The Call of the Abyss

[MiharuAya]

Sebastian Chambers
Location: Police Station
Interactions: Victor/Jeremiah @MaryGold
Mentions: Everyone by the door



As Sebastian stared at the broken computer, he let out a long sigh. He was really hoping that it would lead them to some answers. But, just like everything else in this place, it was also mysteriously acting strange. While he continued to fiddle with the computer, trying to get it to start, he wasn't paying much attention to what was happening at the door.

The sudden abnormal noise caused him to jump, coming to stand as he looked around with panic in his eyes. The sound was like an ear-bursting shriek combined with an eerie moaning that sent shivers down his spine. Sebastian tried to cover his ears but decided to hold onto the table for balance instead.

At the same time, the room started to shake. It was worse than any earthquake he could ever remember. As debris flew from the walls, Sebastian urged Victor and Jeremiah to hide under the desk. Although Sebastian had planned to help the others by the door, with each step he took he found himself nearly toppling over.

 

[TerraBooma]

AMBER HARTMAN
SUPERNATURAL INVESTIGATOR, ASDC
Mentions: @Jenamos and @everyone at the end

He decided to listen to her, good. Amber nodded approvingly as Dominic slid into the bathroom stall to turn his clothes around. Even she had to admit that this was a long shot and a half, but in this situation, the only sane thing to do was take as many defensive measures as possible that they were pretty confident didn't have any drawbacks. This was life or death here; if it wasn't fey, nothing would happen. But if this threat was some sort of fucked up fair folk? Then turning their clothes might just be the best way to survive with this shit going on. The more people that listened to her, the better chance they had at surviving. That had to be how it was right? She had the knowledge, she had to use it. Anyone who died because she hadn't shared her insights was directly on her head- she had the power to stop this. To save people. So think Amber, think. Put the pieces together, solve the mystery. Every second you didn't have an answer was another second that someone was dying. This was an Other world, and you were the only expert on Other around. That had to count for something, right?

Dom had finished changing, pulling her out of her thought spiral and her own verbal vomit into the recorder. He'd been talking while he was in the stall too- probably best to address that first. The cryptic cryptid connoisseur put her brows together at his suggestion. This was a different kind of risk, one she wasn't sure how best to advise on. There were any category of monsters that could doom them if they so much as made a lunge for the object in the wall, and being on board with looting the thing meant she'd have to abandon the Fey theory- stealing things from the Fairies was just a bad idea. But she ran into the conundrum again. The wrong choice meant someone could die, the right choice might mean salvation. So what'd it all mean? Think Amber, think.

"I'm not so sure. I won't stop you, but I'm not gunna touch it. It's possible that turned clothing is enough of a protective measure. Or we can scratch out the peace offering wordage- then you're just pulling some random shit out of the wall. I just think that it's a good idea if we're going to do it to play it safe- the last thing we want to do is trigger our captors by making them hostile by doing something reckless. The only problem is we don't know the rules." She lets out an agitated growl. Nothing about this situation lined up with any of her understanding of the unknown. But his question about her recorder gave her pause.

"Oh...this? I mean...it's just a habit. Whenever I take on a new case, I gather my thoughts and the evidence at hand. As the case develops, I can use the recordings to go back and gather my thoughts. Sometimes all you need is a fresh perspective to crack something open right? Well the opposite is true too. Sometimes you wander so far down a road that the only way to get to the proper end is to start at the beginning. And it can get hard to remember where the beginning is, sometimes. So it's...mostly a focus thing I guess. Plus it's nice to look back at the tapes. I've got a collection, I guess. My Dad does it too. Not the collecting tapes thing. The focus stuff." She winced- the last thing she needed to be doing was giving her dad any sort of false reputation with how bad it was right now. "I saw him do it growing up and just kinda...picked it up I guess." She gave a small, vulnerable smile. She missed her dad. He would know how to solve this, he could crack any mystery. His problem was one of framing. With the supernatural world opened up like this? He'd take to it in seconds. She bet he'd already have the team outta here, complete with a grumpy grunt about how annoyed he was to be stuck in here anyway.

She missed him.

"Sorry though, you're bossman. I don't make the rules." That was a lie, she made them up all the time. "Deputy is Pipes, Cheshire is Chesh. And you're bossman. Just how it goes." she always liked giving people nicknames, regardless of their opinion on the matter. "If you don't like it, you should've thought otherwise before hiring my best friend, eh?" She gave him a cheeky grin, though it died as he mentioned his history with the bar.

His Parents DIED? Fucking hell Amber. Way to go and blow the scoop on that one. Didn't she already know that? It wasn't like buildings just burned down in Aurora every other day. Of course the guy who had the same last name as the people who died in the bar fire was related to them. "I-uh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean. Well- Y'know. Its good. No wait. Not like that. It's not a good place, obviously. Not that you run a bad place, I'm sure its great. Well not great but- Just." She wanted to die inside. "Itsanicebar." She mumbled out clearly, knocking her forehead against the stall she was in with all the self loathing she could muster. Force Amber on a cryptid hunt and she was in her A game. But casual conversation? That was...another beast. Fortunately, discovery brought out detective Amber, and casual conversation Amber could go die in a box like God intended. "Nice find!" She congratulated with a grin, forgetting the sins of conversations past, bouncing back with surprising enthusiasm. "A completely safe object too- good find. Looks like we got our-"

Everything started shaking. Dominic tackled her, and then the world erupted into another cacophony of sound. A mix of moaning and wailing and some ungodly cry. Whatever it was, it was constant. Pinned to the ground she was sheltered by Dom but unable to fend the howling out of her mind. The girl let out a small anguished cry, attempting to double over in a vain attempt at pushing her hands tighter around her head. Whatever anguished thing was screaming, she begged for it to stop. But just as soon as it began, it was all over. To her credit, she was theorizing quickly. Making connections even as Dominic got off of her. She barely had time to look embarrassed before grabbing his hand and murmuring out a bashful 'thank you' under her breath. That was the second time that they had been undone by sound. First it was mind control, now it was just pain. Two different entities then? She needed more.

