Stage 2: Road Trip Arc 3.2
Thursday, Feb 25th, 2010
"Calm down, nobody is going to get out of this if we panic!" David yells over the din of screams. "Can you save him?" He asks Jordan, who has scrambled over to Jeremy and is checking his pulse.
She shakes her head, "It stabbed his jugular; nothing could have been done in time."
"Oh my god we're all going to die!" Macy yells unhelpfully.
"Everyone calm the fuck down and gather anything you can as a weapon!" David authoritatively yells once again. "Knives, the chains, the folding chairs, whatever isn't nailed down." He speaks loudly again as he carefully steps over Jeremy's corpse, and cautiously ascends the stairs.
I keep an eye on Melinda. What the fuck do I do now? If I tell people about her, Jack will get tipped off even more, that I know shit and probably conclude I'm a parahuman. How would I convince the others she is what my Observe says she is anyway? I step away and translate more of what David has said. Melinda looks down for a moment, and begins undoing her chains. Shit, get other people in between our line of sight. Yeah, cameras on me go down to zero. Did Bonesaw put a camera in there? While everyone is busy unlocking their chains, panicking, or gathering weapons, I pull the Machete out of my inventory when no one is looking.
I still have my bat but I need others I can trust to be armed. I get Rubén's attention. <"Here, I found this, take it,"> I lie. He eagerly takes it anyway.
"Gracias, Simon". He says and resumes a defensive stance in front of his wife and daughter.
"De Nada," I reply.
Everyone's level has gone up after gaining consciousness and mobility; they go up even more as they arm themselves depending on what they use. Ruben's went up an additional +6 when I handed the Machete to him. Even Chela and her mom's level goes up by one, when they arm themselves with their chains. David has pulled down the trap, there are four knives attached to it, now distributed, he keeps one himself but has used his belt and a chain to securely affix it to the two-by four that had been part of the trap, to create a makeshift short-spear. In addition to that, we have three knife wielders, my bat, and Rubén's Machete. Observe has yet to mention skill levels though, so I had no idea how effective anyone will be with them.
I glance back at Melinda, she too has armed herself with a chain, but her level hasn't changed, why? It is 16 already, which is abnormally high to begin with and is probably due to Bonesaw's alterations. Does that mean the chain is too marginal to warrant an increase? She glances back at me occasionally and I shift to watch from my peripheral vision instead of directly. Every time she looks back at me, the observing camera count toggles. That is definitely related.
I whisper another "Observe", the target is based on intent. Yep, the fresh surgical stitches at the corner of her eye, were done by Bonesaw, recently. "Observe" I whisper, concentrating on Melinda's eyeball. It confirms my suspicions; she implanted a camera in there.
David is gesturing and whispering to two men who have gone to the top of the stairs behind him. I turn on subtitles just to see what will happen. Cool, that totally works, why haven't I done that before?
<'I don't know what those gestures mean'> Arthur whispers, while David sighs. Okay apparently I had seen enough movies for my weird memory to tell me that those were military hand gestures, but like Arthur, I'm clueless to what they mean, and the subtitles are not helpful for them. In fact my screen is getting cluttered with every single inane woeful muttering of the people around me. I forgot about that severe annoyance, that is why I don't use it.
Apparently giving up, David whispers back "I'm going to go forward, you immediately follow after me and turn toward the right, weapon up, and you" he gestures to Robert, "you go immediately after him, and turn toward the left, weapons up."
Well hell, they're doing stuff and I'm still standing down here. <"Let's move toward the stairs, we'll still have to get out of here."> Rubén leads, Carmen and Chela follow and I come up behind. Macy has gone from panicking to throwing up in the corner and someone had dragged Jeremy's body out of the landing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey where did that bat and machete come from?" someone asks me in a shaky voice. It's Marcus, the rather rotund accountant and part-time actor, now level 6? He hasn't armed himself yet.
