Chapter 1: Murder in the Poe House

[zachol]

Sidney pushes past, into the entrance. "Paul, what is this about? I heard something like 'murder'? I don't see how--"
The overhead light suddenly flickers and wanes, and she cuts herself off, glancing up and frowning.
After a moment to compose herself, she returns to badgering him, though much calmer. "I really don't see how this is a good idea."

[Seanberry]

Yori says nothing to Paul but stays in the back of the group, waiting to be taken inside or told what is happening.

[Mercutio]

Sam nodded at Paul and reached a hand out to shake as he walked in. "Shame about the situation. Always loved this building and its history."

[GIJ00]

Given a proper invitation, the House's threshold proves no problem for Ben as he steps inside. "I'm afraid that details were a tad light, what can you tell us about your... situation?"

[Darius]

Paul snorted, moving deeper into the house. "Given what you all know, what some of you are, do you really think I'd want to say anything other than in person. I'd call the police, but well, this isn't really their area of expertise."

The inside of the house is fairly spartan. A few books on the shelves, the walls whitewashed, and a few spare pieces of furniture is all that marks the house. Still, there is a certain heaviness in the air that caused everyone to pause, especially Sidney and Benjamin. The threshold was weak, as it had been many years since anyone had actually used the building as a home, but it felt as if emotion had been buried deep in the walls.

"The body is up in the garret." He pointed up the stairs. "Through the master bedroom and up the narrow stair case. Sorry if any of you are claustrophobic. I'd rather you see the body first before you ask your questions."

[Seanberry]

Yori nods and heads to the stairs, looking around the rooms as he passes, checking for any thing that looks to have been damaged recently, say by being knocked over or something like that.


Yori stops at the stairs and offers to let Syndey go first but heads up himself first if she indicates he may. Yori pays close attention for anything indicating a struggle or an accident before entering the bedroom, and does the same in the bedroom before entering the garret.

[zachol]

Sidney grumbles under her breath at Paul at the excuse.
As he finishes, she darts up the stairs, through the bedroom, and after barely acknowledging Yori, up the last set of stairs and into garret, leaving the more methodical and perceptive Yori behind.

[GIJ00]

Shrugging, Ben heads up the stairs, though not quite as enthusiastically as Sidney. Much like Yori, his eyes are flicking about as he looks for anything out of the ordinary.

[Mercutio]

Sam laughed internally as he watched both Ben and Yori in investigation mode. He knew these guys had a bit of training in such things, at least based on his previous interactions, but he was pretty sure he had them both beat, put together even. He took his time and kept a close eye on nearly everything. He listened to the way the floorboards creaked, kept track of the way dust had settled, and looked for scuff marks or smudges on things like the bannisters and stair treads. He was fairly sure he wouldn't find a whole lot of oddities among those observations, or, indeed, much evidence of anything until he made his way upstairs. He figured anything that mundane would probably be evidence of something the police would get involved in, and the way Paul was acting, he figured it must be something a bit less obvious. Still, he didn't slouch on the observations, just in case.

[Darius]

The staircase up to the second floor is spacious enough for a 19th century house, and none of the gathered individuals notice anything untoward. The staircase up to the garret though... well, it wasn't designed with even the average sized 19th century person, let alone a full grown man from the 21st century.

Yori ends up having to squeeze through, and is probably thankful that he wasn't trying to navigate the stairs in any kind of haste.

The first thing everyone notices is the smell. The overpowering, gut twisting smell. It smells of a charnel house, as there is blood everywhere and bits of meat stuck to the plaster of the walls and the ceiling. What had been, you think, a person, is n the middle of the floor, butchered beyond recognition. A glance cannot tell you whether it was male or female or how old.

The second thing of note is that, despite the summer swelter and the decided lack of air conditioning, is that the temperature in the garret is chilly enough to raise goosebumps.

Crudely painted on the floor in drying blood is a G.

Paul follows the rest of you up the stairs, a handkerchief over his mouth and nose. "Now do you see why I called you? Why I didn't want to say too much before you saw it?"

[zachol]

"Uh."
A pause. "Well I guess I'm somewhat relieved."

Sidney crouches down, next to the body, staring at it. The situation had rapidly tripped over into 'weird shit' territory, and a sense of detachment was now taking the place of what would normally be shock and disgust.
"Hey Benjamin. Dare you to open your sight." She glances at Ben, grins, then walks away to a relatively clean corner of the room, looking through her bag and beginning the process of working a spell.

