<strong>Malcolm Wade -- Out of One Storm, Into Another</strong><br/><br/>The others milled about for a moment at the bottom of the steps as Mal strode toward the front door. His hand was inches away from knocking on the door when the ornately carved entrance swung open, grave-yard silent. Malcolm peered into the dimly lit room and watched with not a little trepidation as the lights flickered to life.<br/><br/>"Yeah, that's not creepy or anything. Really," he muttered to himself. Cathy hovered to his right, swirling in a formless mist. Her chatter took on a more urgent tone than usual, the way it usually did whenever they were about to meet a heavy player. She still wasn't saying anything that seemed directly relevant though, so he chalked it up to a general sense of disquiet rather than an immediate threat. Mal felt the others joining him at the door and turned to face them, his radio in hand.<br/><br/>"Alright. Judging from the reports we read and what we've heard about this place, I realize this probably won't be a popular suggestion. But I believe we'll be most effective if we split up. I doubt operating as a large group would offer any serious protection, and I don't know about the rest of you but I'd like to find whatever this thing is and deal with it quick. Our best bet should probably be to work either alone or in pairs, so we can comb through the place faster and see what we find. The radios will let us stay in contact, so if anyone runs into something they feel like they can't handle alone, give a shout. If we can, the rest of us'll come running.<br/><br/>"I guess this probably goes without saying, but stay sharp. We may not know what this thing is, but we know it's got a lot of juice and it ain't shy of throwing it around." Malcolm turned back to the open door and took a deep breath, then walked into Harrowgate Manor. As the others entered behind him, the hairs on the back of his neck started to tingle and the doors swung shut once again. Mal almost would have sworn he heard a faint, echoing laugh from deeper inside.<br/><br/><em>'Right. Time to go to work.'</em>