Ishy walks over to the little crowd.
CM: There's a cluster of them smoking next to a number of empty ambulances. They all look pretty tired, and the smell of death hangs around them like a cloak.
Ishy frowns and shakes his head, "Kinda sad with what happened eh?"
CM: As one, the EMS guys look at you. One of them shrugs wearily.
Ishy: "So how long have you guys been doing this without a break?"
Paramedic: "'Bout 14, maybe 15 hours." He sighs. "Feels like forever."
Ishy: "Ouch." Ishy leans on an ambulance near the group.
The paramedic squints up at Ishy.
Ishy: "Did any of you find anything weird with the crash?"
Paramedic: "You a reporter?"
Ishy: "Nope, just a very concerned citizen."
The paramedic snorts. "Yeah, right. There's a whole lot of other 'Concerned citizens' up at the crash site too."
Ishy: "I hear that there was a body found", he looks up, "with no markings...?"
The paramedic shrugs. "No markings? Impossible."
Ishy frowns slightly at the guys impudence.
Paramedic: "We've been shifting them for hours. They're charcoal."
Ishy: "Trust me, found him myself, kinda scary.... "
Paramedic: "So first you 'hear' he was found, now you found him yourself? Gimme a break pal."
Ishy: "You misunderstand me friend, probably because you're dead tired and all."
CM: Make a personality roll.
DICE for Ishy: (1d100) = [ 80 ]Ishy: "I want to know if you heard of it... I just want to know if you had seen him, or knew who he was"
Paramedic: "I heard right, 'friend'. You think I'm stoopid or somthin'." The paramedic stands up, and his friends crowd 'round behind him.
Ishy snickers softly "I guess you really are stoopid." Ishy then stands straight and starts to walk off.
Paramedic: "I'm sick of you bloodsuckers tryin' to get an exclusive outta someone else's misery. Someone oughta teach you a lesson."
Ishy turns slowly "You think you can? Looks like you're more into the crowd thing." Ishy slowly opens his coat showing his gun nestled in it's holster.
CM: The paramedic's jaw drops as it becomes obvious you're willing to pull a gun on him and his friends.
Cop: "There a problem here Mikey?"
CM: The voice comes from behind you. Glancing over your shoulder, you can see a cop has come around the corner of the ambulance and is standing behind Ishy. He can't see the gun.
Ishy snickers some more, then walks off towards his vehicle. "Nothing wrong officer, just leaving."
CM: You hear the grumbling of the EMS guys as you walk away, but wisely none of them follow you.
Ishy reaches his vehicle and slowly sits in it, looking at the EMS people a little while longer, then slowly pulls away. He makes his way to where he had dropped Carla, to see if she is done.
CM: As you pull away, you hear a faint rumbling sound. At first you think it's the car, then you realise it isn't.
Ishy slams the breaks and gets out of the car and runs far away from it.
CM: As soon as your foot hits the asphalt you realise that it's an earth tremor. Car alarms are going off all over the place. Agl roll.
Ishy tries to remain calm and in the upright position, and looks around for any signs
DICE for Ishy: (1d100) = [ 27 ]CM: You manage to stay on your feet. The rumbling gets almost unbearably load, then suddenly stops. For a moment, all is silent, save for the distant ringing of church bells and the warble of car alarms. [CM note: this is simultaneous with the tremor in the previous session] Something hits you on the head.
Ishy looks up slowly.
CM: Something dark lies at your feet, and the sky is suddenly full of soft, falling shapes.
Ishy looks down and picks up the dark shape at his feet
CM: They thud limply to the ground all around you, for as far as you can see. Birds. All of them dead.
to sense unknown.
DICE for Ishy: (1d100) = [ 47 ]Ishy: Nope.
Ishy hurries and makes his way back to the car, and gets in. He starts the car again and goes to the front of the building
CM: The "shower" lasts for about half a minute, then stops. The ground is littered with the bodies of birds, eyes staring, wings spread, as though they died in mid-flight. While you're waiting for Carla, you spot a tall figure, dressed in black, standing in the parking lot, where the ambulances are being unloaded.
