[[music!]]



The house is big and up here the air is still, but it's certainly not empty. There is light from under the far door to Adrian's left, from the lamp on the wall above him on the right and from somewhere in the hall below (presumably that's where the big clock he can hear ticking is).

It strikes him that it really is very quiet in here - he can hear the odd distant murmur of people talking elsewhere in the building and soft, muted peals of thunder, but otherwise it seems the house is soundproof.

A green glint flashes from a recess before the door to the lit room as the eyes of some night beast turn towards Adrian. Squinting a little, he can make out that the recess is in fact a spiral stair leading upward, and that the shadowed animal is perching on a dark and lumpen shape. A shape that appears to be dripping dark liquid on the floor.


[[Before you ask, it was definitely not Colonel Mustard in the drawing room with the length of lead pipe. You're outside the door of Bedroom 3. Have at!]]
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:15, Thu 20 Mar 2014.

Adrian looked back towards the broken window the birds had deftly carried him through, and then back at himself. The worst that had happened to him was a little frayed clothing through that. He was quite honestly surprised not to be leaking his thick, black, unnatural blood from at least one or two places. Steadying himself, he put his back up against a wall and drew upon his place of strength, that place of darkness and chaos . He curled his empty hand into a fist victoriously, a representation of the mental victory he felt was his willpower crushing the manitou into submission as he pulled down its raw power, drawing it into himself.

He could feel himself becoming more observant. That wasn't quite accurate. It was his capacity for observation that had increased. His senses were more attuned to his environs. Everything was just a little bit sharper.

The huckster took a closer look at the Thing in the Stairwell.

OOC:
Adrian is opting to Deal with the Devil instead of using his Power Points. With five hearts (KH, QH, 7H, 6H, 3H), he has a FLUSH! This means that his spell automatically succeeds with a raise!

• His Notice is boosted from d4 to d8.
• Notice: 5

17:47, Today: Adrian Vega drew the 10 cards: 4H, QD, QH, KH, 3H, 6H, 7H, 9D, 3S, 7C using the Deadlands system. Boost Notice / Deal with the Devil.
18:05, Today: Adrian Vega rolled 5,5 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,5. Notice.

PS: Shouldn't it be Chapter 17.2.2?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:10, Thu 20 Mar 2014.

[[clearly, your super-observancy works super-well! Edited.]]

His senses sharpened, Adrian can smell blood over the normal house-scents of polish and lamp-soot, warm wood and paper. Fresh, living blood, presumably from the puddle dripping off the stairs...following the dark thread up, Adrian deduces the somewhat rotund fellow must have an injury on his upper chest, neck or head, areas currently turned away from him. There's something familiar about that impressive suit, too.

Looking further up, Adrian meets the perched animal's eyes again and notes the owlish yellow of them, taking in the graceful lines of a compact feline. Ward's cat seems remarkably calm, watching him, though its tail and hackles are somewhat fluffed. The calico's tailtip twitches, twitches, but otherwise it doesn't move.

A door opens and closes hard somewhere downstairs, bringing a distant babble of not-quite audible discussion before the door slams again.

Adrian could feel the cards shuffling in his head, like back in one of the casinos in New Orleans, or when he was on that riverboat on the Mississippi lookin' into the Royal Court. This day was more like the latter. Full House, he thought, and he crept along the wall with more stealth than he was customarily known on an ordinary day. This day had been anything but ordinary, and he knew he had to keep his head in the game if he wanted to stay alive. Or at least not die again.

He crept into the bathroom, gun drawn, and looked to see if there was anything gonna bite him, prepared to use this area as cover for the moment.

OOC:
He wants to go quickly and silently into Bath 2 without drawing undue attention and quickly assess it for any threats lurking within. If it is clear, he will lurk there waiting to see if anyone passes by or if he can hear them. Rolls and things below:

(1) Deal with the Devil for another Boost to Adrian's Stealth. He draw a Full House (10H, 10C, 10S, 7D, 7C), which counts as an automatic success and raise boosting his Stealth from d4 to d8, plus double duration.
(2) Stealth: 6
(3) Notice 11 (after a White Chip for reroll)



12:01, Today: Adrian Vega drew the 10 cards: 6C, 10H, QH, 10C, 10S, 7D, AH, 2C, 9D, 7C using the Deadlands system. DwtD: Boost Stealth.
12:06, Today: Adrian Vega rolled 6,1 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,1.
12:10, Today: Adrian Vega rolled 1,1 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,1. notice.
12:10, Today: Adrian Vega rolled 11,1 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+3)11,1. white chip.

This message was last edited by the player at 18:15, Fri 21 Mar 2014.

The cat watches Adrian hide in the lavatory. Her yellow gaze remains focused on him, but she makes no move nor any feline comment on the action.

The room is extremely clean, quite plain and functional. Adrian jumps at a dark movement to his left, pointing the gun, but soon discovers he's threatening a mirror. A spider flees his investigation into the bathtub, but fails to get up the side.

As he shuts the door almost to, Adrian notes the faint outlines of bloody prints heading downstairs and the fact that he's left the rug askew. There's no time to correct this, however, since there's someone coming up the stairs.

"She'll come up...as soon as Abbie's in, won't she? I'm...I'm scared and I feel...I feel wrong inside, he..." The voice is a child's, probably a girl, but hard to tell between the hoarseness and the sobs. The steps on the stairs draw nearer.

"...he held me down and, and drank my blood, and he was dead...Max was just dead on top of me, biting me, like he didn't care and I feel wrong...I want Mamma and Abbie, Al, I don't want to be dead and not care and he bit me..." A old cowpoke comes into view, carrying the child. Age and years in the sun have left his race indeterminate, though when he speaks, there's a watered-out Old Virginian drawl.

"It'll be all right, hon. You've got your garlic there an' Widow Bradshaw'll git some good hot tea- oh, f...udge!" Al narrowly avoids swearing, pressing the child's head to his chest despite her squealed protest. "Don't look, sweetheart. ABRAHAM! Come quick, come careful! LIZ!"

The door at the end opens, silhouetting a slender female figure currently clutching a hanky. "Geneviève!" she holds her arms out to recieve the wounded girl. "Oh, Ginny, thank God, oh-" she stumbles, seeing the man in the stairwell, looks in utter horror at Al, then just takes the child and whisks her into the lit room in a whirl of gold and ruddy chestnut hair, leaving Al to close the door behind her and crouch beside the wounded man.

More steps sound at the base of the stairs, and at this point Adrian realises that the harsh tap-tap-tap that's been nagging at his heightened senses is the rainwater from his clothes dripping on the floor. It's not quite a puddle yet, but it might be a trail...
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:34, Fri 21 Mar 2014.

OOC:
Does Adrian recognize any of these people?

[[He might just recognise the woman in the library, since Mrs. Bradshaw would have been occasionally seen in town when Adrian was a teenager and she's only about 5-10 years older than him. Last time he saw Ginny she was a baby, though, and he's never seen Al before.

You can also make a Smarts roll to work out where you've seen the casualty's clothing before, since you didn't make a move to look at his face. There aren't that many tubby guys in fancy clothes around, though, so Adrian might guess, especially since his crow buddies referred to a Fat Controller, and Adrian has seen someone doing some serious Controlling just that afternoon...]]

OOC:
13:45, Today: Adrian Vega rolled 4,5 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,5. Smarts.

I think I have an idea who the Fat Controller is, but let's see if the dice confirm it.

[[Adrian has seen that suit in town, on one Mayor Bruebaker who somehow witchcrafted a crowd of ordinary citizens into a bloodthirsty mob.]]