Murder In Mind

*Cibernadie
Posts: 78
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Cibernadie »


There's been an horrific crime in the tunnels of Undersigil. The mangled, beheaded body of an elf tossed around a shattered field laboratory  was discovered by cagers who followed an ad on SIGIS looking to hire protection and keep the aforementioned elf alive. An effort done evidently too late by the late elf's late employer.

Although murder and death are perhaps the most abundant resources in Undersigil's lively tunnels and corridors, something about the circunstances of the murder and the details of the scene raised suspicions. This, coupled with rumors of sightings of a certain creature presumed dead, have moved a handful of individuals to look deeper into things.

((Thread to keep track of developments and involvements, and rely such discoveries done or other answers sought outside the server))
                                             
*Notatuma
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Notatuma »


Ameylia heard about this incident from another source. She took up the article of the SIGIS about the offer of protection for the elf and sought out the employers, hoping to learn from them why the elf needed protection in the hopes of learning the motives of the killer.
*Cibernadie
Posts: 78
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Cibernadie »


Ameylia's drive would lead her to The Mirror's Will Apothecary shop, a modest but respectable business within the Clerk's Ward. The propietor, an individual known as Mirror Will, explains that the elf in question was an old and solitary elf named Lelenthial A'lvarillion. The elf had been an adventurer and a teacher, an expert on the uses and properties of underground flora, which helped the Mirror's Will Apothecary shop thrive in the City of Doors. The elf had refused to go into Undersigil with hired protection despite warnings of the danger inherent to that place, so Will placed the add on SIGIS after Lelenthial departed, with the hopes that cutters showing up with a contract would change his mind and keep him safe begrudgingly.

Will says the elf was notably stubborn about doing everything on his own, maybe because of his age, or maybe because having assistants reminded him of school. Lelenthial had been an adventurer before, so Will had held hope he could manage on his own if nobody took notice of the ads, but it's obvious that something got to him regardless.  The tunnels and corridors beneath the surface hold many dangers, after all.
*Notatuma
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Notatuma »


Ameylia asked Will what route the victim took in Undersigil and which regions of the undercity did he go to collect the flora. From what Will had said, it did sound like a random attack, possibly not premeditated but she didn't want to leave anything off the table.

She also asked Will if he knew about any enemies that Lelenthial had, or perhaps any competitors, debts, and the like, anything that would have made him a target to someone. Given the information from her previous source, she had a feeling this wouldn't be the case, but the question was asked regardless.
*Cibernadie
Posts: 78
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Cibernadie »


Ameylia's investigations would lead her to the place where Lelenthial was found. A rather suface part of Undersigil, near the not-so-secret tunnel that has a portal usually leading to one of Clangor's garrisons. After the Dusters and the Harmonium cleared the place, anything noteworthy was probably claimed by the spiders.

On the way back to Mirror's Will, however, she'd catch the Harmonium rushing to the Scriptorium, with words of a macabre just recently discovered. Many of Sigil's adventurous population would join them, and find several patrolmen closing off the entire city block of the Scriptorium. Through reputation or status, they were allowed in, and once inside, the sight that awaited them was nothing less of grim.



One of the old teachers of the Scriptorium was impaled with a bladed weapon and their head was missing. She was Identified as Salcis, a tiefling scholar and retired adventurer, like most of the teachers of the Scriptorium. The assistant headmaster was visibly disturbed, but helped those willing to help by answering questions and guiding investigators around the school, going so far as to follow through the steps of the Infinite Staircase and fetch several books and dossiers from the Scriptorium's own library. Several leads where discovered, ranging from Salcis's relationship with the previous victim, home address, her area of study, to even the nature of the killer itself. What else could be peeled from the scene and the information gathered remains to be seen.
*Notatuma
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Notatuma »


Having inspected the crime scene and questioned the assistant headmaster with the help of several others, Ameylia made her way to the address given to her, the home of residence for the second murder victim.
*Cibernadie
Posts: 78
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Cibernadie »


Salcis's address is a small unremarkable room above a shop in Rook Street, not too far from the Mirror's Will Apothecary curiously enough. Her unassuming lodgings are a mere two rooms; one dominated by a large desk full of half finished notes and translated glyphs from various languages, and the second containing the amenities of a bedroom, personal belongings, and a basket of dirty clothes occupied by an old looking turtle, no doubt a familiar or pet sleeping and waiting for their master. If only they knew how bad things were.

