The Prologue

[royya]

Joseph remains calm despite the mutual murder he just seen. His first instinct is to help Mark but he knows that being caught here is bad...very bad. He decides to follow the others.

Spoiler:

SAN roll - I rolled on dark and moody and scored 8.

[Cearlan]

OOC,Meredith takes a hit of 1d2 San if he passes an idea roll - otherwise he is oblivious of what happened. Everyone else must have seen some horrific things in their past.
As Sarah said she was just poking her head above the first floor and was going to run across the hallway, it seems logical that she would be the first down the stairs.

As you descend the stairs you can see a light on in the house next door coupled with flashlights bobbing on the street outside. As you near the bottom of the stairs you are can hear next doors dogs barking and Mr. Inman's voice calling something indistinct out before you are all stopped in your tracks by a loud hammering on the door followed by sharp light shining through the window illuming the hallway, with Sarah halfway across the hall and everyone else on the stairs;

"Open up it's the police ... I know you're in there - we got the place surrounded."

Sarah is halfway across the hallway and the voice calls out;

"I can see you in there Missie, Better open the door as I say - and I can see your friends on the stairs too." (I rolled a 9 on his spot hidden - sorry)

The light plays across the floor and you hear him say something through the door;

Mark's legs still twitch spasmodically and as his breath becomes more laboured you can see blood start to seep from his mouth. a gurgling sound comes from the prone man.

[Priest]

"What do we do?", hisses a slightly shocked Meredith, "We can't leave the poor boy like that. Somebody do something"

Spoiler:

OOC: Meredith rolled 11 against an idea of 65 at dark and Moody. Rolled d4 1- 2 = 1, 3 - 4 = 2, roll 1point sanity loss.

[Mr. Handy]

"Help him, quickly," David hisses to Joseph as he hurries down the stairs. "I think we'd better let the cops in. Our story is that we were on our way to Martin's house; I'm his friend, after all. We were outside when we heard noises within, so we went inside and this happened."

[tormsen]

Sarah digs her nails into her hands until tears run down her face, then walks up to the door. "Oh thank goodness you're here, officer. Something terrible has happened!" She starts to unlock the door from the inside.

[Cearlan]

OOC,As Royya is away on vacation I am NPC'ing [b]Joseph [/b]until he takes back over again

[/color]

Awakened from the awful events that just unfolded before his eyes Joseph gives his head a shake to clear the awful images from his mind before he reminds himself that he has seen worse things. He rushes down the stairs, past those who are unconsciously blocking his way and makes his way to examine Mark.

He sees that the first shot took him in the shoulder whilst the second seemed to have ... it must have hit in about the same place because he could not see another obvious gunshot wound. Checking the body for breaks, which he assumes there must be some after the fall of ... looking up he reckons the fall was about twelve to fifteen feet, Hmmm coupled with the gunshots, it seems Mark is lucky (lucky?) to be alive this long. He applies his healing skills on his unfortunate companion and manages to make him a little more comfortable, at least enough to slow the bleeding.

OOC,With IC still down it seem that Dark and Gloomy is the way forward - but feel free to use whatever method you prefer - Medicine roll @ Fri Apr 12 2013 12:51:34 and his Healing roll @ Fri Apr 12 2013 12:56:07 GMT+0100

[/color]

Examining his body he decides it would not be in Mark's best interests if he were to be put into the recovery position, so he will have to be monitored closely until he can be handed over to the appropriate physicians.

Sarah meanwhile has managed to get the door open and with a tear streaked face she surveys the officer. With the door open, you can hear sirens getting closer. The officer's first action is to shine the light straight into Sarah's eyes, blinding her, he then takes in the rest of the room. "Sweet Jesus!" he intones, the colour draining from his features.

Closing the door to prevent anyone getting out he asks "What in the name of God happened here somebody better start talking right now - you - he addresses Joseph roughly, "Get away from that man."

He quickly surveys the scene in more detail and realising that the woman is dead and that Joseph is in fact trying to help adds in a slightly gentler voice, but only slightly ... "I take it you are medically trained then ... do what you can then back away please until our own doctor gets here."

His eyes, whilst watching Joseph work on Mark, take in all your faces.

[Mr. Handy]

"Officer, I'm Professor David Johnson," says David. "I'm a friend of Professor Martin Sorrell, whose house this is. My colleagues and I were on our way here when we heard noise inside the house. We went inside to investigate and found out that someone else was already in here." He indicates the dead woman. "I couldn't see what happened from where I stood when the shooting started, but I think she shot him." He points at Mark. "He fell over the rail upstairs. Then she tried to flee and jumped over the rail herself. She dropped her gun there." He points out where it landed. "She was hurt and tried to limp away, but she had some kind of seizure and collapsed."

