PactDice Mile End: Session 3

The Host’s Kids

Wildbow

The shouts and infighting among the others and Nathan's cries of pain follow the pair of you as
Jojo leads Gail from the front end of the shop, into the narrow hallway with the stairwell to
upstairs, access to the bathroom, and the ajar door to the back room. As the door shuts, the
space is still illuminated from the back room and the light under the door- it's warm, too, with
one of the heating vents pumping air into the relatively enclosed space.

CG|Jojo

As the sounds of fighting and pain diminish slowly until they're muted across the backs of Jojo's
hearing, all he can think of is how it's still too loud. Gail's wrist is still is in his hand as he leads
her away from the bloody scene, towards... Well he has no idea where he's going, or what to do.
What did you do with a kid after they were responsible for blowing another kid's arms off? He'd
already had his plan to go find his cousins, his call uncompleted, and they were in college.
Older, more experienced. They might have advice for him on this, and well... everything, and he
could sure use some.

He's nearly silent as he continues to lead Gail away until the sound is gone completely. With his
other hand he absently types his cousin's numbers in again, and hits call. If they don't pick up he
won't know what to do with himself and Gail so he silently prays that they'll pick up as the line
rings.

Camtist|Gail

Gail feels numb. There's a sickening chill as she's dragged along, a rock in her gut that she's
only ever felt when awaiting a punishment.

The scene from just moments ago plays out over and over in her head. She could have done
that differently, better, if only she wasn't an amateur. An idiot.

In her cold daze, she barely manages to grab her coat as they head out the back door, out into
the open freezing air. Her hands, more destructive than she should have realized, shake both
from the cold and a newfound dread.

Wildbow
The phone rings, and Jojo's cousin picks up.

"Justafort residence, Bea speaking." The television can be heard in the background.

CG|Jojo

The cold is a bite on Jojo's skin, and he shivers though he can't be quite sure that the cold is
entirely responsible for that. Thankfully he finds his distraction as Bea picks up the phone.

"Bea, this is Jojo. I need your help, and no joke it's an emergency..." He glances at Gail, turning
to frown at the alleyway instead, at no spot in particular.

"This might mean something to you, it might not, but I'm awake..." He says vaguely, waiting to
hear her reaction. If she gets what he means it makes everything a million times easier, if not...
It informs how he should try and approach this.

Camtist|Gail

Gail is still in a pale daze, her free hand moving idly, and her gaze very far away at the moment.

((You guys should probably just go back and forth from here. I'm not gonna be doing much else
till prompted))

CG|Jojo

((Heard))

Wildbow

((Kk))

"That doesn't mean anything to me," Bea says, "But it sounds like the kind of thing Raph and I
overheard our parents talking about. Where are you?"

CG|Jojo

Fuck!

"I'm at an antique shop in town..." Jojo explains, letting her know the specific address and
location, and then pauses.

"Bea, listen. You said you've overheard them talking about some weird stuff. I'm sure they never
told you much about what they actually do, and I'm sure you and Raph have had your
suspicions, but before anything else let me warn you. It was fucked up. Cool as hell, and really
impressive, but fucked up."

"You're gonna think I'm lying when I explain everything, but I swear this isn't a prank, or a joke. I
didn't take any drugs. You gotta listen to me."

Wildbow

"The fact you're telling me and not talking to mom and dad about it has me thinking about what
Raph and I joked about, where we'd catch them sacrificing a kid in the basement or something."

There's a pause.

"Please tell me they didn't."

CG|Jojo

Jojo is about to say 'no', but then realizes he can't confirm or deny without knowing for sure he's
telling the truth.

"I don't think so? From what I've learned today, it doesn't seem like their style..." He says and
then an ugly feeling creeps into his gut. He couldn't talk about it with her parents because they
were dead...

"I have one of the Neumann kids with me. You know them? Something's going on with their
council they had going on for those parties, and I ended up responsible for her." The
understatement of the century.

Wildbow

"I'm going to grab my car and I'll come to you. I just got in after my dance practice, just laid
down, but I'll come get you. Five minutes. Keep an eye out for my car, and, um- need anything?"

CG|Jojo

Everything Jojo could possibly need is where she is. He shakes his head no before realizing she
can't see him do it.

"No, just to not be out here anymore. It's been a long night." All of the weight on him hangs off
that statement. He turns to Gail.

"Anything you need? My cousin is on her way." He tells her.

Camtist|Gail

Gail barely hears that over the thumping blood in her ears. The girl looks quite nauseous right
now.

She leans a shoulder against the alley wall and shakes her head, unable to think of anything
that could help right now.

CG|Jojo

"Maybe just a bottle of water for Gail." He says back to Bea, giving Gail a slightly concerned
look he doesn't even notice he's giving her.

"Thanks so much Bea, seriously. You don't know how awesome you're being right now."

Wildbow

"What kind of water? Sparkling or- I'll bring both. Five minutes."

CG|Jojo

What a Justafort question to ask. Sparkling or flat. He'd been barely aware of the existance of
sparkling water before he'd even come to Canada.

"Okay. See you then." He says before waiting for her to hang up. Once she does he turns to
Gail. "My cousin isn't awakened, but I'm going to grab essentials so we can show her something
she can actually see. She's cool, one of the nicest people in this city to me so far, she'll get us to
my house safe. You can relax there, sit down a little. I'll even call to check up on things here if
you want."

Camtist|Gail

Gail nods back. She's...

"Is...is Nathan going to die?" she asks Jojo, finally looking him in the eyes.

The girl looks scared.

CG|Jojo

'Of course not' almost jumps to Jojo's lips, so much that his lips even move and he has to catch
himself at the very last moment from letting those words exit his mouth.
It hadn't looked good, and... He really can't be sure if Nathan is going to make it.

"I... Gail, I can't lie to you, I really don't know." He starts frowning. He starts to reach a hand out
to her shoulder and stops short. He shakes his head side to side.

"But I do know this, what happened to Nathan wasn't your fault, Gail. It was the thing that was
inside of him. Who knows what it would have done to him if you didn't find him out. Even with
you finding out the thing was still going to shoot him with his own hands..." Fucking monsters.
Except, they were actually monsters. Monsters existed. He shudders again deeply. Jojo sighs.

"Look Gail. We're all new to this. I don't even know what half of my stuff does, I've just been
winging it and its been kind of working. I'm ‘lucky’ enough to have a kind of magic that's abstract
as hell and barely makes any sense, but you have something who's beginner's tricks teach you
how to replace your eyeballs. Of course you're not going to know exactly what you can do as
you begin..."

"What you can do is learn from your mistakes and know better for next time."

Camtist|Gail

Next time. The next time she has to replace a body part, or watch as someone's limbs come
apartin her grasp.

Gail looks even more sick at the thought. She'd never done that kind of damage directly.
Indirectly, sure, she can hardly even count the number of times she's thrown her younger
siblings under the bus to save her hide, but to will it, to break someone with full intent...

She slides down the wall, landing on her seat as she finally starts to consider where this
practice she's throwing herself into is truly leading.

CG|Jojo

Jojo watches her collapse under the weight of it all, and his heart breaks just a little. 'Well you
sure did a great job making her feel better there, Jojo' He ends up putting his back to the same
wall, taking a seat next to her, partially because he himself really needs a seat.

"You know you don't have to even use this stuff if you don't want to. We'd still help you, keep
you safe if you didn't. I wouldn't hold it against you." He says.

Wildbow

In the background, the shouting can be faintly heard. Mostly Nathan's, it sounds like.
Camtist|Gail

"It might already be too late," she replies, barely a whisper.

In more ways than one. Gail's made decisions. Taking on Death, going for the eyes, and now
those screams.

"Three choices," she continues, her voice hollow and pained. "Three decisions, and they all
point to a monster."

CG|Jojo

Jojo's saddened expression becomes slightly irritated at that. The sound of the boy shouting
inside fills him with another ugly feeling.

"No. I've actually seen monsters now, and you're definitely not one Gail." Jojo says narrowing
his eyes at her.

"If you were a monster you wouldn't feel the way you do right now, and you have way more than
three decisions to make coming up soon Gail." He stands to his feet, looking down at Gail with
fight in his expression.

"We can't change the past, that's set in stone, but we can make the future better. We can make
better choices, and I'll make a choice right here." Jojo extends his hand to her.

