"I don't care which way we go, but the one thing we should definitely not do is split up. So - elevator or stairs?"
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"Hey! Everyone calm down!" Looking at Nate and Astaria, John continues "Do you guys realize that you're asking her where we should go, when you haven't told her what we want?!???" Turning to Karen, "Sorry lady, my...companions can get a little lost in their work sometimes. If we tell you what we're looking for, would you take us there, or at least give us directions?" Looking back at Nate and Astaria, as if to prompt them...
Whispering intently - "Hey guys - did you ever stop to think that SHE WORKED HERE???"
"If you go first, just err on the side of caution if you hear someone coming. This is a snatch-and-run job, not an all-out assault."
John whispers to himself, "Wait a minute..." and goes over to the door. Very gently he tries the handle on the door, and says "Locked! Just now figured as much! Why else would they put a prisoner unguarded in a room that isn't locked from the outside! Give me a minute here..." and he pulls out some small tools. = 5, Success With a mock flourish of his arm, he waves to the door as if to say, "Ready to go, m'ladies".
John snorts in disgust (a disgusting sound in itself) at Nate's suggestions that the girl could be a clown.
John whispers "Or we could just let them walk on by if they don't notice us! Jeez, you ARE as trigger-happy as Faith!"
"Hey 'doc', get over here and focus on the mission!" John whispered, gesturing at the door.
It's hard to tell if John is caught off-guard by being called "handsome", or whether he just doesn't like to talk about his past, but he stammers out "Huh? Me? Uh, well I...um...I spent a lot of time living on the streets, so I learned how to survive out of necessity. Then I discovered that I had these, uh, abilities that helped me survive, like making people confused so I could get away, or healing myself or others.......anyway, that's it." He turns his attention to checking his guns, making sure they're ready to go. Astaria might notice that he speaks awfully good English for a "bum".
I think Streetwise is more of a social interaction skill. <searching> Yep, more like gathering info "from the streets". But Maggie does have a set of boltcutters in her van. While Nate goes to look, John says to Astaria, "Don't let his quirks fool you, he's good in a fight and he'll always have your back. How long you been fightin' strange beasties? Or if this is your first time, how'd you learn to use those guns?"
"We've got to break into this so-called factory and find proof that there's a secret organization that's trying to...well, organize...all the weird occult things that have been showing up recently. It'd be even better if we could find proof that they've infiltrated PATRIOT, the company paying your bills. This is strictly a sneak-and-grab, got it?"
The slightly short, slightly overweight young man in his early 20's wearing jeans and a plaid shirt says "Name's John. Listen, we got to tell each other what we're good at right now if we have any chance of pulling this mission off. I'm pretty good with my guns. If either of you ever gets hit, try to get to me as soon as possible, I'll be able to heal you quick. What about you, girlie?" John's couldn't help but react to that air of superiority, same one Faith had, that nearly blew the mission.
"Or maybe this all goes so deep they already had intel we were coming." John snorts, probably a very ugly sound thru everyone's earbuds. "Dude, even *if* there IS a 'they', we were poking around asking questions all day yesterday. Even tho this does look suspicious, it doesn't mean PATRIOT's been infiltrated."
John says "Can anyone think of any way we can communicate with Gavril to make plans? We can tell him what we're going to do, and tell him what to do, but apparently he can't say anything out loud to give us intel about what's going on at his end."
After finishing the meals and paying the bills and going outside, John says "H*ll yes, I'm bringing a weapon! I'd suggest we take the van about halfway, then stop somewhere secluded to load up with weapons and vests and anything else we can find in the van."
Quietly, John muses "Hmmm...that's a good point, the note doesn't specify. It *was* addressed just to Faith, but it's not clear if the person meant just her or all of us. Maybe we should all go up there, but only Faith go into the cave to begin with? Then if it's ok with whoever's in there, we can all come in? Or they can come out, I suppose. Let's talk outside about...the other stuff" nodding at Gavril's note.
John just snorts, as if that idea was inconceivable to him. He didn't wait for everyone to show up before ordering, and is already devouring a large breakfast.
"So, what do we do now?"
