Chapter Text
John had fallen to the hands of pride yet again. He had been impatient, the loud sounds of laughter from behind had made him so. John wasn’t worried though, His mercy would bring him back until he could finally reach Him at the end of the maze. He loved him, and so he did the same. He put trust in him, and so he did the same.
He was falling again, preparing to land onto the stone floor as always.
Which was why John was surprised when he ended up landing on a hardwood floor instead.
He quickly darted his eyes open, pushing himself off of the ground while looking around the new place frantically. Wooden floors and walls, how long has it been since he’s seen these? It was a rectangular room, there were small chairs and drawers around, and a small window, showing off the inky black sky of the outside. It looked to be storming? But he couldn’t see anything else.
Before he could focus his gaze onto what looked to be a front desk, the sound of an elevator behind him ringing (which he hadn’t even noticed the elevators) shook him.
“What the hell.” A person stepped out into the room eyeing the place. John tensed up once he had heard the other’s voice, trying to appear as if he wasn’t there. The person looked to be in some sort of greyish-blue jumpsuit, a logo that looked like a pentagram embedded onto multiple parts of it. Despite that, the most notable part of the person’s appearance was the black bar covering their eyes, like it wasn’t exactly attached to their face.
…They didn’t look like they belonged here.
-
One moment, EXR-P had just died yet again on his mission, tuning out Sebastian’s blabbering about what he had died to. At this point he didn't even bother to read the document, forgetting what caused his death. Probably a wall dweller, those things are a pain in the ass.
He had expected to be back in the pod, like he always was.
But for some reason, he had been put into an elevator. It didn’t seem like one of Urbanshade’s either, it looked old, like from what, hundreds of years ago? It didn’t have NAVI installed, so that was also a big giveaway. The elevator brought him into a room–
“What the hell.” This place looked nothing like the blacksite, that was for sure. Honestly, despite it looking like something straight out of the 1950s, it looked ten times better than what Expendable was used to. He walked up to the bell on what looked like a receptionist desk, ringing it a couple of times. He had already made some noise, so what’s the harm in–
What in the everliving fuck.
EXR-P’s gaze met with whatever that thing is. Humanoid, void black, however it looked to be wearing some form of… Priest's clothing? He didn’t know exactly, but it definitely had something to do with religion, the thing had white crosses all around!
Well, he could only see three, two on the piece of clothing that was draped over its shoulders, and a big one around its neck.
Another thing EXR-P just seemed to notice was how big and broad this guy looked. Not only that, but the only actual facial feature that he could make out was their big cartoony looking eyes. His brow furrowed, they looked like one of those… Squibbles? Squiddles?? EXR-P didn't pay too much mind to their proper name.
He went closer to them and he could see them slightly flinch. Expendable decided to wave his hand in front of them, to which their eyes seemed to scrunch up in… Likely confusion. They raised their hand, but they seemed to hesitate on whatever they were gonna do.
EXR-P let out a hum sound, looking back around. This person (They seemed human enough) didn’t exactly seem to fit here either. “Hey there, you understand this?”
Their eyes squinted, looking back before nodding.
…
“You gonna say shit, or what?” They raised their hand again, pupils darting around. EXR-P just stood in front of them, tapping their foot.
…
This guy isn’t gonna talk to him, are they? “Well that’s just great. I’m stuck in this place with a mute.” Did he mean it like that? Not really. But he could care less at this point, this might’ve just been some weird dream.
Before Expendable could walk away, the elevator door rang, as another person stepped out.
They were wearing a white collared shirt with puffy(?) sleeves, a short brown jacket(?, he didn’t know jack about fashion.), a tool belt, grey-brown dress pants with brown boots that reached right under their knees. Their hands went around a satchel, and the most noticeable thing had to be the hat with a pretty wide brim, little trinket-like things hanging down from their hat.
“Oh my.”
-
He had died yet again on one of his many run throughs of the mines, the Grumble nest was always a struggle to get past. The calming guitar of Guiding Light passed, as he began to prepare to wake up feeling himself fall down with the crashing elevator.
He didn’t expect to wake up back in the hotel elevator, which quickly sent him into a panic. Had he failed enough at the mines that he had to completely do the hotel over?
He stepped out of the elevator, the familiar room greeting him. Surveying the room though, it seemed as though there were two new people standing together, both staring at him.
“Oh my.”
-
The third person walked up to the other person and John, looking them both over. “I’ve never seen others in the hotel.” They exclaimed.
“You know what’s going on here? Cause’ I don’t a fucking clue.” The one with the hat nodded.
“I haven’t been here in a while, but I am well versed in this place, yes.” Their tone was hushed, unlike the other. John just stood as still as possible. However, the one with the hat turned to look at him, seemingly expecting him to say something.
“Won’t talk, don’t know what their deal is.”
“Perhaps, do you know sign?” John softened his gaze at the mention of sign language, nodding.
“Why didn’t you just, try and sign earlier?” The other scoffed, as he raised his hands up.
“shocked”. The hatted one turned to the other guy. “They said that they were shocked.”
“I can understand sign, jackass. Was mandatory.”
They both stared up at them.
-
EXR-P looked around. Didn’t feel like Urbanshade was watching, so why not?
“It was like military training,” He didn’t need to tell them that much.
“Do you mind telling us what for..?” He crossed his arms.
“Classified. Hell, everything about Urbanshade’s classified. I’m classified.”
“your name?” He almost didn’t catch them sign that.
“Of course my name is–” EXR-P realized mid sentence that they probably weren’t asking if his name is classified, but if classified was his name. “–I can’t tell you my name, but the folks back do have a name for people like me,”
…
He let out a sigh. “Expendable. Or EXR-P. Don’t call me that second one, actually.”
“Oh.” They looked around, seemingly thinking of what to say. “I forgot my name a long, long, time ago…” They looked down at themself. “I am considered an explorer, a tourist, a guest or visitor to this hotel, if you will,”
“So we call you those.” Visitor nodded.
“Any one is fine, you can even alternate,” Both Guest and Expendable turned to now look at the “mute”, as he had called them earlier.
After a few seconds of pondering, they decided to sign.
“s-i-n-n-e-r”
“Sinner?” Tourist said, and they nodded.
“Sinner.” Expendable repeated, looking at Tourist, then back at them. “For someone with that name you are the most religious looking person I’ve seen.” He deadpanned.
“They’re right, yes. I am somewhat religious, but not as clearly devoted as you appear to be,”
“Yeah. Also, I prefer to be referred to by masculine terms.” EXR-P kind of cringed once he said that, never having to tell somebody what he preferred in such a polite way.
“My greatest apologies, it’s just been so long since I’ve spoken to another person,” Tourist readjusted their satchel. “I believe I used to use masculine terms as well, but for now, I honestly don’t have any preference.” They both turned to look at Sinner.
Their pupils shifted around. “m”, was all he signed.
