The cashier took Abe's order and his payment. He passed the order along to the kitchen on a yellow rectangular note. And waited for the next customer.

After a quick perusal of what the stop had on hand, Dean scooted his way into the booth across from Abe where he eventually ordered the taco salad, no cheese, no dressing and an ice tea.

"Almost there..." he said with a sort of weary enthusiasm as he put his menu back behind the napkin dispenser. The table creaked uneasily as he tried to lean forward, and so he leaned back into the cushion instead. "Are most bases kind of like this? I've been out around Twenty Nine Palms and it kind of has that same feel ya know? a lot of desert, truck stops, a few car dealerships, liquor stores, tattoo places...must get kind of boring." he asked Abe, then glanced out to the truck, admiring it in the bright whhite glare of the truck stops lamps.

Jack, despite his rather rambunctious appearance, was not someone used to the kind of interaction that was necessitated by a road trip. Spending all that time with just three other people, all sealed in a single car for weeks... it was hardly his idea of a good time, even if it meant getting away from his family for a while. That said, it had been relatively pleasant, and he'd yet to have tired of his companions thus far, so at least for the moment, the trip had been successful. And San Diego had been pretty nice, to boot. Especially the girls on the beach, whom Jack had been less-than-subtle about eyeing up.

Jack's attention, however, was not turned onto the men in uniforms on the bus. He didn't know if there were any military bases around, but he knew soldiers didn't generally deploy in the United States itself, and they very, very rarely used the bus. However, he wasn't going to make a stink about it if no one else would, so he just got in line for food.

"Yeah, let's grab a bite. I need something to get me through until we get to civilization proper."

He got a large soda, a tuna sandwich out of the cooler (taking his life into his hands when it came to rest stop food, but anything else would take too much time), and a selection of candy bars to sate his sweet tooth.

"Dunno about the military guys. If they got a mission, they ain't gonna talk to civilians about it, so best to just keep our heads down and not give them a reason to start shooting."

Abe shrugged at Dean.  "I haven't seen most bases, so I can't really say."  He considered the ones he had seen.  "Mostly, from what I've seen.  I mean, you'd have to be dumb or evil to put your military installation near a ton of civvies.  Imagine what would have happened if Pearl Harbor were in the middle of a city."  He shook his head.  "No good."

When Jack spoke up on the topic, Abe raised his eyebrows and slowly, calmly turned to face him.  Staring him straight in the eye, he said in an almost perfectly level tone,  "I know we agreed no drinking this trip, but I thought it was understood that it meant no illegal drugs, too.  But you must be on something to sit at my table and say that American soldiers are out looking for an excuse to fire on civilians, let alone American civilians.  Or did I miss hear?"

"There's always at least one reason for military to shoot at American civilians: trespassing on a military base or other site restricted to the public," Jack says. "Normally they signpost those areas so no one accidentally enters in, but if they hypothetically had some kind of accident while they were, say, transporting something top secret and had to send in military to clean up..."

Jack sipped his soda. "There's also the other possibility that the guys in uniform weren't actually military, but just one of those right-wing militia guys who dress up like they're military because they wanna be tough guys," Jack says. "The Defense Department doesn't have a monopoly on camo, and those idiots will definitely shoot you if you look at them funny."

Tom sat down beside Jack and looks down at his hummus and coffee. Damn, I should have gotten some pita bread or something, too, he thought. When Jack mentioned soldiers shooting, the ROTC cadet frowned. "Seriously?" he said. "I think you're mistaking soldiers for cops, Jack. Kent State was a long time ago." There was that kid in Texas a couple of decades ago, though, he thought. That was pretty messed up. Hopefully he would never find himself in a situation like that, but that was one of the reasons he went Air Force.

The protein bar and the sunflower seeds had been snacks for the road. Tom wasn't about to order a salad in this place, but he did want something a bit more substantial. "The Naval base is basically just the Navy's rip-off of the Air Force's Cheyenne Mountain up in Colorado," he said. "Apparently the base here has a huge blast door and everything. If you saw uniforms in that black bus, it was probably just some troops going up to the base. And they wouldn't shoot you if you showed up, just run you off. Maybe arrest you if you stick around too long and act suspicious."

He took a swig of his coffee, looked as his pita-less hummus, and grimaced. Standing back up, he said, "I'll be right back," and sauntered over to the counter.

"Got any pita bread to go with that hummus?" he asked. "And can you heat it up if you do? Or just sliced bread if you don't have any pita."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:14, Fri 18 Oct 2019.

