Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:25 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

As if practicing a conjurer's trick, Void stared at his comm willing it to ring. He stared and glared and went to the kitchen, but nothing seemed to be appetizing. Nothing was happening. He contemplated going out for the night to look for a piece of action, but midnight in Loveland was more likely to find trouble than anything. Cruising the matrix a bit didn't result in anything productive either. He just wasn't plugged into that whole digital "job" market, even though he knew it existed in there somewhere. Eventually, sleep began to pull his restlessness down and smothered him in its warm embrace.


Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:08 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

Void woke up to the gentle strobing alert of a message coming from his digital eyes and ears. It was Mick. His trick had worked, if only a few hours late. A generic contact request was all he left with the description <<Your specialty - sooner is better.>>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:16 AM, Crosstown Depths


The spirit plunges through the downed dog once more to finish it and replies I would like to evicerate all of these things and leave this disgusting place. I do not know how you can stand it here. The spirit seemed to pick up some of Jovan's personal flavor in its communication now. Perhaps it was a result of just taking the dog's life, perhaps it was the area itself.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:16 AM, Inside the Flipped Van

"The tiger was just a short-lived anomaly. Pity that Jade is dead, but I haven't the time to worry about that right now - just have someone pick up her belongings, and I'll sterilize them myself later if needed. I'm about to go back into the warehouse basement where the ghouls were; one moment."


12:16:02 AM, Crosstown Depths

Jovan's astral form became tinged with cold, grim amusement. Heh. I like that attitude. It is by no means a pleasant experience for me either, so let us see if this situation can be resolved quickly and allow us to move on to other business.

Wait for me to finish rearranging this creature's memories, then we will strike. Let's split to opposite sides of the room and fly in parallel. If the ghouls are still there, use the trucks and the walls as cover and let's neutralize the subordinate ghouls first and quickly. The Awakened ghoul can be dealt with last.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:08 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

Void slowly exhales, a hiss of breath accompanied by a slight twitchy grin. Even without knowing any details, he gets the impression that this might be more than another muscle job. His "specialty" usually refers to wetwork, and that's the kind of job where a hobo with a shotgun gets the easy jobs, and people like him get the hard jobs.

He quickly replies to the message. <<Sooner suits me, too. Just say when and where.>>

Idly, he wonders if Mick will be running this from his back room, or whether he'll actually get to meet the client. He knows that he tends to unnerve people, but for people hiring him, that very thing sometimes seems to reassure them.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:17 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Zo keeps covering the entrance the ghouls came out of. Frag, dat was fun, I wonder how long I'll be shaking. Its taking me lot longer ta react ta drek..

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:17 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

The flashpak held gingerly between two fingers in an outstretched arm, Ferret circles carefully back towards Zo. He keeps well clear of the ork's field of fire and takes up position behind him and to his left. He seems relieved when the ork's shaking hand takes the flashpak back and wipes his hand several times on his stained jogging pants to remove any blood whether Jade's or the ghouls.

As Prof enters the room, he nods towards the door down into the garage.

"Let's do this before common sense gets the better of me and I chicken out."

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

As ferrt hands the flashpack back to Zo, Zo grabs it by his finger tips avoiding the suspect gore, his hand twitching somewhat causing him to drop it down the stairs.

"Ferret, didn't I tell you not ta ta b-bother?"
Moving from his firng position down the stairs to go after the flashpack, Zo saw an old dried out oil rag on one of the workbenches below. Grabbing the rag, he wiped the blood from the flash pack. After a few seconds of wiping it clean, Zo tosses the rag on to the floor by th remains of the the dog drone him and Jade destroyed.He then remembered the wall remains of the wall drone.

<Ferret get down here, Could'-ya ya use th-that wa-wall drone to g-get into der-system?>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:17 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

"Right behind you, Ferret." Professor skirts the edge of the room as he moves to catch up to his teammate.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:10 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

A message shoots right back. <<Golden Panko node [link]. We'll talk there. Wear something civilian, hey?>>

The link was a grinning cartoon shrimp, battered and fried, winking at you and waving. Void had to brace himself before entering the retro kitsch sculpting of the Golden Panko public node. Mick liked to hijack a minor site like this to run VR meetups sometimes. Better than risking getting compromised through a direct linkup though. All around the node, ordering and pricing information floated on black menu-boards covered long thin rails while several tempura shrimp hovered about offering assistance. The visible traffic was fairly minimal. Mick was nowhere to be seen.

