Griffin O'Callahan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
icastsword) wrote2021-08-13 09:00 pm
icastsword) wrote2021-08-13 09:00 pm
Entry tags:
Act 1 Epilogue: Saying Goodbye
After a couple of days, Jericho gets all of his possessions back, along with a little note and a private line to Verona.
Griffin was contacted about a week later by Aerin about that date. :)
About a week and a half after the events of Ozamuth's fall, Jericho receives a phone call from his good good friend Remy LaRue. He invites Jericho and everyone who wants to come out for drinks.
Crimeny fixes their glamor so they're not a Dickensian waif, they're now a lumberjack.
We ask about Remy's Pregante wife. She's doing fine, she's still got about seven months to go, they don't have any names picked out. What about "Jericho?" Shane says fuck no, that kid'll get beat up in school.
Remy asks after Nellie; he heard the thing with Alistair got a little personal? How's she doing? Oh, she's fine! Does Remy want to see her gun? :D
Serra asks why we haven't got any loot crates lately. Remy apologizes and says he hasn't got any good loot lately. She forgives him because he's buying drinks.
Remy doesn't want to rain on our parade, we've done some amazing things. He's concerned that we're getting involved in a lot of stuff coincidentally. In his line of work he knows there's no such thing as coincidence.
Who would be the first to go home? Probably Pip. Griffin likely leaves pretty soon after Nellie. We filter out at different times. Jericho probably leaves last. Serra, too, because free drinks. Also Crimeny. Crimeny is hustling people at pool. This fucking lumberjack is cleaning shop.
Eh, Shane's still there too, why not? Only Nellie and Griffin leave early.
Remy asks Jericho to walk up and settle the tab with him to get him away from the crew, all private-like. He asks Jericho what Jericho thinks of Interplay. Jericho replies that he thinks Interplay has some good people working for it. Remy tells him to stop being cute. What's Jericho's gut instinct?
Jericho doesn't trust anybody who makes more money than he does. He's not sure what to think of some of the men at the top.
Remy asks Jericho for a favor: Be careful, okay?
Jericho promises he won't go looking for trouble. That doesn't seem exactly reassuring to Remy, because trouble seems to have a habit of finding Jericho. But it'll likely do.
"Some of them have good heads on their shoulders."
Shane is standing on the bar, just chugging.
Remy pays the tab.
A couple of days pass, and we get invited to a get-together at Basil's! It's right at the end of May - this can be an early birthday party for Griffin, too. Basil and Emlek are celebrating the formal public announcement of their engagement. Chad is also here; he's pals with Emlek because they go to the same gym. Also she's a beloved member of Chad and Griffin's Gains and Games club. Emlek surprises Griffin with a cake.
Everybody rolls Perception. Crimeny rolls a Nat 20+10. Shane, Crimeny, and Jericho notice Remy is not there. Not like he was here and then he left - he never showed up. Jericho sidles up to Charlotte and flirts with her a bit before getting around to asking about Remy.
Remy got called into work for some kind of special project. It was last-minute. He's been working some late nights. His workload these past few months has been insane. She almost wishes he'd never left the force. He's got a lot of projects he's overseeing.
While this conversation is going on, Shane gets a text. Fuck, he's right in the middle of Pokemon Go. Well, he reads the text. Then he rereads the text.
What's the name of the guy? Chad. Shane grabs Chad. Shane has to go. You know that neighbor lady who's always locking herself out of her apartment? Ms Hutchinson. She's gone and done it again. Shane's going to go let her in. Maybe he'll be back, maybe he won't. Chad reminds him to be polite.
Shane peaces out.
The celebration lasts well into the evening.
Later that night: Jericho. It is 3am. What fresh hell is this? His phone goes off. It's the LaRue's house number. He answers the phone. All he hears is crying. Eventually Charlotte is able to put together some words:
Remy is gone.
Jericho immediately gets up to go to the LaRue's house. Charlotte is still sobbing. She is inconsolable.
Remy LaRue is dead.
This is where we smash cut to a week later, at Remy's funeral. Since this is an Interplay affair, it's very small. Naturally the whole crew is invited.
