2020.04.24 Styx, Stones and Spectres

Styx and Stones Pool Hall - Back Room

Description

The back room of the pool hall is the same width but only about a third as long. As you step through the steel door, the wooden floor from the front continues through to the bare brick wall at the far end. Along the left wall, four doors break up its length and to the right, a single door steps into the bathroom before the narrow hall opens up into a much larger space towards the rear of the building; like an inverted L. The door immediately to your left leads into the kitchen and the next to a large storage closet and pantry. Beyond that is the door to the back office and then a door leading down to the basement below. Light is supplied by a few, flourescent lights that keep the back area well lit.

Shadowlands

The room's walls have been patiently scribbled with line after line of inch-tall script of perfectly neat and almost calligraphic script. The language changes every few phrases and the writing doesn't seem to have much coherency. Passages from the bible, Tolkien, movie quotes, just random gibberish - seriously. Or is it?

Scene

Sin-Eater says, "Gate, treasure or Prison.... So it opens something, that is locked away." She nods and than sighs softly, "Are you the only wraitht hat still haunts this place?" She asks of the Monk, who has stopped being scared now that the key she showed him has been put away and is instead pointing to words that are in the text on the walls to answer questions. Sorta."

Floyd got a request to assist, and so he arrives. Hammer in it's O-ring, slipping into the back room. "Hey Sinita." He says looking around before stopping in his tracks. "....shit." He says. "You weren't kidding."

Sin-Eater says, "I am not." She says with a sigh, "This is not a drone though, he hears us, and answers questions and reacts to the envrioment, he just seems mute." She explains to Floyd, "This is Floyd, I am Sinita. I was thinking of making this place a haunt." She says, more for Floyd than the Monk. "My clients could feed on the emotions of the main bar, while waiting to be castigated downstairs here. Maybe, if I can get into the loft, using tha tfor a living place. But I am not sure how secure it is.""

Floyd eyes the area and steps inside further. He looks to the Monk and gives a wave. "Hello." He looks back to Sin-Eater. "I mean...certainly. It would make sense. Lot of ambient pathos here." He agrees. "But what about this though?" He gestures to the scrawling wall and the monk. "No offense, but did you figure out what this is all about yet?"

Sin-Eater says, "No..." She grumbles disheartened apparently, "He said the Lord haunted this place, or something. And he says the key goes to a gate, treasure, or prison. Perhaps all three. There is a gate that locks away a treasure, but also inprisons something." She shrugs, "Did you see the basement yet. You should look down there too. It is... Interesting." She explains, "I think perhaps there is something more to it than I have found, but I lack the skills to narrow it down.""

The Scribe points at a section of the wall with more of his foot-wide columns of text. The place he points has several quotes and things but one of the words in the area he's indicated is larger and darker than the other. The word, "Truth" seems a bit more ornate. Another, nearby word, that is in the same vague space where he was pointing also holds the word "Payment"

Floyd scratches his chin, listening to Sin-Eater as he looks to the monk who points to the words. "I think he wants payment. Or maybe if we pay him, he will show us something." He says, gently slapping Sinata on the arm-area of her cloak and gesturing. "I'll go down in the basement and see if I can find anything." He will then journey down into the basement.

Sin-Eater says, "Do not get too scared." She says after him, "It can be very creepy there." And she looks to the monk and nods, "Payment, if I pay you pathos will you be able to tell me more about this place, or the key?" She asks, prepared to offer the monk something in payment, though unsure what he might want. "I am not skilled in Usury though.""

The Scribe just shakes his hood at the mention of offering payment. They seem to have missed the point, or where he was pointing that is. The scribe shrugs its shoulders and continues to scribble while they decide to venture downstairs.

Sin-Eater says, "Lets look in the basement." Seh says, so that the poor person behind the Scribe does not need to split their attention three ways, she goes down with Floyd intot he basement."

Sin-Eater heads downstairs.

Sin-Eater has left.

Styx and Stones Pool Hall - Back Room

Description

The back room of the pool hall is the same width but only about a third as long. As you step through the steel door, the wooden floor from the front continues through to the bare brick wall at the far end. Along the left wall, four doors break up its length and to the right, a single door steps into the bathroom before the narrow hall opens up into a much larger space towards the rear of the building; like an inverted L.

