Black Bagging Zeb
Michael
All right. I'm going to begin with us at the park where you first met Zeb. At night there's a much different vibe here. No old guitarists hanging out on stoops, no children playing on the basketball court or on the concrete playground. Just a lot of ominous spring evening shadows, a few tough-looking young gentlemen hanging on the corner passing a bottle around, and an overall heightened sense of urban neglect from what you've experienced in West Oakland in the daytime. Before any corruption, I'm going to roll a Sense roll for Mitch's Detect within line of sight here, and if Roger wants to give me a Streetwise roll that would be great too, Bill.
First things first, Mitch doesn't feel anything History B-tainted here. Not at any of Zeb's haunts either in or across from the park, or anywhere else within line of sight (will wait for Roger's Streetwise roll to continue). Mitch ponders pushing his powers, like he did at Mount Shasta, to places he cannot perceive with his five senses. But he knows deep down that pushing like this will make him Like Unto Them. Hidden Lore (History B) check for Mitch (and then I really will wait until Bill can roll us a Streetwise).
Jeff
Hidden Lore (History B) 14
>> SUCCESS by 5
Bill
>> SUCCESS by 5
Made it. I’d also say that hitting the streets and asking folks is also in the cards. I’m happy to do the gumshoe flat foot work. He’s been in the neighborhood for years: I’m sure folks can point him out.
Michael
Roger's opinion is that by night this park is a locus for bad dudes; not kindly winos and young people hanging out enjoying themselves, but dealers and criminals. If Zeb did bivouac here, it wouldn't be on a regular basis.
And Mitch … well, as Mitch reaches out with his ability to sense History B, he realizes that if he pushes his power further than he's used to, he's going to start kicking his brain into a more … History B-friendly state of mind. But this suddenly makes the Mount Shasta experiences of remote viewing make a lot more sense. There, the boundaries between histories were WAY more porous, and thus it was easier for Mitch to reach out well past his usual range with his powers. The presence of History B gave him a little boost, a suffusion of psionic support, a carrier wave to ferry his psychic energies deep into the "mountain."
But here and now in Oakland … the process of pushing past his normal limits would internalize the History B taint. It would lead to Mitch's brain (or maybe Mitch looks at it as his "aura" or soul) becoming more similar (or maybe even more enslaved) to the Anunnakku who put the psionic potential in human neurology in the first place. So Mitch suddenly wants a Plan B; he calls an audible.
Serendipity is different from these powers. It's passive. It's more like riding the eddies of history and probability to the right place at the right time; inevitably, still a marker of Anunnaki meddling but one where it's dealing with sub-volitional impulses and barely-seen signs of the wake of events and narratives and histories in motion.
So Mitch has Roger kind of wind his way in and out of the residential streets of West Oakland for a while. Mitch doesn't trigger Detect at all. And Roger, occasionally stopping the vehicle and subtly canvassing the neighborhood for Zeb, finds that people on the ground know Zeb but don't know where he is bedded down at this moment. While Roger does shoe-leather detective work, Mitch just is, knowing he'll eventually get to where he needs to. And after some more winding in and out of main streets and run-down projects and single-families, Mitch and Roger find themselves in front of a three-story house that jogs Roger's memory and one in front of which Mitch can give me an IQ roll, because his Detect History B sense, triggered with zero Corruption, is actually going off. (Made a penalized Sense roll for Mitch, and I will dramatically reveal where we are once we see if Mitch can quantify the History B inside the house.)
Jeff
>> SUCCESS by 4
Made it by 4.
Michael
If Mitch were a betting man, he'd bet that Zeb is inside that house; the vibe is nearly identical to the wobbly, half-here half-not sense he got off the Oldtimer earlier in the week during their time together. Probably on the ground floor, right in that parlor with the closed curtains facing the street. Roger realizes he and Mitch are parked outside the house that E.L. Moore shares with his parents.
Jeff
“He’s in there, so, he probably knows the people inside,” Mitch says, before Roger explains. “We could wait for him to leave, but if he’s crashing on their couch tonight, or something, that might not be until tomorrow morning.”
Bill
(My plan per instructions was to lay down a track of Observation for Renshaw. Is that in yet?)
Michael
(Yeah, no problem!)
Jeff
“I mean, he could be squatting. I doubt it, though.”
Bill
“Yeah, man, but that’s Moore’s damn house! Who knows what he’s doing in there. “
Jeff
“Wait, what?”
“That’s the guy’s house?”
Bill
“Moore’s parents are in the first floor. Moore’s on the second in his own digs.”
Michael
(second and the loft on the third floor)
Jeff
“Okay, okay. I think he’s downstairs, so, maybe it’s just that he’s a friend of the family and he sleeps there when the streets don’t seem friendly? Like if a white guy who seemed to be his boss from History B showed up and questioned him and then revealed himself as something else instead?”
(I didn’t get the sense that Zeb had a fixed address, when I tried to question him about that.)
Bill
“Yeah, he’d go to somewhere where he has defenders. Which means picking a ‘fight’ with Moore’s people. Dammit!”
Michael
Bill, Roger's renshed Observation is a 13 and I'd like you to roll it please.
Skill check, Party One
>> 3d6 … 9
Bill
Observe
>> SUCCESS by 2
Michael
Skill check, Party Two
>> 3d6 … 14
Roger spots the fed sled at the corner of the Moores' street with a couple of uptight-looking brothers in it sipping coffee in take-out cups. They vibe FBI.
Jeff
“There could be some third party in there, too. Some childhood friend of Moore’s who grew up hearing Zeb’s stories and songs and is right now sharpening his sacrificial crysknife. That hypothetical guy could be the actual-factual Red Hat. Jeez, man.”
Bill
Is it Jo’s boys? I’ve met them at least once.
Michael
Oh right! Yeah, these are them.
Well, they're Padden and Hall's token Black agents who they use for "undercover" work.
Bill
“So Moore is in there, right now — I see his tail.”
Jeff
Mitch is now envisioning a full-blown cult meeting happening in the parlor of the ground-floor apartment. Red robes, bloody face paint, brass candelabras.
Bill
“Let me clear the Feds from intervening, then we’ll try to get a closer look, man.”
Roger finds an unobtrusive place to park.
Jeff
Mitch nods. He’s stressed enough by this turn of events I wanna roll his Uncontrollable pyro 1 — Mitch really does believe Zeb is his responsibility.
Michael
Yeah, that makes sense, Jeff.
