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[Fury] Rain Follows (SeaTac 5.2)
SeaTac,
As a storm rolls quickly in, you follow Rain outside Safeco. You glance back to catch that dancer from Grindhouse, the one called Riesling. She's following, too. She has been since you left Yacht Club. You don't think Rain's picked you up yet, but with a rain, a legit rain, starting up, if you head out there, SeaTac, it's going to be rough. Riesling's already hesitating, looking at the sky, not yet noticed you saw her.
Rain's ignoring the storm, though, huddled under his cloak and walking out of the place, direct line for the forest, which is a couple miles away.
What do you do?
Comments
I consider running for the Jeep and following that way, but it would be pretty conspicuous, following in a car. Shame my rain gear's there, too, but some risks are worth taking. I pull up my collar and put on goggles, then start trotting after, checking my tail for Riesling.
SeaTac,
Riesling falters, unwilling to head into the rain. People ahead of you, the dregs outside Safeco, they're quickly running inside the stadium, desperate for shelter. Ahead of you, walking across the broken asphalt, Rain merely puts up his hood and walks on.
When you get caught unprepared out in the blood rain, roll+Weird. On a hit, choose options. On a 7-9, choose one and advance your infection clock one space in addition to whatever you choose. On a 10+, choose one.
- you are forced to shelter in place, but don’t advance your infection clock any more
- you get where you’re going but you’re caught, exposed, at least for a while. advance your infection clock one space
- the environment wherever you happen to be is altered in a dangerous way.
On a miss, prepare for the worst.
Just Singin' and Dancin' in the Rain
(Rolled: 2d6+0. Rolls: 4, 5. Total: 9)
I get where I'm going, but get caught exposed, so I'm advancing my Infection Clock to 6 o'clock.
SeaTac,
Rain continues ahead of you, the rain coming down harder, the thunder rumbling. No lightning, just the heavy rain in wine dark skies and the rumbles of the gods above. Rain's cloak becomes soaked quickly, and he huddles over himself from the wet and the cold. You see him pull a small flask of some liquid and drink it, never bothering to look back.
"Gonna cap him, Pyle?" Old One-Eye asks. "After you get what you want to know. What's the pay?"
"Not sure, One-Eye. Ain't you the one that told me not to make a plan until you had all the intel?"
I continue following Rain, through the rain. Not sure which I like less.
SeaTac,
"Oughta wing 'im, Pyle," Sarge says. You can hear his footsteps splash in the mud puddles beside you. "Pull him into one of those buildings up ahead." You see a trio of small shacks across the muddy expanse.
Rain is still trudging forward, a mile away from the forest, moving slow but steady. He's huddled over, hugging himself against the sticky, cold rain.
What do you do?
I shrug, almost angry. "Sarge, the objective is follow him to his nest, see what he does, learn something. Think I'll get anything from interrogating someone splashed enough to call himself Rain? 'Hi, my name is Random Horrible Death that You Hide From, I have a cure for what ails you!'" I follow, keeping my distance until we get close enough to the forest that I'm worried about losing him, then closing a little.
SeaTac,
"That's some bass-ackwards approach, aint it?" One-Eye chortles.
You hear the squad stomping in the mud beside you, behind you. Sarge calls cadence, a march ensues, and you keep up with Rain. Rain takes another drink from that flask and picks up the pace a bit. Passing by the buildings and out of the ruins of Sea-Town, to the ouskirts of the forest. The rain thins, and in only a hundred feet, you'll be in the forest proper.
You can catch him now, or wait to see where he's headed.
What do you do?
What do I do? Like I told Sarge, I'm not interested in interrogating the man until I know more, and there'd be no other reason to catch him at the moment. I turn my situational awareness to overdrive and keep following, double careful since we're on his turf.
SeaTac,
You enter the forest, and as soon as the canopy covers you, the rain is gone. It runs in rivets down the leaves above, and in a weird tapestry of vines and branches, all of the acidic water is carried away. The ground is slightly damp, but spongy, not mud. Ahead, Rain relaxes a little, pulls back his hood and drinks the rest of his flask. He'll see you soon unless you take cover.
What do you do?
Drawing the machete from its back-scabbard, I step aside to find some cover. I'm grateful for the shelter from the rain, but not stupid enough to think I'm safe by any stretch. I'm on point, nerves stretched tight. My focus tightens onto Rain, instinct judging angles and windage and drop even though I'm not holding my rifle. Voices of the Unit merge into a low babble in the back of my head.
(Rolled: 2d6+0. Rolls: 2, 3. Total: 5)
SeaTac,
You start to slip into that other place, to see what's under the surface here, behind the seeming. You feel a sharp smack to the back of your head, followed by a sharper tone from Sarge, "Eyes up, soldier! You're losing your quarry!"
