Stage 2: Road Trip Arc 3.2
Thursday, Feb 25th, 2010
"Calm down nobody is going to get out of this if we panic!" David yells over the din of screams. "Can you save him?" He asks Jordan, who has scrambled over to Jeremy and is checking his pulse.
She shakes her head, "It stabbed his jugular; nothing could have been done in time."
"Oh my god we're all going to die!" Macy yells unhelpfully.
"Everyone calm the fuck down and gather anything you can as a weapon!" David authoritatively yells once again. "Knives, the chains, the folding chairs, whatever isn't nailed down." He speaks loudly again as he carefully steps over Jeremy's corpse, and cautiously ascends the stairs.
I keep an eye on Melinda. What the fuck do I do now? If I tell people about her, Jack will get tipped off even more, that I know shit and probably conclude I'm a parahuman. How would I convince the others she is what my Observe says she is anyway? I step away and translate more of what David has said. Melinda looks down for a moment, and begins undoing her chains. Shit, well get other people in between our line of sight. Yeah, cameras on me go down to zero. Did Bonesaw put a camera in there? While everyone is busy unlocking their chains, panicking, or gathering weapons, I pull the Machete out of my inventory when no one is looking.
I still have my bat but need others I can trust to be armed. I get Rubén's attention. <"Here, I found this, take it."> I lied. He eagerly took it anyway.
"Gracias, Simon". He says and resumes a defensive stance in front of his wife and daughter.
"De Nada". I reply.
Everyone's level has gone up after gaining consciousness and mobility; they go up even more as they arm themselves depending on what they use. Ruben's went up an additional +6 when I hand the Machete to him. Even Chela and her mom's level goes up by one, when they arm themselves with their chains. David has pulled down the trap, there are four knives attached to it, now distributed, he keeps one himself but has used his belt and a chain to securely affix it to the two-by four that had been part of the trap, to create a makeshift short-spear. In addition to that, we have three knife wielders, my bat, and Rubén's Machete. Observe has yet to mention skill levels though, so I had no idea how effective anyone will be with them.
I glance back at Melinda, she too has armed herself with a chain, but her level hasn't changed, why? It is 16 already, which is abnormally high to begin with and is probably due to Bonesaw's alterations. Does that mean the chain is too marginal to warrant an increase? She glances back at me occasionally and I shift to watch from my peripheral vision instead of directly. Every time she looks back at me, the observing camera count toggles. That is definitely related.
I whisper another "Observe", the target is based on intent. Yep, the fresh surgical stitches at the corner of her eye, were done by Bonesaw, recently. "Observe" I whisper concentrating on Melinda's eyeball. It confirms my suspicions; she implanted a camera in there.
David is gesturing and whispering to two men who have gone to the top of the stairs behind him. I turn on subtitles just to see what will happen. Cool, that totally works, why haven't I done that before?
<'I don't know what those gesture means'> Arthur whispers, while David sighs. Okay apparently I had seen enough movies for my weird memory to tell me that those were military hand gestures, but like Arthur, I'm clueless to what they mean, and the subtitles are not being helpful for them. In fact my screen is getting cluttered with every single inane woeful muttering of the people around me. Forgot about that severe annoyance, that is why I don't use it.
Apparently giving up, David whispers back "I'm going to go forward, you immediately follow after me and turn toward the right, weapon up, and you" he gestures to Robert, "you go immediately after him, and turn toward the left, weapons up."
Well hell, they're doing stuff and I'm still standing down here. <"Let's move toward the stairs, we'll still have to get out of here."> Rubén led, Carmen and Chela follow and I come up behind. Macy has gone from panicking to throwing up in the corner and someone had dragged Jeremy's body out of the landing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey where did that bat and machete come from?" someone asks me in a shaky voice. It's Marcus, the rather rotund accountant and part-time actor, now level 6? He hasn't armed himself yet.
"In the room" I whisper a lie, Melinda is still decently off to the side, so hopefully she doesn't hear, and hopefully Bonesaw didn't insert some extra sensitive microphones in her ears or something also. I observe just to be sure. Nope.
"Why would they leave us weapons?" he asks persistently, responding with a whisper this time.
"Because Jack wants us to kill each other with them?" I whisper back. "Let's not play his game okay? But maybe you should find something to arm yourself with."
Marcus nods and wanders off, to pick up a folding chair? I guess whatever works.
There is a commotion at the top of the stairs, as we gather at the landing. David and the three other knife wielders, have gone through the door. Fuck some people are moving too fast, others far too slow. There are damn trip wires up there.
"Hold! Tripwires" I hear a muffled voice from up top, it's David's. Thank god, but that was the kitchen, and the other fucking meat-puppet is up there hiding in the pantry on the other side of those wires.
"Let me through" I say as I go up the crowded stairway.
"What the hell are you doing, kid?" David asks as I worm my way to the top into the kitchen, and start spam Observing everything.
"I can disarm this shit."
"Not worth the risk, just step over."
"Fuck no, you see that broken grout perfectly around that one tile where you'd have stepped? Another trap."
David actually pauses and looks thoughtful. "We don't know if there are explosives or other worse shit hooked into that."
A quick pass with my free camera confirms it's only more booby trap bullshit, only intended to maim, but I have no way of directly telling him that without outing myself. Speech, needs to stay on, for every single thing I say from now on.
"Explosives would end Jack's game too early, he wants to maim and draw things out. You heard him earlier; he wants to watch us kill each other." I whisper while pointing to yet a second camera in the room.
David nods, "someone keep watch on all the doors" he says, as more people file into the room from the basement.
I make quick work of disabling the traps, and we gain and distributed a couple more knives and a jagged pipe as weapons. Then I hear a slow clap coming from the wall.
