Ju-Ju House / E. Carlyle - 16

[TheUdjat]

Tommy, Jeremy, Jack-

(Is there any way of cornering one of the cultists chasing us without chancing being caught by all of them?)

[Haha, no, we’re talking about a mob chasing you here.]

I know it's a bit late for this, but could Jeremy have fired more shots when the first didn't kill the priest? I read up on the rules and I guess it would mean I'll have to do initiative after the first shot that starts the battle, so I guess not, without great risk of getting caught.

Breathing in the cold, still air, you gradually begin to calm down as the recent events grow more distant, albeit no less poignant. The strange howling cries from the pit still echo in your heads, and Jeremy can still clearly see Samuel’s face in his mind, desperately telling him to run. It is a scene that will be forever etched in your minds no matter what you do, no matter how many years pass... but perhaps it will be more bearable in time.

Keeping to the main roads, it is easy enough to stumble back to safety, to catch a cab and make it back to home, or perhaps to Sam’s offices. It is late, well past midnight, but the others might be waiting for you all the same. [See below.]

---

Sam, Rebecca, Thurman, Joe-

You read what you can, than take your leave as Erica’s gathering draws closer. She bids you goodbye, encourages you to return if needed, and then you are on your way back to the city.

Soon you are back at Sam’s office, the designated meeting spot, but the others have not yet returned from their late-night vigil, and it is likely that they won’t for several hours yet. You could compare notes, catch some early sleep, or spend your time in other ways. [Let me know.]

In time, if any of you are still awake and expecting them, the three do stagger in from their adventure, looking haggard and shaken from their experiences at Ju-Ju House.

It would appear they have quite a story to tell.

[You’re all together now – feel free to interact, share information, and choose your next course of action. Remember that Elias’s funeral is tomorrow (Sunday).]

[Yakumo]

When Tommy and the others arrive he will grab the first seat he can in Sam's office and light up a cigarette. While his hands tremor with the lighter in it he turns to the Kid, "Hey, mind checking the windows, see if any of those strange folks saw us come in here. And Sam, any chance you got something to drink for me and my big friend here?" Tommy gestures to the Boxer. Tommy figures that the, from what he can tell, straight laced Sam wouldn't have any alcohol during the prohibition, but he would be much obliged for that little drink

Pulling in a long drag from his cigarette and letting it out and a relieving sigh, Tommy smiles, "So what did you guys and Lady, find out from the Carlyle woman?" Tommy will patiently wait his turn to relay their story, but has his doubts about how he will say it.

[VemuKhaham]

Jeremy almost walks like hypnotized into Sam's room. There wasn't anything coming from the poor young man, not a word, not a look, not a sign of life except for the fact that his legs still supported his body, though barely. At being told to do so though, Jeremy simply shuffles toward the window and starts staring outside.

After a minute or so, he begins to babble to himself. "Samuel, sorry, poor Samuel, like mr. Elias... poor woman, in the hole. Poor, poor Samuel, couldn't save him. The gun didn't kill. They always said guns kill. Poor Samuel, I did something wrong. Failed the trick... Failed the trick... failed the-" and this he kept repeating for several times until he fell silent again. All the while he stared through the window, as if hypnotized.

[Japic]

Seeing the sorry shape of his companions Thurman puts down his beverage taking stock of the three with a converned look on his face. They appeared physically unharmed, but based on the soft mutterings of the dumb kid they'd had an eventful evening.

"What we learned from her is not nearly as important as why you're all shaken up and we need to watch for someone following you." Standing from his seat he addresses Tommy. "Are we safe here, or need we move before your tale can begin?"

He is most interested in their findings, but will relay the fruits of their fact finding mission to the others when he feels sure there is time to tell all.

[MaestroXC]

yakumo said:

And Sam, any chance you got something to drink for me and my big friend here?" Tommy gestures to the Boxer. Tommy figures that the, from what he can tell, straight laced Sam wouldn't have any alcohol during the prohibition, but he would be much obliged for that little drink

As Tommy, Jackhammer and Jeremy burst into his office, Sam awakes with a start, slumped in his desk chair, his jacket pushed up around his armpits. He had been having a dream about Erica Carlyle's party; they had all been there, even Jackson Elias, looking as alive as he ever had. Things seemed well, until Jeremy pulled him under a table and explained that they were going to find Samuel, who was hidden somewhere in the house. That was weird enough; things only got weirder when Jeremy started swinging from a chandelier.

