In Service: A Science Fantasy Quest

"Protocol says to take control over the crime scene as the initial action, right?" At Damien's nod you continue. "So let's talk to the cops first, then grab Mr McCallister's preliminaries. After that we can grab the victims' statements and then examine the crime scene. If we spot an access port I'm going to see if STEVE can get in, if it's safe for him of course."

"I get to serve the Mistress!" STEVE squeals in joy, as much as an AI can squeal in joy.

"Good order, and good idea with the access ports." Damien says, opening the door and unbuckling himself as he gets out, you following close behind. "We should give Todd some extra time, to properly devise an analysis, but I think that he'll have enough time as it is. Allow me to lead the hand-off, but feel free to jump in if there's anything you think of."

You nod and with that, you approach the police officers, who regard you with cool gazes. "Afternoon, Agents." A black-haired, middle-aged, beerbelly of a man greets you with a raised arm—a mustache that reminds you of a caterpillar wiggles as he speaks. "I'm Officer George and these two," he gestures to the two officers next to him, they'd been chatting about something or another—you didn't catch the topic before you arrived, "Are Officers John and Paul."

Officer Paul looks rather plain and is of average height while Officer John is much taller and significantly more spindly, a big Adam's apple bobbing up and down his throat. The pair greet you in the same way as Officer George.

"Afternoon, Officers. I'm Senior Special Agent Rhodes and this is my partner, Special Agent Williams." Damien returns the greeting, standing coolly with his short hair buffeted by the wind. "What've you got for us today?"

Officer John scratches at his thin hair, pushing back his hat to do so. "Well, it's a doozy, that's for sure." His voice is rather scratchy, it reminds you vaguely of a chicken.

"Doozy? Who even says that anymore?" Officer Paul remarks, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Much like his appearance, his voice too is rather plain and unremarkable.

As the two bicker behind him, Officer George huffs and leans in towards you. "Looks to be a case of mistaken identity, kid in the house thought the two house sitters over there," he points towards the McKenzies huddling in the ambulance, "were a pair of burglars/kidnappers, either or. Why he thought that I'm not sure, guess it must be something in the water."

"Are there any more house sitters, or others, still inside the house? Any that could be being held hostage?"

"Hostages? Well, unless he's holdin' himself hostage I dunno. We haven't gotten any signs of live from inside, but we've been hesitant to enter on account o' the traps and the things." Officer George shrugs, brushing a crumb from his mustache before chuckling. "Not exactly trained for that sorta thing, yeah?" Understandable, it's not their jobs to risk their lives investigating something that's obviously Service jurisdiction.

And Mercer could very well be holding himself hostage, or something else might be holding him hostage, or having him hold himself hostage. There's any number of things out there that would be capable of doing that and you won't know until you actually come face to face with it, and sometimes not even then. It's the biggest issue with the job, you've come to learn, dealing with the complete unknown on a near daily basis.

The rest of the hand off goes much the same way. Though you do get warned to not touch anything sharp that comes from the house, apparently a careless officer lost his fingers just by brushing them against an edge.

Welp, next on your list is Todd, who you find poking one of the embedded buzzsaws with a stick. In the time you spent talking to the police he'd amassed quite the pile of stick shavings.

The consultant looks up as you approach, wiggling the stick in greeting. "I've neve seen anything like it." McCallister says, voice rushed and a grin on his face as he rises from his squat. "Well, that's a lie, I've seen super sharp things before but this is a," he smirks, "cut above the rest. I mean, look at this stuff!" He prods the blade of the saw with the stick, the wood shearing clean off with contemptuous ease.

You blink, that is… quite impressive. It's hard enough to hone even a single edge to that level of sharpness, let alone something with as many as a buzzsaw blade! And to get it to keep that sharpness, as it must have given the pile of stick chunks? It's nearly unheard of! The only examples you can think of are legendary weapons, like Chrysaor or Caladbolg.

(Passing Idea Roll DC 50,70,100: 12, failure)

You scowl, as an idea slips through your fingers. If only… If only… You shake your head clear of thoughts, refocusing in on Todd's words.

"Whoever made this is either a wizard or a super metallurgist." Mr McCallister says before frowning, his shoulders drooping slightly.

(Intuition Roll DC 35: 48+10=58, success)

"And they're probably a magic user." You reply, shoulders also drooping. "I don't see any infrastructure that'd allow something like this to be made, not without some serious miniaturization." You'd gotten your hopes up too, something as sharp as this keeping its edge would be a great step forwards for science… but it wasn't to be.

"Damn," he sighs, shaking himself back to full, "but no matter. We can still learn stuff from this."

