How Prepared Are We?

[Holister]

Hi guys, ol' Ben Holister up here in Cypress Cove.

I don't have to tell ya' what I do for a livin' or what I do in my spare time. As of late though I have had alot of time to dwell on the most recent events plagueing these forums. Not quite here per say but to our members here at home and abroad.

Its time to get serious and ask ourselves how prepared exactly are we and how much do each of as individuals add to the mix. I know that I don't know everything there is to know. I bet many members feel that same way. The knowledge we do have comes from life experience, trial and error, and the few encounters that each of us has had over the years; some more than others.

We have both believers and skeptics, hunters and investigators, men of faith and scientists, humans and non humans alike who are members here. In my opinion that makes us the UN of the paranormal investigation world. Though individually we each know a litttle bit, together we know alot.

The one difficulty is that the knowledge usually comes to us a dollar short and a day too late. We leave too many loose ends and unfinished business, Im as guilty of as anyone. To many questions go unswered while new ones surface daily.

We also allows personal opinions and emotion often cloud our objectivity and professionalism. I am perhaps one of the worst of these offenders, and for that I am sorry.

That is why I am going to start a series of thread dedicated to the spread of this information, experience, and knowledge. These threads will be " all work and no play " so they are to be taken seriously so that in the long run they can help everyone here at The Society as a whole.

I will begin posting these threads starting today. I hope that you all add your two cents worth and I hope this makes the Society a better place for all members and those just seeking help.

Thank You

[Holister]

Well I'm back. Had a weather related car accident on Old Country Road involin' a deer. Not pleasant.

I just wanted to add that any general comments, suggestions, ideas, or "off track" discussion can take place in this thread. I want to try and keep the other thread strictly on topic for the sake of clarity.

Thanks Again

[Holister]

Ok ladies & gentlemen the stage has been set and the thread have been posted. I know that I may not have included every possible situation or scenario, but that is what the rest of you are for.

I posted these thread in Community Outreach because I felt it was the forum that was best suited for these discussions. I hope that you all find them useful and if just one person looking for help finds it amongst them, it would have all been worth it.

[Shang Li]

Our preparation is poor. We allow the enemy to choose the time and place of contact due to being a predominately reactive force. We lack any real organization, as well as any planning worth speaking of when working as teams.

All together our society is honestly one of the most ill-prepared for what we do I have ever worked with. I certainly hope each member is self sufficent, and provides his own calvary.

[finder_fee]

Our preparation is poor. We allow the enemy to choose the time and place of contact due to being a predominately reactive force. We lack any real organization, as well as any planning worth speaking of when working as teams.

All together our society is honestly one of the most ill-prepared for what we do I have ever worked with. I certainly hope each member is self sufficent, and provides his own calvary.

Actualy this is what makes it useful. This is not an army, it is a group of individual hunters. There is no enemy other than the ones we are looking for, and we are usualy after them, so we are not a "reactive" force. On the "order/chaos" scale, we are definately in the chaos side, and that is our curse, but also our source of power.

There is no leadership here, and thus no head to cut off. There are no rank and file here, it is not a force, but a collective of individual, and each IS self sufficent. This side is here to exchange information, and to occasionaly help each other out. In that I guess we ARE the calvary, for each other.

Fi

[Holister]

Um. I've had a bit of a bad week up here. We had a car accident up here the other day. No one was hurt say for a deer.

Then on Monday we had a three car scramble on Cove County Road that was a bit of a mess. Three injured, one dead, and one young man who lost a leg in the wreck.

Last afternoon had a RV go off the coast road down of " Lover's Leap ". They hit a large patch of black ice and couldn't pull out of the skid. They punched right through the gaurd rail and down 340 feet to the bottom. A family of seven was on board.

The state boys took care of the RV wreck, it wasn't pretty. I hate this weather. The locals know how to handle themselves, but its those folks passin' through that make for the worst of it.

The airstrip is shut down, the power & phone lines are down everywhere, and to make matters worse Rourke informed me that the north bridge goin' to Bound Brook has gave way. So we're looking at one way in and one way out situation.

Most of the backroads are snowed under, most our vehicles are snowed in, and the only snowcat in town is bein' serviced due to a broken tread. Thankfully our emergency plans have gone into affect and most folks are stayin' at the church or at the brick. All my deputies on call at the station in rotating shifts. Top it off this snow doesn't look to be stoppin' anytime soon.

Sorry I haven't posted much since the weekend, but things just keep goin' from bad to worse.

