Nightmare Asylum Halloween Event (CLOSED)

[MP]

[OOC: Sohl urges Ilchymis and the other non-combatants to run and joins the fray. If the creature stumbles, he snares one hand in his sweater to prevent it grabbing anyone. He then stabs the creature in one ear to cripple it. If no one goes for the second ear, he will attempt to stab that out as well.]

In the frozen moment following the child's laugh, Sohl's eyes swiveled from the checker piece to the creature, his scleras blackening with fear. The creature had twitched around to face him, maw agape, limbs unfolding mantis-like. The youth had a single horrible moment to look at the stitches over its features, to stare down its jagged throat. Then the silence broke with a ragged howl as the thing charged.

He tried to shift then - to meet its charge with ripping talons and teeth - but the change wouldn't come. Alarm closed off his throat as the teeth loomed in his vision. Sohl knew better than to scramble backwards, or question the hitch in the creature's stride as it met a sudden barrier. He turned and bolted without a moment's hesitation, knowing that to look over his shoulder was almost certain death. Even in his terror he was silent, afraid of drawing whatever else might lurking nearby. He could be at the hall in seconds - could swerve and jink to lead it away from the rest of them as they escaped. Only, most of them were running past him, back toward the creature. And because he was silent, he could hear the struggle unfolding with perfect clarity.

Sohl skidded to a stop, turned just in time to see the monster lunge after Sara. His eyes widened with horror, but even then he did not cry out. What were they thinking fighting it? They had no weapons. No abilities. And this thing - this thing. How many people had it killed? How much would it take to put it down, and what else might come upon them in the meantime? Stenson's killer would surely hear.

"Go, go on," he urged, looking over his shoulder at Ilchymis. Ari and the yellow eyes were already fleeing, and he nodded the construct after them.

It was all the pause he had time for. Sohl's fingers tightened on the scissors in his hand as he darted toward the fray. He had his sweater in his hand, held out like a bullfighter's cape, and as the creature stumbled he snarled one of its hands in the thick woolen fabric, preventing the fingers from snatching and catching hold. With at least one hand hampered for the moment, the youth leaped over the limb and toward the side of the creature's head. The scissor blades flashed in his hand as he plunged it into the creature's ear as deep and savagely as he could. The thing would fight and chase and kill through pain, if the paper had been right. But the thing had no sense of sight or smell. Nothing but its hearing to hunt with. With that gone, they wouldn't have to fight it. They could run, all of them, and no one would have to risk anything. Sohl jerked the scissors free, sprang away from the thing in case of a retaliatory grab.

"Its ears! Get its ears and run!" He finally broke his silence. Though usually soft-spoken, his voice was deep, and deceptively strong when he had need of it. The shout rang over the chaos as he cut a wide circle around the struggling creature, trying to get at the other side. If no one else managed it, he intended to stab out the other ear as well - cripple it entirely.

[Marshmallow]

[OOC: Terrified and unarmed, Ilchymis retreats from the fray - reluctantly. Unwilling to leave the room while Sohl is still fighting, he scans the immediate area for anything else of use. If no one has taken them already, he at least grabs the container of pills, and then hides behind the old piano to watch how things unfold.]


There was a moment, fleeting and hopeful, where it seemed Sohl's ruse would be a success. The creature ambled away after the skittering game token, seemed like it was going to leave them alone.
Then, in one awful instant, everything went horribly, terribly wrong.

A child's laugh echoed from the darkness, and the token rolled back to rest at Sohl's feet. The creature turned, charged. With a wail it smashed through the construct's barrier spell as though it were flimsy glass. Ilchymis had hoped it would stand up to more than a single blow, but the seconds it bought Sohl had kept the seraph out of harm's reach, and that was enough.


Ilchymis tensed to flee, expected everyone else to do the same. But several of his companions lurched toward the monstrosity instead! The construct watched, wide-eyed, as they wielded their improvised weapons in an attempt to maim, cripple, or even kill the gibbering creature - if such a thing were even possible.

Behind him, the spotted man was trying to urge the others to flee instead of fight. Faolan was retreating as well, and for a few seconds Ilchymis locked gazes with the cat-eyed doctor. The man pleaded with Ilchymis to run, but he shook his head. He couldn't leave, not without his brother. But even Sohl was urging him to flee, before diving upon the creature as well with his scissors.


Ilchymis hesitated, unwilling to abandon the others, but unable to fight without his magic. He didn't have a weapon. Desperate, he looked around - scanned the table, the floor at his feet, the benches - tried to find something useful, something he could use. A shard of glass, a sharp stone, anything! There was still that odd bottle of white tablets. He didn't know what they were or what they did, but he snatched them anyway, along with anything else he could grab that might function as a weapon of last resort.
And then he ran. He didn't go very far, couldn't bring himself to leave while Sohl was fighting. In the far corner of the room lay an old, weathered piano. He huddled behind it and peered over its dusty top to watch the fray, praying to his far-away gods that his friends would survive and manage to break away.

[Pearl Dragon]

Team Run and Hide:

Faolan, Ilchymis and Ari all remain off the creature's radar as they urge the other's to run, hide, anything but attack.
Ari takes the book as he urges the others to flee immediately.

Ilchymis has managed to snatch the bottle of pills before rushing to hide behind the dusty old piano. The large, abandoned instrument is far enough from the wall to allow for the tall thin construct to squeeze behind the wooden frame and peer over the top at the ongoing chaos. The pill bottle in his hand has no discernible markings on it other than the pills inside of it. Whoever owned it before him, perhaps the corpse that now lay by the table, left no indication of whether or not the pills were safe to take. Or...perhaps one of the others with reading material now held any hints of whether or not they were safe.

