In a cabin in the woods...

GM: Thistledown
Players: Melissa, Cedran, Thistledown.
Synopsis: Melissa and Cedran are called in to keep watch on the physical while Thistledown deals with a Spirit. Things go terribly wrong.
Date: November 10, 2069


The shadows are deep tonight, black pools of ichor that only the foolish would travel
lightly. Rumors of murder have bounty hunters running amok through the city, but business
continues. News of a job hits the wires and finds it's way to your ears. The meet is outside
the city proper, an old ski lodge high in the mountains where three foot of snow already
sits on the ground. Your fixer tells you the job is legit, and suggests you should make the
trip.

The lodge is alone on a small peak, accessible only by a 2 hour hike or about 20 minutes by
snowmobile or ATV. A parking area lower on the mountain provides a semi-secure place to
leave your vehicles.

Melissa had heard the news of the meet through her fixer as she had been sitting
around in her tiny apartment, reading an old fashioned magazine about hair as the call had
come through. She begins to prepare herself immediately after the news, heading to her
closet as she begins to rather lightly gear herself up for the work, grabbing one of her
oddly armored secure jackets constructed to resemble a rather plain hoodie as she grabs the
rest of her gear, layering each piece of gear on her body, one after the other. After her
short time of preparing, she simply pulls her initialized Morissey Alta from a corner of
her closet, grabbing two spare clips for the weapon as she tucks all of it behind herself at
her waistline and pulls the back of her hoodie down to help conceal it. She rather quickly
leaves her apartment, keys in hand, as she closes and locks the door behind her, quickly
walking down the stairs and heading to her dark green Honda 3220. She starts the car and
heads over to the destination; apparently planning to take the two hour hike to the location
as she doesn't have a vehicle for the terrain, and is too cheap to pay for a simple luxury
such as a service for one.

Credan has been loitering around the CAS sector of Denver for the past hour, having nothing
else to do except to sleep in a coffin motel. It wasn't long until he received the call from
his fixer, Dietrik. Their chat was brief, but with Credan low on credits, he's willing to do
pretty much anything.

Hailing a cab, he takes the ride out to the lodge. Having no interest in getting
caught with his fake SIN, he takes the long hike up.

The lodge is a small one room style log cabin roughly 12 meters square, a chimney poking out
the top of the sloped roof lets out a steady stream of white smoke. The cabin has two small
windows on opposite walls and a door in the front. The rear wall has no window. Parked
beside the building is a snowmobile with a helmet strapped to the seat.

Credan is cautious after seeing the footprints, making his journey up a tad bit slower.

During most of the two hour hike up the mountain, Melissa's hands had been down at
the sides of her pants, holding them up a bit as not to have the bottom of them drag along
the snow and dirt as she walks. Her hood had been pulled up over her ears in a rather poor
way to protect her head from the cold. It could be noticed from her tracks, that she had
taken a rather small break for some reason or another to look around, as her feet suddenly
veer off the course before returning on the way up to the lodge.

As she arrives at the lodge, Melissa's eyes immediately lock onto the snowmobile
that had been parked outside the building before she begins to look around the front of the
building quite a bit; mostly looking around the corners of the building as she slowly
approaches the door of the cabin, finally letting go of the sides of her pants to bring one
of her hands up on the door, knocking her fist against it rather hard to get the attention
of whoever is inside; her other hand moving up to the side of her head to pull her hood down
as not to seem as if she were trying to rob the place, considering her attire.

From within the cabin a cheerful voice pipes out, "Come in. Though don't keep the
door open long, it's hard enough keeping this place warm."

«OOC» Thistledown says, "If you have any survival, woodland, or camping skill please roll
vs TN4. If not please roll perception vs TN8"
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) rolls Intelligence vs TN 8 for " D:":
1 1 2 2 5 13 = 1 Success
«OOC» Melissa says, "+roll <skill/stat>/<TN>"
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Credan (#5117) rolls Intelligence vs TN 8:
1 4 5 11 = 1 Success
«Plot» Thistledown says, "The weather tonight promises to be rather fierce, the clouds

Melissa slowly lowers her hand down to the doorknob, twisting it as she pushes the
door open and peeps her head in before she begins to rather slowly step inside of the cabin,
letting out a rather small, "I'm here for th'thing." as she slides in, moving over slightly
to close the door behind her as ordered.
overhead look about ready to unload a fair bit of snow and the taste of frost is in the
air."

Thistledown is crouched by a cast iron stove/fireplace in the center of the room fiddling
with the fire inside. He looks over, "Are you? How wonderful!" He chuckles, "Come in and
warm up, try not to get too much snow inside." The inside of the cabin holds four futon
style sofa beds. The back wall has an enclosed bathroom on the left, and a utility sink on
the right. There doesn't appear to be any electricity service as the lights hung from the
rafters appears to be battery powered.

Looking at the sky with a grimace, Credan starts to quicken his pace, paying less
attention to the tracks and more on where he's going.

Finally arriving at the lodge, seeing the snow mobile as well as the tracks, slows
down and carefully makes his way to the front wall of the building.

