Dark*Matter, Discovery: A Quiet Little Assignment

[industrygothica]

Nick steps out of the car and instinctively reaches for his gun. He doesn't leave the side of the car, keeping a wide view of the area.

It takes him a few moments to realize that instead of his gun, it's his wand that he drew.

 

[Friadoc]

"So much for low-key," says Cade with a tart humor cast unto his voice. But, the look on his face softens it, a bit. Sure, he's a bit irked, but he likes this part of things, too. In fact, Cade almost seems at home, both in the small town and the forest.

With his eyes following his team mates' paths through the woods, the young man asks of the Professor, "Did I ever tell you that I grew up in rural Oregon? A place a bit similar to this, although some of the areas are denser."

 

[Shayuri]

"He was right here," Meri insists, her breath puffing out in a fog before her. "An old man looking right at us as we drove up. He...he was looking at that burned spot too though."

Meredith turns around to look back at the car and the burned patch.

"Okay...that's...weird. I'm sorry guys. I don't see ghosts or anything, so I don't know what this is all about. But I'm sure it's not a hallucination. It was very clear, very...very real. Lets head back."

She takes one more look at the spot the old man was, then shakes her head and starts trudging back to the road.

 

[Falkus]

shayuri
[sblock]As Meredith starts to turn, she saw the old man again. He was standing two hundred feet further into the forest, on the other side of a frozen pond. He was wearing a white cloak and what looked like... a suit of chainmail? He drew a long sword, that looked very much like the one Meredith had, and then he turned and started walking deeper into the forest.[/sblock]

 

[kinem]

"Well, something is at work here. We know that some magic-seeming stuff is real - heck, we can do some of it ourselves. Maybe he turned invisible. Or maybe he really is a ghost."

 

[Shayuri]

As Meredith turned to head back, she froze and whirled again. She stared fixedly into the forest, then pointed.

"He's right there. I'm looking at him right now. Over by the pond!"

Without looking away Meri said, "He's walking away. I...I think he wants me to follow him. I think I'm supposed to follow him."

She took a hesitant step...then another.

 

[iwatt]

To Cade "We're following Meri, Joker, over...try not to fall through the ice sweetheart." To Diego he adds.."I'll do the pyschic thing, you make sure she doesn't do anything crazy."

With that the con-man activates his second sight, trying to detect psychic activity.

[sblock]walk around with Detect Psyonics activated, leave the mundane world to the muscle.[/sblock]

 

[Friadoc]

With a dry chuckle, Cade replies, "Over. You folks need a hand, or do you want the Prof and I to hold up?"

 

[Falkus]

Meredith leads the group passed the pond and through the woods a short distance before reaching the base of a short cliff in a clearing, about fifteen feet high. There was, otherwise, nothing particularly remarkable about it.

shayuri
[sblock]At the base of the cliff, Meredith could see the old man look back, directly at her, and then he stepped into the face of the cliff, passing through it as if it weren't there and vanished from sight.[/sblock]

iwatt
[sblock]There doesn't seem to be any psionic activity affecting Meredith. Larry can, however, sense unusual psionic energy from various patches of ground near them in the forest, or rather, originating from two or three feet under these patches of ground. There appear to be a few dozen of them in the immediate vicinity.[/sblock]

Back by the road, as Nick and Cade studied the scene, a police car pulled up on the road behind them, and Sergeant Gibbens got out with a scowl on his face. "Figured I'd find you here," he grunted, his head shifting minutely towards the burned patch of ground before he fastens his gaze back on the two. "Where are the others? Doesn't matter... Mr. deGant wants to see you. Now. Get in your car and follow me."

 

[Friadoc]

"We've an opening this afternoon, if he'd like me to pencil him in," says Cade calmly and a half-smile upon his face. "Or he can come out here, but I ain't leaving the crew."

"Now, if you like, we can wait 'til they get back and go from there," states Cade. "Of, if you don't like."

While Cade isn't fully combative, he's obviously not cowed by the cop who's in the corporation's pockets, either.