The Mansion II [Stats & Storyline]

The Mansion II
Stats & Storyline


Please do NOT post in this thread, reserved for host's notes. Refer to this link for game thread for posting.

Current Situation:

After losing three of their own, the ten remaining survivors have cleared the first floor of the Mansion of hostiles as well as seen the outside world. Filled with corpses and small pale zombie-men, they must choose the correct path to survive.

Items in player's possession:
Reverse script notes "Finally a vi... ... It will be ... chaos... a pandemic! And only I will hold the cure..."
3x blank books
Silver hand mirror
Silver hair brush
Alcohol
Bandages
Bedding
Extra warm clothing
Red shaded magnifying glass
Old revolver
29 rounds .38 ammunition
Lighter fluid
Matches
Broom
12 clubs (chair legs)
1918 Medical Encylopedia
"Guns" book
"Symbols" book
Mansion Blueprints
Note w/ symbols "The first, a circle with a horizontal line through it. The second, an eagle's head with a lightning bolt over it, and third a triangle missing one of its corners."
https://i1075.photobucket.com/albums...psneyluics.jpg
Shovel
Rake
Hoe
Garden Scoop
Machete
Dead Laptop
First Aid Kit
Blankets
2x .9 mm Pistols

Players: (10/15 remaining)

1. autolycus - "Hayden Hicks" - Counter & Rental Clerk - DEAD

2. Beskar - "Leo Webb" - Loan Counselor

3. Choxorn - "Callum Simmons" - Job Developer

4. El Barto - "Bradley Palmer" - Video Camera Operator

5. GeneralHankerchief - "Faith Faulkner" - Occupational Therapist

6. Golden1Knight - "Charlie Wallace" - Architect

7. Greyblades - "Kieran Hurst" - Photographic Spotter - DEAD

8. Ironside - "Kyle Bevan" - Control & Valve Installer

9. Jarema - "Jack Foster" - Digital Imaging Technician

10. johnhughthom - "Elizabeth Banks" - Computer Control Programmer - DEAD

11. Myrddraal - "Lola Richards" - Office Machine Operator

12. Montmorency - "Jake Kelly" - Office Worker

13. Raith Kemmler - "Corey Parsons" - Instructional Specialist - DEAD

14. seireikhaan - "Leon Cartwright" - Paratransit Driver - DEAD

15. Winston Hughes - "Hollie Daniels" - Marine Equipment Mechanic


Maps:
https://i1075.photobucket.com/albums...pstwfktcva.jpg

https://i1075.photobucket.com/albums...psjfnzqcdm.jpg

https://i1075.photobucket.com/albums...psce6wqhs4.jpg


Q:A
Q:Can I do anything else during a turn if I sleep?
A:No, and you will regain all units of Sleep.

Q:Can I do anything else during a turn if I eat?
A:Yes, and you eat automatically per turn, the Food stat is a "countdown" to "starvation", in which the countdown can be delayed or even reversed by obtaining more food.

Q:What about water?
A:Water is readily available and left out of the game for simplicity.

Q:Can I burn the building down?
A:Yes, however you all will die.

Q:What bit Leon?
A:Deduce from write-ups, information comes to players primarily through story.

Q:What time period is this?
A:Modern day, in an early 1900's era mansion.

Q:What time of the year is it?
A:Mild Autumn weather.

Q:What bit Leon???
A::laugh4:You are sure persistent.

Q:Is Leon going to turn into a zombie?????
A:Depends on what he got bit by...

Q:Are there any zombies on the 2nd floor?
A:Definitely probably maybe not.

Q:How do I survive this game?
A:Be smart, realistic, and creative.

Q:What can I do in this game?
A:Anything realistic, however I won't let you damage the Mansion. So, no breaking through walls, burning the place down (without dire consequences).

Q:Will a staple gun kill a zombie?
A:Would it kill you? Probably not. In fact... it would merely be a flesh wound.

Q:How much food can my character carry?
A:Imagine how many cans of beans you could carry, a can of beans is the standard "unit" for food.

Q:Can I be a Rambo?
A:Yes, if you know how to fire a gun.

Q:What happens if I forget to send in my Order PM?
A:Default actions will be to follow along with the group, decision is made by GM. Note, I will mostly follow along with the given plan, if someone mentions that inactive player in their Order PM, I will most likely honor that request.

Q: What happens if my character is undergoing "exhaustion"?
A: Your character CAN faint randomly, whether in ideal or non-ideal settings.

Phase 1

Introduction:
The murmur of discontent grew until the final word had been presented. Jake Kelly (Montmorency) a simple office worker began to make the most sense, presenting a calculated plan to explore their surroundings. Other plans were rejected, others adopted in.

"Jack (Jarema), Leo (Beskar), and Hollie (Winston Hughes) should stay here and search this room. It appears to be a study, make sure and check out behind the books and maybe even the bookshelves. We need to explore what's out there, Callum (Choxorn) and Kyle (Ironside) take point. Faith (GeneralHankerchief) and I will take center. She is in the medical field so she can help if one of us gets hurt. And Corey (Raith Kemmler) and Kieran (Greyblades) will take rear."

Another group had developed as well, Charlie (Golden1Knight) was an architect and believed he could tell where the kitchen and possible food supply would be based upon the layout. Leon (seireikhaan), Lola (Myrddraal), and Bradley (El Barto) volunteered to accompany him.

"What should I do?" Elizabeth (johnhughthom) asked. Eventually she agreed to stay in the study to search, in the event any technology was discovered, she would have time to investigate it.

"What about him?" the group's attention fell on Hayden (autolycus) who had yet to wake up ( No PM :stare:). He would have to stay there and be protected by the group staying behind to search the Study.

Growing impatient, Leo spoke up. "I'm going with Charlie, not staying. If I don't do something I'm going to go mad.

After a small argument between him and Jake who had volunteered him to stay, they agreed to disagree. The group of 11 left the room leaving Jack, Hollie, and Elizabeth to search the Study while looking after the unconscious Hayden.

The door closed behind them, and the three began searching...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Search
The Study was a rather small room, it seemed impossible that all fifteen of them had been lying unconscious in there at once. The decorations appeared old but not colonial, smelled of old leather and books, a thin layer of dust covered everything. Bookshelves covered every inch of wall space, and a few padded wooden chairs dotted the room next to small tables and electric lamps. It was cool but not cold, and no light shined in. The two windows in the room had been bricked, only the light bulbs illuminated the room.

Hollie spoke first, "I do declare that if some ninny is watching us, I will be very perturbed. I will look for cameras."

Jack and Elizabeth search the walls beginning at the door and going in opposite directions, pulling books out of their shelves, checking the shelves themselves. Nothing unusual until a small note was found on top of the one of the books from the top shelve. The note read, "Straight from the opening."

"What could that mean?" Elizabeth asked as Jack and Hollie read over her shoulder. Jack stated his theory tentatively, "Well, there's three openings. The door and two windows. Let's check in front of them."

So they searched in front of the door, the floor and ceiling, as well as by the windows. Nothing, then Hollie spoke up once more, "It is indubitably opposite the opening. Check the walls."

So they searched once more, and sure enough opposite door on the far wall the shelf opened up. A secret door! They elected Elizabeth to stay in back and Jack to be point as they slowly opened the door and peeped inside.

Flipping the light on timidly, they realized they discovered a small bathroom. "Coast is clear!" Jack said breathing a sigh of relief. The three walked in, a simple toilet and sink, mirror in front, small shower. Quite quaint. "Huh... didn't expect that!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The Explorations

Outside the Study door the groups discovered a thin hallway, dim from a bulb hanging by a wire from the ceiling. To the immediate right, a spiral staircase going down, to the immediate left a series of 3 doors. One near them, the other two near the center of the hallway. At the end of the hallway, another door, and to it's right after the staircase, a final door.

