Play@YSDC

Skipper watches CCTV of his colleagues taking cover with interest. He pauses to ensure the batteries are out of his camera and phone. Then he gets the little keyring torch and one of his disposable film cameras out of his backpack. Just in case.

The book thrown by Izzy flies towards the stairs, but suddenly stops in mid-air!

As if carried by an invisible force, it floats to a space just by the till, near the cookery section, and gently settles onto the floor.

With a startled yelp, Ernie scrabbles backwards, before turning tail and scampering frantically up the stairs.

From behind you, from the art section, more books begin to float off the shelves and begin to pile up into four neat columns…

The feeling is suddenly palpable, even for you - the distinct impression, even above the dampening effect of all the books, of blood, plasticine, crossed legs and chicken feathers.
There is a presence here - a powerful one…

"Well, I'm glad the book wasn't damaged at least..." Izzy says, grateful for the entity placing her flung book on the ground gently instead of allowing it to continue towards the stairs. She is still standing, unlike her colleagues who dropped to the floor, though maybe that was the more sensible move to make rather than the more reckless approach that she took.

"How about you show yourself properly?" she calls out, clear and loud for the being to hear. "We just want to know who, or what, you are!"

Des had (wisely, she thought) taken cover behind the biggest most solid bookcase she could find. She peered around the corner to see what was happening…

Jordan picks himself up, and while he thinks that Ernie is doing the sensible thing, he has a job to do here. "We come in peace," he says.

Skipper grabs the disposable camera and torch then heads back into the main space of the basement, eyes wide. "That is well out of order."

Cautiously, he approaches the columns of books, taking a photo of one with the disposable snappy. Skipper squints at the titles, interested to see what was chosen.

OOC:   Is there any theme to the books that have been stacked in columns? Are they all cookbooks or books on art?

Skipper carefully circles the four columns of books, taking a few more photos with the cheap snappy, concentrating hard to keep his hands from shaking. "If this works, and if your boss gives me another job, I'm going to have to buy an old film camera. Something low on electronics. There are plenty of SLRs from the '80s and '90s still about. It's just the pain of getting the film developed."

"There are those retro pink Polaroid cameras out there. Do they have electronics?"

"Meantime, what's going on here? Does someone really want the children's books back? Shall I go get one, see what happens? Or do they just hate coffee table art books? I don't love those myself."

”Is it safe to come out?” asked Des from behind the bookshelf. ”Has it finished movin’ de books?”

Leo was a rather relieved that he was wrong about the pending book attack, but he was sure that the song of Brave Sir Leo would be make the rounds a few times before he had a chance to live it down. Cautiously, he peered over the shelf he dove behind at the books as they moved into place.

"Symmetrical book stacking..." he said low and full of awe. "Just like in the British Library in 1896..."

He was still a little too cautious to completely come out from behind his cover.

"I was hoping for a free floating, full torso, vaporous apparition."

Books continue to float off the shelves, forming a second pile next to the first one. It all seems very sedate, until Izzy shouts her demand that the entity shows itself...

A slim volume on the life of Kandinsky swerves mid-flight, flying towards the detective.

Please roll DEX or Athletics. Success means you dodge the book. Failure means you are hit by the book and take 1 Damage, meaning you are Hurt.

Upstairs, Ernie stops whining and suddenly barks furiously. His yapping is almost enough to mask a steady thumping sound, also coming from the ground floor...

DEX roll: 60%

1d100

OOC:   Oof. If ever there was a time to push a roll, this would be it... Pushed DEX roll: 60%

1d100

Pushed roll justification - Izzy sees the book coming towards her as she turns, just barely dodging out of the way as she moves her head, with the book grazing past her hair and only just missing her.

”Shit!” Des swore and ducked out of sight. Peering through the shelves, she tried to work out if the way upstairs was clear.

Hearing Ernie and the thumping, Skipper turns and legs it up the stairs to see what's happening at ground level.

"Hang on, Ernie, I'm coming!"

OOC:   Ah, sorry, I didn't realise! But thank you!

Just as she turns her head to look out for any sort of response to her call, Izzy notices a book flying towards her head, and just about manages to duck out of the way. The book passes by so closely that she can feel it skim her hair, and she is slightly surprised that it doesn't get caught in the tangle as she considers she really needs to actually buy a brush...

Still, it's a close call. She ducks for cover, only to notice her colleagues making their way upstairs, and on the edge of hearing she too can discern the thumping noise from above. Thinking that it must surely be safer than down here, with the same type of attack suffered by the poor Warwick Anderson, Izzy follows behind, heading for the stairs and the ground floor.

Now that others are running upstairs, Jordan follows them quickly.

Leo saw where this was all headed, so he finally emerged from behind his cover and raced for the steps. "Right behind you, friend," he said.

As Leo ran, he flicked his wrist and shouted, "AER CONGOLARE," in an attempt to put a shield between any would-be paper missiles and the retreating line of investigators.

Magic (60/30): 1d100

Seeing everyone else running away Des did likewise, keeping her head down and racing up the stairs.