Atlanta 2050:Sessions:20190629

Dr Liz requests to speak with Alfred; Lord Beast (Ivan Ritter) cautiously assents, and accompanies her an interrogation cell. Alfred is seated at a table, his legs shackled. Guarding him are Tommy and Donnie Smith, along with another werewolf, Joe Spikes. In human form Joe is 5'11" with blue eyes and brown hair; he is in his mid-20s. Alfred apologizes to Dr Liz for his rough treatment of her. All he will say otherwise was that she was to be abducted because "You're important to these animals" ("People," she quickly corrects him); his orders came from his superiors, who he refuses to name.

At breakfast the next morning, Ivan tells Liz that Alfred had been "persuaded" to talk. He is a member of the Watchers, who have recently organized in Atlanta. They have established their stronghold in the World of Coca-Cola building downtown. And the Wolf Diamond is there. Lord Beast will be leading an assault at dusk.

In other news, yesterday three men, including an off-duty police officer, had been killed near Statts Brewery Pub, known as the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild.

Les awakens with a few residual aches and pains, but overall feeling much better. The Clerk tells him that the police had come asking if anyone in the Guild saw or heard anything, and the response was "no." Les: "Three guys jumped me, tried to kill me. They wanted me to join some anti-werewolf group. I told them I only work for the Merc Guild." TC: "Shifters are okay. We have some in the Guild." Les: "I want to find out who those three were." TC: "We'll know by the end of the day. We'll anonymously drop the badge off." Les: "Any work for me?" TC: "We're expecting a contract later today."

Joe and two of his buddies get a signal from Lord Beast. "I have people scouting World of Coca-Cola (WoCC). Tonight we will get the artifact. You will need metal gloves because you will handle the diamond, which is noxious to us. Restrictions are off as far as keeping people alive. It is not necessary to hold back; you can kill them. They will have silver bullets and silver-tipped crossbow bolts."

Joe is instructed to go downtown to recon WoCC. He's told there are three ways in - the public entrance, the entrance to the old bottling plant, and a water ride open to the public.

Les gets an assignment. "It's very hush-hush. They'll tell you the job when you get there. Go to the Yellow Lot." He gathers his equipment and rides his horse downtown. He meets an armed guard named Paul Macy. Les: "Howdy. You ordered a merc?" Macy: "You look awfully young." Les: "They sent their best." Macy explains, "We think we have an air shark problem. When the magic shifts on, a shark appears in the air. When the magic's off, the shark fades. My partner got ate by the shark. $500 if you can get rid of it."

Joe just happened to be walking past the Yellow Lot and caught the words "air shark." His curiosity piqued, he walks right up and asks "How many sharks?" Macy: "I've seen it more than once, but I don't know if there's more than one. ... It's maybe the size of a great white." Les: "Which guild are you with?" Joe: "I'm not with a guild, I just want to see it." Les: "Be prepared, I'm not taking responsibility for you."

Following Macy's directions, Les and Joe cross the lobby and pass through double doors into the Grand Hall. It is dimly lit with fey lights. The ceiling is 20' high, and the tables and chairs are pushed against the walls. About 15' in the air, Les sees a silent, gray shark, and he thinks he sees something else moving nearer the ceiling. Joe sees two shapes and faintly hears air moving.

Les' first shot misses; Shark1 turns toward him. Les puts down his crossbow, fast-draws two knives, and throws; one sticks and the other bounces off Shark1's hide. Shark1 lines up to ram Les; Joe tries an acrobatic kick to knock it off course, but has no effect against the 900-pound shark. Les dodges Shark1's snout, then both Les and Joe dodge its tail seep. Joe draws his sword, steps up and strikes. Shark1 turns quickly and tries to ram Les again; Les dodges the snout but takes a slap from the tail. Les draws his sword with his off-hand and jabs it into Shark1. Joe sees another shape pass close by him (Shark2 missed its ram attack). Shark1 turns around and tries to bite; Les dodges, fast-draws his gun, and fires, fatally wounding Shark1, which falls to the floor. Joe tries jumping on Shark2's back, fails, then misses with his sword. Les fires at Shark2 and misses. Shark2 turns and rushes toward Joe, who fast-draws his gun and shoots it. Joe acrobatically dodges Shark2's gaping jaws. Then there's a loud noise like a great wind, and as the sound fades, so does Shark2.

Joe: "Wow, we almost got them both." Les: "I'll have to put you in my report.... I'll stay and kill the second for $400." Les cuts off a chunk from the dead shark as proof of the kill.

Macy's manager has Les sign a receipt for the $500, and tells him "We'll have you come back," indicating that he knew there was more than one shark. Joe pops out a bunch of questions, and the manager says, "Weird things get kicked out of WoCC, but I don't know how it got this far [1/2 mile].... We've heard of adventurers going in and not coming out.... Rumors of 'items of power' and 'portals to other places'.... There's security that wasn't there before, armed guards and sentries, dogs." Les: "I'll go talk to them about escaped animals."

