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Triple Murder in Riderside, Rebooted [OOC]


Dr Archeville

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Well, there is something Avenger needs to "eat"...

Streetwise check tells you that Joan, the mother, used to be a meth head, but she kicked it some years ago. The check also tells you that Richard had recently (a few months ago) gotten into the Goth or Metal or Punk scene (you couldn't pin down which, or it may be he's getting into two or even all three).

Gather Info confirms this, and tells you that Richard had been looking into all three and hadn't really settled to any one.

Arcane tells you that something supernatural may was probably involved, but you don't find any more than that. Once you actually get to the house, though... well, make some Search checks, bearing in mind that each Search check only covers a 5 ft. x 5 ft. area (so completely searching, say, a living room would call for several checks).

Here's the map I'm using (click here if images don't show):

Living Room is where all three were found dead.

BR 3 was Joan's bedroom, BR 2 was Richard's, MBR was Maury's.

And the exterior looks like this (image is apparenrly too big to directly link).

Razorback, the door is indeed locked, and has police tape over it.

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Well, there is something Avenger needs to "eat"...

Heh, this is true. I'll say Avenger delved into his stolen medical supply bag stock for today, given that he thought he might be around a really bloody crime scene. (Avenger rarely steals blood from blood banks; that's unethical! There's a blood shortage!)

Streetwise check tells you that Joan, the mother, used to be a meth head, but she kicked it some years ago. The check also tells you that Richard had recently (a few months ago) gotten into the Goth or Metal or Punk scene (you couldn't pin down which, or it may be he's getting into two or even all three).

Gather Info confirms this, and tells you that Richard had been looking into all three and hadn't really settled to any one.

Heh. If my informants aren't pop-culture savvy enough, it may not be a matter of knowing the difference between the three.

Arcane tells you that something supernatural may was probably involved, but you don't find any more than that. Once you actually get to the house, though... well, make some Search checks, bearing in mind that each Search check only covers a 5 ft. x 5 ft. area (so completely searching, say, a living room would call for several checks).

Okay, here's my result for searching the Master Bedroom.

And the two upstairs bedrooms.

I'll let you actually describe them, since you actually know what they look like. ;)

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Avenger established that we're starting this late at night, and I'm following along.

How long has it been since the bodies were found/reported?

Are there police or other officials still on the scene? Any activity from the neighbors?

Flight and Force Field are activated. All effects are using the Subtle feat unless I say otherwise.

Round 1: Remain hovering in a nearby tree. Free Action to switch Array slots – drop Concealment and switch to ESP. Full Action to activate ESP.

Round 2: Remain hovering in a nearby tree. Scan the house and the lot with Visual/Audio ESP. A house like that probably fits on the “100 ft†entry on the Extended Range Table, meaning it would normally take 5 minutes to cover in an extended search. With Rapid 2, I can do it in 3 seconds. So, Standard Action? Take 10 on the Search check (Search 15 + 10 = DC25). I'm looking for people first, clues second.

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Avenger established that we're starting this late at night, and I'm following along.

How long has it been since the bodies were found/reported?

Are there police or other officials still on the scene? Any activity from the neighbors?

[snip]

Round 2: Remain hovering in a nearby tree. Scan the house and the lot with Visual/Audio ESP. A house like that probably fits on the “100 ft” entry on the Extended Range Table, meaning it would normally take 5 minutes to cover in an extended search. With Rapid 2, I can do it in 3 seconds. So, Standard Action? Take 10 on the Search check (Search 15 + 10 = DC25). I'm looking for people first, clues second.

The article you read didn't say when the bodies were found/reported. And since it seems you didn't read any other articles after reading that one, you don't know when they were found.

Gimme a Notice check if you're looking for cops or neighbors ;)

If she's checking the entire house & lot, that's "1 mile," not 100 feet: the house alone is about 35 x 35 feet, and two stories, so well over 1,000 feet. It'd take 1 hour, but Rapid 2 reduces it to 36 seconds (6 rounds).

After you give me the Notice checks, and let me know if she is indeed ESPing the whole place, I'll let you know what she finds.

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Okay, here's my result for searching the Master Bedroom.

And the two upstairs bedrooms.

