"Hi," he said to Joyce, somewhat sheepishly.

As a rule Liam tried to refrain from bringing his most frightful transformations back with him to camp. Long fangs were expected. Sharp claws had a use in the fields. But few of the villagers had seen him in crinos form, and none had seen him use the bizarre vitae congealing powers granted by Abombwe. Tonight though, Liam was equipped to go to war.

"I -"

Robyn's voice cut him off before he could offer further explanation.

"I didn't know she could do that," he admitted.

He cleared his throat, addressing the void above him.

"The explosives weren't enough. The main entrance is still wide open, and the ruins are waking up. I need to boost a cement truck from the yard. Can you lay down some larger portals? Last thing I need is Redwatch following me back."

"Gee, I dunno," the voice said. "Do you think I can make a portal big enough to drive a cement truck through?" She let the moonlight wink out for a moment. "Just lemme... google... what... the... fuck... a... cement plant... looks like... ugh, do you have an address for this thing?"

There was a pause. Joyce smiled. "Quiet night?" she asked sarcastically. She was good at not letting on how unsettled she was by Liam's form, but Liam knew a mask when he saw one.

"I wish," Liam replied. "I was expecting vampires tonight, and we got our fair share of those. I didn't count on them arming civilians and sending them after us though. Its a difficult thing, protecting someone from the weapon in their own hands. I did what I could, but I could only do so much."

"Anyway. Its a talk for another night."

Liam raised his voice slightly.

"I don't have an address but I can give you an intersection?" Liam knew the Iron Graveyard well, even if he'd never paid much attention to that particular complex. "Will that do?"

"You save the ones you can," Joyce said. "You wanna talk about it, my door is always open."

"Yeah," said Robyn. "Yeah that helps. Just text me when you get the truck. I'll take you as close to the ruins as I feel comfortable doing. I'm gonna drop you there real quick, I got kids to keep an eye on."

With that, a portal opened up beneath his feet. Unlike the others, this one was visible - inasmuch as it let light from the other side through. Suddenly, the front steps of what he presumed was the cement plant appeared beneath his feet.

Six feet below his feet. He fell through the portal and landed softly, spying a flash of the village's auroras in the sky above him before the portal snapped shut. The plant appeared to be staffed and in operation. Even as he stood there assessing the situation, someone opened the door at the top of the stairs, and leaned out.

Most Mooks went blank at the sight of a vampire. Then, there were those occasional exceptions for those that dealt frequently and exclusively with the Undead ruling class. This was one of those Mooks.

"Good evening, sir," the Mook said politely. "What can I do for you?"

Liam looked up, and then after a moment turned his attention to the foreman. "I need a cement truck loaded and ready to go," he said briskly. "And a crew that knows how to operate it," he added on further consideration. "How many men do you have here tonight?"

The Mook scratched his chin. "Just the four of us out here tonight. Drivers don't usually get here 'til the morning but I think Gino has a license." He shouted into the building. "Hey, Gino!"

Judging by the noise from the silos, the mixers were already in operation. Lucky for Liam, the administration apparently had a need for concrete.

"The order we've got going is nearly ready to load," he continued. "When d'you need it by?"

"Now," Liam said, as though that weren't plain enough. "As soon as you can get it in the truck."

"Guess we better get goin' then," the Mook said casually. A younger man, presumably Gino, walked up behind him. "Bring 'round the big one, we're loading it up."

Despite their frustrating lack of urgency, the men worked briskly. Mixing a truck-sized batch of concrete was no small task - and it was fortunate that one was already going when Liam arrived - but filling it was an equally formidable task. The screw from the mixing tank poured liquid concrete into the tank for an agonizingly long time. Even though Liam was on a deadline, simple physics stood in his way.

Finally, a good twenty minutes later, Gino shouted from the truck. "Hey, mister," he said. "We're ready to roll."

Liam reached for his phone and texted Robyn.

Trucks ready. I'm bringing back mooks. Let Joyce know.

"Alright, everyone. Haul into the cab. We're going for a drive."

With four mooks it would be a tight fit. Liam would more than likely have to ride on the truck, rather than in it.

Two of the Mooks headed out of the plant without hesitation, leaving the batcher running. The foreman balked. "Uh, we just started another batch," he said as he was irresistibly compelled to walk toward the truck anyway. "If we drop everything and leave, it's not gonna be good."

The four rather burly men did indeed have a lot of trouble fitting on the cab. Fortunately for Liam, there was a convenient ladder on the rear of the drum that could be easily held and ridden.

Liam paused. His initial inclination was to take the four of them, plant be damned, but he realized he also had no real understanding of the consequences. "Not going to be good, how?" he asked.

"Well, the mixing area's going to overflow, and the mixture is gonna get too thick," said the foreman. "The screw will jam up and the whole thing will turn into a rock by morning."

This would mean bad things for the Tremere occupation, and specifically in its campaign to bury evidence. It would also mean bad things for the post-liberation reconstruction efforts. Concrete plants are the beating heart of any town's construction capabilities, and any efforts to rebuild would need to start with replacing the plant.

"I appreciate the heads up. That sounds like a problem for tomorrow's crew," Liam said, ushering the men aboard. Once all were safely inside he banged on the drum. "Lets go!"

Gino started up the truck, and it lumbered out of the yard. Robyn was true to her word, and a flawless portal opened up at the gate. The truck hesitated a little at the threshold. Driving through a two-dimensional gateway was disorienting enough without having to contend with the uneven surface of the village's back fields.

Joyce was ready to receive them. She'd been given enough time to secure a blue armband around her right arm, and she waved the truck to come to a stop. The portal vanished the instant they were clear.

