Play@YSDC

The inn is a two-storey wooden building with a terracotta tile roof. The ground floor is a bar, while the upper floor must have four or five bedrooms at most.
The whole structure looks like a ghost building. The chimney on the roof is cut to pieces and the fur coat has colored the roof tiles black. The colors of the sign are faded, the glasses are dirty and some are cracked too. The shutters are missing from many windows.
The silence reigning in town transforms this place into something barely hospitable. The building lacks fire escapes and, although apparently operating, the place looks to have been mostly vacant. Dark wood dominate the interior, which is minimalist and devoid of any ornament or decoration.

The place has what is sufficient to have a seat, eat and drink. Most space is filled with round wooden tables and there´s a staircase leading to the upper floor. Lighting is provided by a wooden board with gas lamps. There is a large counter and a young girl behind is cleaning glasses. The space behind the counter communicates with the kitchens. Someone is working inside there, making noises with pots and pans.

Only two people are seated at one table. Their talk is very low, which seems more like a church confession than a bar chatter. They ignore the entry of the investigators. They are two middle-aged men, dressed in heavy clothes, whose face hides behind a thick gray beard. Their clothes seem to have been used for decades.

Shortly after the investigators entrance, they get up and go out, keeping their heads down, so as not to meet the eye of the strangers.
The girl receives the new arrivals with an evasive half-smile.

Having tried to communicate to the half-wits outside, Ivy is instantly suspicious of anyone showing any kind of initiative on the island.

She lags behind slightly therefore, and watches the two bearded men as they leave the inn.

"Hi," says Kathryn to the girl with a smile. "We'd like some rooms, please."

jp1885 wrote:
Having tried to communicate to the half-wits outside, Ivy is instantly suspicious of anyone showing any kind of initiative on the island.

She lags behind slightly therefore, and watches the two bearded men as they leave the inn.

Michael notices what Ivy is doing, and nods to her. He figures it might be a good idea to tail these two characters for a while. He slips out the door after them as inconspicuously as he can, hoping to be back in a little while.

Kathryn and Emma
The girl leads the strangers upstairs, to show them thier romms. She show no curiosity for their presence in town. Upstairs is a corridor with ten room doors. The girl lead the investigators all the way down the corridor and enters a room. The room is dusty and plain, providing only a single window, a double bed, a gas-light lamp, a battered wardrobe, a small desk and an armchair. All furnitures looks empty.

Kathryn and Emma,From the window, Kathryn and Emma see a man hiding behind a house who spies on the place where Kathryn has gone. He is very different from the other inhabitants. He wears a raincoat, similar to those of the Greyton schooner fishermen. He has a hat and a scarf that covers his face. The man does not stay there for long. After a few seconds, he walks away stealthily at a brisk pace. He goes north at the area of ​​the ruins.

Ivy and Michael
The two men enter a nearby small house, a hundred yards from the Inn. The place looks more like a temporary settlement, than a real home. The structure is ancient and built with stones. There´s only a large double door to access the structure, and the two men close it behind them. The windows o don´t a have glass, but just large iron bars. The interior is mostly occupied by a big cart, similar to one of those used for the hay transport. The load are eight wooden barrels, each one having with the capacity of about one thousand gallons.

Ivy peers carefully through the bars, whispering to Michael.

"What do you think? Bootleggers?"

"Quick," Kathryn says to Emma, "let's get downstairs and get out after him before he gets too far ahead. We need to see where he goes and who he talks to."

jp1885 wrote: Ivy peers carefully through the bars, whispering to Michael.

"What do you think? Bootleggers?"

Michael nods. "Five will get ya ten they're runnin' the stuff from Canada. Perfect setup for it. Nobody here but a bunch of ninnies who won't ask questions. I think we better get back to the inn and let sleepin' dogs lie. Bootleggers don't play nice, and I'm not in the mood to have a chat with a tommy gun. Later we can tip the local cops."

"I agree - let's not get tangled up in this. Back to the inn it is then."

Ivy and Michael see Kathryn and Emma running out of the Inn. They call their attention and point at a manwho is running in the distance, wearing a hat and a raincoat. The man has just entered the northern area of ​​the village, where some ruins are surrounded and buried by dense vegetation. He´s just taken a trail that penetrates the vegetations and goes up the hill.

The young girl of the Inn follow the two women who have gone out, and calls them in an embarrassed voice.
"Hey misses, what happened? Do you still want the room?"

"Yes," says Kathryn. "We just have to do something first while there's daylight, and then we'll be back."

