Scenario Entitled: C'mon, It'll Be Fun!Characters:
Rooke, concerned citizen turned ghost-hunter.
Tandem, concerned Militia mechanic turned ghost-hunter.
Jynn, concerned wilderness scout turned ghost-hunter.
Lake, trying to look unconcerned for the ghost-hunters.
Location: Freedom and Lazlo, to The Abandoned House
Date: Moon Day, Ninevus 16th, 106 P.A.
Lake leans quietly against the wall near the door to The Succubus. Just another lazy day for the freelance specialist (read unemployed lunatic). He seems in a fairly good mood, whatever that means in his case.
Rooke leans quietly against the wall near Lake near the door to The Succubus. Not that being lazy or unemployed is her kinda deal, but sometimes, you just gotta do nothing. The rest of Tolkeen can wait..... a second... how the hell did she get there?
Lake yawns quietly, taking a lackadaisical glance around the streets. Nothing much of note today. And it's not like anyone's after him or anything. Besides, as long as Rooke's at his side he... wait... what the...? Lake takes the obligatory double take as he realizes he isn't alone anymore, quirking down slightly at his apparently stealthy cohort, "When did you get here?"
Tandem comes trundling into view with a Rifle slung over his shoulder and a small dufflebag. He plods along with purpose glazed firmly over his features.
Rooke is leaning against the Succubus outer wall beside an equally leaning but surprised looking Lake. She says airily, "Just a few minutes ago.. howsagoin'?" She seems more laid back today, despite the truckload of crap that's happened this week. But then.. Lake was there for most of it anyhow.. and he's leaning. So there.
Tandem huffs and puffs and drops his bag of goodies nearbye your no doubt, private conversation. He takes a few breathes of air and gives a little wave to you both. "Hi...I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything." really he is, look at that honest face.
Lake shrugs a pair of armor plated shoulders lightly, "'Going' is about as far as I'd wager. So, how...?" He takes a second to look around curiously for a second. Good heavens, can he actually finish two sentences here... apparently not. It'd be nice if you could see the little filmstrip that runs through Lake's head right now. The one where he goes over and chokes the life out of Tandem, all while shouting 'Just ten <bleep>in' minutes...!'. But of course, all that you can see is Lake stopping to offer an almost formal nod in Tandem's direction.
Rooke glances in Tandem's direction and draws her head back quickly in reaction, so that the back of her head smacks against the wall. "And when did /you/ get here?" she asks, half-teasing on Lake's behalf. "Everyone must have pillow-padded shoes here..." Nah, the joke's dead. "..heya Tandem. I got your message by the way.. how's Ribal?"
Tandem offers a weak smile towards Lake and then turns back to Rooke slightly, "He's okay. But he was really quite concerned about that place. The presence of that 'thing' is now greater that the house is gone." he doesn't look like he really enjoys going over even the most general particulars. "The area has been blocked off for further Militia inspection...Considering what happened to Dr. Hawthorne and Steve's wife...I think it should be checked out for, anything particularily odd." he looks over to Lake for a split second, "I was hoping for some extra support from the Militia, but I decided perhaps a small contingent is better for a brief investigation at this time."
Lake just folds his arms patiently. Not that there's really anything else to do. For once things seem to be relatively safe. No cool handed couriers or smooth talking doctors to fend off. No need to raise the hair on the back of his... neck? Or is there actually any hair there? Or on the back of anything for that matter? And the scary thing is whenever Lake has a pensive look on his face, that's about as serious as the thought process goes.
Jynn arrives from the south.
Tandem seems to be talking to Rooke and Lake, whom both lean against the Succubus. A small dufflebag sits plopped next to Tandem's armored feet.
Rooke frowns at Tandem slightly, as he breaks her quiet and peaceful aura for the day. He just couldn't let the matter rest for at least ten more minutes. That's quite a theme you've all got going here, by the way. Nevertheless, intrepidness has entered the area... as well as Jynn, and Rooke steps forward to shake its hand. "Oh..? I guess you're right. We've got more experience with this kinda stuff than the new Militia, in particular... have you ever been to the scrapyard, Lake?" she asks, turning her head.
Jynn makes his way up along Freedom, puzzling over what looks to be a deer antler in his hands.
Tandem takes this moment in particular to crouch down and re-check the bag at his feet for loose buckles and things to trip over, he stretches back to his feet and as fate would have it, get a peek of Jynn travelling along Freedom. He stands, tilting his head to the side as if this would improve his vision. He slowly raises a gloved hand up in greeting.
Lake leans up off of the wall, quirking a brow slightly, "A few times. Why I remember once I took this..." He arcs the other brow, "er, ...or were you referring to a particular scrapyard?" Good sense dictates that you probably wouldn't want to ask him exactly what he meant initially.
Jynn uses that queer innate ability all humans have to sense when other people are looking at them, no matter how dense a crowd or how far a distance, and glances up in time to catch Tandem's wave. His antler goes up into the air in response, and his veers to the right a few degrees to head in his direction.
Rooke opens her mouth to ask a question that she'll probably regret, then her regret-alarm goes off, helping her quickly change the topic slightly. "Oh. The main city yard, in the west.. near The Ring." She lowers her voice a bit. "There's a house nearby there that burned down, and it's suspected to have been a hideout for... uh.. the group whose leader attacked you and JT at Random Acts.."
Tandem turns away from Lake and Rooke, taking a few steps towards the antler-wielding man and stops again, an odd look of surprise is still etched on his face.
Jynn drops his trophy down to his side, letting it bang lightly against his thigh as he heads towards Tandem. He peers over the other man's shoulder at Lake and Rooke, then smiles. "I got your message, Will. Got an hour?"
Tandem smiles lopsidely, "Yeah." his smile drops a bit, "Actually, I've got an hour in about an hour or so." he reaches up and tugs at one of his earlobes absently, "I've gotta stick my nose into an investigation sight imminently, shouldn't take too long." he frowns a bit involuntarily.
