OPEN POST; [ JAMES SUNDERLAND / SILENT HILL 2 ]

[redsquares]

(( out of her head, she sang ))

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[reapoman]

[ Away they go, the little light bobbing along with them. When they reach the wall at the back of the room, they'll find a lever jutting out from the stone. Ivan exchanges a brief glance with James, but ultimately figures that's their way out of here.

He curls his hands around it and pulls. And pulls.

It appears to be a little stuck. ]

What was all that for if the lever doesn't even work? [ He's so!! Sick of this place!! ] A little help?

[redsquares]

[If a reaper can't pull that lever, he's not exactly sure how much he'd be able to help, but as if James will say no.]

Maybe you're overdue a visit to the gym.

[He's kidding.

But okay, he sets down his chainsaw for now and grips the lever with both hands, as well.]

On the count of three? One, two... three! [PULLS]

[reapoman]

You're not— [ PULLS! ] —funny!

[ The two of them are enough, and maybe there's something to that, and the lever clicks into place, sending a portion of the wall sliding out of the way. They should be underground. They are underground, right?

So why is the rest of the graveyard suddenly right through this doorway? ]

... What.

[redsquares]

[He's hilarious, what do you mean.

But the lever gives, and that wall slides out of the way. And they're greeted by...]

The graveyard again?

[Is it like, outdoors, or is it still inside the mausoleum. The second option would be nothing new to Henry, weirdly enough.]

[reapoman]

[ Outdoors, though they've been dumped not too far from the entrance to the church. ]

Apparently. Physical space is really a suggestion around here, isn't it?

[redsquares]

Yeah. You don't know the half of it. The last time somewhere spat me out into a graveyard like this, I had to jump into one of the open graves to move forward.

[Hopefully that's not a requirement this time, but who knows. Being outdoors is somewhat of a relief, though, and hopefully more of those creatures from before aren't lurking around.]

The church is just ahead, though.

[reapoman]

Let me guess. Your name was on it and everything.

[ He knows your tricks, town! (Not really, but that one seems to be a fairly obvious bit of symbolism.) ]

Have you been through here before? The church, I mean.

[redsquares]

That's exactly right.

[At least by that point, James was very used to jumping into bottomless pits of holes.]

Not through the church. I just passed by the cemetery on the way to the town the last time, I didn't really have a reason to make a pit stop.

[reapoman]

We should probably try to make it back towards the town if we can, but...

[ He glances back behind them. There are vines everywhere, and vague shapes moving through the fog. Ivan makes a face. ]

Through the church it is.

[redsquares]

You’ll get used to this, eventually. All the detours.

[Will he tho. Once again it’s delivered dryly, but he starts moving. He glimpses those shapes, too, and he doesn’t want to waste time finding safety.

Assuming they reach the church without incident, he squints as the building makes itself clearer through the fog as they near. The door, just like last time, has messy words carved into its wooden front:

ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF GOD’S GLORY

He scoffs when he sees it.]

Yeah, tell me about it. Well, at least this is still the same.

[He might not have entered the church… but he did check every nook and cranny before moving on, like a proper horror protagonist.]

[reapoman]

All bets are off once we open the door, huh?

[ No use in putting it off. He shoves one of the double doors open with a little effort, thanks to an upturned pew that's in the way. The inside of the church is in absolute shambles, littered with broken furniture, the windows smashed and boarded up in places. What windows are left don't exactly paint a welcoming picture as the cold, fog-choked light streams through the grimy stained glass. ]

Hm. Charming.

[ There's a couple of places to go — side doors off the main sanctuary — but most prevalent is the altar at the front of the room. ]

[redsquares]

It's seen better days.

[It would be strange, he thinks, if the church were in good shape. A spotless, safe sanctuary. Things are never so easy in this town once things have begun to change.

He steps in, making sure not to stumble over any detritus. James takes stock of the area, noting the side doors, but of course he's going to head towards the altar first.]

I wonder where all this is ultimately trying to lead us.

[reapoman]

Hard to say.

[ This, as Ivan steps his way over some debris, tagging along with James like the lost puppy in a survival horror setting that he is. ]

Where did your journey take you?

[redsquares]

…To the hotel.

