[nWoD] Campus Vigilantes 2: Halloween

[Odentin]

Adam shrugs, "Mind if I join you?"

Probably should wait for a reply...

[SurlySeraph]

"OK! I'll get you another," Sem jovially replies, adding "Val, you totally have Erica's eyes and stuff" and then "Try turning it inside out! The inside isn't stained!" before lurching off towards the bar. Once she's reasonably sure Val's turned back to the game, she veers off to the bathroom to clean herself off. And to take a closer look around; it wasn't exactly likely that someone had hid a weapon in there, but it was worth a try. In particular, she checks the tank of the toilet that was flushing red, in case it was intentionally marked.

[Misaat]

Matthew walks towards the two of them trying to avoid the crowd of dancing people.

" Hey! Didnt knew you guys where coming. How's it going?"

[-Sentinel-]

(Song: Spooky Madness (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W2O1WzwhNU), by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – thanks ToySoldierCPlus)


Adam

"Mind if I join you?"

Allison paused, her expression unreadable. "Oh, sure you can. Got to warn you though, it's hard to have conversations near the stage."

She made her way to the bar with surprising haste, deftly weaving through the thick crowd of dancing students that surrounded the stage. She showed a certain disregard for making sure Adam kept up with her, but Adam managed all the same with some difficulty. When she reached the bar, Allison glanced at Adam over her shoulder, then bought some rum in a shot glass and delicately poured it through the narrow hole of her Coke can.

This close to the stage, you could feel the music vibrating in your bones and you had to shout at the top of your lungs just to hear the sound of your own voice. Allison did not seem to mind as she sipped her Coke, and made no move to return to someplace where they could talk. Her body swayed a bit with the music, as if she enjoyed the song but was too shy or in no mood to dance. The orange lights overhead shone in her glasses as her gaze wandered here and there. She looked... alert and watchful. Much like Adam himself, in fact.

1

Semira

"Try turning it inside out! The inside isn't stained!"

"Aaah, turn it inside out... Well, thank you very much," said Val, irritated and clearly not intending to content herself with Semira's piece of advice.

Val was already on her way to the restrooms to wash her costume before Semira even started towards the bar. To avoid meeting her too soon and suffering her glare again, Semira took several minutes to complete her broad arc towards the restrooms.

Val was gone by the time Semira entered the women's room; Semira was alone here. She searched everywhere she could for weapons, especially in and around the toilet that had been dyed red, but found nothing out of place except a small pool of vomit on one of the toilet seats. While she washed her costume with wet toilet paper, the sound of the current song filtered clearly from the other room:

Someone turned the key and opened up the other side
You better run, you better flee,
You better go and hide

Semira jumped. The “You better run” had sounded as if it came from right behind her. She turned, but there was only a wall. In the main room, the song went on as if nothing had happened...

1

Matthew and Leon

" Hey! Didnt knew you guys where coming. How's it going?"

Vishakha self-consciously let go of Karen's hand and gave Matt a smile. “Glad the exams are over. Heh, they weren't kidding when they said medicine wasn't for lazy students.”

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon nods at the girls. "Pretty well, all things considered. I'm a bit concerned about something going wrong at this party; truth be told, I'm almost hoping something does, just so I can see the look on Jamie's face when he finds he's powerless to stop what he doesn't understand, but we can put an end to it because it is, in fact, our job." He turns and scans the room quickly, before returning to the conversation. "What about you two? How are you guys doing?"

[Odentin]

Adam drains his current drink as he follows, weaving through the crowd. He can't shake the feeling that Allison is trying to ditch him, though for what reason eludes him...

Once he arrives, he orders a shot of vodka and drains it in one quick go, smirking through the burn. He tries not to look directly at Allison, but keeps her in his peripheral vision at all times...

[SurlySeraph]

Semira strides across the room, places her back against the far wall and stares at the place the sound came from as she tries to get her breathing back under control. Then she slowly approaches, pulse hammering in her temple, looking between the ceiling and floor and to all sides as she makes her way back. Nothing there. Nothing there. It's going to be fine. Semira raps on the wall with her knuckles, listening for hollow sounds. Her other hand is drawn back in a fist, as if she expected a punching bag to suddenly erupt through the tiles.

Semira tries to make herself look back to see where she dropped the soaked stack of toilet paper squares she was using to clean the beer off - she might slip on it if she has to retreat - but can't stand to turn away for even a moment. What if - it's going to be fine.

[Misaat]

" Really? Didnt figure you as a lazy student ^^ "

Matthew teases her and then rolls his eyes at Leon's comment.

" Yeah , cant wait for someone to get stabbed or shot. That'll teach Jamie a lesson. Leon our work here is to make sure the things that go bump in the night DONT get people hurt. If nothing shows up , then all the better for us. "

Then he scratches his chin.

" Now. I have a proposition. We could spend the night waiting for something to show up but that we have pretty much no way to find until it does and could very well not show up at all . Or We could take out this two lovely ladies here out for a dance in the meantime. What do you say? "

Matthew finishes this extending a hand towards Vishaka.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

It's Leon's turn to roll his eyes. "Pass," he says, as he sips at his rum. "I'm not much of a dancer, and I'm not sure they'd be... interested... in dancing with us. Anyway, so maybe I'm still sore about Jamie's comment when I was investigating the toilets. It'd still be satisfying to get to be the hero, rescuing him from the bogeyman that he didn't even think existed until just then. Say, did I ever tell you what got me started down this path?"

[Lycan 01]

Jonah scans the party. His eyes fall upon something interesting. Something that grabs his attention, and strikes him as very important. Something that he simply cannot ignore.

The scholar quickly scurries over to the candy table, grabs a handful of treats, and stuffs them into his doctor bag while no one is looking. Since the party has been going for awhile, it seems like anyone who wanted some candy would have already gotten some. Which is probably the only reason the guys in charge of the candy table don't accost him for his sugar-thieving ways. That, and they're probably ogling the girls on the dance floor...

He lets out a playful little evil laugh, and then slinks back to his corner, nodding his head along to the music.

[-Sentinel-]

Matthew and Leon

"What about you two? How are you guys doing?" asked Matthew.

“About as well as we did when Matt last asked that question, like twenty seconds ago,” said Karen dryly, ignoring the fact that she had not answered it yet.

She grew serious. “Now, about the trouble you expect... I know Jamie a bit. I know most cops in the neighborhood, actually. I don't like him much, but I'll give him that, he knows how to keep an eye out and he doesn't fµck around. If there's someone in here who'll start sh!t, my money's on Wayne Borden. That crazy son of a bitch hates everyone, and it's just a matter of time before he snaps.”


"Pass," [Leon] says, as he sips at his rum. "I'm not much of a dancer, and I'm not sure they'd be... interested... in dancing with us.
Vishakha's expression suggested that she would be blushing if she had the right coloring for it. Karen just snickered.


"Say, did I ever tell you what got me started down this path?"
“Something tells me you're itching to tell us, so whatever,” drawled Karen.

1

Jonah

Jonah took a minute to examine his loot. Tootsie Rolls, Smarties, red licorice, Nerds, Gobstoppers, various caramels, two-inch Kit Kats and Coffee Crisps, bubblegum, lollipops of all shapes and forms...

And a bullet.

In the middle of his candy, there was a single, gleaming bullet, complete with casing... ready to be fired by any gun that could hold it.

1

Semira

Still nothing. It was just a stupid wall, and it did not sound hollow. There were no more sounds from inside the ladies' room itself, or if there were, they were drowned out by the music from the Tyler ball room. For all Semira knew, it might all have been an auditory hallucination, but she was not even drunk.

1

Adam

Perhaps Allison really believed Adam was no longer watching her, because she suddenly walked away and melted into the crowd. Adam managed to follow her pointy green hat and her quiver, which was not easy since she was barely over five foot tall and wove her way between people who jumped up and down. He kept an eye on her as she climbed on the stage by the right-side staircase; there, she could no longer hide among the dancers. She walked over to Mike 2.0, the DJ, and leaned towards him to tell him something rather brief. Mike smiled, nodded and put his headset back on. Smiling as well, Allison left the stage by the opposite end and sank once more into the crowd up to the tip of her hat. This time, Adam lost her, as she was too far away.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah stares into his doctor bag for a moment, briefly studying the bullet to gauge it's caliber and make. He then frantically pulls out his smartphone and sends a mass text to his Hunter friends. Found a bullet in the candy. Going to go find cop dude.

He then quickly scans the room, trying to find out where Jamie or whatever the security guard's name is.

[Odentin]

Adam swears, though it is drowned out by the music. He heads along the wall, away from the stage, and begins circling around the edge, keeping an eye out for her, but more concerning himself with the crowd on the whole, looking for anything suspicious.

If he does find her, he shadows her as best he can without being obvious...

As he receives the text, he swears again, now keeping an eye out for a weapon...

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon's phone vibrates in his pocket, and he pulls it out to check the message. Well. That's not good. Clearing his throat, he puts the phone down on the table where Karen, Vishaka, and Matthew can see it. "As eager as I am, we've got more important things to worry about now. A toilet in the girls' room flushing red, and now a bullet in the candy. These are either unconnected pranks, moderately amusing just to see the look on Jamie's face if you ask me, though somewhat distasteful otherwise, or an elaborate set-up for something. But for what? A warning, perhaps? Someone's going to be attacked? Perhaps I'm reading too much into it."

[SurlySeraph]

Sem backs out of the bathroom and pushes the door shut behind her. She catches a glimpse of a physics major she knows, with an elaborate assemblage of wire and green ping-pong balls representing electron orbits around his head. She starts toward him, and then thinks better of it. Yelling "Can you reassure me about bathroom acoustics?!" over the music and trying to understand his response is not going to make her night any more enjoyable.

Instead, Semira goes looking for a pirate costume. It may not be rational, she reflects; if anyone's likely to be a target, Zach is. And it's not like he cares about any particular girl enough to leap in front of a bullet for her. But at the moment, his arms sound like the most comforting place in the world.

The text just redoubles her commitment to this course of action. Though it does make her stop by the bar for a shot of vodka first. Going to be fine! Going to be fun!

[Misaat]

" Honestly cant catch a break can we? Im gonna go make sure nobody messes with the fuse box . The worst thing that could happen right now is if the lights went out. That would give whoever's doing this enough cover to shoot as he pleases. "

He turns towards Vish and Karen before leaving.

" See you girls around "

[savior indra]

OOC
Sorry, I was subscribed to this thread but for some reason I never got a notification

"I... Sure." said Kale as he acquiesced to Michelle's request, granting her a small smile. There was a time and a place to be debating how exactly one felt about their loved one wanting them to move on. A college party was not one of them. Plus Kale felt a bit protective of Michelle, he respected her and he didn't want anyone taking advantage of her if she had more to drink.

[McGonigle]

Jaime had just about committed herself to seeing how long she could pull off standing nearby the door, pretending that she was waiting for a date to turn up. To be honest she didn’t think it was that much worse a plan for the evening than actually ‘enjoying’ the party. This kind of frat do wasn’t really her thing and she probably would have spent most of it hanging round the edges making snide comments to no one in particular.

Then she receives the text about a bullet in the candy and suddenly she is very tempted to leave. The door is maybe 10 paces away and then she will at least be safe if a bullet has been found that means the gun is probably already in the party. Everything points to this just being a copy cat killer, and they were completely in over their heads.

She doesn’t instead she throws up he arms bitterly comments ‘fine, don’t show up see if I care’ then she turns on her heels and then walks back into the party wincing slightly at the level of the music as she walks though the doors. She would like to say that it was the hope of being able to stop the tragedy that was moving her. In reality, she had pretty much given up hope that it could be stopped, the shooter probably had all they needed by now, and it was sounding more and more like an inside job. On the other hand this could be the article that could make her career.

Still she moved over to the snack table and started looking though the bowls, occasionally picking up a bar and looking at the ingredients before going back to her search.

[-Sentinel-]

Leon and Matthew

Karen looked puzzled, but not worried. “A bullet in the candy, you said? That's weird... but it just sounds like a bad joke. I mean, what's the point of doing that?”

“I think what we should wonder is... how'd it get inside?” said Vishakha. “And are there more of them?”

To update Matthew's part, I need to know where he starts looking for the fusebox. Refer to the map (http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/6113/tylerhall.png) if needed. The building has a basement and a second floor as well, but I did not bother mapping them.

1

Kale

Michelle flashed Kale a radiant smile, threw himself at him in a hug and dragged him closer to the scene, lurching only slightly from the alcohol. Kale had long known that Michelle had a fondness for him, born and cultivated during their post-massacre therapy sessions, but both of them had been too emotionally hurt to act on it until tonight. But as Michelle had just said, perhaps it was time to move on. It was unfair to let Ian steal away the rest of their lives from beyond the grave.

“It's been a while since I last danced,” said Michelle breathlessly. “I hope you remember, 'cause I'm a bit out of practice.”

1

Semira

A hopeful gleam appeared in the physics student's eyes when he saw Semira walk straight towards him, only to die out when she went another way. She found Zach easily; he was at a table, drinking and laughing with a bunch of his friends from the fraternity. His date of the evening was Katherine, the head of the cheerleading team, but he was ignoring her like the trophy girlfriend she was. He grinned from ear to ear when he saw Semira.

“Hey! How's it going, Sem? Grab a seat.”

Semira had the feeling that Zach's drunken friends were mentally undressing her.

1

Adam

Allison was not among the dancers, Adam realized after a minute. For a moment he feared she had left the room, but he finally spotted her again, sitting at the table closest to the stage, where she intently watched the thick crowd of dancing students. When the current song came to an end, she reached inside her costume, and drew... a notepad and a pen. Her eyes flicked here and there, but her body was still, as if tense. She did not appear to have seen Adam.

1

Jaime

Jaime found two more bullets in one bowl of candy, then three in another. They were all identical. She was no gun expert, but they looked like handgun bullets. Her search went on... There were six bowls of candy in the room, placed at wide intervals.

1

Jonah

Jonah found Jamie Price easily. The rookie cop was pacing back and forth near the southeastern corner of the room, an uncrowded place from which he had a good view of the dance floor. He turned when Jonah approached him.

“Yeah? What is it?”

Anybody can choose to join Jonah at this point, since he told everyone that he was meeting Jamie.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah produces the offending bullet from within his doctor bag, and cups it in the palm of his hand so only Jamie can see it. "I found this in the candy bowl. I think it's a handgun round. Figured you'd want to know about it. I haven't checked the other bowls, so I don't know if there are more or not," he says loud enough for Jamie to hear him, but hopefully not other partiers.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"More... good question." Leon swipes his phone and sends out a text to the group:
Has anyone checked to see if there are more bullets in the other candy bowls?

After he hits send, he slips the phone into the pocket of his labcoat, and turns his attention out to the dance floor. "Hmm... Looks like Jonah's speaking with Jamie now. Probably about said bullet. I think I'monna stay far away from that one. You girls enjoy your evening. And keep your wits about you. Things have gone too well for them not to go wrong soon." Leon then heads out onto the dance floor, looking for anyone suspicious, and enjoying the music.

[savior indra]

"A bit. I'm not exactly the most social person if you remember." said Kale with half a smile as he let himself be dragged off. While Michelle was dragging him, he pulled out his phone and saw the message about the bullet. His mind instantly sharpened as he debated whether to tell Michelle.

[Odentin]

Adam finds himself a table or wall to lean against and keeps his eyes on the crowd, continually scanning for weapons or disturbances, while also keeping Allison in view.

[SurlySeraph]

Semira almost just plops down in Zach's lap, but thinks better of it; until she has a better handle on the situation, she really ought to avoid doing anything that might make Katherine want to strangle her. Instead Sem pulls up a chair and sits back some distance from the table, legs crossed in front of her and arms draped over the sides. She feels uncomfortably exposed, but manages to restrain herself from shrinking back or elbowing anyone who leers too greedily at her.

Semira engages in aimless small talk with the group, trying to scope out whether Katherine would be willing to trade Zach out for another guy's attention; or alternately whether any of the frat bros are someone she could stand waking up next to. All the while she occasionally takes sips from a red Solo cup that appeared in her hand. Wait, when did I get this?! What if it's... oh, the hell with it.

Sem tosses back the rest of the drink, reassuring herself that Zach is probably either possessive enough or enjoying her company enough that he wouldn't let one of his buddies drag her off half-conscious. OK, it's not a convincing reassurance, but she's determined to stay optimistic in the face of auditory hallucinations and candy-bullets.

And it would give me an excuse for not being here and helping if someone starts shooting. Semira immediately feels guilty at the thought, but can't deny that she feels the sentiment.

[savior indra]

On a spur of the moment call, Kale decides that Michelle deserved to know what was going on. She of all people had a right to know if something terrible was about to happen.

"Michelle. Can we head outside for a moment? There's something I need to talk to you about. It's really important." said Kale into her ear, to ensure she heard him.

[-Sentinel-]

Jonah

“Jesus Christ!” exclaimed Jamie. He took the bullet from Jonah's hand and examined it. “9x19mm Parabellum,” he said confidently. He threw Karen a suspicious glance across the room. “Right... We need to know if there's more of them.”

Jonah in tow, he strode over the nearest candy bowl and unceremoniously spilled its contents on the table. There were three more bullets in it... no, four. Jamie swore under his breath in the brief silence between two songs. He quickly picked up all the bullets and put them in his pockets.

“The worst thing we need right now is a panic,” he warned gravely. “You understand that?”

1

Kale

Michelle nodded, confused by the sense of urgency in Kale's tone. “Sure,” she said.

As they headed out, the next song began: All aboaaard, hahahaha... Crazy Train (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otdHbA4GlSI), by Ozzy Osbourne. For some reason, Kale felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, as if he somehow knew something bad was about to happen... or was happening right now. The bad feeling intensified suddenly, reaching almost the level of panic, when the song's recognizable riff began. He realized he was shaking.

He was not the only one. Michelle turned very pale and began breathing hard. Trembling violently, she grabbed the front of Kale's shirt for support. Kale put his arms around her, and for a moment he saw himself holding a dying Sophia. Inside his mind, he thought he could hear gunfire. An image of Ian Keating with his Nixon mask flashed in front of his eyes. What the hell?

Then he remembered.

Crazy Train had been the song playing at the time of the Halloween Massacre.

Savior Indra, roll Resolve + Composure. If you fail, you lose a Willpower point.

