The Cellar

[Laraqua]

He looks up at the ceiling of the room. "May Fear of Gas Gather Here...."

Then he looks over to her, "My only fear is this place now. No normal fear can compare."

[Mr. Handy]

"Let's listen at the other doors," suggests Kate. "That might give us some idea of what's on the other side of some of them without opening them."

[Laraqua]

Listening to the doors provides some awareness of what occurs behind it. The BANG of guns, the whistle of falling incendiaries, the slam of building collapses, the screech of brakes and crash of metal, the gasp-cry-slam of falling from a great height, and other sounds less readily identifiable.

[Mr. Handy]

"Maybe the one with the buildings collapsing is my fear," says Kate.

[Laraqua]

He nods toward the end of the hall, looking very pale. "The final door looks more like a door now."

[Mr. Handy]

"Oh, good," says Kate, going over to have a look and see if it was openable yet. "If we open enough of these other doors, we should be able to get through the one at the end. We should probably try ones that don't match our fears then, if any old doors will do. No sense frightening ourselves too much."

[Laraqua]

It does seem nearly solid but the handle doesn't yet turn.

"How can you be so brave and cheery?" he asks. "We are in the bowels of this nightmare place and yet you ... you've hardly broken a sweat. I've heard of keeping your chin up but I am astounded at your confidence." He sets his jaw and looks around. "And glad for it."

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you," says Kate with a smile. "I suppose that I've always been like this. It isn't easy, but I've had some practice. I've been through over a year of the war already, and I never gave up hope, even in the darkest days. Looks like I'll have to try one of the other doors before we can get through here. I'll avoid the one with the collapsing buildings. That one might be too much even for unflappable me. How about the one with the guns? That doesn't seem so bad. At least that sort of thing would be a quick death."

[Laraqua]

"A quick death and a less gruesome one," he says with a shudder. "Why do you think these fears are here? Trapped within these rooms or, gathered here? There has to be some kind of purpose to all this? Or is it just a personal hellscape formed out of random chance?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Maybe each of these fears is the worst fear of one or more of the people trapped here," says Kate. "I don't think anything about this place is random. There must be a purpose, and it has something to do with the war effort, but I'm not sure exactly how, let alone how it was done. Shall we try the door with the guns?"

[Laraqua]

The room smells of gunpowder and blood with walls riddled with bullet holes. But the main horrifying sight is that of the family, husband in uniform, woman and children in regular clothes, who are chained to posts, blood leaking from bullet holes. (OOC: Stability Test).

"May Fear of Shots On Our Soil Gather Here...." is carved into the ceiling.

Kate hears a click coming from the door at the end of the hall.

"The door looks solid..." says the stranger. "This may be it. Maybe we'll find out what this is all for...."

[Mr. Handy]

"Yeah," says Kate with a shudder as she backs out into the hall. "I've seen enough of these rooms. Let's try the door at the end of the hall."

Stability roll (no points spent):
1d6
I can't see the roll result.

[Laraqua]

The Stranger walks with her toward the door, then stops. "Are we sure we want to do this? I've survived a very long time by never coming down here. We could retreat to the nearest lit room or building. I ... I don't think I want to know what's in there."

(I made another roll. You passed.)

[Mr. Handy]

"We've jumped through so many hoops to get to this point," says Kate, "and opening that door sure seems like a better idea than just going around trying to survive. Remember what Winston Churchill said: 'When you're going through hell, keep going.' Let's open it."

Thank you.

[Laraqua]

"Unless the door leads to a bomb or some other fate...." he murmured, but he follows her toward the door. Once there, he pauses, looking down at his hands. "My palms are sweaty. Somehow I'm more nervous here than anywhere else."

[Mr. Handy]

"I'll open it," says Kate, gripping the handle and pulling on it.

[Laraqua]

The door opens to reveal a stone hewn room with a single gas lamp sitting upon a desk at which a dessicated corpse sits. A typewriter with a single page sits in the middle of the desk. Carved in the walls are slogans: Loose Lips Sink Ships, Keep Morale High, Ladies Do Your Duty By Looking Your Best, Never Fear - with symbols that surround and link them like the lines of a spider web. Human bones stick out of the soil here and there, as well as tatters of cloth, some of which you recognise as belonging to some of those who have thus far disappeared.

"Oh," says the stranger, looking at the man behind the desk.

Both wear the same evening suit, the same tie, and both seem about the right height, though it is hard to be sure of a similarity as the corpse's face is much too dessicated.

"Oh."

[Mr. Handy]

"How...very odd," says Kate. "He's been down here some time." She looks at the page in the typewriter to see what it says.

[Laraqua]

The Letter says:

For those who may find their way down here, in the train station that was selected, at any of the times that was chosen, we are sorry, but we had to do it. Break morale, break one's armies. Break one's populace, break the war effort. We had to keep people from shattering beneath the fear and the only way to do so was to vent it somewhere, give it life in some small place, cut off from the world. A place where fear can saturate. A place where fear can encircle those poor bastards that end up here. I know you can never forgive us.

But perhaps, perhaps the war is over. Perhaps it is time for this to stop. Should it be, then take the gun from the desk drawer, and shoot me dead. I am the lynchpin, and with my death, all will unravel.

If the war is not yet over, we ask that instead if you wish to exit, you shoot yourself dead. You will be saved from this place, and it can continue to vent the fear and horror afflicting an entire country.

[Mr. Handy]

Kate checks the desk drawer.