IC Scene 10 - Patched up

[zielonobrody]

Tuesday, March 14, 1922
9:00AM
Providence, Rhode Island

Both cars reached the hospital in due time. Dan was quickly patched up in the ER amongst a lot of screaming on his part, but fortunately passed out from all the pain or maybe after the meds kicked in.

Pearl was accepted to the hospital and deemed comatose, you suspect it was for lack of a more fitting explanation.

As there was nothing much more to do with both party members unconscious you decided to meet outside Dan's room in the morning and so you arrive. Dan is awake, but has found himself in much pain, with a cast on his leg and bandages on most parts of his body, and most unexpectedly in the hospital. He can't much remember how he got here and why he's in such a state. The doctor says he can go home tomorrow.

[Gaffer]

Karl Weber

Karl lays the box of candy he has brought on the table beside Dan's bed.

"So, Marrison, you have heard that Miss Wealstone has been admitted? I don't think they have any notion what is wrong with her. I intend to burn that miserable painting as soon as we get back to the house.

"How soon before you will be able to return with us?"

[ImpInTraining]

"Hell, I'm ready to go now," Dan says trying to boost himself up in the bed, but wincing from the pain of doing so. The nurse in the room pushes him back down into a more relaxed position and warns against any more strenuous activity against doctor's direction.

"Looks like I'll be laid up for another day. What the hell happened anyway? I was checking out the window... and that's the last thing I remember."

[andyw666]

Calum:

A notably shakey Calum delivers a newspaper and a hot coffee to Dan's bedside table.

"I don't know what actually happened Centurion, maybe the whole thing was a trick done on purpose with strings or wires or something, I don't know who by though."

Calum pauses and sighs. "All I can really say is that I saw the bed in the bedroom charge at you and hit you, of its own accord, and I don't know what made it move. Seemed like I got the light down in the cellar working, and as soon as that happened we heard noise upstairs. No-one should have been upstairs, as I had just been up there. Then the window was rattling. Then the bed decided to smash you through the window."

This makes Calum even quieter. "I heard it rattling earlier too, for no good reason, when I was up there mapping."

Calum sips his own coffee. "Whatever the case, this might be a good day for some researching into the court case from last century. For me anyway. Dan, you need to rest."

[ImpInTraining]

Dan Marrison

Dan smiled at the coffee and newspaper, "Thanks Calum. Right nice of you." He sipped the coffee as he listened to Calum recite the events. His brow furrowed. "Wait, you're telling me it was... the ghost that did this?" He looked to the others, "Any of the rest of you see this bed move by itself?"

Dan knew he must have been hit hard to go sailing out through the window. The floor didn't seem to be unlevel, so that means something pushed or pulled the bed as a battering ram - and Dan was the door. If it were the ghost, it was a tricky little sprite, using bait to get him into position for the strike. More likely, however, it could have been Calum just making up the story. But why would Calum attack him? There was no cause... no reason.

[Gaffer]

Karl Werner

Karl gives Calum a hard look, before shifting his gaze to Dan.

"All I know is that I saw you at the window, but there was nothing and no one outside it making it rattle. Suddenly you came hurtling through it to land on the lawn. With results that we can see."

[andyw666]

Calum:

Calum doesn't say much for a while, as he busies himself filling and lighting his pipe, with slightly shakey hands.

When he does answer (in a cloud of aromatic smoke), Calum sounds distinctly annoyed. "Look Marrison, I didn't say anything about ghosts or vampires or werewolves or any of that sort of thing. Let me repeat, I don't know what made the bed move. I didn't see anything make it move, supernatural or not."

"You might remember though, that I was the one shouting warnings to you as it started racing towards you. And while the Bosch here was playing in the back yard, I was dragging the drunk, unconscious flapper out the front door."

"Whatever you think, I'm off to the court house to look for records. I'll be at the diner at lunch time. Bosch, you could use your time constructively to read that diary you found."

Calum, with wounded dignity, leaves the room.

(OOC: Calum will head for the centre of town to the court building, with the intention of finding any court records about Walter Corbitt's court case from June of 1852.)

[ImpInTraining]

It would have been easier for everyone concerned if Dan had seen the bed move by itself... but he was a die-hard cynic. The only logical explanation was that Callum did the deed, for whatever reason.

Dan said to The other still in the room, "What do you know about Callum? Any chance he was hired by a third party to run us off our investigation?"

[zielonobrody]

Andrew
Hey, don't look at me, I was downstairs. But Calum did look authentically petrified when he came running outside.

OOC: Andrew,If Reclaimer doesn't show by tomorrow, we'll be looking for a replacement. If you know anyone that would want to join, let me and him/her know via PM.

[Gaffer]

Karl Werner

"I never laid eyes on him until you introduced us the other day. He is decidedly odd, I grant you, but would he even have the strength to shove a bed across a room hard enough to knock you through the glass of the window and completely out of the room?

