5558/Exploration: Chopping Grounds (2)

Exploration: Chopping Grounds (2)
Date of Scene:	09 November 2017
Location:	Lumiere
Synopsis:	Choices are made during a further exploration of the Chopping Grounds.
Cast of Characters:	974, Count Kord, 513, Staren, Tomoe, Priscilla

---

Carna (974) has posed:
    A few days ago, adventurers managed to hunt down and slay one of the key leaders in pushing forward the efforts of the butchers and bag-head men in the Chopping Grounds, as well as getting answers to some mysteries, while also turning up yet more questions in other regards. In particular, strange visions have now affected four people, and one of them is having increasingly more intense experiences with them as well.

    Beyond the horror of the foe they faced and what he has been doing for so long, they have received tools almost as recompense for their trouble, left behind when the hill-sized behemoth finally dispersed. Kord's hands, stained heavily in the mutated Lit's blood and less wholesome fluids, may still be able to feel the sticky tar-like wetness. He can definitely see it, no matter how much he washes them.

    As a matter of fact, Kord can see a lot of things.

    And it's unclear how much of it is different from what others see. Some can be guessed at. Others... Fitting enough for Lumiere that it could very well be real.

    But all of them, at least, have a path to follow, leading deeper and deeper into the Chopping Grounds, over walkways over flaming blood, past racks of weapons and tools, and below balconies and past holes with ladders leading down into dark spaces under the floor. At least, unlike many places in Lumiere, this place seems almost orderly. Planned and designed so that no matter how bizarre and twisting, there is a certain logic and intent to it, that makes simply picking a path and following it a good way to reach one's destination.

    Of course, that isn't to say it doesn't come with complications. Shortly after arriving, they stumble across a Shrine of Light tucked away in a nearly-inaccessible alcove that has claw marks all around the edges. It appears to have been recently torn open from the opposite side, some monstrous creature tunneling through solid steel to reach the Shrine... Only to leave it unolested. The blood stains on the walls indicate that someone might have been hiding here, using the Shrine for safe entrance and exit, only to linger too long.

    Regardless of the story behind it, they now have a much faster way of getting here from other Shrines than having to trek all along the Pristine Plagueway each time. That will be useful for next time.

    But now, there are foes to face, and progress to make in locating the one they seek. The second Marble Guardian of Lostrata.

Carna (974) has posed:
Chopping Grounds (Darkness) - <Lumiere>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A path leading past racks of butcher tools and weapons descends lower and lower into the Chopping Grounds, beyond their forges and meat-chopping tables in the initial area. The sound of skittering insects plagues explorers, always rustling too-close-by whenever their attention drifts. The walls are heavily caked in blood, dry and fresh, and black stains are on everything.

    The heat level continues to rise the lower one descends, as all around the smell of raw meat and blood chokes the air. Red silhouettes stalk the halls, some stand on balconies overhead, looking down upon those who pass below, while others follow intently, nearly salivating as they wait for the right moment to strike.

    In a few places, where the steel is peeled away from the dark industrial structures, in the walls along the metal grid-pattern walk ways over rivers of flaming blood, flesh has been exposed underneath the layers of metal. It bleeds, rots, and sometimes twitches... Though whether of its own voilition, or because there's something inside of it, is hard to say.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents
Count Kord <Your Mask Won't Come Off! It's Suffocating!>
Finna <Bloody Tattoos Staining Fur>
Priscilla <Something White And Fast Keeps Running Behind Her>
Red Figures <Hunters Hunting>
Staren <Wires Trail From His Skull. Is It Really Him?>
Tomoe <One Eye Is Closed... What Is She Hiding!? Pluck It Out!>
Wall Meat <Packed Tight And Dripping>
Wounds <Stop The Bleeding. They Can Smell It.>

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord tries to maintain his cool. Even the most hardened, old men have their limits, and it appears this is getting to be a little much for him. As he picks a place to go and walks the path, the others more familiar with him may notice his head turning to look at things that aren't there, and his path veering around figures that cannot be seen, taking a wide berth while trying not to be too obvious about it. His mad behavioral quirks are clear responses to what others might believe are hallucinations.

