The Call of the Abyss

[MiharuAya]

Noah Anderson
Location: Police Station
Interactions: Everyone


As Noah hesitantly lifted the fallen nameplate, he stared at the mysterious engraving. While he attempted to analyze the puzzle, it felt as though the sweltering heat was starting to sedate his once frantic mind. Although he had heard about secret messages being hidden with codes or ciphers, in all honesty, Noah was clueless as to how they worked. The only type of puzzle he had ever been able to solve, was the crossword in the weekly newspaper.

When Amber came to take a look, Noah was perfectly happy to hand the puzzle over to her. It seemed that she was much more familiar with how they worked and quickly started to piece together what they said. Even thorough the statement was unnerving, Noah supposed it made sense that whoever was doing this to them, would likely hold some kind of grudge.

While Amber wrote her answer onto the board, Noah held his breath in anticipation. His brows furrowed as he saw the words melt, unsure of what this meant. When the door finally opened, Noah had expected…well, he wasn't entirely sure what he expected. Perhaps some sort of salvation. But, he certainly didn't expect to be met with another room that was engulfed in a fiery inferno. The noxious smoke came flooding out of the new room. As the smoke tickled his lungs, Noah began to cough, while his eyes burned and turned red.

It wasn't until Mitena announced that the new room was Dominic's parent's bar, that Noah realized it was another place related to the group and not just some random room. Though, it wasn't as if Noah would recognize the place much, anyways. As the priest could imagine, this discovery appeared to shake up Dominic. The man started ranting about his alibi, and how he wasn't responsible for his parents' deaths.

Even though Noah didn't know what to think, Amber's observation that it seemed that someone was messing with them was true. However, he just couldn't understand how they could be doing it. As the fire continued to nip at the door frame, Noah figured that was a thought for another time. "Did anyone happen to see a fire extinguisher while they were looking around?" Noah asked, glancing around the room as sweat dripped down his forehead.

 

[wren.]

hh

hh

DOMINIC

A sudden hand on his shoulder startles him from his anger, and he's relieved to see Amber attached to it. Right, there are others here. He coughs, from embarrassment as well as the smoke. The others have no reason to take him at his word, most of them only knowing him superficially, but he's still comforted by Amber's belief in him. "A personal torture chamber," he mutters in agreement, staring into the growing bushel of flames while he wipes at the fast-gathering sweat on his forehead. "Sure feels pretty fucking real to be just an illusion."

Whatever entity or entities are toying with them seem to be creating an elaborate and deadly maze based on their lives. There's no doubt that they are meant to proceed into this blistering heat, risking their limbs and possibly more, just as had been required to unlock it in the first place. It seems Amber has come to the same conclusion as she inquires about the building's exits. He elects to ignore the fact that she's been sneaking into his pub, seeing as it's really not the time or place to complain about something so trivial. "The layout of my pub is roughly the same, yes. This seems to be the main entrance, so there should be an exit in the very back toward the center-right, plus an employee entrance in the kitchen to the back left."

Noah's comment makes him laugh humorously. "You think they'd be that kind? Clearly, whatever vengeful or sadistic spirit is at play here wants us to get hurt. If my finger is any indication, we will be expected to lose something during each stage. A limb, our sanity, our lives. I don't doubt that these fuckers are hoping one of us will burn to death, or at least suffer severe burns." The why is still anyone's guess at this point. But he's also growing increasingly sure that whatever is torturing them also took their loved ones. What other connection could they have to this place? Especially one strong enough to have their memories recreated so flawlessly?

"We're going to have to stay alert, don't let your guard down for a second. If we're going to make this through with as little damage as possible, we'll have to outthink these monsters." Glancing around, he picks up one of the desk chairs and tosses it into the firey pub, waiting to ensure the room won't burst like a bomb the minute weight is applied.

「 @everyone 」

code by wren.

 

[Kuno]

Abigail Fieldman

Interactions: @everyone

They could not be blamed for not noticing. In a crisis, the little, subtle things tended to go unnoticed, and it was hard to identify the unraveling of another when the world had been warped into a literal hellscape. The flames roared from beyond, the room shook, Dominic remained one finger short, but the perfect storm was yet to come, brewing still in the confines of a body. It was a simple thing to miss.

