Forten's Illusion: Tailgating

[Conner Wells]

The parking garage adventure had been uneventful, to the predator's distaste. But Conner had been taught patience early on in his undead career. Besides, he'd gleaned valuable information that would otherwise have been hard to gather: vehicle license plates.

Normally those would be run through a database to figure out who the vehicle belonged to. But Conner doesn't have the hacking skills or the government connections to attempt such a thing. Instead he goes for what he's most comfortable with: street-level observation. He stalks the parking garage by night from surrounding alleyways and buildings to observe who enters in which vehicles, making note mentally (and then transcribing later on pen and paper) of who is in what car as they enter or exit the garage. He's especially interested in which vehicles ENTER during nighttime hours.

Only time will tell if the Mekhet's ground-level approach will bear fruit...

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-10-10 22:41:37	Conner Wells rolls 7 to Search for Familiar Vehicles (Wits + Investigation) (10 Again)	1, 1, 3, 4, 2, 4, 7	failure

Seryna

[Seryna]

Conner Wells has a list of license plates. Yet he seems to waste his time with the street level observation. Nothing appears strange. He sees cars that could be from the parking garage drive by, yet he doesn't catch the license plate number.
He does note an attractive, dark haired young man in tailored clothes pause to talk to a man sitting outside on a bench. The man on the bench looks homeless.

[Conner Wells]

The night goes by, but so far no dice. The predator is getting impatient. Let Heinrich and his hacking handle intel. We should be out slaking our thirst. And let him take all the glory? Besides, there's angles we'll miss if we're not out here.

Conner sees the young man stop by the parking bench and his attention shifts. The man looks like he's pretty well off, so either he's genuinely interested in the homeless man...
Or there's another agenda. ​Folks who lived on the street tended to see much and have very little loyalty to keeping their secrets if food or warmth is offered in exchange. Conner turns his supernatural senses to enhance his hearing as he approaches just close enough to catch the conversation at hand. Maybe this was a good Samaritan, or maybe he's just got his first lead of the night...

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-10-15 12:39:51	Conner Wells rolls 6 to Eavesdrop on the Conversation (Wits + Stealth) (10 Again)	2, 1, 5, 4, 4, 9	1 success

[Seryna]

Listening for a moment reveals a bit of conversation.
"- yes, mister. I'll be by the club tomorrow."
"Make sure you come by 6, Sean. There will be plenty to eat and drink. Time to just relax and get away from all your troubles. Did you hear back about the job?"

As Conner watches, a dark skinned woman approached Conner. She is looking around the the street and looks Conner over.

[Conner Wells]

Immediately Conner's attention perks up at the conversation. He can only think of a few reasons why a homeless man would be invited to a 'club'-like place. And most of them end in 'food'. But not for this wretch. The well-dressed man could very well be Kindred who's luring the vulnerable to a place where they're preyed upon and then released, like luring shoals of fish into nets to be tagged and released. No immediate ties to Forten. If only this 'club' had a name...

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-10-22 22:56:18	Conner Wells rolls 6 to Auspex Lv2 (Int + Empathy + Auspex - Unknown Resistance) (10 Again)	9, 2, 3, 5, 5, 8	2 successes

Conner wills his Auspex knowledge to the forefront to observe the emotions of these men, as well as determine if his theory is correct and the well-dressed man is indeed Kindred. Or maybe just a well-trained Ghoul?

But it looks like he has company...

Conner sees the dark-skinned woman eyeing him and he finds his own mind turning to hunger. Careful. Don't know what she is yet. Not wanting to draw attention to his observations, he slowly approaches the woman and matches her act of sizing up with as friendly as smile as he can muster. "Can't sleep either?" He tries to keep his voice low enough to avoid attracting Sean and his 'Good Samaritan's attention while allowing the woman to hear him. Perhaps there were other inquisitive parties out tonight?

Or maybe we'll have something to feed on tonight.

[Seryna]

As Conner studied the two men at the bench, he could see that they were mortal by the vibrancy of their aura. The man sitting on the bench is stocky and about 5'11". He has a pale complexion and dark brown hair, which is long and looks like he has missed a few haircuts. The halo around him is violet. After a moment, Conner can see that it is scrambled like static on a television.

