Serious Plots 7: Why so srs?

[Earl of Purple]

Vault Z

Well, it won't kill all of them. The mature ones aren't vulnerable to light, except as lasers.

The lights go on! There's a humming buzz as the power returns, and several fizzes and pops as well. One of the bulbs in this room shatters with a pop as the electricity overloads the under-maintained circuitry, but it seems they're all on individual circuits so the light isn't too badly effected.

[Recaiden]

"Isn't she beyond help?"
Alice looks skeptically at the fallen angel.
And then, with her bound to the wall, just goes to hit the torturer again and again, till she falls apart like the first one.

[bc56]

Vault Z

Only one thing left to do.
Seal the main door and go on a killing spree.
Jason returns to the entrance to seal it, and then will begin a methodical sweep of the bunker to find any and all kylldren and cocoons remaining within and kill them.

[Earl of Purple]

Vault Z

The main door has rusted shut. Closing it... Might be doable, if he went outside and pushed, but opening it again is going to be either very very tricky, or impossible (although Jason could always cut a hole in the door to escape, if he needed to).

The cocoons he finds have all shrivelled and desiccated, revealing a contorted partially-developed humanoid within, or exploded in a shower of black gunk and pallid body parts. There's five kylldren lurking in the bedroom he broke into, the one that had been sealed. One is on the floor in the middle, another two lurking on the ceiling above the door, and two are hiding. The one in the middle of the room is... It resembles a human, with extremely pale skin and short silver-blonde hair. It isn't wearing clothing, and is physically ungendered. As these things go, it looks relatively young, though it's the same height as all the others. Its open eye is a deep purple, almost black. The two above the door are a seeming half-elf with pale green skin, brown hair and wearing a dirty school uniform and a seeming orc with orange skin and deep red skin.

[Gullara]

[The Void]

Between the two of them, Belfidius falls hard, the whole of his bulk working against him. His head hits the floor with a meaty, resounding 'thwok'... and his limbs go stiff as he just lays there for at least a moment, dazed.

[The Void]

Val is ready to leap upon him in a frenzy. He looks like a wild beast, mad with hunger and rage. Something inside of him pulls him back. He takes an uncertain step away. Then another. Wordlessly, without looking at Astrana, he grabs hold of one of the bars of her cage. He pulls, his whole body straining with the effort. With a resounding snap he pulls the bar free and turns back to Belfidius.

[Morty]

[The Vault]

Michalson focuses on the incoming monster, trying to sense if the barrier is magical, or something else. He also fires a shot from his gun, to check if it only deflects magic or physical projectiles as well.

"I'm going to try to take down this barrier!" he tells the others.

[bc56]

Vault Z

"School's in session now, kids. Today's lesson will be one you'll never forget." Jason jumps into the room and fires on the center one before activating his shield and leaping again to the corner of the room, where he hopefully can see everything coming at him.

[Earl of Purple]

Vault Z

The central kylde is blasted with Jason's laser and shrieks as it collapses. The two on the ceiling dive forward and try to tackle him as he jumps in, but he leaps to the corner and evades them before they reach him. The seeming half-elf cancels its wall-walking and lands on the ground, rushing Jason from the ground, ignoring its dead compatriot, whilst the apparent orc rushes him from the ceiling. They've opened their eyes, but not extended their mouths yet. The half-elf's eye is a sickly yellow colour, whilst the orc's is a deep green. They both aim to get close and tackle him, setting him as their 'down' after they've made contact and will start to bite and claw, trying to find a weakpoint- any weakpoint.

They'll arrive at the same time; despite some aesthetic differences, they're all functionally identical.

[bc56]

Vault Z

Jason leaps. Not away from the monsters, but towards them. He tries to twist through the space between the one on the ground and the one on the ceiling, firing two quick shots at the two kylldren who had attempted to drop onto him earlier.

[Earl of Purple]

Vault Z

Jason vaults between them, and they stop and twist, though the half-elf-looking one has been winged by his hasty shot- and a shot whilst leaping, at two moving targets on either side of him, is going to be hasty and poorly aimed, unless Jason's got some undisclosed tech in his visor like a VATS.

The seeming half-elf with its upper arm injury is going straight for Jason, and the orc looks to be doing the same, too- except after it's reached him, it's going to continue past and go to the door and try to make its way out. By then, Jason may be too busy tackling the half-elf-alike.

[bc56]

Vault Z

Jason leaps back away from the charging kylldren again, landing in the doorway. He fires at the charging orc, then drops the shield and powers up the strength boosting servos, preparing to lash out at the half elf as it nears as well.

