Worlds Collide IC

[Eonas]

1963 Brimley Road, Toronto. This was the address Alan Bardsley, Christine Marie Thomas, and Jennifer Shaw had been given over the phone by a man who introduced himself as Stephen Tompkins. Mr. Tompkins told the two to be there by 10:30 AM sharp, April 15th, on account of government business, and refused to say any more.

When Alan Bardsley and Christine Marie Thomas arrive there at the specified date and time, they find that the address in question belongs to an unassuming house in a quant little neighborhood. A stocky man in a wheelchair comes out to welcome them, and leads them into his home. He looks as if he's in his forties or early fifties, has a pleasant, open expression, and an unexpectedly shrill voice. "Good morning," he says as he leads them into his living room, "My name's Frank Pearson. I'm the head of a brand-new government division dealing with investigating inexplicable occurrences. It doesn't have much in the way of funding at the moment, hence these humble (and very temporary, I assure you) headquarters. Please take a seat, by the way. There have been a lot of strange things happening lately, things that the police system has been unable to adequately account for. Almost every day, it seems, people go missing, bizarre sightings are reported, people are murdered in their own backyard lawns... the police force is totally unable to cope. It's my belief, however, that there is a solution for all this: I believe that where the entire Toronto police force failed, a small but dedicated team of specialists can succeed. Large organizations like the police are too unwieldy for the task: there are too many protocols and standard procedures, too much red tape. Policemen are excellent at what they do, which is to combat petty criminals, uphold rules, and so on... however, this is not a situation of petty criminals and simple rule-breakers. We are dealing with, at the very least, a criminal mastermind, and potentially even aliens from outer space, and no amount of official governmental training can prepare you for that. Can I tempt any of you with some drinks?"

Frank Pearson wheels away to fetch a bottle of wine and three glasses, comes back and fills them all, handing one to both of his guests. After taking a sip out of his own drink, Pearson continues. "Now, where do you fit into all of this? As I was saying, where the police failed, a small but dedicated group of professionals can succeed. To cut right to the chase, I would like this group to be you two." He pauses to gauge their reactions. "You would work separately from the police department and investigate some of these inexplicable occurances. At the moment, your wages would be very low, because this new department is very experimental and, as such, not very well funded. Hopefully in time, however, providing you enjoy success in getting to the bottom of these mysteries, the pay will be substantially better. Should you choose to accept this job, all that would lie between you starting right away would be a couple contracts and a bit of briefing. What do you all say to this?"

[JonU]

Christine

"Before I can say yes or no, I have some questions that need to be answered. You said that we would be working independently of the Police. What happens if, for some reason, we run afoul of the police? Will they know that we are a branch of the government or will we be considered Criminals in their eyes? Secondly, what makes you assume that "Aliens" are involved. Did Area 52 call you guys and say that it looks like aliens are invading?"

Christina turns to look at the others and quickly sizes up what appears to be her new coworker. Going to do a sense motive to see if Mr. Pearson is telling the truth. And a spot/search check to see if I notice anything unusual about the group (i.e. concealed weapons, hand cuffs, body armor)
Sense Motive: [roll0]
Spot: [roll1]
Search: [roll2]

[Batpope Scott]

Alan, in his casual clothes of a white tee, blue jeans and sneakers, takes the glass with a steady hand. This is a lot to take in at once.

He listens intently to both Mr. Pearson and the woman asking questions before asking "Respectfully, sir, it would be nice to know what we're hunting for as well. I know strange; like when a deer ends up in the middle of downtown, but I really doubt that's what we're looking for."

Alan looks over the group with a curious eye, thinking to himself I wonder what branch these people are from.

[JonU]

Christina

As she sits down at the table with her glass in one hand she reaches across the table to read over the contract. As she reads she carefully sets her purse on the table but you can't help but notice the thud as it meets the table. She reads the contract meticulously while listening to what the others have to say. When one of the men speaks up and agrees with her about the aliens she can't help but smirk at how outlandish the thought of aliens is. She looks the man over, noting what he is wearing. "He certainly looks like he goes to the gym a bit." she thinks to herself. "I wonder if he is a bodyguard or a bouncer?" After making her initial observation of the rest of the other man, she turns her attention back to the contract making sure that it isn't a forgery done by some sort of crime ring. "Based on what my friend in the states told me; this should be legit. But it wouldn't be the first time a government employee has set me up."

