The Schwartz residence is hidden behind pines and maples, on its own grounds, in an affluent suburb. It is an 1890s construction in the Shingle style. A short flight of steps leads to a veranda which wraps around the entire house. A solid oak door with frosted panels at head-height and a brass knocker in the shape of a wizard's top hat stands closed in front of you.
Day 2 - The Abode of Memphis
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The Schwartz residence is hidden behind pines and maples, on its own grounds, in an affluent suburb. It is an 1890s construction in the Shingle style. A short flight of steps leads to a veranda which wraps around the entire house. A solid oak door with frosted panels at head-height and a brass knocker in the shape of a wizard's top hat stands closed in front of you.
Barrington would like to look at:
- the prop room i.e. the scene of the murders
- the library, that Memphis prefers Caleb stays out of
- the path the burglars took into the property - and whether there is any evidence of a fourth person who left after the murders
He asks Wilde what he's interested in looking into - and whether he has any thoughts on Barrington's plans.
Unless the fourth stole inside through some other means. With a clever enough story, you can bypass almost any threshold.
Still, our eyes tell us three, so three it is for now. What do you think occurred inside the residence, Mr. Van Ness?
Don’t hold back! Only your wildest guesses shall suffice!"
Barrington will also look through the grounds in general - he doesn't expect to spot anything important, but it's worth a try. Presumably there are lots of footmarks from the police, from Caleb, from the days since the murders - presumably there has been no rain since then, though, given that the dirt path is clear along which the presumed burglars made their way into the property. Maybe there is an unusual print (a huge one? a tiny one? something that, hm, maybe isn't human?). Maybe there is some other article that Barrington is surprised to find there, which just might have something to do with this situation?
"Hm. Mr Wilde. That sure is an interesting way of asking that question. I get for me a sense that there's a lot here that you know, or suspect yourself, that you're keeping to yourself."
"Wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that you know a lot, see a lot, are even smarter and more distinguished and experienced that you appear. I gotta say, Mr Wilde, you both impress me, and, yeah, worry me a bit too."
"I'd be happy to give you my take on what might be going on here - but I'd feel a lot better about that, if you could share a bit yourself here. We've seen and heard some mighty strange stories, seen some shocking and - to me at least - surprising and scary things play out."
"But I have the sense that you're neither shocked, surprised, nor particularly scared by any of this."
"Maybe we could go inside the Schwarz residence, sit down, make ourselves a hot beverage of our choice, and have a bit of a chat about all that?|".
"Or, if you're not adverse, we could maybe find ourselves some hooch. Wouldn't be shocked if Mr Memphis had a decent store of the good stuff."
"Oh, dear! You are worried by me? Do you suspect that something is afoot?" he says, smiling at the corners of his mouth.
"I am happy to share my wild accusations with you, of course. Though I have warned you of their… niche quality. Let’s see what the house has in store for us.
After you, sir!"
But, yeah, also... Barrington doesn't trust Wilde. He's kinda creepy.
Nah, more than creepy.
He feels...? Dangerous? As if he's keeping a lid on something that might be unleashed at any moment?
"Alright, Mr Wilde, let's go inside and get ourselves something to drink and have that chat."
Barrington makes his way through the door ahead of Wilde.
A small entryway greets you with a small endtable next to the front door and old magician posters on the wall. There is a door on your left and one on your right. Straight ahead is a small hallway which contains a set of spiral stairs not he west side. The hallways continues a short way before opening up into a larger room beyond. The wallpaper is a pale yellow with brown arabesques and all the floors and doors are dark polished wood.
The first thing Barrington is looking for is somewhere to sit down and have a drink and a chat with Charles - he's looking for the kitchen, or a living/drawing room. Somewhere they can make themselves a tea, or a coffee, or snag a cheeky tipple of some of the prohibited-but-let's-face-it-not-so-hard-to-find hooch.
He expects the kitchen to be on the first floor.
He makes his way into the sitting room, heads to the drink cart, and turns back towards the door, expecting Wilde to be through the front door, maybe already with Barrington in the sitting room.
"What can I get you, Wilde?" he asks - Barrington is intending to hit the bourbon... or maybe he's lucky and there's some decent French brandy here... only had the good stuff a few times while over in Europe for The War, and he remembers it very fondly.
"Goodness. Memphis has quite the collection here, Wilde - I expect he has something for almost any palate!"
The man says with a smile, as he takes a seat.
