In response to being slapped: “Where is da neares’ blood bank? Ah want ta make a wi’draw’l.”
LOuis, listen to me, Dr Panama has messed with your head. You don’t need blood, you need to quiet down and think. What did he do? What happened in there?
Chapter 4: Tactical Withdrawl
9:30 PM
The party gathers downstairs, in Don’s apartment. He’s on hold, sitting there with one ear to the telephone and the other covered against the noise from the television. He waves goodbye to the Ghostbusters, making sure that they are planning to return tomorrow.
They return to the Ghostmobile, finding a parking ticket on the windshield, despite the fact that the parking meter is clearly broken. Attaching Louis’ motorcycle to the rack on the back of the Ghostmobile, that JT Roth totally already installed and isn’t something that I’m just making up on the spur of the moment or anything, the four remaining Ghostbusters easily fit inside the Ghostmobile and return to Headquarters.
Louis continues to act strangely, his large-pupiled bloodshot eyes staring at nothing in particular, occasionally waving his hands in the air or spouting strange phrases.
Brian rolls 12, no ghost, to examine Louis.
Brian notes that these symptoms indicate something seriously wrong in Louis’ brain; the symptoms resemble certain ‘recreational’ drugs, but could also be caused by any number of other, paranormal effects, including possession, or even a simple stroke. Without any lab equipment, he cannot make any formal determination at the moment, and in any case he’s not a medical doctor so any diagnosis would be little more than an educated guess.
Kris rolls an 8, no ghost, to research possession.
Possession is a surprisingly common effect in the spiritual realm. There are a great many accounts which include it in some form or another, including demonic (and, surprisingly, angelic) possession, possession by ghosts trying to return to the physical world or otherwise affect it, and many other examples. In particular, he finds the passages regarding vampiric possession interesting: It’s not unknown for a vampire to overcome the willpower of others through a variety of means. Sometimes a form of hypnosis is used, to restrain a victim for feeding; other uses include stripping the free will from non-vampires to use as unwaveringly loyal servants. Perhaps this is what happened to Louis?
After a fairly uneventful drive across town, resulting in only three near-misses from over-eager taxi drivers and one cursing-out by an old lady, the Ghostmobile returns to the Ghostbusters Headquarters, and pulls into the garage.
JT Roth meets the returning heroes, and introduces to them the newest member of the party: “Howdy Boys, and Liz… I want y’all to meet your new partner. This is Woody Bernard, an’ he’s gonna be workin’ with y’all from now on! Woody, say hello to the gang!”
That’s your cue, Fanganga! Give us a brief physical description please, as well as trying to explain your character for us while staying in-character to do so. You should also have a private message including some information you and JT Roth have gathered on the building; feel free to share as much or as little of that as you wish, in any way you wish.
As for the rest of y’all… not quite time to call it a night, is it? Or would you rather take a rest and re-group in the morning? It’s up to you, together and individually. Regardless, I’ll pretty much certainly be making an update next Midnight!
PS: If I missed any important questions, lemme know please.
PPS: Liz? You still with us?
Woody, a wiry man with thick chin-length black hair in an off-the-peg suit rises and shakes hands with the ghostbusters. There is an intense excitement in his eyes, like a kid who has wandered into New York’s biggest candy store when nobody else was looking.
"Hi fellows, Woody Bernard here. The boss has been filling me in on what you guys are up to, and I’ve just got back from doing a bit of legwork of my own down at city hall. Turns out number 66666 is owned by Grasp Property management - and there are four levels of holding companies above that. By a weird coincidence, I did a feature on the effect of Rent Control on low income housing about a month back, and found a certain paralegal at Grasp really helpful - we could get back in touch with her.
I’ve also had a run through the archives of the Daily News - not everyone’s figured out I don’t work there anymore yet. Zip on the crime blotter, but there is an old lightning strike story, victim called Rolston. Carl’s going to be following it up - I owe that man so many beers."
