Vampire Bats In The Belfry

[etcircenses]

Who| Those who dare stop the ringing
What| The bells, bells, bells, bells, bells...
Where| The catacombs.
When| Monday and on...
Warnings/Notes| Possible violence. Please warn for more in headers. Please see the sign ups for this event here.

In the depths of the catacombs with the rot and the rats, one tunnel leads on. Axes swing down from the walls and stones crumble upon those who are too slow. Bats take bites out of Tributes and the Rats also. Poisonous spiders slip down from the ceiling and some tunnels split off into pitfalls of water.

Eventually after so long walking further down into the dark, some small bit of natural light peeks through for those who've made it through. Light from above illuminates a spiralling staircase. Up the stairs is a new room, one which Tributes would not have been able to reach before. Out of the dark they can now see the stone door that had blocked the way before. The windows are high and barred but the bells sway even higher behind the bars of a locked jail.

Within the room several things have been scattered:

-A locked chest on the first side with a carved in mockingjay, jabberjay, and eagle with wings all spread. Each bird can be pressed, but only a specific pattern will open it and only at set time-- the completion of the puzzle.

-A basin and several soaked pieces of clothing within. Underneath this clothing is a red dot.

-A grate full of water with holes big enough to allow an arm through; inside is a key kept afloat by a bob though just too far to reach.

-Several barrels, one marked with a red dot. On lifting the lid, torn pages of Hamlet with numbers written in the top corners can be found. Only small parts of it are not blackened by ink or mould.

-Twelve ropes in six sections on the other side of the jail. Each rope must be pulled a set number of times. When done correctly, the bells will quiet. From it a paper featuring the letters 'E', 'J', and 'M' will fall.

The Hamlet pages show the following:

1. GHOST I am thy father's spirit, Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night And for the day confined to fast in fires Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combinèd locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. But this eternal blazon must not be To ears of flesh and blood. -Act 1 Scene 2

2. HAMLET The spirit that I have seen May be the devil: and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds More relative than this. The play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King. -Act 2 Scene 2 3. HAMLET O good Horatio, I’ll take the ghost’s word for a thousand pound. Didst perceive? -Act 3 Scene 2 4. GHOST Mark me. HAMLET I will. -Act 1 Scene 5

5. HAMLET That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once. -Act 5 Scene 1 6. GHOST If thou hast any sound or use of voice, Speak to me. If there be any good thing to be done That may to thee do ease and grace to me, Speak to me. If thou art privy to thy country’s fate, Which happily foreknowing may avoid, Oh, speak! Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, Speak of it. Stay and speak! -Act 1 Scene 1

Tributes will need to use their wit to solve the puzzle. Not only that, but they will need to do so while fighting their way through the bats that fly in and out through the windows, biting at them as they go. However, once the bells cease ringing, so too do the bats immediately settle. Not only that but they will find within that chest a ton of in-arena treasures such as food rations, water, a med-kit, and ear-plugs. Multiple rooms just like this exist in the catacombs where they hadn't before which means multiple people can take a shot at the puzzle though whether they succeed is down to their perspicacity and, of course, their luck.

Comments

For Zed

[justoutrunyou]

This had to be one of the stupidest things she'd done in a long time.

Somehow almost every arena had one of these moments where she risked her life foolishly with hopes of some kind of reward that would see her through to the end of the arena. And usually she came up wanting. Sometimes it worked but most often this was the sort of thing that got her hurt or worse.

Swallowing hard as she delved into the darkness she decided if there was ever a better time to use her stone form and risk a backfire it was when she was surging deep into the darkest depths of a rat and spider filled hell. It had been hard enough avoiding sickness and disease up till this point and she didn't intend on living out the rest of her arena in a fevered state.

Bracing herself she felt the familiar comfort of her skin and hair hardening, spreading to her cheap knight costume making her look actually somewhat formidable despite her size. Her tabbard fluttered faintly over stone coated fabric and as expected a ball of flame appeared over her head alerting all to her location.

