Somewhere in a church in Cambridge, a werewolf snores lightly as she sleeps it off after having gorged herself on an entire cow.

Ann made her way back into the vampires' nest.

"Do you think we'll face a werewolf, vampires, or both when we get there?" she asked Elissa over her shoulder. "Or maybe we'll run into something else. Another fox o'nine tails, perhaps. Cambridge sure has changed for me of late. I remember going to a church just filled me with dread of being bored."

She pushed the door open and entered.

"Tell you, my mum hates churchs" Elissa said "I've only been in, like, a few. Mostly with school. For me it's more 'whats in there'. I took Rhiannon here because I thought the Fey were after her. She's a moon creature. There were moon magics going on. We heard a hunting horn...  And I thought it might help keep them out" she pointed at the railings "See it's surrounded by iron and Sodium lighting. And in Shakesphere the Fey are afraid of the church. Who knows if it's true..."

"But, girl, if you were to ask me what is in there. I think it's one of two things. A nest of vampires all preparing for their breakfast. Or an ex-nest of vampires that heard you were in town and have zogged out of there."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:35, Sun 29 May 2022.

"If it is vampires, that begs the question of what we should do. To the best of our knowledge they haven't broken the truce. And I can't see vampires moving around much in daylight. Of course, we might find dead vamps and a bloody girl. I guess we'll find out when we find out."

"I suspect the truce is over anyway. It was 'while the fey did their stuff'. And you know girl... I recon' that the Fey have F-ing done their stuff" Elissa commented "We didn't promise anything: they said they would know by our actions. So all in all... well let's see what happens."

"I'll..." she looked indecisive "Can we go together to the entrance in case their is a horde in their. And if it looks clear... I'll to see Rhianon alone. I think she'll get agitated if she smells others."

Listening with both her ears and soul, watching with her eyes and mind, Renee quietly walks with the others. "I will let you all know if things start feeling weird. It may be helpful. It may be crippling, but let's see."

"OK, so let's all go to the entrance together. Renee can check for weirdness, and I can check for vampires, as though that isn't weird in itself."

Elissa gave grateful looks to Ann and Renee for coming to help. The idea of going back to a vampire lair with a trapped werewolf in it was not exactly 'her favourite thing to do in the whole world'. She was going back because she had too: she was the one who had trapped Rhiannon in the lair

She led them to the door. Messed with it with her back to the others for a practiced few seconds and unlocked it. "Here we go, girls. Tea and coffee preparation area here. Loo's there. The main chuch up ahead. See what your wierdness's tell you ... then I'll head into the church body and get to Rhiannon. I think I will be safe from vampires when I am with her."

Ann takes a look around and tries to sense any nearby vampires.

OOC:
22:24, Today: Ann Winters rolled 12 using 1d10+5 ((7)).

That's a decent result

Exhaling deeply, Renee extends her left hand in a gesture suggesting much more experience at this than she has. Hoping that between a sense of touch, her eyes, her ears, and her nose, she might be able to use one of her natural senses to pick up anything weird.

00:35, Today: Renee Stewart rolled 14 using 1d10+9.  Perception + Notice.

As Renee extends her left hand, she is aware of the undead who use this nest and of the ancient but by now wispy to the point of fading ghosts that once haunted this place.

Renee quickly flinches away from the chorus of sounds coming from the church. There is a good amount of shuddering and shaking as she says. "There are old spirits here. Ancient voices that remain tied to this space. The bemoan the trespassers that will return with the rising sun. You should have some time."

"Wow... that's ... I think that's cool Girl. Unless they are scary to listen to." Elissa said obviously impressed. "OK let's just assume the vamps come back here at dawn. How do we want to welcome them? We have time to prepare. We can just do 'we're harder than you'.... but given that we might not be... what should we do? I don't want to break the beautiful glass, or set the place on fire... but is there something else we could do?"

Then her eyes lit up

"They return at dawn right? So the sun is up... so they must have a way in. Can we find that? We can then set some sort of trap there.... And if it's a 'from down below...I think I know the perfect trap"

Ann set about looking for any entrance to the crypt that isn't in direct sunlight. Perhaps a tunnel into a sepulchre.

"Go see to Rhiannon, Elissa. We'll do what we can here to hold off any vamps. Scream if they enter the crypt without coming past us."

