Active thread - The Red Strain [TRS]

[Tabs]

[ooc: [dice]0[/dice] (Arthur's sanity is 75%)]


The tentacles rip at Evan's throat; Arthur be-fouls his front with his own vomit; his mind keeps flashing with obscure thoughts at this horrific time, like: thank God I'm wearing my apron, and: is the defibrillator charged and ready to "fire" a shock at the "thing."

[Dave Syrinx]

Second floor -
Evans gets propped up against the face of the open door. His limp arms have dropped the defibrillator pads. To work them properly, one should charge the power for three seconds, then fire. Except for the defibrillator on the floor, there is one in the clinic ward too. Five meters away in a glass cabinet.
Harrison comes running up the stairs. Arthur sees him come bouncing into the wall with the last few steps left before reaching the second floor. "What´s happening?"

OOC (Tabs):

Spoiler:

Should Arthur try to use the dropped pads, he has to succeed in a LUCK roll. Or - risk getting attacked by the vines. Also, there´s more things in the emergency locker down the hall... If he goes to the clinic he´ll be safer and will be able to charge the other sets of pads without risk.
He could also just plainly head downwards.

Roll 1d3 for Sanity loss, pls.

[Tabs]

[Sanity loss [dice]0[/dice]]


Arthur splutters, choking on his own vomit; orange bubbles form at the sides of his mouth. "Gnrrr, Ev--, Evans is down." Arthur scrambles away on all fours down the hall, towards the clinic.

[Laraqua]

Janet reciprocates by grasping his hand and turns to regard the three coming up to the door.

[Dave Syrinx]

The front door is pulled open by a gloved hand and two figures in red parkas stumble to get inside. Johnny is nowhere to be seen. Also, there´s quite a bit of snowfall outside. . Two shots are thundering like rapid thunder Patches on the front of the parkas identify the two as Nichols and Sondra. There´s no bullets hitting the station this time...


Nichols and Sondra get inside and pulls the door closed behind them. "What´s happening here?" Sondra stares at the two in the air lock. Both she and Nichols have taken a stance as to ward off any attacks.

Janet and Robert are in the air lock. Naumann arrives from the kitchen, not giving the two new arrivals a glance, only pushes on up the stairs after Harrison.


In the kitchen, Eric and George hear Harrison scream from upstairs. "Holy motherfucker! What the shit is that?! Running steps are heard above them in the kitchen. They two hear the shooting outside.

In the air lock the scream is carried even louder. That and the sound of someone throwing up. Followed by a lashing of a whip. Ripping at a door or a wall panel.
Everything is not calm and quiet at Station 10.

Upstairs-
Harrison sees Xavier and Evans in the bizarre embrace. Not knowing what to expect, he blanks the image out and runs towards the open emergency locker at the other end of the corridor. He just barely notices Arthur covered in vomit fiddling with a cabinet door in the clinic.
As Dwayne runs past the entangled two. Is that grape vines? One of the vines around Xavier´s throat rips loose and flays out after Dwayne´s feet. A turn of bad luck catches the slow leg of Dwayne Harrison and he falls flat on his face when the foot is caught in the vine. More vines flutter and sprawl from the chest cavity of what once was the station manager. As Dwayne stares in disbelief on the moving vine constricting his heavy work clothes he sees Evans´ chest shatter in a spray of blood as more feelers eject at his prone position. "NOOOOO!" In his mind Dwayne is back in the helicopter reading Withering Heights. He never got out of the ride.

Arthur gets the second defibrillator out of the cabinet and rounds the corner of the corridor when Dwayne is caught. Now, two entities of vines growing out of chest cavities wriggle and writhe in Xavier´s doorway.

Running steps coming up the stairs. "Abandon station! Sound the alarm, Bailey!", Naumann screams as he stops at the end of the stairs. Looking between the mess in the corridor and the messy chef. He gestures to Arthur to follow him back down the stairs.

[Mr. Handy]

"I was hoping you two could tell me," says Robert to the new arrivals. "Where's Johnny? Did you see who was shooting out there?"

OOC,Is there an alarm button nearby?

[Dave Syrinx]

OOC:

Spoiler:

No, just the comm alarm codes. There´s a prerecorded alarm message you can play. Press #4 and it will play an EVACUATE STATION message in all buildings. A hazmat message used on oil rigs. But it works well here too.

[Mr. Handy]

"Dammit, how does he expect us to be able to evacuate when there's a sniper out there?!" says Robert, sighing. "Wait here, I'll go sound the alarm." He heads back into the station and towards his radio room.

[Tabs]

Arthur charges the defibrillator pads. "This is insane, INSANE!" He doesn't know what to do, will the pads be effective against the vines?

"Abandon station! Sound the alarm, Bailey!", Naumann screams as he stops at the end of the stairs. Looking between the mess in the corridor and the messy chef. He gestures to Arthur to follow him back down the stairs.

Arthur drops the pads. "Fuck that! I ain't playing soldier." He sprints, hops, leaps towards Naumann.

[Dave Syrinx]

Outside, only the wind whistles.
Through the windows, a few feet of visibility, not more.

"Fredricks is out there!" gasps Sondra. "We were just going down to wait out the storm... He might be wounded. Help him!"

Naumann and Arthur come down the stairs. "Lock and barricade this door!" Naumann says when ushering Arthur down the stairs.

