Nyctohylophobia (Perma-death Quest)

[TheLordofAwesome]

[X] Take a look under the record player
[X] Search the area around the door and the door itself
[X] If you find nothing and haven't died yet, try to force the door open.

Click to shrink...

You breathe heavily as you try to compose yourself, trying to ignore the soreness radiating through your body from your attempt at trying to tap into that mysterious power. But you still need to get out of here, so you need to work through this pain. You don't have much time now, you spent several minutes already looking for that key but you haven't found a damn thing. Still, there are a few spots that you haven't checked yet, so you have a place to start.

You move back into your cell, wincing from the pain of your sore muscles being made to move. You bring the collar of your shirt over your mouth to prevent breathing in the smoke from the burning hay as you trudge over to the record player, lifting the front end of it and tilting it backwards to see if there was anything under it. Unfortunately the key is not there, so you place down the record player, not even bothering with the latch on the bottom of the player-

Wait.

You lift the record player back up and look at its bottom, and there was a latch keeping a small panel in place. Curious you undid the latch and the panel falls free... along with the key as it tumbles from its compartment in the record player, clanging against the table.

You don't even think on it for even a second, you grab the key and make a dash for the door. You fumble with the key for a bit and insert it into the keyhole on the door, you turn it and hear the sound of the door unlocking. Once it was unlocked you grab the door handle and swing the door open, ran through and slammed it shut behind you.

Now free of that room and its unseen ticking clock you collapse to the ground, panting heavily. You still had a way to go to get out of this place, but you can take just a few moments to collect yourself after that ordeal. Once you've felt you were ready you pushed yourself up from the ground and look around to take in your surroundings.

You find yourself in a narrow corridor made of stones just like the room you just left, with torches lining the walls that stretch out before you. In front of you, however, was another record player sitting on a small table with another sign that read "Play Me". You approach the record player, take its needle in your hand, and place it against the record.

"If you are listening to this," The old man's voice came through the speaker. "Then I suppose congratulations are in order. You managed to survive your first trial of the game. But we're not done yet, child. Oh no, not by a long shot."

He thinks this is a game? Trapping people in a torture dungeon for his sick amusements?

"Now then," The recording continued. "If you want to get out of here alive you're going to need to navigate your way out of my labyrinth. I am so excited for you! But please remember to make this entertaining for me. I expect you to be quite sporting during this hunt, so if you choose to not play along? Well... You are going to suffer a far worse fate then what has been planned." A low, sinister chuckle echos from the player through the stone corridor. "I'm curious to see what you'll do. Will you search for your friends, or will you try to escape on your own? I am most curious to find out..."

Okay, you were done with this guy's crap. Feeling spiteful, you grab the record player and threw it to the ground, destroying it.

You kick the table the record player had sat on to the side, and proceed to march down the corridor. With every step the sound of your footfalls bounce off the stone walls with a steady rhythm, with only the sound of the quiet crackling of the flames from the torches accompanying it. Of course it didn't make you feel any more comfortable with your situation.

Why did this happen to you and your friends?

What did you all do to deserve this?

Was it all because you went to that stupid house?

Thinking on it, Eli must be distraught about all this. This trip was all his idea! He just wanted to spend time on a fun camping trip with all his friends, he even proposed to his girlfriend! But... Danielle was hurt and you are all now held captive in some sort of torture dungeon at the hands of a psychopath. Once this is all over you doubt Eli will ever forgive himself for this trip even if you all try to convince him this wasn't his fault. How could it be? It's not like he knew this would happen.

You sigh.

You hope they are all okay...

After being lost in thought you realize that you are at the end of the corridor, but rather there being separate paths you could take there was a hole in the floor. You glance down the hole and see the bottom. There was a stone floor maybe about ten feet below you. You could drop down, but there was no going back once you do. Briefly you look over your shoulder, back towards the door you came out of down the long hall.

"Not like there was anything there anyway..."

You sat on the ground and carefully inched yourself towards the hole, keeping your hands on the ground. After a moment you manage to shuffle your way into the hole, carefully dangling yourself so you don't hurt yourself when you drop. You breathe in and out, readying yourself... and then you let go and drop.

You land on the ground, winching somewhat as the shock of the landing goes through your legs. Regardless, you push through the brief pain and right yourself, glancing around the room.

The room was of decent size, about 10x10 in feet with the same sort of stone walls and floor like the rest of the place so far with more torches lining the walls. There were two paths out of the room, one corridor to the left and one to the right, but there was also a door. Approaching it you analyze it; it was a wooden door like the one in that cell room you left, but it had a bar in front of it, keeping it shut and preventing anyone on the other side from opening it. You could, however, easily lift it and enter the room.

You wonder what was on the other side. Was it one of your friends? Was it just a dead end to trick you or anyone who came across it? Or maybe there was a trap that would spring when you enter?

You stood there, staring at the door wondering. Of course if it was a trick or a trap you could just take one of the halls leading out of the room. But you don't know what that old man has in store for all of you.

[ ] Unblock the door and investigate the room.

[ ] Go through the corridor to the right.

[ ] Go through the corridor to the left.

[ ] Cast a spell - Write In (Secondary action may be taken) (MAGIC DISABLED FOR ONE UPDATE)

 

[TheLordofAwesome]

[X] Unblock the door and investigate the room.
-[X] Listen at the door first.
-[X] Then knock on the door, see if you hear any kind of response.

Click to shrink...

Eventually you decided that you were going into that room. It wasn't exactly a great option, you didn't know what was inside. It could be one of your friends, it could be something dangerous. But it was a preferable alternative than going done one of the halls. The corridors were more or less a coin toss that could lead you anywhere, so it was probably better to go into that room and face whatever is in there than wandering around for who knows how long.

But first some precautions need to be taken...

You approach the door and place your ear to the door.

You close your eyes, steady your breathing, and listen. You listen carefully for any sign that might tell you if there is anyone or anything in there.

.....

....

....

You don't hear anything... But that doesn't mean there isn't anyone in there. You pull back your head and rap your knuckles on the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

You press your ear back against the door and listen again.

....

THUMP!

You heard something that time! It was faint, but it was definitely something! Of course, you don't know what made it, but there was only one way to find out. You take the bar that kept the door shut in your hands and lifted it out of place, placing it against the wall. Alright, time for the moment of truth. You grab the door handle and push it open, stepping into the room.

...Well there wasn't anyone in the room, but looking around you could tell this room was intended to be a trail like the cell area you were locked in.

