"If I gave short shrift to your strange tales the first time I met you, doctor, I hope you'll forgive me," said Barrington. "This is the kind of thing one has to see to believe. Even given what you brought me...not quite what I had expected." Taking the lead behind the men that had rushed forward, he beckoned the doctor and Rosalie to join him.

"I still don't know what Gavigan's hand is in all of this, or if he's here."

In the distance, just beside the slain beast, which he steered clear of but kept an eye on in case it were to surprisingly return to life somehow, he sighted something which caught his breath before saying only, "Great Scott!"

Before them, shackled to a tall stone stele with Egyptian hieroglyphics carved into its body, were four human forms, three male, one female, and all completely nude and shivering as they hung against it. He took off the coat that he had to protect him against the winter coat and handed it to Rosalie.

"Miss, if you could kindly see that one of those women gets this..."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:59, Wed 10 Oct 2018.

Leo took a moment to take a deep breath and blow it out slowly as the creature collapsed before him. He knew running into close range with his shotgun had been a bit of a risk, but it had worked out in the end.

The shock of the sudden battle quickly wore off, and Leo looked over to Barrington as the man spoke. He nodded his understanding. "I completely understand how things sound to someone who hasn't witnessed this firsthand. As for Gavigan, we don't know precisely what his part is, we just believe that he's an important part of it."

Leo gave a wide berth to the fallen creature, and looked over in the direction of the Inspector's exclamation. Leo took off his own coat, having kept himself dry and relatively warm thus far. As they closed with the four, he started by offering words of support. "We're here to see you to safety. And if anyone is injured, I'm a physician." Leo took a cursory look to see if anyone seemed hurt, though one couldn't always tell at a glance.

Rosalie let out a soft exclamation as she followed the inspector's gaze to the sacrifices that were staked out for the beast.  She took the man's coat with a nod and followed her uncle, staying close, and delivered the covering to one of the naked women.  She took off her own to give to the other and then began to inspect their bindings to see if they could be cut or if there were locks that could be picked.

Harry Price stood still for a moment with his Mauser pistol, smoke drifting out of the barrel, still aimed at the horror. Unable to fully comprehend the horror of it, Harry decided to focus on the job at hand.

"Well done lads." Price said to the men. Surely many were also trying to cope with the sight of the unnatural creature.

"Let's keep our eyes and ears open."

Walking up to Barrington "Inspector, thank God you and your lads were here."

"As for Gavigan, best we find him and find out how he was involved was in this horror."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:16, Fri 13 July 2018.

Barrington clapped Harry on the back as he approached.

"I could say the same for you lot. I'm not surprised that you're here precisely, but we weren't expecting it. The way this played out, I'd wager that a few more gunshots is what made the difference between our status quo and the loss of more life." Quite obviously forcing himself, Barrington turned to take a look at the slain beast, but couldn't quite hold his gaze long.

"Don't know what the bloody hell that is. This was it's second pass at us. The first was not as kind."

---

Rosalie, Leo, and Constable Hawkins all found themselves out in the cold, but with their coats as well as Barrington's the naked figures shackled to the stone stele were all given the gift of warmth and decency as much as they could be with manacle-bound hands linked to the stele. Putting the coats on them backwards seemed the best they could do for the moment.

As Rosalie moved to put her coat on one of the men, she realized that it was none other than Tommy. He was there physically, but had a strange, vacant look in his eyes and seemed not to move of his own accord when the jacket was placed around him, making her do the work of pushing his arms into the coat sleeves.

OOC:

Yes, Rosalie can find a lock to pick.

"Thomas!"  Rosalie gasped.  "Uncle!  Thomas is here!"  The mystery of what had happened to him was solved, but he was unresponsive.  She couldn't help but wonder what sort of trauma he'd been subjected to before he'd been chained to the pillar.  "They are locked in their chains.  Mr. Price?  Do you know how to pick a lock?"

Leo looked over at Rosie's exclamation. "Tommy! That's....fantastic." His response was a bit subdued at what Leo saw in the other man's eyes. Or rather what he didn't see. He also felt the loss of Vincent and Bo even more profoundly now than when they initially were lost. He knew all about grief and how to deal with it...from a professional standpoint. But it was still difficult to face a loss like they'd suffered.

Price nodded and delivered the news of what he and the others had faced " We suffered some losses before we made it here as well. We ran into a lorry and suspecting it was carrying hostages, Brandon, and Moretti waved it down. But rather than hostages they were bloodthirsty savages. The three of us managed to survive their attack. But the two other Americans were killed."

"Dr. Elias and his niece seem fairly certain Gavigan is deeply involved in these horrors. After seeing this I am inclined to trust their judgment, we need to find him and bring him to justice."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 07:13, Sat 14 July 2018.

"I'm sorry that you've seen losses as well...I believe I met this Mr. Moretti once. He seemed a rather amenable fellow. Are there any more of these savages that we'll have to contend with?" Barrington looked around into the night as if at any moment more would emerge.

"We had to put a few of them down earlier when we tried at first to announce our presence and make an arrest for their capture of these people. That was before this creature alighted upon us from only God knows where."

He shook his head. "As for Gavigan, I had my doubts that a gentleman of his standing and reputation would be involved in a scheme as fantastical, or a level of crime this serious, but you would have to be a fool not to see it with all this evidence around his house. I thought I saw a man scrambling back into the woods in the moment before the creature arrived, but there's no telling if it was Gavigan or another."

