MH/Log - Session 7

Narrator: 	The Help Me! field team has defeated a bunch of meth dealers in a shoot-out, and are now interrogating their leader, Slick, at the Frederick County Sheriff's Office.
EJ: 	"Who besides this 'Medicine Man' did Morgan associate with?"
Slick: 	"Well, y'know, Morgan hung with his sister, right? And the rest of us, really. I don't know none of 2M's friends - he lived downcounty or maybe in Montgomery or something."
GM: 	...
Nicholas: 	((In the room are EJ and David. Dave's not here, man. We already IDed Blondie as the sister, right?))
GM: 	Blondie is the sister, yes. Sheriffs provide her name as Carrie Maxim nee Morgan.
GM: 	And David will relay any questions you guys have, but is having a headache or something and not asking them on his own.
Nicholas: 	I think that's all we need from Slick for now. I'd like to interview the sister; I find it hard to believe she hasn't heard from her brother at all since he went away.
GM: 	It's worth asking. The police take Slick away and offer to take you guys to her room at the hospital.
Nicholas: 	Fantastic. David and I should be enough, and I expect it'll be pretty simple - does she know where her brother is?
David: 	Talker! result: «succeeded by 0 » to interrogate her!
Nicholas: 	((He might get a bonus if she's on the good painkillers.))
Amilastet: 	Sye may not be able to have the good pain killers if she's been abusing them
Amilastet: (( morphine tolerance is a terrible thing ))
GM: 	She's co-operative enough. She doesn't know anything specific - Morgan wanted to work with MM and "his [MM's] snank of a sister" on some get-rich-quick scheme after everyone else bought the meth still.
GM: 	She hasn't seen him in a few weeks, and would really like to sell the trailer if the market would allow it.
EJ: 	((that sounds like the good stuff anyway))
Nicholas: 	"Sister? Do you know where we can find this sister? It's the Medicine Man we're interested in, really - not Morgan. Your cooperation might get Morgan off the hook entirely, in fact."
Nicholas: 	((Lying through one's teeth is what - Acting? Diplomacy?))
Amilastet: 	Acting
GM: 	Blondie doesn't really remember MM or the sister very well, other than: "put them together, and they pretty much balanced to two normal people. He was fat, and she was underdeveloped and underdressed. The sister flirted with Blondie's boyfriend of the time, which pissed off Blondie so much that she slept with his best friend."
Amilastet: 	Fast talk if it's "pulling a fast one"
GM: 	Blondie seems to be nursing a bit of a grudge, here, but concrete details are a bit iffy. Uhm, pudgy and emanciated, tanned skin, strong noses. Nothing else - she doubts she'd recognize her if she saw them again, 'cause she forbade Morgan from bringing the sister around. She might be able to recognize MM, maybe? He was around the house a bit.
Clay: 	"MM have a car of his own?"
GM: 	No, Morgan always had to go down I-270 to pick him up and drive him around when they got together.
Clay: 	"Who was her boyfriend that the sister was flirting with?"
GM: 	She has to think about that for bit. Larry Bonvillain, she thinks, or maybe Jason Carter?
Nicholas: 	Path of Mind: result: «succeeded by 0 »
Nicholas: 	Luck.
Nicholas: 	Luck.
Nicholas: 	Path of Mind: result: «succeeded by 3 »
Nicholas: 	Path of Mind: result: «CRITICALLY SUCCEEDED by 11 »
Nicholas: 	I like 'by 11'.
Nicholas: 	Resist with Will or HT.
GM: 	Sure.
Nicholas: 	(Better of the two, modified by whatever drugs she's on.)
Narrator: 	Nick mutters and rubs his arms for a bit, staring into Blondie's eyes. Images from her past form in his mind.
Narrator: 	He sees a short American woman, painfully skinny, with garish purple-red hair. Her make-up is equally excessive and overdone. She's wearing an insanely tight, short, and deeply cut dress, which doesn't look very good on a rail-thin figure. Standing by her is a goofish looking man, pudgy and a little-pig faced. The two have similar features, well-tanned skin, high cheekbones, dark eyes, and sharp noses.
GM: 	Nick also gets a sense that the image of the girl is a bit of a caricature, while the image of MM is mostly accurate.
Nicholas: 	Anyone else have anything they'd like to ask?
Johnny: 	"I assume she saw the meth creator. Has she seen any other creations of 2M?"
Clay: 	we should ask her if she knows any of their travel plans
GM: 	Morgan and MM were always mucking around with stuff, though Morgan didn't like it when MM "helped" with the Tercel. He was always fussing with Meat, too. Other than that, she didn't see anything else really weird. MM was a bit creepy, and she didn't hang around when they started doing stuff.
EJ: 	what sort of help with the tercel?
GM: 	Again, she and Morgan split company - fairly amiably - over working further with MM. She and Slick paid for the still and took over the meth business; they wanted to focus on recovering their investment.
GM: 	She doesn't know, exactly, but Morgan didn't like it and made MM take it out. It was something to make it faster or whatever but Morgan didn't like it.
Johnny: 	((Extradimensional hamster on a 4th dimensional wheel...))
Amilastet: (( made out of dead baby bones ))
EJ: 	((it probably just didn't look like it belonged on a racecar))
GM: 	'cause it was made of dead baby bones.
Amilastet: (( dead babie bones aren't cool. ANd mark cut me off :) ))
Nicholas: spends a bit trying for a sketch of Medicine Man. Artist (Drawing - Default): result: «succeeded by 2 »
Clay: 	hmm, did the sister go with them when they left?
Amilastet: (( mind reader ))
Johnny: 	((better than live baby bones))
EJ: 	
GM: 	Johnny wins
GM: 	MM didn't live with Morgan - he just ran the still there because it was convenient for Slick and the gang to deal from there. And the sister wasn't welcome at either trailer as far as Blondie was concerned. So Blondie really doesn't know where the sister is.