"In the room" I whisper a lie, Melinda is still decently off to the side, so hopefully she doesn't hear, and hopefully Bonesaw didn't insert some extra sensitive microphones in her ears or something also. I observe just to be sure. Nope.
"Why would they leave us weapons?" he asks persistently, responding with a whisper this time.
"Because Jack wants us to kill each other with them?" I whisper back. "Let's not play his game okay? But maybe you should find something to arm yourself with."
Marcus nods and wanders off, to pick up a folding chair? I guess whatever works.
There is a commotion at the top of the stairs, as we gather at the landing. David and the three other knife wielders have gone through the door. Fuck some people are moving too fast, others far too slow. There are damn trip wires up there.
"Hold! Tripwires" I hear a muffled voice from up top, it's David's. Thank god, but that was the kitchen, and the other fucking meat-puppet is up there hiding in the pantry on the other side of those wires.
"Let me through" I say as I go up the crowded stairway.
"What the hell are you doing, kid?" David asks as I worm my way to the top into the kitchen, and start spam Observing everything.
"I can disarm this shit."
"Not worth the risk, just step over."
"Fuck no, you see that broken grout perfectly around that one tile where you'd have stepped? Another trap."
David actually pauses and looks thoughtful. "We don't know if there are explosives or other worse shit hooked into that."
A quick pass with my free camera confirms it's only more booby trap bullshit, only intended to maim, but I have no way of directly telling him that without outing myself. Speech needs to stay on, for every single thing I say from now on.
"Explosives would end Jack's game too early, he wants to maim and draw things out. You heard him earlier; he wants to watch us kill each other." I whisper while pointing to yet a second camera in the room.
David nods, "someone keep watch on all the doors" he says, as more people file into the room from the basement.
I make quick work of disabling the traps, and we gain and distribute a couple more knives and a jagged pipe as weapons. Then I hear a slow clap coming from the wall.
"My, my, aren't you an astute one." A voice over the intercom in the kitchen answers. "Had I not been so rudely interrupted before, I could have warned you and explained the rules a bit more."
"Fuck you Jack! You wouldn't have warned us about shit!" Robert yells. I suppose there is no point in whispering anymore.
"Maybe, or maybe I just don't need to anymore. Well you're down one anyway, so welcome to room two. In any case, the same rules apply; you want to proceed to the next room? Someone has to die. If you don't pick among yourselves, then we'll—"
"Power Strike" For the second time I smashed my bat into the intercom destroying it. <"Ruben, wreck that camera!"> I shout in Spanish.
"You know that's really rude." I hear another muffled intercom voice, coming from the room opposite the eastern kitchen wall.
The rest are filing into the room now, it's going to get crowded, even though the kitchen is large. Fifteen people crowded in here is going to create a danger of 'friendly fire' accidents with bladed melee weapons by people that don't know what they're doing.
"Since you won't listen" the muffled voice continues to speak, in an irritated tone. "I'm afraid you're going to have to be punished."
Fuck! I grab Marcus's folding chair right out of his hand. Ignoring his protest, I run to the other end of the kitchen, wedge it under the pantry doorknob, and throw my weight against it just as it is beginning to open.
-32 HP (6 Resisted)
-15 HP (6 resisted)
"SOMEONE HELP!" I yell, despite getting the door shut, Edward Scissorhands manages to reach an arm through and slice up my shoulder. Wait, who the fuck is Edward Scissorhands?
-10 HP (6 Resisted)
Fuck! Can't think about my weird memory shit right now.
<"SIMON DUCK!"> Ruben shouts, as a machete comes crashing down on the Meat-Puppet's arm. Blood sprays everywhere, but it doesn't cut through the metal inserts, so he hacks at it again. I'm losing my fight with the door, as I feel it give way more and a boot snuck its way through the crack.
Soon someone else is next to me pushing against the door, more blood, and David has gotten here and wrapped a chain around the puppets' exposed hand holding it back.
A shower of splinters rained down on me and I looked up to see
"Stab it through the door crack right into its rib cage!" I hear David yell, but Reuben doesn't understand him and hacked at the arm again covering us with more blood. I can see he is injured also.
