2020.08.07: The Attic

The Attic
While cleaning up the attic, Katie finds a secret door that she can't open. Scrying beyond reveals an idol that should never have been disturbed.
IC Date	August 7th, 2020
Players	Rick Katie
Location	Overgrown Victorian
Theme Song	Gunship - Cthulhu https://youtu.be/Jo4-Bc85bF4

Rick is sitting in the living room on a couch. His feet are kicked up, shoes off of course. Around him are scattered a number of files, his laptop on his lap. Type type type, but at the same time, he's dictating something, and a pen floating in the air on its own is writing down what he says. One eye is on the laptop, another eye is lizard eying a document he's reading, and he occasionally flips a page with a hand.

After some morning 'exercise' and another cooked breakfast that was so good it put five-star chefs to shame, Katie went up to the attic to continue cleaning up. There are thuds and clatters as items are thrown down the hole in the ceiling to the hallway below, perhaps more effort put into throwing the faceless mannequin down, so much so that its head falls off and the arm snaps.

It all falls silent up there for a while, ten minutes, then on to twenty, before Katie finally appears in the living room. "Hi! Ew..", turning her gaze away from the lizard eyes, a little shiver running up her spine. "That's /so/ gross. What are you working on?", she asks, making her way over to sit on the edge of the couch, draping an arm around your shoulders as she leans sideways against you.

"....furthermore, the prosecution has not shown in good faith that Mr. Mernendez has.." He gives a little wave motion and the pen falls to the paper. His head shakes twice, and his eyes go back to normal to look up at you with a grin. "Oh, just some case files. Drafting a brief here..." He motions to the paper. "Filling out a petition here.." motioning to the laptop "...and reviewing evidence here." He motions to the legal papers he was reading. "Keeps me busy." He leans forward and gives you a kiss, then says "You got cobwebs in your hair. How is the cleaning working out for you?"

With a happy eagerness, Katie leans into the kiss and keeps it going for far longer than was intended, ensuring you know her feelings before finally breaking it to look at you with a cute little smile. "Do I for real?", she asks, brushing a hand back through her hair and finding a few cobwebs that stick to her fingers, "Eww..", wrinkling her nose as she tries to flick them away, then rub them against her jeans.

"It's all clear up there..", she says, looking at her fingers, ensuring all the webs are gone, ".. but I still can't find a way through the door.", content with her fingers and turning her adoring gaze back to you. "There's nothing. Like, no levers or push button things or like.. there's nothing.", a gentle shrug of her shoulders. Leaning forward, she peers at the laptop screen to see what evidence there might be for todays client.

Rick is not one to deny the kiss, as he wraps an arm around your waist to pull you closer. After it breaks he's looking a little flushed for some reason, and he says with a sly smile "Keep it up and I'm going to have to help you shower all those webs away." He reaches out and snags one that you missed and brushes it against his leg.

"You got it all cleaned out? Nice. Find anything valuable, any furniture worth keeping?" He hmms a bit at the mention of the door and jokes "Did you try knocking on it and see if anyone answered?" He's joking of course, he clearly doesn't expect anything to be up there.

"Oh, the evidence is typical stuff. Client was found in possession of a heroin vial. He's gonna be going away for a while I think. I'm going to try to get him moved into pre-trial treatment and probation, but the prosecuter wants to send him up the river for distribution. We'll see how it goes."

"I knew people like that.." Katie nods, looking over the evidence, ".. heroin is the worst, like, the people using it looked /so/ sick when they didn't have any.". Thinking back over her homeless time, her lovely blue eyes become a little distant; she's certainly come a long way since escaping to this city.

With a blinkblink, she sits up and turns sideways, putting her back to you, then flops off the arm of the couch so her back hits your chest, snuggling back comfortably against you. "I tried everything!", she admits about the door. "It's making me crazy, like, I /so/ want to know what's behind it.", she chuckles. "It could be treasure, maybe the previous owners didn't like banks so stored all their money in there.", she grins.

Rick gives a solemn nod and sighs "A lot of my cases are drug cases like this. People caught with minor amounts and facing significant jail time. Its sad really. I knew a few horse addicts too in my time, and they were...just enslaved."

