Play@YSDC

Monday, March 13, 1922
around 10:30
Providence, Rhode Island

You make your way to the convenience store... there must be one around here somewhere...

Dan Marrison

"All right, Calum. We're looking for a general purpose store, maybe a hardware store, five-and-dime, or anything like that. We have a pretty diverse shopping list, after all," (and Wal-Mart doesn't exist yet) Dan stated as they made their way to the store. "How are you at sweet talking? Maybe we can get a discount for buying so much stuff."

Calum:

"Well, I'm happy to try to convince the proprietor that we are buying supplies for an important local archeological dig of great historical significance to the community, something like that? I've never really got the hang of bargaining though."

"Let's start with finding a hardware store."

OOC: Calum's plan is just that. Hit up whoever's running the store with the whole archeological dig thing, great significance to historic Providence, potential for much more purchasing in the future if the dig expands, tourist opportunities etc., and he'll attempt to use his Persuade 35%.

You pass a shiny storefront labeled "Penneys". Unfortunately the sign reads "Opening in May". You continue your way along the street and finally notice a promising store called "Mark's Supplies" in a street heading left. There's a large sign in the window advertizing: "We have products from the Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalog on hand! Great prices!".

Dan

"Well, God bless Mark," Dan says with a smile. "They should have most of what we need in there."

Dan started heading in to this store, looking around as he stepped through the doors.

Calum steeled himself, straightened his bowtie, doffed the fedora and headed in after Dan. Once in Calum searched about for a proprietor type to hit up for a discount.

There's nobody in the small store. The walls are full of shellves, filled with mundane articles. You hear a loud crash and a curse from an adjacent room, and a thick white mist rolls out through the arch leading to that room. You start wondering what it is...
Dan: Idea(75) = 22
Calum: Idea(70) = 60

"Shit! Watch out, get off the floor, it's liquid nitrogen!" comes a shout from the other room. That's exactly what you figured and considering all the horrible things you've heard about it you scramble for the higher ground, be it the counter or the stool behind it.

Calum:

"AAAGGHH!!" Calum cried, "I'm too young to die!" Whimpering with fear, he fratically scrambled onto the counter (or whatever else was to hand, the counter for preference).

At some point, Calum's brain caught up and he thought to check on Dan. "Quick Dan, head for high ground!"

And finally, Calum paused for a second. "You in the other room! Gee whiz, just because the day has gone to pot does not excuse bad language! What if your Ma had heard you?" Calum shook his head it this uncouth American behaviour.

Dan lept up to sit upon the counter, dangling his legs a safe distance from the extreme cold liquid below. "What on earth is a place like this doing with liquid nitrogen?" he asked Calum quietly.

Then he called back to the one unseen, "You alright in there?"

"Yes, I'm fine. It'll take a moment before it settles. I'm afraid I'll have to get a new floor. What can I do to help you gentlemen?"

The mist slowly fades, leaving the floorboards white, presumably frozen. It's now safe to get down, as the floor is only frosted over near the entranceway. You hear the man get down from his vantage point and slowly make his way through the cracking floor. It sounds as if he were making his way along broken glass. The floor will definitely need to be fixed after this.

He appears in the doorway, a tall wiry man in his late forties. his once dark hair is graying abundantly and is in complete disarray.

"Sorry for all the ruckus. The liquid nitrogen for the local university seems to have made itself useless. Th' name's Mark, I'm the owner of this fine store. So, what can I do for you?"

Dan

"Shame about that floor of yours. You'd think something so dangerous they'd put in tougher containers," Dan offers in consolidation. "Anyway, we're looking to stock up on some equipment, maybe you can help us find the bits and pieces? It looks like you should have nearly everything we're in the market for. Where do you keep your sleeping cots, digging implements, and lanterns?"

Calum:

Calum pulled out his hanky and quickly mopped his sweaty face. Did the others notice his panic, he fretted to himself?

Attempting to put his best foot forward, Calum hopped off the counter (a long drop for him) and straightened his bowtie, then addressed the proprietor.