<"Stab it through the door crack, into its chest!"> I yell, after a moment, Ruben does so, several times, and it stops flailing.
I catch my breath; fuck my shoulder is cut up. It looks worse than it is, only because of Gamer's Body. Was that seen? You have more eyes on me? No, at least nobody died. More notifications
"The windows are boarded up and barred, can't get out." Someone says, when people start to quiet down.
"Don't go poking at any windows or doors, they're probably trapped!" David says, at least I wasn't the one who had to say it.
I look at my notifications as the panicked murmurings begin to die down.
Joseph Palmer has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 27, Pending: 17
+440 XP for killing Joseph Palmer
What? No, fuck you. That's not fucking fair, that shouldn't work like that.
"What the fuck was that thing?" Greg asks.
"Is it dead? Please say it's dead..:" Macy asks between sobs.
"Not taking any chances, keep the door held shut tight. You two pull that refrigerator off the wall and block the door with it." David says, taking charge again.
"How do we get out of here?" Someone asks again, Michael I think.
A loud crash and the fridge is knocked over and I scramble out of the way as it gets shoved in front of the pantry door. It was unnecessary, well, presuming my power is correct, he is definitely dead.
"Fuck, what the hell? That was a guy from the bus." Arthur says after stepping onto the fridge and looking through the hole Joseph had punched through the pantry door.
"Haven't read anything about the nine? Bonesaw's work." Jordan says as she tends to Ruben's cut arm. The color is lost from her face. "We'll be lucky if she didn't already fuck with us while we were unconscious." I 'see' her whisper to David via subtitles.
"Yeah, right." David says, "And if nobody else wants to end up like that we need to stay organized, stay together, and plan our way out of this---"
Everyone is interrupted as Jennifer slumps down unexpectedly, holding her chest. Jordan rushed over. "What's wrong?"
"Heart's not the best... just need to rest"
"Hmm, maybe there is a strategy in culling the weak. Don't you agree?" Jack's tinny voice from the other side of the wall intones over the intercom.
"Can't you just shut the fuck up?" Robert says and starts smashing on the walls with the jagged pipe that has been pulled from one of the traps.
"He's watching and listening, might be other hidden cameras." I whisper to David. There isn't except for the one in Melinda's head, not according to my detector, but I have no idea about microphones.
It doesn't make sense. There are bits of broken glass around the windows and elsewhere in the room, and from when we pulled up into town, there were heaps of it laying around. The leftovers from Shatterbird's scream according to what I read from the Cape Database. Is Jack really this bored? How are the intercoms still working? How is the circuitry in the camera's still working? Is her control so fine-tuned as to exclude certain houses? I guess they'd have to do some selective targeting to keep certain comforts available for their own use after wrecking everything else. I doubt all of them are cannibals, fuck my mind is wandering, stop it. What the hell is that noise? It's a skittering, scratching sound coming from the ceiling.
"What's that noise?" Macy asks between sobs. At least I'm not the only one who heard.
"Fuck something's coming!" I say, just as the ceiling AC vents pop open and some mechanical spiders the size of small house cats slither out and drop on people. The screaming renews again.
Damn it, I never checked the ductwork with my free camera earlier. Jack is going to keep at it until someone dies. Fuck one lands on Chela, I can't smash it, I might hit her, Ruben can't stab it either. They're fast, but I manage to grab it bare handed, and squeeze.
-0 HP (3 Resisted)
Fuck that doesn't work. It tries stabbing me with a syringe of green liquid it has on the end of a tail.
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
At least that doesn't work for it either, and ow, fuck fuck…
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
It's cutting up my hands... "Power Strike"
-5 HP (3 Resisted)
I smashed it against the wall still holding onto it tightly through the pain, the syringe breaks and whatever was in it leaks all over my hands, I feel a burning sensation. "Observe"
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-4 HP [Corrosive Damage] (0 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-4 HP [Corrosive Damage] (0 Resisted)
Oh fuck me. I have to let one hand go. "Inventory Bonesaw's Poison #193." No time to read the rest of it.