Nicholas: 	I think we've got enough to go on for now. I'd like to ask the Sheriff to issue a BOLO for Morgan and his car, and to circulate a description of MM. I forget if we got MM's name.
Amilastet: (( Not a real one ))
Narrator: 	Nick's sketch looks like most police sketches - not very representative of the subject, but it might provoke a recollection nonetheless.
GM: 	Yeah, MM's name is Medicine Man.
Nicholas: 	Anyone else think we should probably speak to the mob enforcer as long as we're here at the hospital?
EJ: 	that's a real good idea
Amilastet: 	Could be amusing.
Clay: 	yes, should be fun
Nicholas: 	I'll let EJ and whoever take a lead on that while I coordinate with the sheriff's office.
David: 	Get ready to schmooze with wounded criminals. result: «succeeded by 1 » but thinks that EJ should lead. David will just be the strong silent guy in the background.
GM: 	EJ can roll Criminal! at +1.
EJ: 	Criminal! result: succeeded by 5
Enforcer: 	"Look, man, I don't want no trouble with the FBI. Locals, State, even DEA - we can work with those guys. FBI sends you straight to Gitmo. Ask me anything."
EJ: 	"You showed up awful quick to protect a trailer park meth lab. How come?"
GM: 	He relates that they weren't that fast - it took about 8 minutes for them to get there. But Slick's operation is the best, most reliable, lowest-cost, safest, least-highly-explosive meth producer in the mid-Atlantic area, and makes good profits for the mob. The don stations his enforcers in the area - they've got other stuff they watch - but they're supposed to respond quickly to calls from Slick.
GM: 	The mob has had a couple of "incidents" where someone came sniffing around, trying to close down the lab or take it over.
GM: 	He's babbling a bit here, mostly relating ancient history of mob feuds and well-known details of who fought who and other gangland trivia.
EJ: listens to the babble, filing away what he can remember.
GM: 	Okay, you're going to have the history of mid-Maryland drug wars. It's fairly picuyane.
EJ: holds up a hand.
EJ: 	"This is very interesting, but what I'm wondering is what edge Slick had. You know anything about that?"
GM: 	That was part of the deal that Slick had with the don. Slick made his quota on time, fairly cheap, no drama, and the mob didn't ask why or how. He was providing enough for all their operations in Maryland and south Pennsylvania, so pushing him to produce more didn't seem real necessary.
GM: 	I mean, they were pushing some turf wars here and there, but the drug trade doesn't complete entirely on price and purity. Sometimes it competes on bullets.
Nicholas: 	You ever hear of a guy who called himself 'The Medicine Man'?
Enforcer: 	"Ain't that a Sean Connery movie? I liked Entrapment better."
GM: 	Any more questions for him?
EJ: 	((What charges do the cops have him on?))
Nicholas: 	((Assault on a federal officer and probably illegal weapons charges.))
GM: 	Accessory to assault on a federal officer; felon with a firearm. Not very much, really.
Clay: 	see if he knows anyone besides slick in the crew here
GM: 	Noodling over the information you've gotten, you realize you haven't gotten very much. You can take the information you have and find more clues, but there's not enough to make solid deductions.
GM: 	He's met all of them at one time or another, but he's not friends with any of them. He doesn't like them much - redneck meth makers ain't his people.
Nicholas: 	I think the next step is getting back to search Morgan's and Blondie's places and look for physical evidence.
GM: 	Okay, the FCS has control over the scene (except the biohazard bit) so you can certainly do that.
GM: 	How are you investigating the place? (Don't forget, you also have Meat's rapidly expiring body.)
Nicholas: 	Clay - start me an autopsy on Meat. Use the facilities in the van; I'm sorry they're so limited.
Clay: 	Hmm, how about I go take a look at meat
Clay: 	ok
Nicholas: 	Mila, think you can assist there?
Nicholas: 	(Nobody does anything alone!)
Amilastet: 	On the autopsy? Certainly. If nothing else I can manhandle meat for him :)
GM: 	Johnny might also have relevant experience.
Amilastet: 	Nothing like an assistant who doesn't get sick to their stomach either.
Amilastet: 	Hey, I still have Thaumatology on my sheet. I'm trained at this stuff!
Johnny: 	"Yeah, I'll help with the exam"
Nicholas: 	Right then.
Amilastet: (( Like, beyond the "Now, make sure you don't damage anything important while you're scraping the brains out of his skull. He needs those nose bones in the afterlife" level. ))
Nicholas: 	David, EJ and I will take the trailer park. Johnny, Clay, and Mila handle Meat.
GM: 	Okay, looking up rules.
EJ: 	you two can search morgan's place, EJ wants to search blondie's alone
GM: 	Okay....
Clay: 	What happened to "Nobody does anything alone"?
GM: 	Diagnosis, Surgery, or Physiology (Humans) to start the autopsy. Search or Detective! to search places.
GM: 	... contest of Stealth vs Perception for EJ to sneak away while David and Nick are distracted.
EJ: 	how about criminal!
GM: 	Hmmm. Criminal will let you search stuff, sure.
Amilastet: 	Can I default one of those from Thanatology? :)
GM: 	Mila: uh, sure.
Johnny: 	Ihave diagnosis 12
GM: 	Criminal! lets you search for valuables or illicit items.
Johnny: 	Diagnosis(12) - result: «failed by 2 »
Nicholas: 	Perception: result: «succeeded by 3 »
EJ: 	and i don't actually have stealth, and i'm not trying to be sneaky
Clay: 	Diagnosis/TL8 (Human) result: succeeded by 3
Amilastet: 	Thaumatology (11) result: failed by 1
EJ: 	"I can handle Blondie's trailer myself, guys."