Sandy had hoped that perhaps given she was underground the flame's light wouldn't travel far, but it was far enough that she wouldn't be tripping over anything.

One second...two seconds.

Nothing.

Just as Sandy dared to breath a sigh of relief, faint splashing from up ahead warned her of something coming, something fast! It was barely audible over the bells booming outside but the echoing of the stone chambers brought it to her ears.

In the narrow tunnel Sandy only had two options, stand and fight or flee back the way she came up into the night and hope there were no other tributes behind her.

Raising her crossbow Sandy's eyes narrowed. Maybe if she was lucky she could catch this thing in the eyes like she had with the purple tribute...

However as the creature drew closer Sandy was confronted not by a pair of eyes, but by hundreds!!!

A swarm of rats had bundled together as tall as she was and were rolling towards her in a constant writhing mob of diseased teeth and claws. She let out a startled cry and loosed a bolt into the mass of muddy, greasy fur. It vanished without even a squeak of a landed hit.

Would her stone skin be enough to power through this blob of plague and feral rodents?

[whydoyoushine]

The hideously bright sunlight outside meant that Zed was scrambling to find a dark place to hide. It was making everyone suffer, true, but it was making him suffer a little more. He might not like being so sensitive to the light, but he wasn't stupid. If he wanted to survive, he needed to stay indoors.

The catacombs had seemed sensible enough, but then the incessant ringing and the bats were driving him out...until he saw the Tribute that had killed Gritta. Between him and the rodents, well...she didn't stand a chance. "Hey!" He's running towards her now, murder in his eyes, and the area around him goes dark, cloaking him in blackness.

The ceiling of the catacombs collapses a bit in response, but the darkness dodges.

[justoutrunyou]

The shout was Sandy's only warning that doom was coming for her and she whirled about to see it charging down the corridor at her. The rumbling of the walls and dust falling from the ceiling unfortunately didn't seem to deter the rats OR Zed.

Killing the purple tribute had been an accident really. A startled and paranoid girl who's aim was just a little too good after so many months of training. But Sandy wasn't about to lay down and die in apology. She had run from this figure once before, she did not have that luxury this time.

Bringing up her cross bow she took aim and loosed a bolt at him. She figured given his speed she'd have time for one shot...maybe two before either he, or the wave of rats crashed over her. She began to walk backwards towards the wave of rats trusting in her stone skin to keep her protected.

[whydoyoushine]

The purple tribute that Sandy had killed was Zed's, and he's a possessive cuss when it comes down to it. Understanding the motivations of others had never been something he was good at.

In this form, Zed was stronger, faster. He swung his sword blade up and swatted that bolt away. It slowed his progress, true, but he was still coming for her.

[justoutrunyou]

"Oh shit."

Sandy had fought for her life before. She had even killed before, but she'd never fought someone this angry.

In desperation she dug her hands deep into the swarm of rats around her and scooped up three or four flinging them for his face as a distraction while she reloaded while still shuffling backwards down the corridor kicking more rats towards him. Maybe he might slip on a squished rat or something. She was getting desperate.

[whydoyoushine]

Oh, no. She wasn't going to get away that easily. Zed reached out for her, and as he reached, the darkness itself reached out at her. There was a pulse as he tried to knock her off her feet with that wave of darkness.

Using his powers meant that a very, very large amount of rats came crashing after him, forcing him to slow down for a moment to dispatch them with his sword.

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy had never been hit by a wave of darkness. As she went soaring backwards down the tunnel and heard the crunch of her stone body landing on more rats and breaking their little rat skeletons she reflected that it hurt a surprising amount. The sort of hurt that lingered in her skin and bones and made breathing hard.

Starring up at the ceiling she was winded and found her muscles didn't want to respond. She forced them into action with a groan and felt her cement coated hands slipping in rat guts making her shudder. The blow had left her stunned and disoriented.

