Play@YSDC

Location: Bridgewater State Normal School Library
Date/Time: September 9th: 7 PM

The Bridgewater State Normal School (BSNS) was founded in 1840 and primarily used for future teachers. Mostly for secondary schools but a few higher education courses for college instructors and courses on teaching basics for professionals who want to teach secondary and college level courses. Predominatly a college for women, about 10% of the student body are men. The majority of the women students stay at the Woodward dorm that was rebuilt just 2 years ago after the original building burned down in 1924. The majority of men stayed off campus.

The Bridgewater Preservation society (BPS) was founded in 1847. Originally organized by the faculty and students of the BSNS but quickly opened to citizens of Bridgewater and the surrounding area to maintain the history and culture of the city of Bridgewater and the local area including the Hockomock Swamp. It soon became an investigative organization that follow up on stories that the police deem unexplainable. With all the stories of Big Foot, Thunder Birds, Indian curses, floating lights and more, the group has taken it upon themselves to try and put some explanation to these phenomina.

The library here holds several thousand books, but is still relatively small compared to other colleges in the closer bigger cities. It does sport a special section used for storing the more obscure cases the BPS has documented as well as a few books that need to be locked away for teaching courses to professors destined for Miskatonic University. The librarian, Mr. Edwin Nichols, is an elderly gentleman or perhaps 70 to 80, who always seems to be calm and calculating.

OOC:   Please reply here to introduce your character and why you are here tonight. Its possible you saw a flyer, a newpsper ad, club list at the college or heard by word of mouth.

Tobias stepped down from his car and closed his car door with a loud, audible thump. He studied the map for a few seconds before muttering, "Yep. This is it." The Bridgewater State Normal School Library had been a place of notoriety on the Miskatonic University's campus, and his professors had all actively encouraged him come here to complete further studies and all assigned coursework. It did have a lovely collection of books and are in an exchange agreement with Miskatonic University, after all.

Maria sneaks into the library and takes a seat at the back, hoping no-one will recognize her. This was her school, but luckily she hasn’t seen any of her former teachers. Mr. Nichols probably wouldn’t remember her, she wasn’t a very diligent student. Now that she’s a high-flying (or soon to be) designer, she’s getting sensitive about her image. Silly, she knows, but still. A lot of people have laughed at her convictions regarding the Hockomock Swamp over the years, and she doesn’t want to give them any ammunition.

She couldn’t resist after seeing the flyer though. And it’s a good excuse to get out of the house. While it’s lovely being back with her family, the questions regarding her marital situation are beginning to get tedious. She will be glad to get back to the freedom of New York. She wonders what the evening will hold?

Tobias Jerkins enters the library after carefully parking his Ford outside. He navigated through the hallway, and failed to find any staff members in this foreign building. He wandered aimlessly, until he saw a woman of modest build walking in front of him, with her back to him. She didn't notice he was behind her yet. "Hello, mademoiselle, can I trouble you with directions? I'm trying to find the librarian-in-charge right now...well, the directions to the administrations office would work fine as well." He said charmingly, with what appears to be a polite smile.

Charm 60%,[b]Rolls:[/b] 30

Eddie Donovan enters the the library, looking around. His contacts had tipped him off about the BPS and its investigations into the unusual. It has been some time since he has done anything along those lines. He wears a dark suit and tie, not wanting to advertise the fact that he is a police officer just yet. Some people clam up around cops.

As a reporter for one of Bridgewater's local daily newspapers, Bret Parker has heard a growing number of curious stories in recent years and has taken to doing a little unofficial research of his own. This latest business with the Hockomock Swamp strikes him as warranting further investigation. Knowing of the records held by the BPS here on local phenomena, he has come along to see if he can learn anything interesting. Entering the library he recognizes the elderly librarian Mr. Nichols and nods in greeting.

Mr. Nichols looks up from the old book he has been reading, setting a cup of tea to the side. "Good evening everyone. I see some new faces as well as familiar ones. So glad you all made it tonight."

The elderly gentleman takes the time to go shake everyone's hand, he has a whiff of mothballs to him, as elderly people seem to have sometimes. He produces a kettle of hot water and offers everyone tea or coffee.
"Today I found a rather odd article in the newspaper. Buried at the end." He pulls out the newsclipping and passes it around for everyone to see. "What do you think of it?"

