A Very Bleak Crime Scene

[*Serena]

After seeing the Colonel off, Rhistel sighed again and closed the workshop.

If there was something he hated more than stumbling on dead bodies as he walked by, it was stumbling on dead bodies as he walked by and not having a single Harmonium be of any decent help around.
He wondered if he shouldn't have not cared and left everything as it was, but then again... the scene was weird, and so the behaviour of the officer and everyone else around... Except... well, Toby. But he was always weird.
Truth was, he was a little curious. And a little bored as well.

He was sure the woman had taken her life herself, and he had noticed the psionic residue in the area... not to mention the Harmonium patrol, who spent all his time staring at the scene and sighing before leaving with a "what does it matter?".
And then the gith woman, talking to the couple in the corner... was he just being a little too creative?

Yes, saying that she scene was weird maybe was not even enough. What he wanted to know now was if the dagger had something to do with this, and to whom it belonged to.
He had sensed something, as he picked it up, something that tried to affect him as well.. a heavy sense of sadness... as if he needed more of that.

Heading toward his private laboratory up in the tower, he sat down and penned a brief report to send to the Harmonium, then proceeded to take the dagger from the bag he had put it in.

Might as well be a common weapon, and if it was the case, some Divination would tell him immediately.

[*Lucadia]

By what ever name you want call the Silver Haired elf, he tends to stumble into big things and small. This was no different then any other week, specialy when he felt the area he stays in pressing down on the physchic field. Even more so it was right in front of the Hall of Speakers, the base for the Signers.

He walked around the dead woman with morbid curiosity. some grim reminder what they called the Red Smiles from another realm seeing her throat slit. He studies for a long moment, taking in the scene. Dress attire of the fallen, placement of the body. Lingering taste of melancholy. He looked if there was any faction badge indicating where they was from. Or license for a business. Longer he studies, the further his vision crossed, almost into a meditation if anyone else passed him by. No longer looking at the prime material, he crossed his sight into Temporal Prime. He leaned down to touch the body, grabbing a hold of the silver lifeline in time, looking for the last moments of life. Just to catch an echo of the past. If he listened hard enough, even at times he could pick up fragments from future and past. Now why should he care? People die all the time.

Just the placement seemed all wrong. Hint of something more at play here?

It was nearly an hour before he even moved from his spot. He looked around, something nagging at his head. He imagined some figure having standing here before. Several. Just in the minds eye, picking out one he recently seen. He stalks off.

[*Viann]

Nica visits the scene, lead by a Firre by the name Rismal, whom had been excessively melodramatic about the entire scene. Of course she already regreted it, these idealists with hero complexes got to her nerves. It's always catch the villain and punish them. Skipping through everything in the middle, the real work.

Noticing a collector about to try to make quick coins she gets into an argument, not in a mood for prolonging it she promptly orders Harmonium patrols the close up the immediate vicinity. Naturally collector wouldn't find it all great as the prospects for quick coin quickly were taken out of his reach.

After cooling off, Nica starts to make notes of the scene, it was truly invain, considering the amount of time that had managed to pass and how much tampering of evidences must have occurred by then. The notary checked pockets of the victim. Empty. Not a big surprise, always someone taking whatever they could.

The scene didn't have much left, corpse had been moved minutely. She, the corpse, was a female, a long slice on the neck. As per the report by Rhistel to the barracks, dagger had been removed from the scene. Rismal, ever vigilant swore to catch the murderer. Again, jumping to conclusions and skipping past the prospects that there was no murder, incoherent gnoll was only able to say that "she did it" whilst pointing at the corpse... the Fated in the report had suspected a psionically induced suicide? It's a theory, low-priority theory at that.

She thought to herself as she ordered the body to be moved to the Barracks to wait for an autopsy. How would we know it's the only body? It was a thought, she made her way toward the Mortuary in the Hive Ward. One of the few places where she removed her badge while off-duty, not so much because she feared for her safety, rather because she didn't want to make a scene.

Nica approached any Dustman to get pointed way for whom to ask about "Recent suicide victims in past month or two with long neck wound, caused by a knife" she wasn't expecting compliance, but she acted in her usual authorative self, usually it did the trick before people stopped to think about it.

