The Firehouse. Home sweet home.

[GreyWolfVT]

Cliffs notes version please?

[Pulpatoon]

Okay, the reductio ad absurdum:

• The Mayor owns us and is dirty.
• Father Belmont has a guilt-eating demon.

There are a lot of details, and given that we are still engaged in trying to solve these mysteries, being familiar with them is important, so I hope everyone will read through the summary linked above.

[Taaz]

Yeah I would say first order of business is to have an in character meeting, and bring everyone up to speed.

[Pulpatoon]

Etta leads the rest of the Ghostbusters away from the new car, to the library, where she presents the two whiteboards. Grabbing a marker, she adds their latest findings:

Mayor Sandy Sanders
• Owns this franchise
–– Total Initial Investment: $1.1mil
--–– Sandy Sanders, Investor: $33,000
--–– FSWHREIMI, Inc. LLC: $605,000 ←Fort Enterprise White Hat Real Estate (in other words, still Mayor Sanders)
--–– GBHQ & Sub: $165,000
-- After expenses, we get 15% of profits from our activities. The rest of it goes to our investors.

• Explicitly Corrupt
–– Wants us to respond to or ignore calls based on his development goals.
-- Owns plumb near everything and is not afraid to retaliate.
-- Controls the building, and with it the Containment Grid.
-- GBI owns the portable equipment.
-- It’s easy to see a situation where we have to go against Sanders wishes, and he locks us out of the firehouse. Inevitably, this will be during a moment of paranormal crisis. We’ll need to be able to secure the contents of the containment grid and access to our equipment. ESCAPE PLAN!

Escape Plan
• Access equipment
-- A secondary location for storing equipment?
-- A secret door in to the firehouse?
-- Legal route to removing GBI equipment? (probably not a timely solution)
• Secure contained ghosts
-- How long can a ghost stay in a trap?
-- Backup containment unit?
-- Vehicular containment unit?
-- Can GBI periodically come and collect our contained ghosts and move them to a more secure grid?
• Get out from under Sanders thumb
-- Louis Tully finds a loophole in our contract (not counting on it)
-- Buy Out (anybody got a spare million bucks lying around?)
-- FBI (Corrupt real estate practices = federal housing charges) (will take a long time)
-- Discredit (hard to do: old boys network; the man is charming AF)
-- Run for Mayor? (Looooooooong shot)
-- Father Belmont: does he have dirt on the mayor? Are they in conflict or cahoots?
----Sanders was a congregant of Belmont's—split over tithes

Father Belmont
That church of his is ten pounds of spooky in a five pound cracker barrel.
• From the parking lot, PKE reading Class 6, high rate of flux!!!!
• History of disappearances in Fort Enterprise (30% correspond to attendees of the Church of the Living God; 39% if you include attendees and those targeted by Belmont’s TV show)
• Kindle: Romanian Demon!
-- Origins: Pagan Turkey. Migrated to Romania in early Middle Ages.
-- Feeds on guilt.
-- Bound to beech tree, in 1606 by Othodox priest

• Church of the Living God: congregation of about 30.
• TV show used to terrorize/blackmail the populace. Victims/subjects show elevated rate of suicide, divorce, bankruptcy and disappearance.
-- Watch Dogs: collect dirt on populace for Belmont’s show.

• History:
-- Founded by Belmont’s father after mission among Native Americans --- alcoholic
-- Fire: 1909, killed the pastor, Belmont’s father
-- The Rood: old cross, rescued from old church, after it burned down --- bet you it's made of beech!
-- Cordelia Moffet: Belmont’s wife (deceased). Died the same year she married (1916).

"Boys," says Etta, "we've got ourselves a big job. We're pretty sure there's a demon in Belmont's church. It's been influencing things for over 100 years, and so it's probably got things really set up to its precise liking.

"We need to know how to protect ourselves when we go in there, and how to root it out when we find it. But, and this is important—we need a reason to go in, in the first place. We don't have the legal right to bust down doors because we think they've got something nasty in their woodshed. And Father Belmont isn't likely to call us to bust his own church."

[Scott308]

Lionel "Freight Train" Williams

A reason? But...it's a church. Can't we just, you know, go in?

[Pulpatoon]

"Not with proton packs on, no. Not if they don't want us there."

[Taaz]

Jason waits and follows Etta Not to mention there is no way those two don't have some sort of plans with or to deal with each other so we cant just run to the Mayor or his people. This needs investigating and a light touch.

