Vigilante -IC

[Ichneumon]

The OOC-thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155228).
The original recruitment-thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=154925).

All the characters:

{table=head] Player:|Character:| "Superhero" ID
Lost Demiurge|Benjamin Roth (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=213049)|Sidewinder
Jesse Drake|Arik Bjorn (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=213012) |Krag
Ditto| Derek Down (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=213630) |Newman's Shadow
Corporate M|Christopher Carpenter|Blackheart
-Sentinenl-| Ellen Walt (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=213036) | Onyx
[/table]


Vigilante - IC thread

It's a cold, dark Friday night, 23:55, January 15th 2010. Almost everybody sits inside with their loved ones, enjoying the warm protection of their homes, unknowing, uncaring, of what happens outside. You are different. Each one of you, for one reason or another, isn't uncaring or unknowing. Each one of you is a vigilante. Caring about what happens, outside, outside of your homes, outside of your direct environment. You care about what happens to people, to the world. Justice? You can't sit idle in your homes and await it, passively. You have to claim it. Good luck. You'll need it.

Derek and Arik
Arik Bjorn, alias Krag the raging giant, and Derek Down, alias Newman's shadow, are, at this late hour, both sitting in a living room, both dressed in their "vigilante" outfits. Both feeling sort of out of place. The room is filled with empty beer cans, magazines, food and clothes. It's the household of somebody who doesn't get much time to do cleaning. The household of someone who actually doesn't get much time to be at home.

"I'm almost always out of house, you see. It doesn't really bother me that much anymore." A voice says, somewhat embarrassed.

The voice belongs to a vigilante known as Jotun, who's the owner of the house, and he enters the living room from the kitchen with glasses and refreshments (whatever the characters wanted: beer, coffee or tea). You were both contacted by Jotun a few days ago. He tracked you down after he'd seen you do something heroic and invited you both to this meeting of vigilantes, here in his apartment, at West Lane 6b. Other than that he too is a vigilante, you know nothing of him or the reasons for this meeting.

Jotun, wearing a viking-like costume, looking at both of you, continues speaking: "Right, now. First of all, thank you for coming. I know I already asked a lot from you, to trust me and come here, without knowing any details on why or who I am."

"I am Jotun, my real name is Vince Dice and I'm a plumber by profession. I contacted you because.... well... In the last few weeks, 5 strange, horrid, murders have taken place, here in New York. I found out about them when I was talking to a police officer in my street the other day. Bodies cut open, faces and hands mutilated."

He takes a few photo's from his desk and shows it to you.

"The police is too busy with other crimes to give these cases the attention they need. I think they need help. They don't take this serious enough. I fear there is more behind it then just simple murders. I've been able to identify 2 of them, but I haven't been able to find out more."

"You see, I'm just a very simple man... I .... eh... don't really know how to do this, to investigate, so I came to you, asking for help. The only thing I really do is beating up criminals, I don't know how to do this. Where to look, what to... I just... You see, I fear there might follow more victims, victims like these.... So, will you help me? Please? You're vigilantes, like me. Will you help me?" The middle-aged man, looks at both you, awaiting an answer.

Benjamin
Benjamin Roth, also known as Sidewinder, is on his usual "patrol", inspecting the neighborhood. It has been a quiet week and nothing special happened during his round this evening. The streets are deserted with only the occasional old newspaper, animated by the wind, causing movement. The headlines read: "Book publisher turns out to be vigilante Nosferatu!" "Police Officer died while doing his duty. Vigilantes are to blame!" and "New vigilante takes on officers name. Newman's Shadow is a disgrace to the officer's next of kin". Somewhat disappointed by the lack of action you, Benjamin, decide to head home, just before you hear a woman's voice, shouting, calling for help. It's a terrifying scream, coming from a dark alley a few blocks away. Almost completely acting on instinct, you run in the direction of the screaming and into the alley. Hoping you'll be on time.

It's dark and right after you turn the corner into the alley, almost immediately, you trip over something big, lying on the ground. Your face hits the pavement. When you look at your feet, to see what it is you tripped over, you see the body of a young blond woman, clothes torn apart, full of blood and dirt. Her face and limbs... desecrated in the most horrid way. Cuts, slices. Seconds you watch her, baffled, when you notice a shadow falling over you. The silhouette of a man, in the alley, wearing a long raincoat and a baseball cap, in his left hand he holds a big bloodied knife. His face is covered in shadow, but you can see that he's smiling. He seems intrigued by your appearance and for a few seconds, he doesn't seem to move a muscle...

Christopher
Christopher Carpenter, also known as Blackheart, received a message this morning in the mail. It was addressed to him, yet it didn't have any details on who send it to him.

"Dear Christopher,

You do not know me, yet. But I am a friend, and just like you
I am somebody else. The world is sick, and needs healing.
I know who you are, Blackheart.

You can do great things. You will do great things for a
great number of people. Go this evening to West Lane 6b,
there's a meeting at 23.30 of other vigilantes like you, who could really use
your help.

The world depends on you, Christopher.

Your friend,

J."

Standing on a roof he looks down on the streets, when he hears a woman screaming somewhere and sees a man, dressed in a green snake-like costume, run into a dark alley.
(It's up to you whether Christopher was about to go to the meeting or not, or what his reaction was to the letter.)

Ellen
It's 0:00 when Ellen Walt sits crouched behind a pile of boxes. Hiding, eavesdropping, ever trying to find out more about Fat Justinian's business. It's in the parts of New York you'd rather not be. In an abandoned warehouse. She's listening to the conversation of 2 thugs, who she has been following all evening, tracking, stalking. She knows one of them as one of the lower thugs of this area, the other she suspects of being one of Justinian's higher minions. From her current position, she can't see the thugs, only hear them.

"Listen, Frank, you have to tell me something. My boys are getting nervous. What's the big man up to?"

"Bobby, you know I can't tell you that. Justinian's plans are his own. He's planning something big and doesn't want anyone to get involved."

"But can you at least tell me if he's behind those murders? Does he know about them?"
"Of course he knows about them. You know what they say. If a pigeon dies in Central Park, Justinian is the first one to know of it."
"But is he behind it?"
"Why are you asking?"

"Because... Dude" The guy looks sort of shocked."Did you see what happened to the guy that got murdered. All those shards of glass.DId you see his face? Who'd do something like that? The guy was 78, owned a second hand bookstore. What could he have done to deserve something like that? "

"It's none of your business, I tell you. Just tell your boys that they are save. The big man is taking care of it and..." The thug says nothing for a few seconds, "I... I don't think we are alone."

You hear a "click" of a gun being loaded.

[Lost Demiurge]

The adrenaline hits Ben's heart like a sledgehammer, telling him FIGHT OR RUN. He tries his damnedest to shut it down, and in this little space he finds the world slowing to a crawl as his mind works a mile a minute. He rolls to his feet as he thinks.

She's already dead. Can't be helped. Need to stop HIM, that's the goal here.

This is HIS alley. He's had time to work in here. Fighting him here would be the worst possible thing to do. He'll be ready for me and he's got that big ass knife. No. Even if I win he'll cut me. My blood on the scene with hers? Oh, **** no. And he might kill me. Odds are too bad here.

So. Change the scene. Run and when he follows... But why would he follow?

Bait. Use bait. What does he want? What does any serial killer want? (Besides dead girls oh god her face)

They want to keep killing. They want to stay anonymous!

YES!

And time returns to normal, as in the space of a second Ben rolls to his feet, backing up a few steps, looking at the killer on the other side of the corpse. He can tell there's some blood on his legs, but it's hard to tell how much, but think of that (oh **** what if she had aids oh god) later. Think of it LATER. Talk now. Keep it short, for gods sakes don't stutter.

"Hey." Sidewinder says, unzipping two pockets on his jacket, and reaching into them.

"Check this out."

And his left hand pulls out a tube, which he waves back and forth, then points at the man's face, and CLICK.

The LED flashlight may be cheap. But it's really ****ing bright.

His other hand emerges with the equally cheap camera. Another three steps backward, and he whips it up, another CLICK and the flash goes off but by then Ben's turning and running, calling over his shoulder as he goes "You'll look great on the six o clock news, you sick ****!"

And he runs. God, let him chase me. God, let him chase me.

[Ichneumon]

Benjamin

The man's blinded by the lights, staggers and drops his knife. He hadn't expected a flash of light.
The man growls while muttering: "you son of a..."

"Give me that camera!"

Angry, he runs after Bejamin. Shouting"Give me that camera!"

Roll a Stamina+ Athletics check to see if you can keep up.
(In case you don't know how to roll in such a way that he shows all the results, it's [*rollv]7d10[/*rollv], without the *)

His roll is [roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

Perfect! Thinks Ben, as he hears the guy shouting behind him. Okay, time to put on a burst of speed...


[roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

Oops! Roll with a V on it, okay. Sorry, here we go.

[roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben grins under his mask as he hears the man fall behind, briefly. Okay, next step... Easy does it, just like you practiced, this is just basic parkour...

He knows these alleys, he's been patrolling them for a week now. Though he doesn't see Christopher above him, the one that he chooses is just below the vigilante on the roof.

Ben throws the flashlight as he darts into the alley, sending it clattering at the other end. Then with three great bounds...


[roll0]


...He bounces from wall to wall, ascending a few feet each time, before grabbing the fire escape, and hauling himself up. With a few seconds to act, he places the camera carefully back in his pocket, and removes his collapsible baton from another. He flips his wrist and it snaps out silently on carefully oiled springs. For a split second he waits, crouched on the fire escape, waits for the murderer to cross under him, into the alley.

People never look UP. His eyes are probably still dazzled, and he'll see the discarded flashlight in the alley's end. That should be a good enough lure...

[Ichneumon]

Benjamin

A few seconds later the man, breathing heavily, enters the alley. When he notices Benjamin isn't there, he pauzes, and curses. Catches his breath, kneeling. You hear him mumbling: "I... need.... to... get... that... film". He really is quite tired after only a short sprint.

(If you want to wait there and keep quiet, trying to avoid notice, instead of, like, jumping on him or something, you should make a Stealth+ Wits roll against a Wits+Composure roll by him. EDIT: depending on whether Christopher now enters the scene or not, you might not have to make that roll)

Christopher

You see all of this happening, Benjamin running out of the alley, being followed by the man, etc.

[Ditto]

Derek

Derek, newly known as Newman's Shadow, leans forward and scoops one of the pictures off of the table in front of him. "I know this one," he says simply, gesturing to what used to be a red-headed father of two. "He was from Newman's neighborhood. My neighborhood, now. I read about him in the Trib when it hit last week... yeah, I'm definitely in. And I think I know someone who could help.

"But tell me... what do you mean, more behind this? We've had sicko slashers with knives down in Alphabet City before."

It concerned him more than a little that something this gruesome was making inroads into his little province. He shifts in the beat-up armchair as he waits for Jotun's thoughts, casting a sidelong glance at Krag. This dude is HUGE. I'd never thought I'd be looking at him from 5 feet away before... it's almost more jarring seeing him in the light.

[Lost Demiurge]

Film? Whatta moron, this is the 21st freakin' century.

Under the mask, Benjamin's face is grim. That f***er cut up and killed that woman. I've never actually used this baton on a living target before but he must NOT get way with it. Time to go down, a**hole.

With his free hand, he pulls out his noisemaker, hits the button and tosses it down into the alley. A hissing like an angry rattlesnake fills the brick-lined corridor, rising and falling...

SHHHhshshhshhsshHSHSHSHhshshshhsHSHSHSHSHHSHSHS... . A finger pressed to the back of Ben's mask turns on the flashing red LEDs...

...As Sidewinder drops down behind the murderer, rises to his feet, and does his damnedest to put a dent in the murderer's skull with the collapsible baton.

[Lost Demiurge]

Okay. If I get the sneak attack off on him, I'm guessing it circumvents his defense. But I'm not certain, so I'll roll twice. Once without his defense, and once with his defense. Please take whichever one applies.

So, six dice or four dice...

[roll0] or [roll1]

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen


Ellen
It's 0:00 when Ellen Walt sits crouched behind a pile of boxes. Hiding, eavesdropping, ever trying to find out more about Fat Justinian's business. It's in the parts of New York you'd rather not be. In an abandoned warehouse. She's listening to the conversation of 2 thugs, who she has been following all evening, tracking, stalking. She knows one of them as one of the lower thugs of this area, the other she suspects of being one of Justinian's higher minions. From her current position, she can't see the thugs, only hear them.

"Listen, Frank, you have to tell me something. My boys are getting nervous. What's the big man up to?"

"Bobby, you know I can't tell you that. Justinian's plans are his own. He's planning something big and doesn't want anyone to get involved."

"But can you at least tell me if he's behind those murders? Does he know about them?"
"Of course he knows about them. You know what they say. If a pigeon dies in Central Park, Justinian is the first one to know of it."
"But is he behind it?"
"Why are you asking?"

"Because... Dude" The guy looks sort of shocked."Did you see what happened to the guy that got murdered. All those shards of glass.DId you see his face? Who'd do something like that? The guy was 78, owned a second hand bookstore. What could he have done to deserve something like that? "

"It's none of your business, I tell you. Just tell your boys that they are save. The big man is taking care of it and..." The thug says nothing for a few seconds, "I... I don't think we are alone."

You hear a "click" of a gun being loaded.


Ellen drew in a breath sharply but remained where she was, unmoving. Every instinct screamed at her to either run or fight, but her police training told her otherwise. Reaching into her leather duster, she pulled her Glock 17 with her left hand (she was left-handed) and her flashlight with her right, prepared to disorient the thugs if they ever found her hideout.

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

The two thugs are shouting:
"Reveal yourself!"

"We know you're here!"

However, you are close enough to hear one of them whispering:
"Frank, you know with how many they are? Or whether they are?"
"No, I don't."

Then, he shouts again: "Listen, you can not escape! We've got back-up! Surrender and you might survive!"

Judging from the sound, it seems he then takes a mobile phone and dials a number: "Yo, Morris. Go with some of the guys to the warehouse. We're there and I think we have company."

Then, it turns silent...

Bejamin and Christopher

The man jumps up when he hears the noice, "what the f..." yet doesn't see Benjamin coming. He hits the man (3 Bashing damage, if I'm correct) hard. The man seems somewhat taken by the large hit, but he doesn't fall on the ground. Instead he turns toward Benjamin. You can see his face. He's likely around 28 years old, long black hair. He's of native american blood, big nose. Unshaven. "You'll pay for that, you green frog!" He tries to strike him at Benjamin's throat. Strength + Brawl - Benjamin's Defense and armor= 2 = [roll0]

Derek and Arik

Jotun seems relieved when he notices the two aren't keen on leaving.

"Thank you for wanting to help."

"This is not some normal freak like Jack the Ripper, this is... different. In each of the bodies they've found more than thousand tiny shards of a crystal like green glass, very sharp. The cobs say they were distributed over the body in strange patterns, symbols, however, because of the bad photo's I have, I don't really know what the patterns look like. The shards were driven deep into the skin. I don't think that could happen by accident. You'd need hours of work to pierce all those shards into someone's body. I'm not sure, it could indeed be just 1 insane lunatic, it just freaks me out. "

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen


Oh, screw it all.