“Alrightly then,” Explorer put his hands together. “I guess I should explain how this place works, so we don’t all eventually meet a demise.” EXR-P nodded.
“Basically, there are a total of a hundred doors that we need to pass through, however on the way there are entities trying to attack us. For now, I’ll only tell you the basic ones, as we likely won’t–” Tourist got cut off by the sound of a door being unlocked, as they both whipped their heads around to Sinner, having gotten the key to open it.
“Woah woah woah–” He waltzed up to Sinner, stopping him from going into the next room. “–You can’t be going ahead like that, things could end up really poorly if we get separated;” Sinner stared down at Guest, his eyes narrowing in what could be read as annoyance.
“We all want to get out of here, no need to be a prick.” Expendable added, he already didn't like this guy. Guest seemed at least somewhat tolerable, but Sinner didn’t even seem to be listening to them.
“I can explain as we walk, it shouldn’t be much of a problem,” Visitor went ahead into the room first. It was square, with a painting on the wall over a table with a single drawer. Visitor opened the drawer, grabbing what sounded to be like coins? Before stuffing them into his satchel.
“So the most common entity,” Explorer continued, walking and opening the second door, which Sinner was already standing by.
-
The next room opened up, being a room that was like a square with a quarter missing. There were windows lining the right wall, both of them having the same stormy outside that the other two had. The floor was also carpeted.
“Is called Rush. It makes the lights in the room flicker, and once you hear the sound, you’ll have to get into a closet.” John was already sitting by the door to the next room, pacing around it. He knew this place wasn’t like his own, but he still didn’t enjoy moving so slow. He could hear the other two opening up the drawers, likely grabbing what was inside them for later use.
“It also causes the room to go dark once it's gone, also opening the next door.” John saw the two finally round the corner, he opened the next door once they were in sight.
“In the dark, an entity called Screech can spawn. You’ll hear a “psst” sound, and when you do, find it and stare straight at it.” John went and stood in front of the door again, while Tourist and Expendable took their sweet time. “It’ll scream at you and disappear, but if you don’t look at it, it’ll take a huge munch outta ya,”
Guest was interesting to him. They gave off a sort of ghostly presence, like he wasn’t really there. Expendable… He honestly just seemed rude. Well, John currently wasn’t acting any better, but he just wanted to go back. This likely wasn’t a path made by God, at least, not for him. “And then there’s Eyes, just don’t look at it.”
John opened the next door, walking ahead up to the door. He was listening to what Explorer was saying, it was the only other sound than the creaking of the floor as they walked across it, after all. “It gives off a purple-blueish glow.”
“Does it like…” Expendable was speaking now, as they rounded the corner to the door. “Tell you things? Or get into your head?”
John opened the next door, where there were some stairs leading up to–somewhere, but the door was right in front of him. “No, no, well it does whisper…”
He waited for the two to finish opening up drawers, before opening the next–
John was grabbed forward by something, the force ripping into his robe, before he was thrown backwards, a ringing sound filling his head.
-
It happened so fast, one moment Sinner was waiting by the door, the other he was on the ground, wide eyed. Expendable wanted to say that he may have deserved it for trying to go quickly, hell, he did deserve it, but he didn’t want Sinner’s opinion of him to go any lower.
“Oh I– I forgot about having to count doors I was too busy explaining–” Tourist ran up to him, he had sat up now, his hands holding just below his shoulders where it had grabbed him.
“I wasn’t expecting a dupe this early…” Guest helped him back up to his feet, offering some paper he found in one of the drawers to cover up the wounds.
Expendable went up the stairs, the two following behind him. “So, fake doors.” He started, as EXP-R opened the door.
“The biggest tell is that they have the wrong number on them,” The door in front of them required a key, and Visitor went into the side room. A fireplace dimly lit up the room, the big windows displaying the storm outside. There was a bed resting against the wall of the room, with some sort of vanity in the middle. Visitor opened the top compartment, grabbing something, before opening up the rest of the drawers.
“However, behind the doors you can hear weird sounds if you misremember,” Expendable wasn’t finding any key in the drawers he was looking in, and it looked like Tourist wasn’t finding anything either. Soon enough, the jingling of keys was heard, and the both looked towards the sound. Sinner stood by the entrance of the side room, pointing at a crate.
“Oh. Oops.” Explorer followed him out of the room, EXP-R being close behind. “Oh, I also found this in the top compartment.” He pulled out a lighter, lighting it briefly before putting it out and away. “You should also look in drawers too, Sinner. Could find something to help your wounds,” Sinner, obviously didn’t seem to be paying attention, unlocking the door in front of him.
The lights flickered as they entered the next room. Expendable saw Sinner dart around the corner, while he and Tourist stood by the two closets at the start. As soon as EXP-R heard the sounds of it nearing, he went inside of the closet, and shut the door.
The sound of bit-crunched screaming went past, and a black smoke followed what Guest had said was Rush. Looked like some sort of disfigured face…
EXP-R let himself out of the closet, while he could see Visitor took out his lighter. When they both rounded the corner, he sort of fully expected to find John’s dead body, but he was very much alive, standing in front of the now opened door. The room ahead was dark, “Stay close by, Screech attacks less frequently if there’s light.” They both listened, gathering around Visitor.
“Eight.” Guest counted as he opened the next door, putting away his lighter. “Usually I don’t see this many entities before door ten…” He commented. The room they were in was narrow, walls having doors and the occasional window. Guest opened one of the side rooms, leading to a room with a bed. Well, they did say this place was a hotel.
Once they finished grabbing what was in the drawers, they went onwards, to find Sinner standing in the doorway of a sideroom, using… Bandages? “Where did you find that.” EXP-R let that thought slip out, and Sinner pointed to some drawers. Lucky bastard.
“Nine,” Guest said as the opened the next door, the room not being particularly interesting,
-
John went a bit ahead, swiftly grabbing what was in the drawers before the other two got to them, shoving it into his robe. Honestly the act of opening drawers was pretty fun.
“Ten,” He knew really why everything was taking so long, but he still didn’t quite enjoy it. It may have been at least 30 minutes that they’ve been going, and they’re only at door ten. John knew it was an exaggeration, but going this slow is something he thinks he’ll never get used to.
The room ahead consisted of many doors, and the three of them quickly cleared out the side rooms, before going through the main door. “Eleven.” The next room didn’t have anything of note. “Twelve.” They rounded a corner while opening drawers. “Thirte- ow.” He saw Tourist snap his eyes shut, looking away. A purple glow leaked out from the next room.
“It’s eyes,” was all he said before entering the room while looking down. They both followed, hugging the wall. “Fourteen.”
“Do you…” Expendable started speaking while they looted drawers. “Know the reasons this hotel has entities? Like is there a reason, or–” Visitor paused, bringing a hand up to his chin.
“I don’t know myself. I know of some things that are connected, but…” Explorer’s gaze trailed downwards. “I’ll have to explain once we get there.”
