WindStruck and Zene's The Haunting IC

[zingbobco000]

As Yitzhak touches the papers, suddenly they fall to dust in his grasp. The last thing he's able to notice on them is something about... music notes? Sheet music?

Spoiler: Extreme Combined Know (Education) Roll and Arts/Craft (Music) Where Only One Must Succeed

Show

It's... jazz music? What?

----

You may make the roll if you want.

[Zene]

Ha! Here goes nothin’:
Know and Music: (d100)[27]

Izzy curses at himself for not being a photojournalist.

[zingbobco000]

Something also interesting that you notice is that the knife, that at first appears rusty, seems to have been coated in dried blood. Underneath it seems to be made solely out of iron... huh.
----

Oh, I was referencing the Dex/Climb roll.

[Zene]

Ah, yes. Dexterity/Climb: (d100)[97]
Bonus for reinforcement: (d10)[4]

[zingbobco000]

Yitzhak does, in fact, notice a pretty stable route that he could, with Deirdre's assistance, lift Lois out of the basement.

[WindStruck]

Yay! Then let's get poor Lois out of there!

[zingbobco000]

Just to make sure Deirdre could make it up, I rolled a 2 for her combined Dex/Climb roll (didn't even need the Bonus Die).
----

Boston, 8:21 AM, Friday, November 4th, 1921

You make it to the top of the stairs and (most likely Deirdre) runs to find the closest ambulance station (Lois has slightly less than an hour and there's no way it's that far away). From there, both Yitzhak and Lois are rushed off to the hospital in an ambulance so that surgery and other operations can be performed.
----

What would Deirdre do?
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Boston, 8:58 AM, Friday, November 4th, 1921

Arriving at the hospital after a bumpy, but fast ambulance ride, Lois is shuttled immediately into an operating room. Meanwhile, Yitzhak is treated as well.
----

So, again, First Aid and Medicine can be applied to every injury you take. So far, I think you've had the following instances of damage:

• Crashing through the window
• Falling down around 10 ft. or so of a roof onto grass (already applied first aid)
• Getting scratched by Walter Corbitt

Which means that I can make three medicine rolls and two First Aid rolls (as we'll say they treat you fast enough that an hour has not passed since the injury itself) to heal you up to 10 Hit Points.
----

They have enough doctors that you should be able to receive such treatment after around three hours. The doctors note that Lois should be out in about four hours or so, having done the best they could, but she'll still need to take it easy for a week or so. They are, however, worried about a strange discoloration from her right arm so they'd like to keep her at the hospital for at least a couple days.

[zingbobco000]

Eventually, Yitzhak is released from their care, although they advise that he still take it easy for a while, whatever happened was pretty bad and they're lucky he didn't end up with a serious injury (although they, of course, don't ask about what exactly happened in the first place [admittedly the injuries mostly look like some sort of animal injury and a fall and cutting some glass so it's not... too crazy [compared to other injuries that might occur later on]). Lois is still being kept there (she'd probably be sleeping at this point), as Deirdre gets into more suitable clothing, and prepares to meet with Mr. Knott.
----

Would Yitzhak follow a pretty similar procedure?

[WindStruck]

Deirdre paces about the hospital and stays in the waiting room for what seems like an eternity. Her dress is ripped and there's blood on her, but she is fine, despite people asking if she is alright..

---

(So does anyone even bother asking about what happened? Do we file a police report of some kind? Is there a hospital bill?)

[Zene]

Izzy waves weakly to Deidre as he is discharged. He looks a bit surprised to see her still waiting there.

”Deirdre! So good to see you. I was afraid I’d be making my way back to the hotel on my own.”

He limps over to her. “It sounds like Lois will need to stay for a little while longer; but she’ll recover, thank goodness.”

“So... um... I guess the job is finished? You haven’t heard from Mr Knott yet, have you?”

[WindStruck]

Deirdre shakes her head and says, "No.. I suppose we will be the ones that need to be contacting him..."

