thoughtformed | DUNGEON LOG.

Entry tags:

DUNGEON LOG.

Where: Varying underground locations somewhere on the island.
When: Early morning on the eighteenth through the end of the twenty-first.
Who: Seven teams of two people, listed below.
Why: Because nobody likes a snoop.

Starting the morning on the eighteenth, there are seven new local cable channels available on island TV. There are no ads announcing them, so only people channel-surfing will run across them at first. Each channel shows something rather shocking: two people held together by a pair of thick, futuristic shackles made of some strange white plastic. They're somewhere underground, and followed constantly by hidden cameras in their surroundings. Welcome to the strangest reality TV show ever.

For those seven teams, however, life is significantly worse. They'll wake up in the darkness, shackled to someone they may or may not know. They'll be wearing whatever clothes they wore yesterday (thankfully, not whatever they wore to bed). They'll be carrying anything they usually carry, though any weapon will be lacking extra ammunition beyond the load it started with. Their electronic devices will not connect to any networks or receive any signal, but will otherwise behave normally. Worst, however, any supernatural abilities they possess will be dampened -- subtly for some, more extremely for others (sorry Jade).

The shackles will not cut or break. Any attempt to remove them merely tightens them. There is no visible lock to pick. Examine or struggle how you will, but short of severing your forearm there's no certain way to remove them.

So: where the Hell are you, anyway?

Check out the threads below for answers.

Team One: Tim – Jade

Team Two: Finnick – Remus

Team Three: Jack – Kaylee

Team Four: Sherlock – Davesprite

Team Five: Natasha – Feferi

Team Six: Naoto – Ramona

Team Seven: Jenny – Nathan

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Up ahead, the steady mechanical noise grows louder, until its source is finally apparent: a sudden drop-off yawns ahead, all the way across the corridor. The far side of the gap is fifteen feet away. Ten feet above this gap, a rusted iron girder on a ratcheted pivot swings back and forth.

It might be possible to jump across the gap unassisted. Or to jump, grab hold of the girder, and make your way across as it pendulum-wobbles its way over the gap.

Further up, another ten feet above the girder, is some sort of cubical stone projection from the wall, made of paler rock than the dark brick of the walls and floor.

Jack stood at the edge of the gap, having not exactly been prepared for such an obstacle. The jump alone would not have been much difficulty for him, but attached to another person of unknown athletic prowess, well, that was another matter entirely. He looked down to the wrists connected with one another and shook his head. No. It wasn't desperate enough for that, yet. He took a deep breath and panned his light source around again, hoping in vain for another way across.

Finding nothing, Jack turned to Kaylee once again. "Are you a good jumper?"

Kaylee was- not happy when she saw their predicament. She wasn't sure she could have made it across under normal circumstances, much less when she was feeling so scared AND handcuffed to another person.

"I don't know," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I ain't ever tried to do anything like this before."

"Well there's no way to tell how much weight that beam can hold," He said, pointing his hologram in the direction of the slowly moving thing. "I don't know if it would be able to hold both of us at once... it's in pretty rough shape. We could try to get on top and let it carry us across, in which case, if it fails, well, we'll plummet to our deaths. On the other hand, if we can't both make it across on a single jump, we have the same fate anyway." Well, she would. He would just be stuck in a pit for a long, long time. Still beats nearly 2000 years buried in dirt, though.

"I'm heavier than you are, but I'm used to doing stuff like this. Which can you do?"

Kaylee had to hold back a sob at the idea of dying- but Jack was quite right. They had to try- because for all she knew, nobody was even aware that they were gone yet, and the more progress they made and exploration they were able to do, the better.

"Neither option sounds real good to me," she said, sucking in a shaky breath. "I guess- I guess we got better chances if we try jumpin' across. If one of us don't quite make it, we could pull the other one up, but if we try crossin' the beam and it falls..." She let that hang and reached up to wipe her watering eyes.

"My thoughts exactly. I don't much like falling-deaths. Not my favorite kind." He'd just let her interpret that how she wanted and took her by the hand, guiding her back a little bit the way that they came. "We'll get a running start. Don't look down and try not to panic. That won't help us out at all." He tried to give her a reassuring smile, though he knew that it would likely not do much to quell her fear.

