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Post by Marshmallow on Oct 4, 2023 19:06:34 GMT -6
[OOC: Nagi tries his phone but discovers its battery drained. Tries not to panic. Panics a little. Does as Strid tells him and just tries to keep a wary ear out for unusual sounds.]
"Sorry Nagi, no such luck..."
Nagi's uncertain smile faltered and faded. He tried to swallow past the growing unease, but it felt like a solid lump in his throat. Could they really be trapped in the building with a killer? But he could barely smell the blood, it was old and dry, so surely the murderer would have moved on, right?
The all-encompasing buzz-and-sputter of the building's power failing certainly didn't help matters. The music returned, warped and skipping, and some unpleasant grinding echoed from behind the elevator doors. It set his nerves on edge.
Nagi fumbled through his pockets for his mobile phone, but it proved futile. There was no tone when he lifted it to his ear. Not even a single chime when he pressed the buttons. Holding the power button only resulted in a weak beep of rejection. 'No battery'.
"My phone's dead..." Nagi said with a note of disbelief. He always kept it charged, plugged it in after work every night. Of course the one night he forgot would be the night he got locked in a building with a murderer! It was like some kind of sick joke.
His hands were shaking as he put the useless phone away.
Right. Exits, information. They'd have to work together to find a way out. He'd be no use in a fight... His only marketable talent in this case was just his keen hearing. Strid knew it too. Nagi nodded along with the veteran's assessment. Keeping himself out of anyone's way, he focused on tuning out the repetitive clunk from the elevator and listening out for anything new or unusual.
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Post by beastly on Oct 5, 2023 1:50:13 GMT -6
((OOC: Jonny, frankly, is grateful for some direction and organization. He decides to try the Design and Development room.))
Jonny scratched his head and tugged at one of the strings on his hoodie as he watched people mill about. There were things going on, and he wasn't sure what. Barracading the bathroom if there was a MONSTER in it was a good idea, but he also didn't want to be stuck in the room with the bloody elevator. He looked at Strid as the man spoke. They did need an exit.
"I'm gonna try that 'Design Development' door," he announced to the room, "I don't like that fuckin' elevator. Or whatever is happening in that bathroom."
He didn't like it at all.
He walked over with the guy that was telling people what to do, and held his card in his hand. Oh. He had one. That was cool. He gestured at the door, letting him do the honors or whatever. He'd let the big guy go in first, so the monster would eat him.
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Post by jarahamee on Oct 5, 2023 2:32:17 GMT -6
The couch had been fitted with rubber stoppers to prevent it from easily sliding across the floor, but this was no obstacle to the movers. The furniture skidded reluctantly over the linoleum, as the skipping music seemed to rise to a crescendo. The sofa collided with the wall over the door to the women’s bathroom with a soft thump. The door is now wedged closed, at least for now, with the weight of this large couch. As they stand and survey their work, likely breathing hard, Nagi does indeed hear something. He, Faith, and Vegas all hear a suspicious sounding thump inside the men’s restroom. It seems to be at wall height, and the door quivers a little, almost uncertainly, before the knob wobbles gently. Faith tries her key-card on the stairwell door, but it turns red and beeps softly. She has the sense that this card does not have the clearance to use the stairs.
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In the other room, Strid and Jonny use their Receptionist keycard on the Design and Development door. This empty office room’s off-white walls have a sterile appearance. It is brightly lit by round lights placed within the ceiling. The skipping, distorted pop songs play, at a much lower volume in this room. The walls of this room are decorated with framed posters that seem to be charts of different parts of an animals’ cell cycle. There appear to be six cubicles total, all individually decorated to suit its inhabitants’ tastes. Their aluminum frames and blue fabric panels added some color to the otherwise dull space.
Attachments:
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Post by beastly on Oct 5, 2023 2:42:57 GMT -6
((OOC: Jonny starts LOOTING))
When they were not immediately eaten by snake monsters, Jonny slipped into the room, cautious and hoping to find a big red exit sign. While he didn't see that, he did see cubicles. The posters seemed to be some science shit.
"We should see what they got," He whispered to Strid, unsure exactly why he was whispering, "Might be something that kills monsters... Or... Some hand sanitizer."
The smaller man poked his head into the first cubicle to start rummaging in the desk.
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Post by Marshmallow on Oct 5, 2023 5:06:05 GMT -6
[OOC: Nagi hears a suspicious noise and alerts the others.]
It was admittedly difficult to listen carefully with all of the noise. The elevator clunking, the scrape of furniture shifting, and that increasingly annoying pop music. But with a few deep, meditative breaths, Nagi managed to tune most of it out. He was beginning to get a sense for the cadence of the others' footsteps, so he just had to pay attention for anything that wasn't one of them...
Thump.