Credan slowly makes his way around the building before heading to the door.
Fire and electrical light are visible through the windows voices can be heard inside but
they are heavily muffled.

Melissa repeatedly shifts her eyes around the room as she brings her hands up
in front of her, rubbing them together rather quickly for a short moment as she steps further
in and heads toward the man. She crouches down next to him, holding her hands out slightly
as she lets out a rather small, "Thanks, yeah." as she shifts her eyes to look him over,
"It's real cold out up here… What exactly'd you give out th'call for?"

Credan steps up to the door and makes three solid knocks.

Thistledown shifts adds another log from a fair sized stack near at hand, "Needed some
muscle, I was hired to do a little work out here but it can't be interrupted…" He looks
over at the door when it knocks, "…unlike me." He chuckles, looking up into the air above
him for a moment before calling out, "Come on in, be quick though, the draft is right
terrible."

Cracks open the door to get a brief glance inside before opening it wide, stepping
through and swiftly closing it behind him. "Sorry if I'm… Interrupting, but I heard
something was needing to be done." Credan says, his eyes shifting from Thistledown to
Melissa slowly.

Melissa continues to hold her hands in front of her as she watches the man throw the
extra log into the fire before Credan had begun knocking on the door. She rotates her upper
body just a bit as she turns her head to the side, shifting her eyes back to stare over at
the door and the man that emerges from it, holding a rather serious expression on her face
as she doesn't say a word.

Thistledown nods, "Come on in, get warmed up, we'll get acquainted once everyone is
defrosted." He stands up, heading over toward the back wall, fishing through a cabinet till
he comes up with a kettle and three tin cups, "I'll have cocoa ready in just a little bit."
He smiles cheerfully.

Credan grins, "And here I thought I barged in on a couple, by that killing glare the
lady has." he says before stepping forward, keeping a wary distance from both.

Melissa's attention shifts back toward Thistledown as she holds the serious
expression on her face, apparently ready to spring to work as soon as possible, though she
holds her spot crouched down in front of the fireplace, warming herself up from the two hour
hike as she remains silent.

Thistledown shakes his head, "No, I'm not that lucky." He places the kettle atop the stove
to heat. "My name is Thistledown, I've been hired to take care of some issues with the lodge
of a magical nature, you are here to make sure that I'm not interrupted while i do it."

"Oh? And by whom do you suppose that-" Credan pauses as he glances to Melissa, "We
protect you from?" he asks, looking straight at Thistledown.

Melissa very slowly lowers her hands down onto the floor as she brings herself to
stand up, shifting her eyes to look Thistledown up and down for a quick moment, "What sort
of people'd want t'interrupt you an' whatever it is you're doin', Mr.Thistledown?"

Thistledown smiles at Credan and Melissa, "I'll be arguing with a spirit, if it gets cranky
it might send some of it's mortal kin to mix things up. You'll be in charge of making sure
anything that tries to get into the lodge, doesn't."

Credan glances around the room, "Hopefully nothing that can squish the whole
place…" he says in a mock melancholy tone.

"By mortal kin… Like…" Melissa begins to say, pausing for a moment as she rather
slowly lowers her hands down into her over sized pockets, balling her hands into rather
loose fists as if she were trying to keep her hands warm as she stands up, "They can pretty
much flex out a bullet or somethin', can't they? Or you mean like, normal people?"

Thistledown shakes his head, "No, no. Nothing that bad, at worst I'd think a few of the
local critters, there's rumors it has a small cult following but I don't believe that's
accurate." He gestures, "It's not a particularly strong spirit, so it might have a few
metahumans it can call upon, but I doubt it."

Credan steps towards the window (if you we're facing the door it would be the right
side window), and lets out a soft 'Hmm'.

"As far as defenses… Only thing we've got is this place…" he says, mainly to
himself.

Credan rubs his chin, "Well, one of us could go on the rough, though they'd freeze
to death… Or mauled…"

Outside the window the snow has started falling, big flakes dusting down from above. The
windows are 1 meter squares of plexi-glass, hinged to open outward from the bottom to let
air in on nicer days.

"A'right." Melissa lets out to the man, "Where exactly'll they be coming from if
they were t'try t'come up tryin' t'start a problem? I mean, if you'd know that sort of thing
right off th'bat, an'…" She pauses for a moment, turning her attention over toward Credan
for a short moment before she looks back to Thistledown, backing herself up a bit as she
moves over to the wall, leaning her shoulder against the wall next to the fireplace as she
leaves her hands in her pockets, "How much we gettin' paid, exactly?"

Thistledown nods, "It's 10k for the day. I'll be starting work tomorrow morning at dawn, if
I'm not done by evening I strongly suggest you get on the snowbike outside and ride down the
mountain as fast as you can."

Credan's attention perks, "Sooo… Are we sleeping together… On a futon?" he says,
glancing over to Melissa before Thistledown, "'Cause, we just met, you know." he adds with a
grin.

