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Post by Pearl Dragon on Oct 14, 2023 21:13:05 GMT -6
[Stenson takes a knife and medkit. He also uses the apron to make a sheath of sorts for the knife which he would then fasten to his belt. Once he collected his desired items, he then takes the skillet, hides where the swinging door would conceal him when opened, and then throws the skillet. He intends this to be a loud distraction in which to draw the man's attention into the kitchen, and once inside, Stenson would attempt to slip behind him and out the swinging door unnoticed.]
As Stenson looked through the kitchen, the items he came across obviously were mostly kitchen ware and typical tools and supplies one might find in a food joint. Stenson picked out a sizeable kitchen knife, figuring with everything going on, perhaps some sort of self defense might be a good idea. He wrapped it within a nearby apron and then fastened the apron to the belt of his pants like a make-shift sheath. He was also quick to snatch up the medical supply kit, which he placed into his bag.
With these few new supplies, Stenson felt slightly more prepared, but there was still the trouble of whatever was going on outside the kitchen.
He went back to the windowed door and gave one last look around the room. Suddenly his eyes fell back to the skillet. Heavy, metal, would probably make tons of noise.
Picking it up, Stenson held it and positioned himself behind where the door would swing open. Crouching slightly so as not to be in the way of the window, Stenson lifted the skillet over his head and before swinging it forward in a spiraling throw. He aimed it at one of the nearby tables, mostly to create a cacophony of metal clanging, crashing, and any other loud sound he could get to hopefully draw the man's attention from outside.
He then readied himself for the door to open, and the man to come in and investigate. When he was clear of the door, Stenson would make to move stealthily behind the man and slip out the kitchen door and into the restaurant.
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Post by NightshadeVII on Oct 14, 2023 22:26:27 GMT -6
(OOC: Sam wonders if the messages on the wall has anything to do with the note in his backpack and fishes it out to take another look. He agrees with Moana that it’s probably a bad idea to break down the door and suggests there might be a key (or something to pick a lock with) somewhere.)
Studying the writing on the wall and being, unsurpringly, unable to make sense of it, Samael let out a quiet sigh. This place and it’s many strange hints were both quickly loosing their charm, if they hadn’t already. He dug out the note he found in his backpack to see if there might be any connection at all between the two texts. It had looked like gibberish to him, but with nothing else to go on…
He listened quietly as the two others spoke. The idea of breaking down the door was an appealing one, quick and efficient, but none of them knew what the consequences of it would be- and they were less than ideally equipped to handle potential threats,
“Agreed. Breaking down the door should be our last option”, Samael spoke, seeming to look at Moana, ”Maybe there’s a key or something we can use to force the lock open somewhere. Preferably behind those other doors.”
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Post by qhostqrowls on Oct 14, 2023 22:44:02 GMT -6
[Kail suggests they can make a torch of their own, and then searches the first unlocked room]
Kail read over the message very slowly, his pale eyes settling on Moana as she recounted the bathroom riddle.
“We could make a torch real easy. You said you got oil, big guy? We use that or the deep fryer oil, some fabric from our clothes and that lighter, we’re set.”
He looked to Sam, seeing his own distorted reflection in the helmet.
“The worms didn’t like fire, I reckon the bugs won’t neither.”
He glanced down the hallway, walking back to one of the unlocked rooms.
“Let’s check out these unlocked ones. If there ain’t anything useful in them, we should just break it down.”
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Post by kilnarak on Oct 15, 2023 1:34:06 GMT -6
Casmir moves to try the storeroom door first, hoping to find something of use there. He eases the door open carefully, wary for any tricks or traps, for hostiles on the other side of the door. Nothing jumps out at him, nor does there appear to be any movement in the room, although it's dark. He finds a light-switch on the inside wall, near the door, and it flickers on with a hum to reveal a fairly standard storage room. It seems to be sectioned off into three distinct areas, perhaps for the three nearest stores.
It mostly appears to be boxes of clothing, some individually bagged. There are also some accessories and jewelry, although most of it looks fairly cheaply made. There is a box of key-chains in the Hot Topic section, shaped like little bats - when a button on the side is pressed a little red laser shoots out of their mouth. There is another box with many small black pouch-bags, filled with what appear to be eyeball themed marbles. And yet another, a small crate with skull-shaped lighters - the top of the skull flips back to reveal the flame. There are also various shoe-boxes in all three sections - the largest in Hot Topic, whereas G.A.P.'s section appears to be more standard sneaker-sized. Mervyns has the most variety.
