[Vampire the Requiem 2E] Ashes, Ashes, That's All There is to Eat

[Guenhwyvar]

You all are out hunting on the Rack, when you notice the remains of a fire.


The air at the corner feels heavy and thick, as if particles of soot hang in
the air, brushing past you as you move through the evening crowd. The
apartment itself seems a gaping black eye in the brick façade, utter blank
darkness ringed by a flat scar of singed walls that crawls up the corner of the
building. A scent hangs on the air, familiar yet far away. It almost smells like
blood. You see a brief arc of light, perhaps the beam of a flashlight, within
the burned-out apartment. That’s when you feel them, when you feel the
predatory push and pull of the Beast at the presence of your neighbors.

 

[AcridComet]

A man stands tall over you. He seems slightly out of place, in ratty jeans and toboggan, but a semi-decent jacket. He looks around you, wondering who all is there that matters. He walks off the street, toward the house.

 

[Naberius]

A tall shadow extracts itself from the teeming masses, moving towards the building with no real hurry. As it glides gracefully forward, the light reveals that the 'it' is a he. He wears a blue helmet and black leather armor making a stark contrast against the bright snow white of the long sleeve shirt underneath. A cloak as black as the void covers his body, hiding his movements and his frame. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, everything returns to the earth." He says as he passes by. Oddly, no one else responds or truly even seems to notice his existence as anything more than part of the background. Just a blank slate amongst a crowd.

 

[Crocodile]

Karl watched with boredom. He favored a dark suit with tie and shirt. He was fit and well kept, his hair styled fashionably. He wondered if this was worth his time or just stupid mortals rubber-necking at disaster.

 

[AcridComet]

 Alec proceeds to force the door open, being careful to not be seen.

 

[Naberius]

Darren follows quietly behind, finding himself curious as to the contents of the burned out shell before them, and slips silently inside. No one on the corner notices one less person in a crowd with something grim to catch their eyes.

 

[Crocodile]

Karl looks over the complex with a sigh as he elects to go poke around. He stepped I to the building hurriedly as if to check on someone inside. This really wasn't his field of expertise unless something supernatural was at work. The scene would tell him more.

 

[Guenhwyvar]

You all enter into the apartment complex, following the tug of your beasts.  You bypass the reception area and make your way towards the scene proper.  Climbing up the stairs, you feel your beasts strain at the presence of three others in the room barred by 'crime scene' tape.  They are rather quiet, but your keen ears pick up that they're whispering to each other.  Unfortunately, you can't make out what they're saying.

 

[Crocodile]

Karl steps up to the tape, sensing other Kindred and grins widely. His infuses himself with the majesty of his being and steps under the tape shamelessly.


"Good heavens. What wicked powers weave their will tonight?" Karl asked with a charming smile reinforced by good looks and an infectious personality.


OOC: Using Majesty 1 to keep focus on myself so the others could slip in and for a little social boost.

 

[Naberius]

Staying in the shadows, Darren creeps close enough to hear what's going on without drawing attention to himself and focuses on listening in.


4 Successes

 

[AcridComet]

I walk in, checking out who's inside. A whisper to Karl "Should I knock em out, or can you get them to leave?"

 

[Guenhwyvar]

Before Karl opens the door, Darren focuses on making out the whispers.  It's two women and a man, attempting to puzzle out the motive behind the fire.


As he enters the room, the trio turn to look at Karl. The one on the left, a somewhat heavy set black woman, asks "Can we help you?"  You know her from elysium. She's Lucretia, one of the sheriff's hounds.


As Alec whispers to Karl, the other woman, a tall, pale girl, glares menacingly at him before returning her attention to Karl.  Her eyes are red, blood drying on her cheeks from crying.  You think you've seen her at elysium, Tom, maybe?

 

[Naberius]

Darren will slowly, meaningfully step into the doorway, exuding an air of confidence and purpose. "Good evening, ladies and gentleman. Might I inquire as to what has occurred here?" He asks in a deep base of a voice.

 

[AcridComet]

Alec glares at the pale one. 


"The smell from here is weird. Thought we'd check it out."

 

[Crocodile]

"As my friend says, it was a bit odd and the feeling of it all," Karl noted as he steps into the room more and looks around with a thoughtful frown.


"My guess is someone died? I only ask as one rarely would shed blood if not in extreme grief." He gives an empathetic frown as he regards the woman with tears of blood. "That and the presence of one of the Sheriff's agents. Generally bad news when that happens."

 

[Guenhwyvar]

Lucretia nods.  "This was our coterie mate, Jonas', haven.  Some bastards lit it on fire this morning, I don't know fucking why.  The police came in and picked the place clean before nightfall.  They couldn't figure out what started the fires, and figured since there weren't any bodies, no one got hurt.  Stupid kine."  Throughout the speech, a scowl never left the already intimidating visage.


The final member of the trio, Sam, piped up, "They thought they found everything.  Tom, show 'em."  At that, Tom held up the charred remains of a stake.


Lucretia continued, "You all can feel free to poke around; see if you find something we didn't."

 

[AcridComet]

How does the room look? Aside from extra crispy.

 

[Guenhwyvar]

The room looks well lived in, aside from the layer of soot covering everything. A useless television sits on top of a ruined centerpiece, across from a singed sofa.  A neatly arranged dining room table sits in a corner; you figure it hasn't seen much use.  Directly in front of the windows is a large open area, looking to have gotten the worst of the fire.


Looking through the window, a realization hits you, this is on the border between the rack and the trio's territory. Or, more accurately, the window is. You all are on the far side, in their territory.  It never fully occurred to you, but your own territory is directly across from theirs.

 

[Naberius]

Darren will step to the side, towards the window. "Since you've given your permission, I do believe a summary investigation is in order. Perhaps we can knock loose any hidden truths there are to be had." He says in a dignified tone.


5 Successes (2 tens o.o)

 

[Crocodile]

Karl looks out across the street, still frowning as he realizes the proximity. He wasn't interested in turf battles or being linked to the murder of a Kindred and facing the Prince of the city. He turns to sweep the room with a trained skill of observation. A useful thing for a man who made it his personal hobby to study the occult. There had to be something worthwhile they may have missed. He even takes the stake to turn it over in his hands for anything odd about it or even the wood used.


Investigation (1 Success)

 

[Guenhwyvar]

Darren checks around, noticing a slight difference in a bit of ash compared to the rest of the room.  A roughly man sized streak of faintly greasy ash.  You imagine that this is where Jonas died. 


Karl takes the stake from Tom, her eyes are closed, looking almost like she's listening to some far off music.  As Karl turns the charred stake over, she asks him "What is there to fear from an invitation?"  He ponders this while looking at the stake.  It appears to be a fairly normal chunk of oak, sharpened on one end to combat kindred.  The tip looks slightly less burnt than the rest of it.  You figure that Jonas was staked and left out to die.  Sunlight?  It was next to a window.


(You can continue rolling wits & investigation to look for more clues)

 

[Naberius]

Darren furrows his brow, connecting bits and pieces together in his head. "Interesting...." He mumbles faintly under his breath, walking towards the opposite wall and scanning for anything of importance.


2 successes Investigation

 

[Guenhwyvar]

You search around the wall for around 10 minutes, finding a few tid bits, but largely nothing of use to your investigation.  You notice Jonas was a reader, he had quite the collection of books on a shelf next to the doorway to his bedroom.  You peek inside, wondering if you should go in.

 

[Naberius]

Darren turns to face the 3 others who were here originally and clears his throat, trying to get their attention.

 

[AcridComet]

"Would you kindly tell us if you mind?" Alec says while gesturing towards the door