Play@YSDC

Lake Manor - Dunwich, England
12:30 AM- Saturday, September 7, 1985

The Brigadier led Staff Sergeant Donald Forney and his squad of UNIT soldiers, as well as the rest of the group, down the road to the southwest. They soon reached the stone wall that surrounded the Lake Estate. At this point the wall turned a corner, heading southwest along the road and west into the woods. The gate was in the distance to the southwest.

"Right," whispered the Brigadier. "We go over the wall here, then cross the grounds stealthily to the mansion." He began to scale the rain-slicked wall, seeking out handholds and footholds.

OOC,Everyone, please roll Climb. If you fail the roll, you will not be injured (unless you crticially fail). You will merely still be outside the wall for now.

"Right boys...you heard the Brigader. Up and at'em!" says Sgt Donald. Then he gives the example by escalating the wall.

Tobias mutters something about 'boy scouts', wipes the sweat from his hands and starts to climb, it's difficult finding footholds in the dark and he's slow.

Chad Engraham quickly scaled the wall and came down on the other side with Donald. The Brigadier nearly made it to the top, but the wall was a little too slippery for him to get over it just yet. Dr. Kirby wasn't doing too well either, nor was Virgil. Tinker only narrowly made it over the wall, and she lowered herself down. Valerie Soames made it without difficulty, her old training coming back to her. Of the six soldiers in Donald's squad, only two were able to make it over so far. Dr. Baxter could not find sound footing, but Evert made it to the other side.

The grounds of the estate were thickly wooded, which help provide cover. In the distance ahead, a couple of buildings were visible through the pouring rain. "That's the carriage house," Valerie Soames pointed to the nearer one. "There are cars in there. The big building is the main house."

OOC,Everyone who has not yet succeeded at a Climb roll may try again.

Muttering a quiet curse Peter tried to climb the wall again.

A panicky voice came over the radio: "This is Greyhound Two! We just got hit by a tidal wave! We're capszized...going down..." Then there was nothing but horrible silence.

"What was that?" exclaims Sgt. Donald, "Greyhound Two is gone?!"

Despite the dreadful information imparted by the radio transmission, Sgt. Donald keeps observing the are on the other side of the wall while the latecomers finish climbing over it.

Tobias kept on climbing, cursing in the rain.

climb,(40) Rolled 23 on dice as IC is down

The Brigadier finally vaulted over the lip of the wall and lowered himself down the other side. Dr. Kirby still wasn't getting anywhere, and neither was Virgil. All but one of the regular soldiers finished climbing over the wall, but Gordon failed to make it again.

A red flare off to the northeast briefly lit up the night sky. "That's bad news," said the Brigadier. "Right, we'd better move forward now. The stragglers will just have to catch up with us. We'll advance to the carriage house first, using it for cover when we get there."

"Greyhound One, this is Greyhound Three!" shouted a frantic voice on the radio. "We've got a hull breach!"

"Oh, bloody hell," muttered the Brigadier. "The submersible too?"

OOC,[b]Peter[/b], you may try another Climb roll. Everyone else who has made it past the wall, please roll Sneak and Hide.

Trusting his military training, Sgt. Donald attempts to make heads way in a stealthy manner...

Sneak: Hide: ...and does so like a drunken elephant in a china shop.

Peter spat on his hands and launched himself at the wall.

Right as Peter neared the top of the wall, he lost his grip on the rain-slick stone and fell backwards.

OOC,[b]Peter[/b], please roll Jump to land safely.

Once on the other side, Tobias Maddox creeps towards the carriage house. He follows the sergeant's lead...

sneak,hide [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4798882/]1d100=56, 1d100=24[/url] failed both (10,10)

"Do what you can," the Brigadier said into his radio. "If you can't seal the breach, abandon the boat and save yourselves." He led the team forward, soon reaching the carriage house, which was completely dark.

"The main house isn't far," whispered Valerie Soames. "The front doors are at the top of those steps, but it's rather obvious and likely guarded on the other side. It might be a better idea to sneak in through the kitchen door on the right side of the mansion. That's how Elliot and I got in and out."

Peter plummeted backwards and landed badly, twisting his ankle! Dr. Kirby rushed to his side and bandaged him expertly. He was able to hobble around a little and walk it off thanks to her quick action. Virgil still couldn't get a sound footing on the wall, but Gordon just barely managed to get over. The last UNIT soldier was still stuck.

OOC,[b]Peter[/b], you may try again to climb the wall. Because of [b]Dr. Kirby[/b]'s extreme success, you've healed all three damage and suffer no penalty from your ankle.

"Trap One to Greyhound One," said Salem Shields over the radio. "We've got a report of a boat coming in to shore. Possibly survivors from Greyhound Two."

Peter swore quietly to himself, took a deep breath and launched himself up the wall.

Tobias shakes his head at the radio report, the seaside front was weakened and he imagines all sorts of nastiness invading on that side now. He just hopes it can't climb steps.

Salem's voice continued speaking on the radio, trying to contact Greyhound Two. There was no response.

"I doubt there's anything for us in the carriage house," said the Brigadier. "The kitchen entrance is our best bet." He led his group around the corner of the carriage house and across the grounds to the mansion's side door, which he tried. "Blast, it's locked," he whispered.

Gordon hurried away from the wall in an effort to catch up with the others, making it as far as the carriage house.

Dr. Kirby still couldn't quite ascend the wall, and Virgil was equally stymied. However, the last UNIT soldier finally made it over along with Peter.

"Let me have a look sir." Tobias investigates the lock but it's the old fashioned sort and he curses himself for forgetting to ask for replacement 'tools of the trade' back at the QM office. "Sorry, sir, I don't reckon I can open it."

"Allow me," said Valerie Soames.She removed a pin from her hair, slipped it into the lock, and jiggled it around. Almost immediately the tumblers clicked into place and she pushed the door open, revealing a darkened kitchen.

"Well done," whispered the Brigadier, slipping into the house first with his pistol at the ready. "Follow me."

Gordon reached the exterior of the house just as the others entered.

Peter and the UNIT soldier hurried across the grounds, reaching the carriage house.

Dr. Kirby remained stranded outside the wall, as did Virgil.

OOC,Everyone entering the house (such as [b]Tobias[/b] and [b]Donald[/b]), please roll Spot Hidden.

"Look at that!" says Sgt. Donald pointing at the security keypad, "I think we're about to loose the element of surprise. Anyone knows enough of electronics to deal with it?"

"My turn to shine," said Tinker, taking out an odd-looking device. "I'll have that alarm deactivated in no time, or my name's not Raymond MacIntyre."



She pointed it at the keypad, and it made a low humming sound. The red light winked out. "There, all done."

The contraption reminded Tobias and Valerie of the sonic device that Story had used to get into and start a car, but it looked somewhat different.

Now that there was time to look around, the group scouted the kitchen, which 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.

"This is as far as I got," said Valerie. "Elliot used the dumbwaiter to get upstairs and rescue Dr. Kirby, but I was too big to fit inside. Those stairs go down to the pantry, wine cellar, and a walk-in freezer. The big door must lead further into the house. Young Val would know more about the layout of the house than I would. I wonder what's keeping her."

Gordon entered from outside, out of breath from his sprint across the grounds. Peter and the soldier with him closed the rest of the distance to the house.

Dr. Kirby finally found her footing and vaulted over the wall, lowering herself down the other side and hurrying across to the carriage house. Virgil Soames still couldn't quite make it.

"Command Central, this is Elliot, come in," said Elliot Webb's voice on the radio. "Calling command central please respond."

"This is Greyhound One," replied the Brigadier. "Webb, where the bloody hell are you? What's your situation? Over."

"Sir, thank God," Elliot responded, "Listen sir, I'm in the middle of all this mess, and sir, your forces are in serious trouble. You don't know what a shit storm you have walked into. You need to pull out now sir, NOW."

"It's not as bad as all that," said the Brigadier. "I know what has happened to our naval forces, but our ground troops are doing well. Now, where exactly are you? I'll send some people to get you."

"Trap One, we've arrived at the Rose Cottage," said a man's voice on the radio.

"Understood," replied Salem Shields.

"I am fine, sir," replied Elliot, "you don't need to worry about me. But you have no idea what you are facing. Pull back, let's open a dialogue with them, before any more good people are killed."

"That's not going to happen, Webb," said the Brigadier. "Now tell me where you are. That is a direct order!"

"I'm on the beach, sir," Elliot said over the radio.

"Where on the beach?" asked the Brigadier. "Webb? Webb!" There was no reply. "I could have some troops sent from the inn to scout the beach, but it could be a trap. That might be just what they want us to do. We still can't trust Webb, but I don't want to leave him there either."

Peter shook his head sadly, "I am sorry to say sir, it sounds like he has been compromised. We should proceed as we planned and worry about him later,"

Virgil easily cleared the wall and raced to the cover of the carriage house, while Dr. Kirby crossed the distance towards the house itself.

"Yes, you're right," said the Brigadier. "We want to find Bertie Lake. Where in the house would he be?"

"My guess is he's upstairs," said Valerie Soames. "Hopefully still asleep. Unfortunately, I haven't been up there. Elliot has, but..." She lowered her head, then looked outside. "Young Val would know. She's almost here now."

"All right. It looks like we'll have to bring the bulk of our forces through the door ahead and find some stairs. Does anyone stealthy and short of stature want to try going up in the dumbwaiter and scouting around?"

