A gunshot echoes through the air, the sound echoing off of the buildings in the City Center. Scant minutes later, sirens pierce the air as police arrive and cordon off the area around City Hall. An ambulance arrives as well. The lights from the emergency vehicles are a bit piercing on a grey day like the one today in late October.
--------- New Activity ---------
Carpenter is standing in a cordoned off area while someone is taking photos of the crime scene. It looks like there's a casualty. One man in a suit.
[OOC] Carpenter says, "Feel free to pose in."
[OOC] Carpenter says, "You could be brought by the sirens or the gunshot. the only requirement was that you didn't witness the event firsthand."
[OOC] Unix says, "hmmm a murder mystery!"
Another day, another job. Ideally, then, another paycheck. Yay for rent! Rocky drives his ancient and battered construction truck through the streets of the city on his way back from repairing another sidewalk in advance of ice and snow season. He taps the steering wheel and nods his head in time with the bars from the Overture of Egmont (opus 84) which he is humming as he drives. He frowns and squnches his craggy eyebrows as his truck backfires and stalls. Oh wait. It didn't stall. And that wasn't his truck. A gunshot? Uh-oh . . . Rocky parks, rumbles down out of the cab, and heads toward the source of the noise!
Hunter was a ways off from the plaza when the gunshot rang out. As he went on with his errands for his boss, he saw the ambulance go by. Knowing now what direction the shot must have come from, he picks up the pace and follows it out of curiosity, eventually finding it again as he notices the crowd and the taped off area. He slows on his approach and falls in with the pack of onlookers.

"What happened?" Hunter asks the bystander beside him once he gets near to the front of the pack.
--------- New Activity ---------
Unix overhearing radio traffic by the police Unix arrives on the rooftop across from the city hall as they were closing off the area. Tempting to enter and check it out herself, but she opted to wait for now, invisible to everyone unless they noticed the outer fringe of her moving. Moving down the building into the alleyway and becoming Wanda she approaches as a curious bystander.
Smokey races into the Plaza at what for a normal kitten would be a dead run. She's chasing a large semi-feral street dog of interminate breed. A dog that is fleeing as if all the devils of hell were on its tail. The sight and sounds of police and ambulance vehicles and personnel bring her game to an end. She slows, and starts listening shamelessly at the conversations in progress.
Tap was doing nothing more exciting than walking from Harrisburg toward the sea. But the sirens catch her attention and she heads toward the noise. While shying away from the police themselves. Old habits die hard.
One of the bystanders shrugs and says to Hunter, "From what I heard earlier, it looks like a city councilman was shot. No idea what happened, aside from that."
--------- New Activity ---------
Tap (Sheba) pages: No, haven't really planned ahead for Natasha. Just having her grow as I get the xp.
Hunter's eyebrows raise up in surprise. "No kidding," he murmurs in surprise. "That's a shame. Hope he survived," he says as he looks back to the investigation, hopefully close enough to hear some of the discussion going on.
--------- New Activity ---------
Wanda asks "A city councelmen?"... she was about to ask who, but more or less knew hey probably wouldn't know. "Hmmm...." Best to wait until until there's information.
Tap tries to slip through the crowd toward the incident without drawing attention to herself.
--------- New Activity ---------
Tap rolls 3D6 with STEALTH OR SHADOWING? of 13- getting 13 which MAKES Exactly
Who's going to notice or be concerned by a wandering kitten. So Smokey goes through the cordon and heads into the crime scene listening and looking for more information.
Wanda walks behind the group, hunkering down until she let her camo take over again to slip inside... originally she didn't want to risk contaminating the scene, but she didn't have any DNA to really speak of... and with clinging she could go along the ceiling.
[OOC] Carpenter says, "Ther'es no 'ceiling'."
[OOC] Carpenter says, "This is outside."
[OOC] Wanda says, "oohhh, alright... assumed it was inside"
[OOC] Carpenter says, "The desc here is accurate for where you are."
Rocky heads toward the source of the noise, trundling along as best he can while being mindful not to knock over any people or scenery with his massive elbows. But then he gets distracted by the Xmas tree. It's beautiful!! He watches the blinking lights for a bit, almost mesmerized, standing perfectly still. Then he thinks of something "Isen dat Abe it, err Lee four da holly daze?" he wonders, out loud, to no one in particular. Wasn't he doing something else though, just now? Hmmmm. What was it? He does get forgetful, Rocky does, but only sometimes.