In the middle of the room was a table with two chairs, one empty, the other with some sort of mechanical puppet sitting in it. On the table was a chess board and what looks like playing cards scattered around it. To the right of the empty chair was a record player just within arm's reach, and the empty chair had latches on the legs and the left arm rest, which were clearly there to keep a person in place. Beneath the chair was a hatch, which if you had to guess was meant to slide open and drop the chair (and whoever was sitting in it) down. Curiously there was also some sort of weird machine next to the table which quietly purred, signifying that it had some sort of motor.

So clearly this room was meant to force people into playing a game against... what? That mechanical puppet in the other chair? How was that even supposed to work?

You were so focused at the sight of the game and the machines that you nearly overlooked something: there was a ladder leading out of the room. More specifically there was an open hatch on the ceiling and the ladder had dropped down from it. Whether it was always open or if it dropped down when whoever was captive here completed the game was unclear.

So far this was your biggest lead to one of your friends. If one of your friends was here then they must have went up this ladder. But who could it be? Did it really matter? Having some else with you through this ordeal would be welcomed regardless. Though if it were Danielle...

Danielle... Poor girl... She was hurt because of you... You don't know what dangers lie in wait here in this place, but with Danielle's injuries you don't know how she'll be able to get through this alone. If you don't find her you at least hope someone else does...

"Hopefully Eli gets to her first..." You sigh.

Right. Enough of this room, you need to get going. This ladder was the only way out of this room besides the blocked door you came in from so you need to go up it.

...Of course, you could go down one of those corridors. You might run into one of your friends and then you can all come back her and go up the ladder in search of whoever was here. You look back towards the table where the game was and you couldn't help but feel curious.

Just what was this all about? What's with the machine? Why the game? Maybe the record had some sort of clue... But if you spend any more time in this room then whoever went up this ladder is getting further away from you.

So with that in mind you decide to...

[ ] Go up the ladder.

[ ] Leave the room and go down one of the corridors.
-[ ] The left corridor
-[ ] The right corridor

[ ] Inspect the room. (Another option may be taken)
(Pick one)
-[ ] Examine the machinery.
-[ ] Examine the game.
-[ ] Play the record.

[ ] Cast a spell - Write in (Another option may be taken)

 

[TheLordofAwesome]

[X] Inspect the room.
-[X] Play the record.
[X] Go up the ladder.

Click to shrink...

...You can't fight it, your curiosity gets the better of you. You leave the ladder alone for the time being and move towards the lone record player. There was one in your cell, there was one out of the cell area, and there was one here. These record players are all parts of the old guy's game, forcing you all to play rather then simply kill you. Judging by the ones you've already played, these records seemed tailored to the person they were assigned to. So maybe, just maybe, by playing this record you'll get some sort of clue as to who was here.

With that in mind you take the record needle and place it against the record.

"Ah, hello my dear. Are you listening?" You hear the old man's voice come from the record player speakers. "Good. Now I recommend you pay attention because if you don't, you will not like what happens next."

Huh, more restrained here than your record. In your record he ordered you to pay attention, here he is "recommending" the listener to pay attention. Of course that doesn't tell you anything about who was here so you better keep listening.

"Now, your friends are alright. But just like you they'll be in a situation like this, listening to one of my recordings." The old man chuckles. "As you've no doubt noticed I left you with your belongings, but given your current position I doubt they'll be much good to you until you've left that chair." The old man explains. "Here's how this works: I'm going to let you and your friends try to escape. Get out of this predicament, go through the forest and return to your camp. If you manage that, you'll be allowed to go free."

Another chuckle from the recording. "Of course, that is no simple task, child. There are plenty of dangers waiting for you ahead. But first let me explain your situation: Once this recording ends that's when the game in front of you will start. You'll be playing a game of chess with my friend over there." You look over to the other chair, looking over the mechanical puppet. For some reason you find it... unnerving. "Now standard chess rules apply; each of you will take turns, trying to put the other in checkmate. You'll both have about a minute to make your moves. But there is a catch..."

A catch? Of course there is...

"In addition to playing chess, each turn you'll be given what I like to call "Trump Cards"." The old man explained. "Now that machine next to the table will give out the cards as well as time your turns. When you want to use a card, insert it into the slot of your side of the table. Now, each Trump Card has an effect that can help turn the game to your favor. Such as, say, reversing your opponent's last move or reducing their turn timer."

The old man chuckles again. "If you win you'll be let out of your chair. If you lose, however, the hatch below you will open and you will fall. Of course, if somehow neither of you manages to win by the time I come back, then my dear, I've got something planned for you."

And then the recording came to an end.

Well... That didn't really tell you anything. Though those "my dear" bits might be a clue. He might be talking to Danielle or Sierra. ...Of course, you can't really rule out him addressing Eli or Lucas. You couldn't really guess given that the guy who has you all captive is a psychopath.

Still, you are no where close to even figuring who might have been in this room.

Having spent enough time in this room you decide to leave. That record told you nothing and while you are curious about the game and the machine, you've already spent enough time in this room. You need to catch up with whoever was in this room, and fast.

You stride over to the ladder and proceed to climb up it. It only take you a moment to quickly ascend to the top of the ladder. After you right yourself you look around to take stock of your new location.

You were in another hall by the look of things, with another record player greeting you at the top of the ladder, but you weren't going to bother with it. Likely it was meant to be like the one outside the cell area where you once were; just there for the old man to "congratulate" the person who was trapped in the room below for getting out of the trap. No need to waste your time.

The hall was a lot more bright at one end of the hall than the other, as the torches on the darker side were blown out, plunging that part of the hall into darkness. It was so dark you couldn't even see the end of the hall that way, compared to the other side which was brightly lit from the burning torches lining the walls. On the brighter side of the halls you could see a turn to the right, a shadow being cast onto the walls by the torches and-

Wait.

A shadow?

You do a double take and look in the direction of the shadow, and the moment you focus on it, it moves. The shadow disappeared from view, meaning that someone or something was casting that shadow on the wall. Was it one of your friends?

You take a step forward towards the brighter side of the hall, but stop when something catches your ear. You listen carefully and from behind you, coming from the dark side of the hall you hear a grinding noise. The sound of something metal being dragged along the ground. At first it was faint but with every passing second it sounded like it was getting closer. There was a sound of metal grinding against stone, it stops for a moment, then continuse to grind.

