IC-Chapter 1-Holy Holy(Father Levington/Harry Sawyer)

[Mr. Handy]

The graveyard was shrouded in a light mist that obscured vision somewhat. There was nothing in particular to mark its boundary. There were gravestones of various shapes and sizes scattered throughout the area, seemingly not arranged in any particular order. There were a few large crypts and mausolea in the cemetery; it was probably through those that the underground tunnels of the gugs could be reached by those foolish enough to do so.

As Snookums, Nathaniel, and Harry walked through the graveyard, a sudden gust of wind cleared away the fog. No more than twenty feet to their left, a humanoid figure was squatting over a grave, digging in the soft earth. It had no shovel or other tools, but was using its bare hands. After a second, Father Levington realized that they were not hands after all, but elongated claws. Its feet resembled hooves. The being looked absolutely grotesque, with skin the texture of rubber and a canine-looking face. It wasn't looking directly at them, and it wasn't clear whether or not it had noticed their arrival.

"Ghoul," hissed Snookums, the hairs on his back standing straight up.

OOC,[b]Nathaniel[/b], roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 0/1d6, so if you succeed you lose no Sanity, but if you fail, you lose 1d6. If you lose 5 or more Sanity, roll Idea. You want to fail this roll, as succeeding at it will render you temporarily insane. If you do not go insane, roll Sneak.

[TheAlchemist]

"God in heaven," Levington said, under his breath, ducking behind a tomb stone.

[Mr. Handy]

Harry took the ghoul in stride, reasoning that this was just a dream, anyway. The gravestones were too small to hide behind, but Nathaniel still hadn't forgotten how to move quietly from his hunting days. Snookums was also stealthy by nature, and even Harry managed to remain completely quiet.

The ghoul did not notice the new arrivals, intent as it was on digging up the grave. It finally pulled out a human leg. Though it had decayed somewhat, there was still plenty of meat on the bone. The creature sat on its haunches and began to gnaw on it, and soon there was less meat there.

[TheAlchemist]

OOC,Can I see Snookums from where I am?

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Yes, you're all together.

[TheAlchemist]

"What should we do?" Levington whispered, looking at Snookums.

[Mr. Handy]

"Ghouls usually speak a kind of gibberish," whispered Snookums, "but they can be quite intelligent and some of them know other languages too. It may be possible to communicate with some of them without them trying to eat you. This one's got a meal already, so there's less risk of that, but it could still happen. They eat the dead, but they'll just as gladly eat the living. Probably the smartest thing to do would be to slip out of here, since it hasn't noticed us. The vaults of Zin aren't too far, so we can skip the graveyard if you like. It's up to you."

"Leaving sounds good to me," said Harry.

OOC,If you decide to leave the graveyard, there's no need to roll anything. The ghoul's back is to you, and all of you passed your Sneak rolls already.

[TheAlchemist]

"Me too," Levington said. "We can tour the graveyard some other time."

[Mr. Handy]

Snookums led Nathaniel Levington and Harry away from the graveyard and the feasting ghoul, which meeped with joy as it consumed the decaying flesh. It was a short walk to the vaults of Zin, which adjoined the graveyard on one side. The vaults were huge stone cenotaphs, even bigger than the mausolea that were in the graveyard. They had stone doors that led inside.

"The ghasts won't come out until it gets dark," explained Snookums. "The sun won't set for another few hours. There won't be any ghouls here, since nobody is actually buried in these vaults. The ghasts live inside, and they'd still be asleep now, but we don't want to risk waking them up, so let's stay outside."

[TheAlchemist]

Levington strolled around the area, hands in his pockets, taking in the scene.

[Mr. Handy]

As Nathaniel walked among the vaults, he detected a musty odor wafting from them. Harry looked at the massive stone monuments in awe. Snookums took everything in stride, having evidently seen them before.

"I wish I'd brought my camera," said Harry.

"You couldn't bring it here," said Snookums. "I haven't seen any modern technology around these lands. The only firearms I've seen are fairly primitive. Seems like dreamers can't bring anything too advanced here. It all gets turned into something older. Flashlights become lanterns and the like. It would be back to normal when you wake up, of course."

Now that Nathaniel was closer, he could see strange carvings on the sides of the vaults depicting bizarre creatures. He recognized a likeness of a ghoul, and there were several figures that matched Snookums's description of a ghast. There were also other, larger and far more horrible things depicted as well.

OOC,[b]Nathaniel[/b], roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 0/1d2.

[TheAlchemist]

"I've never seen anything like this,"Levington said, staring at the cavings.

[Mr. Handy]

Harry examined the carvings closely too, utterly bewildered. The sight disturbed him a little, for once breaking through his cheerful disposition. "Far...out..." was all he could say about them. "Do we have to stay here?"

"Not at all," said Snookums. "In fact, I'd advise against staying here too long. We could linger a little while, but we want to be away before it gets dark."

OOC,Wow, that's the second 100 [b]Harry[/b] has rolled! Still, it's sort of in character for him.

[TheAlchemist]

"Do these other things, do they live around here too?" Levington asked, pointing at the larger images.

[Mr. Handy]

"The gugs do," said Snookums, indicating an image of a huge bipedal creature with four arms and a mouth on top of its head that opened from front to back. "They live under the graveyard we just saw, though their tunnels do extend under the Vaults as well. The ghouls, well you've seen one of them already, and the ghasts live right here. Luckily they can't stand sunlight, like I said. Those giant spiders live on the Plateau of Leng, which is far from here in the north. Those things-" he pointed at a dark, winged thing that had a barbed tail with his forepaw, "are nightgaunts. They fly around all over the place, so it's possible you'd see them near here. Nodens uses them as messengers. They can grab you with their claws and then they use their tails to tickle you."

Harry chuckled. "That doesn't sound too scary," he said.

"Well, it is. While you're being tickled, you'd be completely helpless. It won't cause any lasting damage, but from what I've heard it feels unbearable."

[TheAlchemist]

Levington looked at the images for a moment or two longer.

"We probably aught to be getting out of here, huh? Where are we going to go now that it's getting dark?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Well, we still have a couple of hours before it gets dark," said Snookums. "We can go wherever you'd like. The nearest safe place is Ulthar. I think we could get there by sundown, and then I could show you around."

[TheAlchemist]

"Ulthar sound good to you Harry?" Levington asked. "It sounds good to me."

[Mr. Handy]

"Yeah, let's go to Ulthar," said Harry. "Are there any nightclubs there?"

"Um...no," said Snookums. "It's not like a modern city, more like something from the Renaissance. There are performing minstrels you might enjoy, though their music isn't exactly modern either."

The cat led the two humans away from the Vaults of Zin, heading northwest into the woods.

[TheAlchemist]

OOC,I'm good. I'll wait till we get there.