The Vigil: Part II: The Hunter's Bible

[20:40] Hamsaperiel: Sara gets in with you all and sits up front in the van with Joel. She gives him directions to a little dormitory building on the quiet side of town, and by the time you get there, the street lights are already on. She leads you up the stairs, and to a small apartment on the second floor. There's not much in there, just a few rooms, but it's more on the side of cozy than tiny. It's the kind of thing a college student would live in, and she might even be one of those, small as she is. There's a couch, a coffee table, a few chairs scattered about. Surprisingly little reading material, other than a few big coffee table art books and some magazines. If it weren't so homey it'd look like a doctor's office.
[20:42] Becky Smalls glances about. "Oh, this is nice. Do you mind if we film here?"
[20:42] Sara Rome holds the door open for the others. "Huh?" She pauses, absentmindedly. "Oh, sure."
[20:44] Lohengrin Theissen nods and walks in, giving the apartment a quick one-over. "Yeah, its nice. Like what I lived in when I first came to America."
[20:44] Hamsaperiel: Sara already signed the release, right? I think she did
[20:44] Sara Rome: (Lets retroactively say I did)
[20:45] Hamsaperiel: >mfw Lohen is simultaneously first and second generation.
[20:45] Sara Rome: "Oh, are you foreign?"
[20:45] Isabella Dawson followed the rest of the team, her pace slow and steady as she felt slightly uneasy in others home. "Its erm very nice" she mutters glancing around the room.
[20:46] Lohengrin Theissen: (I said he was born in Germany, didn't I?)
[20:46] Lohengrin Theissen: "Yes, German, if the accent didn't tip you off."
[20:47] Becky Smalls: "Well, okay. So, can we see this book, please?"
[20:48] System: Emily Maple is offline.
[20:49] Sara Rome: "Oh, sure," she begins. Sara trots over to a blanketed mass next to the television set, pulling off the sheet to reveal an old grimoire. "Here, I suppose. Don't, you know, tear anything out of it, please."
[20:51] Hamsaperiel: Joel moves in to get a good shot of it, panning from one side to the other. He gets a few close ups of the spine, and the edges of the pages.
[20:52] Becky Smalls: "That's good, can you get a shot of us reading it, too?"
(So what's the book about?)
[20:52] Lohengrin Theissen goes over to the book and looks over it, stand behind Becky as he does.
[20:54] Hamsaperiel: http://i.imgur.com/9hIhW7K.png
My name is Quincy Harker. I am an old man now, and my life of struggling is coming to an end. But before it does, I endevour to hole myself up and spend my last living moments penning this journal. My life has been one of fighting the darkness that hides behind the curtain of safety and blindness that most men put up between themselves and the night.

I am, and I suppose I always have been, a Hunter. Not of cervine or vulpine prey, no, but of the things that hunt us. My namesake was a Hunter as well, though he died on the Hunt. The very day I was born, in fact. My mother claims that a part of him stayed with me, and sometimes, when I feel idealistic, I believe her.I digress, though. Such is the place of the elderly, digression.

My name is Quincy Aurthur Johnathan Abraham Harker. There are monsters in the world, and I have dedicated my life to ending theirs. This journal shall be a collection of the knowledge that I have gathered over the years. It is now your cross to bear. Contained within is all that I can remember about defeating the monsters I have encountered.

It is my hope that armed with this knowledge, you might not only defend yourself from the forces of evil, but to seek them out and destroy them with greater efficacy. Knowledge, as they say, is power. This journal, then, as a repository of knowledge taught to me by Van Helsing and gathered through the years, is one of the greatest sources of power against the dark.

In addition to being power, though, this knowledge is also a curse. I can only express my greatest sorrow that I must curse you by imparting this gift to you, Hunter...
[20:55] Becky Smalls: pose looks into the camera, and gives a brief summary of the situation so far and what's written in the book.
[20:57] Becky Smalls: !roll 10w@8r9 pres+expression, spending a WP
[20:57] Becky Smalls: ...
