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

[immuno]

Some sort of spellbook. [ Lydia mumbles as she flips through. Raising her voice to a clearer announcement, she continues, ] I'd have to take it with me to figure out what kind of spells. I can't translate Ancient Egyptian without reference material. Given the creepy hands, I'd say it's safe to say it's something sketchy.

[ex_psionic439]

[Adam finally fucking comes to, and after a second of like trying to open his mouth and maneuver his jaw to make the ringing in his ears stop, he makes his way over toward where Jaina is kneeling on the floor.

What? He is going to stay by the most competent person sue him.

He doesn't actually kneel himself, but she's already pointed out the stains so he's just stares at the shit trying to see if he can make out what it is (wisdom 21).]

[pathology]

Oh! Oh! Let me!! [astrid should probably do other things but she wants to play this game of csi: los angeles, so she joins jaina and adam in trying to identify the fluid. wis 15??? investigate 19??? something lmao ... ]

[flyingsolo]

[ adam recognizes the scent instantly, and astrid confirms it moments later: that shit is embalming fluid. ]

[ex_psionic439]

Are you kidding me right now?

[Adam makes a face like oh that's gross. They just got a handjob in the worst way, which doesn't bode well considering the hands weren't actually attached to people--but they must have come from somewhere, right?

He turns to address both Lydia and Mars over his shoulder, because they don't have a Jaina to protect them.]

Yo, keep your eyes out for handless cadavers or some shit.

[pathology]

Oh my god, what if they've been mummified? I mean, there's this whole Egypt theme ... I'm just saying.

[immuno]

Why is it always dead bodies?

[ Huff puff. She'll actually make an effort to search the room and make sure there's nothing else horrific in here (search 24). ]

[ex_psionic439]

No but really, why cut off their hands if they're trying to make them into mummies? Like who even does that?

[Because logic totally applies here.]

This is so the opposite of the sexy Cleopatra fantasy I had when we walked in here.

[swordofthejedi]

[ lydia discovers a shoebox tucked away, which, when she opens it, is filled with pictures of

dead bodies :')

they're laid out on some kind of forensic table. handwritten notes along the sides of some of the photos say things like 'hands only', 'left leg' and the like. ] Maybe it was some kind of test.

[immuno]

[ LYDIA IS JUST OVER HERE WITH A FAILED WILL SAVE TRYING TO MAKE WORDS AND STARING ON IN HORROR. ]

[ex_psionic439]

[wtf lydia we can't all read minds ok. well adam can but he is respectin' y'all's privacy atm.

when he doesn't hear jack from the peanut gallery tho he notices lydia standing there like she just saw her dog get hit by a truck.

and since he is a nosy bitch he rolls his eyes like ~girl problems and decides to put her on blast.]

You okay over there?

[charismapotion]

[ All late like Mars is looking around, not reallly paying any mind to the conversation. He likely should be, but he's not. (Search; 20)]

[swordofthejedi]

[ mars finds a notebook lying on a table, which seems to be filled with notes in a small, cramped script.

'Baker continues to provide fresh samples from the morgue, but many of them continue to be of insufficient quality for my experiments. Other measures will be necessary if I wish to create more crawling claws.'

there are also directions for how to complete the ritual that apparently created the hand-monsters: involving the severed left hand of a human being, foul magic, strange and alchemical mixtures.

he would also find some references to something he calls 'Khaiba, the ultimate work', which apparently required several corpses to create. ]

[immuno]

I found the rest of them.

[ Lydia gulps through her horror, picking up some of the photographs and turning around to look at Adam with wide eyes. ]

Pictures of them, at least. It almost looks like he was taking stock.

[swordofthejedi]

To what end? Was he going to make more of these things with... other parts?

[pathology]

Maybe there's a morgue in the basement. Or a Frankenstein's monster type deal.

[ex_psionic439]

[Adam hops up to go check out the dead people pictures with Lydia.

What? It's no different than watching some of the gross shit Astrid does for the Dragon's Light.

Okay maybe a little different but he wants to see. >__>] Gross.

[charismapotion]

[ Mars was looking over the notebook, as he made his way over to Jaina.] Yeah, there's a morgue but not here. Someone named Baker was bringing hands.

[ He held the notebook over to her.] Seems the sick bastard was working towards a bigger goal.

[flyingsolo]

[ jaina looks over the notebook with a deep frown. ] We need to figure out which morgue this is, pay this Dr. Baker a visit.

[pathology]

[astrid's face seems to say yay morgue although she keeps her excitement inside like a well-trained psychopath. bless her crazy little heart.]

[immuno]

When I heard we were going to L.A., the East L.A. morgue wasn't what I had in mind.

[flyingsolo]

Yeah, well, I hear the beach is overrated anyway. [ she pulls out her phone and tries searching for the morgue in question but with a research check of 7 she is mostly just frowning at her low-tech drakenet phone like WHY THESE DARK AGES ]

[ex_psionic439]

[When it becomes obvious that Jaina is just like using her phone as a compact/mirror or something, Adam gives her a look and pulls his own out because he isn't trying to stand around here all day. I don't know if a research 15 will net him find anything useful but whatever maybe he's just googling porn or something.]

[charismapotion]

[ Mars pulls out his iphone and is already using google fu. Research 17. Searching the name and morgues in LA.]

[swordofthejedi]

[ mars is the winner, quickly finding the name of a local morgue with a dr. baker on night staff. it's simply called Old County Morgue, what do you know. he also finds that the structure is slated for demolition, as the morgue is being relocated to a newer facility, and the original building is going to be destroyed as soon as the transfer is complete. ] We should take the spellbook, in case the Fire can make anything of it.