[ Will we use this tag round to further discuss. He looks at the doodles that they were given and frowns because it looks LIKE WHAT IT IS. A DOODLE. ]
… This is meant to be a guide.
[ Squints. God. It’s hard to think straight with this headache. ]
So you all know, we are in Hole. Hole is the realm for humans. Still, I can’t explain why there’s three instead of two, if this might be a hint for you two to come to Hole to find me.
[ So he’s warming up to the jumping idea. It’s hard to misinterpret with three of them flushing into a.. hole? The mark looks familiar to him, but he can’t pinpoint it.
Speedruns this part, too. Joonghyuk passes the bottom part of the medical report. ]
The new scenario indicates to go to the lake… The word hole is also used here.
[ He’s also wary cause it kind of looks like HOLE OF CORPSES. ]
Yes, I was told you would be in Hole. I suppose we were meant to converge here, and continue downward...
[ Into the hole of corpses? He looks over the railing too. It's hard to sort his thoughts between how foggy his head is, heavy, and the smell of rot and blood as it grows around them. There's too much noise and distraction. Sludge lands in heavy droplets around them, and he tries to ignore it.
also as much as i want to jump into the abyss, dimitri is distracted by how sad this reflection is. ]
Is something following us?
[ He goes to take a peek at the stairwell while they contemplate jumping to their deaths. ]
[oh, he hates that-- he looks away from those eyes, refusing to acknowledge any familiarity. any similarity.]
We received it just before... before coming here. I doubt it was telling us just to go here when we already were. Thus, it-- must refer to next steps.
[he's following them both along, just. doing his best to keep his thoughts pulled together in his swimming head. i don't know if ancients get sick much this could be a new experience.]
[ Something sure is! Dimitri stop considering jumping to your death when there's perfectly good stairs, what is this, Haukke Manor. You guys are in a department store stairwell, like off to the side, not still at the big central opening, ftr.
But now that you're listening, and paying attention, you hear the heavy footsteps turn into faster shuffling, and whatever is approaching, it is approaching faster. Low groaning is audible, and if you glance backwards, you start seeing your vision distort in a brand new way -- glitching. Twisting. Like what you're going to see is something that cannot be comprehended, not from this world. It is accompanied by the smell of burning flesh, and guttural sounds.
Whatever it is, it will finally reach and assail you in my next tag. The clock is ticking as dawn approaches, but before it can, the building rumbles. Something will be born soon. Your move? ]
... Us three, deeper into Hole... Lake of Refuse, hole of corpses. If we wish to get there faster, we can jump, but there is no guarantee we'll have a soft landing.
[ They can't jump from the stairwell, right? Joonghyuk will help Emet-Selch so maybe they can go to a lower floor. They can decide if they jump off the next floor or keep going down the stairs!
Their glitching out and distorting vision makes him extremely anxious. ]
We have to move. Don't look at whatever is coming.
[you won't hear him complaining! largely because he is keeping his mouth firmly shut, a hand over it. the distortion and the horrible smell of burning flesh are not helping the nausea, at all.
[ Great. Away from the stairwell doors, down the steps you go! Just in time, as something comes fucking crashing through right after you. It's a horde of something, several things, actually.
Faceless, unknowable eldritch beings that seem to distort reality just through their simple existence, speaking garbled phrases that sound like they're spoken from people you know. Darkened corpses, very similar to a classic zombie, if it weren't for the fact that several of them are still on fire. And deeply malformed beings that only contain a fraction of what it means to be a life, crushed under the wake of horrifying, Blasphemous creatures.
They will come after you, biting and clawing and aiming to strangle -- going for Joonghyuk primarily, because his chaos meter is the worst out of all of you, followed by Dimitri, and then some after Emet-Selch.
You are on 4F. You can scramble down the stairs down to 1F from here at most, according to chipped paint guides on the walls. ]
[ HELLO? Well, the only answer is to drop their greatest mage so he can start cutting all of these things down in quick succession.
