Geist - Jennifer

They stare at you intently, blades glinting in the sallow moonlight. They take a step forward...

AS they don't seem to be in a rush Jennifer looks around for any obvious side alleys or escape routes. She'd rather not run straight back across that bridge.

You look around but all you can see is either the Thames Path (heading east and west) or to the church, dead ahead

Jennifer retreats towards the eastern Path, away from Black Friars and towards London Bride. If they begin to follow her, she will run.

They seem to be starting at you intently and you notice other people on the path. They dont appear to be same.

[Wits + Investigation, dif 8]

(4 and 6, fail, but I'll spend a Willpower)

[assume you do and pass]

You run until you are exhausted. Slowing down you notice that the fog has lifted and you are being stared at by tourist. Normal, run-of-the-mill tourists

With the lifting of the fog does London look more like the London I recognise? Or are there still screams and scenes of bloody slaughter?

Jennifer will try to run around the starey tourists, unless they give her a reason to stop,

London looks just like it normally does. There may be screams and scenes of bloody slaughter but nothing compared to what you saw earlier.

[Roll Stamina + Athletics, dif 9 to keep running]

(6 and 7, so I slow to a halt, panting for breath)

As soon as Jennifer is able to compose herself, she tries to ring her cousin again.

Your heart is thundering in your chest and you gulp down air. You enter Eric's number into your phone but it goes directly to her voicemail

Your phone rings. It's your cousin.

"Hello?" asks the tired voice on the other end

(Had just typed up that Jennifer left a message...

"Eric... something just weird happened to me, and I'm worried... worried that the same thing has happened to you. When you get this message call me."

...and was looking for a cafe to wait at)

Jennifer answers the phone, frantically, seeing his name on the screen: "Eric! Are you alright?"

"Good evening Jennifer, I gather that you also had an... interesting evening. I'm so pleased to hear your voice. Especially after how you vanished into thin air earlier."

"I... yes... I've never had an experience like that before... visions of the dead, yes, but I saw the whole of London transformed into some sort of tortured bleeding hell... what WAS that/"

"Hmm, interesting... my experiences were of a different nature. There were plants, and a child, and fire..."

Eric pauses, as if remembering something

"I'll need to do further research, but my initial suspicion is that we might have strayed into the higher realms of being. Or the nearest two, at the very least."

"I don't understand,,, higher realms? Heaven and hell?"

Whilst Jennifer is talking she tries to find a cafe where she can sit and steady her nerves.

You find a nearby coffee shop which is fairly quiet. You find a table close to an elderly man reading the paper. You sit down

"Not quite. More like realms composed of more subtle forms of matter. As I say, it needs further investigation before we can draw any definite conclusions.

I think that the best thing we can do is sleep. We can meet up tomorrow to try and work out what happened. Maybe go back to the station in daylight and see what happens."

"Oh, okay..." Jennifer says, a little disappointed that she isn't going to see him tonight, as she has so many questions, "Lunchtime perhaps?"

Her gaze lingers on the paper the old man is reading for a while, whilst she waits for his answer. She decides she'll et the night bus home rather than risk the underground again.

The man gets up and walks out.

[Wits + Investigation, diff 8]

(9 and 1... is that a botch?)

[No botches]

You notice a sheet of A4 fall out of the man's paper. It lands on the floor and the man continues to walk outside

Eric continues: "Sure, shall we meet at the pub we were at earlier? It might be good to retrace our steps as fully as possible. Have you managed to get home safely? I've just got back."

I go to investigate it. I'm assuming it's just some junk leaflet or something, but am curious.

"No, no..." Jennifer says into the phone as she bends down to pick up the paper, "I'm still around London Bridge. I haven't dared go into the underground..."