Miss Abigail Fieldman was silent.

Folks liked to say that her top and bottom lips never met. Calling her a "talker" was like calling the ocean wet; sure, it wasn't wrong, but it understated greatly how quickly a man or woman could get saturated in her words. You could drown in conversation with her. She liked to fill a room with her thoughts, and so long as there was someone with a mind to listen, she was there with a mind to talk. It was quid pro quo in its most abused state.

But that chatty Kathy was missing. The skin had been pulled taut over her knuckles; Abigail sat, gripping her hands so tight she was liable to break one, staring ahead with unnatural intensity at the drama unfolding before her. The only things that moved were her eyes: first to Mitena when they spoke, then to Dominic, then to Noah. Then back to Amber. Then back to Dominic. Back and forth, back and forth, back and--

The thrown chair had not yet even hit the floor before Abigail rose to her feet. She stepped forward, hands still clasped together, towards the chamber of fire before them. She did not look at Dominic or Mitena as she stepped past, eyes locked onto the flaming pub. She came to the threshold...and stopped.

The flames licked at every surface of that pub. It was Dante's Inferno brought to life, or rather, brought to them. Her breath caught in her throat, the sweat beading at her brow from more than just the heat.

"My son...my son needs me." Her words were meant for herself, though her voice climbed in volume as she spoke. "My son needs me home, I can't--"

It's not real, Amber had said. And if they stayed in the office, they'd never get out. And who would take care of Caleb? What kind of mother would she be if she didn't risk burning alive if it meant getting to her son? Her hands, shaking at her chest, slowly began to steady.

She stepped forward into the room.

 

[PavellumPendulum]

IN THE MAIN OFFICE...
EVERYONE.

Despite the sweltering heat in the room melting all of their thoughts into a puddle leaking straight out of their ears, Mitena felt a chill run up their spine, pricking every single nerve in their body into an alert state, if they hadn't been already. Dom pointed out that the pub wasn't his own, it'd been the one his parents had owned before it had burnt away into a crisp, barely even a building by the time the flames had died down. They remembered standing at the edge of what had once been the entrance, looking on at the remains, the cremated corpses of Dominic's parents and their family business, mixed and melded until they were one and the same. Aurora had felt suffocating for weeks, the air heavy with smog and mourning.

They had wondered if there had really been a reason for the accident, if some force had been angry with their tiny town, with the Casella family. The earth underneath them had felt like a vengeful spirit, hatred oozing from it whenever they looked down, until the fear of worse happening had passed.

"... No, I... No fire extinguisher that I saw." Mitena shook their head at Noah, pressing their lips into a tight line. The longer they waited in this heat, the closer they would all get to letting it travel into this room and engulf them all with no escape, surely! They had to move...

It seemed as though the others shared that same idea. Dom wrestled a chair off the ground and immediately hurled it into the inferno, watching as it too caught fire, clattering against the pub floor. Mitena squinted at the flames licking up at the material. It was strange.. The fire seemed to be doing some damage, melting the plastic arm rests and the faux leather seat cushion, but so slowly that it betrayed how furiously the fire seemed to be raging around it. "... Maybe it is an illusion..." they muttered, but before they could say anything more, Abigail had decided to become the next test subject, a large leap from a simple chair.

"A-Abigail!" their throat hurt, their body rushing forward as though they were pulling a toddler away from a hot stove, but it was too late. The shorter yet more defiant woman stepped directly into the room, now being able to feel the brunt of the heat enveloping all of her senses, the thick smoke snaking its way into her lungs. The fire stung, it burned against her flesh the way fire would, her clothes immediately catching light, but somehow, despite all odds, Abigail continued on into the depths of hell, set alight with flames, a phoenix in the shape of a woman.

The fire hurt like no other, but left no wounds, no burns.

"W... We should go too." Mitena settled on their next words, out of breath but immediately following Abigail in. They squeaked, a sharp hiss of pain leaving their lips when they too, were set alight... And though the pain was like nothing they had ever experienced, they steeled themself with thoughts of Pala.

They would come for the people that they loved.

