Ship Inn - Dunwich, England 10:55 AM - Thursday, September 5, 1985
Raymond MacIntyre and Salem Shields walked through the front door of the inn. The lobby was decorated with nautical themes. A couple of doors at the back led further inside, and a flight of stairs went up. There was a wooden counter with a bell on it, behind which stood a petite young woman with big brown eyes and black hair. Tobias was at the counter speaking to her, and Chad and Leonek stood to one side.
Leonek is looking obviously agitated, casting angry glances at Tobias.
Between clenched teeth he whispers to Chad, his accent coming through because of his excitement.
"Ho..how is this possible, ve are here on a mission and all he can do is think vith his spodnie!"
Chad shakes his head and sighs. "I don't know." But he laughs, "The least he could have done is tried to get us a discount." He notices Salem and Raymond enter the inn, taps Leonek with the back of his hand, and directs his attention at the arrival of their companions.
Raymond nods lightly to the other members of the group before heading to the counter and to the young woman working. "Good morning Miss, I was wondering if you could tell me if a Ms. Kirby has checked out already. She told me that I might be able to catch her early in the morning here before she checked out, but I had a bit of an accident on my way here so I am quite late. I'm afraid I might have missed her."
Exchanging looks between Leonek and Chad, Salem felt a bit bewilder at the sight of both of them bickering with each other as he arrived at the the Ship Inn. Lightheartedly Salem asks,"So what's going on over here fellas?", as Salem hid his concerns with an amusing smile.
Even though Raymonddidn't notice anything off about her demeanor or what she was saying, he knew that she was lying in some fashion. After all, Ms. Kirby wasn't checking out today, and had already gone missing during this mission. While the receptionist wasn't explicitly saying that she checked out today, she was acknowledging that she was here and no longer is - meaning something had happened.
"Oh, that's too bad. Oh well, I'll just catch her another time. Thank you ma'am."Raymond went back to the group and asked "You got the rooms, right?"
Salem Shields,[b]Salem[/b] noticed that the woman had a sort of tell: she raised a hand close to her mouth in an indication of deception when she replied to [b]Raymond[/b]. He also noticed that her fingers were slightly webbed. This coupled with the large eyes were reminiscent of the mutations he had observed on [b]Simon Armistead[/b]'s body, though they were far less obvious and not pronounced enough to make her unattractive, which was evident from the way [b]Tobias[/b] looked at her.
"Maddox, but please call me Tobias. Many thanks Miss Howard." Tobias takes the keys from the receptionist with a smile. As he turns round to the others he drops the smile but keeps his voice light. "Well fellas this lovely lady has arranged for two rooms now and hopefully two later on today. I'm happy to come back later to pick up my key." He turns and winks at Miss Howard. "So you guys take these." He holds out four keys: two for Room 3, and two for Room 106.
Annie Howard smiled and waved at Tobias as he walked away to join the rest of his group. "Room 3 is down the corridor through that door," she said, pointing to one of the doors at the back. "Room 106 is up the stairs and down the hall to the left."
Leonek and Salem each took a key to Room 3 and passed through the indicated door into a hallway stretching left and right. Their room was to the right, the second (and last) door on the left in that direction.
Chad, Raymond, and Tobias went upstairs, where they found themselves in a similar corridor leading left and right. Down the right-hand side, Room 101 was the first door on the left. Room 104 was the second and final door on the right. That door was currently ajar. A large, bald, muscular man in overalls sat on the floor in the doorway, his back to the group. Next to him was an open toolbox, and he appeared to be attaching the lower hinge to the door. It did not have an upper hinge. The left branch also had two doors on each side, with Room 106 being the first on the right in that direction. There was also a door at the very end of the hall that way, where a sign indicated that it was the fire exit.
Chad points to the fire escape door. "Good, easy access." At any questioning glances, he simply says with a small shrug, "Have to know your exits! That's the UN... you know... way."
Glancing back at the open door to 104, Chad cocks his head, absently wondering what happened to the door.
As Salem approached the door of Room 3, he produced a key out of his front coat pocket. Wearily looking around the hallway for any unwanted ears, Salem looks at Leonek with a big smile on his face, "Tobias sure has an interesting taste in women." With a smug look on Salem's face, he inserted the key into the door handle and unlocked it.
Tobias walks up the stairs with the others. Once Annie can't see him he shudders and makes a face. As they reach room 106 he glares at Chad for nearly slipping up and cocks his head towards the workman. Then he frowns and turns back to room 104. "Hi. Sorry to trouble you while you are busy but I think I may be renting this room later. What happened to the door - is it fixable?" He asks the workman with a smile.
