Apocalypse World: Hell for Leather IC

[Eonas]

Session 1: Dead City Dreaming

It's a dull midday in Sunshine City. The whistler buzzards circle idly around, watching for prey. Somewhere in Skyscraper 5, there's a party underway; you know because Dremmer and Dryden have been going on about the upcoming party for, like, weeks. And maybe more stuff is going on. Let's find out!

Polaris, I take it you're just in your radio station. Where is it? What's it like? And go ahead and roll Breaking News.

Everybody else, I want to know what's your deal. Maybe you want to be doing a gig. If so, which one? Or maybe today's just the same ol same ol, in which case, cool! What's that look like for you? Or maybe today's a special day, maybe you got plans. What are they?

[Amaril]

Following her typical pattern after a run of good work and jingle aplenty, Mistral is enjoying a week or two at the center of whatever party happens to be going on. Even if that means enduring Dryden's rat-hole of a place. At least they're not being frugal.

Not feeling much like dancing at the moment, she leans back in the threadbare couch, combat boots up on the endtable, and debates the merits of Moth's attempted conversation. On the one hand, he's kind of a tool, but on the other, she needs the distraction today. The Maelstrom is loud.

She takes a long drag on her hand-rolled smoke, her other hand idly resting on Fury as she imagines putting it to Moth's head and pulling the trigger.

[Anyr]

Running through the depths. Endless corridors all around. Here a crossroads, here a ladder, here a chamber; Passing in a blur. In places, eyes peer from within blankets; Kay's family. Everyone was where they needed to be. Turn left here. The paths were uncountable, but the correct one was always clear; To the children, at least. An adult had found his way in here once: A 'car-tog-rof-er'. Wanted to make a map. Poor silly man. His mind crumbled so quickly. Tasty flesh, though.

Here it was. Climb up the handholds, and open the ceiling hatch. Up, out, close behind you. Just another floor tile from this side. This was where Kay needed to be. Skyscraper 4. Big marketplace. Lots of people looking for watchers here. Kay was good at watching. What would Kay be asked to watch today?

[Drynwyn]

Winger glances over from the bar at the gnat buzzing around Mistral. Could be a fight about to happen- and that'd be a real buzzkill.

Might as well head off the issue- and say hello to Mistral while he's at it. She's got a free soul, that one. Cares for her guns, doesn't treat them like whores. Good people.

He strolls over and takes a seat near her, walking past Moth as though he wasn't even there.

"How's the jingle from that last gig treating you, Mist? Phoenix says she's sorry about that close call with the grenade launchers, by the way- she's been a little antsy lately."

[Entelechy]

Hazel gave most of the staff the night off, and more then a few, she knew, would be off at the party. It would be a quite night for business, even if Dremmer and Dryden's party would make it loud in almost every other way. She kept security on in full force. After a party, people wanted to get laid, not have a good cry, and she tried to discourage people from coming to her place while heavily intoxicated, anyways.

She kept on enough staff to run a dinner service, though. Regulars would be in for dinner, and there were sometimes one or two who couldn't really afford her meals sober who would decided they could while drunk. Still, a quite night, and Hazel needed to occupy herself some how.

"Carlos, my darling, I hear some poor thing has washed up from the past. Poor dear, I think its about time I offered her a little shelter on my wings. She must be so disoriented. Fetch her for me, but kindly, please." Hazel said with a smile.


Fingers in Every Pie, rolling Hot:
[roll0]

And marking Experience.

[Dudeons]

Dust is standing at the corner outside the party. He's not one for opulence, and nobody had invited him anyway. He has his guitar case open in front of him and he's playing a Golden Age song that he learned off of Radio Spectre.

"♫This ain't no place for a hero♪
♪This ain't no place for a better man♫
♫This ain't no place for a hero♪
♪To call home♫"

[Eonas]

Moth leans in close, head beside Mistral. "Yeah, I know!" he says over the sound of Radio Spectre. You smell his breath; whiff of cod and devilpot. "I was just chatting to her yesterday - what's gotten into her, you know? Must be the moon, you know. It makes you lot kinda f***ed in the head." And he makes a rude gesture at Mistral.

Hey, Dust, that looks like a golden opportunity for Artful and Gracious!


Hazel: Carlos nods. "Of course." he says, and off he goes.
Although humor a clueless MC: what sort of poor thing from the past are you looking for?


Kay: Ah... Skyscraper 4. A skeevy, grimy capitalist paradise. You scurry through the makeshift boutiques selling trinkets such as cracked CDs, keys belonging to locks unknown, handcuffs, only slightly-used needles; up the stairs past the drooling junkies using said needles. On floor 2 they mainly sell sex. On floor 3 it's drugs. On floor 4 it's sex, drugs, knives, and an obese man in an Aloha shirt two sizes too small who calls himself Harrow. Harrow's making eyes at Lamprey's business, and at Lamprey herself. He wants to know who Lamprey's talking to and about what, where Lamprey's going, what her sleeping habits are, and her favorite meal, apparently. Photographs would be nice too, he says.

[Entelechy]

Hazel: Carlos nods. "Of course." he says, and off he goes.
Although humor a clueless MC: what sort of poor thing from the past are you looking for?

Our dear quarentine, Allison C. Brandt ;)

[Anyr]

Lamprey? Tricky; But within reach. The approach was key. Use the paths to reach her private place? No, too risky. Being caught there would be very bad. Best to play safe. Start simple: Her favourite food. The restaurant lady would know that. Maybe some other stuff too.

Moving again. Back through the markets. The entrance tile shines when seen by these eyes. Lift, go beneath, replace. The right path shines too. It knows us, and we know it. Across and around we go, from number 4 to number 5. Here's the hatch. Open, go through, replace. Now we're in Hazel's storeroom. Which Kay does she know again? Ah yes, that's right: Male, brown hair, blue eyes. Now we're that Kay. The door opens a little, and we peek through. Who's out there?

[Battlemage]

Flint

Flint had spent the morning visiting floor 5 of skyscraper 4, the merc's paradise. You need something that slices, dices, bludgeons, pierces, dismembers, or fills the air with more lead than is healthy for anyone, you've come to the right place. His last job had wreaked havoc on his arsenal, and he badly needed to restock. A fighting man's only as good as his hardware, that's what Jolene always used to say. 'Course, Jolene was as dead and gone as your average chopper's conscience, and her impressive armory hadn't helped her one bit in that regard. Still, good advice was good advice. An hour of browsing had made it abundantly clear to Flint that the meager amount of jingle left in his possession was not enough to meet his desired level of personal armament. He'd tried his hand at haggling with a vendor for a bulk deal. It had not gone well. A gig was needed.

Thus he was here in Dryden's goddamn party, standing stone-faced besides the roaring crowd, surrounded on all sides by people high on who-knew-what, watching an obese and sweaty man do business with two other men of equally displeasing appearance. The man had introduced himself as Dargo, some trader from some place or another, Flint hadn't actually listened all that closely. Wanted a bodyguard, said he didn't trust his "partners" to play it straight. He had no idea why Dargo needed to conduct his business talks in the middle of substance abuse and ear-splitting noise, but he wasn't paid to ask questions now, was he?
Scanning the crowd for potential trouble, his trusty Ruby at the ready in a loose grip, Flint spotted Mistral a few couches over. She didn't seem to be particularly enjoying herself, which still put her ahead of his mood considerably.

Some days...


Edit: On the market, Flint is looking for the following things: a hunting rifle, a sleeve pistol, a few knives, and a few grenades. He only has 1-barter worth of stuff left, so I'm sure he won't be able to get everything, but I'd like to know what he could get. Rolled hot in OOC thread to hopefully manipulate some trader into giving me a good deal. Result was a miss.

[jolinaxas]

Life takes on a strange sort of character when the world itself's pouring static into your head and you're licking a cold cryochamber. Under the slowly clearing mist, before the glass fogged back over, she noted the lack of a metal necklace on the sleeping male and realized that this was another... what was the word? She knew one existed, for people who weren't like her.

But Specialist Brandt's days were numbered. Even the starved half-life afforded by the coffee supplies was coming to and end, with the last of them packed into an unused tactical pouch on the outside of her armor. No, she'd have to go more than a few yards outside, even though last time she'd almost revealed the bunker to one of the locals, a surprisingly normal-looking human bristling with guns and scavenged armor that would give her own loadout a run for its money.

Kicking aside one of the ragged piles of bones that congregated around the automated turrets, she took in her surroundings. Skyscrapers. Those were in cities. Not the best places to try to hunt in the best of circumstances...


1/5 XP, 0 Harm, Weird/Sharp

With the 7-9 result, I'm supposing that the Maestro's cast/crew will eventually find her trying and failing to hunt?
Hilariously, Allison can't work gigs, as she's not integrated into the economy...


Rolling with Sharp:
[roll0] + 2

MC asks me one of the Quarantine questions, and I have to answer it.

