CALHOUN HOUR - HUNTERS

[vivariummods]

Yet another day, yet another Calhoun Hour where characters find themselves waking up in a new and unfamiliar area. The first thing characters will notice that it's dusty and dark. With almost no lighting whatsoever, characters will be unable to see anything in front of them. Are they with someone else or did they wake up alone? That's something they will have to figure out after Calhoun's announcement. "Ahem, ahem. Testing, one two three, testing. Well, gooooood evening, test subjects! Yes, you have really been knocked out for that long, but it only fits the mood of today's game." He snickers then continues. "How many of you like the horror genre? I bet half of you do, but I hate it! Cheap and cheesy effects with lame jump scares, and what is this, The Human Centipede? "100% medically accurate"? Just ugh, that's not even horror. That's just an insult to science and medicine." "Anyway, I thought I'd put my own twist to trying out this horror business, so welcome to my little haunted school! Now, all of you should find yourselves a nice little camera and pocket flashlight. I want you all to do me a little favour and take a nice photo of at least five different of my best friends down there. I'm not asking for breathtaking photos, but at least put some effort into it, test subjects. Do that and, you know what, I'm feeling generous, I'll give you whatever you want in the shop and I guess a memory or something, whatever, we'll talk later, test subjects!" And with that, it goes silent... BASIC INFO ✖ BEGIN THE HUNT ✖ POST-EVENT MINGLE ✖ TURN-IN

Comments

[detectiveofthewest]

It never failed man, didn't Sasuke watch horror movies obviously when you complain about something not being scary enough it will instantly become 10 times more scary or a cat will jump out. Although honestly, Heiji had kind of been bagging on the scare, too. BUT IN ANY CASE, he ran.

When Heiji came to a random door, he pulled it open and rushed inside, with little to no idea of what was even in the room. It was... a library? The one good thing about this situation was that the woman was dragging her sledgehammer behind her, as if it were too heavy to simply pick up and carry. She was still a ways down the hall, so maybe if they snuck in here, they'd be okay...

[not_that_sasuke]

It smells burnt in here... well, whatever. As long as it provides a place to hide, that's about all he can ask for. Off goes the light again, and he'll quickly duck behind the remains of a shelf, not even daring to look in the direction of the door lest he make himself more visible.

Come on, come on, just pass them by...

[detectiveofthewest]

The dragging of the sledgehammer proceeded down the hallway, but now it seemed a little erratic. It stopped outside the door to the library for several seconds. Then the door pushed open and the woman entered.

Her breathing sounded ragged and heavy as she ambled closer, turning her head this way and that. Heiji peeked out through a sliver of open bookcase to monitor her progress. It seemed like she didn't know where they were.

[not_that_sasuke]

He goes completely still, hardly daring to breathe. He can hear her pause again, apparently surveying the room. If she'd just turn around and leave...

The sledgehammer drags on the floor. It's with a cold shock that he realizes she isn't heading for the door again.

She's investigating the room. And she's getting closer.

[detectiveofthewest]

The sound of her breathing was now upon him; it was now or never. Heiji darted out of his hiding place and hit the shutter button on his camera, aiming it towards the sound. The flash lit up the room, revealing the burnt shelves and books.

What the hell happened here?

But there was no time for that. For the moment, the woman seemed a bit dazed; Heiji circled around the shelves to head toward the exit. "Sasuke, where are ya? We gotta get out of here!"

Suddenly, a flurry of activity. Books were falling off the shelves, flying everywhere what the hell were they in Ghostbusters now.

[not_that_sasuke]

The minute he hears Heiji move, Sasuke also springs from his spot, correctly thinking that they'd both better take the same opportunity for escape. Although-- did the 'ghost' just flinch from the flash...?

He doesn't get long to think about it, unfortunately, because the sound of swooshing air has him ducking, a burnt book sailing just over his head. What the hell?

[detectiveofthewest]

Oh my god, forget this noise. Heiji turned his flashlight back on, as there was no earthly way he could even hope to dodge these books in the dark. He ducked as the woman swung her sledgehammer hard at the source of light. It clove the air above his head and smashed into a burnt bookcase, which wobbled and weaved for a second or two before it finally fell over, striking the woman in the shoulder.

