[Day: Thursday, May 12, 1962 Time: 9:00 a.m.] [It's the start of another lazy day at the office. That is to say, you don't get many clients, so today's not liable to be any different, right?] [The office of Mystery Club PIs is located on the second floor of a narrow, white four story building in the middle of a block of similar buildings so squashed together there's no room for alleyways between them. The office itself is a single rectangular room. What's inside? That's up to you.] (We've at least got a window outside, right?) (no room for a lab/workshop? Oh fizzlesticks...) [You have two windows! You also have a ceiling fan! But it's broken. It can't be shut off, but it doesn't actually work, either. It just spins sloooooooooooooowly around, squeaking every rotation. Which sucks, because it's a particularly hot day out.] [Also, given this is 1962, you probably don't have any computers on your desks. Typewriters, perhaps? And filing cabinets, fer sure.] [And at least one rotary phone? .... Ok, I'm done now.] [Start!] (Only one room is rough. We'll have to have a white line painted across the middle. Or alternately, just halves. Where's the bathroom? ;) ( And afk for a bit. You guys can make your entrances and familiarize yourselves with... yourselves til I get back. ) [The bathroom is outside the office. There's one bathroom shared by all the businesses on this floor.] * Eric is already at his desk, reading a book on 'PSI theory'. Several other books are stacked precariously on the desk nearby. [Which aren't many. Your neighbors are the office of a shipping company and... uh...] [A plumber.] ( Ok, afk! ) * Eric 's books comprise mainly parapsychological and theoretical physics texts. Some are odd combinations of both. * Michel is leaning back in his chair, at his own desk. Since the Doc's got the books on his desk, he's got a phone, along with a desk lamp, on his desk. Couple other things, too, like the basic card file of telephone numbers, and some notepads and pens. * Michel , himself, has a big brown overcoat hanging on a coat rack near his desk, along with a matching hat, and is sitting there in a button down shirt that's unbuttoned, showing off his undershirt. He looks like a fit man. His hair is brown and slightly curly, and green eyes scan over the daily paper he's got on the desk, one hand holding a cup of coffee. * Eric is dressed in a tweed jacket, waistcoat and has a bow-tie. He looks like the stereotypical professor, if said professor were still in his late twenties, yet already seeming grey-haired. He's of average build, maybe a little wiry. His grey hair is parted and carefully combed. Blue eyes read the book from behind reading glasses. Whether these are necessary or just for show, only he knows. * Michel looks up at Eric a moment, back down at his paper, then makes a face and asks, without looking up at him, "What'cha reading today, Prof?" * Eric looks up distractedly, 'Hmm? Oh, Theories on PSI, by a Professor Monaghan. His insights into psionic phenomenon are really quite fascinating...I'm certain he must have had some first hand experience, but he hasn't stated as much in here..." Soounds like that happens a lot. * Michel sips his coffee, then adds, "Wouldn't wanna be a complete kook." * Eric 'Hmm...yes, indeed. One must keep oneself an impartial observer, it seems. Otherwise the research loses credibility.' * Michel looks across at him, then chuckles dryly and goes, "Yeah, somethin' like that." * Eric sighs and closes the book, "I still maintain that my energy experiments were valid, and completely within the standard safety guidelines." [There's a quiet knock on the door. And then it's opened by a black lady. She looks to be in her late fourties, and is wearing a maid outfit.] * Michel waves a hand at him. "I'm not gonna get into yer ivory tower arguments, Prof..." * Eric takes his reading glasses off and pockets them, looking up at the new arrival. [She walks in and holds the door open for a young lady: blond, pretty, maybe seventeen, wearing a white dress, a sun hat and elbow-length gloves. She's got a parasol slung over the crook of her elbow, and is carrying a purse nervously in front of her. "Um... Hello? Is this the detective agency?"] * Michel trails off at the knock, and the woman who invites herself in. He starts to button up his shirt idly, even before the woman comes in. Probably thankfully. * Michel replies to the woman with, "Uh... yeah, that's us. You're in the right place." He glances at Eric for a second. How often does that happen! * Eric quirks an eyebrow at Michel, thinking much the same. 