OOC: Shawn Rolls Wits + Investigation + 1 (equipment) extended action

3 – 10+ successes required

Each roll represents 10 minutes of activity

------------

Shawn may as many times as necessary to gain the required 3 successes

OOC: Just to confirm, would the pool for Shawn be:

Wits (2) + Investigation (0) + Equipment (1) - Untrained Penalty (-3) = Chance Die (0)

Or does the Equipment count as Ability dice for the purpose of negating the penalty, making it:

Wits (2) + Investigation (0) + Equipment (1) = 3

Edit: Alternatively, would the Study stat work instead?
This message was last edited by the player at 05:00, Tue 16 Nov 2021.

OOC: In this case it would be Wits (2) + Investigation (0) + Equipment (1) - Untrained Penalty (-3) = Chance Die (0), which basically 1d10

With the following results:

0 Successes: Shawn doesn't understand the writing or who may have made it other than that it was made recently.

1+ Successes: It all came together in that moment. Shawn realized that....

OOC: 20:46, Today: Shawn failed (dramatic failure) using 1d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD, Chance Die system with a target of 10, rerolling 10s with rolls of 1.  Wits + Investigation + 1 (equipment) .

Shawn didn't understand the writing or who may have made it other than that it was made recently. Yet the same writing was on more and more of the papers that Shawn found.

As Shawn was picking through the contents of the case, there was suddenly a knock on his door...

To Shawn's frustration, he couldn't figure out anything useful from his examination. He glanced up as he heard the knock on his door, wondering who it could be? He stuffed his papers back in the case and shoved the case under the bed before getting up to answer the door.

Shawn opened the door and Chris was standing there, arms folded. His left hand came up and briefly pushed a tough of hair away from his face before saying to Shawn

"What are you doing?" his face looking expectant as if Shawn wasn't doing something or had forgotten something that Shawn was supposed to be doing.

Shawn immediately worried that there was something he was supposed to be doing but hadn't. His mind went into overdrive thinking about how he could be letting people down, and ultimately came to a relatively prosaic answer. Even if it wasn't what Chris had in mind, surely it would seem like he was a considerate person. "I'm just getting ready for bed. Gotta find my toothbrush!" He recalled the advice of the "Step 10" he'd found, and on a whim brushed a lock of his hair out of his face, trying to imitate Chris' gesture as exactly as possible.

Chris seemed amused, but not offended. He unfolded his arms and then said "No. It doesn't work like that here. You can't go to bed yet. On Celebrity Drive, every kid stays up real late. Besides, I have to introduce you to the kids on the block."

"You're not one of those kids are you?" Chris asked, without specifying what kind of kid those kids were.

Shawn felt relieved that he hadn't offended Chris, and he definitely didn't want to be one of 'those' kids. Even if he didn't quite know what that meant. "Sure! If I'm living here, I should meet everyone, right?" In truth, he didn't mind the idea of staying up late. He was tired, but he was also worried about what his dreams might be like with Mr. Clayton resting.

"You need to meet the rest of the kids. They're actually interested in you." He said, matter of fact, like it was the check in procedure at a hotel.

There was a pause and then Chris said to Shawn in a calm voice

"Your mother is a cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt." as if that too was matter of fact. In fact, it happened so quickly, and the comment was made with such disregard for the contents of what was said, that it the sentence came out like it didn't fit at all.

Shawn didn't react to Chris' statement at first, but that was less a matter of him having a good poker face and more of it being so out of place he wasn't sure he'd even heard Chris correctly. It sounded like Chris was insulting his Mom, but Shawn wasn't entirely sure what the word meant, other than probably not positive. In the end, he forced a polite smile and acted like he hadn't heard the second part. "Well, I wanna meet the other kids too."

"Right." Chris said, as if what Shawn was saying was obvious and Shawn shouldn't be standing there in the door anymore.

"So, what are you doing staring at me then?"

