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Post by Salandis on Oct 22, 2023 23:33:11 GMT -6
[OOC: Moana curses when she realizes that she’s holding something that – as far as she can tell – isn’t a weapon. Follows Sam out of the store, but will wait for Kail]
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Post by NightshadeVII on Oct 22, 2023 23:38:07 GMT -6
(OOC: Sam falls back behind Kail and remains at the ready with the bike chain.)
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Post by kilnarak on Oct 23, 2023 1:40:53 GMT -6
Given how the bugs at least had reacted to light - hiding - Moana can surmise that at least the flashlight might damage those. Perhaps the focused beam would prove damaging to other creatures as well. Certainly, the object feels important and she gets the sense that it's magic as well. The note on the door had also seemed certain of it's importance - but then the note on the *had* been written by someone who seemed to enjoy speaking in riddles.
Moana and Samael quickly leave the splintering door, making for the door Stenson had just opened for them. Kail remains near the door with his torch. As he sees a big chunk of it break away and a bloody... tentacle? pseudopod? reaching in, he lights his torch and shoves it into the limb. The flesh bubbles and burns, dripping sizzling blood. It doesn't withdraw the limb, however, and keeps pushing itself in - the door shudders and the shelf is shoved back a inches as the creature tries to force it's way through the hole it made. It does seem to be making some progress, more and more of it glooping into the room as it gradually breaks down and pushes back the barricaded door. The barricade does seem to be slowing it down, but it is definitely getting in. When Kail moves in for another jab, a ropy tendril of flesh and sinew whips up to wrap around his arm, the hold tight and firm. It tries to drag him forward, nearer to it. It's touch is abhorrent, instilling a sense of panic in Kail, a sense of filth and a desire to run and hide that wars with his desire to fight it.
In the hallway Stenson and Casmir urge the others to get out, gesturing for them to get out quickly and get away. If they're going to fight it, the hallway is at least more space to move around - but also it's more space to get well away from the creature. Perhaps they could all duck into a different store and maybe the creature would lose them.
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Post by luscen on Oct 23, 2023 5:35:24 GMT -6
[CASMIR tells STEN to take the others to a southern store, and find a hallway to get past the eastern shutter. He then runs in and uses his taser on the blob to try and free KAIL]
“Fuck,” Casmir growled under his breath. “Get the others to one of the stores to the south,” he told Jones. “There’s got to be another hallway that will take you past the barricade.”
Before the Agent could protest, the Hunter was darting into the jewelry shop, grabbing Kail by the shoulder. He saw that fire didn’t seem to do much to deter the thing past the door, and it being made of blood and slurried flesh meant bullets probably wouldn’t do much, either. He didn’t need to kill the thing, yet however; he just needed it to release the damn Wendigo.
In a fluid motion, the Hunter pulled his taser out, jamming it into the ichorous limb, lancing its voltage along the length of unprotected blood and tissue. At the same time, he tried to pry Kail loose and drag him away from the door.
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Post by Pearl Dragon on Oct 23, 2023 18:28:52 GMT -6
[Stenson agrees with Casmir and moves to direct the others back down the hall to the south. He makes a joke in the moment, hoping to just keep everyone in sane spirits, and heads towards more food stores. Once there, he will look around, seeing if he can spot a promising direction in which to go.]
Only moments after Sam and another woman exited past the ushering officer, the door behind them lost a sizeable chunk as something red and visceral smashed through it. There was a tall, thinner man remaining behind and facing whatever was on the other side of the door with an emblazoned piece of driftwood. The makeshift torch connected with the mass now stretching through the shattered opening, catching onto the bulk of blood and bone.
"Hey, come on!" Stenson urged, still holding the door as the other man stood his ground. His words fell uselessly on the other, however, and soon the stretching flesh had squeezed its way through the door enough to wrap one long, bloodied tendril around the man's arm. Its hold was quick and relentless, coiling back towards itself to drag its victim closer. "It's got him!"
"Fuck, get the others to one of the stores to the south,” Casmir directed, “There’s got to be another hallway that will take you past the barricade." The hunter charged in a moment later, taser in hand. Stenson couldn't argue and instead waved his arms to Sam and Moana, urging them back.
"Alright, time for food!" Stenson called, just trying to keep a sane spirit amidst the madness unfolding. He moved back south where he'd thought there were more food court type places. It was at least in the direction of the barricade, and he could only hope one of the open vacant stores might lead into another back hallway towards the other end of the barricade. As long as the others followed, he would begin to scan the area for what the different places were and which seemed promising.
