Play@YSDC

8:59 P.M., Arkham, August 10th, 2009

A faded brown minivan pulls up in front of an unlit two-story house. The house is dingy and in need of maintenance, but the creatures who emerge from the van have been to much more dilapidated places. The autmobile drives off into the night, leaving an odd group standing on the sagging porch steps of the house.

OOC,Y'nkee knows enough to try the doorknob and the doorbell. A Knowledge:Human roll can give some insight into the door. If you roll for both the door and the architecture, indicate which roll is which somehow. There are windows next to the door, and it is possible to walk down the narrow, grassy space between the house and the next one over to get to the back yard.

Jahee says, "Y'nkee, do we wait outside or break down the door?"

"Neither," Y'nkee answers Jahee. "We simply let him know that we are here. Humans sometimes shoot first and ask questions later when you break into their homes. This Yof-Thas will be much more eager to help us if we do things the polite way. The door might not even be locked, though these days and considering his profession, it's highly likely that it is." He examines both the door and the house very carefully. "Humans use something called a doorbell on the outside of their doors. If we ring it, he will know we are here and come to the door so we can talk. Even if there were no bell, we could still knock on the door to alert him. There may be another door in the back as well. He very well might have guards, members of his cult or perhaps even summoned creatures."

Argyle nods. I agree. No sense being shot by an overzealous new recruit.

"No, I'll ring the bell and speak to him," says Y'nkee. "I'll tell him we're here on a mission for Great Cthulhu."

OOC,Just waiting for the results of my two successful Knowledge: Humanity rolls.

Jahee says,"I'm sorry, Y'nkee, Argyle, Tschhh, Eleanor; to wait on humans, to be subserviant to inferiors, is something I'll have to get used to or I'll jeopardise our mission."

From Y'nkee's knowledge of human architecture, he can tell that the house is a relatively recent (last ten to sixty years) imitation of a federalist house, done in wood instead of brick. Although the woodwork seems to be in good shape, it is could use a new coat of paint and a little maintenance. He has visited much more decrepit places.

Examining the door, he finds a small, iridescent green bar that he correctly identifies as the doorbell. Pressing on it causes the sound of a bell to come from inside the house, but otherwise no response. When he tries the doorknob, the door refuses to open. He judges it to be locked, and, spotting a keyhole, decides that it is one of the more common mechanical locks used by humans, easy to open for someone with the requisite mechanical skill but otherwise requiring a unique key. He considers using the grotesque metal knocker on the door, but knowing that it will likely be less effective than the doorbell, holds off.

OOC,If you decide to force the front door, it has a strength of ten. The windows, of course, will break easily. Tschhh can use his psionic powers, cast mind control, or cast implant thoughts to try to contact Yof-thas, but since you don't really know who or where he is, doing any of these will require a succesful Luck roll first. If you try Implant Thoughts, you can skip rolling to remain undetected since presumably you want to be detected.

"Let's take a look around the back first," says Y'nkee. He leads the way down the narrow grassy stretch between the houses to the back yard.

Jahee waddles after Y'nkee, he says, "I expected Yof-thas to greet us?"

The back yard is a small plot of land with moderately high grass, partitioned from other properties by a thin but high wooden fence. A six-foot, T-shaped aluminum pole with no evident function sticks out of the ground in the middle of the yard.

A set of concrete steps lead down from the level of the lawn to a basement door in the rear of the house. The door is, upon inspection, also locked, although it looks flimsier than the front one.

OOC,The basement door has a strength of 8 if you choose to try bashing it down.

"This door should be easy enough to force," says Y'nkee, "but let's not do that unless we have to. Tschhh, maybe you should try to establish telepathic contact with Yof-thas and get him to come to the door."

Argyle discreetly pulls out his revolver. I could try and shoot out the lock if it comes to that.

"I would strongly advise against that," says Y'nkee. "A gunshot would attract attention, not just from the house, but from all over. The police would no doubt be called as well. Besides, it will be easy enough to break open the door if we cannot establish mental contact. Hmm...or we could use a telephone. Everybody has one these days. Miss Pickman, do you know Yof-thas's telephone number, by any chance?"

"If I had an Arkham telephone book, I could look him up based on his real name. I think the priest told us it was Leonard Baig. There are other ways also, but they tend to be more difficult - for example, in the right circumstances I could find it out through the Internet, a more complicated example of their technology," she replies.

If you shoot the lock,just roll damage. CoC rules say that an ordinary roll for any firearm skill assumes making a serious effort to hit a target at some distance under time constraints, taking a second or two to aim. Since the lock isn't moving anywhere and you can take an hour to line up the shot if you feel like it, not to mention the point-blank range bonus (which I think gives you a guaranteed hit anyway), I'll assume you don't miss.

"There should be a telephone book with every public phone," says Y'nkee. "We'd need some of their money to use one though. Just coins of small denomination. Or we could place a collect call, but I don't know if he'd accept the charges. Telepathy will probably be more effective, but if that doesn't work, it's worth a try."

"I have some mechanical skill. Also I may be able to make telepathic contact with whoever is inside, and suggest they open the door?"