Session 3

From Deadhaus

[20:53] <~uhrwerk> Tanya's laptop beeps a standard alert, and the mysterious folder full of images reappears on its screen. Only this time, there's but a single file: room104.jpg.
[20:53] <~uhrwerk> Down the hall, a nurse slips into an exam room.
[20:55] <Tanya_Greene> ((Is that the folder on the server, or the one I downloaded? (which shouldn't have happened. XD)))
[20:55] <~uhrwerk> ((The one you downloaded. >:3))
[20:56] <Tanya_Greene> "!? What the hell?" Tanya growls under her breath, re-checking the server fileshare, "Where'd my freaky shit go?"
[20:57] <~uhrwerk> The server's shared folder shows the same thing: a single jpeg, named room104
[20:58] <Tanya_Greene> "... Huh... That shouldn't happen." She sighs to herself, clicking up the new jpg while checking her recycle bin for the stuff she was looking at earlier.
[21:00] <~uhrwerk> The jpg immediately blows up to full screen, without even the frame of an image viewer or web browser. It literally fills the laptop's screen. It's a shot of the same room as before -- the too-bright one with the Garfield poster -- only now it's clean. A tall, gaunt doctor and a nurse stand in the room, looking down at something on the examination table.
[21:01] <~uhrwerk> However, the nurse stands with her back to the camera, obscuring both her face and whatever it is they're looking at
[21:01] <Tanya_Greene> "... The hell?" She presses F3 to try to cancel full-screen mode.
[21:03] <~uhrwerk> Then the photo starts to move. Even though they move all herky-jerky, as if they're characters in a flipbook, glimpses of a grub-like thing -- grub-like, wet, bloody, and tumorous -- can be seen around them
[21:04] <Tanya_Greene> "Fucking hell, man, this is shit right out of doom 3..." Tanya goes pale, trying to get her laptop to stop blowing the image up full screen, and actually act like a good computer again.
[21:04] <~uhrwerk> In the same jerky stop-motion manner, they begin to slash and stitch at the grub-thing on the examination table.
[21:05] <~uhrwerk> All this time, their faces remain expressionless; more like waxen masks than human flesh
[21:06] <Tanya_Greene> Tanya just stares, now without any idea what to do, or what to think about what was going on. Was this actually happening? Or some really high-fidelity trick to mess with her head>?
[21:07] <Tanya_Greene> It certainly looked real. She didn't know of any way for them to go flip her desktop data in real time like that, without her knowing abou tit.
[21:07] <Tanya_Greene> Also, why was a .jpg playing a motion capture feed?
[21:07] <~uhrwerk> ((Hey Tanya, give me a Wits + Composure roll real quick. As soon as someong gets Plentimon, that is. XD))
�01[21:08] <Cherice> (I would if I knew how :<)
[21:08] <Tanya_Greene> ((Heyyyy Plentimmooon...))
[21:10] <James_Sessenwick> (...Damnit, what was the command?)
�03[21:10] * Plentimon (~user@3140D087.CBEE738D.7D1C7E9B.IP) has joined #deadhaus
[21:10] <Chastity_Bell> (There. )
[21:10] <Chastity_Bell> (You may worship me. )
[21:10] <~uhrwerk> ((Actually, make that Int + Computers first, DV))
[21:10] <James_Sessenwick> (Hm.)
[21:11] <Tanya_Greene> ((I do !em, right?))
[21:11] <Tanya_Greene> !em 7
[21:11] <Plentimon> Tanya_Greene (7), 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 1, Successes : 1
[21:11] <Tanya_Greene> ((1 for int+computers.))
[21:11] <Tanya_Greene> !em 5
[21:11] <Plentimon> Tanya_Greene (5), 1, 4, 2, 1, 10, Successes : 1
[21:11] <Tanya_Greene> !em 1
[21:11] <Plentimon> Tanya_Greene (1), 8, Successes : 1
[21:11] <Tanya_Greene> ((And 1 for the wits+comp.))
