Logs:Darkest Shadows Part 1 - Crime Scene Investigation

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Content Warning

dead bodies

Cast

Heather Williams Vasily Tometchko

Setting

Philly Motel

Log

Fate is unpredictable sometimes and when an Acanthus wanders on the whims of it, things can get downright serendipitous. Looking for the same things, but with different methods, both Hearth and Vasha find themselves bumping into each other.

Hearth is staking out this little motel on the northeastern city limit of Philly, a building lodged between two apartment complex, with yellow lettering announcing plainly: Motel. Just as she heads out, Vasha arrives in front of the door, just... walking down the street.

The whims of fate seems to be pointing toward this place having answers to their current questions.

Heather was across the parking lot in one of the resident spots of the apartment. Her 'mom van' fit in surprisingly well, and combined with her sitting with her phone in hand... well, she didn't exactly stand out as unusual. She didn't stand out magically, but she kept a sharp eye out for anyone else who did!

Poor Hearth probably only notices Vasha when he knocks on her passenger side door to announce himself. All casual like, like he's just joining her so they can run and get Starbucks or something. He gives her a cheery wave and a bright smile. Which is probably unnerving on the weathered face of the old slav.

She jumped a little when he came knocking, and then let out a breath to calm her nerves, and leaned over to unlock the door for him. "You're late," she announced. "Doughnuts or cupcakes? Both are in the back. And cookies, actually."

"You're early," he counters as he slides into the cab of the minivan, shutting the door behind himself. He examines the confections on offer and opts for the doughnuts. Be the cliche you want to see in the world. He takes a bite and chews it thoughtfully as he stares out the windshield at the motel, "The threads are pointing me in that direction. I can handle the breaching if you'll cover my back." Another bite of the doughnut follows, after which he brushes some crumbs from his shirt.

"Some people like taking dinner early! And here I've been relying on logical processes of elimination," she said wistfully. "Where exactly do you plan to be 'breaching' anyways. I'm usually the fluffy let-people-confide-in-me sort rather than the shoot-them-all variety, alas."

"Well. I can make them not look at either of us. Or the door whose lock I'll pick. We can get in there, muck about, turn over the place, and leave without anyone being the wiser if we do it properly." Vasha finishes off his doughnut, then checks his teeth in the flop down mirror, picking a bit of breading from between a gap in his incisors. He suckles his tooth clean, then spritzes some Binaca down his gullet. "We just never know what we're going to find. Could be a dead body. Could be the Herald handcuffed to the bed and robbed by a prostitute. Could be a Seer trap. I mean. I could check the future and see, but that would spoil the surprise." He flashes her a bright grin again and draws his pistol to check its magazine and safety before clapping the magazine home and chambering a round and flicking the safety to confirm it's still on. Then back into his holster she goes.

As they converse, not much of note happens. No customers come in or out, no employees seem to be leaving or arriving. The lettering begins to shine as a source of light as the sun begins to set.

"Sounds delightful. You know, if you'd wanted to ask me out instead of playing games like this, I would have said yes." She smirked, and shut off the car. "I just hope I don't get towed while we're doing this."

"This is just how I operate. We'll be on our third date before you realize we're dating. Espionage dating. It's all the rage in Budapest." Vasha checks the side mirror to see who is behind the vehicle if anyone before leaning a bit to the side to tap Hearth on the knee and bring her under the concealment of his attainments. Then he renews his own cloak and hops out of the vehicle before cloaking it as well. Everything is beneath the notice of the world! He dusts any remaining crumbs from his suit and shirt, buttons his suit back up, and casually ambles across the lot like someone with very little to fear. The unearned confidence of the Acanthus, man. He pulls on a pair of moleskine gloves along the way, tests the exterior door and, finding it locked, reaches into his jacket for his pick set.

Hearth had a dainty pair of archival gloves in her purse that she slipped on, and she followed after him as casually as she could manage. She wasn't terrible at the little subterfuge, but she wasn't exactly trained for it either. "Do keep an eye out for the scepter. Orichalcum, lion's head with crown on top. Leather wrapped grip. Nothing too ostentatious."

The lock jams a little at first, it's old and probably a little rusty. A second jostle and adjusting for the wear and tear and it opens easily.

Vasha jiggers at the lock a bit. He seems confident he has it, but the tumbler doesn't turn. He frowns at the lock and assures it, "This has never happened before, baby." Then he backs out a tine, pushes it back up and turns it a second time with a satisfying click. That done, he pulls the door open and gestures Hearth inside, "Apres vous, mademoiselle."

