Devastation ATTN Chris, Liam, Professor Stevens and Riley: Chapter 1: The Return

In Detroit, the hours roll by slowly. The Professor has been pondering his odd flashback, setting up in a cafe that has good tea and free Wi - fi. He's googled 'wasteland' and 'raiders' and all he brings up are desert vistas and sports teams. At least the tea is good...

Liam has spent the morning after recieving terrible news about his good friend Greg the only way he could. He stayed in bed for a few hours, feeling ill. Or perhaps it was depression. Either way, it sapped his drive. He began to sketch after a bit, attempting to capture one of his missions with Greg: the possessed girl.

Riley and Chris, relative strangers, had met another stranger after thier relocation to the 'Wasteland'. After a terribly confusing conversation with the unknown woman, odd desert dwellers had driven her off, claiming she was a 'vampire'. The two learn unsettling facts- that ol' Deroit is ruined, that there was a revolution thirty years ago that ruined the city structure... After a terrible drive, they arrive at 'Ol' Detroit' to find that the city seems chaotic and that most of the resources seem to have been poured into defense. The high gate, the armed sentry who demands a conversation to guage if you are human. The barricades seprating access to the main city. Just as more questions than answers war in your heads, you feel a heavy weight settling over you. Weariness that you recognize in alarm-

Riley and Chris slump forward, closing thier eyes as sleep overtakes them. When they open thier eyes, they feel thirsty. They rub at thier faces, feeling the burn of the sand strewn deserts. Yet thier eyes sudddenly widen- they are home!

Chris is strewn on the floor. Checking the clock reveals that four hours have passed. He has a phone message from his police contact, wondering if anything had come of Dr. Hollandale.

He also has two offline messages from Alice - one saying that she'd placed the rest of the photos and some files under the farthest bench at the local bus stop, look in the coffee can under the ground.

The second message is also from Alice, noting that the file is incomplete- if you find anything, can you send it her way?

Riley discovers himself alone in his hotel room. Four hours have passed and he can not see any sign of the others. A light in the adjoining room suggests that someone is there. Checking the backpack reveals that his items and the precious ring are unmolested.

Chris feels very much alone and confused right now.

"Shit, was that real?" He wonders to himself out loud.

He immediately goes to the fridge and grabs a bottle of water, opens it up and splurges. he breathes deeply.

He goes and checks his camera, to see if any of the pictures he took during the "dream" are actually recorded.

After checking his messages, he decides to head for the bus station to retrieve those files.

When he hops in his car, he decides to call that crazy chick he had met before. The one talking about Vampires.

The Police contact would have to wait for now. Until he could ascertain if Hollandale and her people were involved in whatever was going on.

(OOC) CALLING INNERLIGHT:

Checking his camera, Chris discovers that all of his photos turned up perfectly. One aspect he hadn't photographed made his blood run cold- in the photo of the black ziggurnaut from the photos he'd been sent, nothing had been around save for he and Riley, he was sure of it. Yet in the corner of the black, reflective structure he could see a reflection of a large, spider - like leg, as though it had been just out of the view of the camera lens.

*Riley gets up slowly, checking everything over and satisfied that the ring is still in place, he moves slowly towards the adjoining room.* "Hello?" *He asks, tenatively, hand reaching into a pocket for his pepper spray.*

As Riley moved to the adjoining room, he recognizes the room where he had left Liam and Dr. Hollandale the night before. As the hotel's clock claimed only four hours had passed in the odd 'other place', he found Liam within the room, sketching.

Liam looks up from his sketch for a second. "Hey, how did the meeting go?"

Chris calls Amber but doesn't get a response. He takes a deep breathe and turns the ignition of his car, then starts driving for the Bus Station where Alice said the rest of the files could be found..


As Chris approaches the bus station, he found it a bustling hub of activity. He recalled that Alice had given a cryptic message about where the packet would be. Could he remember where the package was?.

Chris looks around and mutters. "Shit, where'd she say it would be?" He struggles to remember. Too many things were going on and it was getting overwhelming..

http://sheetgen.dalines.net/wiki/WikiDiceRoller?hash=cede448c.


After a moment, Chris approaches the farthest bench. upon sitting on it, he moves his foot around until it comes in contact with something hard. Peering down, he saw that a coffee can, complete with lid, had been set into the lawn underneath the bench. opening the lid revealed a selection of computer printouts, including pictures, folded and neatly placed in a sealed plastic bag.
Chris takes a seat on the bench and starts to look through the files, trying to make sense of everything that was happening to him.
Chris goes through the files, he takes note of JJ, the woman he had met in Devastation. The pictures of the tower with the Eye freak him out a little. Chris shudders.

Chris has the vision and nearly falls off the bench in the process. When he gets to his feet, he looks a little dizzy. He decides to get in his car and head for the double tree hotel. While on his way to that location he'll call Liam on his cellphone..

Liam strokes his chin, thinking of what else could he draw before noticing his phone if ringing. "Hello?".

"Liam right? Are you still at the Doubletree hotel?" Chris does the best he can to weave through dense urban traffic.