"Besides, why would anyone care what we are doing in that old house? No, my friend, I believe we must be dealing with a genuine poltergeist phenomenon."

[zielonobrody]

Andrew
Oh please. there's no such thing as poltergeists. There must have been someone in the room that Dan overlooked. We shouldn't have just rushed out like that though. But I'd rather follow Calum to see what he's up to and let Dan rest up. You shouldn't be drinking coffee on painkillers mind you.

[Gaffer]

Karl Werner

"You are seriously suggesting that an experienced investigator like Mr. Marrison, as well as Mr. Childs, just 'overlooked' a full-grown person in a mostly barren room as that individual shoved a bed across the room and knocked him from the window?" Karl chuckles, "Oh, to what ridiculous lengths modern man will go to avoid admitting the presence of the paranormal.

"To quote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous creation: 'When you have eliminated all other alternatives, what remains, however impossible, must be true."

[ImpInTraining]

Dan Marrison

Dan frowned. He didn't like the idea of dealing with something that he didn't understand, not one bit. He took a deep breath, winced from the pain of a broken rib jabbing into his lung, and said "Karl's got a point. I don't recall seeing anyone else in that room. It was empty. But we need to establish if Callum is on the up and up. Anyone good at telling if someone is lying? I've played in my share of poker games, and can tell a good hand from a bad one just by seeing the other players expressions. But Callum isn't here, so I can't question him any more."

Looking to Karl, Dan points out, "As long as we're grabbing onto paranormal straws, isn't it possible that something could have taken over Callum's body... possessed him to shove the bed? I've heard stories of excorcisms... never thought they were true though. Whatever the case, we need to get back in that room and check it thoroughly for strings and pulleys, slant of the room, all that just to eliminate all the more realistic possibilities."

ooc,I know it's a little after the fact, but is it ok to roll against Psychology to get a feeling on whether Callum was telling me the truth or not?

[Gaffer]

Dan Marrison:
"But we need to establish if Callum is on the up and up. Anyone good at telling if someone is lying?"

Karl smiles indulgently, "I am an excellent judge of character, as it happens. I can assure you that Childs is sincere in what he says. Besides, can you imagine that pipsqueak having the guts to attack a man like you? Nonsense! He would not have the nerve."

Dan Marrison:
"...isn't it possible that something could have taken over Callum's body... possessed him to shove the bed? I've heard stories of excorcisms... never thought they were true though. "

"Hmmmm..." Karl casts his gaze upwards, contemplating the ceiling for a bit, "As to that, I must concede that it is possible. However, let us apply the principle of Ockham's Razor and take the simpler explanation of a poltergeist manifestation as our working hypothesis."

Dan Marrison:
"Whatever the case, we need to get back in that room and check it thoroughly for strings and pulleys, slant of the room, all that just to eliminate all the more realistic possibilities.

"I agree, we must strike while our iron is glowing. While you negotiate your release with the medicos, I will look in on Miss Wealstone to see how she is faring."

[ImpInTraining]

Dan Marrison

Dan laughed and winced because it hurt when he laughed. "I never dreamed I would hear someone try to push a poltergeist haunting as the more simple explanation."

He nodded to Karl and said, "All right. I hope she's feeling better. All the stress must have got to her." (... And that painting...) Dan thinks to himself. "If anyone goes to take care of that picture, check the back side of the canvas first to see if there is an artist's signature on it."

[zielonobrody]

Dan,I see no problem with that. You'll have some time on your hands to analyze while you're held against your will in the hospital ;)

Karl,Nothing new with Pearl. There were just more doctors than last time discussing hypotheses.

[zielonobrody]

Dan,Psychology:52/55 You can find nothing that would point ti the fact that Calum is in any way insincere about his actions and what he saw.

[ImpInTraining]

Dan mulls it all over in his head, and can't help but feel completely useless while he's kept in bed rest. He asks to speak to the doctor to find out when he can be released.

[Gaffer]

Karl Werner

Karl returns to Dan's room, somewhat gloomy. He slumps on the side of the bed, causing the mattress to tip rather alarmingly.

"They tell me Miss Wealstone is no better, but they don't seem to have any idea what is wrong with her."

Keeper,Maybe Trixie could play a suddenly cured Pearl?

[ImpInTraining]

Dan blinked at the news, then looked toward the window thoughtfully. His thoughts drifted back on the time he glanced at the painting, and the feelings that he gathered from it. "What do you think ... Karl. What is the possibility that her well being is completely linked to the existance of that painting?" Looking back to Karl, he chuckled, "Sounds absolutely ridiculous to say it, but maybe she's somehow lost in the painting, and we need to break her out."

ooc,I wasn't even aware the Pearl player had abandoned us. Just thought she was being in character. LOL. I agree, Trixie would make a great Pearl.