The group led by Jake chose to go right while the other group who seemed to have no apparent leader, aside from some special knowledge from Charlie, chose to go left.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Right
The group of 6, led in the front by Callum and Kyle slowly crept past the creepy staircase and saw the two doors to their left. Avoiding them, they all agreed they would explore the first room on the right, which was near the end of the hallway. As they passed the rotunda and staircase, Corey thought he heard something from down below, and in fear pressed closer to the rest of the group. Pressing an ear to the door and hearing nothing, Kyle check the door for anything suspicious. After deducing it was just a simple door, he opened it and they crept in. Flipping on the light, they saw a large room with a bed. Another bookshelf and sitting place, and a cabinet. Two doors on the end indicated possibly a bathroom and a closet, as this was obviously a bedroom.

After determining no harm was to come of them in there, they split up to search the room looking for anything useful including clues as to where they were and what they were doing there.

They found some old clothing in the cabinet, appearing to have belonged to an older gentlemen of modest stature. Some scribbled notes in a notebook, and a book with no words in it were also some oddities found. The notes were extensive and also written in backwards script and would take some time to decipher. A hand mirror and brush made of what appeared to be silver, and some old-style makeup and powder were also found, possibly belonging to the gentleman's wife.

They chose to search the right once more and opened the door on the end of the room using the same method, ear to the door, no sound, checking the door for traps, and opening it slowly. Flipping the light on, seeing no hostiles, they analyzed the room. It was a wardrobe, men and women's clothing in two rows covered all four walls, as well as shoes and coats, even a cabinet full of undergarments. A door to their left indicated a second entrance into the possible bathroom. They chose to wait on exploring this room as the clothes were so vast and cluttered that it would take hours to sift through them all. They peeped into the other door and discovered a master bathroom with clawfoot tub, sink and mirror, and even medicine cabinet which unfortunately only contained some alcohol for sleeping and some bandages.

They returned to the Study before the other group grasping the cryptic notes, mysterious book, hand mirror, brush, bedding and warm clothing, alcohol and bandages, and more questions as to where they were...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Left
This group of five, with Charlie and Leon on point, entered the door on the left of the Study, using similar caution as the other group. They entered the room, flipped on the light, and after realizing no threat lie within, they looked around.

More books, book books everywhere! They were in another library, an expansion of the vast collection they had left in the Study. The library had two entrances, the one they came through and another further down the hall. Determined to explore they began searching the books and shelves, no chairs in this room. Not finding a secret room, they pulled together their oddities. Two books both missing titles and words on the pages, one small note with a series of symbols on it, and a magnifying glass with an interesting shade of red.

Furthermore they found an old revolver in the corner behind a few books, but no ammunition. "Curious...these finds..."

They returned to the Study as well, all relieved there were no incidents, but confused by their strange discoveries.

...

Lola stood aside the group as they looked over their findings, feeling as if she had been there before, feeling as if she had heard of such a story... she searched her body for needle marks... and found nothing.

Phase 2

Upon returning from their first searches, and inspecting their acquisitions, they determined a brand new plan. More knowledge leads to more questions, like the branches of a tree leading to more branches, leaves, and fruit. What they wanted was fruit, but they feared the thorns. Lola Richards (Myrddraal), continued feeling a sense of déjà vu she could not explain, "We have to be careful, I have a terrible feeling about this place... it's haunted. It's evil!"

Jake Kelly (Montmorency) continued with his planning, "We need four teams, one to find some food, I know I'm not the only person who's stomach is growling. Also a team to explore those other doors in the hallway, one to thoroughly check that bedroom complex, and another to check out that secret bathroom."

"Who has secret bathrooms, that's so odd." Bradley Palmer (El Barto) added plainly. Truly it is an interesting notion, privacy was clearly important to the original owner.

Lola spoke up again, "Okay, Charlie (Golden1Knight), you come with me, we're getting some food. Anybody else want to come?"

Bradley and Hayden Hicks (autolycus), who had woken up shortly after the original teams left, also volunteered.

Hollie Daniels (Winston Hughes) also had an idea, "We can try using the alcohol on the blank books to see if we can reveal the invisible ink too."

"Great, see what you can find!" Jake responded.

"Use the mirror to look around corners and under doors, if there's anything dangerous out there, we want to see them first!" Kyle Bevan (Ironside) added. He handed it to Leon Cartwright (seireikhaan), the designated "door opener" for the Kitchen Team.

Once they had convened, they departed once more, in hopes of learning more, escaping this mansion, and surviving. A tall order.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Team Bedroom

The team of 3, Corey, Jake, and Kyle chose to more thoroughly search the bedroom, closet, and bathroom that was discovered earlier. Upon entering the room, still using caution of course, they thoroughly checked the room again for useful items, clues, anything that could help them.

"Guys, look over here!" Corey said as he found a small tear in the carpet next to the bed. He folded it back as the others watched to reveal a small secret compartment. The wooden door opened to a small cache of .38 caliber ammunition and a small key.

"Goes to that revolver from the library?" Asked Jake.

"Maybe." Kyle answered, his knowledge in mechanics leaning him toward the obvious choice to handle the ammo.

"What about the key?" He asked as she stood up holding it.

The other two shrugged, and He pocketed it for later.

Upon further searching, they found nothing of note, the closet was just a closet, and the bathroom. Standard.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Team Explore

At the same time the three entered the bedroom, three others determined to search the doors opposite them. Faith Faulkner (GeneralHankerchief), Kieran Hurst (Greyblades), and Callum Simmons (Choxorn) composed this group.

Being the medical extraordinaire by comparison to the rest of the strangers, Faith remained in between the other two, and Kieran opened the door as Callum waited in the rear.

Using caution after hearing silence, Kieran snuck into the dark room and flipped on the light. Inside revealed a fairly decent sized room consisting of primarily similar padded leather chairs and small tables. At the end of the room, a small fireplace.

"A sitting room!" Faith said once she entered, followed by Callum. They fanned out, looking for oddities and anything of interest. Some lighter fluid sit in a blue bottle next to the fireplace, and some matches on the mantle. Disappointed after searching for several hours, they determined the room was just a bare shell used by the owner to rest and perhaps socialize.

"Let's go into the door on the end now, this place has nothing for us." Concluded Callum and the other two followed, one carrying the lighter fluid and matches. They approached the end of the hallway, hearing the team in the bedroom as they passed the door. "Okay, last door!" Callum whispered looking back at the other two. He opened the door, and the light from the hallway revealed a small broom closet. Inside lie an old broom, dust pan, strange patterned wallpaper uncharacteristic to the rest of the rooms, and the smell of dust compiling for years, maybe even decades.

They glanced in, saw nothing, looked at each other and grabbed the broom. Possible weapon? They made their way back down the hall...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

TeamStudy

Left behind to investigate the books, notes, etcetera were Leo Webb (Beskar), Hollie, and Jack Foster (Jarema). Also left behind was Elizabeth Banks (johnhughthom) who had fallen unconscious at the thought of there being monsters downstairs (inactive - no PM :stare:).

Firstly, Jack drug a bookshelf outside the door with the help of Leo and set it near the staircase in case of a pursuit. He also set himself up a chair to act as a watch for the groups.

Secondly, Leo and Hollie went to work on the oddities they had found.

"So, we have three books with no words, a note with some symbols on it, and these notes written backwards. Also interesting stuff, this reddish magnifying glass and that alcohol they found in the bathroom." Hollie analyzed.

Leo responded, "Easiest thing to start with is the backwards writing, let's go to the bathroom."

They stepped in with the notes and held them in front of the mirror. Suddenly the backwards writing was legible, "It's just notes for a business. Profit and loss, marketing schemes." Leo said. He shifted through the pages staring into the mirror, "Strange it would be backw.... wait."

He stopped, Hollie grew more attentive, "What?"

He started to read, "Finally a v.. vi... damn! Can't read this, it's smudged..."

Continuing, he read, "It will be... chaos... a pandemic! And only I will hold the cure..."

Leo stopped, looked at Hollie, eyes wide. "P... pandemic?" She asked.

