Shawn had meandered around the Circus for a while, finding a small drain. Like a rat in the darkness, he scurried down it, the stench of foul odors clogging his nose and invading his senses. The walls were slippery as he descended the ladder, landing on a surface of old, grimy stone.

As Shawn looked up he realized this might be more than just a sewer. Perhaps an old subway of some kind.

Shawn looked around for anything that could give his search context; landmarks, signs of previous passage, even potential dangers.

The tunnel was large and the smell of foul, putrid garbage filled the air. Shawn cocked his head to one side, listening for something, anything. There was a dripping sound coming from beyond the abandoned metro car, the faint sound of running water.

Shawn was hit by the notion that underground there was a dank, forgotten place that most people never give much thought. Even though he was in a different world than his own, the vast, sprawling warrens of the underground sewer system: pipes, and tunnels existed under all of bustle. It was a murky, shadowy place full of blackness and silence, secretly coexisting with the upper world of the Circus.

To the left of him, Shawn saw another, smaller and more narrow tunnel. It seemed to lead to a darker passage. Graffiti lined the wall, spelling out the letters 'Malphrus Layer' with a large red arrow pointing down in the direction of the darkness.

It was clear that from this entrance, there were too choices, two paths to go. Shawn was also overcome with the sudden sensation that he needed to pee.

Shawn forced himself to hold it - even though he was in the sewer. now was not the time to just go pee. He tried to think logically; this looked like a big place, and searching it all could take years. But this was a sewer, which meant if he could find running water, and specifically a grate or other obstruction, it'd basically be like searching for everything upstream of it, since the water would wash away any bo...any object in it. That way he could save time searching, right?

He headed towards the other side of the metro car.

It was a logical thought. Things flowed upstream. And that meant that if the boy....had washed up there...he might be there. Shawn found himself unavoidably thinking of what that might mean when and if he found the boy. The boy he remembered had had blonde hair and a backwards hat and spoke with a French-like accent.

Heading past the metro car, Shawn saw the loud water flowing. He followed the stream and the current smoothed out. Finding himself walking along-side the water, the cement becoming more clear, hardened--the sewer taking on a constructed, organized appearance. Shawn adjusted his nose, the foul smell becoming more normal.



Then, in the distance he saw a swollen, lump floating against a grate, the rushing water passing through it. It looked like a body. But a terribly inflated one. Shawn couldn't reach it from this perspective. And there was nothing around to drag the body closer.

Now the smell was terrible. A powerful, pungent, disgusting odor that was like a garbage can left to ferment in high heat for an extended period of time.

Shawn tried to creep closer to the body, as close as he could without getting into the water. He deliberately slowed his progress so he could keep an eye out for dangers. He couldn't be sure, but the Circus seemed like a place where scavengers might be attracted to a body. Of which he was one, he realized in a brief but painful moment of self awareness.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Fri 28 Apr 2017.

"Hey! Get away from there!" Shawn heard a voice say. A sharp command, like a warning shot firing off the bow of some great ship.

Then upon turning around, he saw it was Crowley. He had an angry glare in his eyes, small, delicate hands with finger nails too long and sharp were brought up by his sides. His needle-point teeth were bared, diaper sagging on one side.

"It's you." He said, speaking less to Shawn and more informing himself.

"Hello Crowley. I hope you're well?" Shawn wasn't particularly happy to see the creature, especially in these circumstances. He had a sinking feeling they were there for the same reason. But he remembered that Crowley liked politeness, and he wasn't going to needlessly burn a bridge.

Every part of Crowley seemed to soften at Shawn's politeness. Every part except Crowley's eyes. They remained old, and hardened on Shawn, sizing him up.

"Good afternoon." Crowley said with fake politeness. "What are you about here?"

"I've been sent to look for something down here. How about you?" Shawn knew he onlu half-answered the question, but considering the circumstances, it seemed fair. He kept his expression and tone gormless and open; acting started with the eyes, so he made sure his were wide and innocent.

"Something down here." Crowley repeated, matching Shawn's look of innocence with one of cautious circumspection. He scratched at that angry rash with his sharp nails, flaked of dandruff floating down onto the grimy, soiled rock where his small baby-feet stood, toes wiggling.

