Final Investigation 2 - Phone Company (Day 19, cont)

[calloperators]

[The second location Mac Tonight drops you off is a tall and imposing building with a sign that reads SUPER SARGASO TELECOM CO. The rain is starting to die down a little, reduced to a mere drizzle. He pulls over and parks the car, but then pauses, casting an eye towards the entrance.

The doors are slightly ajar.]

Someone's been here already. The Delivery Men probably saw your friends searchin' the communications tower and decided to beat us here.

[He opens the door to let the rest of the passengers out--Peter Quill, Peter Venkman, Xander, and Booster Gold.]

I'll be back soon. Remember, we need to find out where they're being holed up.

[And then he drives away, splashing some water back onto the sidewalk. As soon as Mac Tonight disappears, however, you don't have any time to investigate first. Two figures wearing swan masks suddenly charge out of the doors, one of them holding a chainsaw and the other wielding a pistol.

The one with the pistol fires off one, two, three shots. All of them hit their target in the chest--Booster Gold. The man lets out a startled noise, clutching at his wounds before tumbling down to the ground.

Booster Gold is dead.

The masked figures then turn to face the remaining survivors, ready to charge. What will you do?]

Comments

[advancements]

[He'll pick that up and uh. Look at it?? Oh my god he has no idea what this is. He's going to take it with him, maybe he'll be able to figure out that it goes in the cassette player when he sees it (but don't get your hopes up).

Anything else to note in these files?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[There are files on all those from the motel that you have already met, but they seem to have similar things written about them! A basic overview of their biometrics, their demeanor, things they know about their world. A bio, essentially.

There's another drawer above this one that might be of interest to Xander, and that one's unlocked, as well.]

[advancements]

[He's not going to bring all of these with him, but this is creepy!! Good to know.

All right, time to check out that drawer, what's in here?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[It's more files, but...what's interesting is that these files seem to be paired with a label with an animal written on it. They aren't in alphabetical order--presumably, the person who maintained this drawer was simply taking them and sticking them back in as they so pleased. For example, two of them are labeled SWAN. Another is labeled MAC, and WOLF, and HORSE, and so on and so forth.

The ones that seem to have the most wear are labeled BLACK, EVERETT and GOGOL, JEFFERSON. There is also G, RYAN that is near the front.]

[advancements]

[Weird, some of these seem to be masks, but those...?

Hmm. Okay, he's going to check out those with wear next, but for now he'll pick up the one for MAC. What's this one say?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[The name for MAC is G, RYAN. As Xander flips through the files, he'll get an overview of the man otherwise known as Mac Tonight.

Apparently, he was a hitman for the mafia, moonlighting as a stuntsman during the day. He was also notorious as a getaway driver for criminal hire. After a bungled up job, he was arrested with bail, though it was only about a half a year before he was released by an anonymous donor and inducted into The Delivery Men.

A photo slips out of the file and flutters to the ground.]

[advancements]

[Hmm... Interesting. He's taking this one with him, it might not be important but he figures everyone else deserves to see who Mac is.

Time to start with BLACK, let's see what's in here!]

[hotlinenpcs]

[In summary, Everett Black was also a convict who worked with Jefferson Gogol on many heists. The two frequently collaborated, and stole a total of $56,000. The label on the front reads "WOLF".

They were arrested for five years with bail, and were recently bailed out by an anonymous donor. They joined The Delivery Men, and were in charge of "overseeing the first trial run," along with Jefferson.

...Whatever that means. Anyways, their status is listed as DECEASED.]

[advancements]

[Interesting... Let's keep going, what's up next?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[Jefferson's file reads about the same! He's also deceased, unfortunately. However, there's an additional sticky note attached to this file...

why did we give him the mask with bells on it. order only latex from now on
-f

Any other files you wanna look up, like the swans? Or do you wanna listen to the cassette?]

[advancements]

[He's definitely sticking to the files for now, so let's go with the swans! Are there any other files that look like they might have important information?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[The swans appear to be siblings, named Alex and Ash. They seem to have extensive military background, and are not convicts like the rest of those in this drawer. However, it is noted that they associate with justice-seeking organizations and have a desire to make the world "right".

As for the rest of the files, you'll notice that, for those from the motel, all of those who have died have been labeled DECEASED. However, for those who were here previously, all of those have also been labeled NON ACTIVE, like Astolfo.]

[advancements]

[...Maybe he shouldn't have looked at the swans...

Anyway, he'll ignore that for now, so he'll focus on the other files. Is there anything else to note about any of these? Any others that seem particularly worn?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[None of the others to note! They are all generic henchmen, most of whom are ex-convicts or those obsessed with justice and so forth. There's an awful lot of them, that's for sure, but most of them seem to be labeled DECEASED.]

[advancements]

[...Out of curiosity, how many are still alive? Aside from the swans, do we need to look out for other people?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[It seems like the only one who's still alive in the area is Mac, aka Ryan. Some of the others that are still alive appear to be active in other areas of the country, although there's a note for them not to act until told otherwise.]

[advancements]

[Good to know! We can probably breathe easy for now. Maybe.

Anyway, there's obviously the cassette but Xander doesn't know how that works so let's just. See if there's anything else here!! Are any of these other file cabinets containing anything relevant - assuming any of them are even unlocked?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[Nope! The rest seem to belong to, like, the actual phone company that probably needs it for important stuff. Nothing else is relevant about the files!]

[advancements]

[Okay, good to know! Anything else in here besides the cassette or is this the last thing to find in this room?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[The cassette is the last thing to investigate in this room!]

[advancements]

[Excellent. Unfortunately, it's probably going to take Xander a little while to figure out that this thing is something that can play on that device, but you know what let's just pretend he's got enough time to mess around with it and not screw it up and somehow get this to work. Magic!!!! Or something.

So anyway, now that he's conveniently able to get this to work, what does it play?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[Once Xander eventually gets it to play, a soft, crackly noise plays in the background, like a tape that's been played over and over again to the point the tape is running thin.

A voice speaks, and its distinct, stuttering tone makes it clear exactly who is conducting this questionnaire.]

Your n-n-name, ^please.

[Of course, this version of Max seems to have more trouble speaking and forming complete sentences than the one Xander is familiar with. An earlier version, perhaps. A voice speaks--it's Venkman. Max continues for each of the questions.

The audio plays on, and the questionnaires go through each person. Satan, Grog, Alice...so on and so forth. The only audio missing is Pyro, for obvious reasons.]

[advancements]

[HI YEAH, THIS IS HORRIFYING. HE HATES IT!!

So a couple of questions - does everyone sound like themselves? Not drugged or anything that could possibly be faked? And second, does he remember any of this, especially now that he's hearing his own answers?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[Everyone sounds like themselves, yes, albeit a little confused and disoriented. And, now that Xander is hearing himself, he'll start to remember what was going on. If he's remembering it correctly, it happened almost immediately after he arrived here, and took place in a dark, cold room without any windows.]

[advancements]

[Oh thanks, he hates it even more now!! Can he remember anything else, or are the memories going to be foggy?

Is there anything else on the tape? He'll let it play all the way to the end even though he'd like to stop listening to everyone's answers.]