Behind it is a foot deep indent into the wall, carved out roughly. An elegant pistol is wedged into the wall.
Looks like it’s yours Emmett.
This is an Object of Power
The Katerina
An elegant sidearm fit for nobility, it’s warm to the touch. It has a lingering desire, and carries the scent of old perfume.
Any bullet fired from this pistol seems to bend midair!
When you roll a 1 on a challenge that uses this pistol, treat it as a 6.
You have found all there is at the club now. You may wish to visit is another time, or hunt those that fled here another night. Tonight you have more pressing concerns.
As the other two explored near the painting, Leo took a moment to collect what he could from the tool box. “We should get going.” He says over his shoulder. “There is a boat outside, we might be able to use it to travel faster, though, might draw some attention.”
“I think the Mortuary is nearby, might be worth checking out to see if there are any additional clues. Something is adding up tonight. How did this actor even get out and about during the Midnight hours?”
Lynch filches the painting into a hidden pocket within her long coat, at once highly pleased with herself...and then, slightly bemused. She’d been able to make a bit of a score without accidentally offending the sensibilities of her fellow new hunters, but at the same time a sense of longing gripped her: this painting might fetch a proper price from her fence, given some time, but that pistol…
Lynch ponders the irony of the situation as the young man Leopold chimes in. She nods along eagerly, (likely more hoping to move the group on from the idea of the Spirit than anything else), “Think the boat’s a good a call as any! City’s busy tonight, ya? Might do with a bit of roving protection….we could gas her up, throw as many supplies onboard as the craft’ll take…work our way up North and get the lay of the land? The ene-, hrrrm, the Garrison up there, that’s where the victim had his last play, rite? Might be worth a look, see if we can dig up a bit more about the man…”
Lynch hears the ringing in her head suddenly build to a crescendo…she stops and hunches over momentarily, nearly overcome by a sudden, *overwhelming* vertigo. Attempting to cover for the situation, she begins to cough awkwardly afterwards. Then, she rights herself, looks up, eyes shining mischievously at Emmett and Leopold. “Or…the mortuary too! Like the kid said!” She smiles at the two of you, for the first time, teeth fully exposed in an akward and unnerving fashion.
Lynch would prefer *anything* that isn’t interfering directly with Spirits, and believes the boat to be the group’s safest overall option, and the Garrison their best destination (although she might not be properly considering her Deafened status at the moment, out there on the river…). If they *do* choose the boat, she would like to load it with as much crap as she can score from the gear in the Boat House without overloading the watercraft, going in this order: life jackets, fuel canisters, oars, tool box, doodads. If they choose to go to the Mortuary instead, she would like to bring one of the fuel canisters along with her
Leo tilts his head at Lynch, "You alright there?". He had her hunch over suddenly. He suddenly wonders if she might have been hurt more than he realized getting thrown out of the club as he rounded the corner. If she was, that just pressed him harder to swing by the mortuary. It wasn't a doctor office outright, but it might have supplies that could be used to patch these other two up, and hopefully more to bring with them as they traveled.
"I'm not against the Garrison, but I also don't know if we're going to get enough information just from where someone was last. Performance must have been during normal hours, so the real question becomes how did he end up out here. I'd rather swing by the mortuary, see if anything else has kicked up tonight, and then we can swing back through the Garrison after."
@Endless_Serpents Is there any reason the Garrison is marked in Red on the map?
The garrison is undisputed territory of the occupying force. Not even the local police can do much about whatever goes on in there (they’d need an appointment and military escort). The boat club is going to be investigated in the morning, but hopefully not much comes of it. You blow up part of a building in that red zone? Whoever they suspect will get got as soon as they notice it.
Regardless of your next stop, you’ll need to move on. The midnight hours are coming close to the half way mark.
Just a thought..
* You could take the boat, head north just a little, then moor it up and head west to the mortuary. It’ll be significantly quicker than walking and allow you to avoid passing by the spirit at all. You could potential circle back and take the boat again to get close to the garrison. To load up and start the boat, that’ll be a challenge. No roll will result in it failing to start, but there may be complications.
* However, you may instead opt to stick to the streets entirely. You can pass the spirit lighting candles without harm; it will only notice you if you actively approach it. Head west to the mortuary or north to the garrison as you prefer. It’s a matter of navigating the streets in the quickest way; that’ll be a challenge. A success will mean you avoid wasting time.
