Veil of Smog, Chapter 1

[Izzarra]

Yume Tsukiyomi Kitsune Shrine Maiden Conditions: None

Yume's nostrils flair as she sniffs the air around the man.
"Looks like too much drink. Doesn't smell like too much sake. Maybe drugged?"

[Esprit15]

Without looking, she speaks to the men. “Your friend here have any vices?”

[Charybdis1618]

Kris nudges him with the toe of a work boot. "I don't know this guy. Do you, Martin?"

Martin glances down. "I don't know him either."

[Esprit15]

“Wait, he’s not your friend and he’s not your client?”

[Charybdis1618]

"Doesn't look 'nearly 90' to me, and I don't recognize him."

"The order came through the website, though. No one ever met the client in person."

"The down payment cleared, though. We wouldn't be here otherwise."

[Esprit15]

“Should the door have been left unlocked? When we checked in him before it was locked and we couldn’t get in…” Easing her grip on the bow and arrow, Sarah walks up to the door to knock on it.

[Charybdis1618]

"It said the key would be left under the doormat."

[Esprit15]

She checks under the doormat.

[Charybdis1618]

You find the key there, as expected. When you insert it, the door is unlocked. You distinctly remember it having been locked when you checked the previous time. The door swings open with a faint creak of hinges needing oil. The lights are on overhead, revealing a neatly-kept office space. On a table to one side of the office, you hear a faint hiss of steam. A drip-brew coffee maker sits, with a fresh pot still releasing steam. A small index card has been folded to stand, bearing a message.

"Drink up, friends! Thanks for being willing to work late. -John"

[Esprit15]

”Huh, looks like he just forgot to turn off the light…” While she’s out of view, she does a thorough search of the office for any signs of… well, anything. Signs that a baku might reside here, signs of break in, etc. Maybe the old man did leave the light on by mistake but it just seemed to weird.

Spoiler

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Quickness 8
Perception: (1d20+10)[16]

[Charybdis1618]

There's no sign of the baku, to be sure. There's a potted plant in front of the only visible air vent, which would obstruct the view from it. There are no other immediate signs of malfeasance. Nobody and nothing visibly hiding anywhere, no signs of a break-in. You quickly spot the erroneous switch in the wall opposite the door, next to a bookcase.

[Batcathat]

Stepping into the room, Rufus took a look of his own through his glasses.

"Unless there is more to do here, perhaps we should put the passed out gentleman to bed and get back to the actual business at hand?"

[Charybdis1618]

Nothing seems immediately awry, physically. There are no hidden assailants in the vents, in the walls, or anywhere else. Nothing here seems physically dangerous. Your eyes are drawn to the copy of the work order printed out on the desk. It says nothing about the owner being elderly, asthmatic, or anything of the sort. It states that the light will be left on for them, and the key left under the mat.

Spoiler

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(Please make an Expertise: Magic roll)

[Xihirli]

Leif nodded. "Yeah. Come on boys, let's finish up the job here so you can all go home. Don't want you getting in trouble, or getting caught up in anything."

[Esprit15]

“You don’t find this odd?” Sarah asks.

[Charybdis1618]

(Rufus, take a Hero Point, by virtue of your convenience to the situation.)

Rufus, you would most certainly find this odd, but your glasses happened to slip at exactly the wrong moment. By the time you have them back in place, and look more carefully at the magical side of the world, it's too late. The layer of illusion covered the entire rear wall, so uniformly that it did not stand out as an anomaly at first glance. Just as Kris has unscrewed the second screw of the erstwhile switch, the lights flicker off. When they come back on a second later, all of you at first think you have been teleported into a tropical hedge maze. Walls of tangled, colorful vine crowd close around you, with a gap leading out of the small space you currently stand in. A closer look shows them to, in fact, be tangled curtains of wires. Kris and Martin seem to not have noticed anything different about the room, focusing on their work.

The wires are quasi-illusory. While you could probably walk through one if you tried, you get the feeling that it would be inadvisable to do so. They are magically active enough to block Rufus' x-ray vision. Additionally, it seems like a faint haze hangs around Kris and Martin, occluding their peripheral vision.

A chuckle echoes through the room, reverberating off the insides of your skulls. It's simultaneously shrill and bone-shakingly deep, malicious and innocent, familiar and alien. Once again, Kris and Martin seem not to notice anything unusual.

[Esprit15]

The huntress scowls as the voice fills her head, and her bow is drawn instantly. She peers down the open space and thinks for a minute whether to loose an arrow at the illusory walls, but decides against it. Odds were high that the walls were not retaliatory to damage, but she wasn't sure whether the workers could actually perceive them, and releasing an arrow that just embeds into a wall would probably just make the situation more dangerous and confusing to the poor men.

She settles on a safer course of action. "You all heard that, right?"

[Batcathat]

Rufus groaned, his brow furrowed. "Unfortunately yes, miss Stillwater." He held his cane tightly in one hand, adjusting his glasses with the other. "Any idea of what we are dealing with?"

[Xihirli]

Leif freezes at the chuckle, a and looks about with paranoia trying to find the source.

[Esprit15]

Sarah looks at the quasi-illusions and replays the scene that played out before her. She had time to think. All the time in the world. What happened here? In her mind, she explores a library of notes, instruction, and memories. Illusions. Unconsciousness prey. The inconsistent messages. The obscuring haze. As though playing twenty questions with herself, each detail strikes off dozens of possible answers, but there had to be something. A clear hint.

