trespassers [IC] ALTEREDNU

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Proditor

 

...

 

Must have been his own imagination. There was nothing here as of this moment. Signs of people coming through, aside from his companions, but... Nothing else. There were no other entrances, and it didn't seem like any activity went on by the doors. Strange... Perhaps there was a teleporter he'd have to watch out for. Regardless, shaking off the feeling of being watched, Proditor continued his journey through the Judgement Hall, ignoring the box that laid to the side as he went to regroup with the rest of the party.

 

Thankfully, aside from a long hallway showing a bustling, city, the party had not gone too far, allowing Proditor to float forward at a leisurely pace. He was also thankful for the fact that he caught the end of the 'message' some holograms were reciting, of a human and someone named Asriel, a prince from what he was hearing, bonding and filling the 'Underground' with hope.

 

It certainly explained quite a bit.

 

"It would seem I've missed the history lesson" Proditor commented as he approached the group, "Have I missed anything of importance?"

[Powder Miner]

"Something happened to that arrangement." Nader said immediately, without a speck of doubt in his voice. "Why else show this? If things were happy and friendly between humans and monsters here, there wouldn't need to be human graves by the judgement hall, and this just tells the story of one human so far. I predict some sort of betrayal or attack in this story; that way they can justify killing humans and say that it's our fault that they're going to try to kill us." He paused. "I have no idea what they'll do with you, Proditor. But basically this is explaining why they kill humans, so far it's explained that a human fell into this place and was evidently more or less adopted by the royal family here. It's still in progress, likely."

[Chevaleresse]

Lucine was starting to look uncomfortable again. All this talk of monsters and humans was reminding her once more of where she stood. Not a monster, not a human, but something else. She'd almost asked Nader about it earlier, but now seemed to be a bad time, and she didn't want to do so with this many people around. "Maybe we should just keep going," she commented quietly.

[Yours Truly]

Jun seemed a bit thoughtful after hearing Nader and the holograms speak, before she slowly started to activate her cloak, and said, "Right, well in that case there's really only one place to go then," she then moved away from the rest of the group to head into the exit hall, trying to see if there were actually people or potential hostiles that they'd have to deal with there anyway, and you know, discreetly introduce her existence to them to see if they were literally going to kill her for existing.

[Projeck]

Calvera hurriedly retreated back to a point in the cavern where she could be alone, that being near where they had encountered Flowey. She took a seat on the ground, and wrapped her arms around her knees, the marks of her teardrops apparent on her jeans. So I was right... I am a bother to those around me. Clearly if Armi thinks that I cling to him, that's how he feels... and to think I came down here to make sure he didn't go and get himself killed... She wiped at her eyes with a hand, and sniffled. Alright... pull yourself together, Cal, he's just not for you... it'll be fine. If he doesn't care, neither should you. Her hand came to move her braid back over her shoulder, then she pushed herself to her feet. She had only been gone... what, 10 minutes? She slowed her breathing to calm herself, as far as she was concerned, she had a job to do... so she was gonna do it. There wasn't any time for moping around. Okay, time to focus... problems to fix, an odd creature to find, You can worry about this later, Cal.

 

She pulled her hands to fists, and then relaxed, managing to clear her thoughts of what just happened. Before long, she was back to where she had left Arminius, Rachel, and the child. She doesn't look at Arminius, or acknowledge him whatsoever, electing to instead just go scout ahead with the kid, if Rachel had already decided to

[DragonRage]

"Scout ahead?  Very well," Rachel agrees, "It would be good to learn more about this place.  It doesn't look all that warped, but there was a daemon...  We need more information.  And while Arminius has seemed to keep whatever he extracted from that daemon contained reasonably well, I'd feel more comfortable if children were to stay further away from it.  Distance isn't necessarily any guarantee of safety, but it's the best I can think of right now."

[Endlessblaze]

The Union gives another 'ick' sound, and hovers in the air, not bothering to land yet. Hovering just above the floor for the sake of having to deal with the least filth.
Well There were beings here. Though they looked a little funny, who were they to judge?

But no really what on earth was that turtle thing? Well no matter.
They activated the vocal voice, spilling their magic and heart into their words

"Hello, We are a little new here. Would you kindly provide us with information? Where are we?"



 

[Hal Henderics]

-The Garbage Dump, Waterfall

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

The Muscular Seahorse says, flexing his muscles and winking forlornly.

 

The turtle meanwhile, seems enamored with Lilly's currently crystaline appearance.

 

 

-Exit Hall, New Home

 

 

A pair of bugs begin, before fading.

