Leonard is watching Sepdet climb up the stone wall of the waterwall, and not looking at all happy about it.

Sepdet kicks her legs like a rather younger person, straddling a rocky projection about ten feet above the irregular valley floor. ~You be careful tonight. The goal's to keep the banes from taking any more territory; once we do that, Signe says, we can start attacking and trying to make inroads into the nest. So we're trying to use the lights and spirits to set up a defensive perimeter. After that's done, we can start going on the offense, and move the perimeter outward when we take new ground. Attack is stage two, though; we're working on stage one now.~

Leonard nods. "I'll be alright."

Pack> Sepdet thinks John should make a little map of the city and use monopoly tokens for all the packs, and plastic octopi for the banes, and push them around like a war games simulation.

Whistling, that sounds like one of the birds in the forest surrounding, floats out towards the center of the caern. The sound is muffled by the waterfall nearby, but it's still clear enough to indicate the sound wasn't from a bird. Yi comes strolling in with a glance about and waves to the two at the center. "Hey you two. I came by to get Little Bear." She smiles.

Pack> Yi says "Risk!"

Sepdet raises her hands to wave down at Yi. ~Very good. Tell Kaz thanks for getting this in gear. Do you know if you'll be able to put in mirrors?~ She grins. ~I need to know what I'm promising Helios.~

Yi wets her lips some, in thought. She nods affirmatively. "I have a few, car mirrors mostly from the junkyard. Some duct tape to hold them. I'm not sure how many Kaz has." She glances over at Leonard. "You about ready?"

Sepdet says, ~Great.~ She leans back against the cliff, wiping spray from her eyes. ~Good luck, packmates.~

Leonard nods, and waves to Sepdet. "Be careful up there. And when talking to the Sun." He looks to Yi. "I'm ready."

Yi waves to Sepdet. "Good luck with Helios and the others," she says and turns back to head for the city.

Green Room -- The Rialto(#3680RAJ)
Once a home to the backstage antics and off-stage life of actors from the grand Shakespearians to the slapsticks of vaudeville to the props mistresses, this broad room parallels in size the stage above it. Old and gaudy couches, chez-lounges, and rockers sit in haphazard groups about an old but functional pot-bellied stove whose smokepipe leads off into the bricking of the back wall. At one end of the room, near a sink and counter, sits a full-sized Frigidaire.
Pairs of dressing rooms lead off at each side. To one side, stairs lead up into the theater itself. Off to one side, a wide door leads into the darkened alcoves of the props and costume closets. Opposite those closets, a bricked up archway leads nowhere.
Contents:
Kaz
Obvious exits:
Stairs

Kaz is currently camped in front of the fridge, looking contemplative.

From the auditorium comes the distinct clinking of fragile items being moved as Yi enters with Leonard. She glances around, then calls out, "Kaz? John?" Her eyes adjust some to the dim light inside the building as she makes her way behind the stage, a large pack behind her.

Kaz calls, "Yo!" from downstairs, and troops over to find them. "Whatcha got with you?"

Yi smiles at Leonard, before motioning for him to have a seat at one of the couches. "Mirrors," she answers, opening up the back to reveal lots of mirrors, most of them bits from cars in the junkyard. "Sepdet had the idea that if she could convince Helios to shine down in the sewers, the mirrors would help encourage him about bouncing light around and seeing himself." She blinks. "Ok, that doesn't make much sense to me, but it does to her."

Leonard sits gingerly on one of the couches, still looking around the place. "Is this...all of us?"

Kaz nods at Yi, thoughtfully. "Been tryin' to find some've them m'self." Shrugging at the Wendigo, she says, "Waitin' on John. An' maybe Max. An' maybe this Walker chick I ain't met. An' maybe Max. But we wanna be small -- we don' wanna tromple around an' attract fuckin' huge amounts of attention, this time." Glancing over at the fridge, she looks back to him. "So if I offer you stuff, do /have/ to eat it, or can you say, "No, I'd rather have something else?"

Leonard smiles a little. "I have to eat it."

Kaz says, dubiously, "I doubt you like bologna. /I/ don't like it, most of the time." Shaking her head, she adds, "We should get t'th' Church anyways. Pick up th' lights."

Leonard nods, standing. "I think this will go better on an empty stomach, anyway."

Yi smirks. "I'm not so sure we'll want to eat before going down there. Stink is enough to turn stomachs." She nods to Kaz and hefts the sack up to her shoulders again with a mild clink. "Let's go then."

Kaz grabs a small sack of her own, and nods, heading out.

Leonard picks up the one he's been assigned and follows the Gnawers.

The Nautilus(#3715RFJU)
Submersible naval vessel. Inside is well-carpeted, with lots of wood paneling and brass everywhere.
Contents:
Kaz
John
Leonard
Nemo

Nemo pages to the room: I presume you're entering the sewers at Harbor Park?

There's a lot of hauling going on tonight, though luckily, given as John rented a small U-Haul, there's no hauling random LED-enhanced lighting down city streets. And, luckily, it's not Kaz driving, it's John, who parks down somewhat near the sewer entrance they want to use and starts unloading things, carefully.

Yi gazes around with sack in hand, acting lookout as the Garou drop out of the U-Haul. "Fifteen lights, I have about ten mirrors or so from the cars I could get in the junkyard. I have duct tape to put them up, a switchblade from Rotem if you need a knife. It might take some time to position them." She looks over at Leonard, then to the other two city Garou.

John pages to Leonard, Kaz, and Yi: "Plan as discussed in the church, or whatever, would be as such. Yi and John would know what they're doing with installation. But John's vote is for everyone to watch both sides of whoever's doing the installation of each light at a time. Points are marked on a map where electricity can be stolen from landlines running through the sewer at those points.

Leonard looks back at Yi, totally lost. "I have a knife..."

Kaz nods. "Check. Leonard'n me'll do th' back guardin', then -- an' we'll make sure to get you the time to get stuff installed. You want more knives, I gotta couple. Also, a buttload of nails and shit. Or screws." She hefts her bag. It jingles. "Just ask." She glances at John.

John grunts as he starts pulling some of the lights out, carefully. "Remember the plan, people. If they don't work... Everybody out. No heroes. Otherwise..." He gives Leonard a mildly approving nod, and Kaz a more respectful one. "We sick the dogs on 'em and keep working unless they need help. One more time?"

Yi draws out the duct tape roll. "Sepdet said the mirrors should be put up so they can reflect the natural light as well as the arrays. Probably be best to put them around the gutters, and any holes you might see. Angle them so they can push the light into the sewers. We should have this done in a little bit. No questions here." She looks to Leonard, hoping the Wendigo isn't too confused.

Leonard nods, slowly. "Okay... I'll watch with Kaz? Should one of us maybe be in the spirit world?"

Kaz looks alarmed. "Hell no. This is Realm only. Only one've us in the Spirit'd get mulched."

John smiles grimly as he hefts two of the heavily converted flashlights. "Just point the light away from our eyes, and onto the work, and we'll be fine."

Kaz grabs a flashlight. "Will do, Iceman," she mutters, grinning.

Leonard takes the other flashlight and looks to Yi.

Yi glances around still, her eyes watching for any inquisitive folks that might happen to stroll by. "Right. Let's go down then," she murmurs, shifting the sack of lights on her shoulders and waiting for John to lift the lid.

John looks around briefly, checking that everyone's ready. "Right." he grunts, lifting the manhole cover. "Lights, camera, action." he adds, humourlessly.

Leonard fidgets, looking down over John's shoulder into the hole.

Yi nods to the others, and slips into the empty manhole first. She moves aside once down below, scanning around and letting her eyes adjust to the lack of light.

