Re: Clinch River: Minutes Count

Mon Feb 21, 2022 9:25 am

Clinch River: Minutes Count - Page 3 KCRQ5ng

THE DARK BELOW

Liltotto's bite certainly cleared the barricade, and the tremendous vehicle entry door behind it. But if even this entry tunnel had seemed to lack reishi, behind the wall was far worse. The air was practically overwhelming in the presence of the same unknown energy, which now seeped out through the hole that had been made and choked out what little ambient spiritual energy might still have been present. Perhaps even more ominously, however, was how it seemed to trail over the Vandenreich party themselves as it came, how each particle of it seemed almost desperate to stay upon them.

But, not long after the barricade had been broken, a speaker on the wall crackled to life, a voice coming through that certainly sounded for all the world as if it could have been Natasha's father. A deep, Texan drawl, oozing with both confidence and authority even through the barely functional speaker, echoed through the tunnel.

Clinch River: Minutes Count - Page 3 AUi55rV

Clinch River: Minutes Count - Page 3 AUi55rV

"Seems we've got some guests. I hate to tell ya, but we don't take kindly to guests here. We're runnin' a lab here, not some little sideshow for y'all to come on in and see the sights. Get out, or you ain't ever leavin'."

And, with that little message, there was nothing else. The tunnel continued on, though behind the destroyed barricade there were old, rusted vehicles, transports carrying all manner of equipment. Though there was certainly a path for their jeep, it would not be a straight or easy one. And that certainly was only reinforced by the sounds of something scratching against metal, not simply from one source, but from all through the place. What was creating it? There was only one way to learn, wasn't there?

END POST | WE OUGHT NOT HAVE DARED

Mon Feb 21, 2022 11:35 am

Clinch River: Minutes Count - Page 3 Banner

SHIROHIME | WHITE PRINCESS

So that's how it would be, Shirohime wasn't going to listen to this obstacle's ominous warning get in the way of their goals, she'd raze this man's entire laboratory to the ground before stepping away from this path. It was just an insignificant step in the greater picture, right?

She did hate it though. This part where she had to fight, wouldn't it be nice if people just didn't have to do that anymore?

The floating spheres around her seemed to follow by her gesture, indicating for two of the five to barrel down to the corridor as scouts. She had faith that her own weapon was small and nimble enough that it could avoid and make their way back towards her if she needed.

The other three still hovered around her while she thought about the situation. Taking a moment to glance at her compatriots and see how they were reacting to the warning or if they were every bit as stoic as she was.

THE ENEMY OF BLACK | END POST

Mon Feb 21, 2022 5:00 pm

NATASHA | HUMANITY'S STRONGEST SOLDIER

Natasha could not help chuckle ever so softly at the sound of the man's voice - the deep Texan drawl dripping from his voice was enough to momentarily give the woman pause, though she made a concerted effort to maintain her position around Shirohime's space. A fellow texan, huh?

How unfortunate. Natasha was not really one for attackin' men and women' who hailed from her hometown... but she could make exceptions on this fine day. They were on a mission, after all. Whoever this man was and the enemies that stood before them, it was their duty to secure this source of energy and achieve their mission.

Placing her hands around an assault rifle within the truck, Natasha surveyed the immediate area for any threats that might launch themselves towards them. The blue-eyed sharpshooter's options truly were limited without a significant source of reishi to pull from but she wouldn't be a soldier worth her weight in gold if she couldn't thrive in conditions like these. She knew what she signed up for and she wasn't going to back down because some texan' stranger told them to turn back.

END POST | ALL IS WELL, SAFELY REST

Thu Feb 24, 2022 10:21 am

Clinch River: Minutes Count - Page 3 HEADRR_EFZe3tPU0Agd3PG

Giselle smiled from ear to ear as she made note of Liltotto's aggressive approach for plowing clear through the barrier ahead of them. Though she was also keeping a mental tab on their ....special guest. No reaction? How boring. Even as she slowed down a little to drive through the tunnels, she couldn't help bur shift slightly to the left when she noticed those little energy spheres flying out ahead. But there was no ....explosion? Could she ...SEE through those things? Or feel through them? Why on earth hadn't she sent others out? Or was the- UGH dammit, she hated this shit. Shirohime's presence was a distraction. Thankfully she was on a straight path when she realized she was being distracted, but all the same she did perk up when that......interesting message was projected toward them.

And then the relative silence after the fact from Natasha and Shirohime. Psh, really? Nothing? "Well THAT was pretty gay." She remarked off-handedly as she straight up just kept on driving deeper into the facility. She was used to ominous warnings to be sure, and no doubt Liltotto was used to that shit too. She was more intrigued as to how the mere sound of a man's voice could just convey the ungodly amount of forehead he probably had.

