2019.05.03 Something Wicca This Way Comes - The Unboxing
| The Unboxing | |
|---|---|
| When the police find a dried up raisin of a corpse of Josh Welkin in a kinky sex dungeon i the middle of suburbia, the Technocracy comes a callin. | |
| IC Date | 2019.05.02 |
| Players | Linnete, Adelphi, Sae as ST |
| Location | Sigma Chi House |
| Spheres | Mage Technocracy |
Beltaine and Walpurgisnacht. That was the theme of the party. By the time the cops have arrived, most of the kids have gone and disappeared as they did NOT want to get MIPs, MICs or worse, PIs. In the middle of suburbia, not too far away from Greek Row of UC-Prospect was an unusual case. It was supposed to just be noise complaints because of a raucus party, but then when the original cops came, they discovered something far more sinister in the living room area.
There was a person sized hole where someone seems to have punched their way through a wall. That hole led to what looks to be an area reminiscent of 50 Shades of Grey. It was a sex dungeon. There were pleasure racks, whips, ballgags, and other things strewn about. The smell and splatters of blood and other bodily fluids were apparent under the blacklight inspection.
The various cops on the scene were puzzled though. There was a mummified corpse on one of the pleasure racks, looking like he was in the throes of pleasure. He now looks like a person that turned into a raisin, dried up and wrinkly.
"Figures." No stranger to Greek Row - sure, Bryn Mawr doesn't have sororities, but it /totally/ has sororities - there is a lingering scowl that comes to Linnete unprompted, turning resting bitch face into active malevolence as she shows her badge, puts on her gloves, and steps into the middle of an investigation. While there may be that lingering 'aura of death' that moves anyone that's ever lingered over coffee while on duty out of the way, she is thorough at least. Start with the very entrance - sure, the entrance hole is further down but why skimp? Counting boots, coats, hats, anything, she eventually does slide her way along to checking carefully into the edges of that punched-out hole. There is, after all, a grand difference between 'someone knocked this out with a hammer' and 'Wile E. Coyote was here,' so it's worth checking. Yet the main attraction, remains as always, the sex dungeon. She goes in through the hole, a phrase often related to sex dungeons, and makes her way in however precarious that may be. A sucker is withdrawn from one pocket, unwrapped, popped into her mouth and already clicking and clacking along her teeth as she crouches down to take a closer look at the body.
The first thing that's readily noticeable is the layout of the various instruments of doom and pleasure. There's five clear vertices in a pentagonal shape and it's quite apparently that the trails of blood connect the five instruments into a pentagram. It's also clear that the sex dungeon hasn't been used recently. It's super dusty and musty. In fact, the floor is filthy as it's dusty, except for a rectangle shaped clean spot near the backwall. Surely, there was something there that's no longer there. As she continues to look over the various instruments, there are strange sigils. It's almost like distortions of the Traditions' sigils for the nine spheres. Having dealt with Nephandi before, Linnete would know that these are the qlippothic equivalents for life, prime, entropy, spirit, and correspondence.
So it's all interesting, especially the trails of dust observeable on the floor. Even with the detectives that've come before and forensic examiners there's still clear evidence of that, if just in how one section has been scraped and baggied and collected away for further analyzation. Dust is rarely just dust, afterall. But eventually she stands back up and makes her way over to the obvious absence, the dog that (didn't) bark in the night; the wide swatch of nothing where something once was. Taking out her smartphone, Lin boots it up and flicks through a few apps before opening her calendar. It's careful observation at work to string together the relativity of time against the four-dimensional time-cube theorem and walking it back from there, but it quickly builds a picture once she laces in the more usual, orthodox 'Murphy' problem to track the lingering resonance, compared to the standard and approved NWO profiles for a sex dungeon.
