Vegas at 9:30 at night is pretty much just Vegas at most hours. Outside of the main drag and tourist areas things are reasonably quiet as the natives mostly wind down for the evening. The suburbs and outlying communities are perhaps a little more prone to disorderly conduct than most but nothing like the threat season twenty-three of CSI has trained most of the country to expect. Phoebe had a late night grocery run when it turned out a few things in the cupboards were past their sale-by date, so each arm has been weighted down with the bright blue reusable shopping bags.

There's a modest breeze driving the cool, dry air about with the usual grit and litter. Walls and fences tend to build up layers if the winds stay steady for more than a few days.

Phoebe can smell something upwind of her that Van Pelt's memories do not like at all. There's a dry, reptilian scent to it and if the smell is strong enough to notice either whatever reeks is capital B Big or she's right on top of it.

Phoebe was humming softly to herself as she walked, at least until her senses twigged a warning in her "other self." She quickly looked around as she cautiously set down the bags to the side of the sidewalk. Hopefully they'd still be there unharmed once she'd gotten things sorted, but, priorities.

She didn't conjure a weapon yet, since she was quick enough on the draw not to worry about planning ahead. Instead, she just cautiously began moving upwind and keeping an eye out for whatever was causing that smell. It wasn't like just smelling an animal automatically put her in kill-mode, but unless she'd somehow stumbled right on top of it, it seemed big and therefore threatening.

No reptile in sight, but she sees a number of shed scales. Shape says venomous rather than a constrictor but probably closer to a rattle snake (biting) than some cobras (spitting) in how it gets the toxin. Diamondback seems most likely from shape and color but they grow to eight feet in exceptional circumstances. If these scales are representative this thing was closer to twenty.

Which part of her mutters makes no sense, venomous animals stay small because it takes so much energy to make venom. It doesn't scale, square-cube law, selective bottlenecks, grah! This thing is in python size territory. Snakes are just part of the Southwest to an extent but even in Vegas people should notice a viper big enough to enjoy a petite adult human.

Well, here was a strange thing. She examined the scales carefully, then straightened up and looked around at her surroundings, a transitional area between light commercial and residential. It wasn't like she'd taken a shortcut through a nature preserve; it seemed like someone would call in the bizarre sight of a twenty-foot viper. Maybe they already had in fact, but this seemed bizarre, even supernatural. Cause to investigate, she thought.

One thing she'd gotten very good at was tracking dangerous animals, so she looked around for signs of which way her new quarry had gone and how recently. Assuming she didn't realize the answer was "right on top of her right now," she gathered her groceries again before moving too far away.

It took Phoebe perhaps half a minute to locate the trail. The feeling was not unlike a autostereograms where she has to relax her focus enough for it to snap into clarity. There were scraps along a fence, some shifted rocks, and other signs of something large dragging itself across the ground. It tracked towards the light commercial area, further away from people and denser populations.

"Tally-ho," Phoebe said matter-of-factly to herself when she picked up the trail. A worthy challenge for sure, and one worth taking on for the sake of the community too. Win-win. She moved to follow the trail, still carrying the groceries as she went. She was glad that she'd gotten stronger when she changed, or this would be a pain in the neck.

Two minutes passed, then three. The signs of passage have gotten steadily more obvious, Phoebe should be close enough to see it if the small industrial yard they have moved to wasn't full of storage buildings, repurposed trailers, and four or five semi-trucks breaking up the sight lines. Then off towards the main building she spotted the small bobbing circle of light. Probably a rent-a-cop, he's far enough away that she could likely avoid being seen.

Of course, the profession generally wasn't taken up by people prepared to deal with a monster snake if things went poorly.

(Roll a d20, odd the guard goes past with no issue, even things get interesting. May explicitly roll and then decide if you want to used the saved result from earlier)

Phoebe considered the setting, then her options. If this was a normal dangerous animal, she could probably sneak in, put a bullet in its head, and slip right out again. Of course the rent-a-cop would hear the shot, but she'd like to see him keep up with her retreat. The problem was that, whatever this thing was, it wasn't normal. And when in doubt about prey capabilities, you didn't just waltz into headshot range and hope for the best. That meant a more cautious hunt was in order - one in which an ordinary bystander could step in a trap, or try to intervene in a fight and get bitten. Phoebe had picked up some incredible talents, but healing venom wasn't one of them.