Thistledown shrugs, "You'll have to buy me a better drink that cocoa, and I absolutely
require dinner and a movie." He points to the other futons. "Pick your roost."
Credan snaps his fingers, "Darn, and here I wanted to be the little spoon…"

Melissa turns her head to look back over to Credan; staring at the man as she holds
her position against the wall as she lets out a rather small, bland, possibly sarcastic,
"Y'funny." before she looks back at Thistledown. "A'right, I can dig it." she says to the
man, "I s'pose we should try t'make th'most out of all 'is before you get t'work, huh?"

Thistledown shrugs, "I plan on getting a bit of sleep after figguring out how to keep this
fire going, you two can do whatever it is you folks do."

Credan grins, "I don't know, I'm not use to doing it with others around."

You say "Suit yourself, though if you fall asleep on the job and we all end up dead I'll be
rather cross."

"Aww, don't get all butt hurt about it, if I fall asleep then I'll be dead from the
sound of things" Credan says, still grinning

Melissa nods very slightly toward the man as she moves her elbow to push herself off
of the wall beside her as she moves over to one of the futons, almost immediately lowering
herself to sit down on the mattress of it as she takes her hands from her pockets and rests
them down beside her thighs, apparently testing to see how soft it is for a moment before
she looks back over to Thistledown, "Oh~? Job's already started, huh? Figured it'd have been
whenever you started your thing t'morrow mornin', yeah. Speaking of… What time is it?"

Credan reaches into his pocket and pulls something out slightly before pocketing it again,
"Almost 11…"

Thistledown looks down at his poc-sec nodding in agreement to the time, "Until I get started
tomorrow the spirit won't even know we're here. So unless you guys left out bear bait we
shouldn't have much trouble." He gestures and a small imp materializes in the air, "I've got
a few watchers keeping an eye out, they get distracted easily but they should do for a basic
warning system."

Thistledown walks back over to the fireplace fiddling with the air flow and reaching in to
add another log to the fire which hisses as the new log is tossed in, as Thistle pulls his
hand back it catches on the rough log tearing his palm, a few drops of blood can be seen as
he winces rubbing his hand.

Credan looks over to Thistledown, "You alright?"

Melissa nods slightly as she rather quickly lifts herself to standing up, rather
slowly sliding one of her hands into one of the tiny pockets of her hoodie, grabbing a pack
of cigarettes and pulling it out as she turns herself and heads toward the enclosed bathroom
near the utility sink at the back wall. As Thistledown cuts his hand, she immediately stops
walking, looking over to Credan at first before she turns her attention over to Thistledown,
giving a very small, "Hmm?" as if she didn't realize what had just happened.

Thistledown rubs at his hand, "Hmm? Oh yeah, just not used to the outdoor life." He holds up
his hands which are well manicured, and pale white. "Just some splinters, I'll have it clear
in a moment." He pulls a small medkit from a satchel at his waist, and spends a few minutes
pulling small splinters and spines from his palm, tossing then into the fire.

Nodding his head, he steps away from the window and sits on the futon that's not
beside the one the lady was using. He shifts about before lying down, his legs hanging off
the side.

"Ah~" Melissa lets out as a rather small smile comes across her face as she nods
slightly toward the man. She turns her attention back toward the enclosed bathroom door as
she begins to walk back toward it, still holding the pack of cold cigarettes in her hand,
"Enjoy, yeah. I'm gonna go for a smoke." As she reaches the door, she pauses for a rather
short moment, lifting her free hand up onto the door before she turns her head to look back
toward the two men in the room, "Oh, name's uh… Melissa by th'way. Forgot t'give it when I
came in, or saw homeboy over there, yeah." she says, tilting her head slightly toward
Credan.

Credan raises his right arm up, giving Melissa a half-hearted two handed wave

Thistledown nods, "Good to meet you both, if you need anything just let me know, otherwise
I'm going to catch some sleep, big day tomorrow and all." He curls up still dressed on the
futon, pulling one of the blankets over himself after he finishes clearing his hand of
slivers. "Feel free to help yourself to anything you find, the lodge is provisioned pretty
well with the basics."

Melissa lets out a rather small laugh as she informs the man, "Planned on it, yeah."
She turns her head to look down at the knob of the bathroom door as she pushes it open and
slips in without opening the door widely at all; closing it behind her as she slips out of
view of everyone in the room. After a short moment, a disposable lighter can possibly be
heard repeatedly flicking until it comes to a rather abrupt stop; apparently, she had truly
gone into the bathroom to simply smoke without disturbing the others.
Letting out a sigh, Credan pulls himself completely onto the bed, pulling the
blanket over him as he lays on his side, facing the wall.
Thistledown drops off to sleep fairly quickly, one of his imps sitting on his shoulder
kicking it's feet slowly and twirling it's tail in it's hand as if bored.