Unfortunately, no matter how many of these things he cuts down, they are going to swarm and drown him. Numbers matter. As much as he’s trying to get them deeper into HOLE, this has proved itself an obstacle. ]
[ The smell, the noise, the nausea, the swarm. They struggle down the stairs, but it's hard to function at full capacity when it hurts to even look at what's chasing them. Not to mention his frustration and alarm bleeds out, spread to Emet as he pushes the gun his way in case he needs it.
And then, immediately, launches into the horrible swarm to try and grab Joonghyuk out of it and try pulling him out of the wave of enemies.
and neither of them looks like they're doing great, so. emet-selch leans heavily against the railing of the stairwell, leveling the gun at the few creatures attacking him. he definitely can't get the others out of there while those are upon him--
thank you paintball event for teaching him how to use gun, god.
[ The things grab at Joonghyuk, things that were once fingers clawing deeply into his arms, grasping at his neck. Their speech is garbled, but more than on trying to kill him, they seem intent on making him look.
Perceive them for what they are, because what they are is because of you. Which regression did you do this to them in? Do you even remember? If it hurts to look, then all the better, everything they once were turning into hatred and spite and an envy for your happier life, where you can try and try again. What is that like?
Dimitri may try to pull Joonghyuk out of this, but numbers really do matter. He'll struggle to do so, and in the even slight slowdown it causes, it lets some corpses grab at him, leaving singing handprints on his body, burning. You could stay here, let them consume you and join the rest as you should. As you must. The visages of these burned bodies contain only hatred, driven by that pure emotion, nothing else.
The Blasphemies, too, come towards Emet-Selch, intent on their one, singular purpose -- to kill whatever is in sight, surged on solely by the dynamis of despair. It crushes ally and enemy both in their pursuit against him, terminus jaws open wide --
But good for Emet, who finds it a great place to blast a scattershot. Instead of monochrome swirls that turn into nothing, though, it turns into black sludge that melts on the spot, leaving the stairs slippery and stained. The powerful blast goes through and Knocks over a number of the horde, including some ones that were grasping at Joonghyuk and Dimitri both -- enough that they can break free. ]
[ 11 is pretty solid, so Joonghyuk slashes another of the horde on him down. Since Dimitri is close enough, he can hear him whisper an apology, faint and light. He also goes for the zombies that lay their hands on Dimitri, cutting off their arms or even splitting another in two. It isn’t enough… There are too many.
Then there’s Emet with the shotgun and the swarm loosens. He quickly takes this as opportunity to go and he sends Emet a look that he has to follow them.
Grabbing onto Dimitri, he rushes—just kidding. He slips on the sludgy steps. Goodbye everyone. We’re falling down the stairs. Lifts my 17z ]
[ It would be easier to let himself get dragged into the pile of corpses; he can barely feel the hands as they burn into his limbs, trying to hold the two of them in place. He hears the soft apology, and wonders if he should say the same. The determination in him falters for a moment, dragged down in these resentful, scorched corpses, but...
He needs to make sure Joonghyuk is safe, first. Thankfully, Emet decides to blast these guys to high heaven, and the next second, they've got a chance to escape. Pulling free of the tangled swarm, he feels someone grab his arm, and oops.
There they go. I rolled a 20 so I guess we are falling into Emet on the way, too. ]
emet-selch, luckily, is not quite so traumatized-- he's never laid eyes on these blasphemies. but he can only imagine it's what they are, that these are what will plague them, and it only makes him more determined to blast them away.
...then the other two come barreling into him.]
Careful-!
[please he's nauseous help him... there they gooo.]
[ By god you are. The effects of the hotel almost take over because it really, really wants to play some slapstick music over what's happening here, but the CYOA nightmare wins over. By the smallest margin.
You all just kind of end up crashing down the stairwell in the big ball that you are, unfortunately right over the edge because you all rolled so??? HIGH TO FALL DOWN THE STAIRWELL??? So you are technically efficient but boy howdy, it is painful. Somewhere in the stairwell there is a window where your earlier headless boy slash distorted reflection of you is watching and looks on in disappointment and depression. You can get banged up in whatever way you like, but you are definitely feeling the hurt from this bullshit -- several bruises, an elbow right into someone's face, a muscle sprain, and of course, the impact from falling down to the bottom.
