Descent into Darkness : The Remnants of the dead

[Mal Malenkirk]

Beaulac Clinic

He wandered off as if bored, but steered himself towards the janitor.

"Odd business isn't it?"

The janitor almost jumped, startled to be suddenly addressed.

-"I wouldn't know anything about that sir. I'm just a janitor."

Carlos tried to get more out of him but the man clammed down until suddenly the door to the morgue opens. The Janitor looks on in relief as a tall man with distinguished gray hair and piercing blue eyes walked into the room. He looked sternly at Charles.

-"Doctor Joseph, I know you people barely bother openening a book but it's no reason to ignore procedure altogether."

-"But... Dr Grabowski, these are Trinity agents. I mean, I thought, what's the harm?"

-"That's why you are working the wards and I'm in charge. This is a sensitive matter, the Luna Police Department is taking care of it and you can't have anyone examining the body of an ongoing investigation without one of their officer present. It could contaminate the procedures. This is over. Get the body back on ice and everyone gets out of here."

Remembering their briefing, the agents knew that this must Dr Jerzy Grabowski, the head of the Beaulac Clinic. His file indicated he was a powerful psion of Polish origin, one of the first triggered by proxy Zweidler. He also obviously had a mean temper.

 

[Ithuriel]

"Perfect Jimmy, you read my mind." Suria pulled out one of the glup packs and offered it to their guide. "This is for you, if you'll stay with us a little longer and point out who we can talk with. It's a glup pack. If you ever find yourself hungry down here, you just pop it like an oyster and it will produce enough nutritional paste to take care of two people for three weeks. Good for a year. It might not be the tastiest, but it will get you by if you need it."

When Jimmy pointed out Mac, Suria quirked one eyebrow expressing her skepticism of the value of this contact to Ghost. Then she greeted Mac warmly, "Banged up? But the collapse was like ... 20 days ago. Why wait more than two weeks to seek free medical care? Would you like to get a drink or something to eat Mac? I'm buying. My associate and I are Trinity agents looking in to the collapse. Trinity takes any mention of possible Aberrant activity very seriously and some members of your community were claiming their involvement in various interviews. Unlikely, still- a structural collapse from an electrical surge is also unlikely isn't it?"

Rapport to determine if he is on drugs considering he just got back from the Clinic.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Freak Alley

[sblock=OOC]Suria's rapport check (1d10=8, 1d10=7, 1d10=3, 1d10=2, 1d10=8, 1d10=6) 3 success[/sblock]

Whether the man was on drug or not was for a doctor to determine, but he was definitely very confused and judging by Jimmy's reaction, Mac wasn't being is usual self.

-''Huh, yeah. It was more than three days ago, I guess. Doesn't matter.''

He perked up at the mention of food but his mood quickly dampened as he was asked question about the collapse.

-''I... I don't really remember anything. It's post traumatism stress, the doctor said.''


[sblock=OOC]
Ghost's awareness check (1d10=10, 1d10=1, 1d10=5, 1d10=3) 1 success
Suria's awareness roll (1d10=2, 1d10=6, 1d10=9, 1d10=9, 1d10=5) 2 success

The difficulty was 1 with a +2 for Suria (It's a purely visual cue and the person focusing on Mac is unlikely to see anything else)

Ghost noticed a lone figure in a nearby connecting tunnel, roughly 20 meter away. He was in the shadows and at first Ghost was worried that he may be spying on them. He seemed to have been focusing on the agents though it was hard to be sure in the circumstances. When Suria stated they were Trinity, he suddenly left in the nearby tunnel at a brisk pace.

If Ghost feels like catching up to this shadowy figure, he pretty much needs to start sprinting right now. The man has too much lead and was moving too fast for anything more subtle. Otherwise, just make a note of it.[/sblock]

 

[Ithuriel]

"Don't worry about it Mac. We'll sit down and have a bite to eat. Once you relax a little and think about it maybe something will come back to you. If not, no harm done. Okay?"

Suria smiled reassuringly, oblivious to the watcher in the alley and focused on Mac for a moment trying to put her finger on what was wrong with him mentally.

Mal:[sblock]Spot Brainwashing
Psychbending o (Willfinder) + Empathy o (Sense Emotion)
Sense behavioral shifts whether psionicly or conventionally (drugs, torture, hypnosis) triggered. By including Empathy I can sense what the mental alteration was by determining which reactions are most out of character.

Level 1 Effect = Normal difficulty
Spot Brainwashing (1d10=4, 1d10=8, 1d10=10, 1d10=7, 1d10=8) = 4 Succ

All Relevant parameters start at 1 (Level 1 effect) and extra successes will be used to bump them.

Target: O (One subject)
Duration: O (Three turns)
Precision: O (Target in view)
Sensory: OOOO (Beyond standard detail, includes subjective or abstract data)

Because I don't need any successes beyond what I got on the roll, I think I can use this power without spending any Psi. At least I can't find anything that says I need to spend a Psi to activate anything. Please correct me if I'm wrong. First time using the freeform system.
[/sblock]

 

[hafrogman]

Carlos cast his eyes over the Janitor one last time, making sure to remember his face, and checking for a nametag in case they need to track him down later.

Then he turned his attention to the new arrival.