Shawn cocked his head to the side in light confusion. "Umm...I thought we were going to meet the other kids?"

Chris sighed in annoyance, "This way. Lauren wants to see you."

A Chris walked down the lavish hallway Shawn noticed that it was painted a salmon color and had expensive paintings festooned with gilded frames, making it look more like a museum than the second story of a large home.

Taking one step forward Shawn heard an echo behind him, he heard someone say

"Cunt."

Shawn followed Chris, a little confused at the whole situation but trying to keep an upbeat air regardless. When he heard the echo, he turned around behind him to see if someone was making the sound. Was someone wandering the house insulting people? Was Shawn hearing things?

Shawn turned around and saw nothing but the empty hallway, the door to the guest room, his room now, wide open. There wasn't anyone there.

"What are you doing?" asked Chris annoyed, and showing signs of impatience. Chris rolled his eyes. "I said come on, already. Lauren wants to see you."

Shawn wondered if he was hearing things again, or if Chris was messing with him. Either way, there wasn't much he could do about it. He quickly moved to catch up with Chris. "Sorry! I'm still getting used to this being such a big house!"

"No problemo." Chris said casually as the boys headed down the stairs, not bothering to look back to see if Shawn was following him.

It was only then that Shawn realized just how tired his body felt. A long night of trick or treating. A long day. A long time since Mom told him that she would be picking him up at the end of the night. His arms involuntarily slouched as he made his way down the stairs.

They made their way past a small kitchenette, and Shawn realized the house had two kitchens...at least. Chris stopped in front of a small refrigerator. It a yellow magnet on it that read "Hulkamania."

"Ughhh..." Chris sighed, opening the fridge and taking out a can of budwieser. "I forgot to do this. At least I remembered." He said, as if he was talking about a chore. "I'll take them out and you stack them over there on the counter."

Shawn hadn't had a quiet moment in a long while, and the tiredness was catching up with him. Still, he cooperatively took the can and placed it on the counter. He wasn't sure what this was, but it seemed like a chore Chris was doing. "Who're the cans for?" His tone was mildly curious.

Chris didn't answer right away, he just kept moving the cans from the fridge to Shawn's arms. Then over his shoulder he said "For everyone who's coming over."

A few more beer cans and Shawn's arms grew heavier.

"Mr. Reiner. And Mr. Landis, the guy who did the Werewolf thing. Oh, and that woman with the grey hair who's always coming over and talking about that movie Three Sisters."

Everything else had been a mystery until Shawn heard those names. He had been in and around the movie industry long enough, even if he was a child to immediately recognize those names: Movie directors. And not just any movie directors. Those were some of the most famous and sought after directors in the movie industry.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:35, Mon 29 Nov 2021.

Shawn carefully offloaded the cans onto the counter as requested, trying to keep up with Chris grabbing them from the fridge. "Oh! That's pretty neat!" Shawn knew enough about movies to understand that what a big deal this was. Even though he'd been in a lot of movies and shows, he'd never really been in one big enough that he'd met someone actually famous.

Chris finished loading the cans into Shawn's arms and then collected as many as he could in his own. The boys started down the hall, Chris moving first, with awkward, unbalanced steps, like a sailor on an unsturdy ship.

"It's a big Halloween party." Chris explained. "And it's happening tonight. Here. But it's not that unusual. Dad has people over at least once a week."

Shawn had been up all day. And now, it appeared, the night had just begun.

Shawn trailed after Chris, realizing that his Mom had managed to find yet another Hollywood party for him to attend. "That sounds cool - will there be other kids there too?" It was looking to be a long night, but part of Shawn didn't mind. He wasn't that far from Main Street, and after hearing the kind of dreams Edith and the other kids were having, he was comfortable putting sleep off for a little while longer.

"Yes, I think so. Well, I hope so." Chris corrected. "It's annoying if its only me. But you're hear at least. It's been a while since one of you has been around." Chris said, if that was something or as if Shawn's arrival was somehow not unique.