Ralph watches with an almost detached annoyance as the cultist dies, then turns to Anatoly.
If someone helps me carry the cross down I'm happy to put it in this "mouth" everyone keeps flipping out about. For the life of me I can't figure out what's the big deal.
Stability
Now seemingly over his crisis, and dealing much better.
"You'll see what the big deal is soon enough. I'd just as soon die up here in the fresh air, than even look at that thing again. I'm no chicken, but you'll have to get someone else to help you with that".
Evelyn regards Trammel's demise with clinical detachment, before quickly refocusing on assessing the well-being of her companions. After a few more seconds he steps back and shakes her head. "I'm going to have my work cut out for me, but there's no time to get everybody patched up now."
"I'll lend you a hand," she adds, looking to Ralph. Skeptical as she was, she couldn't help but to be a little curious. "We have everything else we need. Anatoly, and anyone else who isn't going down there... you should probably get out of here, before the authorities arrive."
Trammel breathes his last, crawling like away like a wounded animal. Most of you turn away, hearts hardened but Amadeus can't help but hear his last wet gurgle- a sound he'll always remember.
Dragging the cross clear of the wreck, you discuss your next move.
Freddy eyes the archaeologist skeptically. "Are you a religious man Ralph? If not, I should handle the cross."
I blanch a bit I regret to admit that while I go to church on occasion I'm not as good of a christian as I'd like to be. Do you think it makes a difference to the magic mouth?
Evelyn thinks back to the gardener's testimony. "You're suggesting that having faith in the cross is what's truly important here," she observes, giving the large thing a sidelong glance. She was not exactly a God-fearing woman herself.
Freddy nods. "Exactly. It might as well any hunk of wood if you don't have faith." I'm going to need someone to cover me while we go down there. Who knows what surprises we'll find once we get into the basement."
[dice=Stability]1d6
Freddy eyes the archaeologist skeptically. "Are you a religious man Ralph? If not, I should handle the cross."
Evelyn nods once and pulls out her gun again, giving it a once over. "All right then. Let's try to make this quick."
Freddy nods solemnly to Evelyn, his usual quick smile and happy demeanor seemingly gone. The constant gun fights and pain in his leg had begun to get to him. "Let's go. I can lead us down there.."
Having a moment after the firefight to calm your nerves before delving right back into the horror, you notice that Trammel's study has all of the books that he purchased from Echavarria's estate- and some that weren't. Three sets of books entitled The Revelations of Glaaki are on his shelves, two sets numbering books one through eleven and the final set going up to volume twelve. There is also a reel-to-reel tape that only says the name Leticia de la Luz written on it. . A painting of a field of stars in space hangs on the wall, its nameplate calling it The Gazer's Perspective. Freddy, Amadeus and Anatoly have seen the painting in Henslowe's blackmail photos, in the background of Echavarria's orgies.
There is also the abandoned briefcase Trammel was trying to fill- in addition to a few items of clothing, he had stuffed a lot of cash and several vials of cloudy liquid within.
Stepping over Walker's corpse, you also notice that he had been clutching something in his hand before he fell. With a start, you realize it's a hand grenade! Fortunately for everyone, Trammel's fixer didn't have time to pull the pin!
Recovering from the shock of seeing Trammel die, Amadeus staggers into the study. His eyes go wide when he sees the books and he begins dumping books into bags or crates to take with them.
Joseph and Anatoly take off with Trammel's Cadillac shortly before Freddy, Evelyn, Ralph and Amadeus drag the cross down to the basement. Freddy shows the way to the hidden door in the wine cellar. An earthy, pungent scent fills your nostrils as the stone edifice opens and the ghastly sight that sent Anatoly over the edge becomes clear to you.
Men and women writhe and fornicate in a knot of slick bodies in the chamber- Amadeus (if he looks into the room) can tell that many of them have been here all day, if not longer. They moan ecstatically while a mouth as a tall as a man growing from the wall dribbles a honey-like liquid from its lips and the two meter long tongue that wanders into the orgy. The mouth's teeth are crooked, yellowed and colossal. An abandoned trash can lined with plastic sits in the corner, a long broom handle with a sponge thrown to the ground next to it.
