They crept down the narrow hallway, Davin felt like Hugh was trying to be as loud as possible, even though he wasn't fully trained in stealth either, but comparatively, he was dust on the wind. Davin Did his best to listen for where whatever the thing they were stalking made any kind of noise, and that was one of the reasons that Hugh sounded as loud as he did. The only light that seemed to be making it into the hall was the small amount that came from a small glow that came from an old light that sat next to the crumpled reel-to-reel that would have been set for this auditorium's projector. Riding his hand along the wall they moved slowly, their plan already going sideways since they didn’t catch the thing right in the booth, but Davin also couldn’t see very well in the darkness.
Davin could hear as Hugh caught up to him seeming to give up on sneaking altogether.
"I don't think that we're going to catch it at this rate, I say we go in torches blazing," Hugh whispered into Davin's ear.
"I don't disagree, I can't see anything in this hall, I was about to make use of this flashlight." Holding up and shaking the old flashlight.
With that Hugh brought the motes of light into being around them, casting a dim glow around them, giving Davin a view of the fall that had a split just ahead of them.
"Should we do something to keep it contained? It knows this space far better than we do, and this darkness seems far more unnatural. I can barely see past the glow of the lights." Hugh aired his concerns.
"I have a few things that I can make a quick trip line, but the space isn't open, I was thinking we could split up some, and then meet back here." Davin patted the impromptu utility belt that he'd made from the extra pouches that he had in his bag.
Hugh stared at Davin. "Split up? Are you mad? We're stuck in some kind of supernatural dark in a pocket dimension, from a plane of existence that I still can't believe is real, and you want to split up?"
Davin was surprised, and he blinked, staring back at Hugh. "Oh, wow, yeah, I'm crazy, That whole thing sounds like a big pile of absolute disaster waiting to happen, good call." Pulling out the wire that he had found in the janitor's closet. "Trip line it is, any spells that you can drop on them?"
"Not really, I will later, but we're both still too low of a level for anything too exciting, plus anything that I would have been able to would take far too long, I say once you finish here, we rush the thing, no point in letting it set up anything." Holding his eyes closed as if concentrating on something.
"Sounds like the best plan that we can pull off at this point."
With the last pieces of the trip wire set up at the intersection, they were ready to track down whatever this projector was supposed to be. The lights Hugh had conjured following them, the lights just bright enough to let them not crash into any of the walls as they went. They slowed as they came across a smashed workstation, bits of film and tape were strewn about, torn apart film canisters were stacked against the wall behind the station. Upon investigation, Davin saw that most of the films were still intact, seeming as though select scenes were harvested from the pile, based on what he could see, he assumed that only the grisliest scenes were taken, meaning that whatever it was that they face had their deaths in mind.
"I don’t like this," Davin stated as he held up one of the clipped ends.
"What did you find?" Hugh asked as he leaned in seeing the cell that Davin had held up to the dim light, his face instantly turning several shades paler as he grabbed the small bin that sat next to the smashed workstation and again added to the acidic smell that seemed to permeate the air, his spell winking out as his concentration broke.
Davin was caught off guard. "Woah, you okay?" He looked at the scene again with his flashlight. "This isn't even all that bad, I have seen so much worse."
Wiping his mouth then blowing out his cheeks. "Again, what in the name of the patrons is wrong with your world? That is some of the most grotesque things that I have ever seen."
Shrugging deeply, "Weirdly, I think most of it is morbid curiosity, but we can parse that all out later, let me set another with here, there should only be two halls ahead, so we should be ready for action."
Casting his spell again, bringing in the lights that had done so well to cast away the oppressive darkness. As their eyes adjusted to the new level of light.
"Are they dimmer?" Davin stared off into the darkness that surrounded them.
Looking back and forth down the hall Hugh frowned. "That way seems darker…" Pointing down the way that they had been heading. "This thing seems to be the one creating the darkness…"
"Great… not only does it make minions it's also surrounded by some kind of magical darkness…" Sarcasm thick in Davin's tone.
