Scion – Petro Campaign – Session 5
This account was originally found on Livejournal, I am not the original author—I am just a fan of the journal and have found reading it on livejournal clunky to navigate and rife with errors/instability (such as having to refresh multiple times due to the page in questions becoming unavailable often requiring multiple refreshes. The original post can be found here, published by DJ-Yomi, and was published on Aug 9th. 2007.
I’m posting this entry with my laptop from one of the visitors’ camp sites at Beaver Creek State Park in Ohio. Camping’s not really my thing – I have a hard time being “unplugged” for so long. But this is a pretty important excursion, so I’m willing to put up with it. Besides, this place is full of ghosts. I love it.
Let me start from the beginning. Like I said in my last entry, I put out the call on Adam’s behalf and got everyone together at Pale 3, one of the clubs in my DJ circuit. I told everyone to arrive a couple of hours before my show was over so that they would have to stick around and enjoy the experience for awhile before we got down to business. They looked like they were having fun. I know T-Bone was surprised to hear his trumpet in one of my mixes, and Dahlia seemed to be keeping him entertained. I think Quinn was hanging out with Pierre and Ray most of the time. Kimiyo…well, she’s shy anyway. I think she stuck with Sera and kept her cute little gasmask on the whole time.
After Keiko gathered everyone in the backroom lounge so that we could talk, and I was able to catch up with people a bit. Ray was up in Canada with Pierre and T-Bone hunting down an old enemy or something…he wouldn’t really share many of the details, but I was sympathetic. Sigh. He’s such a samurai. Other than that, things had been pretty quiet.
Almost everyone was there. Masika couldn’t join us, and I get the feeling that her duties as a cop will keep her pretty busy from here on out. At least we have a contact in the law enforcement. Anna didn’t show up either, and Adam didn’t really say why.
That reminds me…I need to ask Adam whether he and Anna are in a relationship or not. I think they’re just friends, but if there’s something more going on, I’d like to know.
So, here’s what Adam had for us. His father, Odin, asked him to go to Beaver Creek State Park and look for two pieces of an ancient and very powerful artifact that was broken long ago during the war between gods and titans. It was apparently a bejeweled mask of some sort and had something to do with Loki (sadly, I’m not really up on my knowledge of Norse legend…). The pieces that are supposed to be in Beaver Creek are a huge jewel and its obsidian setting. According to Adam, the titans already have their servants out to looking for the pieces. There is also supposed to be a giantess watching over Beaver Creek, but she’s apparently not working for the titans.
So, the next day we got some plane tickets and flew to Beaver Creek. I was amazed that Keiko was able to find us good prices at such short notice, but she’s pretty amazing. T-Bone didn’t buy a ticket…I’m not sure how he got on the plane. The others had to get in touch with Masika to get permits to transport their guns; Elisa in particular was pretty insistent about taking her rifle. She’s a little crazy that way.
Before I continue, let me tell you a little about Beaver Creek State Park (thanks to Ray for digging up all this information). It’s a pretty big state park, and is remarkable, among other things, for its hauntings. There was once a river channel running through it with a series of locks to serve the boats that traveled through the area, but now the channel is dry. The locks still exist, though, and you can still see the deep trench running through the woods if you go hiking. One of the locks is haunted by the ghost of a girl named Gretchen (I hope to meet her soon). There are several old water mills, none of them still operating, of course. And, best of all, there is a haunted ghost town called Sprucevale. It has a nice graveyard, which I was really looking forward to. I love graveyards. There’s nothing quite as nice as wandering through an old graveyard at night. There’s just something so…invigorating about it. I can’t really explain it, but there are few things quite as refreshing and romantic.
We arrived at the park near dusk, and by the time we parked, got our gear together, and headed out, it was dark. Keiko, Sera, and I hiked in with the others, and I left Quinn, Kimiyo, and Dahlia to look after our rental vehicles. Dahlia was a little pouty about that. I think she wanted to get some “sleeping bag time” with T-Bone. Ray left Terry, one of the members of his gang, with my girls.
We didn’t really have any good starting places, so T-Bone decided to call upon his divine heritage. He gazed at the large, crescent moon overhead and saw reflected in it the surrounding landscape. He could see some giants creeping about in the dried-up channel some distance away, some harpies fluttering around one of the three mills, and a group of people roaming around Sprucevale. I was eager to check out the ghost town and to spend some time in the cemetery, so I suggested we go to the town first. The giants were headed away from us anyway, and I didn’t really want to tangle with them or the harpies. So we headed to Sprucevale.
After a short hike, we entered the ghost town. It was delectably eerie at night, and I could sense the unearthly aura of the place. Pierre, Adam and I kept an eye open for ghosts since we can see them. Ray was worried about getting attacked, but Adam and I assured him that if a ghost were to attack us, he would be able to attack it back. He was satisfied with that.
We soon found Hambleton Mill, the main mill in Sprucevale, and headed in. One of the people T-Bone had seen roaming around town was there. She was a ghost hunter named Sally, and I talked to her about the local hauntings…but I was actually pretty distracted at the time since one of the town’s most famous ghosts, Esther Hale, was also pacing around the room. Sure, Sally didn’t see her, but she was plain as day to Adam, Pierre, and me (since the three of us can see ghosts). I wonder what Sally must have thought of me. I mean, I was talking about seeing the ghost that was right there in front of us as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Ah well, she’s a ghost hunter, so I suppose she didn’t find it too strange.
