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The small mountain town of Silver Ridge isn't exactly an eventful place. Hanging by the confluence of two mountain streams, it was once home to a prosperous silver mine, and mainly inhabited by the workers and their families. It went into decline as the mining operation closed down in the eighties, and today it houses just shy of a thousand people, most of them old folks and their remaining family. A few enterprising residents have taken on them to make a rural tourism destination out of the town, and their revitalization efforts are starting to bear fruit, having managed to draw around some younger families, reopen the long closed town school, and fully restore the abandoned mine headquarters onto a modern hotel.  As of two days ago, peace in Silver Ridge has been startled by the discovery of the dead body of a local man in very strange circumstances; all that was left of him was bones and a mess of dried shreds of skin and blood. Preliminary autopsy reports concluded that most of his flesh was torn off his body by some sort of animal... or something worse. The case is under investigation, and you have been called to help. Wait, who is you? You all belong to the Paranormal Events Investigation Squad, a not-exactly-official governmental body. It started in the 60s as one of the many, many amateur UFO research groups, mostly filled with astronomy nerds, Star Trek fans and conspiracy nuts in roughly equal parts. But somehow, over the years, it grew in number, and its scope widened to include a vast sway of the supernatural. A couple resounding sucesses, particularly The Great Bigfoot Scare of 1994, caught the eye of the more secret side of a particular government agency, and after some negotiations, the group was given semi-official status. Which means you aren’t officially recognized anywhere, nor get any funding at all, but you’re now a group of a couple hundred people (give or take) spanning several countries, working on call and getting paid by accepted contracts. As long as you don’t talk too much. But, well, you aren’t exclusive, so it’s a bit like a hobby, and it beats having an office job, right? What is this? This is a run for a one-shot Monster of the Week campaign for 3 to 5 players (can accomodate 6 if there are more people wanting to play; definitely not more than that, or it'll be too chaotic). Previous thread can be found here. This time I'm going with a custom scenario, and I do want to thank wologar for his great help on setting it up too! We will be playing over this thread, with a Discord server to help organize things (mostly at the character creation stage). Spectators are welcome, but you should be able to follow the story just by reading the thread. Small format note: If there is something you want to say out of character, put it in italics. I may tell you to roll for stuff, but if you are taking an action that requires a roll, feel free to take it in the same post. Actions and rolls should be bolded. We are using Orokos for rolls, link your results. We will be starting around April 8th. Content note While I don’t intend the scenarios to be unnecessarily bloody or gutty (hell knows I don’t like that), this is a narrative mystery/horror game, so death and violence will still happen with varying levels of graphicalness. Sexual violence of any kind will not. If you feel uncomfortable at any stage, for any reason, tell me (either in the thread, by PM or in Discord) and I’ll hold on descriptions, or change whatever plot thing is needed. This is a chill narrative game, and players having a good time is the most important thing. As a player: I’m not setting hard lines on content (besides the Something Awful content lines, which are to be observed at all times; if you do something to get yourself permabanned, that IS definitely on you!). But, please, don’t be a ghoul: keep the narrative relatively family-friendly, remember this is cooperative and not pvp, and be generally respectful of the other people playing the game. When in doubt, don’t hesitate to ask the other players if something is OK to do! I don’t expect to have to come down hard on this, but if needed, I absolutely will. The Characters We will be using the basic archetypes to build characters around. Those do work like classes: you pick one, and build your character around it. All characters have different stat spreads they can take on the same array of skills: Charm (mainly charisma, used for convincing people), Cool (oddly named; this influences how good you are in physical, but non-combat, action), Sharp (mainly Perception; how good you are at figuring mysteries out), Tough (your combat skills), and Weird (magic aptitude). Bonus and Malus on those will add or detract to your rolls, so try and choose your stats according to your style of play! Character sheets are pretty self-explanatory, but ask any questions away.
The Expert: Supernatural-wise, you have Been There, Done That. While not a professional monster hunter, you may as well be a very experienced amateur. You are sharp and know your way around the monsters. The Flake: Other people might think you are a bit odd. But you definitely know your way around mysteries, and how to spot a pattern when you see one. And there are definitely a lot of them around. The Initiate: You belong to an ancient organization intent on keeping the world safe. Hopefully, at least. But that means you have a lot of connections to help you around. The Monstrous: You are a human turned into some sort of monster. How that happened is up to you, as is playing up to your human side, or your monster side. The Mundane: You aren’t too sure how you ended up hunting monsters, and the others mostly think you’re cute and innocent. But eh, may as well enjoy the ride, right? The Professional: Not to be confused with the Expert; the Professional’s monster hunting is a job. They’re definitely good at it, but it’s still a job. At least coolness comes with the territory here. The Spooky: You are weird. You have magical powers the rest can’t even dream of, but you’ve also paid a price for them. Things can turn out very good for you… or really, really bad. The Wronged: You are looking for vengeance, and you don’t care much about the means. You are here to make monsters hurt. There are some more classes in the expanded playbooks: The Crooked, who is your run-of-the-mill crook; The Divine, a mystical being; The Gumshoe, a Noir-style investigator; The Hex, a ritualistic magic user; The Pararomantic, whose powers derive from love; The Searcher, who is mostly looking for The Truth Behind It All; The Snoop, a journalist; The Spell-Slinger, a combat mage; and The Spooktacular, a circus magician. Those all do look a bit more specific than the default classes, but I don't mind if you want to play one of them; bear in mind that, due to this being PbP, the game is slower than the one-day sessions the system was built for, and this particular mystery might not be related to your overall objective or character arc. Since this is a quick game, we won’t be rolling with the full “Make your history connect with everyone else’s characters” routine; instead, I'll ask you a set of questions once all characters are in, to help us get started and get some connections going. Using Basic Actions Every turn, apart from the normal every day actions like moving, looking at something or talking with someone, each player has access to a variety of basic moves (reference sheet here) they can roll to use: ”The rulebook” posted:• Act Under Pressure, used for any difficult or dangerous action that