Making the Bomb

[Konrad Roth]

Equipment: Full-Size Van, Expensive Suit, Combat Knife, Beretta 950, .25 ACP Ammo (16 cart), Prybar, Shovel
-1 Vitae for Blush of Life

Meeting up with Josephine, Konrad is able to acquire the funds to purchase the chemicals from his Black Market contacts. However, there is no one from his network that can fill the order that Konrad is asking for. His attempts to weasel into the company of bigger traffickers leads to nothing, at least not without more time and effort.

He informs the Reeve of this, assuring her that they'll still have enough for his bomb-maker to work with. He offers to bring her along in his van for the exchange before they head over to where the bomb-maker is waiting, giving her special treatment as a prospective client.

Given Konrad's Allies 4 (Criminals), Konrad can only secure Resource 3 worth of materials (+1 for black market acquisition). Josephine has the chance to renege on her end of the deal if she finds this to her dissatisfaction.

[Josephine Sterling]

Equipment: Glock in purse, pen, paper, phone, de monies.

In a story that had once been burned into monochromatic infamy on film, an incredible boorish character in a cowboy hat had shared the revelation that he "never carried more than he could afford to lose". And, though Josephine would take any sort of comparison to that character as a grievous insult, she did have to admit that it wasn't an unwise sentiment to have. Thus, when she arrived to meet Konrad with a bag full of cash in addition to her purse there was no anxiety as to the fate of those funds. At worst, it would delay her plans, but she was persistent. Some would say blindly so, but again, such words would be taken as impotent insults rather than cautionary sentiments.

Thus it wasn't concern or fear that prompted the Reeve to accept Konrad's gracious offer to accompany him to the deal, but rather curiosity. She did not have many dealings with what most would call "the criminal underworld", but that did not dissuade her fascination with them. Indeed, though they were motivated by the same greed and callousness as most any other business, they were also willing to embrace the adversarial role they held with society. And, as always, Josephine was very interested in witnessing the Devil's work...

Alas, the meeting was soon over, funds exchanged for goods, and then they were on to meet this mysterious bombmaker. An artisan the Reeve intended to offer patronage rather frequently...

Then 4 resources worth of materials will be purchased!

[Konrad Roth]

Loosening the tie from around his neck, little else shows that Konrad is in any state but business-mode. Josephine's Beast is of little comfort in the van, despite the deal having gone off without a hitch. He reminds himself of her role within the Domain and her supportive counsel as he focuses on the road instead of her rivaling presence. With the chemicals loaded and tied down in the cargo space of the van, they had to be careful not to have an accident that might make them all go up in flames. He drives slightly below the speed limit on back roads to make sure they get to their destination.

That destination is the Moore House, where he promised to rendezvous with Kenneth Gilroy . He's sure that Josephine can put two and two together to figure out who Konrad's bomb-making contact is. He had only heard of Kenneth's 'talents' while eavesdropping on her conversation with him, but Konrad had been the one to pursue an understanding with the craven worm.

The van is parked carefully, the engine shut off, and Konrad gets out from the drivers seat with keys in hand as he heads to the back to retrieve the chemicals, carefully moving them to the pavement.

Leaving them there for the moment, Konrad walks over to the front door where he knocks loudly, hoping Kenneth will hear him.

[Kenneth Gilroy]

The knock came as Kenneth finished pulling on his galoshes. He'd brought most of the equipment he needed from the university. The demolition kit that Konrad had provided was set up in the main room of the Moore House. It made Gilroy a little uncomfortable to have something illegal just sitting 'out in the open', even within the sanctuary of the church. The fact that five heavy blankets sat nearby didn't help either. Insurance in case a fire needed to be put out. Assuming the flame was dependent on oxygen. He really needed to buy some specialty extinguishers. Not that those would help against frenzy. Or the concussive force of a high energy explosion.

The worm slunk over to the door and opened it. There was only a little bit of self consciousness at being dressed in a lab coat, heavy gloves, and carrying a gas mask. Then the Haunt saw the chemicals and any potential embarrassment over appearance faded. The reality set in. This was happening. He was making a bomb for god knew what. He could do this.

"Good evening Brother Konrad, Sister Josephine. Please come in.'' He refrained from titles until they were safely inside. If someone was watching, the pretense of a religious meeting was probably pretty thin at this point but a paper shield was more than nothing.

Equipment: Chem gear acts as reinforced clothes (lab coat, gloves, air filtration mask, galoshes), Demolition Kit, Five heavy blankets

[Josephine Sterling]

What a strange company they made, the three of them. Certainly, there must be significance in that. A touch of providence in how often their dark engines brought them together.

"Good evening, Bishop Gilroy," Josephine said, a devilishly pleased smile appearing on her face as she caught sight of the vermin in the lab coat. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. And I hope that neither of you mind that I do not help you carry in the materials. I'm afraid I'm not terribly suited to the task, though your labor is much appreciated."

