Inside 69: Nice.

[5a Violista]

[Doom Door]

What?
Obsidian could have sworn the ponies came in too. Obviously they came in. What kind of person doesn't go through a door when it's open? Nobody, that's who. Everybody would go through the door. And if everybody would go through the door, that means the two edibles would have gone through the door too, because they're somebody and everybody is just a bunch of somebodies.

Obviously they must have gotten lost.
Putting the zombie into the meat grinder can be saved for later. Finding lost ponies is more important. "Come on," she tells the mindless zombie she has on the leash. "You got to help me find them."

She keeps on walking away from the zombie to ensure it doesn't get close enough to grab her. While walking in circles to keep away from it, she tries to puzzle out where they could have gone. But, first, she turns to the black-eyed meat. "Hey! All the rest of the meat in here is dead, too," she says, still circling around. As long as the eye-meat won't give any helpful advice, it seems like the only thing she can do is deduce where it's most likely the ponies would have gone.

She thinks aloud to the zombie, because thinking aloud helps you work through things better. "I don't think they went to those chains and hooks," she tells the zombie. "I'd say because it smells old and rotten, but all the directions smell bad." She still goes in a circle. "Besides, they have big flanks. Would get caught on hooks easily."

Still circling, pulling the zombie along. "That metal is also weird," she says. "I'm sure they won't go there. Besides, it looks too noisy over there. They won't be able to talk with each other if they went that way."

Looking at the second stairs, the one filled with the smell of oil and burnt stuff, it becomes clear where they went. "They probably like cooking their food," she comments. "But, regardless, that's the only direction left." She tells this all to the zombie. "Okay. Putting it that way, it's obvious where they went."

Obsidian leads the zombie in the direction of the second stairs, and follows those stairs.

[Rebonack]

[Doom Door]

The wall-meat watches Obsidian with silent disdain.

Geeze.

It's really rude.

Maybe it's upset that she isn't tossing the zombie into the offering box?

That's probably it.

Anywho, down the stairs!

The factory floor is... gross. It's made of cast iron and feels greasy under foot. A thick layer of grime leaves it incredibly slick and Obsidian might have trouble navigating it on just two legs. The smell of burnt meat is almost overwhelming down here. Further ahead she'll see a raised platform with a bunch of dials and levers on its being worked by nightmareish, spidery contraption of welded metal and bits of flesh. Whatever it's doing, it doesn't appear to have noticed her. There's also a chute nearby that periodically spits out a heap of ground meat that a small army of tiny spidery meat-bots begin carting away and tossing onto parts of the floor that are glowing red hot.

The tossed meat, of course, sizzles loudly.

Further away a massive black cauldron looms above the floor, glowing with heat and steam pouring from its mouth. It's easily ten times as tall as Obsidian. Something that big is obviously important.

She could hassle the controller. Or maybe the tiny machines know something useful. Or maybe the great big pot really IS important?

What does she do?

[5a Violista]

[Doom Door]

Yes, something that big has got to be important. Just like dumping the zombie in the meat grinder ought to be important.

However, finding those ponies is more important.

... the atmosphere feels suffocating in here.

While leading the zombie across the greasy grimy floor, Obsidian slips. It's because of two legs! Why do people bother on walking on two legs? It doesn't make sense!

So, she slips.

This tugs the zombie toward her, and then on top of her. Luckily, Obsidian had time to roll over to her back and so she holds her hands up to push at the zombie's shoulders.

"Hey!" she shouts at the zombie. "Hey! I didn't give you permission to do that!"

Being on the bottom, she doesn't have the leverage to stop the zombie from getting closer. It bites her.

Obsidian scowls and bites back. Her very humanlike teeth crunch the joint at the zombie's jawbone, forcing it to relax its bite.

She then rolls both of them over and punches it. "No! No biting!" she says, scolding the zombie and slapping it in the forehead. "Do that again, and you'll regret it."

Now covered in grease and grime, she gets back up. She'll need to walk more carefully and more slowly on this floor. If the zombie's walking, she'll slip and be bitten again.

So, Obsidian kicks the mindless zombie to stop it from getting up. "No! Bad! Heel!"

She sighs and starts to drag the zombie.

Obsidian notices that controller. "Heeey!" she says, shouting and waving an arm. "I think my friends came this way! Have you seen them?"

[Rebonack]

[Doom Door]

Zombie bites are serious business.

Is Obsidian immune to zombie infections? Or is it more like a mongoose where she just has to avoid being bitten?

Regardless of the answer to that question, there are other problems to contend with.