(Damien's Perception Roll DC 70: 43+63=106, success, pretty standard for Damien
13+6=19, failure, not so standard lmao)

Damien's stepped back at this point and is currently staring at the house and the broken window, rolling an unlit cigarette between his thumbs and forefingers as he thinks. You absentmindedly note his head tilting to the side as his eyes narrow.

Pulling out your Infragoggles, you slide them on over your head, having to remove your glasses to put them on correctly. Turning it on, you start flicking through various different spectrums, on the hunt for the specific spectrum of magic that this magic user operates on.

"Well I'll be…" You mutter in disbelief as you pull the goggles off, blinking at the sudden change of lighting.

"What is it?" Todd leans in closer.

"Either it's on a magical spectrum I don't know about or this thing doesn't have any magic to it." You declare, hints of hope returning to you as you crack a grin. "Which means that this could very well be a piece of super science!"

Damien chooses to lean in then, his muttered words sending an icy chill down your spine. "We're being watched."

(Perception Roll DC 60: 71+10=81, success)

You blink, whirling around as a scampering, crashing sound can be heard coming from the broken window. From the corner of your eye you catch movement as something with a naked, hunched back disappears into the darkened halls of the house. It must have, somehow, heard Damien's words and decided to run. A smell that reminds you of excrement drifts across your nose.

The buzzsaw jostles next to you, cutting off your next thought as the blades begin to dislodge from the ground!

(Dodge Roll DC 40: 67+10=77, success)

You leap, tackling Todd to the side as the buzzsaws jerk up and away, flying back through the broken windows like a dog being called by its master!

The three of you sit there for several moments, bodies tense and ready for any sudden action. You atop Todd and Damien standing off to the side, hand at his waist as he settles into a slight crouch. Police and other onlookers stare at you, equally as uncertain and reminding you a deer about to bolt.

Fortunately, for you and your nerves, nothing comes from inside the house. With your heart beating in your chest, you climb to your feet and help the consultant up.

"What was that?" You ask as Damein straightens to his full towering height. That creature, it's short stature and protruding knobbly spine… "Was that Mercer?"

"I didn't get a very good look at it, but," he grimaces and sighs, squinting towards the broken shards of glass, "I'm fairly certain that that wasn't Mercer, or at least not him anymore. If it ever was him. I do have a few suspicions as to what it could be, but we can go over them once we're done here."

Damien stares up at the afternoon sky, seemingly aging a dozen years. "Regardless, the preliminary?"

Todd starts, having forgotten about that for a moment. "Ah, yeah, the analysis." The consultant scratches at his blonde hair. "Traps are, from what little I saw, primarily lethal leaning. At least that one was. You can tell a lot from a trapper just by looking at a single trap of theirs, though that doesn't consider the circumstances of the situation. But, regardless, keep your head on a swivel when we go in there, don't want to be carrying you out piece by piece."

With that done, it's time to talk to the McKenzies.

~~~~~~~

"Well, they're not going to be much help." Damien remarks as he emerges from the ambulance.

"What? Why not?" You ask, pushing off from where you'd been leaning against.

"The shock of the buzzsaws going off gave them panic attacks, EMTs elected to get them outta here and to their hospital's psych ward."

"Damn."

"So…" You mutter, hesitantly looking at the front door of the Mercer Household. "We're gonna have to go in, aren't we?"

"Just for a peek, if we see an access port you let STEVE at it, right?" He turns towards the mansion and heads towards it.

"Right." You huff and follow close behind him.

Carefully, the pair of you, plus Todd, approach the front door. It is entirely possible that Mercer trapped it in the time since it was last checked, so Todd volunteers to examine it, as he is the trap consultant.

(Investigation Roll DC 50: 40+15=55, success)

"It's good, no traps here." He says, standing up straight and placing a hand on the doorknob. Twisting, he opens the door with a flourish. "After you." He bows with a grin.

The inside of the manor looks, well, like a rich person's house. And that's just normal rich, not ultra-rich like your parents. Nice dark wood floors, lots of carpets, welcomingly warm, doors with artistic decorations. All in all, it's a nice place. Shame about the whole 'trap hell hole' thing, but it is what it is.

"See any ports?" Damien whispers to you as he creeps forward, a strange looking dagger in hand. A handle of pearl and a blade of ebony tapering to an acute point. It gives of a strange feeling, though a familiar one.

You toss your gaze across the room, searching for an access port. There! Next to the ticking grandfather clock! But, before you can approach it, you should have Todd take a look first, just in case.

(Investigation Roll DC 50: 17+15=32, failure)

"Doesn't look like anything's here, but be on your guard just in case."

You nod in thanks and pull out a flashdrive, a little thing you put together back when you were little that lets STEVE access closed circuit networks remotely. Essentially, it's a beacon but you didn't know those existed at the time.

(STEVE's Hack Roll DC 70: 23+20=48, failure)

"I have failed you!" STEVE cries out, abject dissolution is the only way to describe the emotion in his voice. "I am so very sorry! Please forgive me Mistress!"

"It's fine, STEVE. They had good anti-hacking measures, did they?"

"Yes! I wasn't expecting them to have actual defenses in a closed circuit, but apparently they do!" He trails off, grumbling to himself about 'paranoid home owners'.

With that, you exit the front door and stand out on the lawn once more.

"We've got some options here, with how we want to proceed." Damien says, closing the door behind him, the knife gone from his hand. "Your choice. We can head back to the archives to do some research on my suspicions. We can go back in and see if we can't find Mercer. Or we can try communicating with him. Or, if you've got any ideas of your own, we can do that. It's up to you."

[ ] Research at the Archives
[ ] Try to Find Mercer
[ ] Try and Communicate with Mercer
[ ] Write in