"My good man, actually we are preparing for an archeological dig, of sorts. My name is Calum Childs and I'm part of an international team working right here in Providence. We have quite a few supplies we need straight away, and I can assure you that we will be needing a great deal more supplies when the full team swings into action. And, of course, our work will be in various prestigious periodicals, and most likely the local papers. In fact, if we make any significant discoveries here in historic Providence, it will probably mean a lot more visitors for the city in the future."

"Obviously, anything you could do to keep our costs down, any discounts for the expectations of future rewards, would be much appreciated. And would most certainly be mentioned in our write-ups, and newspaper interviews."

(OOC: Calum will attempt a Persuade [35%] if he can.)

Calum - Persuade,Sure he can Persuade [35%] - 17

Well well. A good reputation is hard to come by, I don't mind if I'll take you up on the offer. He calls from the other room. You hear metal being banged together, stuff being moved around and such. I can give you a 7% discount for this stuff, and 15% for when you come around for more when the international team shows. How's that?

He calls out for you to repeat what you wanted and how much of it.

Dan:

Dan smiled and was quite pleased with Calum's ability to win the storekeeper over. He said, "We have some other needs as well." He went through what was already gathered and pulled out a list from his pocket, saying "Two shovels, a pick-axe, about 100 feet of good rope, some flashlights(torches), 2 hunting knives, four notebooks, four pens, a ruler, and if possible... a map of the city would be most helpful. A camera and some film," he added as an afterthought, "if you can manage that."

(OOC: Woo Hoo!! I have a CoC PC who actually made a skill roll! That will be only good roll for the scenario now, of course, and I guess it is really just bringing the intrepid investigators closer to their doom... - Andy)

Calum:

While Dan was listing off goods and chattels needed, Calum contented himself with refilling his pipe then lighting up and filling the air with aromatic tobacco smoke.

Well, I don't have a camera on stock. If you can wait two days. Anyway, that's a lot of stuff. I'll write it down and it'll be ready in 30. How's that? You hear scribbling. It'll be 30$ for the cots, pick-axe, knives, shovels, rope, torches, notebooks, pens, map and ruler.

Not being one with a mind for math, Dan looked to Calum for approval as he started to fish out bills from what they were given.

Dan:

"Is there another store nearby that has a camera? And what about a grocery? We could probably stand to stock up on some non-perishable food," Dan questioned the man.

ImpInTraining wrote:Not being one with a mind for math, Dan looked to Calum for approval as he started to fish out bills from what they were given.

Calum:

Calum did some quick mental arithmatic and then nodded approvingly to Dan, while continuing to puff thoughtfully on his pipe.

"Actually, Dan, if you're happy to come back in half an hour with the car to load everything up, I have somoe other jobs I'd quite like to get done."

I have aremy rations if you like. You'll probably find canned meat and water in any grocery store.

OOC,I seem to recall Karl saying he had a camera in his car. Or maybe he can get one from his newspaper. It's worth a try. A camera won't be cheap.

Calum:

Once out of earshot of potentially curious shop owners, Calum said to Dan, "If you're happy to look after this provisioning, a good archeologist always checks to see if there were earlier digs or possible local interference with the site in question. And local rumour and superstition can provide valuable clues too. So, I might find the local newspaper archives and see if there were any prior reports on this place we're off to."

Checking his pocket-watch, Calum promised to be back for the lunch rendesvous.

Calum's plan is to find the newspaper archive, and attempt to research the allegedly haunted house.

Newspaper Archives,Actually, the plan was for everyone to meet at the newspaper archives I believe ... such a tedious job of sifting through old papers would be very time consuming, and I felt by splitting it four ways we could speed up the process considerably. But if you want to head to the newspaper archives and get a head start, that's cool too.

