[Game Thread] Mall Maul!

The group weaves their way through the minefield of toad-spider trapdoors without any further incident. The path into the truck bay slopes down, due to the way that most of the mall has sunken into the ground. A large metal mechanism attached to a bin sits in a corner at the lowest point. It looks like it is designed to crush things - a trash compactor possibly. Rotted hoses on the machine have leaked an oily fluid onto ground around it.

Stairs lead up from the bottom of the slope to the unloading platform and a pair of large bay doors open into what was once the staging area for goods to be taken into the mall. On the western wall is a metal door. Trying the door reveals that it is locked, but the whole thing is corroded and it feels loose in its frame. A good solid kick could probably break it open.

"Oh no, oh no, the door is locked. Let's go home, nothing to be done," Hannibal says, his trunk still shivering.

"I thought elephants had good memories," Liam growls. "We're not here by choice, remember?"

Travis pills out his Leatherman and examines the edges of the door and the lock.

"I'm pretty handy with tinkering, maybe I can pick the lock with your tool?" Sarah offers.

It takes more than a push to get the door open, but not much more. A good shove from a couple of people causes the lock bolt to snap. Shockingly, the hinges hold, and the door swings open with a creak instead of loudly toppling to the floor. Lucky.

Beyond the door is a hallway leading to the west. It goes slightly down, not because it was built that way, but because the whole mall is sunken into the ground beyond the door. The light from outside illuminates the hallway enough for you to see that it hits a "T" hallway junction 20 feet or so away. You can see a door on the far wall. Things seem fairly silent, and there does not seem to be any light sources inside.

Liam: "Dammit, it's darker than my sense of humor in there." He heads back to the bay and searches through the trash compactor for some way of making a torch.

The now illuminated crew packs into the hallway, moving far enough for the front-most members to peer down the hallway at the intersection. The hallway extends about 50 feet in either direction, with two doors across from the group. Both doors have worn lettering on them in a simple style. The northern of the two doors says "Which Watch". The southern of the two says "RadioShed".

In the distant gloom of the lights, you can see that the south end of the hallway turns west and the north end turns east. Also in the shadows to the north, you can make out another door. The floors look dusty and not recently disturbed. The only sound other than those coming from the party is a very faint rhythmic beat of some kind coming from the north.

Liam and Sarah take the lead, and are ready to enter the RadioShed when it's possible.

Hannibal and Travis follow behind, keeping an eye on the other doors.