Emet-Selch, heaviest as he is, falls the hardest and he'll certainly be feeling that sharp crack in one of his arms -- which one and exactly where in the arm is up to you, wrist or forearm or what else. The worst of you, Dimitri with your poor nat20, ends up banging his head right into the wall at the bottom of the stairwell when you fall. You definitely have a concussion at the bare minimum and are now bleeding -- pretty badly.
You are now on 1F, and the doors are right in front of you. The horde will politely use the stairs I suppose but they'll be catching up to you very soon. Your move? ]
[ This is hateful and he does shove either of them during their tumble.
Joonghyuk, when they finally get to the bottom, growls as he tries to get himself up. Damn, it hurts, but he has gone through worse before. As he staggers, he checks on Dimitri and Emet… ]
We can’t rest.
[ Sorry. To be honest, Joonghyuk doesn’t want to use the healing smoke for STAIR CRIMES, but he has to because Dimitri hit his head and it sounded like Emet broke a limb.
He reaches into his pocket for the vial and opens it. Please heal them and if this is one person limit it’ll be on Dimitri.
TEEJ SAID EMET IS FINE WITJ A BROKEN BONE OR TWO ]
[ Please don't shove them, that is what started this mess in the first place. Hei your fall rolls.
Dimitri can't right himself from the fall when two other people are tumbling with him like the inside of a dryer, and he feels a burst of pain when he bangs his head on the ground. For a moment, everything around him swims and twirls enough to make him dizzy.
Now he gets to also be nauseous and headachey, though he swats at Joonghyuk when he tries to use the healing item. Don't waste that. Otherwise he's too concussed to be helpful at all this round. ]
[he wheezes... they probably fell on top of him, since he's the largest. this is Fine.
emet-selch winces as he tests his left arm's movement, which is... not much. but it's fine. he has a right one. as dimitri resists healing, though--]
Your head is bleeding, take it.
[with that, he uses his good arm to push open the door. get healed or don't and let's go, maybe they can. block the door, somehow, against that horde.]
[ Fortunately for you, the A-grade white smoke Joonghyuk picked up is the highest grade healing smoke there is. It was definitely worth the murder even though we should not be condoning murder. It'll heal Dimitri right back up, legit, as if he'd never been hurt this entire time at all. It even clears his nausea a little bit! All three of you can feel better about the nausea, even, since this is smoke after all, but Dimitri gets the full-on effects. Now you can move on, a little better for the works.
Open the door and find yourself on the ground floor, which seems more like a bizarre bazaar with several empty stands set up by people trying to make a sale. You hear the ambient noise of screeching, rusted metal, and more than that, the sound of very heavy rain. There is a small flood here, the rain being enough to pool about a centimeter or two of water on this particular floor.
Splish, splosh. Across the first floor, you see a brief vision of the headless boy again, running across and behind a corner. Its visage distorts as usual -- white coat, blue cape, fur trim, that unrecognisably familiar figure. Between you and where he disappears off to is a hole in the ground -- not the hole, but more like the ground has caved in around here, leaving a dangerous pit to the floor below. You hear the sound of rushing water coming from there.
Behind you, the growling follows. The clock is ticking. ]
Don’t be stubborn. Assist Emet-Selch however you can.
[ He’s glad Emet is also here to tell Dimitri to shut up and take the smoke. Joonghyuk will push ahead to open the door, though he can feel some of his muscles strain and ache from their stairwell fall.
He would pursue since the sight of the white coat aggravates him, but if this door can be closed after the other two pass, he will do that first before reaching… The pit? ]
[ He can't protest for very long, which is good news for everyone. Just breathing the smoke in is enough to clear the pain, blood drying up immediately. Weird. He blinks, frowning at both of them that they used something so valuable on stair crimes, but the rain drowns out any complaints.
What is going on, anyway...? He'll help Emet since their poor mage is now the most beat up, but he also wants to follow after their ghostly friend. Where are they off to. What is this hole? ]
[so F1 still isn't where they need to go. he eyes the hole suspiciously.]
