In the House
Olethros joins the on-going text conversation while walking to the door where Brock is prepared to engage whatever might be on the other side.

<<@Team[Ollie]: There's more here than we know for sure. Let's clear the house and secure their hostage and then I can see what I can find out about what happened here. >>

Looking to the troll and making eye contact, he silently counts to three then swings the door open getting clear so he doesn't impede Brock.

Brock silently prepared to rush at what ever was behind the door, hammer ready. 1.2.3 brock rushes past Ollie ready to pound out what ever enemy is behind the door.

Brock

As the door swings open you charge in. A tripod is setup in the middle of the room with a heavy bore pistol almost the size of a shotgun. Behind it, a large raccoon hisses and pulls the trigger. As the shot echoes through the room, it scampers off the tripod and under the bed.

The initial assault over, Papa slips out of VR, grabs his alpha, pulls on his helmet and hits the ground running towards the team. He sends a mental command to the vehicles to lock down. He follows the teams path through the woods, using tacnet to help him avoid any potential trip wires.

TacNet

The drone feeds play across your field of vision. Bodies are scattered among the shattered remnant of the platform. Fire rages around the lodge, consuming everything. The sensors also note several emergency response vehicles en route. A fire-engine should be arriving within the next ten minutes. Other responders are negotiating the windy road from Big Bear.

Inside

Brock throws his mass at the bed, bones made unnaturally dense by surgical augmentation. The box springs crack below the mattress and the cheap metal frame gives way. The bed collapses flat to the floor.

Outside

There's a crashing noise as a motorcycle falls over in the garage. Siren sees a raccoon burst out from under the garage door, loping as fast as its little legs will carry it to the woods. Looking around, the hostage is gone. In the confusion of the spirit and explosion, he appears to have kept running to avoid being kidnapped by a second group of violent criminals.

Brock springs up after taking the shot and impact on the chest he was to say the least very unhappy. grabbing the bed remains he starts to throw the bed out of the way to see a blood splatter where the raccons body would be. "dammit where is that fragging rodent?"

Brock

Casually tossing the bed aside, it slams into the wall. Below the bed, you see a hole cut in the floor that opens to the garage below. In the darkness of the garage, you see the outline of a door in the floor. In the TacNet feed from Siren you see the creature in a waddling run across the clearing toward the treeline.

Brock grabs the heavy bored pistol off the tripod after busting out the window and making sure there is another round and shoots at the running rodent.

*click brock swears opening the breach of the pistol he slides a flèche the round from his belt and loads it into the pistol this time taking aim fires again.

Siren, remembering the not-quite-ordinary raccoon from the video feeds, casts a spell, hoping to stop it.

Team

A rippling wind, carrying a melody of voices drives forth from Siren slamming into the raccoon. None of the defensive warding from earlier appears to push back against the spell and the creature crumples to the ground. Brock awkwardly shoves the pistol through broken out boards and pulls the trigger. Slivers of metal tear through the limp body, rendering it into shreds of meat.

A small red light begins to blink from the pile of fur, bones, and flesh.

In the House
Watching the scene unfold before him with a look of confusion, Olethros cautiously moves his way away from the room with the troll and highly skilled raccoon.

<<@Team[Ollie]: How long do we have to sweep the this place for valuables? I can look into what happened here if we think it's worth knowing - with that many dead there is certain to be a stain or echo of what occurred here. I would like to know but if we're pressed for time it may need to wait. How soon do we need to... >>

The text is broken by the sound of the round being fired and he looks back over his shoulder to see the Brock with the pistol shoved through loose boards on the window. He takes a moment to take in the shattered remains of the bed and what looks to be an escape tunnel for the furry gunman.

Brock looks over his shoulder at Ollie" got it. we don't have long that blast probably alerted fire crews at least so company will probably be here in no time. " satified brock creeps out to the blinking red light he noticed after splattering it across the field.