He helped her up- Amber gave him a thankful nod while still clutching at her head, the detective nods towards Dominic with a "fish it!" before heaving herself at the doorway, hoping no tragedy has befallen the others. She stays there- in the threshhold between the two locals before speaking. "We just picked up a feather duster!" She cried out, attempting to report her team's actions for fear of suspicion. Everyone was scattered- The Priest was praying, not that it would do them any good here. "Whats going on? Is everyone okay?" She paused, feeling a...difference.

It was getting warmer.

Why?

 

[MaryGold]

VICTOR

Tired Father & Cool Teacher™

One minute he was standing, looking through the papers of the nearest des, trying to decipher the gibberish printed on them and the next he was on his hands and knees, gritting his teeth against the noise as he tried to find a safe place to sot sit out the shaking. Sebastian was saying something to him -- to Jeremiah too, but it was impossible to hear through the screaming and the pain of it. So much pain. His ears were aching and his body trembling along with the violent shakes of the room. There was not a second he was allowed to think until it stopped.

Victor sucked in a sharp breath of air and curled his fingers up against the floor. He felt out of breath and scared, that constant fear never quite leaving him or letting him peace of mind. But he still had enough of a mind to not let it control him. Or let it make him do something really dangerous and dumb.

Was that scream the same that belonged to the voice that brought them all there? Did they hurt it somehow by kicking the door? How would that work unless it was somehow a part of this building or connected to it at least? Victor already had too many questions and the current events of things solved none of them.

He was getting hot. Victor began rolling up the sleeves of his shirt as he found his feet again. He was careful not to step over the broken glass and took the moment to count the heads of their group as Amber and Dominic rejoined them. "You found a feather duster?" Victor blinked his eyes in the direction of Amber and Dominic. He had to remind himself nothing was as it seemed in this place. But even still...Why a feather duster?

"I think we're alright." He looked between Sebastion and Jeremiah for reassurance of his statement. And released a strangled breath when he noticed they weren't physically harmed. "It's uh," he pulled in the collar of his shirt. "Getting a lot hot, though."

「 @TerraBooma 」

[/color]

Code by Jenamos

 

[wren.]

hh

hh

JEREMIAH

With plenty of people exploring the building, he elects to dig around through the various desks and drawers to potentially find something of use. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, there's nothing particularly abnormal. Pens, pencils, paper. All of the documents are unintelligible, though, as though someone was copying down the ramblings of someone with neurological damage. None of it makes his stomach drop as much as it does when Sebastian hands him a particular file. Lorena's name is clear enough, but the mess that follows is as nonsensical as it is terrifying. "It almost reads like human experimentation," he says, voice cracking with the urge to cry. Why the fuck would Lorena's name be mentioned here if she didn't meet some similarly horrific fate? "I mean, 'she's answering, she's thirsty, she's thrashing'? Sounds like they're recording her in captivity or something."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he ignores the way his hand is shaking when he hands the report back to Sebastian. He watches the blond attempt to rev up his computer, but the screen remains as inky and impassive as ever. "If only I'd spent my life studying computer science," he huffs, frustrated with their lack of progress and trying not to focus on the possible horrific end of his student because of his irresponsibility.

Suddenly, he hears a thud, seemingly caused by Piper attempting to knock down the door to Hartman's office. The door doesn't appear to have budged, though, and within a heartbeat, the air is filled with the most horrific, agonized screaming he's ever heard. He covers his ears, shouting an expletive, not that it does any good with how the sound penetrates right through his flesh as if it were emanating from his own skull. He bumps into the desk as the ground shakes, instinctively grabbing the edge to keep himself steady while the world around them begins to fall and fracture. All at once, it stops. "What the fuck was that?" he asks, rhetorical. Thankfully, no one seems harmed, but the... well, the room feels like it's getting hotter.

Apparently, he's not the only one noticing it, as Victor comments on it as well. "Perhaps whatever trapped us here intends to burn us to death," he grimaces, "As punishment for kicking the door. I mean, that scream... almost as if this very place is alive."

Before he can think on it much further, Amber suddenly emerges from the bathroom, mentioning a feather duster of all things. "We're okay, I think, just shaken," Jeremiah replies.

"Amber, you're leaving out the most important part," Dominic says with the cadence of a disappointed father, joining Amber's side with what must be the feather duster the girl had been alluding to. "There's something in here. A hole in the wall in one of the stalls with the words 'PEACE OFFERING' above it. The hole is deep and small, only big enough to fit an arm through. Amber took a look and said she could see something small glistening in the back, but we weren't about to reach in there like morons. Hence the feather duster."

That makes more sense. "Peace offering?" he repeats. It sounds like a trap, but with nothing else to go off of, it might be their only hope. "Do you think it might be a key or something to get us out of here? Like, some kind of escape room?"

"That's what I'm wondering. But I thought I'd see what the majority vote is before I fish it out and potentially lose my life trying."

「 @everyone 」

code by wren.

 

[PavellumPendulum]

IN THE MAIN OFFICE...
EVERYONE.

Their little group was rattled. That was to be expected. Mitena felt as though they could taste sound at this point, their ears still ringing from a noise at a volume that they'd never thought they'd hear. And so... Human, too? Or inhuman? The shriek had not been mechanical in nature, from what they could tell, void of the creaking of metal or scraping of harsh materials, but it hadn't been distinctly human either, with the rasp of an actual voice or the punctuation of breathing. So what? Human but not? Surely, it was some sort of spirit, something evil that had festered within their town without any of them knowing, feeding on their loved ones. Mitena felt numb in that moment, grasping at their shawl with even more insistence, though it did not provide them with any solutions.

Everyone was mostly physically okay by the looks of it, though of course a bit shaken up. Noah had disappeared under a desk, mumbling to himself, holding his cross close. Amber and Dominic had burst into the room, returning from the bathroom to inquire on everyone's health, with the announcement that they had a feather duster, ready to investigate a suspicious hole in the bathroom. Jeremiah hypothesized on how it could be a possible key out.

