Setting up home base

WuJen shifts his sight to astral perception so he can at least see the ghouls themselves.

Over the comms he says "So far they seem as reasonable as you would expect, they say they just want out, which is fine by me as far as it goes.  No need to escalate things just yet."

To the ghouls he says "I was serious about what I said before.  We are here to help the community, and as far as I'm concerned that includes you.  I'm no doctor, nor expert on your condition.  I can't help the local laws, but I'm not here to enforce them or collect the bounty.  I'll help you as far as I can, though obviously that does not include feeding myself or other innocents to you."

"As far as I am concerned you are free to leave peacefully, and I'll speak to my companions about it as well.  One of them pointed out that the noise upstairs is likely a fire alarm set off by the elemental, so you probably don't have a lot of time unless we can get that situation under control."

"However, while you are free to leave, I hope you will let me make some calls and see if there's anything we can do to help you.  If you keep just attacking random people for your food, eventually someone is going to kill you, and accidents will happen where your condition is spread to others.  I can't promise anything, but I know of at least one other who seems to be getting by peacefully.  I don't know how he does it, or if whatever he does will support several of you.  I don't even know if he has others that depend on him already... but it can't hurt to ask."

"Now, do you know anything about what's going on upstairs?  You can see into the astral plane, have you seen that webbing up there?"

As Wujen switches from regular sight to astral, he is able to see 4 different individuals. As he was poking his head in and out of the room too fast to make out much more than blurs of energy before, he didn't really notice details about them until now. For example, he can tell that there are two males and two females. He can also tell that they are all wearing tattered lab coats. He could probably get more if he were to start analyzing their auras.

The room itself looks as though it was once a lab as Wujen can make out the shadowy images of microscopes, centrifuges and old, open refrigerators with shattered test tubes inside them. From the astral plane, and without any particular scientific knowledge, he has no real way of knowing what kind of lab it once was.

The man who appears to be the spokesperson says, "We need flesh to survive. This is fact. If we do not feed upon you, we will still have to feed upon someone. We will not insult your intelligence by lying to you about it. We have fed upon many before and that will continue. That must continue. If you can feed us, we are open to listening, but we agree to nothing that forces us to starve.

"We have been trapped on this floor since we became what we are. We do not know much about the other floors of this building. The elevator requires clearance we do not possess to go to the other floors. We do know that before the building was abandoned, that experiments were being done on dual-natured creatures throughout the building. We do not know more specifics than that. One could expect many dual-natured creatures throughout the building. Those that have not died of starvation already should be very hungry."

(ooc: I thought this was a firehouse? Have we stumbled upon something secretly sinister or did we get a different building?)

I won't ask you to starve. This is a difficult situation. Must the flesh come from the living or can you feed on corpses or medical waste?

To the Ghouls: "Were you scientists here?  You obviously didn't go feral, is there anything else unusual about your particular condition that you know of?"

WuJen takes the opportunity to study their auras as much as he is able.

(OOC: how much of this has the lady in the elevator heard?  I'd rather she not freak out over us being in league with a pack of ghouls if we can avoid that.)

"Why have you not left yet?  The building has been vacant for some time."

(ooc: also, *if* the building has been vacant for some time, why was the power on a few days ago, and then shut off when we got it instead of just transferring to us?)

"Hey chougou shouldnt we wait to see how this goes before letting what the brag is in there!"

((the place has obviously been re-purposed before you guys got it.

The woman can't hear anyone unless you are shouting really to her. There's a closed elevator between her and everyone else, then another closed door between the ghouls and her. Normal level of talking in the room next to the elevator sounds like muffled mumbling.

There is no reason you would know why the power was shut off when it was shut off and those who you have talked to haven't said when exactly it happened, just some time before now, but it was presumably shut off before you guys signed for it. Also keep in mind the woman is in a pitch dark hole right now with no way to see the sun. Her sense of time might be a little distorted.))

Wujen attempts to assense the people with him and at least can tell that they are ghouls, not that that is particularly surprising. Two appear to have magical talent. Though their abilities are less than his, he has no idea what kind of abilities they might be.

The spokesperson says, "The building has been vacant for... weeks perhaps? Maybe a month. We were infected at that time but did not fully transform for about a week and a half. The doors were locked when we were infected. We were to die here. To starve here. To grow mad here. But we retained our minds because our minds are strong. Our wills are strong.

"We fed upon the foul, rotten flesh of the dead, but it was not enough. We knew death would soon come for us. About a week or so ago some fools broke into the building. Their flesh was young and fresh. They smelled of sex and pheromones. Their flesh brought both rejuvenation and bliss. We fed upon their flesh, but some escaped and locked the door before we could escape. One girl fled into the elevator. We left her alone to feed on later as there were many others locked in here to feed upon at the time. Unfortunately we lost power and have been unable to get to her... a shame. Perhaps you might give her to us?"

(ooc: D'oh… forgot the assensing roll)

Assensing
WuJen carried out 8 launched of one d6 :

, , , , , , ,

(ooc: Timeline for the power shutoff is between when the woman in the elevator arrived and now.  She says 3 days, but her time sense may be off.  However, lacking water it won't have been anything like 'weeks' unless she's not some flavor of human.  There could be some form of backup that just ran out though, coincidentally with their use of the elevator trying to escape the ghouls.)

