(IC) New Bedford by Night: WtF III

[Haval]

Joanna will reach out and touch Chaz's shoulder consolingly. 'Hey, I don't work all the time. If you want to hang out after to see if you can get me drunk let me know. It'll help me keep my mind off some things.'

[Bennosuke]

"We will stay for one more moon," the Deep Sea spirit repeats, its voice growing even louder despite the storm, "and then we shall leave. Until the Idigam is cast out, our home in THIS bay is no longer safe. We came to you, having been removed from our home, but you have proven that we are not safe from starvation here either. So we will wait one more day to fulfill our promise to you, but after that, we shall leave. We shall leave this bay, and seek a new home somewhere else no matter how far we must travel, or what dangers we might face."

Blaze's mind rushes momentarily to the thought of what might happen on the other side of the Gauntlet if an entire chorus of spirits were to simply leave for good.

The spirit turns its head to the side, an act that requires it to twist it's entire bloated body, a movement that would be wholly impossible for a real fish to perform. With booming voice it says, "Now... you had come with another question. What was it again?"

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

"It's just..." Chaz starts to say, his voice almost cracking before he stifles himself. Then with a scowl he shakes and says, "Look, never mind. Go back to your car, we'll lead you to our dorm. There won't be room for you and your friends back here." Not waiting for a response, he hits a button that rolls up the open window, tinted glass hiding him from Joanna and the others.

(OOC: Don't want to railroad you, so let me know if you want to do anything other than follow Chaz and the sedan in your own car)

[Thundercracker]

"We will stay for one more moon," the Deep Sea spirit repeats, its voice growing even louder despite the storm, "and then we shall leave. Until the Idigam is cast out, our home in THIS bay is no longer safe. We came to you, having been removed from our home, but you have proven that we are not safe from starvation here either. So we will wait one more day to fulfill our promise to you, but after that, we shall leave. We shall leave this bay, and seek a new home somewhere else no matter how far we must travel, or what dangers we might face."

Blaze's mind rushes momentarily to the thought of what might happen on the other side of the Gauntlet if an entire chorus of spirits were to simply leave for good.

The spirit turns its head to the side, an act that requires it to twist it's entire bloated body, a movement that would be wholly impossible for a real fish to perform. With booming voice it says, "Now... you had come with another question. What was it again?"

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

"It's just..." Chaz starts to say, his voice almost cracking before he stifles himself. Then with a scowl he shakes and says, "Look, never mind. Go back to your car, we'll lead you to our dorm. There won't be room for you and your friends back here." Not waiting for a response, he hits a button that rolls up the open window, tinted glass hiding him from Joanna and the others.

(OOC: Don't want to railroad you, so let me know if you want to do anything other than follow Chaz and the sedan in your own car)

Blaze

"I will try to travel with you to Idigam's lair within the next day so your obligation may be fulfilled sooner. Departing, however, does not absolve your, wherever you might go to try and escape it," Blaze said, "As to what we need to know, it is the reason for the delay. Our flanks are endangered should we depart this place to confront the Idigam. We need information about a possible ritual being conducted by a pack of Pure on our territory first. Perhaps if you are able to help us, we may be able to travel to its lair sooner."
Blaze described what he knew to the spirit.

[Bennosuke]

"Then we shall prepare for tomorrow," the lead spirit replies, its head bobbing up and down in agreement. In reply to Blaze's question it says, "Another pack of Uratha? No, we have not seen other, though we make our home so deep below the surface, it would be unlikely any of your kind would travel there. However..." and here the spirit pauses as if contemplating for a long moment, "there have been shifts in the waters that bare the taint of.. influence. The way your kind bends Essence is not the same as ours. There has been meddling in the waters; coercion of the very tides, that I had assumed was your doing. Perhaps this was the fault of the others you seek?"

[Haval]

To Bear and Jeremy 'Hopefully Ned can tell us something. I'm not sure if Chaz will take my calls after this.' Joanna will get back in her car and prepare to follow Chaz. Her driverside window is down in the hope of better catching any Pure scent that might be present. 'Someone say something if this seems like a bad idea.'