[Amaril]

Mistral spares only a second's glance to identify Winger, answering with a shrug. "We lived."

Moth's comment does more to get her attention, drawing an especially icy look. "Really, Moth? You were 'just chatting' with Winger's bike?"

[Drynwyn]

Winger glances at Mistral, grinning.
"Hey, Phoenix can be a pretty chatty lady once she gets a few shots of gas in her."

Out of the corner of his eye, he watches Moth closely, sussing out his reaction. What is he here for? Could just be trying to get laid.... could be a diversion for something sinister.


Rolling +Sharp to read Moth.
[roll0]

[Eonas]

Winger: Yeah... you're pretty sure he's just trying to get laid.

Moth grimaces, realizing his blunder. "Oh... that Phoenix. Not the other Phoenix. That one. I'll tell you what, though, that bike it's a real piece of work. Don't come towards me with that bike or I'll show you what's what."

Flint: Actually, when you go into a holding's bustling market, you roll +Sharp, not +Hot; check p31 of the rules! So you don't get the XP unfortunately.


Kay: I dunno! Hazel, why don't you say what or who's out there in the Greenhouse?


Alison: So to be super clear, the cryochamber's in the middle of Sunshine City and you're sallying out for the first time?

Where were you when the world ended?

[jolinaxas]

Flicking the switch to close the bunker behind her, a memory came rushing back at the reminder.

It was a familiar, dire sound among a litany of screaming and army warning sirens. She was shouting into a headset, telling the goddamned door operator to keep it open, just for a few more goddamned seconds. Her conscious mind, staring wide-eyed at the ruined skyscrapers in the present, didn't even know what she was running from. Just that she needed to get inside. The two guys and the girl were a few meters behind, having stopped to grab possessions from where they'd stuffed them into Allison's car. She needed to get them inside, too, but she didn't know why.

The scratching of something moving through broken concrete brought her back to reality, head pounding and vision blurred. She drew her sidearm and looked around for a few seconds before deciding that whatever it was, she must have lost it. Damn whatever this was.

That's when the brick hit.


1/5 XP, 0 Harm, Weird/Sharp

@Location: Yeah, it's wherever a military installation would have been in whatever city this used to be. So probably closer to the edge of the city proper, but maybe not. She popped out to scout "X" days ago, saw Flint, went "wtf" and scurried back into her hole.

Also, I figure that since her friends are the other human-sicles, she got the word that "the bad stuff" was going down and dragged a few of them with her?

[Entelechy]

The Greenhouse's storeroom leads directly and only to the kitchen. Most of their supplies are brought in fresh picked from the greenhouse in the morning for the morning and lunch crowd, and then again in the early after for the dinner crowd. Generally, any food that could handle longterm storage isn't deemed fresh enough to be served, but there are still some raw ingredients, such as flour that are kept in bulk in the store room, and some of the house preserves (pickles, sauerkraut, jams, etc). Off season, its a bit fuller, but right now its sparse and nearly shining clean. Beyond the door, the only the chef and a sous-chef are on duty, and they are cleaning and prepping, rather than cooking.

"Order up! Lunch special, extra beats!" Someone shouts.

"Teddy, I need a new jar of pickled beats," The head chef says, and her sous-chef heads for the storeroom.

OOC: Sorry Kay, missed the end of your post, there.

[Anyr]

As the adult goes in, Kay goes out. Darting through the kitchen, into the eating place. Stay low, beneath the adults' eyes. Where is Hazel? She'd understand. This Kay was a 'regular'. Never invited, but often here anyway.

[Entelechy]

"Kay, dear child!" Hazel exclaimed with delight as he darted through the dining lounge. She scooped him up and continued her circuit around the Greenhouse, doing her afternoon checklist. Hazel is an eminently comfortable person to lean against.

"So good to see you? Can I get you a late lunch, or an early supper?" She asks. She pulls a clean rag from somewhere and makes darting dabs to wiped the worst of the dirt smudges from Kay's face.

[Anyr]

Suddenly rising! Arms around us. Threat? No, Hazel. Commence snuggling. Her mouth asks a question. Our mouth answers it.

"Yes please! Sprinkled with those nice rivets, maybe? Or some mixed fabric?"

We talk differently to how we think. Mind and mouth aren't in synch.

[Entelechy]

"Instead of rivets, how about something sprinkled in nuts? Just not the metal kind, and not me either!" Hazelnut said kindly. She made her way back towards the kitchen and called, "Chef's salad with mixed nuts, growing-kid sized!"

"Now, let's find you a seat, and you can tell me how you've been. Do you want to sit by the windows, or on one of the couches?"

[Mekboy]

5am did not like parties. Too loud, too chaotic, too many people and altogether too much to worry about. It was a shame then that she was being paid to be here. Someone wanted information, and apparently this would be the easiest place to extract it from the mark. She'd already made a few circuits, weeding out the faces she recognized. Misters Flint, Dust and Winger, along with Miss Mistral, among others. None of them were likely to interfere, unless they were on a job, and of them Mister Flint seemed the only likely one. To her chagrin she still hadn't spotted her mark yet. On to the other ways of seeing. She sighed to herself, pulled her coat tighter, closed her eyes briefly and glimpsed the maelstrom.

On a gig, trying to get information out of someone for someone else, hope that's an acceptable gig. [roll0] weird for opening my brain.

[Anyr]

"Window please!"

Hazel is nice. No fear, no disgust, no pity. Just warmth. She holds the future in her arms, and embraces it. Kay will be sad when she dies.

"We're doing well, thanks. Every day there's more of us, and less of them. How about you? I hope things are okay. Has the Lamprey been bothering you again?"

[Drynwyn]

Winger glances over to Moth, his eyes darkening as he raises an eyebrow

"I don't appreciate people calling Phoenix "a real piece of work", y'know? She doesn't much like it, either. And when she gets upset, well...."

Winger shakes his head sadly, tsking repeatedly.

Let's just say I doubt you can dodge grenades like Mistral here. Maybe you better shove off before your leg goes knee-deep into your mouth, huh?


Rolling for Go Aggro against Moth- and marking XP since Hard is a highlite.
[roll0]

[jolinaxas]

More pain, as the world slowly came back into focus. The memories she was trying to hold onto - to piece back together - felt so far away. All she had left was instinct, which led her to reach for the pistol in its holster on her thigh. But it was gone, along with her rifle. And her hands were bound...

Carefully getting to her feet, she leaned against a wall filled with jars. A few fell off and rolled along the ground as she lifted herself away and towards what looked like a door. She slammed her head against the wood, trying to get anyone's attention.

"The hell am I? Hey!"


1/5 xp, 0 Harm
I figure they threw her in a spare storage room?

[Entelechy]

Hazel gives a musical laugh. Holding Kay on one hip she drags the tallest chair in the place to a window seat and sits Kay down on it. She takes the seat opposite him. She pours them both a glass of clean water.

"Lamprey, hmmm? Who's bee talking to you about me and Lamprey?" she asked as she traced a finger through the condensation on her glass.

[Anyr]

Gulp down the water. Kind of bland. Not as much texture as rain. Why do only the poor adults drink rain? It's good stuff. Damp lips answer the nice woman's question.

"Nobody. Harrow didn't mention you at all. He just wants to know things about Lamprey. If he'd asked about you, I'd have said no. But it's okay to tell him about Lamprey, right?"

[Entelechy]

"That depends on the kind of business you're in. In my business, I can't tell folks about my clients, or even confirm if someone is a client of mine. That's a rule I need to live by," Hazel says. A waiter arrives with the salad, and serves Kay, as she passes, Hazel catches his arm and says quickly "Dominos."

"Now, I figure you are still figuring out your rules, if you got any. But that you don't want to talk to Harrow about me makes me think you do," the waiter returns with a box of dominoes, and Hazel begins unpacking, and setting up lines of them. "Whether its okay to tell him about Lamprey is something you gotta figure out for yourself, because it wouldn't be fair for me to make such an important choice for you, especially when I've got such a personal stake in it. You see, all of us in these skyscrappers are like these dominoes. Give one a push the wrong way, and we all come falling down," Hazel pushes down a line of dominoes, and starts setting up two rows side by side.

"Its all cause and effect. Dremmer and Dryden throw a party, and people go there instead of too might place. But its only one day, so I don't mind. Its good for the community. Folks like Harrow and Lamprey, they are at the heads of a whole line of dominoes. If either of them falls, a whole bunch of us goes down with them. So before you help push either over, better figure out if you care about anyone else in their line going down-- what is that commotion?" Hazel says the last bit in a raised voice, as shouts start coming from the kitchen. "'Scuse me a second."

She walks quickly but smoothly into the kitchen, where the head chef Anna and Carlos bicker furiously.

"Quiet, quiet! What the hell is wrong with you two. Anna, my darling, what is it?" Hazel says. She asks Anna first, because the kitchen is ultimately her turf, and she has the right of way.

