Play@YSDC

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:48 pm**

Monday, September 1st, 1930 5.30pm
79 Power Street, College Hill, Providence, R.I.

Ivy returned to the dining room as Alex headed off to find the neighbour they had spoken to earlier. There stood the bookshelves which she had examined earlier, the ones with the missing books. Everything else in the room was shrouded with dust sheets.

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2022 7:19 am**

Ivy takes the gun, albeit reluctantly.

“Please don’t tarry Alex,” she instructs.

Before returning to the dining room, she piles some tin cans, crockery or something similarly noisy around the cellar door. If someone comes out while she’s poking around, maybe this will alert her.

Heading into the dusty room, she inspects the books next to the gaps. Are they of a particular subject matter?

Then she begins lifting the dustsheets, looking for a bureau or desk.

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2022 10:50 am**

Ivy was able to find books on all sorts of subjects, all mixed up on the shelves. There were books on local history, Greek mythology and anthropology, as well as books about travel to other countries. It seemed that the collection had been put together with no real focus, almost as if owner had just acquired books as they came across them.

Behind the door, Ivy found a dust sheet-covered chair and a small bureau, with a fold-out desk where she could sit and study the books she had found.

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2022 11:07 am**

Feeling somewhat at home behind the desk, Ivy briskly rattles through the drawers, searching for anything of interest: diaries, letters, catalogues and the like.

Posted: **Thu Sep 22, 2022 11:03 am**

Following that, she opens each book in turn and looks for common themes.

Posted: **Thu Sep 22, 2022 11:40 pm**

Ivy found little of note in the drawers, just blank writing paper and some pens with a sludgey bottle of ink. She was just leafing through the books when she suddenly realised she was no longer alone! She had no time to react as she was dragged backwards from the chair, landing on the floor with a thump!

Posted: **Fri Sep 23, 2022 7:33 am**

Oh dear…

Limbs flailing helplessly, Ivy yells in alarm.

Posted: **Fri Sep 23, 2022 12:39 pm**

Ivy fell backwards, landing on the floor with a heavy thump that drove the air from her lungs, leaving her gasping for breath!

Two pallid, ape-like creatures stared down at her, large-eyed with sloping foreheads like some ancient human ancestors. With long muscular arms they hauled her off the floor and set off at a run through the house towards the cellar…

Posted: **Fri Sep 23, 2022 3:21 pm**

Perhaps her previous trauma has left her somewhat inured to horror, or maybe having these creatures pounce on her triggers some kind of logical self-preservation, but Ivy desperately tries to keep calm.

Surmising that Alex would be out of earshot, and anyway, screaming would only antagonise the monsters, she instead lets her legs drop and tries to dig her heels into the carpet.

This won’t stop the creatures from taking her away, but with luck it’ll leave a trail in the dust for her companion to follow.

Posted: **Sat Sep 24, 2022 9:14 am**

Ivy felt herself being dragged towards the rear of the house and into the kitchen, before descending rapidly into the cellar, her legs jarring painfully as her abductors dragged her down the steps. She recognised the tired yellow light from the cellar, then briefly a wall, but then was plunged into darkness as they dragged her through…

Posted: **Sat Sep 24, 2022 9:38 am**

Fighting the urge to struggle, Ivy forces herself to go limp (if only to mitigate against the jarring). Hoping that being compliant might encourage her captors to relax slightly, she risks a conversation.

“I don’t suppose any of you can talk?” she asks, voice wavering.

Posted: **Sat Sep 24, 2022 11:08 pm**

Except for feral grunts, there was no reply as the creatures continued to drag Ivy through the tunnels.

Posted: **Sun Sep 25, 2022 9:10 am**

Her attempts at co-operation frustrated, Ivy sighs.

She takes a deep breath and…

“LET GO OF ME YOU NEANDERTHALS!”

She struggles, kicks, bites and scratches as best she can.

Posted: **Sun Sep 25, 2022 11:02 am**

Posted: **Sun Sep 25, 2022 3:19 pm**

Alas, Ivy’s fighting skills are considerably less sharp than her tongue.

