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John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
NYPD

Nash casually keeps his distance from the man in the black suit, following him out the front door as he digs a packet of cigarettes from his pocket. As he passes the front desk, the lady behind it glances up and instructs him on where the smoking area is, and goes back to her desk work. If the man in black heard anything, he doesn't react, practically throwing the door off of its hinges to head out the front. After a few moments, Nash catches the door on its back swing and slips outside.

Outside, Nash fishes a cigarette from the pack, his eyes on the black suit. The man strolls out a few feet and stops, looking out into the parking lot across the street. When the man turns his head, Nash sees his nostils flaring and his brow deeply furrowed. He looks back across the street and begins marching, reaching back and pulling a firearm from the small of his back; from the distance, Nash thinks it might be some kind of machine pistol. From what he can tell, the man is beelining for the only white van on the lot.

Back inside, Jenni deals with the muzak in the elevator for another minute or so before the elevator doors finally slide open. She steps out into a well lit security check-point, where a man behind a glass window looks up at her with only mild interest. He asks to see her identification, and when Stetson shows him the badge given to her by Harrigan, he motions for it to be placed in a pop out bin in front of her. She drops it and closes it up, and the man behind the glass bends down, picking the badge up and looking it over. "Seems legit. I'll buzz ya in." He drops the card back into the bin for her to retrieve, and after a moment, a red light above the door in front of her turns green and swings open slightly.

It takes a moment for Jenni to navigate the halls under the NYPD, but she finally finds the examination room noted by Harrigan for the body of the John Doe. She notices a magnetic card reader and turns the badge, sliding it through the reader. The door beeps twice and she hears the door unlatch, and opens up.

Jennifer looks around the white, sterile room, the walls lined with film viewers for x-rays and CAT scans and various monitors and machines meant to be used to view bones and tissue up close. She looks to her side and sees a button for locking the door, and presses it; now she is the only one capable of opening the door from either side, giving her plenty of privacy. On a stainless steel table in the middle of the room lay the remains of the victim, only a torso with a little bit of arm and leg left. The chest is splayed wide open, and it looks like that no one else has had access to the room just yet. Moving in closer, Jenni can see it is obvious the heart has been removed, as the lungs have been displaced rather violently.

Now all that comes is the actual investigation of the body.


Gonna let Werix decide how he's going to check the body out.

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MaliciousOnion
Sep 23, 2009

Ignorance, the root of all evil
Nash

"poo poo," Nash swears under his breath. He pulls the phone out of his pocket and sends a message to Kay.

Nash posted:

Heads up, armed suspect heading your way. Moving to intercept.

Slipping the phone back into his jacket, he pulls his own gun, releases the safety and puts it back into its holster. He follows the man, making sure he stays out of his peripheral vision and trying to always keep some form of cover between them.


If the Mib raises the gun, or when he reaches the van, I'll set myself up behind a car if possible, aim at him then identify myself and order him to drop the weapon.

MaliciousOnion fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Sep 19, 2014

Synoria Dyne
Nov 1, 2010

Tami Lea Kayla

Tami scans the message quickly and shakes her head, giving another glance to the MiB in the van. She pulls her gun back out and braces with a frown.

Epicurius
Apr 10, 2010
College Slice
Harrison

Harrison looks out the window. "It's still coming!" He considers shooting at the thing, but at the speeds they're going there's too much risk of missing and hitting an innocent. Besides, they pumped a bunch of bullets in the thing already to no effect. He'd call the rest of the team, but the phones aren't working. So, there's not much he can do but pray.

Werix
Sep 13, 2012

#acolyte GM of 2013
Jennifer Stetson

The first thing Jennifer does is pull out her HERMES and begin to use the on-board camera to take pictures of the body in details. she documents every single angle, even putting the phone in the wound and turning on the fancy "panorama" function. She then pulls out the sample kit. She looks over the body. Really blood and tissues is blood and tissues, but that's in the normal world, and not the world of alien abductions and ghosts that make poo poo explode she now finds herself. To the best of her ability, she tries to take blood, skin, and other tissue samples from as far away from the wounds as possible to get a "control".

Then gathers as many samples from around and inside the wound as she could. For all she knew, paranormal poo poo left a residue or did a genetic change or some other crazy poo poo. She'd have to watch Ghostbusters to get some inspiration before she gets into the lab. The thought pops in her head, what if Ghostbusters is like based off true poo poo? Was Harold Ramis and Dan Akroid AEGIS agents?

Okay, first skill test. If I understand this it is atribute plus skill, and you roll a d10. Well my intelligence is 3, and I think the proper skill would be Science (biochemistry) which is at 3, so a total of +6 to the roll?