1

Semira

Unlike Kelly, Katherine did not look jealous when Semira grabbed Zach's attention; merely resigned, as if she was getting used to Zach's treatment of his girlfriends. The whole conversation appeared to consist only of small talk, with a lot of drinking involved. One of Zach's friends had managed to sneak in a pouch of white powder and snorted it without even trying to hide.

About at the time Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otdHbA4GlSI) began playing, Zach paused mid-sentence, a bit pale-faced, to down the rest of his drink with a shaky hand. An abrupt, uneasy silence fell over the table.

“I... I think I need a cigarette,” said Katherine, pale as well.

“Me too,” said one of Zach's friends in a squeaky voice. He rose, and Semira could not help but notice the stain of urine on the front of his pants.

1

Everyone else

The current song ended and Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otdHbA4GlSI) began, with its unique opening riff. Within twenty seconds or so, there was a subtle but noticeable change in the mood. Some of the students, maybe one out of three or four, stopped dancing or talking; some looked confused or nervous, others looked downright panicked. A few of them sprinted towards the exit. Wayne Borden plunged his hand inside his Civil War coat and put his back against the nearest wall, a wild light in his eyes. Ellen Dobson fell to her knees and retched violently. But most of the guests went on partying, unaware of the sudden sense of wrongness that had struck the others.

Adam was still watching Allison. Ian's sister looked more intent than ever as she scanned the room and scribbled furiously in her notepad.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah looks at Jamie for a second, before pointing at the various party patrons having adverse reactions to the song. While he's totally oblivious to the reasoning behind it, he certainly doesn't miss correlation between people crying and gagging and running for the exit, and the fact that a new song just started. "Um, I think it may be a bit too late for that," he flatly tells Jamie. "Something's up, dude!" His heart begins to pound, and his nerves grow tense. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.

The scholar frantically pulls out his phone and fires off a quick text to his RPG club buddies. Several bullets in the candy. People are randomly panicking or flipping out. The f*** is going on?!

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon texts back almost immediately:
Hell if I know. I'm right in the middle of it. It started when the new song started; think that's related?

He continues scanning the area around him, suddenly alert. The screw is off his head and in two parts: the headband, counterweight and mechanism are in one labcoat pocket, the head, secret seam already being loosened, is in the other.

[savior indra]

"Sh!t, of all the times..." thought Kale as the music effected him.

Resolve + Composure
4d10 Posting roll in OOC thread, since it failed here

Regardless of the result, Kale picks up Michelle bridal style;ignoring any protests, as he pushes through the crowd towards the exist as fast he can.

"I'm getting us out of here. Now." muttered Kale.

Kale has a strength of 3, which according to the WoD book says he can lift up to 250 lbs. I'm guessing Michelle doesn't weight more than 250 lbs. just a guess.

[McGonigle]

As she spotted the gleam of metal in the first bowl her immediate response was to take a photo, in the event nothing else happened that would make an amazing cover, the picture of a bullet in a bowl of candy.

After taking the photo she unwrapped the small twix she was holding, and then slipped the bullet into the package. She kept on as she went on with her search each time not touching it with her hands and putting them in twix wrappers. When she was confident that she had found the rest of them in the bowl.

She was looking around for the nearest bowl of sweets when she saw Jamie with Jonah in tow dumping out one of the bowls of candy. She moved as rapidly as she could though the crowded dance floor, while he might have been one of Zach’s cronies he was still a police officer and it was the responsible thing to do, however first she sent a quick text off.

‘5 bulless in bwl to left of main ent’She strode out across the dance floor, but it wasn’t exactly her area of expertise. The song changing let her get a little bit further but then it was back to her slow pace. Then she almost slipped and looked down to see the front of her shoe covered in sick.

She was about to complain when she saw Ellen on her knees, and watched as the next convulsion went though her body. Moving almost on autopilot she began to move to hold Ellen’s hair back. She probably shouldn’t have came to this party, she had never seem Ellen drink like this. Not that she could blame her she was surprised how many survivors had came to the party.

She offered her arm to Ellen, trying to pull the older girl up and get her out of here, not just fro the fresh air although that would certainly help. No, she needed to get her friend, out of here before there were any more reminders of the massacre, because the way this night was going she expected this was just the beginning.

[SurlySeraph]

Semira tilts her head at Zach. "That's not supposed to be on the playlist, is it?"

His expression says enough; instead of waiting for a verbal answer she twists out of the chair, goes to one knee in front of it and peeks out over the back of her cover. Sem looks first at the DJ's booth, earnestly hoping it's still Mike 2.0 up there, then scans the room. Her knuckles are white, holding either side of the seat in a death-grip.

[-Sentinel-]

"Um, I think it may be a bit too late for that," [Jonah] flatly tells Jamie. "Something's up, dude!"
It took Jamie Price a moment to understand what Jonah meant. When he noticed the strange unease that was striking many students, his jaw tightened and he rested his hand on the handle of his pistol.

“What the fµck...?” he began. He narrowed his eyes at Karen Turner, but his favorite suspect was still sitting at a table and talking with Vishakha as if nothing was happening. The rookie cop's cool grey gaze swept the rest of the room, never pausing too long in one place.



Ellen gratefully accepted Jaime's help to get up and head out of the room. “Sorry, I... I was having flashbacks. Of the massacre,” she breathed haltingly, wiping her chin. “I... I thought my PTSD and stuff was all cured. Why now of all times?” It appeared she had not made the connection with the song itself, as if it had acted only on her subconscious.

On their way out, Ellen and Jaime met Kale and Michelle in the lobby. At least a dozen other students had fled here; some did not stop here and walked right out the front door of the building.

“Alright, uh, put me down, please,” Michelle whispered to Kale. As soon as she was on her feet, she breathed deeply and managed to regain a semblance of composure. “Got to be strong. The Halloween survivors count on me to represent them. I can't show weakness.”



In the main room, the song abruptly stopped halfway through, and even the students unaffected by it were forced to notice that something was wrong. Everyone's attention turned to Zach, who had just sprinted to the DJ's table and unplugged the CD player.

“Uh... What's the matter?” asked Mike 2.0, peering at him from behind all his apparatus.

“Man, you crazy?!” exclaimed Zach. “That song was playing during the Halloween Massacre!”

Mike's eyes widened in horror. “Oh jeez. Sorry dude, I had no idea. It was a request, I swear. Alright, alright, I'll play something else. A ballad, okay? For all our young couples in the room.”

He flicked a few buttons. Angie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXRExocnpUw), by the Rolling Stones, started playing.

Zach faced the other students. “It's okay, everyone,” he said quickly, not wanting his party to disintegrate so early. “Honest mistake. We won't play Crazy Train again.”

To his chagrin, several of the Halloween survivors still decided to call it a night and headed out of Tyler Hall, most prominently Soong Ye-jun and his girlfriend Sara Crawford. Others like Michelle and Jaime tried to brush it off, with varying degrees of success. It took a minute or two for the dancing to resume. The mood was a bit less festive, but there were more people waiting in line to buy alcohol. Others went outside for a cigarette.

Allison was done writing in her notepad. She put it back in her pocket.

[Odentin]

Adam narrows his eyes and moves, swiftly and purposefully, towards Allison, keying up Kale's speed dial as he does so, in case of emergency. He tries not to make a scene of it, but he doesn't take his eyes off of her as he moves, coming up behind her and leaning in to talk into her ear, "Look, kid. You know I've got your back and all, but just what the hell was that?"

[savior indra]

Kale tries to grab hold of Michelle to talk to her before she headed back inside to the party.

"Look Michelle, my friends might not like me telling you, but you have a right to know. We think a copy cat may be here tonight, they found bullets in the candy glasses. I don't have a right to ask, but please please go back to your dorm (house, apartment)." explained Kale in a hushed tone, begging her to listen to him.

[-Sentinel-]

Adam

Allison turned, her gaze calm, and frowned. She had a pretty good poker face.

"What are you talking about?"

1

Kale

"A... copycat?" said Michelle. "I'm... I'm not sure that makes much sense. Why'd he do these things instead of, you know, just shooting the place up?"

She sighed. "Everyone's eyes are on me, Kale. I'm not a narcissist or anything, but I'm sort of a symbol for the survivors. I can't afford to show fear or give up. I came here in the first place to show that Ian Keating had lost, and that his fan wasn't scaring us with his disgusting threats. I don't know who's the nutcase behind this, but if we all run away, then he won. And I just can't stand that idea."

[Odentin]

Adam's face is a stone wall glare, "You know exactly what I mean. Why'd you request the song? And what were you writing down, there?"

[savior indra]

"I understand. Just please, stay close to me okay? If there is a shooter, I'm wearing kevlar and you aren't so... I just can't bear the thought of you being hurt." said Kale as he knew Michelle was determined on staying for the night. He hoped that she would at least acquiesce on this.

[-Sentinel-]

Adam

Allison's face was unreadable. "So you saw me, then. What makes you think I requested that song, and not the one currently playing? Mike said it, he accepts requests. I can't be the first to make one. You're quick to fling accusations."

She did not sound like she was trying to fool Adam. Her attitude rather said: So you're on to me... Now what are you going to do about it, smart guy? She also pointedly ignored the second question.

1

Kale

Michelle nodded, smiling. "Shall we go back to dancing? I love that song, wouldn't want to miss it."

[Odentin]

Adam narrows his eyes further, almost growling as he speaks, "I've been hunting since I was 6. You weren't hard to track." He glances around to make sure they aren't attracting any attention, "Easy way or hard way, Allison. Your choice."

[-Sentinel-]

Adam

Allison did not look the least bit afraid. She looked at Adam in the eyes as she spoke, slowly:

"Listen, Adam. I'm majoring in psychology. Ever since what happened with Ian, I believe I've learned a lot about how spree killers think and act. You may not understand my... investigation methods or approve of them, but at least don't get in my way. Lives may be at stake tonight."

[Odentin]

Adam shakes his head, "You have no idea, kid. Lives ARE at stake, and you thought the best thing to do was to incite a panic?"

[savior indra]

Kale nodded with a smile.

"Sure. Whatever you want." replied Kale as the two headed back into the party.

[-Sentinel-]

Adam

Allison bristled when Adam called her kid. "Don't patronize me. If people leave, that means less casualties if there is someone planning something. But that's not the main goal." She scanned the room. "You saw the effect of the song on the survivors... I figure people who are still traumatized by the massacre are the ones least likely to be trying to reenact it."

1

Kale

On the dance floor, Michelle rested one hand on Kale's shoulder and put her other arm around his waist. She paused when she felt the armor under his clothes, but did not comment on it, perhaps assuming it was somehow part of the costume. From here Kale had a good view down the low neckline of Michelle's sleeveless red-and-gold Cleopatra dress, but he was enough of a gentleman to look at her in the eyes. They, too, were something worth looking at; a brilliant green, with long lashes and purple eyeliner.

All the dreams we held so close seemed to all go up in smoke
Let me whisper in your ear:
Angie, Angie, where will it lead us from here?

"You're stiff, Kale," Michelle admonished softly. "And you look afraid to touch me. We can't dance if you don't relax."

She nestled her head in the crook of Kale's neck and began swaying left and right, taking her partner with him. It was a slow, easy waltz-like dance, guided not by rules but by blind instinct. The strawberry perfume Michelle wore was so mouth-watering that it was tempting to bite into her bare shoulder.

Oh, Angie, don't you weep, all your kisses still taste sweet
I hate that sadness in your eyes
But Angie, Angie, ain't it time we said goodbye?

Michelle sighed contentedly and did not speak. The student council president and survivors' spokeswoman herself, known for leading animated debates and pronouncing lengthy speeches, was out of words for the time being.

[SurlySeraph]

As much as she wants to find a corner to hide in, Semira puts a brave face on. She turns towards the bar, but thinks better of it while waiting in line. She knows she's a lightweight. The prospect of trying to dodge bullets while stumbling drunk is not pleasant; the buzz in her head is already enough. Instead, she grabs Zach by the waist and drags him to the center of the dance floor. With luck, seeing Zach carefree will reassure some people, him and herself including. Without luck, they're an obvious first target. Nothing's going to happen. It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

As the song is switched and things calm down, Leon tightens the seam on the screwhead back to near-imperceptibility, reattaches it to the rest of the prop, and put sit back on his head. He tightens the screw again as he heads off the dance floor, the song making him more than a little melancholy. He sends out a quick text, not to the group, but to a certain someone back on the East Coast.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah slinks back to his corner, where he starts idly tapping at his phone in an attempt to look busy, while scanning the crowd and scene for anything else that stands out or looks amiss.

If I were a psychotic prankster or copycat killer, what would my next move be?

Aside from the obvious "pull out a gun and start shooting people" answer, of course.

[Odentin]

Adam draws his phone from his pocket and fires off a text to the group, Status report?

He grinds his teeth, looking torn, "Your little 'experiment' was cruel, kid, and threw a huge wrench in our manhunt. And as much as I've tried to protect you, I can't have you getting in our way."

He glares out over the crowd again, just another incessant scan, "Did you at least get anything good out of it?"

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon's reply comes back quickly:
Nothing interesting. Song stopped, Zach apologized, people calmed down, others left. I'm sure you saw it. What's new on your end?

[Odentin]

Adam fire back, to Leon only this time, Allison requested the song. An experiment to try to identify a potential killer.

[McGonigle]

“It's hardly normal circumstances is it, there was always going to be the risk of a trigger considering the circumstances.” Jaime commented, trying her best to be comforting. “You might think about going home, take it easy, relax, this party isn't really worth undoing all your progress for. It's barely started and already the mood is ruined. I know you are strong, but save yourself for the fights that matter, and this tasteless party isn't one.”

It was probably a good idea anyway, but with the possibility of a second incident her voice took on a pleading quality she didn't really want in it.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon responds immediately again:
That's not a bad idea, wish we'd thought of it. It do any good?

[Lycan 01]

Jonah texts Adam back: I got nothin. You got anything?

[Misaat]

Matthew starts to make his way towards the backstage. If the switches weren't there it was still possible that the lights's controls where somewhere around there.

[-Sentinel-]

Jaime (back in time, in the lobby)

Michelle smiled. "I... do appreciate your concern, but it's not by hiding at home that I'll heal. This party was supposed to be a statement... A statement that we, at Maxwell, were able to move on. Staying until the end is a matter of principle to me. Thanks all the same."

"I'm staying too," said Ellen quickly, her eyes alight. "Can't let some assh0le ruin it all." Of course, she would never pass up an opportunity for a good article, and this party was clearly one.

1

Adam

"So you're after IanFan too, eh?" said Allison. "Well, if you're serious about it, Adam, you can't just react. You have to act, or eventually you'll end up reacting too late."

She scowled at him suspiciously. "Who are you texting to?"

1

Leon

The answer from the East Coast came in under a minute: love u too hun, cant wait 4 tksgiving :D

1

Semira

Zach let Semira take him to the dance floor without resisting, his date Katherine forgotten. The frat boy looked a bit less at ease with slow dances, but that may just have been because he was very drunk.

"Just so you know, um, I'm not onto that whole serious relationship thing," he warned Semira, trying not to step on her feet as they danced. "Or that faithfulness thing, either. It comes with being a pirate. I thought you deserved to know before you got too involved."

1

Matthew

It was easy for Matthew to sneak backstage, as the DJ was too concentrated on his work to notice him. The gamer found himself in a narrow, dimly-lit room cluttered with instruments and audio equipment; drum sets, old guitars belonging to the school, an electric piano, microphones, loudspeakers, a backup DJ table and many other things, plus some chairs and large mirrors. No one else was here. If someone wanted to mess with the fusebox, it would be very easy.

Said fusebox was to Matthew's left, on the wall. It did have the advantage of requiring a key.

[Odentin]

"The rest of the team."

He shakes his head at Leon's text, but replies, Working on it.

"Is everyone I know insane?..."

"We're actively searching, kid. I've been looking after you, because I think you might be a target. What notes did you get?"

[-Sentinel-]

Adam

Allison shook her head. "I can't afford to trust your friends," she said, her tone apologetic but firm. "I'm sure I knew my brother much better than you know your friends, yet I never saw the massacre coming. So, just to be on the safe side, I'll be treating everyone as a suspect. If you're keeping the rest of your team informed about what I do... I'm afraid I can't tell you one more thing. Sorry, Adam."

She rose and began to walk away.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon replies:
Well hurry. Matt's gone to screw with the fusebox for some reason.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah sighs and sends out a mass text. Does anyone have anything?

While waiting for a response, he continues to look around for suspicious activity. Or really cool costumes of characters from games and movies and stuff he likes, like Star Wars, Mass Effect, My Little Pony (shut up it's a nice and therapeutic change of pace), and other various intellectual properties.

[Odentin]

"We're not sure what we're dealing with is human." Adam states flatly, sitting down in her vacated chair, hoping that piques her interest at least enough to stay.

[Misaat]

Matthew takes out his cellphone as he stands next to the closed fusebox

He sends the next circular message:

" Im backstage making sure nobody tries to mess with the lights. Everything looks pretty calm back here. Though i must say this place feels creepy. "

[-Sentinel-]

Adam


"We're not sure what we're dealing with is human."
Allison paused, turned, and studied Adam's face. "I disagree. We like to call these people inhuman monsters, but... maybe violence and hatred are very human things, after all. Call me a cynic."

1

Jonah

Nothing suspicious. Katherine, head of the cheerleading team, was back from her cigarette and glared daggers at Semira for stealing her boyfriend, but Jonah doubted it would come down to murder.

As for nerdy or pop cultural costumes, there were many, not counting Allison's Link costume and the Star Trek uniform Soong Ye-jun had been wearing earlier. One was dressed as Jar Jar Binks and would likely be the first target if there was a school shooter in the room. There were also an Iron Man (not wearing real metal of course), a Rorschach from Watchmen, a Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly and a few anime characters Jonah did not know. Nothing from Mass Effect or My Little Pony, sadly.

A bit of patience, please. New elements will come up, and I like to let some time pass between them. There are other ways to spend your time.

1

Matthew

Backstage, the soft music coming from the dance floor was very muffled. Matthew's senses were in high alert, and he was able to hear voices filtering through the back door of the room.

Somebody was coming. At least two somebodies, in fact. Luckily, the heavily cluttered room did not lack places to hide.

[Misaat]

" There we go i was starting to get bored..."

Matthew hurries to hide behind one of the large mirrors.

[Odentin]

Adam's face doesn't change from its completely serious set, "I'm not talking about inhumane humans. I'm talking about creatures of the night. Ghosts, vampires, etc. Things that can get into the human mind and take over. Make them do things they wouldn't, or couldn't, bring themselves to do otherwise."

