[IC] The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

[Searat]

@Phantomlink959
Richard nods in understanding. The rookie agent then slowly approaches the moving corpse and with a mighty swing from his runed truncheon and a solid thwack. He completely knocks the zombie off it's feet and flat onto the grass. A sizable horizontal depression on it's skull caused by the heavy blow. Quickly placing a knee on the back of the zombie, he restrains it's movements and calls back to his partner. "I got him."

[Blueflame]

@Phantomlink959@LightningMaiden"Dragons I thought they didn't exist?" Mason said curious now. He nodded listening to Rost explaining what would happen. "so where we going doc" shadow said laughing weakly.

[Phantomlink959]

Argus

@Searat
"Not bad, Rich." Argus shifted his claws back into their human state before approaching the restrained undead. Kneeling before his partner and their temporary captive, the Djinn's human nose melted away in a riple of flame; revealing slit reptilian nostils, and he took a few deep breaths. "Eugh, that is ripe. I'm picking up a second scent on this body, probably the necromancer who created it." the red haired agent confirmed before rising to his feet once more. "Got the scent, now just need to pick up the trail. Go ahead and dispatch this thing, I'm done with it." the senior agent instructed, fully restoring his human shell.

Rost

@Blueflame@LightningMaiden
"Very well then. Once this assignment concludes, I would be more than happy to begin educating the two of you." the scribe responded, sounding oddly cheerful about the idea, Yes, well... dragons are complicated beings. They do exist, or rather they did -many different breeds of them, as it happens. The problem is, nobody is sure what happened to them. We've found partial skeletons, though their existence has been covered up quite carefully. The last reported sighting of a live dragon was in the late 1800s. A rancher shot down a large, bat-like reptilian creature which had been harassing his cattle. He pinned the carcass to the wall of his barn and had a photograph taken. Though many who have seen the image believe it to be some manner of pterosaur I myself have studied the original image and believe it was a wyvern. One of the lesser dragons. Rost explained, pulling out of his parking space and leaving the agency garage. It would be a bit of a drive to the outskirts of the city, where the supposed kidnapping had ocurred."Prior to that photograph no dragon of any form had been seen for hundreds of years if not longer, nor have we found any since -and believe me, we've been looking. There's theories about where they've gone, of course. Some myths say they are shapeshifters, able to take on mortal forms. If that is the case, they are likely walking among us in hiding as with so many other supernatural beasts. I'm sure one will turn up eventually, I would love the opportunity to study one for myself; alive and willing, preferably."

[Searat]

@Phantomlink959
Richard offers the Dijin a nod as he lays a hand at the back of the zombie's head. "I apologize deeply that you were forced out of your eternal rest. Find peace yet again." Richard then focuses divine magic throughout his being and a faint pillar of light shines upon him and soon the zombie goes still; as whatever malevolent force controlling it is severed. Standing back up, the rookie agent performs the sign of the cross to where the still body of the zombie laid. "May your rest be undisturbed this time." The young man looks around the area and spots no other shambling figures. He had expected the culprit to have at least risen more than one corpse, he was thankful that it was not the case but it was strange none the less. Richard then looked to Argus. "Strange how expert necromancer would only raise one body...any ideas why, Argus?"

[KatherinWinter]

@Searat@Raining
Griffin lead them to a hardware store. It was an older building that didn't really fit with the modern buildings. Inside the building was neat and well organized. There were shelves along the walls. In the middle there were displays that held various items. He didn't see any signs of the owner. The store appeared to be empty. Which was odd for this time of day. "Let's spread out." He suggested. It wasn't a big store. The owner should be around somewhere. The fact they weren't greeted was suspicious. That meant something was probably wrong.

[Searat]

@KatherinWinter@Raining
"Understood, Griffin." The golem agent replied to the senior agent before switching her mode from her passive systems into investigation mode to help discover clues.

Passive Systems Switching to Investigation Mode...