    He occasionally shakes a hand to try to shake the blood off of his hand, feeling it dripping, maybe even crawling over his skin, seeping into his gauntlets. He looks aside at spots on the wall, at exposed, oozing flesh, and grimaces behind his mask. He adjusts his mask a moment, knowing he fitted it correctly but the panicked pang rings in his belly. He notably avoids looking at anyone else in the party, seeming to flinch away each time he sees them.

    "... do not tarry," he mentions, faking a calm affect.

Finna (513) has posed:
The handfuls of visions she's had in Lumiere... Finna recognizes them as such. They're signs of something. Or from someone. She's just not sure what or how or who. And so, she tries her best to remember them and hunt for signs.

    But if she saw what Kord was seeing, she'd be doing her best to gouge them out of her mind.

    "There's not enough fire even in the Elemental Pole of Fire to clean this place up!" She barks out, following along and rubbing her nose. For once she's in human form. Perhaps the smells are just a bit too much for her in animal form.

Staren has posed:
    Robocat is on the case! Maybe he'll just stay a robot all week, seems like a lot of dangerous missions are coming up.

    As they pass one of the weapon racks, Staren comments, "I wonder if this place at all corresponds to the actual geometry of a place that once existed, or if it's like the Abyss, generating a sort of minus-world decorated in the manner of a real place. Like, why the random weapon racks?" He decides to compare the next rack he comes to and see if it's identical -- or if any of the tools/weapons are identical -- to the previous rack.

    Also, a new shrine of light! Staren checks whether the bloodstains are fresh.

    "...Sssssso. Are all the marble guardians the same eye-and-chains deal, or are they each unique?"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe has had quite the time here dealing with so many thing sin this world and the likes of Kord has it far worse than her. Not that she was fully aware she would look to FInna for a moment and sighs.

"God causing another great flood on top of it might not scour it clear either."

She's got tht new shield out for the moment and may put it to use but it leaves her a bit uneasy.

"I doubt they would all look the same...Staten, I'm as ready as I will be though."

Priscilla has posed:
    Lords, Staren, don't start talking about the Abyss. This place is already bad enough, and Priscilla would prefer not to mentally overlay the meat and blood and torture with /that/ extra helping of otherworldly heebies. Staren can be a little more cavalier about it because he'd only been a visitor to that place.

    Then again, they're all just visitors here, aren't they? It must be a wholly different story for the dead that have lived here for an eternity.

    Priscilla is oblivious to the (possibly imaginary) white flash chasing her, proceeding armed and cautiously as ever. That caution rises at the sight of the claw marks, and then falls as she realizes it's already splattered its prey and moved on. It would seem, sadly, that the Shrines of Light do not have the relative safety of the Bonfires of Lordaran. Best not to linger anywhere but the Church, most likely. Priscilla briefly wonders how it's doing.

    "Count Kord." she says in as level a tone as she can manage. "Art thou feeling capable of aerial survey this day? We hath little lead to go with, and I wouldst ill wish to wander this place at random. Try as I might, the best of which I hath thought is to goeth by the flow of blood."

Carna (974) has posed:
    Upon Staren's examination, the wooden racks and wall-rungs with weapons and tools end after a certain point, mostly just lining that one passage. They do not appear to be identical, with several being mostly or completely empty. If they serve a purpose, it is probably just what they appear to be for. Weapon storage, and a place to keep equipment where it will be easily accessible for those who dwell here to pick up and use when they have need of it. At least, unlike the specialzed custom 'tools' created by the Executor, these seem to be mostly normal items, even if most are sized somewhat large, and all appear to have been used for grisly work.

    The street-width corridor they pass through, walls red from hue of the blood flowing beneath them, the heat intense as any furnace or smelting plant, seems mostly straightforward, though there are the various bolted doors and hatches, and when they pass onto solid metal flooring, they have the square access holes in said floor, and the ladders leading down from such to contend with. If Kord takes flight, he will see a rlatively open area, that seems to span the distance between this passage and the next section of the Chopping Grounds, where almost apartment-like buildings built of stone and black steel sit and wait for someone to open their doors, and step into their bellies.

Finna (513) has posed:
"Which God?" Finna finds herself asking reflexively with a few blinks Tomoe's way... but she is otherwise occupied by the putrid stench of the place and the heat.

    She bounds over to the nearest thing of interest - the claw marks. The blood...

    "Errrrrrgh. Hate this place." But she shapeshifts back into fox form rather quickly, and tries to get a sniff of whatever beast was here. Although there's no telling WHEN it came through...