Kaz, lit flashlight in town, immediately hops down, one of the light arrays with her. "Y'go 'head, Yi. I'll watch f'abit, f'now."

Pete Barlow doesn't waste much time sliding down into the sewers right after, taking the glabro as soon as he has stepped to the side, moving with a certain familiarity.

Leonard follows Kaz, landing in Hispo and looking around, nose twitching.

Kaz pages to the room: Nemo -- there's like not room for Crinos but there is for hispo, yes?

Nemo pages to the room: Right, single-file.

John looks about, checking for passersby, then carefully follows the others in Glabro.

Yi nods to Kaz, slipping the sack off her shoulders as carefully as possible and starts off first. She thinks just briefly how hard it is going to be to wash these clothes later, and then takes out the first LED array to set up ahead of the group. Warily chancing a glance back to the others and the flashlights, she paces ahead of the group to start the first set up.

Kaz, shifting to glabro as she goes, seems somewhat glued to Yi's back, or close to it. Keeping a very close eye out for problems.

Little Bear holds the flashlight in his mouth, drooling, as he looks around, ears swivelling. He stays near John.

John pages: Is Yi moving, like... /far/ ahead of the party? So they can do this in a staggered fashion, or are they working their way in opposite directions?

The flashlights, bright as they are, still just cast their light in tight beams, making the rest of the tunnel seem that much darker. Nothing comes out into the light yet, though the sewers look dingy in the light, now that you can all see everything a little more clearly.

John pages: Does Yi have all the arrays?

You paged John with 'I think she'd have given half to you, half to herself. How many did we have.. 15 right?'.

John pages: Or will she leave some behind?

John pages: Right.

John puts his own sack down gently and unrolls a photocopied map of the sewers with the junction points and light fixing positions marked on it. He eyes Little Bear with the torch in his mouth, and frowns. "Don't break it." He waits patiently for Yi to finish the first light, so they can move forward in a staggered fashion.

Nemo pages: So what are you /doing/ with the lights?

You paged Nemo with 'Kay.. mm, we're going along, with a map of the sewers. There's probably electricity lines for the buildings above, and light sockets from previous lights...maybe. So she's going to install lights to connect them to the power grid of the city.'.

Kaz basically keeps her light focused on Yi's installation process, though she occasionally breaks from that to do a general sweep of the area. From afar, to the room, Pete Barlow must idle for a few minutes. Carry on with Pete bringing up the rear?

You paged Nemo with 'Does that sound alright?'.

Nemo pages: There are some electrical lines. There seem to be a few sockets for old lights, but they've not been used in a rather long time. They seem to be the wrong size for what Rotem has put together.

Nemo pages: Now if you want to tap into the electrical lines more directly, that'll be a little trickier, unless Yi is an electrician and I somehow missed it. Which is entirely possible. :)

You paged Nemo with 'Hmm. Well, she's done apartment repair on her own time, but nothing nearly like this. If possible, she'll try taking out the socket to expose the wiring and try to hook up the light by taping the wire to the socket...?'.

Yi in the flashlight's beam from Kaz, finds the first plotted area for light installation. Shifting to glabro for some extra height, she's still just a little taller than an average construction worker. When she goes to install the socket into one of the old ones, she grits her teeth. Doesn't fit. Ok... "Socket doesn't fit," she growls back towards John. "I'll see what can do about wires..."

Yi contorts and blurs as she is transformed. You shift into Glabro.

Kaz continues holding the flashlight, not offering to help at all, attention mostly on the darkness surrounding them.

Pete Barlow squats in the tunnel, a small, ivory colored object in his right hand. He is rolling it around in his thick palm, thoughtful. "Hurry it up."

Yi tucks the light array under one arm in order to get both hands to bear on the recalcitrant socket. She tugs on the socket, then carefully works the wires off of the socket. As she brings the wires up to the array, the area around her is flooded with brilliance, its starkness displaying the filth along the walls and especially along the bottom of the tunnel in which you are all standing. She pulls some electrical tape out of a pocket and wraps it around the wires, leaving the thing--well, as stable as can be expeced for a jury-rigged light.

Kaz lets out a breath and relaxes her guard slightly. "You," she mutters, "Rock my world. Want some help with mirrors for a sec?"

John frowns, and looks over to Yi. "Show me what you did?" he asks, shifting into homid to move past Kaz and Pete in his way.

Pete Barlow remains at one open end of the sewer, still rolling the object in his hand back and forth.

Little Bear blinks a bit in the light, putting the flashlight down on the floor so it shines down the dark half of the tunnel as he licks his chops. Good. He picks the flashlight up again.

Yi looks down at the muck lighted up, then winces and dispells the image. Breathing shallowly from mouth, she tilts the light some and squints her eyes as she points out the John the wires. Ground wire, positive, negative. Kind of like installing a lamp in an apartment really. "Mirrors, would be good. First shine some light down the tunnel, make sure the way is clear," she grunts quietly, voice a bit lower in the nearman form.

Kaz pads down a few feet, splashing in the muck, to check beyond the current light.

You paged Little Bear, John, Kaz, and Pete Barlow with 'Do I /want/ to know what that is floating along? ;)'.

From afar, to Little Bear, John, Pete Barlow, and Yi, Kaz can answer that! HELL NO!

From afar, to the room, Pete Barlow reaches down, picks it up, bites into and says, "Snickers."

Blinking a little from being so close to the source of the light, John nods, then heads back to Little Bear and his sack of lights. "Let's start staggering, then." he says curtly, waiting for Yi and Kaz to move up further.

As the flashlight goes beyond the current light, it doesn't act like a beam of light normally should. It's more like a stream of air being forced into a fog--the darkness roils away from it, billowing as the beam of light slowly cuts through the almost-tangible darkness.

Kaz backs up slightly. "Well. I think we're gonna get visitors soon. Let's install more lights an' /then/ deal with mirrors, huh?"

Little Bear follows John like an obedient, flashlight-wielding dog.

John slowly shifts up to the Glabro form, and grunts, ~Kill it.~ as he calmly continues to follow up behind.

Little Bear's tail starts wagging. Me?

Yi nods to John, moving forward and drawing out the second light to set up at the next plotted destination point. As the darkness rolls away she eyes it for some moments, before reaching upward to pluck the socket out and expose more wiring and set up the next array. Her eyes go to Kaz with the flashlight before she looks back up to concentrate on her work.

waiting until we have an actual idea of what it is. So far I think it's just black smokeyness that doesn't quite have enough substance, yet, to have purchase on claws.

Kaz grits, "It ain't killable yet," and keeps holding the flashlight, watching the darkness warily.

John drops his head to look at Little Bear. ~Flashlight.~ he says quietly, extending his hand to take it. ~I don't know how it solidifies, but you can probably rip chunks off it if you want. Careful. They like to engulf.~

Pete Barlow watches the other garou carefully and the shadow that the light is struggling with.

Little Bear spits the slobbery flashout out into John's hands and charges forward with a growl, slinking between Kaz's legs and past her to the edge of the light.

You paged Little Bear, John, Kaz, and Pete Barlow with 'Mind you, we're in single file. There's barely enough space to manuever. If anyone's closest to the thing, it's me. Doik.'.

Nemo pages to the room: Um, no.

John growls as the hispo charges forward. ~Don't leave the light!~

Kaz pages to the room: 'Um, no' to which?

John pages to the room: No? Oh. Under Kaz's legs. Heh.

Kaz pages to the room: Oh, heh.

From afar, to the room, Nemo points out that slinking between Kaz's legs when LB is in /hispo/ and Kaz is in glabro would take pretty wide legs, and more room to manuever than you have down here.

John pages to the room: Retcon, cool?

