arsarcana | final investigation

[Don't worry, Baldr, if you look in the tub you'll see there's a ring of dirt around the bottom. :) Remember, Hubert caught him in the nude a couple weeks ago.

And speaking of... Technically, behind this door should just be the boiler room.

So then why's it so dark in here?]

Edited 2022-05-13 02:52 (UTC)

[HMM DON'T LIKE THIS AT ALL. He's going to tighten his grip on his sword hilt as he takes a cautious step inside and lets his eyes adjust to the lack of light.

So, uh, what's he about to find in here ~~even though the player already knows~~?]

[The first thing is that the room is hot. The kind of burnt dust, overclocked computer type of hot.

The room appears to be empty, but then it's hard to tell when the only light comes from a couple of dim red bulbs that do nothing but stain the shadows blood red.

As Baldr approaches the center of the room, cautiously holding his sword...

Crrrrrunch. Baldr steps on something glass.

The only other sounds in the room are the background rattle of the boiler, some low, staggered breathing...

And the sound of liquid, dripping onto the floor.]

[... ohhhh this is not good at all. And he's got enough sense to realize that this is something he probably shouldn't approach alone for a multitude of reasons, so...]

Felix-san! Nuadha-sama! Orthrus-san! I need you in here!

[And in the meantime, he's going to bend down to get a better look at whatever glass he just stepped on.]

[ Orthrus was already heading in there after following the smell but at Baldr's shout he quickly shifts back into his humanoid form and runs the rest of the way in. ]

What is it?!

[He holds up a hand in a "shh" gesture once Orthrus gets close enough.]

Listen... do you hear that?

[Mei trails behind, still holding the supplies. She pauses and sets them down carefully, hand going to her sword.]

If you hear it too, then it isn't the blood-dripping ghost again. Should we call out?

Huh...?

[ he listens closely ]

...Who's there? Heisenberg...?

[As Baldr's eyes adjust to the near-darkness, he goes to scoop up what it was that he stepped on.

His fingers come back wet and sticky, as he picks up a pair of familiar round sunglasses.]

[Above and in front of them, something grits out a croaking sound, and what now reveals itself to be a tangled mass of twisted cables, wires, and metal shifts just slightly in agony. And bound with his arms outstretched in the center, nearly consumed by it, hangs Karl Heisenberg.

Wires and cables creep under his skin, he's been stripped down to his undershirt and his usual hat is gone. Blood drips from the corner of his cracked lips and down the shaft of the spike of metal that pierces all the way through his body.

The whites of his eyes are bloodshot and he seems barely able to focus. A droplet of blood runs down his cheek from the corner of his eye when he sees the three of them.]

[Mei gasps and covers her mouth with both of her hands.]

We need to get him down from there!

[ Oh fucking HELL

He sucks in a deep breath, his hand going to his mouth ]

Oh great mother goddess... was that...

[ The punishment for helping him? ]

Edited 2022-05-13 03:44 (UTC)

Heisenberg-san!

[His hand is off the sword hilt instantly as he shifts into command mode.]

Mei-san, see if you can find what these wires are connected to. Orthrus-san, be ready to help catch him once we find a way to get him down. Quickly!

[As for himself... well... Hubert and Felix have both taught him a few things, haven't they...?]

R-Right, of course...!

[ Getting ready to do so now! ]

Right!

[She runs up and starts trying to inspect the wires for an end point and way to get them out.]

We don't want to pull them out until we know why they're there...

[Unfortunately, Heisenberg is in no state to tell them that right now. But suspended like that, it's going to be difficult to get any sort of healing magic up there...

... time to improvise. With the wind magic he learned from Hubert and Felix's Faith magic, he's just going to combine the two to create a healing storm of sorts. Hopefully it will be able to go up high enough to have at least some effect.]

[The wires are such a teeming tangle that it's hard to find where any of them end, but it looks like they just run into the floor, through the drain in the floor in case the boiler leaks.

As they move to help him, he heaves a groan and strains against the wires. Copper isn't magnetic, but at a high enough magnetic force it can be repelled.

As the wires begin to withdraw, however, the pain is too much and Heisenberg gasps in pain, then coughs up more blood and keens in agony as the wires slither back in.

The ceiling, luckily, isn't so high in here that they can't reach him at all, just high enough that he can be suspended off the floor without his head touching the ceiling. So Baldr's healing storm swirls around him, ruffling his greasy hair and bringing a little bit more focus to his eyes.]

[Okay, that's a start... he's just going to keep that up a few more times to see if he can get Heisenberg to a point of coherency.]

Heisenberg-san... how do we get you out of this?

I don't know if we can cut him down... Or if we get him to that point again, then heal him to full, then he won't get pierced again, right?

[ Orthrus watches Baldr try to heal Heisenberg and it beginning to work and thinks for a moment, before scrambling to grab his harp off his back.

And starts to play the Song of Revivify ]

[The healing magic from Baldr is helping, Heisenberg's groans becoming something that sounds more human than beast, anyway.

But when Orthrus begins to play, is when they can almost see the moment that his mind comes back.

Once again he uses his power to create a magnetic field around himself. The magnetic metal in the room, including the boiler, shudders and groans, and the wires, repelled, begin to snake out of him. He grunts in pain, but the healing magic is healing the wounds before the wires can snake back in.]

Get me. The fuck. Out of here.

[He growls through bloodied, gritted teeth. It takes a few minutes of this pushing and pulling, using his magnetic field to push out the wires the way that they came.

But as the wires begin to leave him, they snake down the drain, shrinking like a great pile of worms and slowly lowering Heisenberg toward the ground.

Once his arms are free he lets out a scream and rips out the metal pole that speared him through. As the last of the wires slithers away, he falls to his knees, bloodied and trembling.]

[Mei casts Heal for good measure and runs up to offer Heisenberg a hand.]

Heisenberg-san! We're going to get you out of here. How long have you been stuck?

[ Orthrus drops the harp and then tries to help as much as he can once Heisenberg falls. He gets on his knees as well and quickly rummages through his pockets, before finding and holding out one of the healing potions Hubert left for him. ]

Here-- one of Hubert's potions.

[Baldr has been on enough battlefields to know that the most dangerous part is when the weapon that's been skewering someone comes out, so the moment Heisenberg pulls that pole out, he's immediately launching into another round of healing to try to seal that wound up before it can bleed too much.

This... is really the best he can do here, but hopefully it will be enough.]

[Heisenberg sucks in a breath when Baldr's healing seals over the wound in his side.

He stays on the floor, spits a mouthful of blood, and then looks up at his rescuers, blood in his teeth.]

...Figured it... Might be a long shot.

Edited 2022-05-13 21:29 (UTC)

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cw: labored breathing

cw: labored breathing

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1/2

2/2 CW: labored breathing CW: Gigeresque body horror, wires

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cw: labored breathing, coughing up blood

cw: labored breathing, coughing up blood

cw all that impalement

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cw: labored breathing cw: gigeresque body horror and wires

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cw: all that stuff that's been in the thread up till now

cw: all that stuff that's been in the thread up till now