"My, my, aren't you an astute one." A voice over the intercom in the kitchen answers. "Had I not been so rudely interrupted before, I could have warned you and explained the rules a bit more."
"Fuck you Jack! You wouldn't have warned us about shit!" Robert yells. I suppose there is no point in whispering anymore.
"Maybe, or maybe I just don't need to anymore. Well you're down one anyway, so welcome to room two. In any case, same rules apply; you want to proceed to the next room? Someone has to die. If you don't pick among yourselves, then we'll—"
"Power Strike" For the second time I smashed my bat into the intercom destroying it. <"Ruben, wreck that camera!"> I shout in Spanish.
"You know that's really rude." I hear another muffled intercom voice, coming from the room opposite the eastern kitchen wall.
The rest are filing into the room now, it's going to get crowed, even though the kitchen is large. Fifteen people crowded in here is going to create a danger of 'friendly fire' accidents with bladed melee weapons by people that don't know what they're doing.
"Since you won't listen" the muffled voice continues to speak, in an irritated tone. "I'm afraid you're going to have to be punished."
Fuck! I grab Marcus's folding chair right out of his hand. Ignoring his protest, run to the other end of the kitchen, wedge it under the pantry doorknob, and throw my weight against it just as it was beginning to open.
-32 HP (6 Resisted)
-15 HP (6 resisted)
"SOMEONE HELP!" I yell, despite getting the door shut, Edward Scissorhands manages reach an arm through and slice up my shoulder. Wait, who the fuck is Edward Scissorhands?
-10 HP (6 Resisted)
Fuck! Can't think about my weird memory shit right now.
<"SIMON DUCK!"> Ruben shouts, as a machete comes crashing down on the Meat-Puppet's arm. Blood sprays everywhere, but it doesn't cut though the metal inserts, so he hacks at it again. I'm losing my fight with the door, as I feel it give way more and a boot snuck its way through the crack.
Soon someone else is next to me pushing against the door, more blood, and David has gotten here and wrapped a chain around the puppets exposed hand holding it back.
A shower of splinters rained down on me and I looked up to see
"Stab it through the door crack right into its rib cage!" I hear David yell, but Reuben doesn't understand him and hacked at the arm again covering us with more blood. I can see he is injured also.
<"Stab it through the door crack, into its chest!"> I yell, after a moment, Ruben does so, several times, and it stops flailing.
I catch my breath; fuck my shoulder is cut up. It looks worse than it is, only because of Gamer's Body. Was that seen? You have more eyes on me? No, at least nobody died. More notifications
"The windows are boarded up and barred, can't get out." Someone says, when people start to quiet down.
"Don't go poking at any windows or doors, they're probably trapped!" David says, at least I wasn't the one who had to say it.
I look at my notifications as the panicked murmurings begin to die down.
Joseph Palmer has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 27, Pending: 17
+440 XP for killing Joseph Palmer
What? No, fuck you. That's not fucking fair, that shouldn't work like that.
"What the fuck was that thing?" Greg asks.
"Is it dead? Please say it's dead..:" Macy asks between sobs.
"Not taking any chances, keep the door held shut tight. You two pull that refrigerator off the wall and block the door with it." David says, taking charge again.
"How do we get out of here?" Someone asks again, Michael I think.
A loud crash and the fridge is knocked over and I scramble out of the way as it gets shoved in front of the pantry door. It was unnecessary, well, presuming my power is correct, he is definitely dead.
"Fuck, what the hell? That was a guy from the bus." Arthur says after stepping onto the fridge and looking through the hole Joseph had punched through the pantry door.
"Haven't read anything about the nine? Bonesaw's work." Jordan says as she tends to Ruben's cut arm. The color lost from her face. "We'll be lucky if she didn't already fuck with us while we were unconscious." I 'see' her whisper to David via subtitles.
"Yeah, right." David says, "And if nobody else wants to end up like that we need to stay organized, stay together, and plan our way out of this---"
Everyone is interrupted as Jennifer slumps down unexpected, holding her chest. Jordan rushed over. "What's wrong?"
"Heart's not the best... just need to rest"
"Hmm, maybe there is a strategy in culling the weak. Don't you agree?" Jack's tinny voice from the other side of the wall intones over the intercom.
"Can't you just shut the fuck up?" Robert says and starts smashing on the walls with the jagged pipe that has been pulled from one of the traps.
"He's watching and listening, might be other hidden cameras." I whisper to David. There isn't except for the one in Melinda's head, not according to my detector, but I have no idea about microphones.
It doesn't make sense. There are bits of broken glass around the windows and elsewhere in the room, and from when we pulled up into town, there were heaps of it laying around. The leftovers from Shatterbird's scream according to what I read from the Cape Database. Is Jack really this bored? How are the intercoms still working? How is the circuitry in the camera's still working? Is her control so fine-tuned as to exclude certain houses? I guess they'd have to do some selective targeting to keep certain comforts available for their own use after wrecking everything else. I doubt all of them are cannibals, fuck my mind is wandering, stop it. What the hell is that noise? It's a skittering, scratching sound coming from the ceiling.
"What's that noise?" Macy asks between sobs. At least I'm not the only one who heard.
"Fuck something's coming!" I say, just as the ceiling AC vents pop open and some mechanical spiders the size of small house cats slither out and drop on people. The screaming renews again.
Damn it, I never checked the ductwork with my free camera earlier. Jack is going to keep at it until someone dies. Fuck one lands on Chela, I can't smash it, I might hit her, Ruben can't stab it either. They're fast, but I manage to grab it bare handed, and squeeze.
-0 HP (3 Resisted)
Fuck that doesn't work. It tries stabbing me with a syringe of green liquid it has on the end of a tail.
