Will_GM: ------------------------Game Start----------------------------- Will_GM: Jack, it's October 24th, about a week after the Grace incident. Jack: Will: I was hoping to meet with Dawn pretty soon after the incident in order to see if she's been screwed with Jack: is that ok? Will_GM: Sure. Jack , still stunned from the Grace incident, leaves the StoneWorks meeting the day after confused and overwhelmed. *** Katalina (Duras@1Cust143.tnt7.dfw9.da.uu.net) has joined channel #gurps Katalina: howdies *** Katalina is now known as Shyla Jack heads to Tower to catch up on stuff there, then calls Dawn to see if they can meet for dinner. Will_GM: She's available for that evening. You cooking? Jack: Um...not recommended...how about Thai take-out? Will_GM: "Okay. When?" Will_GM: "Will Grace be there?" Jack: "I'll swing on over say 6?" Jack: uh-oh Jack: "Grace has left town. I don't think we'll be seeing her again anytime soon." Will_GM: "Oh. Who was she, anyway? A friend of yours I hadn't met?" Jack: "Not really. Just met her that day myself." Will_GM: "Oh. Okay. Well, see you tonight." Jack: "See you in a bit." Jack hangs up and feels quickly overwhelmed. "If Dawn is zapped," he thinks, "What am I supposed to do? It's not like I can reason with somebody whose been, what, hypnotized or something." Jack tries to shake it off, takes a shower, drinks some Pepsi, listens to some King Brit. Will_GM: This is in the evening after your shift? Jack: He's not completely successful, but he feels a bit better when he swings by to pick up Dawn. Jack: yeah, the incident at the library was yesterday I think. Will_GM: Yes. Jack purposely pulls up and honks, not getting out to open Dawn's door to see what she does. Will_GM: She comes out and gets in the front seat, sits down, and buckles up. Jack: "Hey." Jack drives off to the Thai joint. Jack: "What'd you do today?" Will_GM: "Usual. Work. Any reason in particular you wanted to have dinner, or is this just a random thing?" Jack: "Well, I try to eat dinner at least once a day." Will_GM: She laughs. "I meant with me." Jack: " wanted to see how you were doing, too. Had a weird dream last night and wanted to see how you were. Ever have that happen to you?" Will_GM: "Um, can't say as I have. It's sweet of you though -- if a little kooky." Jack: "That's not the half of it," Jack murmurs. Jack: "Then I won't give you the kooky blow by blow of the dream." Jack drives along, trying to figure out how he can see if Dawn is a minion of Grace or not. Will_GM: "Okay. Here's the place." Jack pulls up, parks, gets out. Will_GM: Dawn does likewise, except for the parking. Jack: "You want to see my column for Hallowen? My draft is almost done." Will_GM: "sure." Jack heads in and peers at the menu board. Will_GM: "You do a local ghost story, right?" Fearless: I'd hope not... it's too soon in their relationship for pre-marital hanky-panky! ;) Jack: "Usually. This year's a bit different. I, um. got a little put off of stories of the supernatural." Jack: lol at fearless Shyla: *snrk* *** Signoff: Ellis (Client closed connection) Will_GM: "I liked those. What is it this year?" *rattles off an order for pad thai and tea* Jack orders something not too hot and pays for his and Dawn's. Will_GM: "Thanks." Jack: "I had the image of those masks and costumes on Market, and I start from there. About helping each other. Philadelphia as cool city #1." Will_GM: "Um, okay. I guess I'd have to see it." Jack heads on back to apartment thinking, "This isn't so bad. She's not all zombied out or anything." *** Signoff: Shyla (Ping timeout) Jack: "What'd you think of Grace?" *** Shyla (Duras@1Cust18.tnt7.dfw9.da.uu.net) has joined channel #gurps Will_GM: "I thought she was really nice. You don't see idealists like that so often these days." Fearless: 're Will_GM: She laughs. "Like she just stepped out of a Disney movie." Shyla: *nod* did I peer?? Will_GM: ping Edward: nah, you pinged Shyla: strange Shyla: 'k Jack laughs, completely relaxed now. That's the Dawn he knows. "That's right. Grace-erella." Will_GM: "Complete with the search for Prince Charming. It was fun to listen to her. Jack: "You think she'll ever find him?" Will_GM: "Why not? Everybody needs a dream." *** Merquoni (aris@hh1120191.direcpc.com) has joined channel #gurps Will_GM: Re Aris. BA: re Aris Jack laughs a little more hesitantly. "Sure. But the perfect guy? That'll be a long search." Fearless: 're Ellis *** Merquoni is now known as Ellis Jack: "I just can't believe that she expeted to find a guy where there will be no hard times, no arguments. That's a woman whose expectations are too high to be healthy." Jack gets drinks and plates and silverware for the food. Will_GM: "He's rich, he's smart, he's funny, he's the leader of the free world. Aren't our expectations just a tad high?" Jack also digs out the draft of his column. Will_GM: Dawn eyes you.... Jack hesitates. "What's that look for? Am I making an ass of myself?" Will_GM: Dawn stop. "Just seeing if you got the quote. Though you have kept watching me like you expect me to do tricks." Will_GM: s/stop/stops/ Shyla: ( rhu oh ) Jack: "What's that a quote from?" Will_GM: 1pt ref. Anyone? Edward: No clue Shyla: sounds familiar.... Jack: American President? Will_GM: Jack got it. Nicole: Will: Knowing you, West Wing. Wizard: JFK? Shyla: yea! Nicole: ...nope. %) Shyla has American Pres :D Jack: I rolled my 15 or less for movies ;) Will_GM: kats: _The American President_ was practically a trial run of "The West Wing" anyway. ;^) Jack: "I feel all out of it, for some reason, today. Sorry I seem like I'm giving you the fisheye." Will_GM: "_American President_. Just randoming." She looks at you. "You're kind of jumpy. You sure there wasn't something?" Jack flops into a chair. Shyla: ( juz don't grow scales there NHS ;) ) Jack: "Just off, all day. Had that dream, you and me and a bald eagle and Sandra Bullock were in a house that was burning with invisible fire...." Shyla: hehe Jack: "The house was collapsing, but we didn't know where to run because the fire was invisible and we could get badly burnt...." Jack: "And you kept repeating things Grace said and kept saying thing like ' I'll only run out that door if you'll hold it for me...." Jack: "And you said, twice, clear as day, 'I'm leaving Eric and looking for Mr. Perfect." Will_GM: Dawn laughs. "I guess if it didn't burn you there wouldn't be any invisible fire there, so it'd be safe for me." Jack: "I don't know why it bugged me all day and threw me off." Will_GM: Dawn makes a moue. "What are you, fishing? Eric could stand to do his laundry more often, but I'm not leaving him." Jack: "So that's why I'm giving you the fish eye. Making sure you're not turning into Grace." Jack starts and realizes what Dawn is thinking, blushes deep red and stammers. Will_GM: "I knew her for an hour." Jack: "Oh no!" Jack: "I'm not fishing for...jeez!" Will_GM: Dawn shrugs. "Well, what am I supposed to think? You invite me to dinner out of the blue, talk about a weird dream with me leaving Eric. I didn't think you would, but I've had weirder things happen." She munches on a noodle. Jack sits there stunned, then laughs explosively. "Well, I never thought it would sound like that!" Will_GM: "Anyway, me and Eric are solid, if that's what you were worried about." Jack quickly pushes the column draft over. "No no. Wasn't worried about anything at all." Will_GM: Dawn looks through it. Jack: "Last time