Abducted!

[Maldiem]

Abducted!

The Setting:
Everyone on the teams wake up, after having blacked out when the building was Taken. Depending on the building, light may be filtering in through windows, though at a low angle, as it appears to be either sunrise or sunset. No electrical devices in any of the buildings are working at the moment, and in the next few minutes all the buildings become quite cold. Upon exiting the building (if possible, see below), the people note that they are on the coastline of an unknown landmass, with three peaks in sight a large distance opposite of the sun (which is over the ocean; I'm going to call it East).

The plants of this planet are slightly darker green than normal, and the predominant plant is a tall, spindly tree, with needle-like leaves. Other plants include short bushes with no discernible leaves at all, and a large amount of yellowish, dry, grass-like plants.

Each building sits in a clearing of clearly artificial origin, as the plants in a large circle about 50 meters in radius around each have been burned and blackened to the ground. At the edge of this clearing, each team finds a foot-high circle of a featureless, plastic-textured substance, all the way around the clearing. Small fires still smolder at the edge of the clearings.

Every person on the team notices that they have a new tattoo like marking on their skin, and everyone in the team has the same marking. (see team descriptions for a detailed explanation).

The buildings have all been clearly ripped out of the ground by their foundations, as the concrete blocks that the buildings sit on are the ground floor of the building now, and this results in the journey to the ground being a somewhat precarious scramble down 10 feet of jagged concrete, piping, and severed electrical lines. Water from the pipes drains out into the clearing, resulting in a black, cold slush around the base of every building.

Wherever the Teams have been taken is getting fairly cold as the sun, ever so slightly more orange than it should be, goes down, and one small, silver moon is already in sky, while a larger, bluish moon cracks above the horizon. Small flecks of snow begin to drift from the sky, and clouds gather on the horizon over the ocean.

Plants: I'm naming these now for simplicity's sake. If someone comes up with a better one, I'll adopt it.

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Grees: Large, spindly trees that predominate in this area. They grow needle-like leaves and have thick bark, and stand on average between 10 and 20 meters tall. In the highest reaches of the Grees, there are brown, tough round things, that may well be seeds. The upper canopy of the Grees feature chirping noises, and the unmistakable rustling of some kind of animal life.

Flubs: These are the round bushes that grow where the Grees do not, typically on steep slopes or in the underbrush. They are thorny, and do not have any leaves at the current time, though there is leaf detritus around their base.

Trass: This yellowish, harsh grass covers every surface in the immediate vicinity, and it stinging to the skin. It does not appear to be growing currently.


Additionally, there are a number of other, rarer plants, these have been included for imagery's sake.

Jageroxorz: The Shmoffice: Black Circles
The office sits on a slope, at about a 35 degree angle, wedged up against a stand of burned and blackened Grees. The situation looks a bit precarious, and nothing but the charred Grees stop the building from sliding farther down the hill.

Toward the ocean (East), the slope continues down into a marshy area, about 5 miles from the Office, rises a bit again, and then slopes down to the ocean. On the rise between the marsh and the ocean, you can make out another burned clearing, with what appears to be a small structure in the middle. To the West, the slope continues upward, dotted by the occasional Gree, for a very large distance. A peak sits on the horizon, distant to the East. To the North, a dense growth of Grees obscured observation immediately past the clearing. South, you can make out a number of plumes of smoke (similar to the one above your own clearing), though a small hill is in the way.

Everyone in the Office finds a large, black circle, about 2 inches in diameter tattooed on their forhead, and the plasticy circle around the clearing is also black.

Silvercoin: The USS Cheesetanic: Blue Squares

The “crew” of the USS Blank wake up to find themselves on what used to be the ceiling, and wedged up against the stern wall. The shrieking of tortured metal occasionally resounds through the ship, though anything that was going to fall down has already done so. Thomas and Fernando were both in the reactor room at the time of the Abduction, and Thomas wakes to find Fernando on the roof of the room, bleeding profusely from a head wound, and unconscious. The fighter pilots and command crew note that the ship is, in fact, upside down, and appears to have its back end wedged under a very large rock outcrop, submerged in a small, waterfall-fed pond that is quickly being polluted by a rapidly-growing oil slick. The front end of the carrier hangs in the air very far above the ground, and the only way to get out of the carrier onto the ground is by dropping about ten feet from the closest hatch to the ground. What aircraft that were on the deck are now on the ground, upside down, and in various states of damage.

The USS Blank Team finds itself with a blue square tattooed on their foreheads, and the circle around the clearing is also blue.

The clearing is at the base of a small cliff, on a slope heading down toward the ocean, directly to the east. The waterfall appears to be aquifer-fed, because there is no stream at the top of the cliff. The cliff is on the western end of the Circle, and a gentle slope about 5 miles leads down into a thick marsh, followed by a small ridge, and then dropping back into the ocean again. On the ridge (10-15 miles away), you can see what appears to be a large structure of some sort. To the North and South, parallel hills run toward the ocean, and visibility is restricted to about five miles by the peaks.

Another Poet: Gaming Group in a History Museum: Red Diamonds

Everyone in the museum awakes to see the dwindling light coming through the fourth floor windows, and the sound of the ocean in the distance. The clearing around the history museum actually includes a small inlet of water from the ocean, and the vegetation in the area is predominantly Flubs and Trass. At the edge of the clearing stand a group of tall, lanky, dark green bird-like creatures, eying the building in a flabbergasted manner.

The group finds a tattoo on their foreheads, a red diamond, that corresponds to the red circle around the museum.

To the East, the ocean immediately abuts the clearing, though to the south and east, the ridge continues farther South and East into a small peninsula. To the West, across a marsh, a long slope leads up to three peaks in the very far distance, with parallel hills running along its length. At the base of a cliff to the west, you can see what appears to be a very dark rectangle wedged up against the cliff face, along with another clearing. To the North, you can see out another clearing and small structure in the center. To the South, a small rise obscures your view of the rest of the peninsula.

EleventhHour: WIP: Yellow Stars

The night shift at WIP awakes initially to find nothing significantly different, as the windowless main floor does not immediately betray anything amiss. The lights have gone off, the phones are dead, and the computers are all kaput. The WIP building sits in a clearing at the top of a small cliff outcropping, with the only passage to the rest of the coast via a precarious, narrow trail that drops about 30 meters in about 30 meters. No vegetation remains on the top of the outcrop, as it has all been burned, though it used to consist of a fairly large number of Grees.

The WIP staff has a yellow star tattooed on their heads, and the circle that rims the cliff top is also yellow.

East and South, ocean stretches off limitlessly. To the west, a slope leading to three peaks in the far distance is crossbarred by a series of parallel hills. Across a marshy area, another clearing is visible, with a moderate-sized building in the center. To the north, a small ridge obscures view after about 10 miles.

Falconer: The Good, The Bad, The Abducted: Pink Hearts

The gang awakes to find stinky, greenish water pooling in a corner of the warehouse, and the floor at a slight angle. Upon exiting, they find the warehouse at the very edge of a thick marsh, with the water in question oozing into the building through a window that is partially submerged in the thick morass. The building settles a bit, but it looks like it won't sink much more, at least for awhile, with the pool of water covering about one quarter of the first floor. To the East, Grees on small dry patches obscure view. To the North and South, parallel ridges block observation beyond about ten miles. To the north, a gentle slope up to three peaks in the far distance is punctuated by a small column of steam. Both North and East, you notice a number of plumes of smoke, similar to that rising from your own clearing.

The gang, somewhat to their chagrin, find a pink heart tattooed on their foreheads, and a pink circle around the clearing.

Moody the Wise: Free Medical Clinic: Green Trapezoid

The occupants of the clinic awake to some alarm; a large quadrupedal animal is circling outside the front entrance to the clinic, and a spiderweb of strained glass testifies to its previous attempts to get in. Noreen and Seamus, both in the lobby at the time (with its wall that consists of a single plate-glass window), get a good look at the beast. It has rough, greenish skin, and seems to be covered in a variety of stringy plants of some kind. It has a stubby body, and what looks like a hardened, armor-like covering over most of its torso. Its armored face is accentuated by a large mouth full of extremely sharp, serrated teeth. It stands about three feet tall at the shoulder, and looks hungry.

The occupants of the clinic also find a green trapezoid tattooed on their foreheads, and can make out a green circle past the creature.


GO

Problems everyone currently faces: Aside from a couple of bottles of water or soda, none of the buildings have a reliable source of drinkable water, and all the sinks have stopped working, as water pressure exited the building through the severed pipes, draining into the ash at the bottom of each building.

It is getting very cold. Ambient temperature is about 1 or 2 degrees Celsius, which is in the mid-thirties Fahrenheit.

Most teams also have a problem in their description.

Timescale is currently set to EXTREMELY SLOW: right now I'm working at an individual level with each player-- a day has passed when I say it has. This setting will likely increase to 1 week per day in a couple of RL days.

Also: Please put your team description and supplies in a spoiler at the top of your first post. I will ask you to keep this "status" post fairly up-to-date, as it makes it easy for me to keep track of things.

Team Status

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Map (Will be updated as features are discovered)

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Light green indicates marsh, Brown indicates peaks. Blue is the ocean.

Each team and symbol is shown at their location on the map.

[jageroxorz]

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Building: Regional warehouse/office for a paper supply company.

Gabe: Regional Manager

Profession: Middle Manager. Inept at leading anybody. Excels in sales
(negotiation) and is charismatic. As long as you don't work under him.

Knowledge: Comedy, also disguises, has a variety of alter-egos which are all also racially insensitive.

Weakness: Often inept, and unable to lead anyone in any endeavor.

Hans: Sales/Beet Farmer

Profession: Salesman. However, he also is a beet farmer on his off time, and has extensive knowledge of farming and farming practices as if he were Amish.

Knowledge: Purple Belt in Goju-Ryu karate. Former Sheriff deputy. Also excellent at Table Tennis. Also trained in the use of a wide variety of weapons, which he always keeps on his person/in his desk.

Weakness: No charisma, and nobody can stand him

Terryl: Warehouse Foreman

Profession: Good at sorting/cataloging/maintaining stores and storehouses. Excels at rationing.

Knowledge: Enjoys feeding squirrels and other animals: excels at any non-human interaction.

Weakness: Cannot work with Gabe, at all. Will just stand and stare withering at Gabe if forced to do anything with him.

Kev: Accountant

Profession: Excels at accounting, and maintaining/storing money.

Knowledge: Can play a wide variety of musical instruments, also an excellent liar and excels at games of skill and gambling, especially poker. Additionally, excellent at a wide variety of sports.

Weakness: Is often unable to communicate efficiently, and many others think he is an idiot.

Sam: Receptionist

Profession: Receptionist. Excels at meeting new people, is very open and everyone likes her when they meet her. Great diplomat.

Knowledge: Art, is a budding artist and excels at any artistic endeavor.

Weakness: In love with Tim.

Tim: Assistant Regional Manager

Profession: An everyman, is liked by everyone. The real leader of the group, people follow him as they act like Gabe is in charge. Gets things done.

Knowledge: Pranks. Excels at trap and trap-making, along with tricking others to do his bidding.

Weakness: Lacks ambition, content at just "getting along". In love with Sam.

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EVERYONE IS COLD!

