DREAD - Damnum Fatale (THE SEARCH)

[gardenphilosoph]

FURY STUNTS
A reminder as to how you can spend your fury. Remember, go nuts on it, you can get it back by completing secondary objectives (minimize collateral damage and save as many people as you can).

HARDCORE (1) - Recover one point of life. Can be done as many times as you wish.

KILL SHOT (1) - Roll one extra die. Can only spent one point at a time.

SECOND CHANCE (1) - Reroll, but only if first roll was a failure.

**** PUNCH (2) - Describe a sneaky, underhanded maneuver. Player gets Director's highest die.

SUICIDE RUN (2) - Describe a futile gesture that's pretty much guaranteed to fail. Roll 2 dice and add the values.

CLUSTER**** (2) - Describe a desperate plan that's will probably put you in the hospital if not in a grave. Roll a single die against Director's lowest die.

BULLSEYE (2) - Roll an automatic 12, doesn't apply to Combat or Spell rolls.

MIDDLE WAYNE (3) - Describe a brutal, merciless maneuver worthy of a serial killer. Roll two extra dice, and damage is taken by target even if Director wins roll.

BOHICA (3) - Bend Over, Here It Comes Again. Describe a maneuver so foolhardy and dangerous that it leaves the Disciple grievously wounded. Brings you down to 1 life or 0 if you only had 1 to begin with. Director only rolls one die, damage doubled if hit.

THE SITUATION
7:43 A.M. - 10/13/08
You nod to the others in the Warlock as they rev up the car and drive away. As a Disciple, each goodbye may be the last...you've gotten used to it over the months, but the sound of tires fading away into the distance is still a grim reminder that you guys are on your own, for now.

The sound of the rain sounds like a million little hammers smacking the cement, and silent lightning briefly illuminates the sky. For a moment, the crime scene is clear. There is a gaping hole in the floor and about a dozen or so figures in various positions around it, two cop cars parked haphazardly nearby. Law enforcement. This will be tricky.

The three of you slowly approach the crime scene. The sound of the rain and early morning fog conceal your approach, and you won't be seen until you're in about twenty feet of the actual crime scene. Violence against the law would be unwise...let's hope to avoid it.

There are a bunch of uniforms, but you spot a trenchcoat talking to a suit holding a clipboard. They're the important ones, the detectives or the investigators.

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

ooc - im guessing you will tell us when to go back to the other thread?

ooc - when we spend fury does it give us an extra action? Like is the suicide run thing an extra action. something like "oh ****, my shot missed, im gonna suicide run and do X"

Brandon feels to check the knot holding the coat closed. Wouldn't want it to open up and show off all of his toys to the nice officers now would he.

Before getting to close, Brandon quietly says

My magic is more for blowing up demons and I'm not exactly a great talker. If worse comes to worse though I might be able to do something.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Alright, from now on I'm going to give twelve hours or so between updates if the others haven't posted. If they still haven't posted by then, then I will update regardless. Sorry about the wait DJ.

[DJDeMiko]

No worries, i figure the average person will regularly only be able to check in once in a day.

I'm able to do it so quickly because I'm off for a week and just sitting around playing Dead Space.

[gardenphilosoph]

Cherry and Ox nod, and the three of you approach the crime scene directly.

The man in the trench coat quickly notices your presence and walks over. "Stop. This is a federal crime scene, no civilians allowed." he says in a cold, impersonal tone.

[DJDeMiko]

*ooc*

I'm under the impression that Cherry or OX has something that can handle this, so im gonna give them some time to post.

[vargen]

OOC: Ox can fight, not much more, she has a police uniform at home, but no badge so it can only be used for pleasure not work :(

[DJDeMiko]

ooc well if cherry cant do anything I might have to blow all my spells on burgeon to be likeable enough to get us in :)

[bored_teen]

OOC: well, i've got empathy ranks, but i don't know if it will be enough. i do, however have my homemade explosives, and i can use them for a distraction. i'll try and talk us in first, but if that fails, we should go around the corner and set off something to draw their attention away.

"We understand sir, but we're correspondents sent in on this case. We need to get in." Cherry quickly explains. God, I hope this works.

OOC: okay, what do i need to roll?

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - in an attempt to help and assist Cherry (3 reporters without cameras or press badges trying to get past police lines :P )

Our editor just told us that if we don't get something exclusive, like a first hand report of what the damage down their looks like, he's going to fire our asses.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Well, you have to roll your Empathy score, which is 2. Therefore you roll two d12s, separately, using the forum roller. Also go ahead and expend fury if you want...this is a pretty far fetched situation, so something like Bullseye, Kill Shot, or Second Chance might help.

[bored_teen]

OOC: ok, so i'm going to use Bullseye, as it's an instant 12. Suicide Run sounded like it'd be funny to use in this situation, but i'd rather not take the chance of failure. It's two points of Fury either way.

Continuing, Cherry continues to try and convince the man to let them in. "Yeah dude, and I really need to keep this job." He runs his fingers through his hair and a genuine look of panic falls over his countenance. "I've got three kids at home, and my wife is sort of accustomed to eating." A sheepish grimace spreads on his face and he giggles nervously. A pleading look comes into his eyes as he pleads with the man. "Please, you've got to let us in."

OOC: Yes, I realize that Cherry is 17, that's what makes the three kids and a wife so outrageous.

[gardenphilosoph]

The detective lowers his tone, and his voice takes on some authentic emotion. "I'm sorry gentlemen, I really am, but this is a federal case. I'm not authorized to give you entrance, and there's to be no press coverage."

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - gonna use burgeon here for something diplomatic

I feel for you, I really do. Brandon says, doing the best he can to sound sincere. The problem is though, that as a member of the press, I have to report on things like this.I only have two options, one is to go down their with my colleagues get down in there, snap a few photos and write a stupid article, without naming any names of course. OR we go back to our paper and have a front page story about some sort of government cover up that is causing us to be denied our rights. Now, personally I'd rather just go on there and get this stuff done with and I think you would to. Because you see, if I have to write about the government denying reporters to a crime scene and a federal cover up, well within 2 hours your going to have every major press outlet in this city down here asking questions. It would really be better for both of us this way.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Alright, so I'm gonna assume that you're trying to use Intimidation, which you have a skill of 2 in, but you casted Burgeon, so you get six die extra, which means you roll eight die. You only rolled five. Roll three more. Target difficulty 12.

This is a tough roll, good luck. Remember, if you relate it to your Drive, you get an extra die. If you make it cool, you get another die. And you can always use Fury. Second Chance wouldn't work here, but Bullseye or Kill Shot would.

[DJDeMiko]

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]


i cant relate this to my drive i dont think,

can i use a bullseye? or is that combat only?


if this doesnt work i say we back off and come up witha plan

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - If i can do a bullseye I use it.



Brandon pulls out his phone and dials his voice mail
Your not going to believe this boss, theirs some weird stuff going on and they are trying to claim the press can't get in . . . . . yeah I know, get a quick blurb onto the AP and start calling the other outlets to see if they know about this yet . . .

[gardenphilosoph]

"Okay, okay, put that damned thing away!" exclaims the detective with an unhappy sigh. "You're in. But be quick, and DON'T TOUCH any of the evidence. You have fifteen minutes."

OOC: Yup. Bullseye only applies to Attribute and Skill rules, as in this case. So you used it.

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

All smiles and "you bet buddies" Brandon leads the group towards the entrance.

[gardenphilosoph]

There are cops everyone, milling about with clipboards or taking pictures. There are a couple men and women in black jackets with RCMP emblazoned on the back. They're the crime scene investigators, the evidence takers. The scene itself is...not what you expected.

There is a gaping hole in the cement, its edges jagged and broken, but no sign of an explosion. There are no char marks, no blackened cement, and no debris save for bits of crumbled pavement lying about. It looks like an explosion had went off underground and blew a hole out of the ground...but there was nothing indicating an explosion, save the hole itself.

Looking into the hole reveals a fetid mess of filthy sewage water rushing quickly by. There is a little platform rising out of the water, build of what seems like sewage and garbage, a little island amidst the filthy river. By the base of the island lies the dead body of the slain maintenance man.

