Difference between revisions of "On Fire For God, Part I"

On the south-eastern fringe of Detroit, just before Measure 2, there's a quiet street - and into that street on the morning of Devil's Night drives a battered old Landrover Defender, pulling up to and into the yard of an abandoned house. It's not long before the Landy gets tucked out of sight, sounds indicating the driver needing two attempts to close the driver's door once he's gotten out. The house he's chosen is truly abandoned, but is a short distance from one that isn't as abandoned as it seems. It takes a few trips with a folding chair, a blanket, a cooler, a bag of assorted bits and pieces and a Thermos flask, and half an hour or so of work, but eventually Fred's gotten his surveillance nest set up to his liking, and he settles in to watch and wait. So it's going to take a few hours. It's not like he hasn't done this sort of thing before.

<<DICE>> Fred rolls perception+alertness, difficulty 6 
<<DICE>> 4 successes (4 4 6 6 8 9, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

The house itself is pretty quiet. There's a light on in the second floor, with signs of a couple of people inside. Meanwhile, there's another car in the neighborhood, one that keeps circling the block. Heavily tinted windows, driving slowly.

Fred lurks and watches, and takes notes about that circling car with one hand while drinking coffee with the other. He's taken notes about all sorts of things while he's been here, including the colours of the rings on the leg of a local crow. The car's circlings get tallied, another mark on the pad each time the vehicle goes round.

<<DICE>> Fred rolls perception+alertness, difficulty 6 
<<DICE>> 3 successes (3 3 5 6 7 8, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

The car seems to circle around once every 20 minutes. Driving far below the speed limit, cruising on by. The light in the window upstairs in the house itself however, gets brighter, the light more erratic.

Fred eyes that window and the erratic light in it thoughtfully. Is that a fire, already starting, or something else? And just /what/ is that car up to, anyway? Time to lurk outside into the night and get into position, away from the car's prying eyes, ready for trouble when it comes. Not if, /when/.

<<DICE>> Fred rolls dexterity+stealth, difficulty 6 
<<DICE>> 1 success (1 8 8, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)
<<DICE>> Fred rolls perception+alertness, difficulty 6 
<<DICE>> FAIL (1 1 2 5 5 9, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)
<<DICE>> Arthur rolls 4 dice, difficulty 6 
<<DICE>> 1 success (3 3 4 9, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

As Fred gets out of his car, the cruiser goes by again, making another slow pass, same as the others. Meanwhile, as he gets closer to the house, he can still see the flickering light upstairs, but can't really tell what's going on up there. Lava lamp? TV show?

If Fred can't tell what that flickering light is, then it's probably time to ask the Lord. The timelines will be altered by his very presence, and the time he got for the fire's start may be off. Time to check his watch and pray for guidance. Silently.

<<DICE>> Fred rolls arete, difficulty 5 
<<DICE>> 3 successes (3 5 10, Specialty: No, Willpower: Yes)
[POOL] Fred spends 1 points of Willpower. Reason: Automatic Success

Upon praying, Fred is able to see that, should things continue on their current course, the house is going up in smoke.

Fred can also see that the sooner he goes in, the more apt he is to change that course.

Fred doesn't see anyone getting OUT of the fire.

"Point taken," murmurs Fred, before pulling on a balaclava and setting about getting into the house. Quietly, with any luck - he knows they'll be out of it by the time the fire starts, but he doesn't know they're out of it /yet/, and people have a habit of reacting badly to the universal size nine lockpick at the end of Fred's leg.

Fred is able to get the door open. For whatever reason it wasn't deadbolted, just chained, and that chain pulls right off of the wall when he bangs it open. Once inside he can hear music thumping through the walls from upstairs. The lights downstairs are off, but upstairs, there is a red glow. And the faint sound if a fire.

Time to swing - or rather, lurch - into action. With the door opened, Fred makes his way inside, moving quietly for a man with a walking stick. It's amazing what a rubber 'foot' on a stick can do. A stick is also a handy thing to use when checking for danger on the way up to where the people are.

Fred is unimpeded as he goes upstairs. The hall is a sight. To the left if a room he can see into, containing a computer blaring music, and two people sprawled out on the floor, not moving. But between Fred and the people is a fire leaping across the floor, apparently fueled by a knocked-over lava lamp. A very old model, not very fire safe at all.

Behind Fred, downstairs, he can hear the front door creak back open.

When Fred was entering, he found a gate that was open and could get into the back with no trouble, so it's the BACK door he's hearing creak back open.

With the door opening behind him, there's little time to waste. Fred inhales, then holds his breath and lurches at the fire, aiming to try and get round, past or over it as necessary. He knew there'd be a fire, after all. The door opening? That was something he didn't foresee.

<<DICE>> Fred rolls dexterity+athletics, difficulty 7 
<<DICE>> 1 success (4 6, Specialty: No, Willpower: Yes)
[POOL] Fred spends 1 points of Willpower. Reason: Automatic Success
<<DICE>> Fred rolls stamina, difficulty 6 
<<DICE>> 1 success (5 9, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

Fred is able to leap over the fire, and into the room. So now he's in the bedroom with the two apparently unconscious drug users, heroin and works surrounding them. And as he's now walled in by the fire, he hears a couple of people running up stairs, talking to each other. "Where are they?" And some clicking sounds.

<<DICE>> Fred rolls intelligence+firearms, difficulty 6 
<<DICE>> FAIL (1 1 2 3 7 8, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

Fred can't quite tell what the clicking is.

Fred blinks, then mutters a hearfelt, "Bollocks." That's followed by a hastily-murmured, "In the name of the Lord, the saints and any angels who happen to be listenin' in, let time be /still/."