RE: We Sons Of Daley (TWS)
01-20-2012, 07:48 AM
You decide that you don't like your current odds. "Alice, can you get us out of here?"
"I've never tried this much weight before on a short hop..."
"I mean to another city or something."
"That I won't be able to manage until I GET SOME REST. At least a few hours..." She starts heading down into the basement like the CRAZY WOMAN SHE IS but at least there it's DARK. "Can I have a light? I'm making another map..."
You look around for something and eventually manage an improvised TORCH. The place is crumbly, and threatens collapse at any moment. Dust filters the light, scattering it all over. From outside, you hear a shout:
"ATTENTION, POACHERS! WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS EMPTY AND YOU MIGHT BE TREATED WITH MORE FAVOR BY OUR BOSSES! YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE, AND THEN WE'RE COMING IN AFTER YOU."
"Alice, we might want to step this up, they're getting annoyed," You mention, nervously, while she studies the map.
She's looking for something, and then finds it. "There's the pipeline... Okay, we're about to move, cut the light."
"I hope you're thinking more than one jump ahead, Alice..."
"Don't worry." She grabs you by the waist again and-
SOME TUBE
This is a tube structure of some kind; maybe at one point it held some kind of essential system. Now, it lies empty. There's a lot of dust and dirt here. The faint scent of mildew filters into your mind.
She pauses. "Did that do it?"
You consider the emotions coming from your pursuers. Looks like they're all still tense, expecting a battle. Some RATS are hanging around there, and their position seems a little more... Anticipatory. "They're okay for now, but you might want to keep going..."
"Way ahead of you..." She seems to be considering for a long moment, before nodding. "Right, the central park line is..." She grabs your hand again and you melt into the shadows. They're sort of cold.
Now you're sure you're in some sort of SUBWAY. You BLINK. "That's funny."
"What. I'm trying to calculate where to go."
"... There's an awful lot of RATS down here..." Like. A lot of rats. A whole mess of them, with a funny little clump somewhere. You have this horrible feeling about those ones...
"Of course there are rats. There are probably feral dogs and cats, and a snow leopard or two; what's your point?"
You follow a HUNCH. [10 of 11 points remaining. Using power: SENSE MATRIX.] "No, seriously, there are a lot of them..." That's even funnier- "... And they're... Psychic? And linked?"
"Shit!" She grabs your shoulder and YANKS you into the shadows again. Her voice is muffled and eldritch as you hear her for the first time in the SHADOWS. "Please tell me you've got some kind of shield against telepathy..."
"I think so-"
"Put it up, NOW," she says, when you resolve again.
[PSYCHIC SHIELDS UP! +PSYCHIC RESIST!] Oh, wow, you feel a lot less uneasy now! "That's much better." And now you notice the walls are nearly PULSING with power. Oh god. "... Alice, what about the plants...?"
"It's fine," Alice says. "As long as we don't do anything other than adjust background magic, there won't be any consequences."
"... And now I hope the Redcap was right when he called you the Lady of Nightmares, isn't it?"
"... A girl could get used to that name." She nods. "Anyway, now that we're mostly out of the brain rats' range, you should be much better off."
"They noticed me?" You look dubious about that.
"There are ways around your CONCEALMENT MATRIX, remember. If they can scan for MINDS like you can..." She lets you draw the obvious conclusion as she leads you by the hand, with a lot less urgency than you'd expect.
"Then if I don't have shields up, they can tell where I am," You nod, squeezing her hand in the dark as you remember she can't even see your face right now.
She squeezes back, and sounds amused when she says "Exactly."
"So, where are we?"
"We're about a mile away from where we were. The PATROLS shouldn't notice us, as long as you keep from hitting things. It sounded like a CANNON GOING OFF. " She breathes a sigh. "Were you able to spot... Ah... A knot of them? All linked up?"
"Yeah, I think so. Looks like they were all boosting one in particular," you nod. That was... Creepy. It was less like they had a bunch of different minds, and more like they all had ONE, spread out among them.
