Seasonal Shift

IC3

<Varren> Ezekiel is back in high value/security containment with an approval for cross testing with Salem and that one pot thingy..the anthor? Of course there is plans for safety and security. Ezekiel will be relieved of all items so he will be locked in the cell as well and a security team will stand by. The test is to provide not only insight into Salem itself and how it functions but also the language it write. Its abilities, the Red Forest itself…and
<Varren> it's not written but Ezekiel I curious what it's like to be a big ass crystal dog. Plus it will inky last a day so there is likely minimal harm to be done. He stands on the catwalk over Salem's cell and presses the button. "Morning Salem. It's me again. Yeah, hi buddy. Sooooo we have a thing we wanna try. And it might be fun for you." Oh. Did the elephant bone get approved for his entertainment and not having him attack the walls nonstop?
<Kaeru> It looks like it was- sleeping, actually. Hard to tell, since it doesn’t have eyelids to close- or eyes, for that matter- but it’s lying down, seems fairly settled, picking its head up at the sound of your voice. It looks calmer. Cleaner, maybe, or at least less messy, less frantic and feral-looking. Less black drips from its jaw and not much can be seen on its body. Maybe it- or someone else that it let help out?- took the time to neaten
<Kaeru> up a bit. Those four diamonds of lighter coloration on the dark ash-grey bone of it’s forehead seem- fainter. Almost gone.
<Varren> Ezekiel smiles and rubs his chin. "You freshen up for me? You are looking a bit better today. Here. I am coming in there in a second hang on." Ezekiel looks to the team with him and shrugs. "So is it just going to be us? Are you guys coming in as well?"
<Kaeru> One of the security officers standing nearby shakes her head. “No. From what we understand, the mungo athanor operates on an area of effect. Anyone with you would get switched too.”
<Varren> "Then alone it is. I will be careful with it. Let's do this." He waves them on and goes down by the vault, waiting to be let in
<Kaeru> A nod. “You want some time with it before we bring the athanor, or we good to get started?”
<Varren> "Yeah, I can explain it so it doesn freak out when its suddenly in my body." He taps the door and waits to be let in. No point in waiting
<Kaeru> Another nod. “Careful in there. No way to know how it’ll react to this idea.” She swipes a keycard and spins the wheel on the front of the massive door, dragging it open just enough for you to head inside.
<Varren> Ezekiel heads inside. And once in he puts his arms out. "Hey there Salem. How yo doing today? You look good."
<Kaeru> A cute gesture, but maybe don’t hug the giant thing half-covered in sharp broken crystals. It pushes itself to its feet and stretches, making a low, warbling call that resonates slightly slower than its average sound. Its claws dig into the concrete floor as it stretches its front legs, shaking itself off.
<TheSpookanist> There's a chirp as the outer door accepts an ID badge, and then Estrella strolls in, pausing to look confused, then worried and angry, as she sees Ezekiel inside through the transparent wall, grinding her teeth and glancing to the security guard with a raised eyebrow.
<Kaeru> The security guard shrugs. “He’s got approval,” she says. “Don’t ask me.” Jabs a thumb over a shoulder at a panel on the wall over the banister. “Intercom’s there, if you’re inspired.”
<TheSpookanist> "This is fucked," she simply mumbles, walking over to lean on the glass (probably something stronger) and drum her fingers on it, watching the show.
<Kaeru> There’s a banister in front of the slanted window, and she looks down at the area below. It’s a one-way mirror- the one occupant of the room below who has eyes in the first place won’t be able to see her watching. Won’t know she’s there, unless she uses the intercom or otherwise makes her presence known. The creature is big, Estrella, and covered in red crystal growths, half of which are broken and jagged edges. Massive clawmarks
<Kaeru> criss-cross the concrete walls and even the bottom edge of the glass window- it’s rather impressive to think it’d gotten high enough for that. Must have just climbed up the wall a ways. On one wall are more deliberate clawmark sets, like symbols etched into the stone. Impact cracks and shards of red crystal imbedded in them and scattered on the floor. This thing is /strong/, and it doesn’t seem like it’s been sitting pretty in its cell.
<Varren> Ezekiel walks up to doggo and holds out a hand for Salem. "Looks like you got some rest too. That's good to see. I dont like you attacking the walls. It looks like it hurts you." He yawns
<TheSpookanist> Ella sees him talking - /talking/ - to this fucking monster, and flips on the microphone inside the cell so she can hear whatever the fuck he has to say to it from now on, a look of disgust on her face.
<Kaeru> It makes a noise like a resonating howl. Estrella, you can’t hear what Ezekiel said, but you can hear the sounds Salem makes, even before turning on the intercom. And you can see as it shakes itself off, ruffling the brittle, clumpy fur on its mane and dislodging clinging scraps and shards of broken red crystal. It pads away from Ezekiel, claws occasionally click-clicking on the concrete floor. It opens its jaw to make an unnaturally low,
<Kaeru> warbling, growl-like sound as it walks- /stalks/- across the room.
<Kaeru> Ella, you’d notice that- yes, the crystals across its body are far more extensive than they’d been, and black blood clumps its fur and stains the containment area in places. Oozes from between its teeth as it always seems to. The four diamond shapes of lighter coloration on dark ashen grey bone of the top of its head seem faded, almost to the point of invisibility.
<TheSpookanist> It's suffering, looks like - good. Why should it get a free pass after what it did? And similarly, why the /fuck/ is Ezekiel in there talking to it like it did nothing?
<Varren> "Okay so here we are…and I am gonna relax, okay?" He slowly lowers himself to sitting on the floor. "Salem…there is this thing we are gonna do today. You remember how I mentioned us finding a way to communicate better or have me understand you? Well I found something like that but it's a bit different."
<Kaeru> It hasn’t attacked him, though, Ella. It seems almost passive. Defensive, sure, and it’s impossible for something like that not to look threatening, unsettling- but it hasn’t attacked him. That’s odd.
<TheSpookanist> Yeah, sure, this thing butchers an entire team of scientists who weren't there to shoot but Ezekiel gets a ticket - damn right that's odd.
<Kaeru> Ezekiel, Salem gives a grumbly noise, a huff. It goes up to one of the walls and leans a shoulder on it, tipping its head to rub a large crystal on its shoulder against the wall. At first, slowly, as if it itches, then it leans away a fraction and slams the crystal into the concrete, sending cracks across its surface before breaking it in half completely by pushing it sideways against the wall. Grabs at the shard it’d broken off with its
<Kaeru> teeth and pulls it away, growling and tossing it aside with a flick of its head. It’s large- maybe football sized, jagged and sharp, dangerous. When tossed, it doesn’t hit Ezekiel. But it comes a bit too close for comfort. It doesn’t seem to either realize or to care at all.
<TheSpookanist> "Jesus, who the hell approved this? Does anyone read my reports?"
<Varren> Ezekiel doesnt flinch but he does start moving the opposite direction. "It might be a way for us to understand things better, but might be uncomfortable for you..or me..or both of us." He strides a bit closer and sticks out a hand. Not touching but waiting to see if he can pat the doggo. "You uh…cool with this possibility?"
<Varren> Is she still holding the button?
<Kaeru> She turned on the intercom so that she can hear you- you can’t hear her.
<TheSpookanist> That.
<Kaeru> Salem makes a low noise and stalks without hesitation towards you, Ezekiel. It isn’t explicitly threatening, but it’d be hard not to be threatened by that. It just- approaches. Like you’re not there, not slow as though it’d stop in front of you.
<TheSpookanist> Estrella puts a palm over her face. "He's gonna fucking die."
<Varren> Ezekiel doesnt move, just waits with his hand out and remaining calm. "If it helps I dont think it will be bad and hey there. Right in front of you."
<Kaeru> It lowers its head slightly but doesn’t stop its pace. It knows where you are- it reaches you and gives you a little shove out of the way with its head, unceremonious and a bit harsh, like moving aside a curtain so it can walk past where you were.
<TheSpookanist> Ella's paranoid. She doesn't like this thing. She looks around, trying to use her dumb ass to figure out if this thing has made a pattern with its bullshit crystals.
<Varren> "Oh-well" Ezekiel steps out of the way in that case. "I get the feeling you are not too happy about this. You were a lot more agreeable last night." He hums softly and sighs. "Okay so that thing is that…we may swap bodies for a little bit. Shouldnt be too bad " he crosses over to pick up that broken off crystal.
<Kaeru> The crystals across its body, Ella?
<TheSpookanist> The crystals it keeps breaking off and throwing around.
<Varren> No. The one on the floor
<Kaeru> They seem to be scattered randomly. Less breaking them for the purpose of having the shards and more for the purpose of getting them off of itself, it’d seem.
<Kaeru> To spite this, it doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference. Crystals still cover its back, its shoulders, jutting from a few places along its legs and sides.
<Kaeru> It gives a loud huff. Reaches the opposite wall and flops down onto the ground, head on its paws. A higher pitched, more resonating sound, more like the sounds you’d both heard in the woods.
<Varren> "Hmmm. You seem to be acting different than last night but still non threatening. We are going ahead with the experiment." Ezekiel stretches his arms and looks over Salem. "You are cool with this right? Chuf for yes?"
<Kaeru> It makes a grumpy noise, but chuffs- a short, rumbling sound.
<Varren> "Alright good. I have a team standing by so nothing bad happens to either of us." He looks up at the glass he cant see through. "We are ready in here for the experiment."
<TheSpookanist> If anyone else touches the microphone, Ella waits, albeit unhappily.
<Kaeru> A security guard presses the button on the intercom to respond. “Understood. Stand by,” she says, giving a sympathetic glance to Estrella before heading down to go get the item requested and bring it to the chamber.
<TheSpookanist> "If this backfires, I'm personally fucking yelling at whatever jackass higherup said it was a good plan."
<Kaeru> She scoffs a bit as she leaves to head down the stairs. “I’ll be with you if you do, ma’am,” she replies.
<Varren> Ezekiel stands near the vault door and twiddle his thumbs. Whistling an easily copied tune towards Salem
<Varren> "Repeat after me?"
<Kaeru> It has no way to make expressions, but it shifts its head to face you and you could swear the movement is somehow sarcastic. With how its voice sounds, it’s unlikely it can make anything close to the same sounds you can. Its calls sounds incredibly unnatural to you- sounds no other creature could make. That no creature /at all/ /should/ be able to make. But it can- and probably can’t get close to something you’d consider a more normal
<Kaeru> alternative.
<TheSpookanist> Ella has a seat on the railing and watches with a complete lack of amusement as this… /this/. Proceeds.
<Varren> Ezekiel waits until the door opens so he can get the Anthor and get this over with. He is both worried and excited but the worried part doesnt show.
<Varren> "Yeah Salem..guess you have a point there…not the best idea."
<Varren> "You…know any games?"
<Kaeru> It doesn't respond. But its head snaps up when the electronic lock on the door disengages, bolts sliding away to swing it open. A few security guards that stand near to the door, aiming weapons at Salem where it lies near one of the walls while another brings in the athanor. Sets it across from the door, near the far wall.
<Kaeru> One of them nods to you, and they leave the room again, bolting the vaultlike door behind them.
<Kaeru> You suggested this. No backing out now.
<TheSpookanist> Ella's knuckles are white - moreso than her usual sickly tone - holding onto the railing like it'll prevent whatever awful shit is an inevitable result of this plan.
<Varren> Ezekiel has no plans to. But he does hold up his hands at both parties in an 'easy' motion. Once everything is set he smiles at Salem. "Alright buddy. Let's get this done yeah? He grabs the Athanor. And looks up at the glass. "How do you activate it?"
<Varren> Oh estrella, you might notice that Ezekiel has red bits on hir right wrist that look to be crystalline in his skin
<Kaeru> A guard presses the button on the intercom. "We've already done most of it for you," she explains. "See that open hatch? Swing it shut and- good luck, I guess."
<TheSpookanist> Ella scratches at her own marks unhappily.
<Varren> "Gotcha. This is going to be interesting I hope you are recording and taking notes." Ezekiel takes a deep breath. "Salem we are swapping now. You will be in my body after this. Please dont damage me if you can avoid it I will the same." He swings it shut
<Kaeru> You're not sure what you expected.
<Kaeru> Pain, maybe, or a shift in perspective.
<Kaeru> A loss of sight, a change of weight and shape.
<Kaeru> Any of these, all of these, a dozen other possibilities that'd crossed your mind in your apprehension and impatience.
<Kaeru> Of all the things you expected, there was one thing that didn't occur to you.
<Kaeru> Nothing.
<Kaeru> You didn't expect nothing.
<Kaeru> And for a few moments, that's all there is— nothing, no change, no pain, no shift or push or pull or anything different from the usual at all.
<Kaeru> You look over at the room's only other occupant.
<Kaeru> For a small moment, you begin the thought that you were wrong, that perhaps something changed after all.
<Kaeru> You're looking over at Salem; it's there, looming and intimidating not far from you, but the rest of the room does not extend behind it as it should. Instead, past where it stands, the walls fade away into a beautiful, blooming, untouched scarlet grove of trees. You can feel the cool, rain-smelling breeze on your face.
<Kaeru> And then it, and your sight, and your thoughts are cut off, interrupted by a sudden intrusion that you feel would knock you off balance, stumbling if you were still at all aware in those few seconds of your balance or your body at all.
<Kaeru> A flash. Fragments, overlapping and blurring, shaking, unfocused and loud split-second glimpses vivid enough, intense enough, bright enough in their light and their strength and their presence in your mind and in your eyes and in your senses that they outshine reality itself.
<Kaeru> It's as if all else you'd ever experienced was dreamlike, dull and remembered, like imagined fiction or words on pages and this, this is your first momentary, fragmented venture into something truly, completely, honestly and entirely real.
<Kaeru> You see red. It blurs together, shakes, shivers, too bright and in constant motion, details obscured and smudged like paint in the split-second flashes of sight and sound, heat and cold, smell and stagnant air.
<Kaeru> You see scarlet leaves, towering trees into blurred over-exposed red canopy.
<Kaeru> You see the orange, ray-streaked sunset in instants, a series of jittery freeze-frames and time-lapses until it's below the horizon and then you see the sky, see the stars and then see them closer, purples and blues and nebulas and planets and explosions of cosmic dust.
