Inspectres - Bugscuffle, CA

[Totally Guy]

"Come on in Mr Ha-piz-burg, my name is Kevin Kopford. I understand that you are looking for employees for your new business venture, well you've come to the right place!"

Kevin was a fair, plumpish young man with light hair and a touch of sunburn. His office was dingy and humid and the cabinets around his room smelled of slightly rotten paper.

"I've got to ask you a few questions prior to our search for people for you. Your success is our business!"

He pulled out a file and opened it up. On it was a list of questions.

On the paper it read...


What training do you offer to candidates? What skills are required for the roles?

What is your existing team? How long term will candidates be required?

What is your safety policy and what risks are there to new employees?

What is your stance on equal opportunities? Are you aware of your legal obligations?

Kevin started to read it aloud.



Right now you don't have a job or mission on the go. This means that high dice rolls, should you want to roll, do not yield franchise dice. We'll get to that soon, but first an interview scene can really give a new character a chance to show exactly who he is. I hope you'll agree with me putting the out of character stuff in the same thread as the in character stuff. Fewer threads to maintain. :smallsmile:

[Adlan]

Haippisburgh Barcham, a Man of Average Height, if broader and more muscular than most, smiled at the recruiting agent.

'It's Haippisburgh, Pronounced Haze-Bra' he said, with a thin dry smile, obviously a correction he's had to say to everyone who's ever read his name.
'And Thats my first Name, if you want to be formal, it's Mr Barcham.'

There was a beat, and the Investigator relaxed,

'Hays will do fine though, Mr Barcham is my Father, and Captain doesn't seem very appropriate until I have a command again'

The smile this time was brighter, real, and showed gleaming teeth that were proof he was only half English.

"I've got to ask you a few questions prior to our search for people for you. Your success is our business!"

"What training do you offer to candidates?"

"On the Job training as required, though I'm a qualified Pistol and Rifle Instructor with the NRA"

Barcham reached down into one of his many jacket pockets, the big DPM combat smock the only bit of British Kit he still wore, and produced his Card.

"I'm also qualified to instructor level for SERE, Physical Training, Wilderness Survival and Reconnissance. The Card folded out as Kevin picked it up, revealing several more certifications.

"But I don't know how much of that is necessary for the job"

"What skills are required for the roles?" Kevin contined, eyeing the list of certifications warily.
"Initiative, Self Motivation, Drive and Problem Solving, as well as a good local knowledge of the paranormal, or qualifications in the like.

"What is your existing team?" The Recruiting agent continued,
'Just myself'

"and How long term will candidates be required?"
'Opening Contract is a two week trial, then a 6 month extension if it works out, with eyes to a permanent position.'

"What is your safety policy and what risks are there to new employees?"
'Oh, Employee's will be fully covered under the Inspectres Insurance' Guaranteed payment of your funeral or memorial service, thought Barcham. 'Risks?' he knew he was sounding overly nonchalent as he considered what he remembered from University. 'Death, Dismemberment, Injury, Possesion, Loss of Faculties, Loss of Soul, Excommunication, Erradication from Existance, Loss of Residency on this Material Plane, and Getting very messy' He rattled off the list as if Paranormal 101 was yesterday.

'What is your stance on equal opportunities? Are you aware of your legal obligations?'
'Oh, Fully aware. Inspectre's is an Equal Opportunity Employer, Black or White, Male or Female, Gay or Straight, Dead or Alive, just so long as they can do the job'




OOC: Fine By Me, I assume you want all OOC stuff marked in Grey? I'll claim Olive as Barcham's thinking colour.

[Totally Guy]

Kevin looked down at the notes he'd jotted down in his unique form of shorthand writing.

"We have something called an opt-out clause when dealing with such specific risks and only some candidates choose to opt out."

He itched his thinning hair. Great, yet another place to apply sunscreen...

"However those candidates tend to be the ones suitable for the sort of job I think you have to offer. If it's ok with you I'll arrange to send over a couple of temps for the advertised rate tomorrow. If they later become valued assets we'll set a standard release fee and you can buy them away from us."

Kevin stood and extended his hand.

"Best of luck with your venture!"



We'll introduce the Agent Jordan and potentially H Savvy's guy in the next scene.

[Adlan]

Inspectres Local Branch, Bugscuffle
Main Room

Barcham leaned back in his chair, and Put his feet up on the one the two batterd old Desks that was now his, and patted down his pockets. Given that his usual attire, even in the california heat, had lots of pockets, this took him some time, and after having given up on his safari shirt, his cargo trousers, and finally gotten round to the jacket hanging off the back of his even more battered second hand swivel chair, he drew out a pouch, filled his pipe with tobacco, and began to puff away.

The Pipe was an affectation, but it beat the cigarette's he'd taken up while in Sierra Leone. And if the Americans were going to hire a British accented paranormal investigator, he might as well use the best advertising he could, and play to what they expect.

He'd done not bad for a mornings work, Flyer's distributed, a Local Radio Advert booked, he hoped he'd have scripted something to record by then. The Office Furnished, ready for his new hires to arrive.

He checked again, and it looked very smart. a Fresh Decal on the door (supplied by Inspectres Head office no less). Hopefully no one would mind they'd misspelled the location as Bugscuttle, but the font was flowery and he hoped no one would notice. His Degree was framed, hanging on the wall, Next to a picture of his passing out parade, to look impressive.

He knew Americans loved all things patriotic, but he couldn't yet face putting his medals up on the wall. Hopefully they wouldn't mind mixed patriotism, but he made sure that he had a full size Stars and Stripes, and only a small desk mounted Union Flag.

All he had to do now was sit back, wait for things to arrive, customers, employee's, the tea's/coffee maker he'd ordered.

OCC: [roll0] [roll1] Tech Roll for quality of the Tea/Coffee Machine.

[Totally Guy]

*Knock knock*

"Hey, we got a delivery for a Mr Barcham."

The delivery driver wore a grubby white t-shirt and a baseball cap.

"Just sign here for the Coffee machine."

The coffee machine was big and unwieldy. The delivery driver unpacked it and placed it as directed and left before the trouble started...

On the test run, for seemingly no reason, the coffee spout clogged and the nozzle burst spraying hot coffee everywhere!

Roll 2 dice for stress.

And what bad timing... there was another knock at the door!

This would be the ideal time for the two new staff to show up. :smallsmile:

Roll tables in the spoiler.

{table]|Skill roll chart - Pick highest result
6 |Amazing! Describe the result and gain 2 franchise dice.
5 |Good. Describe the result and gain 1 franchise die.
4 |Fair. Describe the mostly positive result of your action but you must also include negative or humorous effect.
3 |Not great. GM decides. You may suggest a single minor positive effect.
2 |Bad. GM decides.
1 |Terrible. GM hoses you with a dire result.[/table]

{table]|Stress roll chart - Pick lowest result
6 |Cool. You suffer no loss and gain a Cool die.
5 |Blase. You suffer no loss.
4 |Annoyed. 1-die penalty to you next skill roll.
3 |Stressed. Lose a die from an appropriate skill.
2 |Frazzled. Lose 2 dice from an appropriate skill or 1 die from 2 skills.
1 |Meltdown. Lose skill dice equal to stress dice rolled. Lose any cool.[/table]

[Fortuna]

Before Hapisburg can get to the door, Robert has let himself in.

"Nice place, nasty sign, neat desks."

He looks around the room, then turns back. "I'm Robert. The guy in the office said you might have a job for me."

[Adlan]

stress roll [roll0] [roll1]


Barcham looked up from the coffee machine, grabbed the shemagh from the side and wiped away were the scalding fluid had hit him. Leaving the bloody contraption he held out a hand.

'How do you do' he gestured at the Coffee machine.'I think the Coffee attachment is buggerd, I'm a tea drinker myself though.'

'Well, I had some pretty specific requirements. What do you know about the job, and why should you get it? Did you bring your qualifications, documentation and waivers?'

[Totally Guy]

We'll call that a loss of 1 contact. It doesn't look professional being covered in coffee as a first impression.

During Robert's introduction the phone starts ringing.

A call... A customer?.. Could it be?


The man on the phone sounds like a nasal New Yorker, someone from out of town.

"Hey, the name's Big Joey. I got a problem in my basement! It's green goo, coating the floors! Can't get rid of the stuff!"

The difficulty/value of this job is 10 new franchise dice. If you should ever choose to walk away from a job whilst it's in progress the mission will end and you'll only receive half of the franchise dice that you've earned. Earning a total of 10 franchise dice by rolling 5s or 6s on skill tests completes the mission.

[Adlan]

Permenantly? Or Just the next roll, or what? Stupid pick the lowest roll :(, silly me, I wrote it assuming I'd got a 6 :smallfrown:

Barcham held up a finger to Roberts response as he Answered the Call.

"Hi Big Joey, I'll come on Over myself, Right Away Good for you? is it Okay if I pass you over to my Assistant?' Taking a break from dabbing at the coffee, which by now had raised hot burn welts where it had hit him, he gave Robert a Thumbs up. 'I'll get the car Started and you give him your address, and any information you have about the green goo, anything that might have caused it.'

He passed the phone, 'You're Hired, 2 weeks trial. Make sure you write everything down' and then went to get his go bag, which should have everything he needed for an initial investigation.

OCC: Want me to make a tech roll now for the kit as a whole, or later, for each time something is needed?

[Fortuna]

What, should I roll Academics? I'lll roll Academics.

