Scene #8007:

Owner	Pose
Tamamo	The entry point for this area, going through the usual gate network, opens to a gazebo, overgrown with vines. It would be a nice enough place to rest, but every spot to sit has been likewise overgrown. Immediately outside is a palatially-sized garden, with a matching palace not far off, and it's down one of these garden paths that Tamamo is presently walking. She doesn't appear too concerned with the state of things, even with it being a moonlit night, the rustle of black wings in the sky, and the curious -- which she does pause to investigate -- attention the garden's hedges -- not quite complex or tall enough to call a maze -- with clippers. The vines were left as-is, but the bushes made to retain their curves and blocks. There's no indication of anyone being in the nearby palace. Just the wind catching curtains in an open window, probably. That's the most likely answer for the moaning, too.
Friz	Dirt: The place is overgrown. I say... couple years, minimum. Moxie: What got it all abandoned? Savvy: We'd need locals to know. Dirt: Paladins data says there's a lot of ghosts. Savvy: Oh, like Rogers? Maybe we can track down someone who knows... Grit: If it's a ghost zone, we need to know it, because of Rogers. Friz wanders out of the gazebo. She blinks, looking around in wide, steady scans as she heads towards Tamamo. "You're looking for gardening help?" She wonders "Something about ghosts? Have they been keeping the plants here? I never did a plant detective tour, just pet detective. But I've heard a bit about ghosts." Invisibly, Friz's own ghost companion drifts nearby, not investigating matters yet until more's known.
Tamamo	Tamamo's favoring of black and blue dress causes a lot of ruffling shadows as she turns, though the fullness of the moon illuminates everything that isn't roofed over well enough. "Oh, thank you for coming. I do not suppose that we have properly met, though I recall your voice." One ear tilted toward it, now returning to rest. "You are something of a recent arrival, yes? Oh, but I am Tamamo-no-mae, I should have first said, and that is not quite so. While I do believe these gardens could be better tended, I am rather interested in finding whomever it may be as has already taken that task." She gestures with one trailing sleeve to join her on the walk, in the direction of the edge of the palace's nearest wing. The tall fences past it, where the garden ends, are easy to spot. Suggestions of a city of slanted roofs, past that, are less clear. "I have yet to meet many spirits, but I had seen untended graves, from a distance. That can be quite dangerous, as I am sure you know. Some spirits become quite restless if no one ever visits." To state it this calmly, in this case, is likely an understatement.
Friz	Dirt: She's really pretty too. Savvy: I'm going to queue up thoughts about species of shrubbery for the next twenty minutes if you don't stop with the 'pretty' thoughts. Dirt: FINE. Let's see, careful enunciation, formal protocols in motion... Moxie: Alright, keeping pace. Dirt: And warnings of danger. She seems kind, but distant. Grit: We'll be fine. Call in Rogers. Dirt: That name comes from a legend too. Savvy: Well, she's probably the real deal. "Hi! Tamamo-no-mae... there's some legends about you! Can I call you 'Tamamo'? Call me 'Friz' (I don't have my real name for tax reasons right now). So we know a gardener's been here. And I guess we don't know what kind of traces they'd leave..." Friz brings up a tape recorder when she follows Tamamo. "Rogers, I'm going to be checking the physical end of things. Don't know what kind of traces these ghosts would leave, but I need to keep some distance from Untended activity." Rogers' reply is impossible to hear unless one attunes spiritual senses, but after that dialogue, he drifts rapidly up and away, trying to get a view of things. Friz, amid the walk, starts examining the groundskeeping, trying to gauge paths and clues about the ghost gardener's path, and where they might rest between their work. Though, without a physical body to leave a trail, can she? Maybe Rogers, her ghost partner, can find something with a similar search... Moxie: I'm nervous because it's dark. Dirt, what's in that legend about her? Dirt: I'm tired. Here's details about season two of the anime Sea Strikers. Savvy: This is completely useless. Nothing about the legend? Dirt: Yesterday was stressful, I want to eat something sweet or hearty. Grit: This place is dead. There's no food. We're not leaving until the case is solved. So focus on finding the gardener. Friz's posture gets simultaneously more distracted and more fixated, like she has less total attention and a bigger proportion of it is going to her examinations of the grounds.