<Kaeru> Then the stars are gone, and it's darkness. Dark, deep and inky and seeming to shine, reflective like stone. Black, smooth, heat-formed stone; obsidian, shattered, melting in time-lapsed second-fractions that shiver and scrap together and never stand still, melting and reforming, reforming, the heat and then light and fire, fire on pages and on tomes and shelves, further, further away and the building, flames and smoke and reaching to
<Kaeru> the skies, the sky, flash and green, red and green and radio towers rusted and abandoned, overgrown, greenery and flashing and vines all red and- green, red, red, red- and blur, and shake, and gone.
<Kaeru> It stops. A moment of respite. In the room, looking at the athanor. Looking at your hands, clasping them over your ears, holding your head against a sharp and splitting pain. Listening to nothing, nothing but the piercing, grinding, shrieking ringing in your ears that drives like knives into your skull.
<Varren> Ezekiel is just paused there, still holding his head. Unsure exactly how to react to all of this
<Kaeru> Your vision doesn't quite focus. Sound still blurs, as if time doesn't quite flow right.
<Kaeru> It's not over. You're not through.
<Varren> Ezekiel let's out this soft whining exhale. This is way worse than being body swapped
<Kaeru> You brace yourself. Then back again, loud and grating and blurring and flashing and the unfolding of massive, massive white-gold feathered wings, one, two, overlapping pairs you can't see the source of, flash, blur, closer and further, bright and dim and closer, then dark, dark, and an eye- an eye, thin and massive and tilted and opening wide, deep black outlines and perfect circles of red iris, then away, distance, distance and
<Kaeru> blurring, too-bright, smudged transmission lines pulsing and twitching and hanging between towers- away, away, bursting open of a computer case, revealing not machinery and sparks inside but smooth, fleshy pink, blur and slide and flash and change and underwater, looking up, up, up to the surface high above, shimmering and streaked with light from above, then gone, gone, dark and black and silent.
<Kaeru> And then it isn't silent anymore.
<Kaeru> A voice, speaking, confused, but you can't make it out. It sounds familiar.
<Kaeru> The hum of lights. Your own breathing, heavier than it should be.
<Kaeru> Another's breathing, lighter and a bit distanced from you.
<Kaeru> Pain in your shoulders, across your back, a body shaped differently, incorrectly, wrong and wrong and it's all wrong-
<Kaeru> "No!" The voice again, scared now, and you can hear it, understand it, and it's your voice, your voice-
<Kaeru> "What are you doing?! Stop! You can't! You can't-"
<Kaeru> And then it's an impact that knocks you stumbling backwards, blinking, blinking back your vision, blurry and slightly out of focus but coming back to reality, a pounding in your head and turning, motion blurring and smudging, turning to Salem, standing there, facing you. It's lowered slightly, legs bent and braced, ready, staring right at you, all sense of passivity you'd seen before gone, forgotten, without a hint of ever existing and
<Kaeru> the four diamond markings on the top of its head, its forehead, bright and nearly glowing a faint white as your eyes finally focus.
<TheSpookanist> Ella's hand tightly wraps around the rubber grip of her revolver. "We need to call it off," she mutters, not really expecting any of the guards to listen to her.
<Kaeru> The guard beside her seems to agree, but she's tense, conflicted. "We can't," she replies stiffly. "We don't know which of them is which."
<TheSpookanist> "/Fuck/. You're right." Ella slams her fist into the metal railing and pushes off to pace the length of the room.
<TheSpookanist> "Twenty bucks says they're back in their own bodies though. It looks the same way it looked back in the forest. Fuck, it looks /stronger/."
<TheSpookanist> "Angrier."
<Varren> Ezekiel is in his own body?
<Kaeru> You are, Ezekiel. And staring down Salem, braced as if to leap, the shapes on its forehead near glowing white. Teeth bared and dripping black.
<Kaeru> You're off balance, but it's fading.
<TheSpookanist> Ella snaps her fingers, having an idea, for once. "We've got quarantine cells for people. I've been in em. Can't we pull him out and stick him in one of those?"
<Kaeru> Ezekiel, what do you do?
<Varren> Ezekiel stumbles to the left, then to the right. He gets a hand up towards Salem and breathes heavily. "Easy boy…do-dont do anything that will get you in tro-" he sounds like he is about to throw up. "Trouble. Just take a nice deep breath. Best friends remember?" Ezekiel stares him down as best he can trying to be teasing not threatening. "Guys….its about time the black moon howled."
<Kaeru> You're halfway through that last sentence when it moves. It's a blur of motion, and since you're still not quite 100%, you can barely follow it.
<Varren> Oh he also sloooowly moves away from-ono
<TheSpookanist> Ella sprints toward the stairs and flings herself over the railing, bracing her elbows on the banister below after she lands so that she can level her revolver at the gate.
<Kaeru> But you definitely notice when it slams into you, a heavy shoulder knocking you back a ways as it lunges, turns in the motion to face not you, but the door. Just getting you out of the way. And you watch, vision half-focused, as slowly, slowly, red glassy lines creep up through the solid steel like cracks across its surface. Along the hinges, clicking and splintering, the creaking of straining metal. And it moves like a bullet- hits
<Kaeru> the door like a freight train and knocks it clear free of its frame.
<TheSpookanist> The second Ella can,
<TheSpookanist> 4df+6 she puts a round into Salem, both hands braced on the revolver, before she ditches back up the stairs. "GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!"
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: she puts a round into Salem, both hands braced on the revolver, before she ditches back up the stairs. "GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!": 7 (4df+6=+, -, 0, +)
<Varren> Ezekiel, in a panic now "Salem! No! What ar-" he is gonna try to stand and tackle Salem's leg?
<Kaeru> It's faster than you, Ezekiel. You've stood up, regained balance, but it's gone. Bounding away up the stairs, having taken the shot without a thought to dodging, blindly chasing after the source of the attack, the sound it hears. (all shift to TT from here on)
<TheSpookanist> 1d6 .357 magnum, not that it means much to this thing
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: .357 magnum, not that it means much to this thing: 5 (1d6=5)

HomeImprovement

<Kaeru> Initiating… Run: Seasonal Shift, Arc: Orpheus Looks Back. Action type: Variable, stealth focus. ETA: Dependent. Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCE9iMebyK4
<Glacon> Kaeru: Hidden In the Sand - length 1m54s - 9335↑166↓ - 432,562 views - Tally Hall - Topic on 2015.02.21
<Kaeru> Notes: This run is different. You will have little guidance. The course taken will be entirely up to you to decide. Proceed with caution; watch your steps. Players may be permitted to leave or enter the run at key points in the duration. This is the only warning you will receive.
<Kaeru> Lights go dark. For an instant, you're in the blackness. Then it's sound, sound and red, spinning warning lights. Something's wrong.
<Kaeru> You're all in your separate areas when it happens, going about your own business. But soon you've all gathered what weaponry you could quickly access and gone to the first place you could think of- the lobby area of the floor two below the commons, the start of the containment wings.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian steps in as he finishes pulling the last of his gear on as he does, looking around to see if he can piece anything together about what the /fuck/ is going on
<soulonphone> Avery sneaks in, lets out a quiet chirp to Bastian when he sees him so he knows he’s here. He then radios security to ask for a briefing.
<Kaeru> Darkness, red-tint overheads and spinning siren lights. The alarm does not sound here, and coms speak only static.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian jumps and turns his rifle on Avery for a moment before realizing who it is
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole didn't have the time to meticulously gear up. Her hair's a messy ponytail, she hasn't put her glass eye in, and she enters still affixing her pistol holsters around her fresh-from-the-laundry-basket business shirt
<ArseneLupin> "Does anyone have any idea what's happened? Cause I'm completely in the dark and command cant reach us here."
<Kaeru> You can see, once your eyes adjust to the lower red light and the spinning, shifting shadows.
<Kaeru> You can't hear or see anyone else-
<Kaeru> The coms are out-
<Kaeru> You're on your own.
<Veiedhimaedhr> "I can guess what's happening." Nicole mutters, "Why the bloody hell can't you lot properly contain anything? It's one third of your name innit?"
<ArseneLupin> "Not the issue to contend with here. If it's a containment breach we gotta be careful, head down and try not to get seen by whatever broke out, at least until we can get an ID. If it catches us unprepared we're fucked."
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole cough-nods
<Kaeru> Slowly, in the gaps in your conversation,
<Kaeru> you realize something.
<Kaeru> You can't hear anyone else. That much you'd registered. Checked thoughtlessly for signs of others nearby.
<Kaeru> But you start to realize that, aside from the sounds you yourselves make,
<Kaeru> Aside from the soft hum of the lights overhead,
<Kaeru> you can't hear anything.
<ArseneLupin> "Fuck this quiet isnt good." He sighs. "We need to start clearing wings, I can take point if neither of you want to?"
<Kaeru> The floor stretches out, lit dim red and silent and still. Waiting.
<Kaeru> The rest is up to you. You may proceed.
<soulonphone> Avery sniffs around.
<soulonphone> “I follow.”
<Veiedhimaedhr> "You're the sniper rifle, and I'm the handgun. I'll take point and buy you time to set up your shots." Nicole coughs
<soulonphone> He’s a lot less freaked out at the noise than he usually is. Avery hates noise.
<soulonphone> He’s also in pajamas and his hair is wet. Must’ve been mid shower when this went down.
<ArseneLupin> He nods. "Lead on, closest wings first."
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole draws 2/3rds of her pistols and takes point, hugging the walls and coughing, moving to the closest wings
<soulonphone> Avery keeps a healthy distance.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian follow, trying to use the dark to his advantage
<ArseneLupin> 4df+6 Sneaky
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: Sneaky: 4 (4df+6=-, -, +, -)
<soulonphone> 4df+6 sneky
<Glacon> soulonphone: sneky: 8 (4df+6=+, 0, 0, +)
<Kaeru> The site is silent. Even the blaring alarms have since gone quiet, leaving only the spinning red lights and a lifeless, unsettling silence.
<Kaeru> It doesn't feel right. You can always hear something, in a place like this. Distant chatter, the hum of active machinery and lights, the steady footfalls of patrolling combat boots or passing tennis shoes. Laughter from a few rooms down, muffled music players, rustling of papers and clattering of shifted objects.
<Kaeru> You never thought you'd miss the voices of bickering lab partners, the racket of dropped or knocked-over clutter, the swearing of researchers frustrated by failure, the distracting intrusion of too-loud conversations in adjacent rooms.
<Kaeru> But right now, in the silence and the spinning, spinning red light, you feel like you'd do anything to overhear a nearby lover's quarrel.
<Kaeru> You'd often wished for silence. "Peace and quiet," you'd thought.
<Kaeru> You were wrong.
<Kaeru> The silence is worse.
<Kaeru> So, so paralyzingly, so viscerally, so terrifyingly, so disconcertingly, so much worse.
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+3 sneak how?
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: sneak how?: 5 (4df+3=0, 0, +, +)
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole turns back and whispers, "What do we keep down here nowadays that's serious enough to do this? We can't waste time checking in on every hairbrush and coin that doesn't do what it's supposed to do."
<soulonphone> Avery is calm. He’s used to silence. Silence is what he likes. But he knows it shouldn’t be. And this worries him.
<soulonphone> 4df+8 science with PhD in anomalies- can Avery discern why
<Glacon> soulonphone: science with PhD in anomalies- can Avery discern why: 8 (4df+8=+, -, +, -)
<Kaeru> Avery, it's silent for one very key reason.
<Kaeru> Either there's no one here,
<Kaeru> or everyone here has already made a damn good effort not to make a bloody sound.
<soulonphone> Avery remains silent and begins to look for signs of everyone else.
<soulonphone> As they clear the wings.
<ArseneLupin> "I think the wings are separated by general danger level? Could skip low security and head to the high risk. As for dangers, there's pigs that become what you say they are, in which case this would be easy, a few Ouroboros related anomalies, a big anomalous dog we got recently, and probably a few others."
<soulonphone> “Try to keep quiet if you can” he whispers. “Head to wherever is good; I’m not combat.”
<Veiedhimaedhr> "I vote we head to the high security ones first then. We clear that wing first and solve the issue or, if it's not there, move up to lower security wings with progressively increasing relief. How's it sound, mates?" she whispers
<soulonphone> “I go where you lead.”
<ArseneLupin> "Sounds perfect. Let's move."
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole leads to the place she suggested they go
<Kaeru> It's quiet.
<Kaeru> Still too quiet. Quiet, quiet- until. Nicole.
<Kaeru> Your boot clicks familiarly on a surface other than concrete below your feet.
<Kaeru> Not above the floor- part of the floor- but it sounds wrong. Wrong.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Can she perc roll that floor in the darkness?
<Kaeru> It's not totally dark. Just dim…
<Kaeru> You don't need to roll.
<Kaeru> You look down.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole holds her hand up for the group to halt and looks down
<Kaeru> It's like cracks. Massive, somewhat jagged lines. Red and glassy in the floor like they'd been painted on, perfectly level, but semi-transparent and crystaline and embedded in the concrete.
<Soulless> "…."
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole turns and points down at the new glass features of Site-15. She very clearly mouths out, but only maintains eye contact with Avery, /do not touch/
<Soulless> Avery's face says everything people need to know.
<ArseneLupin> "Salem. It's the dog."
<Kaeru> You speak, Bastian.
<Kaeru> Without thinking, you speak.
<Veiedhimaedhr> (Oh boi)
<Soulless> He look at Nicole, nods, and looks at his hands. He just got these bandages off.
<Soulless> ~Omen. Are you busy?~
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole widens her eye the moment Bastian speaks
<Kaeru> You hear something.
<Kaeru> Distant.
<Kaeru> A warbling sound. Resonating, unnatural, a shriek, a call, a howl, low but somehow piercing, shrill, in the darkness, as if from every direction.
<Kaeru> It heard you.
<ArseneLupin> His eyes widen and he quickly makes a hand motion to move and covers his mouth
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole rapidly hand-motions for the group to backup away from where the point of that heard noise came from, with quiet haste
<Soulless> ~Omen??~
<ArseneLupin> Bastian moves as fast as stealth can take him to follow Nicole
<Veiedhimaedhr> She then begins to back off the glass floor and on to solid concrete and looks for any hall fixtures or open doors to use as hiding spots
<Kaeru> Avery, you get silence. Silence, silence, and a whisper. ~I told you you should have run.~ And nothing else, nothing after.
