"Boneyard? What are you talking about? I thought that were tires burning...wait...a l l - t h o s e - t r a v e l e r s ? "
Daniels voice nearly falters as he realizes what Charlie might talk about.
Charlie takes a breath and says, "I'm going back. There might be some evidence there we could use when we get out - something to prove what's really going on here. Come with me if you want to help."
He turns around and heads back to the other side of the building, keeping his eyes peeled.
Perception
If he doesn't see any particular threats, he'll look around for a weapon that might be near him - a metal pipe or club of some sort, probably - and begin exploring the scene.
"Wait, wait you did not explain what you..."
As he follws Charlie and finally sees what he saw, he fals silent. For the first few moments he just stumble through the gruesome display from one direction to another, when he finally pulls himself together he helps Charlie to look for evidence or anything useful to them - and for anything that might later help to identify the poor victims.
Seeing the look on Charlie's face, Victor steels himself against the sight. Walking beside his companions he stops at the view and says simply The believers will pay for this atrocity. A look of determination with an undercurrent of immense fury, shows on his face as he looks around. Having seen piles of corpses in the war this pile of discarded and burned items is almost worse.
Victor's keen senses spot something that could prove useful later on: The suitcase of a door-to-door salesman for knives. Inside is a collection of 15 knives of various sizes that look really sharp. Ten of them are light and small enough to be thrown, the others will surely make good meleee weapon.
After investigating the strange car and wagon boneyard, you are kind of relieved not to have found any bodies among the junk. The worst thing however, is a photo album of a family with three children, who seemed to be on a journey from San Francisco to Boston all across the US. Handwritten entries next to the photos prove that Dunwich lay on the last leg of their journey - there's written Heading to a nice village now, daddy says is shortcut, two days to Boston, yeah! Oh, and Clara stinks!
You guess that the earliest wagons in this junkyard must be lying here for at least ten years, but while the older pieces are rare, there are quite alot of rather new looking car remains. However, since they are heavily burned you can't be 100% sure.
Charlie reaches for one of the knives, feeling the grip tightly with one hand and testing its weight. If it doesn't come with a sheath, he'll look around for something to wrap it in so it doesn't cut him on his belt or in his coat.
"We should probably hold onto the rest of those," he points toward the rest of the knives, "At least a few of them, they might come in handy and we'll probably wish we had more weapons at some point soon."
Murphy maintains his vigil, ensure they aren't set upon by surprise.
After they've investigated the burnt cars, Charlie continues down towards the riverside trail.
Daniel will cautiously (or as cautiously as he is able) scout the immediate surroundings of the car and luggage graveyard, returning to the building housing our band of not so merry men before it gets dark (unless something - probably something bad - happens before that.
Murph is still on guard...
Victor follows Charlie grimly, hoping that he gets the chance to meet up with some of these so called "believers" who need to pay for their crimes.
Reggie has no clue how to use a throwing knife but he takes a silver handled carving knife from a wedding cutlery set. Tucking it in his belt he silently follows Dr. Alden.
Cautiously Reggie, Victor and Charlie move back to Dunwich while the rest of the investigators stay behind at the old sawmill. As the sun wanders to the west, the large building becomes more and more a dark silhouette right in front of the blazing red fireball.
The river stench is nearly unbearable and you wander how many animals must have died in its brown waters to cause such an odour.
You walk along the river banks, heading back to Dunwich, as you suddenly hear a strange bubbling and croaking sound from your right
As you look to the right, you spot a strange two-headed, dog-sized, toad sitting on the other side of the river between some large stones.
Victor gets a shocked look on his face and says quietly What in the name of god is that? while pointing at the creature.
Charlie stops, turns, and looks in the direction Victor is pointing. He gulps loudly at the sight of the creature, and grips his knife tightly. "I don't know, but we should be careful about drawing too much attention to ourselves out here. I say we keep moving and if it attacks, we try to take it down quietly."
Reggies face pales when he sees the strange toad.
"Right, avoid the monsters. Focus on the murderers."
...
"God I should have never left Berlin."
The toad is not aggressive and as you leave it just croaks loudly and hops into the murky waters...
After about an hour of walking the first houses of Dunwich come into sight. There are enough bushes and small trees from the river leading up to the street and you guess you could sneak closely to the buildings without being seen. Everything seems quiet and the silence would be complete weren't the cicadas singing their afternoon songs.
Charlie motions for Reggie and the others to follow him, and he begins stealing across the yard toward the house. "Which one is it?" he hisses quietly as they approach.
Stealth
It's the first house on the left. A large lantern hangs from the veranda roof.
Victor moves through the houses cautiously, checking for any signs of trouble.
