[IC] Chapter 4: The Wergyn Estate

[Mr. Handy]

"I don't think we should stray from the path," says Cynthia. "If this is an illusion, its purpose is probably to get us to do precisely that."

[jp1885]

I presume the gentlemen of the party are not so gauche as to allow Miss Knight to proceed alone?

The figure does not react as you advance up the path, but remains stationary, head still tilted quizzically.

Keeper only,[dice]0[/dice]

OOC:Wow, you’ve all just made a successful medicine check - I rolled a 1!

As you draw nearer, it doesn’t take a doctorate in biology to see that the figure’s neck is obviously snapped. His head (for you can tell that it is male), lolls at a right-angle to how it should be.

To heap horror upon horror, a fetid breeze stirs the mist enough to reveal the fellow’s scarred face...

...it is your companion Mr. Pritchard...

Please make a SAN roll; 1/1d6.

[Mr. Handy]

Cynthia barely manages to suppress a scream.

OOC,Sanity roll (current level 76) for seeing the corpse: [dice]0[/dice]

[Whitehorse]

My god, Pritchard was gruesome enough when he was alive...

Current San =44,[dice]0[/dice]

[Whitehorse]

Gruesome, gruesome, gruuuuesome...

Grigori can feel bile rising up in his chest...

San loss...,[dice]0[/dice]

[jp1885]

Mr. Tereshchenko, your scream is of a higher pitch than one might expect, whereas Miss Knight, you hold your nerve.
While we await Professor Garrett's response, please ponder upon how you wish to proceed.

[LTD1969]

SAN: 54

[dice]0[/dice]


Lose 1 SAN - a most disquieting experience but I've kept my head, unlike the late Mr Pritchard.

[jp1885]

Bravo Professor. Clearly you are a man of strong nerves!

The ghastly figure before you seems to be standing unaided on the path. However the undergrowth either side appears to have been trampled down, so it is possible to walk around the cadaver without risking entanglement.

[Mr. Handy]

"What's keeping him on his feet?" Cynthia wonders aloud, taking a closer look at the corpse.

[LTD1969]

"Perhaps he's propped up at the back, like a scarecrow?"

[jp1885]

As far as you can tell (without getting too close to the late Mr. Pritchard), there is nothing keeping the corpse up. It is as if he is standing unsupported. Dead on his feet, if you will.

Inspecting the trampled area suggests that the undergrowth has simply been trampled by someone running around, as if in panic. Your former companion perhaps.

Another gust draws the mist behind him open like a tattered curtain, revealing the entrance to the ruined church - a dark, ragged maw of a hole, set in a crumbling wall.

[Whitehorse]

"I can't believe Pritchard is dead, it's another of those abomnible delusions I'll warrant!"

Grigori picks takes his stick and swishes it in front of him, as if at some angry bees, and approaches what he takes to be a phantasm, testing its materiality by force...

[jp1885]

Grigori, your stick strikes the cadaver with a solid, if sickly sounding, thwack.

[Mr. Handy]

"Not an illusion, then," says Cynthia with a shiver. "Let's enter the ruined church without delay. We have to confront the villain behind this and stop him!"

[LTD1969]

Assuming we manage to get past the late Mr Pritchard. I'll look back in his direction a few times as we approach the church, just in case he suddenly comes after us. He may not be alive, but I'm not completely sure he's dead.

[jp1885]

It is a short walk to the ruins of the church (looking back, Professor Garrett, it appears that the late Mr. Pritchard has not moved, although a spot hidden roll would say for sure).

The outer walls have crumbled to such an extent that there are several ways into the interior, which, judging by what remains, bears the hallmarks of an early medieval church.

Mr. Tereshchenko,This place reminds you of somewhere... You realise with a start that this is the scene of your dream! Looking closely... yes, there is the yawning gap where once the stained-glass window illuminated the pious. The fact that the place you dreamed of is actually real disturbs you greatly. Are the other horrible visions you and your companions have suffered also real? Please make a SAN roll (1/1d4).

The trappings of the church have long since perished and little can be discerned among the rubble save the pulpit, a smashed altar and a stone structure of some kind on a raised dais.

[Mr. Handy]

"Let's get inside and find the entrance to the crypt," says Cynthia. "Maybe by the altar?"

[jp1885]

On inspection, the smashed altar appears to be exactly that: a broken stone.

Perhaps a history or archaeology roll might help at this juncture?

Success,From your knowledge of churches of this period, you know that small rural churches like this usually lacked crypts. However important personages were often buried below their tombs. The stone structure on the dais may well be such a thing, but is currently obscured by rubble so you cannot be sure.

[Mr. Handy]

"There could be a priest hole hidden in here," says Cynthia. "Such things were common in the time of the dissolution. But that's likely to be too small. These types of churches didn't tend to have crypts, but there may be an individual tomb. Let's examine that stone structure. We may be able to tell more about it if we clear away the rubble."

OOC,History roll (60% skill) about the church: [dice]0[/dice]

[Whitehorse]

"This place is exactly that of the horrible dream... That gap is where the stained-glass window once illuminated the pious...!"

Current San =42,[dice]1[/dice]

[dice]0[/dice]