The door immediately to your left leads into the kitchen and the next to a large storage closet and pantry. Beyond that is the door to the back office and then a door leading down to the basement below. Light is supplied by a few, flourescent lights that keep the back area well lit.

Shadowlands

The room's walls have been patiently scribbled with line after line of inch-tall script of perfectly neat and almost calligraphic script. The language changes every few phrases and the writing doesn't seem to have much coherency. Passages from the bible, Tolkien, movie quotes, just random gibberish - seriously. Or is it?

The Scribe heads downstairs.

The Scribe has left.

You head downstairs.

Styx and Stones - Basement

Description

Stretching thirty feet wide and just as long, this room is an echo of the backroom above. The walls are unpainted brick with the ceiling a mixture of wooden beams and flooring from the room above. The walls of the basement are bare brick but seem to have been recently power-washed. The concrete floor has been cleared of any debris, leaving a flat, bare slab and a fairly bland space with drains at the corners.

There are two sets of stairs in the room, one heading up to the business and the second heads out to the side alley. A dividing wall cuts off the rear part of the basement from the front and is bisected in the center by a metal door. The door is painted a shade of red the color of bricks or dried blood. On either side of the door the wall is mostly obscured by a series of bookshelves made from stacks of cinder blocks and long wooden boards strung between them.

Shadowlands

The basement is a broken husk of the structure above. The old brick walls have crumbled in places and the beams overhead have rotted leaving a massive hole in the ceiling above. The stone floor has cracked in several places as though struck by small explosives from wars long since forgotten. Cobwebs fill the corners and hang from what's left of the beams above.

A strange, almost bioluminescent glow seeps through the cracks of the floor and pulses with a near-constant pattern; two short and one long. A hot breeze blows through the ruins of the structure disturbing the cobwebs occasionally with traces of hot hash and embers caught in the wind.

For more information type .wraith

Wraith Details

The following information is provided for wraith characters based on what's been discovered (oocly by the owner) and would be discernable through a brief bit of investigation.

• Haunt: The building has been a haunt in the relatively recent past. When rennovations happened to give the place a good cleaning about a year ago, things got a bit jumbled so only a few Wraith still frequent the place.

• Fetter: There's something in the basement that anchors several wraith to the building. One such chain is linked to the wandering wraith upstairs that scribbles on the walls.

• Echoes: Any wraith who spends time in the basement may eventually start to pick up echoes, memories or ripples that still seem to resonant within the place. First, there's a heavy scent of smoke. At first it smells of cigarettes and cigars but eventually it builds until it's as thick as a haze as though the room were filled with it. Second, there's whispers and mutters just out of earshot that seem like a dozen people talking in the next room. Nothing is discernable but the occasional word becomes clear. Words like 'Price' and 'Sale' and 'Cage' can be picked up eventually.

Scene

Floyd ducks his head into the basement, even though he is short. He steps into the dank basement with teh glow of the surrounds and lets out a breath. "....This is odd." He comments. He looks toward teh bioluminescent glow. He points to the glow. "...This is morse code."

Sin-Eater says, "No, I think it is a heart beat." She says softly, "I considered a code as well, but it only repeats two short one long." She explains, "So the same letter over and over, or the rythmic beating of a heart. Though to be fair, I only put that together later, when I asked it questions." She smiles, and looks about. "Frank I wonder if he has any thoughts on it, he saw it but I did not get a lot of his input yet." She htan walks into the center of the room, "I am back, I have brought another friend, Floyd. We are here to help, I promise.""

Floyd nods. "Noted." He looks up toward the top and then elsewhere. "This might be...a slaver's haunt. Maybe. Or a usurer's." He suggests. "The fact that there is a mute wraith constantly writing chained who isn't a drone? Certainly sounds slavish to me if you ask me." He kneels down toward the floor near where the glow breaks through the floorboards. "I think...I'm gonna try for a closer look."

Sin-Eater says, "If you can, you may notice it get kinda smokey in here, and than the creepy whispers, those were the worst part I think the whispers... And than the whole room shaking with the beat of a heart. But it led me to the key. But I feel like something else is down here.""

