2020-07-03: Psych

Psych
Some Mages use careful tricks to solve a murder mystery, of sorts.
IC Date	July 3, 2020
IC Time	4 PM
Players	Arumi as ST, Bobbi, Nikodemus, Merek
Location	A park near the beach
Prp/Tp	N/A
Spheres	Traditions
Theme Song	Columbo Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khO0m-sROjw

A beautiful park, near the beach, on a day off in a late afternoon. Could be wonderful in every way. Except, there seems to be a commotion going on. Some cops showed up, taping off a corner of the park and taking pictures and video. Then a run down old car came out, with a man in a rumpled trenchcoat, and he appeared to take charge of what appears to be some kind of investigation.

And one of the first thing he does is turn around and call out to passers by "Excuse me did anyone see what happened to the man here? Anyone at all. I'm with the police and we're investigating an attack on Mr. Miguel Rodriguez. He runs a food cart here at the park. Did anyone see anything?"

Nikodemus's probably been ogling someone or other, as alert to his surroundings as always as he blinks and looks over at the sound of a question. "Do what?" he asks, then shakes his head in denial. "I didn't see anything."

Bobbi comes jogging through the park in a tank top, knee-high socks, and little shorts -- all black, all adidas -- earbuds in her ears. Coming to the location where the cops are, she pulls out an earbud. When one asks for help, Bobbi is at first hesitant to speak up, but this seems more like a medical thing. "I think he might have had a heart attack?" Bobbi says to the officer, "He was countin gmoney, and then sort of grabbed at his stomach and fell over, right -- " she ponts to where the police are, " -- there.""

The cop gestures to Nikodemus and to Bobbi. "You two, please, if you could follow me a moment? I'm Lieutenant Cremona, homicide." He flashes his badge, and walks over to the deceased. Who's wearing a wide brimmed cap, a blue t-shirt for UC Prospect sports, and gray work pants. "No ma'am, I don't think it was a heart attack. I think it was meant to look like a heart attack. Too young. His ID says he's 29. And also, do you see here?" He then gets down on his knees, tugs at the back of the shirt of the deceased, pulling the collar down. "Right here, at the back of the neck, there's a mark. Something stabbed him, right here. An autopsy will confirm it, but I believe he may have been poisoned."

Nikodemus grins towards Bobbi and bobs his head in a nod, but she seems to be much more on the ball when it comes to knowing what's going on around than he does so he defers to her expertise there. As the body is being shown to them, he looks down curiously and then out around the park itself. "Well, why would somebody kill Mr. Hotdog dude? People don't get poinsoned for no reason right?"

"Bobbi, with an 'i'," Bobbi notes to the officer. Deciding now is not the time to make a big deal over the word 'ma'am' she kneels down with the cop and gets in close to take a look, as if she were more his partner than just some random passerby. "You can have heart attacks when young," Bobbi notes the the cop, "but poisoned was my second guess, because heart in the stomach is generally only a metaphor or a really rare birth defect -- and usually you don't make it to 29 with one of those." Bobbi hmmms, "The neck, huh?" Bobbi thinks better of herself than Caressa's MO. Then looking up to Nikodemus, she notes, "Well, he was counting out a bunch of money when he fell over. Though usually that would just be a snatch-and-grab, not a murder." Looking to Cremona, she asks, "What's your 10-19 on the situation?"

Nikodemus stands around like the helpful passerby he is, gawking at the corpse the detective is going over with Bobbi. "Did the money get taken? I didn't hear anyone say anything about that... ?" he tips his head to one side. "Is it a stabbing or could it be a sting? I heard those giant murder hornets are up in Washington, maybe they got down here...?" he asks since the others are close enough to get a much better look than he can.

Lieutenant Cremona, a rumpled detective, is kneeling beside a dead man on his stomach, beside his taco cart. He pulls out an old school pad and paper. "Bobbi. Last name?" Then looking to Nikodemus. "And your name sir? Sorry, I just need this for my report. Mr. Rodriguez was well liked. I've bought street tacos from him myself, and if I may say so, they were delicious. Nearly as good as my wife's. You know how when you use the right cheese, and it's melted just right, it just oozes a little, and it's so soft and.. mm."

"Anyway, As for who I've been in contact with, so far just you two. Nobody else saw anything. Even though he had enough cash to have been selling tacos all day, nobody even saw him. Very peculiar. "It could have been an insect sir, that's very true. Insect." He writes that down.