"Might wanna reform those guns bee tee dubs, Natasha. Just use your Reiryoku. Kinda makes me wonder if these fucks designed this place to fuck with quincy." She sighed audibly. It sure was annoying how vulnerable their race was to being countered. Well.....'Their' meaning her, Natasha and..... hm, actually she didn't know if Shirohime was a quincy. "Actually, are you a Quincy, boss? Just curious as to like...yaknow...how limited your steez will be in here. Lil could you look back there and see if she's just staring disapprovingly at me? I gotta keep my eyes on the road ya know." She decided to ask. A, kinda figuring Shirohime wouldn't answer because well...not like she'd said anything about her questions back in briefing. And B, a bit of levity would help keep people focused.

She always heard those stupid sayings. 'Stay sharp. But that led to shit like being over-ready. Hair triggers were a bad way to enter a fight, focusing too hard made it easy to overlook stuff. She was of the 'relaxed, but ready' school of thought. She could only imagine Shirohime seemed to be more conservative on that. Or was she? Either way, it WAS pertinent information and if nobody else was gonna ask she would.

Fri Feb 25, 2022 5:51 pm

Clinch River: Minutes Count - Page 3 TeC6OwL

Liltotto Lamperd

After managing to get the awful cascade of horrible flavors out of her mouth, Liltotto seemed visibly irritated by the air around her. She could feel that energy attempt to stick on her like fallen ash, only to be passively absorbed like much of anything of similar presence. She sure hated that literally everything smelled like potential horror creature and nothing else, even the presences of those in the vehicle with her had some level of that tang. Annoying, just... Annoying, that feeling they were travelling into a troubling situation, no idea what's ahead of them, and some JACKASS suddenly blaring his dumbass, stupid, sister-fucking voice in her ears!

Quiet apologies were cast to Natasha. She absolutely was just mad at this guy in particular.

The only change to her expression was a slight twitch of the brow as she'd poke her upper half out the window, having the sense to add extra eyes to their journey. She twitched slightly when she saw sudden movement, only to realize it was just two of Shirohime's orb things. She sure as hell had no idea what that woman was or what she was capable of, but never did she cease to be some kind of mystery, but unfortunately a mystery she did not feel appropriate in exploring at the moment.

Unlike Giselle. Wholly in character, wondering what Shirohime's deal was, as her usual prodding self. Expected and anticipated.

"Little busy making sure no nightmare monsters pop out of the nearest shadow and try to eat us like Madame Centihead back there, G." She'd say with little else but a shrug, "Better question is why the fuck any of this is down here? Whatever Madame Centihead is? Why did the Colonel just give us a death warning? Definitely a slew of rhetoricals that probably will never be given a straight answer because, yeah, that's how shit goes sometimes. It's whatever."

After a moment of silent travel, she would then add, "Metal is a lot more disgusting than I remember."

END | Mission Time

Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:56 pm

THE DARK BELOW

The subterranean access tunnels were, frankly, rather expansive, even bearing in mind the vehicles littered through the place. They were visibly ancient, centuries old and rusted to such a degree that they could not have been called useful for anything even vaguely resembling transport--

But what they were quite good for was maintaining the ever-echoing sound of scratching, movement, of the occasional groan that sounded faintly human, yet decidedly bestial all at once. But nothing dared to make itself known, to show its face in this dark place, and eventually the road came to a rather decided end. A cargo lift, very clearly centuries out of use, that looked only to go downward.

Thankfully, there was at least the emergency access ladder to the right of it.

Less thankfully, however, was the sound of metal no longer being scratched at, but very decidedly screeching as it was haphazardly moved across the floor from where they had just come. Nothing was visible, at least not in the dark and without any spiritual signature to give away its presence. But that was, really, inconsequential, when anyone with eyes could see that one of the myriad pipes along the wall had split open, and what was coming out of it was certainly not liquid.

Clinch River: Minutes Count - Page 3 C69wOdg

Clinch River: Minutes Count - Page 3 C69wOdg

A pale white mask, both similar to that of a Hollow and yet unmistakably different, slowly moved its way toward them, a seemingly endless neck coming from the new split along the wall. But as it crawled forward, it did not seem exactly single-minded, for it twisted and turned itself around every vehicle, its neck wrapping around even the immense military equipment and crushing it like an anaconda around its prey. Perhaps that was the only reason it did not reach the Vandenreich sooner, but it certainly presented them with two options. To deal with it, or simply to descend further into the depths by way of the ladder.

