Play@YSDC

A giggle sounds from somewhere in the darkness.

Brianna stops, face frozen, fists still clenching sand. She breathes in and out a few times in silence.

"Ronald?" she whispers. "Did you hear that?"

Oh Bollocks! What was that?

Ronald reaches into his pack and pulls out one of the canisters he had collected earlier.

Brianna get behind me.... Who's there? What are you playing at?

Ronald listens carefully for more giggling, trying to discern where it came from and how close it is.

ooc - listen check : Pass

ooc - sanity check : Pass

Brianna listens, but can't hear anything more. Instead she crawls behind Ronald and waits in the darkness, her eyes wide and ear perked for any sound.

It feels like a cold finger traces down her spine and she shudders deeply and moans a little. What's there....who's there? And will they be friendly? Or weird like Louie was?

A little girl's voice...

Footsteps crunch the sand around them.

Ronald picks up Brianna with one arm and grips the canister in the his free hand.

Oh Crap-erjacks! Stay back! You aren 't kids. Your something else aren't you! You little devils! What are you playing at?

Ronald swings his canister arm through the darkness and calls out for help.

Louie!

Holding Brianna, Ronald inches backwards and then jumps into a run onto the dirt screaming... He swings his canister where he thinks there are children and runs into the darkness holding Brianna closly to his chest.

I won't let you have her.... You can't have her!

Looooooooooooouuuuuuuuiiiiiiiiii!

ooc- I was a little confused at whether or not the tunnel just ended or continued on with a dirt floor now instead of tracks. I assumed it kept on going or opened up into a dirt floor or something. Ronald runs either way swinging and protecting Brianna to the best of his ability. If the tunnel ends he runs back the way he came. If he can continue on the dirt floor he will.

The smell of roasted meat tingles at his nostrils. His right foot crunches into something crispy, messy, catching at him with a cage of bones though he manages to keep from tripping. The aroma of cooked meat grows quicker. His other foot stumbles across, knocking into something and sending it rolling.

A giggle sounds from somewhere behind him.

Brianna looks down from her perch, clinging to Ronald's side and having swung her arms around his neck, and feels him stumble against something. The smell of roasted meat is too much for her, and it's tingling aroma in her nostrils makes her stomach growl, and sends her into a tizzy of mixed emotions.

"Ooooohh....." she groans, then feels bad that she's whined about her growling stomach again....after all, Ronald was only trying to keep her safe.

Try to think of other things....Ronald will say you can't eat it so don't even think about it....the yummy smell....and how good it would taste....no DON'T think about it.....think about something gross......like.....um......uh......meat......or NO!

Brianna gives up and whispers to Ronald, "D'you think they're really bad Ronald?"

Ronald sets Brianna down and picks up the object he had just kicked, painfully aware what might roll along the floor in a place like this.

They aren't children Brianna.... not anymore! I hope to god that smell isn't what I think it is.

Ronald feels the object in his hand to relieve his suspicions. When the giggling continues, Ronald is now maore angry than afraid, but so filled with hate and fear he can hardly keep himself from running off into the darkness, screaming and tearing at his own eyes. Instead he holds Brianna's hand tightly.

Stay away you devils! You'll not have her! Louie! Help us damn you! This isn't funny any more!

Sanity check : Fail Sanity now 75


Dam you Louie!

The object is a flashlight.

"The smell....isn't what you think it is?? Like what do you think it is??" Brianna hides behind Ronald, having lost her nerve entirely. "We should run! Are they bad people ? How come they keep singing!?"

Brianna shakes with fear. This felt all too familiar.....like kids closing in on a particularly geeky kid in school....circling around him and ganging up.....

What?! Did Ronald just say anymore?? What are they??? Oh no! I don't wanna die!!!!

A flashlight? I must be off my bloody bird!

Ronald doesn't trust the coincidence, but beggar's can't be choosers. He clicks on the flashlight and shines it all around the room or tunnel or hall or whatever the hell this place is.

Oh we're gonna run kiddo! Just stay close.

OOC - Ronald lets go of Brianna's hand so he can hold one of the canisters in his free hand while he illuminates the tunnel with the light. He mutters to himself.

Come into the light you little devils....

OOC - Do I have to continue rolling sanity checks for the darkness?

OOC: No. It ain't dark no more, silly.

Ronald realises that he isn't in the tunnel any more. He must have run back out into the main cavern. The ceiling is somewhere up in the darkness above but Ronald hasn't move the flashlight to illuminate it so it's hard to be sure just how high up it is. The walls are several dozen feet away. Circular pits dot the landscape, each with the circles lined with large steps two feet high and two feet across. There is at least one trapdoor in sight on the sandy floor.

A little girl of eight, dressed in a Victorian outfit, stands paused, mid-run, one foot on the floor, three dozen feet away. She seems as though she were to run passed them. Footsteps echo behind but when he whirls, he sees only three stopped boys around the age of ten, and he hears the footsteps sounding behind him again.

He also realises what he stepped into. The charred and broken body of Jason, his face twisted in agony and torment, his lips still working, his eyes still moving, though he should be dead. Now roll Sanity.

Brianna swivels around to see the boys behind her, and starts to scream uncontrollably. Her screams hit a high pitched terrifying level when she sees Jason's mangled body in front of her.

She runs as fast as she can, trying to dodge the kids if they run at her.

[O.C. Sanity loss 3+1?=4, spot hidden 45, rolled 59]

Sanity Check Spot hidden check Pass, Pass

Oh god ...... Poor Jason! Ah crap-erjacks, you were a bugger weren't you? Where's Jill?

Ronald spots the hidden door. His eyes bulge like saucers as he makes his decision quickly. Ronald follows Brianna and grabs onto her shirt collar.

C'mon!
Using the flashlight as his weapon Ronald charges for the distant gloomy door, shining the light on anything in front of him and hoping he is quicker than the devils sourounding him. When he heaches the door, he turns and stands infront of Brianna. He shines his light, prtecting the door, keeping the creepy little children at bay as best he can. Ronald cries out to Brianna, waving the flashlight furiously.

Brianna! Open the door! Open the door!

The children, there are five of them now, are paused only a half dozen feet away - their eyes rolled back to display the whites, their hair and clothing wet. The door is bolted shut from the inside.

Crap-erjacks!

Ronald holds the flashlight on the 5 children and waits a few seconds, listening carefully for any movent or giggling. He prays he got them all.

Shh Listen.... Can you hear them Brianna?

Brianna wipes at the tears streaming down her cheeks, and reaches up to unbolt the door. "I don't think this is it Ronald.....we shoulda taken the plank door." She yanks at the bolt, hoping it will unlock.

"Something tells me this leads us nowhere." She turns around to look at the kids again, "Do they stop when you shine the flashlight on them? Cause if they do that will probably buy us some time."
I don't know why I think this is all normal.....what the heck is wrong with those kids and how come they've got no colour on their eyeballs?? Why is this all seeming totally expected at this point???

The unbolted door is easily opened, revealing a rather ordinary-looking corridor beyond. There is movement beyond these five children - somewhere in the gloom.

Brianna looks into the grim looking corridor, and back to Ronald. "D'you think they'd follow us in here? Cuz if they can get it open....then we might die for sure....."

She looks warily at the kids behind her and scuttles through the door.