[Earl of Purple]

Vault Z

The orc is hit and falls over, before dropping from the ceiling to the floor. It's not moving any more, and its wall-walking ability has dropped; it's probably dead.

The half-elf ignores its fallen friend, and leaps for Jason's head, hissing aggressively and preparing to extend its mouth-tentacles from its eye sockets and start gouging and biting at him.

That is, until it's hit by Jason's punch, its flight redirected into a wardrobe which it hits and crunches into. It's broken through the wood of the wardrobe's door, and the old furniture collapses on top of it. It doesn't move again, but it might not be dead, just stunned.

The naked one is starting to leak big maggots which are crawling desperately for darkness- most aren't making it, and crisping and dying before they reach anything.

[bc56]

Vault Z

Jason begins firing at the two which haven't been so aggressive, one shot at each of them. He stays standing in the doorway, because he doesn't want to give them an easy escape.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Vault]

Jim nods, and backs up to let Michalson try his thing. Clearly brute force won't work. Jim concentrates some energy into his palm as insurance. He lets it stew, glowing harshly as he waits for the man to try his disruption.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Void]

Val pulls back, but he seems to slow. Then his figure seems to blend in with the shadowy room for a moment, and Belfidius's grab seems to miss it's mark. As Astrana tries to look his ankle, Val throws himself into the brute again with no regard. If he falls, Val will be carried down to the ground with him.

[Delivery]

"Marlon is nice. What do you thin-" As Kitsuki is prompting Annie full hearted agreement, a nurse enters the room.

"Miss Tsukuda? We're ready for you now."

Kitsuki nods and looks at Annie. "Okay, be good for Obraine. Mommy will be back soon with your new siblings, okay?"

"Okay mommy." Annie says, more seriously.

Kitsuki reaches out to squeeze Obriane's hand before she gets wheeled away.

[The Void]

Once the bug-man has fallen, Astrana quickly lets go of him. But as she see's Val's expression, far more furious than she could recall seeing him before, she also backs away from the door in case there was collateral damage.

But then Val stops himself.
For a moment, Astrana had almost thought...

She blinks when Val exerts himself and somehow manages to pull away the bar, she can only stare for a moment.
However, she quickly gathers her bearings and rush towards the celldoor and squeezes herself between the bars. Then she attempts Val's hand to squeeze it before asking, "Which way?"

[Delivery]

Obriane feels as if her heart is about to leap out of her chest when the nurse enters the room.

This was it.

The changeling turns to Kitty and then reaches for her, attempting to pull her into a hug as tight as she dared before slowly letting go. "Don't worry, we'll be good." She replies, moving her hand along the kitsunes arm and gives her wrist a tight squeeze before eventually letting her go.

She watches her being wheeled away, reminding herself that she would never have to see her Kitty in a wheelchair of all things again before turning to Annie. "...so what do you want to do now?"

[Gullara]

[Delivery]

Kitsuki will give the two one last wave before she's taken away.

Annie is frowning when Obriane looks at her, but she seems more reassured than before even still. "I'm hungry." She declares.

((I imagine we can jump to after in short order.))

[Earl of Purple]

Vault Z

The two which haven't been so aggressive are hiding. They aren't immediately visible.

When he searches the wardrobes, the third one he looks in contains a child-like monster with bone-white hair, a lime-green eye and shiny black skin. It's wearing a small black rucksack and denim dungarees; when the wardrobe is opened, the monster jumps out, mouth-tendrils biting and clawing with another hand as it stabs with a kitchen fork in the other hand.

[bc56]

Vault Z

As soon as he sees the leaping creature, Jason fires at it, hopefully scoring a hit. Even if he misses, the creature will find it hard to penetrate his armor with the weapons it is using.

[Earl of Purple]

Vault Z

The creature squeals as it's shot, but doesn't stop, continuing its leap and stabbing at Jason's armour with the fork. It's trying to get the pointy cutlery underneath one of the armour plates, or possibly jabbed hard into an elbow or knee joint whilst it snaps at his visor with its extended mouths- the latter is intended mainly as a distraction and obvious threat.

[bc56]

Vault Z

Jason grabs at the creature, so he can throw it off of him and then hit it with the laser when it's no longer trying to stab him. His elbow joints are covered in reinforced cloth, the only opening is around the neck, really, so the fork has little effect.

