IC-Down the Hatch(various)

[Silver Priest]

"I--Infected?" Thomas says. "Maybe that thing that's making the dead come back to life started here and got out?" The fact that they were now being forced to walk through this place did not inspire confidence. Still, at least Kerry had made it. Right?

He continues to follow Horst.

[aine]

Alex went back into the alcove and put his rifle to her head. She was already looking several days old; maybe the cryochamber accelerated the decomposition. Or something. He grimaced with distaste and pulled the trigger.

Rifle,[dice]0[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

10:20 AM
In the quarters-
The dead woman remained motionless as Alex blew out her brains. It didn't look like she'd ever be getting back up again. The corpse's decay was already becoming apparent.

"Can we get out of here now?" asked Lynne, suppressing a shiver.

In the lower hallway-
A single rifle shot rang out from back upstairs.

"Either that, or there's some other infection down here," said Ashley. "Either way, I don't like it."

Horst ignored the lab doors and made a beeline for the end of the hall. The closed door on the right and the open one at the end of the hall were both made of metal. Everyone passed through the door at the end.

In the decontamination chamber-
Beyond the door was the decontamination chamber, which was fairly high-tech for the early 1960's. There was another door at the other end, and both doors resembled airlock doors, except for the fact that they were both open at the same time. They looked like they could be sealed, however. The chamber was capable of holding up to all nine of them if they were tightly crammed in. It had a variety of sprays and checks for biological, chemical, and even radiological contamination. A Geiger counter was present to allow people to check each other for radiation. There were also about a dozen outfits resembling space suits from the early U.S. space program, each with a nametag. They were enclosed in rubbery plastic and had oxygen masks, air hoses, air tanks, and other apparatus. Horst led the way inside with Kerry, who started to look alarmed, and everyone else squeezed inside. There were also a long rod-shaped device that resembled a cattle prod and an improvised flamethrower lying on the floor.

OOC,Everyone entering the decontamination chamber may roll Spot Hidden.

[aine]

"Yes, let's move out, same order as before." Alex takes point and follows the direction of the other group.

[Silver Priest]

Spot Hidden 44%,[dice]0[/dice]

"Fuhrer, it looks like Kerry's alarmed at being in this room. Maybe there's something dangerous ahead? Do we want to put on the suits? She made it through here without one, so maybe we don't need them-- but it's the most emotion she's sown so far. Besides, uh, screaming."

"We should probably take the weapons too, jus tin case we run into anymore of those things. With your permission of course, sir."

[Mr. Handy]

10:21 AM
In the upper hallway-
Alex led his group past the quarters and into the hall beyond. Ahead was a short flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs, on the left side, was a door labeled "Project Manager's Office."

In the decontamination chamber-
"Look, there's burns on a few of the suits!" said Ashley. She pointed out one with a nametag that read "Reagan," which had a hole burned in one of its gloves as if by a strong acid. Suits labeled "Craig" and "Niedler" had similar burns in their boots. "They're burned clear through."

"I see 'em," said Earl. "Guess they weren't much protection for the poor schmucks who wore 'em."

"They look awfully bulky too," said Horst, coming to a decision. "Leave the suits. Buzz, grab the weapons and stow them in your crate. Then follow me."

"You got it, Fuhrer," said Buzz, hurrying to obey. Horst led the way through the open door at the far end of the chamber, dragging his hostage.

OOC,[b]Earl[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (25% base skill) in the decontamination chamber: [dice]0[/dice] [b]Rosie[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (25% base skill) in the decontamination chamber: [dice]1[/dice] [b]Ashley[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (30% skill) in the decontamination chamber: [dice]2[/dice] [b]Horst[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (25% base skill) in the decontamination chamber: [dice]3[/dice] [b]Flip[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (37% skill) in the decontamination chamber: [dice]4[/dice] [b]Buzz[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (51% skill) in the decontamination chamber: [dice]5[/dice] [b]Mutt[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (54% skill) in the decontamination chamber: [dice]6[/dice]

In the shaft room-
This room was small. Its only feature besides the door back to the decontamination chamber was an industrial elevator in the center at the top of a shaft leading straight down. A continuous steel rail stretched from the ceiling down the shaft, and the elevator was designed to ride along it, operated by a series of cables and electrical lines. Cables and gears were attached to the ceiling above the elevator. The elevator was a platform that looked identical to the one that had brought them down into the facility from the prison level, except it was operated by switches rather than buttons. A switch on a gear box could be used to send the elevator up or down, and similar switches were both outside the elevator and on it. The elevator could hold up to six people, though it would be a tight squeeze. It appeared to be in full working order.