Little Bear pages to the room: If I shift down to lupus then back up once I'm around her?

John pages to the room: Or just reword.

Kaz is completely bowled over, but rights herself quickly and growls, ~Think, dipshit.~

From afar, to the room, Kaz fixie a little.

Nemo pages to the room: Lupus would be okay, though still pushing it enough that Kaz would be bowled over.

Little Bear pages to the room: Works for me.

John pages to the room: Kaz bowled over into sewergoo. She'll be pissed.

Little Bear glances back over his shoulder, shifting back up to hispo. Oops. Sorry.

Yi moves aside and presses against the wall for Little Bear to get through as she arches as best she can to continue manuevering wires and connecting them.

Little Bear pages to the room: glabro=hispo. Gah. Damn made up words all sound alike.

Pete Barlow remains at the back of the line, his attention as much on the darkness facing him as the darkness the others are staring down.

John shrugs lightly. ~Think /and/ don't leave the light.~ he mutters, moving up closer to Yi and Kaz. "We're not too far from where the pipes split, but with Banes this early we shouldn't stagger."

As the Wendigo reaches the edge of the lit area, peering off into the twilight shadows beyond, a small pseudopod reaches out from the darkness and reaches towards his right fron paw, unnoticed as he concentrates more on seeing beyond into the dark.

Little Bear barks defiantly. Show yourself, coward!

Yi hisses at Little Bear. ~Shh!~ She looks away from her work momentarily down at the hispo just in front of her. ~Don't attract trouble now,~ she growls quietly as she returns to her work.

Kaz growls, ~Jesus christ,~ under her breath, and continues holding the light. Watching Little Bear warily.

Little Bear glances back over his shoulder at Yi. Sorry.

John folds his arms, watching Yi work. ~Be /careful/. Banecruncher's wounds were serious from one of these.~ he growls at Little Bear, watching to see what the hispo is doing.

At about the same time, the pseudopod grabs Little Bear's leg, and Yi gets the second array hooked up. The area ia flooded with light, and a black amorphous blob, about the size of a moderate-sized dog, is visible for a moment. With a howl, it lets go of the Wendigo and leaps towards the light, flailing at Yi in the process.

Little Bear looks back towards the darkness, then yelps as something grabs his leg. The lights come on and the wolf yelps again, then growls, shaking his head. He turns and bites at the thing as it goes past him, growling.

Nemo pages: It doesn't do any damage, per se, but as it flails at you, you start getting a bit overwhelmed at the futility of dealing with darkness, and lose 1 Rage.

Yi squints as reflex of the light coming on, just finished wrapping the tape around the wires when a classic movie monster... the Blob, comes leaping for her. With Kaz behind her, there's not much she can do except toss the bag in the metis galliard's direction before being bowled back into the sewer wall by the black creature. She flails right back at it, fighting it as best she can though it doesn't seem to be doing much good. ~Damned creature! Off me!~

John's hands are already in his jacket, and in that instant of motion from the creature, he's whipping out the pistol from his off-hand side, and tossing it lightly into his good hand. He takes careful aim, but doesn't fire. ~Tear pieces off it~ he yells to whoever can reach it. He prepares to fire as soon as he has a clear shot. A /very/ clear shot.

Well, Yi being down on the ground gives Kaz, shifting in the blink of an eye into hispo, a much better shot at doing something resembling disembowling the thing, which is sort of what she looks like she's trying to do. Tear pieces, you betcha.

From afar, to the room, Nemo feels obliged to point out at this juncture that flashlights are being dropped.

Kaz pages to the room: Yes, but there are light arrays right there. Yes?

Nemo pages to the room: Kaz just went into hispo, and John got out a pistol with one hand and tossed it into the other. The light arrays are giving out plenty of light, but the flashlights are being dropped.

John pages to the room: No worries, here. Hope they don't break. *hee*

From afar, to the room, Kaz nods. This I am aware of.

From afar, to the room, Nemo just wanted to make certain we were all on the same page. :)

Long distance to the room: Yi hopes they didn't get dropped into the muck.

John pages to the room: Probably. :(

Ears pages to the room: Mine did. (Music plays: *wah wah /wah/...*)

Pete Barlow grumbles "Fuck" from his rather inopportune location at the back of the line. He looks past the others as best he can. "One at a time, one at a time."

The two Gnawers tear at the thing, sending bits and pieces flying. The creature itself flails at Yi for just a moment, then slips down into the muck, lending it a little more shelter from the light. With the fight engaged in such close quarters, John never manages to get a shot off, though he looks ready to at any time.

Ears growls, ~Light,~ at the Wendigo, while still scrabbling away at the thing.

Little Bear shakes his head as if to clear it, then shifts up to glabro, hunting for the flashlight in the muck.

Little Bear contorts and blurs as he is transformed. Little Bear shifts into Glabro form.

From afar, to the room, Nemo | Leonard searches all over the MUSH for a flashlight.

Leonard pages to the room: My kingdom for a flashlight!

Yi lies half against the wall as the blob retreats into the muck. She slowly stands up, utterly grossed out by having just been attacked and dumped in shite, but she otherwise looks fine. "I'm ok," she reports dutifully before snatching up the bag of lights off next to the wall. She glances down at herself, then at the searching Garou. "Leave the light. We can use one of the arrays hooked up to a battery." Yes, Yi is very prepared. She draws out one of the arrays, and uses the available light to hunt for the batteries Rotem originally used to hook up the lights originally.

John's eyes widen as something brushes against his ankle, and his head, and weapon drop to see what it is. In the half instant it takes to see nothing, he snarls and fires right by his feet - relying on instinct and a calculated guess - before flicking the safety, and moving to put the weapon back in his jacket. "Fuck." he spits, angrily.

From afar, to the room, Leonard wonders when the walls start closing in. And who Chewbacca is :)

You paged Leonard with 'Hush you! :P'.

Nemo pages to the room: You're Garou. You're all Chewbacca. ;)

From afar, to the room, Ears says, "Raaaur," sounding a little like a sick refrigerator.

Long distance to the room: Yi growls her displeasure of the stink. I'm ganna need new clothes.

You paged Nemo with 'Course, out of 15 lights, she'd have one that was used before as a battery hook up. And set down the bag to a not so muck encapsulated side against the wall to hook this sucka up and use that as a flashlight.'.

Leonard pulls the flashlight out of the slime with a triumphant. "Hah!" He flicks the light switch.

Unfortunately, nothing happens as the Wendigo flicks the switch. Being dropped or getting wet seems to have done the jury-rigged flashlight little good.

You paged the room with 'All together now. ...*groan*'.

Leonard purses his lips. Figures. He hands it back to Kaz. "Its broke."

Kaz continues slashing at the muck in a blur, occasionally bringing more bits of blobby darkness up as well as other things floating in wastewater. After a moment or so, there are dark blob bits all over Kaz and the walls of the tunnel.

You paged Nemo with 'Amidst splooshing and stuff, is there anything that sounds.. oh, like oatmeal churning?'.

Nemo pages: Perhaps slightly.

Leonard wrinkles his nose at the Kazinart, and sets the dead flashlight on the upper part of the wall.

Ears gives the thing another slash or two, just to be certain, and then growls. ~Fuckin' hate this,~ she mutters, and pads stiffly over to Yi.

Yi motions with a hiss. ~Kaz, quiet.~ She seems to be listening, quietly, having paused in mid-battery hookup with the array. After a few moments, she goes back to the light, hoping to hook up the portable array as soon as possible. ~If something sounds like an oatmeal waterfall, let me know.~

Ears tells Leonard, ~Get the portable one. I'll guard.~

Leonard jumps, looking down, startled. "Its still there."