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
At least that doesn't work for it either, and ow, fuck fuck…
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
It's cutting up my hands... "Power Strike"
-5 HP (3 Resisted)
I smashed it against the wall still holding onto it tightly through the pain, the syringe breaks and whatever it is leaks all over my hands, I feel a burning sensation. "Observe"
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-4 HP [Corrosive Damage] (0 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-4 HP [Corrosive Damage] (0 Resisted)
Oh fuck me. I have to let a hand go. "Inventory Bonesaw's Poison #193." No time to read the rest of it.
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-4 HP (0 Resisted)
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
"How the fuck do I kill this thing?...Power Strike, Power Strike, Power Strike" I smash it on the sink counter over and over again and the fucking thing is still squirming.
-5 HP (3 Resisted)
-5 HP (3 Resisted)
-5 HP (3 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
<"Put it in the garbage disposal!"> Chela yells. Fuck it, worth a try. I hold it over the sink drain, Ruben stabs it and pushes it down with the tip of the machete and Chela flips the switch. It whirs only briefly before our ears are assaulted with the sounds of metal scraping, sparking and crunching.
+275 XP for destroying Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider
I turn to see that David has pinned one of the spiders to the floor with his makeshift spear, and Robert is smashing the hell out of it with the jagged pipe
"Why won't this damn thing die?" Robert asks.
"Pin its legs and rip them off." I comment, moments later, it is de-limbed and just a squirming box. "We killed the other one in the garbage disposal."
"There were three of them where's the third one?"
"It went back into the vents."
"Damn Garbage disposal is broken now."
"Observe, Observe" I mumble examining the damn things. They are some cybernetic amalgam of bladed legs, wires, broken scorpion syringe tail, and a metal box which contains, harvested brain matter? Oh Jesus what the fuck? Whose brain matter? I…I don't even want to know.
More observes and I disable another trap on the cabinet doors below the sink. Fuck I can't let myself miss any of these. Ammonia and bleach? That would have been nasty.
"Arthur? Are you okay?" David asks, "Jordon, something is wrong." Arthur has slumped to the floor, and started convulsing.
"Did he get stabbed by one of those things?" she asks. "They had some kind of syringe on them. Macy, keep bandaging up Marcus and Jennifer"
"I'm too scared…"
"Do it anyway."
I have notifications pending. Whatever initiative and momentum we had is lost, another round of observe sees morale and stress levels tanking. While everyone is focused on Arthur and Jordon I pull the Axe and knives out of my inventory using the cabinetry as cover, and the bleach out of the cabinet as well. "Notifications"
You are suffering from the status effect 'Poisoned'
For testing the limits of your endurance and vitality, you have gained 1 CON
Your Drug & Poison Resistance skill has increased by 1
The status effect 'Poisoned' has been removed
Arthur Sinclair has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 28, Pending: 16
"He's gone, and he… shouldn't have died from the injuries he had gotten so far, but…" Jordan said,
"Spider's are fucking poisonous aren't they? Fuck me." Michael swore.
"Check yourselves, did anyone also else get stabbed by that syringe thing on those spiders?"
"Yes," Patricia says; her voice a feeble whisper. She is already sitting on the floor. I already know the answer beforehand, it's there on her observe window and there's nothing I can do about it, we are so totally fucked. "If any of you get out of this, tell, my children and my grandchildren I love them..."
Patricia Hart has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 29, Pending: 15
"Well, doesn't that just bring a tear to your eye?" Jack's tinny intercom voice comes on again from the next room. "You bunch have certainly been more entertaining than I expected, fared far better than the prior groups too. But as promised…let's see what's behind door number three."
There is a loud click, and the kitchen door leading to the next room unlocks.
<"I don't trust the Gringos"> I overhear Carmen saying to her husband. <"We have to get out of here, eventually they'll start caving in to Jack's demands and killing off who they think are weak or don't fit in. We don't speak English well enough, that makes us not fit in.">
<"I won't let that happen"> I say as I help apply the last of the bandages on Chela's cuts, from the spider-bot's legs.
Your Medicine skill has increased by 1
<"You're brave, Simon, but just a child. What can you do against those monsters you have described to us? What can any of us do?"> Ruben responds.
Do I tell them? Show them? Had they already lost that much hope to have expressed such in front of his own daughter? It's a calculated risk, and might do nothing in the long run. <"I'm more than just a child."> I say after making sure I'm not observed. The others are probing the next room, while Jordan is cutting up Patricia and Arthur's shirts up for bandages. The only eyes on me are the three of them, and no cameras, so I pull some duct tape and my multi-tool out of my inventory in a flash of light. <"We have to out think them, escape, run, hide, and not stop. We can't do that while we keep playing Jack's game the way he wants us to play it.">
"Eres un Luchador enmascarado." Ruben states. Masked fighter, the Spanish slang for cape.
I nod in the affirmative, but put a finger to my lips in the sign of keeping it quiet. <"We still need the others help. David is a good fighter, former military, Jordan is a nurse, and helps do first aid"> I point out his own injuries. <"Still, we have better chances the more of us there are."> But for how long? I'm starting to get bad vibes from some people. Carmen isn't entirely wrong. If it gets down to someone making a choice between surviving themselves or watching someone else die instead, most will choose themselves.
I submerge the still squirming spider-bot body into a bowl of bleach. It does nothing to its metal case, but it has already been cracked, or maybe I'll be lucky and Bonesaw didn't give them a good enough seal.
+110 for assisting in destruction of Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider
"The next room is a hallway, we won't even all fit in there at the same time. No apparent camera, but one intercom." Yeah I don't trust that there might not be any more cameras.
"We still should have wrecked that intercom." Robert says.
"What and risk him 'punishing' us again?" Macy all but screams.
I stand on the counter and start sealing the vents with duct tape. No idea if it will be effective but I have to try. I throw a roll at David. "Seal up anything we think those spider things can come out of."