Ellen stalked towards the voices and switched on her flashlight, directing the burst of light into Frank's face to blind him. For emphasis she cocked her pistol noisily.

"Police," she hissed, keeping her voice too low to be caught by Frank's cellphone. "Drop your weapons. And tell Morris it's a false alarm. I have back-up too," she bluffed.


I'll try to intimidate them. It's either Presence + Intimidation (4 dice) or Manipulation + Intimidation (3 dice), you decide. If it's the latter, disregard the last die.

[roll0]

Darn. Guess there will be a fight.

Oh, why am I complaining? :smallbiggrin:

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

Arik was excited to see the headquarters of this Viking. He himself thought he might go that route- but the straight out barbarian bit was good too. At first, he tried to keep character. "Coffee-" He grunts in a deep grumbly voice. "Black."

Though as he looks around the house, he realizes that there's no need to really act all that hard here. He turns to Jotun and says, in a calm, gentle, slightly nerdy voice "No problem sir. I'd be glad to help."

The 6'7 warrior turns to Derek, and grins. "Hey- I'm Krag, the Mighty Giant from the depths of the Everice Mountains." He grins, and extends a large hand.

[Ditto]

Derek

Derek manages to avoid wincing as he meets Krag's handshake. He himself was no slouch in the firm grip department, but that paw looked pretty mean coming at him even in a friendly gesture. "Catchphrase-y, hadn't thought of that much myself. More of a not-be-seen and leave-a-note kind of guy." This is evidenced by Shadow's garb, which was all in black. Boots, durable slacks, and a military-style sweater all looked police surplus - which it was. If you looked in good light, you could see where the badge decal had been carefully stripped off of the left breast location and also the same design in larger print on the back.

With the snug knit skullcap and domino mask stuck to his eyes with spirit gum, from the neck up he looks more like a burglar than a LEO. It's simple, and keeps him concealed well enough while he kept to the shadows. Derek barely scrapes up to five and a half feet, so being overlooked hadn't ever been a big issue in the past.

Several comparable phrases drift through his mind - I'm from six feet under, and I'm right behind you or the like - but considering the solemnity with which he'd donned the mask, nothing seems appropriate to rattle off before taking on a thug.

Not gonna lie, I'm really amused by the A-B-C gimmick. It makes things so easy to identify, too. :smallsmile:

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

"Ha ha- ya gotta take pride in what you do." He says in a gentler tone. "I mean- it's true. Not many thugs care about what I'm saying, or even know what I'm talking about..." He remembers Vinnie the Mouth. "Hell- one even dared call me a boring nerd!" In case you don't remember Vinnie the Mouth, he was found beaten so badly, they had to search for hours to find a finger bone that wasn't broken too badly. There was no usable dental records.

[Lost Demiurge]

"You killed her. You cut her up like a roast." Ben's voice is quiet.

"And I'm going to beat you until you wish you were dead." This time he aims for the man's collarbone. If I can break that, then every move he makes will be painful as hell. Even a good bruise or crack is gonna slow him down...


Okay. Dex + Weaponry + 2 dice for the club = 8, - 2 dice for his defense = 6.

[roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

Both the man freeze. Frank, the one with the cell-phone, is a man in his fourties, wearing an expensive suit. The other one is african american, wearing a leather "motorcycle" outfit and a red bandana. He's wielding a light pistol. Frank starts laughing, hard. "Hahahahaha, Moris, never mind. It's some chick saying she's from the police."

Frank closes his cellphone and in a very relaxed way he says to the other guy: "Finish her."

The other guy starts firing at her.

-Now, as none of you have a clear in story "advantage", I'd like to throw for initiative to determine whether or not you get to act before he shoots at you.

Ellen's initiative: [roll0]
Thug's initiative: [roll1]

If the thug's initiative is higher, I'll post the attack/damage roll in the next post.

Derek and Arik

Jotun greets you all, a big grin can be seen on his face, he is really excited to hear that you want to help him. "It's very nice to meet you."

To Derek he says: "You said you know someone else who might be willing to help? Another vigilante perhaps?"

He laughts at Arik's jokes.

"Now, I've identified 2 of the five murders. One was a young woman, age 28. Her name was Mary Francis. She had just married. Just started building a family. She was a journalist, working for the New York Times."

"The other was an old man, Peter Gordua, he owned a small book store downtown. I've asked around and he seemed to have been a nice guy. Never got into much trouble. Alhough I've heard his books were rather pricey."

Then, he seems quite unsure, "So... do any of you have a plan to proceed?"

Bejamin and Christopher

When the man is hit on his shoulder he falls to his feet in agony. "Ahhhh", he cries.

"Who the hell are you? What do you... god this hurts. Leave me alone! I didn't do anything to you. What are you? Some kind of ninja?"

Instead of attacking, he now tries to run away, however he seems disorientated and he seems having trouble walking in a straight line.

He runs away. In case you want to run after him, this is his roll: [roll2]

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

The thug nods, "Alright, Frank."

The thugs starts firing, shouting enthusiastically: "Hasta la vista, baby!"

His attack: [roll0] (It deals lethal damage)

EDIT: 10 again, so add 1d10

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

It seems the forum software doesn't allow you to edit it and make a new dice roll... So here is the dice roll, in new post...:smallannoyed:

10 again, so add [roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

Oh no you don't!

Benjamin chases the runner, and tries to corner him.


[roll0]


"No. You didn't do anything to me."

Sidewinder hops a curb, gets out in front of his quarry, startles him into a dead end.

"But you did everything to her. Now you're gonna pay for that."

[Ichneumon]

Bejamin and Christopher

"What is wrong with you, man! This is insane!" The man cries while he charges at you, sensing that escaping is of no use, he tries to hold you, preventing Benjamin from striking him again. He attempts a grapple.

[roll0]

(for rules on grapple, see page 157,)

EDIT: And he fails.:smallamused:

[Lost Demiurge]

Sidewinder dances out of the way, and takes a swing at his quarry's back.

Kidney ought to be... There.

[roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Benjamin and Christopher

The man falls to the ground. Coughing, spitting vomit and blood.

He doesn't fight back.

At that moment, he breaks emotionally, starts crying, breathing, completely lost control.
Instead of fighting, he starts talking, not to Sidewinder, but mostly to himself. He doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that Sidewinder is still around. Trying to justify his actions, he mumbles: "I.. I know what I did was terrible, but.. but I had to. I needed the money, to buy food...drugs. I couldn't do without anymore. Wouldn't you have done the same? He told me to do it, exactly like he wanted it, or else he wouldn't give me the money. You get what I'm saying? I needed the money."

He keeps repeating the last few words, mumbling and crying.

"I needed the money. He told me to. I really needed the money."

He seems in a shock. Caused maybe by the horror of what he did, maybe he only just realized it? Or maybe the shock is only because of the sudden ruthless attack of Sidewinder? Who knows?

"I'd never done something like this before." He cries.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik grins. "Well, you've got two figured out... Are they connected in any way? If so, then that could be a valuable clue in helping us discover the identities of the other bodies."

He's a bit nervous. He's never worked on a case before. Till now, he's just dealt old school justice to the thugs on the streets. Now, it's different. And on top of that, it seemed like there was someone counting on him too.

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

"I... well..." Jotun looks slightly nervous too. "A connection. I hadn't even thought of that possibility. I don't know. There could be a connection. I haven't looked for it. The only thing I've done is talked to some police guys and I got their names, the names of the others they didn't know or they didn't want to tell, and then I asked around a bit in the neighborhood. That's how I found out about who they are."

[Jesse Drake]

Arik look at Derek/Shadow. "Well, then that might be the first thing we do..." For Arik, it was obviously a task best done in his "streets". "Do you have any more information on them? Did they owe anyone money?"

[Lost Demiurge]

Panting hard, Sidewinder... Benjamin, starts to feel the adrenaline rush come down. He almost vomits himself, before catching his breath No, no, not now. Not in the mask.

He kills the flashing LEDs, and carefully watching the guy, pulls out his dictaphone and turns it on. The dictaphone's small and the guy doesn't look like he's watching closely. Maybe he'll miss seeing it. Benjamin pitches his voice low.

"You say you did this for the money? Who told you to do this? What exactly did he tell you to do?"

He keeps the baton raised, threatening the guy.

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I don't have any more information, other than these photo's." The photo's look blurry, one is clearly a young woman, lying in a very inelegant position, covered in blood. The other is what seems to be an old grey-haired man, black, his hands terribly mutilated. The other is... hard to tell... maybe a man, could be a woman... Red-haired though. The other is clearly a man, most of his face is unrecognizable, he wears a cook's uniform. The other photo, doesn't have much detail. "I was afraid to ask for much detail, as I didn't want people to know I was actively searching for them. Didn't want people to get suspicious."

Benjamin and Christopher

The man doesn't seem to notice the voice recorder. He doesn't look Sidewinder in the eyes, instead he just watches the ground, his own hands.

"I don't know exactly who he is. I... was sitting in a bar, back at Pine Edge Lane, one evening when this guys shows up. Dressed in a suit, wearing sunglasses. Tall guy. Somewhat bald. Calling himself Frank, said he had a deal for me. He said I could get all the money I wanted. Gave me instruction to cut this woman to pieces, rip her open, splinter some kind of sand-like crytstal dust in her wounds. It was so strange, first I thought he was joking. It sounded horrible, to strange to be true. But he gave me the woman's address and told me I had to do it at night. And when I did, I'd become a rich a man."

The man cries and adds: "He even gave me a few thousands in advance."

[Lost Demiurge]

Sidewinder clicks the dictaphone off. I don't remember anything crystal shining on her. Must not have got to that part. Means that he's still got the sand on him...

He clicks the dictaphone on again. Should start a separate voice file, now.

"Tell me her address."

"Then empty your pockets. The packet of sand, any tools or other weapons you got on you, everything. Then turn over and hold your arms behind your back. Do it or I'll beat you dead or unconscious and do it myself."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen

Ellen was slammed against the wall by the impact of the bullet in her chest. Blood ran down her ribs, but she was not in pain — not yet, anyway, as long as the adrenaline rush lasted.

Gritting her teeth, she levelled her pistol at the thug and pulled the trigger. "Son of a..." Her last word was drowned out by the deafening noise of the Glock 17.


Dexterity 4 + Firearms 3 + pistol specialty + Damage 2 = 10 dice (disregard the last ones if there's a penalty)

[roll0]

[-Sentinel-]

3 successes (lethal damage), 2 X 10-again: [roll0]

[-Sentinel-]

One more success, 10-again again: [roll0]


Four successes... not bad at all.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik takes a moment to take in the photos. They were gruesome. And it turned his stomach a bit. But he's tough, so it appeared as if there were nothing wrong with him.

"Okay." He sighs. "We can do this." He kind of laughs. It's a weak, depraved laugh. "I guess I finally get into the real heroics now." He grips his stomach. This is what he's always wanted... though why'd it have to be like this? Why couldn't it be some masked goon trying to rob a bank just to be seen? He closed his eyes, then thought for a second how much the real world sucked. "We're onnit!"

[Ditto]

Derek

"Ya, we can look into this." He picks up the pictures, noting the addresses and murder locations scribbled on the back as far as Jotun was able to learn. He takes out a notepad and writes a phone number twice, handing a slip each to Krag and Jotun. "Stay in touch if you hear anything else, Vince. Krag, let's you and I hit the streets." I can pull the stories from the Trib archives, maybe see if the reporters on those stories got more details than made it to print... and maybe poke around downtown at the PD and see if Detective Ritchie has something to share. Walt would be good once we get to the scene of the crime, too... I wonder what she's up to at this hour of the night?

[Jesse Drake]

Krag turns to Derek. "Aye." He grunts, nodding in agreement.

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

In just a flash the entire battle turns. Ellen shoots and the armed thug falls to the ground, being hit right in the chest, (lower part of the right long). "Aaah" The man reaches with his one hand to his chest. "Frank! I'm hit!" He tries to sit upright, yet he's practically overwhelmed by the pain. The wound is large and he's loosing a lot of blood.

"Frank, take the gun, I can't aim. Shoot her." The thug looks expectingly towards Franks, who doesn't respond. He looks at Ellen, scared, calculating, judging the situation. He steps 1 or 2 small steps back.

Then, without saying anything, he starts to run away, towards the exit of the warehouse. He quickly accelerates to an almost superhuman speed. He's so swift and fast that it almost seems like his feed don't even touch the ground.

"Frank! You bastard! Come back!"

The thug aims at Ellen again, he seems to have difficulty staying conscious.
To determine if he falls unconscious: [/roll]2d10[/rollv]
If he doesn't, he shoots: [roll0]

If you'd want to chase after Frank, this is his roll: [roll1].

Benjamin

The man reacts hasted, he's clearly intimidated by the prospect of more violence. "I... I don't remember the woman's name. But she lived at West Lane 5c." (Yes, that's in the same building where Jotun lives)

Out of his pocket, he gets a small black linen bag. If you'd decide to open it, you'll find around a 5 tea spoons of green crystals, almost the size of sand particles. They're very sharp.

"I... I don't have anything else with me."

The man slowly turns over and hesitatingly holds his hands behind his head.

Derek and Arik

"Great!"

Derek manages to write down the adresses of where the murders took place.

You exchange telephone numbers. "Alright, thank you very much. Yes, that's a great idea. " Jotun looks very happy, hearing of Derek's initiative. "I'll contact you if I find out more."

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

Sigh, I messed up the roll to determine if he falls unconscious: [roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

Benjamin

Ben clicks the dictaphone off. "Good enough." He says, still in that low voice. He pockets the bag of crystals.

Pulling out some black duct tape, he uses a fourth of the roll to bind the guy's hands. "Good. Now get up and walk. You're going back to the alley for now. It's your lucky day... You get to sit tight until the cops get here."

Ben marches the guy back to the alley, and has him lie on his belly while he uses half of the duct tape to mummify the killer's legs together, and uses the last bit to bind him to a rain gutter. That done, he retrieves the flashlight and noisemaker, and uses the camera to take pictures of both the stranger and the woman's corpse. He uses the flashlight to make sure the patterns of carving are caught on film. And he photographs the knife. Taking out a palm full of crystals he photographs those before putting them back in the bag.

Several times he has to stop and look away.

After making sure the knife is nowhere near the bound killer, he squats down near the guy. "You tell them everything when they get here. I've got your recorded confession and photos of you, and I'll send them to the cops when I've got more time. So you might as well save them the time."

"Oh, and you can tell them that it was Sidewinder who stopped you."

And Ben gets up and leaves the alley.

He heads down the street, feeling his heart twist in his chest. He starts jogging down the empty street, newspaper blowing as he rips off his mask, and a few minutes later he stops, catches himself against a brick wall of an old brownstone, and vomits. Leaning far over, he spews out dinner and coughs a few times, clearing his throat.

One visit to a vending machine later, he's rinsing his mouth with bottled water, and feeling wiped. "Oy." He whispers. That was pretty intense. I was so scared for the first part of it... Then I was just disgusted.

