Play@YSDC

Confident, that he has slipped away Francois settles into another firing position and selects another target he hopes the lack of fire from the direction of his hiding place may mean the two who were looking have turned their attention back to the more immediate threat from the house.

Aiming at one of the two watchers +1 spend and taking the time to aim[dice]0[/dice]

Jacques returns fire at the man who just shot him, hoping to take him out of action, but the shot goes wide due to his recent wound.

OOC,Firearms roll (no points spent): [dice]0[/dice] Can I use Intimidation to try to demoralize them?

The gunfight is reaching its climax now, as the two sides are relentlessly trying to kill each other. Jean-Luc shoots with his gun, and he's almost surprised to see that not only the gun is working just fine, but his bullet has found its way to target, as it hits the leg of one of the enemies, throwing him off balance. He rejoices for a second, but not being used to violence, he immediately cools off at the idea of having wounded, possibly killed, another human being - even if in self-defense.

Meanwhile, two more aggressors meet their end in the span of a few instants: one, hit by Francois's hunting rifle, the other by one of the gendarmes at the ground floor. Still, the hooded men are shooting back. The bullets hit the house, on both floors. One pierces Jean-Luc's shoulder, pushing him back a couple of steps, while a painful scream from the lower floor suggests that one of the gendarmes might have gone to meet his maker.

By now, only four of the hooded men are left standing. Still, they keep firing like madmen, and they seem to be screaming... a prayer, or a song... as they die. You can't quite make up the words with all the noise and the gunshots.

Jean-Luce,You lose 3 Health. Also, roll Stability please.

Jacques,You lose 2 Stability

OOC:   You can now act again.

More enraged by his wound than anything, Jacques fires a third time, caught up in the heat of battle.

OOC,Firearms roll (no points spent) shooting at an attacker: [dice]0[/dice] Damage to attacker (if the roll hits): [dice]1[/dice]

Francois moves again and then selects another target hoping that he is still undiscovered.

Keeper,Stealth:[dice]0[/dice] Firearms [dice]1[/dice]

"God forgive me..." he thinks to himself.

OOC:   Stability 1d6=3

Francois's hunting experience seems to be coming in handy, and shooting an human target, once you get past the moral implications, it's really not any harder than shooting a boar. So, one more hooded men is hit straight in the head and collapses to the floor like a broken puppet.

The moral implications of shooting to kill seems to be troubling Jean-Luc, on the other hand. God might forgive his effort of self-defense, but the man is having an hard time forgiving himself. And as he stares blankly at the gun that just shot, a bullet fired from below hits him straight on his left arm, slightly below the shoulder. Pain rushes to his brain, pushing out any other thought.

Jean-Luc,You lose 2 Stability and 6 Health.

Two more of the hooded men are gunned down by the gendarmes on the ground floor, and only one is left standing. There's a moment of sudden silence, and you think you can hear the man chuckling, then he thrusts the barrel of the gun inside his mouth and pulls the trigger. Then, it's finally over.

Francois slings his hunting rifle and pulls his pistol out before walking out of the cover inspecting each of the bodies, in turn, to make sure all are dead. He then returns to the first body and starts to search it for anything incriminating.

Jacques hurries downstairs to treat the wounded. He is of course wounded himself, but he is sure the others' injuries are worse.

Jacques runs downstairs to discover that two of the gendarmes only have a couple of scratches, while the third one was hit in his chest and looks beyond saving. He is breathing heavily, in the arms of one of his comrades, holding a small picture or her wife in his hands.

Francois checks the fallen enemies. Two of the men are wounded, not dead yet, but they'll die if not treated quickly. All of them wear the same simple clothes, a pair of trousers and a shirt, all black under the black robe with hood that they used to cover their faces - faces that, once revealed, seems to be absolutely ordinary. A more in-depth analysis reveals something peculiar about their bodies, though: on each left shoulder there's a strangely shaped scar, resembling very precisely a skull.

