You duck under the taut line of yellow tape as Ritter holds it up for you, walking into the crime scene. It’s an abandoned store front, part of a strip mall, the sign outside reading “Balboa Properties To Lease Call 1-800-XXX-XXXX”. From the dust that’s managed to accumulate on the windows, despite a protective layer of paper, it seems like Balboa Properties hasn’t managed to find any takers.

You step into the shop, lit by temporary police lamps and immediately cough. The stench of rotting bodies doesn’t get to you nearly as much as it did a few years ago, but for fucks sake, it’s a bunch of meat and shit left out to rot for a few days, who wouldn’t be a little put off? You glance back at Ritter to see him grimace, lip curling in disgust.

“Ah! There they are! Our Lower East backup!”

You squint back into the building, not because of the lighting, which is pretty good, but because of the rapidly rising surge of irritation. A man walks around a corner, less grinning and more sneering. The superior expression doesn’t complete conceal the undercurrent of nausea.

“Agent Jones.”

Agent Bill Jones, a member of the Enforcement Division just like you and Ritter, but part of the Roxgrove District team. You don’t know him very well, but you don’t like him. Ritter and your mother might both argue you don’t like anyone as a general rule, but the guy always seemed like a bit more of a dick than the average dick.

Agent Jones’ grin widens into a definite sneer. “Hey, if it isn’t Jensen and Orcboy. Alright!”

You hear Ritter grind his teeth from behind you.

“Knock it off Jones,” barks the voice of Agent Vernon, as he follows Agent Jones into the front of the abandoned store. About the same age as Captain Kolburne, Agent Vernon sports an equally impressive moustache. Unlike your captain however, Vernon has long ago let himself run to fat. “Hey there Lower Easters. We’ve got a real mess of a case here.”

Agent Vernon gestures for you two to follow him, and so you do, as he leads you into the back of the store. As you walk, the smell grows stronger, eventually reaching peak potency once you reach what you presume would normally be the manager’s office. Eyes watering, you glance into the room to see a horribly mangled body lying on the floor of the room.

“Jesus Christ what happened,” says Ritter, hand over mouth. “Ghoul or something?”

Agent Vernon coughs. “No, we don’t think so. Looks like blunt trauma, probably mundane in origin. We got the call a few hours ago and headed in. From the smell of things, probably been a day or two. All the exposed… guts… most likely sped up the putrefaction process.”

Without you even having to ask, Q kills your sense of smell.

>”I mean, this is nasty, no doubt, but hardly seems extranatural. Why not leave this for the mundanes?”
>”This is a case in your guys’s jurisdiction. Why call in us?”
>”Anything you’ve been able to figure out so far?”
>Write in

>>41999244
>>”Anything you’ve been able to figure out so far?”

"Though I have to ask."

>”This is a case in your guys’s jurisdiction. Why call in us?”

My panties were in soo many bunches FG.

>>41999244
>>”This is a case in your guys’s jurisdiction. Why call in us?”

>>41999244
>>”This is a case in your guys’s jurisdiction. Why call in us?”
then
>”Anything you’ve been able to figure out so far?”

>>41999244
Thank them for contacting us, ask them why we're here and why this case isn't mundane.

>Write in
Request estimated time of death, known associates, etc. This is a property management office, could be a front organization. Could be the explosion was from Pix and the energy's already dissipated but that's doubtful.

Do we want to use our augmented senses for evidence gathering? The symbiote lets us be a little tiny bit more like a walking CSI.

>>41999279
yep.
>>41999493
let them explain why this is extranatural first, then we can burn reserves to use powers.

>>41999244
>”This is a case in your guys’s jurisdiction. Why call in us?”
>Was this a front for an organization under our jurisdiction?

Your eyes narrow, and with Q blocking your nose, it’s not because of the eye watering stench. ”This is a case in your guys’s jurisdiction. Why call in us?”

