(IC) New Bedford by Night: WtF II

[Bennosuke]

Within moments Joanna gets a text back. It reads, "Spoke to Brock. He says he doesn't know you. Don't bother contacting me." Fortunately, Joanna did know the company where Fin worked, Sea Skipper Travels, and knew his bus route. Perhaps there was more than one way to skin this cat...

[Haval]

Aw, don't be like that Finney Joanna thinks. We were getting on so well.

At some point Joanna will slip out and go back to Sea Skipper Travels during the day. She knew where Fin worked but not what his shift patterns were. She didn't even really know if he had a car. Once she's parked somewhere away from the depot's carpark she's going to get closer to see if she can find Finn's scent from memory. Ideally she'd be able to find his car without having to spend too much time out here. No one would understand what she was doing but it was the sort of thing that people would remember. It would be easier to avoid being seen by Fin while she was out here so she'll keep an eye out. No need to make him any more suspicious then he already was.

Otherwise she'll find somewhere out of the way where she might be able to see Fin getting off his bus.

[Bennosuke]

After breakfast, Joanna breaks from the group to head out to Sea Skipper Travels. Her GPS takes her only about a five minute drive South of the factory, at a building only a block or so away from the Cuttyhunk Ferry building. The Sea Skipper building is a squat grey stone structure of plain industrial design, with black tinted windows, and a banner washed of nearly all color being the only indicator that Joanna has come to the right spot. In front of the building is a small blacktop parking lot, big enough for about fifteen cars, leaving space before the ferry where a bus could stop and take in passengers. With its tinted windows, it is hard to tell if the Sea Skipper office is even open, and the front is cold and uninviting.

But Joanna was here to track down Finn.

(OOC: Let's start with a Wits + Streetwise/Survival +2 roll.. and feel free to roll stealth if Joanna wants to make sure she goes about this completely unseen.)

[Haval]

What a **** building. Joanna will park somewhere away from the Sea Skipper's parking lot and approach on foot. She will try to find an alleyway or a larger vehicle where she could watch the lot without being seen. Actually crouching behind a car tended to look suspicious to anyone passing so she wants to look like she isn't here solely to watch the Sea Skipper. Occasionally she will idly scan her social media if only to look like she was doing something.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Wits 3 + Streetwise 2
(5d10)[7][8][2][8][8](33)
Any 10s
(5d10)[5][4][8][3][1](21)

Dex 2 + Stealth 2 + Auspice 1
(5d10)[5][7][8][6][2](28)
Any 10s
(5d10)[4][2][6][2][6](20)

[Bennosuke]

It doesn't take too much time sniffing around the area, from her hideout behind a parked FedEx van for Joanna to pick up on a familiar fishy odor. To be honest, it seemed like there was a fishy odor everywhere in New Bedford, and it was carried around by most of the locals. But this was Fin the bus driver for sure, it was mixed with the smell of diesel oil and Fin's unfortunately cheap cologne!

Though the scent was somewhat faint, but Joanna could follow it growing stronger moving away from the building. The fresh scent seemed to follow one of several routes away from the Sea Skipper building that marked the comings and goings of the bus driver.

Jen could follow the scent on foot, but who knew how long that would take, alternatively she could drive though it would be much harder to follow her nose.

(OOC: Please make one more Wits + survival roll if Joanna is going to follow the trail by car... otherwise, Joanna can simply "follow her nose")

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“Databolt likes upgrades to his hardware and connections and stuff, but I can take a crack at this,” Blaze said, “what do you want to know?”

Spoiler

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int +computer (hacking): (9d10)[5][9][10][4][5][1][6][6][5](51)
10 again: (9d10)[6][5][4][4][2][3][5][4][5](38)

[Haval]

Much as she was amused by the image of her driving with her head sticking out of her car's window, Joanna will elect to follow the trail on foot. There was always a chance that Fin was close by.

Earlier

Blaze“Databolt likes upgrades to his hardware and connections and stuff, but I can take a crack at this,” Blaze said, “what do you want to know?”

'Just the Pure. Maybe anything on Oak that's still there to find. If she did change her name maybe she had a facebook account from before she changed. If we can't find anything maybe her pack mates are registered at the college. I'd like some names.'

[Daishain]

Bear winces a bit, "Speaking of Databolt, need to make good on our last promise. Promised him an upgrade to the wifi and a lion's share of the expanded bandwidth for a couple of weeks. From now on I'd suggest mainly paying him in more bandwith time rather than upgrades. We'll pretty quickly run out of new hardware we can actually afford otherwise."