Around the time Sam realized he was wearing nothing but a bow-tie, the other three shook him into an unpleasant reality with the slam of the door. Rubbing his eyes, he quickly starts up at Tommy's obvious fear.

Sam gives Tommy a hard look. "No, believe it or not, I don't have any alcohol in my public office. What the hell happened to you three?"

[Aegea]

Rebecca casts a concerned look at Jeremy. She doesn't think she's ever seen him quite so upset. She agrees with Thurman, and says to Tommy: "Yes, tell us what happened to you! It sounds like whatever you found was pretty serious...our findings can wait. What people would be following you? Did you find out anything useful?"

She, too, lights a cigarette, feeling the need to relax, wondering what has the men so riled up.

[Yakumo]

Looking at the Prizefighter then back to the Kid. "You don't need to stay at the window, now that I think about it they wouldn't actually come if they wouldn't follow us in the streets."

Turning to the other group Tommy begins to tell the tale, allowing for interruptions from the other two and questions from the others.

"We started by watching the Ju-Ju House from the abandoned shop just across the way. After hours the shop closed up, but there was a fairly steady stream of, well black men and those drug addict looking scrawny types, from the hotel." he pauses and takes another drag of his cigarette.

"I only planned on holding up that Silas guy when he closed up shop, but he never came out. All those people walking in? They weren't coming out either. An hour or so after the last guest we decided to check out the store itself. We went in through the back door, there were some storage crates where Jeremy found a scrap of cloth just like the one at Samuel's disappearance. When we went into the storefront there was no one around, and following the dull roar of drums, we did a little poking around we found a hidden door behind the counter into a basement. The basement wasn't really that at all, it was like a cave that they just built the store over. We went into cave and at the end of the tunnel we opened a large door..." Tommy breaks off here for a moment.
Trembling to remember the scene he begins hesitantly. "There were at least fifty naked men or cultists or whatever in there drumming and chanting around two people tied up... one was a woman and the other was Samuel," Tommy shoots a glance over to Jeremy. "Then a Big Black guy wearing lion's claws and carrying a weird staff all robed up in some african garb came out, followed by four dead guys, but they were walking, the dead was walking and listening and following this guy!"

"Then he turned his attention to the woman, he carved that sign into her head, the same one that was on Elias. Then he tossed her into a pit. Before he did the same to Samuel, Jeremy took my gun and shot Big black guy. It kind of let them know we were there, Samuel yelled at us to run, we weren't going to stick around. We bolted back to here. We lost all of the cultists on the main roads, but they definitely saw us though. Not as terrible as it seems."

The story out, Tommy sinks into his chair and lights another smoke.
"Really should look into putting some liquor in here, it's not like anyone is going to be searching around your office, or are you doing things lately that you shouldn't be?" Tommy adds with a grin. "What about you guys? Find out anything?"

[TheUdjat]

[To confirm: there is nobody following you. Sam's Office is not being watched by anyone that you can tell.

Continue discussing. I'll update when your next course of action is clear.]

[Japic]

Thurman's mind reels trying to take it all in. Were they practicing sacrifice in the bottom of that place? If so, wto what point? Nervously he takes in the three shaken fellows and gives a shudder. The scene must have been quite nasty for such solid fellows (maybe not so much Jeremy) to come running back with their tails between their legs. That fact alone has now got Thurman feeling a little shaky himself.

When discussion over their findings is over with Thurman will relay what they learned at the Carlyle residence. "Mostly we found information; both word of mouth from Ms Carlyle and four old omes of the Occult locked within a safe. The books haven't shown anything useful yet, but her information was definately interesting. For instance, her late brother had a girlfriend, maybe lover, who was described as a Negro woman that he worshipped. Literally, worshipped. I'm willing to bet that she was involved with this whole mess. Perhaps she was from this cult and drew him in for a dastardly purpose; or perhaps not."

He looks to the other researchers, offering them a chance to provide information of their own.

[Aegea]

Rebecca feels slightly sick as Tommy recounts their awful experiences. Undead? Did she hear that correctly? She had, on rare occasions, stumbled across mentionings of such things in her private occult readings, but..to run into stories about them from people she knew...