Doctor Gordon Baxter, breathing heavily, moves to the dumbwaiter. "So im really doing this..." He thought to himself. A lesser man might of succumbed to panic at this point, but Gordon was anything but, cool and decisive, ever since his youth. Thinking back to his days in medical school, he almost laughed out loud in the silence of the house. Mother told me joining the forces would be a mistake. Little did we know. "I will take point, if i can fit that is..." He looks at his slight paunch as he says this "Once i reach the top, i will signal down and someone else can accompany me if they wish" Gordon pulls out his 9mm and ensures hes locked and loaded, and eyeballs the cramped compartment, attempting to see if he can fit, ignoring the questionable stares of his companions. Time is of the essence and Gordon, used to making quick life or death decisions, understood that better than most. "To many lives have been lost already, and we have just began this mission. I wont sit in the sidelines any longer and let others risk their own."Gordon holsters his firearm where he can draw it quickly if needed but out of sight, draws his knife and palms it in his sleeve, and pulls out his medical kit and shoulders it in a way that its visible.

Rolls:,Here are some rolls to save time: Gordon Baxter Size - 11 Spot Hidden 25 [dice]1[/dice] Listen 25 [dice]2[/dice] Sneak 10 [dice]0[/dice] Hide 10 [dice]3[/dice] My god i struggled to get the spoiler button to work. Let me know if im out of pocket in making decisions or rolls like that, this is my first time playing :P Off to a great start it seems. Hopefully i dont fit in the dumbwaiter lol

Gordon sucks in his gut and attempts to squeeze in the cramped compartment

Size Roll:,20-SIZEx10=90 [dice]0[/dice]

Gordon easily squeezed himself into the dumbwaiter. "All right, but be careful," said the Brigadier, "and stay in contact over the radio. Good luck."

Valerie Kirby rushed in from outside. "We probably want to go two floors up," she said. "That's where I was held prisoner, in a guest room. I know where the servants' stairs are. Elliot brought me down that way."

"All right, we'll head up them. Where's Soames?"

"He's not too far behind me."

Gordon pulled the rope to raise the dumbwaiter 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. It appeared to be empty at the moment. According to the others, there was another floor above this one.

Virgil Soames entered the side door of the kitchen as the Brigadier led the way through the interior door into the hall beyond. It extended a short distance before rounding a corner to the right, with doors lining the hall on either side. "That way," whispered Valerie Kirby, pointing around the corner.

OOC,You have to pull yourself up. The ropes are reachable from within the compartment.

Gordon never knew life could be as terrifying as hiding in a dumbwaiter in a monsters house, but being a combat doctor tends to expose you to lots of new experiences you never knew you wanted to be apart of. Gordon squeezed the button on his radio with sweaty hands and whispered in the receiver "Second floor appears to be clear, will continue to 3rd floor and secure stairwell. Gordon out.". Gordon, realizing he left his courage in a bottle back at his office, swore silently to himself and continued hoisting himself up the passage to the third floor. "If im discovered before i regroup with the others, my best bet is to pose as a lost doctor on a house call."

"Greyhound One, this is Trap One," said Salem over the radio. "There's a Sea Devil and what looks to be one of their half-breeds on the beach with five surviving sailors from Greyhound Two. They're holding them hostage. Looks like a standoff to me, sir."

"Understood," replied the Brigadier. "Keep your eyes on them for now, but take no hostile action yet. We can't risk their lives."

Gordon hauled himself up to the upper floor. The hallway on the upper floor looked identical to the one below. The dumbwaiter would rise no higher from this point.

Gordon, after wedging his fingers in the door and prying it open, carefully unwound himself from the cramped compartment and took a moment to stretch. "Well that was unpleasant. Back to business... " Pulling out his radio, Gordon punched the button with trembling fingers. "Third floor clear, moving to staircase. What is your status?". Taking careful stock of his surroundings, Gordon began his silent march in the direction he felt most likely to lead to the staircase, being careful to listen for signs of life in the silent house. Gordon had heard stories of the horrors that U.N.I.T. faced, and even had a close call back at headquarters when a sea devil attempted to flee through him and his fellows. But in this moment, alone in the monsters house, with nothing but a handgun, knife, and his wits, he never felt so helpless in his life. How, in the face of unknowable horrors, could he and his companions ever hope to survive, much less drive back the madness that threatened the order of the modern world. His thoughts flashed back to his family back home. "Right about this time, everyone is sitting around the kitchen table, bowing their heads and saying their prayers for their dinner... I wonder if they still set my place at the table for me..." Gordon's thoughts turned dark, as shadowy demons and unknowable nightmares slunk around the yard, peering in the windows, scratching at the doors, waiting for the right moment to pounce and rip his family from him. Vigorously shaking his head, Gordon forced his thoughts back to the task at hand. Cold steel pressed against his body, reassuring him that even if the entire world falls to madness, he had a full clip of sanity waiting to be prescribed. Gritting his teeth in the darkness, Gordon continued his march into the unknown.

As the group moved around the corner, one of the doors was opened by an unattractive woman clad in a nightgown. She was in her thirties and showing clear signs of "the Dunwich look." As soon as she saw the armed intruders in the hall, she screamed: "Help! Bloody murder!"

Upstairs, Gordon found the corridor deserted. It was anyone's guess where the stairs were. One door was at the end of the hall, and two pairs of other doors lined the left and right sides of the hall on the way to the corner, where it turned to the right. It was anyone's guess where the stairs were. Then he heard the scream from below. Of course, if he had heard it, someone else could have as well.

OOC,Listen rolls (25% base skill) for servants: [dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice] [dice]2[/dice] Sneak roll (10% base skill) for [b]Dr. Kirby[/b]: [dice]3[/dice] [b]Gordon[/b], you may choose one of the doors to open or look around the corner. If you open one at random, please roll Luck. You could also get back in the dumbwaiter and go back down that way if you wish. Everyone else, please roll Sanity for seeing the woman. Sanity loss is 0/1d4, so you lose no Sanity if you succeed or 1d4 Sanity if you fail. Afterwards, you may act freely.

Tobias had forgotten how ugly the half-breeds were and this 'woman' was no exception, she could have been the handy-man's sister at the inn. He gulped down his revulsion and attempted to jump on the woman to shut her up.

rolls,IC is down so I got out my old dice :P Sanity: 57/4 (Do I need to roll as Tobias has seen a few of these uglies?) Immobilise the woman: 37

Gordons heart skipped a few beats when he heard the woman scream. "Christ almighty, what the bloody hell is going on down there..." Unsure of what to do but not liking the idea of stuffing himself back in that cramped dumbwaiter, Gordon decided he was better off not standing in the hallway alone when someone responded to the cry of terror. Using the most scientific method possible, he picked a door to open and hide behind. "Lets see, Eenie Meenie Miney..."

Moe,Luck Roll [dice]0[/dice]

Peter had heard about the look of the locals but never quite believed it.

OOC:   As invisible castle is down I used orokos.com

"Unhand me, you cheeky bugger!" shrieked the woman, walloping Tobias on the head. Tobias was already injured, and his glass jaw gave out. He collapsed to the floor in a heap.

Gordon made an educated guess based on what Dr. Kirby had said, running around the corner and trying the door at the end of that stretch of hall, just before it turned another corner to the left. This door led to a wooden stairway leading up and down.

OOC,You're right, [b]Tobias[/b], you've already lost 4 for seeing hybrids, so you can't lose any more and need not roll Sanity. Your attempt to grab the woman is a Grapple, which fails. [b]Tinker[/b]'s Sanity roll (current level 56): [dice]0[/dice] [b]Valerie Soames[/b]'s Sanity roll (current level 44): [dice]1[/dice] [b]Evert[/b]'s Sanity roll (current level 50): [dice]2[/dice] [b]Donald[/b]'s Sanity roll (current level 55): [dice]3[/dice] [b]Brigadier Cricthon[/b]'s Sanity roll (current level 60): [dice]4[/dice] [b]Virgil Soames's[/b] Sanity roll (current level 54): [dice]5[/dice] UNIT Soldier 1's Sanity roll (current level 45): [dice]6[/dice] UNIT Soldier 2's Sanity roll (current level 45): [dice]7[/dice] UNIT Soldier 2's Sanity loss: [dice]13[/dice] UNIT Soldier 3's Sanity roll (current level 45): [dice]8[/dice] UNIT Soldier 3's Sanity loss: [dice]14[/dice] UNIT Soldier 4's Sanity roll (current level 45): [dice]9[/dice] UNIT Soldier 5's Sanity roll (current level 45): [dice]10[/dice] UNIT Soldier 5's Sanity loss: [dice]15[/dice] UNIT Soldier 6's Sanity roll (current level 45): [dice]11[/dice] UNIT Soldier 6's Sanity loss: [dice]16[/dice] Servant's Fist/Punch roll (55% skill) attacking [b]Tobias[/b], knockout attempt: [dice]12[/dice] Servant's damage to [b]Tobias[/b] [dice]17[/dice] Resistance Table roll: Servant's damage 2 vs. [b]Tobias[/b]'s current HP 4 (40% chance) to knock out [b]Tobias[/b] [dice]18[/dice] Servant's initiative roll for DEX 11 [dice]19[/dice] Everyone else may act now. Those of you with DEX less than 11 still get your action in this turn. If your DEX is more than 11, you may act before she does next round. If your DEX is exactly 11, you should roll 1d100 for initiative. If this roll is less than 45, you go before her in the next round. If it's more than 45, you go before the current round ends. If you get exactly 45, you must roll off. Please make another 1d100 roll in that case, and I'll roll again for her.

Peter stepped up and threw a punch at the woman. Even though she was an ugly brute it felt wrong, still combat calls for distasteful actions at times.

Good Lord that's one ugly woman! thinks Sgt. Donald.

He advances to help Peter subdue her, aiming a blow with his riffle butt at her flank. Not to hard as he doesn't wish to cripple her but strong enough to, he hopes, drop her.