I need to use my stats points, now, for however long this lull lasts. I can't do that shit in the middle of combat. On what? STR? Not going to fight them and Crawler is beyond what I can bump to even if I spend them all on STR. Also don't want my physique to suddenly change in front of everyone. AGI? It's related to the speed stat, still don't know how that's calculated or what those numbers mean. Still be less than Crawlers if I use all of it. I can't run much when stuck in a house, maybe after I get out of the house? CON? Yeah, directly related to HP, doubt I'll get out of this without more damage, very probable. INT, WIS, PER, may help, certainly can use thinking of new ways to get out of this mess, but may not directly influence my immediate survival. CHA? LUC? Fuck those, especially LUC, I pumped four points into it five days ago, and I still ended up encountering these fuckers.
"Stats" I had just gained a CON point merely from getting cut up so much. Well, I need more, so let's start pumping CON. Thirteen points in, and now with a CON of 35, I stop when a notification fires off.You have reached peak human in CON. Further stat point based increased will now cost double.
Uh, is that good or bad? Is it still cost effective to put more in vs. something else? Doesn't fucking matter, don't have time to analyze that while lives are at stake. Fuck it, I pump 5 points into INT too, maybe I'll get more insights into what to do next. Hmm, well no message about hitting peak yet. Still have 31 left, that I could use to pump CON to 50 later if I need to.
I take a door of the cabinetry, and disable a couple more minor traps I hadn't noticed before. Were these ideas from the INT boost or ones I'd have had anyway?
<"Let's make some shields"> I say as I liberally duct-taped a cabinet door to my forearm. A few more doors see Chela, Carmen, and Ruben in some really crappy armor taped to their chest and backs.
Several of the others in the group follow suit. David is organizing the rest; even Macy becomes slightly less useless. <"Here, take these"> I say as I handed my two knives to Chela and Carmen.
"David, take this." I whisper as I hold out the axe, making sure Melinda isn't watching. "If you'll give me your spear thing."
"Where the hell did you find that?"
"Cabinets" I lie. "You're stronger and probably better able to use it than the rest of us." He nods in response. We trade and I further reinforced the spear with duct tape.
I peek around the corner into the hallway, check my observation detector. No cameras. "Observe, observe, observe…" No traps, except the ones on the blocked doors. Melinda glances at me again. It's still the only camera on us. I move out of her line of sight.
"Hickory, dickory, dock.
You're about to run out your clock.
Just strike down one,
And your next trial is done,
Hickory, dickory, dock"
The voice blurts out of the intercom; Jack's little sadistic reminder. Quick swap, "free camera." Let's look behind the doors. One leads to the garage and is thoroughly barricaded and trapped. Jack obviously doesn't want us to go that way. The other goes to some kind of dining room, also locked, but rigged with the same setup the kitchen door had on it. Back to normal view mode now.
"What the hell are we going do man?" Michael asks David. A bad vibe rolls off of him as he asks.
"Go block off the basement door in the kitchen. Nobody's getting out that way and it will help seal off any vents that are down there. Robert, go help him." Several scrapes and crashes later and the kitchen island is overturned and now blocking the re-locked basement door.
"Too afraid of being seen doing the deed? Maybe you need a little encouragement." Jack's intercom voice sounds out again, and then all the lights went out.
<"Oh No!"> Carmen yells.
<"Huddle up, each of us at our backs"> Ruben responds quickly. I pull up my flashlight mode right away.
People are screaming again, no one can see. I should do it, do it right now. Slit Melinda's throat, put her out of her misery and deprive Bonesaw and Jack of their plant. I move toward her, she isn't looking. Two steps in…
"AHHHH, Gurgle.. ." The fuck was that? I haven't done anything yet. A notification flashes at me.
Jennifer Olsen has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 30, Pending: 14
Fuck. Too damn slow.
"See now, was that so hard? At least one of you had the balls to make a choice." The intercom sounds again. We all hear an audible click of the remote lock on the hallway door.
The lights come back on. Jennifer's body can be seen, blood rapidly pooling out of her neck stab wound. Macy and Marcus scream, even Melinda lets out a shocked holler playing up her part.
"Who the fuck did it?" David screams; a murderous angry glint in his eyes.
"Observe, observe, observe, observe…" Michael, he fucking did it, just wiped the blood off his knife too. He is wracked with guilt sure, but his motivations for survival are overcoming that.
"You've got blood on your knife Michael, and your pants and shirt." I say. Wait, no I should have lied and said it was Melinda; it would have been an excuse to off her. Shit no that wouldn't work either; she was still armed only with a chain.
Michael Connor has gone from stranger to annoyance
"The blood's from Jeremy; I took the knife that stabbed his throat." Michael lied.
"That's bullshit. I took the knife that stabbed Jeremy." Greg shouts.
<"Simon, what is going on?"> Chela asked.
<"Michael killed Jennifer, while the lights were out. He was too afraid of Jack siccing monsters on us again.">
<"So Jack turns us into the monsters!"> Ruben shouts.
<"Aye, that's what he does.">
"You and Robert were next to her in the kitchen when you moved the island to block the basement." David said, more anger seeping into his voice.
"Well it wasn't me!" Michael said again. He is sweating like a pig.
"What you think I did it?" Robert yells, menacing him with the jagged pipe. "I don't have a knife anymore! I gave it to Marcus"
A few eyes turned toward Marcus, he nods but swiftly backs away from the confrontation, knife held in his hand.
"You're fucking on point now." David says, "Give me your knife and go in the fucking dining room and watch for traps."
"But—"
"Give me your fucking knife or I will cleave your skull and take it from your body!" David yells. Michael drops it and walks into the dining room, prodded by David's axe. Well, my axe, since I just gave it to him. Fuck, was that a mistake?
