The missing persons search seems like as good a place as any to start.
Agent Olive consents to your decision and follows along with the group. I can't find anything else out about the jeep or any suspicious activities committed in this area by unidentified blonde Caucasian males. Though with the false Ohio plates they are likely "out of towners" like ourselves.
The group drives the rest of the way in silence, a short trip of about ten minutes. As you approach the area you find several civilian cars parked along the roadside with news vans, emergency responders, and law enforcement cruisers. The command center is a mobile HQ RV similar to those used by FEMA and the EPA, marked though with banners and signage indicating the West Virginia State Police and the Office of the Governor. You manage to find a small spot off to the side and squeeze your rented SUV into it.
Damn news feed, I can't make out what it was those homeless men were shouting at the cameras. I couldn't tell if they were simply crazy mad, off their rockers or if they seriously thought the cops were going to somehow harm them. It does seem the homeless situation in town has increased dramatically over the last three months, after almost two years of a steady decline.
After stowing her gear and the files Myers had submitted to DG in her satchel and tucking it under the seat Agent Olive climbs out of the ride and checks over her gear. Pistol, windbreaker, ID, ballcap, radio, earpiece. All seemed good as she waited for the others. Lastly she pulled her cell to get a GPS reading, pausing a moment and reaching back into the car. She draws a small notepad and checks over some scribblings. Guys, we are in almost the exact same spot as one of the GPS photos, the entrance pic of the white shadow. The other pics would be, she turns around a time or two, comparing the rescue search parties heading in other directions then back to the team. She then nods up at the security surveillance camera on the lot sign pole. She nonchalantly swings her arm in one direction as she speaks. They would be that way, about 20 degrees off the eastern edge of the hiker search team grids.
Let's check in with Command to let them know the FBI is here as a courtesy, and then check up in that direction.
He pops the trunk and puts a grenade in his jacket pocket. Just in case. And checks his pistol, drops two extra clips in his other pocket.
Radio Check he says into his throat mic, and then heads toward the Command center.
Higs walks up to whomever looks to be in charge.
Agent Ormandas. We are in the area on another matter and heard of the problems. Can we assist? We could check out the campsite for physical evidence
Nearby the mobile command center Ormando entered a community group is setting up a hydration station and concessions area to provide for the searchers as the filter in and out of the command area. A small number of volunteers mill around and talk amongst themselves, waiting for assignment to a search team.
Inside the trailer a senior looking state trooper looks over your small team and then checks over his clipboard of assignments. We have a forensics team looking at the campsite now, and most of our search teams are already in the field. If you are not familiar with the area I would need to assign you an experienced guide to provide assistance. He quickly adds your names to his register of pending volunteers, likely those same ones which you saw loitering around outside.
Look, to be honest we just don't have enough experienced team leaders right now to take you guys out. We appreciate the offer of support, we really do. If you had a chopper that would be of more help, but every able body is of some use too. For now though I would need to ask you to wait around here for a bit. We have a national guard team coming in from Logan, they should be here in about an hour. Those guys have run drills out this way before and are familiar enough to break out and field another four search teams, your people included.
The trooper then gets pulled away for a radio call as a team reports in that they have reached their assigned grid, starting their search. The command van is cramped as more personnel come and go, a junior trooper ushering your team back out into the daylight. Hey Trooper Jeffrey, see that these guys get anything they need until Commander Tucker can assign them one of the Logan boys. A young officer comes over as the trooper closes the command trailer door behind you.
Other than Trooper Jeffrey no one seems to be paying you any particular attention or concern. Your FBI markings seem to make you appear official to most everyone present, and the young trooper is clearly overwhelmed wrangling his bunch of eager civilians, many wandering around and acting like attention-deficit cats. The distracted man looks to see if you need anything specific before heading back after the milling volunteers.
Don't stress about us. We'll find you if we need something.
Felix makes a "go ahead" motion with his hands.