The laughter.

It's toying with us, she realizes. It's a creature that enjoys trapping prey. Like a will-o-the-wisp. Her grip on the bow tightens. She hated dealing with this type of creature. Powerful, dishonest, and intelligent enough to make the first two dangerous.

As she speaks, Sarah is visibly tense. Her voice is slow, flat, and precise. "Touch nothing. We are in a trap. Some sort of predatory spirit. A fae, in most of your frameworks. A youkai in Yume's... Don't believe a word it says, if it speaks to you. They enjoy false truths. The repairs were the trick, which is why the message was inconsistent. There's no old man with asthma who lives here. Or at least there likely isn't now."

She scans the room, ready to loose a barrage of arrows at any non-human that shows up unexpectedly.

[Charybdis1618]

With Sarah's warning, nobody is caught unawares when the wire hedges rustle all about, and three small nearly-humanoid figures emerge. Each one would come up to Lief's waist if it stood upright, rather than leaning forward and extending their arms. Their flesh is rubbery and matte, respectively the same red, blue, and green of some of the wires. Their faces are only slightly featured, and the features present seem to shift subtly when you look away and back. Their eyes are far too small, and glow, almost precisely mimicking a smoke detector's blinking LED. The giggle sounds again, echoing in all your heads. All three shallow mouths quirk upwards, in a gross parody of a human smile. Red and Blue lumber towards the lot of you collectively, while Green moves towards Kris and Martin.

[Please roll initiative. I'll make a post with the initiative order and such tonight.]

[Esprit15]

Sarah scowls and in a moment, vanishes. Suddenly, an impossible number of arrows fly toward the creatures from breaks in the “foliage” at every angle. It’s as though she’s everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Spoiler

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Move: Hide in Plain Sigh
Stealth: (1d20+10)[28]

Action: Arkhermiens (Bow) - All Out Attack (5) - Multiattack (3 Targets)
Attack (Red): (1d20+9)[21] Crit on 18-20
Crit confirm: (1d20+9)[18]

Attack (Green): (1d20+9)[21] Crit on 18-20
Crit confirm: (1d20+9)[11]

Attack (Blue): (1d20+9)[24] Crit on 18-20
Crit confirm: (1d20+9)[21]

Resistance: 18 Toughness (23 on Crit)

[Izzarra]

Yume Tsukiyomi Kitsune Shrine Maiden Conditions: None

Unsure of what is in front of her, Yume decides to try to restrain these things. Pulling out a paper tag she imbues it with ki and throws it at the nearest one.

Spoiler: OOC

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(1d20+5)[24]
Binding Tag: Affliction 5 (Resisted by Dodge; Hindered and Vulnerable, Defenseless and Immobilized), Ranged, Extra Condition, Limited Degree

[Charybdis1618]

The arrows and tags fly true. Red and Green both collapse with an arrow through the neck. The bodies crumble into powder that suspiciously resembles plastic dust. Blue's limbs and head go limp, although it remains upright.

As if from across a field, carried by a gentle breeze, and seemingly slowed without taking more time, you hear Kris asking "Where's the multimeter? I thought you had it." Martin responds "Is it in the other bag? Oh, that one's by the door."

[Xihirli]

On the back of Leif’s neck, he feels a tingling and a sensation that something was going to go wrong with that bag.
"I’ll get it." And he moves to do so.

[Charybdis1618]

As you head down the corridor of wire walls, it split after a few feet. You can see both the left and right branches leading to further junctions as well. Welcome to the maze. Please roll Investigation to navigate it.

[Esprit15]

For a second, Sarah thinks to just quickly explore the maze, but stops herself. “We are almost certainly not alone in here. Stick together.” She collects her arrows and has another one knocked and half drawn as she takes point.

Spoiler

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Investigation: (1d20+5)[16]

[Xihirli]

Leif turns back and yells:
"Second thought, I could use a hand!"
He puts his hand on the right wall, ready to lead the way with the right-hand rule.

Spoiler

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I don’t want to go in just yet, but I’ll do investigation to see what I can figure out from the entrance.
(1d20)[19]

[Charybdis1618]

The wire wall feels oddly smooth under Leif's touch. Its texture more closely resembles a solid wall with decorative, raised filigree than a bundle of individual wires. After a few seconds a tingle runs up your fingertips. You've taken enough classes to know what electrical charge feels like, and pull your hand back in time to avoid more than a minor spark.

When your backs are turned, you hear a faint, plastic-y clack behind you. You see another pair of those LED eyes peeking out from the wire wall. Your brawler's instincts whisper in your ear. Despite their featureless roundness, those eyes seem for all the world like they look eager, if not impatient.

[Batcathat]

Rufus peered at the wire wall, half intrigued and half annoyed at something so – at least for the moment, he reminded himself – incomprehensible. Though under the circumstances, their purpose was unlikely to be pleasant.

"If you don't mind, I could use a change in scenery", he said as he tapped the floor with his cane. Where it hit the ground, marble shot out along the floor, quickly spreading to the walls and ceiling, covering wirey walls and creepy eyes alike in a thick layer of stone as far as possible.

How much protection it would actually offer was uncertain, but at least it changed the vibe from hellish labyrinth to bargain-basement Roman temple.

Spoiler: OOC

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To be clear what Rufus is doing (or attempting to do, anyway) is covering every surface he can in marble, using Create.

And in case he can learn anything about the labyrinth from where he is...
Investigation: (1d20+13)[22]