“Well, we’ve got evidence of some New Age Doomsday cult starting up in our area,” replies Agent Jones, his superiority blunted by the miasma of death, “and besides, this sort of case seemed right up Lower East’s Alley.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean,” you ask, a polite smile juxtaposed by barely contained hostility.

Agent Vernon raises his hands, glaring at Jones. “Nothing, nothing. We were able to ID the body, guy is… was Dale Eckhart, who worked as our informant.”

“Then why give this case to us,” asks Ritter, tone more curious than suspicious.

Vernon coughs again. “Well, aside from slightly more pressing issues, according to the grapevine Kolburne was asking the other districts for LL cases. Dale was one of our LL informants. Not a major one by any means, but one of them. We figured you guys might be interested in taking it off our hands.”

Ritter nods grimly. “Spose that makes sense, especially if you’ve got a budding death cult.”

Vernon nods, rubbing the back of his neck slightly guiltily.

“So I guess we can pick up where you left off. What have you managed to figure out so far?”

Vernon rubs his hands together, “Okay, well so far…” He coughs once more. “Excuse me. Let’s take this out of here shall we?”

The four of your reassemble in the main room of the store. “As I was saying, the body has probably been here for a few days, to stink like that. We don’t think the killing was committed in the store, judging by the lack of evidence of a struggle, or even large blood splatters, which suggests he was killed elsewhere then moved. Aside from that, not much. We got the call from the burger place next door, they were the ones who reported the smell to the police. We intercepted the officers and took over the case.”

“Why’d you stop the mundane cops?”

“Standing orders from the Captain,” Jones replies, “Dale went missing about four days ago, Captain Sanders had us on orders to investigate any reports like these.”

A pause, before Jones continues. “Are you guys done asking questions yet? We’ve got shit to do.”

You are about to snap something back, something that would likely involve Jones’ pressing schedule of shoving rebar up his asshole, when Ritter stops you. “Nothing else for now-”

“Good,” agents Jones replies, striding off for his car. Agent Vernon shuffles forward, looking sheepish. “Sorry about Jones you guys. This death cult might be his first real big Extranatural investigation, he really didn’t want to be distracted.”

>”So the plan was to shove the bitch work on us?”
>”Whatever, just get him out of here.”
>”Anything else to tell us, Agent Vernon?”
>Write in

>>41999939
>>”Anything else to tell us, Agent Vernon?”
Vernon seems alright.

>>41999939
>”So the plan was to shove the bitch work on us?”
>>”Anything else to tell us, Agent Vernon?”

>>41999939
>”Anything else to tell us, Agent Vernon?”

>>41999939
>>”Whatever, just get him out of here.”

Time to do some real detective work!

>>41999939
Ask Vernon if the victim owned this business, what his connection to it was.

If Dale had a partner or associates, now's the time to learn about it.

Ask about what they knew of Dale's private life, get it from the department he snitched to.

>>41999939
>How deep in was this Dale guy?

Are we going to see half-digested Bacon in the guts?

>>42000046
;_;

>>41999963
>>42000010
>>42000034
>>42000046

Seconding these. Let's no be the cause of stupid, avoidable interdivision friction. Drama queens suck. Smart agents aren't drama queens, even if they're permanently on the rag like Amber.
Smart agents do get their info wherever they can.

“So the plan was to shove the bitch work on us so Jones could try on his big boy pants?”

Vernon winces. “Ehhhh… Well… This Death Cult is a high priority case. We think they might try to brew up something real eldritch unless we get cracking on this.”

Ritter rests a hand on your shoulder, gently pulling you away from the heavy agent. “It’s no problem Vernon. Anything else to tell us though?”

Vernon shrugs. “Not that I can readily think of. If you guys need information on the Roxgrove LL office or the victim, you can reach me and Jones here,” he scribbles a second phone number on the back of a business card and hands it over to you. “Jones was the agent in charge of monitoring LL activities in this district so he knows more than I do, but I wouldn’t blame you if you’d prefer to contact me instead.”