It's also painfully clear that yet other murders have happened right in town tonight...and her poor companions had had the misfortune of having to witness torture and brutal, callous killings. And, from her extensive knowledge of religions and the occult...

"Undead," she murmurs. "From what you're describing, Tommy, that sounds like voodoo. Which is African in origin. Yet another connection to Jackson..."

Adding on to Thurman's comments, she shakily adds, "Yeah, these books were definitely not what I expected. They definitely didn't seem like the sort of thing Jackson would be interested in when I knew him and talked to him regularly, but...I'm still trying to figure out how they connect to all this. Ms. Carlyle was very open with us, though..at least, as open as I'd expect her to be with strangers coming to ask her about her late, or missing, brother."

Her cigarette hangs loosely in her fingers, forgotten, turning to ash.

[Toptomcat]

The boxer is quiet and withdrawn during Tommy's story, but the last sentence makes him pick up his head.
"'Not as terrible as it seems?' Were you not seeing what I was seeing, or have you just gone completely around the bend? And we're just talking- talking. Talking like it's the most natural thing in the world! Undead? Zombies? Voodoo?
This is crazy!"
The boxer collapses in his chair, head in his hands.

[TheUdjat]

[Big points to TTC for an appropriate freak-out, and to Maestro for the awesome dream.

It seems like there's still plenty to discuss, to I'll leave you all to it. Let me know if there are any questions I need to answer.]

[Japic]

Seeing th eboxer flip out Thurman supresses another shudder. He's suddenly very grateful that he was looking at books all afternoon rather than seeing what these men had witnessed.

Thinking abck to teh books, his mind stumbles as an unplesant scenario crosses his mind... Since he had no answer he must ask the men to tell what they knew.

"These undead men, if that is indeed what they were," he offers hoping that perhaps they were mistaken,, though he didnt' believe so, "did they too bear the symbol carved in their heads?" He pauses looking to the shaken men before offering what was troubling him. "If so, it stands to reason that the symbol has something to do with their re-animation. Further I have to wonder if the ritualistic slayings across the city have resulted in missing bodies. Possibly re-animated victims that is."

Lest his point be lost on these troubled souls he askes again, "Did they have symbols in their foreheads as Jackson did?"

(It's merely conjecture, but something that popped into my OOC mind and seems reasonable for an investigator to wonder as well. If this goes nowhere, I have no actions to suggest except for everyone to calm down, get some rest and then look at things with a fresh mind in the morning (get idea rolls if we're stumped).)

[TheUdjat]

japic said:

Lest his point be lost on these troubled souls he askes again, "Did they have symbols in their foreheads as Jackson did?"

[MaestroXC]

Sam's face does gymnastics as Thurman explains his theory. "You can't be serious. Walking dead? I'm not suggesting that you three are making this up, but...isn't it possible that what you saw can be explained by other means than 'Oh, they've been re-animated by voodoo'?

Cults are one thing, the walking dead quite another. Thurman, you propose this...theory, but have you ever seen anything like this in your travels? Miss Devereaux, does this idea actually sound plausible to you??"

[Yakumo]

Turning on Sam, "Listen! We know what we saw, it's not like it was dark down there and there is a HUGE difference between a dead body being pranced around like a sick marionette of a person and a real live person walking around! Those things were dead. Dead just like Elias and every other sap this group of people who are ritualistically killing people, a cult if you will, have run across. So yeah, Zombies, Undead, or just plain walking dead, I don't care what
you call them, but thats what they are, dead bodies walking around and taking commands from some murderers. It's ridiculous, impossible I know, but that is what they are."

After defending himself from what he knew wasn't really an attack, but he was still shaken from the events, he turned to the Doc. "They did have the symbols, but frankly I don't think that the symbol makes the zombies because after he cut that woman up he threw her into a pit, where I don't think she was expected to survive....to be a usable dead body."

Looking at the prizefighter, "I know it's crazy, I have seen some fucked up things in my time and that definitely takes the cake here. The whole idea is preposterous, but you answered your own question, the fact of the matter is that we did see it. It really happened and you know what, it isn't as terrible as it seems because you know what? That mob of naked people obviously are afraid of being found out because they didn't chase us here and they didn't follow us out into the streets. So yeah, It could be worse, we could dead, cut up and thrown away like trash for some sick people's perversion, but we weren't. So it is not so bad. We have time to figure this all out. It might be in our best interest to get out of the states for a bit."

