Investigating A Disappearance

[Premsyl]

Arnold studies the phone messages, texts, and finally the note the former Prefect had delivered him, all on the subject of O-Yama's disappearance. The matter had something to do with the Lost Nights, and if Bennett's letter had been accurate, these people - whoever they were - were very organized.

He sits in the passenger seat of his black SUV, his ghoul Gary at the wheel. They've driven up and parked at the location that O-Yama had mentioned in his text message to Asa, Ishani, Twist, and himself.

Without getting out of the truck he looks the area over.

[DaevaDude]

Narration:

It is with some difficulty that Arnold is able to see O-Yama's car, parked as it is in a dark spot off the country road, shaded by overhanging tree branches.

Arnold notices a red sticker placed on the windshield of the vehicle, indicating that the mortal authorities count it as an abandoned vehicle, planned for towing to an impound lot.

Arnold notices the area to be very quiet. There are no lights nearby, and there is fairly thick brush and tree cover on both sides of the road for about a half-mile each way from where O-Yama's car is parked. If someone wanted to set up an ambush in an isolated place, one could certainly pick a worse spot.

[Premsyl]

"We're going to walk over there and check out the vehicle, Gary. Go ahead, and I will follow you. You won't see me, but I will be there."

Gary nods, grabbing a mag-lite from between the seats. He climbs out of the truck, holding the light in his left hand.

As Gary climbs out of the truck Arnold opens the door, stepping out onto the street. He touches his Ax in the back seat, attempting for a moment to hide it from view. The weapon's size presents some difficulty, however, and Arnold decides that it would be easier to hide himself rather than just the weapon. He picks up the axe, and slips on the Cloak of Night once Gary has walked a little bit down the road, his back turned to the Nosferatu. It takes a moment's concentration, but before long he's invisible.

Dice Rolls

2009-09-09 00:02:59 Arnold rolls 8 to Cloak of Night Re-try (10 Again) 4, 7, 9, 8, 3, 4, 5, 7 2 successes
2009-09-09 00:02:45 Arnold rolls 9 to Cloak of Night (10 Again) 7, 1, 6, 6, 7, 4, 1, 1, 1 failure
2009-09-08 23:48:55 Arnold rolls 4 to wits3+larc1+obf3-3 (10 Again) 6, 6, 2, 5 failure

Arnold follows behind Gary, keeping his eye on his surroundings as Gary walks over and shines his light into the car.

[DaevaDude]

Things are quiet on this country road this night. Nothing stands out regarding his surroundsing, save what he noticed earlier, that this stretch of road is ideal for an ambusy. There may be more to see, but if so, Arnold will have to seek out those secrets through carefully searching the area.

Looking into the car, Arnold sees it is unlocked, and that the keys are still in the ignition. He sees no sign of O-Yama's blades, but he does notice dried blood on the floor mat on the driver's side, and some stains on the seat.

To find anything more will require closer examination.

To search the car or the surroundings will require Wits + Investigation rolls (one each for the environment and the car). Due to the flashlight, there is no penalty for this component of the search.

You can roll for Gary as well, and if Gary is successful, Arnold's roll receives a +1 (or +2 if Gary gets an Exceptional Success). Gary failing the roll does not penalize Arnold's roll.

[Premsyl]

Gary goes through the interior of the car, and looks around the area surrounding the abandoned car, but he really has no idea what he's looking for.

Arnold, however, has a somewhat clearer idea of what's suspicious and what's not, and he conducts his search along those lines. He pays extra attention to the area around the car. Someone like O-Yama doesn't get cornered in his car. He fights.

Investigation Dice Rolls

2009-09-09 18:12:05 Arnold Culler rolls 8 to wits+investigate (environment) (10 Again, WillPower) 4, 2, 4, 3, 8, 10, 6, 2, 8 3 successes
2009-09-09 18:08:31 Arnold Culler rolls 5 to wits+investigate (car interior) (10 Again) 8, 7, 6, 1, 1 1 success
2009-09-09 18:07:50 Gary rolls 1 to wits+investigate (environment) (Chance) 8 failure
2009-09-09 18:07:19 Gary rolls 1 to Wits+Investigate (car interior) (Chance) 6 failure

[DaevaDude]

A little from the car, near the road, Arnold finds a couple footprints well dug into the gravel. They aren't clear, but the fact that they are still visible at all suggests that this was probably a spot in which O-Yama dug in, and the most likely reasons he'd do that would be because of a struggle of some sort, or because he took off running at that point. If it was a run, the direction of the prints would suggest he ran down the road back the way he came.

Arnold finds that the car is out of gas, the battery dead, because the ignition key was left on. This suggests to him that O-Yama left the car in a hurry, and was also probably suspecting he might need to take off in a hurry. That obviously didn't happen, though.

There might be more to discover in the car or in the area around it, but that would require further time. The same is true of doing a larger search of the surrounding area.

in game terms, Arnold can do one or more of these searches as an Extended skill check, following normal rules for number of possible rolls, cumulative penalties for failed rolls, etc. Assume that for a car search, each roll = 2-3 minutes of searching, while each roll in the environment = about 15 minutes.

