[IC] The Bloodletting - Victorian Era Monster RP - 2 Spots Open

[Major Ursa]

Spencer hummed calmly to herself, leaning over the metal pot and stirring it's content. In the kitchen of the Order's headquarters, there was smoking of a small portion of opium using the contraption of her mask, and thus the air was occupied by wisps of interesting smelling smoke. Fingers of smoke poured from her mask as she exhaled deeply one last time, before unbuckling the mask and lifting it off her face. The soup smelled pretty decent this time, which was likely the result of choosing more regular types of meat, rather than the game that some of the other members of the Order preferred. Chunks of celery, carrots, herbs and spices, small slices of chicken...a delightful smell. Setting the lid back onto the pot, she took a few paces to the right of the installed stove, passed the counter table, stopping momentarily to wash her hands in the sink briefly...before moving on.

Reaching the metal necropsy table set up in the far corner, she scanned her vision over the young girl's head, before leaning down and checking the accumulation of collected blood in the bucket under the table. Not as much as Spencer had expected...but of course, a good portion of the head's blood ended up soaked in her clothing from earlier. It was good to be cleaned up and in fresh attire. The head had been cleaned up too, all that was left was to let some of the excess blood drain, before they did any sort of autopsy.

[VATROU]

Victor Crow

Victor's fingers slowly lifted off the page as he sat back in his chair, whilst picking up a cup of tea Earl Grey. A young twenty something blonde girl approached him startling him. “By the Queen! Don’t do that, the sneaking and creeping.” She mumbled his name followed by a disconcerting message.”I see, yet another girl has fallen victim. She could have been someone’s lover in time.” His words were calm for the most part though they still showed concern for the victims already dead. Ingrid continued to speak, almost asking him to patrol with them. Suggesting that perhaps this library holds clues as to the Ripper’s identity.”All the more reason my dear to stay here, books upon books of puzzles. Perhaps someone has previously encountered the Ripper before? The question is which book, which journal holds what we seek.”

Ten minutes passed before Victor stood up pushing his chair back. He walked back over to the shelves and pulled out another journal. Just as Marcus entered giving an exhausted greeting.”You smell like iron. I assume you’ve buried the girl? What did you find then? I also have something to show you.” On Victor’s desk was six various journals. Seemingly unconnected. Each penned by a different author.”What do you see about these six journals? Between them they seem separated and would have nothing to do with each other. But at closer inspection they have hidden codes. My guess is that when these were penned, they were sent to others like the author. Other. Hunters. Bookkeepers, or another Order before us. If this is what I think it is. It very well suggests that another organization like us. These are decades old mind you. But what if they’re still around, or at the very least have a sanctuary with archives dating back further than even ours?”

[Eddie Swiss]

Marcus stood up and walked over to the pile of journals produced by Victor. He picked one of them up and began inspecting it.

"Nothing too different about the latest victim. Arguably, it's the youngest one yet." He paused to scan through the journal. Odd, the only Order or organization he was aware of that hunted monsters was theirs. And the only outside source who knew about it was Queen Victoria and a select few members of the royal family, but that was it. He cleared his throat and read a passage from the journal he was holding to himself.

"She had to be about fourteen years of age. He usually targets prostitutes, so this case is extremely odd. I buried the corpse, but Spencer is currently examining the head." He handed Victor the journal and leaned up against one of the bookshelves and sighed.

"As you know, the victims have all of their organs removed. However, this latest victim had no visible trauma to her head, so I believe the brain to be intact. Not his usual form of art you could say." He paused.

"As for another Order like us, I'm not aware of one. However. My Grandfather might know something." And with that, Marcus headed off to the Blacksmith to confront his grandfather also named Victor.

[Truth]

(Imagine that this was a few posts ago, my internet was out last night)

From outside the church looked very old, and it was, the paint was peeling off - at least what was left of it. There were stains covering the entirety of the building, and large cracks arched in the walls, it looked as though it was going to collapse, though it didn’t. He opened the black gate, making sure to close it behind him, and made his way up the steps.