Still, that worked out okay. He plays the fight back in his mind. That was pretty awesome. Maybe not Batman level, but at least Nightwing, I think. I'll settle for Nightwing, he's cool.

He sighs and pulls out the cell phone he got with a fake name. He flips it open. Yep, dial tone, still. A second later he's punched in Allison Bean's cell number. "It's me. Got some time? I have a situation."

[-Sentinel-]

The man falls unconscious, right? Sorry, I'm new at this.

Ellen

"F*ck. I don't have time for this."

One man unconscious and another on the run. And it was only a matter of minutes before "Morris" and the others arrived. Ellen was in no state to fight a whole bunch of gangsters. Gritting her teeth as her right side began to throb with pain, she cautiously approached the first thug, slid his pistol into her coat and did a cursory search of his pockets.


Is that a light pistol or a heavy pistol?

I won't waste too much time examining his possessions: I'll just put them in my pockets, turn off my flashlight and get the hell out of the warehouse by a back door.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

"I'll start on this tomorrow." He states. "Ugh..." He finishes his coffee, and then turns to Derek. "Well, I'm not tired. And I don't think I'd be able to sleep tonight anyways." He stops to think. The Cap didn't just ask Hawkeye to do a superhero team up. Spidy usually ended up in the situation reluctantly. He tries to think of something to say, but doesn't. Not regarding a team up or anything. "I'm off. I'm gonna do a quick patrol of the areas before I head home."

[Ichneumon]

Benjaming

It takes a while, almost a minute before someone takes up the phone on the other end. Then, when it is taken a very sleepy women's voice answer, yawning: "Hehwellwo? Who's there?"

"Oh, it's you. Kid, is everything alright? What kind of situation?" She sounds worried.

"It's... a quarter past 1, is everything alright? Anything I can do for you?"

Ellen

Yes, he's unconscious. No worries, I'm new to this system too.:smallsmile:

The pistol is light. In his pocket are only some keys (most likely apartment keys + car keys), a knife, some cigarettes, a lighter (for the cigarettes) and a cell phone (of the smart phone variety with internet).

When you leave the warehouse through the back door, you find the streets deserted, not a trace of Frank and you don't have any trouble getting home, if that's what you're planning to do.

[Lost Demiurge]

Benjaming

It takes a while, almost a minute before someone takes up the phone on the other end. Then, when it is taken a very sleepy women's voice answer, yawning: "Hehwellwo? Who's there?"

"Oh, it's you. Kid, is everything alright? What kind of situation?" She sounds worried.

"It's... a quarter past 1, is everything alright? Anything I can do for you?"


"Yeah, maybe. Some serious **** happened, I tried to take care of it but it was too late. I was out on patrol and heard a scream, and I went running to check it out. I found this native american guy carving on a dead woman's corpse... ****, the things he did to her face and all... He was wearing a raincoat, too. Son of a ***** had planned this. She was dead by the time I got there, had to be. So much blood..."

Ben pauses a second.

"Anyway, I got a photo of him in the act, then I beat him within an inch of his life, got his taped confession and a few photos of the scene. Got some clues from him I'm gonna follow up on, but right now I'm gonna call the cops from a pay phone and let 'em know they have a jane doe and the trussed up murderer in an alley off of Keynes street. If you can call me when you go in tomorrow and let me know who's working this case, I got some evidence I can mail over to them. Just the taped confession and the photos, and some green dust I got off the guy. And maybe you can follow this one for me, and let me know if the cops turn up anything."

"Does that sound okay?"

[Ichneumon]

Benjamin

After Sidewinder asked his question, it remained silent for a few seconds. "Wow... that is serious. It sounds really bad. I believe we've had similar cases recently, I'm not quite sure, but I thought I'd heard.... Ehm, yeah. Sure, I'll do that. I'll call you first thing in the morning on who's doing the case. "

She sounds really shocked and it takes a few moments for her to really wake up, but then she adds: "I'll follow this case for you, keep an eye on whether they find something useful. Be sure to use a good e-mail address when sending the information, will you? They're good in tracking them these days. What kind of dust is it? Did you leave your fingerprints on any of the things you've left? Like the tape or the murderer? Did he recognize you?""

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen

Ellen put the lighter and cell phone in her pockets, but did not touch the rest. Quickly she turned off her flashlight and slipped out of the building without meeting anyone.

So far, so good. What an interesting evening. Ow, my side...

Doubled over from the pain, she staggered back to her old Honda motorcycle, drove out of the parking and stopped under an isolated streetlight to dial 9-1-1 on the thug's phone.

"Hello, I need an ambulance... Badly wounded man..." She gave the address of the warehouse. "He's a gangster. Call the cops too, he wasn't alone."

Then she examined the cell phone more closely. It was a very useful find: smart phones of this kind often had a list of frequent contacts.

[Lost Demiurge]

Benjamin

"Yeah, no worries. Had my gloves on through the whole thing. Also the mask never left my face, so he won't know it. Never got a really good look at me, it was pretty dark... I told him Sidewinder put him down, that's all he knows. The tape? Yeah, I was careful when I bought it. Never touched the outside of it, and I've got the cardboard core in my pocket, so we're good."

"The dust is some kind of green crystal stuff, about five teaspoons worth. S'not a big bag. I'll see if I can get some of it analyzed, but I'll return the rest of it when I know who's working the case. Pretty sure you guys have better forensics anyway."

"Anyway, thanks, Allie. I appreciate this... I just wish I'd gotten there sooner. That poor woman..."

After a little more chit chat, he hangs up.

Then he goes to the payphone at the end of the block, and calls the cops. As soon as he gets through to an actual person, he pitches his voice low and rough, and says: "My name is Sidewinder. A murderer is duct taped to a rain gutter in the alley between Keynes and White, down in the boroughs. He is alive but may need medical attention. His victim is in the same alley. She was dead when I interrupted the murderer's knifework. Good evening." And Ben hangs up and jogs down the street, using the back alleys and relaxing into a normal parkour run.

After reaching the long wall on Berry street, and relaxing, dangling his legs out over the water from the drainage culvert, he hauls out his cell phone again and calls Arik.

"Hey, man, quick question. You anywhere near West Lane Apartments? I stumbled into some heavy ****. If you can, I'd owe you if you went and checked out apartment 5C at West Lane. Someone broke in there, and hauled off some poor lady for some weird ritual killing thing."

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

After a few laughs you all stand up, preparing to leave. You say your goodbyes, shake a few hands and Jotun escorts you to the exit, when Arik's phone starts ringing, it's Benjamin.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

"Grimm... " He says, obviously referring to The Thing, a name he has called Ben before, so you know he's talking to you.

He hushes his voice as well, but signals for Derek to try and listen in, if possible. "Well... I can go. Should I change into something less conspicuous, or will I be fine as is? Also, I have backup, if you think it will be needed."

:smallredface: I missed my name on that one...

[Ditto]

Derek

Listening in to Krag's tipster, Derek's eyebrows raise when he hears a woman from just down the hall was murdered. "Let's check it out suited up. If someone's there - an attacker, or the authorities - I'd rather not have my plainclothes description hitting the airwaves." He turns to Vince. "Did you know the woman in 5C? Apparently something's happened to her..."

[Lost Demiurge]

Arik

"Grimm... " He says, obviously referring to The Thing, a name he has called Ben before, so you know he's talking to you.

He hushes his voice as well, but signals for Derek to try and listen in, if possible. "Well... I can go. Should I change into something less conspicuous, or will I be fine as is? Also, I have backup, if you think it will be needed."

:smallredface: I missed my name on that one...

"Up to you, Mistah A. Costume or no, s'no big deal. Cops probably won't be there for a while, but god knows how nosy the neighbors are. And an extra set of eyes could come in handy."

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

"Right-O Grimm. I'll head there shortly." Arik begins to run as fast as he can.

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

Jotun acts surprised and shocked: "5c? That's next door, the woman who's living there is... well... I didn't often speak with her. She's somewhat of a loner. She writes children's literature. She doesn't go out much. Something happened to her you say? Maybe we should check out her apartment?"

I'm assuming you, one way or another, go to the apartment, (you may still decide, after this post, what you're taking with you or who does or doesn't go with you,... etc.)

When you arrive at the hallway, near apartment 5c, you immediately sense something is wrong. The door of apartment 5c is not locked and there are strange marks on the door, as if somebody tried to kick it in.

When you approach the door you can hear angry voices, inside, having an argument. They're not shouting loud enough for other people in other apartments to hear it, but if you stand in the hall next to the door of 5c, you'd notice it:

"God, look at this! This guy is an amateur!"
"It was a good idea of you to check her house when we heard the guy was caught in the act and beaten up by some vigilante called Sidewinder. This guy clearly had no idea what he was doing."
"We should have a word with Frank soon, he clearly shouldn't be delegating such important jobs."
"Look at this, there are fingerprints all over the place!"
"What should we do?"
"What can we do? We'll have to burn the place. That's the only way we'll erase all traces of what really happened here."

You hear the sound of someone opening a box of matches and enlightening one.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

Arik, with a large club in hand, roars a loud roar. He stomps his feet to the ground in a loud manner- "Don't even think of it, scumbags!" He roars, as loud as possible. Stepping in, he lets his foes see him clearly. And then swings the club at a piece of furniture, to show just how deadly he is. Of course, if the lady comes home and ends up wondering what happened, he'll try and cover the costs...

[roll0]- Take the last two off if you decide I should have used presence instead of strength.

[-Sentinel-]

OOC: Does the cell phone have a speed-dial list? It could be useful to track down the man's accomplices.

Ellen dialed the phone number of Allison Bean, one of the few contacts she maintained in the police since she lost her job. Allie did not have much power, but Ellen knew her as honest and devoted. In many ways, they were the same: cynical and world-weary cops who still tried their best to make a difference, if only a small one. Because someone had to.

"Hey, Allie." Ellen went straight to the point. "Listen, I can't tell you much, but I overheard some mobsters talk about a series of murders. Do you know anything about that?"

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

The smart phone doesn't have a password-lock. It seems the owner of the phone was "James T." and he has the following phone numbers on his phone:

-Eddy Mud
-Joey
-Frank Orfelio
-Mom
-Uri Rambigini
-Jessica
-Monica
-Kim
-Pizza Hut

He has only 1 received message, from Frank Orfelio: "Meet me at mall. We'll then go to the warehouse, discuss business."

When you call Alison, she takes up the phone immediately. "Hello?"
She sounds tense.

"Ellen. It's good to speak to you. Yes, I know the murders you talk about. Horrid crimes, the police doesn't know what to do. All of them seem linked somehow, it looks like some kind of strange ritual killing. I just got a phone of another vigilante. It seems another murder has taken place. He captured the murderer, but I just heard, from the guys who were send to pick him up, that the murderer was murdered too, decapitated." She waits a few seconds before she continues "Listen, I was just about to call this vigilante again. Maybe you can work together? Did you find out something useful? I could give you his number? His name is Sidewinder."

Derek and Arik

You storm into the room and find pure chaos. Furniture fallen down on the ground. Books, papers lying everywhere. Broken glass on the ground. Cupboard broken and lying on the ground as well. Curtains torn to pieces. Pieces of cutlery lying everywhere too. Two sinister men standing in the middle of the room. One holding a box of matches. Both look surprised. "What the-" "It's another one of those vigilantes!"

Both looks quite scared, trembling on their feet. Unsure what to do. And really intimidated by Arik's entrance. Obviously these are not the big boys they pretend to be. Likely somewhere low on the criminal hierarchy, yet high enough to feel better than "regular thugs".

The one with the matches drops the box of matches and the burning match. The burning match falls on the ground, but before it lands, it's already extinguished.

[Lost Demiurge]

After a few minutes, Ben feels better. His guts have stopped churning, and he's not as wiped from adrenaline letdown as he was.

He gets to his feet and starts jogging toward the apartments. It's across town, but I can probably make it in an hour or so. Might as well, the less we use the phones the better and I wanna see if Arik found anything.

[Ditto]

Derek

Derek steps from behind Krag, who was hogging the whole doorway, and flips out his extendable baton. "Howdy, fellas. You should learn to count. Now make like the match and drop to the floor, and Krag here might not go all coffee-table-crazy on you with his beatstick."

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

Jotun staying at the doorway: "I'll stay outside, to make sure no-one enters or leaves."

"With how many are they?"

"I'm not sure."

"Do you think they'll hurt us just like they did with the other guy?"

Both fall to their knees, almost simultaneously. Dropping everything they carry.

"Please, don't hurt us!"

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

Arik grins. "Good choice." He heads over to one of them, and picks him up. "There are enough of us to assure you don't try anything stupid, right? I mean- I could always grind your bones to make my bread, if things get out of hand." He chuckles on the inside. That was a terrible line, but he couldn't think of anything else.

"Now, tell me, what are you doing here?"

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

Both of the thugs looks really scared. One of them, replies to Derek's question: "We were just doing an assignment. That's all."

"We're working for a guy who hired someone to kill the woman who lives here. We heard he was caught in... in the act and we thought we'd check her house out, in case he left any clues that might lead to our boss."

"The guy really seemed like an amateur, so we thought we'd check out, since our boss is paying us a lot, so we just wanted to watch his back. You know."

[Ditto]

Derek

Heh heh, that was a wonderful line. Derek pulls out some zip-ties and moves to bind the hands of the other goon while Krag played with the less fortunate one. He starts searching through his pockets and looks around to see if they brought anything other than some fire accelerants.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen / Onyx

"Sidewinder? I believe I've heard the name before. Alright, I'll take his number." She noted the number Allison have her. "Thanks, Allie. Now listen, I have numbers to share too. Usually I work alone, but I'm hurt and I still have dangerous stuff to do tonight. If I die, I don't want this to die with me. Listen carefully."

She gave Allison the names and numbers on the cell phone, even Pizza Hut (who knew, maybe it was a codename).

"Got that? Right. Found them on the cell phone of one James T., who might soon turn up at the hospital or the morgue. Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut: we both know how corrupt the department is."

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

"Alright. I've got them. Thanks. Good luck. I'll check those numbers out. Be careful. I'll be careful too. You're right. *sigh* You really can trust no one. I feel more and more people in the department can't be trusted anymore. The mob really gets more and more control in this city. I wonder were it will end..."

Derek and Arik

They didn't bring anything else important, except for normal stuff like some cash, some car keys, a phone.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen / Onyx


"Good luck then, Allie. I'll let you know if I learn anything useful. Please run Frank Orfelio's number in your database and call me back if you find his address, I have a question or two for him."

Ellen hung up and dialed Sidewinder's number.

"Hello, the number you have dialed is not available, please leave a message."

She cleared her throat.
"Hello, my name is Ellen Walt. Allison Bean gave me your number. It seems that we're working on the same case, and I'd like to assist you. Please call me back as soon as you can. My number is..." She looked at the cell phone. "...212-555-4180. Repeat, 212-555-4180."

She hung up again. The night was far from over...


OOC: Not waiting for anything in particular: I'm just thinking about what to do next. I'll post again tomorrow.

