Better Left Forgotten

Eve:<(It's down worth the risk.)>

*She and Cameron start heading the other way*

Hector and Eduj turned, having been at the back, and started leading back the other way. Astarte tried to turn and take Noct with her.

They follow along.

Gabe grabs Mortal's hand and pulls her back. Mortal, who had been about to do something stupid, stood still, and simply shook her head, and turned to follow the group.

Noct did not turn around until she saw that Mortal had, but did eventually go with Astarte.

Sab had been about to scream, and probably would have, but when she tried she couldn't find her voice. She clung onto Aroma tightly, and tried to follow the group.

*Aroma clings equally tightly to Sab, running a hand through her hair, though to soothe her or distract herself, none can say. They turn onto a long corridor alternately lit with bands of shadow & white light too bright to see through.*

L"(Uh, weren't we just in the basement?)"

*They can hear heavy footsteps clanging rapidly towards them from this corridor.*

Hector and Eduj backed up, Hector reaching for another flare. Astarte bit her lip hard enough to bleed, but didn't even notice.

*Eve and Cameron take a step back*

Eve:<(The Shadow doesn't often obey the rules of logic.)>

Sab this time breaks down, and lets out a high pitched squeak of fear at the sound, but Mortal quickly covered her mouth. "Shh," Mortal said, putting a finger over her lips.

Taiyo clings to Euryale.

Azuma: "Know another way out?"

*Euryale squints.*

"(I can kind of see some doors in this hallway.)"

*When the figure passes into the darkness, they finally see the hulking white shape, long wisps swept back behind its back like coattails, & burning red orbs set into its head. They feel their body & neck hair rise, as if on an electric current, before they know it's caught up to them. Accompanied by a burst of wailing wind, the Shadow picks Mortal up by the throat, turning her to face it & lifting her up into the air. In addition to its translucent blackness, she sees that the figure is between 8 & 9 feet tall. Shadowy tendrils emerge from around it, & from within the darkness around them, threatening to wrap up their group like a sea anemone. Aroma screams. Being the closest to it, she, Sab, Hector, Eduj, Nero, & Roatha are struck by dizziness & pounding headaches, & probably fall over. Lilith raises her machete.*

E"Don't attack it, you won't hurt it, you'll just break your weapon, & you'll need it for that thing!"

*She points at the white monster rapidly approaching them.*

E"Someone help me pull Mortal loose, we need to get her & get out of here!"

*She wrestles out of Taiyo's grasp & grabs Mortal's waist with both hands, pulling with all of her might. For her part, Mortal feels an incredible burning in her neck, along with the choking sensation. Looking deep into the Shadow, she can no longer see the hallway behind it. Instead, she sees the faint image of someone being eaten outside of a cabin, followed by a ghostly image of Roatha running through a corridor & into a stairwell door looking back briefly, & finally the outline of a short, old woman raising a gun. The flash of the gunfire becomes a pair of red orbs set deep within the monster's head, partially obscured behind the shifting blackness.*

*Eve starts pulling those who had falling away from the monsters. Cameron helps her*

Eve:<Lilith, counting on you for the white one!>

Mimiru: "Azuma, knife!"

Azuma hands over his knife while Mimiru waits for Lilith to make a move. Azuma goes to helping the fallen ones.

Mortal gripped the Shadow's forearm with both hands and tried to support her weight on his limb instead of having her entire body weight pulling at her neck. Beyond this she can't really think of anything that isn't related to her need for air, and to get away from the Shadow.

Gabe rushed over at Euryale's call to help Mortal, and, much like Euryale, tried to free Mortal by pulling at her waist.

Noctis rummages through her pocket until she pulls free her knife. She held it in front of her, and stood between the monster and Astarte. She was still behind Lilith, however, seeing as how her knife wasn't as formidable as Lilith's machete.

*Mortal's hands pass right through the Shadow's arm & now her hands are burnt. With great effort, they physically pull Mortal through the Shadow's fingers, where she falls on top of them, ligature marks burnt into her neck. The Shadow's hand has now become a disjointed series of wisps, but it shakes it once, turning it back to normal. Lilith looks around, taking note of the tendrils curving around them.*

L"Run!"

