Puppet Shows and Shadow Plays

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa follows Nik out to where he had found the suspected gravesite and helps him examine the ground and search for evidence, using all her forensic knowledge to avoid contaminating or destroying it.

OOC,Search roll (50% skill) searching the grave: [dice]0[/dice]

[HoneyDog]

Nik

Nik approaches the area where he suspects a body lays. He is sweating profusely from a combination of the sun and anxiety about what he might find.

OOC,Search roll %40 [url=http://orokos.com/roll/472030]Search[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]85[/b]

[Cearlan]

Edmiund Rue

Edmund paces a grid and looks at the scene from various angles ... wishing sometimes that these klutzes wouldn't trample all over the scene before the perimeter has been established. He gives his head a small shake and curses under his breath.

"Remember we are here to advise only in a very delicate situation."

Search (70%)
[dice]0[/dice]

Intx5 (50%)
[dice]1[/dice]

Edmund peers closer and thinks he can see something.

[Silver Priest]

Stanyard and Edmund,Stanyard's best guess is that the car was driven off the nearby road and buried here. There are not many tracks left though, suggesting it was buried at least a few weeks ago. Edmund sharp eyes notice animal tracks around the sight, suggesting that was at least the culprit that dug part of the buried vehicle up. But what animal could have done this? He thinks for a moment and it clicks. A coyote, the tracks match. Edmund follows the tracks and finds they lead a short distance away and then just.... stop. They go from being fully formed prints to vanishing in the middle of the desert. They seem fresh too, so it's not a case of nature obscuring them over the weeks the car had been buried. Reinforcements arrive within the half hour, and excavation begins on the car. It's tough work digging the thing out, and the agents are free to lend a hand if they like. Either way, it takes more than an hour for the front door of the car to be free of the ground and accessed. Garrett steps forward, volunteering for the duty. He opens the door and immediately gasps. Inside the car are the badly decomposed remains of a man. Topless, there's a large hole in his belly and his intestines have spilled out onto his lap. Judging by the look of them, something had taken a few bites out of them as well. The smell is obviously awful. Garrett gamely manages to keep his lunch, but three of the deputies are not so lucky, and soon the stench of their vomit fills the air as well. Stanyard feels the bile in his throat, but manages to keep it down. [ooc]Both of you can make a san check- our first of the game! This one is violence oriented. 0/1d2. If you take any san loss, I'll ask if you want to project it onto your bonds and preserve your own scores. Edmund can make a con*5 roll to see if he's as lucky. Feel free to examine the corpse, and make any rolls you deem appropriate. Or just describe your actions if you're unsure and I'll make what I feel fits.[/ooc]

Vanessa and Nik,Neither of the agents can discern anything from the surroundings of the dirt. "[color=#008000]I have a shovel in my car[/color]," says Colorados. He heads off to get it. John Rope meanwhile is silent, and leans down to inspect the earth. "[color=#0000FF]Look here[/color]," he says, speaking English for the first time. He points out several tracks in the ground, all around the hole. "[color=#0000FF]Coyote. It must have dug this up[/color]." The sheriff returns and quickly digs further down. Inside is a small grave and a sheep carcass. Someone went to great lengths to bury it. "[color=#008000]Right on the property, under the Begays noses[/color]." Colorados says, then frowns. [color=#008000]"Strange though. If a coyote made these tracks, it should have eaten the carcass. It's nearly unheard of for one to go through the trouble of digging up the carcass and leaving it in one piece[/color]. John Rope says something then, back in his own tongue. Colorados looks introspective but doesn't translate. It is then that Nik notices other areas of the ground that have been similarly disturbed. There seem to be about ten of them. Further investigation reveals a sheep carcass in each grave. And then Nik spots a bigger grave on the edge of the property. It's significantly larger than the others. [ooc]Pausing here if either of you want to examine the sheep, question Colorados and/or Rope, or whatever. Next post will probably be unearthing the big grave.[/ooc]

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa examines the dead sheep with her medical training. "If we get one of these back to the morgue later," she says, "I can give it a necropsy there, find out what killed it. It is odd that a coyote wouldn't eat it. Maybe it was diseased or something. Animals are often smarter than we think. Did any sheep in the flock show signs of illness?"

[HoneyDog]

NIk

"Is there any indication of what killed it Agent Marchand?" asks Nik. "'Cause if that big grave over there contains what I think it might, we need to ascertain what we're dealing with as soon as possible."

OOC:   Mr. H, why don't you use your forensic roll on the sheep? Mine is too low. There might be an obvious cause of death.

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa can't tell much about the sheep medically outside of a laboratory setting, but she surveys it and the scene where it was found with a practiced eye.