Flimsy comfort for them, perhaps, but it was truth, the Reeve thought as she stepped inside the Moore House, obsidian eyes roving hungrily over the building that had once given her spiritual harbor.

It seemed all too fitting that her engine of destruction be brought into being here.

[Konrad Roth]

"Evening," says Konrad pleasantly despite the crawling sensation on his skin, as if the worm himself for oozing over it with his very presence.

"Brought the materials. Not as much as we hoped originally, but more than enough," he explains, turning his shoulders and gesturing to the containers sitting on the ground.

Josephine's declining to help only elicits a smirk from the Savage. "No problem, I'll take care of it." Whether she shuns the manual labor because of weakness or because it is beneath her station, he cannot tell. It may be a weakness either way.

Konrad takes his time moving individual canisters into the funeral home. He sees the kit he had acquired for Kenneth set up in the main room. Here will be where the biochemist's true talents would be tested.

[Kenneth Gilroy]

Was it possible there was something Josephine feared despite her faith? Or perhaps because of it. Her penance no doubt continued. Assuming she hadn't abandoned it after seeing him as unworthy of being her confessor. Or was this a minor revenge of sorts.

He examined her as she glided past him. Flawless pale skin shone like satin covering steel and insanity. The lesser mind told him to turn and run but the worm watched her movements for a second, trying to see what her real motive was. However, the Reeve, while imperfect in mind remained perfect in body. And inscrutable. Not that it truly mattered in the moment because he still followed her request and went to retrieve the ‘materials’. Inert chemicals held no fear for him.

“Here, let me help,” he said as he took some of the load from Konrad and began examining what he had been brought. Black market compounds. Who knew how pure they were.

  failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-04-26 19:23:33		Kenneth Gilroy rolls 5 to Motives Wits+Empathy (10 Again)		3, 4, 1, 1, 7		failure

[Josephine Sterling]

"I shall have to watch you carefully," Josephine said as Kenneth came into the main room again, her voice dark with portent.

"So that I might learn how to perform this process myself, in the future," she clarified, the eagerness in her smile revealing precisely why such a statment was worrying coming from her.

She had already proven her willingness to perform destruction before the entire Domain, after all. What would she be willing to do once she had a tool as potent as this? Destroy her enemies of course. For now, it was clear that those were the rebels following Brady, though, again, she had also proven she was not above making enemies of those that were once...neutral, at the least.

"You know," she continued, "we three happen to possess quite complimentary skills in addition to our shared faith. I'm curious as to what else we might have in common, or in compliment."

[Konrad Roth]

Konrad thanks Kenneth with an appreciative nod as they finish moving the canisters to the main room. Konrad shuts the van and locks it before entering the Moore House and shutting those doors behind him.

He regards Josephine, who declares her intention. Though he doubts she will learn much from simply watching. Konrad knew Kenneth's value came from his expert knowledge and likely years of research. At least Konrad assumes so, having seen Kenneth in a lab and the confidence he carried when accepting their original arrangement. He'd hate to be wrong about the worm.

"Yeah? I suppose we do," he agrees with her. The Reeve never seems one for idle chit chat. He wonders if she's leading up to something. "Resourcefulness, I'd say. And we've got our priorities straight," he suggests, filling in the blanks. In other words, they have an understanding. Maybe more so than with others, even if that understanding is layered with deception.

Turning back to Kenneth he says, "So, Bishop, with what we've got here, what sort of trigger can you come up with? I'm more concerned with being able to detonate this thing safely than the size of the explosion. Course it's your call, Reeve."

[Kenneth Gilroy]

The worm stood hunched and stolid at Josephine’s words. He wasn’t at all sure how he felt about her learning how make explosives. No… he knew exactly how he felt about it, he just couldn’t express the terror he had at that idea. She could force Kenneth place a bomb, enshroud it in shadows so it wouldn’t be found, and then erase his memory of having done so. Then again, she could do that now but it could hardly be avoided at present. The worm stayed silent and bit his lip, not wishing to give her more ammunition than she desired.

“I can create any trigger you’d like but safety, swiftnes, and surety are all trade offs between each other. Even a timed fuse is relatively safe but easy to diffuse. Plus, you’d still need someone to arm the bomb where you plan to have it go off.” It had been a concern he’d brought up before. "Whatever you're comfortable with, I'll build." Gilroy hoped that the Prefect had found someone other than the worm to arm this bomb in the field.

"So," the Bishop began as he started testing chemical purity "how powerful and how big an explosion are you wanting?" It sounded like minimum shaped blast for maximum force but he wanted to confirm.

Even assuming max force and minimum radius,; in the back of his mind, the worm (depending on their answer) worried he might be destroying the Elysium.