Black Bagging Zeb

MIKE

At night there's a much different vibe here. No old guitarists hanging out on stoops, no children playing on the basketball court or on the concrete playground. Just a lot of ominous spring evening shadows, a few tough-looking young gentlemen hanging on the corner passing a bottle around, and an overall heightened sense of urban neglect from what you've experienced in West Oakland in the daytime. Before any Corruption, I'm going to roll a Sense roll for Mitch's Detect within line of sight here, and if Roger wants to give me a Streetwise roll that would be great too, Bill.

First things first, Mitch doesn't feel anything History B-tainted here. Not at any of Zeb's haunts either in or across from the park, or anywhere else within line of sight. Mitch ponders pushing his powers, like he did at Mount Shasta, to places he cannot perceive with his five senses. But he knows deep down that pushing like this will make him Like Unto Them. Hidden Lore (History B) check for Mitch.

JEFF

// Roll Hidden Lore (History B)-14

// Rolled 3d6: (1+2+6) = 9

BILL

// Roll Streetwise-14

// Rolled 3d6: (1+6+3) = 10

Made it. I’d also say that hitting the streets and asking folks is also in the cards. I’m happy to do the gumshoe flat foot work. He’s been in the neighborhood for years: I’m sure folks can point him out.

MIKE

Roger's opinion is that by night this park is a locus for bad dudes; not kindly winos and young people hanging out enjoying themselves, but dealers and criminals. If Zeb did bivouac here, it wouldn't be on a regular basis. And Mitch ... well, as Mitch reaches out with his ability to sense History B, he realizes that if he pushes his power further than he's used to, he's going to start kicking his brain into a more ... History B-friendly state of mind. But this suddenly makes the Mount Shasta experiences of remote viewing make a lot more sense. There, the boundaries between histories were WAY more porous, and thus it was easier for Mitch to reach out well past his usual range with his powers. The presence of History B gave him a little boost, a suffusion of psionic support, a carrier wave to ferry his psychic energies deep into the "mountain." But here and now in Oakland ... the process of pushing past his normal limits would internalize the History B taint. It would lead to Mitch's brain (or maybe Mitch looks at it as his "aura" or soul) becoming more similar (or maybe even more enslaved) to the Anunnakku who put the psionic potential in human neurology in the first place.

Mitch suddenly wants a Plan B; he calls an audible. Serendipity is different from these powers. It's passive. It's more like riding the eddies of history and probability to the right place at the right time; inevitably, still a marker of Anunnaki meddling but one where it's dealing with sub-volitional impulses and barely-seen signs of the wake of events and narratives and histories in motion.

So Mitch has Roger kind of wind his way in and out of the residential streets of West Oakland for a while. Mitch doesn't trigger Detect at all. And Roger, occasionally stopping the vehicle and subtly canvassing the neighborhood for Zeb, finds that people on the ground know Zeb but don't know where he is bedded down at this moment. While Roger does shoe-leather detective work, Mitch just is, knowing he'll eventually get to where he needs to. And after some more winding in and out of main streets and run-down projects and single-families, Mitch and Roger find themselves in front of a three-story house that jogs Roger's memory and one in front of which Mitch can give me an IQ roll, because his Detect History B sense, triggered with zero Corruption, is actually going off. (Made a penalized Sense roll for Mitch, and I will dramatically reveal where we are once we see if Mitch can quantify the History B inside the house.)

JEFF

// Roll IQ-13

// Rolled 3d6: (2+4+3) = 9

MIKE

If Mitch were a betting man, he'd bet that Zeb is inside that house; the vibe is nearly identical to the wobbly, half-here half-not sense he got off the Old-timer earlier in the week during their time together. Probably on the ground floor, right in that parlor with the closed curtains facing the street. Roger realizes he and Mitch are parked outside the house that E.L. Moore shares with his parents.

JEFF

“He’s in there, so, he probably knows the people inside,” Mitch says, before Roger explains. “We could wait for him to leave, but if he’s crashing on their couch tonight, or something, that might not be until tomorrow morning.”

“I mean, he could be squatting. I doubt it, though.”