His face has been ravished by something...it looks as if someone had ran barbed wire around his face, lacerating it to threads. His chest has several massive puncture marks in it, little pieces of flesh torn out. Blood seeps from his body, tainting the sewage red.

On top of the little island lies a pile of what appears to be human bones, clothes, and belongings, all covered in a sticky mucus. The bones are all incomplete, but there have to be the remains of at least fifteen people here. What's particularly strange is that the bones appear to be half-dissolved.

The other thing of interest is what truly sets this apart from a regular crime scene...near the ceiling of the sewage pipe, directly above the pile of bones and clothing, is a roughly man-sized wad of white-blue stringy mucus. It is a crude oval in shape and bulges far out, but is torn on one side. It was hollow at some point...in fact, it reminds you of a butterfly chrysalis.

Obtaining evidence will be hard what with the heavy police presence and the twitchy, now uncomfortable detective.

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

Brandon whistles when he sees the hole.

Holy *&%$ with pants on.


(ooc Brandon is making a mental list of all the things he needs to get for the next mission so as not to have such issues)

Is there a way he can jump down? and exactly how closely are they being watched?

[gardenphilosoph]

No doubt you'd fit in, but the cops wouldn't take to kindly to you jumping down without their permission.

You're not being stared at, but there's cops within about five feet of you. The detective is a little nervous and steals glances at the three of you every now and then. You might be able to quickly grab a piece of evidence and shove it in your pocket, but other than that...

[DJDeMiko]

ooc

Do we think we just want a sample of the stuff down there or do we actually see area to get in and explore and . . . hunt

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Think what you want. Ask your group in character.

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - I'm asking more of a "what does my character know that I don't know" sort of thing. Would I, being a disciple, think it was necessary to get in there and explore or is getting a sample the normal thing?


Brandon motions to Ox and Cherry "We need to get in there, we are going to need a distraction of some sort. Any ideas? I don't want to blow anything up, but we might need a little boom boom a few blocks away. Please tell me though that someone has a better idea."

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Oh, alright. Well the normal procedure would be to get some evidence, leave, and have someone trained in Lore try to identify the demon before tracking it down. But if you personally think that whatever it is is still hiding in the sewers, you might want to go after it pronto.

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - K. how deep is the hole, if someone managed to get in there unseen would they be free to move around for a few moments, ie is anyone other than us looking into the hole.

ooc - Can i use eloign to get into and out of the whole? can I "attack" the "chrysalis" to get a piece of it?

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - one more thing, is dresden an obvious spell to cast? If Cherry used Dresden would everyone know it was him or if we all rolled around would the assume whatever the hell was happening was happening to us as well.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: The hole is an opening into a large sewage pipe, so if you get in, you can probably book it down the pipe. Won't be too quiet though, less you can splash through water quietly. You can use Eloign to get into the hole, but not out of. You can, however, probably bend down and scrape off a piece of the chrysalis, since it's within arm's reach. Dresden can be cast without them knowing it's you or what's going on. Bit harsh though, for cops, but it won't harm them...hehehe.

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - mostly for game knowledge. Can i tell ox to get into a quiet area where no one can see him, within 100 feet, elogin into the hole for the sample then eloign out into a punch in the face on him :)

[bored_teen]

Cherry

Cherry looks around, trying to puzzle out what might have caused this...massacre. 15 sets of bones...blue mucus...what could have caused this? Cherry quickly bends down to get a sample of the mucus.

rolling a preliminary Lore check
[roll0]

[gardenphilosoph]

You hear the familiar revving of Haze's Crotch Rocket through the piercing dusk and rain. He's arrived, and he's parked right outside the crime scene. The detective's eying him suspiciously.

OOC: You can't roll Lore until you're back at HQ with at least 3 pieces of evidence, but you got the mucus sample. We'll assume that you carry around that proper equipment in your pockets. Also, it's fine DJ, we'll just say that Eloign allows you to teleport short distances, you don't have to attack anyone.

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

"I want to get one of those bones," Brandon says quietly once Cherry has a sample. I think we are done here for now though after that, lets go see Haze and find somewhere quiet."

ooc - Looking for somewhere unseen that allows me to teleport.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: There is nowhere, but there is a way. Roll Sense, target difficulty 6, and I'll tell you.

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

"**** no where to go," Brandon says looking around . . . .

[roll0]
[roll1]

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon


Brandon thinks he spots something

[gardenphilosoph]

An idea pops into your head. If the other two got close to you and shielded you from the cops, you could probably do it without them seeing. Probably...

[Kuma Da]

Haze

Tires churn and standing-water sprays a murky wake trail as Haze coasts in to the scene. He waves good-naturedly to the cops and edges up to the caution-tape. "Good morning officers. Still fighting the good fight, I see. Don't worry. I'm not here to gawk or tromp all over your crime scene. I just wanted to have a word with my buddy Brandon." Thank God one of us has a normal-sounding name.

[gardenphilosoph]

The nervous detective walks over to Haze. Suddenly, he toughs up and announces, in a voice loud enough and meant for the others to hear, "Well, you'll just have to wait sir, they'll be out VERY SOON."

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

"Ox, Cherry, come over here and block my $&% off from the cops,"Brandon says motioning, then looks for a place that will be easiest to hid behind them.

Ox and Cherry move over and stand shoulder to shoulder, trying to look inconspicuous as Brandon edges behind them and says "Ok guys, stay right here!" He closes his eyes and attempts to Eloign into the hole.

ooc - if it works, he's going to grab a small partially dissolved bone, cut off a small bit of the chrysalis, put them both into a jacket pocket and then take a moment to study the dead body (just memorizing the damage to the face/torso) and eloign back.

[gardenphilosoph]

There is a brief flash of light as you vanish and reappear in the hole, away from prying eyes. A couple of the cops noticed the flash of light, but dismissed it as another camera.

Brandon quickly bags a small bone, a scrap of the chrysalis, and checks out the body. The man's face is torn to shreds, and as described before, it looks like he's been bitch-slapped by a bushel of barbed wire. His chest is punctured and torn, as if by massive talons. Other than the grievous physical damage, there is nothing unusual about the wounds.

The detective is getting impatient, especially with Haze waiting outside. He casts an eye towards Cherry and Ox. "You two! Where'd your buddy go?!" Uh oh. He's pissed.

All eyes turn to Cherry and Ox.

The rain continues smacking the pavement.

[bored_teen]

Cherry

"He's...uh...over checking down that way," he murmurs as he jerks his thumb down the road a little, toward the other end of the crime scene. "He'll be right back."

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - do i hear the conversation or am I to far away and teleport back anyway :) hehehee weee fun.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: You hear it. You might be able to teleport directly out of the crime scene too...

[vargen]

Ox

Ox looks around her trying not to barf over the evidence, what kind of demon could do this thing...what was the purpose for all this death?

She looks up at the detective

I think we are almost done here...

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

ooc - ok I'm going to try to think back, as we were walking in, was there something i could land behind or an area with no one in it and just fog?


****, I can't get back there.


ooc - if it works -

Brandon walks over to Ox and Cherry and the pissed detective.

"Sorry guys," Brandon says, "but you know how it is when nature calls. Hey guys, the chief doesn't want to risk pissing anyone off by publishing whatever the hell happened here, so we are just gonna head back to the office."

[Kuma Da]

Haze

Huh, looks like Bran's about to do a FLASH elogin. Right. Guess I'd better run interference.

"'scuse me. I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about what happened here. I heard it was terrorists that did it. Right in the middle of Vancouver, too. Is that true? I mean, if it could happen here then it could happen anywhere, and that's too terrible to even think about. 'cause then no one'd be safe. It'd be like there was this invisible enemy everywhere, and no one else could see it. And the news papers certainly talking about it. Would you know anything about that? I mean, you're an officer and you probably hear things. So, is it true? Should I move out of the city? 'cause if that's what it takes to keep my family safe, I'll do that. No sense in staying in a big, vulnerable city where the sidewalks can explode out from under you with bombs, if you understand what I mean. No sense at all." Haze doesn't get in the officer's face but he talks very directly, with all the seriousness and conviction he can muster. He keeps his gaze focused squarely on the detective.

