A Victim of the Art

[HoneyDog]

Nik

“Have you heard of a Chimu Clay necklace?” he asks Wu.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Before we go, could we try to guess the password even without Computer Science skill? It might be "[b]Lauren[/b]."

[HoneyDog]

OOC,Yes, that's worth trying! I'll edit my earlier post.

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Good thinking, but no. That is not the password.

"As a matter of fact, I have. Yous suspect it is involved? good, this confirms my suspicions."

Wu's voice takes on a lecturing tone. "The Chimu were a tribe that lived in what is today Northern Peru. They are best remembered for having a very well regarded bureaucracy, which they used to heavily regulate all aspects of their empire. This aided the Inca empire immensely when they conquered them in 1476. They co-opted much of the available governance and applied it to their own empire.

There is a creature that is present throughout the art of many south American tribes, but none no more so than the Chimu. The creature is depicted as a
hunched figure with wings, curving talons, serpentine hair, and off-center pupils in its eyes." Nik understands this looks very much like the creature in the drawing they received.

"The creature was known as an Al-Apa, roughly translated to Silent One. It was so named because it could swoop out of the sky, grab its prey, and disappear within a matter of moments. What is truly fascinating is that accounts speak of this creature as though it were real. South American cultures tended to differentiate between real creatures and mythological ones which only served to teach a lesson.

"The creature itself seems to have interacted with humanity quite often. Tales tell that the Chimu found themselves able to summon the creature and use them for construction and labor. They were often used in battle against the tribe's foes. The exact summoning ritual has been lost to time, but apparently one would create a type of necklace and bond their soul with the Al-Apa in a perversion of "marriage." In exchange for it services, the Al-Apa would receive victims to feast on. Tales tell that many of the slaves the tribe captured were fed to the beasts. By the end of their civilization the relationship between the Chima and Al-Apa seems to have broken down, which may explained why they were conquered.

"In any event, I strongly suspect one of these necklaces has fallen into the hands of someone today, and is begin used to commit the grisly murders you've all been tasked with stopping. Stopping the creature is not easy, but there may be a few ways. The easiest solution would be just to destroy the necklace, but I have heard that they are nigh indestructible and have some sort of mythical protection. That said,there are other ways.

"You could kill the human summoner. As soon as they die the Al-Apa will return to its restand bother the world no longer. Until someone else wears the amulet and bonds with the creature, it will no longer be a threat. Secondly, you could try and kill the creature. But tales speak of the Al-Apa as a fearsome warrior, able to kill dozens of men before succumbing. Mind none of them had guns, but it will still prove a risky undertaking.

"There is another option, but it too is not without risk, and I would only ask you to consider it if you for whatever reason you do not feel either of the first two options can be carried out."

OOC:   For the sake of bringing the others in, I assume Nik will quickly inform them of what Wu is telling him.

[HoneyDog]

Nik

“None of these options sound very good to me Doctor” says Nik, after he has informed Marchand of the details. “What’s this other one? We might as well consider it.”

OOC:   How about al-apa as the password?

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Alas, that is not the password either.

"Very well. There is a man I have traded with on occasion that may be able to assist you. In fact I'm sure he will be able to. His name is Stephen Alzis. He runs a club in NYC.

"But that is not all he does. He's also the leader of a crime syndicate. Your organization and his have a, well, difficult history. But they have largely agreed to stay out of each other's way. Still, I do not believe your superiors would clear a meeting with him. If you wanted to meet with him you would have to keep it quiet.

"He also would not assist you for free. I've had dealings with him, and found him to be quite helpful. But he always requires something in return. I know not what this would be."

"Still, if you would like I can arrange a meeting with him. But I urge you to discuss amongst yourself which option you'd feel most comfortable pursuing."

[HoneyDog]

Nik thanks Wu and hangs up, informing the others about the call contents.

“Maybe we should get out of here now, and discuss what we’re going to do. We’ll have to confirm the break in with the locals. We can say that there was a break in, but maybe the burglar was surprised before he could take anything.”

OOC:   Kill Thomas.

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa nods. "Let's go," she says.

OOC,That may sound easier, but there are a number of problems with that. It might be better for one of us to provoke [b]Thomas[/b] so that he'll send the creature tonight, then be ready and waiting to ambush it. We have the shotgun, and the SMG is arriving today as well.

[HoneyDog]

OOC,I think that’s more risky, especially to us. Killing Thomas would be easier. But we can see what Cearlan thinks too.

[HoneyDog]

OOC,If we want to proceed, Nik will acquiesce to Vanessa as she is team leader, despite some misgivings.

Nik

I'm talking about murdering Thomas, which of course is risky for us as we can get caught, but is also morally wrong. He's just a teenager. But he's responsible for the deaths of four people, for no real reason. If we kill the monster he still needs to be made accountable, doesn't he?

