[nWoD] The Sleepwalkers IC

[Wargor]

Harry

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Harry takes in the room with a practised eye, before striding round to make a more thorough investigation of it, looking for any small clues.

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Wits + Investigation
(7d6)[4][4][6][3][5][3][6](31)

[-Sentinel-]

Harry, Josh and Alex

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Harry, just as tired as Josh, fared little than the rookie. He knew he could push himself pretty far if he wanted to, but he had his limits. He could no longer work sixty-hour weeks with the same ease as before.

Gary

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Brancati frowned. He did not look angry, but there was sudden interest in his black eyes. He drew closer and shut the door to the backroom, taking one bodyguard inside and leaving one outside.

"Calm down, boy. A man with a scar on his face, you say? Can you describe him better?"

[Wargor]

Harry

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Rubbing his tired eyes, Harry sighs. "I've got nothin." Hearing Alex's voice he glances over, and see's the young man holding the container of power. "What's that son? Any idea what it might be?"

[Samfool]

Gary

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Taking a deep breath, Gary tried to recall the features of the man's face..

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Rolling Memory Roll (Int+Comp+1 [Happened less than an hour ago])
(6d10)[10][7][2][7][1][7](34)
OCC:

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THREE sevens? Really? mehhh Rolling the 10 on the OCC Thread.

[Trodon]

Angus

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Well, now is as good as any time to call. Angus pulls out his phone and calls the body guard.

[-Sentinel-]

Gary

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Gary gave the mob boss a quick but precise description of the scarred man. Brancati listened intently, obviously taking mental notes, then turned to the bodyguard who had entered the back room with him:

"Antonio. Go ask the doorman, he remembers faces."

Without a word, the bodyguard turned and left the room. Brancati once more turned to Gary, his gaze lingering on him for an uncomfortable moment.

"That was... rather clumsy of you, young man," he said, his voice mild. "If you hadn't stopped that kid in the first place, you'd be in real trouble. As it is, I'm only a tad irritated. And getting rid of your body would be more trouble than it's worth." His black eyes bore a hole into Gary's face. "What's your name, white hair?"


OOC: A test was not really necessary, by the way.

Angus

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Vittorio answered at the first ring. He sounded understandably nervous and spoke very quickly:

"Ah, yes... the murder? Never had a chance to stop it, it just happened too fast. One moment that guy was leaning against the wall, the next he had his gun in hand and was putting three bullets through Mr Foster. I've been in a lot of situations like this, and usually I can tell when someone's about to kill... I see murder in their eyes, just seconds before they act. Not then. He was just looking bored, even half-asleep, and suddenly he was shooting. Shooting like a pro, too. The cops say he's an ex-Marine."

"Now listen." His voice was troubled. "When I shot him, I was running on instinct, not stopping to think. But I still noticed something weird. Just after killing Mr Foster, he was holding his gun like he was about to shoot himself next. I never gave him five seconds, though... like I said, I just followed my training and shot him in the head. He's still technically alive."

[Samfool]

Gary

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OCC:

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Better safe than sorry

"Vaughn, Gary Vaughn" Gary whispered, a hard look on his face. He was afraid of the mobster's power, yes, but he was sure he was not going to die today.

[-Sentinel-]

Gary

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"Okay, Mr Vaughn, listen. The scarred man came here to either rescue that Kyle fellow... or silence him permanently. Either way, it just proves that it's not an isolated incident. Kyle was part of some kind of group."

At this moment, Antonio came back and whispered something in Italian in his boss' ear. Brancati nodded, then gestured at his bodyguard in dismissal.

"Antonio informs me that no such man came through the front door," Brancati said as soon as they were alone again. "Meaning he came through a back door. All back doors are locked, so he must have been let in... or he had a key. One of my men was working with him, possibly against me."

He paced around the room. "Last night one of my warehouses was burned down... the one where we kept half a million dollars worth of cocaine. No outsider could have known about it. And tonight, my lawyer was shot dead in the street. Not a coincidence. I know I can't trust any of my own men anymore, so I must rely on other people, even naive and clueless cretins like you. Tell me, Mr Vaughn, what are you good at?"

OOC: Are the others waiting for me? Usually, after 2-3 days of inactivity, I think it's time to move the plot along.

[Exthalion]

Alex at Apartment

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"I am sorry, but I am not a chemist. Have you encountered anything like it in your own work?"

[Supercrazy DM]

Josh

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Josh wearily goes over he had been up for 16 hours and hadn't had his standard 3 cups of coffee for the day. Wearily he says I''m not sure, but the guys at the station might know. What about you Harry?"

OOC: Sorry for inactivity I had all country which sucked up my life.

[Wargor]

Harry

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"I'm not sure, we should probably get someone down at the lab to analyse it, it might be important." He wearily rubs his face, before glancing round the room. "I say we give the place one more once over then move on, it never pays to be too careful." He does one more search of the apartment, just to make sure.

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Is this alright? If not just ignore it.

(7d6)[2][5][1][5][6][6][3](28)

Rolled d'6, I'll re-roll in OOC.

[-Sentinel-]

Harry, Josh and Alex

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Harry's second search yielded little of any interest, except some signs suggesting that Charles Henderson was a rather lonely and slightly immature sort of person, someone not well-adapted to society. Rather, it was the absence of clues that puzzled the detective. It was as if this guy had decided one night to grab his gun, leave his apartment and murder a lawyer.

[Wargor]

Harry

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"It just all seems so...random. No sign of any clues, nothing to point towards mob connections, it seems like he just went out and shot him on a whim. This kind of thing just doesn't happen."