isn't covered by another move. [Rolls on Cool] Every one of those basic moves are rolls on 2d6. On 10+, the move succeeds without reservations, leading to a positive outcome. On a 7 to 9, it’s a partial success, and it may come with a price to pay or another string attached. Under 7, the roll fails, with all its consequences. Your character’s status will also give them bonuses or maluses to each type of roll. In addition to those, individual characters also have Expert moves they can roll for and use to help the group achieve their objectives. Those are detailed in the individual character sheets. Using Magic Magic does not work on a given spellbook for each character; instead, you describe what you intend to do, and roll for it. You may be asked to do something first, like gathering ingredients or meditating. General options for Magic are given below, with the caveat that some characters may have extra options. All of them roll on Weird. ”The rulebook” posted:• Inflict harm (1-harm ignore-armour magic obvious) Those are intended to be user-grade spells; if you intend to invoke a magical nuke or something unreasonable for a single person to achieve, you’ll instead be asked to use Big Magic. Big Magic moves are not defined, so you can go nuts here, but bear in mind they will come with its own set of requisites and penalties, very probably on the heavier side of both. Luck and Hurt Character sheets have two markers: Luck and Hurt. Luck can be used to autopass a roll. Some of the characters may have limitations on how much luck they have, or suffer penalties for using it up, but otherwise, it’s a “pass this roll” point. Luck may refill thorough story events, but it’s unlikely we’ll last that long. Due to this being a short chapter, we'll roll with 5 luck points instead of the usual 8. Hurt is hitpoints. Over 3 wounds, the character will get worse with time if they are not stabilized or healed somehow. 6 wounds, and the character is dead. Countdown The game includes a Countdown mechanic. The naming convention is a bit odd, going from Morning to Midnight while not really being correlated to real day times. But the gist of it is that there are six different stages, increasing in severity, and intended to happen at regular intervals. An example from the rulebook: ”The rulebook” posted:• Day: Marie [a ghost] traps the Hadleys [a family] in the house. This is intended to be “the story if no one intervened”. The presence of the characters will probably help avoid most of the bad results, depending on their actions. But, most importantly, I am using the countdown as, well, a countdown. Every week (we’ll decide on a day) things will go down one stage, and even if the worst effects are prevented by the actions of the players, the severity of the situation will still increase somehow. We start on a Day stage; if the game reaches Midnight stage with the monster out at large, the story is over. This means we will be working on a hard time limit of five weeks. I’ll accommodate this limit if it’s too short or too long, if the game moves too slowly to make it reasonable, or if someone is going to be unavailable or a particular week has downtime due to being a holiday or such, but this is roughly the idea and the pace I’ll aim to keep. Pacing As noted before, this is a pretty quick-paced game, so relatively frequent thread posting is going to be required, although I will adapt to a rhythm that suits the group as a whole. From past experience, roughly one post per player a day or every other day tends to be fine and dandy. If you are going to be away or busy for any reason, tell me! I'll accomodate you, and I'll also do my best to ensure no one gets left behind on the action. This is still a light game, first of all. The players
WindwardAway posted:Simon Montrose, The Wronged (he/him) Mr. Humalong posted:Leo ended up in the squad as he's ended up in most situations: sheer dumb luck. He left The Show a few years ago and had been wandering around Canada and some of the northern US states when he happened to run into Simon. He handled encountering a mute demon killer the way anyone would: by asking the man if he had a frog in his throat as he made one appear out of thin air. It's still inconclusive why Simon decided to introduce Leo to the rest of the squad after this demonstration, but nevertheless it happened. Leo hasn't been deployed with any of the rest of the squad yet and really doesn't know much about them, though a couple of them seem vaguely familiar. But you see a lot of faces when you work in a traveling circus for a couple hundred years or so. Tea Party Crasher posted:Just four months ago Maeybe was your average singer/songwriter/retail worker, before the vision. What was supposed to be a recreational acid trip in the woods became a meeting with a vast tessellating intelligence from beyond the corporeal realm, contracting her to fulfill a higher purpose of its decree. Problem is, she doesn't exactly remember what that higher purpose was. But she knows it was definitely super duper important! She is sure she'll be able to understand the big picture stuff once she drinks the blood of a powerful monster as instructed to enter a more stable communion with the benefactor of her new strength and durability. My Second Re-Reg posted:Raymond "Dark GrayHawk" Cruditte (pronounced "Croo-deet"), age 41, male, single. Ignatius M. Meen posted:Hendrick got started with the Squad about a year and change after his affinity developed and he employed it to take down a state governor's son who'd gotten into abusing magic at the expense of everyone and anyone he could. He's been there a while now; after the success of his first case (Rapid Moss) wherein the team he had seen in various random stimuli that could not be cogently explained as relevant was still quite successful, he's been allowed/slightly nudged into further case assignment work and expert centralized case help. At first this was to acommodate the injuries he'd sustained on the case and the recovery process; then, when damage that doctors were sure he'd never recover from was undone and he regained full unencumbered mobility, this continued because the Squad found it easier to monitor any changes he wanted to make for other people after reading the third paragraph of the fifty-second page of the annual accounting report that way as opposed to dealing with him reading HR passwords off of lunchroom coffee cups (among other means he used to get around their security systems) and making them himself without any oversight at all. Even though case handling did on average improve quite a lot from his changes, it was still a headache to track without any of the proper paperwork in order, after all. Shellception fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Apr 9, 2024 |
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Mar 20, 2024 19:25
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I would like to play! I'll start cooking up a character
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Mar 20, 2024 20:27
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workin on it
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Mar 21, 2024 03:35
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Player sheets rolling! In the meantime, remember to also answer those once you've gained a corporeal form! - How did you end up in the Squad? How long have you been there? - Have you ever gone on call with any of your partners? - Did you know any of them before joining, or did you meet up in the field? - Do you have prior monster hunting experience, or is this your first job?
