There is always more to know. I am among the premier botanists of the world, a perfect memory is a great aid for such research, but in my first Game, I have already discovered there is so much I do not know.
*Recording starts*
Was working in lab today. Bell rang. Wrapped up experiment, stabilized. Don't want unexpected interference. Answered door. Man dressed like government agent. Said his principle had proposition. Was interested, followed to limo. Nice car. *break*
Short drive to expensive hotel, meet in conference room. Found envelope there, had name and address inside. Was told there would be a meeting, so waited for principle to show up, didn't partake of food in bar. Took twenty minutes, but met man by name of Mister Smith. Introduced me to sponsor. Cannot recall all details, but interesting experience, conceived of entirety of universe at once, then shrank back to self. Already knew people were small, just confirms. Leaves unpleasant impression on the mind. *break*
Decided to start on mission, despite dearth of information. Went to visit woman at address, learned that man was missing, name of Reese. Gathered other information, where, why, when, how to contact. Could think of nothing else, so thanked her and moved on. *break*
Met two fellows outside of house when calling for cab, skinhead and slick well dressed man. Suit asks about house being for sale. No for sale sign on street. Blatant lie. Odd though, why tell lie like that? Fished for information, carefully. Tell him house is not for sale. Suit covers well, changed entire demeanor when suggested Mister Smith might know more. Suit and Skin were both on mission too, also have more experience. Useful. Shared information and watched Suit try to get more information from contacts and computer. Fails. Decided to go to town, no way of getting information otherwise. *break*
Flight uneventful. Arrived in Atlanta without incident. Suit is rich as he looks, rents limo at exorbitant price for weekend. Driver seems shifty. *break*
Drove down to police station for information, Suit spun good story, convinced cops to give access to records. Lots of information, none particularly useful. Decided to go to farm, take look and see what happened. *break*
Ran into intersection on way, decided to check out house on wrong road first, ask more questions. Suit very cynical, but calls problems accurately. Checked out house, no incident. Found baseball bat with blood and plant resin stains. Also found hungry dog, no people. Odd, cannot think of why. *break*
Family of four infected by odd vines, controlling movement and attacking. Saved by man with sword. Took hits, but got out alive. Skin not quite so lucky, lived, but in bad condition. Took samples of plants before Suit burns. Shame. Fascinating plants. Parasitic plants causing behavior changes observed in fungi, never on complex creatures though. *break*
Patch Skin up to take to doctor. Headed out, Sword joined cops that Suit called going other way. *break*
Got to town, dropped off Skin, purchased gasoline for burning plants. Would like to study in depth, but have samples. *break*
Went down other road, found farmhouse. Nothing in farmhouse, but found trail to stone house. *break*
Checked house, found briefcase on second floor. Contained interesting notes, need to learn Japanese for rest. *break*
Went to basement. Found fascinating plant, capable of self-controlled movement! Would love samples, but plant was unfortunately predatory. Knocked unconscious and dragged underwater. Woke in Hospital.
*end recording*
Love the recording style. I wish I had thought of a way to keep things that concise. Simon's latest Journal Entry is over four fucking pages.
Ed actually got me pointed in that direction. Since this character does have an eidetic memory, he had no reason to be writing anything. Have to say, I enjoyed writing it down though. Though writing like that tends to stick with me longer than it should, which makes for an amusing time getting back to normal writing.
