Re: It's Still A Cool Night - Duncan & Roger

by **Beta** Sat May 23, 2009 7:05 pm

OOC - Cheers. Roger will be taking up Ed's offer, and I haven't got anything more I want to do before he meets up with him.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Sat May 23, 2009 6:39 pm

OOC - Awesome post Beta. Claymore is ready to take Ed's offer and move to the next thread. Are you? I think so, but I want to make sure. You do have another night before the meeting, so if you want to do something else, first you can. If you don't want to take Ed's offer, that's okay too.

by **Beta** Sun May 17, 2009 5:02 pm

Roger shrugged. "He could, maybe, but I don't think he's going to be in the mood to talk to me again for a little while yet. Even if he did though, I have to hand it to Ed, he's covered his tracks well." Pausing for a moment, he rested his chin on his hand. "Still, once we've found out the details from Ed himself we might have the time to do a little extra preparation. In this case I think the possible rewards justify that."

by **Jedi_Master_007** Sun May 17, 2009 1:42 pm

Between the two of you, it was dawning on you that you were grasping at straws...and that was an understatement. The truth was, Ed just had you out-classed when it came to this. The docks were on the other side of the town, and there was no way of knowing where the boat would be without more information. There was also nothing to be found on him with regards to a criminal record either. That made sense too, because no kindred in half a mind more then a year or two used anything besides an alias. Being dead and or unable to come out during the day meant that there was always an intermediate doing it for you or, as previously guessed, an alias.

Duncan in particular was having trouble. This was twice in the same night that Ed had revealed he had more smarts then him. Either Ed was going to be setting the two of you up, or he was legit. It was possible this was some kind of setup, sure, but that would be dangerous to him, because it risked pissing you two off, giving him enemies (or potential enemies) right in the middle of an operation - or worse, before he could even do his operation. It also made sense that he didn't reveal too much information at the onset. If he did, it meant you two could possibly blow his operation out of the water before it started - or again, worse, take care of it without him.

No, careful, smart minds together came to the conclusion that if Ed was holding an ace up his sleeve, it was an ace he'd play if you crossed him. The more you thought about it, the more this sounded like a legit plan on his side. You just had to credit him with being smarter then the average kindred - a stretch that Duncan knew was fair to make.

So now the real question was, were you in or were you out?

by **Claymore** Wed May 13, 2009 7:08 pm

Duncan came back a couple hours later. The look on his face said everything before he even opened his mouth. But it was what he expected, let's be honest, they were grasping at straws. No one seemed to know anything noteworthy about the dozens of ships to choose from just in the vicinity of the Hideout. And that was operating on the assumption that the ship they're going to rob is actually from there, or already there. He running out of an already light reserve of ideas. "No luck. Think your friend could get a roster of ships scheduled to arrive after our meeting, or is that just another haystack?"

by **Beta** Wed May 13, 2009 1:46 pm

Motioning to Duncan to excuse him for a minute, Roger slipped his hand into his inner jacket pocket, producing a flip cell-phone a moment later and with a jaundiced hand selected a number from his contact list.

The Nosferatu got up and begun to wander around as he spoke, at one point peering behind a door to a closed off space that was presumably his bedroom. Nonetheless Duncan could still hear one side of a conversation progress.

"Now, is that any way to greet a friend ... actually I think you'll find it's been three. Look, I put it in the post box myself, bring it up with them if you've got a problem ... yeah, yes, uh huh. It had a pretty bow on it and everything. Yes, I understand. David. David? Look, I've got a favour to ask ... I'd be very grateful if you could help. I'm looking for someone, a friend I've lost touch with, but I think you know him. In fact I'm sure you do. His name's Ed Ripley."

As he waited for a while, Roger nodded at Duncan, and then glanced at his watch. "That many? Really? Aren't you a popular guy? Well the Ed I'm looking for would be in his mid-forties now, about six foot four and two-twenty pounds. Just a guess. Dark hair, Caucasian, pretty muscular guy too. I'm positive you'll remember him."

