Play@YSDC

Innsmouth, August 10th, 2009

The storm which sprung up over the Atlantic earlier today has visited Innsmouth recently, and moved on quickly. Rainwater still evaporates from faded spires and steeples in the light of the setting sun. Lower in the city, moisture lingers as it has for centuries. Every building seems to be defying decay and age, and many also lean wildly where explosive blasts struck them in the winter raid of 1928.

For both the Deep Ones and the humans who live side-by-side in the isolated port, Innsmouth is a city of strange combinations. Nothing is unusual when six figures scramble up a ladder on the side of a wharf. One, a low-ranking acolyte of Cthulhu, removes a contraption from the tallest and thinnest of the visitors, then vanishes back beneath the sea.

Y'nkee looks around at the city of his birth. No matter how much time passes, some things don't seem to change. He leads the group into an abandoned building where they can change into their disguises. He dries himself off, opens up his waterproof containers, and puts on the disguise he had picked out. "Once we're all ready, we can head to Arkham," he says. "There's a bus that goes there a couple of times a day. It's mainly used by the people of Innsmouth, and it's rare for outsiders to ride the bus, so we should attract little notice. Hybrids who live in Innsmouth typically smell much as Jahee and I do, including the usual driver. Alternatively, we could try to obtain a car. Depending on when the next bus leaves, we might not want to wait for it. I often come to visit Innsmouth to visit my hybrid descendants who live here, but there won't be time for that on this occasion - unless it's briefly, to borrow a car. Perhaps on the way back."

OOC,What time of day is it?

Jahee takes in his surrounding, "Hmmm, are all human habitations this drab, Y'nkee?

Argyle puts on his disguise carefully, making sure it fits snugly. Hmm... which do you think would draw less attention? I have no doubt whoever killed our friend will still want us dead. Where abouts in Arkham does this bus stop?

"No, not all," Y'nkee tells Jahee. "Innsmouth looked much better in the early days, but at least it doesn't attract tourists looking like this. Maintaining a low profile has enabled Innsmouth to survive the decades. Charleston, now there was a beautiful city, at least by human standards." To Argyle he says. "Well, the bus puts in a regular appearance twice daily, so it's not likely to draw special attention, and ghouls would not be expected to come from Innsmouth. Still, it's possible that it is being watched. It arrives at the 705 Dyer Street in Arkham, at the interesction with Curwen Street. It's just north of Independence Square. A car of our own would give us more freedom of movement."

OOC,Whoops, missed that!

"Come to think of it, a car may be awkward," says Y'nkee. "I've never driven one before, as I transformed before they were invented. Maybe if we could borrow a driver along with the car. The bus may be our best bet. If we've already missed its second run, we can probably get the driver to make a special trip, but that might be noticed. It depends on whether speed is more important than stealth. The fellow's name is Jacob Sargent. His family has driven that bus for many years. I'm not sure where he lives, but they'd know at the Esoteric Order of Dagon. Arkham is close enough to walk, but that would take more time. We could walk a short distance to Rowley and take a train to Arkham, but we may draw attention from the crew and our fellow passengers. Or we could hitchhike, but again, whoever picked us up would notice us. Better to get a ride from my family instead. I know they have a car, so some of them would know how to drive it."

OOC,While walking to Arkham is possible, the distance is over thirty miles. The walk would take most of the night. Rowley is approximately five miles away. Y'nkee can lead the way to the Esoteric Order of Dagon, his family's house, or any major Innsmouth landmark.

Tschh, realizing that he can be of no help, waits, listens, and tries to learn as much as he can from the conversation.

Jahee says to Y'nkee, "I wonder what your family will make of us! A car and driver are our best option I think."

"Excellent," says Y'nkee. "If nobody has any better ideas, we'll go visit my family." He leads the way to the Gilman family's home.

Gilman is a fairly common name in Innsmouth, shared by several large and related families. Y'nkee's great-great grandchildren live in a house that their small branch of the Gilmans purchased in 1952, when it was built.

No one notice the oddly-moving figures that approach the front door of the building.
Hideous and blocky, it's once-white sides look older than some of the surviving Georgian dwellings.

Matthew Gilman opens the door. His bulging eyes, miniscule ears, and lack of hair mark him clearly with the Innsmouth look, but he has so far seemed to lack enough Deep One blood for the transformation. Like most Innsmouth residents, it is easy for him to pick up that his visitors are not quite human. However, he has difficulty telling exactly what is behind the masks. He mumbles something that only a fluent speaker of Reason could tell was a greeting, and makes an ambiguous gesture.

OOC,As with every human building you enter, a Knowledge: Human roll will give you some general architectural information.

Y'nkee admires the house. He is very familiar with it due to his many visits. He lowers his sunglasses so Matthew can see his eyes behind the mask. He switches to English, as he and his descendant are both more comfortable with it. "Good evening, Matthew," he says. "It's your great-great-grandpa Walter. These are some friends of mine. May we come in?"

Jahee says, "How do you do, my good man." Hoping his diction is correct.

Matthew switches to English with some relief. His mind isn't quite built for Reason.

