US Law Enforcement Response, Time, Scale and Coordination (Galveston, TX)

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Varyon

That's going to raise some eyebrows. Not so much the water (which may be indistinguishable from sweat) as the salt. [...] I'm kind of curious if Igor's status as a semi-undead... thing will result in any surprises at the autopsy (such as decayed/degraded internal organs, or lack of rigor mortis) or with the CSI's that document and cart away the body (such as an abnormally low body temperature, inconsistent with the freshness of the corpse).

Yeah, Igor's going to puzzle some medical examiner, all right. Happily, most people are going to attribute anomalies to sample contamination, instrument failure, obvious mistake, etc. And there will be at least one expert from UTMB who is fully aware that the instruments are working perfectly well and who will both ensure that Mr. Kessler's people get the unedited autopsy data and that the forensic scientists who are unable to penetrate the Facade are guided to conclusions that their minds can accomodate. Such conclusions will also be crafted to avoid any evidence that could prove problematic to Mr. Kessler's people.

J.R. Kessler's yearly donations to UTMB average some $5 million and he unofficially pays about the same in hidden considerations through a variety of complex accounting tricks, shell corporations, offshore accounts and the occasional good-old-fashioned envelope of cash to ensure that various key medical professionals at UTMB are loyal to hm and his people (or loyal to their secret paymasters, for unscrupulpus types kept in the dark about the source of the money).

Kessler's most important agents at UTMB are not even doing it for the money (though even the most pure of heart rarely refuse research funding or contributions to their departments), but rather because they've seen past the Facade and realize that the official authorities have no answers. Rather than have a promising young ME turn in a report that is going to get him marginalized and possibly fired by adminisfrators who will never accept a supernatural explanation, those who have been in his position teach him how to turn in a report that will be accepted, while the true autopsy report goes to 'those who will believe and see that justice is done, if it can be'.

Ironically, the players don't know about Igor's exceptional vitality and resiliance. In one second, Igor took a .45 LC to the abdomen, 5.56x45mm round to the brain and 9 pellets of 0 buckshot to the face. Before he had fallen to the ground or the PCs had time to make any Per-based Diagnosis checks, this was followed up by an All-out Attack (Strong) swing with an enchanted heirloom Bowie knife, Very Fine and improved damage, swung by ST 20 Lacoste. In other words, it didn't matter how resilient Igor was, he was at -HPx10 after suffering more than 250 HP of injury in just over a second.

And the PCs have no way of knowing that Igor could actually survive some of these attacks individually, they just think they killed him four times over, because everyone attacked him at once. Enforcing Situational Awareness meant that the PCs independently decided to engage the greatest threat, i.e. the guy bringing to bear a .50 BMG rifle, and while they succeded at Per checks well enough to avoid blue-on-blue incidents, none of them could predict that the other PCs shot the same guy in the same second.

Originally Posted by Varyon

Lacoste may be able to claim he thought the man was still moving and reaching for a weapon, provided there isn't any evidence (such as witness testimony) that it occurred after the fight was over (in the chaos of battle and with moving shadows from the flashing police lights, thinking a corpse was moving isn't unbelievable, particularly given Igor's apparent resilience). If the body was obviously repositioned for the decapitating strike, however, that's going to be difficult to explain away.

Well, what really happened is that Lacoste really thought his first hits killed the sicario, when he first failed a Knockdown roll and fell over upon taking hits from both sawed-off 10G and .460 S&W revolver.

Later, Lacoste realized that the man really was still moving and had drawn a weapon, which he was aiming at 'Nonc' Morel (PC)*. At that moment, Lacoste quite correctly shot him in the cerebellum at ten feet.

The problem is that Lacoste believes he saw Igor's soul leave his body when he was decapitated and that the soul was wrapped in the spiritual equivalent of barbed wire and chains. Using Exorcism, holy water and salt, Lacoste freed the soul from bondage and sent it on its way.

