((Collab Post between RoflsMazoy, KillamriX88, Bartimaeus, and Letter Bee))

[b][i]Two Weeks after the Midnight Tournament[/i][/b]

[hider=Laboratory stuff]

William entered the laboratory's entrance, before making his way up the stairwell to the roof, though not before saying to Aram and Wolf: "We're going to need to consult the building's spirit first."

As they reached the roof, the spirit flickered to life sitting on its apex. It had seemed to be waiting for them.

"Hello, are you here to keep me company?" It asked.

William waved to the spirit, saying, "Hi, and for a while, yes. We've come to see what remaining secrets the facility holds." 

Turning to Aram, Ascot said, "Anyway, this is the Spirit of the Place." Turning back to the Spirit, the boy continued, "Spirit, this is Aram; he's an Alchemist."

"C'mon now, William...don't go giving out my secrets on the arm like that, chum..." Especially not to one of these creepy things... Aram thought. He was never really fond of the presence of ghosts or the like...well, maybe nobody was, but they gave him a bad case of the heebie-geebies. Made his hair stand on end. Which it was now.

"Hm... Secrets...?" It said slowly. "I'm not aware of any that are remaining, but..."

She paused for a second and looked into the distance.

"I can feel two rooms which aren't a 'part' of me. One on the second floor, and one on the fifth. Perhaps you'll find some things there."

First demons, now spirits. At least this one seemed friendly. Well, it was a little to late to be complaining about things being weird. They were already trying to raise the dead, after all.

"So... if you're the 'Spirit of this Place,' how can any part of this building not be part of you?" He was far less well versed in spirits, but the logic here seemed fairly straightforward and what it had just said, fairly contradictory.

"Well, I don't really know. I can't see into them, but I can sense my halls leading to them, and a door without an other side." It shrugged. "They've been there since I was born, so maybe they were remnants from something else that was on this land."

William blinked. "The case thickens. What place would be easier to reach? Second floor, or fifth floor?"

"You'd think it'd be the second floor, eh smart one? Unless of course...there's some goons inside that could slow our progress?" He said the last part with a hint of curiosity as he raised his eyebrows at the small girl of a phantasm sitting upon her perch. 

"Oh yes, the research specimens all escaped and are roaming the halls, even now." She said. "There aren't as many of them left as there used to be. The only food down there is each other, after all, but the ones left are fairly ferocious."

". . ." Wolf's jaw just dropped and then his pinched the bridge of his nose. "So I'll be going first, then..." No one else was really equipped to be playing the front line, after all. 

"Geez Louise...what has this Gumshoe gotten us into..." Aram muttered under his breath.

William smiled at the Spirit, and said, "Thank you; hopefully, we'll see each other again if we survive."

A look at Wolf and Aram. "I think we should head to the Second Floor, then depending on the difficulty or the value of the secrets found, we continue on to the fifth or leave said fifth for another day."

The party nodded in agreement and they went to enter the facility.

Before dissipating, the spirit had left them some key information. Power throughout the facility was off. It had been some years since the facility had been abandoned, so not even emergency power would still be functioning.

There was an elevator which could have taken them straight to any floor, and if it were still functioning, the fifth floor room would be the easiest one to reach since it was fairly close to the elevator exit. There was still a way down on each floor however.

They arrived on the door to the first floor via the emergency ladder in the elevator well. It was a large cargo elevator shaft, so it was fairly roomy on the way down.

The elevator doors of each floor were sealed when the facility had entered a state of emergency. Each one could be manually released through a panel on the side. The doors served as a cargo entrance for large pieces of equipment or specimens, so when they opened those doors they would get a pretty good view of the lab inside.

Entering would be a fairly large and open space, but it would quickly turn into winding corridors as they travelled. The spirit gave them precise directions to the room they were after, so they wouldn't be exploring too much.

"How's this gonna go down, boys? We gonna muscle our way through, or lay low? I don't dig the idea of croaking in this hole, so choose wisely..." Aram was well aware of Wolf's potential. He'd seen what could happen when the boy's emotions got the best of him. As for William...he had no clue. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who could take a hit to the kisser...but you'd be surprised. And as for himelf...of course he could take a few freaks...probably.

"Avoid trouble unless we have no other options. There's only three of us and who knows how many of them. Even if it is only a few, if they're as vicious as the spirit says, it might not take that many," Wolf said, deciding for them. If necessary, he'd take charge of this whole trip. His job was to keep everyone alive, and whatever else was secondary in his mind. "Aram, cover our rear. William, stay behind me." Aram was less of a straightforward fighter than him, so he'd give him some extra space. Hopefully any threats would come head-on so Wolf could intercept them.