I tell you *my* dream," Jack grins. "I think I was really after the bald eagle." Will_GM: "This is... odd. Even for you." She shrugs. "But you're the writer." Jack: "I can't explain why it threw me off all day. Just weirdness. Not as weird as my bunging jumping with Madonna dream, but weird notheless." Jack: "The column? Why is it weird?" Will_GM: "Well, I think I liked the ghost stories better. This sounds like you got religion or something." Jack: ooc: which one is she reading? Fearless: okay, is "Unusually Graphic Dreams With Celebrities" a Quirk, or a Disadvantage? ;) Shyla: *snrk* Jack: i give her the one that starts: Jack: I love walking down Market Street Jack: I scrapped the Annual Ghost Story one Will_GM: Oh. No, I thought she was reading the one that you sent me, with the demons walking the streets and stuff. Jack: can I send you the other? Jack: jsut a sec Wizard: wouldn't that be an advantage? but then again it is with Madonna Will_GM: Okay... maybe you handed her that as a draft, though? Jack: ok Jack looks to see which draft she has. Jack: "Oh jeez. That one sucks. Just a sec." Jack gets a copy of the masks one. Jack: "I thought I had destroyed all copies of that one." Will_GM: Well, I'd have to judge her reaction after reading it myself. Why not have Jack change the column in response to Dawn's reaction? Jack sits back and drinks a glass of Laphroiag while Dawn reads. Will_GM: I never got one about masks. Jack: ok... Jack looks voer Dawn's shoulder. Jack: "The first paragraph's not bad. I like the first paragraph." Will_GM: "Like I said, you're the writer." She finishes up the pad thai. "Anyway, I have work tomorrow..." Jack: "Hmm." Jack grabs a pen and makes some notes on the draft. Jack: "I think you're right. It may not be worth saving." Jack: "Never write a column when you're drunk. I keep ignoring my own advice." Fearless: *LOL* Will_GM: "Do you *know* how much writing in this world would never get done if authors took that advice?" *wink* Jack laughs. "Well, it might work for Poe and Hemingway, but when I do it, I get this crap." Jack: "You sure you need to leave? I rented "Smoke" and it rocks." BA: It worked for Monty Python ;) Shyla: hehe! Will_GM: "Smoke"? Fearless: Note: never get Fearless drunk. Fearless: ;) Jack: ooc: great movie, Harvey Keitel, William Hurt Jack: ooc: strike that not great, but pretty good Will_GM: It's still early evening... Dawn decides she can stay. Will_GM: But then straight home. Jack: Great. Jack'll feel better if she doesn't leave thinking that he was hitting on her. What we do in the Lord's service! Ellis: Are you sure inviting her to stay for a movie after dinner is the best way to make her think you're not hitting on her? Jack: ooc: she knows me (who is alot like Jack)...movies are never romantic, they're studying for work Jack: and smoke isn't a date movie in any sense! Will_GM: At any rate, this takes up the rest of the evening. Jack: cool...wanna cut it there? Will_GM: Yeah. You take her home. Anything else you wanted to do? Jack: nope, that's perfect Will_GM: Okay. Will_GM: Kata! Jack: will stay up all night, ordering books on comparitive religions and theology off of ABE.com Shyla: um? ;) Fearless: amazon.com You can even get the Necronomicron there. ;) Shyla: hehe BA: In paperback ;) Fearless: "Rare and Out-of-Print" Section... properly harcovered. ;) Will_GM: Oops, brb Shyla: ewww flesh and all, eh? ;) Fearless: well, Ralph managed it. ;) Fearless: and the toilet was unharmed! ;) Edward OOCly works on in.gdf some more... whoo. Only Gabriel, Khalid and Yves to go and I have all the angelic Superiors I've got the data of done Will_GM: b Will_GM: Kata, here's where I wanted to tie you in to the main storyline. Shyla: 'k Will_GM: It has been a couple of days since your initiation. Spitz has been working with you to hone your skills with the song of Healing and the new awareness you've gained. Will_GM: As we open the scene, it's early afternoon on the 24th and you're in the middle of another question-and-answer session about these things. Shyla: *nod* he's fully healed by now too as well I presume? Will_GM: Actually, no -- he was pretty badly injured in that fight. But the remaining cuts are rapidly fading. Will_GM: You've also been trying out the Song on him, when you have the chance. Shyla: Well she could always practice the Healing Song on him ;) Will_GM: *nod* Shyla: hehe jinx Will_GM: Just to check that out... Will_GM: 2 3d6 Will_GM: Oh, no dicebot. Will_GM hauls up his homemade. Fearless: where's Dicesuke when we need him? Shyla: hehe Ellis: How shocking. We'll have to go back to trust. ;) Shyla actually has a 'chant' so to speak written up ;) Will_GM: What is it? Will_GM: Do it for Spitz. :^) Fearless hauls out erraticjuju() Shyla: I call upon the healing powers of the elements Shyla: Air - Shyla: that surrounds us Shyla: Earth - the foundation below us Shyla: Water = that gives to both air and earth to preserve all equally Shyla: Grant me some of your healing strength. That thru me this person/animal shall be healed. I give myself to the air - that surrounds us Shyla: the earth- the foundation below us and to the water that gives to both air and earth to preserve all equally Shyla: I open myself unto your powers that thru me we can heal this person/animal Ellis: Whaddabout fire? Shyla: Air - Earth - Water - I give myself freely unto thee Shyla: fire is man made Shyla: air earth and water is not Ellis: I'm sure the sun will be happy to hear that. Will_GM: This isn't the Platonic elements. Shyla: yes Shyla: easier 'tapping' accessible Ellis: Okay, I'll remove myself from your scene, GM. Shyla: oh juz letting you know what it is hehe didna know ya wanted me to ICly do it hehe Will_GM: Spitz listens to all this. "Not bad. Not necessary, of course, but not bad. Chants were often used by primitives who were unaware of the nature of Songs, but they can also help a performer focus -- especially if you're extending the ritual. At your level of knowledge, I'd think that the longer performances would be better in any case." Shyla *chuckles* "Sorry, gramps teachings kind'a stuck with me" Will_GM: "Remember, the important element is the tune. Your religion acknowledges the divine and in this is good, but to properly perform the Song you must sing yourself into the theme of Healing that is already extant in the Symphony. You must hear it before you sing it." Shyla: ( when she actually does it, it is done slower as she 'emphasizes' each element ) Wizard: I'm off to bed, it's after 11:00 here and I'm about shot *** Wizard has left channel Will_GM: You hear a knock at the door, and Spitz falls silent. *** Signoff: Wizard (Quit: I'm off to find the little blue butterflys that float on top of the marmlaide) Shyla *nods* "I hear a 'rhythm' at times.." Shyla gets up and pauses at the door "Who's there?" Will_GM: From outside you hear, "I believe someone called Walter Munroe is expected?" Will_GM: Spitz stands up and says, "Yes. Let him in." Shyla will unlock and then unchain the door and opens it, "Come on in" Will_GM: "Thank you." He looks about the room, a tall man in light clothing, even in this weather. He enters and asks, "Is there anyone here other than you and the dog?" Will_GM: Spitz says, "It's just us, Fulmeniel. The human is a new Soldier." Will_GM: Shyla: the newcomer eyes you appraisingly, and suddenly smiles. "Welcome." Shyla *observes* him, *nods* "Thanks" Shyla: "Ain't got much of furniture, but please make yourself comfortable *motions to couch*" Shyla lives in a one room apartment, 2nd flr Fearless: mm... studio lofts Will_GM: "Thank you." He folds his legs under him and sits on the floor, at eye level with Spitz, to whom he turns his attention. "If you are the Malakite I was told to seek, I have come to trade orders with you. As promised, I have provided a reason for my Role to be away, and have refused all contacts for a short while." Shyla resits back onto the floor as well, a speck away from the 2 and listens Will_GM: Spitz nods. He outlines a patrol route downtown and mentions some of the urban-ecology balances in the area. "Try not to be too noticeable." Will_GM: Fulmeniel nods. "My own beat is the University area -- monitoring, mostly, responding to Disturbances when necessary. I also maintain a computer store, but for obvious reasons our superiors have agreed that you won't be needing to take up that part of my duties. One week, and then we will return to our normal duties." Will_GM: "Of course," says Spitz. "I will see and debrief you then." "Likewise," says Fulmeniel, and that seems to be that -- he says a brief farewell to you, Shyla, and heads out the door at speed. Shyla will then get back up, relock, rechain door and turn back to sit down onto the floor "Now that was interesting.." Will_GM: "Indeed. The Archangel I serve, Jordi, and the Archangel he serves, Jean, are by no means on the best of terms. However, Heaven being vitally interested in the maintaining of alliances and sharing viewpoints, there are some ties between our two organizations. He and I have been chosen to exchange duties for a while. It was agreed that you would come with me." Edward: Not that you have a choice in the matter... :) Shyla *nods* "I see and understand. All must work hand in hand at times" Will_GM: "Yes. For the next week, we will be patrolling the University area. Our task will be low-level, most likely -- seek out Disturbances, watch for problems. Honor will compel us to keep an eye out for those occurrences which might be of interest to Jeanites, since that would be his place." Shyla: "Just let me know what I'll need to assist you with and I shall at the best of my ability" BA: Do the Jeanites all wear Jordash? ;) Shyla: *snrk* Will_GM: "If need be, I have received some background information about his Role. There are a couple of humans in the area and on campus we can contact. They're aware of the War, though not Soldiers like you." Fearless: Must... Control... Fist... Of... Death.... Will_GM: "Come. Let's go take a turn about the neighborhood." Shyla looks a speck uncomfortable but passes quickly, "Ok, on the campus, ok not a problem" Shyla: "On foot or on bike?" she *smiles* Will_GM: "Is something wrong?" Shyla: "Nah, juz college kids.. kind'a sometimes be annoying" BA: "Yes. I prefer Levi's." BA: ;) Shyla: hehe Shyla: "So where shall we start first?" Will_GM: "So I have heard. The Hallowe'en holiday is within a week, too -- often a time for vicious pranks, sometimes involving animals. If I remember about Universities... let's start in the fraternity area. 'Frat Row', I believe is the slang?" Shyla: "Let us HOPE they don't in my presence or that I get wind of any happenings to be" a dark look crosses her face Shyla: "Or there might be a few...'disciplined' kids? Might I say?" Will_GM: "Not sure what you mean." Will_GM: "Ask any questions now. Remember, you won't be hearing anything out of me in a human tongue once we pass this door." Ellis: o/` I know... I know / I know... God tell me, where's my halo? o/` Shyla: "Was being nice...beat the holy shit out of'em more understanding?" she grins Will_GM: Spitz snorts. "If necessary. And it all too often is..." Shyla *nods* understandingly "Gotcha, wouldn't think ya would unless an emergency or something" Jack: ooc: you work for God, you need to beat the holy shit *into* them Fearless: *snrk* Shyla: "Juz what are we *looking* for btw?" Edward: Demons. Shyla: hehehehe! Jack ;) don't encourage her! She'll become a Tormite! "Repent or Die!" Fearless: Demons, of course. Shyla: ( *nod* thought so ) BA: I thought those were Jesuits or Dominicans ;) Shyla: *snrk* Will_GM: "Well, anything unusual to start with. Any Disturbances -- you've heard them, those echoes after you've expended Essence practicing the Song. We'll respond to those quickly. Beyond that, we keep an eye on events and try to anticipate trouble. Look for amoral trends, and ways to stop them." Shyla will grab her leather vest, places it on, tuck daggers back into boot in their designated slots Will_GM: "All set?" Shyla: "Yeppers, on foot or bike?" Will_GM: "Bike. We'll do the patrol on foot, though." Shyla *pauses* "You're sure you're up to the walking?" *eyeing* his ex-wounds Will_GM: "I've had worse. I'll be fine." Shyla gets keys out of pocket, "Well, if ya get tired or start to hurt too much, juz 'whine' and I'll carry you" she smiles Ellis OOC cranks Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24 Will_GM: Spitz snorts (an amazingly expressive sound out of a dog). "I don't get tired." If you go now, that's the last you'll hear from him all day. Nicole: Ellis: good idea. ;) Shyla: she'll lock the door after them, taking some powder from her pouch and lightly dusts the doornob Will_GM: What's that for? Shyla: "Come on boy, riding time!!" she'll head out and down the steps to her bike Edward: fingerprints, I'd guess Ellis: To see if anyone tries to open the door in abscentina Shyla: ( incase anybody messes with door ;) ) Ellis: -c Will_GM: Okay. Ellis: ... does Shyla have the paranoid disadvantage? Ellis: I'm just curious. Shyla: no she juz don't like people that much Shyla: or like'm messing with her stuffles Shyla: fear not eventually you'll see her disadvantages heheh Will_GM: I don't think you'd need to be paranoid to do that -- Shyla doesn't have the nicest of friends, though we haven't seen them onscreen yet. Ellis: Ay, I was just asking. Shyla: ;) n/p Will_GM: At any rate, the ride to the University area is uneventful, and Shyla and Spitz start walking around Frat Row. Ellis: I'm going to get some water. Will_GM: Let's leave them doing that for now, and turn back to the main storyline. Will_GM: Last we left the main story, Fearless and Ed were talking in the Indian restaureant, around 6 that day. Fearless: actually, I think we'd just left for Ed's place, for that report Edward: Got the logs? I could use a memory refresher, but I thin- yeah. BA is doing actual work for his customers Will_GM: ----------------- Will_GM: Fearless: "Which is where I come in, right? To look into them to see Will_GM: if it is a false alarm or not. Right?" Will_GM: Edward: "Basically, yeah. More precisely, to help me check out that Will_GM: Society. I utterly suck at snooping around physically." Will_GM: Fearless: "Sure, no problem. Do you have their address?" Will_GM: Fearless: "Web or physical, that is?" Will_GM: Edward: "Yes. *recites both*" Will_GM: Fearless commits them to memory. Will_GM: Edward: "Don't use the web adress with IE, though, and disable Will_GM: popups, javascript and sound at the very least before entering." Will_GM: Fearless nods Will_GM: Will_GM: ...aaand, it's 2am here. Shall we continue next session? Will_GM: ------------------ Jack is in the UPenn library reading Tillich and Calvin and Buber and Lewis and Augustine Jack 's cell-phone is on vibrate, ready for incoming