Ch.14a. Inheritance (Alex & Ivy)

[Silver Priest]

The sound of the gunshot leads Alex to disregard any desire for stealth. Ivy needed his help now. He rushes off towards the cellar, not even concerned for his personal safety( or the wisdom of confronting someone with a gun with a poker.)

[Philulhu]

Next to the cellar doorway, a pile of tin cans was strewn about. Down the steps, a single bulb illuminated the brick built cellar, in which a wooden crate and a broken cup littered the floor. There was the faint smell of coffee in the air…

[Silver Priest]

Taking a deep breath, Alex starts down the stairs, holding his lamp in one hand and the poker in the other.

[Philulhu]

Based upon the direction that the coffee had spilt on the floor, Alex surmised that someone had taken Ivy through here in a hurry and they had knocked over the crate upon which the coffee cup had sat as they made their way to the rather ominous looking hole in the wall opposite the steps…

[Silver Priest]

Alex doesn't hesitate. He knows every second counts, so he makes his way through the hole, hoping he's not too late to save Ivy.

OOC:   SP though is cursing the fact Alex is a Call of Cthulhu protagonist and thus can not just go for backup.

[Philulhu]

Stepping through the gap in the brick wall, Alex found himself in a brick-lined tunnel with piles of dust on the floor. By the light of his lantern he could see that the tunnel to his left shortly changed into a natural cavern, but that appeared to have collapsed some time ago.

To his right, the tunnel stretched away into the darkness. In the dust by his feet were a number of footprints with two lines cutting through where someone had dragged their heels…

Spot hidden, please.

”Providence Police. How can we help you, ma’am?”

“You saw a man pursuing two armed men into a house? How did the man appear to you?”

“Oh, that’ll be one of those Call of Cthulhu protagonists, ma’am! No, we don’t respond to those! Have you tried the asylum or the undertakers…?

[Silver Priest]

1d100

Though he wants to continue to press onwards, Alex forces himself to remain calm and tries to carefully discern anything he can before rushing into danger.

[Philulhu]

In the dust, alongside the heel tracks, were more footprints. Some were shoes or boots but others were more animal in nature.

[Silver Priest]

Alex is not sure what to make of animals apparently lurking around here. A person had to have taken Ivy. But the fact that there were big enough animals to leave behind footprints was concerning, to say the least.

He tries to follow the human footsteps forward deeper into the tunnel, wishing dearly he had kept his gun. For all he knew Ivy still had it-- but he had not heard anything since that one muffled gunshot, and was feeling very vulnerable at the moment.

[Philulhu]

The footprints in the dust faded within a few yards, with only the twin tracks of (presumably) Ivy’s heels pointing in the direction in which she went.

The rough-hewn tunnel continued beyond for a further 60-70 yards. In the lantern light, Alex spotted a small mound in the centre of the passage, where the unmistakable white gleam of bone could be seen…

[Silver Priest]

His stomach dropping, the detective nevertheless continues forward, dreading what he'll find. He at least knows it's not Ivy, but he's also beginning to doubt the bone is animal either...

[Philulhu]

Moving closer, the bone turned out to be one of a number of bones, amidst a pile of ragged clothes. Disturbingly, some of the bones had iron fetters on them.

Spot hidden, please. I’d also take a History or Medicine roll (or similar) to tell you more about your discovery.

[Silver Priest]

"My God," Alex whispers.

1d100

1d100

[Philulhu]

Whatever happened here had obviously happened many years before. Fragments of clothing nearby still showed signs of the violence that had beset the victims - bloodstains and sharp rents.

Why the fetters were on the bones was beyond Alex though.

[Silver Priest]

This looked like the work of some sort of serial perpetrator. The bones were very old, but whomever did it may still be lurking around. Someone had taken Ivy, after all. Alex struggles with indecision for a moment.

Just an honest OOC question here, would Alex going to get help break the scenario or ruin it from a meta perspective? I'm trying to keep it in theme but Alex has no idea anything unnatural is going on here and I'm thinking as a police officer he's more inclined to rush off for backup, especially being unarmed. That said if that wouldn't make sense for the rest of the scenario I'll justify him continuing on.

[Philulhu]

TLDR: Just carry on into the tunnel. What could go wrong?!

More detailed answer: It wouldn’t break the scenario per se, as it could still work if you did go for back up although you would be a lot less involved (Police storming the tunnels rather than you investigating).

The problem is that if Alex goes for back up and we allow time for it to arrive before you continue, then I need to allow a certain amount of game time to elapse - probably an hour - which in PBP terms would take over a week (not least because Mr Handy & Bullfrog are on the other side of the world so we’re not posting in the same time zone) so you’d be effectively sat out of the game.

At present, I’ve got three threads that are roughly in the same in-game time zone. Working out when they intersect has been a tad tricky so adding an extra hour in there could be a challenge. Not insurmountable, but it would involve some downtime for yourself and a bit of additional work for me.

A compromise would be to go and get the neighbour to call for help but not wait until it arrives. That would push you back but not as much as if waited back up to arrive and went in with them.

Entirely your call

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Thanks for the info, really appreciate it.

Alex is frozen in indecision, unsure what to do. Every part of him wants to continue to race down the tunnel,especially with Ivy in danger and having heard a gunshot. But he forces himself to focus; if someone had abducted his partner and now had access to his gun, there wasn't much he could hope to do by himself and unarmed. And if he got himself killed trying to save Ivy, chances were both of them would be dead.

Besides, he had only heard one gunshot. Perhaps their mysterious assailant had fired the gun in the air in an attempt to intimidate Ivy into cooperating. She could be rather stubborn. Based on these bodies, if he had to guess it was likely whomever had her would take their time in torturing her, which, while it did not exactly make him happy, did mean he had some time. He could go and call for help and come back at once. He didn't mind risking his life if he knew he had alerted others of the dangers.

With a final nod, he takes off in a hurried sprint for the home of his new neighbor friend. Hopefully she had a phone; going all the way to the station was not something he wanted to do at this critical juncture.

[Philulhu]

The friendly neighbour was surprised but pleased to see Alex so soon after his previous visit but she was happy to let him use her phone.

[Silver Priest]

"Much appreciated," Alex tells the friendly neighbor. He gets on the phone and tells the operator to connect him with the police.

[Philulhu]

Alex was put through to the Police Department, where his call was answered by Officer Lyon, the young policeman who he had met earlier in the day.

”Good afternoon, Detective Reynolds. How are you getting along? Have you anything I can report to Captain Lawrence?” Lyon asked.