Beneath Stillwater(Robert)
Date: 2025-08-20 22:20
(Beneath Stillwater(Robert):Robert)
[Wed Aug 20 2025]
At The Gruesome Scene
Here it is. Or, well – isn’t. The rocks where the murdered was found, where outside of Haven it’d be smothered up and called an accident. A man washed ashore with dry form and salted stake.
There’s nothing exciting about it. A couple of rocks. Some nearby cranes and docks off to the south a ways for industrial boats, still in the evening light and occasionally swaying to the sea breeze. The occasional cry of distant seagulls.
But here, there’s just the endless gnashing of the sea trying to devour the land. It’s quiet. There’s not a hint of crab, the subtle sift of sand, no stirring of fish nor crawl of sea turtle.
Empty.
Robert’s said he’s willing to talk.
It hasn’t been too long. Just long enough for the news to get around; You’re here either because the dead man, Martin McMiller, was a friend of yours; you’re curious; or you have some reason to get on Robert’s good side, or work for him. Either way…
Here we all are now.
It is night, about 61F(16C) degrees, and there are clear skies. The mist is heaviest At Birch and Lake/span>/span There is a waning crescent moon.
Here you all arrive. By nearby bus-stop and walking. By parking nearby. By some other means, of foot or flight, but here you are.
Robert stands, looking out at the ocean, his expression lined with weariness and stressors – not that that’s any surprise, considering the man runs two groups with subtly different philosophies, and wearing the signs of both. He steps away from Samantha whom he was with at the start before the other two, clearly occupying for an hour and turning to face the others, his spear coming down butt-first on the land. “So.”
“I assume you all have a few questions.”
Samantha looks at Robert’s back as he steps away from her, her face long and lips tight as she gazes on him with more than a hint of worry. She steps up to support him, but not derail him. “You knew him… lead him?”
Sophie clasps her hands in front, saying nothing but instead letting her eyes briefly roam the group. They land on Robert and she merely offers an encouraging nod.
Fiona is more than confused, actually. She blinks a few times, uncertain of where she is or how she ended up here, but the fact that there was a curious gathering on the beach… Well, things didn’t happen for no reason, now did they? She is decidedly over-dressed for the occasion, but, ah well.
Her eyes roam around the others for a moment, before listening to the others speak, keeping quiet for the time being.
Robert takes the spear in hand as he leans against it and answers, faintly, but firmly, “No. Martin McMiller was an independent researcher and a friend of mine that worked for the Invisible College, teaching alchemical theory, until he retired a few years back for health reasons,” He answers plainly.
Samantha rests a hand on Robert’s shoulder comfortingly. Samantha glances to Sophie and smiles, “It’s good to see you Sophie…” she says before turning to Fiona, “Hi… I’m Sammie… I wish we could have met under… better circumstances…”
With that she kneels down next to the body to give it a professional examination.
Meridith has been involved in this for some time. Busy. She had to fight a lot of other battles. But still, available for inquiry.
Sophie watches Samantha, offering her opinions as she has the same level of forensics knowledge but less experience. Her keen eyes move over the scene at hand, “Hey Mer.” She says with a soft wave.
“Oh, uh. Hi. I’m Fiona.” Fiona gives a brief wave over to someone, nodding to her, before peering over the body with undisguised curiosity, more than anything else. “… So you all knew, uh…” She pauses for a moment, peering at the body, before saying, “… Marty? No. Martin.” She corrects herself, before sliding over to regard the corpse with the others.
“Oh, uh. Hi. I’m Fiona.” Fiona gives a brief wave over to Samantha, nodding to her, before peering over the body with undisguised curiosity, more than anything else. “… So you all knew, uh…” She pauses for a moment, peering at the body, before saying, “… Marty? No. Martin.” She corrects herself, before sliding over to regard the corpse with the others.
Meridith nods gently to someone, then Fiona then Samantha. “What do we know thus far then?” she asks.
Robert offers Samantha a faint smile at the shoulder-squeeze, allowing Samantha to move to the gruesome scene of the body and stepping aside for it and the mess it is behind him.
Due to the lack of content warnings, the player will not get into further details. Suffice to say, it looks pretty good for a dead guy. And old. Very old. As if it’s been artificially aged or left out in the sun for a long time, the skin dry and papery despite the moisture clinging to the fabric of the man’s clothes, beyond the details that were already put in the plot. He’s in a bodybag, ready to be hauled away. Car keys… wallet… ID card. Old receipts. Losing lottery ticket. Three different punch cards for a free sandwich, all of them missing a few holes but non complete. Ferry ticket.
