CLOSED ♔ hell won't tolerate hymns

[flyingsolo]

WHO || Jaina, Lydia, Astrid, Adam, Mars
WHAT || The Knights investigate several ritualistic murders
WHERE || Los Angeles, California
WHEN || April 8th, 2015
HOW || Actionspam

A string of ritualistic killings has the LAPD calling the Knights in, as there are suspected ties to magic or Shadowkind. Two new bodies have been found recently, and the murder scene is a back alley in a nightclub called the Alchemy Room. It's located in a rough part of town, known for its clubs, bars, and extravagant nightlife. The lights of a patrol car illuminate a gruesome tableau. Among the garbage that litters the alley lies the body of a young man in a trenchcoat, covered in body. Hanging from a fire escape some 10 feet above him is the body another young man, dressed in the latest fashion and dripping blood from the ears and mouth. His legs are caught in the bars of the fire escape, and his face is twisted with shock. How he could have ended up in that position is a mystery. An empty autoloader pistol lies beneath his outstretched hands. A single officer is waiting for them when they arrive, and she tips her hat to them, pushing herself off the car where she's leaning.

"Seen a lot of things in my day, but this..." She shakes her head and clucks her tongue. Jaina's eyes narrow in the darkness as she looks past her at the scene.

"What made the police think this was connected to the other murders?" she asks.

"Its a tentative link, I won't lie to you about that," the officer admits. "All the other bodies were missing at least their hands, and these are both in one piece. But there's some kind of knife on one of the bodies." She nods towards the one on the ground. "We haven't touched it yet, just in case. To be honest, we've heard plenty of stories about what touching magical artifacts can do to a person. But it's covered in markings, definitely some kind of ritual thing."

Comments

[charismapotion]

[ Mars has a major issue with senseless murder and this made his skin drop a shade or so as he looked horrified up at the stairwell, he kept Venus in his arms since his usual cat sitter is here he figured she might come in handy.

He stepped a little closer if he was allowed just to look up at the body. It made his stomach turn but he felt he had to do something. (spot; 16) ]

[pathology]

Maybe they didn't get to finish the ritual. Like, before they got to the chopping off body parts part, someone tried to come back here to do a drug deal and scared them off.

[so helpful. gory crime scenes don't bother her, so after sharing her "theory" with the class, she skims around with her eyes. (spot 29)]

[immuno]

[ Meanwhile, Lydia moves over to the body on the ground, stepping carefully around to avoid the blood, and pulls out her phone's flashlight app to get a better look at the knife, trying to get an idea of whether or not it's dangerous, something she's read about, or just a tacky gift shop trinket (knowledge arcana 23).

Her concentration on the body activates her detect dead ability (SO THAT SHE CAN DO DEATH VISIONS I MEAN OBVIOUSLY THEY ARE DEAD) as she draws nearer, hyper-focused but still very much present—as evidenced by her quick quips (concentration 10), ] Has your coroner confirmed precisely what killed them? [ The MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF BLOOD are a good indicator of general violence, but she's looking for specifics—and from where she's standing, it's hard to see through all the blood to particulars. Or at least hard to do without choking on bile. ]

[flyingsolo]

[ she nods brisky. "Just what we could get without disturbing the bodies so far. Your boss was specific about that. The man on the ground seems to have been killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest. The man on the fire escape died instantly when his neck was broken by someone or something very strong." she hands over a bagged pistol. "There was a struggle. Whoever fired the gun emptied the clip, but only one bullet struck the victim."

astrid and mars would take note of strange stains on the ground, that don't appear to be blood. amid the mud and filth are several footprints as well, that astrid alone notices, far too big to have been produced by either of the two victims. they lead out of the alley but are soon lost on the hard concrete sidewalks.

the dagger in question is tucked into the man on the ground's belt. what she can see of it indicates that it's gold plated, and covered in strange markings. she recognizes the writing as authentic magic, but it's nothing she can translate at a glance. either way, the markings appear more ceremonial than anything.

jaina moves to stand over lydia's shoulder, nodding towards something around the man's neck. ] What's that? [ what she indicates is a gold chain, from which hangs a strange pendant. it resembles a dog whistle, but is crafted from gold and covered with hieroglyphics. ]

[charismapotion]

[ Noting the strange spot he sat Venus down on the ground moving close to look at the spot, trying to see if he could identity it, hoping its just oil or something. ]

[pathology]

That's not blood. [she hovers over where mars is currently looking.] And these footprints [she motions down at them] are way too big to be either victim. [she follows them to where they disappear, which is highly disappointing and makes her curse under her breath.]

[immuno]

[ With perhaps a hint of Allison Argent's recklessness, Lydia pulls a wet wipe from her purse and uses it to pick up the dagger from inside the man's belt. She pulls it free, and when Jaina moves in to point out the pendant, she looks up from the weapon. ]

I don't know.

