Play@YSDC

Murray sees nothing in the gloom, but he can hear just fine. He can't quite be sure if anyone has been this way recently.

If he's to find twine or something similar he will need to provide a better source of light. His flashlight is starting to get dim despite the fact he had loaded a fresh set of batteries before coming here. Either more time had passed than he had realised or something about this place drained batteries. He might need to grope about the shelves and pull off the old mouldy boxes if he wants to find that twine. Luckily the only disturbing noises he could hear came from the fans outside in the street.

Murray makes his way back up to the ground floor and begins his search, hoping to find either twine or something that could be used as a light source. A candle would help, as he still has the matches. He might even be able to make a torch by taking a length of wood, wrapping one end in something flammable (such as paper), and lighting it.

OOC,I'm using the clip-on flashlight. [b]Craig[/b] had the one I had brought with me.

The clip-on flashlight produces dim light though still somewhat serviceable, though it'd still be a good idea to create a non-electronic light source for when it finally gives in. The flashlight, however, still manages to send the long shadows a'skitter, making it difficult to find the twine he needs. It takes more searching than he had expected, and as he pushes some of the papers and mouldy boxes about, his finger rasps against something rusty hidden among them, drawing a line of blood on his finger. As he withdraws his hand, he knocks something, and sees a ball of twine go thump-thump-thumping across the floor.

Murray grits his teeth and has a sharp intake of breath. He pulls a handkerchief out of a pocket of his trenchcoat and wraps it around his cut, applying pressure. I better not get tetanus, he thinks. Gotta clean that fast. Alcohol would do nicely.

OOC,I'm not sure what I've picked up, as it's been a long time. Do I have any medical/first aid supplies from the hospital? And do I have any alcohol? I don't have anything like that recorded on my character sheet.

OOC,I don't think [b]Murray[/b] ever did find one though he did search pretty hard for it. At least, I don't think he found one since using up the last one on Craig after the gunshot. I'm pretty sure everything was dirty and grimy. Just plain awful, in fact. In truth, it's funny how folks minds work. I can truly believe someone worrying about tetanus when they're in a hellish deformed world of twisted metal and all the more twisted monsters.

It doesn't appear to be a big cut and it's not bleeding too badly, though the handkerchief certainly helps with that. If he ever gets out of this hellish place, he may very well need to get another tetanus shot. As he applies pressure, he hears something release a sound that is part-howl, part-snarl and part-scream. Did something pick up the scent of that blood?

Murray shivers when he hears the howl, suddenly with more pressing concerns than his cut.

OOC,Is there any way I can lock and/or barricade the front door?

The shelving structures could be pushed against the door, providing some degree of barricade. The internal door could also be theoretically barricaded from the inside, though it would only buy him time, and probably only as much time as it would take to push them in place. If he could wedge something in the landing by that internal door, that could do a reasonable job, though it would take a Mechanical Repair roll to figure out how to do that (failure means he's at a loss as to how to do it so it won't cost any time).

Murray hastily shoves the shelving against the front door. He sntaches up the ball of twine and hurries back downstairs. Unable to figure out how to efficiently block off the interior door, he settles for closing it behind him as he makes his way back downstairs.

As his foot hits the bottom step, he can hear a thud against the exterior door. Hopefully he can rig the device to pull the lever quickly (Mechanical Repair).

Murray ties the end of the twine into a loop and effortlessly lassoes the switch without having to reach into the hole. He stands well back, playing out the twine, and pulls it to activate the switch.

The switch sticks for a moment, but another another tug, it moves and with a clatter of internal gears the two doors begin to yawn open, pulling backwards to reveal red-tinged air and a hint of smoke that smells like matchsticks and old-fashioned camera flash bulbs. From somewhere above comes another crash of weight against the door above and the groaning of upset metal. Plaster dust drops in little patters and the doors cease their movement, as though the vibrations had set their gears off course, though there is room at least for Murray to squeeze through.

Murray quickly squeezes through the doors, preferring the unknown to whatever is chasing him - which is also unknown, he realizes, but somehow it seems worse to him.

The room is large with a high vaulted ceiling. There's a snap-snap-snap-snap sound like a high-speed shutter slamming and along the right wall stands a bank of monitors, in front of which lies a set of venetian blinds whose movements open and closed seem to be causing the commotion. A ramp heads up along both walls to an elevated platform which contains (from what he can see) some sort of stone bench that stands before a large red cloth which drapes across the rearmost wall. Two old beaten up couches stand before the stone bench, facing it at odd angles.

Murray tries to close the doors behind him an then heads over to the monitors to see if they're displaying anything.

The monitors show familiar faces through the staticky shroud. Old clients?

Weird, thinks Murray as he makes his way up the ramp to the platform to get a closer look at what's up there. Am I going to find the Wizard of Oz behind that curtain?

The platform contains two ratty couches, and a floor lamp that match the kind of furnishings he keeps in his office, if in a more rundown condition. The stone altar has a recess within it which contains an ambiguous figure whose skin ranging from face to chest to the tops of the limbs have been flayed open and pinned back.

Murray grimaces when he sees the disgusting idol. Well, there's someone who's having a worse day than I am, he thinks. He tries to light the lamp, then goes over to the curtain and takes a peek behind it.