OOC: This is a placeholder for Mew's first thread, GMed by Tadeusz.  Welcome aboard, Mew!  -- Oak  :)

Mew you're playing League of Legends against some Russian guy.  And he's devilishly quick.  You pull out your best tricks, things that have won before, and they barely slow him down.  Good thing you have this new computer, or else you'd already be toast.

And in the frenzy of full-on WARRE, you knock over the cup of sweet, iced tea.  It goes everywhere. Sparks. smoke. More sparks. You start backing away.

A flash of light....

===============================

There's no pain. You're damp all over, and the rock or concrete under your hands is wet.  You hear a shuffling noise that somehow sounds furtive down past your feet.  Opening your eyes you see the Big Dipper between two multistory brick buildings.  Light rain is falling on your face.

I knew I should have thrown away Steve’s tea before gaming, not like he would have noticed, he loses his drinks all the time. Maybe it was the same mood that made me decide to play PvP on solo-que, or run Sejuani without the bear cavalry skin. Either way that Russian Shaco must have been smirfing, even if he was only silver or something like that. Charging was met with a flash, my ult was dodged with his deceive, but what was really getting under my skin was that I knew on some level I was being played like a fiddle. Then that last Jack-in-the-box just sent me off the deep end.

*sigh* So much for the new computer…But when did I get out side. I’ve never been so mad that I blank out before.

Bigger concern how did I get here?

I check my pockets for the car keys, nope don’t have them. Phone? Yep, right where it belongs. I proceed to check the GPS on my phone (I’m just assuming that it doesn’t work, no internet connection and all.) Well drat. Oh well I can’t have gone too far, I mean this place doesn’t look familiar but I’m to lazy to have walked more than a few miles from home. Presuming, I even walked a mile at that.

My innate since of paranoia starts to kick in at this point.
Let’s investigate that noise.— Better to scare a stranger that means me no harm then to ignore one that does.

You see a dark alley down toward your toes, and a man hunching over your sling bag as he opens it with obvious ill intent.  He looks up at you with startled eyes and haggard face.  He's wearing a blue felt coat, like a Navy jacket, and a knit cap.

Beyond him is a street, and some large, black unfamiliar automobile passes by.  It does have white walls.

I spring to my feet as quickly as possible. "Oi, what do you think your doing!"

Don't talk to him, HIT HIM! He's probably trying to mug you! And why you can't remember much about getting here.

We don't know if he is armed, are you sure we should be getting into a fight? Everything in the bag is replaceable.

ITS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING!

I reconcile the two trains of thought by standing in an aggressive pose, prepared to charge him if he doesn't flee.

He flinches.

He looks like he's been kicked around by life, more than once.  He also looks distinctly untrustworthy.

And then he runs off, with the bag.

If there is one thing I can't stand it is someone that takes my stuff. No more internal debate, I charge after the guy as fast as I can.

You pelt after him, and he knocks a metal trash can over in your path.  Gathering nerve, you leap it, tagging the top of the barrel with your back foot, and straightening up just in time to see him round the corner to your left.

You come around the corner, and all you see is a long street, dimly lit by some lights, and a 'Bijoux' movie sign looming over the sidewalk down the way.  There are a couple parked cars of really ancient vintage, square sided black things, and one with abundant curves and running boards and painted purple and white.

You don't see him.

Bijoux? Never heard of that before, maybe there’s some kind of foreign film festival going on?

With vintage cars…?

Focus! Where did that little cretan go?

Start at the movie house chances are the clerk saw him run by.

And if he HASN’T?

Then chances are good that he ducked to hide somewhere before reaching that point.

I head down the street towards the movie house, stoping every now and again to look behind things that he could be hiding behind or under.

Move faster we’ll never catch him at this rate!

The odds say he has a record. So even if he does escape us now, a cop knows were to find him.

ARGH! FFffine.

You run on down past the cars feeling as if you're leaving something familiar with them.  The Bijoux is advertising...

Phantom of the Opera
Nosferatu

in bright pinks and greens.