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
-4 HP [Corrosive Damage] (0 Resisted)
-0 HP (4 Resisted)
"How the fuck do I kill this thing?...Power Strike, Power Strike, Power Strike" I smash it on the sink counter over and over again and the fucking thing is still squirming.
-5 HP (3 Resisted)
-5 HP (3 Resisted)
-5 HP (3 Resisted)
-8 HP (6 Resisted)
<"Put it in the garbage disposal!"> Chela yells. Fuck it, worth a try. I hold it over the sink drain, Ruben stabs it and pushes it down with the tip of the machete and Chela flips the switch. It whirs only briefly before our ears are assaulted with the sounds of metal scraping, sparking and crunching.
+275 XP for destroying Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider
I turn to see that David has pinned one of the spiders to the floor with his makeshift spear, and Robert is smashing the hell out of it with the jagged pipe
"Why won't this damn thing die?" Robert asks.
"Pin its legs and rip them off." I comment, moments later, it is de-limbed and just a squirming box. "We killed the other one in the garbage disposal."
"There were three of them, where's the third one?"
"It went back into the vents."
"Damn Garbage disposal is broken now."
"Observe, Observe" I mumble examining the damn things. They are some cybernetic amalgam of bladed legs, wires, broken scorpion syringe tail, and a metal box which contains harvested brain matter? Oh Jesus what the fuck? Whose brain matter? I…I don't even want to know.
More observes and I disable another trap on the cabinet doors below the sink. Fuck I can't let myself miss any of these. Ammonia and bleach? That would have been nasty.
"Arthur? Are you okay?" David asks, "Jordan, something is wrong." Arthur has slumped to the floor, and started convulsing.
"Did he get stabbed by one of those things?" she asks. "They had some kind of syringe on them. Macy, keep bandaging up Marcus and Jennifer"
"I'm too scared…"
"Do it anyway."
I have notifications pending. Whatever initiative and momentum we had is lost, another round of Observe sees morale and stress levels tanking. While everyone is focused on Arthur and Jordan I pull the Axe and knives out of my inventory using the cabinetry as cover, and the bleach out of the cabinet as well. "Notifications"
You are suffering from the status effect 'Poisoned'
For testing the limits of your endurance and vitality, you have gained 1 CON
Your Drug & Poison Resistance skill has increased by 1
The status effect 'Poisoned' has been removed
Arthur Sinclair has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 28, Pending: 16
"He's gone, and he… shouldn't have died from the injuries he had gotten so far, but…" Jordan said,
"Spider's are fucking poisonous aren't they? Fuck me." Michael swore.
"Check yourselves, did anyone else get stabbed by that syringe thing on those spiders?"
"Yes," Patricia says; her voice a feeble whisper. She is already sitting on the floor. I already know the answer beforehand, it's there on her observe window and there's nothing I can do about it, we are so totally fucked. "If any of you get out of this, tell my children and my grandchildren I love them..."
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Patricia Hart has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 29, Pending: 15
"Well, doesn't that just bring a tear to your eye?" Jack's tinny intercom voice comes on again from the next room. "You bunch have certainly been more entertaining than I expected, far better than the prior groups too. But as promised…let's see what's behind door number three."
There is a loud click, and the kitchen door leading to the next room unlocks.
<"I don't trust the Gringos,"> I overhear Carmen saying to her husband. <"We have to get out of here, eventually they'll start caving in to Jack's demands and killing off who they think are weak or don't fit in. We don't speak English well enough, that makes us not fit in.">
<"I won't let that happen"> I say as I help apply the last of the bandages on Chela's cuts, from the spider-bot's legs.
Your Medicine skill has increased by 1
<"You're brave, Simon, but just a child. What can you do against those monsters you have described to us? What can any of us do?"> Ruben responds.