Brock

Moving closer to the raccoon, you see the blinking light is a Docwagon bracelet. In your experience as a bodyguard, several of your clients have had contracts which included biomonitors. It looks like hurting the creature triggered the response. Life threatening injuries are likely to trigger a High Threat Response team on high end contracts.

<@team[brock]"this rodent has a doc wagon contract, If its paid up we can expect a high threat extraction team ASAP! We need to go now!"> brock picks up what looks valuable in the house a few weapons and anything quickly salvageable then starts to head back to his gopher waiting for the other to do the same before deciding where to high tail it to.

Sighing at the needless display of violence from Brock, Siren takes a moment to assense the raccoon.

<< [Siren] Does anyone know what kind of critter that racoon is? He is awakened, I can tell that much. And he seems to be rather intelligent. >>

Olethros pauses a moment feeling the magic drain away from his body as the scant power he gathered slips loose of his grasp again. He would need to alter this body more if he had any hope of it containing the original power that was his. He feels the rage and need burn along his nerves and under his skin. He imagines he can hear the former occupant of this vessel laughing at his inability to thrive here. Shaking his head he opens another window in AR sends a quick message to Papa and the rest of the team.

<<@Papa[Ollie]: Can we get the vehicles of out sight and quickly? >>

<<@Team[Ollie]: Let's calm down a second - everyone get out of sight and if you can't try to look non-threatening. Can someone get the raccoon somewhere else with a drone, a spirit or a spell? Put it closer to the second explosion and away from here. >>

<< [Siren] Ok, I will handle the raccoon. >>

Siren then proceeds to summon another spirit, who carries the raccoon away from the house and closer to the crash site.

She will also ask the spirit to make sure the critter does not die, but she will also tell the spirit not to linger too long, he should be gone by the time DocWagon comes in.

Team

The spirit lifts up the bloody raccoon and a lullaby infuses the creature, wrapping around it stanching the worst of its wounds. It moves quickly out of the clearing in the direction of the burning wreckage. Moments later, the sound of a helicopter wooshes past overhead.

With its charge carried out, the spirit melts back into the astral. It returns to its mistress' side to await further commands.

As the signals are lost in the woods and it becomes clear that emergency responders will be inbound, Papa recovers the drones to the van's drone racks. Catching up to the team, he quickly realizes that the scene has spiraled out of their control, yet again.

Taking in the scene, he mentally withdraws for a moment but is snapped back by Ollie's request.
<<@Team [Papa] Vehicles. On it.>>

He reaches out, pulling up maps of the area, looking for access roads and another route out of the area. He then puts the vehicles in motion.
<<@Team [Papa] We should also consider leaving.>>

<< [Siren] Yes, we should definitely leave. >>

In the House
Olethros begins to look around at the weapons strewn about and the other implements of violence. He watches the team text scroll by. He quickly transcribes a message while gathering small weapons.

<<@Team[Ollie]: I think I can gather the things here without being seen or having to much trouble. Jenni can you bring the truck around or even into the garage if possible so I can load stuff into it? Anyone is free to leave if they need to or feel like it. Just message me where we are meeting up after this since our former safe house has been demolished. >>

Jenni double-times it back to the truck and manuvuers it back up the road, taking care to avoid the ditch and the remains of any of the trip wires and other implements highlighted on the TacNet.

<<@Team[Jenni]: Ah'm assuming we're pretty much snatching everything we can carry that ain't nailed down, since nobody's crawling up our skirts?">>

Brock pulls his gopher up to the house to load up what ever they can and head back out. <@team[brock]"hey papa there was a car in this garage, if able can you remote it and drive it. Might help with getting a new place set up. Also we shouldnt stay to long. with the women that was asleep gone i dont want to tango with the lady if she brings that other evil slitch with her">Brock didn't want to stay too long especially with the woman still unaccounted for.

Team

The vehicles carefully navigate around the ditch in the driveway. Weapons and explosives are piled up in the back of the trucks. The magnets click onto the truck bed locking into place on the preset charges. It becomes immediately evident that they are car bombs.

