The End Days of Erida [JeopardizedJake]

[Kynikos]

You quickly grab the rifle. Fortunately, this looks like one of the police rifles they assign to the recruits to patrol the slums area. Simple to use but not necessarily high powered, more a scare tactic then anything else. Very far away from the Slums to see this, however. You remember reading a pamphlet about this - police tend to be more casually armed in the middle class sort of area.

Searching the area reveals no clues. The man has nothing in his pockets and you kick him over. His right eye had been gouged out and you cannot find it anywhere. You scamper off to room 659, readying the rifle. It has one clip which is 12 bullets but the sights are severely dented. Unlocking the room nearly makes you retch, but you look inside anyway.

All sorts of candles, lanterns, and religious triangles inside circles dot the walls, dressers, and one of the two beds. The other has two corpses that have been immolated but put out by someone else. A long, sharp knife catches your eye on the dresser with the smashed TV and the door to the balcony is left open but obscured by the curtains. The bathroom smells even worse and if you listen closely, there is a clickety-clackity noise that unnerves you. The food that has been carelessly left out on the one desk in the room is rotted. Doesn't seem like anyone's been here for a while.

[Deleted]

I search the room, slinging the rifle and drawing my pistol.

[Kynikos]

You enter carefully, pistol out in front of you. You don't bother with the corpses - if there was anything on them, it's been burned to a husk. You check down the drawers and cabinets. In the end, you find one strange amulet with a blue dot carved in it that radiates with a faint coolness, the long sharp knife you saw earlier, a star chart, and a book which is written to almost but not quite make sense. It shifts from common to some dialect you don't understand fairly often, complicated matters. Behind the TV is a name and an address carved straight in to the wall.

"JACOB
OCEANVIEW 4836"

You have never heard of the street before. On the balcony is the remains of a telescope that looks to be completely shattered and a single plastic lamp, slung over the edge with the cord knotted around one of the legs of the balcony. You do not enter the washroom as the clicking and clacking noises have only gotten louder.

[Deleted]

I enter the washroom, first grabbing the amulet and pocketing the address.

[Kynikos]

You enter the washroom with trepidation. You are nearly blinded but after a moment you see a grizzly sight.

A man missing his arm is left in the bathtub, a variety of clocks surrounding him. A black looking worm crawls across his face, slipping into his mouth. There is so many black worms. Ivy vines climb up the counter and through the mirror, the tile is cracked and covered in dirt. A second corpse lies on the floor, this time having some kind of mechanical arm poorly attached to his body. In fact, you aren't sure it's even mechanical. Just some kind of mishmash of various electrical parts. He has no shirt and you can see a dark green tattoo etch across his body creating a memorising pattern. You also note his spine which looks half ripped out of his body.

The sink and counter is covered in some awful amalgamation of paint with blue, pink, and yellow featuring prominently. A variety of insects flock to the mirror, barely moving. A single large spider slowly crawls down the mirror into the sink.

There is one real prize, however. Suspended above the chaos is one grenade, carefully tied above the toilet. You aren't sure what kind of madness afflicted these people, but it's clear Ciara wasn't talking complete shit.

[Deleted]

I take the grenade and get the absolute fuck out of there.

[Kynikos]

You pluck the grenade and bail. You are now out in the hallway with the one flower kid corpse.

[Deleted]

I equip the rifle and head for the last room I hadn't checked.

[Kynikos]

You ascend the the ninth floor. Your legs are killing you, but you arrive dreading the return trip. For once, the hallway is empty. Unpleasantly, the room seems to be barricaded preventing you from entering.

[Deleted]

Okay then. I take the elevator down.

[Kynikos]

You go to the elevator and press the button, which doesn't light up. Power is out.

[Deleted]

I take a moment to rest before heading back down the stairs.

[Kynikos]

You walk back down the stairs and reach the first floor without issue. The hallway is empty.

[Deleted]

I go and check on Ciara.

[Kynikos]

You enter your room. Ciara is lying on the bed, food eaten and water drunk. She opens her eyes as you enter but says nothing. She looks noticeably better and seems to show no signs of a disease. You cough has also largely subsided, although you do break into a fit.

[Deleted]

"Anything happen while I was gone?" I ask her.

[Kynikos]

She is silent for a moment before replying and when she does, it's softly. "No."

[Deleted]

I take a seat on the bed. "I've seen a lot of bad shit here... I don't think it's safe, but where the hell do we go?" I asked her, not sure myself.

[Kynikos]

She looks away. "Like I said, if any place is safe, it would be the religious quarter. Wouldn't necessarily be us safe... but you are traveling with me, so maybe they'd make an exception. Not sure. I always heard the head monks were crazy."

[Deleted]

"This place is all sorts of fucked up... I'm just not sure which move to make," I admit.

[Kynikos]

"Yeah." She is silent for a moment before continuing with her quiet tone. "We never expected this, you know? We... we never thought we'd be hit on this many angles. We prepped for what happens if the gates fell. Organise a massive evacuation at the docks and then completely abandon the city. But I'm not even sure boats could make it up the river anymore. And I don't... don't really want to be here when the real beasts start comin' out of the bloody woodwork. You didn't see them directly when you were out there, they didn't have the courtesy to walk up and paw on the door like that fucker. They're behemoths." She falls silent again.

[Deleted]

I take a seat on the edge of the bed, drinking in what she had to say. I knew of the beasts that lurked outside the city walls, and of the destruction that they carried in their wake. "So there's no way out of this damned city, huh?" I say after a few moments of thought, half to myself and half to just say something to fill the silent atmosphere of the room with some sort of resonating sound.

[Kynikos]

She shrugs. "I suppose if you could pilot a boat out with the necessary resources... that may be your best bet. Maybe. It's a long way to Praugh, and one can't expect the Kelani to be calm enough for a dingy. Trying to make your way through the Jungle..." She pauses briefly. "It could be done. Theoretically. But you'd have to be crazy to try. There's always the hope that the Empire will send help in a week or so." Her dismissive handwave tells you that she doesn't think much of that possibility.

You hear a crack of gunfire, probably coming from the lobby.

[Deleted]

"Shit. I'll go check it out. Use that revolver if you need it," I tell her before leaving and going to investigate.