Play@YSDC

Henry,The man is stone dead ... but to Henry's trained eye there should be more blood than there is. There are several wounds on his arms, chest and face. The wounds look to be hand shaped bruises with bite marks in the centre of the palm. There are also some defensive wounds on his forearms as well. The man's wallet reveals him to be a Patrick Cottrell. From the dark stains on his head and arms, you determine that he has had contact with coal recently.

Tommy,As you pick up the shovel you notice that there is some dark ichor stains along one edge. Cabins 17 and 18 are both locked

Between the stairwell and the forward end of the ship are the investigators cabins. All of them are locked and none of you have your keys. As you look aft you notice that the door to cabin 9 is open as does cabin 11's door seem to be. The sounds of the woman's sobbing seems to be a little louder, and you can now identify that it is coming from the Lower Viewing Deck at the fore end of the boat. Roilling fog can be seen through the smashed doors at either end of the corridor, considerably thicker than it seemed to be upstairs.

"I'd scare the life out of anybody seeing me with this," Tommy says, holding up the filthy shovel. "Somebody else better go find that woman. I'll check out the open cabins, see if I can find any clues to what's going on."

Henry responds to Father Mason with the bluntness of a coroner, "The victim's name is Patrick Cottrell. The dark spots are bruises consistent with an open hand and what appear to be bite marks. He has some defensive wounds as well so he struggled with his assailant. I would guess he was a crewman based on him carrying a shovel and the coal residue on his arms. The blood on the wall isn't his, or at least not all of it. One of us should hold onto his wallet so that we can find his next of kin when we get out of here."

Henry will them check to see if the man has any keys or anything else of use.

"She might have hidden in one of those open cabins," says Cynthia.

Father Mason heads towards the Lower Viewing Deck, checking the open cabins as he goes.

Tommy,You head down the corridor aft and reach the door to cabin 9 which is partially closed. Trying cabin 8 you find the door locked. Pushing the door to cabin 9 open you see that the room has a double bed with a small wardrobe and a battered steamer trunk beside the bed. [ooc]Do you want to search this room or move onto the next cabins.[/ooc]

Henry,The man has nothing of interest in his pockets other than some loose change.

Fr Mason,Checking the cabin doors as you go you find that they are all locked

Melissa pipes in, "If there is a woman out there in trouble then I think a feminine touch could be helpful Father, I'll come with you.

Fr Mason and Melissa,As you reach the area beside cabins 19 and 20 you can see a huddled shape lying on the deck across the threshold of the smashed doors. A step or two further reveals that it is the badly mutilated body of a man you recognise from earlier in the evening as Alistair Campion-Reeves. In his right hand is a gun. He looks to have similar wounds to the crewman back inside, though it's hard to be sure in the dim light and the fog. If you move the body at all you hear a woman's scream outside. [url=http://s255.photobucket.com/user/Cearlan/media/Terror%20on%20the%20Thames/25%20-%20Terror%20on%20the%20Thames%20-%20Alistair%20Campion-Reeves_zps53ptxe6b.png.html][img]http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh150/Cearlan/Terror%20on%20the%20Thames/25%20-%20Terror%20on%20the%20Thames%20-%20Alistair%20Campion-Reeves_zps53ptxe6b.png[/img][/url]

"Here! Help, please!", he calls, turning back towards the others.

Henry will rush to where Father Mason is to help.

Cynthia hurries after Father Mason and Melissa.

Albert maintains a 'watch' at the top of the stairs.

"Any of you any good with one of those?" whispers Cynthia, glancing at the gun. "I've never fired one in my life. Of course, it didn't do the poor man much good."

Tommy figures he'd only get in the way of the other trying to help the screaming woman. He decides to check out the open cabin to see if there are any clues to what's going on, but he does a poor job of it.

Tommy,looking in the cabin you see the steamer trunk. Upon approaching it up you can see that it 's luggage label indicates that it belongs to Alistair Campion-Reeves. The clothes inside are of a practical cut, a Valet Autostrop saftey Razor and a bottle of rose water. As you are putting the clothes back you drop the bottle of rosewater onto the bottom of the trunk and are surprised to hear a hollow sound. [ooc]I'll give it to you as it won't do you much good anyway ;-)[/ooc]

With the body of Campion-Reeve,The night is shattered by a terrible scream from the port side (left) If anyone turns the body over to examine it closer. The same happens if anyone passes through the shattered doors. [color=#0000FF]"Noooooooooooo! Keep away!"[/color]

Henry will remove his cultist robes and move towards the sound of the woman's voice. He will walk slowly and try to appear as non-threatening as possible. He will also say, "Father Mason, I think you should accompany me. Seeing a man of the cloth might help to calm this poor woman so that I can make sure she is uninjured."

Fr. Mason nods and follows Henry, speaking to the yet invisible woman in the fog: "We are walking towards you. We don't mean to hurt you. I'm Father Mason. I called out to you earlier, remember? Calm down, we are here to help. There's no need to scream".

The woman ceases to scream and the silence is all but deafening. faintly you can hear the rustle of her clothes and a soft moan from the direction you are heading. After a few steps, the port chimney looms out of the fog and as you get closer you can see, there huddled at the base is the frightened form of a terrified woman. She is whimpering and trying her best to force herself between the wall and the chimney. Some of you may recognise her from earlier in the evening.
She starts to scrabble away from you as best she can, but when she spies the robes of Fr Mason and friendly demeanor of the two men, she relaxes a little.

Melissa is not far behind the two men and rushes to the woman's side, brushing dishevelled hair from her face and shushing her as she starts to sob uncontrollably.

After some minutes she does start to calm down a little to relate her tale.

"I took part in the toast in the dining room and felt ill. N ... Next thing I knew I awoke as Cunliffe and the crew were lining up unconscious passengers in the Dining Room. I overheard his plan to blow up The Louisiana Lady with the "those they didn't need" on board to conceal the kidnapping of the other passengers. I was waiting for Cunliffe and the crew to leave with their victims when that Felicia Ingram, who was “frightfully excited by it all”, began to change." Her voice wavered at this point and she had to swallow hard before she could continue. But continue she did which went to show her character.

"Campion-Reeves was suddenly at my side and helped me escape. we collected his pistol from his cabin and he bundled me out onto the Lower Viewing Deck where you found me.

That was when the screaming began. With no way to escape the boat, he stood guard at the door until “the thing” attacked him. She heard gunshots, then Campion-Reeves’ screams. The door shattered as something threw him through the doorway, but nothing came out to pursue me. I guess he saved my life at the expense of his own ... the poor man." At this she starts to sob again, though not as uncontrollably as before. She reaches out towards Campion-Reeves still form but Melissa pulls her back.

Cynthia keeps the gun, along with any ammunition she finds on the body. She knows she'd be hopeless in a fight without it, but she also knows that it might not do any good regardless. She follows the others over to the woman to help them comfort her. "My name's Cynthia," she says. "I'm so sorry. We're all going to get out of this. We need to get off this boat. We'll need to get to the helm, so we can steer it. I can swim to the riverbank if we're not out to sea, but not everyone can, and who knows how far we've gone?"

Henry will, if allowed by the woman, check her for injuries. "Hello miss, my name is Henry Boles, I am a doctor. What is your name, and are you injured in anyway?"

The woman flinches when Henry makes a move towards her, but after a reassuring smile from Cynthia, Melissa and Fr Mason she relaxes and allows an examination.

"No ... no I'm not injured, I think. It all happened so fast that I am not too sure." Shakily and with some assistance she manages to stand whilst Henry continues his examination, which uncovers no obvious injuries other than being shaken.