Ch.14b. A Letter From a Friend (Jerry & William)

[Mr. Handy]

"Probably just Mr. Winscott," says William. "Still have to wonder where his wife went. These were made by a man's shoes, size nine and a half unless I miss my guess. Let's follow."

[Bullfrog]

Alas, I am not an expert on improvised explosives, but here is how I imagined Jerry's creation working:

The cloth wick is very thin, thin enough that the lid can still screw on to the jar without too much issue but thick enough to actually stay where it is. The fire probably travels through the fuel-soaked wick pretty fast, so I imagine it's a throw-before-it-explodes-in-your-hand sort of situation.

Whatever Jerry made, it's probably safe to assume that he knows enough to make it work. Fire is his job, after all.

"Have you got any ideas as to why he'd walk down here by himself? Because that doesn't make a lick of sense to me. Then again, none of this does." Jerry takes the lead, a lighter in one hand and his firebomb in the other; if he was going to meet some kind of dangerous animal down here, he wanted his improvised explosive to make its acquaintance first.

[Mr. Handy]

"It makes no sense to me either," says William, following along and glad to be behind Jerry in the event that he starts lobbing firebombs. "We'll have to ask him, if we're not too late."

[Philulhu]

The rough-hewn tunnel continued for a further 60-70 yards. As they progressed further they could see a small mound in the centre of the passage. In the lamplight, the unmistakable white gleam of bone could be seen.

[Mr. Handy]

"We're going to have to dig in that to get a closer look," whispers William. "I don't think that's him. I think that bone must have been there for more than a few hours."

[Bullfrog]

"If that was Winscott, I'd expect a lot more left behind than just clean bone. Looks like there could have been some truth to that letter, after all." Jerry states, advancing towards the mound to try and dig the bone out and get a better look at it.

[Philulhu]

The bone turned out to be one of a number of bones, amidst a pile of ragged clothes. Disturbingly, some of the bones had iron fetters on them.

Spot hidden, please. I’d also take a History or Medicine roll (or similar) to tell you more about your discovery.

[Bullfrog]

Spot Hidden 55%: 1d100
History 20%: 1d100

Jerry is too distracted by the implications of the letter being true to come to a conclusion.

[Mr. Handy]

"The bones with the fetters must have been the slaves'," whispers William, instantly noticing something.

Spot Hidden roll (64% skill) at the bones:
d%
History roll (20% base skill) about the bones:
d%

[Philulhu]

William noticed that the clothes waere torn, with signs of bloodstains.

[Mr. Handy]

"The clothing's been torn," adds William, "and it's stained with blood."

[Bullfrog]

"Strewn like rags, indeed. It's no wonder that old ghoul sealed this place shut, if this is all that was left behind." Jerry observes, grabbing one of the bits of bloodied cloth to look over before casting it aside. He'd seen his fair share of intrigue as a career criminal, but this strange business was something else entirely...
"I don't know what the hell Winscott's got himself caught up in, but we need to get him out of it before he ends up like these bones. Let's get moving."

[Mr. Handy]

"Agreed," says William.

[Philulhu]

Tearing their eyes away from the pile of bones, Jerry and William realised that the tunnel they were in carried on ahead into the darkness. By the light from their head torches, they also realised that there was an entrance of sorts to their left, leading downwards.

[Bullfrog]

"I think we oughta see what's down here. If it goes on for while, we can turn back and see how this tunnel ends before going any deeper."
Jerry shines his light into the entrance to the left, awaiting William's judgement before advancing.

[Mr. Handy]

"Let's see which way the footprints go first," says William, inspecting the ground. "Finding him has to be our top priority, and if he didn't go down there, doing so ourselves would be a waste of time - not to mention potentially dangerous."

[Philulhu]

There were no footprints, but William saw something white on the ground just inside the entrance to the left. Looking closer, it was a stub of a Turkish cigarette and he recalled Winscott smoking something similar while they had spoken in his study.

Which direction are you going and how far?

[Mr. Handy]

"That's one of his cigarettes," whispers William, pointing at it. "Looks like he went toward the left, so we're going down first after all."

[Bullfrog]

"I knew it, William." Jerry taps the side of his head and twists his scarred face into something that somewhat approximates a grin. He jams his firebomb and lighter into his coat pocket and draws his gun before leading the way into the darkness below.
"I don't figure I'll need that gas bomb, but it's better to keep it around and not need it than the other way around, y'know?"

[Philulhu]

The passageway unmistakably sloped downwards as Jerry and William moved onwards. It was natural in places; in others it bore tool marks of the people - if indeed they were people - who had worked to extend the tunnnel deeper into the earth. Sometimes the floor was dry; in other areas it was wet as water seeped through the rock and ran in rivulets down the rock and across the floor, where it splashed under their feet.

The noise echoed down the corridor. ‘Splash’… … ‘Splash’… … ‘Splash’… … ‘Splash’… … ‘Splash’… ‘Splash’ … ‘Splash’… …

Wait! What was that?!

Hear noise, please.