"There are quite a lot of things. One 'it caused that shockwave'. Two 'I can sense it a long way away'. Three 'it's looking for something'. Four we can describe it: it's a single figure, physically manifested. There's a phone box not far away... For all we know Alice will 'just know' what it is.. and more brutally... if we are all killed investigating it, she will know what happened. Because Ann... this is a seriously powerful being"

"But... if you prefer direct action now then we should all go. If it's friendly... it doesn't matter who goes... Unless it takes special hatred of just one of shamans, or slayers, or Elissas.  If it is violent... then we want the force multiplier not it... if it's violent the worst thing we can do is split our forces and allow it to attack us one at a time and not together" she looked at Inoue "What about it Inoue... This isn't some two-bit vampire. This is a creature that is so powerful it caused that shockwave earlier, and can be sensed from miles away. What would you do?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:20, Thu 31 Mar 2022.

Are you going forward, Ann?

But I'm not bonking anyone. "Or boinking!" Inoue adds with a giggle.

What would you do? Inoue hums thoughtfully, then draws her tarot deck from its leather pouch on her belt that she keeps on her at all times. She closes her eyes as she begins to shuffle. "Spirits great and small, guide my path," she murmurs, then draws a single card onto her knee. She opens her eyes and looks down to see what she drew.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:32, Fri 01 Apr 2022.

Ann is split between watching the stranger and seeing what Inoue comes up with with the cards.

"Which card is it? What does it mean?"

She looked around. It wouldn't do to be ambushed. Or noticed by the stranger.

The card is The Tower or La Maison Dieux, depending on the deck. It refers to chaos and the fall of kingdoms.

"It's your call" Elissa said, not really understanding the card "I'm good with what you decide. You're the slayer, I'm the sidekick. I'll just back what you do"

"I wonder which kingdom is about to fall?"

She turned to face the stranger again.

"OK, I'll just pass them by. Perhaps I'll get a better look at what they are and what they're looking for. I won't attack. Not unless they attack me or I see no other option. I'll be on my best behaviour; scout's honour. We need to find out what's going on. I can do more than just kicks and punches. And if things do go terribly, let Miss Casey know what happened."

"Perhaps their's has. Or perhaps they look for something to make a kingdom fall"

Even though she'd said it was Ann's call, Elissa was frankly surprised her advise had been ignored. No comment had been made on it... was Ann deliberatly ignoring her? What was going on

"Sure go" she gestured. She'd made her suggestions, been ignored. It was up to Ann now

In reply to Alcuin (msg # 87):

Inoue frowns deeply. "The tower. One of very few cards that have almost no positive interpretations," she explains, "typically referring to a lost of direction and order, disaster, destruction, and just general unpleasantness."

She looks up. "In light of this I would recommend a very discrete inquiry of our subject followed swiftly by a retreat so that I may trance and consult with the otherworld."

As Ann approaches, the stranger continues with his obsessive perusal of the river.  He opens his mouth to speak, you see his teeth are much sharper than teeth have any business being.  "I will get in."

"Is that 'no positive connotations' for us or for them, I wonder. Maybe all of us. OK, you're both telling me to be careful, and I will be."

She took a deep breath.

"I'll be right back." As she walked towards the stranger, she added quietly, "Or at least I hope I will."

As she neared the stranger, she called out, "Excuse me, I don't suppose you could lend me a fag, could you? I'm all out."

The stranger turns to face Ann and smiles a sharp-toothed smile.  "A cigarette?" his voice is an old man's.  It's not surprising when he offers Ann a Gitane.  "Be my guest."

Ann took the cigarette, all the while studying the stranger and trying to pick up any clues. She also glanced in the direction the stranger had been searching.

"Thanks," she said. "I don't suppose you have a light too, do you?"

The stranger clicks his fingers and holds a small flame in the palm of his hand.  Close inspection shows that he is not a child, is not human...

There is a grey-green tinge to his wrinkled skin and his fingers all seem to have extra knuckles.  The eyes are warm and intelligent but the face is possibly the ugliest you've ever seen.

Ann kept her nerve and lit the cigarette in the flame. She thanked the stranger, then backed away and returned to the others.

"Either of you want a cigarette?" she asked, holding it out. "I don't smoke. Let's get to that phone box. I can describe him to Miss Casey, plus I now know that he can summon fire into his palm."

"Nicely done. mmm..." Elissa looked doubtfully at the cigarette "I only smoke pot. That stuff will rot your lungs... or it would if you weren't you" Elissa said "But fake it girl, we don't want to upset ... whatever it was. Maybe there's something magical that you can tell about the cigarette..." she was grasping at straws but she didn't know how magic worked "Given it was ... his/hers/it"

"Don't bother telling us the details, we'll get them as you tell Alice"

As they talked she adjusted the makeup on her face, using the mirror just to keep an eye on the creature behind without being too obvious

"I do not smoke tobacco," Inoue says, wrinkling her nose at the smelll of the burning cancer stick.

... his/hers/it. "Xir?" Inoue adds hopefully, apparently determined to beat this pronoun drum. "Magic cigarettes seems like a stretch, and I do not think xe is paying any attention to us so no need to fake it." Of course this is coming from someone who'll blatantly discuss the supernatural in front of others without hesitation, so maybe she's not the best one to take advice from about maintaining a cover.

"I'm not saying the cigarette is magical, girl. I'm saying that the cigarette has its sweat on it. If we were to talk about it we would say 'its cigarette'. So magically we can maybe use the fact that we have something from it" Elissa explained not taking the idea of inventing a new pronoun seriously "But you are a shaman and you know more than I do about this stuff and if you don't think it would work, it probably wouldn't"

Inoue blinks a few times. "I... had not even considered sweat. I do not think that is a strategy they teach at the shrine, but I cannot immediately conceive a reason why it should not work..."

Ann tore the end off the cigarette.

"If this is useful, best not let it burn."

She fished out a 10p coin, then called Alice from the phone box.

"Miss Casey, we've encountered a being tonight. He seems to be looking for something. He's got a greyey-green hint to his skin, and extra knuckles on his fingers. He's the ugliest thing I've ever seen." Definitely no bonking. "Also, he created a flame out of nowhere on his palm. He's not immediately dangerous - he gave me a cigarette when I spoke to him. But Elissa Darth Vadered him and felt his presence, plus a 'boom' which seems to be moving around here. Oh, and the creature is called Xe, though I'm not sure how Inoue knows that."

...and the creature is called Xe- "No!" Inoue cries, resisting the urge to laugh at the misunderstanding. "That is not what I meant~!"

Elissa had to chuckle even if Inoue managed not to. Partly at being compared to Darth Vader... who was in her view much better at being a baddie than Luke Skywalker was at being a goodie. He had 'tude and she liked that. "Anything?" she asked. She had no idea what to do now, so was hoping Alice had some ideas.

As the three were chatting and half watching the figure, an incredibly localised fog arose from the river, enveloped the figure and was soon gone, fading away to a few wisps and then nothing at all, as if it had never been.

Elissa's sense of the creature seemed to fade with it although it never disappeared.  It was as if a pain had faded from eleven to barely a half on a scale of one to ten within seconds.  The sense of relief was an almost physical sensation.

"Oh wow" Elissa said putting her hand to her head "It's gone. Whatever it was. And.. gosh I'm glad. That was going to give me a headache if it lasted longer"

And overhead without any fuss, the stars began to fade out one by one. - Arthur C Clarke - The Nine Billion Names of God