[gardenphilosoph]

An unseen flash of light goes off in the sewers, and Brandon reappears behind a police car, outside the crime scene. The three of you meet up and walk over to Haze, who is pulling a little stint with the detective.

The detective scoffs. With barely restrained politeness, he replies. "I'm sorry sir, information cannot be disclosed to the public. All of our available forces are on the case."

OOC: I'm enforcing a new rule just to try to get the game moving a little faster. The posting rate's been alright, but there's been a couple stalls that have held back the more active players. From now on, if 24 hours have passed and you have not posted, I will retain the right to move your character or have him/her act appropriately. I'll try to keep this down, but unfortunately I think this rule is needed.

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

Brandon looks at the others and says quietly, I think we have all that we need. We aren't going to fit on that crotch rocket of yours Haze, I'll give the others a call and tell them to pick us up on the way back. Meanwhile I say we get away from these cops before they get even more pissed.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"It can't be disclosed to the public, huh? That certainly sounds like terrorists to me." Haze bobs his head sympathetically. "Keep on keeping our country safe, man."

Haze struggles to fight down a grin as he pulls Brandon and the others aside. He starts talking in an urgent whisper as soon as they're out of hearing range of the detective.

"I dunno what you guys have turned up so far, but I got a really lucky break from my contact. Turns out there's two demons at work. One of 'em's blue. Dunno anything else about him. The other one's a spider from Beaver Lake in Stanley Park. I was right about to head over there, but figured I should pick up some muscle on the way."

OOC: Sorry 'bout my sporadicness over the weekend. I got hired to work at an extremely sketch international market on Thursday, and just quit yesterday. It took up a ton of time, got me trapped in the walk-in freezer, and skimmed money out of my pay. Fun stuff. But I should be able to post more often now, with just schoolwork to contend with.

[vargen]

Ox

Two demons you say? What is this, a bloody tag-team? Anyway, I don't mind squashing a spider today, just let me eat something for breakfast...

If I can keep anything down that is, I know I have seen some serious sh*t but I think this was the worst ever

Yeah, Brandon got his little hands on some things...I think, you did get hold on something Brandon?

Ox turns toward Brandon

OOC: How usual is it for demons to work together?

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

Looking at Ox - "Ha, hands aren't that little," he says.

Turning back to look at the others as the group moves away from the cops, "I god damn hate spiders," he says as his normal smile slides into an angry frown. "I used to sometimes hear these scuttling sounds when I tried to sleep. Sounded like a human sized spiders legs clicking on the floor. It would always happen right as I started to drift off. My eyes would close and suddenly click click click and before I knew it I was across the room turning all the lights on. There's no going to sleep after that."

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: How usual is it for demons to work together? Very ****ing unusual. You've never seen it before...and one demon has been more than enough. Two would be disastrous...it's definitely cause to be worried about.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"Agreed. Spiders suck. I still remember--vividly, even--when I was sixteen and I was getting in the shower," he throws a look that should forestall any chuckling, "and I just happened to glance down at the drain. Now, the individual holes in the drain were tiny--maybe the size of it's abdomen; no bigger--so the spider didn't come through them like a human would, trying to haul its whole body through. Nope. Two impossibly long legs sprouted out of the darkness, then another two, and another two, until the tiny drain hole was bristling with these black filaments. And then it heaved its body through.

God, it was revolting. I remember thinking just how wrong it was that it could fit through an opening like that. I mean, those holes are about the same size as the opening to a human ear, and they're a hell of a lot smaller than a mouth. A spider could fit in there, and you'd never know until it pulled itself out of you." Haze stops speaking abruptly. Inside his mind there's a sudden, noiseless plop. It's the sound of a pebble dropping into a still pond. It's the sound of a thought finally setting in.

Oh... Oh God. He ******* told me, and I didn't realize what he was saying. He said that he needed it. And then there was the difference between the way his voice worked on the phone, and.... ****. I never should've let him wander off.

Haze shudders. "I hate to follow what I just said with this, but we might have a situation on our hands. My contact, before he left, mumbled something about 'how he needed it'. We'd been talking about the demon, but I kinda dismissed what he said as crazy-garble. But maybe I was wrong. What if it spends some of its time inside him?

Or what if the blue thing does? Hell, maybe they work as a team? Blue takes over the homeless man and leads him in front of a sewer covering. He begs for change and maybe someone comes close. Maybe the street's deserted. Maybe right as that someone's leaning in to drop a few fat coins in his hands, the manhole cover edges aside and the good Samaritan disappears into the dark. Spiders can take forever draining their prey. If our spider's a hunter and blue boy's a stalker, then he might be feeding off of the despair of the victims while they're all nice and immobile. That is, assuming our spider bothers to cocoon his victims. If he's a fugly ol' tarantula, he might not.

****. I'm liking this less and less as time passes. We still need to check out the lake, but if my contact was or is a host, we need to track him down again. I last saw him at the safe injection site. Ox, you wanna hop on and help me look for him? Or maybe someone else, if they're in a volunteering spirit? The rest of us should probably head over to the hospital. Check in with the other team. Make sure nothing's found them.

When we've got all this wrapped up, then we should converge on the lake and give this mother****** what for."

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

ooc - Garden, who else can excersize

"How sure are you Haze?" Brandon lifts his hand to his mouth and pauses for a moment to think. "&$&%* we can't risk that your wrong and if he is possessed then your going to need me to get the demon out. I'm gonna call the guys at the hospital and have them swing by to pick Ox and Cherry up, next time we take 2 cars, no more of this carpooling ****. You guys figure out how to track the spider and call my cell with any updates."

Brandon heads with Haze towards the bike.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

'I'm not 100%, but...yeah, I'm pretty sure. There's one alternative, but it's a ****ton worse, so I don't wanna think about it too much. I mean, there could be a blue thing plus a momma spider plus babies, but if that's the case then we're so utterly boned that we'll never be able to sit properly again. So let's work off of the assumption that it's just two demons, instead of infinity." Haze tugs a hand through his hair.

"By the way, Bran, what did you find while you were down in the blast crater?"

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

"%$%&, I almost forgot," Brandon says and jogs back to Ox and Cherry. He takes the collected specimens and hands them over. "The squints might need this stuff to ID what we are up against. It's not going to do me much good." He heads back to Haze.

"I learned that we are up against something that came out of a cocoon, can dissolve bone and possibly has a fetish for barbed wire."

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"Cocoon, huh?" he sounds really tired. "That's another sign pointing towards spiderlings. ****. I really hope there's not an infestation building down there."

[gardenphilosoph]

Haze's cell phone rings. You pick it up and are immediately assaulted with the mocking, insultingly sarcastic tone of Venge's voice.

"Hello, I'm calling on behalf of Demon Insurance Limited. We have a killer offer we know you're just going to die for! Hey **** nuts, it's Santa. I'm with Batman and Robin, we've just finished cleaning up the needle pit. We found some guy from another Cabal, looks like they got attacked, he's the only one that survived. Worker's didn't give us much help. Managed to catch a glimpse of some of the guy's memories. Seems like they found some slimy **** on a sewage pipe. It burst and some monster, didn't really get a good view of it, came out and killed or knocked out the other guys working down there, I think one of em got away. How's the **** patrol going?"

OOC: I'm gonna tally accumulated evidence so far...

1. Napkin Sketch (http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff197/Blumboman/Dread/DREAD-NapkinEvidence.jpg) (blob at Beaver Lake)
2. Victim's Bone Sample (partially dissolved)
3. Chrysalis Sample (blue mucus, stringy)
4. Victim's Injuries (barbed lacerations, deep puncture marks)

That's four pieces of evidence. More than enough to start researching into what sort of demon/s you guys are after, but you have to reach HQ first.

Also DJ, you, Backlash, and Shutter are the only ones that exorcise. You are the only one that can exorcise without physically touching the demon.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"From the look of things, we're just about waist high in **** creek, and the tide's comin' in. We've got a possible demonic-spider-baby infestation in the sewers, a possible collaboration between demons, and a host-hobo who I ******* let walk away from me at the Safe Injection Site. Brandon and I are gonna go check that one out, so don't be too alarmed if we're not here when you show up. The rest of us will be waiting around the corner. No point in giving the good officers at the scene something else to ponder over.