Gabe makes jokes towards Terryl about how he's now "black" and "down with the brotherhood," what with the black circle and all.

Hans suggests that everyone huddles together in the conference room for warmth, and as such disrobes since he claims it "helps keep body the body heat in". Nobody joins him. He is huddled in a ball, in his underwear, in the conference room.

Terryl begins to take stock of all the supplies about the office and Warehouse, and tries to stay as far away from Gabe as possible.

Kev eats a candy bar, one of hundreds he has hidden in boxes underneath his desk.

Sam and Tim attempt to use the pallets and boxes in the warehouse to make shelter outside of the dangerously leaning office. They also use boxes of paper to make an impressive (for a for made of the supplies available), 1 room hut bit enough to fit at least 6 people. The walls are boxes of paper, taped together. The roof is made of wooden planks torn from the wooden pallets, again taped with shipping tape to waterproof. Tim moves some blankets and pillows he found in the building. The floor is wooden planks made from pallets, taped.

Gabe heads north, exploring, acting like Lewis and Clark. Both of them. And their Native American guide.

Terryl heads east, again, looking for anything.

Kev, thinking of food, starts to just gather as many plants as possible from the surrounding area for later perusal. He also gathers scattered wood and starts a fire for warmth. Hans, now fully clothed, joins in, while remarking that th shelter Tim built looks like it was "built by children." He vows to make one three times as big and better later.

[EleventhHour]

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Name : Jennifer Alvins
Profession : Nurse (In training)
Hobbies : Gardening
Traits : While fairly emotional and nervous herself, a few months working on the phones has got her to the point where she can talk, or just listen, until the other person has calmed down. - Skill 1 Point
Misc Skills. : Looking adorable in her outfits. ( )

Name : John Reddings
Profession : Manager
Hobbies : Drinking ( )
Traits : He's been working with Customer Service and the like for going on six years, and has little trouble keeping things organized despite his good-natured humour. Dislikes paperwork. - Skill 1 Point
Misc Skills. : Getting people to get him coffee. He has it down to almost a perfect science.

Name : Greg Staniez
Profession : Ex-Military
Hobbies : Antique weapon collecting
Other Hobbies : Part-time Blacksmithing - Skill 1 Point
Traits : Getting fairly portly as he passes middle-age, and with a thick grey walrus-like moustache, he isn't quite as intimidating as he likely was in his prime, but still has the ham-like arms of a physically fit man. - Skill 1 Point
Misc Skills. : Being unusually interested in other people's politics.

Name : Rupert Cornwall
Profession : Security Guard
Hobbies : Playing baseball
Traits : Is fit, not in the burly soldier-like way, but instead with the quiet confidence of a private guard, knowing that he doesn't have to be the biggest guy, he just has to have the 'bigger gun', and backup.
Misc Skills. : Has a lazy eye that he can still see out of. Somewhat disconcerting.

Name : Kayla Winters
Profession : Call Center Agent / Waitress
Hobbies : Gaming and paintballing
Traits : A traditional 'tomboy', often wearing bandana's, tight sweaters, and camo-Converse.
Misc Skills. : Speaks both English and German. - Skill 1 Point

Name : Dan Martin - Extra Team Member 5 Points
Profession : Call Center Agent / Park Ranger (For the summer)
Hobbies : Camping
Traits : Dan spends most of his summers out-of-doors, hiking, biking and sleeping under the stars, while supervising park trails, and generally having a good time in the woods.
Misc Skills. : Survival training is fairly basic stuff to him, despite never having taken a 'legal course' in it, he does fairly well through self-learned habits. - Skill 1 Point

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It's cold out, and inside, now. On the upside, it's not icy!

The team find themselves amoungst a jumble of dividers in a state of general disrepair, coverings torn off and a few of the metal frames bent where they had crashed into one another, not one to take anything sitting, or lying in this case, down, Greg is the first to clamber from the chalky mess, and stumble about under the half-lit emergency lights, some which hang at odd angles and the rest flicker, thier cases cracked.

Soon enough, through the noise he had made, and with his help, the rest are out of the pile, and are just discovering the discomfort of thier now-chilled building.

Rupert awakes, with his security barrier splintered by the oversized monitor that had crashed it's corner through the fibreglass, and he's the first occupant of the building with a sight to the strange outside world, the comforting sight of dreary concrete, and the railroad tracks abandoned in trade for a sweeping view off the top of the plateau, ruined by the odd yellow-esqe ring that was along the ledge of the cliff.

He couldn't remember the call center emptying the night before, and by the time he had gotten to the back of the building and shared the news, between Greg and liberal use of office papers and John's lighter, they had a small fire burning cheerily through the carpet and the legs of any nearby wooden chairs, which all now lay at least partially amputated.

The immediate cold dispelled, they set to the next base thing to do. Trash the cafeteria for food, the vending machines the first to suffer the attention of steel-legged chairs, and with thier newly aqquired food, they set off back to the fire, where a framework of a firepit was under construction with John watching and smoking, 'supervising', as Dan and Kayla set about breaking more of the dividers and computers, so to use the cases and make a deeper pit for the growing paper fire.

"Maybe we should save some for later.", Muttered Dan, "We have no idea where we are, and as long we as keep close to the pit it should be warm enough for now." There was discontent mutters, as the fire was a cheery warmth, "Hey, now. Stow it, it's not like you have to deal with a customer."
John's comment was met by weak smiles.

A few minute's extra work between Rupert and Dan had a enclosure made out of the remaining dividers that retained the 90* angles, effectively walling out the rest of the call center from the 8 x 8' box, though it lacked a roof, leaving the creaking roof tiles as thier upward view, aside from a twisted gap that was serving as a door while more and more of the junk food and water bottles were dragged in.

OOC @ Maldiem:

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I'm guessing you've read The Game

And can I get the Team Name changed to Stream? >.>

[Falconer]

The Good, the Bad, the Abducted

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The Building

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A large warehouse used for storing computer parts. Filled with rows of storage racks, the occasional forklift, and piles upon piles of boxes. At the north end is the packaging area, with some conveyor belts and such. Off to the east end are a couple small offices for the management.

Resources:
Food and Beverages-Numerous small snacks that one might find in a warehouse and adjoining offices. May last, eaten sparingly.

Money-Lots and lots of it.

Jewelry-Quite a bit, of numerous kinds and values.

Firearms-Between them, the gang has a hunting rifle, a revolver, three pistols, and a shotgun. Ammunition should last a while, provided they don't go off firing like madmen.

Raw Materials-Lots of metal, as well as countless wooden pallets.

Why?

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It's the earliest hours of the morning, and they're hiding out at a time they're sure no one else is there. They met there after pulling off a multitude of heists to divide the loot before heading their separate ways.

Who?

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Dr. Andrew Black, a diabolical, desperate doctor with a gambling problem and a mountain of debt.
Profession: Physician
Knowledge/Hobby 1: Classic Literature (Shakespeare, Classic Greek and Roman authors, etc.)
Knowledge/Hobby 2: Psychology
Knowledge/Hobby 3: Botany
Skill 1: Piano
Skill 2: Planning
Trait: Cunning

Sarah Black, a down-on-her-luck actress and daughter of the good doctor.
Profession: Actress
Knowledge/Hobby: Animal Training
Knowledge/Hobby: Hiking (i.e. Wilderness Survival)
Skill 1: Bilingual (English and French)
Skill 2: Good with People
Trait: Sarcastic

Keith Baptiste, a vicious vagabond who loves nothing more than a good scrape.
Profession: Career Criminal
Knowledge/Hobby: Marksmanship
Skill 1: Excellent pool player
Skill 2: Fist Fighting
Skill 3: Harmonica
Trait: Ruthless

Jack Red Elk, self-professed artiste with a gift for guile. Twin brother of John Red Elk.
Profession: Stage Magician
Knowledge/Hobby 1: Occultism
Knowledge/Hobby 2: Hypnosis
Skill 1: Showmanship
Skill 2: Trap-making
Skill 3: Philosophy
Trait: Sneaky

John Red Elk, a roguish gambling man and grifter always looking for a good haul. Twin brother of Jack Red Elk
Profession: "Professional" Gambler
Knowledge/Hobby: Grifting
Skill 1: Card Sharking
Skill 2: Persuasive
Trait: Lucky

Samuel Caine, a menacing man of few words who wishes for wealth, and will take it.
Profession: Grave-digger
Knowledge/Hobby: Car Mechanics
Skill 1: Fishing
Skill 2: Hunting
Trait: Gruff

Excessively Brief Physical Descriptions of the Group

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Dr. Andrew Black-A scrawny, bespectacled man of average height with well-kept black hair and a goatee. Wearing a trench-coat.

Sarah Black-A young woman of average height, with black hair and eyes.

Keith Baptiste-A large, burly, red-haired man in his mid-30's. Has the appearance of a stereotypical biker, with a leather jacket, shades, and a bandanna.

John Red Elk-A young man in his late 20's. Dark skin and hair, and carries himself with a sort of swagger.

Jack Red Elk-A young man in his late 20's. Dark skin and hair, and walks with a performer's ease.

Samuel Caine-A short, tired-looking, prematurely grey man with what seems to be an eternal five-o'clock shadow. Speaks with a slight, utterly unidentifiable accent.

Sarah Black sat up and rubbed her eyes, her ears ringing.

"What in the name of..." she looked around to see her father lying unconscious just a few feet away. She shook him awake. Dr. Andrew Black blinked a few times before rousing himself.

"What happened?"
"I don't know. Some kind of explosion?"

Dr. Black sniffed the air. "No. I don't see any damage to the building, and I certainly don't smell smoke. Perhaps-"

"WHAT THE F^@% JUST HAPPENED?

The two Blacks looked behind them, startled. Keith Baptiste was looking about wildly.

"What the HELL just happened?"

"Good to see you're okay, Baptiste." Sarah said dryly.
"Answer me, damnit!"
"Do we look like we know?"
"Shut up, b%tch."
"You're an idiot, you know that?"
"Why you-" Keith reached for his gun. The Blacks reached for theirs.

"Wow. Really? A big earthquake hits, and you idiots pull pieces on each other?"
"I'm disappointed. Children should learn to settle problems without violence."
Jack and John Red Elk's voices rang from the second story. The twins climbed down a ladder to join the rest of the group. The Blacks and Baptiste put their guns away, though Sarah and Keith are still glaring at each other.

"So, how's everybody doing?
"Have you noticed the lovely hearts on our foreheads?"
Everyone immediately feels their forehead. Keith immediately unties the bandanna around his neck and puts it around his head, covering his mark.

"So...what do we do now?"
"Right now?" Doctor Black answered, "Right now, I suppose we accomplish what we came here for: divide the money, and go our separate ways. Earthquake, or no earthquake."

A door opens, and Samuel Caine sticks his head in.

"I don't think money is going to be an issue, where we are."
"What do mean?"
"Take a look outside."

Queue about ten minutes of various levels of arguing, panicking, threatening one another, and other such unproductive activities. Finally the group notices the cold (they're not always the most observant bunch) and they herd back inside. The Blacks are still somewhat skeptical that they are in fact on another planet, despite the overwhelming evidence. Caine rolls his eyes at their disbelief, which eventually triggers more arguing and fighting for another five minutes or so. Finally the group calms down enough to think of a plan: the twins and Doctor Black will stay in the warehouse to guard the money and set up defenses ("What do you mean 'defenses'?" "I mean defenses, d*****s!"). Samual Caine, Keith Baptiste, and Sarah Black will form a scouting party to get a feel for their immediate surroundings.

