Puppet Shows and Shadow Plays

[Silver Priest]

Nik,Nik goes back to examining the surveillance videos. It's very tedious work, especially because he has only the slimmest idea what he's even looking for. But at around Six he thinks he sees something. There on the casino floor is a black woman. She's dressed in a sharp suit and wearing John Lennon style shades. She moves purposefully through the crowd while holding a briefcase, not stopping at or even appearing to notice any of the slots around her. [ooc]Rolled your HUMINT here. Nik passed.[/ooc] The briefcase looks big enough to hold the files they had received, Nik reasons. But something else also catches his eye; the woman keeps her head down, and uses the crowd as much as she can to obscure the view of the cameras. As a result, it's only a few stills where he's able to get a reasonably clear picture of her. Based on this behavior Nik thinks it's likely she's a professional of some sort. Military? CIA? [ooc]Well done. Nik was pretty clever here and accomplished a lot. I think we're going to pause him here until the others catch up and return from their own adventures, but if you have any final thoughts for Nik feel free to offer them up. :)[/ooc]

Everyone else,[ooc]Given the situation, I don't think it's unreasonable to rule both you guys brought your own sidearms and vests to the scene, anticipating trouble.[/ooc] "[color=#008000]No, but feel free to take Garrett's. He's in no position to use it[/color]." As one of the state troopers tends to Garrett, the sheriff continues.[color=#008000]" No positive ID yet. As far as I know this is the only way into the cave. But he's not fired for awhile, so we have to consider that he retreated further into the cave. It goes a ways back. We also have to consider that he might have hostages in the shaman. "I'm going to try and take advantage of the opening and breech[/color]." He looked towards his men. "[color=#008000]Cover me. First sign of trouble duck behind rocks[/color]." Then he turns to the agents. "[color=#008000]Any of you three want to come with me?[/color]"

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Do I have my vest?

[Silver Priest]

ooc,I leave that up to you. Would Vanessa bring it? I'm fine with either way.

[Cearlan]

Edmund nods grimly - "Yeah I guess I'll be heading out with you. I reckon we should split up, one to the left and one to the right. will make it harder for a solitary gunman to take us both down than if we are together. I;ll take the left unless you have a preference?"

[Mr. Handy]

"I'll come too," says Vanessa. "I could help with hostage negotiation. Failing that, I'm a pretty good shot too. We should advance in stages. One of us moves to the next rock while the other covers, then we switch off. At least if there's no other way out of that cave, that means the sniper is cornered and can't escape. Of course, being aware of that would make the killer more dangerous. I have no preference, so I'll take the right."

OOC,I think [b]Vanessa[/b] would make a habit of wearing it whenever she's on duty. I'm not sure if it's standard FBI procedure, but it is standard police procedure, and she'd be one to follow it (though not everyone does).

[Silver Priest]

Cave group,The group decides to rush the cave, Colorados volunteering to cover the rear. There are three large rocks leading up the path, which is narrow enough that it only allows one person at any one point of it. Naturally, this complicates things. But the team braves the path and each member of the team is able to make it up the path from one rock to the next. It's nervewracking, but no movement is detected from within the cave, and very soon the group are able to make it to the top of the path. The cave entrance is slightly bigger, allowing more than one person to enter it. But the entrance is pitch black, and provides no clue as to what's lurking inside. The sheriff gestures to the agents, making it clear that his idea is to rush the cave with one of them. With luck, they'd be able to overpower the assailant before he could kill anyone else. Colorados holds up his fingers, counting down for everyone's benefit. Three. Two. One. Then he takes off, along with any of the agents who wish to follow. Guns drawn, they rush the cave. "[color=#008000]Put the weapon down[/color]!" But there is no response in the blackness within the cave. A few tense moments reveals there to be no movement within either. "[color=#008000]Stay on guard[/color]," warns the sheriff. With a shaky hand he puts his gun away and pulls out a flashlight. Taking the opportunity, he illuminates the interior. The sight leads him to drop the light. Inside the cave are the three shaman, or what is left of them. The first two are little more than bones, the flesh having long been stripped from them. The third is slightly more fortunate, being only half consumed. All three bodies are nude and tied with some restraints around their hands and feet. A forth body is a boy of maybe thirteen. He's also dead, but is fully intact, with no signs of being consumed. He's been stabbed several times. Colorados' eyes widen in horror. "[color=#008000]Kuruk... He was Valor's apprentice. I sent him to ask the shaman for permission to bring you here. I sent him here[/color]..." All four bodies have the now sadly trademark injection marks around their lungs and heart. At first glance there is no sign of the killer, or any sign of where he could have gone. The room goes back a bit way, but there are no obvious places he could be hiding. On the floor further back in the cave lies a gun. Any agents who have more than a passing familiarity with firearms identify it as a Lee-Enfield Mark III Rifle. It seems to have been rather carelessly discarded right in the middle of the cave. The only other objects of note are clothing strewn around the cave, likely the victims. A few bowls that contained food and drink are also present; these seem largely empty. Finally, at the far end of the cave there's some sort of sphere. It's semi-transparent, and slightly larger than a basketball. It looks to be made of a dark blackish material but the team can nonetheless see various lights and circuitry within the sphere. None of the agents have ever seen anything even remotely similar to it. [ooc]Okay, few things here; 1. Everyone needs to make a san roll for violence, 0/1d3. This would normally be 0/1 but the sight of the young boy makes it harder to stand. 2. Everyone can make a forensics roll if they want to examine the bodies. 3. Everyone can make a Search roll. Let me know if you guys want to try anything else.[/ooc]