He had to force the ancient doors open, the lobby seemed even older than the exterior, there were stains nearly completely covering what remained of the carpet - some of it must’ve been human blood, and the walls had more cracks than the ones outside. There were only a few pieces of furniture, a bookshelf and a few chairs.

Hadley took off his coat and threw it over his back, he walked over to the bookshelf and tugged on one of the tomes, the bookcase swung open slowly and he walked in. He passed everyone and made to his room where he hung his coat and changed his outfit. From his vest he took all of his guns and layed them out on the small desk that was on the opposite side of the room as his bed. There he wiped them down and cleaned them as was necessary, he proceeded to take them apart and wipe each piece dry then put them back together.

The cleaning only lasted for a little over half an hour, he made his way to the room in which everyone else was and sat down after preparing himself some tea.

[Nobodyman123]

Wilhelm von Richtofen loaded his rifle and poured as much fire as he could on the looming shape coming towards him. The creature looked straight at him, mocking the prussian with his blood red eyes. The corpse of poor Schmidt fell from his arms and the monster sprinted at Wilhelm. The soldier worked the bolt of his rifle and pressed the trigger down, only to hear a loud *click*. Wilhelm dropped his rifle and reached for his saber, just as the creature reached out for him with its massive claws

Wilhelm awoke to a hard pounding on the door of his quarters. He was covered in a cold sweat and holding an empty bottle of whisky. He put the bottle down, wiped the sweat off of his face before answering "Yes?"

[Themerlinhawk]

Sir Easton stood outside Wilhelm's door with a look of concern on his face, the german seemed to be having a rough time adapting to London and when he had gotten in instead of taking tea he had gone straight to bed. He didn't really know Richtofen's story but the fellow seemed deccent yet Eric got the impression that he'd seen his fair share of violence. And from the sound of it he was reliving some of it or at the very least having a lousy night, both of which where occuring across the hall from Eric's own failed attempts at sleep.

"You alright in there mate? I can hear you from across the hall, I just wanted to make sure you weren't redecorating the place. You know how Marcus gets."

He hoped the attempt at humor would go over well but he was concerned seeing as he really could truely hear Wilhem from across the hall.

[xAsunaWolfx]

Ingrid listened to the others of the patrol filling everyone in of the details of death with an empty expression, being so used to death and despair as she once worked as a source of medical attention during war. Only the inwards curl of her lips would serve the thought of being glad that spencer was examining a severed head, Ingrid loved working with live or barely alive things, it was one less body bag to send back with pieces of humans during the past wars.

Under the essence of her quietness, her brain worked smoothly like a clock, stitching together an idea.She unconsciously finds herself rubbing her hands over her arms where her old scars almost feel as if to be itching with an old pain. The memory of hot, burning pain would linger until Marcus made his depart. Ingrid snapped out of her own world, using the couch’s armrest to push her to a stand (her sore joints would crack during this). “Huah. The work of the order ages us all faster than time.” Ingrid added, nodded to Victor, acknowledging his answer and work.

The blonde female caught up with Marcus when they would be out of the earshot of ones in the library. “Let me accompany you. I wish to hear your grandfather’s wise words if you let me , perhaps the answer is like a puzzle, the pieces coming from a joint agreement.” Her french accent rubbed off on some of the words in an odd way, yet their forwardness added a serious tone.

[Eddie Swiss]

The Ripper sat in his lair admiring his macabre collection. There was music playing in the background. He smiled and moved over to the shelf where had the various jars of human organs and cracked one open. He found pleasure in the smell of the embalming fluid. He reached his fingers down into the jar and pulled a human heart out from the murky contents of the container. He brought it up to his lips and ran his sore-covered tongue across the organ.

Then without a moment's hesitation, he sunk his rotted teeth into the flesh of the organ. The wet sound of flesh being torn, and blood pouring into his mouth. He chewed, and took another bite. After polishing off the organ he closed the jar and set it back upon the shelf. He grabbed his hat, and long black cloak and made for the exit of the sewers. It had only been a few hours but he needed more. He was running out.