You stare into the darkness but you can't see what could be causing that noise. It was an uncertainty of what could be there, but... part of you thought, maybe hoped, that it could be one of your friends.

[ ] Investigate the shadow.

[ ] Investigate the grinding noise.

[ ] Cast a spell - Write in (Secondary action may be taken)

 

[TheLordofAwesome]

[X] Investigate the shadow

Click to shrink...

You decided to go investigate the shadow. The shadow could be someone, whatever was making that grinding noise could be anything. You didn't want to take the risk. You head off in the direction of the shadow, speeding up your stride to distance yourself the grinding noise which continued to slowly get closer to you.

You round the corner of the hall and see the corridor stretch out before you, and you see a rather disturbing sight. The torches that had once lined the walls had been torn from their positions and had been cast to the stone ground, still burning brightly. Decorating the walls were the bones of what had to be countless animals, fused to the walls by black fluvial grime. There was occasional bare patch of stone, but scrawled on them were messages that didn't make sense in what had to be dried blood.

THE MONSTER INSIDE ME IS GROWING

ENVY

THE GATEKEEPER DREAMS

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, SON

For some reason, the more you read the words on the walls your head begins to hurt. A pulsating pain of an intense headache.

WHAT WILL THAT PERFECT SEA BRING?

I AM EMERGING

THE HORROR IS COMING

IT WILL BE AGAIN

You pull your eyes away from the words on the wall and focus on the end of the hall, you see there is a split in the hall, with one turn going left and the other going right. You see the shadow flashed against the wall by an unseen flame, whatever casting it shifting around where it stood in waiting.

As you began moving towards the shadow again you see another shadow come down quickly, striking the shadow with a resounding smack of something hitting against flesh echoing off the walls and the shadow disappeared from view. With the smacking sound came a horrid noise, like some sort of animalistic screech. The sound stopped you dead in your tracks as you stared wide eyed in the direction of the shadow. The animal-like screeching continued with the sounds of something thrashing around, something heavy smacking against flesh over and over again.

After a moment you see... something dart by from the right side of the hall to the left and disappearing from view just as quickly, hunched over and running on all fours, but it was on fire and screaming a horrific scream. You weren't really sure what it was, and with the fire and how fast it was moving you couldn't really make out proper details, but you knew it wasn't any sort of normal creature.

You begin footsteps from the right turn in the hall soon you see Lucas walking into view, a torch in hand.

"Lucas!" You yell.

He turns to face your direction, his eyes wide and holding the torch in a defensive posture. He is clearly freaked out, but after a brief moment he recognizes you and his stance relaxes. You rush over to him and he rushes over to you. In moments you reach each other and wrapped your arms around one another.

"God, Lucas, I'm glad you are okay..." You say as you tighten your hug.

"I'm glad you're alright as well..." He says, patting your back reassuringly.

After a moment you break off the hug and take a step back. Lucas was quite disheveled looking right now and looked pretty tired, and his right arm was covered in... blood?

"Lucas, your arm..."

"Oh this?" He says as he lifts the blood covered limb up. "That's not mine. When I woke up I was in some sort of morgue. That old guy... He kidnapped us... I mean... Holy shit..."

"Lucas," You say, placing a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. "Stay focused. Explain what happened."

"Right..." He says with a nod. "I woke up and I played this record player. The old guy told me he hid a key to the room in a corpse in that room I woke up in and that I had to find it. Of course, the bodies were all headless and I had to shove my hand down the throats to get it. He said I had a time limit and that if I didn't get the key to open the door then a hatch on the ceiling would open."

"Something like that happened to me." You explain. "I woke up in a cell and was told to search the cell are to find a key to get out or a hatch would open."

"What the fuck is going on?" Lucas asked. "This shit isn't suppose to happen to us. And then there are these... things running around!"

"What was that thing that ran by, Lucas?"

"I don't know, man! I don't fucking know!" He yells, both unsure and terrified. "It wasn't an animal that's for sure. It was like something that crawled out of H.R. Giger's nightmares!"

"Doesn't seem to like fire." You comment. You eye the torch in Lucas' hand. "How'd you know to light it on fire?"

"Not my intention, but yeah." He nods. "I pulled the torch off the wall and sneaked up on it when it wasn't looking to hit it. Looked like it was waiting for something."

You go pale at that.

"I think it was waiting for me..." You mutter. "I saw it and thought it could be someone so I went to investigate. if you didn't attack it when you did..."

"Hey, at least we found each other. That's a start." He shrugs.

"Yeah, and there is still someone else up here."

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"I cam across another room. It seems someone else was forced into playing a game if they wanted to escape." You explain. "It seems they won as a ladder lead up here. So someone else is up here."

"We better go find them then."

"Yeah," You nod. "But I have no where they could have gone. Seems they did it a while ago. Could be Eli, Danielle, or Sierra..."

"Or someone else." He suggests as he offer you the torch, which you accept.

"Maybe, but we don't really know..." You sigh as you look back from where you came. "I heard some sort of grinding noise earlier, we could start there."

"Lead the way, Medea." Lucas says as he reads the text scrawled on the walls. "I think once we're out of here I'm going to stop watching horror flicks for a while..."

[ ] Go in the direction the burning creature went.

[ ] Go in the direction Lucas came from.
-[ ] Ask Lucas to take you back to the room he woke up in.

[ ] Go investigate the grinding noise.

[ ] Cast a spell - Write In (Secondary action may be taken)

 

[TheLordofAwesome]

[X] Go investigate the grinding noise.
[X] Cast a spell - light.

Click to shrink...

Cast Spell: Light = 53 (SUCCESS)
Spell Failure = 64

Click to shrink...

"Right... Let's get moving."

With a motion of your hand, Lucas falls in behind you as you lead him back where you came from. The two of you round the corner and look towards the dark side of the hall, where the grinding noise was coming from. Of course, now there was no grinding noise, only silence.

"So are you sure you heard a noise from over there?" Lucas asks as he stares off into the shadows.

"Positive," You nod.

"Pretty dark over there. But at least we have a torch to light the way." He shrugs. His eyes shift over to the ladder leading to the room below. "Of course, we could just go down and find a better lit path or hold out and hope one of the others find us."

"No," You shake your head. "We have to keep moving. If we stay in one place for too long that old man might find us, and who knows what he'll do when he does."

"Right..." He sighs, walking past you. "Well, let's get a move on then."

