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(Setting) The Calamari Hotel, Westport
| >>393008
>A man on his forties is standing on the other side of the street, his clear eyes observing the crowd trying to peek inside the building, kept outside only by two officers.
"If they only sent a single patrol, sneaking inside from the back will be a child's play. Let's wait there."
>Mistral says to himself, while crossing the street to reach the other side of the block.
| >A single girl wearing a light parka with a hoodie and colorful stockings gets closer to the building, A deck strapped to her back inside some kind of case
>Her long black hair flutters in the wind as she approaches slowly
"I didn't even get to see anything on the cams, this is fishy as hell..."
>Her voice sounds a bit hoarse, yet still cute
| >The crowd does not notice the two, neither does the officer at the front trying to calm them down and prevent them from entering
>>393059
>The back of the hotel is empty, save for some trash littering the alleyway, nobody is standing guard near the back entrance and no cameras are to be seen...
>A soft noise, not unlike music, can be heard from an open window on the third floor, it faces into the alley
| >The girl moves past the crowd slowly, going towards the back and following the noise
"Why is there so little security?"
>She asks herself
| >>393179
>Mistral approaches her quickly, as soon as he sees her. His voice is raspy, and as he speaks he keeps scratching his messy, untrimmed beard.
"So, you must be KY, I guess... Well then, let's get to work, we don't have much time. Everything is calm, over here, and our PD friends seem too busy to notice someone sneaking inside the scene. Just in case, do you have any weapons on you?"
>Saying so, he checks on a small handgun in the holster he hid inside his work trousers.
| >>393179
>The alleyway seems silent enough, besides the man who arrived a few minutes earlier
>The sound is still coming from that window, curtains waving a little at the faint breeze reaching the dark recesses of the alley
>The sound of the siren is more distant than ever, and it seems as if no reinforcements are arriving at the scene, for now
| >>393191
>KY yelps as she gets called out suddenly but then calms down
"Jesus you scared the frag out of me chummer..."
>She recomposes herself and coughs
"I dont carry a lot of Fire Power, but I'll manage, I deal mostly with electronics and all that drek"
| >>393197
>Mistral grins for a couple of seconds at the girl's reaction, then returns immediately to his usual grumpy, bored face.
"I see, I see, but hopefully we won't need to fire a single shot, things seem to be smooth here, darn, even too smooth, right?"
>>393194
>As he hears the noise, Mistral frowns.
"Music? At a heckin' murder scene? That's hella creepy. You think we can climb up to that room?"
>He says, as his eyes are already looking for a path on the wall to get up there
| "If you plan on climbing, I'll sit it out, no way an outdoor type like me can manage to do that"
>She simply shrugs and sighs
"Care to try the back entrance instead?"
| >>393228
"Okay, okay, sure thing, mate."
>He checks on the lock of the closed back door, and grunts.
"Thing is, I'm not that good at forcing stuff open. And I don't even have a bump key on me. Hope you have something like that and you know how to use it, otherwise the both of us are gonna sit it out like two jerks"
| >>393234
>The door is locked, but the door seems feeble enough, if you tried, you could probably pry the door open easily, although the noise might be an issue
| "I'll take care of it"
>KY takes out a small device from her Deck case, some kind of long stick
>She inserts it into the door, and it starts clicking
"Come on... Ah gotcha"
>She rotates the 'key' in the keyhole and the door opens slowly
| >>393237
>The door leads to a small, dirty hallway, the lights are all off, save for a few ray of lights coming from the door at the end of the hall
>A voice can be heard faintly
"I need Reinforcements now! It's only a matter of time before some journalists come over, and I can't keep the people in their room by my own! Hello!? Central, I need an answer now!"
| >>393237
"Good job, nice and quiet. We're in. Let's look for the stairs and let's try not to get caught by those PD fucks, eh?"