The cashier, who was the only person working at the Jade Dragon they could see, received Dean's order and his payment behind the counter before passing the order along to the kitchen on a similar yellow piece of paper as Dean headed over to their table. And then it was Jack's turn to pay for his order.

Tom returned to the counter and ordered some pita to go with the hummus and the cashier provided the bread and was paid.

Sometime later, the cashier placed Abe's and Dean's order on the counter and called them out so that the students knew that they were ready for pickup. And as the two of them went to pick them up, a firey vertical gash appeared in the middle of the diner. The gash bulged in the middle and expanded in both directions horizontally until there was a perfect circle bound by this rim of fire.

On the other side of this portal was about a dozen people. They turned their heads and looked over the place. One of them vanished, only to reappear face to face with Dean, where the teleporter bared his fangs. The others rushed through the portal towards the other guests, leaving only one person on the other side of the portal.

The other guests, and the cashier too, started transforming. Fur started growing on hands and face. It spread across the arms, enveloping any clothing. The mouth started protruding from the rest of the face as the teeth elongated and multiplied. The eyes changed shape and color as canine ears grew out of their skulls.

The transformation continued and though it only took a second, the terrifying change from human to bipedal wolfman burned itself into their consciousness.


[This terrifying appearance requires a Fright Check, which I rolled for you at -4. Which means 3d6 compared to Will-4. If the dice is higher than your modified Will, you fail. Only Jack made the Fright Check.

Abe is Stunned for at least 7 seconds, which means he has to Do Nothing until then. You can take no movement, but you can defend at -4.
Tom is Retching for 14 seconds, which means that he is busy vomiting or dry heaving. He can try to do something else, but he will probably fail.
Dean lost 1 FP and is Stunned for at least 4 seconds.]

Jack what do you do?
Tom are you doing something? Moving away/hiding perhaps.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:10, Fri 18 Oct 2019.

To say it was completely unexpected would have been an understatement.

One moment Dean had been looking for utensils, his thoughts mostly focused around hunger, and sleep, and the prospect of seeing family and friends over the next few days.

A fraction of his mind had registered the light, then the heat, and the rational side of him had dismissed them both as the headlights of a big rig turning into the station.

When he glanced that direction however, his mind struggled in vain to make sense of what his eyes were telling it. Any one of these things would have shocked him, disturbed him, and would have changed the course of his life forever. The combination of seeing people where they should not have been people, of seeing a hole in the world, of seeing a man, a thing, in one spot and then registering it in another a fraction of a second late was simply too much.

He shut down, "vapor lock" as some have called it. His mouth hung open slightly, his eyes wide like a deer in the headlights along some lonely stretch of road. He did not so much as breath.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:20, Fri 18 Oct 2019.

Halfway through a mouthful of truck stop pita and hummus (admittedly not that bad), Tom looked up to see the craziest thing he had ever witnessed in his life - a slash in the air like something out of Doctor Strange. Then, even more impossibly, a person appeared, fangs bared like some kind of vampire.

And then everyone in the truck stop except the four Croatan students started turning into werewolves, and Tom vomited up his hummus, pita, and coffee. At first, he could only stare in shock at this scene straight out of Twilight, which made Tom heave even more.

Pushing himself up out of the bench, still puking his guts out, Tom stumbles toward the door.

OOC: Try to run outside. Look for a hiding place.

Jack's brain didn't immediately register what was happening in front of him. It was so insane, absurd and out of nowhere that a part of him refused to even acknowledge the possibility it was happening. However, when the creatures started lunging, his survival instincts kicked in, and he realized he needed to get out, now.

However, he saw his two friends suddenly stuck in place, and realized they'd frozen in panic. Gathering up whatever bit of his mind he had left, he grabbed them both and did his best to drag them out of the diner, and hopefully to some semblance of safety. They weren't that far from the military base, and hopefully they could fight against whatever was happening.

...Assuming that whatever this was wasn't their fault, of course.

OOC: Gonna try to grab Abe and Dean and get them out of the diner, away from the Hell portal thingy.

Abe's brain had no pre-made descriptions to order the current situation.  So instead, he reeled back against the seat he had stood from, and just stood there.  He tried to bring his hands up, but he so very much doubted they'd help against anything that was going on that he really didn't even put any effort into it.

Jack and Tom rose from their seats, Tom was slower and his stomach was still in upheaval. Its contents continuing to spew over his food and the table. And the floor.

