"No, no... As long I stay in bed I'll be fine. Just give me a minute." He takes half a dozen of deep breaths, trying to compose himself and continues. "I'm not really sure about what happened. I was paying attention to the conversation, and when you started talking about this 'Nectar' my skin started to itch and your voices began to fade. But it was not a normal itching. It felt like hundreds of little mouths bitting me." He starts to shudder just to think of it. "Then I started having short visions, but it's all hazed and confused. I saw a hand holding a vial of white liquid... I don't know if it was my hand or someone else's. Then a man, a white man, tall and well-dressed, with black hair and dark eyes, clean-shaven, very charismatic, talking to me. Suddenly this man is naked, hurting himself with a dagger, cutting a thin line over his arm... and then I'm running in the darkness, rain pouring on my burning skin, my teeth clenched so violently I though they would break. And that's it. Suddenly I'm back and you're all around me."
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:12 pm
by Overlord87
Mr. Handy,You are quite sure these are not hallucinations, but rather memories coming back. You wonder if [b]Ian[/b] suffered from amnesia. You think that a trauma-induced amnesia must be very likely. If this crisis was triggered by the word 'Nectar', then the trauma might likely have something to do with that. If that's the case, more memories might return as the investigation continues. Also, being memories, the point of view was definitely Ian's.
The part about the itching resembling bites is probably a consequence of the notebook you found referring to 'The Thing With a Thousand Mouths'. It probably must have left a huge impression on Ian, and considering the stress you all have been in, and his memories resurfacing, all these things must have combined together.
[ooc]Ian lost 4 points of Stability. You may spend Psychoanalysis to restore it 1:1 if you want.[/ooc]
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 4:40 am
by Mr. Handy
[
"There's good news and bad news," says Holly. "The good news is that you're not hallucinating or going mad. The bad news is that what you experienced are suppressed memories rather than hallucinations or visions. What you remembered actually happened, and it actually happened to you. You didn't remember anything about it before because what happened was so horrifying that your mind blocked it out. That's not madness either; that's just your mind's way of protecting you. It happens to a lot of people who experience traumatic events, and what you described certainly fits the bill. It must have been hearing that word - I won't repeat it - that brought it back. I know this is going to be difficult, but you need to face what happened to you in order to heal. I can help you through it."
OOC,I thought each point of Psychoanalysis restored 2 Stability. Either way, I'll spend enough to give him back all 4 points.
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 9:12 am
by Overlord87
Ian,While you hear [b]Holly[/b] explaining what happened, you find yourself trying to remember more. As you focus on those visions... those memories... you feel a sudden stab of pain in your head. It fades quickly this time, but you're left with something. You are now sure that the vial of white liquid you were holding in your vision is in fact 'Nectar'.
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 7:29 pm
by leonardolad
Ian Morin
"I see..." He nods, almost automatically. His eyes focusing in something a thousand miles away. "So... what you're saying is that I really met this gentleman, and participated in some kind of ritual with him? I mean, don't take me the wrong way, Doctor, but it sounds... I just... I can't really..." He continues, overwhelmed by the news. He sits in the bed, staring at his hand when an acute pain assaults his head, like a knife in his brain. ""ARGHHHHH! He screams and throw his head back in the pillow. Suddenly the pain is gone, like it was never there. But he remembers now. "Nectar... The vial with the white liquid... It's Nectar."
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 8:10 pm
by Overlord87
leonardolad,The fact that those were lost memories and not hallucinations is troubling in a way, but at least you're not going crazy.
[ooc]Thanks to Holly's Psychoanalysis, you recover your lost Stability points.[/ooc]
Mr. Handy,[ooc]You are right by the rulebook, but I prefer to handle Psychoanalysis for recovery with a 1:1 rate.
[/ooc]
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:45 am
by Mr. Handy
Holly holds Ian's hand. "Hang in there," she says. "Are you feeling better? What you said makes sense. Let's take this slowly. This must have happened no later than 1924, but you must have been a child then. Have you ever been in Los Angeles before?"
OOC,Good thing I have a lot of points in Psychoanalysis, then! I'll spend the four.
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 3:51 pm
by leonardolad
Ian Morin
"Actually..." He reaches for cigarettes, lights it and takes a few puffs before continue. "Look, I don't really talk about this, and I didn't mentioned it before because there was no apparent relation with what we are doing here, but... Maybe it does." He takes a long puff in his Lucky. "A couple of years ago I came to L.A. for a job. I stayed here for a whole year. The thing is... I can't remember any of it. After the first few weeks... nothing. My mind is blank. All I remember is being in a hospital, ill, feverish, constantly trembling and in pain. I also had these. Excuse me, Doctor Chastain." He unbuttons his shirt, exposing the scars, like burning scars, in his thorax and abdomen. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he continues."Anyway, after a month or so I got better. The symptoms faded and all I wanted to do was to leave this damned city and go back to Boston." Suddenly he starts laughing, a weak, sarcastic, hopeless laugh."I always wondered what really happened. Turns out I was using drugs and performing rituals with some whacky fella. I really didn't see that coming."
