Laura and Sofia reach the bottom last - the witch had slowed down in order to plan with her distinguished elder.
"You don't like this rushing about, I take it?" she casually asks.
"You've got that right," the clairvoyant murmurs, "Laura, this is a terrible way of doing things. Seriously, they're all just barrelling off like lemmings or some shit. Ughh."
They glance around the room - already completely vacant. "By the way, what was up with flinging my drugs back onto the shelf?"
"I um...there've been some things-"
"Yo, ladies!" Judas calls from downstairs, "Let's get a move on here!"
Sofia answers the summons, faster than necessary. Laura grabs what little is left in her room - including the hollow Geometry book - and follows, shutting the door behind her. For once in her life, she was glad to leave it; something about the empty space seemed...sinister. Probably nothing, of course.
The pair join Judas and Louisa at the bottom, still wary of their pace but nonetheless willing to begin the work ahead. Kyle's group has already begun their journey to Lisa's place; this leaves the other foursome to rob Judas and Sofia's houses.
"First stop - my place," the brawler declares as they walk, "I've got an entire armory in the basement, and right now I'm hurting for a weapon."
"You can't just stick with your fists? They're kind of overpowered, Judas," the princess counters, twirling her pan absentmindedly.
Laura flips her Messer. "She has a point. Would be nice to have a pistol, though."
"I at least want some gloves," he murmurs. He stays quiet for the next few minutes, giving the group time to mess with their inventory screens as they carried on.
Team Twins' House, meanwhile, blasts its way through another goblin barricade, lightning and sand-streams jointly sundering wooden walls. Carson takes point, launching Lightning Strikes with reckless precision; Lisa and Kyle combine forces to Putrefy the rabble, restricted only by their focus; Jack stays to the back and sets a pair of Dust Devils on the unsuspecting colonizers. In no time at all, the resistance is crushed, and the group moves on.
Several more of these groups occupy the party, to the point that Carson begins to run out of steam, but at last they reach the roughshod circular entrance into the twins' house. The speedster leans against the door, only to fall to the floor as it pushes gently open.
"They're already in? This sucks something awful," the sorceress mutters, rifle at the ready in seconds.
"Be prepared for anything," Kyle cautions, "We have no idea what else could be in there."
The Jedi jumps to the front, lightsaber in hand and swirling in a circle. "With my handy-dandy glow-stick, I don't think that will stay a problem for much longer. Let's get 'em."
They single-file through the door, safe behind the laser blade's glow. After a brief search, the druid makes the call - the goblins aren't in the house.
"Maybe they just got bored," he shrugs, "This house isn't exactly designed for their entertainment, you know?"
"They left shelter out of boredom? Typical greenies," Lisa scoffs.
Carson shivers slightly, gesturing to the twins' parents' bedroom. "You might wanna double check that claim, Kyle. I hear noises."
"Scared of some goblins, eh, Flash?" Jack laughs, heading for the door, "Relax, it'll be fi-"
The words barely cross his mind before there's a pungently sweet fragrance: the smell of decay, not unlike that of the putrefied goblins outside. With a curse, the orange 'walker diverts himself from the door's path just in time to avoid its swing. A small herd of goblin corpses flies at the party, flailing with the furious famine of the undead.
Barking orders, Lisa opens fire into the mass, narrowly escaping claws. Carson keeps his distance, darting in periodically to aid Jack and Kyle as they sliced their way through the crowd. When all was said and done, the floor had taken on as much blood as a recently-fed vampire, and the party was in desperate need of a break.
"Well, that's settled," the sorceress shudders, wrapping her arms around herself.
"It's okay, Lis," the speedster lowers her to the floor, holding her as close as he dared, "Get some rest, alright? I'll keep watch."
Kyle gives the Canadian a nigh-invisible wink. "No way, dude - I've got this. Take a load off; you too, Jack."
"Sweet," the Jedi answers, falling face-first onto the floor and snoring in a matter of moments.
The other quartet completes the final leg of their journey; all remains quiet.
"Where are all the monsters?" Louisa asks, a tinge of concern showing on her face.
"Good question," Judas shrugs, pounding his knuckles together, "Wherever they are, they'd better stay. I'm not looking forward to them dealing with us."
Despite his trepidation, however, an air hovers about the brawler: anxiety, excitement, and a twinge of glee. Bloodlust. Louisa feels it, recognizing the crimson flare, but says nothing. He's not the only one craving a little combat, after all...
Arriving at the diamond-shaped door first, Laura Peeks through it. What she sees causes her to hesitate.
"Guys," she whispers, panicking, "There's a fucking giant in there."
Sofia, Judas and Louisa all stare at her. "Is that a problem?" the clairvoyant replies.
"You bet it's a problem! It means the house's structure is compromised in some form or fashion - that giant didn't just appear!"
"You're crazy, Laura. Probably high, too," the princess scoffs, "Move it. If there is a giant in Judas' house, we're more than capable of taking it."
Laura glares at them, muttering to herself, 'It's not the giant I'm worried about...'
Louisa and the door stare each other down, the peephole warily watching its opponent. She pulls on the handle, and with a grunt the way inside opens. Smirking, Louisa pulls her pan from extra-dimensional storage - and jumps back before she's Terminated by a malicious-looking Cinder.