    If she can track it, and know that it's not nearby, that will set her at ease.

    "Who...?"

Staren has posed:
    Staren lets Kord scout, although he at least walks to the end of the corridor to look around there himself. "Man, the Chopping Grounds are huge. Did a big city die? Is it all sort of... grown from an idea? Or do a lot of people actually live here? ...Though, if someone lived here, you'd think we'd see them." He shines a light down one of the access holes to see if it contains More City, or a different kind of terrain.

Count Kord has posed:
    The moment Priscilla suggested flight, Kord stuck out his strange, ethereal wings and took to the air. He carried himself upward to do some recon, but soon discovers they're heading to some enclosed structures, aside all of the other divergences that fall in their path between there and where he took off.

    He decides to close the distance to the structures, not wanting to linger within the sight of any of these red apparitions that seem to haunt their every step. Not wanting to stand near whatever is following Priscilla around. "Structures, up ahead," he calls back to the others, dipping down briefly before his advance, probably supremely unhelpfully.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe says "The God of Christans, Jews and Mulsims."

She nearly says something elswe but does not think now is the time for a deeper lesson with Finna. She just leaves it at that, iud she wants to press she'll talk about it later. THey hve bigger concerns now she looks at the racks for a momen there's nothing to worry avbout for it but the holes trouble her. With Kord scouting? She's confident enough to press ahead and keep her eyes out for any hazards that might come up infront of her.

Priscilla has posed:
    Admittedly, Priscilla had actually expected Kord to be far more shaken and hesitant than he puts on. The thought that he might be eager to not be near some creepy figments of his imagination (or are they?) doesn't cross her mind, and so she just feels slightly concerned that she had offended him by coming off as patronizing. Nevertheless, he can both fly, and is in tune with the Darkness of this realm, and so he remains a fairly indispensible guide.

    Every so often, she stops by one of the ladder-fixed conduits in the floor, to drop a prism stone down them, and get some vague idea of their depth, though she isn't even slightly eager to climb down any of them. She is significantly more cautious with prying open the odd bolted window just enough to peek inside. What Kord sees seems like the only real place to go, but that doesn't stop her from checking along the way.

Carna (974) has posed:
    Finna's investigation reveals little distinct beyond more smells of death and decay. There is something like an insect odor to it, pheremones of some kind, or at least chemical in nature. The trail is quite cold. Whenever this happened, it wasn't recent, and it doesn't appear the perpetrator or victim are anywhere nearby, thankfully.

    Prying open bolted hatches in the walls causes a deluge of blood, limbs, and less identifiable pieces of meat to come pouring out, accompanied with extremely long mottled white and purple worms. After the first one, Priscilla may choose not to open any others. If she chooses otherwise, she will have a lot of dry cleaning to do when she gets back.

    Unfortunately for Staren, as he chooses to personally investigate the access holes instead of sending down a drone to scout, he shortly finds himself under attack. Likewise for when Priscilla gets too close in order to drop down her prism stones. A misshapen creature begins to crawl up out of the hole, and then several others come from other openings as well. Roughly humanoid in that they are have two arms and two legs attachhed to a torso, the bags around their heads indicate that part at least can not possibly be human in shape. Elongated, bulbous heads, most of them squished out to almost look like an anteater's with their silhouettes bluntd by the fabric covering them, but most heads don't have quite so many fingers poking out of them, wiggling through small openings like prisoners trying to poke a hole in a wall to get the slightest hint of the world outside... Only to get their digits stuck and ripe for crows to come along and peck the flesh off of them.

    This ambushers mostly seem to be wielding variants on equipment that would be used by mechanics or factory workers. Wrenches and such, but almost comically oversized. Almost, because they have been 'customized' with spikes, sawblades, blowtorches, and other so that they can serve effectively as weapons.

    ---

    Darkness - Count Kord

    Whispering voices tell Kord as he witnesses the ambushers that they need those tools down there. That as they labor in the dark to keep the machinery of this part of Lumiere in operation, and to extend their reach into other sections, they must contend with terrors in the blackness. Silent things, cold things, with too many legs.

    ---

    Thankfully, Tomoe equipped with her new shield stayed close to the group and may be able to forestall some of the attackers and give everyone time to gather in one place rather than leaving their backs open to any of the many openings in the floor. Stand and fight, or make a run for it?

