"No need to rush, it's regenerating itself. Someone strong hold that bugger. Anyone got restraints? Ah, and just for good measure."

bnc grabs the goblin on his shoulder and wrist and sends a wave of electricity through it, rendering the goblin to shriek loudly. For a second, she observes it, judging its state of health. When she deems it out of danger, she sends another jolt of power through its body, effectively paralyzing the creature. Then she steps back, leaving the critter to Nova.

"There you go. You might find it interesting that it can't regrow a severed spine. But this I don't do myself."
She steps back another second and turns. Then turns back, eyes transfixed on the sorry creature.

"On the way. Do we have time to drag it out of this godforsaken hole? The background count in here is... Well, challenging. If not, just leave it there, I'm with you in a sec."
God, what is this vile creature?

While running down the stairs, he readied his combat focus, should the goblin wake up again.

Anna shrugged "Dammit... I smell like rotten eggs... and Yuck.. these roaches... I feel as if I spent the night in a garbage heap... I need a shower, and my clothes need some laundry." She cleaned up, removing whatever remaining roaches she had on her body. With a look of disgust... but it was clearly not the first time she had these buggers on her. As a former street girl, Anna was used to being dirty - but it did not mean that she liked it.

Once she finished removing the roaches she said "Quick... take him outside of here, Wraith is more likely to succeed with mind reading outside..." Anna is unlikely to be strong enough to restrain the critter and she makes a gesture indicating that she has no restraints. "Unkinky of me... sorry to disappoint you." she responds to bnc, and then promises with a silly smile "I'll have something furry the next time you ask that of me for restraints.", the smiles turn into a silly laughter. She survived, they were alright... and that creepy things regenerate, so she gets to shoot them all over again... How funny was that?


She regains her composure as Wraith enters and says "Thanks for not commenting on the smell..."

While Nova and/or Sharkboy (hopefully) secure and carry the monster out, bnc explains in a calm voice.
"This is a goblin, not to mistaken for the hobgoblin which is a metavariant subspecies of the robustus. This sorry creature used to be a dwarf but was infected by the-"
She looks up, judging whether or not everyone in the group is familiar with the abbreviations. "-Human Meta-human Vampiric Virus. It's kind of a vampire, if you want, but a dwarfish one. And they're tough to kill."

Her eyes flick around, is if now reading through a text she opened while reading. She scans through the text at amazing speed. "Be wary when you cast your spell. Scientists still disagree whether or not the goblin is a sentient creature. Research reveals test results similar to great apes, so prepare for a very primitive, very distorted mind, maybe clouded with shredded fragments from its sapient past."
She looks him in the eye and says with her real voice. "You are to expect a gruesome experience."

Anna asks "Is it contagious? What kind of precautions do we need?"

The goblin is strong and needs a little shock every three seconds or so to prevent it from coming around again. But between Nova's mechanical body parts and bnc's physician knowledge it's no problem to keep the creature subdued long enough to take it outside into the freezing cold, where the BC is merely anoying. Of course, Wraith knows that the nearby catholic church promises both shelter and a better atmosphere for casting such a difficult spell...

"Yes, very much so. Don't let it bite you.
On the bright side, you" - She gave it another shock. - "wouldn't turn into that creature. Actually, you'de become a vampire" - shock - "which is a way nicer means of becoming an undead monster than this."

"Thanks for the heads-up. Gonna get interesting...", he murmurs with a sour grin.
"Can you carry it over there, to the church? My mojo will be stronger around there. And it gets us out of the fragging blizzard."

While the others are carrying the goblin, he fills his Predator with gel ammo and carefully watches the barely contained creature, ready to shoot it, should it try to bite one of his companions.
Turn into a vampire? Frag, I really need to read more about this stuff...

Before leaving, Nova took a quick look around, maybe there was something else inside the hideout that they missed on the first glance.


"A ... vampire!? Well, guess it is good it did not manage to hit me, then ..."

With only the slightest whir, Nova's gun vanished somewhere underneath her pants.

