Event - Appalachia: Remember Basic Safety

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Appalachia: Remember Basic Safety

➥ Going on a Bear Hunt

(cw: animal attack, violence associated with monstrous animals, mauling, potential for severe injury, including lacerations from fangs and claws, and broken bones)

It's not just one White Thing or a few of them, it seems. No. With the number of potential victims on the rise, the pack seems to have expanded to match their new, fear-rich quarries: the visitors to Wolf Pen. Sheriff Ron Porter is able to provide local knowledge that gets everyone to some general spots that are likely to be day-time denning locations for the White Things. There are numerous nooks and crannies to check within a large patch of forest near Silver Lake, and each might require different tactics… or not, depending on the people who decide to take on the task of re-entering the woods to dispatch the beasts.

Some of the dens have an easy enough entry point, while others might call for dropping in from above, and there are even a few that lurk beneath waterfalls in some of the creeks in the area. Those investigating the creek-based dens may find entry especially unpleasant as they'll have to take a dousing to do it. The ground is also slick with scum and liable to trip up the unwary. There's no telling if this is more polluted water, but it certainly doesn't smell great.

Wherever the dens are found, they contain two to four slumbering White Things along with a few carcasses, but much less than you might expect for beasts this large. Some of the carcasses do look human, though, and later analysis might find they belong to a variety of people who have gone missing… even one native ADI employee.

Those who choose stealth may be able to slay the creatures before they can even wake. During the day, they seem to have no more supernatural protection than the standard wild animal. But if one wakes? If one wakes, it will scream. A shrill and human-sounding noise that wakes all others in the den and maybe even some from the surrounding dens. The White Things are less coordinated, but no less savage when woken, seeming to be able to read the minds of their fellows to attempt to outmaneuver those breaking into their dens. They will bite and rip, attempting to slam characters against walls in confined spaces or against the ground or trees if moving outside the dens. To those who might feed on such things, it may be clear that there is fear here, a significant amount from the White Things, themselves. They were clearly not expecting this retaliation, and those left on their own may attempt to flee into the woods, rather than face enemies on their own.

Run, rabbit… Run.

➥ Odds and Ends

(cw: fire, including the potential for severe burns and environmental damage; mind control; severe pollution)

Aside from the looming ritual and the danger in the woods, ADI has deemed a variety of other ongoing issues around Wolf Pen worth at least attempting to resolve during everyone's remaining time here. Characters will have support from ADI in the form of whatever equipment was brought from home as well as a small amount of funding for buying whatever else is needed. Based on investigations and suggestions from the off-world agents, work may include…

