Father Simon/Colin: As Colin removes his shirt Lily's eyes linger a moment longer than perhaps a proper woman should, then she blushes and looks away, apparently irritated with herself. She breaks into a scowl and as you talk, Lily strides over to the rug and throws it back, pulling open the secret door that leads to the tunnels underneath. As she heads over she speaks conversationally. The hand of Baal is believed to have dozens of summoning scrolls to call some very powerful demons to their cause. We have just successfully stolen them. She gives a satisfied smile, though she looks distracted by some thought that clearly has her unhappy. She interrupts herself though as she apparently hears something. What the hell was that?! She gasps, and then turns even more red, turning towards Father Simon. I am SOOOOO sorry! She claps her hand over her mouth. But there's something amiss down there. She draws her pistol and readies to climb down.


Kimi: The stake once again hits, but not in his heart. Instead it hits his throat, which would be fatal to anyone mortal. To him it clearly hurts, but he is not going to slow. He swipes at you with claws that suddenly appear as if out of nowhere. His teeth are also greatly lengthened and sharp as well. Any doubts you may have had are definitely gone now at this revelation. He barely misses you and with a curse he starts to run back towards the iron ladder, trying to make it to the surface. He is fast... Above you you hear a woman's voice, it sounds like Lily. What the hell was that!?

Kate/Penny: Frederick grins approvingly at Penny's exuberance, but seems more confused at Kate's words. You kicked their donkeys? He mutters. I doubt they were servants, they were well dressed but they seemed to have complete access to the house. He shakes his head. I don't think they were demons though. We would not have escaped as easily as we did. Nor did they appear to be witches or they would have been more difficult. I regret we could not have lingered to discover more, but we were not in the best of condition. In reference to Kate's question he turns solemn. We appear to have been successful in our mission, though I haven't had the opportunity to investigate the crates. They only just arrived a few minutes ago. He informs you. I'm worried about some of our soldiers though. Apparently things became more heated than anticipated. I am still waiting for them to return. Shortly I will be sending another round of men to investigate.

Simon makes sure his own pistol is loaded and follows the young people down. He had no intention of chastising them for enjoying the way their bodies looked. It was natural and should not be thought otherwise. Perhaps he would get the happy duty of performing a marriage! This really did excite him, not in a sexual way but in a way that serving God did. He nodded her was ready and followed them down.

'I believe Kate means we kicked their arses, at least metaphorically speaking.' Penny corrected Frederick fussily.

'Well, we know they had one shifter bound to their service — which we've now slain — so they may have have other minions. Shifters, maybe, or something else.' The flesh-eater stuffing bodies in the wall seemed likely, and would wrap the whole affair up neatly if it was also the spy, but Penny would not make assumptions. 'Regardless, the Bentlys and their minions proved more dangerous and prepared than any of us expected, and neither of our teams can say we were wholly successful. You need not be disappointed in that.'

'Let us go inspect these crates first, and see what we can learn from them. And please summon your doctor, if one is available.' Though she might be carried in Ian's arms, Penny was no less set on her course.

Kimi was ready for anything this creature might try, and she had expected it would attempt a close combat attack.

She whirled to a different position and attempted to use a kick to drive one of the stakes in deeper.  She had heard Lily, and she yelled out as she attempted her strike, a nice mighty, lusty martial yell.

Colin gave a mischievous grin as he noticed that he was being noticed. He never would get over the look that some girls gave him. While he was not a handsome man, he gathered that his natural lean figure and scoundrel charm is what attracted the girls to him. His thoughts caused him to nearly miss the sounds of Lily sending up the alarm of an intruder. His knives were out in a flash, but he strode into a possible fight bare chested. He also noted it was definitely not his first time doing such a particular task either.

Kimi: Nicholas manages to evade your kick, and he starts to head up the ladder, but looks up and sees Lily coming down and quickly changes his mind. With a savage curse he changes tactics and starts for the main tunnel entrance towards the rest of headquarters. He looks frantic, fully running away from you now...You also hear Lily call out to you from above, but you are obviously focused on more important things right now...