Scanning and Scrying Spells: BOOSTED
Multi-Dimensional Espectrometer: BOOSTED
Central Processing Module: BOOSTED

Energy Output: 98%
Core Temperature: NORMAL

System Notification

As soon as the mode switched, Astra's visual, auditory, textile senses were enhanced significantly as well as her sensitivity to detect magics and the like. She took careful note of minute details that normal humans would easily look past, but not Astra. She took careful note of minor things in the environment. Things like recent scuff marks on the floor, a light layer of disturbed dust on the main counter, and a drop of recently dried liquid of unknown origin. Kneeling down to investigate further, she sees something completely out of place in the whole area. A whole finger nail hidden underneath a cabinet. Analyzing it closely, the nail in itself had no traces of blood whatsoever but was rather covered with the unknown liquid. "I have found a possible clue, Griffin.

[Blueflame]

Shadow nodded listening intently. It was obvious that he was fascinated about dragons. "If they are still alive couldn't they come to bsa for help? Mason said thinking. He wasn't really paying much attention to the passing city sites.

[KatherinWinter]

@Searat
Griffin headed in the direction of Astra's voice. She had gone in the opposite direction he had gone. Which was good. That allowed them to cover more area. It was hard to sort scents but he did pick up something. He wasn't sure what the scent was but he knew he had smelled it before. He looked around. "The shifter has changed forms. It could be anyone." He said studying the gargoyle. He was almost positive that she was the being he had come in with. But he couldn't be positive. Shifters were good at blending in. They're abilities made it easier for them to blend in than almost any species.

Just as Griffin reached Astra someone rushed him from behind. The being was almost as tall as he was. Hs couldn't see the person but they were strong which meant that it was a supernatural being. He struggled against the being but couldn't seem to get the upper hand.

[Searat]

@KatherinWinter
As soon as the sound of two bodies hitting the floor, Astra switched her attention from the clue to the source of the commotion. She saw the assailant tackle the vampire agent from the back and pinning him to the ground with ease. Considering that vampires according to her databases could easily out perform athletes in peak condition, the assailant was clearly not human of origin despite it's appearance and size. Astra was not quick on her feet, but the two were close enough for the golem to reach out and lift the assailant by the arm. Astra was quite tall in standards of humans, and she lifted the suspect to the point that his/her feet dangled a couple inches off the floor. "Warning. Please refrain from attacking us any further and/or attempting to escape. Failure to comply can and will lead to your detainment and/or injury." She emphasizes her warning by strengthening her grip upon the suspect's arm, not to the point of pain but severe discomfort, before turning to face the downed agent. "Griffin, are you injured in any way?"

[LightningMaiden]

"In theory they could but I read somewhere thst dragons tend to not want to interfere or really be part of anything and they can be greedy with gold and treasure..Or the dragons ofntge middle ages were just like that in that sense...Then again some of those could just be myths or made up stories i found in the old library back home. Also, with dragons being old and wise wouldbt it be best to assume anyone couls essentially be one but lesrn to hide it well if in fact that they are a shapeshifter?" She asked looking at each of them several times curious of their answers

[KatherinWinter]

@Searat
Griffin got to his feet. He glared at what he suspected was the shapeshifter. Damn it he should have heard the man coming. He was going to have to work on that. "Only my pride." He assured his partner. The truth was he was humiliated. The other man should have never gotten the upper hand on him. This wasn't his first shapeshifter. His father was going to lay into when he found out about this and he had no doubt that the head of the local kiss would find out that he had been taken down by a shapeshifter.

"I don't like cops, especially the supernatural kind in my shop." The man answered defensively. He glared at each of them. Griffin ignored it.

"We were sent here to investigate and you are keeping us from doing our jobs." Griffin explained gruffly. He needed to prove this was the shapeshifter so they could arrest him. But he couldn't just randomly test the guy. He needed a legitimate reason to do so and they didn't have one yet.

[Searat]

@KatherinWinter
The golem agent stared at the suspect she dangled slightly in front of her. It was made clear that he was going to be rather uncooperative. "What my partner said is true. We are currently searching for an unregistered shapeshifter, any further hindrances would warrant detainment for obstruction of a federal investigation. Also, do take note to answer truthfully. Any lies or false statements can and will be detected by me; providing false statements to an agent of the government is also grounds for your detainment." She offers the man her signature 'smile' "Please do cooperate."

