17:50 - DETECTIVE COLT - THE ENGINE ROOM

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Butcher- (shaken)
"The-- oh. Oh..."

This guy was obviously some kind of Satan, staring at you with unblinking eyes that probed into your mind.

((K. I. T. Babby. ))

SgYJrEyL++1

Yahh! You feel that red light glowing inside your head, building up and focusing on your missing eye. It feels like something crawling around inside your skull.

((-2 stability))

Butcher- (shaken)
"Hey! What the hell are you doing? Get back!"

He jabs the guy in the shoulder with the pipe-- not enough to injure, but enough to knock him back and unfocus whatever trickery he was up to. I knew I should be interrogating the thing, but the red haze... I busted all of the caps in its ass.

Colt- (distressed)
"GRAAAAH!"

++3 Cold as Ice - 3 edges, i use one now.
++2 Concentrated Fire -3 bullets, 3 dmg. Middle success=?
I did a sweet diving bank off the wall next to Joe so that I had a clean shot at the thing without a chance of hitting my boy, firing like an action boss.
·······

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Bapbap-- You fire two in the chest, one in the door. The man stumbles back, and reddish smoke emits from the holes you blasted through him. The man smiles, brushing his fingers over the wounds like they were spots of mustard on his shirt.

Butcher (shaken) -
"Hey! What the hell are you?! Why are you doing this to us?"


Man-
"Just trying to find my son, is all."

If Joe is gonna get it talking, I guess... I stopped shooting for the moment, standing back up, gun trained on the creep.

Colt- (distressed)
"Bullshit, Diablo. Spill!"

The gun waggled in my raginess.

The red smoke kept billowing out, like the guy was a hellish incense holder. He was looking more to you, than to Joe. Seemed like it was part of your nightmare, not his.

Man-
"We've been trying to call you... All any of us want to do is set this right.
Don't you want to bring little Timmy to justice? Real justice, not just
sitting around a jail cell getting all his needs taken care of."



Colt- (distressed)
"Are you still talking?"

Another three bullets, more if I'm not interrupted.

xuKsxN6w++2

You blasted that fool, several shots concentrated on the man's neck, making his head list to the side dramatically, plumes of red smoke billowing out. The smell was horrific, and would only get worse the longer you stayed.

Butcher (shaken) -
"Colt! Fuck's sake, stop!"



Colt- (distressed)
"*but maaaa-ooom, i'm distressed -face*"

I let up. Down ten bullets total.

The body slid down against the door, going grey like it had turned into cigarette ash. When it hit the floor, it began to crumble, the man's face still smiling smugly.

Butcher (shaken) -
"What in the fucking hell was that?! Care to explain?"



Colt- (distressed)
"He's the reason I'm able to believe in this hell shit. Met him before. He jacked my eyeball at the STH plant. C'mon."

As I spoke, I underscored my words with kicks at the corpse, trying to clear the way into the room. It busted apart a bit disturbingly, crumbling to a pile of ash.

Butcher (shaken) -
"He said 'his son'... Mills's dad was dead, right?"

Behind the bedroom door you saw a recreation of the room as you remembered it from ten years ago. Big bed with a white comforter, painted wardrobe. Red light was glowing from within, a subtle heartbeat vibrating the door. There was also a window to the left, looking out on a red sky.

I had to pause more than I would have preferred, trying to focus, trying to keep cool.

Colt- (distressed)
"...Yeah shit... I never put that together. The guy from the factory. Daddy Mills." I threw my head back to bargle. "FUCK I'm a shitty detective."

All my careful notes and reports, just overcompensation. At least I'm good at being a rabid dog. I stomped over to the wardrobe. If this is some Narnia shit, maybe this actually comes out in the real world in the Mills home. I scraped the edge of the gun on the wood, considering the next move.

Butcher (shaken) -
"Well you don't exactly expect to be seeing a dead guy walking around, right?
Anyway, he just trying to drag Tim to hell or what? Why do they need our help?"



Colt- (distressed)
"In movies devils can do all kinda tough magic shit, but they still need a person to give up the goods, say yes to giving away their soul or whatever. Maybe, like, as long as baby Mills is uh...." It was hard to focus. I rapped the butt of the gun on the wardrobe as I tried. "Not wantin' to give himself up, so... they need one of us to serve the goods."

I opened the wardrobe.

Butcher (shaken) -
"Fuckin' hell, I guess so."

At the fore of the wardrobe, you saw two child-sized skeletons propped up, side by side. Behind them the wardrobe opened into a room lit in red. Looked like some kind of industrial space with a bank of old CRT monitors just visible. The room continued on out of sight.

