(IC) New Bedford by Night: WtF II

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“Noooope,” Blaze replied, tossing back another shot, “probably has something to do with the ocean. We’ll have to take a look maybe tomorrow, but for now I’m gassed and we should probably just celebrate and figure the tough stuff out later.”

[Bennosuke]

"The ocean?" this time it's E who speaks up, her question filled with equal parts confusion and anger, "Care to explain further, oh cryptic one?" She makes no move to return to her position beside Michael, and she gazes at Juno with continued disgust, her hand reflexively going to her pocket where she kept a switch blade. Her lip was turning up in equal parts punk and lupine snarl.

[Daishain]

Bear's face twitches, and barely avoids yelling as he chastises the wolfblooded, "Enough of that Elisa. Whatever else has happened, our sister Juno has come back to us. As troubling as some details might be, take your damn hand off of that knife."

He stays quiet for a moment before answering her question, "Kara thinks there's a powerful presence of some sort in the sea. We know for sure the Beshilu were afraid of it. We think Juno was dragged underwater by it. We're starving for any real information on the thing, so anything she can tell us would be a big help."

[Irrelephant]

"It was cold," Juno agrees stoically, her face scrunched up in thought as she struggles to remember. "And wet."

She gestures at her hair despondently, still slightly damp despite the warmth of the fire and the time that's passed. "There were..." she trails off, flicking away a small piece of barnacle stuck to her skin

[Bennosuke]

E lowers her head in an almost submissive bow, but her hard eyes stay fixated on Juno. She moves quickly to where Michael is seated and places a hand on his shoulder and says, "Come on let's go back up to your room. I feel like celebrating alone a little more." She gives Michael a coy grin, but it seems like her heart isn't in it.

Trying to gloss over the uncomfortable tension, Kara saunters over to Blaze and drinks straight from the bottle he's been pouring shots from, saying loud enough for everyone to hear, "So, are you gonna be able to run some diagnostics or whatever and help us figure out what happened to Juno?" She takes another gulp from the bottle, slamming it down before shaking out her entire body like a wet dog.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“Yeah that’s the plan,” Blaze said, “figure we could start fresh tomorrow. I have a few ideas...”

Blaze tried to think of a few things he could do to figure out what happened to Juno.

Spoiler

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int + occult: (8d10)[1][8][2][10][10][10][3][8](52)
9 again: (9d10)[10][7][8][8][1][7][5][2][6](54)

[Bennosuke]

Blaze chewed it over. He couldn't think of a direct experiment that he could perform on Juno that would be helpful, but it was likely that there were spirits he could go to for answers. Perhaps the spirit in the library, or even his computer spirit... but what made the most sense was possibly to go out into the bay and speak to the spirits that lived there. They would have to know what was happening. Something out there would have to give Blaze something he could use to figure out how to help Juno.

The more Blaze thought about it, the more certain he was he could help Juno this way, and the more fixated he became on the idea of "curing" her.

(OOC: For 8 freaking successes, I'm giving Blaze the Inspired (Investigate Juno) condition, and an additional beat)

But it was Solomon who spoke up now, his face a mask of cold decision though his voice was terribly weary, "We probably won't be able to do anything tonight. But we will get on it. We will help you Juno, I promise. It may be worth paying a visit to Michael and the Arrow Heads in Brockton. This territory is ours now for sure, but perhaps they can help out." His gaze turned from Juno to Blaze and Bear and he continued, "Perhaps I'll make a trip out there myself. Though we will have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks, purging our territory of the remaining rats nests, and working on restoring the gauntlet. So much to do..."

He slumped down into a chair where the wolf blooded were sitting, his head collapsing into his chest in weary exhaustion.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“There are a few spirits we know of who should be able to point us in the right direction... the library spirit, who set up residence in my laptop, or maybe even the museum spirit...” Blaze replied.

[Daishain]

Bear nods, "Sounds good, lets do it, tomorrow, after everyone gets some rest. As much work as we have, I think a celebration is in order as well."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I'm good with moving on if there's nothing else.

[Bennosuke]

Epilogue

Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time
-H.P. Lovecraft

He smiles a lot. But I think there might be worms inside him making him smile.
-Stephen King, The Stand

It was nearly the afternoon when the pack began to stir after their long night of battle and early morning celebration. It was Mitchell Sanders who woke the pack up, the most distant member of the Anchor Wolves, dressed in an oversized brown tweed suit, and trailing a hazy cloud of dark cigar smoke. The portly wolf blooded was practically ecstatic. He went from room to room, banging on doors and calling for everyone to come out. He had of course been updated on the situation, but he seemed oblivious to the gravity of what had happened the night prior and was practically giddy.

