John stands in front of Dena, getting rained on, and appearing to care as much as the Fury does, about it. He has a brown paper bag in hand, which he opens and pulls a sandwich out of, before crumbling it up and popping into a coat pocket. "Good. I'll go get some lights from the van." There's just the barest hint of a devillish smile, before he turns, and starts back along the meadow.

Leonard nods to John as he passes, then nods to Dena when he arrives at the plywood.

Dena grates, "Right," and gives Leonard the barest of nods.

Seeker walks up to the fountain some distance behind Leonard and nods a greeting to the others.

Just about exactly on time, Bernie wanders into view, an umbrella rather haphazardly shading her from the rain. Her gait seems full of repressed energy, though this week, at least, she isn't running. The assembled get a grin and a wave of her free hand, as she spots them.

Dena doesn't seem inclined to greet people, other than to nod at them. She stuffs her hands into her pockets and waits.

Leonard shoves his hands in his pockets, stealing a glance at Dena's chest, then scowling at Bernie's umbrella.

Seeker looks around at the gathered garou. "What was your strategy the last time you attacked the sewers?" The question isn't posed to anyone in particular.

Dena says, shortly, "We're lighting them. And defending the installers. We are not attacking."

Bernie tilts her head a bit at the Adren, noticing her considerable dampness, and holds the umbrella out in offering, thereby beginning to get rained on a bit more herself. "Hey. We all here, or d'we think other people're on th' way?" she asks.

Seeker says "I see."

Leonard says "Yeah, those lightning banes hit pretty hard."

Leonard glances at Bernie, smiling a bit at the shared umbrella. "I think we're it."

Dena shakes her head at the offer. "Already wet. Don't worry." After a moment, she adds, "John's getting the van. Figure you and he can install. Rest of us can defend."

John must've hurried, or something. He's striding briskly back, with The Sack of lights over his shoulder. Already pulling a rolled up plastic case of tools from under his jacket.

Leonard glances from Dena to Seeker thoughtfully. "We got two high ranking ahroun. Seems a shame to waste them defending. Maybe we can make a little headway."

Seeker says "Close-quarters, then, I imagine? Little room to maneuver?"

Dena says, expressively, "None."

Bernie tosses off a lazy salute to Dena, nodding. "Installation brigade, check. An', yeah," this to Seeker, "like she said, it's cozy in there."

Leonard says "Single file."

John gets close enough to catch the tail end, and he looks Seeker up and down again. "There's more to it. Dena. Fill him in? Opposition, environment, objectives. Long-term, too." He approaches Bernie, lowering the sack, and offering her the tools in his hand.

Dena eyes the cliath. "Think I'll let /you/ fill him in, actually."

Seeker frowns. "Not very conducive to my style of fighting, but not much of a problem. I'll take point. If we run into anything and need to escape, I'll be able to engage them, give you time to get away. I'm faster, so I can outrun them if necessary."

Bernie struggles briefly with the umbrella -- apparently, it's not in optimal working condition -- and leans it against the plywood barricade before taking the tools John offers her. "Thanks." She glances about, shifitng her weight from one foot to the other, "...so after th' quick rundown, we ready t' go curse th' darkness?"

John gets a wry look as he looks up at Dena's pointed remark, then looks to Seeker with the beginnings of an amused smile. "Or not." he notes to the Fostern. "I don't think you quite understand. You and Dena size each other up, but speed should have little use there, and if you've never been down, I'd humbly advise that you don't make tactical recommendations." He frowns mildly, pulling out one of the flashlights, and offering it to Dena, before looking to the Fostern to see if that's 'acceptable'.

Dena asks, not taking it, "Did I, or did I not, ask you to fill him in on matters such as why we are doing it in this manner?"

John looks sourly to Dena. "I'll fill him in on what's down there, and what we're trying to do, as ordered, sure. Getting to it. But first - since you're in charge, now, Rhya, are you happy with a change to the line-up? Planning on telling us?" He continues to hold the flashlight out for her to take.

Dena takes the light, finally. "Figured you and Bernie could do installation. If Seeker thinks he can get the drop on me, I don't mind taking rear-guard."

Leonard looks from Dena to John, poker-face firmly in place. "And me?"

John looks about to say something, but firmly clamps his mouth shut, and looks, instead, to Dena, expectantly.

