WindStruck and Zene's The Haunting IC

[zingbobco000]

Pressing on through the halls you continue down, past the shattered mirrors, the old cabinets, and other pieces of the hallway. Lois along the way pleasantly opens each door, hoping to find some sort of secret inside, but instead finding... more junk. In fact, the next room contains old furniture that might be broken up to burn in a wood stove. Lois looks a tad disappointed, so she proceeds to the next one. Here hang overcoats, galoshes, hats and umbrellas. Several bags of coal for the living room’s freestanding stove are here. You notice that the side door is secured with three bolts and two locks. Lois shrugs, "Looks like we found tha' side entrance, eh?"

Spoiler: Successful Listen Roll

Show

There's something... something that sounds like water? Dripping? It's coming from the south. The dining room? You think that would be the room to the south of where you are based on what you saw from the living room.

[Zene]

Listen: (d100)[10]

[Zene]

”I think I hear... dripping? Coming from what I think is the dining room. Should we go look?”

[zingbobco000]

Lois looks towards the south, "Drippin'? Could be a leak, with tha' state this house is in..." She looks back towards you. "Where's that wrench?" (assuming you give it to her) She hefts it over her shoulder, "Well, 'could always give 'em pipes a look." She begins to head off towards the dining room (via the living room).

[WindStruck]

Deirdre can pretty much pinpoint where the dripping is coming from by the sound, and so walks with Lois and leads her to the noise.

[zingbobco000]

Spoiler: Assuming Yitzhak Follows (Because I might have to go to sleep)

Show

You cross back through the divinity-strewn living room, and head through the open doorway into dining room. Beyond this room are a set of curtains, presumably leading deeper into the house. It is complete with a long mahogany table, a built-in sideboard and seven chairs. Three places are set and unused. Scraps of rice soup rot in a tureen. Deirdre identified that the dripping seemed to be coming from somewhere slightly to the east of her original position. Looking around however, there's no liquid to be seen. Except... however... you both soon realize exactly where the dripping sound was coming from. Inside of the tureen with the rotting rice, there's a small pool of liquid that has gathered... liquid that is red... as you look up. It is at that moment when you notice a patch of red just above your heads from the rotting floorboards in the cieling... as the viscous red liquid drips a drop onto (person with the lower luck is...) Yitzhak's nose.
----

Hmmm... this sounds like a Sanity roll to me (from all of you, Lois... failed, so that's a bit of sanity loss).
----

Lois stands rigid, unmoving, simply staring at the patch until finally her breath begins to come out in short ragged breaths. "Wha-why, why is there..." She points towards the ceiling.

Spoiler: Area Map!

Show

[WindStruck]

Deirdre gasps and quickly backs up as a drop somehow unluckily plops onto Izzy's nose.

"There.. there must be a body. Someone killed upstairs??" She looks between the others, scared, ready to call it quits when they are.

[Zene]

Sanity: (d100)[89]

”Ugh!” shouts Izzy, as he jumps back.

He wipes the blood off his face with a handkerchief, and looks down at it. “Gottinyu” he mutters.

Then, to the others, “We’ve got to get up there! Let’s find the stairs.”

[zingbobco000]

Yitzhak has lost 1 Sanity. I was also going to note with your involuntary action that you jump back in fright, but it seems you already have!
----

Lois nods, "I think I saw 'em back in tha' hall!" Immediately she heads off back out the dining room, through the living room, and to the hallway.

[Zene]

Izzy hurries after. Afraid of what he might find, but also feeling compelled to find out who or what is the source

[WindStruck]

Deirdre follows the others, rather afraid of being left alone, but also afraid of what she might find... much like Yitzhak.

[zingbobco000]

The three of you rush out into the hall and the stairs. The old-worn things creak and shift as you take each step, but eventually they seem sturdy enough to hold all of your weight as you make it to the top floor of the home. You catch a glimpse out one of the windows to the world outside, but the majority of the view is blocked by the massive office buildings within the area. Nevertheless, time is of the essence and you all begin to hurl open doors trying to find the source of the blood.

The first room you open is nothing more than a bathroom, containing a sink, bathtub and a water closet with an overhead tank. Towels and other possessions are still here, typical to a family of four. A brackish pool of water has collected in the bathtub, fed by a dripping faucet which cannot quite be closed off. However this liquid is most certainly not blood, nor are there any bodies around.
The second room as well appears to be utterly abandoned, all it contains is a bed frame, bare bedsprings and a dresser. Nothing in here indicates any injuries either.
The third room contains two small beds, toys and dressers. Pictures of aircraft and cowboys mark this as the children’s bedroom. Strangely there appear to be no bodies or wounds of any kind...
Therefore it must be... no... the final room is utterly ordinary. There is a double bed, bookshelf and window view. Apparently the room of Vittorio and Gabriela. More crosses and many candles are here, and a rosary and breviary rest on a table beside the bed. There is no body... no blood... nothing. Lois whispers and shakes her head, "I... there was blood, right? But then... where's... where'd it...? She simply trails off in confusion.

However, you do notice a hatch on the ceiling of the final room, an attic, perhaps?

[WindStruck]

Deirdre points out, "It had to have come from the middle room... or, you don't think there's something in the attic and it dripped between the walls, do you?"

[Zene]

”I dunno.. the attic seems unlikely to me as the source. I do want to check it out anyway, but...” he trails off.

Izzy crouches down to look under the bed and table in the current room, then looks inside inside any closets in the room.

He then heads back to the third room, with the children’s things, trying to gauge if it could be over the kitchen. He checks under the beds, and the dressers; then also checks for closets.