"All right," she said. "Who's staying and who's going?"

"I'm keeping Gino," Liam said, indicating the driver as he hopped down. "The rest are yours. And Gino will be coming back with me when we're done."

He made his way to the cab as it emptied out.

"Thank you, Joyce."

"Not a problem," said Joyce. "I was getting bored just sitting around. Right this way, gentlemen."

The second portal opened up as soon as Liam was situated in the cab, revealing a paved road. It took Liam a moment to orient himself, but when they were through he was able to identify the intersection. They were a few blocks from the edge of Old Verdant Falls, as close as Robyn was willing to open a portal. It was a good five minutes of road driving, followed by an uneasy ten minutes of off-road driving through the historical site. The old city had not been laid out with heavy vehicular traffic in mind, and there were a few moments on the decayed wagon road where they came perilously close to tipping.

Mickey stood at the top of the stairs, tossing loose cobblestones into the stairway as Liam arrived. The two of them had hastily piled the rubble in the stairway hall, and Mickey had taken the additional step of cramming all the burned-out vehicle wrecks into the stairway in front of it. A single truck's worth of concrete was - in the grandiose scale of the temple - not very much at all, and they'd made great pains to reduce the amount of volume the concrete would have to cover.

There was plenty of debris from the recently destroyed house, and the two vampires continued to toss large rocks into the soupy concrete as Gino poured. The retaining wall at the back of the stairway leaked terribly, but the concrete eventually sealed itself. The stairway was filled nearly to the brim when the first mortar shell hit. It exploded several feet in front of the cement truck. A large clod of dirt hit Gino in the head, and he was too Mooked out to duck.

Liam knew enough about artillery to know that the first round was usually a miss, and the second round was far more accurate.

Liam scooped up Gino in his arms and booked it away from the blast site. He didn't have to tell Tyr and Mickey to scatter. They were astute enough to do so all on their own.

As soon as it was safe to do so, he called to the others. "Anyone see where that came from?!"

Gino didn't struggle. He merely hung loose in Liam's arms as he carried him to the nearest shelter. The cement truck continued to pour into the stairway until the second shot blew its drum to pieces. It was impossible to triangulate the source - they must have been shelling from a fair ways away. All he was able to make out was the hum of a small quadcopter somewhere in the ink-black sky.

"Does it matter?" said Mickey, behind his own cover. "Ain't gonna get less hairy out here. Bug the fuck out!"

Liam stared up at the sky. For a moment he thought he glimpsed the drone, and then it was gone again. His eyes were playing tricks on him in the dark night.

"...yeah," he said after a moment. "Yeah, you're right. We'd better go."

"Lemme dust off an ol' chestnut," said Mickey. "Thanks for showin' a girl a good time."

Once again, a mist gathered over the field, settling in low over the hilly terrain. To the north lay the oldest occupied parts of town and the Iron Graveyard, and the nearest portal. However, the territory was wide open with very few trees. In many places the hills poked over the mist, and cover would be spotty. Liam could roll across the hills as a fog quite easily, but Gino would be a liability.

To the south lay the ruins of the old village. The lay was low and the cover was plentiful. They could disappear easily, and the risk of being spotted by the mortar team between the tall buildings was low. However, it also brought them near to the Alhambra, where heavily armed patrols ran the streets. The Miasma stretched in equal distances from the temple, and Liam estimated he'd need to travel a good three blocks in dangerous turf before he'd be able to request a portal.

“Get home safe, Mickey. I’ll call tonight.”

Liam veered North. Even with the stretches of open ground he liked his chances better. Mortars were better at hitting emplacements than moving targets, and with eight limbs and the general shape of a wolf Liam could move fast even with Gino in his arms.

Where he did have to break from cover he purposefully did not move in a straight line, weaving and dodging to prevent a clever spotter from guessing his path.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:15, Thu 04 Apr.

The fire team was clearly more interested in securing the ruins than tracking down escapees. It was a tense trip through the fog, but he emerged in the Boroughs unscathed and unaccosted. At his pace, it was a short trip to the Iron Graveyard and the stationary portal concealed beneath the overpass.

Joyce was stuck in the portal grove, but Moira had brought the bonfire to her. The two women had fashioned a small fire pit, and the construction workers gathered around it - seated in camp chairs, wrapped in blankets and warming their hands on mugs of freshly brewed coffee. Liam could tell at a glance that they'd been de-Mooked. It seemed a little strange that Robyn had okayed this. She'd expressed reluctance at bringing in new villagers and Liam had assumed that these rescues would be going with the others to the government's camp.

They eyed Liam uneasily, but recent experiences had shown that - despite his horrific appearance - he had their welfare top of mind. The foreman even managed an uncomfortable 'hello'.

"No word from the kids," said Joyce. "Which is good news. The only patrol they've come across in the area was dead when they got there."

"Ladies," Liam nodded at Joyce and Moira and glanced at the workmen. "Gentlemen." With care he set Gino back on his feet.

"I think Gino here could do with some coffee. Or a beer. Bit of a tense getaway, but we pulled through."

"Any idea what got the patrol? Friend of ours?"

"We assumed so," Moira said with a shrug. "But you're the one with the big rolodex."

"We'll start with coffee," said Joyce, ushering Gino to take a seat by the fire. "If you're sticking around, I'd kindly ask you to, uh," she gestured broadly at his form. "Tone it down a little? This transition is rough enough as it is."

Liam shook his head. "Maybe when the kids are back," he said. "Night's not over yet."

"Robyn, can you put me down where they found the patrol? Where are the kids now?"