<Kaeru> Roll stealth.
<ArseneLupin> 4df+6 Hello Darkness My Old Friend~
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: Hello Darkness My Old Friend~: 4 (4df+6=-, +, -, -)
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+3 If this fails imma say Nicole coughs
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: If this fails imma say Nicole coughs: 3 (4df+3=-, 0, 0, +)
<Veiedhimaedhr> (cmon Glac, give that dog a 1 and I'll pay you that imaginary money all RNG engines like)
<Kaeru> Avery, stealth?
<Soulless> 4df+6 stl
<Glacon> Soulless: stl: 7 (4df+6=+, 0, +, -)
<Soulless> Avery is quiet. Then he says, ~thank you~, and then gets ready to run.
<Kaeru> Quiet. Quiet.
<Kaeru> … Quiet enough?
<Kaeru> It sounded far away.
<Kaeru> You can't hear it anymore. You can't see it. You don't know where it is- or even what direction it could come from.
<Kaeru> But you hear no calls. No footfalls. No claws on concrete.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole takes out her notebook and quickly scribbles out something she shows the rest of her group: "Please do not speak and silence all communication devices. Thank you :( "
<ArseneLupin> Bastian similarly takes out his notepad. "Anom connected to other dimension, lure to Anchor?"
<Veiedhimaedhr> "3 of us can't kill it since one of us is in pajamas; that might be best." She pauses and then scribbles in another thing that she shows the group "I have a bad lung. I will try to stifle coughs as they arise."
<Veiedhimaedhr> ^the first line was written down too pls no death
<ArseneLupin> Please assume all lines are written from Bastian until said otherwise
<Veiedhimaedhr> same
<Soulless> Avery doesn't say anything. He's thinking.
<Soulless> 4df+5 logic- where'
<Glacon> Soulless: logic- where': 6 (4df+5=+, +, 0, -)
<Soulless> s a good place to trap it?
<ArseneLupin> "Plan for if it catches us?"
<Kaeru> It got out. So the containment areas themselves aren't viable. Anchors maybe- but where are they? Do you know? Where is it? Could you get it down a level, seal it off below? Weaken it somehow? Is it already out of this area, gone, not to be caught again, all plans bound to fail?
<Kaeru> Where is everyone else?
<Kaeru> Security guards, technicians, researchers. Where is everyone else?
<ArseneLupin> Bastian is Psi-7, he works security. Would he know where an Anchor might be down here?
<Kaeru> Maybe. They move them as needed. They're in one of a few places- near each of the more major containment areas, or at the entrances to lower levels. Obviously they/it either isn't near where this creature was kept or it's useless against it- so that one's likely ruled out…
<Kaeru> Slowly, a sinking feeling in your chest. Where is everyone else?
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole doesn't come down here, so she'll follow the lads more familiar with the Site
<Soulless> Avery writes.
<Soulless> 'WE COULD TRAP IT NEAR AN ANCHOR OR SEAL IT IN AN AREA'
<Soulless> 'BUT TOO LITTLE PEOPLE'
<ArseneLupin> He thinks more. There's procedures in place for a containment breach, is there anywhere like a meet up spot? Somewhere where you're supposed to go when things get out
<Soulless> 'SUSPECTED DIMENSIONAL DISTORTION'
<Kaeru> Scratch, scratch, scratch of pen on paper… It grinds in your ears like nails on chalkboard in the silence.
<Veiedhimaedhr> (it was the all caps that did it wasn't it)
<Soulless> Avery signs. '[CAN YOU READ ME]'
<Soulless> (yes he writes it all caps)
<Kaeru> Bastian. There are more central lobby type areas like this one- hubs that connect the different containment wings on the floor.
<Kaeru> Maybe there?
<ArseneLupin> Bastian nods. "Worth a shot. Maybe drop by the lobbies while we look, try to find survivors?"
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole writes out in reply, "I'm not a scientist. Tell me where to go and I'll lead us there." her cheeks suddenly go red as she swallows down a cough
<Veiedhimaedhr> "Survivors will hang around until we're done, and there'll be less if we dally about wandering around in circles instead of containing this fast."
<ArseneLupin> Bastian thinks, almost humming a little but catching himself. He nods and gestures to the others to follow, starting a sweep to search for the anchors
<Kaeru> In the red light, and the shadows, and the silence, you aren't alone.
<Kaeru> Your footfalls on the stone floor, your breath, your very heartbeat seems deafening in the quiet and the dark.
<Kaeru> But you aren't alone.
<Kaeru> The coms are out, but someone's listening.
<Kaeru> Think. Think. Think.
<Kaeru> What do you know?
<ArseneLupin> For Bastian at least, step one is to find an anchor, or at least try. Meanwhile he's keeping his footsteps quiet and his eyes to the ground, looking for crystals
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole currently thinks bullets work, but she doesn't have the advantage of numbers like last time.
<Soulless> 4df+5 Logic - avery continues trying to understand the situation.
<Glacon> Soulless: Logic - avery continues trying to understand the situation.: 4 (4df+5=0, +, -, -)
<Kaeru> You come out into a more open area. One of the lobbies, open space broken up by heavy metal structures, generators inactive and terminals dark.
<Kaeru> Keeping close to walls and shadows. Your feet on the floor, boots on concrete deafening and you can't help wincing at the sound, sound, sound.
<Kaeru> Loud. But-
<Kaeru> wait.
<Kaeru> Sound.
<ArseneLupin> Sound from us or outside sound?
<Kaeru> Not you.
<Kaeru> You didn't make that sound.
<Kaeru> You- think.
<Kaeru> Stop. Stop moving. Listen.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian does so, holding up a hand for the others to stop
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole stops and chokes down another cough
<Kaeru> You hear- something.
<Kaeru> Footfalls, but you've stopped.
<Kaeru> In the red, in the dark, in the silence and the stillness and the stifling nothing-
<Kaeru> you hear running.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian scopes in towards that direction, aiming his rifle towards the sound. Also silently wishing he had a silencer
<Soulless> Avery looks antsty. He wants to run to the running.
<Kaeru> Combat boots and the rustle of fabric moving.
<Kaeru> It's getting closer- closer- close- until it's on top of you, a young man in a security uniform racing into view from around a corner, out of breath and spattered with blood that's not his own.
<Kaeru> Lit by the spinning red lights, he sees you. Turns wide, urgent, frantic eyes on you, skidding to a halt.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian immediately moves to put his fingers over his lips
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole also does that^
<Kaeru> He ignores your warning, frantic and unthinking. Panicked. "What are you doing here?!" he cries. "You have to get out! Run! Get ou-"
<Kaeru> And he stops abruptly. But that's no surprise, since while you can't hear him anymore, you can't see him anymore, either. Halfway through a word, a blur of motion, a shadowed, ashen black and scarlet red shape flashing across your vision and tearing the man from the place where he stood.
<Kaeru> The leap takes a fraction of a second. You see the motion. Hear the impact as the shape slams into its target with force enough to crush.
<Kaeru> You don't hear the man cry out in shock, or in pain, or in fear.
<Kaeru> You're not sure if you hope that's because he didn't have time to.
<Kaeru> You don't even hear him hit the ground.
<Kaeru> You don't hear it hit the ground.
<Kaeru> There for a fraction of a second, a blur, and instant, and then it's gone again, into the shadows and the dark and the quiet and you don't know where it is.
<Kaeru> A resonating, warbling, unnatural call echoes through the room, sounding both everywhere at once and somehow distant.
<Kaeru> It's here.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian stays as still as he can, trying not to make a fucking peep
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole presses herself up against a wall and presses her hand to her mouth as she fights down a rather severe coughing fit. Blood trickles out the side of her mouth
<Kaeru> Quiet. Quiet. You can't see it.
<Kaeru> At least now you know where it is.
<Kaeru> Well. Approximately. In theory.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Perception possible?
<Kaeru> You can try.
<Soulless> 4df+8 science- how to contain something with that speed?
<Glacon> Soulless: science- how to contain something with that speed?: 11 (4df+8=+, +, +, 0)
<Kaeru> Avery, there's one very simple answer to that.
<Kaeru> You don't.
<Kaeru> If that's all you have to go on,
<Kaeru> the only trait to focus,
<Kaeru> the only thing you know,
<Kaeru> you don't.
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+5 is one eyeball gud enough
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: is one eyeball gud enough: 3 (4df+5=-, -, +, -)
<ArseneLupin> Is this one of the areas an Anchor might be?
<Kaeru> It- could be. Maybe. Or close to it, if it were somewhere near one of the connected containment areas.
<Soulless> If it's Salem, Salem shouldn't *be* that strong. What's going on.
<Kaeru> Somehow.
<Kaeru> Somehow, it is.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian goes to very slowly, and very carefully, take off his boots. Making a point to not lift them off the ground as he does. Too close to be making any noise at all
<Soulless> 4df+5 logic- does he know of any sources of power, any Forest items?
<Glacon> Soulless: logic- does he know of any sources of power, any Forest items?: 2 (4df+5=-, -, 0, -)
<Kaeru> Don't you remember, Avery? What you were told?
<Kaeru> The Forest doesn't follow the rules.
<Kaeru> You don't know.
<Kaeru> You can't know.
<ArseneLupin> Once he's debootied, he gestures for the others to follow. No use staying still in fear
<Kaeru> Bastian, socks on concrete, quiet and soft. Smart. Unlike the hard rubber of combat boots.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole gingerly de-shoes and follows
<ArseneLupin> He's gonna search for a reality anchor around here and then head to the next possible point if there is not one to be found
<Kaeru> Look, look. It's dark, shadows and spinning red lights and-
<Kaeru> Quiet!
<Kaeru> Roll stealth.
<Soulless> 4df+6 stealth
<Glacon> Soulless: stealth: 5 (4df+6=-, 0, +, -)
<Soulless> 4df+5 determination- avery startsd Looking.
<Glacon> Soulless: determination- avery startsd Looking.: 5 (4df+5=+, -, +, -)
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+3 sure hope Nicole doesn't cough
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: sure hope Nicole doesn't cough: 3 (4df+3=-, +, 0, 0)
<ArseneLupin> 4df+6
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: 5 (4df+6=0, 0, -, 0)
<Kaeru> Avery, you focus, and you immediately know that you shouldn't have.
<Soulless> o boi
<Kaeru> The world shakes, for you, what you see. You get flashes. Instants that never stop moving. The red spinning lights turn to the flicks and twitches of jittering, shivering flame, blurred by motion and over-exposure, too bright and no sound but somehow loud, flames on pages, books, volumes, shelves, buildings full- then gone, and darkness, heat and darkness and the melting of black lava stone, melt and reform, melt and reform and
<Kaeru> dark and dark and dark and water, surface high above and only gaining distance-
<Kaeru> Then nothing. Back, real, normal, gone.
<Soulless> Avery flops to the floor, covers his eyes.
<Kaeru> Sound. Sound. Sound.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian meanwhile is thinking about all the things that could go wrong. Nicole coughing, someone trippi- or that
<Soulless> He sends bits of what he sees over, to Orion, to Omen, Presence, whoever is around. ~Aren't you supposed to prevent this?~ The most scared he's ever sounded.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian turns at the sound and pulls Avery to his feet rather forcefully
<Kaeru> Omen flinches, jerks, pulls away from what you show him, Avery, like scrambling, desperate, reactive, mind an echo of ~no, no, nonono. Nonononononono.~
<Kaeru> ~Fifth. Fifth. Fifth.~
<Kaeru> …
<Kaeru> A sound.
<Kaeru> There's a sound.
<Kaeru> …
<Kaeru> You didn't make that sound.
<Kaeru> … There!
<Kaeru> There it is again!
<Kaeru> Then again-
<ArseneLupin> Bastian whips his head towards the sound
<Soulless> Fifth?
<Kaeru> again-
<Soulless> Avery looks over.
<Kaeru> steady, steady-
<Kaeru> heavy, heavy,
<Soulless> 4df+7 I realized Avery is supposed to be rolling Logic 7's so what can he conclude from Fifth
<Glacon> Soulless: I realized Avery is supposed to be rolling Logic 7's so what can he conclude from Fifth: 7 (4df+7=-, +, +, -)
<Kaeru> padding footfalls and the occasional click of claws on concrete floors.
<Kaeru> It heard you.
<Kaeru> It's here.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian slowly moves away from the spot where Avery flopped
<Kaeru> Avery, you don't know. You don't know- something that ties all of those things you saw together? But what did you see?
<Kaeru> You're not sure.
<Soulless> A burning library, almost.
<Soulless> Fifth, though.
<Soulless> What does that mean?
<Kaeru> Five of something. Something that terrifies Omen beyond sense or reason. Scares him more than even the Presence seems to.
<Kaeru> You know it's a puzzle, but you have a tiny fraction of the pieces.
<Soulless> Avery needs to find Vega.
<Soulless> But first, he needs to hide.
<Soulless> Where's a place?
<Kaeru> Vega. Vega- that's a good question. He'd been talking to the creature, once or twice, was he down here?
<Kaeru> Is he?
<Soulless> He hopes Vega's alive.
<Kaeru> Where can you hide from something that you could swear could hear your heartbeat if the hum of the lights above weren't louder?
<ArseneLupin> It didnt seem to see them last time so it's not a crazy guess that it's senses are hearing based
<Kaeru> It doesn't have eyes.
<Kaeru> That's not that far a reach.
<Soulless> Is it… is it possible to overwhelm it with sound?
<Soulless> He waits for it to pass.
<Kaeru> Pap, pap, pap on the floor, then nothing. But you see movement, in the dark.
<Kaeru> it was letting itself be heard, wasn't it?
<Kaeru> Avery, maybe.
<Kaeru> If it can't see, could you disorient it
<Kaeru> Confuse it with sound?
<Soulless> Avery opens his mouth as if to talk, but he looks to nicole and Bastian.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian makes a very clear motion of no across his neck.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole's stay quiet and very slowly shakes her head no to Avery
<Soulless> Avery closes his mouth.
