thespherelogs | Crack in the Wall: The Infirmary

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Crack in the Wall: The Infirmary

Who: Anyone either involved in the Infirmary Quest or for those wanting to shelter in the infirmary. You can shelter there without being involved in the questing.
What: The Infirmary as an Emergency Shelter/trying to get things turned back on.
Where: The infirmary and the tunnels below the infirmary.
When: June 13-onward.
Notes: For the first three days feel free to make normal just being locked in a shelter things. The actual questing stuff will happen in closed threads.
Warnings: Skeletons, the possibility of death, terror from being locked in, etc.

The alarms have sounded and people have begun to move. Everyone knows about getting to the closest shelter. For the most part, this is an orderly move, but there is some panicking. The council and various npcs are out shouting for people to get a move on. Water is coming in rapidly. When the alarm first sounds it’s up to people’s ankles, and then when the final alarm rings and the doors start to close, it’s up to the average person’s knees.

Once inside the infirmary and the outer door is sealed, everyone receives a rather loud sound of feedback in their ears. “Well,” Laurie says after that with a wince. “Guess that settles that huh? We’re done with communications until we can get this shit fixed. Make yourself comfy, it hopefully won’t be too long.”

The room is large and open, clearly set up to be a shelter. There are cots and blankets set up, along with a food and medical distribution center. There’s some board and card games, and meals are simple but enough. Lights go out at ten, and then come back on at six and people are asked to sign up to clean, cook, do laundry, you know the normal things that make a society work as the dorms hold on.

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On the third day,, Laurie goes to visit certain people and asks them to accompany her. She leads them through a twisting series of labyrinthine chambers before she stops in front of a door. Pressing her hand against it, Laurie just winces a bit when a pipet comes out and takes blood from a spot at her wrist. “To answer your questions,” her voice is brisk but not harsh. “No, we didn’t know this was here until the Sphere just shoved it into our brains. We don’t know what lays beyond the doors other than a way to reboot the system in order to get the water out
. No we don’t know why it’s you to do it. No we can’t promise you safety. But what we can promise is that if you and other groups don’t? We’re all going to die down here.”

Laurie doesn’t mean to make a point here, but the door that swings open is to the morgue. Heading to the middle of the floor, Laurie just bends down and presses her still bleeding wrist to what appears to be a drain. As it pops up revealing a round shape with a round lever, she just points to backpacks against the wall. “Supplies. For the trip.”

Once people go down the ladder into the hallway, Laurie just seals it up.

Wanda grabbed a backpack before walking towards the hole. She gathered a small ball of red crackling energy and dropped it down the hole. There was nothing within sight but she was worried. This didn't feel right.

She looked back at those in their rag-tag team and nodded her head. "I'm taking the front. You-" She pointed at Jack. "Can you take the rear? Everyone else in the middle and keep your eyes open. We don't know what's down there. We'll be safer if we move together as a group." Wanda didn't know anyone's power levels or comfort but she felt more comfortable in the front. If something comes after them hopefully she can shield the people behind her.

...hopefully.

Jack's been all sorts of anxious from the beginning of this; rain only means one thing in Rapture, and it's a leak, and this place clearly isn't any different. That anxiety has morphed into the sort of fear that makes him entirely nonverbal, and now he's very glad he took the time to gather his guns and personal supplies before things hit the fan.

At Wanda's request he just nods dumbly, and moves behind the rest of them. If nothing else, at least being followed around by a silent Russian giant with a pipe wrench will make everyone feel... safe?

It's been a while, since before they knew about Negan and what the Saviors could do to people, since Aaron has really felt safe. He remembered being here, with Eric, he remembered sleeping, he remembered the war, and then he'd awoken again to Eric gone and everything feeling quiet and numb. He supposed it was instinct that led him to the safe houses when the alarms rose, but he'd kept to himself in the infirmary, going through motions but not really talking to anyone. He took the pack numbly as well, with the vague idea that if he died here, it wouldn't matter much. He might even get to see Eric again, and it might mean the others would survive. That would be good, right?

He nods to Wanda, falling into line in the middle, his voice sort of hollow, but not empty when he responds. "We'll get it done."

Alex slides into the middle as well, shouldering her pack with a bit of a grim smile. She's honestly not thrilled at all about heading into the bowels of this place (again) but if they need her then she's going to do it of course. So, she just takes a deep breath and keeps a tight grip on the baseball bat she's been given. It's not as if Alex has never held a bat before (she did, in fact play softball in high school and college) it's the implication that she's going to need it that keeps her teeth and arms on edge.

"Okay." She just breathes, "ready when you are."