>As Mistral says so, he holds the door for KY
"Ladies first"
>He adds, smirking and with a fake ceremony in his voice
| >>393240
>As he hears this, Mistral whispers to KY
"Well, if the poor lad here can't keep the people in their room, I suppose we can always fake being some curious hotel guests, in case they find us, right? I mean, cops seem busy enough to but it"
| >>393253
"Sure..."
>KY slowly makes her way down the corridor, heading for the closest staircase
"Just dont say any names, they might check the logs if we say we're guests..."
| >>393269 >>393253
>The hallway leads into the main hall, where a set of elevators is being attended to by a police officer
>None of the Hotel's personnel seems to be here, and the lights are dim
"No, listen! I don't care what reason you have, if we don't get more people here-!"
>Opposite his location is a door, presumably the stairwell access
>The officer is still talking loudly, he seems panicked
| >KY slowly approaches the lobby and turns to Mistral
"Should we just go?"
| >>393279
>Mistral whispers back to KY
"Don't know, it's dark in here, and he's busy, but having him more distracted would be nice, have any ideas? Otherwise, yes, let's just go"
| >KY just looks around
"Doesnt seem like there's any simjacks or Matrix plugs, so I got nothing else than the pebble throw"
>She shrugs
| >>393285
>Mistral looks at her sceptical
"Pebble throw? Is this an effin' videogame? Well, I don't think that's gonna work, but no guts, no glory, amirite? Let's try"
| >>393311
>Mistral rolls his eyes
"Oh goddammit... Well then, let's just go. I'll go first, if he finds me just run away, I'll manage on my own. Otherwise, I'll give you a signal if the path is clear."
>Mistral looks again at the officer, and, when he seems to be looking away, sneaks inside the main hall, trying to reach the stairwell access without being noticed
| >>393318
>The officer sends a gaze your way at the last second, seems like he's not an officer for nothing
>Somehow, he seems agitated
"Hey you! We told all guests to stay in their rooms, don't make me repeat myself! Get back in there!"
>He then returns to his call, screaming away at what you assume to be GCPD central
"The people are getting curious damnit! Send me a squad now!"
| >KY uses the commotion to slip ahead as well, laying low in the dark, hoping to not be spotted
| >>393322
>The officer merely sends a gaze your way, but he seems too panicked to even process your presence
| "Yeah I got a weak presence, but thats not why he didnt notice me okay"
>She seems to be making excuses to herself as she ascends up the stairs
| >>393321
>Mistral yelps, and answers nervously to the officer
"Sure thing officer, sure thing. I... I was just a bit curious, mkay? Guess I'll be a good kid and get back to my room, eh?"
>Mistral reaches the stairwell as fast as he can, trying to avoid any more trouble
>>393324
"Jesus Christ, sometimes I wonder if there is a God up there, waddaya say? Well, let's get up there, from now on it should be all smooth and easy... Hopefully."
>As he talks to KY, he still sounds shaky
| >a metal click bangs against the concrete as a large man in a kilt with a machine gun augmented to his leg steps into the scene
"Aye, and what the fuck are you doing here? You miss the hooks some mile off? Laddy?
| >>393331
"I wouldnt trust that assumption too much... Remember where we are chummer, and remember that police officer, he was freaking out"
>KY says, eyeing her phone
| >>393334 >>393333
"Just a joke, obviously God forgot about Glit... And who the flying fuck is that guy, are you kidding me?!"
>Mistral gasps as he sees the man in kilt. To him, the scene is both surreal and terrifying at the same time
| >>393340
"You new here laddy? I'm Douglass MacScot. Heard something rather unusual happen lately und I was wondering to meself to have a stroll, and I find this bugger-"
>he pats the officer on the shoulder
"Way off course aintcha."
>he then walks over, a click of the machinegun leg following every step of his boot.
"Now my turn lad. Who the flying fuck are you?"
| >>393341
"Uhm... Just a curious hotel guest, who else could I be? I was just going back to my room as our dear officer here told me to do, so if you don't mind..."
>Mistral laughs nervously, and walks faster up the staircase, hoping that his pitiful act would be enough to fool the giant Scotsman.
| >>393348
"Just go, grab every piece of information you can, I'll manage on my own. I hope."