Dena says, briefly, "Guard Bernie."

Leonard's eyes flash briefly. "Ok."

Seeker says "That's fine with me."

John seems to relax a little, at Dena's decision, and then continues handing out lights. "Seeker. To fill you in - you won't be able to even /move/ in Crinos. Glabro or Hispo. These things go down to claws, more often. Most common things we've seen are darkness banes - corrupted light elementals - and electricity banes. Don't know how to beat the electricity ones effectively. Don't think the light hurts them. Claws do... or maybe it's just being grounded. Don't know." He pulls out a small plastic case of tools from the sack, for himself, and tucks it under his belt. "Think of this as a dirty, risky part of a Rite. We're trying to summon some sort of incarna or something, to cleanse the sewers. It requires light. So. We're lighting it."

Seeker nods. "Hispo was my choice. I understand."

Dena kicks the barricade with her heel. "We ready?"

Leonard shrugs. "I am."

John grunts, "Lead away. I'd prefer if you were able to hold a light, Seeker, but if you think you can spot 'em coming, blind... At least try holding a light in your mouth. I don't want my first warning to be the screams of my pointman."

John complements the comment by offering a flashlight to the Strider.

"An' willing," Bernie confirms, edging into her place in line, approximately, near the manhole. "Weird way t' get outta th' wet, though, come t' think 'bout it."

Dena clarifies, "Light /hurts/ many of these beings, Seeker. That flashlight is /vital/."

Seeker nods and takes the flashlight from John. "I understand."

Leonard steps in behind Bernie, looking at Dena expectantly.

Dena flicks on her flashlight, and, shrugging, drops down into the sewers, scooting backwards a bit to let others go in after her.

John flashes a brief, mostly insincere smile. "Then down we go." He hoists the sack over his shoulder, looking to Bernie, before following Dena down.

[Under Harbor Park]

The rain above is having decided consequences down in the sewers. Water runs down the walls in many places, and the sound of dripping has been replaced with the sound of trickling falls of water splashing into pools and streams beneath. The tunnels themselves have a stream of water flowing along the tunnel floor. This ankle-deep stream swirls around the feet of the Garou before flowing further towards the south.

Leonard shifts to glabro to climb down the ladder, looking around and stretching a bit when he gets to the bottom, then hurriedly moving out of the way for those that come after.

Bernie shifts to Glabro as well, though not until she's reached the ground, and takes a somewhat worried look around. "Waders. I shoulda found those thigh-high rubber wader things," she remarks, picking her way away form blocking the ladder.

Dena, in sneakers yet again, also shifts to glabro, clearly remaining as the rear guard.

Flicking his own light on, John waits for Bernie and Leonard, before murmuring, "You want to hold the sack, Little Bear? Act as go-between? All the spare equipment and lights are in there, and we /can/ split 'em up... there's another couple sacks in there..."

Leonard shrugs. "Sure." He holds his hands out for it.

Seeker puts his flashlight in his mouth, holding it with his teeth, then shifts to hispo around it. He shines the light ahead of him, down one of the tunnels.

Bernie makes do with her sneakers, since there isn't exactly an option, and nods once in acknowledgement to John and Little Bear. "Right... startin' with replacin' any dead ones, then movin' on t' new areas, 'f all goes decently, yeah?"

The main pipe to the north is lit for a way, brightly-burning LED arrays having been placed into light sockets along the tunnel's top to illuminate the passage. This time, one array has once again gone dark, albeit a different one from the two of the previous sojourn. The dark one is once again closer to the northern end of the lit area than to the fountain. The water at the feet of the Garou quickly soaks through sneakers or other less-protective footwear, and carries a bit of chill through shoe or fur.

Leonard shrugs. He's here to kill things. And apparently hold things. He holds the bag out to Bernie helpfully, ignoring the squelching in his boots.

John nods to Bernie, pulling an array from the sack as Leonard takes it. "Dead ones, then new. Check. Leap-frog style, working simultaneously." He gives a last look, and moves to follow Seeker. "Right. Let's move up." he grunts.

Seeker takes the lead, pointing the light ahead with his jaws. He focuses forward with all senses as he makes his way into the tunnel.

