2816/AToF - The Keep part 1

AToF - The Keep part 1
Date of Scene:	16 August 2015
Location:	Soul Eater World
Synopsis:	Orphen finds himself lost in a keep, and he's not the only one there.
Cast of Characters:	22, 703
Tinyplot:	A Taste of Fear

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Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
    There is nothing familiar about this.

    It's cold, strange and eerie, without a single sense of comfort.

    Whatever this place is, it's been here for a long time. But still, however you found your way here is a mystery as well. No matter how hard you think, no memory comes to mind that would explain just why you are here.

    But here you are, in the middle of the night.

#815ight shines in through a window high up on the brick wall, falling on Orphen's face as he wakes up. At least it's not a harsh light, but soft and not the blending type. Moonlight is gentle, and aided by a few lit torches that light up the circular room. The ceiling is high above, and a circular staircase is the only way out of the room it appears.

    Aside from old and broken furniture the room is empty. And what more, Orphen has none of his belongings should he be searching for them. No radio, no weapons... nothing.

Orphen (703) has posed:
Orphen slides out of bed, patting himself down, then looking around. "White magic, drugs?" he asks himself, immediately trying to assess the situation. He rubs his head, then starts heading to the staircase. He's very careful of his steps, as if wary of traps, but otherwise fully intends to go down the stairs. "Is anyone here?" he calls out, since, well, why not!

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
    The stairs are old, but the stone is sturdy and non-slippery. The staircase follows the wall down, circling down and down. And his voice echoes down a fair way, and seconds pass by.

    There is no response.

    Down to another floor below with even more furniture, with the staircase continuing down. But at least there are some small windows here. Not large enough to crawl out of for a human being, but these aren't high up on the wall at least.

    Outside the wind can be heard, as well as crickets.

Orphen (703) has posed:
Orphen seems to keep his wits about him well enough, still walking and looking around with extreme caution. When he gets to the windows, he leans in to try and peek out rather than look for the door, reaching in to try and wipe any dust off, if there is any. "Strange..."

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
    There is quite a lot of dust built up in this place, it's obvious this place has not been cleaned for years, if not even longer.

    As Orphen leans in to take a look at what's outside, a grand sight awaits him.

    Snow coloured mountains rise far into the horizon, with no forests in sight in this direction at least. The darkness of the night makes it hard to make out details, but below some floors there's what looks like a small castle. A keep, perhaps? The courtyard is alight with torches, with old broken down carriages off to one side. Aside from that it's empty. A tower rises on the other side of the courtyard, lights flickering from within.

    Due to how thin the window is it's rather hard to see much else at the moment.

Orphen (703) has posed:
Orphen frowns slightly, perhaps having a few unpleasant memories from the sight. But he continues descending regardless, carefully taking every step, just in case he has to suddenly pull his foot back. "Just what the hell is this..." he asks himself while continuing on the path of stairs set before him.

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
    Down and down the staircase goes, and on the way Orphen passes several floors with even more broken furniture, dust and silence.

    Four floors down however there are no more stairs, and there are two corridors leading off in either direction.

    Which way will he go? Left or right? After going down all those stairs, he is facing a bit more towards the right now than he was when he looked out of the window, isn't he...?

Orphen (703) has posed:
Orphen looks from one direction to the other, crossing his arms. "Well, I might be able to come back if it goes too wrong..." He suddenly spits on the ground where he's standing, as if to mark it. Then he heads right, with at least some measure of confidence.

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
    The corridor leading off down the right is filled with many doors, but sadly upon inspection nearly of them are locked, and they are too heavy to kick open. Though the first door on the right that does open leads into a rather large room indeed.

    A dining hall opens up, large and abandoned like the rest of the keep. Rotting food is on the table, flies all about. The wine glasses looks like they are a mix of dead insects and mold. The cutlery doesn't look better, as the knives look rusty for the most part. Even the carving knives in the roasted pig looks nasty.

    Chairs have been knocked over here and there, and the windows on the opposite wall of where Orphen entered show even more snow coloured mountains in the distance.

