Meeting with John Marlin - Sun, Nov 25, 2018

• The MASTICATE cell visited the Gulley residence.
• Outside, the family minivan sat under “a season’s worth of pollen,” and the blinds hadn’t moved in months.
• School records showed the children had been withdrawn for homeschooling eight years ago and had not appeared in public school since.
• Frank (Booth) took a bad fall trying to get over the fence while the team approached the property.
• Inside the home, the kitchen was described as a cesspit filled with opened cans and dried food.
• The walls were covered in crucifixes and scripture.
• The team found invoices and a pile of torn-open packages suggesting someone was becoming a home chemist.
• The basement door had a padlock meant for a vault, indicating someone had gone to great effort to keep it shut—prompting the team to make opening it a priority.
• As Justin pushed the basement door:
  • A fishing line tripwire along the trim pulled a pin.
  • A flashbang detonated at the threshold, catching Frank and Justin.
  • A homemade napalm trap followed, toppling from a box balanced over the stairs.
  • Flaming gel began burning down the stairs immediately.
• McCarter found another way into the basement by wriggling through a shattered window.
  • In the process, he missed a jagged shard and suffered a deep cut when he dropped into the basement.
• In the basement, McCarter encountered:
  • Three bodies in dog kennels, rotted down to bone.
  • A fourth body on a cruciform rack, fresher than the others.
  • A chemistry setup with residue still in beakers.
  • A journal identified as Franklin Dyer’s journal, with the final entry dated days before the raid that killed Dyer.
• Sergeant Gulley was not among the bodies found in the basement.
• The team left the scene before the fire department arrived.
• Later, the team ended up at a Denny’s nursing wounds and reading through material referencing:
  • “Das Jenseitsgegewürme” (“The Worms from Beyond”).

The session picks up at about 1:00 a.m. in a Denny’s

• The Handler establishes the time and location: it’s about 1:00 a.m., and the team is at a Denny’s.

• The team is described as smelling like smoke (consistent with having fled the fire scene).

• The team discusses the documents recovered:

  • They have handwritten notes in English.
  • They also have a large number of scans/clipped portions of a German text.
  • The phrase “The Worms from Beyond” is recognized as significant.

• Philomena is noted as having heard of the phrase before and connects it to a rare Latin tome:

  • Philomena states she has heard it in connection with an old Latin book titled “De Vermis Mysteries.”
  • She is described as being immediately on the phone with her contact at Miskatonic University.

Discussion of next steps and immediate priorities

• One proposed plan is voiced: obtain the original book and complete the chemical/potion work that seems connected to the notes.

• Another immediate need is raised: McCarter should share the photos he took from the basement so others can evaluate them (and potentially take SAN loss).

• McCarter asks directly whether they have any leads on where Gulley is now.

  • The group acknowledges they do not have an active lead on Gulley’s current location.

  • What they do have is essentially:

    • Where he works.
    • What used to be his home address, which they now recognize is burned out (the address on his tax returns is described as a “burned-out shell”).

• McCarter states he will study the photos for clues, while noting he may find disturbing details in the process.

Reviewing McCarter’s basement photos: what is visible and what can be inferred from them

• The Handler describes what can be seen in McCarter’s photographs:

  • The rotted cadavers in the kennels:

    • Even though restraints have fallen away with decay, there are still remnants indicating the bodies were restrained inside the kennels (bindings visible on wrists/ankles).

    • Based on size comparisons (and family photos seen upstairs), the bodies appear plausibly to be Gulley’s family:

      • Two smaller bodies and one larger adult body.
      • Enough remaining detail to suggest the larger body was likely a woman.

  • The woman on the cruciform rack:

    • Her hands and feet are bound.
    • She is clearly dead and shows signs of discoloration, bloating, and early rot.
    • Her face is still recognizable enough to confirm she is not the woman shown in the family photos around the house.

• The Handler calls for an Alertness check to see if any additional details are noticed in the photos.

McCarter’s Alertness check fails catastrophically, creating a public problem

• McCarter rolls 100 on the Alertness check: a critical failure.

• Result of the failure:

  • McCarter becomes so absorbed in the photos that he fails to notice the waitress approaching from behind.
  • The waitress sees the zoomed-in photo of the dead woman and reacts openly (“that’s nasty”) and asks what he’s looking at.