[21:12] <Tanya_Greene> ((Er, 2.))
[21:12] <~uhrwerk> ((Perfect))
[21:13] <~uhrwerk> Tanya may be puzzled, but she's pretty sure that whatever's causing this, it's not anything coming in over the network. The activity lights on her wireless card are all blank and still.
[21:13] <Tanya_Greene> "... Fucking creeeppy..."
[21:14] <~uhrwerk> It gets creepier. Tanya can't shake the feeling that someone's watching the feed over her shoulder
[21:14] <Tanya_Greene> She looks around, all very pale and conspiracy-theorist in demenour, which is never a good look.
[21:15] <~uhrwerk> Tanya swears that she sees hunched human forms out of the corner of her eyes, but they flicker and vanish just as she tries to get a good look at them.
[21:17] <Tanya_Greene> "..." She shivers slightly, and rubs her forehead, looking back out of the corner of her eye, and then back at the monitor. "Okay... That's... That's enough of this." she presses escape, and then, if that doesn't work, alt-control-delete, alt-f4, anything to just get back to her desktop.
[21:17] <~uhrwerk> The instant before she presses f4, the 'video' vanishes, leaving her at her desktop.
[21:18] <Tanya_Greene> "..."
[21:18] <~uhrwerk> A face, crying black ichor, is reflected in her monitor from just over her shoulder.
[21:18] <Tanya_Greene> She's just about to launch internet explorer when she sees this, spasms like a person who'd just seen a ghost in their rear view mirror, and turns around in a start, nearly falling out of her chair.
[21:19] <~uhrwerk> A man, dressed in rags, looms above her. It opens its mouth to let out a raspy cough, flecking her face with black-tinted drool. The same drool that drips from its too-long teeth.
[21:20] <Tanya_Greene> "... Holy fuck, man, I wasn't meaning an..." Tanya stammers, then suddenly realises that, come on, this thing is a monster, and it isn't really going to care if she was looking at his private fileserver.
[21:20] <Tanya_Greene> She grabs her laptop off of the table and bolts... In any direction, looking for the door only after she's moving.
[21:22] <~uhrwerk> The thing lets out a confused grunt and begins to shamble after her. Just as she's about to reach the hallway that runs past the examination rooms and out to the lobby, the thing seems to teleport, all but catching up to her in the span of a heartbeat.
[21:23] <Tanya_Greene> "AHAGH!" she shrieks, and immediately backpedals, running the other way, looking for something to throw between her and it.
[21:24] <~uhrwerk> ... Backpedaling, and nearly tripping over the janitor's wheeled mop bucket
[21:25] <Tanya_Greene> "Somebody, help!" Tanya yells, come on, the janitor had to be nearby, right?! He left his goddamn bucket right behind her! ... Didn't she just come that way?!
[21:29] <~uhrwerk> ((Oh Tanya. It's time for your old friend Wits+Composure. ))
[21:29] <Tanya_Greene> !em 5
[21:29] <Plentimon> Tanya_Greene (5), 7, 9, 2, 4, 3, Successes : 2
[21:29] <Tanya_Greene> ((2.))
[21:29] <Tanya_Greene> ((If this were Anime, this is Tuxedo Masque's cue.))
�01[21:30] <Cherice> (Thought it was 8 and up? @_@)
[21:30] <Tanya_Greene> ((Er, 1... Then.))
[21:30] <Tanya_Greene> ((It says 2. XD))
�01[21:30] <Cherice> (Plentimon's math is fail.)
[21:30] <~uhrwerk> (Would Tanya try to run past it, fight it, or freeze up?)
[21:30] <James_Sessenwick> (By which we mean K0n programming the fucker for Trinityverse is fail.)
[21:31] <Tanya_Greene> ((She'd be running.))