[Daishain]

Bear shrugs, "Seems as good a lead as any other right now." He grins a bit, "Wonder if that's the only boy's heart you'll be breaking today."

[Thundercracker]

"Then we shall prepare for tomorrow," the lead spirit replies, its head bobbing up and down in agreement. In reply to Blaze's question it says, "Another pack of Uratha? No, we have not seen other, though we make our home so deep below the surface, it would be unlikely any of your kind would travel there. However..." and here the spirit pauses as if contemplating for a long moment, "there have been shifts in the waters that bare the taint of.. influence. The way your kind bends Essence is not the same as ours. There has been meddling in the waters; coercion of the very tides, that I had assumed was your doing. Perhaps this was the fault of the others you seek?"

Blaze
“Most definitely,” Blaze said, “we suspect they are trying to use the tides to destroy the moon, or something like that. Does that make any sense to you, with your vastly greater knowledge and experience?”

[Haval]

Bear shrugs, "Seems as good a lead as any other right now." He grins a bit, "Wonder if that's the only boy's heart you'll be breaking today."

'Going to try and avoid doing that again if I can help it.'

[Bennosuke]

Bear, Joanna and Jeremy get back in their car, and roll off after the beat up sedan. Though New Bedford and Dartmouth were both rather hilly, being so close to the water, the university campus was shockingly flat, like they were out in some Midwest desert. Grassy fields give way to familiar looking modern buildings. One part of the campus even has a large metallic windmill, it's blades spinning slowly in the setting sun. After following the stoners through several splitting intersections, they pull up into the parking lot of a rather squat and less modern building. Clearly a dorm, this building's architecture is more reminiscent of the USSR brutalist style. As the car pulls up, hip hop music can be heard muffled and distant from one of the dorms inside. Black tinted windows stare down at the lot, and despite the distant music, there is almost no signs of life anywhere outside of the building.

Chaz and his crew, having already parked, get out and come to the pack's car. Hesitantly Chaz says, "Eh, I'm not sure if I can get you all inside. There's campus security and all at the door, but if you're okay with it, I can give Ned a call and see if he will come down." He eyes the adults cautiously, clearly waiting to be told what to do.

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

"Luna," the Deep Sea spirit says, almost appearing to correct Blaze. Luna was of course the spirit personification of the moon, and the "mother" of the Uratha. The great divide between the Pure and Forsaken Uratha being the loyalty, or lack there of, to Luna. While The Forsaken had killed Father Wolf, they had regained the favor of Luna, while the Pure had spurned her, rejecting the chains of her Auspex and Moon Gifts. If the Pure could effect, or even damage Luna through the tides, it could have dire consequences.

[Haval]

'I never expected college to be so well guarded. You think Ned would come out here to speak to someone he's never met.' Joanna is fairly sure she could get in somehow security or no security. 'If not is there like a backdoor or something? I'd take an open downstairs window even.'

[Bennosuke]

Chaz shrugs, and says, "Yeah, every dorm has it. Don't know if it has something to do with all the school shootings, or that we're so close to New Bedford, or what." It's clear he'd never given this form of security and surveillance much of a thought. But to this he adds, "I mean, there is a back door we could get you in through" his excited tone indicating this was a great idea he hadn't thought of, adding, "I mean, if you wanna wait a few moments, we can go in through the front and then meet you at the back door, it's just around the corner." He points to the shrubbery lined walkway that goes around the perimeter of the building, where it turns a corner around the dorm.

[Haval]

Joanna shrugs, 'I heard college is expensive. I've never had the pleasure of going to a place like this.' As Chaz moves away she'll call after him, 'I appreciate it, but if you're held up for some reason I'll have to talk the guy on the door into letting me in.' If she can see anyone Joanna will try and get a look at the security guard on the main door.

To the others, 'You guys want to pretend to be mature students?'

[GKnightBC]

Nodding, Jeremy says, "I think I could pass as a student here, fairly easy. I'm for the front door."

​

[Daishain]

"Probably not so easy for me, but that's all right. Go on ahead, this is your scene, I trust you two." Bear puts a hand on both of the young one's shoulders, keeping his voice low so others could not hear. "Make me proud, I'll be nearby."