"Green goo, eh? Right then. The first thing I'm going to need you to do is tell me your address." As he speaks, Robert is unfolding a super-slim laptop that he pulled out of a pocket.

Rolling Academics for working out the problem: [roll0]

Rolling Technology for my laptop: [roll1]

EDIT: "Well, have you had any renovations recently?" His laptop's up and running, and hacking next door's wireless. "Any recent deaths in the family?" He's bringing up three different databases at once. "How viscous is it?" Alarms are going off all over five different military installations on opposite sides of the world as he steals computing power from them. "Well, we've got a man on the way now. I'll get some info from him when he gets there."

[Fortuna]

Forgot my specialty die. [roll0]

[Totally Guy]

Adlan: It's temporary. You restore lost dice to your stats to after the completion (or failure) of a mission by spending the franchise dice you've collected. If it was combat for example I'd ask for more rolls and hit athletics.

Name: Captain Haipisburgh* 'Hays' Barcham

*pronounced haze-brah

Academics: 2/2
Athletics: 3/3
Technology: 2/2
Contact: 1/2
Cool: 0

Current franchise dice: 0

Talent: Military (retired)


Name: Robert Jordan

Academics: 3/3
Athletics: 1/1
Technology: 4/4
Contacting: 1/1
Cool: 0

Current Franchise dice: 3

Talent: Computers

Name/Location: Inspectres, Bugscuffle California.
Owner: Haipisburgh Barcham

Credit card (Technology): 1
Library card (Academics): 2
Gym card (Athletics): 1
Bank (Any skill roll, risky): 1

So what's going on then? Can we keep rolls to one per post so that we can talk about the significance of each one.

Random Person: It looks like you want to use a laptop to discover what the green goo is. The technology roll was to say you have a laptop available. This seems to be a personal laptop that you pulled out your back pocket. Either way, you succeeded with a 5. So you can explain exactly how you happen to now have a laptop for business use. You could say to Barcham "Whilst I'm around your company has access to my laptop and I've got a subscription to Cool Ghosties database." or whatever.

You rolled academics to determine what the green goo is. You rolled a 6. That means that you get to tell all of us about the green goo.


Big Joey starts to give his details. "It's a place on Apex street, old building. Brick and mortar, 4 storeys. I just moved in, let's just say I got a lucky inheritance, so yeah, there's been a death. Viscous? Uh, I ain't experimenting, I tried sucking it up with a wet vac but it keeps coming back!"

With 3 dice accumulated to the investigation you may want to take a closer look and move on to acquiring anything you'll need to deal with the goo problem.

[Adlan]

'A Man on the way Huh?' Barcham snorted as he slung the day sack onto his shoulders.
'You get to come along too.'

As they left, Barcham locked up the office, flipped the sign from Open to Closed, and lead the way down the back stairs to the parking lot.

Dougal was sitting there waiting for him, looking like an old dog, lazing in the sunshine. Barcham corrected Robert as he went for what is normally the passanger door.
'He's European, that's drivers side'
Climbed in, slung his gear bag in the back, and started up the engine, first time, and sounding much better than it should have from external appearances. The Internals too, were much nicer.

With a little showey tire spin they were soon on their way to Big Joey's.

'Fancy bit of kit you have there. What's it say about the Green Goo? I've got a few ideas, but I need to do some field testing to confirm. Your Box of tricks know anything that might gives us a clue, any history or similar incidents?'

[Fortuna]

"Well, there's a couple of tell-tale signs. First, it's obviously some sort of side effect. The military keep some damned good databases, but they don't secure them terribly well, and a cross-reference shows that the nearest goo-monster sighting in recorded history was almost twenty miles away. That means we're dealing with something powerful, because it's manifesting without meaning to. Lastly, it's not reacting to anything specific: green would indicate envy, and the guy said he lives alone. That means it's just woken up, and needs its metaphorical coffee.

"Oh, that reminds me: terribly sorry, but I borrowed your identity to log into MilGhostNet. I hope you don't mind, I'll try not to make a habit of it."

[Adlan]

OCC: Being sprayed with hot Coffee has made the Old soldier Grumpy, but then, you would be too if your new hire just admittided a major crime.

'How in the Blue Hell's did you manage that old bean?' Barcham asked mildly as the drove through the relitivly empty roads, traffic was light right now. Hopefully the job would be done before rushour started.
'For 1. I'm retired, for a 2. I was in a Different Army, for a 3. How did you get my Army Number to work with the Bloody Yank Computers? I had enough trouble, and I was the legit user!

The took a turn, and soon left the main streets.

'Don't do it again, it's a crime. I'll let you off this once, but it doesn't bode well for you that you think it's a good idea to tell your new employer that you've committed deception and breaking military secrets on your first day. We don't break the law. unless absolutely necessary ' he finished that last under his breath, as they drove up the drive way to Big Joey's.

'I'm still not convinced it'll be a Goo Monster, Could be Class 4 Ectoplasm, maybe a relic of past events, could be an sensory illusion and be a personal haunting, might even be a fungal infection or a slime mould'

They stopped, and got out of the Landrover. Barcham nocked on the door, and held up his work ID.
'Good Day sir, We're looking for Big Joey, he rang and asked for the finest Paranormal Investigators in this county or the next.

Also the only paranormal investigators, the old soldier thought.

[Totally Guy]

A small man in a cheap suit and pork pie hat answered the door. It's a big house on the street corner.

"Oh, hey, you must be here about the basement."

He steped aside to let you in.

"It's right down there", he opened a door and gestures onwards with his hands.

The steps down descend into total darkness before you see any sign of the goo he had been talking about.

"My electrics down there is blown. Musta short circuited it."

[H Savvy]

As Hapisburg and Robert head down into the basement, they see that the basement is not entirely dark: in the wan glow of a small electric lantern, they can see a grubby long-haired youth wearing a worn t-shirt and jeans working feverishly at a puddle of thick goo with mop.

He seems oblivious to the duo, his back to the stairs, and a closer inspection reveals that he has a pair of headphones on. The quiet sound of drums and bass are leaking out of the young man's headphones, which, at that distance, gives every indication that he must have the volume cranked up beyond sane levels.

((OOC: I was going to show up at the Inspectres office, but I was slow on the draw. This seemed like an interesting alternative introduction))

[Adlan]

OCC: Good Call, makes sense. I suggest asking us for a job as the best way to realisticly bring it up. TechRoll for Barcham's Kit: [roll0][roll1] I assume this means none of Barcham's kit includes anything that will help solve the case. Positive Aspect, he has his basic stuff from university field research. Downside: He dosn't have a university lab to take it back too.

Barcham dug in one of his pockets, and brought out a Headtorch, and clicked it on once it was in place. The Flash of bright LED Light brought the moppers attention round,
'Don't mind us' he said, flashing his Inspectres Card and settling down on one knee, on a relitivly dry patch, to inspect the wall. The Goo seems to be seeping out of it, and he flicks open a thumb break lock knife, and scrapes a little off into the sample vial he has drawn out of his kit bag.
'Hmmmm' Barcham mutters as he desperately wishes he'd packed 'An Introductory Guide to Ectoplasm and other supernatural residues'.

[H Savvy]

Scotty uttered a girlish shriek and whirled around, only to see Hapisburg and Robert. He let out a visible sigh of relief and pulled his headphones down around his neck.

"Jesus, dudes, you scared the crap outta me. I thought you were, like, those ghost dudes or whatever everyone keeps saying is down here."

He pauses and looks at the duo.

"You guys aren't, like, here to fix the power, are you?"

As Hapisburg flashes his Inspectre's card, Scotty's face lights up. "Whoaaa! You bros are like, some of those sweet ghost busting dudes! My roommate's friend's brother like, worked for one of those places. He always made it sound so gnarly! Are you dudes, like, hiring? I'm sick of this cruddy slop-jockey job. For real."

[Fortuna]

Still a bit quiet after the wrong foot that he got off on, Robert digs out a digital camera and starts taking pictures, uploading them straight to a bit of custom software he wrote in the car.

Tech roll: [roll0]

[Totally Guy]

TechRoll for Barcham's Kit: [roll0][roll1] I assume this means none of Barcham's kit includes anything that will help solve the case. Positive Aspect, he has his basic stuff from university field research. Downside: He dosn't have a university lab to take it back too.

What is "Kit"? Can you be a little more specific. I'm supposed to describe the result of your roll but I don't know what it is that you are doing...


Robert digs out a digital camera and starts taking pictures, uploading them straight to a bit of custom software he wrote in the car.

Tech roll: [roll0]

Ok. So tell us how that is helpful. What did you find out?

You're probably pretty close on finding out what it is and how to deal with it. The next step is suiting up and making sure you have all relevant gear for dealing with the problem.

Remember that once per scene a character can address the "camera" in a confessional scene, you can add a detail "Fortunately I had a packet of hot sauce in my pocket..." You can foreshadow something that has to happen "None of us anticipated the explosion would be so big..." or you can place a characteristic on another player which is worth an extra franchise die at the end of the mission if they roleplay that particular aspect, "I couldn't believe how suspicious he was around the client...".

[Adlan]

OCC: The Kit was a roll for his go bag, which I asked about earlier. Had I rolled well, I'd have pulled out an antiquated aetheric disruption detector, or a field testing kit. As it is, I've collected a sample of the goo to take back to labs. I realise it's your description, so if you want to add in anything, feel free, but I felt it important to keep the RP moving.
'Well, actually, I am kinda looking for a field assistant' Barcham said, in response to the erstwhile janitor. 'What can you tell me about the goo' he asked, flipping out a notebook and pulling a pen out of one of his many pockets.