Sure thing, just remember when you do go out, be extra careful if you come across any of the homeless camps. They been hit hard by this synth crap coming out of Ohio. Some kind of chemical mix of Heroin and Cocaine, real nasty blue stuff. We had two troopers accidentally exposed last month, one is still in detox and recovery. Nodding, trooper Jeffrey goes back to attend the others, leaving your group alone along the edge of the command area.
From the parking area a slightly overgrown and less frequently used hiking trail meanders through the wooded hills towards the second set of coordinates. While the area looks different in the daylight a short search turns up the area where Myers had setup his camera and snapped the image of a figure moving right to left across the camera's field of vision.
This second trail moved along another short distance, a few hundred yards perhaps, before bisecting another more heavily travelled trail. Passing it for the moment you follow the coordinates along what might pass as a game trail or natural woodland track for another couple of thousand yards. On the edge of a clearing you find the shattered and trampled bits of an average model, motion activated, night vision game camera. It appears that whatever had been captured in the last frame Myers sent had truly and angrily smashed the camera into pieces. A turning of the mess showed the camera's sim card was removed post smashing and is not found anywhere amidst the debris.
There appear to be three or four similar game trails leading out of the clearing. Whether or not you are able to follow any tracks out or at the previous location depends upon any pertinent skill checks you may attempt to make. The sun is beginning towards setting in the distance and night will come quickly to the woods. You need to decide soon what you wish to do next. Monitoring the police channels you hear the command center calling for search teams to return to base, some to be outfitted with lights and night gear, others to stand down until morning.
Ormando will check the ground for tracks (using the survival skill I presume?).
vs a base of 50
He will smell the air, and listen to the sounds of nature, as well as look at the ground and plant, seeking for anything that seems out of place.
And with THAT roll, he finds NOTHING.
Agent Olive likewise finds nothing unusual or noteworthy beyond the various trails already discovered and the ruined camera. It doesn't seem likely an animal did this, so whatever Myers found it must be at least semi-knowledgeable about tech.
Give me a minute.
Yeah I can't find any either. If they use technology then there must be either a tower or a building somewhere for them to use, unless there's a fiber optic cable run up a random tree.
Agent Olive attempts to correct herself and the misunderstanding. I'm sorry Agent Oscar, what I meant was that they seemed to deliberately recognize the significance of the camera and smashed it with intention. An animal might have recognized a human scent on it, even knocked it about, but this camera was smashed repeatedly on that scuffed rock there. Almost as if they knew for what it was used.
She picks up a piece of the housing, dangling the battery pack below it. I assumed Myers had placed this camera here and likely collected the sim card after it was destroyed. He had pictures from different points in these woods, so he likely used this camera, perhaps a few others even, to try and locate the white shadows' lair. The GPS signal sync was how he knew which camera had picked up on the creature or creatures and where specifically. Cellular service here is practically nil, save along the edges of the park. He would have had to manually come and collect the data from the units.
The agent silently smashes her fist against her leg a few times in thought, absentmindedly dropping the camera bits. I should have thought to check his car. He might have had electronics gear in it, maybe more information. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Ormando will make a few circles of this area, widening with each pass, looking for any clues.
Do we know if there is a homeless camp near here? If so, lets go see if they have seen anything
He is looking for pretty obvious things, like big blood stains, bones, trash, etc. so I am not sure what I need to roll against.
While Ormando searches for any sign of human passage or habitation Agent Oscar checks with Agent Olive regarding the map that Myers had made, marking sightings of the white shadows. Any sites marked in this area on his maps which did not have any photos sent with the initial case notes?
After a couple of minutes Olive replies in the affirmative. There is one set of GPS coordinates that are within the forest borders which does not correspond to any sightings reported by Myers. It might be worth checking out. It is maybe 15-20 minutes over in that direction, a bit deeper into the forest.
Checking his gear reflexively, Ormando heads out. He remembers his Marine Force Recon training as he moves along, keeping eye out for tracks and possible ambushes.
Agent Ormando leads the way, Agent Olive following, and Agent Oscar bringing up the rear.