Kerry looked at the elevator in abject horror and began to scream again. Horst rolled his eyes. "Don't you start that again!" he barked. "I don't care how scared you are, that's the only way home. Whatever's down there, it ain't worse than me."

"The demons..." said Flip.

"I don't want to hear any more about any f***ing demons!"

[Silver Priest]

Thomas wasn't sure what was down there could be worse than Horst, but he keeps his mouth shut. He reminds himself they had numbers on their side.

[aine]

Alex ducks into the manager's office to check it is clear and to see if there might be anything as a clue to this facility.

spot hidden,[dice]0[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

10:22 AM
In the project manager's office-
Alex opened the door and entered the project manager's office while the others waited outside. This was actually two rooms, a small office where meetings could take place and bedroom at the back much like one of the cubicles in the quarters area, complete with hibernation chamber. The first thing he noticed in the office was a man's skeleton lying on the floor. There was a small hole in the middle of his forehead and a larger one at the back of his skull. He was familiar enough with the effects of guns to recognize bullet wounds. The entry wound was the one in the forehead, and the exit wound was the one at the back. The wound appeared to be self-inflicted, but there was no sign of the gun he had apparently used. The floor of the room also had what looked like rat droppings.

A quick search revealed a message carved into the desk that read: "General Grey has locked us down to face our maker. God protect us." The desk also had an old reel-to-reel tape recorder, but the battery was long since dead. It looked like it took a standard 9-Volt. In the filing cabinet, he found a reel of tape. There was a picture on the desk of a man in his fifties, rather heavy set with spectacles, with his wife and two children. There were a number of books on the table as well, mostly of a scientific nature, involving organic life found underground.

Near the bed were some records, but most of them just chronicled the experiments being performed. Much of the work involved biological tests on various substances found below and rock samples. The reports were largely hand written but were becoming increasingly unintelligible with each date.

In the shaft room-
Kerry struggled and continued to shriek as Horst tried to drag her onto the elevator. "It's not gonna hold us all anyway," he said. "We'll have to take two trips. Buzz, you stay up here with me and we'll knock some sense into her. The rest of you, ride that thing down and send it back up after you get off."

Earl, Ashley, and Thomas got on the elevator with their crate, followed by Mutt with his crate and Flip with Rosie. Flip pulled the switch, and the elevator started to descend into the depths below.The elevator's electric lights barely penetrated the gloom of the shaft.

"Put down the crate and hold her, Buzz," said Horst from above. Kerry's screams continued, fading as the elevator went down into the abyss.

OOC,Everyone, please roll Listen. The base skill is 25%.

[Silver Priest]

Thomas shuffles and feels guilty. He's a coward. He should be trying to help Kerry, but what could he do? The world was going to hell and Horst and his men had all the guns.

He looks over at Ashley and gives her a slight smile, trying to convince both her and himself that things would all be okay.

Listen 25%,[dice]0[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,[b]Earl[/b], [b]Rosie[/b], [b]Ashley[/b], [b]Thomas[/b], [b]Horst[/b], and [b]Flip[/b] are moving to the thread linked below:

Into the Abyss

[aine]

Alex looks at the records and the clothing in the photograph to get an idea of how long ago the skeleton was last alive. He pockets the cassette player in the hope of finding a 9V battery soon. He wondered what happened to the rats. He also grabs a handful of the records and takes them outside,
"Anyone hot on biology? These records detail what experiments they were doing down here; might be worth knowing what we are up against. as it seems something gor out of hand.
"A General Grey locked down the facility, trapping the scientists down here with whatever it was. The guy in the office shot himself Rather than face it". He keeps these last thoughts to himself rather than worry the civilians.

