estoria | « 004 ⇢ INTERLUDE004.EXE »

Entry tags:

!event,
!interlude

« 004 ⇢ INTERLUDE004.EXE »

Who: These suckers and E R R O R
When: OOC: 5/29, IC: 7/15
Where: CERES Research Tower and Beyond
What: It seems an old friend has decided the situation is progressing too slowly.
Rating/Warning: PG-13: Violence, injuries and inevitable deaths.

▶ ACTION.EXE | IC: 7/15

For those unlucky saps who disappear today, ranging from early in the morning towards the middle of the afternoon, well...they can't be reached by CereVice.

Any attempt to do so will bounce back the message User Currently Occupied.

It's an odd message, and one that's never been used by the CereVice. How strange. It's probably nothing though, right? No contact can be established between groups or from groups to outside people in Cerealia, whether by technology or magic. You're cut off from everyone but those in your groups, now.

Otherwise, all abilities will remain intact.

As for the people who do disappear, well... things get a little hairy really quickly.

▶ RUN.EXE | MOD NOTES

This is the event log for these sign-ups! Your groups have been sorted below; here are a few handy links for you:

Group 01 | OOC plotting
Group 02 | OOC plotting
Group 03 | OOC plotting
Group 04 | OOC plotting
Group 05 | OOC plotting
Group 06 | OOC plotting
Group 07 | OOC plotting
Group 08 | OOC plotting
Group 09 | OOC plotting
Group 10 | OOC plotting
Group 11 | OOC plotting
Group 12 | OOC plotting
Group 13 | OOC plotting
Group 14 | OOC plotting
There is no tagging order, so feel free to tag in whatever way works best for you as a group.

The characters should not ICly be gone longer than 5 hours -- if they survive, of course. There will be mod involvement in each of the threads.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask them here. Please try to avoid asking hypothetical questions (such as "What will happen if my character does [action]?") as that's part of the fun and risk of the interlude! You are welcome to plot with your groupmates in this post. Thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

We discovered this, as well. [ He waves the strange knife-like object they found. ]

If we've finished our rooms, we may as well follow her into her room to retrieve her.

[Iris nearly did a double take when she saw the knife. It could have just been a coincidence, or a trick of her mind...but she couldn't help note just how similar the design was to the Shichishito. The way the blade curved. The various edges that stuck out.]

[Combined with the papers she had found....]

May I ask...where, specifically, you found that knife?

I will assist if we encounter the monster, worry not.

[Combat bros. At Togami's words, though, she crosses to the door Sapphire entered, trying to open it - and automatically frowning.]

...It isn't opening. [It takes a moment for her to completely process that, but once it does, her voice takes on a new note of concern.] Someone assist me, please.

[ The door's not going to open, no matter how hard they try; from the other side, there are the sounds of Sapphire struggling against it, and then a loud noise when Blaziken slams into the door with a Blaze Kick.

It doesn't break down the door.

But it does wake an unfortunate creature. It had been hibernating, practically giving off no life whatsoever, but now it drops from the ceiling, landing between all of them and for a moment just hissing.

But only for a moment. ]

[Raven had been about to head over and help with the door when the creature drops down between them all. He's used to being ambushed by monsters, so his reaction is instant. He draws his sword, and the reason for its bizarre appearance becomes apparent: he pulls a lever on the side and it transforms into a bow.]

Kid, if ya can hear us, we won't leave ya behind! [He shouts it in the direction of the door. Hopefully Sapphire could hear amidst all that struggling that seems to be going on on the other side... Then, to Iris and Togami:]

You two, get back and stay outta the way.

[Then he raises his bow to launch a volley of arrows. If he can draw the creature's attention towards him, it will give the two of them a chance to get back, not to mention give Adelina a chance to get away from being penned in against the door.]

Tch—

[ He might have explained about the knife, but this is decidedly not the time. He switches from showing it off casually to gripping it as a weapon, otherwise staying back and out of the way. (He never got close to the door to help open it in the first place, of course.)