You babble out a bit to the neatly dressed clerk behind the glass.  He jabs his finger as if to point behind you.  You turn and see on the street side of one of the cars you passed the thief getting to his feet, and legging it across the street, with your bag in hand.

I start running after him again.

You know, I wonder how he will react once he learns there is nothing of actual value to him in the bag?

The only reaction I care about from him is how he reacts to my fist in his FACE!

I suspect that won't be necessary.

You chase him diagonally across the street, and around the corner of an eight story brick apartment building.  Twenty feet in front of you, you see him take a flying step, on top of a metal trash can, and leap up to grab the bottom level of a fire escape that is about eighteen feet above the ground.

In the distance you can hear a small helicopter, the sounds of air brakes, and car horns.

Don't bother you are not making that jump.

I run under the fire escape and shout up at him "Hey! Before you waste any more effort trying to run from me, take a moment to look in the bag! The contents are literally worthless to you! Toss it down and we'll just forget about this!"

He pauses, quizzically studying your face.  Then skeptically, he goes thru the bag.

He grimaces, and puts the stuff neatly back  into the bag, and drops it into your hands.  Then he turns and flees up the fire escape.

Out of Character: I rolled a good GE, or General Events roll.  A bad one, and he'd have been 'true, but my girl likes colored pencils'.

"Alright, I should try and get home before I'm missed." I make my way back to the ally where I woke up, and pull out my phone to see if I have any bars. (I'm assuming no because the 1930's had no cell towers.) "Darn it! Am I just in a dead zone or something." I decide to look down the other end of the ally and see if I recognize anything.

In the alley, you spot some of the other stuff that was loose that you took with you.  Its very easy to find, despite the dim light.

And there are three bars on your cell phone.

But when you call home, the ring sounds odd, and you hear a conversation ongoing...

"Hubert here. Listen Earnhardt, you get one more chance.  Have the car at the back door of the museum at midnight, or I talk to Fu."

A bored Southern drawl comes back.

"And tell him what? You scheduled a heist in the middle of a welcome home parade for Doc andhis boys after they went to the South Pole?"

"It was your fault, you were supposed to pick us up..."

"I'd say, 'Don't be an idiot, Hubie' but evidently that's impossible."

The phone convo ends.

You walk to the end of the alley. Across the street is a shuttered Woolworth's, and just down from it an automat, and down another three buildngs you see well-dressed folk gtet out of cars.  Many of the girls have short dresses and little hats.  They enter a most rundown looking store.

Out at the skyline, it looks kinda like NY.  But there's not Empire or Chrysler or even Twin Towers.  There is a twenty story, which seems to be the tallest, with the glowing in neon bronze word of 'Savage' on its side, running vertically eight stories.

I pack all the stuff in the bag and my pockets.


After the call hangs up.
That was.... strange. Perhaps I should call the cops?

And tell them what exactly? When we were trying to call home, our cell tapped into a call that sounds like a heist is going on tonight? Out of curiosity, what kind of crazy do you think they will classify us as?

We could always leave an anonymous tip at least that way they can address it. Well, what would you have us do?

Go kick their faces in of course!

Right because we have deterred sooo many crimes in our life, not to mention all those fights we've never been in.

Also the kids will miss us, I really wanna get home in time to feed Joe. Not to mention Jessy's belly time.

Okay, so first we call the cops, then we see if anyone knows which way Hermitage or even just Nashville is, then we walk in that direction until our phone stops acting like it is on the sauce and call for someone to come get us. Plan?

Plan.

When I see the ladies with their tiny hats. "Today is just full of weird."

Don't judge.

About which part? The tiny hats or the decrepit building they just entered?

MOVING ON, let's just call the cops,

I call 911 to inform them of the supposed heist.

You call 911...

A whiny voice comes on.  ".....look, man, we got hit. Hard."
"You're still alive, aren't you?"
"Well, duh, I mean, man.."
"IF the Shadow came for you like you said, you'd not be here. Hence, you're trying to skim the bookmaker's account.  Hence you're trying to steal from me.  You know what I do with thieves?"  That voice is chilling, gravelly, calmly murderous.
"The money will be there, Mr. Capone."
"Excellent."

Phone hangs up.

