When Delilah finally noticed the quiet attention growing around her, she shrank back one step towards Esther. Then, she stiffened and pulled away. Just in case cartoon skin was catching.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer."

There were more children staring at her than she'd ever tried to intimidate before. There was no bite of bravado in her taunt.

"Why're you staring at me? Whatdya want?"

She wasn't sure how long it would take the pigman to eat his acorns, but she remembered that one kid he smacked down. If no one was working when he made the rounds, then what?

A murmur ran through the crowd of kids as they came closer to form a circle around Delilah. Esther let the shovel or instrument she was holding fall away and it clanged on to the floor.

"They're just getting ready for when Hogwash gets back to see what he does. They haven't seen anyone run away in a while and then come back. So some of them are probably curious to see what he might do to you."

"Maybe a few like Marty and Lula will probably try to hold you down and see if they can score brownie points when Hogwash comes."

"I was thinking of doing that...." Esther confessed.

"I still might." she confirmed.

Delilah's fists clenched. They shook from tension, but her palms were sweaty from dread. She couldn't tell whose side anyone was on.

"You wanna gang up on me? If you all ganged up on the pig, you'd probably be free already!"

There were too many to watch all at once. And she was no fighter. That was her sister.

Those words appeared to make the kids back up slightly. All of them except for Esther.

"He's just going to take a piece of you. Remember that. He'll just take a piece. You'll come out on the other end of it. Just think of that when he does it. I've been around for over twenty years, and I've only seen him kill two kids that came back from running away and one was by accident." She said, her voice somewhat strained and wavering between what sounded like an explanation to Delilah and urgent advice.

Then her tone shifted to focus on her own goals. "Oh Come on! What do you care if some of us get brownie points from Hogwash!? He's going to do what he does to you anyway." She pleaded with frustration, pawing at Delilah with a flimsy paper-arm with the clear hope that Delilah would allow herself to be held down by Esther.

Delilah couldn't imagine losing a piece of herself. She imagined Hogwash stalking after her with a knife to slice her up like a side of ham.

"I got away from that creepy clown and his monster spiders. No way I'm standin' still to be caught by you. So get back!"

Besides, Esther looked like a stiff breeze could topple her. If she could hold someone down, Delilah didn't want to know how.

OOC: Delilah Rolls Strength + Intimidation

04:51, Today: Delilah Gray rolled 2 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((9,7,10(+5),5)).

Perhaps if this was a normal lot of kids on a foreign playground, they might have the advantage. Delilah was clearly outnumbered and this strange place wasn't anything close to what she might have called familiar.

Nevertheless, he gritted teeth and posture--like a dog snapping at an intruder--seemed to have its affect. The circle grew wider as the sorry crowd of exhausted and desperate faces backed off. One kid fell backwards, clearly afraid of Delilah, or at least intimidated by her harsh words. Instead of grabbing a hold of him and pushing him upright, the kids behind him moved out of the way, letting him fall to the ground, his head thwacking the stone floor with muffled 'thud.'

Esther took a step backwards. "He'll be here any moment!" She cried to Delilah.

That last sentence was enough to get the kids running all over the place. They tripped over each other as circle dissolved kids running in every direction like roaches when the kitchen light is turned on.

Delilah heard the sound of a heavy door opening somewhere in the dark recesses of the forge. There was a clopping of footsteps coming closer...

Delilah turned towards the sound of the door. Kids scattered and jostled around her and she was caught in the middle. She turned dumbly to Esther, even though she was a double-crosser.

Don't want to be cut up. Don't want to be eaten up. Don't want to be turned into a pig.

She knew what happened if she went out the door. There had to be another way. Somewhere to hide! She quickly looked around, then up.

The sound of hooves on the hard stone was accompanied by a snorting and huffing sound as the Pig Monster made itself known, its voice sounding wet, deep and sloppy.

"Fee...Figh....Foe...Fum!" It bellowed. "Why are all my pretties running!?" It proclaimed, reaching out with one gnarled hand to swipe at a nearby child, nearly clobbering the child in the head as he ducked around an anvil to hide.

OOC: Delilah Rolls Dexterity + Stealth

21:15, Today: Delilah Gray rolled 1 success using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((1,3,5,9,3)).

Delilah stood too long staring. She watched Hogwash's grotesquely long hand slam into a kid's head. A shiver went up her back and she ran, too.

Delilah could feel her breath catch in her throat, her heart pounding as she ran. She could see two hiding spaces:

There was a small table with hand tools underneath, cluttered with metal and trinkets.

