Shadowed Arkham

[Cearlan]

Jemima nods at the information David gives her. "Well I could do either of two things. I can follow the gardener, or maybe I could use some of my <ahem> specialist skills to gain access to Whateley's abode. You say it's a boarding house, but could it be an apartment? Either way we could try to see where he lives in a bit more detail."

[Mr. Handy]

"Well, I was just speculating really," says David. "We haven't been inside, so I don't really know if it's a boarding house or an apartment. All three names were on the mailboxes. We really need to follow both leads, and perhaps there's a way we can do it. I can call Philip Baxter back in Providence and have him arrange for Miss Hawkins to join us here tomorrow morning. She has some similar talents. Since you know what the gardener looks like, you'd be best suited to keep an eye on her and see where she goes and who she meets, while Miss Hawkins can investigate Whateley's home. Joseph and I could continue our research, but without those books I doubt we'll find anything we don't already know. Of course, I can keep studying the material we've already recovered. There's a lot there that I haven't fully understood yet."

[Cearlan]

"What's his address?" Jemima asks, all sweetness and light. "I'll go and have a look. The more information we have about where he lives, the better we shall be able to plan how to get in and out again." Once you give her the address, she adds "I'll see you back at the hotel, just let the front desk know to expect me - it shouldn't take long. Unless you want to sort out something or somewhere where to eat while I'm gone." Without waiting for a response she turns on her heel and heads off towards Whateley's abode.

When she returns some 45 minutes or so later she tells you "Well. Mr Whateley lives in the lower floor apartment, so getting in and out should be easier. He is a polite quiet man who keeps himself to himself, more often than not he stays in. About one or two, occasionally three times a year he goes away to meetings or something to do with his work. He gets his groceries from the local store and always pays everything, his rent etc, ahead of time. He has family that live out of town, but doesn't talk about them. I got this from talking to a neighbour who thinks I'm a niece out to pay him a surprise visit."

[Mr. Handy]

"And so you shall, only he won't be at home when you call," says David with a grin. "Well done! Perhaps in his apartment there will be some papers or a diary detailing his involvement with the gardener or his true agenda."

[royya]

David, we should be in the library during Jemima's visit to Whateley place to clear any suspicion and search other clues about the notes we found. Now I know we need the books, maybe they'll show up as the police said suggested but we should keep Whately busy looking for them for us. we should nudge him.
Joseph says

[Mr. Handy]

"Oh, absolutely," says David. "I'm sure we can keep him quite busy. We might even get some research done while we're at it, though I think we've exhausted everything relevant that wasn't in the missing books."

[Cearlan]

OOC:   So - having decided on the morrow's plan of action what about this evening, back to the hotel?

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Yes. Tonight I'll call [b]Philip Baxter[/b] so that he can arrange for [b]Sarah Hawkins[/b] to join us in the morning.

[Cearlan]

OOC:   Right the hotel it is then. You have placed a call to Prof Baxter and Sarah will rendezvous with you at the library after dropping her stuff off at the hotel tomorrow morning.

You have booked rooms at the hotel and have decided to go for a meal out tonight. You enjoy a good wholesome meal at a local restaurant before returning to the hotel for the night.

Upon your return you all return to your rooms.

David,As you open the door of your room and turn on the light you see the figure of Martin Sorrell calmly sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. He is dressed in a long black trench-coat, with the collar turned up, that covers him totally from his throat down to the top of his shoes almost. [color=#FF4000]"Hello!"[/color] he says. [color=#FF4000]"Could you please call the others in here for me?"[/color] His face and body seem somewhat thinner than you remember, almost gaunt. His eyes shine bright and intelligent behind his spectacles. [ooc]1/1D3+1 San for seeing the figure seated so calmly there in front of you[/ooc]

[Mr. Handy]

David recovers from the shock. "Hello, old friend," he says, smiling. "I'm relieved that reports of your death have been greatly exaggerated. Yes, I'd better go get the others." He steps out into the hall and knocks on the others' doors. "You'd all better join me in my room," he tells them. "We have a visitor: Martin Sorrell."

[Cearlan]

As you all enter David's room you see a gaunt man sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. His spectacles cannot hide the intelligence in the eyes behind them. He is wearing brown shoes, of the unfashionable brogue variety, a pair of grey checked trousers peek out from beneath his black trench coat which all but covers him from it's upturned collar to just above the shoes he is sporting.

He greets you all as you enter and entreats you to sit wherever there is a space. Once seated he coughs and starts to speak.

“First of all, I want to apologize to you for the trouble you have gone through on my account. I’m more than a little embarrassed that all of you have been hired to track me down. You see, I think the events back in British Honduras hurt me more than I knew, something akin to shell-shock and all that. That, and the fact that I found the field work was starting to wear on me. While doing some epigraphy research, I came across some rather startling theories from the eighteen-nineties about lost continents and beings not of this world. To my surprise, the theories seemed to fit in with what I was discovering in British Honduras. They seemed to. In retrospect they fit a bit too perfectly."

