(Amanda and Vinnie show up here first; Magnus and Pascal whenever I get the go-ahead from Pascal's player).

You run through the park, past the trees and shrubs and statues and frightened homeless people. And out the other side, outside the park, south down Wooster Street.

It's not hard to spot the alley. Police cars are parked outside it on Greene Street, sirens flashing. Police try to get gawking spectators to stay back.

Once they learn who Vinnie is (badge flash) and learn about the task force, the police clear the way for you.

There is a body in the alleyway, with a cop leaning over it. He's holding a cloth over his mouth.

This place stinks. It smells of blood, lots and lots of blood. It feels like it's forcing its way down your nostrils. If it were just a little stronger, you would probably vomit.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:13, Thu 09 Dec 2021.

Note: any rolls here you make involving vision will be made with difficulty due to the dim light.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:24, Thu 09 Dec 2021.

The detective pulled out a pair of latex gloves from his jacket pocket and started slipping them on. Glancing at Amara he said, "I got some spares, but, ah, they might be roomy." His meat-hook hands swelled the XXL sized gloves until they looked like sausage casings.

"Ugh, filth." he said when the odor hit him, and clicked on a thumb-sized flashlight he pulled out of a pocket. "What we got, officer?"

He crouched down and flashed the light on the body's face, holding back a retch from the stink.

He moves aside, talking through his cloth.

"Take a look. Female. Definitely dead. I mean definitely. Her driver's license says she's Nancy Hardy. 38 years old."

Up close, the stench is almost overpowering.

It's a well-dressed white woman. A brunette. The age would be hard to tell, given that the body appears oddly dessicated and shrivelled. The head lies limply to one side -- an obvious broken neck. There are deep wounds on her shoulders and arms. Very bloody.

Any other details you want, you'll want to be specific. Or have the doc with you have a look.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:10, Thu 09 Dec 2021.

He took the driver's license from the officer and checked the address.

"Doc. This one's for you. Fresh... as it were."

Vinnie stood up and moved away from the stink, looking around the alleyway with his flashlight. As he looked he asked the officer, "She carrying a purse? Cash or credit cards there?"

---

OOC:

23:24, Today: Detective Vinnie DiCicco rolled 89 using 1d100.  Spot Hidden target < 65.

Fortunately it wasn't a long run. With difficulty Amara arrives only a little behind Vinnie. When he offers her gloves she replies, "Thanks, but I do carry a bunch that fit me." She digs in her purse, somehow still able to find things in there despite having added the files and the police radio. She pulls out a pair of her own surgical gloves and puts them on and then pulls out a small flashlight. She crinkles her nose at the stench, but it doesn't stop her. Amara walks into the immediate crime scene, careful not to disturb anything else as she approaches the victim. She walks around to see what she can before touching the body. "Before we touch her too much, have photos been taken?" She doesn't usually end up at crime scenes this early. Once she's clear to do so, she goes in for a closer examination.


05:53, Today: Dr. Amara Perez rolled 15 using 1d100.  Medicine < 70.
05:53, Today: Dr. Amara Perez rolled 31 using 1d100.  Spot Hidden < 35.
12:39, Today: Dr. Amara Perez rolled 4 using 1d10.  Extra 10s die for Medicine disadvantage.
12:39, Today: Dr. Amara Perez rolled 6 using 1d10.  Extra 10s die for Spot Hidden disadvantage.

So that's 61 for Spot Hidden -> failed.
That's 45 for Medicine -> under 70 but not 35.

This message was last edited by the player at 17:40, Thu 09 Dec 2021.

The cop says, "not yet, the detectives haven't shown up. Unless we count you. Fuck, what a stench."

You don't see anything other than what I have described; but go in for a closer examination of the body specifically if you will.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:02, Thu 09 Dec 2021.

Pascal arrives at the scene, panting.  After explaining that he's with the task force, he makes his way into the alley.  He sees Vinnie and starts to move toward him as the stench hits him.  "Jesus," he says with a gasp, his hand reflexively covering his mouth and nose.

He takes a moment to see if he's going to throw up, then turns to wait for Magnus.

It takes Magnus a little longer to get passed the cops. He gags, removing his hat for use as an improvised face mask, and says to Pascal, in an awed tone,

"It is the smell of death.

