When You Find Me (Horror / Mystery) (OOC / OPEN)

[Pax Nerdvana]

ROSTER has been updated. Missing Persons and Locations have been updated.

Thanks!

[Dyelli Beybi]

Name: Avery Gerhart
Age: 26
Occupation: Reporter/Photographer/Editor for the local newspaper.
Appearance: 5'7'', 120lb.

Belongings: A laptop, a flip-top cellphone, a high quality digital camera, a personal locator beacon, a solid backpack and a good pair of hiking boots.
She drives a black 1985 Ford Crown Victoria.

Skills: Avery has good outdoor survival skills and is also an accomplished long distance runner. She knows how to use a gun (but doesn't actually own one).
Weaknesses: Avery is not much of a fighter and doesn't carry any weapons.

Personality: Avery is idealistic, particularly about the role of the press in a free society. Avery will generally try to talk her way out of a conflict situation and is, usually pretty good at it. If it looks like that won't work though, her first instinct is normally to run. Avery wants to believe in the supernatural (she is something of a Fox Mulder type character) and can be easily distracted by promises of 'proof'.
Likes: Writing, hiking, classical music, interesting stories, X-Files reruns.
Dislikes: Rudeness and people whose first resort to solve a problem is to threaten/commit violence.
Goals: Get the local paper back on its feet again.
Fears: Avery is afraid of running out of money and ending up homeless... she also suffers from 'Thalassophobia' (fear of the Ocean) and will not be visiting a beach any time soon.


Biography:espite the German sounding surname, Avery Gerhart is in fact a local whose family have been living in and around Cedarview for generations (and refused to anglicise their names during the wars). Avery and her elder brother, James, grew up in Cedarview and went to Cedarview High School. Both were sporty (Avery was a cheerleader), intelligent and came from a family with enough money to put them through college. Both took the opportunity to leave Cedarview. James entered the world of finance and never looked back and now only grudgingly returns to his birth town. Avery though, found leaving Cedarview, and her friends, a bit more difficult.

For a few years, Avery worked as a journalist in New York and while she was (reportedly) good at her job, her heart remained in Cedarview; she remained a regular visitor to the town and kept her local friends and contacts.

Tragically, in 2006 her parents were killed in a car accident. The will left most of the family assets, including the home and most of their modest savings to Avery. James did not try to contest it; he was making enough plenty of money anyway and chasing for a few dollars hardly seemed worth his time. Avery returned to Cedarview, moving back into the old family home and, a couple of months later, taking over the running of the local paper, the Cedarview Herald. It seemed like a dream job... until she realised the paper wasn't actually making any money.

Undeterred, Avery set out to try to turn the paper around. She currently has a staff of two others, though all of them do all of the jobs at the paper at different times and everyone operates with a lot of autonomy. Avery, for her part, works tirelessly to produce top quality articles for Cedarview, relentlessly digging into anything going on in the town that might be considered at all shady. Perhaps predictably, she is regarded by many authority figures as being a bit of a nuisance.

Despite her best efforts though, she is still barely able to pay herself enough to keep the old family home in order and her car running (though thankfully, she does have some cash reserves to dig into). The rise of online media is slowly killing her business, though she is the kind of person who will go down with the ship, fighting desperately to reverse public preferences.

RP EXAMPLE: Most recently this one: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=446358 (my first post is on p2).

DO NOT REMOVE: HE IS ALWAYS WATCHING

[Beiarusia]

Name: Avery Gerhart
DO NOT REMOVE: HE IS ALWAYS WATCHING

ACCEPTED. I figured the paper would have a few people left, not just one?

[Dyelli Beybi]

Name: Avery Gerhart
DO NOT REMOVE: HE IS ALWAYS WATCHING

ACCEPTED. I figured the paper would have a few people left, not just one?

Yeah sure, I can edit that... do you want to say 3? I can also downgrade her to a reporter/photographer if you prefer?

[Beiarusia]

ACCEPTED. I figured the paper would have a few people left, not just one?

Yeah sure, I can edit that... do you want to say 3? I can also downgrade her to a reporter/photographer if you prefer?