'Indeed, I am Doctor Eric Spracklin, and this is my colleague Michel Chaffee. How may we be of assistance, Ms...?' [She steps into the room, glancing nervously around. "Oh... Good. Um... I've never been to a detective agency before. How does it work? I mean I know how a detective works. Well, not exactly how, but I mean I unders... Oh! I'm Scarlett Leblanc. Sorry."] ( Gimme either a cultural arts (nobility) or.... ) ( Hrm.... No more business skill ) ( Ok, just cultural arts (nobility) then. ) (Business is Administration now.) (Administration (Small Business)) ( Oh. ) (Don't have any Cultural Arts (nobility), should I just roll Mind, or just not roll?) ( You can roll Administration if you prefer. No applicable spec. ) (I have Street Sense for influential people in NO.) (If she would fall under that.) ( Hmmm.... ) (Don't have that either. Oh well. Not a sociable character anyhow...) ( I'm gonna say no to that. ) (Alright. Straight mind it is.) ( You can just roll mind if you don't have either. ) 2d6+4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Michel (2d6+4) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 14. 2d6+6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Eric (2d6+6) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 13. ( Mannnn.... is there a table or something for target numbers? ) (Yeah.) ( Found it ) [Ok.... Soooooo... Franklin Leblanc is the owner of the Leblanc estate, a rich man who comes from a family that originally owned a cotton plantation. Today, he owns several, all across the state. His business is to produce raw cotton for clothing manufacturers around the country. He's pretty well known in Louisana. You may or may not have heard he has a daughter.] [In fact you must have at some point, because you both got your rolls.] * Michel blinks, then says, after running his hand back through his hair, "Well, uh, Miss Leblanc, first you tell us what you want us to look into, and we figure out how you're gonna pay, and then we'll go try to take care of it for ya." [She bites her lip. "Okay... Um..."] * Eric smiles politely, 'Indeed...and please, sit down.' (We've got to have a chair around for someone!) [She sits down, nervously. The maid comes to stand behind her.] ["It's my brother, Richard. He's... That is, I think he's missing."] * Michel sits back down too. Now that she's down. "How long since you last saw him?" ["Well... He goes to college here in the city, so I haven't actually seen him in a while... But he calls often, and he said he'd call me last week, and he never did."] ["And of course I tried calling him, but I didn't get an answer."] ["And... um..."] [She glances to the side. "I'm not sure how to say this, but... Daddy says not to trouble with him anymore. I mean, they way he said it, it's as though daddy suddenly stopped caring about him. And when I asked if I could go see him, daddy said no."] * Michel listens to her, then asks, "And that's pretty recent? Your pop bein' like that, I mean." [She nods. "I went to see him anyhow, since he wouldn't take my calls. Mary drove me to the university, but they wouldn't let me in the boys' dorm." She pauses, then adds, "Erm, that was three days ago."] (Err...university? Thought she said college before?) ( She did. :P ) (Uh...k. O_o) ( She likely doesn't know the difference ) (ah...) * Michel nods slowly. "Alright... you haven't heard nothing else?" Nothin' else you can tell us? * Michel grabs the pad of paper from off his desk, along with a pencil. * Eric just listens and trusts Michel's experience in investigating such matters, while commiting the conversation to memory. [She pauses. "Well... It's true he an daddy had been fighting lately. I don't think he wants to take over daddy's business. But I can't imagine that that would make daddy want to act like he suddenly doesn't exist."] * Michel looks a little surprised at her a moment, then goes, "Yeah, alright. Lemme write down your brother's address and what he looks like." (I dunno if you wanna just kinda fast forward past this boring stuff and also money talk to her leaving.) * Eric decides to pitch in, "You said he called regularly, do you remember anything irregular in the last few calls?" [She shakes her