• Cleaning up the Town Dump: …Or at least neutralizing the danger it poses to the unwary. Under the guise of an environmental volunteer group, ADI employees have unfettered access and a modicum of authority, at least for now. It's a flimsy ruse put together on the fly and it won't hold up to close examination, but fortunately anyone who shows up to the dump looking at least somewhat official likely won't be asked too many questions (plus it's not as though the sheriff is going to investigate them for it). What they'll actually do about the dump…well, that's still slightly up in the air. One avenue might be to appeal to the EPA for a landfill cleanup grant, though that's a solution that won't come to fruition until long after ADI leaves Wolf Pen, if at all. Another approach might entail mass destruction… though, ADI is officially less keen on the "light it on fire" approach for what should be obvious reasons. Still, if there's a plan in place to contain the blaze, they might look the other way if anyone should requisition accelerants.
• Unraveling the Woven Isle: How is a goat like a flamethrower? They're both finalist suggestions regarding how to put an end to the macabre puppet shows on the Woven Isle, and it turns out both are legal in West Virginia. Best not to use both at the same time, though! Also, that flamethrower is a rental and ADI will deduct it from your pay if it goes missing. The previous challenges of Woven Isle are still in play: set foot on the island alongside another person, and the vines will snare and puppet the both of you, impervious against damage. Light the vines on fire from a short distance away, though, and they're not quite so fireproof when they aren't in control of the situation. Watch out, though, for kudzu sneaking its way through the water to wrap around ankles and force its attackers to attack one another. Maybe the goats were a better idea? Except there's the matter of getting the goats to the island. It's hard enough to tote a goat onto a boat even before you try to float the goat boat to the other side of a moat. Good luck!
• Testing the Waters, literally. Scientifically-minded (or at least methodical) characters may find themselves recruited and issued suitable PPE for a mission to sample and test the contaminated water of Silver Lake. Caution is advised, as the purpose is to discover whether any aspect of the poison is supernatural–and because even non-supernatural runoff from a mine can wreak havoc on a human body. Back at the lab, the samples will be subjected to a variety of tests, some scientific in nature, others perhaps a little weirder (ever watch a literal glass of water on CCTV for hours on end to see if it does anything unnatural? Now's your chance!).
• Bringing a Family Home - It will take a lot of legwork and negotiations, but thanks to the contacts they've made, characters will be able to bring Ruth, Robin, and Noah back from Plessy's Holler and set them up with a home in town. The first step is finding a property with an owner willing to sell at a low price for a good cause. The next step is, unfortunately, making that property livable–the house they'll be able to secure on behalf of the family has seen better days, to say the least. This is a project beyond the scope of ADI's visit, but they'll at least be able to enlist help and get the ball rolling. Roll up your shirtsleeves and hit the local hardware store. At least the community seems willing to pitch in, bringing supplies, food, and their own skills once they've been told what's happening.
• Launching a Political Career for Cindy Parsons…if they'll agree to it. ADI higher-ups are still more than a little reluctant to bring the newscaster on board, and the hope is that aiding them in ousting Mayor Greg Campbell will distract Cindy from the supernatural goings-on in Wolf Pen and empower them to focus on helping their community. They're easy enough to find, lurking about the Howling Moon Inn, peering into windows and hiding in bushes. Intrepid reporter Cindy is out for a story, their phone in hand, ready to film anyone they can spot, and maybe catch enough for a soundbite. Try to ice them out? They'll see about that.

➥ Bait and Switch

(cw: severe pollution)

A plan to stop the ritual is in place: dead fish. LOTS of dead fish.

Of course, there are also a lot of logistics that need to go into pulling off a disruption like this. Not the least of which is actually GETTING the fish in the first place. It’s absolutely not the sexiest or the most appealing part of the operation, but someone(s) has got to do it. Gloves and masks and maybe even shifts will be necessary to collect everything. Hopefully everyone has a really strong stomach. But it’s the least dangerous part of the job!

Then there’s the issue of exactly how to transport that much awful smelling cargo without anyone asking any questions. What’s being used? What’s the cover story (if there’s a cover story)? These are questions that need an answer before the plan can move forward. Outside help can be recruited around town, depending on the explanation.

Finally, there’s the actual infiltration of the Bluestone and Keppler mines and the planting of the fish. Timing matters, and so does location. Dumping the fish into the Cathedral itself might be a little too obvious and certainly difficult, but it’s not out of the question. There are also the tunnels that lead to the main event space, whose multitude make them much harder to police. Keppler, being a working mine, is impossible to sneak into now that everyone is on high alert for “OSHA” personnel, which means either traversing the tunnels that have been made to link the two mines together or coming up with some other kind of bluff. After all that, there’s nothing left to do but to distribute the stinky surprise and hope that it wrecks the appropriate havoc.

➥ Ritual of the Black Seal

(cw: emetophobia/gagging/vomiting, elevator disaster, death, severe burns to the face, monsters in the dark, claustrophobia, physical violence and potential for severe injury, in general)

The stench from the mines forces everyone out, many gagging, some outright throwing up not far from the entrance. Todd and other workers at the Bluestone Mine hurry out after them, trying to reassure, trying to keep them there with promises that they'll fix this. They just need a little time to find what the source is. Children are crying, people are getting angry. There had already been a sudden change with the bluegrass band canceling without warning, and now this? A few note they'd heard about the potential for a smaller concert in town from a few local bands, and people start moving away. The longer the delay, the thinner the crowd. Todd begins to sweat profusely, but all employee's doggedly try to hold the crowd's attention with basic party games and Interesting Mine Facts that fall progressively more and more flat.

