Skyscrapers & ... Groundscrapers? (RP)

- Fiona and Arthur -

When you arrive onsite you see a sight, strange even to your eyes. And you have seen some things!

The skyscraper broke its 'roots' —like a tall tree after a strong wind— and fell, those below it panicked (aside from those (most, even) who did not even notice anything more than a rumbling till later) and vainly tried to run. But, as witnesses and video feeds alike report, the entire building started to tip over, then suddenly stopped falling, with a crash, "as though it hit an invisible barrier or something".

Now it hangs there, twisted, at a roughly 45° angle, glass scattering the street below for blocks around, its base a mass of concrete, ripped up and exposed.

The authorities have shut off the water and electricity, but the area around the canted tower is still flooded with water.

• How is this like your previous 'break'? (Judging from the outside.)
• How is it completely different? (Judging from the outside.)

• Tell us about your character. About what you are expecting or hoping for on this run. About why you are here and why you were 'there' the last time.

• What is the feeling as you approach?

What do you do?

Cloud of Woe:

Arthur looks seriously to Fiona. "This reminds me of the first Break we ran," he says. "The same kind of weird devastation of built structure, like something had a grudge against architecture and wanted to remodel in a completely surreal way. Remember how the glass facade of the library had exploded into shards and slivers of glass that were just hanging in the air above the parking lot?" He pauses and looks at the building. "But this time, no-one got hurt. That we know of?"

Arthur is eager to see the Otherworld again. In the library Break, vibrantly-colored ivy had twined among the shelving and some of the older books had flapped and swooped in lazy circles the whole time Fiona and Arthur were In. Arthur looks forward to that level of weird. It's the kind of yearning for adventure that pushed him to combat rescue work.

He looks up at the impossibly looming edifice. "So it looks like the front door is … under." He twitches his shoulders uncomfortably. "I don't like being under things." It was nice to survive the helicopter crash. It was not nice to have his shins trapped under the smoldering wreckage. It's nice to have grafted prostheses for what he had to give up to escape the flames.

- Arthur -

From below the windows look dark, but that is just because the power is out, right? A brave news helicopter circles beneath the leaning building, proving —like a magician with a hoop— that nothing is holding it up.

What do you do?

- Arthur and Fiona -

You head in.

• Do you wade through the knee-deep water and enter wet, or make some plan to get closer while still dry?

Being in the shadow of the massive structure is intimating, though some brave and foolish kids are playing a game of throwing stones and trying to get them in the windows, it seems none have succeeded yet, the water and danger-tape keeping them away from the lower floors.

"Who are you supposed to be, then?" One of the kids hollers at you.

From beneath, the windows seem unnaturally dark, like the sunlight is not penetrating inside quite as it should at this angle. The main doors are slightly crushed and bowed open, and gape like a pitch-black portal to... who knows where.

What do you do?

Arthur breathes deeply and slowly as he realizes that he might have to go under to enter. He looks for a window at the side of the building, out of the water and not facing the ground, that could be broken to enter.

- Arthur -

You may be able to gain entry into the building through the windows above, but the rift-portal to the break seems to have conformed to the architecture and replaced the front door. You can't tell from outside if there are any other rifts inside.

To get on top of the side of the building would still mean navigating the knee-high water, and then climbing the concrete mess at the base. Or you might be able to persuade one of the helicopters to ferry you there, but there is nowhere for one to land on the 45° glass face of the building, so you would need to jump.

What do you do?

"Hey, Fee," Arthur says, "it seems like we're gonna need to immerse our lower legs in the morass, here. Unfortunately I didn't bring waders. Do you think there's any risk with getting our feet wet? For example, are we sure that the utilities shut off gas and electric to the building?"

- Fiona -

You can confirm that the electricity is off, the risk is mainly about getting wet and then walking... or quite possibly climbing!... around in wet boots for the rest of the day.

You can do almost anything with what you have in your Tech Kit, but it takes time. A Scanner ('Tri-corder style multi-spectrum scanner') would tell you this in no time as well.

What do you do?

Arthur splashes forward too. His feet make a kind of weird noise, like they're "cutting" the water. Which tracks.

We get to the door without problems?

- Arthur and Fiona -

Close up, the portal smells different to the last time. More earthy and cool.

You can push through to the other side, but memories of last time might cause you hesitate before doing so.

• What did it feel like last time?

What do you do?

"Remember how it felt slimy but electric, at the same time, last time?" Arthur asks Fiona. "You ready for it?" He unholsters his .30 and holds it ready. The automatic building doors are open. The portal is obscure. He can't imagine what's the other side. He looks to Fiona. "I'll take point, if you don't mind," he says. Then he looks up into the portal, hoping that the diamond grip pattern on his blade will grab onto something — 45° incline is pretty steep. He reluctantly reholsters the .30 and grabs the edge of the open sliding door. Then he pulls and steps, up into the portal.

- Arthur and Fiona -

You slide 'up' through the surface of the portal, the magnetic-repulsion-push keeps you away from the broken glass of the automatic doors, but makes it slightly hard to get a grip on the other side. But you manage.

Inside it looks... well it looks just like the lobby of a skyscraper, except at 45°. Everything not nailed down has slid to the bottom side —where you are— and nestled in the V at the corner between the floor and the wall... or is it the floor and the floor, now. Navigating this is going to be hard, even harder than talking about it.

Above you, through half of the ceiling-that-was-a-window, you see sky, the window-that-is-now-a-floor is dark, you can not see the street outside nor the kids playing, nor your van.

In the center of the lobby the escalator looks all wrong, the direction you can see is hanging off the frame in a strange way forming an arc instead of the stair-step pattern you expect it to.

• Did the people get out? All of them?

What do you do?

- Fiona -

Aside from the canted angle —which is 'just not right' and could make one feel queasy— and the dark, earth-like 'floor', everything looks completely normal ... for a disaster zone. Your team might have come in expecting 'more weird'.

It is a large, mostly open, welcoming space, with elevator shafts in the center, and escalators leading to the mezzanine that overlooks the reception lobby.

• Does your scanner give you any indication about which direction would lead to the 'center of the break'? Does it show anything weird on this floor or the one 'above'? What is its range?

You could pinch-climb the aluminium bead of the window-frames, but that would end at an overhanging 'ceiling', it would be a really hard climb around/underneath the mezzanine, to get up that way.

There are features on the old floor that were probably used for mounting dividers or signs or something. With some close teamwork you could use each other as ladders and ropes to boost-and-climb the slick, tile floor-surface.

From what you could see from outside there may be a basement, but —at least from what pulled out— the building does not appear to do 'down' very far.

What do you do?

Arthur slowly shakes his head as he steadies himself on the debris in the "trench" formed by the old floor and old front wall. He looks carefully at the stairs beyond the fire door. Then he thinks about his climbing gear.

"I think we could use the steps," he says. "The ones I can see are horizontal facing up with steps protruding like teeth. That means the next flight would be vertical. I have two pairs of gecko gloves. They would help us get a good firm grip on the steps." He looks to Fiona for input.