??? COLUMBIA TOWER

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

There has been word that this large black building (the tallest in Seattle) may have been the source of an explosion before the city was infiltrated by ghouls. No one has been here firsthand.


maps.google.com/maps?q=columbia+center&hl=en&ll=47.605324,-122.329502&spn=0.004373,0.008256&sll=47.417867,-122.184448&sspn=0.794488,2.113495&t=h&hnear=Columbia+Center&z=18

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Beau and his chien stepped into the Columbia Tower. It was the largest building for thousands of miles, and this area of it looked like a mall that someone had barely bothered to populate with shops. Cavernous open space filled with dull grey filtered daylight, multiple levels visible, escalators, elevators a food court far below, a gift shop nearer.

A few lonely, dark, human-sized blotches stained the still scene - a lone zombie in the food court, not noticing him, and a dark floating woman bobbling in a high ceiling's corner like a stray balloon. She wheeled about slowly as Chou growled.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Beau dropped his bag and grabbed for an unlit torch tucked in the outside pocket, he moved slowly but carefully, watching the ghost in his periphery, and keeping an eye on Chou's movement.
He kept the torch low, and flicked a lighter. The torch crackled as it came to life, rising up high as though it were reaching for the ghost's vapors.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

She wheeled in place, far from him, above and away, and seemed suspiciously uninterested.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Was there something that had her attention? What would get its attention more than a human?

Beau walked slowly over the mezzanine, the torchlight sending shadows shooting out to crawl around the distant walls. What was he even looking for? He couldn't expect to get to every floor of the enormous building. He thought about bomb defusing robots, he'd seen them demonstrated once. It was too bad he couldn't send one in his stead. Perhaps if he could get to the stairs, there would be a clue about what had happened here. How it had all begun.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

He opened the stair door easily. As interior stairs with no windows, they were utterly dark. His torch light spilled yellow over cold dusty concrete and pipes running up the corners. Chou whimpered a bit and did not want to go inside.

As Beau stepped in as quietly as he could, he heard faint noises. He stood still.

It was a distant susurrus as of people talking, mixed with moans. A croak like groan randomly sounded and died. Another one elsewhere. A distant scream. He couldn't tell where any of it was coming from.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Beau wished he could brave whatever horror must be lurking up the stairs, but he knew better. It was surely filled with many, many ghosts and who knew what else. He tamped down his curiosity, and returned to the mezzanine. What next then?

He considered a moment, why would the stairwells in particular hold so much horror? It could be that it was just echoing the sounds of the many floors above, but what if it were something else? This was the tallest building in the city, what advantage would that have?

He watched the spinning ghost's feet in the corner, and thought about it. Something released on the top floor, would cause a mass exodus, down the stairs after the elevators filled. Something that made its way down the stairs could kill hundreds of people that would become undead, and attack others. This was the epicenter of the disaster, and the stairs were the first place that was hit.

He felt cold with the eerie realization, and decided to go back outside.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

As Beau moved across the broad mezzanine, he heard more distinct and intentional sounds from the mezzanine below. He walked softly to the edge of the platform and looked down.

Someone was dragging a twitching zombie across the floor, as it streaked liquefied flesh on the linoleum behind it. Someone stepped in behind, and followed. They seemed to be having a light-hearted conversation, but he couldn't make out the words.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Beau-
" ! "

Beau snuffed the torch against the wall, and crept closer, as quietly as he could. He gestured for Chou to stay back.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Chou was hella alarmed. Dark ghost above bobbling away, unknown weirdos below, and being told to stay back...

Chou-
"..." (transl: "This sucks.")

Beau went to an escalator, now a frozen stairwell, and moved onto it as quickly as he could while still remaining mostly silent. He got down about halfway and paused, laying very low against it, to see if he could hear them better.

Voice one-
"-all the fingers in the world. What is flesh to you?"

Voice two-
"Flesh is nothing. I care for it not."

Voice one-
"But the deliquescence! The delight! The way it quivers and releases oily greases in anticipation of your touch!"

Voice two-
"Fuck the flesh. I'm done with it. Got bored. Can't wait to go home."

Sickly voice-
"Quiet, demons. You bore me... S-see, you alm-most missed one... Bring that t-to me."

Voice one-
"Fine, you boring nonce."

Beau heard a strange noise. A groan, a shriek, an otherworldly vibration. A metallic noise, and it ended.

Voice one-
"What are you gonna do with all the sad sacks?"

Sickly voice-
"h-heh.. heh... No concern of y-yours..."

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

That voice... that stuttering, sickly voice... it reminded him of something.

Beau-
" ... !! "

He gathered his nerve, and moved to peek over the edge of the railing.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Gutless Boy and two creepy undead lieutenants were chatting under a swarm of dark ghosts, mutely bobbling about above them. Beau could make out some kind of wires going from the ghosts to GB's hand...

                                                  Gutless Boy-
                                                  "I w-wish I had enough w-wires for all of ..them."

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Beau-
" !!!!!! "

They're his balloons!

Beau could feel his legs trembling as he ducked back behind the railing. The mummy! There it was..!! But... what could he do?

He slowly backed up on the stairs, into the gloom of the mezzanine. He felt a trickle of sweat run maddeningly down his back. His mind raced, a bouquet of dark ghosts, right next to each other...

His sweaty hand still gripped the stubbed out torch.

Gutless Boy- (out of sight)
"The e-enchantment is so expen-s-sive. T-the effort... I just... they're b-beautiful."

He struck the lighter low as he crouched, the torch in his hand shaking as he lit it with a quiet crackle. Chou whimpered in anticipation as Beau crept around the railing, to glance over and take his aim.

He dropped the burning torch on the ghosts below.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

There was fireball after fireball, ectoplasm tearing apart like newspapers burned with gasoline, black smoke curling in a massive mushroom cloud past Beau. Chou yelped and ran up beside him. The dark ghost up above began to descend.

Through the dark smoke in the air, he saw the demon-possessed corpses standing, and with them, the damned mummy, his hand full of half melted wires.

Gutless Boy-
"N-no! G...Goddamn it... You up there..."

The demon dead began to laugh.

Beau-
"Merde."

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

The better part of a month later, Beau watched as Joe, Ashley, and Patti ran into the lobby that he had previously fled. He stayed outside.

Joe-
"Straight to the escalator.... Damn."

There were three dark ghosts in the cavernous room, all out of reach in different corners of the space. There were scorch marks and blood spots on the floor near the escalator. Until the ghosts moved closer of their own volition, it seemed like a waste of time and resources to try to throw flares at them.

They moved across the floor toward the escalator to the lower mezzanine...




Patti stowed her hammer and drew out a flare, preparing to take the cap off with one of the buckles on her vest if the ghosts approached. She kept about fifteen feet back of Joe, with Ash bringing up the rear.

She swallowed her dread and continued towards the escalator, a model of stoicism.