There was another moment of fiddling with the device on his wrist before the small projection shifted and changed shape into something larger that produced more light, though it was a little difficult to see through, but at least the other side was illuminated. "We'll go on three. Ready? One... Two... Three!"

Kaylee closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, simply nodding in response to his advice. The panic was still there, but she had to believe she would make it out of this okay, that they would make the jump, that they would get out of here.

"Three!" And with that, she ran forward and squatted down as far as she could go before launching herself across with all of her might, letting out a scream as she did so. She landed on the very edge of the chasm, her free arm windmilling. "Whoa!"

Jack followed suit, his actions nearly in time with hers, though his longer legs giving him a longer leap, and his feet landing him safely on the gray-blue bricks on the other side, nearly tumbling over in the process. He felt the pull at his wrist as Kaylee began to fall backward. "Kaylee!" If she fell, she'd no doubt take him with her. Rising to his feet, Jack gave an almost violent jerk to pull her back toward him and into his arms, something strong, safe, secure, and most importantly, not a gaping chasm in the floor. His heart was pumping, and he was suddenly very happy for the fact that they were connected the way they were.

After a moment of catching his breath, he looked down to the young woman. "You all right?" He was very grateful that she had at least made it partway across. Jack had no doubt about his own abilities, but hers... they may have just gotten lucky with her making it. She could have easily killed them both, though he dared not say such a thing. Being chained to someone was dangerous. "What have you got in your pockets?" he asked when she'd caught her breath.

Kaylee felt as though her heart had stopped when she nearly fell over- thankfully, Jack had better reflexes then she did. When he pulled her close and asked if she was okay, she looked up at him and tried to speak, but let out a little sob before any words could come out.

"S-sorry," she whimpered, reaching up to wipe her eyes again. "I could've... I coulda got us..." She sobbed again, taking a few shaky breaths, trying to get herself under control. This is no time to panic, a voice that sounded an awful lot like Mal told her at the back of her brain, and she managed to steady her voice.

"Uhm... I got a few tools," she mumbled, trying to collect herself.

"Hey, hey... Don't worry about it, okay? We're both okay, and that's what matters." He smiled at her and released her from his embrace. He changed the hologram back to the small, concentrated little ball and concentrated it toward her pockets. Maybe it was lucky that he got stuck with someone who appeared to be a mechanic after all. Those grease stains on her clothes were a dead giveaway. "Let's see what we've got. Have you got anything with a blade? Like a knife? Pliers? Something at all that can cut. The bigger, the better. I'd rather not have to wrestle with the chain for too long."

"Yeah. Yeah." Kaylee sniffled and tried to focus her attention on the task at hand- getting out. She dug in her pockets, searching for her tools and resisting the strong urge to get her phone out to check and see if it was working.

"I got some pliers with a wire cutter on 'em... a little set of screwdrivers... a wrench... a little hammer... some screws and nails..." The more she went on, the more ashamed she was of herself for not thinking of trying to get the cuffs off in the first place. But being down on herself for that wouldn't fix things now. "That's all. Normally I got a big toolkit I carry with me."

Jack actually looked rather impressed with her little arsenal of tools. Some of the nails looked small enough to maybe pick the locks with, and there may have been a way to bend the chain and weaken the links. "I think this is plenty, especially considering you weren't exactly planning on coming here." He pat her on the shoulder, took one of the smaller nails from her palm and took a seat, already digging into the lock on his cuff to try and pick the lock and free himself.

Kaylee took her cue and sat down as well, taking one of the smallest screwdrivers to her own lock.

"I try to have at least some basics on me... just 'cause," she replied. "Ya never know when you're going to wake up in a strange place with handcuffs on."

She then looked mildly surprised at her own ability to joke about their predicament, considering how close she was to having a breakdown not long ago, but having something to work on and focus on was helping her nerves.

It's hard to deter,mine what point in the seamed shackles might actually be a lock, but there are a few logical places to start -- and as soon as one of the improvised lockpicks probes them, the cuffs constrict and emit a sudden electrical shock.

Jack's arm seizes and he cries out in pain, dropping the nail and effectively losing it somewhere on the dark brick, cursing under his breath. So they were charged, and knowing this, Jack was getting a little angry.