~~~~~~~

GM's Note: Apologies for lateness, but snow doesn't care. Voting will be called tomorrow at 5 PM CST, we're cutting it off a little earlier.

The other reason that this took a bit to get out is that I've been playing Imperator: Rome and having a heck of a time.

"Let's see what we can't find at the Archives." You eventually decide, following Damien to the car.

"Todd!" Damien calls to the consultant as he pops the car door open and reaches inside. Unlatching the shotgun from the roof, he hands it off to the approaching McCallister. "Keep an eye on the house, will you?"

Todd nods, accepting the pump-action and the box of shells pressed into his hand. "I'll be sure to keep my eyes peeled." He checks the slide, making sure it's clear.

Wait a second, that gives you an idea! "STEVE, can you keep trying to crack it while Damien and I are at the Archives?"

"Of course, Mistress! I will keep the miscreant company!" The low-level AI verbally grins. "By the time of your return, I will have the mockery they call e-defenses in shambles!"

Todd looks bemused by the AI, squinting at the air where his voice seems to come from. He shrugs and shakes his head.

You take this opportunity and climb in the car, Damien turning it on and off you go!

~~~~~~~

"I've had them ready for you since yesterday, the files are over there in that stack." Helen announces as you come through the door, finger extended towards a corner of the room. In said corner rests a decently sized pile of files and folders, all of which belong to the things you were just talking about on the way here.

"Thanks Helen." Damien offers her a slight wave as his long strides take him to the papers. He hands half of them to you and you settle in to get down to business.

(Research Roll DC 60: 76+10=86, success)
(Damien's Research Roll DC 55: 71+25=96, success)

"So, you find anything?" You ask as you note down an idea.

"I found four things that I reckon it could well be," Damien replies as he closes the folder he'd been looking through. "Why don't you tell me yours first."

You nod and pull a pair of files from your stack. "I found a couple, well, I only found the one but you know." You take a breath, centering yourself before launching into your creature. "It's called a 'Cho'g-Durill'," you frown, it's a bit hard to pronounce, which is a given that it wasn't designed for human mouths in the first place, "a creature from another dimension that's regarded by the locals as an omen of luck when working on a project, both good or bad luck."

He blinks, nodding along as he puts that down. "A good find. That is certainly one of the possibilities it could be." He laughs. "Heck, it was one of the ones I was thinking of on the way here, good job."

Damien pulls a trio of files from his pile, placing them in a row in front of you. He taps the first one. "This is a Gremlish, a denizen from somewhere in the Upper Realm."

"Az-Duralia!" Zerada-Kil helpfully chimes in from the back seat. "The Land of the Half-Sun Seal!"

"Right, Az-Duralia, one of the quote unquote 'cultivator' planes. Not a great place, but better than the Hellpits."

"That's not saying much!" Zerada cracks a grin as she giggles. "But some of those planes are somehow even worse and I have no idea how they managed that."

"Gremlish have an inclination towards assisting people in discovering their hidden potential, forcefully if needs be. There's always a price to their help, but for some it's worth it."

You grimace, if you'd known about them… back when you were little and hadn't yet figured out super science… well, suffice to say you'd have probably tried to call one of them to you. But no matter, things are much better now that you're out of that house and away from them.

"The second is a large, man sized creature called a Kobolkin. They're a larger, stronger, variation of the Kobold and as such they possess a cruel cunning and an aptitude for traps. They also, in addition to the former, have the ability to learn more complex forms of magic rather than the basic Sorcery that Kobolds know."

"Fuckers are weird, like, scarily smart at times." The Arming Devil in the comfy chair chimes in again.

"That they are," Damien adds as he taps the last folder in the row, "the thing and final thing I'm thinking about are the Gasikin, an alien race from the planet Gascar. They sometimes come here as refugees as their homeworld is currently undergoing a bloody revolution, sorta their Second French Revolution." You wince at that. The first wasn't great but man, the second blew the first outta the water with how many heads were rolling.

With that, you thank Helen and leave with the files in hand, heading back to the crime scene.