Les returns to Merc Guild and gives $150 to TC. Joe tells his contact about "weird stuff -- air sharks from WoCC." His contact is skeptical, but Joe insists. The contact sends him to the Georgia Aquarium, which will be the staging area for the evening assault on WoCC.

Dr Liz, Tommy, and Donnie ("The only thing better than cookies is bacon." "So how about bacon cookies?") have gone to the public library to study the WoCC blueprints. On their way out, Dr Liz picks up a Watchers pamphlet that had been left on a literature table. On the front is a drawing of the Statue of Libarty; the text inside is their manifesto, which declares "the United States should be free of abominations" and calls for a reversion to the pre-2000 era before the magic returned. "This is a Pure Human Nation! No Monsters!" On the back is a drawing of a 1945 wheat penny and the words, "We're Watching."

Liz, Tommy, and Donnie go to the Civic Center and phone Lord Beast, who says, "Come on home; we'll make plans, feed you, and give you a bulletproof vest. We'll move at dusk."

Les is called into the office of Connor Fielder, the managing partner of the Merc Guild. "You have been impressive. Your probationary period is over. You are now a full-fledged guild member, and the guild's cut is now 20%.... We can't have people attacking our people.... But if they ID themselves as a cop, don't kill cops." Les hands over two of the three wheat pennies he has collected, and says, "I'm looking forward to bringing in more money for the guild." Fielder: "That's the spirit!"

Joe surveys the front of WoCC. By the gate there are two guards, seven more visible through the fence, and he sees at least three in the windows. He doesn't see any snipers. At 6pm Joe changes into his Warrior form.

Les sees Joe as he rides up to the front gate of WoCC. He also sees two crossbowmen with backup machine guns, two snipers on the roof with crossbows, and two crossbowmen in the second floor windows. The gate is open. He ties his horse outside the gates. He approaches some guards who are patrolling halfway between the gate and the front entrance. "I work for the Mercenary Guild. Earlier I took out a couple of flying sharks. They might have escaped from here, so I came to tell you." Guard: "Thank you, citizen. You need to leave now."

Les leaves the grounds, walks across to the Georgia Aquarium, and sits on a bench. His voice altered and roughened due to shifting, Joe calls out, "Hey, Les, come here." He has to repeat himself several times. Les finally goes toward the voice and confronts a 6'8", 200# werewolf who says, "I'm Joe." Les: "How do you know my name? You're the second 'Joe' I've met today." Joe: "I'm the same one." Les: "The guards don't want anyone inside." Joe: "We're not going to ask." Les describes what he saw. Joe: "Can you take a job? My clan leader will be here soon." Les: "I have stuff to tell your clan leader when he arrives.

A large group approaches, led by Lord Beast and Dr Liz, followed by Tommy, Donnie, and four more werewolves, three wererats, and a wereboar. Joe addresses Lord Beast: "This is the merc. He's been inside the fence." LB: "You can call me Lord Beast." Les tells everything he saw. Lord Beast offers to hire him for $500 to "go in and come out alive." Les: "Okay, and I keep whatever I find." LB: "There's a large yellow diamond in there. You don't get that." Dr Liz introduces herself to Les.

Lord Beast assigns Les and the three wererats (Lorna Kelly, Fox Mulder, Gary Holmes) to enter by way of the water ride. Joe's group with six other werewolves (Megan Silver, Henry Scott, Darryl Kim, Sara Hernandez, Linda Randall, Tony Hawk) will go in through the bottling plant. The wereboar (Daniel Kidd) will be first to the front door, followed by Lord Beast, Dr Liz, Tommy, and Donnie ("We're protecting the cookie maker!").

Les climbs into a boat while the 'rats slip into the water. Les feels an arrow bounce off his chest armor; he looks around and sees one guard pointing at him and another running in his direction. Les whispers a warning to his squad, fires at the guard, then dives off the boat and swims inside. He emerges into a dimly-lit area. He and the 'rats open a door (no alarm sounds) and run up the stairs.

The 'wolves jump over the fence, three of them landing atop guards and taking them out. Joe opens the bottling plant door, enters, and motions to his team to spread out. As expected, they see bottling equipment, ramps, catwalks, conveyor belts, and so on. At the top of one ramp are three guards holding crossbows. Joe slams into the middle one and slashes with his claws, then finishes the guard off with a throat slash. G2 fires at Joe, then G2 and G3 turn and run.

At the front door, Lord Beast shifts into his Warrior form, a 9' bear. Daniel, in boar form, rushes straight for the door. Two guards fire and both hit, but this only serves to piss Daniel off. LB leaps up to the second floor, grabs two guards who were aiming at Dr Liz, and throws them to the ground. Donnie smashes in the front door. Dr Liz rushes over to tend to Daniel; the bolts were silver-tipped with notches that held bits of yellow crystal. She casts Neutralize Poison, tweezes the crystals out of Daniel's wounds (which allows Daniel to start regenerating), then casts Major Healing.

