DiscoDude: ---BEGIN SESSION---
DiscoDude: Session logging commenced
GM: Just a few minutes after interrogating the Maishiki siblings, you're already taking the police van out to Cola's residence. Cola has actually elected to ride with one of you in the back, after a brief and heated argument with his sister - something about feeling safe.
GM: (Who’s sitting with him? Any idle chit-chat or further questioning you wanna do before arriving at your destination?)
Harry: Harry's sitting in the front with whoever's driving, a stoic expression on his face. He's got a good feeling, but...this is the make-or-break point for the case.
Norwick: Norwick sits in the back with Cola, looking over at him occasionally.
Andie: Andie's driving, but occasionally glances back at Cola as well. "You uh, better not leave our sight." she says, not entirely convinced he's to be trusted.
Harry: Harry nods to himself. Andie's got good instincts.
GM: “Don’t... Don’t worry. I’ll cooperate. Ah- Turn here.”
Norwick: Norwick looks over at Cola and shrugs, "As long as we aren't followed..." Norwick says, looking at the back of the van.
GM: You arrive at Cola’s place of residence. It’s rather modest, but only by Paradisio standards; the design is neat and modern, and the front yard and foam gravel driveway look well cared for.
GM: Cola uses his phone to open the outer gate, and you park on that driveway. The garage door is closed.
GM: “Do you... need me to open that, too, or have you got this?”
Norwick: "Well, having you open it would be great." Says the imp, looking at Cola.
Harry: "We'd rather not have to break and enter if we don't have to," Harry says.
Andie: "Unless it's already unlocked?" Andie asks, walking up and grabs the handles (if present) and pulls up without getting confirmation.
GM: “Ah-“ Cola looked as if to say something as you grab the door, Andie, but stops when he sees you open it successfully. He probably didn’t realize it could be opened by hand.
GM: The garage is neat and orderly, just like the other two of you saw in the security video. Cola’s car is also where it was shown to have ended up. If there’s a smoking gun, it’ll probably be here.
Harry: Harry frowns at the realization the door was unlocked. "Somebody could've come by here already," he says. "Keep an eye out."
Norwick: "Alright." Norwick says, keeping an eye out.
GM: (So what do you do to try and find a smoking gun or three?)
Norwick: (( Well, I think we should find the where we can get ourselves on the unedited surveliance footage. ))
GM: (So Norwick’s heading further in to find where the tapes are. What about Harry and Andie?)
Harry: searches the garage. The video tape puts Akaia there when the car entered the garage. If there's something here that would confirm that...
Andie: Andie searches for wipes. Of course, owning the same brand as the ones at the crime scene wouldn't be conclusive evidence, but it could certainly help make their case.
GM: “The tapes? Sure, I know where they should be. Not that I ever personally checked after I moved in, but I ought to remember where everything in my house is...”
Harry: (ahh, evidence of evidence tampering. good call <3)
GM: (Harry, go ahead and roll an Approach. You tell me if your stunt applies - hopefully, the technicalities will get a lot less complicated after this case.)
Harry: !f 4 (Clever + Detective Senses)
DiscoDude: Harry rolled 4dF+4 for 5 [4dF = [+][ ][-][+]]
GM: (SWS. I got no ideas for what you find beyond what I can improvise, so I’ll let you describe it while I go tend to the others.)
GM: (Could be a feather, a piece of jewelry, or what have you.)
GM: (Andie, I’ll need you to roll an approach as well. For searching, I’m thinking CLEVER in this case.)
Harry: ...a single feather. Unmistakably Akaia's color. With a level of care and precision more befitting Andie, he photographs it in situ, picks it up, and drops it into a little specimen baggie. On its own, it proves nothing, but forensics will likely match it to Akaia, and prove when it was shed.
GM: New Clue: Akaia’s Feather
Places Her at the Garage [!!]
GM: (Decided to hand you the double invoke in exchange for having nothing else you can reveal with that particular Clue. (Again, I’m fully ready to punt this Clue system into the stratosphere as soon as we’re done with this pilot, so bear with me here.))
GM: (Andie?)
GM: Norwick, you arrive at the security (and panic) room in Cola’s basement. It’s a positively tiny space, clearly built to act as a living space for one occupant.
“Here it is,” says Cola. “The tapes should still be there, and if they aren’t... Well, just knowing they were taken or deleted would be better than if nothing interesting was on them, right?”
Andie: !f 3 (Clever)
DiscoDude: Andie rolled 4dF+3 for 6 [4dF = [+][ ][+][+]]
GM: (Damn, that’s a SWS. Lemme throw up what I already got prepared for you.)
Norwick: "Yea, if they were deleted or taken, we could dust for prints...for now though..." He says, pulling out some sterile gloves from his pocket and putting them on before interacting with the keyboard and mouse to look through the tapes.