Void groaned a little bit as the ridiculous shrimp scooted over, offering assistance to him, but it was cut off mid greeting as an interrupt popped up, <<"Just a moment. Routing.">> and Void found himself in a shadowy bubble whose walls reflected dimly the same node he had just recently found himself suffering. Across from him stood Mick's avatar, looking pretty business-like for a guy with a head like a cartoon fox out of an ancient Warner flatvid, greasd back hair and all. He smiled a toothy grin. <<"Hey there Mr. Vee. Good news just hit the nets. We've got a twisted Mage at large in the city. Nothing too flashy, but there's a solid 50k on his head and a line on his whereabouts. Info's your for free, but I expect a 10% finder's fee on the bounty if you end up collecting. Sounds like a good way to start the day, hmm?">>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:16 AM, Inside the Flipped Van

"Feh. That broad was loopy as hell. You want any of her swag though, you'll probably need to fight the lollypop guild for it. You know how Dwarves are attracted to shiny objects. If you're headed after papa ghoul, you'll probably want to hurry up. Wasn't keeping a close eye on them, but their signals went dead almost as soon as the firing started."

While Oswald was jawing on Jovan felt the ground shake from a nearby explosion.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:10 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

Void smiles a feral grin, one that doesn't translate over too well to his generic low-resolution sarariman avatar <<"Hrmm. Yes, yes. Most excellent. I will expedite the hunt. As Sun Tzu says, 'The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.' He will be my prey, yes.">>. Void glances distastefully at the blurred crustaceans outside of the dark bubble. <<"I doubt any abominations he could summon could be worse than those things.">>.

Void is happy, though. Not only at the prospect of a rewarding job that will challenge him, but beause he got to use his Word of the Day, expedite. Expedite, expedite, expedite.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Ferret gives the wall-drone a cursory glance.

"Doubt it. The system's probably still on alert from my previous attempt to get in via the node down the street.

He points a thumb over his shoulder towards the terminal he used to access system before. He does send a ping down the trail of commlinks to check the status of the Annex node, just in case it has reset.

"With these old systems, the only way to get round it now is to find the mainframe and hack that directly. Plus, I'd need a fragging ladder to reach up there. And anyway, I don't think the ghouls have access to the system. I think it's still following the last orders BDLL programmed into it."

<<Oz, we're heading in deeper. Can you get ahold of Jovan and see if he can scout ahead of us for trouble. Assuming he's not in any trouble himself.>>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

"W-worth as shot. Da-da-tr-trucks are just around d-dacorner. B-but we we gots ta kill all da vermin with guns f-first. Prof, ferret, ya recall how big da room is with all da da t-trucks? And would a grenade or t-three h-help?

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:16 AM, Crosstown Depths

Jovan paused for a split second as he floated in astral space above the terrified dog, having just completed the desired manipulations of its memories. The trucks. That might have come from one of the trucks. We cannot afford such a loss when we are so close to the objective.

He Looked down with disdain at the fleeing dog below him as it continued to run down the tunnel. Can't this mongrel canine run any faster?

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:10 AM, Golden Panko Public Node, Outer Evo Subnet.

<<"That's why I like you Mr. Vee. You're a man of action. Here's the info dump.">> He flipped a coin into Void's hand. <<"Guy's named Charles. Shouldn't be hard to find once you get a whiff of him. I understand he's got a certain fashion to him. Tophat and tails. Messed up hair. First breadcrumb came from an ex-associate he left for dead, name of Sandy. He tried to screw her team and failed to kill her properly, so she put the word out on the bounty boards. I sweet-talked her into a bit more. Turns out, when this Charles guy flipped on them, he bungled the job they were doing. Their employer subsequently sent a 2nd team to finish the job. That's the only reason she's not dead. Anyway, she seems to think that the 2nd team will be going heads up against this guy since he already wasted the first team. She was real reluctant to give up this info, but I've got the contact number for someone from the 2nd team. She says he was an old geezer who called himself Doctor Spaceman. If he's set to cross paths with this Charles guy, it'd do to contact him beore it happens and the hatter goes off into the wind.">> With that, Mick tipped his own hat and disappeared. The bubble was gone and Void was once again standing in swarm of tacky tempura bullshit.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:10 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

Void grimaces and wastes little time in logging out, feeling uncharacteristic relief to be back in his cramped, spartan apartment once more. Well, it may be a slender lead, but while Void has floundered a lot in trying to make it as a freelancer, he has accomplished a lot by moving from point A to point B with a certain bullheaded obduracy. He meticulously composes a text to comm to this next link in the chain that will hopefully lead him, in the end, to his prey.