[Samfool]

Gary

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Gary was baffled. Was he really about to offer him a job? He just let the guy who tried to shoot up the club walk out the door. This was too good to be true, and 'Mr.Vaughn' was not about to walk blindly into a deal with this man.
"I can break a man's legs, disarm him, incapacitate him, kill him in two to three punches, and if all else fails, I have my pistol on my side."
Gary showed the pistol in the shoulder holster. And his face was hard as stone, trying not to show any emotion.
"If you want a man dead, I am your guy."

[Trodon]

Angus

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"Technically alive, what do you mean?" This doesn't make any sense, he was going to shoot himself?]

[-Sentinel-]

Gary

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"So you're saying you're a thug?" replied Brancati. "I have no shortage of these, most of them more experienced than you. The only reason why you still have all your teeth is that one of my own men's been working against me, and I need someone from the outside who can outsmart him. Think you can be that someone?"

OOC:

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I'm currently trying to think of how to make Gary join the rest of the group in the main investigation. For Angus it's easy, but for Gary it's a bit harder. I hope I haven't written myself into as corner. Meh, I'll find a way.

Angus

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"The killer's in a coma," Vittorio explained. "So we can't interrogate him. But you can probably find other leads if you ask... The boss told me you were going to pass for a cop, right?"


OOC: Anytime you're ready to move on to the crime scene, say so.

[Samfool]

Gary

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OCC

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I think I can help you out there ;D

"Experienced huh? Then why was I the one who caught the guy in the first place?" Gary said, very sternly, but not offensive in the least.
"That guy just about killed someone, and I let him walk right out the f-cking door. Let me go after him, and who ever he is working for. I know how this sh-t works ell enough to get around the systems and bull. Its not like I have not hunted down a man before. He will not get away with this, weather you send me or not. It will just take longer if you don't."

Vaughn's eyes were almost aglow. He hated that he f-cked up. He hated that this mobster saw him as 'just another thug'. He could snap their arm in about two seconds flat the way they clumsily charge at you. Gary has killed before, but this is different. That scar-faced f-ck stole his golden ticket.

This is personal.

[Exthalion]

Alex

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"It does not just happen though. Human psychology is a complex blackbox at times, but that does not change the fact that it still has definitive inputs and outputs. Something happened, and I intend to find out what."

[Supercrazy DM]

Josh

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Josh pauses for a second and then thinks out loud saying " What did you notice about your brother after he got back? Was he different at all?"

OOC: Is it legal for me to keep on investigating?

[Trodon]

Angus

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"Yeah, I have everything for it." Angus said, not wanting to give away anything just in case the driver was listening in. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

[-Sentinel-]

Harry, Josh and Alexander

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OOC: I think we have nearly exhausted the possibilities of the apartment. I will soon switch to the next day for everyone, so if you have other things to say or do here, now is the time.

Angus

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"No, that's about all," answered Vittorio. "Good luck. Hey, if you succeed quickly, maybe the boss will even forget my failure."

[hr]

The crime scene was already getting cleaned up by the time Angus arrived. Only a few weary-looking cops were still around, and their task of keeping civilians at bay was much easier now that the absence of a body made the whole thing a lot less interesting to watch.

"Move along, sir, nothing to see," a young policewoman told Angus in a droning tone that suggested she had been saying this for hours.

Gary

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"That's the spirit," said Brancati with a half smile that did not soften his piercing gaze. "Come back to me tomorrow morning at nine, here at the Room. It'll be closed, so we'll have some privacy. I might have a little job for you."


OOC: I'll soon switch to the next day for everyone, so don't make big plans for tonight.

[Trodon]

Angus

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"I'm Michael Norton from the 23rd precinct." Angus says, showing the fake I.D. "I need to read the reports of the 20th precinct and see if I can be of any help."

[-Sentinel-]

Angus

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The young cop frowned in polite puzzlement.

"Um... okaaaay," she said slowly. "But what does the 23rd precinct have to do with this case?"

[Trodon]

Angus

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"I was sent here to see if there was a connection, a hobo burns one random warehouse and there happens to be remains of cocaine? That can't be a coincidence, someone's getting set up and I need to find out who and who set him/her up."

[-Sentinel-]

Angus

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The other cop's eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh yeah, that warehouse. It was Brancati's, right? Yeah, might be a connection. Didn't think of it."

She stepped aside to let Angus walk past the police tape, but there was not much left to see except some blood on the snow.

"You're a bit late, though, we're cleaning up. If you need details on the murder, you'll have to ask Captain Borden... or Harry Mason, he's the one working on this case. Got their phone numbers."

[Trodon]

Angus

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"Yeah, I'll need to talk to them, thank you. What do you know about this?" Angus asks.

[-Sentinel-]

Angus

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"Here." The policewoman wrote down two numbers on her empty paper cup of coffee, that she gave to Angus. "Name's Susan, by the way."

She gave him the rundown of the events surrounding the murder. Angus already knew most of it: the killers waits on the sidewalk, shoots Foster three times as he exits the car, then gets shot in the head by Foster's driver and bodyguard.

"Weird thing is," Susan concluded, "the killer, Charles Henderson, had no known ties with organized crime or Mr Foster. You know how murders go: it takes means, motive and opportunity. Here, there was no obvious motive. That's what we're trying to find. Henderson won't be any help as long as he's in a coma. His parents and brother are as puzzled as the rest of us."

[Trodon]

Angus

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"Thanks Susan." Angus gave her a quick smile and took out his phone, dialing the number for Captain Borden.

[Wargor]

Harry

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"Cmon, we're done here. Let's get this down to the lab then catch some sleep. We got some people to talk to tomorrow."

[-Sentinel-]

Angus

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"Borden," a gruff voice answered curtly.