Game Thread

[Squashua]

Swinging as though someone passed through. It just stopped.

[B:L]

HENRY
(Shouts up.)
Someone's in the house, fellas. Keep an eye out.
(Grabs his cane and torch, heads north through the living room and
looks behind the sofa, then moves behind the stairs to take a peek
into the kitchen, listening for any noises that may give away a location.)

[Squashua]

Henry ducks behind the sofa, but nothing is there, so he whips around and sneaks behind the stairs and into the kitchen. No one is in the kitchen besides himself, and while the table he moved earlier is still pushed up against the basement door, the door itself is open about an inch, jutting up against the table.

[B:L]

HENRY
(Continues listening for noises as he enters the Foyer, and jabs at
the linen-covered couch with his cane, before peeking behind the sofa
in the sitting room, then diverting up into the dining room to look under
the table, finally taking yet another peek into the kitchen from the other side.)

[Squashua]

Henry hears nothing but the creaking of the house around him and the sound of the men upstairs moving items. The couch does not bleed when stabbed, there is nothing behind the sofa, and nothing under the table beyond the legs of the chairs and table itself. Peeking into the kitchen, Henry observes the same scene as described earlier, but from a different angle.

[B:L]

HENRY
(Enters the game room and looks under the billiards table.)

(Is the fireplace lit?)

[Squashua]

The fireplace in the game room was never, and still is not, lit.

[B:L]

HENRY
(Gets the necessary tools and lights the game room's fireplace,
going the same path to and from the north entrance.)
Come on out, I just want to chat for a while and listen.

[Oats]

Time check?

*Piano starts*

Charles barely stifling a shout of confusion and fear, drops the box he was in the midst of picking up.

Shouting down to Henry, "You okay down there? I thought you were reading, not giving us a musical interlude!"

[Obbi]

"I don't know what the hell this is, Ben."

Roger walks along the Mound, his feet sometimes walking up on it to test the firmness of it.

"The dirt here isn't compact, do you think this Mound could've been man-made? Maybe they buried something out here, who the hell knows. Do you remember if anybody thought to bring some shovels?"

[Wildcat]

"I'm pretty sure David brought at least one. I take it you're thinking of seeing what might be within the mound?"

[Squashua]

Logic dictates a manor with grounds as big as this one could supply it's own shovels.

[Squashua]

Henry lights the fireplace in the game room without incident, and slips back into the dining room.

[Obbi]

Jun 23, 2009 17:31:17 GMT -5 Wildcat said:

"I'm pretty sure David brought at least one. I take it you're thinking of seeing what might be within the mound?"

"A trail that stops at a low-level, soft pile of dirt? I think there's something buried here. We could ask Hans for some shovels, but this is technically beyond the grounds and he may have objections with us digging around the area. Let's head back to the manor first and see if David brought a shovel, then we'll try Hans."

Roger begins walking back to the manor with Benjamin.

[Wildcat]

"Yes, I see your point. Very well, we'll check with David first." With that, Ben accompanies Roger as he starts to journey back to the manor house.

[Squashua]

Jun 24, 2009 0:34:28 GMT -5 Obbi said:

"A trail that stops at a three-foot-high, twenty-foot diameter, semi-soft pile of dirt?

Fixed that for you.

[Squashua]

Just want to know what the house people are doing now that Henry is all spooked and doing weird, ninja-like shit downstairs, or if I should just exposition to the part where Roger and Ben arrive @ the house.

[FunkyWaltDogg]

Do that, we are boxin'

[Squashua]

3 : 40 PM

After about five minutes stalking the downstairs and getting nowhere, Henry gives the evil-eye stare at the piano, then settles back down in the living room to finish reading the journal.

3 : 50 PM

Benjamin and Roger make it back up the path to the manor fence, then decide to take the easterly route around to the front, while keeping an eye out for that darned cat.

3 : 53 PM

Through the trees and fenceline, the two men spy the earlier-mentioned family graveyard.

3 : 58 PM

Roll...

