We pick up with everyone in the Dominican, all of you driving in a drab brown SUV down a dirt road. Outside, the sun is setting but the air is still hot and sticky.
Who is operating the tracker? Sandovol is less than a mile away. He's at a place called Cabo de Heridas.
Agent Brady forwarded along intel on the Cabo de Heridas facility. It was in an early stage of production when the project was cancelled. It was to be the site of a "black prison", a place where the government could overflow prisoners with questionable intel value who did not fit in Gitmo. She strong-armed a couple spooks to give over the info as long as the FBI kept their nose out of it after arresting Enrique Sandovol. She advised that the project was halted right after the concrete was poured, so she's not sure what he'd be doing in the Dominican.
Satellite imagery shows that the site is far more than a set of empty foundations. It's a complete compound, surrounded by security fencing, with guard posts. That's why you're here.
How did you enter the country?
What do you do now?
Comments
I suppose I'm the best one to operate the tracker. I'm making Penny drive. She needs the experience. I was the one who taught her, I think. I'm looking through the satellite photographs, analyzing movement of people and equipment. This is the 3-inch photography (a pixel is three inches on the ground) hi end stuff, so it's all pretty clear.
I should be able to make an educated guess as to how many people are there, maybe who they are, if the equipment is military, and what they seem to be doing. As well as the weakest point to break in. This place isn't under our control right?
Two guards at the watchtower, they have automatic rifles. Two hours ago, two men came outside the building to stand around and have a smoke, then returned. They had sidearms. All of them are dark-skinned.
There is a pick-up truck parked outside as well as a motorcycle and a four wheeler, all in rough shape.
By the way, there is no cell phone reception here. Also, no power lines, they use an on-site generator.
Hey Joe, just now, you get an odd little tingle, like you just crossed a magical threshold or barrier of some kind. It was subtle and well made, but you're wicked smaht about this stuff, right?
As I almost drift off into a power nap I'm snapped back to full alertness by a feeling of dread. The hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I looked at Doctor Eaton, sitting in the backseat beside me. "We've just crossed a ward!"
"That means that we are within Sandovol's sphere of influence. He has likely detected our presence now, and he may or may not know more than that."
Im in the Dominican, driving an SUV full of secret agents.
I know, isnt that funny?
But Im being a very good actress at the moment. Im like Angelina Jolie. Im tough and serious, and Im not laughing at how absolutely bizarre this situation is. At least not out loud.
If I would have had a vision of this moment a few months ago when I was in the asylum, I would have been sure I was actually crazy.
Anyways, were driving. Im driving. Beau is on the center console, miffed that he cant sit in my lap. I told him earlier that Im being Angelina Jolie and she does not let cats, much less ghost cats, sit in her lap while shes on a mission. He was not amused. Blake has been teaching me how to drive. Automatics are fine. But I refuse to drive a manual anymore. I hate it. You just cant daydream when you have to focus on shifting that silly stick around. Of course I didnt point that out to Blake because Im sure he would have told me that I shouldnt be daydreaming at all while driving. Blake has no imagination sometimes.
When Joe says weve gone through some sort of magical barrier, I start feeling less like Angelina Jolie and more like Penny. Sandovols sphere? Im picturing us driving into a bubble. But what if its only a bubble from the outside? And once were in it, we cant get back out? What if I turned the car around and we drove right into a solid wall? Trapped. Just like that.
I start to slow down. Um, what...what is The Plan? I glance sideways at Blake. Are we just driving right up to the building? Are we pretending this is the Trojan Horse? And...maybe...maybe someone else should be Odysseus?
While you're driving, not but seconds after Joe and Dr. Eaton told you about that bubble barrier thing, you hear something. It's odd, like a tink tink tink on the outside of the driver's door.
I recognize the sound immediately. It's only constantly haunted me since I first heard it. I let out a frightened shriek and slam on the brakes, hard.
"Penelope! That was entirely inappropriate!"
I forget to put the car in park and take my foot off the pedal, then slam down on the brake again when the car starts rolling forward. I keep glancing out my window, terrified that the branch or the faces will appear and shoot through my head like an arrow through an apple. But...this can't be right...where's the telephone pole?
Penny, that tink tink sound stopped when you stopped the car.
"Calm down, Penny. Do you sense anything? Besides the ward?" I look at the other two. "Do either of you?"
"That would be more a part of Joseph's bag, I'm afraid. I would need to examine Sandovol's ritual space."
I extract myself from the seat belt and exit the vehicle to have a look at the vicinity.
What do you do?
You get outside the car just as this is happening. You are able to look past the treeline to see the compound. You don't see any movement down there. But it feels... wrong.
I see movement out of the corner of my eye, and like a bad horror movie I know what's going to be there. The branch hangs suspended for a second, or maybe a few years, and then attacks the window. I let out a shriek and struggle with my seatbelt, which has turned into a boa constrictor, intent on squeezing the life out of me and keeping me restrained. That stupid button unclicks just fine every other time, and then when you're under attack from an enchanted tree, it forgets how to let you out of your seat. It finally reluctantly clicks as the window next to my head begins to crack. I scramble over the console towards Blake, intent on getting out of the car before I get skewered like a shish kabob. I'll try to shove Blake out the door too if he's hesitating. I saw him get hurt once. I don't want to see it again.
Please give me an Acting Under Pressure roll to avoid the attack from this tentacle-branch thing.
#DiceRoller( 2d6 )
When I see what's happening with the branch, I'll grab Penny and pull her across me, putting me between her and the possessed Branch. I'm getting out too, but not until she's out of the way.
xp +1
You hold three which you can give me -1s to any move except act under pressure.
Looks like you're walking.
I help pull the others away from the vehicle, and I watch closely for other abnormalities. I need to make sure of Penelope's safety, and I have some responsibility for the rest of the team as well.
"Joseph, Penelope, do you have a sense for the magic at work?"
And I am reading the situation:
#DiceRoller( 2d6+2 )