As Amelia was answering Allan as to where the Babadook seemed to have appeared, Christina pulled herself together and spoke to the Doctor. "Well to answer your question Doctor, I think we should go in first. I think Sam here has been brave enough as it is." Christina took off her sunglasses and slipped them into a pocket in her backpack. "Sam, could you stay outside for a moment and protect your mom, please? Thank you."

Christina listened to Amelia's answer and gathered up her things, proceeding into the foyer of the house. "Gentlemen, Ladies always go first." Once inside she laid her backpack by the door and a memory came floating up from the recesses of her mind. One, where she seemed to have tried to fight off a vampire-like creature in Venice of all places; and she seemed to have fought him off with a broom. Christina shook her head to clear it, and began to look around for a broom.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:19, Fri 23 Nov 2018.

The Doctor smiles to the boy once more, and then stands up, "I agree, let's take a look around. Especially in the basement."

He doesn't seem surprised as Christina takes the lead, instead glancing back to Amelia before he follows, "We shouldn't be long. But if we are, don't come in looking for us, it might be dangerous. Same thing if you hear noises. Growling or the like. Or maniacal laughter, but that could just be me. But if you hear us yelling for help, come rescue us."

It could be he's just joking to try to lighten the woman and child's moods, it's kind of hard to tell. He's almost always smiling.

Finally, he turns to follow after Christina.

Sam replies to Alan's questions: "Mostly in the basement, but mamma saw him in the kitchen once."

He then takes up a fierce stance in front of his mother at Christina's request.


Upon entering the house, you see that Christina's estimation of the internal layout based on the external appearance is spot on.

The kitchen is at the back, and the stairs down to the basement are probably off of or at least near the kitchen. There might also be an outside entrance to the basement... a bulkhead for coal deliveries.


Nothing feels unusual until you get to the kitchen. There's an unease to the room. It does not seem to have a specific source until you open the door to the basement stairs. THAT seems to be where it is coming from.

"It's okay, ma'am," Johnny says to Amelia as they begin entering the house. "The Doc knows what he's doing. He likes to use humor to ease the tension."

"As you probably gathered, there is definitely something hinky going on here. The Doc will find out what it is and make it go away. He's done the same thing many time in many places."

Of course, Johnny didn't know that from first-hand experience, but from what the others had said, that seemed to be the case.

He entered the house last, pausing at the door momentarily, turned, nodded back to Sam, and then walked in, leaving the door open.

It wasn't until she got to the kitchen that she became frightened. Every sense heightened on her like a woman going through a deserted parking garage at night looking for her car. It was just a sixth sense that women had...one of survival. Christina saw what she was looking for in the corner and grabbed it.

She held the broom protectively in her hands as she spoke. "Doctor, there is something really not right in here."

Ghosts and aliens she could possibly endure. But as she looked around at all the cupboards full of plates and bowls, she wondered what in the world could be so possessed as to put glass into someone's food? It bordered on malevolence.

Alan smiled at the boy and his mother, and ent9ered the house. He followed the Lady De Souza and went to the kitchen he too felt the tension, though not where it was from exactly. "If you wish to go first down the stairs be my guest." He said trying to lighten the mood.

The Doctor's smile is gone as they enter the kitchen, and he pulls out his sonic screwdriver again, though more of a defensive pose than actually scanning yet. "Psychic residue, but from what? Sam's showing it, too, but I'm not sure if something's affecting him or if he's somehow projecting his own fear. Whatever it is, it's got to do with the basement."

Placing himself in front of the others, he starts towards the basement.

Christina tilts her head slightly to Alan and smiles sarcastically. "Thank you, but this time I think the manly men with guns need to go first. You know, protectors and all that." She was actually glad not to be going first and her body language expressed those feelings perfectly.

Of course, Christina could not let any good moment just slip away. She set the broom down with the brush end on the floor and leaned on the handle which stuck up in front of her. "I'll just bring up the rear." And with that she gently leaned into her hips with just enough innuendo as to let everyone know that she was still the only woman in the room.

Descending the stairs into the basement causes the unease to increase, but not too much.

Once down in the basement, the psychic residue is more pronounced. There are a few places--the dark corners--where it is a bit stronger, but you can't pinpoint a source any better than that. It's as if something was here and then left.

On the other hand, there's almost a presence still lingering... different than the psychic unease.

The Doctor ways his sonic screwdriver around, scanning for anything that might explain the sense of a presence, most particularly any trace of some kind of cloaking field.

2:12, Today: The (15th) Doctor rolled 19 using 2d6+11.  Awareness + Technology + 2 for sonic screwdriver.

"Is there someone there? Show yourself! Enough of frightening small children, you have to deal with us now!"

Scanning his binoculars around Alan tried to see what his readings were.

With the men in front of her and her bringing up the rear she stood there frozen on the stairs, broom held firmly in her hands. What was she going to do with the broom if she did manage to see something horrific in the basement? Sweep it away? Still, she held it tightly as if it were the most precious thing in the world to her.

She also did what she does best and closed her eyes reaching out for any sounds in the basement that might give away the monsters present location.

