December 30th, 2019

I’ve got one day till my break in attempt at the university. I should probably scout it out today ahead of time.
Security Roll to scout the security systems - half an hour base: Success (complication) (45/59). I understand how the locks work, and I know where to go in where a Lockpick attempt won’t set off alarms... but I notice a security guard that I’ll need to avoid - its daytime - I know classes are out right now, but why would the Chemistry building need a guard specifically for them?
What to do if I do get caught though? I’ve already killed people... but that was in Seattle, you’d think Bellingham would notice a bit more if someone got horribly stabbed to death here.
I’m going to go downtown to the bar scene. See if I can strike up any sort of conversation. I’ve been so... well, lonely, since I left Eastern Washington. I may have hated it there, but at least I had people I knew. Seattle, for all its size was daunting for me, and I never got much beyond the few people i knew at work.
Fellowship (Rapport) roll - Success (complication) (51/59). I meet a Gabriel (Gabe) Viktor, from Brandenburg, Germany - 32 Years old, 5’7” and 175 lb. [Conceited, Loyal, Reclusive] - trying to protect a secret with a wanting disposition. Downtown has Incompetent Leadership. Gabriel is a Guard in the Woods - no, he’s been ordered to guard a wood by the city incompetent leadership where people are getting hurt at night. He’s supposed to ensure that nobody goes in as part of the city’s ‘attempt’ to stop the injuries. This is a Dangerous quest - Find what’s been hurting people.
He takes a long drink before continuing - “the people they’ve found... they’ve had... gashes taken out of them - like a wild animal got to em - like a *big* wild animal got to them, but the county’s sent their Wildlife people in and... nothing. And its been getting worse. Every night the hospitals seen it get more and more... gruesome. So we’ve been put there... not that its stopping anything.”
I tell him - “Hey, what if... do you know any of the victims? Are they still at the hospital?”
He gives me the side eye over his beer, “Why do you want to know?” He asks accusingly.
Deceit Roll - (69/53) Failure “Uh... no real reason. I was just... uh... curiou...”
He stands up angry and yells at me: “WHAT? You think you can do better than the cops? You think you’re better than the people that are TRAINED to deal with this? Get out of he... no, no.” He slaps some money down on the bar counter. “No, I’m gone, and you (pointing at me), I don’t want to see you anywhere near the Park, or I’ll personally beat your ass.”
I pay my bar tab and leave, trying not to attract any more attention than I have. This isn’t my job right? Sure it doesn’t sound “normal”, but Bellingham isn’t Seattle - there’s enough forests and wild land around here that some big animal could be getting downtown
The hospital - thats the next place then if I want any more info on this. I’m sure they’ll still be treating the last victim at least. I travel to St. Joseph’s by bus and prepare myself on the trip over. I’ve got some time that I spend working myself up into a distraught manner (+10% for time spent on next roll). I get to the hospital at basically their busiest time - good. I go to their regular intake - emergency room will be... ‘used’ to this sort of thing. Finding the first secretarial-looking-person (woman) I start to ask about people wounded downtown before bursting into inconsolable tears - sobbing about my ‘sister’ being hurt and I think she might be here. (Performance Roll - 13/82 - superb success). The admin says to one of the nurses who came over to help, “Do you think she’s talking about Shannon Burns?” Hearing this, I burst into more tears and choke out - “oh no oh no oh no what has Shan done now?”
The nurse turns to me and asks, “Ms. Burns?” - I nod and get out “can I see my sister please?”
“Of course, follow me.” She takes me to a single room and shows me inside. “Please, take as much time as you need.” She says to me. I nod at her, tears in my eyes. And I’m left alone in the room with an unconscious woman - Shannon Burns.
Jesus... well, I’m glad I went for the inconsolable sobbing route. Either they didn’t hear me say “sister” or they’re far more accepting of strange family relationships over here. Shannon Burns is 73 years old, and she absolutely looks it - though maybe thats just how old people look in hospitals. I look at her chart (Scholarship Roll - Failure 93/63) - there’s no info here, at least none that I can deduce.