The "Warehouse Guard"

Dr. Black and the Red Elks decide to use the countless wooden pallets available to them to set up barricades against the windows and doors. The twins want to do something about the horrid water, but Dr. Black advises them against it. It may contain all manner of disease, and it would be best to just stay away from it.

The set about making barricades, with Dr. Black mostly "supervising", and Jack and John doing most of the work. They manage most of the ground level doors and windows, though the windows up by the second-floor walkway go unprotected.

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Using Jack Red Elk's "Trapmaking" skill here, so the barricades are built in such a way they can be easily moved but are still good as, well, barricades. The actual quality of said barricades is minimal, and any determined intruder can still enter. Still, the peace of mind helps.

The "Bandit Patrol"

The three wade through the swampy water towards what they believe to be a pink line. Sarah Black points out that there may well be a connection between the heart markings on their foreheads and the pink line. After inspecting it for about ten minutes and finding it to in fact be a circle, the three wade out to the North, curious about the smoke, before Caine points out that the dark may not be a good time to be outside. Keith points out that they have guns, and he isn't afraid of any "#%@&ing dark". They turn back nonetheless.

[Another_Poet]

History Museum

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Char Sheets & Building Description

Family Supplies
Leatherman multitool (Jerry)
"Paper Cleaver" (paper slicer handle used as a cleaver) (Ray)
Wooden club (Fr Younk)
Cell Phones (all)
2 backpacks' worth of bottled water (4F)
5 lbs pasta salad (4F)
5 lbs potato salad 4F)
14 sandwiches (4F)
8 doughnuts (4F)
30 lbs of semi-frozen meat, rolled in salt & spices by Jerry
A warm shawl for everyone
Hats & mittens for everyone
1 fur coat (Andi)
2 jackets (the kids have them)
4 quilts (4F)
20 guns of assorted time periods, none loaded with actual ammunition (4F)
A knife or bayonet for everyone
1 couch (4F)
8 cushions (4F)

Wolf's Supplies
Nothing but his knife, his lockpicks, some change and the cardboard he was sleeping on.

Ray is the first to wake up. His stirring wakes the other adults first, and only after a few minutes do the kids wake up. Ray's immediately feels panic because he worries that his coworkers will see that he spent the night in the museum. However, upon looking out the window, his heart nearly stops.

As the family and friends gather to gawk breathlessly at the view, they know they are truly in trouble. Not because of what they see outside, but because Ray doesn't have a snappy joke for the situation.

Almost sensing this, Ray comes up with something suitably ironic to say, but the joke falls flat. Tricia seems excited to the point of bursting while Silas might well be blinking back tears. Andi needs to put her arm around her husband, while Jerry and Fr Younk exchange very concerned looks.

It's Andi who takes charge. She silently locks the doors to the conference room before announcing that, "No one is leaving this room until we have a plan. Chair up everyone." She quickly removes character sheets and gaming books from the table, making sure there are no distractions. They settle down for a Family Team Meeting.

After nearly twenty minutes of intense discussion of the diamonds on their foreheads, Andi manages to bring the group to more important topics. She intentionally treats it like a challenge in a RPing game, and the group's seasoned strategery kicks in automatically. They begin talking about practical concerns like wild animals, looters, zombies, alien overlords and even unsafe air or other conditions outside. Nothing is too radical to discuss, given their bizarre surroundings.

Ultimately, though they all know exploration is the only way to find anything out, they agree to a short list of priorities and decide to settle those matters before anything else. Their list:

-Check the main levels for signs of intrusion
-Get warm clothing, given the cold environment
-Get food and beverages from the cafe
-Weapon up

Although they talk about looking for other people, the view from the window is so bleak that none of them seriously expect to find anyone in the area.

TEAM 1
Ray and Fr Younk set out for an initial supplies run. Using Jerry's leatherman they unbolt the slicing arm and handle of the office paper slicer. They also unscrew the leg of a heavy wooden chair to make a club. Thus armed, the two men take Ray's keys and head down the emergency stairs (since the elevators don't work). Ray notes that since no one has activated the generator, it's unlikely anyone else is here. They use Ray's cell phone as a light in areas without windows.

They check the large glass wall on the 2nd floor and see no breaches or cracks. They also check the doors and find they are as locked as they were last night. This is when they spot the birds outside. They move quickly to get out of line of sight and hope that the birds did not see them.

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I assume from your description the birds are ostrich-size or bigger, is that correct?

From there they use the stairs again to go into the basement levels. Ray knows this area well. He heads to the textile archives to check for warm clothes and blankets. He knows the best things are the Native American furs, but those are rare and nigh irreplaceable. Much more commonly, people donate the late 19th and early 20th century garments of their grandparents and great-grandparents. These are much less valuable, though just as fragile. The two men salvage several jackets, one fur coat, and no less than six wool shawls as well as some fine 19th century quilts. They then head back up via the stairs, and only when passing the main floor does Ray realise they should have checked the gift shop. It doesn't sell coats, but some nice mittens and winter hats are on the shelves. They take it all.

It's then that they see their friends in the Cafe. Ray is upset they didn't wait upstairs, but keeps his anger in check.

TEAM 2
Half an hour after Ray and Fr Younk left, Andi calmly told Jerry to open up his knife and lead the way down. Jerry seems surprised but doesn't object. Tricia asks if she can come too and is informed that yes, they're all going. They have to stick together. Silas stays quiet.

The group goes to the Cafe. They already know that the water is gone from the bathrooms, and beeline for the rack of bottled water and soda. Since none of them have keys, they only have access to what was out by the front counter. There's surely much more stored in back, but there's no way to get to it.

They prioritise water, filling two backpacks with it. They then take all of the pre-made sandwiches and pasta salad from the display counter. It'll go bad if they don't eat it soon, so working together they try to take it all. They can't get it all at once, so they make a second trip. It's then that they run into Ray and Fr Younk.

TEAM 1 + TEAM 2
They argue over whether to break down the door to the kitchens. On the one hand, they need to access that food eventually. On the other, the noise may draw attention and even if they access the coolers they have no way to preserve the food. They talk about things that might keep longer - bread, uncooked dried goods, canned goods, etc. Jerry suggests that he can smoke and salt the meat if he can get wood, but none of them want him to go outside.

They compromise by deciding to have Jerry remove the kitchen door's hinges with his Leatherman, then try to cure the meat with salt and spices. Getting the door off takes much longer than expected, and they waste much of the day this way. It's during this idle time that their minds wander and they start to get scared. Andi has to leave the room to cry.

They do eventually access the coolers, opening the door only very briefly and grabbing just one armload of meats. They get some huge shakers of cayenne pepper, black pepper and a big box of salt and move it upstairs where Jerry sets to work.

Everyone except Jerry decides to go look outside. The agreement is that no one will leave the building, they'll just look from a door. Lucky for them, the lower level/basement has a huge cargo loading dock, so this door will open to ground level without having the climb down the concrete foundation. They open it up, stare for a while, chat for a while, and close it up again. They eat deli food for dinner and then talk some more on the 4th Floor.

Toward the evening, they make a final decision not to activate the generator for now unless they absolutely need to. This is a tense discussion because leaving it off may resign much of their food to spoiling, pending the outcome of Jerry's salting/spicing process. Jerry hopes that the meat, now cut into strips and hung in windows, will dry like jerky. If so he can preserve most other meat as well. They pledge to all eat fruits and vegetables as soon as the deli food runs out, thus eating their food in order of expiration date. They'll save dried goods and canned goods for last.

Their last act of the day is a product of much brainstorming. There's a significant collection of firearms in the archives, everything from blackpowder muskets to a howitzer. There are inert shells for many of the weapons, but Ray doesn't know of any live ammunition in the whole building. The group considers many possibilities, but it's unlikely they will find fireworks or any other sources of propellants in the building either. Jerry is willing to try to make gunpowder if they can find the ingredients, but saltpeter may be hard to get.

What they decide is to go to the archives and get a large selection of guns that are still in good shape. Even unloaded, they might act as a deterrent to outsiders - no one has to know they aren't loaded. Ray remembers that there is an old card-catalogue of the archives from before everything was digitised. He promises to go through it tomorrow to check for any source of active ammunition in the museum collection.

Jerry and Ray go and get guns, giving two or three to each individual, while Father Younk hauls couches one by one - all by himself! - to the bottom of the stairs. He then gets the kids to help him haul them upstairs. They only take one whole couch and just pillage cushions off the others, making their 4F headquarters much more comfy.

They barricade the conference room doors. Then they tell stories in the dark until they are sleepy enough to fall into an anxiety-plagued sleep.

THE WOLF
Samuel Wolf woke up outside and sat still, appreciating the beautiful new environment for quite some time before unceremoniously relieving himself of both a Number 1 and a Number 2 on the side of the building. He wipes with some carboard from his last night's bed, then digs in his pockets and eats what's left of his meager food supplies. Intrigued, he then takes a leisurely stroll around the entire museum, twice. He doesn't leave the charred area, though he does walk up to the edge of it.

The homeless man spotted the birds and kept his distance, but walked at a normal pace in clear view of them, eyeing them down if needed.

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Using the "Good With Animals" skill to try to get along with these birds - I won't attack them, they won't attack me.... right??

As luck would have it, he was not far from the loading dock when the family inside opened it up. He was out of view of it, though, so they didn't see him or have any clue he was there. But he at least had confirmation that there were other people around. He remembered all the stories some of the other bums told about the CIA and aliens and wondered whose side these museum people were on. In fact, he wondered a lot of things. That is what The Wolf does.

He spent much of the day meditating or walking around. As nightfall came, he couldn't resist playing his harmonica to keep himself company. But it occurred to him that he might be attracting unwanted attention. It was both colder and darker than the city nights he was used to.

He picked the lock on the loading dock door. Normally it would set off an alarum but not without power. He let himself in, then picked the lock of a storage room. He locked both doors behind himself and cozied up in a pile of cardboard boxes and that is where he spent the night.

[Maldiem]

The Schmoffice

Tim and Sam's construction goes fairly well, though the ash mud eventually stains the bottom bits of everything used in the construction, and soggy cardboard makes for dubious walls indeed. Still, should the office slide away, its better than nothing.

Speaking of which, as the hours tick by, the Grees holding the building in place begin to crack and warp, and it becomes clear that unless something is done quickly, exactly that will happen.

Gabe eventually climbs the top of the ridge North of the building after about an hour and a half, just in time to see the sun slip beneath the horizon. Before it gets too dark, though, he spots a clear, blue lake (added to the map) to the North and East of the ridge.

As the sun sets, the animal noises, normally in the higher reaches of the Gree canopy, begin to get a bit lower, and Gabe finds himself pelted by a barrage of ~3 inch circumference brown fruits as he approaches the base of one particularly noisy tree.