It also seems that Faolan is left to fend for himself as his buddy, Pan, takes off to join the fray.



Meanwhile, with Team Stab and Stuff:

The creature, unhindered by the previous attacks, has begun to press on towards the barking, nipping dog that was Sara.

Numerous attacks are made towards it to try and interrupt its progress, all of which played out as follows:

The first was a sharp THWACK as the metal bar, wielded by Kit, connected with the back of one of its legs. The creature continued to move despite the impact, dragging itself forward without any notice of the line of dark blood now cutting across the back of its leg. However, as Kit dove forward to try and trip it, she managed to wrap an arm around one of its ankles. The woman was instantly dragged forward a few paces before the creature lost its balance slightly to fall to one knee before it swung an arm in an low arc and caught her under the chin, knocking her back slightly.  The blow was quick and not well aimed, only leaving a sore bruise, but otherwise not much damage.

Almost as soon as the creature's knee struck the ground, the dog had wheeled about and launched itself up at the monster to try and bite at the back of its head and neck.
In the same moment that Raine also made to deliver another blow to the back of the creature's skull with the metal bar. There was a second, painful sounding THWACK as the impact of the blow bent the metal bar against the thing's skull, leaving a large reddish purple line in its skin. The only problem was...it still wouldn't stop.  It was as if pain and injury held no real importance in this thing's mind, only the intense focus it had on following the sounds of the barking, snarling dog.


Now that it's prize was within its reach, the long overstretched arms had reached up in a flash and grabbed onto the sides of the canine. Its hands, wide and heavily calloused, held its grip on the furred hide of the dog.

Even as Sohl had leapt into the fray as well, wrapping the woolen sweater around one of the thing's wrists and stabbing ferociously at one of its ears, the creature held tight to the canine. A howling moan echoed forth from it's open, circular mouth as it stood, throwing its wrapped arm to the side to discard the sweater while holding the canine with a long arm wrapped around it in a way that kept all four of its legs from kicking against it.
The wide, gripping hand was large enough that it wrapped completely around Sara's throat, both choking and scruffing the dog at the same time.  It's grip allowed only a small amount of air to pass through her esophagus.
Meanwhile, Pan and Cassius each made a valiant effort of their own, rushing forward to stab at the creature's knee or cut at it with a bone saw.
Pan received a hefty kick to the face by its bare foot just under one eye.
Cassius also came at the thing with the bone saw, making to cut at it however he could as it attacked.  But, he landed a few deep cuts in the thing's back and shoulders before he was thrown backwards into the nearby table with one push of the creature's long arm. Despite the frail look of it's long limbs, it's strength was incredibly deceptive as it lifted the man straight off the ground and tossed into the air. His foot, already swollen and infected, would've received a fresh wave of throbbing pain as it collided with the edge of the table where he landed.



Hobbling in a half sprint now away from the group and as if to flee towards the area it had originally come from. It managed to get out of the reach of the attacking patients before it stopped again just before entering the other area....still gripping the dog under its arm in a slight, bent posture where even if she kicked, her legs would flail uselessly with nothing to brace or push against. It breathed uncomfortably close to the back of Sara's neck, strings of drool dripping down into her fur as it began to twitch subtly. It grew quiet, it's naked chest heaving and rasping, completely ignoring all of its injuries as it stood there in the dark. A line of blood was tracing itself down the side of its head from the ruined ear.



Now....
It now had their friend....and one could only imagine whatever was going through its mind at that point and time.  It reached towards the dog's face with it's free hand, palm open and knobbly fingers spread, only a few inches from Sara's snout.



-----



Team Hui:



As Hui waited in the silent darkness, nothing in the span of time he remained there made any sounds or movements. When he did finally climb out from under the desk to make a break for it, he would pass through the messy, paper-strewn office and back out into the previous area. The slick, fresh blood on the ground had the man's feet skidding wetly across the tiled floor before the went forward and out from under him, throwing him flat on his back to stare once more at the ceiling. However, as embarrassing as his fall was, and as airless as his lungs more than likely currently felt, he would find that he was utterly alone again. The doctor, who had left the fresh pool of smeared blood on the ground that now coated Hui's back, was gone. There had been no sounds of the figure leaving, and no signs of him out here either. It was as if...he'd vanished from sight. Hui could return to the office to investigate, or he could leave and try to find the others.

[No new Map areas to reveal just yet, see past event posts for current maps]

[kilnarak]

[ Ari has decided that the majority of the party is insane and/or has a death wish. After a moment of indecision, he decides to follow Faolan and once again tries to cast a spell to hush his footsteps. ]

Of course Raine was going to keep fighting. Ari made a small noise low in his throat, the beginnings of a worried whine. The creature bled, yes, but bleeding didn't seem to have slowed it at all. He reluctantly released Raine's arm as the Irishman pulled away to go after the monster with his weapon.

He was a coward. His wrists were raw, unhealing. If the thing caught him, sunk those needle teeth into him... If it didn't kill him outright then he'd bleed out. He didn't want to die. Maybe if his magic hadn't abandoned him, if he had been able to cloak himself, he might have made an attempt at distraction, attempt at something useful...

They were all going to fight the thing and die. And then he'd be alone. It seemed like everyone was rushing after the creature, trying to strike it to little effect. They tripped it, bashed it, stabbed it, but it kept moving, barely slowed. It had caught the dog. The dog was dead. He tore his gaze away from the scene, another worried whine rising in his throat. He wanted to run. He didn't want to be alone.