[Mr. Handy]

10:23 AM
In the project manager's office-
"That would be me," said Duke, stepping into the office. He whistled when he saw the skeleton. "Yeah, this guy's been dead a long, long time. More than fifty years, maybe sixty or more. He killed himself, all right." He glanced at the books. "Underground life, huh? Well, mushrooms can sometimes be found underground. They don't need sunlight. Worms and such can live underground too, and there are plenty of larger burrowing animals, like moles. I don't think it was a mole that had him scared enough to do himself in, though. What they're talking about in these reports doesn't make any sense. They're worried about some sort of infection from underground, but there's nothing I know of that it could be. Still, who knows what lives in the depths of the Earth where nobody has seen?"

The clothing styles in the photograph were from around 1960. The reports were also dated in the earlier 1960s.

OOC,[b]Duke[/b]'s Biology roll (55% skill) in the project manager's office: [dice]0[/dice] Everyone, please roll Listen. The base skill is 25%.

[aine]

"Wouldnt an infection have caused people to be put into an infirmary before they died. I wonder where all the other bodies are; there were a lot of people supposedly trapped down here." Says Alex.

Listen,[dice]0[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

10:24 AM
In the upper hallway-
Duke came back out of the office. "Yeah, there were nine people or so down here," he said. "We found Judith Reagan in one of those capsules. Maybe the others found another way out of here."

"I heard screaming and shooting in the distance below us," said Robert. "Someone's also running this way. Barefoot, from the sound of it."

"Let's go check it out," said Bud.

"Your funeral," said Rita. "When there's screaming and shooting, sensible people run the other direction."

OOC,[b]Rita[/b]'s Listen roll (25% base skill) in the upper hallway: [dice]0[/dice] [b]Charlie[/b]'s Listen roll (67% skill) in the upper hallway: [dice]1[/dice] [b]Lynne[/b]'s Listen roll (61% skill) in the upper hallway: [dice]2[/dice] [b]Alice[/b]'s Listen roll (25% base skill) in the upper hallway: [dice]3[/dice] [b]Bud[/b]'s Listen roll (45% skill) in the upper hallway: [dice]4[/dice] [b]Duke[/b]'s Listen roll (35% skill) in the upper hallway: [dice]5[/dice] [b]Beth[/b]'s Listen roll (75% skill) in the upper hallway: [dice]6[/dice] [b]Robert[/b]'s Listen roll (50% skill) in the upper hallway: [dice]7[/dice]

[aine]

ooc,'Wall of fire'? Did I miss something?!

"Barefoot means either one of the women prisoners, a zombie... or something else. Get back down the hallway so we have distance to the target; and then we wait." Alex directs everyone back the way they came whilst keeping their first formation (So Bud now leading) He then readies his rifle to await what's coming.

[Mr. Handy]

10:25 AM
In the quarters-
Everyone retreated down the corridor. A woman's screams in the distance could be heard getting closer, and they sounded like Kerry's. This was confirmed when she reached the top of the stairs leading down at a run, a terrified expression on her face. "There are two more people coming," said Robert. "They're wearing shoes."

OOC,The "wall of fire" was something I thought your group found out about when the skinheads and their captives returned from trying to leave, but looking back, I can see they didn't actually specify how [b]Hammond[/b] tried to kill them. In that case, you don't actually know about it. I'll edit.

In the lower hallway-
Earl and Rosie continued to flee, following Kerry toward the stairs.

[aine]

"Let her pass; someone try to calm her down. Be ready; the next two might be skinheads or zombies." Alex lets her pass and then aims at the next ones to appear.

[Mr. Handy]

10:26 AM
In the lower hallway-
Earl and Rosie fled up the stairs.

In the quarters-
Kerry ran screaming down the hall and past the people there without paying them any heed other than to get around them. Earl and Rosie ran up the stairs at the end of the hall and came into view.

"It's all right, you're safe now," said Beth, but Kerry just ignored her and kept running.

OOC,[b]Beth[/b]'s Psychoanalysis roll (1% base skill) to bring [b]Kerry[/b] to her senses: [dice]0[/dice] Everyone may roll Spot Hidden. The base skill is 25%.

[aine]

"Everyone start to fall back; slowly, the way we came." Alex is concerned why these people are running; is it just from Horst and his crew? Where was that young lad, Thomas?

Spot hidden,[dice]0[/dice]