Once everyone is gathered in the main hall of the factory, Mitchell goes from one Uratha to the next, shaking each one's hand. "You guys did it," he says with excitement, "you guys really did it. I don't know if you heard, but they announced this morning that they've developed a vaccine or something for Captain Drips. They have a little more testing to do, but the numbers are going down, and they think the city's lock-down may end soon. It's all over the local news! You guys did that! You guys!" Sanders takes another hard puff on his nearly blunted cigar, and continues, "But I have even better news! The vineyard that you guys played at, Running River Winery... well they are throwing a big party tonight. And their owner, he called me this morning and basically insisted that Cry Wolf plays there tonight! He's offering us a ton of money!" Mitchell Sanders' grin was ear to ear, and he was practically shaking with delight, his ruddy face was bright red and shiny with perspiration, despite the New Bedford cold.

In twilight, the Uratha could see Reveler floating just behind the band's manager, a look of what might be delight on its ephemeral whale like face.

[Daishain]

Bear lumbers on out of the room he shares with Ciara, still shirtless. He yawns, then blinks, as Sanders shares the good news. "Really? That was fast, I figured it would be a few days at least before we saw things start to calm down. I was going to suggest visiting that hospital spirit again and see if it needed help recovering, but I guess its doing pretty well."

He winces a bit as he considers doing a big gig on such short notice, "Well, I don't think people have really recovered enough, but I'm not sure we can really afford to refuse either. Its too good of an opportunity. So what do you think gang, can we pull it off?" He gets a big grin, "I don't know about you guys, but I think we do have plenty of reason to celebrate."

[Irrelephant]

Juno enters groggily, rubbing her eyes as she walks in. At Mitchell's exuberance, she can't help but smile, weak and anemic though it may be.

"That's great," she responds from the side quietly, unsure if the manager has noticed her yet.

[Bennosuke]

Bear lumbers on out of the room he shares with Ciara, still shirtless. He yawns, then blinks, as Sanders shares the good news. "Really? That was fast, I figured it would be a few days at least before we saw things start to calm down. I was going to suggest visiting that hospital spirit again and see if it needed help recovering, but I guess its doing pretty well."

Solomon is out only a little after Bear. It was unlike the Irraka to not be the first one up, something that any pack member would notice almost immediately as abnormal. Based on his pale complexion and the heavy bags under his eyes, it was clear that Solomon had not slept very well either. "Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to go see the hospital spirit anyways," he grumbles, looking like he might vomit or simply collapse at any moment, "If we can help, we can help. And it probably wouldn't hurt to make a few more allies as we start to establish ourselves in this territory."

He winces a bit as he considers doing a big gig on such short notice, "Well, I don't think people have really recovered enough, but I'm not sure we can really afford to refuse either. Its too good of an opportunity. So what do you think gang, can we pull it off?" He gets a big grin, "I don't know about you guys, but I think we do have plenty of reason to celebrate."

Kara is surprisingly her perky self, despite the prior night's excitement; already showered and made up. Unsurprisingly, she is quick to speak up in favor of performing, "I think it's a great opportunity," she says, "How else are we ever going to go platinum anyways? And the last concert there was a huge success." She points to where Mitchell is standing, or maybe just past him and says, "And besides, I think Reveler is in favor. We do have an oath to our totem now." She gives Bear the puppy eyes in a familiar gesture of pleading.

uno enters groggily, rubbing her eyes as she walks in. At Mitchell's exuberance, she can't help but smile, weak and anemic though it may be.

"That's great," she responds from the side quietly, unsure if the manager has noticed her yet.

It takes a moment for Sanders to respond. The man actually drops his cigar, completely forgetting the still burning stick as he rushes over to Juno as quick as his fat stubby legs let him. "Juno," he says with complete shock. He stops in front of the Uratha and extends a hand as if to touch her face, but then stops saying almost reflexively, "You... you look terrible. Are you... are you okay? What happened to you?" He finally gathers up the courage and gingerly touches a barnacle growing out of Juno's cheek, just below her right eye. "My god," he whispers under his breath, the exclamation clearly just for himself.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“Yeah, we gotta do it,” Blaze said, “maybe we could get a practice session or two in first though. After breakfast.”

Rather than go fix up something to eat, however, Blaze parks himself in front of the laptop.

“Wakey wakey,” he muttered, to the spirit living inside, “wanna see something I’ve never seen before? Take a look at Juno there and let me know what you think..”