"That would be the RAT QUEEN. We'll want to steer clear of her." She brings herself to a halt in the darkness, as if LISTENING for something. You wait while she CONSIDERS IT.
"... I bet back in the day New York was a safer place to live."
"Oh, Arlington," Alice chuckles, like a knowing parent.
"Catch me up later on what New York was like. Where should we go?"
"... We could probably hide out on Ellis, there's nothing left there anyone wants. It's mostly an aerie for gulls and hawks."
"Ellis Island, huh... Is the hundred-ton harbor chick still around?"
"You'd have SEEN HER. She fell into the harbor a long time ago."
"Aw..." You pause, and let your thoughts DRIFT... [8 of 9 points remaining, power used: -------------------]
********
You're not sure where you are, except that it's back with the two PATROLS. You're not even sure how you have this vantage point- this would be from the ceiling. Each of them were standing around, now. They wait, calmly, for one of them, bearing a small CROSS OF SILVER to say something as he touches the collected DUST ON THE FLOOR. Eventually, he stands up. "DARK MAGIC, sir. Looks like some kind of short range teleport."
"Can you tell where it leads? And cut it with that 'sir' bullshit, I WORK FOR A LIVING." This man has 'grizzled veteran' written all over him; you know the type well. Chicago loved using them as DRILL INSTRUCTORS. But even then, they were generally more ERUDITE and tended not to use the word 'bullshit' casually in a sentence. He's one of two people here with TACTICAL ARMOR on, and he even has a RIOT SHIELD.
"... No sir. It's like it's been CONCEALED, or... COVERED IN SHADOWS." The squirty younger man shakes his head. "But definitely something MAGIC and very DARK, at that." He pauses, and starts looking around.
"Damn. Well, looks like you get to call your buddies with THE BOSTON INQUISITION, and fuck the consequences-"
You could swear the younger man is STARING AT YOU-
*******
A ringing SLAP brings you around. "Oi! We've got places to go, right? No time for napping."
"Ow..." You rub your cheek. "What was that for?"
"You FELL ASLEEP," Alice says. "I know it's WARM in here, but we need to keep our heads together."
>_
"I've never tried this much weight before on a short hop..."
"I mean to another city or something."
"That I won't be able to manage until I GET SOME REST. At least a few hours..." She starts heading down into the basement like the CRAZY WOMAN SHE IS but at least there it's DARK. "Can I have a light? I'm making another map..."
You look around for something and eventually manage an improvised TORCH. The place is crumbly, and threatens collapse at any moment. Dust filters the light, scattering it all over. From outside, you hear a shout:
"ATTENTION, POACHERS! WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS EMPTY AND YOU MIGHT BE TREATED WITH MORE FAVOR BY OUR BOSSES! YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE, AND THEN WE'RE COMING IN AFTER YOU."
"Alice, we might want to step this up, they're getting annoyed," You mention, nervously, while she studies the map.
She's looking for something, and then finds it. "There's the pipeline... Okay, we're about to move, cut the light."
"I hope you're thinking more than one jump ahead, Alice..."
"Don't worry." She grabs you by the waist again and-
SOME TUBE
This is a tube structure of some kind; maybe at one point it held some kind of essential system. Now, it lies empty. There's a lot of dust and dirt here. The faint scent of mildew filters into your mind.
She pauses. "Did that do it?"
You consider the emotions coming from your pursuers. Looks like they're all still tense, expecting a battle. Some RATS are hanging around there, and their position seems a little more... Anticipatory. "They're okay for now, but you might want to keep going..."
"Way ahead of you..." She seems to be considering for a long moment, before nodding. "Right, the central park line is..." She grabs your hand again and you melt into the shadows. They're sort of cold.
Now you're sure you're in some sort of SUBWAY. You BLINK. "That's funny."
"What. I'm trying to calculate where to go."
"... There's an awful lot of RATS down here..." Like. A lot of rats. A whole mess of them, with a funny little clump somewhere. You have this horrible feeling about those ones...
"Of course there are rats. There are probably feral dogs and cats, and a snow leopard or two; what's your point?"
