Howard tosses and turns on his narrow cot.
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In the deep of the night...
You are having nigthmares again. This time you awake in complete darkness. Not due to a starless night or curtained room, but rather the absolute darkness of the void. Frozen and immobile, there is no possibility of movement. Though your eyes feel open, nothing can be seen through the impenetrable blackness. You try to move but is as if you have no body, you try to hear but is as if you have no eyes, you try to ear but is as if you have no ears. The only sensation is a slight buzzing in your mind, and this, through slow increments, grows in volume until it becomes a terrible buzzing. You think you can hear words throbbing through the uneven tones. A sharp, excruciating pain follows, and the darkness is replaced by a sudden influx of light as nebulous shapes come into focus.
Discordant images flash before you. A fragmentary vision of a forest of huge twisted oaks thick with loathsome fungoid growths appears first, the sky barely visible beneath the canopy of leaves. This scene is followed by a city of sky blue marble. Slender minarets are visible, as are high walls lined with bronze statues dressed in medieval garb. The scene then shifts to a windswept and desolate place spotted with squat granite huts. Unclear humanoid shapes lurk nearby, dancing and capering around flickering green flames. A massive vista of cylinder-shaped towers follows. A twilight world illuminated by sickly yellow orbs. A sudden cold fear builds as you stare at the shadows lurking beyond the city’s thirty-foot high doorways.
These visions fade and you find you are still immobile but now seem to be in an overgrown clearing of twisted weeds surrounded by trees. It is broad daylight, yet no bird sings. Powerless and immobile, you sense things moving nearby. From nowhere you hear a gut wrenching woman’s scream from the trees.
Sugar Maple trees.
You awake back in bed, frightened and confused.
Howard Franklyn seems to be awake, also panting in his bed.
Do a Sanity roll (1/1D4 loss)
You awake in complete darkness. Not due to a starless night or curtained room, but rather the absolute darkness of the void. Frozen and immobile, there is no possibility of movement. Though your eyes feel open, nothing can be seen through the impenetrable blackness. You try to move but is as if you have no body, you try to hear but is as if you have no eyes, you try to ear but is as if you have no ears. The only sensation is a slight buzzing in your mind, and this, through slow increments, grows in volume until it becomes a terrible buzzing. You think you can hear words throbbing through the uneven tones. A sharp, excruciating pain follows, and the darkness is replaced by a sudden influx of light as nebulous shapes come into focus.
Discordant images flash before you. A fragmentary vision of a forest of huge twisted oaks thick with loathsome fungoid growths appears first, the sky barely visible beneath the canopy of leaves. This scene is followed by a city of sky blue marble. Slender minarets are visible, as are high walls lined with bronze statues dressed in medieval garb. The scene then shifts to a windswept and desolate place spotted with squat granite huts. Unclear humanoid shapes lurk nearby, dancing and capering around flickering green flames. A massive vista of cylinder-shaped towers follows. A twilight world illuminated by sickly yellow orbs. A sudden cold fear builds as you stare at the shadows lurking beyond the city’s thirty-foot high doorways.
These visions fade and you find you are still immobile but now seem to be in an overgrown clearing of twisted weeds surrounded by trees. It is broad daylight, yet no bird sings. Powerless and immobile, you sense things moving nearby. From nowhere you hear a gut wrenching woman’s scream from the trees.
Sugar Maple trees.
You awake back in bed, frightened and confused.
Do a Sanity roll (0/1D3 loss)
You awake in complete darkness. Not due to a starless night or curtained room, but rather the absolute darkness of the void. Frozen and immobile, there is no possibility of movement. Though your eyes feel open, nothing can be seen through the impenetrable blackness. You try to move but is as if you have no body, you try to hear but is as if you have no eyes, you try to ear but is as if you have no ears. The only sensation is a slight buzzing in your mind, and this, through slow increments, grows in volume until it becomes a terrible buzzing. You think you can hear words throbbing through the uneven tones. A sharp, excruciating pain follows, and the darkness is replaced by a sudden influx of light as nebulous shapes come into focus.
Discordant images flash before you. A fragmentary vision of a forest of huge twisted oaks thick with loathsome fungoid growths appears first, the sky barely visible beneath the canopy of leaves. This scene is followed by a city of sky blue marble. Slender minarets are visible, as are high walls lined with bronze statues dressed in medieval garb. The scene then shifts to a windswept and desolate place spotted with squat granite huts. Unclear humanoid shapes lurk nearby, dancing and capering around flickering green flames. A massive vista of cylinder-shaped towers follows. A twilight world illuminated by sickly yellow orbs. A sudden cold fear builds as you stare at the shadows lurking beyond the city’s thirty-foot high doorways.