"This is bad, we have to tell the others!" Leo said frantically, "But while we wait, we might as well check out the other stuff..."

They investigated the books, tried pouring the alcohol on several pages, which revealed nothing. Tried using the magnifying glass with and without the alcohol, still nothing. They looked closely, it appeared to have raises of invisible ink, and if there was, they didn't have the knowledge or the tools to read it.

Finally the note with symbols on it, a series of 3 symbols. The first, a circle with a horizontal line through it. The second, an eagle's head with a lightning bolt over it, and third a triangle missing one of its corners.

"This is odd..." Hollie said after glancing at it, "any ideas?"

Leo looked too, "Of course, first the sun is gonna be split in half, then a giant lightning bird is gonna come out of it and bite off the top of an Egyptian pyramid." he said with a smirk.

The sarcastic response was just what Hollie needed, her nerves were fried...

They chose to wait and see what the group thought, and continued searching the Study and Secret Bathroom. Hollie yelled for Leo, "Come quick!"

He came into the bathroom where she was searching and she revealed a slit in the wall that they had not seen before. Feeling around, he felt a keyhole beneath the wallpaper and ripped it off.

They had revealed a full sized door nearly invisible, locked and held only by a keyhole. "Guess we need to find a key..." Leo said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Team Kitchen

The five designated to find the food determined the kitchen must be downstairs, but fear of what Corey said he had heard before filled them with fear. As a team of unarmed men and women, they felt the need to be on their guard and use stealth as best as a team of 5 could.

"Charlie and I will lead, Leon will be the door opener. Bradley have our backs and Hayden hang back." Lola ordered, the office machine operator exercising her people skills.

They crept down the stairs, each step popping and cracking as most old stairways do. They attempted to be as quiet as they could, but five sets of feet on old wood can hardly travel silently.

Once they reached the bottom, they waited for sounds of movement. They heard light activity of the teams upstairs, and also the light buzz wings. They smelt something rancid, but also faint. The house was also unnaturally dark. They reached over and found a light switch. Holding their breath, on their guard, they flipped on the light. Only a brief moment of light existed before the bulb popped and burnt out, but what they saw terrified them.

About a dozen bodies lie on the floor in what appeared to be a very large room. The end of the room looked like a foyer for coats and hats and a large door. Also several smaller doors dotted each side of what appeared to be the Great Room. But the bodies were what caught their attention.

Not sure if what they saw were dead bodies or living, they waited for sounds once again. Five... ten... fifteen seconds went by, and still nothing. In near perfect darkness, Lola whispered, "Let's head back." They started creeping back up the stairs when a strong hand grabbed Leon's ankle causing him to trip.

He started yelling for help, attempting to get up. The others looked, unable to see his attacker in the darkness, and went to help him when he started screaming louder.

"It's biting me!!!" He screeched. The others frantically ripped him up and out of the hostile's grasp and they hurried up the stairs.

"Jack! Jack! Get ready!" Lola yelled, and once they had gotten up onto the floor Jack tipped the bookshelf over to barricade the stairwell. Without waiting to see if anything was pursuing, they all ran back into the Study, luckily the other teams had returned as well...

"Quick check his leg!" Lola barked, and Faith inspected the bite. "Bandages now! He's bleeding a lot, but I don't think the Achilles was severed!" They banded together as a team in hopes to save Leon's leg.

Lola stopped as Faith worked and stepped back, muttering something.

Leo and Hollie understood what she said, "The virus..."

Phase 3

The eyes of Elizabeth Banks (johnhughthom) opened as the team brought in the writhing Leon Cartwright (seireikhaan). His bite on his leg was bleeding profusely.

She sat up, "What happened??"

Jake Kelly (Montmorency) answered, tending to a grasping hand from Leon, "He was bit, we didn't see what did it!"

The group stood back as Faith Faulkner (GeneralHankerchief), tended the wound, pouring some of the alcohol they had found in the master bathroom to clean the wound and bandages to stop the bleeding. The group began murmuring about the virus that was read about and the possibility of Leon now possibly being infected. "Tie him up!" Bradley Palmer (El Barto) said, "better be cautious, in case he does turn into a zombie or something." They looked over at Leon, who just looked like he was in pain, and did so. Tied up and treated, Leon in the chaos and pain, went to sleep.

Elizabeth once again asked the question, "What's going on?? I'm so sorry I passed out..."

Charlie Wallace (Golden1Knight) answered her, "We went downstairs to look for food, we saw bodies, the bulb went out, Leon got bit. Don't really know anything else."

"What do we do now??"

Jake stood up, "Let's barricade the stairs and hold a guard there, Leo (Beskar), you carry the gun. You seem capable, I trust you. We need to check out that secret door in the bathroom, probably with the key. Also let's check out the Sitting Room again and just do a general search of this second floor. There must be something we missed..."

Callum Simmons (Choxorn) spoke up too, "There was some strange wallpaper in the hall closet similar to that of the bathroom you all peeled back, maybe somebody should check it out."

"I'll go." Faith volunteered, "Me too." Corey Parsons (Raith Kemmler) added.

Lola Richards (Myrddraal) and Bradley volunteered to check out the secret bathroom, Bradley obtaining the small key they had found in the secret compartment in the master bedroom.

"Let's strengthen the barricade and hold guard, who's with me?" Charlie said. "I'm in!" Hollie Daniels (Winston Hughes) proclaimed. Hayden Hicks (autolycus) and Elizabeth also volunteered.

"Look, I know we're all getting tired so let's sleep in turns. I'll go first with whoever else." Jack Foster (Jarema) reasoned.

"We don't have time to sleep, we've been attacked!" Jake argued, but Jack did as he so desired.

"I'll sleep too." Callum said, seemingly uncaring of poor Leon's fate.

Kyle Bevan (Ironside) had remained silent up to this point, "Then we need a team to re-explore and hopefully find something else, who's in?" Kieran Hurst (Greyblades) and Jake filed in.

The group split off into their teams of two or three...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Team Barricade

Charlie led Hollie, Hayden, and Elizabeth out the door to the bookshelf covering the stairwell that Jack had set there. They cautiously listened, waiting to hear violence behind the wood. They heard nothing, not even a scrambling up the stairs.

"That's odd, you think whatever bit Leon is coming?" Asked Hollie.

Charlie answered, "Doesn't sound like it, either way, we're staying here in case it tries to. Let's break off some of the chair legs in the sitting room for clubs, there should be at least three chairs, so 12 clubs."

They did so, making extra for other members of the teams.

Leo, their gunner, came in behind them wielding the loaded .38 revolver, "You sure you know how to use that?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Used to go hunting with my dad. We used rifles with scopes, but a gun is a gun I suppose..." He answered her.

They waited...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Team Explore

Jake, Kyle, and Kieran made their way toward the Sitting Room where Team Barricade had worked to break down the chairs. The three grabbed their clubs, feeling better now to be armed. They also had armed themselves up with winter coats to thicken their outer layer, hoping if they ran into any other hostile foes, their teeth wouldn't be able to penetrate the material.

Looking like vikings from 1920's Chicago, clean cut aside from the 5 o'clock shadows they were growing, they began covering the remaining area. Sitting Room, Master Bedroom, Master Bathroom, Master Wardrobe, Library. It became apparent they had explore the entire top floor, aside from any secret doors or compartments.

They also found nothing of note, leaving the hall closet and secret bathroom to their respected teams.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Team Closet

Faith and Corey pressed on down the hall toward the closet, passing the four at the barricade, Hollie jumped in with them, "They don't need four, I want to see what's in the closet!" she said walking with them. Upon opening the door they saw what was there before, virtually nothing. But the strange wallpaper did confuse them, so they chose to investigate further. Feeling around the edges, they noticed it seemed... soft... as if ... Oh! Their hands broke through the paper, as if no wall was behind it. Tearing away the paper they discovered a makeshift covering of a second half of the closet with just a single board running down the middle of the wall to hold up the wallpaper, "This was done in a hurry, look how the nails aren't even in all the way, some are bent." Corey stated.

