Alan knelt down next to the boy. "This is a very interesting toy young man. You made it?"

Grateful for Christina's rescue and distraction, the Doctor kneels down to speak to the child as well, "An inventor, how wonderful! I'm an inventor as well." He pulls his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, holding out to show the child, "I invented this when I was just a bit older than you. See, it lights up and makes noise." He demonstrates, and in the process does a quick biological scan.

15:05, Today: The (15th) Doctor rolled 17 using 2d6+9.  Awareness (4) + Medicine (3) + 2 for sonic screwdriver.

Surreptitiously Alan takes a pair of binoculars out and points them at the "toy".

(what do I need to roll?)

"Pleased to meet you," Amelia responds to Christina. "Oh. Lady Christina. Are you a friend of Lady Phryne's? We were just there. She said she would help us. I left... the book with her."


At Alan's question, young Sam nods assent, but then adds, "I had to stop Mr. Babadook."


Looking at the toy with his binoculars, Alan can see that it is made of wood, metal and ceramic parts that appear to be fairly common household items. However, there seems to be a residual psychic trace to it.

While it looks like a mock-up (rather than an actual toy) of a trans-linear obfuscation eradicator, it shouldn't be able to function like one. If it was real, it'd make something that was invisible visible; it'd work for any entire room.


The Doctor's scan of Sam reveals that Sam is a normal human boy of about six years of age. However, he detects rather excessive activity in the right half of Sam's brain, as well as some kind of residual psychic energy... in the form of fear.

In for a penny, in for a pound. Christina's best guess was that Amelia really wanted Christina to know this Lady Phryne, she could see it in her eyes. It was the oldest trick in the world, look into their eyes - for they are the windows to the soul, and tell everything. What Christina could do with a crystal ball! And the book - well that was just too good to pass up.

"Why yes dear, I know Phryne. Mostly through social gatherings and the like. Wonderful woman! I'm sure she can help you, especially since you left the book with her. We were just on our way to see her when we ran into you. Coincidence? I think not!"

Christina leaned a bit closer and continued. "So how is dear Phryne? And what did she think of the book?"

The Doctor looks at the sonic screwdriver as if reading a display only he can see, and then pockets it. "Mr. Babadook is invisible? What are you stopping him from doing? Maybe we can help you."

"Well, she didn't believe me... about the book, I mean," Amelia responds to Christina. "I don't know where Sam got it but he started having bad dreams after he read it. That's when he made up Mr. Babadook. Well, that's the book's title and what it's about."

"When it got too bad, I tore up the book and threw it away. But, the next morning it was back on our doorstep."


Meanwhile, Sam is talking to The Doctor.

"Sometimes he's invisible, but then I don't know what he's going to do. He scares me... makes noises, opens and closes doors, moves things around. I think he put glass in my mum's food."

Alan looked at The Doctor with a knowing expression. This was not something normal to this world.

Christina smiled a reassuring smile. "Probably just a childish prank. Well Amelia, we are here to help. We have Johnny here, American I think, who - with his frontier ways can take care of just about anything. And with Alan over there, these two fine, strapping men can protect us both don't you think." She smiled a mischievous smile. "You have nothing to fear."

The Doctor nods to Alan, and then smiles back to the boy, and says, doing his best to be reassuring, "She's right, Johnny here makes an excellent bodyguard. He will protect you until we figure this out." He looks up to Johnny, and says, "Right?"

Standing up again, he says to Amelia, "We can help. First, I'd like to see that book, please."

"Ah can shoot varmints and robbers and rustlers right enough," Johnny responds. "Don't know how to shoot spirits and such, though."

"And ah like to think I'm pretty good in a scrap."

The Doctor glances back to Johnny, and says, "No shooting. Just protect and reassure… And keep an eye out for clues to what were dealing with… and help him run if necessary. Running is better than shooting." With each pause, he's almost turning back to the woman and remembering something else, looking back to Johnny to say the next point.

Finally, he looks back to the mother for her response.