<Kaeru> It's here, somewhere.
<Kaeru> Or maybe it isn't?
<Kaeru> Could it have left?
<Kaeru> You don't see it.
<ArseneLupin> Either way they gotta move. Bastian starts his slow move forward, trying to lead to the next possible anchor location quietly
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole follows close behind
<Kaeru> Pad, pad, pad on the floor, soft footfalls, soft.
<Kaeru> You pick a direction-
<Kaeru> .ch a b c
<Glacon> Kaeru: b
<Kaeru> And walk quietly down a hallway with spikes, red crystals growing from the seam where the walls meet the floor.
<Veiedhimaedhr> (b is just reverse d. And d stands for death. Classic glacon)
<Kaeru> Red lines creep through the concrete.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Has the floor been given the crystal makeover too like earlier?
<Soulless> Avery stares at the crystals.
<Soulless> He writes.
<Soulless> 'I THINK WE CAN DISORIENT IT WITH TOO MUCH SOUND'
<Kaeru> Yes, it has, Nicole.
<Veiedhimaedhr> She writes back, "What do we have on us that could even be used for that risky move?" she shows this to Bastian too
<Kaeru> Scratch, scratch. You write slowly, flinching at the tiny sound.
<ArseneLupin> "No clue, but we should get to an anchor first. Avoid stepping on the crystal."
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole nods and continues on while taking care be careful where she steps
<Kaeru> It gets more difficult not to step on any of the red lines.
<Kaeru> But you manage, moving slowly.
<Soulless> Avery keeps an eye ou t for things that can be used as explosives.
<Kaeru> Explosives? Well, there's the occasional armory checkpoint on floors like this, you know that much. You'd just have to find one.
<Kaeru> Hey, roll perception.
<ArseneLupin> 4df+5 Lookie
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: Lookie: 7 (4df+5=+, -, +, +)
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+5 Uno Eye
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: Uno Eye: 6 (4df+5=-, +, 0, +)
<Kaeru> You hear it.
<Veiedhimaedhr> All of us?
<Kaeru> Whistling, humming, in the not-too-far distance. It sends chills into your body, electricity into your spine. Singing, then, distant and voice shaking, but deliberately projected, projecting her voice, catching as if on tears and tiny breaths.
<Kaeru> She sings it like a lullaby.
<Soulless> 4df+2 no perc
<Glacon> Soulless: no perc: 2 (4df+2=+, -, -, +)
<Kaeru> "There's a whisper of life- in a world far from here-"
<Soulless> Avery looks to the two of them.
<Kaeru> Avery, you hear her once she starts singing.
<Soulless> He looks back
<ArseneLupin> He turns to the others, his face a very simple 'what the fuuuuuuuck'
<Soulless> He begins to step close.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole shrugs in a correspondingly simple 'I dunno mate'
<Kaeru> "And it laments the absence-" a catch in her breath, like a sob- "And the silence- and- the cold-" She's too far to see, but you can hear her, voice projected.
<Kaeru> You realize with a shock what she's doing.
<Soulless> Which is?
<Kaeru> "An ancient sister-" the catching of her voice, the desperation, the fearful determination- "Long-lost lover-" The way she throws the sound like a weapon into the dark-
<Soulless> He picks up his pace.
<Kaeru> "Together from the dawn of time and now apa-" the sound cuts off. You have to catch a gasp that threatens sound.
<Kaeru> She was drawing it closer, wasn't she?
<Kaeru> She was letting someone else get away.
<Soulless> He picks up his pace MORE.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole tries to stop him quietly since fast walking/jogging=more sound. She probably misses him though since she's not changing her own pace
<Soulless> He walks fast and silent.
<Kaeru> You enter a larger room.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian is very curious about creepy girl and looks around the room
<Kaeru> And you come face to face with Salem- in a way. Facing somewhat away from you, leaned forward, head lowered near its paws.
<Kaeru> The only sound to be heard is a single, piercing one-
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole stops moving
<Kaeru> a visceral crunch of bone that might never leave your mind.
<Soulless> Avery stares.
<Soulless> He stares and stares and stares, and goes to the body.
<Kaeru> It's between you and the body.
<Kaeru> You cant see it-
<Kaeru> presumably pinned beneath its paws-
<Kaeru> You could swear it wasn't this large- Salem wasn't that big, was it? Was it?
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+5 was it?
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: was it?: 5 (4df+5=+, 0, -, 0)
<ArseneLupin> Bastian stares, and it's at this moment he knows he's gonna kill this thing
<Kaeru> Not big enough, strong enough to tear a body in half with a flick of its head to the side- crush bones in its jaw- barely having to take the body apart into two pieces to-
<Kaeru> oh, fuck that.
<Kaeru> It ate her. Shakes itself off with a resonating, warbling call, pads away slowly, into the shadows, diamond shapes glowing on its skull.
<Kaeru> Leaving only blood and scraps of fabric behind, red trailing pawprints.
<Veiedhimaedhr> (wait by trailing pawprints do you mean its left us or is it still in the room with us?)
<Soulless> Avery stares.
<Kaeru> It's still in the room, but it's moving away, pace slow, wandering, not with much particular purpose. Just stalking, towards a hallway nearby.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole doesn't move
<Soulless> He kneels at the body. He studies the body, because he knows nothing else.
<Soulless> Note. Clinical. Cause of death. What can be gleaned from the corpses.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian is still, eyes locked on the spot where the girl was
<Kaeru> Avery, there's nothing there to find.
<Kaeru> Blood and scraps of fabric.
<Kaeru> A fragment of broken chain, perhaps from a necklace.
<Soulless> He writes this down.
<Soulless> Then he stands, and looks around for an anchor, or something to be made into an explosive.
<Kaeru> Why would they risk that? Combustibles, here?
<Kaeru> Risky. Dangerous. Not outside of the armories, and even there, doubtful.
<Kaeru> Anchor, though-
<Kaeru> Anchors. They make a sound. You realize that- and have a moment of thinking of it as a good thing, and at the same instant dreading the possibilities attached.
<Kaeru> If you could hear it, you might be able to find it. It's a soft hum, like machinery. But if you can find it-
<Kaeru> Maybe Salem already did.
<ArseneLupin> That's true, but they're also usually turned off until they're needed
<Soulless> Avery continues looking.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole writes, "Well the lounge singer's fucked. While we observe her moment of silence, where do we go now?"
<Soulless> 'ANCHOR'
<Kaeru> You're right, they are. Hopeful.
<Kaeru> Maybe one of the connected containment areas from here?
<Kaeru> You're in one of the lobby areas, after all.
<ArseneLupin> Then off they go to continue their search
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole chokes down a cough and wipes the blood from her lips with her sleeve before following along
<Kaeru> Step, step, step, ding.
<Kaeru> it's distant.
<Kaeru> But it's there.
<Kaeru> A sound, a little ding, like an alert somewhere- that can't be too far from you.
<ArseneLupin> Elevator?
<Kaeru> Sounds like it.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Loud elevator. Any reactions to that ding that can be heard?
<ArseneLupin> "Survivors, investigate?"
<Soulless> Avery nods.
<Soulless> He starts to walk fast.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian follows. A little faster, nothing too noticeable but he's sneaking with purpose
<Veiedhimaedhr> "loud survivors, silence quickly or move away from." Nicole cautions via writing as she follows
<Kaeru> Nothing, you don't hear anything else…
<Kaeru> Roll PERC.
<ArseneLupin> 4df+5 Do you see what I see?
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: Do you see what I see?: 5 (4df+5=0, -, +, 0)
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+5 how bout it glacon? How bout a good roll, just this once, for old times sakes?
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: how bout it glacon? How bout a good roll, just this once, for old times sakes?: 5 (4df+5=-, +, 0, 0)
<Soulless> 4df+2 no perc
<Glacon> Soulless: no perc: 0 (4df+2=0, 0, -, -)
<Kaeru> Another sound.
<Kaeru> Avery, you don't hear it, but-
<Kaeru> Nicole, Bastian- a clinking, clattering, a skidding like something of lightweight metal across the floor. Distant, but too, too loud.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole doesn't write but handwaves to get away from the loud metal noise
<ArseneLupin> Bastian nods and gestures towards the elevator, the other noise is kinda fucked
<Soulless> Avery doesn't understand why they're indicating, but he follows Bastian.
<Kaeru> You hear a thud of impact on concrete. Then another. Then the bounding, padding feet of the creature nearby, too nearby, towards the sound.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole positions in [good hide+cover location]
<Kaeru> Both sounds- the elevator, the metal, then the others-
<Kaeru> from the same direction.
<Soulless> Avery continues walking, silent.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian slowly goes towards the elevator. The bigger noise would probably attract Salem more
<ArseneLupin> Probably
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole covers his back
<Kaeru> The elevator doors are open. Light from inside. That light is the only way you see the figure pressed against the wall nearby, next to two colliding spikes of crystal in a tilted X across the hallway, waiting, waiting for the creature even as it appears around the corner-
<Kaeru> HI2.

HomeImprovement2

<TheSpookanist> Estrella practically charges down the door to an armoury, now given the best idea she's had. She looks for something, /anything/ incendiary.
<Kaeru> Perc!
<TheSpookanist> 4df+3 WHY DID I DO THIS TO MYSELF
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: WHY DID I DO THIS TO MYSELF: 4 (4df+3=0, -, +, +)
<Kaeru> Oh, jackpot. A pack of five flares and a decoy grenade- not heat, but useful as shit. But more importantly?
<Kaeru> You find a phosphorous grenade.
<TheSpookanist> Ella takes the decoy since she already has flares, about as many as she can carry, and grabs the /hell/ out of that. She thinks - tries to put together where Salem went… and where she can head it off.
<Kaeru> Assuming it's still on the same floor?
<Kaeru> You'll just have to pick a point to get there and start looking.
<TheSpookanist> It prooooobably is. Ah well, she heads to an elevator and takes it down; that didn't make enough noise to spike it last time.
<TheSpookanist> Hopefully this time will be the same.
<Kaeru> Slide, slide, whish of movement that seems to grow more and more irritating, bothersome as you descend.
<Kaeru> Then a ding that practically stabs a pencil into your ear. And the doors slide open, and there's nothing. Nothing but dark and spinning red lights and silence and and crystals and blood.
<TheSpookanist> She doesn't like that in the slightest, but hey, at least she has a plan this time. She clicks on the flashlight again - click, unfortunately, being a noise - and proceeds.
<TheSpookanist> Back on the hunt.
<Kaeru> Pad, pad, pad on soft, socked feet. Avoiding the still undried red pools. Quiet…
<Kaeru> Stealth.
<TheSpookanist> 4df+6 AGGRESSIVELY SNEAKY
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: AGGRESSIVELY SNEAKY: 6 (4df+6=+, -, -, +)
<Kaeru> Sneaky, sneaky!
<Kaeru> Roll PERC.
<TheSpookanist> 4df+3 this is less good
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: this is less good: -1 (4df+3=-, -, -, -)
<TheSpookanist> yeah
<Kaeru> oh big yikes.
<Kaeru> You hear something. Feel something. At the same time. Not good. In your focus on your silence, your foot bumps into a discarded- something- something small and metal and the sound it makes is deafening, clinking across the floor.
<TheSpookanist> She IMMEDIATELY steps back, careful to put the foot down softly.
<Kaeru> A pause. A second. Of nothing- then a spike that shoots up from the ground and through the little metal object, at an angle, into the ceiling above. Another, from the wall opposite, shooting across and into the body of the first, thought it, into the wall-ceiling seam on the other side. Click, click, heavy padding feet, too fast, too close, closer, getting closer. Time to move.
<TheSpookanist> Not time to move. Time to get just out of the way, pressed flat against a wall. She's got this thing right where she wants it. She think think /thinks/; how can she get it to open its mouth?
<Kaeru> You can only think of one way.
<Kaeru> And you don't like it.
<TheSpookanist> Oh god. The player may already know, but should be told anyway.
<Kaeru> You've seen it open its mouth. But only barely, when it makes sound. More, when it approaches targets, when it approaches to attack, or to grab, or to bite or to-
<Kaeru> that is not a view you ever want to see.
<TheSpookanist> It's going to be close. Too close. But Ella is fast, and she absolutely, positively /needs/ to put this thing down.
<TheSpookanist> She slowly, slowly pulls the pin out of the grenade - it's not armed, not yet, not until she releases it. It's like removing a safety, but the tiny noises are enough to need to do it /now/.
<TheSpookanist> Before it's too close.
<Kaeru> Movement. Movement- not from in front of you, from behind you- too small to be the creature, and you can still hear the creature, moving, moving quickly-
<TheSpookanist> She looks at the movement ahead and gestures wildly into the darkness: /go/. /Get away/.
<Kaeru> You start to look, but then the larger movement draws your eyes as Salem appears from around a corner, low on its haunches and ready, prepared to dash forward, to run.
<TheSpookanist> Ella pitches the tiny metal ring that she pulled from the grenade just in front of Salem's face, far too close for comfort, but close enough to enact her plan.
<Soulless> (sorry)
<ArseneLupin> Bastian is a distance back, but he takes the advice on moving back and gets his rifle ready if he also sees Salem
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole is also a distance back. Still slightly behind Bastian with 2 pistols raised
<Soulless> Avery watches. He sees Ella?
<Kaeru> Cling, clank, cling. And Salem's on it in a flash, in an instant, you barely see it move- and claws dig into the concrete, and it finds nothing there. It roars, a warbling, piercing, echoing thing that hurts to hear, echoes in your skull like a headache.
<Kaeru> Avery, you do. You see Salem, too.
<Kaeru> You see the cylindrical grenade in her hand,
<Kaeru> the light that catches the pin as she tosses it forward.
<TheSpookanist> Does the mouth open far enough with its roar to have a good shot? Or is it going to be… rougher?
<Kaeru> Not enough- too short a time- you could risk it, but you only have one try with this. Only the one shot.
<Kaeru> Better make it count.
<TheSpookanist> Then she steps out in the center of the hallway, ready to get out of the way of its claws and have a head-on shot to the throat. "REMEMBER ME, MOTHERFUCKER?"
