Merryvale

[SamSeven]

Dwyrin and Rei arrived at the small village of Merryvale cold and tired. And hungry. Mostly hungry.

The buildings were old fashioned - made of sturdy wood, mostly, with a bit of metal to reinforce the framing.

Dwyrin looked around, only partially recognizing it. She was suprised she had made it here in the first place. Her sense of direction was awful.

"Let's go find someplace warm," she suggested, eagerly, already walking towards what she thought would be the inn.

[Yoyo]

Rei followed Dwyrin faithfully, uncaring at this point what happened. She wanted to be warm and she wanted food. "Glorious food." She stepped in Dwyrin's footprints and followed her to the building. Rei sniffed the air, curious about the smell of the town. Something seemed off about it, though she could not place her finger on the exact reason. She shrugged it off and made her way to the door, passing Dwyrin somewhere along the way.

She grabbed the handle, twisted, and twisted again. "It's locked," she said, turning to the other woman.

[SamSeven]

She stared at Rei, unbelievingly, "What do you mean it's locked?! Maybe it's this one!" She hurried across the street to try the door. It was also locked. Dwyrin jumped from the porch and brushed snow off the sill to peer in the window. It was dark inside, and nothing moved.

"I don't like this," she shouted to Rei.

[Destinykil]

Des walked into town swaying back and forth like a mindless zombie. A certain smell caught his senses off guard and he covered his nose. He looked around to see the old-fashioned buildings. He took off his military 'vest' to expose a casual button down white shirt. He rolled up the sleeves hoping to fit in with the villagers wherever they may be and made his way past the first few houses.

"Odd..place..to....be. Rest is needed."

Des stumbled his way towards a large building. He noticed everything was locked up tight. Des grabbed the doorknob and rustled it a few times, no luck. He stepped back and lifted his foot into the air. He drove it down on the doorknob which popped right off. Des smiled and entered the building. He searched around to find the house empty and made his way to the nearest room.

Des entered the room rather slowly and stared at the bed. Never had a sight been so beautiful. He leaped into the bed and immediately closed his eyes.

"Goodnight world. Sleep."

With those parting words, Des fell into a slumber.

[Yoyo]

Rei tried a couple doors, concern growing as she found more locked doors. She looked around. She saw no footprints other than what she and Dwyrin had left behind. She sniffed, nose beginning to run. She stopped, eyes widening. She figured out what she smelled, or rather, what she did not smell.

"This village is abandoned," she said, looking at the sky. "There's no smoke coming from the chimneys in this weather. There's no way there are people here."

She jumped when she heard a large crack! fill the air. "What was that?"

[SamSeven]

At least everything will be free.

A sound that reminded Dwyrin of a splintering tree rang out, breaking her concentration, making her flinch with her hand on the knob of another door. She listened for a moment and heard nothing.

"What could have happened to the people here??" she mumbled. She grabbed the doorknob firmly once more, and slammed her bruised shoulder into it, throwing it open.

[Destinykil]

Des' dreams were vivid. Memories of the past few months. Mostly Rei and him going places. The assassination of Grecco and the bullet that pierced Rei to get to him. His beating from his commander Ardunt. The whole northern military base was almost but a blur to him. Either way, Des was happy to be asleep.

"Sleep does the body good. Bodily functions restoring. What AM I!"

Des jolted up from his sleep with his eyes wide open. What exactly were the pro's and cons of being a failed test subject? Des' eyes flickered and a little biomechanical 'thing' flew through his pupils.

"I can't take it."

Des ripped off his shirt to reveal scars everywhere. He looked at the gun shot wound he cauterized hours earlier. It was seemlessly scarring up instantaneously.

Des soon spit up blood after the wound scarred up. What this a drawback? No one can regenerate.

"This is impossible!"

[Yoyo]

Rei wandered the empty streets, away from where they had entered the village. She saw no lights, no footprint, nothing. It was unnerving to think that a village as well-built as this could be totally empty.

Rei's stomach growled rather angrily at her for having left it unfed for so long. She grabbed it with one hand and began trying doorknobs with the other. After the fourth locked door, she gave up. She took a breath of cold air and slammed her left shoulder into the door. Her shoulder hurt, but the door was open and that meant shelter. "And hopefully food."

[SamSeven]

She looked across the abandoned road. Rei had opened a door as well.

Dwyrin walked into the room she had opened. It was a general store. She grabbed a few food items and left, crossing the street to the place she had seen Rei open.

[Destinykil]

Des rose from the bed and wiped the blood from his mouth. He walked into the bathroom and rinsed his face with water. Upon looking into the mirror, Des saw that his eyes have changed dramatically. They now resembled silver with micro-machine inlays.

"What is this? My eyes, have changed. Is that machinery in my eye?"

Des freaked and smashed the sink. It shattered into many ceramic pieces all over the floor. He stepped back and ran out of the house. Standing in the snow, shirtless, Des looked around. His eyes seemed to zoom in and out of everything. He saw two doors busted open but didn't know what to make of it. He went back inside and closed the door.

[Yoyo]

Rei turned as Dwyrin entered the building. "This one was a house," she said. She closed the weathered book she had been reading and tossed it on a table in the middle of the room. "Whoever lived here left quickly since there's still plenty here and it's not old" - she pointed at the food - "So they didn't leave too long ago, but there's no sign of why they left."

[SamSeven]

Dwyrin dropped her armful of food onto the the table with the books.

"There's something about this place..." she let the thought trail off. She had learned long ago to take stock in her intuition, whether she could explain it to anyone or not, "I don't think we should both sleep at the same time..."

