IC: The Penhew Foundation - Andrei, Caroline & Timour

[SuAside]

"And what do you suggest we should do instead?" Timour exclaims angrily as he lets Andrei free himself of his support "Shall we cower in the shadows? Shall we let those who we care for be the victims of our lack of courage? Shall we allow our friends to be raped and slaughtered because we gave up?"

"No! We did not cower when war swept our continent. We rose and fought with our allies, until we were backstabbed and could fight no more. But we did not cower then, nor shall we now we face an enemy we do not know. An enemy we, and possibly the world, does not understand and has no refuge from." he carries on with fervor "I failed protecting my country and lost many of my closest friends in the war & subsequent boljevist uprising, but let God damn me for all eternity if I do not find the strength to die on my feet while protecting my friends' lives now, if need be, rather than dying on my knees pleading and groveling for my own life."

He then turns towards the stairway, taking his flashlight and BAR with him.

[Raiko]

William Fiennes,No problem. :) [url=http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/viewtopic.php?p=116195#p116195]Here's a link[/url] to where I summarised Fiennes & his notes. Here's [url=http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/viewtopic.php?p=60402#p60402]another link[/url] to the original IC posts when Andrei visited the British Museum Library's secret basement vault. (On my browser this second link sometimes 'misses' as the page finishes rendering. The post in question begins: "Deep below the British Museum")

[coffee demon]

As Timour speaks, Andrei's head lowers and his mouth twists into a scowl. His chest is heaving and his nostrils flare. His eyes are so filled with hate that it doesn't seem like he could possibly be listening to Timour's reasoning. You would think that Timour was directly insulting him in the worst possible way.

As soon as Timour turns away, Andrei lunges for him. From Caroline's position, it looks like Andrei might be trying to grab the other Russian's neck with his huge hands. Fortunately, Timour catches the motion out of the corner of his eye and steps aside; Andrei ends up only grabbing Timour by the shoulders. It's an easy position for the smaller Russian to twist away from.

OC,Thanks for the review, Raiko! I'll never forget again! Rolled 81 to Grapple: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3418592/ I took the liberty of describing a bit of the action there to move things along. I hope everyone is okay with that. I definitely wouldn't take the liberty of describing any other characters' actions more than I did there, just to explain my failed roll. Other players feel free to do the same.

[SuAside]

Timour effortlessly tears himself loose and keeps on walking up the stairs with his rifle held across his chest.

Spoiler:

OCC: careful now,or someone is going to get a buttstroke in the stomache.

[rbiddle]

"Mr. Timour, are you and your friends alright? I heard some scuffling form the darkness, but can't tell what happened." Helen inquires as she sees Timour coming up the steps.

"I think we should call the police to let them know about Malcolm and Julie attacking us. That is, if someone hasn't already called them about the gunfire."

OOC,I probably know the guard and cleaning lady's name since I'd worked with them... I guessed them above, but let me know if I need to edit and change them.

[SuAside]

"Everything is just dandy, but calling the authorities is unlikely to work to our advantage." Timour replies as he takes large and swift steps up the stairs, taking care to let his flashlight shine enough light rearward for the others to ascend safely "It would be hard enough to explain our presence in this building, but explaining why I'm carrying a Browning BAR around would be somewhat unlikely to be succesfull. If you wish to stay and explain the situation, you are welcome to do so, but we would be thankful if you were kind enough to leave our names & whatever other information you might have gathered out of your story."

"I think a better idea would be to take the information we found with us, and analyze it elsewhere. You are welcome to join us. Do you think you can find a long jacket to cover your bloodstained clothes, as not to arouse suspicion?"

[Raiko]

Helen can see Timour coming back up the stairs now.

Below him Caroline pauses to try to encourage Andrei, "Please Andrei, don't give up. Gavigan isn't here, but Helen knows where to find him. And the items we're taking are evidence of wrong doing, if not then why hide them down here?"

"I'm sorry I hit you, I'm... I was scared, and I want to get out of here. "

[rbiddle]

"Yes, my coat is in the library, I'll go grab it and meet you back in the main hallway."

Helen heads back to the library to retrieve her coat and weighs the possibility that these people might be able to help find Paul against all the bizarre happenings of the night. Despite the overwhelming desire to call the police and get their help, Timour seems to know quite a bit about what's going on and might be more helpful.

After collecting her coat and making sure it sufficiently hides the bloodstains, Helen heads back into the hallway to meet-up with her new-found friends and take them back to Paul's flat to examine the evidence.

When Timour, Caroline, and Andrei come into view, Helen announces, "We can head back to Paul's flat to take a look at what you have. I do hope there's something that can help find and help Paul."

[Raiko]

It takes a few minutes before Andrei calms down, and until then Caroline is unable to persuade him to move at all from the spot where Timour left him. Fortunately though the fog creature does not return, and eventually the pair ascend the staircase to rejoin the others in the hallway.

By then Helen and Timour have had chance to search Paul's desk, but it doesn't actually look like anything on or in the desk has been touched during the last two weeks. It's as though Paul stopped working on anything two weeks ago.