"Don't worry, everyone has issues occasionally," she reassured him with a smirk. "And thank you, very kind." She moved in, looking around the hall and tried to spot where any cameras might be hidden.

The hallway is quiet and lit. The build seems to be kept relatively clean, but the carpeting and the paint could use a little more care. Helpfully, the rooms each have a little indicator of their vacancy status. The one that seems to draw Vasily in the most appears to be the only occupied at the moment.

From this hallway, at the other end of it, they can see the half-opened door that leads into the lobby and customer services. The distant sound of a radio playing is heard, but not much else.

Once inside, Vasha carefully, quietly closes the door again behind them. Then he ticks his head to indicate the direction he's heading and steps up before the occupied room's door. Out comes the reverse peephole, which he presses against the door's peephole to scan what can be seen of the room's interior from this side.

Vasha can see a little inside, there's no movement and there seem to be an opened, metallic suitcase on the bed. Heather for her part, as she keeps watch from the back rank notices how still everything seems to be from the lobby, with just a step to the side, she notices a styrofoam cup on the counter through the door's slight opening. No shadows or motion however.

The locks is more a challenge this time, a surprising step up, but it is no match for Vasily's tools.

Once Vasha has concluded his peering through the peephole, he tucks his reverse viewer back into his pocket and pulls his picks from his jacket again, kneeling down before the door to begin working the tumbler. Deadbolts are a pain in the ass. It takes him a bit, but he eventually turns the picks and the tumbler rolls. He draws the door open as he tucks his picks away again, giving Hearth a raised eyebrow glance and a grin. "We should check the office, too. Before we go. It's too quiet in here."

For Hearth, The Lobby of the motel is empty, lights are on, the computer behind the counter is turned on and there’s a styrofoam cup of coffee sitting there, half done. The bell rings as She make their way inside of the place and yet, once the sound dies down there is not a peep from anyone in here. Silence greets whatever sounds she makes. (Clash of wills for Hearth (Gnosis+Prime))

For Vasily, A pale white man lies face down not too far from the door. A white tank top and a pair of black boxers. The bed has a metallic suitcase, opened, with a foam set up inside that is suspiciously rod-shaped. The room is cold and silent, the wardrobe is wide open and showcases two fancy suits on coat hangers

Hearth's attention is drawn to the room by her pierce deception spells as it rises to the occasion, the whole lobby seems to be a willful deception, depicting a masquerade of being recently occupied.

Vasily's boy has no pulse, no breathing and feels cold to the touch. Unfortunately, his life has ended.

Vasha crouches down near the body and checks the pulse briefly. He does a spot check of the corpse looking for obvious causes of death and, finding none, straightens back up again and steps over the body to begin looking the room over, avoiding touching anything. He pulls out his phone and begins tapping out a message: Swinging by the hotel. Looks like the party is going to be a killer! The party favors are missing, though. We're going to have a heck of a time cleaning this up! Poor room service lol! He hits send, thus annoying everyone in the Guardian group chat on Signal. After surveying the room for any potential additional clues, he backs out again and leaves the door just barely opened.

Hearth whistled a bar of the X files theme song to catch Vasily's attention if he wasn't too busy, and began combing the scene- more than half expecting to find a body behind the counter.

The bodies (yes, plurals) aren't behind the counter. Hearth looks over the front desk area and finds nothing but with one look to the employee area reveal that it's already opened. She pushes the door open to throw a look and, at first, there's nothing she sees, but as she steps away to leave, she notices a form laying on the ground in the laundry room. she switches the light on. 3 bodies are piled there. Two older fellows and one young lady, just lay there, unmoving.

Vasha comes back down the hallway towards the lobby, following the sound of Hearth's whistle and the general rustle of activity her passing generates. He's careful not to sneak up on her this time, since given the givens that could wind up with her trying to blow his brains out. He gives a gentle rap against the door frame to the laundry room, instead. "Hey. Courier's deceased. Scepter is gone. But we could have guessed that. I notified Man and Gardener. The Redactors will be here before too long." The pile of bodies is glanced at with a flat affect. The fact that this doesn't even phase him any longer may be cause for concern, honestly. "I left the scene alone. I figured you'd be a better hand at scrutiny and dealing with the bodies, given your skill set. I can improve your odds for you, if you like. If these were done with magic, I'd like to collect the nimbus. In which case, I'd like to telepathically link with you so I can see what you see when you're working." As an afterthought he inquires with a glance back to the bodies, "Oh. Are you. Uh. You handling this okay?"

