Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!


Toby Shaw {Character Sheet}

Toby is roused from his light sleep as the twists and turns of the mountain road evens out. He rubs his eyes and cracks his neck, then adjusts his seat as to better accomodate wakefulness. He looks out at the town.

"Is this the place?" Toby sits up and his speech drawls as he cranes his neck to gaze up at the towering structures, his mouth barely moving as he's transfixed. "Can't say this is what I expected... Look at these buildings." He turns to Connie. "How much you want to bet no contractor's ever touched these? These are old and... communally built, probably. Like Amish country. Communally built and communally kept. That or we're in the weirdest municipal enterprise zone in America."

Toby points to the man with the leather hat. "That our man? Rolland?"

Did we get anything back from the Army corps of engineers or the University of Kentucky history department before we left? Topographical data, geological surveys, any kind of historical info, that sort of thing?

Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 10:37 on Apr 7, 2014

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby unbuckles himself and opens his door, letting the car's digitized bell ring for a few seconds. "Might as well introduce ourselves." he says as he climbs out and strolls toward the man in the leather hat, holding out his hand. "Sheriff Rolland? Toby Shaw."

Did we figure out a cover story?

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby Shaw

"Well Jim, it's a long story. How much did the boys in Frankfort tell you about our visit, exactly?"

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby Shaw

"Not at all, Jim. Last thing we want is to step on any toes. There's a girl by the name of Melanie Scott, vanished without a trace 13 years ago. From what we can tell she ran away from home and went hitching, but we lost track of her movements. Yesterday her mother got a call out of the blue, said it was her girl asking for help. Now, we triangulated the signal and it seems to have originated round these parts. A satellite phone, registered internationally."

"That's about all we know for sure at this point. Melanie was 12 when she went missing, so she'd be about 25 now. Could be she came here of her own free will and has been living out in the open, could be she's being held, or it could be the call was a hoax, or misheard. We don't know. But given how cold the case has been the state's gotta investigate, which is why we're here."
Toby holds his hand out to convey reassurance. "Now like I said, we don't want to be stepping on toes. Tokacha seems like a quiet, peaceful town and we don't want to be a disruption. But we've got a job that needs doing, and as soon as we've due diligence has been paid we can get out of your hair."

"Our records back in the capital aren't great, and we don't know a whole lot about Tokacha. If we could count on your help in this investigation, we could really speed things up, and we'd be grateful." Toby employs his warmest smile.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby Shaw

"Alright, this is good, this is good, we're getting somewhere. Let's back up. You said she's been missing before? Do we know where she went when she did?" Toby rubs his lips. "We've got to narrow down our scope. The call was made in the last 24 hours from a satellite phone, a foreign number, registered in England and Australia. Do you know of anyone who does business or would have contacts in those countries? Corporate offices, law firms, mining or timber exporters? Does she have friends she might contact?"

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby Shaw

Something about this didn't smell right to Toby. It was possible that whoever was assigned to the case 13 years ago hadn't done due diligence and wouldn't have caught a report of a traumatized girl fitting Melanie's description out of Tokacha, but somehow he doubted it. What really sat in the middle of his mind's eye like a stone was the fact that the alleged report hadn't turned up when the case was re-opened. State records gently caress ups weren't uncommon, but given the apparent dearth of any and all info about Tokacha it would have been hard to overlook. Why wasn't there a follow-up? Where was the press in this? Why just let the man who found Melanie keep her, like a stray dog? Toby couldn't shake all the little, just-off details about the case. Tokacha had only the thinnest of records tying it to the state, like there was only just enough to confirm that the place even existed - virtually no crime that two LEOs couldn't single-handedly cover, nothing in census data, nothing significant or even notable, over 30 years. A placid blind spot of 1800 people in the middle of Kentucky, a state that he knew to be rife with systemic rot. It was like the town existed in a bubble that was just now being pierced, like Tokacha was deep in the Amazon instead of the American heartland.

"There was one other thing, Jim. The mother says that when she got the call she thought she made out Melanie saying something about... A mouth, whispers from a dark mouth, something like that. That she found a way to stop them." Toby shakes his head, looking bemused. "Did Melanie have any psychological issues that we know of? Schizophrenia, mania, anything like that? Would've manifested in the last ten years, I would think. Whatever happened to her wouldn't have helped. If she did we'll have to be more careful about our search. Does "whispering mouth" mean anything to you? Maybe she was telling us where to look."