Expendable’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t press for more. John opened the next door. “Fifteen.” The room didn’t have anything of note either, just a couple of drawers. “Sixteen.” The lights flickered as they entered a room full of closets, how convenient. John immediately went into a closet, while the other two waited until the noise came by.
“Seventeen.” Guest said as they all entered the next room. John did want to ask them why they waited until it was nearing, but he absolutely hated asking people. His pride got in the way of many things. He promised himself that at a point, he would ask. It’s not like not asking would kill him, but his pride will eventually.
“Eighteen.” The room was dark, and Tourist took out his lighter to navigate. John began thinking of his sins as he was forced to slow down and follow.
…Was it selfish of him to immediately use the bandages? The other two were opening drawers, this was a long hallway. He mustn’t fall to greed so quickly. Something sounded like it was creaking. How God would be upset if He had seen. He doesn’t deserve His mercy, and yet He still has faith, just like he does for Him.
“psst.” It was a tiny noise, but both “Sinner” and Expendable paused in their tracks, while Visitor just kept on walking. Suddenly, they all heard its scream. “Yuck…” EXP-R commented, before walking up to the door.
“Nineteen.” The room had paintings lining the walls with instead of a door, a fireplace was in the middle. The paintings did have a weird light outline behind them. “Oh, we just have to match the–”
“Yeah yeah, we’re not stupid.” Expendable picked up a painting, removing another one and placing it so its shape matched the light outline. Ah.
John picked up one as well, exchanging the spot where Tourist had picked up his painting.
“Oh, by the way, why did you keep on moving?” Explorer cocked his head to the side. “When we heard the psst.” Expendable clarified.
“You don't need to stop moving, you just gotta look around and find it.” Guest put up the last painting which moved down the fireplace, revealing door 20. Expendable nodded as the two headed towards the door.
“Twenty.” The lights flickered, albeit a lot shorter than the ones that they’d seen. There weren't any closets in the room either, but there was a side room. “We can just hide in here, just don't be in the way of the door.”
They all crouched behind the desk, but after at least 30 seconds, they didn't hear anything, so John stood up, opening some drawers. Despite him not being able to see Expendable’s eyes, he could feel his gaze.
John just decided to look around–
Oh.
His eyes met with what was definitely an eye, in some sort of black socket. He didn’t know what it was, but for sure it was not Him.
-
Expendable sighed, getting up as well. Mainly because Sinner was staring at something. That guy must have a death wish with how careless he’s been…
He looked towards the wall– Oh what the fuck.
“Visitor what the hell is this.” He could hear Visitor scurry up to his feet, and Sinner stepped aside for him to see.
“Ah, so that’s what it was about.” EXP-R honestly didn’t entirely trust Explorer. It was almost like he was purposely withholding information. “So… How good are you two at running?”
That was ominous. “...Not used to it.” If he was going to have to run, at least there were many beds he could rest on after.
“i run.” Sinner signed. So that’s awesome. Expendable’s probably just gonna die.
“That’s good, okay. For the next few rooms the lights will flicker. If it flicks longer than normal, Rush is nearing,” Guest started opening up drawers. “Once we reach the grand hallway, I’ll explain more. For now, just get used to the eyes.”
They entered the next room, and more eyes blinked open. There was a painting–
This is not a painting.
Those words flooded his mind as he stared at it, almost instantly, taking his eyes off of the image.
Okay, this place was getting eerier by the second.
“Twenty two.” The lights flickered, and the room was a hall filled with doors, with a door locked by a key at the end. They all split up to begin looking for the key, while the eyes just watched their endeavors. EXP-R hated the feeling of being watched, and this may have been the place where nobody was watching, until now.
He found a key, in the second room he was searching in, thank whatever deity was in this place. “I found it!”
EXR-P began to walk towards the door, pulling out the key and trying to unlock the door, before he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him backwards. He looked behind him to see Sinner. “What’s your problem???”
Sinner pointed at the door number. Twenty four. Expendable looked back down at the keys, seeing the number scribbled out. His mouth went to an O shape, before beginning to follow him to the actual door, which turned out to be in a different hallway.
Why did Sinner do that? I mean, he might as well be dead weight at this point. Unless Tourist is insanely good at explaining how to get through the running part, he’s gonna die for sure. Probably just Sinner’s morals.
Guest stood at the door, waiting for Expendable to come and open it. “Twenty three.” Short flickering of lights, there were eyes everywhere across the room. They searched through the drawers, and EXP-R found what looked to be a lockpick? He showed it to Guest.
“Oh, those are really good to have! I usually use them to open up chests more than doors,” EXP-R nodded, unsure if he remembered how to pick locks, but if anything he’ll just have to ask Visitor.
“Twentyy four.” Here it was, a big hallway, with massive windows. Sinner almost began to walk ahead, before Explorer stopped him.
“If you go to the end of the hallway, we will end up starting the chase.” Oh, so we’re being chased by an entity, awesome.
“So, do not look behind you. It will make you anxious. With the first few doors, there will be bookshelves fallen over that you need to crouch under. Then, there’s going to be these octagon shaped rooms. Follow the blue light to the door you need to open. Then, once we reach the final hallway, hands will break the chandeliers, do not touch the hands. They will grab and kill you. If you must, run through the fire from the chandeliers.”
“Okay, okay, woah. What blue light.” Tourist had never mentioned a blue light before.
“Oh, that’s Guiding Light, she likes to help, probably the reason why I’m still alive,” Guest readjusted their satchel. “She leads the way, and also tells me about what I died to when I… Yeah.”
Well that sounds lovely, way better than Sebastion. He turned back to look at Sinner who was… Praying? Good for him, he supposed.
Once he was done, he signed. “ready”
They all began walking to the end of the hallway, before the eyes began to open up all over the walls, and something, vaguely humanoid crawled out of a black sludge, its face only having a singular eye. EXR-P readied himself, and once it began coming at them, Sinner darted off like a rocket. Expendable didn’t have time to process it, beginning to run.
He crawled under the bookshelves for the first two rooms, before they got to the rooms with three doors. “LEFT!” he heard somebody scream, and so he made a left turn, the door already being open. “FORWARD!” His legs were killing him. He crawled underneath a bookshelf. “LEFT!” This suit was not made for running–
He stepped into the final hallway, which he didn’t have much time to observe trying to dodge everything coming his way, pushing himself to go just a little further. Hand on the right, he needed to go left, Hand on the left he needed to– He tripped into the broken chandelier, falling forward into the flames beneath him. The sounds of footsteps neared. Fuck, he was about to die here-
He felt his arm get grabbed by somebody else, as he was dragged forward out of the fire, being forced to move through the searing pain, and before they knew it, they were past the door, looking behind him at the now shut door, having what looked like to be a crescent seal over it, the same crescents that hung off of Visitor’s hat. He collapsed, trying to control his breathing.