"I have your back if you want it and need it. If you need help figuring all this out, I'll be there for
you. Your parents, and the practice they gave you don't define you Gail. Its what you do with the
legacy they've left you that really matters. We can start making it count here though, for real."
He leaves his hand hanging, and waiting. Hoping she'll take it.

"Let me try and help you, and you can try and help me if you want. We'll get through this."

Camtist|Gail

Gail hesitates at the offered hand, then looks down at her own.

"'Scourges and Ruin go hand-in-hand'," she quotes from her book. "You've seen what mine can
do. You've already been surrounded by death, Jojo."

She looks up at the Raven. An omen of death, more fitting than she knew back at the party.

"Are you sure you want to take on this implication?" she asks him, quiet, waiting for the
rejection.

"Knowing that just as you can lift me up, I can drag you down further than you may truly
understand?"
Save yourself, you fucking dumbass, she thinks, glaring, willing him to just let her destroy
herself.

CG|Jojo

The comment about death is almost a slap in the face to Jojo, but he knows Gail doesn't mean
it. He forces himself to forgive her for her accidental slight, though she knows nothing of what
she'd made him feel. Instead he cocks his head at her some, taking in her words, analyzing
them, and really thinking about what they mean.

"If you've already convinced yourself you're going to cause ruin, then you'll cause ruin..." He
starts, sighing. He almost leaves her be, a lost cause. You can't help someone who doesn't want
to help themselves.

But then he thinks back over the night, to talking with the wrench. To now.

"And you saw my book. I'm a mage of Sympathy, and I'm going to help anyone I feel needs it
from me, and I'm going to do it well, and guess what that's going to be my reality because I
believe in it." He gives her a forced smirk that he feels become at least slightly real as he lets it
rest on his face. He shakes his head at Gail.

"We're really going to have to do something about that rampant case of pessimism you've got
going on there, and if I can say that to you, then you should really take it seriously. I've been
surrounded by death after all." He says, gesturing at her to grab his damn hand.

"Come on, I need to grab that book, and we still need to get down there before she gets here."
He tells her, still leaving his hand extended, the offer still standing.

Camtist|Gail

Well, seems they'll both go down together, then.

Slowly, carefully, as if he'll yank it away at any time, Gail takes Jojo's hand with both of hers.

She uses it to lift herself up off the ground.

Then as soon as she's on her feet, clutches it very tightly.

"...okay," is all she whispers out.

There's more to say, but she stamps it down and saves it for later.

Wildbow
There's something of a vibration and a shift in the ambient pressure - it seems the others are
doing a practice. Nathan's screams seem to have subsided, but some voices are still raised. It
would perhaps be weird if they weren't.

((Last chance to provision before you go out))

CG|Jojo

The feeling of a ritual being performed, and the sounds of Nathan's screams subsiding are a
good sign. He grabs Gail's hand back, squeezing it again before letting it drop and going back to
grab what he needs, in his search he grabs Essentials, and leaves his hat behind, an expensive
designer knit his aunt and uncle had gotten him, so he can take the coat June had improved.
With that he makes sure he has all of his sheets of paper folded up in his pocket, and the
square of the folded hand towel hanging from his coat pocket. With that he has everything he
needs and waits for Gail before taking the back ladder down to the street to meet Bea.

Camtist|Gail

Gail has her coat. The coat has two pockets, one filled with a powdered preparation, the other
with her wooden keepsake. She leaves her small pile of bobby pins in exchange for the former.

As Jojo preps the rest, she takes the time to read the notes on the wrench more thoroughly,
then leaves them behind in the apartment for anyone else interested.

That's all. Not much else she can get or prepare, or clothes that would fit her beyond her coat
and usual formal wear.

With a bit of a shiver and a deep breath, the Scourge follows after Jojo, keeping close like a
chick to a mother hen.

Wildbow

You find your way down the stairs of the fire escape and around the building to the street. Bea's
out there, the glow of her phone illuminating her face. She notices you and puts the phone
away. No need to text you, apparently.

She's attractive, 18 or so, but concern and clothes she pretty clearly threw on make her appear
a little less put-together than she ordinarily might.

The doors of the car unlock as you draw closer.

CG|Jojo
Jojo almost walks right over to the passenger side of the car, but then pauses remembering the
scene inside of the Sanctuary and instead walks up to Bea's window, knocking on it and
opening the driver's door a crack so she can hear him.

"Hey you're here to pick us up and bring us back to our home right?" He asks awkwardly.

Camtist|Gail

Gail might as well be joined to Jojo's hip. She reaches into one pocket as he checks her, glaring
at the lady from behind him.

Please don't make me blow you up too, is all she can think at the moment.

Wildbow

"Sure. Wherever you need to go," she said. "I'm hoping for and expecting answers, because this
has been a weird thing in the background for all my life."

She sees Gail glaring, and frowns. "She hurt?"

CG|Jojo

Jojo sighs. Would any answer ever be clear enough to really be sure.

"Okay." He says simply closing the door and walking over to the other side. He opens the
passenger side of the car, addressing Bea from there.

"Home is fine, just tell us you're not going to hurt us. Like specifically say that, and we'll get in."
He say.

"I promise I'm not making you do it for no reason. Please" He adds very quickly to head off her
protest he's sure is coming.

He glances at Gail, willing to let her answer for herself partly, but partly because he really needs
to make sure Bea isn't trying to kill him too.

Wildbow

"I'm not going to hurt you. Merde, Jojo, what happened?"

Camtist|Gail

"I don't feel good and I'm cold," Gail murmurs, not even trying to be heard as they talk.
She climbs in as soon as Bea says that promise.

CG|Jojo

"Too much, Bea." Jojo tells her, his voice very tired. He finally lets himself sit, actually letting the
tension and stress drain from himself as he buckles his seat belt.

"I don't even know how to start explaining it all."

Wildbow

"We're going home? Raph's at school, he's sleeping over with his girlfriend, and he always turns
off his phone so mom and dad don't interrupt and ask him to run errands. I haven't heard from
mom and dad yet. I tried calling earlier, when I finished dance, but there wasn't an answer."

CG|Jojo

"Home." Jojo confirms. "There's stuff we need there." He adds.

"It's probably better Raph is away from all this right now, anyway."

He looks at Bea for long moments and then turns to look out the window.

"I know why you haven't heard from them, but..." He tries to finish his sentence but actually fails
at the task.

He groans. "I really don't now how to tell you this, Bea."

Camtist|Gail

"...I can say it if you don't want to," Gail murmurs again, looking towards Jojo.

She leans against him, curling into her jacket a bit.

The girl might feel like shit, but being as blunt and straightforward as ever might be helpful to
him.

CG|Jojo

Jojo groans again. He's about to explain to Gail that its better she hear this from a family
member. But then he realizes he'd be making all this vagueness even more confusing.

He doesn't look at Bea, he just comes out with it. Like ripping a band-aid off.
"I saw someone kill Aunt Justine tonight, I'm pretty sure they got your dad too." He says, straight
voiced, his gaze hard as he focuses out the window.

Wildbow

"Oh," Bea says, her voice small. "Who? How?"

CG|Jojo

"That's the harder part to explain, and it's not going to make you feel any better knowing. I'm still
going to tell you, don't get me wrong... I'm just..." He trails off again.

"There's a lot to tell you about Bea. I can tell you that it has to do with that weird background
you've had a feeling about all your life."

"I'm so sorry..." He adds, and he realizes he's tearing up belatedly after he says it.

Wildbow

She begins driving. She's tentative on the ice, and it's apparent that it's because she's blinking
through tears and she doesn't want to drive fast when she can't see.

"Was it clean? Quick?" she asks, shaking her head, like she's not sure she wants to know. "It's
not really a feeling Raph and I had. It was things we saw and heard. Like when we had the doll
that kept moving around when we weren't looking at it. Any other parent would tell you that it's
just a nightmare, it's not real, there's no monster under your bed, right? Not Mama, not papa."

"Raph's thing with the mayor," she said. "That one scared him. We talked about it while walking
to the convenience store once. That maybe what mama and papa were doing wasn't good or
safe."

Camtist|Gail

"Monsters under the bed..." Gail echoes, quiet.

Her legs curl up into her jacket as her head dips lower into the collar.

Her gaze grows distant again.

CG|Jojo

As Gail makes her comment Jojo silently thanks the universe that his parents had had the good
sense to keep him away from this stuff while they were still around.
"Bea..." He shakes his head, hardening his expression a little and wiping away his tears.