[Bennosuke]

Spoiler: OOC@TC:

Show

I count two successes there. Based on your roll, I assume Blaze is just using his general computer skills to do some research and maybe hack the University website? If he is reaching out to Databolt, he doesn't need a roll, other than whatever social rolls will be needed to interact with the spirit.

If you are using those rolls, you can either gather multiple pieces of information in answer to one question, or superficial answers to two separate questions. Let me know what you/Blaze are trying to figure out

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

Deciding to forgo her car, Joanna begins stalking through the streets of Downtown New Bedford on foot. As she walks, Joanna is reminded of how desolate and destitute this part of the city is. Furthermore, her eyes keep catching sight of spray painted gang tags on old dirty walls, under rumbling freeway bridges, and even on some rusted abandoned cars that have had their wheels traded in for cinderblocks. Though she never feels herself in danger, Joanna again gets that uneasy feeling that eyes are watching her go by from dirt covered house windows, and boarded up factories.

By the time the trail leads into a squat house at the end of a rundown street, Joanna has regretted going by foot for the last hour. Fin's now ingrained stench exits a parked blue flatbed truck, and marches into his home; a shotgun home with peeling white paint surrounded by a lot of yellowing grass. Joanna also picks up on a smell she had not caught since Boston. Either Brock Turner was here now, or had lived here long enough to imprint his odor all over the property.

It was now just a little after noon, a grey and chilly day, though not dark enough for Joanna to be able to see if lights were on in the house.

[Haval]

Even before her First Change Joanna was confident enough in herself not to worry about neighborhoods like this. Since she found out that she was Uratha she is more then happy to ignore anyone who didn't get too close. When she gets closer to Fin's house she will pull up hood though. Fin at least knew who she was.

Unless someone interrupts her she will take a photo of the truck's licence plate with her phone. If the worst happened and they decided to leave town she wanted a chance to find it again. Afterwards she will see what the house looked like on the other side of the gauntlet. If Turner was being influenced by something on the other side she was curious to see if she could see some sign of it.

[Bennosuke]

Blaze's computer search brings up that Gwendolyn Oakheart was a professor of Oceanography at Florida University before coming to U-Mass Dartmouth, but before this, Blaze can find very little history of anyone with this name.

However, after the trail runs dry, Blaze broadens his search and comes across something both interesting and concerning. Blaze comes across a news article from 1932, about a Native American family in Colorodo, the Talloaks. The Talloak family were found dead in their homes. The two parents and one of their two children were found ripped to shreds in what was presumed to be an attack from wild wolves. Their twelve year old daughter, Gwendolyn Talloak was missing and was never found.

Blaze was aware of what sort of traumas could be associated with the first change, and how Uratha aged slower than mortals after their first change. However, most Uratha died before they reached their senior years... and this would make Oakheart almost a century old!

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

That evening, the Uratha are able to gather at the camera company and steal two small plastic barrels filled with elemental mercury. The group is able to pull the heist off, just barely by the skin of their teeth, and thanks to some extended valor from Blaze and Joanna.

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

Joanna is able to take several photos of the truck's license plate without any problem. But her ears pick up on the sound of conversation inside the house... both male voices.

[Haval]

Earlier

Joanna will be watching the computer over Blaze's shoulder as he searches. 'Assuming it's her she looks good for her age.' She had heard about the slow aging thing but hadn't really believed it. It was a lot to get used to. 'Are you guys all like fifty something and it's just never come up?'

Brock Turner

Joanna will edge closer to the house to see if she could make out what they were saying.

Spoiler

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Wits 3 + Composure 3 + Hishu 1
(7d10)[5][10][1][10][6][9][7](48)
Any 10s
(7d10)[5][2][10][5][1][1][7](31)

Honed Senses makes three successes an exceptional success

[Daishain]

"A few of us are older than we look, but not by that much. We do age pretty slow after the first change though. Still, it looks like Ms Talloak there is probably the second oldest of our kind I've met in person."

[Haval]

'And how old was the oldest?' Joanna felt she had to ask. 'I don't know how to feel about that. At what point do people back home start asking questions when I don't age properly?'

[Thundercracker]

Earlier

Joanna will be watching the computer over Blaze's shoulder as he searches. 'Assuming it's her she looks good for her age.' She had heard about the slow aging thing but hadn't really believed it. It was a lot to get used to. 'Are you guys all like fifty something and it's just never come up?'

Blaze

"No way, I'm twenty-four," Blaze said, "anything else we want to do while I'm online and working my magic?"

