(Cortez) The Trail...

[Saber Sloth]

Hallway, leading to 1399

Hamia turns a quick glance at the room, nothing jumps out as needing her attention, not with Campanella purposeful stride out of their destination, the unit opened by the key-card that had just recently resided in her pocket, to the room down the hall.

Standing before the door, Time answers her silent call eagerly.

To her first question, the answer is No. The One Called Shrike Will Not Be In The Room Numbered 1399 When They Open The Door.

To her second -- yes-no-yes-no-no-yes-no-yes-yes-no-yesyesyesyesno-yes-no-yea-nop-ya-nev-cetain-no-yes --- ! Time changes, resets, staying but changes, once, twice, thrice. More, yeses become nevers, and no might always happen, if yeses never bleed. Her connection with the Divination cuts.

Pressure builds and a headache blossoms.


Campanella Mysterium Dadouchos is vibrating in righteous anger, stride strong, and steps loud as they echo out in tandem with the keening wail that had drawn him out into the hallway. Which once had felt solid in it's clinical cleanliness of it's modern monstrosity, now feels fraudulent. Fake in a way that makes it clear you had suspended your disbelief to enjoy a fantasy.

The door lays before them, the keening high and piercing, intermixed are sobs sounding farther away, and there, on the carpeted floor and the grey of the wall, are spatters of red which keep growing as the drip, drip, drips down and down and down, from the severed fingers curling around the door handle.

[Winter]

The ride on the elevator had been quiet, too quiet. Not that kind of tranquillity he so thoroughly enjoyed, but one borne out of unfamiliarity, tiredness and uncertainty about the future. Yeah, uncertainty was a big part. The decor doesn't help. He pondered as the polished metal of the elevator's doors slid open to reveal a sea of burning chrome and fluorescent anonymity. The corridor was their own.




The room was furnished much in the same guise of the hallway, cold colors and sudden corners bent at unnatural angles, two beds, undone, and a door, possibly leading to the toilet. No trace of occupants, it could have passed for mundane, normal even, if not for the gnawing shudder at the base of his skull and pointing to the bathroom. He fought the urgency of acting on his instincts.
He heard the man, Campanella, mutter something under his breath and then disappear without a care through the door. Had the other man already scried the room? He didn't know. He shouldn't have let him go inside alone, he pondered, more soldiers had been lost to the barrel of a gun hidden behind a corner than he could count, on that account he had failed. From the periphery of his vision he caught a glimpse of the brunette as she inspected the room.


Another grievance from the bathroom elicited a raised eyebrow, it seemeed like the man had been displeased by whatever he had found within. Then Campanella reappeared with a scowl over his face. Better than a hole. Winter thought. The brunette must have been cast in the same mold, for her face mimicked the man's expression.
When a faint sound resonated from the hallway; like the pied piper, the dark lullaby lured both his companions away. He watched their backs perplexed, as both departed from the room without sparing words. We ought to have a talk about the importance of sticking to the plan, someday. He thought.
After a long, audible breath of relief; he shot a sympathetic look to his other two companions. "Time to work". He said.


Forensic investigation is a complex craft, part science, part art. It is art because the competent investigator ought to be creative enough to puzzle together scant clues and fit a narrative. It is science because any hypothesis must be backed by data. Does the data contradict the hypothesis? Tough luck, you start anew.


You check behind the radiators, under the pillows, open the drawers, under the beds. Under the beds. "Bingo" Winter said, crouched on the floor, an arm extended to catch a shiny piece of... something.


"Hmm", he muttered, narrowing his eyes on the relic, "this is a 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge, standard NATO issuance", he added, showing the cartridge stuck between index and thumb "a standard among law enforcement and the Army", he paused for a second, mulling over his own gun he wished he had with him. "Our mystery women might be well armed and possibly trained", shit would inevitably hit the fan, he knew. "Better if we let Hansel and Gretel know", the line was delivered through curved lips.