---

(Forgot to add Marcus' bit)

Marcus nodded as Ingrid followed after him. He moved down the dusty hallway and into a room at the far end of the headquarters. He stepped into the room and was immediately bathed in an orange glow from the furnace, and noticed his grandfather hammering away on a glowing piece of metal.

"Ah, Marcus, Ingrid. Good to see you." He plunged the metal into the barrel of water causing steam to billow, and a hissing sound to fill their ears. He cracked a smile on his soot covered face. "What can I aid you with?"

"The Ripper. He killed a very young girl tonight and the other Victor came across some records from decades ago suggesting more people like us. I figured you'd know something like that." He stared intuitively at his grandfather.

---

Victor nodded and set his tools down and motioned for Marcus and Ingrid to sit at his work table. It was covered in weapon blueprints, dusty documents, and a partially finished bottle of red wine.

"As you know, The Order was established by Queen Victoria a few years ago starting with myself and some others. They were all killed, or died naturally and hence we needed new members so Marcus sought you all out when I handed leadership over to him." He paused to take a swig from the wine and set the bottle back down in his lap. "However, we weren't the first of our kind to hunt down the unknown or evil so to speak."

"Back in the dark ages there was an order of knights called the Templars. They were organized by the Catholic Church to do religious pilgrimages across the land and give faith to those in need. However, they had their secrets as they also burned people accused of witchcraft, sorcery, you name it. Eventually the order was disbanded and everyone who had been part of the Templars died off." He drank some more of the wine, getting visibly drunk.

"When we worked our first case as The Order before any of you were a part of this, we were hunting down an accused Witch. She was kidnapping children and sacrificing them to apparently entice some otherworldy entity named Olaf. We found her, and burnt her on the cross. It's the last we ever heard of Olaf, but there was another group of radical Catholic priests who knew of the supernatural who also hunted down monsters, but instead of killing they would attempt to exorcise them." He went to take another swig from the bottle but it was empty. He frowned at the empty contents.

"I came into possession of all of their documents after they captured a werewolf and attempted to exorcise it. The entire group was slaughtered in the night. All forty members were found dead the next morning. So, to keep matters secret the Queen ordered me to burn the place down and steal all of their documents from their archives. This is most likely what your friend found in the library."

[VATROU]

Victor Crow

Marcus inspected the journals picking one of them up, he spoke reading it. Noting that aside from the brain the victim was brutalized in the same manner as the others. He spoke of her age, and the fact that she wasn't among his usual targets. “So it must be getting desperate. According to my research, of flesh eating monsters a Ghoul seems to be the most, though it’s odd indeed. I can’t be certain but most of what I have here seems to match with their common diet. The thing is? it displays an intelligence above what is described in the books stored here. When you encounter it again? Try using a light source. See how it reacts, if it is off put by it then it may very well be a Ghoul.”

Marcus spoke, saying that his grandfather might know something about another order or something like them. Marcus turned and left seeking answers from a man who held many, as Ingrid and Victor followed, though Victor was the last to enter the room, he still overheard the conversation regarding the Templars as he entered. Marcus's grandfather, who shared a first name alongside Victor Crow told a tale of how he acquired many of the books in their library from those killed by a Werewolf. It still was puzzling to Victor, many journals still came from decades prior, and some seemed to only suggest that the recipients were only acquaintances.”Fascinating.” Victor spoke holding his chin.”But I think you’re only partly right. It’s true many journals and letters seem to be for the same recipients, but many still suggest that there are other individuals out there actively hunting the occult. Perhaps only a handful, or even across the world. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume that others out there have taken to hunting these beasts and monsters in secret as we have. They could very well be labeled criminals for such actions, whilst we have the backing of the Queen, explaining a murder of a monster to the authorities would be utter madness. I think we should be on the lookout for others fitting such a profile, perhaps they could be future companions to us, and have books to expand our knowledge of monsters.” Victor stepped back in deep thought, waiting for the others to respond.

[Truth]

Hadley very much enjoyed tea, he especially liked spiced tea. Though, the tea here was Earl Grey, not the best but overall good. He sat himself on a sofa and sipped his tea, he looked around to find that Marcus, Ingrid, and Victor had made their way into the next room.

