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Story Hour
First Sight: A d20 Modern Story Hour (Updated 01-03-2008)
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<blockquote data-quote="Lamprolign" data-source="post: 1717367" data-attributes="member: 7860"><p>033</p><p></p><p></p><p>A glazing of fresh ice coated the city, every exposed edge trimmed in a skirt of prismatic spears. Poe strode through the crystalline world left by the storm. </p><p></p><p>She approached one of the many rail yards south of the Chicago Ship Canal. Derelict warehouses and factories created a skyline of crumbling chimneys and broken walls. The alleys choked on a banquet of debris. Broken pallets and rusting steel drums piled in drifts alongside buildings and behind decaying chain-link fences.</p><p></p><p>At irregular intervals, a functioning streetlight pierced the night's cloak. Poe avoided the small pools of light as she trod the obstacle course. Many people thought to hide from the darkness beneath the lamps. They seemed not to realize that standing in the light they could not see into the darkness. But what lurked in the dark could see them. </p><p></p><p>Poe stopped in front of a five-story brick building that stretched for nearly a block in length and width, its many iron-framed windows like so many gaping mouths filled with teeth of shattered glass. She continued along the building, turning down the alley at its side.</p><p></p><p>A dozen paces away from the street she stopped and studied the rough brick walls to either side, the patchwork asphalt beneath her feet. <em>This was the place, so long ago...</em></p><p></p><p> Angry shouts echoing from the far end of the alley broke her reverie. She leapt to a narrow window ledge on the wall above her and looked toward the noise. A gray-haired man half limped, half ran down the alley toward her. </p><p></p><p>"You're outta places to run, pops!" </p><p></p><p>Tim Sweeney heard the voice behind him, far closer than it had been moments ago. He gasped for each breath as he staggered down the alley. Blood completely obscured the sight in one eye, the other slipped in and out of focus. Dark red highlighted rips in his overcoat and shirt beneath. Two young men bearing lock-blade knives pursued. </p><p></p><p>"Stop runnin', pops, and we'll make it quick." <em>Like hell we will, old <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />er. You've already pissed me off.</em> Darin Hunter and his accomplice had tailed the old man from the old Ferguson Hotel, waiting for a sufficiently deserted area. He wiped the sticky red on his hand across a shirt already soiled by blood spattered when the old man resisted their acquisition of his wallet. </p><p></p><p>Tim staggered further into the pitch black of the alley. <em> If only I were twenty again...I'd take those punks!</em> But that ability was long past. They'd knocked the snub-nose .38 from his hand almost before he'd pulled it from his coat pocket. <em>What a fool I was to think I could still handle a gun.</em></p><p></p><p>The shadow close around him became viscous, almost tangible as he wobbled into a darker length of the alley. He could no longer see the street under his feet or the sky above. Something stirred the darkness beside him. His already straining heart almost gave up when he looked into a pair of glowing red eyes. </p><p></p><p>"Rest easy old one. You're safe now." A woman’s quiet voice drifted from beneath those eyes. The eyes then vanished, leaving only darkness.</p><p></p><p><em>God have mercy,</em> the old man thought, certain that the angel of death had come for him. </p><p></p><p>Darin saw the old man disappear into shadows, then saw shadow billow toward him like a cloud. The leading edge surged past him, extinguishing all sight.</p><p></p><p>"What the <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />!?" He yelled. "Hey! Where the <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> are you, Billy?"</p><p></p><p>"I'm right here, man! I can't see a thing!" Panic edged the reply.</p><p></p><p>Billy Cannon glanced around frantically in the smothering gloom, searching for anything. He gasped when he saw narrowed red eyes glaring down at him.</p><p></p><p>"<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />! Help me! There's someth...." the words ended in a short-lived scream.</p><p></p><p>"Billy! Where are you, man? What happened?" Darin's throat constricted with fear. He ran, straight into a rough brick-faced wall. "<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />," he muttered, rolling onto his hands and knees in an effort to regain his feet. Someone, <em>something</em> grabbed his collar and hoisted him upright.