Thread #60805

last time, the group gave up on their search for eddie and returned to the encampment for the night
they were greeted by lovely beef stew which was poisoned
VV and Thomas fell into a deep sleep after consuming it and Felicity was the only one awake to see a group of four men come and handcuff the team
Felicity played it cool and allowed herself to be handcuffed as well, feigning sleep
The group was then hauled into the back of a truck with the free Night-Seer

[sleeping intensifies]

The truck dives haha dives
no it doesn't dive

The truck drives through the swampy terrain along a beaten path. The jerkiness of the ride causes the team to slide around the // around in the back of the truck, occasionally slamming into the walls or each other and waking those sleeping, who awake to find themselves tightly handcuffed, in the back of a moving pickup truck. Night-Seer stares out into the darkness of the night, unaware of any waking team members.

"Oh what the hell"

I look around the truck, meeting eyes with both Thomas and Miss Vane, putting a finger to my lips.

The truck continues moving. It's dark out.

Stepping gingerly, avoiding having the truck bed move too noticeably, I get up off the seat, before bracing myself and launching at Night-Seer to shove him off the truck.

The distracted Night-Seer fails to see the attack coming and tumbles out of the vehicle with a shout. The shout, however, is hidden by the noisiness of the moving truck. Standing, Felicity can see into the cab - there are two people in the front of the truck, a driver and a passenger.

I drop immediately to the floor of the truck.

Thomas presses his hands together lightly to applaud Felicity.

"You can talk now. Just keep it short and quiet if you can."

"If you look inside my bag you might find some acid-y stuff."

"Try looking underneath the snacks on the left by the front-left pocket.

I haul his bag around so it's within his sight. "Help me find them. I'm no scientist."

Spending 1 chemistry point, Thomas describes the chemical in question.
"Well my bombs are usually a deep red, and the smoke bomb from a while back was a deep blue, but acid-stuff is nice and green."

Fishing the chemical out, I glance at him with frustration. "Brevity is the soul of wit."

I make rounds to both of them, dissolving bits of the chain with the acid.

VV holds her hands out, wanting free.

>>60974
"It's for future reference."

The chains are broken with a bit of a light pull after the acid dissolves them.
The group has freed themselves! The truck continues down the beaten path.

VV makes a fake gun with her hands and gestures for Felicity to shoot the driver.

"Not unless I have to."

Thomas is surprised that VV would suggest something so violent.

"If we wait around much longer, we're going to end up where this truck is going. There's going to be more people there than we can handle."

"So do something about it or give me the gun."

"Jump?"

>>61026
"We're not shooting anyone unless there's no other option."

>>61028
"Then just threaten them with it or give me the gun."

"The moon is beautiful tonight."

It blushes.

Thomas winks

"Fine, come what may." With a heavy thud, I pound on the back of the truck cab, making a point of waving (the hand without the gun) in the window of the cab.

The driver turns around in his seat to see what the banging is.

VV reaches to the rear window, opens it, and yells "stop the truck or we'll shoot you!"

The driver looks terrified and slams the breaks.
The passenger's head slams into the dashboard. It appears he was sleeping. He might not wake up for a while.

Thomas shrugs nonchalantly.
Then falls the fuck over

The back of the cab braces me during the sudden stop.

"See, that was easy."
VV looks at the driver - "Get out of the truck and stand on the side of the road!"

He does so. He's shaking in terror. He doesn't look like the other mob thugs.

"You guys aren't so tough for mafia thugs."

I sigh, but wave the pistol where he can see it. "No fast movements."

"Give me the keys to these broken handcuffs too. You have those, right?"

"T-the guy in the back had the cuff keys. T-the injun guy." He slowly reaches into the truck and removes the key from the truck to hand to VV.

Walking around behind him, I take my pair of cuffs and lock them around his wrists.
"Thomas. get that other guy out of the passenger seat. I don't think he's doing much moving on his own."

"You got it boss." Thomas carefully plucks the passenger from his seat and places him as gracefully as he can next to his friend.

VV hands the key to Felicity and then walks over to check the driver to see what he has on his person.

As Thomas picks up the body, he notices a large amount of blood pooling in the front of the seat and splattered on the dashboard.