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
NYPD

Nash moves quickly, taking cover behind one of the nearby cars and raising his pistol to take aim at the man in black, looking to hit center mass. Before he can give his warning to drop the gun, the man in black's machine pistol rattles off a stream of bullets as he rakes the weapon from side to side; mercifully, only one bullet hits Tami, but it mercifully strikes her vest and knocks the wind out of her rather than killing her, and at least one monitor is smashed in the spray. Other bullets simply remain pitted inside of the steel of the van, unable to puncture it. The agent ejects the emptied magazine and continues walking calmly towards the van, starting to reload, when he suddenly jerks forward, his face lighting up with pain and anger as blood sprays from his chest. He looks down at the new hole in his chest, putting his hand to it in a sort of idiotic curiosity, before lifting his head and turning towards Nash. Despite putting a bullet straight through the creature's lung, it's still standing, and it drops the machine pistol with a growl, reaching into its jacket and pulling out a bulky looking glove that ends in talons, yanking it on with a cruel grin. The glove crackles with a sinister green lightning, arcs of energy lancing into the air and dissipating. Behind them, the man at the security kiosk radios in the gun shots and takes cover, while several windows twitch open on the upper floors to see what's going on.

Inside, Jennifer takes the photographs of the camera with no idea of the fire fight going on outside. Once the photographs are taken, she carefully begins taking swabs and samples from various parts of the body, tucking them away into her little CDC case for later examination. When she finally begins on the actual wounds, she pauses, leaning in closer to inspect one of the wounds. There are what looks like three claw marks digging into the flesh, and the meat there seems like it was seared by the attack; whether it was through some sort of energy or just the friction, she isn't sure, but she makes sure to take samples from the cooked flesh and the area around it. Digging into the ribcage, she is startled to find that the lungs actually seem to be deflating and inflating on their own, as if the body were still breathing. When the body moves, she jumps back in a shock, watching it twitch and gurgle. The HERMES uplink records this entire occurrence, and it takes a minute for the body to resettle with a whining groan. In spite of this, she notices bits of the flesh twitching as if it were being stimulated.


Waiting for Tami to attack or stay hunkered down, then I'll move combat along. Nash can act again; the MiB used up its turn for this round already.

Tami takes 7 endurance damage. The MiB takes 18 actual damage.



http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4655385/
10
15
20 - 15 = 5
10
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4655420/ 5 + 15 = 20, tami soaks the damage
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4655392/ Nash Hits
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4655397/
6 x 4 = 24
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4655416/
4 + 14 = 18

Nash deals 6 damage, which is tripled due to hitting a vital part; 18 damage.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4655418/ Jen aces the science task

John Dyne fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Sep 25, 2014

Werix
Sep 13, 2012

#acolyte GM of 2013
Jennifer Stetson

"NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEE! NOPE NOPE NOPEY NOPE!" is all Jennifer can say when the headless, and limbless torso, that all science tells her should be dead, starts to loving breathe and poo poo. The scientific part of her wants to study the convulsing flesh, but the sane part of he is telling her, "Bitch, that poo poo shouldn't be moving get the gently caress out."

She compromises, and studies the twitching torso closely as she grabs a near-by tray and begins to pound the ever living poo poo out of it, surgical implements flying everywhere. If this were a wack-a-mole game she'd be new world champ, but since its, "wack the undead torso thing" her high score would have to go unreported. After a good minute of vigorous meat tenderizing, jenni finally gathers enough sense to slam the door seal button and get the gently caress out with her samples. She needs a smoke and a drink, well likely several.

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
Saurian Technology

Nash doesn't recognize the strange weapon being leveled at him and decides that the best way to take care of the threat is to put a bullet between the man's eyes. Taking careful aim, he fires off a single round at the man's head, and it strikes true; the man roars out in pain as he staggers back, his free hand going up to his face. He turns away for a moment, cursing and growling, pulling his hand away to look at the blood on his face, and turns back towards Nash; half of the man in black's face is utterly ruined, devastated by the bullet. Flesh and muscle have been ripped away and bone exposed beneath, and the bone itself is cracked and bloody, and one eye is missing. He pulls off the shattered remains of his sunglasses and raises the claw once more. Tami strikes as she leaves the van, but the shells are stopped by the creature's Kevlar vest, doing nothing to it.

A crackling green sphere of energy manifests from the tips of the claw-like weapon, dancing as its tethered to the device by only a few thin tendrils of energy. The man in black yells something in a deep, guttural language that is unlike anything Tami or Nash have ever heard, and Nash scrambles to his feet, realizing what's next. As he turns, the sphere launches from the gauntlet at an amazing speed, and as the marshall jumps to try to get some distance, the sphere strikes the car he was behind, and the concussive force of the sphere's explosion catches Nash and sends him sailing further, slamming him into the side of a car where he mercifully just bounces off harmlessly. Thick black plumes of oily smoke reach into the sky as fire engulfs the car, burning the rubber and oil within. The heat is almost unbearable, and Nash, having seen his share of wrecks, knows it's burning much hotter than a car usually would.

Grinning horribly, the man in black chuckles and shakes his head, tucking the weapon away; Nash is hidden by the flames and smoke, but Tami watches this happen. Without even checking to see if Tami had survived, the man in black activates a device at his belt and hovers a few feet into the air. He checks the belt once again and then soars into the air at a break neck speed as a silver streak. From further down the streets, Tami and Nash can hear the sound of approaching sirens.