[21:33] <~uhrwerk> Tanya pushes off the wall, mustering all her strength into sprinting past the... zombie. (That's what it has to be, right? Even though it moves like that?) She's nearly clear when her laptop falls out of her grip and goes skittering back across the floor, landing nearly at the thing's feet. A thick rope of black drool dribbles out of the thing's mouth, threatening to drip onto her computer
[21:35] <Tanya_Greene> "... Shit! ..." She looks up at the zombie... And back at her computer, and then back at the zombie. Now, as scary as zombies were... She wasn't about to let some brain-eating bastard get his sick demonic drool all over her prized laptop.
�01[21:35] <Cherice> (XD)
[21:35] <Tanya_Greene> ... Of course, now was a time she wished the half-life lambda symbol on the cover really gave it some sort of hazardous materials resistance... Despite this, she tries to dive for her laptop and keep running.
�01[21:35] <Cherice> ("NO ONE DROOLS ON A LAPTOP IN MY TOWN! D:<")
[21:36] <Tanya_Greene> ((If only I had a flashlight.))
[21:36] <~uhrwerk> (Dex + Athletics to grab and go. Let's say Difficulty 3 due to the stress?)
[21:36] <Tanya_Greene> ((Oh, wait... I do.))
[21:36] <Tanya_Greene> !em 5
[21:36] <Plentimon> Tanya_Greene (5), 8, 9, 1, 5, 1, Successes : 2
[21:36] <Tanya_Greene> ((aw, I get 2.))
[21:36] <Tanya_Greene> ((Wait, can you spend willpower in nwod?))
[21:37] <Tanya_Greene> ((Cause that's something I'd be doing to save my laptop anyway.))
[21:37] <James_Sessenwick> (Gives you 3 more dice.)
[21:37] <~uhrwerk> (So yes, by all means. :3)
[21:37] <Tanya_Greene> ((Alrighty then.))
[21:37] <Tanya_Greene> !em 3
[21:37] <Plentimon> Tanya_Greene (3), 7, 8, 2, Successes : 2
[21:37] <Tanya_Greene> ((Woo!))
[21:37] <~uhrwerk> ((Stunt it, foo!))
[21:39] <Tanya_Greene> "Fine, bitch! You want my laptop?" She suddenly takes an unexpected turn from terrified to suicidally courageous, "Well... YOU CAN'T!" She makes a quick, completely unexpected (if zombies even expected things) leap toward him[...]</b>
[21:39] <Tanya_Greene> snagging the laptop and somehow, even though she wasn't any good at athletics, managed to roll away without losing her momentum.
[21:40] <~uhrwerk> However, when Tanya looks back to grin smugly at the zombie in triumph, the hallway is empty
[21:40] <Tanya_Greene> "... ...?"
[21:40] <Tanya_Greene> "Oh, not falling for your teleport invisibly shit again!" she suddenly wises up, and keeps running anyway.
[21:41] <~uhrwerk> Just as she runs off, the examination room across the hall from her zombie gymnastics opens -- exam room 104.
[21:42] <Tanya_Greene> ((This for me? 104's the one on the freaky camreaness, right?))
[21:43] <~uhrwerk> The tall, gaunt doctor walks out, smug grin on his face. He's followed shortly by his nurse... and an anonymous-looking man of average height and build. The nurse leads the man toward the lobby's exit doors, past a sweaty, soot-stained man leaning against one of the walls
[21:43] <~uhrwerk> ((Indeed))
[21:43] <Tanya_Greene> "room104.jpg?" She suddenly raises an eyebrow, and manages to pronounce .jpg without any vowels.
[21:44] <Tanya_Greene> "..."
[21:44] <Tanya_Greene> ((Door still open? >>))
[21:44] <~uhrwerk> ((Yep))
[21:45] <Tanya_Greene> She nonchalantly attempts to walk back the way she came, as if nothing happened... Maybe, if she's lucky, nobody'll pay any attention, and she can catch a peek inside that room.