Nagi straightened and tilted his head toward the odd sound. It seemed to have come from one of the doors near the sofa crew. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
"Uh... Guys?" Nagi whispered urgently, afraid to raise his voice too much. He gestured toward the men's restroom door, where even now he could hear the doorknob gently rattling. "Please tell me that's one of you just messing with me..."
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Post by indeath on Oct 5, 2023 20:26:06 GMT -6
((Malvin jumps. Suggests animal control. Waits for the large man and his friend to return.))
Malvin jumped making an unmanly yelping sound when the door banged. There was something in there after all. Something big.
“Should…should we call animal control? Hello?? Is there someone in there?”
Malvin didn’t like this at all. Not even a little bit. He backed away eyeing the room behind them for the return of Johnny and the hobo. He felt a little useless since he hadn’t been special enough to find a card.
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Post by MP on Oct 5, 2023 20:36:35 GMT -6
[OOC: Faith tries to push the couch far enough to cover both doors. She calls for the others to help via death glare.]
Faith made a hostile sound - an almost hiss through her teeth - as she shushed the speakers. She made no sound after that, but her eyes practically beamed hostility. SHUT UP. She moved to the right of the couch, stepping softly so as not to make extra noise. She waved to get their attention, then pointed at the other end of the couch. Another wave. Another point, more aggressive this time.
She gripped the underside of the couch, lifting with her legs and putting her full weight into it, and heaved the couch toward the other bathroom door. It was a long, heavy piece of furniture. It could cover both if they could get it into position in time. Stress and the soft jiggle of the doorknob lent her an urgent strength.
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Post by Sharei on Oct 5, 2023 20:52:00 GMT -6
[OOC: Strid agrees with Johnny that stealing is the correct course of action and begins to search through the desks and any file cabinets in search of additional keycards or items that could be used as a weapon.]
"Or another keycard," Strid agreed. Already on high alert, he didn't waste any time in going into the room. His eyes roamed the far corners looking for exits or possible items of interest, but his main focus was the desks in the cubicles or any file cabinets that might be present. Extra keycards, old keycards from old employees that had likely not been deactivated, current keycards - all would be useful. And if there were any pens, well, he'd take one of those too. There were a lot of practical combat applications for a pen. It'd be even better if one of these science nerds had kept a pocket knife in his desk.
"There's got to be something in here we can use."
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Post by hadopelagic on Oct 6, 2023 0:31:30 GMT -6
[OOC: Vegas whispers a description of the THING as she helps block the men's door, and then she helps the search in D&D]
At the doorknob's rattle and Nagi's warning, Vegas almost fled ... but where could she go? Back to the empty lobby? No, that was a dead end. They were fish in a barrel.
Instead, she took Faith's lead and helped scooch the couch, making a double-door barrier. The bathroom doors might've opened inward, but the sofa could still be useful, especially if the THING couldn't use a doorknob.
Whispering, she answered Faith's earlier question, "It was fast ... really fast, and quiet. No footsteps. No sound, really. The size of a ... a first grader? A big monkey? But like I said. Couldn't be a human. Humans don't move like that. What is going ON here? Something in this building is draining the electricity. I know the signs." She'd dabbled in IT. Computer repair had been one of Vegas's numerous careers, prior to the insurance game. Jack of all trades, master of none. She became bored easily. "Is the electrical issue related to that thing, though?"
The words QUIET and FAST kept rattling around her brain. Its speed and silence made the THING exceptionally dangerous. She couldn't hear it. Couldn't outrun it.
Shuddering, Vegas stepped away from the couch and quickly moved into D&D. She wanted to get far away from the bathrooms. The guys were looking for keycards; good idea. She started (silently) rummaging through the nearest empty cubicle, searching for anything--keycards or weapons--they could use to escape.
"Hey, how old are you, anyway?" she whispered at Johnny.
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Post by jarahamee on Oct 6, 2023 0:35:43 GMT -6
In the Lounge: Faith and Malvin move the couch to obstruct the bottom half of the men’s restroom door. The rubber screeches unhappily against the linoleum floor. The large couch thuds against the wall nearest to the elevator. The industrial elevator, meanwhile, continues to show the light that says ‘second floor,’ while DING DINGing loudly. In-between the dings, there is more mechanical clicking, grinding and thumping. Within the men’s restroom, there is another, softer thump, high up on the wall, and the handle rattles with more insistence, finally turning entirely to the right. As if by accident, the door swings open inward, by only an inch perhaps, and something bumps against it again, pushing it almost entirely closed again. There is a pause, and more soft thumping, before something appears. Almost hesitantly, high, high up, near the top of the door, two small fingers appear, curling around the side of the door. They seem to grasp its edge, and the door wobbles back and forth. Whatever is behind the door bumps into it again. It is of note that there are no footsteps, or impact with the floor heard. This is something notable to Nagi. Within Design and Development: Jonny investigates the first cubicle. This cubicle is decorated with plants and has some note pads pinned on the board across from the desk chair. The computer on the desk appears to have shorted out and does not turn on no matter how many times the power is pressed. Jonny finds a Penny Whistle sitting on the desk top. This must have been a very annoying coworker. One of the notepads has a legible note.