Amilastet: 	Ah well.
Johnny: 	"Umm...ooops is that supposed to happen?" says Johnny as he makes a bad incision.
Nicholas: 	"What, you got a crush on her or something? Just make sure you share what you find."
GM: 	Okay, what are people looking for in the trailers?
GM: 	Clay has a fairly confused autopsy of Meat, as he has to keep pointing out that "no, the liver is supposed to be there, damnit!" while Mila is offering to graphically demonstrate that no, is doesn't have to be.
Amilastet: (( it's supposed to go in the little jar with the lion head on it. ))
Nicholas: 	Clues as to the whereabouts of Morgan or the Medicine Man. Old mail, notes, whatever. Anything else that stands out as supernatural or otherwise out of the ordinary.
EJ: 	evidence of demonic activity, mainly
EJ: 	pentagrams, dusty old tomes, black candles, etc.
EJ: 	Criminal! result: succeeded by 1
GM: 	The consensus is that several of Meat's major organs have atrophied pretty heavily, consistent with massive overuse of meth, heroin, and PCP. Others have been duplicated with strange mechanical devices, and some of his organs seem to have migrated to odd locations via, uhm, god alone knows what process though Mila guesses it wasn't magical. In short, he should have been dead for 6 months on the day you met him, and he was alive (NOT UNDEAD). Also, his brain has atrophied down to a vestigal stub, which is pretty creepy and even bothers Mila a bit.
EJ: 	i'm burning my luck on that
EJ: 	Criminal! result: succeeded by 2
EJ: 	Criminal! result: succeeded by 6
EJ: 	i like by 6
Nicholas: 	Forensics for processing the scene?
GM: 	Well. Blondie's trailer shows evidence that several male slobs lived there with her. The only written material is a set of old TV guide magazines. Her lingerie is cheap Frederick's of Hollywood type stuff. There are no tomes, pentagrams, black candles, or anything creepy like that.
GM: 	Forensics, yes, Nick.
Nicholas: 	Forensics: result: «succeeded by 4 »
EJ: 	Will check result: failed by 1
EJ: pockets a thong.
GM: 	There's really not much here, either. No one seems to have written much down - not so much out of secrecy, as much as not being the types to write stuff. You do find some address books, but they'ves been casually and sloppily updated, and there's no evidence that any of the names or addresses are recent. The books themselves are a bit dusty, really.
GM: 	If you had a name, you could try looking it up, but no one is listed under "Medicine Man".
EJ: rejoins the others.
Amilastet: 	So we've got the corpse of an Experiment. Are we going to try to cover this up?
Amilastet: 	Or are we going to let their ME find out about his, um, unique biological situaiton?
EJ: 	let him
EJ: 	what's he going to do about it?
Clay: 	I think we should dump it in a deep freeze for future study
EJ: 	write up an article about the preservative effects of steroids combined with meth?
David: 	"I'd have to check a map to confirm, but I don't think Morgan knew anyone who wasn't a redneck or hick. We can rule out anywhere high class, and should keep looking in rural areas." He shrugs. "It's not much."
Clay: 	look for credit cards and/or a checkbook
GM: 	Please neither break the masquerade nor spend much time contemplating how you're going to preserve the masquerade. thanks!
Clay: 	trash for recipts!
EJ: 	honestly, i doubt the ME is going to get all "EUREKA!" about Meat
GM: 	Hmmm. There's a fair number of receipts for restaurants in the Frederick area and in the northwest suburbs of DC.
EJ: 	of course, i'm a major supporter of the Other People's Problem Field
Clay: 	don't suppose Morgan left a computer behind?
GM: 	Nothing definite, but it looks like he didn't make it up to Pennsylvania hardly ever or down to Virginia or over to Baltimore. So really, NW side of the greater DC area, and not very far west of Frederick either.
Nicholas: 	Get David working on cross-references between Morgan's address books and county arrest records, along with the picture of MM - maybe he got pulled in sometime and there's a mugshot attached to a name. I'm going to take the restaurant receipts and the address books and try some good old-fashioned Divination, because that might help. Anyone else got any good ideas? I'm kind of tapped.
GM: 	He apparently cleaned out, at least partially - there's obviously clothes missing from the closets and dust-free areas on some of the furniture where things were picked up at some point.
Clay: 	David should play "follow the money"
Clay: 	getting into his CC account would be really useful if he has one and we can find it
GM: 	Okay, David can do both of those, but that takes a fair amount of time and footwork.
Clay: 	also yank his phone records, both cell and land if he has them
EJ: 	whatever was going on, the trailer park wasn't at the center of it
GM: 	Divination is MHC p34.
EJ: 	just enjoying the benefits
GM: 	Hmmm. Nick will need to apply for a warrant to get phone records, but that shouldn't be impossible to get. (If Nick were an investigative FBI agent, and this were his case, it'd be a no-brainer, but he's not and it isn't so he needs to pull favors and such. Hence, Patronage).
GM: 	David estimates 1-2 days to get all the data together. Anyone else trying anything?
Amilastet: 	I'm thinking.
Clay: 	if we really are FBI IT we should have access to the database anyhow
Amilastet: 	Not sure if that's going to get me anywhere.
Clay: 	just a matter of faking the approvals
GM: 	FBI doesn't have a database of everyone's phone calls.
Nicholas: 	Yeah, that's the CIA. >_>
GM: 	Rimshot!
Clay: 	no, but from what I have gathered they basically have direct access to the phone company records
Johnny: 	More like the NSA...CIA is outside of the country mostly.
Clay: 	maybe that's the NSA
EJ: 	by direct access, you mean "needs a warrant"
Clay: 	the phone company basially gives them an API into their DB, they don't check the warrents etc.