*She does just that. As she reaches the white monster, it punches, & she ducks. There is now a hole in the concrete where her head once was. It then kicks her, causing her to skid across the ground. Thiera grabs Sabroma & hobbles towards her.*

T"Lilith!"

*Meanwhile, Nero & Roatha shakily rise to their feet & try to help as much as possible. Euryale forces Mortal off of them & rolls out of the way to avoid the Shadow's arm shooting down, where it melts into the darkness of the floor. It swivels its "eyes" around inside of its head rapidly, taking each of them in in turn.*

L"Window! Try to jump out a window!"

T"But it could be up to a 5 story drop!"

L"Don't care!"

*Lilith waves her machete around to get the white monster to back off.*

L"It's better than this!"

Everyone runs to the window, Azuma works on opening it up.

Hector and Eduj, probably back on their feet thanks to the various helpers, scrambled away from the creatures. Astarte pulled on Noctis.

Noctis mirrors Lilith, not wanting to leave her alone with the monster. She felt Astarte tug on her arm, and said, "Listen to Lilith, I'll be right behind you."

Sab held onto Thiera and Aroma tightly, still a bit off kilter.

Mortal and Gabe both scrambled to their feet. Gabe rushed away from the Shadow as soon as she could, heading for the closest window to try and pry it open. Mortal, however, finally takes in the scene in front of her, and realizes with a start just how real the stories she heard were. Mortal wasted about a second more before running after Gabe, and helping with the window.

*The window panes are all supposed to be either lost or broken, which I did try to tell people. Anyway, they are unfortunately on the 4th story. Down below is a concrete floor partially overtaken by grass & moss.*

R"People chain!"

N"What?"

*Roatha grabs Nero's hand & hops over the ledge, holding onto the windowsill. Nero looks down as a chunk of concrete falls to the ground, then looks back up.*

N"...Roatha, there's no way you'll be able to hold us all!"

R"Then we'll go through another window, or something!"

*Meanwhile, shadow tendrils shoot out of the ground, wrapping around Mortal's leg, which she can tell from the pressure & burning. Euryale pretty much tackles her & rolls, then gathers her & Taiyo & pushes them towards the window group. The white monster grabs Lilith's machete & tosses it out of the window, so Euryale rips open her backpack, pulls out hers, & stabs it deep in the side. The monster lets out a high pitches shriek before the Shadow appears next to it. Holding its hand to the beast's side, black tendrils shoot out of its arm & start "stitching" the wound back together. Euryale puts her foot against it & pulls her weapon free.*

*Eve looks around for the next nearest window*

Cameron:<Damn it!>

Astarte took a look back at the people scrambling about windows and then turned back to Noctis. With a thought to how many creatures they were currently facing in this room, Astarte stayed exactly where she was.
Hector, backed up to the wall next to a window, tossed a flare into the middle of the scene to further illuminate it.

Mortal scrambles back to her feet and snatches Noct's knife away, replacing her, "We're too high up to use the windows. We need to get downstairs."

Noctis moves closer to Astarte, and grabs her hand tightly.

E"The Shadow moved...we could give it a try...."

R"Yeah, I'm not climbing back up there."

N"Will you hurry up?! I'm slipping!"

E"Don't be an idiot, you can't--"

L"No, he's right. You've seen how that thing moves, by the time he got back inside, it would be too late. We can't waste any more time."

T"Well, then I'm going with them!"

*She begins climbing out the window herself.*

R"Good to have someone on our team."

N"Just fucking hurry!"

*Aroma doesn't have to be told twice. She takes Sab & runs, pushing Lilith along on her way when she tries to retort. Reluctantly, Euryale turns & follows with Taiyo & presumably Mortal. At this point, various nondescript shadows start shooting out of the Shadow's main body, twisting & cavorting on the walls. They then take off after each group. As Eve & Cameron are closest, a shadow stretches as though its limbs were wracked & tries to wrap around them.*

*Eve and Cameron get out of the way and run to join up with Euryale's group*

Hector and Eduj took off down the hall in the same direction as the others. Astarte waited for Noct to take the lead this time, only just calm enough to keep herself upright.

Azuma & Mimiru follow the group not trying to climb out a window.