luck to tour that company next?"
"Well, if we're splitting up, there's no need for anybody to go alone. Want some company?"Helen's usual amused half-smile pulls into a genuine smile of delight. "Thank you for offering, Griffin, I'd love some. Don't suppose you mind playing the role of dutiful research assistant and general factotum?"
"Uh, yeah sure, that makes sense. But if I have to make myself scarce to check something out, we should have a code phrase. Let's say that if I tell you that I need to get on a call with Martinez, I'll be gone for a while."
"Thank you my friend. Allow me to Bestow the Blessings of Bastet on you. And if I can I'll come back with more fish the next few days"
She then gets on the communicator
"I've got a bit more information. The male was very strong, stronger than a normal human as the lower limit. I've managed to get his scent, its a fish/human/reptile/chemical mix that is hard to describe. But I'll know it if I ever scent it again. Here are photos of a barrel that he struck and a fence that he ripped open together with the GPS coordinates. In case one of the forensics teams can get more from them than I did. Its long enough that I don't really expect to get anything more, but I'm going to head to the second site"
With that she turns into a cheetah and races towards the second site, comfortable that if anybody sees here they won't be believed anyway. A cheetah running through Boston? Yeah, right.
"Uh, yeah sure, that makes sense. But if I have to make myself scarce to check something out, we should have a code phrase. Let's say that if I tell you that I need to get on a call with Martinez, I'll be gone for a while.""Well, if we're splitting up, there's no need for anybody to go alone. Want some company?"Helen's usual amused half-smile pulls into a genuine smile of delight. "Thank you for offering, Griffin, I'd love some. Don't suppose you mind playing the role of dutiful research assistant and general factotum?"
Helen nods in understanding. "Perfect. Professor Martinez is very anxious about that Arabic translation project after all. And your absconding may help if the department chair is overly chatty."
"Thank you Jonathan, We have one more site to visit then the company"
They head to the last site where a body was found and repeat the inspection, checking the police files. Once done they head to the compnay.
Jonathan encircles the Fresh Pond and walks up to Hathaway, "I cannot detect anything supernatural. Any luck to tour that company next?"
Seeing you coming, he rises from a stone bench and folds an actual newspaper and tucks it under his left arm, extending his right hand to first Dr. Wise and then to Benjamin. "So good to see you, and thanks for getting me out of my desk for a while."
On the way to BU, Helen gives Griffin some pointless university bureaucracy lingo to use, which may be helpful either to fit in. "Professor Wilson, so good to see you again. When was it last, the International Academy of Linguistics in '23? You gave that scintillating talk on analysis of cultural patterns appearing in creoles and pidgins. I'm still finding new insights because of it. Oh, but I do go on." She gestures to Ben. "My assistant, Griffin. I hope it's alright if I bring him along, I've so much going on, he helps me keep track and is brilliant at it. He is also very discreet, never in the way, I promise you. Practically invisible sometimes!"
She adds, "I don't suppose you've time to give me the grand tour? I've only been here during whirlwind travel, and the campus is so beautiful, especially where it goes along the river. And while we walk, you can do that brain-picking you were asking about."
"So good to see you, and thanks for getting me out of my desk for a while."
"Yeah, I get that. Happy to help. We all need some fresh air now and again."
This coming from a man who appears to be dressed as if he was trying to keep as much of the fresh air off of him as possible.
"My assistant, Griffin. I hope it's alright if I bring him along, I've so much going on, he helps me keep track and is brilliant at it. He is also very discreet, never in the way, I promise you. Practically invisible sometimes!"
Benjamin gently snorts, but otherwise doesn't react too much to the 'invisible' crack. As Helen and Dr. Wise walk, Benjamin follows a step or two behind. Close enough to listen to their conversation, which is all he plans on doing unless he needs to interject with a question about Summer Harrington.
[dice=Harker's Investigation site 2]1d20+10
[dice=Harker's Investigation site 3]1d20+10
Dr. Wilson makes a gallant mock bow and says, "Well, I think I will grab a coffee as we get started. This cafe has a decent single source Ethiopian light roast, or, if you prefer tea, they have an absolutely abysmal selection of tea where they put the tea back right in the paper cup for it to steep, which I know is how the English prefer it." He grins.
After caffeine is acquired, he shows begins the tour, showing you the outside of various academic buildings. There is a small history museum that has a special exhibit on Pharoah Ahmose the 1st.
Your journey eventually takes you closer to the river and (assuming you want to get to the law school) across it.
"I don't plan to be on the public part of the tour - stitched together body parts aren't what I'd call proper investor-chique, yeah?"
She pops off a couple appendages and offers them with an open hand. [b]"Take an eye and an ear with you. Try not to get 'em squished though, yeah? I've got spares but it's hard to get a good match."
