Roots

[Cotton]

Daniel listens to Ali's account of the fight, but doesn't gleam as much from it as he had hoped.

Spoiler:

Psychology 05%
[dice]0[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

"Did Karen ever mention a place called Geverlon or a woman named Joy?" Catherine asks Ali when she arrives.

[Silver Priest]

Tobias finds nothing out of the ordinary. The prints seem to match up to the number of people said to be here, but other than that reveal little.

HelplessBystander,Just out of curiosity, is Tobias wearing the tailsman?

Daniel can't gleam much from Ali's words, but it sounds truthful enough. The boys all tell a similar tale. They were playing football when the girls headed off into the woods. Maybe a half hour later, Ali came back, seemingly angry at Karen.

Catherine and Tobias if he wishes can quickly speak to Ali and the other kids. The pretty young girl shakes her head.

“No, I didn't hear anything like that. It was all accusing me of cheating on Gordon.”

OOC:   Both Catherine and Tobias can roll psychology to get a general feel of things.

It's around this time that a car emerges out of the woods and pulls into the campground. A man and a teenage boy get out, both look quite grave. Kim looks to her husband but he gives her a shake of the head before heading over to the investigators.

“I'm Graham Hodge, Kim's husband.” Steve and I have been looking out there for any signs of her, but there's nothing. We've been to the bus stop and there was no sign of her. Same with the gas station a few miles away. It's the closest building around these parts, and no one there has seen her.”

Steve nods in confirmation, looking rather anxious and worried.

[HelplessBystander]

OOC:   it’s sewn into the design of his leather wallet. One of those cheap ones filled with floral line patterns.

Psychology 60%,[dice]0[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

"We have an idea of where she may have gone," Catherine says. "We're planning to head there next to see if she's there. She may in fact have taken the bus, but not home."

OOC,Psychology roll (65% skill) about [b]Ali[/b]: [dice]0[/dice]

[Silver Priest]

As best as the trio can tell, Ali is telling the truth.

Graham Hodge seems relieved that they have some idea where Karen went. "Thank God. Honestly, it's not even so much the fear of foul play as it is nature itself. These woods can get pretty thick. I'd hate for her to have started off and gotten injured somewhere along the way."

"We've searched the surrounding area pretty well though," pipes up Steve. "And I don't think she's here. You guys should definitely check further north. Maybe she went up that way." From the maps Catherine and Tobias had seen, Geverlon is northwest of here.

There's only one road connecting the campsite to civilization. Following it to the south, it leads along the edge of the woods before joining a four way intersection and bus station. A road here to the north leads through the woods and towards Geverlon. If Karen went to the town, she probably went this way, unless she decided to go off the beaten path and trek through the woods directly.

OOC:   Not trying to force you guys hand as it were. If you'd like to interview anyone further or do anything else before checking out the road, it's entirely possible.

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias plans to interview the remainder of the kids there to see if they can help reconstruct a clearer picture of what happened.

[Mr. Handy]

"You have a picture of Karen, right?" Catherine asks Tobias. "That way we can show it to people where we're going so we can find out if anyone's seen her."

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias nodded in affirmation, before handing it to her. "Here's the photo. Do you think it would be a good idea to print multiple copies of it to pass around?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Thanks," says Catherine. "Yes, it's a good idea, as long as it doesn't take too much time."

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias nodded, “Well, there’s a few stationery shops nearby, and I’m sure there’s few printers there that we use.”

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Here's Tobias most recent picture of Karen,a fairly recent one:

Karen,[img]https://s1.postimg.org/960tiaobcv/Karen.png[/img]

The other teens and Graham seem to collaborate Ali's story. With the exception of Steve, they were all playing football when they and saw her and Karen going off into the woods early that morning. Maybe a half hour later Ali returned, complaing loudly about what Karen had said.

There's no area to print copies of the pictures around, but the maps Tobias and Catherine saw pointed out a gas station about halfway down the road between here and Geverlon. There might be printers there. Or they could go back to town and try their luck there.

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias peered more closely at the maps. "Hmm...Maybe we could go to the gas station and make a few photocopies there. It shouldn't take long and it's basically pretty close to where we are as of now. What do you guys say?"

[Mr. Handy]

"All right," says Catherine. "We'll stop at the gas station."

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias nodded and said, "Thank you for being agreeable, madam."

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Just going to wait and see if Daniel wants to do anything different before we move on.

[Cotton]

Daniel will call both his brother and one of his coworkers at the station, and let them know what the plan is. He knows that his colleagues can't do much as of right now, but it never hurts to have everyone updated. Past that he will follow Tobias and Catherine's lead, but will take his own car.

[Silver Priest]

Paul is appreciative of Daniel's feedback, and promises to call if they hear anything. The police as well say to keep them informed, though Daniel suspects they're doing this more to placate him and still are treating this as a runaway.

The investigators retrace their steps and quickly leave the campsite behind, going down the road until they reach the intersection along with a bus stop. The road heads further north, and as that's the road to both Geverlon and the gas station, they follow it. Only a few minutes into their drive do they spy a boarded up shack on the side of the road. A sign nearby warns the building is structurally dangerous, which it certainly looks to be, and it does not seem that anything has been in it recently. Here too there is another bus stop leading further north, with one on the other side of the road leading back the way they came.

OOC:   Let me know if anyone wants to do anything with the shack, but other than that, there's really nothing to see here but road and dense foliage.

A short way up north, the trio spy a gas station on the opposite side of the road. Attached to it is a modest garage for working on vehicles. It seems fairly modern, if somewhat rundown. But the price for gas seems reasonable for these parts. The team could certainly stop here and head inside the main station; lights are on and it seems occupied.

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias headed into the gas station and had look around before talking to the receptionist. "Excuse me, do you mind if we were use your printer to print a few things-or-two?"

[Silver Priest]

The insides of the gas station are filled with a few rows of cheap magazines and snacks and sodas. Behind the counter sits a large, tough looking woman who looks to be in her thirties. She's wearing glasses and neat overalls, and looks up from the magazine she's reading with a scowl.

"Printer's for paying customers only."