Like the operator, a thing of steel and meat towering over Obsidian. It creaks and groans and screeches as it turns toward her, watching her with a half dozen haphazardly placed eyeballs. Slowly, ominously, is reaches toward her, the joints of its limb grinding such that they set teeth on edge. It reaches closer and closer and-!

Grabs a handful of grease and rubs the stuff into its joints.

Now they aren't screeching anymore?

"What kind of friends do you seek, fleshling?" inquires the awful conglomeration of industrial equipment and meat.

[5a Violista]

[Doom Door]

If your diet is largely undead, then you'd hope that your immune system would have evolved to deal with it. Especially since certain kinds of undead can spread if they bite you *or* if you bite them.

...
She's going to get a pretty bad infection there on her shoulder where she was bitten.
However, it'll clear up in a couple of days.

So that she can look up and speak to the thing of steel-and-meat, Obsidian steps on the zombie's back. This prevents it from getting up and trying to grab or bite her, and she doesn't have to walk around to avoid its mouth.

"Um! Yes!" she says, looking at the awful thing. "They were two ponies, with four legs. They look kinda delicious, but also a little bland? Um...like, um...you know? But not the kind of edible delicious, because having friends makes somebody inedible, you know?" She grinds her heel into the zombie, to get it to stop resisting. "But, yeah. Um. There's two of them. Did you see either of them come by? They were going to help me put this -" she gestures at the zombie on the floor "- into the meat offings machine." She mispronounces 'offerings'.

[Rebonack]

[Doom Door]

"You are mistaken, fleshling, there is no one else here," the awful mechanical nightmare replies. "Only one may pass through the door. You are alone here."

But...

What about the machine thing?

Isn't it someone?

Or who knows.

Maybe it isn't?

"If you are offering that ambulatory meat as an offering, it will be accepted," the machine replies, one of its limbs opening up and splaying outward into a horrific web of metal hooks and stringy meat that don't look like they should have been able to physically fit inside of the limb that just popped open. It's really pretty terrible.

Meanwhile! It manipulates the controls on the bank in front of it. A loud clanking sound is shortly followed by a cruel looking meathook on a chain descending from the ceiling.

[5a Violista]

[Doom Door]

"Are...are you sure?" Obsidian asks, "They could have just gone a different way." Because doors that only let one person in are kinda ridiculous. Not to mention, this mindless zombie was let in, too.

"Yeah, they said they were going to help me put the zombie in the thing." No, that was entirely in her imagination.

Anyway. She looks at the meathook that's falling down. "Be careful, though!" she shouts at the thing. "It's still fresh and from what I've seen around, this place isn't very good at keeping food fresh." As evidenced by, like, everything.

Anyway...it would be easier to put it on the hook if she turns back into a dragon. But because of the bite at her shoulder, it'll be harder to walk around on three legs; at least this way, she can just walk on two legs without having an injured leg. "Okay. Um." She grabs the hook with her good arm, and guides it towards the zombie.

She then does her best to hook it through the hole it already has. Remember, this zombie previously had a hole in it thanks to hanging off a tree. "I think that should be good? That's what you wanted, right?"




[Day Off of Pampering]

Carlie, bunnygirl, approximately six months pregnant, decided to relax and get out of the undersea base because, seriously: in addition to not being able to shapeshift, being in the same place like that is driving her mad.

And so she goes around Inside.

She gets - not for the first time, mind you - stabbed and kidnapped from behind and stabbed with a drugged needle.

[bc56]

Day Off Pampering - Dark Room

The room stinks of tanned hides and burning oil. It will likely take a moment to adjust to the dim light, provided by a makeshift iron brazier hanging from the low ceiling. Carlie will find her hands and feet bound by a strangely smooth rope. The wall and floor which she is resting against are hard and cold, but covered with some soft substance. At the far end of the roughly square room is a shadowy doorway set into the cracked concrete, and something else. A tall, sinuous creature, draped in what appears to be a shabby, quilted cloak, watches her intently from the far corner, its arachnoid face studded with glowing green eyes at irregular angles.

[5a Violista]

[Day Off - Dark Room]

Carlie wakes up and first feels her hands and legs bound together. She strains her hands and feet to feel it out, then sighs. "Again?" she says under her breath. Whose fault is it this time? She was just hoping to find a witch or two to stock up on Grief Seeds, and now this happens.

She opens her eyes.

One of them has to adjust to the dim light. However, her right eye doesn't: it basically sees heat. A bright light over there, cold walls, a shape over there...Oh, its eyes glow. She can see that with her left eye.