 

The gang continues walking down the incredibly long hall, until-

 

 

A trio of living vegetables continue.

 

Finally, two Cyclops begin to speak in unison.

 

 

The gang arrives at a large archway, which leads into a staircase up into what looks like an ordinary brick-and-mortar house, with grey walls and tasteful grey flooring.

 

There's a chain on the ground, with a note attached.

 

 

The group hears rummaging around somewhere in the house.

 

-The Switch Room, The Ruins

 

As Rachel and The Child push forward into the next room, a giant frog hops out in front of them, giving the pair a funny look before shrugging slightly.

 

The room dims in anticipation as their SOULs manifest.

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

STATUS

Spoiler

Rachel: Perfect

Child: Perfect

 

-

 

Froggit: Perfect

 

[DragonRage]

"A frog.  Are you capable of speech as that flower was?  State your business," Sister Rachel commands the creature, hands causally resting near the holsters of her Inferno Pistols, "We do not wish to harm you unless you prove hostile."

[Yours Truly]

Jun first discreetly checks to see if the door is locked, before she quietly says, "Well, it seems that we'd either need to meet our first local resident soon or circle back to find another way through, and I don't know about the rest of you, but..."

 

She slowly but surely opened the door a crack and made sure that no one was in the room behind it before she snuck in, and tried to find a door leading out of the house.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Proditor

 

"I see" Proditor replied simply, floating behind the group as they advanced, listening closely to the story being recited. It wasn't much, merely what seemed like a mourning for a lost soul, one who died from an illness. It didn't explain anything more than itself, however.

 

Nothing so far did.

 

But, when the group reached the end of the hallway, Proditor stopped himself, staring at the grey house in front of them. The note was of interest, but it... Almost seemed like someone was expecting them. The sounds coming from within helped that conclusion.

 

"... If there is any talking needed, I believe I would be the best suited for it" he commented as Jun crept into the building, his voice selectively speaking to only the group.

[Chevaleresse]

"Isn't it just like one of those interactive museum things? There might not actually be anyone there." She didn't exactly share Nader's paranoia, either, though it seemed like this story didn't have a happy ending. It was hard for it to be happy, since it kinda already involved someone dying of sickness before they could see their home one last time. "Let's just try to be nice if we do meet anyone?" She glanced back at Nader, as if Lucine would be able to determine something about the man's thoughts from his mask. "It worked last time I ran into a monster."

[Powder Miner]

Nader let out a breath as he listened to the words of the holographic creatures. Perhaps the death of the human was more complex and less accidental than the monsters would lead them to believe. Perhaps some sort of later event triggered hostilities with the humans and that would be explained shortly -- or that was the very thing now being glossed over, maybe. Nader was certain that had to be the case - the evidence was right there, in front of everybody's faces. He really didn't know how they could have seen the human fucking graves and not reached that conclusion, but he was used to people not taking the proper safety precautions -- as was evidenced by Jun just walking on in. He sighed quietly, and rolled his eyes behind his mask, but it probably was the most meaningful way forwards.

 

Lucine's words caught his attention, and he spoke quietly to her. "Lucine, you generally shouldn't assume that places are unoccupied when there's evidence otherwise." There was a pause before he turned to face the small girl again, and his tone changed. "...that's very important for people's houses, especially. I wouldn't be barging in like this if I were in a different context. But we have to go where we have to go. I'll tell you what, though: I'm not going to just unload the moment I see anything. I'm not lowering my guard, but I'll be keeping trigger discipline too. How does that sound?"

[Chevaleresse]

Lucine nodded. "Okay. I still don't think it's actually someone's house, though." It wouldn't really make sense for this sort of exhibit to lead right into someone's home, unless it was their personal pet project or something. "Do monsters even live in houses like this?" She had no real idea what a monster would live in, but it seemed odd for it to just be a kitschy brick house. Then again, it was a kitschy brick house under a mountain. Maybe she should have brought Moss, he might have something to say.

[kj1225]

Arminius had waited a few extra minutes, giving the others some time to move forward ahead of him and minimize the amount of awkwardness that was certain to happen if he and Calvera had been in the same area together. Finally he stood up and walked after them, keeping around the edges of the rooms to sneak by.

[StormLord]

Ignia stands with nothing in particular to add.

[Endlessblaze]

"We don't think so. We just came in from the waterfall. Some of our friends came in through a door on the other side of the mountain, and a few more fell through a cave. We don't really know where anything is, do you have any maps?"

"Why is there a barrier around all the entrances?"

[Hal Henderics]

-The Switch Room Hallway, The Ruins

 

 

The Child looks on in mild disappointment as the frog monster breaks out into a sweat and unhops out of the room.