Go for it.
Jeff
>> SUCCESS by 7
Michael
Roger pulls the car out of the side street. Hmm. I want to see how nonchalant Roger manages to do this … your Driving is 14 and Stealth is 13, so give me a roll with Driving opposed by their Observation.
While that's happening, Mitch should give me a Observation.
Jeff
Observation is 14 I think
>> SUCCESS by 1
Michael
Cool.
Bill
Stealth parking
>> SUCCESS by 5
Michael
(You guys were only outside the house for 20 seconds maybe so the feds don't seem to have taken any special notice of you; Roger seems to have managed to pull out and away from the side street smoothly.)
What next?
Jeff
Anything from the Observation?
Michael
I am not saying anything on that.
Jeff
Ok I’m assuming there’s a ninja Mitch can’t see up on the roof of our car.
Bill
“Ok, calm now. Let me get up to the Feds and make sure they don’t freak.”
Jeff
Mitch will sit tight as Roger seems to believe he can tell the feds to back off for a bit.
Bill
Roger quietly, but normally gets out of the car, puts on his sunglasses, and walks normally down the sidewalk towards the Feds sled, his FBI badge ready.
He tries to make eye contact.
Michael
The driver rolls down his window.
Jeff
He’s thinking about his last encounter with Zeb and how he blew his cover, whatever it was. Under other circumstances Mitch would try just knocking on the door and brazen ing his way into the apartment and the cult meeting he imagines is going on there, but with his cover blown that won’t fly, he’s already played that card. Waiting for Zeb to leave and snatching him as soon as he’s alone would be peachy as a solution but there isn’t much time between now and the zero hour of the concert, especially if Zeb is on his guard then there’s little chance an opportunity to abduct the Oldtimer would present itself.
“Dammit, Oldtimer, why couldn’t you have just gone to Shasta like I said?” Mitch mutters, alone in the car where only the invisible ninja can hear him.
Bill
“Hey, brother! I think I know y’all. We got friends in common!” He flashes his badge so his body blocks a street view of it.
Michael
"Say man, what it is," and the uptight FBI guy does a fair approximation of a cool handshake through the window. "What's going on here?" he says, this time sotto voce.
Bill
“Y’all trailing Moore for Padden and Hall, right.” (Also quietly)
Michael
"That's right."
Bill
“I’m lent to that Army Int chick. Tracking another perp from the Dominoe bust. You seen an old bum type enter the premises?”
(More loudly) “Right on, my man.”
(Roger relaxes and leans elbows on the car window, just chillin’)
Michael
"Yeah, hour and a half ago the old man walked up, Moore's father greeted him at the door with a big hug. Moore got home about a half-hour ago, looking a little harried, but he went to the downstairs apartment instead of his own. Before they shut the curtains they were all sitting in the downstairs living room chatting."
Bill
Roger nods. “Good intel. Not so great for Moore to be seen with this guy, though. Case is building, you know what I mean? Look, I gotta get ears on that. Y’all cool to keep eyes while I try?”
Michael
"Go for it."
Bill
Roger holds up a fist, and finishes the short loud conversation “Solid, man! See you round.”
He’ll head back to his car. “Ok, they’re cool, Mitch.”
Michael
(I want to say that Roger worked out a quick series of Gestures that the agents can shoot his way if they see anything untoward happening around the house. So Roger will need to give occasional glances back to the agents' car.)
Bill
Yeah, standard Fed ops signs. I doubt they know ASL.
Michael
And Mitch and the car are parked out of line of sight of the Moore home, right?
Bill
Right.
Once Mitch and Roger figure out what Mitch is gonna do, yes, Roger will sneak back up.
“Mitch, we gotta play this a little cool. How you doing?”
Jeff
“I’m not thrilled, Roger.”
“I’m not about to blow anybody up, though, if that’s what you’re asking. I just don’t see a route of approach here that’s going to work. Maybe if I hadn’t blown it with the Oldtimer before … ”
“And Moore’s seen both of us, right?”
“I mean, I dunno. I could light the building up, smoke alarms go off, they evacuate, we grab him … that seems like a terrible plan, though. Let’s not do that.”
Bill
“Yeah. Let’s. Moore may not know me; I was ‘disguised.’ But I got no new cover I can think of. I mostly just wanna go and see if I can listen in, figure out what their time table is. If the old guy is staying overnight, we might have another chance later.”
We cased this place before, right?
Jeff
Wait, doesn’t Mitch’s equipment load out include a listening device? I believe it does. However there is no way to plant it inside that parlor and it’s not some kind of fancy directional microphone deal, it’s a bug. So, never mind that. Mitch looks like he has an idea for a second and then just nods weakly. He’s middling stealthy but Roger probably doesn’t need the backup. Instead Mitch can position himself where he can keep an eye on the building, or he can stay with the car, while Roger sneaks — whichever Roger prefers. Normally he’d presume to back Roger up a little more aggressively but there’s already feds watching the site.
Michael
Yeeeees? We were ready to go in and snatch Moore but I forget if Jo and Roger cased it or if the FBI guys did and gave us a report. Either way, functionally you know the basic approaches and such.
I mean, Mitch could plant it on an exterior wall and pick up audio but Mitch would need to be the one to sneak up and do it.
Bill
“I can figure out a couple of approaches to get close. The feds will help watch, sure, but we may have to help ourselves here.”
(There’s a small voice in Roger’s head that a Certain Someone could talk his way in there, but Roger doesn’t need that complication right now.)
“You know, the feds are watching. We should call this in, see if anyone’s got a bright idea. At least on the radio. I gotta tell Jo I hijacked her feds anyway, so that story’s not blown. Maybe we can get a listening device.”
Roger will try for Jo or Sophie. He knows the clock is ticking, but as long as the two targets stay in the same place, we have some time. And if the old guy leaves, all the better.
Michael
Okay, so just to make sure we're all on the same page, current game time is around 8:30, 9 pm. Marshall is in the air from Granite Peak to Livermore. I would assume Roger still has the SANGUSH glyph for this field mission and yes, Mitch does have his bag with bugs and receivers. So both Sophie and Jo would be at Livermore, along with Archie and Charley.
Jeff
Okay I’m coming around on the bug-planting idea
They’re in the front room, the parlor, very probably, and on the ground floor, so, could just walk up to the building and stick the bug on and walk away.
Bill
As soon as you suggest it, Roger’s all for it. He’ll try to cover you, maybe a little distraction. Sneak into the back, knock over some trash cans.