"He's a murderer you--" Jordan begins to say in protest.
"He just permanently volunteered himself as trap checker, and to be the next sacrifice for any more of Jack's fucking games." David says, interrupting her
Well, this makes it a lot harder to take out Melinda without being seen as a crazy person dancing to Jack's tune. "Observe," my intent on the house again; five bio-mechanical spiders and fifteen people. Well they haven't added more. Two out of the seven spiders dead, one meat puppet dead, and four more to go, and too many of our own lost.
We file into the dining room, time to spam observe again. A macabre buffet of food is on display on a large long table surrounded by chairs. All trapped and poisoned, even the chandelier is rigged to fall, with the slightest disturbance. Another camera peers at us from the corner of the room.
"Can we get out this window?" Jordan asks, sweeping broken glass shards aside with her foot and carefully examining the edges of the large boarded up dining room window.
"Don't touch anything." David chides her.
"Yeah, what he said. Traps, and uh, they're watching." I follow up, and then point at the camera in the corner.
I bent down and whisper, "free camera." Let's take a look under the tablecloth before I move it. Hmm, tripwires attached to the chairs, but no hiding meat-puppet. Where is that fourth one at? Actually these trap jobs continue to be rather shitty, rushed, not even very well concealed.
"Anyone hungry?" Jack's mocking voice comes over the intercom again.
"Get fucking real! We're not falling for your stupid shit!" Robert screams angrily.
"No Swearing!" A small girl's voice comes across the intercom behind Jack's cackling laughter.
Fuck, Bonesaw, its way past your bedtime.
"I've had it with your shit! You're a fucking disease on humanity! Just get it the fuck over with already! I'm not playing your stupid game anymore!" Robert explodes, smashing the intercom then charging at the camera.
"No swear—" Bonesaw tried to speak but was cut off when the intercom is wrecked.
"DON'T MOVE THE CHAIRS!" I scream, as Robert jumps up and smashes the camera. It's too late though as he knocks one over as he lands.
"Very well, but you were warned about being naughty!" Jack says simultaneously, his voice still coming in from the intercom in the hallway.
The lights go out again. I still have a flashlight mode window up. I hear a massive creaking, and the giant chandelier begin to sway.
Melinda is standing right there, I take my chance and shove her onto the table as the chandelier falls downward. "EVERYONE DUCK!"
-48 HP Backstab, Critical Hit
"AHHHH FUCK!" The chandelier lands on me, and electricity coursed through me as well. God damn, the fuck? It's electrocuted also?
-26 HP (6 Resisted)
-107 HP [Electrical Damage] (2 Resisted)
Someone else besides Melinda screams, flashlight isn't oriented to see who. "No one move, chandelier just fell and it's electrified!" I yell over the crashes and screaming.
-68 HP
-146 HP [Electrical Damage]
Melinda stops screaming.
Melinda Walker has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 31, Pending: 13
+440 XP for killing Melinda Walker
You have gained a level! You are now level 18.
I just murdered someone. "Observe" I target her eyeball. Camera is fucked. No one is watching us now. Is Gamer's Mind letting me ignore the fact that I just murdered someone? God damn it.
<"Chela, are you okay? Rubén, Carmen?">
<"Yes, yes we are alright.">
"Everyone sound off, say if you're injured." David yells. "I'm... not injured more than previously."
"Jordan, uninjured."
"Oh my god we're going to die." Macy cries
"Macy, are you injured?" David asks.
"I don't know."
"Robert, I got cut up and shocked pretty bad from that thing, but I think I'm okay."
"Greg, I'm okay, was in the hallway still."
"Marcus, something shocked me, and uh, I think I peed a little." I swing my flashlight over to him. It was not just a little.
"What about that Mexican family?" David asked "Can you translate, Simon?"
"They're okay, I already asked. I'm okay too, by the way."
"Michael? Melinda?" No response. A quick check saw Michael is still on my relationship sheet. The door to the next room is open.
"Fuck Michael if you did that again, I'm going to kill you." David threatens.
Say nothing. I'm a fucking murderer and I'm going to shut the fuck up. She was a puppet! She wanted to die! Trapped in her own body you did her a favor! No more plant, no more unchecked eyes on us.
The flame of a lighter appears in front of Greg's face, giving a bit of illumination to the room.
"Surprised Jack's not fucking teasing us again, God-damn Ted Bundy mother fucker."
"I smashed the other intercom in the hallway." Greg said. "If he's going to punish us anyway, rather not hear the fucker laughing while he does so."
"We need more light, anyone else have any lighters or matches?"
"Break some chair legs off, rip up the table cloth and make some torches?" I offer.
"We'll end up burning the house down!" Macy shrieks.
"Maybe we should burn this fucking thing down." Robert adds helpfully.
"Cloth won't last long without something to fuel it." David responds.
"There's some vegetable oil in the kitchen cabinets." I say.
"AHHH!" a scream and a flash of light, comes from the adjacent room, which we haven't entered yet.
Michael Connor has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 32, Pending: 12
Fuck, and it looks like Jack isn't going to turn the lights back on for us.
Stage 2: Road Trip Arc 3.3
Thursday Feb 25th, 2010
Okay, look at my mini-map. I should be paying more attention to it. Jack, Bonesaw and Crawler are arrows siting on the edge of the map. That meant they are off screen at this zoom setting. The two meat-puppets, and that one spider bot that attacked us earlier are still in the house, in different rooms, and the bot is probably still in the duct-work. Don't know where any others were, enemies I haven't seen or observed yet; don't show up.
"So where are Melinda and Michael?" Jordan asks.
"Melinda is on the table, under the chandelier, it's still electrocuted, don't touch it, I'm…pretty sure she is dead." I acknowledge in a calm even voice.