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Post by NightshadeVII on Oct 23, 2023 21:21:42 GMT -6
(OOC: Sam urges Moana to try and use the torch on the creature, then moves in to attack the creature with the bike chain.)
“Now is as good a time as any to test that torch”, Samael looked to Moana, nodding at the flashlight she held in hand. It had to be worth the trouble they had gone through to get it.
Then he moved, approaching the creature swiftly and with purpose. Familiar singleminded focus settled over Samael and Stenson’s words fell on deaf ears. Handling the bike chain similarly to how he would a whip, Samael brought it down on the creature with practiced accuracy, hoping that the force of the blow would be enough to make the creature retreat or perhaps tear through its tissue.
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Post by qhostqrowls on Oct 23, 2023 23:35:13 GMT -6
[Kail attempts to cut the tentacle off with his knife]
At the first glimpse of red flesh through the splintering door, Kail lit the torch and shoved it savagely against the bulk of the beast. He expected it to recoil from the flame like the worms had, but even as its flesh burnt it continued to squeeze its way into the store.
Fuck, he thought, taking a step backwards just as the tendril whipped out and around his arm. He grit his teeth, bracing his boots against the floor and leaning his weight back in a desperate attempt to not be dragged closer.
His pulse thundered in his ears, the unnatural, all-consuming fear crawling over his skin. It took conscious effort to not drop the torch, and with his free hand he reached for his knife.
Shock flitted across his face when - of all people - it was the Hunter who first came to help. There was a crackle of electricity as he tasered the thing, a wet thwack as Samuels chain cracked down, and Kail slashed savagely at the tendril with the blade, aiming it slice it off.
“We gotta get the fuck out-“ He yelled, breathless, tensed to sprint out of the store the second he was able to.
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Post by Salandis on Oct 24, 2023 0:50:03 GMT -6
[Moana shines a little light on the situation with the plasma torch.]
Moana paused at the store entrance as the thing grabbed hold of Kail. The burning didn’t slow it down, and while he had some unexpected help (Maybe, it was hard to see around it) Kail was also attempting to cut it with his own knife.
Ultimately it didn’t seem that phased, and it had many more tentacles. Her survival instincts were telling her to run, without really saying anything about where she should be running to in this place. But fuck, if this damn torch thing was a weapon in disguise it would be worth finding out now before something even worse came up.
“’Focus,’ huh,” she said, sliding it to a narrow beam and pointing it right at the monster reject from stranger things. “Let’s see how strong a focus it really is.”
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Post by kilnarak on Oct 24, 2023 1:52:56 GMT -6
Stenson does try to get the others out and at first it seems like they'll follow him. But as he hurries back down the hall calling for them to go down toward the candy stores around the central shaft overlooking the fountain, he realizes that both Sam and Moana have gone back into The Mystic Eye. He is alone, at the intersection between stores.
Of the group, Casmir is the first to rush to Kail's aid, shoving his taser into the flesh near the base of the tentacle that is wrapped around the wendigo's arm. The electric pulse does cause it's grip to slacken, and he can see it's flesh sizzling and blackening as the electricity burns it. Still, while he busies himself with the tentacle more of it pushes through the door and the barricade into the room, oozing across the floor. Tendrils of it reach out and up to wrap around Casmir's legs, working their way up as if it means to engulf him. The touch stings, but worse it feels utterly abhorrent and panic-inducing. He feels as if the touch will stain him, will taint and change him, make him less than he was. The feeling of fear and disgust wells inside him, almost enough to make him gag.
Meanwhile, Kail cuts off the slackened tentacle, and it slides off his arm, falling into and quickly disappearing into the pile of bloody flesh pouring in from the hallway. He can see that the thing is wrapping itself around the hunter that had come to his aid, and he jolts back before it can engulf his feet and legs as well.
Samael rushes back into the store, wielding his lock and chain like a whip. He brings the length of chain down hard into the meaty tissue to little affect. It's hard to tell if the whip truly hurts it as it doesn't blacken and burn like the fire and electricity. It does make a thick, wet slapping sound as it smashes into the squirming crimson flesh, though.