He takes another look around at the party goers, "If someone is acting unlike themselves, then I need to know about it."

He returns his gaze to Allison, fixing her with the cold, dead stare (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThousandYardStare) of one who's seen things too horrible to imagine; whose life has become all about their duty, their responsibility to commit atrocities in the name of the greater good...

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon texts his reply to Jonah:
Nothing. Once the song ends I'm gonna hit the floor again.

[SurlySeraph]

With a laugh, Semira tells Zach "I knew what I was getting into. You do have a reputation, you know." Snuggling closer, she adds "I'm not expecting anything more."

It's mostly true. But she can feel little tugs on her conscience, thoughts like my family could really use a rich son-in-law and I'm better than his others girls and that old one that's gotten so many of her friends in trouble: maybe I can change him. Zach is rich, and good-looking, and largely harmless. What more can she ask for?

Sem checks her phone and replies "fine. w/ zach" to Adam, then returns to dancing. She leads Zach into turning her a lot, trying to keep watch across the entire room, counting on her touch to keep Zach from noticing her eyes are elsewhere.

[-Sentinel-]

Adam

Allison's expression did not change at the mention of ghosts and vampires. "...Interesting theory," she said. "What led you to it?"

1

Matthew

The voices became more distinct. A guy and a girl, laughing. They drunkenly stumbled into the room mere seconds after Matthew hid. The guy was costumed as Elvis and his partner was a cowgirl. They were kissing passionately.

Oh great.

"The chair over here," said the girl breathlessly.

She pushed her boyfriend into the chair, sat on his lap facing him, and slipped her hand down his pants. The guy reached out and began to unbutton his girlfriend's plaid shirt.

"You're very sexy with a cowboy hat, Amy," he husked. "Don't take it off, please."

"Anything you want, sweetie." She paused. "Wait. Do you have a condom?"

"Uhh... I... uhh..." The guy faltered, and a wave of relief washed over Matthew.

The girl giggled. "Jeez, I'm kidding, Steve. I don't care." She unzipped her jeans and shifted her body forward.

Just. Great.

1

Semira

"Good," said Zach, relieved. "Just wanted to make sure you're not the kind of girl who flies all the way across the country, six months pregnant with what she thinks is my child, to ask me to marry her." He paused. "...Not saying it happened to me."

1

((OOC: I'll wait for Savior to answer before I move the actual plot forward (and change the song). I don't want to rob Kale of his dance with Michelle. :smallwink:))

[McGonigle]

"Well try to enjoy the rest of the night." she commented with a weak smile.

Jaime could understand the sentiment but as she watched Ellen walk into the party she wished that she had had convinced her editor to go home. Ellen was probably one of her closest friends which spoke volumes about her social life, and tonight wasn't going to go well.

She slipped back outside to try to get the worst of the sick of her boots, and she was really glad that she had chosen to wear sensible footwear. Although to be fair, non-sensible footwear probably constituted a costume in itself for her. After cleaning of her shoes she grimaced slightly as she stepped back into the party, and headed to have a look in one of the other sweets bowls. In the mean time sending off another text.

'I'm just making completely sure non of these bowls have any more bullets in them.'
She was pretty sure that she wouldn't be able to eat a twix without thinking about this night at this rate.

[Odentin]

"I've been hunting since I was 6, Allison, but I've never seen a deer, or much other wildlife, for that matter. The way you talk about your brother gave me the theory. Regardless, whether you think you can trust us or not, we're the only line of defense this place has got in the case of hidden horrors. Let me see the notepad."

[Misaat]

" All Right! Time to see some boobies!... But i dont wanna see some guy's junk... Forget that, there is so little light on this place i wont be able to see much of anything... And it would be dangerous if they catch me... I would be known as a pervert through the whole school! And then i wont be able to get laid except through those dating sites in which the photos of the women never actually look like the women when you meet them yourself!... I need to get them out of here... "

Matthew takes out his cellphone and puts it on "vibrate" so its not heard.

Then he sends the following circular message.

" There is some drunken couple preparing to hump each other backstage. I Swear im not watching them on purpose . Can someone get over here and shush them out? Im sorta trapped... "

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon glances at his phone and sighs. Do I help, or do I not? Deciding that, while it would certainly be funny, leaving Matt pinned down backstage is likely going to have negative consequences, Leon sends back a quick text:
Just stay hidden. I'm on my way.

As Leon begins making his way to the stage, he tries to keep an eye out for Jamie (the cop, not his friend). He doesn't figure the guy will take too kindly to him sneaking backstage.

[savior indra]

"Sorry. It's... been awhile. " whispered Kale as he forced himself to relax, never breaking eye contact from Michelle as he continued to dance.

[-Sentinel-]

(Song: Changed the Way You Kiss Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-H8i38_yks), by Example – thanks SurlySeraph)

1

Adam

Allison snorted. "The only line of defense... Who do you think you are? Adam the Vampire Slayer? Leaping to supernatural conclusions for unexplained events isn't how you're supposed to apply Occam's razor. If we're dealing with a psycho, you're the one who's way out of his depth. We can't... I can't let you screw this up. Sorry, Adam."

OOC:
To have any effect on Allison, you'll have to make some sort of social roll (Intimidation, Persuasion or such) and roleplay the attempt accordingly. I know it's not your strong suit, but there's always Willpower, and I may give you a bonus if your threats or arguments are truly excellent.

1

Jaime

Jaime was searching another bowl of candy, and had already found two bullets in it, when she felt someone's iron grip tighten around her forearm. She turned to see Jamie Price's face mere inches from hers. There was sweat on his brow, and his other hand hovered around the handgun in his holster.

"What the fµck are you doing?" he snarled. "Open your hand."

1

Matthew only (forfeiting my goal not to use player-specific spoiler tags)

The song changed. This one, at least, mostly drowned out the sounds Amy and Steve were making. Matthew waited patiently for Leon to come to his rescue.


And now you're gonna miss me
I know you're gonna miss me
I guarantee you'll miss me 'cause you changed the way you kiss me

'Cause you changed the way you kill me


"...Huh. That was weird," Steve panted. "Did I hear kill? That's not how it goes."

Amy sighed, annoyed. "Um... Hello? We're having sex right now."

"But did you hear him say kill?"

"No, 'cause I was kind of busy fµcking your brains out, in case you didn't notice."

"Right. Maybe I misheard."

1

Leon

To be on the safe side, Leon exited the dance floor through the main entrance, followed the hallway to the other side of the building and snuck backstage by the back door [map (http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/6113/tylerhall.png)]. The room was dark, but he could see the two lovers having sex on a chair, with the girl on top. They had not noticed him yet.

The light switch was right next to him.

1

Others: Bear with me, please.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Well, thinks Leon, this should be worth a laugh or two. Leon unceremoniously flips the light switch on, and calls out to the two lovers. "Hey! The hell do you think you're doing back here?! Go on, shoo, get out of here! Go back to your room if you're gonna do that!"

[McGonigle]

'Investigative journalism,' she commented regaining her composure quite rapidly after being grabbed. She with an almost sarcastic slowness continued to open her hand revealing a Twix.

'I observed you tipping out the other sweet bowl, and naturally I was curious what could have caused the head of security to seemingly have such sugar cravings? Of course the reason you were so interested in me opening my hand is that the bowl so far has contained 7 bullets. Now I'm curious what increased measure you are taking now you are sure someone is planning to attack the party?'

[Misaat]

Matthew had started filming with his cellphone when Leon came in... just so he wouldnt get bored... He felt a twitch...

" I heard that too... Time to pay a visit to our DJ friend when i get outta here... "

[-Sentinel-]

Jaime

Jamie Price's jaw - and grip - tightened. This party was not kind on his nerves.

"There's no place for journalism here," he warned in a low voice. "Besides, leaving bullets all over the place makes no fµcking sense, except to cause a panic. It's like planting a bomb in plain sight with the word BOMB on it. Fear itself is a weapon, and if you try to encourage it, I'll have to kick you out. Understood? Now hand over the evidence."

1

Matthew and Leon

It was quite comical to see the chair crash on the floor and Elvis and a cowgirl struggle to extricate themselves from each other. Amy frantically buttoned up her shirt (but not before Matt got some excellent footage), while Steve turned to Leon and shouted:

"What's the matter with you, man?! It's not forbidden or anything!"

But the light revealed something a bit less funny and/or sexy - words painted in big red letters on the largest mirror of the room, right next to the lovers. The paint glistened as if still fresh and, as far as Leon could tell, was the exact same shade of red as the paint found on the memorial.


HE
STILL
LIVE [sic]



OOC: Matthew can see the writing too; it's not on the mirror he's hiding behind.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon stares at the writing. "It's called public indecency. And general rudeness. Now put your clothes on and get out of here. Leave the party. I need to deal with this." He sends a quick text to the rest of the group as he approaches the writing:
Come back stage. Something's very wrong. Bring Allison. Don't bring Price.

With the text sent, he snaps a picture with his phone, and then reaches out and touches the - he hopes - paint on the wall. The hell is this about? He pulls his fingers back and rubs them together, sniffing at the liquid on them (assuming any comes off).

[SurlySeraph]

Semira checks her phone, then disengages from Zach's arms. "One of my friends wants me to see something backstage. I'll be back in a few." She walks quickly, clenching and unclenching her fists a few times.

[Odentin]

Adam sighs and stands up, moving to stand before Allison, "Nothing so glamorous. It's dirty work and I wish I'd never even picked up a bow if it meant not knowing what I know. But it's what I do, and it's the biggest possible threat we're posed with. If there's a human explanation to this, then it's more easily ended than a supernatural one. If you have information that would prove or disprove anything, then I need to see it. Otherwise, you're making the situation worse by taking my attention away from the investigation."

Risking Willpower for Presence + Persuasion: [roll1]
10 Again: [roll0]

Edit: w00t!

Gonna add on something else, here.
He takes Allison's hand gently, and places it on his chest, so that she can feel the bulletproof vest beneath his tunic, "And if anything happens, I can protect you."

As he finishes, he feels the text come in, but waits for Allison's reaction before reading it. He doesn't want to risk breaking eye contact before she agrees to help him.

[McGonigle]

"Of course, because every time I hear about a public shooting I am struck with how much sense the whole thing makes." She commented as she carefully pulled out 7 twix wrapped bullets from her pockets and offered them too him.

She smiled again, then slowly turned around and moved away from their incompetent protector. If something did happen tonight Jamie was going to really regret that quote.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah looks at the last few texts. First Matt begging to be saved from watching some folks getting it on, and then Leon saying something was wrong backstage. If this were a horror movie, the scholar would have thought the couple having sex had been killed first. But this isn't a horror movie, right?

On my way Jonah texts, before slinking through the crowd and trying to find his way backstage. He adds a little stagger and sway to his step, so if anyone sees him, they'll assume he's acting more drunk or disoriented than sneaky and stealthy.

[Misaat]

" What the! That wasnt like that before! im sure of it!"

He thinks as he remains hidden waiting for the couple to get out.

[savior indra]

Kale felt the vibration of his cellphone in his pocket and decided that whatever it was, it could wait until the song was over. Besides the others would be fine without him, they were no strangers to physical combat. Michelle on the other hand was an entirely different story.

[-Sentinel-]

Adam

Allison made no sign that she either believed or disbelieved Adam when he spoke of hunting the supernatural, but she did hand him her notepad, somewhat reluctantly.

“You just take a look and give it back, okay? I need it.”

Zach L. - ?
Anthony R.
Samuel K.
Jamie P. - ?
Leon C.
Rick T.
Marco A.
Wayne B. - ?
Ahmad A.
Mark E.
Hong C.
Andrew W.
Michael A.
Chris S.
Thomas B. - ?
Sean M.
Vladislav W.
Matthew G.
"Castro" - ?
"Elvis"
"Jar Jar"
"Clinton mask" - ?
"fat suit guy"
"pimp"
"plague doctor"
"Satan"
"rabbi"

[several more pages filled with names and costumes, some of them crossed out]

1

Jaime

“You'd better not mess with the evidence again,” Jamie Price warned, pocketing the bullets. “Or start spreading rumors. I'll be keeping an eye on you. Don't give me that freedom of the press bullsh!t... My job here is still more important than yours.”

1

Kale

Kale could feel the envious gazes on him – Michelle was the girl many guys dreamed of, but none could get, no matter how hard they tried. It was probably because they could not understand her; they had never lost a boyfriend or girlfriend in a senseless, random massacre. As they danced, Michelle remained silent for a long time, but suddenly she decided to ask the question that must have been nagging her for a while.

“Tell me, Kale... what's that under your costume?” Her tone was amused and curious. “Doesn't feel too comfortable.”

1

Semira

Zach looked puzzled, but did not ask. It would probably not take him long to find a new dancing partner.

1

Leon and Matthew

“What do you mean, public indecency? We weren't in public,” protested Steve. “Are you a cop, or what? What are you doing in here anyway?”

“Steve, look,” breathed Amy. She had just noticed the writing in the mirror.

Steve followed her gaze. His eyes widened. “Oh... sh!t. We need to tell Jamie.” Forgetting to zip his pants, he took his girlfriend by the hand and hurriedly left the room through the stage.

Leon slowly ran his index finger on the writing. The paint did stain his finger, but it smelled absolutely nothing he could discern. That, in itself, was very strange. He looked at the mirror again.


HE
STILL
LIVES

He could have sworn the final S had been missing twenty seconds earlier... He looked down at his cellphone to see if the picture he had taken confirmed his suspicions. But the mirror shown in the picture had no writing in it, only Leon's own reflection.

And just like that, the actual writing on the mirror was gone, and Leon's index finger was perfectly clean. As if it had never been there in the first place.

1

OOC: The ones going backstage will get there in the next update.

[Odentin]

Adam frowns as he looks it over, furrowing his brow, "You certainly have the handwriting of a medical professional..." He says wryly, conveniently "forgetting" that he's a pre-med student, "What's it all mean?"

Even as he scowls at the list, he checks his cell phone, "Something's happened backstage. Something we both need to see, apparently. Come on." Having said that, he attempts to guide her backstage, hopefully explaining her list on the way...

[Misaat]

Matthew steps out from behind the mirror and sprints over to Leon.

" We need to go tell this to the others... "

[McGonigle]

"Pity I'm pretty sure I'm better at both our jobs," Jaime commented to herself as she continued to walk away. She needed to look up some other facts before writing but if all else fails she was pretty sure Jamie had provided her with

Jaime commented she went and sat down at the side of the room, and had a look at her phone. Texts had came in while she was being aggravated by Jamie but she wasn't going to give him the chance to potentially read something incriminating. She pulled up the picture message and opened it.

Considering she'll look at the texts in reverse order, i.e. newest first if it's just a mirror she probably won't move backstage. Instead sending a sarcastic reply of 'a mirror.'

[ToySoldierCPlus]

OOC: Before Jaime sends a response claiming that the writing is on a mirror, Leon sent a text, not a picture message. The picture was taken after the message was sent. Jaime has no way of knowing what Leon found backstage.

Looking between his now dry fingers and the now-empty mirror, Leon ponders what it could mean. "I already summoned them. 'He still lives...' There are two problems with this. First, who is 'he?' Ian, presumably. A zombie? No, no... A ghost? Plausible, given the mirror. Something else entirely? Maybe." He glances up at Matt. "Feel free to throw in your own ideas. The second issue, of course, is that whoever was writing this managed to finish it while I was watching, without being seen. And it was being written on this side of the glass. When I turned on the lights, it said 'He still live,' no 's'. Now there is an 's', which raises some very serious questions. And, of course, Jamie's going to show up, and be pissed, and we're going to argue, and I'm going to have to explain to him that he's in over his head and needs our help, and he won't want to hear it, because he's a cop and I'm just some biology nerd. I wish Christian was here. He'd be able to talk some sense into Jamie."

[savior indra]

"Body armor. Just a safety precaution, which is why I wanted you to stay close to me tonight. If I take a bullet, I'll live." said Kale with a bark of laughter.


OOC
Has the song ended/is close to ending?

Given the OOC statement is true,

Kale takes out his phone and checks the message before asking Michelle, "Hey can you come with me backstage, something's happened."

[-Sentinel-]

Song: International Love (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTjPan3HPpg) (remix), by Pitbull, ft. Chris Brown (thanks Savior Indra)

1

Kale


"Body armor. Just a safety precaution, which is why I wanted you to stay close to me tonight. If I take a bullet, I'll live."
Michelle stared at Kale as if wondering if he was kidding. “...You actually put on body armor for a party? That... uh... honestly, Kale, are you aware some people think you're a bit... strange? And you're not doing a lot to dispel that impression.”


"Hey can you come with me backstage, something's happened."
She chuckled. “That's not some sort of cheap ploy to get me alone in a dark room, is it? 'Cause I've seen better.” Her smile vanished when she saw how serious Kale was. “Um... right. Sorry. I'm coming.”

1

Adam

Allison arched an eyebrow. “Not sure I'm glad your friends know about what I'm doing. As I told you, I can't trust anyone in here. Hell, I trusted my brother more than I ever trusted you.”

But she followed him all the same. If Adam was hoping for some more explanations about the list, he was disappointed, but Allison made no immediate move to get her notepad back.

1

Jaime

As Jaime walked away from Jamie Price, a dissheveled Elvis with unzipped pants and a cowgirl whose shirt was buttoned all askew emerged on the stage and ran towards the rookie cop. Jaime could easily guess it had something to do with whatever Leon had found backstage.

In the light of ToySoldierCPlus's OOC note, feel free to join those who go backstage.

1

Everyone involved – Backstage

Most of the floor space in the narrow, high-ceilinged room was taken up by audio and stage equipment, instruments, chairs and mirrors. The lights were on. Matthew and Leon were already there, staring at a large mirror with a somewhat mystified expression. At first glance there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary, except a discarded bra on the floor near a fallen chair.

Michelle pursed her lips when she saw Allison. "Evening," she said coldly.

"Mmm-hm," answered Allison, not even sparing her a glance.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah looks around. "Um... I dunno, aside from the bra, everything looks kinda normal back here..." the scholar idly observes. "But I'm probably missing something important, so fill us in."

[Odentin]

Adam speaks as he moves, "Crossed out are people who acted normally, question marks are, what...suspects? What about the ones with nothing? I can tell you now Leon and the Plague Doctor are on my team. Not who you're looking for."

As they enter the backstage area, Adam arches an eyebrow and looks about, moving his gaze from the bra to Leon, "You wanna show off your lingerie? Or did you bring us back here for a good reason?"