Posted: **Sun Sep 25, 2022 6:08 pm**

Ivy’s attempts to free herself were rewarded with a thump to the back of the head and more guttural grunts as she was dragged further underground.

Posted: **Sun Sep 25, 2022 8:44 pm**

Having failed to fight her way out, Ivy hopes that the action might have at least freed her arms enough to reach the pistol Alex gave her (assuming it’s still on her person).

Posted: **Sun Sep 25, 2022 9:11 pm**

Posted: **Sun Sep 25, 2022 9:29 pm**

Perhaps… just maybe,..

Posted: **Sun Sep 25, 2022 11:27 pm**

Ivy felt a weight in her pocket as she was manhandled through the darkness.

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2022 6:20 am**

Ivy manages to flex her arm towards her pocket and, by painfully twisting her wrist, eases out the firearm.

She attempts to press the muzzle against one of her captors and pulls the trigger.

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2022 8:04 am**

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2022 9:55 am**

Ivy handles the pistol clumsily. All she can do is hope that the shot will alert Alex, ricochet usefully or startle her captors enough to weaken their grip.

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2022 10:30 am**

The creatures carrying Ivy screeched with shock and fear as the retort from her shot echoed in the tunnel. They dropped her immediately and scampered away as fast as they could!

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2022 11:13 am**

Posted: **Wed Sep 28, 2022 2:23 pm**

Picking herself up, Ivy found herself in a rough stone passage, eerily lit by some yellow-green lichen on the walls.

Posted: **Wed Sep 28, 2022 8:02 pm**

"Well Ripley, that's that then..." mutters Ivy. "Now where am I?"

She studies her surroundings, trying to get her bearings and looking for any tracks that might lead her back to the kitchen.

Posted: **Wed Sep 28, 2022 8:20 pm**

Posted: **Wed Sep 28, 2022 8:36 pm**

Ivy soon realises that she is hopelessly lost. Perhaps it’s best to shout for help (saving the remaining bullets for when the ape creatures come back).

“HELLO? ANYBODY?”

Posted: **Thu Sep 29, 2022 8:02 am**

Posted: **Thu Sep 29, 2022 8:07 am**

What do Ivy’s keen(ish) ears pick up?

Posted: **Thu Sep 29, 2022 8:17 am**

Ivy thought she could hear shouting from further down the tunnel but couldn’t make out any words.

Posted: **Thu Sep 29, 2022 8:47 am**

Posted: **Thu Sep 29, 2022 12:04 pm**

Posted: **Thu Sep 29, 2022 12:22 pm**

Ivy heads towards the sound of the voices. Perhaps Alex has brought reinforcements, or the fellow with the rifle has taken Winscott hostage down here, but either way, human voices are preferable to simian ones!

Posted: **Fri Sep 30, 2022 5:35 pm**

The passageway unmistakably sloped downwards as Ivy moved onwards. It was natural in places; in others it bore tool marks of the people - if indeed they were people - who had worked to extend the tunnnel deeper into the earth. Sometimes the floor was dry; in other areas it was wet as water seeped through the rock and ran in rivulets down the rock and across the floor, where it splashed under her feet.

Posted: **Fri Sep 30, 2022 6:06 pm**

Keeping Alex’s pistol handy, Ivy continues downwards: better to head deeper into the tunnels and make human contact than get lost searching for a way out and run into the ape creatures again.

Every so often, when the earth is the right consistency, she draws an arrow, pointing in the direction she’s heading, alongside the sigil ‘IR’, in case she, or indeed Alex, reach the spot.

Additionally, she will call out a sharp, loud ‘hello!’ every now and then, figuring the ape men might be startled by the noise, but human beings not.

Posted: **Sat Oct 01, 2022 6:33 pm**

The corridor sloped downwards and Ivy walked for some minutes, although she couldn’t be sure how many.

After walking for a few minutes more, she noticed that the corridor was no longer as dark as previously. From somewhere ahead, an unearthly glow cast ungodly shadows upon the walls…

Posted: **Sat Oct 01, 2022 7:58 pm**

Ivy stops shouting, just in case whatever’s casting the light ahead is… well, unwholesome…

Pistol held tightly, she creeps forward, hoping to peer quietly ahead before she steps into the light.