<TheSpookanist> The sound is a scream, splitting the silence easily.
<ArseneLupin> Can Bastian take a shot when she screams? Using the noise to his advantage?
<Kaeru> She's between him and it. You sure you want to risk that?
<Kaeru> And the sound of the weapon, would it divert her plan here, whatever it might be? Or would it save her?
<ArseneLupin> I think my image of this situation is different than what it is. So lets wait
<Soulless> Avery gets his medical supplies and gets ready./
<Kaeru> Ella, its head snaps up and it screeches, an ear-splitting, piercing, shrill resonation of sound that can't quite entirely register in your range of hearing. And it lunges-
<TheSpookanist> Her arm goes back, ready to pitch or, at this range, more /shove/ the grenade down its maw when she has her one shot.
<Soulless> Avery realizes he's about to watch his friend die, again.
<Kaeru> She realizes in that instant that it's too close to throw- but those jagged, crystal teeth- that black, corrosive blood that seeps between them- and it's on top of you, knocking you to the ground before you can react, get out of the way-
<Kaeru> You have a choice-
<Kaeru> A dead-man switched phosphorous grenade- a type known for flames that cling, that grow, that spread and stick like oil to flammable materials-
<Kaeru> You have allies behind you, this creature above you, a weapon on your hip-
<Soulless> Avery looks at Bastian.
<Soulless> He looks to Nicole.
<Soulless> Do something! His face says.
<TheSpookanist> The grenade goes in. There never was a choice. Better to risk the arm than to take the shot and get torn to shreds.
<TheSpookanist> Her fist disappears into its mouth and she /tries/, at least, to let the grenade go in there.
<TheSpookanist> To pull it out.
<ArseneLupin> As soon as Bastian sees the grenade go in he shoots
<Kaeru> Ella, roll ACRO. Bastian, roll RNG.
<TheSpookanist> 4df+6 HOO BOI
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: HOO BOI: 5 (4df+6=0, 0, -, 0)
<ArseneLupin> 4df+6 Dakka
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: Dakka: 3 (4df+6=0, -, -, -)
<ArseneLupin> Fuck you
<ArseneLupin> RROTD? Maybe?
<Soulless> do you need me rrotd
<TheSpookanist> 4df+6 SAME
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: SAME: 7 (4df+6=0, +, +, -)
<Kaeru> yeah man go for it
<Veiedhimaedhr> Can Nicole shoot too?
<ArseneLupin> 4df+6 Dakka pt 2
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: Dakka pt 2: 6 (4df+6=+, 0, -, 0)
<Kaeru> Ella, you knew you weren't getting out unscathed. Literally putting your hand into the mouth of a beast armed with violent, jagged teeth and acidic blood that drips from between them down its lower jaw- you let go of the grenade, less on purpose and more on reaction to the feeling of clinging, corrosive burning on the side of your hand. You start to yank your arm back, but you have nowhere to move- on the ground, practically
<Kaeru> pinned, nowhere to pull your arm to- and you feel teeth sink into your shoulder, bottom fangs cutting the side of your upper arm and smaller teeth hitting target, and you've just about resigned yourself to the fact that you'll lose that arm when a shot cracks out in the silence.
<Kaeru> It hits the creature between the eyes. Dead center of the lowermost diamond glowing on its forehead-
<Kaeru> and its head snaps back a fraction, a painful tiny motion but it rears up, howling, wailing, letting go of you in the process.
<TheSpookanist> Ella bites down on her tongue so that she doesn't have to /scream/, blood filling her mouth as a preferable alternative to making this situation any worse than it already is.
<ArseneLupin> As soon as he shoots he's gonna try to quietly scoot away a little, although it probably wont be fast enough
<Veiedhimaedhr> Can Nicole rush forward and drag Ella back away from the big gud boi?
<TheSpookanist> She rolls so she's between where Salem is going to tread, a hand covering her eyes for comfort more than anything else. She won't have time to get away until after it charges.
<Kaeru> Dragging away probably isn't the best idea since it's leaping over her, previous target forgotten, and Bastian, it sees you, heard you, charges you faster than it really should be able to with its size and its weight but it does-
<ArseneLupin> Expected result
<Veiedhimaedhr> Can Nicole drag Bastian standing right in front of her out of the way then?
<Kaeru> It's fast. You'd maybe have a 50/50 shot- getting him out of the way, or putting you both in the way. Assuming you can even grab him in time.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian is tougher than he looks, he'll be fiiiiine
<Veiedhimaedhr> well fuk I guess Nicole will shoot the dog then
<Kaeru> No chance before it gets to him. After that, maybe, but-
<Kaeru> Bastian, are you going to try to dodge?
<ArseneLupin> Can he try to turn and try to get it to get his pack instead of him? IE use this excuse to roll Res instead of Acro
<Kaeru> You can, but you'd know full well that might only save you some of the hit.
<TheSpookanist> Ella sits up, making an attempt to not cry but - god, shit, damn, FUCK that hurts. Tears roll down her eyes as she slowly, shakily pulls herself to her feet.
<Soulless> Avery rushes to Ella, how bad is she wounded?
<Kaeru> ohey let's find out-
<Kaeru> 1d2+1 (acid)
<Glacon> Kaeru: (acid): 2 (1d2+1=1)
<ArseneLupin> Well anything is better than using his +3 Acro over his +5 Res, so let's roll the dice
<Veiedhimaedhr> (that's alotta damage)
<ArseneLupin> Literally roll the dice
<Kaeru> 1d5+2 (chomp [non KO php])
<Glacon> Kaeru: (chomp [non KO php]): 3 (1d5+2=1)
<Kaeru> Bastian, roll away, then.
<Veiedhimaedhr> (That's alotta damage)
<ArseneLupin> 4df+5 W-w-w-we're fucked folks!
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: W-w-w-we're fucked folks!: 6 (4df+5=-, +, 0, +)
<Veiedhimaedhr> (zoinks!)
<Kaeru> Bastian. You swing your pack around in front of you, bracing for the impact, and you're not let down-
<TheSpookanist> So yes, Avery can see that the skin on her arm is coated in acid and some of her shoulder's been severed a bit, but there's not half as much to do there as there would be if Bastian hadn't taken the shot.
<ArseneLupin> Oh hey what happened with that grenade by the way?
<Kaeru> this thing hits you like a freight train. A flick of its head, tosses you to the side like a toy and whips around to bite at the top of your shoulder once it's closer to behind you. Your pack serves an unexpected purpose- upper fangs pierce only it, not you. Bottom fangs, jagged and angled outward, hit below your shoulder blade for a moment-
<Kaeru> (no worries just let me type nerd)
<ArseneLupin> (Not allowed)
<Veiedhimaedhr> (the less the DM types the less damage our PCs take! Overload the system!)
<Soulless> Can Avery do a med?
<Kaeru> And the only thing that keeps it from tightening that lock grip of its jaw, crushing bone, your shoulder, as you know it could, you heard it do worse only minutes before-
<Kaeru> is the spark, pop, the muffled whoosh and the glare of white flame.
<Kaeru> And it drops you with a howl, jerking back and away, flailing at the blue-white blinding glow that flows like liquid from its mouth.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian is gonna fucking throw his pack at it when it reels back
<TheSpookanist> Ella uses her good arm to gesture Avery back for the moment -
<ArseneLupin> He is running on pure anger instinct right now and is making bad decisions
<TheSpookanist> 4df+6 and pulls out her revolver, opening fire on Salem with hate in her eyes.
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: and pulls out her revolver, opening fire on Salem with hate in her eyes.: 5 (4df+6=0, -, 0, 0)
<Kaeru> Bastian, you feel an odd sense of satisfaction. The white glow, the flash, the dripping flame, you know that look. Phosphorous. You know those properties, remember them from little pockets in sniper rounds and a hitperson nicknamed flashbang for those very reasons.
<Kaeru> Heat spreads from it in waves. Glows in empty eye sockets, overpowering the dimming glow of the diamonds on its skull.
<ArseneLupin> "Burn in hell you eyeless bastard!" He throws his backpack to accompany Ella's shot
<Kaeru> Ella, your shot cracks against its skull and you see it fracture, hear it splinter.
<Soulless> Avery watches it burn,
<Varren> Ezekiel comes onto scene, hello
<Kaeru> The sound is glory, and respite, and satisfaction, visceral breaking of the silence.
<Soulless> He sees the flaming library in its eyes.
<Soulless> He sees.
<Kaeru> It's bright. Bright, white and dripping flame.
<Kaeru> And it shakes, wails, a resonating sound-
<Kaeru> locks glowing eyes with you, Bastian-
<Klurg> Zack bursts into the scene, and since it's his first turn of combat and can't heavy weapon
<Kaeru> everyone, roll ACRO- except Bastian. You roll ANTIPSY.
<ArseneLupin> He locks eyes back. Too angry for common sense at the moment
<Klurg> could he throw a flashbang at it without flashing the team?
<Klurg> 4df+6 oh ok
<Glacon> Klurg: oh ok: 7 (4df+6=+, -, +, 0)
<ArseneLupin> 4df+2 Oh yeah that thing I dont have
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: Oh yeah that thing I dont have: 0 (4df+2=-, -, 0, 0)
<TheSpookanist> 4df+6 ACRO
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: ACRO: 7 (4df+6=-, +, 0, +)
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+8 ACROPOWERRR
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: ACROPOWERRR: 7 (4df+8=-, +, -, 0)
<Veiedhimaedhr> I hate u Glacon ur always giving me bad rolls
<Kaeru> Hands over ears and raised shoulders block the piercing, warbling, disorienting sound.
<Varren> 4df+6 oh rolling
<Glacon> Varren: oh rolling: 5 (4df+6=-, 0, -, +)
<Kaeru> Bastian, you stare. Its eyes, empty sockets now backed by clinging white flame, creep dread into your body. It's not dead. It's not dying. It won't ever die. You can't win. How could you ever have thought you could?
<Kaeru> Go ahead, its eyes say with your own thoughts. Destroy it. Melt it down, burn it to ash, cut it to pieces. It won't die. It won't ever die. And it'll remember.
<ArseneLupin> He believes it too. Maybe the feeling is right. Maybe he's finally met something he cant put down. But at the very least he has to try. Because he's got people he loves up there who will die if he doesnt. So let it remember, let it kill him, he's gonna die with a gun in his hand. And it's with this thought in his head and tears filling his eyes that he's gonna take another shot
<Kaeru> Roll.
<Soulless> uh
<ArseneLupin> 4df+6
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: 8 (4df+6=+, +, +, -)
<Soulless> 4df+3 no acrobatics
<Glacon> Soulless: no acrobatics: 4 (4df+3=+, +, 0, -)
<Kaeru> You're okay, Avery.
<Soulless> Avery presses his hands to his ears. It's too loud. He can't stand the noise.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Can Nicole shoot too or does she still have earhands?
<TheSpookanist> Uh- actually, does Ella fully make that save considering she probably can't move one of her arms?
<TheSpookanist> Even if she does, it's… covered in acid.
<Kaeru> Bastian, the shot hits its shoulder, seems to snap it- and you- back to reality— good, too, since you're not sure how much longer you could've fought off that influence.
<Kaeru> Ella, you rolled high enough, you're fine
<ArseneLupin> He looks to his teammates, really hoping the effect of the roar stops and lets them help soon
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole's covering her ears with her wrists; her pistols are still in hand
<Klurg> could Zack flashbang the thing or would it cause his teammates to be affected as well?
<Kaeru> And with a screech, it leaps forward- Bastian, it moves to grab you from your place only half-standing- roll acro-
<Kaeru> the rest of you, you're free of the sound, now, as it begins this lunge.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole shoots the fucker
<ArseneLupin> 4df+3 Yeah he threw the backpack he's a little screwed
<Glacon> ArseneLupin: Yeah he threw the backpack he's a little screwed: 2 (4df+3=0, 0, -, 0)
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+8 PEW
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: PEW: 8 (4df+8=-, -, +, +)
<TheSpookanist> 4df+8 The python is out of rounds after wild firing earlier, so it's time. The Malvarrosa. Armour-piercing rounds, designed to burst inside the target, filled with poison. "Die- /FUCKING/. /DIE/."
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: The python is out of rounds after wild firing earlier, so it's time. The Malvarrosa. Armour-piercing rounds, designed to burst inside the target, filled with poison. "Die- /FUCKING/. /DIE/.": 8 (4df+8=0, -, 0, +)
<Veiedhimaedhr> wow double 8s
<Soulless> Avery can't fight, so he watches.
<Varren> Ezekiel fires and aims specifically fornthe crystals on its skull
<Soulless> 4df+8 science- he studies.
<Glacon> Soulless: science- he studies.: 8 (4df+8=+, -, -, +)
<Veiedhimaedhr> wow triple 8s
<ArseneLupin> Yeah I could have used one of those
<Klurg> Zack can't heavy machine gun on the first round of combat and throwing a flashbang would fuck up everybody in the room so…
<Varren> 4df+8 pew
<Glacon> Varren: pew: 9 (4df+8=+, 0, +, -)
<Veiedhimaedhr> wow quadrupl-damn it
<Kaeru> Bastian, it charges- not even stopping in the movement, it grabs you from the ground with a jaw that locks over your shoulder, upper fang narrowly missing your neck, other sinking into your side. Heat and flame and acid scorch, and it uses its momentum to flick its head to the side, tossing you angrily into the wall nearby-
<Kaeru> 2d3+2 burn+nom
<Glacon> Kaeru: burn+nom: 6 (2d3+2=2, 2)
<Kaeru> 1d2 impact
<Glacon> Kaeru: impact: 1 (1d2=1)
<Klurg> …ouch
<ArseneLupin> 0_0
<Veiedhimaedhr> anyone got flex tape
<Varren> When he fires- "Salem! You bad fucking dog!" Ifbhe can take the heat in place of others he will.
<Kaeru> It tosses your teammate like an irritating chewtoy. Your shots shud into its side, or crack into crystals, all hitting their mark as it makes no move to dodge.
<Klurg> "someone, go heal him! I'll distract the damn thing!" Zack states once he's finished setting up (whenever the next turn begins)
<Veiedhimaedhr> "Avery that's you!" Nicole relays as she backpedals, pistols reloading
<Kaeru> And it spins back around at the voice and the shots and the sound, and it half-opens its mouth, still between you all and Bastian, ready to leap, to charge, to do the same to others.
