[6/7] Something Awesome [1.3 - Redwatch] [Slot Open - Accepting Entries]

Otto goes straight on a frog hunt! It's no place for a defenceless animal!

He also yells something over his shoulder that he's got a spare padlock in the cart so they can make the place look basically untouched.

((Next update will come in a few hours - it'll be a big one and I can't do it on a phone))

"Works for me."

Lawrence walks in, then, once Oren and Arthur decide to follow (or not) locks the door behind them. Can't let anyone know they're investigating until they're finished after all.

((QE: Lock as in the way regular school doors usually lock, not with Otto's spare padlock))

Oren follows everyone else, creeping cautiously into the chem lab. He ties his ward loosely round his neck, and slowly unzips his bag. He ain't gonna start waving his chopper around quite yet, but when push comes to shove, he wants to be able to get at it quick.

He holds up the tail end of the group, eyes on swivel.

1.2

The Awesome Squad

Upon opening the door to the old chemistry lab, the immediate sight of what lies within stops all of you dead in your tracks.

The room is lit by flickering lights, the walls dulled to a horrifying brown color. Desks are broken and strewn about the room. The lab benches are old and broken as well; one looks like it's been blown up, judging by the massive black marks around the desk and floor. The blood stains everywhere don't help either.

Empty flasks and beakers litter the lab tables. Broken glass is strewn throughout. Cabinets are open with their contents spilled everywhere. A few moldy potatoes with dangerous-looking wires line the teacher's desk.

Looking at the board, a teacher's name - Dr. Feiler - is still written near a TV stand.

Two books lie on a desk in the room, next to a folder bearing the red-swirl and thunderbolt symbol seen before.

Additionally, there appears to be a machine for chemical synthesis inside one of the closets - nobody here would know how to operate such a device. It's too complicated.

Now you all know what's been holed up in this room all the while...

Lawrence remembers that strange symbol from the library! He cautiously makes a note of the two books, and rifles through the folder for any information it might have.

The folder contains pages of weapon schematics. Extremely advanced physics-y stuff. Just pages upon pages of weapon diagrams. None of it makes sense nor looks practical.

The books are labeled Fiction of the brani jayzk and Solanum Tuberosum Cultus.

...Wait.

Donovan is yanked forward, only able to right himself when Melinda stops. He runs a hand through his hair and grabs her wrist, pointing it down one of the hallways. "Down this hall, turn left, go until you hit the third door, turn right and enter the room with the sign saying 'Circuit Breakers'." He stares at her for a moment. "Do you want me to lead the way?"

"Nah, I got it! Come on!" She grabs hold of him again and tugs him down the hallway as per his directions, more than ready to get a move on.

Otto goes and examines the epicentre of one of the explosions. Gives it a cautious sniff. Keeps his ears peeled for frogs.

"Son of a..."

Lawrence places the folder in his pack and takes a look at the Potato Cult book.

"Think you may have missed a spot or two in here, Mr. Hoffman." Oren gingerly sidesteps some dried blood and walks up to the board. "Ffffeiler. Wrote his name on the board and everything. So he was new here? Maybe a sub. Larry, Otto, either of you remember a Feiler?

Oren takes a closer look inside the closet. The chemical synthesis machine here- he don't know a damn thing about most of the mechanical bits, but his medical history means he knows a thing or two about chemistry. Maybe he can figure out if there was anything untoward going on with it.

"Nah Oren, I only started here right after the incident. If he was a sub he probably stopped coming after this, if he was a teacher he might have done the same or been fired. Of course, something worse might have happened." Lawrence gestured towards the bloodstain Oren just walked around. "Regardless, I haven't heard of him."

Outside, there is a crashing sound alongside Arthur yelling something about God's Blood, followed by a low groan and the clinking sound of armor as he gets back up.

He spits into his helmet with a rattling sound accompanying it, he didn't really care too much for that tooth anyway. Then as if nothing happened at all, walks through the door to the Lab and closes it behind him, clapping his hands together and leaning forward with great interest.

"Sooo... fair citizens, I see we have the same goal in mind, joyous! Let your king aid you in this, what's a king without his fair people after all? How may I of be of assistance?"

Arthur's head turns to the teacher's desk, showing interest in the potatoes. "Ah, hang on... what this be...?" He asks to himself, throwing caution into the wind and grabbing one of the potatoes on the table. Assuming that doesn't kill him or he comes to the conclusion of them just being moldy potatoes, he opens up the teacher's desk looking for some kind of clue.

Otto leaps about a foot in the air, then waves his crowbar at the knight. "Who invited this guy?"

Oren spins round at the voice and Otto's reaction, instantly pulling his great big gun from the bag.

"What the- Oh. Prince Albert in a can." He lowers the gun. "Well, if he's here to help, the more the merrier, I spose."

Otto freaks out even harder. "What the hell did you bring the gun for!? And seriously, how the hell, do we expect The Conspicuous Crusader here to be any help? This was supposed to be a covert mission!"

Oren looks down at the gun, then back up at Otto.

"I don't know. Shoot things with? If I got to?"
He turns to the obviously ticked-off janitor, lowering the shotgun back into the bag as he does so.
"Well, now that he's here, he's here, and it looks like he's more into the taters than he is into us. Let's just play this cool, maybe get him to at least keep quiet about this. It ain't like the principal's gonna believe the suplexing saxon about this sort of thing anyway, if it's his word against all of ours." He walks up to Arthur and coughs to get his attention. "Uh, howdy, milord. You ain't gonna tell any, uh, other faculty about this or anything, are you? Cause none of us are technically supposed to be here. You know those vanishing kids been coming up in the news?"

