OOC: Shawn Rolls Occult + Wits to determine his location, with the following results

0 Successes: In the Belly of the Beast....

1-3 Successes: At the Gate...

4+ Successes: At the Perfect Spot...

OOC: 15:29, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 1 success using 6d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 7,5,8,7,4,7. Occult + Wits + WP.

Shawn stood in front of a small, iron gate. Outside the air was thick with dark, billowing smoke. He could feel the acidic smog and feel the bits of ash in his mouth.

Gathering his bearings, Shawn could tell that this place ---- a small hole in the side of a hill with two chimneys up on high --- was somewhat on the outer edge of the Circus. Shawn had never been this far away from the Circus, he was perhaps a football field away from the large tents and spires that marked the Big Top.

The gate was ajar. It was just a matter of going inside.

Shawn swallowed heavily and carefully walked inside. In theory, Hogwash didn't want to actively murder him like Gaggles did, so this was safer than his last task. In theory.

It wasn't just a hole that Shawn was walking into, as he ducked his head under a thick, wooden beam to get inside.

A few steps into the blackness, and he realized it looked like some kind of coal mine.

A few steps more and he was swallowed instantly: only the dim, red light from the Circus' sky kept him from thinking he'd vanished. Then before he knew it, his feet were crunching over the coal dust and into the shaft after him. The air was suddenly cold and dirty and it invaded his lungs and stung his eyes. Underfoot was rough, Shawn tripped and stumbled for a second, the sound echoing off the walls.


Through the claustrophobic tunnel there was foul air and suffocating darkness on all sides.

Shawn realized he was in complete darkness now. There was no way of telling where he was, if there was any choice or divergences in the paths.

Everything was dark.

OOC: Shawn Chooses:

1) Listening: The Storyteller makes a Wits + Composure roll for the player, and keeps the result secret.

2) Smelling: The Storyteller makes a Wits + Composure roll and lets the player know if he succeeds.

Shawn goes completely still and silent and listens intently...

Shawn could hear the sounds of gears churning from somewhere deep in the tunnel to the right of him. There was also a 'clink'...'clink'...'clink' sound from that same direction.

Clearing out the sounds and focusing on his right side, all he could hear were was the silence of the darkness.

It was a stark choice to be sure: Head towards the sounds, or take his chances pushing deeper into the darkness.

Shawn didn't really like the idea of going further into darkness. His job was to find people, and gears meant machines, and machines meant people who used the machines, right? Plus, considering the hostile architecture of the Circus, there was every chance that he could just unknowingly walk right off a cliff. Carefully, he made his way through the tunnel to the right.

Following this logic, Shawn delve deeper into the tunnel, completely blind and only relying on his sense of hearing to direct him.

'clink'...'clink'...'clink'

The sounds were getting louder. The smell was becoming more like a garage. Older fumes of gasoline and metal tools became to become stronger.

Through the darkness, Shawn...

OOC: Shawn Chooses and then Rolls:

Wits + Composure +4: Shawn instinctively tries to notice something, taking his time to examine what is it through the darkness

Wits + Composure +1: Shawn takes in his surroundings quickly, trying to take in the information and react at the same time

Wits + Composure: Shawn reacts as quickly as possible, reacting immediately

Shawn takes in his surroundings quickly, trying to take in the information and react at the same time!

OOC: 07:56, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 4 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 10(+9),5,5,8,9. Wits + Composure +1.

Shawn took in surroundings quickly amid the distant clunking of gears and banging of metal on metal. He got the distinct sense that something, or someone what watching him. It wasn't something he saw, at least not initially, because the cave was still flooded with complete darkness. Instead, it was a sixth sense, a strange feeling not unlike that which Shawn had felt when sensing that someone was looking at him during class, perhaps another student or a teacher to make sure he was paying attention.

But now it was something else. First, just one eye in the darkness opened, revealing a reddish pupil amid a white, gooey-looking eye that appeared to be gelatinous and peering. Then, as if by some collective consciousness, other eyes opened. Soon the walls of  the tunnel and the ceiling were suddenly filled with eyes, all watching Shawn. The tunnel remained pitch-black.