• The team responds in-the-moment to cover:

  • They play it off as work/makeup/testing for a “project” (framed as plausible in Los Angeles culture).
  • The waitress accepts the explanation as film/production work, complimenting the realism of the makeup.
  • She also demonstrates disinterest in learning more (consistent with the scene: she looks away and does not press for details).

Frank (Booth) attempts to glean details from the photos and fails

• The Handler offers Frank the option of Alertness or Forensics (or both) for different information.

• Frank chooses Alertness (noting he has 0 in Forensics).

• Frank rolls 90, a failure.

• The Handler explains the photos were taken in haste:

  • Poor framing, blur, and darkness prevent reliable extraction of details from them.

Justin attempts to enhance the photos with computers and fails

• The team proposes a Computer Science attempt to extract details from the images.
• Justin rolls 90, a failure.
• The Handler concludes the images are too blurry and too dark; there is no usable detail to coax out.

Philomena examines the photos: SAN loss and adaptation

• Philomena agrees to look at the photographs.

• She makes a SAN check vs. Violence and fails.

• The Handler assigns a 1d4 SAN loss, reasoning that:

  • Philomena is viewing at a remove, but she was also present in the house and has contextual exposure; the number of bodies and the nature of the torture raise the severity.

• The SAN loss roll is 4, but Philomena uses Projection to reduce it.

  • The SAN loss is reduced from 4 to 2.

• As a result, Philomena becomes adapted to Violence.

  • The Handler rules this is immediate and calls for the adaptation roll.

  • Philomena rolls 1 on the adaptation consequence roll:

    • Charisma is reduced by 1.
    • All bonds are reduced by 1.

• Philomena then makes an Alertness roll to spot additional details:

  • Alertness 40; she rolls 26, a success.

Philomena’s emotional reaction is described in-character

• The Handler asks for how Philomena appears while examining the images.

• Philomena’s reaction is described as layered:

  • Initial horror/fear/sadness, with a personal connection (Philomena thinks of her daughter Genevieve).
  • Over several minutes, a “hardness” sets into her expression—anger or quiet rage directed toward what was done to the victims.

• Frank comments that she seems “less charming” (referencing the mechanical bond/charisma reduction).

Philomena notices three key details in the photos

• Head restraint detail

  • While the woman’s wrists and ankles are bound, there also appears to be a binding intended for her forehead to keep her head still.
  • That head restraint is now loose, dangling behind her head.

• Needle marks and bruising

  • On the woman’s arms, Philomena can see needle marks and bruising, difficult to make out through discoloration but still visible.

• An Amazon messenger bag

  • Next to the rack, partially visible in the corner of the image, there is a messenger bag with a visible Amazon logo.

The team investigates the Amazon lead

• The group discusses implications:

  • The possibility that the woman was an Amazon delivery driver or connected to Amazon deliveries.

• They acknowledge an immediate problem:

  • They don’t know her name, so searching is difficult.

• A search is conducted with broader terms connected to the area.

• Outcome of the search:

  • They do not find anything recent.

  • Expanding further back, they find a short local article dated March 19 of the previous year:

    • A young woman named Hannah Huffman, described as a part-time gig worker doing delivery service for Amazon and FedEx, went missing from her route.
    • No suspects are identified; police statements are minimal (described as a typical “crime beat” report with an “investigation ongoing” tone).

Timeline discussion and condition of the cruciform victim

• The team compares the Hannah Huffman disappearance date to their broader case timeline (including previous victims referenced in conversation).

• Frank asks whether the cruciform victim appears otherwise intact.

• The Handler confirms:

  • In the photos, there is no obvious damage beyond what is seen; no obvious missing body parts or similar visible trauma.

Jay provides expert forensics insight from the photos

• Jay takes McCarter’s work phone and reviews the photos.

• He is visibly shaken but continues.

• Jay achieves a critical success on a Forensics roll.

• Jay’s conclusions:

  • Regarding the woman on the cruciform rack:

    • Based on visible alignment and detail (despite photo limitations), her neck appears broken.

  • Regarding the bodies in kennels:

    • Based on state of decay and environmental assumptions, Jay estimates they have been dead for roughly nine or ten months.