<ArseneLupin> Bastian lays there, in a LOT of pain, but trying his hardest not to whimper or make any noises, he even tries to keep his breathing low, as uncomfortable as that makes him. He checks to see if he's still intact, trying to occupy his mind
<Kaeru> Oh buddy pal friendo you're out
<ArseneLupin> Probably for the best
<Kaeru> Yyyeah probably
<Klurg> "remember me ya fat shit?" Zack reminds Salem. "I brought you down like the dog you are." (permission to fire now or has the second turn not begun?)
<Kaeru> Go right ahead.
<Klurg> 4df+6 heavy machine gunnery
<Glacon> Klurg: heavy machine gunnery: 7 (4df+6=0, +, 0, 0)
<Klurg> Zack's goal is to try and distract the thing while someone heals Bastian (hopefully)
<Kaeru> Your shots find home in the massive target. And in that goal? You're successful.
<Soulless> avery heads to Bastian.
<Kaeru> There's one issue-
<Kaeru> It bounds forward, leaving a path to Bastian-
<Soulless> 2d4 he stabilizes.
<Glacon> Soulless: he stabilizes.: 4 (2d4=1, 3)
<Kaeru> but the problem is a new target.
<Klurg> that was the plan™
<Kaeru> Avery, roll med.
<Kaeru> Zack, roll acro.
<TheSpookanist> "HEY," Ella screams hoarsely. Her own rounds crack into the creature (not gonna bother rolling unless stated it matters). Might as well give it as many distractions as possible.
<Soulless> Med or med dice?
<Soulless> because avery blew 2 med dice
<Klurg> 4df+6 ruh roh
<Glacon> Klurg: ruh roh: 9 (4df+6=0, +, +, +)
<Kaeru> Avery, med roll
<Soulless> can I retract the med dice if I don't get to use them?
<Soulless> 4df+5 med
<Glacon> Soulless: med: 8 (4df+5=+, 0, +, +)
<Soulless> o ok
<Veiedhimaedhr> wow glacon pulling out the gud rolls now
<Kaeru> Avery, you can only use one med die per action, but with all that good rolling, I'll give you the 3. You can choose to wake Bastian up, or not to, up to you.
<Kaeru> Zack, you jump out of the way and the creature, with its momentum and the damage it's already sustained tearing its coordination apart, slams heavily into the wall behind where you were.
<TheSpookanist> Do Ella's bullets seem to… do much? Honestly, she was banking on this thing being /dead/ by now.
<Veiedhimaedhr> Can Nicole run up and empty her pistols into the side of the dog's head?
<Kaeru> Nicole, you really want to get that close, go for it.
<Veiedhimaedhr> hek ya
<Kaeru> Ella, they do, but this thing is probably running on spite and adrenaline by now.
<Kaeru> It won't get out of this. You have the feeling it knows that, but it's not going to stop.
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+8 Nicole runs up and fires two pistols repeatedly into the diamond
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: Nicole runs up and fires two pistols repeatedly into the diamond: 7 (4df+8=0, 0, -, 0)
<Veiedhimaedhr> (JEeeeeeezus christ Glacon. I'm glad the +8 was there to salvage that roll)
<Klurg> (tbf it's only a -1)
<TheSpookanist> In that case, Ella's going to follow up on Nicole's plan here. May she? In wildly different manner, but still.
<Varren> Ezekiel waits for a good shot on its head crystals
<Kaeru> Nicole, roll acro.
<Veiedhimaedhr> 4df+8 Here's some VBucks glacon, now give me a decent roll
<Glacon> Veiedhimaedhr: Here's some VBucks glacon, now give me a decent roll: 8 (4df+8=+, -, -, +)
<Veiedhimaedhr> I'll take it
<Soulless> Avery wakes Bastian.
<Kaeru> Nicole, you dodge out of the way of a swipe of claws at you- a shot or two goes wide, hitting its shoulders, but a few hit the diamond, cracking and splintering the bone.
<Kaeru> Ella, you may-
<Kaeru> The creature wails and roars and stands its ground.
<ArseneLupin> Does the newly woketh Bastian get a move this turn or nah?
<TheSpookanist> 4df+7 Not for the head but for the side do her claws fly, burying deep and seeking its life.
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: Not for the head but for the side do her claws fly, burying deep and seeking its life.: 6 (4df+7=-, -, +, 0)
<Klurg> Zack sighs in annoyance as it seems that everybody's in point blank range, and he aims for one of the front paws
<Klurg> (roll for it?)
<Varren> Ezekiel aims for a skull stone and fires only when its clear
<Kaeru> roll away.
<Kaeru> Estrella, your hits land, tearing through flesh with surprising ease.
<Kaeru> Like as it weakens, the damage, the weakness takes hold in its entirety, not just at the points of wounds.
<Varren> 4df+8 pistol pew, bad dog
<Glacon> Varren: pistol pew, bad dog: 8 (4df+8=0, +, -, 0)
<Klurg> 4df+6 front paw(s) begone
<Glacon> Klurg: front paw(s) begone: 7 (4df+6=0, +, +, -)
<Soulless> When is Avery's next turn?
<TheSpookanist> Either way, Ella's not here to slay it, not quite yet. First she's taking that same rush that she got the first time. Though if that holds true, maybe she'd be better off without it.
<TheSpookanist> She needs heavier weapons, and Salem provided - last time.
<Kaeru> Your shots hit, and Ella, it does-
<Kaeru> but it's weaker, it's weakened, it won't last for long- holding on by some defiance that-
<Kaeru> Bastian stands up.
<Kaeru> Shakily, but determined.
<Varren> "Salem, over here." Ezekiel does the whistle call to get attention on the fresh pain sponge
<Kaeru> His eyes are blanked red, and his voice is not his own. But there's a ghost of a smile on his lips, defiant and spiteful but at the same time soft and knowing, friendly.
<TheSpookanist> The others have their bullets fly into Salem's skull, and meanwhile, Ella's claws shred into the matter before her, even as they grow larger, more powerful.
<Kaeru> Ezekiel, its attention is elsewhere. Bastian, you allow this, speak with a voice that isn't yours. Estrella, even you're somehow pulled to stop, knowing getting rid of this creature won't be by the damage you can do to its body.
<Kaeru> His voice carries, strong and confident and cadence unlike his. Like some else's. Somehow familiar, but mixed with his tone, it's hard to make out.
<Soulless> Avery realizes this isn't Bastian.
<Soulless> He grabs for him, tries to press him down.
<TheSpookanist> Ella stops, then, and her head turns with piercing blue eyes surrounded by increasingly warped flesh, even as her claws drip ichor onto the floor below.
<Kaeru> No, Avery, something tells you not to. Wait- wait.
<Klurg> Zack lets out a muttered 'ah fuck'
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole reloads sighing
<Kaeru> "Shalim," he says. Voice so familiar, but impossible to place. "The future is not yours to claim."
<Kaeru> Addressing it. Not Salem- something else. Someone else. A familiar voice… Somehow-
<Soulless> Avery waits.
<Varren> Ezekiel suddenly wonders if he was using the wrong name the entire time.
<Soulless> 4df+5 logic (+2 if its quiet) he tries to put 2 and 2 together.
<Glacon> Soulless: logic (+2 if its quiet) he tries to put 2 and 2 together.: 5 (4df+5=+, 0, -, 0)
<Soulless> 4df+8 or science if need be
<Glacon> Soulless: or science if need be: 8 (4df+8=0, +, 0, -)
<Soulless> (whatever worjks for you)
<Veiedhimaedhr> "And our mate's body isn't yours to claim either you mingy tart. Get out of there." Nicole raises a pistol to both Salem and Bastian 2.0
<Kaeru> "Flowers have the most beautiful cycles," he says. They- they, say? Not just him, anymore, someone else, too.
<Kaeru> Not threatening.
<Kaeru> Speaking.
<Soulless> "…Who are you?"
<Kaeru> "Seed, rebirth. Seed, rebirth." Smiling. "No beginning, no end, no death, no blood to wash away." Taking a step, then another, towards Salem. Ignoring everything else.
<TheSpookanist> Ella is… transfixed.
<Varren> Ezekiel is silent and watching
<Kaeru> "Destruction, decomposition, chaos, order, growth, life eternal." Another step. "This is not death. There is no death."
<Soulless> Avery is anxious again. Can he identify the voice that told him to pause?
<Kaeru> His voice seems to carry power. Echo, unreal and somehow otherworldly.
<Kaeru> Avery, you- waited, because that voice told you to. The same one that's now mixed with Bastian's.
<Soulless> Avery starts to resist.
<Kaeru> "It is only the passing of time that fools us into believing that we are not forever."
<Kaeru> You're not trapped, Avery.
<Kaeru> It was a suggestion. But somehow, you wanted to trust it. A friend.
<Soulless> He goes to try and grab Bastian. He sends back, to the voice, fiercely, Tell Me Who You Are, And Also Give ME MY FRIEND BACK
<Kaeru> A final step, and Bastian is in front of Salem, placing a hand on its skull- then another. "We will meet again," he says, a bit quieter-
<Soulless> The sort of angry, grief-stricken fury of someone who has a lot more fear than just losing Bastian.
<Klurg> Zack is keeping is gun up and aimed in case things go wrong, completely lost as to what's going on.
<Soulless> He sends the two demands again, louder, fiercer.
<Kaeru> And Avery, before you can quite reach him, Bastian has Salem's skull in his hands and he twists to one side and it cracks, snaps, begins to crumble in his hands. Drifts away as red wisps and dust, along with the rest of the creature, reduced to nothing by whatever power Bastian tapped into.
<Kaeru> And then he blinks.
<Kaeru> And his eyes aren't red.
<ArseneLupin> "Uuuuuuh… what did I jut do?" He seems very confused about what /exactly/ just went down himself
<Soulless> Avery grabs at Bastian.
<Soulless> He just squeezes him tightly.
<Soulless> Did the person respond to him?
<Veiedhimaedhr> "Someone got in your head and stole our bloody kill." Nicole irritably shoves her pistols back into her holsters, "And now we don't even have a body to kick and study."
<Kaeru> Avery, you feel the other retreat, having only so much time and influence to exert here. But it trails a sort of touch like a smile at you before it's gone. A crooked sort of smile, somehow smug, but genuine nonetheless. Knowing.
<Klurg> "Apparently ya went and got yer self possessed." Zack states, before moving veeeery close to Bastian. Not aiming his gun at him, but he's close just in case. "I'm just as confused as you are. Though I'm staying close, case you have another moment."
<Soulless> That's not an answer. Avery sends his dissatisfaction.
<ArseneLupin> He winces. "Avery, please not so tight buddy!"
<Soulless> He practically hurls his dissatisfaction at it while it leaves.
<TheSpookanist> Ella's teeth grind as she lets out a small noise of pain and slumps against the nearest wall, claws scraping against- /digging into/ the concrete as the unsustainable growth settles back into a more stable, less powerful form.
<Kaeru> Avery, it is, though, isn't it? It's a perfect answer.
<Kaeru> Because you know that smile.
<Soulless> He stares at Bastian, and then lightens up a bit.
<Soulless> He is quiet.
<Varren> Ezekiel frowns and looks at Estrella, then at the others "How many dead?"
<Soulless> No, he needs to shut down a little. So he does.
<Soulless> He goes back to Ella and starts treating her.
<ArseneLupin> Despite everything, Bastian has a small smile. "A woman, saved people, led Salem to her."
<TheSpookanist> Ella sighs as her eyes flutter shut, and rather than respond to Ezekiel she- well, she was about to stand up, but then Avery starts patching up her wound. She sighs.
<ArseneLupin> "Probably more."
<TheSpookanist> "Just get the acid off, I'll go to medical for the rest."
<TheSpookanist> "But the acid /really fucking hurts/."
<Veiedhimaedhr> Nicole coughs
<Soulless> Avery doesn't say anything and just continues patching up Ella.
<Varren> Ezekiel holsters his gun and stalks off with a defeated slump in his shoulders, murmuring about filing a report
<Veiedhimaedhr> "I'm going to take a shower, and then get something to eat. Anyone want to come with?…for the eating not the-ah fuck it." she leaves coughing
<ArseneLupin> Bastian slowly falls on his ass, that small smile not leaving as he shakes Salem dust off his hand. Gross
<Soulless> Avery blinks at Nicole.
<Soulless> He goes to Medical.
<Soulless> There will be people he needs to amnesticize.
<ArseneLupin> After a few minutes of thinking (and procrastinating because Medical suuuuuucks) Bastian heads out to get patched up
<TheSpookanist> Ella goes there with little hesitation because Everything Fucking Hurts

ToolTime

TheSpookanist> Ella's clambering up the stairs and out out OUT of containment as fast as possible. She needs to get to an armoury, and now.
<Varren> Ezekiel is floundering and stumbling behind her after grabbing the gearbhebhad left behind fornthe experiment "not good not good not good!"
<Kaeru> There are stand-in armory rooms on these levels. It's standard security- for situations exactly like this. You have a head start on the thing, but it's chasing you, you know it is. The lights overhead are tinted red and spinning alarm lights cast shifting shadows without sound to go with them.
<TheSpookanist> 4df+6 Acrobatics, because Ella's gonna sling around every corner, vault over every obstacle, not stop until she hits the room where she can grab one of her new babies. This is exactly the fight they were designed for.
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: Acrobatics, because Ella's gonna sling around every corner, vault over every obstacle, not stop until she hits the room where she can grab one of her new babies. This is exactly the fight they were designed for.: 4 (4df+6=+, -, -, -)
<Kaeru> A warbling, resonating call that bounces through the halls, distorts and echoes. It's catching up to you. Fast.
<Kaeru> Think. Think. What do you know?
<TheSpookanist> Ella doesn't know shit except that the last time she tried to fight this thing head on it beat the everloving shit out of her. She needs gear. Unless she's not going to make it… Is she?
<Varren> Ezekiel checks his stuffx he doesnt happen to have a flash bang does he? Other than that they honed to be quiet maybe shit shit. No eyes, hint has scent. "Ella we gotta loose it. Ears and eyes!"
