Water of Life Update
Last time, the characters went back to their RV and slept. Julia dreamed, and then woke up and told folks about her freaky-ass dream.
Jesus decided that today he'd do some more in-depth digging into his past. First stop: The local library. Nathan stayed behind at the RV, both because he's Cuprum and because that would allow him to come to their rescue if need be. You know, if the cell phones hadn't dissolved in the River of Death.
So anyway. They went to the library. As they walked in, the librarian was talking about someone getting attacked or thrown through a window or something. Jesus chatted with librarian while Marty made some copies of the local maps. She remembered Darren Pursell (remember, that was the dude Jesus' was made from) and his wife. Turns out Darren had died after one of the Devil Hunts, drowned in Round Lake (but his body was never recovered). His wife, Ann, remarried to a man named Dan Boyce shortly thereafter. Ann had died in a car accident, slipping into Round Lake off of a treacherous curve...but the librarian remembered it was during the summer, strangely enough, when the roads were dry. At any rate, Dan Boyce was still around, and their daughter (or maybe Darren's?) is Linney Boyce...the missing girl.
Jesus also asked about Murray Holbrook (the guy who has a habit of finding missing children). The librarian (Marilyn) didn't have anything bad to say about him; he was a retired schoolteacher, that was all. About this point, the librarian was settling into the second stage of Disquiet, and getting fascinated and little over-aggressive with Jesus. He left, but she followed him out and mentioned that she knew where Ann and Darren were buried. Jesus agreed to come back in an hour so she could take her lunch and show him.
Jesus called Holbrook and asked to meet with him, again using Darren Pursell as a cover (Jesus typically claims to be a relative). Holbrook, as it happened, taught both Darren and Ann, so was happy to talk with Jesus about them. They made an appointment for later in the day, and the group split up. Jesus and Julia went with Marilyn to the graveyard (Jesus didn't want to be alone with her) and Marty and Hank went to the curve where Ann died to check for ghosts.
At the graveyard, they found that Darren and Ann were buried together, despite her being remarried (this happens more often than you'd think). Marilyn mentioned again the Darren's body wasn't found, just his finger...and at that point, noticed Jesus was missing his finger. She slipped into Disquiet III and took off for her car, and then took off in her car. Julia and Jesus realized they needed to hightail it if they were going to get to Holbrook's on foot for the meeting (fortunately Julia remembered the way).
At the curve, Marty and Hank noticed that the curve had been straightened and widened, moved away from the lake. In Twilight, Marty saw death-spirits "frozen" in the new blacktop like Han Solo in carbonite (don't fucking judge me). He also saw several ghosts. He approached the first one, a man dressed in 70s garb, and asked some questions. The man, as is typical of ghosts, didn't realize what year it was and only said that he had to pick up his brother from the station when he got back from 'Nam.
Another ghost, this one a child, tugged on Marty's sleeve and indicated that it could see the other ghosts (the man could not). He couldn't speak; when he tried, smoke came out of his mouth. Marty horked up some ectoplasm for him to write in (I know, eww) and the boy told Marty that "a man who looked drowned" had spread something over the dry road before Ann Pursell died. Ann, it seems, was murdered.
There's a date problem, too. Jesus came to cognizance in 2002. Linney is now (in 2005) 12 years ago. That means that Darren died in 1993...which leaves nine years for Jesus to be up and around, but he remembers nothing of it.
Marty thanked the kid and they headed to Holbrook's house. There, they heard him yelling at his back yard, saying something like "At least write me! I can't help you if you don't talk to me!" Note, BTW, that he lives right up near the Pine Barrens, where the Round Lake Devil is supposed to live...
After an initially tense exchange, Holbrook realized that these folks had an appointment. Jesus and Julia arrived and they all sat down to ask questions (Hank without fear of Disquiet, since he'd just bought that mighty Quell Disquiet Transmutation). They chatted for a while about Darren and Ann, their history, how they died, and basically had much of what they'd learned confirmed. Holbrook said he'd been around to help those kids because the kids had a habit of running off into the Barrens, and Holbrook knew the Barrens well. But Linney, unfortunately, had been taken from her home - not the same thing.
As the conversation was winding down, Marty went into the house to use the bathroom, and snuck upstairs. He found an armoire that was locked, and opening it, he found a strongbox with letters in it. The top one was from someone from J.L. (they all were, really) talking about how "she and I" would be very happy in the forest. Marty stole the box, and the characters went back to the RV to read the letters.
Working together, they pieced together the story of the life of the Round Lake Devil, named Jehrameel Leeds. Seems that Jehrameel had been born deformed and likened himself to Caliban from The Tempest. He wanted company and had sometimes helped children, but Holbrook (who had lost his own son in a hunting accident) had always managed to talk him back and return the kids home. Now, though, he'd taken Linney, and Holbrook wasn't sure what to do.
Heading back into town (now on the brink of sunset), the characters saw a mob lead by the man that Jesus had seen arguing with his wife the night before at the fair. He was ranting about having been attacked by the Devil, and they were going to find him. They had no pitchforks, but some of them held guns. Holbrook was nearby (remember, this was hours later) and the characters pointed out the strongbox. Holbrook desperately asked them for help, saying that Jehrameel wasn't a bad person, he just wanted a family, and he was wrestling with the idea of whether he was a monster (not something that the characters were foreign to).
The throng, plus Holbrook, entered the Pine Barrens and started trying to track Jehrameel. The mob was doing that as well, however, and as they struck deeper into the woods, they realized they were behind the mob.
