I must apologise for the lateness of this chapter, we have spent several sessions with a large number of people doing a large number of thigns meaning that Rupert hasn’t always been busy and so hasn’t always had a lot to write about for individual sessions, but I’ll try to cover everything here now.
(Following on from the previous revelation about the magical nature of the induced heart attacks the party split up and variously went back to the temporary HQ or delved deeper into the missing archives.)
After a little more time spent talking at the police station I returned with Beasty and the others to the warehouse we’re working out of in this area. After some discussion we decided it might be prudent to get a hypnotist sent down in an effort to recover the suppressed memories that I witnessed in the mind of the desk sergeant. Erica and Ed were still at the station investigating the hard copies of all the case records.
After a time Erica returned to the warehouse insisting that we accompany her to a possible crime scene that she had discovered in order to secure it and search for clues. She led us out into the countryside to a large metal barn about 10 miles out of town. It wasn’t clear why we were actually here or what bearing this had on the case but Erica was very insistent and so we felt it pudent to follow up on any possible leads.
Once we arrived Cooper and Erica took the lead and made to enter the barn. As soon as Cooper placed his hand on the door handle he blacked out and slumped to the ground. Seeing this I made to follow more closely in case further assistance was required. During this time Beasty remained in the vehicle, Farmer was delivering our hypnotist to her hotel room while Sparks, Erica and Cooper were taking the lead in entering the barn. I was not aware of Ed’s location at this time.
As soon as we entered the barn we noticed that Ed was already present and had been secured as an obvious captive. He had been chained to a supporting girder and was held upside down. In one corner was a shadowy figure who I was unable to make out clearly and before I had a chance to make any further assessment a large biological entity of some type suddenly appeared at our end of the building. The beast was not like anything I have seen before. It was approximately spherical with a multitude of tentacles and was a gory red in colour. Several shots were fired and seemed to do little damage. I got the strange impression that the beast wasn’t entirely real but then I witnessed Sparks being overpowered and engulfed.
During this time Cooper had begun moving the large barrels located at the far end of the barn. Judging by their design and the smell in the room these were filled with some form of gasoline. Suddenly, having tipped the barrel over and rolled it towards the beast Cooper was firing at the barrel! At this point I left the room fearing that Cooper’s actions would have dire consequences. I kept an eye on the room from outside to ensure that I would be able to react to any potetntial problems.
After some time an electrical discharge that appeared to emanate from Ed himself ignited the fuel that was spreading across the floor and shortly after this the beast vanished in much the same way as it had appeared. By this point the fire was beginning to burn out of control and Erica nad Cooper were unable to loosen the restraints holding Ed in place. At some point Cooper had retrieved some sort of plastic explosive based bomb from one end of the barn and brought it down towards me. Concerned that the fire would cause a detonation of the bomb I opened the roller door and moved the bomb outside before closing the door again.
At this stage the fire was becoming increasingly dangerous so I evacuated and examined the explosive device. I noted the crude attempt at boobuy-trapping the bomb, and also that it had not been fully armed. We were fortunate that Cooper moving the bomb had not caused the secondary detonator to activate and I was able to disable the device entirely. By now the entire barn was on fire and Erica and Cooper had also evacuated, bringing the unconscious form of Sparks with them, but there was no sign of Ed.
The emergency services were called, along with Blanket and HQ being informed. The official story will be something to do with a foiled terrorist plot as far as I know. I’m certain full details will be given in our debriefing.
(The following day, the fire is still not entirely dampened and so Ed’s body has not been retrieved.)
Erica and Sparks are still in hospital this morning. I need to understand why we were at the damned barn yesterday so I called Erica at the hospital but she was entirely unable to to explain her actions. With nothing to go on I decided to take the next logical step and ask the other person involved, Ed.
I gathered the team together, including Erica and Sparks on conference call and began meditating until I felt a connection through the hair sample I retrievd from Ed’s room. Suddenly I could hear Ed’s voice, I had penetrated the veil of death!
After several minutes questioning Ed couldn’t really understand how he had ended up at the barn but began talking about SETI and interference from a group working for some ancient demonin entity. I find it hard to be sceptical now that I have spoken to somebody who I know to be dead having witnessed their passing. This feeling of mastery over death is overwhelming and I feel like it must be possible to go further than mere communication. In my arcance studies I have found hinted rumours at a path of magic that can only be called necromancy, the death magic, power over the grave and mastery over death itself. This seems to me to be the ultimate use for magic, nothing I have discovered in shamanistic rituals, the order of theurgy, the divination of the enchanters or the wild energy of the warlocks can bring this same level of mastery over the ultimate ending. I must investigate further and I almost don’t dare to say it, but I think that I am destined to bring Ed back to us!
Recently:
- On Missing Anarchists: A Treatise on Being Controlled by Men in Black
- Cambridge Coppers Part II
- Time Out
- Escape!
- AD&D Catch up
- Clapped Out Cambridge Coppers
- The X-Mas Files
- Sefu Guest Spot
- After the Caves
- Miniatures
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