[Day 2, Night - A House South of Town]

[direstnews]

[Written into the ground alongside one of the houses to the south of town tonight are a series of strange letters, forming a rough circle near the wall. A figure of approximately Loki's build, not there during the day's exploration, leans against the wall at the corner. The door to the house is open.]

[Some hours after the sudden switch from day to night, Loki stands in front of the door, a candle before him, a kitchen knife in one hand and a spoon in the other. He checks the mirror set carefully in the darkness, nothing yet visible in its surface. Then he strikes the knife with the spoon's handle, and he holds his breath - and he waits.]

Comments

[12npcs]

¡ʎɹǝʞɔıɹʇ

[It collapses on the makeshift figure of roughly constructed and propped doll parts, some going flying across the room, others sinking into the mass.]

[direstnews]

[Snatches up the candle and bolts into the house, slamming the door shut behind him.]

[He wrenches the chair beside the door beneath the handle, stuffs the candle into his tunic to damp the light, and feels along the back wall for the missing plank.]

[12npcs]

[It stands again, something strange, glowing blue and sprouting blue whiskers from every imaginable shambles, stumbles a few steps.

It presses into a suit of broken doll parts, wearing them in not quite the right order... walking without quite acknowledging joints...]

[It stops and sniffs the air, round doll head whipping this way and then that...]

[direstnews]

[Slips through the hole in the wall as silently as he's able, sliding around to the side it's NOT glowing on. And then realizes what side that is.]

[Is it out of the circle? It's out of the circle, isn't it.]

[12npcs]

[It is out of the circle, as if such a thing didn't have any bearing on it at all.]

[12npcs]

[It roars.

The sound is a scream, ugly rough and bubbling, like some horrific frustration, liquified into noise and vibration.

It echoes off of all the buildings, shuddering in the chests of people in the inns and square to the north. This wretched noise the first truly organic thing anyone had heard beyond each other.]

[12npcs]

[The door that Loki entered splinters at its very first enraged punch.]

[direstnews]

[Runs.]

[12npcs]

[The tiny doll head on the liquid mass whips around, following the motion...

The beast turns, one wooden leg clicking the cobblestone delicately.]

[direstnews]

[There isn't any cover, is there?]

[It wasn't supposed to be able to FOLLOW ME, this was the worst plan.]

[12npcs]

[There really isn't at all.

It's silent, at fast, but little grace. It crashes through one of the lampposts... giving you a few precious seconds as it sprawls.]

[direstnews]

[Opens the door of a house as he passes and slams it closed while the creature's down and not looking- then ducks around the wall of the house, instead of going in.]

[12npcs]

[It turns again... Whatever this is, is a far more simple thing than what you had initially called.

It doesn't bother standing, but scuttles on all of it's limbs towards the hous-



It stops at the garden and begins to dig.]

[direstnews]

[What is that noise? What is it doing? It sounds like it's not coming closer.]

[Peeeeks around the edge of the house.]

[atacarme]

[skidding to a stop when she gets there, because uh.

What the hell is that]

[overclocking]

[Eh

I'm related to worse


Wastes no time at all throwing down a cross barrier, JUST TO SEE.]

[allsneakandnoplay]

[-> GOES AROUND SIDE TO JUMP ON THE ROOFS]

[soul_sister]

[While he lays down the crosses, she braces both hands on the grip of her pistol and aims...]

[charmed_life]

[Standing back from the other fighters for just a moment, hand on her sword hilt]

[What could it be looking for...]

[tonewlengths]

[Also arriving at the side--

What the hell]

[12npcs]

[The roof bends precariously under the cyborg's weight. However.. from above, Raiden gets an view of the scene unfolding below.

Whatever it was searching for in the ground, Loki's curious gaze only spots it rising from between the vines and sloughing over the form of the gardener and her daughter...

The beast beats once, and then twice against the glowing, cross shaped barrier that materialized in front of it and then with an enormous heave, clockwork hands curl around the edges of it, and sizzling, rips it apart.

It surges forward, limbs dragging it towards the assembled group at uncanny speed.]

[atacarme]

[anyone near her will hear a few murmured words on her lips before she kneels down and slams her hands against the ground.

A pure wall of fire shoots up in front of the beast only a beat after that]

[soul_sister]

[Immediately fires at it, the area lighting up under the pure white blast.]

[overclocking]

[Of course it's never that easy.

Backpedals as the barrier dies and everyone else attacks, reaching for his blades.]

[direstnews]

[Waits a beat, and then another to make sure he has a safe distance - and then darts toward the place in the ground, taking just a second to see if it was the place from earlier, where they'd dug up the head.]

[If it wants whatever's there, maybe whatever's there can be used to get its attention- keep it distracted.]