Setup

Arrived at the warehouse with Myndi and Ian ready to get to work: there was a lot of cleaning to be done. After moving refrigerators and ovens and rusted unicycles around the warehouse, we took some time to explore. The Bay here was beautiful, even in the grey, and the docks and rusted ships were almost perfectly placed. Shoved some photos into ziplock bags in preperation for the inevitable rain and received our briefing: Myndi and I were to await players
in the "Mysterious Intersection" of 7th and Hooper, a cemented patio to the shanty town beneath the interstate at the end of Mission Creek Canal.

Our job was to hand evidence to players and point them to a second piece of evidence hidden in a receptacle nearby. Players were also to be pointed towards the hospital if they seemed lost...and they were to be given what answers we had regarding other clues if they asked cleverly enough. Lexington, anyone?

Arrival

We bought some random junk at Walgreen's to give out as contraband, just for the heck of it, curious to see what sort of meaningless significance players mght attach to our little red herrings. Anything from meaningless bags of candy to clues that might point players to other locations (DVD's of "Heartbreak Hospital," for example) was to be had. We bagged it and drove to our location...only to find it under construction! A team of workers was hard at work at
the very spot we were to stand, sparks flying and hammers jackhammering...but the rain eventually chased them away. We were not so easily deterred. We crawled out of Myndi's car and under the dark and dirty Freeway to await the players. We were not alone: a number of San Franciscans call the intersection home and their presence
grew noticeably as the night went on. I slapped on a headlamp for light and Myndi wielded an umbrella...we had quite a night ahead of us.

The Game
Our first players were there to greet us as we emerged from the car, catching us totally unprepared. They were a solid half an hour ahead of any other team, easily. We gave them their evidence and watched, impressed, as they bolted away. Soon, Rubin gave us a call and worked up a system to hide across the street and terrorize folks who'd received our clue. Myndi and I played our roles--we settled upon scared supporters of The Suspect--and offered cryptic clues to hidden evidence and vague warnings about the presence of evil agents. It never got old watching Rubin pounce from the darkness to scare folks...demanding that they "dance" to appease his sick whims.

The highlight of the night must have been when Piratey Monkey, having freshly pulled a plastic bottle of bubbles Myndi had relabeled as "Anthrax" from our little grab bag, logically deduced that the bottle had been given to her as a weapon to be used for protection. As Rubin approached, she pulled the cap off of the bubbles
and answered his demands to "DANCE!" with a violent splash of soap and water, dousing Rubin in "Anthrax" as we looked on. Hilarious.

Danger

Throughout the night, we were reminded of how dangerous our little hideout reputedly was. A Caltrain officer who drove by no less than seven or eight times throughout the night came to tell us that a woman had been raped and murdered exactly where we'd been standing not long before. He asked us, with genuine concern, if we thought it was smart to be out where we were "given our skin color." His concern was genuinely appreciated....but somewhat unsettling. As the night went on, we noticed more and more people moving to camp beneath the Freeway...the mood was so tense that Cam and Al gae managed to scare the crap out of me as they made their approach, hoods down and marching confidently. Adding to the danger was the fact that the tracks we were standing near were live CalTrain tracks, something some of the players might not have considered with the way they ran across them to escape Rubin. I'm glad things went as well as they did.

End

Eventually, we saw somewhere near 30 folks through our little intersection and made it on to the party. Tales were told, hands were warmed, and faces were painted. Rumor has it there was even singing and dancing...and even some cool, clear weather next to the water. Fantastic.