"Yeah, this is sure strange." Hollie answered.

They stepped in, the light from the hallway enough to see that it contained a dumbwaiter! "Wow! This must not be a closet at all but something for the maids to carry up food or other stuff!" Faith said now, clearly excited.

"We could use this to lower ourselves down!" Faith continued. "If the base of the stairs is too dangerous, maybe below this isn't!"

"Or maybe it is... but no doubt it leads to the kitchen and we need food." Corey responded, tone dropping in fear of what had bitten Leon.

"Let's tell the others!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Team Bathroom

Bradley and Lola entered the Secret Bathroom to investigate the secret door that Hollie and Leo had discovered, calling out for Leo who had the gun just in case something bad lay on the other side.

"Okay, here we go!" Bradley said eagerly as he slipped the small key into the sunken key hole. Lola brought over a chair and set it by the door, "In case we need a barricade." she said. "Good idea!" Bradley said. Leo stayed silent, pistol in hand.

He turned the key, "Yes!" and the door opened.

As the door cracked open, just the opposite of what they expected happened. Generally darkness lay behind closed doors, but behind this one a bright stream of light that grew with every inch the door opened. They all squinted, not used to bright light, and Leo kept his gun pointed into it blinded.

Once the door was opened, Leo stepped in with gun in hand, followed by Bradley, and Lola in the back. What they saw amazed them...

A sunroom! Daylight, well actually dusk but close enough, streamed through the wall-sized windows. Nothing lie in the room, it was completely empty, but the view was astounding.

Clearly obvious they were on the second floor now they peered over onto the yard, large and full of green grass and trees, they saw that they were on top of a small hill surrounded by other large homes. A neighborhood, clearly on the higher end as each home was large with yards. As they looked they saw somebody outside in the backyard. "Look!"

Still silent, remembering there were hostiles downstairs, they watched as the person in the backyard turned around mindlessly. They were pail, thin, and wearing rags. Short too, maybe five foot tall, with sharp features and black eyes. "He doesn't look right..." Bradley observed, with concern in his eyes. Lola then spoke some reason, "Think we can break this glass?"

Leo looked at it, "Looks bulletproof, must be four inches thick... Plus I don't want to shoot and bring whatever was downstairs up here. Let's just show the others and decide as a group what to do."

"It's beautiful, but cruel that we're stuck in here. Still, I'm so happy to see the sun." Lola said again, longingly.

The three filed back into the study, with some time left Lola looked into the topics of the books in the library. Mathematics... Sciences... Literature... History... Literally all modes in educations, this guy was a true intellectual. Though one theme stood out, books from and about Charles Darwin, "Survival of the fittest" type things.

"This concerns me," Lola said, explaining it to the guys, "He seems obsessed with natural selection. Almost to a point of sounding like Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin... Of course this library is dated, pre-War. So they're never mentioned... but still, whoever owned this collection was clearly planning something, which supports what we read in his notes."

"What about the note with the symbols, any idea on that?"

She just shook her head... Still puzzled.

Everybody filed back, Lola also chose to check the ceilings for an attic entrance, none exist.

Lastly Leon slept the entire four hours peacefully, against everyone's expectations.

Phase 4

"We need food, now." Jake Kelly (Montmorency) announced to the crowd. After determining that they were on the 2nd floor and no food was in sight, the team knew this was their last chance before real debilitating hunger set in.

"I'm in." Charlie Wallace (Golden1Knight) announced immediately, "I've got combat experience and I'm pretty strong, so I'll go into the dumbwaiter first."

"I'll come too." Leo Webb (Beskar) announced, holding onto his revolver. "If anybody is going to need this, it'll be us. I'll drop second."

Kyle Bevan (Ironside) spoke last, "I'll go too, and I think we should keep this team fairly small so we can be quiet."

Jake spoke up again, "We will go down, hope it leads to food. If it doesn't but it's not hostile, we'll search for food. If things get dire, or we need a distraction, Jack (Jarema) and Callum (Choxorn) will come downstairs to make some noise while the rest of you wait at the top of the stairs. Draw the hostile's attention away from us, and use the bottleneck to your advantage. Also let's let Faith (GeneralHankerchief) and Leon (seireikhaan) sleep. Faith needs to be rested in case there's an emergency and Leon needs to rest and heal."

The teams assembled, creating torches and a bindle for carrying food, and equipping themselves with chair legs as clubs.

Corey Parsons (Raith Kemmler) was designated dumbwaiter operator, while the remaining members started a fire in the Sitting Room and awaited at the top of the stairs in case Operation Hail Mary was necessary, in which everybody would rush downstairs to assist Team Deep Operations.

"Okay, remember, we're lowering you just a bit so you can see. Tap the roof of the dumbwaiter once you think it's safe to drop, and tug the chord once to signal the rest of the team to come down. If there's a problem, tug twice instead so we know there's hostiles, or tug three times for extraction." Jake told Charlie. He nodded, and with his unlit torch in hand, Corey lowered him down.

Charlie's eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness, watching for hostile figures or movement. The dumbwaiter was surprisingly quiet, and the smell of lighter fluid from the torch was strong. After a few moments, Charlie's eyes adjusted and saw nothing. He tapped the roof of the dumbwaiter and was lowered to the bottom. He crept out onto his feet, and stood there silently just a moment. Still no movement, all seemed well. He checked his surroundings, to his right an open door, to his left two closed doors. He viewed his surroundings, cabinets, utilities. He was in the kitchen! The open door to his right led to a large room so he closed it as silently as he could, minding the creek of the hinges. Lighting his torch he looked around more and determined that one of the doors to his left would be a pantry. He tugged on the chord once to signal the rest of the team to come down.

Leo came down next carrying the bindle for carrying the weight of the food. Charlie whispered, "Let's wait until the other two are down, then try the doors."

Next came Jake, then Kyle. The four were there, and Charlie led them to the first door. Leo held his gun, and Jake carried the other torch. Kyle pressed his ear to the door, heard nothing, and opened it. The light shined in to expose a series of boxes, primarily of kitchen equipment from first glance, but no food. Then they opened the second door using the same caution, and discovered it to be a pantry. Not hardly a quarter full, food was still present, and the team lit up. They started swiping food, leaving Kyle back by the dumbwaiter for signaling Corey.

They had just about filled their bindle when a crash was heard outside the door which was originally on the right. The one leading to what appeared to be a dining room. The team stopped, staring.

Another crash, then the door blew open. A rather large creature, appearing human-like, with clear skin and orange glowing veins roughly 7 feet tall rushed in.

"Dumbwaiter is too slow!" Jake yelled. The team of four attempting to hold onto their food, began their evasive maneuvers. Leo drew his revolver, and pulled the trigger aiming for the head. Nothing... He tried again. Nothing.

"Dead ammo?!" Jake tugged on the chord three times signalling the Hail Mary and they ran around the kitchen island, putting space between them and the hostile...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Team Support/Overwatch

Corey saw the chord tug three times, turned back at the rest of the team by the bookshelf barricade, he yelled, "Hail Mary!" The team drew back, armed up, and rushed down the stairs with the clubs and torches in hand. They rushed down, thinking about the way the house was organized, they turned right at the bottom of the stairs, and saw a hallway and no doors leading where they wanted to go. They ran down the hallway, torches on the front and backside.

Entering the hallway they saw the light coming through the open door of the kitchen through the dining room and rushed straight in. There they saw it, the giant hostile creature, crashing around the kitchen in pursuit of the Deep Ops team. They all seemed fine at first glance, and as a big team they began clubbing at hostile.

With a group so large, the giant was overwhelmed and brought to it's knees, where a powerful swing of Charlie's club finally ended it's frenzy.

They all stopped, breathing heavily, and posted a watch at the door. "Hey, where's Elizabeth (johnhughthom)?"

"She came with us, I saw her."

