Chapter 4b: Listening in (Ray, Nat, Tobias)

[HelplessBystander]

"Well...Whatever makes you happy, sweetheart." Tobias made a quick, but slightly strained smile at Rachael before placing all the food into individual bowls. He turned to his wife and whispered, "Rachael's found some 'friends' who lives here, I think they might be...hippies." Shuddering slightly for added effect..

"I found an old acquaintance who had picked up a job, I'm gonna tag along for a day or two, nothing serious that detracts from our vacay and anyways, there's probably a quick buck for two days' work in it." He announced over the small, cheap dinner table. Sharing dinner with his, uh, immediate family for the first time in a long while.

[evil_scientist]

"Stop saying hippies! They are not hippies. They just don't want to live like you do," Rachel concurs. "And I just want to have my own life," she says, stands up from the table, runs to her room, and slams the door behind herself.

Heidi looks at Tobias.

"Just... just go. I will try to speak with her later."

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias looked like he had just been slapped on the face, with a sigh of dejection, he wrote a quick letter of apology and slid it under Rachael's bedroom door, "This was supposed to be a holiday...where we could, you know, bond together a bit more. I'm going to go for a walk."

He exited the hotel to meet up with the group, feeling significantly worse for wear, brooding over the events that happened over dinner.

[evil_scientist]

On the way back, Tobias is tortured by the thoughts of her daughter's possibly still on-going connection with the very cult he is investigating. He understands, that it could easily be Rachel in Elizabeth's place!

He makes it back to the stake-out position and joins the others.

Darkness is slowly moving in.

Here, in the desert, where there are no street lamps in miles, the night feels strange. Alien. A black substance, covering everything. The faint light of the moon is not enough to disperse it...

OOC,So Ray and Nat go sneaking in, what about Tobias? New threads coming soon, probably tomorrow. In the meantime, how are you planning, preparing? Anything you want to agree upon, etc. You can do this OOC or IC, here in this topic.

Maps,From what you've been able to establish so far, the compound looks like this: [attachment=1]Compound map.png[/attachment] [list=1][*]Not a proper building, just a tin roof on rows of posts. There is some old farming equipment (ploughs etc.), and crates covered with tarps. [*]A single-storey house, made of pre-fab elements. From what you've gathered, [b]Elizabeth[/b] lives in this building, and now [b]Julie[/b] sleeps there too. [*]Outhouse. Simple wooden cabin. [*]A single-story brick house, with an open porch along the long side facing the center. It looks like the oldest building in the place. [*]The newly- built hangar or barn. It's entrance (a double gate, currently closed) is facing the center of the compound. [*]In this area, the earth is ploughed, and there are some things planted - tomatoes and the like. It's all haphazardly worked. [*]A rusty trailer, a leftover from the 1950s, propped up with bricks. Adjacent to the trailer, a tarp is stretched out to provide shade. When [b]Nat[/b] ran to the compound, he approached from this side (the East). The sickly looking girl who offered him water lives in the trailer. (North is up)[/list] [attachment=0]Map.png[/attachment]

[Cotton]

OOC:   I cant recall whether or not we got a set of walkie talkies in addition to the wire we set Julie up with. If we did then I think Nat and Ray should have one and Tobias should stay behind with the other. If not I think we should have someone to keep monitoring the wiretap anyway. Also would it be possible for Ray to have a pistol he can conceal on himself?

[evil_scientist]

OOC,No, Ray only got the wire equipment. Make two [b]Luck[/b] rolls. If you roll two successes, you can have both the walkies and the pistol. With one success, it's your choice (a pair of walkies OR a pistol). Walkie talkies have a range of about 200 feet.

[HelplessBystander]

"Alright, so what are we going to do? What's the big plan?" Tobias said in a gravelly voice, as he blew a cloud of smoke out of his mouth using the pipe in his hands. Smoking the old-fashioned way.

[evil_scientist]

"Alright, so what are we going to do? What's the big plan?" Tobias said in a gravelly voice, as he blew a cloud of smoke out of his mouth using the pipe in his hands. Smoking the old-fashioned way.

OOC,Tobias is free to propose plans as well.

[aine]

Nat is refreshed from his nap and feels ready for anything. He looks at Ray's outline. "You're the boss, what do you want to do? I reckon we can find a gap in the fence, especially on the far side where I was before. That's the closest to the hanger too. Do we just feel around for some rocks and then scram?"

[HelplessBystander]

“Hmm...I feel like that takes an unwarranted risk. How can we be certain that we can make a clean getaway? We need to have someone observe the situation from the outside and be in close contact.” Tobias proposed.

[Cotton]

Ray says, "Tobias, my thought was that you would be able to stay with the car and drive over if you heard some kind of commotion through Julie's mic. I think we'll have a better chance driving than outrunning the cult if needed, but I don't think we could move the car closer than it is now. Nat if the cult isn't in that hangar at the time we're over there then I'd like to look inside to see if any part of that boulder Dr. Corman told us about is still around. Otherwise we might just have to grab what we can and beat feet. If there's something in the area that's giving off enough radiation to give people radiation sickness, and we can prove that, we might be able to get the Temple of Concordance kicked off the land. Something like that could be enough to break up the whole group, and be just the wake up call Elizabeth needs."