Gordon heaved a sigh of relief. Opening doors at random felt like a game show where the prize was a first class trip to the looney bin. Well i made it this far, may as well keep up the streak. Gordon started climbing the stairs, keying the radio as he went "Third floor secured, moving up to the fourth floor now."

Dr. Kirby rushed to the side of Tobias and quickly revived him. With the woman standing in the doorway, no more than two people could get at her at a time. Meanwhile, another door opened further down the hall and a younger woman in a nightgown bolted out of it and ran for another door at the end of the hall, just as it rounded the corner to the unknown. The Brigadier raced after her and tried to grab her, as did Evert. The Brigadier got to her first and wrapped his arms around her, clamping a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. The big woman took another swing, this one right at Donald.

Gordon soon reached the top of the stairs, which led into a large, dark attic. He was surrounded by various old boxes and trunks.

OOC,That would be the Large Club skill, which has a base level of 25%, so that attack misses. From your description, I gather you're trying to land a knockout blow, which is what she did to [b]Tobias[/b] (though he was injured enough that her punch would have knocked him out regardless with the damage she rolled). [b]Dr. Valerie Kirby[/b]'s First Aid roll (80% skill) on [b]Tobias[/b]: [dice]0[/dice] [b]Brigadier Crichton[/b]'s Grapple roll (25% base skill) to grab the servant: [dice]1[/dice] Servant's Dodge roll (22% base skill) to avoid Brigadier's Grapple: [dice]3[/dice] [b]Evert Jacobs[/b]'s Grapple roll (25% base skill) to grab the servant: [dice]2[/dice] Servant's Fist/Punch roll (55% skill) attacking [b]Donald[/b], knockout attempt: [dice]4[/dice] [b]Tobias[/b] is now conscious again and may act. [b]Donald[/b], you may roll Dodge if you don't want to take the punch, but then you won't get to attack. If you fail the Dodge roll or decide to just take the hit, I'll roll damage and see if you get knocked out. Nobody (other than [b]Gordon[/b]) should act yet unless you roll Dodge and succeed.

Gordon stopped at the top of the stairs, conflicted. The radio has been silent, and he was at the top floor of a mad mans house, alone. For all he knew, the others had been captured, or killed, or worse... Well, since im here, maybe I can find something useful in here. Gordon started opening boxes in hopes that he may find something to aid him if worse came to worse.

Handy,Heres a roll if you need it just to keep things moving, feel free to apply it to whatever you deem necessary [dice]0[/dice] HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!? I was just thinking to myself how wild it would be if i rolled a one as i was typing that :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Gordon found an old sea chest in the attic and opened it. Inside were some books and papers, as well as a bag of small, smooth stones. The papers were yellowing, and the text appeared to be in Japanese. The books, however, were in English. One was a brown, leatherbound volume that said it was the diary of Captain Josiah Lake. Another was thick and had a black cover. The title was "Magick of the Sea." The trunk also contained a Webley revolver and several bullets.

The woman socked Donald on the temple, but it was only a glancing blow. He wobbled a bit but remained on his feet.

OOC,Damage to [b]Donald[/b] from Fist/Punch: [dice]0[/dice] Knockout roll (0/5/10% chance for 1/2/3 damage): [dice]1[/dice] [b]Tobias[/b] and [b]Peter[/b] may now act. [b]Gordon[/b], you may roll Other Language: Japanese to see if you can understand the papers. The base skill is only 1%, but you never know. You might just do it again!

Gordon was just about to give up his search, when he stubbed his toe on an old sea chest. Funny, i don't remember seeing that chest before.... Opening the container, he found just what he was looking for. A powerful WWII era Webley Revolver sat on top of some old papers and books. Taking a glance at the papers, Gordon recognized the characters as being Japanese, and though he possessed no skill in the language himself, tried to make something out of the writing

Read Japanese 1%,[dice]0[/dice]

but was unable to decipher what the pages held. Picking up the revolver, Gordon began loading the hand cannon, happy as all hell to be able to pack some heat in the maddening silence of the mansion. "Christ i hope those boys are ok..."

Tobias gives a grateful smile to Dr. Kirby as he regains consciousness and rubs his temples ruefully. He briefly considers a desk job before getting to his feet. He picks up his Glock and aims it the woman in the doorway. "Stop or I'll shoot." He says unimaginatively.

Containing his disgust at the woman Peter threw another punch.

Peter managed to overcome his reluctance to hit a woman and landed a punch.

The woman reeled, but she did not fall. Spitting out blood, she rounded on Peter and swung her fist at him, socking him in the jaw but failing to down him.

OOC,[b]Gordon[/b], you're still reloading. It takes one round to load two bullets into a revolver. Servant's Fist/Punch roll (55% skill) attacking [b]Peter[/b], knockout attempt: [dice]0[/dice] Damage to [b]Peter[/b] from punch: [dice]1[/dice] Resistance Table roll: 2 damage vs. 11 HP (5% chance) to see if [b]Peter[/b] is knocked unconscious. [dice]2[/dice] [b]Tobias[/b], [b]Peter[/b], and [b]Donald[/b], you may all act now.

Peter reeled slightly from the blow, and smiled. So the bitch can fight back, he thought feeling less guilty about hitting her. He punched her again.

Tobias can't shoot as Peter is too close to the woman; she's obviously too crazy to even heed him anyway. Still, he keeps his gun trained in her direction in case the opportunity arises.

"What was that?!?" Gordon spun on his heels, and scanned the edge of his vision for signs of life, or something even worse. "My mind is playing tricks on me..." he mumbled to himself, as he slid another bullet home in the barrel of the Webley. Although Gordon was thoroughly trained to excel in combat situations, he had never actually had to turn a firearm on another living creature. This was something that in the past Gordon took great pride in himself for, but there was something about this place... Something intuitive, something that crept along the parameter of his conscious thought, Something that told him that his non-violent approach to life was about to be severely challenged. Digging into his pocket, Gordon pulled out another bullet and held it up for examination in the faint light, a grave expression on his face. He knew that by the end of the day, he was going to have to take a life. He always knew it was a possibility, hell, he was in the armed forces for Christ sake. But Gordon always believed in the back of his mind that he could avoid it in some kind of way. That being a soldier did not necessarily mean he had to be a harbinger of death. He joined the forces to SAVE lives. But somehow, Gordon knew that this was the wrong place and the wrong time for such philosophical thoughts. This was a battle field. He was deep behind enemy lines for the first time in his life with no reassurance of backup or rescue. Hell, the whole building might be flopping around on fishy feet searching for the last survivor of the doomed infiltration team. "I wonder what they have planned for us should we fail our mission.." Humans were predictable. There was a myriad of possible grisly ends one could imagine suffering at the hands of a human captor, but there's the merciful part of it, one could actually CONCEIVE of those horrors. These.....THINGS.....whatever they are, wherever they crawled out of, there was no way of predicting ones fate at the hands of such abominations. Gordons thoughts raced back to the encounter back at headquarters, the sea devils slimy muscles bulging, its extremities straining to break out of its bonds, its maddening advance... How could something like that exist? Screw the obvious questions such as evolution and biology, how the bloody hell does it EXIST? Everything about its being strained at Gordons entire world view, where people were at the top of the food chain, and nightmarish sea devils were merely a tall tale spread by exasperated mothers to coax their children into washing their hands before meals. "Have we co-existed with these beasts throughout the history of humankind? Are they visitors from a strange and unimaginable planet? What chance do we truly stand against beings we couldn't even begin to conceive, and which bend our minds and perception of reality at the mere sight of their alien physique?" For all of our accomplishments, for all the leaps and bounds of our most brilliant minds, humans are truly insignificant in the great scheme of things, motes of dust floating around the vastness of infinite nothingness waiting to be scattered in the wake of some other unknowable horror we have yet to discover, or be discovered by. Sure, we may win the fight today, we may slaughter every last one of the maddening abominations, and send me home with a bloody parade. But now we know... I know that there are horrors out there that threaten to tear us apart body, mind and soul. When i am left a mad husk of a man, my fragile mind broken by the horrors i may or may not live to witness in our attempt to control the unknown, there will be another; somewhere in the delicate reality we constructed to comfort our fragile psyches, there is bound to be a greater, unknowable...THING...that threatens to shatter our delicate world view, with power and forces we never knew could of existed. "Whats the point...?" Gordon whispered, his voice cracking with despair as he loaded another bullet into the chamber of his now theoretically useless firearm. He briefly paused to stare at his newly acquired firearm. A .45 round may be enough to drop one of these demons, but what would it really accomplish? A prolonging of our species existence? Would it be enough to stop the next horror we encounter in our mad dash through our now questionable history, or would it best serve as a merciful exit from a flawed reality that a fragile mind can no longer begin to come to terms with, an escape from an unknowable horror at the hands of the enemy? Gordon continued loading his firearm, slamming another bullet home with a satisfying *click* that his mind had no problem understanding. The click echoed in the now deathly silent room, and for a few moments, Gordon felt truly alone in the infinite unknown. "I suppose there is no point in tormenting myself with such questions and doubts." Gordon whispered into infinity. "If i want to live to see my loved ones again."

