Intervention - Session 8

Joy attempts to use her personal connections to get help in stopping the killer.

[I finally consulted this wikipedia article regarding psychics and police work. In reality, most police departments do not work with psychics. About a 1/3 of big city police depts in the U.S. reportedly accept tips, and the FBI only uses them as a last resort-- and even then, the clues are not admissible in court.

I had said in Joy's character sketch  that she "has enough cred with the police that they have consulted her in extreme cases." The "cred" part somewhat contradicts the real world attitude of law enforcement towards psychics, but did cover my bases somewhat by stating they were "extreme cases". :-P

I will use all this info to guide my Mythic questions as I set up some details for the scene. Chaos factor is 6.

Joy has cred with someone in law enforcement. Is that someone somewhat discreet about working with Joy? Given the wikipedia article, Odds Likely: 07, Extreme Yes. Extremely discreet. Is it more than one person? Very Unlikely: 98, Extreme No. It's one person, and that person is pretty tight lipped about working with Joy.

Are they on personal terms? 50/50: 74, No. Strictly professional relationship. Mythic also says it's a woman (Extreme yes to that 50/50 question). Is she ethnic Mexican? Odds 50/50: 33, yes. A real random event this time.

Event Focus: Move Toward A Thread. Event Meaning: Decrease, Exterior Factors. The randomly chosen thread was #1: Joy's gift. I interpret this to mean that this situation is effectively blocking her; she is not receiving anything that is not related to this case.

(Rory's Story Cubes will now be referred to as RSC.)
An RSC character sketch: The letter "L", a turtle, a sad face, a cane, a flower, an abacus, a flashlight, and a conversation bubble.

Lea Alvarez: Born in Tabasco, not too far from the Tortuguero archaeological site, but migrated with her family early in her life. It was tough growing up in the U.S., but her grandma, God bless her, never let her turn into a shrinking violet. She encouraged her to get an education. At first she thought she'd want to be an accountant, but later opted to go into the police academy. She used to work the night patrol. A talkative person, she is highly appreciated for her people skills. She now puts those skills to work in the homicide unit. ]

This situation has effectively blocked her connection to anything else. Perhaps her unconscious obsession has finally manifested itself in this way, or perhaps the spiritual urgency is that strong, Joy muses. Whatever the cause, she now has even more reason now to get directly involved: any time she tries to use her gift, the only messages she gets are from the victims of the killer. Nothing else will come through.

Joy calls Lea, and successfully gets her on the first ring [Mythic]. After exchanging salutations, Joy gets to the point. She doesn't quite have an idea of how much Lea can help in Uganda, but she needs some sort of help. A contact who can work with the local police either remotely, or in some other fashion. Anything.
Turn 34: [BIC: "optimism" A young man on a canoe with fishing gear. He uses a rose as bait, while a fish is in the water sort of looking. ]

Lea politely says that she should be able to help in some way.

[Does she wish to talk later? (Discretion)Odds Likely: 90, No. She is in a safe place to talk. Does she ask for more detail?  Odds Likely: 83, No.]

Turn 35: [BIC: "choice". A man in a human size chessboard with human sized pieces. He has a compass in his hand pointing North.]

Lea does not ask for more details yet. Maybe sensing the urgency in Joy's voice, she just wishes to reassure her. She explains that she can think of a couple of ways (choices) in which it might be possible to at least try to get in touch with Ugandan authorities in Kampala. Of course, if she can find help, it would be up to the local authorities to accept.

Turn 36: [BIC: "Decision". There's a man trapped under a fallen tree. A wolf is in the background. There is a saw and a cellphone next to him. ]

Lea surprises Joy by telling her she's glad she called her for help, instead of trying to do something on her own. Who knows what sort of mess she could get into if she went into it by herself.

[Does she ask her to hang patiently until she can get back to her? Odds Very Likely: 37, Yes] Lea then asks her to not make any hasty decisions yet, and wait for her call. Joy assents and lets Lea go.

Joy's next step is to get in touch with Kayla. [Is she in Uganda at the moment? Near Sure Thing: 79, Yes. Is she on instant messenger at the moment? Odds 50/50: 20, yes. Is she available? 100, Exceptional No]

Joy sees that Kayla's status is unavailable, but she writes a brief message anyway: "Please get in touch with me when you have a chance." She doesn't get a reply that night. Maybe Kayla is away from her desk.

[Does Lea get back to her that night? Odds 50/50: 02, Exceptional Yes. Does she seem earnest in trying to help? Odds Very Likely: 94, No] Lea gets back to her promptly that night. Joy can tell that her previous optimism is now gone from her voice.