Teryl, heading east, runs into the beginning of the marsh as the sun sets. Its a very wet area, with a few patches of dryish land poking out of the morass, usually anchored by a Gree. While wading through the water (as is necessary in the terrain), he can occasionally feel something or things slimy and moving brush past his legs. He eventually steps in a hole in the bottom of the muck he didn't know was there (the water is opaque), and his leg sinks a foot or so into the swamp. Withdrawing it, he notices that its covered in six-inch leeches, or at least something leech-like, which have bored into his flesh. They prove difficult, but not impossible to remove, though they're quite slippery, and swim/squirm back into the wound if not thrown a fairly large distance away.

He eventually makes it to one of the dry areas, and clears his leg of the creatures, but is now standing on a very small island in a leech-infested swamp at night on an unfamiliar planet. The creatures seem to have excreted some kind of anticoagulant, as the numerous large wounds in his leg take a very long time to stop bleeding. To top it all off, he's wet, the temperature is now slightly below freezing, and a wind is coming in from the East.

((Terryl now has the Hypothermic and Blood Loss effects))

The Team Formerly Known As WIP (And Will Now Be Known As Stream?)

The call center's demolition proceeds apace, though several seconds after starting the fire, all the smoke detectors, powered by their own batteries, go off, and trickles of water leak out of the fortunately depressurized roof sprinklers. The noise is very annoying, and no one in the call center at the time knows exactly how to get to them to shut them off, as that was the purview of the maintenance staff. There are a couple ladders available that will reach, though it might be a dangerous task given how cluttered the floor is.

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OOC: I don't know what book you're talking about, and I can't find a description of it that makes sense as a reference, though a quick net search turned up a Jack London book by the same name (though for the life of me I can't find a synopsis). Given London's writing style and subject matter, I'm guessing he wrote a similar survival story called The Game?

TGTBTA

As the group takes stock of their surroundings, the sun finishes setting, and the temperature begins to drop even more. The team notices a group of tall, lanky, green colored birds, between 6 and seven feet tall (though very thin), combing through the murk of the marsh, occasionally pulling out their heads to breathe or gulp something indeterminate down.

The immediate surroundings of the Warehouse are extremely marshy, and the swamp appears to be briny, and completely undrinkable. To the East and South, the marsh extends as far as they can see, and to the North and West, the land is dryer and peppered with the plant life noted in the original description.

When the party ventured into the water, something bit Keith's leg, ripped an inch-thick half-moon slice of flesh out of his calf, and darted off before he could react. It hurts like crazy, and burns for a minute, but it seems to be clotting normally.

((Keith now has the ? Wound Effect))

The Museum

((Yeah, my bad. The birds range between 6 and 7 feet tall, though they look like they weigh maybe 100-150 pounds.))

The pillaging of the museum proceeds without incident. However, in the middle of the night, the Team is awoken by a commotion from the room where the meat was left in the windows-- loud screeching and snarling, like what would be heard from a serious altercation between two moderate-sized dogs. Upon investigation, the Team finds about ten 3-foot long brown, spiny creatures fighting over the meat, which they've taken from the windowsill and begun to devour on the floor. The creatures have four appendages, with the rear legs ending in four digits in parallel, and the front legs ending in four digits that are mutually opposing, forming a claw-like "hand". They use these limbs interchangeably, fighting like rabid breakdancers, though none of them end up seriously injured during the fight. They have a coat of long, wicked-looking spines on their back, about four inches long, which fade to a wet-looking black color on the end. They haven't noticed the Team yet, but they are seriously trashing the room ((What room was the meat in, again))?

As Samuel walks around the edge of the charred clearing, he notices the birds watching him the entire way. The birds do seem to have a flight distance; when he tries to approach much more than ten feet or so, they walk backwards nonchalantly, cocking their heads from side to side, as if in confusion. Sam gets a good look at the birds; they're typically six to seven feet tall, they have long, black legs, typically about half of their height, and their legs end in very wide, four-toed feet, which are arranged in an X shape, and have broad, almost flipper-like toes. They don't seem flight-adapted, and what he originally thought were feathers are actually more like a very fine fur. What he'd originally thought were wings actually seem more like flippers, as they aren't half large enough to generate any kind of meaningful downward force. The body is topped by a long neck, which is topped by a thin, tapered head, including two large, round eyes, and a slightly upward-curved beak.

The creatures ((I'm going to call them Big Stupid Birds, BSBs, until someone comes up with a better name)) eventually seem to get bored with staring at Samuel, and surround the base of a large Gree. They pace around it in a large circle, before one of them paces back several feet, and then charges the Gree and kicks the base extremely hard, actually shaking the upper reaches a bit. This is followed by a great deal of snarling from the canopy, and a barrage of the brown "fruits" of the Gree. The BSB squawks, kicks the base again, and then runs off into the distance at a blazing clip.

The snarling in the tree continues, and the Samuel sees about ten or fifteen of the brown creatures described in the museum work through the canopy, in the direction the BSB ran. The other BSBs begin gulping down the fruits, and even go so far as to climb up the Gree, their long toes wrapping around the trunk, and devour the rest of them.

While Samuel is playing his harmonica, he can hear a very distant, high-pitched sound to the South, like the sound an alarm or smoke detector would make.

[Moody the Wise]

Building and Team

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Building: Free Medical Clinic

The Freedom Community Health Center is a small medical clinic formerly operating in the town of Newton, MA (Newton is real, but I have no idea if any such clinic exists there). It is well-stocked with first aid supplies, and should have a moderate supply of things like vaccinations, eyeglasses, and a variety of common medical supplies. It is not equipped for serious surgery, although there is a makeshift ER where they can perform what basically amounts to field medicine. They recently purchased a small x-ray machine. The building has 10 exam rooms, a larger waiting room, a supply room, and a makeshift ER room.

Team:

Dr. Neil Brockett: Dr. Brockett is the founder and head of the clinic. After spending years in successful private practice, he became frustrated with the economics of medicine. With a large private endowment he opened the clinic, and has run it at a loss ever since, happily using his own modest resources to support it when he needs to. He is 53 years old, but in good shape and good health.
Profession: Doctor, Health Clinic Coordinator
Knowledge/Hobby: Sailing

Noreen Brockett: Noreen is Neil Brockett's wife. She is 49 years old, and was until recently a judge in the Middlesex County District Court. After several years of a high-powered legal career, she settled onto the bench. Her role model is Sandra Day O'Connor, and she had hoped one day to take her seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. She is generally supportive of Neil's calling, and lends her hands and legal experience to the clinic from time to time - this was one of those nights.
Profession: Lawyer (retired), District Court Judge
Knowledge/Hobby: Cooking

Grace Brockett: Grace is Neil and Noreen's daughter. She is 16 years old. She has not had a real job yet, but volunteers doing light manual work at the clinic sometimes with her parents. She is very intelligent and had been doing well in school before the Abduction. Her strongest subjects in school were in math and the sciences. An amateur astronomy enthusiast, she had always dreamed of going to the stars.
Profession: None (child)
Knowledge/Hobby: Astronomy

Seamus O'Neill: Seamus was a Town of Newton police officer. He is 24 years old, fresh out of the academy. He was in the clinic because he had just dropped off a patient who had been picked up for solicitation. It wasn't standard procedure, but he was still starry-eyed, and wanted to help the young woman by getting her tested at the medical clinic. Had his gun at time of Abduction, but has limited ammunition.
Profession: Police Officer
Knowledge/Hobby: Trained in a variety of martial arts back in high school

Tania Veneziano: Tania is the woman Seamus had picked up for solicitation. She is 20 years old. Her father died when she was 10, and her mother was a crack addict. She lived with her grandmother until the age of 18, when the grandmother died, and has been working the streets ever since.
Profession: The world's oldest
Knowledge/Hobby: When she was younger, she wanted to be a dancer. Moderately talented in a variety of dance forms.

Christian Woelfel: Christian was a patient at the clinic. He used to be employed in the construction industry until he lost his job a year ago. His finances have been dwindling ever since, and he has finally let go of his pride and gone to the free clinic. In pretty good health (at 37), but was being examined for a persistent stomach discomfort. Dr. Brockett isn't exactly sure what's wrong with him.
Profession: Carpenter (Out of work)
Knowledge/Hobby: Landscaping

Amie Fauntleroy: Amie was one of the volunteers at the clinic. She is 27 years old, and when she is not volunteering at the clinic, she is a middle school French teacher. She has been married to her high school sweetheart for nine years, but he was never interested in volunteering with her, and was not in the clinic when it was taken.
Profession: French teacher
Knowledge/Hobby: Languages. Also (relatively) fluent in Italian, Spanish, and German, with limited knowledge of various other European languages.

Sharron Conlan: Sharron was also a volunteer at the clinic. She was a student at UMass Boston in the Nursing program, and donated her time at the clinic. She is 19 years old.
Profession: Student (nurse-in-training)
Knowledge/Hobby: Singing

Maricela Rodriguez: Maricela was another patient at the clinic. She is 61 years old. She has had a hard life of manual labor, but it has made her into a strong woman, and she could probably pass for being in her 40s if it weren't for her tanned, leathery skin. She grew up on a farm in Mexico. When her son immigrated (illegally) to the U.S., she followed at his request once he had established himself economically. She lives with him, but goes to the free clinic so as not to be too much of a burden on him (he's not fabulously rich, he's getting by). She is a regular there, although this time it was only for an eye exam.
Profession: Farmer (retired)
Knowledge/Hobby: Seamstress

Roxanne Lorenzana: Roxanne was being treated for flu-like symptoms when the clinic was Abducted. She is 25 years old, and was at the time an out-of-work waitress. Roxanne is also a regular at the clinic, and she and Maricela have become friends over the years.
Profession: Waitress (out-of-work)
Knowledge/Hobby: Acting

Supplies

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Seamus's 9mm handgun, 47 shots left
Blankets (20)
Beds/Exam tables (10)
X-ray machine
Water distiller (assembled from beakers and tubing in supply room)
Fire wood
Wooden barricades for front lobby
Painkillers (large supply)
First aid equipment (bandages, gauze, ointments)
Epipens (moderate supply)
Surgical equipment (scalpels, clamps, etc.)
Flu vaccines
Fire Axe
Fire Extinguisher
Several large buckets
Quadruped hide
Quadruped meat (200 lbs. meat, 200 lbs viscera and skeleton)
Distilled water (50 gallons, in 10 5 gallon jugs)

After recovering from the initial shock of the situation, Seamus slowly draws his gun and aims it at the quadruped. He doesn't have to tell Noreen to stay quiet and keep her movements slow and deliberate; her 49 years of life have given her instincts enough to know that. Seamus motions for Noreen to head into the back hallway, and she silently understands. Seamus paces towards the animal, studying it like he would an armed suspect. He grabs a sturdy metal chair and holds it out in one hand like a lion tamer while his other hand remains firmly on the gun. He approaches the door, growling at the quadruped, trying to get it to make the first move. When the animal opens its mouth to bare its teeth at him, he fires one quick shot into its mouth, trusting his instinct that its brain, a major artery, or something relatively important must be back there. He then quickly holsters his gun, grabs the chair with both hands, and prepares to fend off the animal's death throes.

Meanwhile, Noreen creeps into the back hallway, where she encounters the others. Everyone is awake, and looking to Neil for guidance; Neil naturally accepts the role. After making sure everyone was alright, they all hear the gunshot from the lobby, and Neil quickly moves down the hallway towards it. Upon reaching the lobby, assuming the struggle is still going on, Neil and Christian instinctively grab chairs of their own and try to follow Seamus's lead.

