Jesse drifted through school like normal, not really paying attention. He once again thought back to the weird thing that George had said yesterday. Why would they be talking about making flamethrowers and why would he be surprised? Had he never taken a can of deodorant and sprayed it with a lighter before? His train of thought was derailed by the bell for lunch.
Meeting up with his friends in the cafeteria they quickly got their lunch gruel and sat down at a bench. He had to admit that the food wasn't really all that bad, but it was pretty bland. Not long after they sat down the bench behind them filled up. Although he wasn't trying to, he caught small snippets of the conversation they were having. Quickly enough he realized who was sitting behind him.
"I'm just bummed I didn't use my flamethrower," said the first familiar voice.
"At least you didn't need the earplugs I had," said the second.
"I'm still surprised how useful a few nails were against them," said the third.
"That slime gun was a godsend. Now I've got enough to do all sorts of tests with" the fourth one added too loudly.
There was no way that wasn't those normies they met with the other day. Wait, hold on, slime gun? Nails were useful against something? They didn't...
Jesse leaned in to interrupt the small talk happening between his friends, "we need to go back to that hole in the ground."
"The bunker?" asked Devon just before cleaning off his fork.
Jesse nodded, "I just overheard the others and it sounds like they went in deeper and got some stuff."
"You actually wanna go back there?" Randy looked at him like he'd gone nuts.
"Well why not?" asked Morgan, taking Jesse's side, "you saw what was down there. Imagine what kind of stuff could be inside that forest."
"I still can't wrap my head around it," added Devon, shaking his head, "like that's the kind of thing you hear about in stories."
Ross nodded, "but most stories, especially folk tales and legends, have some grain of truth to them. I think we should go back too. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"
Randy looked at the stoner with annoyance in his eyes, "we could die."
"Well yeah, but you could also die in a fight and I don't see you shying away from that."
After about a minute of uncomfortable silence, Devon spoke up.
"So are we going or not?"
"If we are," Jesse said, "and I do stress 'if', we need to be better prepared than last time."
"Prepared how?" Randy asked with a drawl as he stuffed a stale roll into his mouth.
"Weapons, protection, water, the works."
"I think I can do that," Morgan said.
"I can to," Randy added though the full mouth, "though ya'll are gonna have to pick up some slack after last time."
"I've got it covered," said Devon with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"No problems here," Ross threw in before tipping his tray to finish his soup.
Jesse finished off his milk, "How's tomorrow sound?"
A round of nods and murmurs of approval sounded out and the group began planning what they were going to take. Jesse leaned back and tried to eavesdrop on the other group, but wasn't able to really glean much info.
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The rest of the day and the following one went by fairly fast. The group members made their ways home, gathered their items, then met up and made their way to the bunker. The ride there was tense, but uneventful and thankfully quickly. As they piled out of the vehicles they began to equip what they'd brought with them.
Jesse had brought a cloak with a cowl and wore it with his satchel bag full of rope, chain, cherry bombs, smoke bombs, marbles, and other useful items slung beneath, his crystalline club acting as a cane. Devon didn't really have anything extra to wear other than a back harness, instead slipping on some brass knuckles, holstering a makeshift flamethrower, and putting a worn derbyball bat into the sling harness. Morgan decided to show off and wore a ren fair dress with a cloak, a satchel bag hung off of her filled with all sorts of possibly useful occult tools, and she held the dagger she'd previously used. Randy wore what he'd worn to school with an extra layer of clothes underneath just in case, with a wide variety of weapons and items in his backpack, a holstered pistol, pocketed flare gun, and ready switchblade fairly obvious to anyone who cared to look at him. Ross, like a few of the others, didn't put anything new on, just brought a variety of possibly useful items and some items that wouldn't be useful to really anyone but him alongside his trusty Bowie knife which was kept sheathed and attached to his belt.
As the group headed in, Randy and Ross gave them all earplugs and headlamps and one by one they were equipped. The entrance room was just as they'd remembered it. The too clean floor, the statue of the young woman, the gray drabness of it all. Their lights turned on one after another as they spread into the room and quickly the change was spotted.
"Woah slime pool?" Devon said in slight confusion as his beam pierced the darkness of the next room.
