[MISSION] IN THE SHADOW OF THE DRAGON

[khuimods]

Characters: All! Those signed up to teams will have comment headers; there will be opportunities for non-teamed characters.
Date: Feb 15-28, running into the first week of March
Location: Around Aifaran
Situation: The Sentry has called on outside help from the Dreamfolk to deal with a challenging situation
Warnings/Rating: None yet, will be added as needed.


In the early morning hours of February 15th, a fire starts at city hall. The blaze burns hot and quick, but fire teams are able to put it out by the time the sun comes up. The Sentry holds a press conference that afternoon, sharing that the fire is determined to be arson. Witnesses describe someone wearing an ill-fitting Sentry uniform hurrying away from the scene.

The Sentry will announce that, due to the strain on their resources dealing with storm recovery, they are commissioning outside assistance to deal with a number of incidents similar to this one. Dreamfolk in particular are being called upon to once again use their unique abilities to aid the archipelago.

Those who report to the Verdant Sentry Headquarters are briefed on the situation: a contingent of the Sentry is departing Aifaran for the Zoech Lowlands to search for the people missing from Cape Averi. The outpost was found empty after the storm; at first this was presumed to be the fault of the Dreaming, but now they aren't so sure.

Those who choose to assist the Verdant Sentry will be given a small stipend and extended a certain degree of authority to act on the Sentry's behalf. The 'deputized' Dreamfolk will be responsible for investigating discrete incidents to help make up for the reduction in Sentry forces in Aifaran. They are being entrusted not only with these cases, but with the reputation of the Sentry itself.

Although they are requesting this assistance, the Sentry remain tight-lipped about Cape Averi beyond the bare-bones logistics. Their suspicions are not made public, and nor will they be shared with the assembled volunteers unless these investigations intersect. Abuse of this power will not be tolerated.

---

OOC Notes: Characters will be provided with tools needed to conduct the investigation, such as gloves and basic forensics gear (fingerprint dust, evidence collection bags, etc). They will also be handed paperwork

If you did not sign your character(s) up for a team, you can submit a summary of what the character will look into and we will provide a reply as to the findings and effects. This will be a one-time thing for these characters in order to maximize the time for the main mission logistics.

Comments

[ninjainviolet]

Sheena studies everyone as the group gathers, recognizing those she had seen around the city during her travels. The young lady, however, doesn't ring a bell. However, like Miles, Sheena senses that she seems a bit lost. Mom!Mode immediately kicks in, and the ninja works her way towards the woman as they gather closer.

"I'm Sheena. Sheena Fujibayashi," she says in response to his introduction. "Nice to meet you."

She turns her gaze towards the building, then what may be the only way to get out of here quickly. "Hmmm. What was so important that someone felt they had to destroy the records room? And where did they go?" She barely pauses before continuing.

"If no one minds, I'd like to try to find the guy who did this. I'm not exactly one for searching through records."

[astralera]

Era offers a polite bow in greeting.

"I am Lieutenant Ra, though I believe most of you know me as Era."

Sheena's suggestion has a great deal of merit. Carbuncle perks up at Era's side as she thinks of how useful it will be in this part of the investigation.

"Carbuncle can track the culprit's trail by scent. It may prove more useful than my rifling through records here."

[upshore]

"Miles Upshur," Miles says, "but really, I'll answer to anything." Just gotta be careful not to turn your head when someone's addressing the Fool, Miles!

When the conversation turns to searching through records, he grins. "I'm good at finding documents," he says. "I'm down to investigate some arson."

[upshore]

"Um," Miles says, surprisingly not sarcastically. "Yeah, I'd put that into the 'worrisome' category and also assign it a solid 'yikes'. You're sure that's what's missing?"

Of course he's sure; he strikes Miles as the diligent type, for all his self-deprecating name.

[squidiot]

"Yeah, probably a good idea," Kai says to X. "I probably shouldn't talk to officers. They'd probably think I'm just a dumb kid anyway." And you do nothing to dissuade the notion, Kai.

"I am good at finding stuff," she says, "so looking around's fine by me."

[wolfishflame]

Aly hadn't expected to be part of a police investigation, but she's here now, so she may as well get to it. There were some other people due to show up, but she hasn't seen them yet, so she's mostly just poking around and taking notes.

