"Good to see. Nate, you good? No new fun with circus, da?"
Nate returns Gavril's hearty handshake. "Just an occasional nightmare, thanks. Well... and almost taking a swing at a whiteface mime who startled me." He turned back to the window. "Shoulda punched him anyway on general principle," he grumbled quietly.
Then he frowned. "Hey Doc Brown, you sure you should be driving that time machine around? DeLoreans aren't exactly a common sight, and we're supposed to be lying low."
"Doc... Doc Brown? Is no time machine, is car." Gavril turns his head to the side and blinks his eye. "I know is old, but not too strange?"
"Not strange," agrees Nate. "I always thought it was one tough-looking car, in fact. But they're kind of famous. And with not that many left, just likely to catch people's..." Nate pauses and glances at Gavril's eye patch. "... *cough* eyes. And let's face it, you're a pretty imposing fellow. Not many of those remaining DeLoreans have a Romanian Schwarzenegger behind the wheel.
He gives the man a serious look. "Just... be careful if you're gonna drive that thing, alright? At least until we find out what this is all about."
"Nate," the former boxer says with a wide grin. "When am not careful?"
He takes a seat and raises an eyebrow. "But serious, Nate, who is Doc Brown? Is like Schwarzenegger? Because I no like Schwarzenegger." He frowns and taps the table. "Giant Andre. He my kind of man."
Nate chuckles. "Good old Fezzik. My friend, I think you're much better looking than André the Giant."
"As for Doc Brown..." He pauses and chuckles again. "Doctor Emmett Brown. No, nothing like Schwarzenegger. Tell ya what, Gavril. After this is over, I'll loan you some DVDs and you can see for yourself."
He peers out the window again. "That's if we get through whatever the heck 'this' is."
Faith studies the map book and says she will drive down the Eastern Shore of Virginia and approach Richmond from the east, just for variety and a chance to see that part of the country. If we don't need to be there for 2 days, she may find an out of the way bed and breakfast for the night before getting to the safe house, probably tomorrow around noon. She'll be driving her Firebird. The LoJack is off. If anyone's going to chase her, she wants to be in the 'bird rather than some cheap used car.
Once everyone has arrived, and plans are made, everyone takes off.
Since Faith is taking the most round-about way, everyone else will arrive at the Richmond safe house before her (don't know if that was intentional, but it worked out well!). Your trips are uneventful.
Anybody doing anything specific, or want to discuss anything, while waiting for Faith and Maggie?
Faith arrives early the next day. The day passes, and Maggie finally arrives around 4:30 PM, carrying several pizza boxes.
"Here's your pizzas, that'll be $25" she says loudly. Looking around the neighborhood quickly, she dashes in and says "Shut the door, quick! I thought this would be a good cover to get in, and I am *starving*! Sorry the pizzas are cold, but I had to take quite the roundabout route to make sure I wasn't followed."
Going to the dinner table and dropping the boxes, she grabs a slice and heads towards the microwave. While it's running, she says with a big smile "I suppose you're all wondering why I've called you here. I've *always* wanted to say that line!"
Sobering quickly, she continues "I have been personally following my own line of investigation in private into something I've suspected for months, but which in hindsight may go back as far as several years, maybe longer. Everybody brace yourselves"
She stops abruptly as the microwave dings, and she takes the slice out, talking around mouthfuls "I believe that there's another organization out there, much like PATRIOT, but that has been *recruiting* these abnormals, and probably *training* them.
But that's not the worst part - what I just figured out 3 days ago is, I suspect that PATRIOT has been infiltrated by this group! Just by normal people, mind you, unless they've been concealing their powers. I mean, people like Father O'Callaghan and John here look as normal as you or me. Well, Father O'Callaghan anyway" she says with a wink and a smile at John to indicate she's just kidding.
"Thing is, I didn't know who to trust, so I contacted you. Seeing as we'd had our eyes on each of you for some time before we formed your group, AND you're the newest people we've recruited, you're the least likely to be compromised. I hope. It'd be a shame to have to kill any of you, really it would.
So, any questions?" She smiles again, but this time its a rather grim smile...
"Why the sea change from suspicion to action? Did one of the teams encounter evidence that the monsters had been warned of their coming? I assume if you had a specific suspect in mind, you'd have dealt with it already.
"Do you want to set up a sting-type operation? Tell only us about a mission and then give some word to a specific person or sector of the support team and see if anything goes amiss?"
So, any questions?"
"Yeah," Nate says as he picks up a slice of pizza. "You were kidding about the twenty-five bucks, right?"
"When I discovered evidence that indicated a *possible* infiltration, I went 'dark' immediately, since I did not know who I could trust, nor how wide or high it might go."