Without even waiting for anyone else to say anything, Randy pulled out an m80, lit it, and threw it into the pool. Almost instantly part of the room was splattered in pink goop and two slimes slid out to deal with the attackers. Wasting no time, Jesse darted forwards and whacked one slime with such force that it shot towards a wall and exploded on impact. Ross was next on offense, his knife tearing apart the small blob like it was made of warm butter. The battle was over so quickly that it stunned the group members. These were creatures that had, in the last battle, caused them all manner of problems.
In the time it took for them to gather their wits, three flashes of purple-pink light erupted across the two rooms. In each of the places where the light shone, a scrap of silk cloth and a small pink crystal sat. The two in the entrance room were where the slimes had been slain, but as the other room was lit up it appeared that the items within it were laid beside the pool near where the firecracker had gone off. The five friends all exchanged glances and gathered up the materials, silently agreeing to discuss this later. The group then moved into the partially slimed room, taking care not to get the slime on them as they had before.
Deciding it would be a terrible idea to charge blindly into the next room in case it had changed like this one had, Randy pulled out his pistol and took out one of the slimes before it noticed them. The second slime, alerted by the loud noise (both from the gun and the ricocheting bullet) and flash of light instantly slid towards Randy, getting putted like a golf ball into the opposite wall by Jesse the second it crossed the archway. Once again the light flared and once again scraps of silken cloth appeared at the death sites of the slimes. The group slowly made their way across the room, being careful of the slick floor, to gather the fabric and enter the ornate door once again.
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"Oh!"
It was all that Ross could get out. He and Jesse had heard what Devon, Morgan, and Randy had said. Boundless sky, dense forest, lush grass, a park fence, and a dirt trail leading deeper in. And it was now standing before them all, some for the first time. Looking around, the small group headed onward and immediately found themselves at a crossroads. As the rest of the group discussed where to go, Ross wandered off down the left handed path. He discovered a campground and after a quick look around returned to the group.
"Hey!" Ross says getting everyone's attention, "there's a campsite down this path."
"Did you really just walk down there to check it out?" asked Jesse, obviously annoyed.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Well, ya'll were taking too long, besides it doesn't look like there's anything interesting there anyways."
"You could have been ambushed," chided Randy.
Ross nodded, "could have, but wasn't. Besides no one's been hurt yet. Now are we taking the center path or the right path?"
They all looked at each other indecisively until Morgan spoke up, "it'd probably be easier to keep track of it all if we just went clockwise."
After some nods of agreement, they then headed down the center path. Not long after a lake came into view, its' crystal clear waters shining in the sunlight. The group was mesmerized by the sight for a few seconds before moving down to the shore. Kneeling down, Morgan went to reach a hand in but Devon stopped her by pulling her back by the shoulder.
"What are you doing?!" he asks the witch in alarm.
"Checking the temperature of the water," she replies as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"What if it's dangerous?"
"Do you see that?" she points further out into the water where a school of fish can be seen, "if it was that dangerous, they wouldn't be alive."
"Actually," Jesse chimes in, "Devon's in the right here. Just because they're not affected doesn't mean you won't be. How many diseases that affect us don't affect fish even if they're swimming in it?"
Morgan glares at him then sighs. As she stands up and brushes her dress off, she notices Randy and Ross waving from a little ways away. After motioning to the two men beside her, they all approached to see what was up. As they got closer they noticed a small trail that was disconnected from the one that led them to the lake. It seemed to follow the lake shore for quite a ways then turned off into the treeline.
Randy just shook his head, "Whatever is over there isn't worth it."
"We'll never know until we look," Ross argued then looked to the three approaching members, "what do you think?"
"Well..." Devon started, eyeing the path, "we came all the way down here so we might as well check it out."
"Plus we might find something that could tell us what the hell is going on," added Jesse.
Morgan clapped the short thug on the back and smiled sweetly, "Come on Randy, lighten up. We're in a beautiful park with an open sky deep underground hidden behind a staircase guarded by slime monsters. What's the worst that could happen?"
If Randy's looks could kill, Morgan would be dead. The thug huffed and rolled his eyes before gesturing to the trail. The rest of the group laughed and went in front of him. The trail wasn't all that long anyways. It followed the lake and after about a minute of walking curved away to follow a small river that fed into the lake. As they moved along the riverside, they heard a soft rumbling noise that progressively grew louder.
