Play@YSDC

By dint of listening to the radio and using Jacob's AA Road Atlas, 'the team' is able to navigate through the rush hour traffic to Glendale road, the site of last night's house fire. A new development on the outskirts of Longford, a village immediately west of Heathrow Airport in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Despite its proximity to the A4, and Heathrow Airport, Longford has retained its rustic village character.

The house itself has been sealed behind a temporary screen whilst Police and London Fire Service ascertain whether the house is safe and then whether there are any bodies to be recovered, as well as to gather evidence. There are a couple of radio cars here as well as a small crowd of newspaper reporters. Locals seem in short supply.

"It's a wonder they placed her in a home so close to the airport," says Liz. "You'd think they'd be afraid she'd slip away." She looks around at the police to see if she recognizes White or Allen.

*******On their way, in the car*******

Friends, I gave the picture of the sigil to my Rabbi for identification. I hope to receive a message soon from him and from a private investigator that is checking somethings for me.
Jacob say
What about you?
Clayton, had any success with the tattoos? Liz, what with the reporters and Greg, fill us up with the talk you had with Dr. Ubani.

*********************************************

*******At the Scene*******

Sad …
Jacob say as he look at the burnt house.
We ca ask the neighbors if they saw anything unusual.

"Well nothing so far. My contact didn't recognize the patterns but said there is a trade show this weekend and he'd show it around to see what he could come up with." Clayton said and then he seemed reluctant before continuing. "I had another idea but its pretty risky. My guess is that the tattoos are tied to Albanians. There are some Albanian gangs here in London. Run a lot of the prostitution in the city. I could spread a bit of cash around and get an introduction, but it could be pretty risky. I think its something we wait on till we run out of other options."

"Sounds eminently reasonable," says Liz. "I'm corresponding via email with one of the reporters, the one from the Evening Standard who wrote the article about the body parts found in the factory in South London. The police did look into the tattoos and concluded that they were done abroad because the ink wasn't standard commercial composition. They never confirmed the cause of death, but they suspected that the victims were burned to death. They never had any suspects, nor did they identify the bodies. The reporter asked me who I was and why I was interested, so I explained about the incident at Heathrow - the bits that don't sound crazy - and mentioned the possible links between that and the murders. I wonder if that reporter is here now?" She does a quick online search on the reporter to find a picture, then scans the faces of the press to see if she can find that one. "Might be worthwhile talking to the reporters anyway."

"I don't see the reporter, Jo Tate, here," says Liz. "Nor the detectives from Heathrow, though they could be behind the screen. Maybe I should email Jo and let her know about the fire, see if she shows up?"

Jacob tries to grab one of the interested locals and ask innocently what is happening over here. He will try to extract information about the family that lived here and their daughter.

Jacob catches a local man as he brings out some rubbish. The man looks suspiciously at Jacob.

"Get lost, I'm not talking to any more reporters"

OOC:,If Jacob wants to stop the man before he goes back into his house, then he's going to have to [b]Fast Talk[/b] P or [b]Persuade[/b] the man he is not a journalist

Fast Talk and Spot Hidden (1d100=92, 1d100=43)
Failed both rolls.

Clearly the men around are troubled and were bothered too much.
Jacob withdraws his attempts, not wanting to be a burden on the locals he might need in the future. He will try later...

Clayton swore he something out of the corner of his eye but then a really hot girl caught his eye. After she passed, whatever he thought he had seen was gone.

spot hidden,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3216662/]Spot hidden target = 45 (1d100=49)[/url]

Liz gets out and stretches, not really noticing anything new. "So, do you chaps think I should send Jo Tate an email and tell her about this, or not?"

On the way there, Greg informs them of his conversation with Dr. Ubani. "He couldn't help me with one case, said I should speak with the Hertfordshire Coroner about it. But for the case where he did participate, he suggested that there were just two victims in the fire. He was confounded by the fire itself... for it takes in excess of 800 degrees centigrade to do that kind of damage to a body, and yet the room showed little evidence of the fire. They are certain that the combustion took place on the spot from the samples of fat being pulled off the walls and ceiling. Both the teenage girl, and the older woman had tribal or ethnic tattoos on them... and he suspected they were East European, probably here illegally, trafficked in as prostitutes. I was going to spend some time looking through missing person reports over the month proceeding the event to see if either of the women might show up, but it'll probably come up empty if they were here illegally." He thought for a moment longer, then lifted a finger and added, "Oh yeah, and DNA evidence suggested they were not related."

Once on the scene of the fire, he looked up at the burnt building and said to the others, "Well... whatever caused this fire doesn't appear to be as quick as what happened to the others considering the extent of damage to the house itself. Still... I know what I dreamed. Maybe there was some excellerant involved?"

Spot Hidden - failed,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3220260/]Spot Hidden (45%) (1d100=50)[/url]

He looked around the crowd and tried to find someone who was exhibiting emotions that did not fit well with the scenario. Perhaps a smug smile, or look of anger.

Psychology (if you want it) - success,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3220261/]Psychology (60%) (1d100=22)[/url]

I never ever, in my wildest dreams, thought a man could se a blaze on their own.
Jacob remarks.
Unless, they swallow something chemical that cause them to explode and burn from within as part of a strange cult ceremony.

Greg heads over to where the man is giving police a hard time, trying to overhear what the argument is about.

"No I've heard about it. Not sure I ever believed it. But I heard about an old woman that burned to nothing, but the rocking chair she was in was barely burnt at all. So this is just a good old fashion torching if you ask me. Hey Jacob, where you going?" Clay asks.