Lady Christina de Souza rolled 13 using 2d6+8.  Awareness + Ingenuity +2 for Keen Senses.

Although the psychic residue was detectable from upstairs, it's stronger down here. It seems to have some of the properties of the psychic paper that the Doctor uses.

However, there are two places in the basement where the residual psychic energy seems a bit more concentrated. One is the chair in the corner and the other is a ledge which is part of the foundation.

You also pick up something... else. It takes a moment to focus on it and thus realize that it is a secondary tinge to the psychic trace. You can't quite determine if it's alien but could be. Or it could be something to do with magic... typical Earth magic.

The Doctor pockets his sonic after a few moments, relaxing just a bit. "There's nobody here anymore. But there's something more than just fear here. We need to find that book!"

Glancing around the rest of the dimly lit basement, Christina realized that the chair and the ledge were... perches. She couldn't see any particularly defensive advantage that either location would provide, but the ledge was clearly a spot to look down on Sam. Whether that would intimidate him or not, she couldn't say.

The chair, on the other hand, was just as clearly intended as a point of authority. Or, it certainly seemed like it would be to a little boy.

There was something about the positioning of the chair and how it faced the ledge of the basements foundation. It was as if the chair had been placed specifically in that spot to watch whatever might be found on the ledge.

It reminded her of when she was young and got in trouble. If Nanny wasn't around and Mom had errands to do, she had to sit in the kitchen with the cook. She would try to talk to Mabs the cook, but most of the time she would sit staring at the bird that hopped around in a cage in the corner of the room. Pepper was it's name, and it used to hop and stare out the window. But sometimes if Christina sat really close, Pepper and her would have staring contests. Of course Christina always won, especially when she would move the chair to a certain position which made the bird always become distracted following Mabs.

The chair in the basement was placed in a certain way as to stare at something, or prevent something from moving off the ledge. It had to be Sam. Sam had to be somehow stopping this creature-thing from possibly going up stairs. Possibly with the help of that whirly thing he was carrying.

Christina moved past the men and propped her broom against the foundation wall. She then stepped up onto the chair and then stepped up onto the ledge. She then squatted, or perched upon the ledge looking at the chair.

"Doctor. Could something have been up here while Sam sat in the chair below? You know with the whirly thing-a-ma-ging in his hands? Hopefully keeping it at bay down here and not harming his Mom? And if that's the case, what do you think it is? An alien?"

The Doctor stops and spins around, crouching down to look up at Christina from the chair. To the question on whether it was an alien, he says, "Possibly. Probably." He bounces to his feet again, and says, "But there's other possibilities that might fit the facts. There were beings on earth longer than humans. Even longer than the Silurians. Beings who are usually invisible, but can sometimes be seen by certain children, whom they violently protect even from the slightest threats like a stern parent. I detected traces of what could be magic — that is, those focused psychic phenomena that humans called magic — which could be from the Fair Folk, or what attracted them to Sam. But either way, how would he know to build a device like that?"

This last question is asked rhetorically, as he almost immediately says, "The clues aren't fitting together yet. We need to see that book. But someone should stay with Sam."

"I have no problem staying with Sam," Johnny volunteers, "but I'm not sure how effective I could be against this... creature if it shows up again."

"Does that toy Sam built really work?"

"It's possible. Psychic ability, of which Sam has some talent in, can grant abilities if belief is strong enough. If Sam believes it works, he might be able to use it for that." Alan said as he scanned the room heavily with his binoculars, a very familiar whirring sound emanating from them as he did so.

Alan can detect nothing unusual in the basement with his binoculars. The psychic residue does seem focused on the chair and the ledge, but also permeates most of the basement.

That, of course, means something was here but isn't here any more.

"Thank you, Johnny. Just remember, running is often better than fighting if you have something to protect."

Then, continuing up the stairs again, he says, "Onward!"

Everyone heads back up the stairs, and then The Doctor, Christina and Alan exit the house and leave Johnny behind to guard the family.

Alan knows the way to the Esplanade. There are large houses on the street, so it isn't hard to find 221B. There's no obvious explanation fro the 'B', but the number is consistent with the other numbers on the street.

The Doctor pauses as he sees the address, and he says, "I wonder… No. Couldn't be. She'd still use her own name. Probably."

Coming out of his memories, he looks to Christina, "Maybe you should be the one to knock and greet her, Lady to Lady."

"It would be my pleasure, Doctor." On her way out of the house, she had replaced the broom and picked up her backpack. She now placed her backpack on the stoop of the front porch and preened. Just before knocking on the front door, she turned back to face Alan and the Doctor giving them a wide reassuring smile.

Wandering through the Esplanade, Christina felt a sense of comfort and home. The weather was perfect, just warm enough and the people on the street seemed to go about their business with a sense of pride and ambition. Cars rumbled by along with the occasional carriage and Christina noticed the long length of dresses out during the day. Yet she knew by those women passing by her that when the sun went down tonight the length of the hem would be going up.

Christina smiled once again to herself and then knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.

The door opens a moment later and a young woman is standing there.

"Hello. May I help you?" she says.

While she is dressed trim and neat, she does not appear to be a Lady.