    SOMEONE at least is making a run for it. Something white and fast... The thing Kord saw before, behind Priscilla!? No, this is smaller, more distinct, even if utterly without any impression of personhood of any kind. A young girl in a ragged, stained nightgown, with an enormous mass of white hair that completely conceals her head and trails out behind her as she dashes across the metal plating. Even her footfalls, though they produce sound, just seem to blend into all the surrounding noise. With the chaos of battle surrounding them, it's easy to see the child running and not register her at all if one isn't focusing intently.

    Either way, however, she seems to be making her way towards one of the buildings on the other side.

Staren has posed:
    Well Staren sure is glad he just shined a light down rather than climbing down! He fires his beam cannons and backs away. "Geeze, how many of these are there?! Good thing we didn't go ahead, they could've come up behind us!" At the moment he's more annoyed and jumpscared than actually worried. They haven't surrounded him, and he's made of metal. His immediate reaction is one of observing how much damage it takes to take them down, so he can select whichever weapon will mow them down most efficiently before they CAN overwhelm anyone!

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna decides that the only interesting thing about this ancient scent - likely distinguishable only from years of neglect and stillness - is that it reminds her of bugs more than anything with decent meat on it.

    Her nose twitches a few times as she turns her imagination towards an enormous, skyscraper-sized... cockroach...

    Bleeeeeeeeeegh. No. The image of an enormous praying mantis follows. She shivers and ducks back.

    It's likely that one of those clapped her on the nose or something, knowing Finna's nosiness.

    "Boo--"

    No sooner does she start to vocalize her thoughts than the skittering, squelchy noises of THINGS crawling out of the woodwork draws her attention back to the others. CLEAR disgust gets her lips peeling back and legs motoring backwards. FINGERS SHOULD NOT BE COMING FROM SKULLS.

    It takes the little fox a few moments to acclimate to that sight... but then quick movements. Flashes of... fabric? She struggles to follow the movements...

    And eventually, after much confused self-guessing... she locks onto the long-haired girl.

    Finna decides that this is a great time to effectively vanish from minds herself. Much like the hairy-girl's null-presence, minds slip over the fox's presence and ignore it. She slinks off after the girl, pretty confident that her allies can handle the freaky things coming from below for at least ten minutes!

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe will put the shield to use even iof it's not very good at defending it seem to bounce some of the force back at her foes and that's enough for her. She' unaware of the whispering that's getting into Kord's head directly. She has some idea given whaqt's been said but she's also noe being attacked and has to worry about keeping thse things at bay just what are these things and she tries to not think about the gorew that comes out from behind the bolted hatches, this place is a nightmare and she's trying to black out anything that she doe snot have to deal with right now such as keeping Staren from getting devoured if she can.

"Come and face me you abombations!"

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord briefly pauses to look down at the horrific things that crawl out of the depths to greet everyone, wielding weapons that look like mechanical tools. He briefly pauses to assess them, frowning behind that bird-like mask of his, eyes scanning them to determine that yes, they are indeed 'real' to the others and they are reacting to them.

    Once he does, he pulls one hand back, a flash of black and red energy glows from his hand, and he fires a pulse of Dark magic energy down at the creatures, trying very hard not to hit people that would complain at him if he caught them in the crossfire. Then, once the magic clears, he distractedly flexes and shakes his hand, as if it were coated in something that isn't there. He gives it only that one shot, which would've shockwaved down one of the holes that these things are crawling up out of.

    Then he turns to continue to the structures, more curious about those than a fight with creepy beasties.

Priscilla has posed:
    Of course. Of course just opening a window a crack would spill a practically pressurized mess of meat and blood and utterly revolting worms, like the place was stacked to the rafters with it. Of course stopping to just throw a little tiny coloured rock down the grates results in an ambush, aggroing a swarm of yet more horrors from below. Every time Priscilla thinks she's started to establish a baseline of reasonable expectation from Lumiere, it just gets even more offensively terrible. Ever since a flight of stairs had turned out to be a mimic, her entire experience here had been essentially rolling the dice every time she touches anything. Literally anything.