He wasn't waiting to see what damage it might have done, though. Heiji ran toward the door, calling to Sasuke to make sure he was coming along.

WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING.

[not_that_sasuke]

Sasuke follows immediately, hardly faltering when a book nails him in the knee. With how much was missing, at least, it doesn't cause much damage at all.

Although this leaves the question...

"Where do we go-?!"

[detectiveofthewest]

"Circle around to the door, I think she's pinned for now!" And that was exactly what Heiji was going to do, head around a row of bookcases and toward the exit before the woman could free herself.

But why was there poltergeist activity tho.

[not_that_sasuke]

He doesn't need to tell Sasuke twice. Out the door he goes and back into the spooky, but sledgehammer-less hallway. At least there's just that creepy doll and nothing else to worry about...

[detectiveofthewest]

As far as he could tell, the woman wasn't yet following them, which was at least a good sign. Halfway down the hall, however, Heiji heard a distinct click from the room they'd just left.

A click?

He stopped and turned. The room was silent.

[not_that_sasuke]

...What was that.

"Did she... do something?" He's rapidly losing track of what the hell is even going on in here anymore. At least the maze made some kind of basic sense.

[detectiveofthewest]

"I dunno..." said Heiji, brow furrowing as he looked back down the hall. The silence was interrupted by another noise, this time a roar. It sounded like the inside of the furnace back in the incinerator room.

He took a few steps toward the library door. The silhouette of the door now glowed golden on all four sides, like some powerful light was leaking through from the inside of the room.

[not_that_sasuke]

It sounds like a fire.... Wait a sec. Weren't those books burnt?

"...Hey. Were all those scorch marks because-?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji didn't answer with words, but by walking closer to the room. Now he could feel the heat coming out from the cracks in the door, which were almost like a physical force.

"Don't think anything coulda survived that," he said.

[not_that_sasuke]

"...Maybe nothing alive, but we don't even know what that thing is." At this point, he would not even be the slightest bit surprised if it turned out that thing was some kind of fireproof robot.

[detectiveofthewest]

Well, what was your solution Sasuke, was it --

There was another click, louder this time as Heiji at least was closer to the door. He backed away at once as the door swung open and something stumbled out. It was a humanoid figure, blackened and charred and still on fire. It flailed its arms and advanced forward a few steps before collapsing facefirst onto the floorboards.

The smell was terrible, as was the sound of something sizzling.

[not_that_sasuke]

Not knives, no.

Sasuke is also quick to take a step back, quickly putting an arm over his nose at that smell. Ugh... Please let that be the scent of burning oil and not, say, flesh. Though this would pretty much confirm that it couldn't possibly be a ghost, right...?

...On the other hand they also have a fire hazard to deal with now, so that might not be super great.

[detectiveofthewest]

Thankfully, there really wasn't anything to put out. Having exhausted whatever was burnable on the ghost's body, the flame began to sputter out, though the body itself left a scorch mark on the floor.

"No pugilistic attitude," said Heiji, holding his sleeve in front of his face.

[not_that_sasuke]

"-? Pugili--?"

Sorry, what?

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji took a few steps in front of the body, but did not get too close. "When someone dies in extreme heat, dehydration and the shortening of muscles force the corpse into a position of flexion at certain joints. Their hands clench into fists and the position of their body changes into a defensive posture, like a boxer's. This body ain't have that."

[not_that_sasuke]

Sasuke's fine examining the body from where he already is, thanks.

"...So it's definitely not a real person?" Small relief, he supposes.

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji shook his head. "Not likely." Although it was conceivable that the body could have been rigged to deceive them, it seemed more up Zero's alley to trick them into thinking it was human.

"Still, that sure was some convenient timing." Or incredibly lucky, what if they'd been in that room?

[not_that_sasuke]

"It was already scorched when we went inside. We might have just missed a trap." He can't really think of any other real reasons why the place would have suddenly lit up like that.