Another scream, the sound of bones cracking, and a gasp of pain. This time he is in a position to witness it, the pale lights from the fog and the statue illuminating the gruesome scene in horrid detail.
Nothin' for't! he thinks, twisting around to flee into the mist. I might make't back to th'alleys. Might come up on help. Might git out yet. The thoughts flit through his mind as he runs, half crouching, through the cemetery of statues. He recognizes them now for what they are--tombstones, his fate etched upon them in vivid detail. He cannot escape the ending.
He laments that he is empty-handed, for he might have considered cutting his own wrists.
He does all that a man can do. He runs.
Seeing that the girl does not respond to his magical healing, Lucius is ready to fight this thing.
The next moment, the burly half-orc is torn to pieces and Lucius is ready to run.
Both woman with the strange-colored hair and man seek escape but Lucius knows that there was no escaping. There was also no fighting.
He picks up his considerable girth, cursed the fact that he should have been on a diet, and started pumping his arms.
He was running. Not sure where he was going but anywhere was better than here.
Silence... no more screaming. Is this a good or a bad sign? The man and the woman run side by side towards the light... it might be a trap of some sort but roaming blindly in the yellow mist is not a better plan. Behind one of the statues, you notice a blood pool and another body... it is a man with white hair and the front of his clothes are completely covered in blood. His throat is opened by what appears to be a really sharp blade... he might have drowned in his own blood.
You also notice marks of claws on his cheek, a missing ear, and the marks of a hand covering his mouth... the pool of blood reflects something... a word... "UP."
________________________________
????
Lucius - up
Mira - up
Lucius looked at the woman, held his breath, and dared to hope.
"Maybe it got what it wanted and left. Let's try to retrace our steps so we can get out of here."
He casually asked, "You saw that word, right? So now we have 'ME', 'HELP' and 'UP'; it's got to be some sort of message, maybe an answer to a riddle."
Upon seeing the new victim, the woman looks away and keeps running, determined for her own sanity to block out all thoughts other than fleeing. How did the man die? Don't think about it. Keep running. What does "up" mean? What did "me" mean? Don't think about it. Keep running. There's no escape, both of them are going to die. Don't think about it. Keep running. Only the remarks of the man running beside her manage to break her concentration. Losing all her ability to act calm, she shouts back. "Are you mad! Help? That was the word of a frightened woman about to die...and I couldn't save her..." Breathing deeply and trying to regain her composure, she reiterates her internal mantra, this time out loud. "Don't think about it. Keep running..." With that she turns are keeps fleeing hopelessly through the mist.
You run, side by side, leaving the dead man behind. You once more hear footsteps behind you but this time it isn't slow... it is indeed running after you... you also hear a rasping sound of a laughter. A couple feet ahead of you notice the entrance of an alley...
Too focused on forgetting about the grizzly scene, the woman falls to the ground, even if she hadn't tripped in anything... the last thing she sees is the yellow fog, wrapping around her ankle almost as if it was solid... soon after she is violently pulled back into the mists and all that the man heard was her high pitched scream, the creatures laughter, and the sound of his claws tearing the woman apart... repeatedly.
When he finally reaches the entrance of the alley he notices it is a dead alley... a dead end. At its end, he sees a word written in blood. "WAKE."
________________________________
????
Lucius - up
Too focused on forgetting about the grizzly scene, the woman falls to the ground, even if she hadn't tripped in anything... the last thing she sees is the yellow fog, wrapping around her ankle almost as if it was solid... soon after she is violently pulled back into the mists and all that the man heard was her high pitched scream, the creatures laughter, and the sound of his claws tearing the woman apart... repeatedly.
Lucius once more went into panic mode; this was not over. He screamed the words that had been shown to him. "HELP ME UP! I get it. You want help to go up somewhere. Yes, I can help you. I WILL help you."
When he finally reaches the entrance of the alley he notices it is a dead alley... a dead end. At its end, he sees a word written in blood. "WAKE."
Alone. Confused. Scared.
Lucius was just about to give up. But somehow he knew that he loved puzzles. Sometime in his past, he had relished in mental games. Knowing he could not fight nor flee this thing, he tried to outsmart it.