Mitena swallowed, but the lump in their throat refused to go down.

Dominic suggested a vote. The heat in the room was ramping up, making Mitena grow even more desperate for a change, anything to get out. This place was awful and they had a feeling that if they survived this, they would never again set foot inside the sheriff's office again. Mitena nodded. "I don't believe we have any other options. We should try it." they said, before their gaze softened, settling on the bar owner, "... I am able to do it, if you would like. It doesn't have to be you who risks themselves, Dominic."

If it meant that they made progress or figured something new out, Mitena would gladly put themselves in the line of fire.

 

[Kuno]

Abigail Fieldman

Interactions: @everyone

"Jesus H. Christ. Wait a minute."

That breathy rasp of fear and disbelief punctuated each syllable with daggered glee. Indeed, the words hung there a moment, settling comfortably on the rising heat in the room as their progenitor scrambled from up under a desk. Her skin had become mottled with something decidedly unflattering.

"Time out. Time out." She made the sign with her hands, raising it unnecessarily for all to to see. "Am I missing something here? We just...fell into some giant pit, ended up here, the whole damn room was shaking and hollering like a banshee-"

Or a tortured soul. Abigail, for all her regained bravado, could not confess to knowing what entirely happened, much less processing it. The immediate repercussions to Piper and Mitena's kicks had immediately sent her under a desk for cover, hands clamped over her ears. She'd thought the whole place was going to come down on them.

This place. If it even was a place.

Fear of the unknown was a powerful contender. And in Abigail Fieldman's diminutive body, ignorance bred unearned confidence. Her finger jabbed as she talked, driving each word forward.

"You can't just go around shoving things God knows where. We don't what happened. We don't even where we are. And if we keep touching things we don't understand, God, who knows what will happen next? I say we wait for help. There's gotta be someone who will come looking for us."

And yet, in her heart of hearts, as the words left her tongue, even her mind carried a hint of doubt.

 

[MiharuAya]

Noah Anderson
Location: Police Station
Interactions: Abigail @Kuno, everyone



When the violent shaking eventually subsided, Noah tentatively opened his eyes. He was almost surprised to see the building still standing. While he peeked his head out from under the desk, he was relieved to see that everyone else seemed to be in one piece. With a deep sigh, he climbed out from under his hiding spot. Though, as he went to stand, he could feel his legs continue to tremble, his heart still speeding in his chest.

Even though the ominous screeching had stopped, it left a high-pitched ringing in Noah's ears. It was like the continuous reverberation of a bell at full volume inside of his head. The sound was intense, not quite as mind-numbing as the original but close. And, was starting to make him nauseous.

As Dominic and Amber returned from the bathroom, they began explaining about a feather duster and a strange hole. Noah had to rub his ears, focusing all of his attention as he tried to listen. Although he didn't fully know if poking a random hole in the wall was a good idea, he agreed with Mitena, "It seems to be our only option."

They had already tried every door and searched nearly every inch of the place, and still, they hadn't managed to find a way out. The room was getting hotter, and, he didn't want to find out what would happen to them if they stayed much longer. However, he also understood Ms.Fieldman's worries. "If it makes you feel better, we could pray together while they do it," He offered, not having much else to comfort her.

 

[MiharuAya]

Sebastian Chambers
Location: Police Station
Interactions: Victor @MaryGold Jeremiah/Dominic @Jenamos
Mentions: Everyone by the door



Just as it suddenly started, the strange event was over. The room which just a moment ago was shaking as if they were experiencing an earthquake was now still, and the ear-bursting scream had suddenly been quieted. It was like nothing had happened at all. The only difference was that the temperature in the room continued to rise.

Sebastian was at a complete loss about what they just experienced. The longer that they stayed in this building, the more that it certainly seemed that something paranormal was happening. However, even if that was true, what could they do about it? Sebastian had lived in this town long enough to know better than to question something outside of our limited understanding of the world. It would just be a waste of time.

Instead, he decided to focus his energy on making sure that no one had been hurt. "Are you guys alright?" He checked on Victor and Jeremiah, who had been the closest to him during the unexplained event. Once he saw that they were fine, he went towards the door where the others were standing. "Are you guys alright? Did you feel anything when you kicked the door?" He glanced at the door suspiciously,

When Amber and Dominic arrived from the bathroom, Sebastian listened to what they found closely. He was a bit skeptical about someone reaching into the hole, so he was thankful that the pair had the idea to find some object to use instead.

When Dominic brought up the idea of the hole possibly containing a key, Sebastian wondered aloud, "If we do find a key, that would give us many more questions. Like who put it there?" Even though Sebastion wasn't completely certain that the glistening object might be a key, if it was, that could indicate that they are perhaps wrapped up in something sick game.

 

[TerraBooma]

Amber Hartman
Supernatural Investigator, ASDC
Mentions: Everyone

The group had descended into maddening conversation. Inefficient, complicated conversation as everyone shared their thoughts and doubts. Amber wasn't exactly not an extrovert, but working with a group this big wasn't her specialty. There was a reason that the ASDC kept itself to a cool 3 and a half members, and only part of that was nobody else in town actually wanting anything to do with her. It was hard to bring everyone up to speed and fill everyone in when nobody had put in the same amount of research and study she had. The nuance of the supernatural was complicated and specific; getting the right information in place was vital to not skip down the wrong step, but as one thing became clear from discussion and squabble.

They needed to do something. And soon. It was getting hotter and hotter in here, and there was no telling when that was going to stop. However the temperature had started to rise, it was going to be important for it to be dealt with. Literally anything was better than nothing, and despite her caution about the fey...they might be stuck in a no win scenario. Staying here would no doubt lead to their deaths, so taking a dark bargain might be the only path out...with their defensive measures in place, it might just work out, especially with Amber there to oversee. They would have to throw themselves into the deep end; but sometimes the only way out was through. In fact, that made some sense...a fey could set up a scenario where their 'gift' was the only way out. Leaving the deal a necessary option if everyone inside wanted to survive. And Amber still had to find the other members of her club- missing people were depending on them.

