"...open your eyes..." Bradford finished, cementing his control and finishing the exercise. And then, in a more optimistic and friendly voice.

"Guys? Hello?"

"Come on guys, open your eyes." he said again, perhaps a little impatiently.

Shawn found that, although his eyes had been open for sometime, they now remained strangely fixed on Bradford's face. It was as if his eyes were open yet closed at the same time. Transfixed by whatever had happened.

Delilah's eyelids fluttered, then opened slowly. Despite the long rest, she felt exhausted and sweaty. As if she'd collapsed on the bench after a taxing routine. She wiggled her fingers and toes to make sure everything was still there. Mindfulness of being dead meat was scary.

Before anything else, Shawn made sure he could move again first, that he could look away from Bradford's face. Then he glanced around to see how everyone else was doing. He was trying to be cautious, for now.

Bradford's Mindfulness practice had left the house in a state of kindling and twisted metal. There were appliances scattered with no more order than fall leaves all around what was left of the kitchen. The place Bradford called home looked less appealing than a garbage dump. The home was wrecked, walls missing and roof collapsing.

Through the destruction, everyone could see a crimson-colored sky punctuated by a black sun. Wherever the kids had woken up, they clearly were no longer in the neighborhood.

Shawn and Delilah felt tingling sensations in their arms and legs, pins and needles in their hands, and a strange dizziness in their heads.

But they could move.

Tiffany got up, slowly from where she had fallen down off the chair, a large welt now visible on her forehead.

After making sure all of his friends were more or less okay, Shawn stared at Bradford. "Bradford, what was that?" He kept flexing his arms and legs, trying to get the feeling back.

Delilah gawked at the evil-looking sky. "Where are we?" She began to shake. It had nothing to do with the numbness in her limbs. "Where are we and how do we get back?!"

"We're all dead." Bradford said with inappropriate optimism. He searched everyone's face as if expecting them to be smiling just as he was. Like a comedian that had just made a great joke and was for affirmation from the crowd.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:57, Wed 11 Apr 2018.

"Dead?" Bobby asked, looking around at everyone else, to see what they were thinking. Small crumbs of plaster from the sheet-rock fell from his tangled, curly hair onto the floor.

Tiffany got up, with wide eyes, and immediately began to cry.

"I don't like this! I want to go home!" She cried, tears welling up and flowing down her face.

In the distance, the great black sun seemed to swirl in the red sky amidst the rubble of what was Bradford's house.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:57, Wed 11 Apr 2018.

"It's...o..o..o..ok." Ralph said, getting up from his chair which was still intact.

"We're...jus..jus..jus...just back here again. No..no..no..no sense in hiding it now Shawn." Ralph said, looking over to Shawn with an expression that suggested an explanation was needed.

"Back where!!!? What..is..he..TALKING ABOUT!" Tiffany screamed in desperation.

Shawn ignored the others, concentrating instead on the weirdly placid Bradford. "Bradford, you have to fix this! You can't just...kill us...." He faltered as he pondered the actual implications of Bradford's words.

Delilah got out of the chair so fast it fell behind her.

"What the heck?! You liar! You promised! We swore not to have any secrets or lies!"

She stormed towards Bradford to shove him.

Bradford frowned as Delilah came forward and shoved him. He fell backwards and landed on his butt. His magnified eyes gave Delilah a wounded look from down on the ground.

"I did--n't." He insisted, focusing exclusively on Delilah as if her opinion was the only one that mattered. "We can get back. We just have to get back before we're dead too long."

He was still looking at Delilah as she saw magnified tears well up in his eyes.

"It just, our own bodies are kind of...asleep without breathing. But time is slower here. So, we just have to get back to the kitchen...the real kitchen...my kitchen and out of the Underworld before we run out of breath." he stammered, the words flowing out of his mouth.

"Now we can get what we need to end the Circus once and for all. And then we never have to worry about Mr. Cherrywinks or anyone from there every again. All we have to do is get it. Once we get it, then we're off scott-free."