"This brute just threw a filthy woman into my pantry!" Anna declaims, her face red up past her the roots of her hair.

"Carlos, would this perhaps be poor woman from another time I asked you to gently bring to me?" Hazel says, too calm to be safe.

"Yes ma'am!" Carlos reported.

"I see. That will be all for now. Thank you, Anna, for bringing this to my attention," Hazel says with a cold smile. Carlos leaves.

She walks quickly back out to front of the house, and sits briefly beside Kay, again.

"Kay, dear, in lieu of payment for the salad, could you please find Flint for me, and tell him I have immediate need of his services? Thank you."

She approaches the storeroom door, unlocks it, and knocks on it as if it were the door to a house.

"May I come in, my darling? My name's Hazel." Hazel calls through the storeroom door.

[Eonas]

Flint: so you couldn't find any nice deals going shopping, but you did find a guy that stared at you intently as you walked; a short muscular man with about three teeth. And then you blinked, and then he was gone.

Dargo nods at you, Flint. "So it's a deal, then? You'll make sure I'm safe for as long as it takes to seal my contract?"

Winger: Moth raises himself to his full 5'6". "Maybe you better shove off. I was chatting with Mistral here, not you."

He's just drunk enough to pick a fight. You could probably overpower him, or, like, genuinely scare him off, no sweat, but not without a scene.

5am: The Psychic Maelstrom speaks to you as a wizened hag on a rocking chair. Dremmer's stuffed someone, bound and gagged, into the closet, it says, and Moth's got a loaded .44 in his coat. And then it produces an image of a swarm of vinespiders crawling towards the Walled City, and then it's gone.

You're looking for a job for a wealthy warlord interrogating an NPC, then? Well, turns out you're in luck, Mara was just looking for you. "Listen," she says, "I got someone I need info from but I need it hush-hush. You the right girl to ask?"

[Anyr]

We listen and learn. Not enough people listen. They don't hear the good things others say; Or the sound of Mother's heartbeat. Hazel says lots of good things. The salad is good too; Though it could have used a few rivets. So Lamprey is a domino? And if she falls, bad things might happen? But Harrow might not make her fall. And if we tell him nothing, he won't pay us. Maybe we should tell him some of the things? Not all, but some. Let's try that. Keep digging, and then decide.

But first comes Flint. Where? The party, maybe. Check that first. Now we're leaving Hazel's place; By the adult door this time. No need for the paths. The party is close. Up and in we go. Through the forest of legs. This leg looks Flint-ish. We knock on it.

[jolinaxas]

"Oh, Christ. They're insane. All of them. I can't open the door!"

She slowly slammed her head on the door again, this time out of frustration rather than to call attention. Sliding over to one side of the door, she stared at the preserved food, which became an immediate reminder of how hungry she was... and gave her an unfortunate idea.

"Is there some reason I'm locked in here? Am... am I food?"

Reaching down, she tore at the plastic bag that held the last of her coffee-accessory mixture with her teeth, the ferocity of her attempt at sustenance throwing creamer and sugar crystals in all directions.


1/5 xp, 0 Harm

[Amaril]

"Moth," Mistral says without getting up, "listen to the man and walk away. Now." Her tone is still calm, but the hand continuing to rest on Fury provides the "or else".

Going aggro on Moth. Rolling +cool instead of +hard.

[roll0]

One XP for me :smallbiggrin:

[Mekboy]

5am opened her eyes and smiled wide. It was not a comforting sight.

"Yes-yes, I would be the right girl to ask, Miss Mara. Information extraction is a specialty of mine."

She was vaguely aware of a commotion between Winger and Moth behind her. Normally she would want to intervene to protect her investments, but with Mistral on hand and this business deal happening, she let it resolve itself.

[Entelechy]

Hazel sighs quietly, puts on her gentlest smile, and opens the door.

"Easy, love, easy. Oh what did he do to you, no one is going to be food. Let me untie you, and you can have your pick of something off those shelves, there, hmmm? Its just pickles, jams, and vegetable preserves," Hazel says, entering the storeroom slowly, with palms showing.

[Battlemage]

Flint

Seizing the fat man up, Flint nods. "You pay, I keep fools from hurting you." Some part of his mind is still on his experience at the market. Something about the toothless man's gaze had been off. He didn't like it.

Some time later, Flint looks down at Kay tugging on his legs. "Kid, I'm on a job. Scram!"

[jolinaxas]

Specialist Brandt looked up at her... captor? for a moment, before sliding backward, away from her.

"You took my guns. I have no idea where I am. I don't-"

She gulped uncomfortably and coughed, a little bit of the powder sputtering out. She shook her head, as though trying to clear it.

"I don't want your food. Stop screwing with me. Whatever you hit me over the head and dragged me here for, just do it."

[Entelechy]

"Well, my darling, I sent for you to offer you a meal and a little chat about the world, but perhaps my instructions to be gentle were mistaken as sarcasm," Hazel says, while perusing the shelves. She takes down a jar of pickled beets, procures a fork from somewhere, and cracks the seal. She sits down next Brandt, spears a beet with a fork and pops it into her mouth, chews, and swallows.

"One of my favourites. Would you like one?" she offers, holding up another wedge of pickled beat for Brandt. Its close enough she could just lean forward and bite it off the fork, but not close enough to be too intrusive.

[Anyr]

"Hazel wants you. It seems important."

Message delivered. We leave, whether Flint follows or not. This place is too loud. Now we're heading back to Hazel.

[jolinaxas]

Brandt carefully watches Hazel eat, relaxing visibly as she sees her chew and swallow a chunk from the same jar. Carefully leaning forward, she ate the offered beet before coiling back against the wall.

"Well, I wouldn't have come on my own. So if they were the sort to be insistent, I'd have shot them anyway. Because I have no idea who you are, or why you want to talk to me. I just wanted to be left alone. But he got the jump on me - these goddamned hallucinations..."

[Entelechy]

Hazel helps herself to another wedge of beet, and then another to Brandt again.

"It sounds dreadful, but you're safe with me now. My name is Hazel, and I own and operate the Greenhouse, the premiere establishment for fresh food and consolation. And you look like you need both, my darling. How about you let me untie you, so I can give you a proper meal, and perhaps a bath while we wash your clothes, hmmm?" Hazel asks.

I wasn't planning on it, but I think you accepting the beets may count as "hooking you up," which would trigger your special as if we had had sex. If the beets don't, the meal and bath certainly would.

[jolinaxas]

"I, uh... I suppose. I mean - consolation? Does that mean what I think it means, or?"

She allowed herself to be freed, and stood up while stretching out her wrists.

"Because if that's the case, well - things may be a little better than I thought they'd be out here. Right? If Greenhouse still means what it did, then you've got plans for agriculture and preservation..."


2/5xp, 0 Harm

Rolling with Sharp
[roll0] + 2

You get to ask me one of these in return. The ones I kind of implicitly asked are in bold.
• Whom do you most miss?
• What do you hope for the future?
• What makes you feel beautiful? Loved?
• Who was your first kiss? Did you like it?
• If I asked, would you stay with me?
• In what ways are your mind and soul pure?

[Entelechy]

Hazel laughs, and takes one of her guest's hands in her own and massaged it with her strong fingers. "We need to be careful of the circulation. I guess since you did not come in the usual way, you missed the sign. The one right outside our doors, which clearly states No Sex Beyond This Point. There's plenty of places that offer that, and I can recommend you someplace clean if you want. I grow what I can, but I'd hardly call it agriculture. A little oasis for the soul where you can set down your burdens, with good food and a shoulder to cry on. We can only grow enough to feed our customers, and barely ourselves. For now. Almost everyone of consequence comes through my doors, I make a point of that, and things will be different in these skyscrapers once I get a deeper foothold. The days of that slaver Nebuchadnezzar pushing us around..." Hazel missed a beat in her massage of Brandt's hand, and her smile froze for a blink, but then it glowed again with her usual warmth.

"I never got your name, stranger. Why don't you relax and tell me how to take care of you?"

What makes you feel beautiful? Loved?

[Guineas]

"...and that takes us out of Blue Monday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOFO1XOZXRM), by New Order, right here on Radio Spectre! I'm your ever-dutiful host, Polaris, and how about a little news for everyone out in Radioland today?

Let's see...word on the street is that everyone's favorite tyrannical dictator, Nebuchadnezzar, has decided to do away with a portion of his harem...I don't think I have to tell you folks exactly how the man went about doing that, but reports are that the Walled City is just a little bloodier today. Hopefully those poor ladies can find some peace, now, at least...

Oh! Hang on folks--looks like...yeah, looks like we have some breaking news coming 'cross my desk right now! Speaking of Nebuchadnezzar, looks like Walled City's main man has sent out a rather large war-band. Their destination, unfortunately, is unknown at the moment, but it's not unsafe to speculate that any of the smaller settlements around the Walled City--the Great Basin, Sunshine City, Glasstown--could be a target. I'll be keeping my eyes on this one folks, hopefully to keep you one step ahead of the band. And of course, anyone with information is invited to hit up one of Radio Spectre's dead-drops--you'll find them, just ask around.