I do not wish to fall again.
[he's inspecting the area around the hole-- does it cover the whole floor? can they edge around? anything around that they can utilize to help get across?]
[ You can drag over a stall or two to do a light barricade on the stairwell doors; there’s plenty of them and cases of unknown material to do so. However, when they go out into the open space to grab the materials and the rain hits them, they’ll feel a deep chill that seems to permeate down to their bones, like ghostly hands tracing fingers down their spine. It’s draining, the touch of rain, Dimitri the least and Emet-Selch the most. You get the sense that the cause of your nausea and illness — it’s the rain, and wherever the rainwater comes from.
Peer into the hole in the ground and they’ll be able to see a little bit — it seems to be some kind of pitch black lake of… something. It doesn’t smell pleasant, a mixture of blood and metal, the acrid stench threatening to remain with you like a haunting ghost. It’s also swirling down into the center like a whirlpool, which explains the sound of rushing water, even if it’s gross.
Your strange ghostly fellow appears to be guiding you to another doorway across the floor, tapping from behind a window. A gesturing motion of ‘come over here, hurry’. Another stairway, a safer alternative than to simply leap down into the abyss. The caved floor does not encompass the entire space, no — there’s places they can try to cross, planks of wood they may put down, though it does require being away from any rain-shelter underpass to do so. ]
[ Joonghyuk will take care of a barricade for them, but once he’s done he’s going to follow their headless friend. Usually, he’d be wary, but they have no other leads in terms of objective.
Also, he makes stink face about the hole. It’s hard not to think that they’re walking around sewage… That this isn’t just a giant drain, or worse? A horror toilet?
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… This is meant to be a guide.
[ Squints. God. It’s hard to think straight with this headache. ]
So you all know, we are in Hole. Hole is the realm for humans. Still, I can’t explain why there’s three instead of two, if this might be a hint for you two to come to Hole to find me.
[ So he’s warming up to the jumping idea. It’s hard to misinterpret with three of them flushing into a.. hole? The mark looks familiar to him, but he can’t pinpoint it.
Speedruns this part, too. Joonghyuk passes the bottom part of the medical report. ]
The new scenario indicates to go to the lake… The word hole is also used here.
[ He’s also wary cause it kind of looks like HOLE OF CORPSES. ]
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[ Into the hole of corpses? He looks over the railing too. It's hard to sort his thoughts between how foggy his head is, heavy, and the smell of rot and blood as it grows around them. There's too much noise and distraction. Sludge lands in heavy droplets around them, and he tries to ignore it.
also as much as i want to jump into the abyss, dimitri is distracted by how sad this reflection is. ]
Is something following us?
[ He goes to take a peek at the stairwell while they contemplate jumping to their deaths. ]
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We received it just before... before coming here. I doubt it was telling us just to go here when we already were. Thus, it-- must refer to next steps.
[he's following them both along, just. doing his best to keep his thoughts pulled together in his swimming head. i don't know if ancients get sick much this could be a new experience.]
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But now that you're listening, and paying attention, you hear the heavy footsteps turn into faster shuffling, and whatever is approaching, it is approaching faster. Low groaning is audible, and if you glance backwards, you start seeing your vision distort in a brand new way -- glitching. Twisting. Like what you're going to see is something that cannot be comprehended, not from this world. It is accompanied by the smell of burning flesh, and guttural sounds.
Whatever it is, it will finally reach and assail you in my next tag. The clock is ticking as dawn approaches, but before it can, the building rumbles. Something will be born soon. Your move? ]
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[ They can't jump from the stairwell, right? Joonghyuk will help Emet-Selch so maybe they can go to a lower floor. They can decide if they jump off the next floor or keep going down the stairs!
Their glitching out and distorting vision makes him extremely anxious. ]
We have to move. Don't look at whatever is coming.
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Forward is the only option. Further down the stairs they go. ]
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onward he goes to get the fuck away from it.]