Jeff
Mitch's Stealth and his Surveillance are both 13.
Wait, hell, I'm looking at my character sheet now and it says I have a TL 7 laser mic, that literally is the fancy long-distance hear-through-a-window thing, isn't it?
Michael
Oooh, yes, it is!
SANDMAN treats its lamplighters right.
Bill
Ok, so we just need to find a good spot across the street! With the feds helping with lookout, that shouldn’t be too hard.
Mitch has all the observation. A few more, and he could do all this from the moon.
Jeff
I literally forgot I had a whole kit bag of surveillance equipment in it.
Sorry Bill
Bill
We found out in plenty of time.
We’ll just take it as read that Mitch sees and Hears all in the future.
Hmmm. I’m thinking the SANGUSH is not worth anything here. I bet Zeb just sees right through it.
Michael
(Roger's Hidden Lore training would tell him that Zeb likely meets the description of the kind of person who would not automatically be affected by a glyph. Plus, how would SANGUSH work in a private home? You would end up looking like someone who "belongs" there. Weird shit.)
First of all, FUN FACT look who invented the infrared mic
All right. TL 7 laser mikes are not foolproof. So here's what I'm gonna do. Mitch makes TWO consecutive Electronics Operation (Surveillance) rolls, one for the first half of the listening, one for the second half. Given the fact that there is interference from the curtains, Mitch expects the reception to be a little choppy but it's better than nothing and way less risky than trying a contact mic. I will assess the penalties after I see both rolls and give you as accurate a transcript of the conversation as possible given your degree of success on each.
Range is 300 yards though, holy crow
(Man, I can't wait for Charley to have some downtime so she can get cracking in her lab and make us GADGETS)
Jeff
Skill 13
>>>> SUCCESS
MoS 4
>>>> FAILURE
A small failure hardly noticeable
Michael
Hey kids, who's ready for another very important transcript that's only partly legible?
Leonard
(BTW, I dunno if this matters or not, but Jocasta did not case the Moore residence. Sorry!)
Michael
Jeff, will Mitch share the mic headphones with Roger?
Jeff
Sure
Michael
YOUNGER MALE VOICE, PRESUMABLY E.L. MOORE: " … won't be out until Monday. So now we can't get into the studio, they've confiscated everything in the offices, there's rumors Josh had an arsenal in there, for God's sake."
FEMALE VOICE, PRESUMABLY CINTHIA MOORE: "Edward. Please. Do not take the Lord's name in vain in my house."
OLDER MALE VOICE, PRESUMABLY ARTHUR MOORE: "All right, settle down now Cinthia. Son, what did the lawyers from Warner say."
E.L. MOORE: "Say? They ain't said nothin'! They said they can't get involved and they can't put up money for Josh's or Tony's or Harold's bail. They've hung the entire label out to dry!"
SECOND OLDER MALE VOICE, PRESUMABLY ZEB: "Dry. Dry."
CINTHIA: "Oh dear, Zeb, I'm sorry, let me get you some more wine." [shuffle of footsteps]
ARTHUR: "The show's still on, though?"
MOORE: [silent pause] "Yeah. Yeah the show's still on. You think I'm gonna disappoint all those kids who've been rehearsing for weeks? Or let down the library and the soup kitchen? But we can't get that special quadraphonic Ikenga LP … "
ZEB: [interrupting] "Ikenga! Ikenga!"
MOORE: [audibly thrown off and concerned] "Zeb … Zeb, are you all right? Momma, don't give him more wine, he's had enough."
CINTHIA: "Nonsense, just a little splash won't hurt, ain't that right?"
ZEB: "Right!"
MOORE: "Anyway, the show ain't gonna be what we promised. But I'm not gonna let that stop us. I think we'll play live longer than we planned …"
[LOUD PRESUMABLE TELEVISION BROADCAST] [crowd noise] "That's 20 points for Abdul-Jabbar, and the Bucks remain up by 20 with 5:13 left in the fourth quarter."
ZEB: [faintly] "Quarter."
MOORE: "I dunno, we got that call from LA today at the club, it's real good news and I can't wait to share it with the people tomorrow, but... Pop, what if they call me a sell-out and a Tom?"
ARTHUR: "Son, you worked hard, you played all the dives and dumps for four years, you spent hour upon hour working for this. You can't get down on yourself … "
[interruption from TV] "Barry in the paint to Thurmond, Thurmond up … and BLOCKED by Kareem! Up the court to Robertson, dishes to Lucius, the Bucks in transition scoring at will on the Warriors again."
ZEB: [very faintly]"Again."
CINTHIA: "Oh, Zeb, are you gettin' sleepy? You ready to bed down for the night?"
ZEB: "Bed … down for the night."
CINTHIA: "I'll get the guest room ready." [sound of a kiss] "Be back in a minute, sugar."
MOORE: "No, you're right, Pop, the band deserves it, I just wish … I wish Josh didn't act a fool, is all."
ARTHUR: [sound of glass being placed on a table] "Well, Josh always was a fool of one fashion or another. Been that way since we were in school. Money, haven't I always said it's the root of all evil?"
MOORE: "Yes sir."
ARTHUR: "But it's never been about the money for you, son. That's why I'm tellin' you that you ain't no sell-out and you ain't no Tom. People got to hear your music, outside of Oakland. You got a chance to be bigger than your mother and I ever were and you'd be a fool to miss out on that."
MOORE: "You ever think about what my life would be like if Zeb hadn't taught me chords and … [chuckles] … hadn't told me stories about, hah, New Ponguay?"
ARTHUR: "I mean, you would've learned the trumpet, of course, but yeah, you probably would've blown straight jazz and not messed around with this rock and roll business." [avuncular chuckle] "Would've been more a chip off the old block, probably."
MOORE: [laughter, clink of glasses] "Well hey, that wouldn't be too bad." [volume on TV is turned up and blanks out conversation for the rest of the length of the Bucks-Warriors game]
Jeff
"Zeb's sundowning," Mitch says in a tone that suggests he's more concerned for Zeb than he is for History A, at least right this second.
Bill
"If the guest room is close to the outside, we can probably bag Zeb."
"And put him out of harm's way."
(No sinister tone in that, I swear!)
"Hopefully he's too gone to, uh, whammy us."
"Too bad about the game … "
"But if Jo's pissed enough about it, maybe she's up for a black bag job in this house after all."