We've got a ****ton of evidence to go over, so someone should go back to the manor and start on that. Presumably with a bodyguard, if we can spare one. I've been thinking a little bit about drains and sewer hookups, and I don't want some dirty-***** arachnid coming through the pipes when I'm taking a dump.

Other than that, Beaver Lake is still worth checking out. So are the sewers, but I advise we roll extra heavy if we're going to go in there. Who knows, there might be more cocoons plastered around 41st and Main that nobody's found yet. ****. I don't much wanna think about that.

Give Backlash a kiss for me. Over and out."

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - Ok good, then im definitely the one to go with Haze.


Brandon follows Haze to the bike.

[bored_teen]

Cherry

"I'll go examine the evidence back at HQ." He pats the pocket that contains the different samples.

[vargen]

Ox

Ox nods towards Cherry...

I will go with you, since I won't fit on the bike...and maybe I will finally get hold of some breakfast.

[gardenphilosoph]

Haze's cellphone rings as a text message from Backlash comes in.

Picking up sewer team, rendezvous at home.

The hospital team plus one more member are on their way to the sewers to pick the rest up. The Warlock's gonna be cramped, but Brandon can go with Haze.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"Alright. Let's get this manhunt underway."

As soon as Brandon climbs on the Hayabusa, Haze takes off for the safe injection site.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: What are you guys going after, Kuma Da?

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon


ooc - do i get a helmet :P

[Kuma Da]

Haze

OOC: We're headed back to the safe injection site to try and track down our contact. Also, Haze does not have a spare motorcycle helmet. Live dangerously, buddy.

[gardenphilosoph]

Haze tells the others that the Warlock is coming, and hands off the evidence he has. Mounting the Crotch Rocket, Brandon and Haze speed off into the pissing grey misery of the day...

OOC: Alright Kuma Da & DJDeMiko, you're now in this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5197423#post5197423), bottom of the page. Remember, no peeking into threads that you're not in!

[Silent_Bish]

Backlash

Slowing to a stop at the designated corner, he lets the Warlock idle. He kills the headlights, but leaves the parking lights on. Checking his gun once again, he settles in to wait for the gang to show up.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: So everyone's free to pile into the Warlock now. If no one has posted by tomorrow, I'll assume everyone has gotten in and fled back to the HQ.

[Blockhead]

Venge

"I need a beer." Said Venge to no-one in particular.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Blockhead, have you expended any Fury or casted any spells yet? I'm asking because I need it for game statistics.

[Blockhead]

OOC: None of either, I can only use 2 spells a day and we haven't gotten into combat yet (which greatly displeases Venge) so nothing used.

[bored_teen]

Cherry

Cherry hops into the passenger seat of the Warlock.

[gardenphilosoph]

The Warlock revs back with the rest of the Cabal, evidence and knowledge in hand.

Brandon and Haze are off investigating another lead. Haze has a cell phone if you need to contact him.

OOC: Alright, all y'all can head on back over to this thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93837) Sixth page.

[gardenphilosoph]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE SEARCH
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You hauled what used to be your Crotch Rocket off the back of the Warlock and onto the sidewalk in front of Mak's garage, a fairly old building in a quieter part of the downtown area.

Your bike isn't in horrible condition, but it's definitely not fit for riding. The metal all around the front wheel is horribly bent into a mosaic of jagged fragments. The front wheel is devastated, punctured in a dozen places. ****, that was an expensive wheel too. The rest of the bike has a dozen scratches and in some places, deep gouges, but it's nothing too different from what you've brought in before after a rough fight.

Mak has never been one to ask questions, especially once you joined the Cabal. It was awkward the first time you brought in your bike, totaled and wrecked. Mak rarely showed his emotions - tradition Japanese stoicism - but that first time, you saw the surprise in his eyes. It was a flash, over quickly, but it was enough. He knew you had changed, and he knew that it was best not to ask.

Since then, you've always had some sort of excuse for bringing in your ruined bike. "Bad crash, but I'm alright." or whatever...it was more of a formality. Mak was far too smart to be fooled by your half-hearted excuses. Sometimes you just wanted to tell him about your secret life of demon-hunting, but you knew it would be madness. He was the one person who didn't vanish from your life since...since Annabel. Your relationship since then had been awkward at times, strained at others, but it had persevered. A small part of you - very small, you knew it was horrible and selfish of you - wanted Mak to get jumped by a demon and join the Cabal.

Lost in your thoughts, you hardly notice when Mak appears, wiping oil from his hands. He eyes you, then the bike, and nods.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"Hey, man. You up to swapping a few more parts onto this Frankenstein bike?" Haze forces a chuckle, trying to burn off some of the tension. It doesn't exactly work, and his face slips back to serious. "I got in a little bit of a dust-up with a guardrail, but I'm fine. You should'a seen the other guy, though." That too falls flat. Haze shakes his head in irritation.

"Look, I've got a bunch more errands to do today, and I need a set of wheels. Can I borrow one of yours? I'll have it back to you ASAP. Perfect condition, too. I think I've used up my quota of good luck for a while, so there's no way I'll be driving recklessly."

[gardenphilosoph]

"Hey man, you know I'd let you ride any bike here, but they're all on call for clients...nothing's available.


Unless..."

Mak walks over to the back and forcibly wrenches apart an old closet. It looks as if it hasn't been touched in a long time, something proved when a cloud of dust tumbles out. There are a bunch of unused tools inside, rusting away, as well as a large bundle of scrap metal at the bottom.

Mak pulls out the scrap metal, which turns out not to be scrap metal at all.

"Actually, I do have my old Kawasaki KLR650...first bike I ever tooled up." He pauses, reflecting on his first experiences with the racing world.

"She still runs. It's not pretty...but it'll get you around."

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"If she runs, that's all I really need. Thanks, man. I appreciate this." Haze accepts the Kawasaki carefully, as if she's about to disintegrate into her component pieces. "I'll get her fueled up. After that, I've gotta see to those errands. They're more urgent than I wish they were."

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Where to?

[Kuma Da]

OOC: The offices of The Inquiry; the small New-Age newspaper that Laura Hayes works for.

[gardenphilosoph]

You pull up to the small office complex that serves as the home base for the Inquiry, the work place of one of your contacts. A couple cars are scattered in the parking lot. Looks like there's only a skeleton crew on today.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

Haze snaps the kickstand into place and twists his keys out of the loaner bike. The engine mutters and subsides into silence. He digs in his pocket and comes up with his cell again. It's a little beat up from all the rolling around and slamming into walls that he's done so far, but it works. He punches in Laura's number on the keypad.

"Hey, it's Nate. Are you going to be at the office today? I wanted to stop by and chat. About Beaver Lake, actually. I was wondering if you knew any urban legends about it. I heard one the other day and it kinda caught my interest."

[gardenphilosoph]

"Oh, hey Nate! Yeah, yeah. I'm here today. Drop on by, it's a skeleton crew and there's nothing to report on."

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"Great. I'll be right up." Haze heads into the building and climbs the stairs, reaching the door to her office in short time. He raps lightly on the frame, then enters. "How's it going? You having any problems with your medicine?" Sad fact: those two questions aren't usually far apart when he's talking with Laura.

[gardenphilosoph]

After a brief hug, the two of you settle down into her office. The building is mostly empty, most of the lights are turned off and the cubicles deserted.

"No, no. The medication's actually pretty well, it's lasted me longer than most have, heh."

Your sister is slightly nervous, you can tell, but most of your encounters...now...usually are sort of awkward.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"That's...well, that's good. Sorry I haven't checked in with you in so long. Life's been keeping me pretty busy. I suppose that beats boredom."

Haze swivels back and forth in his office chair. It feels bizzare underneath him.

This is where a normal life should be carving its indents into me. ****. I think I could just about deal with a world where the scariest thing around is dragging my best tie through a coffee stain.

He doesn't say any of that, of course. Instead, what comes out is "I don't really want to skip straight to business. I mean, you're family. But I have a bunch of other errands to see to. This was just on my way, and I had a little time to spare...but that's no excuse. How about
I call you when I get done? That way we can do all the catching up we're supposed to do now. It'll just be out of order?"

Yeah, that sounds great. Totally makes me come off as less of a ****. Time to change the subject as abruptly as possible.