'Has it been there long?
Does it ever respond to you in any way?
Does it respond to music?
Have any pregnant females been exposed to it?
Does the goo change in viscosity or temperature?
Does it ever speak, or communicate with you?
'

He looked a splatter on his nicely pressed trousers
'Does it come out in the wash?'

[Totally Guy]

The basement is a large dark room containing 2 closed doors into other rooms. There is a dank old freezer at an awkward angle against the wall and an in the corner is an old fashioned wrought iron boiler.

These things all have a thin coat of the slime.

[H Savvy]

At the mention of a possible job opening, Scotty's eyes light up. Better not blow this, or I'll be working here forever.

"Well, Im not so good with all that book stuff and junk, but I'll tell ya what I know, duder. This basement's been spooky for, like, as long as I can remember, back to when I started working here under Vito. That's Joey's big brother. Or, like, was, I guess. I used to make deliveries when Vito was in charge, but Joey is a jerk, and he, like, makes me do all this lousy grunt work.

Anyway, this basement was like, major spook central, but there wasn't ever none of this gooey stuff until recently, around the time that Vito bit it. Ever since then, basically, I been down here tryin to get rid of that goop. It don't seem to ever do anything, not to me or to my music or nothin. It pretty much just sits there like this and looks all gross and nasty and stuff.

Hell, I cant even really clean this crud up. I been hitting it with this bucket full of bleach and vinegar and salt and pickled hot pepper brine, that sort gets it a little loosened up, then I suck it up with the wet/dry vac. That works for, like, most of a day, but it'll all be back tomorrow. Oh, and," he gestures to his grubby t-shirt. Numerous goo stains cling to it, "this was my favorite shirt, if that answers your last question.

Say, what sort of work does this field job got, anyhow?"

[Adlan]

OCC: Academics to see if Barcham can recall any thing about the Goo. [roll0][roll1]

If robert wants to be a field operative, I got no issues, it's just the judgement Barcham would make from Roberts words, and vibe.

Hmmm, Barcham made some notes on his pad, flipped back a page to where he'd jotted down what Robert had told him.

'Well, Helping me with any gear, watching my back when we're in the field, and observation, always better to have two sets of eyes, particularly in cases of supernatural stuff. Sometimes spirits can fool just one mind, but not two.'

Barcham glanced over at Robert, and then back down at his notes. Goo Monster sited 20 miles away, but this was oozing out of the ground, seemingly directly from the walls.
He checked down and saw where he'd scratched the wall was stil oozing, but no faster than before. He checked the room carefully, but soon found nothing but sticky goo, which fouled his boots.

'Normally Robert here will be our control man, keeping us informed while he mans the office and controls the radio kit' Barcham made a mental note to get some radio kit.

'I think we're dealing with a broken bargain. Robert, can you find out if that Goo Monster was resolved in any way?'

'Hey Kid? You got a Name? You know anything about the guy Big Joey Inherited this place from?'

He checked his pack, and looked around. There didn't seem to be any more to do in here.

'You can tell me on the way back to the office,'

'Unless you want to do anything more here Robert?'

[Fortuna]

Robert, limiting himself to (mostly) legal methods this time, pulls up another database on his pocket laptop.

"Right, working on it. You got a phone? I can send you a map."

[Totally Guy]

Hey Random person, tell us about the goo already. You discovered something. You've got to tell everyone what you discovered!

As you ascend the stairs Big Joey asks, "So do you know what the deal is? Keep me in the loop fellas."

[Fortuna]

Sorry, brain like a sieve.

"It's a long story. I'll try to keep it simple."

"What we're looking at here is a secondary manifestation of something powerful. Mr. Hapisburgh reckons it's a brogen bargain of some description, and that's pretty plausible. I'm going to have to say it's probably a pseudo-demonic entity of some description, bound by a pact of some sort, that's now waking up. I would guess there's some sort of ritual, possibly even a sacrifice, that needs to be performed regularly. Once that was missed, the being started to wake up. It can't be shut down now, not without some heavy-duty stuff. Depending on what we've got back at the office, I may need to swing by home and grab some extra materials. One way or another, it won't get much worse for at least another 24 hours. We might have as long as a week before the end of the world as we know it."

[Adlan]

As they squeezed out the door past Big Joey, Barcham continued the conversation.
'Could be a change of ownership issue... Were there any Clauses or Conditions mentioned in the will you haven't fulfilled yet? Maybe something you should never move? A Room you should enter, or Land that can never be sold off?'


(OCC: Rolling my 1 dice of contact to see if we can get anything out of him that might help us solve this. d6, Glug, you describe it, I don't want you to be left out, and I gotta sleep, if that's okay?)

[Adlan]

OCC: For some reason, Dice didn't work in the last post. Still pretty swamped. [roll0]

[Totally Guy]

Glug, you describe it, I don't want you to be left out, and I gotta sleep, if that's okay?)

I'm not happy with that. Guy's when you roll high numbers and you discover something then introduce it into the fiction! You've just been wandering around saying "Yeah, goo," and looking at your feet when you could be saying cool things like "We need to use an array of prisms and light create a rainbow over this place."

It's time to deal with the problem. How are you going to do that?

[Adlan]

((OCC: Well, I don't know about the other players, but it's a bit of a paradigm shift, to get used to a GM mostly sitting back. Having to take a proactive role is a bit different. I'll do my best. Also, what sort of pacing were you expecting for this, I don't want to trample on your toes.))

'Well.... there's this old well out back? It was blocked up, but I wanted to get a new pump put in' Big Joey said, a little intimidated by a slightly miffed, more than slightly british coffee burned investigator.

'An old well? Sounds possible' Especially if it tapped into the same aquifer as the source for the other goo monster.

'Flash can show you where it is' Big Joey continued, as the young assistant followed up the stairs.

* * * * * * * * *

CONFESSIONAL
'Little did I know, the new hire would prove to be a good decision, in the end. And I wouldn't have to worry about the little stain of goo.

* * * * * * * * *

The well was about 4' across, and little more than a raised lip. The Covering over on one side was old, and had been ripped up with some leavers. On the inside of the heavily reinforced lid, the broken marks of seals and runes remained. In what could be seen of the well, the runes and signs continued down into the darkness
'Yup, this is it' Barcham said. Hold on, I'll get Dougal'

Barcham returned with the rumbling engine of the landrover, and he seemed to be setting something up from the back. He seemed to be tying together lots of ropes.
OCC: Tech Roll for using Dougal's winch, and bodging together a climbing harness to lower someone into the well, to record as many pictures, take samples of the goo, and generally inspect.

Barcham is going to have to operate the winch, Robert's skills are definately in managing and setting up the camera and such like. hence the confessional. Good work Expendable Flash! [roll0][roll1]

[Adlan]

Bugger! Info on the Rover: It will have a front mounted winch driven by a power take off from the main engine. With about 500' of steel cable.

[Totally Guy]

Also, what sort of pacing were you expecting for this, I don't want to trample on your toes.

Actually the pacing is included in the mechanics. This mission I said was worth 10 franchise dice. You've earned 3 so far and Random Person has earned 4. This means that the mission is 70% done. When you earn the 10th die you describe yourselves succeeding the mission. You then spend your dice to heal up any damage I did to you guys with the stress rolls, that'd be you going on vacation or the hospital! Any leftover dice go back into the card and bank dice. Your team can spend these dice to add to a roll.

I realise just how different this game is. It'll challenge your mindset. :smallsmile:

Name: Captain Haipisburgh* 'Hays' Barcham
*pronounced haze-brah

Academics: 2/2
Athletics: 3/3
Technology: 2/2
Contact: 1/2
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Military (retired)

Current Franchise dice: 3

Name: Robert Jordan

Academics: 3/3
Athletics: 1/1
Technology: 4/4
Contact: 1/1
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Computers

Current Franchise dice: 4

Name: Scotty "Flash" Peterson

Academics: 1/1
Athletics: 4/4
Technology: 2/2
Contact: 2/2
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Nimble

Current Franchise Dice: 0

Name/Location: Inspectres, Bugscuffle California.
Owner: Haipisburgh Barcham

Credit card (Technology): 1
Library card (Academics): 2
Gym card (Athletics): 1
Bank (Any skill roll, risky): 1

Who is getting winched down? Flash?

As Barcham started to lower down his man he felt a slight twinge from Dougal. The handbrake had failed! As the winch extended further, the further Dougal moved back.

Barcham tried to stop his poor Dougal from moving back further but it was no good. It scraped its whole side along Big Joey's gateway before coming to a stop!

Then the winch came off!

Barcham should roll 3 stress dice for seeing his precious damaged. It'll shake up his nerves somewhat! Whoever just fell down the well... Roll 4 stress dice. It'll be a nasty bump!

Remember to count the lowest die for stress.

If you ever roll all 6s on a stress roll you gain 1 point of cool. Cool can be spent to add dice on any roll. Whilst you have 1 Cool point you are immune to the lowest stress roll and use the next lowest instead. As you gain Cool points (to a max 3) you become more immune to stress.

[H Savvy]

((Rolling Stress Dice: [roll0]))

[Totally Guy]

((Rolling Stress Dice: [roll0]))

I take it you are down the well. :) I'll hit your Athletics by 3 and academics by 1. Man, I'm being hard on you. :smalltongue: Remember that you can use the cards to help your rolls.

With a fall and a rough landing Flash was at the bottom of darkest, most foul smelling well he'd ever been at the bottom of!