 

[MiharuAya]

Sebastian Chambers
Location: Police Station
Interactions: Everyone



As Sebastian stared at the flames, the flickering light danced in the reflection of his eyes. It was unbelievable. Yet, he was standing face to face with reality. Just when he thought they had found an escape from the office, another dangerous wrench was thrown their way. He didn't know how any of this was even possible, but as the sweat dripped down his body, he doubted this was simply just an illusion. "I'm with Dom, this doesn't feel like an illusion." He agreed, sending the man a reassuring look.

Even so, Sebastian knew that it wouldn't do them any good to panic. It was obvious that everyone was shaken up, and confused, so he resorted to his training. "Let's just try and remain calm. If you're having any trouble breathing, sit on the ground." He advised, hoping to help people while they think of a plan.

But, as Abigail suddenly advanced towards the door, Sebastian quickly went after her. The heat radiating from the pub was intense, yet he didn't hesitate to try and stop Abigail and Mitena. Though, as he reached his arm in after them, he realized that he wasn't actually being burned. "Huh?" He mumbled to himself, retracting his arm to inspect it. "It's painful, but it's not hurting me," He remarked, showing the other still in the office. With this realization, he stepped inside the burning building.

 

[MiharuAya]

Noah Anderson
Location: Police Station
Interactions: Everyone



Noah was consciously aware that, despite his desire to help, he doesn't always say the right things. With the chaos and panic surging through the air, it was only natural that people were on edge. Especially Dominic. It seemed that the man was on the verge of a breakdown. But, who wouldn't be after having to relive such a traumatic event?

As such, when Dominic scoffed at his words, Noah tried not to take them to heart. The priest's face turned a light shade of pink, and his gaze flickered to the floor. It felt like he was being scolded like some child. But he eventually was able to find his voice, "I don't think we should jump to any conclusions just yet," He remarked, still not convinced this was the work of some kind of vengeful spirit like the others.

When Noah caught sight of the others walking into the flames, his body tensed. "Wait!" He called out, his eyes going wide in fear before slamming shut. He didn't want to see anyone die. Even if he only knew some of them for a short time, he couldn't imagine watching someone burn to death. But, when there were no screams, he slowly opened his eyes again. Noah was astonished that they were all fine. Though, he felt as if his stomach had just done a loop. He didn't understand how it was possible, but he was glad that they weren't injured.

 

[TerraBooma]

Ambert Hartman
Supernatural Detective: ASDC

Everything happened quickly. VERY quickly. Amber could barely process everything going on at once. The room was on fire; it was Dom's parents. That much made sense. But people kept throwing out ideas, suggestions and conjecture. A round table was good, but probably best served for after they figured out the being on fire thing. While they were talking though, the crazy plant lady had decided to just walk into the burning room. She looked like she was in some kinda fugue state- that wasn't great. And for just a moment, Amber felt something for the woman beyond mild irritation that she refused to let the ASDC investigate her supernaturally inclined Petunias, or for calling her dad when they did it anyway. She was still a person; if a bit old fashioned and resistant to new ideas.

That made her going in first one hell of a warning sign; she must not have been taking this well. Everyone scurried around her, with Sebastian declaring the fire didn't actually burn them beside being painful. That was good for the not dying thing, but not good for explaining what the hell was going on. Hallucinatory fire? Wait...an illusion?

The others were already clattering after the town's resident poison ivy, so Amber put her own plan into action. Without saying anything, the ace reporter darted back to the bathroom, determined to at least try and solve one of the problems at hand. If the fire was real, then she needed to solve the issue at hand. If it was not real, then she may have been one of the best people in that room to solve it- to dispel the illusion. She had never been able to pull of a spell from Isaac Oldpound's 101 tricks to magic. And her dispelling was rusty at best- without a crystal or some kind of focus, even she was skeptical that this was going to work. But they had to try right? Better to multitask.

She turned the water on, and some...kind of gunk came out. Great, that probably was water. She dipped a pinkie in to make sure it wasn't outwardly harmful and gave it a sniff before waiting just a few seconds. If there wasn't any adverse reactions, she'd started soaking her clothes to try and make them a little flame resistant. At the very least, that fire didn't burn people. If she made her clothes unignitable, would she walk through unscathed? That lead to her second plan.

