The Bonus Episode!
Sep. 28th, 2009 08:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
realsorienAnd here's the most recent Horror Run, a 'bonus' that doesn't count against the GM's 5 run usual total.
Last time, things had once again gone wrong when Greg, in what was supposed to be a friendly bout between him and Wrench, once again was possessed. During the fight Greg possibly crippled his father’s old friend. Bill and Jackie intervened, but it was really the actions of Thomas Black Cloud that ended the threat. This left Greg feeling despondent and everyone else thoroughly keyed up. While Bill, Ariel and Roy took Wrench to the hospital, Black Cloud had discussions with Greg and thereafter Jackie, during which the pair took a long walk and Jackie made a significant purchase from a tobacconist.
In the end everyone reached the Mansion in one piece, with the exception of Wrench and Roy; the latter had separated from Bill and Ariel soon after they left the hospital to make his return to the MIB. We left off with him beginning the arduous task of deleting literally millions of emails.
We pick things up at noon, two days since the explosion at the dormhouse.
Black Cloud is preparing to head to the dormhouse to begin setting the wards. Jackie is to accompany him to observe and learn. As the pair are about to leave, Bill approaches. “Mr. Black Cloud?” Black Cloud stops.. “You told me that I needed to talk to spirits. Can you help me with that?” Black Cloud looks at him, raising an eyebrow. “I should start my OWN damn school..” He mutters. “Get in the truck.” Jackie gets into the cab with Black Cloud, Bill hops into the back. They make the short run to the dormhouse, where Professor Dane (with Mr. Poulte) is going over the repair plans with the contractors.
They go to the basement, where Black Cloud starts taking things out of his duffel. He places items on the floor in an apparent pattern; shortly thereafter he takes out colored sands, and starts carefully scattering them. “I’ve taken up to three days to do one of these,” he says with a smirk. “Cool.” Says Bill, not rising to the bait.
Black Cloud has Jackie get him some water, and hours pass. Eventually Black Cloud stops, Jackie thinking that he’s about a quarter done. “Still here?” He asks. Bill and Jackie nod. Black Cloud then wipes away the entire pattern, sweeping up all the sand. “Well, as I’m not going to get rid of you that easily...” Bill smirks. He can do patience.
“All of this,” Black Cloud gestures to the objects and sand, “Is shit. The real power begins in your mind.” He begins again, this time with far fewer showy bits. He uses water and cigar ash, and starts to paint words and symbols onto the walls, just at the base of the foundation.
This goes on for some time,. Eventually, almost quietly, Black Cloud begins to chant. He gets louder and louder, then cuts off suddenly. He sags somewhat, showing evidence of some strain. “Food. Please get me something to eat.” Bill volunteers to go, and heads out. Before he gets to the porsche to go, he sees Professor Dane and the elder Poulte. “Still here?” He asks. “What, you think we’d leave Black Cloud here alone?” “He seems okay.” Bill replies. “Yeah, but I KNOW him. If we left him alone he’d leave with all the silverwear.” “One trick with that; we don’t HAVE any.” He gets a glare for that. Bill fetches three dinners from the nearest restaurant (with pie), and heads back.
While Bill is gone, Black Cloud talks with Jackie. “So. Do you know what I did here?” Jackie thinks so, but soon finds out that she doesn’t know as much as she thought. “What kind of energy did I use?” She says several things, but it becomes clear she’s really just guessing. Black Cloud, with meditative lessons, takes her into the spirit world. There they stand on a rolling plain, and with the wind she can tell that the ocean is off to her right.
Black Cloud watches her. “Now. Stand up.” Jackie had thought that she WAS standing- she tries to comply and things SPIN about. She blinks and she’s back in the basement. “Let us try again.” She starts to learn, finding out the symbol that means ‘wind’. She hits the metaphorical wall at that point, and Bill arrives with the food.
While they eat, Black Cloud once again asks what Jackie has learned. She’s gotten herself tied up into the concept of elements-as-spirits; Bill points out that there are other kinds of spirits, and Black Cloud nods. “Everything has a spirit. The trees, the grass, the earth. Everything that exists is both spirit and physical.” “So it really IS like the Force in Star Wars?” Black Cloud nods. “In a way it is, yes.” Bill grimaces. “As long as there aren’t Metachlorians...” Neither Jackie nor Black Cloud seem to know what he means, and he shrugs.