He shakes his head and sighs, then says as he wraps an arm around you "Well, maybe we should just go up there with a hammer and bash the damn thing open." He gives a grin. "Naah, we are smarter than that. C'mon, lets go and check it out. Oh, and breakfast this morning? That was awesome. I am _still_ full from eating it."

"It's an escape for most of them, like, the homeless and poor.." Katie explains, ".. I didn't want to because I was high already on being free.", she chuckles. "I saw a lot of people though.". A thoughtful pause as she gazes off into space, then there's talk of opening the door.

"You're going to help? Neat!", she beams, turning quickly to give you another sweet kiss, before clambering up to her feet. "You'll have to help me move things too, I threw everything into the hallway and it's like /so/ messy there now. And some things are heavy.". No mention of the breakfast, but she does seem to appreciate the compliment judging from the twinkle in her large blue eyes.

Rick kisses the crown of your head right before you get up, and he sets his papers, laptop and other legal junk aside as he rises as well. "Its a pretty shitty escape, but they don't know that when they start using." He gives your bottom a swat as he starts making his way through the house, climbing the stairs. "Nice pile of junk here. You threw out the mannequin I see." A bit of a grunt at that. "Don't blame you one bit. Most of this stuff will be going to the curb."

Katie gives a squeak of surprise at the swat against her cute behind, twirling to glare at you playfully, though it lasts all of a second before she's taking your hand to walk with you up the stairs. "The mannequin was the first thing I threw, like, really hard. I think I broke it.", she chuckles, giving it an uncaring nudge of a kick as she passes it.

And then it's up the ladder to the attic, now a large open area with angled walls that follow the line of the roof above. The single bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling is lit, illuminating the empty area. At the end of the large room, a doorway is built into the wall, though only a faint outline gives it away which would be all the more hidden if she hadn't dusted around it.

"Soooo.. any ideas?", she asks, reaching out to touch your arm as you climb your way up here.

Rick gives the head a kick, and it rolls down the hallway, landing on the broken neck and staring back at the couple facelessly. Its actually kind of creepy to see a head staring at them. Rick grunts at this, then climbs up the ladder after you. He walks up to the doorway and peers at it for a moment, then start to trace the outline with his fingers. "This is odd..." He says to himself. He gives a knock on the door. Once, twice, three times. Turning back to you he says "And there is nothing on the walls? No push plates or anything?"

Being typically nosy, Soggy decides to join the pair up in the attic, soft paws padding quietly against the steps of the ladder, awkwardly making its way up before walking into the large open attic. It starts sniffing lazily around the area it hasn't seen before.

The knocking against the door is surprisingly solid, no echo whatsoever. "I looked but I couldn't find anything.", Katie admits, looking around again, a gentle nibble of her lower lip in thought, "Maybe it's like a loose brick somewhere or maybe it's not even up here?", she shrugs. "I am /so/ lost..", she chuckles, ".. why would anyone make a door you couldn't open?"

Rick mmms a bit as his mind works on this problem "They wouldn't." He looks from one end of the attic to the other, musing to himself "This is about half the full length of the house. The other half must be pretty big too on the other side." He goes back to examine the door "There must be a way to open it. Unless it only opens from the other side." He glances back at you "We could try to magick it open, or at least scry inside to see whats there."

"It could be the other side.." Katie agrees, pondering that idea, ".. like, maybe there's another way up into the attic on the other end of the house.", a gentle nibble on her lower lip as she tries to imagine where that might be. Her knowledge of the house, the layout, still needs some work. "Try peeking inside.", she smiles, perhaps not wanting to try it herself.

Soggy continues sniffing his way around, bringing him up to the wall that the door is built into. Another sniff of the ground and it hisses angrily, turns and runs back a few feet, then wanders into another section of the attic to go investigate.

Rick knocks a few times on the walls near the door, to see if there is anything that sounds loose. He glances as the kitten explores the attic, then his grins fades into a frown at the hiss. He glances up at you again, eyebrow knit, and says "He doesn't really like whats in there, does he." He strokes his chin, then gives a little nod "I'll need to do the scrying down in the basement if you want me to. Under that side of the house is the spare bedroom. I hardly have been in there. perhaps its worth checking that out first before I scry?"