Either is fine.

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

tag, i'm so recreating Hans Landa

[Dyelli Beybi]

Yeah sure, I can edit that... do you want to say 3? I can also downgrade her to a reporter/photographer if you prefer?

Either is fine.

I've gone with her still being in charge as it gives her more of an incentive for the paper to actually work.

[Beiarusia]

tag, i'm so recreating Hans Landa

In what capacity?

[Costa Fierro]

Been writing my first post for Joe Foster and it's just shy of 3,000 words so far. I might be overdoing it somewhat.

[Torrocca]

Tagging. Very nice to see another horror/mystery RP I'll work on an app tonight c:

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

tag, i'm so recreating Hans Landa

In what capacity?

In terms of being a ruthless, funny and unpredictable version of Sherlock Holmes

[Beiarusia]

In terms of being a ruthless, funny and unpredictable version of Sherlock Holmes

You still have to abide the laws. Consequences will be a thing.

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

bup

[Beiarusia]

...

Understood.

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

boop

[Kentucky Fried Land]

Been writing my first post for Joe Foster and it's just shy of 3,000 words so far. I might be overdoing it somewhat.

Sounds like a fun read.

[Beiarusia]

Name: Horton Kinnaman
DO NOT REMOVE: HE IS ALWAYS WATCHING

ACCEPTED.


IC is up.

[Pax Nerdvana]

Name: Horton Kinnaman
DO NOT REMOVE: HE IS ALWAYS WATCHING

ACCEPTED.


IC is up.

I'll try to get a post up soon.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Can we assume that other people (i.e. the press) have seen the video as well?

[Beiarusia]

Can we assume that other people (i.e. the press) have seen the video as well?

Maybe. I'm gonna leave it up to most everybody to decide if they've seen the video. Rumors are already being spread amongst the students, so some of them have likely seen it, but the adults might be less likely to know. Additionally, you'd need to have found a link somewhere, but if you try to use the video it may force local police to get involved as it's new evidence.


Additionally, the RP will be mostly open-ended in that you (the players) need to find clues to advance the plot. I may throw you a bone here-or-there depending but I'd like the mystery to be solved without too much hand-holding.

[Kentucky Fried Land]

Me and Hastur are working on a post now, should be ready soon.

[Favation]

I need to gather up some stuff and read through everything. But I'll post soon. Its a bit difficult to get immediate info.

[Kwadai]

Name: Noah Hargrave
Age: 30
Occupation: Novelist
Appearance:

Belongings:
* 2004 Audi A3 (black)
* Canon Camera
* 6 pack of bottled water
* Several notebooks and his journal
* His phone
* Extra clothes

Skills: Noah speaks German fluently and is in the process of learning Russian. He is a talented writer and linguist. He has good intuition and a photographic memory.
Weaknesses: He's not the most athletic nor physically strong person. Following orders isn't something Noah is very good at. He has essentially no knowledge of the Cedarview area and doesn't know anybody who lives there either.

Personality: When asked, most people who know him would describe Noah as introverted, unique and definitely somewhat odd or eccentric. He tends to stick a small close group of friends and is only concerned about his immediate family. He can give the impression of being aloof and it's easy to see why. He has trained himself to be extremely independent and normally doesn't like to rely on other people, however given the circumstances of this visit and his total lack of understanding of the location, he may be willing to reach out to others more than usual. Noah is a loyal friend and is not likely to betray the trust of those few he cares about, he therefore expects the same in return
Likes: Forests, San Francisco and Northern California, writing, horror and mystery novels, fine art, Bauhaus architecture, dark chocolate, olives.
Dislikes: Large/bleak open spaces, gun culture, loud people, mayonnaise, coleslaw, boats, conservatives
Goals: Publishing his next novel set in the Cedarview locale, relocating to Europe in the near future, learn more languages.
Fears: Deep water, the ocean (he doesn't mind looking at it or being at the beach, problems only arise if he has to go into it, or being on a boat), wasps.