"Ah, yes. Good to get off the feet. Such a tiring few days. And for you too, it seems. Or are you afflicted with bouts of vertigo regularly?" he asks, referencing that behavior at the door.
"Oh? You saw that I felt a bit odd as I was entering the house? No, thankfully that isn't something that happens to me often."
"As to your question - or, rather, request - earlier."
"As to what happened here? Wilde, I have to say, I am at a loss. An argument over something so valuable that they fought savagely for it? A discovery of a betrayal? Some other person there who somehow compelled them to behave like that? Maybe hypnotised them?"
"Now, though, I would like to hear your thoughts on what could have happened? Both here in the Schwarz residence, but also at Hawkings's show."
He snorts humorously as they work through the possibilities:
"We can agree, to start, that men will fight and kill over valuables such as those found in this house, yes? They’d fight and kill for much less, to be sure.
Whole families will fall upon themselves to divide the spoils of those gone before. Now say… there were artifacts that preyed on that affliction…"
But, yes, also, Wilde's reminder that people can do awful things to each in some awful moment - awful things that otherwise they might never have imagined. This rings true to Barrington. And surely something like that has happened here.
"You're right, Wilde. Some of worst I've seen have been what happens within families. Some of the most awful crimes, the most shocking murders. I hadn't thought of it like that."
He pauses.
"But 'artefacts', Wilde? What could you mean by that? Some kind of mechanical device? An electrical device? That can control minds and feelings?"
"The world has no shortage of strange and exotic cults. And this man exposed himself to them more than most due to his globetrotting habit, wouldn’t you say?"
"Exasperated" would be a fair description of Barrington's response to Wilde's answer here.
"Wilde. Again. Please. I want to understand. Talking with you about this feels like boxing with shadows. Feels like you know a LOT more than you're letting on.
"Spiritual or religious artefacts? Like crosses or shrines or relics? Those are just tools for charlatans to pull money out of the poor and downtrodden! They don't have any kind of power - well, not of the kind that you're describing here.
"And 'strange and exotic cults'? What could you possibly mean by that?"
"Have you seen something like this before, Wilde? Have you experienced artefacts that can overpower, can influence someone as you say here?" - Barrington is scoffing in disbelief here.
And takes a sip of the brandy. And, yeah, it's good.
"What is your experience with the Occult?" he asks, staring at the man now.
"My own experience is rudimentary enough, on a cosmic scale. But frighteningly enough for one human lifetime.
Are you prepared to have an open mind?"
Until what he'd seen at Harold's show.
Because Harold should NOT have been able to do what he did.
So now. Now. Now, instead of politely humouring the old man with his talk of the Occult. Of Barrington's need to bring an open mind - but considering it ridiculous.
Instead of that, Barrington's eyebrows shoot up, again. Barrington involuntarily leans forward, closer towards the old man.
"I have seen some of my colleagues dabble in practices they said were 'Occult', but I never saw any evidence that it was more than lights and mirrors, never saw that any of this had any grounding in reality."
"But, these last few days. Things are happening. Things are happening that do not seem grounded in reality - or at least the reality I know."
"So, Mr Wilde. To answer your first question - as far as I'm aware, I have no experience with the Occult. And to answer your second question - a few days ago I think my mind would have been closed to deliberating on, to taking any serious consideration of such things. But today. Yes. Today, I think my mind is much more open to such things than it was."
"Why yes, Ms Yuna, please join us. Can I get a drink for any of you? Memphis has an enjoyably well-stocked drinks trolly here – Wilde and I can speak to the quality of his french Brandy?"
Barrington walks over to the drinks trolly in anticipation of hearing a yes...
"Wilde and I were just in the middle of an intriguing conversation - we were just getting to the topic of the Occult. Wilde's experience of it. And how it might perhaps be related to what happened both here in the Schwarz residence and at Harold's show."
"Truth be told, we haven't done a great deal of investigating here yet - confirming that evidence points to only the three slain men in the party that broke into the residence, no evidence of a fourth. They appear to have made their ingress from a vacant lot that connects to the back end of this property. We followed three sets of footprints through the dirt from there, leading toward the rear of the house, ending at a boarded up window which is presumably the one through which they entered. There is no sign of any footprints returning."
Ingrid Schwartz
"Though we’ve only had the pleasure of these ones for the moment. The others will surely come later, despite our reporter-friend’s objections.
Please, please. Sit down, Ms. Schwartz!" he says, standing to give her his own seat as a courtesy.