Before we go. Anatoly will haul Walkers corpse to the wrecked car, hoping that it will be consumed in the soon to come fireball. Dang guy must have been PO'd at Trammel for some reason to crash his car into the house.
"Hey Joseph. Let's keep an eye on things here. If the cops show up... which I'm sure they will soon, we've got to figure out how to keep them from the gang".
That horrible thing in the rotten heart of the mansion brings Freddy's mind to the brink. The rug has been pulled out from under his experiences of the world. He realizes that even in the trenches, in the mud and fear and sickness, it was a terror of this world. That mouth is something beyond human experience, just looking at it makes his head hurt and his mouth go dry and a primal fear wells up within him. After a stunned moment, he remembers the cross at his shoulder and the higher power looking out for him. Judy, the kids. Gotta hold it together, long enough to see this through...
Evelyn is shocked by what she sees, her breath catching in her throat. But the comforting, clinical detachment she learned during her residency envelops her. It is a thing of the flesh. An organism. It has to be. It's a cancer: a biting and drooling cancer, something to be excised.
So this is the mouth, Evelyn thinks, bewildered by the sight before her. To say that it was disgusting would be a vast understatement, but in the end, it was a living thing. An organism, an abnormality of the flesh, a specimen. Something that could be excised, studied and understood. The doctor nods to herself, feeling that she is perhaps in her depth after all.
"Come on," she says to Freddy, shaking his shoulder. Her own hand trembles slightly. "While they're all distracted down there, we can finish this."
Freddy takes a deep breath and adjusts the cross in his grip. "Right. Hail Mary. Full of grace.." as quickly as possible, Freddy moves through the room to the mouth and as he finishes his prayer, shoves the cross into the maw.
Sorry for the delay. I was traveling yesterday.
Since the cross came from your shop, I'm going to ask you for a little information about it. Where did the cross come from? Who was the original owner, why is it valuable as an antique or religious item?
It's a cross called the Lima Cross. It was stolen from a church that was due to be torn down after heavy earthquake activity. The cross passed through hands until it reached the estate sale of a George Xander Culp. I purchased it in the intention of reselling it to a rich collector of religious art, but he died in a car crash the day after the auction.
It's very very large, but beautiful. Gold inlay, marble base. It took up a great amount of storage space and no other buyer was forthcoming. I'm glad to be done with it. Maybe it be use in destroying this alien mouth.
The horrible mouth is truly a grotesque thing to behold, but Ralph tamps down his terror by focusing on mentally cataloging the various fertility rites he's read about while he was collecting religious icons and rare texts. What used to be a common activity while he was waiting in line at the bank or otherwise killing time takes his mind out of the situation and renders the sight of the Mouth into something his mind can dismiss.
While the mouth is entwined in the orgy, Freddy hauls the enormous cross over and tries to jam it past its teeth!
Freddy charges in, wedging the long end of the enormous cross into the open maw. The tongue starts thrashing, the Thing moaning perversely. Splinters fly from the crucifix as the Mouth chomps into it, splattering the PI with wood and Nectar.
While the cross cuts up the Mouth's lips and gums and breaks its teeth going in, the damn thing keeps drooling, the lips taking on a snarl as the frenzied copulation of the orgy grows more violent! Freddy is left holding the gold etched top of the cross, the end splintered apart.
As the realization that their plan wasn't working comes over her, Evelyn's face goes slightly pale. Without hesitation she takes aim at the gaping maw and opens fire.
"It's a cancer... it must be removed..." she murmurs under her breath, like a mantra.
Freddy's face goes white at the realization that his plan has failed. With seemingly no recourse, he drops what was left of the cross and begins to empty the clip of his Colt into the abomination.
Amadeus similarly screams like a girl and fires at the Mouth.
I knew the mouth wasn't THAT bad. It's just a breach in from a parallel dimension. No big deal!
Meanwhile, all this shooting and screwing is absolutely distasteful. I take a step back from all the chaos.
Evelyn's and Freddy's shots go wide, sending chips of stone falling from the wall.
