IC -2 - Yesterday Upon the Stair - Everyone

[Mephistophilis]

Giving Darren a look somewhere between confusion and panic, Kyle shrugs his shoulders. 'Blow it out?'

-----

It's easier than it looks for the children to use the narrow handholds to climb down the earthen shaft. The walls of compacted soil are firm and secure but the ground beneath is boggy and wet, and there's a pool of what looks suspiciously red and viscous in the centre. The drop is about ten foot and a narrow tunnel slopes down to the east. The air down here is heavy and saturated with mildew and damp.

Once everyone has assembled beneath the grating they walk cautiously through the tunnel which is barely five foot across with rounded walls of dripping soil. The tunnel opens up into a small room with more squared and regular looking dimensions. Another earthen passage leads off from one comer, in the distance the sound of trickling and a faint scurrying can be heard.

[Mr. Handy]

"There's only one way to go," says Harry.

[BoyBlunder78]

"Everyone hold each others hands. We arent getting lost and seperated again! Ian must be down here! C'mon!" Darren Grabbing Louis's hand in the other the crowbar held tightly he slowly made his way down the tunnel.

[Mr. Handy]

Harry goes next, holding the hand of whoever comes after him and carrying his poker in his free hand.

[LiviaBlue]

"I don't wanna be last." Shirley grabs hold of Harry's hand and reaches back for the next person.

[aine]

Louis takes Shirley’s hand and, with a last look up to the grate, he edges around the pool that looks like blood and follows the others.
“More ratmen down here.” He whispers.

[LiviaBlue]

"If we find Roger I don't think we can reason with him," Shirley whisper just to fill the silence. "Remember what he did to his brother."

[BoyBlunder78]

"Yesh! And he didnt seem to bothered about finfing away outts hete, he seemed happy to stay here!" Darren says.

[Mr. Handy]

"Logical," agrees Harry.

[Mephistophilis]

Slowly, cautiously, they file through the tunnel. Drips of freezing water occasionally splashing onto their heads or hands, giving a chill fright. Harry and Darren walk abreast, each gripping their weapon tightly, holding it out ahead of them to ward off the darkness. Louis and Shirley come next, holding each other's hands and the hand of one of the two leading them ahead. Finally, Kyle follows behind, the dull yellow beam of his flashlight flitting from wall to wall of the tunnel, reflecting the occasional glistens of rivulets of water or an opalescent shard of rock, and just catching blurry movement just ahead of the light, like a swarming mass of little furry bodies, retreating further down the tunnel away from the five children.

Eventually the tunnel starts to widen out and leads into a large irregular room, roughly 30 feet across and 45 feet long. The walls are packed dirt, perhaps 10 feet high but the roof isn't even and undulates from 10 to 15 feet above the ground. Bats nestle in amongst the trailing roots and chunks of earth and rocks pocketing the surface. The air is musty, and dank, and rich, like the smell of soil or peat. Thick and cloying.

At the centre of the room is a heap of bones, perhaps three or four feet high and almost ten feet across. Some of the bones are clearly animal, little rodent skulls and even larger creatures. But many of the bones look more human, and the skulls, human-like skulls. Smaller than fully grown people, like the heads of children.

There is a small pool of standing water along the eastern side of the room. A steady seep of water feeds the pool from a patch of exposed bricks. Rats can been seen scurrying about the pool. And the rats don't all seem normal, some have oddly misshapen heads, as do many of the bats. Tiny little human-like faces leering and sneering, even as they sleep.

On the western side of the room is a sort of alcove. Kyle slides his torch along the floor to light up the space. From behind they hear him give a strangled gasp.

OOC:   Okay - I'm going to need a POW roll against 120 - I think that's going to need to be an Extreme success (one-fifth your POW) for you all.

Sitting in the alcove on a pile of bones is the naked form of a vile-looking creature. A bloated distortion of the woman depicted in the portrait under the basement stairs, eyes long rotted away, bloated and glistening like a hellish grub.

Horrible vermin - rats, spiders, worms, snakes, and insects of all types - scuttle, writhe, creep, and crawl across and around her body.

She is gnawing on something, a piece of bone still with some flesh hanging off, the length of a thigh bone. She holds it between her two claw-like hands and tears at it with jagged, razor-like teeth. Blood drips down her chin and across her fingers.

Visible in the alcove are several niches carved into the wall. They seem to hold various bits of occult gear, mouldering papers, a book, human skulls... There's something else as well. A shrivelled human hand with a thick black candle rising from the palm, its flame cracking with an unnatural violet shade.

OOC:   The Sanity loss for seeing this hideous abomination of a woman is 1D3/1D10

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the alcove is the naked form of an old woman. She is filthy, pale, and bloated. But you recognise her well nonetheless. It is your own grandmother.

You recoil as you see things writhing across her naked body. Vermin - rats, spiders, worms, snakes, and insects of all types - scuttling, writhing, creeping, and crawling across and around her.

OOC:   The Sanity loss for seeing this unsettling transformation of your grandmother is 1D2/1D6+1

A is the alcove. X is the pool of water.

[aine]

“I think we might be under the garden.” Says Louis as he enters the space and looking at the ceiling. And then he brings his eyes down…

POW 65. Roll:98. That would be a fail then.

Sanity:51 roll: 66 1d6+1: !3

“Nooo! Grams!” And hides his eyes in his hands.

[Mr. Handy]

Extreme POW roll (40 / 5 = 8% stat) in the tunnels:
d%
Can I spend 3 Luck to make that succeed?

[Mephistophilis]

OOC:   You can spend Luck on the POW roll

[Mephistophilis]

Louis doesn't know why his Grams is down here, all naked and filthy. But he knows it's her. The old woman fixes Louis with an unsettling smile, 'Come here my little sugar lump. Let Grams take a look at you.'

[aine]

Sorry; I was mid post inbetween bedtime story- The Hobbit. Hence the accidental edit.

Louis peeps through his fingers, she looks pretty awful but still; it was his Grams. He takes a step towards her.

[Mr. Handy]

3 Luck spent.

Sanity roll for seeing the woman (current level 10):
d%
Sanity loss:
1d10
Oops...I just hit 0 Sanity. I think I'd have been better off if I had failed the POW roll. I probably shouldn't have been able to spend the Luck anyway. I remember we weren't allowed to do it in this scenario.

[BoyBlunder78]

65%5=13%
1d100

OOC:   That would be a fail.....

[Mephistophilis]

I'll let you decide if you want to conclude you failed the POW roll and take that SAN loss (just roll again) or if you want to go out in a blaze of insane glory

[BoyBlunder78]

1d100

1d4/2

OOC:   Dice Gods are merciful

San:53

[Mr. Handy]

"She's not your grandmother, she's mine!" gasps Harry. "This must be another trick of the house." It's still very disturbing for him, though.

I'll fail the POW roll, in that case. I have an idea for how I might go completely insane if it comes to that, but I'll hold off on that for now.

Sanity loss:
1d6+1