Loading the rest in place, you find two tarps in the garage that will work to prevent aerial drones from seeing the illegal cargo at a cursory glance. A motorcycle, matte black, stands resting on its kickstand. Nearby the control for the working garage door waits.

Brock

Moving into the basement, the smell of cordite and blood lingers in the air mixed with unknown chemicals. Blast marks from small explosives on the door and table, show that someone detonated charges releasing the prisoner. Dried blood cakes the makeshift operating table and the floor around it. A bellows pump connected to IV tubing and a needle and several jars of blood stands nearby.

Behind a wall of sheet metal and 2x4s, an elaborate workshop is in the process of doing something. There are bottles of blood, strange fungi, rocks and crates of industrial chemicals. A holo projector has a 3D model of chemical compounds and formulas.

In the House
Finishing up packing the truck with Brock he looks over the bike and opens a window to Papa as he follows in the wake of the troll as he heads to the basement.

<<@Papa[Ollie]: Can you hack access to the bike or should we move it into one of the other vehicles like the van or the truck? >>

He pauses and looks around the space - clearly something was being done with the man's blood but what. It almost seems magical with the fungi and the set up but not anything like the blood magic he had heard of - not that his experience was vast and magic has shifted so much since the last time he walked this world and the rules governing everything had been perverted and diluted. He looks to Brock as he moves to the center of the space and speaks his voice strong and clear.

"I am going to see what happened here but based on the mass grave we found you may want to leave. I am going to see what impressions are here and there is a chance I could be overwhelmed by what I experience and you could be at risk."

He kneels onto his knees and places his hands on the floor with his fingers spread wide. Drawing a deep breath in and reaching out, he tries to connect to this place and see what lies underneath.

Brock's measured steps into the basement from the smells and odd formulas and science he knew very little about brock immediately let his mind wonder to this released luny walking right into a police station having been exposed to some disgusting plague made of a mixture of science and magic sighing deeply <@team[brock]"do we know where that victim ran off to he might have been exposed to some thing, if an of you know anything about magic and science mixed together they usually don't mix we'll and there is a lot of it down here."> brock was very worried for what had he been exposed to as we'll. might need a check up really soon he thought to him self.

The Basement

Brock watches as Ollie seems to become slightly blurred and lose connection with the world around him. Blood begins oozing up from the ground into the fighter's outstretched fingers. The chill of the grave runs up Brock's spine with a shiver.

Olethros

Time turns and twists around you. Death fills you, calling you to let go of this mortal form and return home. She whispers forgiveness and understanding for you turning away from your duties. With a will, you turn away from her and focus on the events of this place.

A loop of events flow past you, repeating over and over again with different faces. A man is strapped to the table, his aura rippling with disease. Kieri and Coltrane bring down vagrants, soccer moms, all manner of folk. They all appear to be drugged in a twilight stupor--walking when guided but capable of little else. They are brought over to the table where the pale man, his head shaved, is strapped down.

The man is starving, the raw need is overwhelming to feel. Looking at him makes you crave your own meal. He struggles against the bonds as each new victim is brought in, tearing the flesh from their throats as Coltrane bends them toward the man. Winokur drinks down their blood and you see the light within them transfer to him as he drains their soul and life's blood.

Seconds later, the bellows begin to pump, drawing blood from Winokur. The jars fill and the light within him dwindles down to the barest spark.

Another victim is brought in.

Over and over again, the cycle plays.

As the jars are filled, the blood is taken behind the wall. Days later, small ampules come out. One or two ampules for each victim given over to Winokur's insatiable hunger and the bellows pumps which seem to drain his vital spark along with the blood in the tubes.

Olethros
Seeing the death all around him, he turns from the scenes repeating before him and reaches out to his kin.