    On the left and right walls there is a door each. Seems Orphen has some options here. What will he do?

Orphen (703) has posed:
Orphen looks to the left and right after glancing over the abandoned food. "Why would they suddenly abandon this place..." he asks himself, then starts walking to the left. He immediately tries to open it, apparently intent on continuing to move rather than touch anything -too- unnecessary.

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
    Just as Orphen is about to open the door...

    It bursts open, and another man bumps roughly into him, letting out a startled grunt as he steps back. He's perhaps in his early twenties, and he looks to be winded and out of breath, with sweat staining the front of his simple linen shirt. For a moment he doesn't know what to do, but then he moves to rush past Orphen!

Orphen (703) has posed:
"Wait!" Orphen reaches out to grab the man's wrist as he runs past, trying to pull him back. "Who are you? Where are we? And how long have you been here?" He immediately begins asking questions, his grip tight, seeming far more interested in getting information than this man's current state of mind.

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
    As he is grabbed the man gasps, then does his best to pull Orphen with. "No time for that, we have to get going or it will get us!" he calls, trying to either wrench himself free or drag Orphen with him in his state of panic.

Orphen (703) has posed:
Orphen releases the man, then starts running to keep up with him. He's not much one to question the presence of danger. "-What- will get us? What are we running from? I need answers! If I don't know anything, I can't do anything to help!"

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
    Whatever the young man is afraid of remains a mystery for now as he hushes Orphen and pulls him along with him out of the dining room and down the hallway, past the staircase leading up to where Orphen woke up and down the left hallway.

    Many doors are passed until he reaches a door, looking behind him as if checking whether the coast is clear or not, and then he pushes Orphen in with him.

    Inside the room there's a large bed, an old wardrobe closet and lots of destroyed furniture. And the young man immediately heads towards the wardrobe, opening it up and heading inside. "You have to keep quiet...!" he hisses quietly at Orphen, turning his head as if listening as he reaches out to close the wardrobe after him...

Orphen (703) has posed:
Orphen immediately tries to slide under the bed, so he can keep an eye out and at least have a better idea of where whatever is coming -is-. He tries his best to be quiet, controlling his breathing, waiting patiently.

Keeping quiet is a pain when one's magic depends on vocal components!

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
    Silence reigns throughout the room. Not even the young man's breathing from the closet can be heard, though the first seconds Orphen can hear him shifting around in there. Then it's all quiet.

    Seconds pass by as they slowly turn into minutes, which all seem to pass by even slower and slower. What was the young man talking about, and what had him spooked so?

    Suddenly the torches in this room flicker... and go out. At the same time it suddenly feels colder, and darker. Which feels to have a more sinister reasoning than just the extinguishing of the torches.

    Drip.

        Drip.

            Drip.

    Something dark is dripping from the ceiling and onto the floor. Something that looks a lot like tar.

Orphen (703) has posed:
Orphen starts to slide his head out from under the bed. There's a useful light spell to cast right now, but somehow it doesn't seem particularly wise to vocally cast a spell at the moment. So he tries to make out what's going on as best as he can, to try and get a little up from under the bed...

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
    The pool increases in size until something crawls seems to rise from it. The back of a head full of long, messy black hair that clings to a thin, wiry frame that is slightly larger than a normal person. It's followed by a large hand that suddenly slams down on the floor, long nails digging into the stone and scratching it. As it pulls itself out of the tar, more of the figure is shown. Despite it being wiry, it's large. What might have been a nice dress clings to its form in rags, showing parts of blackened and sticky skin. Once the figure has pulled itself out it rises to its full height, but it's pretty hard to see all of it from where Orphen is hiding.

    But luckily it doesn't seem to have seen him either as it creeps towards the wardrobe.

    Time seems to speed down even further, and seconds pass and pass until the figure reaches the wardrobe doors... and tears them open just as the young man inside /screams/.

    Waking up is a rough experience when the heart is hammering fiercely in your chest, but that is what Orphen wakes up when he comes to himself where he went to sleep in the first place. Gone is the keep, gone is the strange figure and the young man... though it all seemed far too real for some reason.