Lake starts to open his mouth to ask a question before stopping abruptly (my but those regret alarms are handy...), he rubs the back of his neck slightly, the motion ending abruptly as his hand reaches the base of his skull. He winces out of the sheer memory of the incident, "Oh, that. Well, no... can't say that I have been there..." He almost frowns, as somehow he gets the distinct impression that this is going in a direction he'd rather not see it go.
Jynn nods absently and glances down at his antler. "Yeah, no problem. I, uh... have some stuff to take care of anyway." He glances over at Rooke and Lake again, not catching the whole conversation but getting enough of the important words to figure out what this investigation is concerned with.
Rooke takes the distinct impression by the scruff of the neck and /hauls/ it in the direction that Lake would rather not see it go. "Well, how do you feel about doing a little poking around there?" She pauses, then comments diffidently, "You can probably sense some things better than we can.. could use an extra hand if you got it.." And please, this is not the time to reveal one's extra bionic limb that is the real reason one is so grumpy.
Tandem asks quietly, "Well, if you're busy with something else...we can hook up later? Maybe the Tap 'n barrel...though the Succ is always a good spot." his gaze travels down to the trophy held there.
Jynn turns the antler over a few times before looking back up at Tandem. "Nothing too important. Was just going to check on prices." He sends another look towards Rooke and Lake, this one a bit more meaningful. "It can wait until later," he suggests.
Yep, there's that frown that he was trying to avoid. The day just couldn't go the way he wanted it to, could it. Of course, were that to happen he'd probably be so overjoyed that he'd explode, so maybe that isn't such a bad thing after all. After a few quiet seconds he nods, trying to drum up some of his tried and true enthusiasm ovr the offer, "Sure. Not sure how good I am at 'sensing' anything... but I make a great spare target if nothing else..." And if Lake had an extra bionic limb... oh wait, I'm not writing that.
Rooke smiles, pleased by Lake's willingness to take stray laser fire for her and Tandem. That's what he's along for, after all. "I guess now's a good enough time to find out as any.." Her voice lowers further. "What kind of stuff can your eyes do? I've heard that some implants can see in the dark, find heat sources, do telescopics and all that neat stuff..?" Personal question, sure, but... Rooke looks around to make sure no one's particularly watching, and raises her eyebrows at the meaningful look from Jynn. "Heya, Jynn," she greets in a normal voice (well, normal for Lazlo and Freedom.. a howl, really).
Tandem clears his throat and knaws at his chewed-on lip for a moment. Upon's Rooke's greeting for Jynn, he turns a bit, a nice line-of-sight opened up for both.
Jynn's meaning gets started into remission and he raises his eyebrows back at his greeter. "Eh, hi Rooke. How're things?" He smiles a little and nods. Yep, just a normal, polite guy.
Lake's shoulders flex ever so slightly. Was he actually about to shrug? Between that and the look he flashes at Rooke... I mean, that is a personal question for him. Of course, it's probably more a matter of where than who, but I digress... Lake tilts his head a bit thoughtfully, "Not much besides thermal imaging, at least not that I know of anyway." He grumbles slightly, somehow the words 'instruction manual' are the only things audible.
Tandem reaches up and scratches at his strangely unshaven face, eyes darting over to Rooke, superballing onto Lake and then careening off of his noggin back to Jynn.
Rooke nods to Lake's reply shortly, before saying noncommittally to Jynn, "So-so. Considering. Today, this very moment? Alright." In ten minutes? Who can say. "We were just about to take a cab to the scrapyard.. take a look-see at the ruins of the house that Nethial punk held Doc and Adrienne in." And no matter how hard she tries to channel that information into Jynn without anyone noticing, it doesn't fly. If only he wouldn't frown so whenever she tried telepathy. She steps away from the wall to the curb, waving her hand at the next passing hovercab.
Tandem nods absently along with Rooke's brief summing-up, and watches Jynn for his reaction to nasty words like 'Nethial' and the like.
Jynn nods and begins to chew on his lower lip. He looks back at Tandem, eyebrows raised. "Well. Uhm. Be careful, then," he says with an almost wounded voice. He looks back down at his antler sample, frowning a little.
Lake sighs quietly. He's been due for one of those for a while now. He looks around for a few moments, noting everyone's reactions and lack thereof as he takes a few steps forward.
Tandem takes a step into Jynn's personal space, he looks kinda apologetic, He mutters to Jynn, "... to..." he raises a hand to run over his scalp, "Are you...interested in lending a hand?"
Yellow HoverCab does a perfectly illegal U-turn, cutting off a Fury Beetle that shrills its road rage. It then pulls up alongside the curb near Rooke and Lake.
Jynn twirls the antler and looks back up, nodding to Tandem. He mutters to Tandem, "... whole... of... cave. I... its... blessing.... only memories I've... to... now... about that..."
Rooke leans into the window of the cab and lightly blasts the driver for his crazy antics, then pulls open the back door for Lake.
Lake blinks slightly, seemingly surprised at the polite offer, "Gee, thanks..." he ponders quietly, "Hmm, you don't think this'll get hairy, do you? I'm not exactly loaded for bear here..." Or demon, or golem, or psycho-squirrel, but he doesn't mention all of those.
Tandem looks over to the cab and then back to Jynn, frowning over that last part, He mutters to Jynn, "So does... coming..." he crouches down and hefts his small dufflebag.
Jynn shakes his head, neatly looping the antler through his belt. "No, I'll come. Just to satisfy my curiosity about something, if nothing else."
Rooke shakes her head slightly, leaning on the edge of the humming door. "I don't think so. I hope not. I'm not exactly toting firepower of any sort. It's just a simple private investigation by concerned parties who happen to be in the know about certain... ominous activities."
Tandem nods slowly and then makes his way to the idling cabbie, he looks dubiously at it for a moment, giving it an Operator's scrutinzing eye before opening one of the rear doors to get in.
Lake nods slightly at Rooke's comment before replying in an almost playful tone, "Yeah, but that's always how it starts, isn't it?" He seems pointlessly amused with himself at the comment as he makes his way into the cab.