He looked up, Explorer had crouched down in front of him looking concerned, while Sinner was standing up, his hands clasped together in prayer once more. Explorer helped EXP-R stand up, while he looked down at himself. His suit remained relatively undamaged, that was a given, but his hands seemed to suffer the most of the damage, having a couple of glass shards wedged into his skin, as well as flesh being inflamed from the fire. Why it wasn’t Urbanshade mandate to wear protective gloves was beyond him.
“Sinner dragged you out of the fire, by the way.” EXP-R just nodded, taking that in. Again, probably had to do with his morals.
-
Tourist sighed, at least they all had made it out alive. “We should probably find a place to rest, we’re gonna need it.” Expendable nodded again, the glass shards in his hands sure like they needed some sort of patching up, but they likely couldn’t reuse the bandages that Sinner was wearing. He had to hope that they found some before they rested. “Should we… Take those out?” Tourist asked.
“And have me leave a trail of blood? I’ll deal with it until we find some proper bandages.” Visitor nodded, deciding not to argue.
“Thirty two,” Dark room, but it wasn't anything of note. “Thirty three,” The lights flickered, and Sinner dashed to the furthest closet. It was a four way room. Both him and Expendable waited in front of a closet going into it once Rush neared. It passed, and the three of them searched the drawers in the dark, albeit Expendable really couldn’t search the drawers properly.
“Thirty four,” Explorer didn’t have to open the door, as Rush had done that for them. The exit was blocked by a gate. “Oh, we have to find a lever in the basement,” The three of them descended down the stairs, opening the door to the cellar. It didn’t take long, probably less than thirty seconds with the three of them looking. The clicking sound of the lever had been heard throughout the room though, and on the way back, Explorer found a smoothie on a counter.
“Expendable,” He said as they all met up at the now open gate. “Drink this.”
Expendable stared at the smoothie. “Dude, are you trying to get me drunk?” Guest’s eyes shifted around, unsure how to respond to the question.
“Not my intention..?”
“I’m supposed to trust you to drink this random drink that’s probably been sitting down there for years.”
“Yeah,” Expendable just stared at him, it must’ve been at least a minute before he let out a huff. He took the drink from Visitor, downing it in front of him.
“Tastes like shit.”
“It’ll help heal your wounds,” Really the smoothie is best for internal pain like having a headache from Eyes (to which he still kind of had, despite not looking at it for that long(but he’d rather give the smoothie to the person that was more hurt)).
“Still, it tastes like how it looks.” Tourist sighed, turning to the door, where Sinner was standing by.
“Thirty five,” The lights flicked as something fell over, but it was too brief for it to be Rush. They opened up the door to the office, Explorer opened up the top compartment of a drawer. Vitamins, cool. He put it into his satchel. They followed him as he crawled through broken glass.
“Thirty six,” Another four way room, well technically it was three way, but Guest counted the way that they came from. They quickly decided to take what was in the drawers, before Guest began standing in front of the correct door, the other two following quickly behind.
“Thirty seven,” Up some stairs, two doors on either side. The unlabeled one led to nothing but a closet. Strange, but he’s already seen it before. “Thirty eight,” Oh, this room would be perfect for rest. Two beds, a couch, and a grandfather clock. The rain and thunder may be a bit distracting, but it didn’t matter. Visitor sat on the couch, motioning for the other two to go ahead and rest. The two sat onto the beds. Expendable seemed to be just looking at his hands. Right, they should probably take the glass out.
Explorer got off the couch, opening up her satchel, grabbing some paper and handing it over for Expendable to loosely clean the wounds. He just looked over at Explorer, before grabbing the papers. Hopefully the smoothie helped ease the pain, the wounds that she had gotten here in the past seemed to not get any sort of infections, which was good. She went back and sat down on the couch, as Expendable seemed to properly lay down.
“You should rest too, Sinner,” She made sure he was conscious of how loud his voice was. Sinner shook his head, motioning for Guest to come over and take the bed instead. “Oh, I can’t. I have to watch the time,” He stared right at him, supposedly to continue. Guest was never the best at reading people…
“When the clock hits 12,” He started. “Dread will spawn. Well, there will be signs before it spawns–” He made the internal note not to get carried away. “–It’ll chase you until you open the next door, which will reset the time back an hour. It makes everything dark too, you won’t be able to use your lights, so it definitely isn’t a nice thing to wake up to.” Sinner nodded, it was weird seeing him giving them his full attention.
“why do you wait”
“...What?”
“rush. you both wait.”
“Oh, the closets?” Sinner nodded. “If you’re in a closet too long, Hide kicks you out. It’s not noticeable now, but it gets faster the further we go.” Actually, both him and Expendable waited, which was odd. To be fair, they had no knowledge of where the other two came from, but it was pretty clear that he wasn’t just following Tourist. Not to mention they seemed desensitized as well, despite never being here. Maybe he’d ask.
“How did you do all of that?” Sinner cocked his head to the side. “The Seek chase.” They had just remembered how Sinner went through the chase, they were pretty sure they had seen the guy jump over one of the bookshelves instead of crawling, and even so he was never really crawling, seemingly sliding under them.
“i run” …Explorer supposed that made sense, nodding. They sat there for a moment, just listening to the clock tick.
“Are you going to rest..?” He decided to ask.
“not used to.” Huh.
“i can watch. you rest.”
…Guest thought for a moment, opening his mouth before closing it soon after.
-
It didn't need to be said, really. But it hung in the air when he didn't respond. John looked away, the sound of the clock still going filling his ears.
It's alright even so. He was sure neither of them trusted each other, John for sure didn’t entirely trust them either. That wasn’t the reason why he wouldn’t rest, however, the main reason being was that he was afraid that he would even wake up when they needed to go. John was a very heavy sleeper, he had known that. They would likely have to leave him behind once he wouldn’t wake up.
The distrust was now another reason, though. Tourist hadn’t been anything but kind, it didn’t seem to be in their nature to leave them to figure the place out on their own. But, even through all of that, they were clearly withholding information. Expendable was a different case, he seemed tough around the edges. Sharp and loud, the opposite to Tourist’s soft and quiet. He also seemed to be the best one at speaking, John was pretty sure if he had tried to find his voice so early, he would likely be too loud. All the other voices he’d heard before were either two loud or at the sounds of whispers, after all.
Expendable also seemed to be the most aware of everything. John didn’t know how to describe it, but he just… Did. Also was definitely the one to trust the two the least. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was still awake.
With the now silence, John began to wonder why he was here once more. Was he wrong? Was this really a test by Him? It may be. Honestly, it felt like each time he helped the others, it didn’t feel genuine of him. He wasn’t helping them out of the goodness of His love, but because it would be mean not to. He didn’t actually like them, but he needed to tolerate at least both of them before he could go back into His grace. Was that really his only goal? To get back to where he once was? To try and get another shot of redemption? He really did not deserve His mercy.