What is happening here? The theft has occurred but why bring HER to this world and to the task? SHE will betray you all as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Why must the door be sealed? Your shadows must fall on this place - it is the order of the universe until it is spun to void and darkness. Do you not fear the consequences if severed?

Brock pauses after seeing the gory science of blood and weirdness. In his short time with all of these fellows he has seen a very different world, and now this type of scene is something else all together, pausing only to make sure he didn't interrupt Ollie brock goes to grabbing the holo projector and anything that looks to have data or written notes in it, he wanted to know for sure what this stuff was and how to spot and stop it if need be. The magic of Ollie had brock on edge blood wasn't supposed to do that type of stuff it only made brock look forward to finishing this Job and getting paid a handsome fee for what ever these guys are looking for.

Since she is not otherwise occupied at the moment, except staying a healthy distance away from that cursed house, Siren summons another spirit to send after the man who fled the scene and bring him back, ideally without drawing attention.

Siren

Just over twenty minutes later, the spirit returns with the man at his side. With a look from the man to you, the spirit dissipates back into the aether.

"Let me go."

Winokur's voice is hoarse and raspy, but there is a thread of seductive force beneath it.

Olethros

SHE will be trapped in this place when the doorway closes, a ruler of nothing. There are other worlds than these. This echo will be lost and forgotten, cast asunder to wander the places between. The eldest keeps his own council, but the ravens speak dire news.

"Don't worry, we won't hurt you. But we need to make sure, that you are ok. In fact, you should stay with us in your own interest."

Siren looks at the man and concentrates. The wounds she has from her magical exertion pain her, but she tries to remain calm.

<< @Team [Siren] Got the victim back. I think they turned him into a vampire or something like that... >>

brock starts to head back towards siren with his gopher. <@team[brock]"i think he already was one, they were doing something with his blood. that why there was a mass grave they were killing all sorts of chummers like lamb to a slaughter for this guy. I dont want any tricks from that guy we just need any information he might have. they must have had him for a while, If nothing else how do you kill a vampire cause i dont know about you guys but i dont feel comfortable with that thing on the loose."> brock gets out of his gopher walking up next to them with his hammer ready to spring into action if need be, he also gets a little rope to tie winokurs hands and feet to keep him in place.

Jenni glances towards the mound of dirt that covered the mass grave, to Brock looming over the frail form of the man with the massive hammer clenched in one fist, and the smoking remains of the side of the house where the team had blown away a portion of the wall and left behind their tricky little gift, and shakes her head. A firm, slight frown tugs at her lips, and she turns to the other four members of the group.

"Ah wasn't really comfortable with assassinations anyways, and all this here makes me think that ya'll are in a sight over your heads, and that makes it all waay ova' mine. Ah'll find another way to gain the Huntsman's favor, or track down tha' critter ah'm looking for. Ah just can't stomach getting more tied with people that..." Her gaze cuts to Winokur, dirty, ragged, gaunt with malnutrition, and still sporting the remains of the medical setup that had been attached down in the basement.

"...well, with people like this. Ah'm sorry, Ah truly am. Anyone tha' needs it is welcome to a ride back into town, and ah'll drop all the gear in mah' truck where ever you want it, Ah don't want any of it."

She tugs down on the front brim of her hat in a parting gesture, and turns back to the truck, climbing into the cab and waiting to see if any took her up on the offer of a ride before firing it up and gingerly picking her way back down to the main road.

Olethros
He opens his eyes slowly, to make sure he was still in the room where he started this seeking.

Ruler of nothing? Cast aside? I thought you were seeking to merely bar passage to the Gallery? Do you intend to unmake this world?

