Chapter 12: The Dog-Thing

[HoneyDog]

Saturday 5th November, 1881

Malbray Asylum, Hackney Wick


The past few days have seen the companions preparing for the coming confrontation with the ‘dog-thing’ of Joan Bayldon’s nightmares, as well as caring for the inmates of the asylum. Joan herself has been undergoing treatment by Dr. Blessing, and is beginning to regain her memories.

The Crux Ansata has been constructed after much effort, leaving Isolde exhausted but ready. Likewise, Alexander and Dr. Vandorff have produced six batches of the Baneful Dust of Hermes Trismegistus.

Around mid-morning on the 5th, Joan begins to shake.

“I can feel it coming” she says. “It won’t wait any longer, and I can’t delay it anymore. We need to get ready.”

As the dining room is the largest, Rolf clears the furniture away to provide enough space for everyone to move freely. A fire is lit and supplies of food and drink provided. Greta wishes to be present but Rolf forbids her, telling her that someone needs to be able to look after the inmates should things go wrong. A sullen Dr. Vandorff is wheeled in. Joan sits patiently, staring at the fire and occasionally shivering, while Blessing watches her anxiously.

Isolde,Isolde loses 5 MP in constructing the Crux, but she will regain these when she wields it. She still needs to roll 1d6 SAN loss for its construction though. Just subtract the result from your total – we’ll say that the loss is spread out over the course of the last couple of days to avoid any temporary insanity. Isolde needs to chant an incantation written in Mysteries. It will take 3 rounds to complete. It is basically a match between your Magic Points and the creature’s. The others will be able to expend one MP each to help. If successful, it will drive the creature away, and it will not bother you again for a number of days. The banishment is not permanent though.

OOC,There are 6 batches of the Dust, each requiring a successful Throw for full effect. A failed Throw will still have an effect, though much reduced. All the NPC’s have standard 25% score for Throw. Be warned, there’s no way of knowing for sure if the Dust will be effective until you try it. Making it is an imprecise science! Once you have decided on your actions, we can begin.

[Mr. Handy]

Alexander stands ready with a batch of the Dust, waiting for the monster to appear so he can douse it.

OOC,I think each batch contains 8 uses of the Dust. I'm the only one of us who actually has a Throw skill above base. I think I successfully used it in a previous adventure.

[HoneyDog]

OOC,Here, you only get 2 doses per batch. You have 6 batches, so that hopefully should be enough.

[aine]

Isolde bids everyone stand in a loose semi circle with herself at the apex. For once there are no theatrics. Isolde is pale- faced and grim. She is feeling tired from the effort of creating the Crux and hopes she has the strength to fend the creature off.

“I will start the incantation when the creature arrives. Whatever happens you must keep your thoughts focused on me for as long as possible; your strength will aid me whilst I cast the spell; only together will we have the power to defeat the creature.
“I fear this will be the greatest challenge the seekers have ever faced; be stalwart, brave companions!”

As soon as everyone is ready, Isolde holds the Crux out in front of her.

Sanity loss,0

[HoneyDog]

OOC,You can't use the Crux until the creature arrives. I edited the above post. You all might want to be sure of your roles by the time the creature arrives.

[Philulhu]

Vic had tried to prepare herself as best she can. Without thought for modesty, she had stripped to her breeches and a man’s shirt that she had found in one of the linen cupboards. She’d even rolled the up the sleeves so her bare arms were showing.

She weighed the dust in her hand, hoping that when it came to it, she would be up for the challenge and wouldn’t let herself, or her fellow Seekers, down.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Here, you only get 2 doses per batch. You have 6 batches, so that hopefully should be enough.

OOC,I hope so too, but the dice roller is notorious. We could easily miss every single time. Yes, a miss still does a little damage, but we'll need at least one actual hit.

[Mephistophilis]

Harry stands nervously in the semi circle, one hand resting on the revolver in his pocket, the other holding some of the dust. He focuses his attention on Isolde. 'Ready.'

[Snapper]

Crozier:

The Captain lights a cigar and clenched it between his teeth.

"Come here, dog. Let's be having you."

He gets ready to throw dust.

[HoneyDog]

The afternoon draws on, and the shadows lengthen. The room begins to chill as the light goes out of the day. The companions lose some of their readiness as time goes on, and begin to pace.

The occupants grow restless, but Joan in particular becomes ever more agitated. As darkness falls, she suddenly gets to her feet.

“Oh god!” she moans, pointing to a corner of the room by the door.