[wrathfulkhan]

"I'm not sure," Gene said to Valdis. "Though they've always seemed to be the pacifistic type. While they're not beyond passive-aggression, I should think that actual vandalism would be a little bit outside their scope."

At Zohvin's revelation, though, he looked thoughtful. "Chaos to cover tracks. Though not very well-covered, it seems." Gene's familiar with misdirection to further his own ends, but coming at it from an investigator's perspective is uniquely interesting, and potentially uniquely vexing.

"If it's misdirection, then, we ought to consider who might have motive."

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita nods - at X's statement, not Kai's; Kai's earns a cautious look.

"My sister would call that quitter talk," she says, "but I think I could help more with the lockers myself, anyhow."

So that was double the agreement.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis shrugged, carefully pulling the bit of cloth off there it had stuck, taking another deep breath.

"So someone knew exactly what they were doing," she reiterated, "It's an odd target, the control station."

She tried to think about who might gain from such deliberate sabotage. Gene was probably right about the Sabonile, much as she disliked any form of religion, those who followed them tended to stick with the values.

"We should take a sample of the blood."

[zohvin]

Zohvin nods to them as he opens the bottle of fingerprinting powder, sprinkling it out over the control panel on the areas he thought it likely the perpetrator would have been touching it. While he's attending to taking the fingerprint samples, he comments,

"Do we know enough from the scene to establish a motive? Perhaps the Sentry could, but I doubt they're going to share the details of their other investigations with us - excluding Valdis, of course." He offers her a polite nod before turning his attention back to the panel. "It'd be more prudent to find their train-knowledgeable collaborator and make him squeal like a shriek-hawk."

[wrathfulkhan]

"No motive I can ascertain aside from the graffiti," Gene said. "Or just a desire to cause trouble for trouble's sake."

Something occurred to him then. "Perhaps they were paid. What could one of the gangs stand to gain from this, do we think? Unless something has changed, they don't have an alternative transportation system."

[redlightgreenlight]

"Maybe it isn't about them," Valdis replied, walking over to take a swab of the blood and put it in a small forensic tube. "Maybe it's about stopping another party from getting somewhere."

With the fire at the Records Hall, by a person dressed as a Sentry member, it could be an attempt to sabotage a response to something that hadn't happened yet. She tucked the vial into her pocket and glanced at Zohvin.

"The sentry is pretty tight lipped with me too," she replied, "If you mean what I think you mean, there's no need to make their contact squeal, my current position is in interrogation without pain, and I'm pretty good at it."

[zohvin]

"Whatever gets the job done," he tells Valdis with a ghost of a smile tugging at his lips.

It doesn't matter how many fingerprints Zohvin finds, he focuses on taking samples of as many of them as possible. That process involves using the clear tape provided in the kit, pressed down against the shapes outlined in the dust, which is then placed against a piece of paper for easy review later. He can't help but think about how much faster the process could have gone with a handheld scanner.

"I can't claim much familiarity with the gangs here. Are they organized enough for focused attacks like these?"

[afoolsgold]

"Then it seems our best course of action is to divide our efforts." The Fool catches Miles' eye and gives him a smile that is just this side of sly. "I suppose Anything and I shall depart for the records room."

(Should someone calling themselves the Fool really be left to orchestrate the logistics of this endeavour? They can quibble over that later if they like.)

[afoolsgold]

"Regretfully, yes," the Fool replies, all traces of his usual droll humour gone from his face. He turns his eyes to Miles to regard him gravely. "It's also not the only one that is missing."

He extends the finding aid out to Miles and settles one gloved finger against the record code directly below it: basic blueprints for the sewer system near the Opara Core. "Both records were recently accessed and then returned by one of the staffers working late the night of the fire--but if they were responsible for the fire, surely they would better cover their tracks."

There's a trace of doubt in his voice; the Fool is no investigator, although he has a keen eye. He looks around them one more time, peering with a frown at the damaged cabinets all around them. "Why not burn these, too?" he muses quietly, gesturing to the two unburnt cabinets they stand before now. "Why not mask what was taken to hide your tracks?"

[ninjainviolet]

"Sounds good to me," Sheena says before chuckling and turning to Miles. "Well, you did say you answer to 'anything'."

In a moment, she turns to Era. "So, ready to go hunting? The only thing left to do is to decide where to start? Find where they left the building? Or start from where they were seen?"

Sheena is already leaning towards the latter; they may learn something about this guy just from that.