“Hello, Meridith.” The man adds. “Nice to meet you, Fiona.”
Meridith nods gently to Sophie, then Fiona then Samantha. “What do we know thus far then?” she asks. Peering at the man a moment, she studies him.
Robert adds, after a heartbeat, “I knew him. I don’t know about the rest of you. I assume you all knew him instead of being.. gawpers…” He wrinkles his nose as he starts to realize the public beach is not necessarily the best place to have this and he should have hauled the body off further. It’s been a tough couple of days for him, folks.
Samantha shakes her head as she examines the body with Sophie, “N…no… I came here with Robert. I never met Martin before.”
Samantha turns to Meridith “Not a lot… but… um Sophie… does his skin… look wrong to you too?”
Sophie nods, “It does, but why? Everything else looks alright.”
Meridith finishes appraising Robert. “A lot of temporal magic in Haven. Could ritual or something akin have played a role?” She wonders.
“Oh, uh. I’m the, ah, gawper, I guess.” Fiona volunteers, raising her hand somewhat, before she looks a bit confused, peering off to the side in thought for a moment, before looking back to the others. Clearly out of her element, she opts instead to quiet down and listen to the others.
Her attention wanders, however, as she begins to pick around the area, looking more for anything out of place around the area rather than at the corpse itself.
Samantha looks up to Sophie and Meridith “I don’t know anything about magic…”
Sophie says “We got magic covered.“
“Maybe. Something also could have pulled the moisture right out of it. There was a demon we were chasing a few years back that could supposedly do that – native to this area and the tribes that lived here, but it’s unlikely.” Robert answers Meridith slowly, his gaze shifting over the others working.
Feel free to use whatever occult knowledge or otherwise that you’ve got.
People can help Sophie look into the body or help Fiona search with <assist>.
Sophie groans, “Beyond my knowledge if it was something.” She sighs.
“Well, I mean, water has transitive properties, right? Sort of…” Fiona pipes up in response to Sophie, peering back over in the midst of her peeking around the area for other clues. “… Draining the water from something sort of petrifies it? Yeah?” Her tone is unsure. “Salt, stillness, and water. Maybe it’s something related to that?”
Usage of assist is pre-roll with Players (Optional): assist <Player> <how> before the rollchallenge. Help roll can give it a hand. In the meantime…
Fiona finds something odd – a string. Or, the remains of one, some sort of old, leathery thing, deeply worn and a jade carving dangling off the end in blues. It looks like some sort of sea creature; but it’s hard to say, and it was tucked among the rocks. It looks like it was torn free.
The rule of threes hold effect as Samantha, Meridith and Sophie work together. It’s not magic, but it’s not-not magic. Sophie is pretty sure she’s seen something like this before, and Samantha scrapes up something beneath the fingernails. Salt? But a little too sticky. Meridith recognizes it. Ghostly residue, something everyone’s experienced with.
Meridith shares this with a weary sigh. “Ghost goo,” she mumbles. Some might use more formal terms, she does not. “We’re dealing with ghostly nonsense, but what role would they have played in this. Lure?”
That last part was meant to go to Sophie, but it may have been echoed to everyone.
Fiona draws up the bit of sinew, with the jade carving dangling off of it. She admires it for a long moment, before starting to head back towards Samantha, Meridith, and Sophie, saying, “Uh, I think I found something?” She holds up the presumed pendant. “I think it’s some kind of sea creature? Nice green hue on the rock.”
Samantha face scrunches up slightly as she holds the ‘ghost goo’ up to her nose… before eyes widening and pulling it back away. “So a haunting or a possession?” She looks around at where the body was found… trying to identify if the victim was killed here… and the tide made it wet… or if the victim was killed elsewhere and simply washed up here.
Her attention is drawn away by Fiona, and with a grin she says to her encouragingly, “Great set of eyes!”
Sophie curses quietly at her lack of studying and is kicking herself for not knowing better. She looks over at where Samantha is pointing, “Oh wow.” She moves over to tilt her head and loo.
“I mean, it’s definitely not a manatee… Definitely the wrong place on the coast. Do manatees even get this far north…?” Fiona absent-mindedly muses about the situation, peering at the pendant with undisguised curiosity.
Meridith steps over quietly to Fiona. Then back to Robert. “What are you suspecting so far?” she wonders
Samantha looks down at her phone as it beeps… “Oh gosh… the hospital is calling… there are more injured people from that monster. I am so sorry… but i have to bolt sweetheart. Be strong… we will get through this.” With a quick kiss to Robert’s cheek she dashes off.