[Bennosuke]

The computer seems to take an usually long time to boot up, as if it were a much older, much more heavily taxed machine. Some of the others gather around Blaze and his laptop to watch. The screen fizzles to life, the monitor's glow faint and sickly, an intermittent sigil of essence flicking onto the screen. A voice comes out of the laptop, garbled and electronic, the words difficult to understand. "Get me out of here," Data Bolt shrieks, "you are starving me! The wards... this place... there is no sustenance. No Essence. And Pequad... it's mad... I think it intends on eating me!" The glow of the screen brightens as the desperation in Data's words builds.

[Thundercracker]

The computer seems to take an usually long time to boot up, as if it were a much older, much more heavily taxed machine. Some of the others gather around Blaze and his laptop to watch. The screen fizzles to life, the monitor's glow faint and sickly, an intermittent sigil of essence flicking onto the screen. A voice comes out of the laptop, garbled and electronic, the words difficult to understand. "Get me out of here," Data Bolt shrieks, "you are starving me! The wards... this place... there is no sustenance. No Essence. And Pequad... it's mad... I think it intends on eating me!" The glow of the screen brightens as the desperation in Data's words builds.

"Whoops," Blaze muttered, unplugging the laptop and standing up, "gotta take care of this, forgot there's nothing for the little guy to eat in here."

He picked up the laptop and headed to where there would be some Essence for the spirit to feast on.

[Daishain]

Bear rubs his face, "We never got around to dealing with Pequod either... so much to do."

"Okay, so, what do we have to do today and what can we put off? Juno, Blaze is working on trying to diagnose your condition, I want you to cooperate with him. If we can do something about what was done, we will. Everyone else, we will definitely need to practice before the gig. If we can find the time to whip it up, a new song celebrating the end of 'Captain Drips' would probably go over well."

"We won't be able to take care of it today, but I want to crush whatever's left of the beshilu soon, and especially drive them away from anywhere the gauntlet is weak. So I would like to get some eyes on their nests today, see what remains now that Obliterates is finished."

"We should prepare gifts to thank the spirits that fought with us properly. That can wait until tomorrow at least. Reveler is getting something tonight anyways, and the other two won't regenerate for a few days"

"What else needs doing now?"

[Bennosuke]

Downtown New Bedford was a crippled city made up of mostly abandoned rundown storefronts and warehouses. Though there were pockets of up and coming neighborhoods where the wealthy Dartmouth residents would visit for a fancy meal, there was just not a lot of environments that would support the computer spirit. Blaze knew enough to recognize that Data Bolt likely fed off of Essence gathered from technology and knowledge, and it stood to reason that of all places in walking distance, the library was a perfect site for the spirit to recharge. Besides, it was the library where Data Bolt had come from; so it has to be an optimal milieu for it to recover. And the library had to have wifi, and as long as Blaze avoided that loathsome librarian, he would be able to get all sorts of work done.

(OOC: So Blaze gets another exceptional success here. To keep things simple, rather than stacking conditions or trying to make something fit, this is going to work such that Data Bolt will be more effective and more eager to help, rather than being its rather stand offish, holier than thou self, and will therefore get some bonus dice in helping Blaze)

Even from the steps outside the library, Blaze could hear Data Bolt in twilight. The spirit was making an excited buzzing noise that probably represented something like glee in its version of the First Tongue.

As Blaze entered the near empty library, he was of course greeted by the fish faced librarian. "Can I help you with anything?" she asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow at the punk rocking werewolf.

************************************************** *************

"Okay, so, what do we have to do today and what can we put off? Juno, Blaze is working on trying to diagnose your condition, I want you to cooperate with him. If we can do something about what was done, we will. Everyone else, we will definitely need to practice before the gig. If we can find the time to whip it up, a new song celebrating the end of 'Captain Drips' would probably go over well."

"I can get working on that," Kara said with genuine excitement, "I've been putting a few songs together anyways. We'll have to work it as a group later, and make sure we have it down, but I'll try to keep it real simple so it won't be too hard."

"We should prepare gifts to thank the spirits that fought with us properly. That can wait until tomorrow at least. Reveler is getting something tonight anyways, and the other two won't regenerate for a few days"

As Bear was saying it, he was struck by a sudden heavy pang of guilt. He had come to Immovable Hunter for help, and the spirit had gotten dusted by Obliterates. It would likely take a long time for the bear spirit to recover, and it was Bear's fault for this. Of course the same was true of King Sky Hunter, but Immovable's fate weighed heavily on Bear's conscience.

(OOC: Likely a good Aspiraiton, given Immovable is/was Bear's Touchstone)

"What else needs doing now?"