Noticing the reaction from the cat, Katie shivers nervously, that's not a good sign. "Maybe we should leave whatever it is in there.", she suggests, moving over to Soggy to crouch down and give him some gentle scritches and strokes. "Hey, you okay?", she says softly to the cat. Not enjoying the attention as usual, the cat runs back to the steps and clambers quickly back down, disappearing off down the hallway.

"He's so adorable." Katie says with a playful sarcasm, straightening up and approaching the same steps back down. "We're already up here, let's look at the bedroom first.", she nods, giving you a warm smile before climbing back down to the hallway below.

Rick nods as he follows you "But if there is something in there..do you want it being in the same house we might rise a family in?" He asks a bit pointedly. He climbs back downstairs and follows you into the spare bedroom, then starts looking around the room for anything that might be a clue or a hint.

Waiting for you to follow her down first, Katie takes your hand and walks along with you to the spare bedroom, glancing up at you with a smile at the mention of 'family', though she doesn't say anything about that, but it certainly hit home in a good way. "It might be nothing, like, a dead rat or something.", she chuckles. Into the spare bedroom and everything looks normal, except for a small crack in the ceiling that splits out in multiple directions. It's no larger than a foot or two, however.

Rick gives your hand a little squeeze, then lets go as he moves into the bedroom fully. He stares at the crack for a moment, then looks back towards you "Sweetie, can you get me a broom or a mop or something? I want to tap the ceiling here and see if any plaster comes falling down. I wonder if there is a hidden trap door or something that might show a way in."

"Oh, sure! I have one from cleaning up." Katie replies, quickly scurrying out of the room and to her pile of rubbish beneath the attic, gathering up the broom she left there and bringing it back to you. "Don't hit it too hard, we might have visitors.", she chuckles, offering you the broom.

Rick give a little chuckle to that, then taps on the celling with the boom handle. A light tap, then a bit harder to see if anything loosens. He glances back to you as he does that, then says "I feel so odd doing this." He gives a bit of a chuckle, then gives the spot a harder swat to see what happens.

"You /look/ odd doing that." Katie replies with a cute little giggle, moving closer to look up at the ceiling to see if anything happens to the crack. Nothing does, it doesn't break or crack any further, it's a simple crack in the ceiling. "Well, nothing then..", she says softly, a gentle shrug of her shoulders. Reaching out a hand for you to take, she asks, "Shall we go..", but her words are cut off as the softest knock comes from above. She instantly silences and looks up at the ceiling, then to you, then back to the ceiling. "Did you hear something?"

Rick gives a little shrug after he taps a few times then turns to you. "I guess it is just a...." He silences as he too hears the tapping coming from above, and his arm moves protectively in front of you without him even thinking of doing it, its just an instinctual reaction. His head turns to look at you, then up at the crack again. "Yes, I heard that..." He says quietly, then reaching up with the broom, taps two firm loud knocks in quick succession.

Nothing this time, only silence is the response to the firm knocks, but the sound must have come from somewhere. "I thought it might be like an echo, but.. um..", there was no echo this time. Sliding an arm around your waist, she looks up at you with a hint of a smile, "Maybe you should look inside.", she suggests.

Rick gives a curt nod as he sets the broom down against the wall, and heads for the hallway.

"BOO!"

Rick literally jumps, then spins with his fist held up, then growls "Janus, you are an asshole sometimes, you know that?" Janus is standing there in the hallway, giving him a bit of a grin. "Who, me?" Janus looks to Katie, gives her a wink, then goes down into the main floor. Rick follows him down and makes his way to the basement, shaking his head and grumbling to himself "of all the avatars out there...i have to get this one..."

The sudden sound catches Katie unawares too, her response a squeal of panic before realising who it is. "Janus! Not funny.", she grumbles, but can't resist a little grin as she looks at the avatar winking at her. With a shake of her head, she quickly follows along behind you, a hop-skip in her step to bring herself up alongside, so she can take your hand. "At least he knows when it's best not to look.", she grins, glancing up at you and stepping sideways, to give you a playful bump.