[ The way she says it makes it clear: 'not knowing' doesn't happen to Lydia a lot. She holds the dagger aloft for Jaina to take, then reaches with her free, bare hand to grab the necklace. ] I'll send pictures to Helen and Val'drin. They should be able to do something with these images. [ unless decipher script 21 flies? ]

[flyingsolo]

[ mars can make a knowledge (physical sciences) check to try and ascertain what that stuff is. all he knows is that it smells really strongly when he gets closer.

jaina takes the dagger with the wipe from lydia, but as lydia reaches down to grab the necklace, something slithers out from beneath the body, striking out at lydia with its fangs - a small snake - for atk 21. it only does 1 dmg, but she does have to make a fort save. ]

[immuno]

[ Lydia recoils, pulling her hand back towards her chest and covering the wound. ]

Dammit! [ fort save 20 total ]

the lemere residence

[flyingsolo]

[ lemere's home is located in one of la's older, more upscale neighborhoods. this once-grand mansion has definitely seen better days. it's obvious that no one has taken care of the exterior in a very long time, and most of the windows are boarded up. a rusted sign reads "No Solicitors" dangling from the front door. there are no cars in the driveway and the place seems vacant. a couple other upscale homes flank it on either side. ]

[immuno]

[ well lydia critfailed her spot check so she's apparently aggressively texting stiles right now about getting bitten by a snake and having to third wheel with astrid and adam. ]

[pathology]

This so looks like a place that would have drug deals. [on that cheerful note, she makes an attempt to scope out ... idk drug deals i guess. or more snakes. (spot 26)]

[ex_psionic439]

[Adam's basic-ass spot of 8 tho. I guess he's too busy making kissy faces at Venus or idk wearing her around his neck like a feather boa to actually pay attention to what he was supposed to be doing rn.

Lydia you had it wrong, gurl. All of y'all are playing third wheel to Adam and his cat gf sry.]

[flyingsolo]

[ the entire house is dark, and next door a man is walking to get the mail, giving them all the side-eye. ]

I wonder why it's boarded up, if he's really been living here. Because he had something to hide?

[immuno]

Probably didn't want anyone to know he was living here. [ Lydia will go ahead and try the door! ] I wonder who he was running from.

[flyingsolo]

[ the door is locked and jaina moves to pick it with practiced ease (disable device 28)... but it doesn't budge. ] There's something wrong with it. It should be opening but it's like it's blocked somehow.

[pathology]

Do you want me to throw acid at it? [SO PLEASED WITH THIS PROSPECT.]

old county morgue

[flyingsolo]

[ the old morgue is a decaying and decrepit building, and it's clear why it's being phased out for a new facility. though small, the ancient structure is imposing, like others of its era. but there's something sad about the old facade, and decay and despair seem to pervade the very stones of the building.

a small sign above the button by the door reads "Press for Service". there is a video camera mounted above the doorway. jaina glances at the others. ] Should we see if anyone's home, or try to sneak in?

[pathology]

[astrid claps her hands together like the ridiculous dodo bird she is.] Sneak in! Sneak in!

[ex_psionic439]

[If only she got this excited about blowjobs. Adam looks at Astrid for a long second like, gurrrl, before looking back toward Jaina.]

It seems kind of stupid to announce we're coming in if this sick fucker is jerking it to sliced up dead people in there.

[What she said without all the handflapping basically. Shut up his logic makes perfect sense. Plus this shit should be closed for business, son.]

[immuno]

Depending on what's in there, I don't think we needed you to preview that imagery for us.

[ Puke. ]

I've been studying minor magic. I can give us the cover of darkness to hide us from the cameras and prying eyes, but it'll be just as hard for most of you to see in.

[ At least she's polite enough to ask. ]

[ex_psionic439]

[Adam looks hella skeptical in response to Lydia's suggestion that she turn out the lights for literally errybody.]

I don't know that I like the idea of being potentially blinded. Especially if there are more handsies or whatever other body parts crawling around in there.

[Like most of us couldn't even fucking aim right even when that shit was clear as day is the unspoken statement here.]

Unless you think mind-linking again like we did at the airport could off-set that somehow. Assuming you're still able to see and don't mind relaying to the rest of us.

[Look he has no other ideas and he doesn't want to just shoot her down without offering something okay.]

[immuno]

It's just a darkness spell. [ She shrugs. ] If your mind-link could let you use my senses, it should be fine.

[ It's weird. She's acknowledging her weirdness out loud. But in a world like this, it's less weird, so she's just trying not to think too hard about the fact that something is obviously changing in her just like she's trying aggressively hard not to think about the scream that just came out of her. Banshee stuff. She needs to call Stiles. ]

[flyingsolo]

You can see in the dark? [ she looks over at lydia with a raised eyebrow ] It would still be harder than using our own senses... We'd be aiming at something we could only see through your eyes, not our own.

[ hesitation and then: ] I'd be fine, but that's because I can ... sense them.

[immuno]

[ And so comes the defensive shrug of affirmation. I'M NOT WEIRD, YOU'RE WEIRD. ]

I'll only do it if you want me to. I just figured it might help us sneak in.