So she decided on a different approach. She swung wide around where she believed the snake to be - she didn't want to get bitten herself, either - so as to get within distance of calling out to the man. "Excuse me, sir! I need to talk to you, there's a dangerous animal here. You should move out of the way until I've tracked it down and dealt with it."

"Get out of here! This is private property!" the man yelled. Cripes, he still had some marks from a late adolescence acne attack. Maybe nineteen, maybe, and not filled with a surplus of calm. The circle of light swung around wildly for twenty seconds as he moved back.

He really wasn't terribly good at his job but between his flashlight, the small light sources that pervaded all modern developments, and the ambient light Phoebe at least managed to spot the brown scales. The snake hadn't quite managed to remove all the older scales so the faded areas made it easier to spot.

So, good news first. Snakes pretty much never chased humans. Rattlesnakes also can't generally climb. This oversized monster is part of a roughly equilateral triangle with the guard and Phoebe at the other points, all roughly 30-35 meters from each other.

Bad news, the guard has frozen up rather than withdrawing for the moment. Eastern Diamondbacks were responsible for nearly all the snake bite incidents in a wide region. Oh, and this one is female which is bad only because they tended to be much smaller than males so hopefully she doesn't have any brothers.

Phoebe is clearly the fastest part of this triangle, followed by the snake and the guard possibly not acting at all unless something snaps him out of it.

"I recognize that sir," Phoebe said calmly as she slowly turned her head to look at the snake proper. My, but that was a beauty. If it hadn't hurt anyone yet, maybe she should call animal control. Maybe the thing actually belonged in a zoo. Every truly great hunter was also a conservationist, after all. Just look at the greatest (real) one of all time, Teddy Roosevelt. At least the greatest before Phoebe overtook him, but that was a long way off.

"You can see the snake over there," she continued, slowly raising a hand to point. "It's some kind of viper, but it's huge. Big enough to consider us prey. So what say you back away, slowly and calmly, and leave this to the professional? You can even call the police about a trespasser if you're worried about your next performance review. Just tell them it's Phoebe Jeong, please." She didn't particularly consider the young guard a threat right now, other than to himself. What was he gonna do, shoot her? Good luck, Officer Steadyhands. And she'd broken up enough crimes at this point that she figured the local police wouldn't mind a little disturbing the peace.

The guard stayed pinned in place for a long breath.

Apparently the scaled darling didn't like a flashlight beam in her face. She started slithering towards him. Fortunately they started roughly a hundred feet apart and the movement finally gets him to withdraw. Or whatever Phoebe called dropping his flashlight and making a beeline for the edge of the building.

Now there are two and Phoebe knows a rattlesnake's effective range is roughly two thirds of their total length so she'll be perfectly safe so long as she stays at least fifteen feet away from the thing. Light splashed at random intervals as the dropped flashlight rolled across the gravel.

"Good lad," Phoebe said approvingly as the young man finally withdrew, despite the fact they were probably pretty close in age. She then executed a human-impossible leap onto a nearby storage trailer to observe the snake from a safer vertical distance. So long as the viper didn't start hunting someone else or spitting venom, she figured she had some time to figure out the best course of action. Probably it would end in violence, but a superhumanly huge viper was just bizarre and no mistake. Hell, maybe it was an ascended person that had a spell go wrong. "Hey, if you can understand me, you mind turning in a circle or something?" she called out to it as she pulled her phone from her pocket.

Assuming the snake didn't actually carry that out, she dialed 911 and waited for an operator to pick up. "Hey, is animal control interested in the world's largest viper? Because I'm looking at it in this industrial park, and it's too dangerous to just leave out here - it's big enough to eat people."

There was a momentary pause, but bless them it was a small moment.

"How big and which industrial park? Are you inside a car or building observing it?" the woman on the line asked.

The snake kept its eyes on Phoebe as it curled up slightly. It wasn't exactly cold but snakes weren't very active at night. They also don't have eyelids so there's no way to be sure rather one is asleep or just still aside from provoking it.