Spooky Torso

After the first few whacks, the torso stops moving, the air in its lungs escaping in a slow, rattling hiss. A strange blue ichor leaks from what would be the body's throat, which bubbles faintly and browns when it touches the metal table.


Apartment Woes

Harrison glances back as Dash continues to drive, expecting to see the creature still pursuing them. Mercifully, no one seems to be following them, and the drive back to the manor is pretty uneventful. The witness has gone into an almost comatose fugue state, but she is at least quiet. Gates' rifle sits quietly, with the safety on, a silent reminder of the man that wielded it.

And NYPD is basically wrapped up. You guys can react, but the MiB has hosed off after him thinking he's killed his two targets. Jenni can leave without any hassle, and once you guys are ready you can meet up with the apartment team.


http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4660257/ Tami hits the MiB, gets +1 damage to the roll
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4660260/ 3 x 4, 12 damage
16 - 12 = 0 damage
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4660276/ Nash Headshot
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4660279/ 1 x 4 = 4 damage x 5 = 20
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4660302/ MiB shoots plasma claw
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4660308/ NASH ACTUALLY DODGES IT HOOO

John Dyne fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Sep 29, 2014

Werix
Sep 13, 2012

#acolyte GM of 2013
Jennifer Stetson

Dropping the tray on the floor, Jennifer pulls out two more vials, she scrapes some of the brown fluid from the table into one vial, and then using another one she tries to gather some of the blue stuff still leaking out of the neck hole, hoping it doesn't turn brown, or worse, when contacting glass.

Maybe she should add Holy water to her sample kit.

Intelligence is 3, which gets doubled to 6 on non-super hard tests, and Science (biochemistry) which is at 3, so a total of +9 to the roll

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
If your bonus is +4 or higher and it's a menial task like 'scoop goop' just assume you succeed; anything menial actually gets like a +5 difficulty bonus to it, and you need a 10 to succeed. You only have to worry about it for spotting oddities in the vascular system and such nonsense, or if you were carefully carving a sample out without damaging it. For just scooping goop there isn't going to be a critical success result. 'You also find a twenty dollar bill crammed in his gullet!'

Most tasks are at +/-0 for difficulty so if you have a +9 yeah you are gonna at least succeed on the most basic of levels. Higher rolls can give better successes and I'll roll those, but that's for creating and spotting stuff.

John Dyne fucked around with this message at 13:59 on Sep 29, 2014

Werix
Sep 13, 2012

#acolyte GM of 2013
Will note for the future. I just didn't know if this was some toxic goo I needed to avoid touching or something and would have needed a test for. That might actually fall under my medicine quarantine skill to avoid exposure, same result either way.

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
That's a good point, but like I said, if it's to where you'd get a ten on the lowest roll and there's not some obvious modifier (like in the back of a speeding van being shot at) you can assuredly scoop up goop in a safe and healthy manner, since you are a heavily trained scientist focused on disease containment.

Now if it'd been Dozer's dude or anyone else, they might have to roll to not do something stupid like shove it into the tube with their fingers, but yeah.

MaliciousOnion
Sep 23, 2009

Ignorance, the root of all evil
Nash

Nash climbs to his feet, scanning the area for further threats. He'd be sore later but right now the adrenaline was keeping him going. Handgun held down and ready, he jogs across the parking lot to the van, calling to Tami, "You okay?" He opens the door and hops into the driver's seat, glancing at the NSA agent. "Better let Jen know we need to get the gently caress outta here," he says.

MaliciousOnion fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Sep 30, 2014

Synoria Dyne
Nov 1, 2010

Tami Lea Kayla

Tami inhales gingerly, eyeing Nash. "Sure thing, Sport. Glad to see you didn't buy the farm." The NSA agent tugs out her HERMES and shoots a message to Jennifer. Time to go, Chickpea.

Werix
Sep 13, 2012

#acolyte GM of 2013
Jennifer Stetson

Samples in tow, Jennifer empties the last of her flask to help her recover from whatever the gently caress she just saw. It burns going down, and Jen thinks back to the Detective and what he said; she'll have to check out the wine cellar when they get back to Casa De Secret Government Program and see if there was anything good in there.

As she steps off the elevator she sees the emergency personnel gathered around while a fire truck pulls up to begin putting out a flaming car. poo poo, she had to get out of there quick before like Homeland Security came in and locked the place down. She quickly runs down the block and across the street, and calmly walks towards the van and goes to take her position in the passenger seat.

"I'm guessing that's your handiwork back there? See, I can't leave you kids alone for ten minutes without you making a national security risk! When we get back home, I want each of you to go to your rooms and think about what you've done!" As she turns around to give the NSA agent a mocking glare she she the MiB laying in the back of the van and quickly flips her poo poo, "What it the hell? Had I known we were taking loving souvenirs back I would have tried to take that loving zombie torso back with me!"