Sanders was the first to speak up. "I say you forget everything else and worry more about tonight's performance. You've got to slay them tonight. This is your big chance," he replied bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest and doing his best to give the others a "father knows best" glare.

Ignoring the band's manager, Solomon says, "We should probably get a hold of Knowlton and the Arrow Heads, and let them know what went down. I'm sure it will buy us a little more respect, and we may even be able to convince them to help us out a bit with the clean up, now that the dirty work is taken care of." Solomon directed this towards Bear, as if by speaking up, the Rahu had taken on the role of pack Alpha. It was a rather... un-Uratha thing of Solomon to do.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“No,” Blaze said, entering the library and setting up at a work desk. He started typing in word to speak to DataBolt.

“Sorry about that, I’ll try to take better care of you in the future. So what exactly happened with Pequod?” he wrote.

[Daishain]

Bear shakes his head, "We'll practice hard Sanders, but we can't abandon our other duties in the process, especially when it comes to helping Juno." He nods to Solomon. "Yes, lets call Knowlton later today, that won't take long, just give them an update. Frankly I suspect they're on standby outside the territory. If we had fallen they wouldn't have much choice but to move in. This situation was way too close to spilling beyond Bedford already."

[Irrelephant]

"We'll practice hard Sanders, but we can't abandon our other duties in the process, especially when it comes to helping Juno."

"Thank you, Bear," Juno chimes in, wincing at the sound of her own voice. She rubs her temples in an attempt to stave off the pain.

"It's noth.... nothing so urgent. I think I just need to go and lie back down for a little bit, clear up this headache."

[Bennosuke]

The librarian fortunately does not follow Blaze as he makes his way to a desk on the far side of a stack of book shelves. After setting up and asking his question, the laptop spontaneously mutes itself. The desktop flickers for a second before a primitive looking messenger application opens up, labeled "Shadow Chat". The window looks something like a rip off of the old AOL Messenger, but with an 8-bit pixelated black background in which something like a forest can just barely be made out. In the chat window appears "Shhhhhhhhhhh. We are in THE LIBRARY! Just chat with me here." There is a slight pause before Data Bolt continues, during which a small skeletal and simian creature scuttles across the black background.

"Pequod has gone mad," Bolt answers, "There something blocking the creation of Essence in your home. There's no spirits. And nothing to feed on. I think Pequod has starved into depravity. I had to keep burning Essence to stay in Twilight to stay safe."

************************************************** *********

Bear shakes his head, "We'll practice hard Sanders, but we can't abandon our other duties in the process, especially when it comes to helping Juno." He nods to Solomon. "Yes, lets call Knowlton later today, that won't take long, just give them an update. Frankly I suspect they're on standby outside the territory. If we had fallen they wouldn't have much choice but to move in. This situation was way too close to spilling beyond Bedford already."

Mitchell removes the cigar from his lips to chuckle in reply, ashing out the spent end on the warehouse floor. "Well you don't have too much time," he says with a grin and a peak at his watch, "it's already... almost 2:30 PM! The band is set to perform at 7, and you'll have to get there early to set up. I'd say you give Knowlton now. I doubt his lot slept in as late as you did." He returns the cigar to his lips a puffs up a black hazy cloud and says, "Anyways. I'm glad it's decided. I'll let the winery know we are on. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help." He pauses one last time to glance nervously at Juno. "Glad you're back kid. I... well, take care of yourself," he says uncomfortably.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

Either he had overlooked something obvious, or something else was going on at the hideout.

Spoiler

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int + occult: (9d10)[9][4][8][9][3][10][5][9][2](59)
9 again: (9d10)[1][3][6][5][10][3][2][1][10](41)
I honestly have no idea what to do with this information so moving on to the next point of interest.

"Okay, I'll look into it," Blaze typed, "why don't you go get some Essence first and then we can chat some more"
After waiting for DataBolt to fill up, Blaze asked about Juno, typing out a short summary of what'd happened, and what DataBolt thought might be going on.

[Bennosuke]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

So no roll was needed here, though I feel bad of depriving you another exceptional success. Essentially, the wards placed up protecting the warehouse work by preventing any spirit from crossing the barrier created by their "perimeter". So spirits within the warehouse cannot leave, and spirits outside cannot enter. While this creates great protection, it means that for a spirits trapped inside, they have very very limited food. Which is why Data Bolt needed to leave. Pequod is wasting away, because he has no essence to feed off of, something discussed at the very beginning of the game, and has gotten to the point where it will eat "the wrong type" of spirits or Essence just to sustain itself. This is very bad, and creates these mad mosaic spirits.