Following the cloaked man Rain as he walks along paths in the forest is easy. He's looking around the branches above, searching for something.
"Mother!" Rain calls in a haggard voice, quite unlike how he sounded at Safeco. "The bloody water touched me, I need your help! I burn!" You see the bubbling skin on his face now, SeaTac. Two of his fingers are melted together. He did not look like this before.
He wanders further, deeper into the forest as the trees look older, the paths are rougher. Finally, over a small hill, he moves down to a calm pool of water. It's a tiny, silvery pond. Rain drops to his knees, begins scooping the water up to splash on his face. He lets out an exhausted breath as the water slowly heals his flesh.
To no one you can see, he says, "The Witch acted like she wanted the water, but she holds some people dear. More than the people of Pike. If you give me some more time, I will find others who will take the water, overthrow the Witch, come to us. They will come to the Forest, I swear. Just a week... or so." His voice grows more fearful with each sentence.
From the ground around Rain, you see tendrils of root rise suddenly, like appendages, they slither around Rain. He tries to stand, to crawl away, but they hold fast, and in moments, they drag him down. Down into the pond. Into the water. He screams once, unintelligible fright.
Then, "Mother, no! Please, no!"
His head is closer to the water now, his body struggling. "Please!!!" Then water fills his mouth, cutting his begging short. Bubbles come up, splashes in the water, then stillness. Nothing.
What do you do?
Too late to do anything to save Rain, even if I was inclined to. I watch for another few minutes, to see if there's any sign of this Mother.
SeaTac,
No sign of Mother.
After a couple minutes, bubbles slowly appear again, on the other side of the pond. A man's head rises from the water, then he walks up to the bank on the other side. He looks like Rain, but his face, fingers, body, it's perfectly whole again. He's nude, too. He seems different, somehow. After a moment, he walks around the pond to retrieve Rain's cloak and whatever he dropped before being pulled down and drowned.
What do you do?
I have seen a lot in my time, and that... is just not okay.
This is a recon mission. I'd be right to leave now, this is information that's needed. And from what just happened, a bullet might not even be the end of this... whatever it is. Smart thing would definitely be to leave, report back to Gates and the others.
Splash me, I'm not smart. I step out, magnum in my left hand and machete in the right. "Rain. What's going on?"
SeaTac,
The man looks up at you, to the weapons in your hands, doesn't seem terribly fazed. He's almost numb, in a way. He lowers down to his knees and reaches into the pool of water, fetching out a pair of sodden pants, then a shirt, starts dressing himself.
"My name is Rain. I speak for the forest." He says the words like a mantra, pushing a foot through one pant leg, then the other. "Who are you?"
That... is not what I expected. A hint of memory, from before I ever handled a gun, surfaces. "You're the Lorax? You speak for the trees? The man I saw before spoke of death, and then offered life from that clearwater." I nod toward the pool that he just came out from, or re-came out from. Whatever. "That's what we call a contradiction."
Rain watches you, reading your face, your tone. "The red sickness brings death. Clearwater cures the red sickness. How is that a contradiction?"
"I'm not good at word games, so I'm not going to get into one with you. I'm here to figure out what's driving you. You've been against Gates, offering your so-called cure as a bribe to turn folks against him. I hear you saying you want people to come to the forest. Why?"
He's finished dressing in the same clothes, all pulled from the pond, the last a shirt that he received from some roots. His tone is slightly disoriented. "Mother wants more children. Everything else outside the forest is dead. Or dying. Who are you?" He sits there on the bank, for a moment, then stands in his sodden clothes that cling to his wiry frame.
What do you do?
"SeaTac is what they call me. Is 'Mother' the forest, or something else?" Here I am again, in a talking situation, but I reckon I might as well ask the questions since I'm here.
"Mother is the forest." Rain answers. "And she is not. She commands me, and the others. She is... that part of the forest that feels. And hungers." He looks at your gun, realization slowly coloring his eyes. "You are a killer, SeaTac?"
No use denying it. "When it's needful." I wonder about something. "What's Mother hungry for?"
"She wants to grow the forest. To cure the pain of the world." Rain answers in a simple way, like someone singing a hymn at Gates church.
I am not the right man to suss this out any more. I nod to Rain, then turn to leave. This whole flood is beyond me.
SeaTac,
"Stay dry, SeaTac. Mother will come calling soon." Rain says to your back.
You walk back the way you came, and the Unit joins you at the edge of the forest. The blood rain's eased off. It's just an acidic annoyance, feels like. You can head to Pike now, pick up Joey. Or head to Safeco for the jeep.
Where do you go?
I'll head back to grab the jeep, see if Gates needs a ride back, then drive back to Pike to pick up my cadet. Too much to process to get right back to Joey, and I have no splashing idea what I'm processing.
End Scene