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Mar 23, 2024 23:03
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Preliminary Case ReportInvestigation Squad Agency Notes posted:Victim (Kyle Simmons) arrived in Silver Ridge two months ago to work as a waiter at Charleston Cafe. No family in the area and no known close relations. Disappearance reported by his boss (Klara Schubert) after unexpected work absence and repeated failure to contact him. A search operative was started and the body was subsequently found by aerial drone exploration and recovered by a police officer by the river banks at the left branch of the Preston River, hidden among the bushes (see aerial image). Body state deemed unusual, appearing dessicated on first sight. Multiple rigged cuts to skin and clothes were observed and determined as not matching those of common bladed weapons. Was sent to the Coroner’s Office in Lavington City for further inspection (see attached report). Cursory home search turned up small quantities of marihuana, not deemed enough for further investigation, and a few personal items, including a personal phone and laptop. All items of interest to the case are custodied at the police precinct, under the case ID 321K25. Aerial view of crime scene posted:Coroner's Report posted:
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Mar 31, 2024 18:40
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Shellception posted:Player sheets rolling! In the meantime, remember to also answer those once you've gained a corporeal form! Simon began monster hunting early in life, spurred by the devastation he felt when his loved ones were killed in manticore attacks. He learnt everything he could about the dangerous creatures prowling his hometown before training to ultimately hunt them down and eliminate them. Simon is no scholar, but he's diligent at doing his research and tracking his prey. And boy, does he thoroughly enjoy a successful hunt. Simon has been in the Squad for quite some time by now. Initially, he discovered it when a friend of his mentioned she had joined, and considering it's provided a stable income for something he dedicated his life to—monster hunting—he's been happy to stay. So has his familiar, in fact. A glimmer of frost on her delicate wings, the hummingbird he calls Miu is an inquisitive and energetic companion—when she's not asleep in Simon's tangle of hair. Simon is grateful to have an extra set of eyes to scout new locations, and Miu is content to tag along wherever he goes. Hendrick is the one he's most familiar with, having collaborated with him previously—most notably on the case of the Rapid Moss. Simon doesn't understand too much about how Hendrick's pattern-searching and universe-asking works, but what he does know is that Hendrick is a reliable colleague who knows how to get the job done. Leo never fails to get a laugh out of Simon. Sure, his magic tricks are a bit corny sometimes, but Simon doesn't mind. A good sense of humour and a positive outlook are refreshing traits in their line of work. After seeing what Leo was capable of, Simon encouraged Leo to join the Squad. The others aren't as familiar to Simon. Some he's seen around at the base as of recently, while others he can't recall meeting before. But no doubt they've been chosen as part of the Squad for a reason, and with any luck, they'll prove to be competent teammates. WindwardAway fucked around with this message at 06:46 on Apr 9, 2024 |
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Apr 7, 2024 21:49
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Shellception posted:Player sheets rolling! In the meantime, remember to also answer those once you've gained a corporeal form! Leo ended up in the squad as he's ended up in most situations: sheer dumb luck. He left The Show a few years ago and had been wandering around Canada and some of the northern US states when he happened to run into Simon. He handled encountering a mute demon killer the way anyone would: by asking the man if he had a frog in his throat as he made one appear out of thin air. It's still inconclusive why Simon decided to introduce Leo to the rest of the squad after this demonstration, but nevertheless it happened. Leo hasn't been deployed with any of the rest of the squad yet and really doesn't know much about them, though a couple of them seem vaguely familiar. But you see a lot of faces when you work in a traveling circus for a couple hundred years or so.
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Apr 8, 2024 04:29
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Shellception posted:Player sheets rolling! In the meantime, remember to also answer those once you've gained a corporeal form! Just four months ago Maeybe was your average singer/songwriter/retail worker, before the vision. What was supposed to be a recreational acid trip in the woods became a meeting with a vast tessellating intelligence from beyond the corporeal realm, contracting her to fulfill a higher purpose of its decree. Problem is, she doesn't exactly remember what that higher purpose was. But she knows it was definitely super duper important! She is sure she'll be able to understand the big picture stuff once she drinks the blood of a powerful monster as instructed to enter a more stable communion with the benefactor of her new strength and durability. Under vague direction she started traveling across the country by hitchhiking, trying to hunt down a monster with potent enough blood to receive her next vision. Being the trusting type, she figured that "deer hunting" would be sufficient explanation to the man who picked her up between Las Cruces and Portales as to why there was blood on her converse and at the corner of her lips. It was not. The police didn't appreciate her story about the edict from god either. She would still be in jail now if it weren't for the squad intercepting the samples from the federal investigation on her and determining the source of the blood was definitely not human. Now she has been folded into the squad on a probationary basis to see if she can be turned into an asset, or if these visions she's having need to be dealt with. She is being introduced to the other members of this investigation in the field, and is being made aware of the contrast between her beginner's luck and the relative experience of the rest of the crew. She shows special interest in Hendrick due to his greater aptitude for divine communication
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Apr 8, 2024 05:09
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Raymond "Dark GrayHawk" Cruditte (pronounced "Croo-deet"), age 41, male, single. A traveling repository of unique electronics, artifacts, hedge magick paraphernalia, weaponry and more, Ray is a somewhat well-known figure among the PEIS - having been active for the last three-plus years, there's been more than one cell of investigators who have called upon his services, and talk about him tends to spread through the various online message boards and chat channels of the organization. Though this is the first time he's met this particular group of individuals, it would be surprising if no one present had never heard of his name/handle before, even if just in passing. Ray typically travels from city to city, working on his own projects, research, and "hunts", but is very willing to go where asked when others in the field may need access to his unique collections. Ray is well-learned, and is himself an impressive mental archive of arcane, often obscure knowledge on a wide variety of topics. Despite his overall usefulness, Ray prefers to work alone... and his assorted peers and superiors alike in the Squad typically prefer that as well. Though amiable enough, and definitely handy to have around, Ray is... well, frankly, That Guy. The worst stereotype of a terminally online internet early adopter you can imagine. From the flames on his t-shirt to the wrap-around anime waifu paint job on his (otherwise rather impressive) live-in van, Raymond is insufferably dorky, with a personality perhaps saved solely by his usefulness, self-awareness, and utter lack of shame. Ray knows he's a nerd. Ray isn't just ok with that - he's living his best life, neckbeard and all. For those reasons, outside of his own solo experiences, Ray tends not to actually be assigned to the field very often; Ray goes, consults, lends or otherwise barters out whatever specialized equipment the team at hand may need, and then the local group proceeds without him. It has been noted that, despite his 'lone wolf' attitude, this appears to frustrate Ray to an extent, as he would like to "be out there, kicking boogyman rear end with everybody else" (a direct quote), but alongside his noted 'personality quirks' Ray has also displayed a sense of physical recklessness that may put himself (or others) at risk. With these things in mind the Squad does its best to keep Ray off the front lines of any incident areas or hot zones, ensuring both the safety of a valuable asset and the general comfort of everybody else. My Second Re-Reg fucked around with this message at 06:57 on Apr 8, 2024 |
