We Sons Of Daley [Manhattan Blues]

Not tricked. These are still hostages we need to save. They just put some golems in the way. One reason why we're here is to take out the bandits, yes, but they're probably long gone by now.

Would this be related to the bandits outside that told us they were on Grand Army payroll?

Ask Armstrong what else he knows about these golems and activation keys. Anything that lets us not fight these things is a bonus.

Shut off the telepathic connection; it's a distraction you don't need now that some truth has been ferreted out. Also, Shewson has been trying to SENSE your abilities again; having a finger in his mind seems . . . . maybe not probably dangerous, but potentially dangerous.

You go ahead and do that. You now have one INNATE SLOT free.

Hmm. Alice was a hostage. Keep her in mind for questioning later, in a more private place. On that subject, might wanna keep what you've heard of REDCAP on the down-low, since he's apparently not supposed to exist.

"Not tricked." You drop Shewson, and all three shy away from the muzzle of your 1911. "These are still hostages we needed to save. And still need to save. These golems-FAMILIARS- WHATEVER- are just in the way of that. Knowing my RATS, the rest of the bandits are coming out of other EXITS from this MINE right now. We can't ELIMINATE THEM TO A MAN but bets are they'll organize NEARBY a little later."

"So what do we do?"

"You three are wounded, but you can still move. There are two rooms like this one that are already CLEARED. One's back the way you came and another's a little down and clockwise. See if you can get everyone there MOVING. HAUL ASS, gentlemen, the GINNIE'S here and he's NOT HAPPY."

They start to hobble off, perhaps a bit urgently.

"... You're not really that scary at all, are you, Mister Arlington?" Alice asks.

"Stow it, Alice, I'm working." [FREE POINT SPENT: Area Scanning. 7 of 13 remaining.] Well, disregarding the minds you already know about... Hm... Some are moving away, there are a few that are closely arranged in sixes- probably like ALICE's setup- and one more that's a star of TWELVE, you're certain. They're back the way you came and counter-clockwise. Overall, it seems like there are about 30 HOSTAGES REMAINING, not counting the ones you've gotten out of HARM'S WAY. "How fast can you disable those BOMB TRAPS he had you in?"

"Fast enough." She slowly STOPS GLOWING BLACK and LOSES THE ARMOR. "There another GOLEM CAMP we need to worry about?"

"If I told you where the other three such setups were, would you save them?"

"Yes."

... Well, now the question is, do you trust ALICE to KEEP HER WORD?

>_

Latin isn't the most trustworthy language (says the guy that took three years of it), but she isn't so great with it. No matter, though, those hostages need saving.

>If she breaks her word, you'll be able to find out about it (between the area scan to see if hostages are dying and just plain reading her mind). I say trust her.

"... If you can make them safe and get them out beforehand, do it."

"Done. Meet here in five minutes?"

"Agreed." TIME REMAINING: 5' 00" You start running towards the last KEY ROOM, while she steps calmly into a SHADOW to go YOU KNOW NOT WHERE.

TIME REMAINING 4' 51" You arrive in the center control room. Apparently, the threat of the GINNIE has caused your squad to speed up, getting people out as fast as they can, though they've left these CATATONIC people here. You might want to do something about that before you meet up with Alice again, but now's not the time. There are more hostages to save.

TIME REMAINING 4' 42" You arrive in the THIRD KEY ROOM. Another music piece starts playing. You're beginning to recognize the style. Knowing what you know now, you hit the EVERLASTING MOMENT as soon as you enter, and FOUR of them stop entirely, one's sluggish, though not by much, and another is already spinning up his ATTACHED CREW-SERVED. These golems don't look nearly as STURDY as the WAR GOLEMS you've been fighting.