Tamamo	Tamamo was half-expecting it, this time, so she doesn't quite betray any unease while saying, "I have found the retellings of my tale less than accurate, even for another world's 'myself.'" More smoothly, "'Tamamo' shall do, of course. It is a pleasure to meet you, Friz." She looks briefly confused at 'tax reasons,' then sympathetic, based on whatever interpretation she's concluded, stopping just shy of asking about where Friz's true name was currently being held. The bushes easily tell, in detail, of having been carefully, skillfully kept, and by sharp tools. The stone paths around the bushes aren't quite so clear, and should show trails, if there are any. Since there aren't, a floating gardener is a reasonable guess. And then there is a trail, of many muddy boots traveling from the direction of the town, taking the footpath that goes around the main building, and heading further back in the gardens. Aggressive shuffling suggests, to a detective's eye, of poor health. Tamamo doesn't have such an eye, but she can notice the trail of mud, and at least point out, "There, is that a detached building? If a groundskeeper were not remaining with the other servants of such a place, I imagine they may take to such a place. Oh, but if it is a spirit with a grave, we should instead be looking elsewhere. But then, if it were without a grave, that would explain some other matters."
Friz	Dirt: Trailless. No, wait, a different trail, from town. Moxie: That's a shuffle. Poor health. Grit: Ghosts can't have poor health. Dirt: Multiple travellers? Moxie: Could be multiple trips. Savvy: Okay, got what we need. Load me up some caffeine. Moxie: Alright, here! Savvy: So, a living human, wearing muddy workboots and in poor health, travelled between the town and the gardens area for a long time. Furthermore, a gardener, the ghost we're looking for, has been tending the bushes, and leaving no trails. Which... "...should mean that whatever killed this region had a slowly sickening effect, and the Gardener likely travelled between his home and the nearby town, but likely died in his home, and is haunting the local garden." Friz says, sipping heavily from a thermos of coffee, retrieved from somewhere between her truly ugly jacket and hideously bright plaid. Savvy: Unless someone buried them. Grit: Either way, have Rogers scout. "Unless someone buried them. Then they'll have a grave, I guess, but we'll need a name anyway. House is the best option." Friz continues rambling, as she closes it and puts it away. The recorder comes up. "Rogers, I'm heading for a groundskeeper's house. Might be dangerous in there." The ghost partner sets down onto the ground in intangible steps. He heads for the detached building, ghost-revolver drawn but safety on, and phases into it to scout ahead and make sure everything's safe, or to find the ghost -- or at least sign of their name, to locate a hopefully-tendable grave.
Tamamo	Tamamo stays with Friz, for now, looking toward Rogers as if only just noticing his additional presence. There is a lot of 'vague, ghostly presence' that makes spotting individual ghosts difficult, for more basic paranormal senses. "Yes, I would suppose that one still had some sense of duty, remaining. Or else, perhaps, an old obligation became a hobby. Those suddenly possessed of 'time' do sometimes find such fixations comforting." Up ahead, 'living' turns out to have been slightly optimistic. There are three figures, of the physical kind, by the front door to the one-and-a-half-story cottage. The loft window is open, a more definite ghostly presence up there. But the ones clustered below are decayed, if ambulatory, corpses. Rough-looking men, at a guess for prior appearances, if currently missing some of the muscle that once filled out their clothing. They're also missing a lot of their ability speak properly. It's more of a vague, windy slurring, with angry tones, unhelpful swearing, and an entreaty to 'give up that bastard's bushes' in favor of some other, difficult to make out or vaguely defined task. The moonlight doesn't make the ghost in the loft easier to make out. He's more of a vague impression of a huge beard. The words, "Leave this place," are clear enough.
Friz	"I'm seeing three mugs, angry. Bodies, physical. They're scaring the ghost. I'll try to get you cover while you drive them off." Recorder up. "Alright, Rogers. I'm gonna try to take this decently. I see threats, but they're able to mostly speak. I'll see if I can clear them out without violence." Dirt: I catch swearing. Something about getting this guy to work for them. Savvy: They're trying to coerce him into service. Moxie: We have to do something. We can't let them terrorize each other. Grit: We could terrorize them instead. Gun out? Savvy: No! Let's take this normally! Dirt: They look... tough. Like thugs. Talk like that too. Savvy: Okay, maybe we can go through the old routine. Grit: Makes sense. I'll... "...put the authority tones on. Hey Rogers, follow my lead." Why would she say that into a tape recorder? But she grabs a handful of mud and dirt to shove over her face (only moderately more shabby) and approaches the thugs with purpose. Rogers, grizzled and tall and mean-looking, does as well. "Hey! Stay right where you are, making all this trouble...!" "Freeze it, mugs." These guys can see ghosts, right? So maybe they can see Rogers. All six-feet-something and post-strongman physique, three-days unshaven, and a hand on his revolver. "Don't you try running." The both of them have (and had) a particular routine: Approach thugs and criminals looking like a slightly-underprepared but overly-harsh authority figure, making the easiest and simplest solution be "run" for any troublemakers. Hopefully their zombie-and-ghost-cop routine can scare the thugs off, so they can get Tamamo her ghost!