Nicholas: 	Okay. Taking the address books. Crossing off any names that aren't in the northwest side of the DC area, and using the restaurant receipts to cross off unlikelies that /aren't/ in the area. Johnny and Mila might be able to help here.
Clay: 	which is why people are pissed
EJ: 	you're scaring me now
Amilastet: 	I can certainly sort reciepts!
Amilastet: 	I'm orderly enough, I have Research.
Clay: 	I have intelligence analysis!
Amilastet: 	Research/TL8 (11) result: succeeded by 3
Amilastet: 	Assisting on his Intelligence Analysis.
Amilastet: 	:)
GM: 	Roll Intelligence Analysis.
Nicholas: 	The fewer names I'm left with, the better.
Johnny: 	Research(12) - ]s(12)]
Johnny: 	Research(12) - result: «succeeded by 4 »
GM: 	So Nick's waiting to divinate until after David and Clay are done? Okay.
Clay: 	Intelligence Analysis/TL8 result: succeeded by 2
Nicholas: 	I imagine part of Nick's time is spent giving statements to the local cops.
Nicholas: 	For which he will have Fortune's Favor up (Ridiculous Luck during the interview, I'll use a charm for it).
GM: 	It's a bit hard to see a pattern here, but there's 13 names that seem to be maybe be more correlated with some of the receipts, depending on how you weight a guy's willingness to drive across two counties to pick a friend up and go out to dinner with him.
GM: 	... sure, Nick has no problem with the local cops.
Nicholas: 	So for 13 names, I'm looking at -5 on Divination.
GM: 	Doing the research takes all of the afternoon, most of the night (for Mila), and a couple more hours the next morning with David and Clay. Nick can't start the divination before 11 am.
GM: 	So what are you doing here with the divination?
GM: 	(also, other things you guys may consider: since magic is involved, you may want to look for sacred spaces or talk to grimoire sellers. you can also do the tedious job of looking through the mugshot books with Nick's picture, but there's a lot of potential jurisdictions involved so that could take a while.)
Nicholas: 	I'll spend some time the next morning preparing the divination ritual. I know someone last session wanted to collect something from Morgan's trailer for the classic arcane connection, I'll prepare a circle (in the hotel suite's bathroom - we can clean it up later), candles, the whole deal. Basically, 'get out the kit from the van and set everything up'.
GM: 	Sure, you can do that while David and Clay are arguing over the list.
Nicholas: 	Looking at nearby sacred spaces might cut some names and addresses off the list.
Nicholas: 	Hidden Lore (Sacred Spaces): result: «succeeded by 3 »
GM: 	Maryland has a fair number of ancient Native American sacred sites, some of which are still active, plus some more modern wiccan ones.
Amilastet: 	Is there any overlap?
Amilastet: 	Between our list and the areas I mean.
Amilastet: 	ALthough between the areas would be interesting what with pseudowiccaman.
Amilastet: 	Just cuz.
GM: 	Nick has his eye on a couple of formerly Cherokee sites hidden in the hills, but there's a couple that look good to him. Johnny knows there's an old Indian compound just a few miles from here, and just down the street from one of the 13 addresses!
Nicholas: 	You know what? I set up the divination, I'm going to use it.
Nicholas: 	Divination's got to be easy with a 'yes or no' answer.
Amilastet: 	Let's use the site down the street from one of the addresses
Amilastet: 	Instead of the hotel room. If we can.
Amilastet: 	One: bonuses. Two, possibly reducing range penalties.
GM: 	You can't repeatedly ask the same question with divination (MHC 34) so you can't limit it that way.
Nicholas: 	I'm only planning to ask once.
GM: 	okay. WHat's the ritual, what's the question?
Nicholas: 	Ritual's Greater Sense Chance; I actually have no idea what else goes into divination rituals.
GM: 	Good question! What question do you intend to ask, and we'll figure the modifiers from there.
Nicholas: 	Actually, we have what - three addresses near sacred sites?
Nicholas: 	So the question's going to be 'At which of these addresses are we going to find the Medicine Man'?
GM: 	Okay. The only modifier then is twice the long-distance range for the radius of the area you want to cover. If the target is outside that radius, you automatically get a negative answer. (20 energy covers the entirety of Earth; if that fails, the failure itself is a Clue!).
Nicholas: 	20 energy is easy!
GM: 	Well, don't forget it's a Greater Effect, so x3, but whatever.
Nicholas: 	66 is also easy.
Nicholas: 	But I'll settle for 'Continental US', which is probably a bit cheaper.
GM: 	base is 16 energy, so... 57?
Nicholas: 	Sure.
Nicholas: 	My number of possible answers is 3? So -1.
Nicholas: 	Can I call traditional trappings to cut 7 off and make it an even 50?
GM: 	Describe the trappings, and yes.
Nicholas: 	I'll ritually burn the sketch of the guy, in addition to the whole pentagram-and-candles routine. I think we lose our security deposit if I sacrifice a chicken in the hotel.
Nicholas: 	I also disable the smoke alarm first and turn up the a/c.
GM: 	Okay, that's interesting. I'm good. Roll it!
Nicholas: 	« This ended in a CRITICAL FAILURE! Check your total accumulated energy for your precise scale of woe.
You made 6 attempts to accumulate energy and you ended up with 12 energy.
You took 5 successes to get it (including 0 Critical Successes)
You failed 1 times while doing it. »
Nicholas: 	Wow, seriously?
Nicholas: 	I'll take luck on that critfail.
GM: 	You're back up? Right, timezones. Carry on!
Nicholas: 	So I need 50-15 (personal) -12 (already accumulated).
Nicholas: 	« This ended in a CRITICAL FAILURE! Check your total accumulated energy for your precise scale of woe.
You made 1 attempts to accumulate energy and you ended up with 0 energy.
