The Number 8 Bus

By Rev. K.

He collected his breath and thrust his hands into his pockets. he almost dropped the precious discovery into the reddish dust, but he regained control of his shaking hands through sheer force of will. " I have it" he sighed. " Thank all the Incarnae, I have it!"

The slimy green monstrosity regarded him through half dozen slitted eyes as if he were a bug to be swatted. the monster adjusted his blue transit authority cap and spat, "Well hurry it up Mac. I ain't got all day."

Justin quickly levered himself and aboard and put the two quarters into the coin collector. The driver did something with his lower tentacles and the bus leapt away into the air.

The great beast was unhappy to put it mildly.

The number 8 looks typical of an ordinary average,garden variety, dime a dozen, seen-one-you-seen-em-all, commonplace cross town city bus. the only clues are that the ads on the outside and inside walls of the bus may not be in any form of recognizable language. the front of the bus reads "#8 Tellurian Express" The interior of the bus is the same as you would find in any cross town bus.Hard plastic chairs bolted to the walls or the floor with chewing gum and less recognizable substances on their undersides. Pens, markers, and the occasional knife have left little bits of graffiti all over the place. ( "Ialdobaoth Sucks!" "Teeno 79!" "John+Delenn 4 ever" "Super Bad Larry was here.")

The bus also smells of carbon monoxide, urine, and strangely, popcorn.

The windows are incapable of opening, the tiny cubbies to hold maps of the bus's route are always empty, and it should be noted that anybody who fires a weapon or drives a knife into the floor of the bus will notice that it bleeds...

The Driver:

It would appear by all accounts of Mages and Garou and spirits that have taken the bus that the driver seems to change every time. Some have seen cranky Angels.Some have Cthulhoid monstrosities. Others have seen demons, and still other have seen human with hungry eyes full of madness. There are a few commonalities. Each wears a blue jacket and transit authority hat. Each is impatient as hell. They will accept nothing other than exact change.(0.50$ or the alien equivalent, one dram of Tass will do in a pinch but they'll never tell you that.) Children under six can ride free.

The Passengers:

Wandering Maori tribesmen, hyperintelligent shades of Blue, a blind man with a cane and a very bewildered dog, a talking man-sized ferret who sells Amway. Tired banes heading home to their spouses and in no mood for a ruckus. Frequent travelers notice that there is usually at least one dry desiccated corpse which appears to have all of it's water sucked out on each trip. Most other passengers tend to ignore these. if asked, they either don't know or they will look at you knowingly and simply say: " It is unwise to fall asleep on the bus."

The Route:

Anywhere. the pits of Malfeas, the rings of Saturn, the Backstage Zone,Jakarta,the east Bronx, Stygia, The Turgid places, all with no set schedule,rhyme nor reason.

What's going on:

The bus is an extremely rare thing in the tellurian. it is a roaming Airt. Most airts are stationary (or at least seem to be) but the Bus actually travels from place to place willy nilly. The bus has never been attacked not even by the most foul of creatures. Nobody knows why this is so. Violence can and does occasionally break out on the bus itself though, but for the most part this can be quelled by the drivers threat to put the offenders out at the next stop. Since nobody knows what that might be...it can be scary threat. and the driver usually has more than enough might to back it up... somehow.

Story uses:

- Deus ex Machina

as seen above, good for the occasional save, but try not to overdo it. a twisted variation would be discovering the bus's nature only after boarding it to escape something.

- interesting diversion on the way to some other place.

in this case, it might involve the characters actually seeking out the Bus in order to board it and hopefully end up near an umbral location of their choosing. Mages who wish to take the bus must find an actual bus stop and use spirit 2. (and they better have exact change.)

-Stranded

the bus breaks down somewhere and the passengers have to wait it out until help arrives. try not to fall asleep, or get eaten by other passengers.

-The Bus Station

Don't ask.