The Creeping Killer(s)

[Dr Archeville]

The ooze-y tendril feels like being hit by a tentacle of Jell-O. Acid-flavored Jell-O. [[ Catherine's got one Bruise from the acid. ]]

[spectrevk]

Catherine recoils in disgust, thrusting her hands towards the beast to unleash a torrent of mystic energy, in hopes of destroying the thing.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1672495/

Attack roll of 17.

[Dr Archeville]

Catherine suddenly bolts, screaming, while Mongrel Angel sees the ooze-thing pop like a water balloon when hit by her mystic blast.

Meanwhile....

[pookaking]

Danny Aukman, aka. Vigor, had been keeping an eye on the news stories regarding the FCU killings. It was not unusual for him to attend night classes even between jobs. When one didn't sleep one had lots of time on his hands. In a way the killings were personal. Some of the very students that shared the hallways of FCU with him were now dead, how could he stand by and do nothing?

Luckily, he now had the time to do something. Lately, he had been the full time bodyguard for a Mr. Frank DeCoasta, but do to recent events the DA had made special arrangements through Knight Errant to move DeCoasta to a government funded safe house; no one liked this idea, not Frank, not Danny, and not Travis Knight. The whole thing stunk. In the end Danny had no choice, he was removed from guard duty. Until, Knight Errant reassigned him he was back at school filling his head with more knowledge and flirting with young female students.

Vigor wasn’t sure how to proceed with things. He was attempting to have the employees at Knight Errant pull some strings with the police force to get more information about the case, but bureaucracy was a slow thing. For now he simply questioned friends of the deceased by day, and wandered the grounds alone at night. Like a student he wore casual clothes and a backpack; unlike a student, he carried a heavy pistol in a shoulder holster under his jacket and brass knuckles in his pocket.

[Veiled Malice]

Daisuke sat back, flipping through the channels on his adopted home's TV set. Turns out Renichi had some pretty good taste in audio/visual equipment. A 42" plasma was way more than the boy ever had growing up. Of course, growing up on the street, that was to be expected.

The past couple months had been some of the best in the metal boy's life. Being reunited with his hero, Renichi, meeting up with his super cool girlfriend, Lynn, and finally getting a place to live meant that he was in heaven. He just wished Ren wasn't spending so much time with Lynn. And when they were together, they always made those weird kissy noises. Daisuke wrinkled his metallic nose. He hoped he never got that hung up on a girl.

Just then, he flipped to a news report on... well, a murder, apparently. Daisuke slid forwards on the couch and turned the volume up. As the report went on, a smile slowly split his face. This was a job for Mashin-kun! He sprang to his feet and started gathering up his working clothes, dressing with all due haste so he could get on the job quickly.

"

Daisuke froze suddenly. "

"" Renichi commented dryly. "

"" Daisuke dashed for the door. ""

Renichi rolled his eyes as Daisuke ran pell-mel out of the apartment before picking up the remote and turning the TV off. Just then, a redheaded girl with towels wrapped around her body and head came out of Renichi's bedroom, looking confused. "Where'd the squirt go?"

"Had to get some air," Renichi replied. The girl just looked at him oddly.

---

Daisuke made all possible speed for the Promenade, hitching a ride on the top of the monorail out of Southside to get there even faster. He had really come to enjoy his relative invulnerability when it came to little things like getting hit by bullets or cars as he hopped off the train while it was still moving. His feet hit the pavement of the abandoned underpass with teeth-rattling force, but he managed to regain his equilibrium after barely five seconds of uncontrolled rolling and flailing about. He was getting better at that.

It only took a couple more minutes to hoof it the rest of the way the Promenade. He didn't really know what he was looking for, but he knew he know it when he found it. Or something.

[Sandman XI]

Wesley flips through the car radio channels trying to find something that can catch his attention. Getting ready to turn the blasted thing off when he hears a news broadcast. The news always interested Wesley as he soaked in every bit of information he could. He listens in an almost reverence to the man's voice. Silently gawking at the brutality of the words "mutilated", "severely burned", and "acid". After hearing the police what he interprets as "the police aren't doing anything" he shakes his head. "Hanover, Promenade, Hanover, Promenade," he repeats as he reaches for a road map. Tracing his finger for the shortest route, he chuckles, "How convenient." He parks his car and gets out, surveying the Promenade.

[Nyrath]

Great, now what do I do? Wondered Alex. She'd been counting relying at least in part on the investigative skills off others; people who actually had any that is. The winged lass was concious of the fact that her main strength was breaking things, and that investigation of any kind was firmly placed as one of her weak-spots. Well, whatever the case it probably wouldn't hurt to try at least.

