Stalkers RPG Main Action and Team Status [SEASON 5]

[Neo Emolga]

Investigate (88) The Headmaster Houses

Feeling brave and ambitious this evening, you decide to head south and go deep into the Southern Reach. It’s a long and difficult journey, especially in the heart of the night, but you decide you’ve made it this far and it hasn’t stopped you.

Outside, the air has become still and seemingly calm unlike this morning’s mixed soup of indecisive weather. But it’s almost eerie in terms of how quiet it is. Any sound made seems to echo louder, and as you make your way over the West Exacta Bridge, you hear the moans and howls of the ghouls with more clarity. It’s as if they feel even closer than ever before, and their dark voices echo and bounce throughout the ruins of the Southern Reach.

As you make your way through the shattered and ravaged streets near the OMEN crater, you deftly use the ruins, vehicle husks, and other piles of debris to conceal your position.

You safely arrive at the headmaster houses, which look like the years haven’t been kind to them. The first of the houses appears to be a large black mansion, and despite being close to the old industrial area of the Southern Reach, it appears it was still built to provide a life of luxury to whoever Kenwiv is or was, wherever they are now. From investigating the exterior, you can see the stone siding of the house has become cracked and filthy over the years, and it’s impossible to even see through the windows.

You decide to head your way in through the front door, and it looks and sounds like it’s been well over thirty years since anyone has opened it.

Inside, the front hall is an absolute mess of dust and cobwebs. You can tell it used to be fancy with marble stairs leading to the second floor, a once-fancy foyer chandelier now wrapped with cobwebs, and dusty still-life oil paintings of fruit baskets, nature scenes, and old farmstead buildings. All types of fanciful furniture and rich features are about the mansion, but they’ve all become victim of dusty, disgusting neglect. You earnestly believe this could definitely pass for a haunted house with no problem.

The other rooms share the same pattern of what rooms would look like with decades of neglect. The wood is splintering, the metal is rusting, the paint is peeling, and the fabrics have faded. It would need an enormous amount of restoration work to even just make it habitable.

Despite the eeriness of the Kenwiv Mansion, you don’t come across anything suspicious, at least in terms of long-neglected houses are concerned. It seems not even the Stalkers ever had their sights on this particular place, so you decide to move onto the Alcoi house.

The Alcoi house shares a similar pattern to the Kenwiv Mansion. Dust and cobwebs everywhere, along with a tendency for black mold to be speckled about not just on the outside, but also in places around the exterior.

One thing about the Alcoi House that seems disturbing and seemingly unnatural is whoever Alcoi was, they had a strange and bizarre obsession for baby Pokémon. At first, you thought they might have been old family photographs of their own children or possibly nieces or nephews, but as you came across more pictures, figurines, and slews of other depictions all over the walls and even as part of the carpeted rugs and painted ceilings, it instantly made you concerned on a number of levels.

The main floor didn’t appear to be quite so bad at first even though it appears Alcoi didn’t do too much entertaining, but the upstairs are manifest with depictions of children Pokémon, which obviously aren’t even Alcoi’s own. While searching, you find some money within the nightstand that stood besides the master bedroom king-sized bed. It’s not as dusty and old, but the coins and bills should definitely be considered legal tender despite having had no action in the economy for the past thirty years or so.

$650 Sochas$ have been added to Sacred’s Pack.

When you get around to checking the lower basement floors, things take a different turn and it’s not very nice. You start seeing modifications to the depictions of children, and your senses tell you this wasn’t even Alcoi’s work. The modifications like bloody X’s on the eyes and deranged cursive scrawl over the faces of the Pichus, Azurills, Cleffas, and so on look relatively fresh.

It becomes all too clear one of the Stalkers was recently here, and it makes the feeling of this house feel even worse, as if these hundreds, if not thousands of depictions of kids are all watching you.

It’s when you get to the cold, ugly, and dark metal door of the cellar do things get even worse…

#Infernal Deranged Essence (4 Sanity Damage, 2 Purity Damage)# Trap 20% Evasion Test: 30 out of 100: Failed!

And it’s as if it m͙̱̘̹ͤ̂ě͂ͧͧ͒̀l̽̔̇͒̇t́͊͐̑̈́ͬ͆s̫̲̼͍͉̝ before you.

You’re not sure if what you’re hearing is real anymore. At one point, it sounds like a d̽͂ͨ̽͗r̥̖͇͓ͮ͛̈́̊̔i͖̰̗̲̜͕̦l̝̆͒̎̑l̯̫͓̳̲̘̞͐, and then a child’s scream of death, and then it just sounds like the r̩̹͖͔̰o̤o̭̞̗̱m̜̬͎ͅ ̻̦̯̠͎͉is̯̠͖ f̺͕͚i̫͍̭͉ll̯i̝̝̩̙̤n̟̰̦̰͙g̳͖̠̘̺̳ ̠̣̺̭w͇it̫̖̲h̹͉̦̘̪̻̰ ̦̠͙̯̯̖ͅbl̤̭̭̳̩a̱͚c̤̘͙̹̖k͈ͅ,̻ͅ ͓̙̫̪̞̦̮o͍ͅi̙̮͖̙͙l̗͖̹y̳ ̝̖̱̲l̥͎̜̰i̮̝q̠̯̩̜͎̝u͙͔̭i͉͓̹d̺͉̥ before you suddenly feel like your body is lost in the void of a whole other planet while your soul is just wandering here, barely surviving like an insect in a prison that only has v̖̦̥̝̝͎̪̯̺͇̟͊̓̂́ͬ̋̄͆̾̊͑̒ͭͥ̐̐̚ͅo̦͈̦͇̠̒͋̽̊̒͑ͅm̔͛͊̿̂̇ ̻̗͈̮͈̻͊̈́̿̇̍͋͗̉̌̓̇̄ï̻̺̱͕̻̯̟̪̤̼͓͍̲̺ͭ̇̈͊ͫť̎ͣ̔̽̌ͩ͊̃͗ ̗͓̱̼̳̠͔͖̞̤̪͕̙̳̱̙͇ͯͥ̾ͫ as sustenance to survive.

