IC - 25 - Paperwork - Everyone

[Mr. Handy]

"Agreed," says Jocelyn, "only perhaps I should drive this time."

[Philulhu]

”Thanks,” said Kris. “Now let’s see what we’ve got.”

He headed out the door and walked over to the vehicle, giving it a quick once over as he did so, eyeing the tyres and the bodywork to see if there were any immediate problems.

[Mr. Handy]

Jocelyn also inspects the van.

[Mephistophilis]

It's a pretty standard white panel van, about five years old judging by the registration. A few dents and lumps in the bodywork, some rusting around the door frame. From the outside it looks like it'd get you to Slough okay. Kris unlocks the van and peers inside the cab. It's a bit scratched and dirty, with a copy of the Sun newspaper on the dashboard, but otherwise seems serviceable. There's only two seats in the front, someone will need to sit in the back, which isn't quite legal.

Opening the rear doors to reveal the back of the van, it's full of old pain tins, brushes, rollers, overalls and paint-splattered sheets. There's just about room for someone to squeeze in the back and hold on tight. You wouldn't want to be in there if someone turned the van over, but that's unlikely to happen.

[Mr. Handy]

"It'll do," says Jocelyn, slipping into the driver's seat, fastening her seatbelt, and starting the motor.

[Silver Priest]

"I suppose I will sit in the back," Simon offers, squeezing in.

[Philulhu]

”Well volunteered, Simon!” quipped Kris, taking the (relative) comfort of the passenger seat. “Follow the road the Slough and I’ll give you direction as we get closer,” he said to Jocelyn.

He picked up the Sun from the dashboard and started turning the pages, looking to see if there was anything of interest.

[Mephistophilis]

As Jocelyn puts the van into gear and reverses out of the parking space, Kris opens up the Sun and after skimming a story about unseasonable weather in the home counties, he starts reading an article about the rescue of Regina Balfour and questions that have been raised about the heavy handed police actions and death or her kidnapper. There's another article about the Reverend Balfour's church and the increasing interest in their predictions of the end of the world next Tuesday night.

Jocelyn pulls out onto the A355 and joins the flow of traffic towards Slough. Sitting in the back Simon manages to hang on without sliding about too much. It takes her about fifteen minutes of uneventful driving to arrive at the outskirts of Slough and follow Kris's directions to his sister-in-law. They're all unnerved to see that the blackout now seems to extend to Slough as there are no lights to be seen.

They pull up outside the address Kris has provided. He's been here before so knows they're in the right place. There's no visible lights on in the house.

Roll Spot Hidden if you'd like

[Philulhu]

”Bloody shitrag!” grumbled Kris, folding the newspaper irritably and throwing it in the back of the van. He looked up as they pulled up in front of his sister-in-law’s house. “What’s happened to the lights?” he asked, peering out the window.

Spot hidden (40%) 1d100

[Mr. Handy]

"The lights are probably out here for the same reason they're out all around us," says Jocelyn as she looks around, her eyes perfectly adjusted to the dark. "The outage has spread."

Spot Hidden roll (60% skill) outside the house:
d%

[Silver Priest]

"Balfour's doing, no doubt." Simon mutters. "He's always been one step ahead of us. We need to start thinking about taking the initiative. Perhaps we should contact Lucy Bates; she may be one of the few who realizes we need to stop Balfour by any means necessary."

1d100

[Mr. Handy]

"If we can get a connection, we'll give her a call tonight," says Jocelyn.

[Philulhu]

“Let’s go and find out,” said Kris, opening the van door and looking up to check the sky before he got out.

[Mephistophilis]

All the houses in the street are indeed dark, the power outage clearly having spread to the town. But Jocelyn notices that while most of the other houses seem to have flickering candles or bright mobile phone lights flashing from inside, Prisha's house is completely black.

Climbing out the van and looking up into the night sky, Kris is relieved to see the clouds dissipating and a bright moon and stars casting a silvery light over the street. It's quite impressive how much more you can see of the stars and constellations when the lights are out.

[Philulhu]

Kris walked quickly up the path and knocked on the door. ”Prish! Brian! It’s Kris!” he called through the door.

[Mephistophilis]

As Kris knocks on the door he realises it wasn't even shut, and it slowly swings open, revealing the silent, black house.

[Philulhu]

”Shit!”

With a sinking feeling, Kris lit the torch on his phone then flicked out his Asp, using it to push open the door and look inside.

[Mr. Handy]

Jocelyn stands ready with her mace to back up Kris, also concerned that something has happened due to the absence of any light.

[Silver Priest]

"I have a bad feeling about this," Simon says,stating the obvious.

[Mephistophilis]

Entering the hallway and flashing around his mobile phone torch, Kris can't see anything obviously untoward, the house is still. He moves through to the living room, there's no one there, then across to the dining room. Empty. There's placemats, mugs, and half full glasses on the table. Kris feels one of the mugs, not warm but there's a faint heat left in it.

Can you give me a Sanity roll 0/1 due to fear as to what has happened to the family.

There's a faint noise, not easy to make out, but it's coming from the rear of the house - the kitchen or maybe the garden - it sounds like laughter.