The trail lead them to a large waterfall that emptied into a wide, but not too deep, basin which then flowed into the river. The sight was beautiful and the very air seemed rejuvenating and electric. The group took in the sight and could practically feel the stress from the day melting away. After about a minute of bathing in the fresh, soothing air Devon caught a glimpse of something and broke away from the group. The only one who saw him go was Randy, but he didn't really feel like going after him.
Devon moved towards the waterfall across the grass, the path ended not long after reaching the basin. He had noticed what appeared to be flat rocks that resembled a small staircase and, to his growing interest, it seemed like there was actually a rough walkway cut into the stone behind the waterfall. He slowly made his way up the wide steps and along the stable, if damp, walkway leading him behind the cascading water. The wall beside him wasn't smooth but there was enough space for him to move without scraping himself. Shortly he found himself face to face with an archway carved into the rock wall and, without hesitation, moved inside.
Inside of the archway was a dim stone room, the air heady with the scent of flowing water and the soft roaring sound of the cascade right outside the door. The young metalhead turned off the headlamp he'd forgotten was still on and sat down in the middle of the room. It was so serene, so peaceful here. He closed his eyes and took it all in, the stress of the day fading into the rock beneath him. He wasn't able to stay for long though as he just barely heard his name being called over the din of the waterfall. Making his way back out, he found his friends had noticed his absence.
"Where the hell did you go?" asked Jesse, tense after noticing that once again someone had gone missing.
"I thought I saw a path an went to investigate," Devon said pointing at the camouflaged stairs, "there's a walkway there that leads to a room behind the waterfall. Pretty chill if I can say so."
"How big is the room?" asked Ross as he eyed the stairs.
"Not too big, we could all probably fit inside with maybe room for one more but it'd be real tight in there" Devon answered to his best approximation.
The stoner hummed and nodded then made his way over to the stairs, quickly finding the walkway and disappearing out of sight. He wasn't gone too long and walked out with an appreciable smirk on his face. He was clearly thinking about using it for something but that was talk for later, only mentioning that the air inside was crisp in a strange way. Randy and Jesse were both raring to finish exploring the place so everyone made their way back out to the lake and soon to the crossroads. The group then made their way onto the final trail and began to suspect something might be off.
As they walked down the trail the tree line became slowly denser and the canopy blocked out more and more light. Eventually they all turned their headlamps on again, the twilight playing tricks on their vision. Soon the trail split again with two paths leading off to the sides and the path they were on continuing past. With no real way to figure out which way to go, they followed their logic from earlier and took the left path first but quickly found that it just curved around into a dead end. On attempting to return to the intersection they noticed movement up ahead and froze.
Unsheathing their weapons, they began to ready themselves for everything when a deer slowly walked across the entrance to the side trail they were on. The deer was large with fur that seemed oddly plush and dense when compared to the normal, pink eyes and hooves, fuzzy antlers despite the late season, and strange shiny cactus-like thorns emerging from its antlers. It stopped when the beams of their headlamps crossed its path and it quickly turned to face the group, letting out a braying call as it did so. The group froze up when it charged, the strange metallic thorns glinting in the lamplight as it moved. It was fast and they didn't have much space to maneuver.
The group split apart, some diving out of the way and others backing around the corner of the trail in an attempt to break line of sight. Jesse wasn't quite quick enough and the antlers slashed through his shirt, leaving two scratches across his shoulder that slowly oozed blood. Randy fired off a shot with his pistol and caught the deer in the shoulder. It brayed and swung its antlers at him, ruining yet two more of his shirts and leaving an array of light scratches across his now bare chest. Devon leapt from around the corner and swung his bat at the strange stag, missing it entirely because he overestimated how far he'd moved. Ross and Morgan tried to find a way out through the trees but they were too thick to squeeze past and even if they'd gotten through them there was no way for them to move any more quickly past the row behind those. This truly was a dead end.
Jesse jumped up and swung his cane into the things backside, managing to force it to move or fall. In response, the deer kicked the goth and sent him flying into the other side trail where he landed on his back with a groan of pain. Randy shot again, this time sinking a bullet into the hindquarters of the strange deer and once again gaining its attention. Devon decided it would probably be for the best to take the opening and dashed around the creature, making his way over to tend to his friend. Morgan was watching the scene with both shock and dread when Ross made a strange noise behind her. Turning around she saw him being lifted up off of the ground by some strange vine that had wrapped around his neck and chest.