OOC: Shawn Rolls Manipulation + Expression +Striking Looks  with the following results

0 Successes: Crowley sees through the charm and guesses why Shawn is here and considers him hostile competition

1 Success: Crowley has a good guess as to why Shawn is here, but doesn't consider Shawn hostile competition

2+ Successes: Crowley can't see through Shawn's acting. He guard is let down and he turns to questioning and then deal making.

"Oh, neat!" Shawn gave him a look of innocent curiousity.

OOC: 13:52, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 5 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more.  Manipulation + Expression +Striking Looks.

Crowley wandered towards Shawn, or more accurately, waddled. His diaper was sagging, one small foot pigeon-toed as approached the river of green sewage water that separated them. To the left, at the end of the grate, the body just floated, face pressed against the iron bars as water passed through in a constant rushing wave.

"I get the feeling you might be here for the same reason that I'm here." Crowley mused, a smile that didn't seem friendly growing wide on his face to expose his needle teeth once again. "I'll wager your looking for something in say, that boy's pockets? That's OK. I don't have to have it. But, I won't leave either." He said, leaving the situation in a standoff. "I can't just let you have it for free. There isn't anything as a free lunch, even in the sewers beneath the Circus. You don't want to get lost down here, let me tell you. The Circus doesn't use these sewers, the sewers lead to the Circus. It's the only fair way to travel in the underworld to get to other places without getting lost. " 

Shawn gave Crowley a relieved smile at, one with shades of his actual feelings. Crowley was small, but his teeth looked very sharp, and Shawn didn't want to make him mad. "So...if it's not for free, do you have a price in mind?"

"There's always a price for everything." Crowley said. He didn't seem to press upon that outer shade of Shawn's feelings that Shawn chose to show him. Instead, he seemed to be satisfied with what Shawn gave, not peeling at all at the layered complexity obfuscated Shawn's thoughts and feelings.

"Do you have anything on you? Let's start with that." Crowley said, neck crooked forward in a searching gesture, looking for anything that might be bulky on Shawn's body or in his clothing. He was looking for anything of value, that was certain.

Shawn rummaged through his pockets, checking for anything valuable. There was the rabbit's foot, but that wasn't his, just a loan from the Fortune Teller. In the end, after fishing around, he'd pulled out around $20 in mismatched bills and coins and a baby tooth. The tooth was his, lost recently, and he'd kept it mostly because the idea of a supernatural entity that approached you while you were asleep, even if it was ostensibly to give you money, had lost a lot of its lustre in recent times.

Crowely examined the contents from afar, neck straining as if to impossibly bridge the river of raw sewage separating them. "That's it?" Crowley asked, dissappointed.

OOC: Shawn Rolls Manipulation + Expression to see if he can convince Crowley that the deal is sufficient

"This is really important stuff!" Shawn scrambled to think of why this was true even as he said it. "Baby teeth are a symbol of innocence and growing up and all that, and money, money's the most dangerous weapon in the world. More men have been killed by money than all the guns and bombs and wars in the world."

Shawn wasn't sure what the latter bit meant; it was a quote that one of his movie dads had said in Robot Dawn, and it sounded profound and philosophical enough.

OOC: 07:51, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 1 success using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more with rolls of 5,4,7,1,7,1,9(+4).  Manipulation + Expression.

"Money that people fight over?" Crowley affirmed, though Shawn could tell the words didn't mean much to him in the same way that Shawn had said them. In fact, staring at Crowley, Shawn got the sense that unlik Gaggles or even Cherrywinks, Crowely didn't get out often. It was possible that Crowely spent unknown years down in this underworld, seeing terrible things. Yet at the same time, The Fortune Teller had spoken of Crowley like some kind of bystander, somehow present as part of conflict between her and Cherrywinks, but not a participant.

"Take that old broken baby carraige, put the money in and sent it across the river to me." Crowley instructed. The carraige to Shawn's left, looked like it was something out of last century, all filled with vines and dust. Only the top part of it was intact. Big enough to hold Crowley himself.