Brian hustles past Woody and JT, nodding and greeting them, while dragging Louis to the lab. “Nice to meet you, Woody, I’m Brian Jenkins. That research sounds excellent, however we need to deal with our sick friend here first. I’ll try to examine him but we really need a medical doctor.”
Woody does a double-take at Louis “Woah - what happened to him? Is the group’s medic about…Liz, wasn’t it?”
Excellent point, Woody! I had forgotten she was a nursing student.
Liz is unfortunately out temporarily due to limited internet access, that’s why she hasn’t chimed in.
Brian leaves Liz to examine Louis, and turns his attention to Woody.
“So, what’s this about a lightning accident?”
“There’s not much more I can tell you at present. The boss had me chase up unusual and violent deaths in that area, and I found a cutting saying someone named Rolston had died in a lightning strike on Flatbush Avenue. It looked like it had fallen out of its file, so I don’t even know the date, but I’ve asked Carl to see if he can find any more.”
“That sounds promising. Rolston maybe our ghost. I’d like to know more about the circumstances surrounding his death. For instance, did it have anything to do with a TV.”
Bria takes the time to fill WOody in on what had been happening at Flatbush Avenue.
“Holy Moley, first ghosts and now you think you’re dealing with vampires? This could be huge! If there’s a previous pattern…next chance I get at the archives I’m going to search the crime files for ‘people on unknown drugs’…needle in a haystack in New York but…ah, this probably isn’t appropriate to talk about right now. Task at hand, task at hand…you’re asking about a TV related death - like lightning conducted down the aerial? -possible, but I think I’d remember a detail like that. Is it likely that something like that would be causing all the TV posessions?” he flips through a Ghostbusters Handbook on the table in front of him, “Sorry, I’m new to all this spook stuff, but I do know New York…Are you thinking Rolston could have been in the TV you say Don was tinkering with? - you did say it was burnt out, right, but I’m not totally clear on how the timing fits - is that even how ghosts work?”
“Right, ghost first, vampire… maybe never depending on if we can fix whatever is wrong with Louis.”
The ghost is definitely tied to the TV’s. We have seen it get out of and go into a tv set. It is forcing all the TV’s to be on CBS. Chances are it wants to catch a tv show it missed due to, well, dying. maybe the TV show is no longer in production. We may have to find out what it was and find a video of it. First though, we have to pin down a date of death. maybe the records office for that. Rolston? What was his first name?"
Lou to Liz: “Hah, honey, ah’m home!”
Lou has passed out.
Brian glances over at Lou and Liz. Well, maybe he’ll be better in the morning.
While I’m thinking about it, let see what I got on my camera.
Brian sets up the VCR, inserts the tape from the camera and hits play.
Woody sets a notebook and the Ghostbusters handbook before him and, pencil in hand, turns his attention to the tape.
Before I make this post, I wanna say that I’m VERY pleased with the interactions between your characters today. Fanganga’s character seems to have made an impression, and your talking back and forth helped flesh out the story just a little bit more, which is always nice. Good Jorb!
Elizabeth does her best to make Louis comfortable. She’s unable to determine exactly what’s wrong with him, but hopes that he can just sleep it off.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group gather together around the big television, and Brian pops his videotape into the machine. After a few minutes (remember having to rewind a videotape? remember how annoying it was when the last person to watch it didn’t? Ahh, the good old days…) the tape is rewound to the beginning, and Brian hits PLAY.
*The image of the Pogoni girls’ room fills the screen; centered on camera is a view of their television set, tuned to NBC. The next several minutes are uneventful, as the end of “Wheel of Fortune” plays. (The contestant won a number of prizes, including a large ceramic dalmation for some reason.)
After a few minutes, however, Brian’s careful planning pays off!
The camera clearly records a spectral presence! Brian’s invention has proven itself a success, and he can’t wait to show this footage to the fools back at his University… who’s laughing now, huh? HUH?!