She screamed and attempted to pull him away but all that seemed to do was tighten the grip the strange vine had on her friend. Hearing Randy scream in pain left her torn but she soon felt malevolent eyes on her and turned to see the deer staring directly into her eyes. With a shrill sound she didn't even know she could make she swung her dagger at the deer, actually managing to take out one of its eyes, and dove to avoid its raking antlers. She ran to the rest of her friends with tears in her eyes, blubbering about a vine and Ross. The group was in pain and fairly worse for wear as they watched the deer with now bloody antlers stalk towards them out of the trail. Against their best wishes they fled from the deer, leaving their friend behind.
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<"NO!" the phantom cried as the four sprinted away, her outburst startling the deer.>
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The remaining group made it to the staircase in a panic, barely making it to the landing before collapsing in on themselves.
"Oh my god-oh my god-oh my god-oh my god-oh my god what are we gonna do?" asked Jesse as he started to spiral.
"We just left him there!" yelled Devon, looking at his hands like he'd killed a man.
Morgan just cried into her hands while Randy slowly rubbed her back, his stare practically drilling a hole into the stone block across from him. The group stayed like this for what felt like forever but was probably nothing more than a minute or two when they heard a noise from below. One by one they turned to see the deer scratching the entrance to the staircae with its antlers in an attempt to get their attention. The whole group was silent, not a single muscle twitched as they stared in fear at the thorny deer. With an apologetic bray the deer knelt down and tilted to the side, the limp body of their friend sliding off onto the grass. The group stared wide-eyed at the display.
The deer slowly moved backwards out of sight and only then did any of them move. Morgan slowly made her way down the stairs and, after checking that the deer was gone, moved to the body of her friend. With bated breath she checked his neck and found a pulse. Not a moment later she was sobbing into his chest, holding him close and feeling the rise and fall from his slow unconscious breathing mixed with the steady beating of his heart. One by one the rest moved down to find out whether or not he had truly died.
The rest of the group was solemn as they waited for Morgan to tell them the verdict. After a few minutes she stopped crying and reached into her bag for a water bottle, cracked it open, and dumped it on the sleeping stoner. Almost immediately he awoke in a panic and took a deep, gasping breath, his hands searching his neck and chest for the vine that had snatched him. The rest of the group moved back in shock at having just witnessed their friend apparently return from the dead. Not wanting to waste any more time or get more of them hurt, Randy yelled to get everyone's attention and made his way back up the stairs. The remaining group exchanged glances then, after helping Ross back up, made their way out of the bunker.
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Jason McDougal
Stats
-Strength - 3
-Intelligence - 4
-Nimbleness - 3
-Acumen - 4
-Physique - 3
-Synchronicity - 4
-Empathy - 4
Skills
-Brawl 3, Dodge 3, Gathering 2, Hunting 3, Survival 3, Climb 2, Ballistics 4, Disguise 3, Driving 3, Stealth 3, Swim 2, Weaponry 2, Knowledge (guns, wild) 3, Navigation 3, Perception 4, Sense Motive 4, Technology 2, Animal Handling 4, Build (wood) 3, Craft (Hunting) 3, Disable Item 2, Medical 2
Equipment
-Phone, Wallet, Backpack, Keys, Camera, Notebook, Pens, Pencils, Textbooks, Folders, Papers, Wood Axe, Survival Kit, First Aid Kit, Lighter, Matches, Rope, Flashlight, Mechanic Kit, Tire Iron, Battery Starter, Gas Can, Swiss Army Knife, Multitool, Jerky, Sketchbook.
Description
-Tanned, lean, and sure in his movements. Short Brown hair, green eyes, light stubble, Keprin. Wears varied shirts, jeans, a camo jacket, and boots.
-Born to a lower middle class rural family he was taught survival skills early on and often went hunting with his father and older brother. He got into strategy games around middle school and would often go head to head with the geeks in card games and chess due to him having the best poker face in his family. Learned a lot about guns through his dad's gun shop and occasionally picks up shifts in the back doing inventory and learning about the various guns in stock. Joined the CnC club in high school after Abe, one of his card game buddies, mentioned he was starting one because it sounded interesting. He's had one girlfriend but it ended on bad terms due to her not realizing what hunting meant.
-Laid back and kind, the type of person to go with the flow but help out a struggling person just cause he can. Extremely alert and wary around certain people and in certain environments. Healthy respect for nature and may have a bit of a chip on his shoulder about it.