Bayard, Maxwell and Tabris

[yoknapatawpha]

He knows that Maxwell, Cullen and Tabris are concerned about his well-being, thinking he's been traumatized by the Cornucopia, and so he does his best to act as if it hasn't affected him. That's easy enough to brush aside, but when the voices start up each day something in him changes. All his effort to continue surviving in the Arena as normal seems to evaporate, and he'll go lay down at their camp for the hour or so until the calls stop, eyes shut and arms around his ears, responsive only to the worst prodding.

Other than that, he doesn't seem to act as if they're fighting for their lives. He collects wood, hunts, hides supplies up a tree so it's less likely to be gotten by animals, and ventures into the abandoned buildings to retrieve any item that might be useful. By now they've collected a cache of cured fish and a sizable set of rations that Bayard snuck away from the banquet the night before, banking on his speed and the other Tributes' hesitation to hurt a child.

The bats at night, however, have become a problem. The first night everyone manages to take shelter, but by Thursday it's clear something must be done. They're running through their medical supplies with treating the ugly bites they leave. A bite over Bayard's eyebrow has left part of his forehead swollen and red.

When the bells start tonight, he gets up from where he's making a rope trap and taps at Maxwell's elbow."We ought to do something about it."

[dreadinquisitor]

Still pale, still a bit weary after a bite that had seen him waking up that morning in a damp pool of his own blood, it took Maxwell a moment to clear his head enough to reason out just what Bayard was suggesting when the boy turned up at his elbow. Frowning, he turned to stare at the castle in the distance, looming large on the horizon, towers piercing at the darkening sky like spears.

"...Are the bells the cause, or the signal?" he murmured thoughtfully, by way of reply. If it was the former -- bells that could be run, could also be silenced. He touched the fresh wound, now dry and caked at the base of his head, idly. "Can't be any worse to find out than just waiting here."

Gingerly, he started to get up.

[allyorfoe]

"It sure beats sitting here doing nothing." Tabris added, idly adjusting a few bandages. The bats hadn't been too much of a problem after the first few nights for her camp--Any bat that drank from the Wardens soon learned their lesson. It'd taken a bit for the bats to realize anyone trying anything on their particular group would die before too long. The only shame was that the animals couldn't be eaten. Tainted animals were no good, and instead, she'd stuck them out in the field, hoping that the predators there would take the bait.

Knowing that the other group didn't have the advantage of tainted blood--Not too much of an advantage, but at least that whatever bats did it would end up dead--she'd stopped by with medical supplies to lend a hand.

She leaned against a tree, the warhammer that Dorian had given her leaning against her leg, ready to be picked up at a moment's notice. "It's certainly more likely to be effective, at least. I'm up for it. It'll be fun." She reached down, and grabbed the weapon. If anyone doubted that such an eccentric elf was the Hero of Ferelden, they only needed to see the way she wielded the large hammer, taking it with one hand and hefting it onto her shoulder. "Batting them out of the air? Sounds like a game. Let me see how far I can hit them. Betcha I can clear a hundred feet."

[yoknapatawpha]

"I think they're the cause. With the church we built in Jefferson, if you ring the bells then all these birds fly out. I reckon it's the same idea here." Bayard chews at his knuckle, squinting a bit to try and relieve tension from the swollen bite on his head.

"I won't go without you, but my say is that we go investigate it, at the least. If those bats are biting us they must be eating up everyone else alive too, and we don't have all our friends and allies in our two camps yet." Despite the fact that he's so easily fallen into the role of being a child to Maxwell and Tabris, since hearing the voices in the woods he's spoken up a bit more as well, with that same even-tempered, calm consideration he has with anything important enough.

[dreadinquisitor]

Back up on his feet, Maxwell felt a little better, a little sharper, and he gave his head just a gentle shake to clear it further.

"I agree, Bayard. And if the bells have already chased them out for tonight, we shouldn't have any many to worry about inside." He looked out toward the castle, dark shapes dotted against the sky like freckles - growing smaller as they fanned out across the arena.

Looking for tributes, hunting for fresh blood.

"I say we get a small pack together and head out now while they're busy. With any luck we can be back before the night's done."

