When they're alone, Rita says
"It sounds like the Whateley place is the best starting point. If we can at least eliminate that as a place for where there's the entrance to the hill thats a start. "
She giggles.
"Ooo...this is SO exciting. A real live case, with missing people and everything."
Evelyn nods in agreement. However, the swirl of stories around the place are creeping her out and she seems a little less than enthused. It's probably nothing, as she holds herself to ward of more than the chill of the evening.
OOC: OK guys I'm sort of back now. I'll try to read and catch up over the next couple of days and should be able to resume some posting this weekend. Thanks for your patients.
Robert remains with the Squire for a time talking as Military men do. Eventually he ask's if there might be somewhere for him to stay
Robert can stay with Fergus at the Ames residence.
The next day you meet after breakfast at Squire Whateley's house. His grounds keeper, Red Croft busies himself with readying the Squire's carriage. When old Squire Whateley greet you, he's dressed for a day outdoors. You get into the carriage and he takes the reigns. He drives the carriage north into the hills, following a poorly maintained, rural, dirt road. You pass by a few outlying farms as you travel, and see more hills cleared of trees and topped with crude stone circles.
As you near Sentinel Hill you pass by Cold Spring Glen. It's a deep, treacherous looking forested ravine, and the road passes quite near to it. Whateley looks down into the dark ravine. "Down there is where the creature made it's lair. That's were the five officers disappeared."
He then points to a ruined farmhouse built well off the road. An old cart path leads from the road to it. The ruins back on the ravine. "That's the Fryre ruins," he says bluntly.
In the distance, not too far up the road is Sentinel Hill. You still can't make it out that clearly, as it still fairly far off, but from what you can see, it is barren of any greenery.
"Up the road there is Sentinel Hill. The Whateley farm is at its base. Shall we continue?"
"I'd like to get out and look around the Fryre ruins and the ravine if it's relatively safe. Is it safe now Squire?"
Whateley looks at you gravely. "I can't guarantee it's safe. The ravine itself is quite steep and treacherous, especially at this time of year when things tend to be more slippery. Folks have avoided both the Glen and the farm since the tragedy, but I reckon the beast is gone. Dr. Armitage and his two companions sent it back to where it came from, God bless them."
Even from the road you can see that the farmhouse has been demolished.
"I'd like to get out and look around the Fryre ruins and the ravine if it's relatively safe. Is it safe now Squire?"
She nods and sighs, "I would like to see the hill and Whateley place then. Let's continue"
Robert straps on his pistol that morning, it's hidden beneath his flying coat but he can still draw it easily enough. Off course his view is that the most trouble they will run into is one of the locals.
He rides shotgun with the Squire taking an interest in the ground ahead.
Rita stares out over the crushed farmhouse, and her recent excitement suddenly appears to be damped. Clearly the reality of destroyed homes and broken lives suddenly comes home to her. Its no longer an adventure any more- its all a bit more real.
She sits back, unusually quiet and pensive.
Squire Whateley takes the carriage further up the road. Soon you are approaching Sentinel Hill and the Whateley farmhouse ruins. The farmhouse is built near the southern base of Sentinel Hill. It is clear from the road that like the Fryre house, this house has also been destroyed by some great force. The farmhouse has collapsed, but there is still extensive rubble. A sizable shed built well away from the ruins of the main building still stands.
Sentinel Hill itself is equally foreboding. The hills is tall and steep. A trail winds up it from the Whateley ruin. At its top you can make out what appears to be a table like rock at its pinnacle. There is no stone circle built at the top of this hill, and still nothing grows. The hill looks dead. What grass and plants there are look withered and nearly dead.
Squire Whateley stops the carriage a just down the road from the ruins.
"I ain't going any closer, he says. I'll wait here for you."
Rita changes her shoes for more sensible walking ones, picks up her bag (weighed down with the hidden heavy torch) and steps down.
She looks up at the ominous hill and a chill runs through her.
"Well, shall we ?" she says in a voice that fakes confidence she doesn't feel, and starts walking toards the farmhouse.
About halfway there she stops,takes a good look around and sniffs the air, then proceeds at a slower pace.
Robert jumps down from the carriage and offers a hand to Evelyn
"Ma'am.."