Piping up from the corner, the toque wearing girl entered the conversation. "It can be Mitena or it can be Dom, but whoever does it has to be careful. I'll try and renounce any fey bargain, but I'm not sure how well my countercharming will hold up against an otherworldly creature since my previous defensive measures haven't managed to stick yet. More importantly though is we have to do something- sitting here is just going to get us killed- whatever the conditions of our entry into this world were, its entirely possible its dependent on a full moon, which means we're going to be on our own for this end of things for even up to a full month. So I'm not going to just sit here and waste away. Not a chance." Puffing out her chest and trying to pull on her best Dad-Face that she could muster, the paranormal investigator gives a firm nod. "We don't have time to try and figure out anything else. We've searched just about everything, right? Let's get a move on people." With a thumb pointing behind her shoulder, she motions whoever might be ready to rise to the action and follow her inside. and Amber marches into the bathroom-

Only to push up against a wall and let out a looong breath as soon as the others eyes are off her back, remustering her courage and trying to put her tough-dad-face back on, heading for the stall itself. The girl sat in a half sit on the counter, waiting for someone else to follow her lead. In the interim, she started firing off more disclaimers than a terms and conditions report.

"Any entity who might be listening. Hey! There is no gift. There is no trade. We're simply picking up something that was left behind. We reject and curses or false deals that you might be sundering. Whomever takes the object in the wall is in no obligation to beholden any end of the deal! You better understand that!"

Whoever walks inside would likely catch Amber Finger waggling at the...roof? While attempting to look as stern as possible at whatever things might be watching her. She'd give them a reassuring nod, before pointing out the mystery object embedded within the wall.

 

[PavellumPendulum]

IN THE MAIN OFFICE...
EVERYONE.

The ensuing discussion came with mixed opinions, about either leaving the hole be or having someone fish around in it. Truthfully, it was becoming too hard to think, with the heat steadily increasing, making their slowly drying but still damp clothes feel strange against their skin. It was maddening, standing there while Amber rambled about possible safeguards against the fey or whatever else when approaching the hole, with Abigail off to the side going on and on about how they were better off waiting for someone to come and help them. Mitena sent Dom a look, as if weighing the situation with their eyes alone, but it was him who seemed to step forward to take responsibility.

Mitena was half-relieved, not having wanted to stick their arm into a mystery hole, but they still felt bad about it. Where had their conviction gone, in that moment? It was shameful, telling themselves inwardly that they would do anything to find those that had been lost to them, yet shying away the moment such an opportunity came around. They bristled in place, nodding when Amber stated that they had to get a move on. "I'll be right behind you, in case you need help." They reassured the both of them as they headed over to the washroom, though it was mostly directed towards Dominic, who would be taking on the challenge of the peace offering hole, with only a dirty feather duster in hand.

With a final look towards those being left in the office to wait, since the bathroom was a bit cramped for all of them to make their way within, Mitena was just in time to witness Amber speaking to empty space, proclaiming that there was no deal or trade coming from this interaction. Did such things really do anything? Amber's reversed clothing hadn't helped them yet so far either, though Mitena supposed that they could not blame her. It wasn't as if anything they'd done as of yet had gotten their group any significant progress.

And so, with Dominic slowly easing the feather duster into the deep hole, he would find that the air within was even hotter than the now sweltering heat gathering in the office, as though he was reaching into an oven. Touching the sides of the walls within was dangerous, threatening a nasty burn if too much contact was made. Mitena watched with bated breath as his arm began to disappear, body precariously tilted to keep himself from brushing too much against the walls. After he was in nearly to the shoulder, he'd feel the duster come up against slight resistance against the bottom wall, where the shiny thing had been. An audible click sounded.

In the main office area, the metal plate atop Sheriff Hartman's nameplate on his door fell right off, clattering to the floor with a bang. Underneath, where his name was supposed to be, something else was engraved, cleanly and meticulously.



In the bathroom, within that split second, a rush of air smoothed over Dominic's hand. A blade flung itself down within the hole, slicing clean through the feather duster and splitting it in half, taking with it, a section from the tip to the top joint of Dominic's index finger. An instant severing, with the blade now sitting there, blocking off the back half of the hole now.

The building shuddered, but no mind-bending noise erupted from around them, as though the walls had let out a shudder of relief.

"Dominic?" Mitena's voice quivered.

 

[MiharuAya]

Sebastian Chambers
Location: Police Station
Interactions: Dominic @Jenamos
Mentions: Amber @TerraBooma Mitena @PavellumPendulum



While the trio returned to the bathroom, Sebastian followed behind closely. He wanted to keep an eye on them, just in case, something unexplainable happened again. Not that he would be of much help. If that wailing sound started again, there wasn't much he would be able to do. It's not like he could just start shooting it.

Since the bathroom was such a small area, he decided to stand in the doorway to give them some space. After all, Dominic might need to make a hasty retreat, and Sebastian didn't want to get in the way. The heat was also continuing to rise, as sweat dripped from his forehead Sebastion found it getting increasingly difficult to breathe.

As he watched the man stick the feather duster into the hole, he kept his hand on his holster. Although he didn't know what was about to happen, he was still going to defend everyone with his life. "Just take your time," With the heat, and the pressure of all these people watching, he figured that it might be a bit nerve-wracking. It probably wasn't much, but it was all the encouragement he could offer in this situation. Especially since they still didn't even know what they were even poking at.

The sound of a soft click bounced off the bathroom walls, just before a much louder chopping noise. Sebastian inhaled a deep breath, unsure whether the sound had come from the wood of the feather duster or a bone breaking. His gaze flickered to Dominic's face, trying to read his expression, "Hey, Dom? Are you alright? What happened?" He asked hesitantly, in the calmest voice that he could muster.

