"Act like I'm the one tracking it? You haven't given me much reason to put my neck out there for you, Right.  I don't kiss on the first date. But you're lucky I do like a good mystery." Her hair catches in the wind of the boat, curling around her face and for just a fragment of a second you see the vulnerability there, the lost uncertainty that she so desperately tries to cover. She's feeling it all, not just the beauty and majesty of this mortal life, but the doubts, fears, loneliness and pain.  What will she make of it all? Time will tell.

She leads you across the boat, flipping the coin with a flashy flip of the wrist from one hand to the next absentmindedly. It seems as though the coin gives you a sense of where the frequency is coming from, it isn't related to time or space, it's a strange feeling of just knowing where to go.  Before too long you realize exactly where it's leading you as the high pitched note gets even higher and insistent.  It's pointed directly at the smartphone holding man who appears unconcerned and uninterested in you and has yet to look up from the phone for even a second.

At that moment, a large horn sounds across the boat and looking across the horizon, you realize the boat is about to dock.  The clamor of people begins, grabbing their things and standing up, getting ready to disembark.  The smartphone man, without looking up, starts to head towards one of the exit points nonchalantly. The musician, too, packs up his violin into his case and picks it up with one glance at Lucella and a nod towards the shore.

"If you've got a way out of here, you're more than welcome to use it. My hunch is that you don't. By the way, since I'm sure you'll take credit for foiling the tracking device with your musician friend, that's another one you owe me," he replies in response to her hesitation.

As he leads them to their target, he thinks. A thousand thousand tactical scenarios run through his head, a million deaths and a million escapes.

As the boat starts to dock, he's come to a number of conclusions. First, that the enemy agent is moderately important. A pawn wouldn't carry the receiver. Second, that he's going to tail this agent and see where it takes him. It may lead to Infrastructure. That would be advantageous, as he is uncomfortable being less than brimming with Aether, and having just used up a quantity finding and hacking the coin. Third, for the moment they would hold on to the coin. There could be redundant trackers, but being spotted following someone is just as likely as being spotted by the tracking. Roughly. Fourthly, he should spend the time waiting to dock downloading expertise in tracking someone through urban environments.

Fifthly, he might be about to get Lucella killed. That one pains him, but there is no way out of the situation but through it.

Sixthly, as he blends in with the crowd looking anxious to disembark, he predicts that the agent will find a place to duck into and disappear. Whether or not that disappearance will involve an Aetheric event will tell him whether it's an angel or a pawn. He follows the man off the boat as he asks Lucella, "Do you know how to follow someone while trading tails?"

"Of course I do. And here, we might need this," She clicks her sequined clutch open and you feel a hum of Aether as she pulls out a cellphone.  Then she punches some numbers into the phone and hands it to you, "It's programmed with my number. If we get split up, you can reach me. But toss it after today."

The boat docks with a small clang, and everyone starts being ushered off the ship.  The dock is a long wooden platform, at the end it looks like there are only a few buildings, perhaps a ticketing office, several buses, shuttles and taxi's, and behind that are fields of grass and small patches of trees. This is Port Angeles, the port itself of course, which sits on the edge of the Olympic Peninsula.  The city itself is about 15 minutes away by bus, with a population of about 20,000.

The smartphone man has not even put away his phone and is headed off one of the planks onto the dock. He doesn't look back and continues moving up toward the buildings.

"Thanks," he says, accepting the phone.

He takes the lead first following the man, reasoning that he's the less suspicious of the two. After all, he never talked to the musician, the intended target. He lets Lucella carry the coin, in order to be undetectable to the mark. If he is lucky, the target won't even need a change in tails. That would be convenient.

He pulls out his own smartphone and pretends to look at it, glancing up only to make sure of where he's going, and who he's following. A natural enough look, he supposes.

"Next ferry will leave in 15 minutes. We need time to clean and refuel the boat." You overhear one of the boatmen explaining to a family waiting at the docks. As more groups of people disembark, you overhear other bits and pieces, "The lavender farm has been in operation since the 1960's. There's shuttles that take tourists there every half hour. Yes, it's quite a beautiful farm and worth visiting." "Mommy, can we go up to the top of the deck when we go back the other way?" "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that hat." The last one you hear in a voice you recognize as the musician from the boat after hearing his catcalls for requests,"Ms. Grace, I'm concerned we have gotten ourselves into a situation here we cannot easily back out of. Do you know what you're doing with that thing?"

Leaving the throng of people behind, you follow the smartphone man. He continues pressing onwards, past the ticketing office and straight into the public bathrooms in the adjacent building.

