Play@YSDC

The road weaves and winds sharply around the high hills that surround a town he has yet to glimpse. A heavy wind buffets his car around certain sections of the road, at first seeming to push him towards the high, rocky cliff face to his left but later, as he gets closer to the town, it seems to switch tactics and try to buffet his car to the right and over the narrow crusher dust kerb into the tree-lined slopes below. Bracing himself against the wheel, he keeps the vehicle under control. Wisps of fog send tendrils across the asphalt, which conjures a terrifying image of a pea soup fog on a winding road, so easy to get lost in and crawl too far to the left into oncoming traffic or too far to the right to a tumble below. Thankfully, the fog seems content to simply wisp against the road, which is odd enough considering the clear skies. He rounds a bend and comes into view of Toluca Lake and the fog recedes beneath the watchful gaze of a warm sun.



Soon, up ahead, he can see the County Road 73 continues on into the hill itself through a tunnel but just before that tunnel sits an Observation Deck. He instinctively slows down the car to take in the sights. A scenic overlook where he can park the car and perhaps visit the rest rooms that sit to the right of the deck. A signpost sits by the entrance to a hiking trail that heads down from the overlook. Beyond the dip in the hill he can see sparkling Toluca Lake, where the U.F.O. sightings seem to be at their strongest. On the passenger seat sits the folder of newspaper clippings, photographs, and other details collected by a friend of his - Peter Wight - whose been as obsessed with Silent Hill as Andy is with U.F.O's.

Heck, it's even possible the so-called sightings are all bunk. Joshua was the type to lie about things like that to get his own way and he's wanted Andy to get enthused about the so-called crazy resort town for quite awhile now. Normally he never talked much about what he knew, however, and the Internet had very little but rave reviews to say on the matter so Andy hadn't looked into it. There were better places to check out that were closer to Ashfield, anyway, and weren't a half day's drive away.

But then he'd received Peter's journal in the mail, complete with a letter pleading with him not to look inside the journal until he'd arrived in Silent Hill. It helped that Andy had his final (for the year) exams that day (yesterday) and that the journal had a leather-bound wooden cover, was padlocked and wrapped quite tightly in chains. Apparently the key could be found taped inside one of the cisterns in the Women's Toilet on the Observation Deck. Peter wasn't answering his phone, so odds are, it was some sort of elaborate prank. If so, it was a good one.



The toilet block, as seen here, is to the right of the original picture. Obviously, it's not yet that foggy.

Interesting place, Andy thinks as he pulls into a parking space. He pulls his jacket on as he walks towards the overlook. Once there, he scans the lake shore, looking for any radio towers or other light sources that could explain away the sightings. He nods to himself as he doesn't see anything that leaps out at him, jots a few notes in a notebook he has in his pocket, and heads towards the bathroom. Carefully looking back and forth before he goes in the women's bathroom - he can't have anyone thinking he's some sort of pervert or something, after all - he walks into the bathroom. What's in this journal better be good, he thinks. Why'd Pete have to make this a damn scavenger hunt, anyway? Paranoid S.O.B.

There is a lighthouse down by Silent Hill's pier that could theoretically be to blame, especially during foggy times, but that's by the bank of the town and is therefore least likely to be blamed for U.F.O.'s as everyone would be highly aware of its presence. Besides, it's apparently a rather historical lighthouse. It's rarely operational though when it does operate (in the tourist season) it's pretty much on all the time just in case.

The women's toilets looks largely like most men's toilets he's been into - though there are a few more sinks and no urinals. The wide mirror behind the sinks is cracked and surrounded by graffiti-strewn concrete. It's not a pretty sight. You'd imagine a tourist ville would have better maintenance, but then, it's probably trying to trade on its rustic charm. It might have worked, if not for the graffiti which springs to mind many urban locations. Go To Hell --> Already Been There --> Got Married, Did You --> No, Got Divorced is one series of tags as two or more people used one wall as a noticeboard. You Don't Have To Be Crazy To Live Here --> But It Helps!!! --> What A Dive! --> Then Move! is on another wall.

There are four toilets. Each one has a sanitary dispenser beside it and one of those heavier ceramic cisterns on top of it that'll be a bitch to move. Oh well, what other choice do you have?

Andy reads the graffiti on the wall and laughs to himself. You'd have to be crazy to use these bathrooms, that's for sure. Well, I guess I better get to it... He systematically moves down the line, checking all four cisterns, taking care to try to be silent. After lifting each lid, he looks around to make sure nobody is coming into the restroom.

Andy struggles with the first cistern, which is rather bulky and heavy, and despite his rather strong musculature, its still a rather annoying struggle to get it lifted. It takes a lot longer than anticipated to manipulate it up and check behind it to find nothing in the first cubicle closest to the door. Three more to go. He strains his ears, but hearing nothing, comes out of the toilet and starts heading into the next cubicle.