He lifted his hands in front of him, "Ok, OK. Stop. I got it. 'HELP ME UP' is not the right answer."
He thought for a moment, "Is the answer 'HELP WAKE ME UP'?"
He shivered, "Please don't kill me... I can help you. I can help you wake up..."
You hear a voice in your mind. "Wake up! Help me!"
Your nose starts to bleed profusely and your head to spin... you barely see the creature rushing towards you before you black out.
A nightmare... it was just nightmare. As you groggily wake up hear a man screaming. "Wake up, damn it!" the man on the table screams, his panic cutting through the claustrophobic near dark.
Bars separate you from the stranger, a struggling man with split lips and skin covered in a mapwork of fresh red lines. Heavy ropes lash the man to a splintery worktable.
Another figure, unsettlingly thin and wearing a blood-smeared doctor's coat, circles the table casually... stopping every so often to scrutinize one of the man's wounds or select a different object from a sideboard of shiny blades. Currently she spins one blade of a broken pair of pruning shears, which glints in the dull light of the lamp suspended overhead. With careless cruelty, the doctor draws the blade across the man's bare tight, releasing a tortured wail.
None of you recognize the screaming man on the table. As you further gain your bearings, each of you realize that you also don't recognize anyone in the room... you don't even remember who you are...
Lucius rubbed his eyes and tried to shake off the bad nightmare. He mumbled more to himself than anyone else, "It was 'WAKE UP! HELP ME' and not 'HELP ME WAKE UP'. I was close..."
He shook his head, "How was I suppose to know it was two sentences..."
But then it hit him, "Who am I? Where am I?"
Seeing the bars, he wondered out loud, "Am I a prisoner or am I on the other side?"
He asked for lights to appear and then illuminated his 'companions' with four gently glowing orbs. "You are the people from my nightmare. Can you help me? Who am I? How do you know me?"
tag?
The half-orc came awake with a scream. It took a panicked moment before she realized that it had been a dream, just a nightmare. But what a nightmare!.
Shaking her head to clear the dream, she looked around and saw that her waking life was only slightly improved. She was in a cell, with a girl she recognized. The girl with the goggles, the one from the dream. She was also waking up.
A scream, a real one, cut through her awareness and launched her to her feet. Past the bars she saw a scene of torture, and she felt her gut react instinctively against it. This was wrong.
Rattling the bars, she snarled, "Stop! Hey, leave him alone."
Beyond, she could see other familiar forms getting up, as if also coming out of sleep. She was relieved to see Streaks in the cell opposite. The two men, White Hair and Moustache, were also okay, and in another cell. Moustache was asking questions, but she was having a hard time understanding his words over the screams of the man on the table.
Moving to the door, she tried to see if she could open it.
As you start to talk among yourselves and shouting at the man, the 'doctor' wheels on you and demands, "Pipe down. You'll have your turn soon enough." She then goes about her business, agonizing over where to make her next incision on her patient.
Jenni forces against the bars... unfortunately the bars through which you glimpse your fellow prisoners form a sturdy barrier, each with a swinging section held closed by a heavy lock.
You notice that, differently from the nightmare where some of you had a couple weapons or armors, you have no items with you. Looking over the sharp instruments arrayed on the smaller table next to the screaming man, you notice that none of them were designed for use on living flesh: a gardening trowel, forks, several long pieces of broken glass and metal, and the other blade of the tormentor's shears. Most of these could be employed as improvised weapons... if they were just closer...
He wakes with a sharp intake of breath. Reflexively, his body tenses and he jerks up from the fetal position he had curled himself into. His head bangs against the bars, startling him again.
A Dream!, he thinks with relief, rubbing his head. 'Twas onl--
But there's no time for relief. Not even enough time to fully comprehend his circumstances. An intense burning sensation claims the back of his throat and his nostrils, as though he were about to vomit. A great pressure builds within his skull and within his ears, also pressing to get out. A viscous liquid begins to rise up in his throat, causing him to choke and gag. He convulses on the floor, dry heaving, until a thick, gauze-like substance floats from the orifices of his body and slowly, slowly begins to assume a shape.
