21:31 <Crion> 301 Locust Drive, Catonsville, Maryland. Property owned by Timur & Tamerlane Holdings Ltd and rented, at this current moment in time, to the Franklin family...if that's who they really are. For all you know, this home in the sleepy Baltimore suburb that also houses the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (unwillingly) stands empty at the moment -- abandoned in a rush by an ancient yet 21:31 <Crion> terrified wizard you got the better of in his hubris during some kind of magickal trap/experiment in the basement of the Baltimore County courthouse. 21:31 <Crion> Or it's inhabited by an ancient and powerful wizard who knows you're coming and has now had some 12 hours to prepare. 21:34 <banana> Really, why are we going there at all at this point? 21:34 <banana> Wait, it's because we don't have a lot of leads on the Freehold's attackers and some powerful allies have decided to act as backup. This is fine. It's just not.. quite the chase-and-corner situation Melanie was hoping for twelve hours ago. That was naive. 21:34 <Crion> To that end, you've recruited some allies -- as you descend on Catonsville, you're riding with (figuratively or literally, depending on your arrangements) the goodly wizards Union and Jesuit. Jesuit is dressed in a white tracksuit; Union in his normal punkish dockworker's union outfit; Jesuit appears unarmed, while Union fiddles with some generic nine millimeter pistol. 21:34 <Crion> Speaking of allies, did you phone Benjamin Best this morning? 21:35 <VoxPVoxD> The drive feels so much longer than it is. 21:43 <VoxPVoxD> The willworkers are probably in their own car, unless they're in Ben's truck. Stewart's car's pretty full with the motley. 21:43 <Crion> If you did, he'll meet you there with his truck. He'll have parked a full block over. 21:44 <VoxPVoxD> Nice. The more people here, the better. 21:45 <trenchfoot> We could certainly use the assistance. 21:46 <Crion> Speaking of -- did Tony drive himself? And is he still driving that pile of shit from his Winter initiation? 21:48 <banana> Melanie, hunched over in one of Stewart's back seats: "What is Gemma's mother?" 21:48 <CBN> Tony's been riding with Stewart on these errands of late, and would happily pile into that---if there's no room, he would still be driving that pile of shit from his Winter initiation, with the one-ish working door. 21:48 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Iiii dunno. A willworker, if I had to guess." 21:49 <banana> "I don't think it's just that. The weird multiple fetches, the collusion-or-conflict with the Keeper.. something's wrong here." 21:50 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah..." 21:51 <banana> "I don't wanna assume the creature from the High House will be involved - you know how expectaitons become reality et cetera - but we're not going to really resolve this until we know what manner of being is after us." 21:51 <banana> "Maybe the royalty already do." 21:52 <CBN> Tony: "Fuckin', wizard stuff, man." 21:55 <Crion> Well, wherever you park, and whichever car Tony is in, someone will startle you moments after turning the engine up by tap-tap-tapping the barrel of a handgun against the window. Wearing a hoodie and jeans, it's the practiced-bored Sun Banisher of the Winter Court, the Wizened Helldiver named Spring. She motions for Stewart to roll down his window once she's got his attention. 21:55 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart jumps a bit, but the window slides down. 21:56 <Crion> "Yo. Hey Tone. Sorry about bailing." 21:56 <CBN> Tony: "Oh shit! Happy you're alive at least." 21:56 <Crion> Spring: "Guessing the Pope and the poop in the white Cadillac back there are with you." 21:57 <CBN> s 21:57 <CBN> Tony: "Yeah we've got uhh kind of a crew today for this. May as well go big?" 21:57 <Crion> In the rearview mirror, you can see Jesuit and Union doing variously good jobs hiding their amusement. 21:57 <CBN> Tony: "Hopefully we don't all get trapped in a basement eternity this time! Heh." 21:58 <Crion> Spring: "...Yeah, that'd suck." 21:59 <CBN> Tony: "We've probably all got questions for you later, but right now, who else've you got here?" 21:59 <Crion> "You can tell that weirdo in the truck it doesn't really matter where he parks so he should just come on up. They know we're coming. Place is locked down tight, but you can see movement behind the curtains in there from time to time." 22:00 <banana> Melanie was in fact just about to ask a question. 