[Maldiem]

Free Medical Clinic

Seamus's shot is deflected slightly by the glass window (which now has a single gaping hole and a large shattered area held up mostly by the window tinting), and goes through the very front of the creature's mouth, and then re-enters its head, bounces off the skull, and exits at the top.

The animal, instead of attacking, is frightened by this turn of events, and runs away from the clinic, leaving a heavy trail of blueish blood on the way. Just outside the circle, the creature collapses, and remains motionless.

Upon inspection, the clinic is located on a spit of dry land about two or three miles wide between the marsh on the West side and the ocean on the East. North of the clinic, the marsh meets the ocean at a briny estuary. To the south, you can make out another clearing, with a large, four-story building in the center.

[Moody the Wise]

The creature felled, the team relaxes and begins talking again. Seamus leaves the clinic to go recover the fallen quadruped and drag it back into the building with the help of Christian. They place it on a table in the makeshift ER. Neil grabs a notebook and a pen and informs the group that, unless anybody objects, he would like to be the one to cut the beast up, so that he can make notes about its physiology as it is being cut for meat. Nobody objects.

Most of the team watches in fascination as Dr. Brockett begins his examination of the corpse. Slowly, the each snap out of it and begin to offer their talents. Grace, used to watching her father work, proudly announces that she's pretty sure she can recreate her science class experiment and make a distilling apparatus to purify some water for drinking. Amie offers to help her round up the supplies and work on constructing it, and the two set off to search the supply rooms. Seamus offers to scout the perimeter, since he is the one with the gun. Christian grabs the fire axe out of the case, hefts it a few times, snorts a little in contempt, then mumbles that he supposes it will have to do. He then sets off behind Seamus to find some trees to cut down so that he can make them a better front wall. Maricela and Roxanne volunteer to go make the beds and find better bedding for them, looting the supply room for some blankets. Sharon and Tania volunteer to start looking for firewood, particularly the smaller pieces of tinder and kindling that will allow their fire to start. Noreen is the last to leave her husband's side, but eventually goes off in search of a bucket to collect water in.

First post edited for status

[jageroxorz]

Gabe, started at the sudden onset of night, gathers up some of the fruit and heads back in the general direction of where he thinks the office is.

Terryl curls up in a ball for warmth.

Everyone else at the office, just noticing the dangerously sliding office building, and thinking of the weird physics this new place must have, decide to put together at least a token effort to save the office building. Tim uses the forklift to cart boxes filled with dirt from the back of the building to the front, creating a buffer of dirt to stop the building from sliding.

[Maldiem]

Free Medical Clinic

As Neil dissects the quadruped, he notices a couple of things:

1) The creature's blood is blue, and has a distinct smell. Neil notes that this would be the case if the creature had an oxygen carrying enzyme that uses copper to bind oxygen, rather than iron; he concludes that this creature is almost certainly not related to anything native to Earth.

2) It has a one-way respiratory tract, with an outflow orifice in front of its face and an inflow orifice at the top of its head; the creature's cause of death was drowning in its own blood as it clogged the respiratory tract.

3) This was very fortunate, as the creature has a very thick skeleton and the bullet did nothing but pierce soft tissue. The skull is intact, and has only a minor scratch. In general, the creature has a dense, armored skeleton on any surface that is pointed upward.

4) The creature has organs that are obviously a heart, stomach, and intestines, but he can't really tell what the other organs (of which there are many) are for. They are probably analogues to the liver, pancreas, etc., but without extensive research he has no way to know for sure.

5) The creature has about 200 pounds of usable meat, along with about 200 pounds more of skeleton and viscera. He has no idea if its edible.

The distillation apparatus is assembled mostly without incident, though the nearest water is the ocean, about half a mile away. Seamus notices several of the creatures described in the Museum post staring at him from the canopy of the Grees, and when Christian tries to cut one down, he is immediately pelted with the brown, fruit like objects, as the tree-dwellers grow increasingly agitated and make more noise.

By now the sun has fully set, and its several hours into the night.

The Schmoffice

As the field dries out and the boxes are added in front of the building, it seems to settle into the dirt a few inches. It doesn't look like its going anywhere.

While Gabe gathers the fruit, the creatures continue throwing them. One or two of the creatures actually yank the spines on their backs out, stick the bottom ends into the fruit, and then throw those at him. When they hit him, (once in the shoulder, once in the thigh), those limbs lose feeling for a short time. The creatures are growing even more angry, and more of the projectiles have spines embedded as the barrage continues.

Terryl, apparently resigned to his fate, curls up in a ball to try and wait out the night. As he's sinking into a deep (and probably final) sleep, he suddenly notices that it gets a great deal colder, which jolts him back to consciousness. He finds himself awake, nude, without any possessions whatsoever on the roof of the Office. There is a small hatch, which leads down into the interior of the building.

It is now the early morning, with the orangeish sun peaking over the Western horizon, between the peaks.

[Moody the Wise]

Christian gathers up the fruit-like objects and brings a shirtful of them back to the clinic for inspection. He then goes back out to the tree, and Seamus fires one shot at the top of the tree, hoping to scare the tree-dwellers away long enough for Christian to chop one tree down, and maybe even hit and kill one of the little critters for examination (and possibly food).

As nightfall begins to set in, everyone is rallied to make a group effort with the water. While Seamus guards the clinic with the gun, Christian (axe in hand) leads the other 8 team members on a quick run to the ocean (about a twelve minute roundtrip) to fill up the other 9 5 gallon jugs (Noreen had already brought one back).

A schedule is set up to keep watch through the night, and to run the distiller, since distilling all the ocean water is a slow process. They decide to keep the fire burning all night for the first night since they have to distill all this water anyway, although later nights might see more conservation attempts.

[EleventhHour]

Stream

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Name : Jennifer Alvins
Profession : Nurse (In training)
Hobbies : Gardening
Traits : While fairly emotional and nervous herself, a few months working on the phones has got her to the point where she can talk, or just listen, until the other person has calmed down. - Skill 1 Point
Misc Skills. : Looking adorable in her outfits. ( )

Name : John Reddings
Profession : Manager
Hobbies : Drinking ( )
Traits : He's been working with Customer Service and the like for going on six years, and has little trouble keeping things organized despite his good-natured humour. Dislikes paperwork. - Skill 1 Point
Misc Skills. : Getting people to get him coffee. He has it down to almost a perfect science.

Name : Greg Staniez
Profession : Ex-Military
Hobbies : Antique weapon collecting
Other Hobbies : Part-time Blacksmithing - Skill 1 Point
Traits : Getting fairly portly as he passes middle-age, and with a thick grey walrus-like moustache, he isn't quite as intimidating as he likely was in his prime, but still has the ham-like arms of a physically fit man. - Skill 1 Point
Misc Skills. : Being unusually interested in other people's politics.

Name : Rupert Cornwall
Profession : Security Guard
Hobbies : Playing baseball
Traits : Is fit, not in the burly soldier-like way, but instead with the quiet confidence of a private guard, knowing that he doesn't have to be the biggest guy, he just has to have the 'bigger gun', and backup.
Misc Skills. : Has a lazy eye that he can still see out of. Somewhat disconcerting.

Name : Kayla Winters
Profession : Call Center Agent / Waitress
Hobbies : Gaming and paintballing
Traits : A traditional 'tomboy', often wearing bandana's, tight sweaters, and camo-Converse.
Misc Skills. : Speaks both English and German. - Skill 1 Point

Name : Dan Martin - Extra Team Member 5 Points
Profession : Call Center Agent / Park Ranger (For the summer)
Hobbies : Camping
Traits : Dan spends most of his summers out-of-doors, hiking, biking and sleeping under the stars, while supervising park trails, and generally having a good time in the woods.
Misc Skills. : Survival training is fairly basic stuff to him, despite never having taken a 'legal course' in it, he does fairly well through self-learned habits. - Skill 1 Point

Status

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Fairly warm, but also fairly annoyed.

After a short bit of diliberation, and a few quick orders from John, the fact that being on an alien planet should likely cancel out the managerial status forgotten, a mess of broken chairs and dividers are cleared out of the way, some of it piled to lend support to the matinence ladder that Kayla and Rupert dug out from a once-locked supply closet, the door now buckled and the lock failing it. Jennifer was sent up the ladder with John and Dan holding tight to the metal legs, or at least would have, if she wasn't wearing a skirt. Kayla ended up attempting to climb the ladder and deactivate the closest ones for now, at least.

Hopefully with the nearest blaring alarm deadened, they could get on with the growing dusk, as seen through the some-what ragged roof, and get some sleep.

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The start of it was mostly commentary on how crappy earth was getting, and some details on the alien planet part experinced though a VR system, and how thier group of friends ended up getting back together, the jobs that the others were supposed to get taken up by robots (As the first few had thiers taken without a chance to begin with, and the robots being one of the problems in the beginning.) And once thier (plot) group of skilled friends got all together, 'the government' sent them to the alien planet they were experincing through VR before, in giant 'plastic' eggs, that disentigrated after a few weeks, leaving them to restart humanity, and hopefully not pollute/let robots take over.

So, a tad different, but it just seemed the same to me, since the teams were trying to cram in as many different skilled people as possible. And the name of the book might not have been The Game. It's just what I remember it as in the back of my old library.)

[Another_Poet]

History Museum, Day 2

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Char Sheets & Building Description

Family Supplies
Leatherman multitool (Jerry)
"Paper Cleaver" (paper slicer handle used as a cleaver) (Ray)
Wooden club (Fr Younk)
Cell Phones (all)
2 backpacks' worth of bottled water (4F)
5 lbs pasta salad (4F)
5 lbs potato salad 4F)
14 sandwiches (4F)
8 doughnuts (4F)
0? lbs of semi-frozen meat, rolled in salt & spices by Jerry
A warm shawl for everyone
Hats & mittens for everyone
1 fur coat (Andi)
2 jackets (the kids have them)
4 quilts (4F)
20 guns of assorted time periods, none loaded with actual ammunition (4F)
A knife or bayonet for everyone
1 couch (4F)
8 cushions (4F)

Wolf's Supplies
Nothing but his knife, his lockpicks, some change and the cardboard he was sleeping on.

The meat was left to dry in another 4F meeting room. Jerry was the first to wake up to the noise and the first to reach the room. He observes the fighting Wigglers (as I'm now calling them) for almost two minutes before he senses other people walking up behind him. Realising the kids are here, he closes the door to the room before they can see much and says softly, "The meat is done for. Get me some chairs." They barricade the door to the room, though it might be futile against something that can climb 4 extra-tall stories of smooth stone facing to access the window.

* * * * * *

In the morning, the team re-evaluates their strategy. Obviously, although there is plenty more meat in the freezers of the Cafe, they just wasted a fair amount. True fear of starvation (and thirst) gri[ps tyheir conversation. Tersely, they go and listen at the door of the sealed Wiggler room. If they hear nothing Jerry will look through the crack at the bottom, and only if it seems clear will he open the door and check for remains of any of the meat.

Spoiler

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Before I finish my Day 2 writeup, can you tell me if

1) Any of the wigglers are still there? and
2) Any of the meat is still there, and in what condition?

