Play@YSDC

Cael re-enters the top floor landing. The light overhead buzzes and flickers, giving the stairwell's shadows a sense of movement that distracts his gaze. Instinctively peering down the middle of the stairwell, he sees a smear of blood and can glimpse a human hand, though not the owner. Moving further down the landing gains no greater perspective. The door to the next landing down in slightly ajar.

Cael sighed, "Should have known this wasn't going to be a cake walk." He said to himself as he headed to the door. He thumbed on his mic and said, "Alright, I'm at the door to the landing. There's fresh blood here and I saw a hand but not the owner. Seems there's hostiles here already. I'm going to leave my mic on so that the moment I get ripped to shreds you all will know and can get the hell out of here." With his weapon ready, he opened the door fully and peered inside.

The corridor was sterile and vacant with a number of wooden doors, painted white, on either side of the corridor, their labels bespeaking the administrative nature of this floor.

"There's a hallway with administrative labels on the doors, where to?" Cael asked.

"Cael, Dahlia's run off!" Sarah says into her radio. "I think she's trying to go with you, so you if you hear the pitter-patter of little feet behind you, that'll be her. I'm chasing after her to try to bring her back."

"There should be one on the right that will give you access to a map, if you break the glass frame holding it, you could take it with you. That place is like a maze, you'll need it," says Blaize, over the radio.

"What? Damn that kid!" Cael yelled. He was furious, 'How the hell can I trust that kid if she never listens? If she gets herself killed it's not my fault. I did everything I could to ensure her safety.' He looked at the walls for the map, once found he says, "Affirmative, map acquired."

He can hear Blaize smiling over the radio. "If it's the room I think he's talking about, you should be after ESK Storage. It's somewhere on that floor..."

Cael looked at the map and began to hunt down the room. "Moving out."

The map is large and cumbersome but it does make tracking down ESK a lot easier. He has to take the third right, then the fourth left, then the second right and he should be there. As he makes his way to toward the third right, he notices that one of the doors are ajar. This is apparently Dr. Malcolm's Office (or so says the brass name tag on the door). The light flickers inside as though the neon light were on the fritz and there's some stains on the floor. It doesn't appear to be blood. It looks more like ink stains.

Cael rolls up the map and stands it by the door and grips the rifle with both hands. Using the muzzle of the weapon he pushes the door open further and calls out, "Anyone alive inside?" He then counts to ten, if no answer is given he quickly peeks inside, if the room appears clear he grabs the map and moves inside.

There is a body slumped over Dr. Malcolm's desk. It is a man wearing a white lab coat, a key card between his stiffened fingers, his face appears to have been crushed in. The office seems to have the typical set up: computer, filing cabinet, book case.

Cael stepped into the room, slung his rifle over his shoulder and pulled his pistol, in a whisper he said into the mic, "I'm in an office that belonged to a Dr. Malcolm. There's a body slumped over the desk that had it's face bashed in, there's a keycard in the corpse's hand that I'll going for." That said Cael moved closer, his pistol trained on the corpse's head. If it moved it was getting shot. Once he got to the desk he quickly grabs the keycard, moves around to the side of the desk where the doctor is and uses his foot to push the body out of the way. Once all is clear he checks the desk for anything useful, including a bottle of brandy.

The corpse remains deathly still, even as he takes the key card, and pushes the body out of the way. In the top drawer of the desk is a clipboard that has a number of strange diagrams drawn upon it - they seem to depict some sort of pyramidal object made up of smaller pyramids.

"Dr. Malcolm?" asks Blaize. "Yeah, I remember him. He was a physicist of some description. His body's been there since the start of things. He was killed by one of his own men who went mad shortly before we broke out of our cells. If I remember rightly from what we managed to read in one man's personnel files was that he was examining some kind of artefact, code-named 'Sleeper Device'."

There seems to be a lot more paperwork in the drawers but it would take time to examine them.

