(Golden Bough) Police Presence Noted

[Asa]

It took a few moments for Asa to identify the strange sensation. A slight tickle of anticipation, laced with pleasure.

Fun.

He gave the other two Ventrue a nod, not having used their names himself but quickly discovering they had when the Detective began speaking. The Detective. He knew his name --he had just used it-- but that was in speaking. To some extent, The Detective was an aging, reliable pet from childhood. The Detective probably had no idea he was the last person in Sacramento to have known Asa Clarke the scrambling neonate rather than Asa Clarke, Prince of the Domain.

It brought back memories.

Memories enough to remember the lessons learned as a Deputy -- hence the sensible clothing, and particularly footwear. Memories enough that when he stirred his Blood to gather information, he avoided enhancing his gustatory and olfactory abilities.

He gestured for the other two to follow, separating himself from Josephine and letting her keep the umbrella. An assumption based on both of his cousin's need for light, and perhaps care for their footwear; having neither concern, he simply followed as the crow flew. Asa listened, distracted as rain began to trickle down his face. Hundreds of tiny weights, sliding over his skin, cooling it. He'd have to remember to skip tactile in the rain. Then again, he hadn't driven himself.

In the rain? No point in wasting...

He nodded when prompted, so as not to stall the conversation, but held his silence. For all his reminiscing about being a Deputy, this was an introduction, and perhaps supplying useful trivia. Josephine and Thomas had the ball.

Eyes studied the breach.

Nine times out of ten, being tall was a blessing. Looks like the tenth's time was due.

[Thomas Galilei]

Thomas listens, follows behind when the party moves forward. He notes O'Connell's discretion--his sidelong glances and situational awareness--recognizing immediately why The Prince would choose him as an asset. It amuses him to see Asa step into the rain, trod through the mud, and get the bottom line up front from a Kine informant: evidence that the man wasn't always The Prince whom Thomas knew him to be. Neither had Thomas always been a Priest. He dusts off the old soldier inside, rouses his inner monk--he'd need every facet to prove worth his vitae.

The monk reacts quicker, having slumbered shorter. He files away important points, like as many passages of scripture hidden in his heart:

Thomas Winslow: informant; initial report in police call log.

Officer Petrovic: found entry point.

Memorize

59880 2014-10-01 20:55:10 Thomas Galilei rolls 6 to Memorize: 3 (INT) + 3 (COMP) = 6 DP (10 Again) 9, 4, 1, 2, 10, 4, 10, 8 4 successes

When O'Connell opens the floor for questions, Thomas' soldier chimes in, scouring for significance in minor details, like spotting the slightest scuff on a boot:

"Do you remember the exact line in the report, Detective--the one about the ash: how much and how many piles?"

"What do you make as the entry tool here?" Maybe forensics had found metal residue? A loud tool might have been heard; an obscure tool could be traced.

"You get anything by way of footprints here, before the rains hit?" Even a long shot hits from time to time.

Thomas is careful via overt gestures of friendliness--smiles and tone of voice--not to insult the man's intelligence or his method of investigation; a Priest is practiced at questioning out information. The devil is the details, and the Lancea Sanctum specializes in rooting out and destroying his works.

[Josephine Sterling]

"You also mentioned something about," Josephine paused, cleared her throat, and then spoke again, this time doing a fair imitation of O'Connell's accent and speech pattern. "'When the blues got there, we found enough dried blood for a few horses, but no body.' However," she continued, temporarily lapsing back to her native accent, "you also mentioned: 'I had suspected someone was hungry based on the animals.'"

She cleared her throat again and then resumed talking normally, voice and expression as banal as ever. "It is very possible I misunderstood, but you said that there was no body, merely a large quantity of blood. Which you assumed was equine. Was it in fact equine? Was that what you meant about animals, or were there other animals?"