Do I tell them? Show them? Had they already lost that much hope to have expressed such in front of his own daughter? It's a calculated risk, and might do nothing in the long run. <"I'm more than just a child."> I say after making sure I'm not observed. The others are probing the next room, while Jordan is cutting Patricia and Arthur's shirts up for bandages. The only eyes on me are the three of them, and no cameras, so I pull some duct tape and my multi-tool out of my inventory in a flash of light. <"We have to out-think them, escape, run, hide, and not stop. We can't do that while we keep playing Jacks game the way he wants us to play it.">
"Eres un Luchador enmascarado." Ruben states. Masked fighter, the Spanish slang for cape.
I nod in the affirmative, but put a finger to my lips in the sign of keeping it quiet. <"We still need help from the others. David is a good fighter, former military, Jordan is a nurse, and helps do first aid"> I point out his own injuries. <"Still, we have better chances the more of us there are."> But for how long? I'm starting to get bad vibes from some people. Carmen isn't entirely wrong. If it gets down to someone making a choice between surviving themselves or watching someone else die instead, most will choose themselves.
I submerge the still squirming spider-bot body into a bowl of bleach. It does nothing to its metal case, but it has already been cracked, or maybe I'll be lucky and Bonesaw didn't give them a good enough seal.
+110 for assisting in destruction of Bonesaw's Mechanical Spider
"The next room is a hallway, we won't even all fit in there at the same time. No apparent camera, but one intercom." Yeah I don't trust that there might not be any more cameras.
"We still should have wrecked that intercom." Robert says.
"What and risk him 'punishing' us again?" Macy all but screams.
I stand on the counter and start sealing the vents with duct tape. No idea if it will be effective but I have to try. I throw a roll at David. "Seal up anything we think those spider things can come out of."
I need to use my stats points, now, for however long this lull lasts. I can't do that shit in the middle of combat. On what? STR? Not going to fight them and Crawler is beyond what I can bump to even if I spend them all on STR. Also don't want my physique to suddenly change in front of everyone. AGI? It's related to the speed stat, I still don't know how that's calculated or what those numbers mean. Still be less than Crawlers if I use all of it. I can't run much when stuck in a house, maybe after I get out of the house? CON? Yeah, directly related to HP, doubt I'll get out of this without more damage, very probable. INT, WIS, PER, may help, certainly can use thinking of new ways to get out of this mess, but may not directly influence my immediate survival. CHA? LUC? Fuck those, especially LUC, I pumped four points into it five days ago, and I still ended up encountering these fuckers.
"Stats" I had just gained a CON point merely from getting cut up so much. Well, I need more, so let's start pumping CON. Thirteen points in, and now with a CON of 35, I stop when a notification fires off.
You have reached peak human in CON. Further stat point based increases will now cost double.
Uh, is that good or bad? Is it still cost effective to put more in vs. something else? Doesn't fucking matter, don't have time to analyze that while lives are at stake. Fuck it, I pump 5 points into INT too, maybe I'll get more insights into what to do next. Hmm, well no message about hitting peak yet. Still have 31 left, that I could use to pump CON to 50 later if I need to.
I take a door of the cabinetry, and disable a couple more minor traps I hadn't noticed before. Were these ideas from the INT boost or ones I'd have had anyway?
<"Let's make some shields"> I say as I liberally duct-taped a cabinet door to my forearm. A few more doors see Chela, Carmen, and Ruben in some really crappy armor taped to their chest and backs.
Several of the others in the group follow suit. David is organizing the rest; even Macy becomes slightly less useless. <"Here, take these,"> I say as I hand my two knives to Chela and Carmen.
"David, take this." I whisper as I hold out the axe, making sure Melinda isn't watching. "If you'll give me your spear thing."
"Where the hell did you find that?"
"Cabinets" I lie. "You're stronger and probably better able to use it than the rest of us." He nods in response. We trade and I further reinforce the spear with duct tape.