Tommy, exhausted and obviously trying to keep things together while his mind is in turmoil, chain-lights another cigarette and takes deep drags of it. Mumbling to himself about scars, blood and oddly enough, a woman named Mary.

[MaestroXC]

Throwing up his hands, Sam turns his head aside, as if to say 'have it your way'

"Well, at least if we run into any of these zombies, we'll be able to spot them. I'm just thankful that you three were able to get out of that place. Do you think we could call in an anonymous tip to the police about Ju-Ju House? Walking corpses or not, you'd think that if they're having mass gatherings and sacrificing people there'd be something incriminating in that building. You all saw how the neighbors were afraid when we were scoping the place out; obviously it's not a total secret what goes on there.

If not, well, I'm still going to be at Jackson's funeral tomorrow, and I believe Miss Devereaux said she would like to attend as well. Would you gentlemen still be up for providing a little oversight, or do you think it might be better for you to take an opportunity to rest?"

[Japic]

"Bottom line Sam is that no one here's ever seen or heard of anything like this. But Voodoo magic... that's something we've all heard about, like in bed time stories to frighten children. Maybe, just maybe, there's more to those tales than we ever thought possible."

When mention of the police comes up Thurman nods absently. " Who was that police fellow you'd met? After the Jackson mess. Someone's got his card, right?" Assuming that someone knows how to get in touch with him he continues, "I say that it might be a good idea to make an anonymous tip right now then. Get the police out of bed and to the site before everything can get cleaned up and hidden away." Thinking outloud he continues. "Though if you'd rather it not be anonymous you'll have to make up a story to explain why we were snooping around there. The truth could get you arrested as quickly as a lie."

As the information continues to sort through his mind and get catalogued into their respective places of order Thurman has another chilling thought. His eyes snap to Tommy. "You've been at a murder scene, a burglary scene and now another invasion where there might be dead folks about. All in the last three days... You've been seen by witnesses at all three locations. Who'se to say that you're not a suspect character yourself? The police might want to hold you for questioning if they catch your scent. Maybe an anonymous tip would be best; maybe even then leaving the city."

{Keeper, is there such a thing as a police radio these days? If they can radio eachother then hopefully there's a scanner that would let us listen also. If there's trouble about it might do to have access to something like that. Is it possible?}

[TheUdjat]

japic said:

{Keeper, is there such a thing as a police radio these days? If they can radio eachother then hopefully there's a scanner that would let us listen also. If there's trouble about it might do to have access to something like that. Is it possible?}

[Two-way radios small enough to fit in a police car are a fairly new invention (the first one was in 1923, and it took up the whole trunk). I would credit a city like New York with having some sort of limited radio system in use, but most police communication in this era is done via regular updates at Call Boxes.

Police scanners, on the other hand, do not come into widespread use until 1970. While it is possible an appropriate radio could be acquired and specifically tuned to the necessary frequency, it would take some work and expertise. I would not place it within the capabilities of your immediate resources.]

[Aegea]

maestroxc said:

Cults are one thing, the walking dead quite another. Thurman, you propose this...theory, but have you ever seen anything like this in your travels? Miss Devereaux, does this idea actually sound plausible to you??"

Rebecca fixes her eyes on him, surprised. "I'm just as confused and sickened by this as all of you are.... I may have more knowledge of religions and anthropology and have read more books on the occult than most people that you've probably run into, but you can bet it never would have ever dawned on me that I would ever actually hear about this sort of thing happening in real life...to people I know! On some level I always wondered if these oddities were possible, but...I don't know. I just don't."

She gets up, nervously, and starts to pace a bit. She listens to Thurman's idea regarding the symbols and mutters, "I wish I could figure this bit out...it's driving me simply mad. I can't put my finger on the significance of these symbols other than they're linked to this cult. But, why was the same symbol on Jackson that was on these...these undead that you saw? Obviously its purpose wasn't to animate the dead, otherwise Jackson...well, nevermind. " She cuts off her train of thought before it upsets anyone else even more than they already are.

"Regardless of what I think, I think that it's possible there might still be some evidence in Ju-Ju House of their nefarious goings-on...I think an anonymous tip is an excellent idea. I don't think any of us need to dig ourselves a deeper hole." She nervously runs her fingers through her hair, staring out the window.