[Voice]

[break_the_ice]

Have we got any good cleaning supplies? I need to clean scorch marks off the wall and floor.

I may have thrown a grenade into the hall last night. I think whatever happened a few weeks ago is still trying to take root. I haven't had as vivid a dream as that in a long, long time. Never bad enough that it made me go for a weapon. And certainly not a grenade!

Comments

[biddentodance]

You had a vivid dream, too?

[Bad enough he was screaming. Minato barely ever even raises his voice, doesn't even speak most of the time, but he'd been screaming.]

[break_the_ice]

It felt just as real as whatever the hell it was happened just before...

[biddentodance]

Wake up with anything weird?

[He has a key. He didn't have a key like this one before. ...The dream still haunts him, too, but he's focusing on the key. The key is real.]

[break_the_ice]

Terror, mostly.

The grenade I made on my own.

What about you?

[biddentodance]

A key.

[She made her own grenade. That's a thing.]

One I didn't have before.

[break_the_ice]

Definitely not something we should dismiss, then....

Can you remember anything else?

[biddentodance]

....I was buried alive. [There wasn't much else to the dream, just the thing that really got to him.] I couldn't scream.

[break_the_ice]

Ah. I was swallowed by the Darkness, myself. Probably one of the few things that could actually kill me and make it stick. Not a fate I'm particularly eager to meet.

You say you got a key out of it, though... did you see anything that might tell you what the key is for?

[biddentodance]

Not that death sticks here anyway. [Ken had said as much. Minato still doesn't know how to feel about that.]

All I saw was the inside of the stone...box, I guess, and a skeleton. No keyholes.

[break_the_ice]

...

Stone box?

We should check the altar room. I woke up in a sarcophagus in there when I first arrived.

If the dream was a mental projection, there may be someone trapped in one of those things. The fact that you woke up with a key means this isn't a normal dream.

[biddentodance]

Yeah. [Buried alive. Not a good time. Even with company.]

Are there skeletons in those? ...Do they take keys?

[He's still kind of stuck on the dream. These things don't normally stick with him this long. Lingering terror is new, but dread pooling in his gut is like an old friend.]

[break_the_ice]

They're chambers of sacrifice. I imagine there have been many skeletons in them over the years.

I have no idea about the use of the key, but having been trapped in one of those things before... We need to check.

[biddentodance]

[Sacrifice, huh. Definitely not something to delay, then.]

Meet you there?

[break_the_ice]

All right. That sounds like a plan. I'll head there now. Cleaning up a scorch mark can wait.

[biddentodance]

[He pauses only long enough to strap on his Evoker holster. Just in case something is in the sarcophagus, but isn't so grateful. One quick elevator ride and he's practically there.

If he gets there first, he'll lean against a wall and wait. Otherwise...it's pretty clear who he's looking for.]

Hey.

[break_the_ice]

[He actually does arrive first. She tends to travel heavy. She's armed to the teeth on arrival, a hand cannon of considerable size strapped to her thigh, her sniper rifle across her back as is typical. She is, of course, decked out head to toe in armor, and she looks ready for a fight.]

[And once again, Link the Honedge is resting on her back under the sniper rifle, while Koffee is hovering behind her her.]

[Katherine gives Minato a quick nod of acknowledgement.]

Sorry for the delay, had to wrangle up the kid.

[She gestures back to Koffee with her thumb.]

[biddentodance]

[More of those creatures he's been seeing all over the castle. Pokemon or something? Cool. He nods to acknowledge the apology - unnecessary, but who's counting?

Compared to Katherine, Minato is amusingly underprepared. A tee shirt, jeans, sneakers, and his holstered Evoker. MP3 player and headphones hanging from his neck more by habit than anything else.

He glances about the room.]

Guess we don't need to check the smashed ones. [How many are smashed? There's like...fifty or so of the things.]