Snakes in a Car
Michael
All right, Basement Crew. Here's what I'd like to see out of you for rolls to sweep the basement level of the dungeon hotel (+1s distributed liberally for Jocasta's Tactics roll on Thursday):
Jocasta: Tactics-15, Tracking-15, Stealth-14
Roger: a single Listen/Sight-13 roll, Stealth-14
Mitch: a Detect (History B) check (+1 to all rolls), Observation-18, Stealth-14
Leonard
(Made the Tactics roll by 5, made the Tracking roll by 6. Missed the Stealth roll by 1, though. Dammit.)
(Possibly because she's got a huge dose of demon scorpion venom coursing through her veins and is toting around a big duffel bag full of ordnance.)
(Sorry everybody.)
Bill
Sight roll was an 18. But I’m still in stealth!
Jeff
Nice high MoS all around.
Michael
I see. Okay, let me narrate out all that abstracted die rolling. So Jocasta fights through the pain of her envenomed wound to give Roger and Mitch the layout of the basement, all the side doors, service doors, and other nooks and crannies that an Irruptor (or four) might be hiding in. Doors are nudged upon, rooms and offices scanned, service areas of the hotel given a quick gunless once over (by Roger, given his previous association with the hotel staff, and yes, I do realize he crit failed his Sense roll, oops).
The last area our rifle-toting Mod Squad checks is the tunnel that leads to the parking garage. And its here where Mitch's Detect (History B) begins pinging. Jocasta, Roger, and Mitch make it to the glass door that leads out to the garage's Level 1; this is where the psychological "bubble" that prevents people from wanting to leave the con is, and on the other side of the bubble and the glass door are a couple of junior G-men, standing by, walkies in hand. They see Jo, whom they consulted with outside, and Roger with his FBI credentials and give a curt silent nod through the glass.
But Mitch's excellent Observation, boosted by his Detect, makes his instinctive psychic realization sudden and sinking: there are three sources of distinct History B energy outside the hotel Zone. If Mitch were a betting man, he'd wager that whatever these sources are—Irruptor or reality shard, he can't really taste the flavor of them because of the great distance, but they are substantial—they lie near the far corner of the parking garage under Union Square, three or four (or even five?) levels down in the garage.
Something … someTHINGS, have managed to get out of the hotel.
Leonard
"Well, fuck," Jo says, fully slipping into battlefield mode. "We got 20 minutes of three of us together before Roger has to bug out. We have three rifles. I got enough halothane to wipe out a ballroom full of people, but I have no idea if it works on these monsters or not, or if this area is airtight enough to disperse. I didn't think to bring any explosive ordnance, which was stupid. Mitch, how much pyro do you have left in you? Could we fry these things?" She's rattling off ideas with a lot of nervous energy now, as the speed kicks in and the pain from her toxic wound gets worse. "There's some janitor's closets, we might be able to find some chemicals or accelerants...maybe pin them in with cars and light them up? We could just hit them head on, but I have a feeling we won't make it out of this garage. Shit."
Jeff
"They might be … I don't know. I don't know! I need to get closer. If I could get, like, close but one level up... if I could get a fix on where they are, if they've set up a kill zone or … I don't know!"
Mitch, agitated, tries to evaluate the odds of him making it out through the bubble to scout, then back in again if needed.
Michael
1) If y'all want to each give me a Hidden Lore (History B) roll right now, that would be great. 2) Jocasta takes 2 points of toxin damage from the slow inexorable march of girtablullû venom in her veins. This means she's down to 3 HP and moving and Dodging at half until she gets some rest or successful First Aid.
Jeff
>>>> SUCCESS
If Jo suddenly doubles over I wanna scan her aura again
Leonard
>>>> SUCCESS
Made mine by 8
Michael
Leonard is Jo betraying outwardly the twinge of pain here?
Bill
(Is it worth Roger trying default First Aid on her? I’ve rolled my 18 for the day, right?)
Leonard
(Jo is doing her best to conceal her pain, but, I mean, she has a big suppurating wound and is down to 3 HP, so it’s probably pretty obvious)
Jeff
Aura sight.
>>>> ACTIVATE … SUCCESS
>>>> DETECT … SUCCESS
>>>> ANALYZE … FAILURE
Spend 1 FP
>>>> DETECT … SUCCESS
>>>> ANALYZE … SUCCESS
Bleah. Not a failure but I'm less confident in what I'm hoping to get, the confirmation that Jo still def 100% isn't going to die and I didn't totally misread her aura before, or assume too much.