Colt- (distressed)
"Well I live with snakes and lizards and ^{_{yadda dee}} ..."

I safety'd and tucked the gun, then gently moved the babies out of the way.

"I was really hoping this would Narnia our asses somewhere useful, but whaddyagonnado?"

·

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Butcher followed you through. It was a tight squeeze but at least you didn't have to crawl far. The 'door' you'd stepped out of was the door of a men's restroom. Before you was a dusty office with a cement floor and hard metal walls. The bank of computers made up the back wall, and another door was at the end. The room was lit up like someone was developing film, but there was no apparent light source.

Colt- (distressed)
"Ya know how to hack satan computers, buddy?"



Butcher (shaken)-
"Do better with a satan smartphone, but I can try."

He knelt to look for a switch on one of the machines. These things looked like freakin Apple IIes or something. Something was chugging beneath you, rattling the floor like that rumble in the Bedford house. I walked the row between machines and such, running a finger on the metal, looking around with weary curiosity. This experience was exhausting, hope-draining. But part of me still wondered. Could this actually be the real world, inside the STH building or on Zug Island?

Joe crawled low, mumbling about a power strip. The bank of computers suddenly switched on-- screens all gone solid red, thrumming with the sound, now sounding more like a giant dragon's heartbeat than anything else. Joe crawled out and squinted at the screens.

Butcher (shaken)-
"Yeah, don't think I'm getting Oregon Trail going on these things."


Colt- (distressed)
"Oh god, but can you imagine?"

I tried one to get a command line or something, on the off chance it had Oregon Trail.

HbYUlUzc+-1

The keys feel warm and that red glow starts to spark a migraine.

Butcher (shaken)-
"How old is this stuff? Looks like this was made like before I was born."



Colt- (distressed)
"I'm sure it wall was, assuming it didn't crawl out of a giant demon's vadge last week."

I gave up and quickly looked away from the screen. As advertised, hell was no fun.

That only left the door on the far wall. There was no apparent handle on it, but some sort of odd mechanism. A very tiny plaque was mounted where a keyhole would normally go.

    STH Inc.
"Feed me blood"



Butcher (shaken)-
"Seriously..."



Colt- (distressed)
"This sucks. I've been tryin' ta avoid anything that looks like a deal with the devil, but here this shit is."

I might relent to do it, but I sure wouldn't let Joe. Before it came to that, I examined the door for any way to get around the lock - taking off hinges, bashing, blasting.

That shit was locked on tight. Barely even seemed like it *could* open. You did spy some weird details to the thing though. When you brought your hand close to it, the door vibrated, tiny little hairs raising up on the surface of the metal like microscopic shark's teeth. There was a seam in the front, like something might pop free, but so fine you'd need a special tiny screwdriver to hope to pop it free.

Butcher (shaken)-
"Guess if the devil wants us, he'd trick us into it anyway."



Colt- (distressed)
"If we can even go back the other way, that was some kind of hell sky. Fuck it. Here goes."

I surely had a scrape or something to press on the spot.

Best place seemed like maybe the fleshy part of of the forearm, less likely to impede you busting a cap. A mechanism whirred and the tiny spikes pierced your skin. Ouch!

(You receive a light wound.)

Butcher (shaken)-
"Damn! Are you okay?"



Colt- (distressed)
"Feels dirty, but here we go..."

Your blood drips down the door, revealing all the near microscopic pieces of machinery. A small flap opens, drawing the blood into a funnel. Something inside whirrs and clicks, and the door pops open an inch.

I pulled it open farther.

You see what appears to be a normal industrial hallway, albeit lit up in the same red, with another metal door across from you. Something is shuffling down the hall in the distance.

I made a shush gesture at Joe and pulled my gun. Glad I didn't need the flashlight here, at least.

You step out into the hall. You see what appears to be a security guard in the distance, walking the opposite way in a slow patrol. There are several other doors in this hall, all but this one have handles. There is a row of windows further down, revealing that same red sky, and the silhouettes of dark buildings far below.

What a fucking bitch. How far does this shit go? Will me and Joe be trespassers in Hell for the next twenty thousand years? I kept my eye on the guard, on any possible ways we could get jumped, and also looked out for any kind of room or hall we could duck into to hide again.

It was a dicey situation, tucking in doors to hide from the guard as he meandered around. You never got a proper look at his face, but you had the distinct impression he was not human. At least he didn't seem overly observant, and eventually he called for an elevator, leaving you free to explore. The rest of the rooms were similar to the one you'd entered; antiquated offices and storage. All of it horribly outdated but nothing overtly eerie or supernatural. At the far end of the hall there were the elevator doors, and the entrance to the stairwell.