You walk on, and see an Asian man with a neat suit and cap sitting on the trunk of a  parked but running green car.  Asking him where Nashville and the Hermitage is brings a surprised smile to his charming face.

"Not at all what I expected. Nashville, hmmm, take the Long Island road south, go along the coastal road....truthfully, you'd be better to go to Grand Central Station and take a traincar to Chattanooga Station.  I hear the roads are really bad.

I walk away with a bit of a confused look on my face as I try to determine what in the world is going on.

H-how in blue blazes did we end up in New York!?!

We must be dreaming! That is the only logical explanation. We were probably so frustrated from the match and our computer getting fried, that we just took a nap. That's why we can't remember leaving the house and how we randomly ended up in a New York ally.

Does that mean what I think it does?

*sigh*Yes.

Huzzah! Violence for the win! Now, which way to the museum?

No idea.

Well if this is a dream we can just wander in a direction and find it.

Fair enough, hopefully we will find it before the kids are sent in to wake us.

I start walking in the direction that looks the most developed and least run down.

You walk about a mile. Its an easy walk. The sidewalks are broad,and well kept.  The blocks are short.  There are great numbers of shops with them being closed, but lights are on in their window displays. You also pass another automat, and a railroad car diner.

The buildings turn to office buildings of eight and ten stories, and then you see the Museum.  Its just short of the really tall buildings, and it comes in at three stories tall.  It coversits own block.

Confirming your notion of dreaming, you're not the least bit tired.  In fact, you feel a bit energized.

Yes! We're here. Now I'll just lie in wait somewhere I can jump them as soon as they arrive.

I begin looking for somewhere close to the back door that I can easily get the drop on the thieves when they stop to make their escape.

You walk around back, and see a dozen metal garbage cans in a row as well a small parking lot.  A nearby alley, about three feet wide between the museum and its neighbour gives you a good vantage point and hiding spot.

About an hour later, and you hear a thrumming noise.  An open-topped Model T that has been heavily modified to add intake valves and wider tires, and other bits to it slides up behind the back door.  It is idled, and the driver gets out.

He leans with a clear ease about his manner against the hood, and lights a cigarrette.

In the flash of matchlight he looks vaguely familiar.

After a minute you hear a thump from the front of the museum.

Why does he look familiar?....Well, we can at least eliminate Ed and the playgroup at large sense none of them smoke cigarrettes, maybe Nate?

Does it strike you as weird that we are cognitive enough to even ponder this in a dream?

Perhaps we are about to wake up?

NOOOOO! We haven't punched anyone yet!

After the thump, Ya know instead of sitting out here and worrying why this guy looks familiar we could go inside and play predator. An evil smile crosses my face as I creep towards the front.

Doing your best ninja impersonation, you come to the front, and its a wide, spacious, marble columned porch. With a door hanging, invitingly open, nearly off its hinges.  They've left the metal cable, but a tow truck is peeling away.  That and then bent metal frame tells you how they yanked open the heavy steel grated door.

No subtlety involved.

Slipping inside, its a dim lobby dotted with vases.  One guy in a jacket is picking up silver boxes on a shelf along  the back wall, and dropping them in his bag with an audible singing noise.

Up the wide marble stairs to the right, you can see two ski masked guys moving about.

Doors lead left, right, and forward to Athens, Israel, and Celtic respectively, which is the sign over each door.

I look for something I can use as a weapon, pipe, tools I'm not very picky.

There are a dozen suitable vases, a heavy twelve foot long flagpole with an American flag, a pair of cavalry sabres with basket hitls crossed on the wall, and a foot tall metal wastebasket that are readily available.

Could I get to the sabres without being noticed? Also is there a fire alarm I can set off?

You walk up to the sabres, and pull one off the wall.  It feels good in your hand, well-balanced.

There is a certain quality of unusual ease to your moves.

You don't see a fire alarm around.

Satisfied with the weight and handling on the saber I take the other one down as well.

I still say we would be better off with the poll, it would give us some much needed reach.

You worry to much we have a plan.