Shawn fought down his rising panic as he paused in the middle of the tunnel. "H-hello? I'm here to see Master Hogwash?"

A torrent of buzzing whispers, some with deep husking voices, others with a high, shrill pitch began to talk over one another, filling the dark cavern with questions and comments all at once.

"He's here to see the Master!"

"He came into the Forge all by himself."

"He's a liar?"

"He came to see Hogwash, that's why he is here."

"He's Child Star."

"His name is Shawn..."

"His Mother drinks too much!"

"He betrayed others just like him."

"I saw he made friends with a boy that has no feeling."

"He's responsible for what happened to Eddy."

"He wants to get a big part, a really big part, then everything will work out."

"He knows someone that wants to commit suicide."

"He's scared, is he scared?"

"He found that body floating in the sewers and took something from it."

"I wouldn't trust him."

"He's lonely, really lonely."

"He can find the Master!"

"Crowley played him for a fool!"

"I don't know who he is and neither does he."

"He works with Griffix! He's a member of the Order!"

Shawn considered plugging up his ears as the barrage of voices continued, mentioning things he'd tried to keep secret or wanted to forget. Even the stuff he wasn't sure about, he didn't know, hearing it there just made him feel worse. Unless the voices were just mixing in truthful stuff to make the lies seem more plausible? It was something he'd done. He was about to flee further into the tunnel when he heard one of them mention the Order. "That's right, I'm with the Order, so if you could please tell me where I can find Master Hogwash, I'd be very grateful..."

"He's here to see the Master!"

"It's just up ahead!"

"He's a slave driver! Enter at your own risk!"

"Follow he tunnel, down, down, down..."

"He's from the Old Times..."

"He protects the kids from something worse..."

"Follow the tunnel down, down, down..."

"If you make it out, save us......."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:05, Wed 22 Nov 2017.

"Thank you." Shawn gave the eyes a respectful nod, trying not to think too hard about the other things they'd said. Then he headed further down the tunnel, stepping carefully in the darkness.

As Shawn wandered down the hall, the eyes opened to either side of the path, forming two rows bordering the path that he was walking. The blinked and filled the tunnel with singular white orbs, the eyes on the walls and ceilings completely closing and now turning pitch-black. The only thing visible was the path.

The whispers continued as Shawn walked down what now felt like a runway as Shawn approached what felt like a dead ending.





"It's a door." A voice said, it was one of the eyes

"He's knows its a door." Another said

"No he doesn't, he cannot see in the dark." A third answered

"Yet he comes here anyway."

"He's brave for going down into chaos where its dangerous." Another voice observed

"He's a coward for ignoring his own feelings, because he'd rather not see the evil in himself." Another eye objected

"Open the Door!" A more practical eye suggested, opening up on the wall. And several others opened to form the outline of the door, an oval-shape in a backdrop of total darkness, the borders an edge of opening and closing red on white circles.

"Open the Door!"

"He's more afraid of what others think than opening the door."

"He should open the door!"

"He should run and save himself!"

Shawn didn't say anything in reply, trying to blot out to whispers even as he took their advice and reached out to try and find a handle on the door.

Shawn opened the door and a wall of heat pressed against him. And with it, the unmistakable smell of hot, burning metal. It filled his nostrils and forced itself into the back of his throat pushing up into his eyes and making them bleary.

He could see bright orange, liquid metal pouring from a large iron chamber and dripping into a receptacle. There were hissing sounds, the crackling and bubbling of liquid metal against cold water.

A face appeared in front of him.

It was a cartoon face.

A cartoon girl.

She was almost two-dimensional. Like a piece of paper that had been cut out and allowed to walk around, all flimsy and bending.

"Hello." She said in a friendly voice. Her two dimensional hand was holding what looked like a broom, it dragged along the floor beside her as she came up to Shawn.

"You must be in the wrong place. I don't recognize you. And you aren't owned by the Master. This place is dangerous. You should leave."

Shawn tried desperately not to stare - even thinking about how a cartoon person would function was making his head ache. Instead, he gave her a friendly and sympathetic smile. “I’m actually looking for Master Hogwash. I’m a messenger from the Order, and they want me to speak with him.”