Challenge One
 

OOC: Unless otherwise indicated, your character's response and answers should be roleplayed and posted in this thread rather than PMed to the round host.

Magical Maintenance and Ministry Security
Hosted by: mathi

"Welcome to the most interesting place for those who are interested in adventure and investigations. This is the place where you can learn and do things practically, rather than just reading theories. I'm Brian Lee, department head
of Magical Security and Maintenance who's in charge of this part of Education fair." He paused and leaning against the front desk, gave everyone a warm, friendly smile.

"As fully-qualified witches and wizards, you all must have known the basic and important spells. So I'm not going to teach or instruct you about them. If you want to review them, I can give you the small handbook of spells that I prepared for my lil son to help him along in his learning process," he smiled again. Goodies!!

"Now... on the left side of the room there's a door for your first practical. Get in there and you will see a totally disarrayed room. There are scattered office things everywhere around the room. So take a deep breath and put a detective cap on, move forward with a magnifying glass and try to find out what may have happened in that room. The correct clue will lead you to the second level of the investigation lesson," he said, giving them some space to organize their thoughts and plan what they were going to do.

"There are some basic steps, a procedure you need to do, from the start to end during the investigation, for big or small crimes. Let's see..." Brian turned around and waved his wand at the board behind him.

After the lines appeared on the board, he looked back at them, "These are the important steps you need to follow to get involved in the case. And I don't think I need to mention to use the magic whenever you want or feel like it would be handy," he said, rolling his wand in between his fingers, stylishly.

"When you look at a crime scene, or a room that has been rummaged through, you need to check that no magical traps have been placed. To do this quickly and efficiently, use the spell 'SpeRevelio'. For that spell, you have to circle the wand and then make a jabbing movement at the end." Brian nodded showed the wand movement that accompanied the spell.

"The second spell you need to use tells if something that shouldn't be in the room is there. The item, or items, will glow. The spell for this is 'Novus Res'." He swept his wand through the air diagonally and then flicked as he reached the bottom of his wand movement. "Those are the two spells you MUST remember to help at anytime with disarrayed rooms."


"So Keep your eyes on the clues that are scattered and hidden. I think you guys are now ready to go. Good luck!!!" He leaned back on the board, satisfied with what he had done so far.





OOC: You all will have to find out the clues from the pic above. Out of 7 clues only two will point out what happened in the scene. Figure out which clues those are and post your theory. I'll give you something to pass to the second level. ;)

Benjamin walked in the next room to be relived that this challenge was of CSI BASICS. Benjamin could do all the things Brian said in his SLEEP. Yet, he paid close attention to what he was saying because he could feel that all these challenges have a clue as to where the minister and the initial speaker where.

When Brian stopped talking, Benjamin nodded and stepped into the other room. What he saw was a mess. It was hard to analyze anything, so he quickly performed the two spells that Brian stated, and waited to see what happened.

Once everything was clear, benjamin went to work, trying to leave most things in place, but had to move some things to find a piece of paper ripped in half. He thought about the meaning and then looked at the crime scene again. After thinking it through, he approached Brian Lee with his theory.

"It seems as though our Hufflepuff friend had been kidnapped, based on a note ripped in half where he actually states that... He'd been kidnapped. But I don't think he was just kidnapped. It seemed that the kidnapper's original intention was NOT to kidnapp, however find something. Our Hufflepuff friend obviously possessed something the thief wanted, and THAT'S why the place is a mess. He was looking for something. I believe that the Hufflepuff walked in on our thief mid-search, but the thief not wanting to be arrested, fled the seen, taking the Hufflepuff with him so he couldn't tell anyone." Benjamin thought about ti and remembered he left one thing out. "Oh, our friend is a Hufflepuff because he wrote it." He looked at Brian confident in what he just said.

DH entered the room and found MR. Lee in it. He listened to the explanation and remembered the two mentioned spells. After listening to his sayings, he opened the door and looked around.

Before he stepped inside, he muttered, "SpeRevelio" to find any traps that might have been set for people.

