# Forsakens CoC Story Hour!: Nocturnum. Night Falls.



## The Forsaken One (Nov 5, 2002)

Well I finally finished writing up our first session and this sunday we're having out fourth session of our weekly game so I better start doing some catching up!

Here's session one, and chapter one. One sunday's work!

Hope ya all will enjoy it. It's a long read, hope not too long!

Hoping for some good feedback on my first attempt to writing and my first story hour/ Forsaken.

Greetz, Kris


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## The Forsaken One (Nov 5, 2002)

*Chapter 1, Session 1, Introduction*

NOCTURNUM 

Very short introduction:

A couple of old college friends who have continued seeing eachother since they left college and went their separate ways since then are heading out now this winter for a week long skiing in the Rocky Mountains. This winter, will be one to remember and the start for an adventure that will change their lives, forever.





Coen “Lynx” Aries: 
31, went to join the army, got enlisted in the special service and ended up as covert infiltration special operative with the C.I.A. A sniper of great skill and with senses to rival a lynx, he has proven a very capable C.I.A. ghost indeed.

Rom “Ice” van Arendonk: 
31, went to become a succesfull business man in Los Angeles these days with some strange hobbies… let’s say the man knows his poisons and how to wield certain medieval toys…

Mark “Syke” Bisschops:
34, Married and a psychologist with a good reputation, knows his share of medical care. A man who is hard to impress.

Richard “Fix” Winkels:
With 28 years the youngest of them all and the one who didn’t went to college with the rest of them but ended up with the bunch on one of their earlier vacation adventures. He works as a technician and electronic explosives expert for the LAPD.

Patrick “Bull” Wijten:
33, last but not least this muscular tall guy is the brawn of the gang. Joined up with the army immediately after college to defend his country, well.. actually to get to play with guns but…. And still is fulfilling his duties every day to defend his country as a proud soldier of the U.S. army.


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## The Forsaken One (Nov 5, 2002)

*Chapter 1, session 1, the first night*

CHAPTER 1: SNOWFLAKE VALLEY


As the hours passed and the daylight faded away our investigators saw their headlights fail to pierce the gloom the blizzard had thrown about them. As the blizzard grew in force and vision became limited to only a few yards the question arose if they, with night encroaching on them and in the middle of a storm , should push on or halt for the night and put up with a nights rest in their vehicles. While Richard, Mark and Rom in the lead vehicle were debating weather to halt for the night or not they were caught of their guards as a figure is spotted in the headlights for a split second. In a attempt to avoid the figure, Richard desperately makes a hard right and floors the breaks, pulling the vehicle into a spin on the snow covered county road. Spinning out of control the Range Rover Jeep, striking the figure with its rear bumper, slides off the road and crashes head-on into a snow-covered embankment.

Seeing the other vehicle break and spin of the road, Patrick, driving the second car, pulls over and hastily makes his way to his friends car with Coen, grabbing a first aid kit, close behind him. Only to see a injured man lying on the far side of the road, bundled in blankets and an old leather jacket, a dark scarf wrapped around his face. The scarf came loose when the man was struck, and Patrick and Coen now see the wizened visage of a Native American. His cheeks and chin have been scraped raw by the snow, blood is seeping through his clothing, and his left leg is twisted into an unnatural position, the foot wrenched almost backwards. His dark eyes burn with a fire that belies his age, and his scowl hold nothing but bitter contempt for the people who just ran him down. Gray hair and snow fly about his face as he raises a trembling hand towards the two staring at him, fingers splayed.

“Chee ka towanay,” he mutters. “Chee kanah ma ka towanay!”

As both Patrick and Coen try to reach the man, a streak of snow blinds the two for a moment and they only look up again to find the old man gone. Disappeared into the snowy storm that is ever closing around them. Looking at each other for a moment not knowing what to think they move back to their friends car to find them all uninjured as they got away with just a good scare. Coen and Patrick tell the rest what they just experienced and the rest shares what happened and so how they got into this mess. After a moment or two of silence and gaping at the blizzard around them they all find eachother looking at the same thing. The dimmed lights about half a mile away appearing to be a small town. Looking at eachother all they do is nod before they get back into their vehicles and get on their way to the small town which appears the only place that can offer them respite from the fury of the storm. 

As they get off the county road and press on to the small town they catch their first real glimpse of the town and are greeted by a large sign that reads: “Miners Folly”. A half dozen streetlights glow like ghosts in the snowy night, giving the impression that the town is hanging in space. It is nearly midnight when our travelers arrive; the store and house windows are all unlit save those of the sheriff’s office and a light about a mile out of town piercing the gloom. As the five enter the small office there is no one there except for a Deputy that introduces himself as Sean Dumont who tells them that sheriff Wilheim won’t be in till the morning. Giving each other a sincere stare they decide to hold still about the accident earlier that evening in a attempt to avoid trouble which, going on a skiing trip, is the last thing they are looking for. After about 10 minutes or so, it becomes clear to them that Dumont is anxious for them to leave though he denies it when Rom decides to mention something in that direction. As the guys walk out he asks if they have a place to stay, and since they don’t, he recommends a stay at the Clearwater Hotel, about a mile out of town and offers to call ahead for them.

The Clearwater Hotel is ablaze with light, shining like an ornate beacon through the blowing snow. When the five arrive they find the skeleton overnight staff courteous and understanding in the extreme, even going as far as offering them an “emergency weather discount.” As the piccolo shows them their rooms, they are encouraged to visit the Valley View restaurant for appetizers and drinks (which has been kept open late to accommodate stranded travelers). They also learn that Miners Folly has been completely snowed in. Phone lines are down and the pass won’t be cleared for four days.

“It’s the county plows,” explains one of the helpful hotel staff. “We’re right on the county line, and they work their way from the middle, so the road out of here is the last to get plowed.”

As the rooms are assigned they find that all they receive on their televisions is static during the storm, because there is no cable service in Snowflake Valley. When Richard and Patrick look behind their heavy red velvet curtains, a large double window overlooks a black chasm below. Rom decides to remain in his room to work a bit on his laptop and Coen finds himself to tired to lust for anything else then to go to bed. So the remaining three walk down to the restaurant, and are discouraged to leave the hotel for the rest of the night because of the snowstorm. To make up for keeping their guests cooped up, the hotel management offers a 25% discount on all food and drinks and keeps the Valley View open all night. Because it is so late, most of the other guests have already gone to bed; the only other non-staff person still around except for Mark, Richard and Patrick is Dr. Cynthia Carmichael who has set up camp at the bar and appears to have no intention of leaving anytime soon.

Richard finds himself quickly bored in the dull restaurant and soon heads back up to his room for a good nights sleep. Mark however has sat himself down next to the attractive Cynthia who was, just like our investigators on her way to a nearby ski resort when the blizzard forced her to stop in the mining town for the night. A very attractive woman with long blond hair and glasses, Cindy’s appearance belies her age which is pushing forty. She tells Mark that she teaches astronomy and inductory physics at Mandrake University in Eastfield, Montana and that she only has a week of vacation and that half of it is going to be wasted here. She and Mark get caught up in conversation that lasts till late that night. Patrick on the contrary has found himself another way to entertain himself that night, drinks, lots and lots of drinks. After several drinks he heads out to take a piss and while he crosses to foyer on his way to the toilet he spots two stocky men in suits wrapping themselves in blue parkas as they walk passed him and exit through the side exit. As Patrick holds for a moment, surprised to see anyone leave the hotel this late, he sees them enter a car and a moment later he hears an engine start and the SUV pulls away into the storm. 

Later that night while Patrick is returning to his room, he hears rustling and banging sounds coming from his window. Upon investigating, however, our drunk discovers that his window is tightly latched shut. The banging starts to become more rhythmic and Patrick realizes that the banging is coming from next door. As he looks out the window he sees that the window next to his is closed but that the glass has been broken out and a dark trail trickles down the wall. He pulls himself together and walks next-door, where he finds the door unlocked and ajar, opening as he knocks on it and slowly revealing the scene within. Signs of a struggle are everywhere: a heavy desk is tipped over, a lamp has been broken, a piece of “modern” artwork has been knocked of the wall. The most telling sign, of course, is the broken window. A gaping black hole framed with jagged teeth of broken glass, the window is framed by two deep red curtains which flapper in the wind. The room is silent but for the wind’s whistle and moan. A thin dusting of snow covers the scene – stained red with blood on the window sill, white everywhere else. 