[Maldiem]

Free Medical Clinic

As Christian bends over to begin collecting the fruit, the Wigglers continue throwing them, some of which include spines pulled from their backs. Christian receives one direct hit to his lower back that hurts like crazy as the spines puncture his flesh, and then quickly goes numb.
Seamus's shot does indeed scare the critters away, and they clamber away through the canopy, hooting all the way. The Gree is undefended, but Christian is more concerned by the blood oozing from his back than his prospects as a lumberjack.

The run to the water takes about 10 minutes, as its a half mile through unfamiliar terrain and a wooded area．　　Ｔｈｅ　trip back, on the other hand, takes a lot longer, as they're lugging large jugs full of water. It doesn't seem to matter much, as nothing bothers them on the way.

Stream

Kayla manages (despite a lot of teetering on the ladder's part) to remove the batteries from one of the smoke detectors, but they're placed at fairly regular intervals throughout the building, and there isn't really anything to deaden the sound. The noise is still intolerable, and definitely not something one could sleep through; smoke detectors are designed to be so loud that you have to leave the building, purely to preserve your hearing.

Museum

When the Team begins to barricade the door, the noises seem to alert the Wigglers, who begin trying to batter down the door. They don't seem to be terribly strong, terribly organized, or terribly intelligent, as they fail and give up after about 10 minutes, after which the Team can hear more fighting from the other side of the door.

In the morning, Jerry checks under the door and can detect no sign of the Wigglers. When he opens the door to check on the meat, he discovers that the Wigglers seem to prefer sleeping on places other than the floor, as they are perched on top of the bookcases, tables, and chairs, and one is even hanging from the ceiling. The room has been completely wrecked, with upholstery ripped from chairs, books torn to pieces, any exhibits in the room broken apart and spread around, and blackish feces (which the Wigglers have apparently rolled in, based on the pattern) spread all across the floor. There is still meat in the room, though none of it is untouched-- its all worried and fought over, covered in Wiggler saliva, or actually being used as a sort of blanket by one of the creatures. After a couple seconds of observation, one of the Wigglers wakes with a start, looks directly at Jerry, and lets out a screech with enough mouth diameter behind it to give Jerry a detailed look at its dentition; row upon row of pointed teeth in the center, with flatter molars toward the back.

[Moody the Wise]

Seamus asks Christian if he is okay, and Christian stoically declares that he'll be fine. He hands Seamus the axe and asks him to chop the tree down before the little devils get back, and that he needs to "walk it off." While Seamus cuts the tree down and brings it and the fruit inside, Christian slowly shambles back into the clinic, careful not to let Seamus see that he's not doing so hot. Once inside, he calls for Dr. Brockett, who treats his wounds and does his best attempt at a medical diagnosis with what he's got.

While Grace takes her shift at night, she does her best to draw a map of the visible night sky with some paper and pens she found in the reception desk.

[Maldiem]

Free Medical Clinic

As Christian shambles back to the clinic, the sound of Seamus going to work on the Gree gives him a bit of satisfaction, but this is quickly overshadowed by the look on Dr. Brockett's face when he examines the wound. Neil notices that the spine, presumably pulled from the back of a Wiggler, is barbed along its entire length, such that removing it will cause a great deal of tissue damage. Because its embedded in the trunk of his back, he can't just push it through, and needs to resort to simply digging it out, 1800's-style. The clinic has a stash of local and general anesthesia (Christian only needs local for this, or he could hope the area remains numb), but it is quite limited.

Neil asks Christian how long the spine is, and Christian remembers seeing a few jammed into the fruits, and motions about four inches with his hands. Neil's face goes white, and he explains that the spine could have punctured a kidney. He won't know for sure until he's actually in there digging around, but it could be pretty serious.

Seamus does manage to cut down the Gree, and as he's doing so he chops through layer after layer of bark. It looks like the Gree grows by gradually hardening its leaves against the existing trunk, such that the trunk consists of nothing but layers of leaves. There does seem to be some kind of fluid transport going on (a greenish sap leaks out), but Seamus is by no means a botanist. As he fells the tree and begins chopping it up to bring inside, a wave of all manner of crawling, slithering creatures, between half an inch and two inches long rushes out of the tree. Given a closer look, it looks like the entire inside of the Gree is encysted with hibernating creatures of this type.

Higher up in the branches, Seamus finds several level platforms, made of layered leaves, covered in blackish Wiggler feces, small bones, larger bones, half-eaten fruit, and shiny rocks. He also notices that there seem to be two general types of fruit from the Gree; a smaller, harder fruit that's darker brown in color, and a much larger, lighter-colored fruit, which seem to be the fruit eaten most often by the Wigglers, if the nests are any indication. Looking at the attack site, he also notes that the smaller type seem the ones most often thrown.

[jageroxorz]

Terryl goes into his locker in the warehouse and gets a change of clothes, puts them on, and goes outside. He sees Gabe staggering back with an armful of fruits.

Everyone helps Gabe sit close to the fire, and Gabe recounts his tale. The group each smell the fruit, and guess if it's edible?

Tim and Sam take Hans with them to the west, carefully, to look for some fresh water. They have all the water coolers, but they know that supply won't last forever. Hans is wearing some sort of ninja costume he had secreted underneath his desk, and a wide variety of weapons, most Asian in origin, including a samurai sword strapped to his back.

[Moody the Wise]

Christian says that he's already numb and even if the numbness wears off, he's worked in the construction industry for over a decade, and this sort of pain shouldn't traumatize him. He asks Neil to do whatever he needs to do to fix him, but to leave the anaesthetics for later.

EDIT: Christian tells Neil that he will not let him waste all of the clinic's antibiotics on him. He'll accept bed rest, and regular check-ups, but he doesn't want to be too big a burden. Neil seems to accept this, but decides that the need is dire enough that he should at least slip a few antibiotics into his water later.

In the morning, the team sits down for a long talk. They establish that they are, with a fairly high degree of certainty, nowhere on Earth. Amie and Seamus take 8 pounds of the meat and a 5 gallon jug of the water and venture off to investigate the building to the south, taking the gun with them [Another Poet, that means you].

EDIT: When the group reaches the Museum, Amie calls out looking for any signs of human life, while Seamus carefully keeps his gun trained on the door.

While Seamus and Amie are out, the rest of the team continues working. Grace goes up on the roof and sets up a sundial and a calendar, and marks off the first day as yesterday. The team's watches are still running, but there's no guarantee about their continued operation, or that whatever place they are now has a 24-hour day. [Does it, Maldiem?] Maricela and Roxanne set to work trying to build some traps. They scavenge some wood paneling off of the desks and construct a deep rectangular-shaped trap with a door that can be closed by pulling a long makeshift rope created from some extra bedsheets tied together. They place some of the gree fruit in there, place the trap outside the clinic, and wait by the end of the rope until something goes in there. [This is not only a possible way of catching food, but a good way of determining what eats the fruit, and how likely it is to be toxic.]

Neil works on a better way to harvest the gree fruit and trees. He experiments with throwing various things at the grees, from a distance, seeing if the Wigglers can be enticed to throw fruit down without getting too close, or scared away from a distance. Noreen and Sharron work on smoking the meat, constructing a smoke box out of similar materials as the trap. [The meat was basically refrigerated last night, given the temperatures, and so should still be fine.] Tania stays by Christian's bed, ready to call for Neil if any trouble should come up, and making sure he gets plenty of water.

[Another_Poet]

edit: I will edit this post as needed once I see Moody's final post (above).

HISTORY MUSEUM, DAY 2 CONTINUED

Spoiler

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Char Sheets & Building Description

Family Supplies
Leatherman multitool (Jerry)
"Paper Cleaver" (paper slicer handle used as a cleaver) (Ray)
Wooden club (Fr Younk)
Cell Phones (all) (low battery)
1.25 backpacks' worth of bottled water (4F)
5 lbs pasta salad (4F)
5 lbs potato salad 4F)
4 sandwiches (4F)
8 doughnuts (4F)
0? lbs of semi-frozen meat, rolled in salt & spices by Jerry
A warm shawl for everyone
Hats & mittens for everyone
1 fur coat (Andi)
2 jackets (the kids have them)
4 quilts (4F)
20 guns of assorted time periods, none loaded with actual ammunition (4F)
A knife or bayonet for everyone
1 couch (4F)
8 cushions (4F)
NEW - 8 swords & 4 spear heads
NEW - ?? lbs of freshly smoked meat
NEW - waste management "truck" (cart with chamber pots & garbage can)
NEW - 1 trash can full of water
**Silas' pot stash (forgot to add it before)


Wolf's Supplies
Nothing but his knife, his lockpicks, some change and the cardboard he was sleeping on.

Jerry exits the room and closes the door in a hurry. Solemnly he looks at the others and says, "We are giving up that room. That room is done."

Spoiler

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As stated it was just a meeting room, no exhibits. :)

This enrages Andi for some reason. She actually looks like she is going to attack Jerry as he slides a desk across the door and strengthens the barricade. Ray keeps a cooler tone but takes her side. This goes on for a while, with Andi shrieking that they have to take back their space. It ends with Fr. Younk speaking up.

"Andi. Ray. Who's the enemy here?"

They exchange a long look and Andi crumples into Ray's arms, crying. Ray takes her out of the room and Jerry gets the barricade in place.

The eat two-day-old sandwiches and oily pasta salad. The salads are no longer good. Silas nearly makes the mistake of throwing them into a trash can but Jerry stops him in time.

"We need a waste management plan. With these... wigglers about."

THE POOP-BEARER
They sit down to another group meeting and talk about that. They'll need a place to do their business, and a place to put their garbage. Unfortunately they've been using the dry toilets, so the only 4F bathrooms already stink terribly. A simple wastebasket "chamber pot" will work fine, but no one will want to use the actual bathrooms. They decide on an office suite to act as the new bathrooms. Ironically, it used to be the office of the Director of the Historical Society. The director's office is the ladies' room and the assistant to the director's office is the men's room.

Tricia hand-selects three waste baskets to serve as chamber pots. She chooses a few that seem to be leak-proof, though there is only one way to put them to the test. Once she has confirmed it, Andi brings a little cart (that was once used for moving computers and the like. She places it near the "bathrooms." She tells everyone that each evening, they will load the three chamber pots onto the cart along with the garbage basket and then wheel it... to... somewhere.

Andi and Tricia spend the morning trying to solve this problem. Obviously they need to get it outside, but not without going down four to six flights of stairs. They realise they could rig a pully to lower the cart down, but that would risk spilling their waste all over. A conundrum.

Their solution is crude, but workable. Each evening someone will take the cart across the 4F to the far side, way past Marketing. There is an emergency staircase there that goes down just two flights to a fire door. The fire door used to open to the ground on the side of the building that was built into a hill, but now it's three extra-tall floors above the ground. They'll open that door and empty the waste out, close the door, and call it good. The cart will be stowed at the top of the stairs overnight in case the residual scent of waste attracts anything, but most of the waste will be outside on the ground.

They decide that the job of poop-bearer will rotate nightly, with everyone taking a turn.

WATER
The men also get to work after breakfast. As promised, Ray hauls out the old card catalogue. He moves it to the stairwell where it can get at least a little natural light. (He's sure not gonna lug it upstairs out of the basement!). He tries to find a source of ammunition in the museum's impressive collections.