Once he has finished his search and taken anything that interested him (his backpack was likely becoming pretty full by now), Casmir moved on to Hot Topic as that door was right there and unlocked. He enters into a small hallway with two doors marked as changing rooms. There is a curtain at the end of the hall, past which is the store itself. The lights are all on, but the store appears to be empty.
-
After taking a good sized kitchen knife, fashioning an apron into a sheath, and stashing the med-kit in his pack (he notices that it is getting kind of full, but maybe he could fit a bit more in there), Stenson picks up a cast-iron skillet in his free hand and moves to crouch near the swing door. He readied himself, then threw the skillet, sending it clanging loudly into one of the metal tables nearby. The sound is almost painfully loud, and it briefly drowns out the crackly music playing over the speakers. He waits, crouched, for the man in the other room, at the register, to come in and investigate...
The clamor of the sound dies away and he is still waiting. Peeking through the window again he finds that the man has not turned to acknowledge the noise at all. He's still polishing his glass at the counter, back to the door.
-
Samael, Kail, and Moana consider the note written on the locked door, as well as the idea of a torch to deal with the bugs. Samael attempts to cross-reference his own note against what's written on the door - but it remains gibberish. Some of the words do have the same number of letters as 'Torch,' but it's unclear which, if any of them, is the word. And if it is a cipher, it might take him some time to suss out.
After taking a moment to discuss, they decide to search the nearby storerooms for anything that might help them get into the locked door. Samael goes into the nearest room, while Kail and Moana move down to check the one a bit farther back up the hall.
The storeroom Samael steps into is unlit and empty. There is a light-switch by the door, and when flipped it illuminates a small room with shelves along the walls and a small desk at the back. On one side, the shelves seem to contain boxes with jewelry and tumbled stones, as well as incense and vials of scented oils. On the other-side the shelves are full of boxed watches, tiny gears and smaller screws. The desk at the back has a lamp on it, as well as a mounted magnifying glass. There is an unmarked key on the table.
The storeroom Moana and Kail check out is also dark, but when they try the light-switch it does not work. There is an immediate stench as they open the door, a raw meat and blood smell. There also appear to be shelves on either side of the walls, but they are of little interest as Kail's flashlight sweeps over something red and glistening wet on the floor in the middle of the room. It looks like a pile of viscera, although it's impossible to determine what exactly the bloody organs composing it are. It also appears to be moving, rising slowly up and down as if breathing. It gives them a distinctly bad feeling - it almost hurts to look at, they want to look away.
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Post by Pearl Dragon on Oct 15, 2023 17:08:30 GMT -6
[Sten decides to just move forward. He will ready his taser discreetly and then will simply walk through the door, keeping a brisk pace and ignoring any calls attempts to interact with him. He means to simply move through, his focus solely on finding Sam.]
Once again, the ability for the nearby public to completely ignore the chaos that seemed to happen around them confirmed that things were indeed still not right. Any normal employee would have heard the racket that Stenson had just created, and definitely would have come rushing through the door in a panic. But as Stenson risked a peek through the window, the man on the other end simply continued to polish the same glass, not a care in the world. Not to mention, that glass couldn't have been that dirty, could it?
Taking a deep breath, Stenson decided to just 'rip the band aid off' as they say. He kept his taser mostly concealed in hand, ready for any unprovoked assaults, before pushing through the kitchen door. If he simply passed through, did not acknowledge, did not engage, act as if he's meant to be there, perhaps it would be fine. He would exit at a brisk pace, ignoring any form of strange folks around him. If someone called out to him, he'd ignore them and simply keep moving. He needed to get out to the rest of the mall and continue to look for Sam.
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Post by luscen on Oct 15, 2023 20:49:43 GMT -6
[CASMIR takes a lighter, a bag of marbles, and a keychain. Not seeing anyone in the store, he proceeds straight towards H&M across the way. Once inside, he will follow signs of STEN'S passing to try and catch up to him.]
Casmir quickly scanned the area: shoes, clothes, and trinkets. There was little there that would be of use to him in the clothing department- none of the shirts and pants looked thicker than what he had on, currently, and the shoes would have been little better. Perhaps, if he had more time, he'd have been more discretionary, but the longer he spent, the more likely something or someone would find Agent Jones.
Then there were the other three. Two of them, Casmir wasn't very concerned about. But the third was Kail. And while the Hunter had no fondness for him, he was Sjira's friend. That counted for something. Something small, perhaps, but it was there, nonetheless.