"Will do. Keep safe girls" With that Elissa headed into the central nave of the church, and baring incidents made her way to the door she had sealed Rhianon inside. Assuming no noise from the inside, she slipped inside and made her way to the hopefully sleeping wolf

"Oh, it is both terrifying and unsettling. I think I need a drink, but it is better, I think to hear the terrifying and unsettling and believe that there is some truth to it and hearing the terrifying and unsettling and thinking it is all in your head. Stay safe in there." Renee went with Ann and tried her best to pay attention to the local surroundings and the ghastly chorus.

With no sign of imminent danger, Ann took a seat against the back of a pew.

"Have you always had this ability to sense other things?" she asked Renee. "Some of what I've seen and sensed is pretty terrifying, but at least I didn't sense them when I was four. And I had a Watcher find me very quickly and explain things and support me. At least you know you're not alone now."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:18, Sun 19 June 2022.

Renee nods, "Yeah. When I was four, there were the invisible friends I would play with and all of the terrifying monsters living in the parts of the house I never would go to. As I grew the even the little children ghosts seemed scarier than they were once I stopped playing with them."

"That's scary. Are you still friends with any ghosts now?"

She looked around, taking in the crypts and gravestones, then shuddered.

"Are there ghosts here now? I'm picturing something a lot scarier than Rentaghost."

Renee shakes her head, "No, I have been doing everything I can do to ignore the ghosts, spirits, skeletal figures, wispy ominous hands, visions, dreams, and the like for nearly a decade. It was only after a talk with my priest that I decided to try and not bury my head in the sand. This is an experiment." She pulls out a flask and as if on instinct begins to  open it, but she pauses and returns it to her jacket pocket. "There are a number of ghosts around, but they really have few distinguishing features. They are around with weaker voices."

The wolf opened an eye and stretched.  She looked at Elissa and if wolves could smile, she would smile.  She sniffs.  Her ackles stand up on the back of her neck, making her look more porcupine than wolf for a moment.  This place stinks of death and old blood.

Wolves have an instinctive loathing of the undead.  This wolf made a move toward the door, wanting desperately to get out.  She could smell them.  They were not here now, but this was their nest.

She ran back down from the steps and sniffed out the vampires' coffins.  She lifted her leg and let loose a hot and steaming amber stream that said, "No vampires, this is MY territory now."

Ann noticed the flask, but decided it better not to mention it.

"That's got to be weird, seeing ghosts around. Even at the best of times."

A thought struck her.

"Can they see us? If I'm on the toilet or taking a shower, might the ghost of a dirty old man be watching me?"

"I'm no expert. From what I have seen is that they can see folks, but they do not always see folks. Or maybe it is they see, but they do not notice. Sometimes they react, sometimes they are oblivious. There's probably a reason for it or a pattern, but I am just now beginning to read about it and to think about it." Scratching her neck a bit in a nervous fidget, "I think that unless there is a person that recently died in the room or if, She draws out the next few words a bit as if she is still trying to cobble together the underlying string of thoughts. "If you are messing with something important to the person the ghost once was." She shudders as if reliving a hundred memories of terror.

Elissa had to work hard not wince at the display. "Ah...I see" she said "Sorry Rhianon, but we're stuck here until dawn.". And now it was 'stuck until dawn with the smell...'. Great.

She did wonder what had triggered the unrest, but really there wasn't much she could do about it. Once it was 'safer' she moved closer and fussed the wolf, rather like fussing a huge dog "We're OK, Rhiannon" it wasn't about the words she knew, it was about tone. And it didn't hurt to keep repeating the name... to remind the Welsh girl that she was actually a Welsh girl and not just a deadly killer "We have a Slayer. She'll deal with the vampires."

As she fussed she did wonder if there was maybe an access down to the storm drains or something... by their very nature the undead hated sunlight. And she didn't want to be here at dawn if they had a back door... Or maybe she did depending on what she found...


Perception + crime 14. A level 3 (good) success.

As Elissa searches, she finds that there is something that could be a way in and out of the crypt but only for someone who is less than three feet tall and doesn't mind squeezing through nettles and brambles to get out of a tiny hole at the back of wat appeared to be a broken tomb.  Whether it was where the vampires got in or out, it was hard to say.

There is also an apparent entrance via the tower but it would take some climbing to get through there.  One would have to be inhumanly skilled to make it.