[21:47] <~uhrwerk> Except for her, the entire hallway is completely empty. Desolate even. (and the murky, misty light let in by the windows isn't helping on the count) She arrives at room 104 without any difficulty.
[21:49] <Tanya_Greene> Holding back an innocent whistle, she peeeks inside, trying not to look like she was actually entering, in case there were some... security cameras, or something.
[21:49] <Tanya_Greene> ... Or teleporting zombies.
[21:49] <Miles> ((Someone say my name?))
[21:49] <~uhrwerk> The room looks perfectly normal. Sterile, even.
[21:50] <Tanya_Greene> There is, however, a garfield poster, no?
�03[21:50] * Miles is now known as Teleporting_Zombie
�03[21:51] * Teleporting_Zombie is now known as Miles
[21:51] <~uhrwerk> Yes. And a bundle of sticks, tied with a red cord, resting dead center on the exam table.
[21:52] <Tanya_Greene> "... You're kidding..." Tanya gasps. "Whoa, wait, hold on..." She goes over the facts in her mind. There was a man here... And then a pile of sticks... And then a maggot-like, blood spurting... thing? being hacked apart... Now sticks again... It all happened in the same room, and, most likely, in quick succession.
[21:52] <Tanya_Greene> There was also a teleporting zombie, spying on her, which was now gone. Also the subversion of her computer despite her best attempts to prevent it. "Creepy" didn't begin to describe it.
[21:53] <~uhrwerk> Behind her, the door swings shut with a click that's far louder than it has any right to be
[21:53] <Tanya_Greene> She turns around to leave, quickly. This was all real, and hanging around real shit like this was a recipe that, if you'd seen any Sci-Fi B-rated horror movies, was a great way to get killed.
[21:53] <Tanya_Greene> ... Yeah, that was definately a B-horror sound.
[21:55] <Tanya_Greene> ((If I have my backpack, now's when I stow my laptop and pull out the flashlight.))
[21:55] <~uhrwerk> Elsewhere, Cherice is wandering abandoned corridors of her own. Down a long hallway, lit by buzzing, flickering fluorescent bulbs. At the other end, she sees a young man enter through a set of swinging door, speak briefly to a man in a wheelchair, then turn around and run back the way he came.
�06[21:57] * Cherice blinks after the boy, pausing for a moment before heading in that direction. Partially, she's just happy to see people. You wouldn't think an empty hospital would be so creepy. And, well, it's part curiosity.
�01[21:58] <Cherice> "Maybe he ran into some creepy little kids too," she mutters, chuckling a little at her own joke before drifting over to the guy in the wheelchair. She's a friendly enough type, likes to say hi to strangers, and maybe it'd cheer him up.
[21:59] <~uhrwerk> This guy doesn't look like the conversation type. Call it a hunch, but it looks like he'd be more concerned with the stained, crusted sheets covering him head-to-toe and the IV dripping black goo into his veins.
�01[22:00] <Cherice> "... D:" Cherice backs away, equal parts disgusted and concerned. Somehow she doubted he'd appreciate a chat. "Sorry. I, uh... I'll be going now."
�01[22:01] <Cherice> ...wait, black goo?
[22:02] <~uhrwerk> Its head snaps up suddenly. Spasmodic hands clutch at the rusted wheels of his chair and begin to creakily push it forward
[22:03] <~uhrwerk> A gutteral groaning can be heard from under the sheets covering his face, accompanied by a gnashing, as if he were trying to gnaw through them
�01[22:05] <Cherice> What the fuuuuck. D: She hurries past, or at least quickens her pace. Getting to the door and the exit would be just fine and dandy with her about now.