"Anyways. I wanted to ask if you new any urban legends, folklore, stuff like that about Stanley Park or Beaver Lake."

[gardenphilosoph]

You spend a couple minutes talking with your sister, mixing business with personal conversation, but in the end, you get nothing. They're both dead ends.

You thank your sister and head back into the maelstrom outside.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

Bust. Again. I'd better get back with the group.

Haze tears off towards the Safe Injection Site.

[gardenphilosoph]

You arrive back at the Safe Injection Site, for the third time that day.

The constant rain and mist obscures all details of relative time of the day. It feels like the exact same place that you had visited twice before...with broken glass littering the street, and a hidden drop of blood or two. You also notice that the street signs in one area are all slightly bent outwards, and a couple cars have light dents in them. Black magic was a powerful force.

No sign of the group, though.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

Aw, hell.

Haze rolls slowly down the road, following the direction in which the street signs are bent. Once again, he pulls out his cell-phone and dials Backlash.

"I'm at the Safe Injection Site. Where are you guys? It looks like something nasty went down here."

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: No, that was from Brandon's spell from the battle before. Haze has a short memory span, heh.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: So this game seems to have stalled...what's up?

[Kuma Da]

OOC: somehow, my inbox wasn't flagging me that you'd posted. Whoops. Un-stalling this game now.

Haze

Haze circles the site a couple of times, looking for obvious threats. They're not apparent. He idles his bike outside the mouth of the alley Brandon got attacked from. It's not much of an angle, but it is a place to start.

Taking care to keep the bike within sight, he starts off down the alley, searching any sewer grates or back doors for recent activity.

Sense roll: [roll0],[roll1],[roll2],[roll3],[roll4],

[gardenphilosoph]

After a few minutes of aimless searching, wandering around grimy alleys filled with discarded syringes and shattered methamphetamine pipes, you find a blood-splattered dumpster. The blood is still liquid...the crime scene is fresh.

You lift the dumpster lid to reveal a dismembered hobo, the butchered body of a destitute man. Both his hands have been crudely hacked off and his face is a gaping hole, spilling blood down the rest of his front and down into the mess of assorted garbage beneath him.

You hear the Warlock pull up to the Safe Injection Site, and see Venge and the rest arriving. Just on time.

[Blockhead]

Venge

Venge makes his way over to Haze. "Find anything fun?" Venge asks Haze, his battle-axe resting on his shoulder.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

Haze jerks a thumb over his shoulder towards the dumpster. "Take a look. Something beastly strong did that to the man in there. Maybe a demon riding a host. It definitely wasn't our blue friend in the flesh, since it didn't look like he was pitched through a bale of barbed wire, but I wouldn't figure it for a run of the mill murder, either...

Venge, cover me for a sec. I'm gonna fish around in there. See if maybe I can't do a good CSI impersonation."

Grabbing a hold of the rain moistened plastic, Haze heaves himself up and over the edge of the dumpster. He lands with a crumpling of garbage next to the corpse.

"Wonder where his hands got to..."

OOC: Haze is going to fish around for one or both of his hands. Perhaps there's some of the attacker's skin scraped beneath the nails. Haze is also going to examine the ruin of the man's face. Does it look like something blunt forced its way in through the bone, or are the edges of the wound peeled back in a way that would suggest something had exited his skull?

[gardenphilosoph]

After a couple of minutes of fishing through discarded plastic, paper, and decomposing food, Haze is both mildly disgusted and mildly disappointed. He only finds one hand in the dumpster, and it's....well, it's half-eaten, by the looks of it. Half of the hand is skeleton, the flesh having been rasped away by what could have been a tongue.

The victim's face shows similar damage, with a ring of puncture marks all around one section. The man's face has been partially eaten as well. By the looks of the damage, something with a leech-like maw had engulfed the man's face, then rasped away at it with a spiny tongue.

Another interesting item reveals itself. Tucked into the man's pocket is a scrap of paper...


http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff197/Blumboman/Dread/DREAD-PaperEvidence.jpg

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

"Savior? That demons going to need a &$&%*# savior when it sees me coming."

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"He-llo. What's a hint like you doing in a place like this?" Haze climbs back out of the dumpster with the scrap folded between his fingers. He does his best to shield it from the rain, but a little rain shouldn't make the drawing any more cryptic.

Outside of the dumpster, he unfolds it again and holds it up for the rest of the team. "This is what we're gunning for. It certainly has a following, but I don't think they're very capable. The man in the dumpster was the demon's kill, not theirs. Which means that it's nearby. And either it's feeding off of its cult, or they're leaving calling cards on their kills. Either way, they're traveling together.

So, here's the million dollar question. Where do a bunch of hobos and their pet demon go to get out of the rain?" Haze lets his gaze roam, playing over the streets and sewer covers before settling at last on the Safe Injection building. "Why not? It's warm. It's dry. And if the demon isn't in, then maybe the folks who work there will have a better idea where to find a bunch of unshaven men mumbling about spiders and the end of the world.

****. I wish I'd just said that ironically."

OOC: grabbing my loaner bike and heading over to the Safe Injection building. Parking up close and walking in.

[LordEntropy]

Baptist

Baptist steps out into the rain, adjusting his jacket to conceal the shotgun beneath it. The cool rain falls from the heavens, as refreshing as any shower he has taken. With the comfortable feel of 4 quarter pounders and a thickshake in his gut he wanders over to the dumpster to examine the evidence within.

"If being homeless wasn't bad enough you have to suffer Demons snacking on you. So what's this Safe Injection building all about anyway and should we just march in"

OOC Apologies, seems the email notification here seems a bit flaky as I don't always get notification, odd.

[Blockhead]

Venge

"Hey, if you want, I'll march right in and save the ****ing day!" Smiled Venge, desperately wanting to axe something in half at some point in the immediate future.

[gardenphilosoph]

Haze marches in into the Safe Injection Site. The entrance room is sterile and white, perfect except for the smear of mud and rain tracks from the door to the reception desk and back out.

A receptionist sits behind a counter and a shield of bullet-proof protective glass. "What can I do for you today, sir?", she asks. Haze doesn't look like a crack addict, or a heroin junkie. Well...no, no, he doesn't.

OOC: For those of you that don't know, the Safe Injection Site is basically a real building in Vancouver where homeless addicts get free sterile needles. It's highly controversial - are they encouraging drug use, or just staving away the horrible diseases you get from sharing needles? In either case, it's an uncomfortable building to be around.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"Hiya. I was actually looking for a guy. Old friend of mine, actually." Haze gives a half-smile, half wince. It says these things happen. You and I both know that. But we wish they didn't. "He'd been going through some pretty tough times. Heard his wife left him, then not much after that. Just today, someone mentioned that they'd seen him out here. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't real worried about that. I know you're trying to do a good thing for the community, it's just..." Haze hangs his head for a moment, then, "look. I'm trying to find him. The least I can do is buy him some lunch and talk about what happened, but maybe I can get him off the streets. I figure a lot of the locals come through here. Do you think you could help me find him?"

Haze waits a beat. If she responds 'yes', then he adds "What I heard was that he was hanging around with a few other men. They were lean and ragged looking. Kept mumbling about a spider and a savior. I dunno if that's much to go on, but has anybody talked to you about it?"

OOC: Bullseye empathy.

[gardenphilosoph]

The woman grows wary, but there is a sorriness in her eyes, a mixture of sorrow and pity. She took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. Score.

"I know the man you're talking about. He's been coming here for the past couple weeks, but recently, he's...he's becoming a problem. A couple of the staff think that he's finally succumbed to dementia. He's obviously seeing delusions...Sometimes he rallies up the others into some sort of religious frenzy from preaching outside, but that has only started happening real recent...like a week or two ago.

I know that he gathers a bunch of crowds in the old parking garage down a block. A couple nights ago, you could hear the crowds all the way from here. The cops showed up, all in riot gear and stuff, but I don't know what happened - I caught a cab home.

That was last Tuesday. I think they might do it every Tuesday night, they haven't done it since last week. I don't know. I'm sorry sir, I couldn't be of much help."

The receptionist is obviously nervous and strained, which you don't blame her for, considering she works around homeless, half-crazed drug addicts.