Mr. Right waits about 30 seconds, and checks his phone. Not enough to obviously be a tail, but not enough to let the man finish his business either. He goes in, half-expecting the man to have vanished. He scopes out the bathroom, hoping to see the man at a urinal or the sink. If he has to, he pulls up to one of the urinals in order to see if any of the stalls have feet protruding from underneath the low doors.

This is the moment he hates. The moment when he finds out whether he's the predator or the prey. It's not fear, he has survived some pretty awful situations and beaten some pretty drastic odds. It's the inevitable quantum collapse where he finds out if his decisions were wise or imprudent. If he was properly cautious, or paranoid. He hates finding out that he zigged when he should've zagged.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:11, Sun 20 July 2014.

As you round the corner, you hear the words: "Replica." And then you feel a strong surge of Aether suddenly being expended and created.

Mr. Right rolled 3 successes using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s. Wits + Composure +1 (You can gain up to 3 Aether.)

Then the words, "Differentiate." Finally, "Coordinate." The soft smooth voice echoes in the near empty bathroom.  You hear a shuffling of feet. A man pushes past you and heads into the bathroom, looking at you like you're a bit strange.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:21, Sun 20 July 2014.

Mr. Right remains focused on his phone, or at least appears to be, while readying himself for a fight. He anticipates fighting three, four, or upwards of five of the phone man. He waits to see what happens, ready to walk forward into the bathroom if he hears the assumed-replicas about to exit, in an attempt to look casual. His cover isn't blown as far as he knows.

He hopes that Lucella is keeping an eye on him. He hopes that it isn't an elaborate setup involving Lucella, the busker, and the phone man. They could have known that he would follow the man. He would have to be the one to follow the mark into the men's room. If it were an ambush, it would be staged perfectly. The corner means that his techgnostic escape options are limited.

It wouldn't be the first outnumbered, outgunned fight he survived. Won? Maybe. Survived? Most assuredly not.

A young man in his 20's approaches you, a farm hand presumably based on his clothes.  He looks harried and speaks quickly, "You need to come, your friend... She needs you." He motions with his head back the way you came.  In his hand is a simple brown backpack and a set of workman's gloves clutched together.

Right's first impulse is to charge ahead into the bathroom. He lived lifetimes instantly obeying his protective instincts, and where did it get him? His second impulse is to peek his head in and see if they are replicas as he's assumed. His third impulse, and the one he finally accepts, is to briskly return to where Lucella is stationed, while keeping an eye on the bathroom door. For some reason, he needs to see who comes out.

Although how did she get this man to give him the message?

The farmhand motions you towards the side of the building and to head around towards the dock and you follow him.  He's quiet but calm and seems to be focused on his task at hand.

Omega, on behalf of Mr. Right, rolled 1 success using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s. Wits + Composure.

It isn't until you've got a full view of the dock and have crossed the entirety of the building that you notice the faint glowing tattoo on the back of the farmhands neck. A small triangle. Glowing a soft pale blue. You notice this just as the glow dissipates and the tattoo becomes a shimmery blue without the glow.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:41, Sun 20 July 2014.

Mr. Right feels for the burner in his pocket and hits the complete call button to ring Lucella, and tries to listen for the ring. He might be able to hear it. He might not. His other hand, when the farmhand isn't looking, transfers the stiletto from his inside jacket pocket to his waistband, just out of sight.

Pick up, Lucella, pick up.

For all Lucella's enjoyment of talking, she knows how to pick her moments and says simply, "What's wrong?" You can see her now, at the end of the dock, standing by the pier and looking at the water and then in your direction occasionally. The musician is now busking several feet away from her at the dock, you can hear the violin music, an irish jig of some sort causing many of the passengers to surround him and listen.

False alarm.

Rather than alert anyone, he simply ends the call and nods from across the dock. He adjusts his suit to better hide the knife and approaches Lucella. "I received your message. What's the situation?"

The farmhand smiles at Lucella and yourself and then turns around and begins walking away. "Message? You called me. What's going on?" She looks concerned and her eyes flick to the musician who is watching her between his smiling glances at the crowd. "I've been waiting for you. I received a message from Gordon, he's not coming.  Said he smelt Essence and has left for the Port city to blend and will be in touch later. But that's all I've got."

"A man said you needed to see me. I believe I've been set up. There was a burst of Essence from the restroom. Then the man said 'Replica, Differentiate, Coordinate' and then I was distracted. The messenger had a blue aetherial triangle on his neck. I suggest we track down the target together, eliminate him, then discard the coin and go to ground. The element of surprise has been lost," Right concludes.

"Fuck Gordon," he appends as an afterthought. Gordon probably set them up. Lucella has no clue who to trust. None.

He takes the coin back and tries to use the resonance to track his quarry once again.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:09, Sun 20 July 2014.

The coin seems to be pointing back in the direction of the bathrooms.  You think you can see a suited man casually leaning at the end of the building staring at his phone.