[Laraqua]

"What is even going on?" asked Janet, utterly at a loss.

[Mr. Handy]

"We can't!" protests Robert as he runs past. "Johnny and one of their people would be trapped out there with a sniper!"

[Tabs]

Arthur crashes into the wall at the bottom of the stairs, he is dizzy from shock, covered in vomit, pupils are dilated, in short: he's a mess. "Up there, st--st--" stutters Arthur, he's addressing Janet and Robert"--horrible, horrible. Do what Naumann says."



[ooc: I'm guessing Naumann means the internal door for the stairwell, not the external door?]

[Dave Syrinx]

Walther surly says, "Barat, Evans and...Dwayne... are gone." He latches the door leading to the stairs and adds "What happened at Outpost 31 is happening here. I know it. This is why they burned the station down. Arthur, set the kitchen on fire! We need to roast some bad bastards. Rob, you´re the only one left of the three who flew there and brought the bodies. What do you think? Did they find something in the ice that attacked them? What I saw up there was no joke. It was like something from a horror movie." Something crashes down the stairs and bangs against the door. It sounds as a fish sprawling and flapping out of water. Then a loud bang sounds as something huge is launched at the door.


"What are you having in there?"
Nichols backs away from the door and fumbles to open the front door. The sniper suddenly feels like the lesser evil.


Robert Bailey:

Spoiler:

Thinking of it, Childs and MacReady had abandoned the outpost and had burnt down the research station. MacReady had the flame thrower to prove it.

[Mr. Handy]

"Yeah. they did torch the research station," says Robert, "but it wasn't clear why. I'd thought they all got paranoid and killed each other at the time, but they could have been attacked. Something's up there, that's for sure. There's a trapdoor in the lab. If we could get out through that, the sniper out there wouldn't see us."

[Laraqua]

"How do we get into the lab?" asked Janet, so frightened now that she's struggling to picture the lay out of this place. None of this made any sense. What thing...? She wanted to demand answers to her questions but instinctively knew they didn't have the time to give her a better picture.

[Tabs]

Arthur, set the kitchen on fire! We need to roast some bad bastards.

"Yeah! Let's burn 'em." A disorientated Arthur, stumbling and knocking against the walls, moves to the kitchen.

[Dave Syrinx]

"I think Fredricks saw someone approaching the station and went to check him out." Nichols replies to Robert. "Is that Johnny who is shooting out there?"


(The lab is in the top right corner. Airlock in the lower left.)

Eric and George watch as Arthur stumbles into the kitchen all wild eyed.
From behind the shut door upstairs comes a scream from Dwayne. "HEEELP! Get me out of here!" Followed by running steps leading east.

OOC: Recap

Xavier, Evans and Bailey went to Outpost 31 and retrieved the dead bodies of Childs and MacReady. (Two weeks ago)
Outpost 31 had been torched and abandoned.
The bodies were autopsied and kept at Station 10 before getting sent to McMurdo base. (When the four on vacation arrived)
Arthur went missing for an hour. (Six hours ago)
Naumann went out to look for Arthur.
Johnny went out to look for Arthur and Naumann.
Johnny and Arthur got back inside.
Arthur claimed he slipped and hit his head.
Johnny found evidence of someone had been around the container...
Xavier felt ill.
He went upstairs and left the lead to Evans.
George Price claimed he had found something worthwhile mentioning in an ice sample.
They got a radio message from McMurdo. Robert took it and sent several messages back an forth.
During the last hours, activity have been seen by the helicopter and the runway.
Johnny sent a message from the helicopter. Someone had stolen the sniper rifle from the chopper.
Evans went up to check on Xavier.
Xavier had a seizure and Evans tried to revive him.
Arthur went upstairs to help out.
Something goes terribly wrong.
Harrison and Naumann go upstairs.
Only Arthur and Naumann come down again...

The power has been failing due to generator trouble.
A surprise landing by a C-130 happened ten minutes ago.
Two of the C-130 crew have entered the station.
One of the C-130 crew is still outside.
As is Johnny.
And one unknown individual.

The weapons stored on station 10 is on the second floor.
(Except two flame throwers in the mechanic shop.)
The door leading upstairs is locked. And under attack by one of the three
persons left on the other side. Apparently they have been suffering some
kind of epileptic seizure or something. They seem not to be the same as
before.

All this is prefaced by a an expedition by Hawken mercenaries and a medical institute
doing something dodgy close by, near a Norwegian station.

Notes: The second floor is reachable via skylights in the roof. They might be reached
by scaling the scaffolding on the outside of Station 10 or via the ice drill tower.

Other buildings are
The AIr traffic control tower where a spare generator is placed.
Garage semi dome - with a tractor/plow and a snow cat.
Mechanical shop semi dome - with own heating and a green house.
Storage semi dome - whatever you need to repair something on Station 10. (Naumann knows where things are located.)
Container food storage - no power source. Shares power from the main building.

C-130 could fit e everyone inside. No problem. Needs refueling.
Helicopter. Might be tampered with. Takes seven in all.

Layout with personal markers:

[Mr. Handy]

"No, Johnny warned me about the sniper," says Robert. "He's in danger out there too. I'd better go give the evac order." He hurries to the radio room.

[Laraqua]

"Which one went mad? Quickly, that way we know which one to protect against," says Janet. "And whatever we plan on doing, we should do it quickly. Maybe there's some weapons or scalpels in the lab."