Platform BEGIN HERE

[Laraqua]

Her finger touches naked flesh, wet and trembling. There are feathers but they're splayed open around the quivering mess.

Who ... what could do this? Or is this why the creature were sick? If she knew something of medicine, or forensics, perhaps she could discover the reason why.

[Laraqua]

A face appears in the window above, shrouded by the gloom. Gawd, it's getting cold out here. It has to be around five degrees Celsius out here (41 degrees fahrenheit) and the cold has a nasty way of creeping in under your collar to chill your spine.

[jimjam]

Ilona gasps and puts a hand over her mouth. She steps away from the bird and towards Jonathan, crossing her free arm across her torso for warmth and to comfort herself. "W-we need to leave... it's not enough to get out of the station, we need to get away from it all together. This isn't right! Nothing has been right since we got here!" She looks up to the window and sees someone there. "Hey!" She calls out. "You ask need to get out right now! We have to leave! Hurry!"

[Laraqua]

"Jonathan, is that you down there? Who are you with?" Artemis yelled towards the shapes in the mist moments before Ilona calls out, then: "Is the Countess down with you and Jonathan? We are trying to get everyone to get out, but the station master hasn't come to yet." Artemis yelled back down to her.

[Overlord87]

"That man is NOT the station master. Artemis, can you year me? He's not the station master! Get out of that building!", Jonathan is screaming now, the weirdness of the situation, and the cold, finally getting to him.

He takes Ilona's hand and says: "Let's see if we can find a car or something like that. It's getting too cold outside. Perhaps the train...", he looks at it, somewhat uncertain. Despite the situation, he is reluctant at the idea of just walking away. There's a part of him that is curious to know how this crazy situation will evolve, he realizes with some surprise. And then there's the appointed meeting with his agent in London...

[jimjam]

Ilona's hands are ice cold, being outside for so long without a coat or gloves is getting to her, her teeth almost chattering as she speaks.
"We don't have the keys for the car and the driver is gone! Maybe we should get on the train, you never know, they could just be waiting for us. Either way I need to get somewhere warmer."

[Overlord87]

Jonathan will look around for a car, or even a bicycle. If he won't find any, he'll inspect the train, checking for anything strange, and if it's possible to head inside.

[Laraqua]

The cold mist is too heavy and thick to make anything out that's too far away. There were cars parked not far from the station and he recalls the vague direction, and he's pretty sure there was a bicycle near there, though he can't remember the condition it was in. He doesn't recall seeing any doors open on this sleek black and gold edged train but that doesn't mean they're locked. Perhaps if he tried one of the doors he could be more certain? There is light spilling out from around the shuttered carriage windows so perhaps there is life inside. He's sure he can hear faint traces of music coming from one of the rear cars. Alternatively he could head towards the parking area or back toward the chained front door. The cold is so numbing it's making it hard to think.

Forensics or Evidence Collection Knowledge,There are scratches on the inside of some of the windows that are otherwise shuttered, preventing one from seeing inside.

A female voice calls out from the waiting room, muffled by brick walls.

[Overlord87]

Jonathan can see his breath becoming white mist in the cold, freezing, air.Jesus Christ, he thinks.

"Music... the music...", he mumbles, heading towards the train car where the music is coming from (always keeping Ilona's hand, unless she breaks contact herself). Once he gets to that car, Jonathan will try to open the door.

[Laraqua]

The door opens.

And the music stops.

[jimjam]

As soon as Jonathan opens the door, Ilona steps through onto the train.

[Laraqua]

The fog is thick and dense around you, cold tendrils snaking into your clothing and tickling your skin almost as though it were a live thing. The bright roundness of the moon can still be somehow glimpsed through the cloud which surrounds you though you can barely make out more than a few yards ahead of you. You can primarily see the concrete platform and the stripe of paint declaring how far you should stand back to avoid being sucked under the train's wheels, and the red brick building behind you with its white-lined windows and Victorian lamps pressed against the station's brick walls and sitting unlit. Benches line those same walls, empty of fellow passengers, crowding more thickly beneath the blue awning that stretches before the station restaurant. You can smell the smoke slowly dissipating from the train itself and see it mainly by its dark silhouette, somehow darker than the space behind it. You can hear the sounds of its engine slowly, ever so slowly cooling, as though the train were parked here to stay. Perhaps with a flashlight you could see further, as it is, you have to walk and look about.

There's nobody on the platform that they can see, but there is Ilona's coat that she lost awhile back when she came out to wait for the train. It's hard to make out in the gloom, but there appears to be some sort of movement from within the coat. Movement and a dark stain....