You took 0 successes to get it (including 0 Critical Successes)
You failed 1 times while doing it. »
GM: 	and you're at -2 skill, for casting rolls already rolled.
Nicholas: 	...Wow.
Johnny: 	"Are we gonna get a demon in the bathroom?
Nicholas: 	I accounted for that, the roll was 'exrit(15,-3,23)' for the second attempt.
Nicholas: 	Of course, that was roll 2 of three.
GM: 	right!
Nicholas: 	(From luck)
Nicholas: 	« This ended in a CRITICAL FAILURE! Check your total accumulated energy for your precise scale of woe.
You made 23 attempts to accumulate energy and you ended up with 22 energy.
You took 9 successes to get it (including 0 Critical Successes)
You failed 14 times while doing it. »
Nicholas: 	Okay, how the *heck*.
GM: 	You rolled another 23 times.
EJ: 	someone get him a new set of dice
Nicholas: 	Yeah.
Nicholas: 	I think I have to stop when I can't legally roll anymore.
Nicholas: 	Or, rather, I think I have the good sense to stop when I start rolling against numbers that have bigger critfail chances than success chances.
GM: 	Right.
Nicholas: 	Which is to say, absolutely inconclusive divination.
GM: 	Yeah.
GM: 	Roll your unmodified Path of Chance skill.
Nicholas: 	result: «succeeded by 4 »
Narrator: 	Nick kneels in the center of a magic circle, surrounded by carefully arranged candles. The sketch of the Medicine Man burns in front of him, covered in mythic woods. Suddenly all the candle flames flare up and go out, and a female voice can be heard in everyone's heads. "Whoever you are, stop looking for my brother. We have work to do, and the fate of the world depends on our success!"
GM: 	Nick has a mild headache.
EJ: 	does she sound hot?
Nicholas: pinches the bridge of his nose. "Well. That was unexpected. And mildly painful. You people get lunch. I'll get an aspirin and clean this up. After lunch, time for a road trip."
GM: 	Actually, yes - smokey, husky voice, almost promising a good time if you do as she asks.
Amilastet: driely says "Sounds like a succubus."
Clay: 	"So, she does magic and he does mad science, now we know!"
EJ: 	"There's bigger fish for us to fry, right?"
Nicholas: 	So. Lunch. Cleanup. Road trip!
Clay: 	"As far as I know these three are our only leads."
Nicholas: 	Checking out the closest first.
Amilastet: 	"And she doesn't want us looking into those, so at least that's a positive hint."
Amilastet: 	"ONE of them must be useful."
GM: 	Again, if you guys want to continue pursuing this thread ONLY, these are your only leads. You could branch out a bit more and approach from other angles. Also, people can Meditate to get clues.
EJ: 	"She said fate of the world... what if going after this guy turns out to be a bad thing?"
Amilastet: 	"Worlds, plural. And crazy people often think ending everything is good. so."
Clay: 	"You might notice how she didn't specify if they were improving the fate of the world."
EJ: scratches his head.
EJ: 	"I suppose you have a point there."
Clay: 	"Yah, they may think the return of the elder gods is just what we need."
GM whispers to Nicholas: Nick is worried that the murders are an attempt to put off a worse fate. Sort of like making a deal with a blackmailer that requires you to commit crimes.
Nicholas: 	"It's possible these murders might be an attempt to put off something /worse/. Like a blackmailer forcing you to place a bomb or else your daughter dies."
Johnny: 	"Even the elder gods think their return is a bad idea."
Nicholas: 	"If that's the case, then we really do need to talk to these people."
EJ: 	"For that matter, there are demons that are quite happy where they are and take being brought into our world rather personally..."
Nicholas: 	Okay, we have the bead.
GM: 	It's a cheap red bead, 2 dollar for a gross kind of thing, inscribed with geometric patterns that make most of you think of Native American art but someone who knows about that kind of stuff could tell you more, and cracked as though someone smashed it.
Amilastet: 	I know art people.
Nicholas: 	And using it to trace back to the creator would be done with what? I'm not really certain what I'd use.
Nicholas: 	Magic-wise, I mean.
Amilastet: 	I will be taking photos of the bead and emailing them to my arts contact.
GM whispers to EJ: Thinking over the bead and the voice you just heard, you're pretty sure that no mortal caster would drop something that could be used to trace him so casually. The voice must really have been a succubus, since Succubi don't have sympathy like normal humans do and can't be traced in the same way.
EJ: 	"Now that I think about it, Mila, I think you're right - that WAS a succubis..."
Amilastet: 	"Says things about her 'brother' doesn't it?"
GM whispers to Nicholas: Thinking over the bead and the voice you just heard, plus your previous experiences with this magic, you're really bothered. This person must be an insanely powerful witch, with almost no knowledge of thaumatology. The divination blocker you encountered was crude but powerful, she left a charm behind with sympathetic contact to herself. In close, she's probably has a large enough power reserve to cast combat magic in real time just by tapping it - and not just minor combat magic, but serious fireballs and lightning storms.
GM: 	Hmmm, let me ponder that for a second.
Nicholas says to the GMs: 'Leaving the charm behind' is a sign of incompetence, but everything else she's done indicates phenomenal power, basically?
GM: 	Greater Strengthen Magic would let you restore the symbolic link between the charm and the creator to the level that you could use it like a lodestone to follow her.
GM whispers to Nicholas: Right. And all her other casting is like someone tapping a huge reserve and then barely drawing any energy from the ambience.
GM whispers to Nicholas: So low Thaumatology limits her effective skills, but the ability to draw 60+ energy off her reserve means she can just cast a freaking divination because, well, she's that powerful and doesn't need to do an extended ritual.
GM whispers to Nicholas: Actually, that much Magery is Not RIght. Something is very wrong here.