After what seems like a rather long time in the bathroom, Melissa finally finishes
whatever it was that she was doing and leaves it, immediately moving to the sink as she
begins to wash her hands rather thoroughly. Very quietly, she giggles to herself before she
cuts the sink off and notices that the men had gone to bed before she essentially sneaks
over to the futon that she had sat on earlier, leaving her shoes on as she rotates herself
to lay her head down onto the bed and rest on her back, staring up at the ceiling; strangely
not feeling too uncomfortable from the feeling of her weapon beneath her.
<Secret Keeper Test>
«OOC» Thistledown says, "Give me an intelligence/4 please!"
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4:
1 1 2 3 3 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Credan (#5117) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4:
1 3 4 5 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) rolls Intelligence vs TN 4 for "When I go to the
mall… I act -pitiful-!":
1 1 3 5 5 11 = 3 Successes
It is cold, and dark when you awake. Very cold and very dark. The fire must have gone out at
some point during the night, your body barely moves and as you struggle to draw breath it
feels like knives are tearing at your throat and lungs. You know you should be cold but all
you can feel is a warm tingling sensation throughout your body. You can hear the others
drawing in rasping breaths or trying to which must be what awakened you.
<Place of Fear>
«Plot» Thistledown says, "ROll willpower vs 4D stun damage."
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Credan (#5117) rolls Willpower vs TN 4 for "resisting D stun":
1 2 2 3 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) rolls Willpower vs TN 4 for "Poorly resisting D stun!
; ;":
1 2 2 3 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) rolls Willpower - 1 vs TN 4 for "Poorly resisting D
stun! ; ; «KP: 1/14»":
2 5 9 11 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls Willpower + 2 (Karma Dice) vs TN 4 for
"Resisting D":
2 3 3 3 7 8 15 17 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls Willpower + 2 (Karma Dice) - 4 (Successes)
vs TN 4 for "Resisting D 1kp reroll, 4kp used today.":
4 4 4 5 = 4 Successes
«OOC» Thistledown says, "credan if you're not going to reroll then you're suffering from
severe hypothermia, give it a pose, your body is basically refusing to respond but you're
still "conscious""
«OOC» Credan says, "damn it… I wanna die…"
«OOC» Thistledown says, "If you want to die you can be dead…I'd still rather see you go
out with some drama."
Deep within Credan's mind…

"What…?"

"Why can't I move…?"

"Is this… a dream?"

"This feels to real…"

"Is this… The End?"

«OOC» Thistledown says, "Credan please be very sure you want your character to die (as
right now he's only unconscious) if you would prefer to let him die please note that in plot
for the log. Once a character dies…well he's dead Jim."
«Plot» Credan says, " I am allowing Credan to die."
«Plot» Thistledown says, "Noted. The character Credan will have died in his sleep from the
extreem cold. Credan your character will be marked as deceased and will not be able to be
played on the grid. You still have the option to utilize Hand of God to remove yourself from
the scene through miraculous events and survive to play another day. Please note in plot
that you are using or waiving this option."
You paged Melissa with 'Go ahead and pose.'.
«Plot» Credan says, "I am waiving this option"

Her eyes very narrowly opening as she wheezes quite a bit from hardly being able to
breathe, she rather slowly struggles to turn herself over to the side as she begins to cough
rather heavily. She essentially rolls out of bed, landing on her knees and both of her
forearms as she squeezes her eyes shut, her head tilted downward as she apparantly had made
a major mistake in going to sleep at the same time as everyone else instead of tending to
the fireplace.
Thistledown shivers awake pulling himself into a little ball under his far to thin cover, he
coughs a horrible rasping sound then whimpers. His eyes open wide but the room is pitch
black and so cold even his thermal sight barely registers, "H..h..hey. W..w..w..what
happened." His teeth click together as he tries to talk and his lips tear as they press
against each other then separate.
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 2 for "Mystery Dice!":
2 3
<Place of Battle>
Having been the foolish one that hadn't slept underneath her bedsheets, Melissa
continuously shivers from her new position on the ground, not really saying a word in
response to Thistledown's question as she very slowly slides herself into a ball and falls
onto her side, causing a loud thud to echo through the dark room as she continues her rather
loud wheezing.
Thistledown tears at the covers around him pulling them off the futon and wrapping them
around himself, he thrashes till he can get them loose then with the blankets bundling him
tries to stand, "'elissa!" he calls out, his lips unwilling to form the 'm' sound.
From the darkness the silibent s's echo back hauntingly, then re-echo as the hissing
sound continues to grow rather than fade it becomes quickly evident that you are not alone
in the room.

Melissa continues to shiver quite a bit from her new curled up position on her side
as she opens her eyes very slightly and shifts her eyes to look up toward the ceiling.
Rather slowly, she opens her mouth just a tiny bit before she coughs twice quite loudly
before she closes her mouth; as if she had been trying to call out to the man, though she
rather quickly gives up after her poor attempt at getting the man's attention.
A noise slices through the room, a crystaline crackle followed by a wet slosh. The sound of
a foot placed carelessly pressing through ice into slush and muck beneath.

Thistledown fumbles with numb fingers working to get the lighter in his pocket free
and then lit. Cursing and using both hands he manages to strike it.

