Call of The West IC

[thorgili]

"Shame But I shall help you on your objective More the merrier I guess." Seamus sighed as Patrick saddled his horse and rode off to the crime scene he walked into the saloon and went upstairs to a small derelict room in which he had been occupying. The wood screeched as Seamus opened the drawer of the bureau inside lad a large wooden box with a sliver cross enlaid on the cover opening this box to show a array of items and began to take them out of their current abode stakes where slid into a bandoleir hiding on the inside of his coat alogn with a large mallet the cross he placed in his front pocket and the final but his favorite items two 45. caliber colt dragoons opening both their cylenders and giving them a spin to make sure they were loaded he placed the guns in two worn leather holsters for everyone to see finally he produced a trusty lever actions shotgun along with several specially made shells placing them on a large bandolier that hung around his shoulder armed and ready he walked out of the saloon and mounted his irish hunter horse already laden down with saddle bag holding spare items and other tools of his trade giving the horse a squeeze on the ribs he began to walk forward and unto the crime scene. It was around night fall when he arrived at the place of the murder hitching his horse on a large oak tree which stood by he join the others.

[Palamon]

The air smelled stale and the grass was still crusted in dried blood from two days ago. From the tree hung a rope where at the end a hangman's knot was tied. Crows hopped along the dead hickory tree's branches.

"Well here's where they found 'im. Feller was hangin' from that there noose, and has his stomach cut open. On the grass you can still those little devil circles. His eyes had been cut out, never found em'." The sheriff rubbed his beard as he spoke to any who were listening. "Have a look if you need too."

The moon's crescent was dim in the cloudy night sky, and Patrick's eyes grey weary. "Alright then folks, lets get to business." Patrick dismounted his horse and began to walk about the sit. Used his long arm to grab at the noose hanging from the tree, and inspected it with his baggy eyes. "Whoever tied this knot must have been a novice, and terribly uncoordinated, it's frayed and way to loose for it to have actually killed someone. If this was around someone's neck then its a miracle that the rope didn't snap." He left the rope hanging and crouched down to inspect the grass further.

The site contained many clues, all the group had to do was find them.

[Leather Wytch]

Madeline listened to the gorey details without the slightest sign that they disturbed her. She continued to listen as the irishman revealed that the rope likely didn't kill the victim. She wondered if the eyes or the stomach had been cut first.

She scanned the ground around the scene, paying particular attention to wat the sherriff refered to as 'devil circles'. If there were signs of a ritual here, she would recognise them. She walked about the scene her dress and hair seemed to dance in the slight nocturnal breeze.

She did her best to not disturb the scene as she looked at the 'devil circles'. Once she had felt as though she had checked the ground thouroughly, she would look to the tree itself to see if it bore any markings or evidence of ritual. And the, once she had studied those things, she would lok up and mark the phase of the moon.

Looking at the moon she would ask the lawman "How long had he been here?". She could trace the moon phases back by memory to whatever day the sherriff revealed to be the date his body was left here.

[Phreniphorm]

Yong Feng dismounted his horse and took a few careful steps around the crime scene. The noose, as noted by the Irishman, was obviously made badly, even if seen from a distance. He gave the circles made in the grass a wide berth as he moved around them to inspect the area behind the noose. He kept his rifle in his hands as the distance between him and the group increased. Bending down, he removed one of his gloves and felt the grass. He spotted a patch of dried blood on the grass, not two meters from the group. Getting to his feet and replacing the glove, he looked out farther. There was something very unsettling about this. If the victim had been killed, then why drag his body all the way to a random tree to hang him? Even more worryingly this ruled out a standard robbery in Yong Feng's mind. Someone bleeding this much wasn't going to be putting up too much of a fight and so whoever had injured the victim did it with the intent to kill him.

He walked out farther, finding more and more patches of dried blood. When he reached the third large patch, Yong Feng decided to stop and return to the group. That was enough for them to follow to where the victim had most likely been attacked. He jogged back to the group and tapped the Irishman on the shoulder. Pointing at the area behind the tree, he said in a low voice, "Blood trail."