Remy was on a mission, and was killed by an assassin. It is a closed-casket funeral. There are a few people from Interplay - Andre and Toby. Surprisingly, Watkins and Master Ambrosia are also in attendance. Charlotte is a total mess through the whole thing. She completely loses her composure as the casket is lowered into the ground.
Master Ambrosia offers his condolences, and tells her that she will be taken care of.
Let's check in on the crew. How's everybody handling this? What are the grief levels like?
Jericho: Cold fury and suspicion. He doesn't trust Ambrosia one bit. He's asked Verona to see if she can leverage her contacts to find out if someone put a hit out on an interplay agent.
Pip: She's not quite ready to start accusing members of Interplay of foul play, but she's also probably the most comfortable with death of the party. She is subdued and sad, but that's life. She is respectfully serious.
Shane: He's feeling kind of sick, looks like he hasn't slept in a few days. He's mostly keeping to himself. He's being quiet and respectful and not engaging with anyone.
Crimeny: They're not familiar enough with death to understand the full emotional ramifications. They understand the concept but don't have the emotional connection. They also think there's something fishy going on here.
Serra: She's just trying not to cry, because what the hell?
Griffin: Feels like he's suffering from a persistent gut-punch. He's grieving pretty hard and sticking close to his bestie Pip.
Jericho takes Charlotte home and makes sure she's settled.
Later that night, around midnight, there is a knock at Jericho's door. It's Shane.
Jericho rolls Insight on Shane. He rolls a 1. It's just Shane. He lets Shane inside because he rolled a 1. He asks what the fuck is going on.
Kind of a lot actually. Do you mind if we sit down?
Jericho asks if this the kind of a lot where we're gonna need a drink.
Yes. It's whiskey time.
For once Shane appears to be at a loss for words. He's coming to Jericho with a confession. He hasn't been honest with all of us. He was never actually fired from Interplay. He's still working for them, he was just reassigned.
He was spying on us.
He told them a lot. Not everything. They don't know about Jericho, and he hasn't told them personal things. Mostly it's just been things related to missions and jobs we've taken. Can Shane have more whiskey? Jericho pours him a shot. There's more, of course. He reaches into his man-purse and pulls out a notebook. He hands it to Jericho. Jericho takes it and opens it.
And now we rewind a bit.
It is the night of the party at Basil's. Shane is standing in front of a non-descript warehouse. This warehouse is Interplay property. It's where confidential records are stored - an offsite archive. There's normally a guard stationed by the gate, but there is no guard presently. Shane sends his cat off to investigate that. Nekonomicon goes and peeks. There's a logbook for change of shifts, etc. The current security guard appears to have taken a break, but there is no one to relieve him. No one has signed in to relieve him. The gate is open/unlocked. Shane lets himself in.
14 to Investigate: Shane makes his way up to the main doors of the warehouse. The door leading in is unlocked. Roll Stealth. It's a 7. The door creaks loudly when Shane opens the door. He freezes in place. He doesn't hear anything. Since he hears nothing, he creeps inside. NOW he can roll Perception. He rolls a Nat 20. Plus 2. There's dim lighting in here. It's packed with shelves that are packed with boxes. The shelves go up 30-40 feet. A lift or ladder would be required to get to the boxes higher up. Down at the opposite end is an office. The lights of the office are off, but Shane perceives a quick flash of light as if someone shut off a flashlight light real fast.
It would be smart to leave and call for backup, but since this is the past, Shane doesn't do that. He rolls another Stealth - 17 this time. He moves between the very high racks. The aisles are very tightly packed. Shane creeps along and gets to the office. By the time he gets to the office, he notices the door is ajar. Previously it had been closed.
Shane creeps up to the door and peeks in. He rolls a 5 to perceive, plus 2, so 7 total. He doesn't hear anything. He goes in. There's a desk in there. A number of files have been pulled, and they are strewn about half-hazardly on the desk. There's some light coming in from the office window. Since he sees no one, he turns as if to leave, and rolls a 5 Perception. He shrugs his shoulders and waltzes out of the office to go back to the entrance.
