[IC] Fu Sonzai no Genso: An Urban Fantasy Mystery RP(Raineh Daze and VitaVitaAR)(Eventually open to two more players!)

[VitaVitaAR]

"Well, there's quite a few different options," Toshiko began, without a moment's pause. After all, defensive spells were something any self-respecting mage should have a good working knowledge of. "The most obvious of these is to use barriers that project a physical 'wall' that can block things from passing through it. Enough power can break something like this, but according to the file there was no sign of any sort of attack. So, it's rather unlikely that any barriers were damaged, if they were present. The same goes for field spells that would achieve a similar effect."

Toshiko paused to take another drag on her cigarette, the window rolled down to let the smoke out as she exhaled.

"There could also be field spells that cause a specific effect on those that enter them," she continued, "The most advanced of these are known as closed spaces, and are effectively a magically enclosed space that affords the one projecting it certain advantages. However, there doesn't seem to have been one in place here. Runes, however, are very likely to have been in place."

Another pause for another drag on the cigarette.

"Runes are basically a way of storing a spell, and then triggering it. They can be inscribed on paper or even carved into a surface, or written with chalk," she added, "Similar methods can be used to create circles that trap intruders or do any number of different things. There were probably wards in place, too, to detect if there was anyone who wasn't permitted to be on the premises."

Toshiko paused for a moment.

"Anything else?"

[Raineh Daze]

"Is there a range limitation to runes? Someone with the permission to be there and knowledge of the defences could take an unorthodox entrance like the roof and bypass the defences that way," Ryuuko wondered, doing her best to memorise the magical information whilst translating it into more mundane terminology. Barriers presented an analogy to walls and doors themselves, simply improved, and area wards had a similarity to biometric identification or even simply cameras. Runes of a limited range could represent even more focused cameras... or traps triggered around them, perhaps the patrols of guards.

The heiress pulled away from the red light, considering where a flaw could be. The important thing was to work out if magic innately protected against unexpected methods of entry. The floor and ceiling when you had up to date plans of the building would be easily exploited if not covered for. Even a few good protections around the target with a mage able to break them were meaningless if the alarms were silenced and the outer defences skipped.

[VitaVitaAR]

"A limitation on range largely depends on the spell being used with the rune," replied Toshiko, leaning back in her seat. "Though it's unlikely they would have much range outside of the room they've been placed in, if they're placed indoors."

She considered this fact for a moment. From the roof... that wasn't an impossible proposal. However, it *was* reliant on the Daidouji family also failing to consider that possibility. And, well, if they were anything like what she expected, well...

"It's not impossible they didn't mark everything," she began, "But the Daidouji probably considered that fact already. Still, it's worth checking out once we get there."

[Raineh Daze]

"Do you think that they will have disabled the defences for us?" she asked, not wanting to contend with automated magical defences with the entirety of her magical ability coming down to 'make herself slightly tougher'. Where did you even start to go about neutralising these things with nothing more than a sword? But if the defences were down, then anyone with knowledge and access could take them apart and restore them... which made the prospect of an inside job seem all the more likely.

[VitaVitaAR]

"... I would assume they will have," replied Toshiko, after a moment's pause. At least, she hoped so. She could never be certain how paranoid a client would be, to be entirely honest, and when it came to someone like the Daidouji family, well... there was no real question of how dangerous that sort of thing could be. But at the same time, they had hired them willingly. So it could be assumed they would rather not risk harming the people they'd asked to help. Besides, Toshiko would be... irritated if something like that occurred.

The Daidouji mansion was a large, stately building. It was mostly dark wood, a vast western-style building as opposed to any eastern designs. The windows were thin and tall, and the mansion itself was a huge building. It was quite clear that the Daidouji family was very, very rich. And it rather quickly came into view, not much of a distance from Toshiko's detective agency.

"We're here," Toshiko said, simply, pointing to the mansion.