Her rifle slung over her shoulder, Nova helped carry the thing outside, and dumped it nonchalantly on the ground there.


"Well, this is supposed to close up again, so..."

She pulled the gravestone that was the door back in place, possibly with the use of that little statuette to lock it once more.

"We need to make sure that the church is empty...Would not like to hijack someone's funeral with an undead guest... Probably a good idea not to be seen by a camera as well. Wraith? Since you are a man of the faith and everything... Do you mind?"

"Wraith and me's turn to clear out some gnob-gobs, then?"

He turned to walk away, and then turned back to broach an unhappy topic.

"Do we need to go down there and make sure our girl didn't turn out as lucky as you two?"

"I don't expect anyone at this time and weather. But I guess you're right, better safe than sorry.

Do I mind what? Using the church's power against that thing? Absolutely not.
But Actually, I wasn't even planning on entering the main building, the pathway with the columns should protect us from the storm just fine, yet isn't inside the church where there might be cameras."
" bnc, any sensors in that yard?"

To Sharkboy:
" didn't elizia say, our girl left the hideout?"
"Elizia, are you positive that Bean Si indeed left?"

Nova's quick look around didn't show her anything particularly useful, except that there were further rooms with locked doors in the bunker that the HMHVV victims likely hadn't opened.

Eliza replied: "Positive, she left and killed two Harvesters at the Prater island before vanishing."

The church wasn't particularly well defended in the matrix: Two old fashioned cameras that were neither slaved to a host nor had a particular impressive field of view protected the main building, leaving the team ample opportunity to find shelter in one of the side entrances. A small chappel was accessable, although all valuables here were behind bars and thick armored glass.
Wraith felt the oppressive mana from outside fall from him and be replaced with a calm tranquility.
For the other magic users the flavor of the mana changed but it didn't feel particularly good to them - and neither did the goblin seem to like it. A soft, keening sound indicated that he felt decidedly unwelcome here.

When they have the creature nice and tight, bnc refills the spent ammunition.

"Hitting wouldn't have done anything but giving you pain. It's the bite that's contagious ... but then, once it slapped you, it would bite you next as that's pretty much the whole idea behind hunting prey. Which we are to them."

She left with the others. When Sharkboy raises the topic of her sister becoming an undead monster, she answers with artificial professionality. "My sister's as homo sapiens sapiens, so the virus would have affected her in an entirely different way. Vampires do, if I'm right, not prefer graveyards for dwelling, though I might be mistaken. Also, the given description doesn't match..."
bnc says this in a voice that indicates that she doesn't only try to convince her team members.

"There are cameras, but I can take them out easily. Just indicate where you wanna go. I'll clear the path."

"After we interrogated that creature, or however you wanna call it, we might want to check the remainder of that hideout. There's still some doors down there, that were not opened," Nova mentioned while moving with the others, keeping an eye on the surroundings mostly and glancing at the goblin here and there, to see if it is being well-behaved.

Anna replied "Definitely..." to Wraith "If you need my help with the drain let me know. Though, this church is no better for me than the outside." She knew enough that the spell could be cast with reagents, but Anna did not utilize them. Perhaps out of the habit of being broke.

Sharkboy nodded and Nova's suggestion.

"Besides, I'm not saying that I don't trust Eliza's report. I just want to make sure we can say we had a look down there for ourselves and not just trust digital records. If we could trust those, most of us wouldn't have been allowed in this country in the first place."

"I don't worry about the drain, not this time. But you had a painkiller-spell, right? That would be wiz."

"Sure... Here you go"

Anna's hands glow with a noticeable but pale white glow as she touched Wraith's chest. That glow spread up through his body before fading away. In comparison with Wraith. She did not give the spell any occult, mystical or religious meaning. It was a mental pattern with a few physical aspects... and that glow was not divine energy. It meant that she some of the mana she channeled leaked and that she needed more skill to make it go away.