Delilah was winding up for a swift kick with her new, dead footbones. Her face was scrunched and hot with anger. Bradford groveled on the floor, saying something that sank through the red haze and thick skull.

"Get it? ..."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 10:19, Thu 12 Apr 2018.

"Why'd you have to bring everyone else along?" Shawn gestured to Bobby and the others. "If you want me to help, send them back!"

Bradford looked at Shawn "Because if we don't make it, then someone else will be able to bring the thing back that we need to end the Circus." Bradford said, as if saying so was somehow an explanation.

"Look, I know that it's a lot to ask. But everyone here pretty much already knows what is going to happen. If we don't stop this thing soon, then all the kids will end up dead or worse. Mr. Clayton has a plan. We just need to follow it. That's all."

"What THING!? What IT!? What are you talking about?" Tiffany screamed. Then she turned to Delilah "Tell him to bring us back!!!"

"STOP SCREAMING!" Delilah screamed back. "Everybody SHUT UP!"

Bradford told her about The Thing. She kind of remembered. She scrubbed her palms over her eyes. She really wanted to cry, but she didn't know when she would stop.

"If you're serious, then where do we go? What do we do? Will we know it when we see it?"

"I'm serious" Bradford confirmed.

"We have to go up to the great rock. It's called 'The Krinner.' And once we get there we have to go into a really big cave to get it. It's a long journey though."

"We can't miss it. It's a musical instrument. The first instrument that was every played to get the Circus going. It's the only thing that can shut it down."

"Everyone here doesn't know what's going to happen. They're just scared." Weirdly, Shawn was actually kind of on Delilah's side here - he did want to hurt the Circus. But not by risking Bobby or Ralph's life. And the others too! He didn't forget about them. That'd be bad.

"That's what I'm saying. I mean...that's what I mean too!" Bradford said, trying to explain things to Shawn in a pleading tone.

"They're scared. I'm scared too. I'm scared because I don't know if Mr. Cherrywinks, or the Fortune Teller or Hogwash is going to show up in my closet and put me in some kind of old potato sack and then, I don't know, kidnap me or kill me. That's a real possibility." Bradford winced as he spoke as if the idea of that happening actually hurt him. His great, magnified eyes blinked as he continued on.

"I mean, aren't you worried Shawn? Shouldn't everyone be worried? Especially now. Especially since something is going on with Fortune Teller. I know you feel it too. I see things happening. Things are breaking and people are complaining and things feel like their getting worse." Bradford intoned, forgetting or not caring that other kids were around and speaking almost entirely to Shawn. His hands were gesturing all over the place as he spoke, wildly expressing thoughts that until then had never been spoken between them.

"Whose going to feel the effect of everything that's going on? Do you think Cherrywinks is just going to hide while they hunt him down. While the Order takes care of him?"

"You could have asked me. We could've figured something out. You can't just drag everyone else in!" Shawn was on the verge of tears, though he tried to hide it. All the terrible stuff he'd done to keep Bobby and Ralph safe, and Bradford was ruining it all!

Bradford looked around. He looked at Delilah and then gazed at Tiffany, who at this point was crying.

"Just....I don't know..." Bradford said in the face of Shawn's emotions. "Sorry." He finished, shrugging his shoulders.

Shawn saw that Bradford looked like he was weakening a little. "C'mon, just send them back. You and me can do this ourselves. We can figure it out together." He tried to make it sound flattering, like Bradford was obviously smart and skilled enough to handle this.

"Nuh-uh." Delilah approached Bradford from his other side. Her eyes were trained on Shawn. "You can send the others back if you want to, but you can't go off alone with him. You can't trust him. He's a liar. And he'll leave you here. To die."

Bradford looked at Shawn and then Delilah. He seemed overwhelmed by the prospect of having to deal with both opposing positions. And then there was the crying from Tiffany in the background.