Katie Dunn
Harlow and the Undertones may not be real musicians, but they certainly sang when ADI scooped them up in the night. There's a hidey hole deep in the Keppler Mine where they were meant to ride out the "fireworks" in safety–or is it in the Bluestone Mine? Perhaps it's either or both, now that the two mines are connected by a branching network of tunnels carved or clawed through the rock. It's there that Katie Dunn began her evening, but by the time anyone finds that little cavern she and Deepthi are gone from it, leaving only a couple of camping cots and other meager creature comforts as evidence it had been recently occupied.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. The shadows are deep and wrathful, strings of lights flickering in Katie's wake. In all of her wakes. She's on the prowl, splitting into many once more so she can go looking down tunnels for the saboteurs responsible for the stench that forces her to cover her nose with her shirt in a failing attempt to block it out. She may not have been the one who made these tunnels, but she knows them well and she is powerful here, where the sun has never shone.

She's out for blood and she can appear and disappear in any shadow. The safety lights remain on for now, but…well, that may not remain the case if one of her reaches the breaker. ADI may have shut down the party, but the night is still young and they can always make it up to her by taking the partygoers' places.

Deepthi Anand
Below the Cathedral, below the stench (but not that far below), in the middle of a warren of tunnels and surrounded by rock: there’s still a threat. The party may be a disaster, but the explosives that have gone missing from Keppler Mines are still - presumably - a danger. So is the woman who lurks there. Someone needs to ensure that their plans don’t go even further awry by the removal of the explosives.

The ways into the cavern below are fewer than before, for anyone who goes looking, but they still exist. It’s hard-going in every sense. The shafts that lead there are narrow and rough. Single-file is the only way to go, which presents the issue of a potential bottleneck once the chamber is reached: one at a time out of one hole might not be the best plan of attack, if that attack might be anticipated. And the weight. Each step forward comes with the awareness of what you move through. Tons and tons and tons of rock, pressing in around you (is the tunnel getting narrower, will it get narrower?) The warrens of tunnels. More than that: is it too much? Is it too tiring, working against such powerful forces? A bone-deep tiredness seems to settle over anyone who presses forwards.

Despite all that, the cavern can be reached. Where it once was empty, there are now piles of explosives heaped around it, mostly oriented in front of the openings. In the middle of that, there’s a woman. When the first person steps - or crawls - into the chamber, she doesn’t react immediately. Even in the low light, her expression can be made out as steady. Unworried but also contemptuous.

It’s only after a moment that she sweeps her hand up to send a spike of rock erupting out of the ground near the feet of the intruder. And then the next. Attacks from multiple sides seem to be more effective - Deepthi can’t focus her attention everywhere at once - but her powers seem to be almost effortless. And that heavy weight on her attackers remains.

Maybe if she can be drawn or forced out of the seat of her power…

Jimmy Bryant
Fish. Fucking fish. The man calling himself Jimmy Bryant is seething, boiling with rage, when he reports to the Keppler Mine after the disastrous escape of so many people from the Bluestone Mine. Todd is out entertaining the crowds, but there is still an opportunity here. They'd planned for a little 'apocalypse disruption initiative,' hadn't they? But given ADI's previous tactics, their known willingness to cause destruction and even death on their own terms, fish had been low on the list of expected options.

There's time to salvage this. There are plenty of terrified men at Keppler, ones already ground into the earth they make their living from. He'd made the call as soon as it had become apparent things were going wrong. Everyone was required to show up to the mine. Call up the boys outside their work shift. This party business is just draining their money with the tourists slipping away. Put the men to work.

Carls Watts said jump, and everyone asked how fucking high. Unfortunately, Carl Watts would just cause confusion showing up at the Keppler Mine. So, here is earnest Jimmy Bryant, arriving fashionably late for work and finding many miners milling at the entrance to the mine. Anyone here to see what's going on from ADI will have an easy time of stealthing their way into the crowd. Ethan Boss is there, too, looking warily into the dimness of the mines he supposedly runs. Useless bastard. Or mostly useless. It looks like the last of the miners are queuing up, heading down in the rickety elevator in spite of a distinctly fishy smell wafting up from below. There must be at least a hundred men down in that mine already. Maybe not all that he'd hoped for, but enough. They had to be enough for this. Too much work had gone into setting it up with Anand and Dunn.