As the wheel spins the sparks cast the tiniest bit of light, which reflects back
from something glittering on the bed where Credan laid down. On the next spin the sparks
catch the wick and the dim light reveals a pale blue wyrmlike creature lying atop Credan's
chest. The man's body is blue, rimed with frost, and as you watch the serpent lowers its
head, it's jaws opening with terrible casualness then closing on the throat of Credan. His
body so thoroughly frozen that his skin shatters rather than tears. The wyrms icy blue eyes
regard the shivering pair.
Not really noticing the wyrm in the room apparently feeding on her more recent
comrade, Melissa slowly opens her mouth a bit again, as she begins to quietly rasp out the
word, "G-guy…" before she begins to cough rather loudly again as she squeezes her eyes
shut like before. She doesn't really move her body very much as it is quite painful, though
she continuously shivers while she rests on the floor, her breathing quite labored and
wheezing heavily as if she were expecting Thistledown to find her with his very limited
visibility.
Thistledown backs away from the wyrm slowly, "Up.p.p.p" he stutters trying to free himself
of the blankets that just a moment before he was hugging to himself. "D.d.dead a
d.d.dragon." He reaches down to tug at the pile of blankets that is Melissa, one of the few
things still showing any signs of heat in the room. "H.h.h.elp."
Seemingly content to let the remaining two creatures in the room freeze to death slowly the
wyrm continues to eat, having crunched through Credan's throat eating it all the way back to
the spine, it doubles back on itself, still keeping it's piercing blue eyes on the flame
Thistledown holds it's rear legs scrabble for a moment on Credan's still form, his clothing
and armor shred quickly under the assault, then the skin of his stomach tears open still
slightly warm at the corn the torn open body steams as the warmth and moisture of the body
meets the chilling aura of the creature. The serpents head ducks down quickly taking large
mouthfuls at a time as though eager to consume it's grisly meal before all the warmth left
it. Splashs of blood quick freeze to the creatures maw and talons staining the serpent.

Very slowly, Melissa struggles through her shivering and rough breathing to shakily
move one of her arms out a bit, resting her fist down onto floor as she turns her body over
and moves back onto her forearms and knees. Very slowly, she pushes herself to stand up from
her position, grunting rather loudly before she begins to cough in a manner similar to
before as she slowly brings herself to stand up; her shoes still on from before as she
slouches forward quite a bit with her back facing Thistledown. She brings her hands over
just a bit, moving them to her upper arm as she continuously shivers without saying a word
to the man. Hearing the wyrm tear into the deadguy, she lets out a rather studdery, forced
out, "Th—… Th'f-f-f-uck wassat….?"
Thistledown points a badly shaking hand, "D.d.dragon…e.e.eating…h.h.him." Thistle drops
the last of the blankets to the floor freeing himself. He keeps moving slowly backwards now
tugging at Melissa, "B.b.back."

Melissa remains slouched over quite a bit as the man tugs at her; her body turning
quite a bit as her eyes shift to look at the man's hand before she rather slowly moves her
arms away from each other quite slowly, moving them in front of herself as she begins to very
slowly lower them quite a bit, moving them down to her sides as if she were getting ready to
try to reach behind herself for her weapon as she shakingly shuffles back with the man,
keeping her attention focused through the darkness over toward Credan.
The wyrms snout disappears into the cavity it has torn into Credan's body, forcing his ribs
upward with a wet crackle as it noses into his chest cavity pulling out his organs and
devouring them.
«OOC» Thistledown says, "Melissa give me a stealth roll"
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) rolls Stealth:
2 4 7 8 9
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 3 vs TN 9 for "Does critter notice the
danger?":
1 1 7 = 0 Successes
The serpent forces almost its entire head into what used to be the torso of Credan pulling
out his heart, it inspects it for a moment tilting it's head to look over the bit of muscle,
then it puts it's jaw near it, letting it frost over before biting the heart with a crunch
followed by a wet dripping.
Thistledown is feeling around behind him on the sink, "Lamp…there was a lamp." You can
hear a clatter of metal on glass as his hand hits it.
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls Stealth:
2 5
Credan has connected.
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 3 vs TN 5 for "Does the critter notice
Thistle?":
2 3 5 = 1 Success
The Wyrm's head snaps up, it's eyes fixed on Thistledown it's serpentine body coiling on the
bed preparing to leap.
«OOC» Thistledown says, "Init!"
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) rolls Initiative with a result of 21.
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls Initiative with a result of 8.
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 1 for "+5 for critter.":
4
«Plot» Thistledown says, "Init Mel 19 Critter 9 Thistle 8"
«OOC» Melissa says, "So I wants to shoots the thingything because I know it'll maul me. :O
What would the TN be? (I have a smartlink-II.)"
«OOC» Thistledown says, "You have catseyes?"
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) has the Bioware Cat's Eyes with the following
information:
-----> Bioware Item for Melissa (#10582) <-----
Item Name: Cat's Eyes
Grade: NORMAL
Body Index: 0.2
Installed: Yes


«OOC» Thistledown says, "Ok, so you're short range 4 + 2 for lighting - 2 for smart link +2 wounds.

