Play@YSDC

Jean-Juc, trying hard not to loose his little handkerchief, says: "Dog you say? I've heard of vicious beasts but here? In the civilized world?". He struggles but he can't help himself at look more closely at the body.

"There were three or four of them, and they probably weren't dogs, exactly," says Jacques. "This is not the work of man's best friend. Perhaps wolves, though. If this poor fellow was out walking in the woods, there could have been a pack of them there. Hmm...I wonder if he has some form of identification in his pockets. It's rather hard to know who he was without his head."

Julien enters the room running, out of breath, then stops as he sees the body on the floor. "Oh God... oh my God... Sebastien?", he kneels next to the body, but seems reluctant to touch it. "This... this is terrible". Then he seems to remember something, stands up and runs to the library, then to the writing desk, searching among books and letters. "It's gone... oh no no no... it's gone...", he leans on the writing desk, as if suddenly too weak to stand on his own, his head down, eyes closed.

François pauses only long enough to allow the doorman to open the door for him and then strides out to the garden. Pausing at the gate, he approaches the window as he would if he were tracking a deer.

OOC:   François uses Outdoorsman to discover any tracks.

Jacques follows Julien to the library, offering to support him. "What is missing?" he asks.

Following his old friend, Andre finds himself on the doorway of the library "Julien my friend ... pray tell me, just what is amiss?" I ask.

"A weapon... the plans for a new secret weapon... we believe it could have shifted the balance of power in our favor... save thousands of lives... and it's gone. What if the germans got it? Oh God, I don't even want to think about it." He stops, looking at all of you for a moment. "You must understand that only the government and a few generals know about this. It's imperative that things remain this way. For now, we must search this room for any trace we can find, before the police gets here. They must remain out of this, at all costs".

Outside François moves carefully through the grass lifting a leaf here, moving a blade of grass there. He talks softly to himself cataloguing what he finds

Hoof marks, but small hooves, not a horse... perhaps a pony? But what would a pony, no a couple of ponies be doing in the garden of a wealthy merchant in the middle of Paris? No wait, there is a third set of tracks. Hmmm, is that a stone in the hoof mark or a different hoof, so perhaps a fourth. So.... to and from the window to the garden wall. But where then hmmm.

François continues with his search putting in even more effort in a bid to reveal more information

"Then we shall recover the plans," says Jacques. "I shall take charge of the investigation and keep the police out of it. I can always pull rank, which has its privileges. I may not be a general, but I can still drop the names of some of them if being a colonel does not suffice. General Gallieni would certainly have enough authority to arrange this. Is he one of those in the know?" He begins a methodical search of the room for any clues.

OOC,I'd like to use Evidence Collection and Forensics.

François continues to carefully track whatever it was across the garden then straightens up and releases a stream of profanity "Nom de dieu, de putain, de merde de saloperie, de connard d'enculer" what twisted fool of a man puts hooves on his feet to hide his tracks. Not four bloody ponies, four bloody madmen, putting hooves on the soles of their shoes to hide their tracks

OOC:   Now François knows what he is looking for can he tell where the tracks lead? Can he track these murderous thieves!!

Audibly swearing under his breath François returns inside to detail to the others. everything he discovered about the tracks.

Jean-Luc turns towards the Colonel (still covering his mouth): "Just name it Sir. The faster we get it done with, the better for us". He looks again at the body and adds "I hope..."

Jacques searches the body, without finding anything out of the ordinary (except for the missing head and all the bites, of course...). The wallet contains a sizable amount of money and a small piece of paper reporting: Sunflower Tea Room, Avenue de Saint James 17.

The library is more interesting: there is a wide selection of books, ranging from history to philosophy, but what catches your eye is a large number of books dealing with occult matters. Obviously, it would require something with a more in-depth knowledge of the matter to take any conclusion about them.

"I shall search the library if you would excuse me please Colonel Jacques - it may be better if I had some distance between myself and ... the unfortunate victim." Andre adds waving his hand in the general direction as he still fights to still his roiling stomach.

1 point of evidence collection

Andrè is clearly more well-versed than Jacques in skimming through libraries and books, and quickly classifies the tomes. Most of the books are relatively common and uninteresting, but there's a vast selection of occult tomes as well, most of which dealing with death, death cults and afterlife. Some of the books are inscribed with notes and symbols, but you lack the specific knowledge required to understand them.


Meanwhile, Julien is examining the desk and the letters on it. "I think General Gallieni was present to our demonstration of a... prototype... of the weapon. He could perhaps be informed, but... we should keep as much as possible a low profile. We do not know if there's some conspiracy behind this theft... and who might be involved. If the german are behind this, then someone must have informed them, perhaps even someone from the general's own staff. If it's a business rival, on the other hand...", he then stops, as if suddenly thinking about something. "Madeleine... where's Madeleine?"

"I'm not sure," says Jacques, scratching his bald head. "Could they have taken her too, out the window? I hope not. Or...I hate to ask this, but did she know about the weapon? How much can she be trusted? There was something else odd about that window. It was not forced, but opened from the inside. Someone in this house seems to have been aiding the thieves, and her absence makes her my first suspect. You're right that we should limit General Gallieni's involvement, but we can still use his authority to place the gendarmes in charge of the investigation rather than the regular police. All that needs to be said is that it's a matter of national security."