22:00 <banana> Actually, she still will. "Um, the Franklins. What do you know that we might not?" 22:03 <Crion> Spring, matter-of-factly: "Gemma Franklin's got two of my friends' bodies on her and I'm gonna send her to Hell." 22:03 <Crion> "Other than that, I dunno. Her 'mom' in there is a wizard, probably her handler. Her fetch is running around." 22:05 <trenchfoot> Nels: "That's--" What do you even say to that? 22:06 <Crion> To Tony: "Canterbury got shot. He's fine but he's off the mission; Cider Stitch is dogshit at the whole guns and fighting thing, so he's taken Cant to the hospital. Since Jameson and Jordan are...you know. It's just me and the boss here." 22:06 <banana> ... 22:07 <dammitwho> Maggie: "Ahhhhh... geez." 22:07 <Crion> Without affect: "Turned out all along that the mole in the Winter Court was the friends we made along the way." 22:10 <CBN> Tony just blinks a few times. "Well. Happy to have you here and alive, for what it's worth." 22:10 <banana> Doesn't seem worth continuing to sit in the car; Melanie gets out. 22:11 <banana> "Peter what's his name, both the fetches.. they've *all* been compromised by the wizards, or coerced? The Seers might not care but they're painting a target on themselves for the.. former Keeper." 22:12 <CBN> Tony piles out as well, looking up and down the street as he circles back to the trunk to get his shotgun. Quiet suburb or no, it's not really one of those 'just immediately draw your gun first' kinda situations. Yet. 22:12 <Crion> "Thanks. It's overrated." She'll step away from the car to let Melanie out without getting in her personal space. "Boss is in the sideyard, trying to figure out how to best enter." She's slipped the handgun into the pockets of her hoodie as an older woman walking an enthusiastic dog walks by, glaring at (to her eyes) this gaggle of college students. 22:12 <Crion> And...their weird aunt and uncle? Who knows what she makes of Maggie and Tony. 22:13 <VoxPVoxD> They're going to buy us all beer. 22:13 <Crion> Spring: "Keep your weapons discreet. Don't want them calling the cops until the shooting starts." Glancing at Tony. "Nice shotgun." 22:14 <dammitwho> Maggie waves cheerfully to the woman and, to be honest, more to her dog. 22:14 <Crion> Jesuit and Union have gotten out of their car and are smoking together, exchanging a quiet word on occasion, staring at the house. Ben Best, wearing spectacles and a winter coat, is walking up to them to make small-talk after nodding in their direction. 22:15 <trenchfoot> Nels will smile politely at her and try to calm her nerves about what they are about to walk into. It doesn't really work. 22:16 <CBN> Tony: "Thanks! Mostly made it myself." Tony makes a mental note to use the internet search browser to look up how people hide these things in public, later. 22:17 <banana> If you have a shotgun in public, isn't it so that you don't have to answer questions? 22:18 <Crion> There's almost a dozen of you and at least one of you is having difficulty concealing a longarm -- Ben helps out here, taking it from Tony (with his permission, though he asks quite quickly) and hiding it under his coat -- so the wizards at least are going to head over to the sideyard. The rest of you might want to make final-ish preparations. 22:21 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's the last to get out of the car, and the sudden chill makes him shiver. He's not really sure what's about to happen, but whatever it is, it'll probably happen fast. 22:24 <banana> Melanie didn't have much luck harvesting anger yesterday.. but it only takes a little. Her preparations consist of leaning back and forth in place, making motions and *nearly* the right noises for someone cracking their back and joints; her bark, if you can see it, goes from feathery to sharp-edged, heartwood grows shadows, fingers become thorned. 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> So is this it? Do we just... go? Stewart looks from the motley down to the sideyard. 