Play@YSDC

Nicole rushes into Montrose's room. She struggles to see in the poor light but her hands touch a pool of something that feels sticky. The smell this close is overwhelming, sickly sweet, putrid, sulphurous, she gags on the taste, like rancid meat.

In the dark she scrabbles over Montrose's body which feels shrivelled and wasted through his clothes. She can just about make out his head and she grasps it in her hands. Her fingers stretch up the side of his face and the tips feel a sharp and jagged ridge. Gingerly she slips her fingers higher, where the top of his skull should be is something yielding and repellent.

Nicole,Roll Sanity 1/1d6

OOC,Damn, sorry I'm quite embarrassed that another week has passed. RL :oops: If it's okay with you, lets say that Nicole botched her SAN check, lost the full 6 points and then blacked out until now (whenever that is). She comes back around with her hand still in Montrose's brains - yuck. So 49 Sanity remaining. I'll change this if you prefer. Sorry again. :oops:

Nicole comes back to her senses with her hand inside something sticky, it takes her a moment to remember that it's the gory remains of David's head.

She quickly withdraws her hand and sits up shakily.

"CENTRAL what happened? Where is everyone?"

OOC:   Are the lights on?

The last thing Nicole can remember is the almost complete darkness of Montrose's room and the yielding, jellylike sensation of her fingers dipping into his shattered brain tissue.

-----

Slowly she begins to regain her awareness. Her head throbs, a faint light begins to spread in her vision, or is it just in her mind?

...

Gradually, painfully, Nicole forces open her eyelids, the lights are on in Montrose's room and her gaze is drawn to the red lens of CENTRAL.



"CENTRAL what happened? Where is everyone?" she asks.

The cool, emotionless voice of CENTRAL, 'Hello Marshal Favre, welcome to Barnard's Rest. There was a temporary disruption to power supplies but these are now operating within normal parameters. Your colleagues are currently in the Commercial Sector.'

Nicole gingerly pulls her hands away from the mess that remains of Montrose's head. She can barely recognise him, not least because the whole top of his skull has been blasted off leaving a ragged bloody hole and a matching entry wound at the base of his neck. A shotgun lies in the middle of a pool of congealed blood and Nicole can see bits of tissue and blood smeared across the ceiling and hanging down in stringy chunks. To the side of the body are several shotgun cartridges which appear to have been opened.

The smell is as bad as she remembers, a mixture of rotting meat and something sweeter but even more repulsive.

Looking over Montrose he is wasted compared to the well built man she knew. His face looks emaciated, pallid, his eyes sunken pits. There are red patches on the skin, welts and sores, at the base of these she can see an almost mineral-like scaling. But what is striking is that parts of his face, most of his arms, and what upper chest she can see above the open collar of his shirt are covered with blotches of a strange powdery substance, an olive or even khaki colour, it looks to have a texture like fine sand or dust but with a slightly filamentous surface, like microscopic hairs.

OOC,Okay, let's say Nicole lost the full 6pts, went temporarily insane, and now, not unreasonably in the circumstances, has developed Scotophobia: Fear of darkness or of the night. Roll Firearms Rifle/Shotgun to interpret what happened given there are only riot shotguns supposed to be on Titan

OOC,Firearms - Rifle/Shotgun (35%): [dice]0[/dice] Failed the test.

Nicole takes a few photos of the scene, including closeups of the fibrous growths, which she's no expert on. Then she will queasily take a look around all the rooms of David's apartment.

She holds her handgun in her right hand and her datapad in the other to capture video footage of all the rooms.

OOC,I'll roll a single spot hidden here in case there's anything hard to spot. Spot Hidden (60%): [dice]1[/dice]

Searching Montrose's quarters does not reveal much out of the ordinary except for a dozen empty bottles of whiskey. It is a fairly standard corporate apartment, furnished like the suite Nicole was given. It is generally untidy and it is clear Montrose has not had anything other than junk food for days, probably hasn't even moved out of the bedroom from the look of it. The apartment smells stale (where it doesn't smell of putrescence), the bedding is crumpled and frankly looks soiled, and not just with blood. However, lifting the mattress Nicole finds a loose bundle of papers covered in handwritten notes.

OOC,Good roll, here's the link to Montrose's notes: [url]https://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/pbp/viewtopic.php?f=472&t=7217&p=244634#p244634[/url]

Nicole photographs the notes, then puts them into an evidence bag and pockets them.

She closes the door and begins making her way towards the Commercial Sector.

