Track Three: A Whiter Shade of Pale

[Rooter]

On second thought, with the location and the photograph as evidence, Carson figures the smart thing to do is call his office and have the Company send in a clean-up team to deal with the device. Before heading back down the tunnel to find the others he scribbles a note and leaves it on the cage: Natasha-- Uncle Sam is on to you. Regards, Jack.

[jp1885]

With Zara tending to Liz and the mysterious voice hopefully distracted, Tony performs a more thorough search. He looks for some kind of control panel, lever or some kind of pipe work he could sabotage.

OOC:   Yes, Bill could use his feat of strength on the bars, perhaps calling out with his strong singing voice to Agent Carson for help.

[Mr. Handy]

"Why do you preserve women?" Liz asks the voice, hoping that the killer, like all egomaniacs, will want to brag. Then she takes out her chalk and begins the ritual, drawing the circle of protection around herself and performing the chant. A feather could knock her over at this point, and she needs all the protection she can get.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Zara pauses, then "Yes. I'm here to be prepared. But I don't know where to go. Where should I go to be prepared?"

"Ah, one comes of her own free will! It has been so long! Patience, my dear, and all will be revealed."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Lew looks around for the source of the voice.
"We haven't desecrated anything. However, we have come to retrieve our friend Moonflower."

Spoiler:

wis=10[dice]0[/dice]

While distracting the unseen speaker with this statement, Lew is able to examine the walls of the room. He discovers a sort of speaking tube, hidden between rocky protrusions in a dark part of the chamber. Obviously this, and others, provide the illusion that the voice comes from all directions. In fact, it appears that the speaker must be located just below this room.

"If she is truly your friend," the voice says in response, "then you must be pleased that she has been selected."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

On second thought, with the location and the photograph as evidence, Carson figures the smart thing to do is call his office and have the Company send in a clean-up team to deal with the device. Before heading back down the tunnel to find the others he scribbles a note and leaves it on the cage: Natasha-- Uncle Sam is on to you. Regards, Jack.

Carson is able to locate the others quickly, finding them engaged in a peculiar conversation with an unseen speaker, in a room currently sealed off by heavy metal bars.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

With Zara tending to Liz and the mysterious voice hopefully distracted, Tony performs a more thorough search. He looks for some kind of control panel, lever or some kind of pipe work he could sabotage.

Spoiler:

WIS =11[dice]0[/dice]

After a thorough search, Tony is able to locate a hidden door in an obscured corner of the room. While looking for a way it operate it, it opens on its own with a sound of machinery operating, revealing a small room, large enough to only accommodate one person in a very confined space.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"Why do you preserve women?" Liz asks the voice, hoping that the killer, like all egomaniacs, will want to brag. Then she takes out her chalk and begins the ritual, drawing the circle of protection around herself and performing the chant. A feather could knock her over at this point, and she needs all the protection she can get.

"How else can their beauty be conveyed to posterity? Would you allow paintings to be burned? Statues to be shattered? No, such exquisite works of art must be kept pure for eternity!

"I see that one of my guardians has injured you. A pity. You might have served. Well, no matter, now that there is one wise enough to appreciate the gift I offer her.

"Please enter the small room that has just now opened for you, 'thou still unravish'd bride.'"

(This last statement is apparently directed at Zara.)

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Spoiler:

Bill's Feat of Strength to open the bars. STR = 11 + 3 = 14[dice]0[/dice]

With a mighty effort of will, Bill calls upon reserves of power to force two of the bars apart far enough to allow escape from the room, breathing hard from the extraordinary difficulty of the task.

[SunlessNick]

Zara is shaking as she turns to Liz and whispers "Please find me," ... hugging herself, she walks to the room Tony opened.

[Mr. Handy]

Liz weakly gives Zara a hug. "We will," she says, then lowers her voice to a whisper. "Wait, let me cobble together a radio transmitter from these bits of electronics we've got first so we can track you down the same we we've been tracking the interference." Working between their bodies so that the Embalmer can't see what she's doing, she tries to assemble a small, simple transmitter to conceal on Zara's person.

OOC,Intelligence roll (14 + 1[Scientific Knowledge] = 15) to cobble together a transmitter: [dice]0[/dice]

[jp1885]

Tony's instinct is to stop Zara from entering the room, but he knows that forcing his will on the girl would make him no better than the disembodied voice. Instead, he clasps her hands as she passes him.

"Be careful..."

When he lets go, Zara will discover that he has palmed a small penknife to her.

As he edges towards Liz he addresses the voice.

"Quoting Keats eh? Zara is a person, not a Grecian urn! 'Beauty conveyed to posterity?' What utter rot! A woman's beauty comes from the vital spark within her, not from being pickled like a gherkin! Why, I'd rather enjoy an hour's company with a loving, laughing girl than an eternity with a tailor's dummy! No matter - you have your willing victim, so return Moonflower to us in return."

Meanwhile, if Bill has any breath left, perhaps he could sneak out and fill Carson in on what's been going on?

[SunlessNick]

When he lets go, Zara will discover that he has palmed a small penknife to her.

"Thankyou."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Because the small radio transmitter allows for sound transmission as well as tracking, the investigators will be aware of what is happening below them. (Zara will no doubt take what opportunities she can to whisper descriptions of what's going on into the transmitter.)

Below indeed, for once Zara steps into the small room the door closes with a loud bang, and the sensation of rapidly descending is felt. Down, down, for what seems like ages, but might only be seconds. The door then opens, revealing a room more expertly constructed than those above, with real walls of gleaming white, suggesting a hospital.

