[PCA] UNIVERSAL CONSTANTS

[skinstealer]

A deafening crash comes from up ahead, Maes freezing in her tracks and collapsing her cane as quietly as possible. She moves quickly but with very little sound as she attaches the aid to her hip, the cane snapping onto the belt found there.

MAES: Sounds like we're close.
MAES: Don’t let me lose that.
CHARON: I won’t.
CHARON: The horror’s not in view yet, but stay on guard regardless.

 

Charon takes the lead.




[image description: an image of a morbitian horror hanging from the corner of a room, made up of pitch black, amorphous tendrils. it has one scribbly eye and what appears to be an open maw. the background is made up of of a collage of text files.]

The chamber ahead is decently open spaced, long-since empty glass tubes lining the wall. Judging from the thickness of the material, they aren't meant to hold standard substances.

The most notable feature of the room, however, is a spindly, many-legged horror, impossibly dark and stretching itself along the walls. It has to be around eight feet tall, and seems to be occupied in fussing with hanging wires.

MAES: Is it there?
CHARON: Yes.
MAES: Describe it.

 

Charon keeps his voice somewhat low.

CHARON: It's in front of us, quite large, many limbs.
MAES: Where is it in relation to us?

 

The two of them have some distance between their position and the wall sporting the horror, who appears content to tug and tear at the electrical cables hanging loose.

CHARON: Decently ahead, it's messing with power cables.
CHARON: I could approach it to help you get a good gauge of its positioning.
 

Maes nods.  

MAES: Call out if it notices you.
MAES: I'd rather be aware of it than be caught off guard.
 

Charon walks up to it very slowly, keeping enough distance just enough to safely duck out should its attention be drawn toward him.

The horror doesn't turn, but some of the bristles on its back seem to change its silhouette ever so slightly- possibly just enough to be a trick of the eye.

After all, it’s still messing with cables, tilting its head and nipping at them, only to hiss when it gets shocked.

CHARON: I'm going to bait it away from the cables so we can take it down safely.
CHARON: Be ready.

 

Maes gets into a fighting stance, holding her sword at the ready.

MAES: One word signals. Be communicative.
CHARON: Baiting.

 

Charon lets out a sudden crackling noise from his gauntlet to try and call its attention. The bristles on the horror’s back spike out, the creature tilting its head all the way around to face him with a low hiss.

CHARON: I’m noticed.

 

He starts pacing backward, continuing to let the gauntlet spark. The horror focuses its attention on the sparks, starting to move its many legs off of the wall and stretching them down onto the floor, approaching curiously.

MAES: Call.
CHARON: Approaching.

 

Charon stops at a midpoint, away from the wall and close enough for Maes to be able to engage with it the moment he makes the call. The horror cranes its neck in closer, seeming to extend beyond what length it looked to be earlier- it looks like it wants the sparks, filled with the same attention it had to the wires.

Charon reaches out toward it with an electrified gauntlet.

CHARON: Interacting.

 

The horror opens its mouth just slightly, not going in for a bite so much as a slight nip.

CHARON: Striking.

 

He discharges the gauntlet as it gets in proximity, a very quick, close-ranged jolt. Maes takes the opportunity to charge forward as the horror reels back with a shriek.