The conversation continues, going into the power that Jackie already possesses. “Part of your troubles, I think, may be due to your interactions with death-spirits; they are not the same as those connected with life. I think this is enough for now. We will continue tomorrow.” Jackie asks one last question. “Can I deal with death spirits the same way as I’d deal with the others?” Black Cloud looks at her. “I don’t know. Can you? I am only showing you a path; it is up to you how you follow it.” Once everyone is outside, Black Cloud speaks with Professor Dane and Mr. Poulte, who have been watching over the repair work. Jackie watches as Black Cloud somehow quietly infuriates the elder Poulte, then flashes a smirk as he turns away from the man.
Jackie rides back with Black Cloud in the truck, while Bill takes the porsche; he stops at Mad Akbar’s on the way, having had a bit of an idea concerning Greg. “Ah, William my friend, it is SO good to see you once again! And how may I help you on this fine evening?” Bill grins at Akbar’s greeting. “Hi Akbar. I have an idea about a friend of mine, to help him; he’s been getting possessed by a vampire whenever he gets emotional, specifically when he gets angry or in a fight. I was wondering, do you have anything that he could wear that would strike back at the possessing being when they attempted another possession?” “Oh, I think I DO have such a thing. Are you sure this is what you want?” “No... But I want to help my friend. If I just got him a protective item, he’d refuse it, thinking that he needs to learn to block her out himself. This way, I’ll tell him that it’ll tingle and let him know when she’s trying. I can’t tell him what it ACTUALLY is, because she might pick up on it.” Akbar nods, then goes to a very old looking glass-faced cabinet. He produces a key and opens it, taking out a silver amulet on a chain. The amulet is set with what looks to be a small iron bar.
“So... How much are you asking for it?” “Ah, how much do you have?” Bill grins. “We need a place to start!” Akbar waggles a finger at Bill. “Ah, you are bartering!” “It’s what I’m supposed to do.” Akbar grins even wider. “You are learning, my young friend!” In the end, Bill ends up shelling out the ‘paltry’ sum of $500 for the amulet. He heads home, hoping that he’s done something that will help.
Everyone manages to get back to the mansion without difficulty. Bill does his homework (due to the perceived dangers Professor Dane has arranged that their classwork will be available at the mansion) and heads to bed. Jackie though, has a problem. She’s once again committing to more than one ‘master’! She calls Joe, explaining that she wants to be able to study with Black Cloud for the week that the shaman is certain to be around. Joe, of course, isn’t all to happy with this. He reminds her of how often she’s missed training sessions and how she effectively threw him off in favor of Gene Simmons. She doesn’t have a whole lot to say about that. She mentions that Black Cloud stated that she needs to study with Joe. Joe goes quiet for a moment. “... He did? Let me mark that on my calendar!” Joe agrees to let her lessons slide for the week, but after that she’ll be on a ‘one strike’ rule with him. She hangs up the phone and heads to bed.
4:30 comes far too soon, and Jackie wakes to the sound of her alarm clock. She’s not exactly sure how early she has to get up to be ready- Black Cloud apparently keeps strange hours. She can smell baking bread, and follows it down to the kitchen. Another surprise awaits her there- Aunt Agatha is back! “Aunt Aggie! How long have you been back?” “Oh, for a few days, dear. Would you like some breakfast?” Jackie nods, and Aunt Aggie prepares for her exactly what she wants. While she eats, Jackie notices out the window that Black Cloud’s pickup is still there, and he’s standing next to it. She’s about to out to him, but Agatha stops her. “I don’t think you should bother him right now dear. He gets up and prowls about, then goes back to bed for a few hours.” Jackie ends up taking a short nap.
At 6:30 Bill gets out of bed and wanders downstairs. He sees that the pickup is still there, and gets fed by Aunt Agatha- he’s just as surprised as Jackie was that she’d returned. He finds out that her bridge partners are also back in town. When he finishes he makes his way to the garage to see what exactly he’ll have to do to repair the porsche. While there are no mechanical problems to deal with, the damage to the door isn’t something he can easily repair- he’s never done bodywork on a porsche before!