Toby is lying here. Melanie hadn't said she had found a way to stop the "whispers in the mouth in the dark", she said she couldn't. So he'll roll to lie, and then roll to investigate body language and detect lies in the Sheriff's response.

Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Apr 2, 2014

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby nods at John. "Couldn't hurt to get our ducks in a row before going public. I made some annotations on the way over, I'll go over 'em with you, see what we can disregard in light of this new situation." He turns to Connie and the Sheriff "I should jot down a quick sitrep anyway, given this development. Meet you both out in a few minutes and we'll talk to Mr. Hart, and we'll figure a plan from there. Thanks, sheriff. With luck we can find Megan and sort this all out by nightfall."

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby opens the car door to make like they're busy. "What's your read on the sheriff? Seemed profoundly rattled to me, but unless he's a consummate actor, he wasn't expecting our line of inquiry. But it might be more than that..." He shoots John a look. "Tried to get a bead on him when I mentioned the contents of the call, see if he was holding back, but he dodged me. Something about this is weird."

Toby sighs heavily and rubs the bridge of his nose. "I appreciate that we need to be discrete, but we've got to bring Bellworth up to speed."

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby shuts the car door. "Alright, let's rendezvous with Connie before we decide for sure how much we're gonna cut the sheriff out of the loop. Looks like the foster father's arrived, let's get back before a scene develops. Bring the file, if just for appearances."

With that, Toby jogs back to the sheriff's office and walks in. "Sorry for the delay, Trooper Williams will be right in. Mr. Hart, I presume? Toby holds his hand out.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"Connie, could I talk to you for a moment? Gotta get you to sign off on the sitrep before I log it. You know how Lexington likes having all officers accounted for, and I'd rather just qet it done quickly before the search starts. Just need 30 seconds."

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"Yeah I've got one here, but John's still got the report outside, we'll get our ducks in a row and roll out." Toby walks out again, presumably with Connie in tow.

Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Apr 5, 2014

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby checks his gear - hiking gear that he'd personally tested in the winter Rockies, survival kit and rations, his flashlight - and packs them along with his handcuffs and extra ammo. He places the brass knuckles into his jacket pocket. He turns to John. "Are we taking the truck? Otherwise we'll have to leave some gear behind."

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"Let's roll out. Where are we headed first?"

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby still felt far too in-the-dark about this situation, but the truth was that they hadn't begun with any sort of strategic advantage to be lost. John's read of the sheriff had unnerved him, but with Jonathon asking questions, Toby had to call an audible. He weighed the risks of this decision - the sheriff had described the foster father as having a temper, and he was certainly large enough and well-armed enough to be dangerous, but Toby had worked Kentucky long enough to know that heavily armed people lacking in anger management skills were very common, and not necessarily trigger happy or violent. That was just the way of life in the sticks. Besides, Toby's gut pointed to Hart being more of a papa bear type than a loose cannon waiting to be jostled. It was clear that the girl meant much to him.

More importantly, for all the risks that being open with Mr. Hart entailed, Toby had a feeling that lying to the man would almost certainly come back on the team in disastrous ways. Earning his ire might physically endanger the team and would almost certainly scuttle the investigation. Toby knew that sometimes, in breaking a case, you had to gamble and show your throat. Hart's trust, Toby felt, was worth gambling over. And if Hart was in on whatever happened to Melanie (and he was feeling more and more that foul play was involved here) then they were probably never going to find her anyway. Still, Connie had been right - due diligence would need to be paid.

But the sheriff was the one who had made the initial call to Hart asking over "Meghan", and there was no use in a cover when a man as perceptive as Hart would ascertain the conveniently timed call came at the Troopers' behest. He likely already suspected that they had rolled into town to find her. The trick now was getting his trust and assistance. Toby turns to Jonathon, using the most firm and reassuring tone of voice he can muster.

"Let me level with you, Mr. Hart. Yesterday we received information about a 13-year old missing persons case that pointed us toward Tokacha. We came here to follow up on that lead. When we arrived and met with the sheriff, he indicated a suspicion that the girl in the file was your daughter Megan."

"Truth be told I couldn't give about our case right now. As soon as we learned that Megan was missing, our priorities changed. There's a girl out there alone facing this weather and who knows what else, and she needs to be brought back safe and sound, as of now it's our job to ensure that happens."

"Can we count on you, Mr. Hart?"

Roll for persuasion, if necessary. Also roll empathy to read body language.

Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 11:25 on Apr 6, 2014

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"Can't say I blame you, Mr. Hart. A man's measured by his willingness to do his duty. We'll do whatever it takes to get Megan safe."