Great, Michael thinks to himself, another mess to deal with. He plods after the man, well aware that he's not likely to catch up with anybody who really wants to get away.

The man keeps walking north, towards the ruins of old buildings at the foot of the hill, not far from the cultivated fields. This forgotten and abandoned part of the town included about a hundred wooden houses. Now little remains of them.
The vegetation of shrubs and bushes has grown everywhere, to the point that some structures are only vaguely recognizable as old homes.
Such bad conditions of the houses is not merely a result of time. The houses have been partly dismantled and looted. Many wooden planks are missing. What was left has now assumed a skeletal appearance. A number of broken or unusable objects and furnishings are scattered all over the place, even outside the perimeter of the houses. In many points, the vegetation has been able to grow because something has been removed or destroyed before.

Despite the state of abandonment and wildness, the man can follow a trail among the vegetation. Indeed, it is possible to identify points where the plants have been bent recently and several times. The trail that goes up the hill.

As they walk to follow their suspect man, the group´s attention is called by the remains of a house that was built with yellow-painted boards. It was the home of Dorothy Carson, the same of the picture they found at Colby´s place. Here the crumbling walls are nothing more than a ghostly silhouette of some previous existence. The house dissolves into the shrubs and withering trees arrogantly conquered the interior.

The hidden trail leaves the ruins and raises up the hill, but avoid reaching the top. At a certain point, the trail rather moves sideways, making a shortcut to get directly to the other side of the island. The trail is bordered by trees and continues through thick vegetation. However, once the trail has left the ruins and entered the hill vegetation, becomes easier to follow. Here the impeding plants were cut more efficiently, so to make a better passage.
Following the man without being seen is relatively easy. There is only one path and the plants cover the investigators while they walk behind.
After about a half a hour walk, the trail reaches its higher point above the sea level. From this point, the view opens onto the Bay of Fundy landscape. The fog appears like a soft white carpet, which extends for many miles in all directions. The elevations of the Grand Island and the hills of Greyton emerge from the mist to finally meet the decreasing sunlight. After descending the other side of the hill, the trail encounter a circular clearing, its diameter is about twenty yards. The trail continues after the clearing, descending the hill towards the sea.

At the two ends of the clearing are two huts with a thatched roof, built under the trees. The structures are rough. No windows and one big opening that serves as a door. Ashes of a recently extinguished fire are aat the center of the clearing. The man enters one of the two huts.

"I'll let you call the shots,"Michael whispers to Ivy. "You wanna check out that other hut first, or go talk to this guy and see what he's up to?

Ivy nods, quite used to her employers asking for her advice.

"You and I will talk to this man, while the other two can investigate the other hut."

"Let me go ahead first," says Kathryn. "I can sneak up to the hut and see if anyone's in there with him. If he's the only one in there, I'll signal for you to join me. Otherwise, I'll stay and eavesdrop."

The hut is empty. The whole group can easily enter without being seen. The inside has a wet earth floor, which was repeatedly trampled with pinnate feet. There’s an unbearable smell of fish, which almost comes to be sickening, as if the hut had long been used to store tons of fishes.

The hut is small, there´s scarcely room for a table, a chair and some blankets piled up in a corner. Some extinguished candles, three large books, a compass, and a map of the Bay of Fundy are on the table.

The books are ancient texts of Celtic mythology. One of these describes links between the Celtic and the Greek mythology, in particular focusing on the figure of the god Pan.

Kathryn slips back to Michael and Ivy are. "He's alone in there," she whispers to them. "He's sitting at a table doing something, but his back was to me, so I couldn't see what."

"Well, we could sneak around here all day, or we could go introduce ourselves. Hopefully we'll get a more scintillating conversation than we've had thus far... Oh, maybe weapons drawn ready?"

"How about we keep our weapons concealed but within easy reach?" suggests Kathryn. "We don't want to frighten him. He may be more willing to talk if we're friendly, and if he tries anything, we can always pull out the guns at that point."

”Yes, that’s probably for the best.”

Ivy steps forward and knocks on the entrance of the hut.

As the investigors step inside the hut, the man turns to them. At first sight, he looks like a common young and muscular man.
However, it is not the case. Some details are strange to say the least. His skin is brown, while his hands have the reptilian characteristics of a powerful dragon. The face is somewhat human, but with slightly dilated lips and eyes, as if tending towards a transformation into sea creature. He´s wearing a Mackinaw cloth, a heavy and dense water-repellent woolen cloth with a doubled shoulder. He also wears a newsboy hat. He watches the investigators firmly, with eyelids held open and without an eye blink.
His face is surprised, like that of an animal that must act quickly to protect its den. Once he sees the intruders are not dangerous, his face becomes relaxed. Looking into his narrow eyes, it is like nothing is his to behold. An endless depth of ink, sorrow, and pain.