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Apr 8, 2024 06:43
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Shellception posted:Player sheets rolling! In the meantime, remember to also answer those once you've gained a corporeal form! Hendrick got started with the Squad about a year and change after his affinity developed and he employed it to take down a state governor's son who'd gotten into abusing magic at the expense of everyone and anyone he could. He's been there a while now; after the success of his first case (Rapid Moss) wherein the team he had seen in various random stimuli that could not be cogently explained as relevant was still quite successful, he's been allowed/slightly nudged into further case assignment work and expert centralized case help. At first this was to acommodate the injuries he'd sustained on the case and the recovery process; then, when damage that doctors were sure he'd never recover from was undone and he regained full unencumbered mobility, this continued because the Squad found it easier to monitor any changes he wanted to make for other people after reading the third paragraph of the fifty-second page of the annual accounting report that way as opposed to dealing with him reading HR passwords off of lunchroom coffee cups (among other means he used to get around their security systems) and making them himself without any oversight at all. Even though case handling did on average improve quite a lot from his changes, it was still a headache to track without any of the proper paperwork in order, after all. As a result, nobody was very pleased when he began to insist that he needed to go out on this case. He'd be genuinely tied up at least, and wouldn't need oversight to ensure he didn't meddle as he would on a minor case that allowed him time to take breaks and get ideas, but it'd also mean any cases that needed handling in the meantime wouldn't be handled quite as well. He took fifteen minutes looking at a large map before doodling on it to highlight not only predicted events but also locations of operatives that would be good for each case. Sometimes it was a bit more ambiguous than his superiors would have liked, but after a bit of sifting they were able to suss out enough that they cleared him and his suggestions for the team. Simon was with him when dealing with the Rapid Moss. Dependable, strong, sensible, excellent colleague and companion. He'd be happy to have anybody from that case with him, but Simon's dedication to his friends is especially powerful. Hendrick beamed when he got an old Twitter logo along with hummingbird pictures from his first free-association searches. Getting an ad for Costa Rica vacations while looking for a gift for Simon's hummingbird despite his adblocker was odd, and then being introduced to a former circus performer by Simon a bit later was even more bemusing. Leo is funny, clearly talented, and favored by the signs; there's more to him than the average human, but the signs have been pretty clear he'll be an asset and that's plenty for Hendrick. His reaction to finding a picture of a hawk on an anime woman's arm in a free association search was less charitable. "Really??" he uttered out loud, but when fifteen coins on random.org flip heads for yes, the matter's settled pretty well. Oh well... Raymond is nice and self-aware enough to take care of himself at least, better than some unfortunate types; as long as nobody brings up anything to get him started this will be fine. Probably. Maeybe's signs were very similar to Hendrick's own, and this lead him to believe she was, like him, beholden to "the universe". Then when they actually met and started talking large parts of her experiences were pretty different to what his experiences so far have been like. He's still not quite figured out what that means; he likes her enthusiasm, but some of her takeaways leave him worrying about her as well. "Gotta keep an eye on her for sure" is underlined three times in his notebook.
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Apr 9, 2024 04:12
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Current stage: Day // Next Stage: Wednesday 17th April, 3 pm US Central/10 pm EU A cold breeze blows around you as you step off the two vans that brought you here. Most of you piled up on Simon's van, as usual, but this time one of the new guys came with his own mobile house. Ray's van, parked aside, seems to be attracting curious glances from the few passerbys that are still out at this hour. The route took longer than was expected, mostly due to the narrow hill roads leading to Silver Ridge. It's late afternoon; soon it'll be dark, and most of you are secretly grateful of not having to traverse the roads by night. You have arrived at the main town square; in front of you, by the Town Hall, stands a tiny office marked with Police logos; the place where you're supposed to meet with Officer Woods. You all stretch a bit to recover some flexibility and head up inside, where you find a scene unfolding. "I told you, Ryan" The woman is in her late 40s, and her face looks red, but she seems to be keeping composture. "He is never out that late. Yes, he went out to drink. But" The officer behind the desk interrupts her. "Sorry. We are not a drunk wagon. You know this" He looks barely older than some of you, clean shaven and dressed in an uniform that's starting to look a bit too tight in places. The lady doesn't look amused. "He isn't a drunkard. I tell you, he should be back, but he isn't answering his phone, and..." she's starting to lose it a bit. "... after that kid..." "Oh, is this what this is about? The kid" the officer snarks at her. "Now every drunkard in town is going to be eaten by a monster. I'm sure he's going to be fine. Go home" She balls her fists and for a split second, you all aren't sure if she is going to punch him in the face. "gently caress you, Ryan. You are useless" She turns her back to him and heads off into the square. Before you can see where she went, the officer addresses you back. "Sorry. She's a bit... unstable. Always up on her poor husband's neck" he confides at you, with a tone that suggests he really isn't very sorry. He gets up and extends a hand to Hendrick. "Officer Ryan Woods. Are you the hunters?"
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Apr 9, 2024 20:16
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Updated locations map:
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Apr 9, 2024 20:50
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Hendrick Hendrick takes a second to look in the direction the woman left in hopes of catching a last glance indicating where she went, but sees nothing. He looks back at the officer and smiles a little apologetically for not being politely responsive as he shakes the officer's hand. To himself, in a moment, he thinks: "That woman's husband sounds like a potential second victim, but no need to snub the officer before we get the basic preliminary leads at least." To the officer, he says: "Pleasure to meet you officer, and yes. What can you tell us about what's been found so far with respect to our victim?" Connect the Dots rolling time. First roll is here which results in an 8. I gambled with my previous adventure perk and got this for a 15; 3 holds.