Posted: **Sun Oct 02, 2022 8:39 am**

As Ivy emerged from the tunnel, she found that it was opening out into a large cavern. She had been aware of the tunnel moving downwards but realised how far she had descended as she gazed upon the columns that stretched from the floor to the ceiling over 100 feet above her head.

Eerie light bathed the room, seemingly emanating from lichen that grew freely about the place. On the walls, interspersed with patches of lichen, intricate carvings were etched, although some the more precise details were lost to the mists of time.

Posted: **Sun Oct 02, 2022 9:52 am**

History isn’t Ivy’s strong point; not by a country mile.

Nonetheless, she inspects the carvings, just in case she can discern some kind of theme.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 7:24 am**

Serpent motifs predominated in the carvings, some of which were enormous with white crescents engraved on the forehead. The designs were repeated, possibly having symbolic meaning, accompanied by abstract and geometric designs, zigzags, and spirals. Below some of the images appeared to be some form of script, consisting of curves, curls, and more spirals.

The cavern extended for almost 30 yards. The cavern was damp and there were stalactites and stalagmites, slick with water that was fed from above. Besides the glowing lichen that gave off the sickly light by which Ivy could see, there were other forms of fungi on the walls, floors and on the roof overhead. In places, the floor was covered in some sort of soft loam, where unusual looking flora had taken root.

A corridor lead off to the right but it appeared to end abruptly where the roof had caved in. Towards the far end, a tunnel lead further downwards.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 9:26 am**

The strange carvings eliciting nothing of use, Ivy pauses. Had she imagined hearing human voices? Is she chasing ghosts, descending into the bowels of the earth for an illusion?

Assuming Alex is coming to her rescue, is he even now fighting the ape creatures, bereft of his firearm?

Coming to a decision, she turns back and begins to retrace her steps.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 10:41 am**

Retracing her steps, Ivy soon found a problem. The creatures who had dragged her down here had obviously known where they were going but she did not. Although the tunnel appeared to stretch before her, the light from the ungodly lichen did not, and it very quickly faded to pitch black.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 11:46 am**

“Botheration!” yells Ivy, before turning sharply on her heel and, muttering with irritation, heading back into the carved chamber.

Assuming she reaches it unscathed, she decides to inspect the caved-in exit first, in case this reveals anything of interest (for example, a broken stalactite or wooden spar that she could possibly fashion a makeshift torch with the glowing lichen).

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 9:55 pm**

Ivy couldn’t see anything of use in the caved-in area and the lichen proved difficult to remove. It came off as dust, which proved almost useless in terms of providing a light source she could carry.

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 8:30 am**

Her mood darkening by the second, Ivy huffs loudly, stomps into the tunnel and continues downwards.

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:28 pm**

Stomping her feet, Ivy continued downwards. The cavern narrowed to a tunnel but then expanded again slightly into a wider area with more images on the walls. The serpent motif and swirls were there, but there were also murals showing carvings of landscapes, studded with towers and other structures. Robed serpentine figures were depicted; some images showed them worshipping an enormous serpent with a crescent symbol on its forehead. Others depicted the serpent people and their cities being attacked by gigantic reptiles…

Posted: **Wed Oct 05, 2022 10:26 am**

Inspiration strikes!

Posted: **Wed Oct 05, 2022 7:21 pm**

As Ivy studied the carvings, it became clear what they were. The larger creatures were dinosaurs and the small ones appeared to be some kind of lizard man. But that meant that whoever carved this - presumably the lizard men - had been around at the same time at the dinosaurs and she knew that they had died out millions of years before the first humans walked the earth. The lizard men had been here first! Ivy’s head swam…

Posted: **Wed Oct 05, 2022 7:48 pm**

Ivy gasps as the terrible implications sink in. A pre-human civilisation from the time of the dinosaurs!

She staggers, putting her arm out to steady herself. In doing so, her palm presses against the carvings, perhaps the first time an intelligent creature of any kind has touched them for millennia.