She commented "I don't mind following the rabbit hole, even if Bean Si is not there... these guys might have taken something from the safe house to there. It might be dangerous, so let's extensively check the safehouse before going there. Perhaps we find some stronger lead in the safehouse..."

Upon Anna's spell, Wraith's body seemingly straightened, as if a day's hard work was suddenly forgotten. "Thanks."
He turned towards the goblin, seemingly delighted about its disdain in the chapel, raised one hand in its direction as if force-choking it and murmured a prayer: "Lord, you see to the heart of all creatures. Grant me a glimpse of this poor soul's mind."
Now, you little fragger... What do you know about Kerstin?

In the meantime, Nova pulled out her medkit and asked bnc to help her getting rid of the damage sustained from that Noxious Breath earlier.

bnc sighs with a disgusted look at the goblin. "Creatures like these make the usage of pronouns a real toughkick."
Shen then kneels beside Nova. Although she's never received any kind of formation, she automatically adopted the kind of paramedic behavior: If a person seeks help, there is no asking. There's no denying help anyway. As a result of this approach, she doesn't reply with more than a nod and a gesture.
"You apparently know to sit upright and support your muscles of respiration with outstretched arms. Judging by the sound of your breath and the discoloration, the symptoms are mainly bacterial, though magical influence can't be ruled out. I'll give you 15 litres of oxygen at least until you reach a saturation of 96 %," bnc explains while she applies the oxygen probe and opens the compressor valve. "Please grant me three marks on your biomonitor. I'll add cleansing bacteria stems to the oxygen in order to purify your lungs and improve blood stream and regenerative capabilities in the pulmonary alveolus. Ah, and here, eat some coal, then you should be just fine."

"Sure, no problem," Nova replied, when asked about her biomonitor.

"Much better."

"Speaking of..." bnc began, as she repacked the used contents into Nova's medkit.
"Can you give me three marks on your commlink as well? Don't worry about my abusing it ... if I want into your commlink, I'll get in there without your permission as well. But in some situations, I need to access every important device in the group fast. I understand if you refuse as it is kind of sensitive but you should know that the two seconds it takes me to hack a commlink already saved a life once, and I'll happily violate your privacy if I can save a second chummer."

bnc almost takes the medkit with her, before she realizes, she used stuff from a stranger, and leaves it behind for Nova. "Same goes for you, Fishbone and Wraith."
She then turns to Anna. "Have you been hurt? Insect bites, maybe?"

Anna said "Roaches barely touched me... I am quicker than I look." She paused and added: "That stench gas made me a bit sick, not sure if you have something to do with it. I bet it would go away on its own."

"Ask Nova if I can do something about it."

While the impromtu triage went on, Raph dived into the mind of the diseased creature:



It's attempts to shake of the intrusion were so feeble, there wasn't actually any resistance. Instead Raph fealt himself almost invited.
First came the surface, a pain worse than a split molar that he could identify as the pure hunger of a starving man. It lay over everything, obscuring any conscious thought that wasn't directed at satisfying this hunger. Second came fear - a fear of everything bright and pure, a fear of pain and those who inflicted it. Instinct that made it look for shelter away from the light. These two drives were what was left of the will this person once had.
But Raph didn't stop at the surface. With just a little digging he found memories, recent memories. The creature and it's two hunting partners had dug tunnels through out the graveyard, breaking open new caskets without ever having to surface. The rotting flesh went to the two goblins, while the gnawer finished the bones. It was hard to make out, but the bunker was the place the three creatures had found by following their innate dual nature, digging their way forward to where the feeling of belonging was strongest. Raph realized that the creatures had been drawn to the particular background count found in the bunker - it aligned perfectly with the nature of the HMHVV victims, resonating within them. In fact they had begun to even drag the bodies inside this space to devour them where they felt both secure and empowered and where their hunger actually subsided a bit.
Digging through the memories, clawing deeper and deeper, Raph had to endure the horrors of three months of eating the dead - and on two occasions slaying homeless people to make them dead meat. Until he reached the point were darkness had happened. Raph pressed on - and was able to relive the moment when all this had happened to Thoma Jelinek, a dwarf boy of fourteen years. How he fled an abusive mother, landed on the streets and did whatever he had to do to survive. One of those things was getting bitten by a vampire and being left for dead in a ditch with barely a drop of blood left in his frail body. There had been only a short moment of sanity when he awoke. Time enough for a few tears, before the hunger came over him like a great wave hitting a paper boat. And still, after the constant pain and fear, there was still something of the boy left, something that was only able to watch, like an addict that knows exactly what the drug is doing to him and whose body will still stick the needle in because the craving is just too much to bear.