"If she's walked about here before, it's as good a place to start as any. How long has she been gone? We noticed when we came into town that cars seemed relatively scarce. How far could she have gotten on foot?" Toby grimaces as he looks at the tumult outside. "And this Carignan kid, any reason why Megan would run out with him at short notice? What's his family like? Do they know about their relationship?"

"You also mentioned traps. If we're going to canvass wilderness where traps are set, it will help to know how to spot them." Toby stares out the window. "Would hate to be mistaken for big game by anything, especially in this weather."

"Does Megan have any means of contacting you? A radio, a satellite phone? Would she know where to get one if she needed to call for help?"

Really hoping for a body language roll here. I've told him a lot already, but the details of the call are our most sensitive info, and likely our means to break the case. Also, has my unseen sense tripped at any point so far?

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"You know the area, we'll follow your lead." Toby does one last gear check. He turns on his radio and tests it to see if the connection to Connie is strong. "Radio check, this is a radio check. Trooper Bellworth, do you read? Over."

I added a character sheet link to my first post in the thread. Let me know if you'd rather I roll it out with newer posts.

Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Apr 7, 2014

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Having dutifully followed Johnathon for several hours through dangerous terrain, Toby stops as his guide does. Noticing the camp and the figure within, Toby reaches out to grab Hart's arm with one hand and raises his hand to alert John with his other hand, then releases the catch on his holster. He looks back at John, places a finger on his lips to indicate silence, then points with middle and ring fingers to his own eyes before gesturing at the ground between them and the camp. Watch your step.

Toby notices that Hart is seemingly paralyzed and catatonic, and he looks back at John, waving his hand in front of his face to indicate that Hart is unresponsive. Then, while facing the camp and watching his step carefully with his weapon drawn, he examines the stone circle more closely.

Toby will walk slowly to minimize the sounds of his footsteps, which shouldn't be hard if the rain is still coming down. Investigate on the ground to watch for traps of any kind. Then investigate the pattern.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"What the gently caress is this?" Toby whispers to himself, before orienting himself and checking around him once more to make sure they haven't walked into an ambush of some sort. If the coast is clear, he'll signal to John to point out Hart and press two fingers to his throat to see if he needs medical attention. He'll then move to the backpack, carefully and scanning for traps as before, and examine it.

Check for an ambush (investigation + wits, I assume, or just wits) then investigate for traps to examine the backpack.

Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Apr 9, 2014

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby will examine the items in the bag, specifically the ring and the keys, to see if he can discern anything about them or where they came from. He'll stow the knife, rope and flashlight.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"gently caress." Toby clenches his jaw, unnerved. "gently caress this poo poo."

Toby reaches for his radio. "Connie, do you read? Over."

I'm assuming "Mr. Kent" is Johnathon

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby does his best to keep his voice level. "Everything's fine out here but the rain's coming down pretty hard and we're a good ways into the wilderness now. Before we left Lexington I got some geo survey info from U of K, but I didn't bring them with me. They're in the truck. We need to cross reference, look for flood plains out here. Respond when you've found them, over."

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"Is the sheriff there?"

My original intention was to draw Connie out of earshot to give her the rundown, probably should have made that clear. Whoops!

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"Feed him a line about needing flood plain data corroboration, we've got problems." Toby sighs heavily "We've found Megan, Connie, enough to know she's dead. The scene's mostly washed away but she was arranged. There's a sculpture, cougar legs taxidermied together. This is some sort of ritual poo poo, someone set this up for us to find and trapped the area for us."

"Hart's gone into some sort of catatonic state and we're three hours out from where we came in. Something is deeply hosed in this town and you're our only lifeline." Toby looks around him. "We've got to find our way to shelter of some kind before night falls. If the wildlife doesn't get us the bear traps will. We'll look for landmarks, see if we can get a bead on where we are."

"Watch your back, Connie. I don't think one guy could have done all this in a day's time. Either we've got multiple perps, or the call was a recording to lure us here, or both." Toby stares at the mess of stitched limbs. "We are deep in some Wicker Man territory here."

Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 06:16 on Apr 10, 2014

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby closes his eyes, pinches the bridge of his nose and exhales. "You're right, you're absolutely right. We've got to head back to the truck. It's gonna be hard if we can't get Hart back into this, the rain will have washed our trail away." Toby looks back at Hart. "John's secured the scene as best he can."

