Halesey, not one to lie to Jesus, gives the squatters the closest thing to the truth he knows.
"Toby? He... he might have been the dude that attacked us. Look, I'll do my best to explain. You know those weird things going on? Me and Larry are investigating them too. That's kinda how I ended up with a bloody cloud stuck over me head. Seriously - it's some kind of curse. And this place - well, this place has some kind of power - that's what Toby must've been after. It turned him mad, man, and he attacked me and Larry with some seriously weird shit - you go and have a look up there and you'll see, dude. It's totally busted up. So either you gotta go, so that we can save you from turning mad as well, or you gotta agree to do as we say, and I'll protect you as best as I can. You see, cos I mighta gotten cursed with a fecking rain cloud, but I haven't gone mad. I can protect you, man. But if you stay here, you're gonna go as mad as Toby. Come with me and see the mess he left before... before going. And if you don't believe that I can protect you, or that this weird shit is for real, check this out. Oh, also, what Larry said is totally true - they folks that own this place want to fix it up. I really need to discern their motives, because if they get control of this accursed place and have evil desires, they could do some serious shit."
Larry, supposing Halesey's said all that needs saying, can't help but support the man's words.
"Yeah, uh, listen to that man. He knows what's up."
"Dang. You dudes sound serious about that. I'll follow ya, sure."
"As will I."
"And I'll go with you as well - perhaps there I can find the answer."
With the three squatters in tow, they head up to the fourth floor, where Halesey shows them the destruction that has happened - the door, which has been blasted open, the ruined walls, the remnants of mop golem habitation, the traffic lights freaking everywhere, all kinds of things.
"Whoa. That does look pretty crazy," the messianic man says.
"I do know this floor - I've seen it before. In, like, my dreams. Toby was this black dude, right?"
"Yeah. Well, last I saw him, anyway."
Before they can chatter on for too long, Halesey lifts up his hand and makes a sweeping motion to get the people's attention. He then points at an unimportant-looking wall.
[Halesey's affinity roll: 5]
A great mass of garbage shoots out of his palm, impacting the wall at great speed, causing an incredibly harmonic burst of sound as tin cans, old refrigerator parts and other things scatter along the room. When the dust settles, the wall has a large hole in it.
"Holy crap, man! That was, like, I dunno, magic! How'd you do that? Is it tied up with the weird stuff here?"
"It is! It's magic! And this place is, like, some kind of nexus!"
"... I think I should be leaving. I ain't lived this long by being inquisitive about this kinda thing. So... goodbye," the burned man quickly says, then runs down the steps. The Jesus-dude looks at him, then back at Halesey.
"So... magic? How does it work?"
"Yeah. How did you find out about it? Did you have visions as well?"
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Topic: The Forgotten Art: Approaching the Nexus (Read 256168 times)