"Ok, so you need not feed on living people.  I can work with that.  I hope you have enough humanity to understand that while I'm not eager to kill sapient individuals like yourselves, neither can I condone unleashing you to wantonly hunt among the population.  It does seem like your condition can be managed though, and I'm willing to help you if I can."

"Which leaves us to the immediate situation.  You can leave, and I implore you to let us help you find a way to fulfill your needs.  If you don't want us to help you, you can still leave and I suggest you flee the city as quickly as you can... If you are hunting in the city and killing innocents I will do all I can to stop you.  If you want to kill me now for that, do so and my friends can finish you off here and now."

"Given the situation upstairs, whatever the hell is going on up there, you can remain here, or help deal with it.  You can hide here if the authorities come to investigate the alarms and (/sigh) fire, I won't betray your presence.  So long as you aren't attacking us we don't have a problem."

(ooc: Hot damn, I assence all the things.  )

"Either way, You want me here as a hostage, and that's done now.  You have what you asked for- passage out of the building.  Help, Flee or Hide is up to you.  Attack if you want, but make your decision.  I'm leaving now to see what's going on upstairs.  If I'm alive when this is all over, I'll make a few calls and see what we can do for you, maybe even pick you up a commlink so we can keep in touch"

(Ooc: well said wujen)

Wujen is pretty sure the two magical ghouls are adepts and all of them have a reduced Essence, likely the result of their disease as there is no sign of cyberware in their bodies. All of the ghouls are currently in a state of hunger which seems to cloud their judgement a little. He is 100% certain that the virus infecting them is the typical ghoul virus and the main reason they are not feral is because, as apparent scientists from the look of them, they must have had very high intellects, which have obviously been diminished by the disease, but not so much as to turn them into raving monsters.

The ghoul says, "All flesh is flesh. There is no innocent or guilty cow. One may feel bad eating one if they make a pet from the cow, but all cow is ultimately beef. We do not have the luxury of deciding who is worthy of becoming food. If we are given enough food that we do not feel hunger pains, we do not care where it comes from. But if we must hunt, we will hunt whatever prey is easiest. Thus, if you wish for us to feed only on the guilty, you must provide us with ample guilty flesh. Are you truly willing to take such a responsibility? If you are, then we will live by your decision and are grateful for your aid. If you are not, then it is best that we not waste our time dancing around one another. If we are destined to kill one another, we would rather it be now than through treachery and deception in the future.

"If you are willing to take this burden, swear that you will ensure our food supply remains strong. We will do as you ask for as long as that remains true."

" You are making a mistake. I am not promising to feed you. I am promising to check into how another ghoul feeds himself. I am asking you to give me the opportunity to *try* to help you. I believe you to be men in a very hard place, and will treat you as such until you prove otherwise. Your words just now nearly convinced me I am being a fool."

"Your choice is simple. Either you are men, or you are wolves. The people of this community are my flock, and I am the wolfhound."

"You are free to leave this building, but then your actions will prove you to be men or wolves. I will do all in my power to hunt wolves, and likewise all in my power to help my fellow man."

"Do not mistake me. This is not a negotiation. This is me risking my life to offer you the opportunity to be men, rather than hunted down as animals that endanger my flock."

"I can't promise you meat. I will not take responsibility for your actions. I can only promise to try and help. I can promise their will be no subterfuge on my part, you may act knowing that if you choose to be wolves preying on my flock that I will kill you or die trying. Either accept and let's go see what the hell else is about to go sideways, or kill me and get it done."

Torpor says over comms, "We may be able to do more for them as well, we have multiple contacts that may be able to help, so if one cannot another might be able to help. We could always send them to the farm to protect the farmers from attackers or critters or whatever, assuming Carl, or even our new friends don't have a way to help them."

"I like torpor's idea"

That's what I had in mind, but so long as they see themselves as wolves harvesting cattle I wouldn't let them anywhere near that community.

We have certainly met some folks that might could help and accept them. I'm actually curious if they can eat other ghouls. If they could our friends in the Kita barrens might be able to take them in. I'm sure they would use them against the other human gangs too... but I don't like it, but I could accept it.

However, what they just said is that if we don't feed them a steady diet they will hunt the elderly, children, the injured and the sick... whatever is easiest. I won't put that on the street even at the cost of my life.

So, what will it be? Are you men or beasts?

The ghoul says, "We need flesh. We cannot deny ourselves flesh. If you cannot provide us with flesh, we must provide it for ourselves. This is not a matter of choice. This is simple fact. It is not feasible for us to have a moral debate on every meal we choose to eat. We do not have the freedom to research what food deserves eating. We cannot walk among you to learn this. We cannot go shopping around and compare labels between different people. There is no specialty grocer which can provide us with the flesh of bad people. Nor can we wait around and hope a body lands in our laps to feed us for the day. We would starve. We already do starve.