  • Regarding the cruciform-rack victim:

    • Jay estimates she has been dead for a couple weeks (distinct from the far more decayed kennel remains).

• The team recognizes this implies long-term imprisonment (the victim may have been held for an extended period before death).

Discussion of the “goo” process and prior similar events

• The team discusses prior experiences with unusual substances (distinguishing current substance from earlier “black oil” experiences).

• They review their limited concrete understanding of extraction:

  • The Handler clarifies the team never had fully concrete details.
  • Their working theory from earlier events is that blood was extracted and cooked down (a small stove/camp stove is referenced) to obtain the dark substance.

The journal and reading plan

• The team notes the recovered material is:

  • Handwritten notes in English (authored as Franklin Dyer’s lab notebook).
  • German scans/clippings forming a meaningful portion of the content.

• The group discusses the risk/effort of reading the text.

• Philomena volunteers to read the journal.

• McCarter, described as pale and tired due to the deep arm cut, hands the journal to Philomena.

• Jay attempts First Aid on McCarter:

  • Jay rolls 49 over 40, a failure.
  • Despite the failure, Jay stitches the wound but warns it is deep and that McCarter should get antibiotics.
  • Jay provides painkillers and shares them (giving some to McCarter and taking some himself).

Possession/body-hopping theory raised

• Frank proposes a theory:

  • That they may be dealing with something like a body-hopping entity or possession, based on the timeline and the way the behavior seems to begin after prior involvement with the case.

• The Handler confirms the idea is plausible in the genre and frames it as a form of possession.

• The German term for possession is discussed:

  • The Handler provides “Besessenheit” as a general German term often used for demonic possession.

Fatigue pressure and decision to move

• The Handler warns that if the team does not sleep soon, fatigue will require checks (CON / Willpower loss due to exhaustion).

• The group chooses to leave and find a hotel:

  • They drive and find a “conveniently placed” Hampton Inn for the night.

Booth calls John “Fish” Marlin to set a meeting

• Booth pulls the phone from the Faraday bag.

• The phone shows 10 missed calls.

• Booth calls John Marlin.

  • Marlin picks up groggy, acknowledging Booth finally called back.

• Booth’s opening demand: “Where’s Gulley?”

• Marlin refuses to discuss the details over the phone and insists they should meet in person.

  • Marlin initially suggests a bar: the Silver Top Taproom near the Morongo Reservation, proposing noon.

• Booth pushes for a different venue and time:

  • Booth proposes meeting at a Denny’s in Thousand Oaks and prefers a brunch-style arrangement.

• Booth makes a Persuade check:

  • He rolls 11, a critical success.

• Result:

  • Marlin agrees to meet at the Denny’s at 11:00 a.m. the next day.

Night’s end: sleep check for McCarter

• The group settles in for sleep.
• Because McCarter has lost SAN and is injured, the Handler calls for a sleep check.
• McCarter rolls 05, a strong success.
• With painkillers in effect, McCarter conks out and successfully sleeps.

Next day: driving to the Thousand Oaks Denny’s and spotting a tail

• The team drives out again with Philomena driving.

• The Handler calls for Alertness checks.

• Frank rolls 34, a success, and notices:

  • A sheriff’s cruiser has been following them for the last few miles.
  • It did not appear immediately after leaving the hotel, but it has been tailing them consistently.

Testing the tail confirms they’re being followed

• The team attempts a maneuver to confirm surveillance (looping off and back onto the highway).
• The cruiser remains behind them after the maneuver, confirming active pursuit/following.

Attempt to call Marlin fails due to bad luck

• Booth tries to call Marlin to address the tail.

• The Handler calls for a Luck check.

• Booth rolls 100, a critical failure.

• Result:

  • The call does not connect; it routes to a message indicating the voicemail box isn’t set up / the person isn’t available.

The team stops on the freeway shoulder; deputies initiate a high-risk stop

• The team pulls over on the freeway.

• Booth moves to get out and holds up his FBI badge, but the deputies respond aggressively:

  • The cruiser pulls in behind them at an angle (a maneuver consistent with using the engine block for cover).
  • Siren “whoop whoop” sounds, and over radio the deputies order: remain in the vehicle.
  • They demand the driver remove the keys and throw them out the window.