6"

«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 6 vs TN 6 for "Shooting
the wyrm that eats Credan's body. 9M base damage(Morissey Alta). APDS ammo.":
1 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 5 8 8 9 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 6 - 2 vs TN 6 for
"Shooting the wyrm that eats Credan's body. 9M base damage(Morissey Alta). APDS ammo. «KP:
2/14»":
1 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 6 - 2 vs TN 6 for
"Shooting the wyrm that eats Credan's body. 9M base damage(Morissey Alta). APDS ammo. «KP:
4/14»":
1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 5 9 10 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Melissa (#10582) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 6 - 4 vs TN 6 for
"Shooting the wyrm that eats Credan's body. 9M base damage(Morissey Alta). APDS ammo. «KP:
7/14»":
1 1 2 3 3 4 5 5 8 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 6 vs TN 4 for "The serpent attempts to get
out of the way.":
2 2 3 3 5 5 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 4 (body) vs TN 9 for "Resisting 9M with 4
net successes.":
3 3 4 7 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 4 (body) vs TN 9 for "Resisting 9M with 4
net successes. It's 1 kp":
3 3 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 2 for "Mystery dice while waiting on the
dramatic pose!":
2 4
<PLACE OF SPIRITS>
Melissa's right hand finally reaches the handle of the weapon behind her; the
fabric of her hoodie and her shirts underneath having been moved to reach it. She grips the
weapon for a quick moment before she lets abruptly releases it for a quick moment before she
grips it again, holding it rather tight as she pushes it down quite forcefully through her
specially made holster; deactivating the safety and chambering a round on it's way out. She
rather slowly lifts it up in front of her; her hand shaking quite a bit from the cold.

As the creature notices Thistledown, she immediately lifts her hand in front of her,
pointing her shaky weapon toward the dead body and the wyrm as she simply squeezes the
trigger, ejecting the bullet and coughing quite loudly almost immediately as she bends her
elbow in a rather exaggerated motion to absorb the recoil as if she were firing a revolver
in a cowboy movie.

Blindsided by the shot the creature's head is shattered by the bullet, it's muzzle
falling down to rest in the hole it tore in Credan's body, it's blue ichor flowing down to
sizzle when it touches the remnants of his flesh. The serpentine body thrashes only once
before going still.
Thistledown manages to get the lantern lit, looking up his eyes glittering green as he scans
the room, able to see clearly for the first time he retches as his gaze lands on the
shredded body and shattered serpent.
Melissa narrows her eyes greatly as she inspects the damage to the creature before
she lowers her weapon down slightly and shifts her arm to press her forearm against her body
along with the other. Her hands and her weapon rest just above her elbows as she continues
to shiver quite a bit; her head rather slowly turning to look toward Thistledown and the
light that he had created in the room; her eyes practically squinting to see as they adjust
to the new light.
Thistledown manages to get his stomach under control as he looks up at Melissa, his eyes one
wide suddenly and his hair blazes bright green, "Down!" he shouts at her.

As the man shouts the word 'down', Melissa's eyes widen considerably as she quickly
drops herself down to the ground, practically falling onto her stomach as she turns her head
to look away from the man; her eyes frantically shifting as the effects of the cold are
still quite present.
As Melissa drops she can feel her hair freeze and a coating of ice form on the back of her
neck. In the air above her a blur appears in the orange light cast by the lantern, a
presence in the air so cold that it creates inverse heat waves as it distorts the air around
it.

Thistledown's eyes flare with lines of green power and his hair shimmers with glitter
though the effect is somewhat spoiled by the way his spiky hair is frozen into place with
half of it plastered to the side of his head. "I've va g.g.got it."
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls Conjuring vs TN 4 for "Banish it!":
1 2 4 5 5 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 4 vs TN 12 for "It resists!":
3 3 3 3 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls Conjuring vs TN 2 for "Finish him!":
1 1 2 4 10 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 2 vs TN 12 for "It resists!":
4 5 = 0 Successes
«OOC» Thistledown says, "you can pose a reaction, I'll be shattering it momentarily."
«OOC» Melissa nods.
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls 2 for "Mystery Dice once more!":
2 10
<PLACE OF KNOWLEDGE>
Melissa lifts one of her shivering left hand to the side of her headas she grips her
hair rather tight and squeezes her eyes shut as she feels the ice that coats the back of her
neck. She pulls her hair rather hard as if she were trying to shift her attention to
something else, though she stops rather quickly as she hears the man announce that he has
the situation. Her right hand, still carrying her weapon, moves out rather far from her body
as she holds her legs rather far apart from each other in her over sized pants; her knees bent
quite a bit from the cold as she makes an attempt to lie completely flat on the floor.
«Game» Backup to offline storage commencing. Game may freeze for a bit…
Huh? (Type "help" for help.)
The air around the elemental flickers with green light, the glitter falling from Thistledown
floating forward to match the ice crystals floating from the frost elemental. The air pulses
seeming to draw in upon itself then with an inaudible pop of pressure the frost elemental is
forced out of this realm. The chill it held to itself washing over the room in an wave of
winter wind.