You try to scream in madness, but it only comes out as a noise that sounds like a g̠̪͇̣̝̯͔̘ͯ͋ͦ̈́͆̍̚i̠̝̜̯̻̪̝̟̝̰͍͚̗͉͔͒̇ͧ͆̊͛ͥ̈́̑̒ͪͅͅg̉͂ͥ̄ ̖̰̣̰͍͉͉̺̩̠͆̀́̃̐g͓̣̬̞̤̖̖̭͎̦̺̯͍̰̰͕̔̓ͨͩͪͩͫͦl̻̝̞̣̠͗̔̓̄ ̘͔̗̟̪̫e̤͖͉͔̖͉̱̹̼̪̍ͫ̊͑, as if a floating mouth that stole your own voice is trying to talk back to you. You try to turn back only to see there’s a tunnel to nowhere now, but you decide perhaps it’s worth trying anyway. And though it looks like it’s only about three hundred feet, by the time you race toward the opening, it feels like thousands of years have passed and y͔̩͇̝̫̻o̮̭̯͇̠̻͍̻u̙͓̬̜͔̱͓͓ͅr̘͚͎͍̳̹͈̭ ̳̝͙m̝̖̻̦͎̙͓i̙͍͖̲n̟̲̞d͚̰͍̬ ̙̜̖h͍̻͈͇͍a͈̺s͎̙͇̫̖ ̻̺͔̥l̝̱̦͓o͚͇͕͓̟̘ͅͅn̪̥̱̙͎g̪̺̫͎̜ ͙͎̩̤r͍̙̮͓̟̥o̮͓͖t̙͇͈͙̪t͔̠̫e̱̹̳d͔̠͙ ̖͔̻̗͚̙̘͖o̭̜̪͖̙̤u̪ṯ͚̤̞̗̬͇͚̜ ̘̝̹b̩̫̥͖̪͓̰̪y̻͈͓̦̫̮̻̫ ̗͍̺͎̬n̖o̭̪w̟̬ͅ. And just as you feel you’re about to exit out of that tunnel of nightmares, your vision goes dark and you see only outlines, scribbles as if to insinuate you didn’t need eyes in the first place and it was just inane to ever have them. But the optimism of this madness tells you the deranged, crayon-like scribbles are there for you. Forever.

They tell you the scrawled obscurity and chaos is okay, and you go along with it before it just ends, and you’re left staring at that horrendous cellar door again…

Scared has taken 4 Damage to Sanity and 2 Damage to Purity.

With the few scraps of sanity you have left, you try to read the plaque on the door, and it just seems unnerving.

“Everyone can live forever. Because Mother wills it! If Mother wills it. Will Mother will it? Only if M-“

And the rest of it becomes deranged and horrendously grotesque scrawl.

Despite the cold darkness of the metallic cellar door, you find there’s no handle, no lock, only a circular indentation that seems to be a mount for a circular-shaped object. For the glimpse of a dark moment, you sense the feeling of undeath, but not like a feeling of divine resurrection. Instead, it feels twisted, unnatural, and absolutely horrific that’s more akin to coming back to life as a zombie rather than a raptured soul into paradise.

It seems the cumulation of this dreaded feeling of undeath has to manifest itself in the shape of this circular mount…

#{Undeath Vault of Reanimation: Missing Undeath Keystone} Infernal Deranged Essence (4 Sanity Damage, 2 Purity Damage)# was noted in the Team Records.

Unable to move on any further, you decide to turn around, head back out, and finally move onto the last and final house, the one that belonged to Bensiri.

You don’t find anything too out of place on the outside of the Bensiri house and it shares the same tendency as the other two headmaster houses. Moldy walls, dirty windows, weathered walls, and the like are definitely the norm around here.

Inside, the Bensiri house doesn’t seem too strange besides being a dustbin and a cobweb circus. From what you can see, Bensiri seemed to be into depictions of nature and natural scenery. It also seems like they used to own many potted plants, all of which have long met the reaper decades ago and essentially nothing but dead, cracked, and dusty pots of dirt are all that remains of what might have been a nice array of lively potted plants. It leads you to believe Bensiri could have very well been a grass-type Pokémon trying to recreate a piece of nature in their home despite now living in this industrial area of town as needed for their career.

Thankfully, at this point, you don’t find anything else in the house that links to the Stalkers. Because after what you ran into at the Alcoi house, you don’t think your head can take much more…

You then decide to head back home to the steel mill, and yet those twisted depictions of scrawls still persist in the corners of your eyes, making you question if perhaps the nightmare is still going on in a somewhat more limited capacity…

Sacred the Heatran (M: Fire/Steel)

Health: 20/20 | Sanity: 4/20 | Purity: 18/20
Battle Stance: Heroic
Perk: Seinaru | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: <Empty>
Defense Armor: [|DA| Renegade’s Cloak] (Reduces incoming Health damage by 1 point each time Health damage is taken)
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: [|UA| Angelic Warfury] (50% trigger chance user’s attacks attempt to strike all opposing enemies in the same combat turn. If there is only a single target, it becomes a 50% trigger chance of striking the sole enemy twice.)
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• $1058 Sochas$