... not everyone had gone after the creature. The one-winged angel hid in the corner, behind the piano, and another young man with blonde hair and cat-eyes was fleeing toward the left-most hallway. He hesitated a moment, glancing uncertainly between the two - they both seemed to have the right idea, but they were in opposite corner of the room.

After a few breaths, he turned and quickly (and as quietly as he could, whispering a key - more like a prayer - that the air hush his footfalls) made his way toward the blonde near the left hallway. He clutched the book to his chest - no time to page through it, no safe moment to examine - and his whisper for the blonde was a hiss: "Wait! Wait! We-We shouldn't.. We shouldn't split up! Let me... Let me come with you!"

[qhostqrowls]

[OOC: Faolan gladly teams up with Ari, and begins to quietly retreat down the left corridor]

Faolan glanced down the dark corridor, uncertain and anxious of what it might contain. He couldn’t go - but he couldn’t stay, either! Not by himself, he couldn’t do this alone...but the howling monstrosity would only be occupied by the others for so long. The doctor looked down it again, panic accumulating as yelps and shouts rang out behind him. Just move! He screamed internally, taking one hesitant, guilty step forward. Just leave them! Better to be on your own and alive, then dead with all of them!

“Wait! Wait! We-We shouldn't.. We shouldn't split up! Let me... Let me come with you!” Faolan jumped at the low whisper, whipping around to face Ari, who seemed to be every bit as jittery and as scared as himself.
“Oh, yeah yeah! Of course, let’s-let’s go,” Faolan kept his voice as quiet as possible, grateful relief seeping into his words but making them no less urgent. He spared one final glance over his shoulder at the brawling group - felt a stab of shock and sympathy as he realized the monster had gotten Sara - and then began to slink down the left corridor, away from the unfolding carnage, either slowing or quickening his steps to match his green eyed companions pace. Sara was going to die. Faolan didn’t want to watch Sara get ripped apart, and didn’t want to wait around and be killed by either an undead version of the scientist or that awful creature. He felt terrible for leaving Pandora and all the others. But they hadn’t listened! He could only silently pray that they would escape, maybe cross paths later on.

The corridor was dark, the ambient light from the bulb fading quickly, and each quick, hurried step he took was carefully placed down. A broken or sprained ankle meant death in a place like this, but so would any loud noises from careless footfall. He was aiming to move away as quietly and as quickly as possible, while still sticking close to Ari.

[NightshadeVII]

{OOC: Pan does another stupid and chases the creature, to stop it from harming Sara. She won't listen if anyone tries to hold her back. Upon reaching the monster, she will first try to throw a piece of concrete from the floor at the creature, but if that doesn't get its attention, she will empty her box and hurl it at the back of the creature's head.}

Pandora had no time to dodge the kick. That thing’s heel landed square on her cheekbone, knocking her off balance. The witch fell backwards, her back slamming into the floor, knocking the air out of her lungs with a loud wheeze. Coughs and gasps mingled together as she tried to force air into her lungs, in desperate need of it. But perhaps she was overeager, as the massive, uncontrolled intakes of air quickly felt like forcing tennis balls down her own throat instead drawing air into her lungs. As her breathing became more controlled, she began to scramble to regain the balance lost, pushing away from the creature,rising to her feet.

By the time, she managed to rise again, everything had gone sideways, more sideways than it already was. It felt like the entire right side of her face was throbbing, the heartbeat right beneath the skin, straining against it as if her veins wished to burst out. She was panting, her entire system wanting more air than what she could provide.
Nothing seemed to stop that thing. Despite the fact that five or six people had come at it at once, it never faltered, didn't even seem to flinch as blow after blow was inflicted upon it. At the moment, she couldn't tell how badly it had been wounded, if that was even the case, but the moment she saw who the creature had gotten a hold off, it wasn't important anymore.
Somehow, it had managed to get a hold of Sara.

Quickly, Pandora looked over her shoulder, to where she had last seen Faolan. An odd sense of relief, of being unburdened, flooded her system as she saw that the doctor had begun to retreat, seeking safety, getting himself out of harm’s way. If he could at least get to safety, find a place to hide and wait this out.
That just made her decision easier.
Without looking, she grabbed what felt like a broken off piece of concrete off the floor and weighed it in her hand. Then, she ran after the creature hoping to get in range quickly. She had never been an olympic thrower or anything, but she couldn't fail now. Not when Sara’s life was on the line like this.
Don't fail again.
Don't fuck up.
Do something.
She stepped forward with one foot, raising the hand holding the concrete in the same movement. And then the piece of concrete was flying, soaring through the air. She had aimed for the creature's head, but it just had to hit the creature, distract it. It had to let go of Sara.
Even as the projectile soared through the air, the young witch prepared her plan b, removing what remained of items from her box, before loosening it. Her hands were shaking now, gripping the box tightly. She knew what could happen, what might happen. But she didn't have the strength to take down the creature on her own.

If the creature wasn't distracted or even hit by the piece of concrete, Pandora would throw the box at the back of its head, hoping that that might divert its attention or distract it enough for Sara to get out of its grip. Sara had to get out. That was all that mattered right now.

[Sharei]

[OOC: Kit picks up the knife Cassius threw and sprints after the monster, approaching from its deaf side. She stabs it in the back of the neck, just below the skull, angled up into its brain to try and paralyze it.]


Pain bloomed in her jaw and up the sides of her face. Her grip slipped and away it the monster went, dog and all, and she was left kneeling in the space it had vacated. She wasn't reeling, the attack hadn't hit her hard enough for that, but there was a fraction of a pause - a breath - as she watched the creature run with her friend down the hall.

