The Crypt beneath the frost was dark, as one would expect, but the air was not as stale as it should be. Apart from the gust of wind that nearly knocked her off her feet, Jade found herself breathing in fresh, clean air. Pulling a flashlight from her sylladex, she swept the beam across the area. Nothing out of the ordinary, cobwebs on the walls, dust covering the floor, the works. John may have recognized it from one of his shitty movies or something, but for Jade, It was all kind of eerie. A layer of frost coated the walls, making it colder than it otherwise would have been, and making Jade really wish she had brought a coat or something with her when she had left her house.
Cursing her lack of foresight, she did what she could, travelling down a slightly steep path. A sound nearly made her jump out of her skin, pulling out her lunchtop, she pulled up the group chat to see who was complaining about what now.
TG: so jade youre in the game right
TG: i got distacted and now all i see is your giant fucking house
TG: all standing up like some kind of fucking monument to the stupidity of all this shit
TG: just tell me youre alright okay
TG: you didnt die or anything and i didnt fuck up our whole session right
TG: i mean john might have by virtue of being fucking missing for how long now?
TG: i think its been like an hour since we last heard from him over here
TG: please be alright jade
GG: Jeeez would you relax?
TG: jesus fucking christ
GG: I'm fine.
TG: thank the fucking lord
GG: I got into the game and everything.
TG: i think im a fucking christian now or something where the hell are you
GG: I'm in this weird crypt thing I found.
GG: everyone I talked to seemed to avoid it saying something about waiting for the Witch to open it or something.
GG: So I opened it and went to take a look inside.
TT: So you have one as well?
GG: Holy shit Rose, you're here too.
TT: Well yes, this is a group chat, remember?
- Attempting to reconnect with ectoBiologist [EB] -
TG: oh great here it goes again
TG: another fucking useless attempt to connect with fucking eggman
TG: i swear to gog i will eat my shades if this one works
TT: I doubt it.
TT: He's a bit preoccupied at the moment.
TT: I can see him from here.
TT: It's a bit…
TT: Disconcerting, I can assure you.
GG: Really?
TG: and it only fucking dawns on you NOW to let me in on his situation?
TG: jesus fucking christ rose you suck at this whole keeping people in the loop thing
TG: here I thought it was this whole big mystery about whats going on but NO
TG: ms lalonde knows fucking everything and did the whole time
TG: MYSTERY SOLVED we can all go home sorry sherlock we wont fucking need your help this time
TT: Strider, shut your mouth.
TT: I did not tell you for two reasons.
TT: One, because you never bothered to ask me, his server player, if I could see him.
TT: And two, his situation was decent until they broke down the door.
TT: Though it's only a few right now, he should be fine if he can get up onto the roof.
TT: One moment while I give him an access point.
TG: one
TG: i didnt fucking ask because you preempted me with a whole case of
TG: Oh, I'm Rose Lalonde and I know jack shit about what's going on right now,
TG: and basically lied to me
TG: two
TG: what the fuck do you mean they broke down his door
TG: who is THEY
TT: I am not quite sure who they are.
TT: And I never outright lied to you. I simply told you what I knew at the time.
TT: He was not at home when I asked you if you knew what was going on, therefore I could not see what he was going through.
TT: You simply failed to ask me if he ever returned home, which he did a few minutes ago.
GG: Uh, don't you think we should go give him a hand?
GG: I mean…. Can we even go give him a hand?
TG: i was on route the moment i heard his door was broken down
TG: ive been using my shades this whole time
TG: probably wouldnt be a good idea to eat them seeing as theyre my only portable computer
TG: and rose if you havent opened your crypt thing yet then dont I have a seriously bad feeling about them
TG: now im about to ollie onto johns world please hold
- turntechGodhead [TG] has left the group chat -
GG: Well shit.
GG: I opened mine, what should I do, Rose?
TT: I suggest going back to your house and barring your doors and windows, as a safety measure.
TT: At least until we can figure out what is going on, alright?
GG: Okay.
Closing her lunchtop, Jade practically sprinted back to her house, flying past the myriad of frozen frogs and people. Reaching her house, she did as she had been told, barricading herself inside. Opening her lunchtop again, she waited impatiently for someone to tell her what was going on.
Meanwhile, in John's world, the situation was grim, even after finding his way onto the roof by way of a convenient hole placed there by Rose, he was nowhere near safe. Using his hammer, he managed to keep knocking back the creatures that had started chasing after him when he had gotten close to his house. He couldn't even tell what they were most of the time, it was so dark. All he knew was the patter of feet and the shallow, shaky gasps of the things trying to kill him. He was so a dead man if they didn't stop managing to get up through the hole.
Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait very much longer before Rose closed the hole with something a bit sturdier than a simple wooden door. A few moments after that, a flash of movement headed straight for where his front door had been. Several crashes and a few curses later, the plug for the hole was removed to reveal Dave, who jumped onto the roof where he collapsed in a heap, panting. "you fucking…. owe me…. egbert."
"dave?! w-when did you get here?"
"i have been running… at a dead sprint… for three miles…. i dont know"
After a brief reunion, Dave reconnected to the group chat.
TG: sup i saved john
TG: thats really all there is to say about the matter
TT: So I can see.
TT: You look exhausted.
TG: yeah well you look at this
TT: Dave, flipping off the sky will accomplish nothing.
TT: Pass your shades to John, please.
TT: I'd like to make sure he is alright.
TG: uh okay i'm back!
TG: wait, hold on.
- ectoBiologist [EB] has reconnected to the group chat -
EB: much better!
EB: :D
TG: john you are an embarrassment to the noble iphone you are using to communicate
TG: cease this pointless debauchery at once
EB: what are you talking about dave, it was only a smiley face!
EB: :D :D :D
TG: whatever i dont care that much
EB: haha the pranking master wins once again!
TG: you are such a fucking dork dude
TG: i mean hopy shit
TT: John, what happened in your City?
EB: i have honest to god, no clue
TG: did you open your crypt
EB: well yeah.
TT: Then I am forced to assume that whatever happened is a direct result of that, given what we know about our cities.
TT: In which case, Jade, you are in serious trouble.
GG: I know. I can hear them.
TG: we need to see about getting you offworld as soon as possible
GG: Easier said than done.
GG: I'm kind of surrounded.
GG: Like,
TG: okay just for the record
GG: I can just
TG: i dont care whats surrounding you
TG: were getting you out of there
GG: Reach out and
GG: poke one.
TG: well dont
GG: But they don't do anything when I do.
GG: as long a I'm quiet, they don't even know I'm here.
TG: just
TG: just dont do anything okay
TG please
TT: I agree with Dave. The situation is too dangerous to be risking injury like that.
TT: We don't even know what we are up against yet.
GG: I know.
GG: It's really creepy though.
GG: I cant even see them most of the time.
GG: And when I do….
GG: They're right in front of me.
TG: how about we just
TG: keep you inside for now
TG: and have you turn down the sound on whatever youre using right now
GG: That's the problem, Dave.
GG: I am inside.
TG: but theyre not inside right
GG: I didn't know they were already in my house when Rose told me to barricade myself in.
GG: I'm sitting on my bed, watching like, three of them on the other side of the room.
EB: dave, where are you going?
GG: Dave, it's fine.
GG: as long as I don't make too much noise, I'll be fine.
TT: Dave, you worry about getting John to my house, I'll get Jade and meet you there.
TG: ah fuck
TG: fine
TT: Thank you.
TT: Jade, I'll be right there.
TT: Keep your window open.
GG: Okay.
Closing out of the program, Rose glanced to the Sburb window to see Dave hacking his way past a few of these new enemies to get back to the roof where John was watching his friend, and expression of exasperation on his face. Hoping that Dave could keep up his energy long enough to make it to John's second gate, Rose closed her laptop and proceeded to her own second gate, taking her into Dave's world. This place was blissfully absent of any sort of enemies, save for the odd imp that she dispatched without too much difficulty. It wasn't too much longer before she managed to get into Jade's world and was shocked by what she saw.
The people that Jade had talked about were everywhere, their bodies now almost completely frozen over. It was easy to see how she could lose track of them, as slow as they were. They matched their surroundings perfectly. Remembering what Jade said about stealth, she landed as quietly as possible on Jade's windowsill, motioning to her. Jade, who had been curled up on her bed, staring at the beings on the other side of the room, jumped to her feet. Quickly captchalouging her lunchtop, she took hold of Rose's hand, letting her drag her up onto her spherical roof. "Okay," Rose began. "We need to go back through your second gate and then through Strider's second gate. We'll reunite with John and Dave at my house."
"Alright. But how do we get there?"
"With the grist that we had to start with to build up our defenses and whatnot, I managed to create these needle wands. So long as you keep holding on to me, I can get us there without too much fuss."
A small nod was all that was given in response as she looped her arms around Rose's shoulders. And with that, they were off. It didn't take them long to get through the two gates they needed to get to her house again. Flying into her bedroom window, she let Jade slump onto her bed. "We're here. Now we just need to find where Strider and Egbert went."