Retreat! (RP)

"Well, alright, come along then," says Benji, allowing the rat to climb up onto his shoulder. He’s glad for the company, even if it turns out that the rats are spies after all. He picks up the other two rats and puts one in each pocket. "I don’t suppose the three of you know where I might find this hellhound... Or, better yet, its master."

- Emma -

Kat shrugs dismissively. "Some 'team game'?" She suggests, giving you the impression she was not too bothered to ask questions and is guessing from tidbits overheard and only partially understood. This seems to coincide with Henry's mention of 'icebreakers' after dinner/after dark.

What do you do?

- Persephone -

There may have been an older man and woman at the spa who exhibited a hint of taint, but they were not open to being approached at that time, and are gone now.

If your explorations take you to the other logical 'public place', you might end up at the restaurant and bar. There is a man sitting at the bar, looking down in the dumps and also in his cups. There is a similar whiff to that which you got off of Kat, he is not bound to a demon, but there is something about him that suggest contact, even if unwitting.

• You have heard about Henry. Would you recognise him, here?

What do you do?

- Benji -

The three look thrilled at the honour of being carried, and also glad of the company.

The head rat seems to shrug in confusion at the complex question. It almost seems to be saying: "I dunno. What do you want from me, I just got here, same as you."

What do you do?

- Emma -

"Also me." Kat agrees about 'games', though she looks less enthused by 'surprises'.

"Two weeks?" She posits about how long she has known 'Sin, and she does not know any of the others any more than you do, she met them that one time before today, same as you, and did not know 'Sin for much longer.

• Is anyone else going to be at this retreat? Who? Or is it just the six of you? (Plus some 'behind the scenes' facilitator.)

What do you do?

- Emma -

"дюжина? Dozen?" Kat confirms the number, that would have been 13 if you had been there. "Only me and old woman. And ten men. They were unhappy about number. Wanted to know where you are?"

What do you do?

- Persephone -

"'Persephone'? 'From grad school'? Of course. How have you been?" Henry says slowly, he is more than a bit drunk, and a little high, and is wracking his brain to remember if he slept with you in grad school, he is sure he would have remembered ... so probably not? He is also trying to place the accent, television having democratised 'American' for so many people.

"I was just telling Richard ..." He indicates the bar tender, Ricardo, who seems more than eager to make space for you to take over listening to this tale of woe. "... my bitch of an ex girlfriend has wormed her way into my affairs, and now is acting like we are having an affair, and we are not even having an affair, she is married, but she is being such a bitch, and is playing all slutty and dressing all slutty, and telling me to not wear a towel, and saying things that make it real hard..."

The coke-energy means he can probably keep going like this, seemingly without needing to breath.

What do you do?

"No? That’s okay. We’ll look together." Benji scratches the lead rat behind the ears and sets off down the tunnel again, returning his attention to the matter of the hellhound.

- Persephone -

Henry seems to realise he is spouting his relationship troubles to the world at large —really only the inattentive bar tender and yourself— and that that is a turn-off. Somewhere in his rant he may have mentioned that his ex was all for 'pretending he was sleeping with her, to help his prospects, isn't she full of herself...' but he was not keen on that idea, and seems oddly offended by it.

"Quite right." He agrees with focusing on him rather than his ex. "Ima doing well. Very successful." He says with no appreciation in his voice for those 'empty facts'. "I'm actually pledging a 'secret society', you know, very hush-hush, don't tell anyone." He stage whispers this last part, leaning in and wafting alcohol fumes at you.

"You staying here?" He asks, looking around and remembering something that has been bothering him. The bar closes at 1am and will kick him out, and the sleeping arrangement in his room are ... less than stellar. He is pondering the endlessly delightful possibilities of staying with you instead, though you don't know this specific added motivation for such an arrangement, his 'availability' is clear.

What do you do?

- Benji -

The rat trio seems amazed by being carried around like royalty, the attentive scratches, the kind words, the offer to work together! It is all too much for them and they fall about in fits of fainting... and laughing... can rats laugh, that's definitely the impression you get.

You can't be sure they understood 'hellhound' or 'master', but, even while playing the fool, they are keeping an eye out ... or a nose, as the case may be, for signs of these things you are hunting. As you pass an unassuming tiled stairway up, their heads turn and they glare in that direction.

What do you do?

Benji laughs along with the rats, amused and endeared by their antics. The grin falls off his face when the rats suddenly perk up and glare in the direction of the stairway. Apprehensive, he tightens his grip on his sword and slowly creeps up the stairs.

- Benji -

The stair lead out of the tunnels, up to the outside world... you think they go to the park, near Byron.

What do you do?

Benji shrugs off his tailcoat and swaddles his sword in it to hide the weapon from passers-by before emerging from the stairway into the outside world. Tracking the hellhound up here will be difficult— the relentless rain will have washed away most scents and probably most of the visible tracks. He’s in Hyde Park, he realises — near Byron’s corner. Perhaps he could ask Byron if he’s seen the hellhound roaming about? He wishes he’d had a chance to get a copy of Emma’s book for him…

With all three rats now perched on his shoulders, he cuts through the park toward Still Water and Byron, ignoring the strange looks he gets from the few people he passes along the way.