(PrP) Nightmare At Large, Pt. 3

[InvertedMonkey]

This is the third and final chapter of the Nightmare At Large story, which is a conclusion to the Once More Into The Dreaming storyline.

The dream has ended. Reality must be faced. It is one thing to confront a specter, mind against mind with indignation knives and shots of rage. It is another to think of a living, breathing body... as your prey. The Changelings are the hunters now, and their quarry knows they've found him. They must move swiftly, whatever their hesitations, to regroup and catch this monster. God knows what will befall them if they should fail.

[Lynn Mills]

Lynn settled herself in a chair, her fiddle case set at her feet. Before the meeting, she'd walked the streets of Sacramento for nearly an hour, feeding off the emotions of the people around her in order to ready herself for the coming fight. She might not be highly skilled in battle, but she could conceal herself and more importantly, she could help heal anybody who might be injured during the fight. She'd dressed for the occasion; leather jacket, dark jeans, a pair of battered but tough sneakers. And a long dagger she wore strapped to one hip, along with a compact first aid kit she'd stuffed in her fiddle case.

"Thank you," she murmured softly as she accepted a cup of tea.

Glamour Harvest

  failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-09-12 10:48:56		Lynn Mills rolls 5 to Harvest Glamour [Wits (2) + Composure (3)] (10 Again)		4, 6, 3, 4, 1		failure

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-09-12 10:49:12		Lynn Mills rolls 5 to Harvest Glamour [Wits (2) + Composure (3)] (10 Again)		2, 1, 7, 8, 1		1 success

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-09-12 10:49:36		Lynn Mills rolls 5 to Harvest Glamour [Wits (2) + Composure (3)] (10 Again)		9, 7, 3, 9, 2		2 successes

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-09-12 10:50:01		Lynn Mills rolls 5 to Harvest Glamour [Wits (2) + Composure (3)] (10 Again)		8, 8, 4, 2, 3		2 successes

[Coco]

Not long after Lynn tread into the cave, a Wasp entered. Though not just any Wasp. No, this one stood just over five feet in height, and wielded a Stinger which stretched half as tall as that. A frightening prospect, were one to consider the implications of that. Of course, the riding outfit the wasp wore did a wonderful job of downplaying those implications. The Wasp's smile, however, didn't as she entered and strode over to claim one of the camp chairs.

"Hello, Steward," she said to Lynn, relaxing back into the chair, cane across her lap. "I have, you see, come to your call. To protect you, of course. Though, I must admit, I am quite looking forward to doing more than that. I see you are, too, Ava!" she cheered, beaming at the Nix. "You're wearing our matching bracelet! I love it! I would have worn, mine, too, but I'm saving that for a certain Dragon. I hope you don't mind."

[Daniel Leto]

Daniel entered Ava's cave and into the gloom of glow worm lanterns. Marcus' trench knife was hidden near his waist. Along with the weapon he'd brought a map of Sacramento. It was mostly as a guidance aid. Daniel knew where the Sandman was but that was a memory he had while asleep. So just in case he'd brought at least something to orient himself if need be. And then he'd also brought his watch. It was bad timing but he had a bus to catch. Hopefully there would be enough time for both but he doubted it.

"Hi Ava. Hey Lynn," he greet the Beast and Darkling.

"And you must be Coco," he said keeping a neutral tone with the Fairest. He still remembered hearing about what 'The Wasp' had said about Morgan. It took some self control to remind himself that he hadn't heard both sides of the story. Still, he doubted there could be any reason for some to say such things about the Steepscrambler. Still, Coco was helping so that was at least something.

"So, what's the plan? I have marked on the map where I'm pretty sure where the Sandman is," he confirmed.

[Lynn Mills]

Lynn shot Daniel an understanding look at his cool greeting to Coco. She felt much the same and if she'd had her choice she'd have gone with almost anybody else. But the fact was they needed muscle to get this job done and none of the three remaining members of their "dream team" where very strong in that area.

"Thank you Ms. Tascioni." Lynn's voice was distinctly cool as she addressed the Wasp. "But I'm not the focus of today's expedition. The Sandman is. Since Daniel was able to ascertain his location, we'll be headed there shortly in order to make sure he never hurts any children, ever again." She looked at the map that Daniel was holding. "I imagine that there's more than one direction we can approach in? And of course we have no idea what his Hollow looks like, so we'll have to play things by ear once we get in."

[Malcolm Green]

A shadow fell across the entrance to the hollow - a darkness that filled it completely. There followed a grunting (and a cursing) and the sound of ripping fabric and banging of bag. The mountain entered the Hollow with ponderous tread, dragging snagged thorns along with him. Swearing he stopped, fumbling as he tugged at the briars affixed to his heavy clothing.

"I'm here," Green rumbled belatedly as he struggled down the narrow steps. For this expedition the mountain was back in his stout boots and denim, a much patch greatcoat (now in need of more patching) swathing his great form. A green bandana was wrapped around his head - new look that bought out the sharp lines of his face. A bag with a shoulder strap banged at his hip. "I heard you had found trouble, yeah. Trouble for the 'hold."

He paused on the threshold of the cave, looming with his gemstone eyes gleaming in the diffuse light.

"Ah. Hi there."

Green is waring a heavy clothing (0/1 armour). His bag contained a canteen of water, a pack lunch, a basic first aid kit* , two goblin fruits** and a dirty penny.

* Green has Resources 2 so will have purchased the basic kit before his journey
** Green has Harvest 2 - ST will he have been able to source 2 Buglewort (Core, p224)

[Coco]

There was a certain, perverse glee that had begun to appear with every gesture, gaze, and word of ill will which were directed towards her. Coco began to wonder just what might happen were she to abandon her attempts to garner anything else. Perhaps she should simply become the fiend they assumed her to be. How shocked they might become, were she to begin to actually try to pester them.

It was a tempting thought, though one that would have to wait until she had slain the Sandman. That would be the telling blow! Either glory or fear and derision would toll out from the striker which ended the Sandman's life, and so there was no point making decisions now when all might change within the day. Besides, this appeared to be important to Ava, and Coco had no desire to damage her only friendship. No, no matter what the others might say, today would only strengthen the tenuous bond between her and the Nix. Thus she promptly shook her head when questions were called for, eager to be about the Hunt.

"Nay, no questions from me. Let us be on our way soon, lest our quarry slip away."

[Daniel Leto]

"Having not been there personally I couldn't say which would be the best approach. In the dream I saw a path through Sacramento starting around here." He pointed at a location near a homeless shelter in the seedier part of town. "I think it's where he's been living. I'd suggest starting there and moving to the train tracks. If the Sandman is fleeing from his Hollow we might actually bump into him if tries going home first." He glanced around for confirmation of his idea. Tactical thinking wasn't his strong suit but running away and evading hunters he did have some experience.

He nodded grimly at Ava's mention of this was a Hunt. It made him a little uncomfortable. Oddly, he would have preferred to know the Sandman better but there were other lives to consider.

"I don't have any other questions and I agree with Coco that we should probably start out right away. Even the nightmare we gave them, the Sandman could already be starting to go to ground."