The image of Stenson's blood on the window of his door flashed bright and sharp in her mind.

She put her hand down on the floor, dug her toes into the tile, and prepared to run after it. Her hand closed over the hard handle of something - Cassius' knife - she closed her fingers around it reflexively. A single question ran through her like a jolt from a live wire. Now she had a real weapon, what could she do?

Kit had always been pretty good in a crisis. It was as though her head worked better under pressure, and it helped that she'd always been clever and decisive. She also had a complex academic knowledge of aberrations, their behaviors and habitats, and their weaknesses. The answer came to her in the same moment she pushed off her toes and sprinted after the monster.

There was a chance it would be distracted from Sara by her approach, but it was deaf in one ear already, so she curved to the side and approached it from behind and to the left. It might ignore her. It might not even hear her. There was also the chance that it didn't actually rely on anything at all to hunt them, but she didn't think so, because it had zeroed in on the sound. That meant it was at least partially biological. If that was the case, then if it did hear her, it probably wouldn't know exactly where she was.

The young girl that Kit had heard Faolan call Pandor was throwing something that might have been concrete. Kit watched it sail just ahead of her, and hoped that the impact would cause enough of a distraction from her approach that it would mask it. It was hard to hear anything while you were deaf and being brained by something. If nothing else, it might serve as enough auditory distraction that the monster would still be distracted.

Kit was on it not even a second after Pan's concrete either hit, or didn't, however that worked out. She didn't make any sort of slashing or stabbing attack. Instead, she put the point of the knife at the base of the creature's head, just below where the skull started, and slammed her palm against the end of the handle at the same time she shoved. The angle was slightly upward, and though she was aiming for the brain, it wasn't the brain she was after. It was the nerves at the base of the skull, the cluster that controlled most aspects of the body, that she was hoping to sever.

[Salandis]

[Raine follows the monster, ducking some concrete and circling to the non-deaf side to try and stab out the creatures other ear.]



Raine was startled at the complete lack of effect. This creature should have had its skull caved in... instead his palms actually stung, as thought he had hit a chuck of granite. He stepped back, watching the fruitless attempts to injure the monster. From the corner of his eye he noted Ari joining up with the man he first met here as they migrated down the left corridor and felt a burst of relief. At least he was leaving; at least he wouldn't be alone. Maybe he could even catch up.

The monster had picked up the wolf, choking it and apparently deciding to leave with it. Seeing blood run from one of its ears, Raine abruptly made the connection that it can only hear. Almost before he completed the thought he was moving again, a block of concrete sailing over his head (And where the hell did that come from??). Trying to run quietly while barefoot on concrete was a challenge, but he wasn't alone - the Redhead from earlier was also giving chase, circling around to the monster's deaf side with a knife in hand. He took the other approach, running almost on tiptoe to get around to the side with the intact ear. Gripping the base of the rod in both hands, he raised it overhead to plunge the sharp end at the monster's ear. He put as much force behind the strike as he could: If the thing had a brain, maybe it could still be killed. But if nothing else, he was going to make damn sure that ear was ruptured!

His mind shied away from trying to free the captive it held. The monster was impossibly strong, and reacted not at all to damage. Unless it could be coerced into breaking its grip, nothing would help... he could only hope that by deafening it, it would be unable to hunt again.

[MP]

[OOC: Sohl throws himself at the arm reaching for Sara and tries to pull it between the creature's legs with his sweater. He braced himself behind its leg and hopes that the creature will trip itself up when it tries to pull the arm free.]

Sohl snatched up his sweater as he ran, wary of a grasping hand as he prepared to charge again. They weren't strong enough. Even as a pack they weren't strong enough to do more than slow it down. Sohl saw the scarred man and the box girl go flying, saw Sara wrenched from its back and scruffed by a pale hand, and he increased his pace in deadly silence, aiming now for the base of creature's skull. The strike whistled through empty air as the thing wrenched itself upright, pattering back toward the mouth of the hall with the wolf under its arm. Sohl saw, superimposed over the sight, the image of a hawk winging back to its tree with slow, inevitable wingbeats. Saw it sink its beak into the clasped and helpless prey.

He was sprinting forward without a second thought. Kit was already going for the base of its skull - the best hunting partner he could have asked for, really - so he changed directions, coming around the creature's front at a full sprint and charging for the hand reaching for Sara's face. He threw his full weight into the wrist, trying to jolt it aside wth the impact, his sweater outheld like a snare. Sohl felt the wool close around its arm, and he let the remainder of his momentum carry him under the creature's legs and out of the way of a grasping hand. He rolled to his feet on the other side, savage-eyed and breathing hard, still holding to the woolen snare. With a vicious twist, he drew back on the sweater like a rein and pulled to one side, around one of the creature's legs. The sweater was still fastened to the arm, and Sohl hoped that the creature's own strength would turn the snare into a trip wire if it tried to jerk its arm free.

[tsukikoko]

[OOC: Sara briefly thinks she will be the distraction the others need to run. Is ok with this. Pandora, Kit, Raine and Sohl apparently have other ideas. So Sara gives it one last go to fight back. She uses her giant-ass, weirdly-furred crocodile tail to 'death roll' and then slips from the beast skin in an attempt to escape her captor. Should she be successful, she will get the hell away from it and hope/help the others to do so too.]

It was over. She knew it was over the moment those hands came around her. She was hoisted from the monster's back with a shrieking, terrified scream, her limbs flailing wildly but quickly restrained. Her friends were batted away like flies, their attacks useless against the creature's single-minded tenacity. Sara's yelps of panic were soon silenced by a powerful hand around her throat, the pressure cutting off her cries with a choking cough.