[Earl of Purple]

Vault Z

The monster darts and dodges to avoid being grabbed, shucking its rucksack to make evasion easier (the rucksack is, however, thrown across the room- Jason had it in his hands when the thing removed it). It'll move on to stabbing at Jason's neck with the fork, getting three stabs in before finally being grabbed and thrown.

It has set Jason as its 'down', so rather than hit the wall or floor, Jason has essentially thrown it straight up, and it is readying itself for its 'fall' back to Jason, fork held at the ready.

[Leostales]

New York City 1925, October 31st

The time travel process is surprisingly calm and quick. One second they close their eyes and then open them to entirely different surroundings.

It is now New York City 1925. The time of day is about 8:30 pm, the sky is dark and stormy, rain pours down heavily, with an occasional lightning strike illuminating the ominous skyscrapers. If Fayyaad and Ravanys have never been in an urban city like this, they will probably be awed.

They arrive in the middle of an empty ally, not too far from the streets. Metalhead has given them clothes that will fit the era.

"Don't worry about your faces, most people will convince themselves they're seeing things, and those that don't are probably too drunk to care.

Scarson's club isn't that far away just head down this ally, take the third left, and head down a flight of stairs. When you're at the door, knock once and say 'Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!' The guard will then let you in.

Once you're in, wait for Scarson to give his speech. Then follow him to his mansion when he leaves. When you're waiting for him, order a drink so the locals don't get suspicious, but don't drink it!.

That should be all. Unfortunately I can't leave the time machine with you, nor can I stay here. If it gets too dangerous, use these." He gives them both keys. "Press the button on them, and it will summon me to you. And I'll be monitoring your life signature, so if the worse happens I can time travel to a minute before it does and pull you out of there. Any last questions?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

[NYC 1925]

Hopefully the clothes include long coats. The tails might stick out a bit here.

Ravanys has spent many years living in Inside, so the sight of a city isn't too big of a deal to her. But, there is some wonder to be had. It's a city she hasn't seen before. In a world unlike the Nexus in a lot of ways.

Ravanys will quickly change into the new clothes as Metalhead explains everything.

People aren't gonna question the horns too much? She points to her own. And what kind of place are we sneaking into? Secret party? Illegal bar? Is everybody there to hear him specifically, or is it just a random gathering of people he's gonna speak at?

[Morty]

[NYC 1925]

Fayyaad would have been awed if he'd arrived directly from his homeland, but he's been in the Nexus for some time.

"The horns are one thing... the tail is another," he observes. "Bur maybe we'll slip by."

He waits for Metalhead to answer Ravanys's questions, otherwise.

[Leostales]

[NYC 1925]
"It is halloween after all, at worst people will just think you're some reveler. Most people would rather stubbornly believe that life is mundane than face the reality that there are big things they don't know. Trust me, I've been through experiences like that.
As for the place, its a speakeasy (illegal bar), there won't be a raid or anything like that, not tonight anyway.
And yes, he'll address the whole place."

The clothes include long coats.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[NYC 1925]

Ravanys nods a bit, now dressed in the appropriate garb. She kept her belt with the rectangular box on it, hiding the box under the coat.

She turns to Fayyaad. Well, I'm ready when you are.

[Morty]

[NYC 1925]

"Then let's be on our way," Fayyaad says. "I'd say I wouldn't mind partaking in a clandestine party, but sadly we're on a job."

With that, he'll set out in the indicated direction, observing the streets around him carefully.

[Leostales]

NYC 1925

"Excellent, see you then." with that Metalhead and the time machine fade away leaving them alone in the alleys of New York.

The alleys seem to have some sort of life to them with each one having a different personality. But not an outward personality like the streets of Inside, its something deeper, something more subtle. Before they can figure out what, they arrive at a set of stairs. Down the stairs is a long dark hallway. Only the first foot of floor of the hallway is vaguely visible and the rest is filled with unbreakable darkness. Both characters feel a psychological restraint from entering the hallway, that feels like fear.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[NYC 1925]

Ravanys gives Fayyaad a grin. Part of the job is blending in. We can enjoy the party a little.

At the stairs, Ravanys senses the fear-like feeling. She gives a small, involuntary shudder.

Eesh. Creepy. Guessing it's some kind of ward to keep wandering people away.

[Morty]

[NYC 1925]

"Could be," Fayyaad says. "I could light a fire, but we need to be careful with tipping our hand too early. Nothing to do but enter. And while I would love to be paid to attend a party, our employer did warn us not to drink anything. Presumably there's blood in the drinks."