Tandem squeezes himself into the hovering cab's back seat and settles his backpack onto his lap.
Jynn runs a nervous hand through his hair and he lets out a heavy breath of air, puffing out his cheeks as he does. He follows into the cab after Tandem, his regret alarm most likely screaming into his ear.
Yellow HoverCab 's driver leans out and takes a look at Jynn's antler. "Don't be poking that in my new upholstery, hear?" he growls.
Rooke waves Jynn over to the front passenger seat, while prodding at Lake to pile into the back.
Jynn gets his deer part back out from the belt and holds it up to the cabbie with a shiteater's grin, then decides to take Rooke's unspoken advice and go into the front seat rather than crowding the back. He stuffs himself into the front seat, leaning heavily against the door to put as much space between himself, the cabbie, and the 'pine scented' air freshener that actually smells like green cardboard, and not pine.
Lake erks, shifting his backpack slightly as he gets squished. Well, not physically. Armor is so good for preventing that. It's more of a mental thing. Yeah, that's it... being crowded by all the minds and stuff, yeah.
Yellow HoverCab 's driver eyes Jynn's deadly antler, and revs the engine enough to move into a slow crawl. Best not to take any corners too sharply.. he waits patiently for a break in the flow of traffic, before humming in a careful U-turn and heading back north, only to wait some more before turning west on Lazlo.
Rooke comments to Tandem as the vehicle picks up speed, "Maybe you should fill the other two in on what happened with you and Ribal..?"
Tandem scrunches up in the back seat, his eyes have a slightly faraway look. He's jerked out of his memories by Rooke's questions, "Oh, yeah..." he clears his throat, "Geribaldi and I went to have a looksee at the house he was guarding from kiddies and stuff. He said that the place had /always/ radiated a type of supernatural presence, but now it was even stronger. The fact that Jeremy and Adrienne were kept there during their abduction raises some interesting questions. I'd keep your guard up and watch you're back just in case. Geribaldi seemed very concerned with what he detected..."
Lake comments quietly, "Peachy."
Jynn growls quietly to himself and scratches his cheek with one of his antler's points.
Tandem fumbles with the bundle on his lap, a few of its contents jostle a bit..."I've brought some things along...purely for personal protection." he looks kinda uncomfortable.
Rooke peers across Lake to check out Tandem's 'personal protection' items.
Yellow HoverCab cruises along at a steady clip, moving slightly faster as the scenery gets uglier, as does the community friendliness factor.
Tandem unzips the dufflebag, producing a small bundle of flares, two flashlights, two automatic pistols and four clips rubber-banded together...Oh yeah, and a large wooden mallet with two stakes tucked away in one corner.
Rooke just... stares for a moment, before sitting back quietly, a puzzled look on her face.
Tandem attempts to banish the tension with a weak little laugh, "...Just in case of course."
Jynn rotates and looks back over the front seat, brow furrowed at Tandem's items. "Uh.. Will?" He sounds a little apologetic. "They're not vampires."
Tandem shrugs a bit and starts poking the mallet and stakes further down into the bag, looking sheepish.
Jynn nods and returns to his forward facing position. All the same, he gives his pistol a nervous check and a comforting pat.
Lake hrms slightly, noting the items. No garlic or holy water. That's a bad sign, since it means no soup-making will be possible. He turns his head slightly and notes Rooke for a second, "Uh, you okay over there?" Over there, as in the few inches of seat space that might be present.
Tandem grabs one of the pistols by the barrel and raises it slightly from his lap, hopefully the Cabbie won't freak. "This one's got a regular clip, the other's have Silver...ah...bullets. Someone take this one if they feel the need, the other's mine." Tandem smiles, hopefully he pulls off a comforting grin.
Rooke nods tightly, looking fairly comfortable despite Lake's pistol holster digging into her side. "Yeah.. uh.. Driver! That large alley over there!" she calls out, pointing for the man's benefit.
Yellow HoverCab makes a quiet turn, and whirrs to a halt on Wallside West, just beside the worn path leading off into a wide open area bearing the scrapyard, and further east, the Ring.
Jynn sniffles as he stares down the path, not quite moving just yet. "Good. Now I can go and defend my honor with a deer horn." He chuckles nervously at his own attempt at a joke.
Tandem continues to hold up the pistol, like its a glass of lemonade, "Anyone?...Really just in case." Poor lout, he really wants someone to take that weapon of death.
Jynn reaches back over the seat without looking, his hand open for the gun. "Might as well. In case there's anything in there without armor."
Lake hrms slightly, deciding to take a mental inventory of what he has on himself at the moment while replying, "Well, I mean I do actually have a pistol already... two in fact."
Rooke glances at the fare, and plugs her credstick into the payment slot, typing in enough to compensate for travelling mallets, guns and deer antlers. Then she opens up the car on her side and slides out, rubbing slightly at her side. No apparent reason.
Tandem proffers the pistol over into Jynn's hand, adding an extra clip with a silver dab of paint with his offering. He then goes back to getting his own stuff ready.
Lake slides quietly out of the cab, sitting his backpack down on the ground for a second to go through it for a few things. He takes a second to look up at Rooke a bit apologetically and say quietly, "Er, sorry."
Jynn clambers out of the cab while trying to fumble with his collection of items. One by one, they find secure places on his belt and he pulls his poncho back down over his frontside, covering them neatly.
Tandem fumbles himself out of the cab and zips closed his dufflebad of paranoia gear and steps further away from the hovervehicle.
Yellow HoverCab pulls back out with a slight nod from the driver. Yeah right..he's not going to wait around here for you to come back. When the traffic's safe, he turns it around and heads back the way he came.
Rooke smiles vaguely at Lake, making an 'it's no biggie' gesture with her shoulders. "What kinda pistols you got, Lake? Not that we're gonna need to shoot anything," she adds hastily, glancing at Tandem and Jynn's menacing array.
Elder Grey, a tall, gray-skinned ancient-looking being in a long dark robe, is moving about the walkway nearby, and for all his frail, lonesome, and generally 'victim' look about him, no roaming bands of punks approach him.