Places to Go:

• Appledown Station Restaurant (locked).
• Main Waiting Room (covered in chains).
• Upstairs Bedroom Window (cloth rope dangling down from it).
• Shed (locked).

Evidence Collection,There are twin scrape marks across the platforms. 1-pt Outdoorsman or Crafts spends available.

Flashlight on the coat,The coat is stained with blood.

Opening the folded coat,A mess of blood slick feathers lies around a quivering skinless mess, vaguely shaped but for a beak and ... and talons! Is that a tiny bird? It looks like something has pulled its feathers off. Stability Loss 0/1.

Forensics Knowledge,The bird wasn't skinned. Somehow its feathers and skin were firmly attached to the coat and yet loosely attached to its body, meaning that when the coat was last unwrapped they went with the fabric. This ... isn't natural. Stability Loss 0/3. MAXIMUM OF THREE CAN BE LOST ON THE PLATFORM IN THIS SCENE SO IF YOU HAVE ALREADY LOST ONE YOU CAN ONLY LOSE TWO MORE.

[Mr. Handy]

Kate gasps and puts a hand to her chest when she sees the stained coat. Is that...blood? she thinks. She takes out her hooded flashlight, designed to be used in the blackout without revealing too much light, and shines it on the coat, which confirms her fears. "Miss Aston?" she calls, her voice cracking. "Wh-where are you?"

[Laraqua]

There's no sign of movement on the platform. There are muffled voices coming from the open window above.

[Mr. Handy]

"I found Miss Aston's coat!" Kate shouts back up to the window. "It's all bloody! She's not in it, but there's something moving under it!" Afraid to get too close to the coat, she goes over to the station's doors to examine the lock.

[Laraqua]

There are five chains, four of which are bolted to the corner wall by the door with quite large bolts, and a fifth chain looped through the middle. All chains are also bolted somewhere upon the door. There's no way these could be removed by hand. The chain rings are thicker than your thumb and the bolts are almost as thick. Large tools would be required to cut through these chains. There seems to be some kind of odd stain to them, and a chemical smell, but it's impossible to see what it is without playing a light across it.

Chemistry smell for those with chemistry,it smells like a dilute sulphuric acid. Clearly not strong enough to melt through the chains but likely enough to leave a rash or otherwise damage the skin.

[Mr. Handy]

Kate plays her light across the chains. One whiff and she hastily backs away. "The chains across the door are coated with sulphuric acid!" she calls up to the window. "It's not enough to dissolve the metal, but it would sure hurt whoever touched them! We might be able to get them off with big tools if we were careful not to touch them with our bare hands, but there aren't any out here! There's a shed, but it's locked! Maybe there are some inside that you could use to remove the door from its hinges, but you'd have to be careful when ducking under the chains! Otherwise, you'll have to find some other way to get the Station Master outside! The only other way out is through the restaurant, but there's someone hostile in there!"

[Charlie Hagan]

Charlie climbs down and approaches Kate, his head turning to take in his surroundings and his hands tucked into his coat to stay warm. "We should go take a look at that shed then, if you could bring the flashlight?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Of course," says Kate. She leads the way to the shed, shining her light on the lock. Then she removes a pin from her hair, which she shakes loose so that it falls about her shoulders, and holds it out to Charlie. "You can borrow this if you need it."

[Laraqua]

It's a disturbing trek down the concrete platform, their steps echoing dully back up to them, and the blacked out windows - tall and narrow - running along the walls to the left. Particularly since they must pass the restaurant on their way forward and who knows what might be listening in to their steps as they move through the cold. They pass that bloodstained coat as they go, something rustling and moving within it, as well as the twin pyramid's of Aston's and the countesses luggage. Finally they come down the concrete steps off the platform and make their way over the withered and yellowing grass. There's a faint smell of smoke to the air, and the creak of something metal swinging back and forth, as though unsettled by some unfelt wind.

They reach the shed which stands twice their height and is at least a dozen paces wide and easily twice that in length, though they can't get a true estimate of it's size due to the fog whose tendrils wrap around it. A rusty bicycle leans up against an old fence, while a car can vaguely be made out sitting in its park and shrouded by fog. Other than the metallic creak and their own footsteps and breathing, there are no other sounds audible in the fog. It's as though they are truly alone in the cold.

The shed has a pair of red double doors and the handles and lock are quite rusty. It would be difficult to pick (1pt), but easier to break (Athletics roll). Of course busting it open would be very loud.