He then made the second movement and muttered, Novus Res as he approached the misarranged things. He then saw two things that caught his attention greatly.

Two pieces of paper, seemed to be from a single source, torn in two, saying the words, I am kidnapped.

Well that seemed very familiar. He then looked around the room. Its in a mess, a struggle or perhaps, the kidnapper is looking for something. But I think he didn't find it.

But who and why? And what are they looking for? he then scrathced his chin and sighed.

A young man came out of the shadows and moved into the light to speak to the people who's said something out loud. "I saw everything that happened." he spoke quietly "He went crazy! He just wrecked the place and wrote something. He ripped it up and threw it before running out!" His young face showed the truthfulness of his words "I don't know what he wrote, but this was all done by him."

Brian walked into the scene through the special hidden door behind the huge shelf and saw some of the employees had already switched on the task. Great!

Taking a glance at the young man who was introduced himself an eye-witness, he grinned and giving attention to the two who looked confident about their work they had been involved with.

"Well done!" he truely appreciated their effort on the given task as attending the first man (Zellanna) "You have the witness here for your luck, best of luck!" he turned to anther man (rubindo), "Aw..but how can you say it was a Hufflepuff?" he asked, taking a look at the messy room once again, finding a clue for himself for some reason.

A mystery? Awww man he was hoping for a dragon to fight with.

Okay, now THAT was a joke.

Moving on, he smiled at Brian Lee, his Department Head's husband, and rose from his chair as he proceeded toward the crime scene, the two spells and steps playing in his mind.

Analyse the situation & Absorb everything in the scene:
As he slid into the disarrayed room, the first object to grasp him attention was the door leading back to where he came from. He wanted to leave, really. The room was MESS and despite being messy himself, he didn't enjoy untidiness. Shrugging and mentally poking himself, Edi's gaze bounced from object to object until it landed on the desk which had been brutally rummaged through while the room seemed as if it had been hit by a storm. Whoever that person was, he was ardently looking for something - not someone.

Wand in hand, Edilson performed the first spell, 'SpeRevelio', to ensure that there weren't any deathtraps for he didn't feel like dying..right now. And luckily for him, no traps or tricks were planted by the searcher. Now, he took hesitant steps toward the desk, touching a few things around without thinking much. Then he felt it was best to perform the second spell, "Novus Res", he muttered, coupled with the correct wand movement and ta-da! A handful of undesirable objects shined as if wanting him to go through them. Levitating and setting them down on a rather orderly looking section of the room, he squatted down next to the clutter and began his quest for clues.

Try to get clues from the scene & Question any eyewitnesses:
What kind of klutz lived here? There were heaps of unwanted things in the clutter. Basketball, a saw - why would you keep a saw in your study? - paper airplanes, vials, gloves and all sort of junk you could possibly imagine. But as he turned to the bits and pieces of papers, his eyes widened. What does O_O means? A startled person, perhaps? Chuckling lightly, he shuffled through the rest of the torn pages until he stumbled upon a torn paper with the words 'Kidnapped' written across it. He immediately checked it's back side but was disappointed on finding it blank. Someone was abducted? Interesting. Moving on, he sped-read the other pages however, one particular page caught his eye. 'I'm --- not a fool.' Hmm, what could that mean? The situation is not as simple as it looks. There's definitely more to it. His hand reached out to grab a picture of a book and quill. Nothing striking about it so he was about to chuck it away when the word 'Hufflepuff' stopped him from doing so. Hufflepuff? Kidnapped? Not a fool?