His voice is human, but devoid of all vitality, like someone bearing his own existence as an enormous weigh.

"I don't know what brought you to this island, but I assure you it's not a place where you want to stay for long"

"Why is that?" asks Kathryn. "What can you tell us about the island?"

"We are here on official business," Ivy warns the strange-looking man. "To whom are we speaking by the way?"

The man now looks at the group with a little suspicion, wanting to know something more, before further exposing himself.

"I am someone who knows this island enough to warn you. Things happening here you could hardly understand. It is enough for you to know that you are in danger and by dealing with the Anderson you will contribute to the misfortune of many people. I don't know what the Andersons oferred you to do business with them. Look for another partner and get out of this place."

By this time, Michael is ready to believe in the half-human, half-demon offspring of fornication with incubi and succubi. He tries to hide his uneasiness with this weird being. He pulls out his badge.

"This is official police business, mister. These ladies are working with me, not for Anderson." He gives the fellow a quick synopsis of the missing child case. "Why don't you make it easy on yourself and tell us what you know."

The man looks at the investigators with a serious and penetrating gaze.
"My name is Carson. Jason Carson. I'm not Timothy's father, unlike you might think. I can't have children. That's why Alyssa left me years ago. At that time, my ultimate fate was still obscure. You don't want really know who or what Timothy's father is. The island lives under the shadow of sea creatures. They use human women to breed. I went to Portland to tell Alyssa to do the right thing and kill her son, but she preferred killing herself. You will not return Timothy to Mr. Gilbert. At least, not the child he would like to have back."

"We've actually seen Timothy's real father," says Kathryn. "We rescued Selma from him, though it cost her brother his life. We know what he did to Alyssa and other women. Where is Timothy now?"

"Spill the beans, fella,"Michael adds. "Maybe we can help this poor kid avoid the same fate as you and the others. Get him to a doctor, or a priest. It might not be too late for you, either."

Ivy is not surprised that this is fellow is Jason.

"So why did you kidnap the boy? To protect him?"

" I didn't kidnap Timothy. Their servants must have done it. They have servants. Here on this island their servants are the Jennings and the Andersons. But there are servants in Greyton too. Darcy Moore is the principal agent there. She brought Alyssa into the cave, as she did with other women. They took the children up north. To the place they come from. Somewhere in the bay. The Andersons or the Jennings must know where... for sure."

Anyway, you can't navigate up there. They can generate sea storms. A friend of mine tried to travel up there, but the storm stopped him and he disappeared into the sea.
"

"We know about Darcy too," says Kathryn. "She's dead. I think Father Colby killed her and took Timothy away, but he's been killed too, and there's no trace of Timothy - except here. It's possible he's still on this island and hasn't been shipped out yet. Even if he has, we found a Viking ritual and used it to protect our boat from storms."

Jason nods

"So, you found Colby´s and Martin´s work and put them together. Good to hear about that. Listen, you cannot save Timothy from his fate. You cannot save Greyton from its demise. The inhabitants are already dead inside, some of them already serve the Anderson and the sea creatures. The others will do. It´s just a matter of time. I´ve been wandering and studying a lot during these years... What I´m about to tell you, will sound absurd to you... but I have no time to tell you more... and believe me, the less details you know, the best is for you. I learned how to evoke a deity, called Nodens. Nodens was worshipped in Celtic-Roman Britain, and by the Vikings as Njord, the god of the sea. Bring me Alyssa´s child, so that I can do what Alyssa should have done when I warned her. I will sacrifice him to evoke Nodens. He is the God Pan, the god of Eros, the force of life. The creatures you are fighting… must be stopped, before they extend their influence over the continent. Soon or later, they will. Nodens will cause a cataclysm that will destroy Greyton, Flowerege, and their submerged city in the bay. You will be safe here at the top of the hill. No... I don´t expect you to take my words seriously... right now... but at some point.. you probably will..."

"But...he's just a child," says Kathryn. "It's not his fault what his father is and what he did. Where do you get the idea that sacrificing him will cause Nodens to do what you want, anyway? And even if you're right about that, there are innocent people who would be killed! Those women we met back in Flowerege are far too stupid to plan anything evil. I'd be surprised if they could tie their own shoes. They're practically children themselves."

