ooc Charity Begins At Home (OOC)

[Gizmo]

Alright! Hit me up with some Gather Information, Knowledge [streetwise] and/or Investigate rolls! If you've got anything else that seems relevant, go for it!

[Thunder King]

As per discussion in chat, going to use Graft's connected feat in order to talk a patient into divulging information. Got a 19

[Gizmo]

Graft

Tyrone's patient was an addict suffering from the early stages of withdrawal - he's pretty sure she was just trying to score a prescription for whatever she could get. He managed to learn that her usual dealer had been pushed out by a better organized crew who raised the going rate out of her price range. They usually set up in one of the parks recently revitalized by VCR; the scuffle for territory started up around the same time. His patient saw one of the new dealers picked up by the police the previous week but she's certain she saw him back out on the street later the same day, none the worse for wear.

[Thunder King]

Got a 25 on a notice check

[Gizmo]

Well the DC to spot Jack on the rooftop is 25 thanks to Skill Mastery! I'll post what else Graft might notice once everyone has a chance to enter the thread.

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd's rolls.

 

Gather Information: 1d20+9 11

Knowledge (Streetwise): 1d20+9 15

[Gizmo]

Blodeuwedd

Cerys has been hearing about a lot of ruffled feathers in the West End and Lincoln as drug dealers are pushed out of their territories by newcomers. That's not so strange on its own but these new crews seem better organized and funded. They're definitely pulling in money - prices have evidently gone up just enough to suggest somebody new is taking a cut - but that money isn't being funneled through any of the usual places so far as she's heard. The dealers are bold enough that she's heard about some of them hanging out at those newly renovated community centers that have been cropping up here and there, though they keep business well away from those buildings. Might be worth checking out.

[N/A]

Gather Information check: 30. (Take 10 with Skill Mastery.)

Investigation check: 30. (Take 10 with Skill Mastery.)

Knowledge (Streetwise) check: 26. (Take 20 with 1 hour of research in a Masterwork Library.)

Knowledge (Business) check: 28. (Take 20 with 1 hour of research in a Masterwork Library.)

If an additional +5 on either of the Knowledge checks would yield useful additional information, then I'm open to burning my Hero Point on one of them to get +5 ranks with Beginners Luck. I'll leave that up to you.

[Gizmo]

The Scarab

It was involvement of Michael Palladino III that got Elena to take a second look at the Vibrant Community Reclamation project. Palladino has a practically perfect public image, an old money city councilor who leaves the bulk of managing his wealth to his aides and instead spends his time on one high profile pet project after another. Thing is, his name's shown up once too many times involved in cases where arrests were made but charges were never filed or deals were made before anything could be taken to court. Shady dealings seem to get smoothed over a little too easily when Palladino is involved.

It was easy enough to request a copy of the VCR's financial records - probably too easy, considering some of the powerful people on the donor list. She couldn't point to any one thing but the books seems a little too tidy for Elena's tastes. There's no way to prove that they were cooked without a copy of the actual financials, however. Any further inquiries were met with a stone wall of suggestions that she leave pillars of the community to do their good work and stop embarrassing herself. The good news is that for this level of accountancy legerdemain they'd need to refer to the actual numbers frequently, leading her to the office the records she received were sent from, attached to one of the VCR's community centers in the West End.

With her ear to the ground in the area, she's noticed that while the community center has been well received by the residents for the most part the hours of operation and sparse number of actual programs make it a little less accessible than one might expect. That could easily be put down to lack of staffing, especially given how many of these the VCR has been working on getting up and going in such a short amount of time but it's definitely one more red flag.

[N/A]

The Scarab comes on the scene with Flight, Force Field/Shield, and her Concealment AP active.

[N/A]

Move Action: Fly over to the roof of the VCR office.
 
Free Action: Switch Psionics array over to ESP + Mind Reading AP.
 
Free Action: Activate ESP to displace mental senses (Psionic Awareness and Thought Awareness).
 
Free Action: Take 20 to hit DC40 on a Search of the area with the mental Super-Senses in a 1/2-mile radius from The Scarab herself.  Everyone gets a DC24 Notice check to be aware of the scrying.
 
Free Actions (4): Use Mind Reading to scan the surface thoughts of the hulk in the street, and the 3 other "interested parties."  They all get DC20 Notice checks to be aware of the mental intrusion.
 
Opposed Mind Reading vs Will checks:
Blodeuwedd: 20.
Graft: 24.
Jack of All Blades: 31.
 
Anyone can choose to fail the save if they prefer.  Otherwise, they get a new save (with a cumulative +1 bonus) every round to give her the boot.  Until then, she's privy to their surface thoughts.
 
Free Actions: Communicate with Jack and Jill.

Edited July 21, 2014 by ShaenTheBrain

[Thunder King]

Okay, so, Graft is going to notice the mind reading with a 21

But he's not going to be able to stop it with 17

 

Basically, he's thinking about what he should be looking for, and trying to figure out a place to start figuring things out. It's clear that he's not hostile to the heroes.

[Gizmo]

Jill isn't actually present for this one, Shaen, sorry for not clarifying that earlier.

Jack hits 20 on Notice with Skill Mastery, then Will Save vs. DC 31.: 1d20+10 20.

[N/A]

Sorry for the confusion. IC post edited to remove mention of Jill.

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd's Will Roll: 1d20+7 20

[N/A]

I see Blodeuwedd has +14 Notice with Skill Mastery, so she automatically notices both the ESP ("I'm being watched...") and the Mind Reading.

[N/A]

Slightly edited my previous IC post to remove reference to Blodeuwedd's location, since Scarab's Thought Awareness is only +Accurate for the purpose of locking on with Mind Reading. So she has no idea where B is, aside from being somewhere within a 1/2-mile radius of the VCR office.

[N/A]

The Scarab uses the Sensory Link on her Mind Reading to see from Jack's point of view, so she can find him.

Then she reconfigures her array from ESP to Concealment, and flies over to where everyone else is gathering. At that point, her Mind Reading rank drops from 15 to 1. If either Jack or Graft want to give her the boot from their minds, they get a new save (at a cumulative +1) every 6 seconds, so it's trivially easy at this point. She's still using Mental Communication + Comprehend (Speak Any Language) to project her thoughts into their heads (and into Blodeuwedd's), but at this point she probably can't "read/hear" their surface thoughts as replies if they don't want her to.

The Scarab will go ahead and take 10 for 30 on Well-Informed checks for anyone's rep tables, if/when applicable. For the time being, she already knows Jack, I can't find a rep table for Graft, and she hasn't heard Blodeuwedd's name yet.

[Thunder King]

Graft would probably be just 'big green guy who patrols the Fens' at around DC15 or so. I can't imagine anyone knowing much more, but I also can't imagine people forgetting seeing him, either

[Gizmo]

Alright, trying to pick up the pace here a bit, folks. I'd like to see a post each from Graft and Blod sharing what they learned but I'll be moving things along shortly either way.

[N/A]

The Scarab leans on her Wealth 2 to bribe the youths to abandon their game and leave. She'll take 10 on a Diplomacy check for 25.

[N/A]

Checking in, since it's been a week since the last post for this one (mine).

[Gizmo]

There's a GM post for you, Shaen. I'd still like to hear from Graft and Blod in-character.

[Gizmo]

Alright, I've let this languish way longer than I should have. King, if I don't hear from you shortly I'll be moving this along without Graft's input.

[N/A]

Sorry for the delay.  There's an IC post.