Patrick runs down the stairs and pulls the piccolo up with him towards the room. Upon seeing the scene the piccolo’s eyes open wide and he falls down on to his knees in shock. Taking a step in the room, curiosity and alcohol driving him, Patrick walks around the room towards the window. He peers outside through the black hole and into the chasm below and a strange feeling encroaches upon him while a picture of what happened forms in his head. As he turns around he sees a small silver briefcase staking out from underneath the bed as if concealed there in a hurry, an airline tag identifying it as the property of a certain Damien Carson. He bows down and picks up the briefcase and walks slowly from the room. While he passes the piccolo, staring blank at the floor, near the door he sees someone walking towards him. Aroused by the trouble on the corridor while still working behind his laptop, Rom got up from his desk and went to see what was going on. While he spots the piccolo on his knees, Patrick appears in the doorway from the open room and scurries past him with some kind of briefcase clutched between his arms pressed to his chest. He calls out to Patrick who just looks around for a sec and continues down the corridor. Rom walks up to the piccolo where he catches a sight of the scene in the room and he turns around quickly to see where Patrick went, not knowing what to think. He spots Patrick at the end of the corridor where Richard opens up and lets him in, he thinks for a moment and runs towards the two who now disappear into the room.

Richard intrigued by the story Patrick told him and also curious to what is in the briefcase, puts it down on his desk to examine it as Rom walks in. While the three start debating what to do with the briefcase, a scream echoes through the Hotel. Wen the three run outside the room they see a woman dressed in a nightgown staring at the room in shock for a moment before she collapses.

Richard and Patrick head back into Richards room to open the briefcase, while Rom unwilling to take part in this heads down stairs to tell the manager what is happening and to call the police. As he walks down the stairs he encounters Mark who had just wrapped up his nightly conversation with Cynthia Carmichael and was heading for bed. Mark stops him for a moment to ask what that scream was about and Rom merely directs him towards the room with the horrid scene where he might be able to help the two people in shock. While Mark heads upward to try and offer some aid to the two traumatized people, Rom walks into the foyer and encounters the manager just on his way to find out what was going on in his hotel at this our of night. Rom suggests to call the police and explains everything to him while they walk towards the managers office to call in the law, including the briefcase.

Meanwhile Coen, woken from his sleep by the scream, stumbles into Richards room where he gets the quick version of the story while Richard attempts to pry open the briefcase. At the moment he succeeds all they hear before opening the briefcase is a loud “click” sound and as they open the briefcase all they see is a puddle of black goo, which appears to have been some documents. Silent for a moment while they look at the booby-trapped briefcase, they know they screwed up, bad. In a last attempt to figure out what was its contents, Coen tries to pick up some of the remains but all he does is burn his fingertips on the acid like substance as the paperwork crumbles to black dust under his touch. 

While the three in Coen’s room are standing a bit dazed and trying to figure out what to do with the ruined piece of evidence, Mark has been busy snapping the piccolo out of his madness and helping the fainted woman back upon her feet and offering her a glass of water. While taking the two away from the scene in the room, the police have arrived and are being welcomed by Rom and the hotel manager in the foyer. Coen notices the arrival of the cops and alerts Richard and Patrick that they should really lose the briefcase. Richard looks frantically around what to do as his eye suddenly catches sight of the curtains in the back of the room. Quickly he moves to the window, flings the curtains aside, opens the window and throws the briefcase into the black of night down into the chasm.

Once upstairs the deputy seals of the room while the sheriff rounds up everyone in the hotel for questioning. He takes everyone’s statements only to discover one inconsistency… the silver briefcase. He rounds up the investigators and confronts them with the different statement from Rom. After a few minutes the sheriff is convinced that Rom is babbling nonsense and that it must be some result of the shock of witnessing such a horrible scene as Rom suddenly remembers about the piccolo who was outside of the room the whole time… The others give each other a cold stare not knowing what to do. When the deputy and the piccolo enter the room, the piccolo is asked what he knows about such a briefcase and he simply states he knows nothing and saw nothing during that time and he just keeps going on about what he saw. After the piccolo left, the room Mark asks if he may leave now and without waiting for an answer he hurries after the piccolo to attend to his mental health. The sheriff convinced the silver briefcase is nothing but a figment of someone’s imagination, dismisses them but as they all leave the room they can judge by the sheriffs demeanor that he considers them the prime suspects in this case.


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## The Forsaken One (Nov 5, 2002)

*chapter 1, session 1, day 1*

Somewhere the next morning while Coen and Richard walk down the stairs for an early breakfast. To prepare for a day on the town to find out if there is anything interesting to do here and some shopping as well. As they continue down the staircase a girl, one of the hotel maids,  runs up towards them grabbing Coen by his sweater while she looks frantically around as if something was hunting her.

“Her head, her head was… and I could see her lung—I think it was a—I almost slipped in it. The carpet squelched and I almost slipped in it. Her head… staring at me with the one eye left—it was under the bed, staring at me.”

Coen and Richard gave each other a cold stare with just one though crossing both their minds: “For the love of God, not again.” Coen sits the girl down in one of the chairs in the foyer downstairs while Richard hurries back to wake the rest to go and see what’s been going on while they slept.

They are all quickly dressed and hurrying down the stairs after Richard where they pick up Coen who has learned that the rest of the trouble of last night was to be found in room 107. Room 107 Mark thinks… that’s Dr. Carmichael’s room! When the five reach the room they find its door still open, the maid clearly not been in the presence of mind to lock the door when she staggered into the hallway and ran away. They slowly push the door further open to uncover a horrible and disgusting scene. 

Room 107 is a double-size room dominated by a king-size bed in the middle of the room. Like all the southern rooms, it features a large window overlooking the chasm. This window has been broken in, and glass lies on the carpet and windowsill. The frame is also broken and splintered as if something very large came in through the window. 
Dr. Carmichael’s remains are mostly on the floor between the window and the door and appear to have been partially eaten. Her haid is missing large chunks of tissue from its left side and has rolled under the bed. The lower half of her right leg is also under the bed. The upper half of the leg is nowhere to be found. Blood is splattered across the walls and has soaked through the carpeting all the way into the floor. There’s even some blood on the ceiling.

As the image of the disgusting site sinks in and their brains start to comprehend what they are witnessing Richard turns around and throws up, sick with what he just witnessed. Mark realizing what he is witnessing mumbles some faint words before fainting, Patrick catches him before he falls down into the messy goo on the floor. While Patrick takes care of Mark and Richard, Coen and Rom decide to take a closer look at the scene. Both covering their mouths and noses with a piece of their clothing to protect them against the worst of the smell slowly take a few steps into the room. As they step around carefully they notice cuts that might be claw marks on the windowsill. Closer examination from the two reveals matching marks on Carmichael’s body. 

As the sheriff arrives and they show him what they found he admits that they might be the claw marks of a bear.

“We don’t often get bear attacks around these parts,” he says. “But it’s been a tough winter, and when they get hungry, there’s no telling what they’ll do.”

The sheriff is visibly not pleased with finding the same five as last night at the crime scene. He is not pleased at all to see them and tells them so on uncertain terms. Together with his deputy, Sean Dumont, he insists that they meet with him in an empty hotel conference room to discuss their activities of the last two days.
Sheriff Wilheim interrogates the investigators aggressively and at great length but in the end has to let them go. There is no doubt that the five investigators are sheriff Willheims prime suspects. Nevertheless, he doesn’t have enough evidence to book them, so instead he just snarled a warning. 

By late morning, the wind and snow have died down, leaving four- to seven-foot drifts across the landscape. The streets are passable—just barely—by afternoon, mostly due to the efforts of a few locals with plows on their pickup trucks. Because they are used to blizzards and snow, most stores and government offices in town are still open.
Word of the sheriff’s suspicions drift out to the population at large, and the investigators  soon find the townspeople looking at them strangely and hurrying out of their path as they walk around town for some information and some shopping. Only Mark remained at the Clearwater Hotel to take care of the piccolo, the elderly female guest and of Julia, the maid, and he finds out that this is even true of the hotel staff, and though they maintain their professional demeanor, their smiles are plastic and forced. The only folks who don’t seem to mind the fives’ sudden notoriety are the other hotel guests.

