[x] ...no no, they are equals. Of course.
[x] ...no no, they are equals. Of course.
[x] ...no no, they are equals. Of course.
Equality, hm? All well and good to suggest, except both characters have their own benefits and disadvantages. For example, Ras has been in the area longer, and knows more about how the city is laid out, though he is not particularly aware of the movers and shakers - nor does he yet have a connection to the Black Market. Talluah has the money - and a better grasp of English, to boot.
They both want to focus on finding the Squibs, but how will they go about that? Who will approach the parents of the Squibs, given the language issue? How do they present themselves?
How do they present themselves?
[ ] ICW Investigators
[ ] Aurors from the MACUSA
[ ] Independents
Who takes the lead for this?
[ ] Ras, with Talluah acting as assistant/translator
[ ] Talluah, with Ras acting as partner/supporting investigator
And what's their approach?
[ ] Straightforward - just trying to collect info
[ ] Try to weave an enchantment on the parents, in case they are hiding anything
[ ] Try to persuade them to help further
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Independents
[x] Talluah, with Ras acting as partner/supporting investigator
[x] Try to persuade them to help further
Last edited by Daiki; August 24th, 2019 at 08:23 PM.
[x] Independents
They might be more wary if we present as aurors, since new orleans is noted as seedy. And well, they are likely to be predisposed to treat MACUSA aurors in a more unfriendly manner, since they have already reported it to MACUSA, and were told there apparently "happenings of higher priority" happening in the north.
ICW would make them wonder why the ICW cares about something local like this, especially since the ICW, if it is like its real world counterpart the League of Nations, is probably known for being a little impotent.
[x] Talluah, with Ras acting as partner/supporting investigator
Eh, pros and cons either way. I wonder if Talluah's First Nations background will affect things?
[x] Try to persuade them to help further
[X] Independents
[x] Talluah, with Ras acting as partner/supporting investigator
[X] Try to persuade them to help further
Ras will play the Squib that lost someone in this kidnapper, so that he can connect with the victims while Nats acts like the hired investigator. Ras will be the neighbor that wants to solve the crime so that his community will improve and is trying to round up people and information so that Talluah can solve the case.
Last edited by Skull Leader; August 24th, 2019 at 08:26 PM.
[X] Independents
[x] Talluah, with Ras acting as partner/supporting investigator
[X] Try to persuade them to help further
[X] Independents
[x] Talluah, with Ras acting as partner/supporting investigator
[X] Try to persuade them to help further
In the wake of the disappearance of the Squibs, one might have expected that there would be a lot of fear and uncertainty gripping the city of New Orleans, or at least the supernatural parts of it. And to be fair, there is uncertainty, but for the most part, it is not about the fates of the Squibs - it is for whether the Squibs will inadvertently break the Statute or draw the attention of the Nomajs on proper wizards.
The major exception was Viola, the woman who had hired them to look into the disappearances, an older African-American witch who ran a shop for magical items, some of which were of questionable provenance or nature, who apparently helped train Squibs in the basics of how to run a business, teaching them useful things for when they went off to the world of Nomajs at the age of majority.
"Almost like a school...?" Talluah had asked, which the older witch confirmed, noting that all the families in Orleans sent Squibs to her, since she was about the one place that would take em.
"Can't send em to a Nomaj school without breaking the law, see?" Viola explained, shaking her head. "Dey don't know 'nough not to talk about magic in front of NoMajs, and dey ain't nowhere else for em to go. So I train em."
"What do you train em in?"
"The littins, readin and writin. The olda, how to talk ta folks. How to bargain. How ta do things like accountin, or how to fight a lil. How to use Nomaj things. How ta pay bills, write lettas, use da US Postal Service. Even how ta take a train, use da bank, and other things NoMajs do. No one else gonna teach em. Dem Wizard families - dey ain't got a clue."
"But you do?" Talluah questioned, finding herself a bit skeptical. "...you interact with NoMajs, don't you?"
"Just enough ta do what I need ta. I ain't their friend or nothin, but money is money. Ain't too proud to make a livin, unlike some folk."
"Right. Tell me about the Squibs."
"Well, here's how it is. I don't just train em - some of em live 'ere too, or did. Long as their families pay rent n all, I dun mind. Mo' hans for the shop. Don cost me much," Viola related, shaking her head. "Olda ones specially. Sometimes dey stay out, don't come back for a night o' two. Boys be boys, lookin for a tumble 'n all. Girlies go see deir families. But dey all come back - o did anyway."
"And then one day they didn't."
"Mhm. At first, I thought nuthin' of it as one o' two left for the night and didn't come back. One, two, three, fine, but den after a while it was weirdlike, yeah? Dey always come back before, with de gold from dey families, but this time...nuthin. After a week, I go dey homes to see what happened, but they ain't there. Ain't been home eitha. I had justa one left, and I sent her home. Didn't want nuthin happenin to her, ya hear?"
"Any idea what--?"