Leonard squeezes past Kaz, eyes still on the water, and takes the array from Yi.

Long distance to the room: Yi queries Nemo, how far are we from the park? Have we reached a split section in the straight pipe yet?

John frowns, and shifts uncomfortably in his coat. He looks down at the filth below him, and thinks for a moment. "We should move faster." he says quietly. "Fill this place with light."

Ears stabs experimentally at where Leonard just was, watching down the corridor warily.

Nemo pages to the room: You're not far from the nearest split section.

Pete Barlow keeps up the rear, watching, carefuly.

Yi finishes hooking up the light, wrapping tape around the battery and wires before handing it to Little Bear. ~Don't drop this one please.~ She glances back towards Pete momentarily, looking beyond him a second or so before moving onward, determined to get this job at least satisfactorily done. Two lights is not satisfactory. ~Eyes and ears open, mouth shut, stay alive...~ she mutters to herself.

Leonard turns and shines the light further down the corridor, past Kaz, grinning ferally. Take that, darkness lovers.

You paged Nemo with 'How far would the split section be? A block or so? Would be too much to say we installed lights along the way without much event? I'm kinna aiming to see if we could peek at the oatmeal monster. Or something...'.

A couple more lights get installed without /too/ much happening in the way of attacks, though the feeling of being watched increases and each of you feel an occasional brush against a foot or ankle from /something/ in the muck.As you approach the first cross-tunnel, a somewhat continuous glooping sound, something like churning cornstarch, can be heard from ahead and down the cross-tunnel.

Ears, out in front, glances at Yi. Backing up just slightly, she growls, almost under her breath, quietly, ~This your cue?~

Leonard squints at the noise, turning the light he holds this way and that, trying to get a glimpse.

Yi pulls up, looking in the direction of the sound. ~Don't get scared now. We got this far.~ She seems to be saying this more for her comfort and morale before looking back to John. ~Straight, or find out what it is?~ John trudges forward with a sour expression on his face. "Rig up another light for Pete. Then we continue with the plan. Let the real attack, or some scouts deal with it."

Pete Barlow gives a nod to John, still watchful.

Yi nods, getting used to this wiring system by now and fishing out another battery to hook up to a seventh light array use. Minutes pass before she passes the array, shining brightly, towards the back of the line. ~Straight north, or into the cross tunnel to add lights? I think we have maybe eight left.~

Ears moves, in that case, forward, eyeing the cross-tunnel warily, but spreading her attention around, like anyone trying not to get jumped does. She growls, softly, ~If we're trying not to confront, then north, yes?~

"Cross tunnel. Give ourselves a base to operate from and turn around," suggests Barlow flatly.

Leonard splits his time between watching his feet and watching further down the tunnel. Once or twice he even glances up.

You paged Nemo with 'Is the sound from the west towards the city, or the east towards the river?'.

John watches Yi and Leonard for a moment, then looks back to Barlow. "Hell with it. Let's take on Mr. Playdoh. But I'd prefer Pete be in front."

Yi nods with the decision, making way for the Gnawer adren to move up front with his light.

Ears blinks, twice. But having apparently conceded Alpha-ship of this little jaunt to John, she just eyes him dubiously as she squirms back behind Yi again.

Leonard gets out of Pete's way as best he can, shifting back down to his smaller homid self as Pete goes by.

Pete Barlow makes his way up to the front, squeezing around as necessary. "Give me the skinny. What's in there."

Leonard shifts back up, adjusting his grip on the lights. "I don't think aynone knows."

John looks to Ears. "Don't know. But if we scout and find it's too hard for us... better than having it blocking off our escape, don't you think?"

"You gonna shine a little light on the subject for me?" asks Barlow with a grin.

Yi blinks a bit in the light. ~Whatever it is, sounds like oatmeal. We heard it first in the Umbra, but it retreated before I could look at it.~ she shakes her head. ~I don't know what it is. But I can scout it.~

Ears snorts quietly, apparently in agreement, and takes up rearguard position.

Nemo pages: Sorry. Towards the city.

Pete Barlow runs the long nails of his glabro hands on the edges of the sewers to either side. "Give it a scout then, girlfriend."

Leonard holds the light well up, to shine it past Barlow's bulk.

You sense Leonard whispers, "Be careful," as you sidle past.

You paged Nemo with 'It's materialized Umbra goop? :> I figure it must be that same thing I heard in the sewers before. Uhm... Blur of the Milky Eye, just to be sure and I'll sneak towards it. No lights except the people shining them from the back.'.

Yi nods, closing her eyes a moment to concentrate and call upon the spirits which help nomoons scout, and steals into the cross tunnel quietly. Each footstep placed is carefully chosen, as she looks down, above and around occassionally before gazing ahead and listening to the cornstarch blob.

Long distance to the room: Yi forgets, but leaves the bag with the lights and stuff behind to do scouting.

As Yi starts down the tunnel, the sound grows fainter, seeming to retreat. However, the light in Leonard's hands goes out suddenly, as if a wire came loose someplace.

Nemo pages: The sound got fainter, but it didn't actually seem to retreat.

Leonard looks down at the dark mass in his hands, cursing. "Anyone know how to fix this?"

John's nose wrinkles. "What an effective mission." he mutters, and takes a few steps over towards Little Bear. "Let me have a look."

Ears keeps guarding the rear, warily.

Leonard presses his back against the wall, holding the device in front of him so John can see. He's clearly at a loss.

Yi narrows her eyes, continuing forward a step at a time quietly. Thinking to herself, she doesn't have a light on her, why would the beast retreat? Her hand moves out in front just half an arm's length, like one would manuever about feeling in a dark room.

The light array installed here at the cross-tunnel begins flickering wildly, goint bright, then dim at seemingly random intervals.

Leonard looks up as the light flickers, then over at Barlow, who appears to be holding the only dependable light source.

John frowns, taking the flashlight from Leonard, then looks up at the installed lights' flicker. "Don't think they're going to hold." he growls, warily.

Nemo pages: There doesn't /seem/ to be anything here....

Ears shoves John's leg. ~Source. Let's go check the source.~

John's frown deepens. "Let's not split up too much, eh?" He looks to Barlow. "Feel like sitting here on your own to wait for Yi?" he asks.

Yi stops where she is for now. She looks back towards the cross section of the tunnel, towards the others and whistles, bird-like. Hopefully Ears or Leonard will hear her and recognize the voice.

Nemo pages: OTOH, you're pretty confident that you couldn't have been seen, and the air's too still for you to have been smelled before you got there.

Leonard looks towards the sound immediately. "That's Yi. Can you see her?"

Ears's eyes narrow. She whuffs something, rather like a 'come back then', and growls, ~Let's all check. Once she's back.~

John mutters to himself, "Who's afraid of the dark?" sarcastically, then hefts the sack of lights. "Bit more alert, from now on, I think." he say gruffly. "Don't want those things /under/ me any more than on top."

Yi moves again, just making sure she doesn't give herself away too much with the whistle. The air is still, and nothing yet. The sound is still there, still faint. Ok... and the others aren't coming. She shakes her head, and moves forward again a few feet, reaching out. There's got to be something, and she's half-expecting it to pop out at her.

Leonard looks at John. "Can you fix this?"

Nemo pages: Actually, by the time you get done with the whistling back and forth, the sound is gone.

You paged Nemo with 'Might be gone, but it could have just stopped... uhm. Still keep going forward, least until I hear the sound. Any chance I might know where we are, manholes wise?'.

Nemo pages: You could have a /rough/ idea.

You paged Nemo with 'Maybe, around a block or so north, northwest of Harbor park or more?'.