It's as he's tampering with the mechanisms next to the elevator that there's a sharp, "Hey!" from Boss. "What the hell are you doing? Trying to break the elevator? Get outta there, you."

Which is the point that Jimmy notices not all of these people are familiar faces. Or not the kind of familiar he wants. He doesn't reply to Boss verbally, just smiles, and then punches him in the face. Sort of. His fist spreads across Boss' mouth as the man tries to pull away, screaming, the hot wax trying to force its way past his teeth and down his throat. Jimmy's other hand stretches unnaturally, and wraps around a cable, sending the lift and everyone in it plunging to the depths as it snaps for the heat. Screeching metal and men and a resounding crash.

The remaining miners seem divided, some fleeing and others grabbing whatever weapons they can to hand. "Y'all are a right thorn in my side," the molten man says, face melting and reforming into a generic white man that some might recognize from the news.

➥ And In the End

(cw: existential dread, economic hardship)

In the end, Carl Watts vanishes, seemingly without a trace. Some miners claim he transformed into lava and flowed back into the mine, others say he just ran off in shame when his big party failed thanks to someone's fish prank. What's clear, though, is that the mining mogul is nowhere to be found. And it's in the week following his disappearance that everything changes. In the blink of an eye, the money funding FYRE, all of its liquid assets, seems to vanish into thin air. 'Too heavily invested in the cryptocurrency market,' some will say. There are reasonable explanations, but while some of that money might find its way somewhere else thanks to ADI's meddling, the majority of it really does seem to be lost to the ether. And with it… jobs. So, so many jobs.

Work is halted at the Keppler Mine, as much out of respect for those injured and killed, as because corporate tells them no one is getting paid. FYRE is declaring bankruptcy. All across Appalachia, the mines close, people are sent home, and the future is a frightening and uncertain thing, too vast to fully wrap the arms around. Without FYRE, the field is wide open… and sometimes, that can be more terrifying than anything else.

In Wolf Pen, there are few pleased by the developments, but most think someone will come in to sweep up FYRE's assets. Maybe it will be a better company, but few are holding their breaths as they dig into their meager savings and just try to scrape by.

ADI isn't here for much longer–there's news of trouble back at Gloucester now to tend to–but those hoping to check in once more with those they've met or just have a farewell drink at the pub will be able to find what they want. The Blue Dog Pub is even sponsoring a farewell karaoke night with discounted drinks and a sound system that's likely to spill outside and into the streets. It's a wake for those who have been lost and a farewell to the owner and the pub itself. They'll be moving on to Beckley where they think they'll find more stability. Wolf Pen isn't a place they can rely on anymore, much as they might love it. Come drink and be… melancholy. Take one of the photos of the dogs of Wolf Pen down from the walls to take home with you. There's a tomorrow coming, thanks to ADI's efforts, but whether it's a bright one? Well… the rain comes and it goes.

And there's always a storm brewing on the horizon if you look out far enough.

➥ Mod Notes

• GENERAL - Players are welcome to play NPCs for themselves when they are needed in a thread. If you need more information on general behavior for these types of NPCs, please feel free to ask! In general, the information provided in the prompt should be sufficient and you're welcome to make up any details beyond that for your specific scene. Please remember that character deaths are permanent and plan accordingly!
  
  
• GOING ON A BEAR HUNT (15-30 June) - Characters will be briefed by Sheriff Ron ahead of time on the White Things and where they could be found denning… according to the stories he knows and his own experiences. All characters going out with Ron to take on the White Things will be provided with a weapon by ADI, whether that's a gun (for those who have the experience to use it) or some other common modern weapon. ADI personnel will strongly discourage anyone who isn't an experienced fighter from taking part in this mission. While the White Things lack a human level of intelligence, they display the same level of intelligence as pack-based animals that have clearly worked together a lot. Lone White Things would also rather flee toward others of their kind or away all together than face down more than one character on their own. White Things that are killed in daytime will crumble away to dust, but will not return again. On the flip side, injuries the White Things inflict in daytime are real and leave real wounds. Attempts to collect tissue samples from the White Things will result in those samples disappearing before much useful can be done with them.
  