[Lost Demiurge]

(Uh, it's no big deal but Ben wouldn't leave his real name on the message of the cell phone he contacts Allison with. It's not even his real phone, it's one he signed a fake name for. So if y'wanna edit that to "The number you have dialed is not available, please leave a message" or something similar, that'd be cool.)

As Ben jogs, his phone goes off. He doesn't recognize the number so he lets it ring, then at the subway station of fifth and Harvard, he slows down and listens to the message.

Huh. She sounds hot. Down boy! He sighs... Really gotta get a girlfriend one of these days. I hear they're nice. Now c'mon, if Allie sent her she's on the level. Probably married or something anyway. Stay professional.

He calls the number that Ellen gave, and pitches his voice low and growly.

"This is Sidewinder. What do you need?"

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

Arik grins. He starts to put a little pressure on the foe- not enough to hurt him at all- at least not as far as wounds are concerned. It's just pressure.

"Now- who's your boss? Or is that one of those things where you shout I'd have to kill you first?" He takes a few steps towards the window. "Cause I'm actually fine with that."

[-Sentinel-]

(Uh, it's no big deal but Ben wouldn't leave his real name on the message of the cell phone he contacts Allison with. It's not even his real phone, it's one he signed a fake name for. So if y'wanna edit that to "The number you have dialed is not available, please leave a message" or something similar, that'd be cool.)

Okay, no problem.

I forgot your character had a cell phone. I assumed I would be calling to Ben's home, where he isn't.

Ellen's eyes narrowed in suspicion when her phone rang. Was it one of James' friends? Then she recognized the number she had dialed a minute earlier. That was fast, she thought with satisfaction.

"Hello?"

"This is Sidewinder," growled a voice. "What do you need?"

"Nothing," answered Ellen in a confident, businesslike tone. "But I believe you need me. I heard about some strange murders, but right now the police's hands are tied by red tape and corruption. I wish to help you."

[Lost Demiurge]

Okay, no problem.

I forgot your character had a cell phone. I assumed I would be calling to Ben's home, where he isn't.

Ellen's eyes narrowed in suspicion when her phone rang. Was it one of James' friends? Then she recognized the number she had dialed a minute earlier. That was fast, she thought with satisfaction.

"Hello?"

"This is Sidewinder," growled a voice. "What do you need?"

"Nothing," answered Ellen in a confident, businesslike tone. "But I believe you need me. I heard about some strange murders, but right now the police's hands are tied by red tape and corruption. I wish to help you."


"I wouldn't mind help. What can you do?" Says Ben.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen

"I'm an ex-cop." Ellen struggled to keep her voice steady despite the throbbing pain in her side. "I'm trained in criminal investigation. I have a gun and I know how to use it. Where can we meet?"

[Lost Demiurge]

Benjamin

"Huh. Okay. Got something you could help with right away. Come to West Lane apartments, 5C. A woman was abducted from there tonight, and my friends and I could use a cop's eyes searching the place."

"Also if you've got a car I could use a lift. Jogging down Yancy street now, but it's been a long freaking night and I wouldn't mind saving energy..."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen

"I've got a bike that can seat two people. I'll come as fast as I can."

She hung up and turned the ignition key. On her way to Yancy street she burned four red lights and barely even noticed.

[Lost Demiurge]

"I'll wait near the empty bus stop on the corner of ninth." Ben promises, then hangs up.

And when the bike approaches he's chilling there, gloved hands inside his snakeskin jacket, faceless mask watching the world go by. Just another thin man, average height, waiting for a bus that will never come at this hour. You'd have to get close up and see the mask to notice anything odd about it...

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen

In a screech of tires, Ellen stopped her dark-blue motorcycle mere inches from the man who stood at the bus stop. To his credit, he did not flinch.

"You're Sidewinder?" she said curtly. "Get behind me."

She made sure to keep her wounded side away from his eyes. She did not want him to worry about her state: it was already hard enough for a woman to be respected as a cop or vigilante.

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben climbs on, awkwardly trying to put his hands somewhere that they won't be misconstrued. Finally he shrugs, and holds on to the seat with both hands. Okay, I've got pretty good balance. This could work.

"Allie tell you much about the situation?" He asks, not bothering to do the growly voice.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen

Ellen could not see Sidewinder's face, but could tell from his voice that he was not very old. Certainly not someone with experience.

"She didn't tell me the details," she said over the noise of her motorcycle's engine, "only that they look like ritual killings. You caught a murderer in the act, right? Well, according to Allie, the man was himself found murdered where you left him. Decapitated, apparently. Seems to me that someone did not want him to talk."

At a red light she took a turn that almost made Ben lose his grip.

[Lost Demiurge]

"What?" Asks Ben. "Decapi- He was fine when I left him! Well, beaten up, but fine."He's quiet for a few minutes. Finally, at a red light he asks: "Do you mind if I put my arms around you? Otherwise I'm gonna fall off, I think. Or you could slow down, either's good."

"Decapitated. S***. That means one of two things that I can see."

"Either they had someone watching the kill, making sure it went off... Or they're listening on the 911 lines. Maybe someone in the cops helping them or listening in, not sure which."

"I don't know. What do you think?"

[-Sentinel-]

"What?" Asks Ben. "Decapi- He was fine when I left him! Well, beaten up, but fine."He's quiet for a few minutes. Finally, at a red light he asks: "Do you mind if I put my arms around you? Otherwise I'm gonna fall off, I think. Or you could slow down, either's good."

"Yeah, go ahead... Ouch! Damn it..." Sidewinder had just put his hand right on her wound, causing it to start bleeding again. "Um. A bit lower, please. Got shot earlier tonight. I'm gonna be fine."

"As for how they knew so fast... good question." She grimaced. "Looks like they're organized, not just some lone serial killer. If dirty agents are involved, the mob is probably responsible. Fat Justinian, maybe."

Fat Justinian was at the top of her list of suspects for just about every crime that happened in Manhattan. Bringing him down was her obsession, the sole remaining purpose of her life.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Yeah, go ahead... Ouch! Damn it..." Sidewinder had just put his hand right on her wound, causing it to start bleeding again. "Um. A bit lower, please. Got shot earlier tonight. I'm gonna be fine."

"As for how they knew so fast... good question." She grimaced. "Looks like they're organized, not just some lone serial killer. If dirty agents are involved, the mob is probably responsible. Fat Justinian, maybe."

Fat Justinian was at the top of her list of suspects for just about every crime that happened in Manhattan. Bringing him down was her obsession, the sole remaining purpose of her life.

"You got SHOT?" His voice breaks on the last word. "Uh, sorry." A quick rearrange. Totally not copping a feel. No! Resist temptation! Damnit, bad thoughts. "Holy ****. I mean, I've never been shot but I heard it hurts like hell. You need a... Crap. I guess you can't go to a hospital..."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen

"Yeah, they'd ask tricky questions," Ellen grumbled. "But I'll be okay. I think. Of course, first aid couldn't hurt."

She could not even look for one of those back-alley doctors: most of them worked for the mob.

"What's your name, kid? Your real name, that is."

[Lost Demiurge]

"Ben." He says. "And sorry, I don't know anything about first aid. But we're going to a friend of mine, he might know something about it."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen

"Maybe. Later." Ellen was reluctant: not many people could be trusted to hold their tongues. "No time for this now. I'm still alive, so it can't have hit anything vital."

Some painkiller would be welcome though...

She braked abruptly, forcing Ben to tighten his grip.

"Is that the place?"


(OOC: I hope I'm not going over the Storyteller's head here.)

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

The two thugs are looking desperate.

"Dude", ones says to the other, "the stories are true." "Those vigilantes are crazy."

"I'll tell you anything you want! Please, don't!" The other shouts, protecting his face, expecting to be hit any moment.

"We work for a man called Orfelio, Frank Orfelio. He's one of Fat Justinian's most trusted associates. But we never really met him. We only work for Orfelio. They never tell us anything about the big man's plans. I swear!"

The other one looks somewhat calmed down: "You better let us go. Justinian doesn't like it if his boys get hurt or people go in his way. Remember the big fight a few weeks ago? In which a cop died? What was his name again?"

"Newman. His name was Newman."

"Right. Anyway. I'm sure Justinian hasn't forgotten about how you vigilantes got in his way before. And he's likely going to tolerate anything more."

The other thug looks somewhat motivated by these words: "wait... yeah! They better let us go and return to our business. You wouldn't want any more innocent people, like that officer Newman, to die, would you?"

Ellen and Benjamin

You reach the building. When you decide to go up, you find Jotun standing in the hallway, guarding a door. Surprised to see you. He waves at you to come near. At the other side of the door, you hear people shouting.

[Jesse Drake]

The other one looks somewhat calmed down: "You better let us go. Justinian doesn't like it if his boys get hurt or people go in his way. Remember the big fight a few weeks ago? In which a cop died? What was his name again?"

Arik's eyes filled with anger. He drew his club, and using the side without metal spikes, he almost started to bash in the head of Mr. Smug. But he stopped. He did give him one good smash though, across the eye.

[roll0] Bashing Damage.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen


Ellen narrowed her eyes at the Viking.

"Are you 'Jotun'? I think I've heard about you in the police." She held out her hand. "Ellen Walt, also called Onyx. I believe I can help you. What's going on in here? Do they have suspects?"

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

Nose broken, face full of blood, the thug falls to the ground and tries to kick Arik in the groin.

[roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Ellen


Ellen narrowed her eyes at the Viking.

"Are you 'Jotun'? I think I've heard about you in the police." She held out her hand. "Ellen Walt, also called Onyx. I believe I can help you. What's going on in here? Do they have suspects?"

"Yes, I'm Jotun." He acts surprised. "My real name is Vince. Nice to meet you... There aren't much women vigilantes. You say you're in the police force? Yeah, they caught two suspects. It seems they were about to..."

At that moment Jotun is interrupted by the noise made by the fighting that's going on inside.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

Arik grins. "Very well. You can go." He grabs the man and starts to drag him out to the hallway.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen rolled her eyes. "And this is why vigilantes have such a bad reputation," she said with a fierce grin. "I should take care of this myself, I've been trained in interrogation."

She moved to enter the room, motioning Sidewinder to follow her.

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

You bump into a big man, dragging a blooded suspect. It's Arik.

You also see Derek and another thug standing in the room. The room itself lies completely in ruin, almost as if a war took place in it.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen blinked.

"Uh, what just happened here? Did he talk?" She jerked her thumb at the broken-nosed thug.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

Arik looks back. "That's why he gets to go home." He answers. "He'll be fine- I didn't do anything that won't be healed in a couple of days." He looks at the thug again. "Well, mostly healed."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen hated to let a suspect go, but she no longer had the authority to make arrests. And calling the police would just get her in trouble.

"Who are they working for? Did they tell?"

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

"Frank Orfelio-" He replies, looking back in towards the other guy. "And they said the orders came all the way from Fat Justinian."

[Ditto]

Derek

"Interrogation, you say? Brilliant." Derek decided to save his introduction for later, as they still had a thug to harass and squeeze for information. "This putz was going to tell us what he knew about Frank's business with the young lady who used to live here."

Derek doesn't know this, but Ellen or Ben might want to mention that the fellow who murdered the girl is now dead himself. They might reconsider whether they want to go crawling back to him after having failed in their arson mission, or if maybe they want to risk going to jail... :smallbiggrin:

[-Sentinel-]

Derek doesn't know this, but Ellen or Ben might want to mention that the fellow who murdered the girl is now dead himself. They might reconsider whether they want to go crawling back to him after having failed in their arson mission, or if maybe they want to risk going to jail... :smallbiggrin:

Good idea, but later.


"Frank Orfelio, eh?" She glanced at James T.'s cell phone. "Met him earlier tonight in a warehouse, but he ran away. Got his phone number though. Oh, thanks for reminding me, I have a call to make."

She dialed Allison Bean's number.

"Hey, it's Ellen. Did you run Frank Orfelio's number in the database? I'd like to know his address."

[Lost Demiurge]

"Yeah, uh, hi." Sidewinder squeezes himself in, looks blankly at Derek, and shrugs. Arik's gotta lot of friends in the business, I guess. Man, he only started a little before me, too... Anyway, sounds like this guy's in charge of interrogating, so...

"Listen, can you ask these guys something? A. How did they get here so quick, B. Who killed the murderer in the alleyway? C. How did they find out about my name? Which is Sidewinder by the way., and D. What the **** does this ground green crystal stuff have to do with anything? Oh, and E. Why did they choose that particular girl for their ritual murder?"

"Onyx, maybe you can toss the room for clues? I don't know much about this, and you might..."

[Ichneumon]

Allison takes up the phone: "Hi Ellen! Yeah, I checked the numbers. Frank Orfelio? He seems to be a regular guy. Never had much trouble with him, looking at the police record. He seems to the Chief Marketing Officer of Paper & Ink, that large chain of book stores, I'm sure you've heard of it. I think he's clean. He seems like a good guy. I think it was just a coincidence his number was on that list or something."

Some of you will know that Paper & Ink is the large chain of book stores owned by Craig McSunday, the rich businessman, who was publicly uncovered as the vigilante Nosferatu, when he was caught by the police a few weeks ago, after the huge clash between Justinian's gangs and vigilantes. (the one in which officer Newman died)

Meanwhile, Derek focusses on interrogating one of the thugs. Both seem to be alarmed by the arrival of another 2 vigilantes and their sudden bravery seems to have disappeared as quickly as it came. "Yo-You... You have to believe me..us.. W-We didn't... we don't know anything about Frank's business or why he needed this woman. We only do what we're told."

"The green glass, well. We thought is was strange to. The purpose I don't know, but the instructions were always very clear. Scatter the glass dust on the wounds in certain patterns: pentagrams, crosses, hieroglyphs. Those kind of things."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen just grunted.
"Yeah, thank you, Allie. But I'm sure Frank isn't what he seems. I'll keep investigating this angle. Good night."

She summarized to the others what Allison had found out, then began a quick investigation of the room.

Wits 3 + Investigation 4, bonuses and penalties not included.

[roll0]

While she searched for clues, she addressed the man:
"Sidewinder here caught one of your friends in the act, bound him and called the police. By the time they arrived, the man was dead... decapitated. The way I see it, you have two options: either you go back to your boss in failure, or you help us and are put in protective custody."

[-Sentinel-]

10 again: [roll0]

Edit: One success.

[Ichneumon]

Alright, as you search, you find clues for what might have happened:

Their are scratch marks on the windows, somebody tried to enter through the fire emergency stairs on the outside of the building. (I'm sure there's a name for them, in English. Is there? As an non-native english speaker, I'm a bit puzzled.... I mean these (http://www.elevestairs.com/images/emergency-stairs/emergency-stairs-4.jpg) things.)

The glass in one of the windows is broken.

It seemed their was a fight, a struggle. Much more you're currently not finding.

Both thugs seem alarmed when hearing about the decapitation, to say the least.

Both look at each other, unsure what to do.

"Can you protect us? If you help us, we'll help you get to Orfelio and Justinian. We'll help you bring him down."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen pursed her lips. She would gladly have promised them safety, but she hated to make promises she could not keep, even to criminals. The police department was deeply corrupt: if they were put in protective custody, an accident would likely happen to them all the same.