Another crackle of magic gathers in Wanda's palm but this time she simply keeps it there to use as light. She needs her hands for the ladder and she didn't want to be plunging into the darkness without a little bit of light. It didn't matter if it gave her away because she was only putting herself in danger and she'd be ready for it.

"Good. Stay quiet from here on out. If you need to get someone's attention you can shout but try to tap shoulders first. I'll keep this for light until we're at the bottom of the ladder." When it looked like everyone understood the plan, Wanda descended into the darkness with the crackle of red magic floating around her fingers. It didn't do anything to the ladder but it splashed the way down in an eerie red glow.

When Wanda reached the bottom she grabbed her flash light and flicked it on. Waiting near the ladder for everyone to come down before heading down the hallway. It looked safe and she wanted to make sure that everyone was together and okay before they continued onward.

You've been walking in darkness for a while now, it seems like a long rumble. But every so often you hear it, the slow sound of bone dragging against concrete. At first it seems distant and far away, but the deeper you go in, the louder it becomes, and there's more of it.

Etched into the walls by what almost looks like fingerprints, there's various latin statements: "cave veniunt!" And "ossa et dentibus illius ruminandum!" "redeant!" And finally more ominously: "cave!"

She couldn't read Latin but Wanda felt the eerie weight of the darkness and over heard the echoes of bond dragging against bone. She came to a stop and red mist danced at her fingertips as she glared at the darkness in front of them. She heard something... something that might be a clue.

"Someone." Wanda whispered, unwilling to speak louder. "Shine a light over there." She nodded in front of her.

Her eyes turned red and as far as Wanda could stretch her senses, she didn't sense life, but something out there was moving. It was moving towards them.

Alex can read latin. It's not particularly great latin, but she knows that the word cave is definitely not cave. She's moving slowly, keeping her hands on her flashlight and missing her recorder desperately: it's a sign of safety that honestly wouldn't help very much, so she'd left it with her bag back up in the infirmary. Shining the light, Alex just comes up to stand even with Wanda, and her voice is in the same sort of whispered tones as she read the walls. "Teeth and bones," she translates. "Beware the returning. Beware they come."

A pause and she adds, "this is not going to be good."

As they'd descended, Aaron had sort of, well, woken up? He'd been wandering in a haze of grief since he's awoken again, but this trip gave him a purpose he'd desperately needed. The atmosphere here was oppressive to say the least, and the warnings and the sounds were even more ominous.

Eric...had left behind a gun, but by the sounds echoing around them, it didn't sound like it was going to do much good. Thankfully, on one of his treks to the abandoned domes, he'd found a machete. That sounded better. He pulled it from his pack.

"Whatever it is, don't hesitate. It...probably won't."

Jack glances around, moving to place himself between the others and where the sounds seem to be coming from. It isn't exactly like splicers, but similar - enough so to put his senses on high alert. One hand tightens on his wrench, and the other raises up in a sign like he's going to snap his fingers - he doesn't yet, but he's ready to, with his skin darkened and veins glowing as if there's magma just below the surface within just that hand.

He hasn't spoken once since they set out, and he still doesn't. He's like an animal right now, too focused on his targets to interact with his companions.

"Stay in line." Wanda whispered in a quick hush. She didn't want to leave their sides or back open to an attack with them all facing the front threat. There have been bones ever since they had entered the hallway and this would be a perfect time for an ambush. "Check our rear."

She didn't want to risk them being separated either.

Wanda turned towards the sound and gathered a bright ball of red energy between her palms. She released it in front of them shattering two skeletal forms that had been heading in their direction.

Hopefully everyone listened to her words because there were more rising up behind them that Wanda wasn't focused on.

Aaron's eyes went wide, both at the display of power and at what shattered. The rotting dead stopped leaving an impression on him months ago, but he'd never faced animated skeletons. He drew that machete of his, raising it in preparation. He wasn't going to go looking for a fight, but he'd push through them if he had to.

Alex just swallows, and she nods in response to what Wanda was saying. There's something about the other woman that she trusts, even though she doesn't know her well, and she definitely trusts Aaron. Angel trusts Jack, so that's enough for her. With her fingers tightening against the wood of the baseball bat, Alex makes every effort not to flinch when the skeletons almost seem to disintegrate into the air.

Barely breathing, Alex just asks softly: "do we aim for the head?"

Jack can't imagine any reason a skeleton would need their head more than anything else. But if shattering them works, setting them on fire should do just fine.

He whips around suddenly and a fireball appears in his hand, which he launches over their heads at a few more skeletons that were trying to sneak up. His aim isn't amazing, though, so they might want to dodge just in case. Another skeleton reaches out and he moves past the group with surprising speed for his size, growling like a dog as he beats it mercilessly with his wrench.