  
• ODDS AND ENDS (15-30 June) - Characters interested in stopping the town dump from eating people are free to try a variety of methods. This could be as mundane as navigating federal grant applications for an incineration system, as wild as literally setting the whole dump on fire (though there will be fallout if they do so), or anything in between. At the Woven Isle, characters may come supplied with flamethrowers, or they may requisition funding to go buy some goats. Goats are immune to the machinations of the Woven Isle. Unfortunately, goats are also immune to commands and/or pleading from anyone trying to get them to cooperate with the process of getting them to the island. Characters who test the contaminated water will discover that the poison in the water is entirely mundane, the result of indiscriminate dumping of waste material from the Keppler Mine. The housing project for the family that had been living at Plessy's Holler can entail identifying the property, hands-on work in home repair, and enlisting (unnamed) NPCs to assist.
  
  
• BAIT AND SWITCH (15-30 June) - Unnamed NPCs from around town can be recruited to help with all aspects of the plan to disrupt the party, including any plans to obfuscate exactly who is responsible for the disruptions.
  
  
• RITUAL OF THE BLACK SEAL (15-30 June) - Each character may participate in one fight thread, as these events will occur more or less simultaneously. OOCly, players are free to have their characters gunning for one avatar only to run into another and get caught up in a different fight than ICly planned. Per a tactical suggestion from Yelena, characters will be advised to seek out and kill Deepthi first, which will have an effect on the other fights. For Katie Dunn, players should assume that she will attack characters on sight with the exception of characters who were successful in killing one or more of her shades in a previous encounter (those folks she will flee from on sight). For Deepthi Anand, characters with supernatural/magical abilities may have some trouble actually accessing them for this fight if they have any fear reserves to start with. Non-powered characters will have less trouble with fatigue, but not none; all who fight her will find that their energy and/or powers are being sapped and dampened. For Jimmy/Carl Watts, characters may attempt to fight him, talk to him, rescue Ethan Boss, or attempt to get Carl away from the elevator to try to help trapped miners, or even attempt to find a way into Keppler through the Bluestone Mine. Those who try to fight him can kill him, but there is the potential for severe injury.
  
  
• AND IN THE END (15-30 June) - The last hurrah for Wolf Pen, at least for now. Characters are welcome to take part in the festivities, drinking and singing or even doing their own instrumental performances, if they're so inclined. There will be an opportunity to reach out to NPCs that have been met during their time in Wolf Pen as most will be present at the farewell party in one capacity or another. After that, ADI will be loading everyone back onto trains to ship back to Gloucester. While there are major economic headwinds they leave behind them, ADI will do what they can for the people of Wolf Pen. There's trouble brewing at home, though, and everyone will be told to be prepared to be on their game when they return. Ain't no rest for the wicked.

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Comments

[worthallthis]

Steve has a point. Winter doesn't turn away from the other end of the tunnel, moving his gun and its light in steady sweeps, but as he gets closer, he can smell the blood and charred flesh. He doesn't even need enhanced senses to smell that. "Jaeger should be there," he says absently, itching to find the real Katie Dunn, itching to finish the mission, because two sand-Katies mean he has never shot the real one.

He's killed her four times, now, and still hasn't fucking killed her.

But Steve's hurt. He can't let anything worse happen to him. For a beat he hesitates, torn between two urges... then he makes a frustrated little noise and turns fully to Steve. "Lean on me. We can back up Jaeger. He's still recovering from other injuries."

[pennedin]

Distant sounds speak of battles fought elsewhere in the mines, lives being lost, avatars being brought to their knees. But as they near the breaker's location it's conspicuously quiet in the immediate area, suspicious for an area expected to be targeted. Turn a corner, and the boys from Brooklyn will see why: silhouetted by their lights are a gaggle of five Katie Dunns, all looking worse for wear as they peer down the tunnel away from Winter and Steve. They must have been plotting their next move, but it seems there's no need for Katie to talk to herself out loud.