They quickly resolved that grabbing food and returning up the stairs to the Study was their best option, so everyone grabbed what they could and their quickly made it's way back to the hallway. They stopped, at the end of the hallway was another giant hostile, at it's feet, the dead body of Elizabeth Banks.

Leo attempted the revolver again, but nothing happened. Several of the men stepped forward and clubbed the hostile down similarly to the way the first had gone down, but this time it was Callum with the kill blow.

"They're not invincible, we just have to work together!" Jake said quickly as they moved through the hallway into the Great Room, keeping an eye behind them as well as to their sides.

The light from their torches revealed the dozen or so bodies in the floor they had seen when Leon was bit. "Corpses..."

They traversed the Great Room in a large group, when a large figure burst from a door to their right from the front of the room, screeching as it charged. They determined they had time and made their way up the stairs to barricade the hostile out and possibly batter it from above. They made their way up when Hayden Hicks (autolycus) tripped, the giant grabbed his ankle, and threw him across the room, killing him instantly. In the distraction, the rest of the group barricaded themselves in as the giant crashed up the stairs. Leo aimed once again, praying it would work, and the sound was deafening. The bullet discharged, and the giant dropped and fell back down the stairwell.

They quickly barricaded the top, listened a bit for more movement, heard faint roars from all over the mansion, and went into the Study to bar themselves in.

They panted heavily, catching their breath. Some wept for their fallen comrades, others inspected their haul.

Jake spoke up once again after they had calmed down, "We have some food now, it's going to be okay. Obviously Leo saved our lives with that gunshot but it's woken up the other hostiles. It's time we ended this, and got out of here."

Lola spoke up, "I saw the front door, it's right in front of the stairs across the Great Room. It didn't appear locked, but I didn't get a good look at it. We should try to leave."

They checked the blank book they had left in the sunroom hoping the heat would reveal with invisible ink, but it didn't work since the sun had already set.

"40 units of food, that's better than nothing." Callum said. The others nodded.

Graciously they ate, hearing the Mansion come to life beneath them...

Phase 5

The surviving thirteen recollected their memories of their deceased,who's bodies had been strewn about before their very eyes. Taking their fill of their booty retrieved from the Pantry, bellies finally full, those who had not rested now for a total of sixteen hours chose to rest.

These eight sleepers were Hollie Daniels (Winston Hughes), Lola Richards (Myddraal), Charlie Wallace (Golden1Knight), Kyle Bevan (Ironside), Jake Kelly (Montmorency), Bradley Palmer (El Barto), Leo Webb (Beskar), and Corey Parsons (Raith Kemmler).

"Kieran, you need to rest." Jake told Kieran Hurst (Greyblades).

"No, I can't. There's not enough people on guard, I'll sleep after you all wake up." He answered, dark circles under his eyes. "And how could I sleep knowing there's monsters downstairs? We can even hear them."

No one questioned him, then the bound Leon Cartwright (seireikhaan) took the podium, "Listen y'all, I'm fine. Look at me, I'm fine. Don't even have a fever!"

Faith Faulkner (GeneralHankerchief) inspected his wound, "It still appears minor, and doesn't even look infected... I'm going to untie him."

"No! What if he hurts somebody?" Jake asked, rejecting her apathy for the man.

"If I was goin to hurt somebody, don't you think I would've already tried? Come on, I want to help!" Leon barked quickly, cutting off Faith.

Faith continued, "If things start to look bad, I'll wake you up. I promise." looking at Jake.

His response was quick as he laid down to sleep, "Fine."

Lola spoke up, "What does the bite look like? Does it look human in size?"

Faith inspected Leon's leg, inexperienced with trauma as an Occupational Therapist but her medical training did introduce her many things, "Well remember I'm not a medical doctor per se, but it does look like it's about human size. Leon, you said a hand grabbed your ankle and that's why you tripped?"

Leon shook his head, ashamed to be the one to get injured. Faith continued, "Then it must have been a human, perhaps an ape..." No one responded, they all simply hoped Leon would stay friendly.

Jack Foster (Jarema) and Callum Simmons (Choxorn) also remained awake having rested previously, "I'll guard the staircase." Jack said.

"I'll help." Leon said as Faith freed him. "Me too." She added.

"I want to go to the library and see if I can find any information on firearms, see if I can figure out a way to determine which ammunition rounds are bad. Also some medical information would be good too. I'll help guard after that." Kieran said, fighting through his exhaustion.

It was Callum's turn, "I'll check out the documents we've found, then help guard too."

The eight were closed into the Study as the remaining five slowly crept outside, lights off as to not anger the beasts below, and went on their ways.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Callum crept his way to the Sitting Room where a fire had been lit in the fireplace and one of the blank books rested near to heat up. "Never heard of invisible ink being revealed by heat, but really it's not something I study." He quietly told the guards as he passed them.

Entering the room he closed the door behind him and turned on the light. Approaching the fireplace he sat on the mantle and picked up the book. Something was different about the book... Not words necessarily, it just had a tint to it.

He looked closely, bringing the book up close to his eyes. He could very faintly make out scribbling, but it was yellow on the off-white pages. And the yellow was such a faint shade that it was impossible to make out what it said. "At least we know something now!" Callum thought to himself, stoking and feeding the fire, he left the room to inspect the other documents they had found.

He looked at the other blank books, the reverse script notes, the paper with the symbols, and spent him time doing so while watching over the sleepers.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kieran made his way into the Library, closing the door behind him quietly he turned on the light as Callum had done in the Sitting Room and began searching.

"Firearms... Firearms... where would that be?" He asked himself. His eyes crossed temporarily, exhaustion beginning to set in. "Guns!" he picked a book out of the third shelf and began sifting through it, "Proper ammunition storage!" He flipped to page 76, "Ammunition should be stored in cool, moisture-free location..." He thought back on the hidden door that Corey had found, "Seemed pretty moisture-free..."

"If ammunition appears corroded, dispose of immediately..."

Kieran smiled to himself, "We need to inspect the ammunition, pull out the corroded rounds." Feeling satisfied with himself, he continued searching. On the fourth shelf he found a Medical Encyclopedia from 1918. Being the only one he could find, he chose to take it with him as well. He chose to search the last section of the books, when he found a book that caught his eye. The title simply read "Symbols" and appeared very old.

He opened it and read the short introduction. "Symbols originated as the first form of writing, and can have many meanings. Enjoy the accumulation of centuries of knowledge compiled in this short journal."

He smiled once again, amazed at his luck, and brought back his haul to the Study. With the Medical Encyclopedia in hand he approached Faith.

"Here, it's very outdated, but something good to read." He handed it to Faith who sat with Jack and Leon.

She smiled, "Thanks, hardly cutting edge but the fundamentals are still the same." She looked at Leon, "I think you're fine, but I'm still checking up on you regularly."

He nodded, "Just happy I'm not a zombie."

Callum asked him what he had found, "Book on guns and another on symbols." He answered.

"Can I see the symbols book?" He asked him, and Kieran handed it over.

After sifting through for a couple of hours, Callum's excitement was apparent, "Look, it's Theta!"

The guards looked over his shoulder at the first symbol that they had found on the note. "A circle with a horizontal line though it, Theta! It also represented the sun in Ancient Chinese culture, water in Spanish origins, or salt in alchemy!"

They sat in silence for a moment, stumped. "So, theta, the sun, water, or salt..."

"Hey, at least we know something now!" Callum responded, and began looking through the book for the other two symbols.

After another couple of hours, his head began to spin, "I have to take a break, there's thousands of symbols in here and some have only the slightest variation."

The guard finished out their shift, listening to the moaning and shuffling of giants beneath them, and the snoring of the rest of their team, they miraculously made it without an incident.

Phase 6

The group, high in spirits despite the loss of two of their comrades, felt positively after killing a few of the giant hostiles. Splitting up into two groups, one at the top of the stairs in hopes of eliminating their enemies, and another staying behind for inspection of the guns, ammunition, and other books and documents for intel, they went to work.