Floyd loses one Corpus

Floyd lets out a breath. "...This is gonna be super dumb." He says listening to Sinata as he goes along the floor. He eyes the floor to find a place where the glow is brightest. He then gets on his knees and puts his hand to the floor and then tries, and succeeds, to push through the floor with one arm to reach down into the floor. His corpus shudders, depleting to a state of etherealness as his corpus gets shaken with the interaction from skinland solidity.

Sin-Eater says, "You know I cannot fix that, I am not skilled in usury and not met one. WE will have to feed your passions so you can heal. I need to do that myself, but I am not sure my passions are as easily met here as it could be." She smiles, "While I think the emotions are here, they are not exactly geared the way I am."

=======================The Shadowlands: Floor============================

As your hand reaches through the broken bricks of the old floor, probing deeper and deeper to find out whatever might be burried deep below that's causing the glow, you realize it's not just a few inches down. Nor is it a foot. You're up to your armpit before your fingers dance upon something that's akin to the sensation of cold. Its solid, like Stygian steel solid. And big, oh is it big. Think of something the size of a...coffin. Thick metal bands wrap around the object, each one etched with foul and turgid characters like they were not cut or etched but somehow melted into the metal at its creation.

As your fingers continue to search and to probe you eventually detect sharp points that are arranged in an odd pattern; almost a sequence that don't make sense to the touch. One might have to go look.

=======================================================================

Floyd grits .... "It's okay." He says. "...I can heal plasm." He gets a very weird look. "...." He moves around. "..." He looks to Sinata. "...something is down here." He says to Sinata. He then pushes himself through teh floor before he recorporates.

Sin-Eater says, "FLOYD!" She calls out, and she moves to fall on her knees where he disappeared through the floor, calling more and wondering if he can hear her. "Are you ok?! What... What are you doing, what if something evil is down there!""

=======================The Shadowlands: Floor=======================

Foolish Wraith, sticking your head beneath the floor of a random Haunt you know nothing about. Curiosity killed the cat but as the saying goes, but satisfaction brought it back. You lower your eyes below the floor and see that there's a coffin forged of Stygian steal. That may not be all that impressive until you realize that it's nearly twice as proportional to the size of an average man. The thing is easily over a dozen feet in length and with the appropriate dimentionsto match.

The box is bound in thirteen thick chains that were melted in place to seal the thing shut. Upon the top of the coffin and possibly added as adornment is a foolishly ornate mask of steal and blue stone. Decidedly Egyptian in style and design, the pharo's face has been replaced buy a skull.

Image: http://imgur.com/mXxs1ek

====================================================================

Floyd is quiet for a moment. Then he says back. "...Yeah! It's okay!" He says to confirm. "You should come down here and see this!"

Sin-Eater does indeed allow herself to sink under the floor, carrying her vital objects like the key, lantern, and her relics with her. "Oh... My..." She says, as her body slowly comes back into focus, much faster than Floyds own. Do you think they key goes to this prison? No gate though, unless it means liek the... Lid." She is too curious though, way too curious for her own good, and she will reach out to examine the mask, and see if she can touch it or lift it from its spot and what might happen. Unless Floyd has more sense than her.

Sin-Eater loses one Magical Essence

Sometimes you just have to let them touch the stove. He doesn't stop her. Instead he looking over the area wanting to find if there is anything else here OR the source of the glow apart from the chains and other aspects keeping the...coffin? Closed.

Sin-Eater reaches out and touches the mask on top of the coffin before letting out a cry of pain, something the dead can still feel, and she snaps her hand back glaring at the mask that now she wants more than she did before, simply because something is telling her she cannot have it. "What do you think it is Floyd. Is it a prison for a Spectre? Or some Sahdoweaten thing?"

Floyd looks up from where he was eyeing the side of the Sarcophagus when she cries. "You okay?" He asks, standing up and returning to go near her. "What happened?" He looked at the mask and then back to her. "I mean...I can tell you whatever it is it isn't meant to be out and about, that's for sure." He looks at the Pardoner. "Can you see if tehre is any Angst here? You know, Pardoner-style? I can see what this is made of."