Spellcasting was hard on the best of days. Resonant energies and lacking any proper master spellcaster in Aurora made the process difficult to hone. She'd done just about everything she could with her meager resources. Trying to change her hair colour- eye colour, conjuring familiars and trying to figure out why her real parents had ditched her on that fateful night so many years ago. So far none of it had panned out; Transmutation, Divination, Conjuration. All of it had eluded her. But maybe this would be different? She had to believe. That was one of the core tenants- belief and manifesting a positive reality.

She imagined a line, running from her to this hell they had been trapped in. The flames. The room. All of it was overwhelming as it was enthralling, and she so desperately wished her Camera had survived the trip. She shook her head- trying to focus on the here and now. Herself and this thing. This other. Something alive had been messing with them. Something had called, forced her to answer. She would reassert herself. Her townsfolk. Fight back just a little. In her mind's eye, she saw the line running out, towards Dom's resturant, towards answers. Towards whatever thing was holding them hostage here. She took a slow breath, and murmured under her breath: resolute truths were the ultimate antidote to illusions of any kind. "I am Amber Hartman. You will not control me. I do not answer to you. I am loved. I am cherished. I have a father who loves me. A mother who loved me. I will return to them." Those were surface level. She had to offer something greater. Something deeper- she couldn't hold back now. "I am responsible for the ASDC. And it might be my fault that they're missing." She went to say something else, but it died in her throat. It was too painful, even then. She resolved for something almost as powerful; willpower. "I am going to find out what you are. And I am going to reveal you for everyone to see. I control myself. I control myself, and I REJECT YOU!" Her voice rose at the end, shaky and scared, but full of ambition and stubbornness all the same. She concentrated everything she had into her hand, into her fingers. Into the scissors that would sever their connection, and bring freedom to everyone trapped then and there.

She snipped her fingers- cutting the thing's control over her, at least metaphorically. It would have no power over her. She was the master of her reality.

And hey, worst case scenario, now she had some wet clothes for the fire run.

 

[Kuno]

Abigail Fieldman

Interactions: @everyone

She was burning alive.

A sharp gasp was all Abigail could muster to encapsulate her pain. It felt like fire hot coals were being raked across her skin and yet the sensation was merely superficial. She marveled at the tongues of flames licking at her skin...her clear, unblemished skin.

It wasn't hurting her. Not truly.

Abigail whirled around to face the others. They had followed her in to face the same results, and she stared unabashedly at the same supernatural effect of the fire dancing across their skin with no effect, though they bore the same grimaces of pain. The bravado that had pushed her forward was turning into something monstrous.

The old Abigail was resurfacing.

"How do we get out of here?" She yelled towards Dom over the roar of the burning room. This was his parent's old bar, after all. He knew the layout better than any of them.

 

[PavellumPendulum]

INSIDE THE BAR...
EVERYONE.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

It felt like a mistake in that moment, the fire licking up at their sides and stinging in a faintly familiar ache. Mitena had burnt themselves before, setting hides over a smoky fire to let the tan set in, or when their father had taught them how to cook over a firepit. Fire was a not just a tool, but it had a spirit of its own, one that hungered to devour everything in its path during its brief moments of existence. Fire meant more than death, but life itself. Still, Mitena continued forward with the others, despite the cries of those who disagreed. After all, what else was there to be done? It was either stay in that strange iteration of the sheriff's station forever or move forward.

The crackling, popping and hissing assaulted their ears as they progressed into the bar, but it looked like that room was stuck in some sort of limbo, where time did not progress. The flames danced over every surface that they'd claimed, but the wood furniture and the like did not become ash, remaining stagnant like eternal candle wicks. The front door, normally a few more steps forward, was gone, with only the wall left in its place. The windows were all boarded up, like they had been inside the sheriff's station. The tables, chairs and booths were almost all alight, scattered across the room, but a few of them gave Mitena pause.

In the left corner of the room, at one of the booths, a purpled hand hung loose from across the side, barely visible from Mitena's angle. A person. "There's someone here!" they called over the sound of the flames, rushing over to the slumped figure at the table, only to freeze in their tracks when they saw the head of the body pressed against the wood. Dark hair, greasy and wet, shining under the flames, it framed the pale skin underneath, but... The body's face was entirely featureless, as though it had been scrubbed away and left empty, devoid of human life. A wine glass sat on the table beside the body, the flared base at the bottom of it under the flat, bruised palm of the... Corpse?