Uncharacteristically, she somehow manages to look chagrined *and* peeved (with herself) and says "I haven't thought *anything* out yet, I had never even considered the possibility of infiltration. Let's brain-storm out some ideas, beyond what Faith has already suggested.
You should all know, I have more...equipment" <nudge nudge wink wink> "...in my car, and a few safe houses of my own that no one at PATRIOT knows about, as far as I know. So we do have some resources."
Arlo grabs up a couple of pieces of Meat Lovers, and heads towards the microwave.
"Yeah! What happened three days ago that made up your mind"?
Gavril absently takes a pair of slices and begins chewing thoughfully, watching the bustle of activity as the others ask questions. As usual, Faith is straight to business, while Nate cracked a joke and Arlo asked the straightforward question. Pausing a moment to swallow, he leans back and looks to Maggie. "So let me get straight. Is bad guys in PATRIOT? Is just guys, though. No monsters." He sits for a moment, seeming to weigh the information, and shrugs. "Could be worse. We think smart, plan out, beat bad guys, no problems."
He takes another bite and coughs. "And 'we' mean 'you.' I not much good at think smart, da? You think smart, then tell me what to punch. I good at punch."
"If someone were on the inside of PATRIOT," Faith thinks out loud, "and if they were trying to recruit monsters, I would think they would leave a distinctive trail in the database that might correlate with whatever makes you think they are recruiting monsters. Maybe a hunt that fell flat because the monsters knew the hunters were coming. If we knew what kind of recruits they were looking for, we could plant some false intel in the database and you could pretend to alert us to the danger. This might cause the mole to send a message to the outside recruiters to show up at the location and try to warn the monsters and recruit them. If we were already in place, we might get the jump on them."
"I think maybe someone from PATRIOT is feeding some other organization intel, whether they were placed there or recruited is moot.
I'd written a program that cross-references certain aspects of missions, checked IP addresses and phone numbers being used, etc., looking for any patterns. Just before I texted you, it had found a pattern with a correlation of 0.6 - not too high, but not low enough to ignore. Since then I wrote another program to narrow down the"
Her cell phone makes an odd sound, like the Star Trek original communicator opening. She takes it out and looks at it.
"...and there it is. Seems like there *might* be some activity centered in the mountains of West Virginia. That makes sense - it's underpopulated, remote, and lots of weird things there already from all the in-breeding." You can't tell if she's joking about that last bit or not.
"How about you guys go to these co-ordinates and see what you can see, while I continue to do some data mining and digging on my own from this end? I can be more effective if I'm near HQ in DC.
Does that sound like a plan?"
"Lock and load. One question. Does anyone at PATRIOT besides you know we're on protocol F? And are we still on protocol F? Okay, that's 2 questions. Who wants shotgun? Three and counting."
"I have shotgun!" Gavril says cheerfully, hoisting the duffel bag that holds his various gear, including the gun case for his double-barrel. "And plan sound good."
Maggie smiles a little at Gavril's comment (turning her head so he can't see it), and says "No, no one knows any of us have gone dark. But someone with my rank can go off on their own initiative and request no contact, which I've done. If PATRIOT tries to contact any of you for a job and doesn't get a reply within 24 hours, they move on to someone else.
You should take my car, it's not connected to any of you, and it has lots more cash in it, as well as some heavy ordinance. Here's some specially modified cell phones, they are as untraceable and untappable as PATRIOT can make them, but I would still only use them to call each other and me. Make ordinary calls on burner phones, and smash them after about 5 uses.
If you *have* to access the Internet, buy the cheapest smart phone you can (or maybe a tablet if that's cheaper) and go to a public access point. Here's a web page you can go to that I've created that *should* prevent anyone from identifying you or be able to trace back to you, but as fast as web security changes these days it would be better to assume you're NOT safe. Also smash those after maybe 3 or 4 hours of Internet access, cumulative."
If there are no other questions for Maggie, the night passes uneventfully and you go your separate ways. Maggie's "car" is a large gray SUV, easily holding all of you, with several storage bins in the back.
Nate snorts as he relocates another slice of pizza from box to microwave. "You want heavy ordnance, I should've brought Bertha. But I figured she was too identifiable."
He punches a preset on the microwave to start it, then turns to face Maggie and leans against the counter. "But... sounds like a plan,"
-Posted with Wayfinder
Faith assumes she's going to drive and asks Maggie for the keys. She'll go out and give the van a once-over, then finds a parking garage she can use as a perch for her Firebird. On her way out, she says, "There better be some pizza left when I get back!"
Later, she tells Gavril, "Just so you know, when people in America are going to all get into one car for a trip, if someone says, 'I call shotgun,' it means they are claiming the front passenger seat. I suspect it goes back to prohibition days when people were using cars to deliver alcohol and needed someone in the front seat with a shotgun for safety in case they were chased by the police. I could be wrong about that last bit, but I have heard that if you are riding in the middle of the backseat, it's called 'riding b1tch. I doubt anyone would say that to you, were you in that seat, however, so maybe you don't need to worry about that."
