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As you get close to the scene the officer, Constable Winston watching you as you approach, he says, "Please stand back from the scene. While the lab techs have taken evidence they want it preserved for one day in case they need to head back here for more searching. As for what happened, we had a murder here of a nice working woman. Can't go into too many details on the case but it was bad I'm telling ya."
So the group heads off to the site of the second murder and find a police tapped off area of where the attack happened. The body has already been removed but there is still a massive bloodstain on the ground of where the victim was found along with specks of scrambled brain matter. Whatever wounds Nancy Batts got were hella fierce. There is a hell of a lot of blood splatter. Fortunately they haven't gotten to cleaning it up although the area seems to be watched by an officer. This time though you see there is large visible twisted bloody footprints that go out in a direction heading towards a corpse of trees far to the south. What do you do next?
The word "Effigy" stands out to the more educated people among you. One of the definitions of the word is "A crude representation of someone disliked, used for purposes of ridicule". Could this creature be something related to that definition. More research and investigation may be needed on the subject.
Ok sounds good. Indeed Joe identifies the spell as effects of a Ray of Paralysis, a magical spell that causes the target`s body to be briefly paralyzed. He would have recovered normally but Joe is able to speed up the process by casting dispel magic. Kyle White can instantly move his limbs again. What do you do now.
Ok Kyle take another Experience point. A red ray of energy hits Kyle in the chest and his body immediately locks up and becomes rigid. The man then shoves Kyle causing him to fall backward into the snow. As Kyle has failed the roll he does not get a chance to scream out for help nor can you he can barely breathe and his body does not respond. The man looms over Kyle looking down at him and he sternly says clearly altering his tone in some means to disguise his voice, "Stay out of this. We will deal with the Effigy, it is no concern of yours." With that heads off into the woods and out of sight while Kyle lies in the snow. As for Eugene's Act Under Pressure, his ears catch a vague voice on the wind and while he does get to Kyle the man has departed off into the woods and out of view. He is the first to find Kyle lying in the snow, rigid like a stature. He looks like he's suffering from some kind of Paralysis.
OK Kyle, take an Experience Point for that failure. While Edgard, Joe, Eugine and Silver are examining the crime scene, you come across the crudely hidden footprints in the snow and decide to follow them to see where they're going. Unfortunately while out of sight from the party you stumble into a man in a snow jacket with a ski-mask covering most of his face although you can see his eyes and lips which hint more manly features (Shaded though as he has his hood up). He looks at you and gestures with his hands uttering a spell on his lips and a blast of magical energy is unleashed. Give me an Act Under Pressure roll to avoid the effect.
Joe turns on his arcane senses and does sense that magic involved. As for the sort of magic, it reads to him as some kind of infusion magic was involved. Infusion magic involves putting magical power into something. It can be voluntary or it can be forced. He gets the sense that the creature in question took something from the person he killed and added it to itself. Edgard, you turn on your arcane senses and see that the monster headed off to the north. As for what is being hidden here, you see that there is some more recent shoe-prints off in the woods but it looks like someone tried to kick some dirt over them as they left to cover their tracks. What he can see of the footprints is that they resemble common sneakers, probably of a male make by the size of the shoe. Someone had recently viewed this crime scene and headed off into the woods afterwords.
Ok well Eugene you find what looks like footprints in the mud of something big and heavy. The footprints are unusually large to be a person but nonetheless have a humanoid shape although the toes look twisted and warped and there is a sign it has large overgrown toenails. You also find hand prints likewise very big with twisted gnarled fingers and sharp impressions hinting large and sharp fingernails. So either you're looking at someone a freakishly large person whose gone all Hills Had Eyes Mutant, or some kind of monster with a vaguely humanoid shape like a Sasquatch. Of course as Eugene has not seen the creature he can't be sure what he's looking at until he gets some visible confirmation.
Agent Silver is able to go to the campsite where the body was found. The area has mainly been cleared out of camping supplies by the police although there is some remains of some police tape but there is still a lingering bloodstain on the ground of where the body was found. If you want to dig around for clues that will be an Investigate a mystery roll.
Edgard levitates off the ground using the power granted to him by the Unseele Court. Indeed he does float off the ground to the amazement of Kyle but only for a few seconds before he abruptly falls to the ground with a thud on the floor but as it was not a long fall he lands on his feet although the power cutting out so quickly was a bit of a surprise.
She seems a little disappointed when Kyle mentions he had seen nothing else unusual. When asked to walk the girl shakes her head and says, "Thank you for the offer but I think I can handle things on my own. I am Sheila by the way. Glad I could be of assistance in your time of need." She screws the cap back on the radiator and says "I think your vehicle should be fine to get going. Keep your eyes peeled out here at night. The woods aren't safe these days." Kyle can get a sense of a finality in her tone with that. As though she is certain the woods are not safe.