There's an electronic police barricade set up with some moveable posts. Moving banners of 'Police Line: Do Not Cross' slide along the holographic energy barrier. Carpenter makes some notes in his PDA while another officer makes the chalk outline. Based on that, it doesn't look like the councilman made it.
--------- New Activity ---------
An officer moves to shoo Smokey out of the area, "Can't have you messing with DNA evidence, kitty."
Seeing Detective Carpenter on the scene, Smokey makes a change to the name plate on her (semming) collar. It now reads, 'My name is Smokey. I belong to Det. Carpenter.' Then she wanders over to a police person near the detective and meows, rubbing up against his leg.
Tap keeps slipping forward through the crowd, so at least she can get a look.
[OOC] Smokey says, "Make that the police officer Smokey molests. :)"
Hunter peeks over the shoulder of the person in front of him and finds a way right up to the line with the other onlookers, spotting the chalk outline. His brows lower on disappointment. "Guess not," he mutters to no one in particular. "That's a shame." He scratches at his jaw, fingers scraping against his scruff. He looks around the crowd and the area to get a sense of the area and maybe what happened. Did the shooter flee, or hide in plain sight to watch their handiwork, he wonders.
[OOC] Wanda says, "i wouldn't expect any interesting information from IR or Supersonic..."
The officer gets a look at hte collar, "Detective, is this your cat? The collar seems to say so." Carpenter looks over, "Uh...I don't have a cat."
[OOC] Carpenter says, "Please let me know every special sense each of you has."
Rocky turns about slowly, looking for clues. He spies the OTHER blinky lights, the ones on the police cars and NOT on the tree. Oh! Yeah! That was it! Grinning broadly and happy to be back on-track, Rocky turns from the tree and heads on over to the barrier, doffing his construction hat as he approaches, out of respect for the dead. He sure hopes no one is dead. But, there's a 50/50 chance he'd awkwardly drop his hardhat, so, better to get that out of the way at a safe distance rather than risky being accidentally disrespectful up close.
[OOC] Hunter says, "Danger sense, immediate vicinity, any danger"
[OOC] Carpenter says, "I s hould have specified. Page it to me. =)"
[OOC] Carpenter wants to keep meta information to a minimum.
[OOC] Smokey says, "Tracking smell, Analyze Smell, +4 to all senses."
Smokey meows again and puts a front paw out towards Detective Carpenter.
--------- New Activity ---------
Wanda isn't sure if something might happen, does an instant change while invisible back to Unix... her Wanda secret ID no longer neccesary
Carpenter walks over and takes the cat from the officer, "I'll keep an eye on it, and figure it out in a bit. I'm sure it's something weird, but we have more pressing matters." A female detective walks up to Carpenter, "Got an ID. Kent Gibson."
[OOC] Carpenter says, "Editor's note, Councilman Gibson was last seen on the comic pages here: http://www.championsmush.com/wiki/Log:Forget_Me_Not,_Scene_2"
Tap notices the detective she knows, and eavesdrops.
--------- New Activity ---------
[OOC] Smokey says, "Okay, case cracked. Ellbeth shot him. :)"
[OOC] Hunter says, "Oh wow, totally forgot that scene"
[OOC] Unix is lost and would need to do a lot of reading that she doesn't feel like doing while listening to the news...
An officer perks up, "Found the bullet. High calibur." He motions to the stone step, where the bullet has embedded itself.
[OOC] Carpenter says, "Then read it later, if you wish. It's not required reading. Just background information if people want it."
Unix thinks . o O (high caliber... probably sniped...)
You paged Unix with 'Are you visible as Unix yet?'
Smokey whispers quietly enough that hopefully only Detective Carpenter can hear, "Hi, Detective. With all these people milling around I don't if I can track the scent of the shooter. But I'm willing to give it a go. Do you know where the shooter was when the shot was taken?"
Unix (Wanda) pages: camo, someone can try to spot her from the fringe, but otherwise she's invisible.
[OOC] Rocky says, "oh wow, embedded in stone . . . and here I thought Rocky was going to be totally useless."
Unix looks up to nearby buildings, based on the bullet would help determine what direction the shot came from.