Misc. N/A

Biography: Noah was born in Reno, Nevada and was fortunate to enjoy a relatively affluent upbringing with his father Michael working in the pharmaceutical industry and his mother Alexandra works as a lecturer of economics in the University of Nevada. With both parents constantly working, Noah and his two sisters were raised largely by their grandparents, devout Presbyterians. Subsequently, as a child and teenager Noah was quite religious a trait further emphasised by attending a private Christian school. Despite initially being outwardly religious, like many teenagers Noah often felt isolated by his religion particularly once he began to learn more about himself and the concept of sexuality came into conflict with everything he had been told from those around him. He turned to writing as an escape and would routinely spend hours late into the night along with any free time he had creating characters and plots for several different short stories which would soon evolve into much longer pieces. Noah was an avid reader, making his way through everything from Agatha Christie to Oscar Wilde, the latter to much objection from his family. He soon learned his favourite genre to write and read were stories of horror and mystery, he sometimes even wished the tales he read of would happen in real life and make his life somewhat more interesting.

Noah's friendship group remained small throughout high school, only having one close friend, Leah, who he trusted more than anybody else. Eventually time came for graduation and while he longed to pursue a career in writing novels he knew this would not go down well with his family and so to avoid the problems he knew that would cause. He learned German as a result of spending time in Munich as an exchange student. Eventually he graduated from university in neighbouring California with a degree in journalism, as close as he could get to his desired profession. However as soon as he graduated his parents had decided to leave Nevada and settle instead in New York State. Now he decided to finally do exactly what he always wanted to. He relocated to San Francisco to continue writing and soon published his first novel. Fast forward several years, Noah is a moderately successful novelist and has released several novels, he earns enough to live relatively comfortable but not enough to be considered a best seller or anything like it. He moved one step further to open a small book café as well. Now seeking inspiration for his latest creation set in a small town in the Pacific Northwest, Noah planned to embark on a road trip north from San Francisco through Oregon into Washington. Hearing of the cases of missing persons in Cedarview, his interest and curiosity was sparked, although the coincidence seemed a little too convenient.



RP EXAMPLE:

Vasu shivered in the cold dampness that surrounded him. He was not used to this climate. He quickly proceeded to pull his scarf further over his head to shield his face from the upside down tsunami as he walked on watching the dirty streets below his feet gradually transform into even filthier streams as he grew closer. He deeply regretted not investing in sturdier footwear, it may have made navigating the mess that bit more bearable. How much more bearable human waste and whatever other foul substances formed the sludge could be was a question he had no intent on ever dwelling on however. There were more important things at stake. Why he left the hostel in such ungodly weather in the first place was yet another question that happened upon his mind. "For air" had been his original excuse, not a convincing one for that matter, but an excuse nonetheless.

He hadn't made it further than two streets away before deciding to return back anyway. Bite'tour was a strange place. It was an ugly conglomeration of grey buildings, grey streets and arguably grey people, rain notwithstanding. Yet strangely, Vasufelt a sense of enjoyment from being in the city. It was exactly the sort of adventure he had been longing for when he left Guryshan all those months ago. Of course there were many more relaxing, tranquil locations he could have been but he was drawn to joining the Black Company as if being pushed by some invisible supernatural force. It wasn't an easy lifestyle by any extension of the imagination but what was ever easy in this world of inequality and uncertainty? It was common knowledge that Bite'tour was a hub for the most unsavoury activities something evident everywhere even if you weren't seeking it out.

Vasu was unusual here. Tourmen were for the most part malnourished, often sickly looking people with gaunt almost transparent skin paired with black hair and violet coloured eyes. Vasu on the other hand was clearly of a much different ethnic background. His hair was also black but that's where similarities came to an end. His skin was brown as where his eyes which were much warmer than their piercing Tourmen counterparts. He was dressed unsuspectingly with a lightweight dark grey overcoat over his beige shirt. Not that either of those would distract from the obvious physical differences between him and the locals. Fortunately he hadn't attracted much negative attention, he was sure he could defend himself if anybody were to pull anything. He kept his dagger carefully concealed should he need it, though he usually would prefer to fight without it.