Michael
She's still definitely not going to die. This exertion might prove too much for her to remain conscious, though.
Hidden Lore roll (gonna put all this in one message but this is all three of you putting your heads together): First things first, the barrier. Roger is pretty sure that if your willpower isn't good enough, you're not going to willingly go through the barrier. The temblor zone wants more souls in it, souls who can believe or bleed. It doesn't want the weak-willed to be flung out the door (or a window) and lose their soul in the process. Roger got out for a short time, and when he did pass through the barrier he felt like his SANDMAN training against Anunnaki powers was getting a workout. Given all of you have the training, if you feel like you can leave, you can resist the soul-loss. (In other words, the barrier is NOT a save vs. Death Magic or die power word, kill type situation. Getting thrown through the barrier physically and failing your save, however … that's another thing entirely.)
Second, the sources of History B energy on level 1d3+2 of the garage: whether they're full-fledged Irruptors or reality shards, they shouldn't be out there... unless they have a role or function outside the hotel within the triggered retrocreation we find ourselves in. Given the plans the Red Kings have put into play here—get humanity to invent cyclotrons in 1929, and then 44 years later put a couple of students within spitting distance of using Anunnaki hypergeometry to enter a completely different (fictional) timeline, not to mention that damn clock which could be from two different years itself—whatever these three sources of History B are doing, it's what they're meant to be doing, which means they're meant to be outside the Zone. They might have started here, but they're meant to be somewhere else doing something else. So that's slightly worrying.
Jeff
All right. Roger, you and Jo wait here on this side of the doors, I’ll step out and reconnoiter the garage — staying well away from whatever I Detect — and come back toot sweet.
Bill
“Just be sure to come back. Feel like you’re our only pair of working eyes.”
Roger is worried about Jo’s wound, and I’m concerned enough to use a power. I’d like to use my Wild Talent to get a First Aid roll like I have the skill.
Michael
Oh yay! First use for Wild Talent, right?
Roll straight IQ.
And this check will take 10 minutes.
(Effectively you have First Aid at TL 8 with the SANDMAN first aid kits.)
Bill
(First use this mission. I did use it for SANDMAN lore that time before I bought the skill.)
Michael
(oh yeah!)
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
NOICE
That'll heal Miss Menos for 1d6 HP.
Bill
Roger remembers more of his training than he thought! Jo rolls or Roger?
Michael
You guys figure it out amongst yourselves, who feels lucky?
Bill
Feel like it’s more on the patient here, considering Roger didn’t really know. But either way.
Michael
Official rules say the medic does it:
On a success, the medic rolls as indicated on the table to see how many HP the victim recovers – minimum 1 HP. A critical success restores the maximum possible HP!
Leonard
Nuts, rolled a 1. But it’s something! Thanks Bill!
Michael
Well, given I just said the medic should roll it …
Leonard
Oh wait never mind.
Michael
You may have lucked out.
Got that 1 out of the bot, slick going Leonard
Well, given I just said the medic should roll it.
Bill
I rolled it, so by the rules, Jo isn’t allowed to waste my roll with her 1.
Jeff
We’ll also need to allay any suspicions that these “Junior G-men“ might have regarding Mitch coming out and then going back in.
I could melt them until they pass out but that would take like thirty seconds of me staring weirdly at them, so, perhaps suboptimal.
Michael
Ikoter + Hypnotism?
Brant
(Not to insert myself here but couldn’t Jocasta or Roger just point at Mitch, shout “he’s cool” to the feds, and then let him out?)
Michael
Oh sure, absolutely.
Jeff
(That was what I was angling for, yes.)
Bill
As soon as Roger is done helping get the poison out of Jo's wound, he'll get up, and use his suit and badge to catch an agent's attention from the door. He'll motion with his arms with a point and an arm chop and a friendly pat on Mitch's back that he's sending this clearly undercover guy out. Then he'll obviously "check his corners" while in sight to give the impression Roger's not coming out because he's searching for a "perp".
Michael
Hey, why not a Gesture roll, we never get to use that.
Bill
(Of course there's a specific skill for it.)
>>>> SUCCESS
(Made it by 8. Green Berets know their silent battle movement gestures!)
Michael
Roger communicates the necessity of letting this undercover asset into the garage silently and Mitch girds himself to leave the temblor zone. Mitch, a Will+5 roll please (your normal Anunnaki resistance applies here).
Jeff
Made it by... 12?