"Certainly. I can meet you there when I'm done here," Dan nodded to Calum as he secretly appreciated the excuse to avoid all that boring sifting through dusty archives. Looking back to the merchant, "Army rations, you say? Hrm... well, I've heard they aren't that great, but at least they're not perishable. Why don't you load me up with some of that, say twelve meals worth if you have it. And a few large jugs. We'll get some water out of the tap later and take it with us."

Plan Change?,I was under the impression the investigators were all going to pursue the current enquiries then meet at the same restaurant again at 1:00pm?

Calum decided the first place to look for back issues of the newspaper would be the newspaper office itself, so started looking for the local rag.

Calum,Idea [70] = 58 You're under the impression that Karl will probably have more information on the local rag papers as he's the owner of one of them.

Dan,Idea [75] = 27 You don't really understand why trying the local rag is a good idea. You'd probably stick with a good newspaper that's been around long enough to have any old references. You recon The Providence Journal would be a better shot. You think Karl will have an easier time getting in to browse the old clipping files than a random guy off the street.

Dan:

Dan called after Calum as he started to head out on his own, "If you're going to search newspaper archives, try the Providence Journal. Anything noteworthy would be sure to find its way in those pages. In fact, I'll bet Karl would be able to make short work of it."

Dan made his way to a grocery store next, looking for canned goods and other foods that might not need refrigerating. He wasn't sure if there was going to be electricity in this house, so it was better to prepare for the worst case scenario.

Calum:

"Right, Providence Journal it is." Calum starts searching for the offices of the Providence Journal...

ooc: No worries. Might as well call it the City of TownsVille for all I care.

Dan kept looking for the elusive grocery store.

Dan's trip to the grocery store is rather eventful. Upon being asked for canned goods the saleswoman initiated an interesting discussion, which turned into a rather heated argument (which Dan unfortunately lost) about the quality of todays canned meats. He finally managed to buy all he wanted but left the store feeling intelectually exhausted after the cerbal sparring with the saleswoman.

Calum decided to invade a phone booth and call to the offices of the Journal only to find out that it's halfway across town. he also found some peculiar newspapers that may serve some sort of purpose: Fact!, The Inquirer and Parapsychology Monthly, all based in Providence. You have their addresses. As you get out of the phone booth you see Dan walk out of a nearby store.

Mark should be finished stacking the supplies by now.

Dan headed back to the supply store, bag of groceries in hand. He sought out his vehicle and put the groceries away before heading back into the store to pick up the equipment from Mark.

Calum:

Calum waved at Dan and scuttled over to him as fast as short legs would scamper. "I have the address for the newspaper, but it's more of a drive than a walk so if you don't mind, why don't I help you load up then we both drive over there?"

"Unless it's getting too close to lunch by then?"

Calum quickly checked his pocket watch, not wanting to miss the other two at lunch (even if they were a Bosch and a street/stage walker).

Dan:

"Why don't we just swing by the court house and see if we can find the others. We'll tell them to meet us at the newspaper place," Dan suggested as he hefted up a bag of equipment to take back to the car.

Calum:

Calum nodded his assent then lit up his pipe again. Once suitably surrounded by tobacco smoke, he energetically but fairly ineffectually attempted to help load goods.

By the time you loaded the groceries, Mark was smoking a pipe in the alley in front of his store.

All's ready Boys. Pay time. He shot at you while empying out the remnants of his pipe leaf into a bucket. A wide grin seemed to take over his whole face as if it were the only thing he ever did, wrinkles in every possible place. It was a sincere grin.

After paying, he helped you pack everything into the car.

Please make a final list of all the stuff you bought. It'll all sum up to about 35$ by my calculations.

ooc: Thanks for that, been sort of busy myself as well. List sounds about right to me. Didn't he say something about army rations? Or am I thinking about another game?

ooc: 's about right? approve and it's official. I'm taking this to the next meeting point.

Should probably throw some canned fruit and vegetables in there as well.

Don't forget a dirty magazine... some lubricant... er.... wait. Nah, I'm sure he can find a speakeasy if he gets desperate. Better include a bag of condoms ...

How about a truckload of condominiums? I consider the matter closed.