Bernie flashes a grin at Leonard, the sparse light reflecting briefly off her teeth, and pulls a light from the bag before starting toward the darkened spot. "Set, then. Aaaaaaaan' they're off..."

Dena fixes her light on the spots Seeker's misses, though she does an occasional sweep behind her, as well.

Leonard just keeps his eyes on Bernie, sparing an occasional glance down at the water.

Seeker pauses to rake his claws against the concrete of the pipe, honing them to razor sharpness, then continues down the pipe.

Bernie & Leonard reach the darkened spot first and pause there to examine and replace the LED array module. Dena stays behind, keeping rearguard while the other pair continue down the still-lit tunnel towards the end of the lit section, the Silent Strider remaining in front.

John doesn't speak, preferring to sweep the front with the beam of light from his flashlight, wherever the Strider doesn't.

Seeker stops at the end of the lit area, keeping his flashlight trained into the darkness. He pans the beam back and forth, looking for anything threatening.

Dena continues her own panning, her depression translating to restless shifting back and forth as she moves.

Bernie does a bit of restless shifting herself, on the way, but for rather dissimilar cause; she's still bleeding energy, thought it's more focused now that they're at work. Unplugging the dead light, the new one carefully tucked beneath her arm, she checks out the old one for fixability.

John looks back to Bernie and Leonard. "You two come up here and install this one, and Seeker and I'll go ahead when you get here? Dena?"

Dena merely nods, and follows fairly closely behind the ragabash and the galliard.

Nemo pages: Once again, it looks relatively fixable, most likely. A little replacement and fixing some wiring and it could be up & running again.

Leonard sticks to Bernie like glue, left holding the bag.

Bernie adjusts her little juggling act, handing the old light back to Leonard. "Loos fix'ble," she decrees, quietly, "...put it somewhere in there it won't get mixed up with th' new ones, so we c'n cart it back, yeah? Thanks." She waits until he accepts it before reaching up to gingerly begin installing the replacement.

Leonard digs through the bag, finding one of the bags within a bag that John mentioned and sticking it in there.

John murmurs lowly to Seeker, "Next fitting. You keep your eyes peeled. I'll tell you when we hit it."

Depite the cold water swirling around everone's feet, the replacement job goes relatively smoothly, and the darkened area is flooded with light as the Gnawer tightens the last couple of revolutions. Somewhere up ahead in the dark, water pours in through a grate, echoing through the tunnel.

Seeker begins to move ahead slowly, keeping his light and senses aimed forward. He peers ahead toward the water pouring in, training his light on it.

Dena checks reflexively backwards, just to be sure the noise to the front doesn't distract her from that duty, as well.

John frowns a little, waving his beam where he figures Seeker's should normally be.

The lance of light from the Strider's flashlight encounters only more tunnel wall; the grate is perhaps up around a bend, with the echoes making it a little more difficult to pinpoint. The main noise from behind is more water running, eventually into the river. A soft, somewhat chilled breeze flows from the north down the tunnel, towards the sewer's outlet.

Bernie glances away from the blub as it lights, not having any wish to get blinded, and nods once, satisfied. "Right," she murmurs, "onward an'... well, onward," as she starts on toward the darkened area as well.

Seeker continues moving slowly, steadily down the tunnel. He resumes panning his light back and forth across the pipe ahead.

Leonard bumps along behind Bernie, sack over his shoulder. He keeps an eye on the floor.

As the back group gets on te edge of the lit area, the current advance group moves ahead with beams of light crisscrossing ahead, sloshing through the streaming water underneath. The darkness seems almost oppressive as the bright LED arrays are left behind, nearly a palpable thing as Seeker and John forge onward.

Dena refocuses on the front, though as ever, she's making sure nothing'll surprise them in the rear.

Leonard works on living up to his new deedname, Holds-The-Bag.

Seeker suddenly lifts a forepaw out of the water, then points the flashlight downward into the water. He growls in the back of his throat at something.

"Pass me another light?" Bernie starts, as they near the unlit area, but breaks off at Seeker's growl, peering into the dimness as she tries to judge whether there's going to be time to try another.

John growls instinctively at Seeker's growl, shining his flashlight near the Strider, keenly inspecting the nearby darkness. "Have we got something?" he murmurs in question.

Dena, in the rear, continues making sure nothing jumps from that direction. And also tries to help light the front, at least slightly.