John looks at Faith and says with a grin, "You know, in all honesty, I hadn't thought of that until you suggested it..."
A couple of days after the clown affair ended, the next time you all meet together, John appears to be bursting with excitement. He says "The first night afterwards, I had a dream that one of the clowns bit me and I was turning into one of them. I woke up, went to the bathroom, and when I looked into the mirror I saw a clown! I pinched myself, splashed water on my face, and slowly the clown image faded and I was myself again. I experimented with it some to see if it was real or just in my mind, and found out that now I can mimic anyone I've seen, and for at least 10 minutes!" Looking around to make sure no one's looking, he quickly assumes Faith's appearance (including the clothes she's wearing), then Nate, then Gavril. "That should come in handy on some missions, don't you think?"
John's hands and forehead are covered in sweat. "Oh man, am I going to survive this?" he wonders, crouched behind some cover for the moment. "Aw, cr*p, where did HE come from! Let's see if I have enough time to get a head shot off before he sees me..." The uncharacteristic persistent ringing from his cell phone finally gets his attention, and he pulls off the VR headset, pausing the game. Running the message thru the app, he curses long and loud, seeing as he can't save the game where he's at, it only autosaves at certain checkpoints. "I'm gonna have to slog my way thru that entire battalion *again*, dammit!"
"Other than *maybe* paying for a new tablet/laptop with cash and taking it to a Starbucks, I'm not sure how you could access the Internet safely under Protocol F. Besides, what would you search for, "weird events"? <snort> Good luck with that!" "I would guess we should get to Richmond *within* 2 days, and Maggie will hopefully meet us *in* 2 days, if we get there sooner? But still, Protocol F says we have to wait there however long until she shows up..."
John arrives, grumbling at the interruption (but he doesn't say what he was doing). "Well, this is something new - I wonder what the secrecy and 'deep cover' stuff is all about - you guys have any idea?" After grabbing a couple of phones and exactly $4000 and stashing them in his ever-present jeans jacket, he says "If no one has claimed Route 1, I'll take that. Aw jeez, how long do we wait here for Arlo and Gavril? I don't think that was specified..." Faith, it was your idea, you want to run out and get a state map while we're waiting?". You're in downtown DC, I would imagine finding a bookstore/newsstand would be quite easy within a couple of blocks. If Faith doesn't object, she's back in less than 10 minutes.
John suddenly seems to stop jittering, and only gets off one shot : = 5 + 1(gun) = 6 is a Success Sheesh! No damage.
John touches Faith's shoulder and concentrates :
John says grimly "Go get 'em, girl!" John takes aim at the clown attacking Gavril :
Aw, come on!
I guess just John hasn't acted yet... Shooting Faith's clown, called shot to the head (-4) :
= 4 +1(weapon) + 2(Marksman) = 7 is a Success
John calls out "Faith, I think he's distracted! Get away from him, and come over to me, NOW!" There's an urgency in his voice that seems to indicate he has a plan...
John shoots at Nate's clown :
Does not get thru Toughness
John shoots at Nate's clown :
Does not get thru Toughness Phooey!
John shouts "I've got you covered, Nate!" perhaps a little too loudly - you might hear an edge of panic in his voice. But he continues to fire into the crowd, at Nate's clown :
"So, I guess it's off to the circus we go? Jeez, clowns, why did it have to be clowns?"
"I'm thinking if talking to him goes well, we don't have to *sneak* into the house at all, and won't have to worry about B&E/trespassing charges."
"Hey guys [Nate & Gavril], do we try to sneak into the house, or talk to the kid who's inherited it? Maybe he'd be friendly if we tell him we're trying to catch Vincent's killer, and let us in. Or if he IS Vincent's killer, we can 'interrogate' him casually and see how he reacts."