22:31 <Crion> 'Matt' is in the sideyard, wearing a turtleneck, gloves, and an MP5S on a side-sling -- Stewart probably knows it better from Counterstrike than Gerald. He'll grimace at Spring then grimace and nod at the rest of you. "Hi." His Mask opens and closes its mouth. Then: "Not precisely the regency I wanted." 22:32 <Crion> Jesuit: "King Winter." 22:32 <Crion> No Name/Face: "Hierophant." 22:34 <Crion> Instead of a weapon, Jesuit holds...a wooden crucifix. 22:36 <CBN> Tony, drinking from a bottle of water to wash the taste of the dirt clod he just ate out of his mouth as they approach the sideyard seeing the Winter King, he less 'lights up' and more 'feels better about the grim death march a little.' He expresses this with a nod that goes into kind of an awkward half-bow. 22:37 <trenchfoot> A crucifix. 22:38 <CBN> Tony spots Jesuit's...sidearm? "Wait shit, are there vampires too at this?" 22:40 <Crion> Jesuit raises an eyebrow, then sees what he's looking at. "Hah. Oh, no. This isn't for vampires. In fact, the vampires of Baltimore have a certain fondness for these." 22:43 <trenchfoot> Nels raises an eyebrow, but doesn't comment. 22:43 <Crion> No Name/Face to Jesuit, gesturing at the building: "Take a look in there. Tell me what you see. I've got a theory." 22:46 <Crion> Jesuit looks -- and stiffens. "Those...are spirits?" 22:46 <banana> Melanie sticks close to the motley; there's more she wants to ask of Spring but she knows she can't do it without giving offence. The reigning King is here (..so why are the others in his hollow? but set that aside,) and Jesuit's clearly the kind of wizard who's done this kind of thing before. They're likely going to be assigned some kind of subtask, a role in the assault. 22:46 <Crion> Ben Best stirs. 22:46 <Crion> Jesuit: "But they have bodies. And there's something deeply wrong with them. Something artifical. What hideous blasphemy is this?" 22:46 <Crion> "Six of them." 22:47 <Crion> No Name/Face: "I think they're what's been running around pretending to be us." 22:48 <banana> "After Tony and Maggie, they imitated Jameson and Jordan. The elder Franklin seems to control them." 22:49 <Crion> Jesuit: "Controls them, perhaps, but Anathema can't possibly be talented enough to have made them." He sighs. "Or perhaps she can have. Certainly Gary wasn't what we thought he was." 22:52 <Crion> No Name/Face, to the motley: "Here's what I propose. Myself, Spring, Union, and Ben -- hey Ben -- go in through the garage. You and Jesuit, you take the back door. Now in addition to whatever these spirit-things are, there might be a couple fetches, a traitor changeling, and two powerful wizards in there. So stuff can go bad." 22:55 <CBN> Tony nods: "You got it." 22:59 <banana> 'A' traitor? Have they cleared Peter, or..? 23:04 <Crion> Jesuit will put out his cigarette and glance to the motley. "You should go in first. I've got some juice if we need it, but I'd rather save it." 23:05 <banana> "We'll knock first. Not literally knock, I mean.." Melanie guesses emotion's easier to obtain than whatever wizards feed on. 23:05 <trenchfoot> Sensible enough. Um. Nels will look to Tony, Maggie, and Melanie for someone to take point, because it sure isn't going to be her. 23:12 <Crion> Here's a funny thing about the backdoor: it's locked, yes, but it has a hole drilled through both the door and the wall next to it, a long length of chain passed through both, and two padlocks holding it together. 23:12 <Crion> Someone is aware of your tricks, and is being spiteful. 23:13 <trenchfoot> Rude. 23:52 <dammitwho> Maggie takes a deep breath and charges into the wall beside the door! Nuts to this padlock nonsense! There's a loud KOODGE and the house rattles, cracks spreading where she impacted against the exterior. 23:54 <banana> Melanie's standing back, closer to the fence. Behind her, unnoticed, it crumbles to splinters and rot. Things happen underground, a transfiguration of root systems to fungus, and the rot spreads to the house. Cracking brick comes apart entirely, half the wall collapsing as the floorboards surge upward to pull it apart. 00:00 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's in after the actual fighters, gun drawn, practically bouncing on his feet. What do the things inside look like? 00:00 <Crion> ...There's no furniture in this house. That's maybe concerning. Might make for a cleaner fight, though. 