Bret helps himself to a coffee and lights a cigarette. "My newspaper ran the story although I didn't interview Mr. Jenkins personally. It's interesting. Doesn't the legend of ghostly hounds go back to olden days?"

Tobias shook his head, "Newspapers really do print whatever sensationalist headline they can think of, don't they? The old man is seeing things."

Maria

“Don’t be too quick to dismiss him” says Maria quietly. “This area has a long history of unusual events”.

Tobias sighed lightly, "Unusual or not, there's a logical sequence of events that all things follow. If this...'hound' described within the newspaper existed, then it's been alive for hundreds of years. The simplest and the most obvious explanation for this is hysteria, or that the farmer is lying. Whatever the case, I believe in gathering evidence for and against all hypothesises and stick with the most reasonable one."

Maria

"I don't recollect anyone saying that the hound in question has been alive for hundreds of years" replies Maria, mildly.

"We also don't know if it's only one hound," points out Eddie. "There could be a family of them. That would explain something like the Loch Ness Monster, which has been sighted by many people for centuries. In any case, something is eating those chickens. If we want to find out what, we'll need to stake the place out."

"It would be a better idea to talk with nearby residents and gain a competent understanding of surrounding areas before performing a stake-out.
Furthermore, it would be impolite to not have a talk with the owner of the farm first. Only then can we confirm the validity of this...insubstantial blather." Tobias motioned dismissively, before further commenting, "Well,at least I finally know why the professors had been so eager to get me to go here. They just wanted me out of their hair."

"Yes, of course we should talk to them first," says Eddie. "We can also do some research into similar things that have happened in the past, and this is just the place to do it."

Tobias nodded in agreement. Did a light stretch and walked towards the shelves upon shelves filled with books on nearly every single damned subject imaginable. He grunted, "It's going to be a loooong day."

Library use 50%,[dice]0[/dice]

Mr. Nichols opens up the special section of the library that hold more 'supernatural' reading material. "You are correct, there have been ghostly hound reports going back at least a couple hundred years, but none in the last couple of decades as far as I can remember. But of course you never know with people. I think it is worth it for you to at least go talk to the farmer."

OOC:   Tobias has begun to do some research on hounds spotted in the Hockomock. Each Library Use roll takes 1 hour of game time. If you would like to also do research, let me know what you are researching and make a roll. If you don't want to spend the hour looking at books, please post your intention, don't feel like you have to stick together. a PBF game makes it easy to seperate the party and continue the game.

Maria

”I'll be happy to talk to the farmer" says Maria. "I know the area".

Sensing a story, Bret readily agrees to interview Mr. Jenkins, and offers the lady a ride along. In the meantime he joins the university student in perusing the shelves for anything related to odd happenings in the swamp area.

Tobias stared at the collection of newspaper clipping from various newspaper companies stretching the 1800s to the recent years, the esoteric ramblings of the residents who lived closely to the hockmock swamp. In other words, no physical evidence except anectdotes and wild theories presented by the press. With a grunt, Tobias pulled at three volumes of collected newspaper publications thicker than the bible down from the shelves and gingerly placed them onto the table. He stared at the journalist, "Alright. I'm going to search through the books to see if I can find a more...accurate description of the ghostly hounds than 'black as midnight', that, an' whether there's any patterns to the appearance of this Hockmock Hound. I'd say it'll be quite an interesting find if their recorded appearances all ended up coinciding with nearby financial crises, wouldn't you say?"

Tobias stared at the pile of books before him and shook his head lightly, "I think there'sa few more of them down there, besides the archives' section. Mister Journalist. Of course, you're welcome to take whichever book that takes you fancy before you as well."

"Looks like the two of them have the research well in hand," says Eddie to Maria. "If you want to go talk to the farmer now, I could come with you."

"Sounds good to me," Bret replies to Tobias. "It shows just how seriously these phenomena are being taken that we now have a certified academic researcher from Miskatonic taking an interest. That kind of thing makes a good local story even better."