When I don't see any fire alarms I switch to plan B. I slip around a corner and set an alarm on my phone that will play classical music. Before activating the alarm I find a place to hide it under something (if possible something that will amplify the sound) and myself somewhere opposite. I set it for one minute and duck into my hiding place.

The music plays and you hear a couple guys start, and then one on the second floors yells down.
"Mack, check it out."
"Of course." But the reply is soft.

Mack comes around the corner, looking puzzled.  He looks around...

You take a step, and cleanly miss as he steps the wrong way.  Frustrated, you take a wild swing aiming to brain him with the basket hilt, and the sword flies from your too loose grip, and impales itself in the wall.

He looks at it mouth gaping.

You come at him again, but he ducks back.

"Hey lady, stop..." He's got his gun pointed your way.

Furious, you strike again.

And the sword slips from your fingers.

OOC: The dice really, really hate you.  90, 100, 82, and a 100.  Hopefully you've gotten all your bad luck out of the way now.  :)

My mind is a firestorm of incoherent hate and rage (and a little confusion) as I loose grip on not one but two sabers. I reach out with my left hand to grab the gun while my right grabs his collar and pulls him in for a head-butt.

Everything turns a nice shade of dark pink.

"Ah...lady..."

You yank him forward off his feet, and clip him on the ear with your first headbutt, and then straight in the forehead with the second.  He slumps bonelessly in your arm as you hold him up, one handed.

OOC for Out of Character:

The dark pink thing is personal experience.  You've heard the phrase 'seeing red', well in my only one experience, it was more 'seeing pink' as rage kicked in.

1@1 Hand-to-Hand Fighting
+@1 for New Use (Headbutt)
+@1 for New Use (KO)
Total: 1@4 HtH.
Berserker Rage: RS/5 STRENGTH Bonus, RS/10 AGILITY Bonus, RS/10 Health; Time RS/5 for turns; Difficult Check of STAMINA or 1/2 capacity for one minute afterwards. 1@2 Berserker Rage, Physical Skill.

This temporarily for 4 turns brings your strength up from 1@5 to 1@9 and agility from 1@5 to 1@7.

I take a moment to calm down taking several deep breaths and drop the limp body so I can hold my head with both hands. Not out of realization that I just killed someone, but the fact that my head is throbbing from the elevated blood pressure. I pass off any other pain I'm feeling on my cranium as a result of that, still being convinced that I'm dreaming.

Hey we're not done....We have work to do.

Indeed and he still has a gun, a useful tool for our proposes.

After I gather my thoughts I pick up his gun, my phone and one of the sabers (if I can reach it without being seen).

Check him.

I look through his pockets to see if he has any more weapons or ammo and leave anything else I find. I then move towards where his friends are. The unusual adrenaline rush must be making me more aggressive, as it doesn't occur to me to set a trap for when they come to investigate why this one hasn't come back.

Worst case scenario we wake up with a banging headache and a high heart rate.

We'll still feel rather foolish if the gun is on safety. Not that we'd know before trying it.

I only take enough time to note where the remaining thieves are and their orientation to me, before I start trying to get close enough to charge one and shoot in the general direction of another.


OOC: I've held a gun before but never long enough to know if the safety was on or not, and I have never actually fired one. Also incase it somehow matters the gun is in my left hand and saber in my right.

You have a revolver, a saber, and your phone in your pocket.

He has a leather wallet with no license in it, but with some odd dollar bills.  You see 'Unites States of America' across the top, some unknown guy to the left, and in the middle 'First National Bank of Horse Cave' and '20' in several spots.  There are similar bills in a five and several ones.

He has a sap, a small leather bag with sawdust and some iron balls in it. You can tell because its well worn and has a hole in it.

You stick your head around the corner, and one of the ski-masked guys on the top floor is looking over the heavy wooden railing toward you.  He thrusts out his arm, and fires a revolver.

His gun explodes in his hand.

And you shoot in his general direction, a quick, snap shot.  And you wing him.  He goes down, yelling and screaming.

"Hubie! Hubie! Get him!"

OOc:1@1 or Minimum Level Gun Skill, 1@1 Use Revolver.  I'm not sure if revolvers have safeties, anyways, his doesn't.