"What the fuck happened?" David asks, still angry. Greg walks closer; his lighter flame gives illumination to the grisly scene enough to confirm what I said.
"Killed by trap," I reply, technically true. "Hit me also… a bit."
"Son of a Bitch…" David curses, "We need more light."
"Torches, like he said." Robert states. A few axe swings on the chairs, and knife rips on the table cloth later, and some are in the process of being made.
I keep my eye on the mini-map as we cautiously make our way into what appears to be a family room, torches in hand, though the smoke is getting irritating.
"More traps?" Greg asks.
"Yes, hold on," I spam-observed everything.
Your Disable Device skill has increased by 1
I can see far easier than the rest, with a torch and my flashlight mode. I could use Fredrico's phone too, but people will ask why it wasn't wrecked from Shatterbird's scream. Actually, oh fuck me, who cares about that, see if it can reach 911.
I glance around to see who is watching, check observers. Shit, there's more cameras in here, two. Probably another intercom too, but Jack is being quiet for now. Another look at my mini-map shows that the relative positions of wherever he, Bonesaw, and Crawler is; haven't changed…yet.
"Uh, I found Michael. He's lying on the floor here, not moving." Marcus says.
"Is he dead?" David asks.
Move to a spot unobserved by the cameras. Okay, they're busy examining Michael, check now. "Inventory" I pull Fredrico's phone out. Fuck no signal. '911' still no signal, shit. "Inventory" I put it back. I'll need it if we get to an area that does have signal. Cell towers probably got wrecked when the rest of the town did.
Jordon nods after examining Michael. "No pulse. Can't tell what killed him."
"Be careful then since we don't know what did it." David stated.
Quick observe on Michael's corpse. "Electrocution?" I know that's the case, they don't. Need to lead them to the correct conclusion. "He probably tried to turn a light switch on. So uh, nobody try to do that."
"Yeah, probably, fresh burn marks on his palm." Jordon said, confirming it for the rest of the party.
Return to the blind spot, the obvious camera is in one corner of the room near Michael's body. Where is the other? Move around; check the camera detector to determine its location. There, on the south wall; has to be on that table thing full of knick-knacks. "Observe, observe, observe…" There you are fucker, got a microphone on there too you asshole.
Well, my advantage is that Jack doesn't know I know about the hidden camera, but don't discuss any plan near it. I need to blind his whole system. The ceiling cameras are wired, hidden one is wireless. "Observe, observe, observe…" Focus my intent on the wires attached to the camera, and the light switch panel that killed Michael. Too much current for normal appliances to handle, meant to kill people quick. Camera's have to be on a separate system, lights from earlier in the other rooms probably also. A quick free camera swap confirmed a mess of electrical cabling on the other side of the wall. Look behind all the other walls of this room as well. What can I expect from them? Hmm, just how rushed was all this? A lot, shit camera installations already, repaired multiple times. Try not to think about the old blood stains on the floor. How many other poor souls did they watch die in this dungeon? Was Jack the sort to have put in valid safety protocols for his equipment? This isn't exactly a permanent lair here. Has he ever read the evil overlord's list? What the hell is he waiting for anyway?
"Robert", I whisper, getting his attention. I wince at what I'm about to do, but he is already unhinged, stress is near his breaking point.
"Yeah, what?"
I put a finger up to my mouth in the sign of silence. "He's still listening… and watching." I whisper as I point out the ceiling camera and intercom to him. I know he'll go after them again. "Wait," I say as he starts to move. "That wall and light switch near the camera is electrocuted. It's what killed Michael. We do need to blind him though, but wait." I wasn't going to send him off to die, but if Jack was going to focus his anger on anyone I don't want it to be me, or at least be less on me. He has already smashed more than one camera and intercom, so doing it again would just be expected behavior.
"You got a plan or something?" he whispers back, still a little louder than what I prefer. I shush him again, and nod.
Robert Kensington has gone from stranger to acquaintance
Jordan is making bandages, David and Greg are standing guard, Macy sobs quietly in the corner, Robert watches me and waits for a signal, Marcus stands around and blinks.
<"Simon, what can we do?"> Ruben comes over and asks me.
I'll take a chance. Maybe Jack or the other nine members don't know Spanish. Whisper anyway. I gesture for Ruben to follow and I move us further away from the hidden camera and microphone.
<"Jack wants to herd us, through specific doors, to keep going through his maze. He traps and blocks the regular doors and windows, we'll if we can't or won't go through the door and windows we'll have to go through the wall."> I gesture to a spot along the south wall. <"It's just drywall, it won't hold up to a machete, a bat, and knives."> I hand my bat to him. <"Give it to Carmen or Chela, tell them the plan, start make a hole there when I say so.">
I make my rounds whisper to the others. "What is it kid?" David whispers back to me.
"We'll need to block the vents in here again; those bots won't leave us alone."
"Yeah I know, been too dark to see where they are."
"There's two, there and there, in the ceiling." I point them out to David, Greg and Marcus. "We'll---
DONG! DONG! DONG!...
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Our conspiratorial whispers are interrupted by an old Grandfather clock that has been quietly ticking away in the room. As soon as it stops the intercom buzzes to life again.
"Midnight, time for the witching hour. Pick someone to kill soon or get another visitation by your former friends." Jack cackles over the intercom.
"Michael already died, in this room, you sick fuck!" Jordan yells. "Why wasn't that enough?"
"Language!" I hear Bonesaw yell in the background.
"Tsk, because it wasn't by one of your hands. It could have been, I know some of you wanted to kill him for offing one of your group already. One of you should have acted sooner, hesitate and one of the others just might choose for you."
"Jeremy and Melinda wasn't killed by us!"