</p><p></p><p>"You punks like kicking old dogs that can't bite, don't you?" A woman's voice, soft as steel drawn from the scabbard, whispered in his ear.</p><p></p><p>Poe smiled when the wretch tried to pull away from her. <em>Damn! I love it when they fight. </em> </p><p></p><p>****</p><p></p><p>Inside The Mill, harsh mechanical music reverberated through the fabric of the building itself. Poe stood in front of track-doors large enough to admit two city garbage trucks side-by-side. She felt alive with power after her evening's repast. She had watched the old man stumble away. His would-be murderers would not be found for some time. </p><p></p><p>The suggestion of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. In spite of The Sister's admonitions, nothing replaced live food, and it was so satisfying when it justly deserved its fate. </p><p></p><p><em>A woman has to eat.</em> The thought brought her back to her last conversation with Gabe, and the descriptions of the bodies. Her smile vanished and older memories awoke. </p><p></p><p>She easily slid open the thick doors and scanned the cavernous interior. Mismatched tables formed a rough border to the open central floor. The ceiling vaulted four stories above, with balconies encircling the perimeter at each level. Old chains looped over and through pulleys hung from great steel tracks traversing the vault, remnants of the building's original use. The air inside was hazy and barely warmer than the chill outside. The people milling about were clad in myriad combinations of black, gray, white and red. </p><p></p><p>Sliding the door closed, she moved across the former factory floor toward a cluster of tables in the far corner. </p><p></p><p>"Poe," said a deep, resonating voice from beside her. "It has been some time since you crossed our threshold."</p><p></p><p>"She has returned, Kifaru." Poe stopped and slowly turned to face the source of the voice. </p><p></p><p>He crossed massive arms across his barrel chest. Thin, pale scars formed intricate patterns, straight lines that swirled into concentric circles with rows of pale dots between the lines. These sleeved his arms and continued onto his torso, disappearing beneath a charcoal tank-top shirt. He wore fatigues with black/gray-shaded camouflage patterns, tucked crisply into high black boots. Not a strand of hair marred the perfect ebony dome of his head. Ochre eyes peered from above broad cheekbones and a blocky, clean-shaven jaw. Poe stood as a child beside him. </p><p></p><p>"Interesting," he said and gestured toward the back tables. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>© Austin Hale, 2004</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lamprolign, post: 1717367, member: 7860"] 033 A glazing of fresh ice coated the city, every exposed edge trimmed in a skirt of prismatic spears. Poe strode through the crystalline world left by the storm. She approached one of the many rail yards south of the Chicago Ship Canal. Derelict warehouses and factories created a skyline of crumbling chimneys and broken walls. The alleys choked on a banquet of debris. Broken pallets and rusting steel drums piled in drifts alongside buildings and behind decaying chain-link fences. At irregular intervals, a functioning streetlight pierced the night's cloak. Poe avoided the small pools of light as she trod the obstacle course. Many people thought to hide from the darkness beneath the lamps. They seemed not to realize that standing in the light they could not see into the darkness. But what lurked in the dark could see them. Poe stopped in front of a five-story brick building that stretched for nearly a block in length and width, its many iron-framed windows like so many gaping mouths filled with teeth of shattered glass. She continued along the building, turning down the alley at its side. A dozen paces away from the street she stopped and studied the rough brick walls to either side, the patchwork asphalt beneath her feet. [i]This was the place, so long ago...[/i] Angry shouts echoing from the far end of the alley broke her reverie. She leapt to a narrow window ledge on the wall above her and looked toward the noise. A gray-haired man half limped, half ran down the alley toward her. "You're outta places to run, pops!" Tim Sweeney heard the voice behind him, far closer than it had been moments ago. He gasped for each breath as he staggered down the alley. Blood completely obscured the sight in one eye, the other slipped in and out of focus. Dark red highlighted rips in his overcoat and shirt beneath. Two young men bearing lock-blade knives pursued. "Stop runnin', pops, and we'll make it quick." [i]Like hell we will, old :):):):)er. You've already pissed me off.