>_

Oh dear. You might want to take care of that HMG before it starts firing. I presume it's a gatling? I hope it's not, like, a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. Hit increase strength and increase Ability:agility. All you really need to worry about is the less sluggish one and the one with the machine gun. Turn up the blizzizzle nozzle so he chillaxes fo'rizzle. That is: crystallize the crew-served so it doesn't kill everything. Then break something that looks important to jam it. Slipstream if it looks like they're moving fast enough to threaten you. They're less armored, so they might move faster.

Oh dear. You might want to take care of that HMG before it starts firing. I presume it's a gatling? I hope it's not, like, a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher.

Rocket launchers are, thankfully, one of many things that the BLOOM destroyed modern support for.

Hit increase Ability:agility.

You never turned Increase Ability off!

All you really need to worry about is the less sluggish one and the one with the machine gun. Turn up the blizzizzle nozzle so he chillaxes fo'rizzle. That is: crystallize the crew-served so it doesn't kill everything.

You lay down some chill noise, and they end up having a major JAM SESSION. It almost looks disappointed that it can't kill you with SLICK BASS BEATS. Yeah he should, WISH HE COULD, but right now the ARMS HE GOT don't EXTEND THAT GOOD.

You're thankful your own fists don't have this problem, and start to hand out some BITCH SLAPS. OH SNAP. These PUNK MOTHAFUGGAS ain't even WORTH A CAP. Also, your own weapons have JAMMED. So there's that.

One down, anyway. The other seems to be having trouble with its INTEGRATED WEAPONRY as well, so you give it EQUAL TIME; the length you will go to lay down ICE BURNS on a fool approaches the LEGENDARY. GRUNCH goes its head.

The rest are all paralyzed anyway, but you're on the clock, so you UNJAM your TYPEWRITER and hand out some STRONGLY WORDED LETTERS about what you think of PUNK BITCHES.

Your DRUM is now EMPTY.

The enemies are all SLAIN.

You quickly CUT THE HOSTAGES FREE.

"Why...?" one of them asks, as soon as her JAW can MOVE AGAIN.

"Why what?"

"They're connected with Chicago, why are you helping us?"

"..." Well, if that's REALLY the case... And you weren't INFORMED... You wordlessly GET THEM FREE the rest of the way, while trying to come up with an ANSWER.

>_

"Because I give a fuck."

"Because I give a fuck."

This is the best one, I think.

"Because I give a fuck."

They stare at you.

You look at them. "Don't go through the main entrance. There are a few other exits. These machine guns should be UNJAMMED by now, and if you're right, they run on NATO. There'll be some BANDITS there, so you'll need to take care of them. Other than that, there's not a lot of help I can give you..." You reload your TYPEWRITER while you talk. "If you're lucky, the GINNIE may or may not be able to help. Now cheese it."

They proceed to CHEESE IT like CHEDDAR IS GOING OUT OF STYLE TOMORROW, and collect the MACHINE GUNS.

Well. Now what? You clearly can't go back the way you came, and you've got THREE MINUTES LEFT.

It even seems like Alice is KEEPING HER WORD, for the most part- the hostages are SCATTERING. But there's still the matter of those CATATONIC people back at the central ROUNDHOUSE.

Welcome to Level 5.

>_

I think all the hostages are spoken for? Alice is taking care of the nitroglycerin-bomb-rigged hostages. You took out the golems that were right here. If nobody else is in some diabolical REDCAP TRAP, we'd better go back to the traumatized hostages and see if we can empathy or telepathy them into lucidity.

I think all the hostages are spoken for? Alice is taking care of the nitroglycerin-bomb-rigged hostages. You took out the golems that were right here. If nobody else is in some diabolical REDCAP TRAP, we'd better go back to the traumatized hostages and see if we can empathy or telepathy them into lucidity.

[Purchased: 1 Innate Slot]
[Purchased: Area/Empathy (Also available in Telepathy flavor! )]
[Purchased: Destroy Feelings]
[Purchased: Sense Feelings]
[Purchased: Eliminate Senses]
Remaining free points: 7/13

You... Whoa. You take a moment as you ADJUST to being able to sense ALL OF THE FEELINGS of EVERYONE WITHIN A MILE. Whoa. It's... If your first dip into EMPATHY was like a trickle, this is a FLOOD of EMOTION, and feeling ALL of the emotions you've EVER KNOWN, all AT THE SAME TIME, is a little MUCH to take in.