Sin-Eater says, "I.. I dont know what is in there, the steel is blocking my sight." She says softly, but she gets an idea. "I can activate my housecleaning. Try to banish it, if its a specter inside. It obviously will be unable to leave, but it might react and let us know its not happy about the use of the power." Seh than looks back to Floyd again, "And when I touched the mask it hurt.. A lot. I want it though..." She says determined, "It looks like its important and it defends itself, so now I want it."" Floyd eyes the chains, the sarcophagus and then Sinata. Then up to the basement. "...Look. There might be more to this place that we haven't seen. We know that this isn't going anywhere. Why don't we cover the less dangerous options and see if we might find out a bit more. If all roads lead back down here? Well." He shrugs. "I guess we can see if the key fits the hole. Which it probably does. BUt if this is here? What else is here?"

As the two wraiths return to their more coporeal form, the haze of smoke has gotten thicker in the room. Its no longer the faint haze of a few cigar-smoking patrons but the blind white fog of actual fire smoke - or it would be...if it were more than just an echo.

Sin-Eater says, "See I knew there was a fire here, something exploded but it appears it was not connected to the coffin, or not directly?" She asks of Floyd, "Course I guess the quick would not have seen the coffin when they rebuilt..."

---

STYX AND STONES--------------------------------

                                 +Basement+                                    
+---------------------------------------------+
|  |  |     COUCH     |                   |   |
|  |  +---------------+                   |   |
|  S                                      | U |
|  |                                      | P |
|  |                                      |   |
|  |            +--------+                +-U-+
+--+            |   C    |                    |
B               |        |                +---+
+--+            +--------+                |   |
|  |                                      |   |
|  |                                      T   |
|  S                                      |   |
|  |                                      |   |
|  |                                      |   |
+-------------------------------|--|----------+
                                |DD|
 U = Stairs UP             S = Shelves
 B = Metal Bookcase        T = Back Table
 D = Alley Door            C = Card Table 

---

Floyd looks at the foggish haze. "...Must be. Or something." He looks down at the floor again then toward everything else. "...Okay." He holds up a finger. "Basement poker table. This smoke isn't recent I wouldn't think which means, it might be around in my time." He taps his chin. "I think....there is more here." He gestures to the basement. You lose one Willpower

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> Floyd rolls Perception(3) + Investigation(2) (5 dice) vs 6 for 0 successes. 1 2 2 5 10 <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

<OOC> The Scribe says, "yeah, I can't see them through this guy so please page. But it's cool. 1 success tells you -something- is up with tht bookcase. It's not that complicated, just a hidden latch that you figure out with your fingers. However, the latch is in the skinlands. On your end of the veil, it's a bookshelf attached to a sealed metal door. Duh-duh-DUH..."

Floyd looks around and eyes the metal bookcase. "....That doesn't belong here." He says. His investigative skills, slightly, kicking in. He runs his hands along the side the bookshelf. Sure enough, he finds something. He fingers it. "Hey, Sinata. Over here. Can you feel what this is?" He nods her over.

Sin-Eater says, "I can feel?" She asks, but as the latch is on the skinlands side she really cannot, "I am afraid I do not know how to Embody, so I cannot force this place open. We would have to try to talk through." She explains, "Unless you know the powers of a spook, or proctor, or someone who can come activate the door for us?""

Floyd shakes his head. "A latch?" He shakes his head. "We don't need a spook." He fake pops his knuckles. "This is always weird..."

Floyd loses one Willpower

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> Floyd rolls Dexterity(3) + Inhabit(3) (6 dice) vs 5 for 3 successes. 3 3 4 +5 +6 +6 <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============-------------> Sent to: Floyd and Dawson

Floyd loses 3 Pathos

The bookshelf, even on your end, is just blocking the real door behind it - obscuring it from sight. It's a weirdly simple cludge of a cover like someone put it up in haste to cover what was behind it. Almost.../TOO/ simple. *ominous music shift*

Sin-Eater watches as Floyd opens the door, or moves the case, or whatever it is he manages to do with his powers. "I bet we find hidden treasure, and what not. People had something here before this all blew up, and maybe it is a relic now!"

Floyd reaches for the latch, suddenly dissipating into nothingness. In truth he stepped across the Shroud, into the mechanism of the latch itself. Emotion riding through him with the desire to help making him almost taste the raw desire on the tip of his tongue. The palpable feeling of it all gives him focus, a channel to harness the dark power of the dead and *POPs* the latch open. He then returns back to the LAND OF THE DEAD. He shudders. "Ugh!" He shivers."Weird!"