"I'm nobody important, Mister Journalist. I'm just a freshman from the Miskatonic. I don't even major in occult and esoteric studies; I major in Criminology and police procedures, for goodness' sake! Tobias said in exasperation, as he dusted off the covers for some of the older archives of newspaper clippings "Unfortunately, my professors had threatened my course credits and had said that I'm not passing my courses unless I write my papers here. Oh yeah, and I don't think I've introduced myself yet, my name is Tobias Jerkins, I plan on becoming a Private Eye in the future, maybe Pinkerton, or maybe I'll set up my own firm, not quite sure yet, but somewhere along these lines." He shrugged, and cracked open a tome of old newspapers the colour of bad cheese.

"I'm not from around here, and I need answers to questions. I need context for why this is happening, and ultimately write a paper about the validity of the farmer's claims. Why is this happening? When did the rumours start? Who started it? Who witnessed the Hound throughout the years? Where is the Hound the most active? As far as I can gather from mere moments of glimpsing these interviews and anecdotes, I see that the witnesses' description of the Hound has remained inconsistent and their description of the Hound ranges from tall to short, big to small, and even black to white! The only thing that remained consistent throughout their varied descriptions is that the beast is canine in nature, and are strong. Unnaturally so. And the creature was frequently sighted near Hockmock, which raises the question of 'why is it that the Hound has been frequently spotted in this area'? The newspapers didn't really specify whether the witnesses' minds was in an altered state when the Hound was sighted, the question of whether they are under the influence of alcohol, narcotics or anything else of a hallucinogenic nature was ignored in the pursuit of a very-likely non-existent Hound of Hockmock; but I believe this possibility could be ruled out anyways as there's no record of related incidents involving drug cartels or powerful street gangs. There's no specific time-frame of activity, and the only clues I have found so far seemed to be somewhat...unreliable. Anything good on your end?" Tobias said as he grabbed his notebook and pen out from his backpack and copied down consistent descriptions of the Hound, names of the witnesses' throughout the ages, the pet theories suggested by the newspapers, and anything else of note and obvious importance to solving this case.

The door to the library smacks open and a large old man comes huffing and puffing through, attempting to move quickly while using a cane and looking at a pocket watch.

The man was Dr. Cornelius Porter, a local medical doctor who has operated a small practice in the area for twenty years. The old man one day must have been built like a brick house, but age is creeping up on him: his hair and beard were more salt than pepper, tight and strong built muscle have atrophied, but nevertheless he maintains a smile.

"So did I miss it?" The old man puffs as he moves toward the librarian's desk, "You always have something interesting for me to look into and I need something to distract me for a while. I had a housecall so I couldn't get here right away."

HelplessBystander,You should wait to announce what you found till I tell you. I've just been waiting to see if anyone else was going with Eddie to interview Mr. Jenkins at the farm. While I appreciate the enthusiasm, trust me I do, if you put down something wrong, then either I have to work it into the story, or just make a correction and it makes everyone look bad. What you put here is fine, I can work this in.

Mr. Nichols stands up and shakes the good doctor's hand. Everyone who lives in Bridgeport knows Dr. Porter and has probably seen him at least once. Getting a good doctor to a small city like Bridgeport can be tough. There are only a few of them here. "Of course you are late my old friend. But it wouldn't be a proper meeting if you were on time." Mr. Nichols gives the doctor a firm handshake and then a cup of tea. "Seems the Hockomock Hounds have returned, why now, is beyond me. Two are already combing the archives, and Eddie here is heading out to talk to the farmer who's seen 'em." He completes introductions all around.

OOC:   I am starting a new thread for those going to talk to the farmer/neighbors, etc. So if you are going move to that thread. If you are staying to do research stay here. If this is your first time playing, it is protocol to NOT read the other threads until you get back together and the others "tell" you what happened. Then you can go read the threads. Let me know if you have any questions.

"The Hounds again, huh? Well if they're already at it back there, perhaps I'll join Eddie here and see if the witnesses have anything new to go on." Dr. Porter heads out the door to go to the farm.

Tobias and Bret scour the books, looking for any mentions of hounds or large dogs in the Hockomock area.

Tobias found several vague references, as he described, but the latest report was well over 15 years ago.

Bret found an entry of something called the Hound of Tendalous but it doesn't sound anything like what the farmer described. This creature always killed anyone who saw them.

It is now just after 8 PM. The sun is beginning to go down.

