2020.05.24 Life and Death 2

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Life and Death II
The investigators explore the SS Tamerlane
IC Date 2020-05-24
IC Time 8:30 PST
Players Ann, Floyd (ST), Madame Zara, Sin-Eater
Location The SS Tamerlane, North of Prospect
Prp/Tp Life and Death
Spheres Orpheus, Wraith
Theme Song Up to suggestion


Recap

LAST TIME! ON EPISODE 1...

Those gathered were investigating the strangly emerged SS Tamerlane, an old decrepit cargo freighter that had crashed ashore north of Prospect. Through a combination of being dead and guile, all managed to sneak aboard bypassing local authorities keeping the general area off-limits. Ann's compatriots from Orpheus is keeping tabs on the highway, making sure no one comes down to get a sneak peek at what is going on and pulling a secretive perimeter sweep.

Close to a dozen bodies are found on board the Tamerlane. Two of them, found on the top deck, are old and vastly decayed (one in the cargo arm, another found outside the command unit). Inside the Utility area Ann discovered the lack of a life preserver and emergency oxygen tank. The Second deck, connected to the Utility Area, they found the outlines of where 4 victims were found. All recently deceased, all killed by gunshot to the back of the head. A forklift was driven into the side of the freighter with one of the forks coated in plasm, only seen in the Shadowlands.

The Third deck things got weird. There is a cargo container that is neither rusted nor old, in fact it is quite new. It is riddled with dark markings. The entrance to the container has been ripped open either by a Jaws of Life or through other means. Inside, an open box coated with blood rests empty. A tiny hole above the box drips blood, as it appears the blood from the victims uptop have begun to spill down into the hole.

Ann, recently found a young girl's Minney Mouse Jacket, tucked in a rusty hole that was difficult to spot just wandering, as if the jacket was hidden.

Scene

<WRAITH> Madame Zara stands with Sin-Eater, still gawking at the plasm that hangs from the lift. "These people were attacked by something from the shadowlands... or wore."

Ann sits off by a hole in the ship in a sob of she could cry in this form tears would be pouring from her eyes, she pulls gloves from her pocket and reaches out to grab the Minnie mouse jacket.

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater frowns and nods slowly, "Which is unusually, spectres tend not to care about the quick. So it maybe a rogue wraith. Or something else." She frowns as she continues to explore the cargo crate. 

The Minnie Mouse jacket is hard to get out. It is stuck. It takes a good YANK to get the jacket free. The ripped hull of the ship seems to have caught it.

As Madame Zara eyes the forklift, she can notice that the levers controlling the forks have blood stains on them. The blood is not normal to wraith eyes, but have that eerie impression of death-marks that pre-empt an untimely demise. 

Investigating the cargo-crate, there are black stones, almost like black glass, is found within the remains of the box as well as scattered pieces elsewhere in the cargo crate.

Ann loses one Magical Essence Ann loses one Magical Essence

<WRAITH> Madame Zara points to the controls, "Look, these deathmarks foretell the demise."

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater kneels down and picks up one of the dark stones to examine, "Why would there be these tones though. And I admit, I am confused why a Spectre would care about the living. So do you think it was a wraith under the control of his shadow, or perhaps just a really pissed off wraith?"

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "I thought some kind of monster."

Ann calms herself while they inspect the cargo container. When she finally gets a good hold to yank it free, she gets to work checking pockets and looking for a bloodstains or other markings.

<WRAITH> Madame Zara stops for a moment and closes her eyes, putting her arms out and spreading her fingers wide, "Wait... I'm feeling strong vibrations in the weave..." She removes her stack of tarot cards from her sleeves and draws one. 

The only thing inside the jacket is a crumbled batch of mexican dollars. Counting it out, it looks to be about 1,000 Mexican currency.

The stones are razor sharp along their edges and feel...lightweight. They reflect the doomed light of the shadowlands with a almost hungry sheen.

The vision that Madame Zara receives is incomplete, but still present in her thoughts. She sees the forklight, someone is sitting in it turning it on. You hear a foreign language shouting. "Run Maria!" You hear yourself say, agonized with almost painful terror as a man in jaguar skins and metal vambraces collides onto the forklift. "BUT PAPA!" The jaguar man lunges with a dagger that sends a sharp pain in Zara's chest. You feel yourself KICK and kick the man off of the Forklift into the wall. "RUN!" You hear yourself say, holding your wound as you hit the gas. You lift the forks and impale the man against the wall. The vision ends.