"Daddy does remember some things about the Sleeper Device," says Sarah on the radio, then repeats what he had told her. "It has immense scientific potential and seems capable of holding certain objects in a state of flux that resembles static and recombining or holding other objects in a separate state of being from itself, creating multiples that both exist and don't exist, yet couldn't be brought near each other. The effects it had in the room were immense, and it was only because the metal used to shield the room had both a positive and negative charge that it kept the effects from branching outward. The police seized the device from a cultist's home, and the metal was taken from a semi-submerged tunnel beneath London, but that's all I know about it. I wonder...could that explain what's happening to us, and to the world? Three parallel realities that can't coexist, but people move between them. Multiple copies of each of us in other realities. Maybe the shielding failed somehow, and that's how it happened. There'd be nothing to stop the effects from expanding to cover the entire world! Maybe the Sleeper Device is the thing Daddy left in the commander's room."

"So the plot thickens." Cael stated mostly to himself. He grabbed the paper on the clipboard and folded it, putting it in his pocket. He looked at the files but shook his head, they didn't have that kind of time. Placing the keycard in the same pocket as the folded up paper, Cael grabbed his weapon and headed out the door, grabbing the map on the way out he opened it to rexamine where he needed to go. "I'm on the move again." He stated.

He has to take the third right, then the fourth left, then the second right and he should be there. The third right is the very corner after this one so he makes his way there with ease. Pausing at the corner, he peers around the edge, rifle and flashlight at the ready as he quickly sweeps the corridor but sees nothing.

Seeing nothing Cael heads on.

He follows the map carefully, making sure to scan down each corridor. The other doors are all closed with no signs of life or death behind them. No tell-tale bloody streaks. No bullet holes. Nothing to mark any one door from another. Until he reaches ESK... The door is wide open. The room is cast in shadow, then light, as a fluroescent light flickers on and off. Bloody smears begin halfway down the corridor and then curl around into the room. There is the buzzing of flies and the stink of carrion, mouldy books and ... sex?

"Alright." Cael whispers over the radio. "I'm at ESK and wouldn't ya know it. Every room is fine except this one. I'm not going to describe what I see due to the sensitive nature of this program but I do suggest that if you don't want to hear very disturbing sounds then turn the radio off now." That said Cael lights his flashlight, readies his weapon and steps into the room.

"I'm keeping the line open," whispers Sarah back on the radio. "Be careful, Cael. I love you."

OOC: I'll post what you see in the room in an hour or so, have to rush off at the moment.

He steps inside, his foot sliding a little across the wet blood -- still fresh. The iron tang cloys the air and reminds him of a dozen missions long since past. The unlit room is large, with multiple desks and computers, filing cabinets, book cases, and large machines that must have once flickering with lights and read-outs but now stand dormant. There is a glass display case partially hidden behind the desk closest to the door that seems to have at least one open book inside - a pair of gloves situated within, so that a person could turn the pages without touching the book or exposing it to air.

The light flickers on and he sees the world doused in red. Blood has landed on the surfaces in flicks, splats, sprays and splashes, painting a picture of death and pain. Bodies are hung from the ceilings in different poses, arms out spread, or legs, one wrist pierced through, the other arm hanging flat against the body, one with the lower half of the body shredded, another with the back of the head staved through, one with the lower jaw ripped off, another disembowelled. All naked.

The light flickers on and he hears them scream as power courses through those wires that embed in their bodies and hold them in place, causing them to dance a bloody jig, thrashing and screaming, and throwing out fresh blood from fresh wounds that should have been fatal. Yet still they dance.

The light stops flickering. The bodies hang limp.

Cael who had just about thought he had seen it all when it came to death and human misery was taken aback at the sight, he swallowed hard and blew out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He remembered a time when he was in Cambodia, bodies ripped apart and strung up in a very similar fashion but those were dead, they didn't move no matter what happened. The thought that these people were still alive in some fashion or another made his blood run cold but his emotions were to dead to actual care enough to find some way to help them, they were dead and that was that.