Moana isn't far behind Sam, although she doesn't come in near as far as he does. She turns on the Torch and points the beam at the creature, sliding it into focus. The beam of light sharps and brightens, like a magnifying lens used to focus sunlight to a burning beam - it almost hurts to look at. Where it touches the creature, the thing's flesh visibly burns and shrivels, smoking black in the wake of the light. The rest of it's mass oozes in through the door so that it's fully in the room now, and while it is still clinging and climbing up Casmir's legs, it's movements have weakened and slowed.
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Post by luscen on Oct 24, 2023 4:59:18 GMT -6
[CASMIR frees KAIL, but is caught himself. After a struggle, he sprays THE OOZE with his bear mace, coating it. He then orders KAIL to burn it with the torch.]
Casmir managed to wrench Kail free, but the taser didn’t seem to be doing much to the blood slime aside from giving it a burn and making it mad. Furiously slamming its weight against the door, it oozed through the hole it torn open with a revolting slopping sound. Singleminded in its assault, it shrugged off Sam’s whip and Moana’s overpowered flashlight, flailing its tentacles in front of it to ward its attackers off.
Several of those tentacles latched onto Casmir, now. The Hunter swore, jabbing his taser into anything he could, but for every appendage the backed away, two more would take its place. Before long it would have consumed the blonde whole, and it was doubtful that it’d be satisfied after that meal.
Panting, Casmir struggled to fight off the feeling of revulsion and dread the thing was evoking in him. Gritting his teeth in defiance, however, he grabbed the bear mace from his pack and pointed it at the slime, pulling the trigger. Perhaps it _would_ sting, even to point of trying to retreat, but that wasn’t the Hunter’s intention.
At this range, the thing would have been coated in flammable mace.
“The torch!” Casmir barked at Kail. “Light it up!”
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Post by Pearl Dragon on Oct 24, 2023 17:43:50 GMT -6
[Stenson is behind the group, though it seems the shop is full as most folks block the way. Stenson attempts to pull Moana and Sam back so that he can bug-spray torch the glob along with Kail's own torch.]
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Post by qhostqrowls on Oct 24, 2023 18:24:14 GMT -6
[OOC: Kail torches the monster after it’s been maced and bug sprayed]
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Post by NightshadeVII on Oct 24, 2023 18:32:10 GMT -6
(OOC: Keeping away from the creature so Kail and Sten have room to work, Sam grabs Casmir by the back of his jacket and attempts to yank him out of its grip to help him out.)
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Post by kilnarak on Oct 24, 2023 20:00:22 GMT -6
It's grip weakened, the bloody tendrils continue to climb up Casmir's legs as he sprays his mace onto the bulk of the creature's body. It doesn't seem to care at all about the capsacins in the spray, but at least the stuff doused it in a thin sheen of hopefully-flammable fluid. The touch continues to disgust Casmir, to the point that he begins to retch. He wants it off, wants to be as far away from it as possible, and it's beginning to get difficult to keep composed. The calm of his pendant is as nothing next to the terror the creature's touch seems to impart.
Luckily, Stenson has sprinted back, having noticed the others hadn't followed him. He has his own can of bug-spray and the lighter at the ready, and uses them like a flamethrower, spraying the creature's bulk with fire. It's exposed blood and organs crisp and shrivel under the assault. As the can of bug-spray empties and the cloud of fire abates, Kail gives the creature one final thwack with his torch. The blow breaks it's crisped skin and sears into the wet flesh beneath. The mass of blood and bone abruptly goes slack, tendrils sliding off of Casmir's body and into a heap on the floor.
As the tentacles slip free, Samael grabs the back of Casmir's jacket and yanks him away from the inert mass of blood and flesh. For all that it's stopped moving, who knows if it's truly dead - it didn't look like the sort of thing that should have ever been alive at all.
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Post by Salandis on Oct 25, 2023 1:42:29 GMT -6
[OOC Moana check on Kail, suggests bailing TF out of there. Dialog may be added.]
Moana ran further in as the thing died. She kept her torch at the ready, but Kail rather firmly delivered a killing blow. She stepped towards the burning, stinking thing, and shuddered. “Are you OK?” She turned to Kail, looking over him for any obvious injuries. “That thing wanted to rip you apart.”
She studied him for another moment, more briefly checking over Sam. The other two backpackers were still behind the… thing, and the door.
“Well, if we’re all intact,” she tried to sound more calm and collected, “We should probably make tracks away from this mess before someone comes along to clean it up.”
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