He scans the area with a hunters eye picking out likely ambush spots and paying special attention to the shed
Fergus steps down and takes a deep breath. It feels good to be able to breath without coughing for a change. Then he shrugs his shoulders to loosen his muscles after the bumpy ride, and mouths a silent prayer looking about the area.
You start hiking your way up the cart track that leads to the ruined farm. It is an uphill climb, and as you get closer you start to notice a pervasive stench hanging in the air. It makes you gag. From this distance you can see that the door to the battered shed is hanging loose. There is no one around that you can see besides yourselves and Squire Whateley sitting on his carriage.
"What the...it smells like something died in there. That's worse than the trenches by god."
Robert coughs as he approaches the shed and holds a handkerchief to his face
"Armitage never mentioned a stink like this to me...did he<cough ..hack> to any of you?"
Rita coughs and gags, her eyes watering.
"Geez Louise !!" she exclaims.
She walks away for a moment, takes a quick swig from a water bottle, and takes a few breaths in fresher air.
When she comes back she dimples some of her perfume onto a hankerchief and places it over her moouth and nose.
"The Doc mentioned ol' Wilburs corpse stank, but I didn't think it would be this bad. Its not chem-ee-cal warfare stuff, is it ?"
"If it is it's not anything I ever came across..it's certainly not phosgene or chlorine...I've never smelt anything so awful in my whole life"
As he nears the building Robert places his hand on his pistol butt as a precaution
"Thats something at least."
Rita gestures to the shed
"Whaddya think - shed or house first ?" she says, her voice muffled by the kerchief.
She looks around nervously, trying to see if there's any signs of the farmstead being distrubed since its collapse.
"Well I'd say the shed..it's still intact..and if anything in the way of evidence has survived then it's likely that it's in there"
"But just to be on the safe side..."
Robert draws his pistol and clicks off the safety before moving towards the shed
You hike your way up to the buildings. As you get even closer you notice that the Whateley farmhouse is built into the very hillside. You suspect, by the sheer amount of rubble that remains, that it was a two story building before it collapsed. You also notice that many of the boards seem to be glistening, as if they are wet.
The home is built near the top of a rise that is the first part of Sentinel Hill. Behind the house, over the rise, the land dips down into a small valley and the starts climbing back up again and continues to climb until it reaches the top of the mighty and barren Sentinel Hill. At the top you can make out a large stone slab of rock that vaguely resembles a legless table.
The shed is built at the crest of this small rise. Robert leads the way with his pistol drawn. The door to the shed is facing you and hanging open. The shed itself is in pretty good condition, and is the size of a cottage. You notice as you reach the door that the frame itself has arcane looking symbols carved into it. Just looking at them sends a chill down your spine. However, the shed itself appears to be empty.
Spoiler for Rita
Rita moves up to stand at the doorway of the shed. She takes her torch from her bad and shines it around the inside.
"This place is spooky." she says, with a shiver. "Dey, even got a graveyard back there." she nods back down the slope.
"Do you make anything of deez crazy symbols ?"
She puts her torch back in her handbag, fishes out her pad and pencil and starts copying them down.
Rita scanning around the shed you can see that there are the remains of some furnishings- an old cot, a wooden table and a chair, along with several empty books shelves that must have once held many books. All the smaller furnishings and items appear to have been cleared out of the place. The only thing that looks remotely valuable is the remains of a small wood stove.
Fergus holds his freshly cleaned handkerchief to his face, and peers closely at the symbols to see if they mean anything to him.
1d100 → [23] = (23)[Occult]
He will then attempt to sketch out the symbols for further research.
OOC: Sorry about the link for the roll. IC is not behaving this morning.
"So whaddya think, Father ?" Rita asks as she moves into the shed.
She looks around and picks up a wooden shard. Trusting Robert to watch her back, she goes to examine the stove and tentatively pokes whats inside with the shard.
Fergus you examine the symbols, but despite your fairly extensive occult knowledge you don't recognize them. They certainly don't fit with any of the various mystic cults you are familiar with.
Rita moves into the shed the old boards groan and creek. She opens the rusty iron wood stove and prods around in it a little with a piece of wood.