[zingbobco000]

Spoiler: Yitzhak Laskov

Show

Under the bed and desk you find: Dust
Inside of the closets you find: Moth-eaten dresses and suits
As for the third room, you doubt it'd be over the kitchen, but maybe a bit of the dining room (the end closest to the living room). More likely the living room and the hallway, maybe portions of the storage room as well.
Under the beds and the dressers you find: Some mice! Which suddenly try and scuttle out from under their hiding spot except you've blocked the exit with your face! Thus you promptly remove said face, and they skitter out the window to FREEDOM! However, nothing else really captures your interest.
The closets in the children's room hold mold-ridden pajamas and casual clothes. There are several old toys scattered around, although dust covers their contents it seems like they were in the middle of a board game of some kind.

Meanwhile Lois looks towards Deirdre, "Well... uh... maybe tha' attic? I... I don' know..." She reaches up (Lois is tall) and manages to grab the opening, bringing a old folding wood set of stairs down up towards the darkened attic. Thus, she roots through her backpack and picks up the flashlight, turning it on. "Shall we? Once Izzy gets back a' course." She nervously takes a step up the stairs to test their strength... it seems stable enough.

Spoiler: Area Map

Show

[WindStruck]

"M-maybe it was..." Deirdre says. She moves over to the window of the room and tries to look out. "Hm. I'm not sure if there was anywhere it could have came from. It would have to be close to one of these walls.. or outside, on top of the roof..."

[zingbobco000]

Lois nods shakily, "Yah! Or maybe..." Her face then turns pale as she begins to tap on the walls. They do not sound hollow (brick and wood). "Oh... well at least they aren't in tha' walls... right?" She offers a forced smile.

[Zene]

”Oy,” says Izzy, as he realizes that there could be spaces not only between the walls, but also between the floors.

He heads back to the deserted room, and checks the floor. Is it wood? Are there any indications that floorboards have been pried up and replaced, or a carpet installed recently? Is there any weird smell in the room... like of blood, or a dead body?

If not, Izzy heads back to the stairs and, if the others are ready, heads up.

[zingbobco000]

Nope, nothing in the deserted room but the bed frame, bare bedsprings, and a dresser.

Spoiler: Assuming Deirdre Agrees

Show

You head up into the attic, it's quite dark but Lois' flashlight helps you identify much of what's in here, which is to say... not very much. I mean, it seems this is mostly storage, although clearly this place hasn't been used in some time. Dust sits on every box and crate, bits of rusted metal jut out every now and then. Lois mutters, "Good thing we brought this, doubt I could see a darned thing 'n 'ere."

Spoiler: Successful Spot Hidden Roll w/ A Bonus Die (Lois' Help)

Show

You notice something, in a flash of light from Lois' flashlight (heyyyy) there's strangely a full-sized cupboard of all things here that's been boarded shut. It's set into the back of the attic, almost like it was originally installed here, unlike literally every other piece of storage. Strange place for a cupboard (to clarify it looks like a kitchen cupboard, that's why it's strange), and why would someone board it shut?

Spoiler: Failed Spot Hidden Roll

Show

You search for a while, but maybe it's just due to the lack of light or a desire not to get too close to all the rusty metal bits, but you don't find anything of interest. This really just seems to be a storage attic, but then again... why was it not on the blueprints? What about this place is important?
----

You may Push the roll if you so wish (you still have the assistance).

[WindStruck]

Deirdre lingers on the ladder, with head barely peeking through the opening. She's somewhat curious about what's up there, but not too eager to go all the way up into the dark, dusty, and cramped space with two other people already...

Spot hidden, if applicable? (1d100)[88]

[Zene]

spot hidden: (d100)[71]

[Zene]

Izzy coughs, and tries to wave the dust away from his face. He steps in and leans way in to peer past the junk, probably coming perilously close to some of those sharp rusty things or an unsupported part of the flooring...

(Gonna push that spot hidden roll) (d100)[93]

[Zene]

Bonus die from Lois’ help on the initial check: (d10)[8]

[Zene]

Bonus die on the push (sorry for all the one-line posts): (d10)[2]

[zingbobco000]

You may read the success spoiler.

[Zene]

”Whoah, what’s this?”

He narrates, for Deirdre’s sake below: “There’s a very odd-looking, boarded-up cupboard in the back of the attic. Built-in, it looks like.”

Izzy starts carefully making his way over.

[zingbobco000]

Lois flashes the flashlight towards where Yitzhak is pointing and sure enough there's some sort of built-in cupboard in the attic. It looks incredibly out of place compared with all of the cardboard boxes and crates. Lois also makes her way over there, slowly and carefully (after Yitzhak so as to ensure she can light his way). She then looks back towards Deirdre and then towards Izzy, offers him the flashlight and in the other hand, takes out her knife. "Should I try n' bust it open?"

[Zene]

”Go for it!”

Izzy braces himself against the nearest beam, half expecting some spectral horror to burst out of the cabinet at them.

[zingbobco000]

With the blunt hilt of her blade she musters up her (very high) strength and bashes through the boards, and with that the cupboard opens. Holding the flashlight, you both peer inside to find (and Deirdre can just barely notice)... three books. That's it, just a couple of books bound together by (at this point) incredibly weak string. However, Yitzhak turns the flashlight to the books and although there's no real cover, he does notice a flyleaf that bears the writing: "W. Corbitt, 20 Sheafe St., North End, Boston, MA." However, it's too dark to skim through the actual writing in the books, even with a flashlight.

[WindStruck]

Deirdre tries to peer into the attic without much success. "What did you find?" she asks.