After her dreams of brutal murder, the tattooed woman wakes with a jolt. Though no sound escapes her mouth, her mind and eyes are immediately searching for answers. Sitting, up she looks to the others and thinks, They seem so...familiar. From my nightmare. They were all in it. Eyes falling on the half-orc, she feels a strange sense of relief. Making eye contact, she is surprised to see signs of recognition. That dream...it can't have been real...can it? Yet when the older man, surrounded by glowing orbs, begins mentioning them all being in his nightmares and speaking with the same barrage of questions styles she remembers from her final moments, she wonders once again.
Her eyes continue to dart around the room. The torture victim screaming. The doctor and her cruel implements. The half-orc begging her to stop. The older man demanding answers...and the other man... Is he...sick? Oh, that doesn't look good. As the doctor orders them all to pipe down, she quickly realizes that she needs to stay level heading and form a plan. What do I have? Nothing. But the woman's tools. Those could be used in a pinch. If I could just get to them...or get them to the half-orc. So I need to get out of here. Key? Does she have keys?
Getting up off the floor, she leans back against the wall, as if she were casually waiting for a friend. Staring intently as the back of the woman's head, she waits and observes, just willing her to make a mistake. Then suddenly something begins stirring inside of her. Like she has connected somehow to the woman. Like she she really is fogging her mind.
Interesting...Now if only there was something to distract her... She thinks as she looks over the to the door.
Suddenly the sound of footsteps and creaking floors can be sound near the doorway.
Huh? Did I just do that?
Her eyes slowly open. The last thing she remembers are the claws reaching for her, her flesh being rended. She scrambles backwards, clutching at her stomach, and feeling for wounds. Finding herself intact, she realizes that she had been having a terrorizing dream or hallucination. It is then that she hears the man’s screams and her attention is drawn towards the table and the woman in the blood-splattered white coat. There is something familiar about the scene but she can’t quite put her finger on why. The memory flits from her thoughts as she focuses on it, evaporating like smoke.
She begins looking around and soon there are others awake and on their feet. She recognizes their faces from her harrowing nightmare but not their names, nor hers. How can I not know my own name? How could we all have been having the same dream? She searches for anything on her person to tell her who she is or why she’s there. Sadly her search yields nothing. At least she’s in the same cell as the half-orc because she seems able to protect herself, although the man with the light is in the other cell.
When the ‘doctor’ yells at them for silence and threatens that they’re next, Alenka begins to wonder if there’s another way out of the cell. She has no desire to be next. She notices the tools and wonders if they’re within reaching distance. She believes that if she could get her hands on one of the metal shards that she may be able to pick the lock to her cell. With the woman’s back to her, she sticks her arm through the bars to see how far she can reach. As she reaches, her attention is drawn back towards what the woman is doing. Without knowing why, she says, ”You’re doing it wrong.”
Lucius saw the white-haired man convulse and he instinctively moved away. Something inside of him told him to stay away from unknown diseases.
He started to get his bearing. This was just another puzzle. He loved puzzles. He could make the weird doctor his friend or he could try and pick the lock.
For now, he waited to see how the doctor reacted to the others.
Distracted with her terrible work, the doctor pays little attention to you and misses Cerio's current situation. The doctor looks startled for a moment, looking around worried thanks to the sound of footsteps coming from the doorway. She leaves her shear blade in the side table before checking the door, opening it and soon closing it again.
"You think it is funny, right? Illusions... who did this?" She stands between the north and south cells, looking from one cell to the other. She then focuses her attention on Alenka, her eyes slightly gleaming... after a couple seconds the doctor's face assumes Alenka's features, "It was you, was not?" and after a couple seconds she returns to the side table, picking again her shears. "You'll be the first... yes you will..."
Still concerned about any contagious disease, Lucius neared the white-haired man, "Are you OK?"
His mind was racing, "Listen, I can probably pick the lock of our cell and get us out. Can you walk? Do you think you can overpower the doctor?"
