Monastery Hilll - Dunwich, England 2:30 PM - Thursday, September 5, 1985
Valerie drove down Monastery Hill with Elliot sitting beside her, following the directions towards the Lake manor. This stretch of road was familiar, and soon they were driving past the ruins of Greyfriars on the left and the Priory Cottage, where Virgil Soames lived, on the right.
OOC,[b]Elliot[/b] and [b]Valerie[/b], please roll Spot Hidden.
Elliot is enjoying the scenery, he lest his mind wonder a bit and is more preoccupied that he doesn't have his usual gear than paying attention to whats around him.
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Valerietook a good look around as she drove. "There's a car parked on the roadside ahead of us," she said, "not far past the writer's cottage. There's a bloke with a hat sitting in the driver's seat with a map, but I can't see his face because the map's in the way. I think he's only pretending to study the map, though. I can see him peeking over the top. It's an old spy trick."
OOC,[b]Valerie[/b]'s player hasn't posted yet, so I rolled and posted for her.
This snaps Elliot out of the peaceful surroundings he was enjoying and back into the mission at hand. "What do you think Val, shall we just drive right on by and see if he follows, pull over and ask directions or turn and try and throw him off?"
Valerie nodded and kept driving. They passed the car, which was a nondescript blue sedan. Valerie surreptitiously checked the rear-view mirror as they kept going. "Well, whoever he is, he's staying put," she said.
Before long, they approached a driveway that turned off to the right. A simple gate lay across it as a barrier, one that could easily be raised to allow vehicles in or out. A small wooden shack about eight feet high stood behind it and to one side. On the gate was a sign that read "Private Property - No Trespassing." The driveway stretched off into the distance, where a few buildings were visible, including a carriage house and a mansion beyond it. The road they were on continued ahead.
Valerie continued driving some distance past the driveway, to where the road curved around to the right and the foliage blocked the view of the gatehouse. She pulled over at the side of the road, not far from a brick wall surrounding the property that stood about ten feet tall. "Here looks like a good spot," she said.
OOC,[b]Elliot[/b], please roll Climb if you want to try to scale the wall. With Invisible Castle down, you may use the built-in dice roller for this site that uses the "dice" tags. I've activated it for this forum.
Elliot checks his pockets for what he does have. Not much. He curses the helo crash earlier. "Place is damn bad luck."
"I'll go up first then I can help you up Val." And with that he gives it a go.
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[dice]0[/dice]
. Elliot gets to the top and carefully looks over and around to make sure there are no alarm wires or cameras from where we are going over, or guards.
If the area is clear and secure I'll help Valarie up.
If not I'll tell Val what I see.
Elliot managed to scramble up the wall with ease and peered over the top. There were no signs of a security system, and no guards were visible from his position. The foliage obscured this section of the wall from prying eyes, but there was a large stretch of open ground between here and the buildings.
Valerie approached the wall and tried to climb it too, but it was hard for her to maintain her footing.
OOC,[dice]0[/dice]
[b]Elliot[/b], if you want to help her up, please make a Resistance Table roll on 1d100 pitting your STR (10) against her SIZ (11). This gives you a 45% chance.
Elliot reaches down to give Val a hand: "Come on old gal, you got this"
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[dice]0[/dice]
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My hand reaches down and she grabs my arm and I help pull her to the top.
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We drop down to the ground, and make our way to a spot that looks like it has the least amount of open space to cross.
Once it looks clear, we will take a sprint across the open ground to the building and hide.
Elliot and Valerie hurried across the open ground towards the carriage house. They would have made it without incident had Elliot been running at full speed, but Valerie couldn't move fast at all. When they were almost there, a man in denim overalls and a straw hat emerged from a side door of the mansion. He was looking in their direction, but he hadn't appearerd to notice them just yet.
OOC,[b]Elliot[/b] and [b]Valerie[/b], please roll Spot Hidden.
Elliot Webb,[b]Elliot[/b] noticed that there was something off about the man's features. He caught a glimpse of his face that was obscured by the hat, and he saw large, bulging eyes, scaly skin, and...were those gills on his neck? It reminded him all too much of that autopsy photo he had seen during the briefing.