The blinking of the light array ggets faster, though it's still irregular. John tried frantically to fix the portable one while the irregular strobe lighting continues, then manages to get it on just as the light array explodes in a shower of harmless electrical sparks.

Nemo pages: About a block north and about a block west.

John looks up immediately and points the light in the direction of the array. "Dammit. Right, we need to find out what's doing that, pronto. Installing any more's a waste, right now."

Ears pages to the room: Er, all of them explode, or just the one nearest us?

Nemo pages to the room: Just the one nearest you.

Ears winces at the explosion, and then whuffs, louder, in a 'Come back /now/' sort of way.

Pete Barlow shakes his head. "Call Yi back, Ears. We gotta hold here and fix before we go further. I got a bad.. bad. feeling."

Leonard hisess, "Yi! Get back here!"

You paged Nemo with 'After the light explodes, sound returns?'.

Nemo pages: Not yet.

You paged Nemo with 'Would I be too far to hear the others?'.

From afar, to the room, Nemo grins at Leonard. How do you hiss something with no sibilants? ;)

Nemo pages: Since you're mostly just listening, you can probably hear them, if somewhat faintly.

Long distance to Nemo: Yi wants to find the oatmeal monster, darnit. Gaaah. Ok... give me about, 50 feet more worth of scouting mileage before I finally turn back.

Yi hears the others, faintly enough to make out Leonard's hissing and Kaz's whuff, but is intent on doing her job. She goes a few more feet, if not finding anything, turns back towards the others.

John nods in agreement with Barlow. "You're not the only one. I'm feeling hunted again." he grumbles, looking to Ears. "Kaz, this looks like a write-off. We go one step forward, we take two back." He smiles bitterly. "But. We've gotta find out what's killing our lights, first."

After the light goes out, and about the time that Yi turns around, the sound returns. For most of the group, it's still down the tunnel towards the west.

Nemo pages: For you, it's towards the east, between you and the rest of the group.

Ears just plain barks now. Loudly. Evidently, she's in complete agreement with John. ~Three Blades. Back.~

You paged Nemo with 'Lovely. Er, I'm heading out. Back towards the group, and if that means tearing through something I'm ganna do it. :>'.

Leonard fidgets, shaking the light sourcefutilely and looking back up the corridor where Yi's disappeared. "She should've come back by now."

John growls. "You know what I'm getting tempted to do... Storm down there. Grab Yi. Storm back. Fuck whatever stands in the way." His voice is quiet, but there's an edge to it.

Yi spins around, her pursuit of the oatmeal monster finding its sound coming from the direction she was just coming from. Oh boy. She shifts to crinos, not really caring about stealth now, and barrels back in the direction she came.

Nemo pages: Want to spend Rage?

Yi contorts and blurs as she is transformed. You shift into Crinos.

You paged Nemo with 'To shift, or?'.

Nemo pages: TO shift. To move faster and get the heck out of there. Either. Both.

You paged Nemo with 'Considering... yah. Jus 1, to shift and get the hell outta there.'.

Ears pages to the room: Oh -- I keep reading wrong. IOW, it's between Yi and us?

You paged the room with 'Indeedy.'.

Nemo pages to the room: THere wasn't much to read wrong, really. There's nothing to see at the moment, even with the occasional light flashed that way, but the sound is between Yi & the rest of the group.

Nemo pages to the room: A fact that's more noticable once Yi starts making more noise, herself.

Leonard says again, "She should be back by now." He's now concentrating his attention towards the noise coming from where Yi disappeared.

Ears growls, ~Fuck. Chugs, give Little Bear the damn light and go get her, huh? You too, Iceman.~ She herself is a bit stuck.

John eyes Ears for a moment, then sets off at a dead run through the pipe, gradually shifting into Crinos as he does.

Leonard follows right behind John, leaving his broken light source behind.

As Yi scrambles down the tunnel, a mass of something rises up from the muck between her & the group. Light that are shined in that direction by Pete reveal something that looks like it's pieced together with a bunch of animal corpses, oddly mostly ones of small fish. It swings at her as she tries to run by, making a fairly solid connection.

Nemo pages: 2 agg.

Ears shifts warily, by the light of Chugs' light, and keeps a wary eye behind her.

John leaps forward, claws bared either side of him, to attack the occupied creature. Specifically its head. ~Tear pieces!~ he roars.

Three-Blades gets slammed into the wall by a mass of dead muck. She growls loudly, flattening her ears as she rips into the thing from the other side of the creature. ~First the stink, then you lead me on, and now double cross! Die!~

Leonard shifts into hispo and starts tearing with gusto, using his front paws and jaws both.

Ears growls, ~You people hurry /up,~ loudly. ~We need /out/ of here.~

Nemo pages: So you're just going to attack it?

You paged Nemo with 'And make a hole in it so I can pass through to the other side hopefully. I was imagining the muck was blocking my way.'.

Nemo pages: Well, in crinos, definitely.

Unfortunately, Little Bear and John get in each others' way almost as much as they attack the thing itself, between the cramped quarters and their larger forms. They do manage to land one or two decent blows, and a couple of rotting goldfish fall off of the creature. On the other side, Three-Blades's claws push almost as much as they rip, finally opening up a bit of a gap between the thing and the wall, though nowhere near enough for a crinos to fit through.

For its part, the creature changes its focus without turning around and pummels on the Walker and the Wendigo, landing a few somewhat solid blows on each, though nothing too damaging. They cramped quarters seem to be working against its getting swinging room, as well.

Ears shifts on her feet impatiently.

Three-Blades snarls irritably, before finding the hole just big enough. She wants out, and so shifts to lupus and goes for a circus act. Fall back! she barks to the Walker and Wendigo as she judges as best she can to leap through the hole she made in the monster.

Three-Blades contorts and blurs as she is transformed. You shift into Lupus.

Little Bear gets buffeted and growls, and decides to try digging a hole through the thing.

John snarls, ~Back off!~ at Little Bear. Seeing the Wendigo determined to have a go at it, he takes a step back, and shifts down to Glabro.

Nemo pages: You get a Rage back for the 'being injured' bit. WOuld you like to spend that Rage for an insta-shift now, or spend one round shifting and then leap next round?

You paged Nemo with 'No rage spent. :> I can wait, if it will help me judge the distance better to leap through.'.

Three-Blades slowly shifts down into lupus and then watches, trying to guage the best time to leap, when she notices that the thing is moving to close off the gap that had been made. Leonard tears off a turtle and some sort of rodent before he gets slammed between two appendages with a loud *crack*.

John scowls at the creature, and virtually roars at Little Bear, "Fall back!"

Three-Blades flattens her ears, backs a step, charges and leaps. And hopes to Gaia the thing doesn't get the idea to slam her against the wall when she does.

Little Bear staggers, this time, and stumbles back, whining.

Luckily, Three-Blades makes her leap just as the thing moves to close off the gap. It moves swiftly enough that she is slammed against the wall as it catches her haunches, but she's past it and on the same side as the others as she gets her balance and stumbles away from the creature, following Little Bear and John. Surprisingly, the creature doesn't follow. Yet.

Nemo pages: 1 more agg.

Little Bear makes sure Yi is behind him before he returns towards the light, staggering a bit.

John roars, "Alright, everyone fall back. Out. NOW." as he starts moving backwards. Reaching into his jacket to pull a 9mm, and his knife. "I'm the last one out, remember. Move." he calls in a more normal voice.

Ears growls, ~Out, people,~ and starts for the exit.

Three-Blades isn't ignoring the order as she limps back, trying to ignore the pain. Her own form grows slowly, passing Kaz as she directs herself towards the park.

Three-Blades contorts and blurs as she is transformed. You shift into Hispo.

Little Bear follows whoever's in front of him, not having clue one where he is.

