August 18 - 1.30 PM - Father Colby

[robertod]

The group leaves Selma´s house and heads to the Church, to the top of the West Hill. A bunch of clouds form over their heads and covers the sun as they climb the hill. The breeze rises and touches their wet clothes, causing chills that confuse their cold with their fear. Walking the trail, the Georgian building appears to them as they pass the antiquity shop. The church stands out, with its tall bell tower that ends with the pointed roof. The place is wrapped in silence, barely disturbed by the sound of the leaves blown by the wind in the nearby woods.
The heavy double wooden door is open, but the lock has been broken.

A small wooden chalet is located near the church, in the same terrain. It is a single floor house, with a triangular and sloping roof and has a big smoking red bricked chimney. The main door is wide open. The windows are closed and all have curtains hiding the interior.

[Mr. Handy]

"Someone broke into the church," whispers Kathryn, drawing her gun. "They could still be inside. I think we should check there first."

[jp1885]

"Agreed. It's as good a place as any."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Fearing for the life of Father Colby, Michael pulls out his revolver. "Cover me, doll face," he says to Kathryn, "I'm goin' in." He enters the church. "Anybody here?" His booming voice echoes within the church. "Father Colby?"

[robertod]

As the group enters the church, they can feel a quiet air tinctured with the scent of incense, candles solidly smell of musty prayer books, metal polish and flowers. The floor is in light marble. The walls are white, contrasting with the dark color of the wood benches. The place seems empty. A closer look all around confirms that nobody´s is inside.
On the right side, nearby the entrance door, is a wooden staircase that climbs up to the top of the bell tower. When everyone is still and silence reigns, the solitary noise of a drop falling on the floor calls the attention. The noise is repeated with slow periodicity. It is blood, falling on the floor near the first step of the stair. It is dripping from above.

The blood is dripping from the bell room at the top of the stairs. As everybody run up there, they find Father Colby lying on the ground in a pool of blood. His face, like glued to the cold stone floor. The priest died with a knife stuck in his throat, a single stabbing, with precision. His expression is a mixture of pain and deep disbelief. The body is still relatively warm, indicating death no earlier than an hour ago. There is a small knife beside the priest´s leg. It is dirty with blood. There are fingerprints on the handle. They are those of a small hand.

[Mr. Handy]

Kathryn rolls her eyes at Mike's actions, more upset that he has once again given up the advantage of surprise and made stealth impossible than that he has called her "doll face." She examines the scene when she gets to the bell tower, careful to touch nothing. "That hand print could be a child's," says Kathryn. "Could Timothy have been here? Where is he now? When we get back down, we'll need to check for footprints."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Badly shocked by the sight, Michael sinks to his knees, not without some effort, crosses himself, and says a quick prayer for the soul of the murdered priest. He forces himself back up with a groan and tries to calm himself.

"Killer can't be too far away. Don't touch nothin', nobody. Gotta check out the house. Could be somebody inside, mighta seen somethin'." With a glance at Kathryn's disapproving expression, he adds "OK, sister, this time we play it your way. Nice and quiet. After you. I ain't exactly light on my feet, not like that Ruskie dancer, what's-his-name, Nijinski."

[jp1885]

Ivy examines the body as much as she can without touching it.

"I'm not jumping to conclusions about the child, but I admit this is worrying. Maybe whoever did this is in that chalet outside - there was smoke from the chimney after all."

[Mr. Handy]

"Yes, the killer could be in there," says Kathryn, "maybe searching for something or burning papers." She leads the way to the chalet, pistol still drawn and moving as quietly as possible.

OOC,Stealth roll (60% skill) sneaking up to the chalet: [dice]0[/dice]

[Turstrigo]

"Jesus Christ, what could even drive a child to do something like this?" Emma readies her pistol, as she follows the others.

[robertod]

The main door opens to a kitchen, as the investigators step in. They soon notice there´a fireplace and the embers are still burning. A bathroom and a study, that also works as a bedroom, complete the small house. No one is inside. The study room has a desk, a chair, a wardrobe and a bed. The wardrobe door is open and has a mirror on the rear of the door. The walls have paintings of religious representations, which include Jesus, saint Alban and Augustine of Canterbury. A number of identical priest's robes are hanged inside. Near the desk are bookshelves bearing old volumes. There are three versions of the bible, being one in Latin, along with a number of theological texts. The desk has an inkwell and a dry pen placed besides a letter. On the desk is also an ancient rolled parchment and a hand written note.