>Mistral stops climbing, and turns around, hoping to be able to get out of there in one piece
| >>393346
"Aye he did ayy? Well, a cop that canny see the hooks, I don't trust his judgement then."
>he leans in closer
"So, curious of what laddy? Because all the going ons outside ther really puttin us in a bind an a lot of me mates are on edge with rumors they aint to happy about. We like our track record so far ye getit?"
| >>393359
"Curious of what? Well, lemme tell you, wouldn't you be curious if you were resting peacefully in your room, and suddenly the police comes in and tells evweyone to stay inside, making everything sound like an effin' crime scene? I don't even know why the PD's here, that's why I'm curious"
| >>393367
"Aye, fair enuff. However you be talkin to someone before about grabbin information. So now ye got me curious."
>he makes his way to you
| >>393362
>Mistral tries to buy KY some time to reach the room
"Mister, now I have no idea what are you talking about, seriously. I think everyone except me is up in their rooms, so who should I be talking with?"
>He manages not to chuckle nervously, this time, acting as normal as possible
| >>393369
"Ye calling me crazy mate? Ye saying I'm hearing voices then? Ye callin me crazy mate?"
>you can tell his voice is getting slightly louder, and don't know if he realized he repeated himself.
| >>393370
"Mister, please, I think you're being a bit too aggressive now, and there's no need to get that close, right? Or are you trying to threaten me?"
>While dodging the question, Mistral manages to take a couple of steps backwards, while trying to smile friendly at the irritated, giant Scotsman approaching him
"What I'm trying to say is that you may have mistaken for mine the voice of someone from the outside, for example"
| >Despite the commotion, the officer seems too busy talking, although he sends more than a few gazes your way, hand on his service weapon
>The staircase's lights are off, and within, the soft sound of a tune echoes from the third floor...
| >>393371
"Aye you know what, I got ya face anyways."
>he starts to back up to the police officer
"So you pull anything you going to wish I tossed you like June Trout. Insteda what you'll get aye. Callin me crazy..."
>he turns to the officer
"Oi, badge number. You know police don't come her. Why the fuck you feel the need to break an ar agreement."
>he seems focused on the police officer now
| >>393378
>The officer does not answer, he seems too busy speaking on his radio, although his hand is now dangerously close to his weapon...
| >>393378 >>393379
"Yessir, you know what? I'll go up to my room and sleep like a baby, whatcha say?"
>Mistral turns back and starts climbing the stairs two steps at a time, hoping to reach the first floor without having the officer putting a bullet in his back
| >KY does a mental thumbs up and continues ascending the stairs slowly and silently
| >>393382
>You reach the third floor easily enough
>The corridor is gloomy, all the lights are off
>The tune is closer than ever, and seems to be coming from the second door on your left... it resembles a slow humming
| >>393379
"Answer or ya get the shock mate. You know cheify will fire ya. And if ya a fake you're dead anyways."
>MacScot pulls out a can shaped object that seems to glow a dull blue
| >>393384
>The officer clicks his tongue
"Orders from higher up, got an issue with them, you call em', not any of my problems. I got a crime scene to handle here."
>He goes back to his radio
| >>393384
>Seeing this scene, Mistral starts walking even faster, finally getting out of the two men's sight.
>Thoughts are going through his head as fast as lightnings, while he imagines in how many ways that could have ended.
"Ok, let's see how the girl's managing"
>He says to himself, trying to stop his hands from shaking, while he reaches the third floor.
| >>393387
"Aye, I will. Cuz it breaks the agreement. Canny notice a Fisherman when you see one."
>the officer is hit with the can on the back of the neck and falls to the ground stunned
"Aight, one of you mates help toss this guy back out there. I'mma have a chat with whomever forgot what the word Jurisdiction meant. Better yet, I'll let Capn Jones handle it."
