Eustace Delmont part 4: In which our poor hero struggles to maintain optimism in a jail cell and seeks allies

In all his years fighting the good fight, righting wrongs, exploring arcane mysteries, and facing down threats in his never-ending quest to put things right; there was only one time that Eustace Delmont truly considered giving it up and living a normal life. It was the first time he was in a jail cell. For it occurred to him he must face astounding travails in order to be finally free, such as explaining this to his parents.

-- Eustace Delmont and the Case of the Rambler's Inn, Chapter 4. 

[[EUSTACE DELMONT]]

"You have to give me one phone call by the way." [1]

"Umm, Euc*...I am pretty sure that's just in movies and television shows." 

Eustace Delmont is talking to a young policeman named Officer Raymond Clark. Despite being only a couple of years older than Eustace, Raymond has done well in the small field that is "Maidenstead Police Department". Partially because he tends to keep folks calm even while doing his job. Eustace knew him in highschool as they both hung around school after hours. Eustace to visit the library. Raymond to steal bits from the school. The two surprisingly got along. [2] 

"How about we pretend this is the Andy Griffith Show, then? You can be Barney. You always did like Barney..." 

"I figured you more for an X-Files freak, Euc, but alright. Chief Raylon is out at the Rambler for a couple of hours and he won't find out about it, you got a call." [3]

Raymond unlocks the cells and Eustace is free to go make his call. Sensing that Raymond is listening in for a little bit, he starts with "Hey, Milly, can you get mom on the phone?" And then waits for Officer Clark to walk off before following up with the strange confused voice asking Eustace if he is off some meds.

"Jenny...I mean... Firestorm... I need you to do me a favor," says Eustace in a low tone he hopes carry over the lines. Jennifer "Jenny"/"Firestorm" Adams but not to Officer Clark in the other room. Jenny is Elly Lopez's girlfriend and broad second in command for "The Society." AKA, the Maidenstead Chapter of the Gulf Coast Society for Inquiry and Advancement. AKA, the D&D club. AKA, the nerds. Hence why Jenny = Firestorm. Her and Elly are the prime architects of the "cyclops" towers. Elly's about hardware. Jenny is about soft. Only Elly tends to be a ball of giggles and Jenny tends to be a fist of lectures. That seems like a joke and for the dozenth time Eustace feels the humor bubbling up and then slipping away from him. [4]

"What is up, Delmont?" The downside is that Jenny does not really like Eustace. Him and Elly have been friends for a while and Jenny thinks their in depth discussions of CyanoRanger merchandise is a bit close to actual flirting. All because they were joking one night about Eustace and Elly seeing each other naked on a camping trip when they were twelve. It is sort of funny now but at the time Eustace developed an irrational fear of any one ever seeing him naked on a chilly autumn night ever again. 

There were goosebumps. 

"I was doing Elly....yes, yes...President Lopez a favor and checking out the Gygax. Very long story very short, someone ripped out the bits and put new bits it and I need you to go to the Rambler and take a look at an azalea pot up against the wall near the Gygax and tell me what you find...

"I mean, I can tell you the longer story but it probably won't help. I saved this adorable girl's dog...

"Look, no need to be mean. What do you mean what is in it for you? FINE! Jonesy's bootleg copy of Vampire Hunter D I won in the Magic the Gathering tournament? Yours. 

"It is still in good condition, yes...

"THANK YOU... oh, by the way, I'm in jail. Tootaloot!"

With that Eustace hangs up and tells Raymond he is done.

"Your parents coming to get you, Euc?" 

"Is that an option?"

"Oh, I don't know...want to play some cards?"

A couple of hours later, Eustace back in his jail cell, Chief Elmer Raylon returns. He unlocks the door and sets Eustace free. "Gunter ain't pressing charges, boy. Get out."

"Did Gunther stick up for me?" [5]

"Ain't nobody sticking up for you."

With that, Eustace heads out into the late afternoon sun and contemplates a plan. 

At the IGA, Eustace is talking Hayden Warden. Warden is the general manager of the store and Eustace worked there for a bit back in high school. Eustace is trying to get Warden to go along with a plan. [6]

"You want to delivery groceries to the rambler?" 

"No, I want to pretend to deliver groceries to the Rambler so I can figure out something."

"And what is it that you want to figure out?"

"Ah, well, I have to get to the Rambler to know what it is I am figuring out." 

"Boy..."