Ingrid Schwartz
"Thank you for joining us here, Ingrid - particularly as you don't like being here without your father being around."
"We are trying to piece together the events of that awful night - we've spoken with the police, and started looking around the house ourselves. Maybe, given our very particular set of skills, we will get some additional insights into what might have happened."
"To help us with that, we wanted to ask if you could show us around the house yourself. We'd be particularly interested in hearing from you about anything you notice seems out of place, or new, or somehow changed since that night, or indeed that strikes you as unusually different compared to a few months ago."
"Also, whether there are perhaps some concealed spaces or locations or drawers in the house, that the police might have missed, where we might find some useful clues?"
"And finally, Ingrid, I wanted to ask you about what happened at Harold's performance. The way I saw the two of you acting together there - I don't know, it struck me unusual. That things have changed between you over the last few months, over the kind of time in which your father disappeared - and whether, in some strange way, that might be linked to this grim happenstance we are investigating here?"
"Can you help us with any of that? Perhaps we could talk as you guide us around the house?"
Ingrid Schwartz
The room is filled with magic tricks and boxes containing more magic tricks. Various paraphernalia can be found, including lengths of velvet fabric, over-sized playing, cards, coils of rope, bundles of silk handkerchiefs, and assorted magical apparatus. Of course, the bodies have been removed, but the blood is still there, waiting to be cleaned up. Although not cluttered, the room contains many pieces of equipment,
three of which were used in the incident. A broken window on the far side is boarded up. On the left wall about halfway up to the ceiling are several holes in the plaster and splashes of dried blood.
Just inside the door are three objects with police evidence tags still hanging on them. A long canvas duffle bag, a pot with a coiled rope inside, and a small guillotine with two circle cutouts the size of wrists.
Ingrid resumes, "As for me and Harold, that is personal and has no relevance to the murder of three burglars. Harold has been under a lot of stress lately--months before my father disappeared--and I suggested he see a therapist to work out his problems before we are married. Nothing more."
Maybe Barrington can convince Harold to meet up if Harold is curious to learn what Barrington and the others find out today? Maybe they learn something today that gives Barrington some extra leverage to persuade Harold to be more forthcoming on the topic? Or maybe Barrington can just turn on the charm - Barrington is a very charming fellow - and that helps loosen Harold's lips a bit more than they have been so far...
Rolls
Spot Hidden (60) - (1d100)
(6) = 6
A lie, of course. Still, the man takes the opportunity to study the blood, for anything odd or out of the ordinary. Smell, texture, pattern, and the like…
"Did anyone else see that?"
Ingrid Schwartz
Ingrid Schwartz
He wanders about the room, and then turns his head to Yuna when the point is raised.
"You're not ill, are you? Mr Van Ness reported feeling nauseous upon entering the house. Vertigo perhaps!"
"The only thing out of place here is us! Let’s not lose hope! We should inspect his props. It’s there that, I suspect, we’ll find something of interest!"
He turns to Ingrid and asks her:
"Would you be so kind as to show us the prop room please! That’s of the most primary interest here, I believe!"
"Ingrid, what about your father's study? or his bedroom? Where would he have kept private notes regarding his comings and goings?"
Ingrid Schwartz
"Wilde" Barrington speaks quietly.
"You have an idea what's going on here. Something to do with the Occult. I'd bet my life on it."
"I thought you were almost ready to start telling me some of your thoughts on that when the others arrived. Wilde. I shared with you my take on this - please, back me up here, let me know what YOU think might be going on here..."
"Let us see the man’s study before I make any final judgements. Surely that is where he would keep his most private artifacts. If something occult is to blame here, we may find it there!" he mutters back to the man, trying to keep his voice low.
"Well, then that is where we must see! No where else will provide such a private insight into the man and this house!"
"Alright, Wilde, alright." Barrington says quietly to the older man.
"Just so you know, you are extremely close to the edge of my patience with you - you better come good on this... I'll leave you alone about this for now, but believe me, a reckoning is on the cards between you and me on this..."
At the bickering behind her, she stops, turns, and scowls. "Are you quite done back there? Focus on what's at hand, gentlemen." She nudges her head up the stairs and sets her feet forward.
Charles’ eyes lose any of that put-on quality of being a simple old gentleman when word of a reckoning between himself and Van Ness is mentioned. His eyes are sharp then, and his body square.
"Are you still dizzy, Mr Van Ness? Do you need to lay down?" he says, giving the man a firm squeeze on the shoulder.
