IC - Tewfik's Spice Shop

[Raiko]

OOC: Finally posting again!

DSIG: Does Nethaniel throw the paperweight?

IC:

Upstairs - Tewfik's Spice Shop - Soho

As he decides whether to smash the mirror Nethaniel hears Gwen call from downstairs, "What's happening up there! Hurry, I'm scared!"

[DSIGFUSS]

Nethaniel crashes the paperweight into the creepy old mirror he believes to be linked somehow to the spice shop owner's power!

Run Love! Run!

Nethaniel then sprints down the stairs, his adrenaline pumping and a big smile on his face. The vandolism reminded him of his lost youth.

[Raiko]

OOC,Make a POW roll for Nethaniel

[DSIGFUSS]

Nethaniel rolled a 44. POW = 13

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2395582/

[Raiko]

OOC,Shame, I had something nice planned if that roll failed. :twisted:

Caroline hurries down the stairs after Nethaniel, sharing his excitement she can't help giggling. Behind them the disturbing antique mirror is destroyed - it's glass shattered into a thousand pieces by the paperweight.

As they reach the bottom of the stairs, the couple hear the sound of a lorry pulling up outside the front of the shop. "What's that?" Gwen voice is shaky as she calls out from her hiding place in the back room.

[DSIGFUSS]

Nethaniel's mood quickly turns from excited to terrified. He creeps up to the shop window and tries to peer out into the street to identify the noise.

Get ready to run luv! If it's the bobbies we could be in for a wee bit of a chase.

[Raiko]

"Let's see," Gwen joins Nethaniel at the window, having dashed in from the back room.

There are rough looking Arabic men pouring out of the back of the truck, they are armed with vicious spiked clubs, knives and one carries a pistol. From the front passenger seat of the truck emerges Tewfik al-Sayed, in his hands are two curious ceremonial sceptres construct from a golden metal - one ends in a crook shape the other in the shape of an inverted ankh.

Al-Sayed surveys the store front as he barks orders in Arabic. The expression on his face is quite murderous.

OOC,Make a hide roll

[DSIGFUSS]

Nethaniel quickly ducks down.

Bloody Hell Gwen! Let's make like a scarper if you catch my meaning?

[Raiko]

OOC,Sorry for the hold up, I've been waiting for some of the other players to make a post as well. In order to keep the threads in sync. I will continue [b]Nethaniel[/b]'s story within the next 24 hours.

[Raiko]

Tewfik Al-Sayed’s Spice Shop – Soho, London

As Nethaniel ducks for cover he just has time to see Tewfik cross the two strange metal sceptres in front of his chest. As he does so the shop keeper begins to utter eldritch words that Nethaniel has never encountered before, piteous words not uttered by sane lips since primordial times of aeons past when mighty cyclopean beings ruled over forgotten empires.

Gwen hesitates at the window for a moment too long. For a split second the inside on the small shop is brightly illuminated from outside, then as the room falls dark again Gwen screams piercingly, almost deafening Nethanial, and falls to the floor of the shop, clawing at her own eyes and convulsing violently, frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog.

“RUN!” Nethaniel hears Caroline shout as she crashes through into the back room of the shop. The arabic men begin to batter at the shop’s front door, not even waiting for their leader to produce a key.

OOC,[color=#FF0000][u][b]OOC:[/b][/u][/color]Please make a [i]SAN [/i]check for [b]Nethaniel[/b]. [i][b]SAN loss = 1 / 1d10 [/b][/i] I won’t hold things up any more for you. :) So long as you reply, I’ll post here every 24 hours. I’ll NPC Maks and Timour in order to keep their thread in sync with yours.

[DSIGFUSS]

Bollocks!

Nethaniel runs after Caroloine covering his ears. The site of Gwen and the words, Nethaniel was certain he could translate given the right library, drove him clser to the edge of losing his mind then he cared to wander.

Nethaniel pours out into the back alley after Caroline, his legs like strands of Spaghetti. He didn't want to leave Gwen, but he wanted to hear more from Tewfik even less. Especially after he broke the man's mirror.

The librarian adventurer scoops up his crossbow case on the way and and then after Nethaniel felt he was far enough away from the chanting, he called out to Caroline.

What about Gwen yah wee dotty bird!

ooc,Sanity check : pass 37 : lose 1 sanity http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2417052/

[Raiko]

The yard behind Tewfik’s spice shop – Soho, London.

“Gwen!? But I thought she was following!”

Back inside the shop the investigators hear the sound of the front door crashing open as the cultists move in.

“Oh no!” with tears in her eyes Caroline says, “We’ve got to go! They’ll kill all of us!”

