BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
The Sheriff scowls at Rick and inspects the "Blood" as if he knows what the hell he is doing. He begins to circle the room looking for, non-existent, blood spatter.
Kate turns to you Rick and mouths, Keep him here as long as you can. She slips into the security room.
Dalton inspects the body which was shot from close range with a high caliber pistol. Dalton has seen such work from mob hitmen during his time in the force. A cigar is clutched in the man's hand and it burned a large hole in some paperwork on the desk, luckily as a marble top no fire started. It's clear he did not see this coming, his back was turned the entire time based on the placement of his body and the rolling chair in the rug.
James, you see no shell casing, must have been picked up by the perpetrator, pretty thorough. You too see that this was a pro hit as you've seen one done...
Morgrym kneels at the computer. Seems like the security cameras were all turned off for about an hour on New Year's evening. From that conclusion, you search for the tapes to confirm but they are nowhere to be found, as far as you can tell.
Kate enters and turns to you all, "If you are done I'll see what I can see yes?"
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
The phone rings and rings and rings and rings. No one ever answers the damned phone around here!
Finally, you answer their phone.
"Took long enough Finn. Now stop messing around in Aurora, there's work to be done here in Chicago".
Rick spends his time distracting Sheriff whenever he tries to get to the task at hand or interfere with the others. Bugging him with questions, nearly breaking things, putting his shoes up on the table and other things to generally aggravate Sheriff whenever he tries to leave.
Finn snorts derisively. There's always work to be done in Chicago. I'm fairly sure that's where most of their 'quests' start from, she muses. "Address? Or is there like a big spotlight magically shining down on the building?" God, that would make things easier.
She'd find out information on the quest when she got there. For now, she kicks one of her roommates feet of the desk. "Dude! Manners!" she says with a smile. "I'm going out for a while. Stay out of trouble." She grabs her motorcycle helmet off the rack and heads out the door.
"Definitely a pro hit. Poor bastard never saw it comin'." Dalton says, taking a bit closer look at the remnants of the paperwork on the desk.
Morgrym nods to the lady and steps out if the way to let her examine the area looking for a hidden safe or secret wall.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
The Sheriff finishes his search of the room, "I don;t see a damned thing, that woman is blind!"
Dalton, the papers contain stock investments but are hard to decipher due to the substantial burning of the pages. Nothing critical to the world of the Kindred.
Morgrym sees no hidden doors or safes, there is another door to the west. That door is closed.
Kate begins to lay her hands upon various spots in the room and the dead body, "Whoever did this knows that someone like me could be inspecting the room. That person touched nothing. I am getting nothing. Wait, the VCR, the tape that's supposed to be in it is gone".
She touches it and frowns, "OK, now this is truly odd, there is a blank spot in my vision. F$&&ing weird. What else is here to look at before the damned Sheriff comes barging in here or beyond".
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Finn arrives outside of the Sears Tower, the address she was given and then told to wait for a sign.
"Sheriff, what is your favorite food? And how can you even eat that stuff?"
"Let's see what's behind door number two..." James, always conscious of keeping the blood from his kicks, heads towards the closed door to the west to see what's behind it.
Morgrym nods and moves to the closed door and tries to open it and then look around quickly closing the door behind Jes and hself to buy a bit more time
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
As you wait for... something to happen, the figure in the shadows does not approach but certainly takes notice of you.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Victoria and the Ghoul continue their staring contest.
The Sheriff cocks his head, "Are you mistakin' me for Ballard? I a'int eatin' food in some time, though I do sometimes sneak in twinkies - always throw em back up..." He grins.
Dalton and Kate continue to look around the Security Room as Morgrym and James move to the next room.
James and Morgrym enter the western door as it is not locked, the most prominent thing that grabs your attention is the door to the south. Unlike the oak doors in the rest of this place, the door is a heavy duty vault the same you'd see on a bank but the door is ripped off of its hinges!
The vault is open for you to access, if you wish.
The shelves and cabinets have contents but are not particularly full, none of these papers appear disturbed.
More Artwork adorns the wall here and it's the same quality as what was seen in the foyer.
On a side table there is an ornate chess set, with stylized playing pieces carved of what seem to be ivory and ebony. Beside it is an envelope laying face down.
"ah youre right, forgive me i am new here and disoriented from our forced trip. As for twinkies, i guess you gotta make unlife worth living. So you are the big important right hand man here? and Ballard the left? How does this structure work around here?"
Finn isn't in to staring contests (although not having to blink does make it easier to win them). She heads towards the shadowy figure. "You, there. What's your deal?" she says with a hefty dose of attitude.