William nodded, and his sole addition to the discussion was, "I'm going to use my third power - the one I used to increase people's luck, strength, and speed back then - on Aram; that ought to help."

Aram would then be surrounded by an aura of golden light that would last for a few seconds...

"Oh? Haha..not that I need it, of course...but thanks!" Aram exclaimed before a golden light engulfed him. He felt energy surge through him as he became more in-touch with his own body-if that was even possible. "Oooo, that feels weird." he squirmed with a funny expression.

He grasped a hilt that was sticking out from under his suit over his right shoulder, drawing the connected short sword he'd held there. Swinging it a few times, he could feel the strength difference in his strikes. "Now we're cooking with gas...you men ready?" he said, looking to the others.

"One can only hope," Wolf frowned, his pessimistic side not doing him any favors at the moment. At the very least, William was able to shift the odds ever so slighty more in their favor. It was something. "Just stay alert." And with that, Wolf began steadily walking deeper into... one could only guess what.

The facility was desolate. The spirit's words had painted a grim picture, but it wasn't quite clear how grim. The floor was literred with skeletons. As Aram's light approached, various tiny creatures screeched and skittered out of sight. Bones but no flesh made these small creatures scavengers. It would seem that they also did well to reduce any rot that might be in this place, it'd be relatively painless to move around.

But there weren't only skeletons and scavengers here. Ahead of them, the skittering became more frantic, until there was a sound like claws slamming and scraping against the ground, and the some of the screeches stopped. Then there were the sounds of an animal tearing into a fresh corpse.

As they approached they saw the true form of the creature. A mutated fox with glowing yellow eyes and scales covering its body. It hissed at the light, blinking desperately and quickly escaping into the shadows of the beyond.

"I'm going to assume that was one of those [i]things[/i]..." Wolf pursed his lips, tension showing plain on his face. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it hadn't been that.

William turned up his nose, then said, "Fresh corpses smell like meat. Wait, why would there be fresh corpses in this abandoned facility? Oh, wait, the Spirit hinted at a [i]breeding[/i] population..."

As if right on queue, many more sets of yellow eyes peered out from the darkness. They formed a semi-circle around the party, held at bay by the light.

Aram repulsed at the smell of new and old corpses alike. He couldn't see much, but what light they did have illuminated the place just enough to be about one-hundred times creepier than it really was. Soon enough, the creepy environment wasn't the only thing they had to worry about.

"Uhhh, something smells fishy..." he said as the eyes revealed themselves from the gleam of his light. He moved his shoulder bag into a position where it was more comfortable for him to reach into it with one hand, and did so, placing his hand against one of the many transmutation symbols within it.

"Looks like it's too late to lay low now, boys." Black energy crackled from his left palm to his right, which was still grasping his short sword.

The foxes made their own screech and began to attack. They were plenty in number, but lacking in intelligence somewhat. They could dodge attacks, but they had only one singular target, the hated light. Years underground had made them accustomed to the darkness, and now a new, painful force was among them.

Predation was these foxes only method of survival until now, with nothing to forage, and faster scavengers claiming the excess spoils from their own kill. There was no longer any room for anything else, and now the hunt was on.

Whether their eyes adjusted or numbers simply gave them bravery, they no longer seemed dissuaded by the light. Rather, they seemed hellbent on getting rid of it and then making a meal of those who'd dared to bring said light into their domain. 

They charged, and Wolf know he was going to have to rely on Aram for this one. Even William might have to fend for himself to a degree. One fox charged right at him, but Wolf couldn't deal with it right now. He raised his shield, letting the creature slam face-first into it. It gave Wolf the sparse few seconds he needed to lash out with his sword, tearing open another as it attempted to go past him toward the two behind him.

He couldn't stop all of them, but if he could at least limit the number that got past, it'd be something...

William didn't want to waste the inventory of 'Imitation Andras Cards' that he had been able to acquire thanks to the God of Stories' power, but what he wanted didn't matter right now. Raising his right index and middle fingers, he pulled out Incremental Blight, a card that would cause one fox to be afflicted with a painful disease as it tried to flank the group, while the second and third behind it would suffer crippling and fatal ones. The boy would be morbidly glad that he didn't have to use this on sapient beings. 

He would then check if the mundane sword given to him by his mother was still there; it was and he was able to end the suffering of the first and second foxes afflicted.

Breathing hard, he would then prepare to imitate any First and Second Powers Aram and Wolf used; he had already 'stored' a use of Aram's 'Fine Water Manipulation' when the former had made his pentagrams outside of the building.

Aram's tone shifted as their engagement began. His movements seemed more springy, and he made sure to never catch himself flat-footed.
"You fellas watch yourselves, who knows what nasty festerings these things have-" Even as he said it, one of the creatures lept at him from the shadows, barely giving him enough time to raise his left arm, thanks to William's speed enhancement. It snapped down quickly through his several layers of sleeves. And was met with a hard clank as it bit into his armor.