"Well, I was going to go interview Mr. Jenkins but it looks like those other guys went on ahead without us and the lady didn't want a ride from an obvious schmuck like me, so it looks like it's just you and me, buddy," Bret says to Tobias. "Not much in the records. Maybe we should go take a quick look at the swamp itself before it gets totally dark? Mr. Nichols, you're a longtime resident of this area--I'm a relative newcomer from Boston so I'm not so familiar. Do you recall anything in the history of the Hockomock itself which stands out?"

Tobias coughed. "Mr Parker, common sense tells me that taking a drive to a swamp near nighttime is a terrible idea. There's many complications and other factors that needs to be considered before we could start the survey. Let's go greet the man that just came in first and ask his opinion before doing anything else, okay?" He said with a slight sign of exasperation and tiredness in his voice. He had been combing through dozens upon dozens of articles for descriptive accounts of the Hound and are coming up a blank. He feels like his presence here is a cruel joke made by his professors.

"Looks like Dr. Porter already left."

"Wait, what? He left already?" Tobias finally glanced up from his books with an expression of surprise glued on his face. "Uh...I just kinda thought he was still there. Damn. He left waaay earlier than I thought he would."

"Yes, the good Dr. Porter left almost immediately with the other two. I know its easy to get caught up in research. As for me, well the Hockomock has always been a strange place, my mind aint' as sharp as it use to be. I remember something about hounds being reported years ago, but not much more than that." Mr. Nichols responds.

"Okay, why don't we see if we can find some more details on this last occurrence 15 years ago. I didn't feel like going out anyway and I interview people all the time during the day."

Bret lights another cigarette and does some more digging in the archives but unfortunately comes up blank.

Tobias shook his head with resignation. "The books did not offer any more helpful information. Mr. Parker doesn't want to do any interviews currently and going to Hockmock right now appears to be a bad idea. Well, I'll check up on whether I missed anything on the incident 15 years ago. Let's meet up with the other afterwards, trade information and then decide on a plan of action, how does that sound?"

library use 50%,[dice]0[/dice]

Fast Talk 65%,[dice]1[/dice]

"Damn. I can't find anything useful." Tobias sighed in resignation.

After another hour of searching, your efforts prove futile. Mr. Nichols is getting ready to go, slipping on his jacket. "If you gentlemen want to stay longer, be sure to lock the door on your way out. Good Evening gentlemen."

OOC:   It is now 9 PM

"Hey, uh..." Tobias said, "Do you think we should leave now? I have a room reservation at a hotel; we could pick up where we left off tomorrow, you know? I also assume you have a house to return to? I think it would be a damned good idea to leave now."

"We may have to do some legwork if we can't find anything in the records. We know something happened 15 years ago so maybe some of the locals will remember. We could go somewhere nearby and ask around. Or else we could stay late here for another hour of research, see if we can dig something out. Otherwise we don't have a whole lot of information to trade with the others. What do you think?"

"Sure. Let's go to a bar or something and try to see if here's anyone there who remembers what happened 15 years ago. The library doesn't seemed to offer any fruitful leads so far." Tobias said, "Besides, I'm in the mood for a drink. Any speakeasies nearby? I'm sure strong alcohol helps."

Being during the middle of prohibition, bars aren't to be found.

Bret,you have been to a small place a couple times that sells alcohol. Its a dump and sometimes their choice of alcohol is extremely limited. But its the only place in town you know of.

"Well, professor, as you know liquor is pretty hard to get a hold of these days but there is a place I know of where a few of us reporters go for tip-offs from time to time. It's not exactly Buckingham Palace but it's probably more fun than talking to a farmer in the middle of a swamp."

"Well, I imagine many things are more fun and worthwhile than talking to a man who lives in a swamp." Tobias said sardonically.

Bret gets his coat.

Tobias packs up his stuff and leaves with Bret Parker.

The 2 of you drive to a small farm on the outside of town. Several cars are parked outside a barn. Bret leads you into the barn and behind some bales of hay. A trap door in the floor, leads to a lighted basement with music playing, and several people drinking behind a bar and a couple tables. The floor is dirt, and dust floats in the air.

As you come down the stairs everyone turns to look at you, then goes back to their drinks.

