PrP: J&V - Next Steps

[Xadun]

The name Matthew is a typo in the previous post, it's only Michael. There aren't three names to keep track of, only Tobias and Michael. Sorry about that!

Also, in order to move past the earlier confusion (and account for the number of successes), I'm going to gently overwrite Circe's comments about not researching Washburne and provide the data as a part of that roll.

Circe's online search corroborates what Ram mentions about Tobias. Online records from a standard High school in Louisiana line up with the time frame Ram has, although the records seem to be incomplete. A little more digging attribute this to transcription from paper files, some of which were missing when the school (finally) went digital in the late 2000s.

Again, there seem to be no online records on Tobias Morgan from the early 90s. Not particularly unusual from a person in that time, but no Tobias Morgan lining up to the same age in the area.

Her search on Washburne in the local area brings up the same article and, following the same lines as Gerrit did in person, records of the firefighter Michael Washburne, his registration as a government employee and current department location, though looking for any personal details hits the Government firewall.

The Summer Queen also finds a more indirect link - a father's day Facebook post from this year, posted up by a 21-year old wirey-looking blonde named Hayley Washburne.

"Happy Father's day to the best Dad ever Michael Washburne - for always being there when I need you! Love you always xoxo"

Included is a selfie of the girl in an excitable pose doing peace signs, and behind her in the in causal t-shirt of the SFD is a man looking away from the camera in a dramatic eye-roll, with a side-profile almost identical to that of the Mask of the Summer Ogre. To Circe and Ram, this looks like the man they encountered in the dream, aged about 30 years.

Origins , we know Circe is the hacking type so breaking through Government firewalls would need a separate Computers roll to the investigatory search, at a -2 (to crack the firewall and cover her tracks).

I'm happy to add this into the research roll f you wish.

[Titania]

She crosses her hands above her head. It seemed like they had slowly clued together the various pieces of the puzzle.
Still, all this talk about blitzing suggested a violent streak, that, given his Court, was an understatement.
"Are you sure you want to go that route? I know it's your life... but spying, perhaps trying to collect more information, even letting us engage him before any actual action, might prove more fruitful. Aren't you at least curious?", she was playing devil's advocate, but she knew she was right.

[Gerrit]

Gerrit listened to all the pieces of information and the opinions on the matter. It seemed like they had several avenues they could take, several leads to follow. A heavy feeling grew in the Ogre's gut - he ignored it for now and went over to Ram. The legwork in the Fetch's dream seemed to take a toll on the Render, understandably so. Gerrit put a hand on Ram's shoulder, just to show him that he had friends who would shoulder this burden with him.

"In the end it's your call. First, we should probably get on the same page what you want to do with it once you actually find it." Of course he had a suspicion (hence the ball of anxiety in his stomach), but this was Ram's battle and he should voice himself what he wanted to do with the thing that took his life. Gerrit didn't want to resort to violence, even if that violence would be directed against a Fetch. He would do anything in his power to help Ram get there, but he would - couldn't - do anything further. Which was probably fine in Ram's book. "Then we should work on how to achieve that best. Titania is right, but so is Ram: we can't wait too long or we might lose its trail again."

He waited a beat to give either party the chance to object, then continued. "The most concrete lead we appear to have is the department it works at - we could go there and ask around, see if we can get the address, or we shadow the station to catch it off-guard." His eyes were drawn to Circe - not only was she the Queen of Wrath, she was probably an excellent strategist.

[Circe]

"Andrew seemed like a dick," Circe decides to clarify from her own time in that Fetch's nightmare. Circe wasn't one to nay say Wrath, "I wanted ta shoot him." As for the Render's concern about it running, Circe is a little doubtful of that. "It seems to have a pseudo-family, at least I hope it couldn't procreate. With family here bro, that means it won't run so easily."


"Recon is best," she agrees, "We need ta know more about it and," she points at Ram, "More about the life yer taking back from it." Circe feels that is important if Ram intends to retake his stolen life. "I can't do it, but there is no reason you can't Ram." Circe's own fetch looked like it was a relative of Circe, distant uglier cousin. And also an FBI top target.


"If you want to that is." After a second Circe decides to add, "We may want ta check with Rhodes if ya do. Might be some way ta take memory from It before It is destroyed. Being a firefighter and what not, won't be easy ta just start doing."


