The GM says, "You have chosen to assume roles as staff members at the prison, and to be escorted over around midnight by Xiao Li, Jane's lieutenant. The wait was in order to get some more information, though the means of such investigation hadn't yet been discussed." The GM says, "Is there anything you'd like to check out specifically before heading across the Domain?" Draco is going to have to do mostly recording, because as a Seraph he can't effectively do a lot of "pretending to be someone else" in all this. Asher [to William]: Huh. Nothing comes to mind. Asher [to fadethecat]: Never had a Role? StevenE has made StevenE's local name Ekur Draco [to William]: If there's time, actually, I would like to do a quick scamper around the city. See what the local ethereal vermin have to say, if anything. Look for anyone who has any of the Knight's preferred in-joke signs on his appearance. (Which he might not have bothered with, if he's keeping really quiet, but it's worth asking.) Draco [to Neil]: ...actually, no. Draco [to Neil]: He was always working in the Marches. Did a little supervision of other demon with Roles for Tether-building purposes, but he never worked for long on Earth. His only corporeal vessel is an animal, and those /can't/ have Roles. Session 45 -- Arc 8, Episode 2: The Big House William [to Draco]: The local vermin are mostly unintelligent figments, several of whom are most unpleasantly surprised at how tough you are when they try to grab a snack of ferret. There is not a high population of the talking kind. Mephibosheth does not appear to be cutting a noticeable profile, if he is out here. Draco [to William]: Well, it was worth a shot. And it's fun to run beneath the floorboards once in a while. fadethecat [to Asher]: Also, on the issue of roles: it's easy enough for a Seraph to say "I'm a librarian" when they actually /are/ a librarian, by virtue of the Role. I don't think the connection here is True enough for Draco to claim he's really staff. William [to Draco]: You do get the location of a few local services which may come in handy; some healers, priests of an astonishing number of religions, some Essence loansharkers. The GM says, "Fast forward to midnight?" Draco is fine with that. Neil nods. The GM says, "The three of you meet Xiao Li outside Jane's office. The tall Chinese swordsman bows briefly and begins walking you down the road toward the edge of town." Ekur autorezzes the guy, of course. No reaction-tests in mind. Xiao Li says, "You may wish to take on human appearance before arriving at the Domain border. Yazz orders it that Prison hews closely to worldly physics, except in some isolated and guarded regions." Neil resonates Xiao Li as well. How's he done for himself? Neil rolled 12 versus 18 and succeeded by 6. Ekur adjusts his clothing to resemble a prison-guard uniform. Draco rolled 9 versus 22 and succeeded by 13. Draco turns on the resonance, on principle. William [to Ekur]: Very calm, content with his duties and position, knows why the three of you are here. Asher [to William]: What were the three staff positions we were to fill? Draco drops off his current shoulder perch, and blinks a few times. Human appearance. Right. He's done that on occasion. William [to Neil]: Lieutenant to a Domain Mistress, an advance over his previous status and one he is apparently fitting with at the moment. William [to Neil]: Not worked out yet. You're showing up when most of the prisoner population is dispersed, so presumably you'll pick this when you get a chance to talk to Yazz. Draco [to William]: Half a sec, I'm blanking on appearances here. Will be dreamed up properly in a sec. The GM says, "One suspects Draco would also be hesitating; quite natural for a Seraph." StevenE [to fadethecat]: President Reagan! Neil spins out sweatpants, sweatshirt, and a whistle around his neck. The GM says, "(It's currently mid-1997.)" StevenE [to William]: Right. Former President. Draco becomes, briefly, a six-foot tall ferret, which is much less adorable at that height. "No, no, wait," he says. "I almost have this. Ethereals with affinities for authority and discipline are the most likely to take these sorts of jobs, I imagine." With a completely superfluous puff of pink smoke, Draco reshapes his form to that of a librarian, complete with plaid skirt and ruler in hand. More the kind likely to show up on movies in specialized cable channels than in your average library. She tucks the notebook into a skirt pocket. "Okay, ready to go." Neil eyes Draco. "Nice look. Reminds me, we should see how Eri's settled in." The GM says, "Over the space of a few miles, the city dwindles to gaslamp