Play@YSDC

Saturday, October 26th, 1929 7.00pm.
Squatters Lake Hotel, West Road, Newburyport, Mass.

The night had fallen and the hotel was in darkness, except for the oil lamps bedside the room doors that cast a wavering light that barely cleared the steps. Noise from the other rooms had subsided and the only sound was the ominous croaking of frogs from the lake.

The four young men had gathered in room 5 with its two single beds which would facilitate their plans for the evening. Howard and Lawrence had agreed to take the first watch, while William and Thomas tried to get some rest.

A couple of hours passed uneventfully but then, as the clock approached 9.00pm, there was a soft knock on the door.

Howard casts a glance at Lawrence and goes to the door.

“Who is it?” he asks.

Lawrence replies in a whisper:
"Don't answer. Don't make a single sound. Let whoever's out there think we're sleeping."

Amid the whispered bickering, a voice from outside said quietly, ”It’s me, Jacob.”

Howard looks back at Lawrence. "Do you know who Jacob is?" he hisses. "And wake the others".

Lawrence rouses the others, and whispers back:
"I don't know any Jacob."

Thomas quickly gets out of the bed, looks around the room, and asks "What's going on?".

"There's someone called Jacob at the door" whispers Howard, moving from the door to the others. "We'd better not let him know there is more than one of us here. Do you know who he could be?"

William is awakened by the commotion. "Could it be the fellow we met who's looking for his friend?" he whispers. "Did we ever get his name?"

Howard creeps back to the door.

"Who are you?" he croaks. "What do you want?"

”I’m Jacob. We met earlier,” came the hissed reply. ”Can you let me in?”

Howard pauses with his hand on the door handle, and looks back at the others.

”I want to talk to him” he whispers. ”Can I let him in?”

Thomas nods, but remains tense. "Open it carefully." he adds.

"Yes, let him in," whispers William. "I believe he's on our side."

Howard opens the door.

Jacob - the young man they had met earlier - slipped into the room. His hair was plastered to to his head and he was in an agitated state.

“I just had another run-in with that old fool, William. A bit of a tussle actually, so I reckon I’ll be out of here in the morning.

“He dropped his keys when we fought but didn’t notice them when he went back to his room. I’ve got them and I’m going to check out that workshop of his before I go and see what’s inside if you wanna help?”

”Erm... Sure” says Howard warily. ”But what did you fight about?”

OOC,Can we roll Psychology on Jacob to get a sense of how truthful he is? And was there a keyhole in the trapdoor?