The cuts, no. The Gashes on her body are terrible, and those are just the ones I can see. Investigation Roll - (12/63) Success. Its clear why people labeled this an animal attack but... its not. Sure, perhaps they were made by an animals claw, but no animal carves lines in patterns like that... especially not in the patterns of an Alchemic Formula.
Shit.
Tried to Stealth out of the room (Failed 77/48). I opened the door and nearly slammed into a man walking in. Anger flashed across his face and I could see the nurse that escorted me behind him.
“Who are you?” He snapped.
“Uh... - Deceit roll - super duper failure 95/53 - I’m... Shannon’s... daughter?”
Dude didn’t even dignify me with a questioning look. He just looked over his shoulder disgustedly at the nurse, barked a call and uniformed cops were on me in an instant.
“I already told all of you. I don’t want any rubbernecking trash like this in my hospital. Get them out, and KEEP THEM OUT.”
The cops were nice enough, and the doctor had given me a good enough cover to explain why I lied to the nurse to gain admittance in the first place that they didn’t question me further.
The ride home left me with more questions than answers, and a sense of... duty? Is that the right word? Desire? The need to know more about this alchemist. Is it to stop the assaults? Is it to learn what they know? I worry that I’m more interested in the latter than the former. Regardless, I have some excess time until nightfall. I’m going to spend more time with the De Occulta. Test Alchemy - Failure. (70/41).
Night falls, and I have my coat on and boots laced before I pause to think this over again. What do I really know here? That people are getting injured, and not by actual animals? Yeah. Probably. But even if thats true, and even if it is a Practitioner doing it... its not like I have the skills to stop them.
Volodymyr hasn’t even taught me the basics of spellcasting yet. Fuck. I barely know the basics of Alchemic creation yet - no. I don’t know those basics yet. This would be like a grade-schooler fighting an Olympic wrestler. Yeah. I feel for the people getting hurt - of course I do... but there’s nothing I can do...I’ve got one day till my break in attempt at the university. I should probably scout it out today ahead of time.
Security Roll to scout the security systems - half an hour base: Success (complication) (45/59). I understand how the locks work, and I know where to go in where a Lockpick attempt won’t set off alarms... but I notice a security guard that I’ll need to avoid - its daytime - I know classes are out right now, but why would the Chemistry building need a guard specifically for them?
What to do if I do get caught though? I’ve already killed people... but that was in Seattle, you’d think Bellingham would notice a bit more if someone got horribly stabbed to death here.
I’m going to go downtown to the bar scene. See if I can strike up any sort of conversation. I’ve been so... well, lonely, since I left Eastern Washington. I may have hated it there, but at least I had people I knew. Seattle, for all its size was daunting for me, and I never got much beyond the few people i knew at work.
Fellowship (Rapport) roll - Success (complication) (51/59). I meet a Gabriel (Gabe) Viktor, from Brandenburg, Germany - 32 Years old, 5’7” and 175 lb. [Conceited, Loyal, Reclusive] - trying to protect a secret with a wanting disposition. Downtown has Incompetent Leadership. Gabriel is a Guard in the Woods - no, he’s been ordered to guard a wood by the city incompetent leadership where people are getting hurt at night. He’s supposed to ensure that nobody goes in as part of the city’s ‘attempt’ to stop the injuries. This is a Dangerous quest - Find what’s been hurting people.
He takes a long drink before continuing - “the people they’ve found... they’ve had... gashes taken out of them - like a wild animal got to em - like a *big* wild animal got to them, but the county’s sent their Wildlife people in and... nothing. And its been getting worse. Every night the hospitals seen it get more and more... gruesome. So we’ve been put there... not that its stopping anything.”
I tell him - “Hey, what if... do you know any of the victims? Are they still at the hospital?”
He gives me the side eye over his beer, “Why do you want to know?” He asks accusingly.
Deceit Roll - (69/53) Failure “Uh... no real reason. I was just... uh... curiou...”