As they're walking along the western fence-line, looking for Heidi's feline, Roger spies something odd in the grass about ten feet out. He walks over to a circular low spot in the ground, partially obscured by a thick growth of wild forsythia. "Hey Ben, come here for a second and help me pull out this bush; maybe the pussy is under it."

Ben walks over. Removing the bush reveals that the low spot in the ground was actually once a two and a half-foot diameter gaping hole, now filled to the brim with large rocks, wedged in deep and continuing on downward. The rocks are obviously not a natural occurrence, and depending on how deep they go, the pit could take several hours to clear out. It's unlikely a cat could have slipped downward through them though. Roger and Ben would definitely need gloves and the help of some additional muscle if they wanted to remove the rocks. They decide to head back to the house proper and report in.

4 : 10 PM

Benjamin and Roger enter the foyer looking for David. Henry explains to them about the player piano, and sends them upstairs to meet with the others. After cautiously and tentatively making their way to the third floor to ask David and Daniel about shovels and supplies, the duo are recruited into the exploration of the supply room.

4 : 20 PM

Henry puts down the pre-war Journal of Aaron Dubois after a good solid read, and heads upstairs, only to find that, with the aid of Roger and Benjamin, the group has completed their search of the storage room. The bird cage, paintings, rugs, various heirlooms of varying worth, and dozens of items of non-essential note were discovered. There are many items dating back years, even pre-Civil War. One box held an officer's uniform, a saber, and a carefully folded American flag. Beneath the flag sat a journal, which after a short perusal, Charles realizes is the diary of Aaron Dubois, spanning the years between his return home in 1863 until his death in 1866. "The ink in this small diary is somewhat faded, but it should only take an hour or two at most to pore through it," he explains to Henry, who sighs with dismay. At least it's substantially smaller than Aaron's journal.

The yellowed letters, tied with a blue ribbon, that Charles picked up earlier from the nightstand, were from Aaron to his wife, Beatrice, during his time at war. There are many of them, and it could take some time to go through them as well.

[B:L]

HENRY
(Sighs at the sight of more reading.)
Alright, I'll get to that, but first my findings. I believe we may have a lead.
(Opens the journal and reads the journal entry dated 6/5/1853.)
On June 12th, 1853, around 8 o'clock, a sickly stranger appeared on
the Dubois' doorsteps. He was a cloaked figure, with a coughing fit,
and appeared to not know a single shred of English. Aaron held him
up and he and Beatrice took him to the 3rd floor guestroom, since
the lower floors were occupied. By whom I wonder, but that's for
later. He was discovered dead in the morning, and given a proper
Christian burial in the family plot. Allen threw a fit at this whole
situation. That's all I've got so far, so the next journal should cover
more. They never did identify the man, who had nothing in his pockets.

[Squashua]

Jun 24, 2009 14:04:59 GMT -5 B:L said:

HENRY
(Sighs at the sight of more reading.)
Alright, I'll get to that, but first my findings. I believe we may have a lead.
(Opens the journal and reads the journal entry dated 6/5/1853.)

If he reads it all aloud instead of paraphrasing, it goes a little something like this; maestro please...

(Verbatim)
June 12, 1853
A strange event took place last evening. About eight o'clock, as I sat reading Gibbons in the living room, I was aroused by a weak, but seemingly urgent knocking upon the front door. Quickly marking my place, I hurried to the foyer and pulled open the door to find a man, of dark skin and obviously foreign birth, dressed in a dark cloak, huddled against the driving rain. I invited the poor wretch in and as he stepped across the sill, he was set with a wracking cough so dreadful, I was compelled to take him by the arm, for without support, I am sure that he would have fallen to the floor.