[Yes, the same one he was trying to get to when he arrived.]

The room my wife and I stayed in during a vacation here once… years ago.

[reapoman]

Ah. I see why you'd like to go back.

[ There is a lectern sitting on this altar, half-draped with a red sheet. An old curtain or something maybe. Pulling it away will reveal a large, old tome that bears a shocking resemblance in look and content to the weird cult shit James unearthed around town before.

The moment Ivan lays eyes on it, he goes very still indeed. ]

[redsquares]

Yeah. It’s fallen into disrepair [to say the least] since then, but the location is still… important to me.

[But he can leave it at that for now. In fact, James approaches the lectern and reveals the book, letting the cloth fall to the ground. He picks it up with his free hand curiously, turning it over and feeling a dread sort of familiarity.]

Hey, is this-

[He glances at Ivan and pauses, catching sight of his face.]

Ivan?

[reapoman]

Don't—

[ Ah, too late. Damn James' tendency to go touching everything he finds. Maybe there's nothing harmful about the book itself — though in this town, who knows? What Ivan does know is that's the tome, the one that gave him all his secrets and power and set him on a downward spiral so absolute he left piles and piles of bodies in his wake. ]

Put that down. Please.

[redsquares]

[Everything about Ivan’s body language reveals the obvious: he recognizes this book. James doesn’t know what to do for a moment, but then eventually sets the item back down.]

You know what it is?

[He has a bad feeling he does, too.]

[reapoman]

I do.

[ He steps up to the lectern alongside James, though he looks almost afraid that the book sitting there will leap up and try to bite him. ]

That's a Necromancer's tome. The very same I used for guidance.

[redsquares]

It looks so much like the one I found in this town.

[Necromancy, the very idea still sound fantastical despite all that he’s been through — but clearly it isn’t. Here, it might’ve worked. And wherever Ivan’s from, he actually practiced it, once upon a time.]

I don’t know if we can just leave it. It might be a part of another…

[Puzzle or riddle, he wants to say. But he just trails off, uncertain. This is no doubt a raw subject for the other man.]

[reapoman]

I know...

[ It probably is integral to whatever they need to do to get out of here. ]

I just... when I think about the things I did with that book in my hand, I...

[redsquares]

[Ah. His heart twinges a little in sympathy for Ivan as he briefly glances at the book again. He won't bother telling him he's not that man anymore, the one who might sacrifice others for the sake of saving someone precious, because that doesn't change the past. Doesn't change the associations with the past.

But he can at least offer-] ...You don't have to touch it. I can do whatever we need to do with it, and then get out of here as soon as possible.

[reapoman]

[ His gaze flicks over to James, finally torn away from the tome, expression on his face unreadable as he tries to figure out what to do with that gesture of kindness.

Once again, he can't help but think this is his trial. He should be the one to deal with it. ]

I— [ Boy, it's sure gotten dark in here all of a sudden. What ground-level windows are left that haven't been covered by plywood are suddenly filled with the looming, silent forms of people crowding around the building.

Or, maybe not people, considering the unnatural way they move, the strangeness to their gait and the crooked ways they stand. They don't make a move for the moment, they simply stand there. As if waiting. Ivan has a sinking feeling they won't be waiting for long. ]

... Alright. Let's see what we need to do.

[ im out of puzzles help me ]

[redsquares]

[NO

okay fine

Ah. The shapes crowding the windows can't mean... anything good. They're under pressure to get this done quickly, and James exhales a little breath through his teeth and gestures for Ivan to follow him into one of the side rooms.]

Let's try in here first.

[The side room doesn't have much to it — more boarded-up windows and ruined tables and chairs. Maybe this was a small meeting room of some sort, but it's hard to tell, bereft as it seems to be right now.

But, notably, sitting dead center in the room atop one such table is an old, rusted box. It's locked, of course, and its locking mechanism is a pad of numerical buttons.

There's a note on top.]

[reapoman]

[ 🥺

Ivan doesn't like walking away from the book or all those silhouettes closing in, but what choice do they have?

He steps into the room after James, casting a glance around before zeroing in on the box and the note. ]

I didn't know they made keypads that went all the way to fifteen.

[ Anyway, he'll check out that note. What's it say? ]