But this wasn't a small area. No. The well branched off in different directions.

[H Savvy]

This day was going south fast. Flash hadn't wanted to go down the well at all, but knew that the only way to avoid was walking away from both jobs. Joey "volunteered" Scotty for the role, not knowing that Scotty was ready to jump ship in the blink of an eye. Only, the ship Scotty was jumping to still required going down the well. Effin rad.

And then halfway down the well, things proceeded to go from worse to worser.

Moaning and laying on the ground at the bottom of the well was losing some of its initial appeal, and Flash knew that it wasn't a permanent solution, anyway. Slowly coming back to his senses, he called back up the well. "Like, what the hell, guys?! I like, don't think I broke my legs or anything, but, like, I'm in a lot of pain here, bros, and I'm starting to like, you know, have some like second thoughts. Can I at least get like, a ghost-zapper raygun thing?

Oh and also this well is dry and really big. Like, multiple tunnels big. What should I, like, do?"

[Fortuna]

"Hold on, I'm coming down."

OOC: Rolling Athletics to climb down the well. Broken legs, here I come!

[roll0]

A 'single minor positive effect', eh? Well, mine is not breaking anything.

[Totally Guy]

As Robert descends down the well he slips and falls into the chamber. Being a fairly rotund individual he bounced a little straight past Flash and rolled down one of the passageways.

He picked up a thin layer of goo all over himself. Yuck.

This particular chamber is part of the slime infestation.

Roll 3 Stress dice. :smallbiggrin:

[Fortuna]

Ouch. 3d6]

Picking himself up from the floor, Robert looks around. "Yep, this is definitely the place." Turning around and calling up the well to Hapisburgh, he says "Found the source! Do we have bell, book and candle up there?"

[Fortuna]

Fixng the roll 3d6

[Fortuna]

What?

[roll0]

[Totally Guy]

Name: Captain Haipisburgh* 'Hays' Barcham
*pronounced haze-brah

Pending Stress Roll of 3
Academics: 2/2
Athletics: 3/3
Technology: 2/2
Contact: 1/2
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Military (retired)

Current Franchise dice: 3

Name: Robert Jordan

Academics: 2/3
Athletics: 0/1
Technology: 4/4
Contact: 0/1
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Computers

Current Franchise dice: 4

Name: Scotty "Flash" Peterson

Academics: 0/1
Athletics: 1/4
Technology: 2/2
Contact: 2/2
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Nimble

Current Franchise Dice: 0

Name/Location: Inspectres, Bugscuffle California.
Owner: Haipisburgh Barcham

Credit card (Technology): 1
Library card (Academics): 2
Gym card (Athletics): 1
Bank (Any skill roll, risky): 1

Ouch. I've knocked one off Robert's Academics, Athletics and Contact. Don't be scared of using the Bank and Cards dice. Sure they cost 1 to replace later but if they prevent you having to make a big stress roll you'll be better off in the long run.

By the light of Flash's flashlight you see the goo in the room actively moving on its own. It's swirling and taking form.

[Adlan]

OCC: [roll0][roll1][roll2] Can I claim my Military Bonus on this? Dealing with a sudden disaster like this is the sort of stuff you have to get used to. Barcham is going to do his best to jump into Dougal and halt the runaway machine, and then, once the car is under control, he'll return to the well and help out his new employees.

[Totally Guy]

We'll say that you did those things after your vehicle was scratched because failed rolls are failed rolls. I was hurting something that I thought you cared about. If the military experience is relevant to the skill roll you can ask for it. Keeping cool under pressure is for cool dice. You'll get cool later I'm sure of it. This game is harder than I thought it would be but all you guys are having rotten luck too!

I don't know if you've noticed but the GM doesn't actually roll any dice... If you want me to roll Stress for you to save time you could ask me to do that.

So Barcham rolled a 1 and loses 3 dice. I'll take 2 out of technology; you're thinking about the repair bill for Dougal, and 1 out of Academics; your head is swimming with the cries of your agents in the well.

Scotty and Robert have both gone down the well now. You can hear Scotty lamenting the absence of a proton pack from the dark depths.

[Adlan]

Might speed play up a bit if you roll the stress tests, and we can then incorporate them into our next posts.
Barcham made it to his battered machine. Now the Outside had even more dents, and the paint work, not bright and gleaming before, was scratched and dented.

I hope that's covered under my insurance, barcham thought to himself, as he checked it, not seeing anything could have caused the fault, but having made sure it was working again, he reached through into the back seats, and grabbed another of the kits he kept inside, this one, an essential he knew was well stocked.

He walked back upto the well. They weren't screaming enough for it to be really serious.

'You guys need a first aid kit?' he hollered down, into the blackness of the well. 'Why the hell did you go down Robert? Your a Brave Man I'll give you that' Barcham examined the seals.
'Can you see any flow or concentration to the goo?'

[H Savvy]

Oh, it's flowing, bro. We've got some seriously intense flow here. It's kinda freakin me out a little. And what's the status on that raygun, dude?"

EDIT:I think, personally... superstitiously... that I'd prefer to roll my own dice. Especially since it won't actually speed things up for Glug to roll them. Since we'd have to wait for whomever the roll was for to react to it with a post, they may as well simply roll their own dice.

[Totally Guy]

EDIT:I think, personally... superstitiously... that I'd prefer to roll my own dice. Especially since it won't actually speed things up for Glug to roll them. Since we'd have to wait for whomever the roll was for to react to it with a post, they may as well simply roll their own dice.

But when you guys lose dice to a stat I then need to post to say where it's lost from. If you can be responsible for that yourself then go for it. Physical injury should be dealt with by dropping athletics, being shaken up might affect academics, etc... Justify it.

[Adlan]

'When we get back to the office, you can have Robert order you one off e-bay' Barcham had bodged together a single strand knotted rope ladder, and lashed it securely so that, at the very least, he'd be able to climb back up. He was impressed his newly hired computer guys attitude, going down an old well on his own, but there were important things they taught at Sandhurst, and more important ones a young officer got knocked into their head by old sergeants, one of them being, think before you stick your neck out.

'Right, I'm comming down'
he checked his pockets, his basic gear was there, but most importantly, head torch, pistol, and a small book of various prayers from each of the words major religions.

OCC: Athletics Roll for coming down and then, the further sucess of his attempting to solve what's going on down there [roll0][roll1][roll2]

[Adlan]

Well, I call that pretty good :D

Barcham free absailed down the side of the well with grace and ease, all most as if he'd been doing it for years... which he had. he landed with a splash, and was glad he'd gone for breathable boots in the hot california sun, that'd dry quickly once they got out. He flicked the head torch on, and joined the others at the tunnels.
'Right lads, enjoying your first day as Inspecters Agents?'

He looked at the situation... and considered. His first glances had been to check over the two guys, one new, and the other not exactly cut out for the physical side of the job. He was very relieved to see they were okay.

'Dam, I was hoping we'd find the remains closer to main shaft of the well. But it seems as if we have a direction to follow. Robert, will you wait here and work on identifying the runes, signs and marks? he wiped away a patch of goo on the wall, to reveal that they continued even to this depth, into the seemingly natural tunnel.

'Me and Flash will continue on, and deal with this at it's source, but I'd appriciate having you back here in case... he let that trail off, not wanting to startle them, and considering the list of risks too long to be meaningful.

'Keep an Eye peeled flash, for remains of some sort. And Robert, he turned to the tech geek 'Gimmie a shout if you find anything that might be useful on the seals?, I'm sorry I got tetchy about sources earlier.'

[Fortuna]

Poking at his ankle, Robert winces. "Sure."

Digging into his laptop bag, he pulls out a book, peering at it in the dim light.

Rolling... Technology, I guess, for my new old grimoire. [roll0]

The title is incomprehensible, and the spine is fraying a little bit, but once Robert opens the books it really starts to look bad. The crayon all over the title page doesn't improve anyone's confidence, either. Robert, however, seems to be able to read it just fine, and pulls out a crayon that looks suspiciously like the one all over the book.

"Guys? We've got a problem..."

==Confessional==

"To be fair, I don't think anyone expected the well to be alive..."

====

[Totally Guy]

Name: Captain Haipisburgh* 'Hays' Barcham
*pronounced haze-brah

Academics: 1/2
Athletics: 3/3
Technology: 0/2
Contact: 1/2
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Military (retired)

Current Franchise dice: 5

Name: Robert Jordan

Academics: 2/3
Athletics: 0/1
Technology: 4/4
Contact: 0/1
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Computers

Current Franchise dice: 5

Name: Scotty "Flash" Peterson

Academics: 0/1
Athletics: 1/4
Technology: 2/2
Contact: 2/2
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Nimble

Current Franchise Dice: 0

Name/Location: Inspectres, Bugscuffle California.
Owner: Haipisburgh Barcham

Credit card (Technology): 1
Library card (Academics): 2
Gym card (Athletics): 1
Bank (Any skill roll, risky): 1

Ok guys you've earned all the franchise dice that this job has to offer. So Random Person, describe Robert finding out something crucial about the seals. Barcham and Flash use that information to resolve the situation. You can still roll dice but they don't award franchise dice on successful rolls now.

Flash has got to prove himself useful to Barcham (even if it's just fluff) as Barcham made a confessional saying so.