These visions fade and you find you are still immobile but now seem to be in an overgrown clearing of twisted weeds surrounded by trees. It is broad daylight, yet no bird sings. Powerless and immobile, you sense things moving nearby. From nowhere you hear a gut wrenching woman’s scream from the trees.
Sugar Maple trees.
You awake back in bed, frightened and confused.
Hank Macon seems to be awake, also panting in his bed.
Do a Sanity roll (0/1D3 loss)
Sanity versus 47
If fail, take sanity loss.
Hank looked at Howard. "Good lord, what a nightmare! I can't get any rest in this place!"
Howard wakes up in a cold sweat, and lies awake in the darkness, until a dreamless sleep overtakes him in the small hours.
There is something a little uncanny about this place I think .
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Thick, angry looking clouds set the tone for a bad time had by all. What starts as a misty sprinkle turns into a biblical deluge during the course of the day.
Blaine spends the day with the land surveyors.
When the rain starts to become a problem, he suggests you wait in the truck with the driver until he comes back. He tells them he’s going to a nearby farm to use their telephone to call the Maclearan house to see if the other group is back yet.
Blaine smiles at you.
"The rain shouldn’t last too long; just wait it out in the truck and things will be brighter when the sun comes out."
With that, he disappears through the heavy rain.
"Why is Blaine being friendly all of a sudden? I ferris my didn't expect that from him..."
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Waking in a cold sweat, her nightmare, so real a moment ago, clings and won't fade like most dreams should. She shudders at the memories of it, and the odd sensations of being watched in the darkness. Trembling, she doesn't return to sleep, and instead sits in her bed, trying to forget the nightmare. She does not discuss it the next morning.
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Rushing back to the truck when the rain goes from gentle mist to torrential downpour Abi is more than happy to sit in the cab and wait for Blaine to get himself soaked. 'With the rain the way it is, and the roads turning to mud as fast as they are, maybe one of you guys should go with him to make sure he's ok?' Abi suggests, making it clear that she doesn't want to go back into the rain, but also worried about Blaine's safety after what happened to the last group of students out in these hills last year.
Hank looks around at the others. "This weather is a sight, isn't it? I don't want to get out in it, as I left my galoshes at home," he smiled nervously. "If any of us tog looking for him, we all go. I don't know my way around this place at all."
Excuse Mr. Harlow, do you have any idea how close this house is that our friend went to?
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Not likeing the idea of anyone being out in this wet mess Abigail suggests Well, its been about 30 minutes at least, if the road can handle it lets drive up to the farm, we can at least save Blaine the walk back in the rain. If we pass him on the way there, or back, we'll pick him up and continue from there .
Not wanting to tromp around in the muck, Hank quickly nodded at Abigail's suggestion. "She's got the right of it. Let's go find the group. I'm sure they are just waiting on us."
Trying to dig in this mud isn't going to be possible today; we might as well head back.
"He's a pain, but I agree with the lady here. I'd be right angry if this lot left me out in a driving storm like this. Let's go pick his grumpy self up, and then get to the farmhouse."
If you think we can find him easily.
To the driver: This farmhouse, is on the track, can we drive there?
"Well, let's drive then. No reason for us to get drenched if we don't have to do so. Let's do it."
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Joe Harlow, your driver, accepts to try and drive you back to the farm, leaving Robert Blaine behind.
As the truck crosses the Gismend River Bridge, the surging river sweeps part of the bridge away. The rear of the truck swings out and the vehicle is plunged into the river, partially submerging it in the water. There’s no way it can climb the muddy slope of the river unaided. It’s not far to the shore, just a matter of climbing on the hood and making a Jump roll: failure probably means slipping as the jump is made, causing the investigator to fall into the water. Or you can try to wait in the truck, hoping the river won't carry it off.
Hank wasn't going to wait and possibly get carried away in the truck. He clutches his coat tightly, gets out and tris to make the leap.
Jump
Unfortunately, he stubbed his toe and pitched directly into the drink, floundering in the cold water.
Howard watch dismayed as Hank pitches into the muddy torrent.
Howard tries to grab Hank, to pull him back into the truck.
Hold on!
Howard futilely pulls at Hank, but the raging water won't let him go.
"Glug, glug."
Abigail! Help me pull him up!