First contact with San Fran freehold

[Kray]

If the director had been hoping to enter the Autumn commons then the beast would be disappointment, the kitchen of Edna's boarding house is very much on the mortal side of things and that's as far as this excursion is going. "Uh. Yeah I told you bring pegs." What else would those be for unless he had been asking for help with laundry.

To be fair it was probably best girl scouts didn't frequent his domicile, how many B plot movies had started with the local cannibal taking the scouts instead of the cookies. "Now. Good thing you mention the tunnels." And that actually might have some strange and bizarre connection.

Okay cliff notes version it is then. "So. I wrote to San Fran freehold." Taps the letters. "Got friendly with the winter courtier you gave me info for Circe. I ended up sending him photos of the journal. He sent back a full translation." The great grey hand moves to the pile of sheets. "And extra info from when he lived through it." Which was handy. "Some new recruit broke a leg investigating their old nest sight so I sent him a fruit." He leaves out that he now has a favour owed down that way, info that can of course be gleaned if the letters are read.

The relevant parts. "Now. The monsters have a forty year cycle. So if out hunter friend killed the queen and all the eggs then we have no problem. If he did part of the job and then collapsed the tunnel because he couldn't finish then a cycle happened with them locked in which would lead to new smaller batch hatching out pretty soon." So they might not even have a problem but they also might. "Hm. Given he was losing members of his team at each nest site and did ours last and alone we have the best odds of still have monsters in the basement." So you know better to shine a flashlight into those shadows to check. "Oh. They don't like bright light." That was also good.

Trying to keep on track. "Uh. The creatures are sneaky but fragile and not to hard for lost with enhanced ways of detecting them to pick up on." The great brow furrows he was a little out of order here. "Uh. They hunt by ambush we knew that right?" Anyway. "So. To lure them out we needed the hunters bait recipe." The great grey hand moves to final stand alone page. "Ha. Which I worked out." Then indicates the black bin bag of blood sausage. "And. Made into sausage form." The bag is open to show the two lost giving them a direct blast of the stench. inspite of this bag blunder the giant is clearly fairly pleased with himself.

[Sonnie Wu]

"Oh, you shoulda seen me when I was in the scouts! I could sell that sugar-crack like nobody's business!" She grinned at the blue elf, "And I still got the uniform!" Actually, she didn't, but she did have a sexy Girl Scout cosplay outfit for... reasons. Also a Japanese School Girl one.

Holding a sleeve over her nose, Sonnie quietly listened to Kray go over everything that has transpired with San Fransisco. When he was finished, she finally made the joke she'd been dying to say, "Bright light? What are they, Gremlins? Should we not get them wet, too?" Ah, that felt better. "Seriously, though, nice work, Kray!"

So the Ogre made stinky sausages? "Oh, that's what that smell is! Gremlin bait!" The Beast coughed, staying far away from the bags of grossness. "Ugh. So... what's the plan now, Groundskeeper?" Yellow eyes shifted to Circe.

[Circe]

Circe smirks at Sonja's jest about the uniform. Whilst stealing it from her Fetch would seem appropriate, Circe was skeptical. Most Lost would take the chance to destroy the Fetch instead of just gas lighting it.


Oh, Kray had gotten through to someone in the Bay? And it had worked? "Huh, um, good to hear Kray, she agreed. Probably good Circe hadn't reached out then. She wasn't sure who'd have answered the contact drop, but the age narrowed it down. The old timer who refused to update his slang. Only one she can think of that'd be that old. Circe tried not to chuckle at the prospect of a noob failing like that.


"Indeed!" She agrees with Sonja, "This is great work Kray." Then it was the gritty details of the things. Every 40 years? What was this, a bad horror movie? Sounds like it. "Right, right. No string of disappearances in the 90s you mean then? If they only fed on each other," she considers the result of that. If it was any natural selection going on instead of just a template copy thing, Circe could see this being trouble. "If they cannibalized in the 90s, next batch would be small, but maybe more vicious."


She looks at the bait Kray had crafted. Really tries to not smell it at all. "Well, they are sure as Hell gonna smell it," she tries to breath through her mouth. Then finally puts the air fresheners on the table. She opens up one of the free standing ones. Fresh Linen scent wafts from the plastic as she pulls the cap up as high as it will go. Nods. "Hmm?" She looks to Sonja. Then back at Kray. Circe nods.


"Prepare for trouble, so the hurt on us is divided by double," Circe explains. "I rigged up a 12 gauge zip trap in the tunnels. Rock salt, so less killy in case anyone went down BEFORE I told you all about it," she points out helpfully. "No Kray," she looks to him, cutting off any question on her actions. "I did not go past the barbwire alone. It is right after your collapse trap. High enough that rats can't hit it. And there is a sign posted too." Laminated no less, so it should shine off any light source to catch attention. Paranoia was good for safety setups.


Then Circe takes out her smart-phone, checking a shipment. "Trail cams arrive...tomorrow. We should hit up a hardware store. Get some LED lanterns or spotlights, nay, both. Some filter masks to help with the smell as we work. Anything else you two can think of for more barriers. Deer netting maybe?"