Bill remembers that Professor Dane had a porsche; the one that was traded to Willie McCoy for the repairs to Ms. White. He finds the Professor in the study, and asks if he still has the manual. He doesn’t, but indicates that he’ll cover the repairs for Bill! While Bill appreciates this, he hates the idea of a handout of that scale for something like a car. The professor sees his expression and indicates that Bill should wait. He steps out of the study for a moment, then comes back with a rake. He hands it to Bill- the repairs will be in trade for a frightening amount of yardwork and chores.
Bill goes out and sets to the work with vigor. Several hours pass and eventually Jackie and Black Cloud emerge from the mansion and head for the pickup. Bill finishes what he’s done so far (this is NOT a one day, or even a one-week job), and joins them.
Once back in the dormhouse basement, Black Cloud looks around at the walls where he’d placed the tobacco-ash markings the previous day. “What’s wrong? Weren’t the marks supposed to disappear?” Bill asks. “Do you think marking ash on a surface just disappears?” Growls Black Cloud. Bill can’t sense anything unusual whether magical or not. However, Jackie tries and finds that, indeed, the wards that were placed by Black Cloud are still there. He was testing them!
Once again, Black Cloud takes out the colored sands; Bill raises an eyebrow, but makes no comment. He starts forming a pattern on the floor, then after a while slides one of the jars to Jackie. She looks at it, wondering for a moment what exactly Black Cloud wants her to do, then sits down and tries making a pattern with it.
As Bill watches the pair, Black Cloud glances at him with an almost-smile. “Hey, White boy.” And he slides a sand-jar to Bill as well. Puzzled by what this all means, Bill at first tries to work along with the pattern that Black Cloud is creating. After a while however, the shaman looks at him again. “You cannot follow my path. You must find your own way.”
Thereafter, Bill tries to do just that, but he is continually tripped up by is own tendency to focus on a task. He’s very much a structure-oriented individual, and going outside of that nature isn’t easy for him. Jackie isn’t having much luck either, but for a different reason- she’s getting flashes of what may be memories; the sounds of an auto wreck, along with a woman screaming. This mutual impasse continues for hours, until Black Cloud stops the exercise. “So, grasshoppers, what have you learned?” Bill replies sardonically, “That patience is hard and frustration, eternal.” Black Cloud puffs on his cigar. “You try too hard to try.”
They pause for lunch, this time Jackie making the food run. After the meal, Black Cloud gives the pair different jars of sand, and they begin once more. The break doesn’t seem to have helped Bill all that much- he’s still hitting the wall. He can’t seem to un-focus himself enough to allow his subconscious to control the creative process. It doesn’t help that some of the discussions have caused uncomfortable memories to crawl back out into the light. “You cannot defeat the mountain in one day,” he’s told.
Eventually, Black Cloud tells him that it’s enough for the day and Bill heads up to his room. He’s offered a ride back to the mansion by Mr. Poulte, but declines. He’ll wait for Black Cloud and Jackie to finish.
Jackie is making some progress, though at a price. She’s got a growing headache that gets worse as they progress. She’s gained understanding of two more of the symbols- Eagle and River, and is starting to understand more about what she’s seeing in the spirit realm. However, her headache reaches the point that she simply can’t concentrate at all, and they end the session for the day. Black Cloud gives her some willow bark to chew, to ease the pain.
They head upstairs, Bill coming down from his room when he hears them moving below. A fair bit of work has already taken place at the front of the house, although it is still basically a gaping hole for the moment. Once again Black Cloud speaks with the Professor and Mr. Poulte, with the same result as the previous day, and the same smirk. Before they leave, Mr. Poulte buttonholes Jackie. “Is there anything actually happening down there?” She tells him that the basement has been warded, and that she and Bill are learning. The answer doesn’t really seem to satisfy him.
While Jackie just heads to bed, Bill finishes bagging the leaves and debris he’d been raking up earlier. He asks Aunt Aggie where he should put the bags of yard waste, but she just feeds him milk and cookies and shoos him off to bed. The night passes, but for Jackie it isn’t as restful as she’d like. Her alarm goes off, but she just switches it off and rolls over asleep once again. Soon though she wakes from a nightmare of twisting-metal sounds and a woman screaming!