OOC: Roger's contact is a cop working in internal affairs in the LAPD, and someone that he usually meets in person as he's completely paranoid about his phone line being tapped. Hence the odd conversation here.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Tue May 12, 2009 3:15 pm

OOC: Okay. Post it in character. Very Happy

by **Beta** Tue May 12, 2009 3:06 pm

OOC: Ah, my bad. I'd try to be more specific by giving a rough approximation of his height and weight and by describing his overall build, hair colour and skin tone. After that I'd probably be more interested in those individuals with felonies on their records rather than minor charges.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Tue May 12, 2009 2:36 pm

OOC - I'm not going to split the two of you up. There's no point. You would each have a thread of one post.

Before sending Duncan off on his way, you decided to call your cop friend. First you asked about Ed. It turned out there were a lot of Ed, Edward, Eddie, Eddy, and even an Edson Ripleys. There was a total of 177 of them in all of California. There was 1,935 of them in the whole country. 38 of them had Felony records. 410 of them had minor charges. You would have to be a little more specific then that.

Duncan on the other hand decided to check his information for the boats. There was a lot of boats, more then a hundred of them in the harbor. Almost two thirds of them were small fishing boats, sail boats, and privately owned pleasure boats. The rest were industrial or commercial. It was definitely more then a two man job scoping them out, especially if you wanted to get it done in one night.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Mon May 11, 2009 6:45 pm

OOC - Ok. You two will have your own threads soon.

by **Beta** Mon May 11, 2009 4:06 pm

OOC: Sounds good to me.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Mon May 11, 2009 12:00 pm

OOC - Ok. I will wrap this up for you guys and get something new going then. You both want to split up in your own directions?

by **Beta** Mon May 11, 2009 8:39 am

"Agreed. And don't worry about the cop, he's discrete enough when his wallet's been stuffed full."

OC: Lucky bugger, still a week left to go for me study

Alongside contacting his ... contact, Roger would try to use his influence to dig up anything on 'Edward Ripley' that he can in official records.

by **Claymore** Mon May 11, 2009 4:16 am

"Then maybe we should split up. I'll take a look around the Hideout, and you work with your cop friend. I'm sure I don't have to tell you though, the wrong indication to him could blow the whole operation before it begins. And Ed doesn't seem like a good person to piss off." Duncan glanced at his watch, wondering how much time was left to the night to get anything done.

OC: School's out, I have time to post again! Jedi, I guess just fast-forward us if we don't manage to trip over a needle in a haystack. If that's the case though, is there anything I can roll to get a better idea, or should we just move on to the next night?

by **Jedi_Master_007** Sun May 10, 2009 2:26 am

*Bump*

by **Beta** Fri May 08, 2009 1:55 pm

Roger nodded in agreement, "I've certainly got my doubts about the job, although I don't know how easy it would be to find the boat. The LA port's pretty vast: there are probably hundreds of fork lifts in use at any one time. But I do know a guy. Cop. Usually works round here or by the docks. Could ask him to help us find anything suspicious. 'Course that would take a little while, in the mean time we could try looking near the Hideout".

by **Jedi_Master_007** Wed May 06, 2009 11:51 am

OOC - Bump!

by **Claymore** Fri May 01, 2009 1:30 am

"Well we could..." Duncan stopped himself and immediately edited what he was about to say. "You could, at least, go through undetected. I could walk in all well-dressed and obviously a cop, and you could hang back and see what they say behind my back with my questions fresh in their mind.

Have to be careful not to blow the whole thing by doing this though." He crossed his arms and leaned back to think. "He made it sound like they have a large shipment. This is no little raft at some discrete random location along the cost, they need a dock. Come to think of it, I'm not sure how Ed plans on getting crates of guns down a ladder on the side of a boat, or fitting more than one on an inflatable raft...