BILL

“Yeah, man, but that’s Moore’s damn house! Who knows what he’s doing in there. “

JEFF

“Wait, what?”

“That’s the guy’s house?”

BILL

“Moore’s parents are in the first floor. Moore’s on the second in his own digs.”

JEFF

“Okay, okay. I think he’s downstairs, so, maybe it’s just that he’s a friend of the family and he sleeps there when the streets don’t seem friendly? Like if a white guy who seemed to be his boss from History B showed up and questioned him and then revealed himself as something else instead?” (I didn’t get the sense that Zeb had a fixed address, when I tried to question him about that.)

BILL

“Yeah, he’d go to somewhere where he has defenders. Which means picking a ‘fight’ with Moore’s people. Dammit!”

MIKE

Bill, Roger's renshed Observation is a 13 and I'd like you to roll it please.

// Roll Skill check, Party One

// Rolled 3d6: (1+3+5) = 9

BILL

// Roll Observe-13

// Rolled 3d6: (2+5+4) = 11

MIKE

// Roll Skill check, Party Two

// Rolled 3d6: (5+3+6) = 14

Roger spots the fed sled at the corner of the Moores' street with a couple of uptight-looking brothers in it sipping coffee in take-out cups. They vibe FBI.

JEFF

Is it Jo’s boys? I’ve met them at least once.

MIKE

Oh right! Yeah, these are them. Well, they're Padden and Hall's token Black agents who they use for "undercover" work.

BILL

“So Moore is in there, right now — I see his tail.”

JEFF

Mitch is now envisioning a full-blown cult meeting happening in the parlor of the ground-floor apartment. Red robes, bloody face paint, brass candelabras.

BILL

“Let me clear the Feds from intervening, then we’ll try to get a closer look, man.” Roger finds an unobtrusive place to park.

JEFF

Mitch nods. He’s stressed enough by this turn of events I wanna roll his Uncontrollable pyro 1 — Mitch really does believe Zeb is his responsibility.

MIKE

Yeah, that makes sense, Jeff. Go for it.

JEFF

// Roll Pyrokinesis-14

// Rolled 3d6: (2+3+2) = 7

MIKE

Roger pulls the car out of the side street. Hmm. I want to see how nonchalant Roger manages to do this ... your Driving is 14 and Stealth is 13, so give me a roll with Driving opposed by their Observation. While that's happening, Mitch should give me a Observation.

JEFF

// Roll Observation-14

​// Rolled 3d6: (6+5+2) = 13

MIKE

Cool.

BILL

// Roll Driving-16

​// Rolled 3d6: (3+1+5) = 9

MIKE

You guys were only outside the house for 20 seconds maybe so the feds don't seem to have taken any special notice of you; Roger seems to have managed to pull out and away from the side street smoothly.

What next?

JEFF

Anything from the Observation?

MIKE

I am not saying anything on that.

JEFF

Ok I’m assuming there’s a ninja Mitch can’t see up on the roof of our car.

BILL

“Ok, calm now. Let me get up to the Feds and make sure they don’t freak.”

JEFF

Mitch will sit tight as Roger seems to believe he can tell the feds to back off for a bit.

BILL

Roger quietly, but normally gets out of the car, puts on his sunglasses, and walks normally down the sidewalk towards the Feds sled, his FBI badge ready. He tries to make eye contact.

MIKE

The driver rolls down his window.

JEFF

Mitch’s thinking about his last encounter with Zeb and how he blew his cover, whatever it was. Under other circumstances Mitch would try just knocking on the door and brazen-ing his way into the apartment and the cult meeting he imagines is going on there, but with his cover blown that won’t fly, he’s already played that card. Waiting for Zeb to leave and snatching him as soon as he’s alone would be peachy as a solution but there isn’t much time between now and the zero hour of the concert, especially if Zeb is on his guard then there’s little chance an opportunity to abduct the Old-timer would present itself. “Dammit, Old-timer, why couldn’t you have just gone to Shasta like I said?” Mitch mutters, alone in the car where only the invisible ninja can hear him.

BILL

“Hey, brother! I think I know y’all. We got friends in common!” He flashes his badge so his body blocks a street view of it.

