GM WhtKnt's The Waxing Dark: Savage Worlds Weird War I

Game Master WhtKnt

Bobby asks both men "Did the man you hired you see you both, or only deal with one of you? And if so, which one? And, what are your first names?", while casually holding his pistol in his right hand, waving it generally in their direction.

Turning to the old man, he says "Would it be possible for you to empty the valise and carry its contents by hand, so that we could have the empty valise to take to whoever hired them?"

Dan nods at Bobby, understanding where he is going. He sidles close and mumbles, "Even if he saw both of them, if one of us shows up with the merchandise and says the those two just hired us on as more muscle before the run went bad and they got nabbed, but we got the goods, the Man might at least make an appearance...which is all we really need to drop the hammer."

Aleksei listens as his buddies discuss the trap strategy. "Either way, need to capture man, as he is probably puppet too." He looks through the valise he picked up that cost him his chase with the other man.

Notice: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 61d6 ⇒ 1

"He saw both of us, of course. My name is James and that there is 'Enery."

Digging through the valise reveals only a sheaf of papers, a few fountain pens and a handful of pencils, and one item of note, a framed piece of parchment, with archaic writing upon it.

The elderly gentleman is rather out of sorts when he finds Aleksei digging through the valise. "Be careful with that," he admonishes. "It's value is priceless!" He inspects the framed parchment to be sure that it was not damaged.

"I don't get it," James says. "It's just a silly piece of paper, innit? Can't even make sense of it."

"My name is Professor McMurdow," the man explains. "I'm an American working at the British Museum. This scroll is part of a collection that I was granted special dispensation to study."

"Well, mates, we have a couple of things to decide. Do we let the Prof go on alone to his destination, carrying that thing out in the open? I'm for escorting him to wherever he's going, then taking the empty valise with us to the drop off point. But then, what do we do with these two in the meantime? And speaking of you two, where were you supposed to meet this guy, and what does he look like?"

"We're to bring it to Dawes Road. Said he'd meet us there." Dawes Road is about two blocks from your current position. The Museum is considerably further. The Professor had been intending to hail a cab when he was assaulted.

"I don't understand how this mysterious person knew that I had the scroll," the professor says. "It hasn't been made public knowledge that this even exists. No one outside of those involved in the project should even know about it."

"Well, sir, it sounds like you've got a leak in your system - I'd suggest you look into that. Would you feel safe enough in a taxi getting to the museum, and giving us the empty valise?"

To the rest of the group, he says "Well, that buggers things up a bit - if he's supposed to meet them there, he'll only be looking for them. Any ideas?"

Aleksei shakes his head. "Not so good at hiding Russian. Is some way to convince them that we are proxy? Professor does not feel safe, we go in his stead."

"Could we convince one of them to take one of us along with him? If not, I'll just go with the valise. If they guy shows up, great. If not, no harm done."

Bobby says to Aleksei in pretty good Russian (d8) "I don't know if you mis-spoke in English, but the professor is not going to meet the unknown man, these two guys are. Or did you mean to say that we should accompany the professor to the museum?"

Turning to Daniel, he says (in English) "What leverage do we have over them to accompany us and not give us away? Their freedom, maybe?" and glances over at the prisoners to see if they react to that suggestion.

Dan shrugs and replies, "We could have one of us hold the other one hostage? If they don't hear from us, just shoot him and dump him in the Thames."
Dan has no scorn as he proposes this, he's just been turned hard by what they've seen on the front, and one life of an enemy, more or less, has little consideration for him.

Dan turns to the two men, gives them a little wink and says, "Nuthin' personal chummers. Just biz."

Bobby visibly recoils a little at the harshness of Daniel's suggestion, but replies "That assumes that they care about the other enough to not want to see the other one dead."

Henry remains unconscious, but James is aghast. "Can't say I'd fancy either of us being shot. I mean, we're friends, but..." He shifts uncomfortably. "I've been paid and taken a bullet for my trouble. I've no loyalty to that bloke."