~~~~~~~

(STEVE's Hack Roll DC 35: 43+20=63, success)
(Did anything happen while you were gone? 38, nope)

"Mistress! I cracked the code!" STEVE yells out in joy as you arrive. Stepping out of the car you see Todd waving at you—the shotgun loosely held between his fingers.

"Didn't see anything weird going on in the mansion, you find what you were looking for?" Todd asks as you approach him.

"We've narrowed it down to one of four possibilities." You say as STEVE pipes up in your ear.

"Mistress, I have the blueprints of the house! …But, well…" He seems rather sheepish, but manages to work his nerve up enough to say whatever it is. "It seems they kept their blueprints as physical records. I did get access to some of the security cameras, though!"

"Good job, STEVE." You smile at him and he squees again.

"Alright, what's our next step?" Damien asks as he begins listing them off. "We can go in and find him. We can stay out here and try communicating with him, or the being. Or we can try something else. Up to you."

[ ] Go inside
[ ] Stay outside and try communicating with him
[ ] Write in

~~~~~~~

GM's Note: I don't know why this one was so difficult to write, but here it is. Voting will be called tomorrow at 5 PM CST.

I'm still a little unsure on 5 PM being the cut off point, I'll try it again then go back to 6 if I'm still weirded out by it.

"We're going in and STEVE, do you think you can be our guide?" You announce to the pair of men standing by you.

"Of course, Mistress!" STEVE proclaims, already splitting his attention between the various cameras.

Todd sighs, overdramatically slumping over and letting his arms hang free. "This is gonna be painful, I just know it."

Damien rolls his eyes and hefts Todd back to his full height. "Standing out here's not gonna accomplish anything, we'll have to go in whether we want to or not so there's no point delaying it." The Senior Agent turns to the closest police officer, Officer George, and calls to him. "We're going in!"

Officer George looks up from where he'd been sitting on the hood of his car. The rotund man brushes some crumbs from his mustache and gives you a sharp wave.

"Before we go in, gotta check to make sure the front door isn't trapped." Todd speaks as he strides ahead of the group and to the closed door frame.

(Todd's Investigation Roll DC 50: 74+15=89, success)

"Stay back!" The blond orders you as he frowns, crouching before the doorknob. "Looks like we've got a stunner here. It'll give you one heck of a shock should you touch it. However," the consultant announces as he retrieves a multimeter-like device from his open sports jacket, "I came prepared!"

Todd attaches the device to the brass doorknob and pushes a button on the side, stepping back as the boxy machine starts vibrating. Sparks off and away from the doorknob, showering the front step as the piece of super science does its job. And then, all of a sudden, it stops. Daintily, Todd detaches the clamps and shoves it back in his jacket pocket. Slipping on a rubber glove, he opens the door.

McCallister shoots a grin to you and Damien as you stand next to him. "And that's why you never go with the lowest bidder, you get garbage products like that." He flicks a gloved finger at the cylindrical device that lies scorched, smoking on the floor of the carpeted foyer.

"Good work, Todd." Damien remarks as he steps into the foyer and looks up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Wisely, he stays away from the center of the room. "But don't let your pride become overconfidence, it's a slow and insidious killer."

You frown as you follow your mentor in. "That sounds familiar." Damien purses his lips, looking shifty as you carry on. "Isn't that from… I dunno. I've heard that somewhere for sure, though."

He coughs and mumbles something under his breath—something about 'darkest dungeons', whatever that means. "A-anyways, we should carry on."

"Right. Where to?" You ask as Todd comes up behind you, he too glances up at the hanging chandelier swaying slightly above the middle of the room.

"It's not just me that thinks that that's totally going to fall, right?" The baby-faced man questions the rest of the group, pointing a finger at the object in question.

"You're not, it definitely is." Damien replies, jerking a thumb at the door behind him as he answers your question. "We should check that area we saw that thing, see if it left anything behind.

"Waste of a good chandelier." Todd mutters while shaking his head. "Those things aren't cheap, you know." He squats by the door Damien gestured at, fingers dancing as he checks it for traps as well.

(Todd's Investigation Roll DC 50: 48+15=63, success)

He sighs, leaning his head against the wooden door. "And there's another one here, I'll disarm it."

While he does that, an idea comes to you in a flash. You blink, staring up at the camera angled down towards you. "Hey, STEVE, you think you can find the kid using those?"