  Imitate Joe

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-10-01 23:20:45		Josephine rolls 3 to activate playback (imitate O'Connel) (manip2+subter1) (10 Again)		9, 5, 6		1 success

[DrDog]

Joe looks at Josephine, trying to determine if she's mocking him or if she is just weird like that. He eventually shrugs, pinning it as a weird side effect of flammability.
"Well done." Joe says, after a bit of an awkward pause, complimenting her skill "The animals I was referring to were the corpses you were stepping over back in the alley. as for the horse, you probably haven't worked with animals much, but in this area, we do a lot of work with horses. And horses have lots and lots of blood. So when we say that there was enough blood for a couple of horses, we mean at least a few gallons was splashed around. As for origin of the blood, we weren't really able to do much based on the age. I'll explain more inside."
He then turns to Thomas, who is asking fairly legitimate questions, questions joe had asked at the report as well, "The report initially stated that there was quite a bit of ash piled up in one corner, as well as mroe strewn about the main area. If you want, you can call that two piles, but I wouldn't make that assumption. When I initially arrived, it was quite difficult to tell anything more than that. As for the hole, our best guess is at least 4 months old, based on the rust on the interior of the cuts. We can't pin down age earlier than that. The irregularity I attributed to a hacksaw, but you are welcome to take a look yourself. If you'll follow me inside."
Joe ducks his head a little bit to get through the small hole, allowing the others to enter after him.
Joe's light flashes along the walls, which have dark streaks of blood everywhere. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Y5TwdoOLPT...Blood_Room.JPG
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...loody_room.jpg
"As you can see, there was quite a bit of blood. The blood has been here a while, at least over a week, probably even longer based on our assessment. The lack of rain this month has been quite beneficial in keeping the humidity low enough that this isn't just a complete mess. Over in the coner you can see the first ash pile, we estimated the size at 4 feet by 5 feet by 2. Its hard to tell the exact makeup of the ash. In the middle of the room you'll see the anti-christian iconogaphy, as well as on the ceiling. That seems older, but we can't be sure."
http://crackberry.com/sites/crackber...?itok=kH2xNp-X
"We also found several bronze basins that are currently being slowly lost from evidence, I have one in my car if it is needed as a sample."

[Asa]

Asa had leaned over slightly to examine the hole. His posture, and the shadows, might have hidden a smile. Josephine had repeated the words, but hadn't understood them.

Careful, Detective. Some of us don't have quite as... liberal of a sense of humor.

A smile did slip out as the Detective studied his impersonator. If he thought that was strange, well, he might just have to set him up on a date with Hildegarde Bingen.

He waited for the other two to follow, offering to hold umbrellas. He was already soaked, and it gave him a few moments to ponder whether to widen the hole. With reluctance, he chose not to -- tearing metal was inconveniently loud.

Although -- it would be wholly entertaining to see what effect that sight would have on the Detective's peppering of barbs.

Finally, he did enter. There was a surprising flicker of protest from the Beast within -- a Lordly Beast, who was never meant to bow over, or crawl. It's irritation mirrored the Man's, when Asa felt one of his broad shoulders brush bare metal and heard the scratching and pinging sound of his coat threads rending.

"The investigation was... less than thorough."

Asa smiled slightly in the darkness.

"An act of goodwill rather than incompetence," he elaborated. "I mentioned this building was a location of interest. It belonged to a former Hierophant."

The Rakshasa Paresh Williams, whose coterie included the monstrous giant Mako, and the Embraced child. Freddrick had defied the Masquerade by making Sacramento a haven for monsters.

[Thomas Galilei]

Thomas' knees bend easily, practiced in the discipline of prayer.

He winces at sight of the inverted cross, branded with a pentagram . . . Simon Peter had requested to be crucified upside-down, saying he didn't deserve death in the same way as his master. In the end, he didn't deny. A shame to see the inverted cross come to mean a subversion of faith, where, for Peter, it was its very substance.

Thomas is reminded he has enemies he knows nothing of. And these new enemies of his had made one of him without ever meeting him. Hate is love's brother, both born of Faith. Thomas hopes the latter is the stronger sibling, though he'll find no proof of that here.

