2019-08-12 - New In Town

I think I knew I was staying before I even got here.

It was too much of a coincidence, the good doctor taking residence at Gray Harbor. I had to drive past the lightpole pops wrapped himself around on my way into town, counted the miles all the way to the nearest bar. Seventeen and a half. Seventeen and a half god damn miles, how could someone that drunk get that far? It was another thing, another mystery to unravel, another story to chase.

But first, the doctor. Except I get to the appointed place at the appointed time and there's no old man. Just a quick "he's dead" before the door's slammed shut in my face, no answer again when I knock. I go back there the next day and the place is abandoned, like no one's been there in years. You ask around and you get blank stares, that doc doesn't work at the hosptial and he's not on Yelp, no private office for him.

[FS3 Rolls] <FS3> Harvey rolls Research (7 6 6 5 4 3 1 1) vs Mystery Doc (a NPC)'s 2 (7 2 2 1) <FS3> Victory for Harvey.

But there's other ways to look for things that don't want to be found. Roundabout searches that get you to the right place, tiny fragments of information that others would just gloss right over if they didn't know what they were looking for. But I found it, that one tiny needle in the haystack of shadows. Then it was just a matter of tracing it through.

[FS3 Rolls] <FS3> Harvey rolls Research (8 8 8 6 5 4 4 2) vs ??? (a NPC)'s 4 (8 5 4 3 3 2) <FS3> Crushing Victory for Harvey.

Once you have a name, it's easy to figure out the rest. It's as simple as going from Point A to B to Friendzone, to a convenient want ad and an email address. Is it disingenious if we're both looking for the same thing on the surface, even if my goal is entirely different underneath it all?

I knew I was going to stay here before I got to town. But now I know there's a still reason to settle in.