John lets the other two pass by him, and starts firing at the thing.

The creature does not follow the rest of the way down the tunnel, and in fact collapses back down into the muck as soon as the first shot is fired, though it looked as though perhaps another couple of small, rotting blue fish dropped off before the rest of it collapsed into the muck.

Pack> Little Bear says "Its a shambling pile of dead crap, my hatred of the city is reaffirmed, and I am gonna want the mother of all sweats when I get back to civilization. :)"

Three-Blades wraps her jaws around the bag she left behind before limping back as swiftly as she can towards the park about a block east, and a block south from their current location.

Nemo pages to the room: There are still lights from Harbor Park to this point.

From afar, to the room, Ears woo hoo!

You paged the room with 'So about 5 lights from the cross section.'.

Ears pages to the room: Thankee, Cap'n Nemo. (Er, assuming this is basically done from your end?)

John snarls. This looks like as good a place as any... He reaches into his jacket to put away the knife, and then his gun, and withdraws a strange-looking device. A small cylinder, wrapped in leather, and filled with a thick, but clear orange liquid. Reaching for a lighter, he sets it on fire, and hurls it with great force at the wall next to where the bane was standing.

Ears is busily leaving, shifting to homid as she climbs the ladder.

Little Bear shifts up to climb the ladder as well, having a bit of trouble with the whole hand foot thing, but he manages.

Three-Blades drops the bag and shifts slowly to homid, with even some pain at wounds before grabbing the bag and forcing herself to climb up and out of the manhole.

As the lit cylinder strikes the all, there's a /loud/ explosion and a rush of flame, enough force to knock John sprawling in the muck. The rush of flame seems to continue for far too long, but it eventually dies down.

Three-Blades contorts and blurs as she is transformed. You shift into Homid.

Leonard looks down, eyes wide, as the sewer explodes.

Yi looks back down, half in and half out of the manhole as the explosion rocks the underground. "John!" Her eyes blink through the light, waiting for the Walker before she climbs out.

Leonard sits next to the manhole, blinking, waiting for Yi and John.

Long distance to the room: Yi wonders how muffled this explosion sounds, considering. Or maybe it sends manhole covers flying up into the sky from a few blocks down, with pillars of flame? Maybe that's too much exaggeration.

Kaz mutters, "Christ. Remind me not to introduce Max to Roger." She sounds worried.

John surfaces from the gunk near the manhole, and shakily climbs up the ladder. Slightly charred and beaten, not to mention bruised like hell, he crawls out with a feral grin on his face. "Oh, /well done/, Roger." he chuckles to himself, managing to stand up, shakily. "Well done indeed." He looks like he's about to laugh, eyes flashing with some fierce, unidentified emotion.

Leonard just watches John stand with a detatched interest.

Long distance to the room: Yi thinks that's a wrap. :> Whoo, thanks Nemo!

John pages to the room: Indeed. Many thanks, Captain Nemo.

Nemo pages to the room: That's a wrap. Note the Media article which is in tomorrow morning's newspaper. :)

John pages to the room: Whooo!

You paged the room with 'o/` Fiiiiire! (Lethal Weapon 4. Oh that opening.) o/`'.

Nemo pages to the room: Welcome. :) Hope y'all had fun. :)

From afar, to the room, Kaz did! Kewl.

Yi shakes her head, though there's just the briefest of smiles at the satisfactory explosion. "Let's go, before the police decide an explosion is enough to come get us."

John nods. "Pack up the U-haul. Consider this a poor attempt at the groundwork, but a good scouting."

John is still smiling with satisfaction as he hauls his sack into the back.

[Putter putter...]

Green Room -- The Rialto(#3680RAJ)
Once a home to the backstage antics and off-stage life of actors from the grand Shakespearians to the slapsticks of vaudeville to the props mistresses, this broad room parallels in size the stage above it. Old and gaudy couches, chez-lounges, and rockers sit in haphazard groups about an old but functional pot-bellied stove whose smokepipe leads off into the bricking of the back wall. At one end of the room, near a sink and counter, sits a full-sized Frigidaire.
Pairs of dressing rooms lead off at each side. To one side, stairs lead up into the theater itself. Off to one side, a wide door leads into the darkened alcoves of the props and costume closets. Opposite those closets, a bricked up archway leads nowhere.
Contents:
Kaz
Obvious exits:
Stairs

Kaz, after dropping the rental truck off at the all night 'we ask no questions' drop off, returns to the Rialto. And heads for a couch. "Fuckin' A," she mutters.

John stalks in afterwards. He's already discarded the trenchoat and jacket (burnt through at the back), but his t-shirt is sticking to his skin, getting caught in the charred flesh.

Yi helps Leonard in after getting out of the U-Haul. Once in the Rialto she sets the Wendigo down somewhere and sits slowly, letting the bag clunk down beside her. Despite er injuries, she gazes over the Wendigo's. "Little Bear... hello..." She moves her hand up and down in front of him.

Leonard blinks and focuses on Yi. "Did we win?"

John spits. "Lets think about this objectively. Sort of." He continues picking at his back, then just rips the shirt off. A terrible tearing noise, mixed with partial removal of his flesh is the result.

Kaz offers, "You want the shower, feel free." And then adds, "Objectively? Uh. We got five lights workin'."

John seems to be in fairly good spirits, considering his left arm is significantly bloodied, and skin still smells like it's burning. "However. If we look at it as a scouting mission, we did better than last time. Much better. I have a few things to tell you all, that might lighten your mood a little." He gives Kaz a small half-smile. "Got bandages?"

Kaz goes and rummages in, of all places, the fridge, and comes up with her first aid kit. She offers, "I c'n patch y'all?"

Yi nods slowly at the Wendigo. "Shift up, glabro." She does the same, though her shift is a lot slower than it normally is. Looking over herself, she sighs. "Five lights working, one nightmare torched. What next? White dragons?" Her eyes go down to her leg, which is covered with blood stains, but healing. "I think... I'm going to have one hell of a time trying to get these stains out."

Leonard nods, slowly. "Okay."

Kaz starts patching John up. "Things?" she asks.

John frowns at Yi. "Ah... bad news first. I didn't kill it." He lifts his left arm for Kaz to wrap. The left arm is remarkably scar free, compared to the rest of him. John with no shirt on is... interesting. Where some people collect tattoos, he collects scars. They cover him with a few patterns evident. Lots of claw marks. Lots of clean cuts. His left arm is truly a sight, covered in hundreds of tiny criss-crossing cuts. And the other most noticable scar is a large raging red weltering of skin that stretches from under his right armpit, down to just below the waist.

Kaz wraps happily, apparently not noticing gross injuries. "Yeah, well, figured that. It's sorta endless."

Leonard finally manage to shift to glabro, his voice deepening as he looks over John's wounds. "You look...bad."

Yi tilts her head while gently examining Little Bear's head. "And the good news?" Her smile is wry, and partly to keep from crying out in pain everytime she moves.

Leonard pages: There's actually a slight depression on the left side and one of his pupils is blown.

You paged Leonard with 'What's a blown pupil?'.

Leonard pages: o.O

Leonard pages: Eye is almost totally black, other eye is normal looking.

You paged Leonard with 'Hehe. Which side is the left side, the o or the O'.

Leonard pages: Right pupil.

John takes his arm away as Kaz finishes wrapping it, and flexes the huge appendage experimentally. With a wince. "Several good points. First of all, that thing... I don't know why, but if gave up easily enough when I shot at it. I'm thinking I might have been able to take it on, with claws." he gestures to his left arm with his head, and grunts. "Leo and I butted heads when we attacked it, and it still only managed to scratch." Looking consideringly at Leonard, he adds, "Next time, make way for the Ahroun." Not unkindly, though. He's in too good a mood. It must be the adrenaline.