Having found nothing of further interest at the older 2 sites, Sehkmet decides to head over to the campus and rejoin the others.
She gets to the campus itself, finds a good hiding spot and transforms back into Sehkmet. After a quick check on her phone (I presume we all have some app showing each others locations) she dons her "Big hat, sunglasses and N95 mask" disguise
"Ah, there you all are. Hi. I'm a friend of theirs"
Henrietta looks a little dismayed but takes the offered body parts. "Can you hear and see through these?"
Helen wasn't expecting Sekhmet, but she smiles at her arrival nonetheless. "Delightful! I knew you were in town but I wasn't certain you could join in. Professor Wilson, I am so sorry, I should have told you I sent a message to my colleague--she was very excited to learn we might visit the new department's library later today. Please allow me to present Evelyn Carnahan, professor of anthropology and archeology. She's done numerous digs along the Nile, and I've worked with her as a translator. I don't suppose you've read her paper on burial rites in Bubastis?"
She allows pleasantries to exchange, then spots something along the river. Frowning, she points at a makeshift pile of flowers and plush animals by the edge of a bridge. "Oh, speaking of burial rites... looks like a memorial shrine. Fresh flowers, so recent too. Someone didn't jump in the river, did they?"
"I don't plan to be on the public part of the tour - stitched together body parts aren't what I'd call proper investor-chique, yeah?"
She pops off a couple appendages and offers them with an open hand. [b]"Take an eye and an ear with you. Try not to get 'em squished though, yeah? I've got spares but it's hard to get a good match."
"Ah, there you all are. Hi. I'm a friend of theirs"
She allows pleasantries to exchange, then spots something along the river. Frowning, she points at a makeshift pile of flowers and plush animals by the edge of a bridge. "Oh, speaking of burial rites... looks like a memorial shrine. Fresh flowers, so recent too. Someone didn't jump in the river, did they?"
"A tragedy for sure, but I don't think there was any sign of self harm. A young woman, a law student, drowned here not too long ago. She was actually a student of mine in her undergrad. Brilliant young woman. She was studying cultural heritage law, very interested in protecting the Amazon basin. Not just the ecological concerns, but the cultural ones. As I'm sure you know, there is all manner of discovery happening there, realizing there was a complex civilization of as many as 10 million people there manipulating the environment, using techniques that might be useful for sequestering carbon in 'dark earth....' Anyway, forgive my enthusiasm. That is a little beyond our brief. But yes, Ms. Harrington was something. A real loss."
"Sounds like you knew her... Miss Harrington, was it? If so, my sincere condolences. Important work, sounds like--and a horrifying loss. I died around that age, you know. I mean, I was attacked, and nearly lost on the operating table. Obviously I was resuscitated." She pauses, either genuinely flustered or at least feigning being upset. "Forgive me for rambling, Professor. What I am getting at is it's such a waste. One so young has barely lived. The loss of potential, the terror. I hate that my mind goes these places, but if she didn't do her... well, I mean, do you think there was foul play? Corporate interests in the Amazon conflicting with the academic? I don't know Brazil well, but I've met corporate conflicts in the Middle East plenty of times..."
Lord Hathaway walked with his cain and limp to look over the last location. The wind was biting but he did not main it. His body and long long ago lost feeling on most of its surface. The scaring was such, that it always hurt to move. But he had trained his mind to take over where his body could not. Down by the water his team was taking samples, and photographing everything. Behind him some one with a very state of the art LiDAR scanner was walking around making a 3D plan for them to look at later. And overhead a drone was buzzing doing a topo map. Over to one side a local cop was walking to some passersby and keeping them away.
He spotted something, looked like a letter or a note. His hand moved it it flow form the floor into his graps. A shopping list, probably nothing but he waved over one of the team and handed it to them.
Then he looked at the site as he had other others, seeing a ghost like overlay, Just like the others he sort to see the past, and echo of what has happened. It was not perfect he would get vations her and there, just as he did when he touched others sometime, seeking to read their minds.
But not visions of possible futures, no he was looking into the past here. We wanted to see if he could find the moment when the girl had died.
Hathaway Investigation site 1:
Hathaway Investigation site 2:
Hathaway Investigation site 3:
BRILLIANT DEDUCTION ***{1p}***
Whether it is a few scuffs in the dirt or some stray hairs on someone’s collar, you can reconstruct entire past events with amazing accuracy just by examining the available evidence. You can substitute an Investigation check for the Perception check normally required for Postcognition if your examination of the evidence is successful. Brilliant Deduction: Senses 4 (Postcognition), Investigation
Check Required (DC 12) • 2 points
EXTRAS
Concentration: {-1p} You must be free to concentrate to use this power. -5 on all rolls while using it.
