Down the Rabbit Hole (1fS)

[Brownlee]

Synesthesia: the senses mix. The stillness chills; the silence sours; the solitude weighs heavy. The Sacramento Underground disorients, a narrow winding Labyrinthe where light and dark, quiet and loud lose their meanings. The ceiling drips dirt, but not often enough to be normal, and the bricks shift underfoot. Maze is a word that comes to mind. Tomb, another. One thing is certain: if places have personalities, this one isn't friendly.

They gather: Richard Black, Bobcat, Ajax Smith, and Blake Flint. Maybe it's nothing, Verne had failed to convince Richard. Couldn't hurt to be sure, Richard had convinced some others. Was it just a feral child that had attacked the night security guard, or was someone really Embracing children?

As the group checks their gear, Blake sees his cell phone has no signal. Bobcat bumps a wooden "support" and Ajax gets a hair full of dirt.

They wouldn't have seen it if it hadn't squeaked. It wouldn't have stood its ground if someone hadn't told it to--Verne, no doubt.

[ri]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef012876c781b3970c-600wi[/ri]Some kind of rodent, only with extra helpings of eyes, tail, and back legs. There's a key in it's mouth. It drops the key, and then hops about, squeaking. (Anyone: Intelligence + Science or Animal Ken, 1 success, to know it's a California Kangaroo Rat)

(Blake or Ajax: Manipulation + Animal Ken + Animalism to understand.)

What the CKR is saying, 1 suxx

Key. Key. Key. Not much to add, it seems--small brain.

Cell Phones won't work in the Underground. List the equipment you brought in your opening post; no new equipment can be added during the Scene. If it's not on your Character Sheet, you don't have it--this includes flashlights, notepads, walkie talkies. Darkness gives -2 to sight-based Perception, but is offset by flashlights, or reduced to -1 by cell phones. Dirt walls with stone floors in meandering tunnels give -2 to hearing-based Perception. Expect Firearms to have reduced range and Melee or Brawl attacks to cause reaction from the environment. PM me with questions at any time.

[SoraLow]

Richard stands with a look of pure and utter disgust at his surroundings. The Daeva had experienced poverty and squalor but he never hoped to see the bowls of this lovely city let alone be standing near ankle deep in it. It's dark, but this isn't as much a hindrance as it is an inconvenience. It takes him only an instances effort to surge his senses to a degree far beyond the mortal realm. In this heightened state he can see in this darkness without a problem.

"Blake, Bobcat, good to see you. Though I'd much rather see you under better circumstances than this shit." Richard shakes his head tossing that part aside, "Anyways I ain't really know who else to call on this so I figured might as well keep it close." his attention is shaken by the approach of Ajax, he braces himself for the clash of bestial instincts, and winces when his is trumped. He tries to not let it sink in too deeply less it effect their ability to work together...or his intention of leading the way on this one.

After putting in work with Verne and making it would in one piece the two had maintained a good relationship. Richard relied on Verne for a variety of things, not exclusive to any one area. He was a useful source of information, and most importantly he had proven himself to be trustworthy even when his loyalty was called into question. It was Verne who had put him up on this attack. From what he had heard the security guard definitely was attacked, and Richard knew where. Verne had also hooked them up with a little care package down further and apparently had left them a little helper in micky mouse.

"You I don't know" he said referring to Ajax, "but I'm glad to have you rolling with us anyway. I know what you all are thinking, right now we aren't assuming anything. We gonna head down to where the guard dude got hit up and see what it looks like. If it seems like we really got ourselves a baby vamp we gonna try to get it without ashin it. Key word there is try." He looks casually to Bobcat and Blake, "I think we can all agree that if we can't catch it then the best thing to do is put it down yes?" he checks to make sure they are all on the same page about this before continuing. He does however choose to mention the mouse and the key, "Verne sent the mouse, the key is for an equipment locker or something." he leaves it at that.