Maybe he should try and learn to see the others more as people. Even so, it was hard to do that when even they didn’t see themselves as people, what they’re called being proof of that. Guest had probably long forgotten their humanity, a cruel fate. He wondered how long he had to be here to know so much about everything and their mannerisms. They did mention that a light guided them, so that must help. He didn’t know much about Expendable, but whatever his uniform is for has likely stripped him of his humanity as well, especially since Expendable was said to be a name given to him by them. He wondered how he even got himself into that situation, working for a company that sees you as anything but a person.
John looked around at the two of them, Visitor seemed to be scribbling something down on an envelope he must’ve picked up, while Expendable laid still on the bed. He put his hands together, as he felt the obligation to pray to Him once more.
-
It had been quiet for a while, EXP-R was really tempted to see what the other two were doing, because they definitely weren’t sleeping. He wasn’t either, to be fair, but to fall asleep in front of two strangers felt ridiculous.
His hands already felt better, which meant wounds here heal way faster than normal. Or maybe it had to do with the drink he had been given? This place was weird. Would he rather go back to the Blacksite? Fuck no; but he didn’t want to spend the rest of his days here either. Explorer hadn’t even elaborated on where “here” even is. This place did not make sense as a hotel at all.
Expendable tried to recall the conversation he was hearing earlier. Well, the one sided conversation. He supposed he couldn’t blame one of them for staying up to keep lookout, even without the knowledge of the entity Tourist described. Oh, and there was something that was in the closets. It probably made Expendable look suspicious, as Tourist didn’t mention it before, but then again, why didn’t they mention it? Did they expect them to know, or did it just slip their mind? He really didn't like their nice demeanor, even if they looked like they meant no harm.
Sinner seemed so different from the both of them. He seemed very focused on getting through quickly at first, before slowing down after Guest told him to. This place didn’t function too differently from how the Blacksite did, so Sinner had to have come from a place similar, right? He did seem as desensitized by everything as EXP-R was, and he definitely wasn’t some random guy. He was fast too, he didn't see him at all during the chase. Then again, the memory of that was fuzzy.
He let out a quiet sigh. Raising his head to look over just– Wait, he could just turn around, it's not like they can see his eyes. He faked rolling over in his sleep, now being able to see the other two.
Sinner was praying, and Visitor was doing something on an envelope, maybe drawing. Alright, nothing interesting. He was tempted to turn back around, but it's not like it would matter if he did. Currently, everybody was in their own little bubble.
He supposed he should keep the silence.
When the clock read forty five past eleven, she got up and shook Expendable awake.
“Eh–” He said as he woke up, before sighing. “Is it time to go?”
Guest nodded, looking towards the next door. Expendable got up and stretched.
“Thirty nine.” The three of them entered the room, the main door being broken. Tourist sighed, prying open a vent. He crawled into it, and checked behind him to see if the other two followed. He emerged from the other side, the main door being in front of them. “Fourty.” Dark room, but not a problem. His lighter was going to end up running out of fuel soon, though…
“psst.” They looked around, nothing. They did hear it scream, so somebody must’ve gotten it away. He climbed up the stairs to the next door. “Fourty one,” boring room, nothing really of note. “Fourty two” A four way room with the side bedrooms that needed a key, lovely. The three of them began looking in drawers for the key, and after a while, he heard something fall over..? Weird sounds weren’t uncommon, but this was a pretty near sound, so he went into the room over to check it out.
He walked into the room which had Sinner, on the ground. He sat up as soon as he saw them in the room, picking up the key from a drawer, albeit he seemed to be more cautious..? Expendable popped his head into the room soon enough. “What the hell happened.”
Sinner stood up, signing with the keys in his hand “bug”.
“Oh, Timothy? He’s just a spider,”
“You named a spider here?”
“He's just as important as the other entities, yes,” The three of them walked towards the door.
“I found a flashlight by the way.” Expendable said while Sinner was unlocking the door, and as to prove that he did, held it up in the air.
“Oh, great!” That came out a bit too sarcastic then she’d meant, but oh well. “Fourty three,” Room that was just a long twisting hallway with mostly broken doors. They looted the side rooms, just more money.
“Fourty four,” The lights flickered, the room just being a standard room with four closets. He noticed Sinner waiting in front of a closet now, that was good. Explorer looked at the door, the shrieking sound and green flooding his– Wait, green?
-
John went into the closet as soon as he could hear the noise nearing, and–
Why was it green? It passed, definitely not being the same entity as Rush. He could still hear its noise, so he stayed within the closet. John didn’t know what to do, wouldn’t it be risky to come out of the closet? But then Hide will kick him out. But that thing was still around. It came back again, and he could still hear it. Something clouded the edges of his vision. He needed to get out. But it was still out there. John could hear his heartbeat as it passed again.
…
He could still hear it. The absolute need to get out clouded his mind, but–
John was thrown out of the closet.
-
…
It passed once more, and EXP-R couldn’t hear it anymore. He got out of the closet, that thing came back like what, four times? He took out his flashlight to see, the next room looked to be dark as well.
“Are- Are you two alive?” He heard Tourist call out, and he flicked his flashlight on.
“I’m here, don’t know where Sinner ran off to.” Guest walked towards him, looking around, before his eyes within the dark seemingly landed on something. He walked towards it, crouching down.
“Oh dear,” EXP-R walked towards him, pointing his flashlight at what he was looking at.
Ah. Sinner’s dead.
“Maybe if you had told us about whatever that thing was this wouldn’t have happened…” Expendable said under his breath, truthfully he didn’t mean for it to slip out.
“I didn’t think we’d get it this early,” Their voice still had that hushed tone, hell, they didn’t even seem shocked by Sinner’s death.
“Wouldn’t it be better to actually tell shit like this to us? I would’ve been dead if I didn’t know how to jump in and out of the closets.” EXP-R was just getting more aggravated. It wasn’t really over Sinner’s death, but more so about how he could be next.
“I know, it’s just–”
“Just what?! Do you just want us off your shoulders??” He interrupted Explorer, now almost shouting.
“I don’t– I don’t want that–”
“So what?! We’re all going to end up–” He was interrupted by the sound of a crunch and a small shout, which was then followed by Visitor hissing. They got up. “...We should go.” EXP-R decided. Visitor held their shoulder, getting up and following him, leaving Sinner’s body behind.
-
It didn’t feel painful, not anymore. This wasn’t the first time he had died, more obviously. The part that somewhat scared him was that he wasn’t sure what happened now that he had died. Would he be just taken back to His grace? Despite him wishing to go back, it did sadden him that he would likely never see those two again. The two intrigued him, and it had been his first interaction with somebody “human” in a while.
He heard something, despite not being able to feel around where he was. A calming guitar, soothing.
“You can open your eyes, you know.” A voice, soft, the same tone that Tourist used. He opened his eyes, looking around. He was floating, a void was beneath him, but once he looked up, a shining blue light filled his vision. The crescent symbol from before admitted it, staying in the center above him.