Lake pulls out another pistol, a vibro-blade, and all the nice holsters and attachments that go with them. He blinks for a second worriedly as he ponders something off the top of his head, then resumes standing so as not to have to gawk up at Rooke as he responds (no sense in giving her a complex, or vice versa, "Just a Wilks, well and Mr. Blade here..." He amends the statement with, "Uh, I don't call it that, by the way. You're welcome to either/or, if you'd like." The offer is made with all the loving kindness of a kid offering to share half an Oreo.
What kind of kid, and how old is the Oreo? Rooke starts to shake her head, then accepts the blade. "Oh heck.. why not. Maybe we'll meet up with some particularly nasty rats or somesuch." She greets the Elder being deferentially, glancing at Tandem momentarily.
Tandem trundles up to Rooke and Lake viscinity, after watching Jynn go off to examine something around the building. He slings his dufflebag so his hands can be free. His attention is drawn to the being walking nearby for a few moments of curiosity which is heavily basted in wariness.
Elder Grey shuffles gracefully up from his slow pacing, nodding to Rooke. "Hello, Rooke. I assume you and your friends are going to the house?" Not the rubble. Not the heap of charred building material. The house.
Lake smiles slightly at Rooke, "I like your optimism, though notably I have seen some very fierce rats a few times..." He blinks slightly, resuming his somewhat status quo of moderate emotional indifference. Can't have people thinking he's happy or something. That would be terrible.
Tandem scratches the side of one cheek again absently, listening to Rooke and the Elder Grey being converse.
Rooke seems a bit relieved by something, and includes the being's name. "Yeah, Piago.. you taking a guard shift here? It's really not safe.." she trails off, and shakes her head a bit negatively of her own sentence. "Nevermind. Anyone try to get through?"
Lake quietly ponders if he will ever get two complete sentences out in Rooke's general direction without someone popping up to talk to her. Of course he knows how the odds work. He probably won't.
Elder Grey says solemnly, "None were allowed passage through here, however this is not the only way to enter the yards." He seems to have said all he's going to say for now, and glides off to the side a bit, studying Tandem, Jynn and Lake with his small, dark, yet soulful eyes.
Rooke glances at the sun's progress through the sky, again no apparent reason, then steps onto the worn dirt road leading between two squat, defaced office buildings, moving slower than she supposedly needs to.
Tandem can't think of much else to do than nod politely to the Robed being and starts off towards the pathway. He looks over in another direction to see how Jynn fares in his endeavors.
Jynn's attention is pulled away from the ground as he realizes that the only tracks he'll find in this area are the one's in the arms of the junkies huddled on the corners. He sniffs the air and plants one hand on his hip. I love the smell of urban blight in the morning. Smells like... oregano!
Lake follows suit behind Rooke, moving as slow as he should. After all, he's cautious whether he needs to be or not. He blinks once slowly, turning his head in a wide arc to get a full view of the area.
This worn path stretches to the northeast past some partially collapsed buildings and a large scrapheap area enclosed in a series of tall fences and restricted to authorized personnel. The well-travelled path leads off to a ledge, where lies a wide open crater. Beyond, on all sides, the city structures block off the horizon line. After the meandering alleyways, the path opens up some, vacant, weedy lots on either side, complete with useless wreckage and other trash. The smell is faintly of garbage going through various stages of putrefication, but it looks and smells like it gets worse from here on in.
Rooke's breathing goes a bit shallower, unconsciously, and she falls back a little so she can be faintly surrounded by big strong men. Hey, statistics say women tend to live longer than men. They just never say /how/.
Tandem gets a good nosefull of the ripe waste and wishes he had the sense to bring along a small mask instead of Vampire hunting gear. He wrinkles his nose and continues on down the path, a tiny sound of disgust wells up in his throat and is expelled in an 'awgh'.
Lake swings his backpack around to the side long enough to pull his armor's matching helmet out. Ah the joys of enviromental systems. Not that he'd actually waste a good air supply over a few bad scents, but it's fun to play pretend. Besides, if nothing else as previously established he is overly cautious. He gives Rooke what seems like a slightly guilty look before finally clamping it on.
Rooke eventually comes to the painful conclusion that in this case, it's better to charge forward than hang back, and quickens her pace again, craning her head a little to see beyond the growing mounds of rusty scrap.
Tandem trudges on, bad smells never hurt anyone...well usually. He places a finger underneath his nostrils and starts breathing through his mouth solely. His eyes flicker over and around piles of trash as he continues his trekking.
Lake suppresses the urge to shout 'slow down, you... (and no, he didn't finish the thought in his head either), opting instead to play catchup himself. After all, the alternative is getting left behind, and who wants that?
Further along, the scrap heap does grow more apparent, though this is really just littered debris from the main yard, which is securely fenced off. Seems scavengers have distributed the 'wealth' somewhat. The sounds seem pretty normal for a half-wild place such as this: mangy tomcats fighting over a dry bit of ration still in it's foil packet, the drone of flies, some of them approaching the size of mice, and the occasional skittering over metal of mice the size of rats. In frequently, there's a largish thunk, though no one here needs to know how large the rats are.
Rooke seems to breathe a bit easier after a while, conditioned to the various scents and sights just like if she were in the monkey house of the Zoo for a while. It almost seems normal, though her sinuses are probably going to be cursing her soon.
Lake makes his way quietly... well, almost quietly. Fortunately that helmet of his stifles most of the tune he's quietly humming to himself.
Tandem trundles along with the group, keeping pace with theirs.It comes upon you suddenly, like a wave, tiny, almost beyond the range of your hearing, whispers rushing by at a fast pace. None of the words, let alone the language, can be deciphered coherently, and maybe that's a good thing. Up ahead, there's a wider clearing to the side of the path, which used to hold the ominous, rambling house.
Rooke flinches her head back, like someone invisible just jabbed her lightly in the chin. She glances back at the rest of you, a question in her wary grey eyes.
