pembrokeshire ♔ the day has come where i have died

[immuno]

WHO || Lydia Martin, Alaric Saltzman, Helen Magnus, Rose Hathaway, Sydney Bristow
WHAT || A couple of knights take a short trip west to investigate reports of Shadowkind deaths.
WHERE || Police Station, Pembrokeshire, Wales
WHEN || May 20th
HOW || Actionspam

The briefing was simple and direct: a string of disappearing Shadowkind centered around a small farming town in Wales. The Karthur Institute wasn't called in until the local authorities got reports of incessant, blood-curdling screams coming from a barn just past the edge of town. They found a girl curled in the corner there, screaming her lungs out, shaking, and looking like she'd been running around the forest alone for days.

They also found the five bodies of their missing townspeople in the barn.

They tell the knights (and thus, Wynn tells them) that the girl is in police custody, but they don't tell them that she's pinned in a cell. They've fed her and given her a coat by now, but the deputy is quick to alert Helen, Rose, Sydney, and Alaric as they arrive of the bad news.

"She hasn't shut up since we put her in there." He glances back over his shoulder, toward the lock-up. "Not screamin', just wanting to know who they were." He looks back at the knights, grim. "Don't think she's got any idea how she got out there. I don't have it in me to tell her I don't either; wherever she's rom, it inn't Pembrokeshire."

Comments

[superswank]

No one expects you to take our word for it. [ she pulls out her phone, unlocking the screen and handing it over with a web browser pulled up. ] Check whichever news outlet you trust most.

[immuno]

[ her reproach doesn't waver, but lydia does reach out to snatch the phone from her and start flicking through browser windows. she pulls up a variety of news outlets, tries to google beacon hills, tries to search up the 'animal attacks' from last year. nothing (computer use 19 or research 17 whichever that would be).

the alarm present in her face steadily increases and she finally shuts down the browser and dials her home number, pressing the phone to her ear without asking (will it charge for long distance if it doesn't connect? we just don't know). in the silence of the room, rose and sydney can both hear what comes out of the earpiece: we're sorry: you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. if you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again.

she steadily lowers the phone and lets the message play out as she sets it on the center of the table, eyes wide and expression tightly controlled as dread sinks in. ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Outside with Ric, Helen is unimpressed.] Yes, well- Welcome to Wales. [Helen makes a face at the map, but simply folds it up and uses it to gesture back at the office.]

We should head back. [AND SO THEY DID. Helen opens the door just as the last part of the phone message plays. Any friendly face she was hoping to put on falls, sympathy taking over her expression.]

They've allowed you to leave in our custody. [She says, though what she wants to do is tell Lydia how sorry she is that this has happened, that she understands, and that it will somehow be okay. But there is a task at hand, and the girl doesn't know them at all, so she doubts that it would matter much to tell her that it would be alright to be separated from everything she ever knew.]

[immuno]

[ the deputy hands lydia's personal effects to alaric as they head inside—it's just a purse, alaric, it won't bite. admittedly, it is prada and bright pink.

inside, lydia scoots back in her seat, pushing herself as far from the phone on the table as she can. she straightens her shoulders, lifting her chin and trying to gather up her wits. with sudden decision, she stands up and pushes the chair back, moving away from the desk. ]

Then, what are we waiting for? We need to go back to that barn before whoever killed those people goes back to clean it out of anything useful.

[ that's something she can do right now, so that's what she'll focus on. the less energy she expends on freaking out, the better. ]

[ex_ric243]

[Well hey, at least she was on board. Ric wasn't about to argue that they should stay any longer than they needed to, and he really doubted that anyone else would be doing so either. Just the same, he hangs back just outside the open office door, ready to pass that pink Prada purse to Lydia whenever she makes her exit.]