[Raineh Daze]

Pointing to the mansion was an entirely unnecessary step. A building that size and style, along with her own knowledge of the destination, meant that Ryuuko couldn't help but determine it as their target. On the whole, the building put a sour taste in her mouth. It wasn't that her own family home was small but this was too big, too complicated, and too obviously a display of grandeur. Being western lost it even more points with her own architectural preferences.

Still, she reversed into the driveway and brought the car to a stop before handing the key over to Toshiko. Toshiko, who would hopefully let her drive back now that there was even less fuel in the car...

[VitaVitaAR]

Toshiko took the key quickly and stepped out of the car, pausing a moment to wait for Ryuuko before leading her onward.

Toshiko walked ahead of the yakuza princess, beckoning her to follow, as she headed towards the doorway. Yes, the Daidouji family did have quite a bit of money... and Toshiko didn't have much at the moment(She'd blown all her spending money. She couldn't help it, that Egyptian Orb seemed so interesting...). When she made it to the door, she quickly knocked.

For several moments, there was silence, until finally the door opened.

Standing in the doorway was a very short maid. She was blue-eyed, and with long, brown hair. It would be quite easy to describe her as cute, really, and looked somewhat like she might have a nervous breakdown at any second. At least judging from all the shaking.

"O-oh, are you the detectives Daidouji-sama hired?" she asked, her tremors slowing.

"That would be us," replied Toshiko, smiling at the maid. Why was she so nervous and shaky? Was it just what she was like, or was there something more to it? That might need to be looked into... "I'm Ando Toshiko, and this is my employee, Miura Ryuuko. Is Daidouji-san here?"

The maid shook her head, shaking slightly as she did. "Daidouji-sama had to leave on urgent b-business... Daidouji Tomoko-sama and Ojou-sama are here, though. I'll take you to Tomoko-sama."

The maid turned on her heel and began to head inside, shaking as she did. Toshiko frowned, slightly. Why was she so nervous? Whatever the case, she began to head inside. There wasn't really any time for dawdling, not when there was a case to solve. It was time to scope out the mansion's interior.

The inside of the mansion was quite sizable. The entry hall alone was a vast room, with staircases heading to the second level of the mansion flanking a long, red carpet. That wasn't the only feature, however. Everywhere within the mansion, there were maids. There were five in the entry hall alone, not counting the girl leading them. Sweeping on the stairs, dusting... Certainly, the sheer amount of maids was notable. Did this mansion really need so many? Not that Toshiko was complaining...

[Raineh Daze]

One thing that remained the same, regardless of their respective views on appropriate architecture and styling, between the Miura and the Daidouji was a feeling that large properties had to be appropriately staffed. Even then, Ryuuko couldn't help but feel that they had entirely overdone it with the amount of maids in the entranceway. Especially when, going through the opulent room, there were even more. Where had they even acquired so many people willing to be maids?

Even with the excessive numbers, the maids clearly remained the only thing in the mansion that she would describe as "well decorated": everything else was simply too gaudy for Ryuuko's tastes. It wasn't simply the western design but the amount of stuff. The embroidered curtains with golden rails might have gone nicely with the flaw, and artfully placed urns or vases full of flowers added something to empty corridors... but there was so much, with so much repetition, that it looked messy and ostentatious to her.

She was curious what sort of family decorated like this.

[VitaVitaAR]

As they went on, Toshiko saw even more maids rushing about to clean or simply look things over. How did the Daidouji family afford to pay so many of them?

"Tomoko-sama is through this door," said the trembling maid, one hand on the golden handle of a red door. She turned it... and within, there was a woman. She sat on a red velvet armchair facing the door, in a room with a great deal of bookshelves about. It was easy enough to guess that this was a library. Tomoko appeared to be about five years older then Toshiko, wearing a fine blue dress. Her hair was long and black, her eyes green, and her features slight and fair.

The book she was reading was black, with no apparent cover. Tomoko looked up from her book when she heard them entering.

"Th-the detectives, Tomoko-sama..." said the still-shaking maid.

