Boston 1920: Strange events at 20 Copp’s Hill Terrace have left minds ruined and families shattered. But how believable are such tales as strange figures and moving inanimate objects in our modern age? How readily should we disregard the influence of the otherworldly? After the recent real-life horrors of poison gas and industrialized slaughter, can we give credence to tales of odd visions and supernatural presences?
Investigating 20 Copp’s Hill will prove that we should not dismiss such tales too lightly...
It is another cold, overcast morning when the taxi carrying Isadora pulls up in front of 20 Copp’s Hill Terrace. As she steps out, she cannot help but feel a sense of foreboding as she looks at the seemingly ordinary house which has been the focus of their attention over the last few days. She sees Norman waiting for her, hunched up in his greatcoat, puffing on a cigarette. As he stands outlined against the house, she senses a vulnerability in his outwardly confident character.
Norman sees her arrive and moves towards her. He is glad to get moving; he likes the snow and ice, not the miserable New England winters that chill you to the bone.
"Good morning, Ms. Carmichael." Owens looked around himself at the damp and chill street, "Well, good to see you, anyways. Shall we find Mr. Dooley, the news stand man?"
"Good to see you too, Mr. Owens. Yes, let's have another chat with the old man," she says, glancing uncomfortably at the House.
They had out to the newsvendor's.
"Good morning, Mr. Dooley!" Isadora greets him when they get there. She buys a Boston Globe "Say, Mr. Dooley, do you happen to remember a weird happening, some 10 years ago, in 1912? There used to be a church somewhere in this area, a queer chapel of sorts..."
"I feel as if my soul would be torn out of my body," she gasped. "I am being drawn into a whirlpool. What is happening? What does it mean?" - The Secrets of Dr. Taverner
A look of astonishment crosses Dooley's face. "Lord, you two really have a hankering for trouble don't you!" he exclaims. “Sure, I know where you mean. The Chapel of Contemplation. It was a great day when the police razed that place. If they hadn’t have done it, us locals would have. Damn! You should have heard the fight! I thought I was back at Gettysburg! But you don’t wanna go messing ‘round there. A bad place.”
He turns away, muttering to himself. “Jeez, first the Corbitt House, now the Chapel!” He shakes his head, sadly.
“Sure I’ll tell you” says the old man. “I just want you to be careful”. He turns and points down the street. “Carry on a little thataways, and you’ll come to a side street, Phipps Place. It’s at the end”.
He turns back to look at them both. “I’ll see you back here in an hour. If you’re not back, I’ll get someone to come alookin for ya. Go on then!”
Isadora and Norman set off, somewhat apprehensively. Shortly they come to Phipps Place and turn into it. This narrow street is quite neglected and most buildings are old and need repairing. Even though it is an overcast day, the oppressive nature of the buildings make the street look even darker. This is a place where no-one would choose to linger.
At the end of the street they can see what must be the ruins of the Chapel. It seems not to have been disturbed since the raid; the brick and stone rubble is overgrown and weathered. The walls, or what’s left of them, still stand, but the fire has gutted the building and the roof has gone.
As they approach the site, Isadora and Norman pass a sagging wall onto which a strange symbol seems to have been freshly painted in white.
Looking at it our heroes begin to feel uneasy and distressed. Norman can feel a strange tingling in his forehead, a feeling like but not quite a headache, and which makes him feel a little nauseous.
Isadora,[b]Isadora[/b] on the other hand, with her attuned senses, can feel a strong power emanating from the symbol and the surroundings. It is a sensation of evil and darkness, not unlike what she had sensed at the house. For her, the feeling is much stronger, as she reacts accordingly.
Isadora pulls her coat tight, but she is still shivering. Not from the cold, but rather the deep, maddening horror.
"Is that... is that a recent painting? That symbol?" she asks Norman, hoping that the explorer would refute.
"It would make sense..." she mumbles to herself audibly. "Most members of the congregation were free to go after the raid. They must be continuing their masters' traditions, this is their holy place..."
Isadora wants to examine the symbol, but she finds that she keeps averting her eyes. Finally she overcomes her dread and looks at the wall again. Has she seen anything comparable before?