END POST | WE OUGHT NOT HAVE DARED

Sun Mar 06, 2022 8:35 pm

Liltotto Lamperd

Even as they reached their dead end, and next avenue of travel, Liltotto kept her attention firmly behind them as she searched the eerie darkness for danger. She knew something was there.. It just had yet to rear it's head. Even in this place drowned in ominous energy that made her tracing difficult to do, there was just this gut feeling that they were being followed, and Liltotto certainly was someone who at least considered that instinct. And of course... The sound of scraping turned into screeching, and lo and behold - a horrifying white face in the darkness approaching them.

"Outta the car." She spoke low but briskly to everyone present, "Outta the car, now there's some freaky ass tubehead fuck coming..!"

She waved a moment, before getting out herself and immediately trying to figure something to deploy to stop it, opting to quickly place cage traps in it's path in hopes it'd get slowed down if it got too close, before running to their dead end and trying the ladder,

"It's safe to use, just come down carefully," She'd call to the others, "..Old as fuck though."

END | Mission Time

Tue Mar 08, 2022 5:15 pm

SHIROHIME | WHITE PRINCESS

If Shirohime was going to answer, it got pushed to being far less important compared to the appearance of a new creature.

Liltotto did have a sound idea, there was no point wasting time with these things though she did wonder if they were under the control of their host. Was he letting them advance so that he could call all these creatures upon them at the end? Difficult to tell.

Shirohime just did as Liltotto ordered and stumbled out a little bit. Waiting for her floating spheres to return before going anywhere, this little blonde was quite resourceful. Wasn't she?

THE ENEMY OF BLACK | END POST

Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:58 pm

NATASHA | HUMANITY'S STRONGEST SOLDIER

Natasha stared at Giselle as she spoke before it finally dawned on her that even without reishi, she could still form her secondary spirit weapons with her Reiryoku. Chuckling sheepishly with a sort of "I knew that" expression in her face, she used her spirit power as a conduit to form Roxanne and Casanova once more, twirling the guns around before her gaze returned to observing the area.

Of course, as expected, yet another abnormality reared it's head. It resembled a hollow in some aspects yet the energy was anything but. Natasha quickly exited the car standing beside Shirohime. Gazing at Shirohime, she would offer an option to carry the woman on her back if walking became a struggle for her.

"If at any point ya' need to rest yer legs, princess, I can carry ya' on my' back. No problem." Turning towards the ladder, Natasha waited for Giselle before she'd make any further movements. She didn't know what this new entry would present and she wasn't exactly being unfair to hesitate, if only slightly.

After all, two abnormal creatures that didn't resemble a familiar race had reared their grotesque heads. What was to say another one wouldn't be awaiting them once they got down? On the other hand, it was stay here or deal with whatever the bleeding mask creature was messing up their vehicles, so.... options weren't exactly in high demand here.

"What say you, Gigi? We all climbin' down or what'?"

END POST | ALL IS WELL, SAFELY REST

Wed Mar 09, 2022 8:02 pm

Giselle came to a stop as they neared the end of their little path, humming for a moment as she eyeballed the decrepit cargo lift, no doubt something they wouldn't be able to use. The ladder seemed useful enough though. All the same, she itched her cheek. Popping the door open to go check it out when that sound drew her attention. Casting a look over her shoulder and raising her brows slightly when she noticed the sudden appearance of that eerie creature. That unsettling mask causing her to raise her brows for just a moment. Briefly, she considered engaging such a creature. Her reiryoku crackling along her hands, forming a long spear, gliding her opposite hand along the edge of the weapon's point to coat it in her blood.

Thankfully, it seemed the rest of the group had a pretty good idea of how to progress past this point. Her eyes darting over to the sight of Liltotto and Shirohime heading toward the ladder. Then flicking her gaze to Natasha. "You heard Lil, down the ladder we go!" She chimed and promptly moved, positioning herself just between the rest of the group and that skittering horror, intent on waiting until the rest of them were down that ladder. Hopefully Liltotto's cages would prove enough to slow it down sufficiently, but if needed, she was prepared to cock her arm back and launch that lance straight into the center of the beast's mask if it came to draw too close. The blood on the end of that spear fully intent on beginning to seep through the mask and begin trying to eat it's way through the creature's head to begin converting it into a zombie if possible, and simply melt id down into blood if not.

All the same, once the others were down the ladder, she herself would aim to back off and slide down the ladder herself, shortening the spear by manipulating her Reiryoku into a smaller form. on the way down lest she get it stuck on the rungs or some shit. With any luck, they would all be away from whatever that thing was.