I apologise as I didn't share the helping rules yet: Declare that your guy is helping another character and say what they are doing to help. Roll your skill and observe the results. Donate one observed die to the player you are helping. The number on that die can be used by the character you are helping as their result. If you donate a 6, they are successful, if you donate a 4, the player rolls their own dice and if the 4 is still the highest they use the 4 result. The dice you have left in front of you determine your own level of success to the helping action you. The helper never earns franchise dice from this roll.

Edit: Oh wow I got ninja'd by RP's edit... Ohh! How exciting!

The well almost moves a little as it laughs at the three of you with a deep "Oh ho ho!"

[Adlan]

'Well.... Barcham said, with surprising calm for someone who's realised he's inside a supernatural organism '...this is awkward'

he tried desperately to remember anything from his days at Uni that might help solve this case. Except it was solved. It just wasn't resolved.

'I don't suppose there's anything we could do for you is there?' Barcham said, keeping his voice as steady as he could.
'We are appointed by the new inhabitant of the land above. He wishes to resolve the motion of your goo into his cellar. What Might you wish that we could provide.'

*Confessional*
Ominous Laughter is almost always a sign of Intellect. -Prof. Doom's lectures in 2nd year

[Totally Guy]

An echo from Hay's question rang out... as if it was being considered.

"Music..." The deep cavern seemed to groan. "The house plays bad music..."

The goo seemed to swell and materialise with the vibrations of the cavern's voice.

[H Savvy]

Scotty was riding the razor's edge. His nerves were frayed and he was pretty sure one of his arms was sprained or something. Being inside of a giant laughing well was fast pushing him beyond his limits. He was thinking about trying to make a quick break for the rope ladder, anything to just get out of there.

But then the well spoke. And while normally that would have been just exactly the sort of thing that would have pushed him over the edge and scrambling up the rope, the words that the well spoke stopped him dead in his tracks. Here was something he could relate to.

"I KNOW! Joey has the absolute worst taste in music ever. God, what a useless jerk. I mean, Vito wasn't exactly cutting edge in his taste, but he at least had taste. Now it's all this easy listening muzak light jazz CRAP! I have to wear headphones at work just to make it through the day with my sanity.

...actually..."

Flash slips the headphones from around his neck where they hung, and sets them on the ground of the well. Unclipping his walkman from his belt, he cranks the volume to max and presses play.

"Yo. well-ghost dude! Feast your ears on this. This track is so fresh. You're gonna flip!"

A loud blast of west-coast hip-hop pours out of the headphones, echoing through all the tunnels. The mysterious goo starts to pulse in time with the beat, and then, slowly, recede into the depths of the well.

[Totally Guy]

The entire well moved to the hip hop beats. The mouth of the well relaxed into into almost a conical shape. This amplified the music, carrying it up to Big Joey at the top.

"What's going on down there?" yelled Joey with his nasal voice. "Did you zap it already? And what's with the music?"


That's pretty much mission accomplished. The pacing is kind of built into the game so when the franchise dice are nearly full make moves that you can describe winning with if you are successful.

So we'll conclude the scene with Big Joey then follow that with some downtime.

To recover your stats you need to spend the franchise dice you earned on vacation.

Hays lost 4 out of stats in total. So Adlan, if you choose to spend 4 on vacation you'll be fully healed and it'll take a week or so. You'll then have 1 remaining die to put into the library/gym/credit cards or bank.

Robert lost 3 from his stats. Random person, if you spend 3 dice of your 5 on recovery we can call that a long weekend. You'll then have 2 dice to improve the franchise with.

Unfortunately Scotty has lost dice too but has no money to his name for time off. So you'll be going into the next mission injured. It takes the course of a few missions like that for me to kill you off :p. You should spend the cards and the bank dice to augment your rolls. That's what it's there for.

Does everyone want to play the next mission? If you want to sit out and come back in later then that's no problem. Daravon_35 has messaged me asking if he can join in? What do you guys say?

[Fortuna]

Sure, that sounds good.

[Adlan]

Can I give Scotty my extra die? I am his employer, and I did throw him down the well. IF it's cool with everyone, this evening I'll post up a jump ahead to us in the office wrapping up this mission and establishing the firm. I have no problem with adding in another player, but we might need more office space.

Barcham Climbed hand over hand up the rope ladder, and hauled himself out into the day light. He began setting up the winch on Dougal again, to assist robert in making it out of the pit. 'Well, we've fixed the problem, however, due to enviroacoustical vibrations emanating from your own astheticmuso choices, it might reoccour. If it does you can use these coupons and there'll be no call out fee, we'll keep your records on file.'
Barcham pressed a slightly bedraggled Inspectres leaflet into Big Joey's hand.
'But I see no chance of any major issues and your basement should now be completely clear.'

Barcham moved onto his beloved landrover, inspecting the scrapes and damage. Fortunately, it was just cosmetic damage, and he didn't love Dougal for her beauty.

'Now I'll just retrieve my employee's...

'Employee's?' Asked Big Joey 'I only paid for the two person call out, I don't want any extra charges.'

'Oh, no extra charge, He's a new guy, just hired' Scotty poked his head over the parapet.
'Ah, here comes my new executive field assistant and senior equipment logistician... gimmie a hand with the winch, help the Analyst in Chief out of the well'

[Totally Guy]

I actually reread the rules on recovery last night and found out that you can spend Bank dice on recovery too.

So Savvy can choose heal up Scotty by 1 but it'll cost that Bank die left over from the mission.

If I let you share dice then we'd totally lose the potential element of the franchise outgrowing the bedraggled employees. And that's a good conflict that I don't want to disable.

[H Savvy]

Scotty blinks at Joey and Haipsburg for a minute. "Oh, did I forget to mention?" Scotty asks, gingerly clambering out of the well, favoring one arm. "This ghost dude offered me a sick ghost job, and I'm taking it. Bite me, Joey. You can take your crummy job, your angry tyrannical rants, and your lousy music and shove it. I quit!"

((So, I think that I would like to take that 1 die to recover a point of physical. Considering that I'm the one on the team who actually put points into it, I feel like it may come in handy... Thoughts?))

[Totally Guy]

Big Joey furrowed his brow and adjusted his pork pie hat.

"Hays, keep your employee in line else bad word of mouth'll spread." He crumpled the flyer and stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

"I want to check my basement and if it's clear I'll get out my cheque book. If not." He twisted his mouth up into a sneer at Scotty.



The basement was clear and after being told to keep his light jazz to a minimum he was a satisfied customer.

Savvy, I think that's a good choice. It's a team resource, you can call it.

[Adlan]

OCC: Well, in that case, I'll spend my left over point to put some more money back in the savings account. Huzzah! Time Jump

'Well Team, I think we've earned this'
Barcham said, as he passed out the drinks. The Cheque had cleared, the first months rent and payroll looked like they were going to be made, and the word would soon get around that they'd successfully done the job, and on the same day they were called out.

The Office was looking good. His own desk set up well, a sample of goo and the case file locked away in the storage cupboard, and Robert and Scotty sharing the other desk were just putting their own touches of personalisation to their work space.

'Now all we need to do is wait for the next customer'

[H Savvy]

((I'm going to go for it))

Scotty was pretty pleased with himself. He'd finally ditched that awful job working for Joey (which had once been a decent but enjoyable job working for Vito), he'd landed an exciting new job fighting the supernatural, and despite the fact that one of his arms was going to be in a sling for the next few weeks, he wasn't in any pain anymore, and he'd sustained no serious injuries.

He grabbed the proffered drink from his new boss with his off-hand. Cracking it open, he settled into his new chair at his new desk. Oh yeah... things were really looking up now. If his luck kept up, maybe The Acid Drop Action Heroes (his current band) would catch their big break... Yeah. And maybe hell's having a particularly cold day today...

Still, he reflected as he sipped his beverage, things were good. He was going to like it here.

[Totally Guy]

The phone rang.

It was Kevin Kopford.

"Hey, it's Kevin from the agency, I've just had a guy sign the opt out clause and I thought of you. He's very professional looking, seems smart. If you aren't busy I could send him over for an interview. His name is Jay Bartrond."

[Daravon_35]

Couldn't find an OOC thread for this, so was assuming you just did it in spoilers. I'm here and ready to join as Jay Bartrand, suave speaky guy extraordinaire. Think I'm just waiting for my character to be introduced a little more or for them to take the call/accept the interview, then he'll come in :smallbiggrin:.

Oh also, I'm really looking forward to playing, so thank you all for letting me join in the game. I really appreciate it.

[Fortuna]

Well, we usually use Gray/Grey for OOC. Nevertheless, welcome! Pull up a sofa!

Robert was already on his laptop before the phone was off the hook. His boss might not approve of any illegal activity, but he couldn't disapprove if he didn't know, now could he?

At any rate, it was child's play to pull up a database and tap the phone line. Jay Bartrond, Jay Bartrond...

"Well, who is it?"

[Adlan]

'We're getting another new guy from the Agency, Kevin say's he'll be here any minute'

Barcham packed his pipe, and in flagrant disregard of the anti-smoking legislation, puffed up a good bowl.
He leaned his chair back, and propped his bots up on the desk.



OCC: Welcome aboard.

[Daravon_35]

Jay Bartrand knocked on the door and then strode into the place with his usual air of confidence masking his usual air of unsureideness, but nonetheless he strode in and looked around.

As he entered he nodded in greeting as he put up his hand to wave hi, then looking confused, perhaps at himself, he said."Hi Kevin, sent me over for an interview. I hope this is the right place." Then without being asked he took a seat in front of Barcham's desk.