residential area with cobblestone street, then bayou through which a gravel road runs. At a wooden bridge, the atmosphere alters palpably. Passing out from under the dark shadow of some moss-laden trees, you come to the imposing flat outer wall of a long, low building, with stone fencing topped with barbed wire extending off into the distance. Floodlights illuminate areas both on your side and within it; they compeltely obscure the stars above." Draco makes some minor edits to her new appearance on the walk; the jiggling was getting annoying. "Are the walls strictly mundane physics, or do they have any special properties?" Xiao Li says, "Primarily for the physics. I understand special arrangements are made for flight-capable forms. I am not conversant with the details." Xiao Li says, "Naturally, they also reinforce the identity of place. A prison requires walls." [ snip msg'ing ] The GM says, "A figure in a guard uniform, carrying a rifle, steps out of a booth in front of the truck-sized double doors. After a moment, you recognize Bob, a crewmember from the dirigible-stealing dream-raider, one of the first criminals you sent here." Bob says, "Master Li. Who've you brought us?" Xiao Li visibly hesitates. Xiao Li says, "Job applicants. Special applicants. They'll want to see Yazz." He turns to you and says very quietly, "I thought we were to be met personally by Yazz. This is unexpected." Neil resonates Bob. Neil rolled 13 versus 18 and succeeded by 5. William [to Neil]: Bob is happy to be invested in a job, but several of his former acquaintances are not as thrilled with his new social status. William [to Neil]: MDA is still the old; nothing worse has been added to the list since he served his time. Ekur zaps Bob, too. Draco waits patiently for Bob's answer, smiling brightly. William [to Ekur]: A bit confused. People don't usually stop by at midnight. Bob says, "There was some ruckus in the hospital wing during dispersal. They called for the Warden. He'd been waiting out here for a while -- oh, I guess that must have been for you." William [to Draco]: Completely true, insofar as he knows it. He doesn't feel like there would be any reason to lie. Neil shakes Bob's hand. "How has life been treating you?" Bob steps back from the contact attempt. "You might wanna... hey, it's you!" Bob says, "But don't you... have a job?" Bob eyes Ekur and suddenly remembers him again. He eyes Draco and clearly doesn't. Neil smiles. "Yes. We do." Draco says, "And I'm with them." Bob visibly 'gets it.' "Aaah. 'Job applicants.' Right. Okay, mum's the word." Neil says, ""Now as I was asking... how's life been treating you, Bob?" Ekur pauses, and tries adjusting his features to more resemble, oh, an enforcer of the law he remembers from Sumer, just in case somebody else could make him. Neil ... makes the whistle bigger? Ekur rolled 8 versus 18 and succeeded by 10. Neil rolled 7 versus 20 and critically succeeded by 13. fadethecat [to Asher]: ...you had to use a crit on /that/? Please tell me that wasn't a DI. Asher [to fadethecat]: Nah, I just beat it by 13. Bob says, "Oh, not so bad, not so bad. Got paroled a few years ago. Didn't have much of anywhere else to go, so I stayed on as a guard. Switched sides, as it were. Some of my cellmates weren't too thrilled with that, but, you know, gotta make a living, and I decided I didn't want to head back out to raiding." Bob says, "Lotta guys do, y'know." Neil nods approvingly. "Good choice, honest work, not so many Tsayadim and plea bargains." Neil says, "How'd -- Rick, was it -- take that decision?" Bob reddens, and your enhanced resonance feels the painful prick where that relationship is. "I don't get assigned to his squad, let's put it that way," he says. "But he's due up for the end of his sentence in a couple of months, so hopefully that'll put an end to that." Neil nods. "I see." William [to Neil]: Your enhanced resonance gets more of a sense of the relationships between guards and prisoners here. Civis' prisoners, assigned to Jane as military conscripts, often *are* guards... differentiating them from the more mundane prisoners held by contract in the Prison itself. It's a source of friction. Neil . o O ( Charismatic criminal with Hellish connections -- we'll be looking to see what kind of world Rick's made for himself. ) William [to Neil]: Then there are the private hires, who form a third group entirely, not beholden to Sorcerous contract and able to come and go as they please. The GM says, "A person-sized door opens in one of the towers flanking the gate, and Yazz walks out of it. He's changed, a little... a little older-seeming, dark sunglasses, a generalized