GM: Andie, judging by how they were haphazardly stuffed under the trunk’s mat of Haffner’s truck, you’re reasonably certain that it was him who used the wipes. Still, if one he missed made it onto Cola’s person or into his car, that would be proof positive of both being at the crime-scene while the crime was happening. The involvement of either Maishiki would no longer be up for debate.
GM: Sure enough, when you search the car (also conspicuously unlocked), you find a loose wipe pressed onto the driver’s seat. It occurs to you that you never thought to question who put Cola into the car at the scene; now you know it was likely Haffner.
GM: New Clue: Loose Wipe
Found In Cola’s Car | Same Brand as the Ones At the Crime Scene [!]
GM: (What approach are you using, Norwick?)
Norwick: (( Careful Work? ))
GM: (CAREFUL not to destroy fingerprints/tapes? I’ll allow it.)
Norwick: !f 2
DiscoDude: Norwick rolled 4dF+2 for 4 [4dF = [ ][ ][+][+]]
Norwick: (( Where was this luck that last interrogation, holy shit. ))
GM: Unfortunately, the recordings were scrubbed.
Fortunately, you’re able to lift some fingerprints that look to be pretty damning - a bird’s, if you’re not mistaken.
You’ll need to shoot some images over to someone for a conclusive result, but you realize that the lawyer working with the Maishikis had to have prepared that evidence at some point, so you have a sneaking suspicion...
Norwick: Norwick pulls out his phone and texts the group, "We've got some bird fingerprints here, Andie, you might want to come down here to confirm for yourself."
GM: (Andie, you gonna respond?)
Andie: Andie seeks out Norwick without replying to the text. "Fingerprints where?"
Harry: follows after Andie. "Got a feather here you might be interested in," he says as he's walking. "You find anything good?"
Norwick: He yells from the basement, "Down here! Where all the surveillance tapes are at!" He says, making sure nothing touches the keyboard that could erase them.
Andie: Andies jogs down to the basement and whips out one of her smaller magnifying glasses. "So species identification, eh?" she mumbles as she draws on what fingerprint knowledge she has.
Andie: !f 3 (Clever)
DiscoDude: Andie rolled 4dF+3 for 3 [4dF = [+][-][+][-]]
Norwick: "That would be great, if we could pin the Lawyer for editing the logs, we could discredit him and book him as well." He says, letting Andie take the wheel.
Harry: Harry smirks. "I like that plan."
GM: (Oh, I was planning on just revealing the Clue stats after you described checking them. Ah well, I’ll count this as tacking another free invoke onto one of its aspects with a Create Advantage action. Also, safe to say that even if you don’t have 100% cheater-pants forensic sci-fi on your side, a fingerprint will still almost always land a hit if you’ve already included its owner in your investigations (save for shenanigans)?)
GM: Sure enough, it’s a Miiki print. Once you compare it to the database, you learn it doesn’t belong to either Maishiki sibling. However, there is one other Miiki who submitted to fingerprinting when they entered the station - probably did it automatically without thinking, just a routine action that never had consequence... until now.
GM: New Clue: Deleted Footage
Erased After the Lawyer Retrieved a Clip [!] | The Only Prints Belong To the Lawyer [!]
Harry: "Well, now." Harry says with a smile. "I think that's all the evidence we need to bring this case to a close."
Andie: "Mhmm." she agrees, tucking her magnifying glass away.
Norwick: "Well, we've got them, do you think we should go back to the precinct and gather them back up?"
GM: (Shall we do the arrest tonight? It’s getting a bit late, and I actually want to do something interesting with that.)
Andie: (doesn't matter to me)
Harry: "Can't wait to see the look on her face when we book her lawyer on obstruction."
Harry: (i'm good with however you wanna play it GM)
GM: (Alright, let’s wrap things up.)
“Er... She’s...” Cola asserts his existence by clearing his throat. “My sister’s really going away? I’ll be able to visit her, right?”
Norwick: "If they allow it." Norwick says.
Harry: "If you want. She did murder your business partner, though, so that might put a damper on your relationship."
GM: “I... I’m sure there was a reason. Maybe not a good one, but... I get the feeling I was about to make another one of my ‘mistakes’... Akaia’s stepped in for a lot of those.”
Norwick, you get a text alert: Heard you’re closing in on the older Maishiki. We agree. Time to pay back that favor; take her to 3443 Poplar St. instead. Got offered a sum to help her “”disappear””.
(Last lines, folks?)
Harry: Harry gives a friendly clap on Cola's back, smiles, and then says, in a voice like a demon passing judgment: "She made a bigger mistake by committing a murder in my town."
Norwick: Norwick looks at the text and simply answers back, "...Are you sure there's nothing else I can pay the favor back on?" Before closing his phone.
GM: (For the record, this is Norwick’s favors swinging back around; next session will be about making a moral decision and showing the results, then wrapping up.)
Norwick: (( Gotcha aha ))
GM: (Got anything, Andie?)
Andie: (Not really, sorry)
GM: (It’s fine. Let us...)
GM: !end