00:01 <Crion> As for the dolls, well, they're featureless grey slates. They're sort of like mannequins, but they move more fluidly, and weirder. They've got a singular, roiling eye. 00:03 <VoxPVoxD> Then when Stewart's shots sink bloodlessly into their center mass, he doesn't flinch. Shooting a for-real gun into animate dummies has all the contrived unreality of a password post-it on the corner of a secure terminal. 00:04 <trenchfoot> Nels registers mild alarm about the lack of furniture shortly before having that entirely overwritten by a panicked search for targets -- and finding them, begins trying to herd them into the path of the heaviest hitter. She hits a few, she occasionally misses wide - always angled down - but always getting them more clustered up. 00:04 <Crion> ...Ballistic dummies. Stewart's watched those History channel shows where they test out old weapons or tell neckbeards to make swords, then fuck up a bunch of ballistic dummies? 00:04 <Crion> They're like that. 00:04 <Crion> Except they hit back. And scream. 00:04 <VoxPVoxD> Aesthetics. 00:04 <CBN> While people are kickin' walls, doing tree stuff, and firing wildly, Tony's taking aim. Two barrels, make the first one count and you won't need the second. These things are hollow, shallow reflections of a person, empty vessels, ready to discard after use. Tony's first shot knocks them down like beer cans. He doesn't need a second. 00:05 <banana> Melanie's form sinks deeper into shadow as she becomes stiller - or at least the part of her that stands upright and humanoid is still. Thorned roots surge around the others as they bust inside, deftly avoiding tripping anyone but the puppets (who get worse than tripped). 00:06 <Crion> Jesuit strides through the breach, unmoved by the weird nature of the dolls. He holds up the crucifix, crosses himself, and says, "Dominus vobiscum" as each falls. One, missing half its side from Tony's blast, takes a swing at him while he gives rites to another; he blocks with crucifix and then does the same to it. 00:08 <VoxPVoxD> Do you hear the lion roar... 00:09 <Crion> From the other side of the house, shouting and gunfire. Union: "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!" Ben: "Abomination. Cut the thread of a halved life." UNION: "WHAT?" Ben: "Shoot it, dipshit." 00:12 <Crion> Then there's return fire and more shouting. "HANDS! HANDS!" yells No Name/Face. In response, a woman laughs, deranged. Something's happening in the kitchen. 00:16 <CBN> Tony, over his shoulder to the rest of the group: "That way?" 00:16 <banana> Melanie stirs from the back fence and trudges toward the breach and the shouting inside. 00:18 <Crion> When you arrive in the kitchen, Gemma Franklin's fetch has her back to the sink, an arm wrapped around Gemma's throat and a pistol pressed to the side of her head. "Promises made, promises kept. I'm not going to die here today. I'll endure. But you all..." 00:19 <banana> Has Spring made it inside yet? 00:19 <Crion> "You get to watch your precious little traitor Gemma d--" Gemma Franklin's chest shudders just before you hear the gunshot. 00:19 <Crion> Yes, Spring has. 00:21 <Crion> Gemma Franklin's fetch looks down at the body sagging in her arms as Spring moves her weapon to the fetch's forehead. "Well. That's no fun." 00:24 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's brow furrows. 00:24 <trenchfoot> Oh. 00:26 <banana> Jesus Christ, we're never going to know now. It's all been a total failure. Melanie steps slowly into the room, long-preceded by roots; she might be too far back for anyone to notice how upset she looks. 00:26 <Crion> The fetch hefts her up again to try and block the shot. "I win, then. I made you kill your--" 00:27 <Crion> Gemma Franklin, bleeding and blue, takes the butcher's knife from the knife block next to the sink and drives it up through her fetch's eye. 00:28 <VoxPVoxD> There it is. 00:28 <banana> ????? 00:28 <trenchfoot> What. 00:28 <VoxPVoxD> Hard-hearted two ways. 00:29 <Crion> The fetch screams and falls back, trying to bring the gun to bear; No Name/Face pushes down Spring's gun arm. Expressionless, Gemma pats the gun away, then stabs, and stabs, and stabs, and stabs. The fetch gurgles and falls, dropping the handgun, and Gemma kicks it off to the corner before reaching down, pulling her hair back, and-- 00:30 <Crion> It's mostly blocked by the island in the middle of the kitchen. When she's done, the fetch's head is still technically attached to its body. 00:30 <banana> A trick? And.. a test? Prove you're not a traitor? To.. Spring? is it appropriate to feel some degree of hope here 00:30 <Crion> Gemma tosses the knife away and collapses against the countertop, bleeding profusely from her chest. 