[Adlan]

Barcham swept aside the paperwork he'd been doing when the new hire came in. Confident, Self assured, even if his sense of manners had an American's, particularly a Yank Civilian's sensibilities,
'Certainly Is Mr?....

'So, You've signed all the waivers?....
What experiance do you have with the supernatural?...
Any other relevant skills?...'

[Daravon_35]

"Bartrand, Jay Bartrand." He said as he stuck out his hand to shake Barcham's, as he smiled.

"Yes that's correct Kevin had me sign all the waivers, although some seemed a little unnecessary, if I might say so. I mean what's with the balding waiver? I surely hope we won't be doing anything that causes that." He says as he runs his fingers through his hair, almost on instinct.

"Well I can't say I've ever really dealt with the supernatural hands on, nor can I say I'm the most technologically savvy or athletic guy. But I have done extensive reading on the supernatural and various other subjects. He pauses for a moment, but only a moment.

"As well as, well I'm not sure how to put this, but everyone just can't seem to get enough of me." As he stops talking he once again flashes an extremely pearly white smile.

[Adlan]

Barcham would have sworn he could have heard the Ting from those pearlies, as the glinted in the california sunshine. The Man was confident, over confident, and normally such cockyness Barcham would find as arrogance, particularly as he was over used to english understatement. But in Jay, it actually worked, the guy had a real charisma.

Perfect.
'Well, excellent. Everyone starts on a two week contract and then we see how it works out. Let me introduce you to the team'

'This is Scotty' He indiciated the atheltic individual rocking out to some music on his headphones, 'He's head of Equipment Transport and my executive field assistant'

'Robert, our Analyst in Chief' He indicated the only other man in the room, who was working busily on something Barcham felt he was better off not knowing behind his computer.

'Now, first things first, we'll have to get you set up with a work space. Scotty, can you dig out the folding desk from the storage cupboard? And Then we'll set you up with the phone. From what you say about yourself, I'll try you as our head of extracorporate communications'

[Totally Guy]

About an hour after Jay's arrival a rather timid lady knocked at the door.

She poked her head inside. "Hi, is this the right place? Inspectres, you do ghosts, right? Ummm, well... I have this mirror... a mirror in my house and it scares me."

She had a pushchair containing an infant and another young girl of about 4 years old stood beside her. The two children stayed very quiet and well behaved as they looked around the room at the ceilings and furniture.

"When it first scared me I replaced the mirrored glass. The new glass hasn't helped either. In fact it cracked, but it's the exact same crack as the last glass had. And I see bad things in it. The reflection doesn't always match the things in the room."

So all agents are in. This job is worth 14 franchise dice. Random Person, please designate the 5 franchise dice you earned to healing up and improving the franchise cards/bank.

Lets try to keep to the three rough phases: Investigation, Procuring stuff to deal with the problem, Dealing with the problem. We can only do the "I pull out a new item from my back pocket" so many times before it gets old, although you can do that with a confessional, but confessionals are limited to one per scene.

Edit: And MAJOR props for starting with an interview. I'd start every session of everything with an interview if I had my way. I love the characterisation they can achieve. We all know a lot about Jay now from the answers. We also firm up our understanding of Hays by his reactions and choice of questions.

[Daravon_35]

Jay smiled once again, "Two weeks sounds great, although I am hoping to be here for the long haul." Then saying hi and introducing himself to the rest of the crew he went to sit as his desk and get settled in when the woman arrived.

[Fortuna]

Well, I've spent three on healing up. The remaining two... Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt Robert to spend a bit more time in the gym.

Robert, a-tinkering away on his computer, glanced up as the woman described the problem. "Sounds bad. I've heard of a few cases like that. Have you thought of just removing or selling the mirror?"

[Totally Guy]

Name: Captain Haipisburgh* 'Hays' Barcham
*pronounced haze-brah
Academics: 2/2
Athletics: 3/3
Technology: 2/2
Contact: 2/2
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Military (retired)
Current franchise dice: 0


Name: Robert Jordan
Academics: 3/3
Athletics: 1/1
Technology: 4/4
Contact: 1/1
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Computers
Current Franchise dice: 0


Name: Scotty "Flash" Peterson
Academics: 1/1
Athletics: 4/4
Technology: 2/2
Contact: 2/2
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Nimble
Current Franchise Dice: 0


Name: Jay Bartrond
Academics: 3/3
Athletics: 1/1
Technology: 1/1
Contact: 4/4
Cool: 0/3
Talent: Good looking
Current Franchise dice: 0


Franchise: Inspectres, Bugscuffle California.
Total worth: 7
Credit card (Technology): 1
Library card (Academics): 2
Gym card (Athletics): 3
Bank (Any skill roll, risky): 1
Mission Completion: 0/14

"Hmmm, no I haven't ever considered getting rid of it... I guess it's just been there so long that I just accepted it was always there..."

She thinks a while. She opens up a note book and writes a note for herself to get rid of the mirror. The note book has very few pages left, most of which have been torn out.

"I think I will throw out the mirror. Thank you for your time."

[Daravon_35]

Jay seems to perk up from the little work he was doing of arranging his empty desk when he heard they had a perspective client. Almost jumping from his seat he rushes forward to greet the woman as she starts to head for the door, "Nonsense! Why would you want to throw out a wonderful mirror like that? You've come to just the right place indeed. We can fix this mirror of yours no problem, I'm sure."

As he continues to talk, a smile stays spread across his face the entire time. "Of course... we'll have to do some research into what's going on and anything with a crack in it's going to cost extra. I mean I'm sure you understand, it's not like we're dealing with something brand new, these things have extra cost. Oh and of course there could be collateral damage, but I mean that's to be expected, when everything's not technically already in one piece in the first place, right?"

He stops to take in a breath of air before continuing, without letting her respond, "Just give that good man over there your information and we'll get right on your case. Oh and of course we'll probably have to ask you a few more questions at some point, I'm sure that'll be ok, right?" As he finishes he points over at Barcham and smiles one of his prize winning doozies .

Let me know if that would take a contact (persuasion roll). Still trying to get my head around the game system a little. If it does I'll roll up and will of course put in her reply based on my roll.

[Totally Guy]

What are you trying to do? It seems like you are trying to stop her from walking away. Sure you can roll for it, but the job itself is not at stake. If you fail she'll leave but will later be back under a different set of circumstances. If you succeed, feel free to name her, it seems I've not given her a name yet.

[Daravon_35]

Ok what I thought, why I didn't roll. I wasn't really trying to accomplish anything other then yeah having her stay. I figured she'd be back if she did leave, but Jay wouldn't let a perspective customer walk away... not his style.

Just was making sure, I know the game is heavily based on player interaction and writing up stuff, so I didn't want to come out of the gate lacking. I'd rather jump the gun, as they say, then be left behind. Hope that makes sense :smalltongue:

Edit: Dang your ninja Edits :smallbiggrin:. Ok will roll up to keep her to stay and name her and everything, if I succeed* and going to be a double post, since I can't edit in a roll, so sorry for that.

[Daravon_35]

Contacts: [roll0]

Miss Leopold turned and looked at Jay and then back to Barcham, "My my, you do have very enthusiastic employees now don't you? I guess I could stay and we could talk about my mirror some more, but I don't like all this talk about extras?" She walked back to Barcham's desk, pushing Jay out of her way as he fell back from her surprising strength, sprawling himself across the floor, his usual smile no longer on his face.

"I swear these days it's all extra this and extra that. Back in my day when you hired someone to fix a spooky old cracked mirror, they did it and did it right the first time. No fuss, no muss." She continued as she sat down in front of the desk. "So now... how about we talk about my mirror and perhaps price?" This time as she talked, she smiled, a smile that seemed very similar to a certain someone's doozy.

[Adlan]

'Well Miss' Barcham puffed on his pipe, He knew the best way to play this. The American's loved the classic british officer act, and combined with a bit of Sherlock Holmes imagery, their confidence was soon won. 'Jay here is new, and is just trying to prove to his boss what a helpful bloke he can be'

'Now, Sit down, we'll get you a good Cup of Tea'
Barcham directed her attention to the slightly temperamental machine, and while her gaze was turned, motioned desperately for someone to give her a chair, and smoothly changed back, as she turned.
OCC I guess by now I'll need to roll for contacts, as I might not pull this off. [roll0][roll1] Continued in next post.

[Adlan]

But Barcham's desperate motions dragged her eye's back around, and he realised his swave act completely failed.
'Sorry Miss, I'm afraid we're all rather new, we haven't yet really got organised for visitors.

*Confessional* It was then that I realised, that bloody drinks machine needed a repair man, or to be thrown out

[Totally Guy]

What were you trying to do? I need to know what you were attempting in order to understand what is happening in the game.

I need complicate your lives using the coffee machine...

[Adlan]

I was going to get her sat down, feeling more comfrotable, and then go over the pricelist (Deposit & Retainer upfront, and then Expenses + Danger money after the job) over the hot beverage of her choice. I was then going to interview her on the mirror, in particular it's history, origin, and any connections she has to it. I was also going to get details for Rob to run his computer wizardry on, see if he could find out anything.

[Totally Guy]

"Mommy, I don't like that sound" said little Esther.

She was of course referring to an almighty gurgle sound coming from the coffee machine.

"Don't worry sweetie, we were just leaving." said Lara Leopold.

The noise grew louder.

"Make it stop!" yelled little Esther.

The coffee machine then rose up on one side until it fell over. With a quiet crash against some files it came to rest. And it slowly bled coffee from all its orifices and groaned as if asking for the sweet release of death.