I assume that the party escapes the Morgue before more security arrives and Agent makes the call post-escape. I will grant you a free getaway considering there has been a string of trouble. However you also have to lay low for the night while the Bulwark works to cover up the evidence. The next morning another horrific death hits the news. This time a late night Walmart employee named Nancy Batts was the victim. She went off shift at 2:00 am and was ambushed in the parking lot. Her method of death was by having her head ripped oven and her scalp removed. It looks like the creature has claimed yet another victim!
Well Agent Silver, get an experience point! Agent Silver contacts Mrs. Melnik and informs her of the trouble caused at the Morgue. She is definitely not pulsed by this screw up and yells back "Agent Silver! I mentioned earlier to be Discreet in your investigation and instead you did exactly the opposite. Breaking into a City Morgue at night, being involved in disrupting evidence by allowing a third party to use magical intervention, assaulting a police officer and getting yourself caught on surveillance cameras! This is going to be a hell of a mess for us to clean up! You were trusted to get this job done quickly and discreetly but now it appears you're blundering around causing who knows how much trouble!" There is some heavy breathing at the other end and after she calms down a bit she says, "I will pull some strings to see that the surveillance tapes are properly doctored. However, this is the last assistance the Bulwark will provide you on this case. I'm cutting you loose until the board has a chance to decide what administrative punishment to levy for this screw up. It would be good for your standing to see that your mistakes are rectified and that you are able to bring this case to a conclusion. Do not call me again until you get results, you hear me Agent Silver?"
As for Kyle the girl says, "Oh I live not too far away. I was just taking a short cut through the woods and I heard some car trouble from you so went to investigate. But yes, I read in the paper about a hiker being killed." She seems a bit nervous when she mentions that, she then says, "Did you see anything unusual while you were driving by? Well other than the animal that ran in front of your car that is."
Agent Silver rushes forward and is able to tackle the officer. However you both tumble to the ground and the angle of your fall Agent Silver to twist his arm. This will give him a -1 to Kick Some Ass rolls until he has time to recover. The Officer reaches into his belt for his Nightstick and attempts to beat Agent Silver off of him. He can either avoid using Act Under Pressure or trade blows with the officer.
The girl approaches and says, "I know a bit about working a car. Let me take a look at that if you'll let me." You get a closer look at the girl. She looks maybe 16 with hazel eyes, reddish hair and fair skin. She looks under the hood and looks carefully and says, "Ok, looks like you just have to let off some pressure. You're engine is a bit overheated." She removes a cap and lets some steam come out as he opens up the radiator. "Just give it a few minutes and you should be ready to be along your way. You should be careful driving the roads at night. Lots of wild animals in the woods can jump right out at ya." As for the rest of you, you hear a distant voice although its rather indistinct due to the walls somewhat blocking the travelling of sound in this area.
Kyle is able to avoid the skunk but to do so he has to pull off the road, causing him to slam on the breaks to avoid crashing into a tree. While he is able to stop in time his vehicle stalls and sputters forcing him to stop the vehicle. Trying the key he finds the engine of his car has locked up. He's going to have to open up the hood and check out the engine to fix this. In the meantime while he's sitting in the car someone comes out of the woods. It appears to be a teenager dressed in black winter clothing with a scarf around her face. She yells out, "Hello over there! Are you OK?" As for Edgard, he is able to grab some water and throw it on the disoriented zombie. This washes the chalk off and with the magic of the markings disrupted the link to the animating magic is disrupted causing the corpse to fall lifelessly to the ground. As for Agent Silver, he rushes out but unfortunately does not make it to the security office as he runs smack dab into the night officer on duty who has his gun out and points it at Silver. So while rushing out protects the rest of the party from being seen, he now has a security guard to deal with. The guard yells, "HEY YOU! Hold it right there! Hands where I can see them!"
Ok take an Experience Eugene. While he is able to fill the container with water, in his excited state he gets butter fingers and before he can throw it he slips and spills water all over himself, thus preventing him from washing off the chalk. Fortunately the creature's attention is on Joe so it pays him little mind.
Edgard channels the power of the unseelie court within himself and unleashes it on the animated corpse. The creature tries to get up and lunge at Joe only to slip clumsily and fall violently onto a table full of surgical instruments with one surgical blade piercing the eye of the creature. The creature is visibly harmed by this and as it is a magical attack it completely ignores his armor. The corpse is still animate though but the next person who attacks it will get a +1 forward as it is disoriented. As for the problematic side effect that made a HELLA amount of noise. The crashing of metal, the angry screams of the corpse and the various objects falling to the floor is bound to attract some attention from security.
Agent jabs his knife into the corpse only to find that it is not very effective. Sure it puts a hole in the creature's torso but being a magical animated corpse it is more resilient than a living person. Likewise getting close also provokes Agent getting flailed across the body by one of the limbs. This inflicts 1 harm on him, minus any armor.
Ok Joe, you're not grabbed but you still get scratched across the chest by the nails of the animated corpse. Take a point of harm from the impact although if you have any armor you can soak the damage. How do you react to this? In fact, how does everyone else react to seeing a reanimated desiccated corpse?