"Pshaw, Jeremy was a freebie, because you did things a bit out of order. But, what makes you think Melinda wasn't killed by one of your—"
The intercom cut off because Robert had smashed it, again. Fuck, I hadn't told him start yet.
"Robert!" I yell, and gestured my head to the camera. We have to start now anyway, I move toward the small table, Robert smashes the ceiling camera.
"Why did you do that? He's going to attack us now!" Macy screamed.
"Inventory" the quaint little brass falcon with the camera in its' eye and the microphone in its' base disappears into my inventory as soon as Robert finish smashing the camera. <"Now!"> I said to Ruben, as I rushed over toward the camera Robert had smashed. "We need to seal those vents off right now."
Marcus climbs onto the back of the couch to reach one vent while Greg and David try to board up the other vent with a cabinet door and the duct tape roll. Yank the coaxial cable down, "Power Strike," smash the drywall in more to get more cable loose. Damn, there is movement on my mini-map, "Bot's Incoming!" Drag my moto-cross gloves on from my inventory. Fuck I hope this works, shove the coaxial video output cable onto the live electrical wire…
-128 HP [Electrical Damage] (2 Resisted, 2 Deflected)
Your Damage Resistance (Electrical) skill has increased by 1
"Oh! Fuck me, that hurt!"
Turn around, and… Shit!
"AHHHH!" Marcus screams, his foot just got cut clean off, he falls off the back of the couch and continues screaming. Something is in the room, standing up from inside the couch. The couch no one would sit on because it looked like someone had died on it.
"Darren? Oh my god, what did they do you, it's me Macy!" Darren turns around and stabs Macy in the stomach. She falls.
"DIE YOU MONSTER!" Robert yells jumping into the fray hacking and stabbing at it with the pipe and thrusting the torch in its face, lighting its head on fire.
Fuck. Stealth, "Inventory, Bonesaw's poison #193". I quickly wiped it on my makeshift spear and discarded the glove. "Power Strike", I stabbed it in the back.
-124 HP Backstab, Critical Hit! (2 Deflected)
-25 HP [Darren Garner has been Poisoned]
"Power Strike, Power Strike, Power Strike"
-44 HP (2 Deflected)
-25 HP [Corrosive Damage]
-52 HP (1 Deflected)
-25 HP [Corrosive Damage]
-47 HP
+290 XP for assisting in death of Darren Garner
Saved: 0, Dead: 33, Pending: 11
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
New blips appear on my mini-map. Something is fucking attacking me. Damn bots!
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
Fucking bot tries to stab me with the syringe again, but the needle won't penetrate my Avatar body. I grab it and it proceeds to cut up my hand.
-7 HP (6 Resisted, 1 Deflected)
-7 HP (6 Resisted, 1 Deflected)
Fuck, if not for Avatar's body I'd have just lost some fingers. My other glove is in shreds.
-7 HP (6 Resisted, 1 Deflected)
Smash it against the live electrical wire? Die Bastard! Ow Fuck.
-130 HP [Electrical Damage]
-22 HP [Electrical Damage] (4 Resisted)
+275 XP for destroying Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider
"We can't keep holding these in!" Greg shouts. Looking up I see Greg in a chair holding a cabinet door against the vent. David is helping drag a screaming Marcus over to the hole Ruben made in the wall.
"This fucking thing… killed me?" Robert is on the ground still holding onto another bot tightly despite it hacking his fingers off, it's syringe is empty. Robert is a goner.
"Power Strike!" I stomp down on it hard, pinning it in place. It responds by flex some bladed legs backwards and cutting up my feet, right through my shoes.
-4 HP (3 Resisted)
-7 HP (6 Resisted, 1 Deflected)
Damn these fucking things are tough, it begins shredding my shoes. "Inventory" Equip boots. Its next attacks are futile against the fresh thicker material, but that won't last. "Power Strike!" a carefully aimed strike causes the tip of my spear to puncture a small hole in the metal box that housed it brain tissue.
-6 HP (3 Resisted)
-4 HP (6 Resisted, 4 Deflected)
"Inventory" I pull out the bleach, and pour it into the puncture wound.
-60 HP [Corrosive Damage] Critical Hit!
+275 XP for destroying Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider
Riley Gray has gone from stranger to annoyance
Robert Kensington has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 34, Pending: 10
"They're moving away again." Greg shouts.
I listen to the skittering; it goes distant briefly then starts getting louder again. Mini map shows that the one that had attacked us earlier is moving to the vent over my head. Shit. "They're moving to this vent!" Turn look, Jordan disappears into the hole in the wall dragging Macy behind her. Mini-map, Carmen, Chela, Jordan, and Macy, are in the other room. Just me, Greg, David, Marcus, and Ruben are still in this room. The map shows Tina and Thomas are also on the move. Somebody's lost their patience now.
A click and one of Jack's Door's pop open,
"Fall back!" David yells.
Despite scrambling backwards, the three bots come out of the vent and drop down from the ceiling… onto me.
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
-7 HP (6 Resisted, 1 Deflected)
-7 HP (6 Resisted, 1 Deflected)
It is suddenly bright because the couch catches fire from Robert's previously dropped torch. Bleach, Electricity, what about Fire?
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
-7 HP (6 Resisted, 1 Deflected)
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
-7 HP (6 Resisted, 1 Deflected)
What are they stupid? The poison injection doesn't work. One looks empty, I try to grab the two that aren't as I get the hell away from Tina. At least the couch fire gives enough light that Greg, David and Ruben can see enough to attack her.
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
-7 HP (6 Resisted, 1 Deflected)
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-12 HP [Fire Damage] (4 Resisted)
-16 HP [Fire Damage]
Got one of you fuckers! Except the fire isn't doing enough damage to it, and just as much to me. I have to do something else and quick. Fuck, "Inventory Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider" Holy shit that works? Two more to go.