That afternoon the four that went to town are at the only real shop in town: Markham’s General Store. The largest retail outlet in town, it started out selling provisions and mining supplies to prospectors; today its main products are gasoline (it has the only pump in town) and alcohol. The business also carries a large assortment of household goods, camping supplies, automotive products, and various other odds and ends. Unfortunately  for Richard and Patrick the store doesn’t sell any firearms or ammunition so they all end up buying a survival knife for their protection. That along with some household goods that might come in  handy, like some rope, flashlights with extra batteries and the likes. Rom also purchased two gallons of pure alcohol, what he plans to do with that is everyone’s guess.

After their little shopping endeavor Rom decides to go back to the Hotel, where on the way back he spots Mark heading for town looking for what the rest is doing. Mark hooks up with the rest at the central square where they were just entering their cars to go and see what’s going on in this town, first stop: Delaney Ming Inc. Easily the largest building in town, the offices of DMI take up a full city block at the eastern edge of Miners Folly. 
So the four enter the squat two-story brick building, and the first thing they notice is a flattering photograph of a Maximilian Delaney that hangs in a gilded frame in the DMI lobby. They proceed to make a chat with the girl behind the desk that offers them to take a tour of the mine if they like. They don’t have much visitors and with a smile she tells them it might be a interesting experience. The four accept and on their way to the mine, half a mile north of town they decide to step by the Town Hall. Miner’s Folly’s town hall looks like a converted schoolhouse, which is exactly what it is. It contains the mayor’s office, city and county records, the courtroom, the town’s council chamber and The Valley Voice Newspaper. The insides are decorated with garish murals depicting sweating men ripping chunks of unrecognizable minerals out of the ground and loading them onto trains.

Just inside the door is an enormous portrait of a dour looking middle-aged man in a suit. A plate at the bottom of the frame reads, “Jasper Delaney, founder of Delaney Mining and Patriarch of our glorious city.” The painting is dated 1908 and bears a striking resemblance to the portrait of Maximilian hanging in the DMI office. Further they learn at the town hall that Maximilian, except for being the current owner of DMI is also the effective owner and ruler of Miner’s Folly. 

Continuing their investigation they go to the second floor of the building to find The Valley Voice newspaper located there. It’s published every two weeks and is distributed for free throughout Miner’s Folly and the other nearby towns of Snowflake Valley. It’s mostly a tourist newspaper they learn after reading through an edition of the paper, full of skiing reports and coupons for free beer at local taverns, but also the current gossip pages. While reading through the latest edition from last week they are greeted by a young man introducing himself as Justin Miller, editor of the newspaper. He’s looking for something to boost his reputation by and when the investigators tell him that they are looking into the recent murders and other strange happenings he offers them help to search his newspaper archives in search for something useful.

A few hours digging through the newspaper archives reveals much to the investigators. Of particular interest is an article from 1923 describing how a group of Native Americans tried to break into Matthew Delaney’s (Maximilian’s predecessor) mansion. Further searching reveals an article from 1934 telling of a miner’s gruesome death—maybe murder, maybe an animal attack not unlike the death of Cynthia Carmichael. Finally they discover that there have been similar deaths every 10 years or so since the paper began in 1905 and that they are happening more often in recent years than ever before.

As the investigators reappear from the Town Hall it is already dark after their many hours of searching through the archives and while they look at the setting sun over the snowy plain below the mountains Rom calls in to see where they are at since he expected them back a few hours ago. They all get back into their cars and head back for the hotel, but as they leave town they catch a glimpse of a mysterious Native American watching them from the distance. As soon as they take their eyes of him for a moment he’s gone and leaves them with nothing but an awkward feeling deep inside… 

That evening, as they eat supper in the Valley View Restaurant, Mark happens to make eye contact with a man who is dining alone a few tables away and staring at him intently. Recognizing him from the photograph as Maximilian Delaney he appears to be about 70 years old, mostly bald, and dressed in a dark gray business suit. He is tall and lanky, with piercing blue eyes—which lock onto Mark who is now looking back at him.
The room falls suddenly silent as Delaney and Mark lock gazes. A moment later Mark realizes that time has stopped around him: His friends and the other guests frozen mid-bite, their food and utensils suspended in front of their faces. Only Delaney and Mark are moving… Delaney breaks off eye contact, then ignores Mark as he sips his soup. His voice, however, echoes inside Mark’s head. 

“You did well to come here,” the voice says calmly. “You have done all that I have commanded, and I am well pleased. But now you must leave. You cannot begin to phantom the secrets of this valley, and nothing good can come from your interference.”

Before Mark can act, the scene returns to normal and time flows as usual once more. The table where Delaney was sitting is now empty, though his soup bowl and whine glass are still there. Mark, unsure about what he just experienced dismisses it as something strange and as a symptom of the stress and horrors of the last two days and keeps the experience to himself not sure what to make of it.

That night Richard and Rom, searching the Net for more information and personal amusement get rudely snapped out of their ruse by the sound of banging and scratching outside Richard’s room window. First they dismiss it as the wind rattling the windows, but when they hear the crunch of snow and a solid thump against the wall, it’s impossible to deny that something is out there. 
Richard who is brave enough to open the drapes looks down to the ground below, and spots a hunched, humanoid shape lurking in the shadows of the hotel, shuffling along the thin ledge between the Clearwater and the chasm. It crouches back into leaping stance, raising its head towards Richard’s window. Seeing Richard there, the creature suddenly turns and shambles off, out of sight of the window. Its tracks, however, show up plainly in the snow, highlighted by the bright moonlight.

Richard looks at Rom, “did you see that?” Rom hurries over to the window when he sees Richard’s scared look and upon seeing the tracks he to takes a step back from the window. They ponder for a moment what to do but decide to wake the rest to see what they think of it. When they are all gathered before Richard’s window looking at the tracks with the same awe they let curiosity get the best of them. Boldly they decide to go outside and find out where the tracks lead. They scared it off once didn’t they?
They wrap themselves in warm clothes and all pick up a knife and Rom appears in the room with a modern slim metal crossbow. As he explains that crossbow shooting is one of his hobbies and that he was hoping to do some hunting with it on vacation, so he could shoot something live for a change. It seems he will get his chance for that all right… 
Richard’s worried look suddenly changes into a evil grin as he leaves the room and beckons Patrick to come with him. A couple of minutes later he appears with a gasoline and an oil tank from his car, Patrick close behind him, rattling bottles clasped in his arms.
Grinning widely Richard goes to work and within a quarter of an hour there are 8 provisory Molotov cocktails displayed on his desk. He grabs a shoulder bag and puts four of his fiery treats in the bag. Feeling sufficiently armed to take on any beast that might be lurking out there under the moon-lit sky they walk down the stairs, out of the front door and walk around the hotel to where the tracks lay.

The night is clear and crisp; the moon and stars shine brightly enough that the five can make their way up the snow-covered mountainside without flashlights. So without any extra light sources to not attract any attention to them the head up the mountainside to follow the tracks left behind by the creature. Richard takes some pictures of the tracks as they slowly lose sight of the hotel. The tracks are easy to spot in the moonlight: they are roughly 18 inches long and six inches wide—enormous human tracks, by the looks of them. Wondering what kind of creature could create these kind of tracks Richard hold for a moment as he looks ahead to where he spots a faint line of trees. Suddenly it strikes him as he replays the image of earlier that night again in his mind, a werewolf! But that isn’t possible… those things don’t exist and are mere legend! Puzzled for a moment he sees he’s lagging behind and he runs to catch up while the thought of a werewolf keeps flashing through his mind.

The tracks lead them northeast along the edge of the chasm, away from town and up into the mountains. After about 10 minutes, they lose sight of the hotel. The trail heads into a wooded area dotted with pine trees. It becomes increasingly difficult to make out as the woods grow denser and the trees closer together, blotting out the moonlight. Just as the woods become so dense that the five nightly (and cold) investigators can hardly see anything anymore and are starting to mention “turning back”, the trees end abruptly and they emerge into a snow-covered clearing. 