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Apr 9, 2024 21:17
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Simon Watching as the upset woman recedes into the background, Simon jabs his thumb questioningly in her direction and glances back at Officer Ryan. Who was that? he tilts his head inquisitively.
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Apr 9, 2024 21:20
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To everyone The officer smiles back at you all, stretching your hands in turn before sitting back down on his chair and pulling some documents out. "You were sent the autopsy report, yes?" Someone nods. "Poor sod was found mummified in a bush. He wasn't from here. Think he came from the city. Looking for work" he says. "No one knew him much. We have his phone and other small stuff if you want to check them" He nods towards a wardrobe behind him, and notices Simon's look. "She? Nah. Don't worry about that. It's town poo poo. You get used to it" he says, dismissively. "She just thinks her husband is going to flee if she doesn't keep breathing down his neck at all times. Women" He doesn't seem to care much about Maeybe hearing - he shrugs, before getting up and opening the wardrobe, which seems to be full of boxes with codes. He gets one out and hands it to you. Inside, you all can see some items: a wallet and some documents, a phone, a laptop, and other small personal stuff. A handful of papers, branded with the scientific police logo, look like they contain the passcodes and information extracted from both devices. Shellception fucked around with this message at 07:12 on Apr 11, 2024 |
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Apr 9, 2024 21:40
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Ray The large, rounded figure of Ray stands from the wall he had been leaning against since entering the station and strides forward with confidence; if he paid any particular attention to the woman who was in the process of exiting, he showed no signs of it, making his way steadfastly to the box of belongings. "Hello, Raymond Cruditte, very sorry this is happening in your town, officer Ryan," he says as he approaches, taking the box of assorted items from the officer's hands as soon as able. He begins picking and sorting through the contents, nodding to himself a bit as he takes in the total inventory, before plucking the small bag containing the phone from the interior of the box; he lifts it up in the air and tilts his head backward, studying it as best he can through the plastic covering. "I saw the autopsy report on the way over here," he says, almost idly. "Was there any clothing found on or near the victim?"
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Apr 10, 2024 05:41
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To Ray "Funny you ask that" the officer comments, as he idly watches you rummaging in the evidence box. "The body was shirtless. He had pants on, but they didn't... survive. Hang on" The officer checks something on his PC and you hear a printer revving to life. He grabs the sheets of paper and hands it to you. You see it's a series of pictures of a dessicated-looking body in an autopsy bench. Part of the waist of what looks like jeans is still visible, but they have been savagely shredded up. As you all pass the photos around, the officer looks at the group with some mild interest. "So. What did this? This isn't an animal. And it isn't a human" Shellception fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Apr 10, 2024 |
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Apr 10, 2024 06:38
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Ray Ray gingerly sets the phone back into the box as he studies the photographs for a moment, passing them on to the next nearest member of the squad a short moment later. "Should we assume you didn't actually collect any of the remaining fabric, then?" A tinge of annoyance creeping around the edge of his words as he pushes the lid back ontop of the box, shutting it completely and tucking it underneath his arm. Ray turns back to face the exit and the rest of the assorted crew, speaking to the officer from over his shoulder. "As to what this is.... well, I could give you theories but it's always better not to speculate - we don't want to cause any undue panic, after all, and frankly? You wouldn't sleep any better at night for it. Don't worry - The P. E. I. S. is on the case now. We'll take care of whatever's happening here; you can read the rest of the details in our official report after it's been handled."
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Apr 10, 2024 06:57
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Hendrick Hendrick takes stock of the situation slowly as he had been spending a bit of time focusing more on applying his power to nudge his fate if he wasn't satisfied with it towards asking the universe for knowledge for the very first time. It was wildly successful, but concentrating on that came at the price of not paying a lot of attention to the rest of the world. As the flow of the feeling of knowledge he would barely have to blink to access instantly that could guarantee progress throughout the case came to a close, his awareness came back more solidly and he realized the team could really use some directing. Luckily, Raymond had already taken charge of the conventional angle, and Hendrick knew Ray could be easily contacted later. Hendrick let Raymond finish and then said, "Officer, if you wouldn't mind, could I get contact info for the woman who left not too long ago? I understand you don't think it's related, but in our line of work I've found it pays to investigate potential missing persons sooner rather than later just in case." He turns to Leo and Simon and says, "Leo, I think you'll be good for putting her at ease if needed, and Simon, you seem interested in this too so I'd like you both to come with me." He looks at Maeybe and Raymond and says, "You're both welcome to come with us, but if you'd rather keep investigating here we'll make sure to contact you with our location if we start running into trouble. My personal guess is that if our victim had location data turned on on his phone, that's liable to provide the clearest idea of when and where he started having problems himself, and that's what I'd check out if it weren't for wanting to try and track down somebody who's still alive more."
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Apr 10, 2024 08:55
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To Ray's question, the officer just shrugs, apparently unfazed by the man's look. "Ain't paid to do that, man. We found the body, packed it up, fancy science lab guys came around and took it. Whatever they did with it, that's on them" He turns to Hendrick. "Sure, whatever. You want to chase drunkards around, be my guest. I have a few more names, if you'd like". He snickers, but gives you a home address.
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Apr 10, 2024 09:49
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Simon Absorbing the information with a pensive frown, Simon nods in approval at Raymond's line of questioning as his tiny hummingbird companion stirs. Beady eyes and a needle-thin beak peer out warily from the makeshift nest of hair to monitor the conversation, but Miu vanishes again soon after. Simon reaches up absentmindedly to scratch his head, eliciting a disgruntled chirp from her. I'll go with you, Simon indicates in Hendrick's direction. To the policeman, he gestures up and down. The body had no blood left? No traces? He regards the officer expectantly for an answer.