As always, you can surprise me with what you actually do...
In that case, I say we take the boat north a little, dock it, go check out the mortuary. Avoids the spirit like Lynch wants and hits up the location Leo is after.
That all works for Lynch- load the boat, dock it to the North, head to the Mortuary from there (as long as Emmett is onboard with the plan). Now, as for the challenge...one d6 from each of us attempting to fuel and load it up, or just one plus one assist? And would I be able to apply my Meticulous aspect here?
Lynch attempts to *pop* one of her ears again. She is finally successful, and the pressure in her head alleviates for a moment. She grins off Leopold’s concerns, attempting to be nonchalant and appear unshaken, “Yeh, I’m fine, I’m fine! Thanks fer yer concern, tho! But listen, I’ve been in a brush-up before, so you don’t have to worry about me! Let’s just take care o’ loading up this craft and cutting out, before anything else comes looking…I don’t think we have much time left, tonight…”
Lynch will attempt to load up the boat in the pre-mentioned order; making sure the hull is sound, and that the gas tank isn’t leaking or the cap missing or something; then she’ll request Leopold or Emmet’s assistance is getting the thing started properly
Lynch
Your eye for detail and care in getting the boat ready pays off. There’s no great flaw in the boat—you figure out the engine is leaking and patch it up enough to get you safely through the night. You might have to drag it into the tall reeds closer to home after the hunt to avoid unwanted questions, but this boat is yours! You now have a speedy way to get up and down the river at night.
You set off north by boat. Thick shadows are cast by the fading flare, which illuminates the boat club in pink light. You travel by river unimpeded, and quickly. The river below you is liquid dark, flashing on occasion as the stars hit the cresting water just so. Together you tie the lines off around a fallen tree, and pull it a couple of feet on the bank to be sure it remains there until you return.
You all keep to your practised quiet, alert movement as you head for the mortuary. It’s surrounded by spiked, black iron fencing. The whole place is ornate, yet brutal. Finely carved gargoyles sit next to large wooden stakes placed on the roof as fortification. The windows are boarded, but it’s not abandoned. In fact from the start of the war until its end it was the only business not to take a day off.
It’s now back into regular service, storing bodies until they’re buried, and giving the police proper workspace to conduct autopsies. Your actor will be on ice somewhere in its depths.
In the silence you almost expect a crow to caw. The wind has been steadily picking up since you got on the boat, and now the trees around the mortuary rustle as if waving to you. It’s like something out of a penny dreadful.
The mortuary is three stories high, but as far as you know the real work gets done on the ground floor, potentially a basement too. You’re going to need to bypass the locked fence (easily 8 feet tall) by whatever means you choose, then break into the place. Trees dot the land around the mortuary, some growing close enough to the windows to tap them as the wind blows.
Climbing over the fence won’t post a challenge for you, but is a difficult and dangerous enough to require time. Should you have to make a hasty retreat, it’ll be a challenge to get back over it quickly... You could snap the lock of the gate, but that’s more that’ll be looked into by daylight.
Once inside the mortuary’s grounds, pick an entry point, and I’ll tell you if there’s any obvious consequences. You might consider the front door, a window, perhaps even the chimney! Surprise me.
I doubt we’ll need the detail, but Lynch is red, Leo is blue, Tomos is yellow and Emmett is purple.
Leo approaches the black iron gate and stops. If he understood the rules correctly, they shouldn't run into anyone here, unless it was another hunter. But, given the Nightmare they had just encountered had been talking to them, he wasn't sure he wanted to rely on his assumptions any longer. Still, they needed inside. So, he quickly hops the fence, landing deftly on the other side. Then, he looks back at the group. "Anyone have a rope? Could toss it over to make it easier for us to go back and forth."
Assuming Agility here means I can get over (and back?) without issue.
The fence is no trouble for any of you, but if you snapped the lock you could run back out faster than climbing over again. I’m happy you’re all hopping it.
By climbing over no one will know anyone was sneaking around here.
Leo scouts out the building. They took an effort to get in without breaking the lock so that no one will know they were here. They should do the same with the building.
Is there something that Leo could scale to get to the 2nd floor? Looking for a window possibly that I could peer into and report back after a quick climb up.
