Dex on His Own

[Gaffer]

Dex realizes he blacked out. He is lying on a hard, rough surface looking up into a black sky speckled with stars he doesn't recognize.

He sits up and there's a faint pattering. Looking down he finds red droplets of blood on his pants and a large drop falls from his nose as he's trying to figure it out. Looking to his right, he sees the inert form of the cultist who tackled him and, beyond him, a low parapet..

[Dexter Ford]

Dex slowly gets to his feet. He rubs his hands, hoping the .45 might still be grasped in one. However, the pitter patter of blood brings his attention to his the stains on his pants and Dex then grabs out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket to stop the bleeding from his nose. He walks over to the cultist, searching to see if anything is useful that can be salvaged from the dead figure. He will then empty out his pockets, doing a quick survey of the contents to see what he has:

an empty shoulder holster
a cigarette lighter
a crumpled pack of Lucky Strikes with two cigarettes left
A small folding clasp pocket knife
One remaining magazine for his .45, still loaded
2 stray .38 caliber rounds
a money clip with some cash
his wallet with his ID and PI license, plus a few photographs
.52 cents in various coins
a small rosary and a silver crucifix around his neck
his class ring
a box of stick matches with a nightclub logo on it, inside of which 8 lucifer matches remain

(anything else?)

Dex murmurs to himself. "Not much to work with old boy. But you should be able to get the hell out of here, perhaps finding Delores first. If this is where she went to when she disappeared" He glances about then goes to the low parapet once he places everything back in his pockets.

[Gaffer]

As Dex is taking his inventory, the cultist abruptly scrambles to his feet. Cradling his left arm, he backs away from Dex, then turns and bolts for a doorway that Dex hadn't noticed. Lying where the man had been is the .45. There are two cartridges left in the magazine and one in the chamber.

Dex looks over the parapet and finds he is in the middle of a bizarre alien city. Huge buildings loom like some opium-nightmare vision of Manhattan. Most of the buildings are featureless black stone, but others are decorated with intricate arabesques or green-gilded carvings. Streets lead off in every direction. The tops of the taller towers are lost in a thick purple fog. Shapes move in the fog far above.

[Stability test (Difficulty 5, 4 points)]

There is a bridge across an expanse of black water, and on the far side of that there are many bone white buildings shining as though made of alabaster and lit from within. One looks like the Tower of Pisa, another like the Eiffel Tower, another like Big Ben. One is a replica of the Chrysler Building. Others have the appearance of other Earthly styles of architecture – Chinese, Arabic, Indian, Russian – quite unlike the weird buildings that do not glow. These all flicker in and out of sight every few seconds. Winged things circle around them.

Dex feels instinctively that the way home involves the simulacrum of the Chrysler Building.

Gazing down, he sees Delores in the middle of a wide avenue that leads to the bridge. She bends over a shape lying on the pavement for a moment, then backs away, looking at something in her hands. Several cats are prowling around her and Dex spots a figure limping away from the building he is on and approaching her without her noticing.

[Dexter Ford]

Stability Test (2 spends)
1d6+2=6

Dex crosses himself and then goes over and picks up the the gun. He checks the magazine, popping out the round in the chamber and reloading it in the magazine. He then loads the full magazine in the .45, before placing the magazine with three rounds in the empty magazine holder attached the shoulder holster. He then places the gun itself in the shoulder holster.

As he looks over the edge of the parapet, he murmurs a quick Hail Mary, and then notices Delores.
(How far is she away from him? Can a shout warn her or is he too high up? If he thinks she can hear him, he will shout for her, otherwise he will simply race down the street as fast as he can.)
Regardless of what happens, he looks for a way down from where he is at and to reach Delores.

[Gaffer]

The apparent stillness of the place is actually a constant sighing or whispering sound. though not loud, it is persistent. Other than that all sounds -- the snick when the magazine is removed, the snap when the new one is reseated -- seem flat and muted.

The doorway through which the cultist disappeared apparently got him down to street level.

[Dexter Ford]

Dex will head for the door and move as quickly as he can down to street level. If there is a bannister, he will use the bannister slide (ie rest his ass on the railing and slide down), then leap off at landings and continue down to the ground door before heading in Delores' direction.

Athletics check
1d6+3=5

[Gaffer]

The walls of the stairway are covered with carved hieroglyphs and symbols that seem to crawl when looked at directly. There are mummified corpses in niches all along the stairs. The steps themselves are both uneven and jaggedly sharp. There are no railings.

The mummified corpses might have been human, once, but their limbs are unnaturally long and have extra joints. Others have strangely-shaped heads beneath the bandages, as if the human head had been replaced by that of a crocodile or ibis or lion or other large animal.

[Dex just made the Athletics test Difficulty of 4+1 for no light source.]

A corridor leads from the foot of the stair to the street. It should be quite short, but the angles are distorted and, combined with the weirdly squirming symbols and lack of light, it is difficult to judge the distance.

[Dexter Ford]

Dex keeps murmuring a Hail Mary to himself as he passes by the mummified bodies and shakes his head at any apparent incongruity to the shape of their body.
He is focused on getting to Delores and the one perhaps other familiar face. Seeing the corridor leading to the street, he closes his eyes, makes a sign of the cross, kisses the small crucifix around his neck, and then opens his eyes before running for the doorway and the street beyond.

[Gaffer]

Dex emerges from the building. He sees the cultist approaching the place where Delores is standing, her back to the man. The cats are clearly disturbed by her presence.

[Spoiler-Button]Make a Sense Trouble test (Difficulty 5).[/Spoiler-Button]

[Dexter Ford]

Dex yells out. "Hey bub, stop before I shoot."
He hopes that will gain Delores' attention as well as the man's.
He draws the .45 from his shoulder holster and aims, waiting to see what the man will do before shooting.

Sense Trouble roll.
1d6+2=8

[Gaffer]

The words don't seem to have any impetus behind them, tinny and sharp, rather than forceful. Neither the cultist nor Delores seem to take notice.

Just before Dex pulls the trigger, he hears a scrabbling like claws on pavement and panting breath behind him. He instinctively ducks away and turns to face the new threat, but there's nothing to be seen. Still, he senses a large body hurtle past him a few yards away, heading for Delores and the running man.

Down the street, the cats scatter as Delores turns toward Dex.

[Dexter Ford]

Dex curses then runs down the street towards Delores, moving as quickly as he can. The strange sound he heard, but did not see has him on edge.
The gun is shoved back into his shoulder holster as he runs.

As Dex runs, he is thinking to himself: Where the hell did these cats come from?