[22:07] <~uhrwerk> Cherice pushes the door open to... nothing. The hallway's floor -- industrial tile, of course -- seems to extend out over a void. The keening of countless voices can be heard on the winds blowing up from below
�01[22:09] <Cherice> "Whoa! What..." Her hands flail a moment as vertigo assails her, depth perception blown to shit for a long and terrifying moment, then she catches the edge of the door. And then she squeezes her eyes shut and pinches herself, because obviously this is a dream. She probably fell asleep in that damn ceiling working on the wiring.
[22:12] <~uhrwerk> When she opens her eyes again, the hospital corridor seems to be in the process of reconstructing itself, piece by piece, from thin air. The world seems most 'real' near her, becoming less substantial the further out she looks. And beneath is all; the omnipresent void.
�01[22:14] <Cherice> "...gotta be a dream. This ain't fucking *right.*" She steels herself after that one complaint. If it's a dream, then she should be able to walk across. ...maybe run across. Really fast. >_> It's doubtful she'll run into anyone, here in her head, right?
�01[22:14] <Cherice> Thank God she used to run track at her little consolidated high school back in the day.
[22:15] <~uhrwerk> (Dex + Athetics, plox)
�01[22:16] <Cherice> !em 7
[22:16] <Plentimon> Cherice (7), 2, 6, 4, 8, 1, 7, 3, Successes : 2
�01[22:16] <Cherice> (D:<)
�01[22:16] <Cherice> (told you guys I'd need that roll and not have it.)
[22:16] <Miles> ((It's because you stunted last time)
�01[22:16] <Cherice> (>:<)
[22:18] <~uhrwerk> Cherice makes a break across the gravity-defying floor. Gravity-defying, that is, until she passes it. Behind her, tiles begin to break loose and tumble into the void. Break loose faster and faster, speeding the void toward her until it's lapping at her heels. Lapping, then passing. Cherice over-balances and tumbles, grasping at the edge of the floor with her nails... (Need a roll here)
�01[22:18] <Cherice> !em 6
[22:18] <Plentimon> Cherice (6), 4, 4, 8, 1, 6, 10, Successes : 2
�01[22:19] <Cherice> !em 1
[22:19] <Plentimon> Cherice (1), 4, Successes : 0
�01[22:19] <Cherice> (D:<<<)
[22:20] <Chastity_Bell> (that's not all that bad in nWoD. )
�01[22:20] <Cherice> (yeah, I just don't know what the diff is. XD)
[22:21] <~uhrwerk> Her fingers find purchase in the soft linoleum, letting her hang free above the void. Deep below, she can just barely make out thousands on thousands of bodies contorting and writhing around each other. However, she barely has time to think about this, as she already feels the tile she's gripping begin to wobble...
[22:22] <Miles> ((Diff is 8))
�01[22:23] <Cherice> "...fuckfuckfuckfuck!" Because really, what else can one say or do when hanging above a bottomless pit of nothing with the soundtrack from Omen as accompaniment. Other than piss one's pants and ohshit the tile's about to come off in her goddamn hands. D:
�01[22:24] <Cherice> She scrabbles for purchase again, mindless of the pain as her fingernails bend under the pressure, and cries out for help while it wobbles. Cherice doesn't panic often, but this would be one of those moments where panic is, uh, appropriate.
�01[22:24] <Cherice> (So channeling willpower :P)
�01[22:25] <Cherice> !em 9
[22:25] <Plentimon> Cherice (9), 8, 1, 9, 3, 1, 7, 9, 6, 10, Successes : 5
�01[22:25] <Cherice> !em 1
[22:25] <Plentimon> Cherice (1), 2, Successes : 0
[22:25] <~uhrwerk> ((Oh yeah, you're good))
�01[22:25] <Cherice> (Woots :D)
[22:26] <Chastity_Bell> (*sees that in a dirty way* )
�01[22:26] <Cherice> (>:3 Muahaha.)