He's watching the monster to see how it will act, but he's also taking a closer account of their surroundings, to see what their options are for escape, if things come to that. ]

[ It reacts as most monsters would to something like that -- it's immediately lunging for Raven, as the cause of its pain and distress. The arrows do damage, a lot of it; the fleshy skin of the monster offers no resistance whatsoever to them. But on the other hand, it doesn't really seem to stop it, so it's going to lunge right at Raven to try to eat him.

It'll get stopped by the bow arm first, though, because it's not a very intelligent creature; its jaws close on said arm, but Raven or someone else will have time to hopefully stop it from, you know, biting his arm off. ]

[Iris let out a terrified shriek, before bringing up both hands to silence herself. Her eyes were wide. Thoughts of the strange blade were forgotten as she could only retreat back in horror, watching the creature sink its teeth into Raven.]

[She wanted to help. She wanted to do something. Anything. But she had no weapons and no way of--]

[Wait.]

[She turned back to the person still holding that knife. They were gripping it tightly. Good.]

Quick! S-stab it! We need to...

[We need to get it off Raven's arm]

[As Raven fires his arrows, she's already unsheathing her sword and hurrying towards the creature. The only bright side to the fact that it has his arm, perhaps, is that it's paying attention to him and not to her. It leaves her free to aim for it's neck, striking hard to (hopefully) dig the blade deep into the creature. If she manages that, she'll tug on the hilt of her sword hard, trying to make the wound long as well as deep. As she does so, she calls back to Togami and Iris—]

Stay back!

[She and Raven can handle this, she thinks, and she doesn't want them to approach and become injured or worse given their lack of fighting skill.]

[ Even though the knife is unique and might have some special properties, it does seem silly to jump into that chaos when Adelina and Raven are busy dealing with that already. So Togami doesn't feel too bad ignoring Iris's command. ...And he doesn't feel bad ignoring Adelina's either. No one can tell Byakuya Togami what to do!1

Still, he doesn't get in the way. He keeps his distance, but while they're distracting the monster, he paces around it, looking for any exposed vulnerabilities or abnormalities around the side and back ends that might be a convenient target.

He doesn't explain himself out loud. That would be way too helpful. ]

[Raven's usually a lot smarter about keeping his distance, but the monster's far too fast for him, and he feels the sharp, lancing pain up his arm before he can react. Fortunately his bow is metal and not wood, so it offers some resistance against the monster's jaws... not that it stops the thing from sinking its teeth into him.

Gritting his teeth -- he's experienced worse than this, he can manage -- he draws the knife from his belt with his free hand, and attempts to plunge it into the creature's eyesocket. Even if it doesn't kill it, it might force it to let go.]

[ With the dual strike of a dagger through the eye and a sword through the back of its neck, the monster manages a few death throes before it falls, slumping to the ground without a sound. Raven will still have his arm, at least, but it's not in great shape; the monster's teeth bit down to the bone.

And just like that, everything is quiet again. ]

[Well...somebody stabbed it, so that was good enough. Especially since the creature seemed to fall still. Possibly dead--no, hopefully dead.]

Are you...?

[Keeping a close eye on the prone creature laying on the ground, she approached and took a good look at Raven's arm. It wasn't pretty.]

We should bandage that at once. [In a place like this, infection seemed almost inevitable. She glanced around back at the others.] Does anybody have any space cloth I can use?

[She pulls her sword out of the monster, using it to carefully cut off one of her sleeves, revealing some light burn scars on her arm. She can get more clothing later; this is more important. She hands it to Iris, sheathing her sword as she does, before turning her attention to Raven.]

I'm so sorry. Will you be alright?

[Since it's clear to see he isn't alright now.]

Hmph. That was fast...

[ He's not really the first aid type, and they seem like they're handling that part already. While they're doing that, he'll keep inspecting the monster now that it's not moving anymore, to see if there's anything worth noting or taking. ]

Thank you...