As the van pulls out and starts driving away, Jennifer begins talking, regardless of if anyone is listening. "What I saw in that morgue was seriously hosed up. Like I took my initial samples, and the loving thing started moving and breathing! Like seriously, I could see the lungs inflating and deflating just willy-nilly on their own, and some blue poo poo leaked out the neck!"

She rolls down the window and lights a smoke, "Damned thing is going to make me have to re-write my paper," she sighs a cloud of smoke out, "So a few years ago some of my colleges made a joke zombie preparedness site for the CDC. Well one night I decided to one up them and after a few bottles of wine wrote a while 35 page thesis on how a zombie plague would actually not be a dangerous vector to deal with as we have sufficient quarantine procedures, and that a disease spread by bite would be easy to contain as opposed to an airborne vector. A co-worker leaked it online and I became internet famous," she takes a deeper drag, "I'll have to rewrite the whole damned thing since I didn't anticipate mother loving voodoo and poo poo. Bodies are not supposed to loving breathe once they're dead, even Romero style zombies!"

Decided to expand on my noteriety drawback. I'm Max Brooks famous ya'll!

Synoria Dyne
Nov 1, 2010

Tami Lea Kayla

She glances at the MiB again, just to make sure he's not waking up. Tami eyes Jennifer calmly and says...absolutely nothing. Let the crazy drunk ramble for a bit. It's not hurting anything.

Epicurius
Apr 10, 2010
College Slice
Harrison

Harrison slumps in his seat. "I think it's gone." He looks out the window, scanning for threats. "We need to get back with the rest of the team. And I don't like the idea of that thing running loose in the city." Yet another headache. And Gates was gone. He can't say he misses him, exactly. After all, they hadn't been a team long enough for him to know the man. But it was another reminder of the dangers of the job.

crowtribe
Apr 2, 2013

I'm noice, therefore I am.
Grimey Drawer
Martin Dash

As he eased his foot from the accelerator Dash glanced into the rear view mirror, checking for any signs of pursuit - either legal or lethal. Old habits die hard.

He patted himself down idly, trying to find the dregs of a crumpled cigarette packet to calm his nerves. Whatever the gently caress that wolf-man thing was, he was sure it was going to be an issue in future. He stopped patting for a moment and held his hand in front of him, palm down and watched for the start of the shakes that usually came after these kinds of incidents.

"First day on the job and we've already lost one. Jesus H Christ - I don't even get danger pay on this poo poo any more," he said, slamming the palm of his free hand against the top of the wheel. "Send a message to the others and see where they're at and what kind of hornet's nest we just stirred up."



Bearing in mind the Lincoln is stolen, do we want to hang onto it a little longer or should we ditch and burn it ASAP?

Dyne: did I happen to remember the make/model/number plate of the car that the fake cops pointed out to me? It might be worth either doing a DMV check (Dash's Pulling Strings) or someone else with similar access to a LEO database.

crowtribe fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Oct 2, 2014

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
NYPD
The van slips away from the chaos and turmoil of One Police Plaza without any issue from the police, in spite of the damage the van sustained in the fight. Tami finds her TEMPEST attack was interrupted by the burst of bullets, and any information it had already gleaned has been lost. While Jennifer talks, the MiB stirs and groans, lifting his head up and looking around. When he realizes he has been captured, he bolts upright with an astounding level of agility, before flipping to gain his feet. He struggles against his bonds but finds himself lacking, and stumbles slightly as the van hits a bump in the road. Fury crosses the creature's face and he presses himself against the back door of the van, working his jaw strangely. "I will not submit to you, humans! I would choose death rather than have my mind probed by your pathetic tools of interrogation! Victory to the Gna-Tall!" He bites down, hard, and something in his mouth crunches loudly; at the same time, he fumbles with the van door, and after a moment grabs the handle and lifts, throwing himself backwards as the back door of the van swings open. The man in black tumbles out, a look of victory on his face as the muscles in his face and throat begin to strain heavily. He hits the asphalt once and then tumbles into the grass at the side of the road.

You guys can stop to gather his body, but he is pretty much utterly dead. He has no special equipment on him, though there is a residue of poison in his mouth.

Regardless of the MiB, the team makes its way back to the complex with Jennifer's samples and the dossier they gained from their ally at the NYPD.

The Return
Dash and Harrison are the first back to the mansion, and Dash takes the time to quickly jot down the license plate he'd seen earlier while it's fresh in his mind. He tucks it away for safe keeping and helps Harrison unload their captive from the trunk of the car, where Gunter happily joins them to blindfold the man and drag him off to a deeper part of the mansion. The witness is treated with a bit more care, with Marcus taking her off to a side room to treat her to a meal and get her something to calm her nerves. After Miss Sheppard is taken care of, Marcus questions the duo on the whereabouts of Sergeant Gates, and when informed of his passing nods, shaking his head. "I will contact AEGIS Prime and see if there is something we can do about bringing you to full strength."