"Yes, yes! We’re quite ready to continue. I fear we’ll need to call for another ambulance before long. Mr Van Ness seems lightheaded!"
"Now the old man is finally showing us - or me, at least - his true colours" thinks Barrington.
Barrington flexes his powerful shoulders against Wilde's grip, but says nothing.
"We'll see who needs to 'lay down' soon enough, old man, if you keep this up much longer..." muses Barrington to himself.
"Well that looks like something my Gramma might call some bad hoodoo."
But he doesn't let the symbol hold him back here - he keeps on going, up the stairs, aiming to enter the library.
Barrington scans the shelves of this section intently, looking for works of this kind...
His hands go to the spines, reading each one in turn.
Nothing but a pained and surprised sound comes from the man!
As Wilde comes to a halt, Barrington pushes past the others and comes over to Wilde. and checks him out using his First Aid skills to assess Wilde's condition.
"How are you doing, Wilde? You look like you've seen a ghost! That could have been a really nasty fall."
"Quite ordinary to expect a fall at my age! Just be glad I didn’t break a rib or a hip!" he says, rubbing his slightly blooded palms into his trouser leg too!
"Would you like me to take a look at that, Wilde? I was a paramedic in The War, I know my way around wounds and bruises and so on. I'd like to check to see whether you've broken anything - sometimes you can break a bone and not even realise it."
Rolls
Skill Roll against First Aid Regular Difficulty 50% - (1d100)
(88) = 88
Rolls
Sanity damage - (1d3)
(3) = 3
"What is it your experiencing, man? Is it more of that vertigo at the doorway? Speak quick!" Charles commands. He knows something odd is at work. The eye confirmed that, if none of the other slightly strange occurrences did. He suspected Van Ness was having trouble now too.
Barrington could just stonewall him. Prevaricate. Respond in kind.
But no, he thinks to himself. I get the feeling that the only way I'll get this old egg to open up is by doing it myself.
So Barrington looks at Wilde and tells him
"Aye, Wilde, there was a bad moment there. But it wasn't like the dizziness on entering the building - did you feel that too?"
"This time it was a vision - as I took your hand to check your injuries, your arm fell off at your shoulder. And as I looked then up into your face, I saw only the red eyes of your emaciated corpse staring down at me."
"I've seen many dreadful awful things in my life. Now I can add that vision to the list. Gave me quite the shock, it did" he says, sighing.
"Im in one piece, for now at least! And you too! Now, it sounds like our reporter friends has uncovered something."
He stands, painfully at first, and crosses to the book!
Rolls
Occult 10% - (1d100)
(93) = 93
"If I may take a closer look…" he says, gently taking up the book from the reporter and turning his back on the others before leafing through the thing again!
Rolls
Occult! - (1d100)
(23) = 23
Barrington is hoping, again, that maybe now finally Charles will start to spill the beans a bit about his thoughts on the occult and how they might be relevant to this situation...
These spells…" he says, already knowing that the reporter would be brushing him off even now. "… could lead us to our man. I just need time to understand which spells are contained within, and… if you are all willing, to carry out the magicks within and see if they lead us to him."
Barrington shakes his head. He doesn't want to even consider this as a possibility... but...
"I would have scoffed at that a few days ago. But after what we've seen and heard and felt now... If you tell me more about what's involved, and what might happen if we try these spells out, I'm here to help you with that."
"Does finding this book give you any more ideas of leads we could try and follow up? If not, my next step would be to try and talk again with Harold - it sounds like he might know more than he let on when we last talked to him."
"Anyone else any other ideas or plans for what we could check out next?"
He paces the room then, trying not to dive right into the book! There was still something to be found here:
"If it isn’t too presumptious, perhaps we ought to search the man’s bedroom? A delicate proposition, I understand, but there’s just as much to learn there as there is in this library, wouldn’t you say?"
She looks to Ingrid, "Which way to Memphis's bedroom? Perhaps you'd like to join me?"
If I’m wrong, well, you’ll have a few inches in your paper about a washed up old man with a failing mind. Good for selling copies, no doubt!"
Ingrid Schwartz
There is a door immediately inside the bedroom on your left and double doors at the far end of the bedroom on the right. The bedroom’s restful decor is in stark contrast to all the pomp and ostentation of his persona as Memphis the Great. Even the wallpaper is muted. A plain, comfortable double bed and a bedside cabinet are the room's only furnishings.