Arlo grabs a last slice of pizza, and takes a seat in the back of the vehicle. He takes a pillow he grabbed off one of the beds, zips up his jacket and prepares to nap during the trip. Never know when you'll need the extra rest saved up.
While Faith is out putting her car in a garage (she uses the cash and pays for a full month, just in case we don't get back right away), she stops and picks up the most detailed road map of West Virginia she can find (already has one of Virginia). When she gets back, she munches on 'zza and studies the maps, picking routes, alternate routes, etc. She locates Maggie's coordinates on the map and then writes down the primary route she plans to take and gives it to Maggie. "Since we won't have access to Internet traffic intel, please check for problems along this route and notify me of significant delays. It'd be nice to know anything special in the area of the coordinates, if you spot something significant and can gives a heads up. Is the clock ticking or can we take our time getting there?"
Once she's done this, Faith is ready to roll. If there is no urgency to get there ASAP, she'll suggest we get some shut-eye and leave around 3 AM, since it'll be harder to shadow us with fewer cars on the road.
Maggie says there's no rush, as far as she can tell her analyses and searches haven't set off any alerts...yet.
Regarding the stuff in her car, rather than list a bunch of stuff, whenever you need something (grenade, rocket launcher, AK-47, etc.) just ask and I'll tell you if it or something similar is in there. I will say that it is *very* well-stocked.
There's also another $50,000 in small bills in a plastic tub, hidden beneath a panel.
So you eventually get to the little town of Podunk, WV, the closest town to the co-ordinates that Maggie found.
You pull into the single "main street" in the town, lined with the few essential stores a small town needs (groceries, drug store, hardware, clothes, etc.). The few old-timers with nothing else to do, sitting on the store porches in their chairs, seem to eye you suspiciously. Probably more just because you're strangers than anything else.
What do you do?
Needless to say, with a car full of such ordinance and cash, Faith stays well within the speed limit and checks to make sure all the brake lights are working and the tags have not expired etc. If we got pulled over, that would be very bad.
Faith drives slowly through the town, feeling very much like she's driving the Scooby van. "Perhaps we should cut to the chase and ask where Old Man Smithers lives," she says dryly. "Anyone got any ideas how to locate trouble before it locates us?"
If no one offers anything else, she'll stop at the general store, pick up whatever passes for a newspaper, and chats with the clerk to see if she can coax some town gossip out of him/her.
Result = 6, success
Assuming this is a combination of looking through the newspaper and the conversation with the clerk.
Result = 11 + 2 (Charisma) = 13, Success + 2 raises
Well, it would help if I knew what specific questions you're asking, and what "cover" you're giving for being here. That'll give me something to play off of.
Arlo pipes up, whistling softly at the armory in the vehicle. "Well we could pose as a hunting club scouting for new land to purchase, and of course carrying these "guns" for anything in season. Or if the group is two big, maybe some hunters, and some surveyors or mining company representatives".
Nate laughs, visualizing a group in blaze orange carrying machine guns and .50 cals. "Yeah, I guess that'd work. Since we're not decked out in hunting togs I don't think carrying rifles would help, though."
I sort of mentioned before, but want to expand on it, that the money, guns, ammo, etc. are all hidden away behind panels on the sides and floor of the *big* SUV. So a casual glance won't give anything away, unless you forget to clean up after yourselves. :)
My comment had nothing to do with that, sorry for the confusion.
Before going in with her quest for gossip, Faith will suggest we pose as scouts for a reality TV show on strange phenomenon, like Big Foot or UFOs. She could take her video camera to support the story. It would be reasonable for such a group to have some bodyguard types to deal with trouble. She'll keep her pistols hidden by her jacket and under her pants-leg. Then she'll apply some make-up to improve her appeal.
Before she goes in, however, she waits for other suggestions or for encouragement to carry this idea forward.
Gavril shrugs and joins the others, not having any ideas beyond what they suggested as far as planning and what to do upon arrival. Like Arlo, he sleeps a fair amount of the way there, waking up periodically as the group gets talking. "Like said, I have shotgun for story," Gavril says, going along with the talk of hunters as cover. "And we are on hunt, so no lie. Just not hunt deer or bear. Hunt big bad thing. Sometimes like deer or bear though."
Faith's suggestion catches him off guard and he looks at her with a question in his eye. "Who would want watch show like that? Is either danger or idiot people make stuff up. Not interesting or fun."
Faith shrugs and smiles at Gavril's last question. "I watch shows like that, just in case they stumble onto something important. It's like people who chase storms, trying to get pictures of tornados; it's dangerous, which means people watch just to see if something bad happens, like going to car races for the crashes.