That's all the news at the moment, folks, I have a couple sponsorships to read off, and after that, it's back to the music! So keep that dial tuned to Radio Spectre, your partner in crime!"

The News flips one of his pre-recorded commercials, a past version of himself keeping the station running by reading off some advert for--what was this one? Some water merchant out of Glasstown. Truth don't come cheap, Polaris muses to himself in the dim, sterile light of his studio. The only warm lighting was from a dripping chandelier appointed with a few fat, waxy candles; the rest came from various monitors and transceivers that buzzed and hum with electric life. Grabbing a bowl of some pink chunks of meat in an attempt at gravy, Polaris scans over the latest bits of gossip coming in from his informants.

[Eonas]

Mistral: Moth glances at you, then at Fury, then at Winger, then at Fury. "Alright, alright," he snarls. "No need to be a d*** about it. Jeez." And he walks off to irritate some other unsuspecting partygoer.

5am: Mara grins. "Alright. Meet me tomorrow. Noon, at the Stump. And then without waiting for a response she's off to talk to an attractive young man in a aviator suit.

Polaris: The gossip, in short is Lamprey and Dargo are seeing a lot of each other nowadays, another bit of Skyscraper 3 just collapsed, there's wanted ads everywhere for Little Billy's head apparently, and - and the line rings, and it's a feminine voice on the other end, shouting over what sounds like wood splintering, "Oh hell oh hell oh bloody hell it's hot!"

Dust: Alright! Who're you going to name?

[jolinaxas]

"Brandt. Specialist Allison Brandt. Uh, Specialist of what, I'm not.. not exactly sure."

Hazel's question brought to mind another distant recollection. An old song, inexpertly sung and unaccompanied by instruments. The static of a half-dozen voices.

"I just realized that I haven't heard any music..."

She twisted her fingers in her ears, trying to clear them out, but the white noise didn't go away.


2/5xp, 0 Harm

[Battlemage]

Flint

While he would usually go to check out what Hazel wanted, a gig was a gig. Can't just abandon your jobs half-way through, or soon you won't get any jobs at all. Professional reputation and all that. Hopefully this one would be over soon, and without too much hassle.

Looking over Dargo and his conversation partners, Flint sharpens his instincts for any sign of trouble.


Rolling sharp to read a charged situation (Dargo's conversation with his business partners).
[roll0]

That's a miss.

[Mekboy]

5am shrugged to herself, and wondered what to do now. She was still not particularly comfortable, but Dust's music had a certain soothing quality that made her worries melt away. Why not stay? She helped herself to a drink, and made her way over to the nearest familiar face.

"Hello, Mister Flint. Are you well?"

[Drynwyn]

Winger watches Moth leave, shaking his head. He seems to think over something for a moment, before being distracted by Polaris's broadcast. He glances over to Mistral.

"Raiders headed our way, huh? Proooobably worth ditching this joint to see which way they're going. Some backup wouldn't hurt- you wanna come along? I'll let you drive Lugger."

[Battlemage]

Flint

Flint's eyes linger on 5am's gangly form as she appears in his view, taking her in from top to bottom. He still wasn't quite sure what exactly made the woman so attractive to him, but she sure was a more pleasant sight to watch than fat Dargo. He had to make an effort to finally return his attention to the trader and his surroundings again. Don't get sloppy just because she's here. Job's a job.


"Hello, Mister Flint. Are you well?"

"Well enough I guess. Life's boring, and that's usually a good thing in my line of work. You working too?"

[Amaril]

Mistral stares silently back at Winger for a few beats before relaxing in her seat again and blowing out a long plume of smoke. "You wanna risk your neck for free, be my guest. I'm good where I am." There are other people set to handle problems like this tonight, if it even becomes a problem.

[Mekboy]

"Not currently. I was been making preparations for future employment. I would suppose that would make my current presence here for pleasure."

She sipped the drink and grimaced, before quickly trying to cover it with another wide smile.

"Presumably you would be here on business yourself?"

[Drynwyn]

"Your call. Might be people willing to pay for that info, though."

He scans the party, and spots 5am and Flint, walking over in time to catch the tail end of their conversation, into which he interjects.

"5am! Hey, speaking of future employment- I got an idea to get some jingle. We go have a look at that raider party Neb sent out, you do your brain... thing... and we figure out who's about to get raided- now, that's information that'd fetch a pretty nice reward. I can get us there & back in time for it to still be valuable, and you can actually get the info- any way you slice it, knowing who's about to be raided is handy info, yeah?"


Rolling +Hot to manipulate 5am.
[roll0]
Well, if it had been above a 7, you would have got XP if you went along with it, but the dice aren't a big fan of that idea, apparently.

[Amaril]

A small twinge of regret penetrates Mistral's weed high and general apathy as Winger leaves. Nothing a drink won't chase off, though. She leaves the couch behind and goes to find Dremmer--he always knows where the good stuff is being kept, if she can convince him to share.

"Nice party," she says when she finds him. "Might have to come by here more, if you guys keep throwing 'em."

[Anyr]

Two voices become three. Now we're here too.

"Flint says he's busy with a job. Forcing him to go seemed bad."

Words go to Hazel, but eyes go to the other person. Strange person. Strange smell. Old smell. We don't like it. The question needs to be asked.

"Are you a Wolf of the Maelstrom?"


"Did the war create the Maelstrom? I guess it did. So I guess I am."

Danger! Distance grows between us. Hiding behind Hazel. Peering out, afraid. Stay sharp, stay out of reach, stay alive.

"A Wolf! You heard it, right? From her own lips!"

[Battlemage]

Flint

Flint smiles at the thought of 5am enjoying herself at a party.


"Presumably you would be here on business yourself?"

He nods and off-handedly points a thumb toward the fat man and his conversation partners sitting nearby. "Dargo here is scared his friends will do more than talk tough."

He nods to Winger as well as he joins the conversation. He didn't really know the man, but he'd seen him around 5am occasionally. He had to suppress a twinge of jealousy at that thought. Don't be silly.

"Raider party, huh? Maybe this day'll get interesting after all."

[Entelechy]

"Brandt. Specialist Allison Brandt. Uh, Specialist of what, I'm not.. not exactly sure."

Hazel's question brought to mind another distant recollection. An old song, inexpertly sung and unaccompanied by instruments. The static of a half-dozen voices.

"I just realized that I haven't heard any music..."

She twisted her fingers in her ears, trying to clear them out, but the white noise didn't go away.


"I should give you fair warning, Allison, if I may call you Allison, the finest musician in these parts in a man who would pick your heart like a ripe plum, but his own heart is a wasteland. Be careful. Music is outside our specialty, but my own voice isn't poor-" Hazel said, leading Allison out of the storeroom, through the kitchen and into the dining room. She's cut off as Kay is suddenly there.


Two voices become three. Now we're here too.

"Flint says he's busy with a job. Forcing him to go seemed bad."

Words go to Hazel, but eyes go to the other person. Strange person. Strange smell. Old smell. We don't like it. The question needs to be asked.

"Are you a Wolf of the Maelstrom?"

Danger! Distance grows between us. Hiding behind Hazel. Peering out, afraid. Stay sharp, stay out of reach, stay alive.

"A Wolf! You heard it, right? From her own lips!"

"I heard, I heard, come here," Hazel wraps Kay in a protective embrace and lifts him up again. She throws a scowl over her shoulder at Allison, as if to say Now why would you say that to a child? before returning her attention to Kay.

"Kay, remember what I said. There are no wolves in my walls. This is Allison. She just woke up after sleeping since before the Maelstrom. And if she's from before the Maelstrum, she can't be of it, right? So Allison misunderstood you, or Allison was playing a mean trick on you."

"Allison, you want to explain to him what a metaphor is, what you actually meant, and perhaps apologize, while you are at it?" Hazel said, with steel under her voice.

[Anyr]

Breathing comes easier when held in those arms; But still shallow. Even Hazel can't destroy the fear. She doesn't understand. The Wolves are hunting us. Sometimes they kill; Sometimes they toy; Sometimes they do things that make no sense at all. What does this one want?

"T-this might not be the Allison who went to sleep. The Wolves wear human faces!"

[jolinaxas]

"Well, I guess 'thanks' for the heads-up. But how much of a heartbreaker can he really be, when he's got a reputation for it?"

The answer to the child's question just sort of rolled out of her head. But it did make sense...

"But, that's what it is, right? It isn't static after all! It's a storm."

She sidestepped around to try to meet Kay's eyes.

"And it wasn't there before. Whatever happened to cause, well, all of this. I think I was there when it happened. And I'm not sure what I can do to reassure you that I'm not here to hurt you. Other than to say I won't and hope that you can trust me."