*start recording*
Am certain plant has infected me with seeds. Could report to doctors, have successfully removed from one person, but high chance of death. Would like to study process anyways, will check out soon and go back to lab. *break*
Notes arrived from Suit today, useful, but incomplete. Plant continues to grow within, require more information. Testing proves inconclusive, must request further notes. *break*
Am growing desperate. Sent out request to Suit again, no results, but hoping. Know plants feed on blood, but not much else. Skin is dry, and tendrils poking out from extremities. Need more information. *break*
*A clattering sound, as though the recorder were dropped, followed by splashing. Shortly after, grunts of pain, followed by near screaming. The last clear words are “My face! Not my face!” The rest of the recording is a long period of wet ripping sounds.* *break*
*end recording*
*tape is attached to some papers*
Difficult to type, adjusting to new body. Recorder turned on when dropped. Will not destroy recording, but do not care to relive experience. Unpleasant. Process apparently requires great deal of water, body began to dry up. Now understand why blood and water in bathroom at Clancy house. Plant decided flesh unnecessary for function, replaced with plant vines forming caricature of human muscle. Look much like human without skin. Plant seems symbiotic, rather than parasitic, as first thought. Formed neural link with brain, can actually control physical movement.
Unfortunate discovery, plant-human hybrid requires great deal of blood. Fortunately live close to forest, can hunt animals for hunger, not people. But cannot be seen. Send out another request to Suit for more notes, also add in request that notes be dropped off, no signature.
Another unfortunate discovery, plant did not mimic voice box. Cannot communicate through speech. Emailed university for long leave-of-absence. Already had time off to recover from wounds, added time. Will have to practice writing quickly.
Notes arrived. Owe Suit two large favors, am willing to pay, but will have difficulty. Must continue working with Sponsor. Know Gifts are powerful, could help.
Notes prove fascinating. Plant is artificial creation, intended as symbiote to replace limbs. Charles Bentley, creator, is genius, but limited by tools of times. Could possibly improve on creation? Process could use work. Is very unpleasant. Could perhaps make slower, with numbing qualities? Certainly alter tendency to supplant entire body. If refined, could prove revolutionary. But needs much work. Dependence on living blood is significant limiter to numbers.
Experiments and studies continue, have concluded that plant will leave bones alone, but is infiltrating mind. Also feel…presence, in mind. Not quite alone. Also have found bulb in ribs where heart used to be. All vines extrude from bulb, probably core. Probably very important.
[OOC: Poor, poor Harold. He might not live long…]
Heh, possible, but I've got the strangest feeling that won't help much. Well, no one ever said Ed doesn't make things interesting, now if only I could stop making characters that he so enjoys messing with…
Please, if Ed stopped screwing with our characters we'd sit around playing monopoly. The entire game is Ed screwing with our characters.
Alright Seymour, next game try not to eat anyone too important (read: Simon).
Was given…interesting item. Cannot determine properties. Curious, but willing to ignore. Necklace provides illusion to hide creeper self from people.
Have been called for new mission, last time resulted in unpleasantness, but will go again. Need help with Creeper.
Met up with Suit at airport, share information, though is difficult on my part. Can't talk.
Also met up with Skin. Wondering where Sword is, could have been useful to have fighter. Was last time.
Am forced to fight down hunger. Am also forced to tell Suit about problem. Seems disgusted. Unsurprising. Creeper form needs fine tuning. Felt bad about cow, but was hungry, and Suit provided the cow.
Finally got on track with mission. Was concerned might not get chance to. Skin discovered legends about tall, thin man from 1800s. Relevant? Unsure.
Attacked by tall, thin man, and sniper. Seems legends were accurate. Sword dead, Suit injured. Got out of car and headed to hotel while Suit went to hospital.
Skin seemed reluctant to stay in same room, even with monster on loose. Can't imagine why.
Skin attacked by tall, thin man and sniper. Screamed, so came to help. Shot Thin Man, then chased down and shot sniper. Wanted to drain blood, but were witnesses. So dragged off street and ran when Police came. Hope Suit can finish mission, killed monster and injured sniper. Not sure if other goals to be met, but hope Suit manages.
*written in a ragged, leather bound journal*
Hazed out, creeper self took over, hunted until filled. Fortunately also left town, fed on animals, not people. Am… satiated. Odd. Even when more blood has no benefit, am never satiated. Investigate?
Have determined new property, can store blood. Was not capable before. Must be Gift from sponsors. Now understand what Smith meant when said never any complaints.
