Surveillance in Berkeley
Michael
Bill and Jeff, if there's any further surveillance we want to do with the revelation that happened at the very end of the session last night—that those two fans of Krane's seem lightly tainted with History B—you all let me know here.
Bill
Roger’s prepared to just stake out Krane until he comes out again. It may not be meaningful work, but at least it’s work justifying someone’s beliefs: Krane can rest knowing he’s not just paranoid— they are watching.
But that can change if Mitch wants hot pursuit of the History B nerds. It’s up to Mitch to mention it, I believe.
Jeff
Ugh, yeah.
" … so, c'mon, we'll need to know the scope of the stupid asshole cult. Unless you want to split up. Could split up, if you want. Either way, I should move."
Bill
“I’ll come; two of them means two of us. We can find Krane again.”
Michael
They shouldn't be too difficult to find. Mitch has Detect and Shadowing, Roger Driving and Area Knowledge. So why don't we start with Roger rolling a Driving check to aid Mitch, as Mitch is acting as our Shotgun Anunnaki Radar as usual.
Bill
Made it by 2, more if there’s circumstance bonuses from it being my own sweet ride.
Michael
That's great. Mitch! Shadowing roll with a total of a +5 to your skill: +2 from Detect, +2 from recency of the two Krane cultists being not too far away, and +1 from Roger's wheelwork.
>>>> SUCCESS
I need to do a tiny bit of Berkeley-aligned research but that is a crit, even opposed. While I'm doing that, I think both of you should just give me a straight-up Area Knowledge roll and I'll apply applicable penalties.
Okay, I've done my research, because these two losers … they take the bus. Roger follows them at a loose, tacit distance; Mitch's innate radar on their History B taint keeping them just within line of sight at a healthy distance. The two young men get to an AC Transit stop a couple of blocks from the Caffe Med, and they seem to be having a, well, heated discussion. A few other folks at the bus stop—an old woman, and a couple of middle-aged men in business suits—look at them askance. The conversation between the two stays heated for a bit but no one actually throws down or anything. A bus with the legend "Berkeley Hills" comes trundling in from the south and stops, picking up all the waiting passengers. All board via the front bus door and the bus continues on its route. (I'll wait for the Area Knowledge rolls before I talk about the bus route.)
>>>> SUCCESS
>>>> SUCCESS
Well, what's up in the hills. Well, Mitch has been in the Bay Area a while, and he knows that the Berkeley Hills resemble the Hollywood Hills: winding roads, multi-level homes on hillsides, not as tony or exclusive as Hollywood, of course, but a respite from the urban sprawl of Berkeley-Oakland. What Roger knows is that up in the hills hides the original Lawrence Labs. The Lawrence Berkeley Labs (as opposed to the Lawrence Livermore Labs, of course). A bunch of Berkeley's physical science research labs and institutions are up there, along with residential areas, the Berkeley Rose Garden, and the Cal Botanical Gardens.
Bill
Huh. Roger does have his lab ID on him; hell, Mitch has a guard ID. Up we go!
Roger is a little sad this isn’t a chase through these winding roads.
Michael
So Roger keeps a loose leash on the AC Transit bus, especially as traffic thins out as Roger and Mitch make their way to the hills of La Loma Park. The bus makes a few stops, mostly dropping off: one of the businessmen who got onto the bus with our two targets gets off at a residential intersection.
As you get further into the hills, the bus approaches what looks to be a student-heavy area, close to the physical sciences campus up here: a lot of VW bugs outside houses, a lot of big, slightly rundown houses that look like frat houses or group houses, here and there a couple of 20-something young men working in a garage with the door wide open on cars (or, yes, electronics), a couple of open windows on second floors with speakers emitting heavy rock music into the streets—even at 1 in the afternoon on a Wednesday.