Treading carefully so as to make sure he didn't fall in, Shawn set the money in the carriage rolled it into the water, and then shoved it across.

The thing moved across, listlessly drifting with the money on top. Then Shawn saw something change in the body that was stuck against the grate. It's skin began to crawl. He saw the inscriptions on the pale, bloated body that was Henri's. It seemed to come alive, growing mists and tendrils that ran into the water and into the air. A green branch of mist formed, and took a swipe at floating object, missing it by a inch.

"It's what I thought!" Crowley exclaimed. "That body's poised by the Tattooed Lady!"

"Uh oh...what does that mean?" This seemed like bad news to Shawn, but at the same time, the Tattooed Lady worked for the Fortune Teller, right? Would it let him near the body? Or maybe if necessary he could maybe ask her to unpoison it?

"You have to watch out for her. She's the only one in the Circus besides the Fortune Teller who can write in the Old Tongue. From the time before the Circus was a Circus. It was just a traveling horde of demons, barely able to change itself and hide what it really was: just a back of soul thieves."

He pointed at the body floating against the grate, raw sewage swooshing over it and passing through the iron bars.

"You can't pass through there to get that!" he delighted, pointing at Henri's floating body, index finger extended long fingernail pointed. "Not unless you want the ancient ruins she's carved into his skin to attack you. Those scriptures are unknown. There's no telling what they'll do! Looks like you're out of luck. Unless you've got a totem from the Tattooed Lady or the Fortune Teller herself..."

Shawn could tell that this might have been Crowley's plan all along: to see what he could get out of Shawn, knowing that Henri's body might have some kind of poison or something wrong with it.

"Of course, I might have something in that category..." he said, seeming to indicate he had such an item from the Fortune Teller.

Shawn considered whether the rabbit's foot he'd received from the Fortune Teller might be a 'totem'. Maybe. But did he really want to risk his life on a maybe? He maintained his dull-eyed naive expression, and added a dash of excitement and curiousity. "Really? What is it? Is it for sale?"

Crowley smiled revealing those thin, needle-point teeth that did indeed look very sharp. "Yes." Crowley said, producing a small object that looked like a rabbit's foot. This one had a red, metal rabbit's head covering it, with large blue eyes. The fur on the foot was black. But that appeared more because it was dirty and aged.

Crowley waved the item in front of his face to show Shawn that he did, in fact, have something that could help him with the endeavor. "This is exactly what will help you. It's from a fallen member of the Fortune Teller's Order from long ago. She has different people join at times. It's a never ending struggle here at the Circus. Sometimes even the souls of those who join are lost."

Shawn could tell that Crowley didn't see that as a bad thing. The expression on his face was one of opportunity. "If someone dies here, they often leave things behind of value." he confirmed.

Shawn squinted across the gap. The totem looked kind of like his rabbit foot, which made it seem like they might both be totems. But again, that was still a risk to take. "How much is it?" Last time he'd bought things with a piece of his soul, but he'd needed a machine for that. What could he barter with down here?

"All of the soul this time." Crowley said without missing a beat. It was as if he had it all planned out, ready for Shawn to ask the question.

Shawn looked at Crowley, confused and sceptical; he wasn't acting now. "Wouldn't that kill me? It's not like I could use the totem or anything if I was dead."

Crowley chuckled, giving the impression that he was only joking around about taking all of Shawn's soul, even though Shawn could tell he probably wasn't.

"No, not all of it. I mean, yes. It would just mean you couldn't really do much outside of here." He laughed, waving away his first suggestion with small, clawed hand.

"Let's say, 7/8ths of it." he countered, trying to make it seem that his second offer was much more sincere, genuine.

"I don't think that's much better..." Shawn tried to think of how to approach this without either giving up his soul or making (yet another) enemy. "I mean, how do I even know that this totem is the right one? It could just be a regular rabbit's foot..."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:07, Sat 06 May 2017.

