Sean chuckles as Sunny pops out of the bushes. "We're about to go into the spooky house. So it's kind of fitting that you just popped out like that."
Tom is a bit surprised to see Sunny at the manor ahead of them, but he has seen stranger things. "Yeah, apparently Ashby Manor is the place they went before they disappeared, so I guess this is more or less the scene of the crime. Let's go look around quickly before the police come and close the place off again."
"They're after you too? Heroes can't catch a break in this town." Sunny cranes his neck to look at the building behind him. "Do you think they've got those security cameras? Seems like I can't even catch a hotdog without Manager General Ken scrolling back his unseen eye..."
Don’t forget that you get exp for checking out spooky places on your own.
You could take a look around and see if there are any cameras. Read a bad situation would cover that.
"Alright junior hero, go check for cameras."
Tom winces. He didn't like being alone there, but he knew that he was also the only one who could excuse himself if he were caught in the place (by anyone other than Detective Rowe, that is).
"Alright. If I'm not back in a few minutes, come in and make sure I'm not transforming into an old geezer."
He takes a deep breath, then tiptoes into the building. Sledgehammer in hand (though covered by his coat), he searches the place for cameras or traps.
You walk the peremeter of the house, looking for traps or cameras. You find neither, but you do find a concealed gas generator, hidden inside a sound baffle. Someone is supplying electricity than abandoned house, and being sneaky about it.
While you’re back there, you can see the cellar door is open.
Okay. Lets start at the beginning, the entrance. Sean, Ariane, would you accompany me. Sunny, you should go around back, make sure something doesn't try to escape that way, and/or stop Tom stepping into the biggest, scariest thing he can find. Allison says, and opens the door, stepping over the threshold and into the haunted mansion.
"Right behind you, gorgeous." Sean follows Allison and Arianne through the door. "Heads on swivels, now."
"Why would I do that? Kid can fend for himself. He's the chosen one! Eyes out for orange doors." Sunny nods as he toddles around to the back.
The door swings open without resistance. The hall opens up into a large empty foyer, a staircase leading up to the second floor.
There are dozens of work lights set up on tripods throughout the house. They flood the rooms with uneven light, casting jagged shadows all over the walls.
It looks like whomever was here last left in a hurry. There’s a fridge plugged in to the generator, the door swinging open.
What do you do?
You come around the back, to see the open cellar door.
The cellar door is open, but covered by a thick blanket. When you move it, a column of light leaks out from inside.
The cellar opens into a single large room. There are many tripod lights setup around the chamber, carefully arranged to create sharp areas of illumination and deep pools of shadow. There’s a tall but narrow cage in the corner, with room along the wall for two more cages. Deep scratches mar the empty floor next to the cage, where something heavy was dragged out the cellar door.
In the center of the floor a large chalk circle surrounded by runes was hastily and ineffectively erased. It’s hard to make out the specific symbols, but with a little time you could recreate it.
Several empty crates are strewn around the room, some torn open.
Something was torn out of the stone along the back wall, a jagged hole left behind.
What do you do?
I’m going to give Tom the chance to nose around for a moment before you enter.
Tom doesn't know what all the strange runes and shadows mean, and he thinks it would be better to tell the others, who know better than he does, before touching them.
However, since he was still looking for cameras and traps, he takes a look inside the crates and at the jagged hole in the back wall, to see whether a person or object were hiding beyond it.
Your cursory search of the cellar shows no one hiding behind anything. You hear the creaking of the stairs, but it’s just Sunny.
You see the room as described to Tom. He seems jumpy, but in no immediate danger.
Sunny throttles one of the tripods, turning it to shed more light on the symbol on the floor, and leaving himself in the dark. Taking out his sticky notes and golf pencil, he copies down the details he can see.
"What do you figure happened here, champ? The circle, the cage, the lights? What were they doing down here?"
You haven’t triggered a move, so I’m just going to let you two RP a bit.
Whomever was here was here for awhile, a few days at least. The teens probably stumbled upon some sort of badness while goofing around. There’s no sign of a decayed ages corpse, so the three surviving kids were probably taken when the bad guys left. From the looks of things, they cleared out in a hurry, probably because they were tipped off that someone was looking for them (because of Allison’s echos into the past, most likely)
The fridge suggests that some (though likely not all) of the people here were human.
"I don't know," Tom confesses. "I mean, I was hoping you might know. What do all these symbols mean and who drew them? Do we need to do something before these strange patterns summon a demon or something?" Tom looks around again carefully, and eyes the circle warily.
From your (admittedly limited) perspective, circles like this can summon demons, but they need to be intact. With the circle damaged, it’s inert.
Without much closer (and more knowledgeable) analysis, including trying to recreate some of the erased characters, you can’t tell what the circle was intended for.
You can tell that the circle was unused, based on a distinct lack of blood or fire damage.