It takes roughly fifteen minutes for the group to backtrack and circle along another track to the position noted on the map. The sun is just above the treeline atop the next ridge, giving maybe an hour of good daylight left before the shadows will start lengthening and the woods become a less easily navigable place. About 10 to 15 meters ahead is a large, messy, smelly clearing which was likely one of the aforementioned homeless camps. The area is quiet and there is no one present, at least not that you can see from your position on the trail.
Ok, we're going to ask if anyone has seen any new groups of people coming into the woods, if anyone has seen the missing person, and if they are willing to tell us where they get synth - new drugs at the same time as one of our problems doesn't seem like a coincidence. Anything else?
Agent Olive nods in agreement with Oscar, Sounds like a plan.
As your group moves into the clearing you realize the quiet is due to there being no one in the camp. There is debris, there is trash, there are the stains and smells of long habitation without proper sanitation or hygiene, but there is no person present. It appears as though the camp has been abandoned, likely in haste, and not too recently.
Picking up a small stack of newspapers from near what might have been a latrine Agent Olive calls out to the others, The newest paper is dated March 19th. It looks like no one has lived here for a few months now.
She looks around at the area, noticing the towels hanging on a line, sleeping bags and tarps, cushions and even a cot. Would the homeless have just up and left some of this stuff? They could have taken a lot of this with them when they moved, or even scavenged some of it after they left. Why leave it all here to just rot? And do you smell that? What is that odor, just faint, do you smell it. Seems to kind of linger here and there, just out of reach of the breeze.
This looks like blood over here.
Oscar starts looking around to see if there's a trail.
Ormando has moved through the woods in the dark before. He readies his night vision goggles, and makes sure he orients himself with landmarks and his compass and map.
He looks around the clearing (but he doesn't have any search skills, only survival).
He checks out the debris, looking for anything left behind that would be useful to a homeless person (trying to determine if whoever left here just dropped everything and ran, or they had a few minutes to grab a couple things).
He looks for any signs of a struggle or weird tracks.
if survival is appropriate, with a base score of 50 on his character sheet.
The area appears to have been the scene of a battle, perhaps two in different spots around the camp, though in the fading light it is difficult to be certain.
The blood stains Agent Oscar first noticed are old, and appear to have been made over time, with layer upon layer of blood, guts, and viscera being deposited, fresh upon old, for weeks if not months in the spot, as if it was a makeshift abattoir, bits of flesh and gore still clinging to some of the limbs and brush nearby. Sanity Check Please or lose 1d2 Sanity for the realization it was the homeless who were being butchered.
Agent Olive stumbles to the edge of the camp and vomits for a few moments, oblivious to the possibility of contaminating the scene. She takes a few minutes to collect herself and then returns to helping the team review the area.
Agent Ormando faintly smells burnt powder mixed amongst the other, more rank odors of the camp, as if someone had fired off a few rounds of black powder, within a few days, the air in the camp still thick under the forest canopy and not well vented of the stale air and ill winds of human habitation.
Two main trails seem to lead out of the encampment, aside the one which you followed to enter the camp. The first circles down and around to return to the creek, a larger shallow pool which looks to have been used for bathing and waste clearing activities, the other leads deeper into the forest.
New pics have been added to the folder as you realize the area holds several patches of a purplish slime smelling similar to what Myers had on his arm as well as potentially other things, obscured in the images. If you see something, say something, it will bolster your Search/Survival/or Forensics checks.
There's slime in the creek, but upstream of the pool it empties into. That means they either picked it up elsewhere or the slime is coming down the creek. Let's see if it's coalescing in the pool.
The slime is in the creek along the edges at a few points, on the hillside on both logs and leaves, and in splotchy patches on the ground in various spots. Surprisingly however the slime has not collected in the still waters of the small pool and none appears on any of the homeless people's gear and debris.
In the 'far end of homeless camp.' pic there are some white - clear vertical lines. Ormando will check them out.
Ormando is a Marine Force Recon vet - he has seen dead guys before and he isn't too shook by a dead hobo.
He pays careful attention to the animal noises, because if the animal noises change, then someone (or thing) might be approaching.