Again, Raph dug through the memories, looking for anything that the creature... no Thoma, might have seen or heard of Bean Si.
It took him a few seconds to realize that while the boy hadn't actually seen her, he nonetheless had witnessed something of her: Inside the bunker he had been drawn to her and the background count - the two having formed something... a resonance of sort. The boy had clearly assensed her astral signature shortly after she had left the bunker.
The old WWII bunker that had inspired three creatures made insane by hunger to claw their way through half a meter of concrete.

Now that he knew what to look for in the memories he went to the moments when the three creatures returned to their lair: And yes, once they had found signs of a foreign aura that had visited the room - Raph recognized it as the aura of an astral projecting mage that had cast a detection spell.
Shortly after that another disturbance had registered with Thoma - a foreign smell coming from the other side of the closed door that led upward to the hated light. By the time the three HMHVV sufferers had had returned to their home the visitor had gone again and so they hadn't wasted any time to investigate but instead feasted on the almost fresh body of a toddler.

Raph resurfaced with a jolt. The spell had ended because the heart of Thoma had suddenly stopped beating.


bnc was alerted by the bio-monitor that the creature had gone into cardiac arrest - there wasn't even ventricular fibrillation - just a perfect flatline as if a switch had been turned into the off position. The medkit already displayed instructions on how to perform chest compressions, although she could see that it wouldn't do much good as the brain of the creature also had stopped at the same time show any signs of activity...

Wraith gasped with surprise as his spell suddenly ended, like when resurfacing from underwater. He stumbled backwards one step, leaning against the chapel wall. He blinked and seemingly needed a few seconds to adjust to the abrupt ending of his grim journey.
His gaze wasn't really focused on anything specific, as if his mind was still somewhere else. He made no attempts to save the goblin's life.
"ooff... That was... Dark. One... Gimme a moment.", and he tightened his coat as if he suddenly felt cold. After a couple of seconds of just staring at the goblin, he started to summarise what he had seen. Slowly, catching his heavy-going breath every now and then and apparently still thinking about the dead man's mind.
"So... the good news: There were the three of them that you met, no more. The hideout and the cemetery should be safe.

About Bean Si : Thoma... I mean, the goblin, saw her aura. They were drawn to it, to the bunker, lived there... and he assensed her. I saw her astral signature, she... She indeed has one now.

And he saw more: After she escaped, two visitors came to the bunker, shortly after one another. The first was a mage scanning the hideout with his mojo, venturing into their room. Our boy saw that one's aura, too. I... I think I'd recognise it, should I see it again. Gives us an edge against the Harvesters, assuming they sent the mage.
The second visitor he only smelled in the top room, but... But I'd guess Crusaders, as why should Rosenberg's mages undergo a second visit?
I wanted to ask him more, but then... Well. He died."

While talking, Wraith slowly got up from the chapel wall, looking quite worn out, but not injured or anything. He felt a confusing mix of sorrow, repulse, anger... And pity. Lots and lots of pity for that cursed creature bound to defile the dead. I'll pray for you, Thoma. You'll need it.

Anna asked "So the goblin recovers from a gunshot wound, and jolts of electricity only to be killed with a mind probe spell? Is that spell normally so hazardous? Can you explain what happened?" She seemed genuinely curious.

She replied "Let's stash it in the safehouse. I think the little monster lived there."