My assessments on everyone's character is based on their Str and Cha scores assuming that 8 is average for humans. Oh, all talking for my character will be done in red, if it's black then it's her thoughts.
And hopefully the the forgery check goes better, so far I'm one gullible crim.
Forgery: [roll]1d20+11[roll]

[JonU]

Fail on writing the roll script here you go:
[roll0]

[Eonas]

Frank Pearson smiles good-naturedly at Christine. "Excellent questions, Christine. To answer your first, this is an officially sanctioned governmental branch - a poorly funded one at the moment, but officially sanctioned nonetheless. Here's a document that's signed by the head of the Department of National Defense, proving this branch's legitimacy." He grabs a sheet of paper filled with small-type legal text and a signature at the end. To a casual observer, it seems perfectly legitimate. Having handed it to Christine, he continues. "In a word, no. You won't be considered criminals in their eyes. To answer your second question, we have no idea what's involved here, but aliens are actually a very viable possibility. We're dealing with bizarre occurence after bizarre occurence, none of which seem to have any rhyme or reason to them. Just the other day - and this'll answer your question as well, Alan - there was a case of a house being haunted. The police themselves saw it: items moving apparently without cause, they even claimed they saw a ghostly figure moving around. The sighting has got the scientists totally baffled. And then there's the case of some sort of killer, or group of killers, roving about town lately. People have been found dead and half-eaten in out-of-the-way areas, and the autopsies show that they were killed by a gigantic set of claws, almost like those of a lion. It couldn't be a normal lion, though, because the way the victims' flesh was torn from their bodies couldn't have been done by a lion jaw. Besides, something as unintelligent as an escaped zoo animal would have been caught by now."

Frank pauses from his narrative long enough take another sip of alcohol. "To put it lightly, we aren't dealing with deer in cities here. This is full-on Twilight Zone type stuff."

The contracts seem legitimate.

[Batpope Scott]

Alan looks confused for a moment as he ponders the legitimacy of those claims, but his face turns to shocked realization as he remembers that the man in front of him is representing a new branch of government devoted to these issues. This can't just be a joke.

He takes a sip from his glass for the first time and states clearly "I'm willing to put my foot into the bear trap, here, by saying I want to help. I'm not sure how good I'll be though; I'm just a soldier, not a detective."

[JonU]

Christina

"Well, I guess that as long as I don't have the police breathing down my back, I'm willing to help. I will let you guys know though, I'm not much in a fight." Then she adds "My skills are probably quite a bit different than anyone else's in this group."

"Well I guess a soldier is better than a police officer or detective. He will be less likely to know who I am or what I've done." Christine thinks to herself. As she sits there continuing to sip on her drink, she pulls a pen out of her purse and proceeds to sign the contract.

"Here you go Mr. Pearson, you have one on board. I just hope that my skills will provide some use. Do you think that I could get an ID card that recognizes me as a legitimate part of the government? I understand this operation is top secret but how about giving us a cover as part of the Canadian version of the FBI? This would give us legitimacy when we encounter local police as we go about or job. I would just prefer not to start up a criminal record here in Canada."

[Eonas]

"Excellent!" Frank exclaims. "You may all be assured that your skills will be put to good use - since you were, after all, chosen from among hundreds of potential candidates. To answer your question, Christine, you will be given the rights to use firearms if absolutely necessary, and to access most government properties. Don't abuse them or you'll find yourself in a pile of trouble. I had to fight tooth and claw to obtain them for you as it is. And... here's a warrant for both of you, signed by the Prime Minister himself." He fetches two legitimate-looking sheets of paper from a table beside him and hands one each to Alan and Christine. "Police officers give you any trouble, show them this, and if they still give you trouble, refer them to Frank Pearson."

[JonU]

"Thank you." Christine responds as she receives the papers. She folds it up and places it in her purse. "So when and were do we need to go in order to get started?"

[Karl Prosek]

Jen pulls up, late, in her rented car and with a gun she doesn't technically have a right to carry tucked in the holster in the small of her back. She just stares at the house for a second before getting out. This is what I get for opening my mouth.

