Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

Outside, Max could see what had to be Alix up ahead of him; a petite redhead dressed like a biker was headed to the east. In the direction the wave had come from.

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Kelly thought for a moment. "As far as I know, there have only been two since the Battle of the River: one fifteen years ago, and the second, well, you just felt it. There's a group of us, from the Ravenstone Academy, we call ourselves 'Red Squad,' just to sound important. But anyway, we found out a while back that the adults are keeping some major secret involving the valley inside the Chimney. We're not sure, but we don't think that the breach that happened during the Battle is actually sealed. That's why no one is allowed to kill in the city. If they do, bad things come out of the Chimney...The last time, at least one succubus was the result..."

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

Max ducked his head back inside. "Looks like she's headed east, same direction as the... wave, I guess, came from. Going to follow."

Unless stopped, that's exactly what he did.

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

"So you're telling me there's some sort of a H- HELLGATE beneath the south district!?"

James' Voice cracked, he'd never put much thought into what might have changed him and this wasn't a possibility he was prepared to hear.

What the hell does that make me? Do I even still have a soul?

"That spits out demons when somebody's killed and they let them re-build over top of the damn thing?"

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

Max saw two people coming out of the theater when he got back outside - the man from the end of the bar, and the girl with the robotic limbs, now seemingly functioning better.

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"Not the South District, the Chimney - y'know, that giant rock formation nobody's allowed to go near - in the East District." As they had reached the lot by this point, Kelly pointed to the rock formation clearly visible over the tops of the nearby buildings. "And no, as far as we know, it's only popped any kind of entity once; usually it's just Qliphotic energy. Michael says no one has ever been possessed by anything, if that's what you're worried about."

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

Scratching the back of his head absently while staring at the distant object James responded:

"R-right, the chimney... way to go Jim, can't even remember the local landmarks anymore."

After a slight pause turned towards Kelly and offered his hand.

"That's right, we haven't properly introduced ourselves yet. Though I'm afraid I need to maintain a certain level of anonymity, most people just call me Jim."

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

"Oh, right. I'm Kelly. Kelly Ryan. But you knew that already." After shaking his hand, she pointed to a squat utility box just behind the pub. "First stop. Guess we'll find out now just how bad this is..."

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

Max began following Alix, and before he got far from the pub, already seemed to be on some kind of alert.

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

"A pleasure to meet you miss Ryan."

"Heh, I guess it's more of a heckgate then but the succubi really don't try to eat or steal souls?"

Walking over to the box and prying it open James found...

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

Not far ahead Max noticed one of the high-school students from the upper level of the pub slumped against a utility box; or at least, he assumed she was a student, as she was wearing a short sleeveless vest in Ravenstone Academy colors.

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In the box, they found clear evidence of the effects of the EMP.

"Oh-kay...We got lucky. The cutoff worked like it was supposed to; replace this one relay right here, and this one should come back online...As for the other, I don't know much about succubi in general, but Desirae's pretty nice. Just...don't try to make out with her. That never ends well..."

Kelly suddenly clammed up and became very focused on the relay, as though she realized she was saying too much.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

Max slowed, trying to bring information from one of his old classes to mind. Something seemed off there. In the process of trying to identify what was off about the kid's condition, he managed to step on, and noisily break, a fallen branch.

'Ah, recent storms... That's right... Now, what is it about that girl's condition that pinged the radar?'

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

James examined the contents of the box as thoroughly as possible, attempting to discern what kind of monitoring? system it was.

If it's so benign, why's Shadeweaver spent the last how many years perched over it? And the no access too... well I think I've gotten as many answers on this topic as I'm going to.

Scanning the area around them, James turned his back to Kelly in order to see the results of the night's events.

"You've really kept a guy transformed into a teddy-bear locked in a glass case, just for robbing banks? I don't think I've any right to judge but- Don't forget the third board from the left, sucker's toast for sure -that's pretty harsh for a crime that typically involves relatively little violence. You don't get to top 10 by inflicting alot of collateral damage."

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

At the sound of the snap, Alix whirled around. A mixed look of anger and pain seemed to cross her face as she saw what had happened. She glanced over her shoulder toward the Chimney, then closed her eyes and sighed in defeat.

"You there! Help me get Yuki to the clinic. She's been using her powers when she shouldn't have - heat stroke. She's a cryokinetic; overheated..."

Alix began striding as quickly as her stilletto heels would allow toward the fallen student.

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"Uhhhmmm...he's in that cell, if that's what you want to call it, because he threatened to rape and kill everyone after I...kinda-sorta...accidentally turned him into that...If a way can be found to reverse it, he'll go to PRIMUS to be sent to prison. It just - the transformation seems to hyper-amplify aggression in the subjects..."

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

"Heat stroke. Great, knew something was off." Max picked up Yuki easily. His tone of voice shifted as he added to Yuki, "Hang on, we're getting you help."

Alix might pick up on the fact that he suddenly sounds like someone who's trained to handle medical emergencies. Max also seemed not to have any issues moving swiftly in the direction of the clinic, even with the weight.

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

As soon as she saw that, Alix said, "I'll go on ahead and make sure someone's there to receive." Then, with a sudden crack, she was gone; there seemed to be a bolt of lightning racing along an overhead power line in the direction of the clinic.

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

"Well, that's a pretty good reason I guess."

Turning back around having seen nothing of interest, James propped the rifle on the side of the relay for easy access and began to help with the repairs.

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

Repairing the node went quickly enough. The servos in Kelly's arm whirred softly as her wrist turned.

"ARTEMIS - report sensor status."

The computer's processed voice replied, "West District, 98%. South District, 97%. North District, 48%. Central District, 71%. East District - ERROR - information restricted."

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

"Seems like the northern district was hit worst, south and west are negligible. Normally I'd suggest dividing the easy stuff then going after big ones together but I don't think now's the time to be splitting up, not without some experienced escorts at least. It's your network though, so where to next?"

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

Max made his way over to the clinic as fast as he could, carrying Yuki. If no one was there to get the door, he'd shift how he was carrying her in order to get inside.

As soon as he was inside, or earlier if someone was there to greet him, his tone was all paramedic as he found a spot to lay her down at. "She needs cold towels, ice bags, or cold water sprayed. Get the AC on if you can."

 

[[Sc8]Hardware]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

Kelly seemed uncertain. "Uh, why is...it shouldn't...ARTEMIS, override lockout. Access East District status."

"ERROR - information restricted. Delta-Blue clearance level required."

"But who locked it out?!"

"ERROR - information restricted. Delta-Blue clearance level required."

She seemed shocked. "What is going on in there?!" A sigh. "We're not going to get anything more that way. We should go toward the Academy...I'm kinda worried about what's going on there..."

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Alix just pointed toward a side room. "Special cooler, specifically for cases like this."

 

[super_slicer]

Re: Ark City, Central District, Broken Shillelagh Public House/Old Town Theater

"Sure."

James picked up his rifle and scanned the horizon, looking to see if thepower was on ANYWHERE in the city.

"Don't suppose you've got any transportation though?"