He stood from the comfortable sofa and made his way there as well, still carrying his peacemaker in it’s holster. He entered the room just after Crow had finished speaking and stood behind his two mates whom sat facing the older gentleman. “If you’d like my input - Hunting monsters is not difficult in most cases, as I’m sure all of us here know, this is to say that anyone could do it and I agree with Mr. Crow, there most certainly are people that hunt them, just as we do. Though, I’d have to disagree on the suggestion that they’d have materials on these… beasts that we don’t. However, I do agree that they could prove to be valuable allies.” He gave them a moment to respond, perhaps not long enough.

“Now, what was it that you were saying to them? I’d very much like to know, as I’m sure most would.” He was now talking to the older man in the room.

[xAsunaWolfx]

Ingrid continually ran fingers across her forehead to remove small sweat bead there. She wasn’t very sure if it was due to being in a room with a furnace and a few other bodies or how much she ran everyone’s words and try to piece it together, likely the latter. She slumped in her seat with a heavy sigh, oh how her head buzzed as if she had taken one too many swigs of alcohol.

“If anyone is of worth becoming an ally of us, just as Hadley said they should either have records or have been close to the Ripper just as us. Maybe it’s worth keeping an eye on not only the ripper but other subjects close to our scene, and newspapers. Since we can’t bring up the existence of this to authorities to keep this from becoming public, I’m sure someone else has been crazy enough to do so in the past. People like that are the laughing and conversational points of the public, plus older newspapers should be on record somewhere, if not here. Maybe we could track those people down if they’re still alive.” Ingrid tapped her fingers on her thighs, chewing on her bottom lip thoughtfully. “Yes, hunting isn’t as difficult, depending on whether you want to follow him or have him come to us. Baiting, maybe. A young, prostitute women.…”

[Eddie Swiss]

"The risk with allying ourselves with outside sources is making us noticeable. There's no way Victoria would allow us to do that, and if she found out we did something behind her back..." Marcus eyed everyone in the room. "We'll be seeing each other at the gallows." He looked over at his Grandfather who nodded in agreement. Marcus withdrew one of his cigars from inside his jacket and lit it up, and inhaled some of the smoke and blew it out.

"Plus, The Ripper only came to prominence last year. There is barely any records of him other than the five murders of those prostitutes in the paper. Not to mention the entire public think he's died since we've been covering up every victim that hasn't reached the public eye." He took a longer drag on the cigar. "My only suggestion is we find out where he's operating from, and drop in for a surprise attack. Get him where he lives and end him once and for all. I won't seek outside sources unless we're truly desperate."

---

Victor nodded at his Grandson's decision not to go for outside help.

"Marcus is correct. If Queen Victoria discovered any of you went for outside help she would make sure we were punished accordingly." He moved over to one of his shelves stacked with bottles of wine and produced another and began to drink from it. He sat down at the table, and propped his wooden leg up onto the table to relieve some of the stress on his amputated stump.

"The Ripper's victims are found near the Thames, and the surrounding area. Maybe you should start looking there. Abandoned buildings, you name it."

[VATROU]

Victor Crow

As Victor listened to the responses Hadley agreed that others could be hunting monsters just as they, but thought that anything they held didn't compare to what they had in their library.”Mr. Hadley, I spend most of my waking hours reading through book upon book, noting inconsistencies between various myths and legends. Some books say Vampires burn in the sun, others say they are unaffected. I read and compile my findings to ascertain my theory that some sub races have formed under unique circumstances. Localized eviloution as it were. A little pun there for some humor. I think that rare species of monsters have adapted over the years. This seems to be very rare thankfully for us. But I do believe these adaptations exist, written down by some unknown hunter or witness.”

Ingrid spoke, saying that any potential allies would have to be closing in on the Ripper as they were.” I disagree. Just as we were found and recruited so can those who hunt monsters can. Outside of us here, very few would be privy to the knowledge of our elusive foe. And with an ever increasing list of monsters, chances are they are already hunting another dangerous beast.”

