NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jonrog1" data-source="post: 85575" data-attributes="member: 189">EXIT 23 -- PT. 5or"Relax while I pour lye on your wound ..."  The Unholy Giant Wolf With Red Glowing Eyes (TM) brought one massive claw back and SLAMMED it into Andy's chest, lifting him ten feet into the air.  Andy's leather jacket shredded, long talons ripped through his flesh.  Andy hissed involuntarily as the feeling of claws was followed by cold, like shards of ice shoved deep into the wound -- Ross charged into the snow, but he was too far away, the knee-deep powder slowing him down -- And poor Johanna, the first victim of the Winter Demon, lay sprawled face-down in the parking lot -- -- completely unhurt. The State Trooper's vest was sheared away, but it had sucked up that first brutal hit. Jo lay face down, playing dead, watching the beast tear into Andy. The Trooper's Glock Nine Mil was icy in her hand. She had the only firearm ... but she couldn't bring herself to use it! (DM's Note: one of my favorite role-playing moments ever. Jo wasn't stunned -- there was just no way she was going to attract the Bad Thing's attention. She just lay there waiting for it to go away.) The Winter Demon clawed Andy again in mid-air as he fell. Andy crumpled into the snow. The Demon whirled -- and charged Jo again! Jo lay there, paralyzed with fear as the horror thundered closer to her ... let out an unholy ROAR ... reached her ... ... and disappeared in a whirlwind of snow. "F&@#*$$&!" Andy rose to one knee. Stephen lifted him, eased him inside, a long scarlet trail on the white behind them. Ross reached Johanna. He quickly discovered she was unhurt. Hoping that the Demon was occupied elsewhere, they dashed for the Trooper's cruiser. They recovered a 12 guage and spare ammo for the pistol and shotgun. Not wishing to press their luck, they dashed back to the rest stop. "How is he?" asked Ross as they returned. "AAAGGGHHHHH!" Andy convulsed. Stephen looked up, a little embarassed, his hands covered with bloody bandages. "Err, he's been better." (the second time Stephen rolled all 1's on his healing checks. His legendary inability to heal the living actually became a plot point in a later adventure...) They managed to stabilize Andy. Faint pools of golden glow from the flashlights allowed Andy to study the papers from the dead man's briefcase. As the most heavily wounded, he was given the bulletproof vest as protection. Johanna objected. Or at least they think she objected. She was pretty far into the vodka bottle now. Finally Andy gathered the others around. "Okay, this is what I've got. Jonas Riley works for a place called the Hoffman Institute. It seems like a paranormal research center, but other documents imply government connections ... Anyway, after a well-known occultist died, Riley was sent up to scope out his house. The place was cleaned out -- Riely figured this guy was a low-rent Crowley, had a little cult going. But he did find a secret compartment containing that ... snowglobe." They all threw a nervous look at the bizarre artifact. Stephen gulped when he saw that now, in front of the tiny rest stop, there was a smudge of red. Exactly where Andy had bled outside the real rest stop. "So using some test -- doesn't say what -- Riley discovers the globe is supernatural. He's heading up to the Seattle office of this Hoffman Institute when --" Andy gestured around them. "Next thing you know, dead in the men's room." "He goes to the men's room, the thing comes after him for the globe," Stephen theorized, "the Trooper stalls it a second by shooting, Riley takes the moment to hide the briefcase." "Here's an idea. Monster wants globe, give monster globe." Andy was once again being "practical". "And it eats us anyway, but now it has more power because it has its little Snowglobe o' Evil. Don't think so." Ross chambered a round in the 12 gauge. "Got any idea what it is?" "Nope -- but when it appeared, did you notice an orange glow?" Ross, Stephen and Jo looked at each other. "No." "Good, that means something else is in here with us." Andy pointed. Orange light and shadows flickered in the foyer area outside the donut shop. Leading with the 12 gauge, Ross rushed out. "FIRE!" The gas station next door was on fire! The group scattered for extinguishers, anything they could find. Thanks to some quick thinking Stephen and Ross managed to contain the blaze withing mintues. Ross noticed, though, that the fire had started from a pile of magazines in the center of the room. "What kind of monster sets fires?" asked Ross. BANG! Wood splintered past Jo's head. One of the truckers, the man, suddenly dove from the donut shop door. He came up in a crouch, aimed carefully. "YOU WILL ALL DIE!" He fired three more times as the group scattered ...</blockquote>

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