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UPSTAIRS - HALLWAY




As the two hunters and civilian move to the upstairs, there is one thing that becomes painfully and forcefully clear: it's quiet. There is no sound save for their own footsteps, and even that is short-lived. The child in Jordan's arms stirs. She asks to be put down, shaking her head as she stays near the steps. She refuses to go any further.

There is no light up here, save for the light coming from the hunter's weapons. Any doors they find are locked, save for one. And while the handle on that particular door moves freely, it will not move on its own unless someone decides to push it open.

UPSTAIRS - INSIDE



As the trainee struck, both Dakota and Wilson would become aware of two things. First, their legs were now warmer. Second, the source of the warmth was some sort of liquid.

Dakota would notice a third thing: that wasn't a tentacle he cut off. For one thing, a tentacle would have wrapped around his leg completely. There was still something clutching to part of his pantleg, something that now had a distinct weight to it as he moved. It was too bad there wasn't enough light to see whatever it was clearly.

The presence of Fear in the room seems to swell, hitting Dakora and Wilson's shields for 1 damage.

UPSTAIRS - HALLWAY




The room with the unlocked door? Yeah. You know. There's definitely a reading of Fear behind it, one that's enough to make the child Jordan was carrying earlier go scurrying off downstairs. When you try to follow her, you discover that the stairs are gone. It's as if there were never any stairs at all...

Jordan put the child down carefully. "We won't go far," he said. Once his hands were free, he summoned Ferros, the red glow of the weapon's runes helping to light the dim hallway.

"I don't think so," he replied to Cass, moving cautiously down the hall as Cass checked each of the doors, glancing back every few moments to keep an eye on the little girl by the stairs.

There's Fear behind that door, Ferros reported as they approached, an edge of hunger in his voice. Are we going in?

We probably have to. I really don't like leaving the kid alone - Jordan looked back again, just in time to see the child vanish down the stairs. "s**t! Just a sec, Cass." He hurried back along the hall, calling out, "Hey, where are you goi - s**t."

He stopped at the end of the hall, staring at the blank wall where there had been stairs only moments before. Then he turned and headed back to the door. "We've got trouble," he told Cass grimly. "The stairs are gone."

"Looks like it," Jordan answered. He started to reach for the handle, then stopped, glancing to Cass as he recalled her earlier outburst. "Would you prefer to do the honors?"

"Thanks." Jordan nodded, and when Cass nudged the door open, he stepped carefully inside, Ferros held ready.

Cass couldn't help but swear a bit, stepping in before Jordan and swinging into the darkness with enough force to try and just cut right through it to clear things up. This stuff needed to get out of her way and it needed to move now Hopefully she wouldn't hit either- "Dakota? Wilson?? Are you alright?" she asked, her voice a half-shout. It wasn't as though the room was loud, but she felt the need to speak louder than a whisper.

As if somehow it made a difference.

"Have you found the kid?" Hopefully this wasn't all the trap she was fully convinced it was. Because of those kids were just 'kids' and not kids, something would end up broken.

DAMAGE: 14

Dakota growled as the shadows tightened around them. Their barrier was down, They were taking damage and goddammit, where was Jordan and Cass?

He felt the shadows stir but saw nothing, and with not wanting to talk to the other Male hunter, Dakota just attacked instead.

Dakota's HP: 31/50
Charge: 0/3
Damage: 0

--GROUP TOTALS--
Total Damage Dealt: 58 + 14 + 3 = 75
Total ???: 15

There was a sound not quite like the ripping of paper as Cass swung her sword through them. The shadows parted with a cobweb sigh, rattling and hissing like a cloud crossing the moon. But as much progress as the two hunters made forward, the shadows were quick to fill in behind them. The shadows writhed and rolled, moving like a perverted optical illusion as the hunter trainees pressed their way forward towards their comrades.

It wasn't that difficult to find them; after all, the movement of the shadows betrayed the fact that it was not a solid sea of blackness. It was easy enough to spy the glow of the other runes and to head towards them. Perhaps even Dakota would make a helpful noise such as an explicit exclamation when the thing that grabbed his pantleg earlier began to move and creep up his leg. Its movements were jerky as it rubbed against him, pressing something warm against his leg briefly as it crept slowly but surely up his --

"Um... Kii? I don't think it's them."

The shadows ceased their movements.

"Are you sure?"

"They look funny."

In the blink of an eye a light snapped on, dazzling and temporarily blinding the hunters. As their vision cleared, they could see three girls standing off to one side. One of them wearing a long T-shirt with a happy kitten on it was clutching the arm of another girl who was dressed in lime green pajamas. The third girl wore a faded yellow nightgown with a faint sunflower print.

If Dakota and Wilson were to look down, they would discover that their pants were splashed with a dark liquid. At their feet was a larger stain of the same liquid, along with a small severed hand that was clutching Dakota's pants.

The girls were whispering amongst themselves, giving quick glances at the trainees. It appeared that they were arguing.