At this same moment, Beatrice appeared, and seeing the poor man's condition, insisted that he be taken upstairs immediately and put to bed in one of the guest rooms. Despite his weakened condition, it was necessary that he climb the stairs all the way to the third floor, all the rooms on the lower floors presently being occupied, and as I helped the man, I tried to talk with him only to discover that he knew not a word of English. I could not begin to guess what strange, Asiatic tongue he used, but I’m sure it was an expression of sincere thanks that he gave to us that evening before his passing. Refusing all and any offers of food, we left him to rest and the wracking cough soon came to a stop and we assumed that he was sleeping peacefully. It was this morning that it was discovered he was dead, passing away some time quietly during the night, God rest his soul.

Allen has been sent to town to bring the doctor but not until after I was forced to listen to his raging about the "bringing of foreigners into our home," although this time I would have to admit that he may have been the wiser last night when, upon learning of the stranger’s presence, protested loudly and vehemently, the wisdom of my decision. I must admit I am at a loss to explain the man's mysterious illness and upon checking the pockets of clothing, I find that he carried almost no money and absolutely nothing that would identify him. As for the disposal of the body, I have already talked this matter over with Beatrice, and we have decided that if it proves impossible to identify the man, we will have him given a proper Christian burial in the family plot. I am sure that Allen will protest the decision, but it has been decided that it is the only proper thing to do.

[Squashua]

I'm in one of those CoC Keeper holding patterns, pending feedback regarding player character actions.

[Obbi]

"That cat ain't hanging near the manor, me and Ben here tried taking a look for it and turned up no clues to it."

Roger wedges his way into the storage room, attempting to stay out of the way of the men sorting out all the items.

"We did find a couple of odd things that were pretty out of place. On the north side of the fenceline, there's a trail that leads off to a mound of soft-dirt. Me and Ben couldn't figure that out, but I figure we should get a shovel and dig to find out."

"Another thing, on the western-side of the fence, there's this hole that's just filled up with rocks. I don't think the two are related, but it just seems like things have been going on around the property that they're trying to cover up."

Roger begins helping the men bring down items out of the storage room, "Does anybody have a shovel handy? I'd hate to ask that German for one."

[Mr. Embark]

Daniel looks up from another box as he hears the Piano. "What's going on down there?"

The others look at each other. "Maybe we should check on Henry?" Daniel asks. The music suddenly stops.

"Or it could be he was simply amusing himself for a bit."

Daniel shakes his head, and continues the work of emptying the storage space and examining the items within.

[Oats]

"I've taken some notes on that book I spent the morning with. I'll let you get acquainted with them if you so desire."

Charles then hands a few pages of paper to Henry.

-author: one Brandon Dubois, with the introduction being written by his younger sibling, Henry
-book was not finished due to Bradon's death abroad
-giant waterspout seen in Atlantic, mystery begins
-Brandon buys furniture, art, etc. Tours London, Scotland, hunting for art.
-Finds oddities, namely melted granite (req. 1300 C for it to melt) -impossible with the age of the piece
-meets rare book peddler, schedules meeting for the next morning, book peddler dies that night, body found floating in the Seane.
-almost stars in Castlevania
-finds a Muslim scholar, learns story of hidden city pre-dating humanity
-has "vision", likely due to the drugs he ingested
-buys ugly statuette of a hideous winged daemon
-decides to hunt mysterious purple-brown deer-esque creature in rural Africa
-the supposedly "hale and hearty" Brandon Dubois dies due to a "mysterious illness" while in Africa, while in the vicinity of a tribe of daemon worshipping heathens

[FunkyWaltDogg]

"I've got a shovel, Roger, but don't you think the digging might go more quickly if we secured one or two more so that all the labor isn't on one man's shoulders?"

[Wildcat]

Ben coughs politely. "I'm more than willing to request them from Hans."

[Squashua]

Daniel butts in, "I brought a couple foxhole shovels on loan from the base, plus a couple pairs of work gloves. They're built for speed, and downstairs with the equipment."

[Oats]

"I can lend a hand digging. I think I still know my way around a foxhole shovel, too."

Dunno if I'll be as good as some of those lummoxes, but I can at least relieve them if they need a quite respite.

[Wildcat]

"Well those should do nicely, then. I'll grab a couple from the equipment and see you out front?"