A first session of #tremulus and I’m happy about where things are going:
Preacher Joshua White called together an informal meeting of the minds of those who wanted to further investigate the McDaniel Farmstead — the Captain Charles Madison, Dr. Jameson himself, and Amy Hearst, the beautiful, young, and very much unemployed librarian. During breakfast, they each admitted to attempting to investigate the grounds on their own, but were all mysteriously unable to locate them, each getting turned around or lost in the woods on the way. Undaunted, the group finished their sweet and savory dishes at Louie’s Diner on the Green and packed into the Preacher’s old pickup to drive out to the farmstead.
The drive there was pleasant enough, until the truck entered into the Nawauk Woods — there, the Old North Trail was overgrown and unkempt — making the driving a bit rougher. Matters only got worse when they turned off onto the rough, barely visible trail off to the McDaniel Farmstead — the Preacher got in an argument with Amy as the car ran over a patch of ill-supported roots, causing a tree to start toppling in their direction.
Sure he was seeing a figure pushing the tree towards them, the Preacher wasn’t looking straight ahead as he hit the gas to try to outpace the falling old growth. Mesmerized by what he thought he saw, he looked back just in time to see the truck barrel into an old stone well, seriously damaging the front of the vehicle and injuring everyone inside. After taking a moment to brush off and assess the situation, the group realized they had arrived at the farmstead, but that the entrance was now blocked off by the fallen tree and their vehicle was beyond their capability to repair.
Looking over the farmstead, the group saw the old, dilapidated farmhouse, a barn, a scorched area, the tobacco fields, and a fairly large pile of boulders and fieldstones in the clearing. Doctor Jameson wandered over to the door while Captain Madison and Amy Hearst went to get a closer look at the barn.
At the barn, the Captain and Amy found a loose section of flooring under the hay. After prying it up, they found a narrow, dirt staircase leading down below the barn. Without a source of light, they headed out to find the others to tell them about what they had found.
At the front of the house, Doctor Jameson thought he saw some movement inside beyond the dusty windows of the door. After a brief disagreement with the Preacher, the Doctor forced his way in first, causing the doorway to collapse in the process and causing the second story of the house to collapse down onto the first. Without a moment’s thought, the Preacher jumped through the door after the Doctor, but not without getting struck and pinned by a rafter in the shoulder. The Doctor, in a burst of adrenaline, lifted the rafter and pulled out his companion, carrying him up to the second floor to a place of safety.
Outside, the Captain and Amy were startled by the sound of wood buckling and the collapse of the front of the dilapidated farmhouse. They called in after their companions, but the Preacher White yelled back that all was well and that they should continue their investigations outside. A little confused, the duo walked over to the scorched area of the farmstead, trying to figure out what had happened there. While there, they both heard some strange, distant chanting off in the forest. Curious, they felt a compulsion to follow the sound. Captain Madison shook off the feeling quite quickly, but went after Amy as she head off into the woods with his shotgun cocked. After walking for a time, he first tried to talk her out of going further, and eventually had to slap her and throw her over his shoulder to snap her out of the trance.
Back in the farmhouse, the Doctor tended to the Preacher White’s wounds, making a makeshift splint. The pair heard a strange tapping noise from somewhere in the house, erratic and a little frantic, drawing their attention. Curious, they went downstairs to try to find its origin, coming into the family room. There, the Preacher picked up a formidable-looking wrought iron poker from the fireplace, while the Doctor Jameson looked out the window at the pile of fieldstones. As he stood there, suddenly the floor gave way under him, and though he grabbed at the ledge to try to hold himself, only cut up his arms and hands further before crashing into a shelf of rancid pickles in the cellar ten feet below. The fall seriously injured his legs, cut on the shattered class and stung by the vinegar as the stench of his new environs assaulted him. Preacher White ran over to look down at his companion, concerned and feeling helpless as his friend bled out below.
The Captain and Amy talked as they walked through the woods. Amy realized that she’d read a book about Native American animism regarding the voice of the forest calling people out to be judged — she sensed that the forest wanted to judge her and that the source of the calling was coming from somewhere out to the west. They arrived back to the clearing just in time to hear the crash of the Doctor falling, and ran to see the Preacher calling down after the man.
The Captain and Amy ran over to the barn to look for rope or some useful tools, but came up with nothing. Preacher White found an office with curtains that could be tied together for rope. They all met at the kitchens, where they searched and found a sturdy oil lantern with fuel and matches. The Captain pulled off the jammed cellar door by the hinges and they made their way down to find their injured companion.
As the others rushed to his aid, the Doctor tried to readjust and assess himself, but was distracted by the increasingly loud tapping sound. Across the room, in a small beam of light reaching down from the ruined floor, he could see something — a mirror? And on the other side… himself, looking back! Tapping frantically for his attention! Horrified, the Doctor pulled out his sword cane and held it up, shivering and transfixed on the image of himself moving independently on the far side of the mirror as his blood slicked the floor.
The light from the cellar door opening allowed the Doctor to recompose himself, and his companions quickly had him out of the cellar and into safety. Looking after himself, he realized that his wounds were quite serious and would need a considerable amount of time to be healed. Amy stayed behind with the Doctor to talk about what he had seen in the cellar that had disturbed him so deeply — after some coaxing and prying she got him to tell her. She remembered reading about some kind of gateway disguised as a mirror in a collection of children’s stories as a child and of how things on the other side would appear as you. It had been a long while since reading the book, but she remembered the gateway could be opened and that the process involved six black candles made from rendered pork lard.
Meanwhile, the Captain Madison and Preacher White went to the house to try to sanctify it. Just as they finished laying out the incense and candles, they heard the sound of men’s voices yelling. The Sheriff Jarvis MacCreedy and Deputy Bud Linkley arrived with the sharecroppers Cletis Lowell and Jonathan Browder to investigate the fallen tree. The men were shocked by the extensive wounds to the Doctor and angered by the damage to the farmstead by intruders. After some verbal sparring, the Sheriff decided they’d all have to go into town immediately for further questioning at the station and to get further medical attention for the poor Doctor.