However the screams were loud enough that not only was he sure it transmitted over the radio but if something else was here, he just sprung the trap. "I'm fine, none of that was me. However I'm damn glad no one but me came either. Even with all my training and sights I've seen, this takes the cake." Cael said into the radio as he pulled a cigarette from his pack and lit it. "I see a book that's in a glass case, seems though that it has to stay there. The case is made so you can put your hands in and use gloves to turn the pages. That mean anything?"

Once that was said, Cael began to cautiously move throughout the room, looking for whatever it was they wanted him to grab. "Alright old man, you'd best remember what was so damn important because there's a lot of shit in here."

As he moves further into the room, carefully moving aside of the bodies that jig whenever the lights flicker on, he sees that the display case contains seven books. The first book is thick and folio-sized, measuring 18 by 11 - 1/2 inches. The type style is black-letter gothic and there are numerous woodcuts illustrating the text, bound in cheap, crumbling paste boards. The second book is a relatively short, hand-written work that seems to be written in Latin - though Cael couldn't be sure as he knew little of Latin. The third book has wavering, blotted handwriting that appears to have been in congealed blood. The ink-stained contents of the fourth book has made the words on the open pages near illegible. The fifth book has the edges charred, though the Arabic writing is added to by english words written in the margins in blue ink. The sixth book, if it could be called that, is a loose sheath of pages that appear to be tattooed pieces of human skin. The seventh book appears to be a more modern book.

There is a thick steel door to the left that is labeled Observation Chamber.

Sarah exhales with relief. "Thank God you're okay," she says. "You don't know what went through my head when I heard those screams! I'm glad none of us were down there too." She calls back to her father. "Cael's fine. Do you know what he needs to look for?" There's a long pause, then Sarah speaks into the radio again. "Daddy says not to touch the book in the case, but he doesn't know why yet, so leave it there. He doesn't remember exactly what he left there yet, but look for the Sleeper Device - it's pyramid shaped, you said - or a backpack. He's still thinking."

"Check that. There are seven books and well... I'd burn them before I touched them. If this were Dungeons and Dragons and I cast a Detect Evil spell, well those books would radiate so much evil I'd go blind. Sort of reminds me of the Evil Dead series and their Necronomicon. There is a thick steel door that's labeled Observation Chamber." Cael said as he began searching around the room for either a pyramid shaped object and or a backpack. "Your father sure those books aren't important? I mean in just about every movie and book to stop the great evil someone has to use it."

"Daddy says the books are important, but there's something else that's absolutely essential," Sarah replies on the radio. "Take the seven books on the shelves - you can put them in the Hello Kitty backpack you borrowed from Dahlia - but leave the one in the case for now. Daddy also said not to read them, or they'll do funny things to your head. I think he knows this from experience. He said if you can't find what you're looking for in that room, it might be in the Observation Chamber. Sounds to me like maybe that's where the Sleeper Device could be. If you do find a Necronomicon, don't forget to say the words 'Klaatu Barada Nikto' before picking it up and make sure you pronounce them exactly right, 'kay? Daddy, what about the book in the case? Daddy said you can take a look and see what the book in the case is, and it should be okay, but he doesn't know if it can be removed safely. He's unsure if the case is to prevent the book from being damaged, or to prevent it from damaging the reader."

Cael shrugged and grabbed the books from the shelf and threw them in the backpack he borrowed. He chuckled a bit and shook his head, "Funny... I think it's stranger for me to be carrying around a Hello Kitty backpack than to be lugging around books of ultimate evil." He stated.

Since he apparently didn't find anything else useful in the room he went and stood before the thick steel door that was marked Observation Chamber. "Alright folks, next thing is to open this door and see what's so worth observing that they had to make a special chamber for it." That said he opens the steel door.

The steel door leads him into a large room that is divided by a large windowed concrete partition. The window is covered by heavy steel shutters. On this side, is a counter covered in buttons, toggles and what were once brightly lit read-outs that now sit silent. There is a door between partitions, heavy steel, closed and with no handle. There is also a lever by the window. There are dark goggles hanging from a rack on the wall. There is a black satchel on the floor in the corner of the room.