Borrowing a move straight from his Gran-Gran's old murder mysteries, James gingerly picks up the letter with a flourished pocket square to examine it.
Not touching the contents in the safe or anything else Morgrym nods and go eat back out and wipes the computer of his finger prints and then returns and not touching looks at the contents in the safe for anything of value
Victoria finally blinks in defeat. "...you win."
She gets up and walks over to what is apparently the game room. "How're things going in here?"
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Victoria enters the game room as Rick begins asking his question to Balthazar. If looks could kill Victoria would be dead again based on the stare she receives.
The Sheriff frowns, "Stop playing dumb Mr. North, you know very well how the power structure works.
Lodin in the Prince. Beneath him are the Primogen who represent the various Clans. Below them is me and anyone who I deputize to assist me in handling the riff raff of the city. That'd be you and your friends.
Ballard is one of the more powerful Childer of the Prince. Between him and Capone with Lodin gone one o' them is gonna fight for control of the Princeship. No way I'd serve a thug like Capone so Ballard's my best choice.
I betcha you've got affiliations to the Anarchs. Stupid move. With Lodin gone I bet the Sabbat is just waitin' for some chaos to go down and strike at us. You think the rules under Lodin are harsh, the Sabbat create hell on earth in the cities they control pal. Tell ya what, confess and I'll make sure yer spared while everyone else greets the sun".
He turns to Victoria, "Same deal fer you darlin'".
Kate turns to Dalton, "OK, go ahead, log in again let's check the security records together. Then I'll move on to the rest of the Haven. I'm not computer savvy like I bet you are".
Morgrym enters the vault. You look at the door as you pass by, torn from the wall though the metal itself is not torn the hinges are bent, it would take significant strength to do this.
Within are several items of interest. Another computer, a waterbed, two sets of manacles on the walls, and a phone that looks like the batphone from TV's Batman and Robin. Next to the bed is a panel that controls some contents of the room electronically. The room is quite clean, no blood, no struggle.
James picks up the note, you believe it is women's handwriting, "Here is one I thought you might be interested in black's move, mate in four. Can you see it, dear custos?"
Beneath that is another piece of paper typed with typewriter setting. It is a memo from Neally to Lodin concerning some activity in a wooded area of northwest Chicago that smacks of Satanism. "In and of itself, this isn't a problem my Prince. However, two Elders who claim to have mastery of the Auspex power have related to me that they have detected indications of 'mystical' powers there. Whether this is human magos, lupine shamans, or the Sabbat, it is a matter that should be investigated further for potential breaches of the Masquerade", the report concludes. Lodin has marked this sheet, "FLI".
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
The teen belly laughs, "Damn, you saw me! I really need to have someone teach me the powers of Obfuscation.
I'm a resident here in the city, waiting to see an old friend.
You though, I've never seen before, who are you!?"
"I'm afraid you'd lose that bet, Kate. I was a beat cop. The only thing I used a computer for was paperwork, and then only when I had no other alternative, but I suppose I can give it a try."
OR
"Old friend, huh?" she says, taking a quick look at his aura with Auspex.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Dalton attempts to turn on the computer and it fails to turn over, a small pop within indicates that something has failed...
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
"Yep, me and the Sheriff go aways back".
To Sheriff, Rick replies, "Honestly I haven't had any trouble under the rules. My skills make it easy to feed discreetly, and people mostly leave me alone. Until now, anyway."
"The sheriff? Is he who you're waiting for? As you noted, correctly, I'm new in town. I'm known as Finn. Who is this sheriff?"
Putting the letter down, James again employs his pocket square to attempt a trick that he's recently heard of. He picks up the phone and tries to dial *69.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Sheriff shakes his head at you Rick, "I'm sure you're real skilled else how else could ya' have taken down the Prince in that fashion?" He walks into the Security Room.
---
Sherifk takes in both Kate and Dalton standing over the computers, "You help them scrub evidence girl you're in big trouble!"
She rolls her eyes at the Sheriff, "Take a look at this Sheriff, maybe you can help".
He walks over and Kate slips into the next room...
Sheriff turns to Dalton, "This thing on?"
---
Kate enters this room as James enters the vault, "Holy Crap the door is ripped off".
---
As James picks up the phone he sees that there are no numbers to dial, the phone does begin to ring though and someone picks up!
"My Prince, thank the Gods I'd heard you were missing!"
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
The kid smiles, "Ya' must be real new. Nobody enters Chicago and wanders about Finn. But you picked a good time to do so.
