Ch.5 By The Lake In Moonlight

[Philulhu]

Urged on by William’s shotgun, the party made their way around the rear of the hotel and along the muddy path that snaked through the trees adjacent to the lake. They passed an area where the mud was criss-crossed with tyre tracks leading down to the lake and carried on for a further two hundred yards, before they entered a clearing with one side open to the lake. The rain had eased off and the clearing was lit by the moon above.

“On your knees!” snapped Wiiliam and the party was forced to obey by his brother and the naked couple. At a nod from William, James forced the young woman to kneel by the lakeside, then stepped back a yard or two.

William faced the lake and began to intone a invocation, although it wasn’t in a language any of the young men recognised. “Ia! Ia! Gla’aki ftagn! Accept these sacrifices to our cause, o master!” He repeated it again, in a low and sonorous voice and after a few moments, a loud buzzing noise filled the air, which set everyone’s teeth on edge. The reeds by the lakeside quivered and then three large yellow, globe-shaped eyeballs arose from the surface of the lake and balefully studied the inhabitants of the clearing...

[HoneyDog]

“Oh God!” Howard mutters in terror. “What the hell is it?”

[Mr. Handy]

William watches to see how their captors react, partly to avoid looking at the monstrosity in the lake.

[peper757]

Thomas was shocked. "What...?" He'd never seen anything like this in his life and words failed him.

[Bullfrog]

This had not been a good day for Lawrence. These old men and their naked slaves would pay for their crimes, and Lawrence had a newly-hatched, most likely terrible plan. He watches his captors, waiting for them to look away from him or let their guard down.

[Philulhu]

The humming intensified and surface of the water broke as a hulking shape emerged, covered in sharp spines. A black, thick-lipped mouth appeared below the eyeballs, which dripped with an unholy-looking ichor. Whatever it was, it was abhorrent and like nothing the men had seen before!

As the thing pulled its bulk from the water, it towered over the young girl, and its eyeballs swung around, studying the humans malevolently.

”Ia! Ia! Gla’aki ftagn!” roared William, as James pulled the young girl to her feet.

OOC,SAN check please. Can I also have a listen roll. Howard - you failed your roll and lost SAN when you saw James (I should have recorded it at the time). Reduce your current SAN by [dice]0[/dice] Any further loss might be critical...

[HoneyDog]

Despite his earlier terror at the sight of James, bizarre sights are becoming familiar to Howard and he retains his sanity for now. He desperately thinks of a way to escape this horror.

Rolls,SAN 50: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/700993]SAN[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]24[/b] Listen 25: [url=http://orokos.com/roll/700997]Listen[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]93[/b]

[Bullfrog]

Samity 65,[dice]0[/dice]

Listen 25,[dice]1[/dice]

ooc,How many shots can Lawrence fire with a .32? I have 7th edition, and I want to know whether the rules are the same. Question 2: would Lawrence get a bonus to-hit due to the close range?

[Philulhu]

OOC - Lawrence,Not sure what’s in 7th Ed. but you can fire up to three shots per round. If you’re at point blank range I.e. within your DEX in feet, you double your chance to hit. Obviously, that could be the same for your assailant too...

[peper757]

Thomas tried to keep calm, but it was increasingly difficult as more of the creature before him was revealed. Nothing he'd experienced whilst working for the police had prepared him for this.

Sanity (80%),[dice]0[/dice]

Listen (40%),[dice]1[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

William stares in horror at the creature, but he is still able to hear something.

OOC,Sanity roll (current level 65) for seeing the creature: [dice]0[/dice] Listen roll (60% skill) at the lake: [dice]1[/dice]

[Philulhu]

William watched, frozen in horror as the creature dragged itself from the lake, blinking balefully at the young men before in focused on the girl on her knees. She screamed and tried to rise but James held her firmly by the shoulders and she could not escape his grasp. The humming noise went up a pitch and a glistening spine shot out from the creature towards the young girl but she flinched and the spine whistled past her ear.

William’s continued exhortations to Gla’aki rang out across the clearing, but not enough to mask the faint growling noise from an overgrown path to the nearby road. Howard and Thomas glanced at each other quizzically before risking a look around. In the moonlight, they saw the moon’s reflection off a car in the shadows, with the face of Jacob, white with fear, just about visible above the steering wheel.

Jacob had quietly brought the car to the edge of the clearing and he now gunned the engine and flicked on the headlights! The car jumped forward and ploughed into Robert, sending him flying backwards and almost knocking James over. The girl screamed once more, wriggled free and ran!

OOC,You take the following SAN loss for seeing the creature: Howard [dice]0[/dice] Lawrence [dice]1[/dice] Thomas [dice]2[/dice] William [dice]3[/dice] Jacob - Drive Auto (40%) [dice]4[/dice] Robert - Listen (20%) [dice]5[/dice] Creature - to hit (??%) [dice]6[/dice] Creature + damage [dice]7[/dice] Actions?

[HoneyDog]

OOC,Is evil William still holding the shotgun, and in what position is he relative to our characters? Is he close enough to attack?

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Did [b]Robert[/b] have a weapon one of us could grab?

[Bullfrog]

ooc,is evil William within 10 feet of me?

[Philulhu]

Key:

JF - James Fraser, WB - William, RB - Robert, MR - naked male, MRS - naked female.
JT - Jacob (in the car), T - Thomas, W - William, H - Howard, L - Lawrence.

OOC,[b]Lawrence[/b] is approximately 10 yards from evil William. Robert dropped the piece of wood when he was hit by the car but it’s under the vehicle and will require a luck roll to retrieve it.

[HoneyDog]

OOC,Howard will launch himself at the naked woman. Can he attack first?

[Bullfrog]

Lawrence had had enough. This was no time for subtlety, so he pulls out his .32 revolver and unloads 3 bullets into Evil William.

Hand gun 55%(basically 110% from point-blank),[dice]0[/dice][dice]1[/dice][dice]2[/dice] damage: [dice]3[/dice][dice]4[/dice][dice]5[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

William rushes to snatch up the fallen board, but in his haste he trips and falls.

OOC,Luck roll (65% stat) to grab the board: [dice]0[/dice]

[peper757]

Not wanting to give him any opportunity to recover, Thomas quickly launches himself at Robert.

Fist/Punch (60%),[dice]0[/dice] On hit: [dice]1[/dice]