"If you really want to know, you can ask me again. But I'm gonna warn you I can't lie to you
about it, I can't sugarcoat it like any person that isn't a terrible asshole would do for you." He
says, and he gives Bea a kind of odd look as she mentions the doll, and the mayor.

"I honestly don't know anything about that stuff, though. I don't know much about my family at all
it seems." He finishes

Wildbow

"Raph was a kid, then. He was excited about something he made with this do-it-yourself craft kit
he got from the store. Barged in when he wasn't supposed to to find Mama and Papa and Mr.
Neumann talking to the guy who was the mayor at the time. Big man, scary, jowly, on his hands
and knees, begging with tears and snot running down his face. Mr. Neumann got super scary,
and dad got angry, and they sent Raph to his room."

Camtist|Gail

Gail snaps back to attention at the mention of her father.

That...honestly sounds about right.

"He's dead too," she adds, her voice more hollow than sad at the fact.

Wildbow

"The mayor?"

"The Ex-mayor?"

Camtist|Gail

"My dad," she clarifies.

"...maybe the mayor too. Later. If things got that bad."

CG|Jojo

"Probably the rest of the host club too." Jojo adds.

"I'm not sure about the mayor being in the line of fire too though." Jojo adds with a shrug.
Wildbow

"All of them? Geez. I had no idea that Mr. Neumann had any kids, but that kid being part of this
makes sense. I guess you didn't come to the parties regularly? Or you blended in with the
younger group. I'm, um, sorry about your dad. He seemed... very... confident? Probably
deserved."

Camtist|Gail

"My father isn't a fan of those who go against him," Gail replies, her voice growing more hollow
and empty with every word.

She grabs her keepsake as she thinks.

"...wasn't," she corrects, half-hearted.

CG|Jojo

"Whatever you're thinking this is. It's probably even crazier than that, Bea. I'm not exaggerating
when I say the thing the adults were involved in was legitimately impossible to me yesterday."
He says, lifting the Essentials book he's holding up to her.

"They left us this, and other books. It explains a lot. The book they left for me says that they
have more stuff hidden at home. When we get back and you read this I can answer any other
questions you have while we look. The other kids were attacked when they went to the Adler
home." He explains.

Wildbow

"Oh," Bea says. "That. Seen that book before."

CG|Jojo

"You've read it?" He asks, confused.

Wildbow

"No, but it was one of those little things that added up to me thinking what you're saying about
this all being hinky is very believable, you know?"

She focuses on the road, jaw set as she drives.

"They said one of us had to be prepared to take over the family business. There was a whole
hubbub about us doing a thing in a year or so, they said it'd have to be Raph or me, and kind of
jokingly-but-not-jokingly said our college grades would matter. They didn't say anything about it
to you?"

CG|Jojo

"No... How did you guys reply when they told you about it?" He asks, and then and then the
gears start turning in his head some.

"Bea, have I ever told you about my parents and what they had to say about you guys? Did your
mom and dad ever mention us at all?" He asks, his voice toned with equal measures of curiosity
and suspicion.

Camtist|Gail

"...I should probably point out, before you get into all of that," Gail starts, remembering
something, "there is a non-zero chance we may get attacked before or when we get to your
house."

She cranes her neck around, looking out the back window.

"Also, if a cop tries to pull you over, please floor it."

Wildbow

((I was literally going to ask for a Wits check, but since you're actively looking...))

Camtist|Gail

((:D))

CG|Jojo

"A cop was one of them..." Jojo explains, turning to look as well at the mention.

$roll 1d6 Wits because I'm not as paranoid

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Wits because I'm not as paranoid" [1] = 1

CG|Jojo

((kek))

Wildbow

Looking out the windows, Gail and Jojo can see a tall figure, gangly, with a long coat. In the
darkness at the edge of a pool of light from a streetlight, his facial features, such as they are,
aren't very easy to make out, but what you see is distinct. It looks like metal gears and sheets all
pushed together into a rough box shape. Bits of flesh and hair are worked through the gears.

Three smaller figures flank him.

Unaware, Bea's in the midst of talking, "Neither Raph or me were very interested, family
business was always kind of sketchy, you know? You guys were just... distant family we never
saw, sometimes we got christmas cards with photos. You were always the family over in New
York."

CG|Jojo

What had previously been a possibly very interesting conversation topic fails to provoke
response in Jojo as he sees the figure and its friends.

"Oh no." His spirits audibly sink.

"Bea, please drive faster. How far are we from home?" He asks, wide eyed only chancing a
glance at the road before them, as if taking his eyes off the being would mean it would be on
him when he turned back.

He shares a look with Gail to see what she's doing as he racks his mind for possible solutions,
finding no easy ones in reach.

Wildbow

"Just a couple minutes," Bea says. "What's going on?"

Camtist|Gail

Gail sits straight up, getting on her knees in the seat to have more mobility. Her left hand
plunges down into a pocket, and takes out a fistful of what Jojo can now see is glass, crushed
into a fine powder.

With her right, she takes out her wooden keepsake. A chess piece, the Black King.
"We might be under attack," Gail says immediately. "Man with the Box for a Head. Might have
messed with the car, make sure the doors are unlocked."

Without a second to waste and no clear idea of what else to do, she begins to try and Taint the
Black King.

Wildbow

Wood begins to splinter and split. The exposed, un-stained wood at the core of the piece begins
to show.

In the driver's seat, Bea puts her foot to the gas. At Gail's request, she flicks the locks open, and
they click audibly. "Tampered how?"

Camtist|Gail

Gails mind whirls as she thinks back to the notes.

"If that thing is Mr. Escape, then we're probably dealing with a living death trap. Plus maybe
whatever goblins are. And if I had to guess, it might have been responsible for those glass
panes and the chainsaws back at the party."

She looks at her piece and keeps tainting it, hoping to get at least something resembling a shiv
from the damned thing.

"But I'm not sure. Could just be chasing and stalking, or could have done or be doing something
else entirely."

CG|Jojo

"Your windows will thank you for taking Gail seriously." Jojo says quickly, turning in his seat to
face backwards also. He turns to look at Bea.

"No time for the crash course from the book anymore, trust me and listen close I can only say
this once." He says, giving her the most grave and serious expression he can possibly muster.

"The thing your parents was going to do was a magical ritual that would allow you to see the
magical world, and perform magic. Its called Awakening, like how I told you I was awake when I
called you. There's a thing behind us like Gail says and its going to try and hurt us." He explains
as he whips the cloth square from his pocket, straightening it. As he watches Gail stain the
chess piece he has an idea of his own. He doesn't have a lot of options, but he does have one.

He dangles the tip of the cloth to the tainted point on the chess piece. Then, though he has no
idea how, he focuses on the idea of his Abstract Edge, pulling the taint into the clothe to suffuse
it and prepare it.
Camtist|Gail

"Um!" Gail says in a bit of a panic as Jojo messes with her stuff.

That's all she gets out.

((She's not pulling away or anything, just wanted to react a bit))

CG|Jojo

"Keep doing what you're doing, don't stop. More is probably better, and I need to draw as much
as I can I think!" He tells Gail to keep feeding that energy into the piece.

Wildbow

The commotion draws Bea's attention. Caught between keeping an eye on the road and
tracking what's going on, she's slower than she might be to react to a dark shape darting in from
the left. She-

$roll 1d6

[ATM]

Wildbow [5] = 5

Wildbow

Manages to steer away, avoiding a collision, but something thuds hard against the door of the
car. A heavy impact for how small the shape had been.

CG|Jojo

((Is the suffusing working Bow?))

Wildbow

((I'm not 100% on what you're trying to do - turn the cloth into a blade?))

CG|Jojo
((I'm drawing the taint quality into an abstract edge))

((We have a surplus of it as long as she's pushing it into the piece I believe))

Wildbow

Taint begins to bleed into the cloth, and from there it begins to congeal into a twist or a shiv of
darkness, like solid smoke or a crack in space, but with no edges rounded or soft enough to be
called smoke, nor angular enough to be a fissure.

"What just hit the car!?" Bea cries out.

Camtist|Gail

"Jojo, be careful with that," Gail warns. "Taint is the aspect of the Abyss. It is bad stuff, bleeds
into practices, and damages almost everything."

CG|Jojo

"If Gail's right about what that thing is, then it was probably a Gremlin." Jojo says. He'd feel
stupid saying that at any other time, but one of them had just rammed the car, and he got the
feeling they weren't gonna stop trying there.