“Real quick Vernon,” you say, pointedly ignoring a brief honk from Jones’ car, “Anything else you can tell us about this Dale Eckhart guy? Job, connection to this building, anything along those lines?”

Vernon glances back at the car and nods. “Alright real quick. Eckhart didn’t really have steady employment. Small time drug dealer, helped move illicit merchandise for LL on occasion. Never was a full fledged Associate, but definitely had ties to LL. No known ties to Balboa Properties or this particular store. It was a Radio Shack until a few months ago, and he never worked there.”

The end of Vernon’s sentence is almost drowned out by a longer honk on the horn or Jones’ car. “I gotta get going. Best of luck you guys!”

You watch in vague disgust as Vernon trundles off to join Jones in the car, which zooms out of the parking lot with a squeal of rubber. You turn around and look around the empty store. Lines of empty shelving are still present, as well as a glass counter that wraps around where the cashiers would work, with a doorframe leading back to the manager’s office and a hallway to the back rooms of the store. The back of the store has a general use bathroom and a door marked employees only. You glance over at Ritter.

>”Alright, let’s get to work.”
>>Decide where/what you’ll be investigating (ie dead body, back rooms, bathroom, etc.)
>>Choose whether or not you activate predation
>>Once a location is decided upon, we’ll roll insight to see how well you investigate
>Talk to Ritter about irregularities.
>>”You know, Eckhart was their informant. Kind of surprising they’re so willing to hand this case off to us.”
>>”Jeez, why can’t we get anything cool like a Death Cult?”
>>”Wow. That Jones guy can go fuck himself.”
>>Write in

>>42000312
Activate predation, check body. Maybe we'll smell bacon, and not just because we're pigs. Ritter isn't gonna need enhanced senses to go through papework.

Ask him to investigate the building since you've been focused on bodies and carnage recently, though you should compare notes soon.

>Talk to Ritter about irregularities.
>>”You know, Eckhart was their informant. Kind of surprising they’re so willing to hand this case off to us.”
That's pretty odd and should be followed up on.

>>42000415
>>42000312
I'll second this notion.

>>42000312
>>”Alright, let’s get to work.”
>Look for footprint sizes, smells other than rotting corpse
>yes
>>Talk to Ritter about irregularities.
>>>”You know, Eckhart was their informant. Kind of surprising they’re so willing to hand this case off to us.”

>>42000415
second

So we're investigating the body.

Gimme some 3d10 rolls for insight.

Rolled 9, 9, 5 = 23 (3d10)

>>42000586

Rolled 1, 10, 6 = 17 (3d10)

>>42000586
Come on baby

Rolled 7, 4, 6, 6, 10, 4, 4, 5, 1 = 47 (9d10)

>>42000586
oh right, and Ritter is investigating too obviously.

Rolling for Ritter

Rolled 9, 10, 1 = 20 (3d10)

>>42000591
bretty gud

You grunt. “Alright Ritter, I’ll take the body.”

Ritter makes a face. “Normally this is something we’d rock-paper-scissors over, but if you wanna take the plunge be my guest.”

You nod, and hop the glass counter, heading off into the manager’s office. As you walk you call up Q.

<I’ll need my sense of smell back, and a little more. We’re investigating the body.>

Q complies, his presence shuddering as it retreats to the back of your mind.

Your senses snap into overdrive, and the onrush of olfactory information hit you like a sledgehammer. Quickly turning a wretch into a coughing fit, you look up, mouth covered and eyes watering.

Dale Eckhart’s corpse is curled up in a fetal position, arms raised to protect his skull, for all the good that did him. His skull is cracked open, a split starting at his left temple and extending around his skull revealing the tissue inside, congealed into a set of reddish lumps. You look around the body, trying to determine the spread of damage. Although the age of the corpse, coupled with the fact that you lack any other environmental clues to call upon, complicates the matter, you eventually manage to make a full assessment of his injuries.