She walked over to a curtained window, and peered out. Nothing but footprints...

Our footprints...and another set...maybe.
"Uh. I think I see something that shouldn't be there," she looked at Rei and pointed out the window at a set of footprints that was not theirs.

[Destinykil]

Des raided the kitchen for food. Even though he was changing he still needed food. He tore through the cabinets and ate everything he found raw. Potatoes, red meat, fish, and various spices.

"Food is soooo good."

The mumbled words of Des faded as he stopped chewing to see a door with a keepout sign on it. He dropped all the food and moved towards the door. Something about it seemed suspicious. He booted the door open and ventured down the stairs.

To his amazement, it was a wine cellar, but it felt like more to him. He moved past every wooden keg and gave them all a good pat. Dust flew off of each. He grabbed a glass from the far corner and poured himself a nice large glass. He sipped gently and fell to his knees.

"This is amazing."

Des sipped more and more and continued to fill his glass. Maybe he was becoming a drunk?

[Yoyo]

Rei looked out the window and saw the third set of footprints. She tried to remember whether they had been there while they had been out there; she was sure they had not. "Someone else is here," she said, eyes narrowing. "They look like they go to and from the inn. It's possible someone is still here; they might have heard us and come out to investigate." She had little hope that was the case, but the possibility was there.

[SamSeven]

"Would it be wise to go knock at the inn, again??" Dwyrin said, following the path of the footprints with her eyes, "We don't know what happened here. It just seems...empty."

It seems abandonded is more like it. There's no signs of struggle or fire or, well - anything.

It was as if the residents here had up and left, leaving their possessions behind. It couldn't have been that recently either; The snow could cover footprints, but the tracks of a couple hundred people headed in one direction would take a while for the winter weather to sweep away.

[Destinykil]

Des rose from his knees to fill his cup again but the barrel was drained. He grunted and punched it. The wood splintered and shattered into pieces. His eyes lit up as he saw a hidden door behind the barrel.

"What is....all.thi-"

Des fell again from drinking all the wine and crawled over to the door. The wood splintered his hands and arms but he didn't care much. He finally made it to the door and hoisted himself up by the door knob.

[Yoyo]

Rei stared hard at the footprints. They had left recently, but not too. It was possible someone was left, she supposed. "I don't like it, but we could," she said, stepping away from the window and grabbing a hunk of bread off the table. She nibbled on it a moment.

"We could sneak in and do some spying," she said, looking at Dwyrin slyly over her shoulder.

[SamSeven]

Dwyrin looked at the ceiling and stroked her chin in mock consideration, "I guess it couldn't hurt. We can't be safe long enough to sleep if we think there might be something here. So, for our survival," she grinned, "we really have no choice, do we??"

Seeing Rei eating reminded her how hungry she was, and she crossed the room to pick up some delicious looking fruit. "Have to be fortified first."

[Destinykil]

Des leaned his drunk self against the wall and jiggled the doorknob. Of course it was locked.

"Why won't you opennnn. I command you...i'm Military."

Speaking to a doorknob, this was beyond drunk. He punched the door over and over. His hands starting to blister and bruise. The door started to crack though. Des continued to punch until he could see through the wooden door. He thought success but what lie behind the wood was failure. A large metal door blocked his path further and he slumped down against the wall.

[Yoyo]

After eating a enough to still her stomach, Rei rummaged through a drawer of silverware. She pulled out two long knives and touched them both with her left palm. Alchemy changed them into daggers. She stuck one in the back of her belt and handed the other to Dwyrin handle first.

"Fortified and armed. Shall we?" she said, heading toward the front door.

[SamSeven]

She accepted the dagger, grateful Rei had thought to bring them. But... "I need one more. Something I can throw."

After searching for a suitable knife, and plucking one from a drawer, she headed after Rei. Stepping outside, the cold hit her once more and she shivered. She took one more glance around, hoping to see something she may have missed before. All she saw was the snowy ghost town, and the few out-of-place sets of footprints.

"I guess we should just go in," Dwyrin said and shrugged.

[Destinykil]

Des banged on the metal door. He gazed at the other wine barrels but decided not to drink anymore, he didn't know who was in this town if anyone.

[Yoyo]

Rei examined the inn and pointed at a window on the second story. "We go in that window, then make our way through the building. If it's an enemy, it's better to have the advantage. If they're not," she smiled. "Then we ask forgiveness and tell them we panicked."

[SamSeven]

Grinning, she joked, "What, you don't casually scale other people's buildings on a regular basis??"

In the back of the building there was a stoop with an overhang, and Dwyrin led them toward it. As quietly as possible, she climbed onto the railing and pulled herself up to the top of the roof above the porch. It was slow going, due to the build up of snow. And slippery. She walked to the other side of the roof and laid down - careful not to fall - to get a better look at the window.

"It's closed - obviously - can you get in without breaking it??," she asked Rei in a near whisper.

[Destinykil]

Des got up and banged on the metal door. He wanted to get in so badly. Drunk, messed up, and mysteriously changing all he asked for was a break.

"Open up!"

Des smashed more of the Wooden door until he saw an odd shaped hole. He has seen that somewhere before. AHA! Des grabbed the nozzle to the wine barrel and inserted it. The door cracked open and steam blew into his face. He backed up and blinked as the door opened. A blinding light cut his vision but it soon died down. All Des saw in front of him were weapons. Guns, swords, books. He walked in and fell to the floor. His eyes started going crazy. They began zooming in on each weapon displaying specs of each. Was this a pro of the experiment?

"Oh my. This is incredible."

His eyes kept identifying weapons as he lied there motionless.

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