All of the Katies turn sharply to look at the pair. Simultaneous cries of "Are you kidding me?" and For fuck's sake!" ring out at the sight of them, even as the nest of Katies bursts into motion, four charging Steve and Winter while the other darts away down the tunnel.

Perhaps they won't have to choose between defending the breaker and hunting Katie after all.

going ooo with permission

[worthallthis]

Oh, fuck.

Winter doesn't even wait for them to charge. He shoves Steve to one side and starts firing, the light on his shoulder and the end of his glock shining to hopefully solidify them enough to actually take hits. The one getting away is probably the real one, to his frustration, but--

--but he can't let Steve be hurt more. He can't let Steve die. That is, he realizes in that heartbeat of a decision, the more important mission goal here.

If he can get them to fall back he can toss Steve the rifle to take a shot himself, surely he can fire a rifle even if his hands are damaged, but he can't do it if they're run on top of him.

[punched_hitler]

Steve is not expecting that shove - he goes stumbling into the tunnel wall with something he will never admit is an undignified yelp.

Once he regains his equilibrium, though, he swings his light up, trying to help by adding his light to Winter's. At the same time, though, he calls, "Go after the one who's running!" He's definitely a little frustrated, fingers clenching on Mjolnir's handle, trying to muster another blast. Any static that starts ramping up is slow and halfhearted; he might get one more small bolt - maybe - and he will do his damnedest to get it, but it's clear he's flagging. At least, using the hammer as a lightning rod. He can still swing it around if he's gotta.

[pennedin]

In the beams of the strafing lights the Katies' faces look drawn and stressed, a mad glint in each one's eyes. This is a hunter no longer; they're dealing with four duplicates of a cornered animal whose sole goal is to provide cover for the fifth to get away. An injured Steve might have been the obvious target if their purpose was to terrorize, but right now they seem to ignore him in favor of swarming Winter, aiming to slam into him and carry him to the floor with sheer numbers and mass (though any given Katie is much smaller than either him or Steve). They're solid enough in the light, black sand spilling from bullet wounds; one bursts into sand just as she reaches Winter.

Just as the remaining three are on top of him, something larger than any of them shifts. There's a deep, echoing groan as if the earth itself is in pain, coal dust raining down from the ceiling of the tunnel as the rock beneath them rumbles and shakes. There are gasps from the Katies as they falter, a hurt cry of "Deepthi??"

The earth settles back into stillness as the remaining three Katies spontaneously dissolve into sand. Down the tunnel there are still the sounds of running footsteps.

[worthallthis]

Winter goes down, rolls, trying to shake them before they do too much damage-- but he hardly has time to bring his gun back up before they're exploding.

"What the fuck," he says, startled for a moment, before he pushes back to his feet. It's not hard to figure out what happened, at least. "Somebody took out the other avatar. Shit." So all those shades, all those copies, were just because of Deepthi, the other avatar, as they'd assumed.

There's still one left. He can hear her. His mission rears back up in his head. "Steve. Stay here. I'm gonna go after her. If you need help, yell, I'll come back."

[punched_hitler]

Steve can't deny that his heart all but stops as he sees the Katies swarm Winter; he's trying to push away from the wall, static getting more pronounced, when they just - fall apart.

He stands there, blinking, even as Winter tells him to wait here and -

He can't just throw lightning down the tunnel - someone else might be there, too. It's the same reason he can't just hurl Mjolnir after her. He knows he can't keep up, yet at the same time, his guts twist at the thought of being left behind while Winter goes after her alone, even though he knows what's got to happen.

But - Winter's got this. Steve has to trust him.

"Go," he says, though he can't help adding, "But you yell if you need help. I mean it."

And also, "Come back. When you're done." Just... come back.

[pennedin]

The footsteps echo in and out, gaps like she's leaping...or simply disappearing where the shadows are deep enough before hitting the ground running again in the light. From the sound of it, Katie has diverted down a narrower, rockier tunnel away from the breaker. It's easy to get turned around in here, but one with a steady sense of direction might realize that she's heading in the direction of the safe room deep in the mine.