calls from people ;) Shyla: vibrate eh? Shyla: *snrk* Shyla: j/k ;) Jack: ooc: it *is* a library! Shyla: hehehe Ellis: Shy: He's not exactly a Japanese schoolgirl. Jack: lol Will_GM: Ed, Johnny? Fearless: *ow* Shyla: hehehe I was juz messing with him hehe Edward: I'm pretty sure I recall Fearless asking for a look at the report file and Ed noting his privacy concerns, but offering to let him have a look at it on his home comp. Will_GM: Yes, that was a bit earlier. Will_GM: Okay, at Ed's place? Edward: sure. Will_GM: 7 that evening, then, Ed's place. Fearless: *at the restaurant* "Well, I still have the Nutscrape 1.1 install floppies for the one system..." Fearless: for when you *absolutely* need everything turned off. ;) Fearless: Ed's place is fine with me. Edward unlocks and opens the door, then steps inside and lets Fearless in. Fearless steps in, looks around briefly, getting the lay of the place. Fearless: "Not bad. Just you?" Ellis calls up Edward about nowish gametime, mind? Edward 's place is sparsely furnitured in the style of someone who believes in function over substance -- obviously good quality furniture, but emphasis is on durability rather than flash. Edward nods. Ellis: *ring* Will_GM: Sure. Edward plucks his cellphone off his belt. "Cheese slices, mantovani, Daytona?" Ellis: "Um... no, just a couple red herrings. Mind?" Shyla: hehe Will_GM: O_o Edward: "Ah, hi Ellis. What's up?" Edward: Will: Best anti-telemarketeer deterrent I've found yet: absolute random answerings. Shyla: yep Ellis: "Nothing much. I didn't get a good chance to look at our friend today, but I did remember a couple things. Any more info on your end?" Shyla still likes... Joe Blow's Bar, How can I do you? Shyla: my dad's old time fav Will_GM: brb, continue unless I'm needed Fearless: "Mad scientist at work, never mind the screaming." Edward: "Not much. I had a look at that cult's website, which is pretty gag-alicious. I was just talking with Fearless about it, as it happens..." Ellis: "Ah? He there?" Edward: "yeah." Ellis: "Ahh. Conference time?" Edward: "Sure, why not? We're at my place right now. You know the address, right?" Ellis: "I think so..." *rattles it off* "?" Edward: "That's the place." Ellis: "Okay, I'll be there in a sec. Should we get Nicole in on this?" Edward: "Sounds like a plan. Shall I ring her to expect you picking her up?" Ellis: Ahh... hmm. We'd have to walk if I do that. I don't have a car. Ellis: +"" Shyla: ( uh oh! Dangerous minds at work! Clear the smokelines! j/k with yas ;) ) Will_GM: b Ellis: Is your place close enough to walk? I'm right next to campus. Edward: Shyla: Would you mind affixing comments that are not in-char or in-game with in front? Please? It's a bit annoying... Fearless: "There's always BA to pick her up... one look at that website, and he'll help. But with the way he is... forget I mentioned him." Edward: Good question. I never bothered with the placement. It could be, though.. Edward: BBIAB Nicole: Yeah, if it's close, it'll be no major big deal to do so. Will_GM: Wherever you like -- housing for about five blocks around the campus is likely to be inflated pricing for students, with more reasonable residential areas up to 10 away. *Jack* which quickly becomes slums around UP Will_GM: For future reference, Frat Row is usually a group of blocks 3-5 blocks out. Ellis: "Expect us in... twenty minutes?" Shyla: ( OOC sorry habit picked up from Dicesuke ) Will_GM: Jack informs me that outside that small radius it quickly gets to be really low-level housing around UPenn, though. Jack: ooc: security always a problem, lotso muggings, sexual assaults, etc Will_GM: For real people, problems. For the GM, a plot seed. Will_GM: Sorry. Carry on. Ellis: Oh, a plot seed. Enjoyable! I feel like I'm in one of my stories. Ellis calls Nicole to see if she has some spare time... Nicole picks up the phone (assuming it rang). "Hello?" Fearless: Ellis: Nah, there's no winged stone giants running around Ellis: "Hey, Nicole? It's Greg. Have any spare time?" Shyla: ( ooc winged stone giants? Now that sounds interesting ) Ellis: Aw, c'mon, Ars. I don't *just* write Gargoyles fanfic. In fact, I just finished a.... *twitch* Never mind. Fearless: ;) Nicole: "Yeah. What's up?" Ellis: And the *twitch* fanfic is up in the *twitch* section of my page, if you're awake after the game. ;) Shyla: ( ooc cool! Gargoyles are nifty if ya donna mind perchance I can have URL or copy? ) BA: What? More chocolate-covered Shadows? ;) Edward: back Fearless: what was that one character's name, the one who managed to pull Han Solo and Lone Starr together to strafe the brat's ship? Ellis: "Well, I was going to head over to Ed's. He and Fearless are discussing this afternoon's conversation... feel up to a walk?" Ellis: shadowtouched.sandwich.net, that was Sue Isle not me, and Tanasha. Edward nods. "I'll have the coffee ready." Nicole: "Well...walking's not my strong suit, but if you don't mind me rolling..." Shyla: ( ooc thanks ) Ellis: "Okay, lemme rephrase that. Do you mind *me* walking? If I'm remembering correctly, I should be able to get to your place on foot in five minutes or so." Nicole chuckles. "Yeah, that's fine. See you then?" Edward: It'll be in a fairly respectable neighborhood. More respectable than Ed occasionally looks, rather -- at least one of his neighbors (who never exchanged more words than 'good morning' 'good morning' with him) is secretly convinced that that part-japanese guy in the biker leathers is a Yakuza thug... Ellis: "Sure thing. Ed says he'll have coffee ready when we get there." Fearless: *heheh* Nicole: "Okay. I'll see you when you get here." Ellis exchanges polite parting words, then puts on jogging shoes and hightails it over to Nicole's place. Ellis: *knockknock* "Ready?" Fearless: *to Ed* "I don't think we want to get BA and Jack in on this yet." Jack: ooc: !!! Ellis: ??? Edward nods. "You know BA better than I do, obviously... But he seemed pretty rattled by all this." Fearless: "Jack may still be reeling from Grace's treatment, and BA is, well, BA." Nicole: "Yep. Let's go." Will_GM: Nicole doesn't move all that fast (and Ellis pushing her at his walking speed would get pretty tired as well); they'll get to Ed's place in about an hour. Ellis heads off with Nicole in Ed's-place-direction. Edward looks thoughtful for a moment while he sets up the espresso maker and sets a separate kettle of water boiling, then smiles again. "Anyways. That report file." Ellis shrugs, calls Ed with the revised ETA Will_GM: http://earl.of.sandwich.net/AnalyzerSummary.txt , for reference Edward walks over to Yagami and logs in. Will_GM: Ellis: Oh, sorry. Nevermind. Will_GM: Missed the "five minutes" comment. That's fine, just a function of addres. Ellis: Sheesh, you're the GM. Don't apologize. Nicole: Will: Enh, folks who have adjusted to a wheelchair can keep up with runners if need be... Ellis: It was five minutes to Nicole's. I meant another 20 on top of that to get to Ed's. Will_GM: *shrug* Fiat. Fiat. Fiat. Nicole: But I can't afford that kind of car. %) Edward smirks at Fearless. "Normally, the entire campus network is not reachable from the outside apart from very specific services on very specific servers. That goes double for ANY of the machines on the admin net... Normally." Will_GM: By the way, does Yagami mean something or is it a proper name>? Edward typetypetypes, and a dialtone rings out from the modem. "Unless, of