"Oh you're good!" Kate was impressed with Penny's observations. "That probably means we should be ready," she added since they'd laid the bait with their room number. "I wish we were back in 2013. I could google it." she added in response to Penny's musings as to what had take Mr. Westbrooks place.

'Oh, indeed, I learned many things through that "Google".' Penny agreed; Kate could almost hear the quotation marks. Penny had taken to the computer and the Internet quite quickly, but it had been rather like teaching one's great grandmother to surf the net — which wasn't far off, in fact. Penny sighed in relief, satisfied with her small victory, her confidence buoyed. 'Well, I needed a solid victory in this case. All else has been frustration and uncertainty thus far. Finally we have made a gain on our own terms.'

'But what now? Should we confront him with this, inform Victoria of our theory, or gather more evidence to confirm and identify the monster? The substitution could only have happened in the last day or two, and the real Westbrook may be held captive somewhere... Or should we let our plan at the hotel play out first? The ersatz Mr Westbrook may not be the only spy here, and I should like to eliminate them all first.'

"It would probably be a good idea to figure out what has taken Westbrook's place before we take action. Lucky we can probably kill two birds with one stone. We can research at the hotel and let your plan play out to see if he takes the bait."

'Yes, and whether he is still alive.' Penny agreed. 'Shall we inform Victoria? It may ease her worries to confirm that that is not her John Westbrook, and she may begin to guard the Men of Letters against him. But if she confronts him early, then we may ruin any opportunity we have to feed him false information.' Penny's skills were in observation, reading clues and the signs of people's actions. She was less adept in reading their hearts and minds, however, and she knew it. So she turned to Kate, surely more experienced and empathic. 'What do you make of her? Could she maintain the pretense?'

"Victoria seems pretty level headed but I think to be safe we probably shouldn't give her solid evidence just yet. Maybe we should tell her that we met with him and that we'd like to look into it deeper before making any accusations." Kate didn't like the idea of not telling  the whole truth but in the end it was for the better. Ignorance was bliss and Victoria was safer if she didn't know the whole truth just yet. "Honestly it's tempting to walk in and kill fake Wesbrook right now. But I don't think it's the right time. I get the feeling Victoria might think it was and that would muck up our plans.

'Okay. Let us just mention that we share her suspicions, and shall look into it deeper, as you say. Victoria can then act more confidently while we try to work out a means of killing our imposter.'

ooc: Moving things along, I'm assuming you want to fill Victoria in then? If I'm wrong let me know. She will be relieved upon hearing she is not the only one with suspicions and should you tell her that he's trying to throw blame her way she will look furious. She seems content to let you ferret things out further but she plans on safeguarding as much as she can without tipping her hand, indicating she would rather remove him from power sooner rather than later as his dealings are undermining the Men's attempts.

Also, what exactly are your plans for the hotel? Do rounds and see which rooms may or may not be hit? And if they are do you have plans to deal with it or are you just going to brawl it out? Just planning ahead...

OOC: First, we'll drop any more clues we need to around the MoL base.  Then we collect the guards Victoria offered us and return to the hotel. We'll make sure the maid is cancelled for each room we rented.

In each of the decoy rooms we'll place obvious anti-demon measures: a devil's trap in front of the door, a line of salt at the windows and doorway. They should spot and disable these fairly easily. As an old trick, Penny will also conceal a small piece of tape or string and putty between door and frame, so if the door is opened, the tape/string will be removed and we can know if anyone came in. If the door isn't forced, that is.

Penny and Kate will take one room (which they haven't told anyone about) for themselves and defend it against demons as best they can. Much more subtle and resilient defenses.

The MoL guards lent by Victoria can stay in a nearby room (because we can't possibly have men and women staying together!) in shouting distance from ours. They can defend it as they see fit. They shouldn't know which room Penny and Kate are in. The guards also don't know about our decoy rooms, but should think Penny and Kate are in one of them. Basically, we're tricking them too.

Hopefully we got a few rooms on the same floor, so if one is hit in a very noisy fashion, Penny & Kate and the guards will hear, investigate, and come in behind the demons. If the demons hit one on another floor, then eh.

Whatever happens, in the morning, Penny will investigate which rooms were tampered with / invaded.

We'll spend our spare time in research into what kind of monster "Westbrook" might be.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:11, Tue 06 Jan 2015.

ooc: Very nicely planned! Alright then! You are fortunate and able to get the rooms all on the same floor and you have three guards recruited, also on the same floor. Victoria can loan you any books you may need to scour, in the meantime the hour grows late...

So go ahead and roll a research check. Also, a listen check would be necessary as well.

OOC: A bit late now, so just the rolls:
22:50, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 28 using 1d20+9. research.
22:50, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 19 using 1d20+9. listen.

"Should we take turns keeping watch?" They'd been pretty thorough in setting up the extra rooms. It would be hard to miss an intruder.


research:12 listen:14

After setting up their defences and elaborate deceptions, Penny settled in for the night, wearing a dressing gown over numerous other layers of sleepware. She'd settled into the armchair with a good book, but the books she had available were grimoires and occult histories.

'Yes, that would be a good idea. We shall have to remain alert through the night until this business is settled. Ah, I have little pills if you need them...' Thankfully, she didn't take them out. 'It's a pity we did not have time to rig up a little bell to ring when the demons enter. Or some sort of effigy of myself at the window for them to shoot at, Holmes would love it.'

ooc: Good thing Penny got good rolls!

