Play@YSDC

Monday, March 13, 1922
approaching 6PM
Pawtucket, Rhode Island

You drive to Pawtucket as the sun slowly sets. Some 10 minutes after it disappears you take a right into the long driveway to the Sanitarium. It's a straight mile long road surrounded by tall Birch trees on both sides. You reach the gates, they are open, so you make your way to the gravel parking lot. The building is an old brick three story house. The lights are on most everywhere. You spot though a window that the dishes are being done, it seems that supper has ended.

A bored receptionist of around 40 eyes you as you enter through the front door. She slowly straightes and tries to look interested. She has straight mousy hair. There is a lot of movement and talking in the building.

May I help you?

Dan Marrison

"Yes, my dear," Dan says trying to sweet talk the obviously bored woman as he removes his fedora hat and nods to her with a smile. "We're hoping we haven't arrived too late for visitor's hours. We would like to see the Macarios, a husband and wife team that was brought in here not too long ago. Or, if that isn't possible, the doctor in charge of their rehabilitation."

Karl Werner

Shutting off the smoothly purring engine, Karl looks across to Pearl and smiles. He gets out of the car and comes around to open her door, extending a pudgy hand to help her out of the low-slung vehicle, relishing the sight of her silken limbs. As they pass up the stairs, following Dan and Calum, he leans over to the young woman and murmurs quietly, "Do you suppose they will let little Mr. Childs leave again?"

Inside, he notices that the building seems little warmer than the cold night outside. He shivers slightly. He hates hospitals of all kinds, particularly mental hospitals. As Dan chats up the receptionist, he strolls about the lobby, looking at portraits of several Superintendants. They look a shifty lot to his eyes. Hmph, doctors.

"Why thank you kind Sir" Pearl says as she disembarks the car, her gallant escort had tried his hand at small conversation on the way up, but it was soon evident that neither really wanted to talk much, so she spent her time looking at the evening countryside as it rolled past the car window.

'C'mon Pearl ol' girl, you gotta do better than this to impress these guys - so far you found one bit of information on your own and shown a little of your skills from the stage which really seemed to get under the skin of that stuffed shirt Callum. Oh you'll break him down slowly and he ain't that bad looking really. Not really my type ... not realy ... hmmm

'But well like my momma always used to say in a small pond there are not too many fish to choose from.' This was part of the reason she went West to try these mong films, but that had ended ... no she didn't want to go there, not just yet.

Before too long they were pulling up outside the sanitorium and Karl, with his eyes everywhere was there to help her out of the car. she gave him a quick flash of her thigh, just enough, and a smile as she linked in with him as they headed towards the building where Dan was already chatting to the receptioninst.

Calum:

Calum fairly bounced out of Dan's car, looking like a small, eager mole. Clearly, he enjoyed the evenings.

To no-one in particular, he looked at the asylum and observed, "I imagine this is what those homes for fallen women look like too."

Wandering in with Dan, Calum commented, "I knew a lot of good lads who wound up in places like this after The War."

Dan notices the ladies name is Shirley, but it seems she's intentionally hiding the nametag. She probably doesn't like to be called that...

She asks you to wait for a minute and starts looking through some files in a cabinet behind her.

You have time to look around. Whe walls are white and there is scant decoration. Everything around seems sturdy and decently attatched to whatever portion of wall or floor it's on. No point in having stuff that'll break in the vicinity of unstable people.

The superintendants' pictures on the wall are all fairly similar to one another, probably because they all have the same last name. There are only four of them and it seems like it's been a good family business of the Eriksson family. There are more pictures, mainly graduation shots from Arkham University. There's always one same person in the photos along with the superintendants, first a co-student graduating, then obviously a professor of the later Erikssons. Apart from school pictures there are some interesting shots from various hunting trips, one is surely from Africa. The Erikssons have been living well of this establishment, that much is visible.

Shirley grunts and slams the cabinet drawer shut.

Here they are. Vittorio and Gabriella Macario. Unfortunately their lead doctor is away on vacation, Dr. Hardstrom is filling in. I'll go look for him. Care for a mint? She strains a smile at Dan and hurriedly rushes away.

Dan,She may have just blushed, you're not sure.

There is a jar of mints on the counter.

My apologies. time ran out on me yesterday.