"Wha... No idea, this has never happened before. It's usually not hazardous at all. Perhaps it was the continuous shocks or..." he looked around the chapel, "no idea, really. Any questions about its... No, his memories? "
Before anyone carries the dead goblin outside, Wraith routinely checks astral sight to make sure they are alone. He also, after a moment of hesitation, reaches into the small basin with holy water next to the door, dips a finger into it and then forms a small cross on Thoma's forehead, softly murmuring "Rest in piece now, Thoma."

Even before Wraith starts to speak, bnc frowns and pushes him away to take a closer look at the goblin. She starts an audio-recorder to record Wraith's explanation and listen to it later to be able to focus on the creature. The death was too clean, too fast and too obviously right when the team started to get information out of it.
"Wait a second. Sharkboy, Wraith, please watch out for attackers for a second. Anna, please get me my chemistry box. Nova, please prepare the medkit."
She checks through all the record vital parameters and how they changed since the group applied the biomonitor. "Heartrate exploded, cortisol and adrenaline levels shot over the roof ... Whatever memories you led that fragging thing through, it didn't have the mental capabilities to stomach it."

Anna concluded "It was the Lord's wrath..." but she brought the chemistry kit nevertheless. She seemed eager to get back to the safehouse.

Sharkboy props himself up, leaning his shoulder against whatever is nearby and sturdy and resting his hand on the top of his bow like it was a walking stick. If he weren't wearing a mask he'd probably be picking his teeth with a toothpick.

"Thanks, darling," bnc says as Anna carries the chemistry toolket. She compares the vital characteristics with the results of the blood analysis.
"Confirmed. It wasn't killed. The situation was, all in all, just a little too much for that little man-eater."

"Let's get back underground and check out the rest then..." Nova proposed.

bnc replies eagerly.
Absolutely. I'll leave my meatbag behind, though. There are no evil spirits left for the moment, are there?"

Leaving the shelter of the chappel, the team realized quickly that the temperature had fallen a bit more and night had fallen truly over the vast graveyard. There was no sign of anyone else around - which wasn't particularly telling since visibility had gone down even more.
Still, GPS and memory was enough to bring the team back to the hidden entrance. Snow had built up again, hiding their previous visit's tracks. Once again the statue turned and admitted the runners into the darkness of the old bunker. Inside the room with the bones two other doors led away, one to the south and one to the north.

A careful examination of the place showed five rooms in total:
A small toilet that seemed to be connected directly to the Vienna sewers was the one room to the south. To the north followed a communal area that had housed something like an oldfashioned workstation as well as a small kitchen and two sofa's. As far as a bunker could offer it, this room had a cozy atmosphere. From this room two other doors led to a bathroom on the east side - complete with the remnants of a first aid station - and a bedroom to the north with two cots, separated through old and musty smelling curtains, not unlike a sickbay.

Everywhere, gear and everyday supplies still lay around, indicating that the evacuation had happened very rapidly.

Anna replied "If there are you'll die in a funeral home... So at least the logistics would be easy. Seriously speaking, we might not be leaving the bunker tonight given weather conditions and the fact that we'll take a careful look. Are you sure you want to stay behind?"


Once at the bunker Anna moved through the room looking distant. She was using her astral sight and was looking for items of emotional significance. She was looking at the communal area, the work area, the first aid station, and the bedroom. Then just to be sure - or perhaps as nature called the toilet, and the rest of the safehouse to be through.

Sharkboy immediately regretted stepping into the bunker as he started feeling the background count. What good are these magical powers if the moment you walk into a creepy bunker they turn chickenshit heel and run off He moved over and began tossing the bedroom to see if there was anything of interest.

Wraith had followed Anna and Sharkboy inside the bunker.
"I'd rather not have us spend the night here. Both Harvesters and Crusaders know this place, and it's only a matter of time 'til the watcher returns. Plus, when the sun rises, it'll just be harder to explain five guys descending from a grave."

