Midwich Elementary School (Nightmare World)

[mother_of_god]

[Monsters: Faceless children, ghost babies, a few roaches]

[Tasks: Wander around inside. The walls and floors are now made of chain link and grating, and covered with blood and similar organic goo. Chains hang from the ceilings, and in several places, strange cloaked statues are displayed in inaccessible rectangular gibbets. The exit doors in the lobby are replaced by a giant set of sharp-bladed fans- trying to get out would result in slicing and dicing.
-There's a pair of the cloaked statues inside the school office, flanking a strange door with no handle. It does, however, have a slot in the center, and a conveniently slot-sized card on the ground in front of it. This door leads to the rest of the school; all the others are jammed or blocked.
-In the first floor girls' bathroom, the sound of a child sobbing breaks out. There are no children to be found inside.
-Upon exiting that bathroom, the characters find themselves on another floor. Reentering will put them in a different bathroom. This time, the stall door opens to reveal a decayed corpse, strung up with medical equipment. "Leonard Rhine- the Monster Lurks" is written on the wall behind it in blood.
-There's a classroom with only a table full of telephones and scattered cards. One telephone may ring and lead to an NPC conversation.
-The library has shelves stocked with religious-looking books. One shelf has a book of fairy tales, open to a relevant page [which I'll put in when the time comes]. Another, more out of the way, has less-relevant but vaguely interesting info [which I'll also put in].
-Depending on how things go and player preference, there may be an NPC encounter and boss fight.]

It's the courtyard again. The snow has turned to a steady, warm rain, and there's something "off" about the whole place- the building looks more distressed, the hedges thornier. The sharp smell of burning bites the nose.

In the concrete in the center, a mysterious occult symbol has been burned.

Comments

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

"Maybe... Anyway, we'd better keep going. There's got to be some way out of this mess." He takes out a map of the school, spreading it on the table. "Let's see... we're here, so that's the second floor... I guess either the roof or the basement."

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo considered it, then gave a bland shrug.

Walked over and pulled her knife out of the stomped faceless kid.

"We're half up already. We could check the top and then head down."

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

"Right." He nods.

The halls are infested with monsters, but the stairwell seems to be clear (ignoring a wheelchair and a couple of cloaked figures behind the grating), as does the roof.

"I guess we're going down, then..." He squints into the darkness before they do, disappointed that there's nothing to be seen.

"I've never seen darkness this thick before."

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo, very specifically, doesn't say she hasn't.

Or that her skin prickles in a few places.

"Yeah. It blows. This isn't going to be any help."

She follows Harry out, with a glare at the retreating outside darkness. Beginning to get an inkling of what this is, beyond what it might be.

And not liking that idea, at all.

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

And then, the basement boiler room.

Which is now not so much a boiler room as a set of pipes and valves and a gated door.

"That wasn't there before..."

One way to go.

[tobeclosetohim]

"Great place to hide something. Basement of it's evil twin."

Jo pulled on the door, to try and make it open.

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

It's rusty and screeching, but it does open. And then screeches shut behind them again.

The next room is octagonal and dark. In the center, a burner starts up, flames rising to engulf another cloaked figure.

In the warm light, a massive, lizardlike creature moves, turning its head toward them.

[tobeclosetohim]

"Seems we've got a friend."

And that would be Jo now reloading her revolver.

In a movement that is attempting quick without frantic.

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

Wordlessly, Harry aims and fires.

The beast ignores the blast, continuing toward them.

[tobeclosetohim]

Two bullets fall on the floor as she watches his bullets have no effect.

She jams a hand into her pocket for more, turning up only a few let there.
Two are jammed into the gun. And she tries the same.

Even though...she's thinking, really. It couldn't be...

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

Harry's in the process of reloading when the thing reaches him, butting him with its monstrous head. He goes sprawling, gun scattering across the floor.

[tobeclosetohim]

That is not good.

Which means more not-so-good things have to happen.

"Hey, you! Fuckin' monstrous lizard-thing!"

Jo shouts it as she runs for another part of the room.

"Over here!" She aims to shoot its face. It might not stop it, but it might give him time to get his gun if she's lucky.

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

It follows, ponderously but unstoppably, detouring around the flame in the center.

Harry scrambles up and after the shotgun, cramming shells into it.

The headbutt comes at her, this time.

[tobeclosetohim]

She out maneuver's it the first time. Managing to jump and stumble, but it's bigger and faster.

"I think you have to--"

Really, Jo. You shouldn't have looked away even for that second.

She slammed into the nearest wall, shoulder and temple.

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

"Damn!"

One of the joys of adrenaline is the energy boost, and the ignoring of all sorts of pain.

It's for this reason that Harry ends up across the room and shooting the thing's head again as it lumbers toward Jo.

He trips, tumbling to a halt in front of her, and only managing to get up on an elbow before the thing's on them.

Its head splits vertically, opening wide to reveal a cavernous throat. Slime drips from the head-halves as it moves forward.

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo's a fan of those perks. Which is why she's shouting not whining.

"Shoot in the mouth!"

If this works, and they don't get eaten, she'll deal with hating the fact horror land is a fairytale nightmare later.

Shoulder throbbing, she still manages to scrabble for her revolver with Harry in front of her. And then she's doing the same thing she suggested of him.

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

He does so, emptying the shotgun and then switching to the handgun in his waistband as the thing looms closer.

It's almost ready to close around them.

And then collapses limply.

The sirens roar out again, and the darkness closes in around them, blotting out even the fire in the center.

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo intensely is not a fan of being in the pitch dark.

Especially somewhere she doesn't know. Thats fond of trying to kill her.



But...she's alive.

"Fucking hell." There's a scraping sound as she's standing, using the wall specifically as her guide to do so. Then rummaging, then a click, and a beam of light. "You there Harry?"

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

No answer.

But then it's light again.

And she's in the boiler room.

The school boiler room.

With no blood or rust or monsters.

Alone.

No, wait. There's a girl there.

[tobeclosetohim]

Normal world. Again. Huh.

Jo inched closer to the girl.

Gun still in her hand.

"Hey, you okay?"

[mark-of-samael.livejournal.com]

She turns, surprised. An odd mix of relief and confusion show on her face.

Then she fades like a shadow in sun.

[tobeclosetohim]

"Wait!" Jo called out, but it didn't.

And she kicked the wall in annoyance. At least the girl looked relieved and not evil. And hadn't tried to kill her.

She made her way out of the basement. She didn't spot Anna or Harry, even though she kept an eye out for both. She made for out of the school. Jo helped herself to the infirmary long enough to treat her gash and to medicate the stab wound on her leg and reapply the tourniquet.

It was eerily empty, and not long before she made it to the streets again.