Who sent you?"
The sight simply fails to function you cannot read this person at all, he talks like he is in the know but you cannot be sure if he is a Kindred or not.
"It was briefly before it went poof. Heard a pop when I tried to turn it on."
James replies to the voice on the other end of the phone, "I regret to inform you that the prince is, in fact, missing. My name is James and I'm part of a team investigating his disappearance. Could I ask who you are?
"Sent? I was called. There's a difference. I'm here for a que... err, job."
"Surely you cannot believe we would, for starters, have a chance against a prince; and for second, had anything to do with something that clearly happened before we even made it to this city." Rick takes a last look around before following Sheriff.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Sheriff looks dubious, "Yeah so the stuff that could show yer guilty and ya' just blew it up? I knew this was a stupid idea and here I thought the Elders were always right, looks like they're not after all.
Get up, I'll try to fix it!"
Sheriff ignores the inescapable logic of Rick's statement and begins to monkey with the computer, breaking it even further...
The voice on the phone responds to James, "I am Derek, who the hell is this?"
Morgyrm begins to remove the hard drive as Kate enters the vault, "You should have let me touch that first pal".
She grabs at the vault door instead, "Damn, there it is again, like the scene is blanked out. Crap though, I felt something odd, like a second presence..."
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
"You want to argue semantics? Fine, who called you? It's probably no coincidence you're here, now".
Finn concedes the point with a shrug. "Just didn't want to be misunderstood. Fella called HAL "asked" me to come by. He made it sound like it would be worth my time."
"So someone has the power to hide from security cams and erase themselves from someone's memory. Maybe even plant false ones, considering how obtuse some people are being."
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
"Not from where I'm standing. From where I'm standing, yer pal here jus' destroyed the evidence.
Now where are the rest of ya'll at!?
Get back in here, yer movin' too fast!"
You hear the Sheriff yelling for you all to return to him.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
"Hal? Doesn't ring any bells for me".
He pauses, "Maybe Hal wants you to help me and the people inside this place who are being framed?"
Morgrym slides the hard drive into his pants under his jacket and takes one more quick look in the safe for anything of value to see if he can grab one more thing on the way out before returning to the sheriff.
Finn runs her hand through her hair to push it back from her eyes. "Being framed? Okay, back up one second here. Who are you, and can you tell me what's going on?" This sure sounds like a quest to her.
James hears the ranting of the sheriff, but tries to remain calm, "Derek, as I said, my name is James and I'm investigating the Prince's disappearance. The shouting you may hear in the background is the sheriff. Can you tell me how you know the prince and if you have any information on his disappearance?"
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Kate snarks as Morgrym exits, "Nice chatting Mr. Personality".
She then touches the computer keyboard and remarks out loud or perhaps to James, "Hmm, Lodin's alright. I can see that Bastard now. He was working right before he went down for the day".
--
Derek responds to James, "James huh? James who? I am one of Lodin's personal Bodyguards and I don;t know any James and I don't recognize your voice. You an Archon or something? Once we establish who you are and I believe you, I'll talk".
---
As Morgrym enters the Security room, the Sheriff looks at Dalton, Rick and Morgrym, "Stay here, don't move any more. I want to search this place room by room as a group, Ya hear?"
He then heads back towards the first set of rooms and runs into...
Victoria, the Sheriff approaches you and points his thumb backwards to the next room, "Fall in line Missy, no more random wandering ya' hear. We're doing this all together from now on or I'm dragging each of you out of here!"
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
"I'm Damien. I and some of my allies are interested in a group of newcomers who are being framed for the disappearance of the Prince of Chicago.
We know for sure they didn't do it and we want to assist them in getting away from the Sheriff. If you're here, I bet whoever called you wants to help them as well.
Certainly if you were aligned with Sheriff, you wouldn't be out here loitering".
"Fair enough, Derek. My name is James Sheridan, childe of Kevin, grand-childe of Lodin. I'm a neonate out of Gary. I came to the city two nights ago to present myself to the prince.
Instead, I find myself in the middle of a ham-handed attempt to pin his disappearance and/or destruction on myself and a few other Gary neonates who were also in town to present themselves.
All these presentations were precipitated by Annabelle Triabell dropping in on Modius's New Year's Eve party with a note supposedly from Lodin demanding that we do so." James tries to get all of this out calmly before the sheriff decides to interrupt.
Turning back to the phone, "Anything you can tell me?"
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Dalton raises an eyebrow following Kate's comment. How in the hell does she know that? he thinks to himself.