“Hello Sinner,” It spoke again. “I know this may not be the first time you’ve died, but it is your first time dying in my domain,” He just nodded, not sure what to say.
“You died to Ambush because you couldn’t hide,” So it was named Ambush, interesting. “Ambush and Hide prove to be a tricky duo. Remember; you do not need to hide when Ambush is away!” Ah, okay then, he nodded.
“...Usually, that’s where my speech ends, but I should explain what happens next,” Oh, John had forgotten he had died. “I usually am not capable of doing so, but due to another power I am. You shall be brought back to them.” Oh.
“I know your desire is to be brought back to your own world, no?” He nodded once more. “Im, not really supposed to say much but; This is within His plan for you,” John took that in, slowly nodding.
“I shouldn’t keep you here any longer,” The light began to glow brighter than before. “I wish all of you luck with what’s coming ahead!”
With that, the light filled his vision, as the soft song of the guitar ended.
-
The two of them walked in complete silence, not even the door numbers were said out loud. EXP-R was keeping track in his head, though. Door forty eight required a key, and there was a small side room. Instead of looking for the key, Tourist sat on a chair, shuffling through his satchel. Probably to clean out the bite… Expendable just decided to wait for them, leaning against the wall.
Honestly, if Visitor was just trying to get them off their back, EXP-R couldn’t really blame them. He’d do– No, done the same with newbies. To him, they were deadweight, Somebody that would slow him down and ruin his chance to go free. Visitor had been very generous on what they did tell.
“I didn’t want to overwhelm you guys,” It was soft, he almost didn’t catch it. “I… I realized none of this would be normal to somebody. I’ve been here for, well, a long time. There’s so much going on here, it’d be a lot to dump on somebody.” They looked at EXP-R. “If you really want to know–I’m lost. After we reach a hundred, there’s more. And even if I go back out there, if I’m able to make it back to a home I once had–” They looked away. “–I wouldn’t be able to return to normal. Not after this.” They didn’t seem mad, more so solemn. He processed it all, before letting out a sigh.
“Before I was brought here,” Expendable started. He didn’t want to tell Tourist entirely about Urbanshade, but he would tell them at least about the blacksite. “I was in a similar situation.” Tourist looked back at him. “The best way to describe it–” Here goes nothing. “The people I work for sent me down to an old worksite to retrieve something important, so they can destroy it all afterwards. There’s entities that can hurt and kill you, and then you’ll be brought back to try again. In other words, I’m also in a loop.” That would suffice for an explanation, for now. Expendable walked over, opening up the drawer and grabbing the key. “Get up, the sooner we get past this all, the better.”
Guest stood up, walking over to the next door. He didn’t comment on anything that Expendable had said. “Forty eight,” was said once the door opened. The room wasn’t anything special–
A blue light appeared in the center, taking the form of something human–Before disappearing and leaving…
Oh, Sinner’s alive.
-
Tourist’s mouth slightly opened once he saw Sinner appear out of the light. He waved at them, before looking around, before looking back at the two of them.
“what happened?” He signed.
“After you died we– Actually, could we get an explanation as to how you’re back?” Explorer was curious about it.
“guiding light brought me back” Huh.
“It’s never been able to do that before,” She supposed it was a good thing. Maybe. “We were just… Getting by. Oh, I got bit by Screech, that, also happened,” She didn't want to tell Sinner about the conversation earlier, but the new question did arise, was he also from a place like this? She’d ask sometime, not now though.
“Oh, I just realized that you probably lost all of your gold,” They should’ve probably taken it from the body… Then again, it also would've been weird to have to take off his robe.
Sinner shuffled through his robe before pulling out some gold. Oh.
“So there's no downside to dying?” Expendable chimed in. Sinner shook his head. “less money”
Ah, guess he lost some then. “Also, I don't think Guiding Light would be able to revive us in areas that are full of danger…” Guest really just came up with that thought on a whim, but it did make sense. Expendable hummed in acknowledgement.
“I’ll explain more entities as we go, actually.” They walked forward. “Fourty nine–” Tourist opened the door, pausing as they stepped into the familiar room. “Okay… I’ll have to do it later.” The other two followed into the room.
“What’s this now?” Expendable asked, Sinner was looking around rapidly.
Visitor walked up the stairs to the main desk, opening up some drawers and taking the alarm clock. “This, okay this will be a lot.” He sat in the chair there, while Expendable leaned against the desk, and Sinner was out looking at the bookshelf. “Past that door,” He pointed at it. “Is the library. There’s a singular entity in there, Figure. It’s like… A weird flesh creature. It has bones too. The main point is that it cannot see you, but it has really good hearing. Somehow.” Sinner had walked up to the desk, standing by as well. “So throughout the library, we need to be crouching and silent.”
“Can we use sign to communicate? Since, you know, Sinner already does that.”
Explorer thought for a moment. “It’d have to be quick. Also, there are closets in the library, but I don’t use them as it does bring Figure to you. The trick with figure is to not be scared of it,” Expendable hummed, and Sinner nodded. “So, the door at the end of the library has a big code lock on it. In order to find the code, there are books throughout the library, typically with the crescent symbol. In those books, there’s a shape and a number. Now, at the far left corner of the library, there’s a desk with a paper, which Guiding Light will make glow. It will have five shapes, which correspond to the number next to it. On the back of the page, Guiding Light records the shape and what number it had once you collect books.” Explorer breathed in, letting the other two process the big explanation that he just gave.
“So, the paper… Is there just one?”
“I’m not sure how it works with multiple people,” he admitted. Sinner walked towards him.
“hat” Hat..?
“Oh, you mean these things;” Tourist grabbed one of the strings. “I almost forgot I needed to take them off, I’ve died many times from not doing so…” He began untying them from his hat.
“Wait, when we open that door, won’t it just hear that and come straight for us?”
“Yeah, it does, but Guiding breaks a lamp to the left, so it runs that way. She also seals the exit once we leave like she did with Seek. Oh, and we’ll all need to be at the exit when we enter the code, Figure gets aggravated once the door is open.” Guest stood up, readjusting his satchel. “Are we ready?”
Expendable nodded, but Sinner raised his hands to sign something. “clock.”
“Dread won’t be a problem here,” Sinner shook his head, pointing at Explorer’s hand. Oh, he meant the alarm clock.
“Oh, I forgot. This distracts Figure, but he stays mad for a bit after.” Expendable hummed and Sinner nodded, and all three of them went to stand by the door. Sinner took a moment to pray, putting his hands together. Tourist closed their eyes, saying silent thanks to Guiding Light.
“Ready?”
“Let’s get this over with.” Expendable stated, and Sinner nodded, ready as well.
The doors swung open, and Figure ran straight at them, before turning and running off to the left, its growl still echoing throughout the library. The three silently crouched into the library, before the door silently shut behind them.
Well, here goes nothing.