You move to follow him, but you stop in your tracks. You stare at the torch in your hand, then look to the dark hall in front of you, thinking... Lucas says something to you as he turns to look at you, but you weren't paying attention to know what he said. You think back to earlier... You remember that power you felt, the one you failed to tap into... You feel it now, it came back sometime ago but you just did not notice until now. Maybe you can try it again.

You let go of the torch in your hand and it falls to the stone floor, and Lucas looks at you with some concern.

You shut your eyes. Breathe in and out. You hold out your hand and think. You think of something that'll help you: Light. Light to illuminate the darkness before you.

You breathe in and out. You reach in deep within yourself and tap into that power you fell.

You feel energy surge through you, funneling from your center mass and into your hand.

You open your eyes and immediately you squint as something bright shines in your eyes, brighter than the flames that had been lighting up the place. Your eyes adjust and in the palm of your hand was a ball of pure light, no bigger than a baseball. Your eyes widen in shock as you stare into the ball of brilliant light.

"I did it..." You mutter in shock. Slowly a smile creeps onto your face as excitement begins to build up in you. "I did it!"

You look up to Lucas to see his reaction, and your smile fades. Lucas' eyes dart between you and the ball of light, his eyes wide from terror. It takes you a moment to realize what you just did and what it must look like from his perspective. You opened your mouth to talk, but nothing came out. What were you supposed to say? How were you supposed to explain this? But you had to say something! You can't just stand in staring at each in silence while he freaks out. Just say something, anything!

"So, um, this is a thing now..." You mutter. Damn it!

"Y-you don't say..." He stutters as he backs up a bit. "Umm... Medea?"

"Y-yes?"

"Fucking what?!"

You wince at his sudden shouting, which he seems to notice as he looks downwards before giving you an apologetic look.

"I, um, think that I... well..." How to explain this... "I think I'm a wizard now...?"

He looks at you, and you look at him. You feel really uncomfortable under his gaze, your eyes dart around, trying to find something, anything to divert attention from what you just did and what you said. Of course, you doubt you can find anything that could possibly top this shit.

"A wizard...?" He says, giving you this look. The kind of look that said he didn't know if he should believe you or if he should run screaming from the crazy girl with the supernatural powers that he just witnessed.

"Or... something... I'm not really sure myself..." You shuffle your feet around uncomfortably. "When I woke up, I just felt... different, I guess. I decided to try to tap into this weird feeling and... well..." You look to the light and shrug. "Yeah..."

Lucas shifts around, his eyes looking around before focusing back on you. "...So you can do magic now or something?"

You nod.

"Well... That's something..."

"I know... It is... strange..."

"No shit." He mutters.

"But, I'm still the same old me. I'm still the Medea who've you been friends with for years." Your eyes divert downwards toward the stone floor. "I hope you don't think too differently of me because of... this..."

"Well... It is a little strange, but given our particular situation, I'm not going to look a potential gift horse in the mouth." He says, rubbing the back of his head. He looks you in the eye and flashes you a grin. "Besides, magic is kinda hot."

"Really, Lucas?" You mutter in a deadpan tone, giving him a look.

"Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood." He shrugs as his grin fades into a serious look. "Medea, look, this is all... fucking weird. This sort of thing just doesn't happen. Or at least it shouldn't." He sighs as he looks around again. "But it is. I don't really understand what is going on anymore, but it doesn't matter if you are some sort of sorcerer or whatever, you are still my friend. Nothing is going to change that." He closes the distance and pulls you into a hug. "So no, I don't think differently of you."

"Thanks, Lucas..." You say, returning his hug. It was good to know he was accepting of this.

He chuckles as he breaks off the hug and gives you a cheeky grin. "So should we get going?"

"Right." You say with a nod and began moving towards the dark side of the hall, Lucas following your lead.

The light you created is bright, about as bright as a flashlight, illuminating everything around you and extending in front of you, the darkness receding from its presence and revealing the path forward. As the darkness faded in the presence of the light, you realize that the hall extended further than you originally thought. It was definitely longer than the hall you found Lucas in, maybe a good 50 feet in length.

"Wow. Nothing gonna sneak up on us in the dark with you around, Medea." Lucas remarks as the two of you walk down the hall.

Both you and Lucas traverse the length of the hall in a matter of moments. You notice that on the walls where missing stones; areas were torches were supposed to be, but were removed completely. That strikes you as odd, but you don't stop to examine in detail. Up ahead you see a turn to the right in the hall, and in the middle of the floor was a sword.

You and Lucas approach the sword, kneel down next to it to analyze it. It was a pretty big sword, you weren't sure what kind of sword it was but it was clearly something that would need both hands to wield properly. It was also pretty old and worn out, the blade was almost completely rusted, half the cross guard had broken off, and the leather on the grip was falling apart.

"Think this was making that grinding noise you were hearing?" Lucas asks as he lifts the blade, inspecting it.

"Maybe." You shrug. "But why is it just left right here?"

"Maybe whoever had it last was dragging it around but then they found the Infinity +1 rusted piece of crap sword and dropped this one like... like... Hm..." Lucas trails off as he grips the sword's hilt

"What?"

"I, uh... forgot where I was going with that joke..." He says sheepishly as he places the sword back down on the stone floor, chuckling nervously.

"I'm sure the punchline to that joke would be crass if you had remembered it." You say sarcastically. Lucas shrugs his shoulders and stands at his full height.

"Think you can use that?" You ask as you stand up.

"I could probably lift it, but don't expect me to swing it around like I'm the Highlander or something." He chuckles. "Eli would probably have an easily time swinging it around than me."

You nod in agreement. Eli is a pretty big guy, he probably has the strength needed to properly use it. At least compared to the rest of you, especially Danielle who currently has one usable arm last time you saw her.

"Let's get moving." You say, as you began to move again.

You round the corner of the hall and you note that the hall continues to stretch out in darkness... or should if it weren't for your light illuminating the surrounding area. The walls and floors of the halls were suddenly more wet and slick, the air smelling of mildew, and the distant sound of water dripping onto the stone floor echoing off the walls.

"Awfully wet here..." Lucas mutters as he looks round.

"Yeah, there was a cell that was like this when I woke up, though with a lot more mold." You say as you move carefully as to not slip on the wet ground. "It might be from rain seeping into the ground or we could be beneath a water source. Eli did say there was a lake in the forest, right?"

"Yeah," He nods. "I guess we'll have an idea of where we are when we get out of here. If, ya know, we are near the lake."