Stepping into the room proper, Casmir quickly snatched three distinct objects: A skull-motif lighter, a bat-shaped keychain, and a small black bag. Opening the latter, he saw a sack of marbles shaped like eyes. It was no set of runestones, but they could still prove useful in the right situation. The lighter was functional, and the bat emitted a red laser sight that could come in handy. His bag space was limited, and without a utility belt, he only had so many pockets, so he'd have to be sure of what he wanted to take, and what he wanted to leave behind, going forward.
His choices made, the blonde quietly closed the door and tried the lock for the next store. Finding it open, he crept inside and took a quick look around- he'd come out into a changing room, absent of people, which carried over into the store proper, it seemed like. He decided to forgo a thorough look, and made a beeline for the exit, seeing the H&M's logo just ahead.
Hopefully, Jones hadn't gotten himself into any serious trouble, yet.
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Post by NightshadeVII on Oct 15, 2023 22:18:12 GMT -6
(OOC: Sam takes the key from the desk and checks if there’s anything else interesting on it, in the drawers etc. He then uses the blunt end of the glass cutter to start looking through the boxes with jewelry for anything useful)
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Post by qhostqrowls on Oct 15, 2023 23:52:04 GMT -6
[Kail shines the flashlight across the rest of the room, and tries to sidestep viscera-pile, seeing if they is anything of use on the shelves. Avoids looking at it directly, keeps knife drawn]
Kail let out a faint hiss of disgust and held the flashlight steady, narrowing his eyes as he looked over the pile of viscera. It was moving like it was breathing, and his chest felt tight with an all-consuming anxiety the longer he stared. He saw innards and gore on a weekly basis - caused the mess himself. And yet just looking at this thing had him wanting to turn tail and run.
"Goddamn - that necklace any help?" He asked, almost as a suggestion, to Moana. She looked the same way he felt about it, but he wasn't about to suggest they leave. "I'm gonna check the shelves. You don't gotta come in."
He swept his flashlight across the rest of the room, pupils blown wide in the darkness. If it was clear, he'd step around the viscera - carefully, but casually, since Moana was watching - trying not to look at it directly, but keeping it in his peripherals. He was searching for anything of use on the shelves, trying not to miss anything but also leave the room as quickly as possible. His fingers tightened around the hilt of the knife.
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Post by Salandis on Oct 16, 2023 0:20:30 GMT -6
[Moana keeps lighter and wrench handy to also look around the viscera room. Suggests poking it when they leave.]
It wasn’t the first time Moana had seen a pile of viscera, but this one seemed more, well, gross than usual. It didn’t help that it was still moving, quivering in a weird semblance of life. She actually gagged a little, before shaking it off and following Kail into the room. “Yeah, the necklace is helping – I think,” she replied. “It's probably the nicest thing anyone's got me in a while, too," She managed a smile, "Mostly I just get gifts from work - or people buy me drinks." She stepped into the room after him. "I’ll check with you, but knowing our luck anything of value will be under that, she gestured with the wrench. “If we find nothing else I can try and jab it with this, and back out hopefully before it explodes.”
She carefully stepped around the viscera – she wasn’t going to back out of a room he was already in, after all – and started inspecting the opposite side of the room, keeping the wrench handy while using the lighter to look.
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Post by kilnarak on Oct 16, 2023 1:29:56 GMT -6
It seemed like Stenson's tactic of just... walking out the door like he belonged there paid off. The man behind the counter did not acknowledge him when he walked past, continuing to polish his glass - on a closer look, it appeared that part of the glass had broken and was lying on the counter and there were little cuts on his hands from where he had polished the sharp parts. He didn't seem to be acknowledging that either. The people in the seating area didn't acknowledge Sten either - a pair of women at one table, and then a man and woman at another. They kept up their looping conversations: the women arguing about keeping secrets from each other, and the other couple discussing a movie. Each conversation would reach a conclusion, and then, after a few moments would begin again.
None of them look up at him at all as he moves out through the main door and into the mall's main hallway. To the south, Sten can see another closed shutter with a banner up stating: "Under Renovation!" There is a picture of a fountain below the words depicting a singing mermaid with dolphins spitting water around her, the backdrop of the poster is comprised of big neon-colored geometric shapes. Happy Burger is the restaurant across from the one he just came out of, and the door seems to have been propped open and while the lights are on there doesn't appear to be anyone inside. Nearer the shutter, there is another restaurant, Got Beef?, which seems to be the other one that he hear noise from - there are more people seated inside with plates of food. North is an Asian-fusion restaurant, Pick Up Stix, as well as a hotdog joint, Dogz, and a pizza place, Valuetino's. There is also another sliding door that leads out into a very foggy parking lot.