The rectangle makes it somewhat obvious There was a chest that was there at one point. It was full of various things. Sometimes it carried children's toys. Sometimes it carried treasured memories in the past. But more recently, it was used for more nefarious purposes. A candelabra made from the left hand of a death row inmate that was then dipped in melted human baby fat was there. Chalices in the shape of a skull with rather elongated canines adorned with various blood red rubies were there; two of them even. Then the most interesting is what can only be described as a gruesome sight. There was a munching sound associated with it. While the Nephandi are often perverse, this one might take the cake. A dismembered member was there. It was rather large and engorged, almost a footlong. It was in a wheelchair of sorts to move around, and at times that munching could be heard. It would be fed stewed human hearts boiled in double cream. The ST will leave your imagination to reel at the horror of how a dismembered cock eats.
Just gauging the size of it on her touchpad screen, twisting it a bit, and the general familiarity with the Goetia class of extradimensional entity, Linnete simply assumes that the ur- no, no, that's not fair. The ST hands out the nasty parts. "Well." She's certainly not sharing that with the PPD. Instead she keeps her phone handy while slowly walking forward. Her long legs swing along in a looping sway that tries to avoid kicking any other officers in the path but mimics a long wheel-rut revolution in how she advances. From one point of interest to the next, and then towards the corpse hanging there. Getting a feel for it, as it were. Yet after some of the other physical investigations are done, there is something else left to do. A look to the side and back, and she dips her free hand inside of her jacket pocket. Out comes a small business card with the Eye of Providence in gold foil on the back. The front of it is currently blank, but as she taps furiously at her phone, that might just change once she slots the 'business card' into the top of it. Adelphi is taking a much more deliberate and physical mode in exploring the room. She is going to use the age old tradition of exploring the area carefully in person. The woman heads over to the mummified corpse that is laid out across the rack, an eyebrow arching as she studies her surroundings with care. She's in plain clothes, a nice dark suit that sets off her dark hair, and emphasizes the fact she's probably here for something official. That is compounded by the Crime Scene kit with which she begins to take samples. "I've seen something vaguely similar once," Adelphi will murmur, something which might draw the attention of those nearby sleepers, so she adds, "It was a book. No..." She gestures at the room. "Let's get some DNA and look up the identities of these corpses, first of all. And we can trace the symbols..." She's got on her gloves and is beginning on the latter, taking photos of the Nephandic symbols that have been laid out.
There's a mixture of resonances as the area is cleansed, or rather sterilized from all its Nephandic taint. There's definitely something alien, entropic, and something else that can't readily be identified. Whoever was in the room before, has left a purely alien resonance that's unidentifiable with the current methods that Lin is using. However, sorting things out, there's the clear high umbrood presence from the dismembered cockmonster. There's the taint of jhor from the skulls and the candelabra. Then something else entirely which can't necessarily be categorized right away. Meanwhile, as Adelphi does her psychometric investigation, she's -overwhelmed- with the spectrum of emotion that has been experienced in the ritual circle for the room. There's ecstatic pleasure. Then tremendous awe inspiring peace. Then utter and complete fear. Then a tired feeling, as if all the creativity and joy in the world was completely drained.