• Booth observes and identifies:

  • There are two uniformed deputies:

    • A male deputy described as likely Asian-American, late 30s.
    • A young Latina woman with dark hair.

  • The deputies adopt a “threat position” and do not approach the car directly.

The team flees the stop

• Booth closes the door and tells Philomena to go; Philomena guns it rather than comply with orders.

• The deputies engage pursuit with sirens.

• Philomena attempts to lose them:

  • The Handler calls for a Drive check.
  • Philomena rolls 16 (noted as a strong success relative to the situation).
  • The pursuing deputy’s opposed check is a failure.

• Result:

  • Philomena successfully loses the cruiser using traffic and a fortunate exit/ramp sequence and switches to non-highway routing.

• The team assumes their plates were observed during the encounter.

Justin monitors scanner traffic and confirms an APB

• Justin uses a scanner source (discussed as an app-based approach) to listen for relevant chatter.

• Justin hears:

  • An APB is out for suspects matching their description; the suspects are considered armed and dangerous.
  • The stop was conducted by Deputy Chen and his partner Deputy Foster.
  • The suspects fled, and additional vehicles are being brought in to canvas the area.

Decision: ditch the vehicle and rent another

• The team decides they need to change vehicles to avoid the flagged plates.

• Frank makes a Criminology check: 39 under 46, a success.

• Frank concludes:

  • Leaving the flagged vehicle near a rental agency risks someone identifying them during the rental process.
  • The plan should be: ditch the vehicle elsewhere and use an intermediate step to reach a rental location.

• The phone is explicitly returned to the Faraday bag as part of operational security.

• The team:

  • Uses an intermediate travel method (discussed as Uber) to reach a rental agency.
  • Rents a new vehicle—ultimately choosing another large SUV to fit the whole group (including Jay, described as very large, around 6'8").

Arrival at the Denny’s in Thousand Oaks for the meeting

• The team arrives slightly late to the Denny’s.

• In the parking lot:

  • About half the spots are full.
  • There is one sheriff’s cruiser present.

• Looking inside:

  • The team sees a man in uniform sitting at a round table.
  • The Handler confirms the uniformed man is John Marlin.

• The team assesses the parking lot:

  • There is a standard entrance/exit layout, but it’s possible to leave via off-road movement across surrounding space if needed.

Pre-meeting positioning and security choices

• The team discusses contingencies and the risk of additional police vehicles blocking them in.

• They acknowledge they likely do not have long guns with them (left elsewhere during vehicle changes); they probably only have sidearms.

• The team decides:

  • Jay will stay in the vehicle near the front door, positioned for fast departure with access to keys/ignition.
  • The remaining four go inside to meet Marlin.

Inside the Denny’s: alertness checks and suspicious patrons

• The waitress asks how many; the team indicates they are with Marlin.

• Due to paranoia, they make Alertness checks:

  • Philomena critically fails (described as her heart racing and feeling faint), resulting in her taking in none of her surroundings.

  • Justin and Frank remain observant enough to identify suspicious behavior:

    • One single diner and a pair in a booth glance toward the team and act “a little too casual.”

• The Handler notes:

  • No one in the diner matches or is recognized as Sainz or Gulley at that moment.

First impressions of Marlin

• Frank attempts HUMINT to read whether Marlin is surprised:

  • Frank rolls 91, a failure.

• The group broadly fails additional reading attempts.

• The Handler emphasizes Marlin’s presentation:

  • He appears calm, relaxed, and flashes a wide smile.

• Justin critically fails a social read:

  • The Handler narrates that Justin’s critical failure makes Marlin seem like a very nice, reassuring man—enough to seed doubt that Marlin is the threat.

Marlin opens with department tension and a missing sergeant

• Marlin asks whether something happened and notes the department is tense.

• He says a good friend has disappeared:

  • The missing person is Sergeant Freddie Sutton.

• Marlin clarifies Gulley’s status:

  • Sergeant Anton Gulley is not missing.
  • Gulley is back at the station (“Triple S Dub”) working.

The team detects an odor from Marlin

• Frank cues McCarter to assess the situation with the “pancakes cooking” remark.