Turn 37: [BIC: "Contemplation." A lady in a yellow suit is sitting outside on the floor, reading a book. It's a starlit night. This card encourages taking time to reflect on a situation, and against making snap judgements.]

When Lea gets back to Joy, she seems more reluctant to take hasty action. [Was she discouraged from getting involved; perhaps a warning about her career? Odds Very Likely: 38, Yes]

At first she politely questions Joy on whether this time her vision might have misled her. She makes suggestions that perhaps the killer has already been caught, and makes appeals to Joy's safety, trying to find excuses to convince Joy to desist.

When she realizes that Joy is firm in her resolution to get involved, she cops to not being able to procure help. When her superiors got wind of it, they immediately squashed any effort on her part by making veiled threats about her career.

[Did she tell anyone it was about helping Joy? She is discreet, so Odds No way: 73, No] Even though she never mentioned Joy's name, the fact that she was asking about helping with some homicide case in Uganda was crazy enough to get her in trouble.

Joy understands, but she asks her if she at least could help unofficially. Maybe she could be a sort of remote consultant for her? She wouldn't even need to talk to the local police if she doesn't want to.

[I'll say it's a Persuasion vs Willpower contest. Joy's Persuasion skill is average. Lea's Willpower is High, as evidenced by her ability to succeed in life despite tough circumstances. I'll give Joy a +1 rank shift because of her professional relationship with Lea, and her diminished request. Her Persuasion rank for this contest is now Above Average.

Above Average vs High: 95, Exceptional No. Not the way I wanted it to go...but fair is fair. The answer isn't curt (Mythic question).]

"I am sorry," Lea says sincerely. "I don't want to be ungrateful, but I've worked too hard to risk my career this way, Joy. I just can't do it.

Turn 38: [BIC: "Assumptions". A man in a suit is lighting two candles on a candle holder. He holds a stick of dynamite on his hand, same color as the candles. This card encourages understanding that what you don't know can hurt you, and encourages reviewing information carefully. ]

Lea again asks Joy to consider carefully what she's doing; she could end up in a bad situation. Joy won't be convinced, however. Lea finally tells her to be careful and that she will light a candle to the Virgin of Guadalupe for her.

[Does Kayla get back to her the next day on IM? Odds 50/50: 40, yes]

Turn 39: [BIC: "Science." At a table, there are a tarot card reader and scientific looking lady with a magnifying glass in her hand. Next to her are a book, a globe, and a microscope. There is a silhouette of a crowd in the background. This card encourages collaborative decision making, among other things.]

When Joy tells Kayla what she is about to do, and requests her help, Kayla quips that they'll be like the Odd Couple of investigating: the skeptic and the believer. However, she does not entirely mean it, as she knows Joy has some sort of talent. Her logical side struggles with that.

Turn 40: ["Collaboration" ]

When Joy tells her that she's already bought the ticket to Kampala, Kayla also chides her for not waiting to hear from her first. [Could she have gotten her a better ticket deal? Odds 50/50: 80,No.]Kayla is just a bit miffed that Joy made the decision by herself. She thought they were a sort of "team", after all.

[Will she try to help? Odds Very Likely: 84, Yes] She agrees to help when Joy gets to Kampala.

Turn 41: [BIC: "Shadow" There's a man in a cave, with a hole for a face. He holds a mirror that's chained to his wrist.  The back of the mirror has an eye. On the floor are various masks with different expressions: smiling, frowning, sad, etc. One of the masks is of a horned goat. ]

Not long after signing off from IM, Joy has another vision. A man [Mythic] whose face she can't see, in a cave. When he turns her way, there is an eye looking at her instead of a face. [Is he expecting her? Odds: Unlikely: 36, yes] Somehow she knows that he is expecting her.

The vision fades, but not the fear.

[Scene upkeep:

More characters for the list:

15) Lea Alvarez: Joy's contact in the homicide unit.

Update thread list:

#1: Joy's gift: She is now blocked from everything except visions of the killer and his victims.
#12: Joy's last vision of the killer told her that he is expecting her. It's a man, but she can't see his face.

Scene relatively out of control for Joy, so Chaos goes up to 7.]



Index

• Intervention - Session 1
• Intervention - Session 2
• Intervention - Session 3
• Intervention - Session 4
• Intervention - Session 5
• Intervention - Session 6
• Intervention - Session 7
• Intervention - Session 8
• Intervention - Session 9
• Intervention - Session 10
• Intervention - Session 11