Kristoff lay on his bed as people all around were trying to sleep in various places. What a messy situation this was. He didn't feel well at all. He was holding a small photograph containing a picture of a young girl. He stared at it forlornly as the room fell into silence. He didn't feel...well.....

Clutching his head with a sigh he continued to look down. He looked at his wrist thoughtfully before somebody spoke up.

"Who's that?" Said Ari smiling.

Kristoff fell silent before speaking quietly.

"Her name is Melissa. My daughter..."

Ari frowned. "You've left her out there man? Seems a bit harsh ya know."

Kristoff shook his head.

"She's not out there. Not anymore."

He looked up at Ari's puzzled expression.

"A monster killed her."

Ari took an awkward step back.

"Whoa...sorry man..."

Kristoff clutched his stomach reflexively and leaped off the bed.

"Excuse me." He said bluntly, nudging Ari out of the way. Roth stirred as he looked over at the departed figure. He got to his feet as everybody in the room sat up to attention.

As Kristoff reached the door a figure appeared. It was Vernon. His cape had turned black and he was wearing some kind of fake crown. With a triumphant smile he stepped forth.

"Hark it is I! The one you called Vernon was a lie! A mask. My true face is revealed. It is I, Rito, cousin of Frosti. And I am here to lead you all. Now follow me and yo.."

Kristoff barged past him and stormed out into the corridor, almost knocking him over.

Snarling, Vernon Rito charged out after him.

"Nobody makes a mockery of Rito!" He demanded. Roth moved out as the rest of the group milled past the angry caped man. He snarled and followed suit.

Boc looked puzzled.

"Where's Bryce?" He asked cautiously.

Rito began to speak as a loud horrific yelling noise drew everybody's attention. They dashed to the end of the corridor back into the main cargo area where Kristoff was stood facing a wall. He withdrew a knife from his pocket. Turning to the group with reddened eyes he hissed as they reflexively assumed defensive positions.

"What the hell is happening?" Helios demanded. "I knew that guy was fishy."

"Just don't interfere!" Roth insisted.

Kristoff took the knife and sliced his wrist. Some of the onlookers winced as blood splattered to the floor. He reached down onto his wrist and took some blood on his thumb as he began to paint a message on the wall.

Rito climbed out of the corridor and snuck over to grab a large metallic pipe from the floor. He crept up behind Kristoff and with all his strength he swung.

"NO DON'T!" Roth yelled.

Kristoff slumped to the ground as the blood drained out of his wrist. Pulling himself upright, he snarled. His eyes were now blood-red and his mannerisms primal. He picked up the fallen metal bar and began swinging wildly with it. Rito dived back with a yell and dashed behind the group.

"Why did you do that?!" Roth demanded.

Rito snarled. "He was going all crazy and shit. I was protecting everybody! I just want to protect the group!"

Roth stood in front of everybody and began chanting something under his breath. As he did the beast swung and caught what seemed to be a tall, unfinished statue of a serviceman. Looking upright as everybody dashed away, Patrick swallowed nervously to see the statue crumble and crush him whole.

The beast continued to swing as Roth grabbed Patrick's pack.

"Back to the medical bay!"

"We'll be trapped!" Yelled Waka.

Roth shook his head. "I know a way out."

The group dashed back to the medical bay as they each grabbed their collective things. Slamming the door shut, they could hear the figure stalking down the corridor. They probably didn't have much time. Roth stood upright.

"We need to get out of here. I know another exit which I think wi-"

As he spoke, Henry tackled him to the ground.

"Now listen to me for a change mmkay?!" Henry snarled.

"You drive us here on your fuckin' bus through shadows, you make us run circles to open up this place, you lead your batshit crazy buddy out there along for the ride and you expect us to follow again?! No dice. I'm stayin' here, nahmsayin?!"

Roth picked himself up somewhat weakly.

"This wouldn't have happened if you'd just let him be."

Helios snarled.

"Well forgive us for not thinking a giant were-beast writing stuff in his own blood was a threat. I know we're supposed to have access to this wealth of knowledge like you do, but we don't. Also how are you a demon slayer exactly? So far you've slain precisely zero."

Roth sighed.

"If I get to my church, I have some things that can help us deal with him."

Natalie coughed.

"He told me to shoot him. I'm not overly fond of the thought but...he did ask."

Roth shook his head.

"It's no good now. He meant before his transformation. Once that happens his strength becomes unstoppable and he loses all control. It really isn't his fault..."

Boc sat down on the floor and emptied Patrick's pack.

"RIP Patrick...I guess (: " He added.

"So why not just go to your holy place first, why come here and cage the beast in with us?"

Roth sighed.