<<"Mr. Doctor Spaceman. I hope you might be able to assist me, enabling me to assist you in turn. I am looking for an individual named Charles, a twisted mage with a distinctive appearance - striking hair, but overly formal attire of a top hat and tails. I understand he may be causing you problems. I can help you. Not out of any charitable impulse to help a total stranger, I will admit. I am hoping to collect a bounty on this individual. If you can give me any lead that can expedite my hunt, we both win.">>.

Void hmms. He managed to work "expedite" into the terse missive, but he couldn't really think of a good, pithy Nietzsche quote to end it with. Oh well, it should still suffice, assuming his message reaches this person. If he is in the middle of a job, he might not exactly be checking his correspondence regularly. Still, what other leads does he have? He queries his commlink, but a distressingly large number of results show up for "Charles". How do hackers do this?

In the end, he controls his fidgety impatience by assembling his gear - getting into his layers of unobtrusive armor and checking his gun over. He won't be packing any gel rounds this outing. Other than that, he will be packing light this time - probably just his medkit. He glances at the case holding his sniper rifle, but he doubts he will be able to take it along - the gun is really only useful either with a lot of advanced preparation, or in a Z-zone.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:10 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

It wasn't but a moment before a reply came back, but not from the expected source. The reply came from a rather sophisticated Agent program <<Apologies, but I'm afraid the doctor isn't exactly "in" just now. Perhaps I can offer some assistance. Would you be so kind as to provide your name and reference? I can search the doctor's brain for the validity of your response, and we can work from there.>>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Ferret looks nervously at the shaking ork.

Man, the dogs really got to him. Guess he was closer to them but he's making me nervous just standing next to him.

"I don't think grenades are a good idea, Zo. We don't want to damage the merchandise. You say the trucks are just round the corner. Hmm, I wonder."

Maybe now that I'm down here, I can pick up the trucks' nodes. That's assuming BDLL didn't deactivate them.

He pings the area for any active or passive nodes, then boots up his scan program and sets it looking for any hidden ones. He is only slightly worried that he can no longer detect the ghouls commlinks.

Heh, seems even ghouls don't care for troll porn.

"If I can access the trucks' systems, I might be able to use their sensors to spot the ghouls or just program them to drive themselves out of the garage."

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

"We'll da-da trucks may be controlled, b-but d-dat don't-t mean the gear is still in d-dem. Y-ya can r-run o-over da-da gouls with d-da trucks."

Zo smiles a twitchy grin.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

The air in the area was still completely quiet. Ferret marvelled at it a little. There was no noise, and all digital signals were conspiciously absent save for those of the people on his network. It wasn't really a change from how things had been, so maybe it was still shock from the recent combat. A funny thought couldn't help but pass through his mind. Intelectualizing shock is a symptom of shock.

The nothern opening, from which their recent attackers poured, yawned darkly in front of him as he clutched his machine pistol. Thermally it was cold. Visually it was dark and menacingly empty. At the end of this bleak, man-made cave lay his goal - their goal.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:16 AM, Crosstown Depths

The dog continued down the main hallway all the way to the solid warehouse door, now closed. Perhaps Archer never expected the thing to return? The dog, no longer fleeing for its life stopped at the entranceway, sat and barked twice. No response. It growled a bit and began to beat on the door. Trained as it may be, this beast was still quite ready to fall back to violence rather than waiting for response. Committed now to get through the door, the beast circled back and charged the door, splitting the lock from the metal frame, and slamming it open with gusto.