Light-years away, a planet shifted out of its orbit of a nearby star. If any living being happened to be around to witness the cosmic event, their mind would of been shattered upon the realization that this was no planet, but a gargantuan mass of life. A grotesque eyeball opened, the disgusting lens covering a substantial portion of the surface of the "planetoid". Appendages unwound from the writhing mass of the surface of the nightmare orb and began to stretch and contort in the warm light of the star. The being of unknown time and inconceivable origins rotated until it faced the source of the disturbance that called to him across the vast vacuum of space. Focusing powers that would erase an army of men not only from existence but the memories of their friends and loved ones, he/she/it reached across a distance that no one could ever hope to measure, and looked down on a lone humanoid sitting in the attic of what simultaneously was and wasn't his final resting place and "felt" his turmoil. Listening in on the humanoids despair at his growing "comprehension" of the true nature of existence and its insignificant place in the vast workings of "being", it chuckled in a deep resounding voice that traveled through the black void of space to a far off planet and shattered the minds of a tribe of alien creatures. After millions of years of evolution and adaption to harsh planetary conditions, a race of beings vaguely resembling a cross between a squid and a praying mantis had just resolved a war that had wiped out almost half of the worlds population and lasted so many years that the true cause of the conflict had been lost in time and blood. The beings leaders approached one another with the intention of performing the ceremonial peace connection, but the only peace they found was in the sweet release of being after one intense second of indescribable pain. All across the planet, the I'jjka fell to the ground in unison, their offspring at their feet, generations of evolutionary struggle and progress, blown away into the winds of non-existence like the seeds from a dandelion. He/She/It began to feed on the humans despair, ravenously absorbing his anguish, giddily drinking his sorrow when the human realized how worthless his actions were in the grand tapestry of life, savoring his all too brief contemplation of suicide as though it was a fine delicacy, greedily devouring every last thought of hopelessness and insignificance. It was rare that He/She/It was able to find such a troubled mind to feed from, and it languished in every painful realization until the human apparently decided his energy was best spent continuing its pathetic existence. Satisfied, He/She/It fell back into the warm embrace of the stars orbit and returned to its unfathomable rest, and continued dreaming a new reality, now a few feelings of despair stronger, full of horrors that would be impossible to even come to be on our plane of existence. He/She/It toyed with its perceived reality, and the unlucky things residing in it. He/She/It took great pleasure in tormenting one unfortunate existence with the helpless thoughts of Gordons suicide, until it decided it could no longer stand the horror of being, and passed on into nothingness. He/She/It slept even more soundly in the warm orbit of a star whose name was lost with the passage of time.

Back on Earth, a man sat huddled in a cold attic, alone, confused, slowly loading a .45 with steady, comforting *clicks*. He waited and prayed for a voice to come in over the radio and pondered his next move, wishing he had an aspirin for the headache he felt come on all of a sudden. Dust motes danced and sparkled in a insignificant yet highly complex pattern that was calculated in real time, reflected by a lone beam of moonlight that managed to slip through a crack in the roof. Gordon stopped his task for a split second to ponder the feeling of correlation the quantum guided dust motes evoked in him, and promptly returned to his task, figuring his wife said it best, "Not tonight dear I have a headache..."

Donald swung his rifle at the woman's head again, but she ducked and it sailed over her head. She took another swing at Peter, but she was off-balance.

Then a voice came in over the radio, and Gordon soon regretted getting his wish."Trap One to Greyhound One!" shouted the agitated and frightened voice of Dr. Salem Shields. Gunfire and screaming were audible in the background. "We're under attack!"

OOC,[b]Donald[/b]'s Large Club roll (25% base skill) trying to club the woman, knockout attempt. [dice]0[/dice] Servant's Fist/Punch roll (55% skill) attacking [b]Peter[/b] again, knockout attempt. [dice]1[/dice] [b]Gordon[/b], you've finished loading the revolver. It's now a new round of combat, and everyone may now act.

Gordon jumped at the panicked voice over the radio. "This is bad, Christ help us this is bad..." What in gods name was going on out there? It sounded like a bloody war was breaking out at Trap Ones position. Gordon was unsure of what his next move should be, he never heard back from the rest of Greyhound One, for all he knew they had been ground into flakes and fed to a tank of baby Sea Devils. He knew that Trap One was in a bad spot, but he had a mission to finish here at the mansion, regardless of his teams status, and he knew he wasn't going to be a shining beacon of hope riding onto the battlefield to Trap Ones eyes. Gordon picked up his radio, thumbed the button, and responded "Trap One this is Gordon of Greyhound One, Ive temporarily lost contact with the rest of my unit, whats your teams status?". Gordon sat down, and attempted to calm his breathing. His heartbeat was rapid, and he was taking shallow, panicked breaths. "Ive got to calm down and think..." Gordon had always been a bookworm, and reading usually helped calm his nerves and focus his thoughts. Looking at the stack of data he had found, he sorted through it until he had the Book of Sea Magik in his hands. Looking at the text brought a mix of feelings, amusement at the thought of anyone putting into print such nonsense, and at the same time, a feeling of.... Dread? Anxiousness? Curiosity? The feeling reminded him of when he was a child, and he would come across the body of a dead animal. He knew it was sad, he knew it was disgusting, but something kept prompting him to glance at the carcass. Either way, he decided to crack open the volume and flip through the pages, if only to pass the time until he could safely make a decision as to the rest of Greyhound Ones fate, and he was forced to either act or begin preparations for his new life in the attic.

Peter grinned as the woman's punch missed him, This is almost fun he thought, Time to take her down. By now he had almost forgotten he was fighting a woman, any reservations about punching her had gone when she made his head ring with that punch, he threw another punch at the woman.

Tobias flicks his eyes down the corridor to see where the brigadier has got to. And Tinker for that matter.

Donald swung his rifle right at the fish-woman's head, but she ducked at the last second. Peter's blow had staggered her, but she remained on her feet. She stepped back into the room from which she had emerged, slammed the door, and locked it.

Tobias saw that the Brigadier still had his hands full with the other woman, who squirmed in his grasp and tried to scream, though his hand covered her mouth effectively. Tinker was hanging back, fiddling with her sonic screwdriver absently.

In the attic, Gordon flipped through the book entitled Magick of the Sea. It would take hours just to give it a proper skim, but it had several hundred pages and seemed quite old. The text was old-fashioned, and at first glance it seemed rambling and disorganized. There was no index, nor even a table of contents. Actually reading the book all the way through and studying it would take quite a long time indeed.

Gordon shook his radio in frustration and resisted the urge to throw it across the room. "Useless piece of junk..." he muttered darkly to himself. Setting down the radio, Gordon glanced at the books and notes and felt an even greater frustration, this one driven by his curious nature. It thoroughly riled him that he had no time to satisfy his strange need to pour over the texts, even in his dire circumstances. The true value of his luck under scrutiny, he packed the untapped knowledge in his bag, and after double checking his weapons, pulled out his new toy and descended the stairs to find out what fate had in store for his poor soul.

OOC,So im unable to read the book right now? I hate to meta but I have a pretty good idea whats in that book and i friggin want it lol. The way events are unfolding I doubt im going to have another chance to read to read it before its probably confiscated from me... :(

Peter turned to Tinker "Is that thing you're fiddling with any good with door locks?

"It's about as effective as a regular screwdriver," said Tinker, "but it works at a distance because it's sonic. I may have better luck removing the hinges than messing with the lock. Let me give it a try." She held out the screwdriver towards the door and pressed a stud on it, causing it to make an odd humming sound. One after another, she easily removed the hinges from the door, causing it to topple and fall in very little time. Beyond was a small, darkened bedroom. The window was open, and the servant woman was scrambling through it. She flopped down outside, disappearing from sight.

Gordon began to descend the stairs from the attic, soon reaching the landing on the floor below. A door led to the hallway from which he had emerged from the dumbwaiter, and the stairs continued down.

OOC,[b]Tinker[/b]'s Mechanical Repair roll (90% skill) to open the door. [dice]0[/dice] Servant's Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing through the window. [dice]1[/dice] It would take quite a long time to even skim this book, [b]Gordon[/b]. You could always hide the tome in your black doctor's bag and not tell anyone you found it, of course. :twisted:

Peter ran to the window and looked out.

When Peter got to the window and looked out, he could see the woman running away to the right along the side of the house. She was heading towards the front steps of the mansion.

Peter shrugged, "There goes our element of surprise,"

"Well, bugger that," said the Brigadier. "We'll just have to move fast, then." He held the servant he had captured in a chokehold. She soon slumped over, and he let her drop to the floor. "We're on our way up, Baxter," he said into his radio. "Meet us on the landing two floors above." Then the young lady sprang to her feet and bolted through the door she had originally been going for when he had captured her, screaming her head off. She had only been feigning unconsciousness. "Blast and double blast! Baxter, our prisoner has escaped! She should be on her way up towards you. Intercept her!"

Gordon could hear a woman screaming from below.

OOC,Brigadier's damage to servant, knockout attempt. [dice]0[/dice]+[dice]1[/dice] Resistance Table roll (5 damage vs. HP 11: 20% chance) to knock her out. [dice]2[/dice]

Tobias is impressed with Tinker's screwdriver, "Amazing! Sonic heh?" He picks up a hinge, examining it briefly before following the brigadier up the stairs.

Startled by the sudden radio activity, Gordon felt his heart rate go up. "Well this just got interesting...." He muttered as he double timed his way to intercept the fleeing prisoner, not knowing what he would find when he met it head on but planning to land a solid kick in its chest and send it sprawling back down the stairs.

Brigadier Crichton and the rest of his group raced through the open doorway and into the servants' stairway beyond, where they could see the young woman fleeing upwards. Peter was a little behind, as he had gone into the bedroom. He had only made it back to the hall so far. Gordon hurried down the stairs to the landing of the floor below, reaching it at the same time as the female servant came up from below. She was wearing a nightgown, but she was not at all attractive. Already her features had begun to resemble those of the Sea Devils, though to a much lesser extent.

OOC,[b]Gordon[/b], please roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 0/1d4, so you lose no Sanity if you succeed, but 1d4 if you fail. Either way, you may act freely. Please roll 1d100 for initiative, as you both have DEX 11. If your score is lower than her initiative score, you may act first. If it's more, she gets the first action. If you roll exactly the same, you'll have to roll off, in which case you'll need to roll a second 1d100 and I'll roll again for her. Servant's initiative roll for DEX 11: [dice]0[/dice]

Peter hurried after the Brigadier, as the element of surprise appeared to be blown and the need for stealth gone he drew his pistol ready for trouble.

