Play@YSDC

Once away from the dangers of the abandoned park, the adventurers and the police officers notice that a large group of people has gathered just outside. Somewhere around one hundred folks, mostly young, many carrying placards, surround a speaker standing on a platform hastily assembled from cardboard boxes and lumber. As the party approaches cautiously (there being no other way to exit the park, and keep away from the slow but steady creatures after them), they can make out some of the chants, which tend to overlap each other and echo off the park's buildings.

Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?

Hell, no, we won't go!

Up against the wall, . . .

The person standing on the platform raises his hands for silence. Amazingly, this happens almost at once, as the crowd listens intently. The speaker is a young man dressed in the robes of an Indian mystic. Judging by his waist-length curly blond hair, suntanned skin, and blazing blue eyes, however, he is hardly of that ethnicity.

"Brothers and sisters," he shouts, without the aid of a megaphone. "No longer will we suffer under the Man!"

Cries of encouragement come from the audience.

"The Revolution is here, and we got the Power, baby!"

As the crowd cheers, the man points one hand up towards the sky, at about a forty-five degree angle, and shouts something unintelligible. A sphere of flame about the size of a baseball emerges from his hand and flies off at great speed, soon lost to sight, apparently destined to land somewhere in the city.

"How is he..." Zara's voice trails off - she is clearly gobsmaked at the spectacle. She's also visibly starting to flag as her adrenaline drains

"Good Lord..."

Tony is somewhat taken aback by the spectacle, but quickly pulls himself together.

"Some kind of flame thrower perhaps? In any case, let's not forget what is following behind us. We may have to warn the crowd."

Seeing Zara beginning to flag, he offers her his arm.

She takes it with a smile of gratitude.

Meanwhile, Liz has been discharged from the hospital in stable condition. Moonflower is a bit weaker, but is released under the care of Liz, there being no other friends or relatives available at the moment. It's obvious that the emergency room staff is eager to clear as many beds as possible, as burn cases continue to show up. If asked about her experiences underground, Moonflower only responds "Bummer. Bummer." She is otherwise in a fairly passive state of mind, willing to accompany Liz as she pleases.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

By this time a squad of Los Angeles police officers in riot gear show up. One in full body armor announces over a megaphone "You have five minutes to disperse. Five minutes."

The crowd responds with angry shouts, but is not yet ready to take on the cops directly. It can be seen that the cops are ready with clubs and tear gas.

By now, the four skeletal figures in robes emerge. With everything that is going on, not much notice is taken of them. The young man addressing the crowd, however, is aware of their arrival.

"The pigs think they can scare us off with their dirty tricks! No way!

BURN, BABY, BURN!"

He raises both arms and screams inarticulately. Four fireballs emerge from his hands and fly towards the skeletons. The creatures burst into flame and are quickly reduced to ashes.

After this effort, the man collapses. A group of young people near him pick him up and lead him to a dune buggy parked close by. They pull out with a squeal of tires and make their way away from the crowd.

"Nice fireworks," the cop announces. "Now just go home like good little girls and boys. One minute, and then we start spraying."

The crowd does not seem eager to leave.

"Let's get out of here," Zara suggests. "That guy's got rid of the skeletons, and I've been in enough fights today."

"Not a bad idea Zara, although perhaps Agent Carson would like to call in a team to clear up those tunnels? I'd sleep better knowing that there are no more of those liquid things and the Embalmer's gear is cleaned out. We also have his remains to analyse, not to mention that coded sheet left by our Soviet comrades."

He cranes his neck to see what's happening to the crowd.

"I'm also intrigued by our flame flinging friend..."

Wary of getting involved in the inevitable clash between the protesters and the police, he attempts to catch the eye of someone on the periphery of the mob, hoping to draw them away and engage them in conversation.

Liz contacts the others on the radio. "Moonflower and I just got discharged from hospital," she says. "Where are you? We can come meet you."

Lew steps forward and using his best trial projection speaking voice, calls out to the crowd.

"There's no reason to stay here. The speaker whom you came to see has already wisely left the scene. To stay now would only cause problems between you and the police. There is no reason for a confrontation. Please disburse quickly before anything happens."

OOC,Intelligence Roll 16 (+3 for Well Spoken) 19 [dice]0[/dice]

Zara lets Liz know where they are.

Starspawn338 wrote: Lew steps forward and using his best trial projection speaking voice, calls out to the crowd.