Thirty-five minutes later, the magic van pulls into the garage next to the Lincoln, and Jenni steps out with her CDC container filled with samples. Marcus tuts and frets over the damaged van, but before he can fuss too much he takes the samples from Jennifer to run them down to the biolab. He suggests everyone take a little while to wind down and distress; it will be a few days before they debrief due to the need for reinforcements, and the man leaves the question as to why they need reinforcements to Dash and Harrison.

It will be almost a week until their new agent arrives, leaving the cell plenty of time to pursue things other than alien technology and creatures straight from the X-Files. The mansion offers a variety of ways of relaxing and training, and with the massive libraries and computer complexes beneath the base, there's plenty of opportunity to learn as well. Dash remembers the number in his pocket and considers using some of his time to look it up, and Jennifer feels she could possibly maybe use some of her free time to research the samples she brought back, at least until the fully stocked bar catches her eye.





Congratulations, you all have gained FIVE XP (even the new agent will have this XP.) Page 184 of the handbook has a list of XP costs and such, and I do want to note the rule on raising attributes: you can only ever raise a stat by one level, period. So if you have 3's in all stats, 4 will be your maximum. Special circumstances may change this, but that's the hard and fast rule for now.

Also, you do have a gym for practicing in physical skills and hand to hand combat, and a shooting range to touch up on your gunplay or learn a new weapon. New qualities and such will need to be run past me first, and you will need to have a reason to have gained that quality and have typed something up for it. You can also use the first few days to do pulling strings if you feel the need.

After your XP expenditure, you do have a few days of downtime. Mercifully, all the stuff on downtime is on page 185; you can use the same facilities for training (which nets you bonus XP intended ONLY for that skill), and now is the time to try to generate more RP or raise your influence. I will let SevenSocks take part in the downtime, since it can be part of his travel and prep time before being driven to the mansion, and he's free to post now from his hidey-hole that he's staying in before AEGIS picks him up.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll do all the downtime rolls once we've all made plans for it, and then move us to the debriefing.

Synoria Dyne
Nov 1, 2010

Tami Lea Kayla

"Oh, God drat it." She scowls as the MiB turns himself into a corpsy projectile.

SevenSocks
Apr 25, 2012

It doesn't need to be funny, because it will probably just piss them off
Alexander Ramos

It was just after 7 when the phone rang, and it was that long, drawn kind of ringing that just told you it was going to be one of those days. Ramos was struggling to hear it really, or trying to struggle, over the traffic outside, the air unit, and the stepdaughter loudly crashing through some Kinect game in the living room, but that's how it always goes with phones, you can hear them a mile away.

He tried to stretch it out for as long as it would go, checking his cell phone over twice, glancing around confused; who knew how many cameras could be watching, he even checked over where his old land-line used to be before it became a 30 dollar a month paperweight. No matter how hard he hoped, it wasn't just any phone, it was that phone, the one that only rang to put him out in the dark and cold pulling another mangled body off the streets; cleanup duty, and two minutes later, still ringing, Ramos finally pulled it out of the shoebox under his bed.

"You're being activated. The address is in your inbox. One week."

The man on the other end was brief, always had been, could've even been a woman or even just a computer for how thick the voice scrambling was.

----

Ramos dropped the bag of clothes, schoolwork, and other belongings in the living room door and took a glance at the clock.

"Your mom's gonna be here in about an hour so, ya know, here. So you're ready... You can probably take that with you when you're done."

He'd point off to the console leaned haphazardly against his TV, more or less taking up space.

"I don't get a lot of use out of it... Just give me a shout when you go. I've gotta make some work calls."

----

The address in the text checked out to be some swanky business retreat out in the country, so that gave Ramos a few good thoughts to dwell on while he wrote a few numbers from his work cellphone into his work phone. It wasn't a usual business call, but he had a name and number in mind:

Leonard Taddeo, Special Agent in Charge with the NYC FBI office.

About 4 years and a haze of federal clout stood between them now, but not too long to forget the old field agent days of all night case work and police oversight. An answering machine was all he got at this hour.

"Leo, it's Alex. Call me back tomorrow, it's serious... I'm gonna need a few favors."

I'd like to spend my 5 points on Stopping Investigation 1, Cheaper Vehicles 1, and Funding 3, along with using my downtime gathering resources.

Epicurius
Apr 10, 2010
College Slice
Harrison

After the debrief, Harrison stands in the shower for a long time, his eyes closed, his head against the wall, letting the water run over him. He never really knew Sergeant Gates. Not at all. Not even a little bit.

Later, Harrison goes back out and has some dinner and tries to relax. It doesn't come easy, so he heads out to the shooting range. Shooting has always let him blow off steam...maybe it will this time. And, he's still got Gates' gun...maybe one of these days, he should learn how to use it.