"Hart said this was area was Megan's usual backwoods haunt. We found a tent and her backpack, along with the... sculpture. I'm telling you, Bellworth, this was set up for us to find. While you're out there, see if you can dig anything up that's significant about cougars or... cougar worship, folk tales, something. Trust me, there's something important about them to our perp." Toby makes toward Hart, making sure to retrace his steps. "There's also some sort of spiral pattern of rocks that's been arranged around the campsite, I don't know if that's significant. If you don't hear from us in two hours, best organize a search party."

Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 08:06 on Apr 10, 2014

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby will check on Hart to see if he needs medical attention or anything of that nature. Maybe there are smelling salts in the survival kit? Highly doubtful.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"Yes, of course. John will see to it, I'll carry the... other thing. We need to get back to town and regroup with the sheriff and Connie. Can you get us back to the truck before nightfall?"

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby puts a hand on Hart's shoulder, lightly. "Easy, Mr. Hart, our killer's not caught yet. You should see to Meryl before anyone else does."

Persuade check to prevent an altercation, if needed. If successful, will huddle with John and Connie to plan out how we break this publicly.

Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Apr 12, 2014

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

After having brought Connie up to speed, Toby rubs his eyes. "Yeah, we'll relay what we've got to Lexington, maybe there's something to this cougar thing they can track down for us." he shakes his head "Like a bad campfire tale out there."

"We should sleep, for a few hours at least... Something about the sheriff is off but I've half the mind to ask him to keep tabs on Hart. That man's not going to sleep for awhile, were I a betting man I'd put money on him hauling off on his own as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Man's got a mind to kill somebody and it might not end up being our guy."

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"If no one has objections I'll go work on finding us a place to sleep that's not the truck."

I'll go talk to Norah, however that works.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby shakes Norah's hand. "Pleased to meet you Norah. I'm afraid I'm just about beat, I need to sleep ASAP, but thanks for the offer." He notices her visible stress. "You work here all by yourself? Anything we can help you with?"

I'll roll empathy to see if I can't pin down whether Norah is just stressed or is afraid of something.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby smelled the pork and beans and felt his stomach quiver, but despite what he'd said to Connie, he was still deeply disturbed by what he'd seen in the woods outside town, and still unable to shake the feeling that Megan's remains were practically gift-wrapped for them to find: the totem-and-head arrangement, the meticulously arranged campsite, everything.

He was fairly certain that whoever killed Megan wanted her to be found in that state, but Toby found himself wrestling with his instincts over whether they had been meant to find it specifically. Not the troopers individually, that was crazy, but... Toby felt his mind continually circling around the image of the first bear trap that Hart had sprung on their way out to the campsite, and the circumstances of the case thus far. The barely-there nature of the town in state records, the untraceable phone call, the campsite and the body. It was a trail of breadcrumbs leading to a cold case made suddenly, irresistibly hot. We took the bait. Toby couldn't figure why, or even how, but he felt deep in his bones that they'd been led to Tokacha. He just didn't know whether the jaws had snapped on them yet, and if they had, how hard it would be to get free of them.

Regardless, they couldn't turn back empty-handed on a hunch, and the possibility remained that they could catch their man in all this. But Toby felt that the only trustworthy person he'd met in Tokacha had been Hart, and he was likely a liability now. Don't take any charity here. He knew it was crazy, and he knew that by all appearances, he was jumping at shadows. But he couldn't ignore his gut, not now. He wished he'd packed canned food.

"Norah, before I can even think of eating anything... we spent a long time hiking today and, well, I haven't pushed my body that hard in a long time. Is there a drug store or general store around here? I don't trust my stomach to kick back at me after I feed it." He pats his stomach gingerly.

Gonna lie to poor Norah, see if there's not a place around that will have canned or dried food. If there isn't, he'll excuse himself and say he'll feel stronger in the morning, and dig into a half-ration from his survival kit, enough to nourish him for the night.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"Wonderful." Toby smiles and winks as he turns to run across the street as rapidly as possible.

I'll leave and roll athletics if necessary, need to stay out of the elements as much as possible.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

"Good afternoon. I'm looking for some dry and canned goods. My partners and I are settling in across the street and we're anticipating some long days cooped up indoors. Couldn't hurt to stock up a bit."

"Fine store you've got here. I imagine people must make big grocery runs rather than frequent little ones." Toby surveys the stocked shelves. "When I was a kid I had an uncle out in the Rockies. He'd only make the trip into town to stock his pantry once every two months or so. Better'n going week to week, case you got snowed in."

"Oh, and if you've any indigestion medicine, I'd be grateful."

