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Before Daniel can respond, Brother Tobius forces himself into the argument that appears to be brewing. "You can explain to Brother Michael as he escorts you to where your gear has been stored. And you, Gerard, can accompany them since it appears that your things are in the same place." Speaking to them both he continues. "I'm sure you both are going to be very cooperative for Brother Michael." he says with meaning.

Speaking past Darl and Gerard to the priest that had examined Daniel's weapon he says "Take a couple guards with you. If you find nothing suspicious about their gear, leave them to their own devices; otherwise, escort them back here so that we can clear up any further....misunderstandings."

Focusing his eyes back on Darl and Gerard he says "Afterwards, you are free to take a look at the crime scenes and help in the investigation any way that you can. This may or may not have anything to do with your discussions with Father Malaki yesterday; but perhaps the six of you will be able to determine that for yourselves. But be forewarned, I will be watching you." As the last statements reverberations die, Tobius looks Jordan, The Redeemer and Darl straight in the eyes as if the statement is primarily intended for them.

Brother Michael indicates that the two should lead the way. He closes the door behind them as the three of them exit into the hallway.

{OOC: Unless you have something special planned, go ahead and roll play us all the way to the stash of gear and we'll pick it up there.}

Gerard sighs. "Shall we Darl?" Gerard smiles.

Darl leads the way into the hallway, through the meeting room, and into the storage area where he had hid their equipment ... hauling it back into the larger meeting room to allow the guards to perform their search.

The priest carefully examines their packs, pausing with interest as he finds the night-vision equipment in Gerard's belongins. Finding nothing unusual he returns the equipment and says "You're free to go. Let me or one of the other priests know if there's anything we can do to help."

Darl notes that only about 10 minutes have passed since he was interrupted in his examination of the first two bodies.

As he repacks his gear, Darl thanks the priest. "Well, there is something ... As I mentioned to Tobius, I've got a unique ability which allows me to view recent events in a given area, after the fact. I'd like to use this to see if we can gather some more information about what happened to Father Malaki, as well as to try and determine which direction the attacker left; so that we can attempt to track them. Unfortunately, the whole process is rather ... draining, and I'm afraid it would leave me too vulnerable to attempt to track the culprit afterwards, even if we were able to determine which way they went."

"Do you think there's any chance that your fellow priests would be willing to participate in a ritual circle, to lend their energy to help in the investigation? With a large enough group, I suspect the required individual contribution would be marginal at best."

If he's able to garner some willing support, Darl will head over to Father Malaki's office next, to perform a retro-viewing (or multiple?) there and see what he can determine about the torture and attack, as well as get a better glimpse of the actual attacker ... moving back outside once completed, so that he may perform another to try and determine how the attacker left after the murders; hoping he can use the information to pick up a trail with which the culprit may be tracked once the group is ready.

jthorson wrote:"Do you think there's any chance that your fellow priests would be willing to participate in a ritual circle, to lend their energy to help in the investigation? With a large enough group, I suspect the required individual contribution would be marginal at best."

The Priest appears to pale slightly at the thought "Umm...well...I can ask a few of the others and see. Why don't you go take a look at the crime scene while I check into that." The man then rushes off through the back of the chapel before waiting for a reply.

Leaving Gerard to decide his next course of action, Darl returns to the hallway outside of Father Malaki's now mostly deserted office. Ducking his head to move into the room Darl looks around at the disaster. The first thing he notices is that the boxes that were not so neatly stacked around the room have been toppled. The desk has been thrown into a corner where it lays on it's side, splintered and fractured. Papers and objects litter the floor.

Father Malaki's body lays on its back in the middle of the floor with coagulating blood pooling around him; remnants of the debris from the battle soak up what blood they can as if trying to restore the room to it's prior state by consuming that which befouls it. The old man's body is bruised, beaten and cut in multiple places. Deep, parallel gouges run down the middle of his bare chest as if made by a clawed hand. Dried blood covers the entire torso as it flowed from the cuts. His torn robes lay in a heap next to the desk. The pants he wore underneath are bloody and shredded; the remnants clinging unnaturally to his body. One hand lays stretched out next to him across a pile of papers.

Darl here's soft footsteps from behind him as the his personal priest (and watchdog?) returns with two other priests. Obviously he was able to at least find a couple of volunteers.

{OOC - Darl: Pausing here to let you take in the scene and decide how you want to proceed.}

{OOC - Gerard: If Gerard followed Darl to the office, assume you saw the same thing.}

Darl acknowledges the priests return with a nod of thanks.

"I realize my request was somewhat unorthodox ... and I sincerely thank you for your assistance and trust."

"I'm hoping that with your assistance, I will be able to extend the effectiveness of the casting, which may allow me to catch a glimpse of what happened here this morning. Given that nobody heard or saw anything, there's a pretty good chance that the attacker used magic to cover their tracks, so that I may not be able to see anything ... but if it does work, then we can call in the other newcomers to assist with the subsequent castings; so that the drain is not a burden on yourselves. That said, I'm sure you can appreciate that I would like to attempt at least once without them, just in the off chance that one of them may be responsible for what happened here."

Darl pauses for a moment and lowers his voice before continuing. "What I'm about to do here is somewhat rare and guarded magic ... I'd appreciate it if you would help protect these secrets, rather than spreading them."

"Now ... Shall we?"

Once aquiring With the priests' consent, Darl draws on the power of the circle to cast another spell, once again diving back into the currents of the past in an attempt to once again get a good view of the attacker and their actions ... attempting to use Father Malaki's death as a beacon, he homes in on the last moments of his life; hoping that the attacker's actions after killing the priest may lend some insight into their motivations.

Ryloc wrote:Gerard sighs. "Shall we Darl?" Gerard smiles.

OOC: Doh! Sorry, didn't mean to ignore you. I thought this was Joe trying to prod me along via an NPC. My bad!

As Darl and the others prepair to do their thing, Gerard will use what investigative talents he has to see if he can uncover anything. "As I'm not versed in the mystical stuff I'll take a look around to see if I can find anything as well. Most likely you will see things that I miss so please let me know once you are finished. Will I be a distraction if I'm in here when you do your thing? More than happy to step out if you need me to."

OCC-- hehe no problem and sorry again all works shifts are changing all around for the new year so I have been working long hours. Hopefully things are getting back in some form of order so things settle down a bit now.

"Oh, no worries ... this takes some focus, but feel free to look around while I'm casting - it shouldn't be a distraction at all."

"To be honest, I'm interested in finding that little translations notebook that Father Malaki mentioned last night ... it should be somewhere in this mess. Father Malaki had felt it may help us with decoding more information regarding who was behind the attack yesterday; so if you happen to see it, let me know once I 'come back', so to speak. And if you've got any sort of tracker knowledge, I'm sure it'll come into play soon enough!"