Episode 1 - Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate

[BoyBlunder78]

"Lets check out the roller coaster, we must've got all turned around getting in here. Has any of you
got a compass?" Darren asked.

[CrackheadC.]

"I'm fine with whichever way you guys want to go," Dirk says, heeding Darren's outburst, but not sure the significance of the 'Ian' scratched on to his bat. "Together, of course," Dirk adds. "But didn't you guys say you were coming here to meet some friends of yours? Unless you think they are coming late, don't you think they'd be further in the park?"

Dirk doesn't seem to care which way the group decides to guy, but he does take one last look at the poster with the message to him before grabbing it, rolling it into a tube and sticking it into his back pocket.

Unless something comes up in the discussion or occurs before things get decided that would make Dirk really want to follow a different path than the others, I will say that Dirk is happy to go with the majority vote.

[Mr. Handy]

"They weren't waiting out front for us," says Harry, "and I don't think they'd have gone further in before we arrived."

[Snapper]

"Lets check out the roller coaster, we must've got all turned around getting in here. Has any of you
got a compass?" Darren asked.

Max nodded to Darren. "Good question. And yes, I do have my Silva orienteering compass on a lanyard around my neck. You might have seen me using it to take bearings a few times." He pulled out the compass on its lanyard and used it to point out north, south, east and west.

"I can tell you we have been heading basically north, exactly as you'd expect from the funland map we saw. We haven't been turned around."

"My theory is there is some kind of mechanical gate thing, built into the roller coaster struts. That gate maybe was designed to swing shut and cut off the path. Maybe it was a nighttime security thing? And perhaps the moisture from the fog loosened it, causing it to swing shut behind us?"

"Or someone has intentionally shut it. Or I was completely wrong with what I thought I saw. All the more reason to check it out."

[Mephistophilis]

Max can confirm that they have travelled north from the entrance, underneath the rollercoaster, and they should simply be able to walk back south again to return to the parking lot. Walking south along the gravel walk, following some of the prints found by Max, you soon reach the rollercoaster.

From the outside of the park it had looked like the creaking remains of an admittedly huge, rusting rollercoaster. From here it seems different somehow. There's no sign of the rails for a start, they must be high up above, invisible in the fog. You can't see anywhere to board the rollercoaster but vaguely recall from the map that maybe the station is towards the back of the park. In the near darkness, the latticework of struts seems even denser than before, closer together, forming a sort of tight mesh. Shining flashlights up at the structure the gaps between the latticework are thick with mist.

And the struts of the rollercoaster run right across the path. There's no break in the latticework to provide a route through back to the entrance yet the footprints seem to run underneath, back and forth. Walking up and down the tall structure, shining flashlights up and down you can't see where you came from. The gravel track just disappears under the dense mesh. Illuminated by your flashlights the mesh lights up, looking almost like a curtain of strings, the ends disappearing into the darkness where dim, vague shapes twitch and dance. And your flashlights don't seem to shine through the meshwork, the broiling grey mist between the strings is too thick.

This structure is way too elaborate for holding a rollercoaster. If anything the amount of material in the structure would be counterproductive, adding too much weight and weakening it. And what are those struts made of? They look too flimsy!

Trying to peer through the gaps between the strings you can't see anything. At least, you can't see through the meshwork. But there's something else there, in the mist. There it is again. Maybe it's not even something you're seeing, maybe it's just a feeling. But it's like there are eyes in there. Watching you.

OOC:   Sanity loss 0/1d3 for seeing eyes in the mist

[BoyBlunder78]

Looking up into the mist seeing nothing before becoming distracted by the support struts, " There is something off about these struts, it shouldn't work. We did a project in class about suspension bridges and support structures and these just aren't....right...." Darren says as he taps the supports with his bat.

[Snapper]

1d%FFF40%

Success

1d%FF40%

Fail.

"You have the makings of an engineer, Darren. I'm no expert but I believe you are correct. This is not how you build a roller coaster. It's all wrong."

"I don't understand what is happening here, but it's something very odd. Like a page out of one of my World of the Unknown books."

[Mr. Handy]

"This is highly illogical," says Harry.

Science Class roll (80% skill):
d%
Notice Stuff roll (43% skill):
d%

[CrackheadC.]

Notice Stuff: 60%
1d100

Fix Stuff: 40%
1d100

Current SAN: 59
1d100
Failed, Lose 1d3
1d6/2

Dirk follows the boys back down the path until the reach the coaster's supports where the others discuss how the construction is all wrong, "If it isn't supposed to hold itself up, then how is it doing it?" The conversation was a little beyond him, so he walked along the latticework a few feet on either side of the path examining it while the others continued discussing .