"It's a new door I'm installing," mumbled the workman without even turning to look back. It sounded like he had something in his mouth. "Old one's busted. It'll be ready this evening."
The hotel rooms were fairly small and were pretty standard fare. Each room contained two single beds, a small writing desk and chair located near the door, and a window. The door had a chain lock and a small sign hanging from the knob inside the room that read "Do Not Disturb." The rooms also each had a cramped bathroom with a combination shower/bathtub, a toilet, and a sink. Room 106 also had a connecting door in the left wall that led to Room 108, though the door was shut and locked.
Tobias leans over to have a look. "Can I give you a hand? It's much quicker hanging a door with two people. I'm a mechanic." He adds.
ooc,rolls if needed: spot hidden fail [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3891915/]1d100=56[/url] mech roll fail [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3891917/]1d100=52[/url] If the man declines his help, Tobias shrugs and walks back to Raymond's room for a debrief.
The room beyond the door looked ordinary as far as Tobias could see, but he did get a good look at the man's face...
Tobias Maddox,...and promptly wished he hadn't. The workman looked to be in his thirties and was decidedly on the ugly side. His bulging eyes, scaly skin, and lumpy neck reminded [b]Tobias[/b] of the deformities he had seen in [b]Simon Armistead[/b]'s autopsy photo. He had nothing in his mouth, so perhaps his voice sounded that way because of his mutation.
[spoiler][b]Tobias[/b], please roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 0/1d4.[/spoiler]
"Here now, you're just getting in the way," mumbled the man. "I can do it faster by myself."
Raymond nodded to Chad, "Especially considering the circumstances." Raymond said popped open the door to room 106. He put down some of basic necessities that had survived the crash on the bed closest to the desk. A change of cloths and some toiletries. On the desk he set his wallet and a watch. He made sure to scan the room thoroughly for anything out of place before they would have their little debrief.
"You see a phone anywhere around here? It might not do to have to go to that payphone every time."Raymond said as he did his sweep of the room. "I should have thought to ask the woman at the front desk what room Dr. Kirby was in and if she had left a note or anything."
Raymond finished his sweep of the room and sat down at the desk to jot a few notes for himself while he waited on the others to settle in and make their way up to the room.
The room did have a telephone on the writing desk, and it was possible to dial an outside line. Nothing in the room looked out of place, and it had been thoroughly cleaned.
Mr. Handy,[color=#0000BF]"Jeeze!"[/color] Tobias stumbles on seeing the man's face and only just saves himself from falling into the grotesque man by grabbing hold of the door frame. He pushes himself away and blunders down the corridor.[spoiler]roll,fail [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3896233/]1d100=84, 1d4=2[/url][/spoiler]
With a great bang, the door swings open, Tobias crashes into room 106, "Jeeze, the ugly son of a - Jeeze!" He shakes his head violently and sits down hard on the bed.
"Strange, I didn't see any mirrors in the hallway Tobias." Little showed on Raymond's face that he was joking aside from a small smirk, otherwise it would have seemed the callous remark of a disinterested man. "Come on, no one's so ugly to warrant that sort of reaction."
Tobias is in too much shock to notice the joke. He takes a deep breath. "I didn't expect to see that in this cutesy country inn. Sorry fellas, I'm okay, just shocked that's all; it's been one helluva day." He looks up, "You remember those autopsy photos we saw back at UNIT? The scaly skin and deformities? Well, there's another of them right here at the inn. Only this one is live and kicking. If you don't believe me, go take a look at the fella down the hallway." He shudders, "One ugly muther."
Just about then Leonek arrives at the room, he barely took notice of the repair man and the broken down door as his nose was buried in the map of the area.
He smiles as he enters and says, "You're not too pretty either, chelovyek"
Salem followed Leonek's lead and as Salem walked past the repair man, he wondered to himself if the broken down door was the room that Dr.Kirby stayed in.
He smiles as he enters and says, "You're not too pretty either, chelovyek"
"Yeah, thanks Leonek, I'd be worried if you thought otherwise." Tobias says as Leonek and Salem walk in. " I'm talking about the repair guy down the hallway. He's got the same deformations as we saw in the photos back in UNIT. Maybe it's hereditary. Or something in the water." He thinks for a moment. "Guess I'll be sticking to beer while we're here."
Leonek glanced outside for a moment to see if could catch a glimpse of the repairguy's unique appearance and then, once everyone was inside, closed the door.
He looked at the others and nodded.
"I think we are all here, yes? Maybe we should debrief?"