The beast sniffed around for a moment before it ran back through the warehouse garage, from the western door toward the far larger tunnel entrance on the north side.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:10 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

Void mutters irritably to himself, but truthfully, something like this is about what he expected. <<Name: Void. Reference: Sandy. Regarding: Charles. Requesting a reply or a meeting, sooner would be better.>> He idly wonders how sophisticated this program is, or whether it is little more than an inbox-sorter. Hopefully he won't end up in the spam folder.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:12 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

There is a brief pause. <<I would not expect a reply from the doctor too soon. He is right now unresponsive from his most recent amphetamine binge. I tell him often that he must not indulge in such habits, but he is a forgetful man. That is one of the many reasons why he has me though. I am confident enough in your references and what I have gleaned by a cursory search of your name to tell you these things. I would not otherwise. That said I have answers for you and a proposition besides.
Charles' presence was last confirmed interfering with the delivery of goods currently in the doctor's possession. He was last observed in the company of a go-between hired by the doctor's most recent employer. The man is entangled in affairs which have yet to conclude. These affairs could use an outside hand, and one which the employer's go between is unaware of. If you were to join the doctor, and those with him, in the task of safeguarding the aforementioned goods, there would be both remuneration in the act and a high likelihood of finding your bounty. If you do not feel comfortable negotiating these things with me, I can put you in touch with others.>>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:16 AM, Crosstown Depths

Jovan flew soundlessly through the now-open warehouse door behind the dog, air spirit coming up behind him. His attention immediately snapped to where he had seen the trucks parked before, as he Gazed over the emotionally-tainted warehouse room to verify that the explosion he had felt did not come from one of the trucks. Next, he assensed the room for any trace of the ghoul Archer and his entourage - a finger of the carnage-induced background count extending down the northern tunnel or through a side door or hallway, or perhaps the fading aura of one of the metahuman cattle who had not completely been torn to shreds by Archer's ferals (dog or otherwise). He kept his sixth sense open to any quiet mutterings coming from where Jade and ZO had fired on the ghouls as well, which would indicate how close the others were to Jovan's position.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Ferret stares into the darkness. The lack of digital signals was both comforting and unnerving. There were no data spikes waiting to ambush him but he also felt a sense of loss, a hunger for input. So quiet.

"There's no signals down there at all. It's like there's nothing there. Maybe they've gone or are just hiding, waiting to ambush us", he mutters in an awed, almost reverent whisper.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

"Ferret, Prof, lets go. What's dat trid q-quote. O-oh y-yeah Let's Get movin be-before I-I d-die of ol-old age."

<Team>Oz..could ya relay a message to J-Jovie that we are-are going to the the corner to ch-check it out the trucks. He can me-meet us there-there if he -wa-wants to.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:16 AM, Crosstown Depths

Jovan saw a large amount of psychic disturbance in the area. The recent slaughter and partial devourment of about a dozen terrified people clouded the whole room. Still, there was a vague glow coming from a few ghouls near the east entranceway, but they faded out as he watched. There were no other life signs in the area, and the shadows of the bus and three trucks looked to be in no different shape than when he was there earlier. The dog was now a score or more meters into the northern passage.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

"Lead on Zo. You know the layout in here."

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:12 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

A more introspective man might feel a hint of trepidation hearing about the good doctor's state, or might suspect the agent of having a pre-programmed dry wit. Void merely feels a superior smirk stretch across his face - to him, more than half of the fun of being "straight edge" is being smug about it.

Unfortunately, that pleasant feeling is quickly overwhelmed by the familiar, floundering panic that he feels when decisions are forced upon him. But when he is clueless about what to do, he tends to default to action, which he does here.

<<That... sounds acceptable. The doctor and I can work out the details when I meet him in person. Meanwhile, transportation to his location would be ideal, or failing that, at least directions to his present whereabouts. Possibly, some means to identify myself to him, in case you are unable to alert him that I am coming?>>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond


"Only so far as I-I have been. I waz-z thinking sincece Jade threw da-da-da-da-da-" Zo bangs smacks his rifle but against his helmeted head as if to stop the stutter. "Grenade sparking off ghouls and dog waves 1 and 2. This is how f-far I've been."