"Assuming we believe that... Anyway, he doesn't have to man the foxhole with us, he just has to play it cool long enough for the Johnson to make himself known. Me an' Sam can do the rest.

Or we could just call it. Tell ya what, if you don't wanna stick yer neck out, I'll take the empty valise and go stand around Dawes looking at chicks for a spell. Nothing happens, great. But if you here a four-five cacking off, well then things got a lot more lively."

Dan turns to the old man. "That suit you, sir?"

"The worst enemy of a good plan is the illusion of a perfect one."

Aleksei takes a long drag on his cigar. "They may not care one way or another what happens to the men, but is good plan. Rather have bargaining chip than nothing at all."

The professor looks startled when his opinion is asked for. "Well, I should be getting to work, but if you're right and there is a leak, then I may be in more danger. I'm far more concerned about getting safely to the museum than this affair, to be honest."

"So, what? We put the professor in a cab and hope nothing else happens to him, and send Daniel and maybe Sam off to maybe catch the guy that hired these two with nothing more than a valise for him to spot? What about these two? If we turn them over to the bobbies, they'll want to know who they attacked and why, and maybe take the professor's precious document as evidence. What if we just leave them tied up in an alley somewhere?"

"Sounds like a good plan, Bob. Alright, people, you heard the man."

As Robert said, Dan helps get the unconscious guy into an alley and tied up. If he don't have a belt, they'll just cut jis pant legs into bonds.

"Bob, I trust you can get the prof into a cab? Okay, Sam, just trail behind us. Aleksei, you're invited too, let's go," Dan says, rummaging through the valise, giving the professor whatever he needs and taking the empty case himself.
Finally, with the valise in one hand, he puts the other arm around the other would-be bandit. "What's yer name, son?" It just seems like a good time to refer to the other guy as 'son'. "You just play it cool and shut the hell up and we'll be fine. You try to be a hero, well, I got more bullets than you got hearts. Also, we've killed ancient sword-wielding skeletons."

Dan motions the man toward Dawes Road without further explanation.

Giddyup!

Before the rest leave, Bobby again asks James what the guy who hired him looks like, so everyone knows who to look for.

Bobby quickly hails a cab and gets the professor and all his papers into it, saying that they'll be around first thing in the morning to make sure he got there ok, and to update him on the rest of tonight's activities. He warns the cabbie to take him *directly* to the British Museum, and to stop for no one or nothing, giving him a pound tip to make sure he *sees* the professor enter the museum before driving off. He also notes the cab company and the cab's number.

Then he hustles to catch up with the rest of the group.

Samuel obediently trails behind.

Aleksei nods. "That I can do." He takes a pull on his cigar and pats the knife he is carrying. He wasn't sure if it was just reflexes or nerves. He was used to cloak and dagger stuff, but this was.. different. He realizes he slowed his step as he thought and hurried to catch up to his brethren. That's right, he thought. My brothers.

As Samuel, Dan, and Aleksei head to meet up with the mastermind, Bobby puts the professor into a cab and hurries to catch up to the others. The group, with James (the would-be mugger) out front head to Dawes Road. The street is not busy this early in the morning, but there is no one to be seen.

"'E said just ta meet 'im 'ere," James offers helpfully.

"Well, then I guess there's naught for it but to stand around and look like a guy holding a thing waiting to meet a guy."

Dan yawns. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and remind him of how long it's been since he slept. He'll give it a bout half an hour.

He yawns again. Well, maybe 15 minutes.

"Maybe only Daniel and James should stand together, and the rest of us should go to some other part of the street?"

Aleksei nods, looking at the layout of the street. He had a strange feeling.

Notice: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 31d6 ⇒ 6
Notice ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Notice= 7

"Let us go to other side, cover angles."

How do people get bonuses to their rolls?

Aleksei has the Alertness Edge - +2 to Notice rolls only.
But, Aleksei - the bonus applies to your Wild die as well, so you got a 9, a Raise!