Lake's head tilts slightly to the side as his hand reaches up to rub the back of his neck, "Uh, is this still in the 'good idea' category?"
Goosebumps start dotting Tandem's arms and back and he seems to tense a bit. He says in a small voice, "Felt something similar before with Ribal..." he nods slightly to no one in particular.
The area around the remains of the house has been cordonned off by yellow sawhorses, with intermittent signs by the Militia, proclaiming: Keep Out, Official Militia Investigation.
A wide area of blackened rubble and twisted metal litter the ground here, sometimes as deep as three or four feet. An old condemned house used to stand here, that had watched over the nearby scrapyard with an ominous silence, welcoming all into it's dark hollows.... for a price. The charred heap is difficult to traverse, offering many precarious pitfalls.. seeing how there's probably a basement excavation under all this somewhere. Screaming rusty death await those who dare the remains of this still-dangerous, some would say, still -alive- residence building.
Jynn finally trots up closer to the rest of them, having been distracted with the discovery of a rare and exotic fungus growing on the side of a junked car a few hundred yards back. He lets out a low whistle as he catches up and takes in what's left of the house. "Whoa. No such thing as half measures anymore, eh?"
Rooke says half-absently, "Half measures..? Oh yeah.. you'd been here before, too," to Jynn, as she spares the rest of her attention towards the area, eyes slowly scanning.
Lake nods absently, "I suppose sending an entire builiding to Valhalla could be seen as a bit extreme to some people..." Not to him, of course. Extreme is a matter of perception. He takes a cautious look around the area.
Jynn looks over at Lake with an uncomprehending expression. "Val-where?" He looks back towards the rubble. "Looks to me like it just burned down. Hasn't gone anywhere."
Tandem steps a few feet closer to the remains of the house, "Geribaldi and I got about this close and decided to hold back..." he says absently.
Lake sighs slightly, shaking his head a little at Jynn's remark, "Nevermind." He should be disappointed that he didn't manage to break the mood any, but since people usually don't get his humor anyway, it's no big deal. Besides, he amused himself. That's gotta be worth something.
Rooke mutters quietly, "Ahhhh, fuck," in a very unladylike manner, as her head slowly cocks to the side. "I don't blame you... what /is/ it with that house?" Her voice takes on a slightly growling tone as she unsheathes the vibroblade, and tucks it in readily into the back of her jeans shorts, hilt poking out. She keeps back still, watching the shambles intently. "Does anyone else still hear those.. sounds?"
Back aways, the natural sounds of the general area still filter through. A dog barks loudly near the street area. But strangely enough, in the immediate area of the house, there's not a sound.
Tandem furrows his brows, making lines appear on his forehead, "Nope." he stares at the house, not making further attempts to approach.
Lake half stumbles over a reply, "I don't... think so. No..." His hand casually floats over to his hip right near Mr. Holtser, which by the way he doesn't actually call that either.
Jynn drops his hand down to his belt and unlatches the strap that holds his pistol in place. Yep, out it comes, sleek, black, and capable of punching a hole clean through a wall. "I don't hear a thing. C'mon." He grits his teeth a little, not quite buying his own bravado, and begins with hesitant steps towards the rubble.
Rooke frowns a bit deeper, and reports quietly, "The place has always been twisted, as far as I can tell.. almost two years back, I came here with JT, Seth and John.. and that lizard guy. Daemon," she recalls after a momnet searching for the name. "A man had been killed upstairs.. torn to pieces." She watches Jynn step up to lead the way, and follows him a few steps, before stopping again.
Lake takes a few steps forward, ending up a step in front of Rooke as he looks over at Jynn, my but that Jynn guy seems brave... or something. He waits quietly, looking down at Rooke like he expects something more to be said.
Tandem finds following after Jynn and the bunch a whole lot easier than being left behind somehow and begins to follow. He stops of course when half of the party pauses as well.
Jynn doesn't stop. No sir. If he did, he might not get his feet to start moving again. Up the path he goes, muttering all the while. "Just a pile of wood and metal. No demons, no monsters... and no snakes. Just wood."As you move closer, the quick, furtive whispers start up again, hovering maddeningly just beyond your comprehensive faculties. They're slower now, and it's easier to at least decipher that there are several different voices in the lot. The sounds themselves are like campy stage whispers, a lot of air used to make what should be a secret, pretty audible.
Tandem sidesteps to stand beside Rooke and Lake. He watches Jynn's progress with a certain degree of worry.
Rooke was just about to scramble after Jynn the Trail Blazer, when she freezes again, and shakes her head a bit urgently. "There it goes again..!" she relays, looking at her fellow investigators helplessly. "Can anyone understand what they're saying..?"
Lake shakes his head slightly, "Um, that isn't supposed to... no..." Yeah, he's adjusting to this quite well.
Tandem takes hesitant steps after Jynn, his eyes quite wide. He hisses, "Jynn! Maybe that's not a good idea." The worry wart looks back to Rooke and Lake.
Jynn snarls as his unarmed hand comes up to press hard against his temple. He starts to look back to glare at Rooke, after all, voices in his head have to be her fault. His glare turns into confusion, though, as it becomes clear she can hear it too. "Yeah. They're saying 'We're just putting on a show to scare you'. And I'm not going to buy it." So there. Take that you nasty whispering voice things.The whispers continue, the general tone seeming almost friendly, as if in the college study hall where the students aren't exactly studying. But the complete lack of source.. that's the unnerving bit. It could almost tilt the attitude of the voices more towards malice and deceit.
Lake takes to rubbing the back of his neck again. Fortunately no one can see the 'can we go now?' look on his face that some eight year old kid will want back any minute now.
Rooke tilts her head, distracted for a moment by Jynn's remark. She didn't hear anything like-... Oh... he probably wasn't serious. She sidles after him, casting another look behind her, beyond Lake and Tandem, just making sure the way is clear. "So... ah... Will, what exactly did you and Ribal do after stopping?"
Tandem gnaws his lip before answering, "Well, Geribaldi seemed to understand the voices a little...and decided it wasn't safe to keep going." the look on Tandem's face clearly indicates he buys into that thought whole-heartedly.