[Entelechy]

"Stay where you are, Brandt," Hazel snaps, the steel in her voice briefly unsheathed as she turned so Kay wouldn't have to look at Allison unless he wanted to. She didn't know what the wolves actually where, but she knows trauma, and the first step to helping someone is to believe them. Her voice warm once more, "I am not going to leave her alone with you. We'll face her together, okay? Now, you're the expect on wolves, not I, so why don't I tell you what I know. Carlos and his folks found Allison hear starving and alone and hallucinating outside an old bunker. They tied her up and locked in her my storeroom. I know, it was a very bad idea, and its not what I asked, but its how Carlos did it. When I opened the door, Allison was afraid that I was going to eat her. I was able to convince her I wasn't going to, and I was just going to give her a vegetable pate sandwich and a bath. What should we be watching out for, to see if she is a Wolf in disguise?"

[Anyr]

...She's listening. No 'go away crazy kid'; No 'stop being silly'. Just faith. This has never happened before. If we could cry, we'd be crying. Why can't we cry? No, don't think like that. This is our chance. Someone is listening. Talk.

"The Wolves were never human. They don't know what it feels like to be human. So they have to learn how how humans act, from the outside. A Wolf knows how to laugh, and cry, and seem angry. But it's all...shallow. A box of paper masks. They only get away with it because people don't pay attention. That's how I know you're not one. You're too real to be a Wolf.

I think you'd be good at spotting them. You see people. So think hard: Did she seem hollow? Did her eyes move like she's not used to having any? Does she only have the one laugh or smile or scream, that's the same every time? Does she feel real?"

She listened. Now we have to listen. If Hazel trusts the new one, then we will too.

[Entelechy]

Hazel leans her head close to Kay's and whispers.

"I don't know," Hazel says, "Now don't look surprised. Let me tell you, Kay, the first step to being fooled by someone is believing you can't be fooled. If you think you always know when someone is lying to you, you're more likely to believe a lie. So while I spend most of my day, every day, trying to read people, and getting pretty good at it, I can't forget that I can be fooled. And I've only known Allison very briefly. Now, she seems real, and I haven't seen in her any of the those signs of the Wolf, but I wasn't looking for them either. So I am going to act like she's real. I mostly believe she is real, but I keep a part of my doubting, and watching for all those things you warned about. But right now, I got a lot of heavily armed folks just a whistle away, so we are as safe around her as we can be. So let's just have a seat and learn a bit more about Allison Brandt, hmmm?"

"Allison, sorry about the delay. Your food should be out shortly. Why don't we grab a seat by the window? We are pretty high up, and I think you might appreciate the view. Take a peak" Hazel says with a smile, still holding Kay close. She was pretty sure Allison hadn't had a chance yet to see the new world, with this view. The miles of city reclaimed by bitter choking vines. Shanty-tones sprung up on collapsed skyscrapers like fungus on fallen log among the handful of skyscrapers still standing. That might help her understand a little better what it meant to be alive in this day and age.

[Anyr]

The fear fades. Back you go, into the far corners. Just a whisper now. Hazel sent it away. Safe in her arms. We can sit with the old soldier now. Sniff sniff. Still smells weird. Beforekind smell? Don't know. Hazel said we should learn. Assume she's real, just for now. Question.

"Hazel says you're a sleeper from the Before. Were you waiting for the best world to arrive? Was it too hard to stay awake without the Maelstrom in your head?"

[jolinaxas]

Allison sighed and ran her hands through her short, unruly hair.

"Sure, thanks. Hey, if I'm not welcome or whatever-"

She tilted her eyes in Kay's direction.

"- I can leave. I just gotta ask for my guns back. Wolf or not, you mentioned some dude being a... slaver? I didn't wake up just to be rendered defenseless."

Looking out the window, she surveyed the rest of the former city. She still had no idea where she was, or why she was there, for the most part. For a moment, she was lost in the sea of people as she felt their energy. Their impression.


[roll0]+1 Open Your Brain.


The strange, paranoid child's question broke her out of her trance.

"Sleep's an okay way to put it, I guess. And I don't mean to make a crack at your getting by, but I think I might still be sleeping, if I had a choice. I still don't know why I woke up. The power's still on, so it wasn't an emergency shutdown. And there was another squaddie of mine that got defrosted some time before me, so it isn't some kind of computer error. Do either of you know a Tammy? Or maybe Jackson, or Specialist Jackson? The archives said that it had been around fifty years since I went under, but I couldn't find anything on her release."


3/5xp, 0 Harm

[Guineas]

Polaris turns down one of the mixers on the boards in front of him, bringing down the broadcast audio so that he can more clearly hear the women on the other end of the line.

"Hello?! Who is this?! Where are you?! I can barely hear you over all that noise!"

[Mekboy]

5am nodded thoughtfully. More jingle in your pocket was always a positive. The things people would do for a little cash.

"This certainly does sound like an exquisite opportunity. I must warn you, however, that in order to do my 'brain thingy', I'm going to need one of their people alive. And preferably a little time to get to know them."

[Drynwyn]

Winger nods, a grin coming over his face.

"I think we can make that happen- I got some clever ideas on that front.

Meet me down in the garage in a few minutes- you can drive Lugger, I'll take Phoenix."

Winger turns on his heel and heads out of the party, down to the small "garage" at the bottom floor of the skyscraper where he stores his beloved vehicles. It wasn't actually a garage, and it doesn't have any tools, but the door is discreet, still has a working lock, and is juuuuust wide enough to squeeze the Lugger out.

Glancing over them, he picks up a couple spare gas cans and puts them in the back of the Lugger before turning to Phoenix.

He smiles, his eyes lighting up as he runs a hand over it.

"Hey babe. Want to go dancing?"

[Eonas]

Flint: Everything seems fine, no danger or warning signs on the horizon. Or maybe it's just 5am sending your senses haywire. And then as you watch Winger leave, something catches your eye. Dremmer and Dargo chatting amicably, and Dremmer's got an arm around Dargo's shoulder and he's leading him out back and there's a metallic glint in Dremmer's back pocket.

Allison: The psychic maelstrom's licking at the edge of your mind like fire at the edge of a curtain; and then suddenly it lights your mind ablaze. What are you most interested in? What are you most afraid of in this strange new world?

Polaris: The voice grows more strident. "The fire-rats - they're coming for us! God, please send help, I'm at Jugular's at the strip mall!"

[Eonas]

Dremmer swings his head around to look at you as you approach, Mistral. "Yeah," he grins, "we might. We might just do that." And then he glances at Dargo. "Now we're just out to get some fresh air. There's a nice lady over there who wants to get to know you - why don't you say hi?" he suggests, pointing at a pretty young woman in a low-cut green dress.

[Battlemage]

Flint

"So much for that boring evening..." Flint growls in a low voice as he spots Dargo and Dremmer heading outside. He follows them, staying close to Dargo. As he walks he draws his sidearm, keeping it low against his thigh, barrel downward. His eyes scan the area, keeping watch on Dremmer as well as the periphery. There was nothing to act on, yet, but he would be prepared if they made a move on his employer.

[Amaril]

Mistral scowls at Dremmer's back as he brushes her off, before curiously regarding the woman in green. Acting casual about it, she moves over and leans against the wall next to her. "Nice night," she remarks, retrieving another smoke and her lighter from her jacket pocket and applying the one to the other. The ball in the stranger's court now, Mistral silently looks her over again as she raises the joint to her lips, trying to gauge her intentions.

Trying to read this woman in green.

[roll0]

[Mekboy]

"Very well. I shall acquire my tools."

5am took one last look around the room, including a brief glance at Flint, and set off for her living space. Once there, she swept her important equipment (a pistol, a couple of syringes and several vials of a special concoction she'd worked out) into an inside pocket, before heading off to Winger's garage.

"A fine place you have here, Mister Winger. However, I must question the necessity of your 'lugger' for this little sortie. It would seem to me that such a vehicle would rather hinder any attempts at stealth."

[Drynwyn]

Winger glances up from his reverie as he prepares his bike to look at 5am.
"Yeah, well, NOT bringing Lugger would mean you'd have to hold on to me on the back of Phoenix, and I don't care for that concept- I've seen what you can do to someone's brain with contact like that. Also, I like to bank when I'm turning, so you'd probably fall off.

The buggy isn't so huge that it'll be an issue- lemme break down the plan.

We'll get close enough to the warband to set up a trap. Neb's no fool- this raider group will have scouts on bikes. Phoenix and I will bait some of them off to where you're lying in wait- you ram them with Lugger, then while they're confused, I do an about-face and clear out whoever's left with Phoenix.

Odds are one of em' will be alive enough for some brain work before he finishes bleeding out."