The view out the window was bleak. The shapes of buildings and towers, all gone charcoal black, no lights besides tiny bonfires scattered around. I let Joe know I was pretty sure we were in the booty depths of hell with no obvious ideas on ways out. We could see if they had a heaven-copter on the roof, or go down to the streets and catch a taxi to the airport or something?

He pondered it for a moment, looking out at that hellscape.

Butcher (shaken)-
"Do you think this'll be giving into the evil too much?"

He held up the wad of black veil from his back pocket. I thought about it seriously. I didn't like it.

Colt- (distressed)
"...Fuck it. But take breathers. And if it doesn't work quickly, take it off."

·

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Butcher (shaken)-
"Sorry, I know it's going to make you feel weird. Stay close."

He put the veil on, and turned abruptly, as though suddenly possessed into movement. He headed for the elevator. I followed, my head still on a swivel.

Colt (distressed)-
"Maybe if you talk to me I can tell if you're turning into a goat boy."


Butcher (shaken) -
"Maybe, I... well..."

He sounded hella distracted. Might have to exorcise him yet. He hit the call button for the elevator and it was instantly there. Looked like a very typical, slightly run-down elevator. There was a blob of gum under the floor buttons. Butcher hit several buttons like he was dialing a phone number.

Colt (distressed)-
"So ya like to go dancin'?"


Butcher (shaken)-
"Yeah, I think. Yeah... I do."

The elevator closed behind you, and lurched into motion. The floor buttons flickered and died out. Butcher was listing a bit.

"Hey, um, so let's see... What are we doing after this.
Drinks. Right?"



Colt (distressed)-
"Yeah. I wonder if there's a right specific drink for this kinda deal. Like, vin d'el oro or something."


Butcher (shaken) -
"Maybe we should go hang out at the least evil church we can think of."



Colt (distressed)-
"Communion wine! Communion wine! You're a genius."

The elevator lurched, and water began seeping in the bottom of the door before it even opened. Butcher pulled the veil off and looked comically rumpled after being under it for a minute and a half.

Butcher (shaken)-
"Back here. Great... is this a step up?"

A hallway led in front of you, the floor covered in a few inches of dirty water.

Colt (distressed)-
"Yeh.... Yeah it looks more like where we came in, so maybe." I got out the glock and the flashlight again, flicked the safety off.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

You waded out into the dirty water, and the elevator door closed behind you, leaving the hall darker yet.

26W3_I8S+2

Butcher seemed to be doing alright, if a little bit jumpy. The spear he'd been using was look a little worse for wear.

You heard splashing in the distance.

Colt (distressed)-
I whispered, "Should we stealth that, or head on?"


Butcher (shaken) -
"Stealth..."

He pressed against the wall. There wasn't anywhere to go really, but maybe who or whatever it was wouldn't be expecting to see anyone. I mostly covered the flashlight and strained to see, going against the same wall as Joe, in front of him.

A light came into view, along with the splashing, which seemed to be hurried footsteps. Still I waited. As much as that could indicate someone like us, needing a flashlight, that hell office had guards that seemed human enough at a distance.



You heard a man say...

Oh fuck--

and he turned around to run the other way.

Colt (distressed)-
I whispered to Joe, "Stay outta sight" and stepped forward with the flashlight up, hopefully obscuring the guy behind me. "Detroit PD, show yourself!"

Dude kept running, but you could catch a glimpse of his body-- someone tall and skinny in a jumpsuit...

Colt (distressed)-
"It's FUCKING MILLS!" I started hustling after that fool.

Guy had longer legs than either of you, but seemed pretty worn out from slogging through the water.

((Roll Coolness to catch up))

(Butcher) +1

(Colt) ++3

Apparently I was pretty spent too. Plus short.

Damn, Joe had some kind of crazy burst of energy, sprinting ahead lightning fast. He slapped Mills upside the head with the spear and sent him flopping into the dirty water.

Mills-
"Yahh!! Get offa me!"


Butcher (shaken) -
"Colt, he's still got a cuff on."

Indeed, one cuff was flopping loose. Butcher got a foot on him, but he wasn't as strong as he was fast, apparently, as Mills tried to crawl out from beneath him.

(Colt)

ICE COLD ++3

(She gains 3 edges, including "put foe in disadvantageous position, all allies +2" so like)

I got in there and greco-roman'd that murderboy.

He flopped around and wailed and fought, knocking Butcher to one knee and splashing dirty water over you both. But you got him pinned, and Butcher got the other cuff on him.

Mills-
"NOOOooo! You might as well kill me!"