Camtist|Gail

She turns and keeps an eye out for any more of the fuckers, waiting for the next one to hit.

Wildbow

((Wits check))

Camtist|Gail

$roll 1d6 Wits

[ATM]

Camtist|Gail "Wits" [6] = 6

Wildbow

Looking back, Gail sees movement at the side. A small, child-like form with a gas mask on is
clinging to the car door, ragged fingernails of one hand and toenails of both feet biting into the
door's material.

His other hand is at the wheel, where sparks and thin strips of rubber are flying away. He's
holding a tool to it.

CG|Jojo

Jojo turns to Gail. "If it's bad stuff, it's my bad stuff now. I'm making it mine." He says,
confidently, not because he's actually confident but because it has to fucking work. He lets the
cloth finish suffusing and when he's sure its done he turns.

"Spirits!" He calls out in the car, pushing the gash of smoke into his closed palm. "Give me this
Abstract Edge so I may drive my enemies away" Jojo declares, timing the last word to coincide
with the motion of him pulling the energy from his closed fist like a sheathed sword. His eyes are
on the little monster as he prepares it.

"Gail!" He calls out, still preoccupied with finishing his ritual.

Wildbow

The fissure-smoke congeals into something closer to an icicle as it is drawn out.

Camtist|Gail

"Abyss!" Gail calls out immediately, slamming a fist against the window closest to the creature.

"Take it!" she shouts, directing a different kind of Fissure at the thing.

Wildbow

Glass shatters explosively outward and downward, and a part of the door rips away as Gail's
power channels into the door. Without the necessary construction to keep the door latched, it
swings open, carrying the goblin away from the tire.

CG|Jojo

((The door is open with the goblin still hanging on, yeah?))
Wildbow

((The door is open- you don't have the angle to see the goblin))

CG|Jojo

Jojo rolls his own window down, angling himself in a way where he can see anything trying to
come. In his hand his weapon is ready, his hand clenched tightly around it, ready to slice
through any goblins or comers.

"Bea we either need to stop, or be home like now. They're trying to take the tires out from under
the car. Or something worse..." He says, watching and waiting with an anxious bubble in his
stomach.

Camtist|Gail

With another shriek, Gail slams her fist once again at the flung open door, this time going for the
hinge.

She tries to blow it, and the goblin, off the car entirely.

Wildbow

"What if we take them hom-" Bea starts. She flinches at the explosion behind her.

Door breaks free from hinge, and goes flying across the street, doing its cartwheels before
coming to a complete stop. There's no goblin clinging to it. Not anymore.

Jojo, looking out the side window of the car, can see a fat, three-foot-tall figure making a run for
the car. It's not very fast, no more than a child of similar height and weight would be, but it's on a
trajectory to intercept. A beard of what look especially like pubic hair are frosted with cold breath
beneath an old fashioned pilot's cap, and it holds a screwdriver.

CG|Jojo

This time Jojo is ready, and he leans up in his seat some like a jouster might stand in their
stirrups to prepare to meet their enemy. He draws his Abstract Edge back, timing it for the
moment the pube faced goblin is about to come in contact with the car, and as its about to he
drives the blade forward either aiming to cut the thing as far in half as he can, or run it through
on it with the motion.

"Get back!" He calls out as he strikes at the beast angrily.

Wildbow

((Roll Dex))

CG|Jojo

$roll 1d6+2 SCWHING!

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "SCWHING!" [3] +2 = 5

Wildbow

$Roll 1d6

[ATM]

Wildbow [4] = 4

Wildbow

Jojo's aim is on point, but his assumptions are not. As he sticks the point out, hoping to cut the
goblin in half, it goes low instead. A gouge marks one of its arms and shoulders, but it hurls
itself at the wheel, just barely catching on with the one claw. The car bumps, as it would when
going over a speed bump or running over a body, and Bea makes an alarmed noise. Then the
bump happens again, and again- he's hugging the wheel, rotating with it, going under the tires
every second and a half or so.

It impacts Bea's driving.

Camtist|Gail

Gail starts moving her Tainted Black King along the edges of her much larger opening, painting
and doing what she can to Cast that part of the car Down.

"Take your foothold and keep them out!" she yells, her voice starting to crack from all the yelling
lately.

"Jojo, need help!?"

Wildbow

((any designations as part of the cast out?))

Camtist|Gail

((If possible, I'd like for the area to crunch and clamp down on anything that tries to get through.
Metal bending and becoming jagged to hinder them))

Wildbow

((Okay, and which part of the car?))

Camtist|Gail

((The massive hole where the door once was, mostly the edges of that))

((Basically just making that less of a liability, is the goal))

CG|Jojo

"Maybe it's literally riding around on the bottom of the tire!" Jojo screams back, bewildered and
in partial disbelief at the thing. "I'm going to try and knock it off." Jojo says to the both of them,
leaning partially out of the window and drawing the icicle of darkness up so he can drive it
downwards at the Goblin, but he aims just behind the tire to catch the Goblin as it's coming up
without knicking the tire. The aim is tricky and he knows he can't mess it up, he closes his eye
and forces his hand to cease its trembling completely, just like he would with a paint brush in
hand. The only paint here is going to be this goblin's blood though, and the street will be the
canvas.

Wildbow

Gail's taint races through and into the area around the open door. Rust and jagged metal peels
out and forms spikes that point inward, some swinging in and out as the car jostles. If the goblin
is in that immediate area, then it's either not bothered or it's giving no obvious sign.

((Brawn roll))

((@ Jojo))

CG|Jojo
$roll 1d6 Brawn

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Brawn" [1] = 1

Wildbow

The wheel is too far down, the icicle not quite long enough, and the goblin moves too fast. The
icicle doesn't make contact, even on a second attempt as it comes around again. On the
potential third attempt, the car jerks as the brakes get tapped, and all three of you nearly lose
your positions.

Again, the brakes get hit.

"It's not me!" Bea shouts.

Camtist|Gail

Oh motherfucker.

Gail grabs the back of Bea's seat, hoists herself up it as high as the roof will allow, and throws
her fistful of powder towards the pedals by Bea's feet.

"Cast Down and get him out!" she shouts, her voice breaking almost entirely at the end.

((Designation is to have that part of the car seep through and clamp down on whatever might be
fucking with the brakes/break lines))

CG|Jojo

((Gonna wait to see how gail's thing goes for my next action))

Wildbow

((kk))

Gail's power flows through between Bea's legs and the wheel, striking the pedals and the
flooring beneath. Material decays, gas pedal snaps beneath Bea's foot, and ragged, jagged
metal is twisted and torn, pointing down and into the road, where it strikes sparks and impales
the gas-mask goblin that's clinging to the vehicle's undercarriage.
CG|Jojo

"Let us slow to a stop Bea, don't try to speed up. You were right it would be bad if they trapped
up the house too. We'll crash at this rate anyway." He turns to Gail, nervousness clear in his but
he crushes that feeling trying to look confident in what feels like a terrible move.

"Gail, I think im gonna have to try and handle this out there. Unless you have any better ideas.

Camtist|Gail

Gail looks pissed.

"Please," she says, gathering up more powder from her jacket as she lowers herself back down.

"How far to the house, am I clear to blow up the current goblins and anything with them, and are
there any more incoming?" she asks, looking around the windows and openings herself.

Wildbow

"We could run for it," Bea said. "And I couldn't do anything but stop the car now. That shotgun or
whatever it is you used left a spike of metal where the gas pedal used to be."

CG|Jojo

"Its better than this. But they run really fast Bea. We'll need a distraction probably." Jojo says,
turning and giving Gail a look.

"An explosion sounds pretty distracting." He admits.

Camtist|Gail

((Do I see anything?))

Wildbow

((Wits))

Camtist|Gail

$roll 1d6 Wits

[ATM]

Camtist|Gail "Wits" [5] = 5

Wildbow

As the car pulls to a stop, Gail can see more clearly- the gory remains of the goblin that had
been under the car. The suit and gas mask it wore hadn't been to keep anything out, apparently,
but to keep something in. Even with a hundred feet separating you from it, you can smell it - the
rancid odor of a fart distilled ten times over.

Further back, moving from light to dark, the box-headed figure approaches at a steady walk.
Past the cuffs of his long-tailed coat are shackles, and past the shackles are what look like traps
meant to be worn over the hands, twisting fingers in awkward ways and directions, such that
they almost curl backward. There are pins worked beneath fingernails, which only add to the
leverage of the hand-traps. He's flanked by two more goblins.