"It's....I don't want to." Bradford said finally in frustration. "I don't want to send anyone back. If we send them back and, and we don't get it. Then the whole thing will never end!"

He shouted that last part. A bit of desperation that made his voice crack at the end. Delilah could see Bradford's profile view of the side of his face. Behind the thick lenses of Bradford's glasses, his eyes were watering up with tears.

Shawn could see it too. The tears looked like they were about to stream down from Bradford's magnified eyes.

"It's not my fault!" Bradford shouted at Shawn, voice now hoarse and filled with fury and emotion. "None of this is my fault! I didn't choose to do any of this. You're saying it like I'm the one holding them or keeping them." He accused, pointing a finger at Shawn. "I'm not a bad kid! I'm saving kids. I'm trying to end this whole thing!!!!" He shouted with fury and anger but most of all pain. Shawn could feel Bradford's words as they came out in lashing waves. Everyone was standing still looking at him. It was as if the large, black sun in the sky wasn't there for a moment.

Tiffany kept on crying, a wailing noise in the background as silence settled in among the other kids.

Shawn felt Bradford's pain, and normally that might have been enough to make him back off. But he heard Tiffany's cries and knew Bobby would be confused and disoriented, and that hardened his resolve. "They're not going to be able to get whatever it is by themselves. They're going to die. For real. You can't just sacrifice them."

"Sacrifice?" Bobby asked, like he'd never heard of the word.

In the distance, that black sun pulsed like a lung, expanding and flexing. The sky was a a red smear, crimson clouds in a backdrop amid the rubble of the house.

Penelope had remained completely quiet since they had approached Bradford's house. She remained quiet as they went into the kitchen. She remained quiet during the meditation session and even when Tiffany started to cry and everyone had woken up.

Now she finally spoke, her mouth hanging open, eyebrows raised in shock.

"What...the...hell is going on?"

"This...place...is...RADICAL!" she announced with a rush of adrenaline

"No! No!" Bradford argued back. "No one will be sacrificed, no one will be betrayed!!" He shouted, giving Shawn a knowing look like he might go further with that comment. Like he might dig into it.



"We're going to protect people. Kids aren't strong enough to face the Circus. They need protecting. And protection and that kind of thing." Bradford was calming down now. He moved his head from side to side, straightened his posture. "And if they aren't strong enough then someone needs to step in. We need to step in. And make sure that they're strong. Because they might not want to be strong. And if you don't want to be strong that someone has to make you strong. So that way you aren't weak when bad things like the Circus and the Clowns come." 

Shawn got the message loud and clear, with Bradford threatening to expose him. He backed off a little, trying to sound more reasonable. "Why don't we just leave some of us here, then. To guard our exit, right? That's gotta be strong?"

Bradford's face suddenly changed to one of concern. He held up one finger as if to quiet Shawn down.

"What was that?" he asked, ignoring Shawn's questions. "Did you guys hear that?"


"..."

"What?"

"That noise." Bradford said again. "Someone said something about a....cabin..." Bradford looked around, as if uncertain.

"I didn't here anything." Penelope said. "Did you?" She asked Delilah.

"I...heard...heard it." Ralph agreed. "S..s...sounded like a whiny voice." Ralph said, looking this way and that as if he was checking before crossing a road.

Shawn squinted and looked around, as if that'd somehow let him hear things better. "I didn't hear anything?"

"I don't hear anything."

Delilah passed a shifty glare over Shawn. Somehow, some way, the voice Bradford heard was his fault, too.

A moment had passed, the kids looking at each other amid the ruin of the house searching and doubting about what they had heard. The red sky was angry with color. The black sun no longer a sun, but a an object clearly coming down from the sky, growing larger with every second. There was a 'whushing' sound, as something on either side of that black orb unfolded as it came closer.

Wings.

Leathery wings. Like a bat.

They began to flap loudly and then spread wide. The object was still some distance away, perhaps a minute or so, as it began to glide towards the group of kids in Bradford's once-intact kitchen.

