Reliquary: Flood Investigates Things

Flood

[ What's the word? Manipulation + Influence (Industry). Difficulty 6. ]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6) ( success x 2 )

Flood

[ Manipulation + Leadership. Specialty: Cult of Personality. ]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

Flood

[ Five successes. ]

Flood

[ Heard it on the CB, so it must be true. Smokey's coming for you. Manipulation + Influence (Transportation). Difficulty 6. ]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )

Flood

[ Manipulation + Leadership. Specialty: Cult of Personality. ]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )

Flood

[ Six successes. ]

Flood

[ Manipulation + Investigation. Blowing a WP. ]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 5, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Flood

[ Intelligence + Investigation ]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )

Flood

[ Perception + Streetwise. Extended. ]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )

Flood

[ Perception + Streetwise. Continued. ]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 3, 7) ( success x 1 )

Flood

[ Once more. ]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 4, 4) ( fail )

reliquary

[Obviously, witnessed. *grin*]

He is a shadow: Flood. 

He is a shadow with heft. A nudge here, a nudge there, and the currents of influence in Denver and Colorado are swift and deep and dark, and who's to say what really causes those waters to eddy, to leap, to lap, to divert and to run in another direction? What celestial body is exerting gravitational pull? It's right that vampires should play with the affairs of the world like so, is it not? Because who else will appreciate the long-term picture, who else has time to really see the way influence flows? How it supports the world: and how it can change the world, too?

Flood: A nudge here and a nudge there, and those deep dark waters bring him [always him, because he is such a thing] whispers.

On the first night he hears that the construction site in question has been a coming up thirteen year project with the project ceasing entirely just about the time that, perhaps significantly, perhaps not, Flood's Sect made such a sudden and violent push to take Denver, only starting up again quietly in July. There are rumours that good old Brad's using Hertz to bring in non-union guys and do extra work, but nobody's been able to prove a thing, and it's not like it's easy to hide a fucking crane, but something's up for sure, because the project didn't get this kind of push even in the beginning when -- there was something about getting ground cracked before some environmental agency got wind? Something about a species of weed that was endangered and only grew -- doesn't matter because whatever Bradley got his way. The union's got its eye on him. Phil though comes up smelling like roses according to the labor guys. They like him but they think he's not all that competent, and that's part of why they like him.

On the second night after his nudges, his demands, have had a day to percolate, to work on the kine and make them do, he hears a little more, some of it conflicting. Phil's a devil. He's a real work-horse, got poor Bradley by the short ones. What exactly is the project? Apparently at first it was going to be an fitness club, but a mega fitness club the way some malls get taken over by a Church and called mega-Churches, an old-school fitness club like somewhere you'd go to class it up and have a day with the mistress and then brunch and then if you really felt like it a lap in the pool and so on and so forth, with a few special features as a nod to public sentiment. What it's going to be now nobody seems to know. Maybe it's still gonna be a fitness club, but someone else heard it's a Church. Belongs to a Church. 

The Catholic Church? There's no actual connection to a Father Townsend here that Flood can hear, but he can probably make the connection. He also hears that it's apparently a dangerous construction site indeed with seven accidents recorded just since construction re-started in August, and in the preceeding thirteenish or so years four deaths, two of which happened on-site, the other two which happened suspiciously. . . 

. . . but that's just the work of it, eh? What Flood hears about the sort of transportation in-and-out of the joint on the first night is probably just about what he'd expect. Materials using this trucking company, a lot of travertine because why not. But on the second night he gets wind of a rumour that what right before this new burst of activity at the construction site started taking place there was a dead-of-night delivery, something that came straight from the Denver International Airport. Over the next few weeks there were a lot of cab calls to and from the airport from and to the construction site. Maybe business partners coming by for a look, but there were an awfully lot of them. Flood gets a number for the cab company that seems to have a monopoly on these calls, and it's a little indepedent venture.

On the third night Flood notices, or it is brought to his attention, that the tenure of his questions have changed the way some of the homeless guys who hang around watering holes for down and out construction workers look at him. Or perhaps not him, personally. But there's a restlessness he becomes aware of, something that isn't new, something that runs beneath this line of questioning like a vein in the ground, metal ore, but how precious?

---

BOOM, a chunk of stuff. Tell me what else you wanna do / if you want Grey to go talk to Townsend or if you want Flood to talk to Townsend (or anybody else), and we'll do a thing. (grin)

---

Flood:

Flood finds himself sitting in front of a black leather bound ledger, a broad and hitherto empty tome, one that he cracks open. After a deep breath, one only made necessary to allow him to enjoy the scent of the fresh paper stock, he begins to fill it with ink from his gold and polished bloodwood fountain pen.