<WRAITH> Madame Zara grips her chest painfully, staggering back a few steps. He mouth silently mouth the word "RUN" a second time, after saying it... She looks back up at Sin-Eater, "Families here... Mexicans... there was a native wraith in jaguar skins going after the little girl... her father used the machine to save her..."

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater nods and looks over to Ann, "There is no child found dead on this boat is there?" She asks, looking to see what Ann is fiddling with. "And an old wraith, in jaguar skins, it was a wraith though? Not a spectre?"

Ann listens to Madame Zara and shows her the jacket. "Was she wearing this cause it hanging stuck in the hull..."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara looks at the garment and nods, "Yes, she was..."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "I hope she made it." 

Ann's phone goes off. It is a text from a fellow operative. "When you are finished we found a body in the woods. Male. 40s. Hispanic. Beheaded."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara listens to the crackle of the radio... "More death."

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater says, "I see." She says with a frown, taking the small stone she found and heading out of the crate. "Did they find a dead child or not Ann? And was it a wraith, or a spectre, Madame Zara?""

Ann looks distracted then shakes her head. "What? Oh sorry yeah let me check." She pulls her phone but gets distracted by a text. "Fuck we got a body the woods Hispanic mid 40s beheaded. They want me there after this. Long night... What was I doing?... Oh right." She pulls up the police report to see if there were any children found.

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "WHatever it was had embodied on the other side of the shroud, so with mine eyes it seemed alive."

Ann shakes her head. "No Sin, no kids." She frowns

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater says, "Well there is that." She says softly, "But where did the child wind up than if the boat was not found with a dead child, and the wraith is obviously not from these lands, it came on the boat right. I wonder why it wants the child, or where the child is. Can you tell anything with the jacket and your magic foresight Madame Zara?""

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "Something about the bridge has called to me, but the crew quarters are along the way."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "Perhaps I could try if the item was a relic... but n its present state, no."

The Crew Quarters: SS Tamerlane

Setting

****************************** CREW QUARTERS ***********************************
This area of the ship has several very small bunks in three different rooms, obviously sleeping bunks, for the crew of the Tamerlane and smells like extreme death. The rest of this portion of the Tamerlane is reserved for the kitchens, with a propane stove, an old style refrigerator, cabinets for holding plates, cups and other amenities and a bathroom and shower. Most of the major furnishings in this room are bolted. The table is bolted to the floor, the fridge and the cabinet doors are lockable to keep them from clattering open and closed on the waves. Only the chairs are not bolted and are able to be moved around. In this case the chairs have toppled and fallen over but are in the vicinity of the table.

There is a spiral staircase that leads up to an ante-room that exits onto the bridge and the spiral stairwell that leads to the common area downstairs. Near the top of the spiral stairwell, heading up toward the bridge is a flag blazoned with a #7 on it. At the base of the stairs is a puddle of...something. Don't drink it.

Laid under a blanket labeled #7 to the side, as if it needed to be moved, is a body. Dessicated. A corpse two decades in the making. Half of it's skull is missing, to which bits and pieces of it have been placed next to it. The corpse has a knife in it's hand, blood on the blade. The blade is labeled #8B.
******************************************************************************

Scene

The group leaves the bottom decks, heading up back into the command unit. As you enter the utility area, you notice something you missed earlier: A shoe, small and covered with rust dust, is wedged between the stairwell and the the hull of the ship.

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater wanders through the halls, trying to make note of the things that might stand out, "Seems someone took an emergency air tank, someone may have tried to escape into the water, or perhaps they did. But they were injured perhaps, as their is blood nearby the missing tank. She comments as they walk through the halls and into the rooms." She than stops, looking at the new scene and frowning, "What could make a corpse age so quickly, I know of no wraith power that does such a thing..."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "What if it was a corpse on the ship?"

"Hmmm" Is all Ann says lost in thought looking through her phone. "Well if there is no wraith power that ages a body...Then I'm having a hard time piecing a timeline. We have a ship decommissioned thirty years that has never been in Prospect waters, some bodies that are old and rotting and some bodies that are brand new. The new bodies are a cult that exists in Prospect so some how they got on this ship and were attacked before the police got here... Plus now we have a girl and an older man that don't fit a timeline on a cargo ship at all..." Then she looks and is even more confused. "And this guy's knife has the pilot's blood on it who's body is in the Bridge "

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater nods her head and looks at the markers, and such. "And perhaps one person who requried oxygen who got away. So would this cult have captured people to use in a sacrifice perhaps? I am trying to sort out why a wrait would care about these people, if the wraith is as ancient as to be dressed in jaguar skins."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "This sip reminds me of something... don't you feel it? The whole thing is dead... the whole ship... it itself is a relic."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "It has somehow sailed into the skinlands."