Colin/Father Simon: Lily leads the way, almost sliding down in her haste. Kimi!? She calls worriedly. She gets out of the way so that you two can join her. You see a young man, Father Simon you recognize it as the fellow who was so accusatory towards Ian earlier. He is running away and there are a couple of stakes sticking out of him. You also see Kimi there, the beautiful Japanese woman you met earlier. For Collin, she is new to his acquaintance, and you are a bit surprised to see such a woman clearly involved in recent combat in this manner. Still, this place is full of surprises...

ooc: Feel free to make a shot as he runs away. You'll only get one chance before he rounds the corner. Since he's running if any of you wish to pursue then make a few rolls adding your constitution modifier each time to see if you're able to continue your pursuit. DC is 10, so if you fail to make the DC don't bother rolling another time. It means you got tired :(

Kate/Penny: Frederick listens to Penny's comments about arses and looks a bit sheepish. Oh! Well that makes sense! I should have caught that... He blushes a bit. He quickly recovers though and leads you inside, Ian following with Penny in his arms. There are six crates, all good sized, and they are stacked against a wall. I haven't had a chance to inspect them yet. He confesses. He then goes to a wall on the opposite end of the room and opens a small shutter of sorts. It is a telephone. He fiddles around with it a bit and soon is requesting a doctor. In the meantime the crates reveal dozens of scrolls. Roughly forty per crate. Ian whistles, impressed. If these are anything like the other was, we may have just avoided something very unpleasant. He shakes his head.

ooc: Please roll a search or a gather information check and also let me know of any languages (if any) you are familiar with so I can tell you what you can determine.

Colin tried to run after but he was just to exhausted from the earlier fight. After a few steps he drop to his knees and then to his rear end. "Shorry I can'th keepth up. Shomeone shoulsh beth Wathing tha boxths."

In reply to Artemis (msg # 12):



Yelling up to Lily, Kimi says, "It's Nicholas!!! Head him off!!" and she takes off after him.  Pulling her Metal Baton from her belt, she runs for the tackle and beat down.


This message was last edited by the player at 08:04, Thu 27 Mar 2014.

Even Penny was shocked to see so many scrolls — every one of them to summon a demon, if the reports were accurate. 'My goodness. Baal on one side, Belial already here, and what must be almost three hundred lesser demons on the way. This is indeed an unholy alliance.' she muttered, a deep concern growing within her.

'Set me down here.' she directed Ian to sit her on one of the crates, so she could rummage through another. Penny picked up one scroll and began a close examination as she had done on the one Miss Noriko had retrieved by Richard Bently's store earlier that day. She inspected the type of parchment or paper; its quality, cut, and manufacture; how the scroll had folded and handled; the type of ink, the penmanship. Penny felt the paper, sniffed it, looked closely at it, but did not go so far as to lick it. Only after her scrutiny was complete did she unfurl it and examine the contents. In particular, Penny want to know if they'd been written by the same hand, at the same time or in the same way, and generally if they from the same source or multiple sources. Furthermore, could she find some clue to locate the scroll-maker? Finding and stopping whoever was fashioning these things would be vital to halting the influx of demons.

As she worked, she talked on 'I can't help but think this could all have been a bridgehead to an invasion. As it is, one crate's-worth of summoned demons could wreak havoc. How many more of these crates do the Bently's have?'


OOC: Search 23
19:46, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 23 using 1d20+10. Search.
Penny speaks, reads, and writes English, French, and Latin.

Examining the scrolls: Investigate 16, Knowledge (arcane lore) 16
20:13, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 16 using 1d20+13. investigate.
20:13, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 16 using 1d20+9. arcane lore.
And comparing to studying the other scroll in posts #228 and #233 in:
link to a message in this game

Colin was after the man in a flash. He stopped short and reared back his hand. Taking a moment, Colin whipped his arm forward and the demon killing knife whistled forward. His stride picked up without seeing the effect of the throw, but he was brought low by a sudden, wracking pain in his side. The throw must have agitated his currently delicate ribs, as they informed him of their injuries. He watched the man escaping as he struggled to resume the chase.

---

06:55, Today: Colin Browne rolled 6 using 1d20. Pursuit check.
06:51, Today: Colin Browne rolled 5 using 1d4+1. Thrown Knife dmg.
06:51, Today: Colin Browne rolled 22 using 1d20+8. Throw knife.

Kimi/Father Simon/Colin:
Alright, you stay with the crates. Keep Frederick with you!! We'll relieve you as soon as possible! Lily instructs Father Simon even as she bolts down the corridor after the man. Colin's knife buries itself in Nicholas's shoulder blade and he snarls in pain, looking like a regular pincushion by now. He proceeds to remove the blade and the stakes, flinging them savagely. Soon he is out of sight of you Colin, though Kimi and Lily both are keeping up. Lily starts to grab at him in an attempt to grapple but he turns and savagely slashes her across the chest with his claws. The wounds go deep and she lets out a cry of pain, dropping his arm. Nonetheless she continues her pursuit. Fortunately the momentary distraction has given you an opportunity to attack...

ooc: Where to Colin? Up the ladder with Simon or trot on after the others?

Father Simon: Should you head towards the crates again you will find that Ian, Frederick, Penny, and Kate are there already, looking through them.

