NARES - Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 – Mayhem

[10:32 - Theater Room]
The large screen had been playing the records of the guests’ and staffs’ daily lives when the newly formed duo entered, and edwardsdv was taken aback at first, but he quickly regained his composure. He looked around and found what he was looking for: the control panel for the room. He began to tinker it a bit. While watching him, Pirateking2000 spoke.

Pirate: So now that we’re here, what’s your idea?

Edward: Quite simple, really. I’ll just turn the volume up a bit. People would come in to check, and then we’ll ambush them.

Pirate: Makes sense, but it sounds a bit...risky.

Edward: That’s what makes it fun, don’t you agree?

Pirate: Ha, fine for me.

Edward: ..done! Here, put these headphones on. After that, can you keep guard on the door leading to the Gallery? I’ll watch the other one.

Edward passed a pair of headphones to Pirate and put on another set. Edward mouthed ‘ready?’, and Pirate nodded. Edward moved the volume slider up and the sound coming through the speakers became louder than anything he ever heard before, as if the headphones weren’t working. He walked towards the door and leaned against the wall next to it. Pirate did the same on the opposite side of the room.

Now they play the waiting game...

===
[10:36 – Computer Room]
The noise didn’t seem to cease. It pierced through their headphones into their eardrums and even further in. Jeffrey typed a new line under their previous conversation.

Jeffrey: [I’ll investigate the source of the noise. Don’t eat seafood, I think it has been tampered with. If you get into trouble, let’s meet up again. Any of you going with me?]

Kazbar looked at Jeffrey and shrugged.

Kazbar: [Okay]

Then, the investigation team looked at masterplum. His fingers danced on the keyboard and his answer began to form on the monitor.

Plum: [I’ll leave it to you guys. I’ll keep looking into the files, it was protected so there must be something valuable. Be careful.]

Without another word, Emporer_Kazbar and JeffreyRaze left the computer room towards the source of the noise. Masterplum opened the file for cody11533…
===
[10:34 – The Chapel]

The awkwardness that followed after Natwaf_akidna’s death made the chapel’s atmosphere thick.

Kirby: What should we do now?

Cody: Well, seeing Bigwig’s wounded, he’ll need medical attention.

Bigwig: Please don’t worry about me, I will manage...

But both Kirby and Cody could hear that Bigwig’s voice was hoarse and weak; his face pale and covered with sweat.

Cody: That won’t do. We’ll have to treat you if we want to win.

Bigwig: But...we would be in a disadvantage if we don’t act...

Cody: Then I’ll look for more information. The computer room would be a good starting point, I think. I’ll leave Bigwig to your care, Kirby.

Kirby: Of course, of course. I will do my best, he’ll feel better in no time at all! Now—

Suddenly, a loud noise came from somewhere above them. It was indistinct, but it certainly didn’t sound like music or an announcement.

Bigwig: What could that be?

Cody: I’ll try to find out. Let’s meet again at the dining room in about one hour.
===
[10:33 – Raka’s Room]
GenesisSaga’s hand was already turning the knob when she stopped. She turned to face the small group in Raka’s room, and she looked at resistance_pro and muddersmilk.

Genesis: Before we enter the room, I think someone should keep watch on them, just in case. Actually, I’ll do it.

Milk: Do what you want.

Machete: Then I’ll open it.

Machete stepped forward to take Genesis’ previous place. He put his hand on the knob and took a deep breath. He opened the door with caution...

The security room was a brightly-lit and professional-looking; about a dozen small monitors were stacked on a corner, showing different parts of the mansion. Next to them was what looked like a control panel with many buttons and several knobs. On the floor in front of the control panel were two office chairs.

However, the most peculiar thing in the room had to be the enormous creature loungingin the middle of the room. It looked at the visitors with its dark, beady eyes and let out a deep moo. Machete looked back with wary.

Machete: A-An elk?! What is it doing here?

Milk: I didn’t know that elks moo...

Machete: I’ll take a closer look...

Genesis: Be careful! It might be a trap!

Moving slowly to avoid enraging the elk, Machete walked to the control panel, while keeping his sight on the elk. XIII followed him closely. Meanwhile, Resistance and Milk lingered in front of the door, with Genesis watching them from Raka’s room.

Milk: Psst, Resistance. Do you want to team up? It seems like they don’t trust us.

Resistance: ...good idea. Very well, let us work together.