Stumbling back towards the others Agent Olive finds a revolver in .455 caliber, very old and worn with a few small freckles of rust here and there, but mechanically sound. It was laying near a log, covered with a bit of muck, dirt, and dried blood. The weapon appears to have been carved with a few eldritch symbols. The revolver appears to use a top break cylinder and two of it's six rounds have been fired.
makes it by a point!
He picks up the pistol and examines it to see if it can be cleaned and used. He would have to come up with some .455 caliber rounds, but it looks like a Webley top break revolver.
It also has interesting symbols upon it.
vs a firearms of 60.
vs. an occult of 10
The revolver appears to be useable, in fact it was been fired recently. It is unclear why it was left laying here in the camp but it is fair to say this weapon likely belonged to Myers and he used it against someone or something, possibly during the altercation which resulted in his purplish wounds.
Ormando will break it down and quickly clean it, making sure it is operable and won't fail to fire.
Then he loads it up, and keeps it loose in his hand, throwing another few rounds (say 12 or 18) into his coat pocket.
Agent Olive doesn't seem to find much else around the camp, clearly used to different circumstances in her normal job. She appears to be focusing on not getting too dirty and avoiding any stray patches of the purple goo.
Agent Oscar turns over a toppled box and board setup and uses it as a makeshift table, to compare the skull and some of the other bones found.
Agent Olive perks up and comes over to assist him, picking up a small plastic baggy containing two syringes and a couple of small blue crystals. Here, did you drop this? handing the baggy to Oscar. She then leans over the lopsided exam table. I have done a bit of forensics from before, what are we looking for here?
Agent Ormando finds that every time he clears away the rust and grime from the revolver, it seems to return, keeping the weapon in an aged but serviceable condition. The fired cartridges seem to corrode and oxidize once removed from the gun, blue and splotchy, as if long exposed to damp, salt, and moisture. Putting a cartridge back into the revolver did not reverse the damage once done.
and he clearly did NOT remember.
So he cleans the gun and leaves it in his pocket.
He stays alert in the area while Oscar does his thing, as he wants to be sure the team does not get ambushed while looking for clues.
Without some better lighting and equipment I can't really tell what has happened to these bones, particularly what made them so brittle and smooth. She lays the bones back down on the table and looks around for some clean, or whatever passes for cleanest, cloth or wraps to protect the bones. The bite marks are consistent with both human and animal predation, though the dentitions seem to be oddly shaped, almost an amalgam of the two. She settles for a cast off t-shirt, turning it inside out and wrapping the bones loosely and setting them in a discarded styrofoam fast food container. Let's get something to put the skull in and then we can...
From out of the brush up the path a stumbling figure approaches, mumbling to himself and panting heavily. No, no, not again, no, no, no, no, no. Too dark, too soon, got's to hide, got's to climb, got's to FFLLLYYYY... The man stops short as he sees you, then casts his head around to and fro, looking up, down, everywhere, spinning in circles. Not right, not right, not the place...
The man is clearly a vagrant or vagabond, dirty, unkempt, hair wild and filthy. He's dressed in torn jeans, a flip-flop, a pull-over mock turtleneck with the sleeves cut free. His arms are pock marked and scarred from repeated IV drug use.
Don't touch him, we don't know what he's got in his pockets.
Oscar pulls out his pistol and moves away from the others encircling the newcomer.
FBI. Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head.
Ormando moves (slowly) to flank the man, as well as put himself in between the vagrant and Olive.
FBI. Take it easy there fella. We are here to help figure out what's going on. We aren't going to hurt you. Take it easy....
The man drops to his knees and crawls forward slowly, torso upright, his arms clasped out in front of him, pleadingly, his eyes glassy and wide. No, no, no, you can't be here. She'll be mad, so, so mad. She made leave, she made them all leave. His face contorts in anguish as tears start streaming down his dirty, pallid cheeks. She'll make you too, make you leave, makes them all leave or they serve forever. Just like me. Serve her forever and ever and ever, . He drops down onto his belly and writhes around a bit, pulling at his clothes, showing brief glimpses of several possible lesions, cuts, abrasions, or bites covering his body.