One nurse leaves, leaving the trio as he cranes his head. “Some sort of ghost. There’s a few that could do this, especially if they’re working with some other entity of the sea…” His mouth slowly downturns into a frown as he tilts his head to one side, not even the affection making his countenance change.
Simplistically put, it’s a fish. Specifically, a salmon. Which – with the three of you cobbling together and maybe some referencing online or taking a photo of it to backwards search – one of spiritual significance to the Native American tribes nearby.
Sophie folds her arms, eyes flicking from the man to the image of the fish. “Salmon..huh” she murmurs, as if testing the word. “They’re not just food to the tribes here, they’re symbols. Renewal, transformation, the cycle of life.”
“That’s a lead but, god, do we wanna drive up to a Native Tribe and ask them about their salmon spirit?” she wonders. Then shakes her head, thoughtful. “The place is clearly desecrated, animals won’t come near.” She turns to Robert. “Why’s this your business, exactly?” Meridith wonders. Then back to Sophie. “We got a stake right? Salted?”
Sophie gives Meridith a funny look, “I..uh. I don’t carry those around often.”
Meridith says “In the body, silly.“
Sophie facepalms and sighs, “Fuck me. Yeah.”
Meridith says “So staked vamp, renewal, transformation…“
Meridith says “If you remove the stake uh, isn’t he no longer murdered?“
Sophie says “I mean, depends what lore we’re going with but we can try.“
“Well, they were all over this place, and some of it washes ashore, even in this in-between town. They were here first, before the entrypoint to various unpleasant realms was established here,” Robert answers slowly, his words measured. “Salmon… there was something…” He taps his cheek in thought, the memories starting to come back as his brow furrows. “Something about a terrible being slain and buried.” He recalls. “A very long time ago. But – ” He gives the body a stare that’s felt through even the sunglasses as he looks down at the man. Confusion is rife on the face.
“When I asked him about it, we just came up empty after some research. It was done and dusted, some ancient angry trickster spirit that was trapped and slain a few thousand years ago. Why did it show up now?” He shakes his head. To those more specialized in occult matters – it was a demon, summoned up, getting into a person, then put down. Fairly old. Thought to be a myth, at least, and no names come up, but it apparently popped up again in a few other places, literally months after, and was very prolific before being bound down by Solomon as one of the many ‘genies’, and the origin of that story. So whatever-it-was is long gone.
Meridith shakes her head a little. “I’m familiar with a strange flow in the seabed around her. Likely close. Unless that’s where this guy turned up from, it’s something else entirely.
“Well, I don’t know much about ghosts…” Truly, Fiona was filling the role of Daphne in this Scooby Gang. As the rest begin to explain all of the different connections, she listens closely, nodding along, although judging by the confused expression on her face, it was doubtful she really caught all of what was being said. At the final comment about it being put down, she tilts her head. “Maybe it’s something to do with salmon and spawning? I know they, uh, go up rivers to have their kids and die. It’s, uh, where bears eat them. On the way, at least. I saw a YouTube video about it before.”
Meridith says “You got the resources to send divers or are we the best you’ve got?“
Sophie gives Fiona a faint smile before her eyes settle back on the body. You are onto something. The salmon run is about death and renewal. They push upstream, spawn, and die so the cycle can continue. It is violent, but it is sacred. If something is echoing that, maybe it is using that passage between life and death. And maybe it is not alone.
“But then there’s the bit about the seabed. If only we had scuba gear.”
answers Meridith slowly, “That could be it. And I do have people to send in… do you have a location for this place you’re talking about, Meridith?” The man questions of her.
“And then, uh, you’re not supposed to eat the salmon after they have kids? Because they literally, uh, burn themselves out and are basically dead when they finish, like rotting from the inside out… Oh.” Fiona rambles on for a bit, before realizing there was steps and action being discussed. “I definitely do not have scuba gear.” She nods a few times.
Meridith nods and gestures. “I can provide the notes. College coastal map. Might not be spot on but should narrow it down. I’m sure this thing pings aracanist in some way.”
“Mhh. I’ll let you know when we’re done. For now…” Robert checks his watch, producing a lengthy sigh, and admitting, “I’m exhausted and need to rest.” He murmurs, reaching up to rub his forehead. “I appreciate all the work you’ve done here – I’ll take the body with me and make sure he gets a proper funeral. I’ll send emails explaining what I know.”
Meridith says “Appreciated. I’ll do what I can to assist you in the future as well. Death couldn’t stop me..“
Sophie nods at Robert, “I wish I had been more helpful but I’m here if needed in future. For sure.”
More mysteries upon mysteries – the email leaves the answer. A ghost of something that never died. But for now, that’s the end of this plot as the storyrunner bows out.