WindStruck and Zene's The Haunting IC

[WindStruck]

Deirdre says, "I'm so sorry for what happened to you and your family..."

Turning back to the others, she whispers, "What do you think? Do we need a priest? E-exorcism?"

[zingbobco000]

At the question of a priest, Lois gives a look towards Yitzhak. "I... I don' know, I mean, jeez..."

As you all leave, the orderlies escort you to J-Ward.

Spoiler: Successful Combined Medicine and Hard Know (Education) Roll Where Only One Must Succeed

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J-Ward is generally considered the location for the most violent or insane patients in several sanatoriums and asylums.

You walk through the halls, the sound of silence changes to that of muffled murmurs and pounding. Choice glances into the padded rooms of the area give you a slight insight as you see patients of all types slamming themselves into the padding, rolling on the ground, or talking incessantly. Every now and then there's a shriek that overwhelms your senses. Finally, you make it to cell J32.

As you gaze into the room, the sight is... saddening. An Italian man is curled up into a ball in the center of the room, slowly rocking back and forth with a book clutched to his chest. The only other articles the padded room contains are a simple bed and a toilet. No color, no decorations, nothing adorns this room. One of the orderlies then says the first word since you met them. "Good luck."

As the door opens the man does not seem to notice you; instead, he continues to rock back and forth, clutching the book to his chest.

[Zene]

Medicine and Know: (d100)[69]

In response to Deirdre’s question about a priest: ”Well, now that you mention it; the Zohar does have rituals for excising dybbuks—spirits of the dead that refuse to move on. I never took them very seriously...even when I was religious, most the Zohar is quite —out there—compared to rest of the Rabbinic literature. (Also, technically, I wasn’t old enough to officially study it.)”

“But, I’ve never heard as convincing a haunting as this one. It might be worth a try, maybe?”

——

Izzy takes a step toward the man, and crouches down.

As they enter the room and approach, does the patient react at all?

[zingbobco000]

Lois shrugs.

The patient does not react; however, as you bend down, you see that the book he's clutching is a copy of the bible. He continues to rock back and forth.

[Zene]

Izzy squats down a few feet from the man, holds up an open hand; and speaks softly:
”Vittorio?”

[zingbobco000]

The man twitches and then suddenly his face raises (intentional) and he stares into Yitzhak's eyes. "Vitto, Vitto, little Vitto, Vittoro, Vittorio, Rio, Vitto, Trio, Me." He says, unblinking. After that he stops and places the bible on the floor, his face inches away from the pages as he rapidly flips through it.

[Zene]

Izzy just watches for a moment, trying to see if Vito is going to specific passages, or just flipping randomly.
Izzy doesn’t know most of the Christian Bible, but he’s looking for chapter/verse numbers if it’s New Testament. He leans in if he needs to.

[zingbobco000]

Note that this can be attempted by Deirdre as well.
----

Spoiler: Successful Combined Spot Hidden and Psychology Roll Where Both Must Succeed

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Nothing really too interesting, although you notice something, a sort of... premeditation to his actions. This insight allows for you to also realize that he happens to be stopping at key passages, his fingers lingering a bit too long on one specific passage, although it is Hard to tell which ones specifically.

Spoiler: Hard Spot Hidden

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It seems he stopped for prolonged moments at Judges 3:22, Genesis 1:27, Genesis 37:18, and Tobias 6:19

Spoiler: Successful Combined Occult, Art/Craft (Literature), or Hard Know (Education) Roll Where Only One Must Succeed

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The bible he's holding is the Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

As soon as Yitzhak leans in, the man suddenly rapidly flees from him, backing up to the other side of the padded room as he begins to softly whimper. Meanwhile, the book is open to Chapter 6 of the Book of Tobias.

Spoiler: If You Succeeded On the Previous Spot Hidden/Psychology Roll

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This was the final page that he stopped at for a long period of time. And you're able to realize that 6:19 was where his fingers lingered the longest on this page.