First off, most of Eckhart’s injuries occurred on his left side, the side facing up towards you, incidentally. The only two blows to the right side of his body are a lumpy bruise, most likely overtop a broken collarbone, you can see through the dangling collar of his T-shirt, and a blow to his right hand and arm, which broke several fingers. The rest of the blows are on his left side, and they are not pleasant. His left arm is a wreck, all three of the long bones broken and pointing out of the skin like exposed bits of rebar. You lean down and examine his side before gently pulling back his t-shirt. His side is lumpy and misshapen and covered in violent black bruises. The only thing you're left wondering is whether or not the autopsy will reveal that all of the ribs on his left side were broken, or just most of them. You imagine some shards of bone must have penetrated the intestine, judging by the bulging putrescent flesh.

Frowning, you lift up the side of his T-shirt once more. Unlike his arm and skull, which are too ruined to draw much of a conclusion from, his torso is largely whole. You examine the lines of black bruises with narrowed eyes. There are a lot of blows, and the marks left are very thin, many terminating in large blossoms of black bruising.

This can’t have been the result of a heavy weapon like a bat or sledgehammer. The sledgehammer for sure would have broken skin, and the bat most likely would have too. No, this was a long, light object, one that required repeated blows.

“Golf club,” you ask aloud.

“What? What is it?”

“Nothing Ritter. Just thinking about the murder weapon.”

“How pleasant.”

You snort in agreement, when a thought bubbles back up to the forefront of your brain. “Ritter, don’t you think it’s a bit odd that the Roxgrove office was willing to foist this case off to us? Especially since Eckhart was their informant.”

You hear heavy steps and Ritter peeks around the corner in the manager’s office for a second, before blanching and withdrawing. “Ugh. I mean, only a little. Most other offices aren’t nearly as obsessed with LL as ours is. Probably because LL is involved with more white collar crime there, rather than what we specialize in.”

You frown and cross your arms. “But Eckhart was still their informant. Even if LL isn’t as much of a priority for the other districts, it’s still weird they’d leave this to us.”

You hear a rustle of clothing as Ritte shrugs. “Yeah, I doubt we’d be getting this case if there wasn’t a death cult on the loose. It’s likely what Vernon said, they just didn’t want to deal with the distraction.”

>Investigate something/somewhere else
>Ask Ritter if he’s seen anything
>”So wait, they’re above this sorta shit, but we aren’t?”
>”I didn’t realize the other Districts were so lax about LL.”
>”How come we never see anything like a Death Cult?”
>”What was with Jones’ obsession with extranatural work?”
>Write in

>>42001145
>>Investigate something/somewhere else
Check the rest of the place out.

>Ask Ritter if he’s seen anything
>”I didn’t realize the other Districts were so lax about LL.”
>”How come we never see anything like a Death Cult?”

>>42001145
>”How come we never see anything like a Death Cult?”
connneeeccct the dooooottsss

>>42001145
>Ask Ritter if he’s seen anything
>”How come we never see anything like a Death Cult?”
>”What was with Jones’ obsession with extranatural work?”

>>42001145
>Ask Ritter if he’s seen anything
Especially about the building. Who owns the place, how do they figure in? Does our office know, or local PD?

>”I didn’t realize the other Districts were so lax about LL.”
This is odd. If they're not bought, they're probably focused on heists and cons.

>”How come we never see anything like a Death Cult?”
This might tell us something about death magic. It's odd that it doesn't operate on the desperate side of town, where it's easier to get victims.

>”What was with Jones’ obsession with extranatural work?”
Why not, ask about boy wonder and his first time on the job.

>Write in
Check the corpse for ID. Call Vernon, ask him if the guy was into golf. A hunch is a hunch - if this wasn't habitual for the victim, it might be relevant to how he was killed.
Ask Ritter if it's possible we're investigating the informant's death because bought police in the other district want to keep the investigation off the radar of their captain - or LL.