One skinny and female, limp breasts tied in a knot, hammers, screwdrivers and other tools
wedged into the folds and spaces between the knotted flesh, a heavy hooded too-heavy coat
that trails on the ground behind her as she walks, pockets filled with more things.

The other goblin beside the box-headed figure is potbellied, a face more like a beak, with
forehead and nose jutting out, a monocle set in one eye. He holds a cane in one hand and a
gun in the other.

Camtist|Gail

...fuck it.

"I can do you one better," Gail replies, shoving her way towards the front of the car.

She scrapes the Tainted Black King in a rough circle around the general front area,
encompassing the dashboard and trying to make it as large as she possibly can.

"I can make a passage, but it'll be dark, rough, and dangerous. It's fast, space-warping, but do
not stop moving in it."

Then she hits the space with the King, hard as she can, trying to form a Dark Passage.

A quick bit of math flies through her head, trying to estimate and will it to go forward just under
thirty seconds of travel ahead of them.

"That's the best I’ve got for getting out of here."

CG|Jojo
Jojo doesn't wait to see the results of what Gail is trying. She's not like him where all her spells
took a huge incantation and a million other preparations. He trusted it would work. He grabs at
Bea's hand with one, still wielding the blade of taint in his other.

"Follow me, i dont know if you're going to be able to see what she's making." He says, already
getting ready to take off.

Wildbow

The rough black line scratched into the dashboard becomes the perimeter of a hole. It seems at
first to lead into the space where the airbag should be, into the engine compartment- and what
little you can see of the sides of the tunnel look like a match to that environment - but it extends
a little bit too deep, and it looks a little bit too dark.

"Okay," Bea says, to Jojo. "If you did end up taking the spot meant for Raph or me, and this is
what it's about, I'm thankful. Merci."

It's meant as a joke, but the humor is barely there.

Camtist|Gail

Gail shoves the King back into her jacket, then grabs Jojo's hand with one of hers and Bea's
with the other.

Oddly enough, she also starts to hum a tune. It sounds like London Bridge, though slower, each
beat lasting as close to a second as she can manage.

With that tracking the time as best she can, the girl takes them and dives into the Passage.
She's going to drag these assholes through if she has to.

Wildbow

The space is narrow, and there's really no room for any of you to crawl shoulder to shoulder, let
alone walk. Your hands find oil stains and sharp edges as you crawl. Here and there, there are
openings, gaps, side paths. It's really up to you when or where you want to push out, or how
long you wish to stay in.

CG|Jojo

For once Jojo lets Gail drag him for once.

"You're welcome." Jojo says to Bea dryly as they dive into the breach.
"You can find a way to make it up to me if we make it through this." A joke with just as little
humor as Bea's.

As they're dropped down into the small space Jojo gasps.

"Gail?! What is this? Where do we go?"

Camtist|Gail

Gail leads them, humming all the while, heading as straight forwards as she can.

When she thinks she has around three more seconds before that small chance for very bad
things, the girl pushes upwards, struggling and clawing with her free hand, looking to make a
Fissues or doorway to get them back out.

Wildbow

((How many seconds total - just three?))

Camtist|Gail

((27 total. Three till the 30 second mark is hit)

Wildbow

Wet cardboard moves under Gail's hand, and a rat that was bedding beneath cardboard
scratches at her hand as she pushes, before immediately fleeing. There's a gap above, but it
leads to a space beneath a car, where every few inches of movement is tight. Gail can bring her
head out and breathe again, see again, but because exiting is hard, Jojo and Bea beneath her
remain below for several seconds.

((Ath check))

Camtist|Gail

((For Gail?))

Wildbow

((For Gail))
Camtist|Gail

((May I pop Black Veins?))

Wildbow

((You can, but it may make noise))

Camtist|Gail

((I'll go without it, then))

$roll 1d6 Ath

[ATM]

Camtist|Gail "Ath" [1] = 1

Wildbow

Gail's progress moving beneath the car is slow, which keeps Jojo and Bea waiting in the tunnel.

((1d100, Jojo))

Camtist|Gail

((Forgot the -1, so that's a 0 btw))

CG|Jojo

$roll 1d100 Wtf

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Wtf" [61] = 61

Wildbow

$roll 1d100 Bea

[ATM]

Wildbow "Bea" [72] = 72

Wildbow

Not all that far behind you, you can hear the car door slam, glass tinkling to the road.

Distant voices can be heard. "-killed Grundlehuffer."

Camtist|Gail

((What are our current positions, in respect to the tunnel and car we're under?))

CG|Jojo

Jojo patiently waits beneath Gail's feet stuck in this strange and frankly scary place, hoping that
she'll hurry up just the slightest bit so he and Bea can come up after her.

Wildbow

((Tunnel opens up to face the dead center of the car's underbelly. Behind you is Jojo and behind
Jojo is Bea.))

Camtist|Gail

((kk))

CG|Jojo

As he hears the voices, he tries to wheel around and fails due to the cramped space.

"Gail! I hear them behind us, I think they're coming. Or we're going back..." He warns her in a
hasty hissed whisper.

Wildbow

((To clarify- 'behind' in this context is further down the road, at the car you abandoned))
Camtist|Gail

"We need to get out," she whispers back, struggling to get out from under the car, preferably
away from the voices.

She does not want to risk being in there any more.

Once she does manage to shimmy from underneath, she'll try to reach back and help the others
get through. She especially tries to stay as quiet as possible.

Wildbow

((Ath check))

Camtist|Gail

$roll 1d6-1 Ath

[ATM]

Camtist|Gail "Ath" [4] -1 = 3

Wildbow

The way forward is slow, but Gail makes some progress this time- not quite enough to clear the
way for Jojo or Bea to get up and out.

((Roll 1d100, Jojo))

$roll 1d100 Bea

[ATM]

Wildbow "Bea" [14] = 14

CG|Jojo

$roll 1d100

[ATM]
CG|Jojo [2] = 2

Wildbow

$roll 1d6

[ATM]

Wildbow [3] = 3

Wildbow

$roll 1d190

[ATM]

Wildbow [67] = 67

Wildbow

$roll 1d7

[ATM]

Wildbow [6] = 6

Wildbow

On the sloped floor of the tunnel, Jojo seeks a foothold to avoid sliding back down in case his
grip slips. His foot finds a crevice, and a thin band of what looks like the reel from an old
cassette tape. The more his foot moves, the more the reel digs into his hamstring, like it's going
to saw his foot off.

CG|Jojo

Jojo screams in pain, stopping his movement immediately as he feels it. But then he's stuck and
Bea is behind him.
The pick is still in his hand, and rather than trying to pull his foot out more and actually get it
chopped off, he slashes at the reel with his dark icicle trying to free himself.

Camtist|Gail

((How audible is the scream?))

Wildbow

$roll 3d6

[ATM]

Wildbow [1] [2] [6] = 9

Wildbow

Gail isn't sure, but the goblin with the monocle seems to have heard the noise, his head turning.
The box-headed figure and the female goblin are talking, getting the fat goblin that rode the
wheel to his feet, and the monocle goblin doesn't seem interested in interfering.

Within the tunnel, Jojo uses the icicle, and finds it works much as a fragile makeshift knife would
work in the real world. The reel cuts fairly easily, and it snaps like an elastic...

Except the snap isn't away, freeing his foot. The reel slips into the cut, and up the femoral artery
at his inner thigh with a lancing, razor-edge pain.

It travels its lightning-bolt route, the reel feeding in until exhausted, the start of the reel finding its
way up to heart, up neck, and to brain. Five or six excruciating seconds later, the last of the reel
makes its way to brain as well, tangling itself there like the worst headache he's ever had.

He sees flickering images, like feed from a video, and he hears a broken-up, staccato voice that
sounds faintly familiar. Then all seems well again.

Camtist|Gail

That's it. The time for stealth is over.

Gail goes apeshit where she is, painting the area, creating Fissures to blow the car the fuck up,
causing as much destruction and ruin and Taint as she possibly can to get them out of here.

Damn the consequences.

CG|Jojo

The pain causes Jojo's screams to ratchet to an ear wrenching level as he loses the ability to
control his volume. Its the worst thing he's ever felt in his life.

The screaming is interspersed by a sobbing cry, with no care for wiping the tears or snot away
as they stream down his face.

She was making him cry like her dad made the mayor cry, he thinks disconnectedly and the cry
turns into a nervous laughter that becomes mad as the pain disappears.

