Ch.12a. Arkham

[jp1885]

Rather than head out into the fields, Ivy decides to take a look in the barn.

[Philulhu]

The barn had large double doors facing the house, one of which was swinging freely in the wind with a rusty squeak of its hinges. Missing slats from the walls let in some light, but only in patches.

Through the doorway, Ivy could see stalls down the left side and a couple of broken down farm carts on the right. It appeared that someone had been working to fix them but the work had been interrupted and never finished. There was a smell of damp straw, rot, and something else that Ivy couldn’t quite put her finger on.

[jp1885]

Ivy slowly creeps into the barn, fully expecting to find dead livestock or even human corpses.

[Philulhu]

Can I have a Stealth roll, please?

[jp1885]

Stealth a whopping 20. [50] = 50
d%: [ 50 ] = 50

Unused to traipsing around barns, Ivy is not very quiet.

[Philulhu]

While the central part of the floor was packed earth, the floor to both sides was wooden planks. As Ivy stepped on one, it gave out a creak that sounded all the more loud for the hush in the barn.

In the stall furthest from the door, something stirred…

[jp1885]

Looking around for something to arm herself with, Ivy takes a step forward.

“Hello? Is anyone in here?” she calls.

[Philulhu]

There was no answer to Ivy’s call. As she stepped forward she saw something on the floor - the source of the rotten smell - a human body!

Can I have a SAN roll & spot hidden, please?

[jp1885]

SAN 71 pass [67] = 67
d%: [ 67 ] = 67
Spot hidden 65 fail [79] = 79
d%: [ 79 ] = 79

Having already seen two dead bodies recently, Ivy is not surprised to find another. However, the sight of the cadaver is enough to distract her from whatever else is lurking around.

[Philulhu]

As Ivy stepped around the putrescent corpse, she was startled by movement by her side! Her heart pounding, she almost fell but managed to grab ahold of the stall wall. Their was movement again, and a low whinnying noise and she realised that there was an emaciated-looking horse tied up in the last stall!

[jp1885]

Though no animal lover, horse riding was practically mandatory when Ivy was a girl, so she feels not a little sympathy for the horse.

“Oh you poor creature. Let’s get you out of here.”

Making what she hopes are soothing noises, she carefully unties the horse. If it is too weak to move, she will look for a pail of water and grass or hay to bring to the animal.

[Philulhu]

Ivy untied the horse and led the animal towards the barn doors. He seemed momentarily skittish so she put a hand on its flank to calm him, feeling his ribs protruding under her hand, except… except ribs weren’t horizontal?! With rising horror, she could see they weren’t ribs but reddish, pulsating tendrils emanating from a red-rimmed hole in the horse’s breast!

The horse neighed loudly and pushed Ivy with his head, causing her to stumble, before he reared up and struck out at her with his hooves!

Roll Dodge, please.

[jp1885]

Dodge 25
[27] = 27
d%: [ 27 ] = 27
If I can, I’d like to spend 2 luck (can’t remember what edition we’re playing!

[Philulhu]

We’re using 6th edition, so no luck spend unfortunately.

Horse - attack 1d100

Damage - 1d8+2d6

Oh, shit…

Ivy tried to get out of the way but the horse’s hooves crashed down upon her! She felt a horrendous pain in her skull and then everything went black… … …

Damn, that wasn’t the way I expected that to play out!

[Philulhu]

To survive, Ivy will need to make a CON roll and then a Luck roll to see if anyone arrives in time. If she survives, then she’s got a long road to recovery ahead.

[jp1885]

CON 65
[61] = 61
d%: [ 61 ] = 61

Luck 60
[2] = 2
d%: [ 2 ] = 2

[Philulhu]

As Ivy’s consciousness faded, she heard gunshots ring out and the sound of something heavy falling to the floor beside her. From far away, she heard, ”Oh my God! Miss! Miss! Stay with me, miss! Johnny - you go call an ambulance right now… … …”

Thanks to Ivy’s foresight in letting someone know where she was going, help arrived just in time to save her life. She did suffer a major wound though (a fractured skull), and it will be some weeks before she is up and about again. I’ll pm you about what we do next.

[Philulhu]