Sin-Eater says, "Are you alright Floyd?" She asks, walking closer to place a hand on him, a reassuring touch hoperfully."

Floyd nods when offered the reassuring touch. "The skinlands is just...weird. Like going into water when you haven't in a really long time. Doesn't hurt or pain just...Odd." Disorienting, jostling, all sorts of adjectives. He turns toward her and the bookcase. "Well. It's unlocked." He gestures. "There's a door behind that bookcase. We can either go through the door OR, we can suck it up, take another hit, and go through the wall. I recommend the door this time."

Sin-Eater says, "Door I agree." She says, stepping foreward and attempting to pull the door open on her side of the shroud so she can enter inside. She will be brave, and go first, lantern before her ready to light at the slightest sign of trouble. "I have not been back to the Skinlands in a very long time... And never since I found myself in the Shadowlands. The Heirarchy frowns on it."" Dawson has arrived. The Scribe has left. <OOC> Dawson says, "ok. type .door"

=======================The Shadowlands: Door========================

Located behind the old metal book case in the skinlands...

There are doors and then there are DOORS. Once the bookshelf is cleared away it's clear that even in the Shadowlands, illusion and misdirection have not lost their potency. The portal revealed behind such a deceptively simple cover is...in a word...impressive.

The scupture of the...something seems to be rooted in front of and apart of the door itself. Like someone grafted a spectrous creature to the portal to either guard its entrance or warn any away that would dare to look up on it. Whoever crafted this had a flare for the dramatic that would make H.R. Geiger turn in his brush as Stygian steel and even more rare, Soul Gold have been used to create this...warning.

Wraith who look upon the creature may become affected by memories of dread, of being chased by the big black dog when they were kids, or hunted in their adult lives. If they linger too long, the feelings may swirl within them, fear at first, then wonder at the beauty, then revulsion at its message, then curiosity as to where it might lead, etc.

Image: http://imgur.com/BZzhnhE

====================================================================

Floyd nods. "Oh trust me, I know. Normally Dictum Mortuum is something I admire but ever since I got here?...survival of the fittest. I do it sparingly, and not without reason." Sinata moves the bookshelf and Floyd's reaction is a testament to his sharp wit and sleek skill. "Son of a bitch!" He pulls his hammer and brings it down straight on the statue's head!

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->

Floyd rolls Dexterity(3) + Melee(3) (6 dice) vs 6 for 1 successes.

1 2 4 5 +9 10

<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->

Floyd rolls Strength(3) + 1 (4 dice) vs 6 for 2 successes.

1 +7 +7 8

<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

Note 'SOULFORGE_HAMMER' proved to Dawson

<---======##=-----------[ SOULFORGE_HAMMER (PRIVATE) ]-----------=##======--->

Status: APPROVED by WhoopingCrane on Thu Apr 02 18:49:22 2020

Artifact: Level 3

This smith's hammer is made from Stygian Steel and can be used to practice soulforging. In combat, it is a Str+1 weapon that does aggravated damage.

<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> Sin-Eater rolls Perception + Castigate vs 8 for 3 successes. 1 2 3 5 +8 +9 +9 10 <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

Sin-Eater seems about to run in fear of the monster that is behind the door, but... Nope, she just stops and stares at it after a second. "That is not a spectre." She says, reaching out to touch it. "Someone just has a very sick sense of humor, or very much wants to keep people from exploring this portal."

Sorry Sinata. Floyd is a testament of 'reactionary'. It only takes the revelation of the symbol of that spectral statue, and who it is meant to convey, that makes him immediately go into fight or flight. With something like that? There can be no second-guessing. If it's real? Then no. No. No. With axes and barrow-flame and flameflowers and tanks. If not? Well....it shouldn't be idolized anyway. And Soul Gold?! Talk about loot. To his credit as a Doomslayer? It's fight. So he doomslays! He whips his hammer out of his ring and in a double-handed motion brings his forgehammer down on the head of the statue.