"That's what I hired y'all ta find out. Dese here happenins are bad fa business 'n all, ya know?"
"I...guess that would be true. I guess we can start with their families, if you tell us who they are?"
"Mightna do ya much good, but sure," the woman noted. "Po' Squibs. Notta single wizard from round here was interested in helpin' ta find em. MACUSA Yankees won't do nuthin eitha. Got betta things to do n' all." Her voice was somewhat...bitter. "Dose high an mighty Aurors don' come round much, even tho we pay our taxes to de Congress n' all."
"Well, you have us," Talluah mentioned.
"As long as I'm payin' ya, anyway."
What's your next move?
[ ] Question the families
[ ] Look around places Squibs were known to frequent
[ ] Ask for any items the Squibs had which might be helpful - journals or something
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[X] Ask for any items the Squibs had which might be helpful - journals or something
Might as well ask while I am here with her this question before doing something else, such as talking to the Parents. Granted if you have an item of the missing kid and knock on the parents door you might not get the best reaction.
[x] Ask for any items the Squibs had which might be helpful - journals or something
No loss asking.
[x] Ask for any items the Squibs had which might be helpful - journals or something
"While you're paying us then, did you notice anything odd about them in the days leading up to the disappearances?" Talluah asked, curious as to the exact circumstances behind the disappearances. "Ah, and have you checked their rooms at all, since they vanished?"
"I 'ave, though dey don' all have rooms o dey own," Viola mentioned. "I don't 'xactly run an inn, so dey share. Three girls, four boys, two to a room." She paused. "De one girl who didnae just vanish, Sylvie. She 'ad a room o her own."
"...her own room. Huh." That was curious. "Do you know when they disappeared? They didn't just disappear a room at a time, did they?"
"Nah, nuthin like that. It was mo' gradual-like, one boy from each room. Den de girls, eden one boy, den another."
"And would you say any of them were acting strange, or talking about anything unusual?" Tallulah questioned, rather suspicious.
"One de girls be talkin' bout a ghost near de Bayou," Viola replied. "Another 'ad met a wizard. Tall, dark n 'andsome - said she was gonna marry em. De boys...? I dun remember nuthin strange. Was fightin bout a girl, but boys be boys."
"What kind of girl, or did they say?"
"I dinna hear."
"Mind if I look at their rooms?" Talluah requested. "I want to see if they left anything behind. Clues and the like."
"If ya want. Canna say if it do much good, butta you welcome to."
The first room, that of two of the boys (both 17), yields little. One side of the room seems perfectly in order, with a search of his desk yielding only a journal in cramped, fussy handwriting. Jonas, as Viola names him, was always a neat one - going home to see family every weekend, bless his heart. Always promptly back first thing Monday too. The other boy - Rudolph's - was oddly messy, with clippings from a number of newspapers scattered across his desk, all covering happenings in Europe over the last year (focusing on attempts at catching Grindelwald). The bed is also not made, and there are clothes strewn over it, almost as if he left in a hurry, and hadn't been expecting to have to go somewhere. Oddly, there's no journal - perhaps he took it with him?
The second room, that of the missing girls (14 and 16), was more curious, as the first thing Talluah noticed was a pair of blood red roses on what Viola informed her was the desk of the 16 year old. Which is strange, because it has been a week and half since the girl disappeared, and the roses should have long since withered. It is obvious that someone used magic to preserve them...
"Do you remember when these were brought in?"
"Hannah brought em back with er a month ago. A gift from er young man, she said. She was head over heels she was, said he'd asked her to marry him."
"A wizard proposing to a Squib?" Talluah questioned, blinking. "Does that really happen?"
"E'ery once in a long while, but it ain't common." Viola's expression grew grave. "N'er met the man myself. I think 'is name was Simon Peter or somewhat."
"Simon Peter?"
"It must be in 'er diary, if you want to 'ave a look-see."
The diary does indeed mention the name Simon Peter, a dashing young man she met at a dance hall one night, whose golden gaze had stolen her heart the moment their eyes met. It details some of the outings they went on, their strolls under the moonlight, a moonlit picnic they had by Lake Pontchartrain, and more, though oddly, she never mentions meeting him during the day. Her final entry, dated two and a half weeks ago, mentions that she is going to elope with him, and wonders what their married life together will be like.
"...that's about the time the disappearances started, isn't it?" Talluah noted, with Viola frowning.
"It was. You dun think...?"
"I don't know, but its suspicious."
The side of the room belonging to Celeste, the 14 year old, yielded little of interest, not even a diary.
As for the last room, belonging to the 15 and 16 year old boys, there were shelves filled with bottles fished up from the ocean, many of which contained letters. Some of the bottles had been opened, and the letter removed, with one such still on the desk of Jack Rogers, describing an odd potion which can grant anyone magic, so long as one has the blood of a wizard...
Jack's journal, found in the room, mentions having met a great teacher. Someone who had given him a taste of such a potion, had let him use magic for the first time. Even given him a wand, allowing him to become more than just a Squib for the first time.
