Play@YSDC

Ernie appears somewhat nonplussed by the idea of Japanese food, preferring to inspect some interesting smells at the base of a nearby lamp post.

From the inside of Stonewaters, Saffron waves as you congregate on the pavement.

"Come in," she says, opening the door. "I was just about to lock up. You'll be pleased to know that no-one else has been attacked so far."

With a couple of suspicious glances down at Ernie, she shows you all how to set the alarm and lock up, assuming you've completed your investigation before she returns at 8am tomorrow.

"Um, I guess the dog's house trained? What's he for exactly? I thought all police dogs were Alsatians or something."

Izzy gets back to Stonewaters not long after Skipper arrives, and as the others turn up too it's clear she's absolutely beaming with joy for some reason. She gives Ernie a few scratches behind the ear as he sniffs around her feet, and looks up at Saffron as she arrives.

"That's good to hear," she replies, referring to the news of no problems during the day. "Oh, Ernie? He's... well, we use him for tracking stuff. Like, special scents, that sort of thing. Don't worry, he's definitely house trained."

She's careful not to reveal anything about the supernatural, but she doesn't outright lie, aside from not actually knowing if Ernie is house trained or not. Bending the truth slightly is much more effective than telling a lie that one can be caught out in later, after all.

Des craned her neck, looking around for somewhere to put down the sleeping bag she’d scrounged from the Sally Army. It was freshly washed, which was a relief, and the padding still had some life it it (and not the kind of ‘life’ that fed on you as you slept, thankfully).

She looked at the dog that Skipper had brought in and nodded at it.”’Sup?” she said.

Skipper hands the dog leash over to Izzy. "Fluffy is all yours."

"Right, I'm off to have a look at the CCTV." He saunters off to find wherever the CCTV is displayed and controlled.

Leo saw his team gathering on the sidewalk, belched a little curry-flavored belch while he was still far enough away from the others for them to actually hear (or smell) it. Once he was up to the group, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a white paper pouch filled with multicolored sweets, proffering it to the others. "Jelly baby?"

When Saffron opened the door and mentioned that no one else had been hit, he was simultaneously relieved and angry at himself. He should have thought of that possibility and recommended that the shop close early. For safety's sake. If someone had been seriously injured, it would have been at least partially his fault. He sighed a sigh of relief and slipped inside.

"Ernie, play your cards right, and a jelly baby can be all yours," he said to the pooch.

"Cheers, don't mind if I do," says Jordan, accepting the jelly baby and popping it into his mouth. "Now all you need is a floppy hat and an impossibly long scarf, and a big head of curly hair." He recalls Ernie's reaction to the lamppost and wonders if it was haunted too.

Izzy's grin widens, if that's even possible, as she takes it jelly baby. "Thanks, Doctor," she says to Leo.

She stoops down to rub Ernie's fuzzy head, and then heads inside, listening intently to Saffron's instructions on locking up and setting the alarm. She notes to herself how it's lucky for the store that she's not a criminal, who could use this sort of information well...

Des watched on with a look of bemusement on her face. Her mother had told her never to accept sweets from a stranger and Dansby seemed to fit that bill OK. She also didn’t get the reference to a scarf or the ‘Doctor’.

’Must be some kinda Boomer ting,’ she thought to herself… …

Des’ look mirrors Saffron’s.

“Er, alright then… I’ll, um, leave you to get on with it…”

She heads towards the exit, pausing to cast a worried look down at Ernie.

“There’s some cleaning stuff in the office if you need it. Please don’t forget to set the alarm and lock up.”

And with that, she is gone; leaving you in the bookshop, alone…?

Izzy turns to the others, still holding Ernie's leash. "Well, I guess that's that, then. Come on, today has been a really good day, and I'm not letting anything spoil it, ghost or no ghost. Time to catch us a non-corporeal spectral entity!"

And with that, she turns and heads into the store proper, making for the basement stairs, Ernie yapping along as he follows. Her phone battery is already taken out, ready for any magic use, and she's more than willing to do whatever is needed to draw out the target...

Jordan follows, taking out the battery from his phone again and securing it in his pocket.

On arriving in the basement, with Ernie on the leash and Leo and Jordan in tow, Izzy heads straight over to where she previously cast the werelight, confident that doing so here won't be enough to damage any of the CCTV cameras or other electrics in the store. She also checks they all have their phone batteries out again as before.

"We'll make sure the others are all ready first, whatever their plans are," she says, not wanting to cast anything that could lure in the entity too early. "I guess first priority is to try something a bit stronger, maybe if both Leo and I cast werelights together and give this thing more to feed on, and then see what appears. When we know what we're dealing with, we can think of a way to contain it, or placate it, or whatever we need to do."

Magic (60%) plus bonus die:

1d100

1d10

I believe that's a 30 score for a hard success!

With the daytime bustle of London dying down and the night-time revels yet to fully kick off, the bookshop is eerily quiet. Nothing stirs, save the occasional 'pink' of a fluorescent light or the 'tickticktick' of a cooling radiator. Saffron has clearly worked hard - both the ground floor and the basement have been tidied up, with the piles of art books put back into their rightful place.

Please make a luck roll. A success means there is indeed a comfy sofa or bean-bag. Failure means you'll have to settle for a chair, table or the floor. Are you going to make full use of a warm and dry building for the night and simply get some sleep, or are you doing anything else first? Also, where do you intend to set up camp - ground floor or basement?

The CCTV system is controlled from the office, located through the door marked 'staff only'. This is where Izzy and Leo looked at the camera footage during your previous visit. Next to this room, you notice a staff kitchen, boasting a microwave, kettle etc. To move the basement's CCTV camera, or otherwise manipulate the CCTV system, please make a Tech or Computer Use roll and tell me what you're trying to do.

Izzy expertly casts a Werelight. Much to Ernie's consternation, a bright ball of light appears, hovering a few inches above the palm of her upturned hand. Leo, are you casting a Werelight too? Leo, what are you doing?