Phoebe gave her address, then said "It's about twenty feet long I'd say. And I recognize that doesn't sound like a viper, but I'm something of an expert!" It still felt like such a silly thing to say, one or two steps removed from outright declaring herself the once and future greatest hunter ever, that it was hard to say it with a straight face. It helped that her hunter side thought it was an understatement if anything. "I'm on top of a trailer right now, I think it's watching me. I have a clear shot at it if it's not worth the risk for your folks."

"Miss, you are aware that it is illegal to discharge a firearm within city limits, especially on private property that isn't yours," the woman answered sharply, "You are, in fact, probably violating a law by being armed on their property."

She heard a deep breath being taken.

"Stay on the line and don't provoke it. Animal control is being routed there. I won't say to risk your life to avoid a felony but please don't escalate."

"Hm, I thought there was an exception for acting at the direction of law enforcement," Phoebe said mildly. She was getting slightly rankled, being taken to task trying to be heroic, but for the moment she opted not to take it out on the woman. "All right, I'll keep an eye on things here. Just make sure your guys know what they're getting into, this is a monster." Maybe literally.

"God no. The Law hates self-help and there'd be potential civil and criminal liabilities. You'd probably be acquitted but believe me when I say even a trial that you win is a headache," the woman replied, voice calmer, "They have been advised. ETA is fifteen minutes."

At least that's fast, either it's a slow night or someone was taking her report seriously.

"When you say viper I assume we're talking a diamondback? Given the last few months I half expect one of those feathered flying serpents or something."

Phoebe wasn't totally sure that was right, but she wasn't a lawyer and wasn't feeling quite so invested in this situation as before, so she saw no reason to argue the point. "Seems to be a diamondback, of course not a normal one at this size. And yeah, things sure have been crazy lately, haven't they? Where'd this winged serpent pop up?" Heck, maybe it was still on the loose. One more head she could mount on her wall! Not really though, that was more of a fantasy from the Van Pelt side.

"Odds are they will kill rather than capture then. A shame but, size aside, diamondbacks are too common to take much risk," the woman said, "Oh? The coatls? I'm butchering the name. Apparently there's a swarm or whatever the plural for flying snake is of them wandering around Mexico. Seem to be avoiding cities but a crop duster crashed because of them."

The animal control van appeared several minutes later as the object of all this scrutiny gave every sign of true sleep. No sirens or flashing lights to disturb it and they parked along the road rather than entering the lot. Phoebe could see three men in uniform step out of the side panel, two looked about air like they expected a prank. The third seemed to be sorting through a metal toolbox.

"Ah, that is a shame, really. But understandable. I'll keep a lookout at least - this thing isn't natural." And neither am I, Phoebe added to herself with a faint smile. "It's not growing feathers and flying away, but you never know with these things. Thanks for the info, speaking of that."

She watched as the three men arrived, then waved to them, since she might be hard to make out from her current position. Then she pointed down at where the snake currently was.

One of the two spotted her wave and tracked where she was pointing. The industrial estate had so much scattered equipment, materials, and vehicles that they'd have to be a lot closer for eyes on the snake. They started making their way closer, as quiet as three adult males with bulky gear were ever likely to be.

To Phoebe their approach would have been obvious without direct line of sight. If judged by the snake's head tilting to the right it was equally aware.

It was too bad that this snake would likely end up dead, but Phoebe owed her protection to humans over animals. That was what her "other self" stood for in a way, the triumph of civilization over nature.

It sure didn't seem like these guys were making a smart approach, though. She kept a careful eye on the situation, figuring she could intervene if need be.

In fairness they were in protective equipment. A normal snake's fangs stood no chance of getting through. They weren't being terribly loud but again, normal procedure was not going to cut it here. At least they were not in a hurry, stopping every dozen yards or so to glance at Phoebe to make sure they are headed in the right direction.

As they are about to turn a corner on the last container between them and the reptile a rattling sound emerges. They pause and Phoebe sees two of them draw sidearms.