I'll let you actually describe them, since you actually know what they look like. ;)

Searching the Master Bedroom, Avenger quickly realizes it belonged to Maury. He finds evidence of a rich life, one that saw action in the Vietnam War and work later in life as a mechanic at Ocean Heights Amusement Park. Te bed appears as if the man had been sleeping in it before being suddenly awakened and rushing off to his doom. Avenger finds pictures of Maury with some war buddies, both in 'Nam and long afterward (and looking equally haunted in both), and pictures of Maury at the amusement park, some by himself, some with his daughter Joan, some with his grandson Richard, some with both, and some with both of them and another man, a man who could easily be Richard's father. He finds nothing indicating a murder suspect, though, unless it's someone holding a very long grudge from 'Nam.

BR 2 was obviously Richard's room. It's decorated in "Troubled American Teen" motif, with lots of red and black, heavy metal and punk posters plastered to the walls and cds scattered about, Gothic artwork, a Boris Vallejo fantasy art calendar that was two years out of date, and a very un-made bed. There is one thing that catches his eye, or, rather, his nose: under the bed, under an old Penthouse magazine, was a sheathed dagger, with a blade about a foot long and a 6" wood-and-brass handle. It was stained with blood along both edges.

I'll need another set of nine Search checks for BR #3.

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The article you read didn't say when the bodies were found/reported. And since it seems you didn't read any other articles after reading that one, you don't know when they were found.

Gimme a Notice check if you're looking for cops or neighbors ;)

If she's checking the entire house & lot, that's "1 mile," not 100 feet: the house alone is about 35 x 35 feet, and two stories, so well over 1,000 feet. It'd take 1 hour, but Rapid 2 reduces it to 36 seconds (6 rounds).

After you give me the Notice checks, and let me know if she is indeed ESPing the whole place, I'll let you know what she finds.

I'm looking for cops, neighbors, and people in the house (murderer returning to the scene of the crime, other investigators, etc.). I'll take 10 on the Notice Checks. Notice 15 + 10 = DC25.

She is indeed ESPing the whole house and yard, inside and out. I'll take 10 on the Search check to look for "clues" (i.e., anything interesting or out of the ordinary). I'll go ahead and take the 6 rounds to do so.

I'm pretty sure from the description of the Search Skill that the distance listed on the Extended Range table is the diameter of the area being searched in that context, but in the interests of expediency and good sportsmanship I'll submit to your ruling for the time being. I'd like that issue examined in the future, though. When they list Johnny Rocket searching an entire city as an example, I'm pretty sure he wasn't just walking in one straight line from one end of the city to the next.

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I'm pretty sure from the description of the Search Skill that the distance listed on the Extended Range table is the diameter of the area being searched in that context, but in the interests of expediency and good sportsmanship I'll submit to your ruling for the time being. I'd like that issue examined in the future, though. When they list Johnny Rocket searching an entire city as an example, I'm pretty sure he wasn't just walking in one straight line from one end of the city to the next.

Ah, quite right, it even says diameter in the examples given.

(Though the example doesn't say he's searching a city, just an area one mile in diameter. It could be a big section of farmland ;) .)

However, the rules do seem to imply that the area/diameter is just a width+length thing, and is silent on height (height's sorta mentioned in normal searches, it says a 5x5 area or a 5x5x5 cubic volume of goods), so I'm going to rule that it takes Scarab a full round in order to search both floors.

Which is still very quick.

(If you wan to question this, feel free, but please make your own thread to do so, since things could get very derailed very quickly if done here.)

She sees no cops or neighbors at this moment.

------

Avenger Finds

By process of elimination, BR #3, the front-facing bedroom, must be Joan's room, and what Avenger found confirmed this. It was the bedroom of an apparently stressed single mother, the place was almost as messy and cluttered as Richard's was. Books, magazines and pamphlets strewn about indicated that she had been a theatre buff, with musicals being her favorite. She even had several soundtracks to assorted musicals, and some bootlegged tapes of Broadway recordings. A few pictures are crowded on a nightstand, similar to the ones of the amusement park from Maury's room; there's also a wedding photo of Joan and that unknown man.

------

Scarab Finds

Everything mentioned above, of course. Including the darkly-dressed not-a-vampire. ;)

Maury's bedroom reveals one other thing of interest: a glint of light, coming off the corner of a large footlocker, peeking out from the closet.

Downstairs... well, she wishes she hadn't peeked downstairs.

