Skyline

The hooded woman slowly sat down and curled up in a ball, hugging her knees and frantically looking around. She appears to be in shock.
For a few seconds she just stared at her surroundings, trying to understand exactly where she is.

Then she looked at her wrist watch, to check how much time passed, since the creature attacked.

She then briefly patted herself down, looking for any injuries on her body.


Only after that she seems to have slightly snapped out of her stupor and looked around:
"Is.. everyone okay?" she faintly asked in a shaking voice, then looked at the radio and pressed a button on it:


"...this is detective Jane Marple, who am I speaking to?"

It appears that roughly 5 minutes have been lost. Jane's body appears no worse for wear but the immanent pain of a migraine is starting to build. Kane let's out a breath and the mage give's her a weak thumbs up. The voice responds

"For both your and my own safety I can't give you my name. I know you have no reason to trust the person that killed a bunch of people but I am going to ask for your help all the same. I can't explain it at this moment as the longer we speak the more you are at risk" the migraine is slowly building, seeming to amplify with each word spoken "Find a woman named Erith. That's all I can say at this time"

With a screech the radio turns to static.

"Its fine if you can't speak, just listen" Jane spoke into the radio:
"Its over, okay? The whole city is looking for you now. They will find you.
Surrender yourself to the authorities and I promise you will be treated fairly. No one else has to be hurt...
Hello?" She waited a few more moments in silence, sighed, then continued to speak into the radio:





"Attention all units, the suspect acquired one of our radios and is monitoring our communication.
Switch to the predetermined backup frequency now"



Jane changed the radio frequency on her own device, before she continued:

"Alright... attention all units, maintain the perimeter around the building, in a 10 kilometer radius. The suspect could not have covered that distance in 5 minutes, which means he's still inside our perimeter.


The suspect is 7 feet tall, cloaked, drenched in blood, or will smell of blood. Packed with cybernetics, so bust out the metal detectors.


If you encounter the suspect, do not engage in close quarters combat, its his speciality. Strictly long range attacks are adviced.

The suspect is impervious to small arms fire. Recommend switching to high caliber, armor piercing rounds, or utilize electricity and explosives.




Please inform the police commissioner of the developing situation.
I recommend we maintain the perimeter and start sweeping inside, clearing it block by block, until we find this guy.

Have the commissioner issue a press report, issuing all citizens inside the perimeter to remain in their homes and report any suspicious activity via police hotline.



Also, have the commissioner call either the military or the mayor, to get in touch with the local government agency, so they can send specialists to deal with this mess.
We are woefully under equipped to deal with a case like this."



Jane lowered the radio and thought for a moment:

"Also please send several dozen men to my location. The building is still a potential active crime scene and more hostiles might be inside.
Once they arrive, we can clear the building and start taking it apart for clues. Have a full forensics team on standby.


Lastly, I need the HQ to pull up the city surveillance camera footage around this building.
We need to know what happened in the past 5 minutes and which direction the suspect went. Maybe we can track his movements on cameras around the city."



"And lets use the cameras to locate the alcoholic that was hanging around this building when I first called in the emergency.
He was dressed as a civilian so I originally ordered him to leave the crime scene for his protection, during the hostilities, but he was way too chill for someone who just witnessed death right in front of him.

At the very least, he's a witness, if not a suspect. Use the city security cameras to find him and bring him in"





She thought for a few more moments:
"Also tell HQ to pull up the citizen files of everyone in this city and scan those for everyone named Erith.

But be very discreet. Erith might be the next target and the killer might use us, to find her.



I will remain at the building at await backup. When they arrive, we can start clearing the building again. Out" she lowered the radio and stared off into space.

Jane revives a confirmation over the radio. Around thirty minutes later several police cruisers and swat vans arrive. The area quickly becomes alive with work as several different groups break off to secure a perimeter and warn the population. The camera's on the side of the building unfortunately where simply fakes in order to scare thieves away. This was not uncommon this far out from the central part of the city.

A small group breaks off from the swat and police and head over to Jane. Their are three of them consisting of...

Arra the mage who had been their originally. She had dark bags under her eyes and appeared to either be stifling a yawn or yawning. Jane would recognize her from her own precinct knowing full well that Arra was quite good at her job despite looking and acting as she did.

Next up was Valen. A man who on contrast to Arra was bright eyed and looked very excited to be there. It was easy to pick up that Valen was very recently promoted to his position. Valen was from a different precinct to Jane.

Finally was Terrance. He was a police captain but had requested to be demoted back down to Sergeant. Jane and the other's can get little else out of him. He mostly shrugs when asked vague or casual questions. Though never having met him personally Jane would know that Terrance was good at his job.