"What're you doing?" asks a little girl's voice from behind him. Slowly turning, he sees a green-eyed girl of around six who is giving him a somewhat hesitant smile.



She taps the floor with one foot and gives him a hard look that has doubtless been inherited from someone much older and says, "Well?"

"Oh, hello there," says Andy. "Nothing much, a friend and I are just playing a game... a scavenger hunt."

"Really? In a girl's restroom?" She seems unconvinced. "Are you a pervert?"

"No," Andy says, mildly amused that this little girl even knows the word pervert. "He likes to try to embarass me, is all. He says he hid something in here, but I don't know. It's really not a very funny joke he's pulling on me, is it?"

"Yeah, he seems a bit weird to me," says Katie. "My teacher says that only perverts go into girl's toilets when they're men but she didn't tell me what it meant. The dictionary says it means someone who's turned away from good and right things. Coz I guess you're not s'posed to be in a girl's toilets?" She shrugs. "So what're you looking for in toilets? Sounds like a stinky scavenger hunt! It's not poops, is it?"

Andy laughs. "No, no poop. He says he hid some old CD case in here. But I got to find it and send him a picture of it so I can hide something and make HIM look for it." He thinks a minute. "Any idea what I can do to embarrass him after I find it?"

"Hide it in the toilet, maybe?" she asked, tilting her head to one side. "Hmm, which toilets have you checked because I really got to go?"

"You can use this one," Andy says, pointing to the one right behind him. After the little girl's in the toilet, I'll keep on moving down the line.

She nods and heads into the second toilet from the door, shutting it behind her. It doesn't take him all that long to search the next toilet now that he'd figured out how to do it. He finds the key taped in the cistern, as promised. It's rather clunky-looking, but it should fit the lock all right. He can hear the little girl peeing in the stall next to him. Lovely.

OK, Pete, let's see what you've got for me, Andy thinks to himself as he drops the key into his jeans pocket. He heads out of the restroom and looks out over the lake towards the strobing lighthouse, then walks over to his car. It really is a pretty interesting place, he thinks as he opens his car door and gets the journal out. He shakily opens the lock on the book, excited at possibly literally unlocking a number of strange events.

The journal feels strangely warm as he picks it up. It must have absorbed some of the heat from the sunlight smacking down on the car, heating the metal up. As he turns the key in the lock, the padlock opens and he pulls it free and then unthreads the chains. He's about to lift the cover when he hears the crunch of tyres on asphalt beside him. Glancing out the window, Andy notices a police car pull into the parking lot beside him with a rather pretty policewoman inside.

For now, Andy will just watch the policewoman and see what she is doing.

If she approaches his car,He'll roll down his window and ask if there's a problem and if there's something he can do to help.

The policewoman hops out of the car and heads into the women's toilets without much more than a glance in his direction. When she's halfway there, she breaks into a jog, pulls open the door and disappears inside.

I guess she just had to go, Andy thinks as he backs out of his parking space and heads down the road towards the town proper, looking to find some place to stay as he investigates further. And somewhere where he can sit down and read this mysterious book...

Andy heads back onto County Road 73 and through the tunnel that cuts into the side of the hill on the way down to the southern end of Silent Hill. The headlights of his car barely pierce the gloom and there's no sign of any other car on the road. On the plus side it's nice and quiet, right up until his radio starts up with a burst of static. He can vaguely make out voices. Sounds like its badly tuned between two radio stations with the buzzing words cutting and inter-cutting between the two groups of voices.

Andy furrows his brow in puzzlement -- did he happen to stumble into a UFO incident? This sort of radio interference is associated with them sometimes. He drives on through the tunnel, listening intently to the radio voices to see what he can make out.

OOC,Invisible Castle's down -- would you rather that I made my roll or if you rolled it? Do you think a Listen or English roll would be more appropriate?

Andy can vaguely make out some sort of conversation going on:

"... 'Chaos Dreams', is about the unchecked imagination and how it can lead to paradise or hell, depending on the whims of the dreamer ...."

Another man's voice. "Considered to be too dark for Silent Hill ... not ... allowed ..."

Overlapping the man's voice is a girl's voice: "Mummy! Where ... help ... I can't ... can't see ... which way ... can't find my way up ... can't breathe..."

Followed by another voice, eerily familiar. Peter? "C'mon man ... you hear ... get my note ... radio station and the lighthouse ... damnit, man, I need you!"

The road opens up onto a fog-shrouded street signposted 'Nathan Avenue'.

Hide,doubtless both. They were both successful.