He lays a moment on his stomach, spitting into the dirt, weeping uncontrollably. And then she'll hurt me, make me beg, punish me for my sins, . He lurches up onto all fours, glaring at you, frothing at the mouth, crouching as if to pounce. She'll take away the joy, take back her love, take away His demeanor shifts franticly as he grabs a discarded length of wood, from a broken table or chair. He swings it wildly, clumsily, striking at the air, at the ground, occasionally thumping himself with it. , tiring himself a bit.
Through sobs and spasms he croaks out, Leave, please, go, don't make me you leave. Again tears begin to flow as he rises to his feet, the makeshift cudgel still in hand.
She says its alright for us to be here. She sent us to clean a few things up. Its alright, just relax. She won't hurt you more than she usually does.
Ormando glances at Oscar. He remains ready to shoot the guy if he comes at the team.
When was she here last?
The man is clearly disturbed and not entirely rational. He glances this way and that, furtively looking you over as he also looks around the camp, moving towards the area where Agents Olive and Oscar set up the table and bone remains, swaying as he moves. You shouldn't have touched Tony. He was bad, she made him pay, made him feed for being bad. He shakes his wooden stick around at you. This is her place, . You don't belong here. He shakes his head wildly, his hair sticking to his face still wet from his tears, stumbling a bit.
He kicks over a box and peers around, then smacks a half ripped bag of trash with his club in frustration. He coughs for a moment, spits a glob of something out against the box and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, waving it around as he talks. She comes now, she comes then, she comes ALL THE TIME and NONE of the time. She is all I have left. She is my JOY. He starts tearing up again, his head dropping down. But she leaves me, she makes me suffer, she doesn't love me sometimes.
Angrily he looks up, suddenly turning on you, brandishing the club in both hands again. YOU made her leave, like HE made her leave. He swings the stick menacingly, widely to and fro, then stabs out a few feet from Ormando, stumbling as he edges closer to the table and Agent Olive, watching Oscar from his periphery. Maybe she'll KISS you too, and you'll be bad like Tony too.
He cranes his neck, looking at Agent Olive, over her, past her, then at the skull still sitting on the table, his head shaking a bit. YOU CAN"T HAVE HER, TONY CAN'T HAVE, HE DIDN'T TAKE HER. He raises the stick and rushes towards Agent Olive,
If he comes at Ormando, he try to put 3 rounds into his chest.
Ormando wants to be sure to be between Olive and the man.
His right hand holds his gun steady and his left is held out, palm up, in a calming gesture.
OK, OK, we will leave. Just let us back away, let us back away
If Olive and Oscar back off, so will Ormando.
But he will protect his team if needed.
Oscar doesn't hesitate and fires three center mass.
but the freakiness of the situation is clearly still getting to him.
Well then, it looks like Ormando fires also.
Also with a and missing!
So much for Force Recon training!
Your shots ring out in the falling dusk, subtly muted by the forest growth. Not enough that other search parties looking for the missing hikers won't hear them, but perhaps enough they will need a bit of time to discern exactly where the shots originated.
The man lunges at Olive, attempting to knock her clear of his path, rushing not at her, but at the small discarded packaging laying on the ground behind her, the former hiding spot of his stashed drug paraphernalia. The agent easily ducked his strike and sidestepped him, letting him trip himself as he stumbled past and fell to the ground, dropping his makeshift club and tearing at the trash, trying to find his prize.
No, no, no, no, He rolls around on the ground sobbing and crying, clutching the trash to his chest, wailing pitifully that his drugs are gone. My joy, my love, her love, my life. Why, why, why? Don't leave me. Come back, Why, why, why? My joy, my love, .
In his despair he seems to have momentarily forgotten you exist.
Ormando turns to Olive Get the skull and any bones you want to keep in your bag. Time to roll
He keeps an eye on the man and whispers to Olive did you get the drugs out of his kit? Need to look into them as well
He keeps his gun on the man, resolving to do better with his aim next time.