Leonard blinks and studies John for a minute, an acute listening look on his face as he processes this. Then he nods. "Oh-kay."

Kaz says, "Mmm," as she offers Yi some painkillers.

Yi growls softly. "Think you should stay in the city tonight, Little Bear. You can stay at my place." Her eyes rove over the blown pupil and slight depression on the Wendigo's head. She turns back to John, jaw clenching momentarily before accepting and swallowing down painkillers from Kaz. Every little bit helps. "Did you see what happened when you threw the bomb?"

Leonard blinks, concentrating on Yi. "Okay."

John nods, this time a little grimly. "Nothing. To it. The thing ran away before I threw it." He frowns at Leonard, suddenly, and strips off the glove on his left hand. The pinky comes all the way off. It's prosthetic. He waves the hand in front of Leonard. "How many fingers am I holding up?" he says quietly.

You paged the room with 'Awws. Lb's cute when he's monosyllabic.'.

John pages to the room: Yeah... I just wanna see him drool, now.

Kaz blinks vaguely at John's hand and goes to get herself a drink.

Yi furrows her brow at John's hand. "What happened to your hand?" she queries gruffly.

Leonard blinks, head moving slightly to try and follow the hand's movement. "Two?"

John shushes her, then holds the hand still. "This guy needs sedating." he murmurs. "And a healer."

Leonard nods in agreement. "Okay."

Kaz checks in her first aid kit. "Well, I got sleeping pills..."

Yi pats Leo on the shoulder. "He'll be ok I think. As long as he stays in glabro for a bit. Tomorrow, maybe, I'll see if I can bring him back towards the lake so Sepdet can have a look."

Leonard looks up at Yi. "I smell bad."

From afar, to the room, Leonard grins. Last time this happened to me RL I became Master of the Obvious and Mr. Agreeable, so.

John pages to the room: Damn funny. Seriously. I'm laughing hard.

Yi smiles at Leonard. "We all do, Little Bear." She looks over at Kaz, before eyes rove back towards John's left hand surreptitiously. "Think I'll take our happy Indian back and get him cleaned up."

John eyes Leonard, and puts the glove back on. Zipping it up, then fastening. "Indeed. Anyway. Good thing number two. We know what's wrong with our lights. How we need to work, what group organization we need. This has been an effective scouting mission." he says firmly, and mostly to Kaz.

Kaz nods at Yi. "Yeah. He needs... Stuff. Talk t'you later, yeah?"

Yi nods slowly towards John, then grips the back of her neck momentarily before standing up. She offers a hand down to Leonard. "Let's go Little Bear." To John, she gives him a once over. "I'll have to work up something with Rotem about the lights. Maybe we should infuse spirits into them before actually installing them. And we just need to... to kill whatever it is down there."

Kaz mutters, "Fuckin' napalm."

Leonard stares at the hand. "Okay." He then remembers to grab it and manages to stand.

John nods quietly at Yi and Leonard. "You get him healed quickly. Alright?" he murmurs.

A faint rustle of curtains signals the Strider's arrival from one of the dressing rooms. (Yes, that's right, where the mirrors are.)

Kaz tells John, "Yeah. Good scoutin'. Now we just needa refine. Now that you're gettin' t'know y'tribe, is there anyone good with fire or electrical wirin' an' shit?" There's a pause, and she adds, without looking, "Hi Sepdet. C'mon in."

Yi grunts, wincing with pain as Leonard takes her offered arm and she helps him up. "We'll be ok." The Gnawer nomoon, as paranoid as she is, does notice the rustle. Her eyes look in that direction. And relaxes, as Kaz calls Sepdet. "Speak of the Strider."

Sepdet pushes slightly singed hair out of her eyes; her skin's too dark to show much of a burn, but is definitely puckered in places. "Hey there. Checking in." She paces out of the shadows and looks them over with oblique concern.

Kaz points at Leonard, silently.

John gestures at the terrible burn mark still marring his back. Using his bandaged left arm. Bits of fabric from his shirt still sticking in the bubbled flesh. "Roger's responsible for the incendiary." he says with a small, half-smile. The Walker gives Sepdet a respectful nod, then returns his attention to Kaz. "And he has lots of them."

Leonard stops staring at the wall when he hears the Strider's voice and focuses on her, blinking. He turns to Yi. "Sepdet's here."

Kaz looks a little incredulous. "Roger? Insane mule boy?" Reflectively, she says, "Well, I suppose if you're paranoid, you gotta protect y'self /somehow/..."

Sepdet winces only slightly at John's condition. "Looks like you get the rank of McNugget for this evening, Walker." She pads towards Leonard, squinting at him. "Yes, I'm here, Bear."

Leonard looks down, smiling. "You're short."

Yi tips her head in a small nod to her alpha, before gesturing to Leonard's left side of the skull. ~Depression here. Got hit from the creature and there was a crack. Pupil's dilated.~ She refrains from saying much more, evidently the nomoon is in some pain too but can take it.

Sepdet nods worriedly at Yi, peering up into Little Bear's eyes. "That I am." She sets fingers lightly against the side of his head, not enough to apply any pressure. "How do you feel?"

John simply takes a seat on a couch, and leans back. "More positives to discuss as well. Regarding lights." He stays silent for the moment now, face smoothing over as he watches the Strider minister to Leonard.

Leonard thinks about this a minute, then frowns. "My head hurts. But I'm okay." He nods, then motions to John. "He looks _awful_."

Sepdet grimaces. "He'll heal," the Strider says with some sympathy. "You, now..." she seems to be debating something, trying to keep worry out of her face.

Yi considers, a very amused smile crossing her face still even as it gets twisted with some flash of pain shooting up and down. "Do you think it's permanent?"

Sepdet seems to come to some decision with a sigh. "You'll be all right, warrior," she tells Leonard, finding his hand and giving it a light squeeze. To Yi, she murmurs, "Give him a few days; Gaia willing he should be back to his usual Wendigo self." She finds the nearest chair and settles into it. "Positives? Tell me the triumphs of the evening," she says more cheerfully.

Leonard nods. "Okay." He looks at Yi. "Can we go home now?"

Kaz flops onto a couch, and also looks at John.

John smiles wryly at Sepdet. "Only positives are in the sense of what we discovered, and what we should be able to achieve." With a hint of a scowl, he adds lowly, "We went in underprepared. And we got what you'd expect for that. Very little physically achieved. Nothing that won't grow back as fast as we heal." He finishes slightly sourly.

Kaz shrugs. She's remarkably unharmed, and it seems to annoy her. "Now we got info. What kinda sockets they use, the fact that they're fuckin' eatin' the circuitry... Stuff like that. Wasn't that bad, but we needa do broader scale shit."

Sepdet looks at John with some concern. "My work tonight went well, but it'll be wasted if we can't get this done. But what did you find out?"

Kaz says, blankly, "Work? What'd /you/ do t'night?"

Sepdet waves a hand at Kaz. "One thing at a time," she says, looking at John.

Yi mumbles something about not being able to set up the mirrors, but she keeps watch over Leonard as the others converse. "We'll go soon, Little Bear. Get you cleaned up so you smell good again. Promise."

Kaz grunts vaguely. She wants information! And she wants it now! Instead, she gets a Coke.

Leonard sighs. "Okay."

John shrugs. "Kaz will throat me if I don't keep this brief." he says in all seriousness, lounging back easily on the couch. Massive glabro limbs treating it like a slightly elongated armchair. "We know how to approach them, now. We know what went wrong with Rotem's lights. And we know there's something very powerful there interfering with them." He shrugs lightly, causing the couch to move a little. "A tribe-mate has been rigging up some very nice surprises for next time around. But I'd also like to reinforce his technology with something of the spirit. To help protect against long-range sabotage."