OOC: It's Monday in the game, by the way.

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

Waits patiently outside.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"It's okay. That actually helped some, I think. And it's not your fault if it didn't. I'll go check out the garage. I owe him that much." Haze turns to leave, and then pauses. "You actually care about the people here. It shows. And maybe you won't believe me, but I know what it's like to try and help someone dead set on destroying himself. Most folks, if they had to do that every day, would just shut down. I did. You look like you're on the verge." He pauses for a moment, arranging words into sentences in the privacy of his head. "I guess what I'm trying to say is: don't. You're stronger than you might think. Even when the day is kicking your ***...

Oh, whoops. Begging your pardon for the language, miss. And for rambling like that," Haze glances down at the tile floor, his cheeks coloring slightly. "I won't take up any more of your time." Digging around in his pockets, he pulls out a pen and a scrap of paper. He scribbles his cell number down and slides it to the woman. "If you hear anything else about my friend, would you give me a call? My name's Nathan." Ha--no, Nathan smiles warmly.

God, it sounded weird to say that.

Nathan walks back out of the Safe Injection building. The minute his feet touch the concrete sidewalk, a dull weight settles over his shoulders. It's the mantle of responsibility. And isolation. And sometimes brief, gibbering terror.

It was nice to shrug out of it, if only for a little while.

"Our cult's apparently meeting at an abandoned garage down the block. Follow me." Haze clambers back onto the loaner bike and rumbles slowly down the street, towards blood and uncertainty.

Bullseye another empathy check. Not for any real gain. Just to help her feel better about herself. :smallbiggrin:

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Aw, that was a touching moment. Surprisingly for a game about guts, gore, and black magic. The post I just wrote in Gaia seems to be prophetic. I'll house-rule that the Fury spend bullseyeing that was free.

The receptionist goes on to lead an empassioned, beautiful life. :smallbiggrin:

But seriously, you are such a perfect Dogs in the Vineyard player without even knowing it. Hmm. Check your PMs.

[Kuma Da]

OOC: Well, I won't say no to keeping the fury. But I was sorta hoping she'd find her way back into the plot. Maybe as a contact? She'd be a great way to develop Haze's character.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: That's actually an awesome idea.

I'd tell you to add Shirley Bath to your contacts, but I take care of the character sheets, so I'll do that. Nice work.

Also, I know I've mentioned it probably too many times tonight, but, you know what you did up above? Add on another relationship to your character? Yep. Dogs in the Vineyard does that too. :smallsmile:

[Blockhead]

((Check our PMs? Quoting Raph now I see :smallbiggrin:. I haven't received any new PMs as of late, but then again, I'm holding a battle-axe, so it's best I stay out of sight.))

Venge

Venge growls and grows impatient at the constant goose chase they've been going on. Climbing onto the back of the Warlock, he puts his battle-axe back into its metal container and sits back.

[Kuma Da]

OOC: Just to keep things rolling, Haze is heading to the abandoned garage to poke around.

[Silent_Bish]

Backlash

Nods to Haze as he walks back out of the safe injection site. Clearly mirroring Venges growing impatience, "All right, lets go check this out."

Revving up the sputtering old engine once again he drives the short distance down to the parking garage. Instead of pulling in through the front gate, not really wanting to pay for any parking, he pulls the warlock to the curb outside of the concrete building.

"Well, **** me running, we may just be out of the rain for a little while."

Sliding out of the cab, he checks his gun again and walks to the closest door marked "stairwell access". Holding the door for the rest of the Cabal, he motions them inside. "So, you think the guy is fully possessed now? You guys want me to save my last spell for an exorcism?" No reason to kill the poor **** if we don't have to...

[Blockhead]

Venge

"As long as I get to kill something...." Mutters Venge in reply, heading through the door, having again, retrieved his battle-axe. It's clear Venge is getting crouchy, maybe it's the lack of beer....

[LordEntropy]

Baptist

Hurrying through the door with the shotgun partially concealed Baptist prepares for the task ahead.

"OK so just tell me again, are we talking first or shooting?"

"Maybe I should take a look first down below before we go barging it?"

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

Brandon checks his ammo and then flexes his fingers, small motes of energy flash between them.

"If he's possessed we will do all we can to save him," Brandon says without the normal humor in his voice. "It's a lot more fun kicking a demon in the teeth than it is a human."

[gardenphilosoph]

Ox gets out of the car, breaking her morning's silence with a few words. "Stop. I'll go in first." She pulls a six-shooter from a holster near her waist, and kicks in the door.

The multi-level concrete parking garage is empty of life. It has obviously been in use, though. The place looks like the aftermath of a death-metal concert...or a skinhead rally. In either case, papers are scattered everywhere, trampled into the ground, and empty beer bottles little the ground, broken glass everywhere. Torn banners are crudely taped to the wall, depicting the same crudely drawn spider-like entity you saw on the paper you found on the bum.

The papers on the floor turn out to be cult pamphlets, containing nonsense about a cult of the apocalypse, how souls shall be saved and how humanity is insignificant and the like. Typical apocalyptic propaganda - the trademark of a demon. The demon, whatever it is, is obviously a Stalker. It's been feeding lies into the poisoned minds of the addicts and destitute. Perhaps one, perhaps more. In any case, Haze has already killed one of their preachers.

If the receptionist was right, then tomorrow night the rally will be held again...

OOC: Sorry for the recent slowness. Sort of busy lately.

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

"Five Canadian dollars says that if the demon has its rallies in here that its lair is within or close. I say we go in teams of two and stay within screaming range."

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Really? Most of you only have a few spells remaining, plus, the place is barren.

Plus in Canada Canadian dollars are just called dollars, thanks. :smallwink:

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"It wouldn't hurt to get a little more familiar with this place. If the demon's here now, we can just squash it and save ourselves a heap of trouble. If not, maybe we put one or two security measures into place. Get ready for the rally tomorrow."

OOC: Haze is going to have a look around the garage. Skim through some of the cult's material. Check for hostages or disposed-of bodies.

He's also going up to the roof to see about the possibility of securing a zip-line over from a neighboring building, or from the garage to the ground. It never hurts to have another escape route.

Rolling sense. [roll0],[roll1],[roll2],[roll3],[roll4],

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

ooc - Spells schmells, there be demons that need slayin!


ooc - Oh I am quite familiar with your exotic northern currency, i just decided to poke some fun.

[Blockhead]

Venge

"Perhaps we should pass ourselves off as cultists and attend this rally. If all else fails we can hack our way through." Said Venge, demonstrating the hacking with his battle-axe. "I'll volunteer." He declared.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

Haze is sifting through a mound of broken glass and detritus when Venge speaks up. "That's probably a terrible idea, but I'll admit it has a certain ring to it," he grins. "Let's stay on the lookout for any cult costumes they might keep around here."

[Blockhead]

Venge

"Costumes? This isn't ****ing Scooby Doo! We'll just say we're new or we got recommended by a friend, go along with the proceedings then wipe out a few guns, a few axes and murder them all." Said Venge cooly. He sighed at the many empty beer bottles smashed about the place. "At least they got beer...." He muttered to no-one in particular.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"Venge, man, we're here for the demon. Not for the several hundred angry hobos that'll be packing this place from the looks of things. If we waltz in dressed as we are, it'll touch off a miniature ******* war. So we come in dressed scruffy and muttering. Keep our gear under our clothes. Watch the crowd until we figure out who the demon's riding, and then cap the ******.

I don't think too many of the hobos are gonna stick around when a dirty great spider climbs out of his body. Even if some do, when we rip it apart in front of them, that'll kneecap their fanaticism.

We need to do this surgically. If we don't, the spider could just put up a wall of men to bog us down while it slips away. And that would be bad **** for everyone concerned."

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

"Cult costumes," Brandon says with a small chuckle, "Last time we played with them they just wore bum clothes . . . so I guess we have to raid Venge's closet."

[LordEntropy]

Baptist

"I agree with Haze, we need to be careful of collateral damage. Aren't we supposed to be saving the world from Demons not killing more than they would have" I add a look so Venge knows I am just joshing.

"If we have the time I agree it may be worth looking for the Demons lair now to avoid doing it with an audience"

Baptist wanders about closer to the edges of the garage.