The other side is seemingly barren, as if no one ever lived there.
What does they do next?
[ ] Look for this Simon Peter
[ ] Ask about this potion
[ ] Visit the parents
[ ] Visit the one Squib who didn't disappear
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; September 8th, 2019 at 02:39 PM.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x]Ask about this potion
So far we have someone obsessed with Grindelwald's actions, a girl who is charmed by a vamp, and a guy who has unlocked magic potential with a suspicious drug.
Let's ask a little bit more;
[x] Visit the one Squib who didn't disappear.
<a girl who is charmed by a vamp
You don't know that for sure. You could be right, but it could also be a red hering and the boy is legit and would want to help find the girl. Or it is just a normal wizard bamboozling the poor girl, for fun only to dump her. The point is you don't actually know. You can suspect but it does not make it true.
[X] Visit the parents
I am happy with any action here. But let us start with the victim's family before we go off looking deeper into rabbit hole following breadcrumps that may or maynot be related to the kidnapping itself. The potion is interesting and the boyfriend is also, but those are later things to investigate. The only reason to track down the girl that is not missing is to find out if she is NOW missing, or to use her in a stake out. Or to protect her I guess.
A night predator then. Better?
[X] Visit the parents
[X] Visit the parents
After taking what notes they could, the two decided to move on, since they didn't think the shop cum boarding school held much more in the way of clues, though not before checking out the sort of merchandise for sale. Some of them were the usual fare - potions, coins, herbs of various sorts - though some were odder. Things that might have been wands. Knives of various sorts. A skull. Black tapers.
Book. Maps. A variety of items from a variety of places, some of which seemed questionable in provenance.
"Where do you get your item?" Talluah asked.
"People bring 'em to da store," Viola replied conversationally. "Dey say e'er'one has some dity secrets. Things dey wanna hide. Or maybe wanna get rid of. Dey come to me because I dun ask too many questions. I dun and they dun, and it all works out."
"Is that why they trust you to teach Squibs? Because you don't ask questions?"
Viola shrugged.
"Someone gotta. Ain't no one d'serves ta starve in t' world, or be jailed by the MACUSA cuz they dun know better. Dey be puttin' Squibs ta death for breakin' da Statute. Dey parents dun care for em, but dey dun wanna see'm puttaway eitha."
"That's..."
"Cruel? Dats just 'ow society works, girl."
Talluah didn't say anything to that - she didn't trust herself enough to say something.
So, visiting the parents, then. Viola gives the team a list of addresses and names - some of which are in wealthier parts of the town, some of which are from poorer places. One of the boys - the one who was keeping track of Grindelwald's actions - was from a fairly well-to-do family, two were of middling class, while the last was from the slums. The girl who had been romanced by the golden-eyed man was also from a well-off family, perhaps the most well off of all - she was descended from one of the Founders of the MACUSA, and who continued to be deeply involved with it since. The other girl was the firstborn child of two folk who had been born from Nomajs, and had been seen as a sign that something was wrong with their blood.
Who to visit first?
[ ] (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Jack's parents.
The others would probably not know as much given the nature of the trails, one is a "hobby" of sort, which Rudolph could easily hide. The other is a secret and mysterious romantic interest. I'll go with the guy who drank the potion that gives powers. If the parents aren't aware of this sudden awakening in magical power, the boy ought to have displayed some of that to his friends or something (to spread the word if anything else - but boasting isn't unlikely for an individual who just discovers his powers).
[x] Jack's Parents
I don't think asking the hannahs parents are a good idea right now, aside from the fact it's not likely to yield much information. they might look down on us, or they might alert the MACUSA that others are investigating.
Jonas' seems like they'll help out more past any formalities. He goes back every weekend so he at least has some positive relationship with his parents, and they're kinda poor so they're less likely to receive us badly. Also who knows, going to the one in the slums might net us a lead on the black market here.
Screw it, Jack's looks interesting too
Last edited by croixdefeu; September 1st, 2019 at 09:48 PM.
[x] Jack's Parents
To the duo, three of the vanished Squibs seemed particularly suspicious. Rudolph, who seemed to be obsessed with the deeds of Grindelwald, was an odd one - but then he was from a rich family, and the rich were known to have...eccentricities. There was Christine, the only daughter (so far) of a line of wizards extending back to the founding of the MACUSA, who had met a charming golden-eyed man who she spent much time with in secret - a wizard allegedly named Simon Peter, who had promised to marry her, and who she had apparently run away with. And then there was Jack, who had allegedly met a teacher who had given him an odd potion which had given him magic - and a wand - which was highly illegal, since Jack didn't have a license, and his teacher had to know that.
One of these was quite a bit more concerning than the others.
They arrive at the house, but when they knock, no one is there. What do they do next?
[ ] Break in quietly, look for clues
[ ] Go to the next house
[ ] Come back later
[ ] (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Go to the next house
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