His gun exploding is a botch, so the bad luck is getting spread out.  Usually a weapon  botch won't do damage.

Yeah Hubie, come and get me.

Agreed.

I back up a bit until I can round a corner or get into cover of some kind. I put my back to the chosen cover whatever it may be, and use the blade of the saber to see movement coming towards me. All the while fighting an annoying and constant shaking.

Hubie, it seems, yells at Albert who yells back.  Hubie is not eager to go face 'the guard....or even the mystery man.'  Albert lays out the punishments that Mr. Fu delivers to those who fail him.

Its a rather bone-chilling collection of tortures ended by being catapulted into a live volcano.

Hubie reluctantly comes around the corner, and you're hiding behind a six foot tall Ming style vase. You almost consider letting him go, he clearly wants to run away, but then he shrugs, and you can see his willingness to kill the guard in his weaselly face.

You stab him through the throat.

"Urk." He falls dead.

+@1 to sword skill, and 1@2 to Ambush.

I bite my lips so I don't laugh at the presumable over the top Mr. Fu punishments especially the catapulted into a live volcano one. They kind of remind me of the threats I threw around in high school, like hanging someone by their private bits and beating them about the head and shoulders like a pinata.

Maybe we should meet with this Mr. Fu guy just so we can make sure this isn't some internal allegory of how juvenile and violent we used to be.

Even if it is lets not worry about it right know.

After Hubie is dead I begin making my way to the third intruder. That is actually when something occurs to me, Why does his name sound familiar? ......Wasn't Hubie one of the names we heard on the phone before?

Oh Yeah he was threatening someone to bring a car to the back door or a Mr. Fu would hear about it!

As I start creeping up the stairs toward the last guy, I briefly consider asking him about this Mr. Fu. Forget it, get the feeling all we would get is some puff peace meant to intimidate us anyways.

If possible I line up a shot from the top of the stairs to finish him off with out being seen.

You come up the stairs, and near the top, just about as you're lining up on the ski-masked boss, the a stair creaks under foot.  You're sure you've been heard, but Albert had his head in a glass case reaching for a jeweled necklace.

Your first shot rings out, and shatters the case, prompting a startled yell.  He leaps back, and you fire where his head had been.

He shoots, and you're sure the dream is over.  But then the a saber in your hand, and your arm leaps up, and the bullet richochets off the saber.

Albert trembles with fear, and starts running away.

I pause a moment stunned that I managed to parry a bullet.



Um.... should I chase him?      YES! AND NEVER ASK SUCH A FOOLISH QUESTION AGAIN!     Or MAYBE we can let him go, he's already running anyhow.     What about the guy outside?       It's a dream, does it really matter?      As long as I'm being cognitive I'd like a happy ending to this.      Very well, chasing him down it is.

I begin approaching him while opening fire aiming for center mass. I'm also taking cover whenever I can just in case.

He gets to the other stairs, and you shoot him down with two shots centermass.  He topples over and over down the stairs.

Outside, you hear a screech of tires, and a muffled roar of an engine as the getaway car, gets away.

And then off to your right you see a man with a large hat with a feather.  His face is in shadow.  You wheel to cover him, and he bows.

"Mah pardon for startling you, ma'am." He doffs his hat.  "I have the honor to be Captain Bueraugard Lawson, late of the Confederate Army, under Stonewall Jackson, and late of this life. And would you honor with your name?  It seems impolite for a gentleman to ask a lady's name, but since you're the only one that can see me, I hope I can be forgiven my little indiscretion."

This dream had just gotten even weirder at least most of my dreams had the since to get surreal by now. So by any other standards this was pretty mundane, which is exactly what made it so weird.

Were we doing something lately that involved the Civil War?

Nooo... I don't think we have.

By the end of his introduction I snap myself out of my internal investigation and even have time to set down my borrowed weapons before my own. I give a slight bow and tip my hat. "My friends call me Mew. Umm I've never known it to be impolite to ask another's name, but maybe I'm just not cultured."

A lady, well that's something we've never been accused of being.

I stifle a smile at the thought and continue. "So what brings you here so long after the war?"