[Rex]

Mac

"Agreed, a light touch is needed. But we need to have some sort of charge in plan in case the light touch triggers something we need to deal with right then. maybe we start by trying to research the demon some more or perhaps the priest who bound it to the beech, do we have anything more on him? How did he find its weakness then? Maybe the orthodox church has some records somewhere?"

[Taaz]

Yeah, now that we have a name and good idea I'm gonna start full research mode on Kindle, pull everything I can find on it, its worshipers, anything. Then see if we can connect that to the church. He props himself on the edge of a table Little town like this, probably has some kind of genealogical society to, we could see if there are anyone descended from the original parish, or maybe even a Romania or Turkish historical society. The readings Etta pulled even from the parking lot this thing is big and strong, I really do not want it gunning for us. After finishing he picks up a nearby book, an old tweed covered book with no title and started scanning through it.

Jason is still listening and participating in the conversation hes just wants to be able to make some brains/occult rolls if able?

[Bluehorse]

go for it! This was the back and forth I wanted to see.

[Scott308]

Lionel "Freight Train" Williams

Yeah, that makes sense. But we can go into the church as civilians to take a look around, get some idea what things are like inside. 'Course, you can do that when you go talk to him, Etta. I'll let you egghead types- no offense- do the research. I'm not real good at that stuff, especially with no tutors to help me. I'll go put the stickers on the Ecto, try to get that ready so we can use it.

[Pulpatoon]

Etta: "This doesn't strike me as a welcome-them-with-open-arms kind of church. We could go in, and can certainly keep my postponed appointment, but I'd like some protections against whatever is going on in there before I do.

"I suppose the most effective defense against the demon is simply not being eaten up by guilt over anything. We all may need to take a long look in the mirror and make peace with ourselves before we confront this Kindle."

Etta volunteers to take on the shoeleather-based research. "I'll look up genealogical societies, any Romanian or Turkish cultural institutions, and I believe I heard this morning that there was an Orthodox Church in town.

"Jason, I assume you'll want to do the deep dive into Kindle.

"Who's up for tracking down the names of Belmont's congregation?

"Any other thoughts on what we should be doing?"

[Bluehorse]

So far Etta and Jason need to make their respective hard research rolls.

Lionel can make a moderate roll for putting decals on the new Ecto, he or anyone else that wants to make a hard roll for installing lights, siren, or anything else please designate what you are doing for each install or action and roll them individually.

A little meta for you, if someone wants to work on the lab side of things, you can make a hard roll to research what modifications or settings might be needed for taking on a demon like kindle, or make an impossible roll for finding something that should definitely work.

[Taaz]

Jason is listening to the others when he notices a promising lead for information on Kindle, he grabs several books and heads to the large desk and pulls out his laptop connecting to the online resources trying to build a dossier on Kindle. He hears Etta speak to him, Uh, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna try to pull together everything I can on Kindle first, then hopefully we can figure out a way to neutralize it. he goes back to the computer, looking intently at search results and chewing on a pen.

I used 4 brownie points for this roll, and I looked but could i get a current count of those, ive been slacking on keeping my sheet up to date.
Brains: [3d6] = 10 Ghost:[1d6] = 6 Brownie Points: [4d6] = 11

[GreyWolfVT]

Roy having been caught up on the information goes to any computer he can and does some research to see what he can dig up on any of the learned information Etta managed to garner from the mayor.

[Pulpatoon]

Etta's research montage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcLF6vLFxxc

Brownie Points: [2d6] = 5
Research: [6d6] = 18 Ghost: [1d6] = 3
Total: 26

[Rex]

Mac

"I am going to see if I can dig up anything on the history of the cross."

OOC: Mac is spending 30 brownie points to increase Brains to 4, he has history. Spending 2 brownie points to add 2 die.

Cross History [5d6] = 15 Ghost Die [1d6] = 4
Not sure I got this right so let me know if I need to fix it.

[Bluehorse]

The Firehouse
Making Connections
Aug. 9, 2018, 3:00 pm
Hot and Humid Outside

Jason gets to work finding out whatever he can on Kindle, cross-referencing the sources he has at his disposal.  The legends are few and far between, especially in what would be called modern text in the past couple hundred years.  For the most part, it seems to be exactly that working against them as most of the stories surrounding his legend stem from the early 1800s when there was a push to disregard such supernatural tales are being nothing more than superstition.  What few stories there are about him have been marginalized and mostly dismissed, until he makes a connection that leads him to a name:  Popescu...  