[Bennosuke]

Joanna's ears seem to adjust in just a few moments, and she fortunately does not need to creep too much closer to the house. There are indeed two distinct male voices coming from a nearby window, one of them the familiar voice of Fin. There is also the sound of what Joanna thinks is someone chopping vegetables, the familiar sound of a knife moving swiftly through soft tissue to hit with a clack on a hard cutting board.

Fin seems angry and he sounds to be scolding the other voice, who Joanna presumes is Brock. "Wisen up man," he says sharply, "you can't leave this house again! It's not safe! I don't know what's gotten into you, but you know you can't risk being seen."

Fin is cut off by the second man. His voice is higher pitched; less throaty and without the local New Bedford accent. "You don't know what you're talking about!" the man replies his voice almost rising to a yell. There is something in his voice which makes Joanna's skin perk up and her stomach tighten. He adds, "I was only out for a little bit, and no one saw me anyways!"

"But what the hell were you doing in the woods anyways," Fin shouts, the chopping becoming faster and more violent.

Brock replies, "None of your damn business!" and there is the sound of a chair scraping against hard flooring, followed by a few footsteps. "You know what? I'm out of here!" The footsteps begin stomping toward the front door.

Anything Joanna wants to do before the door opens?

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

Kara giggles, "I'm still the youngest." She gives Blaze a pinch on the cheek and says in a playful child's voice, "I'm the baby, gotta love me!"

But in reply to Blaze's question she adds, "I'm starting to think we should reach out to Knowlton and the Arrow Heads. Not that we need their help. But we should probably let the other nearby Forsaken know that there's a Pure tribe in our midst."

[Daishain]

Bear sighs, "Yeah, they should get a heads up, not least because a pure that old has got to be capable of causing a lot of trouble."

He mutters, "Not looking forward to having to admit we haven't kicked them out of our territory yet."

[Haval]

'Wouldn't they have come through Knowlton's territory to get here? Lot of blame to go round if they want to be like that. Assuming they don't know all about her already and couldn't be bothered to tell us.' To Blaze, 'I'd want to know if Oakheart has a bigger pack or whether it's just the two we met. If there's more of them around or even if they're on the way here I'd rather know about it now, but other then going down to Florida University I wouldn't even know where to begin to look into that. Maybe we can start with the younger two. What are the chances that they have student IDs with their face on them?''

Later

Joanna is going to duck down behind the nearest car to avoid any chance of Fin getting a look at her. There was every chance that he had mentioned her to Brock as well. If he notices her aa he passes Joanna will make a show of tying up her boot lace.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Stealth roll
Dex 2 + Stealth 2
(4d10)[1][3][9][4](17)
Any 10s
(4d10)[7][8][9][3](27)

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

Blaze got to work, conducting searches for the other two Pure he’d seen.

Spoiler

Show

Computers: (8d10)[2][10][6][7][7][2][6][2](42)

[GKnightBC]

Blaze

Blaze got to work, conducting searches for the other two Pure he’d seen.

Spoiler

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Computers: [roll0]

Jeremy assists where he can, suggesting paths and search methods, as well as exploring backdoors he's exploited into different departments.

[GKnightBC]

Jeremy assists where he can, suggesting paths and search methods, as well as exploring backdoors he's exploited into different departments.

OOC - retrying post numbers below.

Spoiler: Computer work

Show

Computer base (2d10)[2][5](7)
INT (3d10)[4][8][6](18)
Any tens? (5d10)[7][6][4][2][5](24)

[Bennosuke]

Joanna is able to make it across the street, and behind a beat up Chevy that had scraped off half it's front fender in some sort of an accident, getting out of view before the door opens. Daring a glance from behind her cover, she catches sight of Brock Turner; a tall and square built man with dark brown short curls. He looked nothing like a lot of the locals, but also didn't truly match the descriptions of the meek Bostoner that Joanna had first heard. He walked with a chest out confidence that said he meant business and was ready to prove it. He looked dangerous. He smelled wrong.

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

To Bear, Kara shrugs and says, "I can make the call, I suppose... but I kinda think you should do it. You are kinda the... Alpha now, if you know what I mean." She looks to the other pack members for support here, her eyes lingering for a second on Jeremy and Joanna, the two youngest and likely most impressionable; maybe even dodging Blaze's as if to avoid finding any offense in the senior Uratha's eyes.

Spoiler: OOC: Blaze's Research @ TC and GK

Show

Blaze gets a 10 again and can roll it for an extra success. He also gets one additional dice from Jeremy's success... however, please remember that a roll is worth one hour's research, so Blaze isn't going to just have this information right away.

