Play@YSDC

Emily holds her breath as she listens, leaning over and picking up the dagger. "Get in the wardrobe again, okay?" she whispers to Katie. "It's probably nothing, but I want you to be safe."

Katie shakes her head desperately, grabbing at Emily's sleeve and tugging on it. "Nooo, come with me. Please!"

"I want you to be safe," Emily repeats, shushing her.

Katie just gazes up at Emily with a trembling lower lip but will allow herself to be pushed to where she needs to go.

Emily gets to her feet, holding the dagger parallel to her chest. Trying to be quiet as possible, she creeps up to the door and listens for any more of those shambling footsteps.

There's silence.

Katie chews on her fingernails and mumbles, "That's not mommy, is it?"

"Maybe." God, she hopes it really is this girl's mother, even though that's probably too optimistic. Emily opens the door and gazes around the hallway. "I'm going to go look, okay?"

Show,the door was axed apart, remember?

Emily pokes her head out around the shattered wreckage and sees a curvy feminine shape, yet its head tilts back from a sinewy neck and its face is riddled with gaps like fleshy swiss cheese. Its chest has been split open from sternum to pelvis and dozens of sinewy tendrils erupt from its innards, darting out as though tasting the air from between teeth-like ribs. Its limbs are broken, snapped in different directions, giving it a strange and staggering gait.

Show,1d6 SAN loss.

Emily sharply leans away at the sight of the grotesque, twisted... monster is the only word she can think of to describe it. This can't be real - these things are supposed to be stories.

They're not supposed to exist outside of nightmares and conspiracy theories. What does it mean, then, that this is right before her eyes?

Its not far from her. It'll be in the room in moments and she has no weapon nor place to hide. Or does she?

Emily pivots on her heels and darts back into the hotel room, clutching the dagger for dear life. If she could just stop shaking, maybe she could steel her nerves enough to... kill the thing. Is it alive? How could anything that looks like that be alive, in any sense of the word?

Katie comes rushing over to her and grabs her sleeve, tugging on her arm. "C'mon, this way. We can go out the window."

She hurries over to the walls and drags back the window to show it's cracked bullet-ridden glass. Beyond it stands a rusted fire escape, littered with shells and other bullets. The air outside smells smoky and beyond the fire escape which seems to be lit by some slight ambient glow there is nothing but darkness. The fire escape itself seems none too safe either. It could collapse at any moment and they may never see Liam again but the alternative is to attack that thing that is shuffling towards them.

Emily decides to trust the little girl's judgment. Even though she can't be any older than seven, it feels like a better idea than facing... whatever that is.

"All right," she whispers. "You go down first - I'll be right behind you. I promise."

Katie pulls open the curtain and shuffles out onto the landing which is little better than a rusted and patchwork grille encircled by very loose looking railings. The shuffling footsteps are very close now and as Emily leans out through the narrow window onto the stairs, there's the sound of footsteps rushing up behind her and strong hands grab her waist and try to pull her back in. The nails dig into her, hurting her, but she manages to grab hold of the edge of the window sill with a shriek and try to pull herself headlong through the window. The sound of angry snarling fills the air behind her and she's sure that if she's dragged back inside and doesn't manage to haul herself out of the window then she will be brutally injured.

Katie shrieks and backs up against the railing, which groans under her weight.

Show,please roll a Strength check - basically roll d100 versus a Strength of 10. If you don't know how to interpret the result, that's fine, I can.

Show,yeah, I think a single digit works....

Emily pulls loose with a burst of determination and slams into the grille of the emergency fire escape. She glances back instinctively to see something made of twisted flesh with bone white edges reaching through the window for her but then there's a groan of steel and the escape tilts back away from the window. Katie screams from her position by the railing and leaps forward to grab at Emily, but her extra movement just upsets the stairwell all the more as it pulls back from its moorings, rivets popping as she moved. The stairwell pauses for one horrible moment before plunging away into the darkness.

Show,post once for the reaction of the collapse and then I'll open a new chapter.

Emily feels the wind ripping her voice away as she tries to scream. The darkness and the smell of smoke blot out any sign of the world as it passes by. Her hands are stretched out feebly, grasping for a little girl's little arm.

She wonders if she'll feel herself hit the ground.