[20:57] Becky Smalls: invite robutt pls
[20:57] Hamsaperiel: (Other channel)
[20:58] Hamsaperiel: The book is filled with pages and pages of descriptions and sketchings of strange monsters and diagrams. A lot of it seems to focus on how to identify, protect against, and destroy various strange entities and monsters. It's completely unreal, but the book seems genuine, and there's no hint of it being sarcasm or a hoax. More than that, it's all hand written, and some of the later entries are by different people. Later on there are pictures taped into the pages. Pictures that you'd swear had to be fake, but something tells you they aren't. The book even seems to have magical spells. It's like something out of a horror movie. One page even looks like it's written in dried blood.
[21:00] Lohengrin Theissen looks at it intently, trying to absorb everything written in it. "Mein Gott...."
[21:02] Hamsaperiel: Joel looks over the pages, panning the camera over them, "you said it... shit, man. Becks, Harrison is going to flip his tits over this."
[21:02] Isabella Dawson snacks a few glances at the book a shiver going down her spine as she spies the pictures of monsters. Holding back try and compose herself a moment before she spoke, but it as obvious she as spooked even shivering a little.
[21:02] Becky Smalls: "Oh, this is absolutely fascinating. Just think what we could do with this stuff! There's a few seasons worth in this, don't you think?"
[21:03] Hamsaperiel: (Harrison being Jim Harrison, founder of Network Zero)
[21:05] Lohengrin Theissen: "This is...This is amazing. This book is what I have been searching for my whole life! With this I can fight the monsters, know how to defeat them! Do you know what this is?! This is how Humanity fights backs!" Lohen looks fucking ecstatic, almost at the point of jumping up and down in joy.
[21:05] Sara Rome: "So, what do you think? The guy-one of the victims-just dropped it off here and left. Here being, um, the library. I think he was hiding it."
[21:07] Becky Smalls: "I think we scan it and put it all online. The truth and all that, you know?"
[21:07] System: Sylphae is offline.
[21:07] Isabella Dawson glances from Lohengrin to Becky to Sara. "Are we sure this is all real? Not some kind of joke."
[21:08] Becky Smalls: "Well, even if it's not, it's fascinating in its own right, don't you think?"
[21:09] Lohengrin Theissen: "Do those pictures look fake?"
[21:09] Becky Smalls: GM I WISH TO ROLL TO CHECK
[21:10] Isabella Dawson slowly nods head still a little shaken, "I suppose so."
[21:10] Hamsaperiel: Wits + the lower of Academics or Larceny
[21:10] Becky Smalls: !roll 4w@8r10
[21:11] Becky Smalls: }:C
[21:11] Hamsaperiel: Trying to keep the rolls in the OOC room
[21:12] System: Amy Delize is online.
[21:12] Hamsaperiel: As far as you can tell, this book is written by a lot of people. The ink is really old in some places and new--ballpoint style--in others. If this is a forgery, someone's been at it since the early 1900s.
[21:13] Hamsaperiel: The pictures don't look doctored, either. No strings or anything like that.
[21:16] Becky Smalls: Hm, okay. Can I try to place the authors, who they were, if they knew each other, their social backgrounds, their mental states, that kind of thing. Look at their dialects, imagery used, if the different authors mention each other, that sort of thing.
[21:17] Hamsaperiel: Not unless you suddenly got Psychometry.
[21:17] Becky Smalls: hm?
[21:17] Hamsaperiel: Although the person who started the journal DID say he was Quincy Aurthur Johnathan Abraham Harker.
[21:17] Becky Smalls: so an extended int+empathy roll's not an option?
[21:18] Sara Rome: I think she means spend a while to piece together vague clues
[21:18] Hamsaperiel: Ah.
[21:18] Sara Rome: eg a reference to a place that doesn't exist anymore tells you what time period it was from
[21:18] Hamsaperiel: Ah.
[21:18] Becky Smalls: standard investigative stuff
[21:20] Hamsaperiel: Oh. Early pages are actually dated in the thirties.
[21:20] Hamsaperiel: Also, jeez, people, gimme a Wits + Intelligence or Wits + Academics roll.
[21:20] Becky Smalls: history specialisation applies?
[21:21] Hamsaperiel: I'll go with yes.
[21:21] Becky Smalls: :D
[21:22] Hamsaperiel: >Quincy Aurthur Johnathan Abraham Harker
It's Johnathan Harker's son. One of the four men who purportedly killed Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's novel.