Eventually, though, she climbs out of the car and walks up to the front door and knocks.

[Eonas]

"Well, you'll need -" Frank begins, before he is interrupted by the knock at the door. "Excuse me," he says, and wheels himself over to the door. Upon opening it and seeing Jennifer, he exclaims in delight. "Ah, you're here finally. Come right in, you haven't missed much. Would you like something to drink?"

So saying, he leads the newcomer back to the living room, where he introduces her to Alan and Christina and briefly repeats to her what he already told Alan and Christina, offering her a contract and a warrant (as well as a glass of wine). "Should you choose to sign this contract, all that would stand between you three and your job would be for you to equip yourselves as you see fit (from your own wallet, I'm afraid - like I said, this operation isn't well funded at the moment), and me giving you a few leads to jump-start you on your investigation. What do you say?"

[Batpope Scott]

Alan leans back in his chair and firmly asks "When do we start?"

[Karl Prosek]

"Well, you'll need -" Frank begins, before he is interrupted by the knock at the door. "Excuse me," he says, and wheels himself over to the door. Upon opening it and seeing Jennifer, he exclaims in delight. "Ah, you're here finally. Come right in, you haven't missed much. Would you like something to drink?"

Jennifer gives Frank a small smile and shakes her head at the offer of a drink. "Uh, no, sir." She follows the man into the house and listens to his explanation. It was a damn strange assignment. Not least because she was being seconded from the FBI to the RCMP (apparently; she still wasn't clear on whether they were actually to be RCMP National officers or if they were only 'like' RCMP National officers).

But she was the kind of person who loved a challenge and this sounded... challenging. Jen smiles and nods at Alan. "Like he said."

[Eonas]

Frank smiles. "Great! Just sign here on the contract while I give you all a little bit of info. There have three recent bizarre occurrences lately: firstly, like I said, there's the large-clawed killer or killers roving about the city. The most recent death yesterday was in a back-alley at Rollyronan road... you can't miss it, it's the one blocked off from public access by yellow tape. The day before yesterday there was another one, in the playground three blocks to the south. There have been killings each day for 12 days now. Almost every body was half or mostly eaten - the one yesterday, however, was only partially eaten. Nasty sight, too.

The next, like I said, was a supposedly haunted house. The address is Firthway Drive, number 4526. Basically, the owner of the house, a young lady named Jess Chatman, dropped dead two days ago for no apparent causes. Police investigators entered the house last night, and ran out panicked after having seen one of their company die for no apparent reason, chairs and other objects being moved by something invisible, and having heard some type of sound which terrified them but which they couldn't consistently describe afterwards.

Finally, there have been quite a lot of disappearances lately - far more than usual. There doesn't seem to be any pattern at all to them, except that a sizable portion of them have happened in the same general area and date of some other bizarre event. Here's a sheet of paper with a list of names and addresses of some of the people who've disappeared recently." Frank Pearson puts a sheet of paper with several dozen names, addresses, and miscellaneous information on the table. "One more thing - what you do and discover in your job is to be held strictly confidential. There was something about that in the contract, if you read it carefully." He pauses in his monologue long enough to get a good long look at his guests, and then continues. "Anyway. I think that's all you need to know to get started. You can begin your job right now."

[Karl Prosek]

Jen glances at her new teammates. "Um. I don't usually get to pick which crime scene to investigate. Off the top of my head I'd go with the one which is actually a crime scene. We may be able to get some forensics out of the locals on the Rollyronan Road scene."

[Batpope Scott]

With a nod, Alan states "I think that would be a good start."

He stands slowly out of his chair. "Shall we get going?"

[Karl Prosek]

Jen stands, as well. "Let's." She nods at Frank. "Thank you, sir. We'll keep you updated."

[Eonas]

When the team arrives at the crime scene, they find it blocked off from public access as predicted, as well as occupied by a small team of policemen and investigators. They see two people crouched over what seems to be a hideously mangled corpse in the middle of the alley. When they attempt to approach, a young police officer stops them. "No civilians are allowed on the scene of the crime." he says, tersely.