[Dave Syrinx]

Retrieving Garrett's gun, Standard takes position using a rock as partial cover and arm rest as he steadies his aim at the cave entrance. When the group starts to advance, he releases three shots in rapid succession. Hoping this will keep the gunman out of shot.

[Mr. Handy]

At this point, Vanessa is getting used to the carnage. She looks around the cave, but nothing else jumps out at her. "There has to be another way out of here," she says. "Maybe there's another passage in the back or something, but I can't see one.' She professionally examines the crime scene, marking off the locations of key pieces of evidence such as shell casings and giving the dead bodies a closer look. They were more freshly dead than the others they'd found, so the forensic evidence should be better preserved.

OOC,Sanity roll (current level 73) for seeing the bodies: [dice]0[/dice] Forensics roll (80% skill) examining the bodies: [dice]1[/dice] Search roll (50% skill) searching the cave: [dice]2[/dice]

[Cearlan]

Edmund is shaken by the sight of the child especially, such a frenzied attack, that he struggles to concentrate on either the bodies or general search of the area.

He thinks he sees something at the right hand of the cave but on closer examination it proves to be nothing of interest

OOC:   Dice rolls in the dice roll section. I missed the roll by 1 - sigh!

[Silver Priest]

Cave Group,,[ooc]Rolled in Dice thread, Edmund loses 3 san. Do you want to project that onto a bond? http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/pbp/viewtopic.php?f=399&t=5891#p187670 Also be sure to check suffering one san lose from violence. If you suffer three without going insane or reaching your breaking point, you can become adapted to it.[/ooc] Stanyard fires several shots at the cave entrance to give his team some covering fire. Unfortunately for him, Garrett did not keep his gun in the best condition. The pistol jams on the second shot, and he spends an embarrassing moment fixing it. By his time the cave has been breached, and no signs of gunfire are being heard from within. He can make his way unmolested inside if he likes. It's a tough sight for Edmund.Violence was part of a field agent's life, but this was absolutely savage. Judging by the state of the bodies, the meat had been cut off the men by a sharp knife. Vanessa observes that the men were probably being fed from for several days, judging by the decay. The empty bowls of food also seem to confirm this. The killer had been keeping the Shamen alive and picking pieces from them. It must have been a hellish few final days. Vanessa also grabs some prints from both the bodies and the rifle especially. She knows that once she gets back to the station she can send them to the FBI's national Fingerprint Index, which should be able to get them a match within half a day if the killer was within the system. Colorados still seems somber, but he moves forward as though inspecting the cave walls. Suddenly, he points upwards. "[color=#008000]Here[/color]." Examining the spots, the Agents find a narrow 'vent' within the stone wall. "I[color=#008000]t's a tough fit, but our killer could have squeezed through here and gotten out of the cave at a dozen points. I'll call in help to search this area of the land, but this man seems to be an expert at skulking about. I suspect he's already fled the area while we were waiting for reinforcements. And it will be night soon, making the search harder[/color]. "[color=#008000]If there's any blessings, he left in a hurry, and would have been unable to carry much of his gear. He left his rifle behind, and this."[/color] He picks up the sphere. The lights inside of it are rapidly shifting from one color to another. "[color=#008000]"What could this be, anyway? I haven't seen anything like it before." [/color]He offers it to any of the agents who would like to examine it.

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa peers at the odd sphere. "I've never seen anything like it either," she says.