Etta is hard at work trying to find much the same kinds of information, and of course comes up with much of the same information that Jason does, seeing little to nothing listed in church documents about the vague entity known as Kindle.  Her dive into the public records of the general legend do point towards an old church located in the Retezat Mountains near the foot of Peleaga.  Apparently, this is the church where a Father Popascu trapped the demon in the beech tree there back in 1802.  The tree went on to live for having an unnaturally long life.  It was not until near 1915 when the War came to that area.  Some reports say that the site was bombed and other say the tree was struck by lightning, but all stories agree that at some point a pastor traveling with a French Division retrieves some of the wood and used it to make a large cross which he carried with him throughout the rest of the war.  Father Radu  Popescu, a decedent of the original  Popescu, denounced the action and warned the pastor not to do it, but he was unable to convince them from taking the wood anyway.  It is said that the  Popescu's even went so far as to gather and burn the wood right down to the splinters that they could find, and the mix the ashes with holy water in an attempt to prevent the act or others like it.

Mac finds that the pastor would later talk about how miraculously he and his flock of soldiers seemed almost immune to harm while they marched through the war from that day forward.  Bullets seemed to have little effect, sickness couldn't touch them, and wounds could heal almost as if by miracle, and yet any opposition they faced seemed to be plagued with sickness and bad luck.  After the war, the pastor resettled in American, coming to New York.  He would send out the cross as a missionary gift that eventually made its way to the small church in Indian Territory.  The final record connected to it is "Handed over to one, Pastor Trevor Belmont."

Roy is able to quickly make more connections once the Popascu name is laid out.  Turns out there is a Popascu who presides over a local church here in town.  St. George & Alexandra Orthodox Church. 

I know I am gifting a bit here with Roy and Mac, for lack of a roll, but to be perfectly honest, everyone has been rolling so well on research (better than I could have ever expected) that it would have been ridiculous to ask for another at this point.

Julia  St. George & Alexandra Orthodox Church, over in Barling... it's the next town over, but the lines are kind of fuzzy out that way where Barling begins and Fort Smith ends.   It's an easy drive from here, just takes a while sometimes of the day.  I really don't know much about it other than going there for a pancake breakfast a few times.  They seem like nice folks. She says as she walks around handing out fresh coffee to everyone.  Y'all are really interested in the churches around here today... Care to clue me in on what is going on?  You don't strike me as the anti-church types... So something must be going on.

Lionel head downstairs to work on the Ecto.

Actions?

Brownie Point Pool
Dr. Jason O'Roarke: 62/66 (**)
Dr. Vanette Conklin: 55/57 (*)
Lionel 'Freight Train' Williams: 52/58 (*)
Roy O'Dowd: 64/64  (**) (***)
David "Mac" McAuslan: 58/58 (**)

* - +1d6 on any one roll. (Xmas)
** - No Ghost Dice on any one roll. (Xmas)
*** - +1d6 for the next use of the Ghost Trap

[Taaz]

So, road trip? He turns back to the group. Seriously I would suggest talking to this Popascu fella. As to the Churches, mam. He looks to Julia trying to look nonplussed We have pretty good reason that there is a demon in town, possibly a cult...altho nothing I read said if they were benign or a death cult, need to make sure to keep good notes on this one. Uh wait yeah so there is a Romania Demon named Kindle influencing the town. he looks at the others again, Thought it was better to just rip that bandaid off first thing.

[Scott308]

Lionel "Freight Train" Williams

Lionel heads to the garage, where he applies the stickers to the exterior of the Ecto1. He takes his time, making sure the stickers are all on straight, level, and have no bubbles. Not normally one to pat himself on the back, nevertheless, he thinks the car looks good! When people see this vehicle, they'll know the Ghostbusters are on the move! He's proud to be able to ride around in this SUV, representing his team and organization. Next, he decides to install lights and sirens. Right now, the vehicle looks good, but it's just a car with Ghostbuster stickers. Lights and sirens will make it official! He takes the lights out of the box and begins looking at the installation manual...and puts everything back. Opening the siren box results in the same thing. Better to leave this for someone more mechanically minded.

Brownie point for applying stickers to Ecto1: [1d6] = 5
Brains Ghost Die: [1d6] = 6