[Batpope Scott]

"We're not civilians." Alan holds up his warrant for inspection.

[Karl Prosek]

Jen snorts at Alan's warrant and holds up her own 100% legitimate FBI identification. "FBI, working with the RCMP. I'm Agent Ward. This is Bardsley and Thomas." She doesn't provide any more explanation and moves to walk past the young officer, practically daring the officer to stop her.

[JonU]

After hearing them, Christine simply states "I'm with them." and walks in. "So what should I be looking for?" She quietly whispers to Jen and Alan, and continues, "this isn't exactly my area of expertise."

[Eonas]

The young officer, looking mildly affronted but still cool and professional, steps aside for the team to come through and examine the body. "Right, then. I don't know how much you were already told about the case, but I'll fill you in on the basics anyways. The victim's name was Allison Roach. Age 19, living with her boyfriend in that house over there." He points one of the houses in the alley very close to the corpse: the house's back door is only a few meters away. He also flashes a small photograph of Allison, a short, slightly plump brunette with a darker complexion. "Her boyfriend got home at eleven thirty last night and found her body outside. He'd just spoken to her on the phone at ten forty-five, so she must have been killed at some point between ten forty-five and eleven thirty. This seems to be a recurring factor throughout the murders - always between ten o clock and midnight.

He leads the team to the corpse. It's very badly mangled (to such an extent that Allison's appearance is no longer remotely recognizable from the photograph), and clotted with blood throughout. "Now, we know the killer used some sort of serrating blade to do the killing. Or, more likely, some type of claws we haven't seen yet among any animal. The corpse's flesh was very obviously eaten - the experts say it wasn't eaten by something with teeth, but aren't yet sure what actually ate it."

[Batpope Scott]

Alan grimaces upon seeing the corpse, but looks confused at the description. "It's 'likely' that it was killed by an unidentifiable animal? How are we certain it wasn't a strange knife?"

He tried to avoid looking too much at the body; he wasn't queasy around corpses, having been in the military solved that issue, but the body was more than even he wanted to handle.

[Karl Prosek]

Jen nods at Alan's question about the knife. Once the officer had answered, she nods again at the ends of the alley. "Any surveillance cameras on the ends of this alley? Or security cameras on the back doors of any of these houses? If not, where are the closest red light or ATM cameras? I want to know if we have any footage of Ms. Rocha entering this alley and anybody following her."

"What did the neighbors hear? Or see? She wasn't killed and eaten in a residential alley without anybody seeing or hearing something."

[JonU]

As Christine approaches the body behond the other two she starts to sound like she is going to vomit. As soon as she hears Jen talking about neighbors hearing or seeing anything, she quickly speaks up "I'll go and talk to the neighbors and see what I can find out. If I stay here I am likely to lose my lunch." With that said she quickly starts to head towards the front of the closest neighbor's house.

[Eonas]

"We don't." says the officer simply to Alan. "But we don't have any recorded incidents of a human tearing the flesh off a victim and then somehow disposing of it, as is the case with this whole series of murders. It's far more probable that we're dealing with some new type of carnivorous animal. And no, we don't have any video tapes of the killer yet. Most of the recent murders seem to have taken place around here, though, and we plan to set up a video camera surveillance system around this whole area as soon as possible. We haven't had the time to question many of the victim's neighbors yet, but the ones we have questioned didn't notice anything peculiar, like screaming or whatnot.

The house Christine approaches seems, from her point of view behind the house, to be empty,

Christine listen check DC 15:
However, there are faint sounds of footsteps and rustlings inside that indicate otherwise.

[Karl Prosek]

Jen frowns. "It's not possible that this woman was chased down, killed, and eaten and didn't make any noise. When you canvas, make sure to ask if any of the neighbors heard anything at all from this alley last night- normal stuff like cars, people walking by, anything. If not, we're going to have to chase down why not."

"Alright. When and where is the last time anybody saw Ms. Rocha alive?"

[Eonas]

"Not necessarily chased down. The officer says. "We believe the victim may have been sneaked up upon and killed quickly, possibly by her neck snapping - her spinal column is severely damaged. That wouldn't be entirely silent, but it also wouldn't necessarily be noisy enough to be notice-worthy to most people if they weren't expecting anything. Like I said, ma'am, we haven't had a chance to thoroughly question everybody here yet.