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Faceless, unknowable eldritch beings that seem to distort reality just through their simple existence, speaking garbled phrases that sound like they're spoken from people you know. Darkened corpses, very similar to a classic zombie, if it weren't for the fact that several of them are still on fire. And deeply malformed beings that only contain a fraction of what it means to be a life, crushed under the wake of horrifying, Blasphemous creatures.
They will come after you, biting and clawing and aiming to strangle -- going for Joonghyuk primarily, because his chaos meter is the worst out of all of you, followed by Dimitri, and then some after Emet-Selch.
You are on 4F. You can scramble down the stairs down to 1F from here at most, according to chipped paint guides on the walls. ]
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Unfortunately, no matter how many of these things he cuts down, they are going to swarm and drown him. Numbers matter. As much as he’s trying to get them deeper into HOLE, this has proved itself an obstacle. ]
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And then, immediately, launches into the horrible swarm to try and grab Joonghyuk out of it and try pulling him out of the wave of enemies.
i rolled a 6 so good luck to us ]
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and neither of them looks like they're doing great, so. emet-selch leans heavily against the railing of the stairwell, leveling the gun at the few creatures attacking him. he definitely can't get the others out of there while those are upon him--
thank you paintball event for teaching him how to use gun, god.
he's blasting them.]
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Perceive them for what they are, because what they are is because of you. Which regression did you do this to them in? Do you even remember? If it hurts to look, then all the better, everything they once were turning into hatred and spite and an envy for your happier life, where you can try and try again. What is that like?
Dimitri may try to pull Joonghyuk out of this, but numbers really do matter. He'll struggle to do so, and in the even slight slowdown it causes, it lets some corpses grab at him, leaving singing handprints on his body, burning. You could stay here, let them consume you and join the rest as you should. As you must. The visages of these burned bodies contain only hatred, driven by that pure emotion, nothing else.
The Blasphemies, too, come towards Emet-Selch, intent on their one, singular purpose -- to kill whatever is in sight, surged on solely by the dynamis of despair. It crushes ally and enemy both in their pursuit against him, terminus jaws open wide --
But good for Emet, who finds it a great place to blast a scattershot. Instead of monochrome swirls that turn into nothing, though, it turns into black sludge that melts on the spot, leaving the stairs slippery and stained. The powerful blast goes through and Knocks over a number of the horde, including some ones that were grasping at Joonghyuk and Dimitri both -- enough that they can break free. ]
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Then there’s Emet with the shotgun and the swarm loosens. He quickly takes this as opportunity to go and he sends Emet a look that he has to follow them.
Grabbing onto Dimitri, he rushes—just kidding. He slips on the sludgy steps. Goodbye everyone. We’re falling down the stairs. Lifts my 17z ]
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He needs to make sure Joonghyuk is safe, first. Thankfully, Emet decides to blast these guys to high heaven, and the next second, they've got a chance to escape. Pulling free of the tangled swarm, he feels someone grab his arm, and oops.
There they go. I rolled a 20 so I guess we are falling into Emet on the way, too. ]
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emet-selch, luckily, is not quite so traumatized-- he's never laid eyes on these blasphemies. but he can only imagine it's what they are, that these are what will plague them, and it only makes him more determined to blast them away.
...then the other two come barreling into him.]
Careful-!
[please he's nauseous help him... there they gooo.]
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You all just kind of end up crashing down the stairwell in the big ball that you are, unfortunately right over the edge because you all rolled so??? HIGH TO FALL DOWN THE STAIRWELL??? So you are technically efficient but boy howdy, it is painful. Somewhere in the stairwell there is a window where your earlier headless boy slash distorted reflection of you is watching and looks on in disappointment and depression. You can get banged up in whatever way you like, but you are definitely feeling the hurt from this bullshit -- several bruises, an elbow right into someone's face, a muscle sprain, and of course, the impact from falling down to the bottom.
Emet-Selch, heaviest as he is, falls the hardest and he'll certainly be feeling that sharp crack in one of his arms -- which one and exactly where in the arm is up to you, wrist or forearm or what else. The worst of you, Dimitri with your poor nat20, ends up banging his head right into the wall at the bottom of the stairwell when you fall. You definitely have a concussion at the bare minimum and are now bleeding -- pretty badly.