[Silver Priest]

Cave Group,The Sphere itself weighs only a few pounds, its exterior feeling both metal and plastic. Looking it over, Vanessa finds no apparent way to open it, despite the lights inside. "[color=#008000]Well we'll take it back to the station. Maybe someone there can get it opened. Or maybe once we catch this sonofabitch he'll tell us what it is[/color]." says Colorados. "[color=#008000]If there's nothing else, let's return to the station and regroup[/color]." [ooc]If Stanyard enters the cave he needs to make a San roll as well for seeing the bodies.[/ooc]

Nik,Nik has only a small amount of time to ponder the new information before the casino's security room is entered by one of the staff. [color=#0040FF]"Uh, I just got a report from the reservation police. Apparently there was a shooting out near the shaman's cave. I don't know all the details, but they requested you head back there at once[/color]."

Everyone,[i][center]Midnight,roughly six hours later.[/center][/i] The next several hours are a blur of paper work and frenzied activity. Vanessa sends the prints off, and expects to have results by the early hours of the next day. Garrett was taken to a hospital in Phoenix, his condition stable. Deputy Paul was taken to the station's morgue. As for the mysterious sphere, it was placed in evidence lockup for the time being. Nik is filled in on the sudden ambush out at the cave by the unseen assailant, and the grizzly fate of the shaman and their apprentice. The team find themselves reunited in the briefing room, Sheriff Colorados with them. Every few minutes a deputy rushes in and hands him an update on the investigation. At some point a pot of coffee was brewed, and it seems to be the only thing keeping him going, the adrenaline having long since faded. [color=#008000]"I just recived a report. Our patrols around the cave found nothing. I'm not surprised. The ground out there is rough to tread, and our unsub had darkness on their side. We're going to perform a heavy search of the area tomorrow, and you're all welcome to participate[/color]." He leaned back and sighed. "[color=#008000]Paul had a lot of promise, and he was a good kid. I can't help but feel I caused his death. Something felt off. Why didn't I say something? And Kuruk... he'd still be alive if I hadn't sent him to that damn cave. Even Garrett got injured because I made a bad call[/color]." [ooc]Everyone can make a HUMINT roll. Success indicates Colorados has survival's guilt which is causing him intense self loathing at present.[/ooc] There came a knock on the door and a deputy poked his head in. "[color=#0040FF]Uh, Sheriff? The press is outside. We tried to keep it under wraps, but an incident like this, you know[/color]..." [color=#008000]"Yeah[/color]." The sheriff nodded. [color=#008000]"Don't worry about it. I guess the hounds want a statement[/color]?" "[color=#0040FF]Uh, yes sir[/color]." Sighing, Colorados got to his feet. He seemed to have aged a decade in just the day. "[color=#008000]Alright. I'll give them what they want[/color]." He leaves the room after the deputy, and for the first time in awhile, the four agents are alone.

[HoneyDog]

Nik

Before he heads back to the station, Nik prints off an image of the woman from the surveillance tape. He gives it to the casino security manager with the instructions to circulate it among the staff and to call him if she is spotted.

The mood amongst the team is subdued following the events at the cave, but Nik doesn’t want to waste time, as the assailant is not going to stop killing.

Addressing the other agents, he runs through what he has found out.

“In July, following the meteor shower which we learned about from our mystery helper, there was a rash of killing in Berkeley County, West Virginia. I believe that this might be our helper.” He shows the images of the woman at the casino.

“All the killings I’m going to talk about happened in the same way – bodies partially consumed and the hearts and lungs injected with an unknown substance. In this case, the police believed the killer to be a Mack Tooley, who subsequently shot himself. Immediately following the autopsy, the head coroner, Dr. Clark, resigned.”

"Now get this – the Center for Disease Control showed up and took the bodies of Tooley and the victims away. A week later Clark’s body is found in Nashville. He had committed suicide by disemboweling himself.”

He carries on. “In September in Nashville, there is a spate of killings among homeless folk there. They had all stayed at a shelter run by Father Willard Franklin. Before he is arrested, he kills himself. Guess how.”

“In October, the same kind of killings occur in New Orleans. Chief suspect this time is an Elijah Jackson. He had stayed at Franklin’s shelter. He is killed while invading the home of David Charles. Charles travels to Houston, where he is found dead of disembowelment. Detective Braverman was one of the first cops on the scene”

He sits and looks at all of the agents in turn. “This thing is travelling around the country, switching from person to person until it has to move. My guess is that we are dealing with some kind of virus, which makes a person kill and consume their victims. It must have been developed by the same person who made the paralyzing drug. This would explain why the CDC is involved.”

“It is essential for our own safety, and in order to stop this thing, that we take utmost precautions when we apprehend the suspect. Whoever comes into contact with this virus can be infected. We need to stop it. I propose we contact the CDC for help.”

As he stops to let his words sink in, he calls for one of the deputies to bring the artifact they found at the cave. He’s curious as to what it is.

[Dave Syrinx]

At the cave-
b]Stanyard [/b] heads in the cave when it's cleared. The sigh, however gruesome, seems to bounce off of the ex-sniper. Too late to see what the group actually took from the scene, he exits and helps with carrying evidence from the site.

