"They will-- up to a point. But their range will be greatly reduced. I can give them, though... except to Scraps... we don't have a model that can be worn on a collar. But you three may have some. Anything else?"

Taking a moment to think over their options, Lynx spoke up. "Do you have access to any anti-chemical measures? Twice now, Dr. Norwood has used some form of chemistry in his actions or creations. Pre-empting that, in any way we can, could be useful."

"Umm, no, not really, sorry... So far, we're pretty unprepared for undoing the weird experiments he's doing... Just the notes he didn't consider important enough to take with him will be keeping our scientists happy and busy for months to come..."

"Well, then... let's go."

Soon enough, the three heroes (and Scraps) are under a bridge, being given flashlights (or miner's helmets with lights, if they prefer) and radios by a couple of agents who work for Delaney...

"Any other questions before you go in...?" they ask.

Scraps was already sniffing around the door in question.   The scents there were ... interesting ... to his Heightened Sense.
-  rolled 11 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 5,5.  Insight.

"Will you and your people be keeping an eye on the area? If Norwood's in there, he might try to abscond as soon as he notices us. Beyond that, not really, unless there's anything else you've left out thus far."

Cosmic Girl settled the helmet on her head, and clipped the radio to her belt. She wasn't sure whether or not the light on the helmet was needed, as she was her own light source. But something that prevented a brick being lobbed at her head was absolutely a good idea. She stepped in behind Scraps, and hunkered down beside him. "What you got there, boy?"

"Oh, sure, no problem, that's part of why we're here. If anyone suspicious comes out of there, we'll warn them first, but after that we'll shoot first and ask more questions later. On the other hand... no unknowns have come out of there yet..."

---

Scraps could smell all the humans who'd used the door... but there was something else, too. Something that wasn't human had used the door before the humans in black suits had arrived...

It didn't smell bad, exactly. But even though it was probably roughly human-sized, it wasn't human...

It seemed to Scraps that the whatever-it-was had avoided this door ever since the humans in black suits had arrived...

Goodwill snapped on the flashlight and headed inside. Although Norwood had managed to hurt him more than once, he still wanted to go first, to take the dangers upon himself.

Scraps whined a little, as Cosmos knelt beside him.  It was a natural response to the stimuli he was sniffing, and the Heroes could tell that something was unsettling him.

And, of course, as soon as Goodwill opened the door, the puppy pushed through immediately (almost tripping the hero, as dogs do) to better get at the scent there, and begin following its trail.

Going forward third and clicking her helmet-light to life, Lynx called behind her, "Good luck with the perimeter, Agent. Let's hope it's a quiet night."

"We'll be here waiting, in case you scare anything out," say the agents.

Inside, there are actually lightbulbs that work... sometimes. Then there are some stretches of tunnel, 50 feet or more, that have no working lights.

After the first hundred feet or so, there's an intersection... you can go off to the left, off to the right, or straight ahead...

(Scraps, feel free to roll Insightful again...

The rest of you may also roll Insightful, if you wish...)
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:18, Thu 12 Nov 2020.

Scraps had hurried forward to that corridor intersection ahead of his humans, and was now sniffing around trying to follow the 'strange human' scent that he was on the trail of.


- rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,2.  Insightful

Cosmic Girl remained quiet for the most part, not wanting to disturb Scraps and his truly remarkable snoot. However, as he came to a stop to sniff again, she knelt beside him, and whispered, "What have you got there, boy? I know this place is a warren, but please don't let it be rabbits!"

She studied the intersection carefully, even going so far as to hold up a glowing hand to add extra illumination, in case it gave any greater chance of producting results.

OOC:

16:03, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 10 using 2d6-1 ((6,5)).

I succeeded at a roll! Wonders never cease!!!

Three! I get to hold three!

I will spend one at once... Which way is most likely to lead us to the villain's base?

((GM arrives from the OOC thread...)

...HOWEVER, (he resumes,) you don't get to ask just ANY questions, if you do it that way. You have to choose from this particular list of questions:

--Why does this person want to help me?
--Why does this person want to get in my way?
--What is at risk if the plan as I understand it goes ahead?
--What pieces of the plan am I missing?
--How can I protect other people?
--How can I protect myself?
--What haven’t they taken account of?)

OOC: In that case, I will hold my questions three until an appropriate juncture!

(Not a problem.)

Scraps' nose tells him things... but not a lot.

First, he has to filter out people who he figures work for The Man In The Black Suit. Scraps understands that they're just humans who started exploring these tunnels, and got this far, but that someone-- probably The Man In The Black Suit-- decided it was maybe too dangerous, so he sent for Gil and Scraps and their friends.

So. That leaves...

...Straight ahead... danger, maybe?

...To the right... worse danger, maybe?

...To the left... that not-bad thing that used to use the door under the bridge to go down to the water. Maybe it would know what Gil was searching for...?
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:29, Sat 14 Nov 2020.

"Hmm, three paths..."

Looking down each route, Lynx squinted her eyes, trying to make out anything that could help. With a shake of her head, she huffed, "I've got nothing. Want me to quietly and quickly rush down each way and back? If it takes me too long to get back, you'll at least know that something's down there."

"We split up last time. It didn't go so well," Cosmos rose, and dusted her hands down. "If there's a trap, you could run into it before you know. I don't want to risk losing you, not a second time. We're a team. We should stick together."

It was at time moment that Scraps began to bark, as he looked down the left tunnel that he knew led to the water.
And he began, nose to the ground, tracking the 'not-bad thing that used to use the door'.

"Scraps says left," Goodwill observed. Splitting up seemed like a bad idea, but Cosmic Girl had said that pretty well already. "Let's go left."

"You're right, that's fair," Lynx muttered, rubbing her arm. It felt weirdly nice to hear someone putting her life ahead of the mission, even in a hypothetical. As a scout, it was her job to act as the canary in the mine. Still, she supposed that, since they had someone as immortal as Goodwill with them, it probably didn't make that much sense to split off.

"Roger that. Left it is." With a nod, Lynx began heading down the left tunnel, following behind the Wonder-Dog.

It's a long way, and there's an intersection at one point-- offering the choice of going straight or a sharp left again-- but Scraps goes straight. He wants to find out what's down this path-- what sort of creature is down this way... because it's not human... but it's not... not... bad? Necessarily...?

Finally, the tunnel opens up into a 20-by-20 area... and it's clear that someone lives here. There's a bed-- well, a very messy bed, more of a big nest made of very dirty blankets and old clothes-- and an old chair with the back broken off, and an old crate that's been used as a table or desk, and some bookshelfs, with old dirty books, and some lamps and lanterns and candles burning...

And the alligator.

It's about a six-foot alligator (not counting the tail and the fact that its head is bent downward).

It's standing in the middle of the room, between the desk and one of the bookshelves, and it's poring over a book.

It's wearing some sort of wire thing on its face, bent to resemble glasses frames, and it's holding a large meerschaum pipe (that isn't lit).

It's also wearing a couple of large, stretched-out sweaters (the top one is an old Christmas sweater with a reindeer on it), and some ill-tailored black slacks.

The alligator looks up and sees the heroes and Scraps walk in.

It's hard to say if what comes out of its mouth next counts as speaking, but if written down, it would look like: "Uhhhhhhhh..."

The alligator's eyes dart back and forth around the room suddenly, as if it's thinking I have a rational explanation for all this-- quick, what is it?
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:38, Wed 25 Nov 2020.

"Holy mackerel," Goodwill said, stunned by the appearance of the human-ish alligator. "Um... hello?"