Shadows - In the Cold Light of Day [IC]

Narrator

Ganesh

May 2, 2022 6:31 am
In the bright of the day, the events of the previous night seem like a bad dream. The police are calling it a "break-in gone wrong", reporters are calling it a "vicious attack", but the Janitor's evidence tells a more sinister story. Sammy's contact says this may just be one of a series of attacks. How did the attacker get in through the 11th floor window? Could a J'ba FoFi be lurking in Albuquerque? So many questions.
Time to do some digging..
Narrator
May 2, 2022 4:00 pm
Javi wakes up late, tired. Not enough coffee and not enough sleep joined forces to give him both a mighty headache and a miserable mood.
He showers, hoping the water will wash away some of his tiredness. It does, a bit.

He thinks about the strange in-person meeting with the other cryptid seekers. An interesting bunch. He wears an oversized T shirt with a Ghostbusters logo, then grabs wallet, key and cellphone and gets out in the late morning streets in search of coffee.

He keeps checking his cell for messages, figuring details of a meeting place and time will soon reach him. Wagner seems too paranoid to agree to meet in any old place I propose. He probably feels safer from prying ears in selected spots... I'll let him choose, he thinks.

He sits down in the corner of his local Starbucks and waits, getting coffee refills as soon as he drinks a cup.
OOC:
I guess it could be the weekend, with no work obligation to hinder their search?
May 2, 2022 7:49 pm
Wagner never gets much sleep. He says up another hour surfing the web from his beat-up laptop, then gets a few hours of shut-eye laying on the sofa-bed just as dawn creeps through the dusty blinds of his trailer.

His eyes always have huge circles under them, his skin is always dry and rough, his beard never properly trimmed or shaven: he always looks as if he just woke up from a bad night, yet his energy doesn't match the appearance. He gets into the Starbucks and pays cash for a black coffee and a muffin, the sits down next to Javi.

"Let's hope the chatter up keeps up... less prying ears on us. So, what do you make of last night? I looked up accidents in cargo ships, see if whatever creep fro Big Pharma brought a giant spider to ABQ may have had a mishap... no dice."
Last edited May 2, 2022 7:49 pm
May 3, 2022 3:50 am
Sammy gets to the Starbucks a bit late. He couldn't sleep after all the excitement last night. His mind was racing. He kept replaying the details of everything he saw and heard. When he did finally pass out, he fell into a deep sleep and woke up much later than he had planned.

He grabs a strong, hot coffee and loads up the cream and sugar. He takes a few sips, then slides into a chair at the table. "Man, sorry I'm late. It was one hell of a night. Did you guys meet up with the Janitor? What did he tell you?" Reggie takes another sip of the hot coffee.
May 4, 2022 7:53 am
"Not much. Wagner was able to find out the victim was... decapitated," he says lowering his voice. The tangible paranoia emanating from Wagner seems infectious, and make him feel exposed even in the crowd of morning coffee drinkers.
"The media say it's one of a series of attacks - shall we look into the other instances? There is probably way too much buzz over the West Tower attack to investigate there, right now."
OOC:
thinking to check newspaper/media coverage of the previous attacks. Via local paper websites, possibly some radio/tv contacts if we know any. Also public library newspaper archives, if they offer a better resource to look at news from the ABQ area, say in the last year or so...
May 10, 2022 6:01 am
OOC:
You can either trust to Google for your search or you can use actual legwork and head to a local library to scour the papers. Choose your poison and make an Investigate A Mystery if you are participating. I will allow one roll for each method you guys choose to pursue (you can certainly think of more than just these two.
May 10, 2022 10:17 pm
Javier looks up the address of the Albuquerque Journal, remembering how he once consulted its archives. It seems to him like a good spot to look up articles on similar attacks. He will start from present day and gradually work his way backwards.

Rolls

SHARP (Investigate A Mystery) - (2d6+1)

(42) + 1 = 7

May 12, 2022 5:13 am
OOC:
Does anyone else wish to investigate in another way since Javi is headed to the library?
May 13, 2022 4:35 am
OOC:
Sammy is going to the library to find out any information he can on the J'ba FoFi. He'll search folklore texts, mentions in foreign press, Google and hit up Reddit to see what he can pull together.

