IC-Ep 2-Alone in the Dark(Leonek only)

[Mr. Handy]

Caverns - Dunwich, England
2:00 PM - Thursday, September 5, 1985

Leonek ascended the upward-sloping tunnel. The water level dropped off, and soon the ground was dry. He emerged into another round chamber, this one also with a tunnel exiting in each of the four cardinal directions. The one ahead of him continued to ascend, but the ones on the left and right were level. Now that he was out of the water, he noticed more scuff marks on the ground showing a heavy object being dragged, much like the ones that had led him here. They emerged from the tunnel he had taken and curved around to the exit on the right, where they vanished into the darkness.

OOC,The altar is not the same shape as the depression in the sand, which was square. The altar is rectangular, about ten feet long, four feet wide, and two feet high. [b]Leonek[/b], please roll Listen and Spot Hidden.

[DrPeterson]

Leonek's eyes aren't too well adjusted to the darkness, but his hearing is keen as ever.

Listen and Spot roll,[url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4242740/[/url]

He leans down and stacks some rocks in the corner of the corridor he just left, or failing that, he piles some sand as a marker before continuing.

Standing in the middle of the room, he extinguishes the lighter, allowing his eyes some rest. He peers around in the darkness towards the passages, trying to make out some light and then illuminates the chamber again before cautiously moving into the tunnel to the right.

[Mr. Handy]

While Leonek set up the small rocks to mark the way he came, he heard two voices in conversation down the passage to the left, one male and one female. They sounded unusual, though he could not put his finger on how exactly. He flicked off the lighter, which was starting to get hot, and it cooled off while he waited in the dark. He couldn't see any light down any of the ways out of this cavern.

"Have you been able to get the box open, Kal'ee?" asked the female voice.

"No, Y'hali," replied the male voice. "It defies my strength. It has powerful magic."

"Then perhaps my own magic can overcome its defenses. At least one of these strangers must be a sorcerer of considerable ability. And they asked about Soames too. Most interesting."

"What shall we do about them, sister?"

"Nothing yet. They bear watching, but take no action against them for now unless they get too close. There are other new arrivals in Dunwich as well, and they do not seem like ordinary tourists. They were asking after Valerie Kirby."

"Ah, such beauty..."

"Keep your claws to yourself, brother. She belongs to Bertie. There are plenty of other fish in the sea."

"I can still look, can't I? It will be a delight to see her at the wedding on Saturday. I'm sure she will make a lovely bride."

"That she will. My son has excellent taste in women...much like his father did."

"Maybe I'll go over to the manor house and visit them tonight. Don't worry, I'll take care that nobody sees me."

"All right, but be careful not to frighten her. Was there anything else?"

"No, Y'Hali. I'll go patrol the shore now."

Footsteps began to approach from the tunnel to the left.

OOC,[b]Leonek[/b], do you still want to go down the tunnel on the right?

[DrPeterson]

OOC:,Damn you, Handy! Damn you! You're making this far too interesting to abandon! Poor Leonek!

Leonek's heart skips a beat as he hears Dr. Kirby mentioned. His mind races as he tries to comprehend the full extent of the situation and the myriad of options before him. Does he go to hide in the room with the chest, or whatever it is that was dragged up here, does he go back to warn Salem and the others, or does he take the cave ahead of him to try and find the surface?

He looks around, somewhat flummoxed by still not seeing a light approach, even though the voices are getting nearer. Ok, patrolling the shore, that had to mean moving to the water. He ineffectively peered back into the darkness. Their thread was too light, they couldn't be wearing diving suits, so the path ahead of him, probably went up to the surface. That was where the man probably was heading, while the woman was heading towards the other room, the one with the chest. So many probablies, Leonek didn't like the amount of variables and he was so curious... They wouldn't be heading down to the cave he entered from, so Salem would be safe as long as he kept the fishing charade up. Leonek made a decision and groped his way to the passage to his right, igniting the lighter only when he reached it and shielding the flame with his body.

He hurried down the passage and hoped he'd find a place to hide...

