Play@YSDC

"I... I don't know how long I can keep him down", Jonathan says to Ilona, his face distorted from the effort of keeping the man blocked. He looks around to see if anyone is moving to help him.

Ilona stares at the man struggling with the conductor in shock for a long moment, then tries to reach for the two of them, trying to help in the struggle.

Spend two Scuffling.

[dice]0[/dice]

The Maitre D steps up behind her. "What seems to be the problem, madam?" And a glint of steel as he stabs her in the throat with something wickedly sharp, causing blood to trickle down her collar.

[dice]0[/dice] +2

[dice]1[/dice] +1 damage

"M-Madness....", Jonathan is astonished, then screams: "Ms. Aston! Run! Get out of here!". Giving her a couple of seconds of advantage, Jonathan will release the conductor and make a run in the opposite direction, towards the kitchen.

This section of the car has a thin, tight corridor to the right while the left contains the kitchen itself. A curtained doorway leads into the kitchen, from which he can smell all sorts of delicious scents. A door stands further along that would lead into the Baggage Car.

Ilona finds herself trapped between the two staff members. The Maitr D before her and the conductor behind her. Rather than hunt down Jonathon and following his disappearing form, they merely turn their attention fully toward her. Their eyes are cold, like chips of ice, and their movements seem stiff and poorly controlled. And yet.... And yet....

Maitr D's strike (1-pt spend).
[dice]0[/dice] for attack
[dice]1[/dice] for damage

Conductor's strike (1-pt spend).
[dice]2[/dice] for attack
[dice]3[/dice] for damage

(Add 1 to each result. It keeps subtracting rather than adding the damage.

One blade slashes across Ilona's face, opening up her cheek and sending a burning pain to flare across her face while the other blade tears across her neck, missing the most vital parts and shredding down to lodge itself under her clavicle. He pulls it loose with a jerk. The pain is overwhelming. Her vision darkens.

Will she pass out?
[dice]0[/dice]

She choked on a scream, feeling the pain in her face. Oh god, please don't let me die.... Don't let me die.... I can't die now.... My business.... My....

But then the second hit strikes her by the neck, and she feels the blood leave her, and her eyes roll to the back of her head as she slumps to the dining room floor.

The train conductor leans down to grab her by the hair, hauling her head and upper body off the floor. With a practiced stroke, he slits her throat from ear to ear and lets the blood flow to the floor. Finally, without looking in any other direction, he starts dragging her body across the floor toward the kitchen.

This Dining Car is an exercise in exquisite luxury. Its carpet stretches across the floor. The teak wall panelling, inlaid with rosewood, are suffused with the scents and memories of bygone meals. The carved scrolls, cornices, and scallops at the friezes and borders, are adorned with gilded metal flowers and that reach up but never reach the arched ceilings. The racks, resting upon hand-wrought gilded brackets, into which diners may desposit small articles run the length of the car on both sides.

The Dining Car has group tables with four seats on one side and couple's tables with two seats on the other allowing for a few configurations to dine in peace while sitting upon comfortable red seats with a mahogany frame. Flowered-damask drapes are held back with gold thread and tassels, revealing a cream-coloured spring-loaded roller blind that can be pulled up or down to allow or obscure the outside world. Each table is lit by a single, flickering flame on a heavily burned down candle. All the other candles are gutted and weak. There are others here, sitting and talking in quiet voices, wearing rich fabrics and hairstyles that are just a little bit old-fashioned.

The napkins are folded like butterflies perched tenderly upon the pure white table cloths. A delicate lamp with a pink shade rests upon the middle of the table, beside a slim glass vase, weighted against the movement of the train or sudden knocks against the table. The vase contains a single red flower, a splash of colour matched only by the gold-rimmed porcelain plates that are adorned with the Compagnie crest. Solid silver cutlery flank the plates and sit below the wine glasses.

The head waitor is on his hands and knees, mopping up blood off the floor with a rag. He looks up at you with a smile and stands up, putting the bloody rag in a pant pocket and giving you a charming smile. "Would you like a seat, monsieur? Mademoiselle?"

Go backward for the Smoking Car.
Go forward past the curtain to the Kitchen half of the Dining Car.

Standing in the doorway, Charlie goes pale. "No, that wasn't- who's blood is that?!" He demands, his voice tinged with hysteria.

Kate enters, her syringe stowed away in her medical kit in easy reach. She gasps when she sees the blood, afraid they're already too late.

"What, oh, my, what happened here?" Artemis asked as he came up behind Miss Kate and saw the staff cleaning up blood.

The head waitor merely repeats himself with a polite smile, "Would you like a seat, monsieur? Mademoiselle?" He gestures toward an empty table.

Charlie stares at the waiter as he steps aside to let the others into the car.

"No thank you," says Kate. "We're looking for a young lady who came through here. Have you seen her?" She describes Ilona Aston.

"We have a number of passengers already seated, mademoselle," says the head waitor, gesturing toward the other diners who all appear somewhat out of focus and impossible to define. Simply staring at them makes your eyes itch and your head hurt and it doesn't help you see them any more clearly.

Stability Roll -- Potential loss of 3 Stability. (Charlie rolls twice because of the blood but will only lose a total of 3 stability even if both rolls fail).

Kate shudders and avoids looking at the dinner guests. "I don't think she's here," she says, "or she'd have recognized us. She must have gone past here."

OOC,Stability roll (no points spent): [dice]0[/dice]