"Look, Mr. Warren...remember when Tabitha was pocketing money from the register and claiming it was a glitch? Who helped you out."

"You did."

"That's right. And remember when your son, Tommy, lost his wallet down at the beach. Who was it that helped you out?"

"Um, no one. Wallet is still lost."

"Well, I helped Tommy look up the numbers to call since we share the same bank, my point is...you know me, I'm a helpful guy."

"Remember when you shorted out my freezer and lost me $500 in stock."

"I told you, I heard a noise!"

"Remember when you parked the delivery truck in the wrong spot and Chief Raylon issued us a ticket?"

"He was just being..."

"I know, I know, you rub him the wrong way... fine, you can put on an old uniform... assuming it fits..."

"HEY!" 

"...and help Ralph carry in some groceries in the morning and then do your little...whatever. Only you get caught I say I paid you to do the job because you wanted to buy a gift for your momma, got it. That's all. This will not be anything regular." [7]

Eustace goes into the back and grabs up one of the spare uniforms and realizes that despite the jab, Mr. Warren wasn't exactly wrong. Eustace has grown half a foot and put on 50lbs since he worked here. He was so used to being the kind of chubby short kid that others looked down at that he's now the tall chubby kid that everyone looks up at... well, some folks like him, at any rate. 

As Eustace is letting himself out the back door of Ralph Harley's Electronics Shop, "disruptor" in hand, he smells cigarette smoke and hears giggling from the balcony above. [8] He is surprised to realize it is Hitomi talking to someone whose voice he does not recognize. Another woman. Both seem to be notably drunk. [9]

Feeling a bit like a creep, he listens in for just a moment. "...remember Patrick is a rich snob. Dress up a bit..."

It's the other voice, the one he cannot place. Who the hell Patrick was, Eustace had no idea. "...make him think you are helpless without him, he'll definitely want to take you in then..." 

"Oh, Morgan, I am no good at flirting. Unless its with absolutely losers. Trust me." 

"Guys like Patrick, they don't need you to flirt, they just need to think that..." 

At this time, Libby the Lab lets out a slightly excited bark and Eustace catches the dog's head peering over the balcony at him. He hears Hitomi say, "What is it girl? You..." but before she can look over and see him or Libby can run down the back stairs to give him away, he has turned down the alley and disappeared into the night. Head hung low. [10]

A short while later, talking on the phone with Tiffany Callum - how exactly a 40-something divorcee figures into a rooming relationship with two 20-something lesbians Eustace does not really know, despite thinking of himself as somewhat well-read on worldly matters, and he does not ask - he finds that Jenny did in fact leave him a message. 

"Firestorm said you push the button and a hole opens up and it was creepy and you are a creep. Does that make sense to you?" 

Eustace, who has been feeling deeply despondent after his eavesdropping endeavor an hour earlier just let's out a long sigh, and answers, "Yeah, it means I am bringing a flashlight." 

== MECHANICAL AND STORY NOTES ==

*  pronounced "Yoos," but in a southern accent sort of way

1. Despite Eustace being in jail and stuff going roughly against him, I figure it's best to start at Chaos Factor 5 for now. Expected Scene: Eustace, in jail, tries to make a phone call. Scene: As Expected. 
2. Raymond's name was generated using Book of Random Tables: 80s and 90s. Other details were generated from Universal NPC Emulator. I got the strange mix of 8 Unreasonable 29 Burglar and 83 Liberal 61 Mediator and decided to show something of a character arc. Motivation is 62 Accompany 19 Intelligence so Raymond is the sort of guy who stole stuff from the school because he was fascinated with his teachers and the learning environment. He likes to hang around smart folk. Hence why he gets along with Eustace even if part of Eustace's entire schtick is he's a bit of a blowhard on the edge of geek society. 
3. Easy Charming roll but Eustace dang near whiffed it with a pair of 3s. Spent a Karma that changed a miss into an exceptional success.
4. Jennifer "Jenny" "Firestorm" Adams. Again, Bort:80s+90s for the real world name. UNE: 97 Unseemly 56 Magician + 57 Elderly 31 Officer. Jenny is a bit off putting and obsessed with magic both in game and IRL (the sort of person who dresses up as a witch every year for halloween and always place a gnome illustionist...not that there is anything wrong with that). Personality wise, she goes back and forth from arch nerd with flights of fancy to a stern big sister type. Though she is only a year older than Elly, Jenny tends to be a fairly mothering figure. Her chief motivation is 97 Rob 76 Cowardice. She is driven by a need to face her fears and to challenge others (which is part of her bossiness). 
5. Did Gunther stick up for Eustace? Very Likely --> No. Gunther didn't press charges because he does like Eustace but he also won't exactly invite Eustace to snoop around the Rambler.
6. Chaos Factor 4 (I guess). Expected scene: Eustace tries to convince a grocery store manager that to let him sneak in for a delivery. Expected scene.
7. Hard Charming. With *another* Karma spent, 1 success.
8. Chaos Factor 3. Eustace is going to Ralph Harley's to get the "disruptor" and will find that Hitomi is staying there. Altered Scene: the alternation is that he hears Hitomi talking to Morgan. Why not use the old classic of missing conversation. Character Conversations: 81 Positive 2 Advice + 34 Excited 21 Cold. 
9. Does Eustace know, yet, that Hitomi has moved into the space about Ralph's? (50/50) No. 
10. Normal Alert roll to get out without being spotted: 1 success.