00:32 <banana> Strips of flesh from the injuring party, ready to hand. "I'll heal her now." 00:32 <Crion> Gemma Franklin -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB_S2qFh5lU Fool me once; fool me twice. Are you death or paradise? 00:32 <CBN> Tony wheels around to check the rest of the room, any additional entry points to the kitchen, at least get his shotgun pointed in that direction in case anything else pops up in this brief moment of catching breaths. 00:33 <VoxPVoxD> Huh. 00:34 <Crion> Jesuit walks in from the other door where Spring, Union and the rest came from. Mildly: "I've dealt with the others." 00:35 <Crion> "The other dolls, that is." 00:35 <Crion> "No sign of Anathema or Gary yet, but...this house has a basement." 00:36 <banana> Melanie's emerged from shadow, the wall-breaking roots are gone, and she looks mostly like a normal person bending over Gemma to bind her wounds. It's less normal to be binding them with strips of the fetch's bloody quasi-flesh, but contracts have a price. 00:36 <Crion> Union: "Let me look for them--" 00:37 <banana> She's determined that at least one of the young people they thought they rescued from Pwhoever's cabal will be recoverable. Ideally the one she actually likes. Also keeping an eye on Spring's reaction to this whole thing, but 'Matt' is probably ahead of it... 00:38 <Crion> Union's head snaps up, looking through the ceiling into somewhere upstairs. "What the fuck is that." 00:39 <Crion> "Two people upstairs but something's..." 00:39 <Crion> Union draws his gun again. "They're changelings. Come on." 00:40 <CBN> Tony's ready to follow close behind. 00:40 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart is too, with a last look at Melanie and Gemma. 00:41 <banana> Melanie: "I'll be a few minutes here. Good luck, everyone." 00:41 <trenchfoot> Nels hesitates, but eventually nods to Melanie and follows after the others. 00:42 <dammitwho> Maggie's worried about leaving Melanie alone, but she's actually really strong, so it's probably fine? 00:42 <Crion> Union is the first one up; he opens the door to the master bedroom, recoils, and waves everyone back, closing the door. "You don't want to see it." 00:42 <Crion> No Name/Face: "We definitely want to see it." 00:43 <Crion> Union glances at Jesuit, who is tight-lipped, but nods. "Don't say I didn't warn you. And don't touch anything." 00:43 <trenchfoot> Hmm. No, Nels probably does not want to see it. 00:43 <Crion> Then he steps aside. 00:44 <dammitwho> Hm. No thanks. 00:44 <CBN> Tony sighs and steels himself against whatever it is. He's probably (hopefully?) seen worse. So he looks. 00:45 <Crion> Instead of bedroom furniture, inside are two gurneys of the sort you'd see in lethal injection executions -- the sort with the arms splayed out -- covered in examination room paper and surrounded by clusters of IVs, drips, and other monitors. And lying on the paper, soaking it in blood, are two bodies, one large, one slight, both of which have been flayed alive. 00:47 <Crion> Literally alive. Jordan Kit and Jameson yet live some sort of life, surrounded by rings of strange shapes carved into the floorboards, but they have no more skin. They don't appear to be physically restrained. They're blindfolded, perhaps to protect their eyes. An odd trinket sits bloody on their foreheads. 00:47 <Crion> Ben, muttering: "So that's how he fucking did it." 00:47 <Crion> Union, to Jesuit: "I need Everafter." 00:48 <Crion> The Hierophant nods and takes out his phone. 00:50 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart stares at the bodies impassively. 00:51 <CBN> Tony's voice quavers: "Can we help them?" He tries not to glance at Ben: "To get better, I mean?" 00:51 <Crion> Union to the rest of the changelings: "I didn't see anyone else in house. Not even in the basement. You might want to check it out." 00:51 <Crion> Union, to Tony: "I can fix their bodies." 00:51 <Crion> "...It's not their bodies I'm worried about." 