"Dr. Grabowski, nice to meet you. My name is Carlos Ribera, and as your colleague pointed out, we are here as part of an independant Trinity investigation. I'm apologize for the breach in protocol, but I see no reason for us to not be able to work together. If we place a call to the Luna Police, I'm sure they will be cooperative, and send one of their officers over to observe."

 

[stonegod]

Ghost grunted lowly to Suria, Bein' watched and then started to hustle after the figure. Those that did not naturally get out of his way were pushed with varying level of force or jumped over.

 

[kookalouris]

Rapt in the study of the cadaver, McKnight didn't notice the new visitor at first. His thoughts were simply spoken aloud without regard as to far the words would carry.

-"The missing muscles are some of the most powerful muscles in the human body. But muscles act in entire groups, not alone. And the skeletal structure has to be just as capable to support such power. If the missing muscles were some kind of bioware, it could only have been for study, not application..."

With the sudden approach of Grabowski, Pat suddenly trailed off and bowed out of respect to the newcomer.

Post-related OOC:
[sblock]
While Pat is a student of 22nd-Century medicine and someone considers anatomical differences a fashion choice, his player can barely put on a Band-Aid. So, team, if I am wrong in Pat's assumptions, freely edit my post into correctness or oblivion.
[/sblock]

 

[Velmont]

Kerry nods at Pat statement and adds nothing as Dr Grawboski enters. "I'm pleased to meet you, Dr. Grabowsky. We are sorry if we have broken any formal procedure that we wern't aware of."

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Beaulac Clinic

"Dr. Grabowski, nice to meet you. My name is Carlos Ribera, and as your colleague pointed out, we are here as part of an independant Trinity investigation. I'm apologize for the breach in protocol, but I see no reason for us to not be able to work together. If we place a call to the Luna Police, I'm sure they will be cooperative, and send one of their officers over to observe."

-''Then maybe you should have placed that call before showing up.'' he shot back haughtily. ''Now, please vacate the premises immediately.''

The doctor was technically in his right, though he was being very uncooperative and rude. The embarassed silence of Charles Joseph underscored that evidence. Still, the dismissal was unmistakable and should the agents defy his demands, he would then be within his right to call for security or even the police. Yet there was little doubt that the temptation to dig deeper had just sky rocketed. What would they do?

[sblock=Kookalouris]There are some good insight in your short post; Bioware replacement muscle typically can't be (much) stronger than natural one because it unbalances the body. A super strong bicep exerting inhumane power runs the risk of breaking the bones it's attached to, for example. So if the bioware muscle did something special, it probably wasn't increasing physical power.

Also, the notion that this might have been a a study, or to be more scientific, a test of some sort strikes a cord with Pat. He feels he is on to something with that line of thought.[/sblock]

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

"Don't worry about it Mac. We'll sit down and have a bite to eat. Once you relax a little and think about it maybe something will come back to you. If not, no harm done. Okay?"

Suria smiled reassuringly, oblivious to the watcher in the alley and focused on Mac for a moment trying to put her finger on what was wrong with him mentally.

Mal:[sblock]Spot Brainwashing
Psychbending o (Willfinder) + Empathy o (Sense Emotion)
Sense behavioral shifts whether psionicly or conventionally (drugs, torture, hypnosis) triggered. By including Empathy I can sense what the mental alteration was by determining which reactions are most out of character.

Level 1 Effect = Normal difficulty
Spot Brainwashing (1d10=4, 1d10=8, 1d10=10, 1d10=7, 1d10=8) = 4 Succ

All Relevant parameters start at 1 (Level 1 effect) and extra successes will be used to bump them.

Target: O (One subject)
Duration: O (Three turns)
Precision: O (Target in view)
Sensory: OOOO (Beyond standard detail, includes subjective or abstract data)

Because I don't need any successes beyond what I got on the roll, I think I can use this power without spending any Psi. At least I can't find anything that says I need to spend a Psi to activate anything. Please correct me if I'm wrong. First time using the freeform system.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Ithuriel]His mind has definetely been tempered with though you are equally certain that telepathy wasn't involved. You can't be sure exactly what means was used, though drugs and hypnosis are the most common altermative.

His behaviour hasn't been directly tempered with as far as you can tell. There is no secret 'Manchurian Candidate' type of brainwashing going on and his behaviour has only been modified in the sense that he is confused and has difficulty focusing. Therefore you can guess by elimination that it's just a spillover from having some of his memory erased. Whenever you attempt such a feat by means other than telepathy, you are bound to make a bit of a mess instead of a surgical removal.

To get more details, a use of Mindshare 3 would be needed to be used to go pilfering in his brain and get a better picture of what seemed to be missing or perhaps even recover some mangled data than he is no longer able to readily recall.

BTW : I accept boosting modes as per the PG though I double the penalty (+2difficulty instead of +1 by level boosted) and require the expenditure of 1 point of willpower every time it's done. In my experience during my live campaign, just bumping difficulty by +1 was so cheap that just about everyone routinely used it.

Since spending a Psi point gives 2 success, 1 time out of 2 it made little difference anyway in your management of Psi so you could as well have considered a psion with one mode at 3 as having all modes at 3 for all intent and purpose since it was so easy to boost the other modes at will.[/sblock]