She looks down at herself and her ragged appearance as well as at Izzy. "I.. guess if you'd like to meet Mr. Knott, you'd want to stop by the hotel first?"

[Zene]

Deirdre shakes her head and says, "No.. I suppose we will be the ones that need to be contacting him..."

She looks down at herself and her ragged appearance as well as at Izzy. "I.. guess if you'd like to meet Mr. Knott, you'd want to stop by the hotel first?"

”Yes, probably for the best.”

[zingbobco000]

Boston, 12:38 PM, Friday, November 4th, 1921

As you both arrive at the Parker House Hotel the receptionist greets you. "Ah, Miss McCoy, Mister Laskov, a Mr. Knott rung you both up an hour or so ago. Apparently he wished to give you the message that he would be stayin' the night in the house? I apologize, I don't really know what that means. Mentioned that he wanted to prove it wasn't haunted." The concierge nods and smiles, "That was it, I'm afraid. He sounded rather stressed."

[Zene]

Izzy looks at Deirdre. "Should we give him a call, see if we can catch him before he leaves?"

Then, more quietly, "By the way, what do we know about him? I'm somewhat inclined to just say there were some issues with vagrants, that we've scared out."

[WindStruck]

Deirdre nods. "Yeah, I'll try to give them a call. The house should be safe enough for him to spend the night, in any case..." Then she finishes with a shrug.

At the concierge, Deirdre tried to give Knott Housing a call. Or was it Knott Realtors?

[zingbobco000]

The concierge nods, and tries his best to find Knott Housing. "Hello, yes, this is the Parker House Hotel callin' for a Mr. Knott. Ok. On behalf of Miss McCoy and Mister Laskov. Yes. I see." He then looks towards the two of you. "Mr. Knott should be on the line shortly."
He then hands the phone over to you two. There are a couple moments of silence as you hold the earpiece in such a way that both of you can hear until there's a "Ah! Hello, Miss McCoy. Yes, I was getting everything in order, the house is clean? Everything's safe? I can sell? Thank you so so much!"

[WindStruck]

"Ah, Mr. Knott!" Deirdre says. "Yes, the house is definitely safe, and it's not haunted. Well, at least not anymore..."

She chuckles nervously. "Um. It's not clean either. Not only is it dusty, but there's spoiled food left out, and the old tenants' belongings are still there..."

"Uh, but sure! Once you get the place fixed up you can definitely sell it!"

[zingbobco000]

You hear a sigh of relief until frantically... "What do you mean, not anymore? I thought, I thought the lot of you found out the truth? What? Oh, lord, I'll never be able to sell this place!" You start to hear whimpers on the line. "My life... my career... in ruins..."
There's then a sound of conversation from the other side. "Yes Miss Jones of course I would like some tea! Can't you see that I need tea right now!"
There's more muffled words. "I can't give you a bonus right now, I'm in desperate financial ruin! Even these people think the house is haunted!"

[WindStruck]

"Ah..! Please, Mr Knott, calm down! Like I said, the house isn't haunted! But that still doesn't change its history. And let me tell you it has a very very dark one. I-I mean, I'm sure you were aware of that already, but we actually did the research in depth and.."

"Um, l-look, this might sound crazy, but you were talking about staying the night tonight to prove it's not haunted. People still won't believe you or us that it isn't, but that gave me an idea. Seeing as the house is safe now, and you're in such a bad spot, you could move in there, and maybe sell your current house... I mean, I'm sure it's worth a lot more. And heck, there's so many blooming office buildings down there, I'm sure once your business is more stable you can move it to a nice office there and practically live right next to work! Wouldn't that be nice?"

Deirdre perhaps thought she was running her mouth a bit too much, and she was just trying to be helpful.. but she had a bad feeling he wouldn't like any of her advice.

[Zene]

”Hello Mr Knott, this is Izzy Laskov; I’m here too. You definitely don’t need to fear the house is haunted. We spent the night there last night, in fact—part of the reason we weren’t at the hotel when you called earlier.”