Cael looks around the room and stoops to look at the contents of the black satchel. He's smart enough to know that in a room like this you just don't go mashing buttons. He picks up the satchel and has a seat at the console, checking to see if any of the buttons are labeled.

The satchel contains a number of print-outs that describe some very disturbing things judging by the bizarre diagrams as well as several small artefacts. Some of the read-outs and gauges are labeled but it would require a more scientifically minded person than he is in order to understand them. The lever by the window has a label beneath it: Opens window. REMEMBER: Wear goggles.

Cael looks for a pair of goggles and then opens the window.

There are dark goggles hanging from a rack on the wall. Putting them on, he notices that they seem to contort his view of the room, causing him to feel light-headed and slightly nauseas. Grasping the lever and pulling it down, activates the heavy steel shutters that are slowly pulled in behind the concrete to reveal a room painted with slightly glowing symbols that seem to flow and pulsate. A dozen chains of light in shades of colors Cael cannot name and has never before seen - seem to be draped across a slowly rotating hunk of twisted metal that was a shade between gray and silver. Simply by looking at it, Cael can smell an iron tang, taste the metal, feel its presence beneath his fingers, feel his blood warm his skin, his heart pump, his eyes itch.

Cael closes the window and steps back. "Wow... Don't think I should have done that." He stated. He grabbed the satchel and looked around, this seemed to be the only thing that seemed important besides the books. He then said into the radio, "Heading to rendezvous point, ETA 5 minutes."

OOC: Screw it, that's going to take awhile to resolve. I'll give Cael some time to kick ass and take names.

Cael can hear footsteps in the room beyond, slow and shuffling.

Cael smirked, this was more like it, he preferred a straight up fight to all this sneaking around. He readied his weapon and stepped into the room.

Cael comes out into the main room in time to see a blood-smeared injured man who gazes out from sightless eyes as he shuffles nearer.

OOC: The monster gets high initiative. But not high enough.Cael goes first because of his +17 Dex.

Cael levels the rifle, making sure it's on a 3 round burst, and fires three shots at the creatures head. "Yes all that is gunfire, I got company." Cael says rather calmly into the radio. It's then that he realizes it'd been a little while since he heard anything from those topside. 'Shit... They better not be dead up there. I've never lost a man yet and don't plan to start now plus I haven't had the chance to get any alone time with Sarah, we got a lot of things to talk about... and do.' He finished his thought with a sly grin.

That said he began to sing aloud,
"I've got sunshine on a cloudy day.
When it's cold outside I've got the month of May.
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl).

I've got so much honey the bees envy me.
I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees.
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl).

Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Ooooh.

I don't need no money, fortune, or fame.
I've got all the riches baby one man can claim.
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl).

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
With my girl.
I've even got the month of May
With my girl"

OCC: 1d100=56, 1d100=31, 1d100=92 and 1d100=56, 1d100=31, 1d100=92

The first bullet cuts a line straight through the middle torso, forcing the dead man's back to explode outward as the mass of force coming from the bullet punches a hole the size of a melon out the man's back. The second bullet is higher, a tidier hole that loses more momentum as it cracks through the rib and exits with a smaller, yet still sizable, hole. The third bullet catches him a beautiful blow right through the nose, obliterating it, as the recoil of the gun forces the muzzle slightly higher with each shot. The man was quite obviously a doctor judging by his once white lab coat and glasses and he is equally obviously a walking corpse, judging by the coagulated blood that sprays everywhere. His eyes appear to have been burned from their sockets and he may well have chewed off his own lips.

There are more footsteps out in the hall.

OOC: 13, 8, 13.

OOC: 13, 8, 13?

Smiling at the gory mess, Cael moves to the doorway and does a quick peek around the corner to see how many more are coming, then he moves out into the hall and strats aiming for heads.