A faint blue-ish glow rises through the floor, resolving into a translucent image of a skinny male figure, sitting in a spectral recliner, drinking spectral beer and eating spectral potatochips from a spectral bowl. The being seems fixated on the girls’ television. Watching for a moment, it seems to smile in approval as the winner of “Wheel of Fortune” chooses her prizes. Then the phantasm raises its remote control and points it at the set. A glowing blue arm extends from the remote, stretches across the room towards the television, and reaches inside. Seconds later, the television apparently changes its own channel to CBS and “Scarecrow and Mrs. King” begins.
The ghostly being watches for a few moments, then turns towards the camera, the recliner seeming to rotate silently in midair. It floats towards the camera, growing larger and larger, then apparently passes through the device on its way somewhere.
Suddenly the television (the one at HQ, not the one on the videotape) explodes in a burst of static, as the spectre’s form appears to wreak havoc on the delicate inner workings of Brian’s videocamera! The Ghostbusters cover their ears as Brian reaches up and turns down the volume.
The rest of the videotape appears to be blank; nothing whatsoever is recorded, although the tape continues to run to the end. *
Here is where I would roll a SEE check for Woody, if I wanted there to be any chance he did *not *notice something interesting. Instead, since I DO want this bit noticed, I took the liberty of just assuming that he’s the one to notice it, since he’s the one with the best observation skills.
“Wait… wait a second. Play that back, will you?” asks Woody, looking up from his notebook. “I think I saw something.”
Brian rewinds the tape, and following Woody’s instructions, pauses it right before the spirit passes through the videocamera:
*Frozen in time on the paused videotape, the spectre appears to glance directly into the videocamera! The clothing the ghostly form is wearing has changed, just for a split-second; if the tape hadn’t been paused it would have been almost too fast for the eye to follow…
The spectre, just for a moment, appears to be wearing a finely tailored woolen suit, a fashionably loud power-tie, and for some reason, a white cowboy hat with a feathered headband! The spectre is caught mid-wink, with a sly, almost malicious, grin, directed at the viewer.
The next frames show the spirit moving into the camera; details are lost at this distance, and then the picture itself is lost entirely.*
“Well I’ll be hornswaggled” exclaims JT Roth. “A cowboy? What the hell is a cowboy ghost doing in New York?”
That’s a good question, JT!
Sooo… What’s the plan, folks?
Where do we go from here?
“Alright we got one!..on tape,” Woody exclaims, “could you step back to just before the transformation - I want to be sure it’s just the clothes that are changing. I’m wondering if that’s a specific costume, too. A CBS-watching ghost could have had eight years worth of Dallas influencing the form he likes to take.”
Woody racks his BRAINS trying to recall a TV character with a costume like the one the ghost is wearing
BRAINS
(
3
)
= 3
rolling 1d6 GHOST
(
3
)
= 3
6 - no ghost
Brian brainstorms with Woody, trying to identify the character.
Brains 16 no ghost.
I had moved the camera down from the Pogonis to Don’s place, remember? I was hoping it would catch what happened between Lou and the ghost
[QUOTE=BrianJ]
I had moved the camera down from the Pogonis to Don’s place, remember? I was hoping it would catch what happened between Lou and the ghost
[/QUOTE]
D’oh! :smack:
I’m sorry, I’d completely forgotten about that part!
In my defense, I’ve been kinda sleep-deprived lately. I went through and read the thread, looking for bits about the videocamera. I shoulda kept reading…
Regardless, I think this works, with the exception that Brian woulda noticed the camera stopped working, and all that.
My apologies, but I think you got usable footage out of this, so I think it turned out ok in the end. In exchange for anything at all making sense, I’ll have the videocamera be quite easily fixed… Brian and Kristopher should each make some kind of REPAIR EQUIPMENT roll (Brains if nothing else) and only need to get over a 10, together, to fix it. Of course, the ghost roll still applies… hehehee!
PS: Brian and Fanganga, you both should have Private Messages any moment now.