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Post by DataNinja on Feb 9, 2016 1:18:42 GMT
Neither door seems to be locked, but the smell seems to be coming from the one on the left, that would (if memory serves), lead towards the center of the warehouse.
"I almost feel sorry for them. Having to live like this..."
That door, from what he can tell, leads towards the front of the warehouse. There are a few doors to the left of the corridor, but none on the right. Probably because that would put them outside.
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 9, 2016 1:28:43 GMT
Braxton looked forward at the other doors, again listening for movement.
Having heard none, he went back to the kitchen area.
"This place is appalling, but they deserve none of your pity. Anyway, allowing it to fall into this state was likely their own doing anyway. We are still very early here, so not everybody may be here yet, we shall see."
Braxton went to push open the door leading to the middle of the complex where the smell seemed to emanate.
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 9, 2016 1:40:30 GMT
Getting to the edge, it looks like what you thought was a balcony, was actually a catwalk, ringing around a big, open space. This looks like where stuff would normally be stored, but it seems to have been turned into the main living area for the occupants. There's furniture, stuff strewn around, and enough...junk...to make even the big space look small. And it's all scattered around, like a tornado went through here. From up here, it doesn't look like there's anyone around, but then Ruairidh points out something off to the side. It looks like there could be someone down there, maybe? But... that pool of red doesn't look good.
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 9, 2016 1:59:05 GMT
Braxton backed away from the edge and turned his gaze to the next door to his right.
The next time they had a chance to speak in a room that they knew had nobody in it, or the adjacent rooms, Braxton whispered, "I don't know if you saw anything, but I think there was a dead man on that lower ground. When we secure this floor we should head down and see what has happened."
Braxton continued searching every room for people or items of interest, always maintaining caution at the doors.
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 9, 2016 2:14:06 GMT
There's nothing of interest in any of the rooms (unless you happen to find filth and squalor interesting, that is). Well, not until you get to a door that's ajar.
Inside that, it's just a storage closet, with cleaning supplies (yay...). At the back of it, with some of the aforementioned supplies dropped around him on the floor, is a girl, her face looking terrified, clearly dead.
"Wha...what happened here?" Lillian stammers. "Wait! She...she was one of the ones that jumped me!" You know what, she's right. You do recognize her. Well, not that you'd seen her for long.
Somehow, you can tell that she's only been dead for roughly sixteen hours.
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 10, 2016 3:40:04 GMT
Braxton paused. His eyes quickly darted to each corner of the room, assessing entrances, assessing probabilities. How did this woman die? Braxton raised a finger to his lips to quiet Lillian. This may have been here for sixteen hours, but how it happened was a mystery, and if anything could be gleaned from this scene, it would require uninterrupted investigation. Any chance of somebody overhearing them could jeopardise everything. This was the woman that Lillian said had been second in command, and had wanted her pendant. Why was she dead? A power struggle? There appeared to be another bloody body downstairs in the other room, they were likely related. Ruairidh began pacing the room, looking for any indication of how this may of happened or who did it, while Braxton began examining the body itself, checking for any signs of struggle, and whether or not she had Lillian's pendant on her. Perception Checks
Ruairidh: 16 Braxton: 14
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 10, 2016 3:56:26 GMT
Lillian is simply staring aghast, trying to take in this scene.
The room itself is just a glorified storage closet. Nothing valuable in here, unless you were low on cleaning supplies. There doesn't seem to be any sign of a struggle, or, in fact any markings at all on her. If it were not for the fact that she is clearly no longer amongst the living, you could think she was merely frozen in fear.
She doesn't have the pendant on her, but a quick check tells you that she does have a golden band on her left ring finger. You can't actually tell if it's real gold or not, though.
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 10, 2016 4:08:51 GMT
Braxton looked carefully at the band to see if there were any markings on it or anything that might be of use. Seeing nothing, he left it there and stood up again.
He left the room and closed the door behind him and turned to Lillian. Placing a hand on the back of hers, he softly said, "I am sorry you had to see that. If you want to turn back, this floor has been cleared. I can take you back to the entrance and you can get out of here. Something has obviously happened, but I don't know what. I intend to keep searching, but I know this is a bit more than you were expecting."
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 10, 2016 4:16:12 GMT
"I'll...I'll keep looking with you," she says, softly. "I want to know what went down, here."