Gordon raced down the stairs to the next landing, and came to a dead stop, his mind struggling to accept what he saw coming from the darkness. A monster... a woman? Wearing a nightgown? In the seconds he had before he was toe to toe with the monstrosity, he felt his mind bend with the strain of trying to correlate what he saw to his medical experience. Coming up short, and feeling his migraine grow worse in response, he decided to act first and attempt to make sense of the madness later. Gordon moved to cut off the fleeing woman from going any further and swung at the beast in an attempt to knock it senseless. His subconscious only barely registered that his wife owned the same nightgown, and wondered how this would affect their bedroom antics.

Rolls,Sanity 80% = [dice]0[/dice] ...really? Sanity Loss = [dice]2[/dice] Dex = [dice]1[/dice] Fisty Cuffs 50% = [dice]3[/dice] Success! Damage = [dice]4[/dice] I dont remember what im supposed to roll for a situation like this, if thats not right just make the appropriate rolls to save time :?

The serving woman ducked under Gordon's fist at the last possible second, and it just brushed through her hair. Still screaming, she threw open the door to the hall on this floor and darted through it just as the Brigadier and the rest of the group arrived at the landing. Peter reached the landing on the floor below and started up the stairs, still behind the others.

OOC,I deleted the earlier post with the radio message. The person who sent it was unable to get through, so you never heard it. Fist/Punch attacks do 1D3(+damage bonus) damage, but she made her Dodge roll and no damage was done. Servant's Dodge roll (22% base skill): [dice]0[/dice]

Gordon pulled out his .45 as the rest of his unit cleared the landing. "SIR! Am i glad to see you! She went this way!" and with that, Gordon spun on his heels and gave chase.

Tobias hung back ready to stop the woman darting back down the stairs should she decide to do so. He kept his ears open for any signs of alarm from other parts of the house.

listen,dice roll: 05%

The group pursued the woman down the hallway. Tobias hung back, but he was able to hear what was going on. The servant was heading straight to the end of the hall, where a pair of double doors stood at the very end. Peter was still around the corner bringing up the rear.

Tobias Maddox,[b]Tobias[/b] could hear raised voices in the distance ahead. They were coming from beyond the double doors, but they were too faint to be in the next room. He heard a man say "Quickly, go upstairs and wake [b]Mr. Lake[/b] and [b]Father Stewart[/b], [b]Mrs. Plodgett[/b]!"

OOC,[b]Gordon[/b] and [b]Tobias[/b], you may shoot at her before she gets through the doors if you wish. [b]Gordon[/b], you may fire one shot. [b]Tobias[/b], you may fire up to two shots.

Gordon was becoming more and more frustrated as the situation grew worse. Fed up with the direction the mission was going, he brought his firearm to bear and said to the brigadier "Sir, give me the order and ill fire!"

"FIre at will!" said the Brigadier, his own pistol in his hand. "I think stealth is out the window now."

For one brief moment, Gordon hesitated. In all of his military career, he had never had to end a life. It was a sobering moment for the doctor, as he raised his firearm and put the fleeing woman in his sights. He was of course, trained as any other soldier was, but he was a doctor, in the business of saving lives, not ending them, and he had never been in a situation that warranted such action from him. He wondered to himself sadly, if things could of been different, maybe the poor woman could of been saved. Maybe there was a cure, to reverse her horrible affliction. Gordon wondered if she was a truly willing initiate, or if she was brainwashed or coerced into becoming the monster that was currently threatening the success of the mission, wondered about her life, and her family. Gordon found himself conflicted, until he subconsciously pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind and his military training took over. Ahead there was a combatant, a threat to not only the success of the mission, but the lives of his mates. Gordon took a deep breath, steadied his aim, and fired.

Firing,Handgun 44% - [dice]0[/dice] Damage [dice]1[/dice] Total Damage 4+2=6

The woman had just reached the double doors when Gordon's bullet struck her in the back and slammed her against them. With one final scream, she slid down them and crumpled to the floor, bleeding and lying motionless. She was not dead yet, but she would be very soon if left that way. The loud gunshot echoed through the hallway.

Gordon slowly dropped his arms, smoke still curling from the barrel of his firearm. He watched as the delicate figure slid to the ground with one last horrible scream, and was stunned. He knew that murder was inevitable in his line of work, but he never could of predicted how complex his emotions would be when it was his time. It was then that Gordon spotted the barely noticeable rise and fall of faint breathing. She was still alive! Gordons mind instantly switched to combat medic mode, and he approached the fallen woman while reciting the usual mantra in his mind, "Apply pressure, check for signs of shock, check for exit wound..." when he stopped dead in his tracks, and looked at the brigadier, the silent question hanging in the thick silenced that followed the gunfire.

Permission to act,Doctor Gordon is having a hard time coming to terms with his first real combat situation given the circumstances, while hes a soldier and will follow any order given by his superior, he does want to try to at least stabilize the woman, or in the very least make her a little more comfortable as she slips away. If he has permission from the brigadier, here are the first aid roll(s) to save some time. If the brigadier decides this isnt in the best interest of the group, Gordon will obey and find a way to come to terms with it. First Aid 80% - [dice]0[/dice] OH NOOOOOO RIP fish lady... Gordon punches her repeatedly in the face while shouting "LIVE! LIVE DAMN YOU!!! :lol: lol well heres a sanity roll just in case you feel its necessary, again, given the circumstances. Sanity 78% - [dice]1[/dice] lol WTF... :shock:

Hearing the shot Peter checked his pistol and hurried to catch up with the others.

The Brigadier was not paying attention to Gordon. Instead, he rushed forward, threw open the doors, and rushed through them with his pistol drawn. The squad of UNIT soldiers and various other hangers-on followed him into the dining room beyond with their own weapons ready. At the same time, the double doors at the other end of the dining room, beyond the long table, flew open to reveal two more fish/human hybrids, one with a pistol and the other with a shotgun. Gordon knelt by the woman he had shot and, without thinking, removed the bullet. He had seen too many TV shows and movies where doctors did this, not realizing that it was the worst thing he could do. The dying woman began to bleed further. Dr. Kirby rushed over and did her best to stanch the flow of blood, but it was not enough. She bled out just as Peter arrived. Gordon tried to rationalize what he had done by thinking of her as a monster, but she had been partly human too and had only been trying to flee from invaders in her home. He had violated his oath to do no harm, and her blood was on his hands - both literally and figuratively.

OOC,[b]Gordon[/b], please roll 1d8 to see how much Sanity you lose. If you lose 5 or more, please roll Idea. If you fail the Idea roll, you may act freely, but if you succeed, you go temporarily insane. [b]Peter[/b], please roll Sanity for seeing the hybrids. Sanity loss is 0/1d4. [b]Tobias[/b] does not need to roll, as I believe he has already lost 4 Sanity from seeing them. [b]Peter[/b] and [b]Gordon[/b] cannot get a clear shot this round from their current position, but [b]Tobias[/b] can.

Gordons headache grew even worse than before as his mind was a flood of conflicting emotions. He saw the Sea Devils in the next room, but was caught between a physical limbo of indecisiveness. A million thoughts ran through his mind at once and Gordon couldn't cope any longer. The doctors mind finally snapped.

Sanity,Sanity loss -->[dice]0[/dice] OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.... :o :shock: :o very nice narration Mr. Handy, your a master story teller :D

OOC:   Sanity test: 1d100 52

The sight of the hybrids gave Peter pause for thought, but he shook off his shock and manoeuvred himself for a clear shot. Ye Gods, those things really are hideous, he thought.

The firefight was over in seconds. Chad wounded the man with the shotgun, while the Brigadier fired a shot right into his chest, dropping him. The other one managed to get a single poorly aimed shot off before he fell in a hail of bullets from the UNIT soldiers. The Brigadier and Donald led the squad of soldiers through the dining room, with the others following a short distance behind.

OOC,Everyone, please roll Listen. [b]Evert[/b]'s Handgun roll (80% skill) shooting at fishman with pistol: [dice]8[/dice] [b]Chad[/b]'s Handgun roll (40% skill) shooting at fishman with shotgun: [dice]5[/dice] Damage to fishman, 9mm bullet: [dice]6[/dice] [b]Brigadier Crichton[/b]'s Handgun roll (70% skill) shooting at fishman with shotgun: [dice]2[/dice] Damage to fishman, .455 bullet: [dice]3[/dice] Fishman's Handgun roll (20% base skill) shooting at Brigadier: [dice]9[/dice] UNIT Soldier 1's RIfle roll (55% skill) shooting at fishman: [dice]10[/dice] Damage to fishman, 5.56mm NATO bullet: [dice]11[/dice] UNIT Soldier 2's Rifle roll (55% skill) shooting at fishman: [dice]12[/dice] Damage to fishman, 5.56mm NATO bullet: [dice]13[/dice]

Gordon Baxter,Type of temporary insanity: [dice]0[/dice] Duration of temporary insanity: [dice]1[/dice] [b]Gordon[/b], you currently have an intense phobia of guns for the next seven combat rounds, including this one. You cannot use a gun during that time, nor can you place yourself in a position where someone can shoot at you.