Mitena turned around instantly, feeling nausea hit their stomach.

A few of the other tables had similar bodies, all slumped with no faces. Two in the corner, a man and a woman with similar skin and hair, with pint glasses between their own fingers. Another body with darker skin near the center of the room, a lowball glass in their hands, a golden wedding band sitting at the bottom of it.

There was nobody behind the bar. Many of the shelves, which had normally been adorned with the bar's selection of liquor, were empty.

 

[wren.]

hh

hh

JEREMIAH

This is all unbelievable, like a nightmare he can't wake up from. But the fire's heat sure feels real enough, and when he pinches himself, he feels the sting. Guess he hadn't been insane to suspect the supernatural after all. Because what human could create something this complex? This is something you'd see in movies, not in reality! If they're still even in what they think of as "reality" anymore. If they are, clearly they're losing their grip on it as one by one, people begin to walk right into the flames.

"Abigail, what are you —" he starts, gobsmacked by her illogical decision. If she's trying to keep herself alive for her child, then burning herself alive is rather counterproductive to that goal. But... she isn't burning. She's in pain, that much is obvious, but the flames seem to dance around her, enveloping her without burning away her clothes or skin or hair. Yes, they certainly can't be in their own world anymore.

Soon, everyone begins to file in behind her, including Amber who has had the forethought to soak her clothes in the restroom's sketchy water. Her speech is moving, though the fire rages on as if it didn't hear her at all. Gritting his teeth, he follows in after everyone else, crying out against the unbearable burning sensation. This might not be real fire, but it still fucking hurts.

Abigail is even more unhinged now, rearing around toward Dom and demanding he locate the nearest exit. Dom looks startled by her intensity, likely a little delirious himself, what with the blood loss and the resurfaced trauma he has had to endure in the past... what? Five minutes?

"It... There's an exit in the back if we keep going forward, just slightly to the right. That would be closer than the employee exit in the kitchen," he answers.

Right, he'd said as much earlier. Still, this seems far too easy. "It's going to be locked," he shouts, grimacing from both the pain and his frustration. "Or something. It took Dominic losing a finger to even get to this room, you think it'll let us pass through here that easily? There must be something else it wants us to do."

It seems Mitena might have a similar idea, their attention catching on something in the corner. He walks toward it carefully, pausing when Mitena rears back, looking nauseous. It's a corpse, though not the corpse of anyone he recognizes, though the fact that it's face has been stripped of all features doesn't help in identifying the body. Taking in his surroundings more closely, squinting through the flames, he notices other bodies strewn about the place, taking residence at the various tables, posed almost intentionally. Given their captors' craftiness, there's no "almost" about it. "Do you think it's a puzzle?" he asks the room. "Maybe our captors want us to raid these bodies for a key or something."

One of the bodies is holding a glass with a wedding ring at the bottom, an odd and conspicuous fact. Not far from him are two other bodies, posed together. A couple, perhaps? "Is one of those bodies missing a wedding ring?"

「 everyone 」

code by wren.

 

[TerraBooma]

Either her spell didn't work; or it had no immediate effect. It was impossible to know. For just a moment, Amber felt a flicker of doubt. That maybe all her training was a farce, and she really didn't know anything about what was going on. But could so many people be wrong? The experts had all been so confident and the training had left her feeling so fulfilled. It had to have been...more then that. This being was powerful, and she'd never demonstrated herself to be a very powerful mage. Being honest, she sometimes wonder if she lacked the innate ability you needed to pull it off.

Just another way she was letting everyone down.

With her first plan scattered to the winds, all the town's resident expert on the supernatural could do was join her people and plunge into the burning room. She was thankful for the protection her second plan had offered her; having damp clothes meant the fire wasn't trying to leap out at her nearly as much. It was still uncomfortably hot in that damn room- a twisted recreation of a once peaceful bar...minus the burning down bit- but she'd probably get out of it better than her peers, which was some small comfort when she realized she probably should have suggested rather than acting on her own self interests. Gritting her teeth, she redoubled her efforts scanning the blazing room.