A little off the side of the path, where the others' flashlights' beams were dim, Dirk decided to take a closer look at the mesh. Dirk lights his brother's zippo before leaning in close to the latticework trying to peer through the dense mist before something causes him to jerk back and fall to the ground and sends him scrambling back to the group. "Jesus Christ, there's something in the mist. Something is watching us from in there" he stammers before attempting to regain his composure.

[Philulhu]

Fix Stuff (10%) 1d100

Notice Stuff (60%) 1d100

”Are you sure we haven’t taken a different path?” asked Charlie. After all, there was no way they could have passed through the girders here. Accidentally going a different way was the only rational explanation.

[Snapper]

Max looked over at Dirk nervously. "Let's get a few feet away from the roller coaster. I think we might have to accept that getting out the way we came in won't work. And yes, Charlie, pretty sure."

"We could follow the footprints that are going sort of east along the grass, following the inside of the roller coaster. Or just keep going north along the path."

Already unnerved by the clown's head incident, Max wasn't in a rush to see who or what was inside the struts of the roller coaster.

[Mr. Handy]

"We didn't get turned around," says Harry. "The compass reading was accurate. If there had been magnetic interference, the needle wouldn't hold still. The office is still over there, where we left it. It's just the entrance that's blocked so we can't leave. This must be one of those places. All right, let's follow the tracks under the roller coaster. That's our best chance of finding another way out of here."

[Mephistophilis]

Darren taps the support struts with his bat. Instead of the solid thunk he was expecting there's a sort of crunch. He places his hand on it. Rather than metal or wood it has a slightly spongy feel to it, a bit of give, but slick on the surface, gristly even. He pushes it harder and the lump of almost meaty material bends and then cracks, crumbling in his hand.

Pulling himself up off the ground, Dirk glances back at the meshwork. From here the mesh really looks like a series of interwoven strings, strings twitching and sliding back and forth, like they're being pulled from the ends which trail into the darkness, the vague shapes of human figures manipulating the strings are just visible at the corners of his vision.

OOC:   An Extreme success? You didn't want that. Another SAN check 1/1d3 please.

[CrackheadC.]

Current SAN: 58
1d100
Pass, Lose 1

No, I suppose I didn't, lol.

Dirk turns to look at the struts on last time before his eyes seem to glaze over before focusing sharply, "Don't touch it! It's a web!" Dirk shouts forcefully. He charges at Darren and yanks him by the collar away from the struts. "Don't anyone touch it! It's not a support beam it's... it's... I don't know what the hell that is, but it's not a roller coaster, they are pulling the strings on it... like a puppet or something."

Dirk doesn't seem to be making much sense, but he backs away from the "web" slowly and carefully before putting his hands on his knees and trying to catch his breath as he hyperventilates for a few moments until his breathing begins to steady.

[Philulhu]

Notice Stuff (60%) 1d100

Charlie looked at Dirk, then eyed the ‘web’ carefully. He wanted to test it but didn’t want to touch it. He scanned the floor for a stick or something similar but didn’t see anything, so he looked at the others.

”So, what are we gonna do?” he asked.

[Mr. Handy]

"There is a way out of here," says Harry. "We just have to proceed logically and find it. Darren and I have been in a similar situation before, and we got out of it. We need to explore, together, and acquire the data we need to come up with a plan to escape."

[BoyBlunder78]

At Harry's mention of those places, Darrens head snaps up, looking more intently at the struts, shing his torch towards the mesh as Dirk grabs him, shouting about a web. He looks at Dirk calmly though his heart is racing, then talks to everyone.Harry's right, we need to stick together, always in eye sight of each other, and NO wandering off alone, if any of you hear or see anything off, you tell all of us, no matter how bat shit it maybe. Like Dirk says, keep away from the mesh.Max have you seen this? Pointing towards the strut he's just slightly damaged.

[Snapper]

Not without some hesitation, Max came closer and peered at the broken strut.

Can Max make a roll of any kind to think what it might be.
Does the mention by Dirk of web seem even possible?

[Mephistophilis]

Looking at the struts and lattice work it's kinda strange.It looks like a criss-crossing structure of thick supporting beams, each one has an unusual, glistening quality. Examining the one broken by Darren it has a gritty, gristly texture, at the ends of the fractured segments reveals a strange, almost chunky material, the texture like defrosting meat, dribbles of something that could even be oil...or blood.

Then on the other hand, when looking at it from a different angle, it's more like...rope maybe, textured, sinewy, sliding, back and forth. Like a mesh of strings or maybe even a web. A web vibrating as something pulls the threads, or walks along them...

[Philulhu]

Science Class/Nature (10%) - both solid areas of expertise for Charlie…

1d100

Edit: Oops - accidentally rolled twice. Failed both times…

Charlie moved forward for a closer look but none of it made any sense to him.