[While the others continue to speak, Iris set to work taking the strip of fabric and moving to wrap it around Raven's wound. Fingers swift with a practiced movement. Like she had wrapped many similar wounds in the past ~~though, perhaps, none so severe~~.]

[As soon as the monster goes down, the bow slips from his grasp, and if anything, Raven looks more concerned for the blooded and damaged state of the bow more than his own mangled arm. What would its original owner think to it?

Maybe the shock is already making him zone out...

Iris's attention finally forces him to concentrate on his own predicament. Even if he feels weirdly distanced from the situation, his arm is starting to tremble, but he tries his best to hold it steady while she tends to it. That sure is a lot of blood.]

Now, ladies... I don't think ya should be lookin' at a nasty thing like this... Heh heh...

[The strain is evident in his voice, but almost getting his arm chewed off isn't enough to stop another halfhearted wisecrack.]

You don't have to worry about me. I've seen much worse.

[It was a half-hearted murmur caught up in her concentration. Thinking not of any nonfatal wound she had previously dressed...but the still form of Mystic Misty. Just moments before she had...]

[There was so much blood. Too much for what she had now to suffice. She would have to apply a lot more pressure. And she needed more fabric.]

[Tieing off what she already had, Iris then bent down and did her best to tear some of the bottom of her own hem. The material was thick--meant to withstand winter weather, after all--so she had to use one of the arrow tips in order to get a good tear started. From there, she managed a decent strip roughly three inches in thickness. With this, she got back up again and added it to her makeshift bandage.]

Fear not. I have seen worse.

[But since Iris has his arm handled, she's going to take this opportunity to go back to the locked door, trying to see if there's any way to open it and chewing on her bottom lip absentmindedly. After a moment, she gives it a sharp knock and calls out.]

Can you hear us? Are you safe in there?

[There is, of course, no answer.]

[Raven remains largely stoic as Iris adds the thicker material to his arm. Instead, he watches as Adelina goes over to the door, which is a distraction from his own predicament. If Sapphire isn't answering, things could be a lot worse on the other side of that door...]

Kid...! Damn... [He frowns, trying to focus.] Maybe I could try blowin' the door down with some artes? Or if we find another way in...

[He trails off. It's getting harder to concentrate on coming up with ideas, so he might be useless for a little while.]

[ He calls out without looking over. ] We haven't gone further down the hall. That will probably be quicker than focusing on the door itself. If nothing else, we might find something useful for breaking it down.

[Once her second knot around Raven's arm was tied and secured, Iris moved to stand. Her gaze altered between her three current companions and the door. Until now, there had been no answer from beyond, but...that didn't have to mean anything was wrong, right?]

We don't know what's directly behind the door. If we try to blow it out...we might risk more people getting hurt.

There must be a...a beam or something around here. Something we could use to smash it down.

[She gives a short pause, thinking it over, before nodding.]

Let us move on and see if we can locate something that could help, then.

[She's fairly worried by this point about what they might find on the other side of that door, but there's no point in voicing that. Better to devote herself to something productive. She glances at Raven; with him injured, it's probably best not to split up again.]

Do you have strength enough to walk?

[She suspects someone might have to help him along, depending on how much blood he's lost from the wound.]

[ Togami's going to find that a) the monster's blood is a strange, dark green color and b) there's a tag on it.

The tag's number reads N53324.

With the monster dead, they're able to pull themselves together for as long as they need, at least; for poor Raven, even with the bleeding staunched, he's going to find it hard to get himself together. There's going to be a pretty strong sense of vertigo, which is going to worsen over the course of the next ten minutes until he can no longer stand up.

There was probably something in the monster's saliva. ]

"N53324". [ He reads the tag aloud, before trying to cut it off with the knife, so that he can keep it for later.

After that, he stands up and starts to walk down the hallway. If someone's gonna help support Raven along the way, it's not going to be him. ]

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