MIKE

"Say man, what it is," and the uptight FBI guy does a fair approximation of a cool handshake through the window. "What's going on here?" he says, this time sotto voce.

BILL

“Y’all trailing Moore for Padden and Hall, right.” (Also quietly)

MIKE

"That's right."

BILL

“I’m lent to that Army Int chick. Tracking another perp from the Dominoe bust. You seen an old bum type enter the premises?”

(More loudly) “Right on, my man.”

Roger relaxes and leans elbows on the car window, just chillin’.

MITCH

"Yeah, hour and a half ago the old man walked up, Moore's father greeted him at the door with a big hug. Moore got home about a half-hour ago, looking a little harried, but he went to the downstairs apartment instead of his own. Before they shut the curtains they were all sitting in the downstairs living room chatting."

BILL

Roger nods. “Good intel. Not so great for Moore to be seen with this guy, though. Case is building, you know what I mean? Look, I gotta get ears on that. Y’all cool to keep eyes while I try?”

MITCH

"Go for it."

BILL

Roger holds up a fist, and finishes the short loud conversation “Solid, man! See you round.” He’ll head back to his car. “Ok, they’re cool, Mitch.”

MIKE

I want to say that Roger worked out a quick series of Gestures that the agents can shoot his way if they see anything untoward happening around the house. So Roger will need to give occasional glances back to the agents' car.

BILL

Yeah, standard Fed ops signs. I doubt they know ASL.

MIKE

And Mitch and the car are parked out of line of sight of the Moore home, right?

BILL

Right.

MIKE

Okay, so is Roger sneaking up?

BILL

Once Mitch and Roger figure out what Mitch is gonna do, yes, Roger will sneak back up.

“Mitch, we gotta play this a little cool. How you doing?”

JEFF

“I’m not thrilled, Roger.”

“I’m not about to blow anybody up, though, if that’s what you’re asking. I just don’t see a route of approach here that’s going to work. Maybe if I hadn’t blown it with the Old-timer before ...”

“And Moore’s seen both of us, right?”

“I mean, I dunno. I could light the building up, smoke alarms go off, they evacuate, we grab him... that seems like a terrible plan, though. Let’s not do that.”

BILL

“Yeah. Let’s. Moore may not know me; I was “disguised”. But I got no new cover I can think of. I mostly just wanna go and see if I can listen in, figure out what their time table is. If the old guy is staying overnight, we might have another chance later.”

We cased this place before, right?

JEFF

Wait, doesn’t Mitch’s equipment load out include a listening device? I believe it does. However there is no way to plant it inside that parlor and it’s not some kind of fancy directional microphone deal, it’s a bug. So, never mind that. Mitch looks like he has an idea for a second and then just nods weakly. He’s middling stealthy but Roger probably doesn’t need the backup. Instead Mitch can position himself where he can keep an eye on the building, or he can stay with the car, while Roger sneaks — whichever Roger prefers. Normally he’d presume to back Roger up a little more aggressively but there’s already feds watching the site.

MIKE

Yeeeees? We were ready to go in and snatch Moore but I forget if Jo and Roger cased it or if the FBI guys did and gave us a report. Either way, functionally you know the basic approaches and such.

I mean, Mitch could plant it on an exterior wall and pick up audio but Mitch would need to be the one to sneak up and do it.

BILL

“I can figure out a couple of approaches to get close. The feds will help watch, sure, but we may have to help ourselves here.” There’s a small voice in Roger’s head that a Certain Someone could talk his way in there, but Roger doesn’t need that complication right now.

“You know, the feds are watching. We should call this in, see if anyone’s got a bright idea. At least on the radio. I gotta tell Jo I hijacked her feds anyway, so that story’s not blown.”

“Maybe we can get a listening device.”

Roger will try for Jo or Sophie. He knows the clock is ticking, but as long as the two targets stay in the same place, we have some time. And if the old guy leaves, all the better.

MIKE

Okay, so just to make sure we're all on the same page, current game time is around 8:30, 9 pm. Marshall is in the air from Granite Peak to Livermore. I would assume Roger still has the SANGUSH glyph for this field mission and yes, Mitch does have his bag with bugs and receivers. So both Sophie and Jo would be at Livermore, along with Archie and Charley.