When you come to, with the AREA EFFECT still up, it's almost HALF A MINUTE LATER. You slowly dull the sensation a little- not much, but enough that it's not OVERWHELMING. The HEAD PAIN helps.

That done, you select those with RIDICULOUS, CATATONIC FEAR of YOU and the REDCAP and regard it, for a long, careful moment.

You consider for a long moment how to respond.

Each of the twelve catatonic hostages receives a single message- an emotion, if you will. "BE NOT AFRAID." The reassurance runs through them like a tidal wave and their CATATONIC FEAR is DESTROYED.

They may not know who did it, but they know it's time to RUN. You send a message to Alice via TELEPATHY that you're DONE, and shut off the AREA before SHEWSON wises up that there's an EMPATH running around- that was a major use of EMPATHY, and even with HIDE MATRIX, it's entirely possible that he'll make the connection, now.

Her message comes back, whispered from the shadows. "Meet me at the bottom of Shaft Three. It's right next to you."

Having nothing better to do, and not able to openly go against your SQUAD right now, you descend. [2 ki spent]

Alice resolves out of the SHADOWS, like she's pulling herself out of VISCOUS MUD. "You're PSYCHIC."

No point hiding it now. "Yes."

"I have a deal for you, Arlington. With the HOSTAGES out of here... It's time for me to UP STAKES and MOVE ON. Your SQUAD will suspect you. Your fifth man... Isn't here. I suspect he's actually another POLITICAL OFFICER. And one who knows what's REALLY GOING ON HERE. I was using this place as a BASE OF OPERATIONS before the BANDITS showed up... But it looks like that's OVER WITH."

"... Did you know? About them being linked to CHICAGO?"

"Of course I knew. You hear the RUMORS all the time."

Were you the only one who DIDN'T know about this!? You calm yourself. "So what are you offering?"

"I'm giving you a chance to GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE. Guaranteed. As far as I'm going, I can TAKE YOU WITH ME when I WALK THE SHADOWS."

>_

Life or whatever is waiting for you back with your squad. Obviously they didn't see fit to tell you that they were linked with CHICAGO, it's not much of a wise idea to trust your squad right now. Not to mention SHEWSON will very likely make the connection that you're an empath at the very least.

It doesn't seem likely Alice will just drop you for dead in the shadows. You should go with her, don't risk whats going to be waiting for you back home. It's gonna be bad news as soon as they find out you're not null.

Well Chicago and the GRAND ARMY has certainly done you no favors, and will likely be doing the exact opposite of favors to you in the very near future. Plus I have a feeling that the dreams you've been having are more important than the average person's dreams. She did say

Seek me out. For the sake of YOUR NATION. For the sake of the WORLD'S REVOLUTION, you must WAKE UP.

Go with Alice. Maybe you can find Selkie.

Consider any means of faking your death. If we can get Chicago off your tail, even momentarily, that'd make life easier for us in the long run. If nothing convenient comes to mind, then just skedaddle.

Time to get the hell out of here. Alice seems to be the only one we can trust for the moment.

Trust Alice. Betray Chicago.

"Where to?" You ask, setting off down the shaft's attached corridor.

She goes ahead, leading the way. A small puff of light- a FLAMEY WISP- follows behind her. "I was thinking of MANHATTAN, actually. Nobody visits the ISLAND because it's easier to mine the OTHER BOROUGHS for MATERIAL, and CENTRAL PARK is nice this time of year. If you like the Dark, and the Creation, and the Essence, and the Fire..." She gets a faint smile.

"Really? No one?"

"Well, not NO ONE, exactly. But most people STAY AWAY FROM IT, and no one stays there LONG."

"How do you know that?"