"Ah, hello, Ando-san," said Tomoko, her voice pleasant, "You can go, now, Inokuma-san."

The shy maid, apparently Inokuma, hurried off. Tomoko's focus returned to Toshiko and the others. "So... is this your apprentice, Ando-san?"

Toshiko nodded. "This is Miura Ryuuko. We're going to need to ask you some questions before we can proceed with the investigation."

"Ask away," replied Tomoko with a sigh, "I'll tell you everything I can, though I still can't begin to understand what happened. Still, that's no reason to behave poorly."

While the woman's voice was pleasant, Toshiko could tell she was struggling to keep up her collected facade. Her hands were shaking ever so slightly. She clearly didn't want to show how panicked she was when attempting to explain what was going on.

[Raineh Daze]

Getting good answers out of someone this agitated would be hard and the last thing that they wanted to do when asking questions was stand up and make this look like an interrogation. Appearing more trustworthy would be a good first step--and Ryuuko looked around the room quickly for chairs, finding two at the end of some bookshelves shortly beyond Tomoko. Hard-backed wood, though nevertheless with that overdone fanciness that plagued the place, and less comfortable than the older woman's chair but they'd do.

Once pulled up and sat in them, Ryuuko decide to pre-empt any fancy conversation with the obvious question: "What can you tell us about what was taken? Especially its size, weight, or any other characteristics that would factor into an attempted theft."

[VitaVitaAR]

The woman took another deep breath.

"It's... a vase. My grandfather left it to me, and..." she hesitated for a few moments, as if worried about being heard by someone else, someone who wasn't meant to be getting all this information. "It looks like a vase, rather. But in truth, that's not an accurate description. It's a magical construct created for the explicit purpose of gathering and storing ambient mana for the use of the wielder."

Toshiko nodded, quietly. Mana was not only found in magi and onmyouji. It was found inside of every human being, albeit not in a usable form for most of them. Beyond that, it was also simply found naturally occurring in the environment. The limitless origin did not grant mana only to magi. But magi could take advantage of ambient mana to bolster their abilities. An exhausted mage could take advantage of ambient mana to keep casting and defending themselves, though drawing on ambient mana did require a little more knowledge. It was knowledge that most magi received through their lessons.

"But it can do more then that," Tomoko continued, "When used properly it can also take the mana from individuals. Enough to kill them. It's a distasteful, parasitic relic, but it was still granted to me by my grandfather. Therefore it's something I can't simply destroy or abandon."

She took another deep breath, her gaze turning downward.

"And now it's been stolen."

A vase that could kill by taking mana? Certainly, there's plenty of reasons that someone would want something like that.

"Are the defenses inactive?" Toshiko asked, "We'd like to take a look at the scene of the theft."

"Ah? Oh, yes, My daughter can show you to the room."

[Raineh Daze]

So the stolen item looked like a vase but was a magical artefact... and had the ability to strip mana from people. That was an alarming thought, even to a magical initiate, as with the understanding that everyone had some came knowledge of yet more ways to die. Furthermore, it could gather ambient mana from its surroundings. Certainly a potent artefact even if it was just left sitting around. But with those sorts of abilities, using magical defences...

"Would it have been possible for this vase to be used to disable its own defences or weaken them over time? If it can remove mana from people and areas, I cannot see a simple reason that would bar it from draining spells," the purple-haired girl stated, interrupting before Tomoko could call her daughter. Though why not just show them herself?

[VitaVitaAR]

"Ah?" Tomoko paused for a moment, before taking a deep breath.

"The vase is designed to target what it deems... 'non-valuable' sources of mana," she explained, "And it doesn't even target humans unless specifically told to. I don't think it can drain spells without any kind of alteration. In any case, hopefully my daughter can help you find any evidence there might be. She placed several of the latest spells as part of her training."

Toshiko folded her arms, eyebrow raised.