"They're won't be any child killin' while I'm around,"Michael growls at the man. "I ain't sayin' there ain't some truth to your story -- Heaven knows we've seen enough crazy stuff goin' on around here -- but that's where I draw the line. We can put a stop to things by trackin' down these Andersons and Jennings and readin' the Riot Act to 'em. Maybe we should take you along, too."

Ivy shudders at the subject of child sacrifice. Surely this is the 20th century, not the dark ages?

"You've clearly been studying this a lot. Surely there are alternative rituals that you've come across? If only just hints?"

Emma is taken aback by the suggestion. "You... You expect us to aid in killing a child? My own nephew?"

Carson does not react to the scandalized answers. He was expecting them. His mind, however, seems to follow a scale of values ​​that has little to do with the ordinary world.
He first replies to Ivy speaking firmly and categorically.

"You don't choose what a God does for you, nor what you give him in return. He does and that´s it."

Then he speaks to the whole group:
"You have not yet become aware of what you are dealing with. I have no way to help you other than what I´ve just said. I can't go with you to the Andersons or to the Jennings. They know I'm fighting them. If their servants see you with me down there, we would become an immediate target."

"What can you tell us about them?" asks Kathryn. "You've obviously learned a good deal about them."

"During the mid-nineteenth century, the creatures emerged from the deep abyss of the Bay of Fundy and explored the waters to the south. They first approached this island. They selected women of the most influential families to generate their breed. Within a few decades, all members of the Anderson, Jennings and Crookey families were replaced. Consider the Andersons are a very rich family in Maine, owning many lands, many fishing boats and capital invested in the stock market. With time, Coney Island has gradually become an isolated place. Young women have been regularly selected to breed. However, most of the population is not use for procreation, but works the land in conditions of slavery, under the supervision of the Crookey and Anderson. They work in the production of whiskey and liquors, which is subsequently smuggled. Crookey is in charge of organizing the clandestine production and trade. Greyton is their next target for conquest"

"Do you know where they're keeping Timothy?" asks Kathryn. "We're not going to let you kill him, but we still have to get him away from them."

Michael thinks to himself that this case has gotten too big for one broken-down old flatfoot and a pack of tough cookies. Once they get the kid safe, it'll be time to call in the call in the feds. Once they crack down on the bootlegging, they'll find out about the other crazy stuff.

No more Mister Nice Guy with this creep.

"Yeah, tell us where the kid is, or maybe I'll tell the Anderson and the Jennings where you've been hidin'." It's a bluff, but he hopes it works.

Ivy stands beside Michael, doing her best to look formidable in an effort to back up her colleague.

"You have someone in front of you who doesn't care about his life anymore. Spiritually, I don´t belong to this."

He makes a gesture to his whole body with reprobation and disgust

"I can't even be one of yours anymore, as you can see yourself. I am a prisoner in this existential border, turned into a pathetic and paradoxical being. All I want before passing away is to do something to save humanity from a possible bleak fate. I don't expect you to have me kill Alyssa's son. I myself will not try to do so without your consent. I´m still human enough to understand how unthinkable this possibility is for you. It wouldn´t be right to such responsibility lie in the hands of mine only, and there is enough time before this choice becomes critical. I told you about that because I know that your point of view could change. "
At these words, the group remembers the child's handprints on the knife that killed Colby, and a shiver runs down theirs back.

"I don't know where Alyssa's son is. I didn't even know he was kidnapped before I met you. He is the result of their breeding, so it's obvious that their Greyton agents went all the way to Portland to get it back. They have a hiding place here on the island, but I don't know where. The kid is certainly hidden on the island, but you will have to face the dominating families here to find him. Reporting my presence, will not help you find the kid. Depending on the outcome, it may difficult your chances of leaving this island alive."

Ivy sighs, running her hand through her hair in exasperation.

"I don't know... Killing the boy is clearly a terrible thing to do, but what's happening to all the women around here is also terrible. And if that spreads..."

She shudders.

"We need to stop what's happening to the women here, but there has to be a better way," says Kathryn. "What about that abandoned-looking mansion? Does anyone still use it?"

"I have a hunch that's where they're keeping him," says Kathryn. "If we go in, we'll have to sneak up there at night so they don't see us."

"Sounds good to me," says Kathryn. "I can be quiet as a mouse, but if I'm spotted, I can scream like a banshee."