Gerrit however she is going to disagree with, shaking her head, "Going directly could trigger some warnings and when it poofs," she points at herself, "The questioners will be prime suspects fer the cops. Hacking sounds like a better option," Circe knew enough about strategy to not play her hand out. And was also quite biased on this tactic. "Shadowing the station to learn about it could also be useful. Sun Tzu said something about that, I think."

ooc: Circe said she'd not done the research IC, so too late. Num nums were provided instead of hacking.

[Ram]

“Curious about what? Its a tool of the Kind Ones. That’s all I need to know about it.” He’d regret the certainty he said that with.

Because then Circe brought up her research.

A daughter? Fuck.

He looked at the picture and a pit formed in his stomach. Maybe it was some sort of joke? Some sort of Father’s Day prank? Or maybe a college meme? Anything could be a meme.

However, even if it was, the fact was they would have to go on the assumption that it was true, because they couldn’t prove it false. And given the sincerity of the post, his stomach’s instincts said that yeah, the fetch had taken a daughter. Which… complicated things.

Even if he thought of the fetch as little more than an embodiment of Fairie cruelty and bits of scrap, this woman, Hayley, didn’t know any of that. Circe was right. She didn’t deserve to have her father killed. However, Ram also wasn’t willing to put her in the path of a psycho fetch. He’d have to step in. Into its life.

His skin crawled just thinking about it. The thing had stolen his life, killed his name, and had now set things up to make either force him to let it live or make Ram live its made up life.

But Ram wasn’t going to let it live.

“Alright. We continue with recon,” he conceded.

[Titania]

"Very well then. It's decided", she says jumping to her feet. "Let's start from the places we know the fetch frequents. Just bump into him while he's shopping for groceries or something similar", she purses her lips, in deep thought, "Or maybe apply as volunteers to the fire station. They're always looking for secretaries and administrative staff"

[Xadun]

Anyone who wishes can make in Int+Occult roll to recall relevant information about Fetches.

Feel free to wrap up the conversation in the apartment - I just wanted to detail next steps, since the plan is more observation and recon.

I would like the next scene to be the conclusion of this plot, so these pursuits will be resolved here in an abbreviated form.

First, I'll need to know the time frames of your individual investigations, or teamwork if cooperating.

Observing the Fetch directly would be Int+Investigation, with a Dex+Stealth roll to be discrete, per day of observation. Penalties for Striking looks will apply to the stealth roll. Please roll these per day (1 Investigation roll, 1 stealth, rather than all your investigation then all of your stealth). If you Harden the mask over the course of this investigation will cost 1 glamour for the whole observation if you take breaks to harvest, -3 if you don't.

More computer-snooping will be Int+Computors. Hacking anything secure (like local government records) will be at a -2 as described before. Poking anything higher level (like federal sources) would be an extended roll at -5.

I'm completely open to other ideas, though you may wish to wait for the Occult roll before deciding.

At the end of these, at some point you'll need to make a plan about what the concluding step are.

[Titania]

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-06-29 06:44:41	Titania rolls 5 to know fetches (10 Again)	7, 8, 3, 6, 6	1 success

[Circe]

[roll=What's a fetch]88221[/dice]


Circe heads to her desktop for the hacking work. Better processor, custom software, better encryption to defend it back. Also, being alone in her room meant the elf benefitted from the boon that made her such a good solo crafter. Speed was the order of her night.

4 total suxx, 15 Minutes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-06-29 12:54:04	[01] Circe rolls 6 to Int + Comp + Sp + Gear -2 (10 Again)	4, 5, 10, 7, 10, 8, 1, 10, 2	4 successes

7 total suxx 30 Minutes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-06-29 12:54:04	[02] Circe rolls 6 to Int + Comp + Sp + Gear -2 (10 Again)	5, 1, 8, 1, 8, 9	3 successes

Brownie's Boone means that if nobody is watching Circe, each roll for hacking takes 15 minutes instead of 30.

[Gerrit]

Gerrit nodded at Circe - she was right. He had no intention to engage the Fetch directly or paint a target on his back, so a somewhat stealthy approach might be advisable. "I can shadow the station. I bet their schedules and processes are pretty similar to-" to the ones he knew from his old life. He just hoped that watching that won't trigger anything in him, make him have a relapse on the deep melancholic nostalgia within him. He overplayed the hesitation by clearing his throat. An actor he was not. "To the one I used to work at." Neither was he a liar.

He looked at Ram. "I could go there for the next three days: tomorrow I could have a look during common shift changes, then I could spend two more days looking specifically for him. That is, if you want to wait that long." This was not Gerrit's battle and he was more than fine with following Ram's lead here.