IC - 1 - It Was a Dark and Stormy Night - Louis

[Mephistophilis]

9pm 31st October 1986
Northfield, Indiana

The Barnaker house sits on the edge of town, still within fifteen minutes of the kids' homes (Northfield isn't that big of a town). This is the old part, the lots are a bit bigger, houses sparser than the estates where most people live. Things look a bit more rundown than the rest of town, there's not many streetlights and most of them aren't even working, those that are seem dim and give little useful light.

It's getting late and the air has taken on a definite chill. The busy streets of earlier, with laughing children trick-or-treating in cute homemade outfits or garish plastic masks, have given way to the occasional huddle of surly teenagers in lacklustre or completely absent costumes, demanding treats with a mixture of saccharine sweetness and barely concealed menace. In this part of town there are few pumpkins inviting in the reveller. In those houses where the lights are still on people keep to themselves, eyeing visitors suspiciously from drawn curtains.

There's a smell of burning leaves mingling with the acrid scent of creosote and unseasoned wood from distant bonfires. Far away there's the occasional pop of fireworks but here the streets are silent and sullen. Although the moon is full it's barely visible behind the ominous looking dark clouds hanging heavily on the horizon.

Why don't you all describe how your characters got here tonight, what excuses they used, and what they're wearing for a Halloween costume. It's an excuse for a bit of banter and roleplaying between your characters before we get to the house. The four of Kyle, Harry, Shirley, and Darren will meet up but you're expecting more, maybe they're late, maybe they had second thoughts.

Can you also give me Notice Stuff Rolls.

[kabukiman]

Kyle asked his mothers if he could go with the others to get some candies at halloween and then sleep with Harry; that was literally true, but not in the sense that his mother was thinking, so Kyle was feeling some remorses. His mothers gived him a big hug and he went to Harry's house in his costume of ghost and then joined the others.
At the beggining he was full of confidence and excited with the prospect of spending the night outside, but as soon as he started to see "this" part of the city, his confidence melted...

Nottice stuff: 40%

[Mr. Handy]

Harry got here by bicycle, having told his parents that there was an all-night event at the planetarium that he really want to see. He is wearing his Ghostbusters costume with the nametag "Spengler" (after Egon Spengler, the genius scientist member of the team), along with props of a proton pack backpack with attached ghost zapper, PKE meter, and ghost trap. While the movie was two years old, the premiere last month of the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters had revived its popularity and meant there were plenty of costumes. He points the PKE meter at Kyle in his ghost costume and presses the switch that causes the small front arms to swing out to the sides and the lights to flash. "I'm detecting some definite ectoplasmic activity," he says. Then he detects something else.

Notice stuff roll (40% skill):
d%

[kabukiman]

"Only if you are detecting the non existing lamps in this part of the town. I never have been here and it seems we are in some other place."

[LiviaBlue]

Pulling her swan cape closer to her body to protect her from the chilly wind, Shirley looks up towards the dark clouds as she leans her bike against the dilapidated fence of the Barnaker property. Newly promoted to Cadette, her parents didn't bat an eye when she informed them that she'll be spending Halloween night at a horror movie marathon with the other older scouts. Getting out of that commitment was a little more difficult, but faking feeling unwell was enough to make the other girls believe she needed to go home.

She just couldn't pass up on Roger Simmons' challenge!

"And that's the only ghost we'll see tonight," she calls to the other boys when she sees Harry point his equipment at Kyle. "I didn't even know people were afraid of this place. I've heard some very ridiculous stories about it and they're all nonsense."

Notice Stuff (60%):
d%

[Mr. Handy]

"You've got that right!" says Harry. "It was just a joke, Kyle, because you're wearing a ghost costume."

[Mephistophilis]

As they gather underneath one of the few working streetlights a thin rain begins to fall, the drizzle lit up as it passes the dim bulb. Shirley and Harry notice there's a poster crudely taped to the pole. It is a 'Missing' poster obviously made in the print shop in town. On it is a blurry photograph of a Scottish terrier which you both recognise as Rex, beloved pet of Mrs Ward, a kindly old lady who lives in this part of town in one of the bigger houses.

Beneath the soggy paper Harry sees the remains of several more notices. Peeling off Mrs Ward's poster, he finds several more 'Missing' posters for cats and dogs. They seem to go back years and the oldest ones are completely illegible.

Just waiting for BoyBlunder78

[Mr. Handy]

"Look what I found!" says Harry, pointing out the underlying posters. "A lot of pets are going missing. Maybe someone's doing experiments on them."

[LiviaBlue]

"Maybe the house ate them!" Shirley says with a giggle as she pulls her hood further up her head to protect herself from the light rain. "I think I've heard that around a campfire once."