Whatever thing trapped them here had seemed to be oh so kind as to trap the exits too, with the whole 'being on fire thing' going on, it looked like they were on a greater time-limit then before. Amber slinked along the ground as low as she could mimic a crouch-run, trying not to let the acrid smoke burn her eyes as she desperately scanned for something they could use. There wasn't much she could see at first, especially as other bodies had started crowding the floor and started scanning jobs on their own.

Jeremiah called something out- he found something a wedding ring- but only one? That was weird. Amber flitted over to interrogate the scene at his side.

And then the entire girl's world shattered.

She practically fell- half running as realization flashed across her face. There was a broken look in those young eyes as she dropped to her knees, shaking the body's side. Her shout could have woken the entire town for all the fear it had in her voice.

"DAD!?"

Amber leaned down, trying to rouse the obvious corpse. "It's his ring!" She shouted to the others, though some thin rationality seemed to be sparking in the back of her mind. It made no sense- all of the things that lead up to it, there were too many inconsistences. He never wore his ring like that. There had been too much supernatural meddling. But it didn't matter. For those few scant moments- panic clouded her eyes.

Her dad was dead. Was that her fault too?

 

[wren.]

hh

hh

DOMINIC

Dominic spots them almost immediately upon venturing through the flames; his parents. No, not his parents, but some sick bastard's recreation of them. Faceless, yet life-like mannequins wearing his parents' clothes. His real parents don't have bodies to pose anymore, they were burned to ash, a too-early cremation because of human error. He hadn't even been able to keep their remains in jars, the job of parsing what belonged to them and what was debris from the bar too time-consuming for anyone to take on.

He doesn't have the energy left to panic, his adrenaline from the events in the bathroom winding down and leaving him numb. He can't even weep, staring blankly at the cruel mockery. Had they been like this in the end? Did they clink some shot glasses together and resign themselves to death?

Jeremiah's voice registers over the roaring fire, over the thundering beat of his heart over his ears, and he scans their bodies with his eyes. Nothing looks particularly out of place, their rings there as he remembers them...

Amber's sudden cry startles him. Her father... but not really, right? Just like he can hear Jeremiah saying, his hand placed hesitantly on her shoulder for comfort, "It's not really him; it can't be. It's just a doll or something. How would they remove his face so cleanly?" None of these corpses are real; they must only be here to torment them all. At least, to torment some of them. But why? What had they done to piss off whatever otherworldly force has trapped them? Why these corpses? Was there some connection between them all? Like Jeremiah suggested, is this another elaborate puzzle?

"These ones are my mom and dad," he calls to the both of them, hoping it might bring Amber some comfort, "They were burned to ashes, so there's no way these bodies can be them. Still, they must be here for a reason. Maybe set dressing." His lip curls at the cruel thought.

「 @everyone 」

code by wren.

 

[MiharuAya]

Sebastian Chambers
Location: Bar
Interactions: Everyone

Just as the previous police station had particular differences from the one they remember, the burning bar was equally different. Seeing the small details that someone unfamiliar with the place might miss was unsettling, yet was drastic in their eyes. The shelves that were usually full of alcohol were empty, and the doors were missing in place of blank walls. It really was becoming likely that they were stuck in some supernatural paradox.

When Mitena called out that someone was there with them, Sebastian hastily walked toward her. Although he wasn't expecting to find someone, he also was surprised to see a corpse sitting at one of the tables. "It was someone," He said morbidly. Despite the odd circumstances, he still went into detective mode.

Sebastian inspected the first body, noticing it's purple and bruised skin. As the other bodies were discovered, he went to examine the rest. Although he refrained from touching them, he could see that all the corpses had their faces wiped clean. And, similarly to the furniture, they weren't burning in the fire.

Why are these bodies important, he wondered to himself. Was there something that tied them together? Sebastian wondered if answering these questions was what would lead them to a clue out of this blazing room. "If the couple is supposed to be Dominic's parents, and the man Amber's father, then who is the other one?" Sebastian asked the room.

While Dominic spoke, Sebastian nodded to his words. He had read his parent's police report, there was no chance that their bodies would have survived. "I think we can safely assume these aren't standard bodies.

 

[PavellumPendulum]

INSIDE THE BAR...
EVERYONE.