>he seems to be talking to nothing in the opposite direction before other large men come out to pick up the guard
| >>393393
>With a jerk, the guard stands up, his head shaking
>He had been stunned, but something feels off, his eyes are bleeding profusely and foam is coming out of his mouth
>The officer dashes towards the nearest person and tries to crash into them, screaming erratically all the while
>>393388
>Inside, there is only darkness and the smell of blood, a large curtain stands, blocking the entrance
>Someone is humming inside the room...
| >>393394
>Mistral runs towards KY. He knows she's unarmed, so he gets inside the room as fast as he can, pulling away the curtain from the entrance with one hand, and reaching for his gun with the other.
"God, what do we have here?"
>He asks, nauseated by the smell
| >>3933941
>the nearest person being the Scotsman with the machine gun leg, which the scotsman lifts and fires. Several pops ring out as he unloads into the "officer"
>another man pull out their pistols preparing to fire at the things legs as well should it somehow survive.
>the third raises a mirror shaking his hands a few times
| >>393399
>Behind the curtain, is a man tied to a chair, facing an open window
>Blood is flowing from his body, and you can tell he's dead simply by the amount of guts littering the floor... and yet
>The man, the one pierced by over a hundred large needles...
>Is humming
| >>393400
>The officer keeps charging ahead, not minding the bullets, he jumps the scot and begins clawing and punching crazily
>Despite the numerous wounds, almost no blood oozes from his body
| >>393402
>several more pops ring out and the officer's head is a pink mist on the pavement. Kneecaps shot out with the pistol shots
| >>393401
"What the fuck is going on in here?!"
>Mistral shouts as he points his gun to the humming man
>>393400
"Are they shooting down there? What the fuck happened?"
>He slowly approaches the humming man, keeping his gun pointed at him, hoping for a reaction.
"KY, take a picture of this shit. No, record it. We need evidence before someone hides what happened here."
| >>393407
>His head collapses and the body falls to the floor
>No sound is coming from the radio he kept hanging unto
| >the other fisherman puts down the mirror, and MacScot makes a call on his phone
"Alright, so clean up. And call them to find out what the fuck they couldn't keep over there. Not fucking happy about whatever the fuck that was."
| >>393409
>No answer comes from the man, who keeps humming slowly
>Now that you look around the room, you can see the words 'Many Eyes' written everywhere in the room, in blood
>There is a large kitchen knife stuck in the man's back
| >>393414
"Alright, alright... I guess dead men won't talk even if they're singing, right?"
>Mistral gets closer to the man, without lowering his gun, looking for something on him that could be a clue leading to the killer's identity, location or motifs
| >>393416
>The room has been striped bare of save but a few things: a wardrobe, a low table and the bed itself, that and the chair on which the humming man sits
>The murder weapon, however, seems obvious, the needles and knife inserted inside the body...
| >>393417
>Mistral bends over and observes one of the needles, inspecting the wounds carefully. Then, holding the gun with one hand, he uses the other to go through the man's pockets, looking for his ID, or at least for a clue on his identity
| >>393409
>KY gets out of her daze, shakimg her head, taking a photo with her phone
"Alright, got it, I'll look for anything electronic I could use"
| >>393729
>The man is dressed in a. Tattered suit, and the pockets on his vest have been blown out, along with his entire chest cavity, his pants however, do hold a small wallet
>Inside the wallet is an id, it reads 'Eric Stehsen'
>The needles seem to have pierced his body through and through, all the while he was tied to the chair, before his chest was opened using a sharp instrument, probably that knife
>>393803
>The room was stripped of all electronics, and is off the grid...
| >>393982
"Yo, you might not wanna touch the body too much..."
>KY says as she turns around
"They'll prolly check for prints, and you'd be in trouble if they found anything"
>She says before going back to the body and simply taking pictures from all angles
| >>393982
"Well well, KY, take a look at this"
>Says Mistral, while reading the man's ID.