List out possible explanations / Find the most correct motivation/explanation of the crime / Move forward with investigating that explanation:
Edi stepped out of the room and strode toward Brian, who was currently talking to two other man in the room. "Now my theory might seem far fetched, but here it is anyway. By the look of things and the disorganized state of the room, it's very evident that the room, particularly the desk, was meddled with. The kidnapper, was in hunt of something and unfortunately, an unidentified person stumbled upon the room and caught him in the act." Sounds simple and to the point, right? But he had other ideas, far-fetched they may seem but interesting nonetheless. He held out the first clue to him and added, "The kidnapper, fled the scene and took the victim with him as an hostage. But for some odd reason, I have feeling that everything - from this note to the disarrayed state of the room - was well thought out and planned." It might not make sense but the kidnapper is NOT A FOOL. "He, the kidnapper, very skillfully planted these hints around the desk to make it seem like the victim had scribbled them out of luck and in between the tussle, it somehow got ripped." He lifted his hands in air and slowly dropped them to his sides, "Well, that's it. A bit strange assumption to begin with but as detectives, we must think from every possible angle." He said with a sigh, smiling softly at the man before him. Did he just make a fool out of himself? Most probably. Eeep.

Amaria walks into the level one challenge. She listens so we are supposed to investigate the room off to the left.

She walks into the room, "SpeRevilio" she swoops her wand around in a circular motion then jabs nothing happens. "Ok no traps have been set." Then she remembers the next spell, "Novus Res" seven objects start to glow. She takes out a piece of parchment and writes the objects key words.
Looking at my paper I conclude that someone is kidnapped and not a fool. The person who kidnapped them was a Hufflepuff and carried a Mammoth bag. 0_0 may have something to do with the hiding space.

Dessie walked into the first challenge and took a seat, making sure to stay attentive as Mr. Brian Lee explained their situation and quickly memorised what he had written on the board. Peeking into the room, she bit her lip. Investigations and things really weren't her cup of coffee... Of course, she HAD discovered that the cheating scumbag had a girlfriend - but that was another matter entirely.

Taking out her wand, she practiced the incantations wordlessly and then, after she felt ready, got up and stepped into the room. WOWOWOWZA! It was a MESS. "SpeRevelio," Dessie muttered and took a step deeper into the room, trying not to move anything.

Hmm... There were all sorts of things that really looked like they shouldn't be here. "Novus res," she whispered, appreciating the silence in the room. Eyes widening as objects began to glow, she quickly stuffed her wand inside her pocket and went to look, careful not to crush anything on the way.

"Well," she began, thinking out loud since she assumed that was the way to go, "from the initial looks of things, someone was either trying to find something, or desperately trying to cover them up," Dessie nodded to herself then began to examine the objects that were glowing. The first ones she looked at seemed to be the most interesting. . . Putting two notes together, she realised that they spelled "I am kidnapped."

I am kidnapped? "The obvious thing would be to say someone was kidnapped. . ." she said feebly, before moving on to a few more notes and items until she came across one that deemed interesting. At first she thought it was just a book but upon closer inspection. . . "This has the Hogwarts Hufflepuff crest on it, I'm pretty sure," she nodded and carefully placed it back where it was, remembering it's location, as she had done with the notes.

Soon, she grew frustrated. The "I'm not a fool" not had left her completely baffled and the diary page with the tiny bag that had "Mammoth" written on it really made her want to get a magnifying glass.

"My current assessment is this: There was obviously some sort of commotion here as many things are placed haphazardly across the room, in places where they shouldn't be. Now, this could lead to two conclusions - someone could be covering up his tracks and sending the inspection team off guard OR someone was indeed kidnapped. It is impossible to tell without some sort of witness or more tools," Dessie stated, hoping that someone would come along with more clues.

Because, as of right now, she really needed them.

Ooooooh, this was the turn of their department.YAY!

Olivia listened intently to what Brian was telling them, getting slightly concerned that this was going to be based on the 'Security' side of things.No matter, she could do this...Yes.Making a mental note of the two spells they would need, she made her way over to the door Brian had gestured to, and entered the room.

By god, it was a mess.All the fibres in her Maintenance body wanted to clean the place up, but she wasn't there for that.Pointing her wand in front of her she muttered the first spell, and did the wand movement sharpely."SpeRevelio" Nothing sprang into life, so she assumed that there were no surprises waiting for her.

Sighing, Olivia walked forward slowly, eyeing the scene and creating a mental picture of it.She was ready to cast the other spell, and once more held her wand tightly in her hand,"Novus Res." Several items began to glow and Olivia walked over to the desk to inspect them, and make notes.

