The NEW Vanguard! Haunt Issue #5

"Martha, I want you to go to the neighbors and stay there until I'm sure it is safe to return," The Haunt said. "If you don't hear anything from me in ten minutes, call the police and let them know what's happening. I want to make sure nothing has been disturbed or that there isn't another one of these ... men around."

He leads her out the back door, since it was closest [I assume there is a gate lets folks in the back get out to the front] and once sure she is gone, checks on the Invisible Man and ties him up. Stepping out of sight of the man, in case he was faking unconsciousness, he changes into the Haunt and begins to explore the house, looking for Dr. P. Starting upstairs and working down.

With Martha safe and out of the way, Haunt scoured the place looking for clues...

The upstairs was as it had always been. Decor dating back decades with swirly carpets and wallpaper, antiques, pictures, fine china and silverware... Praetorious had money, for sure.

He gave a cursory look over the Doctors bedroom and noticed a book he was reading. As usual some gobbledigook science book.

OOC Roll(2d10)+0: 7,9,+0 Total:16 Perception check...

Wait...

He picked up the book and tipped it to one side in the light by the window. There.

The indentations on the book were faint, but the Doctor had used it to rest on whilst he'd scribbled something down. It might be nothing, or it might be some clue as to why the Doctor wasn't here. Haunt looked about. Dr P had woken up... he looked around the room. Gotten washed and dressed... then.. taken a call? Made a note? Gone out to meet someone and not come back? Who? He held the book up to the light again. If only there were some way to discern what the indentations said...

The indentations on the book were faint, but the Doctor had used it to rest on whilst he'd scribbled something down. It might be nothing, or it might be some clue as to why the Doctor wasn't here. Haunt looked about. Dr P had woken up... he looked around the room. Gotten washed and dressed... then.. taken a call? Made a note? Gone out to meet someone and not come back? Who? He held the book up to the light again. If only there were some way to discern what the indentations said...



Ye olde pencil scribbling over the paper trick to bring out the words. Now if I had a vial of graphite powder in my non-existent utility belt, I could do the same thing


ooc: And Yeah, more than willing to continue our pulp adventures.

Haunt looked about. He couldn't for the life of him find an ordinary pencil!

It took some searching about through drawers but he was able to find one and a scrap of paper eventually. The message wasn't that clear, but it was an address, albeit partial. He scooped up an ordinary computer tablet from the kitchen where Martha might have been using it for recipes or entertainment, then typed the address in.

The place was a 'private gentlemans club'. Hmmm. Praetorius was only human after all, even if it didn't seem like his style. That said, those sort of places were open after dark more often than not. If he HAD gone there during the day, why? Did it have anything to do with the intrusion by the trussed up guy downstairs? What had he gotten into?

That meant another problem. With Martha involved she may call the police and they would poke about this place. The good Doctor was pretty tight lipped and secretive about his stuff, even to his best friend Rush King - usually because he'd had too many embarrassing failures - so to have Police poking about his stuff might not be appreciated.

Continue to check the rest of the house and the secret lair. Maybe he left a message there.

Checking the house gave little in the way of clues - Martha was fairly thorough as a cleaner...

However the lair... when Rush had entered his personal passcode to gain access, revealed something of interest. On a bench with numerous unidentifiable electronic gizmos and gadgets on was a scrawled note in what looked like brown paint.

Paint?

Or blood?

It read: "You know what we want. Get it done. Next time we send some pieces..."

Rush looked at the poorly scrawled script, clearly written with a daubed finger. Praetorius was being threatened, by why had he not come to his friend for help? Question was, by whom and why, plus of course, what was it these people were after...

The Haunt looked around the desk. A space was cleared in the mess of parts, enough to suggest that Dr P had finished what he was building....

Time to use the detective skill to figure out what's going on and what my next step should be. Also try to remember the haunts [heh!] that Pratorious would hang out at when he wasn't at home. Is he kidnapped or has he run and hidden himself, that kind of thing.

OOC Detective skill gives 4 extra Dice...

