Thomas looked back towards the way they had come, near-panicked, but took a deep breath and stepped forward by Peyton's side, holding his crucifix in his hand, clenched against his breast. "They speak truly! This place is cursed! If you have God's mercy in you, let us out!"
The Frenchwoman raises from behind her cover. "We are... we were trapped, and we do not remember nothing! We woke to death and torture. Would you leave us to those maniacs crawling below?!", she implores. Would they truly leave us here?
"And how do I know yer not monsters? You're maniacs, clear enough." The man stares at 59013. "You know about the monsters. And you know why we can't just let you in. But..." He pauses, then whispers with the others near the wall. "If you were to come back with a few corpses of the monsters...well, then I might be able to trust you."
Peyton wants to raise her voice to protest but senses the men aren't going to budge from theat position. She didn't exactly want to go back to kill the ape thing they had managed to scare but if she had to do it she would...
What monsters are there? Peyton asks cautiously. In the other doors? Would one corpse be enough?
Thomas kept glancing from their new captors to the escape clearly behind him dejectedly, then resigned himself to the fact that he would likely have to go along with whatever mad plot these people had in store for them. After seeing the horrors of this place, he couldn't blame them for being jumpy. Setting his jaw determinedly, he lets the others ask questions, instead steeling himself for fighting whatever nightmare might exist back down the hallway.
Biting her lips, the Frenchwoman stares from behind the corner once more. To buy our way out with blood..., she thinks, before drawing her rapier. "So be it!", she shouts out defiantly, marching forwards towards the door. Cowards! Connards!, she marches towards the first door, nodding at the others to follow, before slamming the door open, pistol raised.
77314's slam reveals and empty courtyard. At least, at first it seems empty in the semidarkness outside. Trampled flowerbeds lie squashed and their flowers smeared across the courtyard, while stark granite walls climb toward a sunless sky filled with yellow mist. Here and there lie a corpse, most in worn pajamas, some in white coats and blue uniforms. As lightning lights up the courtyard for a moment, it's clear there's not a great way out; collapsed walls cut off a few passages. However, a door just next to the one 77314 just forced open stands relatively intact.
The mangled courtyard paints an image in the Frenchwoman's head, as she turns around. "What horrors happened to this place...", she asks the others, shaking her head. Lifting her pistol, she points to the door. "The sooner we bring proof to those men, the sooner we can find out what has happened.", she reasons, moving to open the service door.
Wait! Peyton cautions the other woman pointing upwards. there's something... Up there
Thomas looked about uneasily, his eyes darting from the bodies, to the flowerbeds, upwards as the lightning flashed to reveal the yellow mist and a vague outline of...something...towering over them, back to the bodies. He noticed the blood stains on the floor, connecting the dots between the northern door and the bodies lying about.
He looked at his companions, shaking his head. "Perhaps the next door. The sooner the better, I agree, but she's right. There's something huge up there." He swallowed nervously, glancing upwards once again before backing away from the door.
If it is huge... Peyton reasons slowly Then perhaps it cannot fit through this door and we can just kill it from range? Or do we try another door? It is easy to conclude the beast up there is responsible for the loss of life. It should be put down.
Before the party can decide whether to attack the shapes in the mist, a bolt of lightning makes contact somewhere outside the walls of the building. A moment later, a massive peal of thunder echoes across the courtyard and the shapes vanish into the mist.
That was rather odd. Peyton comments. I suppose that means the way is clear
Thomas gave Peyton a rather skeptical glance, but seeing as how the way did seem free at the moment, and the prospect of going back to the armed men who had accosted them was not even an option, he nodded his agreement and prepared to scoot across the courtyard to the door, his weapon held at the ready in one hand, other hand tightly clutching his crucifix.
"Whatever it was... It was not of this world...", the Frenchwoman's voice trembles for a moment. "Father...", she speaks to the priest, as she moves towards the door with her pistol raised. "Could this be the... fin des jours... End times?", she asks, her face defiant. I will not be judged before I learn who I am... unless this is my verdict..., a thought crosses through her head as she pushes the door Peyton shows open.
The service door leads to a small room with no other entrances, save for a hatch leading down. The scent of rotting corpses and blood wafts up from the hatch.
Thomas looked towards the Frenchwoman, silently agreeing with her assessment. The creatures they had seen looked like they had come straight from the Pit! As she asked about the End Times, the man just looked at her confusedly for a moment. Then he understood...he held a crucifix, so she thought him a priest. And maybe he was...he had a fairly extensive knowledge of the Bible, and had a strong, steady faith in the Almighty. He shrugged without commitment, commenting, "Perhaps...but our charter never changes. Always have faith and carry on. Let us see where this may lead..."
Assuming 77314 leads the party down, Thomas will follow behind, waving the other two to come behind.
This will have to do..., the Frenchwoman thinks at the answer of the father. Sheathing her rapier, she opens the hatch, pointing her pistol downwards. "A... torch would aid us here.", she comments, straining her eyes to see down the hatch. The smell invades her nostrils, as she lets out a cough, but regardlessly chooses to continue, taking a step down the ladder.
Thomas removed his lantern from his pack, sheepishly filling it with a pint of the oil he had grabbed from inside the original accursed room they had found themselves in. After a few attempts, he managed to light the device, closing the hatches so that the lantern's light only shone more or less in a single direction. He smiled softly at the Frenchwoman, preparing to follow her down the ladder.
Peyton will follow Thomas, wanting to stay close to the light and also not wanting to be left open to attack from either the back or the front!
The chute leads down into the darkness, ending in a gradually-sloping tube that ends in a pile of corpses. It seems it's the same pile the party had pursued the mad female doctor up earlier, which means...wherever she is, it's likely not down here.
This is disgusting Peyton wrinkles her nose at the corpses. She has an itching feeling at the back of her head from looking at the bodies and her hand reaches out but then she snatches her hand back with a shudder. It seems like we will not find anything to... kill... here. Everyone is already dead.
59013 nods. He mutters, ”So it seems to continue.”
Thomas stared around at the corpses numbly, wondering what luck had caused these four to not join the mass of dead humanity. Praise be to God. Trying to keep himself from retching at the smell, he nodded at M-59013's suggestion, wanting to go check out more of the doors down the hall.
Looking away from the corpses, the Frenchwoman shakes her head. So many..., she thinks, before staring down at the chute. Taking a step in its direction, pistol raised, she eventually turns back. "Let us see the other doors. Gentlemen?", she points towards the stairs with an expectant gesture.
The journey back up to the surface is uneventful, with the smell of the dead receding as they leave the courtyard for the relative safety of the hallway. A few moments later, the group stands outside of a pair of doors painted white. One sits off-kilter on one hinge, while the other has a sizable portion of its top caved in. From inside, it's easy enough to hear the skittering of something moving around, coupled with the occasional clunk as something gets shoved or nudged.
Nervously, Thomas spoke, "Well, there's something mucking about in there. Guess that could be our ticket out of here." He glanced at the others, and if none take the initiative, he shoved the door missing a piece of the top open, brandishing his mace at whatever might be within.
Peyton takes a deep sigh and nods at Thomas. She follows him through the door.
Nodding as the door is opened, the Frenchwoman aims her pistol through the gap, and takes a step forward.