Actually he's not leaving, he's going to Investigate more: Unnatural 20. He slides out of the office. He spots a scrap of paper that looks like it was dropped, toward one of the aisles at the far end of the warehouse. The rest of the warehouse is clean and there's no debris so this is very suspicious. Shane creeps that-a-way. Before reaching down to pick up the paper, he looks around to see if he sees anyone. He rolls a 5 to Perceive, figures it's safe, and crouches down to pick up the paper. There's some writing on it, and it looks like it was torn out of something.
He hears a click behind him. It's a familiar click. It's the sound of a gun cocking.
Assuming that he's about to get shot, he tries to pull a cool maneuver where he whips around and shoots an eldritch blast. Shane rolls a Nat 20 to hit.
Call an ambulance, but not for me!
Now Ryo rolls a second Nat 20. Holy shit.
Shane whips around and fires off four supremely precise Eldritch Blasts. The gun goes off and nails Shane in the shoulder. Not the good one, the left one. The force of Shane's spell blows this person 10 feet back.
He gets up and acts like he's going to cast another spell. He whips out his phone to turn on the flashlight. To his horror, he sees LaRue lying motionless on the ground.
Shane can tell that LaRue is barely alive. His entire torso is caved in.
LaRue does register that it's Shane. He reaches into his coat with a shaky hand, and pulls out a leather-bound journal. It's beaten up and stuffed with a bunch of loose-leaf papers. He pushes it into Shane's hands. The whole journal is written in cypher, and it's a very complicated cypher.
He puts his hand on Shane's face and gently pats it, and smiles. Then he dies.
Shane is now questioning all of his life choices.
He calls Watkins back and tells him his mission was successful. Watkins wants to know who it was. It was Agent LaRue. Watkins tells him good job.
Fast forward to Jericho's apartment in the present. Shane has just confessed all of the above to Jericho.
Shane was told that someone broke into the records and that Shane was to eliminate them. Now that storytime is finished, Shane looks like he wants to puke. He can't look Jericho in the eyes right now.
Jericho wants to know if Shane is still working for Watkins.
As of right now, yes.
Jericho informs Shane that he is working for JERICHO now. Jericho wants to know what is going on with Watkins, and he wants to know now.
Shane doesn't have that information at this moment.
Jericho tells him he'd better damn well get it.
Shane says he will.
Griffin was contacted about a week later by Aerin about that date. :)
About a week and a half after the events of Ozamuth's fall, Jericho receives a phone call from his good good friend Remy LaRue. He invites Jericho and everyone who wants to come out for drinks.
Crimeny fixes their glamor so they're not a Dickensian waif, they're now a lumberjack.
We ask about Remy's Pregante wife. She's doing fine, she's still got about seven months to go, they don't have any names picked out. What about "Jericho?" Shane says fuck no, that kid'll get beat up in school.
Remy asks after Nellie; he heard the thing with Alistair got a little personal? How's she doing? Oh, she's fine! Does Remy want to see her gun? :D
Serra asks why we haven't got any loot crates lately. Remy apologizes and says he hasn't got any good loot lately. She forgives him because he's buying drinks.
Remy doesn't want to rain on our parade, we've done some amazing things. He's concerned that we're getting involved in a lot of stuff coincidentally. In his line of work he knows there's no such thing as coincidence.
Who would be the first to go home? Probably Pip. Griffin likely leaves pretty soon after Nellie. We filter out at different times. Jericho probably leaves last. Serra, too, because free drinks. Also Crimeny. Crimeny is hustling people at pool. This fucking lumberjack is cleaning shop.
Eh, Shane's still there too, why not? Only Nellie and Griffin leave early.
Remy asks Jericho to walk up and settle the tab with him to get him away from the crew, all private-like. He asks Jericho what Jericho thinks of Interplay. Jericho replies that he thinks Interplay has some good people working for it. Remy tells him to stop being cute. What's Jericho's gut instinct?
Jericho doesn't trust anybody who makes more money than he does. He's not sure what to think of some of the men at the top.
Remy asks Jericho for a favor: Be careful, okay?
Jericho promises he won't go looking for trouble. That doesn't seem exactly reassuring to Remy, because trouble seems to have a habit of finding Jericho. But it'll likely do.
