Betrayal at House on the Hill

[angelcage]

[ You sleep, the ground cold beneath your cheek. The ground is hard as stone, cold marble beneath a fine layer of dust that doesn't come anywhere near acting as a cushion. The dust stirs with your breathing.


>> Wake up ]

Comments

[angelcage]

Return to the Grand Ballroom ]

[dendarii]

[ Good thing he was planning on trying to gut this damn thing with a knife anyway. Since that madman won't leave them alone, he'll try to use him as a shield of sorts so he can get up close and stab from there. ]

Re: RATS

[runawaystory]

[UHHHHH...

edging around the room to check the closet, careful not to cross beneath the chandelier.]

[aliiiens]

He went out that door, the way we came in.

[He gestures to the west entrance, with a sinking feeling. He just fucked up somehow, didn't he.]

CREEPY CRAWLIES

[angelcage]

[ It watches her— waiting for an opening, perhaps? She's not near enough as she edges towards the closet. ]

[ When she opens it, a thousand bugs spill out on your skin, under your clothes, and in your hair. ]

Re: CREEPY CRAWLIES

[runawaystory]

[WELP, TIME TO SCREAM AND BACKPEDAL AT TOP SPEED!!!

also, not being very careful about where she's backing up too. probably toward the center of the room, where the chandelier is...]

[angelcage]

[ The rat gives a flying leap straight into the madman that he's shoved between them— a good thing, or it would have landed right on Miles's face. It scratches, flailing—

Distracted enough with the madman that Miles should be able to get in a good stab. ]

[angelcage]

[ Sure enough, the rat drops on her from above, clawing at her shoulders as it lands. ]

[dendarii]

[ Sorry crazy dude, you probably shouldn't have insulted Miles' bones. He reaches up to stab that rat good. ]

[runawaystory]

[reaching behind her with both hands to pull the rat off her shoulders]

[angelcage]

Jonah— I need to go!

[ He turns to run after his brother, calling his name. ]

Jonah! Jonah, where did you go?!

[angelcage]

[ It flails, trying to scratch at her back with its hind legs as she lifts it up. ]

[runawaystory]

[throwing it at the ballroom floor as hard as she can]

[angelcage]

[ Miles buries his blade in the rat's underbelly—

It shrieks something high and awful, but a rat is not a durable creature. A few more desperate scratches, and it drops off the madman, bleeding badly. ]

[dendarii]

[ He's going to continue eviscerating it until he's sure it's dead. Fucking rat. ]

[angelcage]

[ It hits the ballroom floor hard, and goes skidding across it before slamming into the wall. ]

[angelcage]

[ If it wasn't dead before, the mangled carcass certainly is now. ]

[runawaystory]

[chasing after it to make sure it's down]

[angelcage]

[ She's broken some of its bones— the spine, probably. Only the front legs, the rats head is still animated, thrashing about. ]

[runawaystory]

[if she had a knife she'd finish it off but, as it stands, she doesn't feel up to beating it to death with an old chair, so.

heading back to the entrance hall, frantically shaking bugs out of her hair & clothes, since I assume those are still a thing]

[angelcage]

[ Mysteriously: they're gone. Was she hallucinating them? ]

[ Continue to the Entrance Hall: There are no rats. ]

[dendarii]

[ And now he looks a fright. Well. Leeeet's keep going. ]

Re: ENTRANCE HALL - GROUND LEVEL

[runawaystory]

[return from the ballroom! relieved that the bugs were fake while also unnerved by how real they felt. this is why she hates all magic things, ever.

taking a moment to smooth her hair and resettle her clothes and, most crucially, calm her nerves.

looking around the shards of marble -- are there any that look like they'd be suitable to use as a weapon?]

[angelcage]

[ Yes, some have very sharp edges.

However, none really have a "handle". It would be like using a piece of jagged glass as a weapon— it will probably cut the hand she wields it with, as well. ]

FURNACE ROOM - BASEMENT LEVEL

[angelcage]

[ You enter a room, cold as the rest of the basement has been. There's soot ground underfoot in the crevices between the stones, dying the stones black, dirtying the walls, all from the coal that heaps everywhere. A shovel lies where it was tossed aside, before a great steel door that hangs open on its hinges. The furnace's entrance gapes wide. ]