It had been four hours since Liam had vanished upstairs to his room. The Professor had exhausted every search engine he could find on working out what his cryptic vision could have meant, and the tea was starting to bleed his wallet dry (thought his bladder was threatening the opposite to his trousers). After making a quick trip to the gents and still seeing no sign of this Professor Riley, Samuel Stevens decided to go knock on Liam's door and see if he could get his colleague to divulge any more explanatory information on what they were gathering to discuss.

"Yeah, that's my name. I'm sill here, "said Liam as he answered the door.

"I need to ask you a favor. The people that were staying in the room right across the hall. The couple that were arguing. They are in to serious shit man. I need you to check to see if they are there. And if they are, put me on the phone with them. Can you do that?".

"This is really important man."

Noticing Liam was on the phone, Samuel gestured to indicate he'd wait outside until Liam was finished.
.

Liam sighs. "Alright." He goes to the room across from them and knocks on the door..

Glancing across the hall, Liam notes that the morning paper remains set in front of the door, untouched. As he knocks, the door swings open. The room is neat, orderly. He is surprised to find a typewriter on the little breakfast table. A single sheet of typed paper rests beside the type writer. There is no sign of the couple, although you do not see any baggage or hear any noises from within..



Chris screaches to a halt at the nearest parking lot, and quickly walks into the hotel. He feels disoriented and panicky..

"Uh, they left." said Liam as he looked inside the room. Liam went back out the room. "Sorry."


Chris blinks. "What the hell?" he mutters. He rubs his head a bit trying to think. "Yeah I'm Chris. And right now. Either I've completely lost my mind, or all of us are in deep trouble." Chris catches sight of the typewritten note of paper, and walks inside to retrieve it..

Seryna : Plucking up the paper, the author is noted as 'MTG'.

Samuel noticed the newcomer staring at him and assumed this was the man Liam had said was coming earlier. "Pleased to make your acquaitance. Professor Stevens." he introduced himself, offering his hand in greeting.

After a moment, Dr, Hollandale reenters the hotel. She proceeds up towards her room, pausing at finding the room across the hall open. "Hello? I every one alright?".

She turns towards the Professor. "Professor Stevens, is everything all right with whoever booked this room. Oh." She looks at Chris. "Chris, right?"

"Lost your mind?" The Professor inquired, recalling his vision from earlier. "What makes you say that?"

Chris stomps his foot. "These two people. That are currently in this room. They've found some way to cross into some alternate reality. That and they've managed to suck me into it as well. And, I just had a vision and I think some of you are going to get sucked into it. So we need to find these people. Cause I don't want to go back there man. I'm not going back!"

Professor: "Vision? I had a vision of something... it mentioned Bookman and a belltower and some Raiders going into the Wastelands... I've been trying to work out what I saw downstairs but i can't find anything useful online that would explain any of it." The Professor stated, irritatedly..

Storyteller: The typed piece of paper was authored from an 'MTG'. He mentioned that while he valued JJ's work, she was becoming increasingly unstable the longer that she spent in those places. he requests a team to go in himself. The photos she are sending is evocative, but do not represent what the alternate geopgraphy could do for Pharmtech.'.

Professor: "Was there orange sand and bleached buildings where you went?" Samuel asked hesitantly..

"Wastelands, shit that's where I just was man.. That place is real, Its a real place, and believe me you do not want to end up there man." He eys the typewritten work. "Pharmtech? Damnit I knew there'd be a corporation involved here somewhere." He passes the writing around. "We've gotta keep watch on this hotel room. These people have to come back eventually. And when they do, I'm getting some damn answers."

"Answers abput what?" Dr. Hollandale asked hesitantly, eyeing Chris warily..

"I just explained to you. These people are crossing over into places beyond this world, maybe this universe. And they sucked me into it too. They'll do the same to you if you're not careful!" With wide eyes, Chris wanders back into the hotel room and starts rummaging through the place, looking for any more evidence..

The Doctor watched Chris with wide eyes. "I think I'll go wake Dave up." She stated quietly, heading into the adjoining room. "Dave? Dave! Get up!".

[Liam shrugged. "Alright, how would I prevent getting 'sucked in'.".

Chris: "We've gotta get them to stop. Who knows what kind of damage they're causing? The American People have a right to know about this!".

Dave stirs, squints, then glares at Hollandale. "Why?".

Storyteller: Suddenly the world seemed to grow heavy. Weary. Something latched onto the tail of Dave's dream, something deep, powerful and primal. Even as he opens his eyes and sees Dr. Hollandale and the hotel room, something *pulls at him*. His eyes slide shut. Doctor Hollandale wavers next, teetering before collapsing on the hotel floor, asleep. In the hall way, the professor and Liam both blink blearily. They stare at Chris for a moment, before toppling over onto the ground, asleep..

Storyteller: As Chris stares at the Professor and Liam, they *vanish* right before his eyes. In the next room, the same occurs to Dave and Dr. Hollandale..

Chris never had time to answer Liam's question and as he turns around, it apparently was already too late....