Melissa rather noisily calls out to the man, "I-Issit… G-g-g-g-good now?!" as she
opens her eyes rather widely, not really moving her actively shivering body as she shifts
her eyes to look around herself quite a bit; only having limited vision from her position.
Thistledown goes down on his knees near Melissa, "Y.y.yeah. It's g.g.gone but we n.n.need to
get you warm." He pulls the blankets over closer to her, "W.w.what the h.h.hell happened?"
He moves towards the fireplace setting the latern on top of it an looking around.
As the lantern illuminates the room more you can see that a corner of the building appears
to have frozen and shattered, shards of wood lie on the floor around a jagged hole.

"J-j-just woke—…" Melissa begins to say as she brings her limbs back to her body
and slowly lifts herself to stand up. As she stands back up, she slouches over quite a bit
with her limbs pulled very close to her body as she turns her head very slightly and shifts
her eyes to look around; her eyes locking onto Credan's mutilated dead body as she winces
very slightly before she looks toward the fireplace. "J-just w-woke up, yeah…" she says to
the man as she begins to slowly shuffle forward toward the position of the room as the
jagged hole in the wall catches her attention, "T-there's a h-h-hole in th'w-wall, mate."
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls Intelligence + 2 vs TN 6 for "Resisting M
Physical":
1 2 2 3 4 4 9 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls Intelligence + 2 - 2 (successes) vs TN 6 for
"Resisting M Physical 1kp reroll":
2 2 2 3 4 7 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[thorn]» Thistledown (#9317) rolls Intelligence + 2 - 3 (successes) vs TN 6 for
"Resisting M Physical 2kp reroll":
2 2 2 3 4 = 0 Successes
Thistledown works on the fire slowly, his hands fumbling badly the flames curl around his
too slow moving fingers scorcing them he winces but keeps feeding the sticks into the fire,
"As s.s.soon as we're warm, w.w.we'll…" He looks over at the corpses.
«OOC» Melissa says, "Just a moment! :O"
«Plot» Thistledown says, "Thistle's Trauma dampner moves the light phys to light stun.
Thistle is at L stun, Melissa at M stun."
«Plot» Thistledown says, "Credan remains deceased."

Melissa's attention turns over to Thistledown's hands as he works on the fire; her
body still shivering quite a bit as her arms rather slowly loosen up and pull away from
herself. Quite slowly, she shifts one of her feet forward, bending her knees as she brings
herself to rest down with her knees raised infront of her as she essentially sits on her
heels and lowers her weapon down into her lap, resting on her thighs and against her stomach
before holding both of her hands out slightly to warm up by the fire, "W-we'll what…?"
Thistledown shakes his head slowly, "W.we'll deal with him…d.did y.you get his n.name?"
The fire begins to catch and as Thistle puts more wood on the fire it begins to blaze,
suddenly the wood catches the light and warmth on your face causing you to close your eyes
for a moment…

As your eyes open you find it is not the light and warmth of the fire that is on
your face but instead the warm bright light of a sunbeam. Melissa finds herself lying back
on the futon she fell asleep on, her weapon still in it's holster. Her body is sore, but she
does not feel cold. Thistle sits in front of the fireplace, his hand on the open cast iron
door his head bowed low talking quietly. The corner of the room that was destroyed only
moments ago is intact, as if it had never been touched, and Credan lies sleeping on the
futon opposite you his covers pulled up to his chin.

Melissa's upper body almost immediately rises from her futon as she brings one of
her knees up and leaves one of her hands behind her to rest on the bed. She rather quickly
shifts her eyes around as she begins to sweat quite a bit, breathing rather heavily before
she shifts them toward Thistledown, then to Credan before she shakes her head slightly and
brings one of her hands up to her head, rubbing down her forehead before she begins to wipe
it down her face as if it were her own special way of waking herself up. "Th'hell…?" she
rather loudly begins to ask Thistledown as if it were quite urgent, apparantly not
understanding that she had just had a weird dream or something similar before she stops
herself from speaking as not to disturb the sleeping man.
Thistledown looks over at Melissa, his eyes are red rimmed as though he'd been crying. He
then looks back down at the floor shaking his head slowly, "It wasn't a dream…" he offers,
his voice raw. "It wasn't a dream…it wasn't supposed to happen like that."

Melissa frowns quite a bit as she tilts her head downward slightly as she stares
over at the man. "What th'hell happened?" she rather bluntly asks the man as she holds
herself rather still as she sits up in her bed, "How come I'm not sittin' at th'fire place?
Why isn' th'wall all busted up? Why am… What am I doin' in this bed?" she asks in a rather
demanding voice as she moves her free hand down into one of her hoodie pockets, apparently
feeling around for the pack of cigarettes that she had on her from earlier that likely had
been crushed while she was sleeping or during the events that happened what seems to have
been a moment ago.
Thistledown continues looking at the floor, occasionally glancing into the fire, "That took
place in an astral realm, a place for mages, you weren't supposed to follow me there." He
looks into the fire, "The elemental, the creature of cold, it was what I was here to
destroy, in it's own realm so that it could never return. But you were supposed to stay
here, and watch me, not join me there…" He looks over at where Credan rests, unmoving.
"You weren't supposed to be there."
Melissa continues to stare at the man for a moment before she rotates her body a bit
and lowers her feet down onto the floor, leaving her blanket behind as she stands herself up
rather plainly. She shrugs her shoulders and narrows her eyes, apparently holding herself
from completely stretching for a moment as she takes a rather deep breath. "So…." she
rather quietly begins to say before she turns her head to stare over at Credan, holding the
frown on her face as she stares at him, "If it all happened like y'say, homeboy should have
all 'is guts hangin' out, yeah?"
Thistledown looks up at Melissa with his eyes red, then nods slowly. "Those that…those
that weren't eaten."