"Anyway, these people can probably smell the difference between a real group of hunters and folks like us. But I'll bet they've never seen a television show scouting group, so they won't know we're not the real deal. 'Sides, most folks will talk themselves blue if they think they might be on television."
She'll go in and circle the store picking up a few munchies and such. If there's more than one person in the place, she'll go for the youngest male.
"Hi! I'm Faith Sierra. I'm an investigator for the TV show America's Most Haunted. Have you ever seen the show? We travel the country looking for stories of hauntings but also just about anything mysterious or unexplained. Are there any good ghost stories people like to tell around the campfire?"
From this point, she'll try to draw the person out. If she gets no stories, she'll ask for directions to the oldest resident who might know the history of the town. If not too ludicrous, she'll try to get in a compliment early on. If the person seems to want to talk, she'll suggest they go to the local diner and get a sandwich and a beer.
I wouldn't think such a printer would be there, but I give it a chance on a 16 or higher :
Had another thought : how soon into your trip did y'all think of this cover story -
Heh. What the dicebot taketh away, the dicebot also giveth.
So before you got to your destination, you certainly traveled thru some big town/city (not going to look at a map) where you could find a big office supply store and buy those things to have fairly realistic cards made.
Faith sees only a grizzled, skinny old man behind the counter who eyes her in a way that makes her want to slap him on general principle. Based on your Investigation roll...
"Ghost stories? Weird goings-on? We gots LOTS of them 'round these parts! Why, there's the Dead-Man's swamp up north haunted by the captain of an old pirate ship that sank there a-couple hun'red years ago, the old abandoned Richfield mansion that they say some kids have never come out of, and...let's see...well, there's the feud between the Hatcombs and McFields that's been going on as long as anyone can remember. And there's lots more - how about you and me honey, we go over to Gertie's Diner, and I can tell you ALL about it, heh heh heh." He's missing more than a few teeth, and his breath nearly knocks you over.
Assuming you *don't* take him up on his offer, you buy a copy of the thin local newspaper ("A family-run paper serving 3 counties since 1905"), and a quick glance shows the usual gossip, marriage announcements, a couple of drunken boys getting arrested, and how much the new factory near Podunk has brought some much-needed money into the area.
Faith comes back to the SUV and reports. Anyone got any ideas?
Nate decides to hang back and let Faith "persuade" in ways his presence would only dilute, if not outright derail. Leaning casually against the SUV, he pops a pill while keeping an eye on the building.
"So, anything interesting?" he asks when she returns.
"Not unless you consider bad teeth, bad breath, and bad manners interesting."
She looks over the paper for information. "There's a new factory in the area. Might be connected to something interesting. Seems a long way from everything for a factory, unless it's process coal or wood products."
"I can see if any of the other locals along main street are any more helpful than that geezer in the store."
With that, she saunters along the main drag, handing out her business card to any of the folks sitting watching the traffic go by and to store clerks or customers. She'll open with the same basic line. Let me know if there is anything promising and I'll work with that to see what we can learn. If nothing useful shows up, she'll try to find the name of the mayor or sheriff or any similar important figurehead of the area.
The factory apparently makes reasonable-quality but low-price furniture from all the woods in the area. It's given lots of no-skill locals a small but decent income for the first time since...well, ever.
Faith hands out her cards, and gets lots of propositions (to talk about local legends, and otherwise). She hears of a cave where several lovers have gone to and never come back (which is now haunted by their ghosts), a place deep in the mountain woods where a waterfall runs *up* the cliff, and the usual sightings of bigfoot and other bizarre creatures (if she asks, these sightings have been going on for a century or more).
"So, what do we do now?"
"We have enough leads of potential odd events, we can justify staying and scouting out places like the cave and the waterfall. Let's look for a place to stay or camp, spend time in the public areas so we're in a position to hear about any news, and see what happens. We can check out the new factory while we at it, talk to the sheriff or whatever passes for law enforcement."
There's one old-fashioned, very quaint hotel - simple but nice. Lots of open areas and parks, but no official camp grounds.
Faith suggests we check into the hotel and get something to eat. "Let's hope this hotel doesn't have a clown infestation, like that last one." She arches an arch eyebrow at Nate. She glances around to make sure no one is close enough to eavesdrop and says, "Just the same, I recommend we take turns keeping someone awake and armed. Otherwise, we may as well maintain our cover, be seen around town spending money, helping the local economy. Regarding our cover, in case the one person in town who has Internet access decides to look us up on the Internet, if anyone asks, say that the network has not officially launched. They're working on producing the shows that will need to be ready for when they launch the network. So far, there are also financial concerns, so they're not making any public statements just yet, in case everything falls through."
Nate goes pale and he stops walking at Faith's comment. "Clowns..."