Dan smiled a toothy smile with a wink to the girl who apparently found him somewhat attractive. "Don't mind if I do. Thank you very much." He grabbed a few in his hands, tossed one in the air and caught it in his mouth with one of practiced grace. As Shirley departs, Dan's eyes follow her, checking out her finer qualities. When she moves out of sight, he turns around and looks to the others still smiling, but his smile disappers (somewhat embarrassedly) as he looks at Pearl and had apparently forgot for the fleeting moment that she was with them.

He clears his throat in attempt to regain his posture and holds his hand up that grips the mints. "Good mints," he confirms with a nod.

Calum:

Leaving the team centurion to impress the lassie with his masculinity and martial prowess, Calum, easily bored in social environments, thought: wow, here's a chance to look inside a real nut factory.

Calum quietly wandered away from the others, looking in windows for anything interesting, hoping to get far enough away that he could go for a bit of a stretch of the old legs.

I'm guessing nobody has anything to add.

The receptionist returns after a few minutes and says that it's no problem for you to see the Macarios, but Dr. Hardstrom warns that they are in an unstable state and that you shouldn't take too long. A tall muscular dark haired man comes in from the room she came out of and informs you that his name is Edward and he'll escort you to the Macarios. He motions for you to follow him.

You enter a lounge, there are several people in it and one orderly making sure they behave. Two are playing a weird variation of chess, probably of their own making. You finally make it to a staircase and climb it. A few turns ofthe corridoor later you approach a door like all the others and Edward stops.

"This is Vittorio Macario. I can let two of you in to talk to him. You have two minutes. Good luck." He is quite emotionless.

There is a window in the door, it's a white padded room. Inside there is a bed and a chair. A man wearing all white sits huddled on the bed. He's rocking back and forth, clutching his legs close to his body.

Dan looked in and then back to the others, "Ok... normally I'd bound right in and get to the bottom of things, but perhaps this needs a softer touch. Karl, why don't you go in there, since you're so experienced with the paranormal you should know what to look for and what questions to ask, right?" He looks to Pearl and Calum and asked, "Do either of you have any psychiatric classes under your belt? It could prove useful if he slips further into insanity."

Karl Werner

Karl purses his lips and considers Dan's suggestion for a moment.

"I think you, as a trained investigator, should conduct the interview, Marrison. I will be glad to accompany you and observe, perhaps adding a few questions of my own, though two minutes is an absurdly brief time. Meanwhile," he turns to the attendant, "Since the hour is late, perhaps our colleagues could see Mrs. Macario at the same time?"

Calum:

Calum continued wandering randomly through the lunatic asylum, wherever looked interesting, at least until someone stopped him.

"Where'd Calum go?" Dan asked looking around. Then looking back to Karl, Dan frowned, "I get most of my information using more forceful interrogative techniques. Needless to say, that probably won't prove very useful here. However, if Pearl doesn't have any skills that would prove more fruitful, then I guess it's you and me, Karl." He looked at Pearl for some sort of indication that she might be inclined to partake in the questioning.

"I could try if you want ... but amongst these poor people I'm not to sure my charms would be as effective. I think the woman's touch may be more effective with Mrs Macario " Pearl says looking thoughtful.

Karl Werner

"If you're quite sure you'll be alright on your own, Miss Wealstone? I cannot imagine where that idi-- where Mr. Childs has gotten to." He turns to the attendant. "Very well, orderly, Mr. Marrison and I are ready to see Mr. Macario."

Dan takes out his money clip and pulls a bill from it, stepping closer to the attendant, "Are you sure we can't manage to squeeze a little more time with these people? It is very important that we get some information from them, and some things just can't be rushed."

Bribe Check,Attempting to bribe the guy. Guess that would be a roll against my credit rating... :P only 15% chance to succeed though. [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2449115/]Credit Rating check (15%) (1d100=8)[/url] - whoo-hoo, a success! If I'm wrong about the skill... can I keep the roll?

Pearl flutters her wide eyes at the attendant and put on her best flirtatious face ...

"Perhaps you could take me to see his wife if you could be so kind." She takes a deep breath before adding, somewhat breathlessly;

"I would really appreciate it if you could help me out here, I am really scared of places like this and could use a strong man like you ... " She links in with him and leads him away down the corridor placing her hand on his upper arm ... "Yes a strong man like you would make me feel so much safer ... oh yes indeed."

Once more she looks into the attendant's eyes and with a disingenuous smile on her face she adds;

"You would keep me safe from the patients ... Yes of course you would!