[Bennosuke]

Chaz shrugs at Joanna's comment, seemingly unperturbed. "Look, just go round the side, I'll let you in," he says, and gesturing towards Bear adds, "and your friend can come to. If there's a problem I'll text you, or just meet you back out here. Save your disguises for if we get caught." He indicates where he wants the group to meet him, and then calls his buddies to join him.

They walk around to the other side of the building towards the entrance for the dorm. About ten minutes later, the previously indicated door opens up. Chaz is now alone, his friends having apparently abandoned him. He pokes his head outside the door, peering this way and that to make sure no one else is watching. Behind him is an inornate stairwell. Sheepishly he says, "Okay, come on, follow me. My friends are off, but I'll introduce you guys to Ned." Again he gestures to Bear and asks, "You coming?"

[Haval]

To Bear, 'I'm touched.'

To Chaz after he opens the door. 'Thanks. Is there any chance you're going to get in trouble for this?'

[Bennosuke]

Chaz grins just a little, a modicum of the old friendly charm returning to his face. He replies, "Well, only if we get caught."

He ushers the adults into the stairwell. Inside, it smells of stale beer and old weed smoke. The door forces itself shut behind the group and Chaz leads the group up two flights of stairs before entering out into a cheaply decorated dorm quad, where the stairwell stench grows infinitely stronger, assaulting the fine-tuned senses of the Uratha. The speckled azure carpet clashes with the spackled off-white walls, both covered in tar and stains. The chairs and tables in the quad look like they are made of plywood and plastics. The rest of Chaz's crew are gathered around one of the tables, and nod at the group as they enter the quad.

Chaz nods back at his friends before turning to Jeremy, Joanna and Bear. Glancing furtively around the quad, he says, "Our room is over here." He walks quickly across the quad to room 303, and opens the door without knocking. "Hey man," he says into the room, "I've got some friends who said they wanted to meet you."

The room is painted a dark blue that clashes with interior of the quad outside. It's a cramped and dark little space, just big enough for two beds, and a narrow work desk, where a kid with long shaggy brown hair sits hunched over a textbook. He turns a bespectacled gaze over to Chaz and the Uratha and says, "Yeah, what about man? I got some work to do." His eyes narrow when he catches sight of the adults standing behind Chaz. The floor is covered in assumedly dirty laundry, creating a maze for anyone who wants to enter without stepping on it.

[Thundercracker]

Bear, Joanna and Jeremy get back in their car, and roll off after the beat up sedan. Though New Bedford and Dartmouth were both rather hilly, being so close to the water, the university campus was shockingly flat, like they were out in some Midwest desert. Grassy fields give way to familiar looking modern buildings. One part of the campus even has a large metallic windmill, it's blades spinning slowly in the setting sun. After following the stoners through several splitting intersections, they pull up into the parking lot of a rather squat and less modern building. Clearly a dorm, this building's architecture is more reminiscent of the USSR brutalist style. As the car pulls up, hip hop music can be heard muffled and distant from one of the dorms inside. Black tinted windows stare down at the lot, and despite the distant music, there is almost no signs of life anywhere outside of the building.

Chaz and his crew, having already parked, get out and come to the pack's car. Hesitantly Chaz says, "Eh, I'm not sure if I can get you all inside. There's campus security and all at the door, but if you're okay with it, I can give Ned a call and see if he will come down." He eyes the adults cautiously, clearly waiting to be told what to do.

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

"Luna," the Deep Sea spirit says, almost appearing to correct Blaze. Luna was of course the spirit personification of the moon, and the "mother" of the Uratha. The great divide between the Pure and Forsaken Uratha being the loyalty, or lack there of, to Luna. While The Forsaken had killed Father Wolf, they had regained the favor of Luna, while the Pure had spurned her, rejecting the chains of her Auspex and Moon Gifts. If the Pure could effect, or even damage Luna through the tides, it could have dire consequences.

“Right, so is there any chance they’re on to something here?” Blaze asked, “in your opinion.”

Assuming the deep sea spirits are of no further help, Blaze will turn to Kara.
“Should we go track down KSH next?” he said.