Jake (Montmorency) took the initiative and raised the dumbwaiter, both in fear of a hostile using it though they all doubted one could fit or had the intelligence to use it, and also in case it was needed.

The others assisting were Jack (Jarema), Bradley (El Barto), Charlie (Golden1Knight), Corey (Raith Kemmler), Lola (Myrddraal), Kieran (Greyblades), Callum (Choxorn), and Kyle (Ironside). Together they would go down in pairs and attempt to lure a hostile up the stairs, using the bottleneck to kill them as a team.

Lola spoke up, "Are there any curtains for curtain rails? We can use them as a spear."

"No, no curtains. Whoever lived here either took them down or never had them. All of the windows are bricked up." Jake answered her.

The other four, Leo (Beskar), Hollie (Winston Hughes), Faith (GeneralHankerchief), and Leon (seireikhaan) stayed in the Study to inspect their questionable materials.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Intel

Hollie and Leo inspected the revolver and the ammunition using the "Guns" book as a guide. Determining that a cover of corrosion on the cap could be from moisture and therefore render the gunpowder inside the shell inert, they began sifting through the ammunition to filter out the bad from the good. There being 49 rounds, this would take quite some time.

Hollie also took the time to inspect the silver hairbrush and hand mirror only to find nothing of note.

Faith read the century old Medical Encyclopedia, not expecting to learn anything she hadn't already learned during her 8 year studies in University, but still hoping something would spark some sort of reference to the disease that was obviously effecting the monsters. She also inspected the notes which glowed yellow in heat, but had no real detailed plan as to how to inspect it.

As she studied she also tended to Leon, who appeared upbeat and healthy. His wound was healing naturally, scabbed over and no infection, quite the miraculous recovery actually. His spirits seemed up too after being freed, and studied the symbols note and the book.

Leon stopped, "I found a section on triangles, but none of them have a corner missing..."

"Keep looking." Faith told him. As they studied, they awaited the inevitable ruckus they expected to hear outside the door...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rotunda

Jack stood at the barricade, "Let me out."

Jake and Charlie both argued against him, "No, we go together."

Jack stood his ground, "I'm going, one man can sneak around better than a group. You can either move the bookshelf and let me go or I'll move it myself."

The others couldn't argue with him, and let him go. Jack made his way down the stairs and into the darkness...

They waited to hear him or a hostile but heard nothing. He was gone, literally vanished. After a short time, expecting him to return, they chose to take action into their won hands. Bradley volunteered himself and Kieran to take a peek downstairs for the first lure, "Okay, remember. Go down with the torch, if you see something, try to get it's attention and bring it up here. Then together we'll kill it." Kyle instructed them.

Charlie and Kyle waited at the top of the stairs, the rest of the group waiting behind them, while the other two went down.

Kieran spoke up, "Are you sure about this?" he whispered as he held the torch.

Bradley carrying a leg of a chair, not feeling all too safe or secure, didn't answer him. They made it down far enough to where the light shined into the room. They stopped, looking for either a giant or Jack, and they saw nothing. The bodies still lay in the floor, still about a dozen or so. They snuck their way down further, torch in hand, shining more light into the room. It was huge, large chandelier hanging from the ceiling, power still out. Bodies on the floor, chairs and small tables lined all over the room. At the end opposite of them, a pair of large doors appearing to be the exit, but they feared to go too far in.

They reached the bottom, and peered around the corner in the direction of the pantry and kitchen which was to the right. A door across the hallway where the hostile had come from that had killed one of their own. They glanced to the left, a mirror image of what lie on the right. A spot of movement caught both of their attentions, one of the bodies on the floor began to stir. It's movement looked painful.

Fearing it was Jack, they waited and watched, afraid to enter the room. The moving figure, which faced away from them, attempted to get up but it was slow and failed to do so.

"It's weak." Bradley whispered.

It slowly turned toward them, small and frail, pail with sharp features and black eyes. No hair and rags for clothes, this was the same type of being they had spotted in the yard outside.

It hadn't attacked them like the others, but it did start to crawl toward them slowly, painfully. Bradley and Kieran stepped back, now on the first step of the rotunda. The light showed that the bodies in the floor were corpses, decomposing over time. The creature, which silently crawled toward them slowly, painfully, almost gave them feelings of pity.

Mesmerized by the sight, they slowly backed up the stairs, not allowing it to get too close. They saw blood in it's teeth and mouth, "Think that's what bit Leon?" Kieran asked still in a whisper.

Bradley didn't answer but did glance around quickly and saw that the rotunda circled back down to a basement below them. He also noticed something odd, he didn't hear any hostiles. "Listen." He commanded, and Kieran did so. "It's silent, maybe we killed all the giants."

Feeling the crawling creature truly was no threat, they left it alone and made their way up the stairs to deliver the news...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jack snuck quickly, eyes adjusting to the darkness. He felt he was right, sneaking silently and alone was able to move quickly, but he fought fear.

"Fear is only consideration of what could happen." He thought to himself, keeping himself in the moment was the only way to beat this situation. He went from door to door, opening silently, listening and watching.

And it was here that Jack found the blueprints to the Mansion, a small role of paper specifically placed on an end table for him to find. "Who leaves a blueprint on an end table?" He thought. He grabbed it, and made his way back to the Rotunda.

Upon entering the Rotunda he saw was looked like an old man laying at the foot of the stairs, facedown, hand on the step. He snuck up to it, knowing it wasn't one of their own, he made a noise and watched it come to life. It's head turned revealing it's inhuman characteristics, and he knew this was a hostile.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Rotunda crew upstairs heard a thump, and all jumped into attack position. Shortly thereafter, Jack came up the stairs holding his blueprints in one hand and club (chair leg) in the other.

Silently he passed the barricade, handed the blueprints to Jack, and walked toward the Study.

"Where did you find this?" He asked him.

"In one of the bedrooms." Jack answered, but his look was odd.

"You okay?" Bradley asked him, "Did you see that thing downstairs?"

Jack didn't look at him but answered, "It's dead now."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They argued about whether they should go back down, "Jack was gone for a couple hours, it's almost sun-up right now. Maybe we should reconvene and move downstairs, maybe set up a base of operations in the kitchen instead. Obviously this story is secure." Jake said.

"Or try to leave." Callum added.

Faith spoke up this time, "I think Leon is okay too." He nodded.

"Then we need to gather our stuff and move downstairs to the food, Jack did you see anything downstairs?" Jake added again.

Jack still seemed off, probably shaken from execution-style killing that hostile, "No. Nothing."

"Find the pantry again?" Lola asked him.

"Yes, but couldn't grab anything but what would fit in my pocket." He answered them. (2 food units)

"Then we leave, everybody gather your things." Jake ordered, feeling the tides turning.

Leon added, "I have a translation for the symbols." Everybody stopped, shocked.

"The circle at the beginning with the line is Theta, which typically indicates death or the afterlife. The eagle with the lightning bolt seems to mean strength or dominion, like a predatory, based on a few loose translations of other similar symbols."

"What about the triangle?" Lola asked him.

"Triangles are usually strength too but can mean change. I think the piece missing could mean imperfect or broken..."

"So... death, predator, and broken or imperfect strength or change. Sounds very bleak... Are you sure?" She asked him.

"Of course not, but it's a start."

Phase 7

The team agreed to split up into two groups that they cleverly named Alpha and Beta. They moved out of the Study and down the stairs, torches in hand, as silently as they could. Waiting at the base of the stairs, they waited for signs of hostile action.

Prior to heading downstairs behind the group, Kieran Hurst (Greyblades) who had no slept yet, crawled into the bed in the Master Bedroom to rest. Also, Bradley Palmer (El Barto) chose to set the books in the rising sunlight in the sunroom in hopes of revealing the invisible ink. Choosing to investigate what was out there, he realized it was still too dark to see anything so he would check later.