Amadeus unloads on the mouth, the bullet drawing a thick black ichor from its pierced flesh.
Ralph ducks away from the carnage as the Mouth's attention turns to Freddy!
The two meter long tongue slams into the PI like a bludgeon, driving him to his knees.
I'm assuming that Joseph and Anatoly are sitting in the car nearby, waiting for the others to appear.
Anatoly looks at Joseph as the sound of gunshots echo through the night. He wars within himself at the choice... Descend into that hell-spawned basement and confront his own weakness... or let his friends and those brave people fight the fight alone, perhaps making the ultimate sacrifice.
He opens the car door, and drops to his knees for a quick prayer. Then his courage bolstered by his reaching out to the higher power he so strongly believes guides him through life, reloads the pistol, and starts towards the house.
"Some things are worth fighting for". He intones to Joseph. "Be ready to get us when we come out".
Amadeus seems slightly surprised that he hit the foul Mouth. He fires again, still screaming like a little girl.
Though it drowns out her own mantra, Evelyn seems deaf to Amadeus' screaming. Seeing that her shot missed, she readjusts her aim with strange calm and squeezes the trigger again.
Amadeus and Evelyn pump rounds into the thing, drawing more of its thick blood. Freddy runs back into the wine cellar, looking to keep from being dropped into any worse shape while Ralph stays out of the way.
The Mouth moans, a frenzied and vowel-filled sound echoing across the chamber. The orgy continues, despite the gunshots, even more frenetically. Copulating and biting each other, striking one another and drawing blood. The tongue lashes out and drags an ecstatic reveler into the thing's maw, crunching the man in half and leaving the walls slicked with Nectar and viscera.
With a start, you realize that Anatoly has run down to join you.
Anatoly pries the hand grenade from Walker's cold dead hands.
Anatoly takes a deep breath as the sound of the orgy behind that dreaded door assaults his ears. He then quickly crosses himself, and kisses the crucifix that his uncle gave him, and heads in... grenade in hand.
Freddy slumps over in the wine cellar, feeling beaten, physically, mentally and spiritually. His training had failed him, his plan had failed him and his god had failed him. Dejected, he pulls a random bottle from the rack behind him, rips off the cork and takes a long draw.
As much as he wanted to feel bad for himself though, his companions were still out there. They needed him.. and besides, if they took care of that mouth while he sat there in the fetal position he'd never forgive himself.
The PI pushes himself back to his feet, takes a deep breath and readies himself to back out into the madness..
Evelyn and Amadeus take some more shots at the mouth before retreating back to the wine cellar to regroup.
The thing bleeds from another bullet hole in its disgusting lips. It moans in a disturbingly sexual way.
You tense, hearing a set of footsteps coming down the basement stairs but breathe a sigh of relief when you see it's Anatoly, holding something heavy in his hands.
Evelyn's fascination with shooting the disgusting mouth recedes as she realizes how little they seemed to be accomplishing. It almost sounded like it was enjoying the pain. In the wine cellar, she runs a hand through her hair, trying to reason how the creature could possibly still be alive. She looks to Anatoly, relieved to see him, but in no shape to even force a smile.
"Anatoly, what are you doing here?" she asks quietly, her body now trembling. Her eyes look to the object in his hand and widen slightly. "That's... oh, God."
My eyes budge as Anatoly rushes in and I dive for cover...
"Clear the way everyone this ends now"!
Anatoly runs into the room to get a clear aim at the monstrous mouth. He tries to not look at what's going on around him, but the bodies writhe and twist all around him and he finds the bile beginning to build in the back of his throat. The sounds, the smells, fluids on the floor and on the bodies... can I concentrate on looking them in the eyes... no that's worse than the bodies. Must end this now.
Anatoly pulls the pin on the grenade, and taking careful aim throws it into the gaping mouth. Then fighting back the urge to vomit he quickly leaves the room as quickly as possible.
Athletics (Spending 6 points from my pool)
The grenade feels heavy and unbalanced in his hand, but he throws and runs, hoping that he's accomplished what he needs to do.
Damage