Nicholas says to the GMs: And I'll want to spend the day coming up with charms to try to counteract that, because in realtime there's NO way I'm going to be able to deal with that much power in real time.
Narrator: 	Nick frowns at the bead, then looks at his circle, then frowns a lot more.
GM: 	Okay, Mila was calling her contact, right?
Amilastet: 	Yep!
Amilastet: 	Clare (we established Kurt wasnt' availbe and Claire was but didn't know anything last time)
Amilastet: 	Fortunately Claire is the Artist
GM: 	Well, you got in touch with a few days again to no good effect, so we'll say she's already available without rolling. So Clare answers your call immediately?
GM: 	err, no question mark there.
Nicholas: 	"She's more powerufl than I thought - and I thought she was pretty powerful - but I'm better. Give me some time and I think I can make us a lodestone to find her."
Clare: 	"Amilastet! What can I do for you? Hopefully something that doesn't involve murders, the poor man."
EJ: 	"You're the man, Nick."
Amilastet: 	"Salutations Clare! I'm looking for someone who's knowledgable about traditional american art. No more murders, but we're not even sure what culture this is from, or if it's new age imitators or something."
Clay: 	"Would moving to one of the holy sites help?"
Nicholas: 	"For this magic? I'm pretty sure I can handle it."
Clare: 	"Oh! That I can definitely do, and what I don't know, I'll get Professor Norman - he'll know for sure. Just send me some pictures of whatever it is you need to know about."
Nicholas: 	« You pulled it off!
You made 2 attempts to accumulate energy and you ended up with 19 energy.
You took 2 successes to get it (including 1 Critical Successes)
You failed 0 times while doing it. »
Nicholas: 	Like that. :P
GM: 	So that took... 5 seconds? Wow.
GM: 	No, 6 seconds because you had to tap your energy reserve.
Nicholas: 	Yeah.
Amilastet: 	"Thank you Claire, and it's good to speak to you again. I'll have the pictures in the emails soon."
GM: 	Also, roll Path of Magic
Nicholas: 	result: «succeeded by 4 »
GM whispers to Nicholas: Someone tried to block any attempts to trace, or more likely, just firewalled everything on principle. Not very well, though, and you can mostly work past it but the connection will probably get lost if you get within a few miles no matter what you do.
Nicholas says to the GMs: She still needs to make skill rolls in order to work magic, even if she pulls the whole thing out of a reserve, right?
Narrator: 	Nick holds the stone in hands and mutters. It pulls away from him, roughly southwest when check against a compass.
GM whispers to Nicholas: Yes, the final one. But she doesn't need to risk exploding by drawing energy.
Nicholas says to the GMs: Yeah, but if I make a charm that'll give -6 or so to all magic rolls in a good wide radius, she'll be shut down and I can rely on my firepower-packing buddies to fill her full of holes without getting blasted to smithereens.
GM: 	For what it's worth, the DC area is southEAST of you, as are almost all of the potential sites of MM from your research. Johnny's suggestion is mostly north. SouthWEST of you is something like 60% of the USA but nothing related to anything you have.
GM whispers to Nicholas: Right, though she'll get to resist that, but yeah, good idea.
Amilastet: 	I don't suppose that stone looked like south-western cultures? I guess we'll find out when claire gets back to us :)
Nicholas: 	"I have to work some things up."
Amilastet: 	At least that would hint how FAR southwest to go.
Amilastet: 	"Try tying it to a string and dowsing over a map with it."
GM: 	That's a trapping for a Greater Divination spell
Amilastet: is full of helping.
GM: 	I'd be pretty generous on the penalties for "where is the witch RIGHT now" using that method.
Nicholas: 	I have a lot of spare grimoires with unspent signature gear.
Nicholas: 	Can I call Divination one of them?
Clay: 	we could also fly around and triangulate their location
GM: 	Yes, that's the point of having spare grimoires.
Clay: 	it'd take a while tho
GM: 	(I'm totally going to put "Divination Ritual" in my list of grimoires!"
EJ: 	well, does this point to where the charm was originally created or where the creator is now?
Nicholas: 	Done.
GM: 	It's a sympathetic link to the caster, where they currently are, as they move.
Nicholas: 	So, dowsing for it with a map.
Nicholas: 	(Thank you, Mila.)
GM: 	It's not 100% precise, either - like 10 degrees of error at best?
Johnny: 	'Can't we triangulate with out resident porter?'
Clay: 	"Yah, it they are really close"
Nicholas: 	Same cost as last time, 50 energy?
Clay: 	"And the thing works for me"
GM: 	Nick: yes.
Nicholas: 	« You pulled it off!
You made 1 attempts to accumulate energy and you ended up with 9 energy.
You took 1 successes to get it (including 0 Critical Successes)
You failed 0 times while doing it. »
Nicholas: 	Er.
Nicholas: 	That can't be right.
Nicholas: 	Oh hey.
GM: 	You did the second casting. Try the full energy
Nicholas: 	« You pulled it off!
You made 6 attempts to accumulate energy and you ended up with 60 energy.
You took 6 successes to get it (including 1 Critical Successes)
You failed 0 times while doing it. »
Nicholas: 	That's what I wanted.
Nicholas: 	Final roll: result: «succeeded by 8 »
Narrator: 	Nick goes out to the van and pulls out a thick tome. He sets it up on the desk and unrolls a map, studying bits of the book carefully. Reading through it, he mutters and twitches. The charms slides across the surface of the map, spinning and circling around the 4 corners area. (Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico for the Canucks).
Amilastet: (( my in laws went there for a vacation ))
Amilastet: (( I was actually thinking of there when you described the bead because of that :) ))
GM: 	I'm not taking chances on Cultural familarity.
GM: 	Also, Clare comes back.
GM: 	err, calls back.
EJ: 	"So, uh... road trip?"