Ishy keeps an eye on the figure and tries to reach his camera.
CM: PCN roll
DICE for Ishy: (1d100) = [ 78 ]CM: There's something odd about the figure, but you can't tell what it is.
Ishy grabs his camera and slowly gets out of the car
CM: The figure is standing amidst the whirl and rush of the unloading area, apparently un-noticed by the EMS people.
Ishy starts to make his way towards the figure (bringing the camera to my eyes at the same time, ready to take a picture).
CM: As you get closer you can see that the figure (who is facing away from you) is dressed in a long black coat and is wearing a large black hat (similar to what Hassidic Jews wear).
Ishy takes a quick picture of the figure, then keeps approaching it.
Ishy: Do I recognize the figure?
CM: No. If it is the figure Benny mentioned from the crash site, they must either have driven or got a ride, because it's too far to walk in so short a time.
Ishy walks about ten feet away from the figure, and tries to notice
any more distinguishing details.
CM: Pcn roll -20
DICE for Ishy: (1d100) = [ 22 ]CM: It's a woman.
The Woman: "Hello Ishmael. Nice to see you again."
Ishy looks shocked. "Excuse me? Do I know you?"
The woman turns. She is stunning, delicate features moulded from alabaster skin. Her eyes are large and dark and her hair is raven black, like her clothes. She smiles. "You don't remember?"
CM: PCN roll
DICE for Ishy: (1d100) = [ 19 ]Ishy looks at her face more closely, trying to remember.
CM: You gaze at her, and realise that she is familiar. Where you've seen her before you don't know... Thoughts of your past suddenly fill your mind. Thoughts of your friends on the force, the ones you've lost, of funerals and lonely hours spent mourning the ones who have gone before...Suddenly, you realise that she's crying.
Ishy: "Why are you crying?... is something wrong?..."
The Woman: "So many deaths...so much pain..."
Ishy nods sadly, "That it is, but what are doing here?"
The Woman: Sadly, "Observing, as always. My Father wills it."
Ishy looks puzzled again. "Your father?.... Umm, how about we start from the beginning again. I'm Ishy, and you are?"
The woman replies, but her voice is partially drowned out by the sound of an approaching ambulance. It might have been "Muriel".
Ishy offers his hand to her "Now, here's a easy question.Where do I know you from?"
The woman smiles gently.
Ishy: "It's just that my memory is failing" Ishy says with a shrug
The Woman: "We met when you were small."
Ishy: "And you still remember me? Or even recognize me? It's very hard to believe."
The Woman: "I have an excellent memory." Again, the smile, as if she's teasing you.
Ishy: "Ok, I guess I can buy that, but who's your father?". Ishy slips his hand inside his pocket at the same time and slowly clicks the record button on his recorder.
CM: Dex roll to do it quietly.
DICE for Ishy: (1d100) = [ 98 ]CM: There's a distinct click as you turn on the recorder, but she doesn't seem to notice. She's looking over your shoulder at an approaching ambulance.
Ishy: "So why are you here? To pray for the deceased?"
The woman sucks in her breath, and sighs "Too late."
Ishy: "Too late, uhh??" Ishy turns to look at the incoming ambulance.
CM: They're unloading a body bag from the back. As they dump it onto a trolley, a pale, unmarked hand flops out from beneath the plastic.
Ishy pales at the thought of knowing what's underneath the plastic, then he turns to face 'Muriel'.
CM: She's gone. PCN roll.
Ishy: "What the hell?" Ishy looks around the area of where she stood for any signs or hints
DICE for Ishy: (1d100) = [ 83 ]CM: There's nothing, nothing to indicate she was even there. Except your memory, the tape, and the photographs...
Ishy shrugs, watches the 'unmarked body' being taken away.
CM: The body is wheeled into a building that must be the school
gym. As it enters the building, an immense black woman in a doctors coat
bustles out of the main school building and hurries after the body.
Session ends