Am unsure of location. Not where started. Need to determine where. Have located town nearby, will go in at night and get newspaper.
Started to head to town, but decided to hunt first. Feel sated, but cannot risk…incident. Would be bad. If able to retrieve lab, will need to relocate to isolated area. Will also need to make more portable, in case of rapid relocation.
Finally went into town. Am in Idaho. Boise. From California. Must have been hazed longer than thought. But only few days missing. Would have thought trip would take much longer on foot. Odd. Creeper form must be unusually capable of travel.
Chose to slip back out of town, cleaned up in river nearby. Draw little less attention when enter town.
Waited until morning, got hotel room for month. Ragged place, but questions not asked. Will look into false ID soon, need for routine travel.
Purchased new clothing. Will need to take care to maintain, can't afford more for while. Fortunate food no longer necessity. Will contact 'friends' about getting ID.
Have ID, name of David Zimmerman. Cost last bit of money. If evading detection not as high priority, would request monies. Will hold in reserve for later.
Have received email from State of California. Can write off misdemeanor if pay $10,000 fine. Lab worth more, easily. Began making plans to go, but remembered gene test. Would not pass anymore. Will have to fake death, change name, repurchase lab. Aggravating, cannot research without lab! Require materials, references, samples! Would be investigating creeper form more thoroughly, if had access!
Have resigned self to waiting. Lab will be reacquired at later date. Mind, though diminished by transformation, still sufficient for basic analyses of form. Possible extrapolations of abilities current, and witnessed from other creepers. Other creepers different, thinking of them. Were wreathed in creeper vines, but bodies not replaced with vines, like self. Also had healing capabilities. Unsure.
Month proved mostly uneventful, until after hunt near end. Found sheet of paper with address, was not there prior. Concluded likely to be mission summons, but address in Connecticut, and am broke. Contact Suit for ride, provides very adequate transportation.
Arrived in Connecticut with no incident. Contacted Suit, was told to meet at hotel nearby.
Jogged to hotel, met with Suit. Had no information but address, so travel to address to find information.
Took small tour through museum, guided by security guard. Suit produced badges and documents for building inspector quickly. Some things off in area under renovation, but couldn't place.
No information found from security guard or from investigation. Aggravating. Suggested to Suit that we talk to people in charge, get more information. Seemed reluctant, and uncertain it would help, but decided to go along with it.
Met with head of Museum. Irritating individual. Strongly implied dislike of fellow worker, and also implied desire for fabricated evidence against him. Unsure of reason.
Met with individual in question. Head changed some displays in museum, in interest of being 'sensitive'. Not history professor, but know enough that history is not about sensitivity, is about facts. Also discover that several items were missing, and several guards had disappeared.
Investigated all disappeared homes, all disappeared, and all at night shift. Have time frame and location. Suit purchased large number of cameras.
Set up camp at Museum, Guard was patrolling, Suit and self were watching monitors. Eventually saw Guard attacked by man-like thing. Went to chase it down.
Man-like thing drinks blood, is made of wood. Odd creature. Also has preference for night time excursions. Possible Vampire? Unsure, insufficiently educated in Occult. Thing ran off, attempts to locate proved fruitless.
Morning arrived, searched area completely. Museum Security Head arrived, fired Guard for not being at post. Suit explained issue to Security Head, got Police involved. Chose to leave once police got involved, cannot be too close to police. Not safe for… non-human sentients.
Walk back to hotel was…odd. Large number of crazy people making trouble around town. Some naked, some dressed as Indians, some as African Tribesmen? Am extremely confused, and not sure want to know.
Arrived at hotel, watched door and waited for call from Suit. None came, but Suit returned without issue. Unconcerned.
Police came for visit, interrogated Guard, Suit, and Self. Was oddly understanding of Self being unable to talk. Gave statement with pen and paper, no issues.
Suit hired mercenary to 'look vulnerable' and try to lure monster out. First night passed, no results.