She decides that she’s up for the duration after that, showers and wanders out of her room only to be intercepted by Agatha. She’s given warm milk and sent back to bed, and indeed goes right back to sleep.
Bill gets up at 6:30 (as usual), cleans up a bit and goes downstairs to once again be well-fed by Agatha. He asks again about where to put the bags, and is told “Oh, just put them by the incinerator dear; Cameron will deal with it.” He nods, eats to his hearts content then returns to his yardwork.
Jackie remains asleep until 9:30. She is also fed by Agatha, thereafter going to look for Black Cloud. Bill is out in the yard, and so actually spots the shaman first. He notices that Black Cloud’s eyes seem a bit glazed, and he seems to be looking somewhere not where he actually is- his lips are moving as if speaking as well. On a hunch, Bill tries to ‘look without looking’, aiming to try and ‘see’ what Black Cloud is interacting with. To his surprise, it works! He can see whispy whirlwind-like shapes rise from the grass to hover near Black Cloud’s head; they stay for a bit, then flit off only to be replaced by other such shapes which come from the trees and other places. As Bill watches, Black Cloud makes his way to the mansion, stopping to speak to each of the stone lions before he goes inside. Bill loses the ‘sight’ when he passes within.
For a moment Bill ponders what he’s seen, shrugs and smiles. “Heh. I understand the principle of the Zen garden now!”
And thus we end the Bonus Round of the Horror Campaign! One run remains before the return of the Traveller campaign!
Last time, things had once again gone wrong when Greg, in what was supposed to be a friendly bout between him and Wrench, once again was possessed. During the fight Greg possibly crippled his father’s old friend. Bill and Jackie intervened, but it was really the actions of Thomas Black Cloud that ended the threat. This left Greg feeling despondent and everyone else thoroughly keyed up. While Bill, Ariel and Roy took Wrench to the hospital, Black Cloud had discussions with Greg and thereafter Jackie, during which the pair took a long walk and Jackie made a significant purchase from a tobacconist.
In the end everyone reached the Mansion in one piece, with the exception of Wrench and Roy; the latter had separated from Bill and Ariel soon after they left the hospital to make his return to the MIB. We left off with him beginning the arduous task of deleting literally millions of emails.
We pick things up at noon, two days since the explosion at the dormhouse.
Black Cloud is preparing to head to the dormhouse to begin setting the wards. Jackie is to accompany him to observe and learn. As the pair are about to leave, Bill approaches. “Mr. Black Cloud?” Black Cloud stops.. “You told me that I needed to talk to spirits. Can you help me with that?” Black Cloud looks at him, raising an eyebrow. “I should start my OWN damn school..” He mutters. “Get in the truck.” Jackie gets into the cab with Black Cloud, Bill hops into the back. They make the short run to the dormhouse, where Professor Dane (with Mr. Poulte) is going over the repair plans with the contractors.
They go to the basement, where Black Cloud starts taking things out of his duffel. He places items on the floor in an apparent pattern; shortly thereafter he takes out colored sands, and starts carefully scattering them. “I’ve taken up to three days to do one of these,” he says with a smirk. “Cool.” Says Bill, not rising to the bait.
Black Cloud has Jackie get him some water, and hours pass. Eventually Black Cloud stops, Jackie thinking that he’s about a quarter done. “Still here?” He asks. Bill and Jackie nod. Black Cloud then wipes away the entire pattern, sweeping up all the sand. “Well, as I’m not going to get rid of you that easily...” Bill smirks. He can do patience.
“All of this,” Black Cloud gestures to the objects and sand, “Is shit. The real power begins in your mind.” He begins again, this time with far fewer showy bits. He uses water and cigar ash, and starts to paint words and symbols onto the walls, just at the base of the foundation.
This goes on for some time,. Eventually, almost quietly, Black Cloud begins to chant. He gets louder and louder, then cuts off suddenly. He sags somewhat, showing evidence of some strain. “Food. Please get me something to eat.” Bill volunteers to go, and heads out. Before he gets to the porsche to go, he sees Professor Dane and the elder Poulte. “Still here?” He asks. “What, you think we’d leave Black Cloud here alone?” “He seems okay.” Bill replies. “Yeah, but I KNOW him. If we left him alone he’d leave with all the silverwear.” “One trick with that; we don’t HAVE any.” He gets a glare for that. Bill fetches three dinners from the nearest restaurant (with pie), and heads back.