"Why /are/ we here again?" Lake's query rings through quite honestly. It would seem Tandem isn't the only one that buys into this Geribaldi person's opinion.
At the sawhorses, there's little but a dozen feet of semi-clear space beyond them to the start of the blackened rubble heap.
Tandem isn't about to quake in his boots, but as he takes steps closer to the house once more, it's quite clear he'd rather at least like use them to beat a hasty retreat givin the word. "Can't let Jynn be the nearest target." he grates through his teeth and advances some more.
Rooke mutters distractedly, ducking her head every so oftenish as if she could dodge the incessant incoherent hissings, "There were cultists here.. or at least that's what Doc said. If they're starting up their practices again, we need to know about it." Her tone implies that she could stand to not know about it for a while longer. Couple years, maybe.
Jynn plants his open hand firmly on one of the horses and swings one leg over it, pausing like that for a moment while he suddenly realizes just why they're called what the are. He shakes his head to clear his random thoughts and goes back to working on forcing his other leg other. Now, on the danger-side of the sawhorses, things look much more intimidating. He draws in a deep breath and stands there, waiting for everyone else.
Tandem mutters, "I don't recall them 'cultists' being able to make noises like this...or those buddies we met up with before. This feels a whole lot worse than them."
Lake grumbles quietly to himself as he makes his way over to Rooke. Silly Tandem and his priorities. Lake has the same idea, only directed towards a different person. One of these days he'll get over this silly chivalry thing that he has. Hopefully it won't be the same day he gets over that silly breathing thing.The whispers hover directly in front of you and you can almost feel the cold, fetid air splashing across your face. Some of those voices aren't trying to say something.. some of them are chuckling.
Rooke stops at the sawhorse perimeter, putting her hand hesitantly on one of the struts. "Er.." she glances back at Lake. "You're all coming, right?" she hazards, as she swings a leg over the barricade, Jynn-style.
Lake nods a little, his voice ringing with a hint of annoyance as he approaches, "Sure, sure. I have a choice?"
Tandem isn't quite brave enough to vault the barricade, instead he decides to take the low road and starts meandering underneath it to the other side.
Rooke steps up beside Jynn and halts in her tracks, head cocking slowly to the side again. "Yeah.. I kinda /thought/ something was wrong here.." she mutters, grabbing absently for Lake's arm.
Lake's arm (for once) is actually fairly accessible, not the horrendously unobtainable goal that he like to think that it is at times. He sighs quietly, making his way up to the group proper and looking around cautiously. It's about all he's good for at the moment.
Fetid air? Nearby whispering? I think there's a definite aura here to keep people like Tandem the hell out of the area. "Perhaps we've ventured to a good enough vantage point. I'll bet the Academy has some good Hocus-pocus they could use to level this place. Screw that, I'll bet some short range artillery could solve this investigation."
Jynn nods at Rooke's statement and starts forward, setting his jaw into a determined scowl meant to let those unseen menaces that he won't be chased away without some kind of serious show of force.
Lake shakes his head, this time a bit violently as taps his helmet gently, "That's not a good noise..."
Of course, if Jynn had had some kind of clairvoyant premonition that he'd be facing various death cults today, he might have had the foresight to wear his armor. As it is, his forward advance is slow, cautious, and ready to be broken with a quick dodging roll to the side in the event of magical fireballs, laser blasts, or other attempts on his life.
Tandem remains pretty oblivious to most things, his thoughts scampering around different ways to avoid this blasted dwelling and its chilling sounds. He's mostly too self-absorbed at this point to go after Jynn, instead remaining where he stands until he either gets the gumption, or is forced to act on some external stimuli.
Lake tilts his head oddly as he stares down at the ground for a second, "Come to think of it, that isn't right either..."
Rooke says slowly, "Not yet, Will... if they know we're on to them.. on to who they are.. they might..." she trails off, gulping nervously. "They haven't just been sitting around, twiddling their thumbs, Will." She herds along behind Jynn, dragging Lake along with her super-glue hand. "I've never felt such hatred in my entire life.. and that's saying something.." she stops and glances at Lake curiously. "What isn't..?"
The voices quiet some, fading back as if beyond your hearing, like a wave. Gathering somewhere nearby.
Tandem remains behind at the barricade, but he's diverted in his thoughts by Lake's odd remarks.
Lake answers slowly, still looking at the spot on the ground "Something's down there... I think... reading hot... if I had some /quiet/ I might know for sure..."
Tandem fumbles out his Autopistol from where it's holstered, and finds the motivation to not tarry any further. He cautiously makes his way over towards the bunch.
It doesn't exactly read as hot.. but it flashed to grab your notice alright.. and the din in your head is quite coaxing now. Which is not to say relaxing.. but more an insistent, repetitive whisper. It's a gun.. someone's gun.. get the gun.. it's someone's gun... take it..
Rooke falls silent for Lake's sake, but keeps her eyes on the mish-mash of area that he's focused on. Now if only those whispers would... oh.. her head inclines upwards slowly, and she looks about with some pained curiosity.
Something in the midst of the first few feet of twisted metal supports flashes redly, as Lake holds back stubbornly. You all feel a slight tremor underneath you, shivering up your legs.
Jynn tightens his grip on his pistol and points it vaguely in the direction of the red flashes, turning his head very slightly to speak to rest of you over his shoulder, "What the heck was that?"
Tandem looks around to the three of you wildly, and tries to keep his wits. His teeth starts rattling a bit with the vibrations and he takes a steadying step back.
Rooke braces her legs against the movement of the earth at her feet. "Shit," she whispers, trying to see what Jynn's pointing at. "I dunno.. don't tell me you're going further..?" she adds incredulously. "The ground feels like it's about to open up!"
Jynn waves the barrel of his gun towards the twisted scrap heap. "I saw something flash in there," he explains, but doesn't continue his approach.