course, a certain number is called from a certain other number..." Edward: AFAIK, it's the name of the Galaxy Police Cruiser that Kiyone owns in Tenchi Muyo. Will_GM: Gotcha. Fearless: the Tenchi TV series and not the OVAs, right? Jack: ooc: well, i guess i'm out of the action tonight...good night and good luck Fearless: cause its the Shunga in the upcoming OVAs, I think. ;) Edward waits for the click and the handshake squeal, then keys in a six-digit number on the keypad. "... and enters the right code, there's a thirty-second window where a certain IP address can set up a VPN connection, and..." Edward logs into his work comp and calls up the file. "Ta-dah!" Fearless: "The DMV, Ma Bell, and ConEd used to have a similar setup." Fearless busts out laughing at the first entry. "That's one hell of a false positive." Edward smirks. "He thought so too." Will_GM: Up come Ellis and Nicole. Ellis: *knockknock* Edward pulls the file to local storage, closes the connection and goes to let them in. Ellis: "Hey." Fearless: "I can check with the police for suspect 2 and 3's arrest records, if you want me too. They're used to me asking for past records out of the blue." Edward: "Heya. Glad the two of you could make it. Come in, come in." Edward nods at Fearless. Edward hears the kettle whistle. "Right on time, too. I've got coffee, Jolt, and green tea for those who want it." Ellis comes in, looks around Ellis: "Sounds great." Nicole follows Greg in. "Nice place." Fearless: "Hi Coach, Nicole." Fearless: "Coffee for me, please." Ellis waves hi at Fearless. Edward: spacious, with plenty of room to navigate between the furniture. Edward nods and pours coffee for Fearless and green tea for himself. "Ellis? Nicole? What'll you have?" Fearless: "You ever give consideration for being my assistant, Nicole?" Nicole: "I'll take a Jolt, if that's cool." Ellis: "Coffee sounds good." Edward smiles. "Yes it is." *plucks one out of the refrigerator* Nicole shakes her head. "Haven't really had a chance with everything that's been going on." Fearless: is the coffee black, or with cream and sugar? Edward: "... and one more coffee coming up." Edward: there's a milk and sugar set on the table. Ellis: Sugar, no cream. Why? Fearless: cause Fearless drinks his black. Fearless: no cream, no sugar. He can almost taste it that way Shyla: ( ooc *shudders* eek coffee ;) ) Fearless: and preferably brewed with twice times as many beans with half the water, making it strong Ellis: Yeah, but your char doesn't have a sense of smell. ;) Fearless: sheesh... that's how my dad drinks it Fearless: *exactly!* ;) Shyla: ( ooc can't stand the smell of it actually makes me sick... bloody nose to sensitive to scents IRL ) Fearless sips the coffee, and sets it aside for a few. BA putters about s'more with other peoples' boxen Fearless: Nose of the wolf? ;) Shyla: ( ooc *snrk* hehehe 'tis what me dad used to say hehe ) Ellis takes a drink, grins. "Nice coffee." *** Signoff: Jack (Quit: "We are the music-makers. We are the dreamers of the dreams." --WW) Ellis: "Well. To business..." Fearless: "Well, one thing I noticed is that the Kappa Beta Lambda fraternity members are both members of this True Connectedness Society. I can poke around the Society office, but I'm too old nowadays to poke around a frat house without being suspicious." Edward nods. "There's a store a couple blocks away that has really good grounds. It's the same place I get the green tea from." Edward raises his teacup. "To business!" Edward: Nicole listens, not having much to contribute as of yet. Ellis snorts, toasts anyway. "I probably wouldn't be welcome in a frat either, being a Member of the Administration and all." Ellis: "I can, however, watch Carver Steele." Fearless nods. Edward grins. "Every time I walk into a frat building, there's the sound of dozens of people frantically turning their computers off..." Nicole: Argh, they finally cooked dinner, brb. Will_GM: Fearless makes a certain roll and notices that Suspect 2, contrary to his recent claim, is a KBL but not TCS. Fearless: "Don't want you blowing their LAN party, huh?" *smirk* *BA* Anything for BA to do here? Really no reason for him to interupt his work Fearless: player oversight... missed that one. Edward shrugs. "I can't imagine why, either... It's not as if I *mind* any of the music trading going on, and there haven't been any insider breakin attempts on the network in... oh, weeks..." Fearless: "Hrrm... I missed this the first time. Suspect two, Arnold Jaeger, is a KBL frat, but not a member the Society. What do we know of him?" Nicole: b Will_GM: Nobody in the room has heard of him outside this list. *** BA is now known as UpLink UpLink: Later folx Edward shrugs. "Not all that much, just what's in his public record." Fearless: cya, UL*** UpLink has left channel #gurps Ellis shakes his head Nicole looks up. "Bill's in one of my classes. And I'm not exactly the best for frat-raiding myself..." Will_GM: Ed: What specifically do you mean by "public record"? Fearless: "That's true." Ellis: "Wrong gender, anyway." Nicole: "Wrong gender, and they're not exactly accessible." Fearless: "Well, you don't have to go on a panty raid, or whatever frats and sororities do nowadays. Maybe just ... crash a party or something and look around while blending into the crowd?" Ellis: "Heh. Didn't exactly get much experience with the greek system where I went." Edward: Will: Most fraternities nowadays have a membership website, and the uni has an enrollment list, that'd prolly tell me at least what he's studying... Alternately, I'll know what he's studying by just where his account is stored. Will_GM: Ed: Ah, Arnold's schedule. That's two high-level PoliSci courses, one moderate history class, one low-level math class (put off until he was a senior, the silly boy) and one evening writing class. Fearless: evening writing class... Jack's? Will_GM: Ding! Edward: and Jack just /quit. Fearless: yeah Fearless: it can wait. Will_GM: He's not at the gathering anyway. But you note it nevertheless. Nicole looks at the list again. "Ed, how does one get a mail id outside of the standard?" Shyla: ( ooc Jack DID mention a little back up (scroll up) about if this is it he's heading off nobody said anything in response ) Fearless: this hadn't come out yet. Shyla: ( ooc *nod* me know ) Edward looks up. "Several ways. One, having teacher or teacher's aide status or better. Second, and usually easier, ask the sysadmin nicely if he'd care to set up a mail alias for you." Nicole: "And how would this Arnold guy have one?" Will_GM: *splut* This is about wxb, isn't it. Fearless: "Good eyes, Nicole." Edward: I'd guess so. Nicole: Will: Yeah. Edward looks. "Hmm... How'd I miss *that* ?" Will_GM: It was orginally a typo -- I think I changed his name. But hell, I'll leave it in and think of something. ... Okay, I got it. Edward smirks at Nicole. "Y'know, there's at least one position of admin assistant still open for the next semester..." Will_GM: It's actually in-plot, too. :^) Edward signs back into Yagami and restarts the connection dance. "One moment while I check things..." Nicole: "Hmmm. What's it entail?" Fearless: "I'll look into the arrest records, and poke around this Society's local headquarters. In the meantime, we do need someone here to get in close to the frats. And Nicole, I think you're our best choice. With Halloween coming, there's sure to be a party there some night." Edward: "two points of graduation credit let me know what the real term for those is, and if that's a reasonable amount, a couple of hours per week in Mission Control doing assistant administrative duties, 'learning the ropes', as the saying goes..." Nicole sighs. "If the place is accessible. A lot of those places were built long before the ADA." Will_GM: I should add that there is someone you know who's about college-age, is male, and is not an instructor... Edward: you were there last sesh, remember? Fearless: I think she's meaning the frat party Will_GM: Yeah, I believe she was responding to Fearless. Nicole: I was. Nicole: And Ed, no, I wasn't present last game, I was at Zibb's. Edward: oops. Ohyeah. Will_GM: And Nicole, I this case I believe Ed meant your character. Will_GM: Or not. Fearless: "Well, there's another person who could possibly help out, but I didn't want *them* involved in this investigation just yet." Edward: "Hmm. There's no technical reason why he didn't get arjfoo@mail... Odd." *** Signoff: Ellis (Client closed connection) Edward typetypetypes some more, checks the logs to see who added him Will_GM: Ed: wxb234 was originally assigned to Will (no middle initial) Brandt, but the holder got a legal name change. Edward blinks. "... That's interesting." Edward: when? Fearless: "What's that?" Will_GM: Apparently almost simultaneously with being accepted -- the paperwork's a little shuffled around that event. Edward: "Well, it seems that our friend Mr. Jaeger was, until just after his acceptance, a Mr. Will Brandt." Edward: "Someone did a shuffle tango with the paperwork, though..." Fearless: "Interesting." Fearless: "Even more interesting." *** Aris_TGD (aris@hh1120191.direcpc.com) has joined channel #gurps Fearless: "I think that paperwork tango's your department, Ed. I'll look into his arrest record." Fearless: 're Aris *** Aris_TGD is now known as Ellis Nicole: "Because that wouldn't make sense. Ed, you guys would honor an ID change based on a name change, no?" Ellis: reyas Edward drops out of the menu shells and down into the filesystem, checking for ctime/atime/utime flags, to see what was shuffled where, when, and by whom... Will_GM: Hmm. Hang on... Will_GM: What will those tell you? Edward nods. "Actually, unless specifically asked not to, we do." Edward: time of creation of file, time last accessed, time last modified. the unix filesystems store a lot of info like that Fearless: "Any particular reason anyone would ask not to?" Will_GM: The email account was created in the usual late-August rush the year he was accepted. The info had only been accessed once since then, a password change from the original on a lab computer. The other files for his admission were last modified shortly thereafter, albeit in a haphazard fashion at various times. It's clear no systematic work was being done, though most files were eventually changed to reflect the name change. Edward: "If the old email address is already well-known and used. Of course, we can just as easily set up a remailer and move notifier, so it's not normally an issue. Sentimental reasons..." Fearless: "What about in his case?" Edward: "Hmm... Sloppy. Very sloppy." Fearless: "Any reason you can see for keeping the old one?" Edward: "Not really." Fearless: "Hrrm..." Edward hunts for rubble -- backup files automatically created by editors which the changers may have forgotten to change back, file ownerships that aren't what they should be..." Fearless skims the list again. "Calabite... Ka La Bite... Kappa Lambda Beta... Kappa Beta Lambda, to avoid detection... Dammit, I'm thinking like BA now..." Will_GM: Well, given Ed's proclivities in this matter, backups in nearly any system at the University would be made on a regular basis, yes? Including any recent changes? Edward: what's the time between the creation of the accounts and the first time one of 'em was changed? Because if that's more than a week, there may be a clean record on the tape backups... Edward: That, too. But I was referring to the simple .doc/.bak that even M$ Turd used to do until they figured out nobody ever looks at those backup files anyways... Will_GM: Pretty short. Admissions files get updated throughout the approval process. Edward smirks. "Hmm." Fearless: "What?" Edward: "Well, judging from the creation time and the access time flags on this, whever started the shuffle started pretty early -- but not *quite* early enough. Looks like it's a trip to the backup tape safe for me tomorrow..." Ellis: "You're doing the evil sysadmin thing again." Fearless idly memorizes the SSNs/Student Numbers. Edward does some more hacking and checking, and comprises a short list of everyone who had *legal* access at the level required to change those files. Will_GM: You are fairly sure you have a complete list. Fearless: "Numbers seven and three bother me most. Wouldn't you agree, Coach?" Ellis: ... what's the URL for the file again? Edward: http://earl.of.sandwich.net/AnalyzerSummary.txt Edward nods. "Especially 7." Edward checks her records as well. Ellis nods. "I didn't catch anything on Carver today, but I didn't want to push it. I don't want to deal with a demon in my classroom, if that's what he is." Edward: (that is, the file structure of her records, not so much as the content) Will_GM: Nicole: As they're looking at Number 7, something floats into your memory. LBK is a "sister sorority" (*cough*bedroomcommunity*cough*) for KBL. Ellis: "And anyone who's registered without any background information, well... I'm worried." Fearless: a conclusion I came up with when I saw the file. ;) Fearless: after parsing things correctly Nicole looks at the list one more time. Edward nods at Ellis' comment without looking up from his typing. "Normally that requires massive amounts of connections, like when some massively wealthy person's kid wants to enroll without being asked 'Hey, aren't you $celeb's kid?' every time he has to introduce himself... Edward: " Nicole: "Hey guys...the frat's name being wrong? That's a girl; she's in a sorority; they're brother and sister to one another. So to speak." Will_GM: Ed: Laura practically isn't a student. No admissions papers. No email account. She's technically registered for classes as a student, but somebody in the Registrar's office forced it through the system. There are bills piling up, but someone in the Bursar's office keeps rubberstamping a deferral. There are grades given, but no exam scores on record. Edward: "Hmm.... HMMM....." Edward frowns. Fearless: "Lemme guess. Total blank slate." Ellis: "Carver Steele? Laura Lieder? Those names just sound too cute to be true." Fearless: "I'll look into Carver's arrest date, then talk to our friends at the Works to see what kind of 'disturbances' were in play that day." Fearless: "In the meantime... perhaps you can talk with this 'Laura' and *ahem* 'straighten out' her lack of email?" *wink* Nicole balefully eyes Ellis. "Let me tell you someday about the family named Head that named their son Richard..." Edward: "Pretty much. She's a nonentity. No admissions papers, no account, no grades whatsoever, no reason given why she even should be registered. She's got bills up the wazoo, but she keeps getting deferrals by the Bursar... And considering the hoops he makes me hop through just to get a reasoned and explained nonbudget expense through..." Fearless: Edward: who's the registrar that pushed it through? Fearless: "IF she even