JEFF

Okay I’m coming around on the bug-planting idea. They’re in the front room, the parlor, very probably, and on the ground floor, so, could just walk up to the building and stick the bug on and walk away.

BILL

As soon as you suggest it, Roger’s all for it. He’ll try to cover you, maybe a little distraction. Sneak into the back, knock over some trash cans.

JEFF

Mitch's Stealth and his Surveillance are both 13. Wait, hell, I'm looking at my character sheet now and it says I have a TL 7 laser mic, that literally is the fancy long-distance hear-through-a-window thing, isn't it?

MIKE

Oooh, yes, it is!

SANDMAN treats its lamplighters right.

BILL

Ok, so we just need to find a good spot across the street! With the feds helping with lookout, that shouldn’t be too hard.

MIKE

All right. TL 7 laser mics are not foolproof. So here's what I'm gonna do. Mitch makes TWO consecutive Electronics Operation (Surveillance) rolls, one for the first half of the listening, one for the second half. Given the fact that there is interference from the curtains, Mitch expects the reception to be a little choppy but it's better than nothing and way less risky than trying a contact mic. I will assess the penalties after I see both rolls and give you as accurate a transcript of the conversation as possible given your degree of success on each.

Range is 300 yards though, holy crow.

JEFF

// Roll Electronics Operation-13

// Rolled 3d6: (1+3+5) = 9

// Roll Electronics Operation-13

// Rolled 3d6: (1+3+5) = 15

A small failure hardly noticeable.

MIKE

Hey kids, who's ready for another very important transcript that's only partly legible?

JEFF

"Zeb's sundowning," Mitch says in a tone that suggests he's more concerned for Zeb than he is for History A, at least right this second.

BILL

"If the guest room is close to the outside, we can probably bag Zeb. And put him out of harm's way. Hopefully he's too gone to, uh, whammy us. Too bad about the game ... But if Jo's pissed enough about it, maybe she's up for a black bag job in this house after all."

MIKE

You guys wanna call this in?

JEFF

Yeah, I think so.

JEFF

I think step one is waiting until the laser mic says they've gone to sleep plus a couple hours, then Mitch will do a walk around outside to ID Zeb's location while Roger picks the lock. Then it's ski masks and invisibility runes and sneaky-sneaky, zappy-zappy, abducty-abducty.

BILL

Roger will cautiously go back over to the feds and give them an update — suspect definitely in the house, monitoring until he leaves or get warrant. We’re here all night. I don’t think they had a night shift.

MIKE

Yeah, you all can take over from them. Jo will arrive with the van and the glyphs around 11:30 PM, and then it's the waiting game.

Okay, let's start off with two rolls from Mitch: one to activate Detect (History B) and one Stealth please. If the Detect power goes off (and I just realized, you have Precise which gives you EXACT distance), I'll roll the Sense roll myself.

Also, are you wearing GU.SHUB for this recon bit?

JEFF

// Roll Detect (History B)-14

// Rolled 3d6: (2+6+2) = 10

Hmm, better to than not I guess, yes on the glyph.

// Roll Stealth-13

​// Rolled 3d6: (4+1+6) = 11

MIKE

Okay, Mitch's first point of Corruption has been achieved.

JEFF

It was bound to happen eventually. This whole operation is happening, in Mitch’s mind, because he failed to convince Zeb to skip town after he decided he didn’t want to bring Zeb in. So Mitch will pay the price.

MIKE

Okay, so your first scan with Detect (History B) reveals no History B taint anywhere on that side of the house! Curious. Not sure if it's the distance, the intervening walls, a lack of concentration, or Zeb's actually not there. He certainly didn't leave the house.

JEFF

Huh. Maybe the retrocreation has already been interrupted to the point that Zeb’s already been replaced by his History-A doppelgänger. That’d be a good sign, all things considered. On the other hand, as of a couple hours ago Moore still remembers Zeb telling him History-B Bible Stories, so, maybe not.

There’s another side of the house to try?

MIKE

Yeah, the side with the kitchen and living room. There's no flicker of TV or sign of movement from the front room/parlor but he could be in the kitchen or parlor or, really, anywhere in the building.