Nik looks out the window of the car. "Going up against the monster with just small arms is far more risky. If we fail, Thomas is free to continue killing. And he's probably not going to stop."

"I'll do him. There'll be no blowback on you two. You don't even have to help me."

[Mr. Handy]

"If we do kill the monster," says Vanessa, "perhaps we could tip off the NSA about Thomas anonymously, but I couldn't be sure what they'd do about him. If we kill him, though, that leaves a lot of questions for others to ask. We could make it look like the monster did it, or perhaps frame the NSA. I was concerned that this would leave the case apparently unsolved, but now that the NSA has taken over it, it's not our responsibility any more."

[HoneyDog]

Nik

“Those are good points. But don’t forget, if we engage this thing with guns, we’re still going to bring a hell of a lot of attention down on ourselves which the folks at DG probably won't appreciate. One option could be to get Thomas to target the NSA agents, say by ‘accidentally’ telling him about them. We could tell him that they’ve been looking at him, we don’t know why, and they were checking out his house. He might put two and two together and assume that they were the ones who broke in. That way the monster attacks them, not us, and we will have extra guns plus a cover story – we went there to help them.”

He pauses. “Trouble is though, how does he summon the creature? Does he need something that belongs to the person? Or just their name? I’ll get on to Dr. Wu.”

He makes the call to ask his questions.

[Mr. Handy]

"That's a good idea," says Vanessa. "We could make him think the NSA was responsible for the break-in. I'll contact DG and fill them in on developments, see how far we can go in moving against the NSA."

OOC,We did plant the listening devices in [b]Thomas[/b]'s room, of course. Perhaps we could indirectly tip him off about one of them, which we want him to find, implying that the NSA planted it. DG may be able to help with making it seem that the tip came from some other source. Of course, we won't tell anyone about any others.

[HoneyDog]

OOC,Yes, the listening device should strengthen the case. This seems like a good plan, should we go down this route.

[Silver Priest]

Nik contacts Dr. Wu, who seems happy to assist.

"An interesting question. One I confess I do not know the answer to. However if I had to guess, I would suspect the Al-Apa would need a visual of the target. I am not sure if a picture would suffice, but it might. We've very little research on the subject."

Vanessa's call to MARCUS is notably less friendly.

"Shit, they're on scene?" the agent curses when Vanessa mentions the NSA's arrival. "Damn it. Alright, first, keep contact with them to a minimum. If you think they even suspect your real affiliation and mission, abort at once. Letting this become their problem is less than optimal, but so is any of our agents falling into their hands."
He listens to her plan. "If you think the kid is the source of all this, pointing him at Maj... the NSA isn't the worst idea. Just be careful, however. You don't want him to be clued into that you're manipulating him, or the other team to realize you sent him after them. If they're on site, their first and only priority is finding whatever is being used to summon this thing and exploiting it to their own ends. They don't give a shit about protecting innocents. Regardless, we do not want this creature to become an asset for their organization. The only worse outcome would be exposing yourselves to them."

He lets out a frustrated sigh. "You're team leader, you need to decide how to deal with this. If it was me making the call, I'd take the kid out quick and dump his body in some lake to keep him missing long enough to get out of there. But I don't have all the facts on the ground. So decide for yourself, but make it quick. If the NSA are there it won't take long until they piece enough together to go after the kid themselves."

[HoneyDog]

Nik thanks Wu and hangs up. When Vanessa is finished, he fills the others in on the details of the call.

"I don't think it would be easy to get a picture of those agents. It might not be possible to sic the Al-Apa on them, at least not today ."

[Mr. Handy]

"It might not be as hard as you think," says Vanessa to Nik after she finishes her call. "All we'd need is a camera with a telephoto lens, and we could take a picture from a distance. We only need a picture of one of them. I'd like to at least try to get a picture of one of them today, if we can. If that proves unworkable, then we can consider...alternative plans."

[HoneyDog]

Nik "Okay then, let's find out where those assholes are at and get a picture. If you guys don't have a suitable camera, we can probably borrow one from the locals. Do the picture, get it developed and then get it to Thomas. One of us will need to shadow the NSA team. We need to pick up the gear from DG. An extra shotgun wouldn't go amiss either. Maybe we can borrow that too. What do you think?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Sounds good to me," says Vanessa. "We can ask the local cops for the whereabouts of the NSA agents, and maybe we can borrow an extra shotgun from them. There's no time to get one from DG. I've at least had some stealth training, so I can be the tail. They've already made you, so you're out anyway."

[HoneyDog]

Nik

"Okay, lets get to the precinct. After, I'll meet up with DG while you trail the agents."