ACT 10: Regroup and retry

As Shadow awoke he found Jovi hovering over him. As soon as Jovi saw his eyes open he immediately told the group. Mason and Joe who were looking through all that the lab held as Chris was sitting beside the labs door came over to see if he was alright.

Jovi: I saw him open his eyes.

Mason: I guess that means he made it.

Chris: But for how long?

Joe: Blood loss was significant, the wound was completely closed and patched up preventing further blood loss. He'll live.

All of them look towards Joe dumbfounded at what he just said. Jovi however seemed quite relived at the statement and gave Shadow a congratulatory slap on the back.

Shadow: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Joe: 97.42% chance he'll live now.

Jovi: Shit, shit, I'm sorry!

Chris: Damn, let's not kill him ourselves now.

Shadow: So… what did I miss?

Mason: Short version is we saved you and brought you back to the lab.

Shadow: And what about… him…

Jovi: Oh yeah! What was that pocket watch?

Shadow: So you did opened it.

Mason: You have quite the collection of odd things don't you? What did that piece do?

Shadow: Well… it kind of… killed them… forever.

Mason: And how will what that watch did keep those guys dead?

Shadow: I'm pretty sure you would have seen some kind of something come out of their bodies and go into the watch itself. Right?

Mason: Yes, then it shattered. What happened there?

Shadow: Those things that went into the pocket watch was their souls.

Mason: What?

Chris: Heh, this just keeps getting better and better by the moment.

Jovi: Why would he lie to us? He helped us fight off those guys!

Shadow: Anyway, the watch should have shut itself and shattered like you said. It trapped their souls in the watch of then destroyed itself. It doesn't matter how long we wait now, they won't get back up.

Jovi: Nice!

Mason: Then why didn't you use it sooner?

Shadow: They had to be dead for it to work. It didn't work on you now did it?

Mason: Fair enough, you know a lot more about these objects then us.

Chris: Don't suppose you got something for that giant ass black thing, do you?

Shadow: What?

Mason: That thing that chased us on the 2nd floor.

Shadow: Where the hell was that thing at?

Chris: You walked right by it to fight that guy.

Mason: It looked like he was guarding the 2nd floor.

Shadow: Well I guess – ahhh, shit that hurts. What did you guys do to me anyway?

Mason: He sewed and patched you up.

Jovi: You should read that book again, I think we could all use it.

Shadow: Can't, don't have enough materials left to make any more of that blue liquid. Without that I could read from the book all day and nothing would happen.

Jovi: Damn…

Mason: So what were you saying about that thing?

Shadow: Oh, umm… well you see… I got nothing.

Chris: That's a first.

Mason: Yeah, nothing at all? No hidden shortcut or passage or something? Another wonderful item even?

Shadow: Nope, my figuring shit out reserves hit empty.

Mason: But what about the stuff in here, couldn't you make something in here to deal with it?

Shadow: Hmm… no. Well… maybe…

Mason: So what is it?

Shadow: Umm… I could make… umm… something…

Chris: Looks like we're out of luck.

Mason: It appears so.

Jovi: Come on there has to be something we can do, right?

Mason: Our only options are to try and get past it or try and get past the front door.

Chris: Well let's hope it doesn't get bored and come for us.

Mason: That's what I was worried about. Are you sure you can't think of anything?

Shadow: I could go over the entire mansion layout from top to bottom but there's nothing left to use in this lab other than some random chemicals.

Joe: What kinds?

Chris: Oh shit, he's doing it again.

Shadow: Umm… just the ones set put on the counters.

So with that Joe began walking around to each of the glass containers and vials fill with liquids examining each one as he went.

Joe: What else.

Shadow: There's some uh, powders and solids under the back counters.

Joe: Containers.

Shadow: Under the middle counters. What are you planning on doing?

Without a response Joe continues on with whatever it is he is doing. He pulls some containers out, grabs a few of the chemicals and start scooping up some of the powdery substances. He starts to mix everything in a large tub as he lays out a few vials beside everything. He continues to finish up the mixture and let it brew for a little while longer. After it is to his satisfaction he stops brewing it and begins to carefully pour it into the 5 vials he had laying by. After which he corks all of them and lets them sit there as he goes back over to his corner and sits down with his phone. Mason walks over to them and looks at them.

Mason: What did you make?

Joe: Bombs.

Mason: What!?

Shadow: Huh, I'll be damned. You sir get a cookie!

Joe: Bitch if you're lying I'll cut your nuts off!

Chris: Oh, shit!

Shadow: Whoa now, calm down! I'll get you one just as soon as we get out of here. Ok?

Joe: Fine.

Mason: So if these are bombs how to they work?

Joe: Just throw them.

Mason: As simple as that huh? Well now all we have to do is hope these work on whatever the hell that thing is.

Chris: My moneys on they won't.

Shadow: And why's that?

Chris: Did you see that thing? I didn't look like an explosion would kill it or anything for that matter.

Mason: Wait, what about that ball you had?

Shadow: I'm saving that for when we get to attic. Let's just say it'll get us outside in a hurry.

Mason: Another one use thing?

Shadow: Yep.

Mason: Well anyone got any ideas about how to get past that thing?