LL might not want bought agents sniffing around what is maybe one of its kills, or else they might have put us on the trail on purpose through their bought cops. Just like we got handed that fucking, stupid trollhouse job.

>>42001309
>it's possible we're investigating the informant's death because bought police in the other district want to keep the investigation off the radar of their captain - or LL

agent politics shadowruns interest me. lets ask him that
you know what just seconding the whole post. thorough.

You reach down and pat down the back pockets of the corpse for a wallet or some form of identification. You find a brown leather wallet in Eckhart’s back pocket. Pulling it out, you flip through it, checking to see what’s there. A visa credit card, two twenties and a couple of ones, a few expired membership cards, and his driver’s license, confirming his identity.

You walk out of the manager’s office, having quickly drawn an outline around Eckhart’s body. ”How come we never see anything like a Death Cult? All we get are squatting ogres and someone selling gnome shrooms.”

“Don’t forget about attempted invasion by another syndicate,” Ritter reminds you. There is a pause before he continues. “I dunno, probably economics?”

“What, like death cults are for rich people or something,” you scoff.

“I mean basically,” Ritter replies, shrugging. “Just think about what you need for a good Doomsday cult. You need someone who’s pretty magically talented to lead the rituals, and they can’t be a slouch either. If they’re the real deal they actually have to be able to commune with an eldritch being. If they’re a fake then they need to be pretty good at mass illusion. Regardless, not cheap.”

“That’s assuming the mage is in it for the money. He might just be a nut.”

“Yeah, but even then you’d still need some sort of tome, and the real stuff is pretty pricey too, as well as ritual material, which usually involves at bare minimum one artifact of some flavor. And then there’s even more normal concerns like renting out a place long term to host the cult and the rituals. It’s just not something the people in Lower East could feasibly manage.”

You frown. “So the only reason we don’t have a cult is because Lower East is too poor?”

“Yup,” Ritter confirms, barely suppressed amusement in his tone. “There was a study the national office did a few years ago. There’s a really close correlation to the number of Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods in an area and the number of cults. It’s shit for bored yuppies.”

You shake your head. “Jesus. Still doesn’t explain why Jones had such a hard on for it though.”

Ritter grimaces. “Sometimes I forget you’re still new-” You shoot Ritter a look, “newish around here. There’s a reason why Lower East is considered a shit detail.”

“You mean aside from the constant flow of misdemeanors?”

“Yeah. People usually get ahead in EnRA by busting major extranatural events. Like cults, or dragons, or demi-gods. Big flashy stuff.”

“So what? I mean it’s great that the intrepid agents Jones and Vernon are gonna prevent Roxgrove from being sucked up an ethereal butthole, but extranaturals are constantly the victims and perpetrators of low level crime.”

Ritter shrugs. “You’re not wrong, but more mundane crime like squatting or drug dealing, the beat stuff someone has to take care of, no one really gives a damn about that. Which is why we’re constantly underfunded, by the way.”

You nod, grimacing. “Oh shit, I forgot, we’re doing work here. Did you notice anything of interest Ritter?”

Ritter shakes his head. “Not really. But my eyes aren’t quite as good as they used to be. I’ve been trying to see where whoever left the body here came in from.”

“Cool. I’m going to text Vernon, ask him if Eckhart played golf at all.”

Ritter nods. “Alright. Ask him which entrance he and Jones came in from. And if anyone else was in this building recently that they know of.”

You send the questions off to Vernon, sliding the phone into your pocket as you turn back to Ritter.

“Still, bit odd, that everyone else is so lax about LL.”

“You think,” Ritter replies from down the hallway, a flashlight cutting through the darkness of the corridor leading to the back rooms. “I mean, if any other district team looked in on us they’d think we didn’t give a damn about LL too. For all we know the Roxgrove guys are just as involved with LL as we are.”