She dashes across the yard and out into the backstreet. More of the cultists can be heard coming through the arched alleyway that connects the backstreet to the main road. The only way out is to flee along the backstreet itself.

[DSIGFUSS]

Nethaniel stops for just a moment and looks back to the shop. He fingers his crossbow case and adjusts his glasses as he ponders the logistics of Heroics and Sacrifice.

Oh Bloody Hell! Who am I kidding! I'm a librarian... This isn't an adventure novel!

Nethaniel sighs deeply and runs after Caroline feeling sick to his stomach with guilt.

[Raiko]

OOC,Hope you don't mind waiting 1 extra day for a post. I've got to decide exactly how to bring My Handy into the game in sync with everyone else (I've finally had chance to reread the Scotland Yard thread) I also didn't have time to post in Grafster's thread yesterday.

[DSIGFUSS]

ooc,no worries Raiko. Whenever you're ready!

[Raiko]

As I'm just aiming to get survivors back together to continue the campaign, it's easier to just put Maksim & Timours story back into this thread now. They are at the front of the shop while Nathaniel and Caroline are fleeing out of the back...


The street at the front of Tewfik's spice shop

The two Russians make it to the car before any of the crazy Arab thugs notice them. By that time there seems to be some sort of commotion out of sight at the back of the buildings. The front door of the shop has been kicked in and two cultists are dragging Gwen, screaming in terror, out into the street. Tewfik al-Sayed stands near the truck directing operations, the two strange metal sceptres still clutched in his hands.

Maksim reaches the Bentley moments before Timour, but as he thrusts the keys into the ignition one of the Arabs dragging Gwen shouts to his companion, pointing towards the Russians and the car.

OOC,Tewfik still hasn't spotted Maks and Timour. The Bentley is facing away from the cultists, so you could make a quick getaway, or turn it around and use it as a weapon as Maksim considered. Gwen looks in big trouble. As well as Tewfik al-Sayed and the two cultists who have her captive there are two other Arabs on this side of the shop. One is armed with a spiked club, the other with a knife. She is being dragged towards the lorry. Two other cultists ran into the shop, and four (including the one with the gun) ran through the archway towards the back of the shop. You suspect that Caroline and Nathaniel, if they are alive must have escaped out of the back, into the alleyways and backstreets. I'm hoping to get everyone through this relatively unscathed, with the probable exception of Gwen, but Tewfik al-Sayed is clearly very, very dangerous, please take care, don't want to waste you immediately after so long away. :) [b]Jtull_84:[/b] If you are reading this post let me please get in touch immediately, I've tried unsuccessfully to contact you.

Behind the Shop

Caroline and Nathaniel make it into the alleyway behind Tewfik's shop with no time to spare, they can hear thugs crashing though the shop behind them, Arabic shouts drowned out by the sound of Gwen wailing. Other Arabs are almost upon them as they run through the archway from the street.

It seems that they must either run left or right along the dark foggy alleyway, or turn and fight...

OOC,It they run now the pair will probably be disappearing into the fog as their pursuers reach the alleyway. Nathaniel is sure that at least one of the men has a gun – not to mention Tewfik's sorcery.

[Decrepit]

"Which way?" Caroline hisses in a hoarse whisper to Nathaniel. "We can't fight them."

[DSIGFUSS]

Nethaniel looks around in frightened bewilderment.

Left Luv Left!

He grabs Carolyn's arm and drags her to the left with little delay.

One of them blokes got a lady from Bristol for Booby More.. We got to stay ahead of em! Hurry Luv!

Nethaniel will force a turn down the next alley in hopes the thugs chasing them don't spot them in the alley. (If the fog doesn't cover their tracks.)

[Decrepit]

Caroline mutely followed Nathaniel's lead, going left through the fog-shrouded corridor, her mind still in something like shock from the events of the past few minutes. In some ways, it felt as though she had been standing here for years, waiting for something to happen; in other ways, she felt swooped up in the swift current of events she couldn't fully fathom and didn't know whether she even wanted to.

[Laraqua]

Maksim guns the engine, a white-knuckled grip on the wheel, as he swings the car around. Assuming they'd had a chance to pick up the guns, he hopes Timour has a chance to pick a few of them off. If not, well, there's certainly nothing they can do. If they ram the cultists, they'll be ramming Gwen as well. Although, assuming they have guns, he hopes that Timour will fire off a mercy shot before they leave. His stomach churns at the thought but as a soldier, this isn't the first time he's abandoned fallen soldiers where they lay in order to get the job done ... or survive the attempt.