Infinite IC

[The_Admiral]

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Hello, you must be Mr and Mrs Groden, sorry for intruding in your life. I kinda lost my job and my house. Your son Melvin, offered me a place I could crash at until I got back to my feet. I kinda felt guilty for imposing on your family like this so, this is to sooth my conscience. John says, sadly shrugging.

OOC: ALL OF THIS IS TRUE!

[crazydude369]

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OOC: Can I create an illusory warrant too?

[Julian84]

Necron:

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That… was not a good thing to say.

Wendy angrily pulls out of his grasp. “DO YOU THINK I JUST LET HIM GRAB ME?! THERE WAS A CROWD, HE SAW ME FIRST, AND HE HAD THUGS WAITING JUST IN CASE THINGS DID GO WRONG! AND FOR THAT MATTER, WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HIM?! HUH?! THOSE POLICEMEN COULD HAVE RUN HIM DOWN! OR HERE’S AN IDEA, YOU COULD HAVE JUST LET HIM WIN THE FIRST TIME AND GONE TO PRISON, YOU COULD HAVE LEFT AT ANY TIME, RIGHT?! YOU LEFT ME HERE WITH HIM, SO JUST SHUT UP YOU INSENSITIVE ****!” she sobs and desperately pulls away.

C_O:

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Mr. Groden and his wife stare at each other for a second. “Well. Ok. Um. Come inside.”

They go in. In the living room Melvin is sleeping on a couch, snoring slightly.

In the kitchen, Veronica is sitting at a table, looking very disheveled and eating a bowl of cereal. She sees the three new arrivals and just stares, a spoonful of cheerios in her mouth.

“Erm… Hello…” She mutters around the spoon.

Crazydude:

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OOC: Yeah, you could, but you’d have to roll a bluff check.

[The_Admiral]

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Sure, let me just put this away first says John, motioning to the lawnmower.

Putting away the lawnmower, he walks into the awkward situation in the kitchen, pausing for a while he says, Eeer, how about we all just sit down and wait for Melvin to wake up so we all can explain it coherently unless you have any questions that we can answer without his help.

[crazydude369]

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OOC: Aha! Something I'm not terrible at!
Bluff: (1d20+5)[6]

Adam adds to his illusion, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket. "Please watch your attitude ma'am. Here's the warrant.

[Julian84]

C_O:

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Mr. Groden coughs. “Well, perhaps you can explain why this young lady is here. Your wife?”

Veronica turns a lovely shade of red at that.

Crazydude:

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She raises an eyebrow. “I think you should leave before I call security.”

Time to switch tactics.

[crazydude369]

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"Alright, screw this! I'm sick of crap always getting in my way! No more Mr. nice guy!" Adam quickly walks out in a huff, drops his illusion, then walks back in. He then conjures a new image down the hall, a terrifying visage: a large scaly monster, with 6 arms each with large very sharp looking claws, it breathes flames that exude a horrible smelling green gas, and has several dozen eyes, like that of an insect. Immediately after it forms, Adam points and gives a terrified look, shouting, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!" as the creature stalks down the hallway.

OOC: How's that for a new tactic?

[bladesmith]

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"Does life ever feel like just one big wild goose chase to you, Mufasa? Maybe today is just one of those days."

Hajime kept jogging towards the nearest bridge, thinking as he ran. After all the mornings spent jogging, it was pretty easy to keep his mind going. Getting it focused was another matter entirely. A half mile was spent wondering how good of an idea riding Mufasa was. Two miles went by as he tried to figure out how someone ended up with gray skin. The one thing that kept coming back up was how he might find those guys. Usually, he could count on giant metal sphinxes causing a terrible ruckus, possibly with ambulances or news helicopters. The city was quiet, though, far too quiet for how weird things were getting. He'd probably just have to wander around blindly. As was quickly becoming his modus operandi.
What would Batman do?

[Julian84]

Crazydude:

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Pretty darn effective.

The lady screams and runs off in terror, along with a dozen other people. Her desk will at least have references for where Adam can find what he needs.

Flipping through it, he finds where the records for them are being kept: ICU main desk.

Bladesmith:

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Mufasa growls quietly in response.

As they near the bridge, Hajime realizes why the city seems so empty:

Everybody is trying to leave. The two duck into an alley, spying the huge traffic jam, horns beeping and people yelling as they jockey into position to leave. There’s no way Mufasa will get through unnoticed.

[crazydude369]

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Adam smiles and nods. "Finally some results. I may not like those chaotic *******s, but I guess sometimes their methods do get results."
He has his new creation head towards the ICU, following behind it.

[bladesmith]

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Right. These were the smart people. Hopefully, his parents were in there, and he'd find a note on the kitchen counter when he got home. That was the hope. Probably not the way it was, but he could hope. Either way, he had to get over there, and at this point, he wasn't really caring about appearances. Unfortunately, that was his problem. Not only was he not all that nice looking when powering up, but he'd also been on TV. If he showed his face, he'd probably be running from the police. So, he looked over the bridge, trying to gauge if he and Mufasa could swim it, balance or climb beneath it, or some other way of getting across without being spotted. If not, well, he could always just make a run for it.

