Roots

It's the summer of 2017 in small town Virginia. The tranquility the residents take for granted is shaken by disturbing news: Karen Parker is missing. To some she may be a friend or neighbor. To others, a daughter. But regardless of the relation, the investigators set out to bring her home. But ancient evils lurk everywhere, and as the investigators are about to discover, some are very close to home...

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Re: Roots

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Tobias agrees. Something about this place exudes an aura of activity that he had seen before. It reminded him of the Swamp. He shivered relentlessly.
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Re: Roots

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OOC:   You're all doing what characters in horror media never do. I'm impressed. ;)  
The plan made, the team prepares to leave Geverlon. But before they make it to their car, another vehicle turns down the street. Stopping in front of them, the driver gets out. He's a dark haired and boyishly handsome man in his early 30's, and wears a police uniform that says DEPUTY on it. He smiles disarmingly at the three visitors.

"Howdy folks. I'm deputy Alex Steel. I know what you're thinkin, but I swear that's my real name, ha ha. I've gotten ribbin's for it my whole life." He chuckles.

"We've gotten some concerned calls from locals about y'all. Geverlon is a pretty quiet place,and three tourists just showin up and askin questions... well it causes some folks to feel uneasy. So beggin your pardin, but the sheriff would like y'all to swing on by and elaborate a little more about what you're lookin for here. Put everyone's minds to rest, you know how it is." He looks at them, pleasant but expecting them to comply.
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Re: Roots

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At this point, Tobias believes that they should do the opposite of the townsfolk is telling them to do. He has never seen a town filled with people so eager for them to go to the sheriff.

He made a smile, and said, "I'm an old man, I suppose it's bad for my health to be going too far at any given moment. Do you mind if I talk with someone else instead? I don't believe this proper police procedure here, Monsieur."
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Alex considers. "Well if that's the case I suppose you could give me a statement and we could sort this out down at Alfie's. I haven't had lunch yet."
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"That sounds like an appropriate arrangement, mon ami. Let's go." Tobias nodded amicably.
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Presuming the others agree, Alex leads them to Alfie's. There's a few other folks in the restaurant, but overall it's still more empty than not. They share lunch as Alex listens as the three visitors to Geverlon tell him exactly why they are in town.
OOC:   We don't need to go through the entire story, but I'd like a brief summary. Are you guys planning to be mostly honest with him, or are you looking to maybe try and mislead him at all, either about your reasons for being in town or your growing suspicions about the people of Geverlon?  
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"My granddaughter, Karen Parker, went missing at around 8~9am yesterday. We believe she may be in Geverlon and suspects foul play. Thus far, the proper authorities proposed for us to perform an investigation independent of them as there's not enough time for them to assess the situation and due to the unfortunate lack of evidence." Tobias said, giving a brief summary of the events. He did not reveal Karen's relationship with Joy nor did he allude to his now growing mistrust of the town. "Have you had any reports of a young woman around 18, about 5'7" with brown hair and plain features? She's wearing plain clothing and hiking wear. Has there been any reports concerning her at all? Curiously enquiring, of course."
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Re: Roots

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Image

Catherine shows the deputy a picture of Karen and backs up what Tobias is saying, also keeping her suspicions about Geverlon to herself.
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Re: Roots

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Alex takes copious notes, at least attempting to appear interested. After everyone gives their statement, he looks up and smiles.

"Thanks everyone. I'll take this to the sheriff. I can tell you we've not gotten any reports of a missing girl around here, and Geverlon is small enough we would have if someone spotted her. Now, what we can do is limited, given she ain't been reported missing. But we'll form a search party and search the woods and surrounding areas. If she came here on foot she may have gotten lost. Path can be tricky."

"As for you folks, I'm afraid it's 'bout time for you to leave. We've received some complaints. Now, I know you're scared and anxious, but I think it would be best if y'all went home and let the professionals handle this. We'll call your sheriff in a few days if we've learned anything about this Karen, and keep y'all fully abreast. But we can all do our jobs a lot easier if we don't have to worry about watching out for the three of you. The woods around here can be pretty dangerous, and if y'all went nosing around you might just end up as lost as Karen. And none of us went that."

"Just let us handle things. go back home, tell everyone we've got things under control
."
OOC:   Everyone can make a psychology roll.  