[spoiler][b]Elliot[/b], please roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 0/1d4.[/spoiler]
Elliot takes a double look and then tries to find a place to hide, or if nothing nearby, just lay flat and have val do the same. Hope this horrible creature can't see us. I reach down and feel the security of my Browning.
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OOC: sanity check target = 60
[dice]0[/dice]
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the creature reminded Elliot of an old American movie, The Creature From the Black Lagoon. He shuddered a bit, but tried to lay still and see if the creature saw them or not.
Taking control of our breathing, we take a second to calm down. I give Val the signal that means "Lets get moving we are too exposed out here." And we head towards the building where we think they have the good Dr. Unless we see a better way to get into the buildings.
Valerie and Elliot cleared the remaining distance to the main house once the man - or whatever he was - was out of sight, having gone behind the mansion. They had seen two entrances so far: the front doors, a pair of stout oak doors at the top of wide marble steps, and the side entrance from which the man had emerged.
Not happy with either choice, Elliot prefers the roof for access, but without the proper climbing gear, Val would surely struggle with that. The side door it is, and once the coast looks clear Elliot heads for the side entrance.
Elliot and Valerie made their way to the side entrance to the mansion. Valerie put her ear to the door then nodded and tried the knob. It turned, and she cracked the door open and peeked inside. Giving a thumbs up, she opened the door and slipped in, motioning for Elliot to follow her.
The door led directly into a large kitchen that smelled strongly of fish. A counter divided the room nearly in half, and everything looked clean and spotless. There were a big table, a lengthy range with three ovens underneath, a dishwasher, a cutting board with several large knives in a rack above it, a toaster, a huge refrigerator/freezer, a dumbwaiter, and numerous drawers and cabinets. A short set of stairs led down to a plain wooden door on the left, and a more elaborate door was on the opposite side of the kitchen from the exit, which Valerie silently closed behind them.
OOC,You only know what [b]Leonek[/b] told you, that she's in the mansion.
Elliot takes one of the knives that looks like it could be used in a knife fight. And see if there is a nutcracker pick set that could be used for a lock if needed. We won't take long. Check a couple drawers that look like they would hold utensils.
Valerie also helped herself to one of the large kitchen knives, which she slipped into her purse. It only took a couple of minutes to find a nutcracker pick in one of the drawers, which Elliot took. She put her ear to the smaller door for a moment, nodded, and opened it.
On the other side of the door was a large pantry, filled with sacks, boxes, and barrels of various foodstuffs. On the right wall was a large metal door, and a set of stone stairs at the rear of the pantry led down into darkness.
Elliot looks for a flashlight in the kitchen. If not, he will look for a light switch and we will head down the stairs.
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He figures the metal door is to the cooler, so he puts his hand on it quickly to see if its cold to confirm his suspicions.
There were no flashlights in the kitchen that Elliot could find, but he did recall that he had that lighter from the museum gift shop. Feeling the door, he could tell that it was in fact cold.
Using the lighter, Elliot was able to locate a pull cord that lit up a bare light bulb in the ceiling. Valerie followed him downstairs into a large underground area filled with rack after rack containing numerous wine bottles, as well as a few large casks. Valerie pulled out a bottle at random, peered at the label, and slid it back in. "This one's older than I am," she said.
Elliot didn't like it, "Hmmm, wine cellar. I hate dead ends." We do a quick sweep to make sure there isn't a small door that could lead to a holding room, then backtrack.
The wine cellar did not have any other exits, so Elliot and Valerie returned up the stairs. Valerie pulled the cord again to turn off the light, then peered into the kitchen to make sure that the way was clear before exiting the pantry.
OOC,[b]Elliot[/b] and [b]Valerie[/b], please roll Idea.
