Act 1 - 1/1/2012 - Chicago

[chicagowiz]

The winter weather in Chicago is brutal for New Years Day. The bitter wind blowing off of Lake Michigan has churned the lake-effect-Zamboni into "full on" and the city lies under a cold blanket of snow and ice. The day is a gray, soulless day with the sun barely peeking from behind the clouds. Downtown is deserted as people stay indoors both from the previous evening's celebrations as much as the weather.

The message that you five received prompts you to leave the confines of where-ever you are staying. Whether it was by an anonymous text message, voice-mail or email, you all received essentially the same information.

"We know that you seek that which is not always explained. We find that useful. If you wish to know more, and profit from it, be at the parking garage on 1 South Lower Wacker at 6pm tonight, Sunday. Don't be late. If you are, you won't find us."

There is no identifying name, the voicemails sound almost mechanical or artificial and the emails have no identifying IP address that shows where the email came from, and the text messages come from a 000-0000 number.

You have 12 hours before the meeting. You all know of each other, having met at Miller's Pub. What will you do?

[jcftao]

Lark looks at the other folks sitting around the diner. They had been here all night talking and most of the morning after closing Miller's Pub down. How strange to think they were all drawn to this place.
"Well, it looks like we'll soon find out why we've all come here."

Lark shoves a fork full of his western omelet into his mouth, "I don't know much about this town, but meeting in a parking garage don't sound too friendly to me. Maybe we should scout this place out beforehand. Anybody got a map?"

[ehiker133]

"Hold on," Chicchan says as he excuses himself from the table. He walks up to the small hostess stand by the front door.

Glancing down down at her White Palace Grill badge before speaking, he says, "Penny, do you have a map of the city we could borrow?"

[Koren n'Rhys]

"For myself, gentlemen, I find I'm more curious than threatened at this point. We should obviously have a feel for what we're getting into, yes. But unfortunately we don't have much to work with. Someone has gotten us all here together and, well, I want to know how more than why."

Sam takes another sip of coffee and shovels more of his pancakes into his mouth. "Anyway," he says around a mouthful of food, "it's too d**n cold to go out there yet."

EDIT: Huh. I had no idea there were language filters on this forum. I typed out d**m up above and it changed it to the asterisks.

[chicagowiz]

Penny gives you a sour look and points to the collection of old papers, odd pamphlets and notices stacked by the door. You will find a worn tourist style map amid the papers.

[davidbrawley]

"I'm curious too, but I don't feel too threatened" Asa says after taking a long drink of coffee. Pointing down at the map "There's Wacker, by the Sears Tower. I agree with Sam, we should probably check it out. Even if we only have the cab drive us past it. I know I could use a few hours of sleep before we're standing in a cold parking garage after dark."

[jcftao]

Lark wipes his face, "Well then, finish up fellows. You can pile into my truck, 'cept one of you may need to ride in the back...don't worry, it's got a shell on it. We could check it out and then like you said, find a warm place to hole up for awhile."

[Koren n'Rhys]

Sam polishes off the last of his coffee and sets the cup aside. With a shrug he gets to his feet and tosses a couple bucks on the table for a tip. "Well, no sense sitting her then. Let's go see what the garage looks like."

[davidbrawley]

Asa tosses some cash on the table, dons his coat and says "Shotgun."

[Lumbermouth]

Brother Bourgeois looks towards his companions and down at his own empty place setting.

"Come on now, fellows. You're going to leave before I've gotten my fill? It's cold enough out there to turn your marrow to ice and the waitress isn't back with my god d**ned french toast yet!"

He takes another spoonful of sugar and drops it into the already saccharine cup of coffee, then puts it to his lips and takes another sip.

"Isn't my fault that I'm the only one with needs to appease..."

[jcftao]

Lark shrugs and heads for the door, "Get it to go..."


OOC[ ]

[Koren n'Rhys]

Sam laughs and claps Bourg on the shoulder. "I guess you shouldn't have sent it back in the first place. Besides, you probably won't want to eat it once it comes back anyway."

[ehiker133]

Chicchan gets up without an exchange of banter and says, "I don't mind riding in the back..."

He bundles up his jacket as best he can, throws his rucksack into the back of Lark's truck and climbs in after it.

[chicagowiz]

The waitress comes out with the order, spies you all getting dressed and wordlessly tosses Brother B's breakfast in a styrofoam to go container. She takes payment for the meal ($5.00 - deduct from your wealth) as she also takes $1 from everyone else for the coffee.

(If you're willing, we can jump ahead to your destination. The drive would be through a mostly quiet downtown area - it is New Years Day and not much is going on.)

[ehiker133]

OOC:
Yeah, that works for me.

[jcftao]

(Ready when you are DM)

[davidbrawley]

ooc: also ready to go!

[Lumbermouth]

Dec 19, 2010 20:29:48 GMT -6 Koren n'Rhys said:

Sam laughs and claps Bourg on the shoulder. "I guess you shouldn't have sent it back in the first place. Besides, you probably won't want to eat it once it comes back anyway."