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby will buy a few days' worth of provisions (if they've got sandwiches and dried fruit he'll get some of those) and head back to the hotel room.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby walks over to John and Hart, bag in tow. "I'm gonna catch a few hours of sleep at least, I'll need to be sharp tomorrow. Anything happens during the night, you call our sat phone. John, Mr. Hart."

Toby will write his satellite phone info on a napkin and give it to Hart, if possible. He'll then try and use his phone and if that doesn't work, he'll track Connie down.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby is on his way out of the bar when Hart's short monologue stops him. He considers speaking, but Hart seems indisposed to questioning. He stops for a beat, then turns around. "Mr. Hart, the sky's getting nasty out there. What say we drive you home instead of walking?" He tilts his head at John.

Toby keeps it together but given how on-edge he's been as of late, his mind is feverish. you can't even sleep in your own home without having to worry about having to lose someone else. Time was when you would have to sacrifice for the land.

Lose someone else. Sacrifice for the land.

Behind his poker face, Toby stifled a nervous cackle. He was just about losing it in this shithole town. Toby thought about the pack of smokes in the car. He wasn't a habitual smoker, preferring to light up and offer a stick as an ice breaker whenever he had a sorry son of a bitch in interrogation. He felt like he needed one now, though.

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Since Connie has the keys to the truck anyway, Toby will make a quick trip to the room, depositing his provisions under an empty bed as he does so. Spotting Connie, he stops. "Hart's drunk and I don't feel comfortable leaving him to walk home in this weather. John and I are gonna drive him, less you wanna come with." Toby takes a moment to gaze out at the clouds. "He's talking real ominously. I know how crazy it sounds but trust me, I want to be wrong about all this more than you do."

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby gets the satellite phone out of his pack and tests it. "... No, mine's not working either. That shouldn't be happening."

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby nods. "We understand Mr. Hart. We'll keep it in mind. Get some rest. We'll get to the bottom of all this tomorrow."

Toby stops a beat. He didn't know when he'd get the opportunity to talk to him alone again. He speaks exuding resolve and calm. "Mr. Hart, I've never seen anything like this before... Has anything like this happened before?"

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'll roll manipulation + persuasion (or something along those lines) and expend a point of willpower to try and ensure that I can ask the question without being accusatory and without ruffling feathers, trying to put across that Toby's on Hart's side and is the sort of man who will do what it takes to solve this case.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Basic Chunnel
Sep 21, 2010

Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Toby

Toby stays silent for awhile, resting his forearms on the open window of the truck with his eyes closed, breathing. He straightens up, takes a cig from John's pack, and lights it, taking a deep drag. His hands are shaking as he exhales. "Our satellite phones aren't working. I'm feeling just crazy enough to assume it's not coincidence." Toby pushes back from the car and paces in a circle, slowly. He laughs incredulously to himself, shaking his head, then turns back to his partners.

"You heard the man, we follow up on what we've got. Jerrod, Carignan, and the boarding school. If we go out into the sticks we should go together or with one left behind. One of us could probably scope the boarding school tomorrow."

Toby takes another deep drag and exhales. He looks at his partners with a calm demeanor. "From what we've just heard I think we need to continue under the assumption that we're facing an organized and violent conspiracy, membership unknown. From this point on, assume that we're being watched and listened to. We'll need a code for the radio, let each other know when it's safe to pass info. We don't know how much longer we have until they figure out we're onto them, they may already assume we have. There is real danger here, for us and for Hart." Toby looks back at the sleeping mound of man back at his house and is silent for a few moments. "I'm staying here for the night, in case someone comes for him. You can tell Norah that I was concerned for his emotional state. I left dried and canned goods under my bed at the inn." With that, Toby walks around to the back of the truck, opens it, and returns to the group with the pump-action shotgun and shells in tow. "Meet us here at 7 AM sharp. And for God's sake, watch your backs." With that, he begins walking to the house. "Being right never feels good."

Toby will go into the house, checking with Hart to make sure he's okay / let him know he's around, and he'll check on Meryl and make sure she's in the house and okay. He will lock the doors and windows, and place cans and other loud detritus in hallways that will be easily stumbled over in the dark. Toby will then make himself at home to a degree - he still hasn't eaten so he'll make himself a simple meal from the pantry if possible. Then he'll get a chair, preferably in a corner with a good view of Hart and as many doors / windows as possible, turn off all the lights, and camp out with the shotgun. Sleeping with one eye open is a must-have skill for vice stakeouts.

Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 07:12 on Apr 24, 2014

  • Locked thread