Chris decides to give Amber another call..
Amber picks up her Iphone, then realizes her other cell phone is ringing the one she gives to people she doesn't know to well yet under a false name. "Yeah... Jeanie here", says Amber to Chris taking a step out of the club she was in..
"Jeanie, this is Chris. I'm working a huge story here, and I could use your help. I need you come to the Doubletreehotel right outside room 104. I'll let you know the rest when you get here.".

"Yeah, Chris, I'll see if I can get out of what I'm doing", Amber says. She could have ignored Chris in his pervert coat, but he was amusing, but not she's not so enamored she wasn't ready for the other shoe to drop. She texted her own email the location Chris mentioned to her, just in cse she didn't make her way back her father would find her. She checked her pistol then put it back in her handbag. She drove off recklessly to the locale.

Innerlight : Amber pulls her gun immediately, and pushes the door open cautiously..


The door swings open. The room is neat, orderly. There is no sign of the couple, although you do not see any baggage or hear any noises from within...

Chris walks into the room and sees Amber.

"Hey Jeanie, glad you could make it." He sounds a little stressed and un-nerved, like he's been through a lot."

"What I'm about to tell you, is going to sound pretty unbelievable, but since I know you believe in vampires, I'm sure you'll be at least open to stranger things."

"There are two people that checked into this room. A man and a woman. The woman's initials are JJ, and the man's initials are MTG. They work for a company called Farmtech."

"Recently, I was sucked into an alternate reality. I was still in Detroit, but it was an alternate Detroit. Everything was destroyed, history had unfolded differently, from what I gather. I ran into JJ when I was out there. And she knew exactly what was going on."

"I believe that these people, this company has developed some technology that lets them travel to this alternate reality, but somehow they're dragging other people with them. I just saw a whole group of four people vanish. They're gone. I don't know where they went but...the point is the people that are causing this, they're going to come back to this room."

"And when that happens, we are finally going to get some answers."

*Riley just....stares. He doesn't say much when Liam leaves. Alone, he just looks at how the time has vanished.* "This is ridiculous; I've had enough." *He takes the ring, places it and a hastily scribbled note into Dr. Hollandale's stuff. The note states:*
"Had to go back to Salem. What you need is with you. -Riley"
*He then calls a cab to take him to Detroit Metropolitan airport and secures a flight to Boston.*

Amber puts her gun away, and looks at Chris... "Alternate realities", she closes her eyes so she doesn't let out a laugh. She just digests the information and lets it roll over her. "Like Fringe?", Amber says attempting to hold it in. As odd as it may seem that she watched a show like that, she tended to love to watch tv when she was high. "Sure man, I'm still here, you want check it out I'm down, I haven't got anything interesting to do right now", she says just knowing she was getting punked by someone in one of her old cells.

Chris and Amber depart the hotel for their various investigation techniques. Nearly an hour later, a man enters the hotel room from the lobby. He finds the note, glances at it, and sets it on the table dismissively.

He notes the absence of something of importance to him and begins rooting through the hotel room, his worry rising with each passing minute that he didn't find what he pursued.

Chris receives a phone call.
"Listen here- its a crime to break into hotel rooms. It's a bigger violation to steal my report. I expect you to bring it back immediately."

Half an hour comes and goes. While Chris waits, perhaps checking his watch or perhaps playing it cool, the man never arrives. He never phones back.

Amber laughs her ass off when said they had a date with a wizard.

Amber makes a neutral face, finding this entire situation comical. Elist in her thinking, chuckling inwardly as if Chris was like the mall security of hunters and she a real cop. "Alright dude... you got my number", Amber said as if she didn't see any of this as urgent just yet.

Spoiler:

Chris navigates the drive with the flow of traffic, which seems to take longer than normal. Perhaps it is his eagerness toa ccess the nets. Returning to the apartment, he lets himself up to begin his plan.

Spoiler:

Amber remains at the diner alone.

Spoiler:

Once within the apartment, you realize that something is wrong. As you move about the apartment, you notice that small things are 'off'. Something has been picked up and set down in the wrong spot in the kitchen. The computer has been left on. You're fairly certain that you turned it off.

You know that you didn't leave the typed message taped to the keyboard.
That report that you have is meaningless. I can make more interesting ones involving you that would cause my superiors to delight in pouring over every aspect of your life. Come to the hotel- alone this time.

You can determine that nothing is missing, although several of your personal drawers have been rifled through. Returning to the door, you note that it seems to be in perfect order.

As Chris approaches the hotel room, he finds every thing very much as he left it. The door opens at his touch. Within, the files and items that he had rifled through had all been tidied up.

A tall, then man wearing narrow framed glass sits at the kitchenette table. He is Caucasian with dark coloring- eyes chocolate brown, hair of such a deep brown that it is nearly black. He wears a modern moderately priced suit in dark grey with a blue striped tie. He is holding a black tape recorder in one hand, a pencil in the other with which he makes notations.
"Approximately 4 yards from the point of entry is a travel route. It seems that this is always the case. I once left and returned and was forced to hide to escape notice of travelers each time-"

"I take it that you are Chris." The man states, looking up and pausing the recording. "You can call me MTG. Please, sit." He gestures to the other chair at the kitchenette.

"I am very interested to hear your deductions of todays events."

---

Amber had noticed a Caucasin man watching the table, although he had departed after Chris.