You give it fifteen minutes, but aside from a random vehicle and a handful of pedestrians (none of whom pay you any mind and whom James does not recognize), no one approaches Daniel and James. Once, Aleksei notices someone acting oddly, but it turns out to be a romantic tryst.

"Fifteen minutes is hardly enough time, the bloke could be running late, or might've thought it'd take James and his friend longer to do the deed...let's stay a little longer, eh?"

Aleksei shakes his head. "Too long and we give them time to get away. Or prepare ambush."

For some reason I keep reading the Wild Die rule wrong and that it's just a straight d6..

Dan shrugs and nods, agreeing to stay longer. He can always catch up on sleep later.

"'E's onto your plan," James whispers. "Smart bloke, 'e is."

So, what happens after another 30 minutes?

The sun has fully risen now and the street begins to get busy, people going to and fro. Still no sign of anyone that James seems to recognize. James begins to get antsy.

"He is not showing. We should go." Aleksei muses as he comes back across the street. "Think we need to go back to the professor and question him again."

"I agree, I'd like to check up on the professor and make sure he's alright. What do we do with this guy, turn him over to the coppers?" Bobby says, pointing his thumb at James.

So, what's up? Turn the guys over to the cops and then to check up on the professor?

Sounds good to me...

That was Aleksei's plan..

Okay.

Heading to the museum, you are relieved to find that the professor arrived safely and without further mishap. "Did you get him?" he asks, upon greeting you.

"No, 'fraid not, mate - no one ever showed at the meeting point. But the two blokes who attacked you are safely behind bars. Who knew that you'd be at that street at that time of night? Or do you regularly take the same route to work at the same time every day? And who knew that you had that...document...with you?"

"Well, most of my co-workers know my route, but surely you don't suspect one of them? As for who knew I had the scroll, well, there are the members of my research team and the curator, of course. Beyond that, no one that I can think of."

"Who among your research team and the curator knows your route? How many people? Has your research team been sworn to secrecy about the scroll, or is it being treated as no big deal? Perhaps we could talk with the curator?"

Aleksei listens as Bobby interrogates the professor. While he was getting all the right questions, his technique was.. "Perhaps we should let professor answer one question. Each answer gives more questions, yes? Already I can see many holes in his group that can lead to leaks. Must assume enemy already knows everything." He takes a long pull on his cigar. "Of course, in Russia, this is normal to always assume."

"Well, I... that is to say, Lortmil and Davis know the route I take, as does Keaton. We didn't see the need for absolute secrecy, as no one outside of the staff even knows about the scroll. I mean, I'm sure that they wouldn't tell anyone. I'm sure Sir Charles... that is, Mr. Read, would be happy to speak with you. Oh, and my secretary, Miss Fairfield knows the route I take as well."

Aleksei - while you have a good point IRL, in PbP I was just trying to get in a lot of questions at once so the DM could answer them all at once...

"I'm trying to find out how many people knew about the scroll *and* your route. So far, that's three. But, does your secretary know about the scroll? And does Mr. Read know your route?"

I figured as much, but Aleksei sometimes has a mind of his own...

Aleksei listens as the professor and Bobby exchange information, looking to the others to see what they might be thinking.

"Miss Fairfield knows nothing of the scroll, and no, Mr. Read does not know my route. I've known Mr. Lortmil and Mr. Davis for years, and I trust them implicitly. Mr. Keaton is relatively new to the project, but he's worked for the museum for almost two years."

Samuel listens to the questions and answers attentively.

Turning to the group, Bobby says "So, what? We focus on Keaton because he's the newest? But (and no offense intended, professor), anyone who knew about the scroll *could* have mentioned it to someone else - maybe we should casually talk to them all? Ideas?"

FYI, I believe Daniel has gone MIA - at least, he hasn't posted for a while in any of the other games we're both in. So...maybe 'bot him for a while?
Samuel and Aleksei, that leaves it up to y'all to make conversation with Bobby...