[Seanberry]

Yori stands back, letting Ben, Sidney and Sam look over the scene. Yori is a little shocked with himself, as he looks over the scene he is more curious then disgusted over the scene. Yori looks more at the body, trying to decern what could have caused that much blood over the room.

[GIJ00]

Ben glares at Sidney before returning his attention to the gruesome scene before him. "Paul, do you have any idea who this could be? I can't imagine that many folks had access to this part of the house." He glances back at Sidney and smirks as he watches her pull the various components from her bag and begin her spellcasting.

[Darius]

"Oh, I know exactly who it is," he replied. "Or at least I have a reasonable good idea. Sara Dodson was a grad student at UMBC, and she came here quite a bit. I think she was working on her MFA in English, and she liked the vibe that the attic gave off. It was a bit outside of protocol, but I let her come up here. In retrospect, not the best idea. She was the niece of a good friend, though. I was downstairs, and didn't hear a thing. No one came in or out of the house, and the only reason I knew anything was wrong was when I came up here to tell her I was heading home and not to forget to lock up."

[Mercutio]

"Well, if I didn't know better, I'd say it was impossible that you didn't hear it. Looks almost like she exploded."

Sam was doing a remarkable job of keeping down his lunch, but only because of sheer effort and his uncanny ability to pretend he wasn't really seeing this.

"Okay, easy question first, and ones I'm sure I probably know the answer to. First - she have any companions, or ever come here with anyone that you know? Second - what kind of things did she do up here? Third - is it usually this damn cold in this room?"

[GIJ00]

"My first inclination is towards some sort of powerful thaumaturgical effect, as Paul here has said that she was alone. As for the chill, the first thing that springs to mind is the Winter Court. Perhaps she crossed the wrong Fae?"

Ben falls silent as he continues to examine the body, now looking for the telltale signs of magic in an attempt to figure out what sort of spell might have caused this.

[Darius]

Paul shrugged at Sam. "Not sure what to tell you. I let her up here, and she was alive and alone. When I came up to check on her, she was like this. She never came here with anyone. If you want, I have the number for her aunt downstairs. She might be able to tell you more.

He then turned to Ben. "I wouldn't know anything about that," he said. "Still, it could be the Good Folk. I'd be careful jumping to conclusions at the moment though, otherwise you are only going to see what you want to see."

"Anyway, I don't see any reason for me to stay up here. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

[ooc: If you are using any skills, go ahead and roll them here as part of your post.]

[zachol]

"Wait a sec. She came here 'quite a bit,' meaning how often? A couple times a week, daily, at the same time every day, when she could, or what?"
Sidney looks at Paul. "I'm working out a spell. There's this one I managed before. If she had a specific pattern of activity, I can try to get a vibe for what she usually did and what happened differently this time."

[GIJ00]

Ben waves a hand in a slightly dismissive manner. "Yes yes, it's simply a thought is all." Glancing at Sydney, he smirks slightly "Why Marcia, I'm surprised! You know a spell that does more than simply blowing something up?"

[Mercutio]

Sam set about looking at the gore, doing his best to keep his stomach contents from making an even bigger mess.

OOC - a whole bunch of skill checks. Investigation (Examination) -- 4 (ouch!) = -1 0 -1 1 + 5, Lore (Mystic Perception) -- 5 = 0 1 1 -1 + 4, Scholarship (Answers: Is there a history of similar types of deaths, and if so, what do I know about them) -- 5 = -1 1 1 0 + 4, Burglary (Casing) -- 3 = 0 -1 0 1 + 3

[zachol]

Ignoring Ben, Sidney kneels down, sprinkling copper dust in a circle and sealing it.
From her bag, she pulls out an old 60's Polaroid camera. It's been modified somehow, with thin copper wiring strung all over the outside. She then pulls out a sheaf of parchment paper, sliding it in to the bottom of the camera, and finally sets the thing down on the ground, sitting beside it in the circle.
She begins to pour energy into it, slowly, faint bolts of electricity sparking within the bounds of the copper circle like a plasma lamp.
After a minute or so, the sparking seems to fold in to her, sucked into the camera. She smiles, then picks it up and breaks the circle, relasing some remaining static electricity.
"Tada."

[Uh still not sure how all this works. First Conviction, then Discipline (Lore?)? The spell is going to temporarily infuse the camera with a weaker version of the Sight, so she can get indirect information on what happened. Channeling, to get an Examination effect? Conviction 5 + -1 , Discipline or Lore 3 + 1 , figure I'll have to make a few more so second Conviction 1 , second and third Discipline/Lore -2 2 ]