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| It's a nice shovel! |
They met at a party, thrown by a local businessman: Xulián Bruxo. The party got to eat pizza, drink soda, and Toby knocked Alistair into the pool. Good times, good times... well, except that Alistair's phone got... soaked. And ruined: a $120 loss.
Xulián was wandering through the party, talking to guests; eventually, his assistant, Lizzie Bourdan, came up and whispered something to him. He turned and waved at someone who had pulled up - a Hispanic man.
After hanging around for a while and talking, the party eventually wrapped up, and the group headed home. However, while they were away, there had been a rash of robberies! Will had a car window smashed, which resulted in a loss of $200; Toby had $50 stolen from his room.
After making some inquiries, the group found that, apart from the usual stuff that gets stolen (cash, computers, game consoles, calculators, and so forth), there were a surprising number of books stolen. not only that, but the books taken were almost all the same - a history book.
One thing cropped up a few times - a black sedan, and a Hispanic man. The man seemed strangely familiar... possibly the man from the party? Mike remembered the license plate number, and was able to use some contacts to get a little information; no surprise, the car was registered to BlueStar, Xulián's company.
Saturday, April 2nd
The next morning... Mike realized he had parked in the wrong space. Ugh, $40 gone.
The group piled into Will and Alistair's vehicles, and took a look around. Will tried his lock picks on the back door of the building, to no effect - they snapped off in the lock. Mike, meanwhile, took a closer look at the camera on the front door. Fake, it seemed; the wire didn't actually go into the wall. As the group contemplated breaking in, Toby caught sight of something under the garbage in the trashcans behind the building: the missing stuff! Books, Playstations, and more were heaped in the bins. Flipping through the history books, most seemed unharmed - all but one, which had a specific page torn out. Page 911, which included a description of the bombing of the World Trade Tower. Also in the garbage was a crumpled copy of a page - marked with a ritual!
The group kept the page, but turned the rest of the stuff over to the police. Unfortunately, there was nothing to link the items to BlueStar, apart from circumstantial evidence... the items "could have been put there by anybody," it seems.
Wednesday, April 17th
The campus seemed to slowly fall into a bit of a funk; a number of students stopped showing up for classes. Will and Toby decided to ask around near the societies. They saw a few people wearing strange stickers, marked with the face of the Cheshire Cat. Toby managed to buddy up to a rather out-of-place young man who seemed to be selling the stickers; however, just as the man was handing Toby a card, Will waltzed up, pointed to the card, and said, "Hey, that's the symbol of The Ring, that gang!"
The man palmed the card and quickly walked off, leaving Toby growling in frustration at Will. A kid walked up when he heard them discussing drugs. "I don't even understand how someone could do that to their body. I mean, come on, man, your body's a temple. I wouldn't even drink alcohol. Besides, there's a contest going for a drug-free campus, and I won the daily prize! I'm claiming it tomorrow morning. That contest is run right - absolutely no drugs allowed, only a happy face! Hey, like that sticker!"
He pointed at one of the discarded Cheshire Cat stickers, oblivious to the irony, and walked off.
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| "The Symbol of Jolmett" |
Thursday, April 18th
The next day, the group skipped classes to follow the "winner" they had talked to the day before. Predictably, he wound up at the entrance to the offices of The Ring - though this time, it looked like the building was actually finished. Out front was the greasy Chet Addicks, along with two scantily clad women, greeting everyone who walked in. The group filed in behind the other student - it didn't look like anyone really cared who showed up to "claim a prize." Well, until Alistair walked in. He must have left an impression on DeKlerk; as soon as they walked in, DeKlerk spotted him, and barred him entrance.
The others were left to wait in the lobby, along with the student and a few other citizens, some of them homeless people. Eventually, it was Toby's turn. Inside, he found a large camera, a smiling man in a lab coat, and a raised dentist's chair. The charm of the waiting room seemed to be fading quickly. After a few questions, Toby decided that maybe, just maybe, he didn't want to sit in the chair, and left without his prize. Will went next; sitting in the chair and answering the questions left him feeling tired and drained. At least he made $50, right? Just as he exited the building, Alistair caught the door and suggested they all head in again. Will agreed, moping in behind Alistair and Toby. Mike, meanwhile, took a hard pass on sitting in the creepy chair, and met them just on the other side of the door.
Having exhausted the usual approach of waiting around until someone force-fed them a clue, the gang took things into their own hands. In a friendly way (with Mike waving his battle-shovel around), they convinced the lab tech to sit in the chair, and started the process. The camera had a strange, glowing symbol; pressing it activated a similar set of symbols surrounding the chair. Interested, Alistair began tampering with the symbols; the tech, meanwhile, seemed to pass out, as the symbols under the chair began to smoke. Toby took over, whacking the buttons a good few times, as the chair suddenly burst into flames! The camera shuddered, then suddenly cracked wide open, crashing to the floor. Will suddenly recovered, feeling much better! Not only that, but Toby suddenly was inspired by a ritual - Pure Joy! The chair was quickly engulfed in flames; after dragging the tech out of the burning chair, the four decided to head once again for the exit. On the way out, they quickly questioned the attendant manning the prize table - a questioning that ended with the man passed out on the floor, a shovel-sized lump on the back of his head. Casually swiping the remaining prizes, the four walked outside - only to find the police had swarmed the front of the building. Hoping to hide, they zipped around the side of the building - just in time to see Addicks and DeKlerk exiting the building! Alistair, thinking fast, taunted DeKlerk, who froze, unable to respond. Addicks weighed his options, then with a roar, rushed the group. Toby and Will slowed him down, Alistair tried - and failed - to taunt him, and Mike swung his trusty shovel with a resounding crack. It took another few swings, but soon, Addicks was down for the count. Seeing his cohort so quickly dispatched, DeKlerk turned to run for the fence, hoping to scale it and escape; his attempts were fruitless, however, as police rushed out of the building in pursuit.
After a hasty search, the group was released, obviously victims of the underhanded gang members. While they were interviewed later, they were released without suspicion. And richer by $50, a nice metal bat and some cleats, and a fancy board game.
After all that... finals were a breeze.
Over the summer, Alistair tested his newfound knowledge of rituals. And while he may not know it yet... he's going to find his new roommate somewhat annoying. Heh.
Point of Note: We're entering the Sophomore Fall Semester; that means you should have 8 total upgrades, and your most recent one is part of the Sophomore year - you can upgrade abilities again, and you get a few new Edges to try out. Additionally, if you have participated in a ritual of any sort, you are now allowed to take the Rituals skill (based on Smarts). This currently includes Alistair and Mike.
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