You follow a HUNCH. [10 of 11 points remaining. Using power: SENSE MATRIX.] "No, seriously, there are a lot of them..." That's even funnier- "... And they're... Psychic? And linked?"
"Shit!" She grabs your shoulder and YANKS you into the shadows again. Her voice is muffled and eldritch as you hear her for the first time in the SHADOWS. "Please tell me you've got some kind of shield against telepathy..."
"I think so-"
"Put it up, NOW," she says, when you resolve again.
[PSYCHIC SHIELDS UP! +PSYCHIC RESIST!] Oh, wow, you feel a lot less uneasy now! "That's much better." And now you notice the walls are nearly PULSING with power. Oh god. "... Alice, what about the plants...?"
"It's fine," Alice says. "As long as we don't do anything other than adjust background magic, there won't be any consequences."
"... And now I hope the Redcap was right when he called you the Lady of Nightmares, isn't it?"
"... A girl could get used to that name." She nods. "Anyway, now that we're mostly out of the brain rats' range, you should be much better off."
"They noticed me?" You look dubious about that.
"There are ways around your CONCEALMENT MATRIX, remember. If they can scan for MINDS like you can..." She lets you draw the obvious conclusion as she leads you by the hand, with a lot less urgency than you'd expect.
"Then if I don't have shields up, they can tell where I am," You nod, squeezing her hand in the dark as you remember she can't even see your face right now.
She squeezes back, and sounds amused when she says "Exactly."
"So, where are we?"
"We're about a mile away from where we were. The PATROLS shouldn't notice us, as long as you keep from hitting things. It sounded like a CANNON GOING OFF. " She breathes a sigh. "Were you able to spot... Ah... A knot of them? All linked up?"
"Yeah, I think so. Looks like they were all boosting one in particular," you nod. That was... Creepy. It was less like they had a bunch of different minds, and more like they all had ONE, spread out among them.
"That would be the RAT QUEEN. We'll want to steer clear of her." She brings herself to a halt in the darkness, as if LISTENING for something. You wait while she CONSIDERS IT.
"... I bet back in the day New York was a safer place to live."
"Oh, Arlington," Alice chuckles, like a knowing parent.
"Catch me up later on what New York was like. Where should we go?"
"... We could probably hide out on Ellis, there's nothing left there anyone wants. It's mostly an aerie for gulls and hawks."
"Ellis Island, huh... Is the hundred-ton harbor chick still around?"
"You'd have SEEN HER. She fell into the harbor a long time ago."
"Aw..." You pause, and let your thoughts DRIFT... [8 of 9 points remaining, power used: -------------------]
********
You're not sure where you are, except that it's back with the two PATROLS. You're not even sure how you have this vantage point- this would be from the ceiling. Each of them were standing around, now. They wait, calmly, for one of them, bearing a small CROSS OF SILVER to say something as he touches the collected DUST ON THE FLOOR. Eventually, he stands up. "DARK MAGIC, sir. Looks like some kind of short range teleport."
"Can you tell where it leads? And cut it with that 'sir' bullshit, I WORK FOR A LIVING." This man has 'grizzled veteran' written all over him; you know the type well. Chicago loved using them as DRILL INSTRUCTORS. But even then, they were generally more ERUDITE and tended not to use the word 'bullshit' casually in a sentence. He's one of two people here with TACTICAL ARMOR on, and he even has a RIOT SHIELD.
"... No sir. It's like it's been CONCEALED, or... COVERED IN SHADOWS." The squirty younger man shakes his head. "But definitely something MAGIC and very DARK, at that." He pauses, and starts looking around.
"Damn. Well, looks like you get to call your buddies with THE BOSTON INQUISITION, and fuck the consequences-"
You could swear the younger man is STARING AT YOU-
*******
A ringing SLAP brings you around. "Oi! We've got places to go, right? No time for napping."
"Ow..." You rub your cheek. "What was that for?"
"You FELL ASLEEP," Alice says. "I know it's WARM in here, but we need to keep our heads together."
>_