As soon as you let go of the borrowed weapons, he dissappears.  A quick look around, and no, he's not hiding behind anything.  And reviewing it mentally assures you that you didn't blink or look away for a half-second.  No, he flat out dissappeared in front of you.

Gingerly, you touch the sword.

He reappears.

"Ah, yes, one of the limits of my condition.  Well, I had sworn an oath to destroy a vile man, and it seems he has not died despite his good age and the nearly sixty years since the war, but I suppose the Devil looks after his own, and I have been honor bound to stay until my quest is completed."

  It is not your fault that you grew up in a barbarous culture where men do not protect and restrain their womenfolk. Yankees." He says that last with a sigh.

Don't say anything it's just a product of his time. Anger is clearly growing in me as the remark on "womenfolk", is still ringing in my ear. Just a product of his time! Just a product of his time! Just a product of his time!  Finally I relieve my tension on the subject by letting out a simple. "I happen to resemble that remark." This is said with barely contained agitation, due to it not being the actual reason I'm annoyed. I take a deep breath to get past the cultural differences and ask the obvious question. "Well who was it you were supposed to kill?"

He raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, last time I saw him he said to some hangers on that he was a 'ward heeler for Tammany' which I do not understand.  I knew him as Captain Tobias Sullivan, Butcher of New Mahan, of the detestable Sherman's Army, but even they were not keen on him."

I take out my phone and make a note on it using the record voice feature so I have the best chance of spelling the name correctly. "So why where you supposed to kill him exactly?" I start looking for a sheath or something to carry the sword in as I speak. Upon finding something suitable (preferably something I can use to hide it under my coat) or giving up on it I head outside the museum to start looking for research on this Captain Sullivan.


OOC:Sorry it has been so long School has been kicking my butt.

"This beast swore to destroy the village of New Mahan, my family's home or it had been as they had already moved to California to get away from the War.  But I, felt honor bound to fight for my neighbours.  So I rode to their rescue, and was pleased to see the village undamaged, but then he captured me, and told me he had been waiting for me.  And then he set fire to the village, and when the villagers, some of the older ones took refuge in the church, he barred the doors and burnt it as well.  As the church burned, I swore my oath, and then he stabbed me thru.  An angel came for me, but I told him I was honor bound to stay, and he let me.  For this action, he was drummed out of Sherman's army, for even they were not as beastly as him."

As he retells this tale, his body waves, shreds, and occasionally glimpses of the village appear in his body.  He is very emotional.

You find a sheathe, and leave.  As you walk away, about two blocks away, a pair of police cars rip around the corner, and pass you.  For a second fear clutches you as they must be going to the museum, but one nods to you in passing, and you suddenly realize you have something of a get out of jail free card.  Walking on into the downtown area, you find a late night coffee shop which has coffee for a nickel, cigarette smoke, a few tired looking guys, a waitress, is spotlessly clean, and has pastries for sale.

I bow my head in recognition of what he says. but say nothing as we leave. As the cop car passes by and the fear sets in. Why, pray tell... are you nervous!? It. is. a. dream. It dosen't matter.

When we find the coffee shop I head inside to ask directions to the library and what time it opens. As I figure it should be the best place to start looking for Captain Tobias. Though part of me couldn't help but believe a Civil War junky might know more then I could find like this.

The tired looking young man behind the counter nods when you come in.

"Eight O'Clock, miss. Would you like some coffee?" He points to a painted metal sign with a happy guy in a cap holding a steaming mug, and the words 'Get a mug for a nickel.'

"Um, Joe...the lady hear wants to know the directions to the Carnegie library."

An older man with a golf cap, and distant eyes, and a notepad filled with words briefly explains.  It is not very far at all. He does have a brass ring with what looks like a good sized ruby on it on his right hand.  He goes back to writing.

"Aaahhh, No thanks, I'm not really a coffee person. I have aaa- paper due soon on the Captains of the Civil War and was a little lost. Thank you for the directions." I give a tip of my hat and head out for the library as I hope to be there early and pass myself off as an anxious student. And that lie made me fell like I was going to start sweating bullets. ...We were able to read that sign.... So. If we were dreaming shouldn't we not be able to read? You're overanalyzing, don't worry about it. I hope so, otherwise we just murdered three men in New York. And stole a Civil War Relic. A hunted Civil War Relic. You are taking this far to lightly....