I peek around the corner into the hallway, check my observation detector. No cameras. "Observe, observe, observe…" No traps, except the ones on the blocked doors. Melinda glances at me again. It's still the only camera on us. I move out of her line of sight.
"Hickory, dickory, dock.
You're about to run out your clock.
Just strike down one,
And your next trial is done,
Hickory, dickory, dock"
The voice blurts out of the intercom; Jack's little sadistic reminder. Quick swap, "free camera." Let's look behind the doors. One leads to the garage and is thoroughly barricaded and trapped. Jack obviously doesn't want us to go that way. The other goes to some kind of dining room, also locked, but rigged with the same setup the kitchen door had on it. Back to normal view mode now.
"What the hell are we going to do man?" Michael asks David. A bad vibe rolls off of him as he asks.
"Go block off the basement door in the kitchen. Nobody's getting out that way and it will help seal off any vents that are down there. Robert, go help him." Several scrapes and crashes later and the kitchen island is overturned and now blocking the re-locked basement door.
"Too afraid of being seen doing the deed? Maybe you need a little encouragement." Jack's intercom voice sounds out again, and then all the lights go out.
<"Oh No!"> Carmen yells.
<"Huddle up, each of us at our backs"> Ruben responds quickly. I pull up my flashlight mode right away.
People are screaming again, no one can see. I should do it, do it right now. Slit Melinda's throat, put her out of her misery and deprive Bonesaw and Jack of their plant. I move toward her, she isn't looking. Two steps in…
"AHHHH, Gurgle.. ." The fuck was that? I haven't done anything yet. A notification flashes at me.
Jennifer Olsen has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 30, Pending: 14
Fuck. Too damn slow.
"See now, was that so hard? At least one of you had the balls to make a choice." The intercom sounds again. We all hear an audible click of the remote lock on the hallway door.
The lights come back on. Jennifer's body can be seen, blood rapidly pooling out of her neck stab wound. Macy and Marcus scream, even Melinda lets out a shocked holler playing up her part.
"Who the fuck did it?" David screams; a murderous angry glint in his eyes.
"Observe, observe, observe, observe…" Michael, he fucking did it, just wiped the blood off his knife too. He is wracked with guilt sure, but his motivations for survival are overcoming that.
"You've got blood on your knife Michael, and your pants and shirt." I say. Wait, no I should have lied and said it was Melinda; it would have been an excuse to off her. Shit no that wouldn't work either; she was still armed only with a chain.
Michael Connor has gone from stranger to annoyance
"The blood's from Jeremy; I took the knife that stabbed his throat." Michael lied.
"That's bullshit. I took the knife that stabbed Jeremy." Greg shouts.
<"Simon, what is going on?"> Chela asked.
<"Michael killed Jennifer, while the lights were out. He was too afraid of Jack siccing monsters on us again.">
<"So Jack turns us into the monsters!"> Ruben shouts.
<"Aye, that's what he does.">
"You and Robert were next to her in the kitchen when you moved the island to block the basement." David said, more anger seeping into his voice.
"Well it wasn't me!" Michael said again. He is sweating like a pig.
"What you think I did it?" Robert yells, menacing him with the jagged pipe. "I don't have a knife anymore! I gave it to Marcus"
A few eyes turned toward Marcus. He nods, but swiftly backs away from the confrontation, knife held in his hand.
"You're fucking on point now." David says, "Give me your knife and go in the fucking dining room and watch for traps."
"But—"
"Give me your fucking knife or I will cleave your skull and take it from your body!" David yells. Michael drops it and walks into the dining room, prodded by David's axe. Well, my axe, since I just gave it to him. Fuck, was that a mistake?
"He's a murderer you--" Jordan begins to say in protest.
"He just permanently volunteered himself as trap checker, and to be the next sacrifice for any more of Jack's fucking games." David says, interrupting her
Well, this makes it a lot harder to take out Melinda without being seen as a crazy person dancing to Jack's tune. "Observe," my intent on the house again; five bio-mechanical spiders and fifteen people. Well they haven't added more. Two out of the seven spiders dead, one meat puppet dead, and four more to go, and too many of our own lost.