Despite the dire situation, the tiniest smirk escapes as she manages to irritate the horrible woman. However, her expression quickly shifts to a single raised eyebrow as the woman's ire gets directed towards the woman with the goggles. Interesting...I may not know who I am or what I can do...but it's good to know that she doesn't either. Hmm...Though I may have made things worse for the other woman...but perhaps not? She did seem to be trying to antagonize her. Maybe leading her over there wouldn't be the worst thing...
Trying to subtly catch the attention of the women across from her, the tattooed woman tries to communicate what she is thinking to them. First she points to the doctor and imitates her being really angry. Then she gestures with her fingers, the woman walking towards them and opening the cell. Then, she tries to imply that they should jump her. Finally, she gives them both a shrug, as if asking if they want to try it.
Continuing to stare intently at the doctor, the tattooed woman makes another attempt at creating illusory noise, hoping to anger and distract the woman.
Suddenly the chamber fills with echoes of a voice that sounds vaguely like the goggled woman.
Oh. I'm sorry?
Is this distracting you?
Just trying to help...
Like I said...you're doing it wrong...
Laughter echoes throughout the chamber and an undistinct voice declares, Nope. Guess again.
He gasps for air as the obstruction clears his throat, continuing to cough and sputter as he rolls onto his side. Beside him, the pale green ectoplasm merges together into a mass, then differentiates itself into the shape of a faceless, humanoid body lying next to him. It begins to crawl to its feet, slowly forming the appearance of clothing and facial features. It moans an agonized wail, reaching out a hand desperately toward the mustached man.
It looks like just like white-haired man, who now slowly crawls to his feet, but jumps back against the wall at the sight of the phantom.
"Wha! What! What is't?!" he asks in horror, grabbing at the wall with his hands.
The phantom rotates its head around 180 degrees to stare at its creator. ::Whaaat iiis't?:: it repeats slowly, its voice eerie and detached. ::Iiit's me. Iiit's you. Iiit's usss...::
The white-haired man remembers the statues of himself from his "dream," especially the ones cast in despair. He slaps himself, to make sure he's still not dreaming.
"Y'aint here t'kill me, then?" he says uncertainly, before noticing the others around them. It takes him a moment to come up to speed, recognizing his cellmate and the other women in nearby cells.
"Hell, I'll walk, run, crawl, whatever y'say," he replies to the mustached man in his cell. "Jus' don't let that crazy skin us alive!"
::Aliiive:: drawls the phantom as it steps through the bars imprisoning them. A thick layer of clear slime coats them once it's through.
The white-haired man stares at him blankly, then raises a finger to his lips to suggest they should be as quiet as possible.
"Well, see any keys?"
The half-orc was surprised to discover that the noises hadn't been real. As the torturer moved back, she noticed something swinging from her waist. The Keys!
Looking up, she noticed Tattoo miming something to them. She had a plan of some sort. Maybe - lure her over? Yes, that was it. If the torturer got close enough, she could grab her through the bars, get the keys.
Whispering to Goggles, she said, "Keep it up, get her over here. I see the keys. If I can just grab them..."
The half-orc took a step back from the bars, so as not to look too intimidating. She coiled her muscles and waited, ready to leap.
"Hell, I'll walk, run, crawl, whatever y'say," he replies to the mustached man in his cell. "Jus' don't let that crazy skin us alive!"
Already spooked by the torturing, this ... thing did nothing to assuage his fears.
He asked, "Is that a... ghost?"
tag?
He then saw the the other two ladies trying to come up with some sort of plan so decided to wait.
"You talk to this ghost?
"You talk to this ghost?"
The "ghost" shimmers in the dim light, floating lazily around to face the two men still trapped inside the cell. ::Aaam Iii...a ghooost?:: it asks with genuine curiosity.
"I dun' know what you is, but ain't it queer we look t'be the same? I ain't never seen no one walk though a wall 'afore. Come to think on it, I don't remember much't all...Like I been hit on the noggin' one too many a'time." the white-haired man replies to his ectoplamic reflection. He pokes a finger out to the bar in front of him and scoops up a thick glob of slime. He places it on his tongue, smacking his lips as he tastes it. "Hmm, ain't nuthin' to it."
"What about you?" he asks the mustached man. "You know what this all about?"