"I suggest that you leave town," she said slowly. "Go to the countryside, or get lost in Boston or Philadelphia or whatever. Lay low until your boss is dealt with. That's probably the safest option. Of course, if you want your boss to be dealt with quickly, you'll collaborate with us."

She showed the thugs the list of names in James' cell phone.

-Eddy Mud
-Joey
-Frank Orfelio
-Mom
-Uri Rambigini
-Jessica
-Monica
-Kim
-Pizza Hut

"Do you know any of these people, except Orfelio?"

[Ichneumon]

"The countryside? I... ehm... yeah"

They look confused. Somewhat disappointed and afraid.

"I'll help you find them. What Justinian's doing now is wrong and it doesn't look like I have any other choice. Show me that list."

"Hmmm. Most don't ring a bell... oh... Joey? That's most likely me."

"My name is Bob, by the way."

"Monica... Monica... isn't that the name of Orfelio's girlfriend? You know... the one who works as a waiter in the Chinese restaurant?"

"Monica? Yeah, that could be her. But she's Indian, not Chinese. "

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, positive."

[-Sentinel-]

A girlfriend? Interesting... Could give me some leverage. Not very ethical, of course, but considering what we're dealing with...

Orfelio may prove easy to threaten or blackmail: from what Ellen had seen of him in the warehouse, he did not have much of a spine.

"Any idea where I could find Orfelio? Or, failing that, Monica?"

[Ichneumon]

"We never visit Orfelio. He always contacted us by phone and we meet at public places. However, we could always try his office, I think? He works at this book company, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he does. Or at least, claims to be. I'm not sure if he actually works there."

"I think I know the restaurant where his girlfriend works. If you want to, we could pay her a visit?"

[-Sentinel-]

"Nope, I think I will," grunted Ellen. "Just tell me the name and address. We're dealing with this, and you get the f*ck out of the city before sunrise if you want to live."

[Ichneumon]

(Alright, let's get this scene moving)

The thugs thank you and, after writing what they believe to be the address of the restaurant, and answering any questions you might still have, they leave into the night.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik waits for them to leave, then turns to the others. "Well, that was interesting." Then, with a weak grin, turns to Sidewinder. "Man am I glad you guys showed up. If that 'Bob' would have said one more smug comment, I might not have been able to control myself..."

He sees Ellen again, and introduces himself. "Well- for those of you who don't know, I am The Mighty Krag!" He turns to Sidewinder. "So- tell me. Am I as scary as you thought I'd be?" He asks- flecks of blood, but not much more, across his muscular, tatted up chest.

[-Sentinel-]

"Ellen Walt," Ellen introduced herself. "Criminals call me Onyx."

With the two thugs gone, she no longer bothered to hide the large bullet wound on her side. Her left hand was slick with blood from her attempt to conceal the gash beneath the folds of her longcoat.

"I don't think the restaurant's open at this time," she said, keeping her voice steady and professional. "We should try to follow other leads until morning." Her vision swam. "Let's get out of here. It's only a matter of time before someone wonders what we're doing here."

[Ditto]

Derek

"I'm called Newman's Shadow. Or Shadow, once you get past the name-checking. Name's Derek. I work at the Trib, so we might want to check in there next. Some of the murders Jotun here has found might be linked, and the folks who were running down that information might be able to - whoa, you're lit up! Have you been shot? You need help."

[-Sentinel-]

"From whom?" Ellen snapped. "I can't go to the hospital, they're supposed to report bullet wounds." She straightened, although it was extremely painful. "I can manage."

[Lost Demiurge]

"****, c'mon. Don't be macho, that's Krag's job... And I'd give him the same **** if he was doing what you are now." He says to Ellen. "Besides, the more blood you leave around the more you risk getting busted. I mean, from what you said earlier the cops'll have YOUR blood on file, right? Lemme check with Jotun."

On his way out, he nods at Krag.

"Yeah, scary as hell. Hang on..."

He sticks his masked head out the door. "Hey J-man, you know anything about first aid? Onyx got shot earlier... She says it's not bad but it's bleeding...."

[Jesse Drake]

"C'mon guys!" Krag laughs. "What kind of hero doesn't have a personal doctor at his call!" He pulls out his phone to call his buddy Jake. "This is my pal, Jake Sanders- I'll give you his number later- but he's really cool with the whole vigilante thing."

"Hey Sully! Are you at work?"

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen did not say it aloud, but she felt relieved. Maintaining a facade of stoicism was sometimes difficult.

"I hope you really trust him," she whispered.

[Ichneumon]

Somebody takes up the phone:

"Hi. Jake here. No, I'm not at work, but is something wrong? You know you can always come to my place. I have a rather big first aid kit that might help. What's the issue?"

[Jesse Drake]

"Well, I've got an ally here." He pauses. "Well, I've got a few actually. But one of them is hurt pretty bad. Would you mind if we swung by?"

At that, he turns to the others. "Um... I sure hope one of you guys has a car."

[-Sentinel-]

"Got a motorcycle parked outside," said Ellen. "I can drive there on my own if you just give me the address."

[Jesse Drake]

Arik nods. "Um... Jake. I'm gonna send her over. I hope you don't mind."

Assuming Jake has no problem, Arik will give Ellen the address.

[-Sentinel-]

"Thanks. I can make it, don't worry about me. Continue the investigation. I'll see you soon."

She walked out of the room, trying to stand up straight despite the pain. Any sign of weakness and someone would insist to come with her as if she was some sort of goddamn damsel in distress.

[Ichneumon]

Vigilante - part II

It's almost 3 o' clock in the morning when you decide to leave. It was a very hectic friday night: Murders, superhero gatherings, multiple chases, gun fights, mob retributions, decapitations. You all exchange phone numbers and adresses and call it a night. Jotun wishes you good luck. He'd never expected the night would end like this.

Ellen

You take your motorcycle and go to this "Jake" fellow.
Half an hour later you arrive at his home. He's a young guy, apparently he is a medical student, who would have got his diploma 2 years ago if he hadn't had a video game addiction. His house is full of Star Battle miniatures, posters and dvd's. He even has a Vor'gulak suit (one of the series main alien races) and when you enter his home he greets you with the Vor'gulak salute: "Live long and healthy".

He asks you to lie on his bed and show him your wounds. He seems somewhat shocked when he sees them, they are worse then he'd expected. He takes his first aid kit and starts doing his job. He's more skilled then you'd expect from someone who's still a student and he has a very gentle touch.

"Now, these wounds will take time to heal. I can clean them up and give you something to alleviate the pain, but I'm not a Zugarlian Shaman from the Planet Delta 5b. I can't regenerate your wounds."

He rolls Intelligence + Medicine, which is a total of 7 dice. [roll0] As I understand the rules, if he rolls a number of successes equal to the number of points you lost, you regain 1 health point.

After 2 hours he is done, and you can go home. You pay him a few bucks, but he refuses. Smiling he replies, joking: "Well, I can use the practice. I should pay you instead for being my lab rat. Good luck."

When you go home you try to sleep a few hours and in morning you call Sidewinder.

Benjamin

Sidewinder started the day early. You had difficulty sleeping. The face of the man you chased down the alley, the one who got decapitated returned in your dreams every time you closed your eyes. When Onyx calls you're already up and busy, checking out various occult bookstores.

You're standing in front of a store called "Kindred of the Night", in the display window of the store you see books on Vampires, Ghosts, Werewolves, things more horrific then those 3 combined, how to protect you from them, how to kill them, how to become them. When you enter the store the smell of garlic becomes almost overpowering. The shop is full of boxes filled with books and occult junk. You move with difficulty past all the boxes and the narrow path between the cabinets to the desk at the far end of the store. An old man sits there reading a book. It doesn't seem like he has noticed you.


This will be a skill challenge, aimed at finding out what this man knows about the crystals. You can use things like manipulation, lies, suggestion and that kind of thing. How well this talk goes represents your entire search this morning with all the other occult stores. If you succeed, I'll supply you with more information you got from the others.

To succeed the challenge, you should make 3 succesfull roll attempts, before you fail 3 times. Now, if you decide not to go in and wait for Ellen, that's possible too, she's remarkably close to the store, so you can do the challenge together if you'd like.

The others

You go home, have a night sleep and in the morning, you contact each other to discuss what to do.

You have the location of the home of one of the victims (the old bookstore keeper), but you could, like Ditto suggested also first search for more information on the murders. It's up to you.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen


Ellen's side was still painful, but she did not wish to spend the rest of the day drowsy from painkillers. She got up quickly, downed a pitch-black coffee and called Benjamin.

"Kindred of the Night? Sounds awfully overdramatic... Wait for me, it's just a few blocks from my appartment."

Not in the mood for walking, she rode her motorcycle to the bookstore and swung the front door.

[Ditto]

Derek

First thing in the morning, Derek hits the office to re-read articles on recent unusual murders and shake down his fellow staff members for details that didn't make it to print.

[Ichneumon]

Ellen and Bejamin

As Ellen enters the store, the old man looks up from his books, looks at Ellen, looks at Benjamin, and uninterested he continues reading.

Derek and Arik

You find the articles on the murders, but none contain details that you don't already know. When you question the people who wrote the articles, they are elusive on what did and what didn't make it to print.

"Well, you know. The usual stuff. Anyway, got to go. My wife is waiting for me at home. Nice to have spoken with you again. Bye!"

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben watches through the bookstore window as a familiar looking motorbike pulls up. Yep. Same build, same bike, it's gotta be her.

Man, she's hot!

Hush. She'd probably kick your ass if you didn't act cool.

Damn, I need a girlfriend...

Inside the store, Ellen is greeted by a dirty-blonde, scruffy youth who's desparately trying to grow something like a beard. Brown eyes consider her, then look away, blinking. He pitches his voice low. "Uh, hi. Thanks for coming out. Got any advice, or should I just start talking and let you back me up? Or do you want to give it a whirl?"

[-Sentinel-]

Uh. He doesn't look too scary in person, Ellen thought. The kid gets points for trying, though.

She tried to shrug at his question, but winced at the pain in her side.

"Talk to him, I'll be right behind you."

[Ichneumon]

Ellen and Benjamin

The man, without looking away from his book, starts laughing hard in a very strange hyena-like way.

[Lost Demiurge]

Benjamin blinks at the guy. Did he hear me? Crap, I hope not. Then he shrugs and heads on up to the counter. "Uh, hi. I'm hoping maybe you can help me out? We found some weird stuff, and my friend here says it's full of, um, bad vibes..."

He shows the man the packet.

Hello, deceit! Don't have my character sheet handy, but I believe that's four dice...
[roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Ellen and Benjamin

The man looks up from his book surprised. Slowly he lays down the book and stands up from his chair. "Bad... vibes... you say?"

He tries to hide it, but you can clearly see he's interested. He takes some glasses and puts them on his nose. He takes the packet and studies it.

For a moment he looks really interested, "This... I haven't seen this in years, I can't...." then his demeanor changes, as if he discovered something.

He then lays it down on the desk again and pushes it with both hands towards Benjamin. "Believe me," he says in a very cynical way. "there are no bad vibes."

Success! 1 success, 2 more to go.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen arched an eyebrow, scowling.

"This is very important... sir. You better help us. For your own good."


Intimidate (Presence 2 + Intimidation 2): [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Ellen and Benjamin

The man looks at Ellen, he didn't expect that.
Annoyed and unimpressed, he replies: "Go home, woman! I'm running a serious bussiness here. I don't have time for cheap magic tricks."

Failure! 1 succes, 1 failure.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Hey, hey, whoa... It's okay, Bee. This guy doesn't- He isn't... I mean."

Ben looks flustered at her rudeness. It's an act.

More deceit! [roll0]

He turns back to the proprietor. "Well... Honestly, it's kind of more than vibes. See, we found it in an alley next to a bloody knife..." Technically that IS the truth. There was just a guy holding it, is all...

[-Sentinel-]

'Go home, woman'? Ellen's anger flared. Why, you sexist little...

Without thinking, she drew her Glock 17 and pointed it at the man's head.

"Got a magic trick for you, pal," she said between clenched teeth. "Just by moving my trigger finger half an inch, I can paint your wall red."

She struggled to keep her anger in check. Slowly, she lowered the muzzle of her gun, but kept it pointed in the man's general direction. She was not in her vigilante disguise — any crimes she committed might cause her serious trouble. She also knew she would not kill a man in cold blood.

"Listen. Those crystals were found in the body of murder victims all over the town. And I think you're lying. Either you help us, or you're a suspect. You decide."


OOC:

Do I get another Intimidate check?

Usually I don't play so rashly, but wrath is Ellen's vice...

[Ichneumon]

OOC:

Do I get another Intimidate check?

Usually I don't play so rashly, but wrath is Ellen's vice...

Yes, you get another intimidate check.

Also, remember that you can use Willpower points to gain a +3 modifier on a roll.

EDIT: Also, I'd say that the gun gives you a +1 on an intimidate check.

[-Sentinel-]

OOC:


Also, remember that you can use Willpower points to gain a +3 modifier on a roll.

Yes, I'll do that. Do I get an equipment bonus for using a gun?

Presence 2 + Intimidation 2 + Willpower Point 3

[roll0]

[-Sentinel-]

EDIT: Also, I'd say that the gun gives you a +1 on an intimidate check.

Sorry for the double post, then.

[roll0]


Darn, only one success... :smallyuk:

[Lost Demiurge]

"SWEET JEE-" Ben jumps out of his skin, nearly, and just stares at Ellen. After she finishes her spiel, he shakes his head.

"Look, man, all we want is info on these crystals. You tell us, we leave. Please. Just tell us. Please. I don't know what she's gonna do, here. Please, because I don't wanna see you die. You tell us I'll get her out of here, please..."

hoo boy! Dropping a willpower for +3 dice. I don't know if I have any skills that would represent this, probably empathy or something... So 2+3 = 5 and a prayer...

[roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Ellen and Benjamin

I'm counting this as 1 extra success, meaning: 2 successes and 1 failure

The man reacts shocked and really terrified: "I'll tell you everything. Please, I don't hurt me. The dust, it's just glass, that's all! Just glass, there's nothing magical about it. Really, I speak the truth!"

The man trembles, and while he's talking his eyes move from Benjamin to Ellen to her gun.

"I... They look magical, but they are cheap knock-off's, made to look real. Any expert would be able they are worthless. I swear, I.. I'm not lying."

[Lost Demiurge]

"Okay, okay thanks. Thanks man, thanks." Moving slowly, Ben puts his hand in between Ellen's gun and the man. "Come on, Bee. Let's go. It's Johnny, remember Johnny? Yeah. You're off your meds. Come on, let's go..."

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

Arik grunts as he flips through the papers. "Any suggestions?" He asks, looking at all the articles. He thinks for a moment. "They are afraid. They've risked their lives writing what they did. We can't expect them to give information to a couple of nobodies."

He clenches the papers in anger. "It's not right. No one should have to live in fear. Can we get a hold of anyone at home?" He looks at Derek. "At a later time, when we can actually assure them they are in no danger?"

Arik will try to get some info on the writers of the articles. He will try to contact them later.