“The further I dug, the more I discovered: a whole branch of science devoted to these crackpot theories, which were dismissed piece-meal at the turn of the century. The books at the Miskatonic University Library ... they ... they had quite an effect on my mind. I began to get paranoid, delusional envisioning a vast conspiracy to keep this knowledge secret. That all of it is an elaborate falsehood never once occurred to me. I could not sleep properly and began to think that I was being followed, that unknown forces were spying on me."

“Finally, I cracked and fled into the jungle, where I wandered around for a long time before I came to my senses. I can see now what a fool I was. I am getting some professional help. Anyway, I made my way back to Belize City and flew home. When I called the Dean, he told me about you, and put me on the first train here to meet you, I’m so sorry. As you can see, I’m much better now. I guess your errand for Professor Baxter is over. You have found me. You can collect your money and go home.”

The longer Sorrell sits there talking the more uneasy you all start to become. Nothing you can put your finger on, just a vague nameless dread that tickles the back of your conscious mind.

OOC:   Listen and Idea rolls please.

[Mr. Handy]

David doesn't hear anything out of the ordinary, but something occurs to him. "Martin, I did not take this job for the money," he says. "You've been my friend for years, and I would have done this for nothing. There are still some unanswered questions, however, and I'm hoping you can clear them up."

[Cearlan]

"I'll try to answer your questions as be .."

An ominous thump comes from the bathroom, (the door to it is closed). Martin Sorrell's head swivels to look in that direction.

David,You notice that Martin has not blinked once since you have seen him. This will cost you 0/1D3 SAN.

Suddenly the door opens and two men dressed as waiters enter guiding a serving cart bearing a covered platter. "Room service." the one pushing the trolley calls out cheerfully. Sorrell's head wheels towards the two waiters then makes a sound that is not remotely human. His trench-coat bunches up and writhes as if it had a pack of weasels under it. Sanity check, costs 1/1D4 SAN.

One of the waiters whips the cover off the platter, and the other hefts out something from under it that looks like a fire extinguisher.

OOC:   Spot Hidden rolls please.

The bathroom door flies open. Everyone smells a stench like decaying leaves. In the door is a flat wall of blackness, as though the room beyond is absorbing all light. Call for another sanity check, costing 011 SAN.

A flurry of thumping, buzzing, clattering, and slipping (sounding like a dog’s claws on tile or linoleum) comes from the bathroom. So does the flapping of huge wings. The sounds from the darkened bathroom are so strange, and so inhuman that in themselves they require another sanity check for 0/1D2 SAN.

OOC:   What you going to do? Note; fail a SAN roll and you will be too surprised to act the first round as we are about to enter combat

[Mr. Handy]

Martin's lack of blinking doesn't frighten David at all, compared to all of the other freaky things that happen. Martin's trench coat is slightly unnerving, and it distracts David from some of the other things occuring. The wall of darkness disturbs him, but he is able to gloss over whatever is behind it.

OOC,I guess I stand paralyzed for the first round, then, since I failed one of the rolls.

[royya]

SAN vs. Martin; Spot Hidden; SAN vs. Wall of blackness; SAN vs. Inhuman voices (1d100=19, 1d100=81, 1d100=40, 1d100=51) - I passed all the SAN checks but failed the Spot Hidden roll. 1 San damage from the first roll.

What the .... how could it be?
Joseph says as he sees Martin for the first time
******************************
Joseph cannot think clearly as he looks at Martin and the things he saw in the morgue, ideas and thoughts are racing in is mind about a possible brain exchanges and a parasite that might settle in Sorrel's head.
******************************
When Martin throws his coat away to reveal some horror that cannot be explained with words, Joseph keeps his nerves to save himself and the others. He fails to spot anything else as he turns his looks from Martin, to the waiters and the darkness in the room.
He is looking for something to grab, a poker, maybe he took his personal bag to take his scissors from it ?
Luck roll (1d100=4) - Pass a Luck roll 1/5

[Cearlan]

OOC:   Jemima failed all her SAN rolls and passed her Spot Hidden.

Jemima just sits there, her face a mask of sheer terror as her eyes widen and a silent scream forms in her throat as her hands instinctively clutch each other at her breast. She tries to squirm back further into the chair she is sitting on. All that comes out of her mouth is a croaking gasp.

OOC:   Yes David cannot do anything this round unfortunately, looks like just Joseph can act (see below). Right I'll go in DEX order then

A loud hiss sounds from the bathroom and a jet of white mist shoots out, missing the waiters but hitting the cart. Frost and icicles sprout all over it, and the temperature in the room drops ten degrees (SAN check 1, 0/1D2).

The waiter with the fire extinguisher lunges forward, knocking over the cart, which shatters as it hits the floor. The man thumbs the nozzle and a thick, greenish gas shoots out and into the bathroom.

The other waiter looks at the investigators and pulls a glass sphere from his pocket. A hideous buzzing issues from the bathroom.