Arthur looks up from his potato examining and possibly looks Oren in the eye, is it hard to really tell behind his face plate to be fair. "Nay, of course not elder, rules must be broken sometimes for the greater good."

He places the potato down, nothing more than a rotten tater it seems, he searches the entirety of the desk for anything, the papers on the desk, the drawers, he gives it a thorough search through.

"Still, I am here for the same reasons you are, those vanishing citizens is more troublesome than brigands and outlaws, a good time to investigate really, those evil-doers will lay low once they see ah... Randal, was his name? Randal, locked up in town marketplace. Plus your mayor seems cagey about it, so I came here to the source of the crime!"

While he's rummaging through the contents of the desk, he taps the board behind him. "One of you should look up that name though in the archives, I don't have time for that, but you might, do you not?"

"Looking at something here m'lord." Lawrence is still skimming through the Potato Cult book for signs of that symbol or anything that might explain the tragedy.

"Also Oren, make sure you keep that uh... hidden from now on. Even if we're surprised, we're probably worse off taking it out unless it's absolutely needed. It's one thing for some members of staff to be investigating missing students. It's another if we're suddenly armed and threatening people."

"Well shoot, I wasn't trying to make a scene out of it." Oren zips the bag back up. "Sorry for waving things at you, Art."

Oren peers over Lawrence's shoulder at the Potato cult book. "Now this is just a loose theory, but could those taters have anything to do with these taters?" He taps a desk with one of the wire-studded tubers on it.

"Probably. And Donovan helped me discover that the cult was likely behind the attack last year. Take a look at the other book, would you? See if there's anything there that could help."

Donovan and Melinda whirl off to the circuit breaker closet. Looking inside the already-opened room, it appears most of the circuits have been damaged in some way, shape, or form.

Otto goes and examines the epicentre of one of the explosions. Gives it a cautious sniff. Keeps his ears peeled for frogs.

Otto thoroughly sniffs the area. No particular scent, aside from the aroma of mold that is present throughout the room.

*ribbit*

Oren takes a closer look inside the closet. The chemical synthesis machine here- he don't know a damn thing about most of the mechanical bits, but his medical history means he knows a thing or two about chemistry. Maybe he can figure out if there was anything untoward going on with it.

Machine looks like it's been fairly unused for some time. Some chemical stains are near the output module, but otherwise it seems as if nothing else was wrong with this machine.

Assuming that doesn't kill him or he comes to the conclusion of them just being moldy potatoes, he opens up the teacher's desk looking for some kind of clue.

They're just moldy potatoes. Opening the desk drawer reveals one of the frogs. How'd that little guy get in there?

"Looking at something here m'lord." Lawrence is still skimming through the Potato Cult book for signs of that symbol or anything that might explain the tragedy.

The following passages from the book catch Lawrence's eye:

The Potato Cult were magically skilled - their central mage, a younger woman, was highly adept at all kinds of defense powers. Their offensive hitman was a living sock brought to life - a monstrosity that induced fear into opponents (as nothing was quite as horrifying as an oversized, sentient, insane sock) and could heartlessly kill on command. The founder of the organization, a man by the alias of Pilot Silversinski, would come to regret forming the cult and defect back to the Epicboxlanders. As a result of this transgression, the Potato Cult focused their sights on what treasure was stored in the remote valley the Epicboxlanders lived in.

Following the results of their scuffle, the following non-Potato Cultists were said to be the only ones to survive: a hydra who acted as a leader of sorts, Silversinski himself who escaped by launching himself to the moon, the author of this here book, and a wanted serial killer by the name of Andrea Lockehart. Andrea was one of the most wanted criminals of the year - mechanically empowered by a robotic limb and having stolen a top-secret weaponized satellite, she created a small terrorist group under the name of The Awesome Squad. She was arrested after attempting to fire the satellite's payload, a light-powered laser, at the site of the Potato Crisis. She later broke out of jail; improper maintenance on her mechanical arm, as well as evidence of metal poisoning, led many to believe she is currently deceased. The Awesome Squad is believed to have broken up since, despite their former members being alive and on the run.

As only one of the Potato Cultists was apprehended (a young girl turned cannibal by the name of Amanda Smith), the Potato Cult sought a replacement for her. They later settled on explosives-expert Claire, a student at the former Silver Hills High School. Claire was able to flee the Chemical Incident alive through the use of potato-based explosives, an impressive feat following a dangerous gamble by outing herself as a Potato Cultist at the height of the attack. Many theorize her bombings and subsequent escape may have begun the unraveling that led to the mass murder of the hostages and criminals alike.

"Aha! Evil magic is here, I found a cursed princess!"

*Ribbit*

"...or maybe just a common toad. Witches do stuff with toads, right?"

Arthur scoops up the frog in his gauntlets, which the frightened thing proceeds to jump straight out of his hands and into the center of the room, where it sits stationary in a completely confused state. King Arthur just shrugs and goes back to sifting his hands through the contents of the desk, it is then where he gets a brilliant idea, the lists! While he is unaware of the school's habits, most teachers usually carry around a list to tick off if a citizen had arrived to their class or not, a good tool to know which ones are brigands off doing nefarious acts! He wouldn't be surprised if the teacher had left in his desk, if he got a list of the names every student in the class, that would give him a valuable clue... or even better yet, a list of the students that were here on the day. He begins searching through the papers without delay!

((I'm looking for the rolecall or whatever it is, that's a thing, right?))

((I'm looking for the rolecall or whatever it is, that's a thing, right?))

((Yeah, rolecall, attendance sheet, etc.))

You find no such document. All you find are some chemistry worksheets.