Tiffany had stopped crying, she looked upwards at the impossibly large bat-sun, catching the movement of the long neck and head unfolded.

It was a lizard's head. Full with a beak that was hooked, eyes that were like slivers of yellow like cat eyes that marked the impossibly large creature.

"Oh brother!" Bobby yelled with unmistakable optimism that seemed ill-suited for the blanket of fear that covered most of the kids. He extended his finger out at the incoming creature, pointing out something that no one had missed.

"Feet don't fail me now!" Penelope announced, hopping over the broken shards of glass that had been sprayed over the kitchen floor and pushing her way through the open door way of the kitchen to the outside.

She was the first to run.

She took off in the opposite direction of the gliding lizard, feet moving quickly through the grass, head occasionally looking back. Not at the kids, but at the incoming bat-sun.

"A dragon!" Delilah scarcely breathed. Then she shoved Bradford's shoulder. "We gotta go! Move! Let's go!"

Delilah ran after Penelope. She hoped it was the right way.

Shawn grabbed Ralph and Bobby by the hands and started to run as well, taking a moment to look at Bradford to see what he was doing.

Delilah and Shawn couldn't help but look up as a long shadow came over them.

The creature was the color of the night, not a coincidence, but merely a function of his armored skin. In red sky it was a similar pattern to black sun. Out here in what wasn't the neighborhood, but the hills near the Circus--it the skin was a metallic grey. The creature---a dragon perhaps--must have had eyes that were able to zoom in from hundreds of yards away and its leathery bat wings cut through the air sending gusts of wind down onto the kids.


"RUUUUUUN!!!" Bradford yelled. It was an obvious thing to say, as the kids were already running hard.

Delilah's legs felt like rubber as the kids ran through the hills. Shawn could feel Ralph squeezing his hand, little feet shuffling beside him.


OOC: Shawn and Delilah Roll Stamina + Athletics +1 with the following results

0 Successes: Storyteller will roll Stamina + Athletics +1 for each NPC. Failing PC rolls and NPC rolls will be grouped together. Storyteller will make a random roll to determine which PC or NPC is captured.

1+ Success: Your character will not be included in the random roll above. If both Shawn and Delilah get at least 1 success, assume they were able to spur the rest of the group to safety.

OOC: 20:47, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 5 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 10(+10,4),2,10(+4),5,4,8,6,2,8. Stamina + Athletics +1 + WP.

20:31, Today: Delilah Gray rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((7,1,3,8,9,7,2)).

08:10, Today: Bradford Stork failed (no successes) using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((2,5,4,5)).
This message was last edited by the player at 12:13, Sat 21 Apr 2018.

08:11, Today: Penelope rolled 1 success using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((4,4,1,3,9)).

08:13, Today: Evil Circus - Ralph rolled 1 success using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((1,8)).

08:14, Today: Bobby rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((10(+7))).
This message was last edited by the player at 12:15, Sat 21 Apr 2018.

OOC: Everyone achieved at least 1 success except Bradford, so there is no random roll necessary. Bradford is captured by the creature.

Large talons unfurled as the bat-winged dragon swooped down from the red sky. It looked like for a moment it was going to catch two or even three kids. Ralph tripped over something and fell, his stubby, fat legs unable to keep the weight under him. The dragon creature fly by his head and snatch up Bradford with his claws.

"AhH!!" Bradford squealed, arms extended outward to grasp for help that wasn't there. There was a look of horror on his face as the great beast flew upward into the sky from where it came. It glided for a moment and then flapped its wings moving off into the horizon where a great mountain was in the distance.

And just like that, Bradford was gone.

Shawn kept Bobby and Ralph going until they found some sort of cover, just in case the dragon came back. He panted with exertion. "They got...Bradford." For a moment, the mean little part of him thought that he deserved it, but the far more practical rest of him realised that he was the only one who knew how to get out of here!

