January 07 - Paris - The Catacombs (Felicity-Clarence)

[robertod]

At some point, a few minutes after Archie and Andriew have left the catacombs, Felicity and Clarence hear soft footsteps approaching. They come again from the room with the corpses. Two heavy breathing figures are about to turn and enter the passage that goes to the boulder.

[Mr. Handy]

"Hide," hisses Felicity, ducking slightly back down the tunnel leading to the pool and hiding in the shadows. "And put the light out."

[aine]

Clarence rolls his eyes and ducks back to the pool room. If they move the stone, Andrew and Archie are lost! he frets but there’s no way he and Felicity can take on the beasts.
He listens to hear what the creatures are about.

[robertod]

The two humanoid beings chatter in French. Words that are more like grunts. They are alarmed, because they remember having closed the passage with the stone. One of them emits a deep animal scream similar to a wolf's howl. The call echoes throughout the tunnel and also echoes in the pool room. A figure comes from the corpses room, running almost on all fours, panting. He joins the other two at the boulder. Noises of stone rubbing on the floor, yelps of muscular effort. Then, the new comer runs away from where he came from. The other two make their way to the pool room. Hound's noses sniff the air, while soft footsteps proceed slowly.

[Mr. Handy]

"We have to go through the pool," whispers Felicity. "It's the only way, and it'll mask our scent."

[aine]

Clarence gulps. He reaches for Felicity’s hand and then steps gingerly into the pool. “”At least we are drawing them away from the others.” He thinks as he starts wading across as quietly but as quickly as he can.

[robertod]

Clarence and Felicity dip their legs into the cold waters of the pool, which seem to freeze their bodies instantly. Only now do the two detectives truly realize that they are traversing the freezing groundwater in the dead of winter. Although the two walkers hold their breath at every step, the journey to the other side is smooth.

The creatures stop at the banks of the pool. One of them bends down to drink. The other sniffs the air, then he bends down to drink too. Their humanoid shadows disappear as Felicity and Clarence continue towards the light source. A short passage leads the two explorers to a small room. The light comes from an oil lamp placed on a table. The light is getting weaker and will be estinguished soon. In front of the table is an old wooden chair. The table and the chair have suffered from the work of woodworms.

On the table are:
- various white sheets of paper, some piled, others scattered throughtout the table.
- a set of plans made by a builder which detail the layout of a house
- a quill with an empty inkwell.
- a small glass bottle closed with a cork. It has no label and contains a dark red liquid, looking like some kind of syrup. The bottle is not full, the liquid inside does not exceed a quarter of a liter. Beside the bottle is a small tea spoon.
- three science books written in French, very old. They are texts about physics, chemistry and physiology, with theories dating back to the eighteenth century.
- a parchment. It has a handwritten text in the Latin alphabet, but, at first glance, the words seem to have have no meaning.

The room has another exit on the right wall. As Felicity and Clarence enter the room, while looking at the table, they hear something. Intermittent whispers, coming from the passage to the right.

[Mr. Handy]

"This must be a coded message," Felicity whispers in Clarence's ear., indicating the parchment "We should take it. The right passage must connect with the other tunnel going back to the entrance, but someone's there."

[aine]

Clarence nods and quietly lifts the house plans for himself, putting them in his inside jacket pocket, but he and Felicity are trapped. He sidles towards the new passage to bear the whispers better.

[Mr. Handy]

Felicity creeps over to the new passage as well to eavesdrop on the creatures, as she is able to understand French. She flattens herself against the wall beside the tunnel so as not to be seen.

[robertod]

The short passage ends at a tunnel that runs perpendicularly. To the north, it leads to the point where the investigators got underground. The dim light from the oil lamp on the table illuminates the wall of the tunnel. The silhouette of a man run fast from north to south. Then, after a few moments of silence, two men talk to each other, with whispered voices, muffled by fear. They appear to be hidden in the north-south tunnel, standing in opposite directions from the opening leading to the room. The voice from the south whispers
"Come on. Now or never!" From the north, another voice replies, almost whimpering
"I don't know. I can't."
Moments of silence. Then the voice from the south says.
"Coward!"
After that, as investigators get closer towards the end of the short passage, they see the two shadows running in opposite directions. One runs north towards the exit. The other runs south towards the the unknown.

[Mr. Handy]

"They must be inmates who ventured down here," whispers Felicity. "The creatures don't seem afraid of these tunnels. Let's follow the one who went south. We'll need help to move that stone anyway."

[aine]

“I’m worried about abandoning the others but I suppose we can’t help them if we’re mauled by those beasts.
Look, if it sounds like trouble in the Sourh, I’m running back North and getting out of here; this place is giving me the willies.”
Clarence then follows Felicity.

[robertod]

Previously said:   “I’m worried about abandoning the others but I suppose we can’t help them if we’re mauled by those beasts. Look, if it sounds like trouble in the Sourh, I’m running back North and getting out of here; this place is giving me the willies.” Clarence then follows Felicity.

Felicity said is going south. If you run back North you are not following them. So, Felicity is following the man going South and Clarence is going North towards the exit. Right?

[Mr. Handy]

It sounds to me like Clarence is going south with me for now, but he's saying he'll run back north if there's trouble.

[robertod]

Previously said:   It sounds to me like Clarence is going south with me for now, but he's saying he'll run back north if there's trouble.

OOC:   Yes, I had misread the sentence. Thanks!

[robertod]

Following the tunnel south, Felicity and Clarence see a dim white light in the distance. It is a strange light. It does not seem to be produced by fire or a lamp of any kind. It is much clearer. Approaching, they notice that the silhouette of a man is placed in front of the light, which comes from the wall surface. A circular area on a wall, about two meters diameter.

Felicity and Clarence recognize a familiar silhouette. A robust man with long hair. It's Jacque, the patient from Ward 7, the one who seemed to be the leader. He stands in front of the luminiscent wall. The tunnel ends with this wall, a natural cave wall. The white light is strangely emitted from the very wall, which appears to be covered with a strange substance, similar to moss, but luminous. The light is soft. In the deep darkness of this cave, it looks like the faint luminous aura of flashlight fishes. Jacque stretches out his hand and touches the bright wall. To the touch, the luminous substance generates concentric waves that move away from the point of contact, as if the surface were a kind of fluid.

[Mr. Handy]

"Bonsoir, Jacques, c'est nous," says Felicity softly in French.

[aine]

Clarence is fascinated by the glowing circle. “It’s incredible!” He murmurs.

[robertod]

Jaque slowly turns to Felicity and Clarence and smiles, then answers them in English.
"Goodbye, people of consciousness."
That said, he dives into the luminescent circle and crosses it. The surface shakes like the waters of a puddle just disturbed by the impact with a boulder. Jacque vanishes through the wall. The liquid, or whatever this thing is, tends to return placid and uniform, seemingly indifferent to the presence of the two investigators.