-
Casmir hurries through the Hot Topic and out into the hall, then across to H & M. The door is unlocked and the store seems empty, but the lights are on. There is no sign of Stenson here, nor does he see much of use beyond a lot more clothing. Moving through the store he finds the changing rooms, and then the staff door at the back. The door is closed and there is a note taped to it.
The staff door appears to be unlocked, and if he opens it it leads into another lit white hallway lined with doors.
-
So far, the storage room Samael is searching seems to be calm and quiet. It almost feels safe here. As he searches through the jewelry boxes with the end of one of his glass-cutting tools, he finds a pendant that makes him feel... good. Safer. Calmer. It is a silver Celtic knot accented with blue and yellow stones, dangling from a black leather cord. Nothing much else feels useful in the box. And besides, he found what they were looking for: a key. Now which door would it open?
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Kail and Moana carefully search the storage along the walls, edging around the pile of viscera on the floor. Both sets of storage seem to be for jewelry stores although the left wall looks decidedly cheaper in quality. The right wall seems to have a mix of jewelry, gemstones (mostly quartz), and some incense and scented oils. None of it seems especially useful at the moment - maybe the oil was flammable? But the cooking oil downstairs was probably a better bet if they wanted to make actual torches.
The pile of gore in the middle of the room is still 'breathing' evenly. Looking at it is distinctly uncomfortable, and just being near it gives both of these predators a bad feeling, as if they're too close to a sleeping grizzly bear.
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Post by Pearl Dragon on Oct 16, 2023 17:10:06 GMT -6
[Stenson tries Happy Burger, the quieter and emptier option of stores around him.]
As Stenson left the kitchen to hurry past the man at the counter, he couldn't help at least a quick sideways glance at the man and winced as he saw the broken shards of glass lying on the counter nearby as well as all of the fresh cuts in the man's hand where he'd clearly polished right over the sharp glass where it had been broken. And yet the man continued, completely oblivious of the damage on both the cup and his hands.
The people out in the restaurant at least seemed normal for the most part, but their looping conversations told a different story. It was as if this place were in some sort of trance. EVERYONE but himself, hopefully Sam, and whomever else he'd seen at the front of the mall being the only ones not playing along. He moved quickly past the tables, noting the two women's conversation, argumentative in nature, about each other's secrets and a couple talking about a movie. He imagined walking to one of the tables to partake in the conversations, ask them a question, or otherwise try to interact and in his mind he could see them repeating their words at him like the old woman. They would then gradually become more aggressive until finally one of them stuck a fork in his arm rather than a drink straw...
Nope! He had a new rule, he thought to himself as he passed back into the main mall area, he would NOT bother asking, talking to, or interacting with any employees or mall-goers here. Whatever was going on, it had them in some sort of spell, and nothing was going to break them out of it. At least nothing Stenson had access to.
Looking around, Stenson noted the various food places around him. To the right of the Dairy King he'd just come out of, there were more people seated within a restaurant called "Got Beef?" He could see that one door led in on the side of the barrier with the Under Renovation-Fountain poster while there seemed to be another visible door letting out on the other side of the barrier. He could try his same trick of just passing through, but then there were even more people in there.... He also couldn't shake an immediate scenario from his mind of him walking in and being immediately swarmed by brainless, carnivorous customers, again with much sharper instruments than straws... It just seemed way too easy.
He looked over to the quieter spots and noted that Happy Burgerz had its door propped open. It seemed empty which was a good thing, and he wasn't certain if he should waste time investigating the other food places in case they also contained brainwashed customers or employees hidden somewhere within. Plus, the foggy exit at the farthest end was out of the question, as much as he wanted to just bolt out of this place. He still felt like that was the wrong answer, given his earlier sense of amnesia after coming out of that same fog and into the mall. What if he walked out there and had his mind erased for good?
Happy Burgerz it was. He made his way over to it, moving slowly at first as he approached, but eventually moving through the propped door and into the shop to look for any more signs of the others, or at least a continued path to follow.
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Post by NightshadeVII on Oct 16, 2023 18:11:09 GMT -6
(OOC: Sam ties the necklace around his wrist like a makeshift bracelet. He then goes to tell Moana and Kail he’s found a key. He immediately lowers his voice, seeing the breathing thing in the room)
Samael studied the necklace for a moment, turning it between his fingers. The light of the room played off the gemstones. The symbol was very familiar to him, and yet, he had never encountered a piece of jewelry that had such an effect on him. The feeling of safety and calm it provided was strange, but not unwelcome. Perhaps this was a kind of warding charm? Regardless, he made a swift decision and quickly tied the necklace around his wrist like a bracelet, making sure it was tight enough so it wouldn’t just fall off.