Lynch's opinion would be to use the rope and go over the fence: let's just leave the one crime scene for tonight, as best we're able under the current circumstances. Leave the authorities to puzzle over just the ice explosion in the docks, and maybe no one will even notice we were here
You’re not up on what happens to dead bodies, but you see two rooms in the place have those cabinet things they keep corpses in. The front door must open into a waiting room, welcome hall sort of thing. The others... maybe for the staff?
Leo climbs back down from the tree and gets back to the group. "I don't see anything moving in the first floor. Should we just pop open a window and climb in?"
He looks upward, "Need to be quiet still, no idea what might be above."
Lynch flicks her favorite weapons down into her palms, as she stands astride the front door. The young woman nods quietly to Leopold, crouched and ready to begin. "*I* say we go in quick and quiet-like...find whatever file the place had on him, find his body and learn what we need, then we get the hell out. Whaddya say...try the lobby, work our way back? Ya got some more of those flares, fer in there?"
Emmett scratches his chin. "Alright. But quickly - if there is nothing here to deal with, we'd save the time by moving on."
I may have missed a clue, but do we have reason to think that this is anything but the place where the dead are kept? Besides "it's marked on the map" of course
Emmett drops to one knee and nods to Lynch, who he assumes can pop a simple lock. He'll boost her up a window.
"Quick as a pinch, then" Lynch winks at Emmett, as she squirrels her way up to take out the window, "Once over of the corpse, real fast, and we should have a better idea of what we might be dealing with here..."
Lynch *pops* up to the window, and fishes around with the tip of her knife, trying to loosen a few inches on the bottom or sides...
Once inside you’re met with one run down, but lived in place.
There’s one closed door straight ahead, and another on your right that’s half open. Peering through the gap, you see there is a man frozen in time mid-snore. He’s asleep on an old sofa. He has a key on a chain held tightly in his hands. Looks about 40, unkept, but has the nice haircut (growing out) and decent (if worn) clothes of a paid man. Must work here, fallen on hard times or leading the strange life many returning soldiers lead.
You recall touching a normal living thing drags them into the midnight hours, and they the worse for it.
The closed door appears to have a modern, more complex lock on it.
What do you do?
Always ask question and never be afraid to surprise me.
Emmett rifles through the papers on the shelves, looking for records the dead man to see where he can be found - as well as anything else interesting. Patterns of deaths, other victims with remarkable circumstances, keys to the doors.
New case. Autopsy requested by Commandant! Top priority! Call Dr. Capris.
There are a few biology and medical books, taxes and accounting files, but looks like the stuff you need is behind the locked door.
You’ve learnt that the occupying force wants this looked into, from the very top of the food chain. Dr. Capris might be a name to look into during the day some time...
Leo catches on to what Emmett is looking after and assists him in trying to find records. If they could find it without having to engage the sleeping man, this could be considered their most successful part of the midnight hours so far.
I’m not here to trick you, so if you can convincingly describe getting the key off him without touching him, do so. Otherwise I’ll throw you a challenge.
Leo looks to the door, then to the man, back to the door, then back to the man. Clearly they weren't getting forward without getting that key.
He approaches the sleeping man, observing as closely as he can without touching the man. They needed to get that key, but could they really slip it out?
Leo pulls out a screwdriver, one of the scavenged tools from the toolkit they found in the Boat Club, and uses it to try and lift the chain from around the man's neck. If he can successfully get it over his head, he can grab the chain and attempt to just tug the key out of his grasp without actually touching him.
Whoops. Didn't refresh fast enough apparently...sorry about that!
Does Lynch have (or could she check for, without hopefully killing this guy) the knowledge of whether something someone in the Midnight Hour is touching would effect those Slumbering? I'm potentially afraid of the screwdriver being a "livewire" in Leopold's "wakened" hands, is what I'm saying (although there's always the one way to *definitely* find out for sure...)
And, follow up question to that: do we know if Nightmares interact with the Slumbering the same as we do, or at all? Is there a way we could test it? Lynch is considering a long term, *safe* workaround for interacting with the Slumbering without harming them, since this feels like something that may occur again or has occured before...maybe the Strip of Nightmare skin we found could be used as insulation from actually touching him, giving him awful dreams for awhile, but not unmaking him?
Posts
Behind it is a foot deep indent into the wall, carved out roughly. An elegant pistol is wedged into the wall.
Looks like it’s yours Emmett.
This is an Object of Power
The Katerina
An elegant sidearm fit for nobility, it’s warm to the touch. It has a lingering desire, and carries the scent of old perfume.