And where better to find a man’s mind than among the effects he keeps closest to him when he sleeps. Charles crosses to the bedside cabinet, and looks through.
"Forgive me, Ms. Schwartz. I have little interest in rummaging through your father’s delicate belongings, but needs must, as they say!"
Barrington, behind a framed poster of what you guess is Memphis the Great's first ever show, you find a keyhole in the wall.
"Ms. Yuna, you have a keen eye for detail. Perhaps you ought to search through the man’s writings? You will surely find it anything is amiss.
As for this key…" he says, looking as Barrington uncovers the very keyhole they now seek. "… would you care to do the honors, Mr. Van Ness?"
She leaves with the others to Memphis's bedroom and follows them inside.
She nods at the suggestion and takes notebook in hand. She sits casually on the bed and begins to look through it while the men busy themselves with the key.
Barrington takes the key and slides it into the lock, turning it counter-clockwise to try and unlock... well... what ever it unlocks.
When Barrington turns the key, he hears a click and a hidden door swings open. Beyond lies a room the size of a small closet. Inside is a single item: an intriguing hamper-sized cabinet decorated in an Asiatic style. From the external bangs and scrapes, it’s certainly had some adventures. It seems like it should open, but there is no obvious lid. Being a magician himself, Barrington thinks it is some kind of large puzzle box and solving it is the only way to open it.
"What is it? What did you read?"
"I must decipher the exact spell that our man cast, if you’ll indulge the idea for a moment. It’s imperative that I know its function and how to carry out the thing myself."
"What is this?" she asks, looking the cabinet over. Her eyes narrow as she sees something that looks like it could be manipulated, hidden within the woodwork. Cautiously, she reaches her hand toward it...
Rolls
Locksmithing (41) - (1d100)
(38) = 38
Ingrid Schwartz
Having given it a once-over he calls out to Wilde
"Wilde, come and check this out! It looks right up your street, with your interests and knowledge of the occult. Maybe we can work out together how to open it?".
Without waiting for Charles, however, Barrington has a go at finding a way into it himself.
EDIT OOOF almost - I'd spend three luck to move it to a success if that works for you GM?
Rolls
Stage Magic (70) hard (so against 35) - (1d100)
(38) = 38
Rolls
Persuade (60) - (1d100)
(71) = 71
Something that can be rolled? Or do they require… handling? :D
"Ive never seen anything of the sort. What say you, Ms. Yuna?"
Rolls
1d100
(79) = 79
Ingrid Schwartz
"Mmm… does it?"
He then takes the two and taps them against each other, to see what sound that makes.
"What do you think, Wilde? Maybe there's something about using these spheres in the 'spells', or the book we found?"
Ingrid Schwartz
By Ms. Yuna’s account, the man was quite mad by the end of his entries. Forgive me for saying so. If we suppose that Ingrid here is right in saying that he wasn’t writing fiction, then it must be the case that something serious occurred. And with the placement of this box, the two must surely be connected, and assuredly kept secret from the average restaurant-goer."
He then takes the two and taps them against each other, to see what sound that makes.
I understand this is all very theoretical."
Ingrid Schwartz
EDIT: eeek not rolling very well this game... ouch...
Rolls
Luck roll against 37 - (1d100)
(82) = 82
Ingrid Schwartz
As Barrington taps two balls together they shatter in his hand. A thin vapor escapes the spheres and inside they are now hollow. Suddenly the house shakes a bit like a small earthquake passes through the house. It lasts only a few moments and then all is still.
"Did you feel that? That tremor that went through the house just now, as I, er broke these spheres?"
-Was there any smell as the vapour escaped?
- What do the spheres appear to be made of? Glass? If so, Barrington carefully places the broken pieces of glass down on the table by Memphis's bed and dabs any fine shards off his hands with a piece of dampened tissue.
-Was there any smell as the vapour escaped?
- What do the spheres appear to be made of? Glass? If so, Barrington carefully places the broken pieces of glass down on the table by Memphis's bed and dabs any fine shards off his hands with a piece of dampened tissue.
"Yes. At times I’ve wondered if we needed to call someone for our friend here, Van Ness. But I assure you that that was very real, my man." he says, as he goes through with his experiment.
Rolls
Pow 45 - (1d100)
(48) = 48
Rolls
Sanity loss - (1d6)
(2) = 2
Utterly beyond our grasp, in our present state, I assure you."
