January 07 - Paris - Ward 7

[Mr. Handy]

"We're looking for the pieces of a statue," says Felicity, who also knows French, in the same language. "We aren't planning to kill anyone."

One of my Languages will be French.

[Mephistophilis]

Andrew notes the location of the pickaxe and carefully closes the door. Perhaps 'the man below' escaped in a rather more mundane manner than he had been speculating. 'And how exactly did you help this gentleman below leave the hospital?' he asks, innocently.

[SaintMeerkat]

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Archie held up his hands showing they were empty and shaking his head. The man's outburst causes him to lose his focus momentarily, and he struggles to find his French again. He takes a deep breath and continues, haltingly in French. "Please...my friend is correct. We are not going to hurt anyone. Not you, and not him."

"We just want the statue pieces. That's all. I swear it on my mother's grave..."

[aine]

Clarence flashes Archie a look at his choice of words and hopes they are not prophetic. But he nods in agreement.

[robertod]

Jaque immediately changes his tone and bursts into laughter ... of fun.
"Pieces of a statue? You came all the way here to look for the underground man, just to find a statue? You are not people of conscience. You are more insane than we are."

He turns to Andrew.
"You really wanna know how we helped him? He has long been buried under the floor of that room you´ve just come out. His mind was alive and talking to Albert. Albert talked to nurse Guimart.... Guimart got the means we needed to get him out. We broke the floor and rescued him."

Jacque pauses, and his voice lowers down.

"He has not left the hospital, at least not the way you think. He still lives underground. Nobody can see his face. He is not a person like us, he cannot live among ordinary people of conscience. He lives in the underworld."

At this point Etienne intervenes. He begins to whimper. He gestures for the investigators to follow him.

Etienne takes them to the back room where Andrews was searching. By moving a slab of marble that covers the space between two shelves, a mound opens up. The hole was dug after breaking the floor with a pickaxe, until a niche was uncovered, about two meters deep, more or less the size of a burial pit. At the bottom of the pit, in the center is an opening that goes down further into the bowels of the earth, into the unknown darkness."

Etienne runs away from the hole. All the patiens are quite and scared. Jacque exclaims amused.
"So, people of conscience, do you still want to talk to the underground man? Down there is where he stands."

[Mr. Handy]

"We didn't come all this way to turn back now," says Felicity. "We're going to need some light."

[SaintMeerkat]

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Archie listened intently and nodded without hesitating.

"Yes, we are going to meet him. If you think he can help us, then by all means, we still want to talk to him."

Then to Felicity, "I have some matches. We could make a makeshift torch."

[robertod]

Any patients from ward 7 who weren't already out leave the room, leaving the investigators alone and free to descend. A humid and cold air rises from the hole. Climbing down the hole, the investigators hit hard ground with their toes. They are in an underground passage, high and wide enough to walk upright. The environment is cold and humid and a smell of something animlisticand wild penetrates the nostrils. The passage forms a sharp corner exactly at the pint where the investigators descended from the ceiling. There are therefore two directions thet can take. After illuminating the tunnel that runs on their right the light poits out a couple of yellowish objects a few yards away on the floor. They are human bones. The upper part of a skull and a hand with all the phalanges. They are very old and completely devoid of flesh. The other direction on their right is not appealing either. The animal stench comes from there.

OOC:   The makeshift torch works bu won´t last long. One among you can roll Preparedness to see if the group has a flashlight

[Mr. Handy]

Felicity reaches into her handbag and pulls out an electric torch, which she lights. "This should help," she says. "Let's check out the bones first. At least we know they're dead."

Preparedness roll (3 points spent) to have a flashlight:
1d6+3

[aine]

Clarence takes the torch and holds it up to illuminate the other direction where the awful stench comes from.
“You go ahead, I think I’ll stay here and keep an eye out as rear guard.” He mutters, peering into the gloom beyond the torch light.”

[Mephistophilis]

Andrew grabs the pickaxe and carries it down into the hole with him. He wrinkles his nose at the stench. Every instinct tells him that this is a bad idea. Trapped underground with God knows what. He crouches down and looks over the yellowed bones. 'There's something down here that i don't think we want to meet.' He draws his Webley. 'So which way do we go? I can't decide.'

[SaintMeerkat]

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As the horrible smell intensifies, Archie pulls his handkerchief from his pocket and holds it over his nose while he pulls his pistol and has it ready for use, if needed.

"I thought working the morgue as a medical student was bad..." he said, shaking his hands as they pass the bones.

"Can you tell where the smell's coming from," Archie asked Andrew. "Maybe we should go in that direction..."

[Mephistophilis]

Andrew points to the right, 'I think it's that way to the source of this delightful odour.'

[Mr. Handy]

"You're quite right," says Felicity. "That's why I wanted to go the other way first."

[robertod]

As they move closer to the bones, the investigators end up in a small, square room. The room has another exit to a new passageway straight ahead. When the light beam from the flashlight illuminates the details of the place, the hand begins to shake. The vision is horrifying. One of the corners of the room is occupied by a pile of human remains, in various states of decomposition. The mass of human material has about ten bodies. They are almost all dismembered, partially or entirely. Some remains are reduced to skeletons with shreds of clothes that are reminiscent of those of the patients in the asylum. However, the remains that still have flesh belong to young female bodies. What remains of their clothes suggests they may have been prostitutes. Their limbs are still bloody and have visible bite marks of a sort of animal. In some points, it seems that the meat has been barbarously nibbled and stripped to the bone.

Two bodies appears to have died very recently. It is that of a young man, with a wound in his neck that has almost taken his head off. He has something terribly familiar. His mouth and eyes are open in a grimace of pure terror. He is Maxim, the clerk of the library who helped the group in the search for Sedefkar Simulacrum.

OOC:   If you don´t remember about Maxim, see the thread "January 06 - Bibliotheque Nationale", first message

The other dead who looks to have died recently has bite marks on his chest, some of his blood is still liquid. He´s a man with dark complexion, thick mustache and facial features that suggest Turkish origins.

While observing the bodies, the investigators hear noises, coming from the other direction the group has not chosen. They are steps, accompanied by the sound of an animal panting, a heavy breathing, resambling a muffled roar.

[Mr. Handy]

"Hide," whispers Felicity, flattening herself against the wall beside the entrance to the room they had just used.

[aine]

“Are you out of your mind?” Clarence whispers fiercely. “Whatever it is is bound to find us here in its larder and I’m sure we are no match for it- look at the bite marks!” Clarence starts to back towards the new passage.
“Unless we are prepared to lie down and play dead- and suffer the consequences, I suggest we get out of here!”

[Mephistophilis]

Looking between Felicity and Clarence, Andrew is torn between chivalry and self-preservation, self-preservation wins out and he runs after Clarence, 'Lets get out of here.'

[SaintMeerkat]

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As the other men exit quietly, Archie hesitates for a moment and then looks urgently at Felicity. I hope I live to regret this..., he told himself silently as he pressed himself against the wall and extinguished his light as he waited to see what horror was approaching.

[Mr. Handy]

Having second thoughts, Felicity grabs Archie by the arm and follows after the others, ready to flick off her flashlight when needed. "I suppose I am quite mad," she whispers. "I must be, if I came down here."