Olethros

Imagine this world without any of our sway. Now compare that to a world where the Huntsman carries sway over our eldest's vision, my touch, our sisters' and your own true gifts. Which is the greater loss and risk...some may wake in a new dream, others continue to sleep through the nightmare. If the Gallery remains open, the contagion may spread.

brock walks with jenni to her truck opening the door for her on her way. shaking her hand good bye "well it was nice having a crack shot. if you have any friends who are as good send them our way i am sure we could use them." walking back Brock makes sure the gage is snug on winokur. <@Team[brock]"what are we doing with this guy. ollie was doing some mojo stuff downstairs and with the formula stuff i say we throw this guy in the fires and get rid of what ever they were trying to make.">

The House
Shaking himself from the half step of communing with the others, he turns and makes his way to the bike, Taking a moment to pick the vehicle up from the floor and right it as he sends a message to the team.

<<@Team[Ollie]: Their "hostage" feed on all the people buried in the back. They were harvesting his blood and vitality to make into something contained with the vials. I think they are imbuing it - it would explain the imbalance in their souls we saw earlier at the bar. If you don't kill him now he will kill again. >>

He stops at the back of the truck and concentrates for a brief moment then lifts the bike awkwardly into the back. He takes care to make sure it is wedged in place and won't fall during the drive.

"I am leaving as well at this point. The answers I seek are not here now and the stakes are higher than you think. This job could decide whether you live or what becomes of your children's children. Think carefully before you give over the relics you recover. You will be deciding for millions in your choice and action."

He opens the truck passenger door and climbs into the cab turning to Jenni as he buckles up.

"I need to get dropped off near the airport. I need to get to a piano bar."

brock shakes 0llies hand"thought this was your cup of tea from the scene in the basement. good luck chummers." brock shuts jennis door and walks back to his business.

The van secure and the truck heading over to the house, Papa finds a spot to lean against and slips into VR for a few seconds. There, he slices away the protections on both the bike and car before returning to this feet. As the gear is loaded into the truck, he pauses when the magnets attach to the truck and takes a second to examine the IEDs.

Turning back to the discussion of departure, Papa stands is shock for a moment, wondering on his own wavering commitment. After a long moment he simply sighs and resigns himself to move forward. His feet take his to Siren and the prisoner. "I do not think there is a cure... That leaves us little choice."

Seeing two of the team leaving and the rest talking about killing him, Winokur takes a step closer to the truck.

"Can I get a ride too? I'll just leave you guys be, no trouble right? I can sit in the back even."

Brock lays his hands on winokurs shoulder firmly turning him towards the mass graves. Shaking his head he leads him about mid field and does what is necessary to keep this monster from doing any more harm.

Team

As Brock puts his hands on the man's shoulders, Winokur flinches. Turning he looks straight at the large troll.

"Let me go, unharmed."

The Compulsion grabs hold in the troll's mind.

Brock moves away from the man compelled to do him no harm.

At the Truck
Olethros watches the exchange between the man and Brock. His eyes flick to the odd compliance of the troll suspecting something more was behind it.

"The choice is her's to make but I suspect she will be unwilling to take you to place with more people. This may be the end of your existence and you should try to accept it with what dignity remains to you."

With his comment of dignity he looks at the condition he was kept in and the purpose used. It's clear he feels....something about the treatment he received at the hands of the other runner's. He looks to the driver and see her terse head shake no as she starts the engine and tries to pull away from this scene of carnage.

As the truck drives away, and with it his last chance off the mountain other than by foot, Winokur begins to back away from the remaining team members. He keeps an eye on the three as he slowly moves towards the tree line.

"Please, don't follow me. It's not my fault."

Siren keeps her eyes on the man.

"You are a vampire, right? What happened?"

Siren
"I don't know, I was driving a cab then drugged and now there is color around people and lights...and I'm just so hungry... I don't want to hurt you. Just let me go and you will never see me again."

He continues to back away watching the three runners as he gets nearer to the tree line.

Brock assumes a casual position acting as if winokur isn't there " let him go unharmed. We have work to do."almost as if he held no negative intention towards the man at all. Brock continues to stuff supplies into his truck and casually climbs into the driver seat of his vehicle assuming a ready position waiting on the others, he opens one of the wrapped soy protein bars from the glove box and starts to chow down.