[allyorfoe]

"Excellent!" Tabris straightened up, and grabbed her hammer, looking pumped and ready. Fighting she could handle a lot better than all these other tricks that the Capitol kept pulling on them. "Let's just....break the bells. Just hit them hard enough, I bet they could snap in two!"

She looked around the camp, then looked at Bayard, mouth pressing into a thin line. It was tempting to tell him that he had to stay there, that he couldn't fight. But...this should be safe. And if Tabris never let him do anything besides huddle away from the bad things...He'd never be prepared for them if they came and she wasn't there.

This would probably be safe enough. The bats were gone.

"Alright. Bayard, do you have a weapon? Who else should come with us?"

Lilah-mun decided to sit this one out.

[yoknapatawpha]

"I've a knife. Maybe we ought to go with just the three of us? I reckon I'm small enough that I can dodge under any bats that start to come from the ceilings." He picks at the scab on his head from the earlier bite. It's a vain and foolish idea, but he can't imagine there's much else to pin their hopes on but his speed, Tabris' gumption and her and Maxwell's skills.

Without waiting for agreement, he starts to head towards the sound.

"We needn't even break them, just take the tongues out. Of the bells, that is, I bet that'd take us a long time if we did it to each individual bat." It's a gory thought and not one Bayard's particularly keen on. "Come on now, before the bats return!"

Nitou | OTA

[infinitemayonnaise]

Nitou didn't have too much in the way of weapons, but he was going to go check out the catacombs anyway. He was carrying a big rock he thought he could use to smash things with, surely that would be enough.

The traps--the axes and the crumbling ceilings--didn't bother him. He was an archaeologist. He'd been in all sorts of interesting ancient ruins. He'd seen this sort of thing before. But he couldn't prepare for so many bats. There were so very many bats.

Oh, sure, there was yelling and noise as he tried to fight them off, but in the end, there were too much for him. Anyone in the area when the bats left his drained corpse would see a flash of gold light as a large black lionish creature emerge from Nitou's body--and promptly eat it.

Chimera stretched and walked down the hall of the catacombs, looking for somewhere to sleep off his meal--or perhaps find another one. The catacombs were too small for him to move very comfortably, and it was a tight squeeze once he found a doorway to emerge from. But maybe he'd find a little fun before the Capitol decided to shut that fun down and magically take him away...not that he was aware of that inevitable outcome.

[wizardplease]

It hadn't sat well with him to leave Nitou to go off and try and stop that blasted ringing while he huddled somewhere and tried to let it all pass, and so he didn't. In a way. While his rival insisted on taking the path to the catacombs that seemed most likely to pay off, Haruto swore he'd scout elsewhere. And he did, before he needed to stop and catch his breath and pull himself back together.

It was when canons started to go off that he started to worry. They could just be a death somewhere else in the arena. That could be it. But he needed to know for sure that his friend was alright... so he hauled his aching, limping, addled self back the way he came. And at the end of this difficult walk was something that he absolutely did not want to see.

"...Chimera!" Nitou must be dead. And now this monster's out. Without even thinking about what he's doing, Haruto brings his sword about and readies himself for a fight.

It's a moment after he does this that he realizes that the enormous Phantom has only half-emerged from the underground.

[infinitemayonnaise]

"The Ring-Bearing Wizard." Oh, Chimera knew that tiny human, all right. He wriggles some more in the doorway, trying to get unstuck. The sight of the sword doesn't seem to bother the monster, who is more concerned with the fact that his giant monster butt remains stuck in a stone doorway that is now groaning with the strain. "Why don't you let that Dragon of yours out so I can have a little snack?"

Apparently, he is not too concerned about the size of his butt that he would pass up such a wonderful meal.

[wizardplease]

It's not very comforting, that Chimera is stuck halfway in and halfway out. It might not stay that way long, and.... and Nitou can't be dead, can he? Maybe he found a way to let the thing out? He'd done it by destroying his belt, right? He grips his sword tighter and tries to steady himself.