    There is no small amount of tired, revolted, and mildly angry exasperation in the way she lets her hands slip all the way to the very end of her scythe in a sudden, swift, two-handed swing, and thus extend its reach to an insanely long and wide arc that gives in to its own momentum in order to rip through three quarters of the space around her in the blink of an eye, without any thought to graceful maneuvering or defense afterwards. She simply looks to literally scythe down everything within lunging distance of her at once, whether they actually die or simply lose too many limbs to immediately press in, and then she vanishes, buggering right off down the street.

    Kord can fly, so can Staren, Finna can turn into a fox thing, and technically her light can power Tomoe's fairy wings if the dedicated tank somehow can't shore up the retreat. Screw this. She's done.

Carna (974) has posed:
    Staren's beam cannons seem to work just fine. At least in the sense that blasting one as it was climbing up the ladder sends it flailing and smoldering back down into the depths, tumbling through darkness. Likewise, any further attacks seem to burn them up well enough. As well, Tomoe's shield grows wooden spikes when enemies strike it with their tools, causing them to impale themselves on the shield for their trouble, enduring a portion of the damage they try to inflict. They are strong from their tireless working, nimble as they try to duck back and dodge attacks if they can 'see' them coming (with their head-fingers or by some other sense?), intelligent as they try to circle around Staren and Tomoe to attack them from other angles.

    But the biggest issue soon becomes that they keep coming up out of the holes, and the number of enemies very shortly becomes much greater than the number of explorers, with no sign of stopping. Even as Priscilla mows them down a dozen at a time, sending them toppling into Dead Lights-distintegrating piles that are soon gone, more just keep coming up out of the murder holes after them. Having turned invisible, they are at least not after her anymore, but they continue to try to pile onto Staren and Tomoe, swinging wrenches and stabbing with screw drivers and blasting with blow torches.

    Finna follows after the girl, who squirms through the opening between frame and a chain-covered door, to the room on the other side. If Finna follows, she will find a small room, the size of a very modest living room, with maps, papers, and writing all over the walls and floor. There is no sign of the girl.

    Kord releases his blast, knocking several of the mechanics back down the holes or flattening them against the floor. However, something happens. The floor jerks and jolts under the impact. Several plates drop out of the grid-like frame entirely, and the grid itself falls a couple inches. There's a brief moment, accompanied by the sound of straining metal, and bolts and screws popping out of place, where even the mechanics look to each other in horrified realization of what's about to happen, and then they scramble back towards the ladders that still have more of them coming up them, or towards the edges of this platform... Too far to reach in so short a time. Under the weight of so many bodies, jostled by the blast that Kord levelled, a blast that may have been stronger than he intended... Like something else poured additional power into it...

Carna (974) has posed:
    The entire platform just *drops*, ladders, mechanics, and adventurers all, down into the darkness. The very distant sound, amidst all the screaming and clanging metal as huge sheets of steel collide in mid-air, of great machines working tirelessly, indicates that those who are falling may soon be finding out what kind of things these Dead things have to fight.

    Flaming blood explodes down out of torn open channels, creating flesh-melting waterfalls pouring down from above them. Those in free-fall, even those capable of flight, would be better served securing those who can not fly and carrying them downwards out from under the deluge, and/or avoiding all the crap coming down on their heads, than trying to go upwards into it while trying to dodge falling debris. However, whatever people choose to do in that handful of seconds, and the ensuing panic and chaos as the world literally collapses on them, three are left above, and the rest below, at least for this moment.

    The party has been split. And for that moment, the world flickers and shifts.

    Suddenly, the apartments and street are smooth white temple walls for Priscilla and Finna, covered in crescent moons, the streets lined with glittering stones unlike anything that could be found on Earth.

    Suddenly, the air that Kord flies through is over a near-identical version of the Chopping Grounds, but the floor that just collapsed is solid, the arrangement of passages slightly different, and the apartments he headed towards are darkened, the walls covered in black, wet, pulsating mold and corruption like was seen in the Temple of the Drowned.

    Suddenly, there is no sign of the Chopping Grounds above Staren and Tomoe, just a vast emptiness, from which the waterfalls of blood and wreckage fall, as they descend towards through blackness.

    Below them, a black marble expanse, and a gate covered in skeletons, trying to hold the doors closed. However, these doors are a bright red, and standing at the end of a bridge over a lake of blood, while all around, the sound of machinery and hissing pipes produces a constant background noise.

    

    The balance of power has shifted.

            The Darkness grows stronger.