He stayed by the door, motioning with a few short gestures that one other person should stay as well, just in case someone would be listening in.
Leonek went out into the hall and walked down to the end, where he was able to get a glimpse of the repairman's face...
Leonek Novak,...and promptly wished he hadn't. The workman looked to be in his thirties and was decidedly on the ugly side. His bulging eyes, scaly skin, and lumpy neck reminded [b]Leonek[/b] of the deformities he had seen in [b]Simon Armistead[/b]'s autopsy photo, just as [b]Tobias[/b] had said.
[spoiler][b]Leonek[/b], please roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 0/1d4.[/spoiler]
Leonek quickly reappeared, his face drawn, eyes wide and sweat running from his brow. He let out a stream of incomprehensible Polish expletives as he closed the door behind him. Breathing heavily, he looked at the others.
"He's a monster! A dziwoląg! I can only imagine what they did to poor Dr Kirby!"
Raymond makes sure the door is close and begins to speak slightly more hushed, as if they could be overheard. "True, it is definitely one lead about the town. You'll have to forgive me if I don't look for myself, I trust you both and I don't think it would do to draw more attention in that fashion."Raymond takes out a notepad and jots down the abnormality sighting, "If Simon Armistead had those mutations, and this man does as well, I would not be surprised if we run into more people in the town with the same issues. I didn't notice anything wrong with Dr. Strong, but if he treats even a fair amount of the residents in town, then I am sure he is aware of these mutations. I suspect we will be seeing a few more people like them, so perhaps we should try to brace ourselves for it so we don't appear suspicious."
He sat at the desk and turned the chair to the room, "So what do we know? We know that Simon Armistead killed himself in London after visiting Dunwich and was afflicted with severe mutations. That his real father must have been of Dunwich, especially now considering we have already witnessed another man with similar genetic disorders." He continued, "We know that Valerie Kirby went missing two days ago, had visited Dr. Strong a few days ago in the afternoon, and that the woman at the front desk says she left today. Her lie, or at least disguised truth, coupled with damages to the hotel doesn't bode well."
Raymond puts his notes down for a moment and begins fiddling with his ballpoint pen, "So gentlemen, where do you suggest we begin? Valerie and Elliot are probably meeting with that author to establish their reasoning to be here, but that still leaves us with time to investigate other avenues."
"I could try chatting up the receptionist, find out about that room." Tobias says distastefully. He notices the others' expressions, "She's not my type at all, I'm just doing it for leads."
"We should head up towards the Dunwich museum, I mean, after all we are tourists," as Salem paused to look around the room to see if he got their attention. "It could be a good start to find out why Beth and Simon Armistead came to Dunwich,"Salem shifts his posture against the wall, carefully leaning his head towards the door as to hear any unwelcome ears. Salem glances back at the room, "Hey Ray, remember back at Dr. Strong's cottage? Do you think Dr. Strong is single?"Salem recalled the beautiful cottage and a few expensive valuables, but couldn't remember seeing any family pictures. With a stern look over Salem's face, he began calculating numbers to himself under his breath. Without making eye contact with the group, Salem gave a blank stare off into the room, "Dr. Strong appeared to be in his 60's but if 30 years ago Beth Armistead came to Dunwich, I think they may of had a romantic relationship together."Salem continued, "out of all of the people we've met Dr. Strong seemed like the only one that appeared normal, although, we haven't toured around town enough so let's sleep on that thought"
Raymond thought for a few moments on Dr. Strong, "I don't know if he is single, but nothing really stuck out to me as the cottage being a couple's home. The idea of Dr. Strong being Ms. Armistead's lover seems a bit too convenient plus he didn't seem to have any of the mutations that afflicted Simon, but perhaps she knew her. It's worth asking." Raymond looked up at the group, stopping his now-conjecture scribblings, "He's got a point, if we are tourists we should do something tourists do. The museum is as good as any place to start. I think one or two of us should stay behind and wait for Ms. Soames and Mr. Webb should they return soon."
Tobias shrugs, "I don't mind waiting here. I still need to organise my room and I'm hoping it'll be the one with the broken door so I'm looking forward to having a nose round."
"Then I will head to the museum with you guys," Raymond says. He gathers his things and before they head out he turns to Tobias and Leonek, "If something comes up leave a note, if something bad comes up, leave a mark that isn't easily covered up. Don't need anyone else disappearing. Oh and Tobias, if you feel the need to chat up the receptionist, just be careful it'd be a little odd if Valerie disappeared from the hotel and she didn't know anything about it."
With that Raymond heads out the door with the other two - making sure one of them has a key.