Psychology,The deputy slipped a threat in there while speaking to you, but did so in a deniable way. Still, it's clear he's insinuating bad things will happen if you don't leave town immediately. His expression briefly grew steely as he delivered this news. Based on this knowledge, it seems reasonably certain that any search conducted for Karen will be rather limited. Alex seems to want to do enough to reassure outsiders and get them to drop the matter.
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Re: Roots

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Psychology 60,[dice]0[/dice]
Tobias didn't notice the threat and didn't care. He smiled amicably and nodded, he plans stay and investigate this town. He turned to Catherine and Daniel for a second and said, "Let's buy some supplies and stay here for a bit longer."
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Re: Roots

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Image

"I think we'd better do as he says," replies Catherine. At least for now, she thinks.
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"There's a general store not far down from Althea's diner. There's a few supplies like water, food, a compass, and other miscellaneous items that I'm sure we could. After all, wether you like it or not, we are here to stay and find Karen" Tobias is old, and his stubbornness had only gotten worse with age.
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Re: Roots

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Image

Daniel still isn't keen on staying here. "Now Tobias I think we should at least drive out of town to update everyone else on the situation, and then we can figure out what to do from there."
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"Let's do that first, and we'll talk about to do next afterwards." Tobias conceded.
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Alex seems happy with the decision they've reached. "I knew you folks would understand. Just leave this to us, you hear. We'll find your Karen if she's within Geverlon or its vicinity. Y'all just go back home and let the professionals handle it." He even pays for the meal. "Safe travels, now!"

Afterwards the team finds themselves expected to leave town, no closer to finding Karen. But the deputy had promised to look into it. For some reason however, that brings the investigators little in the way of comfort.
OOC:   So, back home? If so you reach there unmolested. What are you all planning to do? I presume Tobias and maybe Catherine want to talk with the Parkers, and Daniel to the police? There's also the possibility of doing some research on Geverlon, be it online or at the library.  
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Tobias had already decided with Catherine and Daniel beforehand to drive out of town and update their family and friends on the situation first via mobile phone. He also intends to do some research over the internet on Geverlon, as he had decided that going to a library is going to waste an unnecessarily long time when every second could be vital to finding Karen.

"Miss Catherine, how do I turn on...Google?" He said uncertainly, squinting at the screen.
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Re: Roots

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Image

"My smartphone's an Android," says Catherine, taking it out, "so Google is the home page by default." She looks online to see what she can find out about Geverlon.
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"Bah. These newfangled devices. Dunno how to use 'em. may be I should attend one of those IT classes Karen had said I should go to." Tobias grumbled, trying to find some useful information on the internet.
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Tobias and Catherine do find some information on Geverlon. The town lacks even a website, but there are a few historical and governmental sites that discuss it. Most of them more or less offer the same story Father Allberry had given, though a few do note that the town is unusually isolated even today. Oddly, Alfie's dinner has a few Yelp reviews. It's given 4 stars. The three reviews all praise the food, but the lowest rated review admitted that the town gave him the creeps, and he left soon after the meal. Even one of the others confessed that the town was a "little weird, had had little else to recommend it."

But digging deeper will take time. There may be more information to find. Being a history teacher, Catherine has a subscription to the local paper. The Paradise Falls Gazette Has been published since early America, and their archives are entirely available online. But going through them will take at least a few hours, and someone would have to commit to browsing the archives to see if anything interesting turns up. And they'd probably want to head back to town, if only for comfort and convenience.

The Parkers meanwhile are relieved to hear from the investigators. Having grown worried. They are understandably upset that Karen is still missing, but do have some information to report. Kim Hodge had found Karen's phone in her tent, left behind when she went missing. After some badgering of her daughter she found the password for Karen's phone and went through her last few texts. The last one she received was after she went missing, sent by Ali who asked if "she had made it to Geverlon yet." After a brief amount of questioning, Ali broke down and reported that Karen had been planning to use the camping trip to sneak off to Geverlon for some time now. She had not expected Karen to leave her phone behind, and honestly thinks it's a mistake. Still, Ali now seems as worried as everyone else and committed to helping bring her home. She reports that Karen went off to the bus stop and said she was taking the bus as close to Geverlon as she could, and she'd walk the rest of the way.

The investigators have taken the path from the bus stop to Geverlon. It's very narrow and covered on both sides by the heavy forest that envelopes the town. It would be a difficult path to walk. But as long as Karen stayed on the path she should have been alright.
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Tobias looked to see if he could find anything of note.
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