OOC: If applicable, here's an Occult roll.
Tentative Occult 45% roll
[dice]0[/dice]
"I feel as if my soul would be torn out of my body," she gasped. "I am being drawn into a whirlpool. What is happening? What does it mean?" - The Secrets of Dr. Taverner
Norman's proposal sends shivers down Isadora's spine: erasing a symbol and replacing it with another is the occult equivalent of spitting in the face of the French ambassador on a reception. If the makers of the symbol find out, who did this (and they probably would: Norman and Isadora aren't keeping a low profile, half the neighborhood knows what they are up to)... Yet she feels that Norman is right. Such an abomination cannot be left on display!
"Yes. Let's do it," she says, after some hesitation.
"Can you get an apron as well? I don't want to get paint all over my clothes," she adds with a pale smile.
She takes out her notebook and flips to a page where she has a couple of symbols designed by Claude Bragdon, a Theosophist architect and theoretic.
Bragdon fourth dimension.PNG (14.07 KiB) Viewed 718 times
"I will try to do this one... Claude says it is a simple cube, transformed into a higher dimension and projected back onto a plane; he says it's good for protection, because bad energy gets trapped during this transformation inside the cube, like in a box..."
OOC: HoneyDog, it's up to you what result does this bring... Maybe it's just a random scribble, maybe something else.
Isadora should know better by now not to meddle with unknown forces!!
"I feel as if my soul would be torn out of my body," she gasped. "I am being drawn into a whirlpool. What is happening? What does it mean?" - The Secrets of Dr. Taverner
Isadora goes with him. "I don't want to be left alone in that alleyway!! "
"I feel as if my soul would be torn out of my body," she gasped. "I am being drawn into a whirlpool. What is happening? What does it mean?" - The Secrets of Dr. Taverner
On the way back to the hardware store they pass Mr. Dooley. "Back already?" he asks, then notices the strained expressions on Isadora and Norman’s faces. “Any trouble”?
"I though the municipality would have cleared the rubble..." Isadora says, although it's probably clear to Mr. Dooely, that it's not the ruins that upset her. "Looks like a bad place indeed. What were they up to in there? You said that if not the police, the locals would have raided it."
"I feel as if my soul would be torn out of my body," she gasped. "I am being drawn into a whirlpool. What is happening? What does it mean?" - The Secrets of Dr. Taverner
He looks incensed at the suggestion. "Folk around here are good Christians. They look out for each other. Everyone kept well away from that place. And you should too!”
Isadora wants to inform Dooley, that a prominent local person, Corbitt himself was a member of, or at least close to the Church. But then she thinks that it's better not to reveal their deep interest in this cult business. Mr. Dooley will sleep better tonight, at least.
"Thank you, Mr. Dooley! Take care!"
If Norman has no other questions, Isadora is ready to move on.
"Let's go back some other way, if possible, after the shop. I don't want Mr. Dooley to have a heart attack," she says to Norman on the way.
"I feel as if my soul would be torn out of my body," she gasped. "I am being drawn into a whirlpool. What is happening? What does it mean?" - The Secrets of Dr. Taverner
After buying their brushes, turpentine and paint, Isadora and Norman take a route back to the Chapel which avoids the worried eye of Mr. Dooley.
As they arrive at the spot where the occult symbol was painted, they are surprised and disconcerted to see that it has disappeared!
However, the unpleasant sensations in their foreheads have returned. Looking around, it is possible to see another of the same symbols painted on the wall inside the remains of the chapel.
Isadora just stands there for a minute, in shock, shifting her gaze from the empty wall to the symbol inside the ruins and back again. She steps closer to the now empty wall, and examines it - hoping to find some traces of paint there...
"You... you are an explorer, right?" she says abruptly, turning to Norman. "You know your way in the wilderness, you know how to hunt, track animals?."
She points at the symbol inside the Church.
"Maybe somebody went in there and painted the symbol while we were gone? Can you trace their steps, in the rubble?" she says, grasping for any possible rational explanation. This is getting a bit too much.
"I feel as if my soul would be torn out of my body," she gasped. "I am being drawn into a whirlpool. What is happening? What does it mean?" - The Secrets of Dr. Taverner