"Oh my god! What just happened? Why should I trust any of you? You can't even keep your own office free of... whatever does those things!"

Oh my goodness! Unexpected spooky activity, and she's upset with you, I think we'll call that a Stress roll of 1 die for everyone. If you lose dice you'll lose them from Contact.

{table]|Stress roll chart - Pick lowest result
6 |Cool. You suffer no loss and gain a Cool die.
5 |Blase. You suffer no loss.
4 |Annoyed. 1-die penalty to you next skill roll.
3 |Stressed. Lose a die from an appropriate skill.
2 |Frazzled. Lose 2 dice from an appropriate skill or 1 die from 2 skills.
1 |Meltdown. Lose skill dice equal to stress dice rolled. Lose any cool.[/table]

[Fortuna]

[roll0] Thank goodness that I don't have many in the first place.

EDIT: And now I don't have any.

[Fortuna]

Now, let's do some investigatin'. I assume that my trusty laptop is now a fixture? I'm rolling Academics, with my specialty die, to find out what the hell is going on. [roll0]

EDIT: Nice. A 'mostly positive' result with a single stuff-up.

Robert didn't move, completely ignoring the hot coffee splashing across his shirt. His fingers blurred across the keyboard, the rest of his body entirely motionless. "We're in trouble. This is a full-on poltergeist, itinerant to boot. It's frying my external connections as fast as I can build them... Damn. I'm cut off from the outside. I managed to pull down a few files, and it's not looking good: apparently this is a semi-regular occurence with a frequency proportional to the quantity of metatemporal disturbance along the 1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione frequency. In layman's terms, it doesn't like coffee. Thus far, there have been no survivors without significant psychological scarring."

[Daravon_35]

Stress test: [roll0]

Jay hadn't been there long and already things were quickly crashing out of control... literally!"Oh no, no I'm sure it's nothing quite so dire Robert. You don't want to frighten our customers, now do you? I bet it's nothing more then an electrical outlet blowing out or surging." A cool calm smile was spread across his face as he tried to keep the situation under whatever control he could

"Now please Miss Leopold, I assure you were are professionals and you came to us with a problem did you not? We are more then capable of handling this problem, let us help you.". As he finished speaking the smile had turned from that of a charming prince to that of genuine concern, both for the client and for his new job.

[Adlan]

Stress Test:

Barcham though, had caught a glimpse, a flicker of something in the polished surface of the drinks machine.

Academics Roll to make some connection between the flicker, and the information Robert found: [roll1] [roll2] So that's a point lost from Contact, again. And a Moderate success.

'Robert, I think you might be right about an Itinerant poltergeist, but I'm not sure it's after the coffee.' Barcham came round the desk, putting his pipe down and inspecting the fallen coffee machine, that had finally stopped moving and leaking. With a grunt of effort he righted it.

'Miss? he looked at the prospective customer. 'I think you might have a real situation on hand. I think it's very important that I and my team inspect the mirror, particularly if it's advanced enough to be propagating into a new media, and particularly if it doesn't want you seeing anyone about getting help' He indicated the split coffee.

'Oh my' Said the woman in shock, gripping her childs hand a little tighter and edging away from the spill even more.

'I'm afraid that supernatural effects have been known to pass from reflective surface to reflective surface .'

He dragged his chair round to her side, and perched on the desk while offering her a seat, flicked out a note pad mostly for the look of it, and ceremoniously took up his pipe again.

'Miss, if you are concerned about price, I'm can assure you our rates are reasonable and affordable. But before we get to that, I should ask you some questions. If we work out the answer or solution just from that, then there'll be no charge.'

He puffed, realised his pipe was out and didn't care to relight it.

'Now, This mirror. Is it a Family Heirloom? Do you have a date for it? Any information on previous owners?'

'Well no, It's just always been there. I can't remember a time when it wasn't there'

'And you replaced the glass when? And how soon did the Crack reappear?'

'About 6 weeks ago I replaced the glass, and then, it was a week later I noticed the Crack was back again'

'I'm hesitant to ask you this miss' Well, actually he wasn't, but it was part of the persona, 'Can you tell me anything about these bad things you've seen in the mirror?'

The poor woman looked so afraid, and upset, Barcham wished he really had been hesitant about asking, and he put down his note pad.

'Miss, we charge a Flat retainers fee 1st day in advance minimum deposit. And we then have danger money and expenses to be settled later. Let us settle this problem for you?'
Contacts Roll for that to clsoe the sale and get us the job, [roll]D6 Can I ask for assistence OCC? Jay, this is what you'r hired for :D.

[Daravon_35]

OOC: Of course! Been waiting to be able to help out with a contact roll. Helping Barcharm w/ Contacts: [roll0]

Jay is trying to be calm while reassuring the frightened woman, but still urging that this obvious issue needs to be handled and taken care of by professionals and that our rates are very very reasonable.

Edit: Hmm I see a 6 means success, a 4 means you have to roll yourself for Barcham, but can use my 4, I have no idea what a 5 does :smalltongue:.

[Totally Guy]

To help him you donate him a die from the pool you've just rolled. You cannot earn franchise dice yourself whilst helping.

You could donate him the 5 so that Barcham is guaranteed to get at least a 5 and will definitely earn 1 franchise die. But then you will have to accept a 4 for yourself and describe your own humourous/detrimental side effect.

You could donate a 4 instead. And keep the 5 for yourself. This means you get to narrate your own success but you don't earn a franchise die. Barcham would then be stuck with the humourous/detrimental side effect if his roll doesn't exceed the 4. But at least he won't fail.


A six is a success described by the player and the player earns 2 franchise dice bringing the mission closer to it's conclusion.
A five is also a success described by the player. The player earns 1 franchise die that progresses the mission.
They are pretty much both successes but one earns more dice.

[Daravon_35]

Ok I'll donate a 5 to him so we can get one of those precious franchise dice!

As if almost on cue as Barcham attempted to close the deal with Miss Leopold, suddenly the coffee machine began to rattle once more. This time however sparks began the fly from it's buttons, like tiny fire works, skittering and bouncing off the office floor, sending everyone scattering backwards.

Uhh... Jay stammered for a moment, completely caught off guard. "I think Barcham's right. Whatever it is that is haunting your mirror is here in this office and doesn't like the idea of you hiring us. So in fact I think that means you should hire us, and right away." He tried to smile one of his amazing smiles to calm the mood as the coffee machine finally seemed to settle down, hopefully for good.

[Totally Guy]

Good choice. Adlan has a success to narrate.

Also note that by rolling a 6 on your stress die earlier you acquired a point of Cool so you always ignore the lowest die rolled for stress. You can spend it to add a die to any roll or heal up a lost skill point during a mission.

[Adlan]

Okay, so my contacts roll, only matters if I get a 6 right? [roll0]

How do people feel about splitting up? It'd make sense to me in character right now, but obviously, I'm only the boss IC, not OC, Glug? Guys? Think we can handle it, teams of two or maybe Barcham and Scotty as the field team investigating the mirror, Robert holding the fort and dealing with the poltergeist, and Jay investigating the antique repair guy who replaced the glass?

[Totally Guy]

Hey, two teams is no problem. I'm totally behind that. After you're done with the investigation phase you can get back together for the suiting up, making a plan and kickin' some ass phases. Or it might be that you need to kick ass in two places at once... :smallbiggrin:

[Daravon_35]

I'm definitely fine with splitting up. Jay isn't afraid of no ghosts! :smallbiggrin:

[Fortuna]

Sure. After all, how hard can it be?

[H Savvy]

Sorry, got really slammed at work this week. Feeling a bit behind in the game... Stress Roll: [roll0]

The coffee machine started acting up, wailing in an unholy and unsettling manner. It was just a coffee machine, but still, in this business... A ghostly coffee machine could be just as dire as ghostly anything else, as far as Scotty was concerned.

Then again, now no one would be asking him to get them coffee...

Looks like I'll be losing a die in my next roll. Nothing to say as of yet. Scotty's still adjusting to his new job, and doesn't want to say something stupid and get fired on his first day.

[Adlan]

Okay, using the 5 donated from Jay. Yay 1st franchies dice!. And Scotty, I assume the busisness has been around a little longer than a day, so it's no longer your first day on the job. Maybe your first week?

'Well, let me have a look at that'. Miss Leopold began to scan the contract, a standard form for all Inspectere's franchises, She quickly leafed through the disclaimers and checked the price list 'Oh well this is nothi.... she trailed off looking at the possible expenses claims and liability limits.

'Well, you are the only ones in several counties who can deal with this' and she signed on the line with a flourish.

'Well Miss, we'll get right on it, what would be a convenient time for me and my Field Assistant to call and see the mirror?'

'Well, I simply must get my little ones to ballet class. However, from Three 15 I'll be able to let you into the house.' Her tone made it clear that she considered them her workmen now she had filled out the direct debit deposit form, and it reminded Barcham of a School Marm he recalled for his days as a boarder, instructing a builder to come in 'By the Tradesman's Entrance, And Only by the tradesman's entrance'.

'Certainly Miss, 15:15 it is.

She didn't hold a hand out to shake, but gathered up her off spring, who had waited suspiciously well behaved, presumably to their dance classes. They looked neither pleased, nor unhappy, the just...

Were whisked off out of the office.

'Right me lads' Barcham said, plonking into his chair. 'We have a Job to do'

'Robert' he swivelled in the chair to face his Analyst in chief and technical wizard 'Can you track down the poltergeist that got the coffee machine? And Call a repair man? The radio still hasn't arrived, but if anything vital comes up, you can ring scotty's mobile phone. '

He turned again, swivelling to pick up his pipe, and striking a match to light it.

