The Aurors: Threads

Who: Alicia, Pamela, & Max
What: Uncovering the production center
When: Jan/Feb 2018, sometime after Pamela and Alicia arrive
Where: Semi-creepy basement in Chicago, then other places by accident
Warnings: Nothing too wild.

( We've seen runes before on this ergot investigation. Somebody likes Elder Futhark. )

20:18 Kitchen staff elf assaulted by Hum Cauc Fem, dark hair small/childish appearance. Suspect at large and may be dangerous. Attempted to coerce elf into apparating in anti-apparation area, do not take AA for granted. HWs attempting to track and backtrack. Full report through normal channels to follow. M Rivera, Auror Div.

Quarter past eight, after the kitchen has sent out the last round of h'orderves to the guests, a scream lets off from the kitchen. Just moments before it happened, Miles noticed Kent Brightstar making his way into the bathroom.

Objectives: Calm the Hysterical House Elf, Check the Food, Question Kent, don't die

( Ben buries the lead. )

WHO: Ben, Grant, & Max
WHAT: Experiments. Trying to fix the switching problem on the fecked-up freakiest of Fridays.
WHEN: Friday morning
WHERE: Max’s lab. Then Gardens.
WARNINGS: Thar be blood magic. (Ben & Max may be married now too.)

( I just need one more thing. Well technically two more things ... I’m going to assume we’re all clean here.’ )

Who: Max Rivera, Jack Duvall, Kit Ghazzi, Ben McMullen, (others as they arrive)
What: Body Swap, part 5!
When: Friday, December 22, 7:33 am
Where: Jack's Office
Warnings: Language.

( The conversation didn't go as he'd expected it to... )

WHO: Kit & Max-as-Ben with a side of Ben-as-Max texting
WHAT: Bodyswap
WHERE: Kit and Ben’s bedroom
WHEN: Freaky Friday December 22
WHY: Because Ben isn’t Ben and Kit needs to figure that out.
RATING: Language.

( Maybe someone gave it to him as a gag gift. It certainly was... )

WHO: Kent Brightstar and Lien Fitzgerald
WHAT: Kent sits down with Internal Affairs
WHERE: Conference room in the NY Auror Office
WHEN: November 17, 2017
WHY: Because Kent will never stop answering for what he’s done questions
RATING: PG-13 for discussion of Salem business and language.
STATUS: Complete

( If she'd had a bingo chart for weak excuses, Brightstar would be close to giving her a prize. )

Who: Pamela Knight, Miles Hastings, Max Rivera & Kent Brightstar. NPCs if necessary?
What: Strange goings on at the New York Daily News Holiday Party
When: Saturday December 16 10PM
Where: Guastavino's

( Who you gonna call? )

( LOL what is HR??? (group texts sent throughout the day) )

CODE BY TESSISAMESS

WHAT: Closer/Stinger for Case Sierra Alpha 95
WHERE: Salem mostly
RATING: PG

After it was all said and done, there was nothing left to do but go back to New York City.

Brigid Playfer had casually strolled out of the Federal Building and quickly made it out of Salem. There was no trail to follow. Although the aurors continued to work around the clock for the next twenty-four hours. Alongside the vetted local authorities, they scoured all crime scenes, tracing any bits of magic they could find, and still found nothing. The trail wasn’t just cold, it was frigid.

Playfer’s house had nothing of value. The abandoned building Frank the Pirate used was nothing more than a den for a bored twenty year old. Not even Alistair Sterling could find trace of Brigid.

Twenty-five hours after Ariel had used stupefy to kill an innocent witch, the media descended. What had happened quickly became public knowledge - the double murder, the laced beers getting into no-maj hands, the recurrent violations of the Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and especially the event on October 21, rumors of a new powerful and dangerous spell, not to mention the vast failings of the department to not apprehend the criminal Brigid Playfer, but how they had been manipulated so easily and one of their own killed an innocent woman while in auror custody.

The one small kernel of hope came thirty-eight hours later when Bobby Dedworth finally woke up.

Dedworth confessed to his dalliances with the beer and his presence at the Adler apartment the night of the murder. He had broke down in tears at that part in the story. “I was just so far in over my head. All I wanted was to let people have a good time.”

And then, one-by-one, the aurors made their ways back to NYC, heads hung low. There would be no celebrations or revels, just more work to be done and further fall out to mitigate.