Silas has an idea, which he discusses haltingly with Jerry. The idea is this: all of the sewer and drain pipes emptied out. But the other pipes - the ones that bring water to the sinks and bathrooms - should still have water in them. Jerry partially agrees; he points out that anything coming from a water main would have drained out, but any hot water pipes coming from a water heater would still have (now cold) water in them, since there is a valve at the bottom.

Silas figures this is good enough. With Jerry's permission he sets out looking for containers in which to store water. He finds few. The Museum has sinks or water fountains instead of "water coolers" so there are no big water jugs about. Pottery in the collections is mostly too fragile to use. His choices are garbage cans or piles of coffee mugs. He supposes he'll start with garbage cans.

Father Younk steps in at this point, while Jerry goes to check on Ray. Younk helps Silas locate tools in the building maintenance shop and then locate the water heaters and the pipes that run from them. The heaters themselves are full of now-cold water, and Younk theorises that the Heating/Venting/Air Conditioning (HVAC) units probably contain water too. There are steam pipes in the sub-basement that should all be full, after all. The two of them spend all day prying at pipes and machinery with wrenches and even cutting some with hacksaws. They keep hoping to find a way to drain the pipes into gabrage cans but neither is mechanically inclined and both are worried about leakage. They do accidentally drain one pipe, barely managing to get one garbage can over to it in time and not having any more on hand once the first one fills up. All they've really accomplished is to confirm that there is water.

Dismayed, Younk turns to Silas. "You still have that stash, Cy?"

"What?"

The priest shakes his head. "The pot. You have it?"

Total terror. "Uhhhhhh.... yeah....."

"I thought you must smoke up. This seems like a good time for a hit, huh?"

The dumbfounded boy rolls one up, and then proceeds to smoke it with the priest that is a year older than his dad. Damn, he always thought he'd been so secretive. They open the loading dock and sit on the edge with their feet dangling down, and get stoned.

They talk about the birds outside, referring to them as Chocobos (which makes them both giggle).

* * * * * * * * * *

WEAPONS
Ray spends all morning researching with no good news. Frustrated, he goes and gets some swords. Mostly sabres from the Civil War era. He also finds some spearheads, though there are no shafts to go with them. He figures they can make them.

He goes upstairs for lunch intending to surprise everyone with swords, but finds no one at the 4F conference room. He eats doughnuts and sandwiches alone, leaves the swords for the others, and goes back to work.

Spoiler

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If it's alright, I'd like to choose this randomly. I figure there's a 1% chance that there is live ammo stored in the archives somewhere. On a 100, Ray succeeds.

(1d100)[45]

Additionally, there may be a chance that there are other projectile weapons on hand. Harpoon guns or workable bows both seem likely. On a 70-100 there is such a thing; otherwise no luck.

(1d100)[52]

By the end of the day all he has found are some old bows, but they no longer hold their draw weight and they start to crack if he even tries to string them. Defeat.

* * * * * * * *

FOOD
After getting Silas started Jerry goes about the museum collecting wood. Not just any wood - he doesn't want stuff with varnish or finish on it. This limits his options. But with enough time and effort he gets a nice stack of wood, some from unseen parts of furniture and some from the exhibits. He takes this to the kitchen.

There he builds a fire on top of one of the stoves. (He lets the remaining gas out first, of course.) He has no illusions that the vent hoods over the stove will work well - but they will at least let the smoke trickle out, which might be perfect.

He starts the fire and then gets armfuls of meat from the coolers. He slices the meat thin, puts it on catering skewers, and adds pepper and garlic and the like. Soon he has built a little smoke house and is smoking the meat.

Spoiler

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Using the Hunter skill to know how to smoke meat.

This time he takes no risks. The cafe kitchen is on the 1st floor, while the wigglers are on the 4th. There are no open windows and, in fact, no windows into the kitchen at all. He patrols the front of the cafe with his knife and unarmed gun and prepares to chase off anything that looks in the (closed) windows there. There are multiple sets of closed doors between the cafe and the staircase to the 4F, so he hopes all will go well.

He spends the day smoking meat, as much of it as he can.

Spoiler

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How much can he smoke in one day on an industrial sized stove?

* * * * * * *

THE WOLF

Sam wakes up and spends the morning meditating. He's just thinking about leaving when he hears footsteps. Damn.

Soon he smells a familiar smell, however. Pot. Mmmmm-hmmmmm.

Trusting in his award-winning people skills, The Wolf opens the door, walks up behind Silas and Fr Younk, and cheerfully says, "'Sup fellas."

The two stoners nearly jump out of their skin. They spin around, leap to their feat, and even fumble for their knives. Screaming the whole time of course.

But Sam has a friendly face. "Whoa, whoa there fellas, I'm in the same situation as you are. Just looking for a little company."

They ask him where he came from and he says he woke up outside the building yesterday. They ask how he got in and he lies smoothly, "Well, someone left this here loading dock unlocked. Don't worry, I locked it up after myself."

Stoned, they believe him. Hesitantly they sit down with the bum. They share their gonja with him while he regales them with fabulous stories.

When they take him back upstairs later, the others are suspicious. When Ray hears they found him by the loading dock, he asks what they were doing down there. The priest smiles and Silas looks around fearfully. But The Wolf steps in.

"Oh sir, don't be hard on them, sir. They heard me knocking and a hollering outside. It was the only door I could reach. They just about saved my life. Please, don't be angry at them sir, it was me who was stuck outside and making a racket."

Silas seems relieved that The Wolf covered for them, while Fr Younk raises a single eyebrow at the lie. He makes a mental note to have a talk with the hobo one-on-one. But not now.

* * * * * *
SAFETY
Using the tools Silas found they nail and screw pieces of a broken desk into a better barricade for the Wiggler Room. Now wooden slats completely block even the crack under the door. There should be no way for the creatures to get through.

Jerry eyes the ceiling warily, but figures the Wigglers have no ceiling access and no reason to believe they can remove the ceiling panels. Hopefully they will stay on their bookshelves, or leave through the window they used to come in. Either way, ceiling infiltration is a problem for another day and one he doesn't mention to his exhausted companions.

Silas' phone is out of batter and Younk's and Rays are low. The others have kept theirs mostly off to conserve power. But they all know that the cell phones are their only lights for the basement levels, and that could prove a serious problem. With more than a little fear, they go to sleep.

Sam sleeps in a cubicle down the hall from the conference room. He says he likes to be alone. Andi is glad he is in a different room, and she falls asleep beside her daughter clutching a knife in one hand.

[Maldiem]

The Schmoffice

As Terryl climbs down the ladder, one of the scabs that had finally formed around his leg wounds opens up, which causes him to roll up that leg to avoid staining the only change of clothes he may ever have. When he gets to the fire, he actually gets a bit woozy and pale (a feat, considering his complexion), and seems to be in pretty poor shape. The fire warms him up, and that goes a good way to making him feel better, but he's still shaking from cold and very weak.

Gabe's numbness gradually fades as he walks back to the camp, so much so that full feeling is restored about 45 minutes later. "Full feeling", in this case, means "horrible, screaming, agonizing pain", because he's got four-inch long barbed, feces-covered spines embedded in his shoulder and thigh, and he's both walking on the thigh and carrying a load of fruit with his arms.

When the group is guessing if the fruit is edible, Kev volunteers to eat it (he hasn't snacked in hours, and if it gets much worse he promises to eat Gabe). Hans stops him, and points out that he knows how to induce vomiting, and that he's trained himself to taste a variety of poisons; he should be the one to try it. Hans takes a small bite, considers it for a moment, and then swallows it whole, remarking that "chewing releases the toxins, if there are any". He seems basically fine, though he compares the taste to "caramelized beets".

As the group sits around the fire they eventually notice that the pile of fruit, slightly off of the main gathering, is slowly shrinking, and they hear the occasional odd cracking sound, followed by slurping. Hans eventually lifts a torch to investigate, and discovers a Big Stupid Bird (see previous posts for description), cracking the smaller Gree fruits with its feet, and then slurping the juice inside.

((I hope the group was looking for water in the morning. If that's the case, I'll wait until after the BSB encounter is resolved before resolving that.))

((Gabe gains the Wiggler Poison and Limb Wounds effects. Everyone on the Team loses the Cold effect.))

Free Medical Clinic

Neil goes to work on Christian, carefully cutting around the barbs to ensure that the entire spine is removed from his back. It gets pretty dodgy when he gets to the viscera proper; the spine seems to have hit the kidney, though only barely. Neil doesn't want to cut around the spine in the kidney, as that will almost certainly cause a major hemorrhage, and so is forced to simply grab it with forceps and yank it the rest of the way out.

The spine only went a centimeter or so into the kidney, but it still bleeds like crazy. Neil does his best to stop the bleeding, and manages to get it stopped before Christian loses too much blood. By the time he's closing the incision, though, the Wiggler poison has started to wear off, and its incredibly painful. The end result is a very messy, stitched-up hole in his back, heavily bandaged. If this were a normal surgery, Neil would make sure Christian gets a course of broad-spectrum antibiotics for several weeks, plenty of rest, and observation for several days, but given the situation, there's a decision to be made.

The group heading South finds most of the terrain a simple Gree forest, interspersed with Flub and Trass meadows. Provided they quickly back away from any Gree infested with Wigglers, they remain unmolested for the journey, though they have occasionally BSB sightings, usually simply running by like Olympic sprinter/LSD-loaded Chimpanzee hybrids.

The Museum

((Sorry, I had planned to do a full response now, but I really need to sleep. I'll get it up when I get home from work tomorrow.))

[jageroxorz]

Spoiler

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Gabe has limb wounds and poison effect, Terryl has leg wounds.

Terryl, not without a small bit of pleasure, yanks out the barbs from Gabe's shoulder and applies some bandages from a first aid kit on Gabe's wounds after treating his own leg wounds.

Hans withdraws a couple of shruikens and, screaming like a banshee, throws them at the BSB.

He is flanked by Tim, standing about 3 body lengths behind him, armed with a piece of broken pipe from the building, and Kev, who is openly licking his lips at the thought of roast duck, holding nothing and looking idiotic.

[Maldiem]

The Museum

When Jerry begins smoking the meat, the smoke detectors in the kitchen go off, but its the work of a few minutes to disable them on the kitchen's normal-height ceiling. He's able to smoke all the meat remaining in the cafe (about fifty pounds. The end result looks preserved and edible, though not necessarily entirely appetizing.

Towards nightfall, the Team notices that the Wigglers are vacating the meeting room. They're carrying what remains of the meat, and playing with bits of furniture as they caper out the window and basically roll down the side of the building. They scamper across the clearing, and climb a nearby Gree.

Ray doesn't find any useful projectile weapons, but he thinks he might be able to reverse-engineer them a little bit, if he had the correct materials.

The Schmoffice

The BSB (I'm not calling them Chocobos. Final Fantasy just ain't happening) squawks and ducks the first shuriken, backs up a few paces and eyes Hans with the other side of its head. When he throws the second Shuriken, it lurches to side, avoiding the projectile, and then bolts from the clearing.

Terryl rips large chunks out of Gabe's shoulder when he pulls the spine out, and this results in another agonized scream and sobbing fit from Gabe; he shies away from Terryl as he moves toward the one in his thigh. What follows is a tired, slow paced grapple between two people who are barely in condition to walk, much less fight in all seriousness. The event ends when Terryl passes out from exertion.