[21:22] Hamsaperiel: And student of Abraham Van Helsing, one of the other four men to kill Dracula.
[21:23] Becky Smalls: Well that's clearly a pseudonym.
[21:24] Lohengrin Theissen: Would my Occult spec apply?
[21:26] Hamsaperiel: Yes
[21:26] Lohengrin Theissen: Aight
[21:27] Becky Smalls: So is there anything in the book, you know, about our perp?
[21:31] Hamsaperiel: Nope. No secret thing about her specifically. So I suppose it is a bit odd that she wanted the book. Why would someone who's apparently a monster want the book?
[21:31] Lohengrin Theissen rubs his lightly stubbled chin and looks down at the book. "Unless the author is quite old I do not think he is really Mr. Haker. Due to the being a Victorian era Monster Hunter who helped kill Dracula. But then again, according to this book stranger things have happened."
[21:32] System: Alex Marcellus is online.
[21:35] Hamsaperiel: Joel looks up from the book, having been getting another good shot of the sketch on the first page. "Hey, you think this crazy chick might have been a Hunter? Says the knowledge is a curse. A few other pages talk about how sometimes dudes go crazy. Some Netz0s have mentioned that on the forums, too, haven't they, Becks?"
[21:35] Hamsaperiel not so subtly pokes the group with the Retainer.
[21:36] Hamsaperiel: (Also, he's John Harker's son, not John Harker)
[21:36] Sara Rome: "What's a, uh. A 'net-oh?'"
[21:36] Lohengrin Theissen: "Hunter? Is there a unified organization of people who fight monsters? Why have I never heard of this before?"
[21:38] Hamsaperiel: (Net-zo)
[21:38] Becky Smalls: "Network Zero is, well. It's basically a mailing group online of paranormal enthusiasts and investigators. I'm rather popular with them, apparently."
[21:38] Sara Rome: (I know, she mispronounced it)
[21:38] Hamsaperiel: Joel laughs, "they wanna bang her."
[21:38] Becky Smalls: "And that."
[21:39] Hamsaperiel: "I deserve some credit for that. I'm the one doing post-production."
[21:39] Lohengrin Theissen nods and debates looking around Sara's house for booze. "Huh, wish I had heard of these people before. Might have helped me a couple times before..."
[21:40] Sara Rome has no booze in her house!
[21:40] Hamsaperiel: From Heaven, Grammy Theißen frowns.
[21:40] Becky Smalls: "Thank you for that. Although, really, a little more focus on the content and less on us as TV personalities would be nice." She shrugs. "But certainly, we could ask them for any information they might have."
[21:43] Lohengrin Theissen: Thankfully Lohen is about as spiritually sensitive as a rock. Instead he just shrugs. "Well then ask them, couldn't hurt to try."
[21:43] Isabella Dawson raises her hand for a moment before talking a little sheepishly "Does it mention that thing from the news?"
[21:44] Hamsaperiel: (Nope. Though Joel suggests she might be a crazy hunter)
[21:46] Becky Smalls: "No, that doesn't match the patterns we've seen. Unless she thinks she's this monster now, which would be... odd. It seems much more like she's just a very angry person with nasty scars."
[21:48] Hamsaperiel: "Well, after hearing what she did, iunno," Joel says with a shrug, "we've seen some crazy shit. You still friends with that handsy coroner, Becks?"
[21:52] Becky Smalls: "No. Because he's all handsy, don't you remember?" She gives a little grimace. "I think we go home, or back to our hotel rooms, or wherever, and do some private research each, and then in the morning meet up and see what we've learned."
[21:53] Lohengrin Theissen shrugs and just sits down on Becky's couch. "Well, whatever she is she needs to be stopped...And with this book we're the only ones who can really stop her. I do agree with meeting up in the morning. I have somethings I personally need to do."
[21:54] Becky Smalls: "Then it's a date!"
[21:54] Lohengrin Theissen nods and slams a fist on the table. "Indeed!"
[21:54] System: Kel Tralsman changed status to Busy, Showertahem.