Equip

Pepper Spray
Shotgun
Homemade Dagger (statted as knife, Core p.170: Damage 1L; Size 1; Cost 1)

[SoraLow]

Richard nods to Bobcat, he didn't expect the guy to be on board with killing it, if it existed at all. "We'll see, I definently don't want to have killing a child on my hands. But if we do run into an embraced child we absolutely can not allow it to run free. We will do everything we possibly can to take her alive and hopefully present her to the Prince for acknowledgement. There is no reason this has to turn bloody." he admits that he isn't interested in killing the child, but he will, he only hopes that it won't come to that. "I'm sorry, sometimes court can be a lot to take in. Tell me your name again and I promise not to forget it a second time"

Richard peers down the pathway before pointing out into darkness, "Verne left us some info on the attack bit further down, we should start with that."

[Brownlee]

They talk while walking, Blake keeping mostly to himself, as is his style.

Work lights flicker from movement above, producing an accidental strobe effect. It makes it hard for anyone's eyes to adjust to either light or dark, flashlight or not. The further they go down the first twisting tunnels, the fewer lights there are. It gets narrower too--the passage forcing them into a file, Richard at the lead.

Mildew scents the stagnant air, from moisture drying cyclically in contained air space.

The first main opening--not far in at all--is where the attack occurred. An equipment locker sits where Verne said it would.

The Scene. Roll Perception (adjust for your personal lighting).

1 suxx: The scene has been destroyed by the search group. There must be a dozen sets of footprints in the dust, so much so that it's hard to identify any one, no matter the size. 2 suxx: There's a dry blood stain someone hadn't tried very hard to clean in a far corner. It's faded and has lost it's original shape--still smells like bleach. 3 suxx: There are a few small drops, dried but intact, removed from the large stain.

The Locker.

Contents: 2 yellow hardhats with lights on the front. (Removes -2 from Dark; +1 DEF against head attacks or falling rocks. The light is broken on one.) Six walkie talkies in a charger--they seem special, like not from radio waves if they work underground; they're linked to each other maybe. A set of clean children's clothes. A large yellow envelope. The envelope contains a construction manager's incident report, a sketch artist's rendition of the girl, and a photograph showing a pair of bloody rats where the large blood stain is.

Incident report: Roll INT + Academics.

1 suxx: The guard is being paid to keep his mouth shut about hazards, for liability sake. 2 suxx: The company plans to collapse a hidden mine shaft and a narrow tunnel to prevent homeless malingering. Shows where tunnel and shaft are. 3 suxx: There have been two past incidents of homeless men found dead in the tunnels.

[ri]https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7013/6745759119_41570671e7_z.jpg[/ri]Sketch Artist's Rendition of the Girl (Left).

[RockBane]

OOC

Shit, I remember typing a post and submitting it. I guess it didn't take. Sorry guys.

Blake finishes checking to see his Bowie knife and making sure his sniper rifle is in working order. He's not sure what to make of the fresh face but shrugs as he slings the rifle onto his back. As he listens, he hears something going on and on about a Key.

With a frown, he spies a rodent of some sort. Looking up as Richard lets out a greeting, he says, "Likewise, Richard. Bobcat."

As the matter of what to do with a child vampire, the topic makes him rather uncomfortable so he doesn't see the point in commenting. He walks with the group, trusting that someone can see better then he could. He's tempted to take out his phone and use it as a flash light.

As they reach the spot, he draws a blank concerning the events that happened here. Fuck it. He reaches for his phone and lights up the space before him. He shines it towards the locker and lets out a sigh of relief at the sight of the helmets with lights on them. "At least now I don't have to worry about draining the battery."

He walks over to claim one of the helmets for himself as well as turning the light on.

  Failure at Animal Ken, Success at Animalism, Perception fails, and Academic is failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-01-19 01:26:21		Blake Flint rolls 1 to Int + Academic - Untrained (1s Subtract, Chance)		6		failure
2015-01-19 01:23:07		Blake Flint rolls 2 to Wits + Com - Darkness (10 Again)		3, 3		failure
2015-01-15 14:45:59		Blake Flint rolls 3 to Int + Animal Ken (1s Subtract)		4, 5, 4		failure
2015-01-15 14:44:51		Blake Flint rolls 4 to Man + Animal Ken + Animalism (10 Again)		3, 2, 9, 7		1 success