What would it be to figure the chickenscratch out? :tongue:

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon doesn't turn around. "5.47 minutes ago, I received a text from Matt, asking someone to come backstage and spook a horny couple who were getting busy. I responded. 3.28 minutes ago, I arrived backstage and turned on the lights to spook the couple into leaving. 3.11 minutes ago, I saw writing on this mirror. The writing read, "He still live." After telling the couple off, I texted all of you to join me here and see it. I snapped a picture with my phone, and continued to investigate the writing. It was fresh, written in a blood red liquid. Not paint or blood based on scent analysis. When I looked back up, the writing had been expanded. The complete message was, "He still lives." 2.78 minutes ago, the writing disappeared. Checking the picture I had taken as evidence revealed that it had not appeared in the picture."

He turns around. "I think it's fairly obvious what this means. We're dealing with something supernatural, which is outside of Price's league. Whatever it is, Ian is involved in some way. I don't know how, yet, and I realize this must be hard for you to hear, Allison. However, I need your cooperation on this. You knew your brother better than anyone else. Was he into anything related to the occult? Wicca, paganism, black magic, reincarnation, anything? If he's found some way to transcend death, we're going to have a problem."

As an afterthought, Leon adds, "Perhaps worse is if someone else has found a way to bring him back. I never got to tell anyone what got me into this job. The short version is that I saw a man made of corpses stitched together into some kind of unholy mockery of Frakenstein's monster fighting a monstrosity that I can't even describe now. A violation of all laws of biology and nature alike. The corpse-man touched the monstrosity and turned it to stone, and in that moment I saw it for what it truly was: a monster. There are weird things out there, with strange abilities, and stranger forms. Reanimation, ghost summoning, and reincarnation aren't even on the list of improbabilities at this point."

[Lycan 01]

Without skipping a beat, Jonah pulls out his phone and goes online to check various Hunter and reliable paranormal resources, trying to dig up everything he can for ghosts and demonic incursions. He is mainly focused, though, on racking his brain and trying to remember anything and everything he's ever learned about paranormal activity like this. "Anybody know where the kitchen is? We'll probably need salt. Maybe try to make some holy water..." he observes in a casual manner that is probably unsettling to the non-Hunters.


Finally, I'm useful! :smallbiggrin:

The main thing I'm doing now is checking Occult to know/remember how to deal with ghosts and/or demons, or to at least to figure out what we're probably dealing with. And I'm going to spend a WP for it. So, Int + Occult + Will dice = 10, I believe.

Occult: [roll0]
10 agains: [roll1]


...

2 successes. Dammit Jonah, y u no useful?! >.<

Also, I'd like to look up ghosts and demons and stuff on the internet, but I assume that's a secret roll, so I won't bother with rolling it. :smalltongue:


Jonah gets slightly distracted by Kale's story. "Huh. Better story than mine," he mutters absentmindedly. "I went to a fancy dinner party, got invited to a 'hunting club,' and wound up hunting a Ghoul. Fun times..."

He probably shouldn't have mentioned the club thing. But he's too busy trying to be the lore-monkey for the team to realize what he's saying...

[Odentin]

Adam shakes his head, disregarding Michelle's presence entirely, "Ghost might be a possibility, but how do you know it wasn't a hallucination? Other beasties can do that to you..."

He takes a glance over at Allison and frowns before looking back at Leon and continuing, "If it is a ghost, you consider this might be what caused the original massacre?"

[savior indra]

"There's other reasons. Like I said my friends and I believed that someone may be planning to kill people, so we prepared accordingly." explained Kale as he and Michelle headed backstage.

---------------------------------------- [ heading backstage ]

"So I don't hunt the supernatural specifically." said Kale as he turned towards Michelle and Allison.

"I try to make the world a better place by removing whatever holds it back. The supernatural sometimes falls under that category." explained Kale.

"I agree that this is beyond that rent-a-cop's abilities. We need to make sure that we're prepared to deal with whatever is happening. Is anyone wearing the kevlar I bought?"

[-Sentinel-]

Adam


"I can tell you now Leon and the Plague Doctor are on my team. Not who you're looking for."
"If I'd found you two years ago with a list of potential school shooters that had Ian on it, I'd have told you the exact same thing," replied Allison. "Not who you're looking for. Do you think you know your friends better than I knew my brother?"

She ignored his other questions.

1

Everyone

Michelle's mouth opened and closed several times while Leon spoke. She turned to the others almost pleadingly, perhaps hoping to see amused faces that would confirm this was only an elaborate Halloween prank, but saw only grave and serious expressions around her. She grew even more bewildered when Jonah and Adam added their own theories to Leon's.

"...What... are you all talking about?" she stammered. "You all drunk, or what?"

For her part, Allison was listening intently. When Leon questioned her about Ian, she answered: "No, he wasn't into spiritual stuff... he had nothing but contempt for all that. He was an atheist and a rationalist."

"No wonder he went bad then," sniffed Michelle. "I mean, with no moral rules left to guide him..."

Allison shot her a deadly glare. Michelle held her gaze defiantly.

DISCLAIMER: I strongly reject and even despise the belief that morality stems from religion, being nonreligious myself. Just so no one thinks Michelle is expressing anything close to my view... :smalltongue:

Something about Michelle I may not have mentioned yet: she's a born-again Christian.

Jonah raked his brains for anything he knew about ghosts and demons. He had never met either, so he relied on relatively trustworthy sources like Network Zero, but even they were sometimes inconsistent. It was said that some of the more powerful ghosts had the power to create illusions, but Jonah had no idea if demons could do the same. According to folklore, ghosts remained in the mortal world either to fulfill some unfinished business before moving on, or because they were afraid of whatever afterlife awaited them. Less was known about demons; they apparently varied greatly in power, and some could grant wealth, power, knowledge or even supernatural abilities in exchange for an often immoral service that could vary between a small sin or an unspeakable atrocity.

Using his smart phone, Jonah made a quick Internet search and found some websites that offered exorcism services, for a price of course. It was hard to tell which ones were the real deal and which ones were not, but the cheaper exorcists who claimed to cast their spells from home almost certainly belonged to the second category. Other websites mentioned anti-ghost or anti-demon holy objects; some even sold them, usually with three- or four-figure price tags.

There was clearly a lot of money to be made from fighting the supernatural... Why, then, was Jonah always broke?

[Odentin]

Before the backstage: "Thought you'd say that. Still not sure you'd have been wrong."
__________________________________________________ _________________

After the backstage: "Michelle, you're being part of the problem, here, not part of the solution." He glances at Kale, "I am. Hopefully it won't be necessary."

He lets out a long, weary sigh, muttering to himself, "Oh who the fµck am I kidding...?"

[savior indra]

"Let's not insult each other and focus on the real issue here." said Kale calmly as he stood between Michelle and Allison.

"Jonah what are our options at this point. Because i don't think we know nearly enough to create a plan."

[SurlySeraph]

Sem pipes up. "Waiting around and tackling anyone who looks like they have a gun is an option!"

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon shakes his head. "Too few of us, too many party-goers. Besides, we'd wind up tackling too many innocents. If I took my screw off and put it in my labcoat, I'd look like I was carrying a gun.

Turning to Michelle and Allison, he adds, "We're not drunk Michelle, just like we weren't drunk when took down the vampires that were running Rasputin's at the beginning of the year. Nor was I drunk when I dissected the blood-suckers. Got some very interesting data out of it, too. I digress. The things that go bump in the night exist, and what's worse, they prey on humanity. We've made it our job to stand up and say, 'No, I won't be the prey any more. You are the hunted, and I am the Hunter.' Allison, I appreciate the information. For what it's worth, so was I before the end of last year. So we can presumably rule out Ian finding some way of transcending death, but that doesn't mean he couldn't have been possessed by something, or that someone else couldn't have found a way to call him back to do this."

[Misaat]

Matthew Quickly sends a message to his contact from network Zero.

" What do you know about Ghosts? "

Then he turns towards the rest of the group.

" Guy's if everyone is backstage here... Who's watching the people at the party? "

[Odentin]

"Price." Adam says contemptuously.

We have to hope this thing can't jump from host to host. Find the host, restrain it, and hold it until we can figure out how to, what, exorcise the thing?"

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"Why wouldn't it be able to jump from host to host? If we restrain its host, how do we know it won't be able to jump out? Anyway, assuming it can't, how do we ID its host?"

[Lycan 01]

Jonah continues to tap at his phone. "Well, some of the more reliable sources say that sufficiently powerful paranormal entities are able to create illusions. Having unfinished business or being afraid of 'the other side' are potential causes for a ghosts creation, in folklore at least. As for demons, there's less information on them, but they tend to be extremely powerful and dangerous. They prefer to make deals, though. Your classic 'Dr. Faustus' scenario..." the scholar shrugs. "Exorcism services or special anti-supernatural items seem to be popular solutions, but most of them look like shams and rip-offs. Though, a few of them have 4-digit price tags, and you've probably gotta be doing something right if you can get away with charging that much per service."

"Well, looking at what we've got, I'd say it's a ghost. We've already messages appearing and then disappearing, and it would explain how several dozen bullets got into the candy bowls without anyone seeing them. Whether the ghost is Ian, or whether Ian was an unwitting pawn in its plans, I'm afraid I can't say right now," he shrugs, and gives an apologetic glance to Allison. "But if Ian had no interest in theology or the paranormal, I see no logical way for him to have encountered a demon. And if he had bumped into one, I doubt he'd have taken up whatever sort of deal it offered. So yeah, ghost is way more likely."

Jonah looks around. "Hey, did anybody ever commit suicide in this place or something? Maybe a frat hazing went wrong? Something like that could have created a vengeful spirit, perhaps. Oh, and it goes without saying, but we're going to need to be more creative than just 'shoot it.' 'Shoot it a lot' isn't going to work either..." he sighs. "We might have to do an exorcism, or some sort of cleansing rite. Or, you know, help it find peace. But if it's of the homicidal entity variety, that last one will probably be easier said than done..."

Jonah pulls his phone back out, and starts doing research to see if there have been any high-profile suicides, murders, or accidents on campus in the last decade or so.


Yay more research! :smallbiggrin:

Secret rolls, goooo!

[Odentin]

"Same reason bloodsuckers burn in sunlight but not under UV lamps."

He sighs and takes a moment to try to remember anything his father might have taught him about ghosts...
Int occult: [roll0]

He takes a look at Allison's notepad one more time, "This should be a good place to start. A few people acting odd."

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon smirks. "So, fouled-if-we-know-it-just-does? Peachy. Still, I can't say I've had much contact with ghosts. I'm more familiar with the corporeal variety of bogey men."

[McGonigle]

“My personal opinion is that a shoplifter would probably be out of Price's league, he struck me as amazingly competent.” Jaime chipped in from where she was standing near the doorway. “So what we actually know, what we are dealing with is:
a) Capable of making a message that can fade without it requiring physical contact.
b) Managed to get bullets into the sweets.
c) Knows as much about the massacre as the average student.

Now even though a clearly suggests that it is supernatural, or has access to a projector. We do not have enough to draw any inference on the creatures identity. We shouldn't be ignoring the party to gossip about ghosts. Now leads we can assume the bullets magically appeared there, on the other hand we haven't ruled out the possibility that they were placed there before the party. If the former we can only twiddle our thumbs, the later on the other hand we can act on.
I'm keeping a watch on our hosts table, any of his cronies or frat bro's could be responsible.”

As she commented she kept a watch on the dance floor, trying to make out the group of the host amide all the chaos, and also looking out for Jamie.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon shakes his head. "The message wasn't projected. It was written, in, as I said, some sort of blood-red liquid. Not blood or paint, though." He sighs. "We should head back out to the party, though. Since the message is gone, there's really no reason for us to stay back here."

[SurlySeraph]

Semira puts a hand on Jaime's shoulder and stands beside her, looking out. "Not Zach, and yes I'm sure. Maybe one of his SKP bros. Most of them are pretty hammered, should be easy to trick into admitting if they actually did it. I'm not convinced this is anything, ah, weird, but I doubt any of them will."

"Could just be some sneaky bastard, got in a window or hid in the basement or something. The basement..." She shivers a little. "Restricted area, but I expect Zach has access. I could grab him and take a look around while you keep an eye up here. Or we could ignore it and just divide up checking Zach's friends."

[-Sentinel-]

Turning to Michelle and Allison, he adds, "We're not drunk Michelle, just like we weren't drunk when took down the vampires that were running Rasputin's at the beginning of the year. Nor was I drunk when I dissected the blood-suckers. Got some very interesting data out of it, too."
“...Maybe I'm the one who needs to get drunk, then,” Michelle decided quickly. She walked out without ceremony... which was, perhaps, the way any of them would have reacted to such a conversation before they ever came in contact with the supernatural.

“Yeah, don't let the door kick you on the way out,” called Allison. “Bitch.”

Adam tried to remember what he knew about ghosts. They often lingered in the mortal world to take care of unfinished business, so it stood to reason that they would go away if that business was dealt with. Of course, that knowledge did not help if they had no idea of the business in question. Ghosts were also said to be bound to objects or places related to their deaths or motivations, and destroying that object or place was a solution – if one could find out what it was. Hopefully they would not have to burn down Tyler Hall just to be on the safe side...

Before Jonah could make much of a research on his smartphone, Jamie Price strode into the room through the stage door, followed by Amy and Steve. The rookie cop looked pale and in a very bad mood. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the people already there. He opened his mouth as if to shout, then paused, removed his bowtie and took a deep breath.

“I don't know who you all think you are,” he said coldly, “but some of you have a way of always turning up where there's evidence of IanFan's activity. In my line of work, it's grounds for arrest and interrogation.” He turned to Steve. “Alright. Where is it?”

Steve pointed at the mirror... and blinked. “Hey! It's gone! Did you erase it?” he asked Leon accusingly.

Jamie narrowed his eyes at Leon, perhaps filing him under Prime suspects. “What was written?” he asked Steve.

“He's here tonight. Big red letters. Sort of like the ones on the memorial.”

Amy gave his boyfriend a strange look. “That's not it, Steve. It was written We'll have justice.”

“What? Not at all!”

Jamie clenched his teeth, his face even paler than usual. “Is alcohol the only thing the two of you put in your system tonight?” he asked slowly. “This had better not be a bad joke, because my patience is running very, very thin.”

[Odentin]

Adam's eyes narrow at the idiots' descriptions, We?!

Adam nudges Semira, hoping she can talk their way out of all of this. Jamie may be incompetent, but he still has the power to ruin them and screw up the entire case if he tries...

[savior indra]

"In any event no more drinking for the rest of the party. We need two man patrols taking half hour shifts. Everyone else should be going through the party making sure nothing else is happening. We should also check the exits and make sure they actually work and doors haven't been locked etc., we can't afford collateral damage. If something happens, we need to be able to get people out fast and minimize panic." said Kale to the group.

EDIT: didn't realize Sentinel had already posted. Editing to address the leaving of Michelle.

"I'm going to go check up on Michelle. Make sure she doesn't have anything more to drink." muttered Kale as he mentally filed the information he had just received while following Michelle.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon's eyes widen at Steve and Amy's conflicting stories. He takes a deep breath and exhales, steeling himself for confrontation. "You two saw the words, right? In blood-red lettering? And they said, "He's here tonight," and "We'll have justice? That's a problem." Leon shifts position, facing the whole group.

"Here's the deal. The words that appeared on the mirror were presented differently to everyone who saw them. Those two saw, "He's here tonight," and, "We'll have justice." I saw the words, "He still lives." The words were written on the front of the mirror, in some substance that was neither paint nor the other obvious option, blood. It could have been costume blood, but I doubt it; it didn't feel like costume blood, or anything I've ever felt before. The words appeared, changed, and disappeared while I was studying them, meaning that whoever, or more likely whatever was writing them was present at the time, but unable to be seen. The writing disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared, and it didn't show up when I snapped a picture with my phone, fearing that it would disappear." Leon looks straight into Jamie's eyes. "No one in this room had anything to do with that writing, except witnessing its appearance and disappearance. No one in this room has had anything to do with the bullets in the candy, or the toilet flushing red. That said, all of this points to a repeat of the incident from two years ago being on the verge of happening. Further, the perpetrator of that incident is going to be..." Leon's voice trails off, his eyes go even wider than they were before, and he visibly slumps where he stands. "It's not Ian's ghost. IanFan is irrelevant. It's the victims. Their spirits have become trapped here, consumed by rage. They hate everyone who was involved in the last massacre, blaming them for their deaths, for not preventing it. Michelle and Allison, amongst others, notably the survivors of the previous massacre, and especially Zach, and in grave danger."

[Odentin]

"Leon, you talk too friggin' much. There are bystanders here you idiot!"

Adam growls to himself and ushers the idiots out, closing the door behind them before turning back to the group - Kale + Jamie & Allison, "Why, though? Something they're latched onto? The Hall itself? We can't burn it down. Necromancy, maybe? Jonah, is there some way a human could have brought them back?"

He focuses on Jamie for a moment, narrowing his eyes, "You're so far outside your gourd right now it's ridiculous, but right now, we could use your help. Christian Barber is a friend of ours. He can vouch for us. We can call him, if you'd like, or you can. Either way, I'd rather have you alongside us than getting in our way."

[Misaat]

What about my contact? Didnt he answer my message?

Matthew scratches his chin when he hears Leon's theory

" I dunno... Something doesnt fit... If what you are saying is true then why write "Justice"? Vengeance would fit better... Unless... "

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"Bystanders? Those two saw the writing, you heard them say as much. And Jamie is either going to be working with us or working against, but I'd rather he be informed. It's not like I'm going to go out on stage, swipe a microphone and announce to the whole party, "Your attention please, we have reason to believe there are vengeful ghosts at this party. Please remain calm and disperse in an orderly fashion." Because that'd go over so well."

[Odentin]

"Just because they saw it doesn't mean they need to understand it. Adam hisses, "Not everyone can handle this bullsh!t. And we don't need useless fools like those two being privy to what we do."

[-Sentinel-]

OOC:
Odentin, please note that you can't just force some NPCs to leave; or at least, they leave only if/when I say they do. For now, Amy and Steve are still in the room, and I'm going to ignore any actions taken or words spoken with the assumption that they left.

Misaat, I missed that bit somehow. We can assume your contact, being in the UK (if I remember correctly), is sound asleep. If it's 10 PM in Chicago, I think it makes it 5 AM in England.