"Its inside me, Gail. It went in my leg..." He moans sounding tortured.

Wildbow

Gail uses her fissures, and they do more damage to the car than they did to Nathan's hand,
doubly so as the taint chases its way into the vehicle and magnifies the damage done. The car
is shifted, and an open path is created- and both the goblins and box-headed man are alerted.

Camtist|Gail

"Get out of there!" Gail screams at the two below.

She gathers up more glass powder and throws it between them and the enemies, looking to
Cast Down and make a field of pain there.

"Run!"

CG|Jojo

Jojo isn't even really thinking much anymore, the ghost of a painful sensation still licking at his
ankle. It’s what pushes him up as he goes to follow Gail upwards, instinct driving him up out of
the hole and it closes his grip tightly around the weapon. Ready to lash out at anyone who fucks
with him.

Wildbow

$roll 1d100 Bea is the last one out

[ATM]

Wildbow "Bea is the last one out" [41] = 41

Wildbow

Bea follows Jojo out, and retreats back in the direction of the house- it's in view, only a short jog
away.

Gail's power affects the road, turning it from an ordinary street in Montreal, one-way as so many
(too many) roads in Montreal are, to something out of an apocalypse film, where every square
foot has a crack, divot, or pothole. Jagged corners lift up here and there, the footing clearly
unsteady.

The monocle goblin aims his slapshod gun and fires-

$roll 1d6

[ATM]

Wildbow [4] = 4

Wildbow

((Ath roll, Gail))

Camtist|Gail

$roll 1d6-1 Ath

[ATM]

Camtist|Gail "Ath" [2] -1 = 1

Wildbow

The projectile, fat and ungainly, catches her in the shoulder. What looks like a gun was modified
to fire a crossbow bolt with a half-dead rat impaled arse-to-mouth by it. The wound looks grisly
and the rat struggles and scratches, making initial attempts to pull it free or staunch the wound
difficult.

Camtist|Gail

((How far are the enemies?))

Wildbow

((~100 feet away))

Camtist|Gail

Gail grabs the rat and Fissures it with a short, breathy shriek.

"Get to the house!" she yells, her voice now definitely hoarse.

She has Black Veins on the cusp of her mind, ready and waiting for another shot as she follows
the others.

CG|Jojo

Jojo curses at the fact that they're so far from him when he wants to tear them to shreds, but a
logical part of him that still exists in his mind hears Gail and turns to move in the direction she's
indicating, though his weapon is still raised and ready as he runs.

Wildbow

Jojo's retreat is limping, but Bea offers him a helping hand, and it's not as though the goblins or
the box-headed man are much faster on the broken ground.

You reach the front door, and as you get there, you see a heavy keypad with an icon on it where
the lock should be- a stick figure with square for a head, a diagonal slash for the body, and
horizontal and vertical slashes for arms and legs. Three buttons- blue, green, red.

When you look back, you see the box-headed man, arms outstretched.

Camtist|Gail

((Am I there?))

Wildbow

((All three of you are there - Gail, Jojo, Bea))

CG|Jojo
"Fuck you!" Jojo screams, slashing at the lock on the door and then turning to lash at the
outstretched arms as well not caring if they're close enough to hit. Just wanting to do something
to the motherfucker.

Camtist|Gail

Oh fuck that.

Gail joins in, throwing glass powder at the door to bend it to her will.

"Open!" she screams, willing it so.

Wildbow

The spike doesn't scratch the lock, but the power directed at the door does do some damage-
not to the lock, but to the surrounding door.

CG|Jojo

Jojo turns away from the door, looking for the first open window, and breaks it open, sweeping
the rest of the glass out of the way with his coat.

"Get in!" He screams at the two. If they need to destroy something to get in he'd rather get the
window than the door.

He can repair it later if he finds some glass, right now getting in is important

Wildbow

((Who's going in through the window?))

Camtist|Gail

If the window is open, then Gail will shove Bea through first, then try and drag Jojo in next.

She has other ways to get in, if need be.

Wildbow

((Any objections, Cogo?))

Camtist|Gail

((If he does, then Gail will comply. Speed is of the essence))

CG|Jojo

((Im fine with that order, but he's gonna make sure he tries to pull in gail after if he sees she isn't
coming))

Wildbow

((Wits checks))

Camtist|Gail

((She's going to try and follow them in last))

CG|Jojo

$roll 1d6 Wits

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Wits" [6] = 6

Wildbow

((Good enough)) The pair of you help Bea inside, and Jojo is quick to follow. As Gail gets ready,
however, Jojo notes the shift in the window- the slide of something above. Reflexively, he's
quick to push Gail's hands away, before a sheet of what looks to be plexiglass slams down like
a guillotine. The letter 'E' is engraved in it.

For the moment, Gail is outside, the others inside.

Camtist|Gail

Gail quickly stomps twice, screaming with whatever is pitifully left of her voice, in order to make
two Fissures. She has them loop up the wall, making a rough doorway shape, then punches it
again with the Tainted King.
Another Dark Passage. This one just to get inside the house, and away from the enemies.

Wildbow

((Where are the fissures relative to the window?))

CG|Jojo

As Gail goes about setting up her Dark Passage and disappears Jojo immediately scrambles
running for the closest piece of glass he can remember is in the house, preparing it to repair the
windows the same way he had Santy's eyes.

Camtist|Gail

((On the nearest surface that is both away from it and the lock on the door. Probably a wall just
a couple feet away))

Wildbow

The fissures race up the wall and they form a wide aperture. Gail slips through, passing through
the 'door' with a bit of the Dark Passage practice. Fissures recede, but not all the way, and the
wall remains damaged behind her.

"What did you need from the house?" Bea asks. "Because I don't think we're in a position to
stay."

CG|Jojo

Not finding anything immediately and hearing Bea's voice he realizes they probably don't even
have time for him to fix everything." They're supposed to have a store of books, or secret magic
stuff hidden away somewhere. Did they have any rooms are areas they told you and Raph to
stay away from, or kept hidden?" He asks her, still looking for glass in the off chance a repair will
help hold them off for a few seconds.

It seems like the monster has already compromised his house though...

Wildbow

((Misread that as you taking glass from the broken window, sorry))
CG|Jojo

He curses to himself, still on edge, the memory of the reel going into his leg still fresh on his
mind.

((No worries))

Wildbow

"Nothing hidden that I know of," Bea says. "There's their office, at the back, which we aren't
supposed to go in."

The interior of the house, as Gail looks around, is modern art deco, though the bones of the
house are old, with paint layered over walls to the point they have their unique texture. The
current coat of paint in the front hall and stairwell going upstairs is a blending of colors like one
might be used to seeing in a sunset. The pieces of decoration are old fashioned but beautiful,
with an eye to bright colors to contrast the muted shades of old, solid furniture.

CG|Jojo

"If you weren't supposed to go there, then that's the best bet." Jojo says already striking a path
for where their office is.

"Bea if you could grab some suitcases or luggage that would be amazing." He says, though he
doesn't sound enthusiastic or postitive about it at all.

Camtist|Gail

" A gun would be great," Gail says, watching the walls.

She's tempted to Cast Down the damaged section of wall, but fears that that would just reduce
their time, and make for an even worse weak point.

Instead, she follows after Jojo, intent on avoiding being split off and picked apart.

Wildbow

The office is at the back of the main floor. As you start in that direction, you can hear the
plexiglass guillotines slamming shut at each of the windows at the front. A sound like a metal
shutter at the door follows, and that in turn is followed by a dull impact. The heavyset goblin has
thrown itself at the plexiglass, presses its pube-beard face against the cloudy surface, extending
two tongues to lick at it.
The room is sunny, with multiple windows to shed light during the day, and a view of the
backyard - not something all people in this area of Montreal have. Stout bookshelves no taller
than your shoulders line many of the walls, and two desks sit in opposite corners, each with a
laptop on them. The bookshelf by Irene Justafort's desk has dolls sitting at the one side..

"I don't know where the luggage is," Bea says. "I think Raph took it all with when he moved out
to the college last fall, and he hasn't brought it back."

CG|Jojo

"Do you have backpacks nearby, anything?" He asks her quickly, going to approach the dolls
with haste. Their own traps were keeping them out for the time being but it was only a matter of
time before they found a way in, and then things would get crazy again. Jojo grits his teeth as
he approaches the desk with the two dolls next to each other and views them and the room with
the sight trying his best to see what kind of failsafe they might have put in place to hide things.