-
Okay, Tourist’s description of Figure was accurate, but seeing that thing in actuality was unnerving, even for EXP-R. That thing was practically as tall as the bookshelves that were here. The three of them kind of stayed huddled in the corner, waiting for that thing to go further away. It probably wasn’t the best idea to stay huddled, but oh well. Expendable also took in the layout of the library. The middle way was a clear pathway, bookshelves in rows horizontally on either side, stopping earlier on the left however. The desk that Tourist had mentioned was there, and further ahead left there were stairs, likely leading to more bookshelves and the exit.
Guest began to crawl their way around to the left side, Figure’s loud steps seemed far away. Sinner also began to go around the bookshelf, going to the other side, leaving Expendable to… He’d go get the paper, he supposed, it was a far way.
He crawled over to the desk, standing up and picking up a paper. So there were multiple… Figure was very close by, just descending the stairs, so he crouched underneath the desk to hide. He looked over the paper to distract himself. An image explanation was at the top, showing the lock and the books. Good thing they had Visitor to explain it to them…
At the bottom were the shapes, with the number in roman numerals below them. In order, the shapes were circle, rhombus, X, hexagon and triangle. Okay. On the back of the paper on the very top had a crescent symbol, beside it being a ⬠ = 7. Wasn’t useful, and EXP-R had no idea what the crescent had to do with it, but that didn’t matter. He looked up from his position underneath the desk. Figure was off to where he had last seen Sinner, and Visitor was nearing the desk.
Expendable began to traverse over to the stairs, planning to actually do something. Having to move so slowly did annoy him, really. This was pretty cliche, to be quiet in the library. He scanned the bookshelves once he was up the stairs, finding a loose blue book with the familiar crescent symbol on it. Inside was ⬡ = 2, alright, something useful.
He looked back to the stairs, and saw Figure approaching. EXP-R almost froze up, before standing up and sprinting to where the exit door was, going into the nearest closet. Figure’s roar could be heard throughout the library, and Expendable began to try and regulate his breathing and heartbeat, as Figure stalked around. Explorer didn’t mention if it could get you in closets, but honestly there wasn’t anything stopping it from ripping him out of the closet.
Figure got close up to the closet, seemingly inspecting it. The light from what appeared to be its mouth shone through into the inside, and EXP-R held out.
…
It began to walk away, and he waited until he could see it go down the stairs before getting out of the closet. He looked around the top, noticing that there were stairs that lead up to nowhere, as well as a crevice beneath them where they could likely hide. He decided to go underneath them to look at the paper again. The back read:
☾ - ⬠ = 7
✟ - ◻ = 0
☾ - ☆ = 4
✟ - ╳ = 3
⛧ - ⬡ = 2
✟ - △ = 4
Okay, so the code was something something three two four. EXP-R also noticed that the symbols at the start were who had gotten the books, each symbol being somewhere on their outfit. Man, he did not like being represented by Urbanshade’s symbol, but oh well, he can’t do shit about it.
The last two books were probably up here, as there were more bookshelves on the other side from which he had come up from. Guest seemed to be on his way upstairs, so Expendable decided to go to the other side to look for books.
He went out once, scanning the bookshelves, before hearing Figure nearing, to which then he retreated. He did see a loose book, so that’s what he headed for when Figure had left. ◯ = 1 was what the book had inside, one left to go. He held back a sigh, knowing that Figure would likely somehow hear it. Speaking of, it was nearing again, so he retreated back to his “safe” spot. EXP-R couldn’t imagine how long this takes with only one person, at least with the searchlights they weren’t necessarily attracted to you…
He watched Figure go back downstairs, so he went back around to look at another bookshelf, to where he saw a loose book, hopefully the last one they needed… He grabbed the book and opened it as he crawled back to the “safe” spot. ◇ = 4.
Okay, they had the code, and Expendable couldn’t be more grateful to leave. This place smelt of old paper and rot, it reeked of rot. The main problem now would be to get everybody at the door to open the lock. If on queue, Tourist poked his head out of the other side underneath the stairs, and EXP-R motioned for him to come over. Once they were both in the same place, Expendable, to the best of his abilities, attempted to sign “sinner?”
Visitor looked out of the little he could see of the downstairs, before whispering “I don’t know,” Oh, he could whisper as Figure wasn’t nearby, right.
“Is he dead?” He whispered back, making sure that the sounds of Figure’s footsteps weren't nearing.
“No, it makes a specific sound once it gets you,” Okay, okay… Looking back out downstairs, Figure appeared to be walking back and forth between the stairs, but never going fully upstairs. If Sinner was still down near the side that EXP-R had last seen him, then there wouldn’t really be a comfortable window to which Sinner could get up and escape. Great…
-
John sat there, trying to plan out his next move. The other two were already most certainly up the stairs at the door, and he somewhat expected them to just open it and leave him behind. He could likely outrun Figure, but John didn’t even know if the other two had gotten all the books, there likely still could be a book by his side that he hasn’t found yet.
John could also just die again, but he didn’t like the prospect of that. What if Guiding Light randomly decided they could only come back once? She didn’t seem like that kind of person(?), but it was still possible…
He peaked out behind the bookshelves to see if the other two were up there. Conveniently, he saw Visitor right out in the middle of the upstairs, looking around. They locked eyes for a moment, and Visitor crawled back, probably to safety, John also decided to move backwards, Figure was still stomping about.
When Figure was nearing their side, he decided to peak out of his hiding to see what was going on. This time Expendable was where Visitor was last, and he was standing for whatever reason. He raised his hand up, holding… Something? John couldn’t make it out from here. Was he about to–
To finish John’s thought, a loud thud was heard to his left. Figure immediately rushed over to the noise, Expendable had thrown something over there. John slowly began to crawl out of his hiding spot, before Figure seemed to get disinterested in the area, moving away from it. He pretty much froze once he heard Figure begin to walk again, he was definitely about to get found–
The area then began ringing. Oh, Expendable threw the clock that Guest had… Figure immediately went back to that area, stomping on the alarm clock, so John took that as his opportunity to run. He stood up, dashing up the stairs and over to the door, where the other two were already trying to unlock it.
“Fuck–” He heard Expendable mutter as the lock didn’t open, Guest looked back behind John, as the clock stopped ringing. Expendable was still trying at the lock, but then they ran back into a crevice underneath the stairs, tugging him and Expendable away from the door.
“What’s the-” Explorer covered his mouth, and they all could hear Figure’s rapid footsteps coming upstairs.
It came near, and the three of them froze. It passed right by them, the sound of it stomping was deafening. It took a bit, but it passed by again. The three of them still didn’t move. It came near there again.
And then Figure stopped.
It stood there, the light from its mouth illuminating around as it scanned the area. John could tell all three of them stopped breathing.
…
The light shone on them.
And then it turned away.
They could hear its steps go further and further away. They all loosened up, since when was it so cramped..? Tourist was the first to go up to the door, Expendable and John followed suit.
