Fetzen

Dark Streets - Urban Fantasy Noir

It could have been such a nice end of the work day. Or well.. end of 'work night' would suit the situation better: Working as a doorkeeper for a rather prominent club more often than not implied that one could already see the reddish glow of the next day's sun creep up on the horizon by the end of the shift. Anyway. Neither had any of Othen's 'customers' tried to beat him up this night nor had anyone spat out his or her stomach's primarily alcoholic contents close to his shoes. By his standards that was enough to consider things to have been a very calm and relaxing night.

The scenery unfolding in front of his eyes was anything but relaxing though. Even well before going around the last corner one could see the flashing blue lights bouncing off the glass walls of the adjacent skyscrapers. Supernatural or not there were only very few authorities in this city who were allowed to pull off such a show -- and for none of them one could say that its presence was a good sign.

The scene around the pond had been cordoned off already and quite lavishly so. Having pushed his own enormity as close to the center of it as possible without violating any rules, Othen could see very well what was going on. Divers had been sent into the pond. One was gently pushing the body towards the end of the water where others were already standing and expecting it. The other apparently searched underwater for anything that might have fallen off the unforunate... Hieronymus Mauser ?

Well that was beyond unfortunate. Othen could see the yellow press crying out scandal in letters as big as they could fit them onto their humble papers, but that would probably still be no match to what would go on in the supernatural community. That man hadn't taken a bath in the open world at midnight and then suddenly found out that his old heart couldn't handle the stresses of cold water, had he ? So what might have happened to him ?

Othen tried to inspect the body from where he was standing, hoping that if the usual shot wound was to blame he'd be able to see the blood stains. There were none though. The body seemed rather pristine. Then a rather disgruntled police officer approached the gargoyle, telling him to move away as he had already and quite literally bend the rules. In his need for information Othen had to agree that he had indeed tested the ductility of the crime scene tape without noticing.

He most likely wouldn't be able to find out any more here. But where else ? If this was a crime the press couldn't reliably trusted in. Not in this particular city where special kinds of people were pulling the strings more often than not. Too bad that he himself had managed to sever the good connections to his own community. At least for a while...

Dark Streets - Urban Fantasy Noir

Why no more posts? Are you men or mice?

@POOHEAD189

Actually I'm an engineer. Does this fall into any of the aforementioned categories ?
And I've been working on a special kind of ball-bearing with tumbleweeds instead of steel balls inside. Something that keeps rolling on so brilliantly even in the most hostile of environments like your average wild-west desert must exhibit superb mechanical properties. I've been on the search for these things for the last few weeks, but now that you've provided me with hard, moving-picture evidence on where to find more of them I can finally get going again! @POOHEAD189

---

Nope... Seriously... I've slept a lot the last few days, then spent a lot of time on Christmas and have been lazy as **** in general. Moving in now!

The Five Senses

Týfurkh

Týfurkh had been listening in on the ongoing conversation between Karina and Chres in particular without saying much. His slice of bread had been quickly consumed and his wound would probably heal best while not being stared at. Volunteers for the first shift had been found as well, so superficially there was hardly anything left to do for him before falling asleep.

The more the talk was about trying to contact the outside world however, the more one could see the man first touching his skin with his fingers, then actively fumbling around with it. It seemed as if the following words were directed at himself as an act of accidental loud thinking, but still everyone listening carefully enough could hear Týfurkh's mumbling: "Whatever we do... Contacting the outside world using any light-based method would probably be horribly inefficient. Given the nature of the distortion as we know it..."

A slight jerk shot through their companion's body as he could hear himself talking. Now that he had unintentionally spilled out his inner thoughts he could as well adress things openly, couldn't he ? "I might have an idea..." Týfurkh started. "But it will require several conditions to be met: First I need to reach a position as elevated as we can get. A tower or something comparable that's still standing. And secondly a good hint about where to shout at."

Oh blast... "Erm... Not literally, of course! Or well, in fact it would be literally but not as a broadcast everyone can hear. Only the intended recipient could hear me. We could guide in the military of touch without making as much as a chirp or lighting an ordinary candle!"

Týfurkh raised himself to his full height and moved through the room, going for the door leading to the outside world. Before opening it he first peeked through the shabby curtains of one of the windows, checking their environment. Then it turned out that he didn't have to go outside after all as he could already spot what he had been looking for from inside. His index finger almost slammed against the glass as he pointed at it. "See this clocktower over there ? That would be good... Question is if it's still intact inside."

