Dragon's Portage
3rd of February 2007 A.D.
Trains aren't dragons, a thought which would be ridiculous in most contexts, but very fitting in this one. You look on at the piles and piles and plates marked with arcane seals, all crafted so that they would fit perfectly together to match the serpentine form Porter had shared with you, speaking to the unwavering might of stone, the paths of plates tectonics which not even the gods may wave aside. That is definitely a dragon, a prosthetic one perhaps, but a dragon just the same, though its blood might be hydraulic fluid and its heart a white-hot furnace. The point of trains is that they carry people around, so with the other side confirmed to not hold anything that has a grudge on Porter or otherwise assholish you start to lay down the tracks along and between the worlds.
When you get right down to it, subway stations are kind of magical aren't they? Go down some steps into the ground, step on a platform, not to close to the end and when the wind comes there's a metal carriage ready to whisk you away, a wormhole in the ground.
Worms and Wyrms... I can word with that... I can work with that
***
6th of February 2007 A.D.
Like ice on deep water is the veil, that thin bright layer that projects the world of form into the depths so like the coils of a sea serpent for those who understand the angle it's possible to go in and out freely as long as there is cause. A train must have a purpose. The dials start to glow bright brass and crystal diodes, all things in their place. This place, this undercity, too long had been the haunt of wicked things hunting on the broken and the lost, when there are rails everywhere and rails can lead everywhere.
"That's it Sarah, just follow the tracery, don't worry if it's not perfect, I can give it a once over, but someone from this world, someone from Chicago has to carve the arch."
It's not all stone masonry and steal some of it's working with tools so small they do not fit in human hands, little robotic actuators in the void printing out dozens and dozens of chips, the heart of the earth to lay the wires and the switches. When you get right down to it what's the difference between a safety box and a roadside shrine?
The Engineseers say none at all.
Hooking things up is easier than it seems.
***
9th of February 2007 A.D.
The Last Light Portage Line doesn't really fit any of the normal routes of the Chicago underground, but that's fine. This isn't a train for commuters or for tourists, just for locals or just for visitors, this is a train for those who really need it: runaways and stowaways, the sort of people who fall through the cracks into the dark. Sometimes that darkness' a subway tunnel, and there's light at the end of it, two balls of golden light, like an old miner's lantern. Dragons more than just the keepers of the elements, they can be protectors too.
For his part Porter had not minded the idea of picking up people in need of a ride as part of his lightning riding patrols through the undercity and beyond, sometimes on rails, sometimes dipping into the spirit world where no one would mind. Half the Jade Dogs had offered to play conductor, though this train hardly needed one.
A deep leaden horn rang in the depths for the first time and wheels caught fire from blue arcane sparks. Somehow you manage to keep from throwing back your head and crowing: "It's alive! It's alive!"
But something tells you that Isabela at least, come to see what all the fuss is about, can still hear the feeling behind your laugh.
Porter Incarnated as Last Light Portage Line
Ability: Whenever someone is alone and in desperate need in the underground in Chicago roll ●●● dice (Porter's Gnosis/3). On a success they will be given a mental lead, not compelling but laying out a safe path to the nearest subway station that can accommodate them. Should they follow it along they will eventually see a brass and steel train marked with alien writing that rearranges itself into their native language offering a warm meal, shelter for the night and should they wish for it a way out of town. Though Porter cannot travel outside of the Greater Chicago Area without temporarily laying down his charge he can provide perfectly legitimate tickets to any destination in with a direct route from Chicago to anyone wishing to continue on beyond his remit. The train is always staffed, providing filling, if somewhat odd food that might be familiar to the inhabitants of Chicago-Past.
Power: Invested in his body of brass, steam and tamed lighting Porter possesses all the power of a lesser dragon, able to trample foes, breathe deadly steam and even hurl lighting from the tracks. Those riding inside the dragon are free of minor curses and maledictions, though powerful Black Magic can overcome the wards
OOC: While you guys decide what to do about the vote here's what Molly (s) are doing in the meantime. Congrats you just make a new Urban legend... want to show Rodriguez and company? 