Havn't heard from Kelly & Samantha since Sunday.

[Holister]

I have to go after them.

If I don't make it back, tell Molly I love her.

Watch the back door guys.

[Holister]

Um. Hello.

My name is deputy sheriff Evan Harper. According to this note left behind by sheriff Holister I am supposed to keep an eye on this site for him during my shift. He has deputies Kincaid and Cross handling the other shifts. Ok. This must be important then.

Why does sheriff Holister come here is my first question? Sounds like a bunch of nonsence to me, but what do I know. He's the boss right?

Anyway, according to the note he left I am supposed to ask if anyone else has received threatening e-mails or PMs (whatever those are) from an unknown email address.

This says the message would have read

" We have not forgotten. "

or just

" 12 (over and over again)"

Don't ask, I have no idea what he is referring to. All I know is that is tore out of here this afternoon on a snowmobile muttering something about his wife and kid. He hasn't reported back since.

Until he gets back its up to me to see that his posts are checked on regularly and if anyone can answer those.

So what exactly is this place anyway? Unless its a subsidary of the NRA I have idea why the sheriff would be here. But what do I know?

[Holister]

This is deputy Ayden Cross of the Cypress Cove sheriff's department reporting in as per sheriff Holister's request. I can see that deputy Harper has already signed in and explained our current situation.

I wouldn't expect him to understand the work you folks here do. I am a medium myself (and I wish I had a choice in the matter). I know what you do is important. Sheriff Holister turned me onto this site when I joined the department just before he left for Wyoming. I never became a member, but I am considering it though.

[Tony]

You certainly give your password out to a lot of people sheriff, are you sure that's wise? Nor do I know your Molly, so it would be quite inappropriate to relay that sort of message. Nevertheless, I will pass the message along to those who may have more of an influence and stake in the matter.

Good luck.

[GhostSpider]

I'm getting another one of those bad feelings.

[Holister]

You certainly give your password out to a lot of people sheriff, are you sure that's wise?

Um, his password was left in his instructions. Got to do what the boss says fella. He hands out the paychecks.

Hey there folks. This is deputy Keith Aaron here with my shiftly duties here at the station house. Friends just call me Tracker.

Ben's filled me in on this site long ago, and Im ok with what you folks do. Not like deputy Harper. You have to drop a coconut on that boy's head to open his eyes.

Anyway folks we still haven't heard back from sheriff Holister yet, and that isn't like Ben. So I have to admit, we're getting kind of worried.

Wait. Gotta go. We have a break in at Carter's store.

[Holister]

This is deputy Ayden Cross with an update.

I really don't know how to put this without sounding crazy, but a werewolf robbed Carter's shop yesterday.

Still no word from sheriff Holister.

And the weather has put a halt to any search effort. We are literally sitting blind and deaf up here.

We also received an email from some saftey deposit locker company in DC that Ben's rental unit was broken into also. Why sheriff Holister has a deposit locker in DC I have no idea, but it was robbed none the less.

On a final note, we received an e-mail from some homicide detective in New Orleans for sheriff Holister in response to an inquiry that he made a few days ago involving the incidents happening there.

According to the e-mail - and I quote this.

" The contents of row 18 - plot 37 were in fact exhumed by unauthorized persons. No leads at this time. "

Again, I have not a clue about what is going on here. Maybe I should hit the sheriff up for a raise?

[skeptic]

I really don't know how to put this without sounding crazy, but a werewolf robbed Carter's shop yesterday.

Yea, you really don't.

Again, I have not a clue about what is going on here. Maybe I should hit the sheriff up for a raise?

You're a cop without a clue, and you want a raise....
While your boss is missing....
I say go for it.

[Holister]

Deputy Cross here again with another update.

We found sheriff Holister and his family. They are alive and well, but he is in the clinic due to a gun shot wound to the left shoulder and one off the right side of his ribs.

Kelly & Samantha are both ok.

There were two arrests made last night involving three alledged gunmen that had kidnapped Kelly and Smamantha, and were intent on luring sheriff Holister into a trap It is believed that the gunmen intended to kill all three of them.

One gunman was killed by deputy Utah in an exchange of gunfire. The other two men were wounded and are now under protective care at the town clinic were they await to be charged with three counts of attempted murder, three counts of conspiracy to committ murder, three counts of assault of police officers, and three counts of illegal firearms possession.

Sheriff Holister is believed that he will make a full and speedy recovery.