Penny/Kate: Penny, you discover that all of the scrolls are different. They seem to be quite old, some more so than others, and of varying papers and lengths. They range in languages from Latin, ancient Greek, Babylonian, Samarian etc, and some you simply don't recognize. Their hands are obviously not the same, in fact there is very little in common save for the content, at least from what you can tell. From the Latin ones you can see that they indeed are summoning scrolls. You get the impression that a lot of work went into obtaining all of these. Frederick responds to your question. When we investigated we could not find any more crates like these. I'm hopeful that these are the only ones they have. I doubt we are so lucky as to have their only stash, but if there are more I don't know if the Bentley's have them or if they are elsewhere. He shakes his head. From what we do know of the Hand, they are enormously well equipped. It is said they are trying to bring on an early apocalypse. Though they may change quite a few things if they have their way. Already they are deviating from several of the prophecies found in numerous texts about the horsemen and plagues and the like. If this is indeed their goal, they are doing it on their own terms. He says darkly. This means we have no idea what to expect unfortunately.

Simon holstered his weapon and climbed back up to the crates. As he enters the room it is clear he has been through a severe beating. His lip is bloody and swollen, he is having trouble breathing, he is pale and sweating, and most notable the side of his face is swollen and bruised, like he has had a tooth removed by a dentist who uses hammers for his work. He seems very tired, like he is moving on will rather than energy.

"Oh. I yam thowwy. I wath comink tho thee abouth theth crath. We fougth thom dehmonth. I think I dithlocatheth my thaw. Docthor Sthefath seth it, buth ith hurth tho thalk. I yam glath you all are othay."

Oh I am sorry. I was coming to see about the crates. We fought some demons. I think I dislocated my jaw. Doctor Stephen et it, but it still hurts to talk. I am glad you all are okay.

He is especially glad to see that Penny is ok, but he does not express this other than with a slightly longer look at her. He sits on one of the crates heavily. He really should be seen to, but he is being stubborn as men are prone to when they want to seem macho.

Kate dropped the scroll she'd been looking at back into the crate. How did they manage to get so many of them?" she asked in awe. There was the potential for lots of trouble and mischief in these crates.

"You look terrible," she said bluntly to Father Simon when he arrived. Suddenly her scratchy throat didn't seem so bad. "We have a doctor coming to look at Penny. Maybe they'd better take a look at you too."

Penny looked up in alarm as Father Simon entered with a face full of bruises. 'Good lord, are you well? It seems we have all been through the wars, Miss Piper and Shaw, and—' Penny trailed off, but fussily readjusted her skirt as Simon's eyes lingered on her.

Penny had unrolled scroll after scroll, telling at a glance that every one of them was completely different, noting some peculiar fact she dropped them contemptuously back in the box. 'Latin, ancient Greek — oh, I wish I'd learned that — and Hebrew. And these ones are in cuneiform, of all things, Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian, perhaps. Egyptian and South American hieroglyphics too. And a dozen more ancient languages, I expect. Who speaks these any more but demons? Paper, papyrus, cloth, several varieties of parchment: vellum, and I do believe this one is human skin.' She put that one down carefully and respectfully. 'And the handwriting styles are all different: male, female, old, weak, timid, bold, florid, plain... I'm certain this scribe had claws, see how they scratched the ink? And ages, ranging from centuries old and to what must be millennia to accommodate these dead languages. Astonishingly well-preserved, but this one still crumbles.' She tossed the last back in the crate. 'And every one a demon-summoning spell. It's an impressive collection, no doubt sourced from a hundred magical archives, rare document sales and thefts, lost stores, ancient ruins, from around the world, over quite a long time with a great deal of effort. It's enough to make the Library of St. John the Beheaded jealous.' Penny's eyes flickered to Simon, wondering if he recognised the reference.

'We have here the demon army one needs to launch a bespoke apocalypse. This is a fantastic victory in our war against the Hand,' she complimented Simon and Frederick. 'But would that you had thought to drop a lit match in the Bentlys' other crate. We would do well to destroy these after further examination. But,' Penny traced a delicate finger along one scroll and onto the next, intrigued by the magical workings, fascinated by the immense power trapped within these writings. It was an old kind of science. Why not use such darkness against itself? There was a temptation there, but also a sensible degree of fear. But when had the Darkmoors ever let fear or notions of what was right and proper stop them, as Penny herself exemplified? 'These could be useful to us as well. Imagine, up to around two-hundred-and-eighty demons of note, at our beck and call. We could bind them in devil's traps, interrogate them, send them false information, slay them outright. We could remove whole ranks of demonic leadership, throw their plans into chaos, cause havoc in Hell and keep them far too busy to bother Earth for a century at least... Yes, this is indeed a massive victory for us.'

Simon realized he had made Penny uncomfortable and looked away quickly. He looked back at Kate, "You thould sthee tha other guyth." He tried to joke but when he smiled he winced at the pain. "I reath Greeth." You should see the other guys. I read Greek.