Roll(6d10)+0: 7,7,9,3,3,10,+0 Total:14 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d10)+0: 8,2,+14 Total:24 plus Int 8 (32) vs TN11 + OV 8 (19). +5 ev (up to 13) vs RV8. 5 RAPs.

Haunt paused and looked around.

He didn't think anyone other than Praetorius had been in here. The scattered mess of stuff on the bench suggested he'd been working on something and that was no longer there. The address he'd uncovered was probably Praetorious' destination. Why then?

He looked about further. He moved stuff aside, opened drawers, looked about.. and there, pinned on a fridge door, a letter.

It was of the type made up of pieces of cut up newspapers, spelling the words "You know what we want. Bring it or the girl dies. No police or supers or the girl dies. You have 12 hours from NOW"

So in the last 12 hours Praetorius had received a demand, created.. something... a weapon or device? Was he intending to deliver what these people wanted or was he going to take them on? Why hadn't he contacted Haunt? That threat... who was the girl?

One thing for sure - Haunt needed to find his friend, and fast!

Is Doc P a bachelor? Widower? Has a daughter? Have any brothers and sisters, so maybe the girl is his niece?

Time to hit the gentleman's club. Keep my presence hidden and scout around the outside of hit, detective skill there. Then decide how and when to go in, disguised, as King or as Haunt.

OOC Doctor P is a bachelor. His science is his true love, but it may not have been that way all his life.

In fact... Roll(2d10)+0: 9,6,+0 Total:15

Rush King recalls his friend drunkenly relating a tale about a girl in University whose keen mind called out to Doctor P's and the blossoming of true love was cut short when her father recalled her to his family business... Roberta... No. Rochelle. That was her name. Rochelle Timpson.

Rush King considered what he knew. A long lost.. love? Old friend? Someone dear to Doctor Praetorious from his past at any rate...

...had been kidnapped, possibly. He'd been blackmailed into building something, now had been told to deliver that something before Rochelle Timpson - if it was her - was harmed.

He stood in in the early evening twilight, trenchcoat pulled around him, hat casting his upper face in shadow. The streetlight cast yellow pools on the street where rain splattered and gathered into miniature lakes. Across the street, cars would pause, suited men and their paid for escorts for the evening would dash out towards the entrance of a grand old building where two hulking doormen held the doors open for certain newcomers and barred others. A small queue was forming in the rain. Whatever the delights this place held, it was worth getting soaked for apparently.

Rush appraised the doormen. Abnormally muscled, freakishly so. Both towered over the patrons, on the higher side of six foot apiece. He saw a telltale bulge of a weapon - possibly - on the inside of one of the mens coat. Haunt would stick out like a sore thumb in the darkness. Rush King? He wouldn't get invited to this place. No money or contacts. What else did the spooky superhero have up his sleeve...?

Check for back entrances and other less-likely entrances he could ooze through - ventilation duct, a window left open a crack on an upper floor, something like that. HE IS NOT OOZING THROUGH PIPES TO COME OUT OF A TOILET!!!!

If nothing like that exists, then going in as a well-known playboy actor or politician would work. Or ... [evil smile on player's face] he could try getting in as Bill Clinton. He would probably be welcomed.

There were plenty of air bricks into the place, providing ventilation into the place...

Even so, he noted that otherwise the security was pretty tight. Oozing through the small gaps in the brick took some time. Whilst he couldn't shrink he could stretch himself long enough to make himself small and long. So it was minutes later he formed up and became himself again in what passed for a wine cellar. Racks of bottles stretched into the darkness. Just then the darkness was broken by llight and voices. Staff coming down for more drinks! The problem with being ghostly white was that as soon as the light shone on him he would be seen!

Stretch himself out along the edge of the ceiling with the walls, turning himself into white molding along the ceiling/wall edges.

I think that is a better choice then my original idea of flattening himself against a wall and look like a white wall of bricks. More fun anyways.