Uncontrolled: {-1p} You have little control over this power, What vistions come is down to the GM.
Hathaway enevid his friend Jonathan, for ever young and handsome. He would be the same of something like Vapireiem worked on him. But the every affliction that gave him powers of the mind also locked him forever in this broken body. It seemed the rarely had a sick sense of hummer. He stopped thing like that, thinking like that took you to some dark places and he had something to take his mind off thing.
He walked over to Jonathan his cain making a taping sound each time it hit the sidewalk.
" Jonathan the team will be rapping up here, how about we head off to the company you want to visit."
And he smiled at his friend.
It was none that imatortals sort out the company of others like themselves. Rocks that stood out in the stream of time. If only to remember things gone. He waved a hand and the Dark 4x4 limo moved to where they where standing. The driver got out and opened the door for them.
"Shall we?"
"Sounds like you knew her... Miss Harrington, was it? If so, my sincere condolences. Important work, sounds like--and a horrifying loss. I died around that age, you know. I mean, I was attacked, and nearly lost on the operating table. Obviously I was resuscitated." She pauses, either genuinely flustered or at least feigning being upset. "Forgive me for rambling, Professor. What I am getting at is it's such a waste. One so young has barely lived. The loss of potential, the terror. I hate that my mind goes these places, but if she didn't do her... well, I mean, do you think there was foul play? Corporate interests in the Amazon conflicting with the academic? I don't know Brazil well, but I've met corporate conflicts in the Middle East plenty of times..."
"I didn't know her all that well, we did some work together, but nothing more than I've done with dozens of graduate students. If she got tangled up with something in the Amazon, she never told me about it. Well, that isn't quite true. She was studying indigenous languages and the foundations for land rights in the Amazon. I'm sure that sort of thing could attract negative attention. But she was a second year law student, she couldn't have been stirring up that much trouble. More likely she just had an accident and fell off the trail."
Hathaway:
At site 1, Hathaway imagines the events of the fateful evening, where might someone get close to the water unseen. Under a screen of willow branches he finds the broken heel of a woman's shoe. A strand of blonde hair in the branch of a bush, and the faintest trace of a size 15 boot, once sunk deep into the mud though now faded by rain and wind. The wearer would have been heavy, maybe 400 pounds, perhaps a large man carrying a small woman.
At site 2, near the bridge he finds a similar snag of hair and, nearby, another print. This one the same size but of a bare foot with faint traces of webbing and claws. The print was deeper, and based on the weather conditions at the time, that indicates that the man was heavier, (you know from the reports that the women were of similar height and weight).
At site 3 things are harder to interpret. All of the surfaces are too hard to catch a foot print, but Hathaway does track the passage through the torn and now repaired fence, and the spot the two went into the water. And nearby, he finds the remains of a Dunkin' receipt. The date coincides with the date of the drowning.
Hathaway had walked the scenes and as Jonathan and he rode in the car he told Jonathan what he thought had happened.
"At the 1st site I spotted signs of a large person, carry a woman by the looks of the prints left, I would say some 400lb give or take, could be someone carrying a body. At the 2ed site, Same kind of heir I found at the 1st, and this time a webbed and clawed foot print. Same size as the 1st, around 15 EU foot. Site 3 I found the spot the two went into the water. And nearby, I found a Dunkin' receipt, weathered but the date coincides with the date of the drowning. So we have a large, web footed sterker, waiting around with Coffee and donuts until its Victims show up. The Lab boys will work on what was found and let us know asap"
He says this looking out of the window as the city passes by, both his hands resting on the silver top of his cain.
Harker listens to Hathaway's update and replies, "excellent, old friend. The creature handling the dead bodies appears close enough to human to wear boots."
"Do we have people to check if there is surveillance recordings around this restaurant and between there and site 3? If not, we can check it out. Look for cameras. Interview potential witnesses. Gumshoe work."
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"I Will ask the police to look into the CCTV, more there thing than ours. We should head to the Company and see what they have to say"
As Helen, Sekhmet, and Professor Wilson continue on their walk, Benjamin pulls out his phone and pretends to answer a call. After a moment of fake conversation, he turns to Helen.
"Ma'am? Sorry, it's Dr. Martin. Ez. Martinez. He has time now for the, um, the thing. The call. I'll catch up."
Holding the phone to his ear, he walks over to the river. When the others have walked out of sight, he goes over to the memorial they spotted that started the conversation about Ms. Harrington. He examines the picture, gifts, notes, etc. He's looking for anything that might give a clue about who she was close to, causes that were important to her, etc. Anything that might help him get a better sense of her life.
