Resurrection City 1: The Adventure of the Sealed Room

[Andrew D. Gable]

Pastor Miller strains his eyes, looking into the darkened chamber, but can see nothing. Gervase, standing beside the town priest, lights a lantern he is carrying with him. At the same time, Aiolos is flicking his eyes left to right, casting furtive glances along the hallway and seeing nothing amiss. Gervase, lantern held high, ventures into the room, disturbing the air further. And it's then that Aiolos recognizes that the moist smell is not the typical musty air of an Egyptian tomb or ancient ruin. No, it's something much more... organic.

"Blood," mumbles Inspector Diggory as he sniffs the air. "Fresh, too."

Gervase's lamplight reveals a large worktable piled high with a chemist's tubes and vials, an old rolltop desk, and a bookcase filled with volumes of all sorts. Most immediately visible, however, is an unmistakable and brilliant scarlet patch on the floor, glistening wetly in the reflected light. The blood is splashed over the walls as well.

[I made an assumption that as a police officer, Inspector Diggory is familiar with the smell of blood. And everyone make a Will save]

 

[JimAde]

[OOC: Will save 11 + 1 = 12 ]

 

[Karl Green]

Andrew Miller

Andrew rolls a 5 +7 =12...doh!

 

[Ferrix]

Aiolos snaps his head around towards the doorway, something's wrong.

OOC: Will roll 13 +2 = 15

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

As the blood comes into view, Pastor Miller feels a grotesque fascination, a fixation upon this thing that proves at least part of Arthur's lurid tale... as Trevor makes his way into the darkened room, clinging as closely to the wall as possible, panicked and somewhat paranoid about what may lurk in the darkness, he notices that Pastor Miller is simply standing, stark still, staring at the bloodstains.

"Impossible!" exclaims Arthur, rushing over to the bloodspots. "This room's not been opened in 50 years! This is an impossibility! By God, were the tales true?" Gervase sets the lantern on the table and sets to examining the blood with Arthur. DEDI, meanwhile, utters an exclamation of his own and, unfazed by the blood which covers a goodly portion of the floor, rushes over towards the bookcase and begins scanning the titles, occasionally muttering to himself. Aiolos and Inspector Diggory are likewise unaffected by the shock of discovering the blood.

[I've taken the liberty of making the Inspector's save for him. He succeeded, which was no surprise to me since he's most likely just a bit familiar with bloodstains. And we get our first experience with how we'll handle horrific things, which FYI is pretty much like how Ravenloft handles it]

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Diggory moves over to DEDI and helps him scan the shelves, saying quietly, "There's a bit more to the story than the summary we got, although Lord Pellgraine's telling the truth. Mostly."

 

[Karl Green]

Pastor Andrew Miller

Andrew tries to look away from the blood and says a quick prayer for his soul... he is very uncomfortable with the feelings he is having but can't seem to shake them. When he recovers his wite enough he will also try and keep an eye on DEDI. He says to Arthur "Steady man, there must be a logical explaination for this... this unholy... good god... the blood..."

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

"Apparently so," DEDI mumbles to Inspector Diggory, as he continues to scan the shelves. "It seems Thomas may have been a bit more proficient with such arts than I was led to believe. O-ho! What have we here?" He pulls a massive tome bound in black leather from the shelf. "A copy of Gregge's Wisdom of the Magi! I had thought all these were destroyed years ago. And what is this?" He keeps a hold of the Gregge book, and pulls forth a book bound in brilliant crimson silk. After glancing at the cover briefly, he takes on a repulsed expression and shoves it back onto the shelf.

Inspector Diggory's inspection of the bookshelves reveals that the books contained on it are mostly the expected occult texts, though there are a number of books devoted to the more typical sciences represented on the shelves, treatises on botany, medicine, biology, and chemistry. Many of the occult books seem to have a Hebrew slant to them.

Arthur rises and makes his way slowly around the room, examining the laboratory table. DEDI turns and sits his pile of books - now three high - on the table next to the lantern. As he does so, his eyes become fixated on one spot in the room, above the bloodstains, and he simply stares for a moment, as if in a trance of some sort. After a moment, he shudders, turns back around, and continues looking at the shelf.

Spoiler

"I think we should not spend any more time in here than we must,"

he mutters to Inspector Diggory. Then he walks across the room to the desk.

[BTW, Jim, Trevor can act. He's just sort of wary and unsure about the room, and will try not to get too far from the lantern if he can help it]

 

[JimAde]

Trevor takes one cautious step into the room, his eyes wide. He seems to be trying to see everything at once. "Inspector," he says a little shakily, "don't you think we should get everyone out so you can examine the room?" He casts a glance at DEDI. "Before it is disturbed any further?"

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Jamison nods in response to DEDI's comment and follows him over to the desk, opening it if DEDI has not. The inspector carefully examines the contents.

In response to Baron Walsingham, Diggory grins. He calls over his shoulder as he searches, "A sensible thought. You're a man of the world, that's what you are, Baron Walsingham, and that's a mighty sensible suggestion. We'll just take a look over here, see what we can find, and then we can reconvene and discuss our thoughts." Under his breath, he says to Dedi, "

Spoiler

Some of them, at least. What did you see on the wall?

"