*     *     * 

"Arnold? Yes. It's me. Yes, a very long time, yet still you remember my voice. That is wonderful. I was wondering if your union house still has ties with the baggage handlers, and if so, if any of them have access to flight records. Yes. Please call me back at your earliest convenience. We'll discuss the expansions at the processing plant in Parker. They'll need more drivers and I can put a word in with Juan on how the hours get distributed," hanging up the phone a moment later.

*     *     *

"Grey, I'm looking into activity on a construction site in Littleton," Flood begins to his ghoul before he pauses, referencing his notes, and then gives the full address in question. "Owned by a Bradley Jonson, managed by a gentleman named Phil Lang. They broke ground thirteen years ago. I need you to pull the lot number, associated mortgages, their holders and lenders, any violations, all the usual bureaucratic and financial paper trails. I also need to know about what organizations might have been trying to stop breaking ground on the project for environmental reasons. Come kind of weed. No, I am not joking. And who might've been pushing them to do so," and then he pauses. Listening.

"The EPA?" There is a moment of curiosity in his voice as he awaits further input after trying out the acronym on his tongue.

"The Environmental Protection Agency. That's novel. You'll have to tell me more when we speak on the subject. If it's not them, though, tell me who, and who might be trying to stop them continuing the project these days. I have a name. Elizabeth Faulkner, connected to Peter Townsend, a priest," placing the phone down once they are finished discussing more mundane matters of Flood's finances and legal positioning.

*     *     *

"Arnold! He's dating an administrator? Always good when one of the grunts can get a leg up," a dry laugh that says this is the dance before palms are greased. "The way you guys work he probably gets paid more than her anyway. For half the work," a pause. "Wonderful. Yes, I'm looking for flight logs for commercial and private flights, including cargo, on the," a pause, this time no doubt more for effect, before he recites the date in question. "Yes. Thank you. I'll talk to Juan and make sure he gives you a call. I'll be looking forward to hearing back from you on it."

*     *     *

"Hello? Yes, this is Jack Spicer. Good evening. I would like to arrange a private car. I need transportation from the airport to a meeting I will be attending while visiting Denver, and I will need transport to the Brown Palace Hotel following the meeting. I am not sure how long the event will run and would like the car to remain on call," he says, rattling off information as it is given, and settling on payment through a credit card linked to that fictitious name. He hands up and stands, walking across the sitting room to one of the panels of book cases that line it. His fingers run over them until he stops upon a book on ancient Roman architecture.

"Travertine. Do tell me more," barely a whisper as he sits again to page through the book and consider further lines of inquiry.

*     *     *

This is the part he had been avoiding. This is the part he had considered foregoing altogether. The depths of the Temple of Caine lays out before him beneath Union Station, though, and now that he is on its door step their is little use making this simply about a religious pilgrimage.

The Lasombra sets out, shadow seeking out shadow, in search of his disgruntled sister and word from her sneering lips on what she may know of this Father Townsend and his church.

[ I'll let you decide what kind of rolls are necessary. I'm thinking it might be... Manipulation + Influence (Transportation) for the travel logs, Grey's Charisma + Influence (Bureaucracy) and Charisma + Influence (Legal) for information he can gather about the site and the project's finances and opponents. Intelligence + Academics for information on the uses of traverine in building? And then he's got an appointment with a cab driver... After a trip to talk with Paige Harrow, his sister-in-sire, about the church. ]

Flood @ 7:43PM
[ Manipulation + Influence (Transportation) ]
Roll: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 5, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 3 ) VALID

Flood @ 7:44PM
[ Grey's Charisma + Influence (Bureaucracy) ]
Roll: 4 d10 TN7 (3, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 3 ) VALID

Flood @ 7:45PM
[ Grey's Charisma + Influence (Legal) ]
Roll: 5 d10 TN7 (4, 4, 6, 6, 7) ( success x 1 ) VALID

Flood @ 7:45PM
[ Intelligence + Academics ]
Roll: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) VALID

Flood @ 7:47PM
[ Intelligence + Occult ]
Roll: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 6, 6, 7) ( success x 3 ) VALID

Flood @ 7:55PM
[ Grey's Intelligence + Investigation ]
Roll: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 8, 10) ( success x 2 ) VALID

---

Reliquary:

And on the First Night:

Flood's champion, his unwilling-but-willing-forever-now lawyer with the friendly face, his student, his servant: 

The pictures that Grey shows Flood on the internet of Bradley Jonson do not match with the Bradley Jonson that Flood knew, back in the day. (And Jack, too. Business being business.) The Bradley Jonson that Flood remembers was -- slick: too slick for his own damned good, but with a temper that dragged him down more often than it built him up. The joke was that he was so Dry he didn't let lemonade be served at his kid's birthday party because it would give them a taste for 'fermented juice.' 