Ann could see that she was dragging up bad memories for Renee, so she changed the subject.

"Could you ask the ghosts about this place? How many vamps live here, when they come back, that sort of thing?"

"Well this is interesting girl" Elissa said fussing Rhiannon "this way has nettles and brambles so it can't be used that often. Unless they can turn into a bat. After all we've seen one turn into mice haven't we.  But that way up there... bit of a rope and no problem" talking aloud helped her think, and she wanted to try and keep reminding Rhiannon of her humanity, even if it wasn't going to do any good

"I was expecting a way underground. A way out of sunlight, and neither of these are it. Can you help me, girl? Can you smell where those vampires go to?"

The wolf sniffs and then puts her paw on Elissa's hand.  She tries her best to sniff out the way the vampire's come in and several times things look hopeful but never seem to lead anywhere.  Finally the wolf sits on her haunches, gazing up at the tower and lets out a noise that is half howl and half yawn.

Elissa gave a happy laugh as Rhiannon gave her a paw. "Thanks darling. That helps" She took the paw, gave it a little fuss and returned it.

It only helped a little though "Well crap darling we've got quite the problem" Elissa mussed , her fingers massaging Rhiannon's neck gently. It was quite nice having a pet she decided: she could get used to this. The only problem was the constant worry that the pet might decide to eat someone. And that worry didn't help her resolve the current situation.

"Right so let's go back to the basics. Stay alive. Keep your team alive. Do the mission. Here we don't have a mission although it would be good to deal with the vampires. Certainly you've" she giggled for a moment the humour getting through her thoughts.  "you've certainly pissed them off. In a real and physical and smelly way"

"I think we need to get out of here. Earlier we were worried about the Fey, but not so much now. That's why we hid in here: we didn't know about the vamps. And especially we didn't know that they were in the crypt. Since we do... I think it would be a good idea to change plans. Now when we're outside we can just run right? Run until dawn. That would be uber cool. You'd like it, I'd like it, and we might as well enjoy ourselves. We'll try and make it so that at dawn we're not to far from somewhere with clothes for you, because darling you wrecked the last lot I gave you.... And I'd better take them with me. Just because" she picked up the wrecked clothing from the floor, and stuck the ruined mess in her bag

"That just leaves us how to get past Ann and the others without anyone getting hurt doesn't it. Would you be good for me?" she headed to the top of the Crypt with the wolf "Would you wait for me darling? Wait her for just a minute while I go and clear the way out." she doubted if Rhiannon had any chance of understanding her, but she still wanted to keep Rhiannon reminded that she was a human ... She knew some part of Rhiannon was still there, she just didn't know how much
This message was last edited by the player at 13:36, Sat 25 June 2022.

Renee looks out to the horizon in the room fixating on spots and distances that are entirely vacant. "I could, but there is a large difference between listening to them and interacting or attracting their attention by directly disturbing their patterns. That can get intense." She closed her eyes and continued to listen to the spirits.

The spirits here are old.   the old vampires were replaced by new ones.]

Elissa hadn't really expected a reply from Rhiannon and she hadn't got one, so she crouched down like you would with a big dog and fussed her behind the ears while explaining. "I have to go for just one minute. You stay here darling. Can you do that for me?"

Then it was time to try. She moved to the door and started to open it just a bit, checking to see if Rhianon would actually stay

Rhiannon looks from Elissa to the hole at the back of the crypt and back to Elissa.  Then she settles back down again.

"Good girl" Elissa was pleased to see that Rhiannon had the same idea she had. "I'll be there soon" She headed out of the crypt for the kitchen, running as soon as she had closed the door.

As she got to Ann and Renee she paused "I'm getting Rhiannon out of there and into the countryside. I'll take her home at dawn. I think the vampires climb down the tower into the crypt: their sleeping places are there. I'm in a hurry: Rhiannon will be out of the crypt real soon. Can I suggest you two get out of here and we'll come back another night"

Ann considered things.

"There's got to be a font in a place like this, right? It would be a real pity if someone spilled some at the bottom of the tower. Those vamps would be stuck outside come the dawn."

"Sounds good!" Elisa said "I was thinking petrol and a match myself... This place is made of stone"

"I have to go. I can't leave Rhiannon: we found a way out of the crypt. See you for breakfast my place?" with that Elissa continued her movement away and headed out the door to find the little crack into the Crypt.