Delilah pumped her arms and legs, but felt as if she were running through syrup. Being dead must be terrible for the body.

A scream behind her turned her head. Her eyes went wide and her mouth hung open. She skid to a stop and ran back towards the beast. But it was already carrying the boy away.

"BRAAAAAADFOOORRRD! COME BAAAAACK!"

"Holy Hell!" Penelope yelled. Her hands came up to her cheeks and she said in a quiet whisper that everyone could hear.

"he's gone."

Tiffany looked around and started to cry again.

"I...*sniff*..want...*sniff*...to go....HOME!!!!"

Delilah screamed her frustration at Tiffany. "We all wanna go home! But Bradford's the one who knows the way!" Delilah waved her arm at the mountain.

Can we see any other destinations around?

Shawn squinted off in the distant, suppressing panic as he did. Which way was the dragon going? How were they going to find their way anywhere without Bradford? He knew he wasn't brave, but maybe he could act brave? "We can still go home, we just have to figure it out, okay?"

The question of where the kids would go was suddenly pressing upon everyone as the panic spread. There was a moment of collective consciousness, where everyone was looking around to see where they were, and what the possible options they had.

One obvious sight that everyone was already staring at, was the mountain where the dragon had flown to with Bradford. The mountain lay in the distance like a ridiculous green camel hump or perhaps the nose of a slumbering giant turned to rock. Bobby held out his hands to make a 'picture frame.' It fitted right in, a perfect photograph; from here it even looked two dimensional.

"I wonder how high it is." Bobby said absently, turning his head to look to the right.

And off to the right there were open plains. Unlike the previous path that was penned in by the large mountain, here you could see red sky in every direction to the horizon where it met with the golden color of the wheat that grew out of the plains. All those open plains were punctuated by the occasional odd, lonely tree and the long strands of angry clouds being dragged across the sky by the wind.

"I bet you could watch your dog run away for a month" Bobby said, to no  one in particular. There really was no cover, no hills, nothing to block the view on the path to plains.

Finally Bobby fixed his gaze at the final path: a forest.

Looking at the forest at the edge of their current location in the hills brought to mind the smell of damp leaves. Bobby and the rest of the kids could see the splash of water from a stream, cascades over tiny waterfalls and fungus on rotting tree stumps that marked the edge of the dark forest. Delilah could hear the rustle of
birds as wind stirred the tree branches.

"That forest goes on forever." Bobby observed, commenting on the third and final land mark from where the kids stood.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:03, Sun 22 Apr 2018.

Delilah surveyed the terrain. The mountain looked impossible: the distance to reach it, the craggy height of it. Plus, it must be swarming with dragons. The forest was mysterious: all shifting shadows and secret sounds. And the plain looked endless. She shut her eyes tight. Her hands stroked the length of her hair over and over, faster each time. Her mouth moved. She whispered counting down from ten. Once she reached zero she swiped her hand across her nose and straightened up.

"Alright! Listen up! We gotta find that thing Bradford was on about. Then, we gotta find Bradford." She bit her lip and looked again from the mountain to the plain to the forest and back. "He said... he said we gotta go to the great rock. Is that it?" She pointed at the mountain and looked around for some confirmation.

Shawn knows that Delilah's not going to want to listen to him, but the situation's too desperate to stay silent. "Dragons like treasure, right? I bet wherever it took Bradford's close to whatever we're looking for."

"In th..th..th..the stories." Ralph stammered. "Th..th..th..the dragon always has treasure. It could be a mou..mou...moutain of gold. Or a..a..a..a..a..princess."

"A princess" Bobby repeated, letting the word work itself around in his mouth as if the concept was unfamiliar. "A princess. A princess..."

"Delilah is right. We need to go to that mountain and break that dragon. The rock probably is the mountain. I love breaking stuff. And I know that that dragon is scary. So even if we don't get the dragon, we'll at least get Bradford. That's probably the only way we're going to get home is if we have him tell us somehow to get back."