OOC,I'm not sure if Forensics or Medicine would apply, so I'll roll both. Forensics roll (80% skill) examining the burial site and the dead sheep: [dice]0[/dice] Medicine roll (60% skill) examining the dead sheep: [dice]1[/dice]

[Dave Syrinx]

Fighting an urge to gasp and bash the dirt slope with a clenched fist, Stanyard cools himself down and checks the area beneath the seats as well as the glove compartment. When that task is done he turns to an officer and says, "Is it safe for you to open the trunk? We might have leads there to what this poor soul was out here to achieve."

To Edmund he confers, "He sure must have been in a hurry away from someone, missing a turn like that. What have you found out?"

Seeing Garrett, Stanyard asks, "Sheriff, what did your run of the plates give you? Local or tourist?"

Spoiler:

SAN@ 40% 0/1d2
[dice]0[/dice]

Alertness (spot hidden/listen combo) @79%
[dice]1[/dice]

If higher than 40 take 1-2 SAN deduction.

[Silver Priest]

Vanassa and Nik,"[color=#004000]The herd seemed perfectly healthy[/color]," Colorados says after Rope responds. Vanessa carefully examines the carcass of the first sheep, looking for any obvious tells that could help indicate the manner in which it had expired. After a few minutes she finds something. There are multiple needle like incisions in the corpse. They look to have been directed towards the lungs and heart of the animal. Examinations of some of the other sheep find the same incisions directed towards the same areas. As far as Vanessa can tell, these types of wounds don't seem to have been caused by any of the animals that would be found out here, and the precise targeting hinted at intelligence. The animals themselves have all been eaten, all of their edible bits removed. Vanessa thinks for another moment and reasons that the wounds match the sheep having been possibly injected with something. If she could convince the sheriff to let her send this back to Phoenix for testing, she might be able to get a better understanding of what this is and what effects it may have had.

Stanyard and Edmund,[ooc]Going to move us on. Cearlan, feel free to make your san and con rolls when you return. :)[/ooc] Stanyard examines the crime scene. He quickly notices that there's a surprising lack of blood within the car for such a grisly murder. Even the corpse has only a few drops on it. He manages to find a driver's license for someone named Kenneth Braverman. It's rather hard to tell, given the state of the body, but he thinks the victim is Mr. Braverman. Apparently he's visiting from Houston. Might be worth checking with the police there to see if he's been reported as missing. The trunk holds a spare tire and nothing else. "[color=#0000FF]Still yet to run up. I'll get right on that[/color]," says Garrett. The shock of the whole expierence has evidently made him more amicable to cooperation.

[Mr. Handy]

"Look, see these injection marks on the sheep?" Vanessa asks. "At least that's my best guess as to what these are. Directly into the lungs and heart. Some ranchers will inject their animals with antibiotics, but that's not what this is. No animal did this, though they were eaten and picked clean of everything edible. That explains why the coyotes didn't eat it. There was nothing left. We need to get one of these sheep sent back to Phoenix for testing in a lab. They can better determine the cause of death and find out what was injected by performing a necropsy and toxicology screening."

[HoneyDog]

Nik is confused and shakes his head, as he crouches down peering at the sheep. “Coyotes would have chewed on the bones and messed the corpse around, even if there was no flesh to eat. There’s another reason they wouldn’t eat this. Yeah, we’d better get a toxicology report”.

“So what would have eaten this? And made wounds like that?” he muses.

He straightens up and looks at the others. “I think we’d better go and look at that bigger grave.”

[Dave Syrinx]

Dialing up Vanessa on the Motorola, Stanyard briefs the team leader with the situation. "We've found a trail. A car have run off the road and it's quite fresh. What about you?"

[Cearlan]

Edmiund Rue

San (70%)
[dice]0[/dice]

Con x 5 (50%)
[dice]1[/dice]

Edmund staggers away for a few steps before taking a few deep breaths and semi-composing himself - at least he has shown himself to have more of a strong stomach than these headstrong deputies from the Sheriff's department.

"I can do a quick once over of the body while it's in-situ, though obviously not that it will prove conclusive." Edmund says around swallowing the acidic vomit that is seemingly lodged at the back of his throat.

Forensics (30%)
[dice]2[/dice]

[Silver Priest]

Vanessa and Nik,The sheriff nods. "[color=#004000]We do not have the resources here to perform a full toxicology report on the carcass. Go ahead and send it to your superiors[/color]. The mass grace takes a little more time to dig up. Inside the ground is everyone's worse fear; the partially decomposed bodies of the Begay Family. John Rope gives a deep wail of sorrow, and even Colorados looks close to tears. And it's not hard to see why. All four of the bodies look to have been partially consumed. Victorio Begay seems to have suffered the worst of it, having much of his flesh torn off, but even the children have had bits of them torn off. It's a very tough scene to witness, and officially makes this a homicide investigation. [ooc]You both can make san rolls for violence, 0/1d2.[/ooc] Vanessa and Nik can see the same sort of pinpricks in each of the bodies though. They seem to have been directed towards the heart and lungs, like with the sheep.