[Entelechy]

"You mean has there been anyone named 'Jackson' crawling around these parts in the past fifty years? That's an awfully broad question. I mean, there certainly have been Jacksons, its not exactly a rare name. I can put out feelers. Try to find Jackson or any other floatsam from the past who've washed ashore in this day. But that would be an awfully big favour, and I'm not sure if I would actually be doing you a favour, or just making things worse. You gotta get your feet on the ground, Allison, or you are going to get swept away. Ah. Here's your food. Sit. Eat." Hazel says as the promise veggie pate sandwich was brought out to their table.

[Mekboy]

"Do you not trust me?" 5am smirked, half-joking. Not being trusted was pretty much the norm. Besides, she'd only have taken a little look around.

"It does not matter. This plan is mostly acceptable to me. Although I do feel that leaving our acquisition of one of their men to random chance is less than ideal."

[jolinaxas]

Allison frowned at the deft deflection of the question about her weapons.

"Yeah, I guess so. Well, since you seem at least outwardly sane and reasonable - where should I start? What do you do for money?"
She took a bite, and then another, larger one. Living on coffee accessories for three or four days had left her with a ravenous appetite.

[Drynwyn]

Winger shrugs, tossing the keys to Lugger to 5am as he straddles Phoenix.

"Eh. If they all die that fast, we probably won't have any trouble doing the same to another group."

With that, he revs his bike, tunes it's radio to Polaris's broadcast, and shoots out the door, towards the Walled City's raiders.


Winger, and presumably 5am, are headed off in vehicles to the incoming raiders. Winger's going to try to find some high ground or a skyscraper near them where he can observe them and locate some scouts, at which point he will Bait a Trap.

[Anyr]

"Sleep's an okay way to put it, I guess. And I don't mean to make a crack at your getting by, but I think I might still be sleeping, if I had a choice. I still don't know why I woke up. The power's still on, so it wasn't an emergency shutdown. And there was another squaddie of mine that got defrosted some time before me, so it isn't some kind of computer error. Do either of you know a Tammy? Or maybe Jackson, or Specialist Jackson? The archives said that it had been around fifty years since I went under, but I couldn't find anything on her release."]

"I don't know her. Mother doesn't let us watch the sleepers."

Are the sleepers dangerous? Or maybe we're the danger. Mother didn't say. Meanwhile, the words flow on. Now they're talking about money. No Wolf signs so far.

"Hazel does things that only Hazel can do. You can't live the same way. Find something that only you can do: Then get someone to pay for it."

[Entelechy]

Hazel laughed, and kissed the top of Kay's head. "Well, I hope I'm not the only one. I'd like to thing someone else take over for me when I'm gone. But, sadly, not everyone is as fortune or skilled as I am, to make something unique for myself. Its great if you can find it. If you can't... well, you have guns (yes, you're getting those back, stop fretting), which is more than many. If you know how to use them you can find work lugging them, if you aren't squeamish.

"Stay away from mining, farmwork, and construction; those always turn into slave labour gigs you don't get out of alive. Brothels never stop hiring, of course, but come to me for an introduction. You don't want to work for the wrong madame, and definitely not for a man. And don't try working that gig independent, neither, that will end badly for you real quick. That's the unskilled stuff. If you know how to fix things, or make things, or doctor people, then there's still will be work enough for you. But I don't think you'd be asking me if you had any skills like that.

"About getting paid. Strictly speaking, I don't do anything for money, and very few people do. You'll find gambling houses, cheap eateries and watering holes that will issue their own chits in change for barter, but those are worthless anywhere else. The Walled City started minting coins about a year ago, but they lose half their value for every ten paces you take beyond its gate. Bullets come close to a currency, since they are always in demand. Hard boiled eggs are traded like currency at a decently high value, but you gotta be careful. I've seen men stoned to death for trading one that had turned. You're going to be looking to barter and trade most of the time. I hope you're a good haggler. Never take an initial offer. Think about what you need, what stores well without losing value, and what will get more valuable with time, or if you can move it somewhere else.

"Honestly, Allison," Hazel shakes her head ruefully, "I was considering offering you some work here, just room and board at first, till we see if you fit, but the lack of judgment and empathy you showed with Kay tells me you aren't cut out for it. Oh, you're from before. I bet you know how to drive. You don't have a ride, but if you earn a little rep for being someone trustworthy and good with a gun, you might get yourself a gig riding shotgun. Build trust with a driver, and you might get yourself behind a wheel some day."

[jolinaxas]

Aside from a sigh of relief when Hazel mentioned the guns, the soldier was content to mow through the rest of her sandwich. When she was done speaking, Allison stood up, wiping a few crumbs from her mouth.

"You're right. Where are my manners? Probably back near the bunker, along with a small chunk of my scalp. Thanks for the advice and the sandwich, but I'll not stay where I'm not welcome. I hope I fulfilled whatever curiosity had me dragged here in the first place."

She crossed her arms, waiting for her possessions.


3/5 xp, 0 Harm
Activating:
•Eager to know:
When you go to someone for advice, they must tell you honestly what they think the best course is.
If you pursue that course, take +1 to any rolls you make in the pursuit.
If you pursue that course but don’t accomplish your ends, you mark experience.

Assuming I'm pursuing gainful employment.

[Eonas]

Mistral: Very good! You get to direct three questions from the list to the woman in green. She smiles at you closedlipped. "Maybe. Smells like trouble. But, I guess, that's the sort of thing you're into."

Flint: Dargo and Dremmer are still chatting amicably as they enter a back room; just as the door closes behind them, you see Dremmer reach into his back pocket.

Lugger/5am: No skyscrapers outside Sunshine City, but there are absolutely a lot of crags and cliffs - and densely-forested regions, especially on both sides of the road leading from Sunshine City to the Walled City.

Brandt: The psychic maelstrom drags you down into the basements, the filthy vine-choked back-alleys of Sunshine City; you smell sweat, hear groans, see bare chests straining against chains, bloodshot eyes, feet pounding against the ground. And then you exhale and the bloodshot eyes and pounding feet remain, but the groans are replaced by bassy trance music - as you look around you realize somewhere in a forest in some sort of postapocalyptic Shambhala. Guess that's still there.
And then the maelstrom fades and you're back with Kay and Hazel.

[Amaril]

Mistral blows out more smoke. "And what makes you say that?"

[Battlemage]

With a silent curse under his breath, Flint hurries after Dargo, pushing the door open with a little more force than necessary.

[Anyr]

The relic reaches out. Lost, alone, confused. Nobody to rely on: Except Mother. She opens her mind, and lets the new world rush in. How amazing it must be, to feel this gift for the first time. We envy her.

[Eonas]

Mistral: Her grin widens and she points out the window at the sun. "Full moon, baby. Never trust a full moon."

Flint: Just in time: Dremmer and Dargo are on the couch struggling and Dremmer's got a razor out.

Anyr: So you're opening your brain, I guess? Have a +weird roll.

Dremmer and 5am: You find a nice rocky crag sit on with Winger and wait... and then you see them; ten or twelve people on motorbikes surrounding a semi. You guess that presumably the trailer bit's where they keep the slaves? Or supplies? Or something.

What do you do?

[Drynwyn]

"Hm. Maybe a dozen guys. Probably more behind them. I can't say I like the looks of that semi, though. No way of telling what's in there. Could be supplies. Could be empty, something to carry back loot in. Could be two dozen angry gunluggers."

Winger turns towards 5am and Lugger.

"Can you get anything from the Maelstrom?"

[Battlemage]

Flint

Flint's right hand, holding Jet at the ready, immediately flies up. The silenced black gun is pointed right at Dremmer.

"Drop it now and back off or you'll lose the hand!"


Going Aggro on Dremmer. I want him to drop the razor, back away from Dargo, and stay still with hands in sight. Putting two bullets into his hand and wrist if he forces my hand. Rolling hard instead of cool thanks to battle-hardened.
[roll0]

[Amaril]

Mistral just shrugs at that. "Don't think we've met. You come to these a lot?"

Spending 1 hold to ask what the woman in green wishes I'd do.

[Entelechy]

Aside from a sigh of relief when Hazel mentioned the guns, the soldier was content to mow through the rest of her sandwich. When she was done speaking, Allison stood up, wiping a few crumbs from her mouth.

"You're right. Where are my manners? Probably back near the bunker, along with a small chunk of my scalp. Thanks for the advice and the sandwich, but I'll not stay where I'm not welcome. I hope I fulfilled whatever curiosity had me dragged here in the first place."

She crossed her arms, waiting for her possessions.


Hazel laughs, "I never said you weren't welcome here. I just can't hire you. I believe I also offered you a bath and laundering of your clothes. If you want to leave, you're welcome to, but I don't know when you'll have another opportunity for either. Choice the choice is yours, though."

[jolinaxas]

Allison stared Hazel down.

"No, I get it. I give a half-concussed answer to your creepy kid's weird question and you get to make all sorts of judgements about my empathy and judgement like you've known me for more than five goddamn minutes. Is that how it is, now? In that case, I wonder what I should think about a woman who has me brought to her in ropes, and yet talks down about slavers like she's some stranger to keeping captives."