Increasing Guns (Handguns) to 5. As far as downtime, I do have those photos I took of the tattoos on the werewolf. Unfortunately, I don't think I have any particular research abilities, so instead, I'll turn that over to anyone who can research them and use my downtime to try to learn how to use an assault rifle

MaliciousOnion
Sep 23, 2009

Ignorance, the root of all evil
Nash

Nash was mad. Not only was he almost killed, one of the other team was killed. Not a particularly nice end, either, from what he'd heard. Callahan was determined to be prepared for the next encounter. He quizzed Marcus, read up on what he could find on the HERMES and spent a lot of time at the firing range.

The rest of the week he spent smoking and drinking with Jennifer, exchanging stories. It was a good way to relax, to forget about their first job, if only for a little while. And that woman could put liquor away like it was water.


I want to see what I can find out about the MiB I shot, his claw-gun would be a good place to start I guess. Also bringing my pistols skill up to 3.

MaliciousOnion fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Oct 13, 2014

Werix
Sep 13, 2012

#acolyte GM of 2013
Jennifer Stetson

As the thing wakes up, Jennifer can only stare, cigarette hanging from her lower lip, as the thing bites down on a poison capsule and jumps out the van. "Turn the gently caress around!" Jennifer barks. With help (or not) she quickly loads the creature back into the van. Even dead, she'd never been able to dissect an alien before; plus the creature might have some antibodies or something that could be better used on the human population.

Back at the mansion, she morns the death of their comrade the only way she knows how, buy getting drunk. The remainder of the day is Jennifer wondering around the mansion with a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other, just trying to figure the place out. It was later on that evening when she was rummaging for some munchies that she encountered Nash on the lower floor. She sits with him having her night cap of a gin and tonic and yet another cigarette, crushing the empty pack. Out of everyone she's met here, Nash is the only one she's bonded with. The others were too busy not getting killed by a werewolf, and Tami was still a stuck up bitch so, that was that.

"You're gonna have to teach me how to fire a gun sometime, if we're going to keep running into things trying to kill us, despite how much I love having my own personal U.S. Marshal bodyguard," she stammers out drunkenly and stumbles up to her room.

The next day starts with a quick Bloody Mary for breakfast. The great thing about working here as opposed as directly at CDC headquarters is she didn't have to abstain in the morning for fear of getting caught. That little bit of liquid inspiration in her, she heads down to the science lab to directly study the samples she took, making sure to spend her evenings after each 12 hour day of work drinking and talking with whomever will speak to her.

Fist thing, using all 5 exp to raise science biochem to 4.

Okay, going to use the lab to do :science: on the samples, the dead alien body can wait for another downtime. Like I'm doing a full on, balls to the wall, science test. So I'm guessing this is a hard test, so I don't double my Intelligence, which is 3, plus my new science (biochem) 4 is +7. Nothing I can find points to the biohazard suite giving a bonus to making the check.

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
50 hour week at work, so that downtime was real as well as in the game. :v: Just waiting on Crowtribe (and Synoria.) Do you guys need any additional help on downtime or whatever? Any questions or things need cleared up?

Werix
Sep 13, 2012

#acolyte GM of 2013

John Dyne posted:

50 hour week at work, so that downtime was real as well as in the game. :v: Just waiting on Crowtribe (and Synoria.) Do you guys need any additional help on downtime or whatever? Any questions or things need cleared up?

One thing to clear up for me. Between the shooting range, and folks with gun skills in the mansion, could I have gotten one bonus exp for learning the handguns skill? If so I'd take back my 5 exp into skilling up medicine, and take rank 1 of handguns.

As added incentive I'd then do a post about Onion teaching a buzzed Jenny proper weapon handling skills.

crowtribe
Apr 2, 2013

I'm noice, therefore I am.
Grimey Drawer
Dash spent a lot of time thinking in the garage as he worked to check over the damage of the surveillance van - if only he'd taken control of the situation, maybe Gates would still be with them, maybe he could've stopped the trigger-happy yahoo from going back for the bums, maybe... Either way it was too late now. Another one of his squad had bought the farm, another name to add to the list of the fallen. The worst part was it felt like he run away and left him to die - he knew deep down this wasn't like the other war, this one had different rules of engagement and a far more flexible definition of acceptable losses.

It was a few days before he emerged from his work in the garage to speak to the others. The first thing he did was check on Harrison, as the other member of their failed (or so it felt) venture, in the gun range, and shot a few magazines - it'd been a while since he'd felt the need to shoot a gun, and even longer since the US Army had taught him how in the first place, so he took Harrison's pointers where he could.

The rest of the time was spent trying to get to know the rest of the team - it was hard not getting too attached to them one way or another with the knowledge that they could be gone the next day just as Gates was - keeping fit in the gym and watching his beloved Bruins on their run for the pennant.

Sorry, I've been run ragged by work with other people sick and been too fried to internet good. I'd like to buy another point in Smooth Talking to bring it to 2, and another point in Guns (Handgun) to bring it to 3, using my entire FIVE XP - unless someone can instruct on the guns thing and I get the points for that back as per Werix's note on the same?

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
Sorry! I went on a vacation and I'm back now, I'll get this updated and running again very soon.