As she was just about to start poking around closer to the ground she heard, something. Whoever or whatever it was certainly wasn't light on its feet, or making any attempts at being stealthy. Hoping that it might be someone else bent on investigating the case, and bearing in mind that nothing she knew of involving the killings was likely to be causing the noise, the silver-haired one decided to call out.

"Hey! Anyone out there!?"

[Veiled Malice]

Daisuke almost squawked in surprise as another voice called out to him. Making even more noise, the metal boy scrambled over to the nearest piece of hard cover and hid behind it, trying to figure out where the person that had spoken was. Slowly, he poked his hat-covered head out. What he saw, however, took him aback. It looked like an angel was standing out in the open, with wings and everything!

"Hello?" he replied, still in shock over the girl's appearance. "Um... you aren't a bad guy, are you?" He really hoped she wasn't. The last thing he wanted to do was beat up an angel. Imagine how much trouble he'd get in with Ren-kun!

[Sandman XI]

Wesley starts walking down a well-lit path, as the news broadcast instructed looking for any sign of trouble or even non-trouble. He considers himself a stormcrow, wondering what he will tell people who haven't heard the grisly news. He shakes his head at the mental images. Still walking, but now more defensively, Wesley stops when he hears two voices. He looks around to see an angelic boy talking to a somewhat metallic boy behind a bench. He breathes a sigh of relief, silently thanking God for angels and robots. "Hey," he calls out, walking in a now non-threatening manner, "It's a little late for a stroll in the park, ain't it?"

[pookaking]

Vigor sat on the cold stone steps that led up to the main entrance of the Administration Building of FCU. It was much too late for any of the buildings to be open or for any students to be wandering the grounds. One of the school ground guards had already approached him, but with a flash of his Knigh Errant badge it was easy enough to convince the man he was here to do more good than harm.

Under the flickering light of a nearby pole Vigor sat with his laptop in hand. He was typing away trying to find any reason whie Alex McGee, Eve O'Nell, and Alvin Oates were targeted. He hoped that by searching places such as MySpace he would find some connection between the three students; or if he were really lucky motivation for the killer him/herself.

[Nyrath]

Alex can't help but smile at the newcomer's reaction. Anyone who had to ask, in that fashion, whether or not she was a 'bad guy' couldn't be too bad in her mind. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the boy's (?) metallic appearance; her first thought was of some kind of highly sophisticated golem. In any case the newcomer had posed a question, it would be best to answer it.

"Heh, no. I'm no 'bad guy' as you put it." The winged lass didn't get any further before a second newcomer interrupts. "Well, you're the fifth person I've meet tonight around here, so obviously there's some who disagree with that."

[Veiled Malice]

Daisuke breathed a sigh of relief when the angel said she wasn't a bad guy. One bullet dodged. Then another person showed up, this one a tough-looking black guy. It was obvious he and the angel didn't know each other, but he didn't seem to be all that threatening. Maybe he was out for a walk?

He just watched as the two conversed for a moment, not sure of what to say in this situation. Then Daisuke remembered he was here to do a job. "Hey, are you guys here because of that news report? Those kids that got killed? That's why I'm here. I would have been here earlier, but it took me a while to get here from Southside. Plus there's no train stops nearby, so I had to jump off when it was going over an overpass. I'm just glad it was moving so slowly at the time. If it had been going more than 80, I might have actually had to tuck and roll, although I'm not sure about that because there was this one time when I got hit by a car that must have been going 60 and it only threw me into the bushes and I got confused for a while. It totally ruined my clothes, though, and Ren-kun said I shouldn't be so careless because money doesn't grow on trees, which is odd because trees are paper, so I don't really understand that."

He blinked his eyes a couple times and looked back at the winged girl. "By the way, are you an angel?"

[Sandman XI]

Wesley nods in a greeting manner to both the angel and robot. "So, there are other people here," he questions the angel before the robot starts his chatter. He tries to listen to everything the boy says as he mentions the recent murders, but chuckles lightly as he goes off on a tangeant. With the final question from the robot, he grins and looks over at the angel, "Looks like it's twenty questions for you tonight, huh?"

[pookaking]

Vigor packed up his few belongings and headed towards the Promenade. It seemed the only thing the three kids had in common was that they all had reasons to be in the Promenade. "Seems like a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said with a shake of his head.

He made a quick stop at the local convinient store to pick up a watermelon slushy and a box of baking soda. ~If this thing fights with acid, this may come in handy,~ he thought wishing the hardware stores were open so he could purchase a stronger alkalide.

He already had a likely scenario in mind. Either there was a superpowered psycho with acid powers or maybe some mutated creature using the park as its personal hunting ground. It was likely living in the Promenade for now and may have even come from the Hanover Institute of Tech. It was natural for Vigor to picture some sort of acid monster or conspiracy. He seemed to attract strange phenomenon.