"Right," Terrance turns to Jane "Detective Marple, lead on." He turns to Arra and Valen a brief moment then back to Jane nodding.

"Alright.. what kinda gear you guys packing?" Jane asked. She resorted to hiding behind an inconspicuous car, where she had a good visual angle on the building.


"Do you have any high caliber, automatic weapons with armor piercing rounds? Shotguns, electricity or fire based magic? Flashbangs?
Anything less and we'll be dead before we realize what happened"


She looked at her hangun and holstered it somewhere inside her raincoat:

"Small arms fire is ineffective. Also we can't. establish any type of telepathic links." She looked away:
"That's how three of us died. The suspect used the link to kill us.. somehow"



She thought for a moment then reached out for her radio again:
"HQ, check the nearest cameras to the building, then all the cameras moving outward, away from it. They may help us spot the suspect and see which direction he went.

Also contact the defense ministry and see if there were any satellites over the city, at the time of the murders. Maybe there's satellite images that can tell us what happened during the 5 minutes of our unconsciousness"

Arra holds back a yawn "Just my cloak and magic. Still don't know why those science nuts can't figure out a way to remove the interference heavier clothes and armor has on magic." A yawn escapes as she adjusts her cloak "thankfully these things are police issued so they boost my casting. Fate magic is my thing so I can protect everyone with magic shields. Necromancy, being my null school, won't really be an option for me so try not to get too injured"

"The van has a selection," Terrance gestures back "if you want to grab something heavier than that sidearm of yours." He swings a rifle from his back. Clear rings are wrapped and spaced evenly around the barrel along with a few other tubes and wires running long the side and top. He checks it over before slinging it back.

Jane would recognize this as an M9 Energy Rifle. It's delay between pulling the trigger and firing keeps most people from using it. The user has to lead the target or predict where they will be making accuracy a huge issue. The damage output makes up for it however being one of few non magic means to get through magic shields.

"I'm about as armed as you detective" Valen shrugs "Unless you're hiding something under that rain coat?"


From the Radio: "Copy that Detective. Just a moment," there is a fifteen second pause with the sounds of a keyboard partially coming through "Ok, so it it looks like the suspect headed south towards the city. It seems to be avoiding direct line of site from any camera's on the street and from the satellite network. However, the suspect is leaving behind a very feint trail of non lethal radiation." there is another pause and more typing. The sounds of muffled voices can be heard in the background. The voice returns "It's going to take some time to get the information from the time lost. It's probably a glitch but it looks like every clock globally jumped from 21:30 to 21:35. I'll get back to you as soon as we know more here"

Jane went very pale, very quickly. Trying to calm down while exhaling, she clicked the radio button:

"...notify the government. Tell them we have evidence to suggest a possible dirty bomb in the city. They need to make a decision how to approach this.


Finding our killer is now the highest priority. He may be carrying a dirty bomb on him, or he knows where it is. We need to take him alive.
Contact every security agency in the city. Every single one of them have to throw their resources into finding this guy. Nothing else matters.


We need to comb every square inch of our established perimeter until we find him.
Whatever means you used to pick up his radiation signature, use it to follow him and send this data to the field agents who are looking for him.



Also send a HazMat team to this building immediately.
No one else goes inside, without a Geiger Counter, Iodide pills and radiation suit."


She sighed: "After all that, look into the time skip.
As a point of reference, look at the surveillance camera phootage of the police station, and see what happened in there during the five minute time skip.




In the meantime, we'll wait on standby around the building, until HazMat gets here"


Jane let go of the radio and approached the van. Opening its door, she studied the available arsenal inside.

//So I'm going to be throwing small bits of lore and common world knowledge through out the posts for a time being. Things that character's should already know.//

"The radiation won't be a problem for you detective" the voice answers "You're at more risk standing in direct sun during it's high point. Satellites...show levels within the building have decreased to standard everyday levels."

Jane would know that death from viruses, infections, ect was very rare. A combination of medicine and necromancy magic had cured all but the rarest and deadliest of diseases and sicknesses.

The van holds a number of items to chose from. A small selection of carbine rifles, shotguns, and a couple of the M9 Energy Rifles; a staff for each school of magic; frag, EMP, flash bang, and AM (anti magic) grenades.

There where also sets of light and medium armor. The light armor allowing for full movement and full access to spell casting. It could stop small arms fire for a short time and grazing shots from medium caliber bullets, however it has no magical defense. The medium armor restricts some spell casting, and restricts some movement. The armor can stop about 20% of a spells effects. Small arms fire is once again stopped for a short time as well as it being able to take more direct punishment form medium caliber bullets.

