The House of Heron

[Brian]

While Raven is off exploring the rest of the house, Liron cautiously goes up the stairs, keeping an eye open for anything that stands out as a clue.

[Carthrat]

As Liron heads upstairs, he can hear the sound of running water- reaching the top of a curved flight of wooden steps, he can see a second bathroom. A curtain is drawn across a bath, but lapping water is clearly present- overflowing from the bath and spilling into the room, kept from the rest of the house by flowing to a drain in the corner.

[Brian]

Tensing himself, Liron cautiously steps into the room and shuts the water off, looking for any obvious clues -- like someone hiding (or dead) behind the curtain.

[Carthrat]

Code Select Expand

As Liron draws back the curtain, he retches as he sees the mangled corpse lying in the tub. Rotting flesh floats through the liquid like wet bread, and the whole bathroom is stained and streaked with blood.

Blinking, you see nothing behind the curtain- just an overflowing bathtub. The taps have been removed, however- you'd need a wrench or the like to shut off the flow of water.

[Brian]

"Raven," Liron calls out, eyes fixed on the tubs as he considers.  "I may have found something."  He fingers the rosary hanging about his neck thoughtfully, but decides not to explore magically at the moment -- he already didn't like what he saw.  Best discuss this with a coleague.

[Corwin]

Raven frowns, but heads upstairs, following Liron's voice. "What's up?" he asks as he comes closer.

[Brian]

Once Raven is in sight, Liron wordlessly gestures to the bathtub.  "If you can," he says uneasily, look for what was, not what is.  I and I not be liking it."

[Corwin]

"The bathtub, you say?" Raven says, more to himself than anything, before nodding. He comes to stand facing it, and mindful of the water on the floor remains standing. His eyes close, his arms coming to his sides. They bend at the elbows, his hands stretching out forwards, palms up, as he exhales.

Raven attempts to find his center in this new setting, clearing his mind as he breathes in and out deeply.

A minute later, he opens his eyes, disappointment clear in them. "I just can't concentrate well in here," Raven laments, and directs his gaze at the bathtub. He tries to focus on the events that took place around it, which Liron considered important, looking for what was....

(Meditation/Wits; 3, 7, 4, 1, 3)
(Time 2: Divination, +1 willpower; 10, 2, 7)

[Carthrat]

Code Select Expand

Raven can see it all clearly, sees exactly how it happened.

Heron flies into the room, flung in by some massive force. The old man, wearing a remarkably typical shirt-and-tie style of dress drapes against the wall, beard choked with blood, several slashing wounds ripped through his body.

"Where is it?" comes a voice- calm, too clam, a broad tenor, suited to a boardroom. A blonde, heavyset man in a suit walks after, bloody katar tripping steaming fluid as he advances. "Last chance."

Heron doesn't reply. There is no defiant last stand, no cutting retort. A second cough and a brief shake of his head.. or is it? Slight magic, perceptable to you, flows from a clenched fist, filling the room.

The heavyset man sighs, upset more than anything. "So be it."

A short flurry of violence follows, a Pattern of Life becoming a Pattern of Mana in mere moments. The body is capriciously tossed into the bathtub, suited man shortly leaving the room.

The images blur and stutter. Something here- somehow, is warding away your magic, preventing you from viewing what takes place over an indeterminate time- but when your vision clears once more, the bathroom reappears, as it is now.

[Corwin]

"Fuck." Raven turns to glare at Liron. "He's dead, they killed him." He grimaces, punching a nearby wall in frustration. "I could've gone without seeing that scene."

He gathers his faculties, trying to wrap his mind around the things he had seen. "No, they were separate," Raven mutters to himself. "They trashed the place, but that came after...."

[Brian]

"Is not a good thing," Liron says warily.  "We look together, maybe, see what else they look for?  Heron's a very smart fellow...."  He trails off briefly, looking at the tub again.  He rubs his hand anxiously and glances around the room, ignoring the overflowing water for the moment.  "You think maybe he hid something we might find, if they missed it?"

[Corwin]

Raven drops his hand into the pocket of his jeans, fishing there for a moment before taking out the ankh he found and tossing it over to Liron. "Found this. Couldn't make heads or tails of it. The second group-- they all had it. One dropped it." He snorts. "They were angry, very angry. Turned the place upside down."

Raven's eyes narrow. "I saw the guy who killed Heron. Happened here, just over a week ago. Maybe a day before the other guys came. Some blond, fat guy in a suit and with a dagger. Definitely wasn't normal."

[Carthrat]

The bathroom doesn't contain much; a shower, a bath, a sink and a mirror, along with a cupboard filled with stuff like razors, shaving cream, deoderant; the usual morning necessities.

There's a small, closed window on the right-side wall of the room, the sun shining in through it.

[Brian]

Liron drags the back of one wrist across his forehead and shakes his head slowly, a mop of dreads swaying loosely.  "The more I and I see, the less I and I like," he says sadly.  "I and I should finish this quickly, and then see if Master Heron has left I and I any clues, or other allies."

He glances significantly at Raven, then leads the way out of the bathroom, ready to search the other rooms, though in the back of his mind he still mulls over the ankh.  That can be considered later.

[Corwin]

Raven follows Liron out the bathroom, ready to resume the search for anything left behind, either by the intruders or by Heron himself.

(investigation/perception; 5, 9)