Wildbow

Viewing the dolls with Sight, Jojo can see them looking at him. Viewed normally, they stare
forward, at a wall.

Camtist|Gail

"...we might need to use another Dark Passage," Gail says, eyeing the effects that are trapping
them in. "Jojo should go first if we do, and maybe we can sneak from there."

CG|Jojo

"No." Jojo snaps suddenly.

Camtist|Gail

"It-" she starts, then stops from the interruption.

CG|Jojo

"I'm not going in one of those again." He says, sounding bitter not at her, but instinctively as he
approaches the doll.
Camtist|Gail

The girl just goes quiet from there.

CG|Jojo

He leaves his sight on as he tries to turn to the dolls in the sight to face the wall instead of him,
experimenting to see if their gaze follow him again. They were the key, but what were they
doing?

Camtist|Gail

She starts looking for more dust or particulate matter to use, in case her glass starts running
out.

Wildbow

((Wits check, both))

Camtist|Gail

$roll 1d6 Wits

[ATM]

Camtist|Gail "Wits" [5] = 5

CG|Jojo

$roll 1d6 Wits

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Wits" [5] = 5

Wildbow

Gail's searches turn up a blackboard at the far end of the office. Though the room is spotless,
the chalk from the blackboard has accumulated to a small handful, with more condensed in the
hand-brush for wiping it clean. A reminder is on the board in chalk - 'Consult Mme.Holt, Sat
Night' The dolls are, when investigate, merely tracking Jojo. One blinks, but the movable eyelids
aren't quite in the best shape, so they're out of sync.

Something slams down at the front of the house. Whatever's occurring, it's starting at the front
and moving back.

"There are bags upstairs, um, but we'd have to pass by the front door and I don't want to get
close. There's shopping bags in the kitchen," Bea suggests.

CG|Jojo

"Gail can you take her to get them while I try to figure this out? We need to take as much as we
can if they're going to ruin the fucking house..." He curses to himself. Damn it all. He turns to the
dolls, a sort of spiteful energy creeping up into him.

"By the spirits I see two pitiful dolls..." He starts, spitting the words.

"I see them marred by lack of use, they aren't properly maintained, and the people who created
them are dead" He says with a tone of voice like he's personally cursing those dolls.

"The practitioners who created this effect are no longer capable and I have taken their place. I
declare their work, finished on these dolls." He finishes with magnanimity.

Camtist|Gail

Gail heads off without another word, still keeping an eye on the effects around them.

She tries to keep Jojo within her line of sight, or do her task in the kitchen as fast as possible to
avoid splitting up too much.

Wildbow

((Not 100% on what you're going for, I'm afraid, Cogo/Jojo))

CG|Jojo

((Ties unbound, driving ownership apart rather than linking things))

((To diminish the effect rather than create one))

Wildbow
It doesn't appear as though there's anything tying the dolls to their onetime owners. No ties to
sever. Whatever power they possess or whatever drives them, it's in the dolls themselves.

"Scary amount of scary being thrown about," Bea tells Gail, as she opens the cabinet under the
sink and grabs fistfuls of plastic bags.

Camtist|Gail

"This might just be the tip of the iceberg," she replies, grabbing up some bags as well.

And if there's one readily nearby, she'll grab the biggest kitchen knife she can find and shove
into her jacket pocket as well.

"Metaphorically speaking."

Camtist|Gail

((shove it into))

Wildbow

((Yeah, knives and a kitchen make natural sense. Unsheathed knives in pockets are a little
hazardous though))

Camtist|Gail

((Little bit. She'll grab it anyways))

CG|Jojo

"This is bullshit!" Jojo curses in frustration to the room, and at the dolls. Motherfuckers. He turns
and looks around at the wall they're staring at without the sight. It couldn't be as easy as a
switch or secret entrance could it?

If there's nothing there he scours the titles on the books on the shelves, and around the laptops
for any information that would help him through aside from bulldozing his way through the walls
Gail style.

Wildbow

Some of the books are ordinary, or are dictionaries, or are old editions of phonebooks. But
others have titles that draw the eye. Musterings I with the subheading: Distillations, Prisms, and
Lenses for Martial and Social Purposes. Musterings II with the subheading: Filters, redirections,
patterns, Schooling and Creativity. The second book looks far more worn. There's a book called
Hallows- a familiar word, and Pandora's Hundreds sits amid business texts. Dolls: A Treatise.
Icons and Symbols. Animations and Adaptations.

The two girls return with the bags, Gail with a knife in her pocket.

CG|Jojo

Jojo points out the important books to Gail, and Bea. "Grab those, please. I'm gonna check the
laptops." He tells them quickly, already trying to log into the closest one for information.

Camtist|Gail

Gail starts shoving books randomly into the bags, going fast enough that she only really checks
to make sure they're anywhere remotely magic-sounding before dumping the next one in.

Wildbow

((Wits check, Gail- going to assume you're starting from the other end of the room))

Camtist|Gail

She keeps an eye on the weight as well. Can't be weighed down too much, unfortunately. $roll
1d6 Wits

[ATM]

Camtist|Gail "Wits" [2] = 2

Camtist|Gail

((I am starting wherever Jojo pointed))

Wildbow

It seems as though the laptop is password protected, Jojo finds. As he watches, graphical
glitches begin to creep across the screen. The wallpaper -old fashioned dolls- and the login
screen begin to be replaced by the same symbol that was engraved on the puzzle on the front
door.
CG|Jojo

$roll 1d6 Brawn

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Brawn" [6] = 6

CG|Jojo

Jojo slams the laptop screen so hard he breaks it.

"Are you fucking serious?!"

Wildbow

((I like the ordering of that))

((Like, everyone knew what that brawn roll was))

CG|Jojo

He throws the laptop down to the ground, destroying it, and it feels kind of good.

Camtist|Gail

((XD))

CG|Jojo

The icicle is still in his hand, and Jojo spins on his heels a dangerous look in his eyes.

He slowly begins stalking back to the front door, Icicle brandished, glaring at the doors. He stops
at the top of the steps.

"You wanna play a game motherfucker?!"

"COME HERE!" He screams tearing his throat raw at the front door.

Camtist|Gail
Gail hears the shouts, and realizes something.

Jojo is one of the most impatient and impulsive people she's ever met.

...so he's probably about to fight them, isn't he?

She drops her books, heads over, and takes a look at what he's shouting at.

"...are we switching tracks?" she asks, getting out the knife and running her finger along its
edge.

Tainting it.

CG|Jojo

"I'm done!" Jojo spits. "This is my house." He grunts making his way at a slow but steady speed
to a place where he can chop and stab them into pieces when they manage to enter the estate.

Camtist|Gail

"Alright," Gail replies.

Gail follows downstairs, grabbing up some now chalky glass powder in one hand.

She looks for the nearest wall to collapse down there so that they can get outside.

Wildbow

There's no response from the other side of the door, but one goblin at the plexiglass window
seems to be pressing genitals to the flat surface, creating macabre shapes and shadows, with
moist trails left after. The door has a puzzle over the knob and lock, barring the exit, and the
damage to the wall has some material now filling in the gaps.

Seeing you, the goblin at the window hoots and accelerates his movements, which draws the
attention of his kin - smaller ones without clothes, or with scant articles, like a sock worn as a
hat with holes cut out for ears. Many have tools.

CG|Jojo

Jojo walks up and tries to stab right through the plexiglass straight for the lewd creatures dick
and nutsack that it's so proud of.

He doesn't say anything as he does it, his eyes narrowed and vitorolic
Camtist|Gail

Gail is a step behind, waiting for a shoe to drop, so to speak.

Wildbow

The blade, abstract as it is, dances off the plexiglass- little more effective than any other knife
would be against bulletproof glass. The goblin cackles and laughs.

"Wanna fight!?" he screeches, barely audible with the thick material separating you.

CG|Jojo

Jojo glares at the creature wanting to jump at it through the glass. He looks it in the eyes as he
backs away several steps, not moving them even as the thing shoves its penis up against the
glass. When he's a charge's distance away from the wall, he pauses, adopting a fighting stance,
blad upraised.

"Bea!" Jojo calls up to his cousin. "Don't come out until its quiet, we're going to handle
business." He says, all seriousness, and then without looking at Gail, he addresses her.

Wildbow

"Go 'round back! We've already got most everyone waiting there! Gonna have to fight yer way
out anyway!" the goblin screeches.