"I doubt they have much petrol hanging around this church," said Ann, looking about.

"See you tomorrow, Elissa."

She turned to Renee.

"Can you help me figure out a way to get some water from the font to the base of the tower."

The crack is within a stand of stinging nettles and almost invisible from the outside but Rhiannon could find it easily enough and snuffled her way out when Elissa arrived.

Continuing to flinch a bit with the silence around them that likely to her is not silence. "I can do what I can. So what are you thinking. Container or sponge."

"Hey there girl" Elissa have Rhiannon a big fuss after coming out while talking to her "What do you say. Shall we run now? Run until dawn." In her head she was working out a rough route. The awkward bit was not knowing when Rhiannon would change. Would she change in the dawns pre light? Would it be the first touch of sunlight? Would it be when the moon when down? Well soon she'd know...

"Come on then..." she started to lead the werewolf back they way they'd come. They weren't far from fields, and then they could just run free.

As they ran past the parked cars, and little gardens she kept her eye open for one that had a rug or something in it. Just something to wrap Rhiannon in when she changed. Right now all she had was a towel and some rags...

"I guess that depends on what the church has in it. I guess they're not set up for vampire attacks. Let's look around and see what we can find."

OOC:
If it's needed, Ann has a perception roll of Very Good

18:33, Today: Ann Winters rolled 10 using 1d10+5 ((5)).

Ann notices the door of the cleaning cupboard next to the Vestry where there might be expected to be a mop and bucket.

"OK, can you get a mop and bucket out of there? I'll try to find the font so we can fill it, then we mop the tower floor and walls. Even if it fails, we'll at least have done our good deed for the day by washing this old church."

"So how does this work? Does it require skin to skin contact? Does it create a field?" she asks as opens the cleaning cupboard to gathers the supplies and begins to follow Ann.

"I think it works like acid on a human. I guess a raincoat might keep it off them, but anything that soaks up the water is going to be quite nasty for them. But you might have a point. If we're just making the floor wet, then unless they've got holes in their shoes, they won't be hurt."

She considered for a moment.

"We can check out the tower. If they're using a ladder, then a good swabbing should make it untouchable. If it's stair, I guess the plan won't work. Unless you can think of something?"

Renee shrugs, "I don't know. I guess that makes sense. I am just trying to figure all of this out. The tower sounds great."

OOC: Ann and Renee, please roll Intelligence + occultism

09:44, Today: Renee Stewart rolled 10 using 1d10+3.  Intelligence + Occultism.

OOC:
16:50, Today: Ann Winters rolled 9 using 1d10+2.  Intelligence + occultism. – 9

That's an adequate result.

OOC they both are.

There is a legend that a Carpathian peasant once destroyed a vampire by soaking its coffin in Holy Water and then slamming the lid shut and held it down until the contents of the coffin were only ashes.

Ann looked at Renee, an idea forming in her mind.

"We don't need to do the tower. If we can find their coffins, we can turn them into holy water baths."

She looked about.

"If you were a vampire, where would you want to hide during the day?"

She was beginning to worry. She didn't know how many vampires there would be. Even if there weren't too many for her, would she be able to keep Renee safe?

"Perhaps we should get you out of here. I can always come back to deal with these vamps later."

The coffins are not hidden.  There are eight of them.  Three are empty, the others full of bones.

"Oh their coffins were right where the wolf was hiding. When I pointed out the empty ones that's when the idea of Vampire den came to the forefront. If need be, I can always just head out."

"I think we should get you out, and I'll come with you to ensure you're safe. I can always come back to give the vamps a bed bath later. As my Watcher says, the most important thing is to stay alive. There is no ongoing apocalypse, so let's not take any risks."

"I can easily walk home. I have tried to do so a few times already this evening. Hopefully this time I won't run into another distraction that needed directions."

Ann looked uncertain.

"There are plenty of things going bump in this night. If you're sure you'll be OK, then fine. But scream if you get into trouble; I'll wait here to welcome the vamps home."

Renee nods as if to reassure her. "I'll do just that." And with those parting words, Renee head out into the pre-dawn night hoping to return home after the most surreal night of her life.

As Renee walks back to Emmanuel College, she finds the streets clear and when the Porter reluctantly lets her in and she makes her way to her room, she finds that Sir John, Goffery and Alice are still talking.