The man with the ruby ring gives you a studied glance as you leave.  Its a cynical glance that's seen too much of the world.

Outside, you feel the flopsweat cool on your face, and it takes you three blocks to arrive at a massive library with the accustomed stone lions outside.  A few others are sitting there waiting, with one of them munching on a long sub like sandwhich which makes your stomach growl.

About an hour later, they all get up and head to the front door which opens a few minutes later.  A quietly smiling librarian greets each by name, and pauses when she sees you.

"A newcomer to the Early Morning Brigage.  My name's Miss Lydia, and I'm the front desk librarian.  Ask me any question you like, only do it in a whisper."

Leaving the restraint
Should we be conserned that the old man is staring at us? Exasperated.Whaaat? You think we have blood on us or something? Well... Save it. I don't care. Over and thinking comes to mind.

As I arrive at the Library
Maaan I hope I wake up soon, before everything turns into food. Perhaps we should take this time to see what we have in the ways of money and refreash ourselves on our target's name? I move away from the main group of students to check my pockets for any money I might have, and to look at the memo I made earlier on my phone.

Enter the library
I clear my throat and whisper. "Hi, I need to find any books you have on the Civil War. Specifically anything you have on a Captain Tobias."

You have twenty eight dollars in 'Horse Cave' dollars.

The librarian ushers you back through the stacks by windowlight until you get to the Civil War Room.  This library is enormous.

She slows down as she looks closer.

After a bit she pulls out a few books, and then puts them down on a desk, which she turns the lamp on for.

"It will take a few minutes for the mains to cut on." She whispers.  You hear a clunking noise from the walls, and the far away ceiling lights begin to glow.ld

She adds another small one with making a face, and then continues to search, but admits defeat.

"We should have Dr. Ham Sloznic's 'A Detailed Analysis of New Mahan.', but its gone.  Probably lost in the back. I can look for it, if you like."

The first tome is 2000 pages with fancy drawings.
"A General History of the Late Conflict for the Perusal of the Dedicated Reader."
Also  "Waterpaint Pictures of Notable Events of the Civil War."
which is not as large, but still quite large.
"Atrocities and War Madness" is smaller, and more grim looking.
And the one she made a face at is 'Captain Tobias Sullivan: Hero of the Union.'

She leaves, and comes back later with two more books.
"A History of the Notable Families of New York.' and 'The Lineage of the Sullivans in America.'  Both look fancy.

The room brightens as the lights fully kick in.

"When did I pick up play money? I mean the kids are too little to play with this."  (I am seriously asking in and out of character. I didn't rob the guy of anything but weapons and ammo.)

Inside the library.

I thank the Librarian for her time and get to work organizing the books on the table making one pile of books that I felt wouldn't really help to find the Captain himself. The water paints might be nice but that really doesn't strike me as useful, I also place a general history in the pile after all, general dosen't do me much good, and the 'hero of the union' goes next, with a grimace of my own, more because I really don't want to read it. The last two books she brings out on the other had look promising. I check their print dates and start reading the more recent of the two.

In reply to Mew (msg # 53):

As you consider the play money, a slight brush of your fingers summons the ghost.

"A lady needs finances, and dead thieves do not."  He says with a flourish of his hat that still keeps his face in shadow.

From reading 'Notable' you find that the Sullivans are a new notable family.  Captain Tobias Sullivan's branch is more of a straight line.  He married, had a son, his wife died.  The son, II married, had a son, his wife died, and now III is alive and unmarried.

'Lineage' has more details, but it is evasive about New Mahan.  It tends toward glowing, and vague.  One key fact sticks out Tobias Sullivan the Third is leader of Tammany Hall.

I hold a hand on the saber's pummel."Out of curiosity would you have moved on if the man you swore your oath against was dead? Either way it looks like our next stop is Tammany Hall to see if the third will let us see his grandpapy." I feel my stomach churn with hunger. "But before any of that, food." I take the books up to the front desk, thank the librarian for her time, look for a bite, and get directions to the hall.