Rolls

Investigate a Mystery - (2d6+2)

(23) + 2 = 7

May 17, 2022 4:45 am
OOC:
Javi and Sammy can ask one related question each. I won't limit you to the standard ones. This will take the better part of the day. Does Wagner want to do anything in the meantime?
May 18, 2022 5:34 am
OOC:
Sammy is looking for some idea on how to capture or hurt the J'ba FoFi.
May 18, 2022 6:51 am
OOC:
Were there any killings in ABQ with similar features? (in hard to reach, very elevated places, or mentioning decapitation) ?

Narrator

Ganesh

May 20, 2022 5:38 am
Dr_B says:
Were there any killings in ABQ with similar features? (in hard to reach, very elevated places, or mentioning decapitation) ?
Although nothing jumps out as being identical there are a few articles on suspicious deaths that seem like they could be related. A Water Authority worker was found dead in the sewers and was partially "eaten", presumably by rats. A late-night janitor at UNM was found murdered. No details were given, but it was another janitor. A banker died of apparent suicide when they fell from a 7th-story window when working late. No one else was in the building.
McButterpants says:
Sammy is looking for some idea on how to capture or hurt the J'ba FoFi.
Reliable information on the J'ba FoFi is hard to come by, but they seem to only be seen at night. This may mean they are simply nocturnal, but likely this means their eyesight is poor, particularly during the day. Like many spiders of more normal size, they spin webs that they use as traps for the unwary, although theirs capture much larger prey, depending on the source, up to small deer size. It is almost certainly safer to try to confront a J'ba FoFi out of its lair.

Narrator
May 20, 2022 7:56 am
Javi photographs the relevant articles he's found with his phone, and also makes a note of the locations of the deaths and of any names quoted in the articles, for future reference.

Hmmm... all isolated victims, and all at night. So, late and night workers. Wonder if they all fall within an area...

He fires up a Map application on his phone and checks the four addresses/areas locations:
-the West Bank,
-the rough Sewers accident location,
-UNM,
-the bank of the suicide.
OOC:
-how big an area do these places fall in?

-Also, is there a time pattern? Like more or less regular intervals between victims (judging from the dates of the articles), that might indicate how often the killer might need to feed (if it was a single specimen)?
Last edited May 20, 2022 10:37 pm

Narrator

Ganesh

May 24, 2022 4:34 am
OOC:
It doesn't seem that the time is regular, but the locations are relatively close to each other (given that you only have 4 data points). They all seem to be near to the center of the city.
Narrator

Narrator

Ganesh

Jun 2, 2022 9:39 pm
OOC:
Sorry. I didn't answer your other question. All the attacks are within the last month, but two are within the last week. The one that appeared to be suicide wasn't widely publicized.
Narrator
Jun 2, 2022 10:02 pm
If there is time left after the newspaper research, Javi will get to the UNM to learn more about the janitor killed there.
Jun 18, 2022 11:28 pm
Javi calls Sammy and Wagner on the phone, to inform them of what he could find out. He also drops whatever details he has jotted down - dates, addresses or names of victims.
Jun 20, 2022 11:38 pm
Sammy had been sulking after finding little information on the J'ba FoFi, but that all turned around after hearing from Javi. "Dude! All of the murders happened close to each other? That's awesome news! That spider must have left some traces in the area. There has to be a lair nearby. We need to pull up a map and look for places where a big-ass spider can go unnoticed."
Jun 24, 2022 7:16 am
"Yes, we can definitely plot the sightings on a map. What do you say we call Wagner and go check some of those addresses. That janitor dead at UNM, for instance," he proposes.

Narrator

Ganesh

Jul 11, 2022 6:13 am
OOC:
Gunna facilitate this slightly and try to get this rolling a bit more.
After a few phone calls the three investigators reconvene at the coffee shop to share information and plan their next move.
Javi pulls out a dog-eared map of the city with all sorts of markings, but indicates the important ones to the others. The sites of the attacks he thinks may be linked.
Narrator

Narrator

Ganesh

Jul 13, 2022 5:47 am
OOC:
If Sammy can make an Act Under Pressure, he might be able to get the autopsy reports from a friend on the force.
Narrator

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