"I don't know, Mistress, but I'll certainly give it a shot!"

(STEVE's Investigation Roll DC 40,60,80: 49, success)

"I'm so sorry, Mistress, but I can't find him on the cameras! The second floor cameras are all out of action, as well as the attic cameras, and I can't find him on the first floor!" He responds after a few seconds of silence.

"Don't worry about it, STEVE. You still found some valuable information regardless." You stare up the stairs leading to the second floor. "Because if he's not on the first floor's cameras, he's somewhere in the second or the attic."

"Good conclusion." Damien remarks as Todd rises from the door. "Though he could have a hiding spot on this floor."

(Perception Roll DC 50: 57+10=67, success)
(Damien's Perception Roll DC 50: Autopass)

"Alrighty, it's disarmed." Todd announces and opens the door, leading you both down the hall. This hallway has a long window on the left wall, the thick curtains drawn shut and blocking most of the light from reaching the room. In a cutaway of the right way is another flight of stairs, this one much narrower and doubling back on itself once it reaches about eight steps. On the other end of the hallway is a doorway that leads, presumably, to the study with the broken windows.

"Well," your mentor says about halfway down the hall, squatting over the hallway's carpet, "somebody had some butterfingers."

"What?" You reply as you look over his shoulder. Is he talking about the cand- No, wait he's talking about fingers. Like, actual fingers from somebody's hand. Well, the first knuckle of somebody's forefinger and the tip of their middle. "Why are those here? And who did they belong to?"

"Likely one of the McKenzies, the husband was reportedly missing parts of his hand according to the report." Damien replies as he takes a quick series of pictures with a small camera he had with him. Placing a little flag next to the fallen fingers, he rises to his feet.

"You done?" Todd asks but is halted in his tracks by Damien's raised hand.

(Perception Roll DC 60: 57+10=67, success)
(Damien's Perception Roll DC 60: Autopass)

You freeze, seeing it too. At the top of the stairs is that hunchbacked creature again, staring back at you like a deer caught in the headlights.

(???'s Resolve Roll DC 85: 17, failure)

It moves, letting out an ear splitting shriek as it flies up the stairs. You and Damien share a split second look before you too burst into action.

"Chase it, I'll cut it off!" Shouts Damien as you sprint up the stairs, hitting the landing and rounding the double-back. Damien darts back down the hallway, heading for the main stairwell as you freeze in your tracks.

At the top of the stairs is the creature, waving at you as it lets go of a heavy-looking bucket.

(Dodge Roll DC 40: 39+10=49, success)

You duck under the swinging bucket, taking the stairs two at a time as the thing screeches in shock. It throws itself to the side just before you reach the top, blitzing down the second story hallway.

Damien emerges from around the far corner, arm outstretched to try and grab the creature.

(Damien's Wrestle Roll: 17+80=97
???'s Dodge Roll: 73+15(Misty Step)=88
Damien Wins)

The thing leaps forward, blue-white particles flowing from its gray skin as it looks to turn into mist. And then Damien's hand impacts its neck, the thing gurgles as his fingers clamp down like a vise as he pivots on the spot. The pictures on the wall rattle from the force of the impact.

The gray-skinned, hunch-backed creature slides down the wall, it's eyes drifting aimlessly in its eye sockets.

"This is a Gremlish." Damien announces as you reach him. He reaches down and grabs one of the Gremlish's wrists. With Damien holding it up, you can get a good look at its rather odd hand. Two fingers and two thumbs on each hand, a thumb on each side of the palm. Folded close to its arm is a length of skin, slightly fuzzy to the touch. Wings, you realize, for gliding in the wind. It's feet look like bird talons, like an eagle's. "I suppose we'll find out how it got here soon enough."

"R-right." You say, staring at the vaguely rat-like snout on its face. If you recall correctly, they can speak English, which is rather interesting given that its face doesn't really look like it could. But so do parrots and look at what they can do.

"So," he says as Todd catches up to the both of you, "what should we do with it?"

[ ] Interrogate it for Max's location (finding the kid is the important part here, you can ask other questions later)
[ ] Interrogate it for how it got here (making sure that there's no way for more Gremlishes, or worse, to get here is also rather important)
[ ] Write in

~~~~~~~

GM's Note: Alrighty, section done and sent your way. Voting will be called tomorrow at 5 PM CST and thanks for reading!