He puts a hand to his head. Had that feeling been there man? Was he trapped in some odd space beyond this house? Behind the walls, or some wall in any case…
Ingrid Schwartz
"One thing I'm curious about is whether it could be useful to stay here in the house overnight - it seems like something may have surprised the burglars once they got into the house. Given the strange sights and experiences we've had here in the house ourselves, I wonder whether the thing that surprised them might make another appearance some other night."
"We could perhaps come back here after we've been at Nelson's this evening."
It would be better if we focused our efforts, and gathered ourselves. I will be here when you return, if you feel like Nelson’s might illuminate something. I fear that we have all we need right here, however…"
I can just sit here quietly while you read through your book, Wilde, maybe look through more of Memphis's library on stage magicianship. But ready to join you if you call for me. And you ready to join me if I call for you!"
"Nelson’s offers a meal and a show. What you’ll see here tonight will be something you’ll not soon see again, believe me. If I am correct, we’ll be with our man by midnight!"
He with us, or us with he…
Ingrid Schwartz
Time skip?
"While you two study, how's about I run down to a diner and pick up some sandwiches or such. Whatever we're about to do might work out better on a full stomach."
Barrington hands over some cash to John. Barrington's a generous guy - this is more than what his fair share would be.
For the next few hours Barrington works through books in Memphis's library. Half the time he spends on the stage magician section - there are some unusual, hard-to-find volumes in there, and he keeps his eyes open for any new ideas or tricks he could add to his own repertoire. The other half of his time is spent with the books in the occult section. Not a topic he has ever really spent much attention on before, so he's just trying to get a bit of a background on current ideas around the topic.
Yuna will spend more time looking over the props and searching for any rooms they hadn't already explored to some extent. Otherwise, she spends time pouring over Memphis's letters and missives scattered around his desk.
The basement is a chilly, dark space and rather empty. Kitchen supplies and chopped firewood can be found near the access stairs, while numerous food sacks contain vegetables and grains. It seems rats have found a way to access the basement and now forage among the food sacks. Some very old props from the early days of Schwartz’s pre-Memphis career are piled at the back of the basement, including trick canes, an escape trunk, a small valise, hatbox, and so on. These are rather cheap and do not feature his later trademark Egyptian styling. Their paint is flaking and the wood is rotten in places.
While she is down in the dark, Yuna becomes aware of a gentle breeze blowing in one direction, then the other. In and out. The wind picks up and there is a wheezing quality too it, as if she's in a giant set of lungs. It gets stronger and stronger.
Barrington reads through many of Memphis' rare and expensive volumes. There he finds new tricks and illusions that have been long forgotten or for sets that haven't appealed to modern audiences' tastes but are still impressive if mastered.
Charles pours all his attention into the book. He eats the food John returns with barely tasting it. The book is fascinating. In it are many spells and rituals of mind-bending complexity but would take months to understand everything. It's like looking at a book of theoretical physics from some alternate universe. But one spell called "Call Forth Ye Form Beyonds" seems simple enough. The book outlines a ritual that will make manifest any psychic or incorporeal forces nearby.
EDIT hey +1 is better than +0 lol
Rolls
Add 1d10 skill points to Stage Magician - (1d10)
(1) = 1
Rolls
DEX (60) - (1d100)
(34) = 34
"When you’re quite ready, I shall perform the ritual!" she calls to the empty space around him, summoning the others to him!
"I suspect you’ll want to document this, Ms. Yuna, yes?! Come quickly now, and I’ll begin!"
Rolls
1d4
(3) = 3
The room also begins warping and bending as reality begins to fray. The room seems to open up at the seams of every wall and ceiling joint and begins to unfold like a paper flower. Above and beyond you is the infinite darkness of space speckled with shining stars, colorful nebulae, and halos of exploded stars. And beyond them, more sensed than seen, is some indescribable shape larger than the human mind can comprehend. But nearer, smaller, more definite, you sense the shape of a man screaming in rage. The sound rings more in your mind than your ears.
Rolls
Sanity test (vs 42) - (1d100)
(50) = 50
Sanity loss on failed Sanity check - (1d6)
(4) = 4
Rolls
Sanity Test (vs 70) - (d100)
(1) = 1
Sanity Loss - (d3)
(2) = 2
Rolls
Sanity (70) - (1d100)
(75) = 75
Sanity Loss - (1d6)
(4) = 4
"Bar the door!" he barks again. "I fear that is Harold in voice only! Don’t let him inside!"