"Lucky us, right?" He gives your hand a squeeze again, then makes his way into the basement, then the inner sanctum. He lets go of your hand and starts gathering up a few materials. Crystal ball, candle and a book. He places the book on the altar in the center of the room, the candle behind it and the crystal ball in front of the book. He lights the candle and begins to chant in Enochian. Walking around the room three times, he makes some hand gestures, then walks three times the opposite way. Then, he walks behind the altar and sits down, crossing his legs and closing his eyes.

An image appears on the wall, light from the candle passing over the book and through the crystal ball. It is a view of the basement, his mind's eye. He moves the mind's eye through the floor to the ground level, then up and through the ceiling to the second floor, then through the next ceiling into the attic. The door is there, beckoning him. He then moves the view through that door finally to reveal what is on the other side....

With you being taller than her, with the longer stride, Katie hop-skips alongside to keep up the speed. She doesn't seem to mind at all, she actually seems to enjoy it, as if it were a game of some kind. Inside the sanctum she stays quiet and out of the way, standing back near the bookcase back into the basement so she can watch you work.

When the image appears on the wall, she takes her first nervous steps into the basement so she can get a better look, her arms crossing nervously across her tummy; the sound from above, the hissing from the cat, something is certainly up there. The image passes upwards through the ground level, through the second floor, and up to the attic, but the moment it touches the area beyond the door the spell simply dies. The image blinks out and the stone of the wall returns. "Was that supposed to happen?", she asks softly, though her voice is assuming that it certainly wasn't.

Rick's eyes snap open "Alright, what the _hell_ is going on up there.". If this was a bit of a lark before, its absolutely not a lark now "There is some sort of warding." He rises and looks to you. If he was jovial before, he's all business now. "This is really concerning." He walks over to a bookshelf where his occult library is kept, and he starts flipping through a book "Ahh, yes. Let me try Moshie's tincture." He moves to a table and gathers up a few ingredients, then starts mixing them together. After a few minutes of this he has a smelly paste, which he smears on the front side of the crystal ball "Right. This will take a little while...." He starts doing the ritual again, but this time with more time between steps, and a few different words.

Moving closer, Katie keeps her arms crossed over her tummy, looking decidedly more nervous at talk of wards. "Maybe we should leave it alone..?", she suggests, large blue eyes watching you move around the room. Pulling out a stool while you work, she slips herself up onto it and continues to watch how you work your magick, a slight swing of her legs forward and back as her feet don't quite reach the floor.

The ritual takes a lot longer this time, but it seems to have more effect. The image on the wall again reaches up through the floor of the house, up through one of the bedrooms, and then again hits the unreachable area in the attic.

It's like trying to push through sludge, the speed of movement slows to a crawl, perception stuck inside the floor before popping out the other side. It seems Katie has a ready made area for her magical activities. The area beyond the ward looks like it once belonged to a sorcerer of some kind, with worktables, shelving, a magickal circle etched into the wooden flooring.

The area, however, is almost completely empty, though the walls, floor and ceiling are covered in sigils and mystical text. In the exact center of the circle stands a tall glass display case, a strange looking object floating inside, though it's completely still. It appears to be made of solid ivory, or perhaps some other flawless material, all carved from one piece. In the shape of a demonic creature, its legs are held together and pointed straight down, its tail wrapping around them multiple times. The creature is hunched over an orb that it seems to be holding tightly, a smoky substance swirling around inside it.

The glass of the display case has a tiny noticeable crack in it, a hole no larger than a needle, and a closer look at the circle shows a section of it has been scratched, breaking whatever magick power it used to hold.

This is hard work for Rick, and while he has some initial success, pushing through the barrier is _hard_. He gives a little grunt of concentration, his face screwing up and he gives a massive push to get through. He does, but at the cost of giving himself a bloody nose. But no matter that, there is the matter of what the hell this room is doing in his house. His view explores through the new room, specifically looking for a latch or a lever, something to open the door on the other side. Rick's going to need a new shirt though.