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
Got a bit of writer's block on where to take this and how to get it there, so I'm gonna go ahead and open it up for input from you guys. What do you want to happen from here? What do you want your characters to do?

The original werewolf is still out there and it's possible the torso you guys got is not even completely related to the werewolf himself. I'm just trying to work on how to get it going again.

Werix
Sep 13, 2012

#acolyte GM of 2013
I want to do :science:. Like hardcore discovering medical applications of ectoplasam and alien junk juice or whatever. Like I wherever we go with it jenny is still going to have a drinking problem, and is still (at least for now) going to be out of her league and be reacting with 3 parts "holy poo poo kill me now" and one part "I want to put that thing in a test tube".

Believe it or not I haven't watched x-files, fringe, Buffy, or any of those paranormal shows, save Lost Girl, and I don't really know where to take it in that regard.

MaliciousOnion
Sep 23, 2009

Ignorance, the root of all evil
Short term, I want to find out what i can about the guy that attacked us in the parking lot. Beyond that, follow up on not-quite-dead guy - hopefully Jennifer's science work gives us a lead or even an identity.

SevenSocks
Apr 25, 2012

It doesn't need to be funny, because it will probably just piss them off
What my character's intention to do is calling up his FBI buddy and requesting that he have special agent status(Ability to both conduct investigations and make arrests) put on his file, if only to justify the new pulling strings. Then gather enough resources to buy a police cruiser(and included shotgun) before meeting up with the group. After that it's just making sure everyone else can do their thing relatively unmolested.

As for where to take the game, it seemed like the cell technically completed whatever they were briefed to do, which is get the witness to safety. After that, the investigation could continue into what's causing the infuzed attacks, ala On the Trail of the Torso Killer, but technically we could be reassigned to any other disturbance in the NY State area pretty easily.

I may be missing some points, but the scenario as presented seems pretty set up for a natural progression of escalating infuzed attacks, leading to the discovery of some terrorist group/flavor of doomsday cult looking to abuse seepage to rain some kind of mass calamity down on NYC, which, once defeated, leads into it having been all quietly orchestrated by the NDD to Weaken Aegis/Divert money to defense spending/Have a Laugh/Get marijuana legalized.

crowtribe
Apr 2, 2013

I'm noice, therefore I am.
Grimey Drawer
What 7Socks said.

Also some sweet car theft/stunt driving would be great. Alternatively, I can also technically drive a tank (or any tracked vehicle like construction equipment) - so I vote for a combat in a disused warehouse about to be knocked down where I commandeer a wrecking ball and be the best drat Breacher I can be. :killdozer:

crowtribe fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Nov 13, 2014

Epicurius
Apr 10, 2010
College Slice
I guess the big question would be, is the werewolf/infused attack part of something bigger? How are the Saurians involved? Or was the MiB at the morgue for some unrelated, and likely terrible, reason? Who was blocking our phones and why? Plus, the Werewolf is still out there. What's he going to do next?

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
I'm getting everything reorganized, since I lost my original notes, but Con-X is not gonna die! I'm having too much fun with it, I've just lost sight of where I was going with it. :v:

Update coming this week. Sorry for the delay! I'll make it up to you guys.

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
Rest, Relxation, and Research

It's rare for plans to continue the way they were intended in what amounts to a war, even within an organization as prepared and streamlined as AEGIS. In spite of a scheduled debriefing a mere week after the initial confrontation with the creature, AEGIS Prime instructs the cell to remain low for the time being; as the week passes into two weeks, no further sightings or manifestations are reported.

Where time crawled due to stress and concern, it begins to fly. Jennifer is able to hunker down and truly study the specimens she has and that have been brought to her, and able to send out for research assistance from the greatest minds AEGIS has to offer. The substance is recgonized as a basic ectoplasmic residue, but the origin of it is initially unknown. The samples continue to shrink in size as segments of it are sent out across the world; with no active threat, research becomes the first priority, and there are many inquiring minds wanting to learn from the sample. By the time the last request is filled, Jen has barely enough of a sample to cover a single microscope slide.

During this downtime, Callahan, Tami, Harrison, and the newest addition to the team, Agent Ramos, are able to take to the gym and the shooting range to practice and hone their skills. Stetson and Dash are brought up to speed on the basics as well; with the loss of Sergeant Gates, a man bred into combat, the team figures it'd make sense if everyone at least had some basic capability to defend themselves. Basic protocols for investigation, electronics surveillance, and numerous other specialty skills are able to be covered as the radio from headquarters remains silent, leaving only the standing orders of 'Be Prepared.'

At some point, Sergeant Gates is given a proper funeral by the US Army; the story that circulates is that he stepped in to stop a confrontation inside of a fast food resturaunt, continuing to do the right thing and serve his country, when one of the two men involved, a mentally unstable ex-con who thought he was going to return to prison, drew a knife and cut Gates' throat and did a number on his face and body. The casket is closed during the procession, and as he is taken to his final resting place, the late soldier is given a 21-gun salute. The cell is allowed at the funeral as friends and colleagues of the late Gates, and they notice their police plant there as well. All in all, the funeral is quite lovely, and is fit for a true hero of America.