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater says, "To be a relic it needs to have been destroyed ye? Sunk, or something. I have not heard of many relics that are still in both lands." She shrugs, "Do they ahve a record of this boat being sunk or destroyed?"

Ann shrugs. "The notes say ot was only decommissioned. Not lost so it wasn't sunk..."

The Bridge

Setting

***************************** THE BRIDGE ***********************************
The bridge of the Tamerlane is a rustic display of antiquated naval equipment. As if one pulled straight from a Jaws movie, the helm is riddled with dials, knobs and the steerling column which is stuck. The throttle system of the Tamerlane, a large lever next to the wheel, has been broken off - the throttle pushed completely to one side. A CB radio is bolted to the roof.

The area is covered with blood. Arterial spray has covered the windows, the conrol panel and the walls of bridge. There is a body on the bridge. A Male in venerable years who is built like a bus. He is dressed freight worker garments with thick heavy fabrics and a coat. He is frozen in the onset of rigor mortis holding one hand to his neck and the other that looked to have been holding something that is no longer there. Next to the body is a flag: #8.

The bridge is a mess. Scatter looseleaf, notebooks and charts are sprawled across the floor. Hooks on the wall remain in place suggesting that whatever was on the wall is now on the floor somewhere. There is no power to the control panel, everything is dark and off in varying positions of wherever they were before the crash.

In the Shadowlands on the floor near the body is a pair of full-body manacles. Off to a corner as if cast aside is a Caul.
******************************************************************************

Scene

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater frowns as she moves forward, looking down and picking up the manacles, if she can, and than looking at the Caul. "Someone was reaped here." She explains, though she may not need too. "Though I do not know whom, it seemed the idea was too.. Shackle them." Though she does try to see what the shackles are made of.

Sin would very easily recognize the restrictive design of slavers' manacles when she saw one.

<WRAITH> Madame Zara looks down at the body with sadness, "Looks violnt..."

Ann eyes go wide at the mention of reaping moving close to Sin subconsciously. Then takes a deep breath and starts exploring the room. "The log said that the radio doesn't work and there is no last communication known with the ship."

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater nods, "Well as the manacles are here, not on someone or removed from the ship I am guessing the slaver failed to restrain what it was seeking too." She points to the remains of the caul than as well. "Can you tell who that caul belonged too Madame Zara?"

<WRAITH> Madame Zara peers down at the caul, "Perhaps any deathmarks still on it... but not much else."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara reaches out and touches the caul, then consults her deck again, drawing a card and looking at it. Huh? (Type "help" for help.) Evan pages: Hmmm. Huh? (Type "help" for help.) 

The card reflects haunting memories. Those flashes that give weight to the saying 'life flashes you by'. They are incomprehensible to you, but you feel they are intimate somehow. Those flashes suddenly stop with the edge of a sickle snapping you out of it and only recalling the terror you felt moments before. "I TOLD you this was dangerous." Says a voice. "Risen Halfas! Risen! I know them when I see them!"
 "Relax." A voice comes, wavering and almost emphemeral. It then becomes loud, almost deafening. "SHUT UP DOWN THERE." It changes again. "Fuck this whole place. Bander's got the other one. We get this one. We get paid." Your vision focuses on two people. One of them is wrapped in a cloak, no face, but a large toothy smile with glowing eyes under a hood. The cloak is wrapped in chains. On the other side is a man, blinking almost rhythmically. He wears gloves but you can't tell much else. "Hellllllo boyo." Says 'Halfas'. The cloaked one. All of a sudden you grab him and toss him across the room. "HALFAS!" The other man attempts to put something on you, but your fists are too strong and punch him in the face. The fight goes on for seconds more until you are suddenly feeling tired. So. So. Tired. So very tired. "Dammit!" Says Halfas. "We got him. Let's get the fuck out of here and meet up with Bander." The vision ends.

<WRAITH> Madame Zara reels from the intensity of the vision, but manages to keep her footing. She does her best to recount what she has seen... "Reapers... mercenaries... maybe slavers.... came looking for a specific soul but encounteres risen that they did not expect..."