OOC: You posted twice the attack rolls and didn't put the damage rolls up there so I rolled them myself. 2d6+3! Each bullet packs one hell of a punch.

There are six in the hall. Three thirty feet back and walking side-by-side, then three slightly more stretched out and closer to him - fifteen feet, ten feet, five feet. A creature in the background, similar to that trapped within the wheelchair, but this time folded around a wheeled office chair and wearing a twisted white lab coat, carries a bizarrely misformed scepter in one hand. As he is all the way back, he is hard to hit (a fifth of your normal chance to hit him if you aim at him, but if your roll is somewhere higher than that chance but lower than your normal chance to hit, you'll hit the other zombies anyway - he basically has flesh cover).

OOC: That's strange that I rolled two sets of attack rolls. I had the dice set for 2d6+3, I remember because I had to look up the +3 part. Anyway...

Cael puts his rifle up and peers down the sights at the creature in the office chair. He was never one to play things safe, hence his career of choice and decided that as long as no one told him the odds he had a good chance of hitting it. After all he was a marksmen, had to be to be SAS and in CO19. With that he let three more rounds fly.

OOC: 1d100=89, 1d100=26, 1d100=39

The first bullet thuds into the wall. The last two bullets tear through the first two zombies, one tearing the flesh from the throat and knocking it to the floor where it twitches and claws at its own neck, the other burrowing in the torso of the one behind, knocking it down onto all fours. Clotted blood is flung across the floor and walls.

OOC: 1d100=62, 1d100=80, 1d100=1 2d6+3=9, 2d6+3=12, 2d6+3=13

Cael smiled as he saw the damage his rounds did but knew it was not enough against the creatures coming for him and let off another three round burst.

The first two bullets thudded into concrete but the third bullet zipped along and hit the rear-most man straight through the center of his forehead. He collapsed like a sack of shit, going limp in his office chair. The other three creatures drop as though they were puppets whose wires had just been cut.

OOC: Its an impale, so double damage. I'll combine the last two rolls to speed things up.

OOC: Works for me.

Seeing the other three drop as well, Cael was about to shrug it off but decided to inspect the Puppet Master's body for anything that might be useful. He wasn't sure if he controlled the others through mind power or maybe some kind of device.

After he inspected the body he said into the radio, "Sorry for the delay, got sort of tied up for a moment. How's everything up on the roof? Still good? I haven't heard from you guys in awhile."

The creature has some sort of curved spike clutched between his gaunt fingers.

Cael grabs the spike and heads to the roof figuring he wasted enough time already.

"Cael, we're okay, but we almost weren't. Didn't you hear what I said earlier? That thing under the chopper came back, and when it heard your voice over the radio it attacked Daddy. He called it the Hound and said it had been hunting him for years. If we hadn't had the powder..."

"Sarah saved me," adds Lionel, leaning over the radio. "She saved all of us. You should have seen her, she was magnificent. I thought I was going to die for sure."

"It takes more than that to kill us Carpenters, right Daddy?"

"That's right, sweetheart." Lionel beams at Sarah. "Thank you so much. I love you, my wonderful, beautiful daughter."

"I love you too, Daddy. Will it come back?"

"I don't think so. They're bloody near impossible to shake, but once you drive one off they usually give up."

"Even so, let's not stick around any longer than we have to. We're on our way back to the chopper now. Hurry back, Cael, but be careful."

As usual, by the time the two finished speaking, enough time had passed for Cael to reach the landing.

Cael stopped feeling his stomach wanting to wretch, sure he loved Sarah but all the mushiness and touchy feely crap was making him ill, for a split second he thought about setting the rifle to full auto and just shooting himself to avoid it all. However upon reaching the landing he shook out those thoughts and said as he opened the door. "Well I'm here, I can see the chopper. I killed me a few zombie like things and what seemed to be their controller. Some guy in a wheelchair had this curved spike thing, after I shot him I grabbed it as well." Cael stated as he jogged to the helicopter.

Rejoin the other thread.