"If we are to eat, we must strike from the shadows at whatever flesh we can get, when we can get it. We only eat what we need, but we need to eat. You would not demand your friends to avoid food under threat of hunting them for eating. Yet this is what you ask of us. If starvation is all you offer, then you offer us nothing. We have said we would limit ourselves to what you would provide. We have even offered to provide work for you in exchange. But if provision is not possible, we can only limit ourselves to what we can acquire. We are not animals for feeding on the only food that is available to us. We are just hungry and eating what we must for survival. If you cannot understand this, there is no more we can do to explain it to you.

"We have promised your safety for as long as you remain in this room. We stand by our word for our word is all we have. You may leave. If we have no solid deal for food when you leave this room, you will be given ten seconds before you and your friends become our next meal. If you slay us, then so be it. Our hunger ends here, one way or another. Perhaps you may even share our fate, and truly understand what it is you ask of us."

One of the ghouls behind Wujen unlocks the door, apparently ready to let him leave.

WuJens face goes stone cold as he tries to contain his anger.

"You aren't hearing me.  I can maybe help you, but before I know if I can, I need to make some calls and check on some things.  It's possible some contacts we have already covered this ground and can make this easier, probably for a price."

"Failing that, it's possible we could work to make some contacts at DocWagon or another clinic, or possibly a funeral home, or even a less civilized community that would be willing to trade your services for their dead.  I can ask, help make those contacts, look around where you cannot, and otherwise work to make your existence more than it is now.  I would be working on that right this instant, if the fragging building wasn't probably on fire, and of course the fire alarm is the one thing in here that actually has power."

"It's a question of priorities.  I want to help you, but both of us have more pressing concerns right now.  In an hour this will likely be a much more relaxed conversation."

"You don't like the thought of being hunted?  How do you think I felt walking in here.  I get it, you are in a bad way.  What do you think awaits you out there, hugs?  Ghouls are hunted in this city, that's the way it is.  You are dangerous, and you know it, so let's not pretend I'm the one victimizing you here."

"I understand your point of view.  You want a secure food source.  You don't have it now, and killing us won't get it for you.  Leaving here and hunting for yourselves indiscriminantly *will* get you hunted, if not by us then by pretty much every other citizen of this city.  You want to be wolves, go be wolves.  You want a chance at being men, then we need time and opportunity just to assess what *might* be possible."

"You want to wait in here until the Fire Department shows up, fine by me.  I'll get a slap on the wrist for starting a fire with apparently poorly worded instructions to a fire elemental, you will be gunned down by as many cowboys as can fit in this building once you are discovered.  Ever seen firefighters in action?  They *will* find you, they knock holes in walls to check empty spaces, go door to door, check in every cabinet and cupboard."

"So how about we go upstairs and see what the hell is going on before that happens.  Once we have dealt with the immediate problems, We can make some calls and hopefully make some arrangements."

"Worst case scenario, you have a head start leaving the area, I won't hunt you until you prove yourselves wolves.  Best case scenario we get you some help and you can be men."

While WuJen is talking with the ghouls, a thud can be heard, followed by a short grumbling about a cracked screen. There's a bit more fumbling and Sun can be heard. "Carl? You got a moment? Mind if we ask a favor of you to help some buddies of ours?"

Chougou brings both drones towards the door that Wujen went in through preparing for the worst

Sent from Topic'it App

Carl answers Sun's call with a yawn, "What do you want at this ungodly hour, son?"

Within the office, the ghoul says, "We will give you the chance to make arrangements, but we make no promises unless food has been secured."

The beeping upstairs continues.

"Go take care of what you need to do," he adds.

(ooc:  I'm going to have to stop making a habit of stepping into suicidal situations to de-escalate things.)

WuJen nods, "Good choice.  Hang on to that.  I'm going to go see what that elemental is up to.  The task I set it didn't seem like it would have to manifest, much less set the building on fire.  As I said, should the authorities show up I won't betray you, but it might be best if you left and came back once everything is calm again.  Once the situation upstairs is dealt with I'll see what I can do for your situation.  You can stay here if you feel the risk is worth it.  Until the woman in the elevator is gone this position is going to be precarious."

"By the way, it seems like you were here when the previous owners were conducting their experiments... you don't happen to know where the elevator key is?"

((Gotta die somehow, might as well do it in a spectacularly suicidal manner))

The ghoul spokesman says, "The elevator key? Not here. There is a service room on the roof. If there is one, it may be there. Otherwise it is for the fire department to have."

WuJen opens the door, and pointedly leaves it open as he exits the room.

"We seem to have a temporary truce, at least.  If they want to leave, they can leave, we can try to get them some help once we figure out what else is going wrong around here.  They say there's a service room on the roof which may have the elevator key in it, so lets go see what's going on upstairs."

Shouting down through the elevator door, WuJen tells the trapped woman "Stay put, we are looking for the elevator key.  Something appears to be going off upstairs too, we are checking that out as well.  You picked a fairly bad place to crash with your friends, this place has worse than ghouls, apparently.  Something upstairs makes webs that can catch astral bodies, so just hang tight until we can get you out."


With that, WuJen heads outside and up the stairs to the second floor.