"It wasn't sweet enough, Sam." Brother Bourgeois reaches into the pocket of his long coat and pulls out a sharp pair of dollar bills for the table, then picks up his doggie bag with the other hand.

"Legba is very specific about his offerings. You don't shortchange the doorman and expect to talk to anyone inside, do you?"

[chicagowiz]

The day is dawning to a grim gray color, but the air remains cold and the wind is enough to make a fully layered man shiver. LARK seems to have parked in an area where he won't get ticketed, for now, and the traffic is light.

Wacker Drive in Chicago is a unique street. It was originally built on two levels to divert truck and freight traffic UNDER the city while allowing street and foot traffic above. Your path takes you on the upper Wacker past the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower and recently deposed as the tallest building in North America) to the famous Chicago Lyric Opera House, but there is no parking garage above... until you're directed to Lower Wacker Drive - the underground level (LWD).

Lower Wacker is a hard drive even in the light traffic. Dimly lit with periodic bursts of sunlight and on/off ramps that seem to blossom everwhere, along with twists and curves that make this a nightmare of cars and concrete pillars. There are aqueducts that lead to and from Lower Wacker, but the taxis are unforgiving in their honking. Unfamiliarity with LWD means that it takes quite a while to find your way to the lower parking garage entrance at 1 S. Wacker, but you do find it - a great concrete square entrance leading into a garage on the east side of the road, underneath the Hyatt/Charter One tower.

You can't stay sitting on LWD for long, you will get honked at continuously or bumped or Chicago PD will "bark" their sirens at you to move along.

[davidbrawley]

"Ok, we found it." Asa says, as the traffic aggressively honks past. "Let's go. We can come back early."

[jcftao]

Lark shrugs and pulls into the traffic muttering something about city drivers. "If we got some time to kill, maybe you folks can help me with this..." Lark pulls the folded newspaper article from his pocket and hands it to Asa. The article details the findings of a young college student from UofI Chicago campus and how the student saw something that caused him to become catatonic for two weeks. He saw something at the Robinson burial grounds in Chicago.

Lark says, "This happened the same morning that I was hunting for deer in the Shawnee Forest. The location's different, but the details are all pretty much the same...kinda makes you wonder now don't it?"

"Anybody know which is closer? The burial grounds or the campus? And how'dya get out from under this dang tunnel?"

[ehiker133]

Chicchan quietly sits in the back, waiting for Lark to pull over, as he can't hear any of the conversation going on up in the front of the truck...

But he's ready to meet up at the garage at the designated time.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Sam takes in the cars and noise with some bemusement. "I'm no country bumpkin, but traffic like this is just crazy! I don't know how people live in this chaos day after day. Man, it's just nuts."

"I'm no more local than the rest of you, so I have no idea where an old cemetery might be, but I'm pretty sure we aren't far from the campus itself. We shouldn't risk being late for the meeting, but we should have time to at least drive through. Could stop at the library, I suppose and just Google the places. Anyone got an iPhone?"

[jcftao]

Lark hits the dashboard hard, "Well, we got 'bout ten hours to kill before meeting whoever wants us. And this fan is acting up. If we want to get warm, I think we should find a place to do that. Sam if you want to Google something...I'll take ya there...I don't know much about computers."

OOC (If it's okay with everyone and the DM, we can skip through this to get to the meeting...)

[chicagowiz]

The library is closed, of course, given that it's New Years Day - so the trip to the campus would be fruitless.

(OOC - we'll move the narrative to an hour prior to the meeting... but given that I'm about to be released for the day for C'mas weekend, we'll pick this up on 12/27. Merry Christmas, everyone!)

[chicagowiz]

A long, cold New Years day for 2012 in Chicago - shops are open, but the weather is enough to keep many people indoors nursing hangovers. The celebrations were a bit more wild this year, according to the radio, thanks to the popular Mayan "End of the World" prediction for 12/12/2012. Nightfall comes about 4.45pm but there is still traffic and a somewhat constant flow of light foot traffic. With Wacker Drive just reopening from the construction, things are flowing smoothly.

It's 5pm. You all are in Lark's truck near the garage on Lower Wacker Drive.

Where do you want to go/what do you want to do? Are you armed? Do you have all your gear with you?

[ehiker133]

Chicchan generally has everything he owns on him, by default... especially since he currently has no place to put it.

But pistol and knife are as discretely as possible kept hidden inside his jacket. Leather jacket is on for warmth and for protection. Rucksack is slung over the shoulder.

[jcftao]

Lark has his shotgun behind the seat. He will slip it from the case and load it when they get situated in the garage. He also has a tire iron handy and his sheath knife he will slip in his jacket pocket.

[Lumbermouth]

Brother Bourgeois' cane is rarely used for walking and is tipped with wrought iron taken from a French Quarter balcony. He uses it to help him out of the truck and surveys the scene around them.

[ehiker133]

Chicchan hops out of the back of the truck, takes a moment to adjust his gear under his jacket and then shoulders his rucksack.

He then scans the area, looking for any signs of someone watching them and making himself aware of the general surroundings. It's always good to know your exit points.