(The Dark) House Guests

[Yumyumcrow]

The house groans ominously to greet them as the Kindred make their entrance. Worm eaten wood and rotting plaster was picked out grotesquely in the weak lantern light. Mist bubbled around their feet, cloying and cold and running over the floor like spilled water.

The Kindred find themselves in a passage roughly aligned West-East that runs the length of the building. Gaping doorways are on their right and their left. A sagging stairwell is in front of them that leads upward.

Another passage runs North-South and it cuts through the East-West passage. The voices appear to be emanating from the North end of this passage.

The voices were still arguing.

"Insolent! We have the ritual. Those with the skill can work on it some more. We can try again when the time is right. But not now! More of our brothers and sisters are coming. We can try this again then. Until then we continue to prepare this temple. Understand, Hank?"

A pause.

"This decision is not for the Doulosi to make."

"As you keep saying. We will see about that when the Therion gets here."
Jesse Acheron Alice Hart Saber Sloth Alessandra Orianna Psychangel

This is a Linked Thread and continues from where Getting it Together leaves off. All WP and BP expenditures carry over, as do scene-length Discipline activations.

Alessandra is carrying:
Guns - 2x 3.57s with spare clips
Brass Knuckles
Steel Toed Boots
Bowie Knife
Cell Phone (silent)
Alessandra has activated Resilience and Heightened Senses (Hearing)

Bea is carrying:
Guns - 1x RA Makarov PM2 (spare clip in suit jacket pocket); 1x generic .40 S&W (2 clips in leather belt carrier)
Bea has activated Heightened Senses (Vision and Hearing)

Alice is carrying:
Smart phone
Knife (hidden through Obfuscate)
Alice has activated Heightened Senses (Hearing) and is Blushed.

Jesse is carrying:
Cell phone (silent)
Jesse is Blushed

For reference, I understand that Bea is leading the group, followed by Alessandra, with Alice and Jesse following behind.

Emma is in Bat form and is positioned around the stairwell where it reaches the next floor.

Let me know if I have missed anything important

[Alessandra]

The word ritual kept being spoken and each time it did not bring warm fuzzies to her cold dead stomach.

What were they preparing exactly? Was whatever they were wanting to wake up at the other end of the passage? Too many variables and not a good way to communicate them.

Looking to Bea she motions with her hand down the hall going in the opposite direction of the voices. But her eyebrows raise at the same time with question. Bea might think it best to confront these voices, but Ale figures it was best to find the ritual stuff. And it sounded like whatever they were doing the ritual on were in a different location. Perhaps down the hall?

[Alice Hart]

Her mockery of a heartbeat flutters wildly as the house groans and creaks around them. Fear and anger in equal measure. The Blind Doll The Hapless Kine gnawed on her lip. Alice could just imagine what this decrepit house, a place where ghost stories lived, would look like. And so, the kine she was pretending to be, lured here for a party wouldn't quite know what to do.

Any moment, Alice thought, she could give a good scream. Really sell the portrayal.

The part of her that wasn't trying to act, hoped that the voices, meant the four of them, mistaking them for their fellows. If that was the case then the plan was working...if not...how many more enemies had just arrived...?

[Bea]

Bea paused for a moment, confused. Was the Reeve saying that she wanted to try to flank the Brood? Or that she wanted to do a check of the perimeter for lookouts or stragglers? Or was she trying to find a place to try to lure the Brood to them?

Damn it. There was nothing worse than confusion during an operation.

Feeling her fangs slide out from under her gums, Bea just nodded, willing to let the Reeve take point again. Bea would follow. Keep the cohesion of the group. If they were lucky, the Brood would hear them moving and decide to go find them. Or...or they could stick to the original plan. Have Jesse and the blind girl play innocent sacrifices and lure the Brood that way.

That was probably the right plan. But...it would have to wait. For now they were going to follow the Reeve.

[Hugh Everwood]

Moments like this made him wish he actually was dumper, he wouldn't keep having to stop himself from rolling his eyes and just accept this situation with blissful ignorance. As it was, he looked between Alessandra and Bea — the ladies in charge of this — and waited for the cue what he was expected to do instead of just whining about it taking so long to get to the party.

