[MG] In the Dark

Genevieve

♠♣♦♥

You are Noel, 23, brave, athletic and smart. You've been sewering, and as best you can tell you've come up in the abandoned factory out where Platt St curves beside the river.

You're exploring in a subbasement. You've been exploring for a while- you're pretty far from both the sewer hatch you came through and any kind of stairway or access up and out. But you know generally which way to go, you've been careful, and you probably won't get lost.

You find yourself in a room- larger than those you've seen here before. Machines fill the room- lathes, presses, table saws. When you breathe in your nose fills with a metallic smell, but it's not the smell of machined metal. More like copper, maybe. There is a drain in the center of the floor and dark stains form pathways to it from each machine. One of the machines is still turned on- a motor humming quietly. A rag hangs halfway out of a garbage can, covered in grease.

I have one face down card in my hand.
Turn to 2.

Adam

The metalic smell in the room strikes me as odd, and the stains on the floor fill me with a feeling of Cruelty.

When I was really young, I used to bring my cousin on little exploration adventures like this. We found ourselves in the sub-basement of an old school on a weekend one late afternoon, and discovered a room which once led into parts unknown. It was flooded from recent downfalls, and I couldn't swim. He pushed me in — that was the closest I've ever been to death.

[Draw a card for me — but count the result as 13-20]

I feel alone here. Turn to 3.

Genevieve

You draw a Q♦

• There is a door behind you- the way you came into the room.
• There is a metal door to your right. It has a handle bar and a keyhole. It looks dented, like somebody went at it with a hammer, or something heavy.
• There is a set of double doors on the wall you're facing. There are little glass windows in each door, but you can't see through them from so far away.

The machine hums for another moment, then another seems to join in, the buzzing gets louder. Then a grinding going in and out- high pitched, like metal on metal.

What do you do?

Your hand: Q♦
My hand: One face down card

Adam

I scan the room with my flashlight. Where is that noise coming from?

Genevieve

The grinding is coming from a drill press- the bit going in and out of a block of metal like someone is operating it.

Next to it a table saw is on, the blade spinning.

Behind you is a huge lathe.

You smell grease, and under it... char, maybe? Something burnt or maybe a motor that seized?

What do you do?

Adam

That is ... weird. I quickly walk across the room to the double doors, and swing one open. If someone else is here, I should probably get out of here...

Genevieve

I draw a card. I have 2 cards in my hand, face down.

As you walk up to the door, you notice the windows are blacked out. You swing the door open and see that they've been spray painted black from the other side.

The room you walk into is just as wide, but a square instead of the long rectangle the previous room was. On the walls to the right are shelves holding blocks of metal, bars stand up on one end, 6 foot long and more. On the left is stacks of cardboard boxes. They are stained and dented, covered in a thick layer of dust. There is a janitor's bucket near the wall opposite you, near a wood door.

Draw.

Adam

[I'll keep my hand for now]

Is there anything I can hold in my hand here? Something I could use to pry things open with? Or, god forbid, defend myself with?

Genevieve

You draw a K♠

Bust. Your hand is discarded.

You turn around to look for a crowbar or something and come face to face with a person. He's just a bit taller than you, wearing a dingy, patched jumpsuit with the name 'Paul' stitched on it. His skin is burnt, charred black. His fingers black flakes over bone. His eyes are blood red. He is holding his hands like he has a mop in them, but you can't see it.

It stops still, like you are in it's way. It tightens it's grip on the non-existent mop.

Turn to 6.

Adam

Face to face with this man, I'm suddenly reminded of all the things I promised myself to do before I died. I had always hoped I could find the perfect place to scatter my cousin's ashes — somehow, now, I fear that won't happen.

At the very least, I would hope I'd have the decency not to beg... And yet, here I am — begging.

Genevieve

You draw a 3♣

You do the thing you most hoped not to.

You beg the ghost to let you leave. He cocks his head to one side. If he had eyebrows, they'd be drawn. His hands relax slightly.

Turn to 38.
Draw. (Tell me if you want to discard your 3♣ first)

Your hand: 3♣
My hand: 2 cards, face down

Adam

[I'll hold onto the 3, thanks, and 38 says to draw]

Genevieve

You draw a 7♦
Your hand: 3♣+ 7♦= 10

He takes a step forward and sticks his face in yours. You see his nose is shriveled, barely any of it left. He closes his eyes and inhales- sniffing you- and it whistles a bit. His eyes flare open- red with splotches of broken blood vessels. You smell charcoal- he was burnt to a crisp. You realize that the jumpsuit is melted onto his body. He takes a step to your side, looking you up and down.

What do you do?

Adam

This man should be dead. This doesn't make any sense! I slowly step back towards the wooden door near the bucket. I've got to get out of here.

Genevieve

Paul watches you, but doesn't move toward toward you- he's going to let you go.

I turn to 13.

He goes back to mopping the floor, pushing around a non-existent broom. You move towards the door, opening it with your back up against it. When you turn the knob, Paul picks his head up to look at the door.

(I'd normally ask you what you do, but in order to save time/confusion, I'll just assume you go through the door, and close it behind you.)

I turn to 5.
I draw a card, face down.

You find yourself in a very large room- like a warehouse. Rows and rows of shelving houses boxes and crates, except they are toppled over. The walls are 25' tall and you can't tell how far the room goes back. The floor is damp, and you can smell that old wet cardboard smell. When you point your flashlight to the far right, you see a lump... no, a body. It is covered in that same black char that Paul was, but it isn't moving and it's eyes aren't open.

Your hand is currently at 10.

Would you like me to draw and add to that, or discard, then draw?

Adam

[I'll try my luck with the draw again, no discard]

Genevieve

You draw 8♠
Your hand is currently: 3♣+ 7♦+ 8♠= 18

What do you do?

Feel free to ask me questions before you act.

Adam

I walk over to the corpse, and look it over. It's so weird that there'd be a charred corpse here in the middle of a room filled with boxes... Does the room look like it burned?