Stanyard and Edmund,Edmund celebrates his strong constitution prematurely,and finds himself vomiting as well. Thankfully no one seems to notice. And it's not as though the deputies could mock him for it, most of them having done so themselves. [ooc]Either of the agents can make a medicine roll if they want to try looking over the body some more and determine the exact cause of death.[/ooc] Garrett returns. "[color=#0040FF]Car checks out to a fella by the name of Kenneth Braverman, so looks like our vic's one and the same. Interesting news though. Apparently our vic was a cop working out of Houston. Either of you want to call the department and deliver the bad news? I've got my boys lookin' up the number.[/color]"

[Cearlan]

Edmiund Rue

Medicine (20%)
[dice]0[/dice]

Edmund wipes his mouth and spits out the remainder of his breakfast, looking around to make sure he was unobserved. Kicking some sand over his former stomach contents he wheels when Garrett returns with the name Braverman. He hunkers down, now more confident that his nausea is more under control, and looks at the corpse in some detail, trying to see what could have caused this terrible event. Unfortunately he sees nothing he can recognise.

"I guess that means we have to call his station chief with the good news then?" he adds with a grimace. There were parts of this job that never became easier, and this ranked second highest on the list. only topped by having to inform the deceased's families.

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa has seen a lot in her career, and she was already half expecting what she'd find, but the reality of it overwhelms even her normally solid psyche. She goes a little pale. "Yeah, we found something all right," she replies to Stanyard. "We just found the Begay family - or what's left of them." She fills him in on all the grisly details.

OOC,Sanity roll (current level 75) for finding the bodies: [dice]0[/dice] Sanity loss: [dice]1[/dice]

[HoneyDog]

Nik

OOC,Sanity 55 Roll Insanity [url=http://orokos.com/roll/473300]Insanity[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]4[/b]

“Son of a bitch” Nik mutters to himself. After seeing the sheep, he isn’t surprised to learn that the same fate has befallen the Begay family. The sight of the four of them laying in the grave makes him angry and determined to find out who did this. “Once we catch up with you, I hope you don’t want to surrender” he thinks.

He rounds on the shocked Sheriff Colorados, who is staring at the bodies. “Sheriff, get onto Major Garrett and get a forensic team out here now.”

He then addresses John Rope directly. “They must have known the killer. Do you have any idea who could have done this”?

OOC,I'd like to roll HUMINT on John Rope HUMINT 70% [url=http://orokos.com/roll/473308]HUMINT[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]56[/b]

[Dave Syrinx]

On the phone to Vanessa-
"Damn, was it close to thee ranch? Our vic seem to be drained of blood with no spillage. There are tracks from some animal, but the site is too clean to be a work from just an animal. Someone else was here and tidied up. He was a Kenneth Braverman, a police officer from Houston. I'll call his superior to report his death and whereabouts. Then we'll might be wiser as to what he was doing out here. Over!"

On the crime scene-
He waits for a sign off and acquires the number to Braverman's station in Texas. "Hello Sir, this is Special agent Stanyard of FBI, Phoenix field office. We have found the remains of one of your officers, Kenneth Barverman. He has been a victim of a car crash and we're conducting an investigation about what caused it. We're sorry for your loss, SIr. We do, however, need to know if he was on a case up here. We think he might be involved in a case we're working on along State Route 70."

Stanyard takes notes from the replies he gets and confers wi th Garrett. "Braverman most likely traveled on the 70 getting here and surely is a fourteenth victim but earlier than the Begay's... If this pattern of people being hidden away close to the site of assault we should check the other sites more closely after graves or covered areas."

To Edmiund he says coming over to him by the car, "How are you doing Rue? Seems this case is growing as we look closer. Good thing we got a lead anyway. Any clue to what killed him?" Stanyard takes a quick look at the wounds again.

Spoiler:

30% @medical
[dice]0[/dice]

[Cearlan]

Edmiund Rue

"I'm fine Chad, thanks. This case is certainly bigger than what we were initially led to believe. As to what killed Braverman, I can't really tell very much from what we can see from here - especially as we are only here to 'advise.'" Edmund added with a smirk.

"Any luck on tracking down the number for his station, that's a call I'm not looking forward to."

OOC:   I know he did make the call, but Agent Rue wouldn't.

[Mr. Handy]

"Yeah, it's near the ranch," says Vanessa. "Sheep that were missing from there were also buried nearby, and they'd been picked clean. We found the graves because coyotes were digging at them, but it wasn't the coyotes who put them there, that's for sure. I'll have to be in on the autopsies of the bodies we've found, and I'll work with the forensics team, given my area of expertise. From what I've been able to tell so far, both the sheep and the people had multiple injections in their hearts and lungs."