"Uhh, hey driver guy. Did your friend wear his seatbelt?"

"I-it don't have seatbelts."

"How cool a friend is this guy?"

"Is he dead?"

"I am pretty sure he's not doing well if he isn't."
Thomas sort of looks around the passenger area.
"There is a loooot of blood."

"Y-you guys gotta save him! You can't just leave him like this!"

"VV, you're the resident nurse. Can you check this guy out?"

"Why should I help this guy that was KIDNAPPING ME?"

"Oh actually that's a really good question. So fella, why did you guys capture us again? Was ... " Thomas stops his second question and waits for the first one to be answered.

"C-chansky said it had to happen."

"And Night-Seer, the guy in the back, what was his role in this?"

"Curtis said he had to come."

Thomas sighs. "The first guy never has good information."

Thomas looks at VV and Felicity. Mostly Felicity. "What do you two think we should do? Letting this guy die doesn't sit well with my conscience, but more importantly would also make Chansky more pissed at us."

"There's nothing I could do for him right now, and really, I'm not sure there's anything any of us could do for him. He needs a hospital and professional care." I wince. "And there's probably nothing like that out here in the middle of a swamp.

"Oh hell you're completely right. We're in the middle of nowhere."

"Well, we do have a truck. But maybe you can offer us some kind of incentive to help him. You're the one who injured him after all, what kind of idiot slam the brakes on like that?"

Thomas gives VV a perplexed look.

He looks like a deer in the headlights.

"Listen, is there a hospital anywhere in the area."

"No, there aren't any hospitals in the Everglades!" He starts to sob.

"Don't cry. Just spill your guts and help your friend out here. He probably doesn't have long left..."

"W-what do you want to know?" he asks with tears in his eyes.

"Everything."

"About what?!" he cries.

"The plot to kidnap us, of course. And why. The sooner you start talking the sooner I start helping him!"

"I don't know why! Chansky said to get you so we did! The Semmies told us you was here!"

"You don't know anything else?"

#1d6+3 (3 + 3 = 6) first aid roll to try to stabilize him a bit
VV goes over to the unconscious man and starts to work on him.

"it wouldn't be too hard just to kick him to the side and leave him in the swamp, you know..."

I don't ////
"I don't know anything else! I just do what they tell me to do!"

The unconscious man looks like maybe he won't die after that 6.

"Lay off him, Miss Vane.

"Where were you supposed to be taking us?"

"Another Semmie camp. Near the boss' base. You know, where Chansky's planning to put the casino."

"Oh, this fellow is really dying. I don't think he'll make it unless he gets some help."
"How loyal are you to Chansky again? Do you think this man's life is really worth it?

"Please save my friend. He's the only one I have in this cruel, lonely world!"

VV shrugs.
"I don't know, he's pretty far gone and I should probably be hopping back on the first plane back to London since there are crazy gangsters out here trying to kidnap me. And the natives, too!"

The driver looks completely helpless.

"Is that really all you know?"
spending a point of assess honesty here

He answers yes through his sobs. He seems to be telling the truth.

VV shrugs and gestures at Thomas. "Throw him in the back of the truck.
She looks at the driver. "You get in, too. And remember, he's dead if I'm not here to tend to him so don't try anything."

The driver climbs into the back of the truck with tears in his eyes.

"Unless we all want to cram into that cab. one of you is going to have to ride in the back with those two."

Thomas carefully places the unconscious buddy into the truck."

VV takes her place in the passenger seat.

you can fit in the cab together if you want to
maybe not comfortably but not too bad

"Who wants the bloody side?"

You notice that VV has already sat down on the bloody side.

And I'm driving, so you're still in the middle."

"Ah. You sure? Alright. Middle it is."

Thomas smells the iron from the blood and is reminded of Archi.
Archie even

I open the window into the back of the truck and call out. "Does this road go straight to the Seminole camp you were taking us too, or are there splits in the road?"

"Just keep straight," the driver responds with a quivering voice.

I shut the window again. "Okay. Do we want to keep going on to the camp, or do either of you have a better plan in mind."

I can // whoops
"I can kind of guide us based on the stars a bit, if you pick somewhere in particular."