WHO: Everyone or anyone in the office + Brigid Playfer
WHAT: Trying to close the case
WHERE: Auror Offices
WHEN: 11:30, Thursday, October 26, 2017
RATING: PG
STATUS: Incomplete

( Playfer was sitting very stubbornly silent )

WHO: Jack Duvall (Briefly), Brigid Playfer, Pamela Knight, Miles Hastings, & Max Rivera
WHAT: Time to bring Brigid in.
WHERE: Nomaj Liaison Office
WHEN: 9 am, Thursday, October 26, 2017
RATING: PG
STATUS: Incomplete

( Arrest Warrant for Brigid Playfer )

WHO: Kit Ghezzi & Sal Perksmore-Staunton (With interrupting Max Rivera, Ariel Singleton, ET O'Brien and Miles Hastings)
WHAT: Kit is getting down to the bottom of why Sal suddenly is acting weirder than normal
WHERE: Auror Office
WHEN: 11:40 pm, Wednesday, October 25, 2017
RATING: TBD
STATUS: Ongoing

( This hadn't been a good day )

WHO: Miles Hastings, ET O'Brian, Pamela Knight, Bobby Dedworth (NPC); then Ariel Singleton, Ben McMullen, Max Rivera
WHAT: Miles, ET, and Pamela are on the hunt for Bobby Dedworth. Naturally, there are issues.
WHERE: Various places
WHEN: Wednesday, October 25, 2017, starting around 5:30 PM
RATING: Language and violence
STATUS: Complete

( He shook it off as one of those things. )

WHO: Auror field team + Duvall and Parker
WHAT: IC/OOC team meeting to coordinate information
WHERE: Federal Building
WHEN: Wednesday, October 25 @ 8:30 am
WHY: Because this case has gone on long enough
STATUS: Complete

Director Duvall calls everyone in to share all case related information. Full attention should be diverted to figuring out what is going on and make it stop. Because you guys are trained professionals, and this is getting ridiculous. Time is running out.

WHO: Open to everyone eventually
WHAT: Things are about to get bad, like real bad
WHERE: Old Burying Point Cemetery
WHEN: Tuesday, October 24, 9:12 PM
WHY: Because it's what's been building toward and no one figured out to stop it
STATUS: Complete

Salem was a bustling hub in the week leading up to Halloween. The streets were full of families, kids stuffed with candy and not enough sleep, non-magical folk dressed as witches, and a fair smattering of magical folk just going around their business.There were easily a half dozen events happening around the town tonight, which was impressive for a Tuesday. The biggest draw was the Old Burying Point Cemetery and the well marketed "Graveyard Conjure."

The no-maj, Edgar Smith, a claimed descendent of Judge Hathorne, hosted the event every year. He would call on the spirits of the dead, showing those who bought their tickets how to tap into the awesome power of the graveyard dirt. Ryan Sewall not so privately thought he was a full on fraud and often held his own smaller events in a similar vein. Sewall wasn't out tonight, he kept his distance from Smith. Sewall did his best to flirt with, but never violate the statue of secrecy. For all that Smith was a no-maj he came awfully close to revealing the magical world to dozens of tourists regularly. Not that the no-majs were any wiser, but it put the local magical community on watch.

The Old Burying Point Cemetery was the second oldest cemetery in the United States. To local history buffs it was the final resting place of many involved in the Salem Witch Trials. However, many had believed the dirt to be sacred, imbued with fantastic magical power and they weren't wrong. The issue was in knowing how to use it and many lacked the skill.

That was until someone opened a valve and the whole town lit up as a beacon of untapped potential.

Through out the evening the cemetery seemed charged in a way that had everyone enthralled and into the spirit of the night. Those in attendance to the early tours would later say it was the best tour of their lives. As the night went on, that shifted into seeing something move out of the corner of your eye, or that feeling of someone watching, lingering just a hair too close.

It was shortly after nine, only two tour groups in the cemetery then, when the ground seemed to rumble. At first it could have been simply a truck driving past.

Then a few minutes later it happened again, and there were no trucks to be seen.

And again. But this time with the trees by the Salem Witch Trials Memorial swaying as if boats on the ocean.

WHO: ET O'Brian and Max Rivera
WHAT: ET takes Max back to the scene of the crime
WHERE: New England Pirate Museum
WHEN: Tuesday, October 24, 9:00 AM
WHY: Pirate Suspect hunting, and meeting the new guy.
RATING: PG
STATUS: Complete

( Nope, Still Don’t Remember Anything )

WHO: Director Duvall and Auror Rivera
WHAT: Reporting in, Getting Assigned, Etc.
WHERE: Duvall's office, Federal Building
WHEN: After Max meets with Ben
WHY: Protocol and Politeness require actually talking to your new boss.
RATING: A+! Would Thread Again!
STATUS: Complete

( protocol and prudence suggest that backup would be wise )