[*Lucadia]

After an undisclosed amount of time Speaking with Rhistel, Fintan, Factotum of the Signers advises for others to not interact near the area unless they can rid of their own mental compulsions. He explains in the notice either a heavy phychic or magnetic field as risidue from the death was compleling others into strange and melancholic behavior. He desired none of his factioneers to think them selves to death.

[*Taihou]

Since leaving the scene himself, colonel Araki had not much opportunity to speak to anyone of it. Despite his, by some societies measurement, maybe too young age, he had already seen all kinds of human and not only corpses before: burned, sliced, gassed, shot to state of reminding a sieve, thorn asunder by shrapnel, thus a poor fool with sliced throat was most probably of one of most humane ways of death, he may have encountered...

And nonetheless, he had some thoughts of the scene, which he did not have yet opportunity to share to anyone: firstly, it is not typical in case of suicide to commit it by dagger in the middle of the street; secondly, if one commits suicide by cutting his throat, he does not do it from the front side of throat, rather vein on side is cut, or one stabs his neck; thirdly, despite one could have easily mistaken dead man for female and his attire for dress, it was actually a male wearing orange robes, thus Toby either was mistaken himself yelling "she did it!", or he was meaning some actual woman attacking the poor, now deceased, fool; fourthly, depressed bleaker-like folks around were most probably driven there by energetics of woe and despair, that easily affects weak-willed, non-prepared, experience-lacking minds.

As they had agreed with Aidan-dono before, he will be a witness in case it is needed, as for now, seems there is little he can do. On the other hand he remembers, that harmonium is simply making "good face during shameful play" and there are two possible outcomes: either some poor fool gets accused and becomes a scapegoat, or sink the matter in bottomless abyss of their bureaucracy. Thus if he does not wish to loos those few, to whom he is well-disposed or whom could call a friend, he would watch out for anything, that may pose a random threat, including potential spree-killers.

[*Serena]

Before he could even realize, everything had gone wrong.
He had not expected the dagger to have such an influence on him, he had been careless... he clearly had underestimated his current mind state, and because of this he almost ended up following that woman example.
So stupid of him.

Realizing that probably only Argent's intervention had prevented anything bad from happening, and considering how the Harmonium was clearly not interested in either any further statement or the weapon itself, he decided to leave the dagger to the elf.
In truth, anywhere but in his own house was going to work for him, he already gave Neerepha a bit too much to worry about over a simple curiosity of his...

[*Taihou]

Heared from Aidan-dono, that dagger was now in hands of Argent-dono, colonel Araki could allow himself only a little relief for knowing, Aidan-dono was safe now. On the other hand, after he had seen Argent-dono the same day, terribly tired and complaining the dagger affected him as well, his concerns simply shifted on another person.

Later, having Argent-dono assured him, that he plans on asking someone by name Quinn for assistance instead of evaluating cursed item alone, he still decided to retain caution and rather stay informed, especially given ,that he did not possess any informaton on who is this person, what he is capable of and whether Argent-dono trusts his skill, or simply does not value his life that much.

[*Taihou]

Making a few strict remarks, seeing Argent conversing with off-duty harmonium official, by name Nica, colonel Araki decided to maintain polite silence, because there really seemed nothing to be done and colonel Araki being not exactly the talkative person.

Afterwards however, he lectured Argent-dono for two hours. The lecture was reasonable and argumentative, but could had been be concluded to simple point:

"A third-sort harmonium clerk is not likely to affect the investigation, especially, if it was not appointed to her to lead, her superiors do not wish to support it, and she is asking questions while passing by in her free time, thus telling her evrything Argent-dono knows is simply pointless and would serve no more purpose, than to fill personal curiosity of random person, who by some coincedence happens to belong to harmonium."

[*b00seven]

PM's Sent

[*Lucadia]

After a brief discussion with Factor Quinn of the Sensates and his house mate what he wanted to do with the dagger, he sets up on the deck of the main floor of his spelljammer. Perpetration to assist Quinn should something go awry in divining any information on it. The elf was on edge though, faint tapping to his foot and just something in back of his mind he could not stop seeing for the evening.

This will be intriguing to see what methods you bring for this. She certainly did cut her own throat but the pressure from psionic energy is so intense I cant figure the source. Like overloading my senses