COMPLETED: Something's rotten in Scotland...

[Conway]

Eying Val conspiratorially, Sinjin remarks,

"Wonder if there's any single malt lying around here..."

[Stephen]

After glancing at Tyros to make sure he isn't looking, Val smirks and shoots a wink at Sinjin.

"First round's on me," he replies quietly.

[John]

Max shoots the pair of them a disapproving but understanding look. Not appropriate, guys, the elf says with his eyes. But still. Who could come all this way and not get a good single malt?

[Elliott]

Sending a raised eyebrow Val's way, Tyros ignores the comment and instead says, "Maybe try checking around see if there are any surveillance recordings that might be of use. If the killer was a Mage, as seems likely, it would be very easy for him to overlook technological security. It's just not something we tend to pay a whole lot of mind."

[Stephen]

Val's face flushes slightly.

"You, uh.. you got it, 'mano. Just point me to the server room."

[GM Nick]

(( I'll split the groups into three here--Tyros & Max, Sinjin & Val, and Doc. ))

Through careful analysis of the puncture wound, Doc surmises that it's the result of a barbed instrument, though certainly not any kind of hypodermic needle. The slightly swollen kidney, blood coagulation and skin consistency are all evidence of poisoning, though the specific toxin still alludes him.

[GM Nick]

Dragesh leads Tyros and Max into Darius' private chambers. It's a small room, bereft of any technology. In fact, it's spartan. A four post bed with ragged cotton sheets lies in one corner, and a dresser and book case sit opposite. The bookcase is crammed full of old leather tomes, the spines of which look as if they'd disintegrate at all but the softest touch. There are a few personal effects on top the of the dresser.

[GM Nick]

Val and Sinjin follow Dragesh's directions through the cold stone halls of the Highland Brotherhood's Scottish castle. They locate their destination in a broad antechamber stuffed with large monitors, all vivid color representations of nearly every angle of the brotherhood. Sinjin looks up at the closest display to see the back of his head in high definition.

"You must be Tyros' friends," says an elf in civilian clothes. "Dragesh said to let you have full access to all video surveillance."

[John]

Max pauses for a moment as he surveys how little there is to survey in the room before setting about the work of looking for clues as to what happened to McLeod.

(( This could be either a perception or investigative procedures roll-- both of which are 9d6 rolls-- or you could be a real pal and combine the dice pools! ))

[GM Nick]

(( Knowledge skill dice pools never assist in actual action. ))

Perception Test (Max)

[Perception (4) + INT (5) = 4]
5 3 1 6 2 4 6 4 6

Max searches every inch of the small dormitory, taking extra care not to disturb any potential clues. Tyros' old master kept the room fastidiously clean. After nearly an hour of searching, the elf is about ready to throw in towel when he notices a tiny brown speck on the tiled floor. Using his index finger, he gingerly retrieves the object--which is no larger than the head of a pin. It seems to be organic material.

[Drew Buddy]

Adams gets on the comm,

< Max, see if there's anything small and barbed on the floor, or in his shoes. And for the love of Shiva, don't let it prick you! >

[John]

Max comms back in response,

<Nothing so far-- I'll check his shoes though- hey, hold on a moment.>

Max crouches as he sees the grain. "Hello you..." Max mutters to himself as he concentrates on not losing the small grain. Remaining cautious so as not to drop it, Max removes one of his medkits with the other hand and removes a wound dressing from its sterile cellophane packaging. Discarding the gauze back into the medkit, Max carefully places the mysterious material into the bag and folds its mouth over on itself several times before exposing it to the open flame of his lighter to hermetically seal the parcel. Looking back up to Tyros, Max rises and extends the transparent plastic envelope to him and asks, "Does this look familiar to either of you?"

Returning to the comm, Max says, <I've got what looks like a small grain or organic material here. I don't recognize it.> As he talks over the comm frequency Max scans the room for the master's shoes.

[GM Nick]

Dragesh watches Max with a small amount of amusement.

"If you're looking for his shoes, don't bother. I never saw Darius in anything other than his bare feet. He felt that they impeded the astral anchoring our bodies have with the earth."

A wry grin flickers at the corners of his mouth.

[John]

Max is perhaps channeling Tyros's own hostility-- or perhaps he just doesn't like this guy-- when he says,

"Is something about this fraggin' funny to you, pal?"

[GM Nick]

Dragesh shakes his head softly. "You would understand if you had met the master. He had a way of lightening the world."

[John]

Max remains of gruff demeanor as he says,

"We need to get Doc's eyes on this. If he doesn't recognize it, we'll have to check the yellow pages."

[Drew Buddy]

Adams collects his medical implements and packs them back into the doctor's bag.

< I've done all I can here. I'm heading in your direction to take a look at what you found. >

He sets off down the hallway, feeling frustrated that he was unable to definitively identify the cause of death.

[GM Nick]

Doc holds the tiny object up to the light, squinting in an effort to make out its details.

Biology Test (Doc)

[Biology (5) + LOG (7) + PuShed (1) = 5]
1 6 1 2 5 6 1 3 4 6 1 1 5

It's chitin. Though Doc is no zoologist, he can say with absolute certainty that the object did not come from a human being.

[Drew Buddy]

"Seems like this place has a bug problem," Adams says in a low voice, turning the sample over in the light.

"Dragesh, are there any venomous insects native to the area?"

This place is a fraggin' nexus of magical activity... I hate when bugs and magic are in the same place.

[Stephen]

Val performs a perfunctory nod in the direction of the elf who addressed him and peers around the room at the various monitors and racks of surveillance equipment.