"However, I CAN tell you for certain that Allison was last seen at seven PM at a Husky gas station. From there she went home, and later spoke to her boyfriend on the phone at ten forty-five, like I already said. He said she seemed perfectly normal during their short conversation."

[hehling01]

The self-proclaimed Seekers of the Sun are the diurnal clan of the Miqo'te race. Their preference for the warm light of day pervades all aspects of their culture, as is apparent in their devout reverence for Azeyma the Warden, goddess of the sun. Though relatively few in Eorzea, a small number of them have been accepted into everyday life by the other races in the port city of Limsa Lominsa. Others are known to make their home in the region of the Sagolii Desert.

[Karl Prosek]

Jen frowns. "Alright. Did she talk to anybody else on her cell phone in between that gas station and her boyfriend? We need to pin down her movements in between 7 and 1045. We also need to canvas every house that connects to this alley, talk to everybody who was home last night."

[JonU]

As Christine approaches the first house she hears some noise coming from the house. Upon reaching the door she puts a hand on her pistol that is in her purse as a precaution. With her other hand she knocks on the door and tries her best not to look uneasy after what she saw in the alley.

[Batpope Scott]

Alan goes to stand next to Christine at the door, trying to be useful.

[Eonas]

"With all due respect, ma'am," says the officer, in a tone that doesn't give much more than the due respect, "it's not within your power to order members of the police force around. Or do you have a paper for that too? You're welcome, of course, to do some interrogation yourself."

As Christine knocks, the footsteps inside the house stop abruptly for a moment, then begin again, this time distinctly coming towards the door, accompanied by a scraping sound on the floor. Suddenly, Christine and Alan see the face of a little boy peeping out through a small window at the top of the door. The face then disappears as abruptly as it appeared, and neither investigator see or hear sight or sound coming from inside the house.

[Karl Prosek]

Jen frowns at the officer. "Yes, that was why I was going to talk to the investigating detectives," she gestures at the two detectives near the body, "instead of a patrol officer keeping people out of the crime scene. I'm assuming they've already ordered a canvas, checked for video and are running a trace on her phone."

And at least if they argued with her, she wouldn't feel like yelling at them. Well, not as much. She had tried to keep her voice pleasant, but it was clear she was just about done with the young officer giving her attitude. Giving the detectives space was one thing, but calling her FBI badge a piece of paper was deliberately insulting.

[JonU]

"Did you see that creepy little kid?" Christine asks Alan. "Hmmm, what now? Wonder if he has been told not to open doors for strangers? Got any ideas Alan?" Seeing that little kid appear and disappear so suddenly has definitely creeped out Christine, but she tries to maintain a calm appearance.

[Batpope Scott]

"Creepy?" Alan shrugs a bit and gestures away from the house. "I'd suggest we start looking around the other houses and ask the suits to pry into this house as soon as the parents come home."

[Eonas]

The officer nods and points toward another officer now talking earnestly with one of the investigators beside the corpse. "Talk to Howard, then." he says tersely, and walks away without another word.

If you don't approach Howard, then go ahead and write something else: I'll edit the following paragraph out. I only included it in the interest of expediency.
When Jen approaches Howard and the investigator, they stop their conversation to face her. "Can I help you?" Howard asks, politely.


Meanwhile, Alan and Christine hear a sneeze directly on the other side of the door, but apart from that nothing happens.

[Karl Prosek]

Jen nods at Howard and pulls out her FBI badge again to display to the detectives. "Detective Howard, I'm Special Agent Shaw, working with the RCMP on a series of murders and disappearances. We have reason to believe this is related to our investigation." She gestures at the house where Alan and Christine are waiting at the door. "That's Bardsley and Thomas."

She nods at the body. "Don't let me stop you. I'm not taking over your case, just looking for corroboration that this is related. Go ahead with your observations. Has your forensics team already wrapped up here?"

[Eonas]

"Just about, yes. What would you like to know?" Howard says. He waits patiently for Jen to ask her questions. The man previously speaking to Howard discreetly stands off to one side, listening to Jen's and Howard's conversation silently and unobtrusively.