Play@YSDC

It's around 1 PM by the time you meet back at the Sunset Hotel. There has been some rain in the morning, but now the sun seems to be winning its battle against the clouds. You gather in one of the rooms, eating sandwiches and drinking coffee. Holly and Christopher look tired and tense, Ian is nervously strolling across the room, lost in thought, and it looks like everyone has something important to say.

Holly and Christopher,You fear the hotel might be under survellaince. Roll Sense Trouble.

Cameron begins after swallowing a bite of sandwich.

"We got a lot from Buchwald. The most important information concerns a Samson Trammel. He handled the Nectar business for Echavarria, and after Echavarria’s death he bought many of Echavarria’s collection of occult books. We have an address for him in Pasadena. We definitely need to look into him, but he’s probably going to be quite dangerous.”

He gets stuck in again to his sandwich - he hadn't realised how hungry he was.

Christopher Fontana

Christopher spends a few minutes stood by the window, checking the scene outside whilst absently scratching his arm.

Sense Trouble +1 pts spend,[dice]0[/dice]

"We found out about Trammel too, in a roundabout way," says Holly, "but we didn't have his first name or his full address. We picked up a tail following us, a private detective named jack Pizner. We got the drop on him, and I managed to 'persuade' him to spill all he knows. It wasn't much, but I think it was helpful. He was hired by a Captain Walker, who is not a cop, but he probably has a cop on the payroll. Someone at the police station noticed when you fellows showed up asking questions and reported to him, and he put Pizner on us. Pizner also told us that Walker works for Trammel. I don't think Pizner will be causing any problems for us at this point. He'll be in trouble with his bosses for botching the job, and he also has trouble with the law now. We've got our friend at the paper researching all three of them, especially Trammel."

OOC,Sense Trouble roll (no points spent): [dice]0[/dice]

"When I asked about the man who looked at us funny in the cop-shop, I was told that his name was ... let me think now!" Flicking through his note book Clarence exclaims "That's it Cooper Think he was a detective. But back to Buchwald. Poor sap just got himself involved almost by accident, and before he knew it he was in too deep. He did give us the names George Ayers from UCLA and a supposed oriental woman called Savitree Sirikhan. She is supposed to be dangerous, a warrior princess I think he referred her as. Clarence pauses for breath before continuing.

"Buchwald directed us to the company, which conveniently was just upstairs to his own office, that dealt with the sale of Echavaria's estate. This included a list of weird books: Adrift in a Storm-Tossed Sky, The Gaze of Azathoth, The Temple of Furtea-Nya, The Last of the First: The Ends of Occult Dynasties, Lights in Their Eyes: Wisdom and Lunacy 1840 to 1899. Lights in My Eyes: Wisdom and Lunacy in the 20th Century, Collected Sermons of the Float'd Tongue Vol. II."

"Yes, that makes sense," says Holly. "Cooper's probably the one who tipped off Walker, who put Pizner on our trail. He found out we were staying at this hotel and reported that back to Walker. Then he decided to follow Christopher and me from the hotel this morning because he thought we were weaker. We can't stay at this hotel any more, or even show up here again. I don't think they're watching us right now with Pizner out of the way, but it's only a matter of time before Walker puts someone else on our tail."

Cameron

"We'd better pack up and get out of here then. What did Pizner have to say about this Captain Walker?"

"Walker is his client," says Holly. "Pizner tried to buy us off at first, said that he could work out a deal with Walker so that he'd pay us to leave town and stop investigating. We'd heard of George Ayers and Savitree, but we didn't have her last name before, so that's useful. Trammel's the one at the top, though, and he's taken an interest in us, or at least his proxy has. We need to bring him down before he realizes just how much we know. Pizner may not remember much of what happened, but once Walker gets a hold of him and realizes that we got the better of him, he may take more drastic action and report to his boss."

OOC,Thanks. All I had to do was modify my previous post to specify [b]Cooper[/b]'s name to make it more clear.

Cameron

“We can’t just stroll up to Trammel and ask him questions” says Cameron, hurriedly finishing his lunch. “They’re wise to us now, we need to tread carefully.”

“Do you think that we might be able to use Pizner to get to Walker, Doctor? Did he impress you as the type we might be able to manipulate? Sort of as a double agent.”

"I tried to do exactly that," says Holly. "I told him how much trouble he'd be in with his bosses for failing and tried to make an arrangement with him where they're none the wiser, they still pay him, and we pay him too while he reports back what we tell him to report back, but he wouldn't bite. I had to use...unconventional methods to get what we did out of him. After that, and the trouble we've gotten him in, he'll be even less willing to help. Plus, his bosses will think he's worse than useless now."

Cameron

“Did he give you any information about his next meeting with Walker? Perhaps we can follow him.”

