Brian snaps his fingers
JR Ewing! Dallas! That’s got to be it! I guess he’s changing shpe like he did with the kids.
“There’s one other thing to check. The big pile of junk in the basement. We never really looked at that very closely. Could it be Rolstons?”
Brian glances at Liz and Lou, to make sure everything is alright, and then inspects the Video camera to see if it can be fixed. Hopefully with Kiris’s help.
Brains 16 no ghost
Lou, still out, raises his right arm and seems to point in the general direction of Liz’s chest.
“Are dose … lahve?”
His arm falls back down and he starts snoring, faintly.
Rather oddly, Kris has been just standing there taking it all in. “Hopefully, Lous will just snap out of this in the morning. If not, I’ll slap him around a bit and see if we can get through to him. Does anyone know how to break a hypnotic state?”
Kris looks at the group, “Well, in terms of research, we need to learn about the building. However, Woody, can you look up anything about the tenant on the top floor? Dr. Panama? I don’t know if that is his real name, but he is up to illegal activity and I still wonder if he ties in to what is happening there.”
Kris also runs a PKE meter over Lou…and everyone else as well. Better safe than sorry.
Kris rolls a 12 for equipment expert, no ghost.
Woody sucks on his teeth “This Panama fellow sounds like a tricky one to get on paper - seems like the sort to go out of his way to avoid contact with the government, and I haven’t even heard a first name for him. We could try City Hall, but I reckon the owners are the best bet - they’d know when he moved in, maybe even where he moved from, and then there’s the utilities unless they all go through Don. I’ve got a bit of an angle with the owners through Amarillis, who helped me on the rent control feature - heck, there’s a chance this guy Panama’s in the running for oldest living New Yorker, which counts for legitimate journalistic interest. If I ask nicely enough there’s a chance of finding out some more about the history of the building - other notable tenants, what was there before - although that last one might be irrelevant depending on what date we can get for our spook. If it turns out that Rolston was blasted by a lightning-struck TV in 1980, we’ll have our answer - he’ll be waiting to learn who shot JR before he moves on. Of course, he could have died earlier and picked up JR while he was haunting - that remote sounds like something he’d have had before he was a ghost - what kind of limit does that put on how old he can be?”
You do so, and yes, the ghost’s face did change slightly. The spectacles hid it, as they remained in place… but behind them, for just a moment, the face changes to that of Larry Hagman.
That’s the specific picture I was using for his description. Suddenly I wish I hadn’t given away that hint, now it’s too darn obvious what’s going on! Congratulations, good guessers!
Brian rolls a 16, no ghost, to repair the videocamera.Brian easily repairs the videocamera; it turns out that it had simply blown a fuse, and that was easy enough to replace. Kristopher’s help wasn’t even needed.
Kristopher rolls a 12, no ghost, to use his PKE meter.Kristopher runs a PKE scan on the party:
Louis has high levels of latent PKE, dropping rapidly.
Brian has low levels of latent PKE, dropping rapidly.
Elizabeth has very low levels of latent PKE, dropping rapidly.
Kristopher has low levels of latent PKE, dropping rapidly.
Woody does not register on the PKE meter at all.
JT Roth does not register on the PKE meter at all.
In addition, because he is *very *thorough:
Brian’s Videocamera registers very high levels of latent PKE, dropping rapidly.
Elizabeth’s PKE meter itself registers very high levels of latent PKE, dropping rapidly.
Louis’ jumpsuit registers medium levels of latent PKE, dropping rapidly.
Kristopher’s Proton Pack registers very high levels of latent PKE, dropping rapidly.
I think we’ll do one more (real-world) day’s worth of posts before I run the game clock forward to ‘tomorrow’.
Get in any activities or conversations you’d like to finish up tonight, and post whether you go home or stay at HQ overnight, please. We’ll try to make a clean transition here, and start out fresh tomorrow.
Of course, if the group as a whole or any individual player chooses to stay up and pull an all-nighter (in game time, of course) that’s fine too. Just let me know!
"Hopefully when Lou snaps out of whatever he’s on he can shed some light on our mysterious Dr. Panama. In the mean time, do you think he needs watching? Or can we leave him here?
As for Casper, we still need to know his date/time of death. If it isn’t th Dallas episode, showing Casper the episode might make him happy but won’t make him leave."
“I’ll stay the night here at headquarters and make sure Lou is OK. Brian, do you want to video Lou during the night to see what happens to him? I wasn’t planning on watching him like a baby the entire night,” Kris says.
“If you don’t need me here anymore, I’m going to head off. See if I can catch up with Carl at our regular watering hole. What time do we start tomorrow?”
Carl is the name I’ve chosen for the colleague who’s following up on the Rolston lightning strike, and if I find him, I’m going to ask what progress he’s made. And if he hasn’t found the date yet, say I’ve got a hunch that it might be 1980 - “Dunno, something about the style seemed like how we wrote then.”
Actually, scratch that. Ghostbusting’s a legit business now, I don’t need to be evasive to a good friend about why I’m thinking 1980 - I’ll tell him about the ghost impersonating JR.
OK, I’ll head home and be back first thing in the morning.
I doubt the camera will be needed, but let me pop a fresh tape in. You can switch it on and hit play if you think it’s gonna get anything good.
Brian sets up the camera pointing at Lou, files the Ghost tape in his lab to show his colleagues, says good night and heads off.
*Dateline: New York City, November 22, 1980.
Last night's freak lightning storm claimed at least one victim.