"Well if Vernon is still alive, my money's on him having ended up at that camp too."

"That sounds pretty reasonable. Guess we can just keep straight then."

"All right, but it's not a good idea to just drive into the camp, you know. We shouldn't draw attention to ourselves."

"This truck is kind of noisy."
"We should just tell the army this camp has something to do with their missing people and let them handle it. Or the FBI, was it? You colonists all look the same."

"That may be a good idea. But I've got a hunch here, that this whole debacle is probably related to Hamlin's book and the Sasquatch photo he showed us.
If there is a book there, it may be hard to get it if we just let the National Guard march in."

"Wonder why Night-Seer would be in on this. Is is just him or are the other natives involved?" Thomas wonders out loud.

"They were talking about casinos, so it's probably just greed."

"I'm thinking we scout out the camp, see if we can get to the bottom of this, then report back to Eagleman and the National Guard. From there, they can handle however they want to mete out punishment for the abduction of their men."

"Just make sure they don't hear this loud truck we happen to be in."

"I'll cut the engine at the first sight of the encampment."
Saying that, I turn the keys and the truck rumbles to life, and continues down the swamp trail.

After a bit of a drive, a large lit-up area can be seen in the distance - probably illuminated by floodlights.

True to my word, I stop a distance from the light, and the rumble of the truck fades away.

"So, we'll give him the truck and let him take his friend to the hospital, yes?"
VV turns to the driver.
"You need to take him directly to the hospital. No stopping to talk to your mafia friends, yes? If he doesn't see a doctor in a medical facility immediately, he won't make it."

I sigh and nod. "It'll probably save his friend's life. I don't want someone to die unnecessarily here. We're going to need to get a nother method of escaping the camp though."

I climb out of the cab, removing the handcuffs from the man and handing him the keys, then storing the handcuffs.
"Thomas, help him get his friend back into the cab."

The driver looks eager to leave. "I understand! Thank you!"

"Good luck random guy."
Thomas scuttles out of the truck

He zooms off into the distance.

In a few hours, he will arrive at a hospital.
His friend is dead. He falls into despair and has no one else in the world. He takes his own life. RIP driver.

Meanwhile at the present time, the group is standing a bit away from the perimeter of the camp.

Staying to the brush and avoiding the light of the floodlights, I move closer to the camp to look at its layout.

It looks similar to the other camp in terms of the layout. In the background, however, is a large wooden structure towering above the others. It looks incomplete.
There are no guards around and the camp is completely quiet.
It is early in the morning but the sun will soon be coming up.

"If they offer us any stew, don't eat it."

"Ideally if we could find concrete evidence that the camp is in some way affiliated with the guard abductions, we could return with that proof to Eagleman.
"Aside from that, we should look out for Hamlin's book--if it's even here."

"Well, we should probably be about our business and leave as quickly as we can."

I move forwards into the camp, going amongst the tents, looking for any signs of a lock-up or secured area.

There do not seem to be any secured area. Everything looks fairly normal.
The only thing of note is the large wooden structure being erected.

I turn to the other two. "I can't see anything here that seems exceptional, aside from the wooden construction. We should look through it--but quickly. We still need to find keys and leave."

"That's probably the future casino."

VV shrugs.

"Hey that's my bit you can't do that."

I move towards the unfinished building, looking for a way in.

A large set of double doors awaits. They do not appear to be locked.

Thomas carefully opens the door.

Well really, it's more of a creek //cr ack of the door
Peeking inside to try and check for life signs even though it's who knows what time
ss

Inside the room, there does not appear to be anyone. The only piece of furniture in the room is a wooden chair. On the chair appears to be a book.

"Welp." Thomas opens the door further and slips in, heading towards the chair book combo platter.
Thomas tries to examine for traps.
OR anything else thjat might happen upon book removal

I stay at the door and arm myself.

>>61309
You fail to find any traps.

"So I'm probably going to just take this. Sound cool to you two?"

"This place seems fairly abandoned."

"I feel the word here is 'unfinished.' Just hurry up and take the book, O'Neil.