"Sometimes Walker talks to him on the telephone," says Holly, "but sometimes Walker comes to Pizner's office. We have that address and Walker's telephone number, but I have no idea when he's supposed to meet with him next, but it will probably be after Walker has him bailed out of jail. That's where he'll most likely wind up after the police found him apparently drunk in his car with his gun out. Of course, such a meeting wouldn't be pleasant for Pizner, if it even happens. There's always the chance that Walker will just have a couple of guys take him for a ride, though he may want to get answers from him first. Don't forget that Pizner knows what we all look like, and he's a professional, so he knows how to spot a tail."

"This Walker character - how exactly does he get to be called Captain I wonder? Does it indicate a military background, or naval perhaps? Either way, it might indicate that he is savvy regarding tactics, which may serve as a warning that he could well be a dangerous opponent."

Cameron nods his head.

“Clarence is definitely right, this man will be dangerous. Perhaps we should try approaching George Ayers? He might be able to help us get to grips with some of this occult stuff, and give us more information on Trammel”.

"I don't know why he's called Captain, only that he's not a cop," says Holly. "But yeah, he does sound dangerous. We'll find out more about him when our friend at the Times completes his research. Looking into George Ayers sounds like a good idea, but we'll have to be careful. He could easily talk to others after we've approached him. So could Buchwald, for that matter."

Cameron

“Of course there’s never a hundred percent guarantee, but we were pretty convinced that Buchwald was happy to be out of the cult, and didn’t want to have anything to do with it anymore.”

“We’ll take a risk with Ayers of course, but if Trammel knows about us now anyway, maybe it doesn’t matter. And anyway, I’m sure I’ll be able to convince him to keep his mouth shut.”

He stands up. “Maybe we should get moving? We need to find a new hotel. We’re going to attract attention if we all arrive and check in at once, and we’ll need to use assumed names. Walker will probably have people looking out for us.”

"Yes, and they probably won't be as easy to overcome as Pizner was," says Holly. "I'm ready to go when you are."

Ian

Ian stops walking back and forth inside the room and says: "I agree we should search another hotel as quickly as possible. But after that, I'd prefer to check on Trammel's estate in Pasadena. I might have been there in the past, and going there might help me remember something more. Also, we might see Trammel leaving the house, and tail him. Something useful might come up. Perhaps some of us can check at the UCLA for Ayers, while someone else accompanies me to Pasadena, possibly Cameron or Clarence, in case of trouble".

Cameron,You are putting together all the informations you gathered, and you notice something curious: the phone number [b]Holly[/b] and [b]Christopher[/b] got for [b]Walker[/b] is the same as the number you got for [b]Trammel[/b].

Cameron

“I can come to Pasadena, but we’re only having a look to case the joint, see what kind of setup it is. That’s it! At the moment, anyways.”

“Hey, wait a minute” Cameron exclaims. He is looking at the notes which Holly and Christopher made about their investigations. He then opens his own notebook.

“I thought so! Look everyone!” He holds both the note and the notebook out towards the others. “The phone number you have for Walker, and the number for Trammel. They’re the same! Either they live together, or they’re the same person!”

Christopher Fontana

Christopher was happy to listen to the others while he finished his sandwich, making notes as things unfolded in the telling. Of particular interest were the titles of the books sold as part of Echivaria's estate and he writes them down, they would make excellent additions to the the faculty library, should the opportunity arise to obtain them.

"We've managed to foil any plans Pizner had for us and probably dropped him in a whole heap of trouble with Walker, not that he doesn't deserve it. I think it's reasonable to assume that the person who set those oriental thugs onto us back in Savannah also passed on our details to Walker who may also be Trammel." he nods to Cameron acknowledging the earlier revelation.That's the way that Pizner was primed to come after us, we set of his 'trip-wire' as soon as we met with Fowley. There's no evidence that Pizner has anyone actively helping him..." he pauses ".. sorry, thinking aloud here.. We had better assume that Walker will be wanting an update from Pizner soon, definitely in the next day or so and that's when he'll realise that we're onto them."

Christopher drinks the last of his beer "Pasadena is what... forty minutes away.. at most? Let's get checked out of the hotel, explaining out plans have changed and we need to leave for 'New York' urgently, in case anyone asks." he winks. "So, we find another hotel then split up again.... I'll go to UCLA my standing at the university may be of help."

OOC:   Does Christopher recognise any of the books mentioned? I think we slipped up by not searching Pizner's offices.

"I'm familiar with academia and good with people," says Holly, " and not so good at remaining undetected, so I'll go to UCLA as well. It's possible Trammel uses Captain Walker as an alternate identity to serve as a front, but maybe they are two different men."

OOC,It may not be too late. Someone could still go to his office.

carnage_lee wrote:

ooc,I doubt that prisoner could get released this early. Unless we have someone with 'locksmith' that can quickly get past the office door I'd say we should pass on searching the office, not likely to be any 'core clues' there.

OOC,That would be Clarence.