[Haval]

Joanna smiles back. 'Then let's not get caught.' On the way upstairs, Joanna will take the opportunity to sniff around a bit under cover of 'noticing' the obvious smell of weed. If any of the Pure were close or even had had reason to be here recently she'd like to know about it. To Chaz, 'If security has a problem with us being in the building, don't they have have a problem with the amount of weed you guys are smoking in here?'

Upstairs Joanna will ask Jeremy to 'Keep a look out' before going into the room. She's unconcerned with the mess but will attempt to stay away from anything that smelt too obviously bad to her. To Ned, 'That's what I'm here about. I heard you're in Professor Oakheart's class, is that right? You mind if I ask you a few questions? I won't take long.'

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Wits 3 + Composure 3 + Hishu 1
(7d10)[1][5][8][5][10][8][5](42)
Any 10s
(7d10)[10][2][9][7][8][3][4](43)

Honed Senses makes that an exceptional success if it matters

Presence 3 + Persuasion 2 + Striking Looks (Per) 1
(6d10)[7][6][5][6][7][4](35)
Any 10s
(6d10)[3][7][9][5][7][2](33)

[Bennosuke]

The spirit makes a noise like the rumbling of waves, though its mouth never moves. "It is very possible that this could work," it replies. But hearing Blaze's remark to Kara, the spirit hastily says, "If we were to go back together, I could ask some of the other sea spirits. Though the spirits that dwell in the light waters are not of our chorus, they are close enough to allies. Living closer to the surface, and not trapped in this well, some of them are likely to know more about this."

Kara shrugs in acquiescences to Blaze as to how to handle this.

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

Chaz chuckles at the question about smoking weed. "It's uh, not allowed," he says casually, "but all they do is confiscate it. I guess it's one of those things where like, they know we do it, but also know they are never going to stop it. So like, it's just about not getting caught... and Camp-po doesn't roll through here very often." There's no concern in his voice.

Joanna sniffs around the stairwell and the quad. Not the slightest trace of Uratha spores, other than those coming from her pack. She can smell all the other things; hormones and body odor, the heavy application of Axe body spray, but nothing more than the stench of college boys. As far as she can tell, The Pure have never been to this part of campus, this dorm.

The guarded expression on Ned's face only intensifies as Joanna steps into the room. He doesn't seem too impressed with Joanna's attempted charm, and in a rather haughty tone says, "And who are you?" His eyes slide from Joanna to give his roommate a nasty glare.

[Haval]

'I'm a detective from Boston. I get paid to look into people. Do you do much work on the open sea?'

[Bennosuke]

Ned raises an eyebrow at the question. "You're a..." he starts, suspicion giving way to concern, "am I in trouble or something?" His hands move to the wooden armrests, but he makes no attempt to get up. Regardless of Joanna's answer, in reply to her question, he will say, "Uh, I'm a student. You mean the oceanography class I'm taking?"

[Thundercracker]

Blaze

“I will go with you tomorrow,” Blaze said to the spirits, “unless I’m, incapacitated or something.”
He left the water spirits behind.
“Alright, let’s see if we can find KSH,” Blaze said to Kara, “I’m going to have to let Bear know we are going swimming, see if anyone else wants to come…”

[Haval]

Joanna will hold up her hands to placate Ned. 'It's ok, I'm not that sort of detective. I don't know if they'd hire me honestly. I just work for my Dad.' She wasn't even lying about that. 'You're not in any trouble as far as I know. It's some of the people you're in class with that I'm interested in. You're just the first person I've found to talk to about it.'

[Bennosuke]

"Sounds good," Kara says with a shrug. Before following Blaze out, she turns to the Deep Sea spirits and gives a wave, saying, "See ya guys tomorrow!"

They do not reply.

(OOC: Please give me a tracking roll using survival at -1)

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

"Okay..." Ned says hesitantly, "what do you want to know?" He tilts his head to the side and as an after thought adds, "This is gonna be anonymous, right?"

[Haval]

'Well I'm not going to tell anyone.' Joanna will find somewhere to sit down.