He listens as O'Connell speaks, as much with his eyes as his ears. "I would very much like to see the basin, Detective, when it's appropriate."

Animal sacrifice. Occult symbols. Bronze basin. Three indicators of Theban Sorcery. Maybe Thomas could be useful after all? Careful where he puts his feet, he begins to scan the space for other ritual ingredients, anything to give him a better sense of the purpose of the spell: candle wax residue, blood-letting instrument, lingering incense, etcetera.

Perceive Ritual Ingredients

59913 2014-10-02 20:56:50 Thomas Galilei rolls 6 to Perceive Ritual Ingredients: 2 (WITS) + 3 (COMP) + 1 (Theban Sorcery) = 6 DP (10 Again) 4, 3, 8, 3, 2, 6 1 success

"Hierophant . . . Theban Sorcery . . . Are you thinking Livian Heresy, Your Grace?" The group had members in both the Lancea Sanctum and the Circle of the Crone, believing Livia, mother of Longinus, to be an incarnation of the universal female deity, the Crone.

[Josephine Sterling]

Josephine gladly handed the loaned umbrella back to the Prince, who was as much covered in water as he was polite. Certainly, she admired that fact.

Slipping into the building proved little trouble for her, as her stature was far smaller than the princes, and her limbs as pliable as when she had first been murdered as a young woman. She followed behind the detective, silently absorbing what he had to say along with the story painted with blood around the room. She did not so much as nod or look at the detective while he spoke, simply focused on his information and all that was before them. Truthfully, she was a bit embarrassed about overlooking the animals. She had simply assumed them to be trash, and of no consequence or connection to this affair. Still, appearing the fool wasn't without it's advantages, and the night was quite young yet. She was not overly bothered by it, so her visage and demeanor remained a study in focused neutrality. The prince's declaration, shortly followed by Galilei's, broke her calm demanor however, and snapped her head around to study them in turn.

Truly, in front of the walking heartbeat? Such matters should not be privy to the uninitiated, ghouled cop or no. Although she doubted that he was a ghoul, based off the way the Prince had thanked the man. Truly, that made the Prince a very strange man, if so. And Galilei, well, he was likely attempting to follow the Prince's lead, though why the Priest asked the laity what he thought, she could not fathom. Prince or no, she felt a bit spurned, honestly. Alas, there were more important things to be done.

"Would it be an imposition to ask you to retrieve the basin from your car?" Josephine asked, turning to the detective. It could prove to be a valuable piece of evidence, but truthfully she wanted the creature of god out of the room so that she could truly begin her investigation.

If he left, she quickly produced a pen from her purse and the metal clip on the cap to help harvest dried blood from the wall, or another easily accessible area, letting the scrapings fall onto her glove. That done, she took a moment to call up the out-sight granted to her by her lack of firm insight, and then licked the blood off her hand. She suspected that there would be nothing to be learned, but one never knew. Providence did not help the incurious, or those who were not thorough.

Eventually, after she learned what she could (which likely wasn't much) from the blood, she turned her attention to the symbol and set her mind to probing it's depths for it's mystical significance and origin.

  2 successes to taste the blood with lordly palette, before penalties

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-10-03 03:23:50		Josephine rolls 1 to plus spec (10 Again)		10, 7		1 success
2014-10-03 03:22:52		Josephine rolls 7 to question the blood (int 3+ med1+ lordly palette3) (10 Again)		1, 10, 3, 4, 3, 7, 5, 3		1 success

  2 successes to know the symbol, before penalties

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-10-03 03:24:28		Josephine rolls 7 to know thy symbol, heretic (int3+occult4) (10 Again)		7, 7, 8, 1, 1, 10, 5, 3		2 successes

Assuming that the detective leaves, Jo activates Heightened Senses (for taste) and tastes the blood with Lordly Palette 3 to learn whatever she may. Also, can investigation rolls discover more about the scene?