Jane also notices a small selection of advanced gear.

a light recon drone equipped with night vision and taser, a DoS (denial of service) gauntlet for assistance in hacking, and Gate Scroll.

Some spells no matter how talented the caster is requires a scroll in order to use. Scrolls take 10 to 30 seconds to read depending on how good they are at Fate magic. 10 seconds for some one like Arra, 30 seconds for an average caster, and uncastable by anyone with fate as their null school. Scrolls are also destroyed after the spell is cast. Gate is a short range teleport spell. The user and everyone standing within a 15 ft (1.5 m) radius is teleported 300 meter's away  to a spot of the caster's choosing. Gate scrolls have a very small chance of failing or teleporting the person or person's to a destination they did not select such as 300 meter's in the air or inside of a solid wall. A caster with Fate as their primary magic either casting the spell or being apart of the teleport drastically decreases this even small chance.

The driver inside of the van also watching a televised broadcast of the news. The time on the bottom left hand of the screen reads 01:45. Unless ordered otherwise the driver of the vehicle always stays inside.

"...are hoping the project will be ready for launch by early 2050 of next year." The screen cuts away from the inside of the studio to a separate scene. An area that looks like it is made from black glass is show. Several mountains made of the black glass are set in the background with pulses of coloured light coming from behind them. Alternating between Red, White, Blue and Green. A man wearing military fatigues but with a press logo on the chest stands in front of the camera

"Tensions between Neltarka and Kulturan continue to grow as small skirmishes between the provinces take place on their shared boarder. A recent discovery by Kulturan professors threatens to bring the two provinces back into war. Being the first time the groups have engaged in direct war in over half a millennium. Neltarkan officials are hoping this issue can be dealt with peaceably but admit they are expecting the worst. "

The driver switches off the tv.

"People don't become radioactive on their own. He was exposed to radioactive material, we need to find it.
I need a Geiger Counter at least. I won't allow any operatives to enter the building without it"


Jane said into the radio, as she inspected the gear. After carefully examining everything, she strapped on the light armor, equipped a shotgun behind her back, attached four grenades to her belt, one of each kind, then picked up the carbine rifle and checked its clip, verifying that the bullets were armor piercing.


"I have many things under my rain coat, all of them useless against that creature"
Jane said to her colleagues:
"Gear up for stopping power and distance. If he gets close to you, its over."

"Yeah but there's" the operator catches her self "Sorry. Just a second. And...there we are." A buzz then a beep comes from Jane's phone "Your phone is now connected directly to one of our satellites and will act as a Geiger counter for you."


The rifle is equipped with AP rounds. Upon closer inspection she notes the carbine can be switched between semi-auto and a three round burst. The magazine includes 21 rounds. The shotgun at the same time holds 8 shells, is top fed, and requires pumping after each shot. In total she has 4 reloads for the carbine and 32 shells for the shotgun.

Terrance grabs a set of medium armor and spare ammo for his energy rifle. He also takes 2 frag grenades. Valen takes a set of light armor, a shotgun, as well as the drone. Finally Arra grabs the Gate Scroll as well as a Fate and Primal Staff.

Arra let's out a yawn then nods to Jane. "Looks like we're ready to go."

Jane switched the rifle to semi-auto fire mode.
Then pulled something out of her coats pocket. It looked an mp3 player armband that joggers usually wear on their biceps.

Instead of an mp3, Jane shoved her phone into the armband and strapped it to her left wrist. Pressing the touchscreen a few times, she set the phone to display the radiation readings non stop, then loaded her rifle and made sure there's a bullet in the chamber.



"Alright, stack up by the door" Jane quietly called and jogged towards the front door, keeping the weapon aimed at the ground. Standing behind cover, on left side of the doorframe, she waits for her colleagues.

Periodically, she throws a glance at the radiation readings on her phone.

On the right side of the door Terrance takes the spot beside Jane with Valen standing beside him. Arra places her self next to Jane. The radiation levels monitored by the phone appear to be at normal levels. A soft breeze picks up moving through the area. Hair and clothing shifts slightly. He looks to Jane waiting for her go ahead.

While at the precinct normal rankings would apply. On the field either the Sergeant or Lead Detective would take command depending on who initiated the case. In this instance Jane would have temporary higher authority than Terrance.

The door way is the main entry to the building. It has a metal boarder with the inner part being glass. The lights from the police vehicles allow some vision inside. The area looks like a waiting room where the public could come in and pick up or place orders. It's still hard to say exactly what this building is for.