"You said there was only a giant in there!"
"I said there was a giant, but I didn't say anything about the house being otherwise empty!" the witch exclaims, gathering her strength, "Now get out of the way, or this Rift Bolt goes straight through your chest!"
She does so, and moments later a crash indicates the giant's tipping over. The action doesn't stop, though, as a group of skeletal Cinders charge towards the door. Judas shoves Laura to the side and strikes a wide stance. Sofia and Louisa hang back, weapons at the ready, but not a single of the charred skeleton-like elementals makes it past the doorway, struck down by the brawler's fists. After several moments of relative peace, he leads the way inside, kicking corpses out of the way.
"That was something, Judas," the princess admires, "You really sure you need another weapon?"
He shrugs, smirking. "It couldn't hurt, but honestly? I think you guys are right - I don't need anything else. These fists are made of gold."
Speaking of gold, while the others sleep Kyle ransacks the corpses. He finds some interesting things - gold teeth, armor scraps, a nice pair of boots - and puts it with the rest of the gathered stuff. He also glances at Lisa and Carson, and lets out a shriek.
"I'm pretty sure he's friendly," the awakened sorceress gestures to the inky-black spider comfortably resting on her brow.
"Friendly?!" the druid cries, "It's a horrendous hairy-legged horror! Did I mention it's horrible?!"
Jack pushes Kyle aside, putting his index finger up to the arachnid. "Dude, this thing is sooooo cool. Can I have one?"
"Sure," a tiny voice whispers, and within moments a similar spider appears on his head.
'Can you communicate using thoughts?' the Jedi asks mentally.
'We are Black incarnate; minds are ours to understand and manipulate.' Jack pets his fuzzy friend for answering, earning strange looks from the others but seeming rather oblivious to them.
Carson quickly draws their attention once more. "Guys, I hate to interrupt, but we do have a job to do. Let's get smashing!"
With the speedster's urging, they do just that, grabbing everything they could find...including some rather disturbing objects.
"Lisa?" Carson calls, "Can you explain this vibrating thing I found in your nightstand?"
"A college friend gave it to Louisa at a party, said she hadn't used it in a while and needed it out of her hair. My sister just shoved it back there."
The speedster nods his head silently and hands the thing to Lisa, leaving the room as quickly as he can.
Meanwhile Kyle, rummaging around in the kitchen, pockets several containers of anthrax. Why there would be anthrax in the same cabinet as the olive oil is a mystery...also, where's the tea? All this fighting has the druid craving a cup or two, but all he can find are packages of instant coffee. It's starting to drive him crazy.
"Hey Lisa! Any ideas where I could get some tea?"
The sorceress makes her way down the stairs. "I think my dad kept some white Darjeeling in a box with the cat food. Checks always loved his Bengali comforts."
"Your cat drank tea?"
"Still does, actually," Lisa replies as a black feline figure ambles down the stairs, "My Black Cat can survive anything, it seems."
It rubs against the black planeswalker's leg, purring, then bats at Kyle's pant leg, meowing.
The druid is stunned for a moment. "Are you going to show me the tea?" he asks skeptically.
"Meow." With a nod, Checks stalks his way onto a long, flat grey box beneath an island in the living room.
"Yes!" the triumphant Kyle cries out, "Thank you, you beautiful creature!"
What might be called a smirk appears on the cat's face. "Meow."
Louisa breaks down the door to the armory, simply lashing out with her stilettos rather than worry about a spell. She signals to the others, who storm in, and they bag stuff left and right. Pistols, machetes, suits of plate armor...you name it, Judas' family carried it. This was a running gag for a long time about how the family was preparing for a zombie apocalypse; now that there very well could be one, they're glad they kept things up to date.
"Alright!" the brawler shouts, "It's about time we got underway. Let's scrap this place and be on our way."
Sofia turns towards the giant hole in the front of the house - and sees something on the horizon that made her shudder. "Is that...an Eldrazi?"
"Fuck, here?" the princess exclaims, frying pan clutched in her left hand.
"Looks like it," Laura notes, turning on her watch. "Kyle, we've got an Eldrazi headed our way. Time of arrival unknown. Better head underground."
"Roger dodger!" he 'walkers tear through the house, grabbing what they didn't have to break, and bolt it back through the hole, running until they can't see the door. Behind them, they hear the sound of wood and stone crashing to the ground - it was moving fast.
The witch reached out again. "It just went through the house! Get to the tunnels ASAP! We'll meet you in the middle."
"On it!" the druid called, "Guys, we've gotta move!"
It's around 5 in the afternoon when they finally meet in the caverns, able to feel the weight of the Eldrazi on the ground. Reconnaissance attempts fail them as to which it is, so they take no chances. Finally, they make a decision that completely alters what they'd originally planned.
"We'll make an underground base. This world has a lot of room to expand that direction; once we go down far enough, there are bound to be tunnels that connect to the outside again."
Jack rolls his eyes at the suggestion. "Come on, guys, we're not moles. We can't keep under terra firma like that for very long."
"Alright then," Kyle reforms, "We'll find a cave entrance and make our base there. Best of both worlds. Sound okay?" With no other objections, the plan is solidified, and they start the trek back to the surface.