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater frowns more and nods, "Risen are a bit of an issue to be certain." She admits, "So was it the risen you saw after the girl? Though I am unsure what the girl has to do with this, or the reapers. Why they would be fucking with a Risen is beyond me."

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater smiles and looks to Ann, "Yes, its not allowed, and highly frowned upon." She explains. "So the refugees had a Risen with them, the risen attacked the refugees and the ghoses just reaped thoset hat crossed over?"

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "The Risen may have been escaping into the skinlands using the boat... perhaps..." 

****Text on Ann's Phone:**** 3 spooks on the highway.

Ann frowns. "Oh... why is it bad to take your old body and live another life if you can?" She asks as her phone blings. "Shit we haveto wrap this up. Three spooks confirmed on the highway." She sighs. "A very very long night..."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "Traditonally, death is mono-directional. The flow of time, fate, entropy is all forward from the perspective oh human awareness."

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater says, "It is not natural, the dead do not deserve to be on that side of the shroud, we had our lives and we are now something else." She shrugs, "Three spooks? That will be dangerous if they are what I know a spook to be.""

<WRAITH> Madame Zara chuckles, "They probably use the term colloquially... I doubt we have a gang of brutes about. It's probably hierarchy officials who got whiff of it.

Ann shoots a worries glance at Sin and poi ts to herself moithing the word 'me?'

Ann looks to the both of them. "Uh sorry to be out of the loop but uh... What's a risen?"

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "I think the refugees were here accidentally... they found an empty ship and took advantage of it not knowing it was haunted."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "When a wraith is able to inhabit its old body and continue its existence."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "Th sppoks may be the three I saw in the vvision..."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "We could probably learn more from the ghosts..."

Ann nods. "They wouldn't change my orders without a good reason we should probably head to the highway... I'll drive." She says with a chuckle.

The Highway

Scene

It takes a bit to get yourselves off the Tamerlane, for Ann to smooth things over with the patrols and to get out of dodge. Making contact with the agents who are keeping an eye out, it takes a good ten minutes to get back up to the Highway from the rocky cliffs that flank it on one side. As you approach, you hear the obvious voices of people talking.
"...Are you serious?
"I'm telling you Bander, those bodies on the ship are Risen! I know it when I see it?" - MZ would know this as the man with the gloved hands.
"Who cares?!" - Halfas. "It was a win for us! We either shore up the Wall or we sell 'em in Purgatory. Who cares about Risen?"
"I don't want a fuckin' zombie showing up at Jameston. That's why." - Bander, if there are three of them. "Who'd you get?"
"Looks like an old geeser but he packs a punch. What about you?" - Says Halfas.
"Some pissy dad-type. Woe is me where is my daughter."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara points, "That's them..."

Ann looks to them a bit angry as she hears about one who grabbed the father type and looks to Sin. "You can do What you want with the other two I'm sending that one to the nothingness..." She says with a cold demeanor pointing to the one who said it.

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "Good riddance to them all. Slavers are vile." 

The three that you see, Madame Zara already recognizes. The first, and most odd one, is Halfas. He is about 5'6" and is wrapped in a cloak, so much you cant see anything resembling a body. He has glowing eyes of a disburbing red-orange, and a very wide smile all resting against pitch blackness of a cowl raised over his head. He is draped in chains, two hooks hang from straps on each shoulder that give a very...strange look to the ghost.
The second, the man with the gloved hands, looks out of place. He is dressed in a zuit suit with gloved hands. Upon closer inspection the pin-stripes of his suit are not actual pin-stripes, but very tiny strings that seem to be tied, loosely to each finger of his glove. He blinks rhythmically, and has several out of place tics.
The third is the more intimidating. He is average height but is wearing what looks like recovered hierarch armors. Blazons of Legions have been scorched away and he looks a very regal, powerful man with the combination of dress and armor. One of his eyes, is glowing a nerve-rending Green.

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "One seems like a puppeteer or perhaps a monitor... the other is clearly and intimator."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara says, "He is a haunter I think..."

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater frowns and sighs, "They are not spectres, they should be punished and tried against the laws of the hierarchy, and we still have to learn what they know about the risen." She explains before holding up her lantern and starting to walk towards the group. "Pardon me, gentleman, I wasw passing but and could not help bo over hear." She opens her cloak to show the manacles she foundo n the ship. "I think you are participating in some nebulous activities. Why don't you confess your sins, and tell me what happened on that ship."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara inidicates silently to Eliot for him to stand near Sin-Eater. 