We file into the dining room, time to spam observe again. A macabre buffet of food is on display on a large long table surrounded by chairs. All trapped and poisoned, even the chandelier is rigged to fall, with the slightest disturbance. Another camera peers at us from the corner of the room.
"Can we get out this window?" Jordan asks, sweeping broken glass shards aside with her foot and carefully examining the edges of the large boarded up dining room window.
"Don't touch anything." David chides her.
"Yeah, what he said. Traps, and uh, they're watching." I follow up, and then point at the camera in the corner.
I bend down and whisper, "free camera." Let's take a look under the tablecloth before I move it. Hmm, tripwires attached to the chairs, but no hiding meat-puppets. Where is that fourth one at? Actually these trap jobs continue to be rather shitty, rushed, not even very well concealed.
"Anyone hungry?" Jack's mocking voice comes over the intercom again.
"Get fucking real! We're not falling for your stupid shit!" Robert screams angrily.
"No Swearing!" A small girl's voice comes across the intercom behind Jack's cackling laughter.
Fuck, Bonesaw, its way past your bedtime.
"I've had it with your shit! You're a fucking disease on humanity! Just get it the fuck over with already! I'm not playing your stupid game anymore!" Robert explodes, smashing the intercom then charging at the camera.
"No swear—" Bonesaw tries to speak but is cut off when the intercom is wrecked.
"DON'T MOVE THE CHAIRS!" I scream, as Robert jumps up and smashes the camera. It's too late though as he knocks one over as he lands.
"Very well, but you were warned about being naughty!" Jack says simultaneously, his voice still coming in from the intercom in the hallway.
The lights go out again. I still have a flashlight mode window up. I hear a massive creaking, and the giant chandelier begins to sway.
Melinda is standing right there, I take my chance and shove her onto the table as the chandelier falls downward. "EVERYONE DUCK!"
-48 HP Backstab, Critical Hit
"AHHHH FUCK!" The chandelier lands on me, and electricity courses through me as well. God damn, the fuck? It's electrocuted also?
-26 HP (6 Resisted)
-107 HP [Electrical Damage] (2 Resisted)
Someone else besides Melinda screams, my flashlight isn't oriented to see who. "No one move! Chandelier just fell and it's electrified!" I yell over the crashes and screaming.
-68 HP
-146 HP [Electrical Damage]
Melinda stops screaming.
Melinda Walker has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 31, Pending: 13
+440 XP for killing Melinda Walker
You have gained a level! You are now level 18.
I just murdered someone. "Observe" I target her eyeball. Camera is fucked. No one is watching us now. Is Gamer's Mind letting me ignore the fact that I just murdered someone? God damn it.
<"Chela, are you okay? Rubén, Carmen?">
<"Yes, yes we are alright.">
"Everyone sound off, say if you're injured." David yells. "I'm... not injured more than previously."
"Jordan, uninjured."
"Oh my god we're going to die." Macy cries
"Macy, are you injured?" David asks.
"I don't know."
"Robert, I got cut up and shocked pretty bad from that thing, but I think I'm okay."
"Greg, I'm okay, I was in the hallway still."
"Marcus, something shocked me, and uh, I think I peed a little." I swing my flashlight over to him. It was not just a little.
"What about that Mexican family?" David asked "Can you translate, Simon?"
"They're okay, I already asked. I'm okay too, by the way."
"Michael? Melinda?" No response. A quick check saw Michael is still on my relationship sheet. The door to the next room is open.
"Fuck Michael if you did that again, I'm going to kill you." David threatens.
Say nothing. I'm a fucking murderer and I'm going to shut the fuck up. She was a puppet! She wanted to die! Trapped in her own body you did her a favor! No more plant, no more unchecked eyes on us.
The flame of a lighter appears in front of Greg's face, giving a bit of illumination to the room.