Phoebe continued keeping an eye on things, and keeping an open line of fire as well as sight on the snake. She was hoping she wouldn't have to intervene, but she had her instructions, and she tended not to go against them once she got the authorities involved. Though if they were just going to shoot this creature instead of her, it hardly seemed that she needed to bother. Ah well, she was still getting used to this "local hero" business.

Phoebe spotted a second complication, the animal control team seemed to have a stalker. At least he knew how to move quietly and shadow tense men without giving the game away.

Samuel sees a small woman on the roof of a shipping container gesturing to the men.

Well, that was odd. Who would just follow an animal control team around? It seemed like the man must be up to no good. Maybe he'd summoned or altered the snake somehow, and now had arrived to intervene on its behalf? Assuming he wasn't some random hippie or something, anyways.

Phoebe had practically been communicating in semaphore, so she was sure she'd been spotted in return, but at least she had the advantage that she hadn't done any showing off yet. Maybe he would assume that she was just some stranded civilian. She could still take action on behalf of the team if it became necessary, even if she had two potential opponents now.

Samuel stays backs and watches. He glaces up to the girl on the roof.  She must have called in the animal control.  Whatever it is it much have chased her up there.

They both hear the signature dry almost hiss that gave rattle-snakes their name, only with the decibels raised closer to something like a semi's engine idle rumble. So do the animal control guys who pause, nervously adjusting their weapons before moving forward.

The group turned a corner putting them momentarily out of Samuel's sight. Phoebe however sees the thing uncoil and dart towards the public servants with a motion and speed that no normal snake could match.

Two firearms are rising to track the thing but they're startled. No way are they stopping that much mass.

Great, this was going about as well as Phoebe had expected. Fortunately she had quick reflexes plus, you know, divine powers or whatever they were. Certainly Van Pelt was here with her now, guiding her hand. "Blast," she muttered under her breath, indicating his voice was there as well, but even as the word left her mouth she was conjuring a large-caliber rifle to her hands from out of nowhere. "Don't fight, just run for it!" she called out after that.

She performed an inhumanly long, quick leap down directly in front of the oncoming snake, then took a snap shot at it even as she braced for the counterattack. And possibly being shot in the back, but that was just how these things went.

Rifle attack 18, 3 damage if it hits.
Sorry, my fault - I was away from my book and just copied the straight d8 roll in here. That's a total of 7, which is 2 damage :)
This message was last edited by the player at 04:01, Sun 31 Oct 2021.

Sam's left eyebrow raises in an odd imitation of Mr. Spock as he see woman pull a long rifle out of nowhere and jumping down.  The action was like watching some action hero in a movie.

Whatever they were trying to catch it sounded like an impossibly big rattle snake.  Curiosity peeked, Sam wanders closer so he can see the action.

Phoebe's round nails the left side of the snake's face, causing a meaty thud but not dropping it. Vibration alone should have dropped it for a few seconds but instead it lashes out at her with it's fangs. Fortunately she's more than fast enough to avoid it. The animal control team runs pell-mell past Samuel.

Samuel is entirely correct, the thing is a diamondback rattle snake too large for the square cube law to let exist.

With the mystery man still around, Phoebe was doing her best to keep alert, but of course it was hard to take much attention off the tremendous rattlesnake trying to dive in and bite her. With her hunter's training in taking on huge animals head-to-head, she went for two quick snap shots with her large rifle as she continued to dodge and weave, though it cost her some in accuracy.

Edit: After factoring in Phoebe's Lesser Strife of the Bitter Rival:
Attack 1: Better of 11 or 9, still a miss :)
Attack 2: Better of 8 or 24, that's a hit!
Damage from attack 2: Damage roll of 3, +4 for 7, which is 2 damage.
(edited an autocorrect typo)
This message was last edited by the player at 03:50, Tue 02 Nov 2021.

Phoebe's second shot manages to take the creature's left eye. It's hurt and turns to flee. Granted, usually a human could keep up with a snake's slithering pretty easily. She can do it trivially.

This snake is apparently some derivative along the lines of Usain Bolt as he instinctively heads for a less illuminated spot in the parking lot.

Sam will trot over nearer the woman ( but not too close).  Need some help?