"He can control it a little if he does that ritual with the painting. It's not really...desirable but it works. I didn't think it would be a problem. And besides, we needed this place secured. If the shades got here first we'd be in trouble."

Helios glared again.

"Shadows did get here first. They're screwing with us, remember?"

Roth nodded.

"Right. But I'm talking vast armies. I'm talking the assault on the bus times fifty. I'm talking about an unstoppable army of darkness which is near infinite in size."

There was a murmuring.

"How could we stop that anyway?" Asked Dutchiee.

Roth shook his head. "We couldn't. But there's a bunker under the base that we can use. I wanted us to stock up on supplies before going down there. Once we enter, we probably won't come back up for a long time."

Then he punched the floor uncharacteristically.

"But it's all wrong. There should've been more stuff here. It's not how I remembered it. My memory is failing me as an old man. Things are just....everything is so confused...I need to get my things together on territory I know."

He stood upright.

"There's another exit I know of. We can take it through the forest behind the base and it'll lead us to my home village where my church is. Inside the church I can find something to help with our problem. In the meantime, this place should be secured."

"It's dangerous, but there's a vault not too far away that serves as an armoury. It might be possible to bait Kristoff into it. For now get your things together and make a decision. You can stay here or come with me."

He looked around at the nervous faces.

"Nobody has to stay. It's completely your call. It'll be dangerous if you do. At this point danger is lurking all around. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful...I'm sorry that....I'm sorry that all this had to happen."

Sitting down forlornly he looked over at the group.

"When you're ready tell me your move. Maybe it's time I stopped trying to lead...it always goes so badly."

Objectives:
- Choose whether you want to stay and bait Kristoff into a trap, potentially securing the base, or choose if you want to follow Roth to his church. Vote ##Stay or ##Leave to make your decision.

Items:
Key

##claims the key

As for the choice, the completely meta option is to follow the NPC that is controlled by the hostie, because the hostie wouldn't put his NPC in danger, would he? >_>

*thinks about my NPCs*

*shudders*

BTW, the key is Key #8 from last phase.

Smell you later, Patrick.

Any idea which key you got, Helios?

I also agree that leaving is probably the smarter immediate option. However, if we successfully trap Kristoff, I could see that making things much easier for us in the final showdown. Kristoff may have information which he'll only reveal out of Roth's presence, or there might be something useful in the armoury. Plus, I'm not exactly comfortable about the idea of hiding out in the bunker with a psychotic unkillable Kristoff lurking around above us.

Roth/Paul, are we splitting the group, or is it an "everybody goes or everybody stays" type of situation?

A split. You can choose to all stay, choose to all go or split down the middle. How you play it is your call.

I am down with either option.

I think I'd like to volunteer staying at the very least.

tbh I'm leaning towards staying too, but I'll wait to see what others have to say

Anyone have the numbers we have so far from the compartments?

Helios Garabandia @ 12/9/2012 22:05

BTW, the key is Key #8 from last phase.

Might as well pass that over to Henry, because there's no way he's passing his #8 key to you (:

Although maybe we should make sure Henry wasn't silenced first

Helios - opened 4 - etched number 5
Boc - opened 5 - etched number 9
Rob - opened 6 - etched number 0
Natalie - opened 7 - etched number 7

da faq kristoff.

TBH I think it could benefit us to stay also, something about trotting through a forest unsettles me. But that being said, it could be pretty dangerous to stick around with kristoff around, losing more members to immediate danger is risky in regards to the final showdown; we want as money numbers as possible.

I do think it is important we try and stick together again tho.

Can we have some verification of what happend with bryce and vernon?? where is bryce?

PS. Roth did you get my key? was that an acceptable action? Did we determine who had the other 9 key ?

PSS. so patrick was modkilled ?

Dutchiee @ 12/9/2012 23:25

da faq kristoff. TBH I think it could benefit us to stay also, something about trotting through a forest unsettles me. But that being said, it could be pretty dangerous to stick around with kristoff around, losing more members to immediate danger is risky in regards to the final showdown; we want as money numbers as possible. I do think it is important we try and stick together again tho. Can we have some verification of what happend with bryce and vernon?? where is bryce? PS. Roth did you get my key? was that an acceptable action? Did we determine who had the other 9 key ? PSS. so patrick was modkilled ?

It doesn't really matter TOO much who dies before the final showdown, their votes up to the point they died will still count. They just won't be able to update their list. So it wouldn't be great, but it wouldn't be devastating either. And scum dying would be good anyway

Roth didn't get the key because he's NPC. We still don't know who has the other 9. Somehow #2 and #9 are unaccounted for, yet Drr's is the only one we still don't know I believe