Bug Hunt: The Casque of Gonsalvo

[The Golden Witch]

Attempts to contact the management at the wine cellar had failed. The place seemed oddly deserted even though according to the hours of operation it should have been opened.

Whoever ended up here would be confronted by a locked door.

[Sara Stanton]

Trying to brace herself for what she may find inside Sara shifts her hand into a thin spike and rams it into the lock. If that doesn't do the trick she's just going to try and burst the lock out by expanding the stone inside the lock.

[The Golden Witch]

The trick obliterates the lock, giving Sara open season to get inside.

[Sara Stanton]

She takes a deep breath, shifts the rest of herself and steps inside.

[The Golden Witch]

The serving room was deathly silent. An open bottle of wine sat on the counter with a golden butterfly on the label.

Next to it was a full wine glass.

It did not look like it was filled with wine.

[Sara Stanton]

Sara shivers as she walks through the big and horribly open room, trying to keep her eyes everywhere as she makes her way towards the back where she suspects the kitchen to be.

[The Golden Witch]

Sara would be correct as she passes through a door leading into the kitchen.

Sitting in the center is a man in a chair. His skin is white and he's not breathing. In fact, it looks like he's been dead for hours.

Sitting next to him is a small oaken cask leaking blood. Pinned to his shirt is a page from a medical textbook describing the effects of blood loss. The word "death" is circled.

[Sara Stanton]

"Oh god..." Sara clasps a hand over her mouth and if she wasn't stone right now she'd probably look almost as pale as the corpse.

Making a big circle around the man she tries to see if there are any other doors leading out of the kitchen.

[The Golden Witch]

From behind her, Sara would hear a clicking sound.

Two incredibly large probes, the size of large dogs, crawled along the floor towards her. One of them stopped, hissing as Sara as the other advanced quickly on scuttling legs.

[Sara Stanton]

Sara lets out a scream and almost simultaneously the tiles under the charging probe erupt in a sharp spike out of reflex.

[The Golden Witch]

The probe was skewered by the attack shuddering as it died weakly.

The other one tensed up on it's back legs, preparing to leap.

[Nina Madaraki]

Nina stepped out from behind the door, looking out of breath. With a loud cry she brought a large scythe down on the probe, cutting it in half.

[Sara Stanton]

Not really realizing the difference, partly because she's not aware Nina had physically changed into her future-self and partly because she's much too terrified to grasp that she is helping her Sara stumbles back in a defensive stance.

"Why are you doing this!?"

[Nina Madaraki]

"Saving you?" Nina asks, sounding a bit spacey and hesitant, "Well, it just seemed like the thing to do. I could stop if you really wanted though I'd feel really, really, really bad about it."

There was not a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

[Sara Stanton]

"I'm not falling for that! Where are you keeping the baby!?"

[Nina Madaraki]

"Oh, god," Nina says, looking genuinely horrified, "She took a baby? It's not Robin is it?"

Nina quickly closed her eyes, appearing to concentrate for a moment.

"...The basement. Hurry."

[Sara Stanton]

Despite being stone Sara's face falls. She hadn't even let herself consider that possibility and whether Nina is trying to trick her or not suddenly becomes rather unimportant. After a moment of her eyes frantically wandering around the room she spots the cellar door and a moment later she's tearing it open.

[Nina Madaraki]

Nina follows after her quickly.

"Inside there'll be an egg. Whatever you do, don't go near it," Nina warns.

[The Golden Witch]

With the door broken down, Sara can hear a baby crying. Sitting in the center of the basement is a bassinet with an egg a little ways in front of it.

[Sara Stanton]

But Sara doesn't listen to her as she rushes towards the bassinet. She doesn't go near the egg on purpose but she doesn't exactly avoid it either.

[The Golden Witch]

As Sara approaches, the egg splits open and something long and slithering moves towards her with lightning speed. It bites at her leg with a mouth apparently designed for ripping apart stone.

[Sara Stanton]

Sara screams and yanks her leg away, leaving a chunk of rock between the thing's teeth. She ignores the (somewhat dulled) pain and tries to stomp on the creature before it tries to bite her again.

[Nina Madaraki]

"Hold still!" Nina shouts, raising the scythe, "Don't let it get a hold of you!"

[The Golden Witch]

The slithering thing has very tough skin apparently and manages to wrap itself around Sara's leg as she steps down on it rather then being crushed to death.

[Sara Stanton]

Between that... something wrapping itself around her leg and Nina aiming a scythe at it she has absolutely no incentive to keep still and tries to grab a hold of the creature instead to pry it off her leg.

[The Golden Witch]

Sara manages to rip the thing off of her as it struggles frantically in her hand, hissing furiously.

[Sara Stanton]

With the squirming snake-thing in her hand she whips around and throws the creature at Nina.

[Nina Madaraki]

Nina pivots and brings the scythe down, neatly bisecting the little monstrosity.

As it hits the ground it slowly melts into a black and steaming ooze.

[Sara Stanton]

That wasn't what Sara had tried to set up but it was just as well. With the snake out of the picture she hurries over to the bassinet to pick up the baby.

[Nina Madaraki]

Nina looks annoyed, "What is wrong with you people?"

[Sara Stanton]

"What's wrong with us? What's wrong with us!?" Sara yells, having had more than enough of just about everything right now. Clutching the baby to her chest she spins around and throws a punch at Nina.

[Nina Madaraki]

Sara punches Nina right in the nose and the girl falls over onto her butt.

"Ow!" Nina says, her eyes filling with tears and her nose bleeding badly, "Ah dink you bwoke mah dose!"

[Sara Stanton]

Sara would be lieing to herself if she didn't say that felt pretty good, regardless of Nina's role in this whole mess or if she was really helping her or whatever the hell is going on.

"I'm placing you under custody for the murder of 6 people and the kidnapping of 5 more." she says with a shaking voice.

[Nina Madaraki]

"Ah dwont haff ahny tahm!" Nina says, getting up to her feet, "She's gowng to kill people!"

"Ahnd awhl because you cahnt lihsten to me fahr ohnce!" Nina says, "You think she's jahst pwaying gahms? She wahnts you guys to cahm to her!"

"Idiahts!"

[Sara Stanton]

"If you think I'm letting you go you're even crazier than I thought." she says, calling the university for pick-up.

[Nina Madaraki]

"Dow wot you haff to," Nina mumbles, wiping blood away from her face, "You ahlways dihd ahnyway."

"Ahm gohing to gah trah to stahp dis."

Nina explodes into a cloud of black butterflies and in an instant she's gone.

[Sara Stanton]

"You're her! If you really wanted to stop this this would have never happened!" Sara yells after the dispersing butterflies before getting the hell out of this place.