She covered the area in front of them but it appeared as if the skeletons remained in pieces after she sent the first wave of cracking red energy down the hallway. "The head or limbs, whatever you can hit, but see if there is more text on the walls." It might give them a clue as to where their going or how to stop these attacks.

Wanda turned when she saw the flames searing over the heads of the others. Her hand reached out and shielded those at the back of the ground. "Careful and stay close. We should continue forward."

Stopping would only cause them to get stuck and their mission was at the end of this tunnel. "I'll keep the path in front of us clear." She turned back and gathered red wisps of red around the tips of her fingers as she slowly guided the ground forward. Hopefully Jack didn't actually light anyone on fire...

Aaron's breathes came in ragged gasps as he looked around, moving closer to Alex in the gloom, but he nods. He can fight off walkers, sure, but not in hordes, and it looked like Wanda and Jack had the actual combat well in hand.

"Alex, see what you can do. I'll keep them off you if they get close."

Her skin is pale, and Alex just lifts her light, her body hugging the wall as she trusts that the people who actually have experience fighting things to do the fighting. Oh, she's definitely picking up her self defense classes again, because all of this is completely ridiculous. There's more latin, and the things written in it are jagged, as if they carry more importance in them. "Ad imperium." Alex says it aloud, but quietly, because saying things aloud always helps her to figure them out. "To control; et ossa that's the bones. So to control the bones what." She needs to slide further along the wall, the line shining on it, and attracting more attention from the skeletons. "Dicere verba tua. Speak your words. What words?"

Jack isn't used to leaving enemies behind; for a few moments he considers leaving them behind, and focusing on killing as many undead as he can. But... no, he'll just get lost trying to handle things on his own. He glances between them and the skeletons, and hussles back just in time to hear Alex's reading.

Speak your words... that gives him pause, and if any of them are looking at him, a look of panic crosses his face. That probably doesn't mean his words, right? But then again, this whole place is like a perverse Rapture... who's to say it isn't a puzzle for him?

Suddenly Jack is rigid, and uttering small grunts and noises that are almost words, but he can't seem to make them come out. Someone might want to stop him before he hurts himself.

"Keep reading." Wanda spoke as she gathered another burst of red mist between her palms. She was trying to clear as many of the skeletons as possible but they seemed to be endless. It was possible that they were, unless they were able to break down the bone to the point where they couldn't be reassembled again.

She turned back when she felt Jack lagging behind. Wanda wasn't actively tracking everyone but she kept her senses expanded around her and knew that Jack had stopped.

"What are you doing?" Wanda stared at him before stopping the ground long enough for someone to grab Jack. "Stay focused on the enemies behind us. Let them read the riddle and solve it." As far as she saw it, it was mostly her and Jack against the horde and Wanda was not going to lose anyone now.

Alex was making progress, slow but steady, and that gave him a burst of hope. If they could figure out what words they were supposed to use... "Maybe it's a riddle?"

He glanced away from Alex's work to check on the others, frowning when he sees the state Jack is in. He's choking, and now was not the time. He couldn't help him, and Wanda seemed to be. Their only hope was figuring out this riddle fast.

"Uh...how do you stay 'stop' or...or 'halt' in Latin?"

"Stop is prohibere." It takes her a moment, because Latin is difficult and new, and this is a stressful situation. But thankfully, Alex is normally good under stress. Unfortunately, there are some things that her Latin hadn't taught her. "I don't know the word for halt, or if there is one." There's a slight pitch to her tone for a moment, and then because she made the word more of a question than a statement, Alex raises voice with more of a command, and she holds out one trembling hand: "Prohibere!"

Unfortunately, whatever the answer to the riddle is, it's definitely not that, and the skeletons keep coming, even when she reaches for Jack.

"Damn!" He breathed a sigh, putting himself between the oncoming horde and Alex. He didn't really know what good he was going to do, but he'd be damned if they got to her on his watch.

"Use your words, use your words..." Wait.. "Okay, what about 'I command you to stop'?"

"Jack!"

Wanda called his name but she couldn't afford to let her attention split. She turned back towards the front of the line and once again gathered energy into the palm of her hand. "Duck!" She would wait for Aaron and Alex to duck before pushing out another powerful wave of power, shattering whatever skeleton's happened to be shambling down the hall.

She wasn't going to mention that she couldn't do this forever because it was probably fairly obvious.

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Crack in the Wall: The Infirmary

Closed to the fix it team: collecting the players:

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Closed to the fix it team: What is that rumble?

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