IC - 1 - It Was a Dark and Stormy Night - Louis

[aine]

Hesitantly, trying to ignore the broken cable, Louis stretches his hand towards the receiver, his hand shakes so much he nearly knocks it from the cradle. Grasping it he puts it by his ear.
“H-hello?”

[Mephistophilis]

At first Louis can't hear anything. Then he is able to make out the background hiss of static, like a call being connected from far away. After a few moments of listening uncomprehending to the buzzing, buzzing through a disconnected line, he feels like he can make something out, a faint, eerie whispering barely audible above the crackling.

OOC:   That's a SAN check with 0/1 loss. And please give me a hard POW roll

[kabukiman]

Notice stuff: 40%

[kabukiman]

Kyle doesn't nottice anything, so he still follow Harry.

[aine]

Louis feels the hairs on the back his neck rise but he can’t help but strain to listen.

San 63 roll 75 (lose 1). Hard Pow 33 roll: 36

[Mephistophilis]

Seeing everyone else has gone up the stairs, Kyle follows them, shining his flashlight back on forth to illuminate the way. . Each step groans and shrieks, like they're in pain, and the handrail wobbles back and forth disconcertingly.

The condition of the house on the top floor is possibly even worse than the ground floor, there is water trickling down the walls and great patches of staining across the peeling wallpaper and exposed plaster. There is extensive green mildew, and even patches of rot where some of the wooden floorboards are exposed. There's a damp, mildewy smell to match. But that's overpowered by something else, ammonia, strong, musty, and bitter - more than rat urine, something more, bat guano perhaps. And another smell, putrid and sweet, like rotting food.

At the top of the stairs there's the only visible window, to the south, boarded up with the external shutters closed and little light penetrating through the cracks. Overhead there's a loft hatch or trapdoor. On the south wall, just to the left of the window, to the east, is a full-length antique mirror in an elaborate metal frame.

There are two doors off this end of the landing. From the one on the right, with the door slightly ajar to the west, he hears the sound of crashing and banging. There might even be the slightest glimmer of something coming through the thin gap between the door and the frame. On the left there's an open doorway and Harry, Darren, and Ian seem to be standing behind Shirley who is inside the room, which looks like a bathroom, staring into a mirrored cabinet.

OOC:   I'll give you a link to the other thread once I've dealt with something there.

Through the whine of the receiver, Louis can just about make something out. At first he thinks it is a low, whispering voice, but slowly it begins to coalesce, a woman's voice, an old woman's voice, soft, the longer he listens the easier it is to hear. And there's something familiar about it. What's she saying? He tries to focus really hard on the voice, blocking out the crackling, yes, yes, he knows that voice. It's Grams, he hasn't heard from her in a long time. What's she doing on the phone? What's she saying? 'Louis dear, Louis my little sugar lump. You be a good little boy for your Grams. Come down the stairs and help me...'.

There's a click and one of the other doors in the kitchen seems to unlatch and swing open. Louis can just about make out the top of a flight of stairs through the open door. A faint, flickering light is just visible, playing around the steps and the door but barely penetrating the darkness of the kitchen. As Louis stands, holding the receiver to his ear, staring into the weakly illuminated stairway, something shadowy crosses in front of him and disappears down the stairs. It's low down, dark, furry, like a cat.

OOC:   I'll leave it up to you whether his grandmother is dead or alive

[Mephistophilis]

You're moving here.

[Mephistophilis]

There's a shout from upstairs, it sounds like Shirley, 'Hey Louis. Get up here.'

[aine]

Notice stuff 65 roll: 85

Louis is too fixed on the voice to notice anything else. He turns to stare at the new doorway whilst holding tightly to the receiver.

“Grams, is that really you? I- I miss you so much.”
Louis thinks back to happier times and tears prick his eyes.
“I don’t think I want to go down there on my own, Grams- I’m scared.”

[Mephistophilis]

'Don't be scared sugar lump. I'm here for you. I'm downstairs in the basement. I've got a treat for you.' Louis realises that the phone line has gone dead. He's hearing Grams's voice through the open door.

[aine]

Louis drops the receiver which dangles, swinging gently. He walks across the floor towards the door and then stops. Should I tell the others where I’ve gone? No, I won’t be long
He stops at the top of the stairs and looks down them.
“Grams?”

[Mephistophilis]

Louis stands at the top of the stairs, looking down the rough steps which stretch into the darkness, a black metal handrail running down the undressed plaster wall on one side. He can barely make out a weak glow that faintly glimmers from the basement.

Then there's a crash of thunder, a flash of lightning through the kitchen window, and the wind roars, howling through the boards and shutters on the windows, slamming the door between the kitchen and the hallway. And the flickering light blinks out, plunging Louis into complete blackness.

'I'm here sweetie. Just come down the stairs. Hold onto the handrail, I don't want my little sugar lump getting hurt. Come down the stairs. Grams is here. I'm waiting for you Louis. I've got a treat just for you.'

[aine]

The door bangs, the thunder peals and Louis jumps and yelps in fright.
“I-I can’t see, Grams. I need a light.”
He waits, clasping the stair rail tightly, as his eyes slowly adjust. Now his only light is the flickering one down below...
He takes a step down towards it.

[Mephistophilis]

Just as his eyes are adjusting to the almost complete darkness a faint light is visible again from down the stairs. It flickers and seems to barely illuminate anything. Louis takes a few steps forwards, placing his hand on the metal handrail and his foot on the wooden step, which creaks ominously.

From the top of the stairs he gets a whiff of the stale basement air. Mildew, dirt, and other even less pleasant odours he can't quite place. In the flickering light shadows lengthen and contract in odd and unsettling ways.

'Grams is waiting sweetie,' the voice more forceful this time.

[aine]

Louis starts down the stairs, one step at a time.
“But why are you all the way down here, Grams? Aren’t you scared in the dark?”

[Mephistophilis]

Each step creaks and groans as Louis slowly, tentatively makes his way down into the basement. The deeper he goes, the worse the smell gets. Over the damp and mildew, the stench of decay. Louis clings onto the handrail and continues his descent. The air has a weird quality, the sounds of his footsteps, the protesting wooden boards, they're dampened, muffled, it's hard to localise where noises are coming from - little sounds - scuttling and scratchings, dripping, the creaking of the house above - they're nearly constant. The flickering light isn't coming from the small room at the base of the steps, but from the room beyond it. Louis can barely make anything out. The illumination is inexplicably dim, shadows stronger, almost palpable, oozing into the edges.

Beyond the stairs the floor is rough-cut flat stones over dirt, unmortared. The wall to the south is also rough stone, the rest are rotting wood slats covered with crumbling horse-hair mixed mortar. The small space at the foot of the stairs is lined with shelves, some kind of pantry. There's no windows, only an opening off to the east where the light is coming from and another opening around to the south west, in complete darkness, opposite what seems to be a rusting coal-burning furnace - long cold and dark. The shelves are filled with shattered and burst jars. Stains of all kinds cover the shelves, walls, and floor.

In response to Louis's question about the dark, a reply comes from beyond the opening to the east, where the dull light emanates. 'Don't you worry about Grams, sweetie, I've got my candle.'

[aine]

“Ur, well don’t let it go out.”
Louis stops and looks around, realising he has no light of his own.
He strains his eyes into the black hole to the southwest and then turns back to the East.
He starts walking towards the light.

[Mephistophilis]

Staggering towards the eerie orange glow, Louis still can't see any sign of his Grams. Through the opening there's another room, packed full of extra storm windows, boxes of useless plumbing supplies and assorted junk. There's one high window in the stone wall to the south, a crash of thunder and flash of lightning illuminates the room for a second, through the smashed glass and boards. Several small brown shapes scuttle away into the piles of junk. The white light highlights a metal grating in the stone floor, and beside it, a small, dusty mirror, hanging on the wall.

Louis's vision is washed out by the lightning, but as the room is plunged into darkness again he sees that rather than there being a candle, the dull light actually seems to be emitted from the small mirror. His eyes burning with the afterimage of the lightning he can't make out anything in the mirror from where he's standing. From somewhere in front of him, coming out from amongst the junk, a dark shape emerges, and rushes towards him along the floor. There's a hiss and, Louis feels a sharp, stinging pain in his left shin. The dark shape issues a yowl and scampers towards the grate, seeming to disappear through the bars and out of sight.

From the corner of the room, the mirror maybe, he hears 'Come over here Louis, let Grams get a good look at her sugar lump.'

Louis takes 2 damage

The wall to the north is made of a smooth and mostly undamaged gypsum board, rather than the lath and plaster of the other internal walls. Louis notices some kind of joint, or gap in the wall. Almost like there's a concealed door.

Attack 50%: 1d100 39
Damage: 1d2 2

[aine]

“Ow! Blasted rat!” Louis bends down to rub his leg, an inch lower and the rat would have bitten gum boot. The pain brings Louis to his senses,
“I oughta check my leg, Grams. You can get typhoid from rat bites. I’ll come back down, I promise.”
He turns around, putting his hands out in front of him, and tries to walk back to the stairs.

Notice stuff: 65 roll: 93

[Mephistophilis]

As soon as Louis turns around the light from the mirror stops, plunging the basement into complete darkness. He struggles to orient himself, where are the stairs? He blunders wildly in the direction he hopes will take him back upstairs, following the faintest of grey in the blackness. Is that the moonlight filtering through from the kitchen?

The whole house seems to creak and hiss. The whistle of the wind rattling the shutters and boards, the house itself letting out a shiver. And other sounds seem to be coming from out of the darkness. Thuds, and stamps, and moans, That's coming from upstairs isn't it? That's just the others walking about... And nearer, somewhere near Louis, maybe here in the basement, there are other noises. Scuffling, scuttling, scratching, sniffing. And something higher pitched. Whispers? They're coming from somewhere around him. In the dark. What are they saying?

I think that'll be a Gym Class roll to keep his footing. A failure will take 1d2 damage from a fall onto the steps.

It's high pitched. Like a little child's voice. But quiet, so quiet. Whispering. 'Help me.'