"Name's Val. This is Sinjin. We'd like to take a look at any footage taken within the last few days of the corridors immediately outside Darius McLeod's chambers. Also any footage of any common areas which Darius frequented, such as the dining room, garden, observatory, etc. You're probably more familiar with his routine than us, so I'll need your input there. You got audio on any of this? I'd also like to see the footage access log for, say, the past 72 hours. Don't suppose it would be too much trouble to set me up with a subscription, eh chummer?"

Val pulls up a seat, straddling it backwards and resting his forearms on the seat's back in a pose he imagines properly conveys an appropriate degree of PI swagger. He forgets the act as the elf begins cuing video segments and playing them in fast time. Val keeps an eye out for Darius as well as Dragesh, frequently asking the elf to slow the footage down when they appear onscreen, making mental notes of the individuals they converse with. He keeps an eye out for any unknown parties acting suspiciously, hoping a single act of carelessness will raise a red flag in his mind. There's a lot of footage to cover, and Val is glad to have Sinjin with him to lend another pair of eyes.

[GM Nick]

"Darius's routine is--well, was--nothing short of monastic."

The elf slides his hand across the touch screen and a time lapse of the deceased exiting his quarters flashes across the displays.

"There's no camera in his dormitory, but this one watches the hallway. Every morning he leaves his room, eats a meal in the mess hall, spends all day in the library, returns for another meal and then heads back to his room."

[GM Nick]

Dragesh shakes his head at Doc.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. The castle has always been home to vermin and basic pests, but nothing venemous. Are you saying you think a bug killed Darius McLeod?"

[Conway]

Sinjin grunts softly as he watches the days flicker past through the surveillance footage, the days marked by the the departure and return of the old man to his dormitory each night.

"Show us the mess hall footage, starting three days before Darius' death. The man was poisoned after all. Perhaps there's a clue to the method, or something else that seems amiss, like the presence of a person not normally there at the same time as McLeod. What upset this man's predictable routine..."

[Drew Buddy]

Adams shrugs,

"I'm saying we have a man who was killed by some kind of toxin I've never seen before, and possibly administered through an irregular wound in his foot. I'm saying we have evidence of some unusual insect in that same man's room. I'm saying we don't have a whole hell of a lot more than that to go on."

Adams considers the sample in the bag,

"I agree that it would be unusual for a standard poison insect to be found in this part of the world. What about the spirit world?"

He hands the sample over to Tyros,

"Tyros, you've studied this topic. Can you think of any small, poisonous creepy crawlies with this kind of coloration?"

[GM Nick]

The elf's fingers skitter across the controls. He splays his fingers open and 10 different Darius McLeods eating at a table in the mess appear on 10 different monitors.

"This is footage--restricted to the time that Darius would eat his meals--for the past 5 days. Both morning and evening. Nobody looks out of place... all familiar faces."

[Elliott]

Tyros takes the chitin sample and examines it closely. (roll parazoology).

((If a spirit manifests, and gets an arm chopped off, say, when he spirit dematerializes back to the astral plane, does the arm go with it or stay as a mundane piece of organic material?))

"Interesting. What was Darius studying recently, Dragesh? Could his work have anything to do with his death?"

[Conway]

Sinjin rubs his chin in thought, frustrated at the lack of information to be gleaned from the trids.

"What about outdoor surveillance? Do you have cameras with a clear exterior view of the dormitory? Its possible someone could have entered or slipped something in through Darius' window."

[John]

(( Let's not forget about our own mage's favorite trick-- invisibility. ))

[Elliott]

Tyros makes a thurough inspection of Darius' room, including an astral investigation looking for any signatures left behind by spells or active magical foci, totems, etc. Tyros also begins to sift through Darius' personal belongings, looking for any clue as to what Darius himself might have known about his imminent demise.

[GM Nick]

Parazoology Test (Tyros)

[Parazoology (3) + LOG (4) = 4]
2 5 5 1 6 6 1

The texture... the hue...

Tyros recognizes the chitin as belonging to the very rare and very deadly awakened Palestine yellow scorpion.

[GM Nick]

"You remember Darius, Tyros. Whatever he was working on was beyond me. I do distinctly remember overhearing him mention blood magic, though. I suppose it's a place to start."

[John]

Max asks,

"Blood magic?"

[GM Nick]

The elf techie shakes his head and frowns.

"The outside footage is infrared and set to auto-activate, I don't have anything from that time frame."

He slides his hand and Darius McLeod shuffles backwards at a comically fast pace as the video pulls back.

Perception Test (Visual) (Sinjin)

[Perception (3) + Enh. Perception (2) + INT (3) + Vision Enhancement (3) = 5]
6 3 1 3 5 5 2 6 5 4 1

Perception Test (Visual) (Val)

[Perception (3) + INT (4) = 2]
4 6 2 1 5 4 2

Sinjin's eyes pick up the faintest and tiniest of aberrations flit through a single frame as the minutes roll back.

[GM Nick]

Dragesh nods and strokes his chin.

"Blood magic is an awakened tradition that has its roots in human sacrifice and voodoo. It's very dark, dangerous stuff. It's also illegal almost everywhere in the world. Followers are said to be able to tap into powers and harness spirits that other mages can only dream of. That is, if it doesn't drive you insane. Little is known about it in most circles, since even dabbling in it carries dire consequences."

[Drew Buddy]

Adams frowns,

"You said you overheard him mention it. Do you remember anything else he said? Anything to give us context?"

Fraggin' mages. Why can't they leave this sort of thing the hell alone?