[/i] Darin Hunter and his accomplice had tailed the old man from the old Ferguson Hotel, waiting for a sufficiently deserted area. He wiped the sticky red on his hand across a shirt already soiled by blood spattered when the old man resisted their acquisition of his wallet. Tim staggered further into the pitch black of the alley. [i] If only I were twenty again...I'd take those punks![/i] But that ability was long past. They'd knocked the snub-nose .38 from his hand almost before he'd pulled it from his coat pocket. [i]What a fool I was to think I could still handle a gun.[/i] The shadow close around him became viscous, almost tangible as he wobbled into a darker length of the alley. He could no longer see the street under his feet or the sky above. Something stirred the darkness beside him. His already straining heart almost gave up when he looked into a pair of glowing red eyes. "Rest easy old one. You're safe now." A woman’s quiet voice drifted from beneath those eyes. The eyes then vanished, leaving only darkness. [i]God have mercy,[/i] the old man thought, certain that the angel of death had come for him. Darin saw the old man disappear into shadows, then saw shadow billow toward him like a cloud. The leading edge surged past him, extinguishing all sight. "What the :):):):)!?" He yelled. "Hey! Where the :):):):) are you, Billy?" "I'm right here, man! I can't see a thing!" Panic edged the reply. Billy Cannon glanced around frantically in the smothering gloom, searching for anything. He gasped when he saw narrowed red eyes glaring down at him. ":):):):)! :):):):)! Help me! There's someth...." the words ended in a short-lived scream. "Billy! Where are you, man? What happened?" Darin's throat constricted with fear. He ran, straight into a rough brick-faced wall. ":):):):)," he muttered, rolling onto his hands and knees in an effort to regain his feet. Someone, [i]something[/i] grabbed his collar and hoisted him upright. "You punks like kicking old dogs that can't bite, don't you?" A woman's voice, soft as steel drawn from the scabbard, whispered in his ear. Poe smiled when the wretch tried to pull away from her. [i]Damn! I love it when they fight. [/i] **** Inside The Mill, harsh mechanical music reverberated through the fabric of the building itself. Poe stood in front of track-doors large enough to admit two city garbage trucks side-by-side. She felt alive with power after her evening's repast. She had watched the old man stumble away. His would-be murderers would not be found for some time. The suggestion of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. In spite of The Sister's admonitions, nothing replaced live food, and it was so satisfying when it justly deserved its fate. [i]A woman has to eat.[/i] The thought brought her back to her last conversation with Gabe, and the descriptions of the bodies. Her smile vanished and older memories awoke. She easily slid open the thick doors and scanned the cavernous interior. Mismatched tables formed a rough border to the open central floor. The ceiling vaulted four stories above, with balconies encircling the perimeter at each level. Old chains looped over and through pulleys hung from great steel tracks traversing the vault, remnants of the building's original use. The air inside was hazy and barely warmer than the chill outside. The people milling about were clad in myriad combinations of black, gray, white and red. Sliding the door closed, she moved across the former factory floor toward a cluster of tables in the far corner. "Poe," said a deep, resonating voice from beside her. "It has been some time since you crossed our threshold." "She has returned, Kifaru." Poe stopped and slowly turned to face the source of the voice. He crossed massive arms across his barrel chest. Thin, pale scars formed intricate patterns, straight lines that swirled into concentric circles with rows of pale dots between the lines. These sleeved his arms and continued onto his torso, disappearing beneath a charcoal tank-top shirt. He wore fatigues with black/gray-shaded camouflage patterns, tucked crisply into high black boots. Not a strand of hair marred the perfect ebony dome of his head. Ochre eyes peered from above broad cheekbones and a blocky, clean-shaven jaw. Poe stood as a child beside him. "Interesting," he said and gestured toward the back tables. © Austin Hale, 2004 [/QUOTE]
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First Sight: A d20 Modern Story Hour (Updated 01-03-2008)
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