"Have I ever steered you wrong before?" Crowley asked. "You drove a hard bargain to get that blanket, if I recall correctly. You're quite the negotiator. I only sell the most coveted, highest quality wares. My reputation would suffer otherwise. And the Numbers Game was certainly one of the rarer gems of my collection. Its not often that you come across a relic of the Old Times just sitting around. Something of such power and possibility."

Shawn continued to play dumb. "I don't know...I'd feel more comforable if I had some proof, you know? You let me try the Numbers Game before I bought it, remember?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:09, Sun 07 May 2017.

Crowley narrowed his eyes

OOC: Shawn Rolls Manipulation + Socialize + Striking Looks Vs. Crowley's Wits + Socialize. Shawn g with the following results:

0 Successes greater that Crowley's roll: Crowley outright refuses.


1 Success greater that Crowley's roll: Crowley agrees to the proposal and let's Shawn 'try' the totem


2 Success greater that Crowley's roll: Crowley shows Shawn how it works, incredulous that Shawn wouldn't believe him. He goes to the body with the totem in hand, and tries to fish out the object in Henri's body by himself.

Shawn redoubled his look of wide-eyed innocence in the face of Crowley's suspicion, but he had an idea of where it might be heading so he tried to redirect him just a little bit. "Oh, but you shouldn't risk yourself on my behalf. I'll try it out for you, okay? I promise I'll give it right back. Scout's honor." Shawn didn't really doubt the totem's functionality, and he worried that getting the object from Crowley might prove even harder than getting it from the body.

OOC: 09:16, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 4 successes using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 10(+5),8,4,9,9,7,7. Manipulation + Socialize + Striking LP

Crowley tried to stomp his way forward in anger at the implication that his wares weren't good or real or didn't have the capacity to 'work.' But in the end, given his small body, he really just waddled like a toddler. The movements were deceptively coordinated though, and quick, giving Shawn confidence in his earlier assessment that Crowley could be dangerous under the wrong circumstances.

Crowley hopped into the water with a splash, diaper filling fast and expanding, little legs kicking. His eyes never left Shawn's own eyes. There was anger in Crowley's face. But it was those eyes--hard set and old. They seemed like demon-eyes now, a flash of anger turning them briefly red. Or was that just Shawn's imagination?

He brandished the totem as the tendrils of mist sprung from Henri's body. They wavered in the air as if uncertain. Then with one quick swipe, Crowley grabbed something out of Henri's bloated body, and waded across the river to Shawn. Then tendrils closed in behind him, but did nothing.

Dripping water rolled off Crowley's angry rash and down his back and chubby thighs as he approached.  He released the object from his clawed hand so it plopped down in between Shawn and Crowley.

It was a clown nose.

"I told you it worked." Crowley said, angrily, staring Shawn down.

Shawn bent down to pick up the nose before Crowley could change his mind, then gave him a happy and impressed smile. "Wow, that was amazing! I'm sorry I ever doubted you!"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:45, Mon 08 May 2017.

"You should be sorry." Crowley said, frown softening. "My wares are the most important, best things that work the best and are the most...most...reliable! Don't forget that... EVER!" he yelled.

"I've learned my lesson, don't you worry." Shawn phrased his statement as if that had been the only thing in question, and now that it had been resolved, they could all just go home happy.

Crowley's stance softened considerably at that. A thought floated into Shawn's mind at that point: How important manners were for Crowley. Shawn could see how Crowley had interpreted Shawn's acquiescence as somehow fitting into his bizarre need for manners amid all of the dark work that the Circus was involved in.

"OK." Crowley said, frown slowly forming into something that resembled a wicked smile. "I'll see you back at the Pawn Shop soon then?" Crowley said. The gesture was both a question and a statement, the way it came out.

"Yep, once I get this back, I'll stop by and we can negotiate price." Shawn probably would, actually. He had a feeling negotiations would break down and no actual sale would take place, but standing Crowley up would be rude, and Shawn didn't want to risk that.

Crowley gave Shawn a pleasant wave as he headed back into the darkness of the sewer, creeping into the shadows until he was gone. For his part, Shawn clutched the clown nose in his hand tightly, knowing that this object somehow related to his future.

OOC: Shawn Joins

Shawn: A Simple Choice, A Simple Change