 

[MiharuAya]

Noah Anderson
Location: Police Station
Interactions: Abigail @Kuno, everyone



As the others left to continue investigating the hole in the bathroom wall, and hopefully retrieve whatever shiny object lay inside of it, Noah stayed in the main part of the building with the rest of the group. It seemed that some were nervous, which was understandable given the circumstance. And, even though he felt his own anxieties swirling in the pit of his stomach, he did his best to put on a brave face.

"I'm sure everything will be just fine," He said with a warm smile, glancing over at Abigail. She seemed to be the one most against this current plan, so he wanted to try and calm her down. "Would you like to sit down? I can try and find some water maybe…" Noah offered, glancing around the building for some sort of faucet or water cooler.

It was then that the building began to shudder, causing him to become unbalanced. Noah quickly grabbed the side of a table to keep himself from falling over. Though, just as it started, it soon ended. "That wasn't too bad," Noah said, staying positive. At least the building hadn't been filled with that awful screaming again.

The sound of something falling near Hartman's office caught his attention, "What was that?" He asked aloud, hesitantly walking towards the doors. As he crept closer, he saw the nameplate laying on the floor. Noah carefully picked it off the floor, reading the strange puzzle across the front.

"Hey! I think you guys did something," He called out, loud enough for the people in the bathroom to hear. It wasn't very descriptive, but he wasn't exactly sure what he was looking at. In his mind, it appeared to be some form of hangman, where they needed to guess the letter. But he was at a complete loss on how they were supposed to do that. And more importantly, who put this here?

 

[wren.]

hh

hh

DOMINIC

Did someone turn the heat on blast in here? It keeps getting hotter with every second, to the point where he finds himself tugging at his shirt collar that has begun to cling to his chest with sweat. It seems everyone else feels it, too. He doesn't smell smoke, but is there a fire in the building? Is he going to burn alive in here like his parents did? The ice water that runs through his veins at the thought is almost enough to chill him.

He can't focus on that right now, he needs to focus on the matter of this 'peace offering.' The only thing they have to go on as far as a way out of here. As expected, their little cast and crew have varying opinions on the matter, but as the heat ramps up, their choices slim along with their ability to conjure up a cogent thought. Someone has to do it, and he'll be damned if he lets anyone else get hurt from something so conscpicuous. "I'll do it," he says before Mitena can insist otherwise, offering a weak smile. "I don't have much to live for anyway."

Amber's (somewhat nonsensical) ranting acts as final say on the matter, and he nods decisively. Yes, they should hurry up. With a shout from Jeremiah telling him to be careful rings after him, he follows Amber into the bathroom. As strong and decisive as she's been acting, the way she collapses against the wall in anxiety reminds him of just how young she is to be going through something so horrendous. He claps a supportive hand on her shoulder briefly, then approaches the hole in the wall while she shouts at whatever entity has entrapped them all.

The hole is scalding. He can feel it from where he stands, emanating from inside like a furnace. Is this the source of this sweltering heat, or is the entire inside of the building's walls filled with it? Is he going to suffer some third degree burns attempting this? Or worse?

Well, there's nothing he can do except face the danger head on. Steeling himself with a deep breath, he begins to insert the end of the featherduster, bracing himself against the wall with his free arm. As the stick disappears, he waits for... he doesn't know, but something. The snapping of the stick or something alerting them of danger. There's nothing, but that hardly puts him at ease.

As the stick runs out and he is forced to slowly push his arm inside, he hissed at the intense heat practically cooking his arm. If he makes it out alive, he'll definitely have no arm hair after this, the poor things entirely singed off. The hole is so narrow, he has to be exceedingly steady in order to avoid hitting the walls and burning himself. Breathe, push, breathe, push. Just a bit further...

Click. Before he can process the sound, a sharp pain explodes through his hand, making him scream. His arm flinches reflexively, causing his arm to bump against the hole's cieling and burning the top of his forearm, ripping a loud "FUCK!" from his throat. He's bleeding, he can feel it flooding over his fingers as he tries to retract his hand with the same caution he'd entered with, and there's no way he can discern the details of his injury between the two overwhelmingly painful sensations.

It isn't until he finally gets his hand out that he's able to process what has happened — the end of his finger has been cleanly severed. Motherfucker! "Anyone have a bandaid?" he says, voice high and strained despite his attempt at morbid levity.

"S-Shit! Yes, I mean, I have a f-first aid kit," Jeremiah, who'd been amongst the crowd of people who'd apparently followed them into the room, stammers as he sheds his backpack and begins rifling through with shaking arms. "It's s-small, though, I just brought it f-for if someone got scraped up in the woods," he rambles as he finally pulls the case out.

"I'm not picky," he grunts, trying to staunch the bleeding with his other hand. The endeavor is rather ineffective.

Jeremiah approaches with disinfectant and gauze, looking entirely unsure of himself. "Does a-anyone here know how to do this properly?" he asks.

「 @everyone in the bathroom 」

code by wren.

 

[TerraBooma]

Amber Hartman
Supernatural Investigator, ASDC
Interactions: @Jenamos , Bathroom Gang, Doorgang

It wasn't fey.

The only thing that dropped faster than the finger from Dominic's hand was Amber's heart in her throat. The Sheriff's Daughter had been betting it all on black, trying to plunge into the depths of her mind, come up with some kind of tidy conclusion, to diagnose and navigate a space that she alone had some experience in studying. She was the expert here, the professor in a field that nobody else could quite put their finger on. She was the Chair of the ASDC, this was literally her field of expertise.

But they Fey didn't steal fingers like that. Tricks and ruses maybe. But this was something mechanical, something manufactured. Blades weren't really in the fair folk's wheelhouse, and that click was distinctly of something man made- or something like it. Whatever had trapped them in this world, it wasn't a fairy, and that meant that none of her protections had done a single damn thing to help Dominic when he put his body on the line for all of them to get out.

Looks like she could fail more than just her club-mates.