Hunter frowns at the news on the bullet. He looks to where the chalk outline is to gauge the body position, then looks up and in the opposite direction the body fell.
You paged Amplitude with 'Can Rocky use his EarthSense to gauge the trajectory of the bullet from the hole in made in the stone?'
Carpenter shivers a little as he hears a voice. It takes him a moment to figure out where it's coming from. "No idea, sadly." He walks over to takes a look at the bullet, and he pulls out a pen to prod it. When he does so, a holographic image pops up, of a red letter 'V'. There's an audio recording that plays as well, though the acoustics are pretty bad. There's a distorted voice that says, "Councilman Gibson. You've been found guilty. This is...the Verdict."
[OOC] Rocky says, "oh wow"
[OOC] Carpenter says, "And yes...the video and audio incorporated in teh bullet survived the impact. =)"
Amplitude (Amp) pages: Sure. Go ahead and roll it.
[OOC] Unix says, "so a note was left behind... interesting..."
You have 5 unspent Experience and 4 votes.
--[ Rocky: Statistics ]---------------------------[ CHARACTER/APPROVED ]------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cha Rolls:               Movement:                Base Combat Values:
STR   24 (14-)           Running       12m        OCV     4
DEX   3 (10-)            Swimming       4m        DCV     1
CON   37 (16-)                                    OMCV    1
INT   8 (11-)                                     DMCV    1
EGO   33 (16-)
PERCEPTION 11-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speed: 6  Phases:  1  (2)  3  (4)  5  (6)  7  (8)  9  (10)  11  (12)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defences: (Total/Resistant)  Physical (PD) 16/16     Energy (ED) 11/11
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Health: (Total/Current)  STUN: 98/87    END: 65/11     BODY: 23/23
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Defences:
Out-of-Combat Danger Sense (17-)
20m Resistance to Knock-back
+ 10 Power Defense
Option:Swap to 11PD and 16ED (via VPP slot swap)
50% Resistant Damage Reduction vs. Physical, Energy and Mental attacks

Levels:
2 Targeting Skill Levels and +1 OCV wi grabs
5 Overall Levels (but not for damage)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rocky rolls 3D6 with EARTHSENSE of 16- getting 11 which MAKES by 5
--------- New Activity ---------
Smokey purrs, "Well Id'ing the shooter just got a lot easier." she says, this time at normal speaking volume. Looking at where the bullet impacted, and assuming a head or chest shot that puts the shooter about... up there, she estimates.
Tap thinks . o O (Huh. Someone finally shot Gibson? Surprised it took this long.)
[OOC] Smokey is trying to figure out the bullet trajectory, and thus the shooter's position.
Hunter rolls 3D6 with PS:CONTRACTMERCENARY of 15- getting 13 which MAKES by 2
Carpenter (Night Marshal) pages: Based on the trajectory, likely from one of the towers downtown.
[OOC] Tap, as a "Burger, is not a Gibson fan.
Carpenter rolls 3D6 with KS METAS of 13- getting 9 which MAKES by 4
"Verdict? What's he doing in Colonial Bay?" Hunter muses as he folds his arms over his chest. He looks up for sniper positions. "Can't be good if he's working around here..."
Rocky finally arrives at the crime scene, long after everyone else has done so. Hat already off, he bows his head somberly in honor of and respect for the dead. Carpenter pokes the stone impact site with his pen, and Rocky watches the ensuing video . . . which seems to contain only one bullet point worth of information. Easy to remember, then. Poor man. Poor stone. Rocky wonders: "Who did this to you?" The man's corpse is silent, so, Rocky asks the stone, probing the impact site instinctively with the connection he has with things of the earth. He turns, squints, and looks up and off toward the towers of downtown.
Carpenter seems to come to a similar conclusion as Hunter, recognizing the name. He looks to the female detective, "Harper, can you check this 'Verdict' name? I remember the codename, but we're going to need details."
Hunter rolls 3D6 with DEDUCTION of 17- getting 11 which MAKES by 6
Unix seeing no point in remaining invisible, waits a moment when none of the police are actively looking in her direction before letting it drop. Although she isn't sure what to analyze really or how to help. She could check out the rooftops, but again didn't want to barge on the scene. Last thing she needed was the local police to find her an annoyance.