Michael
Oh, I just meant the normal Will+5—didn't mean to imply we were doubling up the +5 bonuses—but yeah, you made it by 7. Mitch feels no mental or spiritual resistance in leaving the building and is able to do so effortlessly!
Leonard
(Sorry, I lost the thread a bit — Jocasta is back to 6 HP now, correct?)
Michael
Indeed! Patched up like this, her Move and Dodge are back to normal too.
Leonard
(great, thanks)
Bill
(Stage 22: "Ready for further punishment" is the stage she's at, I believe. Much better than Stage 8: "Pain pain pain")
Michael
I will send Mitch off to the far corner of the garage now if you guys are ready?
Jeff
Sorry, why is +5 normal? The Annukani resistance is +3, right?
Michael
The +3 is from the Resistance Advantage, and then you get an additional +1 each from ASL and Danbe reprogramming your brain's linguistic centers. For ease of use on GURPS Character Assistant I folded them all into the Resistance Advantage.
So if Mitch emerges onto the first level of the underground garage under Union Square. It almost feels strange to be back in the "real" world again: the constant low-level History B energy is now gone, the bubble of the temblor zone sort of looming behind Mitch behind the glass doors back to the hotel. But the advantage is that that lack of interference should let Mitch concentrate more fully on Detect. Now what I need to know is where will Mitch go to in the garage right now to re-try his Detect ability? The far corner of Level 2? Level 3? Or deeper, to 4 or 5?
Jeff
The targets are at least one level down, right? Mitch stays on this level and scans.
Don't want to stumble into an ambush
Michael
Good call. Maybe increased Detect precision outside the temblor bubble will lead to an exact set of coordinates.
Hit it.
Jeff
It costs another FP but I succeed by 3 on the second try
Michael
Okay. So Mitch matches himself position-wise to where he believes the three blobs of History B energy are at, and judging by the heights of the ceilings on Level 1 of the garage and the distance of the sources, Mitch figures the three sources are down on the lowest level, 5. They're clustered together within 2 feet of each other. Mitch can also tell, now that he's closer, that these are all three definitely living beings, but Mitch can't get anything specific enough about their energy to let him know what type of Irruptor they are. But they're definitely Irruptors.
Jeff
Q: is Zeb an Irruptor in Mitch's sight?
Michael
Mitch sort of compares his memory of the "bouquets" of both Zeb under Detect and of, let's say, the Stanley Hotel Kusarikku. While they share a certain modicum of commonality about their very bodies and beings being impregnated with History B energy, they're also different in important ways. From Mitch's now-wide experience with Detect, there is something about a non-human Irruptor's presence that is more of a profound "pucker" in History A: these things should not exist physically by the consensus reality of History A and thus the baseline human brain rejects them (while also being programmed to find them awe-ful if they emerge into view of normal humans fully uncloaked). But Zeb could hang out on the streets of Oakland for nearly 50 years with no one batting an eye. While Zeb is technically—if we believe his story—an "irruptor" in the sense that his presence was retrocreated and arranged for by History A, he is not one in the common taxonomic parlance of SANDMAN. SANDMAN would classify "Irruptor" as a genetically-modified (?) animal-headed servant of the Red Kings. Zeb did irrupt, but is not an Irruptor. Yes, this is all semantics. But the ultimate upshot is that Mitch can't tell at this distance if the three beings down there are "classic" Irruptors or "Zeb-type" human ones. If Mitch had to put money down on one side or the other, he'd say the three mystery beings down there are Irruptor Classic. But it's like a 55/45 bet.
If you got closer things might resolve more easily with Detect.
Jeff
Seems unlikely they'll move up to confront me so I'll move down to 4. Trying to be stealthy. Should I roll Stealth?
Michael
Yeah, Stealth seems like a smart idea.
>>>> SUCCESS
Jeff
MoS 5.
Michael
Mitch sticks to the ample shadows and gets down to the far corner on 4. Probably a good idea to do a new set of Detect rolls from this much closer proximity.
>>>> ACTIVATE … SUCCESS
>>>> DETECT … SUCCESS
>>>> ANALYZE … SUCCESS
Jeff
Not quite a crit on analysis but close.
