A student has gone missing and the investigators have been tasked to find him. What is the connection to the mysterious abandoned railway tunnel at Chapochaug, which is rumoured to be haunted?
"Thank you," says Alice as her order arrives. "Mr. Hutchinson sounds like exactly the fellow we need to see. If Albert Baumgartner went up there, he wouldn't have escaped Mr. Hutchinson's notice. Can you please give us directions to the maintenance building?"
“Well, sure Miss” says the proprietress. “But strictly speaking the tunnel is out of bounds. Entry is forbidden. Sure, local kids go there on dares, and older ones use it for other purposes” (she colours slightly here), “but I really don’t advise fooling around Chapochaug”.
She lays the companions' food down, and begins to fill their coffee cups.
Owens didn't intend to be offensive. Nevertheless, when a plate of pickles is set before him he checks it over carefully for any suspiciously slimy extras.
"Thank you, we'll be careful," says Alice, "but we would like to speak to Mr. Hutchinson and find out if he's seen the young man." She takes a bite out of her sandwich, savoring the melted cheese.
“Well, if you’re sure” the woman sighs. “There’s an access road just off the Pike a couple of miles out on your right side. Head up it and you’ll come to a gate with ‘no trespassing’ signs around it. You’ll find the tunnel. Hutchinson’s shack should be there too. Please be careful.”
"Thank you for the information," says Isadora, and finishes her sandwich and coffee.
"I think we are good to go," she says to the others. She checks the time on her wristwatch.
"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
The investigators return to their car and set off along the Pike. Sure enough, after about ten minutes they spot the access road and turn up it. Alongside it, there are some low stone walls marking the boundaries of local properties. The ridge of Chapochaug can be seen ahead, dark with tree cover.
They come to a closed wooden gate marked “Boston and Maine Rail Road”. Signs saying ‘Private Property’ and ‘No Trespassing’ are positioned alongside it.
"Let's use the car," Isadora says. She is not keen on hiking... She sits still, nursing the bundle that hides the alien blaster on her knees.
"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
The car eases gently towards the tunnel and stops. The mouth of the tunnel looms ominously ahead, its interior dark and foreboding.
As the companions climb out of the car and take in their surroundings, they can that the steep slopes of the mountain are rocky and densely wooded, although many of the trees have lost their leaves, and is divided by steep gullies. Definitely climbable, but no easy stroll. The undergrowth is denser on the lower slopes which are covered in small brush and scrub trees, and which have retained their foliage. Higher up the trees are much taller and older.
Everybody,You can make a Natural History or Biology roll.
There appears to be a trail which begins near the base of the tunnel entrance and leads up - over the tunnel.
Isadora Carmichael
Natural History 10%
[dice]0[/dice]
Isadora usually only encounters nature on her nightmarish / dreamy landscape paintings, but this time she has an insight about their surroundings.
"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