The two of you walk down the wet hall, and about midway down, to your left you see a door. The door is old, made of wood that was in the process of rotting thanks to the moisture in the hall, and the hinges were rusted and looked like they could be torn off the door frame with just enough force. Could be worth it to see what is behind it, but if there is nothing then you are just wasting time. Time that could mean life or death for one of your friends.

[ ] Open the door.

[ ] Keep moving down the hall.

[ ] Go back.

[ ] Cast a spell - Write in (Secondary action may be taken)

 

[TheLordofAwesome]

[X] Open the door.

Click to shrink...

"Lucas, over here." You say as you approached the rotting door.

You take the rusted door handle in your hand and pull the door open, the rusted hinges of the door groaning loudly as you do so. The light from your orb filters into the room beyond, but before you even take one step inside you notice that what lies before you is a disturbing sight.

Corpses.

A stack of corpses sits in the middle of the room.

You eyes widen with horror as you take a step backwards, your back colliding with Lucas who stands behind you. Immediately after taking notice of the sight, a scent hits your nose that makes your stomach churn. It was a very distinct smell, a mixture of decaying meat, rotting fish, and sea water wafting through the door and mixing with the preexisting smell of mildew that fills the halls. Just smelling it makes you gag a little, forcing yourself to breathe through your mouth to avoid inhaling it.

"Oh... God... Hrrk..." Lucas gags as he covers his mouth, attempting to resist the urge to vomit.

As terrible as this sight was you needed to enter that room, so you pushed down your feeling of revulsion and tried to ignore that distinct acidic taste of fluids billowing up from your stomach and forced yourself to move forward. You approached the corpse pile and looked closely, even though you wanted to look away just to look at something, anything else.

There were right twelve corpses in all; eight male, four female. They were all nearly completely nude save for some old, dirty gauze that wrapped around parts of their bodies, their skins were graying and wet from their surroundings, their eyes white and lifeless, and hair had either fallen out or was in the process of it. The male corpses were bloated, unnaturally so; puffed up as if they had been drowned and had taken in water. Bits of the male cadavers' flesh were worried away, as if eaten by ravenous fish or parasites from their sunken graves.

The female corpses were more worse for wear, having a massive opening in their torsos which went just below the rib cage, down the belly, and ending just above the groin. The opening wasn't like something had cut into them, more like something exploded out of them. From the opening you could see that their bodies had been hollowed out, all their internal organs missing, leaving empty husks.

"Oh shit..." You hear Lucas say as he approaches the pile.

"What? What is it?" You ask, to which he points at one of the bodies.

It was one of the female corpses. Her skin tone was a darker shade of gray, so she must of had a darker skin tone when she was alive, with some dark hair still attached to her decaying scalp. Despite the condition of her body you could tell she had some youthful good looks, likely she was no older than her late teens or possibly early twenties, with full cheeks and a small jaw.

"Do you know her?"

"Kinda..." He says, rubbing the back of his head. He looked down at the poor girl with a sad look. "She worked at this convenience store near my house. Name was... Shelly, I think. We use to talk whenever I showed up. Pretty sure she was into me. I was planning on asking her out, but about a month ago she just... disappeared. No one knew why. The people at the store where she worked said she just stopped showing up."

"Guess we know what happened to her..." You remarked as you placed a hand on his shoulder. "You going to be okay?"

"Not really..." He sighs. "I mean... I didn't really know her all too well, but this is just awful... No one deserves this, ya know?"

"When we're out of here we'll make sure she gets put to rest properly." You squeezes his shoulder reassuringly, but it doesn't seem to help as he turns away with a grim look on his face.

You sigh as you tear yourself away from looking at the corpses any further and force yourself to look at something else. Hanging from the walls were various items; saws, bear traps, rusted blades of all sizes, chains, hammers, prongs and hooks. Each of these items hung from the moist stone walls from racks of varying quality and make, their intent for being here was more than clear. You'd have to consider using these against your captor.

To the right side of the room there is a hole in the wall, where the stones had collapsed, giving access to a chamber that would otherwise be unseen had the wall remained intact. You were so focused on the corpse in the middle of the room you had overlooked it entirely. Curiosity strikes you and you move to investigate the hole in the wall.

Traversing through the gap, being mindful of the stone debris littering the floor, you enter the chamber. The light from the orb illuminates your new surroundings and you note that the chamber is not like the rest of this place, it was a small naturally formed cave with stalactites sprouting from the ceiling. But most interesting of all was what was in the center of the room: an obelisk.

It was about ten feet in height, made of stone that was as black as night. Covering its base was a peculiar blend of coral, barnacles, and fish bones that were stuck to the structure, seemingly keeping it in place with the ground. Carved on the surface of the monolith were bas-reliefs of various sea life and monstrous beings that had features were less than pleasant to describe.

Before the obelisk was an altar, in which a dagger, or rather a unique piece of jagged metal stuck to a handle, was lying in a pool of blood. Looking at the blood closely you could tell that it was fresh. Something or someone was killed here recently, likely by the dagger, but there was no body anywhere. It couldn't be the ones in the next room, those had been there for a while.

"This isn't a good sign..." You mutter.

"No, kidding." You hear Lucas say. "This blood looks pretty fresh and I don't like what that could mean for one of the others. We best get a move on to find them before- GODDAMN!"

"What?!" You yell as you turn to look at him.

"That thing that just... That green thing!" He points shakily at the obelisk. "It disappeared when I looked straight at it. Came out of the damn pillar!"

"I didn't see anything." You say as you look at the obelisk. It was certainly creepy but you didn't notice anything when you were looking at it.

"I'm telling you, something's not right here!" Lucas looks around quickly, clearly panicked by something. "I don't like any of this, man..."

"Look, just calm down." You place hand on his shoulder and give him a reassuring smile. "Leave this room for a second. Being around... this probably just not helping your nerves."

"You're probably right." He sighs. He moves away from you, back towards the gap in the wall. You turn away and focus on the obelisk again. "Uh, Medea?"

"Yeah?"

"There were bodies in this room right?"

"...Yeah?"

"Because they're not here anymore."

"What?"

You turn away from the black pillar and move to the previous room. Your light illuminates the area and... the pile of bodies that were on ground are gone. Just... gone. Like they were never there. There was nothing to signify that they were ever there. But those weren't the only things missing, all the items that were hanging on the walls are missing as well.

"I don't understand..." You muttered. "Where did they all go?"

