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Chapter 28 by HistoricoPublius HistoricoPublius

Does he hit? (Kick Some Ass, +Tough)

Yes, but it's hairy.

3+2+2 Tough = 7 - you and whatever you're fighting inflict harm on one another. For Mike, that's 2-harm hand to the creature (but its armor absorbs 1 harm); for it, that's 2-harm close intimate grappling (but Mike's Chosen armor absorbs both, leaving him at 0 harm).


The white tendrils whip at Mike as he charges forward, but he just plows through them, yelling. As he closes with the creature he swings the bat at its head, and catches the woman in the face. There's a sickening crack as her head is ripped to one side, and Mike grins. (Harm move: Intense pain.) Then her head keeps turning, and his grin falters. With a hiss of pain and rage, the woman's head turns all the way around, completing a 360-degree turn to glare at him. A thick tendril launches from her hand and smacks him away, and he stumbles back, the bat dropping from his hand. (Harm move: Drop something.) "What the hell?!"

The woman glares at them all, flesh rippling once again. She turns from him and for a moment, as Ali staggers to her feet, the woman disappears entirely, replaced by a gray-green, spongy creature in a roughly humanoid shape. Mushrooms sprout from its head in place of hair and decorate the tops of its shoulders and back, while wispy white tendrils sprout from all over its body. For a half-second it glares at Mike, then reaches out an arm and grabs onto the gutter at the bar's roofline with its questing tendrils. They retract, pulling the creature into the air, and as it reaches the top of the roof it leaps over and dashes away, out of sight.

Mike stares after it, panting, until Ali cries, "Daisy!" and staggers over to the other girl.

"'m...'mokay," Daisy murmurs. Ali crouches by her side and Mike turns to her as well, hurrying over. "'m...a little dazed but fine."

"That thing had her...in its hands," Ali hisses to Mike. "Daisy, are you sure?"

"Yeah." Daisy winces, rubbing her sternum gingerly. "Yeah, it...it stunned me and attacked but when you showed up it...pulled back. I think I'll be ok." She smiles wanly up at them. "Glad you both came by."

"Well, I didn't do much to it," Ali mutters bitterly. "It's fuckin' fast."

"What the fuck was that?!" Daryl demands. He's staring up at where the monster disappeared, wild-eyed. "What...I mean...that thing wasn't...what the fuck was going on with that woman?!"

"That wasn't a person," Mike says. "That was some kinda monster. It's...we deal with them. Don't worry, we'll figure it out."

"What do you mean, you'll figure this out?!" Daryl's voice is rising in both pitch and volume. "We gotta call the police or something!"

"And tell them what?" Ali demands. "What would you say if someone told you that they'd been attacked by...by a weird fungus thing outside your bar? You'll sound crazy at best. Trust us, we've all been there. Your best bet is to leave this to us."

Does she convince him not to call the police? (Manipulate Someone, +Charm)

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