+55 XP for defeating Bonesaw's mechanical spider
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
You are suffering from the status effect 'Minor Smoke Inhalation'
Got the other one you little shit.
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
Fuck manipulating my inventory screen takes too fucking long! "Inventory Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider" Guess they count as more machine than living thing, or the metal box the living thing is in counts as a container. One more left, but no more poison danger unless she sends more. "Observe" targeting the house. No new enemies.
"Simon look out!"
+55 XP for defeating Bonesaw's mechanical spider
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-94 HP (6 Resisted, Critical hit!)
Your Damage Resistance (Physical) skill has increased by 1
Fuck me! I hit the floor, my spear clatters away. I got stabbed, right in the fucking back. What's stabbing me? Oh, I fell onto the fucking spider-bot. It's squirming underneath me as
-6 HP (8 Resisted)
-6 HP (8 Resisted)
The fucking spider is slicing me up from below, Thomas is trying to stab me in the face with his blade hands. Not strong enough to… "Inventory" Can't take his blades, controlled objects…
-24 HP (8 Resisted)
-80 HP
"Ow, ow, shit!" What? My axe is sticking out of Thomas's back now. Thomas doesn't react other than to reach his hand out, and cut David right across the leg. David yells. Thomas' hand moved, it lightens the leverage on me.
"Inventory Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider" the one underneath me disappeared, as one of my free hands sweep my window over me. Now, grab one that still had a working poison vile. In a flash of light it appears in my hand, with mental intent my hand now grasped firmly on the syringe tail and its bladed legs faced away from me. I stabbed Thomas in the eye with it, the hydraulic hiss of the syringe sounds, and Thomas goes limp. I push him off of me.
+55 XP for defeating Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider
+385 XP for killing Thomas Cruise
Saved: 0, Dead: 37, Pending: 7
-6 HP (8 Resisted)
Oh right this fucker. "Inventory Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider" and the one I am holding disappears.
+44 XP for defeating Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider
"You're a fucking cape?" David asks as he limps to a standing position, and coughs from the smoke.
"We're trapped in a house that is about to be on fire." Thirty Seven dead? Who the fuck else had died?
Oh, I see. Marcus had bled out and Tina was killed by David, Ruben and Greg. Clear my notifications. No XP from Tina? Fuck that was a person, why am I thinking that shit?
The status effect 'Minor Smoke Inhalation' has been upgraded to "Smoke Inhalation'
"My leg is cut up." David said, but yanked the axe out of Thomas' back and limping to the hole in the wall anyway. "You first." He said heroically. I crawl though and he follows me.
"Barricade the hole" David speaks again with authority.
"She's dying." Jordon says. Macy is lying on the floor in a pool of blood with a stab wound to the gut.
"Greg, Ruben, Carmen, and Chela are pounding away at the outside wall of the room making another hole. It's a small bedroom. There is a wrecked camera in the corner. I spam Observe again for more booby traps. Found one that had been tripped already, no others. Carmen has a bandaged up arm, that she did not have moments ago.
"Greg, Axe, take out the wooden studs." David says and hands it off. They'd already gotten the drywall down, ripped out the insulation, and had been pounding the exterior brick from the inside of the wall.
"We have to get out of here now; house is on fire in there." I say.
"Don't let them… turn me into a monster…" Macy chokes up, then she stops moving.
"She's gone." Jordan cries, wiping her face and closing the girl's eyes.
Macy Sitwell has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 38, Pending: 6
I pull my sculpture chisel out of my inventory in a flash; Greg and Jordan give me a look but say nothing. "Hit the mortar, with this and knives, to loosen the bricks first." I say, coughing. The others are coughing heavily also.
"Hold on," stand up, inventory screen ready. "Inventory smoke" I spin in a circle... Fuck that did nothing.
"Power Strike, Power Strike Power Strike!..." Greg holds the chisel while I hammer on it with the bat. We settle into a rhythm, alternate with the chisel knocking out mortar; then we alternate bat and the backside of the axe, swinging as hard as we can. Greg swaps out with Ruben or David as the room fills with more smoke. I have the stamina reserves to keep going despite Power Strike draining it fast. Seems I get to gain skill in it even if it's an inanimate object, if it's a life or death situation. Fuck you power.
After several minutes, the hole is large enough that Chela, Carmen and Jordan crawl out. A few more minutes and the rest of us make it through, in a tight fit.
<"We're in the back yard, tall fence, but climbable"> Chela says between coughs as I crawl though.
Notifications pulse at me.
Your Drug & Poison Resistance skill has increased by 1
The status effect 'Smoke Inhalation' has been downgraded to 'Minor Smoke Inhalation'
+2200 XP, 'Escape the house that Jack (sorta) built!' quest completed
Thank god. Smoke counts as a poison? A glance at my mini-map, fuck the nine are moving, and I still don't know where the others are.
We have to get out of here now." I yell. Greg, Ruben, and David all have injuries bandaged up by scraps of table cloth and clothing that Jordan has harvested. They move slowly, and are coughing from excessive smoke inhalation still.
<"Come on! Climb!"> Ruben says, boosting Chela up to the top of the wooden fence, I help Carmen follow after, then Jordan. <"You go!"> He yelled at me.
<"No, you first, you're injured, have to help you and them up."> He nods and steps into my hands and I pushed him up.
David and I push Greg up and over, and we scramble up after him. I jump down and turn back to look at David…
He falls, crashes to the ground off the fence, and lays on the grass unmoving, a large spear of broken glass protruding from his face. The glass then moves backwards, pulling itself out of his head and the bloody tip points back toward my direction.
I glance up at the figure floating above us in the air, "Observe"…. Shatterbird.
David Archer has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 39, Pending: 5