'Scotty, we'll be prepping Dougal, and getting ready to investigate that mirror, You still won't get a ray gun, but fill your pistol with holy water. OCC: I'll assist scotty in his techroll for this, to represent company issue kit, but he has to go out and select it. [roll0][roll1]

Like an evil overlord, but without the cat, he turned on the chair again. 'Jay, I want you to use your best feature' he picked up his notes 'Find the antique restorer she used to replace the glass. She didn't remember the name, and paid in cash, but there can't be that many in the county'

[Daravon_35]

Jay nods in agreement, "Right boss!" And with his usual smile spread across his face he's off!... to his nearby desk grabbing a phone book on the way. With a slight flourish and lots of panache he sits down and starts to thumb through the phone book.

Academics ("re"searching for antique restorers): [roll0]

Almost within minutes of sitting down and starting he's already making calls around to the various antique restorers he's found in the phone book and as luck would have it the very first one he calls seems to be the right one.

"Ah hi, yes..." He pauses for a second, trying to form the question in his head. "I was hoping you could help me with a slight problem I've been having. You see my mother has this mirror..." But before he can continue he's cut off... by the sweetest sounding woman he's ever heard.

"Oh no! Not that thing again! I don't want to ever see that mirror again in my life. It gave me the creepiest willies you've ever seen. tell her to throw it out, I'm not fixing it again!" The woman shrills back at him through the phone.

Smiling as best he can and trying to stay calm, "No, no my dear lady you misunderstand me. I'm not calling because I want you to fix it again, I'm calling because I'd like more information on the mirror. You see, you already fixed it once and the mirror is just perfect. In fact it's beyond perfect, it's a masterpiece, such a masterpiece we were looking to sell it, but unfortunately we don't know enough about the mirror to do so. So I was hoping I could come by your store and we could discuss what you know about this mirror." Jay smiles again, a smile the woman on the other end can actually feel radiating through the phone.

She's taken aback for a second, as she tries to compose herself, it's obvious she's already flatters. "Oh well if that's the case, why didn't you say so right away? Of course you can come down to the shop. I'll see you soon and from the sound of you... I can't wait!.... just uh... don't bring the mirror ok? I don't want to see that thing every again in my life time."

And with a simply, but outstanding "ok" Jay's off the phone and already heading out the door.

"Looks like I've got a lead boss, I'll be back soon." Then turning and looking at Robert quickly, his normal pearly white smile smattered across his face, "Good luck holding down the fort and with that poltergeist sounding thing around here, I mean that literally." And without another word he's off.

OOC I didn't roll for contacts when talking to her yet because I didn't want to go through anymore franchise dice wins. Seemed unfair for me to roll twice for it in one post and possibly gain that many, especially when I'd like to give other people the chance to first. I'm sure once I get to the antique place I'll be rolling contacts to get the information out of her anyways. Oh and if I didn't need to roll for academics for the phone book that's fine too and we can ignore that. I wasn't sure so I threw that in there and responded off it.

[Totally Guy]

'Scotty, we'll be prepping Dougal, and getting ready to investigate that mirror, You still won't get a ray gun, but fill your pistol with holy water. OCC: I'll assist scotty in his techroll for this, to represent company issue kit, but he has to go out and select it. [roll0][roll1]

Adlan, would you like to donate the 6 or the 1 to Scotty?

Keeping the six allows you to describe yourself opening the racks and issuing the stuff (Scotty will have to roll to make sure he doesn't break it :smallsmile:) but it won't be worth any franchise dice as you are helping. He might roll his own 6. He could even use Credit Card dice!

Alternatively you can keep the 1 to ensure Scotty is well armed and contributing to the team. But Barcham? He'll suffer a complication.

I love doing the devil on the shoulder bit. That's what GMing is all about!


Darvaon, it's ok. We'll keep it as it is. Skills can be a little nebulous...
Mixing a potion to make someone better? Probably academics.
Mixing a cocktail to get close to the girl in the bar? Probably contact.
Mixing a molotov cocktail to blow something up? Probably technology.
It's all about intent. Make it clear what you want to accomplish. And make it known how you're doing it. An answer usually forms.

[Adlan]

'He can have the six, I'll take the one. Will it apply to all Barcham's gear, or just his own water pistol, or what have you? oh well, guess I'll find out.

[Daravon_35]

Jay strolls down the couple of blocks towards the, luckily, close antique shop, whistling to himself the entire way. Perhaps he was in a good mood about his fortunate luck in finding the place so fast or perhaps he was just trying to mask his nerves, either way he whistled a jaunty little tune to pass the time.

As he got closer to the address he had written down before setting off, he started paying more attention to the buildings along the way, his eyes darting to and fro looking for this shop. Then finally he spotted it. A tiny little hole-in-the-wall shop, barely visible, as it was sandwiched between two buildings. It's entrance was down some steps, which he navigated with caution. As he pushed the door opened and entered the common, but this time almost eerie sound of entry bells jangled above and behind him to the right.

He held back a shudder and as if almost on cue....


Rolling contacts for the next part as it'll all be one big interview and this roll will shape everything from this point on.

Contacts:[roll0] (+1 for good looking!)


a very cute woman stood up from behind some tables, where it was obvious she had been rearranging some items.

"Hi, can I help you with anything?" She asked, a slight smile visible as she moved closed to accommodate Jay.

"Yes, hi. I called a little bit ago in regards to my mother's mirror." He almost didn't manage to the get the words out of his mouth before she cut him off.

"Oh good heavens no! That mirror creeped me out for days after I finished repairing it. I suggest you throw it out at once, that's the only sensible thing to do."

Jay smiled, one of his calming, simply sweet smiles, "Trust me, I know it's quite a creepy mirror, but please I need to know anything and everything you know about it. The mirror is very dear to my mother and she would just be heart broken if she had to part with it. Anything you could tell me would help and I promise you'll never see or hear mention of this mirror again."

The woman smiled back, almost as if taken in by Jay's charm."Well if that's the case...." She said as she twirled her hair with her finger. "I guess I could help you out with it, but just this once and I never want anything to do with that mirror again! It's evil I tell you, pure, simply evil!"

It was clear to Jay the woman was still losing her cool despite his best efforts to calm her. "Perhaps if you just started at the beginning and told me everything you know, you could get it off your chest and you'd feel better about the whole thing?"

"Well you see, your mother brought in the mirror and right away I recognized that there was something weird about it. No.. not weird, spooky, perhaps evil.. actually both! You see it's not the glass that's in the mirror that makes a mirror, it's the frame. And that frame..." the woman shuddered, as Jay could tell she was picturing the mirror in her mind.

"You see I accepted the job since I figured it'd be an easy one. I replace hundreds of mirror glass a month and I figured this one would be no different, boy was I wrong. Every time I replaced the glass, within an hour I'd come back and the newly replaced glass would have this crack in it, right down the middle of the mirror. Now first I thought I had tightened the frame too tight and cracked it myself, but after the third, forth, fifth time I knew it wasn't me, it was the mirror and it was the same exact crack." The woman sighed, trying to catch her breath as she explained all this to Jay.

"Then... that's when I got smart. I did some research on the mirror. I figured maybe there was a trick or a certain way I had to replace the glass. Maybe I was just making a mistake? You know, something simple, something silly? So I started to look into those awful pictures and designs on the frame and that's when what I found out horrified me even more... the mirror, that mirror is the Mayan Sun God's, sacrificial mirror of death. And there it was, a picture of it, in a four hundred year old book, with that same crack down the middle. That did it for me. I called up your mother told her her mirror was fixed, fixed it minutes before she came in and gave it to her before it would break again. I just wanted it gone" The woman was shaking now and visibly terrified.

Jay nodded and smiled once more. "Thank you for your time and I'm sorry to have to put you through all that again. I won't bother you again and please know you've been more then helpful." And with a wave and a smile he was off, heading back to the office, as a jaunty tune once again reverberated throughout the streets.

OOC: Sorry for the length, just wanted to make up for my couple of days of not posting and figured one fell swoop was a good way to do it.

[Daravon_35]

Sorry for the double post, my previous one didn't seem to update that the thread had been updated. I think it was because I got a 502 error or something

[H Savvy]

Okay... so... do I still need to make a tech roll if Barcham donated a 6 to me? Like.... I automatically get 6 now, right?

[Totally Guy]

Adlan, what are you trying to do? I know you are helping Savvy but I don't know how you are helping. Can you please describe what you wanted to do?

How about Barcham accidentally gives Scotty his own personal credit card to order the gear he wants from a catalogue?

Savvy, don't worry about rolling. Describe how you get what you want... But probably after Adlan's post.

[Adlan]

Tech Roll for the Watergun filled with holy water that I was giving to scotty, as we still have no ray gun. That was all, I'm sorry if it's been a source of confusion, I was rolling an assist as I don't know what sort of water pistols scotty would get. I rolled an assist because Barcham gave company money for scotty, if you want to rule it's Barchams own Credit Card, and take that as my own penalty, well, I guess that'd be fair enough, and a laugh :D Can't blame scotty if Barcham gave him the wrong card.

[Totally Guy]

Savvy gets to pick out his own intent for his roll. He can't get a raygun but he can describe his own success at getting something pretty sweet. But there's no need to roll. We'll go with "the Barcham mixes up his credit cards" and I'll describe the fallout of that bit later.