"Bossman!" She called out, a decade and a half of living with Sheriff Hartman drilling in her to act quickly in a crisis. Amber was on him just a few seconds after Jeremiah had stepped up to the plate- shock was a hell of a drug and had slowed her getting to the scene. Internally, that was just another failure. She needed to be better, to be faster. To be smarter and get things right; it might not just be a finger next time.

"I can patch him up. Dad taught me, wouldn't let me not know. We're going to need some gauze and a bandage. Bossman, keep pressure on that wound, you're going to be fine." Her voice was calm, but strained. Like calm water trembling before a rainfall. The experienced barkeep could see the guilt that flashed in Amber's eyes, the weight she carried on her from her failures. As she grabbed the first aid kit, the guilt seemed to fade in a thick veneer of professionalism. Her hands started doing quickly, trying to ignore the blood that was gushing from Dominic's wound. She wanted to vomit- it wasn't allowed, not again.

Amber's work is drilled and surprisingly professional for a cashier. Hartman's didn't skip out on being prepared, it seemed. But this wasn't ideal circumstances. She was sweating bullets by the end of it, and it wasn't because of how damn hot it was getting into this room. As she finished patching up Dom's wound, she still couldn't look him in the eye. Giving him a small nod before stepping back and giving the others some room.

"Not Fey, Bossman. I'll be better."

She always had to be better.

Unable to look at anyone else in the room, Amber threw herself into work. There was a shaky breath as she pulled out the plausibly functioning recorder, exiting the bathroom and attempting to report their findings.

"Amber Hartman, continued log of the Disappearances. After unknown trigger, room has begun to heat up at exponential speed. Wherever we are, someone seems to be trying to flush us out one way or another. Dominic attempted to press a small button in the bathroom and was successful, though a hidden trap seemed to slice off the latter tip of his right index finger. Dominic has been patched up and is otherwise uninjured at this time." There was a longer pause as she transitioned rooms, giving her mind time to race. It didn't take long for the ad-hoc detective to notice the major changes in the room.

"Detective notes the plate over the Sheriff's office seems to have unveiled some kind of puzzle. Likely a cipher of some kind revealing some kind of message. I'm moving to investigate, and I'll report findings shortly." She clicked the recorder off, before mozying up to the coffee machine and quickly checking everything around it to see if there, by some miracle, could be a brewed up cup of joe in this hellhole. She couldn't launch her investigating without checking on the others first.

"That's probably from the button in the bathroom, I take it? What we got so far? I can think of a few things that might fit those lines, but it's not a hard solution."

As she waited for the others to report in, the girl kept searching the area methodically- anything but letting herself stay still. That wasn't a fate she could handle right now. She had to keep moving. New ideas. New Theories. Toss out what didn't work, slot something new in. And this time, Amber? Be right. Everyone was counting on you for it.

 

[MaryGold]

VICTOR

Tired Father & Cool Teacher™

As if things could not get any more chaotic, they just did. Between Amber's incessant speech, Abigail's ranting, and the increasing heat of the room, Victor glanced over to Mitena and caught the consensus between them and Dominic. They didn't waste any time taking action whether they all agreed or not, something that Victor was both grateful and exasperated with. They were in trouble either way.

When the room began to shudder and Dom's curses streamed back into the office, Victor felt his heart rate spike. Something had happened alright, but it could not be said whether it made a difference in their situation. He trekked over to Noah and Abigail, looking over the priest's shoulder and at the puzzle. A puzzle. Whatever trapped them there wanted to play with them before killing them.

Victor snorted, wiping away the sweat forming on his brow. "I am usually good at puzzles, but this one has thrown me for a loop." Pearl was very good at puzzles. On the days they had to it the hospital quietly all they did was put together puzzles of various kinds. No one loved putting the picture and messages together as much as she did.

"You have to find all the edge pieces." Her little voice would say as her small hands would move the blanket that hid their missing pieces.

Victor squinted his eyes at the blank spaces and glanced back to the desk their puzzle had fallen from. "Abigail, help me sweep the room again. I'm sure we're missing something here." He nudged the women in the direction of the desks again. Perhaps if she had something more to do than bang on a door she would have less to yell about in the mad situation they were in.

He searched the drawers of the desk once more, skimming through gibberish papers, running his hands over the seams of the desk, under it, and around it, even checking the trashbin nearby. The heat didn't make the search any easier. He would lose his mind long before he lost his life. "Someone should check the halls again?" He suggested, staying diligent as it was the only thing keeping him sane at the moment.

"If they left this puzzle for us to solve, there has to be a hint around here somewhere. We just don't have all the pieces. And we can't let Dominic's finger be sacrificed in vain." A morbid joke, but one that was true.

「 @Kuno 」

[/color]

Code by Jenamos

 

[PavellumPendulum]

IN THE MAIN OFFICE...
EVERYONE.

It wasn't like Mitena to be squeamish. Blood and guts were a part of life. Being manufactured from muscles and sinew, they would all eventually return to the earth, reclaimed by flora and fauna in order to give way for something new. They'd hunted before, to put food on the table. They'd deboned fish, they'd skinned deer, they'd even seen some accidents, here and there, a nick of the skin, a punishment for being overenthusiastic in one's search for resources. So why was it, that the moment they heard that click and Dominic's ensuing cussing, did their blood run cold? One tended to forget how much blood was in a human body until they saw it spurting out of someone, heart pumping away without a care in the world even when a pipe had burst.

"Dominic!" Mitena blurted out without even thinking, worry tearing across their face, even feeling dizzy themselves from their outburst, "We'll get you-"

They didn't manage to finish, with Amber immediately jumping into action. A bloody trail lead them from the bathroom to Jeremiah's medical kit, where the sheriff's daughter took to getting the horrendous wound handled. Mitena could barely look, feeling ill as they stood nearer to Victor, both wanting to crane their head to get a better look and run away. What kind of disturbing, sick forces were keeping them there? Obviously, it had the tricks and the power to not only control their minds, but to take their limbs too... So why hadn't they?

Did it really just plan on playing with it's food?