Conner will need time to see the second man's Aura.

The woman looks Conner over.
"Maybe. What are you up to, out here?"
She sounds suspicious.

[Conner Wells]

Already Conner is liking the progress. Clearly the homeless man's aura bled excitement. Of course it does. He probably hasn't eaten a good meal or had shelter in days, if not longer. But the interference he gets on the man's aura is troubling. That's not supposed to happen. Someone or something messing with my Sight? ​Conner dips into the pools of his blood sorcery to add a new layer of vision to his already keen eyes: the power to see the influence of Magic in the world.

6 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-10-30 19:58:43	Conner Wells rolls 9 to Arcane Sight (Wits + Occult + Auspex - Suxx to Scrutinize) (10 Again)	7, 10, 8, 5, 7, 10, 10, 4, 9, 1, 5, 8	6 successes

Conner's never really been a good liar (except for that one time, but he had help). ​"Heard there were strange things happening this side of town. Thought I'd take a look." He's taken the paranormal investigator route before. If nothing else he could expect the woman to dismiss him as a creep. Best case scenario though, maybe she's here for similar reasons.

6 suxx to dedicate to Scrutiny on Sean. Looking to discern Identity; Nature; Composition.

[Seryna]

The woman looks away from Conner for a minute. She scans the street, looking around. There are only the four of you on the street at the moment.
Her eyes focus back on Conner. She seems confident - broad, strong shoulders. Her address with Conner is assertive.

"Yeah, what have you heard?" She inquires. "Usually we don't get a lot of attention in this area."

The unknown woman is Black, dressed in business casual. A grey pantsuit with a blue blouse. Her brown hair is braided elaborately and she wears a silk scarf in a grey floral pattern over her forehead.

ST message: A second time that I have to tell you to read on Arcane Sight. 1. You, as a player, have to tell me things before you make the roll. 2. Pre roll declarations on anything must be on the die roller. I want you to return to the Arcane Sight and read it carefully. This first roll is forfeit.
You have one more chance to use Arcane Sight this scene.

[Conner Wells]

This woman is no light sleeper. Conner gets that from her posture; her assertive speech. And her interest in out of the ordinary. Another seeker? Another Good Samaritan? Either way, she looks delicious. He matches the woman's strong yet relaxed posture and moves just a big closer. Not enough to imply he was going to attack her...yet.

"Disappearances. One-night stands and dates vanishing around nightclubs. And not the usual ghosting, like gone in the blink of an eye." A little bit of Human resentment creeps into his voice here. A little bit of the past fighting its way through years of Kindred conditioning. "Even heard whispers of someone...or something manipulating impressionable students into acting as proxies in the streets. Maybe it's nothing out of the ordinary, but..." Oh the irony. "...I've always been more open to the unnatural as an option." He sizes the woman up again, still debating whether she stood as messenger or morsel.

"Folks here are usually protected by high-tech home security or gated communities. Gives a sense of complacency. Some might read that as weakness." He shows a bit of a smile. "Not that I get that from you."

5 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-11-03 21:47:36	Conner Wells rolls 6 to Arcane Sight redux (Wits + Occult + Auspex - Scrutiny: Identity; Nature) (10 Again)	2, 10, 5, 2, 9, 10, 3, 10, 10, 2	5 successes

Thanks so much for the clarification! I believe this should cover the needed mechanics for the ability.

[Seryna]

"Super fast ghosting?" She clarifies. "Are we sure its not a Tiktok trend?" A bark of a laugh.
"I kid! Yet I haven't heard of anythink like that. Do you know who was involved?"

As you speak to her, the homeless man stands and makes his way along. The other man looks around the street and sees you. He glances at the woman and then back to Conner.

As Conner speaks to the woman, he notices something that presses itself into his mind from his careful Scrutiny. This woman, although she masquerades perfectly as a human, is not a human. She is something other. Yet as he looks at her, he cannot see any sparkles that signal that she could be a magic user. Another moment passes as he looks at her. Would she take offense to this scrutiny?
Yet he begins to feel that nagging sensation that tells him this woman's magic comes from her, herself. She is not enchanted by something else. Yet he has not taken enough time to determine what she could be. There could be many creatures that have their own power, after all!