Within a short time he finally arrived back at the hostel in which the group had been lodging to find the others had already began to gather with the Prince, their leader. Among them was the red haired Seinese, Vinaqa. He knew her from before joining the company, so it was curious they would end up her together. She had been a slave to an elderly relative of Vasuback in Guryshan, a prominent slaveowner in his community. He had freed all of his slaves before his death, bizarre and infuriating to the Ramjakar family who had been so very keen on obtaining the man's property. Naturally tension became strong between the family and the now free slaves, Vinaqa being one of them.

Also present was the ill tempered and bearded yet vital Gollome. Vasu suspected or rather, knew for certain that Gollome probably had an innate dislike for many of them and frankly everybody else too. Whether or not the dislike was one of sympathy was not known. Before Vasu got all the way over to the group outside the hostel, the Tourman suddenly bellowed to the gathering in front of him telling them to head to the gardens all the while offering a brutal yet oddly humouring reminder of what he would do to them should they not do so quickly. Not wanting to be force fed through his rear, the Guryshani too caught up to the group and followed them in the direction of the aforementioned garden.
From, Lost Souls

Arman Khachatryan wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve, the restaurant he worked in was at the moment busy. Very busy. This was probably aided by the fact that the torrential rain battered the windows facing the street like millions of gunshots and thus soaking everyone who was for some reason, still outside. The restaurant was popular anyway and the food it served was excellent but it still felt unusually full. Therefore the kitchen was being bombarded with order after order from new customers, luckily Arman and the other chefs understood and respected each other and so worked together in sync like a well oiled machine. That was fortunate, because had that not been the case then it would have been utter chaos at moments like this.

He added finishing perfection to one of the restaurants most advertised dishes before it was taking out by a waitress to be served. "Break time...at last,", Arman thought sighing and walking out of the way of the others. He was due a twenty minute break after such a demanding shift. Moving outside to the back of the restaurant under the shelter to smoke, he was very quickly made retreat indoors or risk being transformed into a sponge, solemnly blowing out a final cloud of smoke before closing the door and going back inside.

That rain was truly evil. It was definitely a better idea to go into the restaurant to make sure the door servers were handling everything smoothly. As it turns out, they were the flow of customers had halted (or rather slowed down) significantly. Thank god. "Is everything okay down here?", Arman asked one of them, while simultaneously staring at the water droplets streaming down the glass on the door. The young man whose name according to the tag on his uniform was Bruno, looked at him replying, "Couldn't be better actually, no ones turned up for ages!". His colleague, a woman called Anthea with shoulder length dark brown hair wasn't so cheerful about it. "Give it a while, sooner or later we'll be hit by another wave", she insisted. Either way, anybody who did arrive would have to go search for somewhere else. The dining room was full.

Just as he was preparing to head back into the kitchen so some other chef could take their break he heard it them. All eight of them. The bells, ringing loudly through the darkness, their otherwise clear sound muffled only very slightly by the thundery rain. Stopping in his tracks Arman turned around slowly to face Bruno and Anthea to share a grim look. This was serious. So much for not getting wet. "Alright then, what could possibly be going on that we get called out in this!?", he groaned nodding to the rain. "We better just go before it gets any worse", Anthea said sullenly proceeding to go and collect her coat, followed by the other two as the diners also had gotten up to leave for the town square.

The restaurant was very much central to the square so it didn't take that long to get there, on his way however Arman rather unceremoniously knocked into quite a few people, but that was hardly his fault there were a lot of people after all. Six apologies later he took one of the rare available spaces of the square before the podium where they would all soon find out just why there were here.
From, What Does It Mean To Die Again?

DO NOT REMOVE: HE IS ALWAYS WATCHING

[Beiarusia]

Name: Noah Hargrave
DO NOT REMOVE: HE IS ALWAYS WATCHING

ACCEPTED.


Before people get too involved in making up backgrounds for NPC's, I ask that anything major (like, really major) not be made 100% fact without OP approval. Conjecture and maybe's are fine, but ask before it's set in stone or else I'll reveal things when posting as NPC's. Additionally, the footage has been released to the media so keep that in mind.

[New Antonalia]

Tag, always enjoyed a good mystery rp.