"Yes, I agree," said Valerie, "and I know just how we should get there. There may be traffic in the halls, and even more likely on the stairs." She went over to the dumbwaiter and opened the sliding panel, revealing a large wooden compartment with two ropes running through it. "Yes, I'm sure you'll have no problem fitting inside, and I can probably fit too. We'll have to go one at a time, of course."
"Great idea, Val. I'll go first and make sure its clear." Elliot climbs into the dumb waiter and starts up to the next floor.
When he gets there, he will just open it a crack to see if its clear or not.
Elliot climbed into the dumbwaiter and pulled the rope to raise it up to the next floor, where there was another sliding panel. Peering out through the crack, he saw a limited glimpse of a hallway extending to the left and right.
Elliot hopes their luck continues:
Luck target = 60[dice]0[/dice]
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So he listens as well to make sure the coast is clear.
Listen target = 50 [dice]1[/dice]
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If I hear nothing and see nothing, I will open the panel further and peer up and down the hall.
Elliot heard nothing but silence, so he opened the panel and looked out. The hall was elegant and came to an end shortly to the right at an oak door. Similar doors lined the hall on both sides to the left, where it rounded a corner to the left. He recalled from looking at the mansion from the outside that the front entrance had been on a higher level than a side entrance due to the steps leading up to it, so he was now on the same floor as that entrance. There was also a floor above this one, in addition to the attics above that.
The hallway on the upper floor looked identical to the one below. The dumbwaiter would rise no higher from this point. It was mostly silent, but Elliot could make out the faint sound of a woman sobbing. It came from behind one of the doors to the left, the first one on the opposite side of the hall from the dumbwaiter.
OOC,Your first Luck roll was good enough that it covers you for this floor too, so the second roll wasn't needed.
A couple of minutes later, the dumbwaiter came back up, but it was empty except for the note. It had been flipped over, and on the reverse side Valerie Soames had written: "Couldn't fit. I'll wait for you here."
'Damn,' Elliot thinks to himself. He moves to the door where he hears the crying and tries the handle very gently.
If it opens, he will sneak in with gun in hand, motioning anyone in there to keep quiet.
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If it is locked he will try his hand at picking it with the impromptu tool he got from the kitchen.
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OOC: sneak roll 70, [dice]0[/dice]
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locksmith roll 71, [dice]1[/dice]
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OOC: damn, hopefully it wasn't locked. This tool sux.
The door opened quietly at Elliot's touch, and on the other side he saw a lavishly decorated guest suite with a four-poster bed. There was a bathroom visible through an archway. A beautiful young blonde woman sat in a green leather armchair, wearing a lacy white nightgown. A manacle was around her left ankle, from which a long steel chain coiled on the floor, and the other end was secured to one of the bedposts by another manacle. She had her face buried in her hands, and she didn't even notice him until she looked up, at which point her watery eyes lit up with hope. Elliot recognized her from the photograph in the briefing. He had found Dr. Valerie Kirby!
Elliot puts his fingers to his lips as he quietly closes the door, then does a quick check of the room to verify it has no guards or cameras in the room.
gm,if there is I'll handle those first obviously.
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If there are any camera's he'll slide underneath it and pull the cable.
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After the room is clear: "Dr. Kirby I presume, my name is Elliot Webb of Unit, I'm here to rescue you."Elliot can't help but smile, he's always wanted to say that. "We need to move quick. Val is downstairs waiting."
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Elliot goes to work on the manacle seeing if he can pick it with his impromptu tool.
OOC: I hope I don't have to take the roll I didn't need for the door, if I do, I'll find another way.
If I can roll again, here it is.
Locksmith roll target = 71 [dice]0[/dice]
WOW!!
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As the pick breaks in his hand he can't help himself, "shit!!" he says under his breathe. "Ok, sorry about that, we lost all our gear, working with impromptu tools here." Elliot looks at the bed, is there a way to slip the end of the chain off the bed by lifting it, if not, how thick is the bed post. Does it look like something Elliot could break.
If not, he will use a poor man's silencer, a pillow, and shoot the chain up by the bed where it connects to the manacle on the other end.
He hates to take the chain with them, but he doesn't want to risk hurting the good doctor.