"Rick, you're bleeding!" Katie squeaks in surprise, moving quickly from her stool to hurry over, looking around briefly to find something that might be useful before realising the shirt is going to need changing anyway. She lifts it up and catches your nose gently between her fingers, covered by the fabric of the t-shirt, letting the blood soak into it. "I said we should leave it alone.", she says softly. Her free arm circles around your shoulders, holding you gently to her as you continue to perceive the room above.

There doesn't seem to be any latch on the inside either, it could be magical access only. With that in mind, there's no knowing how long that thing has been up there, if the previous owners even knew about it, or perhaps even the owners before that. While you're looking around the room you can't help but notice the object inside the glass seems to awaken, a faint red lighting up its eyes, the body turning slowly in the glass to face you, as if it can sense your presence. "Rick, leave it. Come back.", she sighs. "Please.".

Rick lets out a breath of air and gives a nod "Yeth...i nill stwap now..." He says. The image on the wall fades, but he's not at all happy "Something is up there Katie...something in our house. I have heard thumps before, when I first moved in. Whatever is up there...isn't sleeping." He rises from the floor, holding his fingers to his nose. He does not seem too concerned about the nose bleed, he seems concerned about the room up there. "If something is sleeping, that's bad. If something is breaking lose, that's real bad. If something is demonic?" He looks at you, not needing to say more.

"I think we need to get some outside help on this. There is a meeting tonight of sorcerers and mages at the Roasters basement. We should go and see if Kabin will be there. I think he should see this place too."

"We both heard the knock." Katie agrees, removing her fingers from your nose once you return to normality, taking a small step back and watching you with obvious concern. Listening to your description of it, she gently nods, "It didn't look very friendly, I saw it watching you. It doesn't move though, it's like a statue or something. It can't be /that/ dangerous. Right?", she asks, though her tone of voice reveals she doesn't believe that for one moment.

The idea of getting outside help is given a nod of agreement, a smile, "If you think it's best. Do I know Kabin? It's been so long I can't remember.", looking a bit sheepish at that revelation.

Rick tilts his head back as the bleeding begins to slow "If its knocking, and has been knocking for a few weeks now, who know what else it might be doing. Or trying to do. Did you notice the scratches around the glass? I'm wondering if its trying to break out." He looks at you "Do you want to spend the night here, or do you want to sleep in a hotel while we do with this situation." He's serious, and it seems like a pretty legitimate question truth be told.

"You...may have met Kabin. He's a Hermetic, from Egypt. Very knowledgeable. House Shaea, oddly enough." That's a reference to Rick's house in his last life. "He might have some ideas." He blows out the candle, then picks up his phone and fires off a quick text message. "We'll see if he makes it tonight."

Thinking about that for a while, how much ability it's been able to show up until now, Katie shakes her head. "We can stay here. Like, I don't know if I'll be able to sleep..", she chuckles, ".. but we should be safe.", her tone offering a little hope.

The mention of Kabin being a Hermetic from Egypt seems to trigger a memory, "Oh! I remember you talking about him. I don't know if we ever met though.", she shrugs. "We'll see tonight. It'll be nice to see everyone again."

Rick gives a grunt of amusement "Well, if you can't sleep I have some ideas for things to do at night..." He winks and says "We can help Janus with his crossword puzzle." Yeah, sure, that's exactly what he had in mind. "But we should be safe. I can set some triggers I think that would wake us up if something happens." He ponders "I wonder what that place looks like in the Astral. I'll have to take a look later." He looks to you and adds "Or you can try."

He gives a nod "Maybe he'll be there, maybe he won't. I texted him to find out."

Moving closer, Katie slips her arms around you, uncaring about the blood on your shirt. "The crossword sounds nice, we might have exhausted ourselves by then.", she teases, giving your sides a playful tickle, a little giggle as she dives back before you can retaliate. The thought of looking into that room with her own magick gives her a little shiver, or perhaps it's just looking anywhere with her own magick, she hasn't shown a single use since she returned. "You can handle that, I'll make you and Kabin some cookies.", she chuckles.

Reaching out her hand, she invites you to take it, "Come on, let's go back upstairs.", she smiles.