In your research Kate comes up with little but Penny is more fruitful. You've heard that some demons can take other forms but surely the wards in the men of letters would prevent that? What does pique your interest though is information about alphas, the firstborn of each race of monsters. Supposedly they are less susceptible to the weaknesses of their offspring, which would make it easy to pass any tests they were given. An alpha shifter would be an intriguing possibility.

Around two in the morning Penny hears the sound of one of the doors down the hall opening. Judging by your position it is likely the room you set for Westbrook.

A shifter could certainly take Westbrook's form and even gain access to his memories; however, their vulnerability to silver meant the impostor would surely have been exposed by Victoria's test. That depended, of course, on how thorough she had been. With enough cunning, a sheath of human skin? Lacking the silver weakness, a firstborn shapeshifter was an intriguing possibility, but so rare and unlikely, Penny wanted to discount it. Now, a ghoul could also have acquired Westbrook's form and perhaps even memories, albeit only be devouring his corpse. They were also unaffected by silver and holy water. Penny needed more testing, more clues.

Hearing sounds in the hall, Penny put down her book, rose and crossed to the bed she and Kate were necessarily sharing. She stirred Kate awake, then padded towards the door, stealthy in her slippers. The pistol and knife weighed down the pockets of her dressing gown. She listened intently, hearing a door opening in the vicinity of the one set for Westbrook — naturally. She spied through the door's spyhole and the keyhole, before she would risk opening it and peering out into the hall.


OOC: And now my rolls are bad.

Move Silently 11. Maybe slippers give a bonus? :)
12:02, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 11 using 1d20+4. move silently.

Listening at the door and peeking out, Spot 12 and Listen 25
12:02, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 12 using 1d20+9. spot.
12:02, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 25 using 1d20+9. listen.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:07, Fri 09 Jan 2015.

ooc: Lol! You're lucky, I rolled a natural 1 ;P

You don't see anything because whoever it was is already in the room, but you do hear the sounds of someone searching through drawers and such, trying to be quiet and failing. Should you decide to pursue the matter you can creep towards the door and they won't seem to hear you. If and when you go towards the door you will find it open just a crack.

ooc: You will need to roll a hide if you want to investigate, though the almost closed door will offer some bonus.

OOC: Are our sturdy Men of Letters alerted or involved yet?

Ooc: not at first but as the rummaging continues you see one poke his head out suspiciously. Feel free to recruit aid ;) thanks for the reminder, still waking up I'm afraid

Kate got out of bed and silently followed Penny, also armed with a knife and her gun which she'd kept close on the night stand. Since Penny was in the already in the lead Kate remained a few steps behind, her weapon up ready to cover if needed.


17:38, Today: Kate Piper rolled 17 using 1d20+4. listen.
17:38, Today: Kate Piper rolled 28 using 1d20+12. Hide.
17:37, Today: Kate Piper rolled 26 using 1d20+9. move silently.

Slipping her enchanted cane out of the umbrella stand by the door, Penny stole out into the corridor, advancing toward Number 102. She also pulled her gun from her pocket, but would prefer the quieter weapon if it came to a brawl. Best not wake the guests and find herself disbarred from the New York Hotel.

Spying the Letters man peer out of the door, Penny gave some quick hand signals, gesturing Kate forward to cover the door — she seemed so much more quiet on her feet on the hotel floorboards — while she directed the Men of Letters to come out and take their positions. One would accompany Kate and herself, and the two others would wait in the corridor outside, serving as back-up and lookouts.


OOC: With rolls like that, Kate can take point. :)
12:01, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 19 using 1d20+4. hide.

Kate slid silently past Penny moving to the door and taking a quick peek to see who was inside.

The men are quick to obey, readying their weapons and keeping on guard. In the meantime as you look through the door you see to your shock it is Frederick! The red haired man of letters who helped you so much your first few days here. He doesn't appear to notice you yet but he is quickly searching the room, clearly stressed and muttering curses to himself.

"It's Fredrick" Kate mouthed to Penny before she nudged the door open with her foot. "Looking for something?" she asked letting the door swing wide enough open to reveal herself, Penny and the man of letters.

Frederick! Victoria had named him as one she could trust. Penny had mentioned to Frederick they were in Room 303, yet here he was in 102. Westbrook must have sent him as a dupe in his place. So much for catching the villain in the act. Slipping into the room, she trained her gun on the spy, saying after Kate 'May we help you, sir?' because manners were essential, especially when you were pointing a gun at someone.

Frederick looks shocked and stands up quickly, hands raised. It's not what it looks like! he says in a rush, eying the gun nervously. Westbrook sent me to find some case? He says that Victoria may be compromised and that she will try to sneak the case from you and that if I get to it first he can keep it safe! He looks genuinely worried. I didn't want to believe it of her, but I figured I couldn't take the chance. But I can't find it! Did she already get it from you?

Frederick surrendered, but Penny kept her gun trained on him. She nodded the other Man of Letters over to Frederick. 'Johnson, please apply the usual tests: silver, holy water, a light in the eyes. Kate, do you have your smart telephone handy? The camera function should reveal a gleam in the eyes or a glamer of disguise.' she said while Frederick stammered through this story.

Aha! So it was the soul, not the head. The false Westbrook had to be working for Belial, trying to prevent Mrs Bently's resurrection. Penny raised an eyebrow, intrigued. 'Indeed? And why not just ask us for the case?'