This is fitting, for the place is equipped like a surgical facility, although one of an eccentric kind. There are two operating tables surrounded by various kinds of equipment. One is currently unoccupied. Upon the other lies the young woman known as Moonflower. She is dressed in a loose, flowing, ankle-length white dress. (It will be remembered that all the women in the transparent cylinders were also arrayed in white, although in clothing of different periods of time.) She is very pale and appears to be unconscious, although can be seen to be breathing slowly. Two sets of intravenous sets are attached to her body. From one, blood flows out and into a large glass container. From the other, a white fluid drains into her body. Both liquids move at an extremely slow rate, drop by drop.

Standing nearby is a figure nearly completely hidden by heavy clothing, despite the fact the room is not at all cold. It wears a long, thick, black leather coat over woolen black shirt and pants, black leather boots, black leather gloves, and a large black leather hat which conceals the upper part of its head. Wrapped around the lower part of its face is a black woolen scarf. Its eyes are hidden by large goggles with black lenses. In one gloved hand it holds an old-fashioned cutthroat razor, held dangling casually with its blade exposed, as if it is something it always carries. Its voice, recognizable as that which was heard above, is strong and clear, despite the slight muffling of the scarf, and has a Middle European accent.

"Welcome," it says. "Your foppish companion entertained the foolish notion that I would loose this other bride. What, after I went to such effort to secure one of true purity? Those others, shameless ones who proved unworthy of preservation; I had to exsanguinate them with this primitive tool, decontaminate their foul flesh with ordinary chemicals, and toss them back into the fallen world above. Ah, but this one is fully deserving; as, no doubt, you are, as you as wise enough to have come here on your own. I presume you are unsullied by the touch of man."

He gestures with the razor-free hand to a small table not far away. Upon it lies a white mini-dress, sparkling with sequins, of modern design.

"If you would be so kind as to change into your bridal gown, we shall begin. I shall, of course, avert my eyes."

With that, he turns away.

[SunlessNick]

While he's looking away, Zara takes the chance to place the radio transmitter somewhere not obviously visible, so she doesn't have to keep hiding it on her person. She moves in the direction of the white dress, so he will hear her voice from where he expects. "How long have you been doing this? " She contemplates rushing him with the knife, but doesn't rate her chances - she'll slowly change into the dress, while trying to keep him talking - "How do you even survive down here?"

[jp1885]

Tony listens through Liz's cleverly constructed receiver as he helps tend to her wounds - foppish indeed!

His mind races. So the bodies that had been found were essentially rejects, not considered 'pure' enough. But for those who made the grade, they were obviously destined to spend their days as perfectly preserved works of art, no doubt displayed in the same tanks as the poor unfortunates in front of them.

What to do?

The white liquid, the embalming fluid, the blood... They all have to be stored somewhere... There must be storage tanks nearby, which surely means pipes, valves and wotnot. If they could be found and tampered with, then perhaps the fiendish process could be stopped...?

Similarly the hidden speaker discovered by Lew and the mechanism that controlled the secret elevator door - that means cables, power supplies, generators and control equipment. If these could be located...

Could the tanks in which the women are displayed be broken? The glass looked thick, but if weakened and given a good thump... No doubt it would risk the ire of the weird liquid creature, but it would delay the Embalmer's nefarious scheme... He fingers the pin which kept his cravat in place, running his thumb along the sharp surface of the diamond head. It wouldn't be the first time he'd used it to cut glass....

[Mr. Handy]

Liz whispers to Tony so that the Embalmer cannot overhear. "We've got to get down there somehow. He'll see if we use the shaft, but maybe there's another way."

[Starspawn338]

Lew squeezes his way through the bars and takes out his handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his head and neck. Just being out of that cage makes him breathe easier.
"The secret isn't inside the trapped room. There's got to be another way down." He mutters to himself.

OOC,Wis 10 [dice]0[/dice]

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

While he's looking away, Zara takes the chance to place the radio transmitter somewhere not obviously visible, so she doesn't have to keep hiding it on her person. She moves in the direction of the white dress, so he will hear her voice from where he expects. "How long have you been doing this? "

"Oh, quite a while indeed. I am pleased you take an interest in my work. I must confess that many of my early experiments failed completely. I was never able to successfully duplicate the work of that young Swiss student. Then there was that unpleasant business in Whitechapel. Well, no matter. All water under the bridge, as they say."

She contemplates rushing him with the knife, but doesn't rate her chances - she'll slowly change into the dress, while trying to keep him talking - "How do you even survive down here?"

With a chuckle, he replies "By hook and by crook, my curious little cat. Are you quite ready yet?"

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Tony listens through Liz's cleverly constructed receiver as he helps tend to her wounds - foppish indeed!

His mind races. So the bodies that had been found were essentially rejects, not considered 'pure' enough. But for those who made the grade, they were obviously destined to spend their days as perfectly preserved works of art, no doubt displayed in the same tanks as the poor unfortunates in front of them.

What to do?

The white liquid, the embalming fluid, the blood... They all have to be stored somewhere... There must be storage tanks nearby, which surely means pipes, valves and wotnot. If they could be found and tampered with, then perhaps the fiendish process could be stopped...?

Similarly the hidden speaker discovered by Lew and the mechanism that controlled the secret elevator door - that means cables, power supplies, generators and control equipment. If these could be located...

Spoiler:

wis = 11[dice]0[/dice]

A thorough search reveals a secluded part of the wall, behind which one can hear the whirring of machinery when one places an ear upon it. There is no obvious way to gain access to what lies behind it.

Could the tanks in which the women are displayed be broken? The glass looked thick, but if weakened and given a good thump... No doubt it would risk the ire of the weird liquid creature, but it would delay the Embalmer's nefarious scheme... He fingers the pin which kept his cravat in place, running his thumb along the sharp surface of the diamond head. It wouldn't be the first time he'd used it to cut glass....

Experiment shows that the glass can indeed be cut with diamond. It is, however, quite thick, and breaking through would require intense labor for some hours.