Lit by the twilight of the full moon, the clearing lies still and gray, it’s blanket of snow broken only by the humanoid tracks—and a black structure jutting up near the center of the clearing. The tracks lead toward the structure, mill around the area, then wander off toward the far side of the clearing, where they disappear again over the edge of a hill. Watching from the tree line they suddenly become very silent as a feeling of doom encroaches upon them. Time passes and Patrick and Coen are the first to snap out of this strange enchanting effect the sight of this place seems to have on them. They snap the rest out it and as they cautiously draw closer, they realize that the black shape is the collapsed remnants of a small building, long abandoned and half-covered by snow. 

Slowly and carefully they draw closer as the feeling that someone or something is lurking in the shadows… watching… grows ever stronger. As they arrive at the building, they determine that it was once a wooden cabin with a stone fireplace and chimney. The wood is rotten: most of two walls have already crumbled to durst, and a third of the roof collapsed into the cabin a long time ago. Weighed down by snow, the other two thirds have collapsed this winter, though one edge got caught on the ruined chimney, forming a tiny snow-less area of shelter. It is this small place the investigators head for and where they sit down to take a breather. While they sit and keep staring around for something moving in the twilight they see that there is little of note inside the cabin, and what there is, is dilapidated and covered with snow. The remnants of a broken rocking chair rot in one corner, along with bits of broken glass the might once have been an oil lamp. A huge mass of twigs and dried grass in another corner suggests that there might be some large animal nesting here…

Richard, shivering in the tiny shelter, catches a glimpse of some hollow space in the chimney where some stones are knocked away by the collapsed roof. As he gets up and checks out the space he finds a small tin container, about the size and shape of a cigar box. The box is secured with an old-fashioned lock set into the front of the lid and is covered with rust. Richard easily forces the simple lock open, by prying it open with some basic tools. Inside the box are two pieces of thick, old-fashioned paper, both yellowed and tattered with age: a letter from Malcolm Maguire to his wife, Clarice, and a letter from Clarice to her husband. Her letter, it appears, was never sent. Both of the letters are dated 1892. From the letters they learn about some strange and unholy darkness that lies lurking beneath the valley but the letters reveal nothing more then suspicions and feelings. 

When Richard is just finished with reading the letters while the rest keep an eye out for anything out there they suddenly hear a low growl. Adrenaline pumping through their tired veins and muscles they look up where they see a man-wolf crouched atop the ruined chimney above the group, silhouetted against the full moon. With a snarl the creature leaps down onto the frozen investigators. 

It comes crashing down on Richard tearing wildly at him with its fangs and claws. Richard who gets thrown to the floor under the creatures massive weight, scowls backwards over the snow covered floor in an attempt to escape. All the other ones except one run of in a panic. Rom stood his ground as he got his wits back and takes his crossbow and fires a bolt at the enraged creature. The bolt strikes home in the back of the beast but it doesn’t even seem to notice.

While Richard attempts to crawl away from under the beast in a panic and Rom puts another bolt in the beasts back but to no avail the beasts continuous its ravenous assault on Richard. He pins him to the ground with his claws and drives his fangs into the squealing victims right shoulder. Screaming and dazed with pain Richard turns around and throws the box into the beasts’ face before reaching in his bag for a Molotov. The box tumbling over the floor, its contents being taken with the nightly breeze, slips into a hole in the rotten floor. The werewolf suddenly releases Richard from it’s iron grip as it leaps after the letters that now fly around on the winter breeze. Rom runs over to Richard, picks him up and drags him out of the building and across the clearing where the rest of the group jump from the shadows and drag their wounded friend of in the direction they came from. Constantly looking over their shoulder and hurrying away as quickly as they can from this horrible place they are stopped cold in their tracks as a horrifying howl chills them to the bone. Quickly they get themselves back together and make a break for the hotel where they get into their cars and head for town in the hope to find some medical attention for their friend, since all Mark can offer is some first aid and the wound is looking bad.

Now racing through the moon-lit snowy landscape in their vehicles they head for town, desperate for help and protection. Coming screeching to a halt in front of the sheriff’s office, they get out and carry Richard inside. There they face a surprised sheriff and deputy who ask what the hell they are doing here at this nightly hour but when they see Richard’s wound, however, they calm down quite a bit. It is clear that the poor guy needs medical attention, and sheriff Wilheim sends Dumont to get the medical kit from the trunk of his squad car. Deputy Dumont opens the door and steps out into the night. The door hangs open for a moment and an icy breeze blows into the office.

A moment later, Dumont’s bloody, lifeless body flies back in through the front window. Dumont has been torn open from throat to abdomen, and broken ribs just from his shattered chest like bleached fingers. The sheriff staggers to his feet, gaping at his deputies body along with the shocked investigators who stand nailed to the ground with fear. Only a moment later a hairy beastial form—half man, half wolf—crashes through the office’s front window and tears through the desk as it moves in for another kill. While the werewolf latches its jaws onto the sheriff, who dies in a gurgle before the onslaught of this unleashed terror, the investigators find themselves trapped in the small office. 
Seeking a way out of this tight spot Patrick makes a run for the broken front window and leaps over a fallen chair, through the window and runs for his life. The rest however find their only exit cut off and can do nothing more then wait for a seemingly unavoidable death…

Frantically looking around for a way to survive this mess, which was supposed to be a vacation, Richard spots the prison cell keys on the remaining half of the front desk and an idea crosses his mind. He grabs the keys and lumps to the cells in the back of the office. The rest having no idea what to do obey Richard’s yell to follow him. Mark quickly grabs the keys from Richards hands as he understands what Richard is planning. He runs past him and opens the first cell. Quickly he pushes Richard, Coen and Rom inside and throws the cell door shut. And not a moment to soon, because the second the cell lock clicks into place the werewolf comes dashing around the corner, tearing a piece of out the brick wall while at it.

As Mark throws himself to the back of the cell, barely able to avoid the wolf’s claws, they see that while the bars are far enough apart that the werewolf can reach a clawed hand inside, they are strong enough to keep the creature out, and the cells are deep enough so they can avoid its reach. Rom lets two bolts fly at the creature, of which one gets diverted by a jail bar and the other finds its target but the monster again doesn’t seem to notice, or care… 
Richard pulls Mark over and whispers to him that he still has the Molotovs in his shoulder bag. Mark beckons Patrick and they both take a Molotov, which they light and throw at the creature. The wolf dodges the first one thrown by mark but it strikes the wall behind it where it explodes and the sticky flaming substance splashes all over the wolf setting its fur on fire. Howling with pain the wolf pulls its claws back from the cell and  runs off howling but not before Patrick’s Molotov hit the beats right in the side. 
Covered in flames and unable to reach its pray the wolf howls in frustration and agony and leaves.

As soon as the flames start licking the ceiling of the dazed four in the cell, they see that it is time to leave. A last howl echoes over the snowy plain and Mark looks out of the prison window only to see a burning shape disappear over a small hill a few hundred feet away and into the pine tree forest. Knowing they scared it off, they now unlock the cell and make their way out of the office. Outside Patrick grabs Rom and they run back in, only to appear a few moments later carrying two shotguns, two revolvers, some shells, ammo, two handcuffs, two Kevlar vests and some nightsticks.

Mark has dug up some of the medical supplies from both squad cars which he is carrying over to their own cars. They all get in their two cars and Mark takes care of Richard, who is only grinning widely about the fact how his “surprises” scared that abomination off good and seems to forget about his pain. 
Once back at the hotel they all gather some mattresses and barricade themselves in the conference room ignoring the comment from the hotel staff.


----------



## The Forsaken One (Nov 5, 2002)

*chapter 1, session 1, day 2*

Sometime early during the next morning, our five serial murder suspects are approached by the mysterious Native American they saw following them around the day before when they were in town for shopping and a little research. He introduces himself as John Stonehill, the old man’s face betrays a nervous desperation that he somehow keeps out of his voice.

“I must speak with you,” he says softly. “For the Beast has marked you, and the Darkness grows stronger every night.”

The old man’s paranoia is at once unnerving to the five investigators and contagious: He refuses to explain himself further until they take him somewhere private. They escort him to the conference room while the Indian constantly looks over his shoulder and narrows his eyes suspiciously at anyone who comes near them on the way up to the conference room. 