[Julian84]

Crazydude:

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Fun fact: People clear out fast when they encounter a giant eldritch monster from the 4th dimension. Adam has no trouble reaching the main desk.

Pulling the files, he learns a couple of things:

Melvin Groden:

Student, lives in Ottenstad, a suburb across the river, rich people town. He’s only a teen, no siblings, no major medical history, though there’s a red flag about genetic predisposition or something.

Interesting thing? His blood is loaded with so many toxic metals and elements he should be dead. Toxicology also found out he had been injected with a venom that caused paralysis and unconsciousness. Probably from the feral.

He also spies another Groden name amongst the files.

Gary Jesmond:

College student, nothing apparently odd. Lives in Boydstown, a suburb to the north, not far from where the concert was being held. He was taken to the hospital after being viciously assaulted by another student and oddly vomiting blood and collapsing. No explanation could be found for his vomiting or unconsciousness.

His blood is also filled with toxic elements, just like Groden’s.

Bladesmith:

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They could do any of the three, but climbing or walking across the bridge would still make them noticeable. To swim they just need to backtrack a bit and find a clearer area.

[bladesmith]

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He really didn't have time for this. Seemed like the direct route was the best route. Checking for a clear route(hopefully not involving running over people's cars, but its not out of the question), he began jogging towards the bridge, , then called out Mufasa as he broke into a run. At least with his face already being on TV, this wasn't some sort of huge reveal.

[The_Admiral]

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John's face turns a funny shade of red as he says No no no no no! She's just a friend who was injured and needed someplace to rest.

[Anecronwashere]

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"The police were in His pocket, not mine. I got out by forcing him to get them to release me. And I let him get away because I was more worried about ALMOST HAVING A CONCUSSION FROM BEING BEATEN! Not to mention WORRYING ABOUT YOU! You ran away at the first sign of trouble and I had no idea what happened it you, if you'd been arrested too or something else had happened. Why do you think I called you! I was going to meet up with you, see if I can shake off being repeatedly punched in the face by a football player and THEN worry about Theo."

[Julian84]

Bladesmith:

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Hajime and Mufasa share one last glance.

Go time.

GRMM

The two bound forward, leaping over the first wall of cars and weaving through the traffic, stepping off of hoods and leaping through the air as people point and gasp. They’re definitely making an impression. Hajime somersaults over a truck, deftly landing between two smaller cars and rolling, catching the shocked faces of the bystanders in the corner of his eye. Something about the action can't help but appeal to some deeper part of his nature.

He tacks off of an SUV, grabbing one of the cables of the suspension bridge to swing around and launch himself farther down the bridge as Mufasa follows behind, sliding and slipping through gaps like a shadow.

They finally make it over the bridge… but Mufasa still hasn’t caught a scent.

C_O:

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Melvin walks in, blearily rubbing his eyes. “Whazzup?”

He stops. “Oh. Uh. Hiiiii.”

Mr. Groden raises an eyebrow. “Hi, son. Something you’d like to share? Like, why you left the hospital?”

Melvin pauses. “Um. Yes. You see, there were some… meth addicts! They were raiding the hospital. And John, Veronica, and I escaped. From the meth addicts. They shut down the hospital. So we came here.”

Veronica is ever so slowly sinking down in her chair, desperately trying to disappear into the floor.

Necron:

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GRMM

Wendy just looks at him in shock. Emotions pour through her eyes, anger, resentment, betrayal, sorrow, despair, and finally settling on a look new to Gary:

Heartbreak.

She looks away, tears running down her cheeks, her mouth clamped shut.

[bladesmith]

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Well, at least there hadn't been a police roadblock or anything. All in all, he was still there. Now he just needed to keep heading west, then start asking around, find out if anyone had seen a giant flying robot-eagle-lion-man. No biggie.

Or maybe find a good high-spot and and see if they were still flying. Haj doubted they had left the city, so if he could get a good vantage point, he might spot something. He'd save the asking around for later. For now... A church steeple, or other tall building would do fine. Also, he'd have to try and ask Tye to give him some roof-jumping powers or something.

[The_Admiral]

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meth addicts? That's what you thought those guys were? I think they're terrorists. Meth addicts don't bring guns and explosives to the party. So yeah other than that, what your son's saying is correct. Well, what lost me my job also landed me in the hospital.

Quickly changing the subject he says nervously How about Veronica and I step out while Melvin explains what's going on, eh?

[Anecronwashere]

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"No, don't look at me like that, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, it's just... It's been a long day, for both of us. We might not have been through worse but we can survive this. You Are Strong Wendy, goddamit I hate being spontaneous I always stuff up if I can't think everything through. Wendy, please, I'm sorry for what I said, you're my best friend and...No, not right now, you mean nearly everything to me, I-I can't lose you, not your friendship not you. Nothing. I...I..."
Gary is fighting with himself, trying to work out if now is the best time to admit the feelings he is finally not trying to push away.
"I just can't lose you."

OOC: Feel free to make this more charismatic, I hve a -2 Diplomacy score in RL so I can't really bluff my way into charismatic characters.