She couldn't breathe. Felt the monster's staggering gait as it seperated her from the others, she could see them scattered in the dank darkness, getting further away. Further away from the danger. It was not attacking them, had fixated upon her, she could feel the rank breath upon the back of her neck even now. The shifter fell still, barely making a sound save for her wheezing breaths.

She was going to die... and that was ok.

Because while it had her, it had its prize, was no longer interested in the group. They could run, they could escape. They could live.

The shifter closed her eyes, grew still and quiet, as a strange calm settled over her. She thought of Pandora, wished she could tell her how sorry she was for not being there with her after this, hoped the girl would run and not witness whatever was to come next. If she stayed with Kit; smart, brave and strong Kit, with Sohl who had so intelligently and readily gone to defend the group, she'd be ok - they would protect her. Then, as the monster surely readied itself to finish her off, the shifter found her thoughts turned to Aaron. She wanted to see his face, even if only a memory, one last time.

But now she could hear movement, not running away from the monster, but towards it. Sara's eyes snapped open and she caught sight of both Kit and Raine through her blurred and darkening vision, right beside the monster holding her, trying to fight it. What were they doing?! As soon as it was done with her, it would surely kill them. Or she would. Sara remembered now, Kit's warning, of the dead rising, of what she would do to her own friends. She couldn't let that happen!

Panic rose again, flooded the shifter's nervous system with adrenaline and noradrenaline, primed her muscles for one last fight response. She was being strangled, the creature was reaching for her; if this didn't work, she was going to die and then it would surely pick a new target.
[FIGHT] the beast screamed at her, abrupt and loud as the shattering of glass.
Her mind scrambled for an idea, sharp and lightning fast in its sudden desperation to survive. Her legs had no purchase, previous attempts to harm the creature had ended in failure, but she had one last thing.

One last ace in the hole.

Her tail. Large, heavy, no smaller despite her shifting abilities being nullified. Though covered in a strange coating of fur, there was no question, it was still a crocodile's tail. Sara began to throw the weight of her tail into a circular motion, the movements choppy and aggressive, slamming into the floor or monster if they happened to be in the way. The movement forced her body to twist in a variant of a 'death roll', created a powerful torque that, combined with the efforts of her friends, might just break the creature's hold long enough to grant her freedom. Injury and pain didn't matter; she was going to die regardless if she tried nothing and in her last ditch effort to escape the shifter was unaware of further harm to herself - that could be dealt with later, if she survived.
[Leave me.]
A familiar voice, quieter and calmer than before, sounded in her head, spoke as though to give her permission. The beast skin began to retract, pulled away from Sara's flesh as a second skin while she continued her spinning motion. Her body shifted and morphed, perhaps providing yet another obstacle in the way of this monster keeping hold of her as she frantically attempted to struggle from its grip.

Should she manage to actually get free, Sara would backpeddle and flee from the monster as quickly as possible. If it continued to come for her she dodged and ran away as best she could. Even as she fled the shifter kept an eye on the rest of the party, fearful for their safety and trying to lead it away from them if it still fixated upon her.

[Kurodaia]

[OOC: Hui goes back to investigate the office]

Falling into the fresh pool of blood, he groaned having ruined yet another nice band T-shirt. He probably should think about buying shirts in black and wearing them exclusively for this month. He groaned and finally got up, some of the documents were ruined a bit. He sighed and when he realised nothing chased him on his way out he decided to go back into the office.

The dark room greeting him but the minimal light allowed him time to adjust, he looked at the papers in his hands and read them and he slowly started to make his way to the book shelves to look at whatever was put in them. He tried his best to ignore the body on the table, the smell making him want to puke.

He would wander over to the office and look at other documents before checking wherever the doctor stood and looked at the wall, scratching the back of his head as he would go through whatever papers looked more interesting to him. 

He figured after snooping for a bit that he would try to find the others, tell them what he found out but he felt like there must be more than just this office. Somewhere in him said that he should investigate other locations to find more offices. This place was a mystery and something was definitely odd about it, for once this place let him be curious about what was going on but he knew that would have to end. He needed to find the others before anything horrid happened. 

[Marshmallow]

[OOC: Ilchymis can't fight but doesn't wan't to be useless, so he goes to where Cassius fell and tries to help him. First attempts to summon his healing magics, then offers Cassius the pills he found when/if his magic fails.]


Ilchymis watched the struggle as it unfolded from the relative safety of his hiding place. Sohl and the others kept throwing themselves at the creature, battering it, tripping it up, trying to put it down or cripple it in any way. But the faint, flickering hope for success was quick to sour.
Nothing, it seemed, was slowing the monster down. It shrugged off, or even completely ignored, every attempt to cause it harm. Though it appeared to bleed, it didn't stop. It reacted only enough to throw off its attackers - literally tossing the scar-faced man like a rag doll - and then continued its pursuit of the wolf.


"Sara..!" he squeaked in horror as the thing grabbed her, and began to retreat with its prize. Ilchymis straightened, started forward, but stopped himself short of leaving the piano's shadow. Even if he could reach her, what could he do? His magic was stifled here, he couldn't even manage to sustain a barrier. He wasn't strong enough to grapple with a thing like that. And if the continued assault from the others was any indication at all, nothing he could do would pull its attention away from its prey. Besides, Sohl, Kit and two others were still trying to do just that. His heart skipped a beat when he watched Sohl dive at it.
If he moved now, he would only get in their way.