"This... This is not right..." Lucas says through panic breathes. "Did... Did we just imagine all of the stuff that was in here?"

"I don't think so... Something must have taken them." You say, looking around worriedly.

"Without making any noise and under what was probably about a couple minutes?" Lucas replies sarcastically.

"What do you think happened?" You glare at him.

"I don't know, man... This is... Fuck!" He says exasperated. He sighs and looks over to the door leading to the hall. "Can we please get out of here?"

You look back towards the chamber where the obelisk was and then to the door leading out of the room. You didn't really get the chance to look around the chamber, if you look you might find something. But Lucas doesn't seem to like being here more than is needed...

[ ] Search the obelisk chamber more thoroughly.

[ ] Go back the away you came.
-[ ] Go where that creature went.
-[ ] Go back into the chess room.
-[ ] Have Lucas take you to where he woke up.

[ ] Go further down the hall.

[ ] Cast a spell - Write in (Secondary option may be taken)

 

[TheLordofAwesome]

[X] Go back the away you came.
-[X] Go back into the chess room.

Click to shrink...

"Alright, let's get out of here."

You weren't going to argue with his request, this was all so messed up. You wanted to get out of here yourself. So you and Lucas head through the door and back into the dark hall where your light once again shines through the murky darkness.

"Let's head back." You suggest as you turn to go back the way the two of you came, but stop when Lucas puts his hand on your shoulder.

"Why do you wanna go back?" He asks. "I mean, we could go further down the hall."

"Well, I was thinking about going to room that lead up to this level. The one I mentioned earlier?"

"Okay, but why?"

You shrug. "I figure if we go back to some place familiar we can then plan our next move."

He thinks on this for a moment and then nods, taking his hand off your shoulder.

You nod back and return your attention to the path in front of you. The two retrace your steps, walking back through the hall at a steady pace, passing by the old rusted sword, and back towards the more lit part of the hall. Once you and Lucas had entered the torch lit part of the hall you dispelled the orb of light that you had in your hand and approached the ladder leading down to the room below.

"I'll head down first, make sure the coast is clear." You say as you crouch down to mount the ladder.

"Right, I'll just wait up here." He says as his eyes scan around the area. "Holler for me if things look good."

You nod in acknowledgement and begin to take steps down the ladder. After carefully moving down the ladder and stepping back onto solid ground, you do a quick look around the room to see if there was any sort of-

...The place is completely wrecked.

The machines were smashed, the table was broken in half and thrown across the room, the chairs were basically reduced to splinters, chess pieces were scattered, the board crushed, the hatch on the floor had a sizable dent in it, and the mechanical puppet was torn in half, its clockwork innards spilled out across the floor.

And there was blood. A lot of blood. You see it was splashed around the room and leading out the door, which was just barely hanging on the hinges. Of course you're not exactly an expert on the subject, so you can't tell if this is enough blood to cause someone to die out of blood loss or not...

"Hey, Lucas!" You call up the ladder. "Come down here!"

"Coming down!"

Looking up the ladder you see Lucas coming down quickly. In a moment he stands next to you, looking around the room and seemingly a little startled at the sight.

"Woah, what happened here?" He asks.

"Not sure. Wasn't like this when I was in here last."

"That's quite a bit of blood..." He says as he moves towards the door.

"Think it is enough for someone to die from?" You ask as you follow him.

"Right away?" He peeks his head around left of the door, looking down the hall where the blood was leading. "Probably not, but I'm no doctor. Besides I don't see what is making it so they are probably still alive. At least, when they were walking away from... this."

"Looks like a struggle happened here..." You remark as you kneel next to the blood on the floor. "I hope the others are okay..."

"Well, Sierra I'm sure is fine. You know how she is. She can take care of herself." He says as he moves to join you. "Eli too. Guy's big, I wouldn't mess with me. Danielle though..."

"Please don't talk like that." You say sadly. "I don't like the idea of any of them being hurt.

"Sorry..." He looks down dejectedly as he rubs the back of his head. "It's just... She is hurt, ya know? I mean... Can you imagine trying to get through this nightmare with a broken arm and a head injury? I don't want her to be hurt either but... I don't know... I just can't help thinking the worse..."

You sigh and stand back up, pulling him into a hug.

"I know..." You mutter. "We'll find her and the others, then we'll all get out of here... Together."

"I hope so..." He says as he returns your hug. "I hope so..."

After a moment the two of you break it off and he looks back towards the door.

"So what do we do now, Medea?"

"I don't know..." You mutter sheepishly. "I had a plan before I came down here... I think."

"You think?" He looks at you with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I think."

"Okay, Medea, you think or you know you had a plan?" He continues to look at you questioningly, his arms folded.

"Well..." You sigh. "Okay, I don't really have a plan. I was more or less thinking we'd review our situation and use this room as safe zone as we venture out to look for the others. But after looking at all this..." You wave your arm out towards the rest of the room. "I'm not so comfortable with that idea considering what caused this might come back."

"I hear ya..." He nods. "Well, we have to start somewhere at least. Any particular place you want to check out first?"

[ ] "Lower floor"
-[ ] Follow the blood. Someone's hurt, they may need help!
-[ ] Go the opposite way of the blood. Blood is never a good sign, best put some distance between yourself and whatever is bleeding.
-[ ] Search the chess room. Try to figure out what happened. (1d100)

[ ] "Upper floor"
-[ ] Continue down the dark hall. You never did figure out what was at the end.
-[ ] Go where the burning creature went. It's one of the few places you haven't been.
-[ ] Go to where Lucas woke up. Maybe there is something there that could be useful.

[ ] Cast a spell - Write In (Secondary action may be taken)

 

[TheLordofAwesome]

[X] Cast a Spell
-[X] Blood Biography (on the spilt blood).
-[x] If it belongs to one of ours, follow the blood trail.

Click to shrink...

Cast Spell: Blood Biography = 36 (FAILURE)
Spell Failure = 35

Click to shrink...

"I got an idea!" You say as you kneel next to the blood on the ground.

"And that is...?" Lucas looks at you, his eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"I'll use my magic on the blood." You say in response. You look over to Lucas who is now sporting a confused look, his eyes silently asking you for more detail. "Umm... I'll use it to magic up some info from the blood."

"Like what? Blood type?" Lucas remarks sarcastically, to which you just glare at him.