While Leon spoke, Amy and Steve stared at him as if he were a madman. Amy cleared her throat: "Uh. Jamie, to answer your question, I don't know if I have only alcohol in my system, but this guy sure has something else."

"Yeah," agreed Steve. "And he erased the message, I'm sure of it."

Conveniently, he ignored the unsettling fact that he and Amy had seen different words on the mirror. It was quite typical of normal people to rationalize the supernatural or, if they could not, to pretend it was not there. It made them sleep better at night. By tomorrow, Amy and Steve would probably both believe they had imagined it all while drunk.

Jamie, though, looked troubled. And being troubled did not improve his mood. "You'd better start making sense, the lot of you. I know IanFan is here. He... or she... has to be. And by now I've good reason to think it's one of you."


"You're so far outside your gourd right now it's ridiculous, but right now, we could use your help. Christian Barber is a friend of ours. He can vouch for us. We can call him, if you'd like, or you can. Either way, I'd rather have you alongside us than getting in our way."
"Christian who?" said Jamie. "Not sure he's in my district." He glared at Adam. "You'd rather have me alongside you, eh? Excuse me, were you under the impression we were on equal terms, civilian? An officer doesn't need the help of some wannabe Ghostbusters to catch a regular nutcase. I could arrest the lot of you for obstruction of police work..."

His voice trailed off as he spotted something. "Whose bra is that?"

Amy flushed and snatched her bra from the floor. Grabbing Steve by the arm, she walked out of the room.

OOC 2:
Jamie might seem like a bit of a d!ck, but do put yourselves in the place of a cop/security guard trying to not only find a potential killer in the middle of a party, but also deal with a bunch of suspicious people who mess with the evidence and claim that ghosts did it... Got to roleplay my NPCs realistically. :smalltongue:

1

Kale

Kale found Michelle near the bar, pouring a copious amount of vodka in her punch. She didn't look too happy.

"Kale. This is the most insensitive joke ever," she declared, downing her drink alarmingly fast. "Ian murdered Gavin in front of me and shot me in the leg... some nut desecrated the memorial and threatened to attack the party... and now your friends have the gall to invent ridiculous stories in my presence, like Ian's ghost coming back?" She pointed an accusing finger at Kale. "Are you part of this? You made me follow you backstage."

[SurlySeraph]

"Jamie? I didn't see the writing, and I can't honestly say I know what's going on. But I can vouch that these guys are well-intentioned and mostly harmless. And while you're arguing with a gender theorist and a couple conspiracy freaks who may or may not have, uh," - Sh!t! What are those things that look different from different angles called?! - "have taped a hologram to a mirror, there are at least two hundred people in that room who are completely undefended."

Cue wide, frightened eyes. "Even if there's some douchebag trying to scare us, even if one of these guys is that douchebag , people need you right now. Wasting time with these a$$holes just puts everyone else in danger."
Manipulation + Persuasion: [roll0]
If it's been less than an hour since her last drink, Semira's also got a +1 bonus from that: [roll1]
In case of 10s: [roll2]

[Odentin]

My apologies.

Adam watches the idiots leave with contempt, muttering to himself as they go. He finally looks back to Jamie, the same distaste still on his face. He ignores the question, and instead turns to Leon, "Why, though? Something they're latched onto? The Hall itself? We can't burn it down. Necromancy, maybe? Jonah, is there some way a human could have brought them back?"

Would still like to make that check, if possible. 3 successes, I believe...

[savior indra]

"Michelle please stop drinking and I'll tell you what I know. The last thing you want to do, is drink to forget. We both know that. Please stop." begged Kale as he slid his hand over the drink and kept it on the table.

Provided Michelle listens and stops.

Checking around to make sure that they weren't being listened in upon. Kale took a deep breath before he started to speak. "We are vigilantes. We hunt whatever preys upon people at night, during the day whenever, wherever. We believe that someone or something here is planning on endangering the lives of the students. We came to try and prevent it from happening. Sophia was one of the reasons I started doing this. You and I were other reasons.I don't people to have to go through what you and I went through. So please, don't drink anymore. I need you sober so that you can direct people in case something happens."

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Pointedly ignoring Jamie, Steve and Amy, Leon responds to Adam's question. "I don't think it would be the Hall. I mean, yeah, you hear about ghosts latching onto places, but most of those stories end with the ghost either being driven out forcefully or else being pacified, and they're usually not vengeful spirits. Vengeful spirits are, well, vengeful. In any story I've ever heard about a vengeful ghost, they want the object of their ire to suffer. Look at the Sixth Sense. Remember the little girl whose mother poisoned her? She wanted her mother brought to justice." Leon rubs his chin thoughtfully. "If it's necromancy, which I'm not convinced of, but I can't in good conscience rule out, we'd need to find the necromancer in question and convince him to banish his puppets. Jamie might actually be useful for that, assuming he or she is here to direct them. If it's not, we need to figure out what they want, beyond vengeance or justice. Justice from who, exactly?" Leon turns now to Jamie Price. "All right, would you like me to bring you up to speed? Or are you just going to arbitrarily disbelieve everything I say because I'm a nerd and you're a cop?"

[McGonigle]

"I trust your judgement on that, yeah I'm going to go try that, I can’t help with the conspiracy theories.” She commented flippantly and as she was going to depart she saw her favourite police officer approaching.

Oh great, he’s here.” Jaime commented quietly to Semira as Jamie entered. She tried to draw as little attention to herself as possible and attempted to leave while Jaime was dealing with the mess that was developing. She smiled as she heard the exasperation in his voice, the best part of the evening seemed to be watching the ex frat-boy struggle.

OOC:/ Wits/Dex + Stealth Roll + WP (The dice pool is the same either way.) [roll0]
To quietly exit the scene. If I succeed in that I’m going to go back to the front door, and trying to befriend the bored fratboy by the metal detector. ("So I'm guessing you drew the short straw then?" and try to move the conversation to where I can find who put out the sweets. Mainly by encouraging him to talk/complain about all the work that has been done and then asking something along the lines of "So who were the lucky ones who got away with just putting out the sweets?")

[Lycan 01]

"Hey, um, guys?" Jonah quietly squeaks. "Can we all try to calm down a bit? Everyone? We don't need to be rude or snide or disrespectful towards it each other," he says, looking back and forth from his friends to Jamie. "It doesn't matter how we feel about each other right now. We're all on the same side. We're all trying to keep things from getting worse. And right now, fighting amongst ourselves is only going to prevent us - all of us - from doing what we need to do. So, please, can everyone just, y'know, take it down a notch or something?" he nervously asks.

He then clears his throat, and flatly states: "Besides, the way I see it, we're either dealing with a single ghost who has a single target in mind, or multuple ghosts and a copycat killer."

He gestures at the wall. "Everyone saw something different written, and then it disappeared. No arguing that it's paranormal activity. The bullets and the toilet... let's discount that for a moment, and focus just on the writing. 'He is here tonight,' 'he still lives,' and 'we'll have justice.' Now, 'we' can be singular or plural, so we either have multiple ghosts - likely the victims - wanting justice against a single person or entity, or we have a single ghost - likely Ian - wanting justice against a single person or entity."

"So, the way I see it, if it's the victim's spirits, they want justice against IanFan or someone otherwise involved with their deaths, which would mean we're likely dealing with a copycat killer, and they're trying to warn us or broadcast their intentions of bloody comeuppance. If the ghost is Ian, then..." he turns towards Allison and sighs. "Look, I'm sorry. I really am. But... if the ghost is Ian, we can't discount the possibility that he is still after someone specific, who he may have been targeting in the first place. OR, there may have been someone directly drove him into his original actions... and now he wants their head on a metaphorical pike."

Jonah then leans back against the nearest wall, folds his arms, and groans. "Urgh. There are still just too many variables. Which is why we all need to work together right now!"

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"Jonah's right, we should be working together. And you raise a good point. Rather than assuming multiple targets, we should assume a single target until we have evidence to the contrary. I still think it's the victims, the royal 'we' fell out of style a long time ago. As for who the target is, we can reasonably safely assume it's male, and he was involved in the last massacre. Are we sure that Ian was responsible? I'm not completely familiar with the details, but from what I understand, a gunman wearing a Nixon mask opened fire on the party two years ago, killing 3 and wounding several. Ian was found in the mens' room, having an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and with the Nixon mask on his person. I assume the guns were also with him. Is it possible that the gunman was someone else, and Ian was killed and framed? Or was killed trying to stop the gunman?" He looks around at his friends and Jamie.

"I realize this must sound certifiably insane, even by our standards. However, I feel it's worth investigation anyway. It's possible Ian was being controlled when the massacre occurred, or it's possible that he was a convenient scapegoat to throw suspicion off of the actual killer. So I need to know, are we sure that Ian was the killer?"

[-Sentinel-]

Jamie was at least willing to listen to Semira's placating speech. His jaw unclenched slightly. “Alright, let's hurry then,” he said, putting on an expression of cool professionalism. “I'm sure you trust your friends, but you must understand I can't afford to ignore any leads.”

His mood soured once more when Leon and Adam resumed the talk about ghosts and necromancy.


"All right, would you like me to bring you up to speed? Or are you just going to arbitrarily disbelieve everything I say because I'm a nerd and you're a cop?"
“Currently I'm reasonably disbelieving what you say because I'm a rational person and you're the one who's blaming it all on ghosts without any proof whatsoever except the inconsistent testimonies of two drunken morons.”


"Everyone saw something different written, and then it disappeared. No arguing that it's paranormal activity.
“To the contrary,” interrupted Jamie, “we could argue for hours about the credibility of the witnesses.”


"If the ghost is Ian, then..." he turns towards Allison and sighs. "Look, I'm sorry. I really am. But... if the ghost is Ian, we can't discount the possibility that he is still after someone specific, who he may have been targeting in the first place. OR, there may have been someone directly drove him into his original actions... and now he wants their head on a metaphorical pike."
Allison shrugged. “We can't dismiss any possibilities,” she said matter-of-factly.

Jonah ONLY
(No, I mean it, bunch of cheaters. Jonah only. :smalltongue:)
Allison was good at concealing her emotions... but was that a brief flash of triumph in her eyes?

When Leon laid out his new theory, Allison looked at him with interest; perhaps part of her desperately wished to believe her brother was not responsible. But Jamie Price let out a contemptuous snort:

“Oh, right, and then they forced Ian Keating to blow his brains out? How? At gunpoint? Shoot yourself or I'll shoot you? That's ludicrous. And will you stop already with the mind control theories? Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold certainly weren't mind-controlled when they shot up Columbine High School, unless you're one of those who believe Marilyn Manson made them do it.”

He scowled at them all. “I have a party to keep an eye on, so now I'm going to ask you to leave this room and not come back. They gave me a set of keys, and I'll be sure to lock both doors. At the first sign of trouble, the lot of you will be expelled from the building, just to be on the safe side. Understood?”

1

(Song: All the Small Things (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahWmkV0mtvk), by Blink 182. Thanks Odentin. :smallwink:)

1

Kale

Michelle exhaled. “Right. I can stop drinking, since you're asking nicely. But you can't expect me to believe that idiocy your friends were talking about. I mean... a copycat killer, perhaps. But Ian Keating coming back from the dead? What in the world led you to a notion like that? You know what they say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I saw nothing ressembling evidence, not even of the ordinary sort.”

1

Jaime

Jaime succeeded in slipping out of the room without being noticed by Jamie Price. To her surprise, the number of people on the dance floor had diminished by about half during the past hour. It was not just Crazy Train driving away some of the original survivors; rather, it seemed like a steady trickle with no obvious reason. It was barely ten, for crying out loud.

"Fidel Castro" was no longer manning the metal detector. He had been replaced by Mark Edwards, the quarterback of the football team, who wore a sullen look on his face.

[Lycan 01]

"Fine, fine," Jonah shrugs when Jamie warns them to stay out of the room. "But hey, um, can I go check out the kitchen? I'm just looking for some salt, I swear," he holds up his hands in a placating gesture. "And some water. But I figured it'd be better if I told you what I'm doing rather than sneak around, y'know? Show of cooperation an' stuff?" he says with a bit of hopefulness.

[McGonigle]

Jaime threw up her hands in exasperation, then slumped against the wall opposite Mark, and then she massaged her temples slightly. Before looking up and acknowledging that Mark was there.

"Sorry about that, but looks like I'm not the only one not having a great evening, is it just being stuck on the highly exciting door duty, or something worse?"

[SurlySeraph]

Semira nods compliantly for Jamie, then heads out and sits on a corner of the stage, looking out over the dance floor. She taps out a long text for Leon and Jonah:

"yr prob right, but people cant KNOW these things. not unless they've seen. truth just turns them vs you. better to lie.

if subject smthng physical, might have snuck in basement. i'll check it for signs.

if not physical, i suspect cant resist targeting an isolated survivor."

Semira closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. This is probably not a deadly plan. Most likely nothing will happen. If it does, most likely she can handle it. Unbidden memories drift through her mind: brief pain in her foot as it hits a knee, the amused eyes of the older of the two ghilan as the younger ghoul's yelp echoes through the warm spring night...
But she might be making a very big mistake. And if she is, at least she can make sure no one else pays the price.

"if zach comes back up the stairs alone, assume he is possessed." She hits send. Then she seeks out Zach and asks if he'd like to go down to the basement with her for a little while. No need to feign the slightly guilty blush or the nervous smile.
Seduction roll, with +1 bonus from costume: [roll0]

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon opened his mouth to retort, thought better of it, and shut it again. "I give up. I'm trying to play fair, give you the same information I have, but if you don't want it, fine. I know the truth of what's out there, I know what goes bump in the night. I know what those things are capable of. I like to think of myself as a rationalist as well, so I understand if you need proof before you'll believe. I just pray you don't get your proof tonight. I'd rather have you think me crazy than see people get hurt just to prove a point." As he leaves the room, he think to himself, I guess not everyone has what it takes to be a Hunter. If he wants to be one of the Hunted, fine, let him. See if I care, but he says nothing.

Stopping just before the door, Leon adds, "Oh, and kicking us out won't solve anything, even if something does go wrong." With that, he walks out of the room, mentally writing Jamie Price off as ever being an ally. Maybe I should have called my cousin. He'd know how to deal with ghosts.

[savior indra]

"Michelle, there are things out there that defy logic. By rights they shouldn't even exist. They hunt us but we fight back. Please just trust me on this. Stay close to me tonight if nothing happens and you I'm crazy just say the word and I'll leave you alone. But please just for tonight stay close to me and hope nothing happens. Because if something does, you'll get your proof, but you may not like what you see." said Kale as he stared directly into her eyes, willing her to understand that he was telling the truth.

[-Sentinel-]

Jamie gave Jonah a hard stare. "Salt? What the hell for? I got no time to keep an eye on you while you go to the kitchen. And if you need water, there's the bathroom."

To Leon he said: "You believe whatever you want, Agent Mulder, so long as you don't mess with the evidence before I've seen it. You know what evidence is, don't you? It's what unquestionably exists, and can be used in an investigation." He drew one of the bullets found in the candy from his pocket. "This is evidence." He pointed at the mirror. "This isn't."

1

Jaime

"Some guy asked me to replace him for a minute," answered Mark. "That was a quarter of an hour ago, so I don't think he's coming back, but someone's got to keep wach. Also, I think my girlfriend just ditched me." He squinted at Jaime. "You work for the school newspaper, right? I think you interviewed me once, during last year's playoffs."

1

Semira

Zach was playing strip poker with a few male and female friends; clearly the party was degenerating now that the least festive students had left, the remaining ones were drunk and Jamie Price was nowhere in sight. The frat student, already relieved of his shirt, his shoes and a sock, grinned at Semira.

"Oh, I'd love to, Sem, but the basement's locked. Security and all that."

1

Kale

"Alright, alright, I'm not planning to wander alone in dark alleys," Michelle assured Kale quickly. But her exasperated tone suggested she was only trying to make him happy. She was still skeptical, and besides, the student council president was not the kind of girl looking for a knight in shining armor to protect her; she had already lost a boyfriend to such macho heroics.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah recoils slightly from the harsh stare. "Hey, I wasn't asking you to keep an eye on me," he calmly, if timidly, replies. "I just didn't want you to come kick my ass for being there without permission or something like that."

The scholar then pulls out his phone and begins typing away, leaning against the wall and trying to look busy. "But if I can't use salt, I'll just have to find a more creative, if unreliable, solution..." he grumbles.

Tap tap type type. Jonah appears to be doing lots of research!

Keyword: "appears."


He is actually sending a text to the Hunter cell.

Allison had weird look in eyes when I suggested Ian ghosty vengeance. "Triumph" best way to describe it. Why feel triumph over Ian ghosty stuff? Proceed with caution!!

[SurlySeraph]

Sem replies. "Oh, okay. Maybe later, then," and wanders off to check if the basement door actually is locked.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"Eye-witness testimony is evidence, too, Scully," Leon calls over his shoulder as he leaves the room. He pulls out his phone and checks his messages. To Semira he sends:
"It's how we got Karen and Vishaka on our side. I figured he'd be happy for the help."

To Jonah: Thanks for the heads up. Why triumph, I wonder? Could she have done something? Could she know something?

Relying on Adam to keep an eye on Allison, and Jonah to follow up on the lead, Leon heads back into the now-deteriorating party. His first stop is a candy bowl, and he begins raiding it heavily, grabbing related to Milky Way, Three Musketeers, Kit-Kat, Reese's and York Peppermint Patties he spots.

[Misaat]

" Im going back to the party to see how everyone's doing "

Matthew says going off to check on Vishaka and Karen

[McGonigle]

"Yeah that was me, I apologise if I asked any stupid questions, it kind of got dumped on me at the last minute. Pretty much all my sports knowledge comes from hearing my dad shout at the screen. I still can't believe it got passed to me, but I did my best. After all we fail to cover playoffs and we might as well forget about having a sport section." Although to be honest she wasn't too sure she would mind getting rid of the sports section it seemed to attract the majority of the newspapers useless members in her opinion.

"Yeah everyone seems to be heading off absurdly early it's dying in there. I mean I get a few people leaving after the incident leaving but still even I think this is early. How many people do you think have left while you were on the door? "

[savior indra]

"Michelle I'm not going to say it's for your own safety because I know you can handle yourself. I'm just being selfish because I wouldn't forgive myself if you got hurt." said Kale as he poured himself a shot, brought it up to his face before setting int back down. If he started drinking now, he probably wouldn't be able to stop. He turned and looked around the room for anything suspicious (not actively searching for anything just taking a look around.) Before grabbing the most caffeinated non-alcoholic beverage he could find and drinking some.