You are now on 1F, and the doors are right in front of you. The horde will politely use the stairs I suppose but they'll be catching up to you very soon. Your move? ]
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Joonghyuk, when they finally get to the bottom, growls as he tries to get himself up. Damn, it hurts, but he has gone through worse before. As he staggers, he checks on Dimitri and Emet… ]
We can’t rest.
[ Sorry. To be honest, Joonghyuk doesn’t want to use the healing smoke for STAIR CRIMES, but he has to because Dimitri hit his head and it sounded like Emet broke a limb.
He reaches into his pocket for the vial and opens it. Please heal them and if this is one person limit it’ll be on Dimitri.
TEEJ SAID EMET IS FINE WITJ A BROKEN BONE OR TWO ]
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Dimitri can't right himself from the fall when two other people are tumbling with him like the inside of a dryer, and he feels a burst of pain when he bangs his head on the ground. For a moment, everything around him swims and twirls enough to make him dizzy.
Now he gets to also be nauseous and headachey, though he swats at Joonghyuk when he tries to use the healing item. Don't waste that. Otherwise he's too concussed to be helpful at all this round. ]
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[he wheezes... they probably fell on top of him, since he's the largest. this is Fine.
emet-selch winces as he tests his left arm's movement, which is... not much. but it's fine. he has a right one. as dimitri resists healing, though--]
Your head is bleeding, take it.
[with that, he uses his good arm to push open the door. get healed or don't and let's go, maybe they can. block the door, somehow, against that horde.]
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Open the door and find yourself on the ground floor, which seems more like a bizarre bazaar with several empty stands set up by people trying to make a sale. You hear the ambient noise of screeching, rusted metal, and more than that, the sound of very heavy rain. There is a small flood here, the rain being enough to pool about a centimeter or two of water on this particular floor.
Splish, splosh. Across the first floor, you see a brief vision of the headless boy again, running across and behind a corner. Its visage distorts as usual -- white coat, blue cape, fur trim, that unrecognisably familiar figure. Between you and where he disappears off to is a hole in the ground -- not the hole, but more like the ground has caved in around here, leaving a dangerous pit to the floor below. You hear the sound of rushing water coming from there.
Behind you, the growling follows. The clock is ticking. ]
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[ He’s glad Emet is also here to tell Dimitri to shut up and take the smoke. Joonghyuk will push ahead to open the door, though he can feel some of his muscles strain and ache from their stairwell fall.
He would pursue since the sight of the white coat aggravates him, but if this door can be closed after the other two pass, he will do that first before reaching… The pit? ]
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What is going on, anyway...? He'll help Emet since their poor mage is now the most beat up, but he also wants to follow after their ghostly friend. Where are they off to. What is this hole? ]
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[so F1 still isn't where they need to go. he eyes the hole suspiciously.]
I do not wish to fall again.
[he's inspecting the area around the hole-- does it cover the whole floor? can they edge around? anything around that they can utilize to help get across?]
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Peer into the hole in the ground and they’ll be able to see a little bit — it seems to be some kind of pitch black lake of… something. It doesn’t smell pleasant, a mixture of blood and metal, the acrid stench threatening to remain with you like a haunting ghost. It’s also swirling down into the center like a whirlpool, which explains the sound of rushing water, even if it’s gross.
Your strange ghostly fellow appears to be guiding you to another doorway across the floor, tapping from behind a window. A gesturing motion of ‘come over here, hurry’. Another stairway, a safer alternative than to simply leap down into the abyss. The caved floor does not encompass the entire space, no — there’s places they can try to cross, planks of wood they may put down, though it does require being away from any rain-shelter underpass to do so. ]
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[ Joonghyuk will take care of a barricade for them, but once he’s done he’s going to follow their headless friend. Usually, he’d be wary, but they have no other leads in terms of objective.
Also, he makes stink face about the hole. It’s hard not to think that they’re walking around sewage… That this isn’t just a giant drain, or worse? A horror toilet?
Anyway, the guide. ]
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