Olivia looked down at all the clues, holding the two pices of torn paper in her hands.Placing them together she saw it was a perfect fit, and did indeed spell out the words 'I am kidnapped'.But wasn't that too easy? Surely someone who was being kidnapped wouldn't have the time to write a note for others to find, and hide it in two seperate parts of the desk? Maybe her mind was looking at this the wrong way, but she was sure it was all a ruse.

Exiting the room, she made her way over to Brian to present her findings.Taking a deep breath, she launched into her idea....and was about to prove why there was yet another division she wasn't in. "Well, for a start, I'd definately say that a person was kidnapped.I'm not sure I believe, however, that they were taken from that room.I get the feeling that the person who took them was looking for something, hence the fact everything is a jumble and out of it's place." She scratched the back of her neck thoughtfully before continuing. "The two pieces of the kidnap note were scattered at opposite ends of the desk, and at different heights.Surely someone who was in the process of being snatched wouldn't have had time to write the note then hide it like that? No, I think it's a ruse by the kidnapper.They want us to know that someone has been taken, and that they are the ones that aren't a fool...Of course I could be wrong, and someone was kidnapped from here, got lucky, and could write the note first.But I don't think so, timing wise."

Olivia shrugged her shoulders, and tilted her head.Had she just completely contradicted herself? Well....wouldn't be the first time.

Taking a glance at DH Brian started walking through the participants. He patiently listening a young man's(Yusrieee) views and spoke up, "So if you think the kidnapper was in the hunt of something, what would it be? Did you get any clues abt that?" he asked, smiling warmly.

Everyone seems so quick to find out the clues but bit struggling with conclusions. Mmm...

He moved to the next person(fire_fairie), nodding his head at the young woman, "Your witness is here and what kind of tools you want? I can help you.." he added with his casual smile, giving the woman some space to think about her requirements clearly before moved over to ..Aw..Olivia..

"Mmm...I agree with your logic Olivia, but can you say what would be the motive behind this kidnapping?Just for papers or something else?" he asked her, hoping she could work it out on that line.

I have permission to RP with the witness ^_^
 

Dessie looked up from her musings as the man from before, Mr. Brian Lee, turned to her. Thinking about his questions for a bit, she finally decided on what she wanted. "Well, I'll just stick with the witness for now. . . Thank you," she said. She didn't know how this whole Education Fair thing worked, and for all she was aware of, maybe it was based on points. And she did NOT want to lose points. Not one bit.

Turning towards the scared young man, Dessie wondered if he was an illusion too began to formulate a few answers in her head. She didn't want to scare him off, yet she need information asap.

All right. Here goes. "Sir, when you say "he" - do you mean a person whom you're familiar with? And if so, can you please tell me if he's a regular occupant of this room?" Dessie asked, the basics done. If he was - then either he knew he was being chased and setting up clues to find him OR this was much bigger than that. He might be a criminal and this could all be a big ploy to cover up something else... To take attention away.

Eh, it seemed too complicated. Scared dude dropping hints sounded a LOT more plausible. But, the guy had said that the man had written ONE thing down and tore it up. . . That mean that the "I'm not a fool" note wasn't written by him.

"Also - did the man seem scared? Or just crazy?" she asked, permitting herself a few more questions. After all, this felt like it was timed.

Oh boy..he couldn't make up his mind on what to believe - the theory that the kidnapper was indeed looking for something or the idea that these were deliberately planted to confuse the hell out him. "I'm more leaning toward my other theory, the one about this being done on intention." What kind of a kidnapper would he be if he let his victim leave behind the biggest clue?

Scratching his cheek as he mulled over the clues, Edilson heard another voice - a very panicky voice of a young man. His darting eyes at last landed on him and he inched toward him. "What were you doing here? If you don't mind me asking, that is." He really wanted to know why this man didn't stop him or help him out. If a person flipped out in front of him, Edi would surely ask the reason and maybe help him out. "And..what did 'he' look like? Was he injured? Were his clothes torn?" This person could also be the kidnapper. Maybe he wants them to find him out and play this little game he has planned out? He smiled at the employees next to him - together they'll solve this mystery IF together is allowed, that is.

