Sully jots some quick notes to identify the papers, and where possible, the reporters of the articles. He offers to carry the book and lantern so that the detective will have his hands free.

Jake hands over the book and the lantern willing to Sulley and then heads back into the carpentry area.

"Well, gents," he nods out of the door that leads past the iron gate. "Do we keep pushing our luck? If we get caught at this stage, there are too many of us to overwhelm and we have some pretty damming evidence on Bishop to stop him from calling the cops. Though on the whole, I'd like to keep ourt visit on the QT -- until he wakes up and finds his scrap book is gone.

"I say we try our luck at those doors out there."

Proceeding quietly down the covered walkway, the group of investigators find that several of the doors at the southern end are marked with small brass plates.

The first set of double doors on the walkway’s western side are identified as “Embalming”. The next pair of double doors immediately south of them are marked as “Utility”.

Two of the three single doors further south on that side are identified as “Men” and “Women” respectively. The southernmost door on the western wall does not bear a brass plate that identifies it.

On the eastern side of the walk, the lone set of double doors bear a plate that identifies them as leading to “Storage”.

The double doors at the end of the walkway are marked as “Foyer”.

Sully tries the door marked "Men." A toilet would be handy about now.

Arthur steps through the double doors marked "Embalming." Maybe something here would hold answers--probably not, though!

Unsure of his options he decided that in a venture such as this, there was safety in numbers, and so he followed Arthur into the Embalming room to see what might be seen.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Wed 13 Apr 2022.

Sully finds that the room beyond the closed door, as expected, is a small men’s lavatory. However, the reporter does notice one thing that strikes him as odd. A thin layer of gray dust clings to everything in the room; the appliances, the small mirror above the sink, and even the tile floor. As Sully enters, his feet stir the dust, and he sees no other signs of recent passage within the narrow room.

Arthur opens the door of the embalming room and is greeted by the low hum of a refrigeration unit. As Professor Wells follows him in, both can feel the temperature drop, the long room noticeably colder than others they have entered.

The walls and floor are covered in pale green tile. Several cabinets line the northern wall, along with a sink and what appears to be an autoclave for cleaning instruments.

In the center of the room is a heavy steel table which appears large enough to support a human body. Arthur and the Professor can see several leather restraining straps dangling beneath the table. At the foot of the table is a metal tray which holds several scalpels, bone saws, and other surgical instruments. All appear hospital clean and razor sharp.

On the south side of the room are a set of ten large, white enameled steel drawers, clearly intended for the storage of corpses due for embalming. The drawers are set two-high into the wall.

The strong scents of formaldehyde, disinfectant, and decay fill the air.

Sully does his business, then turns to survey the room. It is most evident that no one has used these facilities for quite some time, leading him to speculate whether the business is actually in operation.

He runs some water over his hands before drying them on a handkerchief he pulls from his hip pocket. He makes no attempt to wipe the dust from the mirror, recalling various spook tales from his youth that suggested dire consequences could follow from such an act.

He wanders into the embalming room. He sniffs at the chilly air, wondering at the scent of decay in an otherwise clean environment. He saunters over to the large drawers and, curious, tugs one open.

Sully pulls one of the upper drawers open, which slides easily. Inside, covered up to the chest by a crisp, white linen sheet is the body of a slender, silver haired man. His eyes are closed, his expression like one who has fallen peacefully asleep. A neatly printed index card in the drawer identifies him as one Efrayim Mandelbaum, 82 years of age, who passed away the day before yesterday.

OOC: Sully, kindly provide me a Spot Hidden roll.

"Good evening, Mr. Mandelbaum," Sully says quietly, "Forgive the intrusion, please."

Sullivan (Sully) Quinn rolled 31 for Spot Hidden (50).

As Sully respectfully closes the drawer, he notices that on the tile wall above the rows of drawers there is a single tile, roughly eight feet above, which noticeably protrudes outward from the others.

OOC: The reporter estimate that if am empty drawer could be located, it could be stood upon to reach the tile in question.

Looking above the upper row of drawers, Sully calls quietly to his companions: "Say, felllas, that tile there is sticking out a bit from the others. If someone can boost me up a bit I'll check if it's loose or something." He's pointing to the tile.

"Oh. hold on, maybe I can just stand in this drawer, if it's empty. "

He tugs open the lower drawer right under the tile in question and prepares to clamber into it.