He stands up angry and yells at me: “WHAT? You think you can do better than the cops? You think you’re better than the people that are TRAINED to deal with this? Get out of he... no, no.” He slaps some money down on the bar counter. “No, I’m gone, and you (pointing at me), I don’t want to see you anywhere near the Park, or I’ll personally beat your ass.”
I pay my bar tab and leave, trying not to attract any more attention than I have. This isn’t my job right? Sure it doesn’t sound “normal”, but Bellingham isn’t Seattle - there’s enough forests and wild land around here that some big animal could be getting downtown
The hospital - thats the next place then if I want any more info on this. I’m sure they’ll still be treating the last victim at least. I travel to St. Joseph’s by bus and prepare myself on the trip over. I’ve got some time that I spend working myself up into a distraught manner (+10% for time spent on next roll). I get to the hospital at basically their busiest time - good. I go to their regular intake - emergency room will be... ‘used’ to this sort of thing. Finding the first secretarial-looking-person (woman) I start to ask about people wounded downtown before bursting into inconsolable tears - sobbing about my ‘sister’ being hurt and I think she might be here. (Performance Roll - 13/82 - superb success). The admin says to one of the nurses who came over to help, “Do you think she’s talking about Shannon Burns?” Hearing this, I burst into more tears and choke out - “oh no oh no oh no what has Shan done now?”
The nurse turns to me and asks, “Ms. Burns?” - I nod and get out “can I see my sister please?”
“Of course, follow me.” She takes me to a single room and shows me inside. “Please, take as much time as you need.” She says to me. I nod at her, tears in my eyes. And I’m left alone in the room with an unconscious woman - Shannon Burns.
Jesus... well, I’m glad I went for the inconsolable sobbing route. Either they didn’t hear me say “sister” or they’re far more accepting of strange family relationships over here. Shannon Burns is 73 years old, and she absolutely looks it - though maybe thats just how old people look in hospitals. I look at her chart (Scholarship Roll - Failure 93/63) - there’s no info here, at least none that I can deduce.
The cuts, no. The Gashes on her body are terrible, and those are just the ones I can see. Investigation Roll - (12/63) Success. Its clear why people labeled this an animal attack but... its not. Sure, perhaps they were made by an animals claw, but no animal carves lines in patterns like that... especially not in the patterns of an Alchemic Formula.
Shit.
Tried to Stealth out of the room (Failed 77/48). I opened the door and nearly slammed into a man walking in. Anger flashed across his face and I could see the nurse that escorted me behind him.
“Who are you?” He snapped.
“Uh... - Deceit roll - super duper failure 95/53 - I’m... Shannon’s... daughter?”
Dude didn’t even dignify me with a questioning look. He just looked over his shoulder disgustedly at the nurse, barked a call and uniformed cops were on me in an instant.
“I already told all of you. I don’t want any rubbernecking trash like this in my hospital. Get them out, and KEEP THEM OUT.”
The cops were nice enough, and the doctor had given me a good enough cover to explain why I lied to the nurse to gain admittance in the first place that they didn’t question me further.
The ride home left me with more questions than answers, and a sense of... duty? Is that the right word? Desire? The need to know more about this alchemist. Is it to stop the assaults? Is it to learn what they know? I worry that I’m more interested in the latter than the former. Regardless, I have some excess time until nightfall. I’m going to spend more time with the De Occulta. Test Alchemy - Failure. (70/41).
Night falls, and I have my coat on and boots laced before I pause to think this over again. What do I really know here? That people are getting injured, and not by actual animals? Yeah. Probably. But even if thats true, and even if it is a Practitioner doing it... its not like I have the skills to stop them.
Volodymyr hasn’t even taught me the basics of spellcasting yet. Fuck. I barely know the basics of Alchemic creation yet - no. I don’t know those basics yet. This would be like a grade-schooler fighting an Olympic wrestler. Yeah. I feel for the people getting hurt - of course I do... but there’s nothing I can do...

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