Hathaway looks up at the sound of a explosion and glass flying.
He thanked his 6th sense once more. Having had the feeling something like this may happen.
He topped his drives shoulder with his cain.
"Best take us somewhere less conspicuous but close, Javis, if you don't mind. I do not want to be seen when the fire service and police arrives"
The Driver nodded and the 4x4 limo moved off into traffic.
Hathaway sent a text to his forensics team to do the same.
he would tell the others in a minute or too, he had not doubt most wiykd still be alive.
Helen/Amunet eyes the necklace. "The ankh carried by the people of the one god. They see their dead buried swiftly," she observes, a cold rage lighting her eyes. But before she can act, the apartment across the hall roars more loudly than Sekhmet, the building shakes, and the alarms shriek.
Very definitely Helen's voice and accent observes, "Oh, b#&+!#%s."
She murmurs a prayer to Isis, and in a flash of light and ash, the Mummy's Bride, wrapped in burial cloths and in her golden mask, runs across the hall to seek any injured.
It is pretty obvious that with those rolls she will not take any damage herself. But hopefully she can shield the others a bit
"Is everybody ok? Now I'm starting to get seriously, seriously peeved"
If anybody is significantly injured she'll tend to them. If not :
Given that there was already one trap she will actually exercise a bit of caution. She will quickly check the steel door to make sure that it is not trapped
If she discovers no trap
"I'm going to look inside. You might want to get out of here in case I trigger another trap"
She waits a few seconds for those who want to leave OR for somebody to tell her to stop, that they have a better solution, or something of the like. Assuming nobody objects, she tries to rip the steel door open
From two floors below and down the hall, Benjamin hears an explosion come from the general direction he knows the rest of the group to be. He turns about and heads to the nearest staircase to head up to the flambeed apartment. Assuming he doesn't see or encounter anyone unexpected, he darts past the Hyde-adjusted front door and into the apartment.
"What the hell are you guys doing? Is anyone hurt?"
Ms. Hyde brushes herself off and grunts a reply. "I'm good. Take more than a little boom to take me down."
Sehkmet rips the steel door from its hinges, bouncing it across the floor. Benjamin and The Mummy's Bride appear in the doorway. Well, Benjamin doesn't really appear, but you hear his voice.
The hidden doorway gapes open like a jagged toothed maw, smoke from the explosion still hanging in the air.
Beyond the doorway is a doomsday prepper's dream. There are guns, legal and otherwise, hanging neatly on the walls. Military crates of MREs. Explosives, explosive precursors, canned food, barrels of water. There is also a bookshelf with a collection of academic journals, books on the Amazon, and a few National Geographics, all with articles on the Amazon.
Harker accepts the revelation of the secret steel vault as an answer to his question. Seeing no one injured, he offers, "Right. He's affected by something, which may be supernatural or just odd, with scaly skin and wounds. But with the food and water in there, he's not undead."
"There's a link to the flowers of the Amazon. Maybe, he sees it as a cure. But, why is he killing those ladies?"
"Do we have a lead on where to go to next? Fire and police should be on their way, so we should exit soon."
The sofa is on fire, the drapes are on fire. There are some bags of explosive/accelerant hanging out of the broken wall that must have been separated from the detonation system when Sehkment tore the wall apart.
"Maybe we need to go to the source?" she says, thumbing a National Geographic magazine.
Helen crosses the room to see what they're all looking at. Her voice echoes strangely behind her golden mask. "Bloody hell, why are you just standing there? That looks like more bombs in there and things are on fire!. There may be other people in this building!" As she rants she's running back toward the kitchenette, looking for a fire extinguisher. If she can't find one, she looks for something else she can use to mitigate the fire's spread.
Under the sink, Helen finds a large fire extinguisher and a fire blanket.
The laptop you found here.
The History Museum.
Wherever Cassandra is or whatever she is up to.
Putting out a fire/dealing with people in the building.
Helen, feeling none of the heat from the flames, throws the fire blanket over the couch and works on extinguishing the flames.
Jonathan had not noticed any unexploded explosives, so he helps Helen look for fire extinguishing equipment, "good point, Helen." When she finds the fire blanket and extinguisher under the sink, the vampire takes the extinguisher. While she throws the blanket over the couch, he extinguishes the random flames around the apartment.
"With the fires out and the emergency responders on their way. Where are we going next?" He asks the group.
"Hey look, you guys need to get out of here! Hear those sirens?
"I'll get my things and meet up with you at the car. If you have to move it before I can get to you, I think I saw a park a few block north of here."
"I think some of us should check out the History Museum. The Amazon exhibit there -- or someone who works there, maybe -- is somehow tied up in this. Remember that I found the flower and a ticket stub for that exhibit. I found it at Summer Harrington's memorial, but the ticket couldn't have been hers.
