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823 checks

Glug glug glug. A strong, slightly chemical odor rises from the bag as the thin black liquid puddles in the canvas bottom.

Glug glug glug. A sweet, malty odour rises from the bag as the dark liquid puddles in the canvas bottom.

Glug glug glug. An astringent, sickly-sweet herbal odour rises from the bag as the purple liquid puddles in the canvas bottom.

Glug glug glug. An astringent, sickly-sweet herbal odour rises from the bag as the purple liquid puddles in the canvas bottom.

Glug glug glug. A smoky odour rises from the bag as the clear liquid puddles in the canvas bottom.

Glug glug glug. A thin, hoppy odour rises from the bag as the yellow liquid puddles in the canvas bottom.

It's quiet. No activity behind the door. Once open, you should be in the clear.

Glossy metal finish, no hint of rust or weathering.

Confetti floats from above, a rainbow of crepe paper falling around your head and shoulders.

You hear a splat, followed by a man's yell. A woman cheers, 'Ectoplasm!'

One props up a sign which says: 'INTERNATIONAL PARTY CONFERENCE PARTY 66'.

Vertiginous patterns of broken tile swirl below you. Your head swims.

For a split second, you're sure you can hear someone strumming a bass guitar.

You mark the features. The imperious nose. The fleshy cheeks.

Yellow tree. Yep, all leafed up.

Trees are trees. You do not notice trees. Boring.

The muzzle twitches and flashes, but no sound reaches you for a whole second.

You catch the scent of iron on the breeze.

Far left. A frame built for violence. Bulbous glistening skull shaved bare every morning.

Tk-tk-tk. The sound of a pen marking three boxes in short succession.

Increasing chance of precipitation as a front of high pressure moves across the Noscorrentes Sea. The temperature is 16 and falling.

Tk. The sound of a box being marked on a standard form.

Another tk. Another form.

Tk. The sound of a box being marked on a standard form.

Tk. The sound of a box being marked on a standard form.

Tk. The sound of a box being marked on a standard form.

The crease of latex against plastic, amplified in your skull.

Also visible: A micro-compact auto pistol and a blister pack of statins.

... a whoosh of blood between your ears...

High-pitched, dissonant. A sound that compels you to stop it.

... wet, silent, like a fish behind glass...

Dust motes hang in the stale air. Unbound stars drifting in space.

From the window you can hear the sound of two people laughing out on Orphanage Street.

The skin -- clammy, coarse.

Above you, the last visible stars dissolve in the dawn-light. Elsewhere, the bark of a small dog muffled by a window.

A shame. A good weather report's harder to produce than it looks.

Above you, uncountable stars veiled by the scattering of blue light. Elsewhere, the bark of a small dog muffled by a window.

Above you, the evening's first stars blink into life. Elsewhere, the bark of a small dog muffled by a window.

Above you, a canyon of stars, framed by the buildings of the Housing Campaign. Elsewhere, the bark of a small dog muffled by a window.

Gentle electronic tones rise and recede from it like the tide against a digital beach.

Suprema 100. Like the ones your double brought.

Suprema 100. Smoked by tens of millions across the People's Republics.

But no one jumps out of anything. No one appears to fix your hair or tell you exactly what to say. It's just you, the man with the box for a heart, and a few metres off, the maintenance man going about his lonely offices.

You haven't yet emerged from the fog of sodium thiopental. There's no deflecting just now.

Comically vague. Very little to work with.

Through the television screen, his eyes meet yours.

No one is suggesting that he's watching you through the TV screen, that's ridiculous. The raised hairs along your arm must have some other, more mundane cause.

Out of the corner of your eye, on one of the little rounded tables, you notice someone's left an old sausage, casing black and blistered, pool of grease congealing around it.

823 skill checks - ZERO PARADES field manual - Page 15 of 17