"Evidence gets cold fast. I wish I had a way of knowing now."

"Marcos," Bobbi says after some hesitation debating on which fake name to make up for the detective. Then hearing the office mention evidence going cold, Bobbi notes, "... cold like a taco ... " she darts over to the cart to check the temperature of the system, somehow having decided that this is now her responsiility.

Merek arrives with his white and black attire on, in addition the longcoat, wearing his felt hat as well while he begins to listen to people, content to observe at the moment, nodding a bit.

Nikodemus looks back to the detective and furrows his brows a little as he looks back down. "Nikodemus Holstrom." he offers as to his name, "Evidence does get cold fast." he says with a nod as he waves to the departing Bobbi. Then he's looking back down at the body. "Maybe he just got to the park from somewhere else? Does his phone have one of those GPS apps?" he asks helpfully, one hand scratching the back of his other under the cloth that wraps that arm.

Nikodemus loses one Willpower

Nikodemus rolls Arete vs 4 for 0 successes.

Nikodemus's fingers idly scratch under the cloth on his other hand, and a softly whispered something passes his lips. Looking down at the body.

Lieutenant Cremona writes some things down. He then looks to Merek. "Sir, sir? Excuse me, I'm Lieutenant Cremona, Homicide. I'm investigating the death of this nice man here, Mr. Rodriguez here was friendly and ran a nice, clean taco cart. Did you see anything, and what's your name, sir?"

Bobbi checks the cart, finds that the propane heaters are all working, and goes off jogging again. As she does so, she says something in Enochian, and both Merek and Nikodemus can see what she saw, that the man was counting cash when he gasped, and slumped over dead.

"Might want to give him a good look." Nikodemus says with a furrowed brow, "He might not be dead yet... is the ambulance coming?" he asks curiously. See? He can be helpfull when it comes to the poor, dear departed taco man.

Merek rolls Perception + Medicine vs 6 for 4 successes.

Merek walks up to the whole body, and leans forward a bit, to take a look at it wile the two speak, "Merek, and... Interesting, well I don't know him, though... I'm not sure, let me think for a little bit," he offers, nodding a bit.

Lieutenant Cremona allows Merek to investigate the body. "Merek. Last name?" he starts, taking more notes. "No sir," he then continues to Nikodemus. "The man from the morgue is here once we're done. He has no pulse, and he's not breathing. We have concluded he is dead, sir."

"Black," Merek mentions, Arcane will take care of anything else eventually. He then nods a bit, "There's a prick to the back of the neck, he looks like he was killed recently, looks like whoever even did it might be close," he says.

Nikodemus hmmms. Tipping his head to one side as if he's considering something. A glance to the officer and the notepad that's taken down his name. "Yeah, somebody saw him fall down a few minutes ago. While counting money. That I think was still with him? So I guess he wasn't robbed." He looks around the surroundings curiously, but without a serious effort to go poke around personally. He knows he's about as useful as handlebars on a urinal when it comes to noticing most things.

The detective nods to Merek. "Merek Black. Yes sir, that's my working theory. But nobody saw anything regarding who might have killed him. Or how it was done. Something was injected into him, stopped the heart and the lungs. Not a robbery. But cold blooded murder. And I'm afraid I'm going to miss evidence, because this sure is a stumper. Any ideas, gentlemen?"

He then gets up, goes into his pocket, and pulls out a pack of gum. "Nicotine. Smoked cigars 20 years, but I'm giving them up. Held on as long as I could though."

Merek looks to the body in thought, then he takes a moment to scratch his cheek a little bit, his eyes looking then to the detective, "I know what that's like. Anyway, well," he takes a look about the place for anything of any interest that might the clue.

Nikodemus lifts a hand and brushes hair back behind his ear with a chuckle, "I never got started on tobacco at least. Too expensive." he shakes his head and does offer in a helpful aside to Merek, voice pitched so the cop probably won't hear... but who knows. "I don't think dude's all the way dead."

The lieutenant chews on his gum, and thinks intently. Tapping his chin with his finger, humming, pacing. "How could he still be alive with no pulse and no breathing?"

Merek rolls Arete vs 4 for 2 successes.