[Phantomlink959]

Argus

The Djinn watched as his partner released the undead, “Touching, Rich, but maybe a bit overkill. Should try to conserve mana as much as possible. No telling just how tough the thing behind all of this will be.” Argus suggested, hesturing for Richard to follow him out of the graveyard, “Not sure why a necromancer or lich would only summon one zombie; though the report said there was a handful. Could’ve been a civilian overreacting, exaggerating things. They’ve got a bad habit of doing that.” he sighed, reaching instinctively for his smokes but stopping himself, “We should probably track on foot for now.”
@searat

Rost

”I suppose they could ask us for help if they so desired, but by all accounts dragons are prideful creatures; unlikely to admit they are in need of aid. That said, they may have come to the agency already. My post gives me access to many files others do not have; but some secrets the Director keeps to himself.” he reached across Amaya to turn on the GPS and program in their destination before setting the car to auto-drive, ”It’s hard to separate mythology from fact. If we take the belief that they hoard wealth as truth, then the best place to search for dragons would be stock markets, silicon valley, or Las Vegas. Places where wealth tends to flow rapidly, pooling in the hands of the select few. the scribe paused to consider the last bit, turning to glance out the window, ”Very astute, Amaya. It is wholly possible that each and every one of us has crossed paths with their kind and never realized it. Indeed, when I first came to the agency I had my suspicions about the Director. Rumors about the agency suggest a different origin, but those may all well be part of the lie. A diversion to conceal his true nature. That said, we’ll never know for sure unless he chooses to reveal the answer to that mystery himself.”
@LightningMaiden@Blueflame

[Searat]

@Phantomlink959
"Noted." The man dusted off his clothing from excess pieces of grass and dirt that stuck to him when he took down the zombie. The man then takes out a small vial containing a blue liquid and quickly unscrews the lid and downs the shot. Wincing slightly, he lets out a sigh of relief as he could feel the slight fatigue caused by the spell cast fade away as the liquid did it's job in restoring his mana. "Never really liked the taste of the mana potions; but its true that many tend to exaggerate, may it be intentional or unintentionally." The man then shrugs. "Who knows though? Maybe we might find the zombies and the one responsible for them." He comments offhandedly as the duo walked to trace the source. It did not take long for them to hear something out of the ordinary. They heard laughter coming from the center of the graveyard.

[KatherinWinter]

@Searat
"Fine look around." The man said. He glared at them. Griffin nodded. They didn't need the man's permission to look around but having it helped.

"Put him down and help me look around for evidence." Griffin told Astro. They needed proof. That the shifter was here. The goo indicated something was here but without analysis they couldn't prove anything. He was sure the shifter was near. "This shifter is accused of taking a life. We can't allow it to continue to run free."

They didn't know if the shifter had killed the owner. Not all shifters did. Many of the law abiding ones hired themselves out as doubles. Just because the son suspect that a shifter had taken his father's place didn't mean anything illegal had occurred. The father could have hired the shifter without telling his son.

[Searat]

@KatherinWinter
"Understood." The golem then abruptly and instantaneously dropped the man back to the ground. Considering that he was wringing out the lingering uncomfortable feeling in where he was held by the golem, it was safe to say that he would be not attacking the agents anytime soon. She returned to where she had located the strange liquid and proceeded to place a small amount of the substance in her mouth. The sensors did their job while her scrying spells and analysis programs cross examined the substance to former cases in relation to shapeshifters.

Analyzing substance...Complete.
Substance identified as: Ectocromapitol
Sample Age: 1 hours 03 minutes

Sample is present in: 2,142 cases from: 1931 to 2018...

Ectocromapitol is a substance secreted by most forms of creatures under the genus Forma Mutante upon transformation and alteration of their beings.

Proposal: Disclose information regarding information to Agent Griffin.

System Notification

"Griffin, the substance is Ectoromapitol and the sample is only one hour and three minutes old. The suspect cannot have gone far." This was what Astra surmised. Full body transformations took a toll on the metabolisms of shifters and similar species as they need to expend large amounts of calories to alter their bodies drastically. A high intake of foodstuffs to replace spent calories after a success, is a common act to follow the transformation. Hence, she surmised that their suspect could have not gone far from the area.