"We're clear, Team Alpha, head left. Beta, head right. Rendezvous in the dining room." Jake Kelly (Montmorency) commanded, establishing his dominance with the "Man with a plan" attitude.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Team Alpha

Team Alpha, consisting of Leo Webb (Beskar), Callum Simmons (Choxorn), Faith Faulkner (GeneralHankerchief), Kyle Bevan (Ironside), Lola Richards (Myrddraal) and Leon Cartwright (seireikhaan) headed up the first hallway to explore the right side of the Mansion, beginning from the top and working their way down.

The Eastern hall contained three doors other than the one entering from the Great Room. They passed the two on their right and entered the dining room, where they then turned right into the Mud Room. All they saw there was another door, one entering the backyard, and a place for shoes, coats, and hats. Since their plans were to explore the Mansion, they passed up going outside for now. Heading south they entered the sitting room where only chairs and tables sat, one of many conversation places. The sitting room contained 6 doors, one in which they had entered through from the mud room, two more on their right which they concluded entered the Eastern hall, one on the far end, and two on their left. Entering the first door on their left, constantly using caution, they entered a bedroom, which appeared to be a standard guest bedroom. They also inspected the closet, to no avail of any oddities.

They traversed the hall and checked the other bed room, closet, and bathroom with no real oddities. All seemed clear, no hostiles or anything of note.

They entered the conservatory on the Southeastern side of the Mansion ground floor, it was a large room filled with dead plants in a tiled floor. The glass windows surrounding them were all boarded up, no sunlight shined through.

Inside, in the back corner, lay what appeared to be a corpse. Small, pale, and ragged. The group stopped, stunned, when it's head turned toward them.

They stepped back slightly with fear, some holding clubs, others torches. The small man had black eyes, no hair, and sharp features. It slowly sat up and then stood, eyeing them. Callum stood at the front of the pack, "We either kill it, or it kills us." He took a step toward it with his club when the small man's brows wrinkled angrily. It opened it's mouth wide, a deep bellow roared loudly filling their ears. It was an inhuman sound, almost animalistic. It's fingers tightened, skin over it's knuckled tearing revealing a slight orange glow. Callum stepped back, the sound catching him off guard. Leon stood right behind him, backing him up. The others stepped back, Leo carrying the revolver, but he froze in fear.

The small man roared again, this time his skin appearing to melt clear revealing the orange glow pulsing through it's veins. It's size doubled to over 7 feet tall, and he took a swipe at Callum who quickly dodged it.

Callum looked back at the group, "Kill or be killed!" He yelled.

He and Leon turned on the monster with their clubs, but the monster got to them first, knocking them both hard against the wall. Callum came to nearly immediately, but Leon did not get up.

Callum stood up, swung his club and the rest gathered with him. They outnumbered and overpowered the giant hostile, taking it down and killing it.

Once the dust had settled, Callum grabbed his head, "You okay?" Faith asked him.

"Yeah, just dizzy. Hit my head pretty hard there." He answered her.

They gathered around Leon's corpse, Faith checked his pulse, "He's dead." she said. They all stood silently, and slowly began to file back outside to the Great Room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*

Team Beta

Meanwhile Team Beta, consisting of Bradley, Charlie Wallace (Golden1Knight), Jack Foster (Jarema), Corey Parsons (Raith Kemmler), Hollie Daniels (Winston Hughes), and finally Jake himself, traversed the Mansion in a similar fashion but starting on the Western side.

They swept through the kitchen first, then the pantry...

"Plenty of food here, we should be good for another week or so." Jake said.

They all agreed, high hopes in that regard. They checked the storage room, nothing but dining supplies and other kitchen necessities. After coming around they entered the sitting room, chairs and tables, lamps and books, "Original owner must've loved to entertain." Charlie said.

"Or read..." Corey answered him.

They entered the billiard room, complete with billiards table, cues, and balls. Some in the pockets, some strewn about the table. The cue ball lay on the floor next to the wall. Corey ran over to grab it when a small man crawled out from beneath the table. It had already begun it's transformation, a bellow from it's mouth keying it's transformation. Corey quickly grabbed a pool cue and smacked it hard in the head, but hardly any effect. He ran back to the group, and together they beat down the monster.

Without any warning signs, another monster, the final one on this floor, came from inside the final bathroom adjoining the billiard room and grabbed Corey by the head. Throwing him across the room, his neck was snapped before he hit the floor. This one was larger, possibly 8 feet tall, and the rest of them agreed that retreat was their best option.

They ran back into the Great Room, meeting up with the other team which had just witnessed a death of their own. The entire remaining group teamed up and outnumbered the final hostile.

Catching their breath, waiting a moment, they went back and Faith checked Corey's pulse. "He's dead too." she whispered, filled with sadness.

"We killed three, but it cost us two. We won't last much longer at this rate." Jake said.

They began to make their way to the dining room for the final search when Leo said, "I'm trying the front door. Maybe we can leave."

He walked up and turned the knob, it turned freely and the door opened to the blinding but soft morning light. He opened it slowly, allowing their eyes to adjust. Everyone watched over his shoulder.

The scene became clear, nearly a dozen other corpses lie at the foot of the door, and out down the pathway to line of Humvees.

Small pale men dotted their field of view, at least eight or so were within immediate sight, including one only a few yards from them.

Leo calmly closed the door again, and locked it from the inside, "We can't compete with THAT! Not yet..."

"Did you see those Humvees though? We can get out of here!" Lola said, excitedly.

"If we can get there..." Kyle responded.

Jake spoke up this time, "It appears that we can leave, but not yet. We need to find better weapons, or maybe some armor, so we can get back those things to the vehicles. Let's check out the dining room, get some food, then go back."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And so they made their way to the North end of the Mansion, gathered enough food to last them a week, 70 units of food, and made their way to the Study.

"Where's Kieran?" Hollie asked.

"Asleep in the bedroom." Bradley answered her.

"I'm gonna check on him."

"We'll all go. Being alone is a death sentence here." Jake answered.

They entered the Bedroom and saw Kieran there, still. Sheets wrapped around his throat and tied to the bedpost. Faith ran up again, the designated medical officer, "Suicide."

They slowly, solemnly left the room. And then there were 10...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Bradley entered the sunroom, seeing that the pale yellow ink had revealed in the sunlight's heat, but he could not read it. "Heat reveals the ink, but I still can't read it..." He told the group. They realized this was their moment to look at their surroundings again.

What they hadn't noticed before shocked them, corpses dotted the ground outside just as it did outside the front door. Small pale men did as well, just standing there, appearing brain dead. Some houses in this well-to-do neighborhood appeared to have burnt to the ground, others had shattered windows as if they had been broken in to.

Smoke came from all around, miles away. "Guys, what's happened?" Lola asked.

"We need to get to the basement, there's nothing for us up here or on the first floor. Maybe there's a safe or gun closet down there, never know about these rich folks."

They divided up the food they had found evenly, 7 units each, and began planning their next move...

Phase 8

The ten remaining survivors of the Hell Mansion chose to continue exploring the mysteries, assigning Faith Faulkner (GeneralHankerchief) as their lookout in the Sunroom before heading out the back door. Though beforehand, Lola Richards (Myrrdraal) chose to inspect the bodies and requested Faith's assistance. Further, Bradley Palmer (El Barto) in his paranoia began to barricade the front door with whatever he could find.

"They haven't come in, and we've been here for a while. And we haven't exactly been quiet..." Jake Kelly (Montmorency) said.

"Yes, but I'd rather not run that risk. That okay with you?" Bradley asked sarcastically as he frantically moved small pieces of furniture to the front door.

A rather large group, six in total, including Lola herself, Jack Foster (Jarema), Charlie Wallace (Golden1Knight), Callum Simmons (Choxorn), Hollie Daniels (Winston Hughes), and Leo Webb (Beskar), intended on investigating the basement. Though Lola would be come in behind them after investigating the bodies.

The remaining, Jake, Bradley, and Kyle Bevan (Ironside) would search the first floor for anything interesting and possibly the back yard.