Motive? That was a damn good question.Especially when we don't even know who the desk actually belongs to. "I think perhaps the person who owns the desk might have been in possession of something, possibly papers, yes,and that is what the kidnapper was after.Maybe they intend to issue a ransom...the kidnappee in exchange for what they were looking for?" Olivia absentmindedly glanced to the side, and the area in which the others were interviewing a witness.Maybe they'd know who owned the desk.That would help to know, wouldn't it?

"Of course," she continued, turning back to face Brian, "there was that Mammoth bag, with all the letters scribbled out, just leaving the MM...Maybe it has something to do with.." Olivia gasped at the first thought that came into her head.Surely not.This was all planned beforehand. "It can't be the Minister for Magic, or the Ministry, can it?...Ummm I - I think I'll interview that witness as well.Might help me some more." Smiling, she nodded at Brian, and walked over to join the others.

Olivia eyed the vision of the young man in front of her, trying desperately to think of what to ask him.She didn't want to repeat what had already been said. "Sorry for interrupting," she smiled at them all, "but would you be able to tell us who the desk actually belongs to?" Was that a stupid question? Probably.

Standing with her hands clasped in front of her, Olivia scrunched her eyebrows together, trying to remember what else she had seen, and what would be pertinant to ask.

Nodding to the man's first question, the young man then looked at his hands and nodded again "But, I only saw a few things." he explained first "He had a body shape similar to that man there." he pointed to Brian "And he had glasses. Like.. sunglasses. He was wearing them inside the room. And he had flat hair.. I dunno what colour.. I just ran and hid before I could really take anything else in."

"No, I know it was a he because he spoke in a gravelly voice." the young man told her shakily. "I don't.. I don't know." he admitted. "This is the first time I've ever come into this room." He fell silent as she did and then looked at her as she asked another question "Crazy. Just crazy."

"I was bringing some papers here. I was told by my boss to come here to this very room and get some papers signed. I don't know where they are now" he looked around, panicking "Oh no! I'll get fired for this!!" he cried out. He needed his job! "I.. I dunno!" he looked around again and then looked around panickedly for the papers that would save his job.

Trying to calm down now a nice lady was speaking to him, he smiled slightly at her calm words "I don't actually know. Like I said, I'm just here to get papers signed for my boss. Ask no questions is part of my job description."

Oh...sunglasses...inside the office? How very strange! Interesting too. Edi squinted his eyes, thinking over the clues again and again. This person must be wearing the shades to hide his identity but as the poor man mentioned something about important papers, not finding them and getting fired, Edilson's eyes lit up. "I think the crazy person was forced to steal the papers he is talking about.." He glanced at Brian, wishing for the mystery to solve soon. He felt bad for the quivering guy. "..and luckily, he got the chance to leave behind a note about his abduction..." But why did he tear the page? Why why!? Oh boy, this was confusing him. What if the thief was the kidnapper himself? Sighing, "He must have tore the page so that the kidnapper wouldn't suspect him?" But what about the Hufflepuff, I'm not a fool note? Then, he turned to the guy once again, "What time did the man enter the room?" He placed his hand on his shoulder, giving him a soft smile. Poor thing. "..sorry for asking so many questions but when you entered the room, was it empty?"

He turned to Brian who questioned his Hufflepuff statement. "If you look on the bottom right corner of the desk, the word 'Hufflepuff' is engraved in it."

Benjamin decided to let the witness answer everyone else's questions before Benjamin spoke up. He was the only real detective here and everyone else had no strategy. "Hang on," he said after all of them were finished. "Let me make sure I have this right. Your boss sent you in here to get papers. When you came in here, you saw a man... You've never seen before... Make a mess of the place, write something, tear it and then leave? Am I correct?" Benjamin wanted to lead this interrogation.