Abe and Dean remained unmoving.

The vampire facing Dean shrugged his shoulders, as if saying that this guy wasn't a werewolf after all, but I'm here now so let's do it. His nails extended into razor-sharp claws and he sliced Dean from his belly button up to his manubrium, causing the football player to drop to the ground. Clearly out of the fight.

One of the wolfmen jumped to Dean's vampire, impaled him from behind, straight into the kidneys, and the vampire dropped straight down on Dean.

The other vampires and werewolves were busy fighting on the other side of the diner. Causing no end of collateral damage as they were landing on chairs or tables or using said furniture as improvised weapons to hit or throw at their opponents.

[Abe is Stunned for at least 6 seconds, which means he has to Do Nothing until then. You can take no movement, but you can defend at -4.
Tom is Retching for 13 seconds, which means that he is busy vomiting or dry heaving. He can try to do something else, but he will probably fail.
Dean is Stunned for at least 3 seconds.]

[OOC: In GURPS, your turn is one second of time. So there is a limit to what you can do. Such as moving your Basic Move yards in a straight line. Standing up from a seated position. Making one attack. Just to name a few. I'll make a post with more information.]

[OOC: I'm not going to post how badly Dean is doing. If any of you want to find out, you need to check on him.]



What are you doing?
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:01, Mon 21 Oct 2019.

This isn't happening this isn't happening this isn't happening runs through Tom's mind over and over again, but he can barely concentrate on even forming a coherent thought. He doesn't stop to think that Wow, vampires and werewolves are real or Why is a diner full of werewolves close to a Naval station or Are the sorcerers in Doctor Strange really vampires, too?

No, his thoughts are almost entirely focused on getting out of the diner, but something stops him. The three guys he had made a cross-country trip with weren't close friends or family members, but still, he felt a bit of esprit de corps. Leave no one behind, he thinks. He looks over at Dean sprawled out on the floor and stumbles back to the big football player. Instinctively, Tom reaches down to check for a pulse, though his continual dry-heaving makes this very difficult.

OOC: Move to Dean's side to try to help him. Check to see if Dean is still alive.

Tom moved to Dean and checked on him.

Jack moved to Abe and picked him up.

The nearby werewolf pounced on Jack instantly and savagely ravaged him. Bringing him to the ground unmoving.

Abe was dropped on the ground, still stunned.

Another vampire drifted over to this side of the diner and attacked the werewolf. The shifter easily parried the attack and ripped out the vampire's throat. Cold vampire blood splattered across Jack's face as the vampire's body dropped to the ground and the werewolf tossed the throat across the room. He growled some sort of challenge to the vampires fighting his brethren.

Two more vampires rose to the challenge and quickly made their way towards him.

The all-out melee continued on the far side. Collateral damage having half-destroyed that side by now.

[Abe is Stunned for at least 5 seconds, which means he has to Do Nothing until then. You can take no movement, but you can defend at -4.
Tom is Retching for 12 seconds, which means that he is busy vomiting or dry heaving. He can try to do something else, but he will probably fail.
Dean is Stunned for at least 2 seconds.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:19, Tue 22 Oct 2019.

Such a mad way to die, Tom thinks numbly as his hand comes away from Dean's neck. No pulse. Stupidly, Tom looks over to see Jack probably killed by the werewolf. Abe was probably dead, too. How could any of this have happened? What could he do?

Tom realizes he's probably as good as dead, too, but he shambles toward the outside. Maybe he can get to the truck, start it up, and head to the Naval base for help. Maybe Jack and Abe could still be saved. If Tom stays here, he's as good as dead, anyway.

OOC: Head for the door and the truck outside.

As Tom rose to run away, one of the vampires grabbed him by the neck and threw him away from the door. As luck would have it, he landed back first right into the glass door of one of the coolers. There was glass shrapnel everywhere! And the largest piece of shrapnel penetrated Tom's back all the way out of his stomach. Two inches of blood-covered glass stuck out of the future officer's gut.

As the fight continued without any student influence, vampires continued to kill werewolves and vice versa. And soon they were all dead. And the diner was ruined. All tables on the far side were broken. And most chairs too. And on the student side, it was even worse. That two on one fight had rampaged all over the place before the one killed the two just before succumbing to the wounds they had given him.

There was only one person alive in the diner. Abe. The fire rimmed portal was still open and the female who held it open with a lifted hand was still on the other side. She stepped through the portal and lowered her hand. Thus the portal shrunk together to a single point before it exploded in a miniature fireworks display. The flecks floated towards the ground like snowflakes. And like snowflakes, they just melted away.