"You're taking this too literally... or... not literally... enough?" You think on what you actually intend for a moment before shaking your head and getting things back on track. "No, uh, stuff like who's blood it is and what happen to cause the blood to be here."

"Can you do that?" He asks.

"I think so." You nod.

"Okay, you think or you know?" He asks, looking at you a little more dubiously.

You stared at him, he stared back. You felt uncomfortable under his questioning gaze.

"I... uh..." You're not sure what to say to that question. In all honesty, you knew you could cast spells, but you weren't too sure if you could cast this particular spell. How exactly does magic even work? "Only one way to find out!"

"For real, Medi?!" Lucas exclaimed exasperated.

You ignore him and focus on the blood on the ground. You breathe in and out, and hold out your hand towards the blood. You close your eyes and think about what you want. You want to conjure up information about the blood. Who's it was, what happened, how long ago it happened. Anything to find out if it is one of your friends or something else.

You open your eyes and tap into the power deep within you. You feel the energy channel through your body. It felt like the essence of your magic was seeping through every pore of your body.

...But something was wrong.

You couldn't quite explain it. It was like reality was being twisted around you. The air felt different, had a different scent, and you swear you could taste something in the air.

And yet everything seemed to be as it is. You seen no difference in the blood, or see anything like you were hoping to see. Not even any info just popping into your head. For all intents and purposes it would seem your spell has failed. At least it didn't hurt this time.

You sigh and lower your arm, the swell of mystical energy coursing through your body dying down.

"Well that d-"

"JESUS CHRIST!"

You eyes grow wide and you jump to your feet, quickly turning around to look at Lucas. Lucas is looking at you with a totally freaked out expression, holding a hand over his heart, and breathing heavily.

"W-What?! What's the matter?!" You asked, honestly kinda scared yourself. What did you end up doing to freak him out so much?

"Where the fuck did you go?!" He yells.

Go?

"Wha- What do you mean?" You asked, looking at him worried. "I was here the entire time."

"You just disappeared!" He exclaims, throwing his hands in the air. "You were gone for, like, five goddamn minutes! Just popped out of existence like you were never there to begin with! Scared the shit out of me, man!"

"O-okay! Calm down!" You say, barely able to suppress the terror in your voice. You just... disappeared? For minutes?! But it felt like you were just casting your spell for maybe a few seconds! "W-What did you do when I... disappeared?"

"I... I didn't do anything..." He mutters. "I was just so freaked out that I... just paced back and forth in this damn room. I didn't know what to do..."

He looks to you, his eyes filled with fear, sadness, and relief.

"So I waited..." He said, his voice hitching a bit. "I didn't know what for. For you to come back, for someone else... I don't know. I just... waited..."

You sigh and move closer to him and pulled him to a hug.

"I'm sorry, Lucas..." You mutter apologetically. "I didn't know that would happen. I'm so sorry I made you worry."

"Damn right you are..." He replies with a chuckle as he returns the hug. "You owe me for freaking me out like that, Gandalf."

"Sure, sure." You chuckle as the two of you break off the hug. "Just save it for when we get out of here."

Now that he has calmed down from your sudden... disappearance, Lucas sighs and looks down the door, his eyes following the blood on the ground.

"We should go find what's bleeding." He says. "It might be one of the others."

"Maybe but we need to consider our options carefully." You say as you take your place next to him. "For all we know this could be a trap."

"Doesn't matter," He says as he moves towards the door. "I'm going."

"Lucas-"

"Medea, look," He sighs as he turns back to you. "I'm sure you got some great plan and all, and I'm sure you've weighed all the pros and cons, but if we wait any longer one of the others might be hurt or killed!"

"I..."

"You disappeared, Medea." He turns around fully to look at you, his eyes steeled with resolve. "You were gone for like five minutes. I'm not sure how long it felt to you but that five minutes could have meant the life or death of one of the others. Five minutes we could have used to possibly save them."

You look down at the ground sadly. You knew he had a point. But still, there were dangers out there that neither of you have encounter yet. And that old man... He was out there, roaming these halls. And there were monsters...

"I'm going, Medea. That's final." He crosses his arms and gives you a pleading look. "Come with me. Please."

[ ] Go with him.

[ ] Convince him to follow your plan. - Write in. (1d100)

[ ] Opt to stay behind and wait here in the chess room.

[ ] Cast a spell - Write In (Secondary action may be taken)

 

[TheLordofAwesome]

[X] Go with him.

Click to shrink...

You sigh. He had a point, if you wasted any more time someone could die.

...If they haven't died already.

No. You can't think that. The others... They have to be alive. You need to find them and you can't let Lucas go alone.

"Okay." you say meekly. "Lead the way."

"Thanks, Media." Lucas says, giving you a gentle smile. "C'mon, let's go."

You nod to him, and the two you walk through the wrecked door. You return to the hall you dropped into when you first escaped your cell. Looking up towards the hole in the ceiling you note that the light from the torches in the hall above had gone out since the last time you were here, and seeping out of the hole was a black ooze, much like the stuff in one of the cells in the area you woke up and the hall you encountered Lucas. How did it spread all the way here? And what was it really?

Those were questions for later, you need to focus for now. You tear your eyes from the ceiling above and return you focus on Lucas. You trail behind him as he follows the trail of blood going towards the left side of the hall. Judging by the blood on the ground, whatever was bleeding it was bleeding at a pretty steady rate. You were sure that this amount of blood would definitely be lethal.

You sincerely hoped this blood didn't belong to one of your friends.

You and Lucas pass through the hall wordlessly, the silence between the two of you unnerving you slightly. But you didn't know what you should say in this situation to end this silence. But you felt like you needed to say something. This situation is tense enough, and the complete silence beyond the sound of your footsteps isn't helping.

"This is... uh... a lot of blood." You muttered, feeling a bit embarrassed for stating the obvious.

"Yeah... It is a bit... concerning." He replied.

"I don't think it is from anyone we know..." You say that but a part of you feels that isn't true.

"I hope you are right, Medea." Lucas sighs, his pace speeding up just subtly enough that you almost failed to notice he was moving faster. "We better hurry just in case."

You say nothing, just increasing your pace to match his. The two of you continued down the hall, which seemed to wind and twist every so often that it left you feeling confused as to where you are in relation to places you had previously been. Along the way you and Lucas have passed several doors, each shut and barred, but not once did either of you stop to investigate them. About several minutes have passed since you started following the trail of blood and now you find it leading the two of you to an open room.