Amilastet: answers the phone. "Greetings Clare!"
GM: 	She says she consulted with Professor Norman, and both of them agree - the Native Tribe with that kind of carving - some of the symbols are pretty clear - was native to the area around DC. They were mostly assimilated into the colonials, and lots of native Marylanders have traces of their blood and sometimes follow their traditions.
Amilastet: 	"Hm. Well that's interesting..."
Amilastet: 	Does she happen to know if they would have any specific meanings? I make it sound like we think it's some sort of "horse head" 'message' rather than angling for the magic angle.
GM: 	The picture of MM and his sister shows they could have some Native American features. Definitely mixed with Europeans, but still there.
GM: 	Clare says the symbol they clearly identified meant "secret" or "hidden". Professor Norman assisted in an investigation of their myths and religious practices, and that symbol was used by their medicine men and shamans.
Amilastet: 	"Thank you very much, that's definitely getting us pointed in a new direction."
GM: 	Everyone can make a Hidden Lore (Demons) roll.
Amilastet: signs off with Clare and delivers the news. "We're probably looking for locals - either local born, or descendants of locals."
GM: 	(also, it may be at a hidden penalty.)
Amilastet: 	Hidden Lore (Demons) (12) result: succeeded by 5
Amilastet: 	I'll take success by 5 on a skill of 12.
EJ: 	Hidden Lore (Demons) result: succeeded by 0
Johnny: 	((I'm probably better off not rolling))
EJ: 	luck
EJ: 	Hidden Lore (Demons) result: CRITICALLY FAILED by 5
Clay: (( IIRC there is no default for HL ))
EJ: 	Hidden Lore (Demons) result: failed by 2
EJ: 	i'll take success
Amilastet: 	Gah
Amilastet: 	Some HL default to other HL
GM: 	I'll let people roll any Hidden Lore as IQ-6.
Amilastet: 	(Spirits and undead have interdefaults IIRC, or spirits and vampires)
EJ: 	if it's EJ, all HL defaults to HL demons
Nicholas: 	Hidden Lore (Demons) result: «succeeded by 8 »
Johnny: 	IQ-6 - result: «failed by 3 »
Clay: 	IQ check result: succeeded by 2
GM: 	Apropos of nothing in particular but fitting in with the pattern of the murders, it occurs to Mila and Nick that the native tribes had to subdue and control demons in America before the Europeans arrived. Some of those demons were banished, pacified, or recaptured by colonials, but some of them are still being held down by native American ritualists or their descendants.
GM: 	Some of those demons may be in Maryland, or in the Four Corners area.
Amilastet: 	Well Now.
GM: 	You guys don't have immediate details, but the demonic underground might have more information.
Amilastet: 	If someone tries to let Coyote out, I'm moving back to Egypt. Just FYI.
GM: 	Right, right good plan. You've already got a tomb there.
Clay: 	Tries or succeds?
Nicholas: 	"Anyone - not you, EJ - have some friends, or think they can make themselves some friends, among demonologists?"
Amilastet: 	"I have Enemies."
Johnny: 	"Oh come on...a trickster god can't be all that bad."
GM: 	There are plenty of free demons hanging out in America, making people miserable.
Amilastet: 	"Actually, scratch that. I have enemies among demons. I'm sure there's demonologists that do too. Might be able to pull an "Enemy of my Enemy" thing."
Johnny: 	"Just ask Thor."
Clay: 	"From the movie?"
Johnny: 	"They made a movie?"
Clay: 	"You need to get out more."
Clay: 	"I'm more in tune with the ghosthunters, maybe there is some crossover?"
EJ: 	"They have this thing called television. You might take a look at it some time, Johnny."
Clay: 	"Then again, is the four corners area heavily populated? Might be an easy search."
Nicholas: 	"I'm not summoning a demon to ask him. Because I'm not stupid."
Nicholas: says that like a man who is convincing himself.
Amilastet: 	"I don't think you shoul do that, no."
Amilastet: 	"Among other things, it will be out of touch compared to one that's already walking around."
EJ: 	"It would most likely be a one-sided conversation, yeah."
GM: 	Clarifying: when I said the stone was moving around the Four Corners area, I meant roughly between Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix, and Albuquerque. It lingers at various points within that area, but the points where it lingers keep changing, and sometimes it slides as far west as Las Vegas or as far east as Dallas. So, uhm, that's a large area with lots of people.
Johnny: 	"This moving around is happening in real time? She's a quick little minx."
Nicholas: 	Okay.
Clay: 	"Well, do we try to find MM or his sister's place here to search or should we head west and try to narrow things down once we are out there?"
Nicholas: 	I have a couple of ideas and Nick has a really /powerful/ charm to make.
Amilastet: 	"Or she's protected from scrying."
Nicholas: 	Who wants to track down a local grimoire-seller?
GM: 	Or the charm connection is inaccurate and imprecise, especially at this range.
Clay: 	"I'd think we'd have better luck someplace else for that, like Boston"
Amilastet: 	I can try? I'm not sure I have the right skills entirely, but I can at least back up someone and provide the arcane knowledge...
Nicholas: 	"After I'm done, we pack for Vegas."
Clay: 	Er, Baltimore
GM: 	Magical Contacts, hacking a dealer's database, or social engineering (Intimidate, Diplomacy, etc) to convince a known seller to give you the word on sales.
Clay: 	what do we use to locate a good shop first?
Amilastet: 	Somehow I don't think Savoire Faire is the right skill.
Amilastet: 	Research?
GM: 	The NWVBA tends to be close-mouthed about sales, but they're not the only people out there.
Amilastet: 	A phone book!
GM: 	Computer Operation at +6 to find the NWVBA website and the list of members.