[Odentin]

Adam leaves the backroom behind Allison, sneering at Jamie on the way out. As they reenter the main room he leans in to Allison's ear, "Stick close."

He hands her back her notepad as he checks his text, but says nothing yet.

[-Sentinel-]

Adam

Allison scanned the room, which now looked strangely empty; barely a hundred students left. She flipped the pages of her notepad, pen in hand, and crossed out several names.

“Adam? I think it's time I showed you something.” Her eyes flicked left and right, making sure no one untrustworthy was within earshot. “I wasn't planning to tell anyone, but the conversation back there changed things. I think I can trust you and your friends after all. Can you call them and tell them to meet at the men's restrooms as soon as possible?”

1

Semira

Leaving Zach behind, Semira left the dance floor and followed the hallway towards the stairs, past the restrooms, the offices and the elevator. The door leading to the stairwell was a heavy metal thing – and it was indeed locked. Both the basement and the second floor were inaccessible, and forcing one's way through would make a lot of noise and possibly trigger an alarm.

Of course, if the ghost theory was correct, the door was mostly useless.

1

Kale

Some energy drinks were available at the bar. Kale bought one and downed it quickly.

“I've got to warn you, Kale,” said Michelle with an edge of irritation, “I came here to have fun. I can't promise I'll stay around you if you're going to be paranoid all the time.”

1

Matthew

Matthew found Vishakha and Karen at the same table as usual.

“...really stop drinking now,” Vishakha was saying. “I can't drive your motorcycle, you know, so I'm still counting on you to get us home.”

Karen finished her can of beer and put it down next to the other three. “Alright, it's my last. But relax, I'm not drunk yet. Not even half drunk. Maybe a quarter drunk, though,” she allowed. She burped and turned to Matthew. “Oh, hey. What's up?”

1

Jaime

“It's pretty weird, yeah,” Mark agreed. “I've seen a lot of people leave... and some of them looked a bit freaked out. My girlfriend swore to God she saw Nixon's face reflected in the bathroom mirror. I told her she should go home and sober up... I think that's why she ditched me. But now there's others who say they see and hear weird things. Mostly when they're alone.”

He shrugged, as if he considered it strange but none of his concern.

[savior indra]

"No, I understand. If I'm getting on your nerves I'll go. said Kale.

While he waited for Michelle's response he sent a mass text to the other hunters.

We need a plan. What is are you all doing? What areas do we have covered?

[Odentin]

Adam raises his eyebrows, but pulls his phone from his pocket and fires off a mass text to the group.

Allison wants to show us something. Wants to meet up at mens restroom ASAP. Kale stand watch in main room. Update if necessary.

[Misaat]

" Party might be over soon... some freaky ****'s going on... "

He comments as he takes out his cellphone and examines the "footage" He took backstage to see if the changed part of the song got recorded. Or the part in which the mirror has painting marks.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah shrugs and goes back to the party. He checks his text messages, but doesn't respond. Instead, he goes to where they're serving the drinks, and requests a couple of bottles of water.

As he slowly makes his way towards the bathroom, he grips the water bottles tightly in his hands. "Ego sanctifico hic aqua, in Nomine Patris, et filli, et spiritus sancti..." he quietly whispers to himself. As he finally nears the door to the bathroom, he lets out a frustrated grunt. While not exactly a practicing Christian, he'd been raised Protestant for most of his childhood. His faith, if you could call it that, was certainly not the strongest. But in recent weeks, he'd discovered that things like vampires and demons really did exist. In a world filled with supernatural evil, who's to say there isn't supernatural goodness, too? It certainly didn't hurt to hope and, quite literally, pray.

Once he enters the bathroom, he makes sure no one is looking, and then does a quick sign of the cross with the two water bottles. He stuffs one into his doctor bag, and keeps the other in hand. Jonah leans against a wall near the door, and waits for the rest of the team. And possible ambush. Seriously, why are they trusting Allison? Oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained...


Yes, I know that Latin is probably wrong, but my Latin is rusty, and I think Jonah trying to speak rusty Latin out of desperation is a fun narrative detail.

So yeah, Jonah is trying to make Holy Water. :smallcool:

[SurlySeraph]

Sem replies to Adam and Kale "checked basement/ 2nd floor doors. still locked, clear. heading to bathroom now", and heads down, if possible checking the windows for any signs of entry as she goes.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon checks his phone and heads for the mens' room immediately, intensely curious. What could she possibly want to show us?

[-Sentinel-]

OOC: I won't wait for Jaime, but she can join the others at any time.

Song: Shining Down (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgMkzJrg6h0), by Lupe Fiasco.

1

Matthew

According to Matthew's footage, the word kill he had heard in the song was just a figment of his imagination... even though Steve had heard it too. As for whether the message on the mirror had been there earlier, the image recorded by the phone was just too dark to tell. For that matter, it was also too dark to see much of the action taking place on the chair.

1

Everyone

It was strange, in Kale's view, how people could keep dancing obliviously in spite of everything that was happening here tonight. Of course, they had no way to know what the vigilantes knew, but still... If the world crumbled around them, what would it take, right now, to make them realize it? Having your eyes open was more of a curse than a blessing, though. You no longer slept well, you saw enemies everywhere, your social life and sanity came apart, and your knowledge brought you far more questions than answers. Normal people could hardly be blamed for dismissing strange events as their imagination, some sick prank or, at worst, a mundane crime... but blissful ignorance was a luxury they possessed only because some were willing to confront the truth and make all the sacrifices without anything in return. It was unfair, but what was the alternative? Run? Hide? Stop caring? In the words of Philip K. D!ck, reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, does not go away.

Following Adam's text message, the members of the RPG club moved carefully to evade Jamie Price's attention and avoid leaving as a single group. One by one, they converged towards the men's restrooms, nodding to each other as they met in the empty hallway. Jonah at the head and Allison at the back, they moved to enter...

There was a corpse on the floor of the bathroom, lying face-down in a pool of half-dried blood - there were also splatters of blood and bits of brains on the ceiling, almost directly above. The blond-haired body had what looked like a Nixon mask, and wore an American flag as a cape. A pistol was on the ground next to the dead man's hand.


OOC:
Please roll a Wits + Resolve test. 3 successes or more required.

Pass:
The corpse seems somewhat insubstantial, as if illusory... Still a disturbing sight.

Fail:
Roll Resolve + Composure. If you fail, you lose a Willpower point at this sight.

Savior Indra, is there anything specific you want to do in the main room?

[Odentin]

Adam makes sure Allison enter before him, and his eyes widen in rage and shock as he turns to her, growling a bit, "What the hell?! Why didn't you tell anyone earlier?"

[roll0]

[savior indra]

Kale tapped Michelle on the shoulder and motioned towards the dance floor."I know you wanted to dance, and I know I was an a$s in our last dance so I want to make up for it."

Following action

If Michelle Accepts Kale led Michelle a bit farther away from the DJ booth so that they would have no trouble talking, and started dancing and making small talk with Michelle (unless Sentinel you have something specific you want her to say.) Periodically making a cursory glance around the room whenever Michelle wasn't paying attention.

If Michelle Declines"I understand. It's my fault. If need anything come find me, or give me a call." said Kale as he left Michelle and started doing a slow sweep of the main room paying careful attention to the expressions on people's faces and making a mental note of where any of the survivors where and making sure that he could still see all of the survivors every couple of minutes.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah takes a few steps into the room, and then freezes. Body. Dead body. Blood. Brains. Transparency. Wait, transparency? "It's not real..." he quietly mutters to himself, tightly clenching the bottles of water in his hands. "It's not real... It's not real... Get ahold of yourself..." he growls through grit teeth, forcibly fighting off the dizzying shock that threatens to overwhelm his mind. Thankfully, logic and sheer willpower manage to win out, and he wrenches his eyes away from the macabre spectacle.

In fact, he looks at the mirrors. He checks to see if the mirrors actually show the body....... or anything else.

[-Sentinel-]

Not Kale

Allison was the last to arrive. She took one look at the corpse and let out a sigh.

"Stop that, Ian," she said, addressing the other end of the bathroom. "I trust them. I want you to show them what you showed me."

The corpse faded out of sight, not leaving a single drop of blood on the floor. Allison motioned the vigilantes to get inside.

1

Kale

Michelle's smile came back at once. "Sure, I'd love that. You're not a bad dancer, you know, when you learn to relax."

She let him draw her into another dance. As they spun, Kale watched carefully. Zach and his friends had finished their game of strip poker and were getting dressed again under Jamie's irritated admonishments. The students at the bar were about to close shop, having sold almost everything they had in stock. Wayne Borden was drinking alone in his corner after consistently failing to find a girl who would dance with him. Mike 2.0 was concentrating on his work at the DJ table. Nothing suspicious... for now.

While his eyes were elsewhere, Michelle leaned closer and planted a quick kiss on his lips.

[Odentin]

"Not real?" Adam shakes his head, taking another long look at the body, "Ian? Your brother's spirit is here?"

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Roll to disbelieve: [roll0]

As the body fades, Leon blinks back his surprise. "But, it was-- I thought-- the HELL?!" He takes a couple of breaths to steady himself and slow his heart rate to manageable levels. "Alright, fine. I'm out of ideas. So, Allison, explain. Please."

[SurlySeraph]

Damn damn damn it's -
Hm.

Issue one: she is talking to something that she thinks is Ian.
Issue two: she trusts it.

Sem adds "How long, Allison? Did you talk to him before tonight?"

[Lycan 01]

Jonah keeps his eyes on the mirror, using it to look at Allison. He doesn't say anything; he's waiting to see where this goes.

[-Sentinel-]

“Just wait,” breathed Allison. “Trust me.”

Slowly, a human shape appeared out of thin air in one of the open bathroom stalls; a student putting on a Jack Skellington costume, with a skull mask that concealed his face and hair. Although the shape was clear enough to make out the details, it was slightly translucent and made absolutely no sound while moving – another illusion, and one that was not meant to pass for the real thing. He ignored the living people standing not five yards from him, as if unaware that they were even there. His costume on, he turned towards the door to walk out.

At that moment, another shape stepped into the bathroom from behind the vigilantes, almost making Adam jump out of his skin. The newcomer wore a Nixon mask on his face and an American flag on his shoulders, and his right hand held a still-smoking pistol. He passed straight through the vigilantes without acknowledging them. “Jack Skellington” froze at the sight of the pistol pointed at him.

Neither illusion made any sound, and their mouths were not visible under their masks, but it was easy to tell that they were exchanging words. At gunpoint, “Nixon” forced “Jack Skellington” to remove his costume. The skull mask came off... revealing Ian Keating's pale, terrified face.

“Nixon” removed his mask too – but he was a cautious one and wore a ski mask underneath. His aim never wavering from Ian's face, he forced him to put on the Nixon mask and to drape the American flag on his shoulders. Ian complied with a look of confusion. “Nixon” then made him kneel, put the barrel of his gun under Ian's jaw, and pulled the trigger in eerie silence. Gore and brains splattered the ceiling. Ian fell face-down in a rapidly-expanding pool of his own blood.

The perpetrator of the Halloween Massacre dropped his gun by his fourth and last victim's side, hurriedly put on the Jack Skellington costume, and walked out. His illusory shape vanished as soon as it crossed the threshold.


OOC:
Congrats to ToySoldierCPlus for calling it!

I admit I was hoping to get to this scene before anyone put forth that theory, just for the shock value. Still, I'm glad it was about one of the last theories to come up, after about all others had been exhausted.

[Misaat]

Feeling really sick for the whole sight in front of him. Matthew tries to regain his composure and speaks to the rest of the group.

" We need to find out who ended up wearing a Jack Skellington costume back on the day of the shooting "

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon blinks in surprise again. "...I was right. Huh." He smirks. "I'm willing to bet Price won't believe this. Nevertheless, I apologize for my accusatory tone a moment ago, Allison. All right, so I'm going to assume that Ian isn't the only ghost here. The other victims are here as well, right? Do they have any idea who actually killed them? Please tell me it was Price. That would just be deliciously ironic."

[Odentin]

Adam shakes his head to try to get his head together, muttering to himself about ghosts.

Suddenly, he snaps his head up, an off putting gleam in his grey eyes as a smile that can only be described as predatory spreads over his face. He speaks, his voice low and eager, "Ian? Can you show me again? Just your killer, please? What can you remember...?

Any of of the team who have hunted with Adam in the past would recognise his mindset. Its how he gets when closing on prey, just before a kill.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah stares into space, slightly shaking from what he's just witnessed.

When Adam asks to see it again, Jonah jumps slightly. Not out of fear, but out of realization. "Yes!" he exclaims, taking an excited step forward. "He took off his mask! You could see his eyes! If we can see what color his eyes were, we can narrow it down even further! Please, Ian, show us his face again!"

The scholar suddenly turns to the rest of the group. "Someone needs to go look out for Jack Skellington! If- Wait, where's Kale? Oh, he's out there, great!" he says, sounding more excited than panicked. Jonah hastily pulls out his phone and sends a rapid fire text to Kale.

To Kale:

Ian innocent! Jack Skellington was killer!

[Odentin]

Adam's smile doesn't waver as he turns to Jonah, giving the scholar a clear view of his eagle sharp gaze, "Not just that. Height, weight, skin tone, eye shape, probably facial structure, too. We're gonna find this bastard and bring him down."

He almost sounds...happy.

[McGonigle]

Wandering in to see the body she had been torn between rushing for the sink and pulling out her camera to catch the body, in a weird compromise she settled for standing there paralysed and pale as Alison wandered in.

By the time the replay started the journalism had won over the desire to throw up, not that she was sure that the footage she had claimed of that shocking revelation would actually show anything, she really wasn't sure.

"That was, he was, that ..." Jaime stammered for words for a while before pausing. "I see know why you didn't want to do an interview." She paused again, "Sorry getting distracted, so we are looking for a person, that's something, male, presumably masked again. Hold on he's double masked, if he's here, who else will be attending a halloween party with a ski mask under their mask?"

[-Sentinel-]

"Do they have any idea who actually killed them? Please tell me it was Price. That would just be deliciously ironic."
“I've no idea,” admitted Allison. “But murdering at random like that, without committing suicide like most spree shooters, sounds like a thrill killer according to my research. That's why I set this all up. The desecration of the memorial, the online threats, it was all me. I figured it would draw out that thrill-obsessed bastard. Everything else... The bullets in the candy, Crazy Train, the illusions... my brother and I worked together to cross out suspects and, if possible, make the killer reveal himself. I've been planning all this from the moment by brother showed me the truth, a year ago.”

She paused. There was steely determination in her eyes. “The victims won't rest easy until the murderer is brought to justice. Their deaths are tied to Halloween, so they have little or no power the rest of the year; now is the night to act.”



"Yes!" [Jonah] exclaims, taking an excited step forward. "He took off his mask! You could see his eyes! If we can see what color his eyes were, we can narrow it down even further! Please, Ian, show us his face again!"
Allison shook her head. “Don't give too much importance to what the illusion looked like. It's not like Ian filmed it... It's a re-creation of what remembers, and he doesn't have photographic memory. The only reliable element we have is that the killer is male. We don't know how he's costumed as... Even the other victims don't know any more than we do. That's the whole point of what we do tonight.”

Ian's ghost quietly rose to his feet and removed his Nixon mask, revealing a haggard and tired-looking face. There was still a hole under his jaw, as well as a horrific exit wound on top of his head. His blond hair was caked with blood. His eyes bespoke of sorrow and anger, but his anger was not directed at anyone in the room.

[Misaat]

" Who of the people that are now on this party where also at the shooting last time... Maybe one of them knows who Jack skellington was... But we are gonna need to be subtle when asking... "

[Odentin]

"We need something more than that, Allison, Ian." His voice softens, becomes more tired sounding. His face falls to match as he shakes his head again, "Did your reign of terror come up with anything?"

[Lycan 01]

"Eh, 'reign of terror' is a bit harsh, don't you think?" Jonah says to Adam. "I mean, I personally think the ends justify the means here. If scaring the living crap out of people means finding out who the real killer is," he turns to Ian's ethereal form and shrugs, "Then I say do what you gotta do, man."

He turns, folds his hands behind his back, and strides a few steps over towards the wall. "This is going to be tricky. All we really know about this guy is that he's cold and ruthless. If he can kill so many people with callous disregard like that, even when face to face, then I doubt he'll be easily unsettled or spooked. Considering how much Jame Price has been flipping out and trying to be 'supercop' all night, he's probably not our guy..." Jonah muses.

[-Sentinel-]

" Who of the people that are now on this party where also at the shooting last time... Maybe one of them knows who Jack skellington was... But we are gonna need to be subtle when asking... "
"Zach Lewis, Wayne Borden, Jamie Price and Mark Edwards were there at the shooting," answered Allison. "But they're all suspects, too. None of them was wounded during the massacre."

She showed them her notepad. There were dozens of names in it, all of them male names. Most were crossed out. "This is what I've come up with, Adam. I crossed out anyone who left. I don't think anyone capable of a thrill killing would chicken out so easily; in fact, I think they'd want to stay even more."



"Considering how much Jame Price has been flipping out and trying to be 'supercop' all night, he's probably not our guy..." Jonah muses.
"Actually, he may well be," Allison disagreed. "He could have taken the job as a security guard just to have an excuse to be here and stay informed of everything. The whole point of my plan is to appeal to the killer's curiosity, after all... and then drive him over the edge. It could also be lots of other people, but I'm not ruling him out."

She opened the door and peered down the hallway to make sure nobody was coming. "By now, the killer must be on the edge of a mental breakdown. We just need to give him a little push. I presume I can count on your help?"

[Misaat]

"What's your plan?"

He asks with a raised eyebrow

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"I'm game. Though I should mention that Price has threatened to throw us all out if... anything... goes... wrong. Leon coughs. "I must sound like I'm developing a vendetta against Price. We need to watch him. Carefully."

[Odentin]

Adam glares at Jonah, "Inciting terror and panic is more extreme than simply 'scaring' people. Be careful with that 'ends justifies the means' talk. That's how you end up like...how you end up getting hunted, yourself."

Another long sigh escapes his lungs. He looks sour, but still, he states, "In for a penny, in for a pound. What did you have in mind?"

[McGonigle]

"I'm not completely sold on her methods either, the survivors didn't need to suffer more. Still I have to admire her conviction, and her quest for the truth. Besides it's not like we hadn't already signed up for this insanity anyway, I'm in."