“Hurry,” he insists. “There isn’t much time!” and his eyes are everywhere.

Once they arrive at the conference room and he is convinced that no one can overhear their conversation, Stonehill continues. Rom posts himself at the door, carrying his crossbow to keep watch for anyone that might try and eavesdrop on them.

“This,” he says, gesturing toward the snow and the sky, “this is the time of the Beast. When the snow is deep and the moon is full, the Beast returns to this valley to quench its thirst for blood. But the Beast…the Beast is not the problem.”

Stonehill goes on to explain about the Darkness in the valley, and tells the investigators that his people have warred against it for many generations. But now the Darkness is growing stronger each day. Soon his people’s medicine will not be enough to keep it at bay. Furthermore, he says, the werewolf is only a servant of the Darkness. It is an ill omen that the Beast grows bolder, but it means that the Darkness is also growing stronger.

Before the werewolf first arrived more than a hundred years ago, Stonehill says, the Native Americans prayed and were granted by the Sky Father a circle of metal that weakened the Darkness. Later, their warriors used the disc in battle and badly wounded the werewolf, but it ran away before they could kill it. The next night, they sent their best warrior to find and kill the beast. He never returned, and the disc was lost with him.

“Through our medicine, we have found where the sky-metal lies. But we are old now, too weak to carry spears, too weak to war against the Beast. We are old and now one of our circle’s number is dead—run down in the road like a dog.” Stonehill gives the investigators a sharp meaningful look after that last remark.
He goes on to say that it is their duty now to retrieve the sky-metal disc from the bottom of the Delaney’s copper mine where it has waited all these years. They have but one day to complete this task. Any longer than that and the Darkness will be too powerful for his circle’s ritual. One way or the other the circle is performing the ritual tomorrow he tells the five. But without the sky-metal to protect them, he fears that they will all be killed before they can complete it.

After that Stonehill quickly answers all their questions about the Darkness and the Beast and is surprised when he hears about their adventure the night before and the cabin they found in the woods. About the Darkness, he knows only that it was in the mountain long before his people settled in the valley many centuries ago. That it is a malignant force without shape but that it is restricted to one location. It’s currently trapped in the valley by the Indian Shaman’s circle-magic but will soon be able to overpower them. 
Mark now speaks up and shares his experience at the Valley View Restaurant the evening before and in answer to that Stonehill acknowledges that Delaney is the physical manifestation of the Darkness.

“This is its form, yes, for we have trapped it in the human flesh with our medicine.”

He continues about the Beast that spears and guns seems to have very little effect against it, and that only the sky-metal disc seemed truly to cause it pain and injury. And he warns them that it is difficult to hunt the beast because it:

“Wears the skin of man by day, but kills in fur and fang by night. It can change and attack at any time, but it is strongest beneath a full moon.”
At that the investigators just smile broadly and continue to make several jokes about fire before they get back paying attention to the old Native American and proceed to ask question to how they might gain easy access to the mine.

Stonehill informs them that there is a secret entrance into the heart of the Darkness. The original mine used by Jasper Delaney a hundred years ago still exists. He tells them that if the five are willing to brave the dangers inherent in a abandoned mine, they can find the entrance between two large boulders half a mile east of the mining complex itself. He proceeds to warn them that no one has explored the mineshaft in 50 years. On the other hand, it probably is not being guarded.

When the five finish asking questions Stonehill turns to leave.
“I will be back tomorrow,” he says, “and will contact you before we begin the ritual. You will have the disc by then, yes? You better.”
And with those words the old shaman disappears in the door and leaves five puzzled men behind. The five get their gear together and decide to head for the mine, the sooner they get this stuff over with, the better they think. They dress warmly and load their gear into the Range Rover and the Hum-Vee. And so they take off, two black dots racing through the snow white plain between the mountains, headed east for the old mine.

Just as Stonehill said, they find two boulders half a mile east of the Delaney complex. The boarded-up entrance to the abandoned mineshaft is between the boulders and beneath a heavy snowdrift. Unfortunately the site is also two miles from the nearest road so to get there they had to plow their jeeps through snow three to five feet deep in order to reach it.
The boards have been exposed to the elements for more then two decades and Patrick makes short work of them through use of his crowbar. Before they enter the dark cave they look at each other for one last good time and they al mutter something like what the hell do we think what we are doing here.

Inside the mineshaft they are overcome with the strong, dank odor of rot, stagnant water, and dirt. The air is full with dust. The dirt walls and ceiling are propped up with wide timbers that creak loudly in the wind. It is very dark there and a cold chilly wind blows through from somewhere below…
Twenty feet into the darkness is an open elevator shaft but a quick glance over the controls and mechanism by Richard indicates that the system is broken beyond repair and that the only way down seems to be a series of wooden ladders fastened to the shaft walls.

They fasten a couple of ropes and throw down two nightsticks, which to their uneasy surprise disappear into the darkness without hitting any bottom of the shaft. As they throw their ropes down they feel them hit solid ground somewhere so they fasten themselves, check their weapons and proceed to advance down into the darkness below.

When they step out of the elevator shaft at the bottom of the mine, all safe and sound, they are immersed in darkness so complete it is more then a lack of light. It is dense and seeps into their skins; they feel kike they are inhaling darkness with every breath they take. When they light their flashlights and nightsticks, the darkness presses closely in on them, reducing the lights’ effective range to a few feet.

The temperature here is well below freezing, and their bones ache with a cold that even penetrates their thick winter clothing. They all peer around in the few feet of light they have and they set off into the darkness, leaving a rope tied to all of them to be able to find the way back in this underground maze of eternal darkness. After a few minutes they begin to shiver uncontrollably and their teeth begin to chatter. As they venture further into the darkness under these maddening conditions at the bottom of the mine a bizarre stench fills the tunnel. Rotting eggs soaked in a heavy musk, like the inside of some animal.

About two hundred yards down in the mine tunnel, in the heart of the darkness, they find two bodies, decomposed to little more then skeletons in the hundred years they have laid here beneath the rock. One of the skeletons is wearing the faded and rotted remnants of a dress. Around the corpse’s neck is a gold chain with a locket on it. The other body has little more flesh on its dusty bones, suggesting that it hasn’t been here as long as the other body but it has little clothing left as well.
Near the right hand of the second body is a metal disc, two feet in diameter and covered in arcane runes and symbols. There are four oddly shaped holes through the object, which they discover can be used as finger holes to grasp the disc as Patrick picks the cold metal up.

While Patrick picks up the disk Coen and Rom hear something falling in the distance and paranoia strikes again, imprisoned by the darkness they all feel they are about to go mad in this place and they hurry back now they got what they came for. Last in line is Rom who grabs the golden chain from the neck of the other body just before he is dragged away by the rest who hurry back along the rope. 

As they draw closer to the elevator shaft they hear a couple of voices and two thumping sounds, like something hitting the ground. Shortly after that they hear a voice calling if everything down there is ok. The voice is answered by two voices which are originating  very close to our five investigators. 

“Yeah Hank, we’re fine down here but a couple of yards away it’s pitch black and we can’t see anything down there.”

“Hey check this,” the second voice calls out, “a rope which is moving, I guess they went into the darkness and used this as safety, smart but it won’t protect them from us. Because we’ll be waiting for them when they get back here.”

The five in the darkness halt and stumble across each other and whisper about what to do. Richard pumps his shotgun and tells him he’s ready for the two “girls” waiting out there. The five ready their guns and with Patrick in the lead they reappear in the twilight of the bottom of the elevator shaft.

“There! I spotted one!” The second voice calls out and he charges straight for Patrick. The second guy following closely behind him while he reaches for the inside of his pocket.

The first guy, expecting them to be unarmed, leaps onto Patrick who, although he prepared himself, was caught by surprise by the quick reaction of the thug who is now on top of him and working him to the ground in a grapple. The second guy draws his Glock pistol and keeps Patrick under gun point. Just as he grins and shouts up the shaft that they got one, he is interrupted in his shouting as a gunshot echoes through the elevator shaft. His head is ripped off his torso and his lifeless body slumps to the ground. From the darkness Richard appears, shotgun in his uninjured arm and barrel still smoking. The other guy looks up from his attempt to tie Patrick up with plastic zip-cuffs surprised by the shot, only to see a gun come swinging his way.

