You all awaken on a hill, overlooking the famous city of Gothamite. The city is famously urban and with large gothic buildings. There is a large section of poor and run down areas, and a middle section of the wealthy district as in many cities. However, now the entire city is overgrown with plants and dark, even during the day. The Haze cloud has settled over the entire city, making direct teleport risky. Very little sunlight gets inside, and with your various senses and a set of binoculars put into your survival packs, you can see dark shapes moving around the streets and rooftops. Moving like wild animals in human form-and giving no doubt that the city is overrun with infected.

Among your packs is a map of the city, and the location of Murder row, and the subway underground where survivors are most likely located.

What you do not see hovering over the city is the famous sky signal of the Night Watchman. Nor did you expect to.

OOC-Feel free to RP in the HQ thread until you are done with preparation.

 Cindy open her eyes and got up, she was use to this already. She then began to look around and access the area as the others awoke.

13 sat up after having woken up still weirded out by the feeling of being unconscious but still something she might have to look forward to as it was different.

Coming to with a wholly familiar pounding in his skull, Matthias took a few seconds to just breathe, focusing on the sensations that reached him before he even opened his eyes.  The grass beneath him was the easiest to pick out, providing little prickles and brushes against his hands and the back of his head as he gradually began the process of rolling onto his side before pushing up a bit.

Opening his eyes to take in his first glimpse of Gothamite, Schism studied the profile of the city slowly, trying to match the images he remembered so clearly from news articles back in the day against this altered world.  "Always wanted to see this place."  The psychic murmured, a wry little twist of his lips marking the gap between that imagined visit and the reality they inhabited.  Gathering the nearest bag, Schism flipped the top open and took a few seconds to sort through the materials they'd been provided, the map and binoculars getting particular attention as he shifted into a cross-legged seat and made use of both.  "Haze is thick out here."  He opined, glancing toward the girls briefly before returning to his study of the skyline.  "...and the streets are a little busier than I'd like."  He noted, lifting a hand to point toward some of the groups of infected as he focused the binoculars that way.  "Might be worthwhile to try and sneak up to the rooftops and see if we can't find a path up there."

OOC:  Throwing in a Perception check to see if he can find anything noteworthy or possibly a more sheltered approach?
07:52, Today: Schism rolled 24 using 1d20+10 with rolls of 14.  Perception (Binoculars?).

Using the Binoculars, you do notice the large patches of Haze clouds are pulled down by gravity like normal fog. Meaning the taller buildings are free from the mist at the rooftop level. That might make direct teleportation to those areas safer. As the infected tend to congregate in the Haze, the rooftops are clear of them.

 Sam looked around and then said," Ok Schism but look the Haze is being pulled down like fog I think it is safe for 13 to teleport us to one of the higher rooftops, then we can make our way down. Now do you know which tall building is closest to where we think this guy and the survivors are?" Her hair moved and flowed as Cindy stood talking and looking over the city.


00:03, Today: Star Hair rolled 24 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 17.  Perception. – 24
This message was last edited by the player at 04:05, Fri 22 Mar.

"I am good with that as that would be a minimal risk."  13 says looking around easily due to her abilities to gauge distances.  She does take a moment to listen around and spot anything of importance for the possible locations for teleportation.

Perception - 17

All of you easily spot a high point to transport to. It seems the whole city, even the poorer sections have high gothic buildings and gargoyles to cling onto. No doubt encouraged by the Night Watchman himself when he would routinely patrol his city before joining the Justice Brigade. The map makes it clear where they need to start looking for survivors, but not how those survivors are staying uninfected. According to the map, Murder Row does have a subway station. If people are alive, chances are it would be down there.

13 smiles as just being out here and ready for action.  Still she waits for the others to see exactly what I want the next move is.  She is prepared for whatever is asked for though.

Blinking a couple times to try and clear some of the haze his headache was inspiring, Matthias followed Sam's direction with the binoculars as he studied the Haze clouds.  If it weren't for the rather gruesome colour you could almost imagine the red-tinged mist were the authentic article, and viewing it through that lens gave him a little more of an idea of what the former-physicist was trying to point out.  Calling the map of the city to mind with only the slightest grimace as it sent a delightful little spike digging through the area behind his eye, Schism lifted a hand and traced a circle in the air around the outline of one of the buildings.  "That looks close enough.  I can start scanning for survivors from there and we can avoid the worst of the horde."

OOC-Does Starhair have anything to add, or are you teleporting to the building rooftop?

 Cindy would look around as well and then said," I am good and ready to head out looking for them, that looks like a good place to start Schism."

13 manages to teleport to the building suggested by Schism. Tall enough to be outside of the haze cloud, but low enough to see any horde coming their way. Of course, the infected are still very difficult to pick up via mental powers. However 13's enhanced senses can pick up their random wanderings around the street.