"Some of them have good heads on their shoulders."
Shane is standing on the bar, just chugging.
Remy pays the tab.
A couple of days pass, and we get invited to a get-together at Basil's! It's right at the end of May - this can be an early birthday party for Griffin, too. Basil and Emlek are celebrating the formal public announcement of their engagement. Chad is also here; he's pals with Emlek because they go to the same gym. Also she's a beloved member of Chad and Griffin's Gains and Games club. Emlek surprises Griffin with a cake.
Everybody rolls Perception. Crimeny rolls a Nat 20+10. Shane, Crimeny, and Jericho notice Remy is not there. Not like he was here and then he left - he never showed up. Jericho sidles up to Charlotte and flirts with her a bit before getting around to asking about Remy.
Remy got called into work for some kind of special project. It was last-minute. He's been working some late nights. His workload these past few months has been insane. She almost wishes he'd never left the force. He's got a lot of projects he's overseeing.
While this conversation is going on, Shane gets a text. Fuck, he's right in the middle of Pokemon Go. Well, he reads the text. Then he rereads the text.
What's the name of the guy? Chad. Shane grabs Chad. Shane has to go. You know that neighbor lady who's always locking herself out of her apartment? Ms Hutchinson. She's gone and done it again. Shane's going to go let her in. Maybe he'll be back, maybe he won't. Chad reminds him to be polite.
Shane peaces out.
The celebration lasts well into the evening.
Later that night: Jericho. It is 3am. What fresh hell is this? His phone goes off. It's the LaRue's house number. He answers the phone. All he hears is crying. Eventually Charlotte is able to put together some words:
Remy is gone.
Jericho immediately gets up to go to the LaRue's house. Charlotte is still sobbing. She is inconsolable.
Remy LaRue is dead.
This is where we smash cut to a week later, at Remy's funeral. Since this is an Interplay affair, it's very small. Naturally the whole crew is invited.
Remy was on a mission, and was killed by an assassin. It is a closed-casket funeral. There are a few people from Interplay - Andre and Toby. Surprisingly, Watkins and Master Ambrosia are also in attendance. Charlotte is a total mess through the whole thing. She completely loses her composure as the casket is lowered into the ground.
Master Ambrosia offers his condolences, and tells her that she will be taken care of.
Let's check in on the crew. How's everybody handling this? What are the grief levels like?
Jericho: Cold fury and suspicion. He doesn't trust Ambrosia one bit. He's asked Verona to see if she can leverage her contacts to find out if someone put a hit out on an interplay agent.
Pip: She's not quite ready to start accusing members of Interplay of foul play, but she's also probably the most comfortable with death of the party. She is subdued and sad, but that's life. She is respectfully serious.
Shane: He's feeling kind of sick, looks like he hasn't slept in a few days. He's mostly keeping to himself. He's being quiet and respectful and not engaging with anyone.
Crimeny: They're not familiar enough with death to understand the full emotional ramifications. They understand the concept but don't have the emotional connection. They also think there's something fishy going on here.
Serra: She's just trying not to cry, because what the hell?
Griffin: Feels like he's suffering from a persistent gut-punch. He's grieving pretty hard and sticking close to his bestie Pip.
Jericho takes Charlotte home and makes sure she's settled.
Later that night, around midnight, there is a knock at Jericho's door. It's Shane.
Jericho rolls Insight on Shane. He rolls a 1. It's just Shane. He lets Shane inside because he rolled a 1. He asks what the fuck is going on.
Kind of a lot actually. Do you mind if we sit down?
Jericho asks if this the kind of a lot where we're gonna need a drink.
Yes. It's whiskey time.
For once Shane appears to be at a loss for words. He's coming to Jericho with a confession. He hasn't been honest with all of us. He was never actually fired from Interplay. He's still working for them, he was just reassigned.
He was spying on us.
He told them a lot. Not everything. They don't know about Jericho, and he hasn't told them personal things. Mostly it's just been things related to missions and jobs we've taken. Can Shane have more whiskey? Jericho pours him a shot. There's more, of course. He reaches into his man-purse and pulls out a notebook. He hands it to Jericho. Jericho takes it and opens it.