Michael
You guys wanna call this in?
Jeff
Yeah, I think so.
☏ ring-ring … ring-ring …
Michael
Phone rings on the main URIEL line around 9:30.
Sophie picks up.
"Hello?"
Oh, wait, she knows it's Roger's carphone thanks to Charley's caller ID.
Sophie: "Roger, what's the situation?" Sophie puts Roger and Mitch on speaker for everyone (but Marshall, he's still in the air)
Bill
"Mitch's Old Timer, Zeb, has gone to ground in Moore's parent's place. Moore is there. Mitch got us ears on the family; they're putting up the Old Timer as Moore's old teacher."
"We can maybe take the 'Red Hat' out tonight from the place. Or some other more brilliant plan."
"Moore sounds like he's still gonna play, live, without the album."
"Now that you can pull Jo away from the game, we could use help; this is a gonna be a complex one, extracting one … or maybe two?"
"Oh, Padden and Hall's subcontractors from the Bureau are here also watching the place. My FBI credentials and dropping names got me cooperation."
Jeff
"Zeb's sundowning pretty bad," Mitch interjects, unsure whether he's speaking to Sophie et al or requesting Roger pass that information along. "But he'll probably be more functional tomorrow at concert time. If he's gone when Moore's parents wake up I don't think they'll be too worried or surprised, it sounded like he's an occasional houseguest."
Michael
(Sophie's going to defer to Jo on all this, she won't have much to add.)
Bill
(carphone's got a speakerphone, surely. Right, angels? Right, Charlie!)
Michael
(lol no problem)
Leonard
"I'm all in," Jocasta responds, "but we shouldn't rely on any assistance. Classic black bag job, in and out quietly, no noise, no helpers. It should look to Moore like Zeb just wandered off in the night; he's probably already suspicious about everything that's happening. Do you have the sense that Zeb might be dangerous at all in his, uh, current form?"
Jeff
"He's an old bum. If he has some kind of, like, mojo, well, I'd be really surprised."
Leonard
"Well, if you two can get a look at the building and figure out the layout, where Zeb sleeps, whether we'll need to get past any locks or dogs or anything, I can call Padden and Hall and tell them to lose the eyeballs — that's a complication we won't need," she responds. "I can be out there right away, and I'll requisition an ikoter or something from the pharmacy to knock him out."
Jeff
Mitch's use of the term sundowning is probably anachronistic … Nobody tell him.
☏ click
Michael
This is, what, the third black-bag we've done this Mission? Keiner's house, Dominoe, and now Moore's house. Crazy.
Papa Legba's been busy.
So you guys tell me how you're planning this. My curiosity is largely threefold:
approach: which vehicle are we taking, who's the wheelman, what gear are we packing, etc.
B&E: breaking in the back door seems the most logical; we don't have an exact floor plan but the rooms on the right side of the house (as seen from the front door) are clearly the living area and kitchen, so the bedrooms are on the left side of the first floor, probably off a hallway along with a bathroom. Also how late in the evening will we be doing this and what drugs are people taking to stay fresh until tomorrow's concert?
Zeb: if the mission is successful and the target is extracted, where will he be stashed for the next 12-16 hours?
You guys could probably wait long enough to head to Oakland for Marshall to touch down and return to Livermore with the new glyphs, btw.
Jeff
This isn't Mitch's area of expertise but what he's envisioned is waiting until the middle of the night when the house is surely empty of awake people, then getting in via the back door, picking the lock rather than forcing it, such that in the morning it isn't clear it wasn't left unlocked, finding Zeb in the guest bedroom by walking quietly through the house and looking, figuring he'll be on the ground floor, then hauling him out along with his things, such that in the morning it appears he woke early, dressed and left through the back door. Mitch is fairly sneaky (Stealth-13) but lacks Lockpicking (that's Roger's domain) and can barely use an ikoter (Archie is in fact the only member of the team who completed the formal ikoter operation course, it turns out).
Mel
(Could you sense what room he is in with your special powers?)
Jeff
Hmm, I was going to say the range limitations are a problem, but if I can quietly and casually circle the house, just walk around its perimeter, that should be viable, good thought.
Michael
If we have two people doing the B&E they can each have a GU.SHUB glyph. It won't make you silent, so you'll still need to make Stealth rolls, but it will make you effectively invisible (again, to normal baseline humans with no special powers or defenses).
Leonard
We'll need someone to break in, which I assume will be Roger. I don't imagine the lock is that sophisticated as it's just a family home, but we should completely avoid forcible entry. I've got some stealth skills and Mitch and Roger both do as well, and higher than Jocasta, so they might could do the grab while Jocasta does lookout/drives. I doubt any of the interior doors are locked.
One big issue is whether Zeb is sleeping on the first floor, like on the couch or something — which would be good for us — or if he's in the loft, on the third floor, which would be bad. Jocasta's pretty fresh and certainly dosed yesterday before she slept, so I think she'll be fresh and fine with a modafinil. I think whoever goes in should be glyphed for sure. We can take a van for the job.
As far as where to take Zeb, probably out to the barn; it might be a security risk to have him at Livermore, especially if he has powers or abilities we don't know about. But I don't think it matters that much, since the goal is to just keep him away from the concert; hell, we could just keep him in the van.
Bill
Jo's Tactics work for Roger, as usual. Using ikoters with skill is still an issue, but defaulting works if the sneak works.
(What is the effect of shooting a person with the ikoter who's sleeping? If they could possibly not even notice, and just wake up the next day, going through the first floor of the house and knocking out for sure all the sleepers might be a good idea, if grim looking. Where's that Hand of Glory when you need one?)
Michael
Okay, some tactical notes:
assumption right now is that Zeb is/will be in the elder Moores' apartment in their guest room; I am assuming that Roger and Mitch will maintain eyes until Jo joins them to make sure Zeb doesn't wander off beforehand,
the Barn is an option; I am assuming we have at least two secure cells there with facilities, Xanten being in one of them already,
Ikoters are sonic weapons so as long as Zeb does not have any kind of earplugs in, yes, he (or anyone else) can be zapped while sleeping
Bill
Given our last "black bag" turned out to be an honest-to-Legba ghosting, I'm more confident for this kind of action … but there was more prep that time, so I'm still a little worried. We should have some kind of contingency action in mind in case someone wakes up. Roger's all for magic gris-gris that make you invisible, but having at least some kind of mundane disguise might be good. Hoods? Something that makes it look like a burglary gone wrong (although in the Watergate era, does anyone believe that kind of thing anymore?)