Vasily finds a letter from one of the suit's pockets, sealed with a sigil from the consilium of the Fecund Coin and it is addressed to Bodhisattva in particular. The fate attainment allows them to find something beneath the bed however, a different letter which is already opened, addressed to Herald Pegasus.

Hearth's win with the clash of wills reveals one thing. The bodies are not telling the truth, Pierce deception alerts her that they are being disguised on purposes. Further information, will require further investigation.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. We've got three bodies here, a tidy little 'someone just stepped out' spell pulled over it it all." For all her fluffy soccer mom exterior, Hearth didn't seem too phased either. "You're welcome to link in if you'd like. I'm going to temporarily dispel it so it's easily to see why they've been disguised so well. Want to take a look?"

"Scrutiny first. Learn the nimbus and relative power of the enemy first. The bodies aren't going anywhere." Vasha places a hand on Hearth's shoulder to deliver her some considerable good fortune, then follows that up with a brief flare of his nimbus as he links up their minds for the duration.

The spell that conceal the bodies is one of the death magic spell. Specifically a veiling spell. It targets 4 people. The spell's caster has an adept understanding of death magic and roughly the same gnosis as Hearth herself.

Nimbus looks like shadowy tendrils that sucks heat and life. There is an unmistakable aura of nihilism to it that just seems to invade every inch of it. Not just accidentally, but willfully, Abyssal. The caster is a Moros and , of all things, a scelesti.

Vasha's eyebrows went up a bit at the revelation the scrutiny reveals. "Okay. Excellent work. Scelesti aren't my wheelhouse. I'm more of a Seer specialist. But the good news is? We don't have to ask permission for a kill order. If we find them, we can blast them into next week if we like. Opens up a lot more options." Vasha rubs at the back of his neck to relieve some of the tension. "We should scrutinize the other body as well. Make certain it's the same killer. Once you've scoured the scene on your end, I can timewalk-- assuming the scelesti didn't unravel the temporal signature around the event --and get us a description of the killer. I'm ambivalent about the stolen object, personally. Much more interested in removing a scelestus from the board." Vasha checks his watch briefly, then frowns a bit. "The redactors should be here before long. So let's finish our scene investigation before they arrive so we can hand this over to them. Do we have an ID on these three?"

Hearth checked over the pockets for id, tossing them to Vasha if they were there. "They're both important so let's make sure we don't let them keep it eh? Let's go check the other body and then clean up after ourselves better than these bastards did."

Our dead friend was carrying this," Vasha produces the sealed envelope intended for Bodhisattva. "A missive to our Factotum General. There was also a letter under the bed addressed to the deceased. I've read neither yet, but that's what I cleared out of the motel room. If you want to head over there and get to scrutinizing and seeing what your Death arcanum can tell you about the body, I'll search in here and in the lobby for any other details we might have missed. I'll want to debrief with you when we get back to centr-- back to the safehouse. I have a trick I do to sift through events for details I missed the first time around. It works better with someone there to bounce ideas off of." With that, Vasha slav squats over the pile of bodies to begin riffling through their IDs and effects. A dispassionate tourist in someone else's final destination.

The IDs are easily found in their pockets and their wallets. Nothing too special jumps out about them especially. The young woman doesn't seem to be related to the older couple. The bedroom where Herald Pegasus remains in the same state as Vasily left it.

The spell's that conceals the bodies death is the same one on him than on the owners and employees. Which makes sense with the factors Hearth uncovered

"Death is not my forte," she admitted. "I'm more an Alchemist than a Necromancer." But she headed off anyways to check it out and scrutinize the scene.

Vasha gives her a look. It's the 'what kind of a Moros are you anyway' look. But it is mostly in jest, as with most of the things he says and does. Once he's had his fill of the banal trivia of their wallets and pockets, he puts it all back where he found it and looks the bodies over with a resigned sigh. "I'm sorry," is all he finally states to the corpses before rising up to his feet again to begin walking the scene in the laundry and in the lobby in general, utilizing his prior serendipitous tricks and his naked eyeballs.

As Heather makes it to the Herald room, she notices that the mysteries she uncovered on the owners bodies are the same here and already revealed, as it is the same spell. The spell is still active however, and still concealing what the bodies would really look like.