Ok well Joe you channel your magical energy into the corpse in hopes of contacting the spirit. Unfortunately this backfires as corruptive taint in the corpse absorbs your magical energy and causes the body to animate! The body snarls and flails around at Joe trying to grab him with his gnarled hands. Make an Act Under Pressure roll to avoid being grabbed!
Ok Edgard, using the Sight you definitely see a supernatural taint on the body. Not only does he see something was taken from the body but also you see a palatable taint of corruption on the body as well. Something of pure corruption left its mark on this body. You can also ask two questions concerning the body. Yes Joe you can attempt to use a speak with dead on a body. That is within the preview of Use Magic. There may be other rolls involved depending on how you're doing this.
Which corpse are you looking at first? Andrew's corpse or Dan's corpse? Now normally use magic is not a substitute for an investigate a mystery roll. However you can Use Magic to provide a forward to a roll as well as a way of justifying how you get some information. Use Magic is NOT a Magic bullet to get all the answers to a case. So depends, if you want the asset from Use Magic, you have to roll the Use Magic first before you make the Investigate a Mystery roll. Because if you flub the Use Magic roll it could affect what you'll get from the investigation roll.
Oh oh, well Eugene you get an experience point as you failed your investigate a mystery roll. As for the effect, basically you look at the corpse and are so grossed out by what you see that you vomit. Unfortunately this also means you don't want to look at that corpse anymore as you're so grossed out by what you see. There is a difference between looking at pictures and seeing an actual corpse killed in this way.
Well usually if its something that falls into your skill-set I would give you a forward. Still 10+ is more than enough to crack the lock. As for Joe Arden, he's able to get the spell off however to extend the power of the spell to give everyone an invisibility field, he unfortunately has to channel a good deal of power. He overcharges the magical energy within himself causing a searing pain throughout his body as the magical energies fray his pattern. Still a cloud of invisibility goes around you, allowing you to walk around unseen. Using the combination of the spell and Eugine's cracking the lock you're able to get to reach the freight elevator and take it down to the basement without being seen. You soon join Silver in the morgue.
Unfortunately by the time Silver does his search the delivery is completed so you won't be able to slip into the back garage door like Agent Silver did. You're either going to have to hack a security door at the back or sneak in through the front past the night watchman. The front door would be a lot harder though as at night the doors at the front of the morgue are locked. Of course Agent Silver can attempt to sneak back and open the back door to let people in (As opening the door from the inside does not require a security card). Whatever the case, this is covered with an "Act Under Pressure" roll.
The computer is turned off but when you turn it on you find it is password locked. However looking through the desk you find in a drawer the reports for Dan Harbuz and Andrew Campbell. Dan's report says that something sharp and unusually strong tore through the skin and ripped out the muscles in his arms and legs. The cutting object oddly enough appears to be finger-like. Suffice to say the way the muscles were removed suggest being pulled out of the body, which is inconsistent with any known animal. It is also unusual that if this were a predator attack, only the arms and legs had parts removed, the rest of the body is relatively untouched other than some bruising and abrasions consistent with impact and being pinned. As for Andrew Campbell, the body has been identified as him and thus an Autopsy is not needed. The cause of death is listed as drowning. However the coroner's notes also say that there is no signs of a struggle, which is unusual as most people with struggle for air when drowning, suggesting the victim was unconscious when he was submerged. As another note he found there was without any scars or unusual marks. His skin was "Flawless" as far as the Coroner says which is unusual for an athlete.
Well for that roll you're able to jimmy the locks to the doors. The office appears to be a typical corner's office. Desk, Computer, File Cabinets and a few medical supplies. As for the examination room you find that the body of Dan Harbuz, which looks like has been autopsied. The body is emaciated and appears that something tore into his arms and legs and ripped the muscles and ligaments out of them. Only scraps where they attached to the bone remains. That is what probably killed him although he died screaming as his face is frozen in a look of abject horror. The body has already been closed up and has been put into a cold storage room which is attached to the examination room.
Agent Silver is able to sneak into the morgue room. So happens the door to the morgue room is unlocked and currently the room is empty. He sees the typical meat lockers and the door to the Corner's office as well as the examination room. Are you going to look for the body or try and sneak into the office or examination room?
The place is a small city morgue. There is some surveillance but it probably doesn't have someone watching it 24/7. The only way you'ed be spotted is if someone looked back at the footage. The security is probably handled in the main police station through, not in the actual building. So so long as you don't leave any evidence of your passing, you won't have to worry about the footage.
So that night Agent Silver arrives at the morgue. As it is a small city the coroner is usually not active during the evening although there might be an intern there in case of emergency. As he has done his research he goes to the back finding there is a code-locked door as well as a garage. Fortunately for him there is a evening delivery of some medical supplies thus the garage door has to be opened to drop off the supplies. The officer on duty there is distracted dealing with the staff thus leaving an opening to sneak inside. So to solid snake into the Morgue Agent Silver needs to make an Act Under Pressure roll. He gets a +1 forward to the roll. On a 10+ he'll make it to the bodies without any problem. 7-9 he'll have some complication to deal with and a 6 or less, well we'll see if that happens. |
