Arrival

[Laraqua]

There's a click as the call is disconnected.

[Mr. Handy]

Erich takes out a handkerchief, wipes his fingerprints off of the phone, and leaves the receiver dangling where he found it. "We'd better move on quickly," he says, having clearly seen through the person on the other end of the line. "and not just because there's a gaping hole overhead through which we could be attacked just like whoever was in this room before us. That was the switchboard on the other end. The operator said that several sections have gone down to variant control, whatever that means, and not to go down into the drains because that's where they throw their off-cuts. I was told that 'support' was coming and to wait here, but for all I know whoever comes may just have orders to kill everyone they find."

[aine]

Herman looks up at the grill. "So the switchboard knows a bit about what's happened here then; maybe the building's been invaded by these variants and they're hiding out in the drains. Drains and also the air ducts by the looks of things. Do you think it was a variant that attacked that poor sod outside? Pulled him up while he was on the phone and chewed his throat out?" Herman moves nervously away from the vent. "I agree, we can't trust the support and we need to watch out for the variant lot. Let's get out of here at least." He checks that his rifle is now loaded.

[Mr. Handy]

Erich nods and follows him out. "Let's lock the door after we leave," he says, "in case any of those variants decides to come through that hole. Then we finish with the upstairs rooms and find a way downstairs before we have company."

[royya]

Jean follows the others silently.

[aine]

Herman looks to see if there are any more doors to open before they head downwards.

[Laraqua]

The first room has a radio softly playing static in the background. It seems a pretty ordinary room. On the plus side there's no blood or gore, which is a positive thing. The final room is also an office, but one that seems to have a large grandfather clock that had been partly pushed up against the door. After all whenever you try to push open the door a little bit there's a weight behind it, a tall poorly balanced and ticking weight. It could be easily pushed along without tipping it over if it were open slowly.

[Mr. Handy]

"If we push it slowly, we can open the door without tipping over the clock," says Erich. "It seems someone tried to take shelter in here and barricaded the door. I think we should look inside."

[royya]

Let me help.
Jean offers

[Laraqua]

The clock is slowly pushed away, sliding on the floorboards, and they creak the door open to reveal a man slumped over the desk, a shard of glass in one hand and dried blood coagulated on the paperwork.

[Mr. Handy]

Erich ventures into the room carefully, keeping an eye out for any open ventilation ducts.

[Laraqua]

The ventilation duct is closed in this room. The screws tightly in place. The typewriter in front of the man, who appears to have been some sort of clerk judging by the paperwork, simply has the words: "The only way out" written on the piece of paper.

[Mr. Handy]

"Poor man," says Erich. "He must have been desperate if he thought the only way out was to kill himself. Must have been some time ago, as the blood is dried." He scans the paperwork to see if there is anything interesting on it that hasn't been obliterated by the blood.

[Laraqua]

(Sorry: It got affected in the edit I made while first typing it. It's meant to read 'clotted' blood, so thick, slightly moist, but mostly dry, so still some time ago but not a long time ago.)

[aine]

Herman grimaces. "Unfortunately, that means that his attackers could have been roaming the corridors too. If he had to barricade himself in. Not much of a barricade though. I wonder why he didn't try to escape the way we came in."

ooc,I'm going to be away until the 3rd July and may not be able to post much so please npc me when necessary.

[Mr. Handy]

"Well, he can't tell us now," says Erich, "but you're right, it doesn't make sense. None of this does." He tries the desk drawers and searches through them.

[Laraqua]

They seem to be full of stationary and carbon copies of various minor expenditures for the major staff, nothing spectacular that sheds light on their situation.

[Mr. Handy]

"It looks like there's nothing else of interest here," says Erich. "Unless there's something else up here, we should get those stairs open."

[royya]

Jean takes a closer look at the desk/ maybe there is a drawe or a waste bin under it.

[Laraqua]

The wastepaper bin contains a memo:

Environmental Contamination can be reduced through frequent hand washing after entering or leaving the Hazard Areas. Please ensure that everyone is suitably reminded of this process. The dissolution of solid state tissue into a seemingly fungal matter can lead to airborne spores which must be washed off before leaving any of the contamination zones. Ensure this is well know. We don't want a repeat of last Thursday.