“You make it sound like we’re bought out.”

“Yeah well, if the wrong people found out about our little alliance, it would be pretty easy to spin it that way.”

>Join Ritter in checking the back area of the store
>Check phone to see if Vernon responded yet
>”So do you know anything about the LL Lieutenant in Roxgrove?”
>”That body is a real mess. A real mess. Whoever attacked Eckhart had a real swing.”
>”You said Lower East was a shit detail. How’d you end up down here?”
>Write in

>>42001807
>Check phone to see if Vernon responded yet
>”So do you know anything about the LL Lieutenant in Roxgrove?”
>”That body is a real mess. A real mess. Whoever attacked Eckhart had a real swing.”

>>42001807
>>”So do you know anything about the LL Lieutenant in Roxgrove?”
>>”That body is a real mess. A real mess. Whoever attacked Eckhart had a real swing.”
>>”You said Lower East was a shit detail. How’d you end up down here?”

>>42001807
>>Check phone to see if Vernon responded yet
>>”So do you know anything about the LL Lieutenant in Roxgrove?”
>>”That body is a real mess. A real mess. Whoever attacked Eckhart had a real swing.”
>>”You said Lower East was a shit detail. How’d you end up down here?”

>>42001807
What's the off hours of this strip mall, how big a time window would they have had to bring the body in?

>>42001807
>Join Ritter in checking the back area of the store

And keep up predation. Might as well get some use out of it.

>”So do you know anything about the LL Lieutenant in Roxgrove?”

>Write-in
"Hey Ritter, what are the odds they gave us this shit to keep LL from knowing it's come to agent attention? Or their captain's attention, if he's on syndicate payroll?"

Do any of you guys know if I've dropped Ritter's first name before?

>>42002014
I cannot recall FG.

Always remembered him as just Ritter.

>>42001929
>>42001871
these are good. secondan.

>>42002014
who? I can barely recall the protagonists' names. J-something

File: 1414474146688.jpg (12 KB, 321x268)

12 KB JPG

>>42002045

>>42002045
The quarter-orc we're currently teaming up with. Practically a partner by now.

>>42001807
Going with >>42001929 for now.

You check your phone for new messages. Nothing so far. Pocketing it once more, you turn to Ritter. “So what are the odds you think that they gave us this detail to keep the local LL office from knowing they’ve got EnRA’s attention?”

Ritter shrugs. “It’s always possible. I like to keep my life simple though. Until I see otherwise all I figure is they’re using Kolburne’s request as an excuse to shove grunt work on us.”

You pause for a moment before asking, “So do you know anything about the LL Lieutenant in Roxgrove?”

Ritter grunts as he crouches down near the floor, staring at the dust in the carpeting. “Not much. Last I hear they’re pretty sure it’s this business guy, some Michael Conrad, but they didn’t have anything to finger him yet.”

“So marginally less of an enigma than our own Lieutenant.”

“Yep… Oh shit. Jensen, stop moving.”

You comply, standing back as Ritter shines his flashlight beam along the floor. “Hot damn.”

You are about to ask what is so interesting when you see it too. Footprints. Footprints in the dust. Footprints that seem to be headed out of the back rooms. Ritter stands up, pulling out a camera, quickly snapping pictures of the floor.

“Look,” you say, despite the fact that Ritter is absolutely looking at the footprints, “They’re a little fuzzy. Not nearly as new as ours.”

“Oh shit. Let’s go.”

The two of you move forward slowly, trying to contain a certain level of excitement. Ritter continues to snap pictures of the trail of footprints. The footprints lead back to the some sort of supply room/offloading area. The place where the store could take in new inventory and store it before putting it on the shelves. You and Ritter follow the trail back to a door next to the large cargo unloading door.

>Check door
>Go outside
>write in

>>42002162
>>Check door

>>42002162
wait, we didn't find the footprints earlier?

>Check door
This is why I voted for X-ray vision.