Afterwards, he will change into some well-known actor - known for partying hard - wearing a white disco suit. [Using the idea of the best way not to get noticed is to get noticed and then ignored because it is usual behavior. Like the guy with the clipboard that you notice but ignore because he looks like he is doing something] Then case the joint as that actor. This assumes he gets out of the cellar unnoticed.

"Did you hear about that merchant banker who was in last week? He scored £30 million from that dodgy information I overhead him talking about in the drawing room. You know the one? Did you buy any of the shares like I said?" said one of the suited waiters as they walked the steps down into the wine cellar.

"Eh? I thought you were just joking about that!"

"Ha, now you're kidding right? I stuck my life savings on the shares. Tripled my money overnight! I tell ya, whatever they order, serve 'em something a bit stronger. Loosens tongues, and you hear of stuff in here that can set you up for life..."

"But isn't insider information illegal?"

"Shhh... sure it is, but in these walls far worse things go on..."

Haunt waited till they'd walked past him before peeling away from the walls and assuming the form of Oliver Burton, famed party animal and film star, albeit someone fallen from his heyday thanks to his excesses. He was still front page news of gossip rags even if the daily rags had relegated him to page 5 or later. Oh to be that famous!

Stepping into the corridor, he glanced one way then the other. The corridor led both ways but one way was noisier, suggesting the majority of the patrons were in that direction. So what was in the other?

Stagger/walk in the quieter directions, using Acting to make like he is slightly tipsy. A great skill for me, lots of use.

Use Detective skills to help detect security systems. Probably some cameras set up in the hallways and in certain rooms. Lockpicking may come into use later if I find any doors that are locked and interest me.

Oh if only I was a brilliant computer hacker, I could hack their security system cameras and see if I can Dr. P in a monitored room.

Who says skills aren't important in a superhero game!

Rush King wobbled, muttered and sang rather drunkenly down the corridor, swaying from side to side and surreptitiously checking door handles, finding most locked.

His Thieving skills allowed him to identify the rooms with extra security and one sprung to mind, a pair of double doors with sensors in the floor in front of it!

OOC Thief Skill Roll(2d10)+0: 6,8,+0 Total:14 Success at Security Systems

There was little he could do about the dome cameras in this place, which doubtless tracked his movements but that doorway signified something. With a glance about the corridor he guessed he was near the centre of the house. So... Elevator? Too much light about. Rush knew that right now somewhere there would be burly guards heading this way to steer him back towards the other rooms in the house.

Hmmm ... if elevator, then the shaft has to go up to the roof. Find a way up there and then slid into and down the shaft and see what I can find.

Rush looked about, aware that his every move was being monitored on CCTV.

Stumbling up to the door, he figured he could prize it apart with his amazing arms easily enough, but that would reveal his nature as a superhuman. He hoped his performances would one day feature on the silver screen but making the 6 o clock news wasn't quite what he had in mind...

Then he heard voices from down one end of the hallway...

"He was this way!"

"Who is it? Guest?"

"Yeah I figure, didn't get a clear look on the screen at his face, not sure who it is..."

"Just get 'em out..."

He had only moments!

Those cameras would see him prize the doors open... if they still functioned. His amazing thieving skill let him figure that there could be two possible cameras on him in this corridor. He identified one in the corner between wall and ceiling twenty feet away, and the other? It was set in the doorway itself! Seemingly a peephole, it was in fact a camera. Someone would step up to the door and show their face, then be admitted or denied entrance. He heard footsteps...

OOC Only seconds away - disguise himself somehow, change his facial features, morph into a snake and slither up to the door, become part of the scenery (albeit a white rug...) or some other sneaky trick the Haunt can pull... when not in the Haunt costume!

Let's try bluffing it out and see what they do with the disguised me. set me outside? Take me in for questioning? A special room to sleep it off?

BTW, costume is still on, just disguised as a white disco suit, very retro, so it has to be in.

One camera, I could stretch a finger too, out of its sight and disconnect it but I don't want to make a noise of a super nature just yet.

Two burly looking fellows appeared from the end of the corridor and marched towards Rush King.