"There's no reason to stay here. The speaker whom you came to see has already wisely left the scene. To stay now would only cause problems between you and the police. There is no reason for a confrontation. Please disburse quickly before anything happens."

OOC,Intelligence Roll 16 (+3 for Well Spoken) 19 [dice]220381:0[/dice]

There is some muttering among the assembled protesters, more than a few of whom have been kept out of jail by Lew's defense. A member of the Black Panther Party tells his companions that Lew is a true "soul brother," and word passes through the crowd to "play it cool."

There's some exchange of insults between the protesters and the police, but no violence, thanks to Lew's quick thinking.

As the crowd disperses, one bearded, long-haired, heavily beaded, sunglasses-wearing, flower-covered man comes up to Carson and hands him an anti-war pamphlet. Certain letters have been underlined in pencil, in a way that only someone trained in codes and ciphers would understand.

With Lew's sensible entreaty calming the situation and dispersing the crowd, Tony abandons his attempt to speak to a protester and rejoins the others.

"How odd. Perhaps we should meet up with Liz and Moonflower; maybe at a nearby cafe? I must confess to feeling rather hungry."

Zara looks down at their sewage-caked wetsuits and overalls. "I don't think a cafe's going to let us in like this. Meet at the Sospiri in a couple of hours after we get cleaned up? They do pretty good food."

Victoria Silerwolf,Assuming this plan meets with approval,Zara will go home and wash herself in the bath - and swallow down a couple of glasses of gin - the wetsuit she'll leave in the bath in the hopes of cleaning it, the minidress goes into the trash.

Liz picks up her Aston Martin and stops back at her hotel room with Moonflower to change into a little black dress. She'll lend an outfit to Moonflower if they're close enough in size. She then brings Moonflower to the Sospiri after Zara lets her know they're heading there.

Tony looks down at his own sodden overalls; perhaps a scrub-up and a moustache waxing is in order before tiffin.

He will meet up with the others once he is suitably attired and coiffured.

At the Sospiri:



Carson addresses the group. "Well, it looks like y'all have a chance to convince my bosses that you aren't a threat to the fabric of American society, even the limeys. Since the cops don't seem to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, we want you to help investigate this rabble-rouser with the pyrotechnics. We believe he has some kind of base, a hippie commune, out in the desert."

No doubt pleased to be able to kick back and relax for a while, the adventurers spend some time eating and drinking at Sospiri. Some of those present may not be entirely familiar with California cuisine, but Moonflower seems to be enjoying her vegetarian nutburger with avocado and sprouts. It's probably a good thing that she remembers almost nothing about her recent experiences.

"Must have got some bad acid," she remarks casually. "I'll stick to weed from now on. It's, like, organic, you know?"

Under the influence of more than a little gin, Zara idly sketches with paper and pencil while conversation goes on around her. A radio softly broadcasts the local traffic ("expect bumper-to-bumper conditions on the freeways, as usual"), weather ("Santa Ana winds will be howling through mid-October, bringing extremely dry conditions and temperatures up to one hundred degrees"), and news ("the fires plaguing Venice are under control, the Fire Marshall says, with windy conditions blamed for the outbreak"). She produces a drawing of a man in what appears to be a British military uniform of the Napoleonic Era.

Tony inspects the fare laid before him, wondering if they at least have any decent mustard. He mulls over Carson's request for assistance.

"While I hardly consider myself 'the man', I am intrigued by this flame-flinging fellow, especially if he's the cause of these fires we're hearing about. If your orginisation is happy to share what they've discovered down in the tunnels and the contents of Bolowski's coded message, then in return I shall be happy to return the favour by helping you out.

He stops, noticing the sketch Zara has drawn.

"Someone you know m'dear?"

Zara appears at the Sospiri wearing a bright rainbow-coloured dress, a little longer than she's tended to wear until now.

jp1885 wrote:He stops, noticing the sketch Zara has drawn."Someone you know m'dear?"

"Mm? No, no idea, I was just doodling. You like it?" (If Tony answers in the affirmative, she offers it to him).

"Handsome chap," says Liz, looking at the drawing. "I'll bet he had a way with the ladies." She listens as the others describe the flame-flinging man. "That explains why there were so many burn victims in hospital. He must have some form of pyrokinesis - the ability to create and control fire with one's mind."