Barbed wire was a little harder to come by in Sacramento. Deer netting wouldn't hurt the creatures, but it'd annoy them a lot. Also, cheap.


She nods in thought at this option. "Thanks to Kray's hard work and suffering sinuses," she gives Kray a salute, "We have bait to put in FRONT of the trail cams. So, we follow the plan. Check the traps first. Put up the trail cams, but with the bait visible on the cameras. Any extra traps or barriers get set up. Step 2? Wait."

[Kray]

They melt, the cause problems, they don't like bright light. "Uh. You might be onto something their Sonnie." Better hope they don't find the eel pool. "Uh. Actually what would win? The eels or gremlins?" Would the critters hit critical mass or would the eels be able to out speed the multiplication. Also yes apparently he does know this movie.

All to familiar with the viciousness breed of cannibalism but not knowing how these things handled being locked in a room together it meant that it was just one of a number of possibilities. "Bah. All the more reason to know if we got em in the basement or not." A more deadly variant of intelligent monsters was not good news. Then the air freshener is turned one. "Hm. Thanks." He knows it smells bad, powers through it regardless but knows and so the device is appreciated.

As for the preparations and traps. "Uh. Covered pits with spikes in them under the bait and in front of the cameras." Oh no better. "No. With extra nets in them or something as well to both injure and capture and lurking monsters." All in all the more that got thrown in the better really. And if proved to be unneeded holes can always be filled in.

One hitch he could see. "Ah. But. To get all of this we will need a car." He looks out the window. "Mine died." He held a weird funeral of all his allies and contacts where he burnt it out is what he means but doesn't feel like going into that. "Uh. But yeah otherwise the same plan with some extra prep sounds good to me." They didn't have enough people for constant guard duty so baited and trapped camera were a solid second option.

[Sonnie Wu]

"Then, by my power as Director of the Sactown Freehold," Wait, is that it's name? Isn't it the Funderland Freehold? River City? "I declare these weird monster thingies will be called Gremlins!" And yes, the movie's theme music was playing in her head. "Someone note that in the official records."

Sonnie was content to let Groundskeeper WillyCirce and the Autumn King concoct a plan. "Mm-hm, mm-hm," she nodded along, "Sounds good."

"Your car died? What happened?" she asked of the Ogre, "Accident? Sudden illness?" She gasped! "Was it... MURDER?!" Becoming Director has done nothing to quell the Beast's silly nature.

[Circe]

"Gremlins," she says without hesitation to answer the question from Kray. "Replicate in water is hax for win. Eels would just lose on land." The Summer naturally thinks battle, and quite quickly. She gives Kray a nod after her thanks Circe for the air freshener. She had more. They were going to need them. Then she chuckles as Sonja makes her first directorial decision. "Noted that I say noted."


"Funderland has big fans too," she points out, "If these ain't enough," waves a hand at the bag of air fresheners.


Circe nods at Kray's suggested options. "More stuff. Shovels, pick-axes, thatch. Wait, were the floors, uh, stone down there?" Because if they had been, that'd make digging a pit fairly obvious, plus strenuous work. "I don't remember dirt patches. If they ARE down there, lurking. A pickaxe would make a LOT of noise."

There were other traps to rig as options. Dead falls. Swinging weights. Dead fall version of a net, whatever that is called.


"With cars, shift happens, especially if a car gets ex-haust-ted. Not to shift gears on the topic, ain't tired of it yet I will say I got two," she jerks her thumb towards the door. Then frowns as she looks at her fellow Lost. Sonja? Gets a nod. Kray? A sigh and a shaken head. "Beetle barley has room for me without hunching. You'd not fit Kray. So, rental!" She pulls out and waggles her phone. "Not going to Lyft it, too many questions. The Charger might trunk not a lot, but a pickup would be better. Last longer than my last pickup too, oh ho ho."

[Kray]

Not realising he or anyone should have been taking notes of what was said, its just something he will have to remember. "Uh. Yeah. But the gremlins would need to get in with the eels to do the divide thing and I think the eels start with the numbers advantage." Unless of course? "Hm. Does a dead gremlin still make more in water?" If so they have the win, if not he might be betting on the flesh eating eels.

A shrug to the mining difficulties. "Uh. Okay. Bear traps. Snares. Sleeping pills in the bait." No. scratch that. "No. Deadly poison in the bait." Now that would save them a real hassle if the gremlins did lurk.

The enthusiasm for various forms of slaughter by trickery dies off as the topic of his car comes around again. "Oh. Uh. Sort of I guess." To the murder point of Sonnie's enquiry. "Um. It smelt of metal after it was used to transport the rust and well I didn't trust some spore or something to be in there, cling to me and detach off in the hedge or something." He is looking down, not crying but feeling sad. "So. I burnt it. Had some fellows crush the remains." Yeah his growing sphere of influence had all thought that was rather odd. "Uh. You know I can just get a bus or an uber myself and meet you there. No need to rent an entire care for me." The world wasn't made for hi8m, never had been even here in the land where everything was made bigger.