exists... I'll cross-check that student ID with some other sources. My gut's telling me that Social Security number belongs to someone else." Will_GM: Betty Smith, a typical desk jockey. She's been with the University for years, regular career-track woman, nothing spectacular. Edward: in other words, diligent but unimaginative, and perfect Balseraph bait. Fearless: "Graduate student... any record of *past* collegiate activity... Bachelor's or Associate degree anywhere?" Edward: *typetypetypetype* Fearless: "And, correct me if I'm wrong, aren't grad students usually not allowed in frats or sororities?" Will_GM: The Graduate School record has her has having received a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Michigan. Fearless: "At least, they weren't where I went to college." Will_GM: Grads who are actively attending the school are still qualified members. Will_GM: At least they were in Phi Mu Alpha; I was never a member, but I knew grads in it. Nicole: "The drinking and stuff is mainly undergrads. Being legal makes one less likely to drink, it's not forbidden." Fearless: consider that Fearless went to a school where 5-year seniors were common... Edward: "... Grad record says she's got her Bach's in Microbiology from umich. Hmm. I'm not on what you'd call speaking terms with their admin, but I think I can convince him to help me verify a possible breakin attempt... simple confirm/deny." Fearless nods. Ellis nods, too Will_GM: Laura *is* in fact working in one of the Biology labs on campus, Biochem Department -- research assistantship. Edward: Will: I'm assuming 'was there a student named Laura Lieder who graduated Bachelor of Microbiology in 19XX?' isn't a very sensitive question. Ellis: Aah! Demona! Will_GM: Ed: you make the call now? Edward: RA to who and what project? Fearless: "And, if she's what this report indicates she may be, I'd hate to see what a Demon wants to use biochemistry knowledge for." Will_GM: What? Edward: What's the daytime in michigan? Nicole: Central, IIRC. Will_GM: Right now, about 7 or 8 (it's about 8 or 9 in PA). Edward: Research Assistant. Assistant to which researcher, and what are they researching? That's at least semipublic. Fearless: figure its around 8:30-9pm in Philly... 7:30-8pm in michigan Edward: Will: I'll e-mail him. Will_GM: Check. Will_GM: She's assisting Professor Harvey Feingold, and they're researching the chemical properties of mRNA and tRNA. Fearless: "Suspects 2 and 6 are probably just criminals." Ellis: "Yeah. 6 looks like a drug dealer. Bad, but not what our friends are looking for." Will_GM: ...and as for Laura's graduation record, you realize that it's easy to check via the UMich Microbiology group's Web page. Will_GM: She's not listed among the alumnae for that year. Fearless: "Two has me worried due to his housing; if the other two boys are part of that Society." Edward nods. "there's no Laura anything graduated from UMich microbi for that year." Fearless: "And I'll lay money that the SSN is also not hers." He pauses. "Can we get into the SSA computers to look for that number?" Edward GLARES at Fearless for the "get into" phrasing. Fearless catches the glare, yet doesn't say anything about it. "Never mind." Fearless: information wants to be free! ;) Fearless oocly prepares for Deep Hurting on that one Will_GM: Information in federal databases wants to be well-guarded both electronically and by large men wearing weaponry. Edward inflicts serious pain Fearless: "wearing" weaponry? ;) Edward: good point though -- is it possible to look up someone's SSN? I'm assuming prospective employers routinely ask this of the govt... Will_GM: SSNs are often requested by schools and employers as identifiers. However, I don't believe they can be looked up except in strictly regulated circumstances. Nicole: Employers have to have it for tax purposes. Will_GM: Getting someone's SSN is a good prelude to identity theft. Fearless: Fearless can always cross-reference an SSN through the police Edward: 'k. Will_GM: At any rate, you can *tell* the IRS "this is my employee, his SSN is this, he made this much," but I wouldn't count on them telling you that. Fearless: "Should we inform Wes and Rath of number seven?" Edward nods. "Might be a good idea." Ellis: "I think that's wise." Nicole: Will: Actually, it's for your SS tax moreso than your income tax, but same deal. ;) Fearless: "While not saying *where* we got the information, of course." Fearless: "In the meantime, I'll look into the Society and arrest records of the two with records." Fearless: "And I think I might be able to get someone to nose around the frat." Ellis: "That would be good." Fearless: "I don't think we have to worry about suspect number one." *grin* Edward shrugs. "Technically, if I can demonstrate reasonable doubt to begin with -- and noticing an anomaly consitutes that -- I have a fair amount of lassitude in how deep I can ferret as long as I don't use the information for anything beyond investigative purposes..." Ellis: *dryly* "I do hope that we'll be able to keep him under control without any outside help." Fearless: "He's under *close* surveillance right now." Ellis: "Indeed." Edward taps out a sequence of commands to the wireless servos to the webcam, focusing on Ellis. "Say cheese slices!" Fearless: "Velveeta." Fearless: "The non-cheese." Ellis: "Preprossesed cheese food." Shyla: ( ooc hmm Velveeta :D good in grits ;) ) Edward: *click* Fearless: "You should edit that photo to show horns holding up a halo." Will_GM: The ArchDean. :^) Edward grins. "Way ahead of you." Ellis: "Oh, no." Nicole giggles a bit. Fearless: "Anyone spoken to Jack lately?" Edward hmmms. "I could have a chat with the Bursar about those finances, but he's got a tendency to not like me very much..." Ellis: "Nope." Edward: "Not recently, no." Nicole: Will, did I call him or not like he wanted? Will_GM: Muh--whuh? Nicole: At the end of our last adventure thread... Nicole: I was supposed to call him when I woke up in the morning. Will_GM: Oh, about the dream -- yeah. Your decision, I guess. Nicole: And that would have been this morning in the grand scheme? Fearless: No, this is a few days since then, I think Will_GM: No, that would have been several days ago. Nicole: Okay. What I wanted to know. Nicole: "Not for a bit, not since we dealt with Grace." Fearless: "I see... I think I'll swing by there to see how he's doing." Edward nods. Fearless homes in on number 5. "Admission papers below acceptance levels? Special permission? What's special about him?" Edward checks. Edward checks the identity of whoever gave the "special permission" -- that should be on record. Fearless: "Note that he's one of our frat boys, and a member of that Society." Edward nods Fearless: "Nicole, what do you know about the on-campuss activities of that frat?" Ellis tries to remember if he's heard anything--in passing from a student, or something. Nicole: "Not much, I don't usually hang out with those sorts. Bill's in one of my classes, though." Will_GM: UPenn has some flexibility in its admissions process, but there are certain numerical constants such as SAT scores that are required. The final admissions process includes an overall score. In Terrence's case, there is a full suite of admissions papers, and what one notes is that the minimum requirements are *not* met, but the recommendations have the maximum possible points awarded. Nicole: "I'm trying to remember which frat got busted for possession of alcohol by minors a few years back, but...I don't think it's that one." Edward: Okay.. I take it reccomendations are from staff members/deans etc? Nicole: "Otherwise, they mostly stay off my radar." Will_GM: Now, this normally wouldn't help, but in this case the Admissions Provost signed a waiver, and Terrence entered on a scholarship. Since then, he's done pretty well by way of grades. Fearless: "That sounds more like Sigma Pi, if you ask me." Nicole: Ed: High school teachers, usually Will_GM: Recommendations are a part of the US college admissions process -- teachers, community leaders, etc. Ellis: HS teachers and admin are required, occasionally coaches and other mentors write them. Fearless: "The Sick Pigs where I went had their charter revoked." Nicole: "As I said, Fearless, I don't remember. 