[Phantomlink959]

@Searat

Argus watched as his partner downed the mana potion, shuddering slightly, "Fun fact about those things, the labels all have a 'do not feed to djinn' warning on them. I don't remember much about what happened after I drank it, but when I came down the locker room was on fire and one of the lab guys was threatening me with a fire extinguisher." he explained humorously; though it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. "Hang on," the agent paused as he sniffed at the air, "Something just turned up. Durian and febreze, touch of rosewater. That's our necromancer." the Djinn turned in place until he was facing the source of the laughter, "Same direction as whoever's making that racket. Let's roll." he confirmed before taking off at a brisk walking pace.

[Searat]

@Phantomlink959
"Ah, so that's what happened that day? Goodness gracious, I believed the other agents saying it was a gas pipe explosion." The man raised a knuckle to his lips and uses it to stifle a chuckle. "We had to shower with ice cold water for a week and a half because of you! Hehehe." The man shakes his head side to side gently as he lets the feeling go away. Not a moment too soon, they had the laughter and his partner noticed the faint scents in the air. He didn't need to told twice when Argus gave him orders. The laughter grew louder and louder until they came upon a fountain with a statue of an angel holding a harp, eyes closed as if playing a gentle lullaby for the dead. There sat a well dressed old man on one of the four benches that surrounded the fountain.

He was not alone, he was accompanied by a half dozen animated corpses that seemed to aimlessly wander the area but rarely going father than 15 feet away from the man, nor showing any aggression towards the pair of bureau agents. Even more Strange was the man that was chatting up one of the corpses that was seated beside him. "...and I was like: 'that's no fine lady, that's my mother-in-law!'" The man bursts out laughing his ass off to the point of wheezing and slapping his knee; like that joke was the best one he had heard his whole life, while his 'companion' merely stared blankly into the distance without a care in the world. Richard was not sure about his partner, but this had to be the strangest sight he had ever personally witnessed in his whole life.

[Phantomlink959]

@Searat
"I'm lucky the Director didn't fire me on the spot after that incident; got off with an extended sentence because we had no way of knowing it was gonna happen." Argus concluded with a shrug as they approached the source of the laughter. As the agents grew closer the smell in the air began to grow in intensity, reaching its peak as they set eyes on the fountain - and with it, the cluster of undead. The Djinn relaxed when he caught sight of the old man, "Hey Richard, I don't think this guy is a threat. I smell something familiar on him." he mentioned, taking a seat on one of the benches with a clear view of the elderly gentleman and gesturing for Richard to take a seat, "We should approach him gently, stay casual, try to get him talking. Do not try to purify those zombies until I give you the all clear." the red haired agent instructed, "He's in a fragile state, disrupting his illusion would be dangerous to everyone involved." he glanced over at the old man who was still laughing, "Non-violent containment only from this point forward. That man is sick, not a criminal."

[Searat]

@Phantomlink959
The younger agent takes a seat beside the Dijin. All the while the zombies seemed to ignore them and continue in aimless wanderings around the fountain. "Understood. Refrain from violence and detain the suspect peacefully if possible." The human agent nods and approaches the old man. This does not go unnoticed by the old man, who welcomes Richard with a smile, and the zombies that suddenly stop wandering and glare at the man with their non-functioning eyes and teeth bared. "Good morning, young one! What can I do to you this fine day, today?" The agent did his best to avoid expressing his fear, nor anxiety as he replied to the old man's statement. "G-good morning to your self as well, Mr..." Richard paused to see if the older gentleman would give him his name. "Ah, where are my manners. My name is Bradley Aiken and this rather chatty gentleman over here is George, a good and dear friend of mine." The old gentleman laughs and pats the zombie beside him a little too hard and an eyeball pops out of it's skull.

"My word George! Such rudeness to our guest!" The old man chides his 'friend' while returning the lost eye to where it belongs. "I apologize on his behalf."He then notices the man beyond Richard. "Excuse me sir? But, did you know its rude to eavesdrop on a conversation? Or mayhaps you be a friend of Mr..." "Ri-richard Anselm, Mr. Aiken." The old man looks at Richard as if he had grown a horn and called himself a unicorn. "Mr. Aiken? Pah, that was my father's name! I insist you call me Mr. Bradley." The old man laughs again and Richard joins him with uneasy laughter as the zombies never once broke their gazes from him as soon as he got within 5 feet of the older man.