JEFF

In a perfect world we’d be using the laser mike to pick up the sounds of breathing in occupied rooms, but that requires a level of skill Mitch surmises is beyond him in this environment.

I’ll try the other side of the house, then

MIKE

Okay, new activation roll then I'll roll Sense.

JEFF

// Roll Detect (History B)-14

// Rolled 3d6: (1+3+5) = 9

BILL

If you get nothing, we may have to fall back on the laser mike, and see what we can do taking time.

MIKE

Okay, turns out that first Detect attempt was a misfire of concentration on Mitch's part: Zeb's History B taint is on the left side of the building. Mitch has pinpointed which room he's in with Precise; the guest room is apparently the back room on the left side of the house. He's there, and he's alive and still wobbly. (First Sense roll failed, second succeeded by 7. That's 30 yards and more than enough to pinpoint Zeb.)

JEFF

Whew! Once I’ve got Zeb’s room ID’d I’ll step to where Roger and/or Jo can see me and ASL that I’m ready to go when they are. I guess I need to take the glyph off to do that?

MIKE

Yeah, probably easier that way.

JEFF

Heck, I’ll ASL “back and to the left” in case a sniper takes me out in the next few seconds.

MIKE

All right. So who's actually going into the house, did we settle on that?

JEFF

I think Mitch and Roger with Jo acting as wheelman?

MIKE

Okay. Roger hands Mitch a rifle ikoter and the two of them make their way to the back door. Roger needs to give me a Stealth check, though... and take a point of Corruption if he's using his own GU.SHUB glyph.

(These Stealth checks are for not making noise and/or covering your asses in case someone with the ability to see through glyphs spots you, for the record.)

BILL

Yes, Roger will wear the glyph.

// Roll # Stealth-13

// Rolled 3d6: (5+4+5) = 14

MIKE

Missed by one. Guess it's up to me to see if any of the first-floor sleepers heard that snapping tree branch Roger just stepped on, one sec

All right. To the back door, then?

JEFF

The lock is Roger’s thing. While he’s working Mitch scans, looking for trouble with Observation I guess.

BILL

It’s not a complicated lock, and bringing out Papa Legba adds complications about movement and dragging bodies. So Roger will just try. (Not that I don’t have a nip on me just in case.)

// Roll Lockpicking-18

​// Rolled 3d6: (6+5+6) = 17

MIKE

Failure. But Roger knows he couldn't have done it without the amplified headphones, and he's not sure why. Did Papa Legba get insulted he wasn't called upon?

BILL

Probably. Roger’s probably about to get an earful from a Phantom voice.

MIKE

That's just what I was thinking.

BILL

The good news is, he doesn’t have to lock the door back up. Leaving the back door unlocked is what Zeb would do sneaking out early.

MIKE

3d6, on a 6 or less you hear voices.

BILL

// Roll Phantom Voices-6

// ​Rolled 3d6: (1+3+1) = 5

MIKE

Oh Jesus CHRIST

BILL

Oy.

MIKE

Well, mechanically it's only a -2 to reactions, let's hope you don't have to talk to Zeb.

BILL

“Wait — what was that?!”

MIKE

But Papa Legba's voice is almost overpowering.

JEFF

Mitch is looking around, doing a double take, because he’s been active-perceptioning and Roger’s reaction to something he’s not picking up.

MIKE

Observation roll, Mitch! Let's ramp up that paranoia baby.

JEFF

// Roll Observation-15

// Rolled 3d6: (2+6+4) = 12

MIKE

Mitch hears nothing.

JEFF

I’m one more incident away from rolling for Uncontrollable pyro 1.

MIKE

That's fair.

BILL

“Honor to you, Papa Legba, but the elder is the enemy of our peace.”

MIKE

This objectively is not going well, it's almost like there's a weird curse happening or something.

JEFF

It should be easier than Dominoe.

BILL

Roger is trying to be quiet, but yeah, better to have this conversation now.

LEONARD

(Can't take these guys anywhere)

BILL

“Great loa, he is an old man, we will not harm him, only prevent him harming others.”