With that taken care of, he quickly pocketed the key on the desk and glanced around the room. Nothing else caught his interest at the moment, so the decision to leave was an easy one. No matter how safe the room felt, it was no place to linger. By his nature, Samael felt the need to act, to be pragmatic and proactive. He still had to find a way out for the people stuck here.
Reaching the door the two other’s had entered, he was just about to speak up when he noticed the writhing, breathing pile of viscera on the floor. Anger and disgust flared alive in his mind at the sight of the abomination, a pile of flesh mimicking life. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I’ve found a key. Anything useful here?”
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Post by luscen on Oct 16, 2023 19:46:41 GMT -6
[CASMIR reads the note and mulls on it for a moment. Stepping into the hallway, he ignores the first three doors, and tries the other around the bend, finding one locked, and one opened. Deciding to step into the north hallway, he tries the north exit. If locked, he will attempt to enter "Pick up Stix," and if it's locked, he will go through the "Dairy King" door.]
There was no one in the store when Casmir entered, much like Hot Topic had been empty, as well as the Gap before that. Casmir found himself once again confused by what the aim was of whoever was responsible for this: were they looking for victims? Or was this some kind of front? The way the teens had acted, and the old woman, they almost seemed like golems or homunculi- lifelike replicas that only had a base command that animated them. That would certainly give the illusion of being a real mall... but given their reactions, any sort of interaction with law enforcement might have provoked further investigation.
'Maybe it's not about that,' Casmir argued as he came up to the staff door. He frowned at the note stuck to it, examining it. Something about a sword upstairs, glowing like moonlight.
"Sounds like mithril..." Casmir muttered, considering. He'd never seen much himself; Roland bore two axes forged of Mithril - otherwise known as "Truesilver," as he'd called it - which had a glow about them like the moon when drawn. But it seemed as though the material no longer existed in the world - if it ever had, to begin with. His own swords, crafted of a mixture of silver and titanium, were but a pale imitation of Roland's blades.
Regardless of the blade's nature, it sounded like it would be useful. Alongside those other "magic things." So, having his next goal in mind, the Hunter stepped through and into another hallway, checking the various doors around the corner- the closest one would have been another supply closet, and if Jones had gone through here (and he must have, surely) then he likely already foraged through it for supplies, while the other two would have led to stores that emptied back out into the part of the mall he'd already come from.
The first door around the bend was locked, the second one was open, while the third - if he was remembering his map right - would have led back out into the northern hallway. And since there wasn't any ruckus coming from there, Jones wouldn't have looped back around. Since he couldn't tell which door his elusive agent had used, Casmir decided to give the hallway door a try, first- it would give him immediate vantage of several stores, and if Jones weren't in any of them, he head east around the corner and continue his search.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Oct 16, 2023 20:40:13 GMT -6
[Kail exits the room, suggesting they try the key in the door, and then circle back to bashing the viscera-pile when/if they are better prepared]
Kail smiled lopsidedly at the taniwha’s words, momentarily distracted from the situation. He wanted to ask her about her job, or circle back to an offer of drinks, but by the time he’d managed to think of a coherent sentence she was onto the more pressing topic of disturbing-gore-pile.
“Whatever you wanna do. I can stab it.” He said, in the same hushed tone as before. The thing had a distinctly predatory, uncomfortable aura and the last thing he wanted to do was get closer. But he also didn’t want to look like a coward.
Samuel appeared again, and Kail edged around the viscera and slipped out of the room at his words.
“Let’s try the key. Might have better luck bashing this thing if we come back with that torch.”
Or with any kind of weapon with a bit more reach. Moana had the wrench, but the gelatinous, quivering crimson didn’t have any visible weak-spots or even any distinguishable features to aim for.
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Post by Salandis on Oct 17, 2023 0:36:54 GMT -6
[Moana goes with Kail and Samael back to the locked door to see if they have the correct key]
She looked appraisingly at Kail a moment before responding quietly. “I wonder if we could fit the knife into the wrench?” she mused. “We could stab from a distance then. Although honestly I’d rather bring back something to burn that… thing.” She shuddered. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything that would more fit the phrase, ‘kill it with fire.’”
Samael caught up with them, sharing his find, and Moana only shrugged.
“Yeah, here we just have… jewelry? Supplies?” Moana murmured back to Sameul, and then followed Kail out of the room. “I’m all for trying a key.”
She follows the others out of the room, gently closing the door behind her, and approaches the locked door with a wrench at the ready. Who knows what’s on the other side?
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