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Apr 10, 2024 22:02
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To Simon The officer looks at you sideways. You don't get the impression you're dealing with the sharpest knife in the drawer here. "What? Use your words, son" he grumbles. You stare at him as you repeat every gesture slower, and point out a couple words in the coroners' report too. "Blood? Yup. Not a drop. Poor guy looked like he'd been ran through the dryer" Apparently proud of this last comparison, he looks at your group again. "Now. If you haven't been told, there are paid rooms for you all up at the hotel" he says, dismissively. "I've got some more work to do. Keep me updated if you find anything"
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Apr 11, 2024 07:07
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Maeby "I didn't realize we would be working with cops. Am I a cop now? " Maeby's internal dialogue parries the officer's sexist remark from her consciousness. This context still made her uneasy after the arrest a few months back. WindwardAway posted:Simon Seeing what she thinks is an opportunity to be helpful, she steps forward to interpret for the policeman. "So um, was the body found in a tree or on the ground?" Then, to Simon she offers a supportive nod. To qualify the interpretation she places as a hand on her chest and says "Empath."
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Apr 12, 2024 17:03
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Maeby Feeling uncomfortable with the sliver of eye contact she has made with the officer in trying to relay this question, she breaks away and moves to be shoulder to shoulder with Ray. The look she gives him is not unlike the one she's given many a cousin at awkward Thanksgiving dinners to indicate she wants to take a "walk."
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Apr 12, 2024 17:29
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Updated Map: To Hendrick, Simon and Leo It's a short distance to Ann's house, though you get the impression this town doesn't understand long distances anyway. You walk up to the address, the mostly lonely street illuminated by a dying afternoon sunlight. At some point, the streetlights come alive. You cross a narrow path through the tidy, well maintained front lawn and ring the doorbell. Nothing. Looking around, you notice that there is no sign of life in the house: the blinds are down, and no lights are visible inside. You can hear a dog barking in the distance, but you aren't even sure if it's inside the house or just a neighbours'. To Ray and Maeby You make your way back to Ray's van, which he quickly unlocks to let Maeby in first. Inside, a narrow but remarkably well-equipped workshop greets you. Ray takes good care of his stuff, and it shows.
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Apr 12, 2024 22:37
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Maeby "Oh, that's cool, I didn't know there were female Stormtroopers" Maeby remarks at the salacious airbrushed image of a woman wearing only a space age helmet. The edged weapons framing it, with their matching colored accents, show a capacity for interior design that she has not yet seen from the men in her life. She wants to take a pull from her vape, but every clean surface is telling her no. "So you're like a real professional at this right?" She asks, figuring he'll be happy to fill the awkward silence himself once he got going. "Could you like, walk me through things when we get there? The way I 'investigated' was mostly wandering around at night until whatever I was looking for attacked me, so this is a little more..." She searches for the word, "Law & Order than I'm used to"
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Apr 12, 2024 23:22
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Leo Not entirely sure why we're here, this seems like a tenuous lead at best. I guess it is somewhat near the crime scene... Leo thought to himself as he took in the sheer mundanity of Ann's house and yard. Someone took care of this place, at least. After watching Hendrick ring the doorbell to no avail, Leo tries to peer through the lowered blinds to see if he can make out anything of note within the house. (2d6: 10 [2d6=5, 5])
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Apr 12, 2024 23:43
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Hendrick Hendrick frowns. This would have been easier if somebody had caught up to the woman as she was leaving. In hindsight it felt.. natural.. for her to decide that if the cops wouldn't help her she'd go off on her own to track her husband down, or maybe contact someone else she knew in town for it. Potential third victim or more and we're just getting started, he thought to himself. He shook himself a bit out of the gloom. A little time was lost, but there could be clues here, and he had his backup option fully readied. He began to check around to see if there was an emergency key anywhere to be able to get inside the house. A little poking around in the garden reveals a rock that is lighter than the rest and Hendrick smiles as he spots the key taped underneath it. He takes the key off the rock and finds it unlocks the back door, then ventures inside. Rolled a 10 on investigating to find a key for the house. Should make it easier to figure out what's all going on to get inside.
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Apr 13, 2024 00:14
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Ray (w. Maeby) While making their way from the police station Ray cracks a joke about the party already splitting up, and wishes the other pairing luck in their investigation, making sure to take the time to exchange contact information for easy communication. After the others leave there's only one destination to be had for Maeby and Ray, and that is the very large, very obvious, very noticeable van parked just outside the station. As Ray would introduce it (and proudly so): The Datenshi Hime.  The interior is, as noted, nicely clean, though decorated with an eye toward Ray's personal tastes - a wall scroll for an anime called "Land of the Lustrous" hangs next to a replica Master Sword from Twilight Princess, a pair of chrome punch daggers held fast to a shelf alongside a (as Ray happily pointed out, "master grade") figurine of the OZ-00MS2 Tallgeese II. Dark purple carpeting and warm LED lights combine with wood paneling to give the inside a cozy, if not mildly dim, appearance. Stepping in past the sliding door shows a small workshop, kitchenette, sleeping quarters, and several overhead storage racks filled to the brim with technological odds, magical ends, and all manner of items inbetween. Tea Party Crasher posted:Maeby "A gift," Ray says in reference to the artwork, indicating the signature at the bottom of the framed poster - one 'Kelly Freas', with the number '#172 of #500' by the side. "A bit more... ribald than my usual tastes, but vintage and quality work." He sets himself down at a thin strip of wood attached to and hanging from the wall, two flatscreen monitors embedded in the surface nearby, and begins plugging the victim's cell phone into a USB cable. "I'm going to start doing a full data dump of the electronics, just in case the local 'establishment'" - a bit of an extra touch of venom enters his voice for that particular