Rolls
Sanity - (1d100)
(42) = 42
1d3
(2) = 2
As the ritual concludes, the house shudders. A harrowing, unearthly cry, still recognizably human and male, echoes through the space. You feel this event as vibrations throughout your entire bodies. Pieces of the ceiling plunge to the floor, windows shatter, and lamps topple and smash.
Rolls
Parkour! 35 - (1d100)
(52) = 52
Sanity - (1d100)
(54) = 54
Physical damage - (1d4)
(3) = 3
Sanity damage - (1d4)
(3) = 3
EDIT i.e. really badly doh!
Rolls
Dodge against 27 - (1d100)
(72) = 72
Sanity against 38 - (1d100)
(72) = 72
Physical damage - (1d4)
(2) = 2
Sanity damage - (1d4)
(4) = 4
Rolls
Dodge (30) - (1d100)
(30) = 30
Sanity (66) - (1d100)
(10) = 10
"I…" is all he can muster, as the quietness settles over them.
"Are we… quite alright?" he stammers, his voice croaky and frail.
Rolls
Flying debris (physical damage) - (1d4)
(3) = 3
Sanity loss - (1d4)
(1) = 1
He crossed to a chair or bed, and sets himself down to sit. He waits for the woman to reveal the man behind the door.
"It all happened so fast..." he says to Yuna
"I had no idea what was going on... no idea what just happened..."
"I can feel my mind slipping away from me. Do you feel that too?"
Harold Hawkings
"Yes, well… wherever he is, he isn’t here." Charles says then, feeling it to be a hair more truth than lie to say so.
Barrington pauses.
"I've seen things in this house, Harold, that beggar belief. But I'm left with no others choice THAN to believe. To KNOW.
"What we do, we stage magicians, what I do, on stage, is mere illusion. Tricks of the eye. Misdirection. Show. Clever mechanical tricks."
"But there is something else. Something I'd never imagined, out there. True magic. I've felt it."
"I first started to suspect the night of your recent show. I could NOT work out how you did that trick. It felt somehow off."
"But here. In this room. In this house. I experienced things that. Well. I don't want to talk about them. But I can feel them draining the sanity out of my mind. Like I'm seeing things, becoming aware of them, that are too large for my brain to comprehend without breaking."
"Harold. You have to tell us. What happened at your show? What is this change that has come upon you? What do you know of Memphis and his disappearance? This is something bigger than all of us. We have to work together, I feel it in my gut, if we are to have any hope of getting out of this mystery, this awfulness, with our lives, with our sanity..."
Harold Hawkings
To see the man approach, anyone would think that he would strike Harold with the very book in his hands.
"Foolish man!" he spits, his old age suppressing some of the rage he felt. His mind was whirling after everything, and some of the calm, collected man had receded.
Getting up onto the man’s face, the old man repeats:
"Fool!"
"Too large for us to comprehend, but not for you, eh, Harold?"
"We saw what we saw, it was overwhelming - but I'm not going to be overwhelmed by you telling me what YOU know about what's going on here."
"And you can put your gun down, put it back in your holster, while you're at it, Harold."
"Out with it, man. Tell us what the hell is going on here!"
"You seem desperate yourself - maybe if you tell us what you know, we can even help each other!"
"Harold, as much as I am loathe to admit it, there is clearly some very strange things going on here. Something beyond normal trickery. I...I do not know what to call it, but I realize now that whatever is going on surrounding Memphis, the burglars, you, is normal - even for magicians of such great renown as you and your mentor. Please, help us understand, so that we can find the truth and help. We are in a unique position to perhaps understand and offer assistance where no-one else can. Please, so you don't have to be alone in this."
Rolls
Psychology (60) - (1d100)
(15) = 15
Persuade (60) - (1d100)
(3) = 3
Harold Hawkings
Harold Hawkings
"What did you do?!"
Harold Hawkings
Rolls
Shoot - (2d100kl1)
(1048) + 1 = 59
Damage - (1d6)
(5) = 5
"Ah… Ah… Ah…" he stammers, pain coursing through his body!
Rolls
PARKOUR! - (1d100)
(76) = 76
With his experience, both of acting under fire, and of dealing with grievous wounds, he is able to act deliberately and with focus. He tends to panic around unexpected loud noises - but this noise was not unexpected...
Rolls
Brawl 50 - (d100)
(60) = 60
EDIT AND IT DIDN'T END WELL
Rolls
Fighting (Brawl) 25 - (1d100)
(68) = 68
Blood on his lips, the man mouths something inaudible, and reaches for her.