The bathroom. The bathroom fully vindicated Campanella's honor. Winter hesitantly closed on the bathtub, a disgusted look washed over his face at the sight of the mass of crawling and creeping monstrosities that had made their nest therein.
If Campanella was right, and he had no reason to believe otherwise, the clawed woman was the author, and the one most likely to be proficient in the arcanum of life. He could barely made out the spots of blood under the writhing cornucopia of insects. He stepped back; he could scrutiny the resonance of the two rooms, it was his part and parcel, but to investigate the traces further he needed to get those... things away. And with that, he was like a fish out of water.
"Hey", he said after a cough, a hand rested against the treshold of the bathroom, "you need to check this out".

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-04-29 19:18:21		Winter rolls 6 to Eyes of the Abyss (Wits + Composure) (10 Again)		7, 8, 9, 2, 2, 5		2 successes

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-04-29 20:06:21		Winter rolls 3 to Crime Scene Investigation (Wits + Investigation - 2) (10 Again)		1, 10, 2, 1		1 success

[Aurora]

Before Aurora can even say anything, Campy was out the door.

What the hell? She thinks, hands raising in question.

Then Hamia is off after Campy, of she thinks she’s following him.

So that leaves the Shaman with two opinion, take a closer look around the room with Winter, or chase after the other two.

They’d be ok? Right? She wonders, hearing Winter say something from the bathroom.

Her feet lead her that way, pausing at the door way. "What'd you find?"

And she decides to look at the bathroom with a different set of eyes.

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-04-30 10:03:20		Aurora rolls 4 to Grim Sight(Gno+Death) (10 Again)		9, 8, 6, 5		2 successes

[Campanella]

Anger. Righteous fury. Guilt. Disgust. A desire to punish. It is all swirling in the Moros' gut as he storms from Room 1408. The tumult of feelings very near overwhelm Campanella's reason and it is perhaps fortuitous that he has to walk out of one room and down the corridor.

He sees the door for Room 1399. Its shut.

He see's the severed fingers still coiled around the door knob. Still wet.

Its enough for reason to take control once more.

He remembers reaching out to the monolith as the Bastille erupts under his very nose. He recalls the surge of power; of the pain as his Pattern was flung through time and the monolith disintegrated and ablated through him.

He remembers the rain in Granite Park. Of being huddled and spent and watching their Enemy slip away. Dead flesh pressed on them, hungry fingers groping...

Not again.

His whole body trembled as he stopped himself from reaching out to the grotesque door knob. With a heavy sigh he stepped to one side.

"I believe that this situation calls for an Arrow's expertise, yes?" His jaw throbbed as he turned slightly to Hamia.

Might as well: can I claim a Virtue refresh for Campanella's PRUDENCE for not charging in blindly?

[Hamia]

The girl tips her head forward, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Expertise? N..no. She's not in there. Shrike." Her head turns in Campanella's direction, even if her eyes don't meet his "Don't know... what's causing the sound. Gimme a sec."


She does her best to align her thoughts. Shrike isn't there. That doesn't mean the woman with the bob-cut isn't. Her eyes, at last, meet the Moros'. "I don't know what to expect. Worse case scenario?" How does she even describe it? She'll do a 'do-over', but Campanella would never know it happened? That would sound stupid. "Let's just say I can handle it. Personally." She smiles. That also probably also sounds stupid. Campanella looks like a smart, practical guy. Sucks that he ended up in the same hallway as her.

Gritting her teeth and preparing for the worst, Hamia approaches the door to 1399 and goes for it. Door handle, horrors to be revealed. The whole thing.

[Winter]

1408

"Insects, traces of blood over the tiles" He told the woman in a flat tone, an index finger pointed just above the smear. Death was just like that, after witnessing too many crimes you end up inured. Death tolerance is inevitable, just like alcoholism. A painful reminder.

He takes a step back to the treshold leaving enough breathing room for the other willworkers to practice their crafts. The back of his head casually rested against the cold casing of the door. SPD is not going to investigate at this point. He ruminates over their conundrum; the seething swarm of insects a jealous warden cast between them and the rest of their investigation, Paradox be damned.
He thought about the cacophony in the hallway that had lured their companions. "We should let Mr. Campanella and the Miss know about the gun. Text them?" He added informally in response to the man, careful to not let any of his concern seep through. His companion was right.