All: …

Jovi: I vote we just sit here for a while.

Shadow: I second that.

Chris: Count me in.

Joe: …

Mason: Fine, I guess we all need some more rest after all that. Are you sure they won't get back up?

Shadow: 100% guaranteed they will stay dead from now on.

Mason: And that thing seems like it's only bothers with whatever is on the 2nd floor so we don't have to worry about him.

Shadow: So let's get some real sleep. There's plenty of room in the armory for the night.

Jovi: Yay, sleep time! Let's go!

So after deciding on what the best course of action to take as of now is, they all head into the armory locking the door behind them and get some well-deserved rest. The next day they all awake to find out that nothing happened to them. None of them heard sounds or anything. It seems the last trick of whoever is behind this is the shadow beast guarding the 2nd floor. After clearing that obstacle they should be home free. But for now they have to get that far.

Jovi: Ah, that was needed!

Chris: You could say that again.

Shadow: Yeah and my back feels rather fine now.

Mason: Try not to reopen the wound now.

Shadow: Don't worry, I'll leave the forefront to you. So how are we going to go about this?

Chris: Throw them and run?

Shadow: I don't think that'll work…

Chris: Oh, right.

Jovi: We could throw one and see how it reacts.

Mason: That sounds good.

Chris: And what if it charges for us?

Jovi: Throw another.

Chris: Then what?

Jovi: Another.

Chris: And after we throw all 5, what then?

Jovi: Uh, we…

Mason: We fight it.

Chris: HOW!?

Mason: How strong are those bombs anyway?

Joe: *smiling* Room go boom…

Chris: Well shit, don't you think you should have told us that?

Mason: Could the mansion even handle that?

Shadow: Sure, I don't know how many but I'm sure I could take one or two.

Chris: How would we even throw them at it and get out?

Jovi: I can do it, I'm fast enough.

Mason: Are you sure?

Jovi: Yeah, don't worry.

Shadow: Well you heard him, let's get going shall we? We're almost out of here!

Chris: About damn time.

Joe: Cookie bitch.

Shadow: Right, right. But first getting out.

After a much needed nights worth of rest and rejuvenation they have now formed a plan of escape and are now going to try and carry it out. The group once again dons their equipment and begin to head out to the 2nd floor entrance. Once away from the safety of the study room and down a couple of hallways they are almost on the mansion entrance room. Once inside they quickly notice a shocking fact, the stairs leading to the 2nd floor are now in the entrance room. They quickly rush back past the hallway they just walked through and halt there.

Shadow: Man this guy sure does love to fuck with the mansion's layout doesn't he?

Chris: Well maybe we'll get lucky and blow open the door while we're at it.

Shadow: Ha, he'd never let us walk right out my own front door like that.

Chris: So how would we get out through the attic then?

Shadow: It has the thinnest section of wall which is mostly a glass window in the most unfortified section of the mansion and is in the hardest part of the mansion to get to. Odds are since he hasn't thrown anymore shit at us lately, he's run out of shit to throw at us.

Mason: And here I was thinking I was the only one thinking that.

Jovi: Sorry to interrupt but can I have one of those so I can try this?

*Joe hands over a vial*

Mason: All you have to do is run in, throw it at him and run out. Got it?

Jovi: Of course, who do you think I am?

Mason: Whenever you're ready.

So with it all on him now Jovi takes a deep breath before going back into the room. He stops just before the corner and peeks his head past. He sees the giant black figure just floating there is seems at the top of the stair case. He knows what he must do, throw it at the thing and run away but how much time will he have to escape the blast. He grows nervous as he clenches the vial uneasy about is now. He pushes past the fear and locks his sight on the monster. He measures out what is needed to get the vial to actually hit the monster and he has to be much closer than were he currently is. He begins to walk toward the stair case and the monster seems to have taken notice of Jovi at this point. The further Jovi walks toward the stair case to position himself the more the monster gestures and makes strange noises toward him. As he keeps walking forward he finally stops at the base of the steps looking at the monster. This is as close as he can get without upsetting the monster further but even from here he's not sure he can throw that far. Wondering if he can make it and run back he looks at the hallway the rest of them are waiting down. As he turns back he immediately falls to the ground in pure terror as the monster is now looking him right in the face. As Jovi tries to crawl away the monster just simply sits there watching him worm around on the floor. He makes it back to the hallway were he can see the others waiting for him and looks back at the monster. It's still setting there at the bottom of the steps now, well within range for him to throw it from safety. He stands back up and with a final deep breath heaves the vial with all his might as he turns to run away. The others see this and duck past the hallway in preparation of the blast to come. Jovi runs down the hallway as fast as he can before he is no longer running but flying down it from the force of the blast. Jovi continues to fly past the group as they too are being forced back by the force from the blast. It is shaking what seems the entire mansion at this point but once the initial explosion has ceased it becomes silent. The group half deaf from the blast scramble to find Jovi and once they do see that he has burn marks all down his back. They help him up and retreat to the safety of the study to assess the damages from what seems like a fruitless endeavor. Have they lost a vital member of the tiny group or have they cleared a path to the exit. Maybe both, only time will tell.

END OF ACT 10