Right when her smartphone starts beeping warnings and threatening to overload as Linnete continues the processing program - swipe here, tap there, drag the overlaying control matrix on top, stretch the borders.. - she yanks the card out from the top of it. Which is now less creamy, less boardroom-pleasant, kind of charred looking at the edges. Pinching it by the corner and juggling her phone down to a handy notch on her belt to hold it, she unravels a sandwich baggie from an inner pocket to dump that piece of work into and seal up with a double-pinch fastening. "Yep. Not good." There's a sort of cheeriness there, a plumminess to her already naff accent, as the phone comes back up. "Kalivas? You?" Before she goes treading on Adelphi's toes, figuratively or literally, she just leans over her while she's still crouched and for once Lin gets the height advantage. "It's a.." Head tilts, her eyes stare at some of the more curious forensic techs from the edges of her glasses, "Special one." "...More than a little bit," Adelphi agrees in a murmur, shaking her head. She's gotten her photos and with a swipe across her phone the detective sergeant has put them up for display side by side so they can be compared. Her expression is darkening further. It should be noted that at work Dell always wears those blue tinted glasses that Linnete would know to be a HUD for Technocracy-related databases and other information. Like the one illustrating this scene for her now. "It was a ritual that was supposed to... Suck out energy? Creativity? ...Passion? Complete nonsense, but the clubbers get into that sort of thing sometime when they start devil worshipping." Lin gets a brief nod from Dell, who looks up to study the other woman's features. She speaks, as always, in muted tones - and others on the CSI team know better than to interfere, so likely goes unheard. But still, it remains vague just in case. "I wish I hadn't seen anything like this before. But as it is..." A brief pause follows. "Is this something you recognize too, then?" More like, something Linnete can shed some light on, rather. Eventually, Adelphi straightens and looks over to see the techs taking the samples she'd asked for. Standard Operating Procedure is a real thing when Kalivas is on the scene. "I wonder how many people ended up coming through here. ...And how many actually left this place alive." She offers up a tight-lipped frown. "Sort of. You go into any magical society far enough - Satanists, Kabbalists, Ver- ..Vera Cruz Transcendatal Meditation Gurus - you're going to find a big fat dick." The little baggy with the card is flapped back and forth briefly. And in this instance she's near to making a speech, as Linnete processes things for mass consumption with just enough leavening of 'beware the deviant' to keep fellow officers alert. "It's always about power. A Satanic Panic is ridiculous, but that doesn't mean someone out there won't believe themselves the King of the Fairies or Surgat, Opener of Ways, and then go tearing guts out. Or in this case.." A gesture towards the corpse and that about says it all. Except for what, sotto voce, she leans in towards Adelphi for in conference. "Primarily, I think someone dipped into the outer dark too deeply. Caught something a bit too juicy. This is the sort of ritual that just gets out of hand more than anything." Again, a little flap of the baggy and the charring, potent with evil card in it displayed for Adelphi. Best not to touch it directly of course, even if Lin already has. "Their little altar is missing so wherever they are, they're looking to the next score. Or just feeding the demon they already have; juicy bits, of course, like hearts and livers and.." "We should collect more information on the party... Maybe we can look around some more and see if anyone is familiar with other parties like this one? Get an idea about similar events. We might be ble to make a connection..." Adelphi sighs and rises fully, running a hand across her face and then shaking her head as she turns to look over the whole room. "That means we need to talk to the party goers." Dell raises her voice slightly. "Has anyone conducted interviews yet? I want to get some information on the circumstances of the... Party that was going on here." Then she glances at the resonance inscription Linnete's made. "And then we'll go digging around." With that, Dell is off to ask around.
It seems the party was hosted by Sigma Chi. It was part of their Beltaine slash Walpurgisnacht theme. It's not exactly an easy theme that your average frat bros would know, but considering their president is an anthropology and philosophy double major, it makes a little sense how such an esoteric theme can come to pass. The list of those that were given MIPs and MICs is given by one of the patrol officers who was called to the party. "We weren't able to give out many tickets. One public intoxication. most of those that we did catch were barely underage or legal so..." And there's a shrug. "No one has seen Mister Nelson though since the party. He had his arm around a young freshman girl the entire night though."
"Alright. You get a start on that? We've still got some business down here." Grinning, which is one of the few positive expressions that Linnete can wear without looking kind of crazy, she spreads her arms and flaps her fingers together, the polyurethane gloves snapping a bit as she claps her fingertips to her palms. "Come to me, my children.." Obviously there's some need for forsensics investigators still, as she goes to join - and then lead - them in one of those boring but vital grid searches of the environment. "By the way, keep an eye peeled for any spare Hands of Glory." A nod towards Adelphi and then Linnete splits from her boon companion/sparring partner for some in-depth scrubbing of the scene.