Oddly, the solidity of the rock seems to, well, ground her (if you’ll pardon the pun). She takes a deep breath and, fascinated by the possibilities, studies the carvings some more.

What was the story of these lizard people? How did they live? Did they go extinct the same time as the dinosaurs, were the lumbering beasts responsible for their extinction (as hinted at in the previous carvings), or did the ice-age finish off mankind’s presumably cold-blooded predecessors?

Posted: **Wed Oct 05, 2022 11:43 pm**

Long moments passed as Ivy studied the images carved into the stone. She could only wonder at what had happened to the lizard people - there was no clue as to their fate.

From somewhere nearby there was a scuffling noise, as if something moved…

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 8:07 am**

Steeling her nerves, Ivy grips her pistol and walks slowly towards the noise.

“Who’s there?” she demands.

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 8:15 am**

Silence greeted Ivy’s cry.

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 8:18 am**

Huffing and grumbling, Ivy presses onwards, alert for danger.

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 1:30 pm**

There was no sign of whatever had made the noise although Ivy noted some smaller tunnels that creatures might access but would be impassable to her. She moved forwards to towards the end of a cavern where the carved images ceased and the it narrowed down to a tunnel.

A dark, unlit tunnel…

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 1:38 pm**

Feeling something like a broken record, Ivy harrumphs in exasperation. Darkness behind her, darkness in front; why didn’t she go with Alex to fetch a torch? Why did she let herself get surprised by ape-men, of all things?

“I AM A FOOLISH WOMAN!” she yells, hoping that Winscott or at least someone of the same species will hear her.

“I AM LOST! IS ANYONE THERE?”

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 1:41 pm**

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 1:53 pm**

Luck is on Ivy’s side.

Posted: **Thu Oct 06, 2022 2:41 pm**

Posted: **Sat Oct 08, 2022 7:22 am**

There was no immediate response to Ivy’s shout.

Posted: **Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:30 am**

Ivy waits as the last echoes of her unanswered yells die down. She sniffs haughtily, briefly considering letting loose another salvo, but deciding to save her bullets.

Faced with either staying put, pressing on or retreating through the darkness, she decides on the latter - heading vaguely upwards, even in the pitch blackness, being preferable to delving deeper into the dark.

Steeling her nerves, she once again retraces her steps. Taking a deep breath and with her free hand keeping contact with the wall, she edges onwards...

Posted: **Sun Oct 09, 2022 12:14 am**

Posted: **Sun Oct 09, 2022 9:05 am**

Posted: **Sun Oct 09, 2022 2:32 pm**

Posted: **Sun Oct 09, 2022 3:24 pm**

Ivy slowly feels her way along the passage.

Posted: **Sun Oct 09, 2022 11:23 pm**

Moving carefully, Ivy was able to guide he feet around the various stalagmites that may have tripped had she not been so cautious. She must have moved that way for five minutes or even more - without light it really was impossible to tell - when she felt the space around her get bigger. The echo from the tunnel walls was somehow different.

She continued for a while longer then her left hand that she had been using to trace the wall had nothing to touch. It seemed that there was an opening to her left…

Posted: **Mon Oct 10, 2022 7:43 am**

Ivy stands stock still and listens for any clues about what might lie ahead.

Posted: **Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:48 am**

There was a skittering noise, but in the dark Ivy couldn’t be 100% sure from which direction it came.

Posted: **Mon Oct 10, 2022 9:30 am**

Posted: **Mon Oct 10, 2022 10:00 am**

Posted: **Mon Oct 10, 2022 11:32 am**

Ivy tries to head generally uphill. If she can, she’ll keep her hand on a wall. If not, she’ll crawl as carefully as she can (the time for dignity long being over).

Posted: **Mon Oct 10, 2022 12:28 pm**

Posted: **Mon Oct 10, 2022 12:47 pm**

Normally Ivy has very little sense of direction, but perhaps, when in dire straits, some kind of sixth sense kicks in…

Posted: **Mon Oct 10, 2022 4:43 pm**

Sensibly, Ivy thought to use her foot to keep in touch with the wall behind her as she reached out, trying to find the wall in front of her. At full stretch her fingertips brushed the wall on the other side of the gap so it was safe to assume that the wall continued upwards if she were to cross the gap.