'Tis all Greek to me." Fearless: "Bad pun." Ellis groans slightly Will_GM: Nicole: *snrk* Nearly every frat except the academic ones get busted for minors in possession. ;^) Will_GM: At any rate, like you said, you don't have much traffic with the frats. Edward hmms. "Actually, this doesn't look too far out of whack -- other than that it's odd when someone with bad SAT scores gets so highly reccommended by their teachers for a university, but it's not wholly unknown... And the Provost is fairly good at giving people a chance if they talk to him like they deserve one..." Fearless: Will: Sigma Pi at ESU had their charter revoked for numerous such offenses. There's a reason they were called Sick Pigs on campus Nicole: Will, I know that. Local State school got busted big time, because a frosh died of alcohol poisoning, which is why I was thinking of it. Fearless: and all attempts that I know of to reinstate the charter kept getting shot down Ellis rolls against intelligence to see if he's heard anything about this frat from one of his students. Ellis fails that roll, so never mind. Will_GM: Actually, I was just getting to that. Who reads the campus paper? Edward does. Ellis: I do. Fearless excuses himself to head into the kitchen area, pulls out his cell phone, and calls up the Works. Nicole does. Fearless: *to whoever answers* "Is Pete available?" Will_GM: Those who do know that the UPenn chapter of KBL is under suspended charter from the national frat. There was some sort of severe disagreement with the leadership, and at the moment they're on a version of probation. It makes their status a bit uncertain at UPenn. Ellis: *to Ed* "Wait... do you have the last couple issues of the paper around?" Will_GM: Fearless: "Can I say who's calling?" Fearless: "It's Johnny." Fearless: "I need to ask him a favor." Will_GM: Fearless: "One sec." Edward points at a stack of magazines. "Between the _Kill -9_ and the Network Monthly." Will_GM: Fearless: "Hi Johnny. What's up?" Ellis destacks the paper, shuffles around to see if he can find anything referencing that news. Will_GM: Mmm, paper records. :^) Ellis: Yep. Edward checks the national KBL website to see why they're suspending the upenn chapter (I'm assuming they like clean hands or at least the perception of clean hands so they'd be public in disavowals) Fearless: "Hey, Pete. I'm looking for some information, and I think we can help each other out. There's a frat at UPenn that's I need information on. None of the rest of us can really get in, but you're the right age. And, from what little information I was able to scrounge up, its possible there's some... intervention involved." Will_GM: You hunt around a bit and remember that this was early (Spring) last year the suspension happened. You find the original article after about fifteen minutes' search, and it basically gives what I just said above. The disagreement appears to have been management style -- the head of the local chapter took violent exception to some by-laws of the national frat, and they were suspended. Fearless: "Nothing definite right now, that's why I didn't want to talk with Wes or Rath about this." Ellis: "Ha-HA. Guess what?" Ellis rattles off what he just found, including quotes where appropriate. Will_GM: Ed: KBL's national site has the UPenn chapter listed under 1-year suspension, and says that they're doing so for failure to abide by the group's charter principles. This is a bit vague, but it's what they have. Fearless: "I just need someone to get inside for a bit to look around... possibly during one of the parties that are sure to happen this week." Fearless: fast talk roll... Fearless: 11 Fearless: skill 14 Nicole hmmms. "Interesting, 'tis." Edward: "Interesting, indeed. *relates his findings*" Will_GM: Fearless: "I can ask, sure. If Rath's okay with it, I can make myself available." Fearless: "Thanks. If you can, give me a call at [cell phone #]." Will_GM: Fearless: "Sure thing. I'll let you know." Fearless: "Thanks." Fearless: "I owe you one." Will_GM: Fearless: "Stay strong." *click* Fearless walks back. "Well, if Rath clears it, Pete can be our man inside the frat. If its clean, no problem. If not, we'll deal with it. What've you got there?" Ellis waves the article at Fearless Fearless reads it. "'Violent exception'?" *checks the date* Edward: "How violent, and when was the recipient released from the hospital?" Will_GM: Not that kind of violent, just a public screaming argument. Fearless: ah. Fearless: "Apparently, they're using violent figuratively, not literally." Edward: "Ahh." Fearless: "I wonder... does the Society page list any membership roster which we can cross-check against the rest of KBL's national rosters?" Nicole just listens, not offering much in the way of new insights. Ellis helps Nicole a bit Fearless: "Reporter's hunch... the split has to do with the Society members." Edward fires up lynx (text-only web browser) and checks out the site again Edward looks for a membership roster Will_GM: The site lists no general membership roster. Fearless: "Hrrm... Looks like I have to do some legwork there." Edward: "No membership roster on the TCS website." Will_GM: A few of the "Advanced Students" are listed, with short biographies about how their lives have improved since achieving a higher level of Connectedness. Will_GM: None of the suspects are listed. Edward checks those names on the KBL's roster Fearless: anyone there from any of the *other* KBLs? Will_GM: You'd have to check each frat's membership lists individually -- KBL is a big national frat. Fearless: no, only one frat in Erie, PA. ;) Will_GM: A chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha at that. Will_GM: Anyway, the only address for TCS listed is in Philly. Fearless: "Interesting... locals." Fearless takes down the names of the "Advanced Students" Fearless: "Well, I have enough to look into for now." *eyes two and seven again* "I hope those are false, but my gut's telling me otherwise." Fearless: quarter to midnight here... split up and assume Fearless is doing legwork all next session? Edward nods at seven... "She most likely is a correct hit. Him... could be mundane baddie, could be something more." Fearless: "Actually, three worries me more than the frat boys." Fearless: *jots down his SSN, too* Will_GM: Yeah, it's nearly 3 here. We can continue digging next session, legwork, or whichever direction y'all would like to go. Edward nods. "I'll check Lightning's databases to see if there's anything on that disturbance they mention." Will_GM: --------------------- Session End ------------------------