CG|Jojo

"Drop the wall on them, Gail." Jojo commands.

Fuck doing it their way.

Camtist|Gail

Gail takes a fistful and casts it wide, looking to cover as much of the front of the house as she
can.

While some may be controlled, she tries to get the cracks. The bits in between the openings,
any unaffected part there may be.

And with it, there is only one command to give.

"Fall!" she shouts at it, willing as much of the damn house as she can to collapse on the goblins.
((In case you didn't see in the other channel: I would like to use my white mark to boost the
Puissance of that, please))

Wildbow

With the initial instruction, Gail pushes her power out into the face of the building, into the layers
and the materials, into everything that hasn't been invaded by the box-headed man's power.
And it comes down - chunks, like falling rubble.

((Using Puissance, yeah - was going to make a notation))

Camtist|Gail

((Awesome, thanks))

Wildbow

With the extra push, drawing on the fact that she has less to her, less mundane, ordinary things,
less attachment to the real world, she finds some more strength- an untapped reserve. There's
an openness to accepting all of this that, even with how jaded she is after her rough childhood,
allows for that push. Eighty or ninety percent of the front of the house falls or slides from it, a
localized avalanche that catches the goblins still at the front of the house.

The noise and the violence draw screeches and shouts from goblins- audible now that there's
so little in the way of material blocking sounds. Just plexiglass construction and wire meshes,
and plastic panels that somehow seem to have survived where nails didn't.

You've killed several and created a distraction, drawing the ones from the back of the house
forward. It doesn't seem there are any apertures. His power claimed too much of this region.

CG|Jojo

There's a moment that starts like a jerk of bad feeling in Jojo's belly that extends for long
moments as he watches his house go down... But then, as he really thinks about it...

This wasn't really his home anyway.

He glances back at where Bea had been and grimaces, but there's a feeling of satisfaction in
Jojo as he hears and watches the goblins go down. He's already turning, strolling towards
where the other Goblins are charging to meet him...

"You ready, Gail?" He asks her, even though he's not one hundred percent sure he is himself.
Camtist|Gail

((Is the way past the front still blocked?))

Wildbow

((Yep - taken over by box-head's power - there's the rear, and the puzzle lock on the front door))

Camtist|Gail

Gail doesn't seem too certain either. They have an escape route, a majority of their chasers are
probably dead, and staying could mean being boxed in without any way out. Or at least, no way
that Jojo would take.

"To all who can hear, my name is Gail Neumann!" she shouts out among the rubble. "First child
of Robert Neumann!"

"I have murdered your comrades! I have brought ruin to what I touch! To where I step!"

"Face me if you dare, and know that I will give no mercy! No quarter! If I am able, then I will
send those here to the deepest, darkest parts of the Abyss itself!"

Whether or not the threat works, they should probably run now.

Wildbow

Through the blurred windows -blurrier with the dust from the fallen materials, you can make out
the massed goblins - ten or twelve in total, now gathered in the front yard. Some jump or climb
up to the windows, pressing against them, trying to make threatening gestures or bait you out
the front door. The front of the house still stands, but the portions that do are purely the box
headed man's - a thin sheet of materials that resist being broken that had formed within the
bones of the house. Even now, as you hear something at the kitchen window, it sounds like it's
creeping around the side. You have your distraction- or you have your enemy mostly gathered
for a confrontation at the front of the building.

CG|Jojo

Hearing the sound moving the side, and watching the goblins mass in front of his home Jojo is
faced with a choice. He's still angry and some of the irrationality that comes with it is still with
him, screaming at him to charge out to meet them, but...

Bea and Gail were still here. And even if he was fine with dying trying to fight them, he couldn't
make that choice for them too.
"Gail. I have never really wanted to hurt anyone before, but I want to kill boxhead and his
Goblins. But I can't make you stay with me, you've done a ton for me already..." He pauses,
forcing himself to continue.

"There are only a dozen or so left and then him. I think we can take them, but I'm not going to
make you keep going, we have a way out it looks like. What do you want to do?"

I can't...*

Camtist|Gail

"Run," is all her hoarse, probably damaged voice can get out at this point.

There's not much more screaming left in her, and they have their chance now.

With that, she turns and heads back to grab as many bags as she can.

Their window is now.

CG|Jojo

With a sigh Jojo nods his head, forcing as much aggression as he can get out in a huff.

All that had happened was he'd lost his house, he'd had some strange thing go into his brain,
and he wasn't going to get nearly any of the stuff he was supposed to coming to the damn
place. Nobody sees him as he follows behind, making sure to stop and grab whatever books he
can find that they'd left. He turns to flee, but pauses eyeing the dolls and tossing them in the
bags too. He shakes his head as he gives the room one last look, going to escape with his
cousin and Gail.

Camtist|Gail

"We can try stealth again," Gail says as she gathers what she can, "It's our best bet. No major
time limit on making it back, so long as there's nothing chasing us while they deal with that
distraction."

"...and for what it's worth, I am really, really sorry," she says, glancing at Jojo.

Once again, the girl feels a decent bit nauseous.

Wildbow

The way through the back isn't entirely clear. Bea yelps as she sees the goblins - one hung back
because he was injured, the other because she was dismantling the barbecue. It's the one Jojo
gouged by the car wheel, with a wound at his shoulder, which seems to have become infected
in a very short span of time. Neither is looking your way, and the female goblin looks
preoccupied by her furtive looks around the corner, where the others ran between the neighbor's
house and the Justafort house, to get to the front.

CG|Jojo

Jojo grits his teeth, he holds up a hand to the other two, and then moves as quietly as he can,
moving as close as he can to their backs before they notice him, and then trying to finish the job
on the goblin.

Wildbow

((Ath & Dex))

CG|Jojo

$roll 1d6 Ath

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Ath" [2] = 2

CG|Jojo

$roll 1d6+2 Dex

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Dex" [2] +2 = 4

Wildbow

((Reroll one because you've snuck around for graffiti?))

CG|Jojo

$roll 1d6+2 Dex Reroll

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Dex Reroll" [6] +2 = 8

Wildbow

The spike slides into the throat of the beard-pube goblin, severing vitals. He scrabbles at his belt
for something, then goes limp, slipping to the ground. The one at the barbecue seems unaware.
You could try dealing with her, or try slipping away.

CG|Jojo

Jojo is shocked at how much he gets out of ending the goblin's life. Being a Practioner was
already bringing a side out of him that he didn't like much. But all the Practioner adults he'd met
were apparently assholes too. Maybe it came with the job description.

Jojo eyes the other two, seeing what they're trying to do. He can just as easily sneak towards or
away from her, but it might be easier to slip away if he doesn't finish the job immediately.

Camtist|Gail

Gail waits and hangs back, having Jojo take the lead here. Almost all of her stuff would be too
loud to deal with the last one, most likely.

CG|Jojo

Seeing them waiting on him, Jojo nods and goes to take the last goblin out, praying the whole
way as he creeps up to her. This time he goes for a slice across unwitting throat.

$roll 1d6 Ath

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Ath" [4] = 4

CG|Jojo

$roll 1d6+2 Dex?

[ATM]
CG|Jojo "Dex?" [1] +2 = 3

CG|Jojo

$roll 1d6+2 Dex if Grafitti applies

[ATM]

CG|Jojo "Dex if Grafitti applies" [3] +2 = 5

Wildbow

She lurks on the barbecue, gripping the lid while leaning as far back as she can to peer around
the corner. As she leans forward, turning her eyes to her project, she leans right into the blade
of distilled taint, and her throat is parted. She lands in soft snow.

Camtist|Gail

With that, Gail heads out into the backyard, following behind Jojo wherever he's gonna go.

"...thank you," she murmurs to him, very quiet.

Wildbow

((Good to end here? Last statements/actions?))

Camtist|Gail

((I'd like to see if Cogo has any last bits, but that's about it for me))

CG|Jojo

Jojo only gives Gail a soft nod before he wordlessly gestures to the others, only granting the
fallen Goblin a last glance. He gives what was his new, and now his old home a final glance. A
sad one.

"Bea, if you'd like to come with us the Sanctuary has some room for you for now." Jojo says
quietly to her, before turning to head off.
"Hopefully at least something we got was worth it." He says, but then he looks at Bea. His
cousin was alive for now, though he'd dragged her into it. Still its nice to have family with him,
even if she barely counted as family before.

"Let's go home."