Feeling useless, he vaulted inside the bedroom, his allocution to the powers of Pandemonium forming an Imago of a mind spell punctuated by the foreign syllabes of a now metaphysical broken language.

He concentrates on the resonance, trying to make out the identity and the nimbus of its caster. Puzzled by the spinning and constantly shrinking colors of the glyphs embedded in the middle.

"Hmpf"

  3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-05-02 09:29:47		Winter rolls 9 to Gain Skill [Rote] (Occult) to Wits + Science + Mind + HS (10 Again)		1, 9, 6, 6, 4, 6, 2, 10, 8, 2		3 successes

  3 successes, Identification, Composition, Mastery

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-05-02 09:37:06		Winter rolls 5 to Scrutiny [Identity, Composition, Mastery] (Int + Occult + Supernal Vision) (10 Again)		7, 8, 8, 9, 2		3 successes

Winter is at +2 occult, 1 Mana spent

OOC

I applied the two dice of Occult from Gain Skill to the scrutiny roll +1 for Supernal Vision. Magically gained skill don't apply to rotes but I couldn't find any rule stating they don't apply to scrutiny rolls. Anyway, I'm leaving it up to Cayce's judgement, and refrain the resolution of the action until the next turn. The roll is supposed to last 10 minutes anyway, as far as I can remember.

[Saber Sloth]

1399

The fingers fall in the bloodied carpet with a wet sound. The handle turns silently, and almost eagerly. The door pushes open on well oiled hinges.

The room that lay before then in cast in shadows, the bed still made, and a suitcase lays open, and full of neatly folded clothing, upon a plush but streamlined chair in one corner of the room.

There is movement, in this darkened, neatly made room. By the edge of the bed, and a hunched figure, rocking back and forth, back and forth.

There are wet sounds coming from this figure, as well gagging.

...and the sobs, heart wrenching sobs.

I say yep to a willpower refresh, Cayce What say you?

[Hamia]

Brown eyes dart around the room, making sense of the place before the elephant in the room demands her attention. The figure, rocking back and forth. The sounds. Wet sounds. Why can't she shake the feeling it's blood?

But instinct kicks in. She may not have the time to ask whoever this is what's happened. Or they may not be able to answer. Hamia's hand traces a path in front of her, at eye level with the rocking, sobbing person. She focuses, attempting to peel away the layers of time and see for herself what has just transpired...

  failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-05-05 19:04:13		Hamia rolls 4 to Gno + Time for Postcognition (10 Again)		2, 4, 1, 3		failure

But her eyes only see the present. So she focuses on that.

  3 successes on perception

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-05-05 19:06:19		Hamia rolls 6 to Wits + Composure (10 Again)		7, 2, 9, 9, 10, 2, 6		3 successes

Every muscle in her body tenses and her eyes dart around, fearful of the worst. All she can do now is ask. "Are you ok?"

[Campanella]

Campanella moves carefully behind Hamia, eyeing the well made - if shadowy room - with a certain detachment that kept a roiling sense of danger at bay.

"Something has happened in the other room. A backlash or an Abyssal manifestation is my first guess. I recognised the signature of one of the Awakened I had seen all over it. No sign of them..." He spoke quickly as Hamia took in the room.

Moving carefully in space and trying to avoid touching anything, the Moros explored the room. His eyes fell on the broken ruin of a person, rocking gently...

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-05-05 23:18:24		Campanella to Scrutinise the room rolls 5 to Intelligence + Occult (10 Again)		4, 3, 9, 5, 7		1 success
2018-05-05 23:13:53		Campanella to examine the room rolls 6 to Wits + Investigation (10 Again, WillPower)		6, 1, 6, 9, 6, 5		1 success

Needs to be asked: Does Campanella recognise the other person in the room as either Shrike or Crane?

Campy is Scrutinising the room, looking to Identify any aura signatures he finds.