In other words, Pequod begged to be released at the beginning of the game. Nothing was done about this, and now Pequod has gone mad and may need to be destroyed.

Blaze probably understands this without having thinking hard about it, and if anything maybe feels bad about letting Pequod get to this point.

The computer screen goes dull while Data Bolt is off feeding, the chat window disappearing and returning to the laptop's mundane desktop screen. It takes surprisingly little time for Data to return, and when it does, Blaze knows immediately by the return of the strange chat window and the unearthly brightness that comes from the screen.

The keyboard is almost ice-cold to the touch as Blaze explains the situation with Juno, how she has been gone, her strange return, and her sickly appearance.

Data Bolt's first reply is short and to the point, "She has been infected!" the first post reads, followed by, "You should cut her open and see what's inside!"

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

"Well, she's got barnacles growing on her skin and stuff," Blaze said, "but we'd like her to stay alive, do you know what she's been infected with?"

[Daishain]

Bear rubs his face again, it was that late already? "All right, get going on prep. Let me and Solo go call Knowlton now, shouldn't take long. Kara, take whoever you want and get started on that song. Don't get too carried away, just one new song, and not too complicated. Pine, how about you take a few and go ahead and load up the stuff we won't need for practice, get it ready to go. Reveler, if you have anything to add, now would be a good time."

[Bennosuke]

Data's first reply reads, "Well she's Uratha right? So she can survive a good autopsy and heal back good as new, right?" There is a slight pause as another hunched skeletal abomination scuttles across the chat window, then a second message appears, "Anyways, you mentioned the Idigam and Dagon; you know what that is, don't you?"

*********************************************

Reveler, if you have anything to add, now would be a good time.

From Twilight, The Reveler's voice ripples into real space in its alien sing song lilt. "I will work with Kara. I will inspire her if I can, and we shall bring true revelry tonight," it says.

"****," James King says with a grin from his seat on a nearby couch, "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that ****."

Sanders leaves, and Solomon and Bear find the warehouse's only landline to call Michael Knowlton. It takes a minute for the call to go through, but finally the burly Uratha's voice comes through, "Knowlton here. This the Anchor Wolves? What's doing, do you need backup yet?" There was no condescension in his voice, only anxious concern.

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

"Uhh, maybe you should refresh my memory," Blaze typed back.

Spoiler

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Also maybe you should refresh the player's memory too... :p

[Bennosuke]

Spoiler: OOC:

Show

So overall Blaze and the others know very little, and in fact, I am setting this up as a bit of an info dump, to set up the next story arc.

In regards to what Blaze already knows: Blaze found strange jewelry at the museum, that allegedly belonged to some famous New Bedford sailor, but which had strange figures and First Tongue symbols carved into it. Blaze studied the symbols and translated out the word Idigam. The group knows that there is something old and dangerous in New Bedford's bay, or maybe further out in the ocean, and that whatever it is is partly responsible for driving the Beshilu inland, which may have resulted in their growing in power as well as the eventual rise in power of HWOB. Solomon also did some digging and knows that a subset of the locals attend a church that worships some sort of figure known as Dagon, who he believes to be related in some way to this Idigam.

... And that's pretty much it, which leads into the below post.

"Refresh your memory? Please Blaze, I know when an Uratha needs my help!" This message is followed by a smiley face emoticon, though the image is suddenly replaced by a leering wolf's face, pixelated and goonish. "I only know rumors regarding the Idigam; there's almost nothing in my data web available," reads the next message, this one followed by, "So the story goes that when Pangea existed, the Idigam were spirits of unequaled power, and with no ties to reality. They were formless abominations that did not obey the laws of spirit and flesh. It is possible they were not spirits at all, but perhaps something all together alien. They were some of the greatest foes that Father Wolf faced, and before his downfall, he and his children made a pact with Mother Luna when they realized that they were not strong enough to hunt and destroy the Idigam. Father Wolf and the first Uratha tracked and trapped the Idigam, and Mother Luna used all her powers to summon them to herself, transporting them on her barren surface. With no life to create Essence, the Idigam were forced into a deep slumber, waiting for the day when they would be awoken by life on the moon, and could return to power; when they could return to Earth and swallow everything of Flesh and Shadow in their never ending hunger."

Following this long message, there is a long moment before Data Bolt types again, finishing with, "This is what I know of the Idigam. It is all the information I can provide you and your pack in assistance."

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

"oh, well that sounds serious," Blaze typed back, "thanks for the information. So what do you want me to do about the wards, want me to see if I can get some Essence for you at the hideout, or would you rather hang out somewhere else most of the time?"