Thomas grabs that book and gives it a look over.
Basically trying to make sure it's like the other one.
Because who knows how many books there are in the world that you could use as replacment/distraction/bait

When Thomas picks up the book, it immediately bursts into flames.

Oh boy here we go

Is Thomas okay

I don't know, is he going to drop it to avoid getting burnt or is he going to withstand the flames?

Sure.
Thomas drops the book because he got spooked.
Also hot.

It burns away, turning into ash quickly on the floor.
The room suddenly fills with flames, but the team feels no heat emanating from them. From out of the flames steps a familiar face - the face of Art Popper.

"What."

also roll stability difficulty 4

#d6 (1)

#1d6+1 (4 + 1 = 5)

#d6 (4)
(Do we need to get greater than to dodge?)

thomas takes 1 stability damage
>>61346
nope you're good

"Wow I thought you died."

"Yes, your friend made sure I did." He rolls his neck around as if stretching it out. "But I got better." He looks angry.

"Well, we would've let you live but he was a loose cannon with nothing to lose I guess."
Thomas shrugs.

#d6 (3)
#d3 (3)
#d3 (3)
wow

"What were you doing inside a book? What's it like being not-quite-dead I think?"

He smiles. "I suppose you're all here to take another book from us?"

"If that bothers you so much, take it up with Hamlin, not us.
"He's the one who's so fascinated by them."

Thomas puts his hands on his hips. "That was the plan I guess. Kind of both surprised and not surprised your group is involved again."
"I gotta save archie"

"Yes, that's quite right. So where may we find it?"

He looks disgusted. "Archie is nothing. Hoover is nothing. It is Curtis that has all the power here. You lot are powerless."
You notice that he is speaking differently than he did the last time you met him.

"I take it you've seen some shit?"

The room is on fire, but nothing seems to be burning. Additionally, there is no smoke.
Popper sighs. "You're as annoying as ever. I'm going to end you all here." He reaches his hand into the fire and pulls out a large ball of fire.
"I hope you're ready."
#2d6 (3, 5 = 8)
He launches the ball of fire at VV.
(VV can dodge with athletics or fleeing"

"Wait, I'm not ready!"

#1d6+2 (5 + 2 = 7) fleeing dodge

The ball of fire flies past VV, missing completely. Popper 's arm is on fire and he stops moving for a moment.

Thomas breathes deeply and sticks his hand in his bag.
-1 prep
#d6+1 (1 + 1 = 2)

Training the gun on Popper's leg, I let off a shot.
#d6 (5)

VV looks for somewhere to hide!

Thomas reaches deeper into his bag, and finds a smoke bomb and a candy vial he'd been experimenting with.
However, he realizes, by spending 2 chemistry, that combining these could end up with his usual explosive goodness.

"Fufufu..." Thomas mixes that up.

#d6 (3)
Popper attempts to avoid the bullet but fails and is stuck in the leg. Blood sprays out in an exaggerated fashion as if his body contained so much blood that it could hardly contain it.

"This time, I won't miss."
-2 athletics to toss this shit

#d6+2 (4 + 2 = 6)

The improved explosive flies straight for Popper.
#d6 (4)
Popper attempts to block it with his arm but it explodes on impact, throwing Popper back into the wall of the room which mysteriously does not break.
When the smoke clears, he no longer appears to have a left arm or leg. He lies on the ground, floundering about in pain. He attempts to scream but fails to make a sound, his lungs filling with flames.

"Get some sleep, Popper."

(Is there any other path out of the room aside from the door we just came through?)

Thomas suppresses his desire to ask Felicity for a high five

>>61462
There is no other path out.

The fire all vanishes at once, leaving the dismembered remains of Popper.

A voice comes from behind the group. "Ah, you've ruined him! I can't put him back together now. What a shame." A /// An indian man with long, black hair down to his mid-back is standing behind the team wearing a robe clearly made of animal pelts and holding a peculiar book.

"Yes, we certainly popped the Popper-hey you have it wow."

Felicity, being a journalist, recognizes his face. The man is Charles Curtis, former Vice President of the United States.

"Mister Curtis, sir. I would say it's a pleasure, but it has been a long day , and a longer night, for us. I suppose it would be too much to ask for a magical tome and to send us home on our merry way."