She moved forward, way past the comfortable bubble of personal space. If it even still existed.

"You get a good enough look yet, by the way? I'd hate for your investment of a sandwich to not pay off. Or should I do a little dance, first? You wanna check my teeth?"

[Anyr]

"Stay back!"

Features shift. Eyes become solid black voids. Teeth extend into fangs. Hazel can't see the change from this angle. Good. Don't want to scare her. But if the relic hurts Hazel, we will gut it.

...Unless it would mess up Hazel's place. Then we'll just eat the relic's mind. No mess that way.

[Eonas]

Dremmer drops the razor and rolls off Dargo like water off a duck's back. "Okay, okay," he spits. "I don't want no trouble."

Mistral: the woman in green wants to take you outside, have a little heart-to-heart chat. "Sometimes." she says. "Not often. You?"

[Battlemage]

Flint

Flint keeps the gun trained on Dremmer. "If you don't want trouble, you shouldn't go about starting it."

Without looking away from the man, he calls over to Dargo: "You alright? What do you want me to do with this guy?"

I totally missed that I'm up. Sorry about that!

[Eonas]

Dargo stands up, coughing and wheezing. "Blow his brains out and don't ask questions!"

[Battlemage]

Flint

Flint doesn't hesitate. This is how the world is. He pulls the trigger twice.

He growls at Dargo: "Watch your tone. I'm not your dog!"

[Eonas]

Now Dremmer's in a lifeless heap on the couch with a hole in the back of his head and Dargo's staring in surprise at it. "Okay." he says. "I think we should leave."

[Entelechy]

As Allison invaded her person space, Hazel spread her arms, and leaned into it, inviting Allison to walk right into a hug.

rolling Hot to defuse the situate and manipulate you into calming down.

[roll0]

[jolinaxas]

Allison stood, puzzled, for a second. She looked back at the strange child and its reaction, before turning back around and letting out a sigh.

"I'm... damn it. Why doesn't any of this make sense?"

She awkwardly put her hands on Hazel's arms to lower them out of "hug position" and tried to cling to her own thoughts, nervously biting her lip.

"Just... don't act like you know me. At this point, -I- barely know me..."


Accepting the xp.
4/5 XP, 0 Harm.
Eager to Know: Pursuing Gainful Employment

[Entelechy]

"Of course I don't know you. Most i know is a few things you likely need, cause most everyone does. And please know you are always welcome here. If you don't mind me checking for louse first, I'd be happy to give you a spare bed to crash in if you ever need a safe place in the Skyscrapper. I just wouldn't feel comfortable having you my establishment to clients. And that's nothing to feel bad about. It takes a certain kind of personality, and not many people have it." Hazel shrugs, and smiles. "Why don't I get you back your guns, and you can decide whether you want a bath or not?"

[Battlemage]

Flint

Flint gives Dremmer's body a quick search. No sense leaving anyhing valuable for the inevitable scavengers. Then he nods at Dargo.

"Let's go."

Why couldn't a job ever just be simple.

[jolinaxas]

Allison reached up to an armored shoulder, toying with one of the clasps that kept the suit together.

"I guess so. Might as well make a decent first impression."

With the snap of a few buttons, the heavy front chestplate swung to one side as the ceramic plates sewn into the kevlar asserted their weight. The quarantine took an -actual- deep breath for the first time in a while, and sat down as the waited for her weapons.

[Entelechy]

"Of course. Return her guns," Hazel said. She barely raised her voice, but the guns were produced within moments.

[jolinaxas]

Allison accepts the guns with a wary eye. But it's clear she doesn't realize that her polished, scratch-free weapons are relics now, as she roughly ejects the magazine of both to check that no bullets have been used, and pushes them in with just as much force.

"Right. Everything checks out. Heh. Now I gotta leave 'em anyway; not like I'm taking 'em into the bath."

Shrugging off the jacket-like top part of the armor, she laid it flat and tucked the guns into it as an impromptu rucksack.

[Eonas]

Dremmer's got keys and some pills and some photographs of a really striking young woman in furs. Dargo waits very impatiently and then opens the door to leave. Everybody's still chatting and dancing amd having fun, but you see Moth hovering around, watching you.

[Anyr]

Features switch back to normal. We relax; A little. Can never truly relax, while the Wolves exist. Hazel seems fine. She even gives the Wolf her teeth back. Wise? We don't think so. But we trust Hazel. Now the Wolf is shedding its armoured skin. We'd very much like to see what's beneath.

[Battlemage]

Flint

Flint takes Dremmers stuff and stows it away under his armor. Then he reloads two bullets into Jet's magazine, holsters the weapon at his hip and leaves the room with Dargo.

[Entelechy]

"Lovely. This way, please," Hazel said, leaving the dinning room and heading to another part of her establishment. "Now, do you prefer a steam bath, or a large tub with water? We offer both. Right now, we only have small baths, accommodating two people at most. Folks say if the rains keep increasing every wet season, I should open a larger, group bath, but water is awfully heavy, and I'd hate to put the strain on the floors, here."

[jolinaxas]

"Oh, the actual bath, definitely. Christ, when was the last time I was in a sau..."

She paused mid-step, her conscious mind trying to claw its way through the fog that was her long-term memory. Eventually unsatisfied, her brain gave its best impression of a noncommittal shrug, and she continued walking after a few seconds.

"It's, like, one tub a room, right? I know you said that people need to keep a lid on it while they're here, but let's just say I'd rather get a bit more acquainted with how people are these days before I go around naked in front of them."

[Entelechy]

"One tub to a room, yup," Hazel says. She stops by a storage room and grabs a couple heavy jugs of water. She leads Allison into what has once been a bathroom, but all the fixtures except he mirror and the tub have been removed. Lacking windows, Hazel lights a pair of oil lamps as she enters. Additions have been made: a lovely rug has been laid down, and paintings hung on the walls. A plush leather hair has been moved into the room, with a sign beside it says "DO NOT USE WHEN WET." Clean towels and a wedge of soap sit on a small table next to the bath tub. She starts filling the bath from the jugs. "Hot water will be along shortly. Just add enough to get the water to a comfortable temperature," she says.

[jolinaxas]

"Good to hear. So, I take it this place is considered kinda nice, huh? Lots of space..."

As Hazel filled the tub, Specialist Brandt dropped the armor's top half near the leather chair, and proceeded to disrobe until she was in featureless, military-issued undergarments, and waited with just a touch of paranoia in her eyes as they kept darting over to the two guns tucked into the chestplate.

"Gotcha. When I'm done, just leave it be? I don't see any place for it to drain...?"

[Anyr]

The maybeWolf is less scary now. So little protection left. All those layers, peeled away. We'd like to see what's underneath the last one. Poke her skin, to see if it's soft like a human. Maybe eat her socks. Would she let us? Probably not. And she has guns.

We'll wait outside; With Hazel.

[Eonas]

Winger: 5am shuts her eyes, breathes slowly, and then opens them at you. "Yes, Master Winger, I can indeed. The van contains slaves. Three and a dozen slaves."

Flint: You shove past the chatting crowds. Moth's following you closely, a hand in his coat. Dryden doesn't seem to notice you - thank god.

Hazel/Brandt(and Kay - are you in the room as well or just waiting outside?): Suddenly, as Hazel fills the tub, you all hear a knock at the door and a young man steps into the room - pretty and blue-eyed. "Excuse me, Hazel - we have a problem." he says, looking at her - but glancing over now and again at Brandt with considerable interest.

[Battlemage]

Flint

Flint grabs Ruby, as always hanging within reach on her sling, and holds her ready. While he continues walking he stares backwards, his eyes drilling into Moth's. The message is simple. Back down or you'll get hurt.

Going Aggro on Moth. Trying to get him to stop following us and take his hand out of his coat.
[roll0]

[Eonas]

Moth wilts and flutters away.

Once you're both outside the room, Dargo nods approvingly. "Very good, Flint, very good. This is why I hired you. But I'll have the keys."

[Battlemage]

Flint

Flint shrugs and throws Dargo the keys. His gig, his rules. "Reckon I earned my money today."

[jolinaxas]

As the newcomer continued to stare, Allison crossed her arms - more out of growing indignation than an attempt at modesty.

"You going to keep staring, or tell her what's going on?"

Old, familiar thought patterns began to crystallize together in her scattered mind as she scrutinized him.


Reading A Person
[roll0]
Marking XP, which gets me an advance. I'll take the Battlebabe's Ice Cold.

EDIT: Holding 3.

0/5 XP, 1 Advance
0 Harm

[Entelechy]

Hazel physically interposes herself between her employee and Allison. Kay would likely notice her hand is casually laid against her hip near where she keeps her straight razor.

"I apologize. You seem to be encountering my people at their worst, today. But if this is serious, you might want to get your amour back on." Hazel said to Allison. "Justin, for your sake I hope you haven't entered a guest's bath without invitation for anything less than a direct threat to Greenhouse. What's happening?"