"If this isn't all just a dream." She postulated.

"But even if it is a dream. It seems like getting Bradford at that mountain might be the only real shot that we have to wake up. And also, like you said, or he said, we need to find it."

"That's what Bradford called it. It."

Delilah gawked at Penelope. It was like looking back through time or seeing her own ghost. She shook her head slowly, solemnly.

"It's notta dream."

Shawn glanced back and forth between the forgetful Bobby, the very young Ralph, and the crying Tiffany. "...Maybe we should split up. Tiffany, Bobby, and Ralph can hide near the house to make sure it still safe?"

Delilah's eyes narrowed as Shawn spoke up. "Don't you think you're going to weasel out this time."

"NO!" Tiffany yelled in desperation. She suddenly stood up, brushed her pants off and tried to speak. But the sniffles caught her breath and the best she could manage was a stammer. Then she cleared her throat and rubbed her eyes before managing a single sentence.

"I...*sniff*...I'll be good." she promised, not saying exactly what she meant by 'good' although the gesture seemed to indicate that she didn't want to be left alone and was against the idea of splitting up.

Shawn raised his hands defensively. "I'm not trying to weasel out of anything. But Ralph and Bobby are my responsibility..."

"I..I..i..I know that we're alone." Ralph said, standing up from where he tripped to address everyone.

"..and..and..and..i know I'm the youngest." Ralph affirmed, acknowledging something that everyone knew was true. He could, of course, add fattest and shortest, but he didn't.

"But th..th..th..this is the time for us to stick together. B...b..b..Bradford said that we're dead in the re..re..real world. I've been here before. Th..th..this is the underworld. Th..th..this is the place where bad things...h..h..h..happen."

"I should tell you" He said, now addressing everyone else except Shawn and Bobby. "I..I'm not from here. I'm from somewhere else. N..n..nobody knows where my family is...and n..n..n..nobody knows how to get them back. I l..ll..live with Shawn. B....B..but I'm not from L.A." Ralph confessed, kneading his hands with nervousness as he layed his story out for everyone to hear.

"S..s..so I know I'm the youngest. But I've been here before. I'm lost. I d...d..don't have no family no more. So I know the Underworld when I see it. We..."

"We need to stick together. We d..d...d..don't have much time."

"You know?" Delilah's jaw dropped. It was hard to believe that a baby like Ralph had made it through The Circus.

"Alright, we're all sticking together. So nobody gets snatched. Or double-crosses anyone." She marched along in front of the group, but her eyes were hard on Shawn. "We're gonna go to that Krinner Mountain. And we're gonna get Bradford. And the thing. And go home. So no more crying! And no more lying about an-y-thing! If you're gonna be a crybaby or a turd, then you get left behind, got it? Let's move out!"

She aimed her finger at the mountain.

Shawn mostly ignores Delilah's speech, instead making sure he's close to Ralph and Bobby - they were the two he was really worried about. If anything happened to them...he wasn't sure what he'd do if they found Bradford...

"What's a Krinner?" Bobby asked stupidly.

As Shawn sidled up to both Ralph and Bobby, Delilah found herself close to Penelope. And now Tiffany, who had edged closer to Delilah after the speech.

It was a typical middle-school dance scenario with boys on one side and girls on the other.

"Alright." Tiffany said, sniffing once again and rubbing her face. "So...we should go." She suggested, perhaps as much hoping to get on with things as well as having everyone forget about her epic meltdown.

"It's another name for the place we are, Bobby." Shawn kept his voice reassuring, knowing it wasn't what he said that mattered, but more how he said it. He looked over at the girls, clearly waiting for them to take the lead.

Delilah felt good about standing with the other girls. Even if Tiff was a crybaby. She turned to the distant mountain. She had to psyche herself up.

"Let's go."

OOC: Shawn and Delilah Join Thread

Shawn, Delilah: Heading Towards the Mountain...