"Surprised Jack's not fucking teasing us again, God-damn Ted Bundy mother fucker."
"I smashed the other intercom in the hallway." Greg said. "If he's going to punish us anyway, rather not hear the fucker laughing while he does so."
"We need more light, anyone else have any lighters or matches?"
"Break some chair legs off, rip up the table cloth and make some torches?" I offer.
"We'll end up burning the house down!" Macy shrieks.
"Maybe we should burn this fucking thing down." Robert adds helpfully.
"Cloth won't last long without something to fuel it." David responds.
"There's some vegetable oil in the kitchen cabinets." I say.
"AHHH!" a scream and a flash of light, comes from the adjacent room, which we haven't entered yet.
Michael Connor has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 32, Pending: 12
Fuck, and it looks like Jack isn't going to turn the lights back on for us.
Simon's Character Sheet:
Name: Simon Clarence Anderson
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Race: Human (Parahuman)
Class: Teenage Runaway / Rogue
Faction: None
Money: $5.16
Title: Gentleman Thief
Level: 18 (4.85%)
XP: 29065
Primary Attributes
STR: 11 (+0.00) 11.00 (58.30%)
AGI: 9 (+0.00) 9.00 (13.94%)
CON: 35 (+0.00) 35.00 (5.14%)
INT: 30 (+0.00) 30.00 (0.00%)
PER: 12 (+0.00) 12.00 (28.05%)
WIS: 22 (+0.00) 22.00 (29.55%)
CHA: 13 (+0.00) 13.00 (58.97%)
LUC: 15 (+0.00) 15.00 (53.31%)
Unspent Points: 35
Secondary Attributes
Health Pool: 921/1090
Stamina Pool: 836/836
Mana Pool: 6347/6750
Stress Pool: 520/520
Attack: 12.50
Speed: 2.80
Dodge: 14.44
Armor: 0.40
Carry: 110.00
Allure: 3 (+0.50) 3.5
Status Effects
Teenage Acne: ALU -0.50
Alluring Charm*: ALU +1.00
Skills
Max Slots: 58
Free Skill Slots: 18
Artistry: 10 (85.89%)
Athletics: 12 (37.48%)
Basic Academics: 9 (0.00%)
Computers: 10 (11.23%)
Crafting (Stone & Pottery): 10 (5.67%)
Create Mana Golem: 12 (18.03%)
Damage Resistance (Electrical): 1 (77.20%)
Damage Resistance (Fire & Heat): 2 (0.00%)
Damage Resistance (Physical): 3 (57.77%)
Disable Device: 11 (84.86%)
Disease Resistance: 6 (60.13%)
Disguise: 4 (25.98%)
Drug & Poison Resistance: 18 (68.65%)
Empathy: 11 (57.96%)
Firearms: 1 (0.00%)
Gamer's Body: MAX (0.00%)
Gamer's Interface: MAX (0.00%)
Gamer's Mind: MAX (0.00%)
Language-English: MAX (0.00%)
Language-Spanish: MAX (0.00%)
Mathematics: 4 (0.00%)
Medicine: 3 (0.00%)
Meditation: 12 (48.91%)
Melee Weapons: 4 (0.67%)
Null Resistance: 3 (13.69%)
Observe: 23 (12.51%)
Parahuman Lore: 7 (92.56%)
Power Strike: 10 (0.44%)
Programming: 10 (0.54%)
Psychology: 5 (0.00%)
Science (Biology): 1 (53.22%)
Science (Chemistry): 1 (0.00%)
Science (Earth): 1 (0.00%)
Speech: 10 (34.52%)
Stealth: 12 (27.65%)
Strategy: 5 (0.00%)
Thievery: 11 (0.00%)
Unarmed Combat: 5 (2.24%)
Vehicle Operations: 3 (0.00%)
Video Games: 26 (16.74%)
Unspent Skill Points: 6
Affinities
Earth: 6
Water: 1
Plant: 1
Lightning: 3