Genesis heard their little exchange but decided against saying anything; it was rather predictable after all. All of a sudden, a loud noise blasted through the walls, startling everyone. The elk must have heard it too, since it stood up and mooed loudly. ImTheMacheteGuy and XIII_rocks stopped on their tracks.

Machete: Easy, boy...

But the elk wasn’t in mood of taking it easy, as it suddenly charged headfirst towards Machete. Machete threw himself onto the floor and dodged the antlers. The elk, however, hit the control panel. The force was too great for the control panel – it was ripped open, exposing the circuits and wirings. The elk wasn’t too pleased being caught in the jumple of wires and it tried to shake them off from its antlers, reaking even more parts of the control panel.

Machete: Oh s***!

XIII: Meep.

As the scene unfolded, Milk, Resistance, and Genesis moved away from the ensuing chaos. Milk, either out of reflect or otherwise, closed the door behind him. The door clicked and the light on the lock device turned red.

Genesis: What the hell did you do?! Now they’re trapped!

Resistance: Not only them, actually.

Genesis: What do you...oh, damn.

Genesis realized her situation – separated from her teammates, she was alone in Raka’s room with resistance_pro and muddersmilk. The two of them looked at Genesis, and at her puny replica katana. Resistance quickly positioned himself between Genesis and the door leading to the hallway.

Milk: Well, lady, looks like the table’s turned.

===
[10:34 – Grand Foyer]

Nio looked at the fallen remains of the chandelier, a long, white, and fluttery tablecloth tied around her neck as a makeshift cape. She hadn’t found anyone on her way here, what a shame. She had been longing to give someone – anyone – a bad hair day. Just fantasizing about the ruffled mess she could make on someone’s head, and how they would be begging for mercy made Nio feel funny. She bit her lower lip in ecstasy. That old butler would be a great victim, as he had his hair combed neatly…a futile effort to make himself look pure and innocent, no doubt. But when Nio did her job, she would expose for the dirty man he was.

Nio let out a small, silent moan. Her body was burning solely from her imagination.

Then, she heard an unexpected, blaring noise from the second floor. Nio wiped her sweat and grinned.

Nio: [Found you!]

===

 [10:36 – Theater Room]

The conversations and background noises of the record playing on the big screen had become impossible to recognize, distorted by the magnitude of its volume. Both Pirateking2000 and edwardsdv stayed still, waiting for their chance.,,

Then it came, as the door Pirateking2000 guarded – the one from the Gallery – swung open. The one who opened it was a woman with black hair, with a hairdryer in one hand and a letter opener in the other. She was grinning happily, as if she had found the nest of her prey. She barely had time to react as Pirate quickly thrusted his ceremonial dagger into the side of her stomach.

The dagger easily pierced into Nio’s flesh. She gasped and swung the hairdryer in her left hand – I hit Pirate’s temple. Pirate staggered, his dagger still lodged in Nio. Nio grinned, despite blood that began to seep out of her fresh wound. Pirateking2000 no longer had his weapon, while Nio still had two. She quickly moved to slash at Pirate with her letter opener. The blade grazed Pirate’s neck, but it wasn’t deep. Before Nio could go for another slash, Pirate karate chopped Nio’s right wrist and made her drop the letter opener.

Nio instantly moved the hairdryer to her dominant hand to get a better grip. She swung the hairdryer straight onto Pirate’s head, powered by surge of adrenaline...but Pirate saw right through it, catching her hand with his own right hand. Pirate swiftly reached his hand and pulled his dagger from Nio’s stomach and stabbed it again, and again, and again. Nio retaliated by stabbing her index and middle finger into Pirate’s eyes. Pirate closed his eyes just in time, but his left hand stopped midway into another stab and he dropped his dagger. Pirate’s left hand gripped Nio’s to prevent her from further eye-poking. With both of their hands occupied, Nio and Pirate were in a deadlock for a moment. Nio lifted her right leg, and before Pirate could react, she kicked Pirate’s groin as strong as she could. Pirate’s scream was loud enough to be heard even with the audio still blaring. Pirate pushed Nio’s away before he fell to the floor…

Edwardsdv had been watching the battle without leaving his spot, as he had thought Pirate could manage Nio by his own. However, Pirate’s current position was disadvantageous, and he started to sprint across the room to help him.