Eric Rolston was found dead of an apparent electrocution on the rooftop of his apartment building on Flatbush Avenue last night. The police have ruled his death an 'act of God' and do not expect to pursue any charges against anyone. Investigators say that Rolston, 25, a resident of the Flatbush apartments, was on the roof of his apartment building when lightning struck a television antenna that he was apparently attempting to adjust during the storm.
The coroner’s autopsy report states a time of death of Approximately 10 PM.
City officials warn all citizens to take shelter inside during storms, and that lightning in particular can prove deadly as much as three miles from the actual storm front in some cases.
Rolston would appear to have disregarded these warnings, and paid for his carelessness with his life.
"He was a quiet man, didn't bother any of the other tenants or anything." said a neighbor who requests not to be named. "It was a real shame what happened to him."
Funeral services will be held blah blah blah yadda yadda.*
So says the newspaper clipping Woody’s friend Carl provided to him last night, for which Woody rewarded Carl with large quantities of beer.
Woody arrives slightly late for work today (Tuesday, June 24, 1986), complaining of a hangover, but happy that he’s found another important clue… especially since it seems to confirm his theory about the haunting.
Brian arrives on time, happy that he’s gotten his proof of the supernatural, and examines his videocamera. Nothing unusual was seen to happen overnight.
Kristopher, who found a cot in a closet somewhere, and Louis, who spent the night sleeping off his – let’s just call it an ‘issue’ – meet with Brian and JT, and eventually Woody, as they arrive at the Ghostbusters Headquarters.
Louis seems to be all better now, but describes some strange feelings and memories to the others.
Elizabeth doesn’t seem to have shown up for work today. Perhaps she is just running a little late…
That was an easy update to write.
The time is… well, whatever time y’all want it to be, once you get organized and ready to go once again. Just let me know your plans; time isn’t important yet, and 8:00 pm is ages away.
Get yourselves talking to each other, come up with a plan of action, and let me know! We’ll go from there ASAP.
“So Lou, what did happen in that apartment yesterday?” Brian asks.
Then continues to the group "Well, that’s great information from the paper! All we need is to confirm that it is in fact the episode where Jr’s shooter is revealed. Well, and to find a copy fo the show of course. Woody, I don’t suppose Carl supplied a TV Guide from that day? "
Woody gets the strongest coffee he can get out of the machine, and slumps at the table. “Sorry, man. Only knew the TV angle last night. I remember Who shot JR being a big thing that summer, so it seems likely. I can dig that up this morning and then we can trawl the video stores to see if anyone’s got that season. Might be worth double-checking if anyone’s got a photo of Eric we can compare to Casper, then there’s our vampire. I’ll want to search the crime archives for anyone being picked up acting like Lou was and see if there’s anything to go on. After that, there’s Grasp…and I’ve had a thought. You were saying this Panama guy and the ghost’s common form looked similar - if a ghost is - for want of a better term - a soul without a body, could a vampire be a body without a soul - and could Eric Rolston’s body be calling itself Dr. Panama while his soul is Mr. Cartoon Man?”
Lou, on at least his second cup of strong coffee, recounts what he can remember:
Doc Panama is a writa of some sort and has a nahce gun collecshone. Ah know some folks back home who’d wanna go shootin’ wit’ him. Dude’s got six TVs along one wall ‘dough he say he don’ watch. Den he gave me som brownehs ‘n’ tea. Af’ dat is kinda fuzzeh and kinda remahnded me o’ dat ol’ song, lahk ah was in a field o’ tall grass wid da sun caressin’ mah face. No Hollehwoo’ moveh dough nor any crazeh ladehs.
Oh, one mo’ ting. Da Doc kinda look like a dude ah seen in da funneh papers.
Kris listens, “What funny paper? What comic?”
To the rest, “What should we do now? Go back and blast it tonight at 8 or try to research more and figure out what to do to resolve its issues?”
Woody looks up from his coffee. "We’ve got a decent lead on the ghost, and all day to follow it up - and any chance to reduce the load on our containment unit has to be a good thing, right? As for the vampire, I’m not sure what we can do besides publicise that he’s about - I don’t think we’ve got a vampire-slaying contract, and we’re certainly not covered for staking a citizen. I’m planning to head over to the Daily News office, dig out a back issue with a tv guide from that week and see if it really was Dallas that Rolston went on the roof in a thunderstorm to see. I’ll call here when I’ve found something, then spend as long as I can chasing up anything that looks like our vampire in the archives - unless you guys want me on something else, of course, " he pauses and writes a number on his notebook, then tears the page out, “This is Amarillis’s number in case you want more out of Grasp than Don can get you. I’d rather meet with her myself, but time is of the essence, and I’ll be tied up looking for vampires in the archives.”
Pre-emptive Fast Talk roll to bluff my way into my old place of work - 27 no ghost
Lou to Kris: “Ain’t shore. Mebbe ah’m still hazeh from what was in da stuff he fed me. Ah tink iz from da pas’ decade.”
"I still maintain Panama is a crazy, paranoid old coot, who’s apparently into mind altering drugs baked into brownies. I think the vampire angle is a waste of time, but if you want to investigate anyway, so be it.
Lou, did you get a chance to ask Panama about the ghost before you ate his recreational brownies?
I’ll check the library and video stores for copies of Dallas. I’ll check in to see if Woody has had any luck locating a TV guide from that day."
Brains roll 15 no ghost. (Sorry GM! :D)
Woody notes all of Lou’s symptoms that he can recall for purposes of comparison, then passes the list to Brian and Liz to see if they can add anything.
2 Brownie points + brains -> 15 no ghost
Lou to Brian: “Trahed. He don’ say much, leas’ ta gahs he jus’ met.”