The note reads: The 5th floor bathroom is out of order. Where are the strange noises coming from? Strid investigates a very modern-looking cubicle. The computer here appears to have shorted out and does not turn on no matter how many times the power is pressed. The desk lamp here is classic black. There are several binders to the right of the lamp. The desk chair was not pushed back in after use. A small, but beautifully colored rock has been placed here as decoration. On the desk top he finds a keycard. The keycard reads “ Ralph Merlot: Quality Documentation.” Vegas joins Jonny and Strid, investigating the third cubicle on this side of the room. An array of family photographs, paintings and art of flowers decorate this cubical. It has an artistic-looking lamp in the corner. The computer here is blue-screened and does not turn on. There are a stack of papers to the right of the computer that appear to have been left there. She also finds a full water-bottle. One of the most legible papers in the stack reads: Electrical interference may render key-cards invalid between floors. We are still investigating the causes and will correct this issue as soon as possible. Attachments:
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Post by MP on Oct 6, 2023 1:18:33 GMT -6
[OOC: Faith does a violence.]
Her eyes widened as small fingers appeared - impossibly high, unnervingly quiet - and curled around the door. Something bumped against the other side, pushing the door shut. The fingers prized it open again. It was uncoordinated, stupid - she didn't care. It hadn't figured out the door yet, and it wasn't getting the chance. Let's see it hunt with broken fingers.
Faith lunged for the handle, pushing it wider for extra room, feeling the bump of some obstacle on the other side, and then slammed the door as hard as she could. Once, twice, three times in rapid, savage succession. The last time, she slammed it with such force that she felt a muted crunch even through the handle. She'd actually managed to close the door on the hand entirely, and the fingers protruded - bent and distorted - through the sliver gap.
There had been no sound at all. No scream or struggle from the other side. Faith released the handle and backed away, eyeing the fingers with the first trace of real fear. Had the thing even noticed it was injured? Could it be injured?
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Post by indeath on Oct 6, 2023 1:54:03 GMT -6
((OOC: Malvin bravely runs away. Tries to play it cool. Casually pilfers through an unexplored cubicle. Offers protection ‘candy’ to Strid.))
Malvin yelped again and darted out of the lounge to the D & D room where everyone else was. There were fingers were fingers shouldn’t be. It was like some kind of Twilight Zone madness. Malvin was not here for it. The Karen had it under control.
As he entered the room, he tried not to look as flustered as he felt. He didn’t want to seem chicken in front of the sexy hobbo or Jonny. He sidled to an unexplored cubicle near Strid and began trying to casually pilfer through it. He fished the slightly squished candy bar and offered it to the large man.
“Uh I found this and you seem like you could uh uh do with a nice treat. It’s flat but I’m sure it tastes fine.”
If that thing came out of the bathroom he wanted to be on the guy’s good side. It was worth a candy bar.
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Post by Sharei on Oct 6, 2023 14:26:31 GMT -6
[OOC: Strid pockets the keycard, the rock, and takes the binder. He glances at Malvin, then the chocolate bar, but shrugs and takes it with a 'thanks.' He flips through it on his way back to security, reading what he can on the short walk. Once at security he tries the keycard. If it doesn't work, he tries the stairwell, eying the misshapen fingers in the door as he goes with no notable reaction besides alertness. ] Keycards Connie Niels: Receptionist. Ralph Merlot: Quality Documentation
Items Small glass bottle Painted rock Ballpoint pen Black binder from D&D Flat chocolate bar
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Post by Marshmallow on Oct 6, 2023 19:30:06 GMT -6
[OOC: Nagi gets startled by sudden door-related violence and retreats toward the Reception area door to put some space between himself and whatever Faith is trying to bash. (If/When Strid returns to the room, Nagi will stay close to him.)]
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Post by hadopelagic on Oct 6, 2023 22:11:09 GMT -6
[OOC: Vegas moves to the next available cubicle]
Out of the corner of her eye, Vegas noticed Muscles leave D&D; had he found a key? They'd learn soon enough, she supposed. Vegas wasn't having much luck, although she found (and shared) confirmation of the electrical interference.
Quickly, she abandoned her current cubicle and ran around the room, to the other row, center cubicle, next to Mal. Efficiently, she rummaged through a stranger's professional domain, looking for pepper spray, keys, a functioning phone, anything. It felt obscene, but they were desperate.
What'd happened to the people of BioCell? Had they returned home earlier that day, oblivious to the danger they'd leave behind? Or would they find more blood on the upper floors?
Vegas never would've assessed a bunch of office workers as "high risk" for violent deaths, but there were always tragic outliers.
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