set of slacks and white shirt instead of rubber-tire armor. The axe is now a large, holstered knife, next to a sidearm -- non-relic, but then the place is very 'physical.'" Bob comes to attention. "Warden." Yazz nods at him, likewise at Xiao Li. Xiao Li returns the nod and turns to you. "If you require assistance from outside the Prison and have a chance to make a telephone call, I will be available. Good luck, gentlemen." He leaves. Draco checks her pockets to see if she remembered to make herself a cell phone. Though she's not sure if it would get coverage from inside the prison, if so. Neil waves, and turns back to Yazz. "Somewhere we can speak privately, old friend?" Yazz daubs a spot of blood off of his face -- apparently, the cut's his own -- and nods. First he eyes Draco. "Thais?" he asks incredulously. Neil snickers. "No." Draco stiffles a giggle. "Should I be honored to be mistaken for her, or outraged on her behalf?" Yazz says, "Well, you might want to... tone it down a little. We got some prisoners'd be very interested in what you're apparently offering, but strictly speaking it's not a regular staff position." Yazz says, "Hang on, I'll loosen up the rules a bit..." you feel the Domain become a bit more malleable in your vicinity. Draco spreads her hands. "I don't do this whole human thing often. Let me see..." She leaves her human appearance about the same, but swaps from sexy librarian to a nun's habit. "Better? Or is this a uniform-only position?" Yazz says, "Nun, huh? Well, we've got some chaplains, not a lot of Catholics in the prisoner population though. Come on in, let's get settled in my office." Neil follows Yazz for the second debriefing. The GM says, "He leads you inside the gate block, and up a couple of flights of stairs, to an office that overlooks the inner yards. The Prison is a forbidding place; the walls are thick, heavy stone, with bare light bulbs above. Utility pipes and wiring, rare sights in the Marches, are in their usual places here." The GM says, "Visible from the back windows of the office are a number of freestanding buildings and fenced-in yards. One of them is covered over with barbed wire, and contains a number of avian perches. The buildings' windows are all darkened, though lights illuminate the outer areas starkly." Neil looks around. "A fearful place." Yazz sits behind his desk. "That's what it's for." He pulls out a rack of alchemical preparations and fiddles with an ointment in a small mirror. Yazz says, "'course, you ain't even seen death row yet." Neil examines the wound. "What happened there? Bob said there was a scuffle." The GM says, "Yazz' accent has turned from vaguely Australian to vaguely redneck, by the way." The GM says, "The wound disappears under the effects of Ethereal Healing. Yazz nods. 'The hospital wing all decided they didn't want to follow the rules. We told 'em if they didn't disperse they'd be dispersed. Took a couple of examples before the rest got the hint.'" William [to Draco]: Yazz is not aware of the entire reason behind the affray. He assumes it is malcontent prisoners. This is only part of the truth. Yazz says, "Stuff like that's been happening more often recently. Figure that's what you came about?" He sits back and puts his feet up on the desk. There are some additional metal chairs in the room, if you wish to sit. Ekur rezzes Yazz. Ekur says, "A little bird warned us about potential trouble." Draco says, "And there's more to it than contumacious prisoners." William [to Ekur]: Yazz is simultaneously worried on professional levels -- "I have a problem with the running of my business" -- and personal -- "My personal wellbeing is at risk from this." He's both grateful for help and resentful that it's needed. Tactful phrasing is called for. Neil says, "We think you've got... deeeeeeeeeeeeeemons." Neil swears -- SWEARS -- he typed that before he got William's line about tact. William [to Neil]: How exactly is the tone of that, anyway? I'm not sure of the inflections. fadethecat [to Asher]: Oo, does it involve finger quotes in the air? Asher [to fadethecat]: Wiggly fingers, yes. Asher [to William]: "There *is* a problem, and it does merit the attention of Civis' finest, but we don't think it's especially serious. Especially now that we're here". Asher [to William]: Not contemptious or insulting, but... maybe making light of it. Telling him he's not afraid, he's *right* -- and we're gonna fix it. Yazz says, "Well, that'd be a perfectly good explanation, except I'd have no clue how they got here. The guards are invested ethereals, the prisoners checked daily at dispersal, and visitors are watched. If somebody's running