Gordon couldn't handle it anymore. The horror, the death, his wife laying dead and bloody on the floor... "Wait, no? Not my wife, just another monstrosity wearing her nightgown. Her nightgown? Where did this she-beast get that? Did she steal it from my wife? I bought that gown as a gift for Christmas... Christmas is coming up again, maybe ill get her a bucket of fishing bait she would like that hah aha but what do i get the brigadier maybe a new radio these things don't work so i can call my wife and..." his vision blurred in and out as he looked at the Sea Devil on the floor. Gordon was sucked into a black hole of dread and despair, confusion and revelation, and it was at this moment that the firefight broke out. The hail of gunfire punched through his madness and his head swiveled around to face the frightening sounds. Gordons hands clutched his face and held on like a drowning sailor to a piece of flotsam. His eyes grew wide and his mouth opened wide and for a few seconds only air escaped in a horrid whistle, and then he screamed. Every shot fired crawled into his ears with wicked sharp talons, ricochet in his skull and assaulted his fragile psyche. Every flash of gunpowder was magnified and blinded the mad fool filling his line of sight with blinding white. When the hellfire ceased, and the flashes cleared from his vision, he saw his squad again, only they had their arsenal pointed at his chest. The brigadier wore a wicked grin on his face, and spoke in a voice that caused an echo in Gordons nerve endings "Fire at will...". With that, his team opened fire and Gordon ran for his life. No... not just that... Gordon ran to save his soul. Bullets tore past his fleeing shape, threatening to take his life and deposit his tortured soul into a worse hell than even this place.

Madness,Gordon is so terrified of the guns, he has taken off at a full sprint in a random lifesaving direction. This could mean hes running into a line of fire, away from combat, or full on into a wall. I don't want to determine the direction because even he doesn't know, he just wants to get the hell away from the guns. I'm not sure what rolls apply here, but ill make a luck roll and a second roll just in case there's a skill that applies here. Luck 80% [dice]0[/dice] ??? [dice]1[/dice]

As the sound of the gunshots died away Peter thought he could hear something.

Gordon turned to flee, running back the way he had come into the stairwell. The attic. He'd be safe back in the attic, he was sure of it.

"This is Priwate Novak," said Leonek's voice on the radio. "I am in the company of a representatiwe of the...of the Sea Devils. They vant to parlay for peace. Requesting orders."

"If they wish to surrender," replied the Brigadier as he led most of the group through the double doors at the end of the dining room, into the foyer, "that's all well and good. But they'd better not think they can dictate terms to us. What's your position and status, Private?"

The mansion's foyer was very spacious. Various doors led off from it, and a grand stairway ascended from the center of the room, branching at a landing halfway up that led left and right to a balcony that ringed the grand entrance on three sides.

"They took me up the stairway and to the right when they first brought me in," said Valerie Kirby. "That's the same wing of the mansion where we entered. The guest room where they imprisoned me is that way, as is Victoria Lake's room, so we'll probably find the men's bedrooms on the opposite side, to the left."

"Ve are currently en route to the Ship Inn, sir," said Leonek. "The rest of my team is either captiwe or dead. I am in the company of Vebb and a wery fine representatiwe of the Sea Dewils."

The Brigadier frowned. "So you've been captured by them too?" he said. "And what do you mean by 'very fine representative'? You're starting to sound like Webb. The last I heard, the Ship Inn was under attack. Get the Sea Devils to call that attack off if you can."

OOC,I edited the above post to correct a mistake I'd made.

Peter Rock,[b]Peter[/b] could hear a leathery flapping sound coming from somewhere above.

Peter looked up nervously, was that bats? "Sir either this place has bats, or we are not alone here. I heard flapping up there somewhere."

The ceiling of the entry hall was two stories up, and nothing was visible flying around inside. If the sound was made by bats, they had to bigger than any Peter had ever seen.

"I am not a traitor!...sir..." replied Leonek in an angry tone. He paused, and then he continued in a calmer one. "And yes, I am their prisoner. Shall I tell that if they call of the attack on the Ship Inn ve vill negotiate a truce?"

"It's too late for that," said Salem Shields's despondent voice on the radio. "This is Trap One. The enemy has taken us. They breached us from both sides, Greyhound One, and they have hostages. We had no choice but to surrender. I think their leader wants to talk to you."

"I am High Priestess Y'Hali," said a female voice next. "Your command post has fallen. Your assault on our temple has failed. Your people have all been killed, captured, or driven away. Your naval vessels have been sunk. You have lost. Now we shall discuss your surrender and end this bloodshed. No more lives need be lost tonight. If you kill any more of my people, I promise that you will not get out alive."

"Suggestions?" asked the Brigadier, looking worried for the first time.

Peter constantly looking around for the source of the flapping sound, pistol at the ready, spoke up. "With respect sir, I think we should withdraw, this situation seems to be far bigger than we first thought, inform Whitehall and Geneva of the situation, and maybe call in the RAF and regular army to blockade the village. ,"

Gordon hit the stairs and fell face first, tearing a few of his nails in his mad scramble to the attic. He swung his head around and saw his unit in hot pursuit, all of them opening fire on his fleeing profile. Bullets shot past him and buried deep into the wood of the staircase, throwing splinters and leaving little trails of smoke in their wake. Gordon whimpered, and crawled on all fours as fast as he could up the staircase, crying out in fear every time a bullet punched through the floor next to his hand, or whizzed past his head with enough force to sting. Making it to the landing, he glanced back at his pursuers and felt a fresh wave of terror wash through his body. It was his unit, at least it used to be, but they had transformed into Sea Devils. Gordons knees felt like rubber, and he almost lost his footing again, until a deafening blast from a shot gun spurred him into action again. "NOOOOOOOOOOONONONONONONONONONONOOOO!" his pitiful wail followed him up the rest of the stairs, behind him he heard sinister, inhuman laughing in between maddeningly loud gunfire. Gordon came to a sudden stop as the floorboards in front of him erupted in a hail of gunfire from the floor below. Gordon screamed, flung himself to the side, and rolled back to his feet. He barely noticed a warm trickle running down his pants as he pumped his legs in a wild sprint for the attic door. He slammed against the door with a bone jarring halt, tears streaming down his face as he grasped for the handle. He twisted the knob just as hot lead punched the door in front of him to the right of his head, and with a strangled cry, he flung the door open and ran inside, slamming the door shut behind him. Gordon dove into the mass of boxes and antique furniture, and curled himself into a tight ball, rocking and whimpering to himself as he waited for his pursuers to come looking for him.

Gordon made it into the attic and curled up in the corner.

Peter could see no sign of the source of the flapping. The more he considered it, the more it seemed like whatever was making it was outside and above the mansion.

"I hate to admit it," said the Brigadier to Peter, "but I think you're right," He spoke into the radio briefly. "Let me get back to you." Then he turned to the assembled group. "We'll head right out the front door, climb back over the wall, and make for the APC. Then we drive southwest and don't stop until we reach the checkpoint."

"What about Dr. Baxter?" asked Valerie Kirby. "He ran off when the shooting started."

"There's no time to go searching for him now. The whole house is alerted. If he has any sense, he's already on his way out."

"And what of the flying creature outside?" asked Virgil Soames. "I have no idea what it is, but it's probably huge and dangerous. I can call up a mist that will hide us, but it will not last long."

"You mean like that fog you said you raised?" asked Dr. Kirby.

"No, it's not the same thing. That fog was natural, and it would last all night. Unfortunately, I can't do that again here. I would need a bowl of seawater, and we can't exactly go get some now. This mist also covers a much smaller area, but it should shield us from the monster's view. I'm confident it will last until we reach the wall, but not much longer, so we'd need to climb quickly. Or...I could call upon my master. He has great power and can assist us, but the price would be high indeed."

Dr. Gordon Baxter,There are four more rounds of insanity, but they may be over rather quickly.

Valerie Soames looked wide-eyed at Virgil. "Call upon your master?" she asked. "You mean on the telephone?"

"No, I have a more direct way of reaching him," said Virgil.

"I think we're better off trying to hide from view," said the Brigadier. "If that fails, we'll just shoot the thing."

"I don't think you understand just how powerful the forces arrayed against us are...but I can bring forth the mist. It will last only a minute or two, so we need to make the time count. For all of that time, the mist will appear in front of me. To shield us from being seen from overhead, I'll need to be on my back."

"Sergeant, detail a couple of soldiers to carry him."

"I'll perform the incantation when we're out on the porch, which is covered. As soon as the mist forms, we run for the wall."

The Brigadier opened the front doors and looked outside. Everything looked clear from the porch. The group went out onto it, and two of the soldiers lifted Virgil up while he began chanting in Latin. Before long, a mist swirled from him and spiraled upwards.

"Go," hissed the Brigadier. Everyone hurried down the steps and across the grounds in a tight formation shrouded by the mist, passing the carriage house and soon reaching the wall at around the same spot where they had originally scaled it. "Right, everyone over the wall. First one on the other side, fetch the APC and bring it over."

"Set me on my feet," said Virgil. "At this distance from the house, having the mist in front of us, will work just as well." The soldiers placed him upright.

In the attic, Gordon finally came to his senses.

OOC,Spell duration (in rounds): [dice]0[/dice] Everyone except [b]Gordon[/b], please roll Climb. You may also roll Other Language: Latin to try to understand the words he spoke.

Gordon Baxter,Your temporary insanity is now over, and you may act freely.

Peter threw himself at the wall Easily finding hand holds in the wall he quickly climbed up and over the wall. Recovering his breath he sprinted towards the APC. The sound of a Latin incantation filled the air, Peter had no idea what it meant but knew it creeped him out.