MIKE

Mitch, Roger is NOT observing operational protocols here

JEFF

Yeah, why is he talking about harming Zeb? I thought we agreed we weren’t harming Zeb!

MIKE

PYROOOOOOOO.

JEFF

// Roll Pyrokinesis-15

​// Rolled 3d6: (5+5+5) = 15

MIKE

Let me check the Stress page on the wiki.

Mitch also needs to give me a Phantom Voices roll.

And Roger? Flashback time.

JEFF

// Roll Phantom Voices-6

// Rolled 3d6: (3+2+3) = 8

MIKE

Mitch does not begin hearing voices.

But it's getting very hot here.

JEFF

Assuming Mitch is raising the ambient temperature and not giving Roger heatstroke, he’ll try to turn it off, obviously. I mean, he’ll try to turn it off if he’s giving Roger heatstroke, too.

BRANT

(20 degrees is a lot! Imagine turning the temp up from 70 to 90 in like 30 seconds!)

JEFF

Also GURPS is metric it’s +20C not +20F

BRANT

(IT IS CELSIUS)

(OMGGGGGGGGG)

MIKE

I knew the metric system would get us all in the end. Looks at Rob with blame in my eyes. Goddamn it we need a Canadian to do this absurd math

JEFF

So I think it’s actually about +36 F over ten seconds, at which point I assume Mitch can shut it down

MIKE

I mean, that's like mid-80s around the back door of the Moore house

JEFF

Yeah, very abruptly and unnaturally

MIKE

All right, just waiting to see if Roger has a 'Nam flashback.

BILL

// Roll Flashbacks

​// Rolled 3d6: (1+1+2) = 4

MIKE

walks away from table

JEFF

It’ll then be some amount of time for the heated air to cool down, there’ll be convection as well as radiation so I can’t break out sophomore-level physics and do the math.

BILL

Why did you ask me to keep rolling?

MIKE

I need a moment. This all just, like, spiraled so fast.

JEFF

Hey, we’re all agreed Mitch doesn’t give Roger heatstroke, so everything else is gravy

MIKE

Yeah, but he might think you're Charlie.

BILL

Or worse, Marshall.

JEFF

I’m wearing a GU.SHUB glyph, he might not see me

MIKE

Well, again, this is mechanically just a -2 to skill rolls for a very brief period but I want to consider what form the flashback takes.

And hey, the door is unlocked.

JEFF

Oh, also, if Roger is gonna start talking to nobody about harming Zeb, Mitch def wants to examine his aura.

// Roll Aura Sight (Activate)-14

​// Rolled 3d6: (1+5+2) = 8

// Roll Aura Sight (Read)=13

​// Rolled 3d6: (6+2+1) = 9

// Roll 3d6 Aura Sight (Analyze)

​// Rolled 3d6: (1+4+6) = 11

BILL

Are you sure you wanna be rolling MORE?

MIKE

There's two auras in there, Mitch, and they're fighting for superiority at the moment.

JEFF

Awesome, awesome. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen Roger’s aura doing that before. Last time I saw something like that it was Frank Senior and the living memetic monster.

MIKE

I'm not sure if you have witnessed Roger when he is ridden, but when he is ridden there's no, like, fighting over his body.

JEFF

Yeah, my assumption is that it’s not a thing Mitch would have often watched Roger do, like, he’s seen before-and-after loa riding, but not the transition itself. And anyway this is something different. So, Roger’s been possessed I guess. Awesome.

BILL

It’s been, what, twenty seconds?

LEONARD

Jocasta is just sitting in the van reading the latest issue of Glamour, assuming everything is fine.

JEFF

I imagine her singing along with the radio. “I remember when rock was young, me and Susie had so much fun, holding hands etc”

MIKE

Let's have Roger give us a 2d6 seconds duration for the flashback.

BILL

// Roll Flashbacks

​// Rolled 2d6: (5+2) = 7

MIKE

An average length flashback. And yes, the vision Roger has is of a night raid. No lock to be picked, but a door to be battered down and a VC Papasan to be intimidated. And Papa Legba, while he doesn't luxuriate in Roger's sins, does ask him implicitly if this is the kind of man he wants to keep being.