She kneels down in front of the woman, staring at the band. "So cruel. Life, a future, just ripped away." When she comes back up, Braxton notices she has tears in her eyes.
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 10, 2016 4:19:41 GMT
Braxton held back his initial thought, a criminal like her deserves no future.
He clenched his jaw and slowly raised his hand up. Shaking slightly he gently tried to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"Very well. Come then, it isn't safe for us to linger."
Braxton began to lead her towards the stairs that went down the the lower level, hopefully where he would find the other body. Remaining careful as ever, he crept down the stairs.
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 10, 2016 4:56:05 GMT
Lillian nods, and tries putting an arm around you as you make your way down.
The stairs do indeed lead to the lower level, and the large area. And you do find the body that you saw earlier, lying in a pool of blood. It's a teenager this time, and it looks like his chest has been caved in. ...that must take enormous force. Definitely isn't caused by an ordinary human. Ruairidh might be able to do that, but not in that large of a scale.
But that wasn't the worst thing. Scattered around the area, hidden from higher vantage points by stuff, are eight more bodies. Seven human, and one Pancham. Two of them bore similar wounds - and puddles of blood - to the first victim you saw, while the others looked more akin to the woman from the storage cupboard - seemingly fine, but obviously dead. Some of them do have knives and other weapons still clutched in their grip, but they all look spotless, as though they never drew blood.
And all of them died roughly the same time ago. Sixteen hours.
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 10, 2016 10:28:29 GMT
Braxton wraps an arm around her to comfort her as they move. The majority of them are dead. I was told there were a dozen, this makes 8. One of their two pokemon as well. This goes beyond a power struggle, this is a massacre.[/i] Braxton gave Lillian's hand a squeeze before he and Ruairidh went to check around their bodies to see if there were any other clues, and checking for Lillian's pendant. Depending on if they find anything or something crazy happens (Alien style chest bursters). Mostly assuming they find nothing. Braxton and Ruairidh searched the rest of the rooms on the floor in a similar fashion to before, Braxton kept in close contact with Lillian. This was a lot to run into, especially if you hadn't seen a dead body before.
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 10, 2016 16:26:00 GMT
Lillian returns the squeeze, before helping in the search...taking care to stay away from the most obviously mangled bodies. Neither of you find any trace of the pendant.
The underground level is a lot smaller than the main floor, and it really consists of just the main area that you were just in. So, really, there's nothing left to find. But, as you finish searching, a voice comes calling through the complex, slowly getting louder. "...nyone awake? 'Ello? This ain't funny, guys! I toldja that last time!"
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 10, 2016 16:51:55 GMT
Braxton's gaze steeled. He whispered to Lillian, "Hide."
On seeing that she had taken cover, Braxton piped up, "They are all dead. They have been for over half a day now. If you come down here quietly and don't make a fuss we can discuss how this may have happened. Become hostile and I guarantee you you won't be as lucky as the other day."
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 10, 2016 17:20:42 GMT
"'Ey? Whazzat? Who's there? Howdya get in 'ere?" Well, you recognize the voice now, as a man comes into view on the catwalk above. It's the chief thug from the alleyway. "And whaddya mean 'dead'?"
"Half a day? How do you know that?" whispers Lillian.
"...I swear, if ya killed my crew, you're...you're gonna be hurtin' somethin' fierce." It sounds like he's getting rather emotional. There are some other voices, murmuring amongst themselves. "Shaddup! We're gonna go down there and see if this punk's tellin-" "But, boss... over there. Isn't that...isn't that Mike? On the floor..." That one comes from a woman, and doesn't sound very good. "If youse lot are gonna be sick, wait outside! Regent and I can more than handle any tricks he can throw at us." The other three, two girls and a guy, head back down the corridor, looking shaken.
The thug climbs down the ladder, making his way towards Braxton's position, but stopping at each of the bodies, moving his lips in what's probably a name. "Okay, whaddya want?" the man asks, in front of you. He's starting to sound emotional. "You seem familiar..." he mutters.
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 10, 2016 19:23:46 GMT
Braxton stood his ground. "What do I want? Two days ago, you robbed a young woman and took something important to her. I want it back. In addition, I want your gang of thugs to disband and never to harm another person as long as you each live." The corner of his mouth twitched up, "But right now what I want is not the most pressing concern we have.