Spoiler for Rita
After accepting Roberts graciously offer hand she smiles warmly at him. As they approach she involutarily gags and seeing Rita use her perfume does the same. Staying outside so as not to crowd the shed she says through the doorway partially muffled by the cloth held to her nose and mouth, "Remember there is supposedly some secret doorway into the hill. Well, maybe this hill anyway. See if the floorboards move at all."
Robert kneels and pries at the floorboards though he thinks it's probably a futile exercise. He is getting accustomed to the smell now..not that that improves the scent but it makes it possible to work
There aren't any particularly loose floorboards, as a result prying up floorboards is rather futile right now. However, if you had the proper tools- like a prybar, and maybe and axe or some other useful tools, it might be much more doable. Bare hands aren't going to cut it.
"I'll need a crowbar...and a hammer maybe. I don't think we'll find any round here. I suggest we check the house now."
Robert tries to sound unconcerned though he is worried about the state of the ruins and whether they might collapse around them.
"I think you ladies should stay back whilst Mr Garrity and I check that it's safe"
Letting the men poke through the ruins Evelyn signals Rita while they are busy, "Lets go look at that grave you spotted, shall we?" She begins walking in that direction, "Maybe it smells better over there."
Spoiler for Fergus and Robert
Spoiler for Rita and Evelyn
Noah Whateley, b. May 13th, 1852- d. August 1st, 1924.
Rita:
"Read ? Like, a book? " says Rita incredulously.
Rita looks nervously at the empty grave.
"I sure hope this doesn't mean what I think it means. Like,who'd steal his body, 'cept maybe one of those Voodoo witch doctor types ? I hear they do all sortsa wicked stuff to us gals"
Rita:
"Well Robert it doesn't look to safe or inviting, but I guess if we're going to be detectives we need to detect". "Shall we go in further, or wait on the ladies"?
Fergus looks around the area carefully for any additional clues before going in.
1d100 → [23] = (23)
OOC: I must be doing something wrong in my listing for IC. according to the roll I rolled a 13% but for some reason it posted as above when I linked it. Must be something to do with the way I'm structuring the note. I'll try some different methods.
As it turns out the ladies are on there way over. Oh look here they are...
Rita comes over looking both a little flushed and very serious.
"They gotta graveyard and stuff, but someones bin stealing the bodies." she says.
She grips her torch determinedly.
"Apparently ol' Noah Whateleys body is missing.This would never a happened in New Yoik."
Robert agrees with Fergus..."I guess so...don't like the look of that stuff though...whatever it is it...stinks worse than a dead whale"
"Ah here come the ladies now"
He listens to Rita's remark his eyebrow raising as the attractive blonde tells of the grave robbing
"So someones stolen the wizards bones huh?..curiouser and curiouser as Alice said"
Rita and Evelyn
The two of you wander over to the ruins of the main farmhouse. The farmhouse was built directly into the hillsdide What is left of It is a mess of broken boards, and tumbled stones, and you can't help but wonder if the stories you heard might have some truth to them. As you get close, you can see that the planks are coated in some sort of strange, clear goo. It reminds you vaguely of gelatin, and it appears to be the source of the stench you detected. The rubble looks precariously piled, but there are some gaps big enough for a man to squeeze through, if one wanted to crawl deeper into the ruin.
Rita looks confused.
"Alice who ?"
"Ew. That doesn't look too safe. Do you think anyone would notice if we cleared some of the rubble out of the way ?"
She looks expectantly at Robert and Fergus, her definition of "we" clearly meaning "you"...
Looking a bit disgusted by the clear slime, "So shouldn't this gooey stuff be dried up by now? I mean, if it's still wet does that mean it's come from somewhere recently? and what might that somewhere be?"
It is very tough to say where the go came from. There doesn't seem to be any sort of trail leading too or from the ruin though.
"Maybe its like oil or petroleum jelly, that doesnt dry up either..." says Rita, although to the others it sounds more like she's trying to convince herself.
Evelyn still gives it a wary glance and then crosses her arms and stands there waiting for the "men" to do something other than just staring at it.....
Robert turns up the collar of his flying coat and looks at Fegus
"Well here goes nothing..."
He begins to worm his way into the ruins hoping the thick leather of the coat will keep most of the goop off him