Any bullet fired from this pistol seems to bend midair!
When you roll a 1 on a challenge that uses this pistol, treat it as a 6.
“I think the Mortuary is nearby, might be worth checking out to see if there are any additional clues. Something is adding up tonight. How did this actor even get out and about during the Midnight hours?”
Lynch ponders the irony of the situation as the young man Leopold chimes in. She nods along eagerly, (likely more hoping to move the group on from the idea of the Spirit than anything else), “Think the boat’s a good a call as any! City’s busy tonight, ya? Might do with a bit of roving protection….we could gas her up, throw as many supplies onboard as the craft’ll take…work our way up North and get the lay of the land? The ene-, hrrrm, the Garrison up there, that’s where the victim had his last play, rite? Might be worth a look, see if we can dig up a bit more about the man…”
Lynch hears the ringing in her head suddenly build to a crescendo…she stops and hunches over momentarily, nearly overcome by a sudden, *overwhelming* vertigo. Attempting to cover for the situation, she begins to cough awkwardly afterwards. Then, she rights herself, looks up, eyes shining mischievously at Emmett and Leopold. “Or…the mortuary too! Like the kid said!” She smiles at the two of you, for the first time, teeth fully exposed in an akward and unnerving fashion.
Lynch would prefer *anything* that isn’t interfering directly with Spirits, and believes the boat to be the group’s safest overall option, and the Garrison their best destination (although she might not be properly considering her Deafened status at the moment, out there on the river…). If they *do* choose the boat, she would like to load it with as much crap as she can score from the gear in the Boat House without overloading the watercraft, going in this order: life jackets, fuel canisters, oars, tool box, doodads. If they choose to go to the Mortuary instead, she would like to bring one of the fuel canisters along with her
"I'm not against the Garrison, but I also don't know if we're going to get enough information just from where someone was last. Performance must have been during normal hours, so the real question becomes how did he end up out here. I'd rather swing by the mortuary, see if anything else has kicked up tonight, and then we can swing back through the Garrison after."
@Endless_Serpents Is there any reason the Garrison is marked in Red on the map?
Regardless of your next stop, you’ll need to move on. The midnight hours are coming close to the half way mark.
Just a thought..
* You could take the boat, head north just a little, then moor it up and head west to the mortuary. It’ll be significantly quicker than walking and allow you to avoid passing by the spirit at all. You could potential circle back and take the boat again to get close to the garrison. To load up and start the boat, that’ll be a challenge. No roll will result in it failing to start, but there may be complications.
* However, you may instead opt to stick to the streets entirely. You can pass the spirit lighting candles without harm; it will only notice you if you actively approach it. Head west to the mortuary or north to the garrison as you prefer. It’s a matter of navigating the streets in the quickest way; that’ll be a challenge. A success will mean you avoid wasting time.
As always, you can surprise me with what you actually do...
In that case, I say we take the boat north a little, dock it, go check out the mortuary. Avoids the spirit like Lynch wants and hits up the location Leo is after.
Lynch will attempt to load up the boat in the pre-mentioned order; making sure the hull is sound, and that the gas tank isn’t leaking or the cap missing or something; then she’ll request Leopold or Emmet’s assistance is getting the thing started properly
Geth roll 3d6 for Takeoff Preparation
Your eye for detail and care in getting the boat ready pays off. There’s no great flaw in the boat—you figure out the engine is leaking and patch it up enough to get you safely through the night. You might have to drag it into the tall reeds closer to home after the hunt to avoid unwanted questions, but this boat is yours! You now have a speedy way to get up and down the river at night.
You set off north by boat. Thick shadows are cast by the fading flare, which illuminates the boat club in pink light. You travel by river unimpeded, and quickly. The river below you is liquid dark, flashing on occasion as the stars hit the cresting water just so. Together you tie the lines off around a fallen tree, and pull it a couple of feet on the bank to be sure it remains there until you return.
You all keep to your practised quiet, alert movement as you head for the mortuary. It’s surrounded by spiked, black iron fencing. The whole place is ornate, yet brutal. Finely carved gargoyles sit next to large wooden stakes placed on the roof as fortification. The windows are boarded, but it’s not abandoned. In fact from the start of the war until its end it was the only business not to take a day off.
It’s now back into regular service, storing bodies until they’re buried, and giving the police proper workspace to conduct autopsies. Your actor will be on ice somewhere in its depths.