'Let's see..what's Professor Oakheart actually like as a teacher? Does she actually know her stuff? Do you know Corey Allen? Does he hang out with anyone in class? There's a blonde woman that he might be friendly with. Can you tell me anything about her?' Joanna will look towards the others to see if they have any additional suggestions. 'Also I'm kind of cuious to know what the hell you guys do when you're out on the water even though there's every chance I won't understand the answer.'

[Bennosuke]

Ned initially seems overwhelmed by the slew of questions, but quickly gains confidence, almost seeming to find pride in Joanna's interest. "Professor Oakheart? She's terrifying. Really smart. Really strict. Driven too; like the research we're doing with her... she's just dead set on it."

To the question about Corey Allen, he just shakes his head in the negative, "Never heard of him." And he seems equally confused about this blonde woman.

But he gets excited about Joanna's last question. He eagerly says, "We've been recording the tides for a while, monitoring how the changes of he tides effect the bay. How it effects the migration of the wildlife, and the temperature of the water; things like that. But it's more than that. We're looking at how some of the manmade structures in the bay, like shallow terracing and concrete shelves, mostly made to improve stability, effect the tides. You see, she's got this hypothesis that you just like how you can create canals to control the flow of rivers... if you like, direct how the ocean waters flow, it will affect the tides. So like, if we do it right, we could actually change the flow of the tides, which might like, prevent floods and ****."

[Haval]

Terrifying is right Joanna thinks. Given her apparent age how long had this woman actually been teaching?

Aloud she says, 'You might know Allen by another name. Maybe I'll see if I can find a picture of him. Does the Professor have any TAs? Or anyone who comes with you when you're out on the water who isn't in the class?' Joanna will get out phone to look for a picture of Corey while they were talking.

The discussion of what Oakheart might be doing was impressive. 'That sounds ambitious, I give you that. Wouldn't that need like...a lot of concrete or something? Does the Professor have the sort of resources where she can try this theory out.'

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Thought we might be able to get a picture of Corey Allen considering he's a missing person. Let me know if I need to roll for that.

[GKnightBC]

Jeremy arranges to get a drink from somewhere, even if it's just water, as he casually hangs out near the room's entrance, trying to listen without being obvious. Listening in on the conversations around him as well, he doubts he'll catch anything important to their goals, but he still pays attention and engages in any offered conversations.

[Bennosuke]

Blaze leads Kara up the coast, circling North around the bay, following the scent of King Sky Hunter; the mix of musky feathers and rusty iron. The trail is faint, and several times the two have to double back after losing the scent.

After about an hour of padding around and scenting the air, they come upon their target spirit. By this time, the two are soaked by the rain and chilled to the bone. King Sky Hunter is found preening its feathers, perched on the beach under an overhanging rock. Despite the need to seek refuge from the storm, the mighty spirit appears puffed up and regal. It turns its head with curiosity as the two soaking Uratha approach.

"Anchor Wolves," the spirit says, its voice cutting though the storm like a clap of thunder, "I assume you were looking for me?"

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

Even when Joanna shows the picture, Ned seems confused. He replies, "Maybe I've seen him on campus a couple of times. But he's never come to the class or anything." He shrugs. Given the context of the photo that Joanna has pulled up on her phone, he asks, "Is he a missing person or something? Is he in trouble?"

To Joanna's later question, he replies with a shrug, "I mean, we're just doing some preliminary research. I think we would need to publish a few papers, ect before we get to the point where we... I mean The Professor, could start any prospective interventions."

Hanging around with the others, Jeremy asks for some water. The kid with the dark curly hair, leather jacket, and indoor sunglasses gets up from his chair. He rises begrudgingly, glaring at at Jeremy as if he'd asked for a hand job. "Sure," he says, his voice deep but nasally, and heavily tinged with some sort of New York accent, "let's get you some water." He leads Jeremy to the bathroom, where at the sink is a collection of stained coffee mugs. He fills it with tap water, at Jeremy can't help but assume that the water's still luke warm. "What is your guys' deal really," he asks as he hands Jeremy the mug, his body square and shoulders back, even though he's almost a half a head shorter than the Uratha.