Butcher (shaken) -
"Maybe we should. Fuck you. You don't think you deserve it?"



Colt (distressed)-
"Nix on the extrajudicial executions, Joe. I think it's what they want, right?"



Butcher (shaken) -
"*sigh* Yeah I guess."

Mills was still freaking out and flopping around, falling face first into the water as a result. Butcher crouched to pull him up and got knocked against the wall.

Butcher (shaken) -
"Fucking hell! What are we going to do with him?"



Colt (distressed)-
"HEY! Chill that shit out Timmy! The cuffs ain't comin' off. Stand up like a big boy!" To Joe, "Maybe it's time you get your gun back?"



Butcher (shaken) -
"Heh, glad you trust me."



Mills-
"Please, I just have to get out of here! They're going to kill me! You're going to kill me! Put me in prison forever, I don't care! I just don't want them to get me!"



Butcher (shaken) -
"I hate that I know what he's talking about."



Colt (distressed)-
"Me too, Joe. Me too."

I handed him my gun and drew my own, one foot on Mill's backside to encourage him the right directions.

Mills had gone all floppy and weepy. You noticed a large, heavy flashlight he'd dropped in the water, of course fizzling out. Looked like standard issue. What happened to the guard?

I guess we could ask him about that, but we needed him on his feet first.

Colt (distressed)-
"C'mon, geddup. We're cops with guns, man. Who knows what we'll do?"



Mills-
"You talked to her, didn't you? All the rest of them, she talked to them. They're planning to kill me. She wants me dead..."



Butcher (shaken) -
"Okay, you lost me. Colt, can you lead him? I'm getting too steamed."



Colt (distressed)-
"The phone calls, askin' for Mills? The one by the gold hammer? Whatever kinda Satan runs dis place wants us to sacrifice Timmy. So I guess... The other guys got called too." I turned to Mills. "But relax, Stretch. We're good guys. Ain't no one tryin' ta kill you."



Butcher (shaken) -
"Guess that means those other folks are around too."



Mills-
"I was trying to get away from them! They're all murderers. You should have seen that lawyer, creeping around a bunch of dead bodies. Don't go this way! You don't even know where you're going!"



Butcher (shaken) -
"Do you? We just came from that direction you were running, genius."



Colt (distressed)-
"HEY! Everyone calm down a second. We gotta think. I can't think straight like this... Um... Wherever we go, it's gotta be back to the boat - back to Detroit. Gotta be where the monsters ain't. Can we work that out? Ideas?"



Mills-
"M҉͠al̸ḱ̶uth̨ ̨was showing me the way, but now it's all confused."



Butcher (shaken) -
" *sigh* Aren't those demons how this whole mess started?"



Mills-
"She's not a demon! You're not even here. Why don't you find the way out?"

Butcher had to take a breather to keep his cool.

Colt (distressed)-
"HEY! Inside voices, Timmy. I say we prioritize gettin' outta here, and when we're right at the exit, you haul Timmy up and I see if I can find the other guys. But the thing this place wants the most is a dead Timmy, so let's see if we can keep that from happenin'... I hate to say it, but maybe that rag can help."

···········

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Butcher-
"Okay, just promise to not let the exorcists take me down."



Mills-
"What's he doing? What is that? Hey-- What's going on?"

Butcher put the veil on and Mills started flipping out.

"You're one of them! HELPPP!!"

I was strongly tempted to pistol whip him, but managed to stop my piece a few inches from his shoulder. I just pressed the butt of my gun into his shoulder and barked at him.

Colt (distressed)-
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! We're gettin' outta here!"

Butcher slowed behind you, and felt the wall. Red lights suddenly flicked on, lighting up the hall.

Mills-
"Fuck! That's really bad! Wrong way! Wrong way!"

Butcher pushed against the wall-- it swung open. It appeared to be a door with a realistic painting of the wall on the front of it. Stairs led down, and water began pouring over the edge like a waterfall.

Mills suddenly went quiet, whispering to you.

Mills-
"He's going to kill me!"



Colt (distressed)-
"I'm not gonna let that happen. Not because I give a shit about you, but because I care about him. Believe that, and make this easy on me."

You hear a very distant woman's voice...

"HEY, THERE'S A LOT OF US DOWN HERE! WE'RE COMING!"


Colt (distressed)-
"Who's that?"

I was asking Joe, as I herded Mills along behind him.

Mills-
"It's one of those psychos! Please, we just gotta get out of here!"

Joe didn't answer, just leading ahead down the rather steep stairs.

Colt (distressed)-
"If we see 'em, they're coming with us. You better hope I'm a good shot if it turns out you're right."