Gordon sat alone in the dusty darkness of the attic, hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth, silently sobbing to himself. Outside the attic door, his insane unit continued to batter the door, until with a deafening boom, someone shot out the lock with a shotgun blast. Gordon froze in place, his only movement in the trembling of his arms and legs. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and tears slid down his face, tracing a damp line of grime until they fell to the floor. He held his breath, listening for signs that his cover was blown. He continued to twitch and suffer in silence as seconds turned into minutes into hours into days into years. When nothing happened, he slowly opened his eyes, and froze in horror, a lump crawling from his stomach up into his throat, turning his scream into a choked sob. There in front of him stood the brigadier, his clothes wet and rotten, falling off of his sickeningly fish like form in clumps. He held a gun up to Gordons forehead, and wore a sadistic grin on his face that promised untold tortures. "Bang" he whispered, and squeezed the trigger. Gordon felt the strain of the terrifying moment seize his heart for a brief moment, and then he collapsed.

Gordon sat up fast. To fast. His head was spinning and he felt like he was going to be sick. He fell back to the floor and clutched his forehead to keep his migraine from projecting his brains out of his skull. Suddenly his eyes popped open and he reached for his forehead, looking for a large chunk of missing skull and brain matter that SHOULD be there. "But...But how...Am i alive...?" Gordon remembered taking a fatal head shot that he THOUGHT had ended his life, and as he tried to piece things back together, he slowly remembered the details of his maddening flight. He started to take deep breaths and then retched, as the smell of bodily waste reached his nostrils. "Good lord..." he whispered into the darkness. This must be what it feels like to be raped... I... I dont... Im not... Gordon felt like he had been drugged and somehow molested, he felt weak and confused, like a passenger in his own body who had just witnessed a madman take the wheel. The feeling, and the smell, made him want to wash himself clean. He laid on the floor in a strangers skin, until he came to a sudden realization. "My unit..." Gordon reached for his radio in a daze, and thumbed the button with a shaking hand, shocked at how his voice refused to rise above a soft tremble as he hailed the rest of his team. "Greyhound One, this is Gordon. Im...." He paused as his mind struggled to find the right words to describe his current state of mind "Im better now. Where is everyone?". His arm fell limp once again, his hand weakly grasping his radio, his life preserver, his one link back to a life he was skeptical that he would ever be apart of again.

With immense foreboding and feeling very sick in his stomach, Tobias checks both guns are ready to fire and hurries after the others out to the wall. He's already met one of the sea-devils' hideous mutant 'pets' and, hell, it looks like another one awaits them outside. He just wants to see the sun come up, that's all. He keeps his eyes down and concentrates on placing his feet and hands securely on the wall.

climb and Latin,Dice rolls: climb 18 success, Latin 51 fail. Sorry, I still can't access invisible castle so have done it by hand.

"Greyhound One here," said the Brigadier into the radio as he rushed for the wall. "I'm afraid you'll have to make your own way out. I'm sorry, but I can't say any more. Our communications have been compromised."

The Brigadier and Dr. Kirby also made it over the wall, as did two of the UNIT soldiers. Virgil Soames saw that his mist was dissipating. He scrambled up the wall just before it vanished completely and let himself down on the other side.

"Oh dear God!" cried Valerie Soames, glancing back as she struggled to climb.

OOC,That's fine. Invisible Castle has been down for a while. This site also has a built-in dice roller (using the dice tags). [b]Peter[/b] (and [b]Tobias[/b], if you also head for the APC), please roll Spot Hidden. Those who did not make it over the wall (other than [b]Gordon[/b]) will need to roll Sanity, but they are all currently NPCs. [b]Chad[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]0[/dice] [b]Tinker[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]1[/dice] [b]Valerie Soames[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]3[/dice] [b]Evert[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]4[/dice] [b]Donald[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]5[/dice] [b]Valerie Kirby[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]6[/dice] [b]Brigadier[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]7[/dice] [b]Virgil[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]8[/dice] [b]UNIT Soldier[/b]s' Climb rolls (50% skill) climbing the wall: [dice]9[/dice] [dice]10[/dice] [dice]11[/dice] [dice]12[/dice] [dice]13[/dice] [dice]14[/dice]

Peter sprinted to then APC, was that something out there? Nope Peter didn't see anything.

OOC:   if invisible castle,is being flakey try Orokos.com

Gordon felt ice run through his veins as he heard what surely amounted to his signed death warrant. With quaking hands, he once more keyed the radio. For a moment that stretched into infinity he paused on open air, not knowing what to say to his commanding officer. Finally he spoke with a voice that shook harder than his hands "You do know you have left me to die, don't you?" with those words Gordon himself seemed to have fully realized the implications of his units betrayal, and he began to laugh. It started as a quiet chuckle deep in his chest and grew with intensity until he was laughing hysterically, tears running down his face as he understood what his fate was to be. He continued "And what would you have me do -SIR- call a bloody cab to come pick me up?" His face contorted into a furious scowl in an instant, all evidence of joy gone from his visage. "You bastards... YOU DOGS, HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME IN THESE DEVILS HANDS!!!" Gordons rage continued to grow until spittle flew onto the radio, his hands shook harder now but with rage instead of shock. He cocked his arm back, fully intending to shatter the radio against the walls of the basement, but stopped. As much as he despised the voice at the other end of the radio at the moment, he couldn't bear to destroy the one link he had to sanity. He lowered his arm slowly, and turned to look in a nearby mirror. He was a sight indeed, and his free hand strayed to his beard to scratch his chin, memories of his wife's frustration with his insistence on keeping it swimming to the surface of his rage. She always fussed over my appearance... he thought to himself if she could see me now. Gordon was a mess. His hair was a disheveled mess, and his face was covered in dust and grime, with tracks running down his face. His uniform wasnt much better, dirty, with stains on the pants that he suspected had something to do with the smell of urine he detected. Not only was he a mess, he was... pitiful. It dawned on him just how wretched he felt and looked at the moment, and it made him sick. He knew he wasn't long for this place, but if he had to go, it would be with a bang. Gordon unslung his pack and emptied its contents, loaded all of his weapons, and paused, looking at a small bag in his pack. The stones... he thought to himself. He had kept the bag of rocks at the time, not really understanding why or taking the time to examine them. He opened the sack and rummaged through the contents, examining the stones, hoping that somehow the random find could be of some use to the stranded combat doctor.

One of the UNIT soldiers still trapped inside the wall turned to face the horror, his features twisted with rage. He aimed his rifle at it and opened fire on full automatic, striking it with several bullets. An inhuman roar echoed through the night, more of anger than of pain. Then there was a tremendous thump on the ground in front of the mansion, followed by lumbering footsteps approaching the hapless people still stuck on the estate's grounds at a high rate of speed!

Chad scrabbled desperately at the rain-slick wall, screaming in terror, his fragile psyche hanging on by the slenderest of threads. Unfortunately, the moisture and his state of sheer panic kept him from making it over the top. Valerie Soames looked more and more distraught as she was also having difficulty making headway. Everyone else managed to make it to the outside of the wall except for two of the UNIT soldiers, the one who had opened fire and one other. Just as he reached the top and tried to vault over, he slipped and lost his balance, landing with a crunch on the ground just inside the wall and twisting his ankle.

Peter reached the APC without incident. It was right where they had left it.

In the attic, Gordon could hear the shooting, the screaming, and the roaring and stomping of the monster. Perhaps he was the lucky one after all. The stones were small and smooth to the touch, their surfaces polished. They brought him to mind of skipping stones across a pond when he was a child. but he had no idea how they were meant to be used.

OOC,[b]Gordon[/b], please roll Idea. [b]Chad[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]0[/dice] [b]Tinker[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]1[/dice] [b]Valerie Soames[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]2[/dice] [b]Evert[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]3[/dice] [b]Donald[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) climbing the wall: [dice]4[/dice] UNIT Soldiers' Climb rolls (50% skill) climbing the wall: [dice]5[/dice] [dice]6[/dice] [dice]7[/dice] Damage to UNIT Soldier from falling [dice]8[/dice]

Peter quickly climbed into the drivers seat of the APC closed the hatch, started the engine and slowly guided the vehicle towards the wall. "You know what" Peter announced to the world in general, "I've really missed this." The uniform and the feeling of controlling a military vehicle again brought memories flooding back, being a glorified policeman and hunting down the KGB's agents in the UK was ok but this was real action.

Gordon shook with frustration. "Damnit man, THINK." He said as he slammed his fists on the ground. Gordon took a few deep breaths to steady his nerves and tried to think of a way out of his situation.

Idea,[dice]0[/dice] Sorry im doing this from my phone today

OOC,[b]Peter[/b], it will take you a few rounds to get into the APC, start it up, and drive back to the others.

Gordon Baxter,The various books and papers might contain information about the stones that [b]Gordon[/b] had found with them, but now might not be the best time to study them. While the monster was busy slaughtering everyone else outside, he had a chance to slip out of this place without it noticing him.

Gordon assumed that the secret to the stones existence lay in the mysterious books he found with them, but doubted he had the time or means to study on them. He listened to the agonizing screams and tearing flesh coming from outside and shuddered, not wishing to imagine what could be causing the mayhem but knowing that he would more than likely have to deal with it sooner or later if he wished to live. Gordon looked at his fire arm and wondered to himself once again if a quick death by his own hand would be preferable to whatever the hell lay waiting for him outside the mansion. How in Gods name am i going to make it out of here? And when i do, how the HELL am i going to get past that... thing? Gordons hands clenched in frustration, his will to live colliding with the hopelessness of the situation. Gordon wondered to himself if he could slip away while it was distracted with its current victims. I probably had a chance to do so, but im sure that opportunity has passed... it was then that Gordon had a grisly idea. He blanched briefly at the thought of even considering such a thing, but that soon passed. Maybe i could take a hostage... make my own distraction...? It was a long shot, but it was all he had at the moment and at this point he would rather die anyway than sit on his hands any longer. Gordon packed his supplies, grabbed his firearms, and made his way down the stairs, knowing that one way or another, he was going to leave behind the man he once was in this mansion. He shuddered at the thought of who, or what, he would be when this was all said and done.