choice of words - "failed in being thorough. And, for the record, I am certain they failed in being thorough." Tea Party Crasher posted:Maeby Ray chuckles a bit at Maeby's last question, shrugging. "Professional is a bit of a loaded term. I've been at this for a few years now, yeah, but... I don't think anyone's ever a "professional" when it comes to figuring out what it is that's going bump in someone's night. That said, a little knowledge and a little procedure can both go a long way. Sucks the crime scene is going to be so cold, but it is what it is." Ray allows himself a grin. "Still, I think we can use it to teach you a few tricks of the trade." Shellception posted:Inside, you all can see some items: a wallet and some documents, a phone, a laptop, and other small personal stuff. A handful of papers, branded with the scientific police logo, look like they contain the passcodes and information extracted from both devices. Will roll for this when they arrive at their destination By this point Ray has plugged in both the phone and the laptop into an assortment of cables; the two flatscreen panels have come to life, a scroll of green numbers on a black background that either indicated a hacking was in progress or that Ray still used the Matrix screensaver, one of the two. Possibly both. Ray then stands, and starts heading toward the front of the Datenshi Hime, aiming for the driver's seat. "I'm going to let those run while we drive over to the scene; why don't you take a look at the rest of the box the local five-oh gave us and see if you can find anything that feels out of the ordinary? Odd text messages, any weird business cards in the guy's wallet, etcetera and so on. There's some latex gloves in the third shelf on the right underneath the desk, try not to contaminate the wallet or anything he might have been wearing." "Oh, and roll down the window. I'm going to need to hit the vape while we drive." My Second Re-Reg fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Apr 13, 2024 |
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Apr 13, 2024 01:00
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To Hendrick You smile slightly as you feel the back door's lock giving up under your fingers. With a quick look at the others, who are standing up by the garden, you slide in and carefully click the door closed back. It's pretty dark inside, but a bit of street light coming from a window high up on the wall illuminates what you're pretty sure is a small kitchen. A vague smell of food still lingers in the air, as if someone had been cooking not so long ago. You feel your way to the kitchen door, but before reaching it, you freeze in place, noticing a vague movement in the dark. You can hear the distinct low growl of what sounds like a large dog, standing close. To Leo (and Simon) You are pretty sure something moved inside the house - something besides the man sneaking in through the back door, at least. You are pretty sure it wasn't human, though. Probably an animal of some sort, maybe a dog - didn't one bark earlier? You go back and reunite with Simon at the front yard, waiting for Hendrick to give you the thumbs up. Suddenly, you hear a man's voice, speaking at a way higher volume than it's warranted by the place and hour. "WHAT ARE YA DOIN'? THAT'S MYYYY HOUSE. GEEET OOUUT OF MYYY HOUSE!" The voice clearly slurries the words, and a quick look confirms what you suspected from the start: the owner, a short and chubby man tumbling up the path and, for some reason, wet from head to toe isn't, at this moment, nowhere near sober enough for a conversation. Shellception fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Apr 13, 2024 |
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Apr 13, 2024 07:39
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Hendrick Hendrick freezes at the sound of the dog growling and then the man outside. On the bright side, it sounded like the husband wasn't missing anymore. On the other, to put it mildly, he didn't sound like he'd be very cooperative as it was, and it could only get worse from here. "First things first," he thought to himself. This wasn't unsalvageable and he had a reasonable plan of action. He started with controlling himself and talking kindly to the dog. "Hey, girl, it's okay. I'm not here to do anything bad. I'm a friend and I was just looking out for your momma, okay?" This convinces the dog that Hendrick is good. Unluckily, she's not very quiet with people she likes. She begins to bark a lot, loudly, and approaches Hendrick with a big grin on her face hoping for treats and pets. "Welp. At least she's not trying to bite me." He gives her a very quick scratch behind the ears as she gets close enough and gets ready to move. quote:You like to think of yourself as a man of taste who performs unsung public services to the community at large. You are well known to various women around town as being a reprieve from various styles of unhappy marriage and, while some would call you "home-wrecker" or criticize you for "stealing" other peoples' wives rather than finding your own, you have never wanted nor felt the need for a stable or official partnership. There are too many women around to stick with just one for very long and you've always been upfront about that with your various consorts, and they've been more than fine with that. The image disturbed Hendrick. It would work... but not well, and it was stressful dealing with this kind of perspective shift. He tried to tweak the signal the way he did earlier, but it didn't change much. It seemed he was going to mostly succeed in getting away rather than being stealthy, but there wasn't much to be done about that. He got the door locked as he opened it and managed to close it not too loudly but the dog kept barking away, making any gains questionable at best. Only one thing left to do at least. quote:You are a former gangster who is too loyal to his friends to truly leave anything affecting them alone and who also is too good at fighting to ever really be left alone. You saw a rival gang had taken over the cemetery where your father was buried and had already carefully snuck past them all. One wasn't very far away from your father's grave, so you had to be careful, but you gently laid some new flowers down on top of his grave and said a prayer in your head before sneaking back out to avoid attracting attention. You got accosted by several hooligans a few blocks away, but that's just how it is sometimes. This felt better at any rate. He put new tape on the key connecting it to the rock it had been under and placed the rock back down hurriedly. As he started to run away from the house he reconsidered how everything looked originally and cursed as it'd be a little obvious the rock had been moved. Nothing for it now, only thing to do at this point was to avoid getting seen anywhere near where he'd been if possible. He texted the others to say "Left the house in a hurry, I'll try to swing back around to you but if you can't get anything useful out of him wrt Ann we'll regroup elsewhere" as he went. Given how much of a bust this was turning into, he also called up part of the knowledge he'd been able to tap into at the start. Rolled a 7 to manipulate the dog, an 8 followed by a 9 to leave and lock the door quietly, and another 9 to put the key back. Also asking where the next critical event is taking place.