"CENTRAL, Sergeant Montrose's apartment is a crime scene, no one is to access it without my authorisation.
Please connect me to Nurse Richards."

'Hello Marshal Favre, I am placing Sergeant Montrose's apartment under a Colonial Marshal Service cordon. Placing a call to the Medical Centre...' answers CENTRAL.

After a momentary delay she hears 'Nurse Richards here, how can I help?'

"Nurse Richards, I am afraid that Sergeant Montrose has taken his own life," Nicole pauses for a moment to keep emotions out of her own voice, "I'd like you to have his body moved to the morgue, but it might constitute a...

"...a biological hazard. Are you equipped to store his body safely?"

ooc,I don't have any surprises to spring in this conversation, and once it's wrapped up I'm hoping to rejoin some or all of the others. She'll make her way to commercial sector.

Nurse Richard's voice comes over the speakers, 'What happened? I mean, yes, yes, we have a Level 2 biological safety rating. That should cover most pathogens. Why, what is the biological hazard?' He pauses for a second, 'Look, I think I'd better discuss this with the doctor, he's here with me...'

There is some indistinct conversation then Richard's voice again comes over clearly, 'Marshal Favre, I will initiate a Level 2 biological incident and collect Sergeant Montrose's body. Unless you have any objections Dr Johnson?'

After securing the scene, Nicole makes her way over to the Commercial Sector. The walkways have returned to their usual level of traffic with dolled up administrative staff and off duty methane miners heading out for the evening. CENTRAL's ARMs buzzing around the corridors.

The commercial district is much more brightly lit than the usual corridors but the odd oily smell that permeates the colony seems even stronger here. There are a number of shops selling clothes, groceries, and so on but it seems the options for refreshment are somewhat limited. There are a number of off-duty colony staff milling about, from the way they're swaying quite a few seem to be half-cut already.

A utilitarian building branches off from the middle of the street, above the entrance is a sign stating 'Refectory' in the standard corporate font of Richter Dynamics used throughout the colony. A number of people are heading in and out of it.

At the near end of the wide corridor stands a half-lit neon sign saying 'The Claim Jumper' above a dull metal building with small, grubby windows. Presumably it is some kind of bar and a few men stand outside smoking.

The far end of the street looks a bit grimier than the near side, the most obvious feature is a gaudy sign that reads 'Jack’s Play' alongside two figures in neon, a man and a woman both half clothed. The building itself is brightly painted in pink and white but the windows seem blacked out and a man dressed in a black suit is stood outside.

The nearest CENTRAL fish-eye camera lens is a few feet away, fixed to the corridor wall. CENTRAL's synthesised feminine voice responds, the sound seemingly projected from the walls to a focal point around where Nicole is standing. 'Hello Marshal Favre. Doctor Johnson is in the Medical Centre. Pilot Ling and Safety Inspector Goodkind are in the Visiting Corporate Apartments. Systems Engineer Garcia, Executive Officer Steinmann, Engineer Golightly, and Science Officer Khan are in the Commercial District. Please indicate if you would like to override privacy protocols to obtain an exact location in the Commercial District.'

OOC,I think that's right!

"Yes please CENTRAL, I need to locate those who are the commercial sector."

OOC,Metagaming, I'm expecting some or all of them to be inside Jacks Play - purely from the thread titles. If everyone is in there, Nichole will immediately walk across to the men stood outside, say who she is and who she's looking for. If they're split up, those in the commercial sector are split up, then I'll wait and see who is where before moving.

'Executive Officer Steinmann, Engineer Golightly, and Science Officer Khan are in 'Jack's Play'. Systems Engineer Garcia is in 'The Claim Jumper.'

While Nicole is taking to CENTRAL she sees the bus-like vehicle she took from the shuttle. It parks outside Jack's Play and two men get out. They look like security officers.

OOC,Spot Hidden please

Nicole Spot Hidden 60%,0

The two security officers seem to be having an argument with a man who is trying to enter Jack's Play. There is a scuffle, they seem to strike him with something, and he goes down. Several people come out of Jack's Play and start talking with the security officers. They look an awful lot like Kiara and Sam and they're shortly followed by a man who could well be Virgil. Now she looks more carefully, Nicole thinks one of the security officers is Tyson.

Nicole jogs over to where the others are gathered.

OOC,Just going to NPC Nicole to join the others in this thread: [url]https://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/pbp/viewtopic.php?f=472&t=7334#p246301[/url]