OOC,Yeah... I figured that they were useless without the book, i guess i hoped they could be weaponized in some kind of way. To much D&D lol :roll: So is it to late for me to escape while the beast is snacking? If not i fully intend to find a servant or something and send him/her out there to get munched while i make a break for it. Also, if i suspected there was a hidden passage that lead out of the mansion underground (which i do) how would i go about perusing that? do i roll something or would i have to search every room of the mansion?

Gordon descended the stairs from the attic and reached the upstairs landing. A door led out into the hall, and the stairway continued downwards.

Peter threw open the hatch, climbed into the vehicle, and slipped into the driver's compartment.

"Sir, this is Priwate Novak," said Leonek over the airwaves. "They hawe us holed up in the Ship Inn and vant to negotiate. Vhat are your orders?"

"Tell them to call off their monster, and then we'll talk!" the Brigadier shouted into his radio. He drew his pistol. "Weapons ready, everyone!"

The enraged UNIT soldier continued firing at the oncoming horror. Six bullets struck it, but they didn't seem to do much more than make it angry. His rifle clicked empty as it strode into the view of those on the outside of the wall. The three others trapped within the wall kept desperately trying to get over it, to no avail.

The behemoth towered over the wall; it seemed to be as tall as the mansion! The wall would present little obstacle to it, as it could probably step over it without much difficulty, not to mention that its massive wings no doubt enabled it to fly. It was green, scaly, and hideous. Its arms bulged with muscles and ended in fearsome claws. Tentacles dangled from its squid-like face. It was absolutely the worst thing imaginable, and it was coming right the hapless UNIT team!

OOC,UNIT Soldier's Rifle roll (55 + 55 + 70 = 180% skill) shooting at the monster, ten round burst: [dice]0[/dice] How many bullets hit? [dice]1[/dice] Damage to creature from six 5.56mm NATO bullets: [dice]2[/dice] [dice]3[/dice] [dice]4[/dice] [dice]5[/dice] [dice]6[/dice] [dice]7[/dice] [b]Chad[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) trying to climb over the wall: [dice]8[/dice] [b]Valerie Soames[/b]'s Climb roll (40% base skill) trying to climb over the wall: [dice]9[/dice] UNIT Soldier's Climb roll (50% base skill) trying to climb over the wall: [dice]10[/dice] [b]Tobias[/b], please roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 1d6/1d20, so you lose 1d6 Sanity if you succeed and 1d20 if you fail. If you lose 5 or more Sanity, please roll Idea. If you succeed at that roll, you go temporarily insane. Otherwise, you may act freely. If you want to shoot at the creature, the range is point blank. You also get +70 to your effective skill due to the creature's enormous size! This bonus is applied before doubling your base skill. [b]Gordon[/b], you don't know whether or not you have enough time to escape while the creature is preoccupied. You don't even know what it is! From your Idea roll, I'll let you know that if there is a secret passage leading out of the estate's grounds, the most logical place for it to be is the basement.

Gordon continued descending the stairs, seeking the ground floor of the mansion. he would at least look and see what the situation was outside before making a choice between staying or running. Swearing to himself, he stumbled slightly in his rush to descend.

Tobias lands on the other side of the wall, stumbles and fights to regain his balance, then he races for the car before the fear makes his legs into jelly. He pulls open the car door, takes a deep breath, and turns round as he takes his gun and aims at... "Ye Gods! Rover's Mum!" Luckily, Tobias is saved from seeing the full horror as it is still camoflaged in the mist; he sees a huge hulking silhouette and a malevolent glinting eye. He fires three rounds straight up at the eye and then, without waiting to see the results, he jumps into the car. "Get the hell out of here Peter! Now!"

Rolls,Sanity (29) :25 1d6: 3 Glock (70): 50 1d10:6,4,9 (Not sure how to roll for more than one bullet) No joy at Orokos.

"Stop attacking the creature," said Y'Hali over the radio. "Your bullets have no effect on it. Your only chance to survive is to lay down your arms and surrender."

"Bugger that!" shouted Sergeant Donald Forney. "Fire at will!"

Dr. Kirby screamed at the sight of the monstrosity, but she did not give in to panic. Virgil gaped at it in awe, but he too recovered quickly. The Brigadier, however, goggled. His jaw practically hit the ground. "Chap with wings..." he mumbled. "Five rounds rapid..." Then he broke and took off running down the road to the southwest. The first two regular soldiers who had made it over the wall trembled at the sight of the thing. "They're everywhere!" cried one, but the other instinctively took aim.

Tobias shot the creature in the face with his first shot, not far from the eye, but it didn't even seem to notice. Then three of the UNIT soldiers opened up on it. Two of them formed an extremely effective crossfire that sent many bullets into its gaping maw. It shrieked inhumanly, reeled, and tumbled backwards, landing with a thud. The ground shook with the impact.

"Well done!" cheered Donald.

On the far side of the wall, one of the UNIT soldiers and Valerie Soames finally made it over the top. Chad still scrabbled in vain, and the other UNIT soldier, seeing that his rifle was empty, drew his knife and began trying to hack at the gigantic corpse.

Peter returned with the APC, stopping where everyone was gathered, and Tobias was able to climb inside.

Gordon made his way down two more flights of stairs, reaching the floor on which he had entered through the kitchens. He knew the way out from here. The floor just above this one, where the shootout had taken place, would most likely allow him to access the front doors, but he didn't know exactly where to find them. Automatic fire echoed through the night as he descended. By the time he reached the lower landing, the guns had fallen silent.

OOC,Wow! Two natural 1's! I don't even need to roll the rest of the dice - that thing is dead! :shock: [b]Tobias[/b], your effective Handgun skill is actually at +70 due to the monster's huge size and then doubled again for point blank range, giving you a total skill of 280%. That makes your first shot an impale, for which you needed a 36 or less. I'll take the first two damage numbers added together to represent the damage caused by that shot, which doesn't actually hurt it. You don't even get to fire the other two shots. The creature is already dead before you have the chance. Chad's Climb roll (40% base skill) trying to climb over the wall: [dice]0[/dice] Valerie Soames's Climb roll (40% base skill) trying to climb over the wall: [dice]1[/dice] UNIT Soldier's Climb roll (50% base skill) trying to climb over the wall: [dice]2[/dice] Chad's Climb roll (40% base skill) trying to climb over the wall, next round: [dice]3[/dice]

Peter opened the hatch and carefully looked out, "Come on people let's move it!" He did a quick head count, "Who are we missing? Is anyone hurt?"

Valerie Kirby rushed over to Valerie Soames and hugged her. "Thank you, my dear," said Mrs. Soames. "I was sure I was a goner back there."

Everyone climbed aboard the troop transport. "The Brig's scarpered," said Sergeant Forney. "The only other ones missing are Morrissey from my squad and Engraham, and Dr. Baxter of course." He peered out through the hatch. "There's Engraham now, coming over the wall. One of my soldiers has a twisted ankle, but everyone else is fine." Chad dropped down from the top of the wall and took off down the road to the southwest, following the Brigadier and screaming his head off. A short while later, the remaining UNIT soldier climbed over the top of the wall.

Gordon retraced his steps through the hallway and the kitchen, emerging from the side door of the grounds. He could see the dead monster in the distance lying on its back, but he (thankfully) couldn't make out the details from here. The only member of his team he could see was a UNIT soldier, who was on top of the wall, swinging his leg over it to climb to the far side.

OOC,Chad's Climb roll (40% base skill) trying to climb over the wall, fifth attempt: [dice]0[/dice] UNIT Soldier's Climb roll (50% skill) trying to climb over the wall, two rounds later: [dice]1[/dice]

Gordon was stumped at the sheer size of the beast he saw in the distance and was thankful that the details were hidden from his view. Spotting the soldier climbing the wall, be broke off at a dead run to catch up, shouting "You there! Stop! Wait for me!"

The soldier waved Gordon forward and remained on top of the wall. "Sarge, Baxter's coming!" he called.

"Stay there and help him over the wall, Morrissey!" yelled Donald. "Everyone maintain radio silence! Best if the Sea Devils think we're dead."

Gordon made his way to the wall, giving the dead monster a wide berth and not looking at it too closely. Morrissey reached down and helped him to the top of the wall. Then the two of them dropped down outside and got into the APC. Morrisey shut the hatch behind them.

"Right, let's get out of here!" Donald said to Peter.

OOC,[b]Gordon[/b], please roll Sanity for seeing the creature. Sanity loss is 1d6/1d20, so you lose 1d6 Sanity is you succeed or 1d20 if you fail. If you lose 5 or more, please roll Idea. If the Idea roll succeeds, you go temporarily insane.

Peter pulled down the drivers hatch, put the engine in gear and guided the heavy vehicle away from the wall hopefully towards safety. "Everyone alright back there? Have we got everyone? Because I'm not stopping until we reach friendly territory."

Gordon nearly became completely unhinged when he saw the creature, dead though it was. He was somewhat shaken, but he retained his faculties.

"We've got everyone except Engraham and the Brig," said Donald, "and they ran the way we're going. We'll catch up with them."

Sure enough, the APC soon reached the barricade that UNIT had set up. It was just past the point where Monastery Road intersected another road heading north back towards Dunwich, and it blocked travel to the southwest. The UNIT soldiers on guard duty made an opening wide enough for the vehicle to pass through, and Peter drove on to safety. Brigadier Crichton was already there, and he seemed to have recovered from his break. Chad Engraham, on the other hand, was curled up in a ball and crying. It remained to be seen whether he would ever recover.

OOC,Episode 5 concludes in the following thread.

Epilogue