He slowly drove down a road parallel to the Promenade keeping an eye out of his window. It quickly became obvious that he would have to get out and walk if he wanted to see anythng other than trees and scrub brush. It was not long when he noticed a small group. A black dude, an emo chick, and a...metal boy? ~Have they not been watching the news lately.~ He was about to move on when his conscience got the better of him. "Damn it! I hate playing big brother." He made a bee-line for there position. As he approached he called out, "Hey this place probably isn't the safest place to be right now. In case you weren't aware there have been three murders in this area in the last week."

Vigor looked to be perhaps in his late twenties. He had spikey blond hair and a matching patch on his chin. He wore black slacks, a dark red t-shirt that tightly hugged his well muscled torse, and a black jacket. A box of Arm & Hammer baking soda peeked out of one of his jacket pockets.

[Nyrath]

Alex feels a bit swamped as the boy with the metallic skin fires off a couple of questions, goes off tangent, and then finishes with a question she can at least answer easily enough. The fact that the dark skinned man has questions of as well doesn't elude her either. As it is she decides to go with the most recent ones first, mostly due to the fact that the answer practically bursts forth.

"What gave me away?" She says adressing the shorter of the two, who to her slight annoyance still cleared her by about four inches. "I bet it was these." The lass continues smiling while ruffling her large wings.

As she's about to continue with what was actually the first question the kid had posed a third individual interrupts, this one yet another one who seemed a foot or so taller than her. "We are aware of it." The grey-winged one calls back. "Why do you think we're here?" For emphasis she collects and focuses her soulfire in and around her right hand and raises it up, silverish flames dancing around the untarnished limb.

"If you're interested in helping out with it you might want to stick around and at least listen."

Whether or not this latest arrival cares to stay the silver-haired angel continues speaking, keeping her voice at a clearly audiable level. "Right, as I was about to say, I've had the opportunity to sniff around a bit, with assistance, and found out a few things. Firstly it's no human directly causing this, though who knows about indirectly. Second there seems to be at least two different kinds of creatures doing the killings."

Pointing to the sad remains of the acid-blob she continues. "That's the remains of one of the creatures, it attacks simply by using its acidic touch to devour whatever it can. They're sneaky too, the first one dropped on one of us from above. Poor kid went into shock after we killed it and healed him, needed to be helped away."

"I haven't seen the second creatures myself, though an augery done by one of those I meet earlier at least produced a description; humanoid, about my height, vicious, green and travelling in a pack. From what I know those are the ones who killed Alex McGee and likely the other two as well, though the acid-bags caused the acid scarring."

"And finally, I'm afraid the death toll needs to be adjusted again." The angel carefully lifts the unfortunate policeman's body out of the bushes at the edge of the clearing. "The blob was feasting on this poor guy when the last two of us came here, the sorceress who did the augery nailed it with an attack spell then ran of screaming at the top of her lungs. Then a few minutes later you people started showing up, so now you're up to speed."

Gently lowering the deceased lawman's corpse to the ground once more she continues to speak. "I hope at least one of you happens to be any good at tracking or the like; while I'm good in a fight I'm not so good at searching for something."

[pookaking]

Vigor’s first impression was that he simply stumbled upon a group of young wanna-be superheroes. As the winged girl dragged a cop’s body out of the bush he couldn’t help but give her a suspicious glance. She talked about magic, and that caused Vigor to roll his eyes. He hated magic. Magic users had a tendency to cause trouble or, in the best of cases, to summon it up accidentally.

“I’m not tracker, but from what I’ve been able to tell about the locations of the murders it started up near the HIT building and is slowly working its way south along the length of the Promenade. Now whether or not the whole mess originated there or it is merely coincidence…well,†he said leaving things unsaid, allowing the others to draw their own conclusions.

He made his way over to the blob thing and started at it. It was tempted to prod it with his shoe, but decided it best not to.

[Veiled Malice]

Daisuke could only look on in surprise as the angel described the horrors she'd seen here at the park. It was a good thing he didn't need to eat anymore, because he was pretty sure vomiting in front of everyone would be a big tip-off that he wasn't really up to the job at hand. The dead police officer was an even bigger shock, and Daisuke had to resist the urge to shudder. He had never seen a dead body before, even though he'd nearly been one once.

"So... what do we do?" Mashin-kun asked, sounding very much like the little boy he was.

[Sandman XI]

Wesley soaks in the information that is thrown out in rapid fire succession. He doesn't even get to formally greet the newcomer after hearing and actually seeing the gruesome details of what is happening. His mental sense of time slows down as he stares at the blob then slowly turning to the dead body. He alternates, looking at each of them a couple of times. What seems like forever to him took only a second. Snapping out of it, he hears the robot child say almost the same thing he says at the exact same time, "So, what's the plan?"