The man continues sobbing and muttering to himself, only occasionally screaming random gibberish much as before. He seems to have snapped, disconnecting completely from the situation. Whomever or whatever "she, HE, HIM, Tony, Joy," and the rest of the "church" congregation were will have to remain a mystery for another day. The radio crackles as reports of gunfire begin filtering across the band, likely to draw more focus on the area.
Agent Olive grabs up the bones she had collected and the skull, tucking them under her windbreaker. She nods in assent to Agent Ormando's question and moves towards the way you came into the camp. Not sure where would be the best place to go to analyze any of this stuff. Only person that may have known the area was Myers. She pauses, shaking her head. And he's laying dead in his apartment, likely still undiscovered.
Much of the child's skeleton remains in the camp, as well as whatever pieces of Tony are still to be exhumed from the creek embankment as well as any other drug related evidence. Agent Olive scans a quick video of the area with her cellphone, not likely to show much in the dying light, but anything is likely better than nothing.
I doubt that he'll be able to identify us as having fired those shots, but they were good shots from a policing perspective. Want to pretend we never saw him?
We never saw him. If we are asked about the shots, we were threatened by some wild dogs and we scared them off
He looks at Oscar. Hell, Ranger. We both better shoot better than that next time!
How about we get to a hotel room, lay out what we have and see if Olive can see anything in better light? Obviously there is something not right out here. I think we want this .455 Webley ready to go with Meyer's special ammo before we run into whatever that guy was talking about. And it seems to be out at night, so we will be back out here in a few hours - maybe leaving Olive to continue her research in the room
You find your way back to the forest parking lot with a bit of easy back-tracking. You had to dodge one small patrol looking for the shots fired but they stumbled past you without notice.
After about a thirty minute drive you find yourselves tucked away in the hotel, going over your observations as you prep notes to send to A Cell.
Agent Oscar cleans his weapon and gear as he recounts his actions and impressions from Myers' apartment.
Agent Ormando tries one more time to clean the Webley but finds the spots of rust and tarnish are resistant to everything he does to clear them away. The firearm remains serviceable, but is not a picture appropriate appearance.
Agent Olive lays out the skull and bones, then grabs her small forensics kit and gives the bones a once over. The bones do appear to be scoured smooth, clear of any remaining organic tissues. The porous ends of a few of the bones appear to have collected a bit of purple dust or spores. Without a microscope she cannot be sure of which.
The bones are brittle, easily snapped or cracked. It seems the bones are extremely calcium deficient, but coming from multiple victims the correlation is lost for a connection.
Ormando loads the Webley, and slips it into his shoulder holster. He puts the 9mm on a spare holster on his belt.
Oscar - I recommend we leave Olive here to do some studying and internet work. Perhaps buy a microscope, or any other kit she needs. I think we need to go back and patrol the woods. I have night vision goggles.
He looks at the rest of his stuff.
Do we gear up in tactical armor and bring the assault rifle? I think so but want your opinion.
If we're going in commando-style we'd best take care to not run into the seach and rescue party then, but I agree. Let's get serious.
Agent Olive agrees to stay behind and attempt further analysis of the bones, drugs, and strange purple substance. She gives you a list of scientific "learning tools" carried by the local Wal-Mart and Target for you to pick-up to aid her. Both shops are open late and you can pick-up the gear before heading to the state forest.
Realizing the area will still have an overnight presence without likely any search teams you can park up the road a bit from the parking lot and hike in to the campsite. There are also two different spots which would allow access, both roughly about 30-45 minute treks into the park, another 30 to reach the campsite, but away from the forest entrance. Which spot would you prefer to take?
Spot A is along the access road to the forest parking area? It would be closest to where you were but also potentially observed by teams or patrols entering or exiting the Command Center.
Spot B is along a residential access road for a richer neighborhood that built a small exclusive community near the forest.
Spot C is along a fire access road for the forest, secluded, but potentially locked out or watched by Search and Rescue stragglers.
Ormando votes for spot A; they will be in their FBI gear until they get into the woods a bit, then they can gear up. The rifles can go in Ormando's duffle to shield them a bit.
Thoughts?