Michael
I think general stealth wear is a good idea considering there will be exposure to and from the backyard.
Leonard
If we don't wanna risk our collective incompetence with the ikoter, we can just fill a hypo with some kind of knockout drops, or some halothane, or something.
Jeff
does a failed beam weapons ikoter skill check mean the target wakes up or takes damage or whatever, and there's immediate fallout, or is it just "you don't manage it during that one-second interval, you can try again during the next one-second interval"?
Bill
Once again, I find myself wanting to be the undertaker/chauffeur from the beginning of the Prisoner. Where's the house filled with knock-out gas when you need it?
Michael
Ikoters' rate of fire is 1, so yeah, you can take shot after shot if you "miss" and/or if the victim makes the Will roll.
Jeff
Eventually the battery would run down I guess.
Michael
If you fail the shot, I would imagine it would be reasonable to expect that the "linguistic white noise" would wake them up. Probably have to look up the rules for being woken up from sleep.
Yeah, the power cells are 5 shots for the pistol and 16 for the "rifle"
Jeff
What's the Acc of the thing? Point blank, full three seconds of aiming, those are some hefty positive modifiers.
Michael
I was just typing that! I think a firing line of two gunmen with Aim, a sleeping target, and … yeah. Exactly.
Rifles are the best option here since subtlety is not necessarily a factor. Sling'em over your shoulder while you're carrying/nudging dazed Zeb out to the van.
Ikoter Rifle: Damage Will-3 Aff, Acc 6, Range 23/70, Weight 10, RoF 1, Shots 16(3), ST 8, Bulk -6, Rcl 1, LC 1
Jeff
Ok that's +8 to skill, that oughta offset our working off defaults from Rifle
I like that it’s LC 1, not 0. 2nd amendment rights!
Michael
Do we feel sufficiently prepped?
Jeff
Yeah. I think step one is waiting until the laser mike says they've gone to sleep plus a couple hours, then Mitch will do a walk around outside to ID Zeb's location while Roger picks the lock. Then it's ski masks and invisibility runes and sneaky-sneaky, zappy-zappy, abducty-abducty
Bill
Roger will cautiously go back over to the feds and give them an update— suspect definitely in the house, monitoring until he leaves or get warrant. We’re here all night. I don’t think they had a night shift.
Michael
Yeah, you all can take over from them. Jo will arrive with the van and the glyphs around 11:30, and then it's the waiting game
Okay, let's start off with two rolls from Mitch: one to activate Detect (History B) and one Stealth please. If the Detect power goes off (and I just realized, you have Precise which gives you EXACT distance), I'll roll the Sense roll myself.
Also, are you wearing GU.SHUB for this recon bit?
Jeff
Activation is on a 14-, but if it doesn’t fire Mitch will just take the FP hit and try again.
>>>> SUCCESS
Hmm, better to than not I guess, yes on the glyph
Stealth-13
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
Okay, Mitch's first point of Corruption has been achieved.
I will put it on the board.
Jeff
It was bound to happen eventually
This whole operation is happening, in Mitch’s mind, because he failed to convince Zeb to skip town after he decided he didn’t want to bring Zeb in. So Mitch will pay the price.
Michael
Okay, so your first scan with Detect (History B) reveals no History B taint anywhere on that side of the house! Curious. Not sure if it's the distance, the intervening walls, a lack of concentration, or Zeb's actually not there. He certainly didn't leave the house.
Jeff
Huh. Maybe the retrocreation has already been interrupted to the point that Zeb’s already been replaced by his History-A doppelgänger. That’d be a good sign, all things considered.
On the other hand, as of a couple hours ago Moore still remembers Zeb telling him History-B Bible Stories, so, maybe not
There’s another side of the house to try?
Michael
Yeah, the side with the kitchen and living room. There's no flicker of TV or sign of movement from the front room/parlor but he could be in the kitchen or parlor or, really, anywhere in the building.
Jeff
In a perfect world we’d be using the laser mic to pick up the sounds of breathing in occupied rooms, but that requires a level of skill Mitch surmises is beyond him in this environment.
I’ll try the other side of the house, then
Michael
Okay, new activation roll then I'll roll Sense.
Jeff
14- again
>>>> SUCCESS
Bill
If you get nothing, we may have to fall back on the laser mic, and see what we can do taking time.
Michael
Okay, turns out that first Detect attempt was a misfire of concentration on Mitch's part: Zeb's History B taint is on the left side of the building. Mitch has pinpointed which room he's in with Precise; the guest room is apparently the back room on the left side of the house. He's there, and he's alive and still wobbly.
(first Sense roll failed, second succeeded by 7)
(That's 30 yards and more than enough to pinpoint Zeb.)
Jeff
Whew! Once I’ve got Zeb’s room ID’d I’ll step to where Roger and/or Jo can see me and ASL that I’m ready to go when they are. I guess I need to take the glyph off to do that?
Michael
Yeah, probably easier that way.
Jeff
Heck, I’ll ASL “back and to the left” in case a sniper takes me out in the next few seconds
Michael
All right. So who's actually going into the house, did we settle on that?
Jeff
I think Mitch and Roger with Jo acting as wheelman?
Michael
Okay. Roger hands Mitch a rifle ikoter and the two of them make their way to the back door. Roger needs to give me a Stealth check, though … and take a point of Corruption if he's using his own GU.SHUB glyph.
(These Stealth checks are for not making noise and/or covering your asses in case someone with the ability to see through glyphs spots you, for the record.)
Bill
Yes, Roger will wear the glyph.
Stealth 13.
>>>> FAILURE
Michael
Missed by one. Guess it's up to me to see if any of the first-floor sleepers heard that snapping tree branch Roger just stepped on, one sec
All right. To the back door, then?
Jeff
The lock is Roger’s thing. While he’s working Mitch scans, looking for trouble with Observation I guess.
Bill
It’s not a complicated lock, and bringing out Papa Legba adds complications about movement and dragging bodies. So Roger will just try. (Not that I don’t have a nip on me just in case.)
Lockpicking
>>>> FAILURE
Michael
Don't forget to add +4 to your skill for the high-tech sound-enhancing equipment you already had at the ready from Dominoe.
Boy, talk about a timely GM intrusion.
Bill
Well, that just makes it. Assuming a 17 isn’t an auto fail for 13 skill
Michael
No, it's always measured by effective skill, which is a 17.