00:52 <Crion> Ben's heading down to the basement already. For the moment, he doesn't have any jokes. 00:53 <trenchfoot> Nels didn't look, and won't even as she heads back down. It already sounds awful and they haven't even described anything. 00:54 <dammitwho> Maggie's turned about, not willing to hear anything that might actually put shape the vague cloud of horror in the other room. She's willing to put a rusty metal fist in somebody's face as a distraction. 00:56 <banana> When someone comes back through the kitchen, Melanie's sitting on the countertop against which she's propped the (unconscious, physically unharmed) Gemma. "Did you find anything? Leads on where the wizards went?" 00:56 <trenchfoot> "Don't go upstairs," is all Nels says. 00:56 <CBN> Tony closes his eyes and, for those seeing his mask, he's pinching the bridge of his nose. For those who can see through it, he's trying to redefine his facial features, made of crumbling soil such as they are. Force of nervous habit. "Can any of you who can scan, wizard-whatever, things here. Is there anything here of Gary or Anathema's? Strand of hair. Anything like that. I can't see it around everything else, but I need it if there is." 00:57 <Crion> Ben shakes his head and sighs, staring at Gemma a bit longer before opening the door to the basement. 01:01 <banana> To Nels: "Alright. The other thing we hope to find out here is why they're attacking us, what they want - it could be something that can be used against them, or which we can render beyond their use. These leavings of theirs aren't a direct threat, but the Seers themselves..." 01:04 <trenchfoot> Nels: "I don't - know. We're about to check the basement." She's trying very hard not to think about "I can fix their bodies - it's not their bodies I'm worried about." 01:04 <Crion> Union, to Tony: "Bathroom. Shower drain. Long blode hair. Anathema." 01:04 <trenchfoot> "Ask Tony or Stewart or the mages when they come down." 01:05 <CBN> Tony nods to Union and heads for the bathroom shower drain. He only needs a strand for this. 01:06 <Crion> When the motley follows Ben into the basement, they'll find him sitting on the bottom stair, contemplating the wide, empty foundation...and the giant door built into the wall across from him. 01:06 <banana> Melanie: "Okay. You okay?" 01:06 <Crion> The door doesn't go anywhere, really. It opens up to the stone of the wall, six inches back. But it's technically a door. 01:06 <Crion> Which means it's technically a portal. 01:07 <Crion> Ben: "Not particularly." 01:07 <Crion> "Better than the guys upstairs." 01:07 <trenchfoot> Nels: "No. Not really." 01:07 <Crion> Oh right they're up in the kitchen. 01:08 <banana> Melanie will give Nels a countertop side-hug. This thing probably doesn't need all of us on high alert anymore. 01:08 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's totally silent as he descends to the basement. The gun hangs loosely enough in his hand that it looks like it could slip and fall from his fingers. 01:09 <trenchfoot> Nels will return it, but then - we do need to get to the basement... They can probably shout if it's necessary. 01:10 <banana> I mean, Melanie's not just leaving Gemma here... well, she'll carry her for a bit. Doesn't weigh much. 01:10 <Crion> Ben, staring at the portal: "He's gonna be waiting on the other side." 01:10 <Crion> "With all his bullshit." 01:10 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yep." 01:10 <Crion> Gemma: "Please don't, Melanie." 01:11 <Crion> "I just want to sit here for awhile." 01:11 <banana> She's awake?! 01:11 <CBN> Tony meets everyone in the basement, shotgun held by the barrel in one hand, the other hand clenched around...something? "Door?" He's addressing the door as much as he is Ben and Stewart. 01:11 <Crion> She hasn't opened her eyes. 01:11 <Crion> But it seems so. 01:11 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Gary-door." 01:12 <VoxPVoxD> Where are Spring and Winter? 01:12 <Crion> Unless someone's moved it, her fetch's body is still right there. 01:12 <Crion> They're still up with Kit and Jameson. Someone's going to have to manage the cops, after all. 01:12 <banana> "Alright; yell if you need help, which you probably don't." Plenty of time for apologies later. 01:12 <Crion> "Yeah," says Gemma. "Yeah." 01:13 <banana> Down in the basement: "How do we work out whether it's a deathtrap..." 