Dark Streets - Urban Fantasy Noir

Sorry for yet another side question, but I have been thinking about my first post. I strongly assume the crime scene has been secured by police and/or other forces ? Because I think it's more than unlikely that my character would discover the event and get there before anyone else does, so I think it could be kinda... ludicrous... to see my gargoyle arrive there and trying to start his own... investigations ?

Dark Streets - Urban Fantasy Noir

@Penny I have a small question. Are the kinds of creatures that could kill a fully fledged wizard generally known ? If so: What kinds are we talking about ?

The Five Senses

@Pezz570 Are there any towers in the vicinity that still stand and with staircases or ladders intact ? Otherwise we'll have to climb XD (though that would be fun!)

Dark Streets - Urban Fantasy Noir

@Hour Error@Sophrus@Fetzen Caber would likely be a freelance informant for anyone wanting connections to my character, that and a purveyor of ancient knowledge that sells information.

Or we could just be pals.

@POOHEAD189

I have yet to read the current posts, but I'd be happy about some collaboration between our two characters :)

Dark Streets - Urban Fantasy Noir

@Penny Flying around in the dark outskirts of Detroit, my character witnessed something that appeared to fall out of the sky. At first he thought that it probably was a random piece of debris, maybe something falling off an aircraft or even a small meteorite that had survived atmospheric entry. He tracked it down to the crash site and found the thing apparently quite intact, but also far different from anything he had expected. He picked up the thing and fumbled around with it during inspection -- only to encounter that sudden moment after which he found himself a few yards away from his original position, the thing still in his hands. However not everything had been moved... In fact parts of his clothing had been ripped apart cleanly with one half resting on the ground where he had been and the other half being where he was now. The same held true for minor parts of his skin, leading to substantial bleeding and pain.

Now all he could do was speculate that this object apparently was some kind of portable teleporter. The problem: Either that thing is experiencing a very major malfunction, it is some kind of early prototype or it simply is not designed to teleport gargoyles. What he pretty much ruled out however was user error: He would have been the second one within minutes to handle it wrongly. What might have happened to the poor fellow causing it to appear in the midst of air, but without him ?

Anyway. Curiosity won and he carried the thing home in a bag very carefully. There it still is, unused and untold. Whoever has designed it might have a massive interest in getting it back and going public with information about a device that is a thief's or assassin's dream has never been a good idea in the first place. Also his reputation can be considered damaged already. Of course just dumping it into the next trashcan would have been way easier...

The Five Senses

I see a small bit of an issue with any kind of light-based signaling: It's more or less visible to the cult too. If jade candles are involved the subsequent 'blackout' in the distortion would put them on even higher alert and betray the group's current hideout rather prominently. So whatever kind of fireworks is going to be launched maybe it would be a better idea to do so at an offset location? Close enough to inform the outside world but far away enough to leave enough of that protective uncertainty. Once, if, help arrives it can still be guided in with more precision then.

There might be another solution especially for the latter problem, but for this I'd need to know if the distortion also blocks acoustics?

Dark Streets - Urban Fantasy Noir

St. Agnes Church

Public theory adopted by the more ordinary part of Detroit's population says that this building is hardly any more than a once brilliantly looking, but now very dilapidated building. It has been out of service and left mostly unattended for years, enough for the freeze and thaw cycles to destroy much of its interior. It is known by the police that the church has become a rather prominent place for drug dealing, but surprisingly little seems to be done about the advent of Warp 10, a new concoction that is said to push your mind and imagination to infinite speed -- at the cost of total breakdown afterwards. Rumors have it that its spread started here about a year ago, and by now its publicity is already ramping up at a disturbing rate. The questions are: Who invented this obviously magically enhanced powder ? Where is the equipment located required to produce this substance and who's making the money ?

Detroit salt mine

Detroit's underground is not entirely solid. Hundreds of feet below all the piping, cables and tunnels rich deposits of rock salt have been mined since the early stages of the 20th century. A few years ago a Canadian mining company acquired the entire business for an undisclosed price. Of course access to the mine is officially restricted to the company's employees, but vast subterranean voids left behind by decades of continuous extraction can be considered a tempting site to visit or even establish in.