"Yes, I rather look forward to Heaven.  Besides, here on Earth, it is....boring.  I was a man of action, and now I can barely touch the world.  Its....trying."

Food is easily acquired in an automat Year 2000 Automat.  You walk in, and see a lady near you feed in a few coins, and pull out of small glass windowed shelves a chicken sandwich (which is expensive), a baked potato, stewed vegetables, and a cherry pie.  There are dozens of choices in the wall of locked windows of several hundred windows.

And there is a money changing machine in the corner.

You get your food, and take one of the small, utilitarian tables.  Everything is very old school Star Trek.  It is a vision of a future where stainless steel and jetpacks and one piece jumpsuits were for women and men.

Your ghostly guest sneers at the place.

"I do believe Hell would be more inviting."

Getting to Tammany Hall takes a wall of eight blocks.  The standard of dress is uniforms for workers, brass button coats for doormen, and suits and dresses for everyone else.

Its not difficult to spot TH as the three story building has the name inscribed into stone high over the front door in foot high letters.  Inside, you spot some men who strike you as slimy.  But its not nearly as hard as you expect to get to see the Boss.  Its a more informal age.

In the space of ten minutes a secretary has brought you into the Boss's office, and set you down in a chair opposite an empty desk with a cup of coffee in china, and left.  Five minutes pass (if you want to do some snooping tell me.), and the Boss walks in.

"Hello, miss, how can I help you?"

"IT'S HIM!!" Your ghost roars in shocked fury.

Captain Lawson's sudden shouting makes me leap with surprise, and with this surprise a reflexive swing of the saber. At this point realizing I've already blown what ever else I was going to do in this dream I go all out in an attempt to kill him. In the next swing I draw and fire the pistol, switching back and forth as the potential fight demands.

He has just time to gape open his mouth before you slice open his right shoulder to the bone.  Blood spatters on the far wall, and he dives out of his chair to the floor, reaching under his desk.  Your first shot catches the tip of his right ear and takes that tip off, and he yanks up his pistol, a large beast of a thing, and with panic on his face fires it at you, while still being mostly on the floor.  The shot is a clean miss due to the twitching of his injured arm.

You bring your sabre down on his right arm like a sledgehammer, breaking the bone, and forcing him to drop his pistol.

The room turns pink as berserk fury fills you.

He jerks a bit, and you hear a boom from behind the desk.  Your leg screams in agony.  He's pulled a derringer with his left and shot you in the left leg muscle straight under the desk.

+@1 to swordfighting, and to pistolfighting as a face on duel counts as new uses.

What next?

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 58):

He yanks himself with his legs half up, and shoots a two-shot derringer at your chest.  The sword blurs, and the bullet spins off to smack into a wallpapered wall just below his picture of his 'ancestor' on a horse.

Then you leap over the desk, and bury your sword into his chest.  He spits into your face, and cracks the derringer off your skull.  You snarl, and even as you get double-vision, you wriggle the sword more in his chest.  He gasps, and sags, blood dripping from his mouth.

The door is being battered down behind you, and a man shoots you in the back.  Falling forward, you sprawl on the desk.

"Dear lady, this is heartbreaking.  I did not mean for you to die for my revenge." Captain Lawson says.  "Here, keep my sword, its the little I can do..."  And then he turns, and as you feel another bullet tear into you, you see a light from seemingly nowhere shine on Captain Lawson's face.

"Yes Sir, Captain Beuregard Lawson reporting for duty." And he vanishes in a blaze of light.

You're laying there, in pain, and a man is staring furiously into your face, when suddenly his head snaps aside, propelled by a foot. You realize that the window in the room had just broken from the noise of it.  Things are fading and getting hard to understand and follow chronologically.

"Can you save her, Kato?" The Chinese man you had met earlier glances down at you from above with a sad, and concerned face.
"I am sorry, Green Hornet. She is too far gone.  Strange, I met her earlier tonight. She wanted to go home to Chattanooga I think...."

And then you verse out...