In this moment of back-and-forth, Steve and Winter are alone in this stretch of tunnel with the scattered black sand that had been many Katies. It doesn't seem as though anything else is coming for them.

[worthallthis]

Winter hesitates just a moment, then puts his hand briefly on Steve's shoulder, squeezes once, and finally turns to charge down the tunnel after Katie. He slings his rifle off his shoulder, holding the glock in the flesh hand and the rifle in the metal one, so he can use both those lights and the light on his shoulder to illuminate the path ahead of him, and the avatar he's hunting.

It'll take him a minute to catch up, but the instant he sees a person's shape ahead of him, if he does, he'll open fire.

Go ahead and skip Steve for now! I'll stalk and jump in when/if needed :3

[punched_hitler]

Steve maybe can't help the shaky breath he lets out at that touch; it feels nostalgic and good in a situation where pretty much nothing else does, including the churning feeling in his stomach as he watches Winter move away, taking most of the light with him.

He shifts stiffly, carefully, leaning to put his back against the wall, hammer still in one hand as he tries to sweep the tunnel with his flashlight, as alert as he can be for anyone else approaching. If Winter's going to follow Katie, then Steve will stay here and guard the way to the breaker. As best he can. And try not to think about being left behind.

[pennedin]

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK--" mutters Katie ahead of Winter. She's quick in these tunnels; it's not as though she needs light to find her way. She's not as quick as she could be, though, not with the emergency lights still brightening the main tunnels, which has her seeking out alternate routes--she's trying to get to a tunnel too dark and narrow for either of the men behind her to follow. The gig is up, the ritual is failed, her friend is dead, and the time has come for Katie to try simply to survive to fight another night.

She throws a wild glance over her shoulder as the harsh lights beam upon her, diving for the rocky floor too late to avoid the impact of several bullets. The way she scrambles and huddles behind a rocky outcropping too small to really conceal her would be comical if it weren't for the way she melts into its meager shadow. A formless shadow-upon shadow darts up the wall and into a tiny crack it finds there, leaving a trail of dark, coppery-smelling blood. The crack writhes with its shapeless substance as she searches for some darkened path through the rock, however small.

[worthallthis]

As soon as she disappears from the beam of his lights, he slows to rangy kind of lope, the lights on his guns sweeping left and right while he approaches the spot she'd ducked aside. He can't smell the blood through his mask, but he can see the shine on the ground from the smear of it. This is the real Katie. He has a chance.

He stops abruptly when he reaches the blood spray, pivoting towards where her legs withdrew from sight, lights bright and blaring, hoping to solidify something for him to shoot. Or punch. He'll take punching, too.

cw injury, potential crushing

[pennedin]

There's nothing to see behind the outcropping except that trail of blood going up and into that crack...but he'll hear a shriek of pain as the ambient light makes the formless darkness in the crack retreat sharply, more blood splashing out where the light makes her solid enough for the rock to squeeze and scrape as it forces her body to attempt to assume human shape. She's reached the roof of the tunnel but not found another way out, darkness writhing above his head. It's the end of the line and Winter has a split second decision to make: shine the light upward fast enough and she'll suffer whatever happens to someone who tries to materialize inside a rock, or delay even a second and let her drop out of the crack to attempt to run again.

[worthallthis]

Winter does swivel the light upwards the instant he registers that's where she is, though less because he wants her to suffer-- even if he really wants a target dead, he prefers quick, clean kills-- and more because if she's above him she could drop down onto him. Cornered targets can get stupid sometimes, and he wouldn't put it past her to try and get to his head again.

cw death by crushing; explicitly described gore (you did it, buddy!)

[pennedin]

His light sweeps up to reveal roiling darkness in a crack that spans across the tunnel's ceiling, pale hands extending from the rock, claws outstretched as she makes her split-second bid for survival. He's right in his realization, even if her intention was to distract before fleeing--this is almost certainly how the other Katie got the literal drop on him before.