01:13 <dammitwho> Maggie will at least drag her fetch's body into another room or something. Or has it dissipated into old leaves and yarn yet? 01:13 <Crion> Ben: "Ha ha." 01:13 <banana> "I mean whether it'd work. Whose death is achieved." 01:13 <Crion> It's in the process. Kind of gruesome. 01:14 <Crion> Ben: "Do you think you can beat him or his proxy in the Hedge?" 01:15 <Crion> "That's not his home turf. Point to you. But he's arrogant." 01:15 <Crion> "And he's been busy." 01:16 <banana> Melanie: "We could destroy G.A.R.Y. I can't evaluate whether we can do it without some of us being killed, by traps or surprises or allies or just front-loaded power." 01:17 <banana> "Has anyone heard from the regents, yet?" 01:17 <Crion> Ben stands. "I'll go first." 01:17 <Crion> He doesn't have a response to that question. 01:17 <Crion> None of you have heard anything as of getting out of your car in front of the house. 01:19 <CBN> Tony: "Are we sure he and Anathema left together, or stayed together? Because-" he holds up a wad of blonde hair. "I can catch her trail first." 01:20 <Crion> Ben: "Do it." 01:20 <banana> Oh, yuck/nice. 01:20 <trenchfoot> Gross. 01:20 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart texts Gerald an update. <Gemma survived a gunshot with Heart of Ice and then killed her fetch. Gemma was injured but Melanie took care of her. Jordan Kit and Jameson are upstairs, stripped for parts physically/sorcerously. flayed alive> <no sign of the seers but a portal in the basement. any word from the steward?> 01:21 <Crion> Gerald: <no> <Fuck.> <so the winters are dead?> 01:22 <VoxPVoxD> <spring and the king are here. canterbury was shot, cider took him to the hospital> 01:22 <VoxPVoxD> <spring and the king are ok> 01:23 <VoxPVoxD> <kit and jameson are alive, but very much not ok> 01:23 <dammitwho> Best to get a trash bag then. Euuuugh. 01:24 <CBN> Tony's eyes, in both mask and mien, go the kind of starless dark you get on a cloudy night out in the country, miles from any city light pollution. "Anathema's at the Baltimore Politce Department." He clears his throat and his eyes return to normal. "So, fuck." 01:24 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That's the Baltimore Pylon's HQ." 01:24 <CBN> Tony: "But it's not the Hedge, at least." 01:24 <VoxPVoxD> "That's true." 01:25 <Crion> Gerald: <sending cormorant to the hospitals to make contact. will get in touch with the WK> 01:25 <Crion> Ben: "So he's alone." 01:26 <CBN> Tony ties the wadded hair up into a gross little knot and stuffs it deep down in a pocket. Better to have and not need that one. "Or just on Hedge terms. We fought that egg thing in the Hedge too, before." 01:26 <banana> Melanie: "If they've split up, we've got a better chance. The portal's obvious.. but it's also been here a while. Entirely plausible it leads to places he doesn't want us trespassing on, things he might have to defend to which he was unable to cut access." 01:26 <VoxPVoxD> <looks like the seers are holed up in the BPD admin building downtown, their HQ> 01:27 <Crion> Ben: "If they've split up, and she's run home, then maybe she's abandoned him." 01:27 <banana> "Everyone ok to go in?" Maybe we could leave Nels behind, if she's not.. maybe she should worry about Stewart, who'll say yes. 01:27 <CBN> Tony: "Good news after all." 01:27 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yes." 01:27 <trenchfoot> She's going to have to be okay. "Yeah." 01:28 <Crion> Gerald: <tbh we can hold that debt for later> <do what you need to do there, get back in touch when you're done> <stu's in the area if you need him btw. if we're that level serious> 01:28 <dammitwho> Maggie, coming down the stairs to the basement and subconsciously wiping her hands on her pants: "Yeah. Yeah, let's do this." 01:28 <CBN> Tony nods, while reloading the spent barrel of his shotgun. 01:29 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Do you guys want to wait for another hitter?" 01:30 <Crion> Ben: "No. I want him before he slips away again." 01:30 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart exhales, relieved. <looks like we're going now. ok ill report back> 01:31 <Crion> Gerald: <k. stay safe> 01:32 <Crion> The five plus one walk through the cellar door...next week.