[Zene]

Spot hidden / psych: (d100)[33]
Occult etc.: (d100)[4]
Edit: Izzy didn’t make the hard spot hidden. But was he able to count whether he stopped nine times? (After speaking names 9 times right beforehand)

[zingbobco000]

There were four instances.

[Zene]

Izzy picks up the Bible, and starts reading aloud, ”and on that night, lay the liver of the fish on the fire,”

Izzy looks up at Vitto, tries to catch his eye and nods. Then starts flipping backward in the book. ”But what comes first?”

[zingbobco000]

Recognition flashes across the man's eyes for a moment as he stops whimpering and instead curls up into a ball and begins muttering, but you realize... he's muttering... something, although you can barely hear it.

Spoiler: Successful Listen Roll

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"Con è arma la sua il stessa pettinato diavolo! Con è arma la sua il stessa pettinato diavolo! Con è arma la sua il stessa pettinato diavolo!"

Spoiler: Successful Language (Italian) Roll

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It's mostly mixed-up gibberish, but you think he's talking about... a blade? Or a weapon? That's "arma." In addition, there's "sua" which is a reflexive adjective so it refers back to the subject (something along the lines of "own") meanwhile "pettinato" is essentially "ruined," "killed," or "destroyed." Finally the last thing you think you could get out is that "diavolo" is "diabolical one" or, more commonly, "devil."

Spoiler: Successful Idea (Intelligence) Roll if You Fail the Italian Roll (I guess you can make it regardless)

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You realize something... Vitorio is speaking Italian. In addition, one of your compatriots is from Brooklyn, in the 1920s, and is... Italian (maybe there’s something there that you could use)!

Then, he stops, and suddenly launches forwards trying to wrestle the book out of Yitzhak's grasp. Immediately, the two orderlies burst into the door and grab the man before he can lay a hand on Yitzhak. "THE EYES! THE EYES! AHHHHH THE EYES!"
While one of the orderlies restrains him, the other shuttles you out of the room. "Visiting hours are over." You still have the book in your hands (which could be used to look up the passages which Deirdre noticed so that Yitzhak can understand as well).
Lois shudders, "Jeez, I'd hate ta' end up in a place like this..."

[Zene]

Listen: (d100)[57]

[Zene]

Izzy looks around outside the room, and blinks a couple times. Looks back at the orderlies, then at his companions.
”So, um, are we heading back now?”

[zingbobco000]

The orderly nods as you all wind your way through the identical halls of the sanatorium. Eventually, you reach the original entrance room and the receptionist smiles at Deirdre. "Have a nice day!" She says cheerfully.

Roxbury, 12:38 PM (Yes I do know that the orderly said "visiting hours are over"), Thursday, November 3rd, 1921

You now stand outside of the sanatorium, having borne witness to a family driven into the depths of desperation and madness. What truly lurks in the House on Sheafe St., and what exactly are you going to do about it?
----

Note that the return train arrives at the Roxbury station at around 2:20 PM.

[Zene]

”Coffee and discussion?” Izzy suggests.

[zingbobco000]

Lois nods, "Ya', could definitely use some a' tha' after..." She gestures towards the blank building as a whole.

[WindStruck]

Deirdre defers to Izzy on the subject of coffee and discussion.

"This seems pretty serious," she says.

[Zene]

(Assuming this convo happens while they walk, or over coffee)

———

”So, any idea what Vittorio was saying back there?”

“I was only able to catch one passage; about expelling the devil by throwing a fish liver on a fire. But he was definitely looking at some other parts...maybe he thinks it can be exorcised?”

“And yelling about eyes at the end —Honestly that could mean a lot of things, but I’m inclined to think he saw that painted symbol..”

[Zene]

Deirdre defers to Izzy on the subject of coffee and discussion.

"This seems pretty serious," she says.

Izzy nods. ”You ain’t kidding. I’m not the type to jump to paranormal explanations... but there just seems to be too much lining up.”

[zingbobco000]

The trio heads to a small café and begins their discussion (there, problem solved).