Emma walked through the door into the room, she looked around at all the mess. It looked like some sort of struggle, looking round she absorbed what was in the room. Lifting her wand she said quitely, "SpeRevelio" to check for any traps, she moved her wand in the movement that was shown to her. Once she had checked and found no traps she Walked forward further into the room.

Looking round the room once more she said "Novus Res", looking round for any glowing objects. She spotted 7. Picking up each clue in turn she jotted them down:
Once she had finished she looked down at her list, what could they mean? The clue with the Calender and bag, and also the parchment with the 0_O seemed the most comfusing to her, Although they all didnt go together very much. Although from what she could figure out so far was that there had been a Kidnapping, but who, and whom by?

Now she had her clues, she need some eyewitness accounts. Looking up Emma looked for this just Eyewitness.

This was seriously odd.Although of course it was meant to be, that was the point of the exercise.Turned out the poor man didn't know who owned the desk, or worked in the office - he was just there to get papers signed.

Papers?!

That must have been what the person was looking for.Then a thought entered her head, and Olivia felt the need to express it to Brian. "Sir, the note about not being a fool, and the one saying try again...maybe they were left by the person who was kidnapped, because they knew something like this might happen, and that the kidnapper would come looking for the papers.They were letting them know that they wouldn't be silly enough to leave where they could easily be found.Maybe," again with the maybes "they had the papers sent here, in the hopes they would arrive after the kidnapper came looking for them? And the witness is a delivery man who needed a signature for the collection of the papers?....." Olivia raised her eyebrows, hoping to catch a glimpse of something on her boss' face.Negativity or positvity.Anything.She must admit, even she found that a little far fetched.Been watching far too much detective stuff on muggle tv...

Oh this was starting to do her head in, she would never get to the next level at this rate.

"You say the man spoke in a gravelly voice? Can you remember what he said?" Olivia waited for the man next to her to ask his question, before she went about asking hers.Were they allowed to work as a team for this? Oh well.

Time? Ha! He didn't know! "I dunno, I wasn't exactly looking at my watch when I ran and hid." He was too upset to be nice right now.

"No, I came WITH papers. I needed them signing, but then I saw a man I've never seen before going crazy. I dunno if he wrote it, but he tore something and left." How many times was he going to have to repeat himself until they got it!?

Ooooh! Another pretty lady! "Can I help you, Miss?" he asked calmly, smiling charmingly at her. He always had time for pretty ladies.

"You think I'm lying?!" the young man looked at this man with wide eyes. Why would he lie?! He had a right to be upset! He might have just lost his job!

Preeeeetty lady, talking to him. Smiling charmingly at this woman too, he nodded "He shouted at me, told me to 'Get out now, or never leave the room again'." he quoted, smiling weakly.

Dessie listened as the young man began to answer all of their questions, paying special attention to the reason he had been here. She had always found that when you thought everyone were guilty until proven innocent, you achieve better results. As she quietly took everything in, she frowned slightly.

It was rather odd that, during the exact moment of the man' flight, this young man had come to his office. Maybe there was some sort of collaboration here? Or no collaboration at all? Sunglasses - flat hair - crazy - gravelly voice- WAIT. Gravelly voice? That means the man was talking to himself. . . Well, there could have been someone else in here, but this witness didn't strike her as a liar.

"Sir," Dessie began, finally coming to a conclusion, "what I think happened was that this boy, this young man, was sent here on purpose to witness this event. I believe that the man who caused the mess inside this room is someone who is being chased, or hunted in some way and he needed to disappear. So, he wrote the note and tore it up to make it harder yet not too hard to find it," she said and took a breath before continuing.

"I think that the person who sent the boy is part of whatever the man was running from, and the papers were merely an excuse to see if he was still in his room. The "I'm not a fool" note might be a message from him to his chasers, a sign that they won't find him so easily," she stated, trying to tie up the loose ends in her theory. "He was, if my theory is correct, probably a smart man and was just really scared when the boy saw him - hence the crazy talk."

Meh. It sounded PASSABLE.