The letter

Gorham, April 17, 1928
Dear father Brian,
So many times I tried to leave Greyton, but fate never allowed this decision to go much further. There is nothing left for me to do but follow my destiny. I owe you a lot, dear friend and father, but now the time has come for you to listen to my advice. You still have much to lose. You still can do much for many people in this world, the way you did for me and for my mother. Please, hear my warnings and leave this town.
Things I know outline a desperate and terrifying scenario, about the demise of our unfortunate civilization. Something from the sea, from the deep waters of the Bay of Fundy, has conquered Coney Island long ago, and now is defacing the minds of the inhabitants of Greyton. It exploits something dark and terrible that sleeps in the depths of the human soul, something that comes from the ancestral past of humanity. The dream of a positivist future, in the name of progress and optimism, has comforted us as long as it could last. Such a dream has always been a mere illusion, and our species was somehow destined not to go very far.
The origins and the implications of what you are trying to fight go far beyond your farthest imagination. There is nothing you can do but endure the time you have left, with the help of the immense privilege of ignorance. Stay away from the Wellington cave. Leave Greyton behind, along with the sick minds of the townsfolk. Despite your good faith, and despite the immense power of God our Merciful Lord, there´s nothing you can do. In the name of our friendship, and above all, for the people who still love you, I ask you please to leave Greyton forever and forget about there.
Your friend and son
Jason Carson

The note

"Dear Jason, I have not heard back from you for a long time, and I don´t know if you went back to Greyton, or if you moved somewhere else. I hope you are fine, wherever you are. I have found the book and preachment you were looking for some time ago. Colby told me you'll be going to Greyton soon, so I gave the stuff to him. I hope to meet you again in the future.
Jay"



The ancient rolled parchment is a manuscript, whose writings are in the runic alphabet. The header is a large symbol, a large cross with strange ornaments at the ends.

Next to the bed is a small desk with a glass plate on it. Two books are placed next to the wall. They are two scientific volumes about the Bay of Fundy. One of these is a geology book and talks about the Fundy Basin, which is a sediment-filled rift basin on the Atlantic coast of southeastern Canada. The Bay of Fundy lies in the Fundy Basin. As the rift began to separate from mainland North America, volcanic activity occurred, forming volcanoes and flood basalts. The other book is about the large tidal variations of the Bay of Fundy, explaining how a series of specific natural circumstances make this bay, the place with the largest tidal changes in the world, reaching up to 70 feet.

There´s a framed picture on the desk. The photo represents a young brown-haired woman. Her body is slim, his skin white, his eyes small and his nose pointed. The woman has a sad face, vaguely attempting a stretched smile, but communicating instead deep sorrow and melancholy, in a way that cannot help but affect any observer. She is posing in front of a small wooden house with yellow-painted boards. The house is located at the foot of a hill. In the lower right corner of the picture, someone wrote “Dorothy Carson, Coney Island 1893”. The writing looks female.

In one drawer of the desk are 20 cartridges for the Marlin 1895G rifle. In the same drawer are three containers, one with gunpowder, one with sage and the third with cedar.

Secret rolls,Ivy [dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice] Kathryn [dice]2[/dice] [dice]3[/dice] Michael [dice]4[/dice] [dice]5[/dice] Emma [dice]6[/dice] [dice]7[/dice]

[robertod]

Ivy finds a piece of folded paper, stuck between the photograph and the frame. Ten points are drawn on it. They represent the constellation of Virgo.

[jp1885]

Ivy reads the notes with an increasing sense of bewilderment.

"So Jason definitely got back in touch with poor Father Colby - seems they both had the same opinion of this town. And the photo ties the mother to that island."

When she finds the scrap of paper, she shows it to the others.

"Virgo again - same as we found in the library. And more runes - I wonder if there's anyone who can translate them? As for these containers... Either Colby had some weird ideas about cookery or there's another significance..."

[Mr. Handy]

"I doubt Timothy is the killer," says Kathryn. "For one thing, the knife was in Father Colby's throat. Timothy is too small to be able to reach that high. This was also not the knife with the small fingerprints, but there was another one. I think maybe Timothy picked up the knife and tried to use it against the killer, who then snatched him alive. That's why we didn't find two bodies."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Michael looks at all these things with a wrinkled brow and a frown. After quite a while, he speaks, in a more subdued manner than usual.

"If I go by the book, I'm supposed to go to the local cops and report a murder. But this ain't no normal homicide. We all saw that thing, that demon down in the cave. It's like something out of Weird Tales, but it's real! Now, I ain't as dumb as I look." He pauses for a moment, and alows himself a grim smile. "Yeah, yeah, I know, you don't have to say it, nobody could be that dumb. Anyway, I wanna take this manuscript as official evidence, do some research, see if we can figure out what it says. Better do some lookin' at the local archives to see what we can find out about this Dorothy Carson, too. Hell, maybe even check out the library and see if some old book of magic spells mentions sage and cedar." He pauses for a minute of two. "I think we're gonna wind up on Coney Island sooner or later, too. And we better be loaded for bear, or somethin' worse."

[jp1885]

Ivy concurs with a curt nod.

"Yes, forewarned is forearmed. I'd like to go back to the library and see if I can't figure out these runes. We all need to be careful though - whoever killed Father Colby is still at large, as is that... thing..."