The most beautiful creature Abe had ever seen walked towards him. Her raven hair was long and luxurious. Her eyes blue like the ocean. Her skin was fair. And her red lips were luscious. And she didn't seem to wear any makeup.

She crouched down and took Abe's chin in her left hand. There was sadness in her eyes. And Abe was no longer stunned.

"Who's pet are you," she asked him. And there was something almost like anger in her voice.

[What do you do Abe?]

Abe looked up at the stunning woman, and the idea of playing coy briefly crossed his mind.  But seeing how the group she had enabled dealt with what might have been competition, he decided to go with honesty and hope that it didn't end with one more evisceration.  "No one's to my knowledge, miss.  I'm entirely available."

His mind wondered whether she meant some sort of supernatural patron, but answered vaguely enough that if she was talking about significant others, his language still fit his situation.

With a swift movement of her right hand, flashes of heatless fire appeared suspended above her palm. The flashes soon coalesced into a gold coin, as if taken out of a John Wick movie. But thicker, older, and more intricate.

"When you decide to cut your leash, hold this, and call for me. And I will open the world for you." She placed the coin in Abe's hand.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:53, Wed 23 Oct 2019.

Abe took the coin and looked at it and thought for a moment.  He had apparently chosen right by calling her "miss" and not "ma'am" and didn't want to mess that up now.  He was still extremely disoriented but decided if the lady could make a hole in the world for vampires to jump through to kill werewolves, he could play along.  He still wanted whatever information he could get, though.  So, he spoke, trying to keep his voice from wavering like his vision did.  "I don't understand what you mean but I assume I will when I need to... By the fact that you just made that appear out of nowhere, I'm guessing I won't need a phone number to call you... but do you have a name I should use to call?"

"You can call me Sparrow," she said. "And with that coin, your desire to speak to me will be the only phone number you need. You don't understand because you are on a leash. Understanding will not come on its own. Someone must explain it to you. Or liberate you. Someone didn't want you to know. Someone has hidden the world from you. Taken away the sun and the moon and told you there were only stars. To keep you in darkness. To hobble you. To hear only echos. To outlaw laughter. To drench you in refuse so that the scent of sunlight after rain would be unknown to you. They have stolen your life!"

20 seconds ago, Abe would have been certain the woman was stark raving mad.  Or perhaps on a hallucinogen.  However, he hadn't eaten or drunk anything here, but had just seen the impossible.  Perhaps what she was saying wasn't madness.  Perhaps he needed to hear it.

He sat up, and looked around.  Me moved to check for pulses on his friends.  "A minute ago I would have suggested you check into rehab, but I think I might have had it the wrong way around... is there a reason I can't be freed now?"

"There is not," Sparrow said. "If you wish it, say the words and make it so."

Abe considered for a long moment, wondering what was going to happen.  He was intensely curious about what she meant by 'and make it so' but had long since learned to clamp down his teeth on questions that he'd likely learn the answers to in good time.  Instead, he stood and looked seriously at the woman, and said: "Sparrow, I want to be free."

Sparrow started a light show of magic, outshining the magic of Doctor Strange. A net of heatless fire surrounding Abe. Arcane words tethering the net to the leash, entwining with each other until the two had merged into one. And as she opened up her hands in an explosive motion, the net-leash around Abe exploded. And he collapsed.


Some time later.


The four students woke up.

Abe, Dean, and Jack woke up on their backs where they had fallen.

Tom on his stomach, surrounded by glass shards, at the bottom of the cooler.

The diner was trashed around them.

There was no one else there.

Abe was handsome. His brown wavy hair reaching his shoulders. His brown eyes quintessential. And his skin could have sold a plethora of skincare products.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:51, Wed 23 Oct 2019.

Abe stood up and stretched.  He felt awesome.  He put something in his pocket, and then looked at the other guys, shocked.  "Why aren't you guys dead?  The creature features killed you all and each other, the portal lady Dr. Stranged me, now they're all gone and you're not dead?  What the heck.  I wonder if she healed you guys in addition to whatever she did to me."

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to find any mental gaps or changes from - allegedly - being freed of mental restrictions that had been on him.  Similar to how he would try to piece together evidence, but in this case trying to check what he knew against what he thought he knew, rather than what the evidence said being checked against what he thought he knew.  He started with the easy and obvious "there's no such things as vampires, werewolves, and magic."