The Old Hammer

The Old Hammer.. let's have a visit.

**The Old Hammer** is the 24th case in The Origins and the 4th case to occur in the Southeast Region.

## Plot

After talking to Adeline Mann in prison, she told us that the organization "JUSTICE", which is now known as The Summoners, has a headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina named "The Old Hammer." We track down the bar and enter, only to find Michella Barnett, the assistant of a well-known monk that we met back in Vancouver, dead with one of her eyes stabbed. We could see that the other eye was red, which meant she was a member of The Summoners. Right after we leave the bar, Ursula Gemini and the player run into Kieran Bartlett, a Summoner who was recently released from prison. When the duo interrogates him, he tells them that he was bribed by his organization to let him go. He said that Michella was a newer member of the cult and that she spent a lot of time on the lower level of the bar. We head there and find a file report and a drink labeled "For Michella." After unfading the file report, we discover the name "Adam Atomic" on it. We find Adam and he tells us that he was hired by the CDRA to spy on any leads that relate to The Summoners, and he found Michella suspicious. He followed her and she led him to The Old Hammer. He hid in the storage area until he heard a scream. He said that it wasn't Michella's voice, but that when he went upstairs to see what was going on, he saw Michella dead and a shady figure anxiously running out of the tavern. After taking Adam outside of the base and into the suspects' room with Kieran, we send the drink we found to Sandra Davis, the team's lab chief. After finishing the examination, Sandra told the duo that the drink was held by Shaun Fearmore, the leader of The Summoners. We ask Shaun about the generous gift to the victim and he said that he wanted to give Michella a warm welcome to The Summoners, so he offered to pay for her drink. Later on, we meet up with the bartender, writer Morpheus Tolkien, as he could've possibly witnessed the murder. He told us that he was taking a break at the time of the murder and that he didn't see anything. He told us about a new book he's writing about cults, which we found particularly interesting, as The Summoners are a cult. We go back to base, reviewing what we know, when the team's beat cop, Jade Thunderwall, tells the duo that a Summoners member would like to see us and is waiting at the station. We go to the base with Jade accompanying us, and the duo finds Mary Thompson waiting to talk. Mary tells them that she knew Michella well and she told the victim about the cult. Michella immediately wanted to get involved and help their cause. Mary immediately brought Michella to the bar, where they met Shaun. Shaun wanted to tell Michella more about the cult when Mary left them alone. She said she came to the station when Shaun made a recent announcement to all The Summoners about Michella's death. We later find a threat to Michella, telling her to get out of The Summoners for her own good. The duo gives the threat to Aaron Hall, who tells them that the handwriting perfectly matched Kieran's. We ask Kieran about the letter, and he said he didn't trust Michella for some reason. Kieran then bashes Ursula and the player on the heads as him and Shaun escape the suspect room. The player recovered quicker than Ursula, who was in intensive care. The team's chief, Jessica Charles, then told the player that Max Snowcone would take over the case alongside the player while Ursula recovers in the hospital. They later return to the bottom floor where they find a haiku written to Michella. Once again, the paper is sent to Aaron, who tells Max and the player that it matched Morpheus's handwriting. When Max and the player asked Morpheus about the letter, he told them that he had a crush on Michella, and that he called her "his muse." After leaving the interrogation room, the team's informant, Hunter Hondo, told the duo that he managed to find Shaun at the bar, but that there was no sign of Kieran anywhere. Max then thought that it would be best if the muscle of the team, otherwise known as the tech expert, Imogen Caulfield, went with the player to grill Shaun. The whole interrogation process Shaun refused to say anything, before leaving the interrogation room. We try to chase after him, and he says that we can't force him to say anything. He leaves, and Max tells the player that since Adam apparently witnessed the murder, they should talk with him next. Adam tells the duo that he told them everything he saw. He said that he saw one figure fighting the other, and that one stuck a pen in the other's eye, as the damaged one collapsed, which is when Adam saw it was Michella. He said that there was another figure near there. He described the person, by saying she looked like an assassin with red lipstick and two pistols. The team immediately realized that the person Adam was describing was Mary. We ask Mary about her witnessing the murder, and she told the duo she saw nothing. We tell her about how Adam said she did, and she confesses that she saw Michella die. She said she couldn't identify the killer, but that she noticed one very distinct feature on the killer; blue eyes. Ursula then fully recovered and they realized they had all the evidence needed to arrest the killer.

## Killer And Motives

The killer turned out to be Morpheus.

Upon admitting to the murder, Morpheus told the duo that after his break finished, he came back to the bar, where The Summoners were staying. He said that Michella couldn't risk having the base exposed. Hence, she attacked him. In self-defense, Morpheus used the pen he was writing with and stabbed her in the eye. Judge Virgo sentenced Morpheus to 5 years in prison.

## Down South (4/5)

After arresting Morpheus, Ronda Warner and the player decide to talk to Mary, as her and Shaun are most likely to know Michella's involvement in the cult. And since Shaun wouldn't say anything, Mary would be their best bet. Mary only told the duo that they're able to reach out to whoever they want. We later recall Adam saying he was hired by the CDRA. We ask Adam what else he figured out. He told the duo that he cannot say what he found in case it endangers them, but that we can ask his client, the head of the CDRA, Olivia Burnwood. She tells the team that Adam discovered The Summoner's next target is a wealth oil mining company's CEO. They see him as a threat and an infection to the world. We have a very short amount of time to get to Roanoke, Virginia, as they already left the bar.

## The Suspects

Kieran Bartlett (Traits: 1, 2, 3, 4)Adam Atomic (Traits: 1, 2, 4)Shaun Fearmore (Traits: 3, 4)Morpheus Tolkien (Traits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)Mary Thompson (Traits: 1, 2, 3, 5)