He nodded at Penny's reference to the Library. "Or tha Vathacine Library of tha Occult." He listened in horror at her plans. "Penny, men dieth for thith. Many dieth. Whath you thugeth ith blathphemy. 'Never raithe more Devilth than you can put thown.' I agree thath we thoulth uthe thethe throllth - buth with cauthion. Rathing dehmonth thould noth be thone. Giving tha enemy a way tho our worlth...evil ith noth fire. Evil begtth evil."
Or the Vatican Library of the Occult. Penny men died for this. Many men. What you suggest is blasphemy. 'Never raise more Devils than you can out down.' I agree that we should use these scrolls, but with caution. Raising demons should not be done. Giving the enemy a way to our world...evil is not fire. Evil begets evil.

He was hurting so badly from the effort it was bringing tears to his eyes. "I'm thorry. I am in pain. I neeth ta reth." I'm sorry. I am in pain. I need to rest.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:32, Fri 28 Mar 2014.

The vehemence and impact of Simon's protest was rather muted by his unfortunate lisp. 'And what is the alternative? Hunters are forever slaying or exorcising these demons, only for their spirits to return to Hell to start again. Why not some kind of prison? Imagine it, a row of jars on a shelf, each containing a black demon soul and resting on a devil's trap, contained forever. A true punishment for their crimes. Why, a priest could hear their sins and forgive them, maybe even devise a way to save their damned souls. Is that not better than releasing them to kill again?' Penny suggested, believing Simon would see the merit in that, according to his faith.

'Well, regardless, my ideas are getting ahead of me. It's just an idle fancy, a hope we might one day seriously turn back the demon hordes. But I doubt anyone has the resources to effectively implement such a scheme. And it's up to the Men of Letters to decide.' Penny added, backtracking on her idea.

Colin rose, his legs shaky and ribs hurt severely. He looked down at himself. He was bloody, shirtless, and in pain that needed to be addressed. He clutched his ribs and hobbled his way up the ladder. Upon seeing the others as he breached the top, Colin merely rolled out onto the floor, arms out to his side. He smiled at the ceiling, laughing quietly. He spoke to no one in particular. "Anyone of ya know a good tailor ta fix me shirt?"

Simon managed to lisp his way through an introduction of the bawdy Irishman.

In reply to Artemis (msg # 17):



Swinging at the creature, Kimi did her best to bring it down.  She poured her energy into a guttural cry as she did.

Penny looked up at the sound of the Irish brogue, finding she and Shaw were not the only Britons here in New York amongst the Men of Letters. And goodness, what was with all these shirtless, injured men in need of her ministrations? Regardless, she wasn't moving anywhere off her crate.

'Only in Britain, Mister Browne. Good evening.' said the Englishwoman. She realised he should not be in such a condition here and now; if he'd just come back from the mission, then he should surely have seen Doctor von Stein for treatment already, like Father Simon had done. But then, who could say with Irishmen? He might have been brawling at the pub. 'What's happening?'

Kate's eyes widened at the newcomers condition as he sprawled out on the floor. Was he drunk? It was hard to tell. He looked almost as bad as Father Simon. "I'm thinking our fight with the Bentley's was a cake walk compared to the people who went to the docks." She winced apologetically at Penny remembering the woman had lost the use of her legs.

"Is there a reason none of you guys have seen a physician yet? I mean I'm all about going the distance and everything but really? Ian was shot, Penny can't walk. Father Simon honestly I don't even know what you are saying. And this guy..." she waved her hand at the man on the floor smiling up at the ceiling. "should really get checked out."

Simon pointed down through the hole. "Dehmonth" Demons

'Demons? Here? How?' Penny exclaimed, sitting bolt upright and nearly standing to her feet if it weren't for her useless legs. She groaned at the sharp reminder of her weakness. 'Why did you not say so earlier? We must get to the defense.'

Simon shook his head, "Won dehmonth. Lithly and Kimi shathing. Fath, very fath. Chathe it, couth't keep up. Gone in tunnelth. I came back to guarth crath and throllth." He knocked on the box underneath him.

One demon. Lily and Kimi chasing. Fast, very fast. Chased it, couldn't keep up. Gone in tunnels. I came back to guard crates and scrolls.

He pointed at Penny, "Wath wrong with legth? Tho you neeth help?" Simon is clearly far more worried over others than himself. Whats wrong with [your] legs? Do you need help?

'Bloody hells.' Penny muttered, momentarily forgetting her manners. She wanted to help hunt down the fiend, if it weren't for her crippled legs. She shuffled her seat on the crate as Simon asked, straightened her skirt, embarrassed by the question. 'Mrs Bently cursed my lower limbs. They are... withered and useless. I cannot walk.' she finally answered him, stiffly and setting her gaze on the scrolls.