The other two put their notes on the floor, one side having the shapes that were needed to be in order, the other being the books they’ve collected. Guest held up the lock, as Expendable looked down at the papers.
“One,” he whispered, and Visitor turned the number. “Four, three, two,” John could hear Figure’s steps nearing. “Four.”
The lock clicked open, and Explorer pushed the door so it opened outward. In the next moment, all three of them ran through the door. It shut once all three of them were through, and Guiding Light had sealed it. They could hear Figure’s growling from behind the door.
Expendable let out a breath. “Okay.”
“That went… Well, actually,” Tourist began taking their charms out of their satchel. “I wasn’t expecting all of us to make it out…”
“Well, at least we don’t have to do shit like that again. I hated that.” Guest looked at Expendabele when they said that, their expression turning into a flat line. “...We won’t have to do something like that again, right?”
“Door one hundred…” They started, looking away. “We have to deal with Figure again, in a more cramped space.” Expendable’s shoulders slumped. “Oh, and there’s a second seek encounter, it won't involve crouching under stuff, though,”
He walked towards door 52. “That’s all for the reoccurring encounters,” He opened up the door. “Expendable, do you mind keeping note of the doors as we go through?”
“Sure.” He muttered.
-
“So, one entity we’re now also guaranteed to encounter is Halt in the Dining Hall. It’s a bit tricky to get the hang of, but it’ll be behind you, before telling you to turn around to which it will appear in front of you,”
EXP-R listened while grabbing some left over gold on a table. They opened door 53. “Are there any other… Rush variants?” He almost said Angler variants…
“Oh, the green one is called Ambush, and– Well, I don’t need to explain it…” Expendable just made a sound of acknowledgement. Sinner was currently waiting by the door, probably done looking at things.
“There’s this… Child, I guess? That’ll appear out of windows and hurt you if you don’t give it an item. It’s name is Sally.” That sounded fun. Door 54.
“Actually, Halt can spawn a bit earlier… I’m pretty sure they're guaranteed at least once, though,” This room was interesting, having unavailable elevators, and they needed to walk down some stairs in order to get to door 55.
The room for 55 had the immediate door blocked off, and a… Arrow sign with “HUMaNZ” printed across it. It pointed into another hallway, and Visitor just followed through that way. “Halt actually had a different room once I came into this place, things just seem to evolve sometimes, it can be odd–”
Expendable grabbed their collar. “What’s with the signs.”
“Oh, it’s to the shop,” EXP-R let go and they continued to walk, the hall continued to have the arrow signs, as well as having fairy lights above? Fairy lights had to be one of the last things he expected to see in this place…
It did lead to door 56, to which Tourist opened eagerly.
"Hello! Hello, Hello! Visitors! Eheeheehee!” An orange thing? Some sort of creature; said as they came into the room. It was sat at a table, alongside a hat wearing skeleton, who looked to have better days.
Somehow something Expendable didn't immediately notice was the music playing. In the other side of the room, there was a sign that read “JeFF ꙄHOP” above this… Okay, he could only compare it to some sort of voidmass in the wall. Once Visitor approached, it laid an array of items down onto the crates, its eyes curving upwards.
The three of them gathered around the shop to look at the items. A key with a skull on it, some sort of pill container, a lockpick, and a cross. “Is there anything in particular you guys want?” Guest asked. Almost immediately after saying that, Sinner pointed down at the cross.
“We should probably pool all of our money…” They walked over to a golden plate near the left. “You guys can put down your gold there, I’m just gonna organize myself,” They began grabbing things out of their satchel, and EXP-R pulled out the gold from his seemingly endless pockets. He placed his share of gold on the plate, and Sinner did the same. After a bit of rustling, Explorer put their money onto the plate as well.
945 total.
-
“Oh, that’s good,” She said, readjusting her satchel. They’d be able to buy both items.
“Do you mind telling us what the items do before we get them?”
Visitor nodded. “The skeleton key lets you open doors with a skull on them, vitamins make you go faster, lockpicks pick locks, and the crucifix allows you to get rid of an entity. Not permanently, but it seals them away for a bit,” Expendable made a sound of confirmation. “Well, she can’t seal away Seek and Figure, but it stuns them.”
“Oh, it’s from Guiding Light?”
“Pretty much all the help here is from Guiding.” Jeff looked over at them. “And Jeff. He helps too.” They then began gathering all the money to buy the stuff they wanted. “Another pair of lockpicks won’t hurt, right? Actually, I already have vitamins.”
Expendable shrugged, so he bought the items. Really, he was hoping for another light source, but oh well. He handed the crucifix over to Sinner, and the lockpicks over to Expendable, keeping the skeleton key and the remaining gold to himself.
“Thank you,” They said to Jeff as they walked away. The other two didn’t seem to take much interest in El Goblino and Bob, it wasn’t really necessary to learn about the two anyway. Tourist’s been here long enough to the point that El Goblino has repeated everything, likely running out of things to say.
Looking over at the other two, Sinner was praying again, and Expendable was just leaning against a wall. He’ll wait a bit before going forward, this place was where he typically took a break, after all.
…
They walked up to SInner, waiting until his eyes were open to ask what they wanted to. “Do you come from a place similar to this?”
Sinner stared down at them, before doing a half and half hand motion. Explorer nodded, about to walk away, before he raised his hands.
“multiple deaths is inevitable where i come from”
Visitor made a humming noise, before walking over to the door. They looked back at the room, Sinner began waiting at the door with them, and Expendable looked up, starting to move seeing the other two at the door.
“Fifty seven,” they said as the opened the next door, looking behind themself to see Jeff wave goodbye. It was just a standard rectangular room, a window on the left with pouring rain.
The thing that was different, was the door.
Sleek and metal. It wasn’t like anything they’d seen before. It had a glowing sign next to it, saying 100. They looked back at the other two, Sinner seemed to be confused as well, while Expendable’s face was flat.
“Fuck.” Was all Expendable said, letting out a sigh.
-
He was going to have to go back to the Blacksite. Awesome, great, even. And he also had to go through with two others. Not that they couldn’t hold their own weight, but holy fuck, he hated the times that Urbanshade sent down another person to “help”.
At least those people stayed dead. Well, actually… EXP-R wasn’t sure if they’d be brought back too.
“Okay,” He let out a breath. “This door, is from where I was before I was randomly brought here.” Expendable walked up to it.
Please don’t prove my thoughts right…
He opened it.
And on the other side were sleek metal walls, pipes lining the room. The Hadal Blacksite.
“Look you two,” He started, turning back to the others. “I really hate the idea of bringing you two along with me.” Not that he really hated them, the most was dislike.
“I would stay back here but,” Guest looked back behind him. “I don’t think there’s any way for me to…”
EXP-R hummed in acknowledgement, before sighing again. Wordlessly, he walked forward. The other two followed from behind.
“Welcome to the Hadal Blacksite.”