"Here we have our Mr. Stehsen, the suspect. Guess he wasn't the murderer, after all, since he got butchered like the other guys, right? This can't be a suicide. Still, why the fuck's he still humming? This ain't a goddamn zombie movie"
>>393997
"Oh, and don't worry about that, currently I'm using a fake identity, and I even managed to get my fingerprints deleted from the PD registers, y'know?"
| >>394039
Anyway, here's this guy, an humming corpse tied up to a chair and then slain to death by some psycho, who then wrote that stuff on the walls. Still, we have no clues on who the psycho may be. Do you have any idea on what might have really happened here? I mean, six murders and still we didn't get any solid lead outta them"
>Mistral looks at KY, daunted
"We only have one last thing to verify, but for that we'll have to wait for the autopsy: the size of his brain"
| >>394039
"I just hope you know what you're doing"
>KY sighs
"So why is he here? I thought the GCPD had their eyes on him"
| >>394041
"Well, he disappeared and no one had seen him for at least a week before he got killed, so they had no way to trace him... Anyway, we have to find how the common elements of this murders sum up: this eye obsession, the locations, the way they kill the victims... Seems like some sort of ritual. I think we got some serious cult shit right here, any ideas?"
| >>394048
>As he speaks, Mistral looks inside the wardrobe, hoping to find some more clues
"And, well, the fact this guy's humming just freaks me out... He must have some kind of music player on him, maybe hidden in that gash on his gut, I just can't believe he's making that sound"
| "Right..."
>KY starts to look around the room, taking pictures and being careful to not move anything
| >>394051
>You open the wardrobe, as you do, a dry sound rings out
>Inside the wardrobe is a small camera, peering into the room, it has a microphone attached
>It's an old model, something from about fifty years ago at the very least, incompatible with the Matrix or Decks
>It's on, and it's shutter just snapped
>The man stops humming, now, a bizarre noise is coming from his mouth, like static, mixed in are numbers and letters...
| "OPCTDQ 01000101 HVLMNM 01101110 VBZEJA 01101001 DSJSZW 01100111 BVBHQI 01101101 ANVWBM 01100001 QWKXHA GLTDIV CCGGZX GHWKBF OTRBCD I"
>The noise slowly dies out as the humming resumes
>The camera has turned off before you could notice
| >>394057
>Mistral checks the camera, and then puts it in the pocket of his work trousers, hoping to find a way to recharge the batteries. Being nearly fifty years old, he has seen those old models in his childhood, and maybe has an idea where to find a battery charger for it. He closes the wardrobe, and gets closer to the corpse. He grabs his jaw, and opens his mouth forcefully, hoping to find what he was looking for.
"Was that a code? You're the hacker here, KY, enlighten me"
| >>394060
>KY just freezes
"Huh? Oh, yeah, thats not code, that sounds like a cipher"
>She starts thinking but then stops
"Wait, did that camera just take a picture?"
| >>394324
"Yeah. Someone must have been watching us the whole time, I guess"
>Mistral hands over the camera to KY
"I don't think we'll be able to get anything from it unless we find a way to recharge it, this model's just too old. Anyway, waddaya think of that cipher? The numbers seemed like binary... If I'm not mistaken they translate to "Enigma", right?"
| "The Enigma cipher, thats an odd one... But is it Navy cipher or the combined one..."
>KY thinks aloud
"The letters are in sixes, but what dials would they be using...any numbers from one to five on there? And what wave lenght would they be using"
| >>394451
"I know the Enigma system only by name, but I think that the "I" at the end of this cipher may be a roman one, is that any useful to you?"
>Mistral sighs
| "Fair enough, lets try somethinf out then..."
>KY takes out her deck and types away on the keyboard
| "Aghh, this is all messed up, but I think I can somewhat read some of it, lessee here..."
>KY slowly pieces the text together
"The fifth... In two days. the clock ticks, now you find me before they find you... The rest is all jumbled up, mostlt because I had to improvise the Wave lenght and Code"
>She says
"What the hell does this even mean?"
|
|
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| >>394625
"Well, now he knows who we are, and maybe one of us will be targeted in the next two days?"