"Hello! I'm always glad to see you. Erm - is there anything I should know about these friends before inviting them in?"

As he says it, he opens the door all the way and gestures through it. He seems relatively relaxed about his visitors, although not completely at ease.

OOC,Jahee, with a 1% in Other Language (English), cannot understand Matthew. Thanks to the throatpieces, everyone can understand anything Y'nkee says, but he will have to translate Matthew's speech.

Y'nkee has remembered the house from previous visits. It has an extremely large basement, and a poorly-designed tangle of interior rooms, with two stairways leading to the second floor. It was designed in the Streamline Moderne style by the one of the few architects who could be persuaded to work in Innsmouth.

Arglye bows deeply before the human. We are honored to meet you.

Y'nkee translates Matthew's statement subvocally into his throatpiece, then continues speaking to Matthew in English: "It is good to see you again, too. Some of my companions do not know English, but I can translate for them." He introduces each in turn. "This is Jahee, a priest from Y'ha-nthlei. The two ghouls are Miss Eleanor Pickman and her servant Argyle. And this being is Tschh, whom they have summoned. He looks somewhat like a human, but he is not. We will not be able to stay long this time, as we have urgent business in Arkham, but perhaps I can make a longer visit on the way back after it is done."

"Come in, come in," Matthew says.

Inside the parlor, three other rooms can be seen through six doorways. It occurs to you that some of these are unnecessary. Through one, you can see a human female - Matthew's wife, who Y'nkee has met quite a few times - cooking something on a stove. The parlor itself is sparsely furnished, with a sagging couch beneath a dark oil painting on the north wall, an armchair pulled up to an antique table on the south wall, and a nearly empty bookshelf next to the table.

"Is this visit about the urgent business?" he asks.

"Yes, it is," says Y'nkee after translating. "The one thing we need is transportation to Arkham. I remember that you have a car. I've never learned how to drive one, as they weren't around until after I went through the Change. I might be able to figure it out, but I wouldn't want to risk crashing your car. As far as I know, my friends can't drive either. I was hoping you or someone else in our family could give us a ride to Arkham, if it's not too much trouble. We quite understandably don't want to attract too much attention from our arrival."

Mi-Go/OOC,Not being able to converse with a human is an important skill, I confess the need to have it did not occur to me. Can Jahee alter his skills or acquire some kind of technological gizmo?

Jahee takes in the living condition of the human and is not impressed.

"Yes, I do have a car. I prefer walking in Innsmouth, but it is convenient for visiting to Arkham and Boston. It isn't very new or in particularly good condition, but it should be large enough to carry all of you. If it is urgent, I can just grab a suitcase from the other room and be ready to drive you. Um...follow me and I'll lead you to the garage."

He then shouts something quickly to his wife, and leads his ancestor through one of the north doorways.

"Will there be any...complications?" he asks nervously as he stops to retrieve a battered brown case from a closet.

OOC,There really isn't a reason why a Deep One born in the 1500s should be able to have an English conversation with a modern human. Y'nkee can do a fine job of translation, and Eleanor Pickman is even more fluent than he is. The ability to speak English is not the same as the ability to converse with a human being - Matthew has had heavy Mythos exposure and is part Deep One, which is why he speaks to you so casually. Ordinary humans will probably not even notice if a horrible monster speaks English - and what if you go to Venezuela?

"A Ghoul acquaintance of Miss Pickman's was killed in Arkham by a group of heavily armed humans," explains Y'nkee. "As he was dying, he told her the name of a man in Arkham we must seek out who may have more information. This may be dangerous for us, which is why I do not wish for you to stay in Arkham and wait for us. Once you have dropped us off, you should return to Innsmouth. We can find our own way back. Jacob Sargent's bus leaves twice daily for Innsmouth. If we must leave in a hurry and cannot wait for a bus, Jahee and I can always jump in the Miskatonic and swim away, and I'm certain Miss Pickman and Argyle also know of Ghoul tunnels beneath Arkham."

Jahee says to Y'nkee, "I don't suppose your descendants have any fishy treats?, I'm hungry. I've heard rumour of a delicacy called Fish Fingers."

Now that you start thinking about food, a fishy odor is noticeable, probably coming from the pot on the stove. Y'nkee, from his prior experiences, recalls that except in a few small communities such as Innsmouth, human seafood is far inferior to that of the Deep Ones.

Matthew leads you into the garage, a dark, cool room. His hand moves against the wall, and there is a clicking sound. Suddenly, one wall of the room starts to rise up, revealing a cement driveway.

In the center of the garage is an unpromising vehicle. Faded brown and not in the best repair, it does not look built for either speed or comfort, but it does look like it will have enough room. Matthew opens a door near the front, explaining tersely "the driver's seat". The interior looks like plastic damaged slightly by repeated water exposure. As he starts the engine, it makes a surprisingly stable and powerful roar, and he smiles slightly.

"I bought this minivan pretty used, but some of the mechanics in this town are real wizards. Erm - a figure of speech. But they knew how to rebuild the engine, and the interior suits my tastes. "

Argyle glances at Jahee, an incredulous look on his face. Fish don't have fingers.