Smokey rolls 3D6 with INT of 18 getting 17 which FAILS by 4
<Public> The Celestial Mechanic says, "Oh man... work. So much BS this week. How goes the scene? Too late to join? My call i sjust wrapping up"
--------- New Activity ---------
<Public> Unix says, "i'd think you could still join... just prodding a crime scene, nothing much has happened"
<Public> Hunter says, "Yay! Hope you can join! :D"
You offer to meet Mechanic.
<Public> Carpenter says, "You're welcome to. It's fairly street-level, though. So, keep that in mind."
--------- New Activity ---------
Smokey nisses in annoyance as she cannot narrow down the shooter's likely position. If the bullet bounced off bone it could have come from, well, any high building in a 120 degree arc.
Hunter looks up towards the downtown towers and lets out a low whistle. The Verdict is probably far gone by now...or still watching. "Hmm...I'd bet a cup of coffee that's where he did it," he murmurs while he pieces together some of the details. "That's a far ways off, though..."
Smokey peers at the many buildings in her suspect zone. Open window maybe? Worth a shot, pun intended.
[OOC] Smokey says, "Hearing check to overhear Hunter?"
[OOC] Carpenter says, "Sure."
Smokey rolls 3D6 with HEARING of 17- getting 16 which MAKES by 1
[OOC] Smokey says, "Come on dice. Get with the plan."
[OOC] Unix says, "INT + Lightning calculator to calculate the trajectory of the bullet?"
Harper nods to Carpenter, "Running the name now. Give me a minute."
[OOC] Carpenter says, "Sure, Unix."
[OOC] Hunter says, "I would assume you hear that. He's not hiding it. He's just not shouting it"
[OOC] Rocky says, "Nice one, Unix!"
Unix rolls 3D6 with INT of 20 getting 7 which MAKES by 6
Rocky traces Carpenter's pen back to Carpenter's hand, follows up Carpenter's arm, and finds: Carpenter! Oh good. He looks around to see who else he recognizes. Rocky waves to the nice kitten who's parts of buildings on campus but only sometimes. He nods cheerfully to Unix, the robot lady from the gym who's still stronger than Rocky no matter how hard he works out. He waves cautiously to Hunter, the not-an-Assassin who Amelia wanted to hire to kill all those IRS people. He sees Hunter looking at the same towers he was looking at and thinks: Oh that's a smart one. Whew! Takes the pressure off of him, himself being, well, not-a-smart-one.
[OOC] Carpenter says, "Yeah, Smokey hears Hunter's comment."
Tap doesn't know much about bullet trajectories. So is just trying to call to mind if the councilman has done anything recently particularly likely to get him shot.
Hunter looks back to the scene and towards Harper. A wave catches his eye and waves back to Rocky briefly. The man knows too much.
Smokey says, Detective. Let's get over there. And keep people away until I can try to track the shooter's scene."
Unix says, "It's going to be one of those two towers... at least they are the most likely..."
Tap rolls 3D6 with CK: HARRISBURG of 13- getting 9 which MAKES by 4
[OOC] Smokey says, "Damm. Sorry for typoes. A bit distracted by pain."
<Public> The Celestial Mechanic says, "Thanks Carpenter and all. Let me bring someone who's streetlevel then... hmmm Dae or Zero? That is hte question."
Norah enters from MagLev System.
Norah has arrived.
[OOC] Norah spotted a Hunter!
[OOC] Norah waves!
Unix says, "Shall i get there in a hurry?"
<Public> Carpenter says, "Not Daemon, who is likely still wanted for questioning due to the mall incident."
[OOC] Hunter snugs a Norah, picks her up and twirls her!
[OOC] Carpenter says, "Am I caught up on queries? I hope so."
Tap decides to make her presence known to the Detective, and so hops over some of the crowd to land by him. She has nothing much against the likes of Gibson getting caught, but agrees a shooter hitting anyone else would be bad.
GAME: Save complete.
Tap says, "Hey. Here to help, if I can."
You have 5 unspent Experience and 4 votes.
Carpenter says to Smokey, "Over where?"
Carpenter looks to Tap, and recognizes her from the incidents down by the docks. "Harrisburg resident, right?"
Smokey points with a paw to Hunter, "That guy has figured out where the shot came from. I heard him talking."
Tap says, "Right."