[Cearlan]

Without looking at the officer, Joseph whilst he continues to work at treating Mark's many injuries;

"From her pallor and lack of respiration, I can tell she is as dead as dead can be, though personally I would like to know the cause. But for now, whilst this man still lives he is getting my fullest attention as my profession demands until I can deliver him to other suitable professionals."

At that point, a yapping accompanied by a nasal voice from outside calls out

"What's going on in there I have called the police - they are on their way."

The officer rolls his eyes and opens the door a crack saying to the "neighbourly" Mr Inman, who tries to open the door further until he sees the officer holding it only so far open.

"Let me in - I dema ..." the officer speaks over him, cutting him off rather abruptly.

"Ah! Mr Inman, where would we be without vigilant neighbours such as your good self. As you can see I am already on the scene but am glad you have called for help. Could I trouble you to call in once more and say that Officer Gorman is here and requests a couple of ambulances as well as a 'Mother's Heart.' And once you have done this I need you to stay indoors to keep an eye on the back of the house for me if you would be so kind."

When Inman nods his assent, the Officer closes the door once more.

"That should keep him out the way for a short while at least." he mutters, as he turns to face you all, his spoken thoughts loud enough that you can all hear them. Addressing you all he says;

"Obviously you will all be taken to the station where you will be questioned further. I hardly need to tell you that the fact that this man has been shot ..." he points towards Mark and then, continuing, indicating the strange woman "... and this woman lies apparently dead makes this a serious affair beyond a patrolman. I have arranged some transport for you to be taken downtown, where Lieutenant O'Grady will be wanting to speak with you I have no doubt. I'd like to know what sort of noise would cause you to investigate the house? Are you the group that Mr Sorrrell's neighbour reported to me earlier I wonder? Let's start with your names first though, I have yours Professor David Johnson, and you sir" indicating the kneeling form working away on Mark as he continues to scribble in his notebook.

"I am Joseph Huckleberry a student of Medicine and the man who's life I am trying to save is a friend, a Mark Davison, who because of some poor choices in the past may be known to your department." with that he returns to stabilizing Mark

[Mr. Handy]

"There was a sudden shout and a loud thump from upstairs," says David. "I'm surprised you didn't hear it yourself, but it did come right after that thunderclap, so I guess you missed it."

[Priest]

Deciding that silence was probably the way to deal with this, Meredith simply nods in agreement with David's explanation. Awaiting the interest of the police officer.

[Cearlan]

"Now it doesn't do to get all uppity in your situation." The officer intones solemnly looking down at his notebook before adding. "Professor David Johnson"

"Well missy, who might you be?" then he says turning to Sarah.

[tormsen]

"S...Sarah Hawkins, sir. I am a student at the Women's University. I was hoping to get some books that were in the late professor's possession, before his unfortunate demise. They were for my dissertation. I never expected anything like this!" She rubs tears from her eyes and looks glumly at the floor.

[Cearlan]

"Hmm, Come down ff the stairs now and give me your names as we get down to the floor if you please." The sounds of sirens are getting closer and closer with each passing second.

[Priest]

"Professor Meredith David Arthur Jones, Professor of Ancient History, Brown University. As Professor Johnson said we are here simply by chance. We heard noises and investigated, if I had known that someone was waiting with a gun, I would have stayed outside and awaited the police"

[royya]

Now that Mark is stabilized, Joseph asks the patrol man to check the dead woman. If he allows it, Joseph is intrigued by the cause of death of the woman.

OOC,Thanks for NPCing Joseph.

[Cearlan]

The officer confirms that he cannot find any pulse in her neck. As he stands, the sound of the sirens stop outside the house as wheels screech when sounds of shouting come through the door. The officer opens the door and he struggles to keep everyone back from entering the hallway. Once he restores some sort of order, he ushers you all down the west side of the hallway, away from the bodies, in single file where you are 'greeted' by a burly officer who escorts you singly to the mother's heart. Once you are all sat in the paddy-wagon it takes you off to your time at the police station. Officer Gorman and another young officer both ride in the back with you all and you are all led into the prison and put into a holding cell.

Officer Gorman approaches you all and says;

"Sorry about the accommodation folks, I know it may not be up to your usual standard but Lt. O'Grady told me to tell you personally that he is not coming in to interview you tonight. Must need a whole lot of beauty sleep is all I can think of." he adds with a wry grin. "He ordered the night shift to take care of you and said that he'll see you in the morning - so you may as well get what rest you can until he arrives. I got to go and type up my report for him now so take my advice and just tell him the truth and you'll be on your way all the sooner."

OOC,[color=#FF4000]Thus draws the end of the prologue. I am going to be tied up until thursday, maybe friday so will probably not be able to post again till then. At that point I shall unleash O'Grady on you all (he's a pussy-cat really - would I lie to you?)[/color]