In the silence you almost expect a crow to caw. The wind has been steadily picking up since you got on the boat, and now the trees around the mortuary rustle as if waving to you. It’s like something out of a penny dreadful.
The mortuary is three stories high, but as far as you know the real work gets done on the ground floor, potentially a basement too. You’re going to need to bypass the locked fence (easily 8 feet tall) by whatever means you choose, then break into the place. Trees dot the land around the mortuary, some growing close enough to the windows to tap them as the wind blows.
Climbing over the fence won’t post a challenge for you, but is a difficult and dangerous enough to require time. Should you have to make a hasty retreat, it’ll be a challenge to get back over it quickly... You could snap the lock of the gate, but that’s more that’ll be looked into by daylight.
Once inside the mortuary’s grounds, pick an entry point, and I’ll tell you if there’s any obvious consequences. You might consider the front door, a window, perhaps even the chimney! Surprise me.
Assuming Agility here means I can get over (and back?) without issue.
Of course Lynch has a sturdy length of rope on hand! That's another -1 to my inventory, leaving me at 3 more pulls left
By climbing over no one will know anyone was sneaking around here.
How are you getting into the joint?
Is there something that Leo could scale to get to the 2nd floor? Looking for a window possibly that I could peer into and report back after a quick climb up.
You can handily climb a tree.
By climbing a tree close to the building you’re easily able to peer inside. Far as you can tell, the whole place is as empty as it should be.
I’d call it a challenge to leap from a tree or climb up a pipe to get onto the roof. You could also break in through a window on 1st or 2nd floor.
Lynch
Your prep work for this hunt is an advantage once again. Everyone gets over cleanly.
You’re not up on what happens to dead bodies, but you see two rooms in the place have those cabinet things they keep corpses in. The front door must open into a waiting room, welcome hall sort of thing. The others... maybe for the staff?
He looks upward, "Need to be quiet still, no idea what might be above."
I may have missed a clue, but do we have reason to think that this is anything but the place where the dead are kept? Besides "it's marked on the map" of course
Emmett drops to one knee and nods to Lynch, who he assumes can pop a simple lock. He'll boost her up a window.
Assisting!
Any one of you can pick that front door or pop a window. The challenge is in how subtly you do it, and whether it can be put back later.
Lynch *pops* up to the window, and fishes around with the tip of her knife, trying to loosen a few inches on the bottom or sides...
Geth roll 2d6
Momentum is a shared dice pool anyone can use! It’s gained whenever you roll an additional 6!
You manage to unlatch the window from the outside. You don’t so much as scratch it. You can all slip in without leaving a trace.
Once inside you’re met with one run down, but lived in place.
There’s one closed door straight ahead, and another on your right that’s half open. Peering through the gap, you see there is a man frozen in time mid-snore. He’s asleep on an old sofa. He has a key on a chain held tightly in his hands. Looks about 40, unkept, but has the nice haircut (growing out) and decent (if worn) clothes of a paid man. Must work here, fallen on hard times or leading the strange life many returning soldiers lead.
You recall touching a normal living thing drags them into the midnight hours, and they the worse for it.
The closed door appears to have a modern, more complex lock on it.
What do you do?
Second die assumes assistance.
Geth roll 2d6 for search with Observant
You quickly fine a note beneath a fountain pen.
There are a few biology and medical books, taxes and accounting files, but looks like the stuff you need is behind the locked door.
You’ve learnt that the occupying force wants this looked into, from the very top of the food chain. Dr. Capris might be a name to look into during the day some time...
The key to the door is clearly held by the sleeping man.
Just RP to justify assistance die
He approaches the sleeping man, observing as closely as he can without touching the man. They needed to get that key, but could they really slip it out?
Leo pulls out a screwdriver, one of the scavenged tools from the toolkit they found in the Boat Club, and uses it to try and lift the chain from around the man's neck. If he can successfully get it over his head, he can grab the chain and attempt to just tug the key out of his grasp without actually touching him.
Whoops. Didn't refresh fast enough apparently...sorry about that!
And, follow up question to that: do we know if Nightmares interact with the Slumbering the same as we do, or at all? Is there a way we could test it? Lynch is considering a long term, *safe* workaround for interacting with the Slumbering without harming them, since this feels like something that may occur again or has occured before...maybe the Strip of Nightmare skin we found could be used as insulation from actually touching him, giving him awful dreams for awhile, but not unmaking him?