[West]

As Thomas casts his eyes about the room, he becomes painfully aware that it's dark, and they only have Joe's flashlight to aid them. He might be on the right track, but it's going to take some work.

Josephine floods her senses with Blood, opening and augmenting them. Although the white-hot bar of light cast about by the detective's flashlight is distracting, it floods the rest of the room with enough light (for her) to see everything. More importantly, it amplifies her already superior gustatory ability to superhuman degree.

Scraping off a fleck of blood, her now-acute eyes pick up nuances of shade and composition in the near black sanguine white-wash. Het tongue soon corroborates her eyes -- the blood is not from a singular source.

Dead blood.

Vile and bitter, it's akin to a Kine trying to eat shoe leather. What once might have infused her with pleasure and sustenance now sits on her tongue lifeless. In this instance, it is fruitful and provides sustenance -- a bounty of the information Josephine seeks rather than the invigorating qualities it once held. The first sensation is the fatty, bland, pedestrian taste of an animal. Where some have an eye for detail, her papillae for detail pick out something intertwined and hidden in the blood. And, perhaps, Josephine is lucky that it's dead blood she tastes. She finds Blood.

Ventrue Blood.

All the OOC Things

Brownlee: Thomas is free to conjecture any ritual he think might be appropriate with the described accouterments, but Sacraments are consumed in successful Rituals. Without evidence of a particular Sacrament, it will be nigh impossible to determine a specific Ritual.

Cayce: Nice call on the Heightened Senses. The -5 Penalty subtracted from the right (trace amount, mixed blood) still yielded a Success. Feel free to narrate anything you like on the symbol, but it isn't something Josephine knows as relevant.

Investigation rolls can absolutely be made.
- Each roll will take ten minutes
- A number of rolls equal to the Attribute + Skill is the limit of rolls that can be taken
- If Thomas chooses to roll, he is penalized by -3 for lighting conditions
- If Joe chooses to roll, he is penalized by -1 for lighting conditions

[DrDog]

Joe nods as the two...consultants? both request the basin, apparently it was a lot more important than he was led to beleive. Then the girl scrapes off some blood and licks it.
And Joe's night had been going so well, and now the blood drinker was licking blood off of the walls. Joe can just hear the apoplexy his old detective buddys would have had on hearing of it. But in search for the truth, sometimes you have to stick a foot in the lake of weirdness. Other times you have to dive into the deepest part.
"If you are going to continue to tamper with my crime scene, i'd like to be here so I know what happened. I can retrieve the basin later." He answers both of them.
He listens on about hierophants and heresies, but its not one he's familiar with. "Is that a catholic heresy?" He asks Thomas, as he takes out his own most dangerous weapon, and begins writing in his notepad his observations. He starts with the ash pile in the corner, trying to compare it to the remains from the execution he saw all those years ago.
He looks back at "your Grace", remembering that night on the rooftop, when Joe saw the line between justice and the law, and found himself on a different side than he thought.

  3 successes, penalty not factored

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-10-03 20:57:58		Joe O'Connel rolls 6 to Wits + Investigation (10 Again)		7, 1, 4, 9, 10, 8, 10, 2		4 successes

[Asa]

If he had drawn breath, he would sigh. He was surprised that Galilei was so forward -- a product of youth, or his belief? Perhaps he thought the Detective wholly Conditioned? It was something only to be done with care, for fear of creating an automaton without the spark of independence and thus creativity.

Apparently, Asa and Joe would be spending some 'quality time' together. At least it was football season.

Maybe this time, instead of a thing for redheads, he'd leave the man with a fanatic love of the Denver Broncos.

It's the little amusements that keep eternity fun.

His eyes were drawn to Josephine as her pen shrieked in his ears. Resourceful. Uninhibited. Rather than complimentary thoughts, they were a threat assessment. They were both qualities Asa Clarke shared, and he was well aware of what they could represent.

'So I know what happened.'

Asa gave the Detective the courtesy of not laughing.

"Well, I was hoping the experts would know," he answered the Father, an undercurrent of amusement carrying in the darkness.