The doctor turns around to face the cell holding Alenka and Jenni after Mira's spell takes effect,"QUIET! Shut your mouth girl! I swear I'll..." meanwhile, when the doctor's back is turned, the man on the table struggles in his bond-slicked bindings and manages to get a let free. Desperately he kicks her in the small of her back, throwing her against the south cell. "... ahh you cursed man..."
Meanwhile, Cerio's phantom finally materializes itself and moves outside the cell. Thanks to the confusion, she isn't aware of it yet...
"What about you?" he asks the mustached man. "You know what this all about?"
Lucius wondered, "I... no, I don't know what this is about. In fact I have no recollection of how I got here or...", he whispered, "who I am."
Lucius let out a holler when the doctor was slammed to the bars. He urged the two ladies there, "Grab her or grab.. it. Don't ask me how but I know that's a doppleganger. They change shapes easily."
He paused, "In fact, I think I went to see her in jail at one time but I guess I wouldn't know if it's the same one, would I?"
____________
Yes! she thinks as the victimized man takes advantage of her distraction and kicks her toward the target cell. "Do it! Grab her now! Now if she'd just stay down...Maybe if I...
Focusing all her attention in the woman on the ground, she tries to barrage her mind with noise and color. Anything and everything she can think up or remember from her nightmare, she tries to force into woman's mind.
As the doctor stares into Alenka's eyes, her mind feels like someone is trying to violate her thoughts. She glares at the woman. "Hey! Get outta there, that's private." She is unnerved as her features appear on the woman in front of her and a vague memory floats to the surface about a creature that can assume someone's form. Alenka tries to keep a fierce glare on her face but it dwindles somewhat as she's told that she's next.
Once the doctor's back is turned once again, she nods at the tattooed woman who is motioning at them across the way and adds her own voice to the echoing one to try and aggravate the doctor.
When the doctor comes crashing towards their cell courtesy of the man being tortured, Alenka and Jenni are ready. "Grab her so she can't move. I'll get the keys."
"Grab her or grab.. it. Don't ask me how but I know that's a doppleganger. They change shapes easily."
Doppleganger...that was the name in my head!
The victim's kick was unexpected, but the half-orc was ready. Lunging through the bars, she attempted to grab the doctor's arms and immobilize her.
Unfortunately, she misjudged the position of the bars, and rather than reach through them, she instead punched her left hand straight into one. The pain was instant and intense, and the half-orc howled in pain. The other hand made it through the bars, but only managed to snag at the doctor's blood-stained coat. She easily pulled away, laughing at the half-orc's clumsy stumble.
As the doctor moved away, Goggles silently held up the keys with a grin.
"Get'r now!" he shrieks to the ghost, seeing a singular opportunity to act.
He reaches through the bars and touches the ghost, surprised to feel it has a physical body. "Quick like, now!".
The phantom groans, but floats slowly forward, raising his ectoplasmic hand to fall heavily over the doctor's head.
Mira focuses on the doctor's mind but finds it too confusing and alien... her spell takes no effect at all. Taking advantage of the doctor's distraction and the man's kick, Alenka goes for the keys while Jenni tries to grab the doctor through the bars... while Alenka successfully grabs the ring of keys, Jenni is far from grabbing the doctor. "Hey! This doesn't belong to you! Give my keys back! N..."
Turning or her heels, the doctor meets the ectoplasm's fist in her guts twice. "What?..." The doctor, caught by surprise, grabs the other part of the pruning shear and stabs at the phantom with little effect... curious, the doctor half smiles. "Interesting... very interesting... what are you?" Facing her new subject, the doctor seems to have momentarily forgot about her keys being stolen.
Cerio
Doctor
Lucius - up
Jenni - up
Alenka - up
Mira - up
Round 2
Cerio - up
Doctor
Lucius
Jenni
Alenka
Mira
Trying to keep the attention off the keys, Lucius starts calling to the doctor, "Hey, doctor! Come over here if you think that's interesting. That thing left some sort of goo on the bars."
He added, "It must be some creature from far away. I wonder what this goo is."