So, naturally, Lacoste's player concluded that the rest of the opponents were probably also afflicted with these terrible soulchains and asked if he could see the soul of the man he shot, clearly fatally, leave his body. When I replied that he couldn't, Lacoste's player decided that this meant that the soul was still trapped in there and he needed to free it by cutting of the head. Reasonable and logical, of course. So, Lacoste positioned the man he had shot for a good beheading strike and in only two powerful blows, he got the head free of the neck.

If the exact truth came out, not many explanations would suffice. However, as mentioned before, at least someone working on the medical forensic evidence will belong to Kessler and Sergeant Buddy Duke will flat-out lie on behalf of Lacoste, saying that the beheading happened immediately after the shot and that the suspect still had a gun in his hand, posed a risk to Lacoste and others, and must have been decapitated while struggling with Lacoste on the ground.

*Who is not good at talking to the authorities without seeming like a crazy Cajun hermit who grows substances that the government disapproves of. As 'Nonc' Morel has a charm he can activate to make himself inconspicious, he might try to disappear from the scene before Detectives Cartwright and Kelly get close enough to see him.

Originally Posted by Varyon

I would assume the authorities are going to be rather puzzled by this, but will ultimately come to the decision (particularly thanks to the Facade) that the driver was tortured and killed by the other "terrorists" prior to the ambush, possibly for attempting to bail on them or similarly betray them. If there's blood left in the van from the attack by not-Alice* on the other sicarios unfortunate enough to be present, they may assume the van was used for some sort of bizarre executions prior to the ambush. The freshness of the blood is going to be problematic, of course.

The fact that the truck moved during the ambush, both in a forward direction, and backwards, makes this a somewhat hard sell. Not to mention that the way that the driver has his hands attached to the steering wheel with the knife and one of his feet nailed through to the gas pedal. It's clearly impossible that anyone else could have been driving.

On the subject of blood spatter, a very inspired analyst might notice that infinite care appears to have been taken to ensure that the blood sprayed everywhere other than where the killer must have been in the cab. In fact, it almost seems lime the killer contorted himself into various uncomfortable positions to escape blood spatters, while working diligently to open more and more veins. It seems not only incomprehensible, but actively impossible, as no one could have applied the kind of force needed without being in a position where they should have been covered in blood, but it's as if the spatters went right through the killer and landed on the passenger seat, window and other surfaces.

However, it's not as if the truck won't reward DNA analysis, as they'll find genetic material from numerous open cases in it, including the six bodies in the Walmart. Also, at least a dozen other open murders, in California, Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico, as well as two or three around Dallas.

Originally Posted by Varyon

As for Buddy's statements on what he saw (unless he censors himself to avoid looking crazy - he appears to be aware of there being things that go bump in the night, and that most are unaware), that might be rationalized away as someone sneaking in the van to finish the work of killing the driver, and somehow sneaking out without Buddy noticing, potentially resulting in a manhunt for the mysterious torture-ninja.

Yeah, Buddy Duke will have a quiet word with Lacoste about what they can and can't say, as well as whether they need to burn the bodies, I guess. He's still operating on the assumption that this is an Evil Dead/vampires/zombies kind of situation.

I'm guessing Duke just says he saw someone leaving the truck, running into the night.

Originally Posted by Varyon

I'd imagine the way this will go will depend heavily on how reliably they can determine the time of death. Unless there was an immediate call to 911 by someone who heard the gunshot (giving a timestamp), they'll be more inclined to assume he died after the ambush failed. At that point, they'll be trying to figure out how he learned of the failure, possibly working under the assumption he killed himself to avoid prosecution for his part in it. [...]

Carillo was divorced and lived in a rental apartment. Several people in neighbouring apartments heard the shot.

Originally Posted by Varyon

*I'm kind of imagining the attacking creature being roughly akin to Night from the Worm web serial, [...].

It's quite possible that whatever tortured Alberto didn't need knives or screwdrivers, but merely felt that using the contents of the toolbox open on the floor of the passenger side of the truck was amusing. Also, wanted to secure Alberto in an appropriately dramatic pose, for which purpose the sharp implements jammed through him were necessary.