She holds her breath, half-expecting a half-mad explanation of what's going on, since that's what has happened every other time. Since there's not an immediate explanation, she takes a deep breath and speaks up at the person in the corner. "Hi. Can I help you?"

[bc56]

Dark Room

The thing tilts its head in response, then moves forward in a slithering movement. As it enters the light, several things become clear that weren't immediately. First of all, it's not humanoid. Not even close. It's taller and thinner than any person would be, and it has no legs, but a long, snake-like tail which trails behind it. Parts of its visible body are made from metal, others from pinkish flesh. Its cloak, more disturbingly, is made from skins, stitched together. By the faces visible in the pattern, they're human skins. This may come with two other realizations. That the cords binding Carlie's limbs are made from woven human hair, and that the soft surface she's lying against is similarly made from stitched skins. The creature produces a limb from beneath its cloak, a spindly metal arm ending in a device like the head of a sewing machine, connected to a spool of thin, black thread. It continues to silently advance towards Carlie.

[5a Violista]

[Dark Room]

No response?
This is concerning.
No response likely means they don't really care that it's her in particular.

The bunnygirl stretches and looks at it, and considers her options. Unable to shapeshift, she doesn't have nearly as many options as she normally would. No hidden blades, nothing to burn the hair with...

Well,
She does have one option. If that person gets too close, however, then it'll be too late. And, since she didn't think to bring any of the Grief Seeds along with her, she's limited in the amount of power she has at the moment. Doing too much would lead to running out of magic - which is disastrous, for obvious reasons. It would take a short moment to set it up. "No answer?" she asks.

She takes a deep breath, and starts straining all her muscles, trying to pull the hair taut and get in a position where she can use her transformation. She has to dislocate a shoulder to get it right, but then: suddenly, her ring glows. Her clothes change. Short dress, tall boots, witch's hat, short over-the-shoulder cape, long gloves.

And then, using up some of her magic, a sword pulls itself out of the ground and starts flying. It cuts the hair holding her hands, allowing her to sit up and grab the sword. She still can't move, because her legs are still bound and she still needs to cut that, but first things first: Carlie points the sword at this person and says, "Want to explain now?"

[bc56]

Dark Room

The creature doesn't give an answer. It just looks curiously at the sword, producing a slender pincer arm from beneath its cloak to reach out and attempt to touch it. Carlie might catch a glimpse of a thicket of folded-up metal limbs underneath the cloak. It doesn't seem like much of a person, honestly. It definitely doesn't seem too intelligent. A third limb emerges, ending in a pair of scissors, then a fourth, with an assortment of blades and scalpels. It's certainly not afraid.

[5a Violista]

[Dark Room]

It's just a sword. Nothing stops it from being touched - not even Carlie stops it from being touched. Sure, it's a magical sword but it's also just a perfectly normal and plain sword. Luckily, it seems to be distracting this creature a little, so she doesn't move it away. As long as it's distracted, that's great.

Her hand that isn't holding the sword pulls out a small blade from the sword's handle. That hand - the right hand - then slides down to her legs to start cutting her feet free, while trying to avoid any sudden movements.

She tries to keep as much of the rope-hair uncut as possible - as long of a rope as possible - because hair makes a surprisingly good weapon - something she knows from experience. It'll be great to use when her sword and smaller blade disappear. In fact, Carlie thinks that if she manages to get both a long rope of hair and manages to swipe away one of the longer blades from that thing's fourth limb, then that would be perfect.

...First, though, freeing her legs and obtaining as long a rope of hair as possible. She cautiously watches this creature, waiting for it to make a sudden movement or to get too close.

Almost...almost free...

[bc56]

Dark Room

The creature is distracted by the sword, running its pincer along the flat of the blade. It doesn't immediately notice that Carlie has cut her bonds, not for a few precious moments. Suddenly, it stops examining the sword and lunges at the bunny girl, stabbing at her with its scissors and with one of its blades, a serrated bone saw.

[5a Violista]

[Dark Room]

Carlie, having freed her legs in time, moves her sword to parry the scissors' lunge. She then immediately follows it up with a riposte, aiming right where the fourth arm was with all its blades, trying to scatter them around and get at least a few to drop.

Meanwhile, her other hand - the one with the smaller blade - swings up to stop the bone saw.

Unfortunately, because her hand was farther away - by her feet - she doesn't completely stop it from doing something - the bone saw still cuts into her arm a bit, before she manages to use the blade to push at it.

"Do you even have experience against someone who can fight back?" she asks as she does this.