Looking around in the vain hope for ideas, Ilchymis noticed the fleeing shapes of Faolan and one other just before they sprinted out of sight. He tensed and glanced around himself, and realized with a choking fear that he was alone.

No, wait. Not quite. Cassius - yes, that was his name, he remembered now! - had landed quite roughly at the table where they had all been huddled moments ago. He appeared to be in great pain, had the creature managed to injure him? Ilchymis didn't want to be alone, and he didn't want to be useless.
As quickly as he could without making any noise, the construct crept to the downed officer's side. And here he noticed the man's ruined leg for the first time. Some manner of infection appeared to be spreading from a swollen wound, and for a moment Ilchymis almost recoiled from it. A reflex. His brothers had oft warned him about getting too close to those stricken by the Plague.


He shook it off and crouched at the agent's side. "You're hurt. Let... Let me try, maybe I can help..." Ilchymis placed a hand on Cassius' shoulder, to give some comfort and hopefully coax him to stay down. He closed his eyes, tried to focus on his magic again. It felt so far away, so weak. It was probably a useless effort, a waste of time and energy. But he had to at least try. If he could lessen the man's pain even a little...

But if that didn't work, if the effort was indeed futile, all he had left to offer were the odd, white tablets. He held out the bottle to the man. "Here. I... I think this is medicine," he said, hopeful. He recalled that the humans of this world made a habit of crushing their remedies into these odd little pellets. Maybe it would cure him?

[jarahamee]

[Cassius gets up awkwardly and accepts the pills from Ilchymis , and possibly the healing magic as well. He would tear off a piece of his shirt to try to isolate the infection before suggesting hobbling in the other direction. ]

Cassius rises awkwardly and painfully. It was difficult to put pressure on his leg now. He grimaced like a wounded animal, and looked at Ilchymis. He seemed less fierce, tamer and more defeated than before. Apparently being thrown about put a dent in his confidence.

He was surprised that someone who had been so afraid of him was offering aid. He tried to read the bottle but he wasn't sure exactly what the content might say.

"Thank you. We should retreat they way they left"

He looks the way Ari and Faolan left. He would have followed Sohl but his current slowness with the spreading infection would be more of a burden than a boon. The others were still fit, and he was unsure if they would be successful rescuing Sara.

He ripped off a piece of the bottom of his shirt and tied it to the area above the infected region. He wasn't sure if he would have to amputate, but it seemed possible. Perhaps even probable.

"... There is a doctor here. I will ask him what this medication is. Perhaps he can help. Otherwise I may sever the leg. We should go. "

[Pearl Dragon]

Team Stab and Stuff:

Once again, spurred by the determination to help their poor captured friend, most of the others began another onslaught of attacks towards the huddle creature.
As it stood there, reaching for the face of the wolf, it pressed the palm of its hand onto the top of the canine's muzzle and dragged its hand roughly across the top of her head, dragging fur and skin alike back in a painful, non-too gentle petting motion. A shiver ran through the creature's body, making it's shoulders shake as it let out a series of strange, vocalizations; something between a moan and a stiffled, muted howl.

(Kit first) - The sound of feet sprinting across the room suddenly caught its attention, and it jerked slightly in the direction of the noise, mouth working as it continued to make odd, almost confused vocalizations. It traced the sound all the way around as Kit made a run to try and stab it in the back of the head. At the last second, as the knife dug partially into the base of its skull aimed for its brain, the creature gave a rapid series of jerky head shakes, it's moan suddenly rising rapidly into a wailing scream. It stood there, twisting its head back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, suddenly gripping Sara even tighter to itself as the jerking and shaking spread now to its shoulders and back, making it nearly pivot where it stood with the motions.
Raine's attempt at driving his own blade into the thing's ear would prove incredibly difficult as the creature convulsed and swung its body to and fro in a frenzied seizure, gripping the poor dog's throat and body so tight that Sara would find it impossible to breath in the duration of the thing's freak out.
Although aim was near impossible as the creature whipped about, the knife Raine wielded did find some kind of mark as it sunk into the meat of the creature's neck, causing it to suddenly bend it's head sideways, pinning the knife in place between a stitched cheekbone and it's shoulder.
(Pan) - It stumbled backwards, jerking slightly again as heavy piece of cement grazed the side of the creature's tilted head, and it swung it's arm out and up as if to ward off the blow. A second airborne object collided against it's shoulder, and Pan's box spun in the air, spilling it's contents across the ground at the creature's feet.

(Sohl) - At this point, the sweater wielded by Sohl had become wrapped around the creature's wrist, and Sohl scooted between the thing's legs. He pulled the sweater like a rein, and the creature pulled back. Hard. Although it stumbled from the tangle of wool, it very violently yanked Sohl forward by the sweater and (if Sohl hangs on) swung the boy completely around in a wide, horizontal arc towards a nearby wall. The force of the swing would prove to be extremely difficult for Sohl to hold onto and by doing so, he would risk colliding with the wall. The creature screamed again, a pained and frustrated sound before it hooked a thin tooth through the sweater and shredded the loop wrapped about its wrist.


(Sara) - Meanwhile, in the thing's arms, Sara had begun to thrash and twist, swinging her tail in a sort of looping motion in an attempt to thrash her way out of the thing's grip. As she did so, she slowly began to shed the outer cloak, resuming her previous form within the leathery fur coat, but the creature's arm only folded tighter around her body, pinning her to itself.