He wasn't much of a fighter, but he would reach out and try to restrain the doctor if it came near his jail. Besides, he couldn't do much worse than the half-roc.
Hopefully, those with the keys would free everyone before leaving this...What is this place?
"What are you?"
::Paaaiiiin...:: whispers the ghost, continuing to pummel the doctor.
"Yes!" he breathes excitedly, pushing his face into the bars to get a better view of the ruckus between the ghost and monster, or the monster and the ghost. Which one was which, anyway?
He points his finger at the white-haired woman who's plucked the keyring. .
"'Tis a secret, what!" he yells to the doctor, joining in his cellmate's ruse. "Come 'ere and we'll tell y' how's it done!"
[b"Goggles! Get the door open,"[/b] the half-orc hissed, stepping back to let the small human work. As she waited, she saw a strange - ghost? monster? - attack the doctorganger. Doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's distracting her.
The moment the door was open, the half-orc leapt through it. She let all the fear turn to rage, and she felt her body respond. Nails lengthened to claws, and her expression turned feral.
Unfortunately, once again she failed to make contact. Her claws sliced the sleeve of the doctorganger's coat, but nothing more. At least she could distract her while Goggles opened the other doors.
Belatedly realizing that she, in fact, had two hands with which to attack, the half-orc lashed out a second time.
This time she did better, drawing a pleasing amount of blood from four parallel gashes across the doctorgangers already blood-stained white coat.
Alenka allows the others to distract the doctor while she deals with getting the cells open, first hers and then moving across the room to the tattooed woman's cell. She would need all the help she could get to escape in one piece and the others seemed to have similar minds. For that reason she decides to free the others rather than running off.
Catching a glimpse into the creature's bizarre alien mind only makes the tattooed woman all the more eager to get out of her cell. Remaining quiet and trying not to draw attention to the herself or the other women, she leans casually against her cell wall. As Goggles opens up her cell and begins moving towards hers, she nods encouragingly.
Staring at the table of torturing implements, she decides that she must make a break for it as soon as she is free, so that she can have something to protect herself. However, the thought sends fear throughout her body. Trying to calm her nerves, she tries to mentally prepare. She visualizes the fight that might happen and tries to picture herself moving like a shadow that the creature could not perceive.
The man with the moustache fails in drawing the doctor attention... she is clearly more interested in studying the creature in front of her than looking for a goo in the bars...
While the half-orc awaited for the woman with the googles to open their cell, something stirred inside her... a bestial fury, a desire to claw and bite the doctor. Once the door was opened and the woman bolted towards the north cell, the half-orc clawed at the doctor, slashing her from shoulder to waist, followed by the doctor's scream of fury, pain, and surprise. "Argh, blasted beast... I should have started with you!"
While she was worried with the half-orc, the phantasm slammed her with its fist once more, robbing her of her air and making her drop the shear from her hand.
Surrounded, the doctor screeched and changed... her skin turned grey and her body thinner. Her limbs stretched and her face lost its features, seeming almost unfinished and sinister without a nose. After the disturbing change, the creature looked around... surrounded, probably deciding if she would flee or attack. In the end it choose both options... with her hand, now clawed, she torn open the man on the table, probably revenging against his kick, the catalyst of this whole mess, and then bolted east towards the door.
The phantom tried to strike at the creature but missed for less than an inch. The half-orc got more luck, striking the creature in its neck and sending it into the ground, bleeding... is it dead?
Alenka gets the tattooed woman's cell open just as the doppleganger falls from the half-orc's attack. Pressing the keys into the woman's hands she says, "Open the last cell. I need to take a closer look at our 'doctor.'"
The vivisectionalist part of Alenka was drawn towards the creature on the ground. She grabs a couple of the make shift tools from the table along with a glass vial that was on the table. She checks to see if the doppleganger was alive or dead. As she knelt over her, was it a her?, the memory surfaced again of doing some sort of surgery on a similar creature. She uses the vial to collect some of its blood while its heart still pumps, albeit weakly. "Does anyone want it alive or should I finish it?"
tag everyone
The half-orc lunged down for the easy kill, but suddenly somebody was in her way. A human, dark hair, goggles. Goggles! Not-foe. She sniffed - the thing was already dead. Eyes narrowed, she scanned for other danger. There! The ghostmonster. Another ganger? Stepping forward, she snarled at the creature and lashed out with both hands, fingers stiffened, claws extended...