They dispersed...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lola and Faith, two of the three remaining women in the mansion, approached what they counted were eleven corpses. "Are they monsters?" Lola asked.

"No. They appear to have died as regular humans." Faith answered, crouching down to check a body. "It's safe, let's search them."

Lola and Faith checked the bodies for identification, "Look, this one has a government ID. Tobias Summerland, Secret Service."

"Why would the Secret Service be here? Isn't their job to protect the President?"

"Yes... among other things. Let's keep looking."

They found that two of the corpses had Secret Service ID's on them, as well as carried single .9 mm pistols with empty magazines. The other bodies seemed to be regular people, all except one...

"Look!" Lola said as she pulled a key out of one of the corpse's pocket. She ran over, "Not to the front door, and it doesn't look like it goes to a vehicle."

"Keep it then, it probably goes to a door or something here." They returned to the corpse.

"What's that?" Faith asked, pointing to something underneath it. Lola tilted her head slightly, a brief pause, "Laptop case!"

They both hopped down and timidly pushed the body off the case. They grabbed it, feeling lighter than it should, they opened it up. "Empty... No notes or anything in the pockets either."

"I bet it's here somewhere though, could have some answers."

Disappointed they continued searching but found nothing of true note, just the knowledge that the Secret Service had been there, two empty .9 mm pistols, a mysterious key that was held by the civilian as well as the empty laptop case.

"Think that one is the owner of the house?" Lola asked.

Faith stood, looking, "No, looks too Urban. Whoever owned this house was old, perhaps crazy."

"Wish we would've found the keys to those humvees..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Faith made her way up the stairs, around the corner, into the Study, and further into the Sunroom. She gazed out the window, careful not to bring attention to herself, and saw that the smoke from a distance had dissipated. She looked into the backyard, which was largely blocked by the roof, and saw that same gray man from before. "Only one..." She said to herself. She looked for anything else of note, but to no avail.

Upon request she placed Kieran's corpse inside, thinking it a bad idea to place a rotting corpse in direct sunlight, but the group "knows best".

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jake, Bradley, and Kyle investigated the first floor of the mansion, beginning with the Dining Room and making their way around, taking note of any large furniture, looking for anything interesting, and just as before, found nothing. They did, however, take some soil and plant samples from the Conservatory for further study.

It was Faith's report that she had only seen one gray man outside that made them feel that much more optimistic. Though she warned them that she could not see the entire back yard, they insisted on at least taking a peak outside.

The Mud Room was traditionally for keeping shoes, hats, and coats when one came inside from their work in the garden. Therefore the room was mostly bare, only a chair by the door, hat rack, dead plant in a pot in the corner. A pair of keys hung off a hook by the door, "These should be useful." Jake said as he pocketed them.

"Are they the same key?" Kyle asked him.

He investigated them, "Yes, two copies."

"Give me one, in case something happens to you." Bradley said quickly, thinking on the same page as Kyle.

Jake did so, and then, they began to turn the knob...

...

What they saw was another bright light, the pleasing smell of fresh air, green grass and blue sky, and dead bodies in the yard. At least half a dozen.

They looked around for any signs of life, and to their right they saw one small gray man facing away from them. They stepped forward quietly and glanced around to their left where the Sunroom had no vantage point, a small garden shed next to an overgrown and wild garden lay in their midst, only twenty yards away. The back yard was fenced in by a privacy fence covered in vines. The tall fence appeared sturdy, and not even Faith could see directly over it, though she did spot the occasional hostile outside.

"We can take that one, that's all I see." Kyle said quickly.

They wielded clubs, and thought that by the element of surprise they could take it out.

Creeping slowly across the grass, hoping their quiet footsteps would not draw any attention, Faith looked on as the three men wielding chair legs as clubs snuck up on the small, pale, gray man.

Jake stepped on a small twig, cracking it, and the tiny noise was enough to catch the gray man's attention. It turned it's head, eyebrow wrinkling, but it was too late. Jake, Kyle, and Bradley were on it and with a few powerful strikes, took it down.

They smiled, looked around cautiously, and silently high-fived each other. "That was too easy! Catch them before they transform and it's like taking candy from a baby!" Bradley said.

"That's just cruel..." Jake said sarcastically with a grin. They crept their way toward the garden shed and Jake used the key to unlock the padlock on the door, avoiding the corpse that lay next to the front door, a machete lay next to it. It popped open and inside lay another corpse, one of a gray man. His head was bashed in, a bloody shovel next to it. They kept their eyes on the corpse, but scoped the small building.

All items of note, in which they happily brought outside the door, included the shovel, a hoe, rake, and metal garden scoop along with the machete.

They each carried something, Jake the machete and rake, Bradley the shovel, and Kyle the hoe and garden scoop, and made their way inside after a final glance at the back yard. There seemed to be no apparent gate to the outside... If they wanted to leave, they would have to climb the fence, which appeared to be 8 feet tall, into the blind area below. That, or the front door. Either way, the men were satisfied with their find.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The larger portion of the group had chosen to head downstairs into the basement, having no real idea what to expect down there, Leo led the way with his club fashioned from a chair leg, Callum and Charlie close behind. Jack walked behind with Hollie, and Lola held up the rear. They crept down the steps, hearing the pops and cracks associated with an old staircase.

They reached the bottom, the door was cracked open, and Leo and the group stood quietly and listened.

Silence. Surprisingly.

He pushed the door open timidly and waited once again, startled by the creak the hinges gave off. Still nothing, he reached around the corner and felt the lightswitch, and flipped it. The light shined on a relatively empty room with four doors, just some empty boxes and tattered books lie on the wall opposite of them. No signs of hostiles or death, a welcome sign. The six made their way down, noticing it was a bit cooler and the ceiling was considerably shorter. Charlie reached up and palmed it, "I feel like a giant."

"Me too." Callum said, reaching up.

"Okay, let's check the other rooms, be careful, any sign of life and we haul butt upstairs." Leo commanded, beginning by opening a door and flipping a switch.

They quickly discovered that two of the doors led to an encircling storage room which scaled the entire basement. It was directly beneath the Great Room, and held what looked like hundreds of boxes, crates, and random stuff. It would take hours upon hours to search it, but at first glance looked mostly like junk.

The Furnace was interesting, lying directly below the Kitchen. Charlie, their architect, concluded it was used to help heat their appliances or perhaps the heat was channeled to help heat the bedrooms on the other side of the house.

It was the door on the right, that remained a mystery to them.

"It's locked." Hollie said, trying the knob. It turned, but the deadbolt above prevented access. The group, feeling relatively safe but still leaving Jack behind to watch their backs, attempted to open the door.

Lola remembered the key, "Guys! Let me try this!"

She pulled the key out of her pocket and slid it into the lock, turning it and hearing that satisfying metallic thud. The door crept open, and inside lie a corpse...

He sat on the floor, a laptop lay sideways next to him, a gun in his cold stiff hands and blood smearing the wall.

"Suicide..." one of them said.

There was food in there with him, lots of it, some eaten. Other survival supplies like a first aid kit and blankets, lined the wall next to the food. Surprisingly no weapons. Further, one corner of the room was obviously his bathroom, and the smell of death and sewage was unbearable. They quickly searched him, found another copy of the key which had opened the door, and his ID. They took the laptop, feeling confident that they could come back for the food and supplies if they needed it and quickly left, heading upstairs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The groups met back up in the Billiard Room, Jake and his crew showing off their "weapons" they had found outside, and Lola carrying the laptop.

"Battery's dead, and I couldn't find the charger. Anybody know how to rig it?"

"I may. I was a marine equipment mechanic. Rigging electronics is what we did." Hollie answered her.

"Great!"

Jake spoke up, "Who was he, that guy down there?"

"Looked like he was holed up for the Apocalypse. Tons of food and more supplies down there." Leo answered him.

"That charger may be in one of the humvees. The keys too." Jack said.

"Well, let's get to work. What should we do?" Faith asked.