"Jamie is definitely on edge, more than I would expect, there could be multiple reasons, but I wouldn't rule him out yet. For one thing he seemed a little bit too sure this was all just pranks."

[Lycan 01]

Jonah recoils slightly. "Jeez, I wasn't saying we should burn the place down or something. But-" he pauses, before shaking his head. "Oh forget it, I'll just shut up." He turns to Allison and shrugs. "Yes, what's the plan?"

[savior indra]

Kale pulled out his phone and his eyes immediately hardened into shards of ice as he read the text. Then reread it. Then read it a third time.

What the heck are you talking about? replied Kale to Jonah's text.

Kale forced himself to stay loose, not giving Michelle any indication that his mind was working in overdrive as he surveyed the room again looking for anyone that seemed too calm for the situation.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah checks his phone, and quickly replies, his fingers a frantic flurry across the touchpad.


Is there a Jack Skellington out there?! We saw Ian's death! Cornered, forced to trade costumes, then killed. Real killer walked out as Jack Skellington! Ian and the other victims are trying to lure him out with Allison's help - and now ours.

[-Sentinel-]

"I was hoping you'd have ideas too," said Allison. She chewed on a fingernail. "If my plan is working, the killer must be a bundle of nerves by this point. If he saw Jack Skellington in this very room, it might make him twitch a bit... remind him of his last victim, you know. Think we could draw the last suspects in here one by one, let them see my brother in costume and watch who reacts?"

Ian nodded thoughtfully.

Allison shrugged. "Just an idea... I'm open to suggestions."

1

Kale

Kale scanned the room. There was no Jack Skellington anywhere in sight, and Kale did not remember ever seeing one during the party. Of course, there was no obvious reason for the killer to wear that costume again, two years after the massacre.

"What is it, again?" asked Michelle with renewed irritation. She sure was a mood swinger, that one.

In case you missed it, Michelle just kissed you. It's generally considered disrespectful to ignore a first kiss. :smalltongue:

[Odentin]

Adam narrows his eyes, the predatory light returning, "Can you leave the bathroom, Ian? Get out in the main room and watch the reactions. The killer is less likely to attack out there, and if he does..."

The cruel grin returns, completing the psychotic visage, "Defense of person is much easier to justify when there are a hundred witnesses."

[SurlySeraph]

Sem shakes her head slowly. She doesn't want to admit this was a good plan, and it certainly wasn't very ethical, but it seems to have worked thus far. "Wayne's a strong candidate. He did try to bring a gun in, and I saw him reach into his coat to grab something when that song started playing. Mark? I think Jaime was talking to him earlier, she might be the best person to follow up. Jamie's possible, but I'm not sure there's any way to nail it down that wouldn't make him look in the right. Zach..." Her lip trembles a bit.

"I'm biased. He does own a gun, and certainly could have brought it in. And maybe he got so jaded, anything to entertain himself. But I can't... fµck, I don't know."

Semira takes a deep breath and bites her tongue. "I'm going to go talk to Wayne. If it gets unpleasant Jamie's more likely to blame him than me."

[Lycan 01]

Jonah takes off his mask, so he can rub his face as he tries to focus and think of something. "Okay, um... Let's see... Do you have a narrowed down list of suspects? Jamie would be easy to lure in here - though if he's innocent, he'll probably kick our asses afterwards..." he mutters.

He then looks over to Ian. "Hey Ian... Can you materialize outside of this bathroom? In your Jack Skellington outfit? Like... go for a little waltz out onto the dancefloor, look around, come then back in here?" he asks quietly. "I mean, if the killer sees Jack Skellington, it's sure to get his attention, and maybe lure him back in here. And if he flips out on the dancefloor, we tackle him before he hurts someone... I mean, just a thought. Bringing them in here is probably safer..." he shrugs timidly.

[savior indra]

OOC: COMPLETELY did not read that part. *facepalm*

"Sorry if I seem a bit distracted, my investment agent keeps texting me about this new company... and you don't care." said Kale with a sheepish laugh at the annoyed look on Michelle's face.

"I'm sorry, look I'll send him a text telling him to leave us alone for the night and turn off my phone." said Kale as he quickly read Jonah's response and sent a reply before turning off the phone.

K. Need 2 turn off phone now. Will b in main room.

[Misaat]

" We should try bringing them here one by one like she said. If we make him appear outside the killer could just meld into the crowd and escape terrified. Or even worse . He may take someone else as a hostage. "

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"A good idea in theory, but I see some problems with the execution." Leon has clearly recovered well enough by this point, as he has started tightening his screw again. "First of all, how do you propose we lure the suspects in here? Second, what do we do if they won't be lured? Can Ian appear to people individually? If the message on the mirror was him, he should be able to with a slightly different implementation of the same power. If he appears to each of the suspects in turn, and only to each of them, we can see who reacts poorly without inciting a full panic."

[McGonigle]

"There won't be a full panic, no one has any reason to associate the Jack Skellington costume with Ian at all, aside from the one person we are looking for. The danger of doing it indiscriminately on the dance floor, is that a) we might miss the reaction of the individual who did and b) if he reacts poorly he's in the middle of the dance floor. " She commented calmly, despite the horrifying implications.

"However at the moment Mark is pretty isolated, it wouldn't be difficult to see his reaction. I don't think it's him, or if it is the little tricks aren't sending him over the edge, not that the killer might not react normally. Still he's presently the second most likely candidate to have a gun, since he's crewing the metal detector."

"Hold on, Nightmare before Christmas," She started humming to herself slightly, "Not sure if this will work, depends on if he has seen the movie afterward the shooting, still his brain might have made a connection and no one elses brain would have. Completely stealing your idea but what about requesting 'this is Halloween?'"

[Odentin]

"Exactly. No one should react except the killer."

"That's actually a good idea. Though having 'Jack Skellington' on the floor and playing.the song might be the one-two that will bring the killer to the fore..."

[Lycan 01]

Jonah rubs his chin thoughtfully. "'This Is Halloween' could be a nice trick..." he muses.

"Hey, what if we just went the direct route? Go up to each suspect and tell 'em 'Hey, do you know a guy in a Jack Skellington costume? I bumped into him a minute ago, and he kept asking about you...' And if they start to get nervous, we tell 'em, 'Yeah, said he hadn't seen you in a couple of years. He was in the bathroom. I think he might still be there.' If they don't react or they're just confused, we just shrug and say he was somewhere on the dance floor, but they coulda meant somebody else. If we did that while 'This Is Halloween' is playing, it may prove pretty successful."

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon tilts his head a bit to the side. "Ooh, I love that song! Can we have Ian's appearance coincide with the line, "Won't you please make way/for a very special guy?"" He rights his head again. "No, on second thought, as awesome as that would look, it would probably be a bad idea. Maybe have Ian appear to the suspects as the song is playing? Telling them an old friend in a Jack Skellington costume is waiting in the bathroom faces the same issues as every other method of luring them to the bathroom. But if we can gauge their responses to Ian's appearance one by one, we avoid most major issues, especially if we can stay close to them."

[Misaat]

" It's better to take the suspects herejust to avoid civilian casuality's. But if we are gonna have the ghost appear in public we should also probably have some of us at the exits to make sure noone leaves the party at that moment... "

[Lycan 01]

"Yeah, but what if people notice that, y'know..." Jonah gestures at Ian, "He's kinda sorta... transparent?"

[Odentin]

Adam shrugs, "Hey, even I missed that part. I can stop someone trying to escape, if it becomes necessary."

[-Sentinel-]

Adam narrows his eyes, the predatory light returning, "Can you leave the bathroom, Ian? Get out in the main room and watch the reactions. The killer is less likely to attack out there, and if he does..."
Allison answered in Ian's place: "If I'm not mistaken, ghosts have trouble manifesting when there's lots of skeptical people around... It has to do with belief. Is that correct, Ian?"

Ian nodded.



"Okay, um... Let's see... Do you have a narrowed down list of suspects? Jamie would be easy to lure in here - though if he's innocent, he'll probably kick our asses afterwards..." [Jonah] mutters.
"The four I mentioned - Zach, Jamie, Wayne and Mark - are pretty much on top of my list," said Allison. "Most of the other males who were there two years ago left this party already or have some sort of alibi."

Leon had a few questions: "First of all, how do you propose we lure the suspects in here?

"Lots of ways," said Allison with a shrug. "You can spill a drink on a suspect. Or start a fight and give him a nosebleed. In Jamie's case, you can just tell him you found something suspicious. Be creative."

"Can Ian appear to people individually? If the message on the mirror was him, he should be able to with a slightly different implementation of the same power."

"The best plan would still be one where the suspect doesn't raise an alarm if he doesn't happen to be the killer," Allison pointed out. "We're past the scaring innocent bystanders part. If Ian appears as Jack Skellington, at least, innocent people will think it's just some unknown student."


"Hold on, Nightmare before Christmas," She started humming to herself slightly, "Not sure if this will work, depends on if he has seen the movie afterward the shooting, still his brain might have made a connection and no one elses brain would have. Completely stealing your idea but what about requesting 'this is Halloween?'"
Allison looked dubious. "Easily done, but the harder part is to watch all their reactions at once. And as you said, it's assuming the killer can even make the connection. Jack Skellington doesn't necessarily mean anything to him... He only took that costume because my brother was wearing it."



"Yeah, but what if people notice that, y'know..." Jonah gestures at Ian, "He's kinda sorta... transparent?"
"My bro's good at illusions, he can make himself look tangible," said Allison. "But he almost certainly can't appear, transparent or not, in a room full of people."


1

Kale

Michelle looked a bit skeptical about Kale's excuse, but decided to go with it. She took Kale's face in her hands, as if to kiss him again, and lowered her voice.

"I hope you don't feel guilty. About Sophia, you mean. I used to think I'd be betraying Gavin by dating other guys, but then I realized I'd be betraying him by not living fully like he wanted me to. You need to be happy, Kale. In Sophia's name. If survivor's guilt keeps you from living, then Ian killed not only Sophia, but you as well."

[Lycan 01]

Jonah raises an eyebrow. "Wait, so, believing in the supernatural really does let you better become attuned to it? Interesting..." he muses.

He then looks at the rest of the group. "I saw we do some stealth spilling of drinks. They'll come in the bathroom to dry off, and we see where things go from there..."

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"Certainly doable, especially since having Ian appear to the suspects out there isn't a valid option. As much as I'd like to, somebody else has to get Jamie in here. I say we each get a target. Someone to drive into the bathroom. Semira, you should take Zach. You said you were biased, so I'm going to guess that means you're involved with him. He'll probably follow you back here without any spilled drinks at all. That leaves Mark, Price, and Wayne to be lured, and Matt, Jonah, Adam, Jaime, and myself to do the luring. I probably shouldn't bother Price, as he may not believe me if I come up to him saying that I saw something in the mens' room that he needs to check out, and he may just eject me before investigating. Frankly, I'd rather wait here and be added muscle when we find our culprit. So, who wants the other three?"

[savior indra]

"Remember when we had just started therapy?" said Kale with a low, heavy voice, ignoring Michelle's comment for now.

"I saw how strong you really are, how you kept moving forward, even when I couldn't. Michelle, I admire you, you're stronger than I am. I wake every night unable to save Sophia. A part of me did die that night. I want to live, I really do, I mean who wants to die? I don't know how to anymore." whispered Kale as grey eyes met green ones.

[Misaat]

" I'll handle cop dude. Didn't get a chance to speak to him the whole night. He probably thinks im just another student coming to the party. "

[Odentin]

Adam covers his face with his palm, "That makes so much more sense than I'd like it to..."

He chuckles a bit, wearily, "If spilling doesn't work, we may have to employ Semira's...wiles in order to get more guys back in here. Or force. Not looking forward to the last one. Hope the spilled drinks work..."


"I'm more muscle than grace. I'd rather stay in here to read expressions than be out there trying to convince someone I didn't spill on them on purpose..."

[Lycan 01]

"I'm a scrawny weasel. If I spill a drink on somebody, they're liable to slug me..." Jonah shrugs sheepishly. "It's a risk I'm willing to take, though. Or I could try to talk to Jamie. Tell him I went to the bathroom to get some water, and I started hearing whispers or the mirror randomly broke or something. Y'know, real Steven King $hit," he muses. He then turns to Ian. "Actually, could you do that? Randomly break a mirror? Or is your ability to directly influence the mortal realm limited to temporary illusions and stuff?" he asks in a quite, polite tone.

I mean, when you're talking to a vengeful spirit, it pays to be respectful.

[McGonigle]

"You gave it a shot alone with a far more crowded dance floor, it might not work, however of everyone he shot Ian was the one he spent most time with. He might not make the connection with the two but it's worth a shot, still it gives us a backup plan."

"Mark's going to be tricky, he's on the metal detector at the moment which is going to be pretty hard to 'accidentally' hit him with a drink. Dance-floor piece of cake, front door kind of hard to do subtlety."

[Odentin]

"Could just tell him there was another message on the mirrors...?"

He lets out a sudden chuckle, "Hell, can you make his see one this time, Ian? Maybe write one while he's in here? Should make him eat his words."

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"I'd offer to go relieve him, but I can see Price getting upset about that. I don't want to risk getting thrown out of the party that way. Hmm... Mark's by the door, right? Would Ian be able to manifest outside the building, where only Mark could see him?"

[SurlySeraph]

"Ian..."

Addressing a ghost feels strange.

"Can the others manifest, too? If Mark's the one, I'm sure he'd react strongly to his teammate who tried to tackle the shooter, Gavin or whatever his name was. I wouldn't want to test more than one suspect at once if they can, though. Too much risk that we'll be scattered when one of us gets in trouble."

"Semira, you should take Zach. You said you were biased, so I'm going to guess that means you're involved with him. He'll probably follow you back here without any spilled drinks at all."
Sem blushes slightly. "True. But getting him back out so we can check the next person in a timely fashion is another matter." Not going to consider the idea that he's the murderer. Nope. Not going to consider it. I refuse.

"Also, did anyone else see Wayne reaching for a weapon when that song started playing? He might have found a way to sneak a gun in, though a glass or ceramic knife might be more likely. Whoever talks to him shouldn't be alone."

[Odentin]

Adam shrugs, "I guess I can take Wayne. I've got some hand-to-hand training in case of incident..."

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"To be fair to the guy, I reached for a weapon when the tone shifted that dramatically, and I didn't even recognize the song. Nevertheless, that's a good point. We might try both, or even demonstrate the incident again."

[-Sentinel-]

He then turns to Ian. "Actually, could you do that? Randomly break a mirror? Or is your ability to directly influence the mortal realm limited to temporary illusions and stuff?" he asks in a quiet, polite tone.
Ian shook his head, probably in answer to the first question.



"Could just tell him there was another message on the mirrors...?"

He lets out a sudden chuckle, "Hell, can you make his see one this time, Ian? Maybe write one while he's in here? Should make him eat his words."
"I'd rather avoid anything so overt," Allison said. "The goal is to find out who's the killer, so whatever we do mustn't alarm anyone innocent. Jack Skellington, at least, should make only the real killer react."



"Hmm... Mark's by the door, right? Would Ian be able to manifest outside the building, where only Mark could see him?"
Ian shook his head again.

"We could try to relieve Mark, though," said Allison thoughtfully. "It's cold outside tonight... I'm sure nobody wants to be stuck on metal detector duty for too long. Or, someone could pretend to bring him a drink and then spill it on him... if they don't mind annoying the quarterback of the football team."


"Can the others manifest, too? If Mark's the one, I'm sure he'd react strongly to his teammate who tried to tackle the shooter, Gavin or whatever his name was."
Ian's answer was strange: he only smiled and winked.

1

Kale

"How to live is something you can learn again," said Michelle softly. "Like I did, after a while. Therapy can only do so much... Most of the strength needs to come from yourself. You look like you got stuck at stage two of the five stages of grief... anger. My own anger never really went away, but eventually I managed to look past it. I'm sure you can, too." She took his hand in hers. "Maybe I can help you."


Don't waste your whole life trying
To get back what was taken away.

-The Offspring

[Lycan 01]

Jonah catches the smile and the wink. "You... You're speaking for all them, aren't you?" he quietly asks.

[Odentin]

Adam shrugs, "Just thought it might be useful to have him on our side, assuming he's not the killer, of course."

He grimaces a bit, "Again, I don't mind being on the receiving end of anyone's anger. I can handle myself."

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon raises one eyebrow. "One ghost speaking for all... A collective, or hive mind possibly? Fascinating..." He looks up. "Uh, *ahem* yeah, that all sounds great. Let's do that."

[SurlySeraph]

"Right, then." Sem leaves to go find Zach.

[Odentin]

"Scatter. Figure out an order, but we can't all be standing in here at once."

Having said that, Adam goes to get a drink and spill it on someone with anger issues and a mean right hook...

[-Sentinel-]

Jonah catches the smile and the wink. "You... You're speaking for all them, aren't you?" he quietly asks.
Ian nodded.


Adam shrugs, "Just thought it might be useful to have him on our side, assuming he's not the killer, of course."
"I'd rather not," said Allison. "When we identify the killer, we'll have to act decisively... and without explanation or provocation. To people who don't know the things we know, we'll look like the aggressors."

She looked at everyone. "We can't all be here, especially not the girls. Some of us can hide in the bathroom stalls... If you close the door and stand on the toilet seat, you won't be seen."

There were four bathroom stalls.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon moves toward one of the stalls. "Guess I'll be in here, then. Just one question." He throws his head bakc over his shoulder, turning it toward the group. "Should I get my knife out of this screw? Or can I just leave it there? I'd rather leave it, all thing considered."

[Odentin]

Before he leaves, he turns back to the group, "Get a hold of me if sh!t goes down. Please."

[Lycan 01]

Jonah looks over to Leon. "I believe the proper term is 'gestalt.' A collective consciousnesses of sorts. And Ian, I would wager, is their representation because he suffered the greatest tragedy of all the victims, and has the strongest desire - the strongest need - for justice..." he observes, before turning back to Ian and smiling sheepishly. "No disrespect intended, of course. Not trying to talk about you - any of you - as if you're not there. Um... I'll shut up now..." he quietly mutters.

He then looks to the rest of the group. "So wait, what should I do? Get someone, or hide in the stall? I've got kevlar on..." he states, before rapping his knuckles against his armor-covered chest.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"That's a new definition of gestalt for me. I was only aware of it in terms of psychology. Oh well." He brings his head back to a normal position and takes the screw off his head. "I'm gonna have my knife ready, just in case." He separates the top of the screw from the headstrap and the bottom and puts them in separate pockets of his labcoat as he enter the stall.