Melissa looks back toward Thistledown for a moment without saying a word before she
looks back over to Credan. After a rather short moment, she holds one of her hands out as
she leans herself over to the side, lifting one of her feet as she simply slips one of the
shoes that she had been wearing when she had fallen asleep off. She lifts it up to the side
of her head, simply lobbing it over toward Credan as he rests himself underneath the covers
as if she were expecting a response from him of somekind.
The shoe arcs through the air, thrown without force but accurately, on any other
morning it would have bounced on Credan's stomach waking him with a start. After last night
however the shoe has another effect, the sheet draped across Credan's body falls inward as
the weight of the shoe presses down on the cloth, dipping deeply, then slowly turning
crimson, the shoe slowly sinking on the cloth into the cavity torn into Credan's body, the
cloth absorbing the pooled blood.
Thistledown winces as the shoe lands with a damp sound on the corpse, then proceeds to sink
in nearly out of sight, he turns to look back into the fire. "Neither of you were ever
supposed to be there."

Melissa's eyes widen immediately as she notices her shoe essentially sink into the
man along with his bedsheet. Her mouth opens as her jaw literally drops before she turns her
attention over toward Thistledown, apparently completely caught by surprise that the man is
telling the truth as she begins to rather slowly sidestep her way to the man's bed to
retrieve her shoe. "How th'hell…?" she very quietly asks, possibly speaking to herself
before she shakes her head and speaks up, "Issat even possible?!"
Thistledown shakes his head slowly, "The spirits can transport us to the astral plane, what
happens there to your essence happens here to your body." He looks over at Credan, "But I've
never seen, I mean I've never even known anything like that to happen."
Melissa speeds her way to the man's body, turning her attention to her shoe as she
leans over quite a bit and quickly thrust her hand forward to grab it; speedily pulling it
back to her body as she holds it up a bit near her head and begins to back up a bit from the
man as if she were expecting to attack him if he were simply playing an over done prank on
her before she turns her attention to look at her shoe. She tilts it in her hand repeatedly,
examining it to check for any blood or anything like that before she looks back to
Thistledown, "It's done now, yeah? I uhh… I need m'money so I can jus' get th'hell away
from this place."
Thistledown nods slowly, pulling a credstick from his pocket and offering it to Melissa, "If
you tried to answer, I didn't hear…did you know his name?"

"Never seen buddy before in m'life." Melissa rather reluctantly says, giving an odd
answer to the man's question as she simply drops her shoe down onto the floor; the piece of
footwear falling down onto it's side before she moves her foot forward a bit, tilting it
over with her rainbow colored sock before she simply thrusts her foot down into it and
bends forward, pulling the tongue of the shoe up with her fingertips. She doesn't really
bother to tie her shoe, if one were to really pay attention, it could be noticed that she
doesn't seem to tie her shoes, so much as lace them to fit a specific way around her feet.
She moves her foot around a bit, stomping rather lightly for a short moment before she
rather speedily walks toward the man as he pulls out the credstick. She moves one of her
hands forward, gripping the credstick apparently with intentions of taking it away as she
says, "Thinkin' on it, buddy never really introduced himself before he went t'bed."
Thistledown nods slowly, "No, he didn't." He looks up, "You can take the snowmobile, I'll
have to, deal with this." He slowly closes the fireplace and stands up, "I apologize that
this was not the work you expected, it appears my employer underestimated the abilities of
the spirit we were targeting." He rubs at his eyes, "If you need anything, please let me
know."

"His share, yeah." Melissa says to the man as she shifts her eyes to look him up and
down; her hand moving up near her neck to slide the credstick into a rather odd, hidden
compartment of her hood that she likely had fashioned herself as her fingers have to
struggle quite a bit to fit the object into the compartment. "I mean, it's not like it's
gonna be any good for him when he's all… Out of it like he is, y'know?"
Thistledown nods slowly, reaching into his pocket and retrieving another stick, "That sounds
reasonable…" He offers the stick to Melissa, "I'd prefer if word of this not get spread
around, it doesn't make any of us look good."

Melissa lets out a rather small laugh as she moves her hand out to grab the
additional credstick that had been reserved for Credan, pulling it back toward herself as
she moves it back into one of the front pockets of her hoodie. "Won't say nothin'. Y'have my
word, yeah." she says with a very small laugh, possibly out of an odd habit considering that
there is a dead body in the room, and she had gone through what she had just now. She backs
away from the man, nodding very slightly toward him, "Thanks for th' 'mobile."
Thistledown smiles at Melissa, though it's bittersweet, "Just leave it in the lot, the
rental company will find it." He opens the fireplace adding another log, "Be careful."

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License