18:25 - TWISTY PASSAGES

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Timothy-
"They're dead. They're all slaves. We were all supposed to be slaves
She already sold me when I was in grade school. I don't want to be
like that, so that's why I did all that fucked up shit! I didn't get
a fucking boner over it, it was horrible!"

He broke down into useless sobs. Harriet, you easily cuffed him the rest of the way

and he was just limp, barely keeping his head out of the filthy floor-water.

[∆§Indea§∆]

(Distressed)


This poor boy was a mess. I wanted to be mad, because it was better than everything else going through my head. My voice was raw. Harriet was still doing her job. Should I? Was he even worth it? I dug nails in hands as I spoke. Feeling the gentle pain on my nerves. Trying to ignore the pain in my head and my feet.


Edmund-

"That sounds pretty rough I'm sorry Mills. You still did it though, killed all those people. It doesn't make it okay. I don't want to be one of those things either. What do they want from us, Timothy? Why were they pretending to be my wife, my patients, the boy and his babysitter? What do they get out of this?"

[Dr. Jar]

I wanted to rationalize this, but it didn't make any sense. And yet it did if we all played into his twisted logic and pretended it all made sense. It didn't really. None of this. It was all a delusion that was set up for us by Mills and the others who were a part of this. I tried to understand it from his perspective but I couldn't. I wasn't that kind of person who might even come close to understanding.

I placed a comforting hand on Edmund, trying to reassure him.

Harriet-

"... Let's not yell. We should focus on how to get out of here. With him, if that's possible. But I need another scrap of information. The child.. The boy, he may still be alive in here. Where is he? What happened to him, Mills?"

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

He shook his head, still shuddering with sobs.

Timothy-
"I don't know... he's with grandma. She does whatever
she wants. All this is happening because it's how she
wants it to be. Maybe you can ask her, but you might not
like her offer..."

[∆§Indea§∆]

(Distressed)

I took the comfort, leaning into her even though she was a stranger to me. It had been a rough night. I spoke more calmly or at least I tried.

Edmund-

”Don’t tell me not to yell. You are the first humans I have come across or so it seems. Can you prove you’re not demons? Tell me something I wouldn’t know about you. And it’s all his fault and here he is blubbering like that god forsaken demon baby!”

[Dr. Jar]

Harriet-

"I can't prove I'm not a demon, but why would you think I was one? ...What happened to you in there? I don't know what this is or how he caused it, but... We have to go."

Suddenly the idea, what had happened and why he had brought the child to this place became clear. The child had been a replacement for him. For his place, he had ruined this child's life, made him lose everything, then sacrificed him.

My face became tense for a moment, and then I stared at him coldly.

"... Mills. Get up. Let's go. We can get out the way we came, can't we?"

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Timothy-
"She won't let us. Those things..."

As though on cue, you hear the soft splashing of water not

far away, and it's not coming from any of you.

There is the door that Edmund came from, (You haven't

seen it, Harriet.) There is further into the machine labyrinth,

and there is just facing whatever things are after him

head on.

[Dr. Jar]

Harriet-

"I've seen one...a monster...listen, we should go forward. Don't wait for them, I think they... are most interested in him but won't spare us."

I eye Mills. I can't imagine his circumstance, but he does make it hard to feel any pity. That poor child, who knows what happened. And what and where was 'Grandmother' anyway? Perhaps it was something that caused madness, perhaps not.

"...Edmund, let's go. Together we'll be more likely to succeed. Have you seen any of the others anywhere? I lost his guard..."

I help Mills stand without his hands so we can continue through the labyrinth.

[∆§Indea§∆]

(Distressed)

Edmund-

”Oh I’m not leaving you in a hurry. Let’s go forward, there’s demons where I came from. No one else. Nobody human. You’re the first. It’s such a relief, you have no idea.”

I move forward staying close to Harriet as I can without bumping her. I try not to panic but I push at her and Mills a few times.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

You found a dark hall to run down, Mills ungainly now without the use

of his hands. You take a few steps up, and are out of the water at least.

The floor feels weak beneath you, the metal shifting under your feet.

((Everyone roll 2d10+Reflexes!))

[∆§Indea§∆]

(Distressed)


eRyaZ5PK++ 0·

[Dr. Jar]

ePhVO3_Z+0

I try to evade this change in the labyrinth. ·

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

The floor starts crumbling apart, sagging down the middle before splitting.

Edmund clears it with a remarkably graceful leap. Harriet, you tear the calf

of your pants and scrape your leg a bit, but nothing serious. Hope you have

your tetanus shot. Mills is having a harder time though, maybe panicking

more than he needs to as he slows down and hesitates.

[∆§Indea§∆]

(Distressed)

Edmund-

”Come on! You can do this! You can beat your mother and grandmother. Don’t give up now. You god damn murderered children!”

I look for a way to help him across.

[Dr. Jar]

Harriet-

I also try to help him across.

"You can do this. Come on, hurry.."

It felt strange encouraging Mills. I had only wanted to get him back to civilization to face justice, but I couldn't help but feel like he deserved this. He probably even deserved worse than this for what he had done to all of those people. I clenched my teeth hard; they scraped together as I clenched.