[pookaking]

"I was hoping to lure the thing out with this handsome face of mine," he joked, hoping to lighten the mood amidst the fear and death lingering around them. "In the morning I was going to check out HIT to see if maybe whatever these creatures are originated from some project of theirs. I'm also hoping some contacts of mine will be able to provide me with all the information the cops have reguarding these cases."

He shoved his hands back in his pockets. "Until then, since I'm not much of a sleeper, I think I'm just going to take a stroll. See if I can find anything unusual. Or wait for it to find me."

[Sandman XI]

Not at ease, but still, Wesley would much rather be talking and moving than just looking at what he just saw. He nods and smiles at the newcomer's bravado, at least its some sort of light in this dark time. "Well according to the news the police ain't doing much and pretty much left it up to us guys. Indirectly, you know? Not us four specifically, but," he stops himself in mid sentence as he catches himself rambling almost as much as the robot child. Shaking his head and snickering at the thought he perks up in a semblance of hope. "You know what? A stroll in the park would be nice." He stretches and puts his hands behind his head then looks at the motley assortment that is their group, "You guys ready?"

[pookaking]

Walking in a slow circle around the area, Vigor simply nods. "You can call me Vigor by the way," he introduced. "I'm a member of Knight Errant and a part time student of FCU." He was looking at the ground as if searching for something. He was figuring that if these goop creatures were acidic a trail of some sort may have been burnt into the undergrowth.

He looked to the angelic emo chick, "So what can you tell me about this little scuffle of yours anyways?"

~How are my bullets going to stop something like that?~ he wondered, as he glanced at the dead blob. The question seemed like one that should have been asked long before entering the park.

[Veiled Malice]

"I'm ready!" Daisuke chirped happily. At least they had a direction now, even if it was just wandering about for a while. And he even got to hang out with a honest-to-goodness angel! Ren-kun would be so jealous! He eagerly followed after the group, keeping close to the winged girl more than anyone else.

If he thought about it, he wasn't really sure how much help he could be against acidic blobs, though. All he could do was hit things, and that didn't really help him against the bug beast he faced back in Ashton. To get rid of that thing, he'd had to set a house on fire, and he doubted the police would look kindly on that sort of thing happening a lot.

Besides, it was a park, and there wasn't really any houses here to blow up.

[Dr Archeville]

Walking around the cop's body, Vigor finds no acidic trails around or near it. But, he does recall that the angel had said that a blob had dropped down from above. Looking up, he can't see much, but the closest branches are somewhat high up and the light's not great.

There are two general ways the group can go.

A) Northwest, towards HIT and where the murders started

Southeast, towards where the killer(s) seems to be going

There is of course also

C) Southwest, towards the Wading River

D) Northeast, towards Hanover Square (a shopping center know for bookstores & shops catering to the college-age crowd)

E) Due east, towards Hanover Zoo

F) Straight up, towards space, and the stars which call to you....

A reminder about time: it is Tuesday, May 20th, in the late evening (about 8:45pm). The sun has set (it set around 8:00), the street lights are on, but the clearing where you all are at is several yards off the main jogging route. The angel's flames are the primary source of illumination for you all, though Mongrel Angel and Vigor know that tonight's moon (which will rise at exactly 9:15) is full.

[pookaking]

"The thing seems to be moving southeast, so that is where I'm headed. Come morning I'll change directions and head towards the HIT building, maybe there is someone there I can question," he explained to the others, before turning to walk southeast at a casual pace. "So what do you fella's do when not out chasing acid blob monsters?"

Armed with a handgun, brass knuckles, and a box of baking soda Vigor wondered if he was really ready to tackle this creature. He reminded himself to keep an eye up towards the trees.

[Veiled Malice]

Mashin-kun followed along behind the blond man, mimicking his alert nature and looking where he looked. "My name's Mashin-kun - that's Machine Boy in English - and I'm usually fighting muggers or something like that. Not that I do that all the time. I go home and play video games or watch TV or something like that, but since I don't have to sleep anymore, I have a lot of time to do things in, and I get bored really easily, so Ren says I should go out for a while and do something."

The metal boy stopped his avalanche of words for a moment, seemingly wondering about something, then started right back in again. "This will be the first time I beat up an acid blob, though. I beat up a person made out of bugs once, and that was super gross, but I've never done a blob before. Do you think I'll be able to hit it normally, or will I have to use a car or something like that? I'm really strong, by the way, so if you need me to do that, I can." He flexed his arms to emphasize his point, but nothing really stuck out on his mostly flat body.