Bradley Jonson that Flood remembers was a politician with his fingers in all sorts of police pies [and probably a Camarilla tool -- the way he was positioned, though ineffective toward the end of Flood's life], strings running back to Washington. He made sure that any industrial alcohol in Denver and neighboring counties came from factories that scrupulously added poisons. Flood remembers too that he wasn't likable he was charismatic at least -- earnest or something. Dedicated, but never did come across as a fanatic. Not a fan of the Church, took his lumps, but gave them too oh yes. Handsome. Was actually Dry in fact instead of just in name.

Tonight's Bradley Jonson looks like a different beast. Beast, key-word: a weasel or a stoat or a ferret or a rat. He is not a handsome man with a pointed jaw and a pinched mouth and skin that has weathered like a cowboy's leathers stubby lashes and a habit of wearing a small mustache lines that frame his jaw he looks: mean. A little mean, or suspicious. An aesthete. Even in the more flattering pictures that Grey has found (if Flood bothers to look through them all), there are few saving graces. 

The pictures are attached to archived articles about construction. Philanthropist, he is called. Wealthy philanthropist - as if there can be any other kind. On one particularly misspelled blog: Envrnmnentalists Bain faking Brad The Dick Jonson at it again. Nothing comes up in reference to that 'again,' though Bradley Jonson does seem to have had other building projects in other areas of Colorado. 

None of those projects jump out as anything of particular note, except for perhaps one in the 90s. A project to re-build one of Colorado's ghost towns, a mining town which went by the name of Hope. He had included plans to re-open old mines and turn the place into a sort-of mining theme park, though the project was abandoned after some difficulties with investors. 

Perhaps Grey shows Flood an interview with Bradley Jonson regarding the controversy over his project re: the weed. The weeed which is:

Kingdom: Plantae

Order: Malpighiales

Family: Hypericaceae

Genius: Hypericum

Species: H. sidereum

Nicknames: four-star, devil's foot-print, saint's mouth, tippler's friend

Appearance: A yellow-flowering perennial herb native to ???????????, last recorded outside Littleton, Colorado (habitat destroyed, due to construction; samples taken); San Bernardino County, California (once again, habitat destroyed). Was apparently once found on the Eastern coast of Spain, specifically around Alicante.

Some environmental lists it as 'Extinct in the Wild,' one as 'Critically Endangered,' and another as Extinct.

Those other than the EPA who were interested back in the day when construction at the Littleton site began:

* Colorado Environmental Coalition

* Colorado Scientific Society for the Preservation of Flora [subsidized by at least one drug company since absorbed by a fortune 500] 

* Botanical Society of America

* A small group of students from DU, very vocal, calling themselves GO. Green Only. Students for Green Only. SFGO. Stupid Fucks Go, as the colloquial would have it.

* Church of the Transcendental Revelation of the Emissary [a fringe/cult spiritual movement specific to Colorado] 

In the interview, Bradley Jonson comes across as a very dry man, adept at turning the subject, never obviousy impatient (in print), but quite good at moving on.

Flood is in his element when he starts digging into the history and uses of travertine. There are easy things to learn, of course: what famous buildings today are known for its use (the Getty Museum, the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur). Modern architects love it: it gives them a connection to the past. The Coloseum is the largest mostly-travertine building, and the Romans used it for everything, but especially temples and amphitheaters, buildings for people to come and publically worship -- the state or the gods or some commingling of the two. 

Books of interest include but are not limited to:

• David Harvey."The building of the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur", coda to Paris, Capital of Modernity (2003:311ff) Harvey made use of Hubert Rohault de Fleury. Historique de la Basilique du Sacré Coeur (1903–09), the official history of the building of the Basilica, in four volumes, printed, but not published.
• V. Harrow. Travertine: A Theoretical History of the Sacrosanct Quarries of Trivoli. (Boston: Ives, Sullivan and Company.) 1995.

The latter is out-of-print, perhaps unsurprisingly: How many people are that interested in a theoretical history of 'sacrosanct' quarries, eh?