But before he can demand to know if Nitou's alright, Chimera is asking that. He grimaces, narrows his eyes, and blurts out an indigant "...No!" And then there's a little vague sword-swinging in the oversized Phantom's direction. "There are bigger things going on than just your appetite!"

`I would LIKE to see him TRY and devour me....`

"...also, Dragon thinks that you couldn't actually do it."

[infinitemayonnaise]

"I don't know," Chimera says, wriggling against that doorway some more, "my appetite's pretty big."

The big monster laughs at that second comment. "Dragon's an overconfident fool." Which is a fine overconfident thing to say. "That will make eating him all the more satisfying." Is he supposed to be worried about that sword-swinging? He's not at all worried about that sword-swinging.

[wizardplease]

"So's your rear." You have to joke, or you might get upset. There will be time for being upset later, when he is not staring down a hungry phantom and not entirely sure that his friend is dead. Another waggle of the sword is given.

"So where's Nitou? What happened?" He has to know for sure. He won't be able to stand it if he doesn't know for sure. And once he knows that, then... well, he'll figure it out from there.

Re: Nitou | OTA

[steepled]

The arena gets more and more dangerous as the week goes by to the point where there's a small fear in the back of Vivi's mind that a fire would suddenly break out and consume him again like last time. He hadn't encountered flames since the first week, but there had been other dangers that occasionally causes separation from him and his group. It had been wolves this time, chasing Vivi down with him intending to escape into the castle (to which he, Rick, and Daryl had been avoiding), but the catacombs was the first entrance he saw, so he runs in and keeps going until his pursuers relented.

There is nothing pleasant about the catacombs, but it's preferable to what could be prowling around outside right now...he thinks.

Scared, but not willing to just sit down and let his fears get to him, he wanders deeper down the hall, the flame held over his head serving as a reminder of his status as a mage. It's difficult to remember that magic, a tool of defense that he always had, is something of a last resort now that he has learned of the consequences of using them. He hopes he shouldn't have to.

With nothing but a flashlight and a small knife in his hands, he continues forward until he's well deep into the catacombs. He freezes at the sound of a scream down the hall - belonging to a familiar voice but he's not sure if he heard correctly...either way, someone was in trouble! The concern become a sudden burst of courage for Vivi as he runs ahead, flashlight shining ahead just in time to see the creature consume the nice man that showed him around the Capitol on his bicycle.

N-no!

"Nitou!"

[infinitemayonnaise]

"Kousuke Nitou is gone." The shout catches Chimera's attention, and the monster turns in the direction of that voice. If Vivi hadn't been any sort of mage, attracting Chimera's attention might have been much safer for him. As things were now...

"Well, what are you?" Chimera's studying Vivi carefully. "Dessert?"

[steepled]

Time isn't going to allow Vivi to ask just what this thing was, but he doesn't feel like he needs to. His options run thin as he resist the urge to drop the flashlight to ready a spell, but the consequences of using his powers keeps him from casting.

This isn't good. And time is against him still as he has to choose between dealing with a pack of hungry wolves or one hungry...monster thing. It wouldn't be his first time dealing with either one.

Vivi backs away, keeping one foot behind him to give him the quick spring back should he take it.

"H-how could you..."

[infinitemayonnaise]

If the monster is supposed to step back and question his life choices at that question, he doesn't. He tilts his head to one side, carefully studying Vivi. "It's simple--he didn't feed me. And as per our bargain, I ate him."

Nothing personal, strange dessert-looking kid. Just business.

[steepled]

Vivi doesn't understand but he doesn't feel the need to know the details because all he can conclude is that Nitou is gone and he was too late to help. The mage takes another step back, his feet feeling like jelly the second it hits the ground.

He had seen Zidane do impossible things with two daggers, but there's only so much he could do with just this one folding knife. So he fully turns around and makes a mad dash in the opposite direction - quietly apologizing to Nitou for not being able to do anything.

Even with his magic, he feels useless.