[Julian84]

Bladesmith:

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Hajime climbs the steeple of an old catholic church, made of grey stone and very large. Reaching the top, he gets a pretty decent view of the city: The sun is beginning to set, illuminating the clouds and reflecting off the windows of the skyscrapers.

To the north there seems to be odd blobs flying around in circles, but it’s hard to tell from that distance.

C_O:

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Veronica nods gratefully and zooms by John, heading to the living room, plopping down on a couch, her knees drawn up to her chest.

“Oh god oh god oh god this isn’t good. What happened? The last thing I remember is… coldness… like someone stabbed me in the back with ice.”

They can hear Melvin quietly discussing the situation with his parents.

Veronica makes a pained expression. “Coming here wasn’t smart, what if we draw chaos to this house? Can we protect them?” She pulls out her phone and stares at the screen anxiously.

Necron:

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Wendy stares at him for a long moment, a brief flicker of hope… but clouded by bitterness and anger. She’s too traumatized right now, too full of hopelessness and rage. She stops resisting… but doesn’t draw closer to Gary.

Their friendship isn’t dead, but it hass experienced a wound only time can heal.

[The_Admiral]

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John walks over to the couch and sitting on it, he says, Some shadow guy attacked you, a kid named Jackson Walker. I blasted him, but he's still alive. He attacked your nervous system with his shadow, hard as it may be to believe. Don't worry the "guys" who rescued us say that they have this place covered. So, moving on to the important thing, you okay? According to the birds, a few more minutes of that shadow and you would have been dead.

[Anecronwashere]

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"Come on, let's get you to the hospital."
Gary lifts her, her arm around his shoulder as he slowly takes her outside

[Julian84]

C_O:

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She shivers. “I can’t explain it. I… I couldn’t move fast enough. I have a headache, it’s terrible… But I’ll live. I’d just… I don’t…”

She puts the phone to her forehead and closes her eyes. “I’m going back into the city.”

Necron:

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After a while, an ambulance arrives, EMTs strapping her to a body board. They pull Gary onto the vehicle as well…

But they aren’t heading south. They’re heading northwest, out of the city, away from the hospitals.

[Anecronwashere]

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Gary sighs and asks the paramedics "Order or Chaos? And allies or enemies?"

[Julian84]

Necron:

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The EMTs stare at him like he’s a lunatic.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on in the city?”

[Anecronwashere]

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"All I know is there was a weird fight on tv with someone who can throw lightning around who claimed to be from Order and people who say they belong to either group keep busting into my life recently, for both good and ill purposes. Stands to reason when the ambulance heads Away from all the hospitals and out of town that it belongs to one of those two."

[The_Admiral]

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It ain't your fault, I was caught by surprise to, if it wasn't for my vest....

I'll follow you, if you get jumped by Chaos, you'll have backup, no matter how crappy it is, backup is backup.

[crazydude369]

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"Well, mission accomplished. So which one do I try first? Well, I know Groden can shoot lightning, and that's at least a little frightening. I'm not even sure what Jesmond can do. But I recall Groden actually bring in a fight, so I know he's at least capable of being hostile. Jesmond it is then." Adam heads to the address.

[bladesmith]

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Awesome, odd blobs circling in the distance. Possibly the sphinxes and eagles and other crazy robots. Possibly just something extranormal. Either way, it seemed like a good start. Haj payed extra attention to what buildings were between him and them to get a solid idea of what direction they were in before making his way back to street level and starting back into the ground-eating jog that he'd employed all day.

[Julian84]

Hey guys, let's start thinking about wrapping this day up, James_S_W has been waiting a while.


Necron:

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The EMT shakes his head. “Listen, beyond the insanity at the hospital, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but you’re obviously misinformed.”

He takes a deep breath. “The city is being evacuated. The entire police force is rioting. 5,000 men and women armed with guns, smoke bombs, body armor, and vehicles have decided to turn Bluesky into their personal playground. We’re taking you to an evacuee camp.”

C_O:

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Veronica shakes her head and slowly gets up. “Thanks, John, but this is something I have to do alone, it’s personal.”

Melvin and his folks walk in. “There’s traffic on the bridges coming across, but we can drive you anywhere you want.”

She shakes her head. “I have alternative transporation.”

Crazydude:

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Adam walks down the empty halls of the hospital triumphantly… but hears something odd.

He runs for an exit, and looks out onto the city. Smoke is rising from various points across Bluesky, sounds of gunfire and screams echoing through the skyscrapers. A police car goes whizzing by, the occupants laughing like madmen and shooting randomly into the air.

His phone suddenly buzzes. It’s a text from Veronica.

Meet me at the University.

Bladesmith:

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It’s a lot of ground to cover, even for the two hunters. Mufasa starts panting heavily from the exertion, and even Hajime starts to feel weary. As they crest one large hill, their legs burning with pain, Mufasa suddenly screechs to a halt, looking at the city curiously.

It’s burning. Smoke is rising from a lot more points than earlier, buildings are on fire. Hajime can hear gunshots and screams being carried over the wind.