[Mr. Handy]

Leonek was able to block the light with his body to keep it from escaping the chamber in which he found himself. It was smaller than the other ones, and the walls were rougher and more irregular. The footsteps entered the larger chamber he had just left, and he could tell that there was only one set of them. The scuff marks led to the center of the cave, where a blue police box, of all things, stood. It was exactly the right size and shape to match the depression on the beach. Police boxes had been obsolete before he came to Britain, but he had heard of them. The doors to the box were closed, but it was more than big enough to fit even him if he could get inside.

[DrPeterson]

Leonek stops and looks rather dumbfounded at the police box. This was not what he had been expecting. He takes a few steps into the cave, looking around for a place to hide, he had been hoping for a convenient nook or cranny and isn't too happy about the rough, yet featureless room. He looks at the police box again, surely this can't be what those voices were talking about?

He quickly paces around it, inspecting the box and the cave and then, exasperated tries a door, he might as well hide inside the box. He could get the drop on whoever was coming behind him if he hid in there...

[Mr. Handy]

Leonek found a coil of rope and a couple of small open-topped boxes at the back of the cavern when he walked around the police box, which had blocked his view of them. One box contained a dozen torches - the traditional kind, not the electric kind - and a piece of flint, and the other held six daggers in leather sheathes on straps. There were a few crags and crevices where he might conceal himself, or he could also hide behind the police box, which was big enough for that. He tried the doors to the police box, but he found them to be locked.

However, the footsteps did not come his way. Instead, it sounded like they went the way he had originally come in, down the sloping tunnel. This was confirmed by a splashing sound a moment later.

[DrPeterson]

Leonek let out a muttered curse, that wasn't what was supposed to happen...

He takes one of the sheathed daggers and straps it to his leg and grabs a torch from the box. His gaze lingers on the weird police box as he lights the torch with his lighter, he would love to hang around longer to investigate this strange cave further, but the splash...whoever was swimming out would probably see the rope and follow it back to the boat.

Leonek let out a deep sigh and with the torch held out in front of him, he started running back to the room with the sea access.

OOC: If he reaches the cave without incident,Leonek will use the rope to pull himself back to the boat, tugging it three times before starting to swim. Speaking of which, I didn't do so swimmingly on his roll. [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4246152/[/url]

[Mr. Handy]

Leonek ran through the chamber and down the slope, where he caught the faintest flash of a form vanishing into the tunnel leading out to sea. He scrambled through the moat, took a breath, and leapt into the water at the exit, which instantly extinguished his torch. In the dark, it was hard to make his way, and he kept bumping into the sides.

OOC,[b]Leonek[/b], please roll Swim again. If you fail, roll CON x 9.

[DrPeterson]

Leonek's struggle to navigate the rocks is proving more futile by the second, luckily he's not out of breath yet.

Rolling,Swim fail: [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4248664/[/url] Con*9 success: [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4248665/[/url]

[DrPeterson]

OOC:,For convenience sake, I've rolled another swim check and it succeeds! I rolled a 6! [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4248667/[/url]

Leonek stops swimming and tries to find his buoyancy. When he pulls the undercurrent pull him either direction, he will push off in the opposite one, assuming the current to pull him deeper into the cave and very eager to intercept whoever made that splashing noise before they find Salem.

[Mr. Handy]

As Leonek floundered, he heard a single gunshot ahead of him, followed by an enraged bellow, a big splash...and then ominous silence. He quickly was able to recover and orient himself. Faint sunlight penetrated from the tunnel ahead of him.

OOC,The Swim rolls after the first one were actually against your unmodified skill, but you still succeeded wildly. You may backtrack and surface in the cave if you wish to get some air, and there is no need to roll anything. Or you may follow the tunnel towards the sea, but if you do so you will need to roll CON x 8 to avoid running out of air. No further Swim rolls are needed.

[DrPeterson]

The resounding gun shot alerted Leonek to the pressing situation and he swam towards the light with powerful strokes, his iron clad Soviet lungs sustaining his demand for air.

Success!,[url]http://.com/roller/view/4253075/invisiblecastle[/url]

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,[b]Leonek[/b] is moving to the thread linked below.

The Underwater Menace