"It's either a clue or a trap!"
Over the comms comes Hathway.
"Well may fellows, I shall be pulling the limo out front in 5 mins, I suggest come join me so we can all leave now. The History Museum awaits."
"I think we need to check on Cassandra first. She could be in danger. Lets get there quickly, BEFORE the History museum"
The form of Ms. Hyde shrinks slightly, her skin resuming a more normal pallor and her hair becoming less wild. Her muscular form assumes the figure of a slight woman. In place of the monster that stood there seconds before, there now stands Henrietta.
She nods in agreement with Sehkmet and follows the others to the limousine.
Helen begins to follow, but pauses. She announces in an oddly accented voice, "I will not leave that body anchoring its restless soul in place..."
"Oh would you stop!" She says to herself, in her own voice. "The authorities will take care of it. And they will be here soon. We can help more 'restless souls' if we don't get caught." She waves for the others to move ahead as she continues to bicker with herself.
In a spot she is reasonably sure is free of cameras, she changes back to her normal human form and joins them in the car.
"Lady Sekhmet is right. The museum should remain standing. I should like to be certain the young lady does too."
Fog hangs over the street as the car growls through the city to the home of Dr. Cassandra Wells. In a world of familiar horrors, the modern steel and glass building erupting from a gothic revival church is, perhaps, a new one. The artisanal stained glass windows replaced with modern mirrored glass. The bell tower no longer calling out to the community, but now part of the exclusive penthouse that takes up the entire top floor.
Wells lives on the ground floor.
Within the limo, Jonathan addresses his companions, "we are close to the return of my nemesis. May I suggest that I enter the apartment of Dr. Wells and open the door from the inside for you."
"We want to save her, not destroy her life." When the vampire receives consensus to his simple entrance, he evaporates into mist and enters the apartment via an internal door. After reforming, he unlocks and opens the front door.
"The legends that you must be invited in are just that, legends?. Interesting"
Harker quickly let's you into the apartment. It smells of old take out boxes and a fridge that needs cleaning, shea butter, nutmeg, thyme, scotch bonnets, and the foul (to Jonathan) smell of garlic.
There are two bedrooms and a combined living room kitchen. One bedroom serves as an office, with gear for recording videos and online teaching, most of it looking not recently used.
In the other bedroom, a young Black woman (early 20s) with short hair lies in the bed, wearing a bluetooth sleep mask that completely prevents her from detecting you so far. Her oversized sleep shirt has a large red d20 icon.
With a sigh, Benjamin takes his clothes off again. This time, he leaves his clothes in the limo (but bundled nicely on the seat instead of piled on the floorboard).
If anyone gives him a look or a hard time about his disrobing in their proximity, he replies, "Hey, this limo is nice and roomy. It could be way worse, like a Volkswagen or something."
When the party exits the vehicle to follow after Jonathan, Benjamin stays with them. He doesn't speak, so as not to give his presence away.
"The legends that you must be invited in are just that, legends?. Interesting"
"Yes. The author of Dracula wanted to include some myths to give readers some measure of security, when they actually have very little." Jonathan replies to Sekhmet.
The sleeping woman looked so delicious. But, he just saved her apartment from damage so restrains himself from a quick snack. He approaches her and awakes her by putting his hand on her shoulder while staring at eyes waiting for them to open in surprise.
"... we could just ring the doorbell first?" Helen lamely suggests, far too late, before Harker has misted his way into the woman's apartment.
Sighing, she follows them in. "I don't want to crowd her." She instead, still feeling nosy, eyes the contents of the woman's office.
Henrietta merely shrugs and follows Helen.
Hathway cain clicks as he walks behind the others, his limp slowing him down.
Sehkmet looks around the rest of the apartment, making sure that there are no unseen traps here. He then looks to any books, seeing if she has any books relating to the amazon in any way
The young woman startles awake, grabbing at her mask. She is instantly awake and alert, but as her eyes lock onto the stranger in her room, her pupils dilate into black wells. She is almost instantly overwhelmed by Jonathan's gaze.
Sehkmet doesn't smell or see anything that seems to pose danger. Unfortunately, there are no felines here to chat with...
There are many books about all manner of topics, as well as stacks of academic journals. Wells must be old school.
Of course this young woman looks nothing like the photos you have seen of your target.
Jonathan smiles and says, "hello dear. After you answer some questions, you will remember this encounter as a weird dream."
"Are you Dr. Cassandra Wells? If not, where can we find her? And please, truthfully answer the questions of my associates."
Standing in the office, Helen looks for things about the Amazon or aquatic creatures or odd technology.
Jonathan smiles and says, "hello dear. After you answer some questions, you will remember this encounter as a weird dream."