[OOC-Button]Plenty to choose from here

Art (acting)(05%) ...... 80% (+75)
Fast Talk (05%)......... 70% (+65)
Persuade (15%) ......... 50% (+35)
[/OOC-Button]

The big man blushes, but takes the bill as he opens the door to Mr. Macario.

As Pearl falls all over him he offers his hand to her.
I will take the Missus to Mrs. Macario. We will be back shortly.

Dan and Karl:
As the door closes, all the outside noise becomes unhearable. All you hear now is the man's mumbling under his breath. He fails to notice your presence. He hugs his knees closer and rocks back and forth, a constant flow of unrecognisable words leaving his mouth.

Pearl:
A 30 second walk later you reach a locked door. A rather young woman is visible inside, although her hair is gray. She is sitting at a desk, writing. She starts as the orderly knocks and starts to unlock the door.
Mrs. Macario, you have a visitor. This lady here would like to talk to you for a minute if you don't mind.
She introduces herself as Gabriela Macario and shows you a seat. She sits down by her desk as the orderly closes the door and waits outside across the coridoor, but is looking in through the glass in the door.
What can I help you with dear?

zielonobrody wrote:As the door closes, all the outside noise becomes unhearable. All you hear now is the man's mumbling under his breath. He fails to notice your presence. He hugs his knees closer and rocks back and forth, a constant flow of unrecognisable words leaving his mouth.

Karl Werner

Karl looks sideways at Dan and cocks an eyebrow. From beside the door, he addresses the man.

"Mr. Macario, my name is Karl Werner and this is Mr. Marrison. We are looking into the occurrences at your house on Narrow Lane. We have been there and noted that you had many locks on your doors. Tell me, did the locks do any good?" [D100=20 Persuade (40)]

Dan listened for the time being, not wanting to badger such a fragile mind with a bunch of questions at once.

Pearl tries for a professional look, but decides just to be herself ... if she can even remember what that was anymore.

"Hullo there Mrs Macario, My name is Pearl, Pearl Wealstone, May I call you Gabriela, that is such a beautiful name where is it from I wonder? ..."

Once the small talk is completed and both Gabriela and pearl are more comfortable with each other Pearl asks;

"I am looking into the terrible events that happened at your house on Narrow Lane. It looks to be a lovely house by the way, so at odds with was supposed to have happened ... I was wondering if perhaps your story can cast a different light on things?"

[Spoiler-Button]Fast-Talk I reckon 70%[/Spoiler-Button]

Pearl tries hard not to let her eyes be drawn to the poor woman's prematurely grey hair and to maintain their eye contact.

Dan and Karl
The man appears to notice you for the first time, if only slightly, as he picks up his head and scans the room, his eyes stopping on each of you for a second and finally halting on some invisible object. He continues to rock back and forth. His mouth is moving, and there are some sounds escaping it, but you can't tell what he's saying from where you're standing. That is IF he's really saying anything.

Pearl
Mrs. Macario gratefully latches on to the small talk, she doesn't get many visitors so she's happy to hear what's going on in the world. She feels she is being treated well and the medication and treatment seems to be working.

Upon mention of the house she goes stiff and pales. She starts to shiver more and more with every sentence.
No, please. I'd rather not talk about that. It's what got me here in the first place. I don't... I don't want to go back to those dreadful nights and that horrid thing. She whimpers and turns away from you, shaking.

"Karl," Dan says pulling the man back gently by the arm, then he whispers, "I'm going in to try to make out what he's saying. If he lunges at me, I'm counting on you to stop him. Maybe slide around behind him and be ready for the worst."

Dan moves in closer to the rocking man, saying "Mr. Macario... Vittorio, my name is Dan Marrison. I want to help you, but I can't hear what you're saying. Can you speak up a little?" He stepped closer, leaning in to try to make out what it was the crazy guy was muttering.

Karl Werner

Karl isn't sure what Dan expects of him -- he's no man of action certainly.

But as Dan gets closer to the man, Karl sidles a bit to the right and a bit closer. The tight confines of the room allow very little room for maneuver. He smiles at Macario and leans in a little.

zielonobrody wrote: Pearl
Mrs. Macario gratefully latches on to the small talk, she doesn't get many visitors so she's happy to hear what's going on in the world. She feels she is being treated well and the medication and treatment seems to be working.

"May I say that you look very well Mrs Macario. This place seems to be agreeing with you."