"Okay, professor, make yourself at home," Bret mutters to Tobias as he heads over to the bar while glancing around at the customers for a likely mark -- someone old and local enough to remember what happened in the Hockomock 15 years ago.

As you look around most everyone here fits that description.

"All right. I'll go buy a few bottles of beer, and go talk with the bartender. Mr. Parker, there's a few suspicious characters over there, you wanna talk to 'me?" Tobias said analytically, as he made his way towards the guy with hollering about alcoholic beverages. On the way, he checked his wallet and made sure he have enough money to buy a drink or two.

Bentherat,so what does the bartender look like. Do I need to roll fast-talk as I try to weasel out a few bottles for cheaper than it should've been whilst prying information from him?

OOC:   Yea do a fast talk roll.

No one here is drinking beer. They are all drinking something out of dirty glasses that the bartender is pouring from some large brown bottles. From what you can see the liquor is clear to possibly a cloudy yellow. A hand written paper nailed to the wall says 25 cents a drink.

Tobias casually walked towards the bartender, and handed him a $1 coin. The bartender stared down at him, and then handed him two dirty bottles. Tobias gingerly cleaned the bottles with the cuff of his shirt as the drinks was slowly filled up."Greetings, kind man. Would you mind telling me who got the loosest lips 'round 'ere? There's more where that came from." He whispered to the old man, wearing a charismatic smile.

Fast Talk 65%,[dice]0[/dice]

The bartender laughs, "Do these men look like they are here for talking?" The 2 glasses clink on the bar. As he pours the grain alcohol, your nose burns from the smell. You notice the $1 coin has disappeared, you just aren't sure when, and no change was offered.
"What story has you snooping around here?"

Tobias laughed dryly without humor. Clearly, he needs to work on his people skills. "You wouldn't happen to know a thing or two 'bout The Hound, do you? Me an' ma pal over there Mr. Parker are looking to get a scoop about the infamous case." For some reason, his Australian country accent started to slip through as he continued talking. He cursed inwardly; he thought he worked the foreign accent out of his system already. Apparently, he was wrong.

For a few moments Bret observes Tobias' efforts to get himself mugged, then heads over to a vacant seat at a table. "Evening all. Do any of you guys remember hearing about some weird stuff happening in the Hockomock 15 years ago? Me and my big-spending friend over there are interested in local history."

After a while of fruitless chatter with the bartender, Tobias finally gave up on the notion that he could weasel anything out of the damned asshole, and ended up paying double for the two cups of bad alcohol that was so awful it was as if someone had distilled it from a repugnant mixture of rotten fish, lumpy milk, and barley. He decided to leave the drinks for later and headed towards Bret Parker with alcohol.

This time, however, he wisely chose to let Mr. Parker do talking instead, and handed him the other cup of moonshine.

OOC:   Note, there is only the grain alcohol, they are currently out of beer. Speakeasys, especially ones in the counrty like this, took what they could, whenever they could. Moonshine was the standard, while getting whiskey and beer were luxuries.

All the men at the table start chuckling at your question, but it does start to draw a crowd in the small room. "There is always something strange going on at the Hockomock. 15 years is a long time. What are you boys looking for?"

"Always something strange there, huh? Interesting. You tell 'em, professor."

OOC:   Right, I fixed the error. Thanks for pointing it out.

"We are looking rumours about sightings of the Hockmock Hound within the time-frame of the last 15 years. Any help would be appreciated, I am more than capable of offering another drink to the most helpful gentleman at the table." Tobias spoke eloquently, this without a hint of an Australian accent. As he finally regained his confidence and intentionally revealed an easygoing attitude...the men at the table finally seemed to be willing to talk.

Fast talk 65%,[dice]0[/dice]

"You mean like whats in the paper?" one of the men asked and they all had a good laugh, and head back to their own tables.

OOC:   please make a spot hidden check

"Win some lose some," Bret says philosophically. "Well, if something strange did happen 15 years ago maybe my newspaper reported on it at the time. I could check the archives down at the office before the next meeting of the BPS."

OOC:   Will this fly, Keeper? Can I make a Library Use roll on it?

Tobias shrugged. "Well, it looks like we aren't gonna get much out of these guys. Let's go there. Do you know where it is, Journalist?" He pocketed his car keys and headed for the trapdoor entrance.