"I think we should try and smoke it out," Hugh stated as he looked into the darkness.
"I don't suggest starting a fire… we're still stuck in here…" Davin stared at Hugh as he tried to connect the dots of the statement.
"No, not actual smoke, my spell had a half-decent range, I could send them down the halls and see what happens?" Hugh shrugged like he wasn't sure that the idea was very good.
"Can you split them up? Or do they have to stay together?" Davin asked, now thinking about the plan.
"As long as they're in pairs."
Davin nodded. "Do it, let's backtrack a little the hall shouldn’t be much longer."
Davin took up a hiding spot that was right behind the pile of discarded film canisters, hoping that he would still be able to sneak attack the thing that they were chasing. Hugh on the other hand, sat on the ground just past the smashed workstation and took a meditative position the lights rushing down the hall, seeming to bounce off the walls as they raced away.
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Moments later the sound of metal and ticking filled the air, followed by a sheik and then a crash. They waited… the time felt as though it had come to a standstill, but nothing rushed their way.
"Shit, I think it jumped out of the booth window." Davin stood and started moving, flicking on his flashlight, the darkness now almost completely cast away by the soft orange glow.
The hole that was rent in the wall was massive as if almost something the size of a car crashed through it. As they looked over the edge into the auditorium, the seats were crushed down to the floor as if it hadn't even tried to avoid them, the path of destruction leading down to the hall that led to the lobby.
"It's massive, no way anything this big will go down easy," Hugh stated as he cast his lights into the empty auditorium.
"If we're lucky, it won't be able to make any more of those projections out there." Davin then climbed through the hole, lowering himself down to the floor.
"What if it goes to another theater?" Hugh asked the obvious question.
"We need to hurry then, not give it a chance." Davin started working his way towards the hall, climbing over the destroyed seats to get to the stairs.
The dread that hit Davin as they stepped into the lobby hall as the lights that had been so bright before were out… they were now in a completely dark theater… The glowing orbs of Hugh's spell surrounded them, covering the area in as much light as they could muster, Davin wished that he had found something stronger than the flashlight that he'd been using. They went to the next auditorium, not seeing any evidence of the massive beast that they were tracking, pulling the door open, they found that all of the lights were now out, the strip and emergency lights that Davin had taken for granted were now out as well. Davin looked at his small knife that he'd been carrying and wished for the first time that he had prepared something a little more formidable as a weapon, then remembered the hand crossbow that had been in his bag for just such situations. He whispered a curse to himself as he gripped the dagger harder, hoping that it would be enough.
The subtle crunching sound that hit his ears made his blood run cold, he held a finger to his lips as he looked at Hugh, the two of them nodding in agreement as a glow started to climb across his fingers. When the lights went out the fear started to climb again, inching their way through the hall peeking out into what was left of the trashed auditorium. The creature was massive, the light that it gave off was more than enough to see it in the dark, the smashed-together remnants of what Davin could only guess was a troll and a massive projector, the projection lens making up most of his face and a series of reel to reels ran down its spine like those of a stegosaurus.
They watched as it continued to scrape up the leftover trash, shoving it into the mess of teeth that was the mouth of the creature. They slowly moved away, moving back down the hall, hoping to make it to the main hall. The dark hall was still demoralizing, but at this point, Davin began to hope that it was a result of the creature and not that the power was out.
"That thing is pretty gnarly…." Davin stated in a hushed voice, still terrified that the beast might hear them.
"I'm beginning to think that were not the first ones to make it in here…." Hugh let out a massive shiver and rolled his shoulders as if trying to purge the thoughts from his mind.
"I'm guessing that when it came in, the stairs were open, and it got stuck… and just ate what it could to survive…. And there was some other… magics involved." Davin thought out loud while they stared at the door.
"It did look rather thin… it was just eating the trash… but if it was strong enough to crash through the wall, why hadn't it before?"