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:31 am
by Mr. Handy
"That means the cult survived 1924 and is still active," says Holly, "at least as of a couple of years ago. Maybe you tried to infiltrate the cult back then as part of your job, so you had to take the drugs to fit in, and that affected you. I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through, but I'm here for you, whatever you need. I have an idea. If you could describe the face of the man you saw, I can try to draw it. We can get a good idea of what he looks like by his facial features. I can ask you questions about each of them, such as the color of his eyes, how far apart they are, the shape of his nose, and so on. I can show you each part as I draw it so you can tell me if it's right, and I can correct it if it's not."
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 9:28 am
by Overlord87
Ian talks and Holly draws. She has done some sketching in her life, but this is different. Without a proper model, everything is more difficult. She has to restart twice, after Ian looked unconvinced at the final result. In the end, it takes almost an hour of work, but you get there. You look at the face on paper, and you know this might be the man you've been unknowingly chasing since the day you picked up the job - it was only a week ago, but it feels more like months.
Spoiler:
OOC: This is the face from Ian's memory. Obviously, Holly only drew a sketch, but it should be good enough that anyone knowing the man would recognize him.
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:09 am
by HoneyDog
Cameron whistles admiringly. “Very talented Doctor! We shouldn’t have too much trouble matching the picture to a face. Now we just need to find a face.”
He addresses everybody. “We still haven’t finished our discussion. We need to examine the notebook further, especially in terms of working out what the numbers mean, plus we have the name Buchwald. Could this be him perhaps?”
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:16 am
by Mr. Handy
"Thank you," says Holly with a smile. "Really, I've only recently taken it up. We may be able to put a name to this face. I have no idea whether or not he's this Buchwald, but it's possible. You could go to the police and tell them that this is the man who put you in the hospital a couple years ago. You can show them my sketch and ask to look through their mugshots. Of course, he'll only be there if he's been arrested for something before, which is not a certainty. He may simply never have been caught. There's also the risk of tipping off that detective who took an interest in you, or anyone else who is potentially part of the cult. Hmm...perhaps that detective investigated your case when you were in L.A. before. That would explain his interest. It may be helpful to find out what his interest is by talking to him. If we can determine that we can trust him, he could be a useful ally."
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 9:20 am
by HoneyDog
Cameron looks doubtful. “To be honest that’s a lot of maybes, Doctor. Was Ian actually assaulted in any way? I don’t know if the police would be much help, and do we want to tell them that drugs are involved?”
He thinks some more. “But if we can find a way of finding out more information about that detective before we approach him, we’ll cut down on the risk to us. For all we know, he could be one of the code names in the notebook. Does anyone have any accounting abilities? They might be able to make sense of the numbers in it. It will be less risky to us anyway.”
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 6:11 am
by Mr. Handy
"That's a thought," says Holly. "We do have his name, so maybe we can find mention of him in periodicals if he's worked on any important cases and what he did on them. For that matter, we can try to find out more about what happened to Mr. Morin by looking at newspapers based on the dates he was in L.A."
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 3:38 pm
by HoneyDog
Cameron
“Good idea. Let’s one or two of us head back to check the newspapers for those dates, cross-checking both names. If any of you are unable to work with numbers, perhaps we can also approach a local accountant to help us with the figures in this notebook.”
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 5:05 pm
by leonardolad
Ian Morin
After the sketch session with Dr. Chastain he starts feeling calmer. "The newspaper is a good idea. I should probably go. I have some acquaintances that can help. If they have something on me from the time I was here, they'll probably know."
He then turns to Cameron"About the book, I do have some accounting skills. Now that you cracked part of the code maybe I can make more out of it."
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 7:01 pm
by Overlord87
Ian picks up the notebook and Cameron's work and starts studying it.
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 7:54 pm
by leonardolad
Ian Morin
He takes the book and Cameron's notes and starts skimming through it, with renewed energy. After some minutes he starts explaining what he could understand of it. "Well, after Cameron's decryption, it's easy to make sense of the numbers here. It records the inventories and sales, through a network of anonymous retailers identified by code names like 'Slick', 'Moses' and 'Umbrella', of a product identified by the letter 'N', which I suppose it's short for 'Nectar', and tracked in very small volumes of liquid ounces. The book details the time period from August 1922 through July 1924. A unit volume of 'N' appeared to fetch roughly three dollars of retail price.
You see, the man identified as 'Towncar' is surely the accountant who kept the books. While the name Buchwald is never reported in the notebook, thanks to the handwritten note Cameron pointed out earlier, we can safely say that Buchwald is 'Towncar'. Buchwald was surely the man tending to the cult's finances."
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 9:16 pm
by carnage_lee
OOC: Is it possible to pick up the photos of the house plans?
Re: [IC - LOS ANGELES] Back at the hotel
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 9:47 pm
by Overlord87
OOC: You left them just today. They'll be ready by tomorrow afternoon.