[Premsyl]

Arnold quietly instructs Gary as to where to shine the light as he combs the area over course of the next couple hours or so. He devotes some time to the car, and the area around it, and then he does a sweep of the surrounding area. Each time Gary begins to stray with the light Arnold's stern voice emerges from the darkness, reminding his ghoul that, though he may not always be seen, that he is always there.

Investigate the Car - 12suxx

2009-09-09 21:09:49 [05] Arnold rolls 5 to Investigates the Car (10 Again) 10, 10, 3, 9, 9, 5, 7 4 successes
2009-09-09 21:09:49 [04] Arnold rolls 5 to Investigates the Car (10 Again) 1, 3, 9, 9, 8 3 successes
2009-09-09 21:09:49 [03] Arnold rolls 5 to Investigates the Car (10 Again) 10, 5, 7, 2, 2, 9 2 successes
2009-09-09 21:09:49 [02] Arnold rolls 5 to Investigates the Car (10 Again) 3, 5, 1, 8, 9 2 successes
2009-09-09 21:09:49 [01] Arnold rolls 5 to Investigates the Car (10 Again) 5, 10, 1, 1, 6, 2 1 success

Investigate Around the Car - 10suxx

2009-09-09 21:10:19 [05] Arnold rolls 5 to Investigate the area around the car (10 Again) 1, 10, 3, 7, 2, 8 2 successes
2009-09-09 21:10:19 [04] Arnold rolls 5 to Investigate the area around the car (10 Again) 1, 4, 10, 2, 2, 6 1 success
2009-09-09 21:10:19 [03] Arnold rolls 5 to Investigate the area around the car (10 Again) 2, 2, 7, 6, 10, 3 1 success
2009-09-09 21:10:19 [02] Arnold rolls 5 to Investigate the area around the car (10 Again) 5, 1, 10, 6, 9, 4 2 successes
2009-09-09 21:10:19 [01] Arnold rolls 5 to Investigate the area around the car (10 Again) 3, 9, 9, 4, 10, 8 4 successes

Sweep the Rest of the Area - re-rolled to correct mistake - 9suxx

2009-09-09 21:17:52 [05] Arnold rolls 5 to Sweep the Rest of the Area (re-roll considering extended roll limitations) (10 Again) 9, 3, 3, 10, 2, 4 2 successes
2009-09-09 21:17:52 [04] Arnold rolls 5 to Sweep the Rest of the Area (re-roll considering extended roll limitations) (10 Again) 1, 7, 7, 8, 8 2 successes
2009-09-09 21:17:52 [03] Arnold rolls 5 to Sweep the Rest of the Area (re-roll considering extended roll limitations) (10 Again) 6, 4, 7, 8, 6 1 success
2009-09-09 21:17:52 [02] Arnold rolls 5 to Sweep the Rest of the Area (re-roll considering extended roll limitations) (10 Again) 3, 10, 8, 5, 5, 3 2 successes
2009-09-09 21:17:52 [01] Arnold rolls 5 to Sweep the Rest of the Area (re-roll considering extended roll limitations) (10 Again) 6, 9, 3, 1, 8 2 successes

[DaevaDude]

Within the car, on the floor by the front passenger's seat, Arnold finds an odd object.

The object consists of a metal disk about the width and twice the thickness of a thumb tack, and tapered, barbed glass needle protruding from one side of the disc. The entire thing is about 1 1/4' inch long. The glass needle appears hollow.

Arnold doesn't find anything else unusual in or immediately around the car, but he does find something strange along the road a ways back the way he came, and apparently the way O-Yama went when he left his car. On each side of the road, he finds a spot on the ground where some brush has been chopped away, and beyond these spots, he finds evidence of something dug or scored into a sturdy object (a tree trunk in one case, a fence post on the other. Looking closer, it appears to him as if some sort of cable had been wrapped around these objects, and pressure exerted against the cables, causing them to dig into the wood.

[Premsyl]

Arnold deduces that the needle and disk appears to him to be a sort of dart, or part of one at least. Whatever it was, he reasoned, it must have had something to do with O-Yama's disappearance.

The scuff-marks on the trees were less suspicious than the dart. Even so, images flash through Arnold's mind as to what could have caused such a thing. O-Yama had suggested that he was dealing with the perpetrators of the Lost Nights, after all.

It was clear, Arnold felt, that if O-Yama had met Final Death that it had not been while he was in his car, and it was even unlikely that it had occurred in the general vicinity of the car. If O-Yama lived, and was free, then they would have heard from him, however. Something had caused O-Yama to leave his vehicle without a struggle and from there his trail went cold.

He sighs inwardly. He didn't learn as much as he'd have liked to, but it had been more than he expected. He had hoped, even, to find O-Yama dead rather than missing. That would at least close one side of the case. As it was the focus of the case was still finding O-Yama.

With some reluctance he decides to leave the scene, deciding that he had likely found everything he was going to find here tonight. He takes the small object he'd found and places it in his pocket wrapped in a handkerchief.

He instructs Gary to get into O-Yama's car and follow him back to Avalon. He would have a Mekhet check the car and the needle. Perhaps using the powers of Auspex would give them some insight on O-Yama's location, or the needle's origin.

He takes out his phone, deciding to attempt engaging the help of the Mekhet Priscus and former Sheriff.

[DaevaDude]

ST Note: O-Yama's car will need a jump, as the battery is dead, plus it is out of gas.