Wed Sep 6 - 224 Bay Street

[Gaffer]

As Delores covers the front door and steps leading to the street and Heinie Duppelmann points his Tommy at the door, Pasquale Garibaldi draws the heavy bolt and the knobless door swings inward. The apartment is barely illuminated by a couple of bulbs and the stench that rolls out makes you want to wretch. It's like an overflowinf privy in a slaughterhouse.

Inside is littered with unidentifiable debris. A number of white-haired, wizened old men, nearly naked, their arms and legs and prominent ribs evidence of starvation, begin to stir and stumble toward the light. As they get closer, you see that every one holds a knife or broken bottle or pointed stick.

You also realize that they are children.

[Stability check, Dex.]

[Dexter Ford]

Dex smells the waves of nausea inducing stench, and steps back, covering his mouth with his bandaged arm. Seeing the sight of these twisted children, armed and among the corpses, he lifts his .45 automatic pistol to fire.

((OOC: I'll rely on my pillars of stability: My Roman Catholic faith in that these people are godless savages, my Moral Values: cannibals need to die, even if they are twisted children, and my Patriotism: these things don't happen in my America! to help strengthen my resolve to shoot...damnit...children, cannibal children, that its...

Stability roll, with a +5 spend (I think I still have that left after the alien dog attack):
1d6+5=6!
<a href="http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/ ... 1d6+5=6</a>
Good thing I spent the 5 adds!))

Reluctant to do what it is necessary, Dex fires at the first of the twisted children, hopefully one with the largest knife and the bloodiest mouth, to scare the others.
"I can't allow this to happen in America, you God forsaken savages!"

[Dexter Ford]

(OOC: Firearms, since I am shooting. I won't spend anything this round.
Firearms: 1d6=3
1d6=3

[Gaffer]

The bullet punches a hole in the boy's chest and he staggers back into the room before collapsing to the floor. A couple of those nearest him turn to plunge their weapons into him and begin dragging him deeper into the dim rooms.

Pasquale slams the door shut and throws the bolt. When he turns back, his eyes are wide, "Christ Almighty. What is this place?"

[Dexter Ford]

Dex steps back, nodding as the door is bolted closed. "By Christ's blessed sacrifice, I don't know. But whatever is going on, we will come back to those murderous little sons-a-bitches." He takes a deep breath. "Everyone okay?" Once he gets a response, Dex asks in a more solid, stronger voice. "Now if we are going to get to the bottom of this..." He looks about and shakes his head. "Is there any sign of a way up or down in this place other than through the door the officers just went?"

[Gaffer]

There is not.

[Delores Brown]

Delores let out a sob as the Dex shot the boy, dropping the gun and clapping her hands to her ears. Sobbing, she staggers back into the corner of lobby, looking at Dex distraught.

[FrankyEsposito]

Three other apartment doors open onto the landing where a staircase leads up, but where there should be steps to the cellar is a solid floor.

Damn it all. "You guys knock on these doors and see what scurries out, but don't waste much time."

And I'm off up the stairs, trying to draw a map in my head -- a map to the window where Langdon was.

[Gaffer]

Franky,[color=#FF4000]As far as you can tell, the window was in an apartment on the third floor of the building you entered.[/color]

Franky mounts the stairs, pistol covering the next floor. Below, he hears Pat and Jerry kicking doors. He reaches the second floor to find another four doors and another stair leading to the third floor.

[FrankyEsposito]

Back down the stairs to see what Pat & Jerry have turned up. I'll let them know to do the same thing on the 2nd floor, then I'm off the the third.

OOC:   It's just 3 stories, right? If it's more, I'll tell P&J to keep working it from the bottom and that I'm going to work it from the top.

[Dexter Ford]

Dex will nod at the boys. "Go on up. Help the police. I deal with Delores and join you two in a second or two."
Dex carefully puts away the gun into a jacket pocket and he comes closer to where Delores is standing, his hands out placatingly. "Delores, I didn't enjoy what I was doing. I don't know how much you saw, but those children were eating dead...people. Or what were people. They dragged the boy off into the darkness to consume him...to eat him. They weren't children anymore, Delores...they had become monsters."