This is no good, no signs anywhere

Standing still in place he closes his eyes, muttering words seldom spoken under his breath. He focuses and channels the dark energy from within his soul. Like small coals his eyes simmer in their sockets as Baptist casts Voyeur.

Opening his eyes everything around looks different. Like a haze that has descended his vision has become less clear but the walls and ceiling around him have become less opaque. Wandering around the garage looking up and down he searches for signs of the Demons lair.

OOC Thought I would give this a whirl although I am sure it is a longshot.

[Blockhead]

((On an unrelated note, where's Icarus Smith got to? There's another character that's going to get killed!))

Venge

"Raid my closet?! I don't think I have anything cult related, although if we want to look like bums we should go down to a charity shop or something and rip up a bunch of em. Although it'll be difficult to hide weapons, especially this." Said Venge, indicating his giant axe. "I still think we should stick around in the crowd incase something goes down, and as far as I'm concerned, a cultist is still a threat to us and needs to be taken down... even if it has to be in several ****ing pieces."

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

Brandon's grin fades a little.

"I know better than anyone," he says, "How one of those demons can get into your head and %&$% with you. If we have to kill them we will, but if we can remove the demon, it might break the hold it has on them. Remember, these are just people who are being manipulated."

[Silent_Bish]

Backlash

Slowly wandering around the garage with the rest of the cabal, he keeps his eyes open for anything that might be useful.

"I like the idea of disguises, we definitely need to be surgical with this. We'll need muscle when we get the demon out of the preacher. That is going to require a couple of well placed Discerns. Am I the only one who can cast that? Also, we are going to need a way to deal with all the innocent mortals, if the crowd is going to be big we really can't kill them all. Maybe we can get a couple of them riot grenades, you know the ones that explode into a ****ton of rubber balls? It seems like after all this, dealing with the demon is going to be the easy part.

[Blockhead]

Venge

Venge says nothing and looks for a spot where the 'preacher' would likely stand to give his speech and any spots that would overlook this area.

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

"I can also discern."

[Silent_Bish]

Backlash

Nods to Brandon.

"Great, we want to make sure its there before we move. Maybe we should wait untill the end of the rally, tail him home or some **** like that?"

[LordEntropy]

Baptist

OOC For the full 15 seconds just sweep the garage up, down, side to side to see if there is any evidence of value.

[bored_teen]

Cherry

Cherry grins at the idea of lobbing riot grenades at a crowd of hobos. "Guys, crowds aren't a problem..."

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"Maybe we should wait untill the end of the rally, tail him home or some **** like that?"

"That sounds solid to me, although I'm not sure if Venge'll be able to go that long without nonchalantly ripping somebody's head off. Plus, there's a good chance that these guys are into human sacrifice, judging by the body in the dumpster. If they start tryin' to pull that ****, we need to be able to step in fast. So, let's go in planning to take the demon out in front of everyone, but if it gives us the breathing room, we'll track it down and kill it on its own."

[gardenphilosoph]

Baptist's eyes flush a milky light as he casts Voyeur, allowing him to scan the building for life. There is nothing, save for some cockroaches and a healthy population of rats in the ventilation systems.

A quick scan of the building reveals nothing more than what the Cabal has already seen. There are no secret, hidden lairs or doors, though Haze does find a stack of papers written in Latin. The cracking red-brown ink that the script is written in is evidently blood. Haze will need the services of headquarters to properly translate the manuscripts, but at a first glance they seem like they might be plans for 'ultima vitualamen'. The ultimate sacrifice.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"Undergrad BS don't fail me now..." Haze pages through the papers, muttering under his breath. "Conjugate the...um, thingy with the other, ah, stuff and then...**** it. I need the internet."

"Cherry, let's head back to HQ. See if maybe we haven't turned up something useful while we were out here. 'sides, I don't like leaving the place unguarded.

Everyone else...I dunno. Wanna do a preliminary look-around up at Beaver Lake?

We'll be in touch."

OOC: going back to HQ with Cherry (unless he'd really rather not,) to bust out a lore check on the papers and the spider-sketch.

Shameless Plug: looking for players and DM to this http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5327433#post5327433

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

We need some bum gear also to blend in right.

[Kuma Da]

Haze

"I'll swing by Salvation Army, or maybe a thrift store on the way back. I should be able to find something appropriately beat to ****."

"Venge, you're in charge of liquor bottles and paper bags."

[Blockhead]

Venge

Venge's eyes light up. "Finally, something we can agree on." He turns to those staying and says in an air of somewhat authority. "Alright men! You've each come here for your own reasons, but hear me now! This demon seeks to kill and innocent and cause massive amounts of damage to persons and property. Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you! And the answer, men, is provide you with beer! If you can do one thing to make your country proud it is to drink! Drink until your bottles run empty! Drink until the barrel runs empty! Drink until there is none left to drink from! For pride... for country... for beer!" Announced Venge, raising his axe to the air.

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon


Brandon turns to look at Venge and says "Huh? Oh sorry, what was that? I wasn't paying attention."

[Silent_Bish]

Backlash

"Guys, crowds aren't a problem..."

"Ok Cherry, I am more then happy to leave that **** to you. Put what you need together and remember, non-lethal."

Nods to Haze as he starts to plan, "Hopefully this ****er will take it easy on this people, wishfull thinking I know. Yeah, I guess the rest of us can go check out the lake. We expecting to find anything up there?"

Chuckles as Venge goes on his rant, "Well, the man does like his beer."

[Blockhead]

Venge

Venge simply chuckles. "Alright, so, shall we get ourselves ****ed?" Asks Venge, making his way to the door. "If you want I'll just drink the ****ing lot, maybe save it for later, you guys can keep sober if you want."

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Do you guys mind if I fast-forward to a "Later that night..." kind of thing? Also, where are all you guys headed?

[Kuma Da]

OOC: Fast-forward's fine. Haze is going back to base to attempt to use a little more Lore.

I'm going to bullseye the check to decipher the documents, but I'm not sure how many dice I'm rolling for lore at this point. Feel free to roll for me to speed up the game.

[Blockhead]

((Actually, I have a plan so cunning you could brush your teeth with it, hold off the fast forward for a sec :smallbiggrin:))

Venge

Before leaving to grab a modest amount of beer, a proverbial lightbulb popped on above Venge's head. Turning around to address the group, he said: "How about I wait about outside, maybe on the radio to one of you guys inside; near the back, out of sight, whatever; and you message me if something goes down. I can cast a spell and bust through the concrete, no problem and charge in there. In fact, I could be on the floor above and bust in from above." Suggested Venge. "That way I won't blow your ****ing cover, unless it's already blown and I don't have to wear ****ty clothes or hide my instrument of pain." He chuckled, spinning his battle-axe around using the palms of his hands. "But it's the last spell I have use of today, so don't **** up!"

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

OOC - fast forward sure. The only thing we need is for those of us going inside to buy like 3 layers of used clothing, roll in mud and get some bags of booze.

We should definitely let the meeting start to organize and watch to make sure we fit in. and then head in before it really starts.

[Blockhead]

((That's fine, but I'd like to be the 'heavy' back-up, Venge thinks Stealth means you have to wait a bit before killing someone))

[LordEntropy]

Baptist

"I am all for dressing like a bum to get in with the crowd"

Probably haven't showered for a while anyway for that authentic homeless smell.

OOCSorry busy weekend.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Sorry, really busy weekend and upcoming week. Will update when I can.

[Kuma Da]

OOC: no problem. I understand what that's like.

[Silent_Bish]

OOC: Ditto. So, the meeting is tomorrow night IG right? So we will have a chance to rest and recover spells?

[bored_teen]

Cherry

"Non-lethal? What's the fun in that? I mean, they're all addicts anyway. I'll see what I can do, though. Maybe a couple knockout gas cannisters. Should be fun..." Cherry joins Haze in his retreat to the mansion.

OOC: I think it's been busy for everyone.

[Kuma Da]

OOC: Yeah. No worries. The game'll pick back up again when everyone's ready.