Alas, there's no spare Hands of Glory. That would've been a find for whoever stayed here before. Do you know how hard it is to find left handed deathrow inmates these days? And of course, all the human baby fat. It's a bitch of a process to make. Still, the various scans do show footsteps. There's been a bit of a toussle, as there were bits of wood and stucco from the wall being broken through. There's two distinct pairs of footprints that walked through the area before merging with at least three dozen other footprints in the kitchen and living room area. It would be for a loss, if someone didn't have to put the chest down for a few moments. There's another rectangle based indent near the back entrance before those same two pairs of footprints head out and through the back.
"Well, that... is something." Dell is pointing at the indent in question, her blue eyes narrowed slightly as she studies the impressions made by a hasty exit. She'll look back over her shoulder for Linnete, lips vaguely pursed as she considers the room at large before going back to the footprints. "Well. I think we've found... Most of what we needed, at least. Take a look at this. Must have been really heavy, right? Given what it did to the floor." She gestures, then lifts up her phone to take more photos.
"So where could they be going..." Absent a deerstalker and magnifying glass, Linnete mostly just double-checks her smartphone once in awhile. With the CSI techs there to lend a hand, isolating some of the obvious things becomes simpler, easier, faster with Enlightened procedural work. Once she's seperated out the typical dust pattern and disturbance indexes it's a little.. simple, at first. The basement is kind of a slow pitch served up soft and gentle, though once she's up the steps again it gets more difficult. More difficult, rather than impossible, as Lin slowly catalogues individual prints and cross-checks them against the patterns recorded below. Mix that with the point of entry and the expected route of egress and.. paydirt. "Out here." Simple and to the point as she mostly relies on the Enlightened part of this more than sifting dust around now. Biting against her lower lip, she taps a foottip against the edge of the back door, "Out through here. Best guess? This was a nasty little surprise waiting in the wings that someone knew to look for." When the lead comes up short, Linnete has some concern when looking at Del. When it becomes a matter of superstitionalist information interference techniques.. kind of personal! How dare anyone not let the NWO spy on them? Who do they think they are?! Frankly it's even worse when, just removed from the campus, there're a few vans together to work this puzzle out. Her examination of the card and the geometric data that /should/ be associated with it just keeps coming up with garble that is recognizeably hebrew - God forbid that Linnete doesn't at least /recognize/ hebrew - but remains incomprehensible. And the brute force method of trying to recalibrate the entire sateillite system is tampering with vital forces, something likely to involve catastrophic inevitability when pushed too far. When one of her black shirts chirps at her that there's some static on radio control at LAX, well, she backs away. With a hollowed look to the pits of her eyes. "I am going to cave their FUCKING SKULLS IN!" Okay, Lin, breathe deep. A milkshake thawed out and some wet towels help. After that, well, it's the rough stuff. The legwork stuff. The go out and beat the pavement and knock on doors kind of stuff. Like no one /ever/ expects.
This is what happens. Sometimes magick can't answer everything, and sometimes you have to put in the legwork. This is one of those times. Still, there's the helpful procedure to make people have a sharper memory and give a bit more info than they would otherwise. Lin and Dell seem like such nice people afterall. The neighbors did see a LOT of kids running out from the house. As you ask people about someone carrying a box, they describe a lanky young man, and a brunette helping what lookedlike their drunk friend slip out from he backyard, hop over some fences with a large chest. They definitely looked freaked out and were muttering amongst themselves the entire time. About a block away, they got into a nondescript blue Toyota Sienna and drove off.
Adelphi checks the safety on her X6 Sentinel and adjusts the sight briefly, staring down at the gun through the blue lenses on her Heads Up Display glasses. She frowns briefly then nods once and lifts the gun, hefting it as if to check the weight. Then she nods once and opens the door to her sedan. "Let's go. We can run the plates from the cameras while we're on the road. So all that's really left is to... How'd you put it?" She glances over at Linnete and offers her a brief, tight smile. "Cave in some skulls."