Schism's powers manage to actually find a human thought pattern down inside the red fog. He points it out, and 13 homes in on the living person in question with her amazing hearing and sight. 3 blocks away, a carefully moving figure still concealed by the mist moves slowly among the infected. They keep a fair distance from the roaming bands of the victims of the cancerverse. However, they move with silence and skill-making the infected ignore them as one of their own. However, if one of them gets close, or the person makes too loud a noise...the situation could change for the worse very quickly indeed.

13 relays the information to the rest but not sure what they can do as she knows portals into the mist were bad.  Speaking silently, "How do you all want to approach.  We could crawl down and stay on the walls?"  She asks.

 Cindy looks around, Cindy hears about the uninfected trying too move through the infected, that was risky." I could use my hair to climb down and carry the both of you at the same time."

"I've actually been practicing something."  Schism answered, spreading his hands to either side of his waist as he focused for a moment.  There was a momentary uptick in the psychic hum that surrounded him, a shift in tone that coiled tighter and tighter as a shimmering vibration built around his fingertips, the air squirming and incandescing as he searched for just the right frequency.  "There we are."  He whispered, a downward flick loosing the roiling energy into twinned jets of distortion that flirted around the edges of the visible spectrum.  Adjusting his fingers to shape the flow of power, the psychic allowed himself a momentary grin as he adjusted his position, hovering scant inches above the rooftop with only the occasional drifts.  "If we can get to the building above them I should be able to broadcast a greeting and an invitation to talk.  Hopefully without alerting the infected."

OOC: Yaay, first activation for Thrust Excitation (Flight 2): Wings (Both Hands) -1/r 2PP

Thanks to Schism, 13 can find a nearby building closer to said thought pattern. It's rooftop is still clear of the Haze, and down below 13 can sense the person in standing still by a former fruit stand, letting a pack of the infected walk by. Something seems off about that. While the Haze cloud itself does cause some minor visual problems, the infected are usually more attentive to potential prey.

OOC-13 may teleport everybody to the roof closer to the human. Everybody make an insight check, or just your awareness if you do not have insight.

Settling back from the edge of the roof once he was satisfied that their new target was in range, Schism let his eyes fall closed for a moment as he focused his attention toward his awareness of his own signal.  While he'd started to become accustomed to the new pattern, it was still a little strange to think of how different his powers were now.  Where once he'd have plucked another's thoughts from the air around himself, attuning to each individual like a separate radio frequency until the divisions between their thoughts melted away, nowadays it was almost purely the opposite.  The only signal he could find was his own; an endless wave of psychic static that poured outward like the tide.  Spreading his awareness out through that psychic sea, Schism searched for the ripples and turbulence that other minds created.  The mystery agent below had an odd way of moving, but easy enough to find their shape in his signal and from there he could divine meaning from the currents and eddies they generated.

OOC: Using Neural Field (Senses 5): Accurate 2r, Acute 1r, Detect (Minds) 2r, Quirk (Psychic Ringing) -1f, Penetrates Concealment +4r, Sustained +0; to try and observe the mystery person  16 and get a feel for them, plus Insight 14.  Mystery person is likely to notice the "sound" of his psychic signal creeping in if they're sentient.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:46, Fri 12 Apr.

 Star Hair smiled as they all portal down to another building closer to a human walking among the infected.

 Star Hair stayed away from the edges she knew her glow would draw the infected to them.

13 opens a portal to where indicated stepping through first and scanning around before the rest follow through.

She scans as best she can the area while listening in.

Perception - 25

(OOC - 23:06, Today: Thirteen rolled 25 using 1d20+11 ((14)).)

13 with her super senses easily manages to spot the person the question-despite the Haze and the movements of the infected. She points them out from the others, despite being 5 stories up on the rooftop. Stair Hair wisely stays away from the ledge, and Schism cannot see the person in question-but can certainly sense their mind.

One thing he is able to sense-as the infected also show on his mental 'radar', is that the living human is somewhat ignored by the roaming hordes. Not invisible, but any sound, sight, or other sensory excuse for them not to notice them is followed by the former humans. In fact, Schism rather suspects an outside source is causing the human to go unnoticed.

However, this concealment does not cover him or his team. The 'ringing' in the minds of the human and the infected are felt. While the human does not seem to react, and stays silent. The infected however start to howl and move, now suddenly drawn to the 'sound' they think they hear, and begin searching for the source.

Some of them even start the climb the building the team is on.

"Ohhhkaay then...That's not normal."  Schism muttered, backing a couple steps further away from the edge as the infected began to respond.  "There's some sort of governing mind attached to the horde, it noticed my signal."  He added, frowning a bit as he studied the impression the person below had left in his senses.  "I don't think it's coming from that person down there, or if it is, they're subtle in ways I've never seen before."  Schism concluded, glancing toward the others in the hope either might have picked up on something he'd missed.  "Can you port us to that building over there Thirteen?  I'd rather leave them guessing about what happened."  He added, pointing toward a spot a couple buildings ahead in the direction their mystery person was going.

 Cindy stayed in the center of the roof if they saw her now they would go even more bat shit. Cindy would wait till 13 opens her portal and go through when it is ready. Once on the next roof top she would look around and stay away from the edges.