• McCarter identifies a faint but distinct smell, framed through Philomena’s familiarity with beans as part of a full breakfast:

  • The smell is localized to Marlin.

• McCarter attempts to keep composure:

  • He signals discreetly by tapping his nose.
  • The Handler calls for a 1d4 Willpower loss to represent the strain of suppressing an impulse to violence.
  • McCarter loses 2 Willpower but remains controlled.

Marlin acknowledges the house fire and provides a cover story about Gulley’s family

• Marlin says Gulley’s house burned down the prior night.

• Marlin claims:

  • Gulley is estranged from his wife.
  • The wife took the kids to her sister’s (or “their sister’s”) and has been away for months.

• Frank succeeds at reading Marlin on this point:

  • Frank rolls 12 on HUMINT (a success).
  • The Handler notes Marlin appears to be recounting something he was told; it’s unclear whether Marlin himself believes it.

Negotiation turns adversarial

• Frank frames the purpose: he does not want to investigate dirty cops.

• Marlin responds by acknowledging dirty cops exist and that the problem can go high up.

• Marlin references rumors that feds kidnap and disappear people.

• McCarter replies with a threatening implication and succeeds at a Persuade check.

• Marlin’s demeanor changes:

  • He clenches his jaw and lowers his voice.
  • He warns he has made phone calls and that their superiors will know what they are doing soon.
  • He explicitly says the FBI does not want to be tied to the situation and that “eyes are on us now.”

The team accuses Gulley directly

• Frank claims they have video evidence of Gulley injecting Jazz at Zybrica before her death.

• Marlin challenges the claim by saying an arrest would have already been made if that were true.

• Frank escalates:

  • He argues that what happened cannot be explained by heroin (specifically referencing people ripping their heads off).

• Marlin agrees the explanation does not fit and admits Gulley has been acting odd for a long time.

• Frank references the Dyer raid and Gulley taking evidence from the crime scene.

  • Marlin makes a “shush” motion, indicating the topic is too sensitive to discuss openly at the table.

Marlin realizes the “chemistry” angle and admits he thought it was disposed

• Marlin identifies “the material in the basement” as what the agents want.

• He states he genuinely believed it was gone and that he had ordered Gulley to get rid of it.

• Frank and Justin successfully read Marlin’s shift:

  • They notice him calculating and arriving at a new understanding.

• Marlin says he can’t fathom why Gulley would be interested in chemistry, describing Gulley as not curious.

McCarter shows Marlin the torture photo to force belief

• McCarter slides the photo of the woman on the cruciform rack toward Marlin while warning:

  • If Gulley learns Marlin knows, Marlin is a dead man.

• Marlin looks at the photo and then at the agents’ faces.

• Marlin states he believes them and accepts that they think Gulley did this.

Agents demand Gulley; Marlin proposes a private handoff plan

• The team demands Marlin bring Gulley there, now:

  • They want Gulley brought to the Denny’s so they can take him into custody.

• Marlin says he can’t promise Gulley will come:

  • Gulley will know why Marlin came and may find it suspicious.

• Marlin proposes:

  • He will get Gulley “en route” and then text them an address.
  • The meeting with Gulley will occur somewhere private where they can talk freely.

• Marlin suggests he may radio in to clear up the APB/“misunderstanding.”

• Marlin asks for their plate number; the team indicates their plates change frequently.

Meeting ends with a 24-hour window

• Marlin stands and ends the conversation.
• He requests 24 hours and tells the agents to watch their phones.
• Marlin puts a $10 bill on the table and says he trusts them to cover the rest.
• Frank reminds Marlin that evidence is backed up (referencing “servers in Virginia”).
• Marlin reiterates he has made phone calls and that the agents may face uncomfortable conversations with their superiors.

Immediate aftermath in the Denny’s

• Justin intends to record or photograph Marlin’s cruiser plate information.

• The suspicious diners do not leave immediately, but they exit over the next 10–15 minutes.

  • The team considers capturing their plates as well.

• The group decides to move away from Marlin’s table and sit in a booth, acknowledging they are at a Denny’s and may as well eat.

• Session closes with the central unresolved question:

  • Whether Marlin will follow through and deliver Gulley (or provide a location) within the promised 24 hours.