Finally, as it hobbled away, it's screams and wails dying down to a series of breathy, grating howls, it drew Sara up tighter like a strangled teddy bear and resumed the odd petting motions. Except...it noticed the change in texture. It felt fur, soft and strange beneath its calloused hands, stroking a long rough line down where the head would be and then...it felt skin... Human skin.....not the soft sensation of what had been there previously. This... this was not what it wanted....

The head of the beast angled down at Sara as if to look at her, tilting its stitch-warped, eyeless face first one way, and then the other. It's cries and wails had silenced into an almost...hollow, confused sound. It's mouth worked slightly and it wrapped long fingers around Sara's arm, twisting and pulling at the skin.

It groaned, gripping her arm tighter, and then began to tremble and drool profusely. The grip became excruciating, and finally, the thing gave an explosive, furious bellow. The sound was so full of rage, almost deafening in the wide open space. The grip it already had seemed impossibly tight on Sara's arm, but all at once it nearly tripled in strength and the next thing Sara knew, her arm was wrenched free of its socket, flesh bone and all. There was a sound like a wet pop, followed by the cr rip of flesh as Sara was relieved of her limb, which was then tossed in a rage-induced tantrum at the others. The thing wailed again, lifted Sara above it's head and threw her clean across the room. The creature thrashed and raged, throwing its arms all about like an enormous, lanky child throwing a tantrum. It slammed a wide fist against a column, crumbling the side of it from the impact before it lurched back towards the right hallway, it's echoed voice calling back to them as it disappeared into the darkness leaving the group to deal with their broken friend. Although Sara hadn't died, she might've wish she had as the gaping hole in her shoulder socket, now missing an entire arm, began to paint the floor a dark red around her.



Now....



As the echoes faded hauntingly, a hollow sound that grew ever more distant, the group was now alone again in the dark. Every bit of the violent chaos that had just happened was so sudden and ended so abruptly, that the group was more than likely now dealing with the trauma and shock of how quickly everything had gone south. 

(Ilchy and Cass) - All the while, Ilchymis was trying his best to assist Cassius who remained on the table, his foot throbbing painfully as the infection raged through his lower limb.
The man accepted the construct's offer of pills, although the healing power did very little to lessen the intensifying pain in the man's leg and foot, if anything at all.


As the dust settled back to it's dark, thin veil in the air, the group could continue their exploration of the space. Continuing forwards, there still remained a cart that could possibly contain supplies or perhaps be completely empty. To the left were boxes and barrels, more than likely a storage stash of some sort, but perhaps it held useful items as well.

The group would at least have some time to gather themselves (and their limbs) to try and figure out what to do and where to go while things were post-traumatically quiet....







Team Run and Hide:



Whether or not Ari's spell works is unknown, but he successfully slips away from the madness nonetheless.

Faolan has already begun to move towards the left area, and both are now approaching the doorway where Sohl had thrown the scalpel earlier.



At the entrance to where they stand, there was a set of double push doors, each one propped open by door-stoppers wedged underneath against the floor. Now that they were closer, they would look inside and see that the space was that of a cafeteria. Stretching back were rows of long bench tables made with metal frames and old-school hard wooden seats and surfaces. Most of the tables were scattered with old porcelain plates still containing what could've once been edible substances but was now moldy, rotten scoops of gunk. Plastic cups and sporks littered the ground and all around the plates, and one of the tables had a broken plate scattered on the floor around a familiar metal scalpel. The floors were checkered linoleum, smoother and less damaged than the chunked, potholed ground where they'd just come from. The ceiling in this room was also a lot lower, aluminum supports held up decayed and crumbling ceiling tiles, most of which had fallen apart and now littered some of the tables with yellow-stained clumps of mineral fiber. Tall, thin windows could be seen in the far back of the room, casting a minute amount of ambient moonlight in small, dense checker patterns across the debris-strewn ground and up onto the peeling, dirty wallpaper that framed the space. Although the decor was rather expected, there was still something off about this room. A sharp acidic stench soured the senses of those who walked inside, and some areas of the room were splashed with a dark, greenish fluid that had long since dried to a chunky crust. There was a break in the wall to the left where a bar-style buffet serving area with clouded plastic sneeze-guard panels covered the metal serving trays behind them. Beyond that, there seemed to be some sort of kitchen area, apparent by the dark windows just behind the serving area. Perhaps there was a door somewhere around that section of wall to allow them entrance.



As their gaze swept the room, they might notice that almost directly to the left was a massive pile of...something. Perhaps the source of the smell. It was still, its surface looked lump and glistened with a wetness and more of the blackish green gunk seemed to spread all around it like a gruesome flower. An explosive splatter, as if whatever it was had once been whole but...no longer was. The fleshy look of it also suggested that whatever it was, it was probably alive at some point. Farther back in the room, the heavy shadows, darker than usual thanks to the light filtering in through the windows, concealed a lot of the details of the rest of the back of the room. The group would need to move forward and explore, perhaps they could find something of use.

They could explore the main cafeteria area first, looking for anything of use further inside, or perhaps try to find a way into the kitchen area. Or, they could turn back.



[Map: For the new "Left" area visited by Faolan and Ari -
Here]


-----



Team Hui:



Unfurling the crumbled documents, Hui would notice that they were notes of some sort. The base of the page, printed in ink, seemed to be some kind of official hospital form, listing things like patient name, weight, height, illnesses, allergies, behaviors, medications, and other such details.