Leonard digs out another light, pausing before handing it to Bernie as the hispo growls.

Seeker trains his light momentarily on a dead mouse floating down the tunnel past the others, then turns the light forward again.

Leonard looks down at the mouse, suppresses a smirk, and hands Bernie the light.

John frowns, eyeing the dead mouse with a slight twitch, and muttering, "This is fucked." before pressing on ahead with a determined set to his jaw. Muttering more, under his breath.

Dena's jaw tenses, slightly.

Bernie takes the light, though she focuses for a moment longer on the mouse before proceeding more cautiously forward.

The rain continues outside, as Seeker & John find the rushing influx of water through the sewer grate getting a bi oouder with each step. Bernie can locate the socket readily enough, though this one seems to have rusted somewhat during the time it's been down here, and a broken normal bulb is still affixed in the socket. Seeker's light beam is absent for just a moment as he flashes it down a side tunnel, then the lance of light returns to the main part of the tunnel.

John inspects the side tunnel a good deal more warily, looking for that tell-tale 'absorbing' of light, flashing the beam side to side. He's frowning even more, now, which almost gives him the appearance of anger.

Bernie considers, and passes the light back to Leonard. "Hold this a sec?" she asks, and then digs in the bag herself, coming out with one of the other empty bags within. She wraps it around her hand, then tries to unscrew the lightbulb near the base, below, she hopes, the sharp edges.

Leonard takes the shattered light from Bernie and wrinkles his nose at it, wrapping it in the burlap bag she used to unscrew it and putting it deep within the recesses of the bag. He hands a good light.

Bernie reclaims the good light, and eases it into the cleared socket, almost holding her breath to see if the thing's rusted out or still in working order.

John continues to glower at the side-tunnel, as Seeker cautiously advances. "Side tunnel? Which way were we..." He starts to look immensely irritated. "I do /not/ feel like splitting up to go in two different directions." he rumbles, under his breath.

The array lights, though only about 2/3 of the LEDs spring to life. Meanwhile, the steady light rain has continued outside, and the water at everyone's feet is rising slightly. A bump in the stream flows out of the side tunnel, provoking concern for a moment until the light beams reveal a bloated dead rat.

Leonard frowns at the second dead animal. "Alright, this is good. Right?"

Bernie nods once at the mostly-working light, though there's less satisfaction in it this time, and hesitates at the sight of the rat. When she makes out what it is, she half-winces, and takes a quick look down the tunnels, at her companions. "Speakin' assa childa Rat an' allat, I'd call that a distinct =non=confidence builder... an' speakin' as someone who aced science, I'm gettin' a li'l antsy bein' shin-deep in water while we mess with th' 'lectricity. An' that's not even =countin'= th' banes, who prolly wanna getus on purpose. We made progress; I'm thinkin' discretion might be th' better parta valor, now. We c'n pop back when it's dryer, yeah?" she suggests.

Leonard nods.

John turns, and nods to Bernie, curtly. "Dunno what the fuck I was thinking, going down here when it's /rainin'/. We're maintenance and installation. We installed, we ain't encountered shit... Enh." He shrugs, looking to Dena.

Dena glances behind, then nods once. "Right. We retreat to return when we're a bit /less/ likely to get fried. Progress was made." The group reverses, Dena cautiously leading the way back to the fountain and Seeker keeping half an eye out for anything coming down the lit tunnel as they go south.

==============================================================================
Message:  28/28 in folder main             Received:  Tue Aug 21 23:19:31 2001
From:     Nemo
To:       Seeker, Leonard, John, Bernie, and Dena
Subject:  Triumphant Conclusion of Sewer Expedition
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Or maybe not.

In a nutshell, the broken normal bulb takes some time to twist cautiously out of the socket. Bernie takes a while to do that while Seeker & John manage to find the next socket in line. All the while, the rain keeps coming down; the water gets a little higher around everyone's feet; a couple more false alarms prove to be a branch and a dead, bloated rat; the general concensus seems to be that pulling out after the minor advance would be preferable to running into an electricity bane while standing in five inches of water. A later foray when things are dryer was proposed and settled on. 

However, progress /was/ made, so that's a good thing at least.


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Nemo, Wyld wiz and various and sundry other things

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