[Spoiler-Button]I ramble on a little about happening in Boston that I think may be of interest to her.[/Spoiler-Button]

zielonobrody wrote: Pearl
Upon mention of the house she goes stiff and pales. She starts to shiver more and more with every sentence.
No, please. I'd rather not talk about that. It's what got me here in the first place. I don't... I don't want to go back to those dreadful nights and that horrid thing. She whimpers and turns away from you, shaking.

"Easy there Mrs. Macario, I don't want to cause you any upset at all.." Pearl lays a reassuring hand on the woman's trembling arm. "We ... my colleagues and I; would like to get this cleared up though so that no other family has to go through what you had to. But we shall go at your own pace my lovely!"

Karl and Dan
Dan listens in for a while, Vittorio makes no move to change anything he's doing. The muttering is a constant flow of random words. There are a few words that repeat themselves over the minute of intensive listening: face, red, eyes, scared, night, bed, sleep.

Suddenly Vittorio jumps up and starts walking around the perimiter of the room hurriedly. His mumbling continues, every few words a loud sorrowful yelp escapes his lips. He walks around you like you weren't there at all.

Pearl
She calms a little, but is clearly very sad now.
I haven't seen my boys for so long. They don't come to visit very often. They're in Maryland now, that's so far away. My poor Vittorio too. It was after him, I'm sure. That devil thing was after him. Every night, it would wake us and scare us till we were out of breath and it would go away. The horrors we sustained... It left my husband broken in mind and spirit. They took him away, but still the creature came. I coudn't keep up either. They took the boys and put me here. I'm sorry, I need to lie down and rest now. I've told you all I can. I hope you can get rid of it so nobody else has to live through the horror that we barely survived. You can't imagine, those red glowing eyes are forever imprinted in my brain. I'm afraid I'll never be the same.

Dan frowned, "I don't think this fellow is in the right state of mind to help us." He eyes followed Vittorio as the man paced around the room. Stepping to the door, Dan looked out to see if anyone was directly outside before suggesting, "Maybe we should check him for physical evidence of an attack."

Karl Werner

Karl looks at Dan blankly for a moment, then with shock.

"What do you... Surely you aren't suggesting that we... I may not have the most sterling reputation in this city, but I don't care to risk what I do possess."

He looks toward the door to see if, perhaps, the attendant has returned. This visit is worse than he had expected. Then he suddenly turns to Macario, all but shouting: "Imbecile! What has reduced you to this? What is in that house?!"

Pearl looks at Mrs Macario with unbridled sympathy etched in every part of her face.

"How did it scare you? I know this must be very hard for you Mrs. Macario, but of we are to stop this ..." Pearl sits down next to her and puts her arm around her shoulders before continuing ... "If we are to try and stop this 'Devil-thing' as you call it, to prevent it from harming others as it has your good family, then by all that's good in this world I ask you to let me know what it does, and from this we may protect ourselves somehow, to find some way to end this once and for all"

"What are you writing there Mrs Macario? it looks like excellent penmanship if I may say so - especially compared to my scrawling writing!" Pearl smiles reassuringly at the poor unfortunate inmate of the sanitorium thinking to herself 'What in the name of ... what has driven this poor woman so close to the edge I wonder ... I must find out what this ... this thing is so that I ... that we can make sure there are no more people like this poor family again!'

Pearl places her hands on Mrs. Macarios shoulders and as a stray tear falls from her pale cheek, she looks the woman straight in the eye and asks. "Please, any thing you can tell me will be of great use - no matter how small or silly it may seem to be ... I know you are tired but please try for me."

Pearl
Mrs. Macario turns away towards her desk and does not reply to your inquiries. The door opens and the orderly enters.
I'm sorry ma'am, we should go. He motions for you to exit and will not take no for an answer. As you rise and look back, you catch Mrs. Macario glimpsing at you from the corner of her eye, you hear a muffled "goodbye" from her. You make your way back to where you left the boys.

Karl and Dan
Vittorio stops and stares in Karls eyes. Then his gaze sort of drifts away focusing on something right behind Karls head, it's unnerving, like he could see right through you. He starts walking again quicker than last time. You hear the door open and the orderly asks you to come out.

Karl Werner

"Fine!" Karl huffs as he turns to face the orderly, brushing past the man, muttering under his breath: "[sub]Fool's errand in the first place. Just a waste of time. I said it would be useless.[/sub]"

In the corridor he finds Pearl. "Was your 'interview' as unproductive as ours, Miss Wealstone?"

