(The Dark) House Guests

[Yumyumcrow]

Jesse memorises the information from the papers.

All he can tell about the north end of the corridor (and its adjoining spaces) is that the ground is slick, churned, earth; that the ground is lumpy with uncanny solid spots the squidge and bubble when he puts his foot down, and soft spots where his feet sink deep into the muck. The scent of blood is strong.

It doesn't look like the Brood were looking for anything in particular; more likely they were making space and trying to access the bare earth under the house.

Bit of narration so Jesse can join in the Extended search

[Alice Hart]

Alice doesn't know how much help she'll be in searching the house, more reason to unlock the secrets of her Blood, but she'll try.

Alice is attempting to help in the extended search, as a secondary/tertiary actor, since i doubt it would go over well with her as the primary :P

her 2 successes will go to the Primary actor as bonus dice!

  failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-03-09 11:39:09		[01] Alice Hart rolls 1 to sweep da house! (Wits 3 + Investigation 1 -3 blind) (10 Again)		2		failure

  failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-03-09 11:39:09		[02] Alice Hart rolls 1 to sweep da house! (Wits 3 + Investigation 1 -3 blind) (10 Again)		6		failure

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-03-09 11:39:09		[03] Alice Hart rolls 1 to sweep da house! (Wits 3 + Investigation 1 -3 blind) (10 Again)		9		1 success

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-03-09 11:39:09		[04] Alice Hart rolls 1 to sweep da house! (Wits 3 + Investigation 1 -3 blind) (10 Again)		9		1 success

[Hugh Everwood]

"Looks like they've been trying to make room to get to the earth underneath the house," he shared what he was thinking to seeing here, making a face at the spots that make noises and bubble when his shoes came to touch them. Really didn't much care to know just what they meant to do here. Maybe bury people and raise them as new Brood? Who knew what they were up to.

With a shrug to himself, he joined the others in searching the house for more interesting things to find.

  Searching the house; 4 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-03-10 06:26:50		[04] Jesse rolls 4 to searching the house (Wits 3 + Investigate 1) (10 Again)		4, 7, 9, 9		2 successes
2017-03-10 06:26:50		[03] Jesse rolls 4 to searching the house (Wits 3 + Investigate 1) (10 Again)		8, 6, 6, 9		2 successes
2017-03-10 06:26:50		[02] Jesse rolls 4 to searching the house (Wits 3 + Investigate 1) (10 Again)		4, 7, 7, 5		failure
2017-03-10 06:26:50		[01] Jesse rolls 4 to searching the house (Wits 3 + Investigate 1) (10 Again)		2, 4, 6, 4		failure

Jesse will be giving his successes as bonus dice to the Primary as well.

[Yumyumcrow]

I guess that leaves Orianna Alessandra as the Primary Actor. Remember, the number of rolls is capped by the size of the dice pool.

[Alessandra]

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-03-10 22:07:35		Ale rolls 5 to Investigation?(Wits+Inves) (10 Again)		1, 8, 2, 6, 9		2 successes

  failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-03-10 22:09:01		Ale rolls 1 to Investigation?(Wits+Inves) (10 Again, Chance)		3		failure

[Yumyumcrow]

Under the Reeve's direction they group begins to fan out, making a quick study of the building.

They find empty rooms and peeling walls. They confirm that the digging into the foundations occurred only at the northern end of the house. Thanks to the tools left laying about outside, the group can mount an experimental dig into the gluggy, saturated soil...

...They find corpses; corpses; and more corpses. Some twenty bodies had been piled into a mass grave and there were no signs of obvious trauma from knives or gunshot. Stagnant Vitae, long inert, bubbles from their mouths. Blood saturates the soil.

And in a final sweep they hunt the basement proper. This they find at the opposite end of the house, well away from the dig. The way is dark and dim; the only illumination is lantern at the top of the stairs leading into the basement proper. And when they descend...

The air is thick with the scent of cloying perfumes and incense. Their meagre light throws baroque shadows that reveal strange stains, gibberish and whirling glyphs on the walls. Scent of Blood; spent Vitae. Flower petals and confetti scattered on bare stone and wood. Stench of corpses not yet carried away: bound offerings to the Paragon of the Beast who rises on her haunches like a stately tiger.

Josephine Sterling. Dressed in ragged chemise. At peace. Dead eyes stare blankly at food! The former Reeve is bound to the wall by lengths of chain. Her unmasked Beast roars a challenge; only around Alessandra does it pad warily. Someone had daubed a third eye on her chalk white forehead.

[Vampire ST]

While the others fan out, Jesse turns tail and slinks off into the night.

[Alessandra]

Damn, did someone dump a whole bottle of fucking perfume down here?! She thinks as the scents assault her.

Flower petals? What the hell were they doing down here?

Then came the presence of a Beast. But not one from any of the Kindred she came here with. Her own had made a somewhat peace with the weakling that was Bea’s. So who the fuck was down here with them? Dark eyes scan the room before falling upon Josephine.

Wait a second…Josephine?!

“Che cazzo?!” says the Savage under her breath as she takes in the chains. But, she left the Domain, or she had been told the former Reeve had left. Had someone taken her? Or was she behind this Brood thing?

Bea would have no idea, the only one who might have some clue was Alice. Alice had been in the Domain longer than she had.

“Alice,” comes the Reeves voice, steady as she turns her head to speak over her shoulder. Dark eyes still on the chained Ventrue. “Do you remember Josephine Sterling?” with no eyes, someone had to tell her what they were seeing.

Head turns to focus more on the chained Kindred, but keeping a safe distance, but moving to stand in front of Alice. “Can you hear me?” she asks, knowing their presence could very well invoke a frenzy. And she wasn’t sure if those chains would hold a frenzied Kindred. A hand reaches into her holister, taking a gun out and holding at her side.

[Bea]

"Fucking christ," Bea hissed, the sudden shock of this new, growling monster almost sending her stumbling back. Her gun slipped from its holster, the veteran's finger hovering upon the trigger.

[Alice Hart]

With Bea's sharp words, it pierced the haze of her fury at Emma's Death, and erected the icy walls around herself. Clarity. She needs the clarity. They didn't know who, or what remained within this house. There could be innocents or more Brood, they needed to be thorough.

Meticulously, they went through the house, something Alice realized she'd only ever done blind. They continue in the vein until Ale says something in Italian, a curse from the tone. A Beast shrieking in front of them...and there's something...familiar about it. The shrieking thing incites a the same in the Wraith. Alice grips it and shoves it in it's cage.

Then Ale speaks.

Alice remembered the tyrant's reputation, and she remembered the last time she saw the venture...fleeing the Domain.

"Yeah, I remember."

Hearing Ale step in front of her, and the Daeva cursing, Alice slips her little fang back into her hand. "I'm betting she's tied up or something?" Since nothing was happening, it was a safe bet. "Has she just...been here for months? Why? Why did the Brood take her?" Alice cursed her sightlessness once more, surly there was something in the room that indicated...anything. Something the others wouldn't see, or wouldn't understand the meaning of.