head.] ["Umm.. How much will this cost? "] (The other reason I talked about FFing: I have no idea about 60s money.) ( Me neither! :D ) (nor me...) ( Ok, let's just FF then :P ) (It looks like about 570%.) (Anyway! FF is good.) (yeah, I'm for that) [At around 9:40, you finish talking to her and she gets up to leave. "Um... Please don't call me at home. Daddy would be furious if he knew I was here."] * Eric nods, "Um, very well. But how will we contact you?" ["Would it be okay if I called you from time to time?"] * Eric smiles, "I'm sure that shouldn't be a problem, right Michel?" * Michel puts the pad of paper down and nods. "Yeah, that'll work fine. We might not be here all the time... lookin' for your brother and all." ["Of course."] * Michel nods and stands up, walking over to the door and opening it for them. "Well, thank you, Miss Leblanc. We'll get right to it." [She smiles. "Alright. Thank you very much." The maid opens the door, and Scarlett heads on out.] (I opened it first!) ( Oops ) [Either way, she leaves.] * Eric looks across at Michel, "Well then, how shall we proceed? His address first?" * Eric "I could call the university and find out what classes he was in. Perhaps get a list of classmates?" [The university in question is, in fact, the University of New Orleans.] * Michel walks over to the coatrack and says, "Maybe after we check his room, Prof." He picks up his hat and puts it on. * Eric dons an overcoat and frowns, "While I appreciate the complement, Michel, I am a Doctor, not a Professor." [Hat x 1 obtained] [overcoat x 1 obtained] * Michel pulls his holster and gun out of his desk and puts it on, before the overcoat goes on over it. "Sorry, Doc. Let's get going." [ Gun x.... blah, ferget it.] [Time: 10:20 a.m.] * Eric pulls his holster and Ghostbuster Hand Cannon Mk I out of his desk, puts it on and follows. [You arrive at the beautiful campus of the University of New Orleans. It only became a full four-year institution a year ago. It's a decently sized university. I have no idea what it looks like, so I'll just make it up as I go. The University has three dormitories: A large one for women, a large one for men, and two smaller ones for men. You're outide one of the smaller ones.] * Eric gestures towards the building, smiling, "Well, after you." [The building is classic BBB: boring brown brick. It's L-shaped and only four stories high, but fairly wide. It's got a decent lawn in front of it, but the street around it is packed with cars.] * Michel strides up at Eric's urging, fanning himself slightly with his hat. [Sure is hot today.] * Eric follows along behind Michel, dabbing his forehead with a kercheif. He smiles wistfully at the sight of the university grounds. [A buncha students pass you buy. They've all got bushy heads and yellow pants with matching jackets. They'd probably look like freaks, but since this is 1962, it's perfectly normal. Apparently.] * Michel doesn't pay attention to the perfectly normal guys, unless they look like Richard, and continues to the dorm! [One could be named Richard, theoretically.] * Eric nods politely at the students as they pass by, not that they're likely to care. [Anyway, Michel gets to the dorm, which features a lounge area where a bunch of students, men and women, are watching TV. Currently they're watching an episode of Lawman. There's also a guy at the reception desk who looks a lot like Greg from the Brady Bunch. He's talking to a burnett woman with that big tangly hair that was popular back then for some reason.] [But when he sees you coming in, he turns to you instead. "Hey man. What can I do for you?"] * Eric stands back quietly and lets Michel do the talking, inspecting the room casually. * Michel replies, "M'lookin' for Richard Leblanc." ( Also, I'm discovering that running a game set in the past is way the hell harder than running a game set in the future. ) (Contiunity with the past sucks!) (Yeah, I lean towards modern or future myself) (Continuity with the real world is hard in general.) [He nods. "Sure thing, daddy-o." He reaches beneath the desk and pulls up a book. "Here's the directory, and there's the phone." He points at the end of the counter, where the rotary phone sits. Hell, all phones are rotary.] * Michel flips through the directory. Does it actually have room numbers as well? Because if not, this is gonna get unhelpful fast. [It does. It has room numbers, the