[21:54] Hamsaperiel: Sara's couch
[21:55] Lohengrin Theissen: Whatever
[21:57] Hamsaperiel: Anyway, then, what shall be plans?
[22:00] Isabella Dawson: I have a contact with a police officer back home, could he ask around and try and get us the police report?
[22:01] Becky Smalls: I'm gonna be asking my internet paranormal nutters what they know about this general case
[22:01] Hamsaperiel: Sure. What specifically are you looking for?
[22:01] Hamsaperiel: Oh, right, police report, duh.
[22:04] Hamsaperiel: Anyway, roll me a Manipulation + Persuasion for your contact, Izzy.
[22:05] Lohengrin Theissen: Lohen is going to bike back to his hotel before looking through the yellow books for the last name of that girl to try and find her uncel
[22:05] Lohengrin Theissen: uncle*
[22:06] Lohengrin Theissen: Fuck
[22:06] System: Kel Tralsman changed status to Online
[22:06] Isabella Dawson: Will do.
[22:07] System: Alexis Williamson changed status to Busy, Going to bed. Night f-list
[22:07] System: Alexis Williamson is offline.
[22:15] Hamsaperiel: Isabella manages to get in touch with her cop friend from back home, and he says he'll try and get her the police report. The next morning, she's got an email that she wishes she didn't open. The pictures from the crime scene are incredibly gruesome, and look like something out of a charnel house. The first two were allegedly teenage girls, but they were sliced to pieces. Actual pieces, hands and noses severed, faces brutalized. There are also those well lit professional photos of the victim you met in the hospital's scars while he was on the operating table. They go all the way from his lips to his ears, the skin hanging off.
If we weren't technically still in prelude mode, I'd have you roll Integrity.
[22:19] Lohengrin Theissen is REALLY glad he didn't get that email.
[22:21] Isabella Dawson looks away for what seems like a eternity after she sees the first picture. Trying to work up the courage to look trough the rest of the pictures she takes several deep breaths before starting the grim task again, at least it was some condolence that it might be of some use to the group.
[22:26] Hamsaperiel: Anyway, Lohen, we'll deal with you later. Becks, you're sending Harrison some shots of the book?
[22:28] Becky Smalls: Sure. Can I scan it all in?
[22:29] Hamsaperiel: Not unless Sara lets you.
[22:30] Becky Smalls: Sara?
[22:30] Ivan Thrace: copy it over manually
[22:30] Ivan Thrace: TYPE LIKE THE WIND :V
[22:30] Sara Rome lets her, but drills in that she'll be upset if Becky breaks the spine or tears any pages.
[22:30] Hamsaperiel: Nerd.
[22:31] Sara Rome: snuff my muff
[22:31] Hamsaperiel: Also, Ivan, you know they have hand scanners, right? I mean, hell, Sara probably has one at the library. Probably even converts it to PDF.
[22:32] Ivan Thrace: ehh
[22:32] Ivan Thrace: which kind d'you mean? :V
[22:34] Hamsaperiel: http://www.prlog.org/10913537-skypix-tsn410-cordless-handheld-a4-mini-scanner.jpg
[22:34] Ivan Thrace: huh
[22:34] Ivan Thrace: I'm unfamiliar with those :V
[22:35] Ivan Thrace: that seems significantly less likely to damage a book
[22:35] Hamsaperiel: If I'm not mistaken, they were made for scanning rare books.
[22:35] Becky Smalls scans it in!
[22:36] Hamsaperiel: Are you adding the part about the crazy chick to the post?
[22:38] Becky Smalls: seperate posts. Scan the book, and then ask for info in another thread.
[22:38] Sara Rome will ask if she's planning on posting all the book stuff on the internet.
[22:40] Becky Smalls totally is!
[22:40] Hamsaperiel: Ah. Well, the Network forums are buzzing about the book. There's the usual "lol, fake", but a lot of Hunters are confirming they've used some of the tactics in there. You don't have the whole thing scanned, since it's around roughly bible sized, but it's enough to get their teeth wet. In reference to the crazy chick, it's obvious she's going around as Kuchisake-Onna, and someone suggests that maybe she's a Slasher, and that the person she killed before, the one who dropped off the book, was a cellmate trying to get the book away from her.