Merek nods a bit, while he offers up a quiet little supplication, then he begins to lean forward while he looks at the man a little bit clearly, a hand maneuvering to scratch along his cheek again in thought as well.

Nikodemus wanders around the side as Merek is doing his supplication. "Don't they have like blowfish poison and stuff that paralyzes you and makes you a zombie with no pulse or something?" he asks of the lieutenant, to draw his attention away from Merek's investigations.

The lieutenant is clearly disturbed by the lack of clarity. The men from the morgue come up and he waves them off. "No no not yet. I don't want the man moved until I'm positive we have everything we need from this crime scene." Then looking to Nikodemus. "So it's your belief that he's poisoned, but not quite dead? That would be remarkable."

"It's those damned murder hornets." Nikodemus says as he steps in a little closer to the lieutenant, glancing around suspiciously. "That's why nobody saw it happen. It was just a flying thing over there..." he waves a hand vaguely. Who knows, maybe his vague sense of the flow of life at the moment will let him spot one of the nasty buggers. "I hear they came from... China."

Merek looks to Nikodemus perplexedly, and lifts up his brow, then he speaks to the man, "It is possible that advanced drugs were used, I have a chemistry degree, I've seen things like that before," he says.

The detective slaps his forehead with his palm. "Hornets and chemistry. Sergeant! Sergeant Dabney. Send the men around. Look for signs of a hornet's nest. And be careful. They could be murder hornets. And Mr. Black, begging your pardon, is there.. is there some test, or experiment I could perform, that could show he was poisoned?"

Nikodemus shrugs a little towards Merek and grins. "He sounds like more of an expert than me." he says agreeably. Then his eyes once more wander down to the body laying on the ground and his brows furrow.

"That would need to be managed by the medical team, I admit," Merek mentions, with a nod, looking to him. "Nothing that I think the department would be able to manage," he adds.

The detective walks past Nikodemus, but gives him a slap on the shoulder. "But you're trying to be a helpful witness, and that's good enough for me, Niko." And then up to Merek. "But sir, anything you can tell me will help, I'm sure of it."

Nikodemus rocks at the swat on his shoulder, but he grins at the officer and nods. "Sure thing officer." he says, always good to help the police. He nods to Merek, "Makes sense." He looks around, watching the other minions around scurrying in their investigations

Merek nods a bit, "I think while the medics will get to him, he should be ok, we should look for whoever did all this," then a nod to Nik and along with that detective.

The sergeant comes back with a report. "We didn't find any hornets. But we found some wasps." Cremona then nods. "Alright, call in animal control, have the wasps bagged up and taken the the boys in the lab to investigate. Take the victim, and get him to the hospital. Tell them to check for poisons and get him revived. I'll stay here and keep looking, Keep me informed."

"Yes sir."

"Murder wasps. Does that work? Hmm."

"Call it a possible allergy?" Niko offers helpfully to Cremona, before he wanders a little away and looks around curiously. Keeping to the paved paths. "If it's a person, who ran, they're long gone, right? If they dropped something the boys would have already found it.." but still, he looks even as he muses aloud.

Merek nods a little between the two, "That makes sense," he then sighs, while he thinks about it, "Well, it looks like a lot to look into," he says.

A little time passes as the man is put on a stretcher and carted off, and men in bee suits come to take care of the wasp's nest. "Careful, preserve the evidence!" The lieutenant calls to the animal control team. "And does anyone have a phone cable I could borrow? Phone charging cable? One of those USB deals? My wife, she always tells me to bring my battery, and today I have it. But I Forgot the cable!"

The sergeant has one for him, and Cremona uses it to start charging his phone. And at that, it makes a sound. "Yes, this is Lieutenant Cremona. Ah, yes. I see. Thank you."

"You two saved a life. He WAS still alive. The damnedest poison too. They can't tell what it is. Well, hopefully we'll get more from the wasps. Thank you very much. Merek, Niko. You saved a life, and you should be proud."

"Maybe I should stock up on bug spray..." Nikodemus says, both a little horrified and amused that it seems the police are going along with his theory. "Don't count out the drugs idea either though." he flashes a grin towards Cremona, "Glad he's alive though. Hopefully they get him fixed up and he can be back to the taco biz soon." Although his expression is still a bit off, this is a weird situation to run into.

Merek nods a bit while he smiles to that nice detective, "Appreciate it, you be well," he says, then a wave to him and to Nik.