extension to dial, and a list of all students housed in that room. Mostly there's four per, but a few have three, including Richard Leblanc's. He's roomed with a Gary Winkle and a Moses Bemmy."] (Does the directory also have a map?) (the room number should indicate what floor it's on, no?) (Probably, but not where on the floor! I'm just curious if we'll have to wander around confusedly or not.) ( There's no map, or anything other than what I said. ) * Michel nods and closes the book, pushing it back to the kid, saying, "Thanks, kid. Which way's from here?" [He shakes his head. "Sorry man, you've got to have someone sign for you, or I can't let you in. Those are the rules."] [But suddenly you're saved from this dilemma by the sound of sirens outside!] * Michel mutters, "Oh, you're kidding me," as he starts to reopen the book, only to be interrupted by noise! * Eric glances out the window, curious. [And shortly a bunch of paramedics rush into the dorm. They blow past the confused looking receptionist, rushing down the hall. They're followed by two generic uniformed police officers and one Louis Franchek, a detective with NOPD. He's a short, fat, balding man in his late 30s, with a thick moustache.] [They all take off in the same direction.] * Eric blinks owlishly at this entourage as it passes through. "Oh my...that can't be good." * Michel glances over at Eric, and then says, "'scuse me," and falls in right behind them. At least for long enough to get in. [The other students watch, stunned. A few follow the cops.] (Sneaky like ninja.) * Eric tries to follow suit. [The receptionist is too stunned to stop you, and so you make it past! You head in the same direction as the cops and medics, finding a cluster of students around one dorm room in particular. Someone with a deep voice is yelling, "Okay, stand back folks. Nothing to see here. Move along.] (Is this in the right direction for Richard?) ( Not only that, it appears to be his room. ) "Oh fizzlesticks..." * Michel mutters, "You said it, Doc," as he digs in his pocket for his PI license and tries to push his way through. "Outta the way!" he says to the gawkers. [There's a lot of noise from students gossiping. And they're cluttered around the room, so you can't see anything!] ( Gimme a body roll. ) * Eric moves awkwardly through the crowd towards the room trying to get a look at what's going on, "Oh...er...pardon me...terribly sorry..." (Intimidation or acro any good?) ( Intimidation, sure. Use soul for that. ) 1d6+4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Eric (1d6+4) and gets a natural 5 for a result of 9. (2d6!) 2d6+4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Eric (2d6+4) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 13. 2d6+6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Michel (2d6+6) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 10. [You manage to convince the crowd that you're important enough to be let through, where you come face to face with one of the officers. "Everyone, stay calm and return to your business."] * Michel gets up there and says, to the officer, "Actually, this is my business. Michel Chaffe, PI." [He shakes his head. "Sorry, but it'll have to wait. This is a crime scene."] [Louis calls from within the room. "Let them in, Joe. They can't do much harm. Probably."] [Joe shrugs and stands aside, gesturing. The crowd quickly close in to get a peek inside, and then someone shrieks, "A body!" The noise becomes much louder.] * Michel gets ready to unleash the barrage of 'let me in', but he gets some help from inside! When Joe gets out of the way, he says, "C'mon, Doc. No touchin'," and steps in. [Joe eyes Michel. "Thanks a lot, pal."] * Eric steps inside as if he were afraid of treading on eggshells, and has a glance around. * Michel ignores Joe's jab. [There's definitely a body inside the room, yep. A naked, 20 something man. The paramedics are checking him over. They're in no great hurry, so he's probably dead. You get a glance at his face, though; he's most deffinately not Richard Leblanc.] ( Gimme hearing rolls ) (Remind me, is perception off of mind or soul?) ( Mind ) 2d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Eric (2d6+8) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 14. (... man, I don't have any high perception.) 