Our investigators step through the glass doors of e-Phemeral, finding that they don't quite match the interior sleek, open concept workspace dotted with colorful beanbag chairs, ping pong table, video game consoles, and half a dozen mismatched sofas. Subtle lighting creates pools of warm light on the polished concrete floor and casts stark shadows against walls painted in a variety of pastels and neutral grey.
Clusters of workstations line the perimeter of the room, scattered with high end laptops, standing desks, and energy drink cans. Posters of smiling individuals from across the 20th and 21st centuries proclaim, "Preserve Memories" or "Remember."
In the center of the workspace, a large digital board is filled with flowcharts and snippets of code, references to "Memory Indexing" and "Simulation." On the bezel, someone left a neon pink post-it that reads "Don't forget to LIVE!" in Sharpie.
In the center of the workspace, a large whiteboard is filled with flowcharts and lines of code, references to “Memory Indexing” and “Sentience Simulation.” Someone left a neon-pink sticky note reading “Don’t forget to LIVE!” pinned to a scrawled diagram. The irony is thick—amid the playful décor and bright colors, the recent death of Kendall Novak hangs over the place like a silent question. Even the overhead track lighting can’t dispel that intangible sense of disquiet, reminding the detectives that in this realm of digital immortality, a very real tragedy has taken hold.
On one wall is a now tattered and slightly dusty pin board with photos of a young woman you recognize as Kendall Novak along with a variety of cards and notes.
You are greeted by a man who you know from your research is Mason Dubik, founder of the company and CEO.
He doesn't extend a hand in greeting unless you do, but smiles warmly and says, "Mr. Hathaway and friends, so good to meet you. I have to admit, it is a surprise. But I'm so glad you've taken an interest in our little endeavor. What can I do for you?"
As Helen, Sekhmet, and Professor Wilson continue on their walk, Benjamin pulls out his phone and pretends to answer a call. After a moment of fake conversation, he turns to Helen.
"Ma'am? Sorry, it's Dr. Martin. Ez. Martinez. He has time now for the, um, the thing. The call. I'll catch up."
Holding the phone to his ear, he walks over to the river. When the others have walked out of sight, he goes over to the memorial they spotted that started the conversation about Ms. Harrington. He examines the picture, gifts, notes, etc. He's looking for anything that might give a clue about who she was close to, causes that were important to her, etc. Anything that might help him get a better sense of her life.
[dice=Investigation]1d20+12
There are flowers, cards, burned down candles, photos of the deceased, what you would expect. The two things that stand out are an unusual flower and a torn ticket to the Boston University History Museum.
Hathaway looks on as the streets of Baston pass by.
He moves his hand and his cain lifts up and come to him.
"I have never told you about this Jonathan, but after my ascendant, experimental treatment, my father and sister agreed to changed me. As my body diminished so my mind expand. I lost a lot, feeling in my limbs, sense of touch, but I have never told you I also lost my sight. I am for want of a better word Blind. Yet I move through the world as if sighted, even you can not tell. And that is because I see with my mind. When I am at a crime scene, I can form a picture of and as I observe it more I can form images of what could have happened. A kind of Mind-Backward-sight of you please. And I experience that and explore it. I have a photographic memory you know that too. But the mind Palace I have formed there has every place I have ever been. No matter how mundation."
He looks out the window once more.
"Telepathic synesthesia, to me the world is always overflowing with colores"
There are flowers, cards, burned down candles, photos of the deceased, what you would expect. The two things that stand out are an unusual flower and a torn ticket to the Boston University History Museum.
Benjamin uses his phone to snap a picture of ticket and the unusual flower.
If he feels he can do so without anyone seeing him, he'll remove the flower and pocket it. He'll then catch up to Helen and Sekhmet.
"Of course, Griffin. His timing as usual is awful, but needs must please the when the PI calls. Let's move on... Professor, do tell me about your research..."
She'll keep things moving away from Ben's investigation to draw away attention, but move slowly enough to make it easy for him to catch up.
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In the scene with Hathaway, "Excellent, old man. What additional information has your color palette shown you from the three sites, so far?"
=============
At the company, Harker looks around the office. Without much experience with such mundane locations, he directs his attention toward the tour guide and starts to work on Mason's willpower.
Hathaway stands back as Jonathan, dose his thing.
Sehkmet would wander around the office to see if she gets any trace of the smell she picked up at the most recent drowning site.
Henrietta watches Jonathon work with an appreciative low whistle.
"Mason," Jonathan calls their tour guide's attention to his eyes. Within a few seconds, the vampire owned the man's willpower causing him to smile, a toothy smile showing his larger canines.
"Now, Mason, please tell us what's really going on here. Please tell us what you know about Kendall Novak's death. And, about any other deaths."