There's a few streaks of blood in the kitchen, mostly on the floor, as if someone had run and slipped through it. Otherwise, it's a very nice (if perhaps quaint) kitchen.

The dining room is a shambles, looking as if there'd been a big fight in it. The dining room table seems to have been chopped in half, and the hutch cabinet (and all the dishes on it) were smashed. Lots of blood here, too.

The living room almost makes her gag. The couch is thoroughly soaked in blood, as if the mutilated bodies had been piled onto it. The walls are also coated in blood. Most of the blood on the walls is in the form of bizarre symbols; about half are fairly crude and just slathered on, but the other half are fairly neat and precise, or as neat and precise as one can make with blood on a wall.

There's nothing of interest on the grounds outside, except for one thing: a doorway leading to a basement, in the back.

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You guys keep some late hours.

Sandro does a quick look towards the street to see if anyone is walking their dog or just out and about. Assuming he doesn't see anyone, he sneaks to the back of the house in hopes of finding an open window. He's trying to disturb as little of the area as possible and not trying to break any doors or windows in the process.

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No freaking kidding. I posted right before I left to work a graveyard shift. I don't know what their excuses are. Especially since Doc Ark is 3 hours ahead of me. :shock:

Same here. Just south of the SF Bay Area.

Razorback, if I'm not mistaken, you get a DC20 Notice check too, to see if you notice my scrying, since you're in it's area of effect.

If so, he made it with a 27 but I'll wait to DA confirms.

-Razorback

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Round 3: Stop maintaining ESP. Free action to switch Array slot, from ESP to Telekinesis. Standard Action to use Indirect TK to open the window from the inside, from the outside (does that make sense?). Move Action to fly in. Free Action to speak to the Not-Vampire. :D Free Actions to maintain Flight and Force Field.

Technically, since the TK is Subtle, onlookers would need a DC20 Notice check to have any idea why the window was moving. But Scarab isn't trying to hide the source. She's gesturing pretty obviously. And her Stealth is negative. So Avenger, Razorback, and anyone else who's looking at her can tell pretty easily that she's the source of the effect. But the window isn't coated in a glowing aura or anything like that.

Barring GM intervention, you two each have one round to get your licks in.

Round 4: (Barring any unforeseen developments) Free Action to switch Array slot, from TK to Telepathy. Free Actions to maintain Flight and Force Field. Full Action to initiate a Mind Probe of Avenger.

Avenger gets a DC20 Notice check to feel Scarab rooting through his brain like a file cabinet.

This calls for a contested roll, Scarab's Mind Reading vs. Avenger's Will Save. Scarab gets 28.

If Avenger detects the mental break-in, and he really wants to keep his secrets, he can use Extra Effort to get a new save at any time. He can also choose to fail the save, unless he doesn't consciously know that he knows the answer to my question.

If Avenger wins, I get nothing, because I'm not using Extra Effort to attempt another mental break-in during this scene.

If Scarab wins, thanks to the wonky pseudo-Concentration (Lasting) Duration on Mind Reading, she gets 10 rounds / 1 minute before Avenger gets his next save to kick her out. She'll spend all 10 rounds, if possible, taking Full Actions to continue probing. Here are the questions I want to ask, in this order:

01) Did you kill the Dicksons?

02) Why are you here?

03) Are you affiliated with the other intruder downstairs?

04) Did you come here on your own initiative, or were you sent here?

05) What do you know about the Dickson deaths?

06) What crimes are you wanted for (if any)?

07) How long have you been in Freedom City?

08) Are you a superpowered being (by human standards)?

09) Are you a human (as opposed to, say, a Grue)?

10) What is your real name?

Depending on the answers each question gets, I may change later inquiries in the list.

If the answer to Question #1 is "Yes," or if the answer to Question #2 involves harming Scarab, harming innocents, or disrupting the investigation (destroying evidence, etc.), then all bets are off and next round I ditch the probe and start attacking.

Otherwise, assuming no serious interruptions, Scarab will take only Free Actions and Reactions until her 10 rounds are up.

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He can of course attack her at any time, possibly KOing her and breaking her mind-sifting that way. ;)

Of course. Hence, the above text, laden as it was with qualifiers.

Although it's moot at this point anyway, since he got a natural 20 on his Hide In Plain Sight roll. I'd need an 18 to see him. I'm not even gonna try.

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