And then, from up ahead, gunshots. Holbrook took off running, so did the characters. We'll find out what they see next time.
Jesus decided that today he'd do some more in-depth digging into his past. First stop: The local library. Nathan stayed behind at the RV, both because he's Cuprum and because that would allow him to come to their rescue if need be. You know, if the cell phones hadn't dissolved in the River of Death.
So anyway. They went to the library. As they walked in, the librarian was talking about someone getting attacked or thrown through a window or something. Jesus chatted with librarian while Marty made some copies of the local maps. She remembered Darren Pursell (remember, that was the dude Jesus' was made from) and his wife. Turns out Darren had died after one of the Devil Hunts, drowned in Round Lake (but his body was never recovered). His wife, Ann, remarried to a man named Dan Boyce shortly thereafter. Ann had died in a car accident, slipping into Round Lake off of a treacherous curve...but the librarian remembered it was during the summer, strangely enough, when the roads were dry. At any rate, Dan Boyce was still around, and their daughter (or maybe Darren's?) is Linney Boyce...the missing girl.
Jesus also asked about Murray Holbrook (the guy who has a habit of finding missing children). The librarian (Marilyn) didn't have anything bad to say about him; he was a retired schoolteacher, that was all. About this point, the librarian was settling into the second stage of Disquiet, and getting fascinated and little over-aggressive with Jesus. He left, but she followed him out and mentioned that she knew where Ann and Darren were buried. Jesus agreed to come back in an hour so she could take her lunch and show him.
Jesus called Holbrook and asked to meet with him, again using Darren Pursell as a cover (Jesus typically claims to be a relative). Holbrook, as it happened, taught both Darren and Ann, so was happy to talk with Jesus about them. They made an appointment for later in the day, and the group split up. Jesus and Julia went with Marilyn to the graveyard (Jesus didn't want to be alone with her) and Marty and Hank went to the curve where Ann died to check for ghosts.
At the graveyard, they found that Darren and Ann were buried together, despite her being remarried (this happens more often than you'd think). Marilyn mentioned again the Darren's body wasn't found, just his finger...and at that point, noticed Jesus was missing his finger. She slipped into Disquiet III and took off for her car, and then took off in her car. Julia and Jesus realized they needed to hightail it if they were going to get to Holbrook's on foot for the meeting (fortunately Julia remembered the way).
At the curve, Marty and Hank noticed that the curve had been straightened and widened, moved away from the lake. In Twilight, Marty saw death-spirits "frozen" in the new blacktop like Han Solo in carbonite (don't fucking judge me). He also saw several ghosts. He approached the first one, a man dressed in 70s garb, and asked some questions. The man, as is typical of ghosts, didn't realize what year it was and only said that he had to pick up his brother from the station when he got back from 'Nam.
Another ghost, this one a child, tugged on Marty's sleeve and indicated that it could see the other ghosts (the man could not). He couldn't speak; when he tried, smoke came out of his mouth. Marty horked up some ectoplasm for him to write in (I know, eww) and the boy told Marty that "a man who looked drowned" had spread something over the dry road before Ann Pursell died. Ann, it seems, was murdered.
There's a date problem, too. Jesus came to cognizance in 2002. Linney is now (in 2005) 12 years ago. That means that Darren died in 1993...which leaves nine years for Jesus to be up and around, but he remembers nothing of it.
Marty thanked the kid and they headed to Holbrook's house. There, they heard him yelling at his back yard, saying something like "At least write me! I can't help you if you don't talk to me!" Note, BTW, that he lives right up near the Pine Barrens, where the Round Lake Devil is supposed to live...
After an initially tense exchange, Holbrook realized that these folks had an appointment. Jesus and Julia arrived and they all sat down to ask questions (Hank without fear of Disquiet, since he'd just bought that mighty Quell Disquiet Transmutation). They chatted for a while about Darren and Ann, their history, how they died, and basically had much of what they'd learned confirmed. Holbrook said he'd been around to help those kids because the kids had a habit of running off into the Barrens, and Holbrook knew the Barrens well. But Linney, unfortunately, had been taken from her home - not the same thing.
As the conversation was winding down, Marty went into the house to use the bathroom, and snuck upstairs. He found an armoire that was locked, and opening it, he found a strongbox with letters in it. The top one was from someone from J.L. (they all were, really) talking about how "she and I" would be very happy in the forest. Marty stole the box, and the characters went back to the RV to read the letters.
Working together, they pieced together the story of the life of the Round Lake Devil, named Jehrameel Leeds. Seems that Jehrameel had been born deformed and likened himself to Caliban from The Tempest. He wanted company and had sometimes helped children, but Holbrook (who had lost his own son in a hunting accident) had always managed to talk him back and return the kids home. Now, though, he'd taken Linney, and Holbrook wasn't sure what to do.
Heading back into town (now on the brink of sunset), the characters saw a mob lead by the man that Jesus had seen arguing with his wife the night before at the fair. He was ranting about having been attacked by the Devil, and they were going to find him. They had no pitchforks, but some of them held guns. Holbrook was nearby (remember, this was hours later) and the characters pointed out the strongbox. Holbrook desperately asked them for help, saying that Jehrameel wasn't a bad person, he just wanted a family, and he was wrestling with the idea of whether he was a monster (not something that the characters were foreign to).
The throng, plus Holbrook, entered the Pine Barrens and started trying to track Jehrameel. The mob was doing that as well, however, and as they struck deeper into the woods, they realized they were behind the mob.
And then, from up ahead, gunshots. Holbrook took off running, so did the characters. We'll find out what they see next time.