[immuno]

[ well, if he's just inviting her out there, she'll march around the desk and head right out the door, snatching up her purse with a flash of a smile in ric's direction (charisma 16). she stops in the main lobby of the police station and pulls out her phone, taking this opportunity to purse her lips and scowl at the lack of service. her gaze flickers in sydney's direction. ]

You do have a car, don't you?

[superswank]

[ syd nods ] We can squeeze in one more. [ she'll hold open the door out of the lobby and then make her way towards the Knights issue vehicle. she's driving, get in losers. ]

[ex_ric243]

[And since Alaric is not a jerk, he isn't going to hop into the front seat and exile Helen to the back, so I guess that means he's stuck with the kids. Story of his life tbh. He will lean forward to get all up in Helen's grill though, but he's talking loud enough to address/give anyone the opportunity to express their opinion on the matter.]

I doubt you got everything you needed from that picture of the victims, but I think Lydia's right. That crime scene has been compromised enough already. If we wait too long to check it out there's no telling who else could show up and destroy whatever evidence is left. [Perhaps even their killer. :/]

[immuno]

[ oh someone's on her team? respect. lydia is 100% one of those people who determines how intelligent you are by how much you agree with her, so ric is winning himself points. she tilts her head to assess him, straightening her shoulders. ]

Thank you.

/pretends this hasn't been the week from hell

[littledhampir]

That and if we leave her to them they'll have her convicted before we get back. [Rose apparently waits to throw in her two cents until she has another opportunity to make a less than subtle dig at the Yocals.

She can't get out of the police station fast enough but she does it with an attempted polite yet tight smile at the cops as she gets up and follows Sydney out to the car.]

[daredtobelieve]

They're doing the best with what they have. [Helen says gently, not really excusing the local LEOs so much as trying not to continue bashing them.] Granted- our best is better. [What? They're out of earshot now...]

Between the five of us, I'm sure we can make quick work of finding anything worth finding at the scene.

[Yes, Helen just counted Lydia as part of the group. In for a penny, in for a pound. And maybe she has a feeling about this one...]

[immuno]

[ yeah lydia's here to correct that misconception. she holds up a silencing finger. ]

There are four of you.

[ with helen's 22 navigate and sydney's hella drive check, they get to the barn with no trouble. they travel down mostly dirt roads through green fields and into a slightly wooded area. they pull to a stop a few yards from the barn and lydia tenses, swallowing thickly as her eyes rivet out the front passenger window at the opening of the barn. there's police tape uselessly stretched across the middle of the opened double barn doors. a+, LEO. ]

[superswank]

[ syd monitors lydia's reaction in the rearview mirror, then leans to look past helen at the view. ]

Did you think you were staying in the car? [ the tone is encouraging as she undoes her belt and opens the door to get out. ]

[littledhampir]

[Rose too slips out, poking her head back in the car to address Lydia.]

Unless you'd rather stay in the car while the people with weapons are inside?

[Yeah that was really Rose's own version of encouraging it just sounded very... Rose-like.]

[immuno]

[ you motherfuckers need to work on your bedside manner. lydia casts a shifty glance between them, looking rather like a deer in headlights, and then shoves her way out of the vehicle sourly. ]

I don't know where you people came from, but just because I don't want to sit in the car and wind up picked off like some horror movie doesn't mean I'm part of your little Scooby gang. Got it?

[ she slams the car door shut, walking unevenly across the sod around the barn in her high heels, occasionally sinking in. she pulls her green wool coat more tightly around her, at odds with the weather for this season, in a defensive gesture as she heads for the barn door.

she doesn't know what she's a part of—she obviously isn't going home when this is over. she just ... hasn't figured out the rest, and frankly, she doesn't want to think about it. ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen has great bedside manner, thanks. That's why she wanted to make you feel ~part of the group~ but now she's focused on the scene. Business mode.]

Duly noted, dear. But please bear in mind that the police released you into our custody. There's nothing that says we can't simply take you back.

[She wouldn't. And she does feel bad for Lydia and what she's gone through, but this is some tough love. Plus, she's getting the impression that the girl doesn't respond well to sympathy and coddling anyway.