"I've got you," he said, holding the drawer steady so his companion could reach the drawer in question without risk of falling.

"Be careful up there, friend. Even a fall this height can hurt you, you know." Joss stood by in case his fellow did actually fall from his spot.

With Professor Wells steadying it, Sully is able to step upon the empty drawer to reach the protruding tile. Pressing it, the reporter hears an audible click.

To the left of the tile, a two foot square section of the wall swings out like a cabinet door. Behind it, Sully can see a recessed storage space, essentially a small closet.

Within the space are two steel trays. On each tray are arranged a number of stoppered glass jars ranging in size between a pint and a quart in volume. Each one is numbered, though it does not appear that the containers are arranged sequentially, with some of the higher numbers lining the front of each tray. An educated guess leads Sully to surmise that there are around thirty jars in total between the two trays. Each one holds what appears to be varying amounts of a blue-gray colored powder.

To the right of the trays, and closer to Sully’s reach, are a pair of one foot square tablets, cast from what looks to be stainless steel. Each tablet bears an engraved inscription.

Jake has been quiet, creeped out a bit by the embalming facilities and the presence of dead bodies tucked away in drawers. But his eye is drawn to the restraining straps under the big steel table.

"Wonder why the dead need to be held still?" he mutters. But the mortician's skills are beyond him, and he just chalks the detail up to mull over later.

The discovery of the hidden cabinet and the jars of powder add weight to the suspicion that the undertaker is in this up to his neck and that it is . . .. weird.

OOC: Not sure if Jake is yet aware of the tablets, but if he becomes aware of them, he suggests they take them down so they can read the inscription.

Sully reaches into the space to grasp the metal tablets and draw them out. "Here, Jake," he gasps over his shoulder, extending the plates to the detective as he tries to maintain his balance. "Mr. Flatt, you may want to get some puotographs."

He carefully begins to dismount from his perch on the drawer.

[Is this door at floor level or high on the wall?]

OOC: The door is high in the wall, above the two rows of steel drawers which store corpses awaiting embalming. It is positioned just left of the protruding tile used to open it.

Sully hands the two steel tablets to Jake, then steps down from the empty drawer.

Examining the tablets, Jake can see that the inscription on each one is somewhat crude, but legible.

The first reads:

”y’ai’ng’ngah
Yog-Sothoth
h’ee-l’geb
f’ai throdog
uaaah”

The second reads:

”ogthrod ai’f
geg’l-ee’h
Yog-Sothoth
‘ngah’ng ai’y
zhro”

Jake scratches his head as he examines the weird text.

"Looks like Double Dutch to me," he mutters. He will also turn the plates over and look for other details of their natures as he passes them to Art to photograph.

"Still think we should take them. Upset this guy, make him come looking for us. I'm not sure what's going on here, but I know that it's bad."

14:02, Today: Jake Morris rolled 89 using 1d100.  Spot Hidden [65%].

Sully takes out his notebook and transcribes the words(?) on the tablets.

"Should we inventory the jars? I don't know what the powder is inside them."

"Could I take a look at those tablets when you're done?" he asked politely.

OOC:

Looks like a good Anthropology roll, under 20% for sure! (11 of 71)

Does the old prof make anything of this nonsense?

17:18, Today: Anthony Wells rolled 11 using 1d100.  Anthropology (71).

Looking on with interest, and a bit disturbed at that, Arthur started taking pictures at every step of their search, firing off a series of shots.

"We should try and take a sample, Sully, if we don't have any clues. I don't know what that powder is, either."

Sully takes down the odd collection of words from the tablets while Professor Wells examines each of them. Arthur dutifully photographs everything, the clicks of his camera the only sound in the quiet of the embalming room.

Then, quite suddenly, two of the enameled steel drawers which hold bodies slide open, moving as if pulled by an unseen hand. The drawers are those in the lower left and right corners of the wall, each coming to a halt with a metallic click as they open completely.

"Jumping Jehosophat!" Morris hisses as the drawers open of their own accord. He reaches instinctively for his roscoe in its shoulder holster, cocking the hammer as the Colt .45 slides out easily.

With a start, Arthur quickly wheeled about to point his camera down the way at the steel drawer. He didn't know why it opened, but its opening had quickly put him on edge.