'Sorrell' stands up. He only reaches a height of four and a half feet. His hands drag the floor, as does the trench coat. Woodson’s head, now much too big for his body, wobbles and suddenly falls to the floor where it bounced towards Jemima (SAN cost 1/1D4 San - 1/1D6 for poor Jemima). A horrific glimpse of the bathroom door shows a terrible silhouette and a putrescent tail slithers into the light momentarily. A terrifying buzzing shriek issues from "Sorrell's" chest and then the lights go out as the room is plunged into total darkness.

Now in total darkness, it seems that the sound of buzzing and thumping around has been intensified As furniture falls over. A waiter screams loudly. Joseph blunders blindly into the furniture. There is the sound of glass breaking, and of fragments
crunching underfoot. A strong serpentine smell washes over everything.Now all the investigators lose consciousness from the effects of the gas.

OOC:   The 'combat' ends in the first round on DEX 15 - sorry guys These boys don't mess around. I feel kinda guilty for making you think you could influence anything here so I'll give you what you might have noticed on the spot hidden roll. You notice that the two 'waiters' were both wearing rings set with yellow stones.

'Martin Sorrell'


First Waiter


Second Waiter


Glimpse into bathroom before light goes out

[Cearlan]

OOC:   Jemima failed all her SAN rolls and passed her Spot Hidden.

Jemima just sits there, her face a mask of sheer terror as her eyes widen and a silent scream forms in her throat as her hands instinctively clutch each other at her breast. She tries to squirm back further into the chair she is sitting on. All that comes out of her mouth is a croaking gasp.

OOC:   Yes David cannot do anything this round unfortunately, looks like just Joseph can act (see below). Right I'll go in DEX order then

A loud hiss sounds from the bathroom and a jet of white mist shoots out, missing the waiters but hitting the cart. Frost and icicles sprout all over it, and the temperature in the room drops ten degrees (SAN check 1, 0/1D2).

The waiter with the fire extinguisher lunges forward, knocking over the cart, which shatters as it hits the floor. The man thumbs the nozzle and a thick, greenish gas shoots out and into the bathroom.

The other waiter looks at the investigators and pulls a glass sphere from his pocket. A hideous buzzing issues from the bathroom.

'Sorrell' stands up. He only reaches a height of four and a half feet. His hands drag the floor, as does the trench coat. Woodson’s head, now much too big for his body, wobbles and suddenly falls to the floor where it bounced towards Jemima (SAN cost 1/1D4 San - 1/1D6 for poor Jemima). A horrific glimpse of the bathroom door shows a terrible silhouette and a putrescent tail slithers into the light momentarily. A terrifying buzzing shriek issues from "Sorrell's" chest and then the lights go out as the room is plunged into total darkness.

Now in total darkness, it seems that the sound of buzzing and thumping around has been intensified As furniture falls over. A waiter screams loudly. Joseph blunders blindly into the furniture. There is the sound of glass breaking, and of fragments
crunching underfoot. A strong serpentine smell washes over everything.Now all the investigators lose consciousness from the effects of the gas.

OOC:   The 'combat' ends in the first round on DEX 15 - sorry guys These boys don't mess around. I feel kinda guilty for making you think you could influence anything here so I'll give you what you might have noticed on the spot hidden roll. You notice that the two 'waiters' were both wearing rings set with yellow stones.

'Martin Sorrell'


First Waiter


Second Waiter


Glimpse into bathroom before light goes out

[Mr. Handy]

David was unaffected by the sudden cold, but the severed head nearly freaked him out.

[royya]

SAN vs. cold ; SAN vs. falling head (1d100=84, 1d100=25) - Failed the cold SAN check and passed the falling head.

The coldness penetrate the bones of Joseph, a logical explanation cannot explain this sudden drop of temperature but the falling head was something Joseph, god's knows why, was expecting. He was sure something was wrong with Martin's brain, if it was Martin at all. His recent research at the morgue prepared him for non-logical findings.

[Cearlan]

You wake slowly, finding yourselves seated on chairs or the couch, and with your joints stiff and heads aching.

The door to the bathroom stands half ajar, the light on in the bathroom dimly illuminates the room beyond. Both rooms are now about forty degrees colder than they were. Condensation drips from the ceiling and down the walls. A hideous stench like spoiled milk hangs in the air. There is no sign of Sorrell, his ghastly head, the two waiters, or the service cart.

By their watches the investigators see that two hours have passed. In the bathroom two heaps of greenish slime lie on the floor, ribbons and tendrils of the stuff running all over the counter and into the tub. The gelatinous muckis the source of the stink. Each heap is inert and seems to be quite dead.

Someone has written a message on the wide bathroom mirror, in smears of the hideous stuff “You are dealing with things you do not understand. Get out while you still can.” Thousands of questions race through your minds, but there’s no one to answer. Yet, somehow, the clues seem to indicate that the answers lie deep within the jungles of British Honduras.

Slime on the mirror