"Is there some reason you can't show us yourself?" she asked. That, after all, was really rather suspicious. Was there a particular reason that Tomoko couldn't do it herself, or...?

".. Oh, my, forgive me," replied the black-haired woman hastily, "I've been... today has been rather hectic and, er... I've been reestablishing a barrier spell placed on this room. None of the books were taken, but it was... It's strange, this isn't even close to the room the vase was stored in."

How... strange. That was certainly unusual. If what Tomoko said was true, this room was hardly a good entry point for a thief. And yet the barrier had been disabled?

"Do you know how it was disabled?" Toshiko queried.

"Well, one of the sigils was just... gone," the black-haired woman replied, "I can show you if you like, but I'd like you to check out the site of the theft first. Yuuno!"

Well, it seemed that the daughter would be there soon regardless.

The fashion sense of the girl who proceeded to enter the room shortly after was rather unusual, though it still fell under the realm of gothic lolita. She looked, perhaps, like she was in her early teens.

"Sure sure," she said, waving her hand, "This is... Ando-san aaaaand..."

She trailed off for a few moments, staring at Ryuuko. Toshiko decided to let her pupil introduce herself, this time.

[Raineh Daze]

So the vase was out as a likely avenue to enabling its own theft, but criminals were nothing if not ingenious in trying to cover their tracks. The only way to completely rule out that it was involved would be overwhelming evidence for something else--as the apparent library infiltration acted as a start towards--or to recover the item itself and compare its actual capabilities against the scene of the crime.

The girl that came traipsing in... wore an outfit that, though reminiscent somewhat of the mansion's own styling, was undoubtedly not conventional. It was actually quite nice, though Ryuuko would rather have someone older wearing it.

"I am Miura Ryuuko, heir to the family," the purple haired samurai stated, rising and bowing. There was no question to her mind that which family she meant should be apparent: she was fairly secure in the knowledge that they were the only notable magical family bearing the name... along with other methods to be known, "I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

[VitaVitaAR]

"Oh, Miura-san!" Daidouji Yuuno nodded confidently that the introduction. Toshiko could surmise the girl had heard of the Miura family before, given they were another local mage family. Mage families were often aware of those with relatively high standings, and the Miura's rather unique situation perhaps posed for more awareness then was otherwise usual. "Right, right! You want to check out the scene of the theft, right?"

The girl was rather chipper, for someone whose family had so recently suffered a serious threat. Perhaps she was just optimistic in the face of hardship? Or did she not really realize the gravity of the situation? Regardless of the explanation, Toshiko couldn't help but notice that the girl was rather cute.

"It's pretty annoying, they didn't even set off the spells I set up!" complained Yuuno, pouting as she turned on her heel to lead them out of the room and towards the scene of the crime.

"What were the spells you set up?" asked Toshiko as she followed along.

"Ah? Oh, just a couple," Yuuno replied brightly, "My family's affinity is Destruction, so it was a set of runes that would atomize the bodypart closest to them and one that made their heart explode!"

Toshiko nodded. Those spells were relatively complex, but for a competent student not impossible to handle for a stationary spell tied to a rune. Still, it was relatively impressive given the Daidouji girl's age. "You're quite accomplished for your age."

"Thanks!"

[Raineh Daze]

It was quite disturbing to hear words like that out of a younger girl's mouth, though not as much as it would have been for somebody unused to the more unsavoury sides of life. It was more the fervent cheerfulness with which she had declared creating such destructive spells: taking pleasure in slaughter was unseemly and the spells were unnecessarily deadly. Why would you, with magic, destroy instant death defences rather than incapacitation? It was wasteful to not know who was targeting you.

Maybe this was why they had been stolen from: killing anyone that might have been able to let the Daidouji know what was going to happen.

"Are the other defences of a similarly dangerous nature?"

[VitaVitaAR]

"Ah? Well... it depends!" replied Yuuno brightly, "I got to put spells that are pretty far in, for someone who's pretty nasty and might have hurt some of our maids getting there. It'd be dumb to put the spells that kill people out further, right?"