The downtime continues. As with all thing, time blurs as it passes; hours to days, days to weeks. Many things happen, mostly unimportant. The team gets a chance to recover and sharpen, expecting service in no time at all. No one would expect it would be six months before another lead came up.



For sticking through the game, go ahead and take another 15 XP. Sorry this has taken so long! The next update is already written, but I'm giving you guys a chance to extol on what's gone on in your downtime. If you've got any questions or need any help, I'm around; it's been awhile and I'm sure rules are fuzzy.

If you mechanically want to go after some lead or something during the downtime, or had an adventure, write it out and I'll figure out a reward for it. Consider this free reign to do cool poo poo.

crowtribe
Apr 2, 2013

I'm noice, therefore I am.
Grimey Drawer
Hey Con-Xers.

I'm throwing this one out to the crowd - I don't want to impinge on your character outlines, so help me out with spending the next 15XP. Is there anything I should get to help you guys out that won't make your characters useless or otherwise put anyone in a back seat (except when I'm driving of course)?

Also feel free to write me in to any extra-curricular activities if you need backup or a driver.

SevenSocks
Apr 25, 2012

It doesn't need to be funny, because it will probably just piss them off
It's kind of a flounder to learn the rules back again. Just brushing up on training, timeframes, and improvement.

All in all, I think I'm going to use the downtime to improve my Dexterity to 5 for 5 points, and save the other 10 in reserve unless someone can think of something for me to do with them.

I have a quick writeup of activities planned out, but first, from Dyne, I just want to get a confirmation that my earlier purchases

SevenSocks posted:

I'd like to spend my 5 points on Stopping Investigation 1, Cheaper Vehicles 1, and Funding 3, along with using my downtime gathering resources.

Went through, because I'd like to use my Gathering Resources to obtain 2 law enforcement RP, and use that in conjunction with Cheaper Vehicles to purchase a Police Cruiser(P.147) since it comes with a shotgun.

As for crowtribe, I'd say it's pretty hard to tell what we'll be needing in the future, but from looking at your current skillset, you could probably bump either lockpicking skill up a few points in case we need to do any hush hush B&E, or you could bump any of your driving skills up by a few points that way you still essentially autowin the roll if you decide to pull any stunts.

John Dyne
Jul 3, 2005

Well, fuck. Really?
Actually, due to the extended downtime, assume you gather 10 LEO RP. I'd squashed a month's downtime to a week, and now I've extended that downtime to six months, so you get quite a bit more RP.

Otherwise, yeah, the other XP expenditure seems kosher

John Dyne fucked around with this message at 14:25 on Dec 8, 2014

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SevenSocks
Apr 25, 2012

It doesn't need to be funny, because it will probably just piss them off
Alright. Here goes nothing.

Alexander Ramos

One week, on the hour, from his activation call, Ramos arrives in the long rolling driveway of the otherwise secluded estate in a freshly refurbished NY State Trooper patrol car, waiting patiently for the black suited handlers to verify and clear his entry. The few formalities needed were addressed and dealt with efficiently in the debriefing, and the whole air of the place left him with the distinct sense that he was filling a hole. An important hole, probably, but still just the filler.

+ Police Cruiser (2 LEO RP)

Months burned on behind the cell, and Alex utilized the time and surprising lack of distraction to better train his physique, constantly running the estate grounds in the rear end hours of the morning, even managing to set up an extremely makeshift obstacle course in the far areas of the yard, greatly improving his agility and Dexterity. The other members of the cell all seemed to have their own working agendas, and Alex wouldn't push any intrusions on them, keeping his social interactions on the low and casual, usually just grilling a teammate here and there about their own knowledge of 'The Conspiracy', disregarding any attempt at deciphering information on his HERMES link as "Like trying to read wikipedia in Esperanto."

Dexterity +1

At least once a month, and on one hellish month, three times, Ramos was called back into NYC proper to fulfill his primary job requirements, that is, kicking in doors and securing hostage situations with his team. Most situations were usual: Suspected domestic terror threats, high profile robberies gone wrong, dignitary security, and in one unfortunate incident, a badly botched bomb attack that left 17 dead and Ramos in recovery for several weeks.

Being close to 'home' again and back in the seat of the FBI deployment vehicle got Ramos to thinking about the Cell's threat response ability. Given that, by the debriefing, their last combat activity left one dead and the assailant still out in the public, he'd figured that it could withstand an upgrade. A few phone calls and a handful of papers later, and he'd return from another FBI operation in a fully stocked, but unpainted SWAT Van, along with a few other toys: Police issue stunguns for personal protection, and enough IR goggles and IR projectors to turn the kevlar helmets in the van into NightSight helmets.

+SWAT Van (5 LEO RP)
+Infrared Flashlight (12 Units, 1 LEO RP)
+Infrared Goggles (10 Units, 1 LEO RP)
+Stunner Ranged (5 Guns, 1 LEO RP)

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