Please read "Justin" in a french accent.

[Drynwyn]

A slow grin comes over Winger's face as he observes the group below.

"Now..... this gives me an idea. I swoop in and pop the tires on that truck they're driving, they won't be able to transport the slaves in the back. Then you come in an hour later in Lugger and offer to take a couple of slaves off their hands at a fraction of their value, seeing as they can't get em' anywhere anyway without the truck. Offer em' a handshake to seal the deal. We get the intel we were after, and a tidy profit besides. Whattya say?"

[Eonas]

Flint: Dargo grunts. "Part of it. But that guy wasn't the last. I still need your services, Flint, until the end of this job."

Winger: "This sounds like an exquisite plan. What plan of action would you propose should they refuse?"

Hazel/Brandt: Justin reddens slightly - and places his entire attention upon Hazel. "Excuse me, miss, but there's a fire-rat downstairs. Armed. She wants to speak with you."

[jolinaxas]

Allison started pulling her pants back on with an annoyed huff.

"The hell is a Fire rat?"


Unloading these three on him:
•Is your character telling the truth?
•What’s your character really feeling?
•What does your character wish I’d do?


0/5 Xp, 1 Advance
0 Harm

[Drynwyn]

Winger scratches his chin, thinking.

"Well, you could politely leave and we're out nothing but gas money, a few hours and whatever bullets I use here. Unless they refuse AND start shooting at you. I'll make an effort to be within audible gunshot range, I suppose. Alternatively, if you feel like risk-taking... I dunno, you're the brainer, do a ....brain.... thing..... or something. ****, man, do I have to come up with everything around here? Anyway. Meet me 10 miles or so up the road when it's worked out one way or another. If necessary we can make a new plan then.


Winger taps the gas, sending his bike down the crag without waiting for a response. He'll move up some distance before executing his ambush on the convoy, shooting across the road with a roar of engines- and a chatter of machinegun fire.


Dice don't fail me now!
Rolling +Cool and marking XP.
[roll0]

[Entelechy]

"A ganger. Dangerous, in love with fire, and not quite all there enough to fully consider the consequences of setting them. You can take your bath now, or if you want a to earn a little credit you can get that armor back on and come down with me," Hazel said.

[jolinaxas]

Already half done, Allison started putting on the rest of her armor with a shrug.

"I'd rather not have the place burn down around me. At least ya didn't waste any hot water."

She readied her assault rifle and holstered her pistol.


0/5 Xp, 1 Advance
0 Harm

[Anyr]

Fire rat! Dangerous. Instinct says to run. We won't, though. Follow behind the others. That seems right.

[Eonas]

Brandt: Justin is indeed telling the truth, he feels a hybrid of lust and mere curiosity, and he really wishes you'd, like, flirt or something. Or at least not look so annoyed.

Winger: Your dash works so well it almost surprises you. The semi collapses almost immediately, the bikers are too surprised/shell-shocked to react, and then you're off and away and out of gunshot.

And now unless you do something else, 5am goes and does her thing - chats and buys the escort.

[Drynwyn]

Winger sighs happily as he shoots off on Phoenix. He'll stick around in hearing range of gunfire, but out of sight, until it's time for him to meet up with 5am back up the road- assuming he doesn't hear any gunfire, of course.

[Entelechy]

"Justin, get everyone ready to support me if they need it, but no one moves without my signal. Make sure that is clear as daylight. This way, Alison," Hazel says, and heads down to meet with the fire rat.

[jolinaxas]

"Gotcha. Right behind you."

The quarantine gave Justin a wink, hefted her rifle over one shoulder, and followed the owner to meet with this "fire bat." Whatever the hell that was.

[Eonas]

The fire rat's a scrawny but fierce-looking woman in a leather jacket and the bottom half of a hazmat suit, smoking a comically overlarge cigar. She's fiddling with a pistol and there's a big flamethrower and petroleum tank slung on her back like a quiver. "Hokay, so this isn't a holdup but it could turn into one if you don't play your cards right. Slo Burn, he wants you to hand over the new girl - the old-worlder. Me, I'm in the mood for a right bit of jingle. Think you can supply?"

Winger: A bit more than an hour goes by and suddenly you hear the revving of bikes and their whirr into the distance. But no semi. That means 5am's done her thing. You hear her call. "Master Winger! I have succeeded!"

[Battlemage]

Flint shrugs at Dargo's words while he reloads his handgun's magazine to replace the bullets spent on Dremmer.

"Fine. Lead on."

This guy has a f*cked up way of doing business. How is he still alive?

[Drynwyn]

A broad grin breaks out across Winger's face as he hears 5am call for him. He taps the accelerator on Phoenix while he glances down at the bike and chats.


"Pretty good plan, yeah? Glad you could pull off the hard part."

He gives a self-satisfied nod, then pulls up alongside Lugger and the semi.

"Nice work, 5am. So, where are old Neb's raiders headed for?"

[Entelechy]

"Some jingle, eh? Why don't you come up for a meal, my darling, and we'll see if we can't get you sorted out," Hazel smiles.

[Eonas]

The fire-rat looks unimpressed. "Alright." she says. "But I want the new girl too. Where is she?" Everybody's standing there nervously - watching you for a reaction, Hazel and Brandt.

Winger: "I didn't ask, Master Winger, but I believe they may be headed for or past Sunshine City. We had better quickly make our way home. But how do you intend on replacing these tires?"

Flint: Once out of range of the skyscaper, Dargo speaks up again. "We're heading to my place. You're going to make sure nobody tries to kill me in my sleep; once Dryden finds Dremmer dead, I think they may come after me." As he speaks, you see a figure at the edge of your vision - the short muscular man you spotted on your shopping trip. But when you turn to get a proper look, the figure's gone. Dargo leads you into a small house nestled in the vines next to a dilapidated strip mall. It's cozy and fastidiously well-kept.

[Entelechy]

"She's upstairs, taking a bath. Follow me," Hazel said smoothly. She leads them back to the dining hall. "Please, take a seat, and Nadine, a lovely lunch for our guest, please. It'll take a moment to get up dried and dressed enough to travel anyhow."

Hazel's dining room boasts the finest chairs in any of the skyscrapers, and not a single stool. Nowhere one could sit with a fuel tank on her back.

[Anyr]

While Hazel distracts, we move to flank. Big relics usually don't notice the little death waiting below them. Beneath and behind, we wait. The knives are sharp. The Mother strengthens us. If trouble starts, a slit throat will end it.

[Battlemage]

Flint

Seeing the man from the market again makes Flint suspect the worst. Once they're at Dargo's house, he says: "If you think they're going to come after you it's not smart to go home. You should be somewhere they don't know about."

But a job's a job so he gets to work. He asks Dargo to close and lock all doors and windows and then jury-rigs warning traps at all possible entrances by connecting empty cans and other noise-generating clutter to thin and hard-to-spot tripwires. Then he takes Ruby, his assault rifle, and makes regular patrols around the house, checking for any signs of approaching enemies.

[jolinaxas]

As soon as she could find an unobserved moment, Allison raised an eyebrow at Hazel. She'd back whatever play the owner was apparently getting into, it just would have been nice to know what it was.


0/5 Xp, 1 Advance
0 Harm

[Drynwyn]

Winger flashes a grin at 5am.

That car you're sitting in was built to carry overweight loads over rough terrain. That means oversized wheels.

Might not match perfect-like, but between the coupla spares I keep in the back and the ones already on the car....

I bet we can make it work.

[Eonas]

The fire-rat follows you upstairs, a little suspiciously - takes off her flamethrower and tank and places it on the ground beside her - still holding the pistol, though.


The house is small and easily defensible: only a few windows and the door. But you do wonder whether the walls are solid enough to withstand assault. Dargo grunts. "Yeah, you're probably right Flint, but I got to catch 40 winks, and I trust you for the job."

Roll Stand Overwatch for An Ally, +cool, please.


5am smiles, revealing two rows of uncannily perfect teeth. "I suppose your plan could potentially be functional."

I dunno what you should be rolling here, but probably just Act Under Fire, except it's +sharp instead of +cool.

[Drynwyn]

Dusting off his hands, Winger sets to work on replacing the semi's shredded tires...


[roll0]

[jolinaxas]

As the strange woman sat down, Allison shifted her stance, slightly. Hazel was going to stab this psycho, right? And when they did, she'd come in from the other direction.


Assisting you if you make a battle move. No One Left Behind means I don't roll, just 10+ it for +2.

0/5 Xp, 1 Advance
0 Harm
Sheet: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20527391&postcount=24

[Eonas]

You get the tires on, all right, but as you do so suddenly the back of the trailer pops open and people scamper out, fifteen of them, half-clad men and women who look like they could use some sunshine, food, and a bath. Automatically, they scatter in all directions, running and limping as fast as they can away from the semi.

DO you stab this psycho, Hazel?