But Roger knows he couldn't have done it without the amplified headphones, and he's not sure why. Did Papa Legba get insulted he wasn't called upon?
Bill
Probably. Roger’s probably about to get an earful from a Phantom voice.
Michael
That's just what I was thinking.
Bill
The good news is, he doesn’t have to lock the door back up. Leaving the back door unlocked is what Zeb would do sneaking out early.
Michael
3d6, on a 6 or less you hear voices.
>>>> 3d6 … 5
Oh Jesus CHRIST
Bill
Oy.
Michael
Well, mechanically it's only a -2 to reactions, let's hope you don't have to talk to Zeb
Bill
“Wait— what was that?!”
Michael
But Papa Legba's voice is almost overpowering.
Jeff
Mitch is looking around, doing a double take, because he’s been active-perceptioning and Roger’s reaction to something he’s not picking up.
Michael
Observation roll, Mitch!
Let's ramp up that paranoia baby
Jeff
Observation 15
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
Mitch hears nothing.
Jeff
I’m one more incident away from rolling for Uncontrollable pyro 1
I think
Michael
That's fair.
Bill
“Honor to you, Papa Legba, but the elder is the enemy of our peace.”
Michael
This objectively is not going well, it's almost like there's a weird curse happening or something
Jeff
It should be easier than Dominoe
Bill
(Roger is trying to be quiet, but yeah, better to have this conversation now.)
Leonard
(can't take these guys anywhere)
Jeff
(I’m just relieved that a roll of 17 with an effective skill of 17 isn’t an automatic failure, or indeed a critical failure.)
Bill
“Great loa, he is an old man, we will not harm him, only prevent him harming others.”
Michael
Mitch, Roger is NOT observing operational protocols here
Jeff
Yeah, why is he talking about harming Zeb? I thought we agreed we weren’t harming Zeb!
Michael
PYROOOOOOOO
Jeff
Uncontrollable on 15+
>>>> FAILURE
Michael
Bill
Jesus H Legba Christ.
Michael
It's gettin' hot!
Let me check the stress page on the wiki
Mitch ALSO needs to give me a Phantom Voices roll.
And Roger? Flashback time.
Jeff
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
Mitch does not begin hearing voices.
But it's getting very hot here.
I mean, okay, it's only 20 degrees but y'all are dressed for a March nighttime B&E
Jeff
Assuming Mitch is raising the ambient temperature and not giving Roger heatstroke, he’ll try to turn it off, obviously. I mean, he’ll try to turn it off if he’s giving Roger heatstroke, too.
Also GURPS is metric it’s +20C not +20F
Michael
I knew the metric system would get us all in the end. looks at Rob MacD with blame in my eyes
Goddamn it we need a Canadian to do this absurd math
Jeff
So I think it’s actually about +36 F over ten seconds, at which point I assume Mitch can shut it down
Michael
I mean, that's like mid-80s around the back door of the Moore house
Jeff
Yeah, very abruptly and unnaturally
Michael
(All right, just waiting to see if Roger has a 'Nam flashback)
>>>> FAILURE
walks away from table
Jeff
It’ll then be some amount of time for the heated air to cool down, there’ll be convection as well as radiation so I can’t break out sophomore-level physics and do the math
Bill
Why did you ask me to keep rolling?
Michael
I need a moment. This all just, like, spiraled so fast.
Jeff
Hey, we’re all agreed Mitch doesn’t give Roger heatstroke, so everything else is gravy
Michael
Yeah, but he might think you're Charlie
Bill
Or worse, Marshall.
Jeff
I’m wearing a GU.SHUB glyph, he might not see me
Michael
Well, again, this is MECHANICALLY just a -2 to skill rolls for a VERY brief period but I want to consider what form the flashback takes.
And hey, the door is unlocked.
Jeff
Oh, also, if Roger is gonna start talking to nobody about harming Zeb, Mitch def wants to examine his aura.
>>>> ACTIVATE … SUCCESS
>>>> DETECT … SUCCESS
>>>> ANALYZE … SUCCESS
Bill
Are you sure you wanna be rolling MORE?
Michael
There's two auras in there, Mitch, and they're fighting for superiority at the moment.
Jeff
Awesome, awesome
I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen Roger’s aura doing that before
Last time I saw something like that it was Frank Senior and the living memetic monster
Michael
I'm not sure, if you have witnessed Roger when he is ridden, but when he is ridden there's no, like, fighting over his body.
Bill
Gotcha
Jeff
Yeah, my assumption is that it’s not a thing Mitch would have often watched Roger do, like, he’s seen before-and-after loa riding, but not the transition itself. And anyway this is something different. So, Roger’s been possessed I guess. Awesome.
Bill
It’s been, what, twenty seconds?
Leonard
Jocasta is just sitting in the van reading the latest issue of Glamour, assuming everything is fine
Jeff
I imagine her singing along with the radio. “I remember when rock was young, me and Susie had so much fun, holding hands etc”
Michael
Okay. First while I finish dog duty here, let's have Roger give us a 2d6 seconds duration for the flashback
Bill
>>>> 2d6 … 7
Michael
An average length flashback. And yes, the vision Roger has is of a night raid. No lock to be picked, but a door to be battered down and a VC Papasan to be intimidated. And Papa Legba, while he doesn't luxuriate in Roger's sins, does ask him implicitly if this is the kind of man he wants to keep being.
Bill
Given the flashback and the horror of what’s behind the door, Roger will physically back away from the door in reality. “/Non, non, mon sieur/“
Michael
Okay. Mitch, the door to the Moore home is unlocked and slightly ajar and Roger is tentatively backing away from it. What are you going to do?
Your aura analysis roll is, by the way, good enough to tell you that both auras are part of Roger but in a, yes, split personality kind of way, to use the inaccurate 1970s term
Bill
Or this is what possession looks like when the party is willing …
Not to make more trouble. Oh, and Roger is feeling remorse and guilt and heck, crossing himself like a good Catholic.
Jeff
Mitch will hold off taking any dramatic action, he’ll ASL Roger ‘you okay?’ and give him a few moments to recover, watching the aura and hoping it subsides.
So we just stand there, in the extremely warm March night
Bill
Sweating.
Michael
I would say all the stresses are starting to fade now.
But that was a tricky … yeah, 37 seconds or something
And I would say you two CAN see each other.