Michael
Okay. The three History B beings down there on 5 are Irruptors (the animal-headed kind), they are large (larger than kusarikku), and they are definitely using some sort of obfuscatory glyphs: GU.SHUB, SANGUSH, or something more bespoke (Mitch is able to read these lesser, secondary sources of History B energy more closely now). One of them is now on the move, crossways across Level 5, from the row of cars closest to the corner they've been hanging out in, to the presumed row of cars across that section of the lowest level of the garage. That lone Irruptor triggers another History B magic effect — Mitch feels like it's some kind of mind-affecting magic, slightly different from a glyph — and the other two soon move over to join their companion at the other row of cars down on 5.
Jeff
Shit
Time to report back
They might be planting bombs for all we know
Michael
As Mitch (stealthily!) makes his way back to the stairwell that will bring him back up to Garage Level 1, give me a Will-20 roll.
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
(The central stairwells in this garage are open on all sides; this allows Mitch to keep an eye out as he speedily ascends to get back to Level 1. Also keep in mind the Union Square garage has more entrances and exits than just the St. Francis Hotel; it serves the other hotels on the Square as well as the nearby shopping district. Jo's FBI contacts have only been keeping the old tower of the St. Francis closed off; the garage has been open for business all afternoon.)
So as Mitch is making his way up the stairs, by the time he gets to Level 3, he sees a white Plymouth Satellite driving up the ramp towards Level 2 and, eventually, the surface. It is carefully driving at legal (for a parking garage) speeds. At the wheel is a young woman in her late 20s maybe, brunette, with hair under a scarf. She looks straight ahead, almost rigidly, as she steers. In her car's passenger seat and in the back seat are three men. They wear wrap-around shades, old-fashioned fedoras, and what look like thick dark coats. Mitch blinks as his Detect (History B) goes buck wild and sees instead of three men, three snake-faced humanoids, their heads surmounted with tiny yet wicked-looking barbed horns, a SANGUSH glyph carved into their foreheads where their third eye would be. Mitch blinks again and their illusory human disguise re-asserts itself in Mitch's eyes again. It's powerfully laid on. The Satellite's license plate number is California registration 549 KWH.
Jeff
Are they between me and the hotel?
Michael
No sir. They are heading up and around the loop to presumably exit the premises.
You can get up to Level 1 unbothered.
Jeff
Do I have line of sight on a tire long enough to heat it until the pressure causes it to blow?
Michael
Yes, you absolutely do.
Jeff
I'll try to pop a tire.
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
I'm gonna look this up! Stats for rubber, DR, HT, all that good stuff.
Jeff
I'm thinking I can heat it so that the air inside expands and it blows in a way that's not obviously paranormal
But it's not like Mitch has ever practiced this use of the power
Michael
The old Marvel FASERIP game would call this a Power Stunt.
Jeff
I'll abort if it feels like this is going to light the tire on fire or something, I don't need that kind of drama in my life.
I haven't radioed anything in, I'm trying to look inconspicuous.
Michael
So it's an object, I resist with HT.
Jeff
Yeah, this is why I want to buy back the skill part — then it'll be a Quick Contest against my Will of 15. I don't imagine I can keep line of sight for more than a couple seconds under these circumstances so this is probably my only shot at it. If the snake-men kill me at least I'll have died doing what I love.
Michael
Yeah, each tire can take 2 HP of damage, and yeah, I figure you have 2 seconds or so at it, so I have to make two successful HT rolls at 11 to avoid a blowout.
>>>> FAILURE
Well, that's a blowout.
Driver has to make a roll to control. Effective Drive 11 with the vehicle's SR.
>>>> SUCCESS
The innocent bystander who's been bamboozled by the bašmu manages to control skid to a stop halfway between Levels 3 and 2. They're nearly out of Mitch's sight now; if Mitch wants to see the car he would need to poke his head out of the open stairwell area and peer around the corner leading up to Level 2.
Jeff
Mitch is hustling back to Roger and Jo to report on these exciting/dreadful developments
Michael
Nice.
Jeff
Maybe they can use their "command FBI schmucks" powers to contain the irruptors, I dunno, I just know I'm not confronting them head on with something like 7 FP, my Pyro 6 done for the day, and an M16.
Leonard
If Jocasta has any quick way of getting hold of Padden & Hall (walkie-talkie, yelling through a window) she'll tell them armed and dangerous perps trying to make a getaway through whatever the exit is, interdict at all costs. If not (or if so, then immediately after), she'll dash down there locked and loaded.
Jeff
Mitch can start radioing it in as soon as he is confident he is out of earshot and eye shot, he has a walk-in-talkie@able to commune with Jo. Dang it Jo you're already wounded. Roger talk sense into her.
Can I roll History-B lore for a threat assessment?