BILL

Given the flashback and the horror of what’s behind the door, Roger will physically back away from the door in reality. “Non, non, mon sieur.“

MIKE

Okay. Mitch, the door to the Moore home is unlocked and slightly ajar and Roger is tentatively backing away from it. What are you going to do? Your aura analysis roll is, by the way, good enough to tell you that both auras are part of Roger but in a, yes, split personality kind of way, to use the inaccurate 1970s term.

BILL

Or this is what possession looks like when the party is willing ... Not to make more trouble. Oh, and Roger is feeling remorse and guilt and heck, crossing himself like a good Catholic.

JEFF

Mitch will hold off taking any dramatic action, he’ll ASL Roger "you okay?" and give him a few moments to recover, watching the aura and hoping it subsides. So we just stand there, in the extremely warm March night.

BILL

Sweating.

MIKE

I would say all the stresses are starting to fade now.

But that was a tricky... yeah, 37 seconds or something.

And I would say you two CAN see each other. Just concentrating for a while is enough to see your vibratory outline.

BILL

Roger will give a “mea culpa” to Legba. Then pull himself back together, and look around. He’ll ASL, “Better now. Sorry. Bad brain.”

JEFF

Mitch nods and indicates the door, ASLing “go now?”

BILL

Nods. But first, checking the sounds around us.

MIKE

Listen roll?

BILL

// Roll Listen-12

// Rolled 3d6: (6+2+4) = 12

Spot on.

Unless Observation helps, but then only by one.

MIKE

No sounds from inside the house other than the hum of the fridge. The back door opens directly onto the kitchen. There is a doorway that leads to the hallway (off of which are the two bedrooms/bath) and another doorway that leads to the dining room and then the front parlor.

So, to the guest room?

BILL

Yes. But real quick, before we go in, Roger ASLs to Mitch: “We won’t let Z come to harm. We can’t.”

MIKE

One more set of Stealth rolls from the both of you.

BILL

// Roll Stealth-13

// Rolled 3d6: (4+6+5) = 15

MIKE

Creaky linoleum.

BILL

Some people in the 70s would put shag carpeting even in the kitchen. Why not here?

JEFF

// Roll Stealth-13

​// Rolled 3d6: (1+6+1) = 8

Is Roger’s aura looking smoother now? I assume?

BILL

I hope you’re paying as much attention to the house as to Roger’s poor overworked psyche.

MIKE

Yeah, Roger's looking A-OK.

BILL

We’ll see how he does when he has to unsling the rifle from his back and point into the dark.

MIKE

Roger's failed Stealth roll will cover both the aforementioned squeaky linoleum and the opening of the guest room door. It's unlocked, thank goodness. In there, on a tiny twin size bed, is Zeb, sleeping soundly. Maybe a tiny bit of apnea. Nothing like the snoring coming from the next room over; that Arthur Moore is a SNORER. Little bit of audial cover anyway.

All right boys, form lines and shoulder arms.

MIKE

So the roll here defaults to DX-4. The bonus due from the weapon Acc is +6. EXTRA Aim, +2. No defense possible, of course. So you guys are both going to roll DX+4. And then I make a pair of Will-3 rolls if you both hit.

JEFF

// Roll DX-14

​// Rolled 3d6: (6+5+6) = 17

That is a critical failure.

I break it.

I break the ikoter.

MIKE

Roger, I need your roll before I resolve this.

BILL

// Roll DX-14

​// Rolled 3d6: (2+2+6) = 10

No problem. Assuming I don’t have more flashbacks from being the one to shoot the old man.

BRANT

(Jocasta, singing along quietly: “Oh Lawdy mama those Friday nights / When Suzie wore her dresses tight”)

MIKE

Mr. Hort, would you care to be the one to roll on the Malfunction table?

JEFF

// Roll 3d6

// Rolled 3d6: (4+6+4) = 14

MIKE

Misfire. Spitting neurolinguistic blanks. But Roger's cone of linguistic white noise hits. It wakes Zeb up but does not stun him. ".....Wha?" he says with a start, trying to sit up. Roger, you can shoot again.

Mitch's ikoter will need to be, like, rebooted.