>>42002162
listen at door, then check door

>>42002162
>Check door

>>42002162
>>42002268
Caution is prudent.

Roll insight.

Rolled 7, 3, 5 = 15 (3d10)

>>42002404
Pls dice.

Rolled 7, 3, 2 = 12 (3d10)

>>42002404

Rolled 7, 1, 5 = 13 (3d10)

>>42002404

Average as hell.

Rolled 9, 3, 6 = 18 (3d10)

>>42002404

Rolled 7, 3, 6 = 16 (3d10)

>>42002404
rollan

While Ritter stomps around, looking for other tracks that might have been left behind, you walk up to the door, predation fully active. Situated next to the cargo door in the back rooms of the building, unless there’s some real Tardis shit going on (Q like the show, what can you say?) it definitely leads outside. You crouch down near the door, looking for proof of forced entry. The door seems largely unharmed, the painted metal a little scuffed and chipped near the bottom, but aside from that unharmed. You stand up and twist the handle.

The handle turns far too easily, and the door pushes open. You step out into the back of the parking lot, blinking in the bright light. You let the door close behind you before crouching down to look at the look from the other side. Scuff marks around the lock, although how much of that is new and how much is from years of employees trying to get in remains a mystery. Still, highly unlikely that the holding company would just leave the door unlocked like that. Although the evidence was already pretty strong, this absolutely has to be the point of entrance that LL grunts used to deposit the body.

You look around the empty back parking lot. From the looks of things, it’s reserved for shipments and employee parking, the view aborted by a surrounding wall of bushes along the perimeter of the parking area. A good place to leave a body.

>Examine parking lot [Roll 3d10]
>Head back inside

Rolled 8, 3, 2 = 13 (3d10)

>>42002712
>Examine parking lot [Roll 3d10]

Rolled 6, 6, 2 = 14 (3d10)

>>42002712
>>Examine parking lot [Roll 3d10]

Rolled 9, 1, 8 = 18 (3d10)

>>42002712
>>Examine parking lot [Roll 3d10]

Rolled 2, 7, 1 = 10 (3d10)

>>42002712
>Examine parking lot [Roll 3d10]

You look around the parking lot, trying to find any items of interest. Eventually your eye settles on something. Not a drop of blood or set or tire tracks to be seen. You are about to give it up as a bad job when you notice something poking out from a set of street lights.

A security camera.

You look around the parking lot, and low and behold you discover several other security cameras, all pivoting around, aimed at the back doors and cargo bays.

Thank god for corporate paranoia.

Practically bursting with excitement at your new find, you walk back into the store, startling Ritter by shoving the door open all too forcefully. “Jesus Christ Jensen, what is it!?”

“The back lot, they’ve got cameras everywhere.”

Ritter blinks before chuckling. “Ohohoho, isn’t that something? Maybe we’ve got a little lead.”

“Maybe,” you reply, smiling involuntarily.

Before you can continue speaking however, you hear a voice from inside the store.

“Holy shit, what the fuck is with that stench?”

You glance over at Ritter, who frowns, hand moving towards his gun.

>What do?
>Draw gun and approach the voice
>Approach the voice unarmed to avoid frightening whoever it is
>Write in

>>42002917
>Approach the voice unarmed to avoid frightening whoever it is
Have Ritter cover us.

>>42002917
>Approach the voice unarmed to avoid frightening whoever it is
We have Q

>>42002917
>>Approach the voice unarmed to avoid frightening whoever it is

>>42002917
>Approach the voice unarmed to avoid frightening whoever it is
We're at a crime scene, only people that should be here are cops

You glance back at Ritter, indicating that you’d take point. Ritter keeps his gun holstered, but also keeps his hand near it, just in case. What with Q on your side, you doubt you need whatever a 9mm can bring to the table, but you appreciate the thought nevertheless. You walk towards the voice, making no effort to muffle your steps in order to avoid startling whoever it is.