...
At this moment, she would have then transitioned into a back handspring, but...
y'know.
Pregnant.

[bc56]

Dark Room

The creature doesn't say anything. Perhaps it can't. One thing is sure though. Despite how spindly it is, physically, it is quite strong. Still, it's blade arm is knocked aside. Then, rapidly, it turns, swinging its tail around in an attempt to constrict and immobilize Carlie. Its face is inhuman and hard to read, but maybe there's a bit of nervousness to it, of unease at needing to fight an accomplished combatant.

[5a Violista]

[Dark Room]

Ugh, she must have missed hitting that arm, since none of the blades went scattering. Or maybe she isn't entirely sure how it is.

Regardless, to conserve magic, she needs to abandon both the sword and the small blade; they vanish. So, she reaches back and grabs the hair-rope that she saved...and is promptly constricted by the tail.

Unfortunately, constricting a pregnant woman can be bad for the baby.

And, between conserving magic and saving the baby, it's an obvious choice.

Luckily, her hands are still free. She flicks at her shoulder-cape, and swords pour out and levitate in the form of wings behind her. "Whirlwind Rondo," she says; the wings swirl around her, cutting at the tail. Her hands' motion seem to control their movement and where they strike at, aiming repetitively at the same spots over and over.

She checks her ring for its color - good, there's still more. Hoping to convince this creature it's better off to let her go, she gathers the many swords together and raises her hands...and then gestures for them to drop. "And, Grim Spike!" The swords, as they fall like a torrent of rain, aim at the same places along the tail that they repetitively aimed at earlier, but this time going for piercing instead of slicing.

[bc56]

Dark Room

The creature reacts to being slashed and stabbed with shock and fear. Its blood is red, as one might expect, but far more viscous than blood ought to be, oozing and bubbling slowly out of its wounds like jelly. It forcefully releases Carlie, throwing her backwards with its tail, and quickly slithers out of the room and vanishes into the darkness of the hallway beyond.

[5a Violista]

[Dark Room]

Carlie is glad that she's released.
All the swords disappear one by one, as she works to get herself back up from off the ground.

She takes a moment to reorient herself, and to separate the hair-rope into smaller groups of strands, so that it'll work better as a garrote. She can't depend on magic, so she transforms back and starts looking around the room for some kind of bladed weapon or anything hard or tough.

She doesn't spend too long doing that, however: whoever that creature is might come back, and she wants to be out of this room. She looks around - are there any other ways out of this room, besides the path that the creature took? she wonders.

[bc56]

Dark Room

No other exits, just the one rectangular archway leading out into a hall. In terms of furnishings, the room is rather bare. The brazier full of oil, its flames giving off a foul-smelling smoke. An old, rickety rocking chair, resting in a corner. A rusty file cabinet, its top drawer slightly ajar. And the grotesque tapestry of stitched human skins, covering the back wall. There's a bit of an odd protrusion in its middle, covered, of course, by the skins.

[5a Violista]

[Dark Room]

That's unfortunate. Apparently, just one obvious way out, and that may lead her straight past that...person. Unprepared, that's not something she wants to do.

She figures there's basically two things she wants to look at before leaving: that file cabinet to see what's in it, and behind whatever is causing that protrusion in the tapestry. It's entirely possible it's just part of the wall, but still ought to check it.

Also, she considers: if she breaks the rocking chair, she could turn its remains into a weapon. But that would take too long and could easily bring the lady back. She needs to check the other things, first.

So, first she goes to the file cabinet to check out its drawers, to see if there's anything useful in it.

[bc56]

Dark Room

The file cabinet, then.
It's full of old, moldering papers. Its aging bearings squeal as the drawers are pulled out. It seems to be a dead end, except... There's a grimy brass key lying at the bottom of one of the drawers. It probably goes to a door somewhere nearby.

[5a Violista]

[Dark Room]

There's...nothing there.
Nothing useful.

Carlie is about to give up, when she spots the key. Probably useless, but...just in case?

The bunnygirl looks around in case that person is coming back, and then grabs the brass key in her free hand.

...

Okay, next. Checking behind the tapestry. She goes over to it, to look for that suspicious bulge. At best, it's some kind of weapon; at worst, it's just part of the wall and a waste of time.

[bc56]

Dark Room

The tapestry is torn down. Behind it is neither an odd protuberance in the wall, or a weapon. It's a door, with the doorknob causing the lump that was seen. It's made of dry and rotting wood, and its handle and lock are slightly corroded.