"Are you Dr. Cassandra Wells? If not, where can we find her? And please, truthfully answer the questions of my associates."
The woman laughs, "Dr. Wells? No, what a weird question. I'm Nia. Nia Carter. But I work for Dr. Wells. But she isn't here. She won't be here. I'm keeping an eye on the place while she is gone. She is gone. In Brazil. Umm, she has a phone. A sat phone. You might be able to get her. But even that is only so so."
As she hears the woman talk, Helen automatically notes that "Nia" means "bright" in Welsh and Old Irish, and "purpose" in Swahili.
Scanning all of the materials, her eyes alight on a thin tome, MERMAIDS AND YAKURUNAS: Myth and reality of the spirits of the water in Peru by Victor Hugo Velásquez Zea
Hathway touches nothing but walks around the apartment.
Hathways mind eye moves over the space, taking in this woman, her life and what she has been doing here. He plays back comman day events, her coming in the door after a day at work. Sitting eating dinner, watering the plans. sitting talking on the phone. He looks for visitors things out of the ordinary.
Stricken with a sudden thought, Henrietta absently browses the mermaids book.
It is simple enough for Lord Hathaway to see that this is the home of a well academic, a single woman in her 30s who is focused on her career. There are potted plants scattered throughout the apartment, some familiar and some less so. There is also a smattering of art pieces in the style of groups deep in the Amazon basin along the Brazil/Peru border, enough to get a good idea of where the pieces originate.
The primary occupant enjoys coffee and work, rarely entertains guests romantic or otherwise. There are not enough dishes in the kitchen for a dinner party unless everyone is going to drink wine out of mugs.
On top of this base layer of daily existence is another layer, incomplete, of a more recent occupant. Someone who is not quite at home and keeps their things huddled in limited spaces, with the exception of a coffee table covered in books, papers, photos.
It would appear that Dr. Wells has been away for at least 6 months, and that this Nia has been house sitting. Nia's research is scattered across many subjects. Ethno-botany, retroviruses, vivisection. All of it seeming to lead nowhere.
Well, she won't remember this conversation except as a dream, so...
From behind the people looking at the reclining Nia Carter, Benjamin raises his voice.
"Why are you and Dr. Wells so interested in the Amazon? What are you researching? Has something from the Amazon come here to Boston? Something dangerous?"
"Dr. Wells has devoted her life to putting forward the rights of indigenous people. She was working with a long hidden tribe known as the Shirishama. She offered to help them sue a logging company to protect their rights to their land, but they said they didn't need protection, that the yakaruna would protect them. They gave her a token..." She rises from the bed and moves to a shelf, removing a wooden box and opening it.
Inside is a hardwood idol with details picked out in gold.
As she opens the box, those of you with enhanced senses of smell notice a new, herbaceous smell wafting through the room from the box. Looking into the box, you see that the idol was packed in plant leaves and stalks.
Jonathan thinks the plants look and smell like the plant pads floating in the tub at the other apartment.
"This is a yakaruna, a sort of fish person said to live in the Amazon. Supposedly they had great cities under the water. Of course, Dr. Wells kept working on legal remedies. She has become obsessed with the medicine of the Shirishama, with their legends, their herbs. She is there now, which is why I'm here, taking care of her place."
Helen spots the book about mermaids and makes a vocal "Mmm," alerting others in the room she's spotted something. As Helen reaches for the thing that she looked for and found by herself, Henrietta swiftly shoulders her way between Helen and the book and snatches it up, apparently so inspired by some unspoken idea, even the gentler form she takes has entirely forgotten about manners.
Helen arches a painted eyebrow. "Quite eager, are we, Dr. Jekyll? Care to share what you're thinking?"
"These plants look and smell like the plant pads floating in Dylan's tub." Jonathan offers when the hardwood box is opened.
Turning back to the woman in the bed, "Nia, what do you know of Dylan Foley or Dylan Rodgers? And, who else has seen or touched this idol?"
With the sunrise so close, maybe Sekhmet needs to return to Dylan's apartment and follow the scent leading away from it, he thinks to himself.
Hathaway looks around the space, then stops, picking up a paper here, a stick-it there.
"Dr. Wells apartment had a recent occupant, a house sitter yes. As for Nia's research its scattered across many subjects. Ethno-botany, retroviruses, vivisection. All of it seeming to lead nowhere."
He placed them before the others, Nia's research.
Sehkmet is going to slowly examine the apartment with her sense of smell. She is looking for any trace of the fishy person smell. She is going to especially concentrate on the small token but will go for the entire apartment
She then turns to Nia
"Do you know how the Shirishama contact and communicate with the Yakaruna? Or any way to activate this token?"