She's just a few steps behind Lydia, giving the interior of the barn a sweeping gaze (spot nat 20).]

[immuno]

[ the interior of the barn is as one might expect from a building 20-year condemned. the support beams, interior walls, and stalls are all rotted out. the wood appears sodden, and a quick glance upward tells helen that the roof caved in many years ago and was never replaced. a number of the single-pane window have broken, either courtesy of trees slamming into them during a storm or rocks or wayward toys being flung through. towards the southern wall, opposite the barn doors, stalls are split off by half-walls and swinging wooden doors.

the acrid stench of death floods the sinuses of those who brave the one-room structure. it's so pungent that lydia stops at the door when her gag reflex causes her to choke. she covers her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket and turns away, leaning against the barn doors (make a fort save~). helen has better luck, though she can feel bile rising in her throat as she steps further inside.

matted, squashed piles of hay stand in two diagonal corners of the main space of the barn, one behind a rusted out riding lawnmower. by the workbench on the east wall, helen notices a series of empty beer cans with holes stabbed into the side of them. some are strewn across the workbench, some are stuffed in a plastic grocery bag slung over a half-open drawer as a makeshift trash bag. (search checks if you want to examine the drawers or the trash bag.)

lydia speaks up from behind her, pointing at the corner just inside to the right of the doors, at the haystack against the west wall. ]

That's where they were.

[ the soil and sod is colored darker in a wide, eight-foot circle that sees some overlap with the haystack. blood has seeped its way deep into the earth there. as helen looks over, she notices a single keyring with two round silver keys on it lost just barely under the surface of the hay. the round, white keychain has Casey's scrawled across it in blue script with a sharpie. (wisdom or navigate checks to try and recall/identify what "casey's" might be referring to.) ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Despite being able to stand the stench, it doesn't make it a pleasant experience. She covers her mouth and nose with the back of her hand, pressing further into the barn to take a closer look. At Lydia's direction, she steps over and crouches, reaching out to pick up the keychain she's spotted.

If there was ever proof that they aren't here for standard police work? This might be a tip off. She looks over the logo, recalling back what she's seen as they've driven through town (navigate 25).]

[immuno]

[ success!

helen can remember passing a casey's grocery on their way out of town, just west of the police station. ]

[ex_ric243]

[Alaric soldiers through the assault on his sense of smell and moves further into the barn just behind Helen (fortitude 20 total).

While Helen moves off in one direction, Ric notices the workbench and moves over toward the east wall so he can begin looking through the drawers (spot 18, search 23).]

[daredtobelieve]

Looks like that sign from the grocery store awhile back. Might be worth a stop. [She looks to Sydney for agreement before glancing over to where Ric is.]

Got something?

[immuno]

[ aside from the usual workshop tools—beer cans, wd-40, duct tape, and oil rags—ric finds some heavily aged photographs taken outside of the barn, back when it wasn’t a hot mess. there are kids playing on a tire swing on a tree outside. some are from inside the barn, with kids climbing in the rafters. they look around 10.

there’s a woman in many of the photos, early 40s, and a man that appears to be her husband is only in the older, more weathered photographs. the children are younger with him—6 or 7. ]

[ex_ric243]

[Alaric takes his time looking through these while Helen is putting two and two together regarding the name on that keychain she just uncovered.]

Just some old photographs.

[He hands said pictures to Helen once she's taken position beside him. He then turns his attention up toward the rafters overhead as though to confirm that yep, this was the same barn in the images.]

Might be the family that owned this property before it was seized by the state.

[immuno]

Wait.

[ lydia steps forward, but cringes in the face of the stench of the barn and backs up. on second thought, you come here. ]

Did you say family? Bring those over here.

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen is happy to oblige, carrying the pictures Ric has handed her and the keychain out with her, assuming Ric will follow because dear god that barn is rank.]

Recognize anyone?