The previous room had demanded sacrifice from them without them even knowing it. Dominic's missing joint of a finger was a painful reminder of that fact, one that made Mitena's gaze shake whenever they looked at patchwork first aid job that Amber had done. It was shocking that Dominic was still so focused despite it all, theorizing and peering around corners to help the group even though he'd already sacrificed himself in a way that was so irreversibly painful that it was hard to look at. Maybe the shock and adrenaline was still numbing the pain. He brought up two possible exits, but anyone who checked them would be soon met with their assumptions come true: they were impossible to use. The back exit was immovable, the way that the door that had gotten them here had been in the first place. The employee exit was inaccessible because the kitchen seemingly did not exist here. Where Dominic had remembered the door to it was just a wall.

And so that left them with Amber's panic, upon realizing that the corpse with the wedding ring was her father. From the Sheriff's office, into the bar that the Sheriff often frequented... Was their captor trying to tell them something? It was hard to think of connections that actually helped in this situation, since everything in Aurora was always connected, whether you wanted it to be or not. It was in the nature of small towns for their social web to be so interconnected that the inhabitants' lives bled into one another's.

Mitena, not approaching the first body that they'd found, did find the courage to look at it again when Sebastian thought aloud about them, wracking their brain to for some sort of recognition, but nothing was coming to mind. "I don't recognize them... It's hard without the face." they muttered, shuffling around the room in an attempt to both distance themselves from the bodies and to see if they could find anything else. The heat and sting of the flames still ached, but their mind had acclimated to it shockingly quick, the crackle and pop of the flames becoming nothing more than background noise. The pain was becoming a murmur of sensation.

Behind the bar, Mitena scrutinized the empty shelves until their eye caught something.

Engraved into one of the shelves underneath the bar countertop, was a whole sentence, along with a few items scattered along the nearly bare wood. A small, opaque vial of sorts, with some sort of unidentified liquid inside. A flask, with another unidentified liquid inside of it. And contrary to the other two... A pocket knife, shiny and new.

collect mercy, repeat the past, punish guilt
​

"There's some sort of riddle here, I think!" They called out, to have some others come look.

 

[TerraBooma]

Amber would have seen through the lies and deceit on her own; but there was something about a firm tone and a guiding voice that helped snap her out of it; maybe it was just something she was used to, but a firm tone always let her think a little bit clearer. Of course it wasn't actually her dad. This entire thing was some twisted dance. A macabre performance by the world's cruelest conductor. Nothing here was real; it was possible that some of the others were plants. But even if they were the people that Amber had entered this nightmarish world with, one thing was certain.

There was no way this thing was her father. It was a crude aproximation, taking some of his most important features and gluing it onto some kind of giant barbie doll. It wasn't right; Dad never wore his ring. He kept it tucked away where nobody would see it, pressed against his chest as a constant reminder. Whatever it was that was haunting them didn't have true omniscience, or at the very least it wanted to give some kind of sign that it was fake rather than a true corpse she was staring at.

Inside, Amber's rage boiled. Like the fire around her. But the Amateur Detective honed it for now. With her skin damp but her throat choking from the smoke, she began to think. Her internal thoughts burning like a steam engine as she tried to figure out what was going on. As she started to process what was going on, Mitena called out. The town's local guardian sibling was already beating her to the punch, and she had to get her shit together or they were all going to burn.

This wasn't the time to be falling for tricks. This was the time for answers.

"It's not him." Amber echoed. Both a prayer and a statement of fact. She looked back at Dominic and the bartender saw a fire in the young girl's eyes that challeneged the blazing bar that surrounded them. "And it's not them either. Remember that." With that, Amber entered analytical mode. There was no time to pull out the recorder, but the town's resident detective began to ruminate her findings out loud.

"None of these puppets are right. But they're all clearly meant to represent individuals who were present in town. That's my hypothesis I guess." The girl coughs as she hangs low, trying to hide away from the smoke's ever smothering embrace. "First off...dad.." She murmured, scanning the pockets and patting down the "thing" that was her father. As well as the figure across from him. After looking for any particular useful objects, the girl retreated over to Mitena's side.

"Collect mercy...repeat the past...punish guilt?" Her eyes flick over to Dom.

"I think it wants us to solve the bar fire." Her tone is serious, and slightly dark. Were there any answers that her dad had missed? Or maybe there was something that he missed? One thing was certain; they needed answers, or they were all going up in flames.