2d6+4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Michel (2d6+4) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 10. (Mnetal note: get HA.) [The dorm contains three beds, desks and closets. Clothes are strewn around the room. There's a TV in one corner, the antenna bent in an awkward shape. Posters are pinned up around the room, too: mainly of football teams or pretty girls. There's also a guitar near one of the beds, and trunks under two.] ( Also, gimme Police science rolls (forensics) ) 2d6+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Michel (2d6+7) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 13. (Just a straight mind roll do?) 2d6+6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Eric (2d6+6) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 13. (6 mind? Man, you're smart.) * Eric scratches his chin, muttering under his breath, "Hmm...fascinating." * Michel glances to Louis for a moment before his eyes return to the crime scene. [The two of you notice that, despite the mess the room is in, there doesn't appear to be any sign of stuggle. More likely, the occupants are just lazy.] * Eric clucks disapprovingly at the mess. [Detective Louis looks at you. "Well. What's your deal?" He's got a thick Brooklyn accent.] * Michel looks over at Louis and says, "We're lookin' for a kid named Richard Leblanc. He lived in this room and disappeared a bit ago. This's his room." (Ack. Kill that last bit.) (Forgot I managed to slip it in earlier.) [It's about now you notice that the other cop is talking to a student: Another twenty something, with kind of a short, bushy afro and long sideburns, and a bushy 'stache. He's wearing a bandanna, too, and a sleeveless jean vest.] * Eric looks up, startled, "Mmm, oh, I'm Dr Eric Spracklin, I work with Mr Chaffee as a...technical advisor, yes, that's the best way to put it." ^_^ ["No kiddin'. Well, guess what? He ain't here."] ( Hearing rolls again! ) 2d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Eric (2d6+8) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 15. 2d6+4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Michel (2d6+4) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 11. * Michel exhales upward, then replies, "Yeah, I'm getting that. What the hell happened to this one?" [He shrugs. "Someone killed the poor bastard. Looks like they stuck needles in his neck and sucked the blood right out of his body." He pauses. "But here's the thing. It doesn't look like he fought back. No signs of strugle, no idication he was even tied up when it happened. In fact, it looks like he was surprised."] [He frowns. "But how the hell can you be surprised long enough to have all the blood sucked out of your body?"] * Michel frowns, nods, then crouches down and squints, trying to get an angle on that neck. [Sure enough, Michel sees two holes over the cathoid artery.] * Eric frowns, "Hmm, I wonder...I suppose it's possible some kind of sedative or anasthesia was used..." (Occult roll?) ( Go ahead. ) ( though I don't think you need one :P ) 2d6+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Michel (2d6+7) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 13. 2d6+10 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Eric (2d6+10) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 20. (Well, if you wanted to give it to me, that's fine. ;) [Louis shrugs. "Won't know that until the toxocology report."] [Both of you realize that yeah, it's probably a vampire. On the other hand, anyone who knows anything about supernatural lore proabably knows that Louisana has been a hot spot for vampires over the past century.] ( I can think of at least two books that set New Orleans as a vampire hub. ) (I can think of a few, yeah.) * Michel is silent a moment, looking back and up to Eric, then stands slowly. "Right, well... like you said, our guy ain't here. Mind if we look at his stuff when you're done here?" [He shrugs. "Help yourselves. I'd say something about tampering with a crime scene, but I don't think we're going to find much here."] ["I'll say this, though. There's no sign of forced entry, and Leblanc's been missing."] ["Chances are, he's either another victim or a suspect."] * Eric looks at the trunks under the two beds for any identifying labels. * Michel frowns a touch, then says, "Yeah." [One has a peace-sign on a bumper sticker. Otherwise, there's no real identifying labels. One's red and the other's blue.] * Eric frowns and stands up, hesitant to