"Plan B." He took a breath and held out his hands. "Pliers and wrench. I'll see if I can bend or twist the chains enough to weaken it a little." He really was hoping he wouldn't have to resort to Plan C.

Same result.

Kaylee gave a loud cry of surprise and pain when the cuffs shocked her- she certainly hadn't been expecting THAT.

"Gǒuzǎizi," she growled under her breath. "... I hate to say it, but it looks like we're stuck."

[gǒuzǎizi = son of a bitch]

Edited 2012-05-22 04:05 (UTC)

As Jack recovered from this rather painful shock, he groaned and looked down at the tools at hand. "Not quite... There might still be another way... But.. I don't know how we're going to do it like this. Unless..." He picked up the tiny hammer, examining not the flat side, but rather the sharper pick-like back end. It was very small and not very heavy in his hand... Jack was not looking forward to this. With a swallow, he nodded and looked Kaylee in the eye.

"We're going to explore a bit further. If we can't find a way out or a key soon, we're going to have to cut off my hand. I don't want you to worry about it just... know that it may be something that we both need to do. I don't think I'll be able to get it all the way off myself, and so I need you to be strong and finish it for me.

"Do you think you can do that? Can you be that brave?"

"Cut off your hand?!" Kaylee repeated increduously, not sure she had heard him right. "In case you hadn't noticed, we ain't exactly anywhere near a hospital. I'm not gonna let you bleed to death, or get an infection from all the dirty crap down here, or cut a limb off just to get me free. While I ain't sayin' I don't appreciate the sentiment, it's not worth it."

"I'd be fine, trust me." He smiled a little and laughed, "I've been to and from much, much worse things. It wouldn't bother me for long, just so long as you don't like... throw it out or anything. That might take a little longer to fix." Jack got to his feet once again and nodded his head down the corridor, as though he'd only just suggested that they see a movie and grab some dinner. Cut off a hand? No big deal. It would hurt like hell until it all grew back together, but the option was much more preferable to whatever challenges they'd have to accomplish anchored to one another.

Kaylee looked down at her feet as she got up, feeling a little ashamed that she was actually giving this plan some serious contemplation. She wasn't quite sure she could stomach doing the rest if he passed out, though- that was Simon's department, not hers.

"I couldn't ask you to do that," she said in a small voice. "And I don't know if I could promise that I'd be able to finish the job if you couldn't. Plus, these ain't exactly clean conditions to do surgery in." She swallowed. "If you say you could survive it, I believe you. But... can't we make that a last resort?"

Only as a last resort? Sure. Jack could handle that. "Of course. I don't know what else we can do short of finding a key, though. And in a place like this, I don't know how likely that'll be. It's pretty dark here." He pointed his hologram this way and that, trying to discern any secrets that he could glean from the walls and the brick below. How had they gotten here? Where even was 'here'? Were they still on the island? They had to be. This was all too strange for them not to be.

It's a long walk. Several more times, jumping or climbing is required to navigate over pits, and several more large, corroded copper pipes protrude from the ceiling. The musty odor of the places -- reptile and fungus -- only gets stronger as they continue.

At last, the hallway ends in a wall, with another copper pipe set sideways into it. While handcuffed together, it would be... deeply unpleasant... to maneuver through -- not only would they have to crouch on hands and knees, but whoever went first would have to crawl backward.

"Oh, you've gotta be KIDDING me," Kaylee groaned upon seeing the pipe- after all the clambering around, she was hoping for an easier obstacle for once. Or perhaps an exit. That would be nice. "What the hell kinda place is this, anyway? I mean... obviously it's old and abandoned, but..." She trailed off. "Guess that don't matter much right now. What do we do?"

This was difficult. "It looks like a drainage pipe. Which means one of two things: It could either just go straight and we don't need to worry about a thing, or it could have very sudden and very dangerous drops." He looked to Kaylee and then down to their wrists. "One of us would have to crawl backward like this. If there was a fall, there would be nothing the other could do without getting dragged in as well, or in best case scenario, a very bad injury. And there'd be no room to maneuver, so pulling back up is out..."

He wasn't looking forward to this. "I think this is a 'last resort'."

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