Harold Hawkings
"You made me do it! I told you to drop it!" Harold attempts to flee once more.
Rolls
Barrington Luck (37) - (1d100)
(51) = 51
Damage - (1d6)
(2) = 2
Shooting - (2d100l1)
(3561) = 35
Damage - (1d6)
(2) = 2
He breathes through the pain and looks around him to check on Wilde - who seemed in the moment to have been more heavily injured than Barrington or John.
Finding Wilde, Barrington stops to administer first aid to him with his one good hand.
Rolls
Skill Roll against First Aid 50% - (1d100)
(29) = 29
Rolls
Brawl 50 - (d100)
(54) = 54
Rolls
Luck, why yes, I'll have some. - (3d6*5)
(163) + 5 = 15
"Good man, Barrington." he forces out of him. "You’re injured yourself, man." he states, gripped by the delirium of adrenaline shooting through him.
"We have to get you to a doctor, I can only give you first aid here, we need your wound looked at and treated somewhere safe and with better facilities."
Harold Hawkings
Rolls
Dex (85) - (1d100)
(91) = 91
"Look, I'm taking out my gun, pointing it at Harold." (Barrington does this).
"Will seeing that finally bring you to your senses and stop you making your wound even worse?!"
Barrington now turns his attention to Harold, pointing his .45 Revolver towards him.
"And now, Harold, it's YOUR turn to stay still, for God's sake. Don't you move or I'm going to shoot YOU this time!"
Harold Hawkings
"Snap out of it, Harold! Plenty of time for your self-pitying indulgences later!"
"Talk to us!! Now, man! What in heaven or hell or somewhere else is going on here?"
Harold Hawkings
"How dare I hit you, Harold?" he says in a low, quiet, steely voice.
"You dare ask me that? After you have just shot three of us? Nearly killing one of us?"
"You ask me about my lawyer, Harold. I don't think even the best lawyer in the land is going to be able to do anything for you, given this sorry miserable scene that you have just caused here."
Rolls
Psychology 65% - (1d100)
(2) = 2
Harold Hawkings
"Look at you! Ready to kill us rather than tell us what's going on here - and, I can tell, you're happy, smug even, that we have somehow done your dirty work here - and you want to just walk away from this as if nothing has happened, off into what you imagine will be some blessed happy life...?!"
"You DISGUST me!"
Barrington turns to the others.
"He's not going to tell us his secrets. I can tell. And I'm not going to stoop to his level, not going to try and drag them out of him."
"I don't know what we can do, other than leave him to go free, taking our curses with him..."
Harold Hawkings
"Aye, you're not wrong there, Yuna. Let's see about getting us all to a doctor - and Charles here to a hospital."
Harold and Ingrid were married six months after the events in the Memphis House. Memphis was never heard from again and eventually he was presumed dead but no evidence of foul play ever surfaced. Harold blossomed into a famed stage magician and his career brought him fame and fortune with every increasing magical tricks that no other magician could even begin to understand the mechanisms. Then five years later he disappeared one night just like Memphis and was never seen again.
Fin.
The article graced page six of the paper, hardly catching the attention of her editors. Nevertheless, the experience opened her eyes to the possibility of things beyond, of things magic, dark, and secret. Once so, she started seeing the strangeness of the world work its way into normal life, where before she would have written it off.
Eventually she would start seeking these stories out, asking and probing about things no journalist would typically question. She was shunned from her own publication as her writing skewed more and more toward the esoteric, but she gained a following amongst certain readers, who were glad to continue reading her work when she started her own small paper, focusing on the unseen world.
At times, long after, he fell in with Barrington, sharing what he knew and learned about things odd and unusual. For his own part, he was one of the readers that Ms Yuna picked up as she veered towards odder and odder stories. He allowed himself the satisfaction of knowing that he had been right in the end, even if she wouldn’t admit it.
There were odd things out there. Things that couldn’t be explained, and often times shouldn’t be explained to the unready mind…
He continued to work as a middling stage magician - avoiding Harold at all costs, keeping away from those circles in which they had previously frequently encountered each other.
He needed to know more. To understand more. About what he'd seen and experienced in that awful place.
He and Charles stayed in touch. And he visited Charles frequently during Charles's recovery, talked with and learned from him. And once Charles could get around on his own again, they even stuck their noses together into some of the very odd things out there...