Of course! You still have the fakes on you. You pull them out of your pocket, feigning surrender. They will be revealed as false in a few day's time, but as the distracted agent examines them you manage to sneak behind him and retrieve your gun. Before he can wonder where you went, you knock him out with the butt of your pistol. You make it back to your stolen car, and hightail it to Boston, hopefully keeping a much lower profile for this leg of the trip.\n\n(fin)

<<set $runcount = $runcount + 1>>"Ten. Minutes. To self-destruct."\n\nWhere were the escape pods? A small metal plaque on the wall reads "Emergency Supplies," or at least, you think it does. (Your East X3rVese is a bit rusty.)<<if $runcount gte 4>> Another passenger's voice rings from that direction, beckoning you to get an [[exit pod|Exit Pod]] before it's too late <<else>> You could [[follow that sign|Run]], or take the med-droid's instructions to [[reach the exit|Run!!!]].<<endif>>

<<set $runcount = $runcount + 1>>You almost trip over a log, but steady yourself just in time to get back on the narrow dirt trail. Night is approaching, and the wolves are still at your back. <<if $runcount gte 4>>You feel weary, and desperation strikes your heart. In one last great hurrah, you [[charge|Charge]].<<else>>You finally find a fork in the trail. One path goes towards the ocean, the other heads back to the scenic overlook. Perhaps you can [[flee to the beach|Run!!]], or maybe [[get to your car before the wolves do|Run!!!!]].<<endif>>

The sun sets over the small town skyline, you and your friends are appropriately assembled, and you're ready to go [[raise some hell|Wedding]], or whatever there is to do in a [[boring town|Portland]] like this on a [[Saturday night|Library]].

You lower your horns and charge the wolves down. They vanish like mist, a humanoid figure stepping out from behind them. Ey draws a staff, and although you cannot expertly read humanoid emotions, ey is clearly annoyed that eir ruse did not work. Before ey gets a single spell off, you gore the invading necromancer. Just another night's work as protector of the forest.\n\n(fin)

<<set $runcount = $runcount + 1>>You dash between rows of parked cars, eventually reaching the access stairwell. You leap down, incurring only a minor bruise as you hit the landing 2 floors below. You continue, eventually having run your pursuer through the whole parking garage.<<if $runcount gte 4>>You're finally cornered, and it seems like you have no choice but to hand over the [[documents|Documents]].<<else>> You could take your chances and [[run into the street|Run!!!!]], but maybe this manhole leads to some utility tunnels that could [[get you out of here|Run]].<<endif>>

You head through the portal, finding the archer and sorceror on the other side. You all breathe a sigh of relief. So you may not have retrieved the Gilded Tome of Sabaoth (there goes most of your reward), but you did manage to kill the demon Belphegor <i>and</i> escape to adventure for another day. Now you can worry a little less about being hunted by the demon's servants, and a little more about finding a tavern and getting absolutely sloshed off fine ale.\n\n(fin)

<<set $runcount = $runcount + 1>>The walls continue to shudder around you. The portal must be closing. The acrid smell of failed magic is so thick that it almost chokes you. As you run down the corridor, you hear a rumbling sound come from one particular section of wall.<<if $runcount gte 4>>The party fighter bursts through; she had been trapped there this whole time! She grabs your hand, saying "Come on, we need to get back to the [[Material Plane|Material Plane]]!"<<else>> That must be the [[secret door to the summoning chamber|Run!!!]] that the elf told you about! Straight ahead, you also see the [[goblin barracks|Run!]], which you vaguely remember were near the entrance portal.<<endif>>

You open your calendar app. Dammit, you have to reschedule something if you wanna go out with this kid before xe leaves town. Concert tonight, club meeting tomorrow, hmm, maybe you can skip the party [[Saturday night|Library]]...

<<set $runcount = 0>>An alarm goes off. Between pulses of the siren, you can hear a muffled crash. Sounds like it's at the other end of the building. Unfortunately, so is the only stairwell. Maybe you could [[jump out of a nearby window|Run!]], but it might be safer to take your chances [[following the panicked hordes to the stairs|Run!!]].