Zo moves to the north wall where the tunnel leading to where the ghouls came from. Poking his head around the corner to get a better idea as to what the tunnel looked like, where it turned, and that another wave of ghouls wasn't comming down on them.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Professor notes the locations of all the various bodies. If they have to run out of here, he wants to know where to step.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 AM, Inside the Flipped Roadmaster

Oswald sent a reply to Zo over the comms. <<Last word was Jove had cleared the place. A dog is there , but he's got it under control some way or other. Least that was his last communication. Careful of it though. He said there was an explosion, so the place may have booby traps. No way for him to tell one way or the other. I'd put my money on this being harder than just picking up the abandoned cargo.>>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Ferret trails after Zo and Prof, slinking along as quietly as his namesake. He checks his gun's status, ensuring that it is still in single shot mode and that the gas-vent is disabled to keep it quiet.

<<Well if the ghouls are gone then at least now we only risk getting blown up by whatever traps they or BDLL left behind.>>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:16 AM, Crosstown Depths

Following the dog down the hallway led to a corner where the northern tunnel turned right. At the joining of the walls, the gross beast dug at the ground fruitlessly. It seemed plain enough that there was something there, likely a passageway going further underground. Jovan paused at the spot unable to make out what might be entrance and what might be earth.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:16 AM, Inside the Flipped Roadmaster

"Archer and company appear to have fled. I felt an explosion nearby a moment ago, but the trucks appear undamaged so it must have been elsewhere. I am following the dog after him. If the others are coming for the trucks, they need to make haste, as I may require small backup soon. Oh, and tell them to mind where they look when they come down here. There are ghoul bodies and half-eaten metahuman corpses strewn everywhere. Not to mention that I cannot make out tripwires and pressure pads unless Long Legs had a particular emotional attachment to one of them. I can't imagine that to be very likely."

Crosstown Depths

Watch the dog for a moment, please, Jovan mentally communicated to the elemental. Moving in a blur of thought and efficiency, his astral form moved several dozen meters further down the tunnel, to nearly the end of his metaphysical link to the elemental. He looked around and ahead of him to get a sense of what lay ahead in the tunnel as he waited briefly for the dog to locate what he suspected was a concealed doorway of some kind.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Zo looks back for moment at Ferret adjusting his gasvent to the off position. "Ferret, don't even bother--at this point dey know we iz-z here and you'll need ta pump da bullets in to im. Their hides are a bit thick." Zo peers down the hall looking for any trip wires or other traps.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Professor considers for a moment how he can help down here. Backup with his pistol, sure. But not his bag. He opens his perceptions to the astral. This is something the boys here can't do.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Ferret looks up at the big ork somewhat sheepishly despite the respirator.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Probably best to go to burst fire too."

He looks back down to the gun and mentally triggers the gas vents back open and the fire selector to 'burst'.

Then he follows after Zo, peering into the darkness for any signs of life.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:17 AM, Crosstown Depths

A bit of poking around at the ground where the beast was scratching led Jovan down to the sub-sub level. The sloped walls immediately identified the place as a sewer. It ran at an angle to the passageway above, but it stopped a short way down to the northwest. It seems the earth had collapsed here, blocking the passage. A short scouting to the south uncovered the aura of a man, Troll actually, imprisoned head-forward in a sewer pipe so that he couldn't crawl back while a thick grate kept him from moving forward. His aura showed him sick and near death.


Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Walking down the hallway toward the trucks found no tripwires and not pressure plates. None could have survived the mindless charge of slobbering dogs and brain-damaged ghouls. At the end of the tunnel, the group came out the eastern entrance of the large warehouse. Inside they saw the bus which had entered earlier and three full tractor-trailers. Besides that were tools and such to operate the place as an auto shop. Additionally, there was a floor covered in blood and corpses. There was a garage door to the south, a wider underground passageway to the north and a doorway to the west. Professor couldn't see anything living in the place, but the astral was painful to expose himself to.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Zo checks underneath each of the trucks to see if there are any suprises.

<Oz...just keep yerself alert. Da ghouls abandoned da trucks. Not sure if dey knew what da heck dey had. I woulda been a bit suprised if dey didn't take a few souvineers with dem.>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Ferret touches the closest truck almost as if he needs to convince himself it's real or perhaps just that having finally found them the mere physical contact will make the mission end.

18-wheeler achievement unlocked. You have found the missing trucks

<<Well frag me. They really are here. I was starting to think our J had just sent us in here to get ourselves killed>.