�01[22:26] <Cherice> (*waggles*0
�01[22:26] <Cherice> )
[22:26] <Chastity_Bell> (no blowing the ST for bonus xp! D:< ...not right in the middle of this anyway! )
�01[22:27] <Cherice> One last burst of adrenaline and she finally finds herself on solid ground. As she releases that last tile it crumbles from her fingers and falls the way of the rest of the floor.
�01[22:27] <Cherice> (XD *hugs kiyo*)
�01[22:28] <Cherice> She runs for the nearest door, probably the hall exit, and rips the door open. DDD:
�01[22:28] <Cherice> Mother of God don't let it be another fucking hallway of the damned.
[22:29] <~uhrwerk> Cherice runs through the door into pitch darkness. When her eyes clear, she's resting on her back on an exam table, looking up into the face of a blonde nurse.
[22:29] <~uhrwerk> ((Kiyo, that be you.))
�01[22:29] <Cherice> "Bzuh?"
�01[22:30] <Cherice> That was so intelligent, really.
[22:30] <~uhrwerk> ((Kiyo, as far as you know, this woman is a contracter who was found passed out at the base of her stepladder upstairs.))
[22:30] <Chastity_Bell> The nurse smiled in that pleasant-yet-detached manner that nurses often had, tilting her head. "Oh, so you live."
[22:30] <Chastity_Bell> (less booze on the job, bitch. )
�01[22:32] <Cherice> "Uh... yeah, I guess so. ...wait, what the hell happened?" Cherice blinks again. Dream like she'd thought, then. ...Wait, maybe she fell after all from up there and she just thought she'd landed safely. ...fuck it, she doesn't even know anymore. x.x
[22:34] <Chastity_Bell> "You must have slipped and hit your head." She'd turned to write something down, holding one of those neat clippyboard things. "But you seem to be fine."
�01[22:36] <Cherice> "Right." ...the damn marble's still in her hand. She rolls it between her fingers for a moment. "...Hey, they don't let kids play around up in the ceilings, do they?"
[22:37] <Chastity_Bell> She blinked a little at that, glancing over. "Of course not."
�01[22:38] <Cherice> "Thought not." For a moment she looks... sort of gloomy. "Never mind. Dumb question."
[22:40] <Chastity_Bell> She made an additional note. The nametag on her pristine white uniform said Chastity Bell on it. "Does your head hurt?"
�01[22:41] <Cherice> "Huh? Uh... not really. A little out of it, but... I don't think so, no." She's certainly disoriented enough, but that's partially because she's trying to figure out what the hell's going on.
�01[22:43] <Cherice> "Hallways were almost empty up there, Miss Chastity," she reads the name tag with a smile, trying for a touch of normalcy. "Pretty quiet for a hospital."
[22:45] <Chastity_Bell> "We're all very busy here, I'm sure they were all elsewhere taking care of matters. Everything is fine. Oh, your name?" She'd forgotten to add that to her notes. Paperwork was important too, afterall, if this girl came around later with an internal headbleedy, they could all blame her for not noticing! :D Twitch.
�01[22:48] <Cherice> "Cherice Martin." The last name is not pronounced in the phonetic English fashion, but with the slightly nasal vowel sound one finds in French. "Been working up here the last couple of weeks, bringing the wiring in this poor old place up to code. The county fire marshal'll scream and holler nine ways from Sunday if he thinks there's any kind of hazard."
[22:51] <Chastity_Bell> "Oh, of course." Scribble in quick precise motions of the pen. "It's important to treat the building where people are treated, afterall." She had that 'polite smalltalk, yawn' kind of tone, probably not realising it herself.
[22:51] <Chastity_Bell> Or maybe she did and was a bitch? Either way.
[22:53] <~uhrwerk> As the two women carry on polite small talk, we pull back away from them and out of the room. The scene ends with a shot of the door to the exam room. At first, everything seems still and unchanging... that is, until tendrils of darkness creep along the walls and floor, reaching out for the white institutional door. In their wake, the material looks blackened and charred.
[22:53] <~uhrwerk> Cut to black.