"No thanks, stand back please," Phoebe said, prompt and confident in the decision. She had no idea who this guy was and whether he knew how to do things like "stay out of the line of fire" and "don't get eaten while someone else is trying to fight." And even with that, if he'd been, say, a heavily-armed SWAT officer, she still would have said no. She was in the zone with her knowledge of dueling, and he'd throw a wrench in that.

With that matter settled as far as Phoebe was concerned, she executed another pair of shots at the retreating snake, then advanced cautiously after it. Not trying to catch up, only to make sure she wouldn't lose sight of it entirely.

Attack 1: Better of 15 or 6. Not sure if 15 hits. 2 damage if it does (rolled a 5+4 on the table).
Attack 2: Better of 16 or 12. Not sure if 16 hits either :) 1 damage if it does (rolled a 1+4).

The two shots caught it just below the skull and in the midline. People could complain about shooting in the back but they could also deal with snake-zilla themselves if it bothered them so much. It's bleeding out and twitching, a few minutes and it will be dead. For now, best not to get too close.

Phoebe wasn't the sort to leave a wounded animal suffering needlessly. After briefly glancing around to make sure that, say, the animal control guys and the mystery man weren't going to get on her case, she walked around to get a clean shot at the snake's head and went for a kill shot to put it quickly and cleanly out of its misery.

Judging by the sound of a panel door slamming the animal control team is 'regrouping' at least the engine doesn't start, they're professional enough to not keep running.

The thing's death spasms are fierce enough to leave dents in a nearby shipping container but it's dead. Only a few organs and muscle fibers slowly realizing it.

Phoebe made a gesture like she was tucking her gun away, though in fact it vanished entirely. She then turned to look at Samuel. "So, who're you?" she asked. Probably a looky-loo, but you never knew with weird circumstances like this.

Sam opens his jacket ( showing he has no firearm) and pulls out his FBI badge.  He does this slowly so she would not think he is reaching for a weapon.

Sam West. FBI.  And you?

Crap. Phoebe would have preferred that Samuel had pulled out a gun. At least then it would be a fair fight. Instead, Samuel could mishear or forget she said something or decide he felt threatened and then it was the whole government coming down on her head.

"Oh," she said. She considered booking it instantly, but she'd already given her name to the police dispatcher, it would be easy to track back. "I'm Phoebe. What brings you here, tracking the giant snake too?"

Sam folds the ID away and slowly puts it back in his pocket.

I am suppose to be on vacation but I started to look into a murder.  I happened to be walking back to my hotel when I saw the animal control van going hell-for-leather and it peeked my interests.  Mainly because it would be very rare for them to have to be in a big rush.  It stopped near enough to my path that I came over to have a look.  Bored I guess.

He pauses and rubs his stubbled chin with one hand.

Then I saw the snake and saw your actions and ... well here we are.  I tend to see strange things in my job.  You and that snake are not the strangest but that snake is up there.

Why in the hell is he telling her this stuff?  Because she did some incredible stuff and she could be like him.  Hopefully she is one of the good guys or gals as it were.

There was a low engine sound approaching slowly. Either animal control had worked up courage when they had some sheet metal around them or another party was making their way forward. Still, the place really was a mess. They have a few moments before getting out unseen would be problematic for either of them.

Despite her intense sense of caution where actual law enforcement was concerned, especially the federal variety, Phoebe's curiosity was piqued when Samuel said he was investigating a murder on his vacation. "A murder, around here?" she asked, by which she meant on my turf? Then she glanced up toward the approaching sound. "If you want some help, I'll take a card or something if you've got one. Maybe we better clear out of hear before we get buried in paperwork."

Sam digs out his wallet and produces a card that says he is with the ATF.

Call the mobile on there.  The others may get you more questions than you want.

He begins walking out of the area turns towards the Strip.

It is an interesting murder.  I am fairly sure the building did it.

Phoebe resisted a mild urge to just gun down Samuel on the spot when he handed her an ATF card. It seemed like as a matter of probability, not all of their agents could be awful people. "Will do," she said as she pocketed the card. "Talk to you later." She turned to dart away in the opposite direction and make herself scarce.

Forty-five seconds was plenty of time for Phoebe to make her exit. Samuel did the same.