Wraith started his search in the north, checking the bedroom first, then moving towards the workbench and the communal area, and then the other rooms.
He also took the tlook for potential auras in the astral plane, however his astral sight was rather blurred the dark, reeking mist that seemed to shroud everything in the bunker. he cursed audibly. "This background count is making everything seem... fuzzy. it's like seeing though jelly, I can barely make out a thing."
He turned towards Anna, whom he had experienced rather capable at assensing. "Did you find anything with an astral signature? How about we look together, i'm not too wiz at assensing, but I will recognize Bean Si's signature, should we spot it."

Nova went into the bathroom with the first aid station to search there.

Anna replied "Sure, I don't mind an extra pair of eyes. It requires some patience to get used to the mana around here but it is completely doable. Just wait a bit longer until you get a good reading, then move on. It is not dark the entire time."

bnc leaves her meat body some 5 metres after the statue, in the area that's already controlled but still nearby. Once we know everything's safe, she posts James as a sentinel over the entry, and returns to her meat body.

For an instant, bnc is taken aback by how naturally Sharkboy searches her sister's bedroom. Some last remnants of decency buried within her complained that this one room, at least, shouldn't be searched by a male stranger with a total lack of empathy. She discards that primeval feeling within a second, though, as silly and childish.
When she comes down, her first natural target - the bedroom - is already crowded, and thus decides to accompany Nova in her search through the bathroom - the place where Kerstin would go if something strange begins happening to her body. She nods towards the semi-cyborg. "Anything interesting yet?"
bnc starts examining the room very closely, collecting potential DNA samples, analyzing strips with her chemistry toolkit as good as she can, collecting hair, checking any chemicals - and of course consulting the log of the medkit.

Afterwards, she turns to the common room as there seems to be the least commotion, and turns it over.

Raph and Sharkboy took a very close look at the bedroom. Two footlockers, one filled with female fashion and one filled with expensive looking male gear. Those obviously belonged to Nacl - they were entirely his style and size. At the bottom they found a folded suit that they recognized as a custom tailored armored suit with an incredible fine weave.

The other box had practical, all weather clothing and only a modest supply of female underware - a bit larger than bnc but far from the size that Nova could wear. A close look through everything revealed a burner link that had it's antenna ripped out, making it more of an old fashioned PDA. The memory seemed to be empty. Another, even closer look inside the lid revealed a peeling piece of synth leather behind which they found two small data chips that from their make were obviously at least ten years old but seemed to have been used recently.

Meanwhile, Anna was busy ascanning the whole place. Now that the three infected were gone and the short but intense violence had stopped affecting the place, she was able to get a feeling for the building. Despite the long time, she could clearly feel the origin of the astral turbulence: People had died here from sickness and hunger. Following the astral markings she found the epicenter inside the sickbay. When she concentrated she could even feel the steel frames of the old WWII sick beds. Two patients who had died from hunger over a very long time while their bodies where bound to their beds. The event that had etched itself into the very stone of the place was fuzzy about the details, but clear enough on the event. It had to have been a nightmare for someone who had their awakening here while subjected to these sensations.


bnc and Nova looked for chemicals and found the usual cleaning supplies had been used liberaly to keep the all too common mold at bay. No blood, semen or other bodily fluids appeared to have been spilled here and any sweat had evaporated a long time ago. A small stash of auto injector cartridges came out from behind the mirror: They were numbered from one to five and had "Lazarus Combo" written on them with felt tip. The barcodes of the little tubes revealed that they contained: Crash, used in trauma patches, Hemosynth, a small nanite container with a Savior Medkit, Stim and a single dose of Kamikaze - the perfect mixture to get someone away from death's door and back into fighting shape.

bnc had some success with her DNA samples. Using her own as a baseline she ran a preliminary sampling on the two toothbrushes - which revealed one male and one female set of DNA. It took a few minutes for the med-computer to sample but afterwards she was absolutely sure, that the female set belonged to her sister. Possible gen therapies or mutations would take more time to decode of course, but that was something the enormous amount of cloud computing the matrix provided could handle. Idly she took a look at the second set and... ran the test again, making sure she hadn't contaminated the first sample, looking for a grey hair to retest.
But there wasn't any doubt - the male sample shared a related X-chromosom with her and her sister.