[benjaminrk]

In the discrete moonlight Helen approached the man hanging in a noose.
“Whoever did this wished for this man to walk blind in the spirit-realm”.
She briefly pointed her skinny finger to the empty eye-sockets. As she scanned the entire horror-picture she said.
“This might be some sloppy, yet very dark stuff”.
The site traced back to some of the ancient dark witch rituals, without mercy or humanity. But to Helen's knowledge the tongue would have been removed too to complete that ritual.
The young witch sat down and laid her hand on the satanic mark on the ground. She wasn't really afraid to get dirty, as that would be nothing compared to what she had been a week ago. It was impossible to determine if the mark was identical to the one on her cheek, and indeed the devil's mark. Because there was no telling which angle it was suppose to face, so there was no telling if it had 2 points up and therefore being the devil's mark, or if it was the ancient Christen sign of the 5 wounds of Jesus.
Just then a man called out he had found a blood trail...

[thorgili]

Kneeling down by the so called "devil circles" Seamus eyes followed the lines etched into the blood stained ground The main circle contained a black mass indicator on the inside and had several other circles branching off of it filled each filled with satanic symbols it was obvious by the mains sign a black mass was made here and the poor bloke hanging was some sort of tribute or sacrifice but for what Seamus though over looking the other symbols in order to determine what the satanist where up to. a labyrinth lay at the 360 degree mark followed in a clock wise direction was Lucifer's sigil obviously meaning they had come here to make someone's loyalty to Satan officially and then a blood ritual symbol proving that this killing was a sacrifice and then a ankarah. Seamus stood up slightly shaken as his mind compiled the clues and came out with a certainty not only was this the sight of a menial occult initiation they gave this man's life force to their ring leader problably a witch no doubt. He stood there awhile looking over the situation and inspecting the crime scene without any new information until the man covering his face with a bandanna from the church yelled he had found a blood trail rushing over to the mans location Seamus dipped his finger in the blood stained ground and licked it while on the surface the blood was crusty the inside held the slightly liquid life blood the man couldn't have been here more than a day or two meaning whever this trail lead might hold more information.

[Leather Wytch]

It was all wrong. Suggestive of ritual, but only to the uninitiated. Seals for winning love and popularity were half carved into the tree. While some idiot had drawn a black mass indicator backwards. There was nothing to suggest that any actual spellwork had taken place here.

Not to mention the areas energy bore no significant boost to Madeline's lifeforce. This was not unholy ground. Defiled, perhaps. But not blessed by any dark beings. This entire area was a pathetic attempt to try and make it appear as though dark magic was involved.

She walked over to Helen as scorpion called out about the blood trail. "Helen, look closely at these seals. Several of the signs here are backwards. And the others are wrong. Nothing to be used in an elaborate ceremony. Not to mention that working in this space, the participants would have been facing north. If any real dark magic were involved, they would have been facing west. Someone may be trying to make this look like a dark ritual took place, but they have no clue how to do it right."

"This seems like an attempt to cause a panic, or some fool trying to blame their crimes on witches with no conception of the consequences they might inspire."

[benjaminrk]

Helen actually hadn't noticed just how many of the markings that were reverse. But now it had been mentioned she had to admit it stood out a little.
Yet with a thoughtful look in her eyes she faced her fellow witch.

“I'm not so sure this is merely an attempt to blame people like us. I mean... you are right to point out the strangeness of the markings. And all this does seem a bit rushed. It's just...”.

Helen struggled a bit to find the right way to make her point. Lifting her eyebrow she examined the wast scene quickly once again, before continuing.

“It's just than... well.. sometimes in dreams things like letters, numbers and signs can appear backwards. It is as if this scene was not meant for us. It was meant to be viewed by someone who was dreaming or having a demonic trance or vision. You are probably familiar with the fact that witchcraft is larger than any one witch can learn. Which means there might be things in this world even we don't know about. Perhaps these markings are absolutely correct”.

Helen bend down and quickly touched her index finger in the blood going into the soil. While looking at the tiny drop of dark blood she added.

“Madeline I'm not saying you are wrong. In fact you are probably right. I'm just saying: I wish I could believe I was the biggest monster out there, but I'm not”.