Alright, if you say so.

Oliver picks Mouse up with telekinesis, careful not to shift her position, and walks into the building; Mouse floating behind him.

So, my Xfinity got cut off because my dad failed to pay on time, I , on the otherhand was going to Orlando anyway, it took me a while to get the wifi pass from my uncle because he lost it, (for a bit i was using his laptop, but it was REALLY slow. Anyway I'm back now , I wont be here as much, but I will try to post regularly.


I grit my teeth, I had to make sure Pepper was going to be okay. She had to be okay, those guys wouldn't kill her right? No, no way she was dead, I could hear her breathing. I was half tempted to beat those Heart guys awake and knock them out again. "Selene , how bad is my friend doing?" I admit, I'm more of a glass half empty kind of guy.

before:while searching through his wallet, arthur manages to find the horseshoe, the golf club, the sword, and multiple handfulls of pennys, "i was actuly hoping for a roll... or you just decide what was in there, so i just put the obvious things."

after: arthur pulls out the sword, and says,"because you've been putting it off so long, i think now might be a smart time to start negotiating..."

Chase:

Selene walks over to Pepper and carefully exams her. "She's most certainly not dead, she looks just knocked out. I can't know for certain if that's all, but I see no external wounds, just a bump on her head. Someone got the jump on her."

Everyone else:

You all walked into the building called the Tea party. The inside is the wooden bar, the room quite empty, till a well dressed man, missing an arm and wearing a Fedora. He looks at your group and the floating mouse and device.

"Oh, Hello Jeanine, glad to see that your safe. And also greetings to you Ryan. It seems that you both have brought friends. Greetings, I am called Mad, and I run this tea bar and make-shift inn."

Mad then notices the unconscious Mouse. "Please tell me she isn't hurt." He says with great concern.

She laughs shakily No no! She's fine, but she may have over exerted herself a little getting all of us here in one piece. It's good to see you again Mad.

I had no idea what to do next, I was tool-less Pepper was KO'd by some unknown assailant and Selene was the only one who could fight between the three of us, "Selene, I got this text, it says to head to the tree in the middle of the city, we could try heading there while we carry pepper. Or we could leave her at the camp with a note? it isnt my camp so its your choice, either way I'm not leaving her out here to get grabbed by one of these guys." I hated this, i seriously HATED this, no back up, no tool, no good at using spectral abilities, I was so screwed.

Jeanine texted to Chase and Pepper Please confirm location! We are not at the tree do not go there! Head to the Tea Party in town! Be careful.

Chase:

Chase receives Jeanine's new text. Selene also points out that the giant tree is now missing.

Everyone else:

Mad looks greatly relieved by that news. "How bout I answer both your questions by taking you down stairs."

He leads you all downstairs, to a room with many beds that both Jeanine and Ryan have been before. The beds are nothing much but are clean and have make-shift curtains to make miniature rooms. Mad points to Alice for Ryan. "Alice is right there, and finally awake though still a bit weak, it'll take a couple more hours to flush her system completely. She hasn't said a word since she woke back up, just sits there curled on the bed, not making a fuss."

"As for Mouse, how bout you put her down on her usual bed." Mad leads you all to a bed in the corner, Mouse's little nook. It's a has a curtain, the beds a little messy compared to the rest of them, and has a opened suitcase full of various articles of clothing in no particular order, just jammed into it.

After you lay her down and move a little bit away, Mad then requests, "I like to know what your plans are next if you don't mind sharing. Its still awfully dangerous out there and while this place is safe, it still place me and the people I care for at danger since I still have to provide for them. The Hearts cant find this place, but I still need to acquire food and other supplies every so often from them as its the only way to acquire such items anymore as all the shipments through the train go through them."


(Hint: Planning, final regrouping, eating.)
((Comments: Been in the mood to come up with names for ya tools. If ya got a couple, be cool ta hear.))

Jeanine thinks for a moment. Well I would hope that all of us would be able to get here and rest a bit. From what I gather we've all been in a fight or two. she thinks for a moment The likely hood of us just being able to leave without any backlash seems near impossible. This organization spreads far beyond what we can do alone. To make matters worse is that their goals and ideals are appealing in sorts but the methods they use to obtain them are unethical. she looks at everybody If I haven't said before, the plan of the..."Deck" is to make everybody in the world into spectrals. The theory is that because everybody is a spectral there would be no need for secrecy and so nobody would die from lack of information. she chews her lip For sure we are going to need more help. The PJ army for example. But we need to knock down that jammer first... So maybe that would be our first move, knock out the jammer.