Spent day searching through sewers. Unpleasant. Was able to find some leads tracing blood spills, but mostly found corpses.
Found fresh corpse, Suit called police and informed of findings in sewers.
Found monster. Actually monster found us. Lost Merc, dealt with Thrall, got into fistfight with wooden vampire. Unfortunately, vampire took Suit out. But doesn't exhibit normal death symptoms. No rigor mortis, no blood dripping from wounds, not rotting. Decided to pick up body (?) and carry off to woods. Will attempt to help, until body either starts rotting, or Suit wakes up.
Suit's body did not start rotting. Did some basic care, and made certain to keep blood on hand, but also did not wake up.
Suit exhibited life signs. Odd. Had concluded likely transformation to vampire. Very clearly had no life signs, should have been dead, if not vampire. But breathing, bleeding.
Bandaged wounds up. New considerations become apparent. Starvation, infection, aggravating injuries, all now problems. Require sterile environment.
Need funds for moving Suit. Fortunately, Suit has great deal of cash on hand, enough to get car and basic supplies.
Got cheap car, basic supplies. Carefully load Suit into car, then set up IV. Was suffering under effects of starvation, blood dribbled in mouth did not help. Hope IV does.
Drive was bothersome. Drove to Virginia. Could not risk hitting bumps, could exacerbate Suit's injuries. Drive much longer as consequence.
Found small lodge near woods, don't ask questions. Got room, cleaned up for Suit. Fortunate am plant, room was far from sterile.
Cleaned room, relocated Suit inside. Laid out on bed, began treating. No discernible fangs. Life signs consistent with human in coma. Benefits from human nutrition. Basic blood work with inferior equipment shows normal. Starting to suspect that sponsors have… 'aided' Suit, in some fashion. Ask details when wakes?
Suit woke up. Very tired, very groggy, not able to respond. Explain as clearly as possible what happened, where located, other details. Feel better now. No chance of survival if in coma while on mission, which begins to become consideration.
Was forced to make decision. Suit could survive without further aid in room, but chances low. Alternately, could take to hospital. Chances very high, but if blood work returns non-human results, Suit will die. Wake Suit briefly and inform, understands, but no response. Too tired.
Was finally forced to take Suit to hospital. Cannot risk abandoning and coming back, and seems human as far as inferior equipment can tell. Suit needs extensive care. Have provided as best able, but need to leave soon. Cannot wait until day of mission, either. When called, make trip. Hesitation not advised. Missions not for faint of heart.
Am… uncertain. Equipment was very poor. Could have missed important indicator. Possibly fangs take extra weeks to grow in. Do not know. Can only hope for best. Suit has helped in past, hope to return favor.
Mission call came while hunting. Different style than usual. Came through tech, though tech was delivered rather mysteriously to ground behind self when finishing latest hunt.
Fortunately have money left over from Suit. Unfortunately, transportation to address given takes up all remnants. Under radar and private, at least. Cannot risk skin contact.
Arrived at theater. Met Guard from last Mission, two new people. One is good with hands, does odd jobs. Other is… beast of a man. Towers at well over 6 feet. Note: avoid any fights with Big. Looks capable of crushing head with bare hands…
Explored theater. Found little of interest during initial search. Learned power was out to building. Odd then, that mission details were given via projector screen. Further investigation indicated no reel in projector room. Nor had projector been used. Would be more surprised, but experience dictates this as largely cosmetic.
Find box on way out. Tricky box, takes all four to figure out opening. Inside found jewelry box, with odd metal plugs. Uncertain if important, so replace in box and let Hands keep box.
Target location is Kansas city. Need fast transport. Have hard time limit of 60 hours. Fortunately, Guard has money. Shells out fee for fast, under radar transportation.
Arrived in city with airport, short drive to actual target town. Hands, Guard, and self research mask we need. Find some basic information. Interesting, not directly relevant.
Determined there had been incident at high school. Party turned into riot, people died. Was funeral in town, sent Guard to see about getting information. Rest of us went to high school for investigation. Found nothing of use.