At the station-
Listening to Nik's presentation, it sure sounds as something contagious. Before the officers bring the collected evidence to the table, he asks. "Where in the chain of events are we now? Whoever was last at the cave, and escaped alive, is now carrying this disease? And if someone were at the other burial sites the virus could have spread to other carriers, right?" He stops and scoots the chair back to make room for whatever the officers need to place on the table.

[Silver Priest]

The "artifact" is brought in, Nik sees that it's some sort of sphere. It's semi-transparent, and slightly larger than a basketball. It looks to be made of a dark blackish material but he can nonetheless see various lights and circuitry within it. These rapidly switch colors. Their seems to be no way to open it however.

[Mr. Handy]

"It does seem like a contagion in some ways," says Vanessa, "but what kind of disease only infects one person at a time? I hate to say it, but it sounds kind of like demonic possession, like in the movie Fallen. You're right, we'd better contact the CDC. They were already involved in the case, and we need to know what they know. I'll do that; I speak the medical jargon."

[HoneyDog]

Nik

"Thanks Marchand".

Nik addresses Stanyard. "Whoever was in the cave is your present killer. The transfer only seems to occur when the host is damaged. The examples of Mack Tooley and Elijah Jackson indicate this. So I think the virus must still be in the present host. When we capture him, and if we have to open fire, which I’m guessing we will, that’s when we have to be careful.”

“Stanyard, remember you said that Braverman’s car skidded off the road? I’m guessing that he was badly hurt, and so the host transferred to somebody who came along”.

He speaks in an urgent whisper to everyone. “It has to be a local! Who else could've approached the Begays? Who else would know about the cave? The sheriff or one of his men must know who this person is, even if they’re not aware of it. We should ask him about anyone other locals who have gone missing or who are acting weird lately”.

He turns then to examine the cave artifact. “What the hell is this thing?” he thinks.

OOC:   SP, I took the liberty of rolling Electrician to get a sense of what the thing is. Electrician 60%: 1d100 8 Don't worry if it's too weird to comprehend though

[Silver Priest]

Nik examines the sphere. It's a fascinating piece of technology. The circuitry is like nothing he's ever seen before, though without being able to examine the insides he can't get much more out of it. Whatever it is, it seems very advanced. It must also be using up a quite a bit of juice, so it must have be internally powered. But until they could devise a way to get the thing opened, it's going to be very difficult to do any further research on it.

As Vanessa goes to call the CDC, her own phone starts to ring.

"Agent Marchand? SAC Hobbson here." came the voice of her boss. "I've been briefed about the shootout. I hope none of the team were injured.

"Listen up. The NSA have taken an interest in the case, so we're handing it off to them. A team of agent sis on their way to San Carlos. When they arrive you're to cooperate with them fully, is that clear?"

OOC:   Vanessa should go ahead and make a HUMINT roll. A success indicates that Hobbson sounds very anxious, which is uncustomary for the man.

[Mr. Handy]

"Understood, sir," says Vanessa. "The team is fine. The deputy here was killed, though, and Major Garrett was wounded, but we managed to get him to safety. What's the ETA on the NSA's arrival?" She makes a mental note to suggest using an X-Ray or MRI to try to look inside the sphere, and to point out that the contagion could have jumped to Braverman's still missing wife if she was with him when he killed himself.

OOC,HUMINT roll (50% skill) about the Sheriff: [dice]0[/dice] HUMINT roll (50% skill) about the SAC: [dice]1[/dice]

[Silver Priest]

"I didn't think to ask, but I imagine sooner than later. They made it very clear this investigation was of great importance to them. And they made it equally clear it was not my place to ask questions. Just cooperate with them and don't give them any trouble. I don't want to see this become a bureaucratic pissing match." If there's nothing else, Hobbson hangs up.

It's around this time that a deputy knocks on the door and pokes his head in. "Um, Agent Siilasvuo? Someone from the hotel stopped by. They said they had the evidence you requested." He places it on the table. Notably, it's in the same box that the news clippings had been found in.

If it's opened, the only content is a note, and each letter had been cut out from various magazines, granting the whole letter a distorted look.

Friends,

I see you've enjoyed those news clippings I sent. Hopefully now you all have a better idea as to what you're going up against. Now listen up, because I have another piece of advice for you. The spooks in the shades and dark suits aren't your friends. They're only after the sphere, and if you're in their way, your badges won't protect you. Let them have it. You want what came in the sphere. Don't let it get away again.

Ms. Green.

P.S. Agent Siilasvuo, nice work. But I'm afraid I won't be that easy to catch. Solve this case and we'll talk.