Spoiler:

[dice]0[/dice]

[dice]1[/dice]

Just the pistol then I think.

[evil_scientist]

OOC - Cotton,Okay, Ray has a .32 Automatic [1d8 damage, 15 yrds base range, 1(3) uses/round, 8 bullets in mag, malfunction 99]

[aine]

"Wow Boss" Nat says watching Ray checking the pistol, "You're thinking you might need that? Okay, well if it all hits the fan we'll high-tail it out of the main gate and the oldster can pick us up in the car."

[evil_scientist]

With some hiss and crackle, the radio comes alive. Julie's wire starts transmitting again. One of the Investigators quickly picks up the headphones and catches Julie reporting to them. Looks like she's found a place where she can safely speak, without fear of being overheard.

"...took a nap to save the battery, but I'm back now. I guess I've got about fourteen hours of battery life left. I'm really concerned that that girl Sy has been exposed to radiation. If you haven't already, you should try to find out if there was some nuclear testing or something done in this area, or if there's a nuclear power plant that could be leaking. I seriously doubt they could be hiding a nuclear reactor here. There's some sort of prayer and meditation session about to start. I'm not allowed in, being new here, but I'm going to go try and listen in, and I hope you'll be able to hear it too. If I ever need you guys to pull me out, I'll say the word 'fiddlesticks.' If you ever hear me say that word again, it means I'm in big trouble and you should come get me. Wish me luck."

[Cotton]

Ray shakes his head, "I don't think I'll need it, but better to hope for the best and prepare for the worst than vice versa." And upon hearing what Julie has to say, "Elizabeth is lucky to have a friend like her. Let's make sure we're all on our toes so we can fulfill our end of things, and maybe help those other people out too. Let's wait until we hear they're about to start and then move in."

[HelplessBystander]

Ray says, "Tobias, my thought was that you would be able to stay with the car and drive over if you heard some kind of commotion through Julie's mic. I think we'll have a better chance driving than outrunning the cult if needed, but I don't think we could move the car closer than it is now. Nat if the cult isn't in that hangar at the time we're over there then I'd like to look inside to see if any part of that boulder Dr. Corman told us about is still around. Otherwise we might just have to grab what we can and beat feet. If there's something in the area that's giving off enough radiation to give people radiation sickness, and we can prove that, we might be able to get the Temple of Concordance kicked off the land. Something like that could be enough to break up the whole group, and be just the wake up call Elizabeth needs."

Spoiler:

[dice]212038:0[/dice]

[dice]212038:1[/dice]

Just the pistol then I think.

"Sure, no worries." Tobias said, shrugging.

[evil_scientist]

Darkness sets in. The stars are blinking as the earth gives off the heat it gathered during the day. The thin sickly moon is too weak to shed light on the desert.

The Investigators carefully (with the lights off) move the car closer to the compound. Now they are parked behind a rock, some 300 yards from the fence.

Tobias stays behind, monitoring Julie's wire.

Tobias,After Julie's report, there's some shuffling and footsteps. Julie is moving in some direction.

Tobias watches Nat and Ray melt into the night...

Nat and Ray,The "dynamic duo" gets ready for the mission! Under the cover of darkness, they quickly cover the distance, and circle around to the east side of the compound, where Nat approached it last time. The fence is indeed in poor condition. Nat finds a place where one can crawl through under it, if careful. Of course, doing the same in a hurry would be more difficult. All the buildings are dark. There are no people visible on the territory. [attachment=0]Compound map.png[/attachment] [i]Ray and Nat are on the right/East side of the map![/i] [list=1][*]Not a proper building, just a tin roof on rows of posts. There is some old farming equipment (ploughs etc.), and crates covered with tarps. [*]A single-storey house, made of pre-fab elements. From what you've gathered, Elizabeth lives in this building, and now Julie sleeps there too. [*]Outhouse. Simple wooden cabin. [*]A single-story brick house, with an open porch along the long side facing the center. It looks like the oldest building in the place. [*]The newly- built hangar or barn. It's entrance (a double gate, currently closed) is facing the center of the compound. [*]In this area, the earth is ploughed, and there are some things planted - tomatoes and the like. It's all haphazardly worked. [*]A rusty trailer, a leftover from the 1950s, propped up with bricks. Adjacent to the trailer, a tarp is stretched out to provide shade. When Nat ran to the compound, he approached from this side (the East). The sickly looking girl who offered him water lives in the trailer.[/list] (North is up)

OOC:   I'm keeping you in this topic, but putting stuff under spoilers! Please, put your actions under spoilers too!

[aine]

Spoiler:

Nat whispers to Ray, "Do you think they'll do their meditation in the barn? Like it's a chapel or suchlike? In which case we need to get in and out before prayers." He leads the way to the even darker shadow under the tarp at 7.

[Cotton]

Spoiler:

Ray whispers back, "I think that's the most likely place yeah. Let's get to the side closest to us, and se what we can hear." With that, he heads for the side of the barn, sticking to the east and giving the little plot of farmland as wide a berth as he can.

[aine]

Spoiler:

Nat listens and sniffs now that his eyes are a bit compromised by the darkness.

listen,(20%) roll:08