"Neither do buffalo have wings," says Y'nkee, "but the humans are known to have a treat called such as well. Humans sometimes have odd names for their foodstuffs." He nods to Matthew and switches to English. "Yes, this will get us to Arkham nicely enough. I will sit in the shotgun seat. Perhaps we should bring some food for the road too, if you have any to spare. Your wife's cooking does smell delicious."

Jahee replies to Argyle, "I suppose you would like a fresh bone to gnaw?"

Jahee clambers into the back of the mimivan; after struggling to open the door.

"She wasn't planning on company tonight, and the children are at a friend's, so she was only making chowder for two. I could grab some stuff quickly if you feel like eating on the way. Or we could try to nab a hitchhiker - I've got an axe, shovel, and torch in the back. I'm afraid I don't know much about Ghouls other than what I've read in The Necronomicon, and I wouldn't reccomend stopping at the Innsmouth cemetery - there aren't a lot of actual bodies there."

OOC,Fish fingers (snort!)

"Something grabbed quickly from the kitchen would suit me just fine," says Y'nkee. "I'll let the Ghouls speak for themselves. I don't know how they feel about freshly killed meat."

Jahee nods.

OOC,Murdering and eating a hitchhiker - cool!

Tschh was thinking that killing in cold blood was a wrong thing to do. No, a human should be ritually slain.With a agonizing death. Of course, they were inferior beings, no wonder they behaved like animals

Argyle shakes his head. As much as I'd like fresh meat, we cannot allow any chance of us being discovered. I shall take whatever is offered.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that - we do it all the time for sacrificial victims," Matthew explains, "but hitchhikers are getting a bit rare these days. I'll grab something from the kitchen and be back."

He returns shortly with a plastic cooler that he passes back between the seats. He pulls out into the driveway and closes the garage door by remote.

"So, where in Arkham do you want to go?"

"I'm not sure," says Y'nkee, glancing back at Eleanor Pickman. "Where can we contact the cultists?"

As the minivan leaves Innsmouth, the smells of the city fade, and there is only the beach on one side of the road and sandy expanses on the other. Occasionally you see abandoned shacks, lonely gas stations, and middle-of-nowhere diners. Everyone in the car appreciates the wonderfully warped and twisted shrubbery that occasionally grows.

OOC,The priest gave you directions to the house of the head Cultist, and Pickman knows the way to the professor's house. You can give Matthew directions to either, or ask him about some other location in Arkham and see if he knows how to get there. Before opening the cooler, roll (pot?) Luck. Only one person needs to roll.

The opinion of Tschh was changing quickly. Those creatures had magic powerful enouth to make cars run without any animal traction. And it was used by low ranking communers! What kind of power would have the high priests and the ruler caste of the humans?

Luck roll,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2263753/]Luck 85% (1d100=77)[/url]

"Let us first go to the house of the cult leader," says Y'nkee. "He will have more information and be able to assist us." He gives Matthew directions. "So, how have you been? Anything interesting happening on land since my last visit?"

"The same as last time, more or less," Matthew says. "The kids are doing well, and I'm moving up in the Esoteric Order of Dagon. The price of fish keeps going up, so the Innsmouth businesses are fine. There was a big ceremony a few months ago to pick the leaders of the nation of men. Senator Whateley - not one of the mixed-blood Whateleys - beat the hybrid candidate we tried to run, but at least we've still got old Representative Marsh in Congress."

Jahee opens up the cooler. Inside, he finds some tinned fish, plastic containers of cold seafood that Eleanor Pickman identifies as sushi, and another container of - yes - fish fingers, which appear to have been cooked and then allowed to cool to a more civilized temperature. He also notices a large bottle of Clamato juice.

There are also some flimsy plastic knives, clear plastic cups, and some eating instruments he does not recognize.

Argyle looks over Jahee's shoulder at the food. Such odd things humans eat.

Jahee takes a fish finger, bites it and chews thoughtfully, "An intersting flavour, but it's covered in an orange, crumbly muck." He then takes a mighty swig of the clamato juice, "Now this is more like it!" he says grinning, red sauce ringing his chops; and proffers it to Argyle.
"Hey, Y'nkee, some of this food is delicious."

Argyle accepts the beverage and sniffs it dubiously. He takes a cautious drink. My, this is delicious!

"Thank you, I will try some," says Y'nkee. He samples a fish finger first. "Mmm, these are pretty good." Then he takes a swig of clamato juice. "Ah, yes, that hit the spot!" He next tries some sushi. "This is delicious. I usually prefer my fish when they're still moving, but there's something to be said for prepared food." He nods to Matthew. "Yes, we still have good old Marsh. Part of the problem with putting hybrids in office is that they'll have to leave eventually if they have enough of our blood in them. Once they really start to transform, they can't exactly be seen in public any more."

The road veers away from the coast, and passes a few small rivers. As dinner finishes up, the minivan arrives in Arkham.

OOC,Congratulations on all recognizing Clamato juice - I was thinking of posting a picture to prove it existed but I couldn't fine one I really liked. Unless you want to continue the conversation, you can head to the Arkham thread.