"Heh. I grew up EAST of here, almost across the APPALACHIAN. Something I did once I learned how was go and see all the CITIES, tall and beautiful and collapsing..." She smiles as she comes to a vein, with another one of her CACHE BOXES. "Okay. Do you have some place in mind other than MANHATTAN? Once I start, I can't change the DESTINATION." She opens the box down here and reveals...

"An ATLAS?" You say, a little incredulous.

"How else am I supposed to navigate?" Alice responds, faintly amused. She opens it, and pulls up a certain MAP. "The farthest I've jumped is MANHATTAN to DISNEY WORLD, but I can probably go farther. PROBABLY."

"... Forget it, CENTRAL PARK IT IS."

"Central Park." She starts to chant in Latin again, a soft, Gregorian PLAIN CHANT. The Darkness around you seems to deepen, until you realize that the world around you is fading out of sight. The world dissolves into darkness, and you feel Alice's hand tugging on yours. You try and sneak a peek at her EMOTIONS, but she's UNREADABLE, even as she SQUEEZES YOUR HAND.

Eventually, after a few seconds, your steps resolve into SOUND from NOTHING. You pause, and listen, but hear nothing but her breathing, and yours, and the footfalls of the two of you. She stops. "Shhhhhh..." she whispers. "We're here. CENTRAL PARK STATION."

>_

>Look around. Maybe do a scan to find out who or what else is around?

Quick-scan the area. This feels like a trap. Do area telepathy as well.

Quick-scan the area. This feels like a trap. Do area telepathy as well.

Ki detection turns up Alice and... Hm. Okay, you may have something there, there's a LOT of life in this TUNNEL. It's fairly PULSING with the stuff, all along the walls.

CENTRAL PARK STATION
You can see a vague bit of the last stretches of sunlight from somewhere. Dust and plant life cover EVERY INCH of this abandoned SUBWAY STATION. The sign proclaims it to be CENTRAL PARK NORTH-110TH STREET in the dim light through the RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF ROOTS AND IVY. Rats and cockroaches scatter as you approach with a light and struggle onto the platform. Broken light fixtures and CRUSHED CONCRETE POWDER lie in a THICK MAT covered over by THICKER IVY.

It smells vaguely of BONES and RAT CRAP down here.

Alice looks around. "Heh. Subway stations. Go ten yards down any of these tunnels and you could shadow-walk to nearly ANY MAJOR CITY IN AMERICA."

You look at Alice. About your height, black hair, black eyes. Pale, like she hasn't spent a lot of time in the sun, but considering who she is, that's to be expected.

"So, what's your angle, anyway?"

"Girl in this world needs FRIENDS. You seem to fit the bill well enough."

>_

So what's a girl in this world do when not being strapped to incredibly dangerous explosives?

Also ask her what she knows (and what we know) about Selkie.

So what's a girl in this world do when not being strapped to incredibly dangerous explosives?

"So, what do you do around here when you're not piano-wired to NITRO?" You ask.

She doesn't seem that IMPRESSED, or at least, has learned to take that sort of thing IN STRIDE. "Eh, you know, get by. Make EQUALIZERS. SLEEP." She carries her CACHES with her, one from each arm.

"Don't you use a backpack?"

"Not for these. These tend to stay put. I have- er, HAD- a good LEGACY backpack. But that bastard REDCAP took that too."

"What's an EQUALIZER?"

".45 LONG COLT, ENCHANTED." She nods. "I also make DUSTERS, and in your case, I might MAKE SOME GLOVES."

Also ask her what she knows (and what we know) about Selkie.

"... This is kind of out of left field, but what do you know about the SELKIE?"

"You live closer to the GREAT LAKES than I ever did, what does Chicago say about them?"

"They're SUBVERSIVES. Use SEAL SKINS to DISGUISE THEMSELVES and LIVE AT THE BOTTOM OF LAKE SUPERIOR. Sometimes they throw storms to SINK TANKERS. The lake it is said, never gives up her dead, when the SKIES OF NOVEMBER turn GLOOMY."

