(Body Horror) Bad Night Out

[Takeda Katsumi]

With keys in hand, Takeda unlocked the van and proceeded with the grim task of loading the corpses into it, leaving the horrid thing in the Spider's capable appendages. When it came time to store Niamh's corpse, Takeda found herself lingering on the threshold of the van, but now was not the time for sorrow.

That done, Takeda walked back over to rejoin the Spider.

"Have you learned all you can?" Takeda asked, voice like steel. "If so, we should see what clues can be found within the warehouse. We might not have much time, and it is possible that there are other dangers that we have not yet been made aware of."

[Lawrence Taft]

Still enraptured by the unusual markings, Taft barely nods in Takeda's direction.

"Nearly. I won't be long..." Unphased, as those concerned with mortality might be, the Spider digs through the viscera and lays out each distinct organ-tentacle in such a fashion that the markings can all be seen. His movements are methodical, rather than precise; more archaeologist than surgeon. Each part of the mass that can be separated is examined in his grip before being placed down. Each that cannot is simply arranged in just a way that the important details are visible. Once everything is in place, Taft listens for echoes within the stolen blood. Once more, he levies the hopes that his prey's ancestors knew more of this practice than he.

  2 successes to activate Dipping the Pool

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-03-18 09:58:49		Lawrence Taft rolls 12 to Wits + Occult + Meminisse because is what he does. (10 Again)		4, 2, 4, 3, 1, 8, 1, 4, 2, 3, 8, 1		2 successes

  2 successes on Occult roll

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-03-18 10:00:18		Someone rolls 8 to Int + Occult + 1 to recognize markings on organs (10 Again)		9, 6, 4, 10, 5, 6, 7, 5, 4		2 successes

[Yumyumcrow]

Taft is still enraptured struggling to understand the Thing before him.

The tentacled masses are of a rubbery texture, yet they feel watery to the touch, as if they are simply bloated by fat and liquid. Yet they feel solid. And rubbery.

He finds that the strange markings are on only two of the indistinct organ masses. Even a careful search cannot find more. Interestingly, each mark is found near the "base" of the mass, where everything neatly liquifies into a cancerous whole.

The red veil doesn't help. Nothing comes to him other than garbled glimpses - deep memory - of screams and murder and madness from a very long, long, time ago when the stars were right. The brand suggests something, but it is lost in the red flow before Taft can grab it. And somehow, his own cult was involved.

Funny how the Blood dumps certain things in one's lap while simply refusing to give up its other secrets...

[Takeda Katsumi]

Takeda waited patiently for the Spider to finish his investigations, though she did not remain idle. With the fluidity born from centuries of tradition, and decades of practice, the Killer once more drew her wickedly gleaming blade and peered into the shining depths of its intricately folded steel, drawing upon the vicious purpose of the blade as she fueled the dark energies of the Onryo through her necrotic veins.

[Lawrence Taft]

The Shadow grits his teeth, his jaw flexing as he does. A normal 'individual' wouldn't consider his revelations a failure. But this particular individual isn't what you'd consider 'normal'. His little moment of seething passes, and he stands, beginning to snatch up the scattered remains as he does.

"Nothing here I can use. We should move forward."

With a quickness inspired by his quiet loathing, he gathers the bits and pieces and shoves them back into the cavity. His arms flex and tense with his more-than-necessary force driving each piece home. Then, finally, he drags the greater carcass to the van.

"You mentioned the warehouse? If we're fortunate, we'll find some more obvious tips in there." He opens his mouth to say more, but seems to change his mind. After a second, he adds "If I hadn't been forbidden to forge the kinship my powers rely on, this could have gone differently." He leaves what to infer from the statement on Takeda's shoulders.

Then he makes for the warehouse, favoring caution for would-be attackers.

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-03-21 20:54:57		Lawrence Taft rolls 6 to Wits + Composure to keep eyes peeled (10 Again)		9, 9, 7, 5, 7, 1		2 successes

[Yumyumcrow]

The side door of the warehouse hangs open. Within is part of an internal stairwell that appears to have been carefully screened from the interior, judging by the well placed partition walls. The stairs lead down to basement or sub basement level, which again appears to have been deliberately separated from the body of the building - this time the area is properly walled off with bricks, implying a much earlier partition.