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

Arik finds the names and addresses of some of the writers. One of them, is a relatively good friend/co-worker of Derek. His name is Bill and he hasn't reported to work for a week, they say he's ill.

Everyone seems too frightened to talk and some shake their heads. "Go home guys." "It's better if you let this go."

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

Arik just turns to them. "Don't worry. Soon, you won't have to be afraid." Arik then takes their advice, and leaves. "This Bill... he's ill?" Arik frowns- he didn't like rhyming. "Well... I bet it's all part of a secret plot- I'd bet that he's not sick at all. He was probably poisoned by a snake- or given some experimental mutagenic gene. Or..." Now, it's clear that he's just amusing himself- "Perhaps they wiped his mind- and he's a confused mess at home."

Arik makes several small jokes- though only to mask his fear- that Bill was not ill, as the others might have suggested. Bill might be dead.

So Arik decides to visit him as soon as possible. He preemptively unbuttons a few buttons on his shirt, and reaches into his pocket- finding an executioner's mask. His backup- not as effective as a horned helm- neither in battle, nor for intimidation. But perfect for daytime visits. He intends to visit as himself, but it never hurts to be prepared.

[-Sentinel-]

"Come on, Bee. Let's go. It's Johnny, remember Johnny? Yeah. You're off your meds. Come on, let's go..."

Ellen nodded wordlessly, her jaw clenched grimly. She threw a last glare at the man and left the shop. Once outside, her shoulders slumped.

"I'm... sorry," she apologized sincerely to Ben. "I tend to... lose control. I haven't had an easy year. Got fired from the police, then had a horrible divorce, lost custody of my daughter, still haven't found a steady job... Guess last night's events just pushed me over the edge..."

She was not usually inclined to talk about the mess her life had become, but she felt Ben deserved an explanation. The poor boy meant well, she was sure of this. But she was just not a team player. She was too unstable, had too many issues to resolve.

"I don't expect your pity or anything. I just want to warn you. About what I am, about what I can do when I lose it. If you feel you'd work better without me, just tell me."

[Lost Demiurge]

"Hey. It's all right, huh? I... Well, crap, I guess I don't know how it goes. But I can tell you've had it rough. Not pity but sympathy, you know?"

He sighs and looks around.

"I'm willing to stick it out with you if you remember something. I'm here because innocent people like that guy are getting terrorized and don't deserve it. And what you did back there? That was pretty close. Don't do it again."

"If you're fine with that, stick with me, play it cool, and let's try some more angles. But first, we need to get on your bike, and get the hell away from here. Get lost in traffic or something. Because you just pointed a gun at that guy, and I guarantee you he's calling 9-1-1 right the f*ck now."

He rubs his chin. "Actually, if you drop me about a mile or two north from here I can hit one of my clothes caches and parkour my happy ass away for an hour or two, leave you to find your own place to lie low. Then we can call and rendezvous after things die down a bit. This'll increase both our chances. If they're looking for two people, splitting up will increase our chances of getting away."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen relaxed a bit.

"I can let you change clothes if it makes you feel safer," she said. "But I'm not sure splitting up or hiding is necessary. There's like sixty armed robberies a day in this whole f*cking city 1. The NYPD can't possibly launch a manhunt every time. If no one got hurt, it's very far down their to-do list. Trust me, I've worked there."



1 Source (http://newyork.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm): 23 511 robberies in New York in 2006 (average of 64 a day). Not to mention the 26 908 aggravated assaults (74 a day).

[Ditto]

Derek

"Yeah, I guess he is... I remember the copy chief mentioning that offhand, but I haven't heard from him. That is a bit strange... let's pay him a visit and see how he's doing. Everyone loves a nice chicken soup delivery, neh?" A quick stop at the nearby bodega for some allegedly-sick get-well goodies, and Derek is set to drop in on Bill with Arik.

[Lost Demiurge]

Ellen relaxed a bit.

"I can let you change clothes if it makes you feel safer," she said. "But I'm not sure splitting up or hiding is necessary. There's like sixty armed robberies a day in this whole f*cking city 1. The NYPD can't possibly launch a manhunt every time. If no one got hurt, it's very far down their to-do list. Trust me, I've worked there."


Ben rubs his scraggly-haired chin for a second, then nods. "Okay. Yeah, let's go to the cache, then. I'll change and we can hit the library. Might as well get out of here in case a squad car's around, right?"

[-Sentinel-]

"Maybe I'll go change too. I don't live far."

She also needed to change her bandages: they were already soaked with blood. Jake had told her to get a few days' rest until the wound was partly closed, but she could hardly afford to waste any time.

"But don't forget, Ben, we must also meet Orfelio's girlfriend today."

[Ichneumon]

Ellen and Benjamin

Without much difficulty, you reach the great library. It's a large building with lots of floors and whole cabinets of books on a range of subjects.

If you want to research something, you should do an Intelligence + Academics checks.

Derek and Arik

A bit later you arrive at Bill's house. You knock on the door, but nobody answers. You hear movement inside and after repeating knocking the door opens slowly, but just a bit. From the narrow opening appears Bill's head. He looks tired, as if he hasn't slept in days. He recognises Derek: "Derek! I hadn't expected you here!" -(OOC: I'm running out of speech colours...)

He opens the door: "Quickly come in."

The living room is a mess. The table is filled with maps, air-line tickets and other things. Bill seems to be planning to leave town.

"I... eh... I'm feeling much better now, I think I'll be able to get to work again on Monday. I don't think we've met, I'm Bill." He says, first looking at Derek, then at Arik.

This too will be a skill challenge. You have to get 3 successes, before 3 failures. You need to extract information from Bill, find out what he knows. Because he is Derek's ally however, you already get 1 of your 3 successes.

Successes: 1, failures: 0

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen, not much of an intellectual person, let out a sigh as she looked at the rows upon rows of books. Where to begin? The boy was probably better at this than her.

Guess we'll never get anywhere if we don't get started.


Intelligence 2 + Academics 1: [roll0]

(What are we looking for, again?)

[-Sentinel-]

OOC:

Whoa, two 10-agains!

[roll0]

Edit: Two successes ain't bad.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Alright." Says Benjamin, tapping at an automated terminal. "We want to track down that green glass stuff... We know from the occult store guy that it's fake magical stuff... Figure the online capabilities and some relevant books'll do. Also we can run a search for that Orfelio guy, through the newspaper archives. Let's see what we can turn up..."

[roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

"Huh!" Says Ben. "THIS is interesting..."


Two tens says ten agains!
[roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

"Ha! Pwned!" Says Ben, as he grins and his fingers click across the keys. "MENSA mind, muthaf*cker."

Wow! Okay, rolling ten again.
[roll0]

For a whopping total of 4! Successes.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik

Arik is unsure how to go about this. He figures being direct can't hurt- this man is obviously ready to leave, so why not go for broke. But first, Arik looks around the house for any signs of hobbies that Bill might have.

[roll0] That's investigate and Intelligence- that's what I use, right?

[-Sentinel-]

"This is serious business, Ben," sighed Ellen, looking over his shoulder. "I'll invite you to a bar to celebrate when this is all over, but for now we've got to focus. What do we have here?"

[Ichneumon]

Benjamin and Ellen

You find numerous books on subjects, both old and new, ranging from curses and summonings to exorcism. All of the books describe some of the symbols that were found on the bodies. It seems the symbols and rituals that were done were taken from all over the world, there are egyptian symbols mixed with oriental, mixed with native american. You find guides on how to perform rituals to summon evil demons, curse families and other horrors, all contain some of the rituals and symbols. However, it seems it makes very little sense. From what you know of the victims and the way in which they killed, you'd almost conclude that the persons who did it had no idea what they were doing. Rituals were mixed up, symbols were drawn wrongly. It seems like a lot of effort was put into it to make the murders look mystical and part of "occult" rituals, but judging from these books, the symbols, cuts and "mystical" dust lack any real purpose.

The green glass dust looks like the green crystal that's used by some Oriental magicians to re-awaken the dead, but again, using glass instead of crystal, would make the rituals pointless.

You've succeeded in the skill-challenge.

Derek and Arik

On Bill's desk lie different political books, but also different game guidebooks for a MMORPG called "World of Spacecraft". He seems to be quite into it, as there is one poster in the living room of the same game, showing what seems to be a female "space elf" wearing some kind of space armor.

[Lost Demiurge]

"This is serious business, Ben," sighed Ellen, looking over his shoulder. "I'll invite you to a bar to celebrate when this is all over, but for now we've got to focus. What do we have here?"

Ben sits back among the pile of books and looks at Ellen, soberly.

"Well, we've got evidence that suggests the guy instigating this has no clue what he's doing. I can think of a couple of things this implies."

Ben's voice is a lot more confident than it was in the bookstore. There's no trace of a stutter, and he meets her gaze without hesitation.

He holds up a finger. "Possibility 1: He's run into something he thinks is a supernatural threat, and is trying a mix of things to deal with it."

Another finger goes up. "Possibility 2: He's got an ulterior motive to killing these people, and is using the occult trappings as a smokescreen."
The ring finger goes up. "Possibility 3: He's a loon who's just gone around the bend."

He leans back in the chair. "What do you think? See any possibilities outside of those three?"

A grin splits his face. "And I'd be happy to hit a bar with you later, as long as it's one that doesn't ID too hard. The fake one I've got isn't exactly gonna hold up to heavy scrutiny."

[Jesse Drake]

"Hey Bill. I'm Arik." He extends a large hand. Arik thinks for a moment. This guy can't be too bad. Maybe he should ask a few questions. "So- where ya headed? Is there a World of Spacecraft convention I'm missing out on?"

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

Bill smiles and shakes Arik's hand. "Nice to meat you."

"Haha, no. Not a convention. I'm ehm... going out of town for a few days. I ehh, was thinking of visiting my parents in ... eh San Francisco."

You don't need to be able to read minds to see he's lying. He's going out of town, but he seems hesitant to tell the reasons why.

[Jesse Drake]

"Oh. That's fine." He remarked. "Though... I do wonder. It doesn't have anything to do with the articles you wrote?" Arik hopes that hits something. He waits to see if there's an expression.

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

Bill seems shocked to hear the articles being mentioned. He tries to hide his shock however. "Articles? What articles? Is that why you've come?"

If you're going to try to persuade/manipulate/interrogate him further, you should also make a roll.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik tries to think carefully. He wasn't so good with this part- most of the people he had to get information from, he literally had to shake it out of them. So now, it required a bit more... finesse.

"Well- yes." He says quickly. "It is." He looks away for a moment. "It seems that anyone who wrote anything is unwilling to help us. And you see, we're really in need of help here. Lives are at stake." Arik takes another look at Bill. "And before you leave, it'd be nice if you could help us." Arik takes a glance at Derek. "Why- some of the greatest heroes around are reporters."

[roll0]

[Ditto]

Derek added, "I don't know what you dug up, but it's got a lot of guys at the Trib spooked too, Bill. We can't have the whole staff running off if this continues, neh? People *need* to know what's going on. Whatever you learned, you gotta clue me in so we can check it out and take care of it."


Manipulation + Persuasion [roll0]
Bah, big whiff.

[-Sentinel-]

[Ben] holds up a finger. "Possibility 1: He's run into something he thinks is a supernatural threat, and is trying a mix of things to deal with it."

Another finger goes up. "Possibility 2: He's got an ulterior motive to killing these people, and is using the occult trappings as a smokescreen."
The ring finger goes up. "Possibility 3: He's a loon who's just gone around the bend."

He leans back in the chair. "What do you think? See any possibilities outside of those three?"

"I think we can dismiss the third possibility," said Ellen thoughtfully. "This killing spree is obviously organized. A madman wouldn't and probably couldn't hire underlings to do stuff like that.

Orfelio is involved, and I know him as one of Fat Justinian's trusted men. But I've never heard about Fat Justinian being into the occult... The second possibility is what seems the most likely, but it still sounds pretty far-fetched to me. We've got to connect the victims... somehow. That's the only way to get anywhere. That, or we get our hands on Orfelio."

She stood up.

"Speaking of which, we have an 'appointment' with his girlfriend. I have the address of the restaurant where she works."

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben nods.

"Awesome. Stop by Cold street on the way, huh? I've got a clothing cache down there with homeless-style duds. Figure you drop me a block or two away from the restaraunt, and I'll go pan-handle near the exit, keep an eye out. You go in, see if you can ID the girlfriend... MAYBE talk to her if it feels right. Your call."

"Just no guns this time, okay? Unless everything hits the s**tter, I mean."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen nodded.

"Of course. She's not our enemy... yet. Maybe she'll accept to collaborate if we tell her what we know about her boyfriend."

But then again, maybe not.

"Let's go."

[Ichneumon]

Benjamin and Ellen

(I'm assuming you do what you have to do, and finally go to the restaurant)

It's a quarter past three when you arrive at the restaurant. You see that, unlike the thugs told you, the restaurant isn't Indian, nor Chinese. It's Italian.

The restaurant is called "Pizza's Here!" and it seems like a decent place.

Just as you arrive you see a relatively tall, young woman, aged around 24 enter the restaurant, black hair, somewhat pale skin. A big smile is on her face when she enters. Inside you can here people enthusiastically shout her name: Monica.

Derek and Arik

Bill listens to what is said. "Sigh.... Alright, please, sit down." He points at some chairs. When you sit down, he continues: "I did some research on the murders and discovered an interesting link between them. All the victims were in some way related to Paper & Ink, that large book store, owned by that vigilante, Nosferatu, you know, the one who's now in prison."

"One victim was an author of children's books, who had written a book, but couldn't agree with Paper & Ink on the pricing."

"One other victim owned a second hand book store who was competing with Paper & Ink. I found records that say Paper & Ink tried to buy the store, but the old man didn't want to sell."

"One of the victim's partners worked at a paper company. It seems that with the current economic crises, they wanted to ask more for their paper than Paper & Ink was willing to pay."

"Another victim was suing Paper & Ink for copyright violation."

"Anyway, when I found out all of this, I contacted one of the heads of Paper & Ink, a guy called Orfelio, he seems to lead the company since Nosferatu went to prison. Anyway, I got into contact with him and..." Bill stops talking, looks you guys nervously.

"I really shouldn't tell you more. It's not save and you really shouldn't get involved."

2 successes, 1 failure

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben blinks. "Wow. Okay. DEFINITELY be nice to her. If it doesn't pan out, then just withdraw. Too many people like her to risk forcing the issue."

He eyes the street corner nearest, then nods. "Let me sit there for about five minutes, then head on in, ignoring me."

He goes and sets up, his face scruffier than usual and his shabby clothes smelling vaguely of cat urine.

[Jesse Drake]

"Hey..." Arik looks at Bill. "Don't worry about me... I'm an expert. Do you have any Scaled One Lightning Spears I could show you something with? Or perhaps an old, antique, battle blade? I'm no wimp- I've got the strength of a Black Hole Dwarf." Arik isn't sure how much longer his words can hold up- he's got to show this guy what he's good at.

[Ditto]

"We're already wise to this Orfelio character, so we're not stopping there. What did he say to you that's making you and the whole newscorps go to ground? We've got a duty to not let folks like Orfelio run around knocking people off under cover of darkness. Spreading knowledge is powerful, Bill."