[-Sentinel-]

Jonah looks over to Leon. "I believe the proper term is 'gestalt.' A collective consciousnesses of sorts...."
Ian shook his head in mild annoyance.

Allison's face was grave as she opened one of the stalls. "Listen carefully, people, and try to think ahead. I know you're well-intentioned, but consider what we may have to do when we find the killer... and what it may look like to others. The excuse that Ian's ghost told us he was innocent isn't going to hold up in court. If you help me in any way, no matter your reasons, it might screw up your whole lives. Help me if you will... but if you're not prepared to take the heat, it's better to stay out of this; I've always been planning to do this alone anyway. You can't protect Maxwell University from a prison cell."

"Understood?"


OOC - VERY IMPORTANT
I mean it. This isn't one of those convenient monsters that you turn to dust in a dark alley, leaving no corpse or witnesses. The consequences of whatever happens next will be treated with utmost realism, even if it means I must effectively destroy your character's playability.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah smiles nervously at Ian. "My apologies. Ghosts aren't my field of expertise... Seriously, sorry."

He then turns to Allison, and sighs. "What... what if we didn't have to do anything? What if Ian and the other victims just, y'know... pushed him over the edge? Made him snap, and we just happened to be on hand to restrain him? I mean, we don't have to kill him, do we? If the guy is ranting and raving, and tries to pull a gun or something... Aren't we in the right to try to stop him?" he asks.

[savior indra]

"You're a better person than I am Michelle, I'd like to give it a shot, but it'll have to wait until after tonight. I have ... unfinished business to take care of. Once that's done we can see where this goes." said Kale with a smile as he clenched and unclenched his hands a couple times, testing the tightness of his sap gloves.

"If Ian is innocent if your murderer is still alive, he will die by my hand tonight. To you; Sophia, this I swear. I may not have been able to save you, but I will avenge you." thought Kale as his thoughts darkened.

[-Sentinel-]

Allison sighed. "We'll have to see how it goes, Jonah. Best case scenario, we'll push him into exposing himself beyond all doubt... but if that fails, we still can't let him loose, can we? There's no real plan anymore at this point; we just improvise and hope for the best."

1

Kale

Michelle recoiled slightly, as if sensing Kale's anger in his tone or body language.

"...Sometimes you worry me, you know," she whispered. "I think you need to stop obsessing over the dead and start caring about the living." She winced. "Sorry. It sounded harsher than I'd intended."

1

OOC, others: I'll let you approach the suspects yourselves; they're still in the main room, except Mark who's outside. One suspect at a time, please.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah pulls out his smartphone. "What about video evidence?" he smirks. "Or at least, audio... I'll keep this recording whenever somebody comes in, in case they say something incriminating. For now though..." he frowns, and slinks over to one of the stalls. "I'll just be hiding in here."

Into the stall he goes, where stands atop a toilet and prepares to hit the record function on his phone when somebody walks in. Silently, of course.

[Odentin]

Adam pauses to hear Allison's speech, but smiles sadly, "I have no intention of killing him. Or letting anyone else kill him. He needs to confess to the shooting, clear Ian's name, and suffer in prison for the rest of his short f*cking life before he finds the electric chair."

He leaves, going and purchasing a soda in a cup. He wanders around, sipping on it, until he finds Wayne. As he approaches, staggering slightly, he "accidentally" trips, hurling the drink all over the skinhead.

This is gonna end well.

[SurlySeraph]

Semira stands against the wall between the men's and women's bathrooms, slightly hunched and clutching her forehead as if nursing a headache. She watches Adam approach Wayne through what's left of the crowd.

[savior indra]

"You're right about that but I have to settle my debt with the dead before I can move on with the living." said Kale cryptically before pulling Michelle in for a hug.

"Thanks for talking to me about this. I needed it." whispered Kale into Michelle's ear before pulling away.

[-Sentinel-]

Adam

Adam bought one of the last drinks still for sale at the bar (iced tea) and went in search of Wayne Borden. The sullen-faced skinhead was still sitting alone and drinking heavily. It was an easy thing to sneak up on him and "accidentally" spill some iced tea on his Confederate uniform.

"The fµck... Watch what you're doing, man!" he protested, standing up to get a better look at the spill. "That's a perfect reproduction, had to get it custom-made."

Scowling, he headed towards the restrooms. Just as planned.


OOC: I'll let you decide if you follow.

[Misaat]

Matthew steps out from the bathroom and goes off to find Price.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"Monsters within, monsters without. He who fights monsters..." Leon mutters as he enters the stall. Before closing the door, he adds, "It's true that we can't kill him unless he threatens us. Which he may. Still, a confession would clear your brother's name, and I'm sure that a ghost can come up with some creative ways of killing people." The stall door shuts, the lock slides into place, and Leon's crouching on the toilet, doing his best to be silent. There's something missing from this, I can tell. Something doesn't add up. Ian's not the real killer, fine. The victims, all four of them, want revenge, and have stuck around as ghosts to get it. Fine. Wayne, Mark, Zach and Price are the suspects... Wayne's a skinhead, and a proponent of looser gun control. He used the massacre as part of his campaign. Price has been on-edge all night, worrying that something would go wrong. Then again, he's a cop, so while I may not like him, I can't blame him. I've been expecting something to go wrong, too. Mark is a football player, the quarterback as I recall. While he may not have much of a future to look forward to after college, unless he can get into the major leagues, I don't see much motive there for the massacre. Zach's a playboy, and his whole existence seems to be college and parties. He's scum, to be sure, but I doubt violent scum. Wayne's got the most motive, but the victims seem too random to use as an establishing factor for motive. Mmm... I'm just not sure. What am I missing...?

[McGonigle]

Jaime slipped out of the men's bathrooms, readjusting her costume and trying to look the right amount of guilty. I was doing something I shouldn't do in the bathroom levels of guilty Not I was conspiring with the ghost of Ian about what may turn out to be conspiracy to murder, level of guilty. Although she wasn't sure what the difference was to be honest.

She walked straight up to Zack and his group of cronies, trying not to pay too much attention to anything they were doing. She tapped Zack, on the shoulder.

"Hey Zach, the guy you had on the door ditched over an hour ago now, leaving Mark Edwards to pick up the slack. I don't suppose you could find anyone to relieve him, after all don't want the head of the football team catching a cold." She commented in what she hoped was a friendly tone, although with shouting over the level of the music it was hard."

[Odentin]

"Oh, I'm sorry, man. Here, lemme help you clean that up..."

Adam does indeed follow Wayne back to the bathroom, apologizing the whole way.

[-Sentinel-]

Song: Bro Hymn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n8TuSVmOrw), by Pennywise.

1

Jaime

Zach was still playing cards with a bunch of friends, but only regular poker this time, with some candy and beer at stake; Jamie Price had forbidden him to play strip poker. The frat student looked up at Jaime and sighed.

"Dammit, Jamie was supposed to be in charge of security." He turned to his friends and shuffled his cards. "Okay guys, no bet this time. The loser gets to watch the door."

They all nodded and played another hand while Jaime waited patiently. The loser was a guy in a zombie costume, who looked a bit annoyed at the outcome.

"Thanks a lot, Danny," grinned Zach. "Don't worry, we'll replace you in half an hour."

Danny grabbed a beer and lurched drunkenly towards the exit. Mark reappeared in the main room shortly afterwards.

1

Matthew

Jamie Price was pacing back and forth around the edges of the crowd, looking decidedly nervous and irritable. His eyes never rested long in one place, his face shone with sweat and he had unbuttoned the collar of his suit. As Matthew watched, he grabbed a student by the arm and snarled something indistinct at him for no obvious reason.

1

Adam & others

"Nah, I'm fine," Wayne grunted. But Adam remained behind him.

When Wayne entered the men's room, Ian's ghost was indeed there in his Jack Skellington costume, pretending to pee. And as Allison had promised, he looked perfectly tangible. Wayne did not react to him. He grabbed some paper towels and quickly tried to clean up the mess on his uniform without much success. He did glance quizzically at Jack Skellington a few times, perhaps wondering why it took him so long to empty his bladder, but walked out without addressing him or Adam.

[Odentin]

Adam goes to empty his own bladder, taking his time of it. After washing his hands, if Wayne is still around, he lurches into a stall, gagging and dry heaving until he leaves.

Once he's gone, Adam returns to normal and shrugs, "Well that was pretty definitive. Guess football boy is my next target, then? I do want to be here when Price comes in. If its him, it won't be easy to restrain."

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Leon pokes his head out of his stall. "I'm surprised. Wayne seemed the most likely suspect." He disappears back into the stall and locks the door once again. So, if not Wayne, then who? Mark seems more than a little unlikely, as does Zach, but I don't know them, so I can't be sure. Price I'm still curious about, he's probably the most likely now that Wayne's out. It still feels like I'm missing something, though...

[Misaat]

Walking carefully towards him Matthew tries to discretely call for his attention.

" Excuse me. Mr Price? "

[Lycan 01]

"Well that was a bust. Next!" Jonah quips from his stall.

[-Sentinel-]

" Excuse me. Mr Price? "
Jamie turned. "Yeah," he said rather brusquely.

[Misaat]

" I think i overheard some people in the mens bathroom. They were laughing and saying something like "Dude did you see his face when we told him about the blood ? He really thinks it's a ghost! " i didnt catch their names though ... i think one of them was Leon? I must say im terribly sorry this pranks are really not what the RPG and movie club stand for... "

He says in an apologetic manner.

[Odentin]

Adam steps out of the bathroom and heads into the main room, he doubles back and hides himself in the handicap stall, with the door that opens outward. He takes a sharpened arrow and nocks it, standing by the door, ready to barge out and shoot....

If Price reaches for his gun or runs, Adam will shoulder the door open and make a called shot to either his arm or leg, respectively...

[McGonigle]

She thought about sending a text, but decided against it she assumed the reason for the 'radio' silence was to cut down on any potentially incriminating texts. Besides it should be immediately obvious Mark wasn't at the door any more.

Still her heart was beating, everything was getting so tense, at any moment there could be violence in the boys room. Not that she could do anything either way, still she couldn't just stand there and any pretence of her having a vaguely normal night was gone by now. So she started moving round the dance floor, vaugely pretending to dance and looking at the edges of every mask, trying to determine if anyone was wearing a mask underneath their mask.

[savior indra]

Kale saw Matthew talking to Price and he watched the scene unfold in case things took a turn for the worse. He was prepared to intervene if it came to it. He hoped that Jamie was the real murderer. Killing in self defense would be much easier to prove when the "attacker" had a gun.

"Michelle do you anything about Price? Was he at the last Halloween party?" Kale asked.

[SurlySeraph]

Semira slumps down and sits on the floor with her back against the wall, pretending to be close to passing out.

[Odentin]

"Price is coming." Adam decides to mention as he hides.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"Is he? Well then." Leon makes sure he is as well hidden as possible, and checks to make sure the top of his screw is still tightly sealed. Satisfied that it is, he waits.

[Lycan 01]

Jonah turns on the recording function on his phone, having deleted the last, pointless recording.

[-Sentinel-]

Jaime

Jaime watched the dancers around the stage, but even with the reduced number of partygoers, it was very hard to tell who might have been wearing two masks due to the constant movement and flashing lights.

I may or may not have rolled a secret Wits + Composure test. *shrug* Who knows? :smalltongue:

From the corner of her eyes, she saw Matthew try to get Jamie Price to the men's rooms.

1

Kale


"Michelle do you [know] anything about Price? Was he at the last Halloween party?" Kale asked.
Michelle appeared to find Kale's question strange. "Yeah, he was, like the rest of Zach's clique. Or at least, I remember he was with us outside after they... you know... evacuated the building and sent the tactical team that found Ian Keating dead."

1

Matthew

Jamie Price gave Matthew a suspicious look. "I'm warning you, this had better not be some kind of distraction. I'm stretched pretty thin tonight. You're coming with me, okay?"

An eye on Matthew, he headed towards the restrooms.

1

Adam

Of course, from inside the stall, it would be difficult to keep an eye on Jamie and make sure he did not draw a weapon. Adam would need to rely on either sound or some sort of signal from Ian's ghost.

[Misaat]

" Sure thing... "

Matthew answers as he follows Price to the bathroom.

[-Sentinel-]

Matthew, Adam, Leon and Jonah

Jamie Price stepped into the men's room, Matthew in tow. And stopped in his tracks, as if taken off-guard, when he found himself face-to-face with Jack Skellington about to leave the room. Their gazes met. Jamie's fingers twitched towards his gun, but he interrupted his movement and took a deep breath.

"Hello," he said after a short pause, clearly struggling to keep his voice even. "You just arrived to the party? I haven't seen you before. Can I see your face?"

Ian obediently removed his skull mask, revealing the point-blank gunshot wound under his jaw. The illusion he was projecting became less lifelike, more translucent... more ghost-like. No more tricks.

Matthew thought he heard echoing voices from within the very walls...

A panicked-sounding: What... what are you doing? Is that a real gun?
A second voice, sounding very much like Jamie's: Your costume. Take it off. Now.
Right. Right. Don't shoot, okay?
Put this on now. Good. Get on your knees.

And then, the muffled sound of a gun firing.

Jamie Price drew back a step, his face turning pasty. "No... no, no," he spluttered. "I saw you die. I saw you die. I... I pulled the trigger myself... I..."

But the angry spirits of Tyler Hall were only getting started. Three more sullen-faced ghosts stepped right through the walls and took place by Ian's side. Gavin Wade in his bullet-ridden Viking costume... Nathan Rosenberg in a Dumbledore costume, somehow not looking comical at all despite his fake beard... Sophia Neveux in her angel costume, the white of her dress making a stark contrast with the blood-red stains all over it. The three of them still sported the lethal wounds inflicted to them during the Halloween Massacre. They stared at Jamie in utter silence.

Jamie pulled out his gun like lightning and fired at Ian, the detonation deafening in the small room. The bullet zipped through the ghost, then through the door of the stall where Adam was hiding, missing the archer by mere inches and finishing its course in the wall.

"Now!" yelled Allison.

1

Jaime, Semira and Kale

Even from the dance floor where loud music was playing, one could hear the gunshot ringing from the men's room. Michelle stiffened in Kale's arms. Most of the students stopped dancing. It was not panic yet; people were merely wondering if they had heard correctly.

Kale, for one, knew he had heard correctly.

1

OOC, everyone:

Initiative time! Roll d10+Dex+Com. (Jamie's first shot was only cinematic, not really part of the fight. Jamie has Quick Draw with firearms, by the way.)

Jamie and Allison both have Dexterity 3, Composure 3 and Fast Reflexes 2.

Jamie: [roll0]
Allison: [roll1]

You can open your stall door as your move action for the round. I'm not drawing a battle map; suffice to say that the room is small enough to move anywhere within a single round, and range is not a significant factor for any ranged weapon.

Jaime, Semira and Kale are not in the same room, but they can join us in five rounds (~15 seconds) provided they run straight there without taking the time to do anything else.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Peeking out through the cracks between stall door and wall, Leon sees everything. His hand moves into his pocket, loosening opening the top of his screw and drawing his knife, the butterfly knife unfolding as it comes into his hand. Huh. It was Price. This is noticeably more satisfying than it should be. He draws the door of his stall open slowly, still trying to keep out of Jamie's direct sight.

I'm not sure if Leon's Quick Draw merit for knives will matter much here. If it does function, he'll also open his stall door. If not, that waits for next round.

Initiative: [roll0]

[Lycan 01]

"$HIT!!" Jonah yells as the gunshot booms just feet away. "THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, MAN!?"

Jonah's scream of horror isn't entirely him just freaking out. It actually serves two real purposes.

One, if the recording shows Jamie shot first and they reacted with shock, it will add a lot more argument to them acting in Self Defense, come what may.

Two, it will distract Jamie from his friends while they try to get in close and take him down.

And now that he has the psycho's attention, it's time to not get shot. Jonah ducks down low atop the toilet to make himself harder to hit, and leans to the side so he's not in the dead-center of the stall, where Jamie would expect him to be. He holds his breath and waits to hopefully not die.



Good luck Jonah. At least Jamie takes a -2 dice mod thanks to your Defense, if he's close enough. :smalleek:

[Misaat]

Matthew takes out his cellphone and presses a button to start recording.

" Price ... What are you doing?! Have you gone mad!? "

[savior indra]

"Michelle, stay here! I've got a debt to pay!" shouted Kale with a feral grin underneath his mask as he charged towards the restrooms.

OOC:

Initiative: 1d10 + Dex(3) + Composure(2) + Willpower (3)

[roll0]

[Odentin]

Adam nudges the door open with his elbow as he brings the arrow back to nearly the full draw length of the bow. He raises the weapon, staring down the arrow's shaft as it reaches optimum draw length, and the clicker snaps against the bow. Adam releases the arrow, watching it fly at Price's forearm.

He aims for the flexor muscles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexion#Upper_limb) of the right forearm, to make it impossible (or at the very least INCREDIBLY F*CKING PAINFUL) to grip anything in that hand. Namely, a firearm, though it should also prevent Price from making a fist with that hand, either.

"Stand down, Price. It's time to face justice."

Spending willpower. 13+3-3=13
[roll0]
10's: [roll1]

[SurlySeraph]

****! Semira springs to her feet, eyes flipping wide open, and turns to charge into the room. This is it, this is it.

Under the fear and anticipation flooding her consciousness, there's a thin trickle of relief. Not Zach.

I noted on the last page that Semira was waiting at the wall between the men's and women's bathrooms, precisely in case of a showdown there; will it still take five rounds to get inside?

Initiative: [roll0]

[McGonigle]

As she heard the gunshot Jaime began moving towards the stage, well less moving, more sprinting. She knew where the microphone was from the earlier announcements. She knew the rest of the vigilantes actually knew how to fight rather than had taken a taster self defence class sometime. Well actually she hoped that the rest of the vigilantes were better at fighting, otherwise what they had just done was incredibly stupid. No she couldn't have doubts now, Adam was an olympic hopeful and Alison was also an archer.

So they had the benefits of numbers but horrific scenes were shooting though her head, after there was a reason wards were no longer fought with bows. Still at this point her priority was to make sure no one else got harmed, no more innocents. Well the RPG club weren't really guilty but still she would save the ones who weren't chasing a killer.

So yeah provided they don't take the time to do anything else, or are even planning to go in that direction.
Still the initiative tick might be important so 8 +5 = 13