around physically, they've dug a tunnel into the exercise yard or something." William [to Draco]: They haven't. Draco pulls her notebook out of her habit. "What security do you have in place for keeping out people using very small images? Any sort of rat problem?" Draco hmms. "Or even mosquitoes, come to think of it. Depends on how much this Domain constrains image size." Yazz says, "Anybody comes in here looking like a rat, they'll be thinking like a rat until they leave. At least I'll be trying to make them, which is pretty distracting to start with." William [to Draco]: He's pretty confident of his abilities in that area, too. Neil pushes against it, experimentally. Neil rolled 10 versus 20 and succeeded by 10. Yazz says, "Now, we might have Shedim riding the humans, but they'd still have to leave..." Asher [to William]: No change, just trying to figure the penalty. William [to Neil]: Yazz looks at you funny. roll 3d6 On 3d6, you rolled 9. Draco looks slightly impressed. Not everyone would think of that. Well, not at first. Probably doesn't take long to find any security holes in a prison, courtesy of the prisoners who don't want to stay. William [to Neil]: You start to feel like there might be some interesting food to eat if you follow the smells. It passes. Neil blinks. "That was... odd. I tried to shift forms and... got hungry?" William [to Neil]: You were trying to be a rat, right? Yazz says, "Rat instincts, I suppose." Asher [to William]: What? No, I wasn't trying to shift anything, except maybe a shudder or ripple -- just testing the strength of the forbiddance. But trying to go rat works, I guess. William [to Asher]: Ah. I read too much into it, then. Ekur looks over at Draco. "I'm very glad you didn't stay a six-foot ferret." Yazz says, "Now, the prisoners are bound to obey the rules and not try escaping, and that's through Dot's weekly visits -- obviously, it seems like she's doing her job, but I can't personally vouch. Still, we don't tend to get prisoners try to pull a fast one on the Will-War more than once. She gets the Essence to burn from the guards, and we'll stick you in solitary for trying to get uppity." Neil hmms. "Why do the guards have so much Essence to spare for her?" Ekur pauses, mumbling to himself. "Hmm. Assuming that a six-foot ferret could enter. What if someone came in as, say, a three-inch human? Or as Tinkerbell?" Yazz says amusedly, "'cause she asks for it. The guards feed her their Essence if the prisoner decides he doesn't want to throw the Will-War. She burns it, lays the smack down, and ties the prisoner down for another month or so. We toss the little snot in solitary to teach him not to do that." Ekur says, "And certainly Ethereals have Essence to match other Ethereals." William [to Ekur]: He thinks about that. "...I dunno. I try to keep the place as real as possible, and I know three-inch humans ain't real. We've got some nonhuman prisoners, but whatever they look like in their natural shapes, they can survive with." Yazz says, "There ain't any demons that look like rats, though, right?" William [to Draco]: Actually, there was this one Djinn you used to know... Draco says, "Oh, some of them. It's not a very popular form, but you don't always get to choose." Draco gestures a little too expansively. This body's way too big for sweeping gestures; she's going to end up clocking someone in the head with a ruler at this rate. "Djinn, mostly. They're the only ones with a real animal look to them." Yazz says, "Oh yeah, Djinn. Well, they're big suckers, anyway." He sits back. Neil looks upward. "Bob was wary about shaking my hand. Given that I planned to resonate his life history off him, that wasn't a bad plan, but how'd he know?" Neil says, "And -- on that topic -- mind if I take your hand for a second?" Yazz says, "Eh? Oh, just being cautious, I guess. You get paranoid after a while, being a guard. Some of you, anyway." He offers his hand. "Checking to see I'm still me?" Neil takes his hand, and resonates him. Neil rolled 7 versus 20 and critically succeeded by 13. Neil says, "No -- I'm a Mercurian. I know your place in the Domain -- anyone who knows someone *you* don't know is someone we should investigate." William [to Neil]: It's still him. Socially, he's still largely in control of his life and his relationships, being in a position of authority. While that control is threatened at the moment, honestly, that's a passing thing. There's a particular malign entity doing the disrupting of his life, but that entity's hostility isn't directly aimed at him. Which, frankly, Yazz might take as almost more insulting that being targeted. William [to Neil]: Ah, so you're doing a group resonance? Asher [to William]: Not specifically -- I was just profiling Yazz so I'd have the right questions to ask on *future* group resonances. The GM says, "'k" Neil hmms. "Yep. There's something out there contesting your authority, but -- and this is the weird part -- it isn't personal, or even especially focused on you." Draco scratches the back of her head with a pencil. "Hey, Neil. Take a look and see if you can find a connection to that someone anywhere in my background, would you?" Yazz says, "Say what now? You mean somebody's messing with my prison and I'm not even the..." Neil takes Draco's hand and Yazz's arm, and *thinks*. William [to Neil]: Spotted. There is indeed a small Bacon number connecting Yazz, our unknown interloper, and Draco. Neil says, "Yep. Yazz, your problem is related to an old friend of our newest friend, whom I haven't introduced to you. Yazz, this is Draco Bonnefoy, Angel of Trade. Draco, Yazz, Warden of the Prison of Roxburgh." Yazz eyes Draco somewhat disgustedly. "I assume this friend of a friend is in fact a friend of neither." William [to Ekur]: Now he feels used and disrespected, which will shortly be leading in to 'pissed.' William [to Ekur]: Not disrespected by you, of course. Draco bobs a curtsy to Yazz. "I'm still thinking I should have shredded him and blamed it on pixies back when I had the power to do so singlehandedly. Hindsight, and all that. Maybe I'll get a chance to correct the oversight." Ekur says, "Demons are right bastards." Yazz harrumphs, and stands up. "Allright. So your holy hocus-pocus tells us we've probably got a demon on the premises. I still don't know where, but we can figure it out. I can lock this place down tighter than the Hanoi Hilton. We can comb it from top to bottom, and bloody well discorporate any prisoners that try to stand in our way. Whoever's left, that's our man, yeah?" Draco hmms. "...maybe. If this really is the person I think it is, he's not stupid. Not by a long shot. I would bet good money on him having some sneaky means of avoiding detection even if we do that. Especially if he's not in as a prisoner. I mean, if I were in a position like this, I'd be a lot more inclined to come in as a guard or some other staff member. More freedom of movement, for one." The GM says, "Warning bells should be going off in *everybody's* Dissonance Conditions." Asher [to William]: Wait, why mine? fadethecat [to William]: Wait, why mine? Asher [to William]: It's not the best way to approach the problem, but "getting smacked 'cause you disobeyed a Just and lawful order" doesn't strike me as a problem. Draco doesn't remember making any promises regarding discorporating prisoners... William [to Neil]: Because Yazz is peeved and talking about an unduly harsh crackdown on a lot of prisoners that did nothing to deserve an extra helping of violence; okay, not Marc's; and not Blandine's specifically, but what he's describing isn't going to be particularly hope-inspiring... well, perhaps I overestimated. Ekur says, "Um. That's may well play into the demons' hands, by making people more reluctant to use this facility. As long as you have three angels that are very, very good at finding things out around, a more subtle approach may well work better." Draco nods. "I really don't think we should pull out the nuclear option at /least/ until we're sure we know where this demon is. Making everyone twitchy is only going to make the discontent-formenting job all the easier." Neil smiles. "Problem with demons is that they're very, very hard to kill. We smack him, and he's back here in three days with a brand-new Fiendish Plan. Draco . o O ( Speaking from experience, and all that. ) Neil says, "What we need to do is *humiliate* him, and tell him and his boss that there's just no POINT in coming back here." Draco looks over at Neil with big hopeful eyes. "We could /also/ shred him, in the process. It might help. It would certainly make me feel better about all this." Yazz slows down from his agitated pacing. He sighs. "Allright. I can see that. And I wouldn't mind getting a lick or two of shredding in myself." Yazz says, "So you three need to poke around. Well and good. We can tell people you're new hires, all I need is your covers." Neil says, "Jane said you had some staff openings?" Draco adjusts her habit. "I should probably try another look. I need a role where I can listen to what's going on and not answer a lot of questions." Yazz says, "There's always room for a few more guards, especially with the human population ramping up. We can't herd the humans, but we need to keep the prisoners away from 'em. If you