The room was almost near identical to the one you woke up in: a small cell block with about four cells. To the left was a cell missing its door, with a single bed with a dirty, soiled mattress, and a cell that was empty but clearly welded shut. To the right was a cell that was empty save for a pile of hay bunched up in a corner, and a cell that was inaccessible due to what appears to be a cave in. Sitting in between the two cell on the right of the room was a large cabinet, which looked big enough to fit a person or two inside. On the other side of the room, directly across from the entrance you and Lucas came in from, was another entrance leading into another hall. At this point the trail of blood stopped right in the center of the room, but no sign of what had caused it in the first place.

"Dammit..." Lucas muttered, kicking the ground in frustration. "Looks like this was a dead end."

"Seems like it..."

"I guess we're going in blind now." He sighs and rubs the back of his head in frustration. "This is going to be difficult."

"I could use my magic to help." You suggest.

"No offense, Medea, but so far that doesn't seem to have that great of a track record." He replies, giving you a look. "I mean last time you just popped out of existence."

You look down to the ground sheepishly.

"Got any better ideas?" You say, sounding a little more bitter than you meant to.

"Not really." He shrugs. "I guess we just have to continue on until we-"

Suddenly, a scream rips through the air, echoing off the walls of the hall ahead. It was a scream that could only belong to a woman, and can be identified as the kind of scream where the one screaming is in absolute fear for their life.

"Hey, did you hear that?!" Lucas asks, panicked. "Someone's in trouble! Let's go!"

And he took off, rushing to the other side of the room...

"Lucas, wait!"

...And tripped over something at the other entrance. The moment he hit the ground the sound of rattling cans began to echo through the halls. You rush over to Lucas and look down where he tripped and spot a wire. Following it you see it lead up towards the ceiling seeing a series of tin cans attached to the wire. It doesn't take you long to realize this was meant to be a sort of alarm system to alert others to your location.

"Oh that can't be good..." Lucas groaned out as he pushed himself up from the ground.

Soon the cans' rattling came to a halt, sending the surrounding area into complete silence. You and Lucas stood there, quiet and looking around the area around you cautious as to what might be drawn to the sound of those cans. Then something catches you ear. You focus on the sound and you make out the steady rhythm of something coming your way from the hall before you. It sounded like the sound of bare feet hitting the ground, rushing towards you.

"Something is coming this..." You muttered, taking a step back.

'Shit, shit, shit!" Lucas sputtered out. "We need to hide!"

"Where?!"

"Anywhere!"

The sound of the footfalls get steadily louder. Whatever is heading your way is closing the distance quickly. You need to act fast.

[ ] Stand your ground. Face whatever is coming head on.

[ ] Hide. Whatever is coming your way, it is coming fast. Better you make yourself unseen quickly.
-[ ] Hide in the cabinet.
-[ ] Hide under the bed in the left cell.
-[ ] Hide in the hay in the right cell.

[ ] Run.

[ ] Cast a spell - Write In (Secondary action may be taken)

 

[TheLordofAwesome]

[x] Hide. Whatever is coming your way, it is coming fast. Better you make yourself unseen quickly.
-[x] Hide in the hay in the right cell.

Click to shrink...

Lucas was right, you need to hide and fast. You turn and make a run for one of the cells, the one that was to your right when you first came into the room to be specific. You move to the hay that's piled in the corner of the cell, with Lucas following behind you. Looking at it you judged that there was enough here to hide you. It might be able to hide Lucas as well, but it would be spread thin between the two of you, but the sound of whatever was heading this way was becoming louder by the minute so there was no time

"Let's hide here!" You suggest.

Lucas nods and the two of you knelt on the ground and began to shift the hay around, huddling close together as both of you covered yourselves in a blanket of hay. The hay was moist and grimy from an unknown source, causing it to stick to your skin and clothes in a way that made you feel unclean, and wasted a smell that was so foul that you couldn't properly describe it. But this is necessary to avoid being seen by whatever was coming. Eventually you and Lucas get the hay to cover the entirety of your bodies, which was spread out between the two of you.

Now that you were hidden you just had to wait for whatever is coming to pass by.

After a few moments you hear something plodding its way into the room, the sound of bare feet stepping upon the ground echoing off the walls. You can't see who or what has entered the room due to hay obstructing your view, but you can hear them. You hear their breathing. You hear the air enter and exit their lungs, breathing heavily as trying to catch their breathe. But something about the way they breath that seemed... wrong. Like they couldn't breathe right.

The new arrival seemed to pace around the room outside the cell, like they were paroling, searching. More than a few times did they approach the cell you and Lucas were hidden in, and when they were that close your heart pounded like jackhammer in your chest. They knew someone was here, they knew you were here. And they weren't leaving.

God you wish they would leave...

After the arrival had paced around the room a few more times they suddenly just... stopped. Their breathing stopped. All sounds they were making just came to an abrupt end. The room was deathly quiet. So quiet that you could probably hear a pin drop, and it unnerved you. it unnerved you because you knew they were still there. Waiting.

"Hello?"

That took you off guard. The person who was walking around just spoke. And the voice...

"Who's there?" They called again.

That voice... It didn't belong to anyone you know. It was a male voice, but it wasn't Eli's nor was it the old man's. No, this voice was different than their's.

"Are you okay?" They called again. "Where are you? Are you injured?"

Something about this... You didn't like it. You get the feeling Lucas doesn't either as he is remaining silent.

"Hello? Hello?"

The way they were acting was odd. First they paced around the room, then came to a dead stop, and they started calling out. Why? Are they trying to lure you out?

"H-Hello?"

Or maybe they are like you: trapped at the hands of that old man. Maybe they've been here longer than you have and the reason for their odd behavior is a result of their extended imprisonment here. You know that if you were stuck here for a long time you might be little crazy as well... At this point you can't rule anything out.

"Anyone here?"

They must know someone is here as they keep persisting on trying to get a response. Maybe you should respond... or maybe you should play it safe and keep quiet, and hopefully they'll give up and just leave. If they leave then you and Lucas can go investigate that scream from before. If you are lucky you'll find Danielle or Sierra. Hopefully they are okay.

But if they are someone in the same situation as you then maybe you've found an ally in this horrible nightmare situation. At this point you'll need all the help you can get to get out of here alive.

[ } Respond - Write in

[ ] Reveal yourself.

[ ] Remain silent, remain hidden.

[ ] Cast a spell - Write in (Secondary action may be taken)