The night passed without any huge trouble or revelations. A few local news stories confirmed that general strangeness was still on the rise, although the aliens and amazon seem to be stealing the spotlight.

Phoebe did her best that night to find out what she could about Samuel West, but being a superlative hunter didn't exactly translate into private investigator work. With nothing else coming up in the night, she woke up still curious, and opted to call the number she'd been given. "Hey, this is Phoebe from last night. So what's up?" she said once he picked up - assuming he did, of course.

Sam had gone back to his hotel room only to equip himself with his service 9mm pistol.  Something more weird than normal was up so he might as well not take it lightly.  He spend the rest of the evening wandering the Strip and casinos around it.

When Phoebe calls, she can hear the pings and music of a casino in the background.  Sam glanced at the time before answering as the casinos had no clocks visible.  Good Morning Phoebe.  Well, I am going to get an omelet and pass the time until about 10 then visit this theater where the murder happened.  Someone should be there by then. Sam pauses as he thinks about the strangeness of this murder.  It is at < give Vegas address>.  You are welcome to join me.

"Righty-o, I'll see you there. Have fun in the meantime, buh-bye." The encouragement was delivered without sarcasm, Phoebe loved casinos. She had to be careful around them, though. With that settled, she went about her usual morning routine, then headed out toward the intended address when the time for it rolled around.

The theater is an old Vegas Staple, meaning it was almost twenty years old, that got a full exterior and interior remodel every four or five years. Of late it's been home to a popular B-list celebrity magician. Like most such establishments it was a tourist trap on the weekends but more reasonable on local budgets during the week.

When the entire place isn't roped off with police tape. Still, it looks like for all the damage inside very few officers are still present. Everything of interest to a lab has already been bagged, a few thousand photographs taken, and security footage pulled. The police will do a perfunctory clean up of their mess while the rest is a cleaning service's problem.

Since Phoebe didn't have any guns out as she approached the theater, she looked like quite the non-threat, just another looky-loo that happened by and got curious about the police presence. She wasn't sure if Samuel was meeting her here or already inside, so she opted for now to just amble around and take a couple of pictures from the outside with her phone.

Sam strolls up a short while later looking much like he did the previous night. " Good morning Phoebe.  I hope you were not waiting long.  Shall we?"  He gestures to the side alley where the stage door is located and walks towards it and knocks.

He pulls out his FBI badge and waits for an answer.

"This is the first time I have gotten to meet another one of... us.  The various agencies in the Government try to keep track of those they can find.  Generally ones who do something that attracts attention.  I do not think the higher ups know what to do.  They did try to stop or recruit one of us that I know of.  It was quite the blood bath and the target walked away." 

He pauses and looks over at her.

And no, I did not report you to any of my management.  It is not my job and frankly, I do not like them spying on Americans.

"Good morning Samuel," Phoebe replied politely. She still wasn't too sure where she stood with the man. She followed him in and listened to the explanation, then said "That's good, thanks. I don't care for it either. So, what's going on here?"

"Forgive me as I tell a story so you understand when I say there was a murder, I know there was a murder.  I do not know what it was like for your awakening.  I was in the hospital, recovering from an ambush during a drug arrest.  I do not think I was conscious of someone choosing me and then I became aware. Aware of what I could do but also with this burning desire for Justice.  Very Old Testament style justice.  At that point I can sense when a murder has happened.  Give some time I know who the murderer is."

He pauses to knock again. Louder this time.

"When I came to town and saw the article on the accident and I knew the magician had been murdered.  After examining the body, I found that the Ttheater, this theater, murdered him. That is what I am investigating."

"I see... So you can see things about murders, how interesting." Phoebe didn't sound doubtful at all. Why would she? Her powers were different - much less to do with certainty of information - but it wasn't like she thought she was the only power around and everyone else was just faking.

She considered what Samuel was saying carefully. She also didn't think he was stupid, so she didn't bother asking if "identifying a building as a murderer" might just mean the guy slipped on the stairs. Instead she said "So the theater actually... consciously decided to kill a man, and then carried it out? I'm not saying this to doubt you, just an observation - that's really weird. How do you suppose it happened?"