Kine cover and all.

With his hearing not enhanced, Jesse wasn't aware of nothing — which was intentional, but annoying. He would be truly surprised what was going on, but equally unaware of what's happening right now.

Either way, he allowed himself a moment to roll his eyes before following behind the Reeve towards who knew where to again, silent-like. For now.

[Yumyumcrow]

And so they go, deeper into the house.

The north passage - indeed, the northern portion of the house, it appears - has been reduced to a gaping hole. Walls smashed in. Floorboards torn up. The effect is to the turn the house into a cavernous hole framed only by the walls of the building and the crumbling ceiling of the ground floor. Clumps of candles throw a weak light, illuminating strange humps and bumps in the earth. Dancing shadows hint at splatter and graffiti.

The figures appear in the gloom at the end of what would have been the north passage: a scarred man in black; a woman in mangy fur coat; a heavily tattooed man. Fortunately for the group, they are not looking back down the passage; rather, they seem more interested in the lumpy earth.

Ale ghosts to the south passage, away from the trio. Here the structure of the house remains untouched. The south passage runs down to the south wall of the house. Empty doorways beckon with black mystery. In the room on the right, a few lone candles gutter in the still air, hinting at man sized shapes hanging from the sagging ceiling. In the room on the left a lantern guides the eye to a cellar door; the walls are covered with crude renderings of imps and devils, strangely stained.

Dexterity + Stealth would be appropriate at this point Jesse Acheron Orianna Alessandra Saber Sloth Alice Hart

[Emma French]

Emma decides she needs to shift again now that she is in the house. Hanging upside down was giving her a headache. She shifted quietly into a cute big eared rat and clung to the dark corners of the stairwell as she listened for where her group might be.

[Bea]

Catching sight of the Brood, Bea took cover by the corner (or door) that had lead into the north passage, and took aim at the scarred man. She had no idea which of the three was the most dangerous, but she figured scars weren't an indication of a pansy, so he'd do. She didn't pause to consider that the others might head further into the house. They had come here for the Brood, and surprise, surprise, here they were.

  Stealth, 1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-02-09 04:09:31		Bea rolls 6 to ambush! (dex4+stealth2) (10 Again)		10, 2, 3, 5, 7, 6, 7		1 success

Bea is taking light cover, and is Aiming.

[Alice Hart]

The path is long and treacherous for the lone haunt. Her companions silent around her as the echoing sound of the voices grew closer and closer. Only the sound and the tug and twist of the Beast around her gave Alice a way to navigate this decrepit house.

The closer beasts still, as to her companion's steps. Alice does the same. Her bone pale fingers ghosting about the area around her as she tries to hide herself away from the voices they would (probably) be interrupting with a well placed shot from the Carthain Daeva or the Invictus Gangrel.

Wondering as she settles, is Jesse and her ruse as hapless kine still in effect? Was the plan still to off the two of them up as unknowing, unwilling sacrifices?

  2 suxx Sneaky sneak

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-02-09 14:40:22		Alice Hart rolls 5 to Sneaky Sneak! (Dex 3 + Stealth 2) (10 Again)		1, 9, 6, 10, 6, 3		2 successes

[Alessandra]

She was torn when she saw their targets. With their backs turned to the group, they'd have the upper hand. But she still wanted to know where the bodies they were referring to were and if they would be a threat. Oh how she wished they could talk and cover both.

Instead, she takes to one of the walls, trying to blend into it.

Looking to Bea, and seeing her gun drawn, she nods to her. Do they make their presence known now? Take out as many as they can? What causes her to pause is Alice. While she had faith the Haunt could make herself useful and had some tricks up her sleeve, the Savage still felt protective of her, and didn't want to place her in danger.

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-02-09 15:03:17		Ale rolls 5 to Sneaky? (Dex3+Stealth) -1 Unskilled (10 Again, WillPower)		2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 3		2 successes