Back inside her room, Griff decides to plug the SIM card
back into her (potentially) compromised smartphone and check her messages. The
fledgling detective Randall Pimm has left three!
1.
“How come we aren’t getting together to share information”
and assorted other waffle
2.
Randall has bribed one of the guards for this
Wednesday’s password for the Golden Ram Club (the password is Shub-Niggurath)
3.
The Jessica Landers kidnapping is finally news
but importantly she’s the Illinois state governor’s niece… It’s the governor
that received the $250K ransom demand
Griff phones Randall who explains that the Golden Ram is at
34 Beech Street and the ‘guards’ are members of a street gang called the Red
Tops.
The PCs don’t seem remotely interested in the fact that
their initial murder investigation has now turned into a kidnapping. They can’t
do anything about Ray Carlino (they found out he wasn’t dead, and then killed
him), they could attempt to save Jessica but it all sounds a bit too hard for
our intrepid investigators!
Next they decide to head to Calumet Heights and check out
the Golden Ram in daylight. The neighbourhood looks like a demilitarised zone
and they find a clay tile factory (Brandiero Kiln) on the same lot as the club.
Red dirt is much in evidence – like that found on the tyres of Ray’s truck. An
internet search reveals that Brandiero is pretty swish. They have a
view-by-appointment show room in Chicago and there’s no mention of the Calumet
Heights presence. Both the factory and the club are surrounded by tall
hurricane fencing.
In a delusional moment, Jackson Wells (perhaps believing
that he is the indestructible hero of his best-selling novels, Lee Gold) decides
to blast his way into the factory with Don’s shotgun. The other investigators
(and probably the players too) tell Jackson that he can go ahead with that
approach but not to come back afterwards… He settles down, for the time being.
Instead Jackson prowls around the perimeter fence and scans
for cameras (he sees none but rolled really badly). By the time he returns to
the car, a limo full of armed Red Tops arrive to sort out the trespassers. The
gangsters make a show of strength and the investigators make a strategic
withdrawal.
Next, they head off to check out the legitimacy of Ray’s
workplace – InstaCOM. They meet the affable CEO (Ted Widjinski) who gives them
the full background to the company and tries to solicit a donation from the wealthy
Mister Wells (and his assistant, Jade Craft). The company has been refurbishing
computers, fitting them with legal Windows XP operating systems and selling
them at cost to African NGOs. The plan is to expand the distribution network to
third world countries that can afford to pay for a profit margin and don’t want
‘free-ware’ computers. Net result: income for the founder members of InstaCOM
who took second mortgages on their homes to establish the business and draw
minimum wage to keep it afloat.
Jade meets Lisa (one of the original founders) on the workshop
floor who gives out some free merchandise – one of the group’s first laptops.
Back in the car, the team discover that the laptop is
infected with the same malevolent dead pixel as Ray’s computer. Don neutralises
the evil machine with his boot.
The investigator’s take lunch at a nearby diner (it’s
already been a whole hour since Don last ate) and spot Ted sizing up their
vehicle and talking on a mobile phone.
Later that evening, they return to Lenox County to return
the ‘borrowed’ computer to the Ed, the helpful desk sergeant. However, when
Griff gets to the reception desk, Ed is gone (off sick…) and the brooding Ambrose Wilkes stands in his stead.
Wilkes draws a gun and demands the computer. Griff complies
and legs it (fretting about horrible global conspiracies “everyone’s in on it”
she cries – probably due to the recent heroin induced coma…).
Outside, a 4WD nearly kills Griff in an attempted
hit-and-run; the characters give pursuit in their newly hired sports utility.
Their quarry disappears into the woods but the investigators
soon spot the glare of the halogen spotlights and home in on the 4WD’s location.
Suddenly the enemy abandon their vehicle and head into the
woods. The investigators give chase on foot (there’s no alternative) but after
a few hundred yards a terrible screeching, bleating sound fills the forest and
Don spots something big and unnatural heading from the south (he has
night-vision goggles).
Don eases off a short burst of automatic fire and takes out
one of the fleeing men, a second burst goes wide and the ‘thing’ continues to
approach. It almost gets close enough for Don to see the creature in the flesh
but at the last moment he decides to leave his goggles on, reducing the horror
to indistinct blobs of colour… With that he turns and runs for the car –
realising that the other investigators are way ahead of him.
The session ends as a giant pine crashes from the woods
narrowly missing the investigators’ car… They speed off into the night.
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