Homicide: Forensics

When we left our detectives, Jeff was checking in with the forensics teams doing their thing at the apartment and the car while Evan was getting the ball rolling on some administrative leads. The net results were:

• A warrant for Michell Allen's apartment is in the works.
• Albert Burns has been picked up by the Indiana State Police at a traffic stop.
• Wanted bulletins are out for Michelle Allen, Gabe Babbett, and Rose Marie Orr as persons of interest in a homicide investigation.
• Babbett's truck has been flagged as a suspicious vehicle.
• Records that will confirm Mom and Dad Marin and Mike Lewis's alibis are being pulled.
• The anonymous call that lead to the body was from a distant pay phone, and the call was recorded. We'll pull that recording too.
• Jeff reports the forensics teams have both pulled important information.

I've also boosted our Chaos level to 7, since things seem to be sprawling a bit.

Our next scene is talking to the forensics team. They're probably not done with their work (it's only been a short time since they got started), but our dice results indicated something critical / important, so we'll see what's up. First let's check the scene evaluation:

• Interrupted! New scene event: Focus: Move toward a thread. Meaning: Spy portals.

Well I guess CSI gets to keep working uninterrupted. We have 6 current scenes, and the dice say our thread of interest is: Rental records for the murder scene are missing. The scene meaning, spy portals, and the fact we're moving toward a thread sound to me like we're going to get hit with a confrontation or major clue as to our thief. Let's roll...

Evan and Jeff are at their car putting the finishing touch on their warrant request when a sudden shout and scuffle grabs their attention. It comes from the direction of the site office, so they drop what they're doing and start in that direction, moving fast. As the round the corner and the office comes into view they see two things. The first is a uniform rising from the ground near the broken crawlspace door. The second is someone bolting for the back of the complex.

Jeff is the tough guy, he streaks after the fleeing person, while Evan checks on the down officer. "I'm fine, get that bastard!" The uniform is a bit shaken but otherwise fine.

"Stay here. Make sure no one else gets in or out of there!" Evan growls as he watches the suspect cut between two buildings with Jeff closing. He starts running around the office, cutting the angle and narrowing the runner's options. Time to see how fast people run. A random roll tells us our fleeing suspect has a Fair Brawn rating. I'll do a series of checks to see if / when the suspect escapes. They have a lead of 4, and if they reach 8 they give the detectives the slip. If their lead goes to 0 they're caught. Results (ignoring the first typo'd result):

• Round 1: Lead vs. Jeff 4 Lead vs. Evan 4, Jeff: 4 Evan: 2 Runner: 4
• Round 2: Lead vs. Jeff 4 Lead vs. Evan 6, Jeff: 7 Evan: 3 Runner: 1
• Round 3: Lead vs. Jeff -3 Lead vs. Evan 4

Well that doesn't take long. Jeff sprints around the corner and blind sides the runner, who was trying to climb a fence. The pair falls and a quick unarmed fight check results in a quick takedown by the burly detective. Evan catches up and cuffs the suspect, then the pair pull him / her to their feet. Now the real question, who is it? It doesn't seem likely that this is someone from our current NPC list, but it's possible, so...

• Q1: Is this someone from our list of NPCs? (unlikely)
• Answer: No
• Q2: Is this our records thief? (likely)
• Answer: Yes
• Q3: Are they carrying any evidence of the theft? (50/50)
• Answer: Yes
• Q4: Is there further evidence in the crawl space? (50/50)
• Answer: Yes

A quick dice roll tells us our thief is about 20-22 and male. He's also stupid enough to be carrying something that implicates him in the theft. Our pat down reveals he's carrying a binder full of rental records. When we bring him back to the office, the uniform is peering beneath the building "Detectives you probably want to look at this. I think we have the burglary tools here."

Evan crouches down and peers into the darkness. The uniform shines his flashlight on a pair of bolt cutters laying in the dirt. "Good job! I'll send CSI over to collect those." Evan rises and looks over the sullen suspect. "I'll bet we find some nice prints on those. You're in deep trouble son."

So ends the scene. We'll wrap up by giving our suspect a name, Kevin Woods. His interrogation will form a new scene, and should be fun. With the strong evidence, fleeing the scene, stolen goods in his possession, likely print matches on the soda can, bolt cutters, and possibly the office interior, he'll probably crack. And if he doesn't we can threaten him with being tied to a murder, cause that's what TV cops would do right?

This scene offers a pretty nice example of how Mythic works. We started off expecting to find out more about our murder from forensics, and ended up somewhere else entirely. Twists like this are exactly why Mythic is so damn powerful and useful. Just when you think you know what's going to happen, WHAM, change up!

That's a wrap for now. I'll have the game context updated shortly.

• The next post in the series.