Play@YSDC

Julia smiles at Irene, seemingly heartened by her clear grasp of events. There's a slight touch of reverence in her eyes as well. The younger seeing a wise mentor in the elder one, not that there'd be much of an age difference between them. "I'm sure you're right."

"Y'know, rather than sewing up my socks, we could steal some bedding from anyone upstairs?" asked Hewitt.

"Yes, that could work - if there is bedding up there," says Irene smiling back at Julia, thinking of her as a kid sister and feeling protective towards her. She loved her brothers, but she had always longed for a sister. "Shall some of us scout ahead and take a look? I'll go, but not by myself."

"I'll come with you," says Florence, "in case anyone up there is injured and I can assist them as soon as possible."

"I'll accompany you ladies, if you can handle a bit of slowness." William knocks on his hollow leg and chuckles, "Stairs aren't exactly my friends, these days."

Florence turns and smiles at him. "Thank you. Take it carefully as you go."

"Yes, thank you," says Irene. "I'm glad of the company." She offers William her arm and assists him in climbing the stairs.

"I have a gun, so I'm with you," says Hewitt.

"I'd better stay down here," says Julia.

"Thank you, Mr. Hewitt," says Irene with a smile. "I think the four of us should be able to handle any difficulties up there."

"I reckon I'll stay here with the miss and the odd folk, check they don't get up to any mischief. I want to check the lamps too - battery levels." John begins to busy himself with his tools as he'd rather keep himself occupied than let his mind wander over the fate of the 'odd people'.

"I doubt they'll charge you," said Mr. Hewitt. "But you never know. Might be worth keeping them in that cell until we've called for an ambulance." He looked around at everybody. "So, ready to go?" He heads over to the door by the stairs and takes up a position leaning up against the wall. "What order should we go up those stairs? Bearing in mind that it'll be our more dangerous choke point upstairs, most likely."

"Whoever's best in a fight should go in front," says Irene. "I can defend myself if I must, but I'm not all that strong. If you gentlemen don't mind, I think 'ladies first' doesn't apply here. Florence and I should bring up the rear. Perhaps I should go last just in case of trouble behind us. She should be safe in the third position."

"Yes that sounds sensible to me," says Florence. "I'm quite clumsy, so wouldn't be that good in a fight."

"I'll go first," William volunteers, and begins to gamely clomp up the stairs.

No, let me.
Doug says to the man.
You know ... you leg ... and I have this nice knife

William is already at the foot of the stairs as Doug says his words, though it would be easy enough to swap places. The top of the stairwell is blocked off by a trapdoor with a large bolt on the underside to keep it from opening. Luckily the bolt is both pulled back and on this side so it shouldn't be a problem to move it.

"That's more of a kill chute than I thought," says Hewitt.

"Let's open it," says Irene.

OOC,I hadn't realized [b]Doug[/b] was coming too. In that case, [b]Florence[/b] should probably go fourth.

"Agreed," calls Florence, now at the back, as Doug and William jostle for the position at the front.

Doug unlocks the trapdoor and push it up. His knife is ready to stab any hostile that might be on the other side.

John takes his time to shuffle the people back into the cell, making sure they are as comfortable as he can make them. They do nothing to keep the blankets on so he ends up tying them on with a few knots. Then he sits down in a corner with any spare lamps and quietly checks them over. Occasionally he looks up to check the people and Julia.

William lets Doug take the lead easily enough, but can't keep the shame for his injury from spreading to his cheeks in rosy blotches. He waits, gun at the ready, as Doug pushes against the trapdoor.