Toshiko shrugged. It depended largely on what your goals were when it came to how lethal you made a trap.

"My mother placed one of the earliest ones. It just makes you think you're in the wrong place and need to go to another place in the mansion," Yuuno continued as she lead the detective and her employee further down the hall. As they went, it was hard not to notice the number of maids keeping an eye on them rather closely, and many of them keeping an eye on the daughter of the Daidouji family as well. "The further they get, the more dangerous the spells are. I placed some of the last ones, because by that point they're probably going to have killed someone getting there. I don't know all those less flashy spells yet."

The girl waved her hand rather dismissively.

"You know, those 'less flashy spells' are pretty useful," Toshiko responded, her voice rather level. It was kind of obvious, by the girl's attitude, that she was infatuated with the more active and deadly side of magic. But wards and other less dangerous spells were quite useful. Fu Sonzai no Genso itself was surrounded by a field that made anyone without a usable supply of mana incapable of seeing or interacting with it. That was quite the opposite of flashy. "Setting up traps that don't kill can be pretty useful too."

The girl shrugged.

"It's not like I don't know that," replied Yuuno, "But if they've hurt some of our maids, they're unforgivable, aren't they?"

The black-haired young girl paused for a moment. "Only... they didn't hurt anybody or trigger any of the defenses..."

[Raineh Daze]

Ryuuko had to disagree with the assessment that you put more lethal traps deeper in simply because that was where they were likely to have harmed or killed someone with loyalty to your family. That seemed like the obvious place to put the nasty but not fatal defences. If you didn't teach your enemies that clandestine attempts to harm your family would be meet with extreme retribution, why would they ever stop trying? The information angle was still relevant if they penetrated so far, as well...

The sound of that first defence and the lack of triggering raised an interesting possibility. There was no reason for anyone to interfere with the library defences... but if they hadn't meant to end up in the library in the first place...

"Could the misdirection ward have sent someone to the library?"

[VitaVitaAR]

"... Hmm."

Yuuno looked thoughtful for a few moments. Toshiko suspected she didn't know, but Ryuuko raised an interesting possibility. However, it relied on the ward having been triggered in the first place.

"From what we've heard, Ryuuko-kun, it doesn't seem like any defenses were triggered, including those wards," Toshiko interjected. "However, if they somehow refreshed the activated ward... it's not like it's not impossible. But still, it's a possibility to keep in mind."

Yuuno shrugged, and lead them further. And soon enough...

"Here it is!" declared the girl. Ahead stretched a long hallway, seemingly empty and without windows. Hands in her pockets, Toshiko strode forward. Indeed, even with the spells inactive as they were, Toshiko could discern some of the more obvious defenses. It was easy to assume most of them were rather more thoroughly hidden.

"... Incidentally," Toshiko began, turning to face Yuuno, "What's the outside of this hallway like?"

"Oh? One of the walls is open to the outside, but it's reinforced and there's no windows. You'd need a lot of power to get through it, and it's not damaged at all!"

"Hmm..."

The redheaded mage looked around. Perhaps there was... something more complicated at work here... checking the walls seemed like a good start.

[Raineh Daze]

The defences weren't triggered, the exterior was an impenetrable wall... and to have triggered the library ward after activating the defences would have meant resetting them. Presumably, then, someone who could have pulled off hiding their tracks that well would have fixed the library barrier before even getting around to this one. Or was it an unrelated incident, or even something meant to throw them off their trail?

"Which wall is the exterior?" the Yakuza heir questioned, stepping forwards into the corridor and looking for anything that seemed out of place in a more mundane manner. She might not have the skill to detect magical anomalies yet, but somewhere more damaged or disturbed than another point, or a region strangely free of dust if the place was regularly cleaned... she could look at that. Though with no trace at all, another possibility came to mind... "Might we be looking at a 'phantom thief'? Could someone have magic to pass through physical barriers undetected, or could ghosts do so?"