When deputies Harper, Aaron, and myself along with our forensics specialist Dr. Grey tagged & bagged the crime scene, we found tranq guns, tranq darts, nets, enough Thorazine to put down a rhino, some semi-automatic weapons, and a startling discovery of silver bullets. We also found an expensive looking shortwave radio and tracking unit of some kind. We have our tech expert deputy Kincaid looking over that as we speak.

The gunmen had no idenification so we are waiting on fingerprint and DNA anaylisis in order to identify them. We should have results come Monday.

We did find a disposable phone in the possession of the dead gunman. When we hit redial, it made a disposable phone we found at the Carter shop break in ring.

This is where we get confused? Why would an " allegeded " werewolf hire three alledged " werewolf hunters " to go after sheriff Holister and his family?

Wait a sec. Deputy Kincaid just got an identity hit on one of the gunmen. That was fast.

HOLY SHIT!!!!! I got to go tell deputy Utah.....

[Kelly]

Hello again. I see that Ben's boys have been keeping you all filled in.

So far its accurate. I can fill in a bit more of the details. Seems like the boys have circled the wagons in regards the identities of those gun toting wack jobs that took me and my baby.

They were waiting for us in the woods on the night f the third full moon. First they tranq'd my baby. That only set me off. I attacked them and they managed to tranq me too then.

There were four of them at first, but after I attacked the fourth guy the leader turned around and shot him in the head because I bit the guy.

I can tell you they were pretty hard core. Head to toe in fatiques, ski masks, body armor, semi automatic weapons, hand signals, the whole nine. I just don't know what they were after me and Sammy for. I was also curious as to why they didn't kill us at first, until I overheard them talking about using us to draw Ben in and then " Do away with the whole lot of us. "

The one that was the leader was taking orders from someone on a cell phone. I never got a name, just " Yes sir, no sir, " like that the whole time. And I really do not appreciate being referred to as a " target of interest ".

I also overheard them mention something about the " leaper " was already gone and that the " other target " was not at the know location; whatever that meant.

Ben is ok in case your wondering. I am suprised he didn't kill anyone. He showed alot more restraint than I would have. The only confirmed kill was when Rourke shot that one guy in the chest. The other two were just wounded. The state ploice just took them away an hour ago.

I think the guys know who they were, but they aren't telling me.
Me and my baby get kidnapped by those guys and I am the last to know who they were. I ave to have to lil' talk with Benji when he wakes up.

Ok, I gotta run right now. Be back later.

[GhostSpider]

Leaper? Other Target?

Sounds like whoever was after Ben has some other targets in mind as well. We need to find out who these people are, and fast.

[Joe Smith]

Ben - everything alright? I am wrapping up here in Florida if you need a hand with anything.

My final night is tonight shooting, and I am more than interested in getting out of here. Someone or thing has been tailing me the entire time I have been here, but they haven't done anything.

[Holister]

You say someone or "something" is tailing you now. Not good. Watch your back man.

[Joe Smith]

I would have not worried about the attractive lady followig me, but the little detector keeps going off any time I am near her. She has given up all pretense of being discreet now, but I think I lost her.

[Holister]

I hope so man.

[Kolya]

You shouldn't be trying to lose her.

You should be trying to identify her.

Perhaps someone else is following you now?

[Holister]

I guess you have a point there Kolya, but I think that was implied. If point wasn't taken, listen to the Russkie .

[Hannah]

What did Victor Lazlo want?

I've only read a few of the books so far - I wish I had brought the rest with me, I've got lots of time to myself right now - but he strikes me as a guy who wasn't very militant.

He seems to be a guy who was trying to get the world to open its eyes to a threat before it was too late.

So isn't that what the Society should be trying to do? I know that in the meantime somebody has to deal with the sort of stuff that happens when these . . . things decide to cross over from wherever they are from, but really there aren't enough here for us to be that sort of group.

[Ron Caliburn]

Smart girl . . . must get it from her mother's side.

[Hannah]

Both sides Dad, both sides.

[Holister]

The question was; "How prepared are we?" I think the answer may be " Not enough."

Over the past two months we have had several attempts made against The Lazlo Society by various individuals and groups. In all we came out worse for wear because we did loose some tutsed friends and allies.

We were not prepared. In all honesty, I dont think we could ever be truly prepared. We simply let our gaurd down, they took advantage. Enough said.

But what did we learn from our mistakes? How do we prepare against similar mistakes in the future?