"Hm. I've heard they're all ESPERS. Have to be, to live in UNDERWATER CITIES like they do. To hear the NEW JERSEY DUNAHAN tell it, they take no SIDES, and went UNDERWATER when the FIRBOLG and the DUNAHAN broiled the WORLD in WAR. They're attracted to strong WILLS, or so the stories go, that every seven years they would come to the surface to FIND A SPOUSE." Her eyes see yours for a long moment. "Hm. You're one of their CHANGELINGS."

"Wh-"

"It explains a lot. A Selkie crystal, left behind by a PARENT who may or may not have cared for you. Immense WILL. Psychic potential you CAN'T CUT WITH A KNIFE." She starts climbing up the incline that used to be a set of stairs. "Come on, the sunset from 110th street is something else!"

>_

Welp. Looks like she's taken care of your backstory for you.
I wasn't aware that 110th street lined up with the sunset. Follow her, anyway though. It can't hurt to let Chicago cool off after your HIGH TREASON. And don't forget to scan every now and then. Just because people don't stay here too long doesn't mean you won't get jumped.

>Ponder previous familial relationships to see if this fits?

>Ponder previous familial relationships to see if this fits?

That makes no SENSE, to you, anyway; you climb out of the STATION and CONSIDER IT. It's POSSIBLE; you don't remember anything from BEFORE YOU WERE FIVE and your parents were SLIGHTLY DISTANT, though you SHARED HAIR COLOR. But it's POSSIBLE in the way that ANGELS are possible; you've never HEARD OF ANYTHING LIKE IT. It would be as outlandish to assume that someone had GONE BACK IN TIME to DROP YOU AT YOUR PARENTS' DOORSTEP or had ADJUSTED THEIR MEMORIES.

You do always remember being a NATIVE OF GARY.

I wasn't aware that 110th street lined up with the sunset. Follow her, anyway though. It can't hurt to let Chicago cool off after your HIGH TREASON. And don't forget to scan every now and then. Just because people don't stay here too long doesn't mean you won't get jumped.

[Purchased: Area Scanning. 6 of 12 points left. If you like, I can keep this permanently in an INNATE SLOT.]

Hm, it looks like within about HALF A MILE of your POSITION, you're the only ones here. Well, there are some ANIMALS, and there seems to be a PACK OF SOMETHING about, but your ERUDTITION says it is WOLVES. Chances are they won't bother you if you don't bother them- there's a lot of EASIER PREY around than a couple of HUMANS.

LENNOX AVENUE RUINS

This is the ruin of what had to have been a great thoroughfare. ROOTS AND IVY and GRASSES and SHRUBS seem to cover the place, like there hasn't been any MINING here at all. HILLOCKS cover the landscape, with STEEL BEAMS showing their origin as RUINED BUILDINGS. You make sure to watch your step as you climb a ridge line made of TENEMENTS. If 110TH STREET is to the south, it doesn't line up with the sunset, quite- but from the TOP OF THIS RIDGE you see that a few SKYSCRAPERS, tumbling down and hollow as they are, and overgrown with PLANT LIFE and BIRDS, make a perfect frame for the SUN as it SINKS IN THE WEST.

"THIS," Alice says. "Welcome to NEW YORK! CROWN JEWEL of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA." She laughs.

"So what are we expecting to find here?"

"Lots of neat stuff, but for now, a PLACE TO SLEEP is probably best."

You sit on the ridge, leaning against a STEEL SUPPORT. "... Days like this I wish I'd never left GARY." Hm. That reminds you of an old song. You've heard the Chicago version and the Canadian version, and wonder if people will start stealing it again.

"Hm. Yeah, there's something about this that doesn't match DELAWARE." She sits NEAR YOU, looking at the LAST RAYS OF THE DAY.

>_

Innate Area Scan. Seems like a good way to not get caught off-guard.

>Sloppy Makeouts
Hit the hay<

Either/or/and