Also, using gas against the cultists is a fantastic idea. We'd have to get a handful of gas masks, though.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Alright, I'm back. So what exactly is going on? As far as I can tell, Venge is staying behind in the parking garage with some devious plan where he can burst out of the floor with battle axe in hand at the rally taking place tomorrow night. That mean's he'll be spending about a day hiding out.

The others are heading back to the mansion to decipher the texts, and Cherry's hatching some sort of gas attack plan. All the while with several pounds of a strong powdered base in the Warlock. Oh, the rest of the Cabal also wants to get dressed up for the demon rally tomorrow night.

Is that right? Fun.

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - I think you forgot the part about the sharks with the lazers

[Kuma Da]

ooc: that's about it, but if venge wants to scout out beaver lake instead of chillin' and drinkin' in the abandoned parking garage, that'd be fine by me.

[Blockhead]

Hmm.... Alright, if it's going to take a day before the plan gets put into action, Venge will scout out Beaver Lake. Don't expect much evidence though, Venge isn't the brightest bulb in the world. As for the parking lot plan, my idea was that A) if the parking lot was multi-story, Venge would wait on the floor above where the rally is taking place and burst in through the roof (using a spell to smash through concrete) or just the roof; or B) wait outside the wall which is mostly liking to be the wall that the demon has it's back to, then Venge can bust in there and surprise the demon. This plan will probably require a signal to let Venge know when to bust in....

Venge

"If you **** nuts are going back to the mansion, I'll take a look around Beaver Lake. I should be back here by tommorow where we can set up our little ambush. I'll be in touch." Said Venge, the last few words said in the sarcastic tone the cabal knew he used often.

With that, Venge slung his battle-axe over his shoulder and jogged off in the direction of Beaver Lake, slowly disappearing into the night.

[Silent_Bish]

Backlash

"Suit yourself Venge, but I need to catch some rest before dealing with another Demon."

Without much more fanfare, he heads back to the mansion with the others to get some rest.

[LordEntropy]

Baptist

The weariness of the last 24 hours is catching up with Baptist.

"Man, I could sleep for a week. If we are going toe to toe with a big nasty I need some more rest"

He accompanies the rest back to the mansion to get fitted up for his tramp suit.

OOC I am back as well now after a v.busy week :smallsmile:

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: Just to let you know, December is a very busy month for me. I got a seasonal job as a chocolates warehouse guy, so the Christmas season is very busy indeed. It's crazy awesome pay for lifting boxes and the like, so I'm working a fair number of hours, not to mention the seasonal fits of holiday debauchery and school. My games will probably slow down, so I'd like to warn all you guys first of all.

[LordEntropy]

OOC

Understood, things get pretty busy for us as well as everyone wants things done before Christmas.

[Blockhead]

OOC: Maybe a Christmas version of Dread is in order? With the cabal off to fight Satan Claws or something and his army of small factory workers. Would just be hilarious and the stuff you could say would be gold!

[Kuma Da]

OOC: A game of dread that leaves us all with a secure, fuzzy feeling in our hearts? That's crazy-talk.

[Silent_Bish]

OOC: Reminds me of Futurama, where Santa Claws is a deranged robot that kills anyone out after sunset.

[gardenphilosoph]

Midnight.

The rain continued to assault the old mansion, inundating the outside world and drowning everything in inches of cold rainwater.

In the back of the Warlock, beside the weapon footlockers, rest several bags of powdered sodium hydroxide, just in case one of the two demons was acidic, which the evidence pointed to. The living room had open books and papers scattered all across it, the remnants of Haze and Cherry's research into the demon that had managed to schedule a rally for tomorrow night. Vials held bone and tissue samples, and a couple photographs of the recent brutalized victims were stacked on top of open laptops and Latin-to-English dictionaries.

The Cabal was all home, in various states of unrest. There were two demons in their city, and at least one, 'The Spider', was rallying the city's numerous destitute tomorrow night, having formed some sort of apocalyptic cult. The other nameless demon had burst out of a cocoon in the sewers, and was probably an acid-spewing monstrosity. It had already taken several victims.

A night of rest.

Tomorrow was Doomsday.

[Kuma Da]

OOC: Do we get to roll lore to follow up on the research we've done?

[Blockhead]

OOC: Wait, am I not off to another thread to scout out Beaver Lake?

[DJDeMiko]

Brandon

Brandon, who almost died today, gets a long and well deserved sleep.

[gardenphilosoph]

OOC: You went there briefly, but found nothing. Sorry, should've mentioned that.

Right, post any dreams/nightmares, pre-Doomsday thoughts that your characters have before entering the twin demon maelstrom tomorrow. :smallwink:

[Kuma Da]

OOC: Lore roll. Research. How do I do it?

[DJDeMiko]

ooc - none hear

[Blockhead]

Venge

The doors of the mansion creak open, wind howling in for a second before the doors are closed. It must be midnight or later. Venge strides in, battle-axe still slung over his shoulder, no obvious signs of injury. He heads straight for the fridge, grabs himself a beer and downs it quickly. He then sits on the couch in the lounge area with a sigh. Everyone else appears to be asleep.

He slowly puts down his battle-axe and reaches into his trench coat pocket and withdraws a photograph, making sure no-one is looking. The photograph is of Venge and his family, when we was younger, having a fun day at the park. Everyone, including Venge's younger self, is smiling and having a good time. Venge looks at the photograph for a long time before running a finger across each of his now dead family members. A single tear drops from his eye.

[Silent_Bish]

OOC:Sorry I have been quiet, I haven't had power for four days. Anyone hear about the ice storm that hit MA? Anyways, I still don't have power yet but may by tonight or tomorrow. I will post when I do, then we can get everyone back together and get the story rolling again.

[bored_teen]

OOC:Sorry I have been quiet, I haven't had power for four days. Anyone hear about the ice storm that hit MA? Anyways, I still don't have power yet but may by tonight or tomorrow. I will post when I do, then we can get everyone back together and get the story rolling again.

OOC: yeah, i saw it on the news. my jaw dropped when downtown Boston was lights-out. ive been sick, so sorry if i haven't been active, but i don't seem to have been missed.

[LordEntropy]

I have been quiet due to workload. However things should be a lot quieter over the next 2 weeks as I have some time off during that period. So I should be able to post quite frequently if the game requires it. :smallsmile:

[DJDeMiko]

Garden hasn't been on for almost 2 weeks.

I'm going to guess that his games are dead. If he comes back, someone send me a pm :) until then im deleting threads to declutter my box.

[gardenphilosoph]

Alright, I think I am back and ready to resume this game. I apologize for my complete absence, it's been a rather insane month involving a trip up to the interior of my province, severe dehydration, a dislocated right shoulder, and a run-in with the cops. Insanity abounds. Anyways, it's completely my fault, and I'm sorry. I know play-by-post games are fickle creatures, and long absences do them no good.

So, who is still here and up for it?

[DJDeMiko]

I'm here :)

[Kuma Da]

Ditto for me. Let's get back to the business at hand*, shall we?

*kicking eldritch things with too many arms in the face.

[LordEntropy]

Welcome back, I am ready to rock & roll :smallsmile:

[gardenphilosoph]

Alright. So originally we started out with an astounding eight players, but as play began really only four to five participated, and in light of my recent absence only three are left.

So we have three players left, which I deem enough to still play a game.

Still though, it'd be hard to continue this particular case and reasonably explain the absence of most of the Cabal. What do you guys want to try?

We can try to finish off this case, start a new one with the three remaining (perhaps wrapping this one off with an awesome story of how most of the Cabal were slain), or just drop the game entirely. It was a great game, I think, but unfortunately I dropped it in the calm before the storm. I'd like to get it back on track, though.

[Kuma Da]

I'm willing to drop this one. Might start up a Dread game of my own in the future, though.

[DJDeMiko]

at this point it might be best to start a game from scratch, im pretty hazy on most of it at this point.

[LordEntropy]

I agree maybe best to narrate the end of this session with the explanation of why the rest of the guys died and then start afresh with a new session. Not sure though what the mix of the party is I am combat can't remember what the rest of you guys are?

Fully understand about work taking over your life and all. I am still game though.

[bored_teen]

It was an interesting game, but I don't think that I'd be continuing. As for how to kill everyone off, Cherry always had plenty of unstable home-made explosives on his person :smallwink: