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?

Once Leo was downstairs with the others, he moved beside Izzy and nodded. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea. Once the others are ready, we can start them low level and slowly increase the juice until something weird bollocksy starts to happen." He glances around and the nearby books. "Like symmetrical book stacking in Ghostbusters."

At first, he was going to put the werelight in the same location as Izzy's to show off his accuracy, but then he decided that the smart bet would be to have them clearly separate. That way there could be less confusion about whose spell caused what.

(Once we are certain the others are done.)

"Ready?" he asked Izzy. "Three...two...one..." his hand moved smoothly. Elegantly. "Lux..."

On full alert, he looked around the basement. Softly, intensely, he uttered, "Now, show yourself you b..." He made a big production of looking around before finishing. "Bitch..." he whispered. Ernie glowered disapprovingly.

Jordan stands well back and observes, both for his own protection and to get a better overview of whatever happens.

Luck (63%) 1d100

Extreme success - she’s found a secret room with a four poster bed!

On the ground floor, Des found a large corner sofa with a plentiful supply of cushions, which she baggsed by lying her sleeping bag on it. Helping herself to the coffee machine, she wandered downstairs to see what the others were doing before turning in…

1d%p60%

OOC:   Hard Success.

Whistling, Skipper familiarises himself with the CCTV system, noting where the cameras can "see", whether they can be remotely steered, how to skip from one to the next or view multiple cameras. And how to record.

He also looks about for a public address system...

You find no evidence of a PA system, but are able to manipulate the CCTV controls. Panning over to watch your fellow investigators as Des descends the stairs and joins them, you’re just in time to see…

Excellent roll! The sofa is probably the comfiest one you’ve sat on in a long while. The coffee is good too! Reluctantly leaving your haven, you descend into the basement, where Izzy and Leo are working their magic as Jordan looks on, just in time to see…

Leo’s werelight bobs along next to Izzy’s - their warm yellow glows casting weird twin shadows against the bookshelves.

Suddenly, the two street lamp-like globes flare bright white, causing you all to shield your eyes, before shrinking down into tiny, sapphire-blue pinpoints. These twin miniature stars twinkle for a second before winking out of existence.

You get 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 - but not a ghost…

Please make either a Sense Vestigia or Observation roll.

You get 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 - but not a ghost…

You notice the books in the shelves rattling ominously…

There is a low growl as Ernie, hackles raised an teeth bared, backs away towards the stairs…

1d%30%

OOC:   Fail.

Skipper quickly skips from camera to camera looking for anything weird or dangerous happening.

As Leo casts his own werelight, Izzy glances at him for a few seconds. "One of these days, we'll get you swearing like a proper copper," she says, smirking. "Just need to get you down the pub with Seawoll after a long shift, he'll teach you right..."

She turns her attention back to her own spell, keeping calm and carrying on, until she begins to sense the presence they have been searching for. Suddenly, Izzy's eyes narrow, and she is once again the focused professional...

Observation (60%) 1d100

Des glanced at the books on the shelves. ”Wot you done?” she asked Izzy and Leo accusingly.

Once the odd vestigia kicked in, Leo was actually still holding it together pretty well. That is, until the twin werelights shrank into the two miniature sapphire pinpoints. As they twinkled, he uttered, slowly, his voice low and filled with awe. "Oh, my giddy aunt... The Nightingale will go spare."

He recoiled physically from the blast of light, and then looked over at Izzy. After he finally regained his composure, he said, forcing himself to be calm. "Well, I can honestly say that I have NEVER seen a werelight do that."

"Honestly, Des... I have no idea what we just did. I guess it is too early to say. I supposed it is too much to hope that "it" had its fill and won't be bothering us anymore. We didn't get attacked by books, so there's that."

Still focusing on the sense of vestigia, trying to hold it in her mind, Izzy races through theories in her brain.

"I know you love a good Doctor Who reference, Leo, but if there was ever a moment to swear, it would be now. Well, that and seeing a dismembered body in someone's freezer..." she says, watching the werelights blinking out of existence. She declines to mention the fact that she was only five when the Doctor Who revival series began, and spent a lot of her teens playing catchup on episodes both old and new.

As she thinks about the possibilities, an idea forms suddenly, like a lightbulb turning on in her skull. "Plasticine... quick, Des, check if there're any children's books still down here, and if there are, take them and put them upstairs. Then get back down here as quickly as you can. I think whatever this is, it's definitely connected to the kid's section being moved upstairs..."

Jordan doesn't notice anything more, his vision spotty from the sudden flash, but he also backs off with Ernie. In his experience, dogs are often more sensible than people.

Observation roll (60% skill) when the werelights appear and disappear:
d%

Skipper continues to crew the CCTV desk, flitting from camera to camera as he tries to spot anything out of the ordinary. He checks everything is being recorded.

Philulhu wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 12:05 am

Are the books still vibrating?

Yes.

”I ain’t touchin’ dem!” snorted Des. ”Dey’re still bloody movin’!” And she pointed to where the books still sat shivering on the shelves.

Izzy looks to where Des is pointing, to see that the books are indeed vibrating. She hides her annoyance, and quickly reaches out to grab the top book from the nearest pile, before flinging it in the direction of the stairs. She hates herself for doing it, seeing books as next to sacred, but there isn't any time to waste...

Leo's jaw dropped soundlessly as he saw the books beginning to quiver. Suddenly, he remembered the video of the poor employee getting creamed. "I have a bad feeling about this..." he murmured.

"Everybody down," he shouted as he dove for cover. "Air...err...BOOK RAID!!!"

Jordan drops to the floor.

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.

You race for the stairs, only to be stopped by a furiously barking Ernie, scampering manically down towards you. While it might be easy to leap over the small terrier, it is not so easy to avoid the tide of brightly-coloured books flooding down the stairwell in his wake!

Confounding things further, all the books in the basement suddenly take flight and fling off in all directions, as if each bookshelf had been rigged with explosives. Adding to the chaos, the piled volumes, so neatly-stacked, rise up and are hurled in your direction!

You are trapped within the literary maelstrom...

OOC:   Everyone please roll DEX or Athletics to dodge the books. Success and you avoid a clobbering. Fail and you're hit - please roll Luck. Leo, if you wish to maintain your Shield, take a penalty die for the DEX/Athletics test, but there's less chance of taking damage if you're hit.

Jordan relied more on his toughness than his agility when playing rugby, but he was still able to masterfully dodge the books.

DEX roll (40% stat) to avoid the books:
d%

1d%d60%

OOC:   Fail.

1d%L55%

OOC:   Extreme success.

"Aylesbury!! Here Ernie!" Skipper tries to shield the little dog with his body, stumbling wrong-footed as he does.

"Sweeney Hogwarts! Think this is yours."

DEX roll: 60%

1d100


"Aylesbury what???" Izzy calls out, as she turns back the way she came and takes whatever cover she can between a couple of bookshelves to the right. Sci-fi and fantasy - ironically her favourite genre. Now that she knows the books are coming though, it's much easier for her to duck and weave away from the incoming literature. She thanks her lucky stars that she was in her school's hockey team, since if she could dodge wildly swung sticks then she can happily dodge thrown books.

Still, she's at a loss now for how to proceed. Angering the entity was never part of the plan...

DEX (75%) 1d100

Being pretty nimble, Des managed to avoid being caught by any of the flying books.

OOC:   The intent had been to put the shield between the books and the staircase to shield everyone's exit, but it sounds like that is moot if they are coming from both directions. I will continue to maintain it.

"Well, horse sh...feathers..." Leo shouted as he saw the double cloud of books and attempted to dive, still maintaining the shield the best he could.

DEX (40/20): 1d100

Magic Points Expended:
Werelight: 1
Shield: 2 + 1 to sustain

Current MP: 13/17

Barking furiously, Ernie nimbly dives under the till desk. Following suit, Jordan, Izzy and Des similarly avoid being hit.

However, Skipper and Leo are not so fortunate, with both being bashed by a flying book. A heavy Taschen art book slams into Leo's Magical shield, causing it to flicker out of existence, but thankfully not before absorbing the impact.

Skipper, lacking such supernatural protection, suffers the indignity of a paperback copy of The Tiger Who Came to Tea smacking against his forehead. It is somewhat painful, but nothing a big tough detective can’t handle.

You suffer 1 Damage, becoming Hurt (please make a note of that).

No biggie this time, but you can't spend extra Magic Points on this spell, as it's a 2nd order spell that you haven't mastered (you can only boost spells you've mastered and must have mastered 2 1st order spells before you can master a 2nd order one). I'm still getting my head around the rules myself, so we're learning together!
On the plus side, you get that Magic Point back

Just as suddenly as it began, the storm subsides. Books plop to the floor and an eerie quiet returns to the basement. As you emerge from your hiding places, and survey the mess, you can't help but wonder just what the hell is going on...

OOC:   What do you think has happened? If you're not sure, by all means make an INT roll (Jordan, you get a bonus die).

Des glared at Izzy. It had been ok until she’d tried to engage it in conversation. ”You always have dis effect on people?” she asked with a frown.

Izzy triggered it, as far as Des is concerned.

"Owww!!" Skipper winds up crouching. He looks over at Izzy. "Aylesbury duck."

Then he thinks to check on the dog. "Oi, Ernie, you kosher, Mate?"

1d%40%

OOC:   Fail.

"Does anyone have a single pot of glue what is going on? Perhaps something just can't stand people being here at night?"

"Not me," says Jordan, mentally translating the Cockney. "I'm lucky I know what a pot of glue is."

INT roll (70% stat) about what happened:
d%
Bonus die:
1d10*10
If nobody else succeeds, can I spend 4 points of Luck to make that a success?

Looking across at Des, Izzy replies, slightly embarrassed, slightly defiant, "First time anything like this has happened. Although that might be why I'm single at the moment..." She considers her date set for the Monday afternoon and hopes that she doesn't put Alice off, although based on their text conversation and what Sarah has told her, it sounds like Alice is just as neurotic as Izzy...

She still doesn't quite get the Aylesbury Duck reference, but declines to ask further. Instead, she continues to race through theories in her brain, trying to reconcile the events with the information gathered so far and the research at the Folly.

INT Check: 80%

1d100

SaintMeerkat wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 1:13 am

Spoiler:

The two points for Shield are for the two points that it takes to cast a second order spell. The +1 is the one MP required to sustain the shield spell into the second round. It

Fair enough. The way it’s laid out in the rules doesn’t make it obvious whether you can only spend that extra point if you’ve boosted it or not. Thinking about it, your take makes more sense!

While Ernie emerges from his hiding place and tentatively sniffs at a fallen book, you wrack your brains for an explanation.

Clearly these weird events were triggered by the moving of the children’s section upstairs, but what kind of ghost, poltergeist or other entity would take exception to that?

Perhaps it’s time to call DI Nightingale for advice?

To you, it almost seems as if the entity has thrown a tantrum…
Suddenly it hits you - this isn’t a poltergeist, but a genius loci! Perhaps all those emotions generated during the building’s cockfighting days has coalesced into some sort of genius loci of books and reading.
Anchored in the basement, is it missing Saturday Story Time and lashing out as a result?

Still taking cover behind the sci-fi and fantasy bookshelves, Izzy just happens to notice a particular novel that shares shelf space both here and at her own home (well, floor space, considering the mess of her flat) - more a horror than anything, she sees House of Leaves nestled prominently among the higher shelves, and it reminds her of the self-aware and ever changing nature of the titular house. Suddenly, the realisation hits her, the similarity to this entity.

She clicks her fingers and cries out to the others, "Of course! Genius Loci. This was never a ghost at all, it's the spirit of the place, like the shop itself has somehow become sentient and alive, manifesting as an intelligent incorporeal being."

That said, perhaps 'incorporeal' is a bit much to describe something that has enough physical form to throw books around. She glances at the others and notes the blank stares on at least some faces. "Genius loci? You know, like Tom Bombadil? Or the Overlook Hotel? Mama Thames?" She looks at Leo, hoping he at least will recognise the last one.

"Anyway, this is just like my baby cousin who throws his rattle and screams when he doesn't get a biscuit. If I had to guess, I'd say it's upset that the children's books were moved and it can't listen to story time any more..." (Although that begs the question, Izzy thinks, on why the entity can't simply listen to the stories in their new location upstairs, unless it's somehow tethered to the basement?)

After Leo has had a few moments to gather his thoughts, he turned to Izzy. He unconsciously stroked his chin a little as he considered Izzy's suggestion. "Yes, that certainly seems to fit the situation. Believe it or not, I have actually met a Genius Loci, but she just had twins, and I would not dare interrupt her first few days of parental bliss to ask her any questions."

"I guess we could ask Nightingale and see if he has any suggestions about the care and feeding of a newborn G.L."

Des looked at Izzy with a sceptical frown. ”Wot? It’s like a baby ghost an’ it’s throwing its toys aroun’ ‘cos no-one’s reading it a bedtime story?! For fuq’s sake…” She rolled her eyes.

Izzy looks across at Leo and rolls her eyes, but with a friendly smile attached to show she's not being serious. After all, she recalls them both meeting Beverley Brook, not to mention the extensive training that the Nightingale had put them both through in terms of avoiding the potential control of the more powerful figures of the demi-monde. And more to the point, the rather awkward coffee meeting with Mama Thames and Lady Ty, where the tension in the air had been so thick between mother and daughter it could have been cut with a knife and served as dessert.

Glancing across to Des, Izzy replies, "That's pretty much the gist of it, I reckon. Except replace the word ghost with something Latin. Although, has anyone tried reading it the fish recipes in the latest Gordon Ramsay?"

Looking back to Leo... "I think you might be right. The guv'nor has much more experience than us on dealing with this stuff. Hell, he's probably changed their nappies and sang them lullabies, with how long he's been around..."

"Saffron is going to be foaming when she sees this," Skipper says, rubbing his forehead. He pauses to take a few photos and scritch Ernie behind an ear. "Does that explain your magic camping lanterns going out, then?"

"If it likes stories," says Jordan, looking around for a children's book, preferably Goodnight Moon, "why don't I read it one to calm it down? I have plenty of experience. Robert's too old to have me read to him any more, but I still read bedtime stories for Caroline - though she's never thrown a temper tantrum this bad. If we can convince them to keep the children's books and story time down here, that might stop it from getting cranky."

”Dat’s it?! You gunna read it a bedtime story an’ then we go home? We ain’t gunna exercise it, or sommat?” said Des, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"It's a sentient creature, whether we can see it or not, you can't just exorcise something like that. Imagine if some random strangers came to your home and tried to get rid of you because you'd had a bit of a scrap, how would you like it?" Izzy isn't stern with her words, but she is firm. She's had more experience than Des dealing with minor gods and goddesses, after all.

"Might be a good idea," she says to Jordan. "At the very least it might calm it down enough for us to get up the stairs, and we can get out and call Nightingale. See if he knows what to do."

OOC:   I think we all dashed upstairs during the book storm.

"No-one read me any bedtime stories as a kid, I'm down for some listening time." Skipper nods happily at Jordan. "Some Harry Potter?"

OOC:   Got it.

"Let's have a look upstairs, see what's happening." Somewhat cautiously, Skipper heads up the stairs. "Oi, Ernie, are you my guard dog or what?"

Jordan picks up one of the children's books that came down the stairs, figuring that the entity may have chosen its favorites, and heads over to a nearby chair. "My son Robert likes Harry Potter, in part because it's rather on the long side. Caroline's more into science fiction." He settles into the chair and begins to read the book aloud.

Leo digs through the pile of children's books until he grunts with annoyance, showing Everybody Poops to the rest of the crowd before tossing it over his shoulder. After a bit of digging, he finally comes up with a worthy prize.

"Dinosaur Bob!" he shouts excitedly. "Trust me, you're going to love this one."

"I'm next," he said, moving over behind Jordan.

Des rolled her eyes. ”Dat’s the plan, den? Tweedledee an’ Tweedledum read it a story, den we all goes home? You just gunna leave it here? What happen if it get bored wit de Tiger Who Came to Tea an’ it decide to throw a book at a kiddie nex time?”

"Sounds like the plan, yeah," Izzy replies. "At least as far as calming it down enough for us to get outside. We'll ask Nightingale for a more long term plan once we're safe. Could be worse though, it could be throwing Kindles at people." She stifles her own disgust at the notion of e-readers, being such a literary traditionalist at heart.

She can't help but smile though at the idea of Leo being one of the rather dumpy brothers from Alice in Wonderland, and wonders privately just which of the two he is...

Having received a much-appreciated scratch behind the ears, Ernie follows Skipper back up to the ground floor. Surprisingly, most of the store is untouched, with the exception of the children's section. Brightly coloured books lie on the floor in a roughly straight line towards the stairs.

Meanwhile in the basement, Jordan and Leo's attempts to read to the genius loci are rudely rebuffed, with each book being wrenched out of their hands. Instead, a thin blue paperback with large red writing and a cartoon witch on the cover is flung at their feet. It appears Meg and Mog is it's book of choice today.

"Meg and Mog it is," says Jordan, picking up the book and reading it out loud.

”Dis make no sense,” grumbled Des as she sat at the top of the stairs, listening to Jordan reading the story.

Izzy looks at Des with an amused expression, having followed the others whilst the genius loci appears mollified for the moment.

"Welcome to the Folly. We don't make sense."

OOC:   Jordan, please make a Luck roll.

OOC:   What do you all want to do now? How are you going to deal with the mess? What are you going to tell Nightingale?

Skipper snaps a few photos of the children's books on the floor.

"All seems pretty good up here," he calls to the others. "Minor mess compared to downstairs. Just in the children's too."

"I guess we go back to Nightingale and tell him what happened after we clean up here," says Jordan after he finishes the story, "but let's keep the children's books down here."

Luck roll (60% stat) reading the story:
d%

As soon as Jordan finishes the slim volume, the pages flip back to the start. Clearly the genius loci wants to hear the story again!

OOC:   Almost time to wrap this up I think. But please can everyone make me an INT roll first.

1d%40%

OOC:   Highly unexpected Critical Success.

INT roll: 80%

1d100

INT (65%) 1d100

INT roll

"I'll take that as a compliment to my reading ability," says Jordan. "Well, Caroline has wanted encores before, so why not? She always falls asleep before I do. Well, almost always." He reads the story aloud a second time.

INT roll (70% stat) after reading the story:
d%

While Jordan reads the story a second time, the rest of you ponder on what to do next.

It is clear that Saffron would not be happy to see the children’s section moved back into the basement, whilst the genius loci will want a story on a weekly basis at least.

As for the mess… someone as neat and fastidious as Nightingale would require the place to be tidied up, but it will take all night to put the books back, even with your combined efforts.

While Skipper takes Ernie out for a wee, it suddenly hits him - what if the genius loci could be persuaded to reverse the mess it’s caused?

As she considers different options, Izzy suddenly has an idea.

"Maybe we can make a deal? What if we try and get Saffron to agree to host a book reading session down here on a regular basis? She won't want to move the books back again like before, but she might be okay with keeping a space down here just for reading sessions at least.

"Oh, and we can't just keep calling it 'it', or using the full title. This thing needs a name." She ponders for a moment. "How about... Dewey?"

It's not a library, but the implication is clear...

… … to everyone except Des.

”Dewey?” she asked. ”Wot? Like de duck?”

"Brilliant, Izzy!" Leo grinned. "Now that we know his taste in literature..." Leo paused. Clearly, the shunning of Dinosaur Bob bothered him, but he remained professional. "But making a promise of regular stories being read down here might not fit Saffron's schedule. Or preference. Before we make any promises that we can't keep to..." Leo spoke slowly and firmly. "Errol..." clearly thinking that the superior name. "Perhaps we should get the okay from Saffron. We wouldn't want to piss off Errol."

Leo thought for a moment, turning to the open space. "Or maybe...you might be more of a Librarian. Let's see... Oook? Oook oook?"

"Ah, Discworld," says Jordan. "I suppose that makes us the Watch."

"Not the duck, no..." Izzy says to Des, though she doesn't clarify further. Instead, she considers the other names from Leo, good choices as well, and nods as he mentions checking with Saffron first. "In any case, we should probably head up there while it's a bit quieter and make the call to Nightingale."

She smiles at Jordan's understanding of Leo's references. "A fellow person of culture, huh. I suppose I always thought of myself more as an Angua, but I think my friends would call me more of a Sally..."

She tries to think who the others would be. Des, probably Nobby Nobbs, and Skipper maybe a Reg Shoe. Could Jordan be an Igor? If the boss and Peter were Vimes and Carrot, and you called out the Faceless Man as Carcer, then who could Leo match up to...?

Skipper returns with the relieved Ernie. "I had a thought. What if we can strike a deal with our friend here." He waves generally at the basement level of the bookshop. "Get him or her to put the books back for us. And Saffron. The lemon squeezy way to tidy up. Obviously, we will need to offer something in exchange."

"Don't worry, Des, I'm not talking virgin's blood here."

”Just as well!” snorted Des, her eyes sliding in Leo’s direction…

"Oh, I'm Lady Sybil, for sure," he laughed. "I look a-MAY-zing in a dress..."

"Yeah, I guess any deal that we make with Errol on Saffron's behalf will be followed through. Any reasonable deal. And we're all reasonable people here, right?"

He looked at Errol. "Right?"

"I'd be Detritus, then," says Jordan. "I'm built like him, and while I am highly intelligent, trolls can be too if the temperature is low enough."

Slightly mouth agape, Skipper looks at Jordan. "Whut?"

"I was going to suggest the big guy here," gesturing at the said Jordan, "Offer to read ten kiddies books. Or one whole Harry Potter. But we might need to reassess because it sounds like big guy's has a stroke."

At Skipper's words, Izzy tries to hide a slightly worried look. She knows that he's just kidding, but considering some of the more dangerous cases the Folly takes on, she decides she'll need to look up the exact definition of "virgin's blood" in the Folly archives. Does it mean virgin in the strictest technical sense? After all, she's a young woman, she's certainly had physical relationships before, but since men aren't her particular calling... she doesn't exactly relish the thought of going against her entire preference just to meet an arbitrary condition. Hopefully the rules of magic take a more modern meaning of what sex entails...

Returning to the topic at hand, she nods at Leo. "I'd say we're pretty reasonable. Just need to figure out what that deal might be."

Turning to Skipper, she continues. "He's just referencing Discworld. Not really aimed at kids though, so we probably don't want to be reading the entirety of The Colour of Magic to this... to Errol. But I like the offer. It should work for here and now, but what do we do in the longer term?"

Des looked around, wandered over to the shelves and picked something up. ”Wot ‘bout dis?” she asked, holding up the CD of an audiobook.

She looked at the back of the case. ”Sez it runs f’ two ‘ours,” she said.

Skipper looks defensive, possibly even nettled. "I am familiar with the Discworld series, thank you. Audio books are a life necessity in the soup and gravy, for your info." He briefly mimes putting headphones on. "I just can't think of a good reason for Jordan to declare he is a troll. I assume he's concussed after being hit by a heavy cookbook?"

"Don't get the Errol thing though."

"As for trading with our friend, my extensive experience of dodgy deals in pubs is the first trade is the hard one. After that, you have ground rules."

He looks at Des. "The short cut. I like it but I'm wondering if the shop thing will think it's cheating."

"Mainly because I'm big and tough," says Jordan, "and none of the other characters fit. And I dodged that book. That's a brilliant idea about audiobooks, though. Dewey...or Errol...seems to like Meg and Mog. If there's no existing audiobook version of it, we can just make a recording of me reading it. Then we can set it up on a timer to play the recording at night when the store is closed and nobody is here. As long as the power stays on, it'll play."

”’zactly,” said Des. ”Got t’ be woth a try, unless you want t’ sit down der every night f’ de rest o’ yor life?”

Suitably bribed (in the best tradition of parenting) with the promise of some more stories, 'Errol' happily helps out with the tidying up (although some assistance is needed with the alphabetical sorting). After a couple of hours (minus Ernie's not-infrequent toilet breaks), the job is done.

The rest of the night is uneventful. Nightingale calls at 1 o'clock to see how things are going, and is happy to hear that you have a firm handle on the situation.

"A new genius loci - how fascinating! I will have to pay my respects and inform Mama Thames of the situation - better she finds out from me than anyone else, in case she decides to take an interest in it's upbringing. I doubt Stonewaters would appreciate a flooded basement."

He concurs with your idea of playing audiobooks to 'Errol' and indeed, as the weeks go by, an initially bemused Saffron reports that this seems to do the trick (although the genius loci seems to require twice-weekly audiobooks, whereas whenever someone reads a real book, it appears satisfied with a weekly occurrence).

Now and again, a junior member of the Folly is actioned to visit 'Errol' and read a book themselves, just to check up on the situation.

OOC:   And that, my friends, is The Bookshop - the introductory case file in the Rivers of London RPG rulebook. if you wish to continue (and I hope you do), please proceed to The Incident Room for a pot of tea and a slice of Molly's Battenburg cake. Oh, and 1 more Development Point each (I will detail how you can spend these over there.)