Manipulation + Persuasion again.
[roll0]

[Ditto]

2 10 agains, and subtracting the 1 from total successes gives 2 total successes this roll.
[roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

Wait, 1's subtract from total successes? I thought they changed that in the new edition...

[Ditto]

I'm certainly open to correction if that's the case! Last I read they do...

[-Sentinel-]

With everyone's attention on Monica, Ellen could not have a talk with her yet. She did the only thing she could think of at the moment: she entered the restaurant and sat at a table with a good view over the rest of the room. Perhaps she would have the time to hatch a plan while waiting for someone to take her order.

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

I checked it in the book, and I can't find any rulings on 1 being a special outcome judged differently. I looked around page 125, where it gives the rules on 10 again and such.

Bill listens to what Arik has to say, smiles, laughs at the suggestion of Arik showing him some cool moves, laughs at the World of Spacecraft reference.

Then, Derek says what he said and Bill sighs again. "You're right."

You won the challenge, 3 successes

"I went to Orfelio's office to confront him about what I had found. Well, that wasn't such a good idea. He didn't even deny there was a connection. He said each of those murders were done because he had ordered it, and he told me he was acting in name of someone even more powerful than them, Fat Justinian. He told me that, would I tell someone about this or even publish it, I'd be next.

He then showed me a list of all the people I had spoken to that morning and all the places I had been. They're watching us, I don't know how, but they know everything. His people, they are everywhere."

He laughs, in a cynical and panicking way.

"What is it again they say about... about that gangster, Fat Justinian? If a pigeon dies in Central Park, he's the first one to know of it?"

"If you want to stop Orfelio. I can give you the address of his office. I know he usually works late."

Benjamin and Ellen

Ellen takes a table. A nice red table cloth, a menu and a lit candle. There are maybe 3-4 people in the kitchen. Other than you, the restaurant is empty. You're the first guest. You see Monica putting on an apron with the restaurants logo and a matching hat, and with a pen and paper for taking orders, she walks to you with a big smile. "Good day, mam. Can I get you anything?"

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen forced a smile and briefly flashed her expired NYPD card. She went straight to the point, keeping her voice low:

"Hi. I'll have two slices of pepperoni pizza... and a few answers, if you don't mind. I gather you're acquainted with Mr Frank Orfelio?"

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

The smile disappears quickly and her face turns more and more pale.

"Frank?" Her tone becomes angry. "If this is about Nosferatu, Frank already told you guys that he didn't know his boss was a vigilante. Now, can you please leave him alone? My boyfriend didn't do anything wrong and he already told you guys everything he knows."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen raised an eyebrow. Perhaps Monica was unaware of who her boyfriend truly worked for.

'Us guys'? She must be talking about the police...

"Ah... but this isn't about Nosferatu. It's about Frank's other boss." She took a deep breath. "Surely you must suspect there's something strange about his life. I don't know... do you have reasons to think that he lies to you? Does he earn more money than he should, considering his job? Does he answer his phone calls in another room? Does he have shifty-looking friends that he doesn't want you to meet? Little things like that."

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

Something seems to change in Monica's attitude. Although she still looks angry, it seems Ellen hit something, something inside her.

"I eehh. "

The fact is, her life was exactly like that. He did take up phone calls in other rooms, he did prohibit her from ever visiting him at the office, and he did have friends that looked sometimes a bit too much like scum to be "respectable businessmen in the book-selling business". However, she trusted Frank, they'd been together for a long time and it wasn't unusual for a businessman to have friends from different social classes. It also wasn't unusual for him to make much money.

She adds, emotionally, "I ehh, don't know what you're talking about. What are you implying?"

She looks uncertain.

You notice a young man in the kitchen, looking distrustful at what is happening at your table. He is well muscled, hair well combed, he looks Italian. He wears an apron too, he seems to be one of the chefs.

[Jesse Drake]

"Thank you." Arik will take the address and bow. "Well... Bill, I wish I could say differently, but you should still get out of town... for a while at least. Do you have a piece of paper?" Arik will jot down the name and phone number for the comic store he works at. "Just ask for Conan. They'll get through to me. But I want you to call as soon as you're safe, alright?"

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

Bill gives him a piece of paper. "Right, thanks. Conan you say?":smallamused:

He looks a bit uncertain, "Well, good luck. And whatever you do, watch out. Orfelio is clever and he has people everywhere. Trust no one."

"I'll start to pack right away. I'll take a taxi and leave within a few hours. Thanks, you guys have given me hope again."

[Jesse Drake]

"No. Thank you." Arik responds. "Don't worry about us. We're tough boys, we'll stay safe." He grins. "And at that, we've got to go. We wouldn't like to rouse attention. Oh..." He reaches for a piece of memorabilia. "I mean... if what you say is true, and Orfello is really watching everything, might as well say I was taking this off your hands." Arik grins, but doesn't actually grab the object. He will wait to see if Bill cares too much for the thing.

[Ichneumon]

Derek and Arik

"Oh please, have it if you like it. I'm very grateful. Hopefully you catch these people. New York is really going a wrong way. We really need vigilantes like you."

[-Sentinel-]

She adds, emotionally, "I ehh, don't know what you're talking about. What are you implying?"

"I'm implying," said Ellen flatly, her voice low, "that Frank is neck-deep in organized crime."

She watched the muscled man in the kitchen from the corner of her eyes, trying to avoid meeting his gaze.

"He's a murder suspect," she added.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik winks. "We're just concerned citizens, thas'all." He grins, carrying his action figure out with him. He turns to Derek. "So- what's next on our agenda?"

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

Although there does seem to be truth in your assumptions, judging from her reaction, she doesn't seem willing to accept it. "I don't believe you!" She shouts.

At that moment the young man from the kitchen walks fast to your table, looks at you angrily and says: "Miss, I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to leave."

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben

Outside, Ben is dressed in a torn windbreaker and stained pants. His odor is disturbing in its awfulness, and the cardboard sign next to him simply has an arrow pointing at a cheap, battered plastic bowl.

He doesn't bother anyone, simply sitting on the boarded up stoop across from the restaurant, and watching it like he's starving. He doesn't acknowledge the passers by, except for the occasional quiet "thanks" to anyone who throws change into the bowl.

[-Sentinel-]

At that moment the young man from the kitchen walks fast to your table, looks at you angrily and says: "Miss, I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to leave."

Ellen raised an eyebrow with mild irritation.

"Or what?" she drawled, trying to sound nonchalant even as her right hand crept toward the gun she kept under her coat. "You'll call the police?"

With her left hand she flashed her card, too fast to give the man the time to examine it and realize it was expired.

"I'm the police, and right now I need to talk with Monica here. Please go away, you're interfering with a criminal investigation."

Her voice was cool and professional, but her nerves were on edge. If the man worked for Orfelio, as she suspected, he might try something stupid. If he did, she would be ready.

[Ichneumon]

Ellen: I need you to do some kind of lying check, since you aren't really working for the police. Which would be a Manipulation + Subterfuge check, if I'm correct. EDIT: Also, you may take a +2 bonus for the gun and all the other police equipment.

[-Sentinel-]

My Subterfuge is untrained (meaning I'm at -1) and I have only 1 in Manipulation, so it cancels each other out. I get only two dice from equipment. I'll spend a Willpower point for +3 dice.

[roll0]

...crap. :smalleek:

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

For a moment the man seems to hesitate. "Police? My Nose! Now, get out of my restuarant!"

He grabs Ellen by her shoulders and tries to throw her off her chair and drag her out of the the restaurant.

(I'm not sure what to roll, couldn't find it in the book, I'm open for suggestions, maybe treat it as a brawl, but ignore the posibility of damage) Strength + Brawl - Ellen's Defence= 3, so [roll0]

"Frank is a good friend of me. We go bowling once in a while. I won't have any one speak bad of him in my place, you hear!"

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen weighed her options, then decided that now was not the time to get beaten up or worse. She got her hand away from her pistol and slowly rose from her seat.

"Okay. Leaving now." Her eyes darted to Monica. "I may come back to you with evidence. When I do, I'll expect you to collaborate."

[Ichneumon]

Ellen

The man gives you a vile look as you leave, but says nothing. Monica replies: "When you return, don't expect more co-operation. I love my boyfriend and I'm loyal to him."

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben watches Ellen leave, and says nothing. They'll be watching her go. Gonna have to wait a bit before I talk to her.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen met Ben again in a side street, out of sight.

"Monica knows nothing," she reported. "She does suspect something's wrong about her boyfriend, but won't believe he's a murderer. One thing is sure, we'll get no cooperation from her."

She spat.

"A tough-looking guy didn't let me talk to her for too long. I'm betting he's supposed to protect her or something..."

[Lost Demiurge]

"Hm." Says Ben, rubbing his chin. "Describe this guy, please." After a while he nods. "Okay, sounds doable."

"Anyway, I'm running out of ideas. I think maybe I could stake out here at the curb for the rest of the day, and wait for either the girlfriend or the muscle after they leave. Then call you up so you can tail our target, to wherever he or she goes."

"What do you think?"

[-Sentinel-]

"I think it sounds like a waste of time," said Ellen bluntly. "Monica is likely going to work all day, and unless we hold her hostage, I don't see how she can be useful. We should follow other leads: I'm betting the killers will strike again tonight. Time is of the essence."

[Lost Demiurge]

"Yeah, alright. Works for me..." Ben nods, turning his back and stripping off the stained clothes, replacing them with his regular shirt and pants. "Your turn to lead. Where to next?"

[-Sentinel-]

"We should join the others and pay Orfelio a visit," Ellen suggested grimly. "He's the one in the center of it all."

[Jesse Drake]

Arik picks up his phone. A very cheap thing, so Arik pushed the buttons carefully. He dials B for Ben. It's time to wrap up this part of the investigation.

"Hey- dude. We've got some news- it's kind of useful. I'll tell you soon, we should meet up."

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben answers the phone, and nods. "Works for me. The apartment you were in last night seems like a good spot. Let's meet there."

He passes the word on to Ellen.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen nodded.

"We'll have to be prepared. Are you at ease with using guns? I took this pistol from a gangster last night."

She handed Ben the Glock 17.

"The clip is almost full."

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben looks at the gun and puffs his cheeks, in a short sigh.

"Honestly... I'm no good with 'em. Thanks for the offer, but I'll stick to my other toys."

He looks up and offers her a grin. "And after all, Batman doesn't use guns. I can't do any less."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen did not smile back.

"Suit yourself. But this isn't a comic book. Keep that in mind."

She strode toward her motorcycle.

"If I didn't think I needed you, Ben, I'd handcuff you somewhere safe and deal with Orfelio on my own. You have courage, I'll grant you that, but you'll also need nerves."

She sat on her Honda, turned the ignition key and looked gravely at the young man, her grey eyes narrowing.

"Do you think you could kill a man, Ben?"

[Lost Demiurge]

Ellen did not smile back.

"Suit yourself. But this isn't a comic book. Keep that in mind."

She strode toward her motorcycle.

"If I didn't think I needed you, Ben, I'd handcuff you somewhere safe and deal with Orfelio on my own. You have courage, I'll grant you that, but you'll also need nerves."

She sat on her Honda, turned the ignition key and looked gravely at the young man, her grey eyes narrowing.

"Do you think you could kill a man, Ben?"

"No comic book? You've obviously never read Vertigo titles... But look," his grin shifts into a grimace. "We've got people dying, hacked to bits for no reason I can see. The cops are compromised, and the crimelord of the city's in on it. I KNOW this is serious."

"Doesn't mean I can't laugh now and then. If I don't, I'll go mad. And listen..." He leans forward. "There's worse things to aspire to, then being Batman."

"And as far as handcuffing me goes... Eh, I could make some comments about normally having to pay for that, but it'd be a lie and you'd probably beat me up for'em." The smile's back, and he shrugs his arms at the joke. "I appreciate the sentiment, but hey... You need all the help you can get with this. We all do."

"Could I kill a man?" His face goes serious as he climbs on the bike behind Ellen, carefully folding his arms in preparation for takeoff.

"I think so." He says. "Wouldn't be my first choice, but if you- er, any one of us were in danger of death or serious hurt, yeah. I'd go lethal. Got preparations for that, never had to use'em yet."

"We'll see, I guess. Best answer I can give you, sorry."

"Anyway, Arik and his buddy are waiting. Let's go and compare notes."

[-Sentinel-]

"Okay. Hold on to something."

In a screech of tires, Ellen's blue Honda surged forward. Since it was daytime, the ex-cop at least tried to respect speed limits and red lights.

[Ichneumon]

Everyone

After a while you all gather at Jotun's house. He is glad to see you again and gives you all a warm welcome. "Glad to see you all again!"

He looks a bit nervous, he really isn't the type of guy that would be good at fighting crime. He has the motivation, but he's just not suited for this kind of work.

"Back already? H-Have you found anything? H-Hope ev-everything-ing went al-alright."

He looks tired: "Y-You know, I-I'm really excited about this, I couldn't sleep for a moment last night. Can I offer you any coffee?"

[Lost Demiurge]

"Coffee? Yes please." Says Ben.

"Okay. That dust is nothing special. It's fake reagants sold by hucksters to new age suckers. The runes cut into the bodies are a scramble of ancient symbols, no real meaning to them."

"I thought of a couple possibilities why this is happening, but I want to hear what you guys found, first. Facts first, then we can speculate."

"Orfelio's girlfriend is a dead end. She suspects something might be up, but she's loyal to the guy. It'd take stupid amounts of convincing, evidence, and yelling to convince her. Probably not worth it."

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen declined the coffee and waited patiently while Ben spoke.

"That's pretty much it," she said once he was done. "We have Orfelio's address, so the obvious next step would be to pay him a visit."

[Ditto]

Derek nods in assent. "My thoughts exactly. My contact basically said all roads lead to him and he's fearful connected, but I don't see why we should beat around the bush. That's why we're in the business we're in - direct results."

[Jesse Drake]

Arik turns to the rest. "Let's go then! I'm just waiting to show these punks what's what. How could so many people live in fear of those cowards! Let's have them deal with real enemies."

[-Sentinel-]

Some more action, at last. Ellen could not wait to meet Orfelio again. From what she had seen of him last night in the warehouse, the man was a spineless coward, but it was better not to take chances against people with so much blood on their hands.

"Got a spare handgun," she said. "Anyone needs it?"

[Jesse Drake]

Arik laughs a deep, hearty laugh. "No- I prefer to beat my foes to death the old fashioned way." He'll smack a giant club in the palm of his hand.

[Ichneumon]

[Alright, I think we all want to go to the action. So, let's just do that...]

The headquarter of the biggest book selling company of America in situated right in the center of town. It's a busy spot with people coming in and out of the building to make many different deals: Book publishers, graphic designers, software engineers, all located in one big building. At the main floor is a receptionist, a woman who's there at all time. She'll see you enter, but given the fact that many people enter the whole day she'll likely not pay attention or bother, unless of course you wait till very late in the evening, when she'll likely notice you, especially if you wear your costumes or behave strangely. There is, a few meter to the left of the reception, an elevator. The elevator goes all up (in total 8 floors). You can easily find out from the signs that are near the elevator, that Frank Orfelio's office must be on floor 5.