<Kaeru> You won't make it. You know it's close, but you know the creature is closer- Ezekiel, you're behind it, following by sound and not able to catch up enough to speak to her without shouting and hoping she can hear.
<Varren> Ezekiel pulls out his gun and fires at Salem's crystals on it's back "SALEM!"
<TheSpookanist> Then at this rate, it's turn and fight - she stops, faces Salem, and gets ready to spring out of the way when it comes for her.
<Kaeru> That won't work- Estrella, there's a dread in you, a feeling you can't explain, but you know you need to think, think, what do you know, what can you use- anything, everything, what do you know about it? Think, Estrella, think, it might save your life here.
<Kaeru> Ezekiel, you barely get glimpses as you round corners, not quite able to catch up. Your shots hit stone walls and corners.
<TheSpookanist> Ella uses what little brainpower she has to look around herself. Is there anything she can use? She came down here with a gun, but she's not exactly decked out.
<Kaeru> Not you. It. You know you- what do you know about it?
<Varren> Ezekiel curses and runs after, trying to make up ground. He round the corner and fires again "SALEM! BAD DOG. SIT! HEEL! FUCK OFF AND GO BACK TO YOUR CAGE!"
<TheSpookanist> Ella is going to /kill/ Ezekiel if she survives this. But she does the only thing she can do - she turns, and instead of fighting, she
<TheSpookanist> 4df+6 walks with soft steps to press herself flush into the door of a different containment area.
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: walks with soft steps to press herself flush into the door of a different containment area.: 7 (4df+6=+, 0, -, +)
<TheSpookanist> Stealth, if it wasn't obvious.
<Kaeru> You spin around a corner and silence your motions. And the creature, having been a hair's breadth from locking jaws around you, skids to a stop that scores grinding lines into the concrete with clinging claws.
<Kaeru> It can't see you.
<Kaeru> It stands still, breath slow and heavy and then silent, silent, there's nothing but silence, still.
<TheSpookanist> Ella's soft-soled boots toe the ground carefully as she heads towards the nearest elevator.
<TheSpookanist> Get to another floor. Get safe. Get armed. Get help.
<Kaeru> No elevator. Not close enough. Too far, across a long hallway, she can't creep that far fast enough- but right there, across the hallway, a door. A keycard scanner lit by spinning red lights. An armory checkpoint.
<Kaeru> She'll just have to cross the hallway.
<Kaeru> In the open, for a few moments.
<TheSpookanist> It'll have to do. She walks.
<Kaeru> Silent. Silent.
<Varren> Ezekiel is still calling out Salem's name of course. "SALEM, SIT BOY….jesus slow down this wasnt supposed to happen."
<Kaeru> It can't see you.
<Varren> He diesnt known she is hiding and is mostly trying to catch up
<Kaeru> It doesn't see you. It whips around- and Ezekiel, when you skid around the final corner, it's facing you. Staring you down, jaw half-open.
<TheSpookanist> Ella, with the most rage-filled expression Ezekiel may ever see in his life, short as it might yet be, presses a finger to her lips so firmly that it almost - almost - makes a sound. She slides her keycard through the scanner.
<Kaeru> The light turns green. It- fuck, damn, shit, it beeps, the tiniest noise but the creature is turning, moving, already leaping-
<Varren> Ezekiel flais slightly and both hands out in front if him. One holding his pistol. He is about to try to calm the animal that didnt tear him apart when he sees her. Relief on his facex he doesnt make a sound and stands there
<Varren> Oh wait. Ezekiel says Salem's name loudly then to try and grab attention. "Salem! I am sorry!"
<TheSpookanist> Ella throws herself through the door and tumbles on her landing. The door is small. Salem is big. That should buy a few seconds- there. The Malvarrosa. She sees it, sprints to it.
<Kaeru> Ella, you get out of the way long enough for Ezekiel's shout to reach it- and then it's gone from the doorway in a flash, and Ezekiel, Ezekiel, it heard you. It heard you loud, loud and clear, and it knows exactly where you are.
<Kaeru> And it doesn't seem to hesitate to whip around and kick feet off of the concrete. Soon to reach you. Too soon. It's fast.
<TheSpookanist> "EZEKIEL, I'M PUTTING DOWN YOUR FUCKING PET DOG," Estrella screams from the armoury. She slings that gun, holsters another, throws on as much gear as she can grab in those few seconds, and loads a massive magazine into the submachine gun with a soft click.
<TheSpookanist> It's the second time Salem's heard her voice today, but - at least she hopes - it /remembers/ her. Remembers what she did to it.
<Varren> Ezekiel tries to dodge its lunge of he can
<Kaeru> Ezekiel, it reaches you and knocks you to the ground- too fast- Estrella's shout- but it follows neither of you.
<Kaeru> It gives a warbling, shrieking, piercing roar and leaps off of you, bounding down an adjacent hallway and into the shadows and the red-tint spinning light.
<TheSpookanist> Ella leans out a doorway with her design-baby shouldered and curses loudly before returning to the armoury to stock up on more supplies. "OH SURE, LET'S JUST NET THIS THING AND KNOCK THE FIGHT OUT OF IT AND THEN /FUCK/ WITH IT BACK AT BASE. THAT CAN'T GO WRONG."
<Kaeru> Your instincts lash out against you, Ella, your voice in the silence, in the stillness, in the unsettling, unnatural quiet.
<Kaeru> It's the sort of silence you feel like can't be broken. Of course, it can be, but it maybe shouldn't be.
<TheSpookanist> She is /well/ beyond caring in this instant, but she does calm down a little bit at the nudge of her instincts. She can't cover the loud clinking of grenades and flares, the sliding of kevlar. She looks; is there anything that packs a punch she can take that she would normally need authorisation for?
<Kaeru> You see a weapon- heavy, high-impact, strong- and begin to reach for it. But you knock another weapon- a pistol, and it clatters to the floor-
<Kaeru> And a shard of red, from the stone, from the shadow, spears through it in an instant. Through the steel, without a sound, a thin spike without warning or ceremony. Clatter, a flash of motion, and nothing. Silent.
<TheSpookanist> Ella falls back against the wall, slowly, silently sinking down, shutting her eyes, inhaling, exhaling, trying to not hyperventilate.
<Kaeru> Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Your mind is occupied by the word. A command to yourself, repeated and repeated and repeated. Quiet. Quiet.
<TheSpookanist> With trembling hands, she affixes a suppressor to the end of the Malvarrosa. A good thing to take, she feels, given the situation. Still shaking, she rises to her feet, and pads silently out of the armoury, paler than usual.
<Varren> "….." Ezekiel goes lino and let's out something like andeathbrattle sound and holds his chest. "Fuck fuck." (Sorry had to fill out a form) he stands up slowly. "Estrella?"
<Kaeru> Ezekiel, roll acro.
<TheSpookanist> She puts a finger to her lips again. No longer angry-
<Varren> 4df+6
<Glacon> Varren: 3 (4df+6=0, -, -, -)
<Varren> Hold
<Varren> 1d3 possible reroll
<Glacon> Varren: possible reroll: 2 (1d3=2)
<Varren> Its a 4 now
<Varren> Good to go
<Kaeru> You jerk out of the way, a blur of motion and an instinctual dodge- not quite enough- a sudden spike of red crystal, silent as it swishes, stabs through the air from the ground at you- it catches the edge of your shoulder, tearing fabric with surprisingly little sound in its smooth cut and raking a shallow line in your skin. (-1php)
<TheSpookanist> Ella just points to that, finger still on her lips, nodding. Message delivered.
<Varren> Ezekiel blinks and slowly nods then goes into the armory to get armor and other stuff like something more than a pistol
<Varren> And flashbangs if they are there
<Kaeru> Better. You find a pair of concussion grenades- less flash, more sound- and, on some miracle, a single handheld decoy grenade.
<Kaeru> Designed to simulate the sound of gunfire.
<TheSpookanist> Ella pulls the batteries out of her radio and sets them silently on the ground.
<Kaeru> The tiniest of click, clicks.
<Kaeru> You can't help flinching. Freezing. But there's nothing, for a second, then another.
<Kaeru> Safe. Safe?
<Kaeru> You think so.
<Kaeru> Ezekiel exits up the elevator for now to assess potential options.
<Kaeru> Maybe you could find others, down here. But where is everyone else?
<Kaeru> You can't hear anyone.
<TheSpookanist> Ella's going to do the same way Salem went. She needs to hunt that thing down - protect other people from it. The smells of the dead crystalline forest run through her mind, the same silence as is here.
<Kaeru> No, not the same. Not the same at all. Because that silence, it was broken by rustling of wind through trees and bushes and grass.
<Kaeru> This, this silence,
<Kaeru> this is stifling. It's complete. It's still and unnatural and quiet, quiet, quiet.
<Kaeru> It shouldn't exist.
<TheSpookanist> Her hands morph into claws, almost without thinking. On edge. She needs to be prepared, no matter what. Finger on the trigger, boots to the floor - in fact, she takes them off to move quieter.
<Kaeru> Smart. Socks on concrete, so much quieter, so much better, better, softer, safer.
<TheSpookanist> Checks every corner, muzzle raised, thick night-black cylinder threatening the life of anything in its path. But there's nothing, is there? No one. No signs of Salem.
<Kaeru> No one. Nothing. Silence and claw marks in the floor. Red cracks- no, not cracks- jagged red lines, like it just transformed the concrete to crystal in little stretches so similar to the ones on your own skin-
<Kaeru> you shake away the thought.
<TheSpookanist> Ella should probably see a doctor about that. Are there stairwells around here?
<Kaeru> None. An elevator down the hall a ways- up, down? Salem's on this floor. Right?
<Kaeru> Can you be sure?
<TheSpookanist> The longer this silence goes on, the more Ella wants to be out of it… and to check on, well, someone who's hopefully safe up top. Either way, she doesn't trust the elevator at this moment. If they have indicators of what floor they're on, she'll try to find one that's already on this floor.
<TheSpookanist> She doesn't want that arrival 'ding'.
<Kaeru> There's just one, here. Others are elsewhere.
<Kaeru> This one's above. Several floors above.
<TheSpookanist> Ugh. Close enough. Armed with the knowledge that it's going to be bad for her health, Ella hits the button from as far as she can, dancing silently backwards between the red cracks.
<Kaeru> The slide of the elevator moving. You'd never taken the time to notice, to hear that before. But now you curse it, hate it, hear it like speakers to your ears.
<TheSpookanist> She thinks in advance while she waits. Do the elevators have access hatches?
<Kaeru> On the tops of them, yes.
<TheSpookanist> Perfect.
<Kaeru> Slide, slide, slide, grind- hiss- stops. You flinch at the inevitable ding-
<Kaeru> Doors slide open,
<Kaeru> too slowly, too loudly.
<TheSpookanist> She darts inside, not wanting to stick around, pops the access hatch and climbs out as quickly as she can.
<Kaeru> Assume she hits a button before getting through the hatch?
<TheSpookanist> Nope, she just wanted access to the elevator shaft to climb out.
<Kaeru> You're in the dark, in the shadow, in the blackness unlit by the dim red from the outside.
<TheSpookanist> Lucky for her, she flicks a switch on her weapon's rail-mounted attachment - cursing that tiny click - and a flashlight shows the way.
<Kaeru> Cables stretch above. Floors higher than you'd think they should be, further, but perhaps, perhaps reachable.
<TheSpookanist> Damnit. Is there /at least/ a ladder?
<Kaeru> There's not.
<Kaeru> You think of the metal- of the creak, and the groan, and the sound of weight on hollow steel bars-
<Kaeru> and you're rather glad there isn't.
<TheSpookanist> She puts a hand to her face - FINE. /FINE/. Fine. She silently climbs back down and hits the button.
<Kaeru> Tap, tap of your feet on the floor as you land, a moment of stillness and nothing, nothing-
<Kaeru> you curse the click of the button and it lights, flinch at the slide of the doors, flinch- flinch away when a spire of red shoots from the ground and imbeds itself in the concrete of the frame, the steel of the door.
<Kaeru> Fuck.
<TheSpookanist> FINE AGAIN. Is the elevator stuck?
<Kaeru> Speared through steel and concrete and mechanisms-
<Kaeru> it's not going anywhere.
<Kaeru> You could climb. The access hatch, cables and footholds on the walls in the structural supports. You could climb, if you'd risk it. Or you could stay.
<TheSpookanist> Ella climbs back up, saving her grumbling for the inside of her head. Well, no matter what, she's fucked now. Nowhere to go but up. She unclips the flashlight from the rail and holds it between her teeth; she needs her hands. Sock-clad feet cling to structural supports, and she climbs.
<Kaeru> Roll. Acro or Ath, your choice.
<TheSpookanist> It's either stay in the silence and risk death anyway, or keep moving, and moving has worked so far.
<TheSpookanist> 4df+6 Acrobatics
<Glacon> TheSpookanist: Acrobatics: 8 (4df+6=+, +, 0, 0)
<Kaeru> You make it up. Your toughened hands avoid skinning on the wound steel cables and you make it, make it up to the next level. Lean over, a nerve-wracking lean a floor or two up, to open the metal doors, just a fraction, just enough to grab and to fit and to-
<Kaeru> Without giving yourself time to think it over, you let go of the cables and grab hold of the ledge. Pull yourself up.
<Kaeru> You made it. How many floors up did you go?
<TheSpookanist> She's going as far towards the dormitory level as she can manage. She has someone she needs to find. Either to warn, to protect, to help, or to hunt with.
<Kaeru> A floor up. Two. That's as far as you dare, the distance below you stretching and putting a hollow dread in your chest. Two floors up, and you know, you know you're just one floor too low, but the security here is low enough, there are stairs, stairs somewhere close.
<TheSpookanist> Good, good, that's all she needs. She pries the doors open as quietly as she can and steps up.
<Klurg> Estrella would encounter a Zackary, armed for combat and heading towards where he thinks the breach is happening.
<Kaeru> Estrella, up here,
<TheSpookanist> Ella holds a finger up to her lips, having just stepped out of an open elevator shaft, and to test, she takes a flare from her pack and pitches it across the floor, making it skid as loudly as she can.
<Kaeru> It's like a breath of fresh air.