"Don't give me that look! Ghosts and zombies and gross," she called back at him, and then knelt down next to the body and tried to peel back the spell to see what it was hiding

The spell function, the veil is lifted and the sight is not altogether pleasant. The body of Herald Pegasus is dessicated and drained dry of everything. Scoured of its potentia and substance in a horrific way. It is the same way for the other bodies in the employees room. Hearth, however, suddenly has a headache and she feels watched.

Hearth wretched, trying desperately not to contaminate the crime scene- and to keep her cool with Vasha so close. "Are you seeing this?" she called from the hallway. It was a good excuse to leave the room.

"I see what you see," Vasha confirms, "and now we have the scelesti on unsanctioned magical homicide of an awakened member of the consilium and convocation. Plus three counts of magical homicide of a sleeper within consilium territory. Theft of an artifact, interfering with the sanctioned duties of an officer of the convocation." Vasha tacks on for comedic effect, "Trespassing. Not looking good for our murderer's chances." Vasha draws open the filing cabinet and finds it somewhat empty and riffled through. So he checks the shredder and its can and, sure enough. Fire. "Are you seeing this? You should be able to piece this back together, yeah? Alchemist?" He's teasing now. "I'll trade spots with you. Going to timewalk the scene."

"I don't know," Heather said, coming back to see what needed fixing. "If I fix it will you give me your grandmother's medovik recipe?"

"She was killed in the Siege of Odessa during the war." Vasha informs Hearth with a shrug of the shoulders. "So probably not." He ducks out of the lobby after pointing out the paperwork and then heads back to the hallway leading to the room with the body. Postcognition is a simple effect, but it can contain a great many factors. So he places his hand on his dedicated pistol and concentrates, his free hand forming the mudras for Unveiling and Time.

The repaired files in the lobby are all concerning the room where the Herald remains and the history of the last month of who resided there. It's very hard to find something useful on the spot there, but surely there's a reason why it was destroyed.

The Post-cognition reveals the following over the course of the examination. Pegasus arrived about a day and a half ago, the killings took place late yesterday. The killings happened as follows. Pegasus falls first, drained of life is an instant and it happens the very moment he starts to examine the golden rod for himself. The rod disappears from the ground a moment later. Then, the employee dies in the same manner, the killer unseen. And then, a few moments later, the bodies are camouflaged, the set up is made.

The documents are destroyed a moment later and then things moves around without any appearances from the killer, adjusting the crime scene as to appear as normal as possible.

It seems the Scelesti Operated from Twilight all this time.

"We'll need to get a real Moros in here to get me into twilight to see what he was up to. I could try doing it through astral projection, but that's ... suboptimal for a lot of reasons. But we have a timeline now. I can sift the documents you recovered and shake out the reason for their destruction. Shouldn't take me more than an hour or so. I'm surprised the Police never came. The female employee back there must live alone." Vasha finishes his review of events and steps back out of the door again and into the hallway, heading back towards Hearth, "In any case. Looks like a single scelestus. A moros. At least an adept. So. We're building a decent profile. It does make me wonder what this person wanted with the scepter, though. I suppose we can figure that out later."

He's about exhausted his own tricks of the trade and so he floats the idea, "Shall we pack it in? Redacting the crime scene won't be an issue. I've got perfect recall of our search, here. Plus, we can continue our investigation in twilight another time. Anyone who can see what's going on in there isn't really our concern from a veil perspective."

"It bothers me that he died the moment he began playing with the scepter," Hearth said. "The entire situation smells. We still don't know what the scepter does, but unless it flashes a 'hey, I'm here, come kill me' beacon the timing is very suspicious."

"If our killer was waiting in Twilight, and the case the scepter was being transported in were magically sealed, it follows that the attack came the moment the scepter was out of it. The killer couldn't have acquired it otherwise. And we're not sure it's a he. We have no positive ID on the killer yet. So try not to prejudice your subconscious." Vasha ticks his head over towards the recovered documents. "The killer torched the records of habitation here for the past month. Likely the killer was a guest and will be listed there. If they knew the scepter was in motion and knew the courier would be staying here, ambushing the courier from Twilight would have been a simple matter. Which suggests the killer had advanced intel on the movement of the scepter. Which suggests Fecund Coin has a vulnerability. Or a mole." Vasha fishes his cigarette tin from his pocket and plucks one out, offering the tin out to Hearth as a courtesy.

"No, thank you. Advance intel was exactly what I was getting at," she said dryly. "Hopefully the records will turn something up. When is the clean up crew going to get here, or is that me?"