Ch.12b. Caught somewhere in time

[Silver Priest]

1d100 Climb 40

1d100 Jump 25

1d100 luck 75 if needed (I believe it's pow*5?)

Alex loses his balance while walking down, but is able to jump to safety and softens his fall.

OOC:   So I slipped but was able to jump to avoid damage, but if it matters I failed my luck roll so my gun may have gone flying. Up to you GM!

[Philulhu]

Is there an issue with the dice roller? I can’t see any of your rolls.

Brophy (climb) 1d100
Damage (1d6/3) 1d6

Edit: I can see mine above, so not sure what the problem is.

William came down with a bump as his feet slipped on the steps, landing heavily at the bottom. Brophy’s mocking laughter was cut short as he then suffered the same fate, landing in an awkward heap. Forewarned, Lawrence and Alex were able to negotiate the steps without injury, although Alex stumbled as he landed, putting his hand out to steady himself against the wall and losing his revolver in the process, which skittered away across the floor and away into the darkness…

By the light of William’s torch, they could see that they were in a room that looked to have been hewn from the rock upon which the house had stood. It was approximately twenty feet square, with a doorway in the far corner leading further on. The walls were damp and thick with green mould.

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   I can't see any rolls unless I'm logged in, but after that I have no issue.

Alex curses as the gun falls out of his hand, then turns a bit crimson. He won't deny a tiny bit of pleasure at seeing Brophy's misfortune, however.

"Can you shine the light over there?" he asks William, gesturing to the patch of darkness the gun had slid into. "I'd like to retrieve my weapon before we proceed."

[Philulhu]

“Oh, let me help you!” said Brophy dryly, although he made no move in the direction where Alex’s gun had disappeared into the darkness.

[Mr. Handy]

"No thank you," says William, rising painfully to his feet and shining his light on the gun. "We'll get it ourselves."

I can also only see rolls when I'm logged in, but it may depend on your browser.

[Bullfrog]

"What exactly are we looking for in here, Brophy?" Lawrence inquires as he approaches the door; the old cultist must have left something of value in the basement before he fled for the Americas.

[Philulhu]

“Somewhere down here, my master carved a pentagram into the floor of one of the rooms. A bit melodramatic, if you ask me, but it should suit our purposes in sending you home,” replied Brophy.

Once Alex had recovered his gun, Brophy asked William to shine the torchlight around the room. He looked at the floor and shook his head. “It isn’t here,” he said. “It must be further in,” and he indicated for them to make their way into the next room.

[Mr. Handy]

William leads the way, shining the light ahead of them. "Who is your master?" he asks.

[Silver Priest]

Relieved to have possession of the gun once again, Alex proceeds on. He's trying to put on a brave face for the others, and not think about what is coming.

[Philulhu]

“A man called Thomas Lee” replied Brophy. “My late brother and I were orphans. Thomas took us in and gave us a home…”. He stopped walking and looked around, sounding almost wistful.

“Sounds ideal, doesn’t it? It wasn’t! He was a vile, murdering bastard. He stole us from the orphanage and treated us like dogs. He almost beat me to death, until Robert broke his arm. He could never forgive Robert for that, so we fled because he wouldn’t rest until he had his revenge. We came by some tickets to America and that was our chance to start again in the new world. The rest…” He shrugged.

[Bullfrog]

"Is he the one that introduced you to that thing you worship, or did that come later?" Lawrence asks, not very moved by Brophy's tale of woe; it seemed to contrast with the story the librarian told, which called the veracity of both accounts into question. "Does the name Aggie Skerne mean anything to you?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Why haven't you used your ability to travel through time to prevent that from happening?" asks William.

[Philulhu]

“Yes, that was Thomas’ doing,” replied Brophy to Lawrence. “I don’t know how he first came across Gla’aki but he introduced us. I think he thought we would make good servants, like your friend James, but my brother and I were too powerful by then. Old Aggie had been teaching us a bit about the old ways but wasn’t happy when she found out about Thomas messing about with Gla’aki. She had it out with Thomas but he just laughed at her. When she tried to stop him, he murdered her niece, made it look like some sort of ritual that went wrong and pinned the blame on Aggie. Things were so bad in the town by then - crops blighted, people going missing - that the folks were all to ready to believe that a witch lived among them and had to be punished. Not really sure what happened to Thomas after that, but Aggie had a big family and they wanted revenge so Robert and I decided to start afresh elsewhere…”

Brophy tailed off as if lost in thought, seeming more human than in all the time that they had known him. After a moment, he glanced at William. “As for travelling through time, Mr Preston, it takes a lot of energy and many weeks of preparation. Because of my links to this place, I was able to travel here, but I hadn’t planned to arrive at this time. We were relatively fortunate to arrive somewhere where we didn’t stand out too much - if we had turned up in medieval times, we could have been accused of witchcraft and burned to death.”

[Mr. Handy]

"Does that mean that when we go back in time, we'll arrive in this same place?" asks William. "And you can't be sure of the time at the destination? When were you trying to go?"

[Silver Priest]

Alex listens to Brophy's story. As a detective, he's heard worse, but part of him does feel something approaching sympathy for the man, though it is dwarfed by his actions.

"You could have had that second chance, Mr. Brophy-- yet you chose to torment innocent people. I don't know how many people you've killed; I don't know if you know. Now you're being given a third chance, which is rare indeed. I hope you will make the most of it, Sir.."

[Philulhu]

“If you recall, I was interrupted…” Brophy said dryly. “Without you, I could have been far away by now.” He frowned and paused, looking around. “The spell will take you somewhere you have a strong connection - I should think that’s home, wouldn’t you? We shouldn’t be disturbed so what can go wrong?”

At Alex’s question, he smirked. “I guess we’re going to find out, aren’t we?”

[Mr. Handy]

"That would be Boston, then," says William. "That's good. I left my passport at home."

[Bullfrog]

"Boston or Arkham; either way, we'll be in Massachusetts." Lawrence observes; now that he thought of it, what would he even do when he got back home, presuming that Brophy even held up his end of the deal? He'd have to explain why the detective was missing, and there was no way in hell any authorities would believe a story involving time travel. It was times like this Lawrence was glad to have a lawyer acquaintance.
"Anyways, let's get going. I want this over with as soon as possible."

[Philulhu]

Brophy pushed on, leading them deeper into the cellars under the house. The ceilings were low but vaulted, and at one time must have been quite impressive but were now mildewed and rotten. After a while, the brick-walked cellars gave way to the hewn-rock walls of what would once have been natural caverns until they were shaped by human hands many decades before.

Muttering to himself, Brophy cast about, looking for something he couldn’t find.“If you want to get home, I suggest you help me look,” he grumbled in an aggrieved tome. “Somewhere in here there should be a symbol carved into the floor within a ring. If you can’t find it, we’re not going anywhere.”

[Bullfrog]

"Shine your light on the floor, William." Lawrence requests, crouching down to inspect the dusty stone and to feel for the indentation the carved pentagram would likely leave in the floor.
"If this time-travelling thing is a spell, that must mean that magic, or something like it, is real; it wouldn't be the craziest thing I've found myself forced to believe in the past few months."

https://www.orokos.com/roll/909707