The girl looks around for some large tree or some other type of cover, her paper feathers will not last long if they get too wet.

[aine]

Away down the dark street there is the sound of jogging footsteps approaching.
Something loathsome to behold and slightly noisome to sniff scurries out of the darkness and comes to a halt behind the group, bent over and panting hard.
“Sorry I’m late.... dogs got out.”



It’s Louis. His face and hair are thickly streaked with some black substance; he’s wearing a black bin liner over his usual camouflage- clothes and a large pair of yellow Marigold rubber gloves. In his hand is a makeshift bamboo trident topped with strands of ivy. He steps up to look at the posters and shrugs.

"Coyotes got em."

[kabukiman]

"Hi Louis, I was thinking you couldn't make it. How do you know it is coyotes and not something else?"
Kyle feels relieved with Louis explanation but Harry's was much more exciting...

[aine]

“Stands to reason doesn’t it? Coyotes got at our chickens last week...” Louis tails off as he realises these are rather different circumstances.
“Sasquatch?” He ventures.

[BoyBlunder78]

Darren walks down the street in full costume, swinging his bat as he goes, he seems the group outside the house. "Sorry im late, i had to bribe my little brother with my Optimus Prine and Soundwave toys to keep quiet about tonight." He looks at the rag tag group infant of him, Swans, ghost busters, ghost and....something. Possibly the oddest team he's been apart of. He looks up at the dark looming house infront of him."Dunk 'the chunk' from my lil league team neighbours cousin went missing in there." He tells the group. She was missing for weeks, till the neighbours complained about all the rats suddenly appearing. Pest control went into the house into the cellar and heard a loud squeaking, and in a corner saw a huge pile of giant rats.As they shined their torches over them they caught a glint of something. Walking over they could see tattered pieces of fabric underneath the swarm. They kicked them away and recoiled, screaming in horror. Underneath the rats was a half eaten body of a kid. The glint they caught was the bones of the hand, picked clean of all the skin!"
1d100
Notice stuff %40

[Mephistophilis]

Shirley dashes ahead for the cover of one of the few trees lining the street, trying to protect her beautiful handmade costume from the worsening rain. She looks down the street and disappointedly sees that there are few other sources of cover on the sidewalk ahead, she's going to get wet.

The tree she's sheltering under stands in the grounds of a vacant lot, overhanging the sidewalk. The lot itself is just a low wire fence surrounding scrubland and bushes. There's no house or other buildings. But beyond this plot she sees the towering hulk of the Barnaker House itself, standing alone amongst a cluster of more empty sites on the edge of town, dominating the otherwise abandoned neighbourhood. Surrounded by a rusted wrought-iron fence.

From this distance not much more can be made out, except that further down the road, nearer the house, there's a figure standing hunched in the rain. You can't see who its is through the rain but the way he moves and struts strongly suggests it is Roger.

[Mr. Handy]

"That would be something, if we could find a sasquatch!" says Harry. "Come on, let's get inside." He heads toward the house.

[aine]

“W wait. I’m not sure it’s a good idea after all.” Louis looks hard at Darren,
“Is that really true?” He asks fearfully. “That’s like what Lyle told me but I thought he was just pulling my leg.” He rubs his face, smearing the black streaks even more. Strangely the rain has no affect on them.
“What are you meant to be, anyway?”

[kabukiman]

"A sasquatch? I should have bring my dad camera! We go now? I'm getting all wet inside this sheet"- says Kyle

[BoyBlunder78]

“W wait. I’m not sure it’s a good idea after all.” Louis looks hard at Darren,
“Is that really true?” He asks fearfully. “That’s like what Lyle told me but I thought he was just pulling my leg.” He rubs his face, smearing the black streaks even more. Strangely the rain has no affect on them.
“What are you meant to be, anyway?”

He swore on his moms life!! Said that they left the state not long after!! What ya mean?" He stares down at Louis."Aint you seen a skeleton before?" He pulls the mask.down over his face. " What you meant bo be?"

[aine]

"Just checking!" Louis grins at Darren and looks at his outfit appreciatively. Then he strikes a pose and roars, thrusting the trident into the night sky,
"I am the Creature from the Black Lagoon!' He looks down at his hands, "I was hoping to get a pair of black rubber gloves but had to make do with these yellow ones instead."

[LiviaBlue]

"Are y'all done out there?" Shirley shouts at the boys from her cover, "I think I see Roger down the road!".

The wind and rain have mostly made their conversation hard to understand, but she is not one to give such stories much thought anyway. To her, the old Barnaker House is just that, an old house, and there are plenty more reasonable reasons for the strange events happening around it.