RAY - IF YOU'RE STILL CHECKING IN, PLEASE CHECK YOUR PM's!!! I would be glad to continue the game. Let me PM Ray and see if I can get any info on his short-term and/or long-term thoughts. I'm totally ok with sticking with Ray's basic theme of working for PATRIOT and investigating "unusual" and/or horror-based things. There's an infinite number of directions I could take the game from here while still working for PATRIOT, so I'm fine with that. But as Gavril mentioned, we could keep the same already-made PC's and plop them down into another venue. The venue I would someday like to GM would be WAY different than modern-day PATRIOT (basically a steampunk MIB organization, post-invaded-by-Mars [a la HG Wells] concept), and I don't feel comfortable asking everyone to change mind-sets so abruptly. I don't have any other venue already in mind, but like I said, I can take the PATRIOT idea in any number of different directions, so I'm totally fine with that. So what I would suggest is we stick with PATRIOT, and see how things go from there. Most everyone was brand-new to Savage Worlds system when we made our PC's, if anyone would like to "tweak" their PC now that you know the system better, I'd be fine with that, too. Or make up a whole new one if your character concept isn't working out the way you thought it would. Thoughts?
REALLY sorry to see you go, Ray, hope everything works out ok for you! FWIW, I really like SW, and I'd had an idea for a campaign sort-of-similar to this (PC's belong to an organization) some time ago. It wouldn't be exactly how Ray would have done it (and I can't hope to match his storytelling style), and it would probably morph over time, but I'd be willing to GM this campaign if everyone else wants to continue with their PC's... And I won't be the least bit offended if you don't want to continue.
"Ok, so Faith and Arlo go talk, and Nate, Gavril and I go to the old crime scene."
"I'm still for sticking together, and personally prefer to work independent of the local LEO's to avoid any embarrassing questions, but if Faith and Arlo really want to talk to the buddy of his buddy and the coroner, maybe the rest of us could check out the old crime scene."
"The *first* time we went 'poking around an old crime scene' we ended up fighting for our lives against a bunch of zombies. So I'm vehemently against splitting up."
So, guys, what next?
Just a note - adding a spring-loaded window breaker to my toolkit while where in the city...$12 or so.
"I wouldn't drive either of our vehicles by there tonight, since they both look the same. If we're going to do some recon, I'd suggest we park several blocks away, and approach by foot. And it's going to be easier to see what's going on in the daytime. Yeah, I know it's also going to be easier to see us, too. Just my two cents."
Unless Nate or Arlo care, sounds like we're heading to a hotel...
"Nah, I'm not talking a fancy-dress hotel, just something a lot nicer than a flea-bag roach motel. Besides, even 4-star hotels these days don't really care how you dress." Independent of Faith (not because of her), John also transfers his duffel bags to the trunk or back of the other vehicle, and "loads up" on his personal items, now that we're past any metal-detecting security checks. Overhearing Faith, he calls out "You're going to have a bit of a time finding an electronics store open this late. And any surveillance that's there tonight will be there tomorrow. And if there is any, what are they going to think if they notice us passing by tonight, and then stopping there tomorrow? Let's just call it a night, and get on the clock after breakfast tomorrow."
"I vote for a good meal and a good night's rest at a classy hotel so we can be alert and sharp first thing tomorrow morning - who's with me?"
Another FYI (mostly for anyone who might be interested in GM'ing a SW game) - while most of this comes straight from several places in the manual, things in italics come from a system designer’s clarifications about how the rules work. HEALING ROLLS All bullets in this section apply to using the Healing Skill or Power to remove Incapacitation and Wounds, when used on Wild Cards or Extras
Healing Skill : takes 10 minutes; only one attempt per "healer" to remove new Wounds; -2 without basic supplies
If all available attempts to recover from Incapacitation fail, then the character remains Incapacitated until they attempt Natural Healing, which does not necessarily mean they are unconscious, just that they are "too beaten, battered, or bruised to do anything useful". Natural Healing automatically removes Incapacitation first if it is present, and then removes Wounds.
Someone trying to get information from him, revenge maybe." Thinks a while, then adds, "Werewolves are strong, no? Vampires too. Maybe one of the 'wolves or vamps he took out came back for revenge. Maybe there's a love angle, girl who can't act falls in love with both a monster hunter and a monster. John, who's been sprawled out in the luxury jet apparently napping when he hasn't been sampling the bar, lets out a snort from his currently prone position after the above and says "No point in all the speculation, dearie, until we get some actual *facts*. Useless waste of time."
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