When bnc finds the Lazarus Combo, she checks its contents for expiration, then stuffs it into the sidepocket of her black hoodey.
---
bnc leans back on the sofa - after a minute or so she realized that the cramped floor of the bathroom wouldn't do for a makeshift lab, so she erected it in the living room. After having rechecked the fox's DNA, she bites her lower lip, pondering. From the way her central nervous system hat responded with a sense of familiarity in a definitely foreign person, she already had made guesses why a complete stranger would pour 100,000 euros in saving Kerstin's ass. This went far beyond comradeship. She loaded the transcribed recordings of her meeting with Nacl, reading through the whole conversation.
Jeez, what a fucked-up family they were.
bnc tasks her agent to create a genealogical tree for Eva-Maria Burgstaller.

"Eliza. From what you know - or can ask Dr. Salt - is it coincidence that three HMHVV infected dwarves from two different strains dwell at the precise place where some runners who were investigating a cure for a third strain hid?
Team, any findings?"

Anna enjoyed the psychometry experience, but it did not yield as much as she hoped. She and Wraith were able to glimpse into the distant past but the effect of the time spent hear by Kerstain seemed to have lost. Perhaps it was the powerful background count that suppressed anything that was less than starving to death... How awful was that?

She took a seat at the Sofa and sighed "I listened to ghosts - but none of it seems relevant"
She was hesitant at first but then continued "Then again, who knows what you might find relevant... You probably know in theory, emotional experiences leave a mark on this world, the more intense the stronger the mark. So I hoped that some of the things that Kerstain experienced here would have something of her left in them.

Whatever experiences she had here, they were washed away. I only felt the desperation and horror of people, as they starved to death in this place. Probably during the world war, though this is an educated guess. I think that anything Kerstain experienced here was mundane and shortlived in comparison to longterm starvation and desperation. Then again, I cannot imagine a short-term emotional experience that can top the horror and desperation of this place."

Her voice was sad and broke at the end and her eyes seemed wet as if she was close to tears. It was an emotionally charged experience, and it was difficult to shake off.

"yeah, Shark and I got something.", Wraith replied to bnc's question.
" two well-hidden datachips. Quite old models, but apparently used not too long ago."
He had taken his helmet off for searching and had dust in his hair, as if having searched under the beds or so.

Bringing them into the living room, he Sat down next to Anna. "hey, you okay?", he asked with a concerned look at her. He hadn't seen nearly as much as her with his astral sight, but he had vaguely sensed the feeling of desperation and Death that covered the whole place. He could imagine that delving deeper into the bunker's past would be a rather gruesome experience.

Meanwhile, a short pop up had notified bnc that she now had three marks on Wraith's comlink.

bnc was glad about the distraction Anna provided. She herself still wrestled with the notion that Nacl might be her uncle. Yet she wanted to get a better idea of what the situation was before she blew out any unfounded ideas. Concealing her troubled mind was easier with a crying chicks the dudes can care for and about.
Also it gave her the opportunity to run away from all these emotions that rose up again when she skimmed through the conversation log. She needed to move forward, not glance backward.

"I can only imagine the horrors you lived through. Thanks for assensing the area, Anna," bnc says, but without a hint of empathy. It wasn't meant to be sarcastic in any way, she just had no empathy to spare at the moment. At least she pretends.
She looks up to Wraith while responding to the notification: <@Wraith<dnt wrry i wnt rape ur lnk more than id do w/o permission >>
"Chips? That's good. Can you show me?"

She gets her Fairlight out of the pocket, and - for good measure - turns it offline. From her datajack, she pulls a long, thin cable and plugs it into her 'link, then takes the datachips and slams them into the corresponding slots, carefully investigating them before she attempts to read the file.