“And as for baiting our Ripper. Well I’m uncomfortable with the idea. Putting an innocent woman in harms way just to catch our foe, just lowers us to his standards. Another trained member here is another story however, someone who’s young enough, and know’s how to handle herself perhaps?”

Marcus spoke advising everyone against allying themselves with an outsider, would lead them to a quick hanging.”An outsider? No by no means. I was only suggesting that those other individuals could make for potential recruits for the Order. Many probably think that it’s just them out there hunting these beasts, and as for our Ripper. Well he’s not the only monster out there is he? There is plenty of vile creatures who hunt man, and few who hunt them back. Now onto our Ripper. Whatever it is. It has more than enough intelligence to single out it’s victims, it’s odd why it chooses young women when there are more than enough homeless and destitute to pick from. But there’s not a lot of information to go on.”

[Truth]

Hadley took the time to listen to when everyone had to say, about the possibility of others and he soon dismissed it. While Crow explained his point, William pulled a chair from the hall and sat adjacent to Ingrid and Victor.

"What do we know about him? He tears all of the innards from his victims." Hadley remembered his chase with him, how he'd had to use a carriage to not fall behind. "When I chased that bloody thing earlier, I'd first seen him on a rooftop. That was but moments from when he'd killed that young lady. I'd only been able to keep track of where he was going by the loud sound of his footfalls."

"He'd also left trails of blood." He said, remembering the bloody smears on the alley walls. "Victor," he turned to the man he was addressing, "How many monsters do we know of? How many possess incredible speed and how many of them enjoy human flesh enough to rip their prey's organs out?"

[Nobodyman123]

"You alright in there mate? I can hear you from across the hall, I just wanted to make sure you weren't redecorating the place. You know how Marcus gets." said Sir Easton with concern in his voice. Wilhelm nodded solemnly. "Sorry Englishman. I'm... just a little homesick." he said in his best English. "I can't really go back home, I'm afraid."

Shaking himself out of his revery, he tried to change the subject. "Where is everyone? If they are at a meeting, we need to sit in on this." Wilhelm went back into his room and got a shirt on. Assuming Easton would follow, they both went into the main lobby room, where Marcus and the others were discussing this Jack the Ripper.

"How many monsters do we know of? How many possess incredible speed and how many of them enjoy human flesh enough to rip their prey's organs out?" said Hadley. The idea that more than one of these monsters could exist made Wilhelm sick to his stomach, but it was a resonable line of questioning.

"How do we know that he is doing this alone?" quipped Wilhelm. "Maybe someone is helping him?"

[Themerlinhawk]

Sir Easton shook his head. "Highly unlikely, one of my friends at The yard provided me with a copy of the information they have on the Ripper case, given his propensity for killing waiting and killing again it seems like the killings would be far more rapid if he were to have help"

With that Eric produced the police reports setting them on the table next too Marcus' Grandfathers second bottle of wine. "You're welcome to examine the reports, I doubt there is too much of use in them as I've already been over them but perhaps Mr. Crow will find something I've missed as he seems to be in the process of running down what exactly The Ripper is maybe the police reports will be of use." Turning to Mr. Crow "Richtofen is right we need to know what exactly we're dealing with. Hadley is one of the best shots I've ever encountered and The Ripper was fast enough to not only out run Richtofen and I but get away without Hadley putting lead in him, The next time we have a run in with him it could be one of us that ends up getting eviserated by this psycopath. And if he is some sort of supernatural monster we need to know if our guns are even going to work on him"

With that Eric fetched a stool and returned to the table with it in one hand and a roll of paper in the other "This is a map of Whitechapel, I took the liberty of marking the sites of his kills. Perhaps it will be of use in locating his base of operations" Eric unrolled the map on the table for everyone to see.

[Eddie Swiss]

Marcus nodded.

"Most of the victims are being found near the Thames, correct?" He pointed to all the kills, each of them happening within a few minutes walk to the river. He then pointed to numerous buildings in the area.

"That means he has to operating near there. This means he resides in some place that's dark, damp, and cold." He grabbed the bottle of his grandfather's wine and set it aside.