Reggie finds a few twisted branches hidden in the grass but at least keeps his footing.
"The house is is the first one there. On the left. The one with the big lantern."
The freshly painted white house is one of the nicer buildings of Dunwich. A large red lantern hangs from the veranda roof and a big fat reddish tabby cat lies on the doormat in front of the door.
You're not sure if someone's at home, since you can't hear or see someone. A window on the first floor stands open though.
"I say we check out that window, first." Charlie moves toward it quietly, keeping an eye on the other houses for activity or movement of any kind.
Stealth
Perception
Now that you're below the window you can hear faint music from above, most probably a gramophone. The record seems to be jumping though and repeats again and again the same ten seconds of a woeful blues singer...
"Do we knock at the window or at the door?" Charlie inquires in a hushed voice.
Victor whispers Wait a moment...the record is repeating over and over. Don't you think if he would have removed the needle by now? Something may be wrong. Let me check it out first. Victor will pull himself through the opening as quietly as he can, pulling his gun out as soon as he is inside.
Climbing through the window Victor pulls himself into a large bedroom. There is indeed a gramophone standing next to the large king-size bed and beneath it is a puddle of spilled wine, but no bottle. A closed wardrobe and a small dresser complement the furniture.
Two doors lead out of the room, one is open and judging by the white tiles you can already spot, leads into a bathroom.
Charlie decides to climb in after Victor, scrambling up over the window sill and onto the floor of the house.
Character updated
Character updated
----Back at the sawmill:
The uncertainess gnaws at your nerves - are your friends who went to Dunwich alright? Thinking of the car cemetary you're only now realising what proportions this whole thing is having...
Suddenly Cummings, who was exploring the large main hall, shouts over to you
Guys, you should take a look at this!
His voice echoes in the large room and by that is warped eerily.
Victor points towards the bathroom, signaling the others to look in there while he goes to the door leading to the rest of the house and quietly opens the door a crack to peek through.
Peeking through the small slit you see a stairwell leading down right in front of you. The door you are hiding behind lies on the right side of a corridor, but you are unable to see what is left and right of you unless you open the door a bit further.
Charlie moves to the bathroom, knife in hand and ready for trouble.
Cautiously you peek into the bathroom and...sigh in relief as the room is totally unremarkable.
There is a bathtub at the opposite side of the small room and a large mirror to your right. A towel lies on the floor and there is humidity on the tiles, someone must have bathed here not more than thirty minutes ago.
The sound of Cummins voice, echoing through the empty building and breaking the angstridden silence pulls Danile out of his gloomy thoughts. He grabs the iron he was keeping with him - more a crouch for his valiance then a weapon against the horrors seen and imagined here, and follows the man into the main hall without a word.
Victor proceeds out into the main hall quietly and looks around carefully. Checking each corridor he will go and check any doors upstairs before proceeding downstairs.
Charlie hastens out of the bathroom and after Victor, not wanting to be caught alone in this stranger's house. "Reggie, c'mon, you're the one who knows this guy!" he calls out the window to their friend.
Both corridors, left and right, end in front of a door. By chance you decide to open te left one first. You curse silently as the door creaks like an old ship in a storm as you open it, but the room behind it is empty. It is larger than the first bedroom you fou entered and overlooks the river, so it would make a perfect master bedroom and you guess the architect of the house had once selected this room exactly for that, but the owner of the house must have had his reasons not to put any piece of furniture into it.
"That's bizarre," Charlie says quietly, walking into the room and looking around.
Perception
As you walk into the room, you notice that something is wrong with the carpet. Something must be lying under it since it feels so uneven under your feet.
Just a moment after Charlie has entered the room, you hear that the front door is opened below you!
"There's something under this carpet," Charlie says, his face expressing the confusion, but then his head snaps up at the sound of the front door.
"That could be Mr. Harris," Charlie says, "Or it could be somebody that brought him trouble. Should we confront him, or get out while we still can!?"
Charlie decides to wait and see who has come inside downstairs before cutting open the carpet of a complete stranger's house, though he is very curious as to what could be causing the bumps under the carpet. "I say we talk to whoever it is down there: if it's Mr. Harris, we'll explain the situation. If it's somebody else, then they're probably not welcome here and Mr. Harris would appreciate us removing them from the premises!"
"The only thing is... I don't know what Harris looks like."
Either way we nood to see who it is. Victor whispers before moving out to cover the stairs and attempt to see who it is that came in the house, motioning Reggie to follow him in case it is Mr. Harris.
Cautiously you walk down the stairs and try to peek into the main hall. Two men stand there, back turned to you. They wear dark trenchcoats and hats and seem to have a silent conversation, only whispering comes to your ears.