The smith's hammer strikes the head of the statue with enough force that you'd expect it to break of a tine or maybe smoosh in one of the featues of the skeletal-like face. But the blow doesn't so much as damage the door-fused guardian as it does bounce off it as though he struck a giant...bell.

The sonorous chime sounds like one of those huge temple bells you'd see in paintings and the odd kung fu movie. The single chime would reverberate throughout the valley to call the monks to prayer and to serices. Low pitched and almost thundrous in its resonance, the thrum of the statue bounces off the walls for a second and then penetates them seemingly to the far corners of this end of the Shadoowlands.

A breath...maybe two...and then you hear it: The slumbering yawns of a dozen hungry maws suddenly woken from their decades-long sleep.

All those muttering whispers? Quiet. The pulse? Gone. The glow? Slowly starting to build in brilliance.

Floyd looks perplexed. There is nothing. NOTHING. Compared to the might of stygian steel. Made from the bowels of the Big O itself, and this gold stuff acted like Captain America's shield? It confused him, because it is something Floyd did not expect. So when the moans, the yawns and the stirring of hungry cries begins to shriek Floyd takes a defensive position. He doesn't know what to say, because it doesn't make sense! So best be Big D.

Sin-Eater frowns as the resounding sound of the blow fills the shadowlands, and she lifts her lantern, the sounds of hungry things coming is not good. Feeding a pathos to the Iron Lantern, she relies on its light to be a shield, to hold the creatures back and at bay while they decide what to do, or how to escape this without a harrowing....

<---======##============[ Proving note for Sin-Eater ]============##======--->

<---======##=---------------[ ARTIFACT (PRIVATE) ]---------------=##======--->

Status: APPROVED by WhoopingCrane on Tue Apr 21 20:06:42 2020

Iron Lantern (Rare, Level Three)

This lidded lantern, which looks very similar to the trademark lantern of every Pardoner recognized by the Guild, creates a 20-foot circle of light in which the Pardoner may  work with reasonable assurance of safety. Although the Iron Langer is always carried on the Pardoner's person or hunt outside her place of work, it typically is activated only when a Pardoner has reason to believe that she needs addtional protection during a Castigation.

System: Opening the lid of the Iron Lantern exposes the light inside. The circle of light emanating from the open lantern duplicates the effect of Housecleaning (Castigation ****). The lantern's light is powered by the Pardoner's Pathos. Each point of Pathos the Pardoner spends provides one half-hour's worth of illumination. The Pardoner must spend a permanent point of Willpower to attune the lantern to herself. Until the lantern is attuned, it may not be used.

Page 132 of Pardoners & Puppeteers Guild Book.

<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

Sin-Eater frowns and the light moves, cause its a lantern she is holding. "Come." She pulls Floyd with her to a point at the stairs, so he can stand at the edge of the light and smakc what he wants, and they need to come through him and hte light to get to the humans.. Maybe... Hopefully. And if he gets too hurt he can retreat back intot he lights safety.

Floyd doesn't need to get pulled, he's sticking to the Pardoner! Cuz he is a smart cookie. When she stops at the stairwell to flood the stairway with the lantern's brilliance after letting him go he gets, sort of, what she is thinking of. Keep the evil from the fleshy meatbags. He looks across the basement. They are... "Walls and floor." He says to her, looking back to her. "We playing Keep Out?" Asking for confirmation.

Jimmy steps down into the basement from upstairs.

Jimmy has arrived.

Jimmy arrives from the stairwell. He pauses and looks around briefly before noticing two others present. After a moment of silence, he finally says from the nothingness of his hood, "YOOOU RRRAAAANG?". Although you cant see it, he is grinning. He then says, "Ive always wanted to do a Lurch impression."

Sin-Eater is holding up a lit Iron Lantern, the rare artifact kind, and she glances back at the man who did the impression, clearly not undertanding it. "Who are you?" She asks, before saying, "Never mind. Sinita, Floyd, you got a sword arm I think we can use it."

Floyd takes an aggressive position at the foot of the staircase. He's played this game in the arcade. Whack-a-mole. See a head, hit with stygian steel, then hit the next one.

Jimmy gives a single slow nod and if you are aware, you would notice he is dragging what looks like a sledge hammer. "I guess you could say that." Is all he says as he waits.