Then there was the pool. Water. From a small hole in the wall, a stream of constant water was flowing meant to dip hot metal and cool it off, perhaps after hammering.

Table? Pool? Table? Pool? Pool!

Delilah scrambled for the water. Her breath hitched one last time and she held it. She plunged in with her feet first and eyes shut.

The water wasn't as cold as it might have been. First Delilah noticed that her hair came loose and was weightless under the water. She could hear the rush of bubbles and the sound of her heart beating as she plunged deeper. It was only after the initial movement of her jump had faded, that she became aware that she was in complete darkness.

Bits of debris touched and rubbed against her skin.

Delilah felt her hair wafting upwards. It was a faint, gauzy sensation. Nothing like the slow burn building in her lungs. She wasn't sure if she'd gone down deep enough and she was too afraid to surface right now. She'd have to eventually. The water muted the noise of the sweatshop. Hogwash might be looming over the surface. Or not. No way to tell. Something brushed by in the dark. She opened her eyes and looked up.

Delilah was under the water now, which was deeper than it first appeared. Her movements were slow as she opened here eyes.

So far down in the pit the light from the forge became a soft, diffuse glow. Those once showering sparks couldn't penetrate the water which was murky and green. Delilah could see rocks that were now silhouettes in the dim. The light from above was dying quicker than the heat from a winter campfire. It was getting cold too, colder with each foot Delilah was below the water. With the increasing pressure Delilah began to feel like the water was thicker, like soup. She glance upward to the surface and felt her heart rate rise. Delilah had never been this deep before in water. Somewhere within, Delilah felt the competing desires to breath fresh air but also avoid being caught by the Pig.

As here eyes adjusted to the the dim light, Delilah could see skeletons. Small skeletons. A skeletal arm floated in front of her. A half-buried skull was on the floor at the bottom of this watery grave, a sheet of what looked like ashes.

OOC: Delilah Rolls Stamina to continue holding breath for another 30 seconds

The faint light pierced the gloom just enough. The something that she'd touched wasn't a rock or a bit of slag metal. This wasn't just a quenching pool. It was a mass grave.

Delilah's eyes went wide and she clapped her hands over her mouth; desperate to hold on to her breath. She kicked against the syrupy water and worked her way upwards. She prayed for the pig to be gone.

Delilah felt a large surge of air press into her lung involuntarily as she broke the surface. Water splashed around her and she heard someone say

"There she is!"

Delilah couldn't see who ratted her out. Not with water and wet hair over her eyes. She sucked in another breath and ducked back down.

She was under the water again, and this time she heard the frantic, muffled voices above her. The sound of hands plunging downward, the soft brush of fingers against her hair just as she plunged far enough down to get away.

And there she was again: back at the bottom of the watery grave with the skeletons. The remains of past kids who somehow had found themselves here.

OOC: Delilah Rolls Wits + Composure

This was bad! A mob of kids was up there waiting to hand her over to pig-man. Or just hold her down until she drowned.

She had to find a way out. Fast!

2/3 WP remaining.
13:06, Today: Delilah Gray rolled 3 successes using 6d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((3,5,1,1,10(+1),10(+10,6)))

The need to escape motivated Delilah as she swam back under. It was clear that the game couldn't last too long. That's when she saw it:

It was small hole in the side of the wall. It was opaque and without light. How far it went back into the deep recesses of this strange watery tank in the forge was unclear. Would it lead anywhere? Or would venturing forth towards the hole lead to watery death itself.

Delilah didn't know the answers to the these questions, but they raced through her mind as she saw the outside of the hole rusted and flaked with oxidized metal. It was just small enough for her to fit her body through if she wanted to, but it would be a tight fit all the same.

No time to second guess what lay beyond the crack in the wall. Delilah pushed her feet off a couple child-sized skulls and swam in a desperate bid for the small hole.

'PLUSH!'

The unmistakable sound of something plunging into the water. Bubbles from the disturbance circled around Delilah tickling her ears, face and nose.

As Delilah raced forward, she got the distinct sensation that something was following her. She glanced back to see another kid swimming towards her, a look of determination on his young, tired face.

Delilah approached the hole in the wall, seeing that it did in fact lead somewhere deep.  Before she entered the dark abyss of the long cavernous tunnel in front of her, Delilah had to fight once again to stave off another inner desire to surface for a final gasp of air.

OOC: Delilah Rolls Stamina

03:48, Today: Delilah Gray failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((2,1)).

Three strokes in and Delilah's lungs were ready to burst. She gave one more kick towards the crevice, then pulled toward the surface. Swimming was not her best sport and lying months in hospital had taken a toll on her endurance.