Anyway, Esther’s ghost was muttering psychotically. It was poetry fit for the ears of a horror fan. She started muttering kinda pathetically about how she wasn’t pretty enough. Then she took a turn for the worse when she began going on about killing her fiancée or other, prettier women. I kept hearing the lyrics of The Birthday Massacre’s song “Birthday Party” running through my head, though of course in Esther’s case it was a wedding, not a birthday party, where things went bad.
I guess that requires a little explanation. See, Esther was stood up at the altar. She was broken-hearted, and continued to wander the town in her wedding dress until she was discovered dead in her house. Her ghost still haunts the place – especially the mill – and she isn’t very nice. According to Sally, she had even attacked a member of her ghost-hunting team recently. Her agitation might have something to do with the artifact we’re searching for.
After learning what we could from Sally, we headed into the mill’s upper floor. Adam, Pierre, and I heard the sounds of something running around up there while we were talking to Sally, so we thought there might be another ghost. I went first and got quite a shock. As I emerged on the second floor, the ghost of a boy with a crushed face swung out at me as though hanging on an invisible noose. He grabbed at me and I recoiled. I think Pierre caught me and kept me from falling down the stairs. After the ghost-boy thrashed for a bit, it stopped and just hung there, swaying slightly. Creepy.
We searched the room, and it was Adam who found a bunch of harpy bones in the chimney – bronze talons and all. There was a threatening note with them that was apparently from the giants…not that harpies would be intelligent enough to read it. Sally must have heard us rummaging around, because she came upstairs and Adam had to hide the bones pretty quickly so she wouldn’t find them. Aside from that, though, there wasn’t anything in the mill.
Sally and the leader of her group, a guy named Ben, also told us about the ebb and flow of spiritual activity in the graveyard. Naturally, I was hoping that it would be at an all-time high since I was there, but no such luck. We investigated, and I spent a good long while just roaming around the graveyard and enjoying myself. It felt nice to lose myself in a place like that for awhile (though I think Ray was probably looking at me like I was weird). But, sadly, I didn’t see even the faintest sign of a ghost. Oh well.
What we did see, though, was another mill on a hill in the distance. And fluttering around that mill were some large bird-like things: the harpies T-Bone had seen. It couldn’t be helped; we had to leave Sprucevale’s wonderful graveyard and investigate the harpies’ mill. As I think Adam must have pointed out, if there was a powerfully supernatural item in Beaver Creek, the harpies would likely be drawn to it even if they weren’t put there to protect it by someone.
It took use about an hour to hike there in there dark. Pierre, T-Bone, and I can see in the dark perfectly well, so it wasn’t a big deal to use, but even with flashlights it was a tough walk for our friends. While hiking, I chatted with Pierre for awhile. He usually acts kinda crazy, but he’s actually a very sharp, witty, friendly guy. He strikes me as being much older than he looks. I mean, he doesn’t look much above thirty, if that, but there’s something timeless about him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been around for a hundred years or so. In any event, he’s easy to talk to. And with some minor alterations to his wardrobe, he’d fit in great at some of the clubs I frequent.
When we got close to the mill, we stopped. At this point, I should stop and comment on how well we work together as a team. I’ve said it before, but this time it really struck me. Of course, I didn’t personally do anything to speak of, but I guess I’d already done my part earlier as the “face” of the group when I talked to the ghost hunters.
We couldn’t exactly charge into a nest of harpies, so we came up with a different plan. Elisa set up to snipe one of the harpies, and I left Keiko and Sera with her. Ray left his posse behind too, just in case. We decided that we could at least take one of them out. Meanwhile, Ray, Adam, and Pierre approached the mill to try to get inside and search it while T-Bone played his relic trumpet, which is a gift from his father, Kalfu, that lets him enrapture those who hear it. Pretty cool. There are times I wished I could do that with my music…but I guess it’d be pretty hard to haul mixing board and speakers out on these little excursions.
Elisa’s shot hit home, wounding the harpy. It dove down to attack her, and when it got close, I was glad I didn’t try to go into the mill with the others. The harpy had this disgusting aura…I have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to blood and gore, but this was different. It was like disease and filth were seeping into my pores. The smell was awful, like rot and excrement so thick that I couldn’t breath. I couldn’t help it…I had to flee to some nearby bushes to puke my guts out. How embarrassing. Keiko and Sera were in the same sad state, but fortunately the others were able to keep it together.
T-Bone’s trumpeting did its work, and all the harpies except the one Elisa shot were in a trance. Good thing, too, since there were something like ten or fifteen of them in and around the mill. Seeing that Elisa was in a bit of trouble, Ray came dashing back to help her and handily dispatched the one active harpy. While he was doing that, Pierre and Adam searched the mill. I can only imagine what the miasma of the harpies’ aura must have been like in there, or how unnerving it must have been to tiptoe around the beasts dazed bodies, but the guys did it. We can always rely on Adam to find the unfindable, and when he came walking out with one of the items we were looking for – the obsidian setting for the gem – I ran out and gave him a big hug. I’d managed to fix my breath by then. Vomit is no match for my divine beauty and the liberal application of some breath mints.
Night was almost over by then, and so we decided to retreat to our campsite and get some rest. We still have a lot to do, but I think we’ve already accomplished more than we expected to on our first night. Who knows, maybe we’ll be done here within the next day or so. Anyway, that’s all there is to report for now. I should have more to report within another day or so!
Oh, and Oiwa says hi! (not really, but maybe if I talk this way she’ll lighten up a bit ^_^).