But I'm thinking we should be checking with any place that's rented out a forklift recently, or any dock that already has one. If we go on the assumption that Ed was going to show us the spot tomorrow, we could start with places closest to this bar and work out. If we can find this boat, we can find out what this half-baked idea is really about. Any idea how many there are?"

by **Beta** Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:28 pm

That more than a few of LA's Kindred had spent some time in Braddock meant that Roger eagerly listened as Duncan recounted some of his experiences there. "Contacts? Well I can't say I know much of Ed apart from a few meetings at the Kingpin's warehouse. But when he mentioned meeting us at an 'old church', well there's only one place that springs to mind. It's a bar now, called the ... the Hideout, yeah. Popular with certain gangs, and more than a few Kindred from what I've heard. Never been there myself, not really the kind of place that welcomes someone behind the wheel of a Beamer in a suit and tie."

He thought to himself for a moment. "In short, probably the kind of place where Ed might hang out."

by **Claymore** Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:27 am

Duncan made himself comfortable, taking off his coat and had, and settling in a nearby chair. He was about to unconsciously reach for his old notepad again, but decided it'd just feel too much like an interview than a conversation if he bothered with it. So they chatted at length about LA. And Duncan in turn, shared some things about Braddock. No point in getting overly specific with someone who's never been. But enough to keep the conversation from being one-sided.

Finally they got to the part that had a little more to do with that night. Duncan leaned forward, looking a little more interested than just smalltalk. "I'll let you be the judge on how well we might fair if we piss off these Midnight Guardians, you've got as much steak in that as I do. What I'm curious about is what the most likely place for a boat like this to roll in. Maybe if we find out what kind of contacts Ed has, we can narrow that search, and finally, scope the place out for ourselves."

by **Beta** Sat Apr 25, 2009 3:04 pm

After you left behind Elysium's gathered crowds, Roger led you through the maze of crates, barrels and other objects that cluttered the floor below. He darted in between them, at one point skipping over a slick of dark green sludge that had caked into the hard concrete floor. You ended up at a door manned by one of the Kingpin's men, who had been staring at the floor with a glazed expression of boredom before he noticed you both. After one look at Roger and a nod, you were let outside and found the Nosferatu's car right in front of you.

It was a black BMW, with every inch of the side and rear windows heavily tinted. It gave it the look of a car belonging to a celebrity or famous politician, although its purpose was much more practical. A few minutes later you were following him along the road, and again Roger acted as a guide through a network of warehouses and blocks that seemed to be as haphazardly placed as the contents of the ground floor of the Kingpin's HQ. After ten minutes he began to slow down; a garage door on a warehouse to the side of your car jerked back suddenly, before slowly rising back, revealing Roger's haven and ample space for both of you to park.

Like his sire Roger used the ground floor of his warehouse for purely practical purposes, and it was only once you climbed the spiral staircase to the second floor that you could see that the place was inhabited. The décor was thoroughly modern, the layout open plan. There was only one closed off room, to the right of you, most likely the bedroom. Three short, wide leather couches in the centre of the floor space marked out a living area and in the north west corner a sink, counter and fridge denoted an open kitchen design. They gleamed, almost as if you were looking at a photo in a catalogue. Though it probably wouldn’t be Renovated Warehouse Monthly; they, along with most of the furniture, seemed to have been designed to fit a far smaller space than the one that laid before you.

Occupying the void that they left were a series of matching mahogany bookcases that hugged the walls and surrounded a rather more modern looking desk. At the far end you spied a horde of similar squat red hardbacks that were no doubt legal texts of some kind; next to them were shelves obscured with a fitted layer of protective glass. A quick glance at a closer bookcase revealed a few faded titles: A Study in Scarlet, Fer-de-Lance, and Cards on the Table.

With a dull squeak your host sat down, nestling his rear end in the leather upholstery. Removing his suit jacket and loosening his tie before finally stretching his arms out, he looked up at you, “So, what would you like to know?”

by **Jedi_Master_007** Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:20 pm

Ok. Have at it.

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