Sepdet sighs. "It's always more complicated than one expects," she observes ruefully. "I'll have to postpone the Summoning again. Lights, or at least mirrors, need to be in place before we can do it."

Kaz says, to John, eyebrow raised, "Spiritual alarms, kinda?" She shrugs at Sepdet. "We lit a tunnel. It prolly won't last. But like he says, we gotta clue. Although I don't know /exactly/ what went wrong with his lights -- fill me in, dude?"

Yi shakes her head minutely. "Why not just summon? What did you promise?" Long distance to Leonard: Yi thinks if'n you need bed, you should go. :>

Leonard sits in the nearest chair and curls up.

John shrugs apologetically at Sepdet. "We tried. If we hadn't been so cautious, we might have done better. We'll know for next time."

Yi shakes her head again. "Well, Little Bear and I aren't going to be much use now if we don't get some rest," she says to the other three. "I'll catch up with you next time and get the plans."

Sepdet nods. "Caution's better than losing people. One can always try again." She's a patient soul, only slightly disappointed by the setback. She spreads her hands to explain. "The light spirits need something to attract them to the area, make it more appealling to them. If we could just get the area under Harbor Park and a little ways out from there lit, in the /clear/ zone, the spirits would be more likely to come and stay. Otherwise we'd have to force them, bind them, and that only lasts a short time, so it won't help us longterm. Longterm, I'm hoping to move the perimeter of light outwards each time we take a part of the city back from the banes. But we can't start going on the offensive until we have some way to keep the the parts we clear clean. And we can't summon the spirits until we have something to attract them."

John clears his throat, and looks meaningfully at Sepdet.

Kaz says, "Aha. So getting the /lights/ in was actually less important than the mirrors? Goddam. Wish we'd known that..." She adds, "Later, Yi -- thanks. Leonard, you too."

John gives Yi a respectful nod, and Leonard, just a concerned look.

Sepdet shakes her head. "The mirrors was a long shot. I thought electricity was going to be easier to attract than Helios. But I forget my own abilities sometimes: I got an Incarna to agree."

Kaz's jaw drops. "An /Incarna/? Well, shit, why'nt we all just go get sunburns/"

Leonard has fallen asleep in his chair.

Sepdet pauses to give Yi and Leonard farewells. She touches both of them on the shoulder mutely as they slip out, a whispered blessing more sensed than heard at their backs.

Yi keeps Little Bear a moment longer, blinking at Kaz's jaw dropping. "A what?"

Sepdet spreads her hands wide. "Big spirit. /Very/ powerful spirit. I suddenly realized, you know, there's a time and place to speak to someone in charge." There's a trace of awe in her own voice.

Kaz says, "Yuh-/huh/," no little trace of awe in her own voice. "Talk t'me, woman. What'd he look like? What'd he say? We gotta make sure he can get weird ass places, I guess?"

Yi looks between Little Bear, then Sepdet, then Kaz. "And you promised the Incarna that we would have these lights and things set up?" John's face clouds over, and becomes grim.

Sepdet leans back. "A huge flaming salamander that moved in a shower of sparks. He would lend aid, in exchange for two things. One, I said we would set up mirrors, and that we were /starting/ to set them up now." She smiles faintly. "I know better than to promise what I haven't seen ready with my own eyes. Two, to give honor to Helios by speaking sun-stories, teaching cubs to respect it, spreading word of what Helios is doing for us if and when its aid comes to us."

Kaz loses a little of her awe, but her grin gets larger. "Oh. Spreading word, huh? Just you, or in gen'ral?" After a pause, she adds, "OK, so he's willin'a help even if we ain't actually got shit set up, ok, that works." John clears his throat, and sits up a little. Shifting the couch a little as he does so. "I'm willing to go back down tomorrow. I only need someone with me to drag my carcass back up if I fail." He's serious, but sounds fairly casual about the whole thing.

Kaz waves a finger. "Yo."

Yi blinks slowly, before her eyes narrow a bit. "A flaming salamander? Not the one the Garou of the Hidden Walk fought with against the Spiral Dancers." Yi's gaze sparkles with her own fire. Some bitterness, some hate.

Sepdet growls at John. "Your carcass is not very useful to Gaia." She shakes her head at Kaz. "Its exact words were, roughly, 'If you do these things, I will lend aid.' Meaning we do need to set up mirrors first, I think." Her face darkens at Yi's question. "No, no, not /that/ one, nor the one that destroyed the caern of the Last Days and nearly killed me and Joseph long ago. Fire is a neutral spirit. Only some have gone over to the foe."

Kaz grunts. "Given as every single fuckin' time we go down there we get jumped within like 20 minutes, this should be fun. Oh, well. Small steps, I guess."

Yi seems satisfied with that answer, stuffing the hate back inside with a blink of her eyes. "Then if we need the mirrors set up, we can do it tomorrow, the next day.. the moon grows full. How many do you need? How extensive a network?"

Sepdet asks, "What about staying within the bounds of Harbor Park? The important thing is to have a place for the light spirits to begin to gather, for the initial summons. We can expand the perimeter later." She adds, "And this does not mean we give up on mundane lights, electricity. They'll hold if Helios is not satisfied with us, and at any rate we need something for night-time."

Kaz glances at John, and then shrugs at says, "We can try. We can do shit, we can add to it, it'll work ok. Eventually."

John lowers an eyebrow at Sepdet's estimation of the worth of his carcass, but nods. "When we left, we had light around Harbour park. Doubt it'll be there when we return, but tomorrow, we should move during the day. Better to angle the mirrors." After a moment the Walker clears his throat again. "Sepdet. We probably need more time for this. We can't keep 'picking' at it. We need to do it properly."

Yi exhales slowly. "The explosion caused is bound to drawn attention. That was a block or so north northwest of the sewers. I have a feeling the city will be keeping an eye around the area, unless it is as lazy with its officials as Hong Kong is. There is one light set up at the mouth of the pipe out of the park, with four more after heading north. I think, if we set up some west, east, south.. maybe there are some sockets to tap into underneath lamp posts." The nomoon shrugs, then winces with regret at the movement of her shoulders. "Daytime's not good, unless you plan on going down from an alley and working your way to the park."

Sepdet nods grimly at John. "I put off the Rite two weeks to allow more time for organizing, but I see that was not enough. However, I do not want to lose what has been done so far. At least let us try to get the area under Harbor Park done; if necessary, we can put mirrors in during the ritual. We can try to summon electricity spirits into the lights you've already installed, or, if you think you won't be able to replace them before they've burned out, I will only invite Helios down in two night's time. I can postpone Electricity until the next full moon."

Kaz nods thoughtfully. "Could also just start stickin' mirrors at entrances and not obsess about /inside/ the sewers yet."

Sepdet adds, "Also, you don't necessarly have to be right at the grates. Hang 'em on buildings, fences, aimed down."

Kaz eventually falls asleep on her sofa.

Yi nods slowly. "Well... not much we can do tonight. I think Little Bear is getting tired of standing here, so I should go. Good night everyone."

Sepdet nods to Yi. "Take care. Actually..." she looks at the half-sleeping Wendigo. "Let me help you there. I'll check in again tomorrow, if I can, John. We /are/ making progress, although it feels slow." She heads out with Yi.

"Pick off one flea at a time, and we'll get them all," Yi grins to the Strider before opening up the door to the street and waving to John.

John nods thoughtfully, and stands up. He shifts down to homid for a moment, and begins looking for something to use as clothing.