OOC,I've had a really bad week last week, and I'm not 100% sure who's waiting for who,so I'm just going to try to get everyone moving again now. Sorry. Andei's temporary insanity only lasts a few minutes, but as he's physically more powerful than the other characters, there's little anyone would be able to do to move him until it's over.

[SuAside]

"Any place is better than here." Timour replies as he conceals his BAR again and pockets the spent cartridges "It would be good to contact our friends first. Do you have a telephone at the flat? How far away is it."

As he turns and sees Andrei come back up the stairs, he breathes a sigh of relief.

[rbiddle]

"Paul lives only a short walk away, barely five minutes from here. My flat is a bit further, so we can call your friends form Paul's if you like."

When Caroline and Timour come up, Helen sees Andrei disheveled state and lets out a small gasp, "Oh my... I... I think Paul has some bandages and medicine at his flat as well if you need it Mr.Andrei. If everyone is ready, we can go there now."

OOC,Oops... Evidentially all Russians look the same to Helen :oops: Sorry for the confusion.

[SuAside]

Spoiler:

OCC: I think you meant Andrei

[Raiko]

OOC,[quote="rbiddle"]OOC,Oops... Evidentially all Russians look the same to Helen[/quote] Lets hope Helen survives to meet Maksim the other Rukov twin then. :) I've given Coffee and Decrepit a nudge. I'll move along the game tomorrow even if they don't manage to post.

[coffee demon]

OC,I was travelling, then got really sick. Sorry I missed out. It's really too bad, because I was looking forward to roleplaying all that. Kinda sucks to be bumped forward in time, but I understand. I do feel a little displaced from the narrative now though. It's like Andrei was getting all violent, then suddenly he ceased to exist and people started talking about "what next". I'lll try to find a way to work out the logic in my brain, I guess. Just assume Andrei is dopey and despondent for now, then, and carry on.

[Raiko]

OOC,I've replied to Coffee Demon's post in the OOC thread, because it was already being discussed there. The only thing I forgot to mention is that SuAside's suggestion of a 'directors cut' type thing is a good one. You've handled a few previous IC events with Andrei & Elizabeth via PM, out of synch with the rest of the game. I'm happy for you to play out the events that way. I can easily edit this thread later to put them back into the right order. So long as Timour gets back upstairs before Andrei & Caroline everythings fine. If you could all try to reply to Helen today, then I'll move you along when I'm sure where you're going. In my summary above, I forgot that you'd also been about to check Gavigan's office before Andrei and Helen were attacked. So you might want to look there before leaving if you don't mind risking further delays.

[Raiko]

To save messing I'll say that Helen and Timour had time to check Gavigan's office as well as Paul's desk.

The office is neat and modern, with a big french polished desk dominating the room. Photographs of Gavigan on various excavations and expeditions, mostly in Egypt adorn the walls.

They don't find anything occult/mythos related, nor anything illegal in the office. They did find the following potential clues though:

• A small locked wall safe behind one of the photograph frames.
• A modern typewriter, it's placed inside a 'built-in' cupboard in the back wall of the office.
• The back wall of that same cupboard contains a concealed door. This door opens into the storage room (where the sarcophagus / secret steps down to the occult study are).

[SuAside]

OCC: Since we've jumped ahead a bit, I'll just describe what Timour would've been doing during these discoveries.

IC:

After failing to find anything of interest at Paul's desk, Timour checks the rear entrance for any activity, be it police showing up or bystanders suspiciously eyeing the building (thus implying they heard the disturbance). Once he observed the rear, he will move to the front entrance and do the same there.

Hopefully, if the police does show up, they have time to slip out the back before that is blocked off as well...

[Raiko]

Looking out of the front door windows, Timour can see that it has started to rain, the drizzle finally getting rid of the last of the fog. Illuminated under a streetlight, outside the foundation's iron railings, a middle aged lady stands under her umbrella and hurriedly converses with two uniformed policemen, pointing repeatedly forwards the Penhew Foundation as she speaks.

[SuAside]

Timour let's out a brief whistle, loud enough to be heard inside, but hopefully the cops outside would not hear it.

"Time to go, the authorities are here!" Timour warns "Grab what seems useful and easy to carry, but make haste."

He starts briskly walking towards the other side of the building, intent on herding everyone out (while still making sure Caroline carries the chest he handed her).

[rbiddle]

Helen heads towards the sound of Andrei's whistle. Checking her coat to make sure that covers the bloodstains as best it can, she prepares to head outside. "Mr. Timour, it sounds like Andrei is ready to leave. I don't think we should let him go somewhere alone again... Last time he... oh, poor Malcolm..."

Gathering her emotions back up, she reminds herself that finding Paul is what she needs to do, and she may need these new people to help. Meeting up with Andrei and Caroline, Helen relays what she and Timour found in Gavigan's office, "Do you think we might be able to return after the police leave? We found a locked hidden safe that might have some information on the cults or the expedition you and your friends mentioned. If he is keeping any secrets about Paul, there might be something there to help"

With that, Helen bundles up her coat to exit into the cold outside air.

OOC,Wow... I really got my Russians mixed up that time... I'll take more care to double-check them before posting; Timour=Sauve... Andrei=Barely Sane... Should be easy to keep straight.