"Ha! How's that for a mouthful?!" he said, quickly dispatching it with a simple swing of his blade. But there seemed to be a lot of these things. Aram didn't fancy seeing who would last longer. He dropped his sword, quickly crouching and throwing both of his hands to the ground. Jagged, slanted, stone spires erupted from the floor around them, shooting into the shadows behind him and to their flanks, earning screeches of pain and the sound of stone piercing through the beasts, hopefully hitting most of them who weren't in front.

Then the spires shrunk back from the darkness, covered in blood, and some bringing pierced creatures with them, before melting back into the floor. 

There were a lot of enemies, but their number wasn't unlimited. They were thinning out as the party cut through the horde. Suddenly however, there was a deep and guttural sound. It sounded like various animal calls were recorded and choked through a filter.

It was almost impossible to tell what animals were in the mix, but they were all underlined by a very distinctive sound.

The monster horde reacted with visible fear as they heard it charge. They couldn't see where it was coming from, but they could hear it. Rapid, mad hoofbeats. The frequency was too high for a normal horse, if they were able to count the steps and recognize the pattern, they'd realize it was 8 legs striking the ground with enough power to make the ground shake.

And before them, it appeared, Sleipnir.

It reared up on its hindlegs and unleashed a stream of fire from its mouth, scorching the ground and sending the foxes scurrying away in fear.

The spirit had warned them of this creature, amongst some others. It was no simple horse, it was a chimera created by fusing together a multitude of creatures, which was then further twisted by magic to create a true nightmare.

It stood 8 feet tall, and had tough scales all along its body, and a large cobra for a tail. It had the ability to breath fire as well. Normally it would be housed on the 4th floor, but it had the speed to be able to travel wherever it wished within the facility in a matter of minutes.

The spirit had advised that if they ever ran across it that they should run.

Run. From that? They'd have to find a suitably narrow area, assuming they didn't get run down the second they turned their backs on it. So much for avoiding trouble, trouble had hunted them down in record time. He was going to need more than his sword for this one.

He just needed to focus. To draw on the right emotions. His father had very clearly told him how -- he just needed to stop hiding. To go back.

A simple task, deep in the forest. [i]CRACK[/i]!

He shook his head. No! There was no time to sort through that now!

Still, the trident should be simple enough. He took a breath and in a swirl of black, the trident and net formed in his hands.

"Aram... I'm gonna try and keep it still. Can you follow up?" he asked, not risking looking back to see if he was listening.

Aram blinked as he stood from his crouch. "You? Hold...that still?...You?" he asked. "You've got Moxie, guy... but fine. Don't get us whacked." he said as he came up behind Wolf, standing to his left as he reached into his satchel, the black energy crackling from his hands once again.

Wolf took a breath and stepped forward, wanting to make the beast focus on him. Once he thought he had it gunning for him, he attempted to goad it into running right into his net, thrown at the beasts head. His hope was to distract it and unbalance it while then stepping aside and swinging at its legs with his trident. He didn't have the power now to sned the pralytic effect coursing through its whole body, but with that many legs, he could only imagine the havoc numbing one or two would do.

If he could slow it a little bit now, he could do even better on his next pass...

The tip of the trident rattled and slid across Sleipnir's thick scales, but the edge point caught on a space between some scales and pierced flesh. The horse quickly reared up, and let out its strange call with a snort of fire. 

Even with 2 legs raised, it had 6 left to stand on. Unlike horses who couldn't deal with mice effectively since they couldn't keep their legs up, Sleipnir could attack underneath himself without worry. Its nostrils glowed with imminent death, and he unleashed his fire breath at wolf.

Aram wasn't sure what Wolf was trying to do, but it seemed it was right for him to doubt whatever it was. The other Vigilante's weapon barely seemed like a poke to such a large creature. As it reared, Aram saw the undeniable danger staring Wolf in the face. 

He thought fast, thinking over his choices. Oh bilge, this'll be groddy, he thought. Aram focused his energy, channeling his willpower into the blood spilling from the deceased creatures around them. The crimson liquid flowed from the body into a large glob that congregated quickly, and then was sent flying at the Demon's face as Aram willed it. Aram aimed for the blood to explode all over the demon, filling its nostrils to prevent its fiery discharge, and hopefully its breathing.

Sleipnir recoiled from the sudden influx of blood, which ended up getting into its eyes as well. It jumped back blindly, denting the steel floor, but it misjudged its jump height and the height of the facility. It hit the ceiling which wasn't too far above its head and fell.

[/hider]