Ruby Quest: Chapter 17

Ruby and Tom climb the ladder up the new hatch in the ceiling.

It is no mystery whose home this is.

"Analyze object under the tent thing, then the bloody hole in the wall."

">Analyze object under the tent thing, then the bloody hole in the wall."

There's a CEREAL BOX under Red's tent.

On the wall, among endless scrawls of illegible, fevered writings, there's some sort of crude, arcane circular diagram, and in the center, a relatively-fresh bloodstain, probably from some time in the last few days.

Looks like someone hit their head here. Very hard.

"open CEREAL BOX"

">open CEREAL BOX"

There is a very sugary cereal inside, but there's very little left. Something rattles inside the box, which promises a PRIZE INSIDE.

Something falls to the floor, amid Red's fevered writings, from the CEREAL BOX.

Are those...teeth? Examine them to determine their true nature.

>Are those...teeth? Examine them to determine their true nature.

They're teeth, all right.

Ruby pockets the HANDFUL OF TEETH.

Tom explains he was trapped behind this door.

Red let him out, so Red must be in there now.

The door is locked, but Red is on the other side.

He might let them in, Tom suggests.

After all, he let Tom out.

Tom knocks.

RED'S voice comes from the other side, raspy and strangely excited.

"HOLD ON NOW, FRIENDS.

RED CAN'T LET JUST ANYONE THROUGH THIS DOOR.

YOU HAVE TO PROVE YOU'RE FAMILY.

PART OF

RED'S

SPECIAL FAMILY."

"IF YOU WANT TO PROVE YOU'RE PART OF RED'S VERY

SPECIAL

FAMILY

YOU'LL HAVE TO SOLVE THIS RIDDLE FOR ME:

'I WATCH, I TEAR

I DEVOUR, AND BLEED

ALL THESE FALL,

AS LIQUID, TO FEED.'

NOW, WHY DON'T YOU GO BRING GOOD OLD RED THE ANSWER?

AND PROVE YOU'RE PART OF RED'S SPECIAL FAMILY."

blood

"WRONG!

NOW SCRAM!"

"Well, nothing to do now but open up the DO NOT OPEN box."

">Well, nothing to do now but open up the DO NOT OPEN box."

Tom decides it's time to get down to business. Warning labels are for chumps.

Stand aside, ladies. It's time for MANLY PHYSIQUE to prove its worth, and damn the consequences!

There is a dessicated corpse inside the box. Its skin has become paper-thin and yellowed, half-transparent, clinging to its thin skeleton.

It looks...

strangely familiar.

Tom finds something in the box.

Tom retrieves the BOWL OF CLAWED FINGERS.

"TURN ON THE SINK."

">TURN ON THE SINK."

The faucet pours red liquid.

Actually, Tom's not that surprised.

"There is no corpse, or Tom would have reacted. Ask him what's in the box."

Tom retrieves the BOWL OF BLOOD.

">There is no corpse, or Tom would have reacted. Ask him what's in the box."

Tom says a bowl of severed fingers is certainly disgusting, but no worse than some other things they've both seen.

"take the BLOOD, EYE, TEETH and FINGERS, stick them in the BLENDER and get the GODAWFUL SMOOTHIE."

">take the BLOOD, EYE, TEETH and FINGERS, stick them in the BLENDER and get the GODAWFUL SMOOTHIE."

Tom and Ruby head to the maintenance area and after a gruesome blending, they whip up the GODAWFUL SMOOTHIE.

"Take it to Red"

">Take it to Red"

The door is already open.

Perhaps he knew Ruby and Tom were coming.