"HQ, contact the mayors office" Jane spoke into the radio: "Have them find out the purpose of this building and the name of its owner. Also see if you can coax the buildings blueprints out of them"

She nodded to her colleagues, then pushed the door open with her boot and walked inside. She began making her way down the hallway, scanning the surroundings.

The first room you enter is something of a waiting area. To the left is a set of chairs around a short table. Magazines are scattered across the surface of it with some on the floor. To the right is a wall with a fish tank mounted in it. The light inside it flickers with a bioluminescent blue and a large crack in the bottom has drained the water from the tank. A couple fish lay dead below the tank. The water has seeped into the carpeted floor. To the back and left is a large desk with a few office with a few baskets for customers filling out forms. The edges of two computers can be seen peeking over the top of the desk. Behind the desk painted on the wall in big block letters are the words

CRAIG’S AUTO: DON’T DESPAIR, WE REPAIR!

Flanking either side of the letters are a few framed hanging pictures. Most likely safety certificates. There are two doors in the room. One on the same wall as the letters but near the back right of the room. The other is on the left wall behind the desk. A 9 digit pin pad can be seen just below the handle

The inside of the building is mostly dark. Only the police lights and flickering light from the fish tank providing any visibility. There is a faint smell of death coming from deeper in the building.

Jane carefully and slowly moves in, aiming the barrel of her rifle down the hall. She moved quietly, scanning her surroundings until she reached the door with the pin pad.

"Bring out a doorbuster or a crowbar" she quietly called to her team, then looked at the door. Without much hope, she tried her luck anyway and tried to just opening the door with the pin pad.

After a few tries randomly hitting buttons on the pin pad it offers no results. Jane does however notice that these particular pin pads where known to malfunction when breakers where forced to reset. Several B&E's in the past where because of these faulty devices and judging by the wear on it this pin pad was one of the original.

Valen starts attempting to gain access to one of the computers while Terrance investigates the area near the second door. Arra steps over to help Jane. She lowers the primal staff at the door near the handle

"I can force this door open with a thunderwave spell. It will be loud and if anything is in this building it will hear us." she looks to Jane for confirmation "Otherwise," she yawns "We might have to look for the code somewhere in the building"

"Oh that's ironic" Valen chuckles leaning over the key board of one of the computers "lock a door yet don't password protect their computers." he shakes his head then gives his fingers a crack.

"We've been laying seige to this building for the better part of an hour, with coutless men and police cars moving outside and flashing their lights." Jane said:
"By now, even the blind and deaf know that we're in here.

Use the thunderwave on the door. We've wasted enough time.
There may be wounded in this building that can still be saved"



She loudly banged on the closed door with her fist:
"POLICE! IF ANYONE'S INSIDE, STEP AWAY FROM THE DOOR! WE'RE COMING IN" she called out and nodded to Arra.

Radiance wrote:

The driver inside of the van also watching a televised broadcast of the news. The time on the bottom left hand of the screen reads 01:45. Unless ordered otherwise the driver of the vehicle always stays inside.

"...are hoping the project will be ready for launch by early 2050 of next year." The screen cuts away from the inside of the studio to a separate scene. An area that looks like it is made from black glass is show. Several mountains made of the black glass are set in the background with pulses of coloured light coming from behind them. Alternating between Red, White, Blue and Green. A man wearing military fatigues but with a press logo on the chest stands in front of the camera

"Tensions between Neltarka and Kulturan continue to grow as small skirmishes between the provinces take place on their shared boarder. A recent discovery by Kulturan professors threatens to bring the two provinces back into war. Being the first time the groups have engaged in direct war in over half a millennium. Neltarkan officials are hoping this issue can be dealt with peaceably but admit they are expecting the worst. "

The driver switches off the tv.

"Urgh, what're they arguing about this time?" Harry Quest, SWAT necromancer and medic, asks the van driver as he leans in and pulls out a sandwich, corned beef and cheddar with pickle. "It's always crisis this, war that, load of nonsense if you ask me. Just posturing and point-scoring, they don't give a fig about us, am I right?"

(Jane)
The air seems to warp around the edge of the staff for a brief moment then pure force explodes towards the door. The door is thrown open tearing off the frame, hinges and all. The area behind the door is completely black for but a second, then automatic lights snap on. The room behind the door appears to be the buildings filing room. Boxes with various labels are placed neatly on shelves. Jane's eye after a moment catch a bit of movement behind one of the shelves. A warped shadow is growing and shrinking at a constant rate as if something is very slightly swinging back and forth.