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Apr 13, 2024 17:15
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To Hendrick Putting your phone back on your pocket, you look around. There doesn't seem to be much here. It's getting pretty dark, but not so much you can't see that you are standing in a dirt road. Here and there, in the direction you came from, some dim lights seem to mark distant houses; in front of you, you can see a mass of trees pretty much around all sides. There's a rumour of water around, coming from your right; you realize you're probably in some back path by the fields near the river. At least, there seems to be very little chance for you to be seen around here. You concentrate and ask the universe for an answer. Practice and deeper understanding of your powers is making it easier than it used to be. You close your eyes and welcome the vision. a vision of future happenings posted:It's coming. It's chasing you. You don't know where it is, but it's coming. You run. You scream as you unsucessfully try to scram back to your feet, to shake the weight off your back. No one is coming. It takes your senses a split second to come back and for your head to stop panicking. If something was going to eat you, you notice, you'd already be dead. And you don't seem to be dead. As you scramble to turn around and sit up, the weight on your back moves off, letting out an excited bark. You feel a wet tongue all over your face as you slowly notice that you probably didn't lock the door as well as you thought you had. The dog (is she a German Shepherd?) looks both parts really happy and really proud of herself. Shellception fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Apr 13, 2024 |
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Apr 13, 2024 18:45
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Hendrick Hendrick burst out laughing. This may be a bit of an issue later but for now, having a dog tagging along could really come in handy, especially if the woman he'd hoped to look for had ended up lost instead. Even if not, this could still be alright, it would simply take some extra care to wrangle properly. He got out his phone and tracked down where the hotel from his vision was, then once he knew which way to go quickly shared the location details with his friends, gave the friendly girl some great scratches behind her ears and under her chin, and said, "Ok, you found me, good girl. Now come on, I don't know if your momma's fine or not but somebody's in trouble and if you're tagging along you're gonna help me find them." as he started walking in the direction of the hotel. Ignatius M. Meen fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Apr 13, 2024 |
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Apr 13, 2024 21:24
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Simon In a flurry of hand gestures, Simon signals that they mean no harm — or at least, he attempts to. Probably nothing he explains is going to get through to the inebriated man. Met with a confused face and a disgruntled comment that the man is not in the mood for charades, Simon gives up and looks to Leo in the hopes that he'll have a better approach. The sound of barking distracts Simon momentarily from the unwanted company, and he glances back at the house, but the noise soon stops. Taking it as a sign that Hendrick has made a new friend, Simon breathes out a sigh of relief. Miu rustles quietly, only her beak poking out from his hair as she studies Ann's husband curiously.
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Apr 13, 2024 22:00
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To Hendrick You follow your GPS in the direction it's pointing you to, the dog tagging happily behind you. You've noticed she has a nametag, and her name seems to be Minnie. You arrive at what looks like a small cliff; a few feet under, a river stream runs loudly. You don't see a bridge on this side; looking around, the closest one seems to be near the house you just came from. It doesn't look that deep, maybe waist deep at its deepest part. You could attempt to cross it with a bit of care, maybe... Crossing the river from this point is an Act Under Pressure roll. To Simon and Leo The guy looks at Simon with a completely blank face, then turns to Leo. "Wassh wrong with him?" he asks, getting a bit closer to Leo than it's comfortable. "Ish he drunk?" Shellception fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Apr 13, 2024 |
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Apr 13, 2024 22:31
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To Ray and Maeby As Maeby turns her full attention to the evidence box, Ray revves up the engine. The Datenshi Hime's engine groans with a familiar sound, and you're up and moving. The trip is faster than you'd expect it to be. Soon, the paved road gives way to a dirt road, which in turn seems to end by a river bank. This seems to be a place where people come take a walk; there are a few dilapidated lampposts and a couple benches to one side, and the dirt bears the scars of multiple footsteps and wheel marks. A few meters in front of you and to the left, a lot of yellow police tape surrounds a particular spot in the bushes. Maeby: Learning anything new (not listed in the papers) from the box will be a Investigate a Mystery (Sharp) roll. You also have your start-of-game roll. Ray: Same; learning new information from the victim's phone will also be a Sharp roll. For both of you, looking around at the crime scene is free, just ask me; trying to deduce stuff from the possible clues you can find is also an Investigate roll. Shellception fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Apr 13, 2024 |
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Apr 13, 2024 22:38
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Hendrick Hendrick looks at the river, looks at where the bridge is, and decides tapping into his connection is the better shot. quote:You are a tour guide on a highly specialized, costly, and annually run Lewis and Clark Expeditions tour. The historically accurate expedition path runs through a lot of what are now cities and towns, so much of the cost that isn't there to cover up the real purpose (getting rich people to repeatedly pay to end up tired and dirty like the common folk in exchange for 'adventuring like the real explorers!') is spent on creating materials and paths that are just close enough most don't ask questions that would make the trek awkward. Not that you know or care a lot about that; you'll smile through it all and say anything with a straight face so you can get that paycheck when it's over. You've been with the company for five years and if you keep playing your cards the same way, hiding your normal day job and socking away every smash hit from this one, you'll be retired in another fifteen. Plus this gives you a solid milestone to look forward to and stay active for.. hard to say no to that. Crossing the river with Minnie was a piece of cake. He gave a silent prayer of thanks to the tour guide as he crossed and, once he was on the other side, kept heading towards his destination. Rolled a 10 on Act Under Pressure. 
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Apr 14, 2024 03:15
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To Hendrick You lower yourself carefully but confidently onto the cold water. It's shallower than you'd expect at a first place, barely a bit above your knees. Not that it matters; you feel like you could take on anything the world throws at you right now. You reach the other side and pull yourself up into the cliff. To your side, Minnie effortlessly jumps in and out of the water, as if she'd done this before, messily shaking herself dry once she reaches your side. She seems happy to follow, but you do wish you could get yourself dry as easily as she does. You shiver a little; it's getting cold now. For what you can see, you seem to be on a path between fields again. The path goes left and up through the trees; you could probably follow it in the near darkness, if needed, and it may be the shortest path to the hotel. You are pretty sure you are close to the place you saw in your vision now. You look down at your phone, and see you can also go straight left from where you are, and follow the main road up to the hotel. With some luck, someone could pick you up... Decision here: forest shortcut or road?
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Apr 14, 2024 22:14
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Hendrick Hendrick looks over the options and shrugs a bit at the thought of waiting for a pickup. He texts the others saying "Hey, IDK where you're at with the drunk husband but I'm getting pretty close to where I saw someone being attacked; I'll try to do what I can by myself but I'd love some backup if you're not getting anywhere" and shares his location, then heads in the direction of the forest shortcut reasoning that it's probably closer to where the potential victim will end up than the main road.
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Apr 14, 2024 22:52
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To Hendrick You start the walk uphill, with Minnie trotting near you. The path quickly goes inside a small patch of trees that gradually seems to turn into a fully-grown forest, but fortunately for you, while not a paved road, it looks well-travelled and at least minimally maintained. You've been walking for a bit when you notice a small light approaching you from behind. You turn back to see a figure jogging up a side path; for what you can make out, she seems to be dressed in sport clothing and wearing a headlamp. She, in turn, slows her jogging to a walking pace and keeps her distance from you. "Someone there?" you hear her ask. To your feet, you notice Minnie getting closer to you and letting out a low growl.
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Apr 15, 2024 09:36
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