Haunting House

[Rhodes]

"It certainly could be," he replied to Sonnie, then looked to Sera. "There is one alternative I can think of. Ann." Rhodes scowled. "I heard a rumour she could make them. Forging animate life is old, potent magic, deeply Fae. But it's also highly complex - if she can it will have taken years, perhaps decades of reseearch.... but I believe she's had that time. I suppose it's possible someone else could? But that would give us two rogue Changelings gathering their own little power kingdoms in our back garden and frankly I'm not sure my heart could take it."

He glances between the women, ears straining to catch a sound. He reaches out through the Air to sense more movement in the other rooms around them.

Just amending my list to be doubly sure am right (and a handy reference )
Entrance Hall with Arch left, Stairs & Hallway ahead (and a door that going up the stairs emerges from), Archway right.

• Going Left Archway - Skeletons lounge
• Going Upstairs - emerge out the narrow hallway (somehow) of a door back into the main entrance hallway
• Going Right - goes back to Skeleton Lounge (somehow) Different empty lounge and Archway leading further in
• Going down hallway - Dining Room, 2 doors flanking the fireplace.

Communion with Air is active, letting Rhodes sense the location of all the Air up to 40 yards around him.
Equipment: Hip flask of scotch whiskey, wallet containing a picture of Sera and $214, fake IDs, keys, Hedgespun coat (+1 def), a pocket of Fetch material (leaves and straw)
Defense: 4 (3 base, Hedgespun active)
Health: 7/7
Willpower: 2/2
Glamour: 4/10

[Saber Sloth]

Rhodes listening to the Air, focuses passed the continued repeat of the snippets of the conversations passed but doesn't feel the press of moving bodies, it seems that they're once more alone at least in the immediate rooms of this floor of the House.

As the Dread Lord scoops up the fetch's materials everyone is drawn to the fact that the head is still there. Not fading into composite parts. Just a head, the neck still twisted and drip-drip-dropping blood onto the floor. A growing puddle, an ocean of blood. The ashy blonde hair is getting redder and redder as it lays limp in the puddle.

There is a staff sized circular indent in the temple that despite the current state of affairs for the detached head, is steadily gaining a bright purple bruise.

And like the Spring Queen said, they had a decision of make, continue forward - deeper. Or retreat, and perhaps allowing an Other or one of Their Fetch Makers the House and more time to continue whatever it is that is their aim....

[Sonnie Wu]

Why was the head not dissolving into lawn mower leavings? Sonnie stared at it, and the slow flood of blood coming out of it, with growing horror.

"It's a real head?" she asked nobody in particular. What in the almighty fuck as going on here?

You know what? If some Other (or Ann) had killed this woman and stuck her severed head on a Fetch's body, that was not her fault. Sucks to be that woman, but Sonnie was eager to find a way to resolve her residual guilt.

Sonnie wanted to leave. Just grab Sera and hightail it out of there. Could they even leave yet? Were they still lost in whatever extra-dimensional space these hallways had moved to? She tried to use her animal senses to get a feel for their environment. Now that the Fetch was dead, she hoped the situation had changed, but she braced herself to feel that nothingness out there.

6 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2023-02-09 15:31:12	Sonnie Wu rolls 10 to Perception: Wits 4 + Comp 2 + Contract 4 (10 Again)	8, 7, 9, 9, 4, 9, 9, 8, 4, 1	6 successes

[Seraphina]

Her face dropped at the word…Ann.

“But why would she do that here,” looking around, “in a haunted house attraction?” sure, there was the Fear, but there were less flashy ways to get it. “A haunted house has it uses, but seems a bit like low balling for her.” She chews her bottom lip, thinking. “If it’s Ann, or hell, even someone else, we cannot sit back and let it continue. It’s a danger to not only the Freehold, but those who reside within. We have a duty to figure this out.” And if they didn’t want to, then she would. “I think we go on and put a stop to it.”

Seeing the head bleed, she wanted to cover it with something. The poor girl.

At Sonnie’s question, she kneels down, looking a bit more closely at the head. Was it real?

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2023-02-09 15:53:38	Seraphina rolls 6 to Real?(Int+Med) (10 Again)	5, 5, 9, 2, 4, 9	2 successes

Hedgespun Necklace(+1 singing), dagger, 1 bottles of water, bag of Reese’s Pieces, gauze and medical tape, compact with mirror, cell on silent
Health 7
WP 3
Glamour 8/10

[Rhodes]

A real Head. Hmmm... yes... a litteral connection to the original human, to work the fetch magic... so much easier. Less powerful... far less powerful than a true Fetch, but if anything that works well for us. I can lower my estimations of how dargerous she has become... by a little, at least.

His lover's melodic voice make shim turn back to her, with a half smile. "Isn't it obvious? A glamour farm in the short term, and in the medium term? Bait. We'd find it sooner or later. An obvious demonstration of how she operates with impunity in my city to pull us out and take as tools, hostages.... fodder for her machine. Striking Fear at the Freehold directly. Well, like hells am I going to give her that opportunity." His face was set in a grim snarl. But Sera's last words manage to cut through to his heart.

There it was again. She was fearless. No, better... She knew the fear was real, and felt it - used it to drive her onwards. God, she was sexy. And there were fools that only saw her ineffable beauty, when she was so much more.

And she is mine.

Rhodes moved slowly beside Sera, helping her up when she fnishes her inspection. Even under his Mask, his emerald eyes are burning with fervour.

