bladesworn's Storytime the first

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan throws the axe at the figure in a last-ditch attempt to slow it down, but the gesture is hardly effective.

Given the thing's reaction to fire, Nan puts aside any thought of fighting it and bursts from the room, re-entering the HOTEL LOBBY. Black smoke pours from the doors.

Up ahead, she can just make out someone moving down the hall away from her.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan hurries after the shambling figure ahead, but glancing into the elevator...

Someone's calling to Nan!
The voice says they thought they missed their chance, and to hurry up and get in the elevator, quick!
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan dives headlong into the elevator, and the doors quickly shut behind her.

The stranger offers her a hand, helping her up.

She says it's very nice to meet Nan, and introduces herself as Anna.
She asks with a joking smile if those dark, half-melted fellows running around are friends of hers.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Anna tries to calm Nan, says she's safe at least for the moment. She says she's going to take her to her safehouse on the second floor.

Nan staggers up, struggling for questions. She wants to know exactly what's going on.
Actually, Anna interrupts, she was hoping Nan would tell her.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest
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Nan is with Anna in the HOTEL ELEVATOR.
The elevator is rising. The destination is the third floor.

Nan is trying to catch her breath.
Anna asks her if she is all right.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan asks if the safe room is on the third or second floor. Anna says it is on the third floor and she must be confused from her ordeal.

Nan tries to stay collected, but after what she's been through, she's shaking and scared. Anna places a hand reassuringly on her shoulder and tells her she will feel better once she meets everyone.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan tries to strike up conversation with Anna -- what she does for a living, for instance. Anna says she is an elevator operator.
Nan asks who "everyone" is and Anna says it would be better if she met them in person.

The HOTEL ELEVATOR arrives at the THIRD FLOOR LANDING.

Anna checks the hall in both directions, and it appears well-lit and empty. She asks Nan to come along.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan checks her pockets. She is carrying a BALLPOINT PEN, PHILLIPS HEAD SCREWDRIVER, CROSS PENDANT, MAGNIFYING GLASS, and an UNCASHED CHECK.

Nan asks a few nervous questions, but Anna doesn't know of any significance behind "4:66".
She also says she has spent one night here in the hotel. So this would be her second day here.

Nan and Anna arrive at ROOM 313. A cross is scrawled on the door. Anna knocks three times and identifies herself, saying she's arrived with a guest and needs to be let in.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan asks if the cross on the door wards off the... things. Anna says she doesn't think so herself, but every little bit helps, right?

Nan inspects the strange wooden carving by the door, and Anna heads inside, beckoning Nan to follow.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan follows Anna into ROOM 313.
Here there are three other people. Anna goes around introducing them to Nan, from left to right: A stocky middle aged man in a worn brown hat named Anderson. Henry -- who Nan recognizes. And lastly, a young woman in glasses that Anna introduces as Kim.

The room is dirty and the painting on the back wall is torn apart, but this place seems to be stocked with a few provisions, cans of food and bottles of water.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Henry runs up to Nan and hugs her tightly. He shakes a little, saying he was so worried about her after she disappeared earlier, and he's so glad to see she's okay. This place isn't safe.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan introduces herself and Henry says now that everyone's here, they might as well go over some information.

Anna interjects and says there's still one more person around here somewhere, but he went out against advisement -- sort of a strange fellow. She didn't get his name. Nan appends that Pablo is still out there somewhere, but after giving Anna his description, she says the person in question must not have been Pablo.

Anna seems as eager for answers as anyone, and begins by introducing herself: She's been here for one night. She came here to respond to an ad about a job available as an elevator operator in the hotel, but found herself trapped after coming inside.
Nan tells her story: She's an electrician who came here to fix an outlet, and after that couldn't leave.
Henry explains that he is a businessman who was traveling and had to stop here for the night. He had barely unpacked when he ran into Nan and came to realize their situation. He's been here about as long as Nan.
Kim speaks calmly, telling her tale. She is a college student from a nearby town that Nan recognizes, who was passing through on her way home. She stopped at the hotel in the night and was likewise trapped. She's been trapped here an entire week.
Anderson says he is an ex-US Marshall. He came to stay at the hotel just to see it, since it just recently went up. But he ran into the same troubles. He's been here for two weeks.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan and Anna are both full of questions. Together they ask if anyone knows what's going on, but are met only with silence. It seems the whole of the situation is still out of grasp.

Nan asks what Anderson knows -- where he's been getting food, how he's been staying alive. He responds simply, and his voice is gravelly: He's been going to the janitor's closet and the kitchen to get food and water when necessary. Somehow they haven't run out yet. He stays in the light and doesn't let his guard down. That's how he's still alive -- because he's not about to die here, in this place. Not without even knowing what it is.



There is a long silence.
Kim speaks almost in a whisper and suggests that perhaps he is already dead. Perhaps they all are, and this is hell. Or heaven.
At this point, she asks, would they even know the difference?
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan steps up and tells Kim not to be such a downer, but Kim insists she's serious.

She asks Nan to think about it: What's the last thing she remembers, before she came here?
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan says that before she came here, she went to the arcade, fixed some electric wiring, then came here and had pizza.

Kim insists Nan consider her story. How was she eating the pizza? Is that the last thing that happened while coming here? Could she have choked?
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

Nan explains that on consideration, she was eating the pizza while riding her bike. She checked the work order briefly.

Kim suddenly points.
She announces that must be it. She was riding her bike down a busy street, while eating pizza AND reading. It would only have taken a split second of distraction and she could have been struck by an automobile.

Nan is about to insist that she would remember such a thing when Anderson speaks up. He says there's another problem with Nan's story: This town doesn't have an arcade.

Nan's memory feels hazy. Surely she would have remembered an incident like that? But then... she's starting to have trouble keeping things clear. She remembers Henry, somehow, but... was it even real?
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

So far everyone has described coming from the same town in their stories.

Kim interrupts Anderson and corrects him, saying there IS an arcade. She's been going there for years.
Anderson replies that if there was a penny arcade in town he'd know.

A very sickly feeling crawls up from Nan's stomach.
She turns and asks very slowly what year everyone thinks this is.
 

bladesworn

Shenanigans Instigator
The Destroyer is Manifest

There's a long pause as everyone seems to wonder if Nan is serious. Anna finally speaks up with a shrug.

She says it's 1936.
...Isn't it?
 
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