JEFF

// Roll 3d6 # uncontrollable pyro 1 i am melting the damn ikoter if this goes off

// Rolled 3d6: (6+2+4) = 12

(whew)

MIKE

(I have to say, listening to Crocodile Rock while this scene unfolds has me giggling even harder if that's possible)

BILL

// Roll 3d6

// Rolled 3d6: (1+2+6) = 9

MIKE

That one stuns the old man but good. In fact, he's not dazed, he's unconscious.

JEFF

(it would have been all over the radio in March 1973, like finding a station playing "Wannabe" in spring of 97)

Is Arthur still snoring?

MIKE

Yes.

BILL

Dare I ask about combat shakes?

MIKE

After we get the old man out of here, you're still largely in combat mode. But he's dead weight now. If he'd been dazed he could have been gently nudged towards the van.

(Christ, do I have to look up the lifting rules now? REALLY, GURPS.)

JEFF

I choose to believe we discussed this in advance: Mitch will haul Zeb in a fireman's carry while Roger grabs Zeb's stuff so in the morning it looks like he ducked out early

MIKE

He's a frail old thing, probably 130 pounds or so?

BILL

Ok. Backup option: stretcher via blanket.

JEFF

With a ST of 10, Mitch can stagger out with Zeb over his shoulders.

MIKE

Mitch can easily carry him, yeah. Encumbered though.

Hustle on out of here?

BILL

Zeb’s stuff is like a guitar and junk? Or is it small enough can Roger keep a hand on his rifle?

MIKE

Guitar and clothes. He's wearing some loaned jammies right now.

JEFF

"dammit oldtimer shasta was nice why couldn't you have just gone to shasta like i said," Mitch is muttering.

BILL

Rifle shouldered, then.

JEFF

We're not stripping him out of the jammies now, if they want to Mycroft Holmes it up and deduce that Zeb was kidnapped by nefarious government men in black then so be it

BILL

Roger scans to try not to miss any tell tale precious knickknacks the old man would have left with.

MIKE

Oooh, one sec on that. I'm gonna spitball that as an IQ-2 roll, Bill. -2 for the darkness, the hectic-ness, etc.

BILL

// Roll IQ-10

// Rolled 3d6: (5+2+3) = 10

MIKE

No, he's got no keys or wallet or any other personal effects on the nightstand or bureau that you can see.

BILL

Off we “sneak” stagger.

MIKE

Okay. Two rolls as we walk as quickly as possible out the back door and back to the van. Mitch is occupied with keeping the Oldtimer on his back. Roger, first give us an Observation roll.

BILL

// Roll Observation-13

​// Rolled 3d6: (1+2+3) = 6

Paranoia is clearly setting in.

MIKE

Okay, Roger sees E.L. Moore is watching you three from the second floor window. And what Moore sees is a blurry, indistinct, slumped-over Zeb sort of bobbing up and down in the mid-air towards a waiting white van. I need to make a Fright check for my man.

// Roll 3d6 # How you gonna play trumpet tomorrow with this kind of night terror hallucination, my man

// Rolled 3d6: (5+5+3) = 13

With the penalty that's a failure. By 3.

// Roll 3d6+3 # What kind of special derangement you gonna have for the gig tomorrow morning my dude

​// Rolled 3d6+3: (3+1+1)+3 = 8

E.L. Moore stands at the window, watching Zeb seemingly being abducted by ... someone or something. His gaze is glassy, his eyes wide, and a single hand, pressed up against the window in a silent sign of protest, of weariness, of shock.

(Mild Catatonia for 2d seconds)

// Roll 2d6 # Everyone in this house is going crazy tonite

​// Rolled 2d6: (1+5) = 6

Should be long enough to get Zeb in the van.

Now time for Roger's Fright Check for Post-Combat Shakes.

BILL

// Roll 3d6 # Shake it off

// Rolled 3d6: (2+5+1) = 8

MIKE

He's good.

(I wonder if Moore will remember him getting not into a white van but a white float-car)

JEFF

We're peeling out now, right? By which I mean driving away in a sedate and non suspicious manner.

Bill

Roger did remember to close the back door behind us. But not lock it.

My raid has a term for this kind of success: “Textbook.”