want to be listening to prisoners..." he thinks. Yazz says, "...how's your doctorin'?" Draco says, "I mean, if you have Catholic prisoners, I could do the priest thing, but I'm not actually Catholic. I don't think it would be appropriate--doctoring? No formal training there." William [to Draco]: (For reference, EthHealing at 19 and Psychology at 20 means you make a pretty good shrink.) fadethecat [to William]: Oh, right, I /do/ have Healing. Draco brightens. "But I know enough about the mind and healing ethereals that I could handle it /here/, I believe." Ekur says, "I'm reasonably good." Ekur . o O ( Psychology 17, Eth Healing 21 . . . ) Draco says, "It would give as an excuse to quiz anyone involved in fights, at that." Neil says, "It'd be risky, to be a guard. Running into a human would be a problem. Any positions as a teacher open?" Yazz says, "Shrinks, huh? I suppose we could add some to the staff." He looks at Neil. "Teacher? 'sakes, we don't have a school here. What could we teach anyone?" Yazz says, "For that matter, what can *you* teach?" The GM says, "(Law, math, Songs, Japanese, English...)" Asher [to William]: Neil replies, "English. Math, a couple Songs. What do you do to keep the inmates occupied?" Yazz says, "Well, Civis prisoners are usually guards, or bound to Jane. Others, depends on what they're good for. Mostly farmhands during the day; since we keep the Domain physical, spirits that figure they need food and the like need to get fed stuff that got grown. That means cooks, laundries, janitors to support that whole crew. Mechanics and fixers occasionally. But farmhands, mostly." Draco scribbles down notes. "That's a lot of staff for potential demonic hiding places. Or do all staff go floaty at midnight too?" Yazz says, "Most of the jobs I just described are prisoner jobs. Busywork. The invested staff are the guards, the head doctors, and some fellows that patrol the border. They gotta be ethereals to anchor here and get invested. I know 'em all personally." Yazz says, "After that, any stuff we need we import from Jane under the contract. That's our major traffic from outside. That and prisoners on day passes. Which, you know, you've gotta have a carrot for good behaviors, even if it is a security risk." Neil says, "Hmm. What about two of us being subtle, and one of us stomping around publically, causing trouble and giving our demon something to focus his efforts on?" Neil says, "Say, an Ofanite or a Malakite -- something nice and physical, but without aggravating 'holy hocus-pocus', thank you for the imagery." Neil turns to Draco. "I can't remember -- what kind of demon is Me-whoosits?" Draco says, "Balseraph. Typical arrogant example of the breed." Ekur says, "Malakim have that Honor resonance. A Wheel would work better." Yazz jumps. "Wait, you know who this guy is?" Draco says, "I don't have /proof/, but I have reason to believe it's a Balseraph I knew a while back." Draco [to William]: At least, I don't think I had proof. William [to Draco]: Right. What you've got is the rumor that Mephibosheth was running around in a Domain that sounds like this one, causing trouble aimed at you and Hanniel. Yazz lets out a long breath. "Well, it's good to have a suspect attached to this mess." Yazz looks at Neil. "So you gon' be a teacher, or an Ofanite come tearing around the place?" He turns to Draco. "Or are you gonna be the one making your presence known, if you're who he's after?" Neil . o O ( Hate to make it personal, but if Draco wants to call him out directly, well, it's his choice. ) Draco hesitates. "If I made myself known as an angel, that might draw him out. If I made myself known as /myself/, well. I'm not sure I could actually take him by myself. As a Seraph, I would find it easier to be the obvious one, if we want to play it that way." He looks over to Neil and Ekur. "I believe I'll go with your game plan, here. Should I go start asking nosy questions of people? I can do the whole Most Holy thing. It sort of comes naturally." Neil says, "Splashy, but effective." Yazz says, "You realize, if a shrink, a teacher and an angel all show up on the same day, every prisoner with half a brain is gonna suspect three angels showed up." Neil [to William]: test [ snip msg'ing ] William [to Neil]: Pong Ekur says, "I think it would be best if we kept cover." Draco says, "Maybe that would be best." Draco looks rather relieved to not have to actually go walking around doing the Most Holy thing. The whole poker spine aspect gives him neck cramps. Yazz says, "Right then. Looks like we're getting into the social-scervices business." ------------------- Session End ------------------------