The floor was slick with droplets of blood and still-drying water from their initial wake up, the heat still steadily crawling into their clothing and attempting to draw heat rashes along their skin. Mitena brushed some of their dark hair out of their eyes, fingers shaking as they rubbed away, the strands still sticking to their sweaty forehead. "The.... The puzzle. It's probably important, if it took an..." they trailed off, lower lip trembling, "An offering in exchange for even letting us see it, right?"

They peered closer, chewing on their lower lip. "T... 11 has to be either an A or an I, then, yes? If the answer is in actual words..."

 

[TerraBooma]

Amber Hartman
Supernatural Detective, ASDC
Interactions: @Everyone

"God damn you you sick son of a-"

Amber whispered expletives as the younger woman turned over the joe-maker. No coffee. God, this place really was hell on earth.

That and some eldritch horror or planar being of dimensional intelligence had made them their plaything, cut off the Bossman's fingers, and left the thermostat turned all the way up possibly with the intent of overheating them all to the point that they all died of heatstroke- but having a functioning coffee machine would have made this literal nightmare scenario a little more peachy for everyone involved. Especially her. And Dom. Probably. Did he drink coffee? She didn't know- could you drink coffee while working a bar? Did that eat into your bottom line? Maybe bars could sell coffee. Had she ever seen anyone drinking something that wasn't booze there?

Right. Okay. Amber- get yourself together girl. Brain's getting a little bit rambly with the panic. Bring it together, be like Dad. All of these people, all of them are counting on you- to be the expert, to identify the threat. But there wasn't enough evidence here, trapped deep in the belly of some brutal furnace monster. They had to get out, to identify, assess and react. But if any of that was going to happen, they had to put their brains together and find some way beyond the prison that they had been entrapped in. With the heat rising with every passing second, Amber had to admit the idea of staying here long term didn't sound like a great idea...

She was pulled from her rambling, anxious thoughts by Mitena's drawl- a shot in the dark for trying to solve the puzzle that the door team had uncovered at the price of Dominic's finger. But that shot was just the adrenaline boost Amber needed. A hook to center her mind on. This puzzle may not have been based on communication, or ciphers, hidden clues and algorithms or ciphers to twist this way and that. Numbers and letters were intrinsically linked, all a part of the greater whole. And if the puzzle was just that of putting letters to numbers, it was just a matter of putting her brain to work.

And nobody in this room had spent nearly as many hours solving Jr. Detective Cereal Scrambles on the internet than Amber.

Abandoning the idea that they were going to find any other kind of utility or aide, Amber trudged to her father's door- or whatever mirror world thing had replicated it- and stared into the grooves of the engraving like it was a suspect in a police drama to be interrogated, to crack and give her all of its secrets. She started mumbling then, journaling her thoughts out loud.

"Mitena's right-" She called out. "At or It is all there is for English words I can think of. And Look- Ten's gotta be some kinda word that ends in double letters. Not a lot of those ones off the top of my head. All maybe? And...if that's supposed to be all, then the rest of the letters..." Quietly, Amber's head raced with solutions. Crossing off solutions one by one until she could only come to one conclusion- at least only one that made any sense as an actual sentence.

"I got it." She announced, firmly and without the shaking she felt in her fault. If the solution cost a finger, what would be the cost of failure? Yet she had to press on; maybe it was penance for her failure costing Dom his finger. moving to a desk and grabbing a marker, Amber approached the door a second time, feeling the eyes of the room press in around her. Tapping the door, she called out.

"I solved it. I...think. The answer is...It was all your fault."

And then, if nobody stopped her- she'd write it on the board with firm hands- the steady pace of the marker not betraying the panicking beat of her pattering heart.

 

[PavellumPendulum]

IN THE MAIN OFFICE...
EVERYONE.

Amber rattled off thoughts and words like a machine gun, manic from the mess of losing Dominic's finger and obviously disturbed by their current situation. It was not surprising, but it was not comforting either... At the very least, she hopped straight to working on the cipher on the door with them, actually making good progress on it without needing much help at all. Mitena hadn't even gotten to figuring out what sort of logic to use for the other words, but Amber was racing ahead with the answer in hand, marker pressing against the metal. The words started melting immediately against the surface, wet with condensation from the heat and hot to the touch, but whatever Amber had done, maybe it'd been right.

The world around them shuddered again, perhaps not as violently before, but still with some strength. An audible click was heard before the door swung wide open, crashing against the wall in the next room. The smell of smoke and alcohol was immediate, assaulting one's senses with absolutely no mercy, dark smog invading the room. Mitena felt their body tense up, looking into the doorway, flames licking up at the walls and the furniture within.

This wasn't the Sheriff's office. It should've been a small room, with a worn leather chair, a scratched up desk and some filing cabinets. It should've been reeking of cigarette smoke and exhaustion and yet...

The roar of the fire ahead of them was deafening.

The room past the doorway was expansive, way too large to even be logically connected to the rest of the station, with charred hardwood floors, high tables and chairs... With the flames partially blocking their view, Mitena almost didn't recognize what it was. They coughed, caught between blocking the smoke from stinging their eyes and trying to peer in. "It's- It's your pub, Dominic!" they exclaimed, out of breath from the realization alone, yelling over the crackle and pop of furniture turning into ash. The sound of disjointed, broken Italian music, broke through the cacophany of noise, blurred and drawling as though it too were melting away in the fire.

Dominic would likely be the first to realize that it wasn't his current pub, however, even with the flames blocking their view.

It was his parent's.

 

[wren.]

hh

hh

DOMINIC

He's dizzy. He can't be sure if it's from the blood loss, the burns, the adrenaline, or the sweltering heat steadily cooking them alive. Realistically, it's no doubt all three. Still, he sways slightly on his feet, bracing himself with his good arm against the wall, careful to not touch anywhere near that damn hole. Amber is treating the wound — when did she walk up? She's wavering, is she shaking or is that him? He coughs as though his disorientation is the result of something stuck in his windpipe, attempting a smile that fails at being comforting.