 

 

Moving ahead, Rachel, Arminius, and The Child enter a room with a single, cloth dummy.

The child looks appraisingly at it.

 

 

The child says diplomatically, looking between Rachel and the dummy with intent.

 

 

 

-The Garbage Dump, Waterfall

 

The two monsters look at each other nervously.

 

 

 

The seahorse winks in an absolutely unsuspicious way.

 

 

 

-ASGORE's Home, New Home

 

In the stairwell, a duo of Ice Birds.

 

 

In the foyer, a trio of Frozen Snowmen.

 

 

In the hall, turtles with washing-machine shells

 

 

Passing a room under renovations, Mermaids with stone bodies, and fishlike heads.

 

 

Three cloth covered mannequins, stuffed with cotton.

 

 

A mage and a knight appear before what looks like a child's bedroom.

 

 

Regal, crowned frogs. near what seems to be an adult's.

 

 

Finally, Armored Fairies in the kitchen.

 

 

Also in the kitchen, and this house's sole, real inhabitant, some small fuzzy monster is raiding the refrigerator

 

It's around this time that Jun finds the hall that leads to the house's entrance, or in this case, it's exit.

[Chevaleresse]

Lucine made a faint "aww" sound as the story reached the prince's passing. It took her a moment to notice the creature digging through the fridge, a creature which up to this point seemed to have had a similar issue with perception. "Oh- um, hello?" she said hesitantly, glancing back at the rest of the group to watch their reactions. Nader had promised not to shoot unless he had to, but the look she gave him didn't exactly display a massive amount of trust in that regard. 

[StormLord]

Ignia was intrigued by the retelling of this place's history.  

SOULs? Probably a local term for Hearts...which meant that at least some of these "monsters" could absorb Hearts to fuel their power.  It might've been a fluke or loss of translation, but it wasn't something Ignia felt she could let go lightly, she had to get to the bottom of this.

 

"These creatures....capable of absorbing Hearts, or whatever they're calling SOULs, to fuel great powers.  I've only ever witnessed or read of the truly desperate or depraved doing such things."

[Yours Truly]

Jun patiently waited somewhere in the wings as Lucine greeted furry little monster, turning off her cloaking field to make her presence known as she watched what the monster's reaction would be, and find out what to do next.

I'm basically invoking Ace Ambassador.

[Powder Miner]

Nader let out a short huff as he listened to the explanation continue -- so the prince had been killed by humans. Evidence confirming what he already knew, but hopefully it would make the others be more careful. And by the sound of it, it wasn't the first time that something like that had happened. It was tragic, of course; nothing should ever happen to kids, especially something like that. Despite the detached tone Nader found himself internally taking, he really did mean that. But this was the context of why monsters killed humans, and that necessitated that Nader stay on his guard. He couldn't afford to melt to something like this, as somber as it was, when his life (and the lives of everyone else, including Lucine) were on the line.

"I suppose that explains it. It's a shame, but it does provide proof, I hope. Stay on your guar--"

 

And Lucine was already approaching the small monster. Nader's entire body tensed up, and he checked his guns for the umpteenth time just to make sure. "Lucine..." He wasn't shooting as of yet, he promised that much, but he was watching the situation very, very closely. It was natural that a kid should be naive (kind of fucked up that she was here, wasn't it, he reflected) but it would be his responsibility to make sure that naivete didn't get her killed.

[kj1225]

Arminius started at the dummy in confusion. Mostly because the existence of it in this area was really weird. Still he figured the kid was right. "Yeah, you should listen to the kid. Getting some better people skills can help anywhere, not just outside of a fight..." Arminius trailed off as he thought about his argument with Calvera earlier. Maybe he was the one that needed the lessons...

[DragonRage]

"Acting lessons?  I do not believe we are being filmed," Sister Rachel points out quite reasonably, "Are we?  I appeared briefly in a few recruitment vids in my youth, but that was quite some time ago and I mostly had to stand around looking impressive.

 

"At least the creature did not attack.  Unless it's gone to fetch a horde of allies to assault us.  Possible, but hopefully not likely.

 

"People skills?  I do not understand the question."

[kj1225]

Arminius sighed. Holding his hands up in a placating gesture he spoke. "Well, to be perfectly blunt... you're scary. Now sometimes, that's useful, but you can't just intimidate your way through everything you know? Some people are stupid or brave, or believe in a higher cause that gives them no fear of death. I'm sure you can sympathize with that yeah? So in those cases, assuming we can negotiate, diplomacy is the better option." Arminius didn't expect his explanation to work, but it was worth a shot.