He carefully picks up the shotgun, holding it in one hand by the barrel, ready to offer it to Delores when she is ready. "Let's go find the bastard responsible for turning those children into monsters Delores. That woman, I am sure, is behind it all. Remember is she lured Langdon away, I am sure she could destroy children and turn them into those things."

Quietly, he says just to her. "I need you to help with this Delores. I can't do this on my own."
(OOC: I'll make a reassurance roll here, spending 1)
1d6+1=5

[Delores Brown]

Delores looks up at Dex and nods mutely, the tears still wet on her cheeks. With a trembling hand she reaches out for the shotgun, almost snatching it from Dex's grip. "I-I'll manage," she whispers, "Anyone who can do that... ..." She looks away, tears falling once again.

[Dexter Ford]

He just nods his head and waits until she collects herself.
"Shall we go and put an end to this nightmare, once and for all? Then we can think about trying to save those mon...children."

He pulls the pistol from his pocket, reseats the magazine, and heads for where the others went, making sure that Delores is coming along. He then stops and thinks for a moment. "Delores, I have a hunch. It might be nothing, but indulge me, eh?" Dex will then hurry back to the front vestibule, where the writing was on the wall. The rough plaster wall with the writing, covering what would have been a staircase..."Hmmm"

Dex wraps on the rough plaster wall with the butt of his pistol. If it sounds hollow, that bares further investigation. But if it sounds solid, he'll shake his head and then move quickly after everyone else.

[Gaffer]

The wall sounds as solid as the others in the vestibule. With picks and sledgehammers it could probably be broken down, but it would take quite a while. As Dex turns away from the wall, he realizes the old man they had left unconscious on the floor is gone and the front door stands ajar.

"Nothing in any of these flats, Franky, just filthy pallets and filthier kitchens. How can these people live like this?" says Corydon as he and Jerry emerge from a door. Heinie and Two-Gun come out of the connecting apartment at the same time, followed in a moment by Dex and Delores.

[ooc - yes, all three buildings (which are basically identical in appearance) are three stories.]

[FrankyEsposito]

"Well, there's another floor of them, maybe two. Probably also empty, but we'd best check."

I notice that Dex and Delores both look a little pale. "I heard a gunshot. Everything okay?"

[Delores Brown]

Delores shakes her head mutely. She tries to speak but words fail her and she wipes the tears that are starting to roll slowly down her cheeks.

[Gaffer]

Corydon and O'Donough take the flats on one side of the stairwell, Heinie and Two-Gun take the other, as Franky, Dex and Delores confer. Soon both teams report that the filthy, unkempt apartments are empty except for mattresses and men's clothing: "It's like some caporegime's barracks, Dex," says Pasquale, "You remember."

"Shall we check the third floor, Franky?" asks Jerry.

[Dexter Ford]

Dex nods his head. "Chicago scum...when we are done, we should torch this place." He looks at the others. "Langdon had better be up on the third floor, as well as some answers. Because its there or the roof. No basement that I can see...unless we are missing something."

He looks at Delores and smiles and then turns to Esposito, his face more serious. "Let's get this done with. Once and for all. What I saw downstairs pal, well no one should ever have to see."

[FrankyEsposito]

"What the hell's that supposed to mean? Is there anybody down there? Who's down there?"

I start to head downstairs. "And nobody's torching anything. Unless it's me."

I nod to Jerry that he should head up to the third floor, then turn to Dex. "We clear on the 'torching' thing?"

[Dexter Ford]

Dex looks at Esposito and shakes his head. "I promise not to torch anything. And Esposito...trust me, save it for later. There is no way the things in that room are going anywhere. Trust me...we need to find Langdon and this missing woman who is behind all of this."
He looks at Delores for some support. "Esposito...the answers are upstairs. What's behind that door on the first floor can wait for later."

He looks to his two men, and nods. "Up we go. And no torching."