"I'm in something of a pickle, Mr. Price. I don't have enough men to sweep the island for Gavigan, search the house, and hold the bridge at the same time."

Leo didn't seem to think there was a need to interrupt what was passing between Barrington and Price. Though when the Inspector mentioned that he didn't have enough men to do all the necessary tasks, the physician cracked open his shotgun and reloaded it with a fresh pair of shells.

Rosalie wasn't so nice.  She'd been ignored and wasn't going to be again.  While reloading the bullets into her gun, she approached Barrington.  "There's still a naked man over there that needs clothing.  We can't release them without the key to their shackles or someone to pick their locks." 

She pointed to the forest.  "Leave Gavigan to us," she hissed.  She owed the man much.  "Where did you last see this figure in the forest?"

Barrington looked over to where Rosalie was pointing, only to see Constable Hawkins helping to give his coat to the remaining naked man. One problem solved.

Constable Reginald Hawkins nodded his agreement with Rosalie. "Yes, there is that slight problem. Coat or not, we'll need to get them in and out of the cold before we depart. Do you have a hair pin, Miss Elias?" Hawkins paused, saying defensively: "What? I wasn't born a policeman."

"Constable Hawkins has quite a remarkable set of skills. We saw him moving in that direction," Barrington said. "But we can't be sure if it was Gavigan or one of his cronies."

---

OOC:

Leo, Rosalie, Barrington, and Hawkins had already all given up their coats to the four naked people, but I included a bit in this post that made the activity concurrent so that we can keep continuity.

Price looked at the constable asking for the pin "Good show Hawkins. English ingenuity what."

"I suggest we head to the house. We can see that these prisoners are taken care of properly and set up an HQ to stage a search." Price said.

"This is Gavigan's home pitch. He knows the ins and outs and likely had a boat stashed for coming and going if needed. So rather than pursue him, we need to search the place and get the evidence you will need to see him declared an outlaw. A hunted man denied his wealth and connections will be easier to capture."

"Getting word back to your headquarters so his townhome and the Penhew Foundation can be searched and secured as well." Price added.

"I'm very glad of it, Constable," she replied.  Thinking of Vincent, Rosalie smiled sadly at Hawkins and provided him with one of her hairpins.  She tried not to dwell on the loss of their comrades, however, as there was little time for mourning.  They still had to catch Gavigan.

Throwing Harry a glance, she nodded her agreement.  "We should help get these people out of the elements and into the warmth, but I think a search for the man should still be conducted on the island.  It might be the only chance we have at catching him.  I don't think him the type to surface unless he wishes to be found."

Leo looked back and forth between his niece and Price. "Perhaps we can do both. Head in the direction that they saw some movement, do a quick sweep, and then head inside to help the constables search the buildings to gather the evidence as Harry suggests."

"Considering what we just saw, I don't know that dividing our forces makes a great deal of sense. It took all our firepower to bring down that .. abomination." Price said searching for a word to describe the thing.

Price had led men over the top and knew that the best intentions often led to disasters.

"Rather than try and find Gavigan out here in the bush, I suggest we get word back to Scotland Yard, so they can raid his home and the foundation. At this point, the search can be conducted under the assumption he may be a victim of foul play. Hopefully, your friend and the others will be able to identify their capture and there is a phone ion that house."

"If not, Inspector, were any of your cars equipped with a radio?" Price asked.

"We didn't come here by car. We found a good sized vessel at the Limehouse Docks that we believed wouldn't be completely out of place out here, so we brought it here, dropped anchor, and took a couple of rowboats in to shore so that we could surprise Gavigan," he said.

"The ship has a radio, to be sure, but our reception has been spotty up here."

---

Can I get a Spot Hidden roll from everyone here?

Leo's roll precisely doubled his skill.

12:46, Today: Dr. Leonardo Elias rolled 56 using 1d100 with rolls of 56.  Spot Hidden (28).

18:45, Today: Harry Price rolled 60 using 1d100 with rolls of 60.  spot hidden 45%.

20:07, Today: Rosalie Elias rolled 37 using 1d100 with rolls of 37.  Spot Hidden (55).

"The boat wouldn't be a quick radio call, I'm afraid. We could send a few men to row over there and call for backup, but they might even have to move that vessel out a bit to catch a signal. Plenty of time for Gavigan to get up to whatever he's getting up to out here." The constable's eyes scanned all directions as if Gavigan might be anywhere, but mainly looked to the clearing where they had seen some movement.

"And yet no one wanted to listen to me about approaching from the water," she muttered.

She followed Hawkins' gaze to the trees, but a glint of light caught her eyes.  She pointed.  "There's something over that way.  Looks like a car... someone driving away from the house.  Probably trouble."   She threw a glance at the others and then started off in that direction, breaking into a run.

Having failed to spot the car, Harry joined Rosalie in pursuing whoever was in the vehicle.

Leo raised a finger and opened his mouth to respond to Rosie, but the need to chase down a car forestalled response.

Leo broke into a run a moment after his niece. As he picked up speed, the physician did consider whether he was too old for this shit. Fortunately, he had kept himself in relatively good physical condition over the years.

The car barreled down the road at full speed, tightly hugging the curve as it moved toward the gatehouse at the bridge. It didn't stop for the running individuals, but continued towards the exit from the island.