@GK: Also, I'm kinda giving you a chance here to follow Jeremy's aspiration, of supporting another Uratha, and I kind of think you have the opportunity here to push either Bear or Blaze... given how Jeremy is suddenly stopping to try to help Blaze with his research.

[Haval]

Joanna finds herself bearing her teeth at the sight of Turner but she suppresses the sudden urge to snarl. She presumed she knew what it meant for someone to smell like that.

At this distance following him ought to be child's play, but she'll give Turner a moment to turn out of his street before following him.

**********

'I'd call him but I don't know if he'd take me seriously.' Joanna regards Kara quizzically and wonders why she was ruling herself out as a possible Alpha.

[Daishain]

Bear shakes his head, "I was grumbling, not refusing to make the call myself. I'll get on it as soon as we're done with this meeting."

[Bennosuke]

To Joanna's frustration, rather than setting off on foot, Brock wrenches open the door to the truck. However, it's clear that Brock doesn't have the key, because the car does not take off immediately. When Joanna peaks around the side of her cover car, she sees that Brock is is wrestling with a few wires, clearly trying to hotwire the truck. Perhaps this might give Joanna time to figure out a way to follow.

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

Without the names of the other two Uratha, it is very slow headway for Blaze, despite the help of Jeremy. However, after a lot of hair pulling, Blaze is able to pull up a little something about the younger male. They are able to figure out that a young man named Corey Allen went missing about a year ago, the young heir of a music producer from Los Angeles. He had developed a small reputation as a partier and playboy, attending the most exclusive raves in Italy and blowing his family's money on drugs, sex and music.

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

Kara shakes her head at Bear's reply. "You're sounding more and more like an old man my friend," she says with a smirk.

[Haval]

For a moment Joanna wonders whether her gift would allow her to get in the passage seat without Turner even knowing she was there. Perhaps she needed to practice before she pushed her luck too far though. Instead she'll aim to be on the back of the truck if Turner managed to get it started. Firstly she'll pause while she slips into a form that might attract less attention if she messes this up.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Shifting into Urhan and trying to get on the back of the truck as it leaves.

Dex 2 + Stealth 2 + Urhan 2
And spending 1 essence on Shadow Pelt to make this a rote action
(6d10)[6][7][5][5][3][4](30)
Reroll any dice that aren't 8, 9 or 10
(6d10)[3][6][10][5][9][8](41)
Any 9 or 10s for Moon kissed
(6d10)[9][5][4][8][8][7](41)

******************
On Corey Allen, 'It might be easier to lean on that one if we ever manage to get him alone. Or if he's reported as missing maybe we could call his parents. Forcing them to deal with the police might slow them down.'

[Thundercracker]

Blaze pulls up a photo of Corey Allen to confirm it is one of the Pure they met, then he performs a search of him, using both the name and the photo, pulling every trick and backdoor tool and channel he could, to see who else he spent time with and what he's been doing, where, in since he went 'missing'.

Spoiler

Show

hacking: (9d10)[3][5][1][6][4][3][7][5][8](42)
10 again: (9d10)[8][9][5][6][5][1][5][2][8](49)

Later on, after they'd recovered the mercury:
Blaze shifted his sight over to the Hisil to make sure nobody was watching.
"So... anyone got any ideas how we want to use this on their totem?" he asked as his sight returned to the normal spectrum.

[Bennosuke]

Joanna is forced to stifle a growl at the pain of her body shifting, though the new form becomes welcome almost immediately. She begins to slink towards the truck as Brock continues to fiddle with its wiring.

(OOC: Joanna is down to 8 Essence. I count no successes on your initial roll despite all the rote and 9 again benefits. Any desire to spend a WP or instead... take a dramatic failure???)

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

The only thing Blaze gets in addition to the information he already had on Corey Allen, is the Pure pup's old home address and the names of his parents in Los Angeles.

[Daishain]

Bear growls playfully at Kara, "Did I sound like an old man when I was chasing down those attackers last night? Oh that fight felt good. Just being able to sink my claws into an enemy without all these considerations was a welcome relief."

[Bennosuke]

"Next time we can take a kill count; big scary Rahu," Kara says grinning at Bear and gives him a playful wink.

(OOC: Wanna role play through that phone call at some point?)

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

Joanna, hops into the flatbed of truck. Her front paws land silently inside the bed, but her rear legs catch the back wall, causing her to fall forward and scrabble across the bed. The whole truck shakes with the sudden shifting weight and her nails create frantic scratching noises across the floor of the truck bed.

Joanna hears Brock yell, "Holy ****, what is that?" as he twists around in his seat to stare at the wolf that has jumped into the back of his truck.

(OOC: Beat added... this should be fun )