Having been relieved of their weapons, possessions, and comatose monkeys, our intrepid hunters are in a time-out in the local police station drunk tank. The quickly discover they are sharing the space with perky blonde and self-proclaimed monster hunter Roxy. Roxy gives the impression that at any point she is equally likely to break into a rendition of Suddenly Seymour, or beat you to death with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.
She also rocks the greater San Francisco/Oakland area
Their introductions are cut short when the hunters are shepherded off to meet with the police chief and provide what should prove to be a logical and well-reasoned explanation. Chas attempts the always tricky, sometimes fatal feat of dazzling the chief with brilliance while simultaneously baffling her with bullshit. He is more or less successful, if for no other reason than the chief has no leads in this investigation, and sometimes when you’re hanging off a cliff and someone throws you a rope, you take it. Even one covered in monkey feces.
Having conversations cut short seems to be a trend this morning because an officer interrupts the group to inform the chief of another murder at the university. She orders the group released, and requests that they meet her on campus. The hunters are processed out about the same time as Roxy, so she tags along, because why not?
The hunters, moments before their release, probably
The group takes the time to shower and get into some clean clothes before heading over to the Robotics building to meet with the chief. There is a lot of activity around one of the offices, with police and faculty conversing in groups. It seems that Dean of Robotics Dr. Harvey Noble has been murdered in much the same fashion as the others, however this time nothing was stolen. So, it would seem this was an assassination, or revenge killing. Chas and Hanziezel successfully accessed Noble’s computer and were rewarded with a cache of files regarding Dr. Beech. It seems Noble and Beech have been at odds from day one, even fighting over who got the bigger office in a building that is no longer standing. Noble was responsible for getting Beech’s funding cut. In addition, he filed several ethics complaints against him, all of which culminated in Beech being sent on involuntary sabbatical.
A few conversations with additional faculty revealed that not only did pretty much everyone not like Dr. Beech for a variety of reasons, but there are also a number of additional potential monkey enrichment toys.
Another piece of information gained was Dr. Beech’s apartment address. Off the hunters went with two police officers in tow where they discovered…an empty apartment. Clean and not entirely abandoned, the apartment gave the group the impression that Dr. Beech had packed up most of his possessions like he was planning for a long absence.
Jeff Goldblum could sell this apartment in a heartbeat
Aaaaand back to the steam tunnels we go. The group made their way back to the previous night’s battle, and after searching around, found a map of the tunnels, but was unable to orient themselves to the map. They were able to discover that there are several doors in the tunnels that connect to buildings around the university. After some searching (and discovering a broom closet or two) they broke into a locked door to discover a basement laboratory containing lab equipment, surgical tables with robotic surgical arms, a number of cages, and just a whole bunch of armed and armored monkeys, chimpanzees, and a big-ass gorilla.