And now we rewind a bit.
It is the night of the party at Basil's. Shane is standing in front of a non-descript warehouse. This warehouse is Interplay property. It's where confidential records are stored - an offsite archive. There's normally a guard stationed by the gate, but there is no guard presently. Shane sends his cat off to investigate that. Nekonomicon goes and peeks. There's a logbook for change of shifts, etc. The current security guard appears to have taken a break, but there is no one to relieve him. No one has signed in to relieve him. The gate is open/unlocked. Shane lets himself in.
14 to Investigate: Shane makes his way up to the main doors of the warehouse. The door leading in is unlocked. Roll Stealth. It's a 7. The door creaks loudly when Shane opens the door. He freezes in place. He doesn't hear anything. Since he hears nothing, he creeps inside. NOW he can roll Perception. He rolls a Nat 20. Plus 2. There's dim lighting in here. It's packed with shelves that are packed with boxes. The shelves go up 30-40 feet. A lift or ladder would be required to get to the boxes higher up. Down at the opposite end is an office. The lights of the office are off, but Shane perceives a quick flash of light as if someone shut off a flashlight light real fast.
It would be smart to leave and call for backup, but since this is the past, Shane doesn't do that. He rolls another Stealth - 17 this time. He moves between the very high racks. The aisles are very tightly packed. Shane creeps along and gets to the office. By the time he gets to the office, he notices the door is ajar. Previously it had been closed.
Shane creeps up to the door and peeks in. He rolls a 5 to perceive, plus 2, so 7 total. He doesn't hear anything. He goes in. There's a desk in there. A number of files have been pulled, and they are strewn about half-hazardly on the desk. There's some light coming in from the office window. Since he sees no one, he turns as if to leave, and rolls a 5 Perception. He shrugs his shoulders and waltzes out of the office to go back to the entrance.
Actually he's not leaving, he's going to Investigate more: Unnatural 20. He slides out of the office. He spots a scrap of paper that looks like it was dropped, toward one of the aisles at the far end of the warehouse. The rest of the warehouse is clean and there's no debris so this is very suspicious. Shane creeps that-a-way. Before reaching down to pick up the paper, he looks around to see if he sees anyone. He rolls a 5 to Perceive, figures it's safe, and crouches down to pick up the paper. There's some writing on it, and it looks like it was torn out of something.
He hears a click behind him. It's a familiar click. It's the sound of a gun cocking.
Assuming that he's about to get shot, he tries to pull a cool maneuver where he whips around and shoots an eldritch blast. Shane rolls a Nat 20 to hit.
Call an ambulance, but not for me!
Now Ryo rolls a second Nat 20. Holy shit.
Shane whips around and fires off four supremely precise Eldritch Blasts. The gun goes off and nails Shane in the shoulder. Not the good one, the left one. The force of Shane's spell blows this person 10 feet back.
He gets up and acts like he's going to cast another spell. He whips out his phone to turn on the flashlight. To his horror, he sees LaRue lying motionless on the ground.
Shane can tell that LaRue is barely alive. His entire torso is caved in.
LaRue does register that it's Shane. He reaches into his coat with a shaky hand, and pulls out a leather-bound journal. It's beaten up and stuffed with a bunch of loose-leaf papers. He pushes it into Shane's hands. The whole journal is written in cypher, and it's a very complicated cypher.
He puts his hand on Shane's face and gently pats it, and smiles. Then he dies.
Shane is now questioning all of his life choices.
He calls Watkins back and tells him his mission was successful. Watkins wants to know who it was. It was Agent LaRue. Watkins tells him good job.
Fast forward to Jericho's apartment in the present. Shane has just confessed all of the above to Jericho.
Shane was told that someone broke into the records and that Shane was to eliminate them. Now that storytime is finished, Shane looks like he wants to puke. He can't look Jericho in the eyes right now.
Jericho wants to know if Shane is still working for Watkins.
As of right now, yes.
Jericho informs Shane that he is working for JERICHO now. Jericho wants to know what is going on with Watkins, and he wants to know now.
Shane doesn't have that information at this moment.
Jericho tells him he'd better damn well get it.
Shane says he will.