Clay: 	Computer Operation/TL8 result: succeeded by 12
Amilastet: 	Oh good. Since I'm rolling at default :)
Nicholas: 	And telling the NWVBA seller that I'm pretty sure the person we're looking for isn't actually on the wrong side from us might get us some help.
Nicholas: 	While they track that down, I have a charm to create.
Clay: 	wait, we looking for a book or a person?
Nicholas: 	A person.
Johnny: 	If you want to hack...I have a 12 skill.
GM: 	Okay, there's a NWVBA member in DC, and another in Baltimore.
Nicholas: 	We want someone who is connected to the local magic scene who might have sold our witch some grimoires and who might lead us to her.
Clay: 	yah, the NWVBA is notorious for not wanting you to use them for finding stuff other than books
GM: 	The DC guy is known to be mildly unfriendly with Help Me!; the Baltimore guy also doesn't like you much but is loose-lipped in general so if you could make him think you weren't from Help Me! he might be approaching helpful.
Nicholas: 	Yay, we have a reputation. :P
Clay: 	Are there non-bookseller types we can contact?
GM: 	About what? I'm not trying to be funny, but like whom about what?
EJ: 	any of us not really known as help me!?
Clay: 	I don't have a rep either way
Clay: 	I was wondering if there is an underground of ritualists/demonologists we could tap
GM: 	NWVBA in general is saavy to Help Me!, though whether any particular member knows you guys is an open question.
Amilastet: 	Yes, but we're not sure how to reach them.
Amilastet: 	Disguise would be a great way to not be cottoned on to :)
Amilastet: 	Mr. Clay.
Clay: 	maybe go to a NWVBA store and take a look at their bullitin board, if they have one
Amilastet: 	Or David.
Amilastet: 	Someone who doesn't have tattoos, isn't adverse to dressing down, and isn't a mummy.
GM: 	Yes, there is an underground of witches and sages. Meeting them is a combination of Thaumatology, Streetwise, and Area Knowledge rolls.
Amilastet: 	I have Thaumatology but Nicholas has more. I do not have AK and Streetwise.
GM: 	(well, there are several undergrounds for witches, local to each city, but yeah whatever).
EJ: 	criminal! covers streetwise
EJ: 	but that's all i got
GM: 	also, occultism.
GM: 	Actually, mostly Occultism.
GM: 	Sorry, total brain fart.
Clay: 	I can default Area Knowlege at a 12! that and diplomacy are about all I have
Clay: 	oh, I have occultism too
Nicholas: 	Nick is going to be holed up in his hotel room crafting charms.
Clay: 	we could also head out there an do this type of looking there, since we might actually run across the binders that way
GM: 	Basically, it's impossible for you guys to avoid finding the witch's underground in the DC area, given enough time. Better rolls just let you find it faster.
Nicholas: 	Replacing the used ones, though not the bullets EJ has fired (yet - I need those charm slots for other things).
Clay: 	also, we could head to headquarters and start it there so Nick has all his magic stuff
GM: 	We're nearly at the top of the hour, so let's make plans for next session. What are people planning to do (both short term and long term plans).
GM: 	I think we decided Help Me! is actually HQed out of Denver.
Clay: 	I don't know if Nick needs/wants his house to do charms
Nicholas: 	Short-term: Nick takes a commercial flight back to Denver, while the rest of the team locates the local occult underground to try and get information on our witch. For what it's worth, I think she's very possibly /not/ the bad guy here; criminal yes, but evil no.
Clay: 	Denver would be a lot closer to where we think we are looking, on the down side we might be more known there
Nicholas: 	Nick spends the day in Denver working on charms and seeing if his own Real Big Library pops up any clues with Research.
Clay: 	I can help try to locate the occult underground, I have occultism, diplomacy and a good AK default
Nicholas: 	Team then meets in Vegas (Nick flying commercially, team flying in our private plane).
Nicholas: 	I think we might do best to handle the charm-creation and research and underground-contacting during downtime, and pick up next session in Vegas.
Amilastet: 	I think we'll be using EJ and David's social schmoozing and Clay and mine's hoodoo familiarity to try and add up to one occult researcher :)
Nicholas: 	Does that work for everyone?
EJ: 	yeah
Clay: 	I think there is a small chance they are not part of team big bag, but I still think they are bad
Clay: 	sure
GM: 	Okay, if you guys want to do stuff over email, send me email!
EJ: 	though i will note that i am COMPLETELY confused at this point as to who or where the bad guys are
Amilastet: 	So am I :)
Johnny: 	Johnny will do whatever he can to help.
Amilastet: 	I'm having fun naming random things
GM: 	Hint: the free-masons
Nicholas: 	To make it official: result: «succeeded by 15 »
Nicholas: 	Er.
Amilastet: 	IT'S THE ILLUMINATI
EJ: 	people who are supposed to be over here, are over there
Nicholas: 	To make it official (Charm of Break Magic): « You pulled it off!
You made 40 attempts to accumulate energy and you ended up with 372 energy.
You took 40 successes to get it (including 6 Critical Successes)
You failed 0 times while doing it. »
Amilastet: 	Nicely done.
GM: 	Sweet.
Nicholas: 	That's 'half mile radius, -5 to magic rolls'.
EJ: 	and people who are supposed to be demons trying to bring about the end of days may in fact be indians trying to prevent it
GM: 	So that takes... 45 minutes?
Amilastet: 	OR the ever popular Indian Demons trying to bring about the end of days.
Nicholas: 	Yeah, *after* Nick gets to Denver.
Clay: 	heh
EJ: 	this game is like a david lynch movie
EJ: 	the more i see, the less i understand
Nicholas: 	I'm doing that in Denver because I like the idea of being half a continent away from the rest of the team when I critfail the 360-energy rit.
Clay: 	I think the voice was lying, but whatever
Nicholas: 	I didn't do that, but y'know.