>As he says so, Mistral's face gets even more worried than it was already
"I have no idea what else this may mean, he's asking us to play his game and find him before he finds us. But, again, we have no clues on him"
>Mistral looks around again in the room
"Well then, we have one last thing to check, actually"
>He says, as he opens the corpse mouth
| >>394648
>Inside the corpse's mouth is a small speaker, playing what you can only assume to be the humming ringing throughout the room
>It looks badly damaged and is soaked in blood and bile
>The stench of rot is very prominent...
>There is a small plastic bag next to the speaker, it contains a scrap of paper...
| >>394775
>Mistral, making a grossed out expression, inserts his fingers inside the corpse mouth, and extracts carefully both the plastic bag and the speaker.
"Shit. That was revolting. Never thought I was gonna put my hands in something that disgusting"
>As he says so, Mistral unpacks the plastic bag, and examines the paper scrap...
| >>394793
>The paper scrap reads: 'Settings: FACTORY (M3 - ---B--- - I II III - A A A A A A -)'
>The speaker is still humming the creepy song
| "Anything in there?"
>KY says as she looks over Mistral, her deck still out
| >>394812
>Mistral hands over the paper scrap to KY
"Yeah, I think we got the exact settings for the Enigma decryption"
| >KY nods
"Gimme"
| >>394834
>Mistral gives her the paper scrap, reading it out loud
"M3 - ---B--- - I II III - A A A A A A"
| "..."
>KY imputs the message im before giving off a smirk
"I'm mad we had to wait for someone like this to give us clues... But I got it, The Fifth Avenue in Glitz, in two days, the clock is ticking, find me before they find you"
>She says
| "So, we got what we came for, uh?"
>Mistral looks around impatiently
"Let's get the fuck outta here. Main hall's off limits, too many people there, and those shots weren't exactly reassuring. Climbing down the wall isn't exactly your thing, right? Well, any ideas?"
| >KY shakes her head
"Hell if I know, I didnt think that far ahead saddly"
>She opens a window
"Huh, any rope or something like that"
| >>394962
>Mistral looks out on the alley, looking for any PD officer or Fisherman that could cause unwanted attention.
"No, I didn't brought any rope, since I can climb barehanded... Think you can manage to do that?"
>Saying so, he climbs onto the ledge of the open window, feeling the cold night breeze on his face
"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, right? Hop on my back, and hold on tight, missy"
>Mistral smirks
| >KY just cringes
"Yeah, No"
>She says, sighing
"I'll manage to climb down, you go first... I swear the things I do"
| >Mistral bursts into laughter at KY's grossed out expression
"Jesus, don't tell me you seriously thought I was gonna carry you all the way down, huh? The hell you think I am?"
>Still chuckling, Mistral climbs down the ledge, and swiftly makes his way down to the alley, way too agile for a man of his age
| >>395406
>The alley is quiet, just as when you first arrived, but no humming now fills the air
>It might be best to leave as quick as you can, who knows how long the PD or Westport's denizens will remain quiet
| >KY slowly gets down, moving carefully and almost messing up several times
"T-This is why I hate tall places- that was scary..."
>She's sweating a lot, and her breath is ragged
"L-Let's just... Get out of here"
| "Yeah, let's go. Later we'll tell NEET-God what we discovered. Now let's split up and get outta here. Been a pleasure working with ya, missy"
>Mistral walks out of the alley, going his own way
| >>395534
"Missy huh... ahhh that was tiring"
>She takes out her phone and then gasps
"WHAT THE HELL?"
>She starts running down her own way
This thread is permanently archived
| >The Calamari Hotel wasn't by any measure a grand hotel, it was just another miserably small and cheap hotel sitting right underneath highway 256 and it's shadows
>The walls were barely holding after the years, and the neon sign atop the front door now only read 'T e Cal m i'
>Normally, very few spent time here, but today was different, and a small crowd had gathered around the front door, the sound of sirens heard from the street itself...