He takes his lead from Zo, scanning the closest truck with his both his eyes and his scan program to make sure the ghouls or BDLL haven't left any surprises.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond
"Throgg your a fraggin drekhole when your high."

<<Ferret, just a thought. Deyz is going ta be lookin for dese trucks, da vipers, da previous owners and such. Could ya drum up some fake liscenses to show that they are lefitamitely ours or sumpin? Also do we's have some C-12? Some dynomite will do in a pinch tho.>>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 AM, Crosstown Depths

That must be our good gentleman Big Daddy Long Legs, Jovan mused to himself. There are few other reasons why a troll would be imprisoned down here and not already eaten.

Jovan paused for a moment to send a message along his spirit-summoner mental link to the watcher serving as company for Oswald before proceeding. He floated smoothly down until he was right alongside the sewer pipe, then he manifested into the physical plane and spoke psychically through the pipe to the caged and sickened troll within.

"Big Daddy Long Legs, I presume. Are you conscious? Can you speak?" Jovan decided that it would be better to be courteous with the troll for now. Terrifying and breaking him could come later, if needed. "Help will be here in a few minutes to get you out of this prison. In the meantime, I need to know where the ghoul Archer fled to. I need to hunt him down before he escapes this ghost town. Do you know where he and his group ran off?"

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 AM, Inside the Flipped Roadmaster

The watcher eyeball snapped to attention. "Oswald, get ZO down here immediately. I have located Long Legs stuffed inside a sewer pipe. He is very very ill - I'm spotting respiratory infections and possible signs of ringworm infestation in his aura, among other things. The man is dying. We need to get him out of this sewer so we can get information from him before he dies. That ork boy may not be terribly intelligent, and he has the vocabulary of an 8-year-old, but he is muscular and strong and bigger than the two dwarves. Get him down here to break Long Legs out. Northern tunnel from where the trucks are lying, to the first corner. He can shoot through the wall near the floor to get down into the sewer tunnel, then head down the sewer back in the direction of the trucks to reach my location. Quickly please; I don't know how much time Long Legs has left."

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond


<Oz, did ya fragging hear me or are ya spacin out or somethin?, watch your back cuz da fraggin pasties ran away and we lost contact wit dem.>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 8:12 AM, Void's apartment, outskirts of Loveland, Puyallup Barrens.

As usual when Void feels spurred into action, he immediately starts second-guessing himself afterwards.

Was that... wise? Committing myself to working with these people? I need them to get to Charles, though, and I might even make some extra money for my troubles. Hrrmmm. Perhaps I should not have asked for transportation. The brutal murdering machine, asking for a ride.

The brief moments that he awaits the agent's reply seem to stretch precipitously.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

As Professor lines himself up to follow the other two into the passage going north, he feels the familiar chill and shrinking feeling, almost like a diabetic reaction. Bad time for the magic to leave me. Better pump up the volume again.

He concentrates, drawing energy from the surroundings, feeling his movements grow smooth and responsive again. Wish I could make this permanent.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Ferret tucks his gun back in his pants as he focuses his attention on the trucks.

Did BDLL disable the wireless on these? I can't seem to find any signals at all.

With a sigh, he sets his scan program to keep looking for hidden nodes in the background. Then he clambers up the side of the nearest truck's cab and reaches for the door handle.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

Zo looks at Ferret shoving his gun in his pant. See where dat one goez, da wannabees do it Touristville all da time."Ferret da second thing we iz gonna do when we iz done wit dis job is get ya a holster so ya don't have to shuv it in your pants. Sav ya some cred on penile implants"

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:18 AM, Crosstown Depths

The troll is very much out of it. He keeps repeating some combination of, "Don't know. Don't know. Just kill me. Kill me now. Won't be your vermin. Kill me." He'll likely need some sort of attention before he can be made sensible.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 AM, Inside the Flipped Roadmaster

"Oh yeah. Sorry. I was just trying to get a Matrix signal. I don't remember why..." <<Zo! Jove says there should be a sewer entrance near the corner of the north hallway. Says he found Big Daddy Long Legs, the guy who stole those trucks to start with.>>

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2071, 12:19 am, Deep inside the Annex in Redmond

<<Excellent news, Oz. Is Big Daddy in a cooperative mood or is he being combative?>>