The question is what do you want. You want answers. You see a man that you fought and beat a few days ago standing surrounded by the majority of your gang dead on the floor. You want revenge, and your first assumption would be that I did this. I have inspected these bodies, plus that of the woman upstairs, and all bar this one thug," he gestured to the one with the collapsed chest, "do not have anything that would readily suggest how they died. This other one, well, bar some heavy machinery, I think we can both agree that a pokemon did this. Now you know first hand what this Riolu can do, and you took the full brunt of his strongest attack when we fought. I think we can both agree that this injury was not caused by him. As for the rest, my first guess would be poison, perhaps from a pokemon, perhaps administered by a person. You are free to search my person. You will find no such poisons, and you can bet that if I had intended on killing your gang, I would have brought enough for all of you, so I would still have some left.
Based on that, I think we can agree that I did not do this. I came here to fight a group of thugs that call themselves the Snakebites, and I turn up to find them dead at my feet."
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 10, 2016 19:40:43 GMT
"Ah! That's where I know ya from!" He gives a little sneer. "You were tha' brave knight coming to the little lady's defense."
The sneer falters at the mention of the woman upstairs. "There's...more? She...didn't escape?" He looks crushed, eyes a little wet. "I had hopes that she'd gotten out... I knew I never shoulda gone for a coupla drinks and left 'er in charge." He sighs. "My darling Marsha... No, no, you hafta be lyin'!" He sounds desperate.
"I can promise you, we aren't," says Lillian, stepping out of cover. "She was wearing a gold band, no?"
"Yeah..." he says, head slumping. "I gave her yer necklace because I couldn' afford a better ring..."
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 10, 2016 19:51:07 GMT
Braxton's steeled eyes bored into the man standing ahead of him"Indeed. However, with more than half your gang gone now, I reckon we might stand a better chance, if it were to come to it. However, something tells me it won't."
Braxton frowned. They were crooks, so they deserved what was coming to them. However, there was a deeper issue. Whoever targeted them, if they did not do so as a form of just retaliation, is equally evil for having murdered them.
"Do you know who would want to do this? I am sure people in your line of... work... gather some powerful enemies. They only struck about sixteen hours ago by my reckoning. They may have fled, but they could still be close enough for your revenge, if that's what you seek. However, I might suggest against it, for fear of ending up in the same position as the others. Still, without knowing what did this or why, more people could be in danger."
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 10, 2016 23:03:03 GMT
"Sixteen hours..." It looks like he's struggling to do the math. "Uhhh... I hate hangovers. Er... Right. That was right after me, Mary, Stevie and Jay wen' out. ...I shoulda' stayed longer. Maybe I coulda done somethin'."
"Enemies? Naw, we left the peoples 'round here alone. Only took stuff from the folks passing through. No sense bitin' the flower that feeds ya... or... or, somethin' 'long those lines. I ferget what was said."
"Well, I do know that there's one person 'round these parts that should know who did it, if it's there to be known. I need ta know, so I can kill them for what they did ta my family..."
"Hold on a sec..." he says, squinting. "How do you know it was sixteen hours ago?" He reaches for the Pokéball on his belt.
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 10, 2016 23:39:15 GMT
Braxton flexed his hands and shifted his feet into a wider stance... just in case. "Did we not already establish that that there was no way that it was me? Do not turn this into something it doesn't need to be.
Sixteen hours. It makes sense doesn't it? Skin is just starting to get cold, slight discolouration on the skin where it has started going grey. The big tip off is the blood. You ever had a big wound that you bandaged? Sixteen hours later the blood has started to thicken. Stuff on the ground isn't dry yet, so not too long, but it's not fresh. I knew it was probably less than a day because I got my own intel on you. The number of gang members this time yesterday was twelve from my sources. Sound about right?
Do not mistake. I told you I was here to fight you. I did my research, and I scoped this place out. The botched welding job on the side? That was me. No use hiding it. What I did not do is kill these people. If I really had, would I stick around you and confront you head on? Look at their expressions. Whatever did this did not fight them, it ambushed them. If it was me that did this, I would have hidden in wait and killed you all while you inspected the bodies.
I will guess you are talking about Kelly. I will say again, you would do well to avoid recklessly seeking out whatever did this because your 'family' here obviously didn't even get a chance to put up a fight. If you want to go against them, you will need a strategy that goes beyond running at it with knives and your one other pokemon."
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