(Harry)
The driver takes a sip from his thermos "Skip history class? If there is any threat of war from anyone on this planet it's those jack asses in the Obsidian Desert that you should be worried about. Last time they went to war they turned their forested and mountainous province into a hellscape of wild magic and black glass. It was 500 years ago and with limited technology, imagine what damage they could do now."

Radiance wrote:(Harry)
The driver takes a sip from his thermos "Skip history class? If there is any threat of war from anyone on this planet it's those jack asses in the Obsidian Desert that you should be worried about. Last time they went to war they turned their forested and mountainous province into a hellscape of wild magic and black glass. It was 500 years ago and with limited technology, imagine what damage they could do now."

"Imagine what damage we could do" Harry shakes his head, then leaves and strolls over to the first body that landed on the car. He hunches down next to it and takes a bite from his sandwich, examining the head to determine if the brain is intact enough to retain any memories that could be used as evidence.

He was a scrawny man, tall and thin, with long hair and a beard. Apart from the standard SWAT uniform, he was wearing sunglasses, and around his neck hung his focus, a pocket watch with a number of additional gauges built in, measuring things such as temperature, pressure, humidity, and altitude.

(Harry)
Obtaining memories from a brain can only be done on the living. That particular spell is more victims of brain issuea like Alzheimers and blackouts. However, if Harry wants he can cast the Speak With Dead spell.

Speak With Dead allows the caster to communicate with the spiriti of a dead being asking a single yes or no question to which the spirit must be truthfull. The spell requires one minute to cast and the caster must maintain physical contact with the target for both the minute and durring the question.

Jane aimed her rifle into the room and changed her position, to get a better visual angle of the room, without entering. Judging by her grimace, she's expecting to see a hanged corpse, suspended from the ceiling.

Radiance wrote:(Harry)
Obtaining memories from a brain can only be done on the living. That particular spell is more victims of brain issuea like Alzheimers and blackouts. However, if Harry wants he can cast the Speak With Dead spell.

Speak With Dead allows the caster to communicate with the spiriti of a dead being asking a single yes or no question to which the spirit must be truthfull. The spell requires one minute to cast and the caster must maintain physical contact with the target for both the minute and durring the question.

// Is there anything stopping me from casting Speak With Dead multiple times in a row, and if not, if the spirit is resigned to the fact that he's just going to be answering multiple questions anyway, could he answer all of my questions with a single spell to save time?

Harry places his hand on the dead man's forehead, and casts Speak With Dead. As he does so, his pocket watch begins to levitate, the various gauges going up and down as the magic courses through it.

//It only works once per spirit with one question so now bombarding with questions. You have to be tactical about what you ask. All spirits exists within something called the Ether. It is the source of all magic as well as where souls and memories live before people are reincarnated through birth. Spells like Speak With Dead pulls those memories out of the Ether for a short time and once cast the spirit breaks apart into pure magical energy or Ether that joins with other spirits. Spirits also naturally break apart after about a year. This energy either becomes the source for magic being cast or a new soul when a child is born. In a nut shell after the single question is asked that spirit no longer exists.

(Jane)
The better angle reveals more of the room. The spot with the moving shadow reveals not a person but several wires and cords of various lengths and thicknesses hanging from the roof. They sway slightly as if their own momentum has been keeping them like this for a while. The edges of the wires appeared to be frayed and stripped.

(Harry)
A translucent blue-white copy of the dead man appears to separate from him and stands up. It looks down at it's body, shakes it's head, then looks to Harry.

Radiance wrote://It only works once per spirit with one question so now bombarding with questions. You have to be tactical about what you ask. All spirits exists within something called the Ether. It is the source of all magic as well as where souls and memories live before people are reincarnated through birth. Spells like Speak With Dead pulls those memories out of the Ether for a short time and once cast the spirit breaks apart into pure magical energy or Ether that joins with other spirits. Spirits also naturally break apart after about a year. This energy either becomes the source for magic being cast or a new soul when a child is born. In a nut shell after the single question is asked that spirit no longer exists.

(Jane)
The better angle reveals more of the room. The spot with the moving shadow reveals not a person but several wires and cords of various lengths and thicknesses hanging from the roof. They sway slightly as if their own momentum has been keeping them like this for a while. The edges of the wires appeared to be frayed and stripped.

(Harry)
A translucent blue-white copy of the dead man appears to separate from him and stands up. It looks down at it's body, shakes it's head, then looks to Harry.

// Well that's awkward, any suggestions, anyone?