Evidence Collection,All the guns look new and coming from the same batch.

Forensics or Medicine,All the skull-shaped scars were inflicted with a jagged knife, to make sure the wound would not heal completely. It must have been, without a doubt, a very painful process.

Occult,The scar looks like the old symbol of [b]Mordiggian[/b], an ancient Goddess of Death. She was known with many names, her current one (Mordiggian) was born during the Black Death pandemic in the middle ages. Heretical cults were born, saying you could be healed from the plague by offering the soul of a loved one to the Goddess. These cults were violently hunted by the Church. Still, most occult experts would agree that the entity known as Mordiggian could in no way be linked directly with disease or healing. As such, those that spread her cults during the Black Plague were knowingly selling false hope to offer even more Death to their dark goddess.

1-Point Occult Spend,Ghouls and cannibalism are often linked with the cult of Mordiggian in ancient texts.

Jacques goes outside and joins his friends. "Somehow they knew we were here," he says. "I know my gendarmes did not talk. I hand picked them because I've known them for decades and trust them implicitly. It had to have been someone else who knew. We must move Madame Morvan, and this time share her location with nobody. Better still, we could report her as having been killed in the attack. They won't try again if they think she's already dead." He examines the robed men and their possessions. "These guns are all new, and from the same batch. The serial numbers are close together. And these skull tattoos were not made with needles, but with a jagged knife. The pain must have been extreme, and it was intended that the wounds would not heal fully." He sets to work on one of the wounded men. "We must keep these men alive so that we can interrogate them. It will be difficult to make these fanatics talk, seeing how willing they were to die and endure pain, but there are approaches that may work."

Francois looks at Jacques with a tired expression he finds there is as little joy in hunting men much as he had expected. Still, he does not let the past few moments cloud his thinking and he is not one to ignore the obvious.

Until we talk to these men and discover who they are and what they wanted we can assume nothing. Who is to say they were not here to rescue Madame Morvan or that she did not somehow summon them to this place herself. In addition, Andre, Jean-Luc and I all met up with Julienne before we came here, loath as I am to blame a long time friend, but who is to say that he did not tell the wrong person where we were going or any one of us might have been followed here.

Julienne says Madame Morvan is evil but we must recover the book as this is the key to the secret weapon, Madame Morvan says the book is evil and must be hidden and her with it, and the army cares not as long as they have access to their secret weapon. After all, I have seen these last few days I do not trust any of them.

Merde, hang them all, I trust none other than our small group.

"D'accord, I agree," says Jacques. "However they found this place, we need to find out. Whatever the truth is, we'll get it from them. I have much experience interrogating prisoners."

Madeleine joins you outside, looking at the dead bodies: "As I feared.... You see this mark here?", she points to the skull-shaped scar, "It's the mark of those who worship Mordiggian, an ancient deity of death. Her cult has waxed and waned over the ages, growing whenever there were massive events of death. As you can imagine, it has resurfaced again in these dark days. The book we hid... and that you unwisely seek to bring back to light, is in fact called The Book of Mordiggian. An unholy tome... and these fanatics here are looking for it".

OOC:   Ok, let's move on. Starting from friday, I'll be 10 days in Japan, so we'll have to stop again, but there's no reason not to play these days

Francois looks at Madeleine do you know how they might have found you? he asks.

"Well, I was thinking that they arrived here following you. Otherwise, they would have attacked before your arrival".

"I came here directly from General Gallieni's office," says Jacques. "I do not think I was followed. What of the rest of you?"

"I do not think as well but then again my perception is not what it used to be." says Jean-Luc.

I've been stalked by wolves in the in the Forest of Lagast and by Leopard in the jungles of Madagascar, but I don't believe I have ever been in the position of being stalked by a man. I honestly wasn't looking says Francois clearly somewhat abashed

"Well, it doesn't change what we have to do, anyway. If you want to recover that cursed book, that is. If you want to recover it... we have to return to Paris. ", Madeleine says.