The basement space is not overly large and 'feels' much smaller than it actually is. The ceiling hangs low. The light is either bright and harsh or dim and filled with shadows, with nothing in between. Old lab and medical equipment is squeezed into the space, shaped into a rude lab space with a larger area given over to two beds.

Carnage has been done in the basement!

One of the beds lies on its side, bent out of shape with bed clothes torn and stained and tossed all over. Blood still glistens wetly in pools or splattered up the wall. Faeces and bloody goop stains the floor also, trailing out toward the stairwell. A foul odour is slowly dispersing into nothing.

Takeda finds a headless body by the ruined bed, sans head.

Taft, making a brief inspection of the dim lab space (in case there are ambushers lurking in wait) finds a head: a man's head, with long blond locks, and still trailing a gratuitous amount of wind pipe.

Permeating the scene is an annoying hum of machinery and bad lighting.

[Takeda Katsumi]

"This," Takeda declared softly, gesturing at the gore splattered lab, "does not appear to be the common sorcerer's workshop. Is it common, in your experience, for there to be such an infusion of the mystical and the scientific? Is this some sort of evolution, such as alchemy to chemistry, or is this beyond even your ken?"

She did not wait for an answer, though, and bent to examine the headless body, her blade poised before her should it's organs erupt into another foul abomination.

[Lawrence Taft]

"Anything is possible." he calls out in response, stooping down to lift the severed head. It's a good night not to be this fellow, isn't it? Without looking away, he adds "We should hope it mystical in nature. I've never studied sciences on my own... so even the whispers of the blood would grant me little insight." All of this is stated plainly as he considers the head before him. Something to focus on, for a moment, as he calls out to blood and memory.

  6 successes to add 2 dice to next mental dice pool!

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-03-24 20:54:03		Lawrence Taft rolls 12 to Wits + Occult + Meminisse (10 Again)		9, 8, 10, 2, 2, 9, 10, 3, 7, 7, 9, 7, 5, 4		6 successes

He begins to pace the interior of the basement lab - because that's what it must serve as - all the while still holding the head. His eyes follow the spattered gore and wreckage, looking for anything pertinent to what might have transpired here recently.

  3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-03-24 20:57:34		Lawrence Taft rolls 7 to Wits + Investigation + 2 for Dipping the Pool (10 Again)		10, 3, 3, 7, 9, 9, 6, 2		3 successes

[Yumyumcrow]

While Takeda prepares for an ambush, Taft paces. He calls to the Blood and the Blood answers in flashes of red and strange hunches bursting onto his consciousness.

The hidden place is not just a lab. Its an infirmary. Blood drenched memories clue him on on the equipment and the old hospital beds. The lab has storage - storage for blood, plasma, items of first aid, and equipment that might be seen in a medical facility.

The Blood cannot furnish him with what he does not know, but ghost whispers from his sanguinary connections can feed theories that bubble through his mind. Old equipment; mismatched tools; poor quality lab space. A street doctor, perhaps. Or something from the criminal underworld, given the hidden nature of the suite.

It is a theory perhaps borne out in the available evidence: a paucity of lab notes but a ledger noting favours and moneys owed. Whoever owned the place was less interested in research and healing, and much more interested in accruing favour and fortune.

A final piece of evidence falls into his lap. He finds a freezer containing a few organs ready for transplant. Each organ has a similar brand marking as the organs he found fused together in the abomination. The branding is not clear; Taft - and indeed anyone else - might have missed it, had he not encountered the markings earlier.

[Takeda Katsumi]

"Has the blood spoken to you? Have you unearthed something that we could use?" Takeda asked, unable to keep the impatience from her voice. She regretted it, almost instantly, and swore that she would not let her own irritation get the better of her. She would be as implacable as the tide, as steadfast as the mountain, and when the time came, she would be as swift as the wind and as fierce as flame. But, only when the time came.

Right thought, right action.