Dan frowns as the door opens, it wasn't enough time. Given just a few more minutes, he might have been able to search for physical evidence as he'd hoped to have the chance. He looked to the pacing man and said "Vittorio, we're going back to your house. We'll get to the bottom of it. You can rest easy, my friend." After that, he headed out of the room.

As Pearl discusses her brief chat with Mrs. Macario you head downstairs. (You can read up on their chat above if you haven't yet) On your way down Dan spots something with the corner of his eye, a familiar jacket. It seems Calum is having a chat with an inmate in the recreational room.

BTW, who is Jack?

Jack,A private dick back in 1920's Egypt... man was I lost.

Dan Marrison

Dan turns and approaches Calum and his new friend in the recreation room, "Hey Calum, we're about to leave. But if you'd like to stay a little longer, maybe we can hook you up with a room?"

Calum:

Calum turns when he hears Dan. "Ah, the Centurion returns. I hope your chat with the last tenant went well?"

Calum turns back and shakes the hand of the poor lost archeologist. "So kind of you to share your experience with me. Rest assured, I will be extra careful from now on."

Calum grabs his coat and hat. "No chance we could have the Bosch committed I suppose?"

Karl Werner

andyw666 wrote:Calum: "No chance we could have the Bosch committed I suppose?"

Karl sighs heavily, but doesn't rise to the bait.

At the desk, Karl approaches the receptionist. "Pardon me Miss... Shirley, isn't it? Would it be at all possible for us to see Dr. Hardstrom? If he requires, we would certainly be willing to pay a small consultation fee. Isn't that right, Mr. Marrison?"

Karl smiles ingratiatingly at the woman.

Dan Marrison

Dan chuckled at Calum's commentary, and waved him along expecting to be on the way out, but Karl had other intents. He changed his trajectory toward Shirley's desk while nodding at Karl's question.

"It is pretty late," Dan said. "He probably isn't here at this hour. But if he is, we certainly would be interested in speaking with him directly."

Shirley
I'm sorry, he left while you were upstairs. I can sign you up for an appointment tomorrow afternoon. She signs you up for 7PM.

Dan,Shirley throws Dan a shy look and finding him looking at her, quickly looks away. You see her blush faintly and she gets on with her work.

It's practically orange outside you notice. The last rays of the sun are just disappearing behind the horizon. You step outside into the fading sunlight.

Once outside, Dan shook his head. "Well, that was practically pointless." He nods to Karl, "Should have listened to Poindexter here." He asked Pearl, "Did the lady have any injuries supporting her story? I wanted to check Vittorio, but Karl was no help there. So far, seems like just a case of someone trying to scare them away. Probably a disgruntled neighbor or something. Maybe a racoon stealing garbage out of their can and climbing in to raid the kitchen." He shrugged and then asked, "Where to now? Back to the house? The night is still young."

Karl Werner

"It will be dark by the time we get there.

"When did the Macarios come here, do we know? What sort of injuries might they have had, do you suppose?"

Karl is not pleased with the time wasted.

"According to Pearl's conversation, there was some sort of beast involved, something with red eyes... although I'm not entirely sold on the idea that it wasn't an animal with lights shining on their eyes. And if that's the case, then night time is the best time to catch it. Most wild animals are skittish during the daytime, and tend to be nocturnal." He shrugged and said "I imagine he might have had claw marks, or even bite marks that we could have seen for ourselves... but too late now. Guess we'll have to work at getting our own marks."

Karl Werner

Guess we'll have to work at getting our own marks.

Karl rolls his eyes at this and blows out a disgusted sigh.

"It seems there is no dissuading you from your night maneuvers, my friend. Very well!" He claps Dan heartily on the shoulder. "Let us repair to the house."

He turns to Pearl, "Will my car be too chilly for you, Miss Wealstone? Never fear. I have something with which we can fortify ourselves."

He pulls out a silver flask of brandy, offering it to Pearl before taking a healthy swig himself. He puts it away without further offers. Linking his arm through hers, he and Pearl walk to the car and drive to the house.

Calum:

Calum thinks for a bit then looks quite happy. "Well, why not? There is a time for reading up and a time for the field dig. Let's go out and have a look at the old house by night. It might well be that there is a natural problem causing all this grief, which will become apparent."

Calum claps Dan on the shoulder. "Hope you don't get scared after dark old boy!"

Dan Marrison:

"It's going to take a lot more than some spooky, abandoned house, a freaky painting, and a racoon staring through a window to give me the jitters," Dan responds to Calum.