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
Three bašmu are more than a match for three trained Sandmen and eight as-yet-untouched by-History-B FBI agents. They've got mind whammy powers, strength and size, and, much like their scorpion brethren, poison attacks. They also seem eager to put some space between themselves and the St. Francis. Like I said earlier, their retrocreation seems to have them fated to be bound for somewhere else.
You gotta imagine the mind whammy would, even with these men of will of the Bureau, overwhelm at least some of their merely mortal minds.
Jo can definitely raise P & H on the walkie; if Jo gives them instructions, she should make a Tactics-14 roll to see how effective the instructions are at the FBI team sealing off all possible exits for the bašmu.
Leonard
Hmmm. She's gonna want to be deliberately vague, and if Mitch shares his threat assessment, cautious of putting them in too much danger. (If not, though, she might be a bit cavalier, given her current high-strung state.) She'll likely say we might have an armed and dangerous runner; if anyone comes out, don't engage but keep us apprised of their movements and put a tail on them if possible. Does any of this change the roll at all? Again, in character, she'll be a little more loose about engaging them if she doesn't know the exact threat.
Michael
Still should be a Tactics roll!
Leonard
>>>> SUCCESS
Made by 4.
Michael
Okay, with those commands issued, is there still a plan for members of URIEL to go down to Level 2/3 and check on the innocent bystander with the blown-out tire?
(and/or possible bašmu, of course)
Jeff
Mitch is absolutely sharing his opinions about serpent-men and the foolhardiness of confronting serpent-men, using colorful language that indicates he assumes he's speaking on a secure channel.
Leonard
Jocasta's instinct is absolutely to run down there and see what can be done. She realizes she's hurt, and these things are a menace, and there's a legitimate threat to her sanity if she even enters the area, but (a) Mitch is no match for them on his own; (b) we can't just do nothing; and (c) we can't have these things out and about roaming the city. So she's gonna basically tell Mitch and Roger she's moving out, and unless they stop her or have a convincing counter-plan, well, she's moving out.
Michael
Sending you some additional Tactics info, Leonard, via DM
Leonard
"Shit," Jocasta hisses. "Mitch, it's your call. Can we help the driver? Is it worth running these things down? Or should we cut our losses and do what we can do inside the hotel?" She lights a cigarette to quell some nagging pain. "I hate the idea of letting those things get out but we may be in a triage situation at this point."
Bill
Roger is for calling this one in. This is what an APB is for, and it will take SANDMAN agents, plural, very plural, to take them out. If the tremblor keeps going, more will appear and also escape; better to cut off the source of the flood than go chasing the flood waters downstream.
“We leave chasing them, how many others appear and get out while we’re gone?”
“Harsh toke, damn right, but seriously, we need the hotel stable. It’s shit they got out, but at least they’re not making the folks inside the hotel worse anymore. Just the ones still inside doin’ that.”
“Mitch, were there any more? You said five in the basement, but there was one upstairs at one point. How many still in the zone?”
Jeff
"Five down, two up, if the scorpion and the coin are one each then these three make the whole basement load-out … upstairs there's a bull and something else I dunno what." Mitch is slightly out of breath, by this point he's no doubt approaching the other PCs.
Leonard
“Seems like the best course of action is to get the FBI boys to issue an all-points on our snakes and head back into the hotel to do whatever we can to to flush out the rest, yeah? We’ll have to be extra careful with all the civilians around.” She pauses for a moment as if trying to remember something. “The coin?”
Michael
So basically at this point I need to see if any of the three of you is going down to 2/3 to check on the driver or going to let the FBI handle that. Padden and Hall and their six agents will try to keep the exits to the garage covered.
Leonard
Jocasta thinks we should at least take a look.
Jeff
Well … there's a decent chance the serpent men will respond to the blowout by abandoning the vehicle and proceeding on foot, or commandeering another car, and abandoning the driver either way. So someone should be there for her if that happens... I mean, setting aside the idea of confronting the psychic monsters for a second, y'know?
Leonard
Yep.
Mitch, since we've identified the situation in the garage, do you feel okay about heading out to the upper levels of the hotel and figuring out where our other irruptors are, while Roger and Jocasta tend to the driver? Don't engage, just see if you can spot them. We'll look after the driver (ready to bug out if the snakes start to snap at us) and join you once you walkie-talkie your location.