"Let's give the doctor some room to examine the body.

"Dr. PEREZ! Check to see if there are puncture wounds on the neck!"

This message was last edited by the GM at 20:28, Thu 09 Dec 2021.

"I'll look. I don't want to touch her yet, until we get some photographs. Will the photographer be here soon?" She looks at Vinnie askingly with that last.

She gets close to the body, trying to avoid touching it and any evidence or fluids near it. She shines her little flashlight directly at the victim's neck to look for puncture wounds.


OOC: Not sure if you want another roll immediately. She's holding off on anything thorough at the moment for fear of corrupting the crime scene

OOC: feel free to make a Medicine roll if you want (without penalty -- you're close enough to get something.

Not Vinnie, but the cop, says, "any minute. We'll examine everything and move the body to the morgue. Autopsy tomorrow morning -- Ghoulie... er Dr. Gourdie will have something to do."

MY GOD, this body reeks.

You don't see any puncture wounds on the neck. Just bruises.

Vinnie was about to ask whose crime scene it was when he realized: it was his crime scene, and nobody had established perimeter control beyond keeping the nosy fucking public out.

“Officer, we got the stiff; go get these lookie-loos up against the wall, fuck, wherever it stops smelling like ass. Start taking names. And Professor Magnus put a sock in it with that Anne Rice shit, please.”

He thumbed his radio on. “Dispatch, DiCicco badge 53791. We got a 10-24Q. SoHo, Hob’s Court. Send a bus. No rush.”

Looking around at the crowd, fuckin pricks stuck around to check their work, he saw a guy pointing and laughing. “YOU! Motherfucker, I want to talk to you!” He started to run at the guy.

---

OOC:
Vinnie can’t see very well so let’s see if he knows the right procedures to

20:23, Today: Detective Vinnie DiCicco rolled 100 using 1d100.  Legal.

Oh. Crap. :D

Well, guess we’re going to lean into some good old fashioned abusive arm of the law.

20:44, Today: Detective Vinnie DiCicco rolled 62 using 1d100.  Intimidate onlooker.

When you get there, the guy is gone. People are looking at you like you're crazy, recoiling back from you.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:57, Fri 10 Dec 2021.

I can make this scene as long or as short as you want, depending on what you do. If you want to investigate here, sure -- or you can let the cops do it, and wait to look at the body, or come back to the scene of the crime, tomorrow.

OOC - I'm glad to hang out or move along.  This isn't Pascal's area of expertise, so he's not going to be of much help.

Pascal backed away far enough for the smell to stop gagging him.  He looked around as best he could in the dim light.  Surely someone here saw something.

Amara leaves Vinnie to whatever he's doing. She's got a job to do here. The cop said any minute, and she can handle that. She waits the few minutes for the photographer. Once the photographer is done she asks the cops right there for several flashlights to be shined on the victim so she can make an initial, close-up assessment before the body is brought to the morgue.

OOC:

13:45, Today: Dr. Amara Perez rolled 16 using 1d100.  Medicine < 70.

I'm good with moving on soon. I've got some ideas for Mari to share with the others, but that will happen tomorrow.

More than happy to move on from V’s spectacular legal failure at setting up and controlling a crime scene. Glad this won’t come back to bite him in the arse, nosiree!

You note the following, visually, without having to examine the body closelt.

The body smells like it's been dead for quite some time, as if putrefaction was advanced. There are no visible signs of putrefaction, and the smell seems to be dissipating.

The neck seems to be broken, given the angle at which it is lying.

As mentioned, the body appears shrivelled.

There are bruises around the neck, and bloody wounds on the shoulders and arms.

There is another wound in the chest, but there doesn't seem to be any blood around it.

Is there anything else that Perez would like to look at it here, based on what I have said above? If not, I will advance you to the following day's 8 am meeting.

OOC: No, that's probably it. A thorough autopsy would be carried out in the morgue. She's seen no bite marks on the neck and injuries consistent with the others.

Vinnie will get the ID from the cops, see if there’s anything significant in her purse.

Nancy Hardy. 38 years old. Some pictures of a man about her age.

Am closing this thread.