"I don't have the book any more. As I just told Lady Christina, I left the book with Lady Phryne," Amelia replies to the Doctor.

"It's just a book... a prank someone is playing on us, isn't it?"

"Then we shall go see the Lady Phryne, won't we Doctor. As long as you and Sam are going to be ok." Christina opened up her backpack and produced a small item and knelt next to Sam. "If I could, could I give this to you? His name is Neko." It was a small, ornamental cat that seemed to wave with it's left paw. "With your talent and creativity maybe you could make something of Neko here that could frighten off any boogey-man. Could you do that for me?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 03:25, Tue 06 Nov 2018.

The offer of the toy made Sam smile.

"Uh-huh," he managed to say, still a bit shy, but looked up at his mother for her approval.

"What do you say to the nice lady, Sam?"

"Thank you."

"Where might we find this Lady Fry-Knee?" Johnny asked Amelia.

"First time I been to Australia," he adds, hinting that he might need some directions where to go.

"Actually, I'm familiar with her location, but I've never met her before." Alan said as he stood. "But first shouldn't we get to someplace less public before discussing this further. The middle of the street isn't the best place to do this."

The Doctor smiles and says, turning in the direction that the woman and boy were going, "Indeed, let's go to see Amelia and Sam home to make sure they're safe, and then pay a visit to Lady Phryne… if the book hasn't already returned. From what you describe, Amelia, it quite possibly has."

"You are welcome, Sam." Christina smiled at him and stood up once again erect and confident. Her posture one of extreme self-worth and assurance. She snapped her sunglasses back down upon her face, picked up her backpack and asked, "Amelia, could you lead the way?"

Christina was happy. She was with the Doctor, and an adventure was taking form. This is what she had been missing while escorting patrons to their rooms at that old B&B in Wales. This is what she was really meant to do...wasn't it?

The presence of Christina seems to reassure Amelia, so she welcomes the escort back to her house.

She seems to approach the porch and the front door with a bit of trepidation, but seems relieved for some reason when she reaches it.

"Would you... would you like to come in?" she asks as she unlocks the door and pushes it open.

After they find no book at the doorstep, the Doctor considers the offer, but turns his attention to Sam. Crouching, he says, "What would you say, young man? Would you feel safer if we looked around first, or will you be all right if we go check the book first?"

He asks this question in all seriousness, apparently putting full weight to the child's insights into the situation.

Alan puts the binoculars to his eyes and scans them over the house causing a familiar sound to emit from them as he does.

Christina waits for Sam to answer but takes a moment to look at the surroundings. It seemed it was part of her instinct to check the environment and more importantly to check for escape routes and methods of escape. She surveyed the area checking for upper windows and other means of entry to see if someone, or something...could have easy access to the house.

If you could GM, could you describe the house, surrounding buildings and entry ways that Christina might have noticed. Thanks.

Lady Christina de Souza rolled 13 using 2d6+8.  Awareness + Ingenuity +2 for Keen Senses.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:26, Sun 18 Nov 2018.

Alan scans the house with his binoculars and discovers what he would describe as a residual psychic trace. It's as if something affected certain areas of the house psychically at some point and left a kind of psychic residue behind. There appears to be some trace in the kitchen, and a stronger one in the basement.


The house is a typical Victorian style, two stories, plus attic and basement. The ground floor has a parlor, sitting room, dining room, kitchen and powder room. The kitchen also has a butler's pantry, and there are two flights of stairs that lead to the second floor.

The second floor has four bedrooms and full bathroom. There's a flight of stairs up to the attic. The attic may or may not be finished; you can't really tell from the outside. It does have two dormers, one on each side.

There's a roofed porch around the front of the house and along the right side.

It's not a large or elaborate layout house, and it has a bit of gingerbread decorations on it, but not a lot.

"Doctor, I'm tracing psychic residue. Some in the kitchen, but a bigger concentration in the basement." He said softly to the Doctor.

Looking at the mother, ha asked, "Where did this Babadook appear?"