The sharp groans of tortured metal sound out from the rubble heap slowly, drawn out so that it ends in a high pitched shriek. Precariously set steel beams fall as the heap /moves/. All of it /moves/. Very slightly. But you don't know whether it is the ground tremors moving it, or it causing the ground tremors.
Tandem flails a bit as he reaches out towards the barricade for support, his pistol shakes and wobbles with the tremors. He looks upon the heap with horror and his mouth starts to hang openly slightly at the sight. "It's time to leave!"
Rooke says presently, "I'm for a strategic retreat," and starts pulling Lake backwards, back towards the sawhorses. "Come on, Jynn!"
Jynn nods and starts to quickly back away from the place, keeping his gun trained on it, just in case. "The damn thing's alive!" he shouts. Like that makes any sense.
<<DICE>> Rooke rolls 1d100 and gets 63.
<<DICE>> Tandem rolls 1d100 and gets 74.
<<DICE>> Jynn rolls 1d100 and gets 70.
<<DICE>> Lake rolls 1d100 and gets 22.
The ground (?) under the very center of the morass of metal pipes and siding gives a sudden heave, expelling several projectiles up into the air. At the same time, the ground erupts in a straight line from underneath the rubble, heading in your direction and spitting chunks of rock and dirt in all directions.
Rooke gives a shriek at the sudden unnatural activities, and falls backwards over one of the sawhorses in her panic to get the hell away. Her grip on Lake is torn free.
Tandem yelps something incoherent and starts covering his head with his arms. He backs away as fast as he can while being pelted with debris and the like.
Jynn swallows down his cry of surprise and turns on his heel, making a mad sprint towards the barricade, then goes up and over, hitting the ground and tucking into a roll, then getting to his feet and... stopping?
Lake reaches out to knock the barricades over with a few swats of his armored hand, and crashes through, stopping to help Rooke up, like the gallant fool he is.
The plowing line of dirt, amidst the screaming of twisted metal from the heap takes an abrupt turn, running straight underneath Lake and going no further. As if propelled by a spring, the man is jettisoned upwards at a slighty angle, hand again ripped out of Rooke's grasp. Blasted about a dozen feet to the side, he arcs limply, heading for a head-on collision with the dry ground away from the outer perimeter. Meanwhile, there are familiarly shaped metal objects falling in the rest of the group's general direction, silhouetted in the light of the late-afternoon sun.
They look like firearms.
Tandem just gawks at the sight, and gets pelted in the eye with a small stone. He curses quite loudly and starts stumbling around with one eye open, trying to dodge anything that may bonk him on the head and generally make his way over to the outer perimeter.
Rooke rolls to the side, away from the heap, gasping at the sudden disappearance of Lake, then spotting him in his flight trajectory. "Lake, no!" she cries out, flinging out a seemingly useless hand.
A couple feet from the ground, Lake's fall slows, and halts, defying gravity as his body relaxes into a horizontal position, then lowers peacefully to the ground. He isn't moving, and with his helmet on, you can't make much more out.
Jynn draws himself up, just in time to duck back down as a firearm comes careening down in his direction. It strikes with a sharp crack against his back, and probably painfully so.
He was so rudely struck in the small of the back with a CP-30 pistol. Good aim...
Tandem removes the Dufflebag from his shoulder and raises it above his head to shield further attacks.
He is shielded from a rather twisted-out-of-proportion revolver that bounces off the duffel bag, though a Wilks 320 Laser Pistol spins end over end to clip him sharply in the knee when he's not looking.
Rooke scrambles her way over to Lake's prone body, ignoring the rain of weird projectiles.
A Particle Beam Pistol and half-decimated Vibro-Knife take careful aim at Rooke, swerving to give her such a smack.
Jynn winces and lets out a strangled 'Aarrggh' of pain, twisting his back strangely after the blow. He hops around for a few seconds, cursing, then looks about to find what it was that nailed him. He blinks, looking down at the hostile pistol in mute surprise before something clicks... or snaps, depending. He scoops up the weapon in his other hand, and snarls, aiming both his own gun and the new one at the ruined house.
The remains of the house seem to have settled down some after that particular tantrum. It broods silently, while bits and pieces of stuff rain down with the occasional *thwunk*.
Tandem does a funny little jig of dodging and looks up from his shielded head every so often to peer about one-eyed nervously.
As stated previously, Rooke has no intention of dodge raining rocks... although if she saw what was coming, she'd probably change her mind.
The Pistol, of a really grooving make: Triax, strikes Rooke squarely in the head, knocking her over from the force. The Knife poinks tip-first into her hip, but falls away pretty harmlessly after that.
The tipped-over sawhorses and an ominous furrow of churned earth are the only overt signs of recent activity in the lot now. The house, or rather, the ex-house, sits in quiet mocking of the four investigators.
Rooke goes with the impact and subsequent fall, rolling to her feet and looking with wild comedy at the objects. "Oh gods.." she grates out. "What the hell.. I think that's Doc's gun."
In some less-frightened, less-feral part of Jynn's brain, a realization as to whose weapons these are occurs to him. At the present though, that rational side of him is not in charge of his body. "You want a fight?!" He shouts defiantly towards the rubble heap, seeming to dare an inanimate object to rise up and smite him further. "Is that the best you can do? Throw a few guns out at us? Have some of /this/!" Following that, he squeezes off a pair of rapid-fire bursts into the twisted ruins.
Tandem lowers his dufflebag slowly and looks around slowly, and ever so slightly un-squints his bruised eye experimentally. He looks around at the mess of weapons and looks over questioningly at Rooke, Lake momentarily forgotten. He takes a gander that the revolver that no doubt meant to brain him. He jerks back with another yelp at the sound of Jynn going postal.
Rooke startles on her way to Lake again, all these interruptions! She simply stares at Jynn, a marked look of resignation combined with astonishment on her face. That's not an easy face to make, by the way. She opens her mouth, but can't think of a darned thing to say to him, especially in light of the fact that he just might turn to her while those things are still discharging.
The blasts fly wildly, each individual burn of laser spitting into opposite ends of the heap. The light show disappears for a moment into the depths, then both areas roar as something inside crumbles further. Like a disturbed souffle in the oven, the two sections collapse suddenly, rusty metal screeching as it grates over itself.