Eventually, you round the corner to the main area of the store to see a bald middle aged man in khakis, a polo, and a sports jacket standing the the middle of the room, looking irritable. He looks over at you as you enter the room and makes a beeline towards you.

“I’ve heard that there’s a dead body here,” he says without preamble.

>”I’ve heard people shouldn’t cross police lines too.”
>”Amber Jensen, SPD special detachment. Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave this area, as it is the site of an active crime scene investigation.”
>”Who are you?”
>”How’d you know about the body?”
>”Why’re you so interested?”
>”We ask the questions around here. First one being why did you decide to waltz into an active crime scene?”
>”Welp, you’re not wrong.”
>Write in

>>42003231
>>”Amber Jensen, SPD special detachment. Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave this area, as it is the site of an active crime scene investigation.”

>>42003231
>”I’ve heard people shouldn’t cross police lines too.”
>”We ask the questions around here. First one being why did you decide to waltz into an active crime scene?”
>”Who are you?”

>>42003231
Could be a reporter. Best to be diplomatic and professional.
>”Amber Jensen, SPD special detachment. Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave this area, as it is the site of an active crime scene investigation.”

Add in: "We can speak outside."

>>42003231
>”Amber Jensen, SPD special detachment. Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave this area, as it is the site of an active crime scene investigation.”
Activate Predation. Make sure he knows that if he doesn't stop moving towards us he will be treated as a threat.

>>42003231
>”I’ve heard people shouldn’t cross police lines too.”

You scowl involuntarily. You don’t like people who don’t respect the tape. You walk towards the man with equal purpose, stopping before him without extending a hand.

”Amber Jensen, SPD special detachment. Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave this area, as it is the site of an active crime scene investigation.”

The man blinks at you for a moment before scowling in return. “Where’s your badge?”

You pull out a falsified SPD badge and wave it in his face. “Sir, I’m going to ask once more, please vacate the premises otherwise we will have to escort you out.”

The man relents backing up and out of the door, “Alright, alright. Just wanna check.”

You glance over at Ritter before grudgingly deciding to follow him out for questioning. The man is standing just across the yellow tape, looking restive. You walk up to him, pulling out a small notepad.

He speaks before you can start questioning him. “So is there a dead body in there?”

>>><<<

I know this is kinda the middle of things, but I'm getting a bit tired. Thread later, hopefully sooner than they have been. Personal life has kept me from running as often as I like, but I think that situation will be resolved in the near future.

>>42003389
Thanks for the run

>>42003389
thnx 4 running bby

>>42003389
Alright, don't leave us hanging for too long, senpai

>>42003389
Thanks for the thread SG/FG/MG/UG

It would be nice to see Amber deal with other extranatural crimes that are not just cleaning up after Jason every now and then, get a broader picture of how both MCs are playing their roles in a living breathing ecosystem and seeing all the other players on the scene rather than a linear "commit crime>solve crime" pattern.

>>42003389
Thanks for running FG/UG

>>42003389
I'm going to archive this now. Had to archive the last thread on suptg too, thank god you can add a dead thread as long as it's still in the 1 week 4chan archive; otherwise thread 18 would not be on suptg. I don't necessarily want to do this every time. Please remember to archive when you're done.

Thanks for running though.

>>42001115
>Dale Eckhart’s corpse is curled up in a fetal position, arms raised to protect his skull, for all the good that did him. His skull is cracked open, a split starting at his left temple and extending around his skull revealing the tissue inside, congealed into a set of reddish lumps. You look around the body, trying to determine the spread of damage. Although the age of the corpse, coupled with the fact that you lack any other environmental clues to call upon, complicates the matter, you eventually manage to make a full assessment of his injuries.
wut, wasn't the guy bound to the chair?

>>42004831
Stomach contents: one Baconator, one serving of Baconator fries, and one large chocolate frosty. Yeah that's the one.