“It turns out, the problem was less a haunting, and more a bit of a problem with vagrants. We believe they were getting in and out via climbing to the second-story. But one was even holed up in a hidden crawl space in the basement.”

“They didn’t want to go. A couple even resorted to violence to get us away; that may have accounted for the more recent stories of haunting. But once they realized we were on to them, they saw reason. They now understand that their methods and hiding spot are found out; and rather than face police, they chose to leave with the understanding that they not come back.”

“As Deirdre said, they did leave the house a bit of a mess. Some repairs would be needed in the basement if someone were to move in, and a second floor window is broken. But it’s safe to stay in now, and the ‘haunting’ rumors should die out now that there are no vagrant occupants. I imagine you’ll be able to sell it fairly quickly given the demand for company buildings.”

[zingbobco000]

There's a long pause after the both of you finish your statements. Eventually, however, Mr. Knott responds. "I... see. I think, well, if you're absolutely positive it's not haunted, I think I can try to put it back on the market. After all, people respect Miskatonic, and having that, well, it might just be enough. But, of course... maybe you're right Miss McCoy, and if it doesn't work out, it sounds livable enough." Then there's another pause. At this point Mr. Knott has become much more relaxed. "Well... it seems you've gotten to the bottom of everything then... I guess that $100 bonus is in order, although could I maybe wire it to you at a bit of a later date?"
(Assuming the answer is yes, Mr. Knott hangs up, satisfied that his investment of investigators has paid off [literally])
----

Is there anything else you all would like to do in Boston? You still have the rest of today and the weekend at your disposal.

[WindStruck]

I don't think there's much to do now. We've had a harrowing experience, and while Deirdre probably wouldn't need as much rest as Izzy, I think she'd still take it easy. Perhaps they could do a tiny bit of sightseeing still. But I think visiting Lois would be a priority.

[zingbobco000]

Makes sense, what about Yitzhak?

[Zene]

Izzy would probably take it easy the rest of the day, focusing on sleep and rest. The next day he would probably head to the library in Boston, with his books and journals, and see if he can find anything there that will help him make sense out of it. He doesn’t expect to find much, probably. Assuming he doesn’t, he would just spend sometimes with the texts themselves, gleaming whatever he can. If he feels any headaches coming on, he’ll put the books away until they subside.

[zingbobco000]

Boston, 8:39 AM, Saturday, November 5th, 1921

Both Yitzhak and Deirdre wake up mostly rested, albeit surely troubled by the events that occured just a day ago (Yitzhak has rested which means he gains 1 Hit Point). With very few words spoken, the two go their seperate ways for the weekend, doing what they can to recover themselves.

Spoiler: Deirdre McCoy

Show

It's obviously still on your mind, you must check up on Lois and she how she's doing. As you step into the hospital room however, having noted to the receptionist that you were to visit a friend, you see someone, you see Lois. However Lois does not seem to see you, she looks at you but doesn't truly see you. "Oh! 'Ello ya' copper, are ya' 'ere ta' take me in? I've been a bad bad girl, ya' know!" She says with a wicked smile on her face.
You look around, confused. There is not a police officer in sight. You try and reason with her, but she doesn't seem to hear you either, simply nodding along but never responding.
Suddenly a doctor enters, "I'm afraid she's been like this since she recovered. She's quite delirious I'm afraid. We're hoping such things shall go away soon, but nevertheless, we'd like to keep a close eye on her for a couple of days. I do not thnk she is in any condition to speak with you, sadly."

Worried and upset about your friend's mental health you depart, after all there's little else one can do to help her, and it's not like you have any knowledge concerning psychiatric care (and to be honest, neither do most medical professionals in this era). You try to distract yourself by seeing the sights, the Museum of Fine Arts, host to a variety of art from Monet and Degas along with Egyptian treasures recovered by the Lepsius, the Penhew Foundation, or Petrie.