[Sonnie Wu]

"Wait," the Monkey Girl interjected, "What are these eels you're talking about?" She legitimately had not heard of any eels before now. "I don't think so," on the subject of dead gremlins multiplying in water. "Stripe died in the mall fountain and he didn't reproduce after that." Sonnie, that was just a movie.

She kept her sleeve covering her nose, due to the stinky sausages, "Whoa! You mean they're not already poisoned, and they still smell like that?"

"Ohhhhhhh," she nodded slowly as Kray explained about his former vehicle, "Better safe than sorry, huh? Okay, then. Rest in peace, Kray's Car."

[Circe]

"There you go," she points to Sonja on the issue of dead Gremlins respawning. As for Sonja's question: "Lampreys. Blood sucking, teeth filled, lamprey eels. They're nesting in the flooded section of the tunnels." She smirks at Sonja, wondering how she'd take that information. On the plus side, it was a great way to secure the route. Assuming it even had a way in that wasn't collapsed.


Cave diving research indicated it likely didn't with very high risk if they tried to explore.


"Rat poison can be got from hardware stores," she points out at Kray's suggestions. Then there is beeping as Circe has her smartphone out, blue fingers moving on the screen: "Step ladders and adhesives too if we want to rig a drop net. Or make our own snares, neat. Buy traps? No clankers only live catch. Jaws buy at hunting store," she talking as she is checking on her phone. Finding a hunting store was less easy though. California culture: fishing and camping were plentiful, but not the kind of outdoorsmanship emporiums that would have large metal jaw traps. "Hmmm, might be able to rig a snare quickly with my garage. Not sure on a bear trap. Oh," she found one.


"Rocklin. About a half hour away with good traffic for a hunting store to check." She perks up with her ears bouncing. She smirks at her friends, proud at her results.


"If we get some traps with money," she decides to add her opinion, "Then Kray and Sonja, we don't have to wait on making a manual trap. Nor does anyone have to have the sausages in their fridge or cooler. Sure," she puffs up and places a hand on her chest, "I'm awesome with metal. But crafting a pressure plat, jaws or guide mechanism and a single shooter takes a lot of time. It is why there is only one in the tunnels."


No. Of course the gun bunny Summer wouldn't consider safety a reason to be why to rig one gun trap. Nor legal issues if the police found it. Nay, the reason was because it took a lot of work.


That was thorough of Kray. She'd just used the sanitizing guidelines online, soak in soap with vinegar for days. They'd stink, but probably reusable after getting new filters. "Epic Kray," she nods at his actions. "Freehold could reimburse you. I just used hazmat rules for cleaning my masks. Built for it, had instructions, online demos from documentaries," they will see her ears bounce in amusement, "But I trashed the suit and boots. Way to hard to clean." Then looks to Sonja, quirking her left eyebrow and ear as she asks: "What'd you do with your clothes?"
---
Not Circe:


The Lost cannot get bear traps over the counter in California. They would have to be online ordered, which has a paper trail, or acquired through criminal connections on the gray markets. Jaw traps however (Armory, p. 186) are legal at a Resource cost of 1. It is only legal to buy those that are 2B in California. Special permits are required for the 2L types. Hardware stores have small game traps only, meant for catching critters crawling into homes. The hunting store is the better bet. Snare traps (Armory, p. 187) can be rigged with various line materials and supplies, requiring 7 successes for the minimum. Minimum is hoist and hold in place a 200 lbs. creature. +1 success for +50 lbs. Or they can be bought from the hunting store.

Kray and Sonja have enough Survival skills to know how to form snares. They could construct multiple snares from supplies at a hardware store and gaining an equipment bonus for the Crafts or Survival rolls to create the snares.

[Kray]

A large grey hand waves at Circe as she explains. "So. yeah eels beat gremlins in the water then." If all they had to do was die to stop reproducing then a swarm of flesh eating eels would probabaly do the trick just fine.

He does grin at that the bait only smelt bad it wasn't intentionally lethal yet. "Ah. No not yet but I'm all for slipping some poison into the recipe, be it rat, blech or medical. If they are down there then it should soften them up a bit if not out right handle it." A dart gun and ammo shouldn't be impossible to get then just repurpose the ammo. He shrugs. "Hm. Bear traps would be good but snares, nets and poison bait work just as well." He had inroads in the criminal community and the traps were probably within reach but that was flashy and ultimately unneeded. Lure them, poison them, trap them hunt them if needed.

A shake of his head. "Bah. Unless the freehold has access to a 1950's model Ford vedette no it can't." Yes that was oddly specific. And if it did then well dam. "Hmpf. Besides it was my car. I killed it." Given its long suffering probabaly a mercy but not a topic he enjoys continuing to talk about clearly. "Ah. Should I be catching a bus to get to the hunting store or not?" He didn't have the stuff for making snares and the like on hand anyway.