Greg looks over his shoulder at Clay, "Me? I'm Greg. Heading over there..." he pointed the direction and then continued closing in on the ongoing argument.

"Sorry still trying to learn you guys. Let me know if you need some help, just wave." Clay responds feeling a bit embarrassed.

Liz rolls her eyes as the guys keep ignoring her. "Well, you obviously have no objections," she says, "so I'm emailing her." She dashes off a quick email to Jo Tate, providing her with a link to an article about the fire and letting her know that this was the house where the girl from Heathrow had been placed and suggesting that she might want to check it out, noting the possible connections with fire and with Eastern Europe.

Before Greg gets to the policeman and the old man the argument is already over while the policeman is left shrugging his shoulders to a colleague the the old man turns sharply away and with a visible look of disgust starts marching down a footpath out of the close.

"Wonder what the deal is with that old bloke?" says Liz. "What's his interest in this? I think we ought to go talk to him."

Greg gives chase to the old man and his dog. Down the footpath, he lifts a finger and says "Excuse me, sir... do you have a moment?"

The old man has nearly reached the end of the path when Greg calls him, turning to look at who just called him the man gives a clearly audable "Harumph" before dragging his dog around the corner and out of sight behind a hedge.

OOC: All,The man is walking fast, basically a marching pace, Greg will easily catch him if he breaks into a run.

Greg breaks into a run. Hope it isn't a vicious dog. "Sir, if I may just ask you a couple questions? I swear it won't take but a moment of your time."

The man is just opening the front gate into a clearly well tended garden.

"What for, its not like anyone bothers to listen to me" the old man harumphs again and leads the dog through the gate. Then looking back at Greg. "Well you might as well come in, make sure you shut the gate behind you or Polly will be off like a flash. I'm making a cup of tea anyway."

"It looks like Greg can question the old man. I'm going to see what I can find out." Clay approaches the house to get as close as he can, looking for anything unusual like markings on the burnt walls. If a cop approaches I'm going to claim I'm a nephew and want to know whats going on.

Liz takes out her camera and joins the small crowd of reporters, where she starts taking photographs of the scene. "Hullo," she says. "Do you know if they've released any information?"

As Liz and Clay walk towards the house a man gets out of a Hertz rental and calls out "You here to supervise the interview?" Its not clear wether he was talking to Clay, Liz, jacob or Greg. Although Greg has now dissapeared down the pathway in pursuit of the old man.

OOC: All,Clay and Liz are both heading towards the house they are nearest, Jacob is still close to the car having given up on talking to the locals and Greg has now left the close. Anyone who wants to talk to the man should go to [url=http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=192&t=2779&p=116057#p116057]Jason Tavener[/url] Greg now goes [url=http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=192&t=2789]here[/url]

As the others go to different directions Jacob will confront the man called Jason.

Liz also approaches the man.

ooc,thought I did post above and was awaiting a response

Clay moved closer to the house trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Trying to discern anything unusual about the house. In particular on the walls and floors, if there was any kind of ritual type marks on the house. See if he can overhear the cops of what they might be saying.

The ground floor of the house is concealed behind tall white privacy screens, but from what Clay can see the house is now little more than a shell.

As he stands looking around two men step around the screens one in a police officers uniform the other in fire service coveralls, the small crowd of newspaper and radio people all push forward.

Ladies and gentlmen to those who don't know me my name is Superintendant Gary Hobbs. I have a short announcement but I will not be answering questions at this time. The bodies of Mr and Mrs Tolka have been identified as the two corpses found tied to chairs in the kitchen, we are treating the deaths as murders. There is no sign of the third occupant; Elira Nesimi, an Albanian girl who they were caring for Hillingdon Social Services.
We believe Mr and Mrs Thomas may have been tortured before they were killed, they had been tied to chairs in the kitchen. Mr Thomas clearly received several blows to the head which fractured his skull. As yet we have no motive for their murder. Our investigation is far from over, and we will not close it until these arsonists and the missing girl are found!"

The inspector then takes a step back while the man in coveralls steps forward. Hi my name is Martin Timmis, of the Fire and Rescue Service, I'm the head of the investigation being carried out to find exactly how the fire was started. At this point all we can say is whoever started the fire was a skilled arsonist, it’s clear that there was more than one seat of fire. As yet we have been unable to identify the materials used to start the fire. Considering the heat which our fire crews reported when fighting the fire I suspect that in this case we will find Mr and Mrs Thomas were killed by the fire itself rather than smoke inhalation.”

The inspector then steps forward again. Can I just add, we are at this point looking for the Tolka’s housekeeper, a lady known as Teto. She is not a suspect but we believe she holds valuable information which will assist us with our enquiries. Thankyou.

Clay pushes forward with the reporters, but stays out the outer edge of the group. If he can get close enough to the screens he will take a peak over or between them. If possible he will try and take some quick pictures with his phone. Not really worrying about what he is shooting, just trying to get the floor and walls.

Clayton can't seem to find a decent angle or get a large enough gap in the screens to see much if anything.

OOC I Sux,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3231372/]Spot Hidden target = 45%; photography target = 10% (1d100=88, 1d100=50)[/url]

Clayton recieves an SMS from Jacob indicating they have probably found someone who knows about the case.

Clay tries to take one last quick glance behind the screens, frowns but is excited about Jacobs news. He hurries off to meet Jacob.

Turning around Clay see's Jacob and Liz talking to a man by a hire car, and looking as though they are all about to get into it.

OOC: Clay,[url=http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=192&t=2779&p=116212#p116212]go here[/url]