"You're right, my love," he say to her softly, his voice rumbling with purpose. "We end this."

Just amending my list to be doubly sure am right (and a handy reference )
Entrance Hall with Arch left, Stairs & Hallway ahead (and a door that going up the stairs emerges from), Archway right.

• Going Left Archway - Skeletons lounge
• Going Upstairs - emerge out the narrow hallway (somehow) of a door back into the main entrance hallway
• Going Right - goes back to Skeleton Lounge (somehow) Different empty lounge and Archway leading further in
• Going down hallway - Dining Room, 2 doors flanking the fireplace.

Communion with Air is active, letting Rhodes sense the location of all the Air up to 40 yards around him.
Equipment: Hip flask of scotch whiskey, wallet containing a picture of Sera and $214, fake IDs, keys, Hedgespun coat (+1 def), a pocket of Fetch material (leaves and straw)
Defense: 4 (3 base, Hedgespun active)
Health: 7/7
Willpower: 2/2
Glamour: 4/10

[Saber Sloth]

Sonnie trusting her senses, begins scanning the area. There is rot, from the head, and some of the decorations, cloying and ruinous. Scents the Mantles of the married monarchs, crisp cold winds and the bloom of life, there is the same telling void of nothingness around the view-black windows, but beyond those windows to emptiness, the creaking of the house and the almost-right-but-not-quite scents invade her nose as she hears the slap-slap-thuds of more running coming from upstairs.

Sera with all of her medical training approaches the head. It's a real human head. Beyond the wet and dried blood covering her face and staining her hair, her skin is like a giant bruise, with several of her bones broken.

[Sonnie Wu]

Sonnie had possessed the fleeting hope that reality would have reasserted itself with the death of the Fetch, that the nothingness outside the windows would be gone now. It wasn't so, and her disappointment was palpable despite knowing it was a long shot. She just wanted out of here.

A simian grunt uttered from her lips as she eyed the ceiling. "Something's running around above us." The Beast looked at the Monarchs. "Okay, we end this. How?"

[Seraphina]

She had to admit, it would work. A low-key way to farm Glamour.

Accepting the offered help, she stands, an eyebrow arched at the look in his eyes. But at least he was staying focused…somewhat.

“Well, like it or not, the head is real.” Though she guessed they all knew that. Pointing to the face, “There are a lot of broken bones.” A hint of sadness in her voice, she hoped the girl didn’t suffer.

Following her friends gaze, “Something tells me we need to find a way up there. That seems to be where the excitement is.”

Hedgespun Necklace(+1 singing), dagger, 1 bottles of water, bag of Reese’s Pieces, gauze and medical tape, compact with mirror, cell on silent
Health 7
WP 3
Glamour 8/10

[Rhodes]

Rhodes nodded in agreement with Sera. "We eliminate other routes. The kitchen has other exits that I would expect lead us back around," he gestures to where he knows the other kitchen exits turn back, "and an actual exit that may be worth at least trying. There will be a way up there, we just have to find it."

The Dread Lord steps back towards the kitchen, pausing and offering a hand to his wife. Now he had used a good portion of his glamour, he could feel a cold hunger rising. A desire to harvest, and that meant feeding on the Fear around him. He knew it could be held at bay... for now.

Just amending my list to be doubly sure am right (and a handy reference )
Entrance Hall with Arch left, Stairs & Hallway ahead (and a door that going up the stairs emerges from), Archway right.

• Going Left Archway - Skeletons lounge
• Going Upstairs - emerge out the narrow hallway (somehow) of a door back into the main entrance hallway
• Going Right - goes back to Skeleton Lounge (somehow) Different empty lounge and Archway leading further in
• Going down hallway - Dining Room, 2 doors flanking the fireplace.

Communion with Air is active, letting Rhodes sense the location of all the Air up to 40 yards around him.
Equipment: Hip flask of scotch whiskey, wallet containing a picture of Sera and $214, fake IDs, keys, Hedgespun coat (+1 def), a pocket of Fetch material (leaves and straw)
Defense: 4 (3 base, Hedgespun active)
Health: 7/7
Willpower: 2/2
Glamour: 4/10

[/QUOTE]

[Saber Sloth]

Hand in hand the Monarchs enter the kitchen, Sonnie on their heels, they find exactly what Rhodes saw when he'd entered the first time.

A strangely modern (compared to the change of the rest of the House) all chrome and marble. It large, large enough to fit an everyday, ordinary person's kitchen and their dinning space. There's an island taking centre stage, topped in that clean white marble. A large sink rests on the side closest to the stoves, which are two. A staking tower inset into the custom built cabinetry, which echo the severe dark wood that had taken the rest of the House. Bar stools stand in a neat row on the opposite side of the island to the sink. On the far wall is a breakfast nook. Round table, two chairs. There's a wall of windows showing the same blank black nothingness beyond. On that same wall beside the windows, there is a door. Normally it would lead outside. Adjacent to that wall there is more cabinetry, a microwave, and another door. Leading, presumably out from the kitchen and back into the halls of the House. On the same wall that holds the door the Lost had just passed through has the door that would lead out from the pantry.

Above them, Sonnie continues to hear the echo of running, bare soles smacking the ground and booted feet following in an unhurried echoing thud.

Rhodes, caught in the current of the Air, hears once more;

"We go upstairs and it's downstairs. So - "
" - going down means we go up!"