Jeff
On the one hand, Mitch is not thrilled with the idea of splitting up again, not after all we've encountered. On the other hand there is a lot of ground to cover and Mitch is halfway suspicious he has some kind of sanctity that most def wouldn't extend to his companions
(How many times has Jo been within melee range of a hostile kusarikku and walked away unscathed? Because it's happened to Mitch twice so far)
Michael
I am ready to narrate Jo and Roger with the driver and Mitch's trip back upstairs to go solo Irruptor-spotting when you all are!
Leonard
Jocasta is locked and loaded and ready to (carefully) go.
Michael
(Figuring Jo and Roger will flash credentials once they find the woman driver sitting in her car, all three passenger doors wide open, staring at the parked cars in front of her, with no sign of bašmu or any of Padden and Hall's team around.) Jo and Roger do find the driver of the vehicle alive, a bit shaken up from both the blowout and the mysterious exit from her car of three strangers who somehow... "convinced" her to give them a ride out of the garage. "I honestly don't know what came over me," says Dolores Perry, age 30, of Hayward, "because ordinarily I'd never give strangers a ride somewhere, but they made it seem like it was very important." She sort of shakes her head, trying to get the cobwebs out. "I must have gotten shaken up by the tire blowout and the sudden stop, because I can't even remember what they look like anymore. All men, though, that I do remember. Maybe... a bit foreign? Their voices seemed... foreign. I don't know." During this conversation, Jo's walkie goes off and Padden reports in. "All garage street exits are covered by lone agents; we couldn't leave the hotel completely unguarded. No sign of anyone on foot escaping or acting suspicious yet matching your description. A couple of agents have stopped individuals trying to leave the garage not matching your description, though. Do you want to interview them?"
Leonard
Jocasta asks Padden and Hall to hold for a moment. She'll then inform Ms. Perry that she'll have to remain in the hotel for a few hours due to an ongoing criminal investigation. "The staff will take good care of you, and give you the use of a phone if you need to call anyone and let them know where you are. We'll try our best to get you home as soon as possible."
Brant
Depending on whether Jo catches Marshall before his call to Granite Peak, he could ask for more backup in the city. But if Jo calls while he’s on the phone he may need to punt to Archie.
Rob
I guess this is metagaming but it seems most streamlined to make one call to Granite Peak asking for black ops kill teams than to have to make two separate calls? Also, I know nobody is asking Archie, but he would endorse Jo's plan of focusing on the hotel. To him at least, the reality temblor is the real threat — escaping monsters are a lamentable side effect, but sealing the breach is job one.
She'll then pull Roger and Mitch aside and ask what they think before getting back to the FBI. "I don't want to put the agents in any danger, if the people they've intercepted are our targets, but I'm not sure they are -- they probably wouldn't have let themselves get pulled aside by a single untrained human. But who knows what's happening in a snake's brain? If they're just regular people, we don't need to hold them, and if they're irruptors, we don't have the capacity to neutralize them. I'm inclined to just focus on the hotel, but it's a big gamble. What do you think?"
Bill
“I think we stick to the hotel. Let’s call Livermore and let them put out an APB with more SANDMAN agents who can deal with this, save the Bureau.”
Leonard
Jocasta will thus call.
(So, to clarify, she'll hit up Padden and Hall and just ask them to eyeball these targets and get a read on where they are, then call Livermore, fill them in on a possible irruptor outbreak, and ask for backup to trace/interdict them since we're stretched really thin. Not sure if we need to roleplay this or not other than to enjoy Brant having further stress headaches.)
Jeff
(I think the timeline is such that Mitch has already gone upstairs by the time Jo returns from talking to her FBI stooges.)
Michael
Yeah, I think it will fall to Marshall to explain the situation and get the teams from Granite Peak into proper position. Mostly I just want to get us in place for Friday's session kicking off that evening with the debut of the LARP, the continuing Irruptor hunt, and the side-mission over at the Berkeley campus.
Bill
Roger will hang around while Jo finishes up with her walkie-talk with Padden and Hall. He doesn't feel right leaving Jo and Mitch to hunt down two more irruptors in the hotel, especially with Jo still injured. He also knows an hour probably isn't enough to find them and take care of it, and he has to run the game. It's an ugly choice, so he's hanging with Jo until the choice absolutely needs to be made to leave.
Michael
Yeah, Mitch is gone to Irruptor hunt on the top floors solo for the time being because of the possibility that his Illuminated nature will protect him somewhat from Irruptor attack. And I think keeping Dolores detained within the garage and not the hotel will prevent any nasty possibility of her getting trapped in the St. Francis.