After Yitzhak finishes, Lois nods, "Yeah, I honestly didn't pick up on anythin' in there. (Zing rolled very poorly) I don' know what exactly's goin' on in tha' house, but uh... gotta be honest with ya' I sorta just wanna get to the bottom of this whole thing more now. N' I think all a' the answers lay in tha' house..." As for the exorcism she looks clueless. "Look, devout Christian n' all, but uh, I don't think that sorta thing was ever covered in mass."

[Zene]

Izzy suddenly realizes something, and slaps himself on the forehead. “Oy! Religious Spaniards... I didn’t even think to ask if they could read Latin.” He hefts the disheveled Liber Ivonis and looks at it. “Maybe it’s best I didn’t think to ask, though.”

[zingbobco000]

Lois just barely makes an Idea roll (on the dot).
----

She shakes her head, "Yeah, sadly it'sa bit different than Italian, learned tha' from my ma... but that was a long time ago..." She looks down into her coffee dejectedly. "But yeah, probably didn't want them goin' even crazier, with weird books n' all. Jus' lookin' at tha' thing gives me a headache."

[Zene]

When Lois says the answers probably lay in the house:

I’m inclined to agree. We dug up a good bit of info... and I still have no idea what it’s telling us. I hate to go in feeling so unprepared. But what else can we do?” he shrugs.

[zingbobco000]

Lois nods, "Well, while unprepared, I still feel tha' maybe we've got at least a bit better of an idea than before. Plus I gotta little somethin' ta' help for preparedness n' all." She smiles mischievously. "But, uh, tha's better left 'till later." However she then checks her watch. "Anyway, we've got an hour or two, wadda ya' say we try n' piece together wat happened? Construct a timeline n' all."
----

Now is a good time to update notes!

[WindStruck]

"Well," Deirdre says, "I'm guessing after Mr. Webber died, Corbitt got a hold of that house and lived in it most of his life. And he was part of a strange cult that did nasty things.. like kidnap children? Corbitt left all his belongings, including his house to the cult.. and they apparently buried his body in the basement. I'm assuming a bank or something snapped up the property after the raid on the cult, and families have been moving in and out ever since... haunted by the ghost of Walter Corbitt..."

"You think that about sums it up?"

[Zene]

”Yes I think that’s right. Well, except that the cult members are still out there, and the eye-symbol at the chapel ruins looked fresh. So maybe it’s not just Corbitt’s ghost causing trouble.”

[WindStruck]

Deirdre nods in agreement. "Mmhmm... we also know there's a powerful councilman involved with the cult as well. And the pastor likely escaped prison..."

"I wonder, you think they went elsewhere though? Or would they still be lurking in Boston?"

[zingbobco000]

Lois nods, "Yeah... maybe not, then again, what'd we learn from comin' 'ere? I didn't manage to get too much outa Gabriela, n' Vittorio jus' looked like some mad mutterin' man flippin' through a book. 'Least, I couldn't 'ear anythin' 'e was sayin'."

[Zene]

Deirdre nods in agreement. "Mmhmm... we also know there's a powerful councilman involved with the cult as well. And the pastor likely escaped prison..."

"I wonder, you think they went elsewhere though? Or would they still be lurking in Boston?"

Izzy considers. ”Hard to say. The smart money would be getting out while the getting’s good. But, they weren’t making the most sane choices to begin with. Some of those ‘haunting’ victims were actually physically attacked and killed...which seems to me like it might be more of a murderous cultist thing than a ghost-throwing-plates-thing. “

Lois nods, "Yeah... maybe not, then again, what'd we learn from comin' 'ere? I didn't manage to get too much outa Gabriela, n' Vittorio jus' looked like some mad mutterin' man flippin' through a book. 'Least, I couldn't 'ear anythin' 'e was sayin'."

“Well, he was definitely saying something. I couldn’t make out his words, but he was flipping to specific passages in this bible. Still probably crazy, but it wasn’t random. I was thinking, if this thing did drive him crazy, the details of his ravings might be helpful to know what we’re facing. And the passage he landed on seemed to be an instruction for casting out the devil...but maybe I’m just grasping at straws here.”