In the morning, as the group is setting out to look for water, Tim points out that Gabe saw a lake the night previously, and that that might have drinkable water.

[jageroxorz]

Tim makes improvised shields from wood from the office building, binding them together with tape, for him and Hans. They head north, Hans having picked up his shruikens, and head north to the lake. They take some of the empty water cooler containers with them to hold the water.

How much of "chunks" is his shoulder? Like, not that much, or like, he's gonna die if the spine is taken from his leg?

[Maldiem]

The hike to the lake takes about an hour and a half, and the Orange sun is fully above the Western horizon. The lake is surrounded on all sides by overhanging Grees, and the water is clear and blue; the Team can see straight to the bottom, which is littered by small rocks.

As the group approaches the lake, they spot a large creature that looks like it stepped directly out of the ice age exhibit at a natural history museum; a creature that's a dead ringer for a woolly mammoth. The mammoth walks up to a Gree near the lake, and begins wrapping its trunk around the Gree. As it does so, Wigglers in the tree begin their barrage, and the mammoth quickly breaks off its assault, turns around, and starts the same process on a Gree on the other end of the clearing. By the time the Wigglers have clambered over to that Gree, the mammoth has snapped the trunk in half, and has begun munching happily on the fallen boughs. The Wigglers, apparently admitting defeat, fan out into the other Grees in the area, as if maintaining a defensive formation.

[Another_Poet]

The Museum, Day 2 Wrap-Up

Depending on which direction Amie and Seamus approach from, they may smell the Museum team before they see them. The smell is the probably-familiar scent of marijuana.

By following their noses they find their way to a large cargo loading dock door. The door is halfway up and three white males sit on the concrete loading dock, their feet swinging freely beneath them. One is a teenager, one a casually dressed adult in his early 40's and one a very tan, very messy looking individual with wild hair. They seem to be in great spirits from their doobies.

When they see the newcomers, they jump to their feet. Or try to. The cleaner adult steps in front of the teenager and calls out while the dirty adult disappears from view into the building.

"Ho! Who goes there!" yells the clean adult.

After introductions and explanations are made (the man introduces himself as Father Terrance Younk, and introduces the others as Silas and Wolf), Seamus and Amie are invited in. It seems that the museum crowd is happy to know that there are other survivors. They also eye the meat the two carry with an appraising glance. They ask if they have seen anyone else, if they have shelter of some kind and how they are doing on provisions.

Seamus and Amie are invited to stay for the night. The Museum team discusses a possible expedition to meet the others at the medical facility, but no definite plans are made.

Once the wigglers leave, Jerry removes the barricade and closes the window they used to enter. But no one uses the disgusting room for anything further. On a hunch, Jerry re-barricades it. "Just in case they laid eggs.... or whatever," he explains.

[Moody the Wise]

Upon their friendly reception by the Museum team, Amie relaxes quite a bit, and Seamus remains only slightly guarded. Although he knows he no longer holds any authority as an instrument of the law, and perhaps more so because of that, he is clearly uncomfortable with the marijuana situation, but keeps it to himself.

Amie tells Younk that they had fully intended half of the meat to be brought as a gift in the event that the occupants of the building were friendly. She also politely declines the offer to stay the night, insisting that her friends will worry if she and Seamus are not back by nightfall, as they had planned to be. She says that they would be happy to guide one or more of the Museum team members back to the clinic and entertain them for the night, but that she and Seamus have to turn around and start back before too long. [The journey looks like it should take 2-2.5 hours each way, leaving plenty of time to make the roundtrip in daylight hours, but not a whole lot of time to dawdle.] In the time that she and Seamus are there, they share all they can with the Museum group - the state of their supplies (food, water, and medical), their knowledge of the Quadruped and how to kill one, and the dangerous behaviors of the Wigglers.

[Maldiem]

Day 2, Night

((Background music for the dream))

As the second day on the new planet draws to a close (about 24 hours after it began), and everyone goes to sleep, every person on every team has the same dream:

Incomprehensible voices, which conjure the image of the offspring of an unnatural union between a pipe organ and an accordion wheeze in the background, to the sound of applause. The dream then shows images of Seamus using his gun to kill the quadruped, and scare off the Wigglers, and then images or Ray, Gabe and Christian helpless as they endure the Wiggler barrage. It then shows two people dressed in US navy uniforms, firing pistols at three quadrupeds, which seem to have lost their fear of gunfire (and don't seem particularly bothered by the bullets ricocheting off their thick skeletons). Just as the quads are about to pounce, the dream shows a third person, grey haired and wearing a much more ornate uniform, sighting a high-powered rifle at the quads.

The dream shows a cutaway of the rifle's clip, showing five bullets remaining. The rifleman fires all five shots in quick succession, which impact the quadrupeds and pierce their sheath of bone. The quadrupeds are down, but the dream leaves the viewer with the unimpeachable certainty (as is often found in dreams) that no more ammunition for this type of firearm remains on the planet.

The voices raise to a crescendo, and all but one drop off. The dream takes a bird's eye view of the Gree forest where this took place, and then zooms out, farther and farther. The Dreamers can see the immediate area of the encounter, near the base of a cliff and a large, upside-down aircraft carrier, and then farther out, showing an aerial view of the coast, then the continent the coast is on, and then the whole planet. The planet shrinks to a dot, then disappears entirely as the orange star swings into view, and then also begins to shrink. The viewpoint rotates, giving the dreamer a view of a massive, crowded star scape, before flying through the stars at a breakneck pace. The viewpoint fixates on a small, yellow dot, which rapidly grows larger and larger, until it shifts slightly toward a small blue speck. The dreamers recognize the Earth, and it begins to zoom in on the planet. As it does so, the dreamers catch a glimpse of a large, purplish, lighted object on the dark side of the moon that is clearly artificial, and blots out about 1/20th of the face.

The view keeps zooming in on a desert area of Nevada, eventually settling on high-security military base. It flies through the large, bunker-like double doors, and then through a series of white, featureless hallways. It takes a number of lurching, fast-paced turns, and dodges around people in high-tech, armored biohazard gear, which seem to notice the viewer. They react with a variety of both fear and aggression, and some of them even pull and fire their weapons at the viewer. It doesn't seem to do anything other than damage the wall behind it, and the viewpoint zooms on. Eventually it enters a large hangar area, with a small, delta-winged purplish craft in the center. The viewer gives this only momentary attention, as it focuses on the two guards at the entrance of the room, holding wicked-looking, long, purplish rifle-like objects. These guards fire at the viewer, and it actually dodges them this time. As it does so, it draws the dreamer's attention to the weapons, and then reaches out a blue, ethereal appendage to pluck them from the guards' arms. It then repeats its journey in reverse, much faster, holding the weapons.

As it approaches the planet with the Teams on it, it instead heads straight toward the center of the marsh. It drops one of the weapons in the murk, landing with a wet "plop", and sinking until just the tip sticks out. It then moves North several miles, and repeats the procedure with the second weapon.

The voices then resume, and the applause increases, as the view zooms back out, highlighting the location of the weapons. The dream ends, with each dreamer absolutely certain that what they saw actually occurred at some point.

Problems the teams face:
Some teams still have no reliable source of food or water.
It is still cold, though everyone who has posted beyond the first day has either lit a fire or found some coats.
Everyone is getting pretty stanky-- no showers or oral hygiene for two, going on three days, coupled with a good deal of physical labor.

The Schmoffice:
Gabe still has the second Wiggler spine in his thigh, and its possible removing it could tear an artery. His shoulder is missing a good inch-thick cone of muscle, and the scab has started to itch like crazy. Terryl is still very weak, and this is made worse by not eating very much. A note: Hans doesn't seem hurt by eating the fruit, and has commented that it was a "filling, if exotic treat".

Free Medical Center:
Neil thinks Christian's wound is healing fairly well, though its too early to tell if its infected. He isn't running a fever, though, which is a good sign.

The Museum:
No serious problems, though a really awful smell has started wafting out of the Wiggler room.

Still in Extremely Slow time.

Locations that the Dreamers think the object dropped the weapons marked on the map below:

Spoiler

Show

[Moody the Wise]

Day 2, Night time

Reserved for responses to interaction with Museum team

Day 3, 0630 Hours

As the dream leaves the clinic team, they awake suddenly and stare at each other, somehow feeling as though the dream was too real not to be shared between them. Upon conversing, they confirm that suspicion. Knowing now that Quadrupeds hunt in packs, and thus are probably not even the biggest predators here, they decide they cannot afford to rely on their own small gun and its limited ammunition, and accordingly neither can they afford not to search out this dream-gun.

Seamus volunteers to lead the expedition to find the dream-gun. Neil wants to go as well, but is reminded that he should stay behind in case Christian needs him. It is decided that Noreen will go in his place, as Neil's practice has rubbed off on her well enough over the years that she should be qualified enough to handle the dream-gun team's first aid needs should anything happen. To round out the expeditionary party, Grace volunteers to go, to the surprise of several clinic team members, notably Dr. Brockett, but nobody tells her she can't, and Seamus and Noreen are glad to have the extra hands around.

The team pools their memories to draw the most accurate map they can of their area. Before setting out, the team decides it needs to prepare for trekking through a marsh. Maricela fashions for each of them a makeshift pair of snow("marsh")shoes out of pieces of the waiting room chairs lashed together with Quadruped sinews. They're not perfect, but combined with some careful stepping, they should keep the expeditionary force from sinking too far into the marsh. Maricela also uses a thick needle from the clinic and fabric from a spare set of sheets to crudely sew the threesome's pant legs tight over their boots. It might not keep something with big teeth out, but it should at least deter undetermined attackers, and keep leeches and the like out. Maricela supervises Roxanne in making a makeshift backpack out of two of the 5 gallon water jugs so that Seamus and Noreen can carry them on their backs, and a back sling for the meat for Grace to carry. Grace explains that she should be able to navigate the team pretty well by the position of the sun. The team sets out with Seamus's gun, 12 pounds of the smoked meat, two of the 5 gallon water jugs, the map, and their MacGyvered marsh gear.

[Maldiem]

Free Medical Clinic

((A response to a post above that I missed. I'm waiting on other responses to resolve the search))

Maricela and Roxanne assemble the trap, though it appears quite ramshackle. After awhile, three BSBs wander by, look directly at the girls, and then one sticks its head into the box and begins shoveling the fruit out with its beak. As they watch, the BSBs peel the skin off of the larger fruits, eat them and the flesh, and then stomp on a large, brown seed at the center. They slurp up the mashed seed, and then move onto the smaller fruits, which they merely stomp and slurp. When they've finished, the BSBs give the women an appraising look, squawk, and wander off back into the Gree forest.

Neil finds it is actually quite easy to get Wigglers to throw the fruit, though when provoked they tend to move through the canopy to the closest Gree possible to the person provoking them, and throw from there. He also discovers that they use their spines as a last resort, and always begin a barrage with unspined fruit. Those few times he lingers too long in one place for them to throw spined fruit, he also notices that the majority of the fruit don't hit spine-side down; it is simply the volume thrown that becomes a problem. The last thing he notices is that Wiggler commotion attracts BSBs. As the Wigglers chase Neil through the forest, the BSBs climb the now Wiggler-less trees and devour the fruit in the boughs, as well as most of what has been thrown.