Nevertheless, with all of that done... the day soon comes to a close. You happen to miss Yitzhak, but you'll see him on the train back home... back to your normal life. When the next day dawns you pack up all of your clothes, toiletries, and whatnot, and prepare for the ride home.

Spoiler: Yitzhak Laskov

Show

The following day you head to Boston Public Library to unearth whatever you can about the strange whispered words inside of these tomes and journals. However, try as you might (and you are quite the professional in libraries at this point), you're unable to find anything that even so close to references all of the strange verbiage and obscure syntax used by Corbitt in his diaries. Thus, instead, you figure that just trying to understand them would be best, and thus when you return you begin to look through the journals by themselves, not consulting any additional material.

This, however, does not seem to make understanding the journals any easier, and in fact after a full day of study, you feel as if you've barely made any progress. Whole pages have been eaten away (the latter two tomes were in much worse condition than the first), and other aspects of it are completely ruined by water damage and other spoils of over a century in a damp musky house. Nevertheless, slowly, like a mystery book unraveling, you cannot help but feel that certain aspects are beginning to click. Not enough to fully understand the book of course, but almost like you're skimming the surface of something deeper, something... darker. You've just finished the second tome, full of horrid illustrations of occult experiments that were conducted, and you're beginning to open the third tome, full of depictions of hastily scribbled out circles with horrid runes and abominable reagents. Tiny drawings in the background, like doodles, plague your mind as you go further and further into these tomes until eventually, your mind cannot take it anymore. You slam the book down on the table of your room. You shall finish it another time.
----

You have made 1 day of progress on reading this Tome (you guess you'd need one more). It's important to note that due to the damage you will only ever be able to conduct an Initial Reading of the diaries, and even that is hampered (although this does have the added benefit that you don't need to make a language roll to understand it). This probably doesn't mean too much right now, but it might later on (if/when you find mythos tomes in functional condition).
----

You lie on your bed, troubled by what you have just read, but intrigued as well. Pieces are coming together like a puzzle, and the image of a terrifyingly massive puzzle beyond the scope of what you've seen is what you think of as you drift off to sleep.

As you slumber, you find very little that occupies your mind. Not to say that you normally dream vividly, but this time things are... stranger than normal. Give or take a couple of quick flashes from the horrid writings you've read in the journals after which you immediately wake up, you find yourself drifting back off right away. Everything appears to be just a void. Letting you exist inside its caring embrace.
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Huh, that whole paragraph was really weirdly worded, even for me.
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You awake to the sound of a bird cawing from outside your room. Groggily, you rub the sleep from your eyes, as your mind immediately turns your eyes towards the tomes, still lying atop... you weren't reading them in bed, were you? Never mind that, you had a long night yesterday, it's time to be going. You hastily place the Corbitt Journals in your pocket, after all, you've got to study them more, right? Of course you have to, I mean, that's what the train ride is for! Quickly you pack up all of your gear, double check your wallet, yes, story... oh... Mr. Flemming wanted a story didn't he, ah, well, you can write it after you finish reading Corbitt's Journals!
----

I wonder what reading Mythos Tomes does to people...?

The two intrepid investigators depart. They are still troubled by whatever each of them experienced in the House on Sheafe St.. Undoubtedly, this was a place of evil, and yet for some, they faced death in the face, while for others they merely observed the foul aftermath of dreaded dealings within its walls. And yet, all walk away changed by this experience. The fact that a century did not catch up to this diabolical "man" troubles your very mind. For some the remedy is to understand, to learn, and for others, it is easier to put such things behind oneself. Whichever route each chooses, none is truly right, but one thing is for certain... neither of their stories have come to an end just yet.

(Cut to somewhere else)

"I'm... afraid we don't really know." Says an official voice, albeit quite saddened by this information that they're dispensing. "However, I highly recommend you say your goodbyes to your friends and family, we'll hopefully be able to gather more results soon."