Just concentrating for a while is enough to see your vibratory outline
Bill
Roger will give a “mea culpa” to Legba. Then pull himself back together, and look around. He’ll ASL “Better now. Sorry. Bad brain.”
Jeff
Mitch nods and indicates the door, ASLing “go now?”
Bill
Nods. But first, checking the sounds around us.
Michael
Listen roll?
Bill
>>>> SUCCESS
Spot on.
Unless Observation helps, but then only by one
Michael
No sounds from inside the house other than the hum of the fridge. The back door opens directly onto the kitchen. There is a doorway that leads to the hallway (off of which are the two bedrooms/bath) and another doorway that leads to the dining room and then the front parlor.
So, to the guest room?
Bill
Yes. But real quick, before we go in, Roger ASLs to Mitch “We won’t let Z come to harm. We can’t.”
Michael
One more set of Stealth rolls from the both of you.
Bill
>>>> FAILURE
Missed by 2. Ugh.
Michael
Creaky linoleum
Bill
Some people in the ‘70s would put shag carpeting even in the kitchen. Why not here?
Jeff
Stealth 13
>>>> SUCCESS
Is Roger’s aura looking smoother now? I assume?
Bill
I hope you’re paying as much attention to the house as to Roger’s poor overworked psyche.
Michael
Yeah, Roger's looking A-OK
Bill
We’ll see how he does when he has to unsling the rifle from his back and point into the dark.
Michael
Roger's failed Stealth roll will cover both the aforementioned squeaky linoleum and the opening of the guest room door. It's unlocked, thank goodness. In there, on a tiny twin size bed, is Zeb, sleeping soundly. Maybe a tiny bit of apnea. Nothing like the snoring coming from the next room over; that Arthur Moore is a SNORER. Little bit of audial cover anyway.
All right boys, form lines and shoulder arms.
So the roll here defaults to DX-4. The bonus due from the weapon Acc is +6. EXTRA Aim, +2. No defense possible, of course. So you guys are both going to roll DX+4.
And then I make a pair of Will-3 rolls if you both hit.
Jeff
>>>> CRITICAL FAILURE
That is a critical failure
I break it
I break the ikoter
Michael
Roger, I need your roll before I resolve this.
Bill
>>>> SUCCESS
No problem. Assuming I don’t have more flashbacks from being the one to shoot the old man.
Michael
Mr. Hort, would you care to be the one to roll on the Malfunction table?
Jeff
>>>> 3d6 … 14
Michael
Misfire. Spitting neurolinguistic blanks. But Roger's cone of linguistic white noise hits. It wakes Zeb up but does not stun him. ".....Wha?" he says with a start, trying to sit up. Roger, you can shoot again.
Mitch's ikoter will need to be, like, rebooted.
Jeff
Uncontrollable pyro 1, I am melting the damn ikoter if this goes off
>>>> SUCCESS
(whew)
Bill
DX-4
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
That one stuns the old man but good. In fact, he's not dazed, he's unconscious.
Jeff
(it would have been all over the radio in March 1973, like finding a station playing 'Wannabe' in spring of 97)
Is Arthur still snoring?
Bill
Dare I ask about combat shakes?
Michael
Is Arthur still snoring?
Yes.
Dare I ask about combat shakes?
Bill, after we get the old man out of here, you're still largely in combat mode.
But he's dead weight now. If he'd been dazed he could have been gently nudged towards the van.
Jeff
I choose to believe we discussed this in advance: Mitch will haul Zeb in a fireman's carry while Roger grabs Zeb's stuff so in the morning it looks like he ducked out early
Michael
He's a frail old thing, probably 130 pounds or so?
Bill
Ok. Backup option: stretcher via blanket.
Jeff
With a ST of 10, Mitch can stagger out with Zeb over his shoulders
Michael
Mitch can easily carry him, yeah. Encumbered though.
Hustle on out of here?
Bill
Zeb’s stuff is like a guitar and junk? Or is it small enough can Roger keep a hand on his rifle?
Michael
Guitar and clothes.
He's wearing some loaned jammies right now.
Jeff
"dammit oldtimer shasta was nice why couldn't you have just gone to shasta like i said" Mitch is muttering.
Bill
Rifle shouldered, then.
Jeff
We're not stripping him out of the jammies now, if they want to Mycroft Holmes it up and deduce that Zeb was kidnapped by nefarious government men in black then so be it
Bill
Roger scans to try not to miss any tell tale precious knickknacks the old man would have left with.
Michael
Oooh, one sec on that.
I'm gonna spitball that as an IQ-2 roll, Bill.
-2 for the darkness, the hecticness, etc.
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
No, he's got no keys or wallet or any other personal effects on the nightstand or bureau that you can see.
Bill
Off we “sneak” stagger.
Michael
Okay. Two rolls as we walk as quickly as possible out the back door and back to the van. Mitch is occupied with keeping the Oldtimer on his back. Roger, first give us an Observation roll.
Bill
>>>> SUCCESS
Paranoia is clearly setting in.
Michael
Okay, Roger sees E.L. Moore is watching you three from the second floor window. And what Moore sees is a blurry, indistinct, slumped-over Zeb sort of bobbing up and down in the mid-air towards a waiting white van. I need to make a Fright check for my man.
How you gonna play trumpet tomorrow with this kind of night terror hallucination, my man
>>>> SUCCESS
With the penalty that's a failure.
by 3
What kind of special derangement you gonna have for the gig tomorrow morning my dude
>>>> 3d6 … 8
E.L. Moore stands at the window, watching Zeb seemingly being abducted by... someone or something. His gaze is glassy, his eyes wide, and a single hand, pressed up against the window in a silent sign of protest, of weariness, of shock.
(Mild Catatonia for 2d seconds)
Everyone in this house is going crazy tonite
>>>> 2d6 … 6
Should be long enough to get Zeb in the van.
Now time for ROGER'S Fright Check for Post-Combat Shakes.
Bill
Shake it off
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
He's good
(I wonder if Moore will remember him getting not into a white van but a white float-car)
Jeff
We're peeling out now, right? By which I mean driving away in a sedate and non suspicious manner.
Bill
Roger did remember to close the back door behind us. But not lock it.
My raid has a term for this kind of success: “Textbook.”