== DOUG'S NOTES == 

There are several notable changes to this post. "...and the Case of the Rambler's Inn" has been dropped as an overall title. When this story was started it was meant to be a sort of companion piece and slight prequel to the Gareth Hendrix storyline (taking place roughly in the time frame that that the Hendrixes and Marons would have been in Mobile). In that way, it was written in kind of the same general "pace" with the early plan to have 5-7 episodes with sort of a central mystery and then have it effectively wrapped up and done with. However, as we hit the top of part 3 and stuff got delayed and tangled I was running into some weird pressure to keep playing this one. One of those reasons was because it was losing its "tight focus" with every episode: Hitomi was added, there were multiple mysteries leading to more mysteries, and so on. Three was meant to be Eustace finding some tunnels under the Inn, figuring out something going on and how Amy Patel was involved, and then moving into a couple more episodes of wind down. 

Only that did not quite feel right. It's a fun series for me. When I wasn't choking off possibilities and forcing locations/characters to be small, it has a lot of potential. So I thought, why not take away the "Rambler's Inn" part and make that just one step in Eustace + Hitomi's working relationship that turns increasingly into a romantic one? Why not have a lot of random little oddities and mysteries crop up? 

The second issue the pressure was on was because I started it out in this kind of overblown penny-dreadful format with a bonus format of Hitomi as an editor doing various self-inserts and I really liked that but it also meant that anything written for this campaign tend to require a lot of time to write the fiction and not a lot of time to play the game. Each section was roughly a chapter-length writing exercise with usually a single dice roll and a single card draw (plus or minus). 

The "2027 autobiography of himself" element is out, sort of...it will make appearances...so I can focus on a better balance between the creative-fiction elements that inspire the Alabama Weird series but also still kind of keep up a flow of my more natural pace.

The third switch out for this one is there was this whole "NEXT TIME!" and "PREVIOUSLY!" and those are fun but they were kind of a tongue-in-cheek way to forcing me to toss out random words and ideas and then try to live up to them. Like the autobiography, those will be around still but not quite so automatic. 

While the initial idea was to have Hitomi and Eustace team up and solve crimes together we will first have them spend some time apart. Maybe even at odds with one another. She will get involved in the mystery of the dog show, maybe with the shady paperwork around the Rambler and Eustace will get involved with the tunnels and what happens there. Also trying to find out what was on that videotape. 

== CREDITS == 

The Eustace Delmont Series is run using Tricube Tales, the "Maidenstead Mysteries" one-sheet setting, and Tricube Tales Solo (all by Richard Woolcock) with Mythic's second edition (by Tana Pigeon) as the game master emulator. See the Eustace Delmont page for links to these elements and for other posts in the series.

Addition gameplay elements for this series will be derived from Random Realities by Cesar Capacle; 
Book of Random Tables: 1980s -1990s, BORT: Modern, and BORT: Eldritch by Matt & Erin Davids; and Table Fables: Modern by Madeline Hale. 

Opening graphic is intended more as a mood piece than straightforward depiction and are a mixture of personal photographs, sketches, and stock art from Pixabay/Unsplash sometimes edited/tweaked through GIMP. Other graphics are created by me using GIMP, Canva, and Google Drawing/Sheets. 

This post's opening "splash" is "Prison Cell Jail" posted by Ichigo121212 on Pixabay.