Coen smacked the guy in the face with the other shotgun and as the guy gets thrown of Patrick by the blow he tries to get up only to be welcomed by more kicks and hits from Coen who beats him senseless. Rom gets his knife out and cuts Patrick lose from his zip-cuffs while Coen and Richard tie the second thug up with his own zip-cuffs. As they finish tying the guy up they hear someone running off at the top of the shaft. Mark and Richard strip the two guys of what they seems useful, two Kevlar vests, some plastic sip-cuffs and a couple of flashlights and glock-17’s with spare ammunition.

While Mark and Richard loot the thugs Rom runs towards the ropes and ladders and starts climbing to the top, Coen and Patrick closely behind him. Mark seeing his friends head for the ladders he dumps the unconscious guy to the ground and almost trips over the beheaded body of the other guys as he hasted to catch up with the rest. 

Rom, almost near the top of the ladder, grabs a some of rotten part of the old ladder and a piece of the ladder breaks off. He falls backwards and attempts to catch one of the ropes which slips just barely through his hands and with a scream he plummets sixty feet to the bottom of the shaft. With a silent thump he hits the bottom just in front of Richard’s and Mark’s feet who totally freak out when a body crashes down in front of them. Coen shouts from up the shaft.

“Mark! Richard! Help him! He grabbed a rotten piece of the ladder and fell down, is he ok?!”

Mark and Richard bend over to see if he’s still alive and Rom cries in pain as Mark touches him to check for his pulse. Relieved that he is still alive they call back up to tell that he is still alive, although barely. 

Patrick and Coen get to the top of the Shaft where they draw their weapons and run outside of the mine only to see a guy in a blue parka jump into a already running SUV and make his escape. Patrick stands still for a moment and then the coin fell. These were the same guys as he saw the first night that arrived here. The same blue parkas and the same kind of car in which they drove away so hastily. Suddenly he also understands who must have killed that guy in the room next to his… he must have known to much just as we do now but luckily they failed this time. 
“Crap, why did we screw up that briefcase… I bet that’s what the guy wasn’t supposed to know, what we discovered now…”

He and Coen turn back and create a simple stretcher from the wood they can find lying around. So after a few minutes they hauled Richard and Rom back to the top of the shaft when a sweating Mark shows his head over the edge of the shaft as well.
Tired they all sit down for a moment, looking worried at Rom who lies there breathing heavily, eyes closed. 
Patrick shares his revelation with the rest and afterwards they all pick up Rom together and carry him back to the jeeps. Patrick gets behind the wheel of his Hum-Vee with Rom and a tending Mark in the back. Coen and Richard, guns at the ready in the Range Rover in  the lead.

And so they head back, racing through the snow and soaring through the small town. People look frightened from their houses and everyone clears the streets as the two jeeps come roaring past. The five in the cars looking mean and vicious. They had just killed a man and left another to die in that pit of madness. And they’d do it all over again if they had to. 

The jeeps come screeching to a halt for the Clearwater, and Richard and Coen get out of their Range Rover, shotguns at the ready. Patrick helps Mark carry Rom inside. As they enter the hotel everyone in the foyer takes a step back as the five murder suspects come in busting through the front door, shotguns pointing around, revolvers at their hips.
They carry Rom upstairs where they discuss for a moment what to do and how to defend themselves until the pass gets cleared and they can make their escape from this god forsaken town. 

After half an hour Coen, Patrick and Richard come down the stairs and round up all Hotel personel and all the other guests and force them upstairs for their own safety. There they have set up enough beds for everyone in the hallway to stay safely for the night under the investigators’ protection. Richard goes back down with Mark to see what food and supplies they can find and carry them upstairs. When they are done they find some desks and benches and throw them down on the double staircases to block and slow down anyone who might try to rush upstairs. With a thump Rom sets the two gallons of concentrated alcohol down, one on each top of a staircase. With a smile he explains that anything trying to get up here will get a nasty surprise when they get this stuff over them, not even talking about what would happen in they’d throw a match in the mix.

Feeling secure they all prepare themselves for the night as the afternoon passes slowly and silently. The hotel staff and the guests slowly begin to trust and appreciate the investigators work and what they are trying to do for them. Patrick sits down after finishing preparing the defenses and takes the golden locket from his pocket, the one he took from the corpse in the mine. He opens it and on the inside are two pictures, one presumably of Clarice Maguire and the other… Rom drops the locket, grabs his Glock and glares around like a mad man. The other picture on the inside of the locket was of Ian Maguire, another hotel guest as Rom recognized, the writer of the other letter over a hundred years ago, a writer trying to protect his last memory of his love, his wife. The writer of that letter, the other face in the locket, the werewolf…
Rom looks around in a panic but there is no Ian Maguire here… he asks around and he hasn’t checked in since last afternoon. The rest rushes in and asks what’s going on here, Rom explains and after that they all look out of the windows at the snow and the setting sun and all they can do is wonder.

Night falls…


----------



## The Forsaken One (Nov 5, 2002)

*Chapter 1, session 1, day 3&4*

The skies over Miner’s Folly are bright and cloudless on the morning of the third day, but grow gradually darker as the day wears on. The night passed peacefully and without disturbance, Rom feels quite a bit better and is able to walk around and talk a bit. But the quiet night… this bothers the investigators the most. It was too quiet, the silence for the storm. But they are ready, they think.
By afternoon, thick gray clouds overshadow the valley, threatening and pregnant with snow. The wind picks up towards the evening and the roads begin to slowly drift once more. 
Inside the Clearwater Hotel, the atmosphere is tense: The guests are miling about on the first floor, murmuring their conversations, glancing cautiously at the windows. There is something on the loose, a killer, a monster, and they all know it; they’re just waiting for the next shoe to drop. The five investigators are keeping guard at the windows and at the staircase, each taking shifts. 

At 7:10 pm a loud bang breaks through the silence. The investigators jump to their feet, grab their weapons and ready their defenses. When a loud howl echoes through the valley and a scratching sound can be heard through the hotel. They know the time has come, destiny has searched them out and they can no longer hide. It’s time to face destiny, it’s time to stand on those walls of fate and to fight! And they know it, they sensed it coming all night and all day long and now it’s here. 

Coen throws over a bed in the hallway on the first floor, Rom runs towards him to give him some backup. They expect the werewolf to appear on the first floor as they heard the sound somewhere there on the windows. Thinking it succeeded this time to leap through a first story window to bypass their defenses Coen, Rom and Mark rally behind two beds in the corridor and prepare themselves for the attack. But they are wrong, the wolf also failed a second time to jump through a first story window who were also barricaded this time. Now enraged in a primal fury it runs around the building where it hold for a second. It takes a breath and with a horrible howl it comes crashing through the front door, smelling its prey.

But they were ready, Richard and Patrick started pouring the gallons of alcohol down on the stairs the second they heard the wolf’s failed jump attempt. But the wolf is fast and before they were able to finish their work, the wolf came crashing through the front door. It moved swiftly, and within seconds it scaled the stairs with great leaps and now there it comes in all its rage and fury. Richard sees the wolf leap through the alcohol and before he can drop the alcohol and reach for his weapon the wolf is right next to him. The wolf bites in an attempt to finish what it started the night before. But Richard throws himself to the side and the wolf tastes nothing but vaporized alcohol as Richard dodges its bite. Richard gets back onto his feet and reaches for his shotgun, the werewolf closely behind him ready to strike again. But as Richard turns around shotgun in his hands the wolf leaps again. But it would never hit Richard again, because as Richard lets himself fall backward to get a clear shot at the beasts gut Rom’s voice echoes through the hallway.

“Halt Ian Maguire, I know who you are. I know you are Malcolm Maguire, the ambitious young prospector that lost his wife. That the Darkness corrupted you in this… form.”

And as he says this he holds the locket on the golden chain high op before him.

“Your wife is dead Malcolm or Ian, or whatever you call yourself these days. She is dead, murdered by the one you serve. And this is the proof.”

The wolf leaps over Richard and stands still, looking at the locket. Time seems to freeze, the winds seem to cease blowing and everyone holds his breath as the wolf keeps its gaze locked on the locket. 