When edwardsdv was only halfway through the lines of seats, the door swung open.
===
[10:41 – Theater Room]

Emporer_Kazbar and JeffreyRaze entered the room. To their left was Pirateking2000, writhing on the floor in pain. To their right was Niorapth, her left side bleeding horribly. A couple meters in front of them was edwardsdv, looking at them with surprise. And the loud noise was louder than ever.

The newcomers were at loss of what to do.
===
[10:38 – Computer Room]

When he had been looking through the files, masterplum remembered a simple trick – perhaps there were hidden files inside the locked folder. He changed the settings, and voila, there were 21 files, labelled ‘[Person’s name] – Special Notes’.

He clicked twice to open cody11533’s special notes – the file he had read earlier didn’t contain anything special either – and his eyes widened with shock at the content. According to the file, Cody had killed a man before. He was an attendant to the bar Cody previously worked at. He drank too much one night, and he started a fight. Cody disposed the body by hiding it to a deserted, vacant house.

The police didn’t even know about it, as there was a copy of the police’s missing person report embedded inside the file.

Apparently, the owner of this mansion, Raka, could find things even the police couldn’t. Plum’s heart raced – did Raka find about his secret too? It should have been impossible, there was no witness. Still, just to be safe…he was about to open his hidden file when the door leading to the hall opened. A man, his face as pale as a ghost, walked weakly into the room.

Cody: Please…help me…I was stung…there were scorpions and tarantulas…
===
[10:38 – Waiters’ Quarters]

The waiters’ quarters were in a mess, as if there was a fight in there. Kirbydamasta and Bigwig_rah carefully inspected the place, but they didn’t find anyone. Therefore, they proceeded to treat Bigwig’s wound with the first-aid kit from the middle room.

Bigwig removed his jacket and shirt, exposing the multiple wounds made by Natwaf’s broken glass wine on his back.

Kirby: I’m going to disinfect it, please bear with it.

Bigwig: Ah, please don’t worry about me.

Kirby opened the bottle labelled alcohol and applied it to a sheet of clean cloth. He slowly put the cloth onto Bigwig’s wound…and he screamed and stood straight. He removed the cloth roughly, and the skin touched by the cloth had dissolved, exposing pink colored flesh.

Bigwig: What did you do?!

Kirby: I…I was just trying to help you! The content must have been switched.

Bigwig: You demon!

Bigwig picked up the bottle filled with battery acid and splashed the content onto Kirby’s face. Kirby screamed out in agony as the acid burnt and dissolved his face, twisting his features into an unrecognizable mess of flesh. He struggled wildly, trying to wipe off the acid from his face, but it only picked off pieces of melting flesh from his face. He continued to writhe around for a few minutes before he finally stopped, dropping dead to the floor. Bigwig watched the scene with cold gaze. He might have made a wrong choice, as he wasn’t thinking clearly. Alas, it was too late to do anything.

===
!Dead!:
21st: Catastrophy – Blown up from a bomb-book while being drunk.
20th: jdizzy – Shot in the forehead by a samurai
19th: bbbtime – Couldn’t bear being suffocated with a giant teddy bear
18th: Orochimaru_Fan – Got caught in a trap that flung him into a coffin and covered him in hot wax.
17th: metalsluggg – Bashed in the head with a blunt weapon, then had his neck slashed
16th: Mega Mana – Stabbed through the chest with Edward’s sword, then eaten alive by a tiger.
15th: Natwaf_akidna – Bashed in the head with a candelabrum
14th: Kirbydamasta – Acid to the face

Status:
Niorapth – Recovering from poison, lost her voice, heavily bleeding from stomach.
Pirateking2000 – Writhing in pain due to Nio’s kick to the nads.
Edwardsdv – Treated abdominal hemorrhage from B.B.’s sword.
Bigwig_rah – Bleeding and chemical burn from the back.
cody11533 – Poisoned from multiple scorpion stings and tarantula bites.

Healthy:
Everybody else.

Whereabouts:
Edwardsdv, Pirateking2000, Niorapth, Emporer_Kazbar, JeffreyRaze: Theater Room, 2F
Bigwig_rah: Waiters’ Quarters, B1
GenesisSaga, resistance_pro, muddersmilk: Raka’s Room, 2F
XIII_rocks, ImTheMacheteGuy: Security Room, 2F
Cody11533, masterplum: Computer Room, 2F