Oliver sets Mouse down on the indicated bed.

Our plans, eh? Well, I obviously can't speak for all of us, but I was thinking about tracking down Chase, Pepper, and Jared before anything else. We should probably do our best to get the whole group back together and compare notes before we do anything else. the enemy seems to have no issue with using the advantage of numbers, after all.

Hint, hint.

If you ask me, Jeanine, there is absolutely no appeal in either their goals or their methods. They'd only be disturbing and billions of lives, causing endless petty conflict and creating a living hell that no one on earth will escape from. They must be stopped, at all costs.

Tool names? Gravity's Grip, Gravity Gauntlet, The Hand Of God... I like the first one best, personally.

Ryan sits next to Alice. I agree with Oliver. Their ideals and goals are extremely unappealing. There is no benefit to communing with spirits, and I have two spiritual lifetimes of experience to speak from on that point. However, it is a burden that must be borne, and the ones who bear it must do it well. The Deck is... disgusting. Our goals at this point are regrouping with Chase and getting out of this town. I dont think we can scare them off with acting if that man is here. He is equal in status to the Hand, but we have no recourse against his assault. I had assumed destroying the Hand would leave them leaderless and confused, and thus easily destroyed by rumor, but now... We are trapped. Whatever maintains the barrier will be heavily guarded, and we cannot contact the outside world to get backup. I really want a status update from home... It's such a shame. I bet if we were ordinary people we could just leave.

The barrier is maintained by the mayor. He can control who comes in and out. Their leaders are extremely powerful above even the hand and Mr. Mcbeefy. My guess is that they are the controllers of this general area. They carry great power but are still under somebody's thumb. Also they have a cache of tools somewhere in town, although I do not know where. Probably by or in their base. My informant was a tad resistant. she turns a bit red at the memory and begins to fiddle with her tool. She muttered something out like ...goals aren't that bad...no stupid more mistakes...nobody getting killed...heads...

"Tea party?" I didn't get it "Hey Selene? You know where the tea party is? ". Texting everyone back was a chore, so i simply replied, "i'm fine, Pepper has been Ko'd, and I've found an ally that can help us, heading for TP now"

Chase

Selene answers, "Ya, I think I know the place. How about we head there now?" Selene helps carry Pepper and you three travel using the veil to remain hidden till you two find a building with a sign out front "The Tea Party."

Everyone else:

Mad shakes his head. "I believe that issue is a bit more morally grey then your making it out to be young man. If everyone became a spectral, death would no longer hold the same meaning that it does now, as death is different to us now. I still talk and enjoy the company of an old friend that died a couple of years ago. And I also point out the fact that because spectrals are a secret, the normal of this town had no way to defend themselves from what they have become now, they didn't even know they were in such danger."

He waves his Hand, "Regardless on what you think of the issue, I doubt the Hearts plan only to benefit themselves through such a major transition, and they don't care what extremes they have to use to obtain that power. That is why they need to be stopped."

Jeanine nods her head to Mad's words Indeed. Their method would force upon people to be the host of a spirit that may or may not be particularly friendly. They could drive people insane and who's to say the new spectrals won't abuse their power. Not everybody out there is totally on their rocker. she checks her phone and sighed in relief. Chase and Pepper are okay, although Pepper has been knocked out. They're on their way.

"if you need help getting food i can carry large amounts efficiently, the only downside is im not very good in combat..." still holding the sword, arthur tosses it to oliver. making sure he know its coming before tossing it. that would be less so, if OLIVER could just negotiate with the spirit of this tool...

"Again, that's with the methods the Hearts propose and I utterly disagree with. The concept of revealing spectral nature out into the opening however is more morally ambiguous. And spectral ethics is very clear on that subject my lad. It be just as taboo as it is now, though the hearts disregard that.

"I rather not get into a length discussion on the topic. Please, lets continue with dealing with the problem at hand."

Mad turns to Arthur. "I thank you for that suggestion but I think you miss understand me about the issue with the food. I need to know long term how long you plan to stay, as acquiring the food will be difficult since I have to go through the Hearts distribution. Asking for more food than usual could tip them off where you are, they might not be able to find this place on their own, but I do have to leave and go through them to acquire the basic necessities that all those I care for and myself need. Trying to attack to get them would be a major risk in of itself."

Jeanine chews her lip We came...from someplace to here...er...we're not really at liberty to say. Wait 'till Pepper gets here.

Oh and um Arthur could you please put this in your wallet? she points to the device It's the safest place for it to be.