When you exit the elevator on the fifth floor you first enter a kind of small cantina area with a few tables and a coffee machine, then a hallway with offices. All the doors are closed and there is no way to see inside. The third door however, has Orfelio's name on it. You can hear movement inside. The entire floor however seems deserted, many people seem to have already gone home, called it a day.

[Now, given the fact that this is a play by post game, I'd say we jump ahead to the point where you all are standing in front of the door, however I want to know now, in your next first post, if you took anything special with you (like extra guns or something). If you decide to take a portable ram or something :smalltongue: I'll require you to roleplay your way through the receptionist to make sure she doesn't get suspicious. Anyway, at the time you get to his office, it will be 6.14 pm]

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben takes a deep breath, and steps out of the elevator, sliding the mask on as he goes. The last bits of costume got changed in a public restroom, on the floor below.

"Okay," he murmurs to the group. "Shock and awe. Let's not shoot unless it's a lethal situation... Remember, we need to get OUT of here afterward, too. Gunshots will make that harder. Anything else goes. Arik, you wanna open the door and get this party started?"

He tenses up, drawing his switchblades for the first time, one to each hand. With a quick flick, Sidewinder's "fangs" are out and ready, bright metal painted black to hide the gleam...

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen put on her mirrored shades and officer cap. She did not draw her gun just yet, but slid the fingers of her right hand into her brass knuckles and took position right next to Sidewinder, her jaw clenched. It occurred to her that they did not not even have a plan: were they here to interrogate Orfelio, or to get rid of him permanently?

I'm fine with either. As long as the killings stop.

[Jesse Drake]

"I don't want to leave him alive." Arik states. "But... I don't know if any of you think we should. He's bound to know something."

Arik will get his weapon ready- and smash in the door. [roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben

"We've got questions and he's got answers. We NEED him alive and talking, Arik."
He pauses for a minute, then swallows.

"At least for a little while. After we get answers... Geeze. Well, I don't know. It'll depend on the answers."

[Jesse Drake]

"We'll leave him alive- and then we'll let him go." He winks from beneath his helmet, which only makes his eyes seem that much creepier normally- and now you kind of wish he hadn't winked just then.

[Ichneumon]

Arik violently smashes the door. The doors flies apart in many different pieces and from inside the room the heroes are greeted by 2 machine guns, pointing right at them.

In the middle of the room is a big desk. One big, fat man sits at the desk. He's bald, wears a suit, has a cigar in his one hand and a gun in his other hand. He's smiling. To his left (your right) are Orfelio and another man who you've never seen before, also dressed smart, wielding a machine gun. To the right of the fat man (your left), is another man also dressed smartly and wielding a gun.

All the four man look like they've been expecting you. Both the machine gun wielding thugs aim at Arik. The fat man aims at Ellen and says:

"Greetings, miss Walt. Please, come in. I don't think we've officially met before. My name is Justinian."

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben... No, Sidewinder, I'm working now, freezes.

Oh. F*ck. What the hell? One, two, three... Yep, all four of 'em with guns. Two of them are...

Machine guns?

MACHINE GUNS? Oh for the love of...

[Ditto]

Derek carries his normal stun baton and is in his Shadow guise. Not that his identity probably a big mystery to our friends. Since Arik bashed in the door with his stick and Ben and Ellen are side by side, I guess that puts Derek in the back of a little diamond formation in the hallway.

I don't believe Oreflio is holding a gun currently. Justinian with a pistol, two goons with machine guns.

I dunno about the rest of you, but I'm inclined to not go in. :smallbiggrin: As long as we're in the hallway, all those guns aren't quite as daunting and Ellen has a chance of keeping them pinned in the room with her gun.

Derek, at the rear of the group, grunted a Hunh. of displeasure. "Bad invite, I think." he says quietly.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik stares at the men holding the guns. "This doesn't seem too smart, but..." He charges one of them- the one farthest from Justinian- and swings his beating stick. After that, he'll duck to the side of the man opposite of the other machine gunner.

[roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben

Ben is startled by Arik surging into motion. He can't possibly... No! Not a Leroy Jenkins!

"Hey, don't-" Too late. The big guy is off and running. Oh sh**. Oh shi*, oh shi*

Oh man. Uh, charging machine guns is a BAD idea in this system. This is gonna suck. We probably should've ran, or let the bad guy gloat or deathtrap us, then escape... Unless... Well, let's try this...

"Onyx! Shoot the can!" Benjamin drops a switchblade, and throws a cannister into the office!

It's pepper spray. Let's see if we can get a good cloud splattering everyone in there! Sorry Jesse... On the other hand, you've got the best chance of not being bothered by it, with your constitution... :D

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen gulped at the sight of Justinian. A year ago, she had sworn to stop him or die trying... and now was just the opportunity to do either. Or both. It did not matter to her: she had nothing to lose.

What did matter was the fact that, this time, her life was not the only one on the line. If she opened fire, the goons with the machine guns would mow them all down.

She had just decided to do nothing when Arik charged the men with the machine guns. Alone. With his stick.

"What the..."

She would have no part in this madness: dying now would serve no purpose. She simply put her hands away from her guns, palms forward, and utterly ignored Ben's command.



((OOC: We will remember you, Arik.))

[Ichneumon]

Arik charges into one of the men.

Justinian shouts surpriced: "What? Do you have a death wish or something?"

The man falls on the ground, yet even before he hits the ground, the other man starts firing at Arik in an uncontrolled Rambo like fashion, giving it all he's got.

[To determine whether or not Ben throws the pepperspray fast enough for the man to get a huge penalty on his aim, let's roll for initiative...]

Ben: [roll0]
Man with machine gun: [roll1]

[Ichneumon]

As soon as Benjamin drops the pepperspray, a thick yellowish cloud of liquid particles fills the air. People start coughing.

The man with the machine gun, while firing at Arik, let's the gun go with one of his hands to reach for his face and eyes. He still manages to fire a few shots:
Dexterity (2) + Firearms (1) + Bonus damage for using a machine gun (4) - Arik's Armor (0) - Penalty for holding a machine gun with 1 hand (1) and penalty for the pepperspray (2)= total dice 4
[roll0] With machine guns, a result of 9 counts as a 10, so for a result of 9, I get another roll.

The other men, Orfelio, Justinian and the man on the ground, also seem taken by the peperspray.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Krag! Let's GO! MOVE!" Ben holds his breath, runs in and grabs Arik, trying to haul him out the door!

We can't win here! Not like this, we gotta run!

He looks at the others. "Covering fire, and GO!"

[Jesse Drake]

It's almost impossible to grab Arik. He's got a blood thirsty look in his eyes. "NO ONE DRAWS A GUN TO THE MIGHTY RAGER AND LIVES!" He roars. He prepares to take another swing, then looks at the others- they clearly couldn't keep up with this kind of combat. He looks at the others and decides to leave with them. A bit of his pride hurt, for leaving his foe. As he leaves, he gives the man one more swing.

[roll0]

[Ichneumon]

The last swing knocks the man on the ground, hitting his head hard. He's dead. He drops the machine gun to the ground. Orfelio turns pale. The other man with a machine gun and Justinian both look surprised and quite scared actually, at the savageness of Arik's attack. They are so surprised, they even forget to aim for a few seconds.

[Jesse Drake]

While being dragged out of combat (though, he's more willing than he lets on), Arik will shout to Orfello and Justinian "And I don't want to see another one of your goons, or anyone in fear of you, or I'll be back!"

Hopefully this works- since I just dropped his men, I figure I could use strength- otherwise, lose the last two on the list. Intimidate, to scare the hell out of them. [roll0]

[Ichneumon]

Each of them stands baffled, paralysed by fear, even Justinian himself. They hadn't expected such courage to run into a man with a machine gun, and they are unsure what to do.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen stood there for a moment, stunned. She had not expected the events to turn in their favor. Then, without thinking, she drew her Glock 17. What the hell, they were going to die anyway. If not today, then tomorrow. Without wasting time to say something dramatic, the ex-cop pointed her pistol at Fat Justinian and pulled the trigger.


Dexterity 4 + Firearms 3 + Pistol specialty + Damage 2 = 10 dice

Spending a Willpower point for +3 dice. Total 13 dice.

[roll0]

10-agains if needed: [roll1]


Edit: Forgot the -2 penalty. Disregard the last two dice.
2 lethal damage. Was hoping for more...


Without waiting to see the result of her shot, Ellen spun and exited the room.

[Ditto]

((Welp, guess I don't need to find those disarming rules after all...))

Derek runs off with the other three. That was nuts. CRAZY nuts. Arik goes first in the future, I'll remember that...

[Lost Demiurge]

As they make it back into the cantina area, Ben shoves Arik toward the elevator. "Get to safety! You're our bait. Call you once we're done." He hisses quietly, shoving a thumb into the DOWN button.

He stops the others, and points at the various tables, and the cantina area. "Set up in ambush! Hide as best you can. Quick, quick now!"

Can I assume we've got a few hiding places around this cantina? A corner or two, a few curtains, something to give us a second or two worth of surprise?

[Jesse Drake]

"So I get to miss the [rest of the] action? It will take more than a few bullets to..." He spits out some blood. "stop me. Fine- I'll wait- but only cause you said so." He gets on, and goes down, holding his club fiercely.

His appearance is not of a man- with the blood dripping down his tattooed chest, his helmet almost blending with his face- which also has blood dripping, from the mouth area. Once he gets down, he'll be ready to charge anyone who might be holding a gun- otherwise, he'll keep going till he gets to the basement floor- or parking garage, if they have it. Somewhere he is sure there will be less people.

[Ditto]

Derek flattens his back against the wall nearest the cantina's edge, hopefully where someone with a machine gun will rush by headed for the elevator. He holds his baton close in anticipation of disarming the gun-toting goon who passes by next. I hope they come charging out here. Otherwise we're just giving them more time to make us sitting ducks if they call in back up...

[Ichneumon]

There are enough places to hide in the catina. There is a big vending machine, a corner in the wall, and indeed, the big windiws have long curtains.

The lowest floor contains the basement, which is deserted and used to store misprinted books.

Moments later, after Arik left downstairs, you see one of the men with a machine gun running towards an elevator in a hurry, cursing and talking to himself. "I've never seen Justinian so angry before. I must kill them or else Justinian may very well kill me."

He still has his gun and he looks furious, scared and very... not so calm. He hasn't noticed you, however if you plan to ambush him, you'll still need to make a seperate check to see if you're stealthy enough.

[Ditto]

That I can do.

Stealth+Dex [roll0] 2 sneaky successes.
Disarm attempt (Weaponry+Dex+Baton): [roll1] 2 successes. If the goon has a Dex of 1 or 2, then the gun is flung 2 yards away. If he has a dex of 3... then I've just annoyed a very angry man with a gun, unless I get a bonus die or two for sneaking up on him.

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen hid behind the vending machine. Her heart pounding in her ears, she patiently waited for the man with the machine gun to arrive.

Test to ambush him, 4 Dexterity + 1 Stealth
[roll0]

1 success.

She sprang from her hideout at the same time as Derek and fired her pistol at the gangster, careful not to hit her ally.

4 Dexterity + 3 Firearms + 1 Pistol specialty + 2 lethal damage
-2 dice since Derek is in close combat with the target.
[roll1]

Whoaaa, 5 successes and 4 ten-agains! :smalleek:

[-Sentinel-]

No less than 4 re-rolls for my shot...

[roll0]

More re-rolls if needed: [roll1]

Okay, it stops at five successes. Can't complain.

[Lost Demiurge]

Ben hides behind a curtain...

[roll0]

Well, poop.


...And leaps out to ambush the gunman, letting the other two have the first move, then running forward, and doing his best to plunge his last switchblade into the guy!


[roll1]

Alright... Looks like I didn't get surprise, so defense matters here... Knocking off two dice will probably mean a miss. Unless you'd like me to reroll. Your call.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik heads into the storage and waits for his call... in the mean time, checking out the various books below. Perhaps there's something that he could use for later use. Or a secret door- what if the bad guys had a secret base down here?! He checks around, never easing off his stick.

[Ichneumon]

The man notices Ben, but before he can act, aim or fire, he falls to the ground, as Ellen's bullets sink into his chest. His death is quick.

There really isn't much special to the books Arik can find. Some books on cooking, a lot of books on American politics...

He does stumble on a secret room, behind one of the cabinets, opening it by pressing a small lever on the side of a shelf. The room is filled with strange bottles with poisons, chloroform, piles of weapons and ammunition, walkie talkies, fake IDs and news paper articles about the killings. You also find incendiary devices, explosives, a couple of ritual glass daggers and a file bottles of the "fake green glass dust shards".

[-Sentinel-]

Ellen checked the fallen man's pulse.

"Gone," she declared dispassionately.

She quickly searched the gangster's pockets and appraised his machine gun with obvious interest.


OOC:
What kind of gun is it? How much ammo?

[Ichneumon]

OOC:
What kind of gun is it? How much ammo?

I'm honestly not very educated about the different types of guns so I'm not sure how well I can answer that question. It's a light machine gun and it has enough ammo in it for... well, it's fully loaded.

[Lost Demiurge]

Sidewinder nods.

"Alright. Good work. NOW we go back to the office. And NOW we take out Justinian and Orfelio. Ready?"

[-Sentinel-]

I'm honestly not very educated about the different types of guns so I'm not sure how well I can answer that question. It's a light machine gun and it has enough ammo in it for... well, it's fully loaded.

They're in the Core rulebook, p. 169: small SMG (http://www.atomiclabrat.com/MAC%20Pages%20for%20Atomic%20Lab%20Rat.com/2007-11-14%20%20ingram.jpg) (useable with one hand), large SMG (http://solhisharif.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/hk20mp51.jpg) and assault rifle (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Steyr_AUG_A3.jpg).

[Jesse Drake]

"Well, if that ain't convenient." Smirks Arik.

Krag will search for any melee weapons- clubs, knives- whatever. Aside from that, he'll look for a bag or a shirt even, and some of the glass powder and some of the incendiary devices. He'll throw a glass dagger in a small "pocket" on his pants. Then, he'll look for the biggest gun he can find (assuming that they have anything that destructive). "What's her face should like this." He comments.

He'll have wrapped the phials with the newspaper articles, and throw the fake ids in for good measure. Then, he'll make his way back to the elevator.

[Ichneumon]

The machine gun Ellen finds is an "Assault Rifle".

The biggest gun Arik can find is an assault rifle too. He finds also 4 knives, 2 police "clubs", 3 incendiary devices. He also finds a backpack. He manages to get to the elevator and up to the rest of the group without any problem.

[Jesse Drake]

Arik rides the elevator, gun in one hand, club in the other- not intending to actually use either at the moment.

After meeting with the group, he'll toss the gun and the other stuff to the others. "I found a hidden cache of weapons and ritual stuff." He quickly exclaims. Then, he'll smile, and ask "Also- anyone know how to work explosives?" He'll pull out an incendiary device as he asks.