The ghosts stop their talking and look to Sin. They seem...puzzled.
"How is she?" Confesses the Zoot-Suit.
Halfas, eyeing the chains, looks at the Zuit-Suit and shoves him, a chain raising and doing so. "Idiot! This is why I didn't want to bring you!"
"Enough. Both of you." Says Bander, whose toxic gaze looks at Sin as she approaches. "I heard word that some Restless had been spotted in the Hellhole. I did not think a Pardoner was one them." He gives a polite dip. "Solange Bander, Mayor of Jameston. These are my compatriots. Halfas," To the cloaked figure, "And Pincip." He gestures to the Zoot-Suit. "We break no laws here, or what laws there are left. What is your interest in this ship?" He smiles. "Perhaps we can exchange...pleasantries."

Ann pulls her gun from her hip holding it in a ready position Incase they go for Sin. She studies the cloaked eyes warily however.

<WRAITH> Sin-Eater does her best to look intimidating, after all she is just a Pardoner, but they can be scary, they control shadows right? "I am the Eater of Sin, and I am one of the many who reside in the city of Prospect, Jamestown, I do not know of this community." She replies, "I am here investigating possible spectre activity with the crew of the Tamerlane." She explains, as she watches the other three wraiths carefully. "Invesfitation led me to think perhaps some slavers were in the area, and Risen. I am sure both are forwned on right?" 

"Again with the fucking Risen!" Halfas groans. "So what if a bunch of zombies are running amok! I say that's a win. Who cares and let's just go. I wanna get waaaasted."
Bander looks to Pincip, then to Halfas, then back again. "There were no Spectres when my compatriots boarded the Tamerlane. Pincip here has a gift for sensing oncoming restless. It was his nose that led us here." He pats Pincip.
Speaking of, Pincip looks at Bander. "But-"
"Enough Pincip." Bander snaps. "If the Pardoner wants to do business then let her conduct -business-. Trade for trade." He looks back to Sin. "I see the collection of Thralls. I have no interest in Risen or the Skinlands. What happens on that end is none of our concern." His green eye glows maliciously as if his iris is made of a glowing liquid as his eyes drift to Ann. Specifically behind Ann. "How. Very. Interesting." He says. "A trade. Knowledge for Knowledge." He points to Ann. "You tell me why your very gun-bunny compatriot looks like something out of a magic book with that string of hers, and I will let Pincip tell you what he knows. Even trade."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara waves her hand dismissively, "She is merely a dreaming mortal. Someone left hr carelessly about after taking her from her sleeping body. I am kindly leading her back. 

The three figures look toward Madame Zara. The eerie, penetrating gaze of the Solicitor burns. The cloaked figure looms, the chains give a shudder and Pincip simply looks nervous, either that or it is another tic.
A moment passes.
...None seem to question it. Bander snaps his fingers. "Pincip."
The Zuit-Suit nods voraciously. "So I sensed something crazy was gonna happen and there would be Enfants. I have, I have a kanck for it. So I reached out to Halfas, who brought Bander and the others. I stayed here and tried to find them. I found the ship! But I saw the guy. The mexican one. And there was..." He bites his bottom lip. "I'd never seen it before! I mean, I have heard of Risen. The ones on the boat? Totally zombies. The bodies waste afterwards right? But this one? He looked like a mummy. Like, not even skin. All bones and paper. But it was -growing-. Like, he was stiching himself together. Covered in blood and gore and stuff. And he has this...I dunno." He makes a gesture. "Like a baseball bat? But it had a bunch of stones wrapped around it, wicked black and wicked terrifying. Heaved it around like a sledge and was hunting the father guy. Saying something about 'where is it?'. I guess whatever he was looking for was out at sea? Cuz he just stopped and started toward the water. Hispanic guy shoot the living fuck out of him but he didn't bat an eyelash. Then the dude's chest caved in and then...you know..." He makes a gesture across his neck. "*shink*."

<WRAITH> Madame Zara listens with interest... "I have encountered a wraith who claimed to be a mummy once, said he was waiting for his body to regenerate and then would enter it again. I thought he was putting me on." 

The Wraiths then let the trio depart after sharing knowledge of what they knew aboard the Tamerlane.
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