Smoke is beginning to issue forth, accompanied by a faint bluish light. Something which looks like an appendage, a paw perhaps, is somehow coming out of the corner where the walls meet. It is accompanied by a long, black whip-like – could it be a tongue? Something like jaws, eschewing a blue ichor. There are no eyes, yet all the occupants in the room know that it is seeing them. It fixates upon Joan, but also seems to recognize Vandorff. Jaws flex, and the whip-like tongue flicks.

Shrouded in the smoke, the thing begins to move into the room.

Joan shrieks in terror, falling to the floor. She screams and screams, covering her eyes. She is terrified beyond words.

Blessing too gasps in horror and fear, but seeing his love succumb to mortal terror, he quickly shields her with his body.

Vandorff sits rigid. His mouth drops open and his jaw is slack. His hands grip the wheels of his chair. A soft keening noise issues from his throat.

Rolf crosses himself with his free hand, and starts to pray in his native language. But he stands tall, unmoving in the face of the beast.

Melody also staggers in shock, but she doesn’t flee. She raises a hand to her mouth to stifle a scream, trying to make sense of what she sees.

OOC,You'll need to roll SAN. If you pass, 1d3 loss, but if you fail, it's 1d20.

[Philulhu]

SAN roll,SAN (64%) - 0 SAN loss - 1

”My God!” whispered Vic, her insides churning with fear. She wanted to run, to be anywhere other than here with that... that thing, but more than anything, she wanted to prove that she was the match for anyone, so she stood her ground, fists clenched until her nails dug into the palms and she could feel blood start to trickle from her hands...

[aine]

Sanity,440 1

To see the dog-thing actually materialise and thus prove the truth written in Mysteries is almost too much for Isolde. She staggers with the shock and realisation and puts her hand out onto Crozier’s arm to steady herself. She also knows the desperate danger they are all in and she whispers the incantation and then speaks louder and with more conviction.

[Mephistophilis]

Harry Sanity 51%,0

San loss,1

Harry watches with a mixture of horror and fascination as the beast starts to materialise. The alienness of it, the way it seems unbound by natural geometry, it strains at his sanity but also, in a way, there is something comforting in the strangeness, almost like it isn't real. A practical man, Harry is more disturbed by tangible, solid things, like automata, ugh, horrible things he thinks to himself, his mind wandering, slipping, and unable to fully grasp the unreality of what he sees.

[Mr. Handy]

Alexander is shocked but not stunned by the monster before him. Prepared for it, he moves to throw some of the Dust on it.

OOC,Sanity roll (current level 87) for seeing the creature: 0 Sanity loss: 1 Do I roll Throw now, or does it go first?

[Snapper]

Crozier:

SAN 60%,0

SAN Loss,1

Uttering sailor oaths that would peel the paint from the walls, the Captain moves to partially shield Isolde with his body while getting ready to throw dust.

[HoneyDog]

OOC,Well done, everyone. The rolls went well this time.

As the creature advances into the room, the smoke follows it, making it hard to realise it’s features. As the companions recoil in shock and terror, the thing’s tongue lashes out and strikes Vandorff, who still sits rigidly in his chair. The tongue caresses his face, probing his orifices, seeming to draw from him. Vandorff begins to shudder, then shake violently.

OOC,Order of attack with the Dust: Crozier Blessing Vic Alexander Rolf Harry

[Snapper]

Crozier:

Throw 25%,0 [ooc]Success![/ooc]

The Captain roars a curse at the dog-thing, including suggestions that its parents were not lawfully wed, its mother was a lady (bitch?) of negotiable virtue, the creature itself resembles the used underwear of said lady of negotiable virtue, and that somewhere in its heritage lies a rat ancestor.

As he does so, he hurls the dust at it.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Nice! 8-) I take back all the bad things I said about the dice roller.

[HoneyDog]

OOC,[url=https://orokos.com/roll/879196]Dust damage[/url]: [u]2d6[/u] [b]9[/b]

The dust hits the creature. It lets out a roar of what must be pain – its body twitches and it begins to writhe, limbs flailing. The black tongue flicks around in spasms. It backs away as it smokes and burns from the corrosive dust, its features bubbling and roiling. It is a horrible sight to behold.

OOC,All roll SAN! If you fail, 1d3 loss.

[Philulhu]

OOC,SAN roll (61%) - 0

Vic recoiled at the sight in front of her but knew she had to act. Steadying her nerve, she threw the dust at the writhing mass in front of her, hoping that her aim was true!

OOC,Throw (25%) - 1 Edit: Shite...