Lucella looks sharply at you, "Mr. Truth says he's headed back on the next ferry, do we need him?" She motions with her head towards the musician.

"Up to him. He helps, he gets to find out what's going on. He goes back, and the same information will cost him. I trust my abilities, but you can never be too careful," Right explains, "More important than the backup though, is the information that he possesses. Is there anything else we ought to know?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:20, Sun 20 July 2014.

Lucella nods at Mr. Truth. He packs up his violin and after a few brief words with some of his audience, he heads over. "Safe?" He says simply.

"For now." Lucella says. "This is Mr. Right. He has some questions." She starts to pace the docks, keeping an eye out while you talk to Mr. Truth.

Upon further inspection, the musician is a good looking young man, shoulder length dark brown hair and a jawline that you can imagine would be fairly memorable to most.  He's wearing patchwork clothes and a long brown jacket and sturdy boots.

"Mr. Truth, my question is simple: Do you know anything relevant to our situation that I don't already know? Your assistance now will dictate my assistance regarding this issue. I will, for now, tell you this: there was an angel in that building, and it was more powerful than I. Being as you are its intended target, I suggest you don't bother trying to run or hide from it. It seems to have your number." Right reports.

He keeps one eye on the phone man, and one eye on Truth. His fingers itch constantly, and every nerve is taut. He needs to stab somebody. He needs to defuse the threat.

"My dear friend, I know nothing that I'm sure our mutual acquaintance has not told you.  I merely boarded this boat as the thought had occurred to me that this would make me a lot of money with my... talents, if you will.  I did in fact succeed at this endeavor and it has been quite profitable. I noticed someone watching me, apart from Ms. Grace, of course, and this someone deposited the coin into my case.  The coin caught my eye and I alerted her.  And here we are.  I intend to leave here when this boat next ships out, which should be shortly, and never look back.  If I were you, I would do the same."

Just as he finishes this sentence, a voice sounds over the loudspeaker at the docks: "We are having mechanical difficulties with our ship.  The ship will be delayed for approximately 2 hours, please enjoy complimentary drinks at our ticket office and we are offering complimentary shuttle service to the Lavender Farm which offers tours. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Mr. Truth's composure is still perfect as he responds, "That's not good."

"The good news is we are still quite happy to assist you with your angel problem. I recommend that you go over and see what he wants. Unless, of course, you'd rather try fleeing on foot. That could work." Right offers consolingly, "Don't worry. We have your back in case things get rough."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 20:08, Sun 20 July 2014.

Mr. Truth flourishes his hat with a polite bow, and without a word sets off up towards the buildings.  As he arrives, he hesitates, something is happening and he seems uncomfortable. You take a closer look and you see the same man, but you note that his hair is black and curly. On the boat it was short and brown. You're sure of that.  He doesn't look up from his phone, but he adjusts it, so that the camera is pointed at you, sometimes at Mr. Truth, and sometimes at Lucella. As you get closer, you hear clicking from the phone, but that isn't the disturbing thing. You feel tiny trickles of Aether — that phone is doing something strange, giving off mystical energy that you can detect… or maybe absorb.  Mr. Truth looks for a signal from you, this is a new piece of information, he seems concerned. He sets his violin down and starts playing it.

The smartphone man continues to take photos for a bit and then heads towards one of the white shuttles with purple lettering that reads, "Port Angeles Lavender Farm Shuttle", along with various other tourists.  He looks out of place in his suit and blue tie, but so do you.

Right regroups the trio, "Definitely a different man. Any idea what he was doing with the phone?" He then leads the group towards the shuttle as they talk. They've definitely been made, so they might as well keep an overt pressure on the enemy agent. Besides, if they got on the next shuttle, there could be an ambush. If they get on this one, at least that's one enemy within striking distance before the ambush occurs.

"We're following that son of a bitch. For posterity, the coin which originally tracked to the first man now tracks to him. Maybe he changed his appearance, handed off the phone, or perhaps he is a replica. I don't even know what that means. But we have little choice right now," he reasons to Lucella and Truth.

Lucella is the first to dive right into the situation, heading for the shuttle with determination.  Mr. Truth quickly follows her tail, looking back at you with a concerned look.  A baby crying in the backseat is keeping everyone on edge, the poor child seems to be hungry or be bothered by something.  The smartphone man is seated calmly, watching his cellphone with a stone cold face.  Before long, the shuttle takes off and the chattering around you grows louder as each conversation picks up now that everyone knows it will be a little while before it reaches the farm.  Mr. Truth hums a song beneath his breath and Lucella looks calmly out the window, her clear emotionless face, now, in such a tense situation betraying how hard it must be for her to regularly show emotion.