Jeff
(scenario one: moore goes back to sleep, in the morning he remembers this as a weird nightmare but not something that affects his decisions the next day until he figures out zeb is missing, if zeb goes missing; scenario two: moore goes downstairs to check on zeb, finds him gone, screams and wakes his parents, they collectively decide that zeb left of his own will; scenario three: moore goes downstairs, screams, wakes parents, they freak out because their friend was abducted, the minotaur crawls into our reality in answer to their desperate prayers)
Bill
Let me put it this way: there’s no way we’re going back in after Moore. That’s enough Whammies on Press Your Luck for this mission.
Michael
Boy, the scene with Archie and Dr. Stanton talking about torture techniques at Granite Peak is gonna be a cool spring breeze compared to this
Jeff
("but momma i found his lucky comb on the floor next to the nightstand, he'd never leave without his lucky comb, and he always takes a nip of pickle water from the jar of pickles in the fridge and the level of the pickle water is the same now as when i measured it last night, and the ambient temperature outside is strangely warm even now a half-hour later but it's localized to our back porch!")
Michael
All sure signs of Mothership abduction
Leonard
"Hey, guys, how did it go?", asks Jocasta, hitting the gas on the van as "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree" burbles quietly from the radio.
Michael
I want to give you three some time to chat about everything that just happened in character if you want it. But just in terms of what I need to know before tonight's session:
Given Zeb will be unconscious for another 3-4 minutes and dazed for another 5-6 after that; are we going to keep Zeb unconscious (with drugs, for instance) until we get to the Barn?
Will we try hypnosis in the back of the van instead, once Zeb moves from unconscious to dazed?
Once Zeb is locked up, what will y'all do until tomorrow morning?
Bill
I think we would try hypnosis— Roger is at least willing to try— assuming Zeb isn’t somehow immune.
Jeff
Mitch laughs hollowly as he lays Zeb out on the floor of the van. "How'd it go, well, it went. It went. We managed to avoid waking up the whole house at least. Got the job done."
(Mitch is not aware Moore spotted them.)
I think the best plan of action is for Jo to drive the van someplace a mile or two away, then pull over and swap places with Roger -- she's better-trained in hypnosis than Roger or Mitch.
Leonard
Jo's willing to give hypnosis a try (she's been practicing) but she's gonna make sure that he's bound and have a hypo of halothane or something just in case.
Bill
On how'd it go, Roger will add "Yeah, a loa was not happy with me-- us. Their displeasure can really be felt." Roger thinks about who he's talking to for a second, then feels OK to add: "We need all the powers on our side actually working for us tomorrow, so I gotta insist-- we don't let harm come to Zeb, however we can. I didn't expect the loa to be so interested in the fate of an old man, but they are, and they don't want us to harm him."
"Not sure I'd say it that way to anyone but y'all."
Leonard
"From what I've seen, the loa aren't anyone I'd want standing against me," Jocasta says. "So I'll use a light touch."
Bill
"Thanks."
Jeff
“Me and the saints are on the same side of this one,” Mitch agrees.
Bill
"Well, I don't think they've turned from us, yet. We did have one piece of luck. Moore was at the window as we were leaving... but something, sleep, our glyphs, or the loa, they clouded his eyes, and he didn't react."
Jeff
(Roger does voodoo, voodoo is Santeria, Santeria is Catholicism, Catholicism is Christianity, Christianity includes apostatsy, ergo Mitch and Roger are coreligionists, in Mitch’s mind.)
“Really? Shit.”
Bill
"Yeah. But maybe the 'story' of Zeb leaving in the night will hold up. I don't think Moore has another explanation that will sound real in the morning."
Leonard
"All the more reason we should make sure we're well cloaked when we head to the concert. We don't want to risk anything if he did happen to make either of you. What's the plan with putting the old man under? Are we just trying to keep him sedated, or do we need to get any information out of him?"
Michael
(Well, this might be a good general time to pull over, switch seats as planned, and call this in to Livermore. Because I know Charley had a request when Zeb is brought to the Barn.)
Leonard
Yeah, Jocasta will look for a secluded place to make the switch. She'll call in as soon as she finds one.
Michael
Awesome. So the oldtimer is probably starting to toss and turn a little bit; I figure when Zeb first opens his eyes, Jocasta will be there with the soothing tones to try and put him in a trance. Hypnotism roll, at a +2 to Jo's skill for the benefit of the ikoter daze.
Meanwhile if either Roger or Mitch wants to call Sophie at Livermore, we can get Charley on there.
Bill
Mitch should dial, so Roger can drive. We probably don't want to turn on the speaker phone to prevent messing up the hypnotism.
Michael
"All the more reason we should make sure we're well cloaked when we head to the concert. We don't want to risk anything if he did happen to make either of you. What's the plan with putting the old man under? Are we just trying to keep him sedated, or do we need to get any information out of him?"
Leonard, I was under the impression that protocol was, keep Zeb knocked out in one way or another until he's safe at the Barn and we have more tools at our disposal, but if Roger, Mitch, or Jo want to plant any kind of suggestion in there while he's in trance, of course you have that ability.
Jeff
Yeah, that sounds right. Mitch puts on the headset and calls in.
Michael
"Mitch," Sophie says. "How did it go?"
Jeff
"It went. Couple of hiccups but we, uh, have the package."
"Nobody's hurt."
"Heading to the barn now."
Michael
"Mitch, Charley wanted to know if she can meet you at the Barn. She is working on a project here to help dissipate any residual History B taint in Mansa's music and she wants to know if she can... if she can record the old man's singing and music, see if he'll 'teach' her some of it."
"I thought time was of the essence because of your fear he might be... uncreated when the Moment has passed tomorrow afternoon."
Jeff
"Huh. Well. He's gonna be pretty tired, but maybe."
Michael
(Excellent timing on the Hypnotism roll there)
Jeff
"Jo's checking him over now, we can see what he's up for when we're there."
(Mitch doesn't want to disrupt what Jo is doing.)
Michael
Zeb heeds and responds to Jo's hypnotic prompts. His eyes are locked on hers.
Leonard
>>>> SUCCESS
(made the Hypnotism roll by 3; she'll start with just telling him that he is rested, calm, and safe, and that there is no danger.)
Michael
Zeb remains silent, but Jo can tell by his respiration and blink rate that he is in a relaxed hypnotic state.
He can be put to sleep from here until we get to the Barn.
Bill
Did Jo get to the point where she put down the hypnotic request to "only listen to my voice, when I address you directly..."? That is, are we free to kibutz in the van?
Michael
Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about speaking in front of Zeb if he's going to be in Sleep Mode until we get to the Barn. The trance lasts 1d6 hours but the Barn's only a half-hour away.