There's only a flash of those claws in his vision; to see is to destroy in this case. There isn't a scream, really; the fissure is far too small for a human body and while Katie Dunn's death is excruciating, it is almost instantaneous. There is, however, a terrible series of cracks, human bone snapping even as the rock is forced to split. Her hands are the only recognizable body parts that drop to the floor of the tunnel, bone and muscle not so much cut off at the forearm as pinched off by immense pressure. What rains down on Winter is probably better not to think about, bloody chunks mixed with rocky grit even as a portion of her crushed body remains stuck in the ceiling.

Speaking of the ceiling, the wooden beams supporting the tunnel groan ominously, pushed askew by the force of an entire person materializing where there had been the barest gap in the rock.

gonna take those hands, thanks...

[worthallthis]

Winter has never been so glad that he's wearing his full tac gear as he is right now, with gore raining down on him. Ew. His tac vest is going to require so much cleaning. ... so is his hair. So gross.

He pauses long enough to wipe off and holster his pistol, then drop down to snatch up those hands in his free one. He's not risking her regenerating somehow, like the one at the circus had. Though Katie's remains are not nearly as weird and waxy as those had been.... Still, better safe than sorry.

Then he turns and hustles back towards Steve, both to make sure he's still okay and to avoid potentially getting buried if the ceiling cave in. He tosses one hand aside and scuffs dirt from the tunnel floor over it halfway back. "Steve?"

[punched_hitler]

Steve can't hear much from here, between the echoing of the tunnels and the ringing in his ear, the rush of blood in his head. He does hear the gunshots, isn't entirely sure what to make of things when they stop, and is even less sure when the tunnel shifts slightly around him, groaning like an overloaded thing. That... can't be good.

He might just be trying to gear himself up to go after Winter whether he should or not when he finally hears his name; he all but sags at the sound of it - and then does finally push off the wall, stumbling in the direction Winter disappeared, light bobbing wildly as he can't quite decide between a walk and a run. "Winter? Are you all right? What happened? Is she...?"

[worthallthis]

He holds up the remaining hand. "Dead. I need to bury this. But first we need to move. Can you run?" Winter doesn't know enough about what happened to the ceiling to know just how likely the instability will be to reach here, and he'd really rather not risk it, especially with the Deep avatar dead. Who knows what kind of ripples in the earth that might cause.

He slings his rifle over his shoulder to free up that hand, in case Steve needs it, or needs a shoulder himself.

A little blood never hurt anybody. Steve can wash off later. Getting out takes precedence.

[punched_hitler]

Steve's eyes go from what appears to be blood and gore dripping off of Winter's... everything to the severed hand in his - and then back to his face when he asks whether Steve can run.

If Winter is asking? Then the answer is, "Yes." It won't be a picnic, but Steve's already settling himself into the pain, accepting that it's going to suck and he'll just have to deal with it later. He swings the light down the way they came, figuring it's the fastest path out, after having chased Katie in deeper. They want to go away from where she was leading.

"Can you?" Winter looks all right, none of that blood seems to be his, but he wants to know before he takes off and assumes.

[worthallthis]

"I'm fine. She exploded on top of me," he explains. While it's impossible to see his expression, his voice is clearly kind of grossed out by this. "Come on. Before the roof caves in." At the very least, getting out of this particular set of corridors should make them a little safer.

He nudges Steve with his free hand-- the metal one, plates all tightly sealed-- towards where they came from, and starts to jog when Steve starts moving, gauging Steve's speed so he can match his own. He's not leaving Steve behind again.

[punched_hitler]

"Fun," Steve grits out, but at least that does mean Winter's probably okay, and that's what matters. So he gets a move on; his start is a little stumbling, but then he manages to pick up speed. He has to grit his teeth and just focus on the end of the tunnel, illuminated by their bouncing lights, and trust that his body can keep moving.

He's tired. Everything hurts. His head is ringing and his hands and arms feel like someone's actively rubbing salt into open wounds, but he's moving. They both are, as he tries to push as hard as he can, given that he can tell Winter isn't going to pull out ahead. So Steve does his best not to slow them down. He'll be damn grateful to get out of here, even without the risk of it coming down on their heads.