Tandem grits his teeth and gringes at the screeching...
In the ensuing moment of silence after the duo cave-in, there erupts a gurgling slurp, like an accidental chuckle from a pot of chili.
Jynn snarls at the collapsing rubble, and drops the guns limply at his side. "Just a ruined house," he mutters to himself. "Just wood and metal." He turns and walks over towards Lake to see how he's doing.
From the very center of the grotesque noise, a sharp whisper seems to spiral out, straight at your senses. It is heavy with air, and perfectly comprehensible: '...DEAD... your BLOOD.. mmmmm.. your dead BLOOD..." It dies away as the chuckle does.
Tandem watches Jynn with a bit of unease, taken aback by the gunplay in general. He looks around and gets a clue that perhaps Lake is in need of some medical attention. He hustles over as well.
Rooke drops to her knees by Lake, eyes wide and a bit wild with concern. The slurping alerts her to the reality of the situation, and she shifts to take Lake under the arms, calling, "Let's get him the hell away from here!"
Jynn doesn't quite manage to supress the shudder that courses through his body, causing his walk to drag to a sudden spasmodic halt. Rooke's pleas snap him quickly back to reality, and he rushes over to lend a hand.
Tandem nods, "I'll call for a pickup." and hastily gets on the horn.
[Militia] Tandem says, "This is Sergent Townsend requesting an immediate Evac at the site of the Tolkeen city scrapyard. Ambulance preferable."
With Jynn supporting the rest of Lake's dead (yikes, wrong word) weight, Rooke hauls him up by his upper torso and starts backing up quickly to the path that leads back out to the street.
Tandem dashes over to collect the lionshare of the Firearms into his dufflebag. Hopefully no kiddies have found something interesting in their backyard today. After frantic scoopings he slings the rather heavy load and trundles off after Jynn and Rooke.
[Militia] Dispatch says, "....Acknowledged, Sergeant. Sending closest available unit to cover the evac, ambulance also en route. ETA five.. seven minutes at the very most."
Jynn, of course, holsters his pistol and stuff the other into his belt before lifting Lake's blue legs and following after Rooke to get him off to safety. Maybe if he just stays busy like this for the next, say, twenty years, he won't be waking up in the middle of the night screaming.
Tandem hobbles after the group, a buzzing erupts from the colar of his armor and he spouts, "They'll be here in five minutes, traffic willing!"
Rooke starts to pant slightly, while hauling Lake's mass, and struggles her way down the path. Meanwhile, she calls frantically to him, "Lake..? Lake, wake up, say something!" As the looming presence of the house drags off into the distance, she calms some more, and quietly requests Tandem's help with Lake.
Tandem nods as he trundles along and grasps Lake under one armpit to help out.
Jynn casts a few worried looks over his shoulder as he literally pushes Lake like a wheelbarrow along the path. Not that he's execting some kind of animated girder monsters with broken lightbulbs for eyes and cracked plaster slivers for teeth to be coming up the path and... having an overactive imagination is really a curse sometimes.
Seems Lake is out cold... or worse. Like a mannequin, he lets himself get manhandled along the trail, back through the twisted landscapes of small heaps of scrap. The ominous silence of the dogged group, and Jynn's harried, backwards glances, are just about enough to turn this late-afternoon trek into a nightmare journey, where things lurk behind car doors and multi-faceted eyes watch from the dead tree hollows.
Tandem's breathing is coming in shorter and shorter gasps as he labours along with his loads. He blinks away a few drops of sweat that meander into his vision and struggles onward.
Rooke puts on a burst of speed to compensate for Jynn's constant forward push, starting to sweat in earnest as she lugs Lake backwards, watching over her shoulder as Wallside West comes into sight, hopefully with many reassuring military vehicles pulling up to the curb, or perhaps busting their way onto and up the path.
Nothing so far.. even as they clear the the open area, into the thankfully smaller enclosure of building walls, the only sirens one can hear are distant whines. Shadows from the offices buildings fall over you, cloaking you in somewhat cooler darkness.. for those of the small party who aren't being kept cool by the icy-chilled blood running through their veins.
Jynn stops his watching over his shoulder as the main road comes into view, and instead boosts his speed a little more to get there.
The pace quickens way too much for the already beleagured Tandem! Whoops, there he goes..
Tandem feels himself getting pushed along rather than helping in any great way, his grip goes and with a grunt he stumbles away stupidly. After regain his balance he resumes his jogging after the trio and tries to keep up.
Rooke stumbles under Jynn's relentless charge, protesting with her eyes as she fairly skips to keep her end of Lake upright. Her glance flickers off Jynn, past him, and fixates on something beyond the scout's shoulder. The wide eyed grey depths become pure pools of disbelieving terror. "...." she manages at first, then fumbles for Lake's other arm, and throws herself backwards, to keep the movement up. "GO!.. GO!.. Hurry, Will!" she cries out with very little air. She falls out of the wide alley, breaking Lake's fall with herself.. it's the least she can do.
Jynn twists his head around reluctantly, fearing that his imagination has somehow managed to manifest itself as reality. He huffs angrily and looks back at Rooke. "What are you yelling about, Rooke? Trying to give me a heartattack or something? There's nothing there."
Tandem comes to a halt and leans on his knees...panting for breath. His duffle bag unslings suddenly and jerks him forward a bit clumsily. He gulps in as much air as his lungs will take, sweat trickles down his forehead.
Rooke scrambles up while trying to keep Lake afloat above ground level. "It... sorry." She falters, staring at the alley and beyond. "I.. just imagined it, I think. The house was standing again.. I could see it beyond the piles of trash. It looked... newer than I remember." She frowns, bites her lip, and kneels to examine Lake.
Tandem raises his head and scans the skies for any signs of imminent help. He pants out, "A hallucination?"
Jynn peers down the path one last time, just to double check. "Yeah. Something like that." Nothing a fusion block won't take care of a little later.
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