Her claws ripped through...something? Bits of it started falling apart across the floor, and then it disappeared into a puddle of sticky goop.
Panting with rage and bloodlust, the half-orc looked again for danger. Saw none.
Lucius cheered on the half-orc brute when she downed the doctor, "Good going, girl. Keep him down. That's it. Now go get me the keys."
His demeanor changed when the half-orc turned on the 'ghost'. Although he didn't know for sure, he saw the white-haired man talk to it, like they knew each other. He yelled at Jenni, "NO! The... ghost is trying to help."
Utterly confused, he yelled for the keys again.
As she is freed from her cell, she gives the other woman a wink, "Thanks Goggles. Appreciate it...Sorry about that whole nearly getting you dissected first thing...It wasn't my initial plan, I swear." Glancing down at the mauled doctor, she shrugs and nonchalantly adds, "All well that ends well, right?" Right? I hope she understands...I had to do it...Oh dear gods! What is Heavy Hitter doing!?!"
Sauntering over towards the half-orc, she briefly places a hand on her shoulder. Speaking in a soothing, hypnotic tone, she murmurs, "Easy there Tiger. You did well to bring down the doctor...but, the rest of us are all on the same side here." At least I hope we are...what other choice do we have but to trust each other?
Then, as if nothing had happened, she waltzes over the operating table and begins picking up tools, casually testing them for weight and strength. Grabbing a long broken piece of metal, she turns to the others and asks, "So what now? Anyone got any idea where we are...or how we got here?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
A familiar voice, soothing. The half-orc shakes her head, trying to clear it. Takes a breath. Hears people shouting. Looks up - two men in a cage. One of them - the ghostmonster? No...real, solid. The same? She looks at the blood on her hands, the strange goop. It looks so familiar....Jenni remembers...
There were two men in front of her, their stance open... they were trying to surround her, leaving her no place to run. She stepped back and hit her ankle against a large rock... soon after her back and hands also found the same material. She was surrounded and almost breathless, not sure if from running or from fear.
One of the men had a sword and a dagger in his hands while the other had a big axe... they were tall... too tall for her... or was she too small for them?
She heard a pounding inside her head and then two... rhythmic poundings, two sets of them, almost as heartbeats... but they weren't hers. She closed your eyes in fear and instead of the dark she saw a grinning maw full of teeth and two red eyes facing her, inside of her eyelids.
Frightened, she desperately tried to open her eyes but somehow wasn't able to...until...she finally did. The ferrous taste of blood. There were no more men around her but, to her horror, they were beneath her, torn to pieces. Her hands were covered in blood... her hand a couple inches from her mouth...
She comes back to the present to find herself backed against the bars of an empty cage. She is desperately wiping blood from her hands onto her red shirt. Tears are running down her cheeks, and she's shaking her head, saying, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry so sorry sorry sorry sorry..."
Alenka is completely oblivious to the drama unfolding behind her as she is completely absorbed in the examination of the fallen doppleganger. "If I just had formaldehyde then I could take tissue samples," she muttered to herself. "I guess I'll have to settle for just taking the blood. At least I can separate out the serum." She continues to poke and prod the body as well as talk to herself as she works. How is it that I can remember all of this but I can't remember who I am? Am I a doctor of some kind? Hard to tell.
"No! Not the gho..." His voice chokes in his throat as the half-orc's claws tear into the apparition. Immediately, with the gentle pop of air collapsing too quickly into an empty void, it disappears, leaving a thin coating of slime covering the brutish woman and the floor around her.
He feels a small building of pressure beneath his brow, though it settles after only a moment. He falls back from the bars and a heavy sigh escapes his lips. It is tinged with a green vapor. The voice from his dream returns to him just then. ::Ruuun...::
"Yer still 'ere, then?" he mutters to himself. What are ye? he thinks, hoping it can hear.
:Caaan't...Remeeembeeer...:: the voice replies laboriously.
