Fourth Investigation

[bathymetric]

It's hard to tell that - of if - the motive has passed. The radios are the same, there are no missing powers, the day begins like any other. But there's something heavy hanging over you, the knowledge that, well... it's Friday. And unpleasant things happen in New Rapture on Fridays.

While we would love to say it's remotely quiet and peaceful, we can't. Helios Suites and the grounds around them are body-free, at least, but... there's a series of booming noises coming from somewhere else in New Rapture, echoing through the empty halls.

Looks like the game is afoot, citizens.

Comments

[inaclearing]

[Holy shit!

Brett was on his way to the restaurant to feed Blake Bortles, but at that, he turns and bolts out of the hotel. This time, he doesn't call for help - others must have heard that too, right? He just goes to see what's happened - exiting first into Apollo Alley. He remembers those fireworks.

.........Blake Bortles waddles on behind him!]

[onemillion]

[It sure would be nice if no one's dead, but that sure is ominous!! Maybe something in the theme park's making that noise, so Rossiu's going to head out that way.]

[bathymetric]

[ That's a good instinct, Brett. The booming gets louder the farther into Apollo Alley he gets. He'll run into Rossiu, and if he follows him into the theme park, he'll find they get louder still! ]

[capreelcious]

[ Floyd wants to check out what's up with Mercury Mile! ]

[fuckingguy]

The fuck was that?

[ After the Mafuyu incident, out of respect to half the teen girl squad cheating death, Nandor has stayed the fuck in Suite 1 for the night! That said, the second the noises wake him, he's running to Suite 3 to bang on the door and see if everyone's in there! This does not merit a mod response! He's selfish!! ]

[inaclearing]

Rossiu!

[Brett is also running out in this direction! Nothing to really contribute, just panic!]

cw: breathing difficulties potentially

[bathymetric]

[ Let's consolidate, since the theme park is definitely the right choice, and it's immediately obvious.

From the fireworks booming in the middle of the park. Looks like someone set up a show for everyone...even though they can't go off very high. A thin layer of smoke may make it a little difficult for you guys to breathe.

It doesn't look like there's anyone around, though. ]

[onemillion]

Brett.

[Same thought, huh..... That talk earlier this week likely has us both paranoid. But hopefully it's just paranoia, right???]

Come on, let's see what's making that noise.

[As usual, he is doing his best to seem unaffected but you can practically see the (unsure) here.]

[bathymetric]

[ Interesting! It's away from the booming, so that could be good, could be bad. Where do you want to look in Mercury Mile? ]

[honeyedtea]

[ After an anxiety inducing silence, it's Mielle who wrenches the door open and promptly gives him a look of immense irritation. ]

Must you make all those noise so early? Mafuyu is resting. How is she supposed to recover with all this booming and banging of yours?

cw: breathing difficulties

[onemillion]

[Oh cool, off to a fantastic start. The fireworks must have been set off somewhat recently... and they likely can't last for long, right? So maybe this is to try to make it impossible to investigate...??

Anyway, he's going to cover his nose and mouth with the bottom of his coat and hope that'll help a bit but... yeah ugh, this is not great!! He's going to go check out ??? first to see if there's anyone in here but he's anticipating needing to go further in...]

[capreelcious]

[ Yeah! The art of misdirection and all that possibly could be at play here. Hmmm... maybe the Department Store first? It's pretty big! ]

cw: breathing difficulties

[inaclearing]

[Brett coughs a little, pulling up his shirt to cover his mouth and nose. His eyes are watering, and not only from smoke - his heart's already racing, and his breathing probably wouldn't be steady anyway. Earlier in their time here, this kind of panic might not already be creeping up on him, but now? Now, he knows.]

We can't get close while they're still going off...

[He follows Rossiu to the garage, rather than separate. Maybe it'd be wiser to cover more ground, but...]

cw: breathing difficulties

[onemillion]

Come on, let's take a look in these two first.

[He means Swimmin' and ???, that will maybe give us some time before the fireworks die down...?? It'll definitely be easier to breathe here and that will help.]

[specialyellthing]

[Zinda's been trying to make breakfast for the kids and hild -- but when the banging started, she turned off the stove. It's the only thing that slowed her down enough to still be in the suite.

She ignores Mielle's lecture, squeezing past her and out the door, a gun in each hand.]

Lock the door and stay here, Goldie!

[fuckingguy]

That was not me. [ ... ] I mean, except for the banging just now. Something has happened, and someone is probably dead again, and is Zinda inside, please?!

[honeyedtea]

It wasn't–?!

[ oh nvm zinda just schwooping past, we're good ]

[howveryglib]

[aw shit here we go again. Time to get the personal space reminder and a sword and head to the—-oh. Hm.]

…

Let me double back a moment and get my helmet.

[it’ll be helpful!!]

cw breathing difficulties cont

[buriedstar]

[ Coming up a bit behind them is Seo Dawon. As soon as he sees the smoke he takes his suit jacket off to hold in front of his face, in an effort to afford him some metric of clean air and vision. ]

There's a penguin back there. [ Someone think of the penguin because it prolly shouldn't do smoke either. ] Can you see anything?

[honeyedtea]

While you run off into danger? – and where were you keeping those guns?!

[sastruga]

...Did... something happen again?

[teenager who just woke up joins the party. and oh, Zinda's... rushing out? what the heck]

cw: breathing difficulties

[inaclearing]

[No worries Blake Bortles is probably lost in the Founder's Hall or something]

[onemillion]

Thank you, Gaius, but please be careful.

[You probably won't die to fireworks, but you will definitely get some vuln stacks.]

[fuckingguy]

[ oh, thank god, he thinks like a selfish prick ]

It is probably coming from the amusement park.

[ AND HE'S RUNNING OFF WITH HIS VENDING MACHINE SWORD ]

[bathymetric]

[ Hello, little group. They'll notice as they approach that the smoke gets heavier. In fact, as the door opens, smoke billows out from a source that becomes very obvious, that being a still burning fire, centralized in the middle of the storage area and quietly burning the maintenance supplies for the rides.

The fire isn't out of control...but it is definitely not burning down. ]