<<set $runcount = $runcount + 1>>You run down the flimsy staircase until you find a small entryway around the wall. You squeeze through, hoping the gunman won't think to look in such a narrow alcove. Towards the end of the small passageway you find a door and burst through, into a crowded classroom. You could [[make a run for the door|Run!!]] or [[take your chances with the fire escape|Run!]].

On second thought, that's not such a good idea. Your cousin's getting married, and as fun as it would be to have your retinue of weird goth kids, gutter punks, and [[biker bears|Bar]] crash the party, you don't really want to have to [[explain this to your parents|Stash]].

Delirium: Chase Scene

You're not fast enough. His punch pushes you forward, past the edge of the rooftop into the crack between buildings. You feel yourself falling.\n\nYou keep falling.\n\nYou never stop.\n\n(fin)

You throw Dave a few choice words about how Portland cool is what sheltered white suburbanites <i>think</i> New York cool is, and just a cursory glance at music, fashion, and culture reveals that really, a podunk town like Portland has comparatively no influence at ALL, I mean it might as well be Des Moines, Iowa for all it's worth, and...\n\nYou don't really mean it, you're just trying to get a rise out of him.\n\n[[Maybe too much of a rise.|Bar]]

Following the unknown passenger, you head down the corridor, where the exit pods are indeed housed. You see a most attractive V6s@liXan xn4m3n, who waves a tentacle at you before saying, "Hey! There's still space left in my pod, babe, if you wanna take a ride..."\n\nFour years to the nearest inhabited planet can get pretty lonely in an escape pod all to yourself, and besides, xn4's pretty cute. "Hop on in, what are you waiting for?"\n\nXn4 grins, you grin back, and you can tell that this is going to be a good four years.\n\n(fin).

<<set runcount = 0>>You duck just in time.\n\nLesson learned: don't call an Outlaw a Hells Angel. Different clubs. Rivals, actually. Shame you had to learn it this way. \n\nStinkface glowers at you, ready to throw another punch. You consider breaking your bottle on the table to use as [[an improvised weapon|Fight Back]]. Then again, maybe you just better [[fucking run|Run!!!]].

<<set $runcount = 0>>You've done it alright. Gotten yourself cornered, I mean. There's [[no way out|Run!!!!]] except with a [[punch|Punch Back]] or a [[bullet|Shoot Back]].

<<set $runcount = 0>>"You have to the count of 5 to explain this."\n\nThe bong would be simple enough. But the small glass pipe and the little ziploc bags of white powder are a dead giveaway that it's not just weed, and Dad's going to <i>ground you for life</i>. You have to the count of 5 to [[get the hell out of here|Run]].

Saturday night? Dammit, this thing is due on Monday. And you've written, maybe, a fraction of a percent of it. That fraction being the title. The key problem is, none of your sources give you any ammunition for or against your argument. Maybe you're going to have to look in a different field. \n\nYou look up from your table of political science texts to see what might be at hand. [[DAW, Central Europe|Shatter]]; [[CT, Biography|Shatter]]; [[D, General History|Shatter]].\n\nOr you could keep procrastinating, and figure out a way to [[explain this to your professor|Stash]].

That's not a gun in your hand, it's a key. Was your car right there a second ago? Doesn't matter, it's here now. You hop in and drive, somewhere, <i>anywhere</i>.\n\nYou ride into the sunset, past hills and valleys, past cliffs and ocean, past imaginary landscapes.\n\nYou ride through space and time, through crystal palaces, between craters on Mars.\n\n(fin)

@howdoievenexist

"Boring? Small? I know it's not New York but c'mon, you're starting to sound a bit ridiculous."\n\nDave doesn't really seem to get sarcasm, either that or he's just upset that you happen to come from somewhere with more 'hipster cred' than he does. Maybe you want to [[needle him a bit more|Choice Words]], or maybe you're just going to go back to [[figuring out when the next bus arrives|Schedule]].