"We need you sober, grandfather."

---

Victor sighed and watched as his grandson hid the bottle of wine.

"From what you're telling me in terms of organ theft, it sounds like a Ghoul. Most of his victims are found near the Thames, and in alleyways surrounding the area. It also explains him residing somewhere damp, and cold. It slows down the decaying process in dead flesh." He produced a torn up piece of paper from inside his robes and set it down on the table. He pointed to it with a soot-covered finger.

"Luckily, they can be killed with most of our weaponry as long as it can destroy the brain. I've only hunted a handful of Ghouls, but none of them have really been this unique. Most will target aimlessly and kill anything, however our friend here must retain some of his human essence. He only targets women correct? None of his victims have been confirmed as men. Except for one." He spun the piece of paper around showing it to the group gathered around the table.

"One of the victims was a confirmed transvestite. A man in woman's clothing. This explains it slightly. Our Ghoul still has a thought process and doesn't thrive on pure instinct alone." He re-attached his wooden leg and hobbled over to one of his weapon racks and produced an oddly discolored jar with something floating around inside of it. He set the jar down on the table and popped off the lid and removed a slightly decayed, and moldy human heart. The stench of rotting flesh exploding into the room.

"You can't use living bait, but he'll be drawn to this. I've had this little beauty for a while now. No Ghoul will be able to resist this." He placed it back into the jar and handed it to Sir Easton.

[VATROU]

Victor Crow

Hadley spoke, saying that the Ripper tears the innards out from his victims, and escaped via rooftop out running even a carriage. He said it left a trail of blood behind and asked how many monsters they know of, and among them which would be a prime suspect. “Well Hadley, I’ve already spoken to Marcus, but considering the pattern of death, and it’s food source. I want to say a Ghoul, other than five or six demons and monsters. The behavioral patterns and abilities of creatures barely mentioned in a library I’ve just scratched the surface of. Of the texts I’ve read, most describe a Ghoul a weak, cowardly, opportunist creature. It feeds from the dead and alive alike without discerning from the living. The Ripper we’ve seen hunts only women, young and alone.”

Easton asked if the weapons they had would even be effective? to which Victor, Marcus’s grandfather replied that most weapons would just fine. This is where Victor Crow interjected.”The problem with killing Ghouls according to the reports gathered. Is that the brain must be completely destroyed, regeneration, agility, a resistance to pain, and sharp claw like fingernails. Tell this a difficult task, done by more experienced hunters, such as your grandfather Marcus. And even then most of what I’ve read suggest burning them to be sure.”

As Marcus’s grandfather moved to retrieve a jar from a shelf a opened it flooding the room with a horrid stench, as Victor reeled back and ran into a corner while he buckled to the smell and vomited.

[Themerlinhawk]

Eric took the jar and sniffed ever so slightly the stench of death didn't bother him as much as it use to, being part of the Met had that effect on most of its detectives. Not much phased you when you were hauling four month old corpses out of the Thames or his personal favorite had been when he had to collect a women of the nights corpse from the back room of an opium den where it had been rotting for atleast a month and in reality they had to cart the remains out in buckets because most of her had melted into the bed. They had taken the bed as welll. And promplty burned it.

Eric assessed the Jar "Okay makes sense I open this up and he comes running we ambush the bastard and we put as much firepower as we have into his head." Sir Easton hefted the jar with a morbid grin "this should be interesting indeed"

[Truth]

William listened as The Ripper was determined to be a ghoul. How would I kill one?..- Hadley thought to himself, preparing to ask, when the older man answered saying that they'd have to destroy the brain, Victor confirmed it not long after as being true. The old man produced a jar and opened it, Hadley's hand shot to his nose. "What is that? Blimey!" It was a heart, though not red and healthy as one might think - this one was black and dead, it also reeked. Marcus' grandfather explained how to catch the ripper with it then handed it to Easton, who then explained that it was simple.

"It seems really simple mate, you boys lure him in say... an alleyway, I'll be waiting there with my rifle and once I've got a shot - I'll put a bullet through that slimy git's head." At least it seemed that simple.