With a cycle to spend examinating the home at length, Ameylia finds Scalia's work to be as vast as it is unfocused. There're theories about celestials falling from grace yet fiends never undergoing a comparable shift. There's an unfinished theory about mortals manifesting the outer planes out of their multifaceted, even contradictory belief on good and evil. A personal investigation into her own fiendish heritage and from where it may come, full of crossed out names. A pair of made-up grimoires full of nonsensical rites and made-up names for planes, layers and even daemonic princes, which are all crossreferenced with more legitimate compendiums. All of apparent importance to the owner, yet none more developed than the others.
*Notatuma
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Notatuma »


Ameylia sighed and knelt down to greet the turtle, petting the top of its head and shell. "She's not coming back, but I'll see if I can find you a home."

She took some time rummaging through Salcis belongings, taking note of the late teacher's obsessive theories and investigations. She wasn't sure how this could have been related to the killing, but it was important to keep it in consideration. She hoped to find a journal or diary, something personal to the owner. If the killer was to follow the same pattern, they might be after someone Salcis was close to. She browsed through the shelves, searched through drawers, and dug around through boxes. 

"Multitudes," she muttered, setting down one of the grimoires. 

The theory about the manifestation of the outer planes did make her wonder. She hadn't been in the city long, but she did read up on a number of the factions withing the Cage. The ramblings of the teacher made her think of the Signers. She wasn't sure if Salcis was one herself, but it was something to ask about. Maybe she'd learn more about the woman's inner circles through a fellow factioneer if that was the case. 
*Taurus Daggerknight
Posts: 449
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Taurus Daggerknight »


As Dace reviewed the sole completed word of Scalia, he mused to himself over how he had met far more optimistic Bleakers than this planer theologian's writings suggested. Not that he was looking for a diary log of how pleasant a day she had (before the unpleasant business of being murdered). More important was what new idea from her work the killer might latch onto, either by pure instinct or some mysterious plot. After all, reading through an almost depressing codex was at least more bearable than endlessly trudging through the sewers, hoping to bump into the shape-shifter while at a disadvantage. 

As he pursued the research tomes contents, he had assigned a Justice to review the copy of  the book torn apart by the creature. . They were instructed to note down any and all mentions of known (and specifically surviving) dopplegangers and their last known locations. Though the current theory suggested that the shifter had torn the volume apart to cover up knowledge of its race, the Mercykiller was starting to wonder if the wretched thing - either by plan or instinct- wasn't trying to find more of its kind. He was certain that others would claim expertise on doppleganger behavior and debunk the mere notion, but this was Sigil, and this specimen was a fairly unusual one in many ways. Better to cover all the ground, which lead to....

Damn.....cat.....

With a  sigh, he summoned one of his subordinates. 

"I want you to deliver a message to the Sensate Factotum Maharaja. Request - and I mean request, not beat into submission - her to meet with me tomorrow afternoon here in my office."
*Lucadia
Posts: 450
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Lucadia »


The Signer Factor felt burdened for the evening. The murder gruesome that always tugged at him as things that could of been prevented. It did not matter how much dead things or his awareness that it keeps happenin, but somewhere in corner of his eye he imagines lines that shift, realm of possibilities that died with that person. To a typhical elf, the taking of a life was abhorent least to the extreams in measure to protect themselves.

Guilt bothered him about his prior knowledge on the creature as well. Did the doppleganger suffer a relapse after the mental repairs? Did it get capture again and commanded? Something triggered its state of personalty? Or took on persona that escalated its mental trauma. Or simply motivation to become greater then what it was before.

Greater, as in a Greater Doppleganger. It was interesting concept and ability. To be able to consume personalites, skills and talents and have access to it all.. What if it had grown discontent to being a mimic of one person at a time, but felt a need to just be ..everyone. At that line of thought prevailed he set out to the Hall of Speakers to peruse his factions own grand libraries.

The Topic: Multitudes. Meanings. Debates. Significance
Post Reply