[Halae]

Factory Complex-> Red Zone

Well, assuming the blood is fresh, that’s bad but not unsalvageable. The pair exchange some worried glances and set out immediately to examine the blood, even if Mac is very hesitant to touch it in any way.
How fresh is it? Is there any sort of blood trail leading away? Is it all entirely from the same victim? The last one can’t be told without equipment but they hope to answer the other questions, even if they don’t have all that much experience looking at blood pools.

[Red Zone]

The blood isn't incredibly fresh, but it's not days old either - perhaps at most twelve hours have gone by since the blood was spilled, meaning there's every chance that the wounded party could still be alive. There's a few blood spatters leading away, but that part of the trail stops not long after. The aetheric trail shows Marella being dragged across the ground and then lifted into something on the road, likely a vehicle. The trail is fainter after that, due to the speed of traffic in Inside, but it should still be able to be followed if the investigators are determined.

[5a Violista]

[Dark Room]

Weird.

What are the chances?

...Just in case, she tries the door with the key. It seems old enough to kick it down, but might as well try the key so long as she's got it, right?

And she listens carefully, hoping she'll be able to hear if someone comes down that hallway towards the room.

[Deathkeeper]

[Red Zone]

Mac and Gu are determined, and as long as they have a lead they are not out of this case!
Though progress is slow, they will take the time to follow the trail, distant though it is. And in spite of how much they stick out in this red zone. Mac with his sword and Gu with his outfit and gun.

[bc56]

Dark Room

The key clicks in the lock, and the door creaks open. The room beyond is musty and dusty, and clearly hasn't been entered in some years. It's an office space of some sort. A sagging wooden desk with several drawers supports a prodigious stack of old, rotting encyclopedias. Faded photographs of pastoral scenes hang from the walls. An antique floor lamp provides no light. There might not even be electricity in this building. Resting in the far corner is a skeleton, clad in a tattered lab coat. Nothing in the chamber stirs, although maybe Carlie hears faint, muffled groaning coming from the hallway outside.

[5a Violista]

[Dark Room]

That's not good: it sounds like that person is coming back. This doesn't leave her enough time to go to the rocking chair to make a weapon.

She quickly goes through the door, tries to close it as quietly as possible (by supporting it the best she can as she closes it), and...then looks around the room.

Everything in here looks stagnant; without any light, she can't use her left eye to see anything. Similarly, since the room has been so stagnant, nearly everything is uniform temperature. Not to mention, it's impossible to read or distinguish papers. There are only three things that will help her distinguish the things in here: (1) the wall and door closest to the room she was just in is slightly warmer than this room due to its recent activity. This means there's a very slight gradient that she can use. (2) Although everything's at the same temperature, different materials radiate heat slightly differently - especially reflective surfaces, like the floor lamp or the doorknob. This helps her just barely be able to distinguish where things are. (3) Carlie is radiating her own body heat. The longer she stays by something, the easier it will be to see it as it absorbs her own heat. As long as she moves slowly, it should be fine.

And, moving slowly is definitely what she'd do - she's trying to not make any noise by stepping too loudly, or by knocking something over, in hopes that it doesn't draw the creature towards her.

So she moves towards the skeleton in the corner. To feel it up, heat it up with her body heat, and feel through its lab coat for anything.
...
And, also, feeling for its femur. "I apologize," she says to it under her breath. "Don't worry, I'll put it to good use."

[Felandria]

Red Zone Lab

After looting for food and presumably eating some to gain strength, Rosie joins her in standing in front of the door. "That mook alluded to the fact that there are more of them in the quarters. Barging in wildly could ruin our element of surprise... but I know you can take them, so I say I hide in your pocket." So, she shrinks down to tiny size, enough that she can fit where Fel chooses to put her.

Upon entering the next room, there's a door on the other side labeled ARMOURY, and a door to the left labeled LAB ENTRANCE. Above, a readout says 'LOCKED - OPERATION IN PROGRESS', indicating that this door is locked. Surely, the mooks know of another way.

Speaking of which, the place is furnished with bunk beds and footlockers. As promised, there are a number of mooks laying on the bed, discussing, though about half the beds are empty. They all stop what they're doing upon seeing Felandria.

Two closest to the armoury door run for it, while the others scramble to defend the intrusion!

Fel quickly but gently grabs Rosie and looks to her.

You get the two heading to the weapons and I’ll stop these guys.

Imma hafta throw you over there, is that okay?

Rosie nods and Fel lobs Rosie in an upward arc over the other mooks heads, with her other hand she wields her immovable rod, holds it vertically and locks it into place.

Then she grabs on and swings around to kick as many villains as possible.