However, as formal and crisp as the typed font was, the handwriting that danced across its surface was anything but organized or formal. It was as if whoever had written upon it had been spinning the paper the entire time while writing. Some areas were smeared, pen ink spread in wing-like patterns across the page, like the dark wings of a flock of ravens fanning out from the illegible words. Although, a few words would be legible:



"We can give it the....(illegible).....shot will help the infection....(illegible)...lower right drawer, they'll never find it, NEVER....it's his fault, it's all his fault. I told him not to do it, he did it anyway and now I had to fix him, I told him not-.....(illegible)...they'll never find it, never...(illegible)....patient is deceased, I'm not giving him the antid-...(illegible)...it's mine, need more study, more test subjects....new to arrive tonight, they're all staying for treatment. They need to be fixed."



A second document, similar to the first but slightly more legible and following some of the provided lines, was laid out in more of a list format:

"Day 1 - Staff hired 3 days ago, all underwent surgery one day ago for retention purposes

Day 2 - Staff released, healing slow but improvement not needed. Retention is ensured.

Day 3 - Staff scheduled for aggressive psychological training procedures.

Day 4 - Families of staff taken care of

Day 5 - Staff performing duties beyond expectations. Efficient and reliable, no risk of emotional interference with tasks and responsibilities."

Followed by a bold-scribbled handwriting at the bottom, underlined multiple times:

"We'll make them PERFECT."



As he lowered the documents, he would need to contemplate their meaning, perhaps whatever it spoke of would be helpful if found. Over by the wall, there were no peculiar lines or grooves suggesting a hidden passageway like before, although the bloodstains on the floor seemed to end abruptly. How odd. Even the body was nowhere to be found. He could continue investigate or he could explore elsewhere.

[tsukikoko]

[OOC: Sara gets very, VERY hurt, experiences brief weightlessness. A little more logical now a berserker wolf isn't in her head; with what little sense she has left pinches her own artery shut & tries to convey to someone to tourniquet that shit before she goes into shock. She could really do with a hand.]

Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, the monster still did not release Sara. It tossed her friends aside like rag dolls, then began the odd behaviour of… petting her? It had wanted to touch her fur all this time had it? As she tried in vain to twist away and slip out of the wolf second skin, the shifter felt a new emotion swelling in strength within her chest. Perhaps it was the terror, or the desperate frustration, the beast’s rampaging personality, or a side effect of the adrenaline coursing through her, but either way, Sara felt angry. This bloody thing didn’t get to half strangle her just because it wanted a bit of a stroking session, she wasn’t about to give it what it wanted.

In hindsight, shedding the wolf skin had not been the best idea. But Sara was far from thinking straight; she was sick of being afraid, full of nervous energy and desperation to get away from this thing and just wanted it to LET GO. It’s hand gripped her arm, the petting motion having stilled. Very suddenly, the shifter felt a wave of knowing dread sweep over her. She didn’t know what it was going to do, but something about the way it regarded her, the tightening grip on her human skin, it’s strange, confused crooning, told her this was not going to be pleasant.

The creature howled in rage and before Sara even had time to be scared, or contemplate the error of her decision, there was a horrific tearing sensation in her shoulder. The shifter screamed; a terrible, agonised sound that echoed throughout the room as she experienced every excruciating moment of her arm being brutally torn from her socket. Even over her screams and the pounding blood in her ears, it was as though she could hear the sound of her own ripping flesh, reverberated through her body until with a crunching pop, her arm was wrenched free.

Her screams died then, cut off abruptly as the world around Sara blacked out, the pain having been too great. But, whether as a cruel twist of fate considering the agony she would experience again, or a primal drive to force her to help herself and stay alive, the shifter was awake again moments later. She was weightless, air rushing over the mangled flesh of her arm - muscle, sinew and bone that should never have seen the outside. She collided with the hard floor a moment later, saved perhaps even further injury only by the limpness of her body in her semi-conscious state as she bounced across the linoleum, leaving a smear of fresh blood in her wake to where she lay. The tattered remains of her thin nightshirt had already become saturated with red, clinging to the shifter's skin. Her body throbbed, a smouldering heat kindled in the socket of her shoulder, the kind of pain that promised to only become a raging inferno once awareness came back to her. For now, her body dulled the pain, ignored the signals from the remains of her arm as it sought to save itself; once the immediate danger had passed the story would be very different… if she survived at all.

The second voice had disappeared, no longer filled Sara’s head with rage and aggression. Even the fear, usually so all-encompassing, had dulled in the wake of her dying state. She was left with only logic, strangely calm amidst the chaos and bloodloss.
“Ahh…. bollocks….” the shifter groaned, trying to raise her remaining arm. Time was everything, she needed to move, before her muscles refused to respond at all. The blood vessels would have stretched as her arm was torn, sprung back as they snapped, sealed themselves off momentarily in a last-ditch response to stop her bleeding out. She needed to… needed to grab the artery. Had to… close it. Sara managed to look over at her injury, but it was as though she were viewing the damage on someone else. On some level her brain refused to compute what was happening, would not be able to continue functioning if she did.

She could see the main artery, spurting blood in pulses that matched the heartbeat still thundering in her ears. Her fingers grabbed for it, slipped twice before she was able to wrap the thick blood vessel around one finger and twist it closed. A shadow fell over her and the shifter’s gaze rolled groggily in the owners direction, some futile spike of primal fear expecting her monstrous attacker to have chased her down, that somehow she had to try to defend herself from it. But instead, she saw Ilchymis, who no sooner than he reached her staggered away.
“T-tourn..i..quet…” she tried to say, the words slurred but audible. 
But he was gone a moment later, running from her and the blood she knew he feared. Another pained, rattling groan escaped Sara as she turned back to her injury, desperately trying to keep the artery pinched shut because what else could she do than wait in hope for the others to help her?