touch either despite apparent police permission. * Michel steps out of the way and says, "Let's wait over here a second, huh Doc?" * Eric steps after Michel, "Ah yes, certainly." (FF? Just long enough for them to get done with their stuff and give us the searchytime?) ( K ) [Time: 11:30 a.m.] [The paramedics finish up and take the body away. The cops look around for evidence, but only take a few items: a set of keys and a wallet. They also escort the student with the mini 'fro with them. The students get bored and wander off.] [Nobody dusts for finger prints, because that hasn't been invented yet!.......... I think?] [Op. It has! Ok, so they do that, too.] * Eric starts searching through the mess, and unconsciously starts tidying as he goes. (Yeah, it has.) (Yeah, pretty sure) [You're in a room.] * Michel , now that everyone's gone, murmurs to Eric, "So... did you really buy that crap about sedatives?" as he looks for Michael's crap. (Er, not Michael. Robert.) ( Um.... You mean Richard? Or Gary? :x ) ( Either way, this has to end soonish ) (Richard!) (Yes. The dissappeared not-a-vampire-really.) (Yeah, Richard.) Richard's is the second bed in the room, near the window. The red trunk is stuffed under it. On the desk is a picture of Scarlett.] * Eric wears his reading glasses as he goes for some reason, "Well, there must be some explanation for why the victims don't struggle. Perhaps, if it is what we think it is, the creature injects some form of paralysing or sedative venom in its victims when it bites them. " * Eric investigates the trunk. * Michel glances to the picture, then says, "... alright, maybe I'll give ya that." [It's locked!] (It's lockpicking time! Sweet!) * Eric sighs, "I don't suppose you would know how to pick this?" * Michel looks over at him, then crouches down and says, "Guess you wouldn't know, since we never get jobs," as he pulls a couple basic metal bits out of his pocket. Nothing skill boosting, just enough to get by, and fiddles with the lock. 2d6+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Michel (2d6+7) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 13. (actually, I just realised I probably could have done that myself ><) [Michel manages to pick the lock, albeit barely.] (Lockpicking's actually Sleight of Hand (Lock Picking) off of Body.) (Ah, k then.) (So it might be harder for you!) * Michel manages the lockpick! Click. He opens the chest up for the both of them! [Inside the trunk, you find a Sword of Godslaying!.... I mean a red overcoat. Some hiking boots, another picture of Scarlett, a hat, a sleeping bag, and a knapsack: a big one with lots of pockets on the outside.] * Michel murmurs, "Doesn't look like he took anything much with him, either..." * Eric checks the coat pockets. [Eric finds something in one: a scrap of paper. All that's listed on it is an address and a word/possible name: " - Brody " ] * Michel exhales upwards and lets Eric search as he stands up and rubs his neck. * Eric moves on to the knapsack. "The young man the officers spoke to earlier mentioned Richard had been on some sort of trip, perhaps we can learn more if we figure out where he was..." [The knapsack has a map of New Orleans. Nothing in particular seems to be marked on it. There's also a note book, which appears to be empty, and a half-full water bottle.] ( Gimme sight rolls ) 2d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Eric (2d6+8) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 14. 2d6+4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Michel (2d6+4) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 12. [You both notice that a page of the notebook has been torn out.] (Could the other scrap of paper be from the missing page?) ( It doesn't appear to be. ) * Michel frowns at the notebook's missing page. What's on either side of that missing page, if anything? [Nothing at all. The notebook appears to be empty.] (Is the picture framed?) ( This one is not. The one on the desk is. ) * Eric checks the back of this photograph first. [Nothing on the back.] * Michel crosses his arms and says, "This doesn't make sense. Why'd her dad cut off contact... if the kid's a vampire, how'd he know? If he's not... who did the deed here?" ( Well, it's only the first session :P ) (It's true!) (It's a mystery!) ( Wrap it up, it's time for bed. ) (This is probably a decent place to cut, yeah.) (k) [Aight, Session End!]