No one is in the lobby. At the top of the stairs to the second floor stands a mage, Bernard Earl. He throws a sickly green, glowing glob at Donnie... but the mage had failed to place a Curse in the Curse Missile. Tommy leaps and almost decapitates the mage. Dr Liz murmurs, "He's beyond my help."

Les stealths up a stairwell and into a room containing ancient computer equipment, including a tape drives and green screens. One side of the room consists of windows overlooking the first floor. \Below in the dim light can be seen humanoid shapes running, and an occasional glint off of a rack of bottles or a large mixer. The 'rats tell Les, "We'll search for the diamond. We'll know when we're near." Up and across the way, on a suspended catwalk, some guards are pointing crossbows at the people below. Suddenly Les hears from below the snarl of a very large tiger. He stealths out onto the catwalk.

Joe's team puts down a couple of guards. They see guards above with crossbows, and hear others moving in the center of the first floor, among the machines.

Lord Beast's team searches offices on the second floor. All are vacant. LB declares "I feel something" and walks toward an open vault. Dr Liz can see spells on the floor, ceiling, and walls, but not on the vault door, which is open. Clearly visible inside the vault is a large diamond on a velvet cushion accompanied by a handwritten note. Dr Liz warns Ivan, Tommy, and Donnie to stay out. She enters the room, and just then the magic goes down. She flicks on the light switch. She takes the note and reads aloud, "For you, Lord Beast." She picks up the "diamond" which she can tell is merely yellow glass. However, all over the walls and ceiling are dozens of yellow shards which would likely have impaled and killed any shifter who entered. Dr Liz pulls on some gloves and begins gathering every last shard, asking for someone to bring a container to place them in.

Joe catches sight of the tiger, which looks as big as a horse. Around it, two men and a woman are raising their pistols. Another man seems to be fleeing.

A couple of guards spot Les. He fires his sniper rifle; G1 grabs his chest and falls off the catwalk. G2 fires and hits Les. Darryl and Linda dodge bullets. Henry dodges the tiger. Joe takes a step and slashes the tiger's throat; the big cat roars. Henry scratches the tiger.

Suddenly the magic comes back up. Joe slashes but the tiger dodges. G3 is struck. Henry claws at the tiger. The guards drop their firearms and pick up crossbows or shortswords. Henry avoids the tiger's attack.

Joe slashes at the tiger's throat and the tiger dodges. Henry attacks and misses. G2 and G3 is seriously wounded. Les fires his crossbow but misses due to the distance. The tiger bites Henry and claws Joe badly. Les dodges a crossbow shot.

Joe strikes the tiger. Henry's attack misses. Magic goes down again. G3 takes another hit and falls down. Les fast-draws two pistols but his shots are dodged.

Les fires again and is dodged. The wererats bite the tiger (their bites are poisonous) and the tiger looks visibly shaky. Joe, Henry, and two werewolves attack the tiger and fail to hit. The remaining guard takes a hit.

G2 is struck twice but is still on his feet. The wererats take down the tiger. ("Thanks," says Joe.) G2 fires at someone who dodges.

Now magic is back up. Les holsters his pistols and runs upstairs. G2 dodges an attack and picks up his sword. The 'rats rush him en masse, bite him, and finally G2 dies. The last guard standing sees Les running at him and raises his empty hands in surrender.

Joe is very sick, and the other shifters are feeling none too good. Lorna calls out, "Merc!" Les answers, "Yeah, sweetie?" "Come here." She points to a yellow diamond the size of a softball. "Pick it up." Joe brings a container; Les places the diamond inside and moves it away from the shifters.

Joe had recognized the 'tiger as Beauregard "Bo" Johnson. "He was the leader of my clan in Alabama." The tiger is unconscious and bleeding. Something is keeping him in tiger form. Joe performs first aid and stops the bleeding, but the tiger isn't getting better. Les collects all the guns and ammo. Fox runs off to get the doctor.

Dr Liz has finished collecting and sealing away the shards. Fox leads their group to the bottling plant. The 'tiger is barely breathing. Fox sniffs and remarks, "He smells bad." He points to several locations on the weretiger's body. From each of those six spots Dr Liz carefully removes a shard 1 1/2 inches long. Now the 'tiger changes to human form, 5'10", muscular, tanned, with brown eyes and sandy brown hair, and a large tiger tattoo on his back. Dr Liz removes a bullet from Les's chest, and casts healing spells on Joe.

The group escorts Les to his horse. Lord Beast gives him $500 and assigns Lorna to ride back to the Mercenary Guild with him. The rest of the shifters and Dr Liz return to the Castle. The Wolf Diamond and all the collected shards are securely put away.