"Alright sir, you're on the wrong floor. This one is restricted to black badge holders and over... say... Can I see your membership card please?"

The other guy looked at Rush then his mate, and took hold of Rushs' arm "I don't think I've seen you around here before." he reached for a radio...

Rush could either continue to bluff it out, or wait for whatever this guy said over the radio to occur!

Rush King, in disguised as famous bad boy, decided to give his acting abilities a real workout.

"I ... I think I'm g'nna ... Hurl," he moaned drunkenly, trying to make himself look green faced and sweaty, like a man who only had moments left before the contents of his stomach would come out.


ooc: sorry about the delays. Sleeping weird hours, many medical appointments and such. Friday I get to have a spinal tap to see if I have MS. fun!

OOC No worries about the delay David, you have far ore on your plate than I do, and I thought mine was bad what with juggling word, kids, lack of sleep, moving and packing!

The guards pulled a face - no one liked being sick all over!

OOC Detection roll 3,9,+0 + Detect 11 (23) vs Int 8 + TN11 (19). +3 effect so 14 vs 10= 4RAPs.

"HOLD ON!" shouted one of the guards as they stepped away as it looked like Rush was going to throw up all over the place. One of them had a finger pushed into his ear, listening to an earpiece. "Scanner shows you're metahuman!"

Instantly the pair seemed to swell, growing inches in every direction as some remote triggered transformation seemed to add mass, muscle and power to their already big frames! Either they were metahumans themselves, or more likely, used drugs or devices to enhance their power to metahuman levels!

Of course, a place like this must have security to protect its patrons and any secrets it might have, but metahuman enforcers? Clearly they had something bigger to hide, and Haunt needed to find out what! First though... the pair flicked out batons from the sleeves of their jackets that crackled with energy! Stun batons, or worse?

OOC Haunt is in a corridor, out of costume, faced by two hulking (both over 7 feet tall and probably 500lbs of sheer muscle!) guards who came at him with a pair of stun batons jutting from their sleeves and ready to use them on him! They didn't know who he was, only that he'd triggered some kind of remote alarm which had in turn triggered some automatic response in the form of activating some kind of device or powers they had to increase their abilities. Haunt still wins initiative though... over to you!

ooc: Actually, he has his costume and has been wearing it all this time. That's why he is in a white disco suit, it's his costume.

Having been found out, his actions of Fog, Fear, and then break down or unlock door he is interested in.

OOC Ah yes, I meant he wasn't looking like the Haunt, so to use his powers would reveal (on camera) his abilities with his mask off, but yeah, he can still access those powers which require the visual cue (fog and fear) that he uses as the Haunt. And he has his Chameleon ability to change his features of course.

Rush knew the gig was up - something was definitely going on here rather than a rich old gentlemans club as it appeared to be.

he needed to help his friend, and that meant dropping these two bozos! Relying on the fact they'd probably been enhanced physically rather than mentally, he didn't bother going for anything flashy, instead simply flooding the area with fog in an instant whiteout then letting loose with his fear power!

OOC Aura of fear Roll(2d10)+0: 6,10,+0 Total:16 + AoF 9 (25) vs TN11 + OV4 (15) +4 Effect (13) vs RV 4 = 9 RAPs.

Both men immediately cry out and drop to the floor, covering their heads and wailing like babies! There was also an unpleasant smell in the air...

He turned to the door, able to see it clearly whilst the cameras and the incapacitated security couldn't. Using his vast strength (OOC Str 14 + Roll(2d10)+0: 4,3,+0 Total:7 (21) vs TN11 + 8 (19) = Success) he started to prize it open, setting off an alarm that started blaring through the corridor!

There was a lift shaft going down. It looked pretty deep too, more than twenty or thirty feet, and going into the bowels of Londons' streets? What the?

He could hear shouting and running footsteps as more of these guys friends started to turn up... The Lift might be booby trapped in some way - this place wasn't shy with security. That said the Haunt was aware he didn't have long to make his mind up before others would try and do it for him!