Allison steps into the house, and takes a deep breath. This looks like some sort of Lair... You said there were humans here. maybe we're looking at a small-time cult, who drew their third-stringer into this world. She says as she takes look around the area, looking for sigils, mad scawlings, creepy books, or other Occult Paraphernalia
Tom sketches the marks on the circle onto his notepad as best as he can. He offers to show them to Sunny before putting them into his pocket again. "It looks like a sort of circle to summon a demon. I wonder if Allison or Arianne could interpret it."
Unless Sunny has reason to stay, Tom goes to leave the cellar.
Give me a sharp roll. Do well and someone can use your sketch to take +1 forward while investigating the symbols.
You copy the designs competently but not necessarily artfully. It’ll be useful to figure out who or what this was supposed to summon.
Allison gives Sean's hand one last squeeze, before closing her eyes, and opening them. then opening them again, to the prismatic and strange world of the true sight, a world where symbolism and substance are one and the same.
she looks for traces of the monster, lingering corruption, or lines of binding or calling...
With your mystic sight, you immediately see that some of the shadows cast around the room aren’t naturally occurring. They look a deeper black than the real shadows created by the work lights. They’re jagged and only barely humanoid and are only two dimensional.
One of the shadow creatures grabs ahold of your own shadow and begins pulling. You can feel something inside you start to tear away.
What do you do? (Or anyone else in the main house)
As you walk up the stairs to the main room, you cast a glance back toward Sunny and see that the shadows around him are moving on their own. They seem ready to pounce on him.
What do you (or Sunny) do?
Sean looks around the room, doing a double-take when he sees Allison's expression. He reaches over and shakes her shoulder. "Al? Allison!" He shoots a look at Arianne. "I'm thinking it's time to go. Now." Having said that, he will attempt to guide Allison back out the front door. If she doesn't seem like she can move on her own, he'll pick her up and carry her out.
Sunny walks over to the chalk circle, crouching to get a close look. He and his shadow are fully inside the spotlight he shifted. "You got a piece of chalk? I might, but I'm kinda strapped." He scratches his balding head.
Give me an act under pressure as you try to pull/carry her to safety.
You’re in full view of the spotlight, which means that you’re casting big shadows behind your body as you block the light source. You can feel...something...grab tightly onto your shadow and begin to pull. What do you do?
Sean scoops Allison into his arms, and nudges Arianne towards the door as he moves. He turns sideways to ease Allison out the door. Just before he crosses the threshold, he yells, "TOM! SUNNY! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!"
Once outside he moves a few feet from the house, lowering Allison gently into the grass. Not taking his eyes from her, he gently rubs his hands along her arms. "C'mon Alli-cat, we need you. Snap out of it for me."
"Chalk?" Tom turns around and notices the shadow trying to pull Sunny's shadow off of him. "Gosh, I don't think now is the time for drawing," he says with alarm, in time with Sean's yell.
Tom jumps back into the cellar and tries to pull Sunny away from the danger. He is unsure of what to do with the shadow, but he tries to align his own shadow with Sunny's so that he can pull Sunny's shadow away from him, too.
Allison comes to in Seans arms, as he lowers her to the ground. Shadows. Stay out of the shadows she says as she gets back to her feet, taking a piece of charcoal from her pocket, and stepping back to the front step.
She stoops down to draw a circle, to give herself a working area, and some rudimentary protection. she gathers her power, and sends it toward the house. In the name of the powers that rule this land, I cast you out of this place, and Back whence you came. In defiance of the dark powers which you serve, I cast you out of this place, and Back whence you came. By the power of my will, and mastery of the The Art, I cast you out of this place, and Back whence you came. Thrice and Done, Begone!
You wrench Allison (and her shadow) from the shade’s grip and spirit her toward the door.
Sean pulls you free, your shadow is still intact. If you do nothing, he’ll pull you outside. A banishing spell without the proper preparation is tricky and you’ll need more than a moment to pull it off. Another shade will certainly snatch your shadow if you stand still to cast it. Before you can use magic you’ll need to act under pressure to put a little space between you and the minions, unless you’re comfortable with the shade holding your shadow when you cast it out.
You manage to confuse the shade, if nothing else. That will buy either/both of you time to flee or act without being under immediate threat of shadow snatching.
Sunny follows Tom out. "Hey, hold on. One foot in front of the other, champ."
Sean watches Allison carefully, and keeps an eye out for Arianne, too. And here I loaded JHPs instead of my 'anti-shadow monster' rounds. Shame, that.
He readies himself to do whatever he can to help.
Your circle collapses under the strain of the shade’s attack. It blinks into nothingness with your banishment, but not before it tears your shadow from your body. Your shadow lays on the ground near your feet, like a crumpled piece of fabric. You only have moments before your lifeforce flees out of you...and more shades are crawling from the pools of darkness created by the carefully placed spotlights. What do you do?
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It’s darkish, but every window is covered by a thick blanket, intended to conceal the lights inside. It should also keep out any ambient light.
The shades are advancing on you. Give me an act under pressure to stitch the shadow back on safely.
You frantically stitch the shadow back on, the needle binding the shadow back to Allison’s body, but the shades are getting too close for comfort. Do you stay to finish the job or do you move to safety?