Well, I've never heard of anything like this. The voices are chilling and vaguely unearthly, made more so by the sudden fog. Andy furrows his brow as he listens to the voices, and a cold chill shudders through him as he hears Pete's voice. Pete, what have you gotten yourself into... and what have you gotten me into?

OOC,Does the girl's voice sound like that of the little girl back at the bathroom? Or another?

The girl's voice does sound quite similar to the girl from the toilet but her voice is made strange by the panic and fear inside of it. Nathan Avenue is a long road that follows the curve of the lake to the right of him. Andy should probably slow down if he wants to drive safely in this fog. It's a real pea souper and he can barely see a dozen feet in front of the car even with high beams on (I presume American cars have low and high beams for their headlights). Of course, if he wants to get to his destination quickly, he could always make a Drive roll. Where's he headed?

Andy takes his foot off the gas a bit to compensate for the lowered visibility, and drives along Nathan Avenue. At the first convenient spot he pulls over to the side of the road. There he quickly flips through the book to see if there's a map of the town in it. As long as there is, he'll head for the radio station Pete's voice spoke of.

OOC,You're right, low/high beams.

There's an easy space to pull over just beside the rather faded sign for Ridgeview Medical Clinic and pull out the book. Flipping through pages of glued articles, handwriting, and drawings reveals several folded maps. One is the town map, one is for Brookhaven Hospital, one is for the Silent Hill Historical Society, the Artaud Theatre and Silent Hill Town Hall. There's no sign of a radio station on the map but if it's anywhere it's probably off the map on Nathan Avenue or some other hilly direction to put it a bit higher than the town.

The Historical Society beckons to him -- his journalistic and investigative mindset finds the prospect of mulling over old newspaper articles and books undeniably appealing -- but as he's paging through the journal and looking at the maps, Andy decides that helping out a friend takes precedence over the investigation he was visiting for. He decides to head for the Town Hall, and ask someone there for directions to the radio station.

Andy follows Nathan Avenue, turning right onto Sandford Street, and as he does so the fog seems to lift to reveal the sparkling blue lake, brightly painted stores, and a rather beautiful courtyard that sits between a few bars in the resort district. He heads north on Riverside Drive and then turns right on Cielo Avenue to park a few spaces down from the elegant Silent Hill Town Hall. It's a lovely building from the Victorian era - all sandstone facade and ornately decorated window dressings. A set of stone steps lead up to a pair of heavy wooden doors that sit back in an alcove within the building.

Tugging the doors open, Andy slowly walks up towards the information desk, examining the old photographs of the area as he goes along. Reaching the desk, he looks up at the attendant. "I'm meeting a friend of mine here in town," he says, "but unfortunately he didn't give me good directions to where exactly I'm supposed to meet him at. He said something about a radio station? Is there a station or even a former station here in town?"

Andy steps into a room heavy with a luxuriant dignity as he passes through the double doors. Portraits of old Mayors adorn the walls and a set of double doors sit at the far end of the room. Passing through those doors brings him into in the foyer. A wide room with two doors that flank the austere mahogany reception counter and two doors apiece on the side of the room that he's standing upon. A woman sits behind the counter -- before a large map of Silent Hill -- entering something into the computer. She's a young woman, visibly bored, and she perks up when she sees him. "The radio station? Oh yes, that's easy enough. If you go back onto Nathan Avenue and follow it up the hills in the opposite direction of County Road 73, you should find it fairly easily. It's at the peak."

"Alright, sounds simple enough. Thank you," he says, turning about and spending a few moments strolling around the city hall.

Once outside, Andy jumps back into his car and after rummaging around to make certain the book is still present and accounted for, lowers the sun visor. He pauses a moment, looking at Alison's photo in the visor, smiles slightly to himself, and drives in the direction given to him by the nice girl at the desk.

The book is still where he left it. Looks like whatever conspiracy theories his mate has obsessed about enough to hide a key in a toilet weren't true. Maybe this really was his idea of a weird scavenger hunt. It doesn't take him long to back track onto Nathan Avenue and then take the first major turn off right. Soon he's driving along a winding road up the side of the hill with Lake Toluca a glittering memory in his rear-view mirror as the pine-covered slopes rise in leaps and bounds that he must drive a curling path around. As he goes, the temperature steadily drops and it seems a little colder in the car than it otherwise should. A little heating soon fixes that and before too long, just as he's getting used to this long, scenic trip, there's a break in the pine trees and a sign post that declares 'Toluca Radio Station'. Turning onto that dirt road and following it for a bit finds a radio station with a tall few radio towers clustered around a log cabinet on the peak of one of Silent Hill's hills. There's a single battered red pick up parked outside. That's not his friend's car.