<Kaeru> There's sound.
<Kaeru> The hum of lights. Zack's boots. His breath, the clicks of his gun in his hands, his gear. Footfalls elsewhere. Distant alarm blares.
<Klurg> "what's go-" zack begins, then sees Estrella do things that confuse him.
<Kaeru> The skid of the flare.
<Kaeru> It's like coming up for air after being underwater.
<Kaeru> Like the world comes back into focus.
<Kaeru> It's okay.
<TheSpookanist> "Holy /shit/," she finally says, after being forced to shut up for a good chunk there. "Right. Salem's out, containment is completely fucked."
<TheSpookanist> "I dunno about the floor between here and there, but /containment/ is /fucked/," she repeats.
<Kaeru> There are several floors between this one and the one you'd been on.
<TheSpookanist> "So is this elevator." Pause. "Not my fault."
<TheSpookanist> Floors* then
<Kaeru> Low containment and detainment, just below you- higher containment, below that- and then where you'd been.
<Kaeru> Maybe the distance is what makes a difference.
<Kaeru> Maybe it's something else.
<Klurg> "Salem? Explain, and more specifically."
<TheSpookanist> "Questions?"
<TheSpookanist> "Salem. Big dog thing. Crystals and shit," she elaborates, going to get the flare she threw. "Ezekiel's fucking dumb ass was experimenting with it and the thing got all its power back and blew the containment door off its hinges like it was fucking rice paper."
<TheSpookanist> "I really, /really/ want to fucking kill it, but the more I think about it I'm not sure we can."
<TheSpookanist> "Crystals on that floor keep spiking anything that makes noise, so I dunno about you, but I'm sticking up here and getting a team together."
<Klurg> "Gode. Fucking. Damn it. Ok, let's get containment gear first, see if we can't trick it into a trap." Where on site would containment gear be? Down with the Salem or up in the 'safe' zones?
<TheSpookanist> Ella looks at Zack, not hiding her emotions: she thinks that's a fucking /stupid/ idea. "It blew through the thickest steel door I've ever seen in my life like it wasn't shit and then broke through the concrete doorframe on its way out. Fuck that," she puts simply, heading for the stairs. "I'm not fucking going anywhere near that thing without a .50 cal."
<Kaeru> Some equipment is in the armory areas here, other in checkpoints on lower levels.
<TheSpookanist> Zack already knows about her anomaly, but by the way, her claws are already out. Just barely, hollow-tipped claws jutting from coal-like flesh.
<Klurg> "Best I got is 7.62 mm, and if you got a better idea, be my guest." Zack would most likely have some stuff from armory then. He follows behind Estrella
<TheSpookanist> "A better idea? The only ideas are to fucking kill it or to let consec deal with it, which no offense, I'm not sure they /can/. It already blew through the heaviest containment option we had without even trying, so-" Her voice slows, but her feet don't, changing direction. "What if instead of trying to contain it in a trap, we use the other kind of trap?" To the armoury.
<TheSpookanist> "We get a fuckton of ammo and explosives. We pile it up."
<Klurg> "…I like yer thought process. Try and do it in a room too, so if it doesn't die the room caves in and maybe traps it."
<TheSpookanist> "That wouldn't trap it." She skids to a stop, tapping a fist on the side of her head. "Think /think/. /Fuck/- We need to set it up somewhere Salem's silence shit and the crystal spikes /aren't/."
<TheSpookanist> "Otherwise we set down a case, clack, spike, boom, we die."
<Kaeru> You want to cave in a room, deliberately?
<Kaeru> In an underground facility?
<Kaeru> Under some unknown number of tons of desert sand and layers of concrete structure?
<Varren> Ezekiel has entered into this area toting some gear and a grim look.
<Klurg> "Hey, I don't know much about their ability, so leaving that to you. Though what area could we blow up and cave in without the rest of the sight going down?"
<TheSpookanist> "Like I said, caving shit in wouldn't fucking work. It's too strong."
<TheSpookanist> "So we either hunt it down or gun it down - good luck with the fucking spikes killing anything that fucking squeaks - or- or…"
<Klurg> "We Impale it on its own spikes." He gives Ezek a motion to follow, and once they get to the armory, Zack makes sure to double check his gear
<TheSpookanist> "Yeah, I'm sure that's gonna work, considering it was making a fuckton of noise and nothing fucking happened to it."
<Varren> Ezekiel follows. "Lure it with bait and…I think using it's abilities drains its power…or we target the gems on its skull. The ones it seems to draw powers from."
<Varren> "And no…we make the noise in close proximity."
<Varren> "It takes the hit meant for us"
<Klurg> In particular, he's looking for a snare to set up to try and wrap around its feet. Then he looks for a small grade explosive. Nothing cave shattering. "Never said we're gonna trust it to trigger the spikes. We'll trigger its spikes for it. So, anyone know how to rig explosives?"
<Klurg> Zack points to Ezekiel. "He gets it."
<TheSpookanist> "That's still a terrible fucking plan, but if you wanna try it knock yourself out. Look, I'm gonna- I gotta find some people, make sure they're alive. Speaking of which," she delivers a none-too gentle thwack to Ezekiel's side with the side of her fist. Not injurious, just painful. "This is /still/ on you. Fucking fix it."
<Klurg> And finally: a lighter and something to activate it with. Zack has an idea, but none of the talent to actually pull it off so he hopes someone else can pull it off for him.
<Varren> Ezekiel flinches and frowns deeply. "I know…and that item..that cross test…it reconnected us to the Red Forest or something. It shouldnt have done that…but I will help. Flashbangs should trigger the spike. Also screw Salem's hearing."
<TheSpookanist> Ella bails out, sock-clad feet pounding towards the stairs.
<Klurg> "Perfect, we'll get those too, if they're here." Does Zack find the items he was looking for?
<Kaeru> Yep! Three concussions- a decoy, too.
<Klurg> Zack gets his gear, and follows Ella out. "Oi, wait up for reinforcements." He notices Ella's shoelessness, and takes off his shoes, noting that's a pretty smart idea for trying to not make noise.
<TheSpookanist> Like Ella said, she's not going with the plan. She's got other shit she needs to do. She heads upstairs.
<Varren> Ezekiel Leans on the wall. "I really didn't know. We wanted better insight into the Forest and-" he follows after. Discarding his shoes as well
<Klurg> If Ella doesn't head downstairs, Zack takes a deep breath, then heads towards the stairs leading down. He doesn't go downstairs just yet. "So, you know how to set up a trap?" He asks Ezekiel.
<Klurg> Then he realizes: he sorta needs Ella because she knows more about that are than him. Well, that's a bridge he'll cross later
<Varren> "Well the easiest way is going to be a hard point and bait leading Salem into the trap
<Varren> "
<Klurg> Oh, and he also gets multiple somethings to throw to make noise.
<TheSpookanist> Ella didn't have a lot of trap knowledge. She has the vague idea of 'make the dog run into a bunch of fucking explosives and die'.
<Klurg> For context: it was only a single low grade explosive that Zack took.
<Varren> "I am okay being bait because he hasnt shown severe aggression towards me very much he..well he was amiable right up until he got recharged. Even then he only shoulder rammed me when he could have torn me apart. So maybe I am the better bait choice"
<Klurg> "Yeah, then you'd lose his trust. We could use that. We'll use noise and/or myself as bait, and possibly you could talk him down once he's injured."
<Varren> "I will admit I dont think he trusts me..I just think he isnt as inclined to kill me." Ezekiel wipes his mouth. "I made a mistake with Salem and we need to fix it. We should kill it."
<Varren> "Too dangerous to study and cross experimentation is widely unpredictable. Man I am so fucked after we get this taken care of. How are you?"
<Klurg> "Alright, well let's choose how we do this quick. We don't want it running amok any longer than we can help. Help me set this up, we bait the thing, and once they're baited we flashbang it while trying to avoid the spikes?
<Varren> "I was thinking more deployable barriers in the end of a hall so its a dead end. We bait him to the end and toss them over the barriers right at his feet. Should cause spikes and disorientation in Salem because of his sensitive hearing. Make things up after that."
<Klurg> "Alright, then let's get to it then." Zack states, heading down and motioning for Ezekiel to follow.
<Varren> Ezekiel follows!
<Varren> He looks very very bothered currently and knows full well this is his fault
<Klurg> (Kaeru: whenever you're ready we're heading down to do bad decisions.)
<Klurg> (both shoeless)
<Varren> (And I assume silenced weapons probably)
<Klurg> can't really put a silencer on an m60, but Zack does have melee weapons and a pistol
<Kaeru> Are you going to find an elevator down?
<Klurg> stairs if there are any
<Kaeru> Stairs can get you down one level.
<Kaeru> For security, there aren't staircases down further. There are elevators, and steel ladder shafts.
<Klurg> Then Zack takes the route Estrella took, crawling out of an elevator
<Klurg> he did see her come out of it I believe
<Kaeru> Well. You'd have to- literally climb down the elevator shaft.
<Kaeru> The elevator itself is three floors down.
<Klurg> then steel ladder shaft it is
<Klurg> safer that way
<Klurg> hopefully
<Varren> Yes let's go ladder
<Kaeru> There's only a few of those. But there's one you can get to without too much distance travelled- and you do. It's like a bulkhead door, a steel cylinder down into the dark with a ladder on the left.
<Klurg> Zack climbs down and down until he reaches the floor, not looking forward to what's coming
<Kaeru> It takes a while to climb all the way down, but you make it eventually.
<Varren> Ezekiel follows and is silent most the way. He doesnt feel like talking anymore
<Kaeru> Yank the lever of the door, shove it open. Somehow, the sound, the creak, the grind of hinges grates on your ears.
<Kaeru> Maybe because there's no other sound to lessen it.
<Varren> Ezekiel cringes at the sound and waits for the worst
<Kaeru> … Silence.
<Kaeru> Nothing.
<Kaeru> Dark, red spinning lights in the dimness, and nothing.
<Varren> He looks at Zack and shrugs where to?
<Klurg> Zack begins moving about, trying his best not to make noise as he looks for areas with crystals or corpses. means that said area is infected.
<Kaeru> That area seems to be- well, just about everywhere. The ground is split by lines of jagged red glass that seems to have taken the place of the concrete in thin strips like stretch marks or miniature ravines, and spikes of crystal jut out here and there. Some through objects, fewer through nothing. Bodies? None.
<Klurg> Then Zack looks for an area where he has cover to hide behind and a wall behind him so the cat will only come from one direction. Once he finds that area, he begins quietly setting up the trap. It's a tad bit like those grenade traps from fallout NV. only the trigger is a snare instead of a tripwire. if cat steps in snare, snare it wraps up around it, then activates and drops the low yield explosive on it. Said explosive might be harder to avoid due to
<Klurg> the snare restricting movement. He motions for Ezekiel to help him, trying to do this as silently as possible.
<Varren> Ezekiel will help to the best of his ability here. But he is pretty sure his use is bait
<Kaeru> You set it up… Roll- engi, or another INT skill you think might apply.
<Klurg> can we just roll raw int because I got nothing for education
<Klurg> can I*
<Varren> Ezekiel has a bold in perception…so he watches? He will be no help setting this thing up
<Kaeru> Sure. Zack, use STL or INT if you want to.
<Klurg> 4df+3 oh thank god I have some stealth
<Glacon> Klurg: oh thank god I have some stealth: 3 (4df+3=-, +, 0, 0)
<Kaeru> You manage to set it up without making any terribly detrimental errors. Like noise, or setting it off.
<Klurg> Once Zack finishes, he makes a 'careful' motion to Ezekiel, pointing to a rock, and pointing to the walls near them, in case one of said rocks comes out of the walls at that noise. Then he mouths 'ready?' to Ezekiel
<Varren> Ezekiel nods slowly and makes a pouting face. Time to get attention
<Klurg> He takes out a flashbang in one hand, and a flare in the other hand, and his flare hand begins counting down once Ezekiel gets his flashbang out
<Klurg> Once his flare hand reaches 0 fingers up, he lights and throws the flare hard as he can and attempts to place it so the source of the noise causes kitty to inertia itself into the trap. Now he's checking for Salem and incoming crystals.
<Kaeru> The flare hits a wall and bounces off and- stops, midair, skewered by a silent spike of crystal that flies from the wall to form a diagonal spire into it and near to the ceiling before it stops.
<Klurg> He now waits for cat, flashbang at ready and m60 strapped somewhere wherever one would put a heavier weapon when not at use.
<Varren> Ezekiel waits curiously and frowns. He isnt sure this will work. So he strolls forward. Careful to avoid the trap.
<Varren> He gets to about where the flare is and cups his hands to his mouth. Deep breath and "SALEM!"
<Klurg> behind the trap right? because don't want to get tackled into the trap.
<Klurg> Zack flinches, then watches for spikes. Is Ezekiel within arm's reach?
<Kaeru> Ezekiel, you're interrupted.
<Varren> Ye, near it of course but he is sure he can get past it again before Salem gets there
<Kaeru> You take a breath to yell, and instead of yelling,
<Kaeru> the sound of a shot cracks out in the silent halls.
<Kaeru> Loud, powerful, the sound of a heavy rifle.
<Varren> Bastians rifle?
<Kaeru> It sounds like it.
<Klurg> Zack pokes Ezekiel, and if he turns around, Zack turns his head to the direction of the sound, as if asking 'go there?'
<Varren> Ezekiel frowns and pulls out notepad, scribbles a note of 'Bastian's rifle. We should go to them. Can you make the trap mobile?'
<Klurg> He shakes his head no.
<Klurg> he writes on the same notepad 'can uninstall it, but not make it mobile. hard enough to install it as it is'
<Varren> Ezekiel sighs silently and write 'backup plan' andnthen heads off in the direction of the shot!
<Klurg> Zack follows, leaving the trap as is, scooting down the hallway as silently as possible
<Klurg> of course, making sure to avoid the trap he set
<Kaeru> Time to move.
<Kaeru> They're not too far-
<Kaeru> But how much time might you have?
<Kaeru> A warbling, shrieking roar reaches your ears.
<Varren> Ezekiel is going fast as possible while remaining quiet
<Varren> He needs to kill this thing
<Kaeru> Move, move-
<Kaeru> HI2, go.