(Shell Game) Meeting with Mike

[Gregory]

"Don't look at me. I be a stranger to pulley and piston. Though this place reeks of the Wizened were I to be guessing. It reminds me too of the Mein of Mike's Fetch. The rhythm of the manufactured metronome, mayhaps. There be no Gate, so he be here still. Covered his tracks more likely. Let's look for an off switch to these machines. Or jam a wrench into the gears for all I care."

And Gregory does just that. He draws closer to the machines, allowing the others to remain attached if they so choose, while he searches for an off switch to the infernal racket.

[Trickster]

The hum of the machinery continued to sing as the three gathered closer, an unending noise as they worked away at an unknown purpose. There wasn't an off switch on the machinery itself, but there was a nearby control panel. The switches and dials are all labeled, even though it might make no sense. But in the instant that Gregory steps up to the control panel, something changed.

Before, the factory had hummed along, indifferent to the intruders within. But now that there was a threat, the factory started paying attention to them. That was the best way to describe the sensation that each Changeling now felt. It was the feeling of someone slowly drawing their fingernails along your spine, sandpaper brushing against the skin, an unpleasant whine at the edge of hearing.

There was something in the factory with them. And it wasn't sure it liked them.

[Tally Benoit]

"So... this is the control panel?" Tally murmurs as she studies it while doing her best to stay relaxed. She can feel her heart beat speeding up due to the sensing that they weren't alone within this factory.

What should I roll to study the control panel?

[Nathan Griffin]

"Oh, boy..."

It was kind of like the feeling you got when you knew someone was watching you, only this particular someone was all kinds of dangerous and didn't like him one bit. It reminded him of things he'd rather not remember.

"Okay," he stood behind Gregory, but he couldn't help but look behind his shoulders over and over in case the thing had decided to do more than look. "Which one do we try first?"

[Gregory]

Gregory's eyes bulge and rotate around the factory floor, sensing the sudden presence of malice. Is it his imagination or is the factory alive somehow? But how could that be? An entire factory?

Gregory too examines the control panel and its labels. Even if he were unable to comprehend their meaning, often a big red button tends to be important. "Let me see..." answers Gregory to Nathan.

[Trickster]

Although the control panel is distressingly complex, there is one button off to the side that looks promising. A flip of the wrist to lift a protective cover and underneath lay the large red button that Gregory was looking for; labeled "Emergency Shutdown".

When his eyes fall on that, the feeling of watching, along with the malice, increased.

[Tally Benoit]

Tally follows Gregory's gaze upon a particular button with a label of 'Emergency Shutdown'. She looks around after a few seconds of looking at it, not sure if they were truly alone.

[Gregory]

Without further ado, Gregory attempts to flip open the protective cover and press the emergency shutdown button. He prepares himself for whatever fate awaits them, given the hostility he senses. He doubts it will be that simple, that a push of a button could end the threat they face. But he is out of other options.

[Nathan Griffin]

When he saw the big red button taunting them with its... big redness, he knew that pressing it was about the worst idea anyone could have. There's nothing else they could do, though, not without leaving a whole bunch of wrongs to be righted, so he just nodded along in support as Gregory pressed it. He didn't just stare at it, however. He waited for something, anything at all, that would leave the presence haunting them in the open.

[Trickster]

At the board, the switch cover resisted Gregory's attempts to pry it open, remaining stubbornly shut no matter what he tried.

Suddenly a shower of sparks erupted from behind a nearby corner, the sudden light twisting the surrounding shadows into grotesque figures. And the man they knew as Joseph strode through the curtain of sparks, regarding them all with the same amount of irritation that one would expect from a clock maker with a set of unruly gears. They were an insult to his efficiency, one that should be removed in the most expedient way possible.