After what seems to be an eternity it looks up at Rom who stands there, bold, locket in one hand held up high, his loaded Glock clutched in his other, a pearl of sweat forming on his forehead.
The wolf looks at the locket and the man who holds it. And then it makes itself as large as possible and howls as it never howled before. Coen picks his gun and goes for a shot not the beast lets it guard down but Mark stops him. The Beast howls and everyone who hears it, everyone present at the Clearwater can’t help but feeling sad, hurt, at a loss. And with that the wolf dashes for a window and with a great leap it bursts through the window and disappears into the woods, howling with anguish.

Everyone stands silent, regarding what just happened in awe. Amidst this stands Rom, silent for a moment or two, then lowering his hand and looks at the locket for a moment before clutching it in his hand. 
He turns around and they all know it’s over, the beast has gone and now Stonehill can safely come to get the disc and get the ritual over with.

Everyone sits themselves down and relaxes. Mark gives everyone something to eat and drink and calms everyone and assures them it’s over. Rom lies down to catch some sleep since he’s exhausted and his intestines still hurts like hell from the fall. Richard stands at the window looking to where the werewolf disappeared to. He feels at his shoulder wound and looks outside again into the darkness, and he feels at ease for the first time since he got here. Coen and Patrick have set themselves down on a bed somewhere to talk over what they witnessed here the last few days, glad it all seems to be over. The Indians will come soon and then they can go home tomorrow when the pass is cleared.
As Mark finished his round he sits down for a moments rest. But as he sits down he hears something strange very, very near… and he looks up to see something his mind cannot comprehend. He just sits there in fear and shock for a moment, and then screams. He screams in absolute terror as horror fills his heart, he screams again, and again, and again.

Mark saw Reginald Thompson, one of the other hotel guests stumble towards him, he stares at Mark for a moment and then with madness in his eyes his face contorts as in great pain. On the following moments his skull creaks as it shifts on its seams and stretches into a snout; coarse brown hair sprouts from every follicle, ripping flesh in its haste to break through the skin; muscles swell and twist like enormous subdermal tumors, reducing his clothing to ribbons. Mark cannot do anything but scream in absolute terror as another werewolf rises before him. When will the horror end?

Rom rockets up from his bed as he hears the scream, he ignores his pain and grabs his gun and runs through the door only to see the horrible creature rise to its full stature, an imposing 10 feet high.

The Beast looks at the screaming figure before him and prepares to attack. As the creature leaps forward and moves in for the kill it gets thrown to the ground by a figure that leapt in from the left and crashed into the beast its side, throwing it off balance and sending it howling to the ground. Patrick rises from behind the creature, the sky-metal disc gripped tightly in his right hand, radiating with a strange blue light. The beast gets back up again and engages Patrick in mortal combat. 

While everyone starts to comprehend that Patricks heroic and selfless act just saved Mark’s they all quickly realize that he needs help. Bad.
Rom raises his Glock fires a few bullets at the back of the beast while Coen unloads a shotgun shell on the beast’s back. Richard beckons Mark to grab a couple of Molotov cocktails like he does himself.

Meanwhile Patrick and the werewolf are locked in mortal combat and they dance around eachother, Patrick boldly swinging his disc while trying to parry the beasts fierce claw and bite attacks. Patrick scores another hit on the beast right arm but as he strikes the beast comes down on him and sinks its teeth in his left side. Patrick and the wolf go down to the ground and Patrick doesn’t scream, no. Patrick holds himself together as the soldier he was trained for. He kicks the beast in the stomach and the disc flies again, flickering with arcane energies radiating from it with a strange blue glow. But the wolf is fast and dodges his blow. But as the wolf prepares for another attack and Patrick looks up from the ground and prepares to defend himself, the chamber suddenly flashes with light as flames envelop the wolf from the back.

Richard and Mark hadn’t been idle and they hasted as fast as they could to get to the Molotovs. They lighted them and waited for a safe moment to throw them and this was the moment they were waiting for. The wolf turns around and charges blindly at the first target he sees but only to be greeted by two more Molotovs straight in its face. The beast is now fully on fire but before it can attack one of the two Molotov throwers Patrick is in front of it again, slashing with the disc. Enveloped in flames the werewolf throws himself onto Patrick once again and tears his shirt to ribbons as its claws rip across his chest. But as the wolf attacks Patrick, the flames that envelop the wolf now also set fire to Patricks ripped shirt and other clothes as the two interlock again.

One of the sparks of the Molotovs went over the edge of the staircase and fell down into the alcohol that was sprayed down over the furniture on the staircase. The spark hits and both staircases are an inferno in seconds as fire spread across the staircase and over the ceiling and through all of the foyer.

Rom drops his gun seeing it has no use anyway and runs to grab one of the fire-extinguishers to help his friend that is on fire. Coen just stands in awe as he doesn’t dare to fire his shotgun in the fear to hit his friend. Richard grabs his shotgun and waits for a change to shoot and Mark just looks around frantically for something that might work against the creature.

Patrick keeps on slicing the wolfs flesh and the wolf keeps tearing at his chest and arms, blood begins to seep over the floor where the two burning figures fight to the death in a maniacal battle, bloodlust in their eyes, neither giving in or allowing the other reprieve.

Rom returns with two fire-extinguishers and sprays at the wolf. The wolf’s hairs freeze and the broken skin and blood blister beneath the cold spray of the extinguisher and the wolf backs off howling. Rom understanding that he has a effective weapon in his hands yells someone to pick the other thing up and use it against the wolf. Mark grabs the thing and burst another cone of cold at the beast which falls slowly back. 

Coen runs to Patrick and grabs a blanket on the way to put out the burning clothes and some water to throw over him to soothe his wounds. As soon as Coen extinguishes the fire and gives him some water he sees that aside from some burnings and the claw mark on his chest and the bite wound on his side he’s all in one piece after that while under the beast.

While Rom and Mark advance on the wolf with their fire-extinguishers and Richard keeps unloading his shotgun at the beast, two black SUVs pull up to the scene. Their headlights spearing through the swirling snow and light the inside of the burning hotel for split moment, giving the scene a ghastly look. Maximilian Delaney steps out of one, his face a stone mask of displeasure. Three DMI enforcers in blue parkas emerge from the other vehicle, pistols drawn.

“You have slain my servants, delayed my plans, and caused me great distress,” Delaney says sternly. “For that, you must be destroyed.” 

With those words he raises his hand threateningly at the inferno on the first floor of the hotel where the ghastly scene is being displayed and where a horrible fight is being fought against the infernal background of a burning hotel. The flames slowly encrouch over the whole hotel and by this time it’s almost fully ablaze. All the hotel staff and hotel guests have leapt out of some of the side windows and ran off in the snow in the direction of the village, not knowing where else to go in this madness.

As Delaney raises his hand everyone inside feels the dark chill of the mines pass through them once more. But before Delaney can make good on his threats, he is distracted by the sound of drums. Five ancient Native Americans emerge from the surrounding forests, dressed in ceremonial feathers and beads beneath their winter coats. In the lead in John Stonehill who is carrying and beating a drum.
The Shamans form a semicircle facing Delaney and chant their ancient song while Stonehill keeps the beat with his drum. As the shamans sing the investigators inside can feel the mystic energy gathering in the air, sending shivers down their spines.

Delaney turns his hand towards the circle, and the shamans’ singing falters. They recover quickly, however, and now Delaney takes a step backward, surprised at the strength of their magic. The circle and Delaney engage in a duel between mystic forces.

Inside the battle reaches its conclusion as Rom and Mark drive the wolf ever further back while Richard keeps hammering it with shotgun shells. When the fire extinguishers are about the run empty the wolf readies itself for one last attack with the last of its powers. As the wolf leaps in the direction of Rom in the hope to deliver a killing blow it’s met by two cones of cold, a shotgun shell, but it’s not enough and the beast throws itself onto Rom. Rom falls backwards in fear as the mutilated and shriveled body of the werewolf is about to crush him under it’s weight a blue light flashes through the hallway as a blue slice of light sears through the air and strikes the wolf in the chest where it remains, blood flowing out of the gaping wound.