"Don’t know? We could have just created enough fear in it to make it run? No point in speculating, we need a plan…"
"Fire?" Hugh asked, rocking his head back and forth as if he was weighing his options.
"I have a few flasks of oil in the trunk that will come in handy, and we could try and set a trap?" Davin offered.
"Oil? Hmm, I have the perfect spell for that. You go grab them, I'll start seeing if there is anything that I can do here to be ready for whatever this thing can do.
Davin ran to the trunk, hoping that he'd be able to get there and back before the thing finished eating its trash… the wall of light was painful, he rubbed his eyes as he staggered into the bright lobby, a wave of relief filling him. Staggering over to the trunk, he found the bottles of oil that he had, still feeling a bit mixed on the plan, he didn’t want to start a fire in here. Closing up the trunk with the fear of what could happen next, he ran back, seeing the wall of darkness was intimidating, but knowing what the darkness held was far worse. His eyes adjusted quickly, running the short distance to where Hugh was waiting, his hands glowing in anticipation.
"Good news, the dark only extends a bit further that way." Davin pointed back where he game. "Best guess this thing absorbs all the light that isn't coming from it."
"That’s good to know, wouldn’t have hated to have to pack everything in the dark."
"I'm more worried about the rain…" Davin looked up, noticing the small hole that indicated a sprinkler.
"Rain? Inside? Why in the name of the patrons would you worry about it raining in here?" Hugh asked in confusion.
"If we start a fire it will likely rain." Davin pointed up to the small dark hole.
"Your world is weird…" Hugh trailed off. "Whatever, had me those bottles." Hugh held out his hands, the glow fading from them.
Davin held his dagger tightly, cursing himself again for not grabbing his crossbow. Hugh lead the way, the two of them skulking up the dark hall. The crunching sound still filling the air, looking into the auditorium, the beast was lounging in a pile of trash it seemed to have pulled into the center of the room.
Hugh made a disgusted face as he held the bottle of oil in front of himself, mumbling several incomprehensible words before the bottle shot off like a rocket flying towards the lazing troll thing. The sound of the bottle crashing was deafening, the glass and the oil both vaporizing on impact coating the creature and the area around it in oil, the beast let out a massive roar in response. Davin taking the opportunity to duck out from the cover throwing a dagger at the beast, the blade flying clumsily into the dark. The troll pulled itself to its feet, the reel to reel in its back beginning to spin as the lights that ran down its back began to glow looking to the screen, the dreaded numbers started to roll, and four tearing sounds broke the spell as the projections dropped to the floor, ripping up one of the chairs and throwing it towards Hugh it deflecting off of the wall beside him.
The fiery burst of energy that struck the beast engulfed it as the oil lit up, dispelling many of the projections that had just been summoned, another roar let free from it. Davin pulled and threw another knife, the blade clattering uselessly along the reels that made of the spine. The oil continued to burn, the smell of rotten roasting flesh filling the room blindly charging across the room to where Hugh was crashing into the wall spreading the fire that wrapped its body. The deafening explosion of sound that burst from Hugh in the face of the creature, launching trash and other debris in its wake, Hugh pulled back into the hall, grabbing the second bottle of oil from his hip. The dagger Davin through pierced the flesh of the thing, letting out another roar of pain as it continued to burn. Trying to summon more of its projected minions seemed to be a waste, the light from the burning casting them out the same instant that they were summoned, roaring in desperation it charged down the hall, tearing and shredding the curtains that draped around them. The oil that crashed into the troll rang out like a cannon, covering the beast in even more oil, the remaining cinders causing the oil to ignite again. Davin having tossed his last dagger pulled his flashlight and used it as a dagger against the last few projections that remained. The troll swung out in desperation, slashing Hugh across the chest, Hugh pulled away, dodging another swing as he blasted more fire into the creature, the engulfing flames bringing the creature to its knees as it smoldered to its last breath.