He squints each eye closed, one at a time, trying to get a feel for the being that seems to dwell in his brain. Now that he's conscious of it, he can feel it lying dormant in there. He remembers the uncontrollable urge to vomit he had when it first appeared. He wonders if he'd be able to do it ag...
The bars crash as one of the others arrive to open their cell.
Not sure what occurred, Lucius put a hand on Cerio's shoulder. "It's OK. I think. We're getting out of here."
With that he continued to yell at those outside, "Will you people stop wasting time and get this cell door open!"
The woman raised an eyebrow slightly as Goggles starts dissecting the doctor. What is she...? Oh...ugh...god...why? Well...I guess she did say the doctor was doing it wrong. Looking away, she seeing the two men in their cells growing restless. Realizing that Goggles has gotten distracted, she apathetically mumbles, "Hold your horses...I'm coming...I'm coming..." Retrieving the keys, she begins waltzing over to the men at a leisurely pace, when she hears the half-orc start to freak out. For goodness sake...what's happened now.. Sighing, she just looks to the men. "Here. Catch", she mutters as she tosses them the keys and turns around to walk back to the half-orc.
Leaning to try and see her hidden face, she softly says, "Hey...what's going on in there....talk to me." As the half-orc breaks down apologizes, she gently puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. It's alright. No one's mad. The ghost got away fine..." Seeing her try to wipe off the blood, she asks, "Is it the blood that's bothering you? Here...we'll clean it up..." Grabbing a rag from near the operating table, she tries help her clean off her hands. "...and you don't need to feel bad about this woman....she was a bad person...or at least a bad thing..." Putting a hand on each of her shoulders and holding firmly, she adds, "Stay with us Heavy Hitter. We're going to need your strength."
The woman/doctor/creature wasn't dead when Alenka started to work with the improvised tools, making an involuntary spasm as she cut its flesh. Not wishing to risk anything, the girl with the goggles pierces the creature's skull through its ear with a sharp piece of metal.
Catching the keys in the air, the man with the moustache is able to free himself and the other man from the jail. The man on the table is dead, his blood slowly dripping on the floor. The lamp illuminates enough to notice that the west part of this subterranean room has collapsed and the nearby walls are somewhat stable, even if cracks can be seen everywhere.
The man with the white hair notices that a cold, iron furnace hunkers in the corner of the basement, its four-foot-square door gaping half open. Nearby sprawls a heap of gory clothes and other dubiously flammable trash. The furnace now lies cold.
To the east there is only a single wooden door.
The kindness in Tattoo's voice soon calms her down, and she scrubs tears from her eyes and takes a deep breath. With a final, less hysterical "sorry", she pulled herself together and took a proper look around.
To the tattooed woman, she said, "You keep calling me Heavy Hitter. Is that my name? Do you know me?"
Taking a really close look at all four of her new companions, she said, "I don't know any of you. I dreamed of you, though. I don't remember anything, nothing at all. But I don't like it here."
Turning to the human with white hair, she said, "Are you okay? I didn't mean to hurt you. I thought that you were a ghostmonster. How did you do that? Was that your soul coming out?"
Automatically smoothing back the hair that had escaped from her braid, Heavy Hitter moved to the dead man. With a gentle hand she closed his eyes, and she covered him with a bloody sheet she retrieved from the trash pile. "You were brave, and I think you saved us. May Desna see the beauty of your soul." She wasn't sure what that mean, but it felt right to say it.
Looking at the door, she said, "Can we go now? I really don't like it here."
Mustache tidies his clothes as he finally exits the cell.
"I'm ah..." he was about to introduce himself but his mouth just hanged open for a second.
"Well, I can't remember my name. So if you're Heavy Hitter, you are Tatoo, and you are Goggles, then I guess I'll be Mustache."
He looked at his cell companion, "What about you? Do you know your name? What do we call you?"
Mustache searched the area and armed himself with whatever tool seemed sharp and pointy. He then stepped to the door and inspected it...
___________
As she watched Mustache check out the door, and run his fingers along it, Heavy Hitter helpfully said, "The doorknob is right there."