Met up with Guard at restaurant, shared some info. Then cop cars drove by, and ambulance. Decided to follow and see what happened.
Bowling alley had similar incident to high school, number of injuries. One similarity, same DJ involved in both incidents. Decide to follow up.
Interview with DJ Swift turned up nothing. Possible tie in through druggie, who helped set up in both cases. Get number and promise of further aid.
Called druggie. No information. Gunshot sound, no further communication. Went to Police station for information, was not forthcoming.
Got rest, still very early. Decide to look at northern silos, find one where Druggie was shot, look for clues.
Found silo, tire tracks and small streak of green pain. Enough to know vehicle was truck. Hands sends tire tracks to contact for brand type.
Was finally right time for visiting hours. Attempt to visit druggie and get information, but cop stops at front door. Police in town seem to be looking for excuse, decide to back off without creating incident.
Fired on from roof two blocks away. Start running towards sniper. Somewhat bloodied from three shots. Irritating. Knock out shooter, then run. Bleed the wrong color, cops will investigate. Bad combination. Make way back to car, clean up, bandage up, change clothes. Wait for others.
Group recounts information, add in information received from contact. Looking for likely male teacher, drives green Ford truck. Not many male teachers, easy enough to search.
Found target quickly. Stayed in car while others checked house. Nothing until commotion involving ladder and Big jumping out of window. Vaguely confused, but get out of car. Started feeling agitated, recognized effects. Ran to get box. Put mask into box, knocked out man and drove away. Box disappeared on way out, and man was clear threat, possible occultist. Also, hungry. Both problems easily resolved.
Am thankful for Gifts from Sponsor. Received great deal of funds, as well as myriad ways to access them as needed. Will make extensive use of funds.
Began planning on methods of reclaiming lab. Will be difficult. Need to act through intermediaries. Hard part, finding intermediaries that won't steal lab. Very valuable equipment. Also need long term location, preferably in jungle somewhere.
Considered buying house in Louisiana, reconsidered. Keep forgetting human niceties no longer apply. Will be hunted if live near civilization. Consistent drain on local wildlife very strong indicator of bloodthirsty monster.
Much time for thinking. Is essentially only thing on mind. Best location would be deep jungle, have own transportation to airport. Jungle very flush with wildlife, also difficult to track. Quite possible to be ten feet from something, never see it. Main issues not consideration. Not flesh, predators will show little interest. Same for insects. Real problem is other creatures, like self. Or local casters.
Have chosen to spend month in Rocky Mountain forest. Adequate location. Fair wildlife, large forest, number of lodges for rent in mountains. Plenty of space to avoid humans, and to bury meals for difficult discovery.
Chanced upon bear. Was going to ignore, but made mistake of standing between mother bear and cub. Bear will attack in such situation. Unpleasant. Killed and ate, but somewhat injured.
Have learned new trick. Can metabolize stored blood to accelerate healing. Very significant healing restoration. Enough to be useful on Games. Would experiment more, but self-inflicted injuries undesirable. Further combat with bears also undesirable.
Began to practice more versatile applications of tendrils. Main focus so far has been controlling metabolism. Significant difficulties incurred if such problems occur. Other benefits very nice, but secondary to control. Survival is best served by not eating people at random, or in public.
Month is nearing end. Game not certain, but more than month in one location risky. Begin packing gear and materials, when called, must answer immediately. Never know time limits involved. Not always time limits, but always conditions for losing, usually time related.
Returned from successful hunt. Quite full. Will leave regardless of invitation to Game or not. Received odd mail on way in. Apt timing. Seemed like junk mail, but certain things stood out. Was flier for vacation. In New Hampshire. Very odd place to vacation. Was also handed flier personally, by day manager. Junk mail like this usually passed out to rooms en mass, never handled personally. Likely lead on Game. Certainly have enough resources to pursue lead, even if false.