"Hey, it's not your fault," he assures. "No one here knows what's going on, no one expects you to have all the answers. Besides, I expected this." Actually, this is a better outcome than he'd been expecting. Not only is he still alive, but he also still has the vast majority of his arm. He can't look at the injury for too long, the sight making him nauseous (or maybe that's the pain). Still, eyes averted, he does his best to follow Amber's instructions while she bandages him up.

Eventually, she's done, and everyone shambles their way out of the bathroom to join the others. He has to breathe heavily against the pain radiating up and down his arm, focused on keeping himself upright and not letting his shaky legs slip on the blood and water all over the floor of both rooms. By the time he's stumbled his way over to the puzzle, everyone is already deep in discussion over what the solution could be. As much as he'd like to help, he can barely focus on the letters and numbers long enough to come up with anything coherent.

"You should sit down," Jeremiah says, guiding him to the nearest chair. His eyes move frantically from him to the puzzle, no doubt trying to figure out the solution. When his ass hits the chair, Jeremiah returns to the group, eyebrows knitted. After a few more moments, his face suddenly pales and he goes still, as if struck.

"What's wrong?"

He opens his mouth, but only a quiet, strangled noise escapes, as though he can't bring himself to say the words. Thankfully, he doesn't need to, as Amber calls out a solution that is less than appealing but seems to be accurate based on how everyone resigns to let her try it. The room shakes once more, a loud click resounding from behind the door. Suddenly, the heavy thing swings open violently, and although he can't see well from this angle and all of the people crowding around the door, the acrid smell of smoke and the flickering orange he can see in the gaps between everyone is all he needs to realize what's behind there.

He shakily gets to his feet with a wince, making his way closer. "Guess we figured out where all that heat was coming f—" He freezes, mouth falling agape at the sight before him.

"It's- It's your pub, Dominic!" Mitena stammers, sounding almost as horrified as him.

"No. N-No, it's not," he croaks, tears springing to his eyes from more than just the smoke stinging them. Despite the thick smoke and the rampaging flames, he recognizes each high-backed chair, the decorative sconces his mom had spent hours picking out, the missing piece of hardwood by the bar his father would always trip over when he went behind the counter. "This is my parents' pub." But how? It burned down years ago! "It looks exactly like it did, every detail," he sobs, "H-How?" He buries his face in his hands, his entire body sore and his mind reeling.

It was all your fault.

Was that message for him? The audacity to insinuate that he would ever kill his parents or play any sort of role in their slow, horrendous death infuriates him more than anything ever has. "It wasn't my fault," he yells over the roaring of the fire, pulling at his hair, "I was away at college when it burned down! I had nothing to do with this!"

「 @everyone 」

code by wren.

 

[TerraBooma]

Amber Hartman
Supernatural Detective, ASDC
Interactions: @Jenamos @everyone

Out of the fire and into the...okay. Wow. Well. More fire.

Amber didn't know what she'd been expecting, but she knew what she'd been hoping for. That on the other side of the door her dad would be sitting there. Combing over some files and cracking the books on another late night. This was all some twisted nightmare that she'd sleptwalk her way into. That everything would be fine now. Or maybe it was real, but he was here. And he'd already been formulating some leads for how to get out of here. Whatever it was, all he needed was her help. Her paranormal expertise, and they could blow this case wide open.

But no. Literally fire. A perfect recreation of Dom's Pub (Or rather, Dom's Parents Pub.) glistening in an inferno that hated wood almost as much as whatever ancient being clearly hated them. Not that Amber had very long to reflect in the firelight of past sins, since wow hot ow fuck fire ow.

Amber had staggered away from the door nearly as soon as the heat hit her, instinctively retreating away from the burning bar with her hands above her face. "Dammit! It's hot!" She declared, as if the literal ball of flames needed its temperature to be clarified to the group. For a few seconds, her focus on the room shifted as she danced back to a safe distance- letting Mitena have all the space they needed to investigate, as well as Let Dom surge to make one hell of a declaration. This was in fact his parents pub, and no it wasn't his fault. On one hand, "I didn't do it" was a particularly suspicious statement to make, but on account that Chesh always seemed to vouch for him, Amber was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. It was a hell of an alibi too- even if none of them could confirm it.

Coughing as her lungs tried to process air that was too hot and too cold at the same time, the ASDC head managed to drag her way to Dominic's side, giving him a semi reassuring, semi flailing pat on the shoulder as she steadied herself. "You heard it hear folks! Bossman didn't do it! Which means we're dealing with some kind of malicious spirit that revels in the torment of our most tragic moments! Everyone be ready. We don't know what we're gunna hit once we manage to clear that room. Whatever realmspace we're in, it the laws of neither space nor time seem to be a requirement for its illusions. Be ready for some uncomfortable stuff; but it's not real!"

Because that was the rub. The poisoned needle in the haystack. There was no other way out of this room- they'd checked that already. And if you couldn't go over it, under it, or through it...well. There was a lion to hunt. With her resolve hardened, she focused on the man in front of her: Bossman wasn't taking this well, and this wasn't the kind of pain you went through alone.

"Bossman! Listen up. You got an airtight alibi. Cling to that, yeah? You didn't do none of this. Don't let some dickwad of a djinn get off on messing with you. Ignoring the bastard's taunts and let's get through this together. Okay? Now listen. This is very important, your parents place, were the exits any different from the pub that you run? I'm good at sneaking into there to hang out with Chesh when you're out. But we need to know if there's any major changes if we're going to run through there okay." She puts a hand on his shoulder. "Every time we survive another room, we spite this thing. So let's focus on kicking its ass, okay?" She gave a firm fist bump and a confident thumbs up before stepping to the side- letting Dom speak to the others.

She would focus on recanting her perfect knowledge of Madam Maxime's 37 guaranteed tricks to dispelling illusions. If anything was going to counter this monstrosities creation, it had to be that one- and fortunately for the group, it also just happened to be one of her personal expertises.