Of more pressing concern, however, was the faint scampering noise that Ivy could hear coming from somewhere ahead.

Posted: **Mon Oct 10, 2022 6:07 pm**

Ivy continues to carefully edge forward. She keeps a firm grip on Alex’s pistol. At the first sign of trouble, she will pull the trigger.

While she’s unlikely to hit anything, hopefully the retort will scare off whatever’s ahead once again.

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2022 11:01 am**

The scampering faltered to be replaced by more cautious, padding footsteps, accompanied by heavy breathing. Ivy couldn’t see anything in the pitch black dark - what was it that lay in front of her?!

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2022 12:25 pm**

The only way for Ivy is onwards and upwards, despite what lurks in the darkness before her.

This fact does little for her nerves…

“Who’s there?” she barks. “Either light the way out or go away!”

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2022 1:15 pm**

There was no answer to Ivy’s shout, apart from the breathing continuing and the noise of shuffling feet.

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2022 1:38 pm**

“Fine, have it your way!”

More irritated than undeterred, Ivy continues to grope her way forward; pistol cocked.

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2022 2:12 pm**

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2022 3:42 pm**

Is Ivy’s luck starting to wear thin?

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2022 4:08 pm**

Posted: **Tue Oct 11, 2022 7:03 pm**

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2022 8:14 am**

Ivy could smell the creature with whom she shared the Stygian darkness. It stank like a wet dog with undertones of sweat and rotting meat. It was there, she could probably touch it. She felt the air move - was that its breath on her face?!

With a sudden explosive scream the creature sprang past her, pushing her to the ground as it clambered over her and bound off down the tunnel in the direction from which she had come, leaving Ivy sprawled on the floor, clothes damp with perspiration and fear…

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2022 12:15 pm**

Holding her breath until the scrabbling creature has gone, Ivy curls up on the ground and screams; all pretence of holding her nerve gone.

In a way, it’s actually quite cathartic.

After a while, she clambers unsteadily upright and tries to relocate the upward slope. Pistol still gripped, she presses warily onwards.

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2022 12:38 pm**

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2022 1:32 pm**

Rattled and completely discombobulated, Ivy no longer knows what is up and what is down.

Once again she howls; this time with frustration.

Her only hope is to attract the attention of either Alex or the people who’s voices she heard earlier. Holding her arm out in front of her, she pulls the pistol trigger.

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2022 1:57 pm**

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2022 2:01 pm**

Hopefully Ivy is lucky enough not to be hit by the ricochet.

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2022 2:09 pm**

Flame burst from the muzzle of Ivy’s pistol, illuminating the tunnel for the briefest of moments before it plunged into darkness again. The afterimage flared brightly so she could only hear but not see the bullet as it careened away from her.

She could only hope that it attracted help rather than some of the malevolent entities that resided here….

Posted: **Wed Oct 12, 2022 5:37 pm**

Lost in the cold, inky blackness, Ivy waits for some kind of response. If nothing happens within a few minutes, she will risk another shot (maybe she’ll see something in the split-second light of the muzzle flash).

Posted: **Thu Oct 13, 2022 9:20 am**

Ivy could hear running feet and a light appeared in the tunnel ahead of her, growing brighter as the runner drew near. Blinded by the light, she couldn’t make out the identity of the runner, just that they had a poker raised as if to strike!

Posted: **Thu Oct 13, 2022 9:52 am**

Anyone wielding a poker is less likely to be a hideous albino troglodyte and more likely to be human; and therefore an improvement of her situation. Moreover, they’re carrying a torch, which means light!

Evil madman or not, she brandishes her pistol but doesn’t fire.

“Stop! I’m armed!” she yells.

Posted: **Thu Oct 13, 2022 10:50 pm**

Play@YSDC

14c. Bookworm (Ivy)

14c. Bookworm (Ivy)

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