Our two targets get off at the corner of a couple of streets in this student neighborhood. They seem to have at least superficially reconciled, as they walk next to each other, chatting amiably. They turn down a winding road with a bunch of terraced homes on it; about three doors down they go into a big 4 or 5-bedroom group house. Mitch's Detect (History B) sputters out with them out of line of sight, and then Mitch catches a glimpse of the street name. Shasta Road.
Bill
Roger does the classic “keep going” past their drop off point, so they don’t notice. Then he’ll find the nearest pull-off out of sight, and park.
Michael
Roger confirms the address for future reference as 2950 Shasta Rd.
Bill
“Hey, Shasta.” Roger notices. “Isn’t that … he cuts himself off before saying the word “coincidence” to Mitch.
Jeff
Mitch is shaking his head with the resigned air of the man who's seen it all before. "I'm going to walk around the block," he says getting out of the car and doing his best to deliberately scan for History-B, which still feels weird.
Bill
Roger will lock up the car and follow; enemy territory calls for eyes on your squad mate.
Michael
Yeah, Mitch, go for it. Give me a set of Detect rolls?
>>>> ACTIVATE … SUCCESS
>>>> DETECT … SUCCESS
>>>> ANALYZE … SUCCESS
All right. There's nothing else in the neighborhood that vibes History B. Everything around here seems terrifically ontologically stable. And the faint fingerprint of our two Krane cultists and their History B taint seems localized to their house; it's just barely perceptible at this distance through the walls of the house. But they're still in there. And as Mitch grabs a shadowy spot under a tree a few doors down from 2950, he goes to work analyzing those auras a little further. The History B energy around them hasn't just faded because of the intervening distance and walls. Mitch feels way less intensity—by multiple orders of magnitude—to the taint now that 20 minutes have gone by since their encounter with Krane. Mitch now realizes that the taint was probably only flaring up because of their proximity to Krane. And again; for some reason Mitch can't help but feel like the taint is thanks to some kind of Faustian deal, some sort of intentional seeking-out of History B. It's just one of those instinctive feelings that often comes with the "flavor" of History B energy that comes with a good thorough analysis of Mitch's Detect.
Mitch now realizes that the taint was probably only flaring up because of their proximity to Krane.
Whether this was true due to merely the physical proximity to Krane or some kind of belief energy he inspired in them, or both, Mitch is not certain.
Jeff
"It could be worse," Mitch tells Roger. "Those sacks just seem to have picked something up from seeing Krane; they're not worshipping Baphomet in their basement. Another sign this whole scene is stinking with potential energy, I guess."
Bill
“So potential means no head cracking now? Alright, I guess we drive back to the source. Hope Krane hasn’t taken off.”
Michael
You guys want to head back to Krane's apartment? Maybe point Mitch's laser mic at his third-floor window?
Jeff
Man, I always forget I have that thing.
Michael
I was just re-reading the Moore household logs which is why I remembered it.
Jeff
Well, I guess there's a slim but nonzero chance that Krane is having a History-B-infused acquaintance over for high tea and expository discussion. He did give the impression of being a loner, though. Regardless, we can give it a shot.
Maybe pick up Krane's end of his phone call with Viv, I dunno.
Michael
Okay, Mitch, give me an Electronics Operation (Surveillance) roll.
>>>> SUCCESS
Yeah, so before Krane did his Viv-advised breathing and meditation, he did what he rarely does: open the window shades to get some natural sunlight in his apartment's living room. So when he goes to the phone to call Viv at MRI, his window glass is clear and Mitch is able to get a great crystal-clear transcript of Andy's side of the conversation in mission-four-at-the-mental-research-institute. After he hangs up, Krane lights another cigarette, hacks a cough or two, and then flips on the TV set and watches daytime soap operas.
Bill
Well, that nets Roger and Mitch a schedule of times when these two are planning on having conversations. And drinks!
Michael
You guys got any next steps at this point, or is it back to Livermore? It's about 1:30 in the afternoon right now, and a 45 minute drive or so back to the lab. Or are you going on longer-term stakeout and just calling in a sitrep?
Jeff
The info is actionable enough we should call it in.