The lifeless body of the wolf slumps to the ground and Rom looks around to see what happened. As he crawls back to a stance he sees Coen holding up Patrick, against a background which has turned to an inferno, who is breathing heavily, his arm still stretched from the throwing move, pointing in the air where once was the werewolf. A shiver runs through Rom as he sees Patrick so heavily wounded, with a maniacal grin across his face and against that background he seems on fire himself. Rom shrugs off the image of the evil demonprince Patrick and grabs his crossbow and a couple of bolts.

Richard reloads his shotgun and rushes to the front window to see the two mystical powers battling it out. 

“Guys, lets have the Indians to the Voodoo stuff without any problems, let’s take out those goons out there. We owe them some.”

Richard breaks through the window with his shotgun. The DMI enforcers below look up as they hear the sound of breaking glass only to see three men bursting through the windows, guns pointed down at them.
Using the surprise moment of his opponents to his advantage, Richard grins and pulls the trigger of his 12 gauge. The shell hits the middle enforcer, tearing him in two as the shell took off the whole right side of his torso.
Richard merely grins: “Should have worn Kevlar bitch, you had it coming to ya!”

Coen leaps through one of the windows down into the snow and Patrick throws a Molotov out of Richards window. The Molotov hits the SUV of the enforcers on the hood and splashes out but it doesn’t ignite. Richard fires another shell at one of the enforces and hits him square in the chest. The enforcer while falling back, fires two rounds at the first floor of the hotel. But before the enforcer hits the ground he gets impaled by a crossbow bolt sending him straight to the ground. Rom trashed through another window and saw the wounded enforcer and finished him off with a clean shot of his crossbow. 

As a miracle Patrick is back up, and with the disc flashing in his hands he leaps out of one of the trashes windows, Rom closely behind him down into the snow.
Mark throws out another Molotov as Richard leaps from the burning floor as well, the flames are now everywhere around them on the first floor. The Molotov explodes on the ground before the last enforcer, and it ignites the gasoline on the hood of the SUV which quickly catches fire. The enforcer jumps out of the way and keeps firing at the infernal display before him. He fires four quick round at the people jumping from the windows but they all miss. 

The enforcer takes a step back and fires another couple of rounds in the direction of Richard who is rushing towards him. He can only witness that none of his shots find their target. As he sees Richard closing in, a mad grin across his face, a bolt pierces his right shoulder and in that moment of pain he drops his Glock. Richard pumps his shotgun as he closes in and fires a shot at point blank range into the enforcers gut. The shell rips through the enforcers intestines and his gut splatters all over the white snow behind him, painting it red. The last enforcer drops gutless to the ground, his whole intestines spread out in the snow behind him.

Now all that rests them is Delaney, who is caught up in his mystical battle with the circle and he’s winning the battle for domination and magical supremacy. Patrick in his bloodlust leaps after Delaney slicing at him with the sky-metal disc but he just can’t seem to hit the silent figure. Coen and Mark unload their guns on Delaney but to no avail. Bullets easily pierce his human flesh, but he ignores the damage and keeps focused on the battle at hand. As Delaney’s skin is broken and pierced by the numerous bullets and bolts, beams of darkness shine out, as he is “lit” from the inside with the same terrible blackness that pervades the bottom of the mine.

The investigators watch helplessly as their bullets hardly have any effect, and the circle visibly grows weaker as one of their number falls onto his knees but keep chanting, barely. Mark runs over to the Indians and attempts to mimic the song to strengthen it and as he runs over a large dark shape leaps howling over the Native Americans. 

Ian Maguire, the first werewolf has returned, with a vengeance. The wolf dives straight for Delaney and takes him down under his massive weight. Delaney now having his concentration on his spell disrupted unleashes his terrible magic at the wolf, but the wolf shrugs it off with a howl and it keeps on tearing at Delaney and keeps him pinned to the ground beneath its weight.

While Mark attempts to chant and strengthen the Indian magic, the rest stands merely in awe what’s happening before them with the wolf and the aberration. Richard however runs towards the remaining SUV, looks inside and finds that the keys are still there. He jumps in, starts its engine and floors the gas pedal. The SUV accelerates and races towards the two struggling figures on the ground before the burning hotel. Richard braces himself and crashes the SUV into the two monsters. The car rushes the two right into the hotel wall where they crash, caught between the car and the wall.

Richard hurries out of the car to see what damage he did. The rest merely keeps watching in awe at Richards incredible move. The SUV falls back a bit to reveal the werewolf lying in a unnatural position, twisted and turned, obviously crushed by the SUV. But Delaney has turned into a boiling black ooze that’s slowly taking solid form again. Only this time it’s not human…

The investigators grabs their guns and pump as much lead in the black thing that is forming as they can. The ooze ignores the damage as the bullets sink into its boiling mass but the investigators keep firing, they must do something to defeat this menace, this monstrosity.

Before their very eyes the ooze turns into a gigantic blank panther like creature, 15 feet long, 5 feet high. Once its forming it complete it gnarls and rushes towards the circle of Shamans. It leaps up into the air, ready to pounce the defenseless John Stonehill. But in its way appears Mark. The black panther like shape comes bearing down on Mark who just barely dives aside from under it to avoid its raking claws. Delaney looks in front of him again and as he leaps in for the kill on Stonehill the Shamans finish their ritual. Delaney’s monstrous form shrieks in pain and defeat as it turns into a black blob that falls to the ground, slowly growing more translucent and less vicious until it disappears from view, soaked into the earth, defeated and imprisoned.

The circle takes a few steps back after their victory, totally exhausted from the spiritual duel with Delaney. The make a small bow in the direction of the investigators and then head back into the woods leaving the dazzled five behind them.

The five drop their weapons and just look at each other. They can’t smile even though it’s over. They will never forget this, the horror, the madness and the surreality of it all. It just can’t have been real, but when they look at their wounds and feel their aching bones they know it’s all too real.
They gather their stuff, what’s left of it, and leave in their jeeps. The hotel burning to the ground behind them and as they drive off, it collapses into burning ruin. 

The five spend the night in their cars, surprisingly they all sleep well and have pleasant dreams. They sleep an untroubled sleep, peacefully, and well deserved.

The next morning the skies are clear, the wind blows gently across the plain, through the valley. The five are greeted by the orange uniforms of county workers and the roaring of the snow trucks. They start their engines, sip their coffee and as they head over the pass a small hour later they look back one more time at that accursed valley and hope never to return there. 

Relieved they head off for their destination, hoping to forget the horrors, the pain, the anguish. They hope it will all go away in time. But they have no idea what the future has in store for them, they cannot even begin to phantom the paths which destiny will lead them across. 

And all they can do is fall back on each other and not go astray.


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## The Forsaken One (Nov 5, 2002)

End of chapter 1 ladies and gentlemen.

Chapter 2 another long one comming up soon, three a medium one and 4 5 6 and 7 the short ones comming up soon after!


Hope you enjoyed your read!


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## Gurdjieff (Nov 6, 2002)

You made some small mistakes on who did what and the likes, but still great writing skills =] I'm really looking forward to sunday!

(/me plays Mark) =]


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## The Forsaken One (Nov 6, 2002)

yeah been 2.5 weeks ago and so much happened, might have mixed some little stuff up,  happens, hope it's still ok though


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## Nyarlathotep (Nov 8, 2002)

Quick question about the character names.... are they in any way related to Jagged Alliance? (Some of the names are familiar.. Ice, Lynx and Bull... although I'm kinda dissapointed there is no Larry Roachburn  )


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## The Forsaken One (Nov 9, 2002)

Just Lynx 

The rest are just appropriate but funny you notice 

(Since we all played the game till we dropped, Patrick loves the game more then life itself=])

But Ice comes from the fact that Rom has 90 sanity so he doesn't get scared or moved, Mr Ice =]

Bull is from the fact that he has the highest str in the gang

Lynch from the fact that he snipes and that he loves the Lynx Char in JA 2 DG  

(Larry rules)

Owyeah btw, before I forget. One of your cults plays a major role in my campaign and they'll show up in the 3rd session (which we had last week and will need about 2 weeks before it's posted planning on doing 1 sesison a week on SH and I'm 2 weeks behind)


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## Serpenteye (Nov 20, 2002)

nice


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