While Bill is gone, Black Cloud talks with Jackie. “So. Do you know what I did here?” Jackie thinks so, but soon finds out that she doesn’t know as much as she thought. “What kind of energy did I use?” She says several things, but it becomes clear she’s really just guessing. Black Cloud, with meditative lessons, takes her into the spirit world. There they stand on a rolling plain, and with the wind she can tell that the ocean is off to her right.
Black Cloud watches her. “Now. Stand up.” Jackie had thought that she WAS standing- she tries to comply and things SPIN about. She blinks and she’s back in the basement. “Let us try again.” She starts to learn, finding out the symbol that means ‘wind’. She hits the metaphorical wall at that point, and Bill arrives with the food.
While they eat, Black Cloud once again asks what Jackie has learned. She’s gotten herself tied up into the concept of elements-as-spirits; Bill points out that there are other kinds of spirits, and Black Cloud nods. “Everything has a spirit. The trees, the grass, the earth. Everything that exists is both spirit and physical.” “So it really IS like the Force in Star Wars?” Black Cloud nods. “In a way it is, yes.” Bill grimaces. “As long as there aren’t Metachlorians...” Neither Jackie nor Black Cloud seem to know what he means, and he shrugs.
The conversation continues, going into the power that Jackie already possesses. “Part of your troubles, I think, may be due to your interactions with death-spirits; they are not the same as those connected with life. I think this is enough for now. We will continue tomorrow.” Jackie asks one last question. “Can I deal with death spirits the same way as I’d deal with the others?” Black Cloud looks at her. “I don’t know. Can you? I am only showing you a path; it is up to you how you follow it.” Once everyone is outside, Black Cloud speaks with Professor Dane and Mr. Poulte, who have been watching over the repair work. Jackie watches as Black Cloud somehow quietly infuriates the elder Poulte, then flashes a smirk as he turns away from the man.
Jackie rides back with Black Cloud in the truck, while Bill takes the porsche; he stops at Mad Akbar’s on the way, having had a bit of an idea concerning Greg. “Ah, William my friend, it is SO good to see you once again! And how may I help you on this fine evening?” Bill grins at Akbar’s greeting. “Hi Akbar. I have an idea about a friend of mine, to help him; he’s been getting possessed by a vampire whenever he gets emotional, specifically when he gets angry or in a fight. I was wondering, do you have anything that he could wear that would strike back at the possessing being when they attempted another possession?” “Oh, I think I DO have such a thing. Are you sure this is what you want?” “No... But I want to help my friend. If I just got him a protective item, he’d refuse it, thinking that he needs to learn to block her out himself. This way, I’ll tell him that it’ll tingle and let him know when she’s trying. I can’t tell him what it ACTUALLY is, because she might pick up on it.” Akbar nods, then goes to a very old looking glass-faced cabinet. He produces a key and opens it, taking out a silver amulet on a chain. The amulet is set with what looks to be a small iron bar.
“So... How much are you asking for it?” “Ah, how much do you have?” Bill grins. “We need a place to start!” Akbar waggles a finger at Bill. “Ah, you are bartering!” “It’s what I’m supposed to do.” Akbar grins even wider. “You are learning, my young friend!” In the end, Bill ends up shelling out the ‘paltry’ sum of $500 for the amulet. He heads home, hoping that he’s done something that will help.
Everyone manages to get back to the mansion without difficulty. Bill does his homework (due to the perceived dangers Professor Dane has arranged that their classwork will be available at the mansion) and heads to bed. Jackie though, has a problem. She’s once again committing to more than one ‘master’! She calls Joe, explaining that she wants to be able to study with Black Cloud for the week that the shaman is certain to be around. Joe, of course, isn’t all to happy with this. He reminds her of how often she’s missed training sessions and how she effectively threw him off in favor of Gene Simmons. She doesn’t have a whole lot to say about that. She mentions that Black Cloud stated that she needs to study with Joe. Joe goes quiet for a moment. “... He did? Let me mark that on my calendar!” Joe agrees to let her lessons slide for the week, but after that she’ll be on a ‘one strike’ rule with him. She hangs up the phone and heads to bed.
4:30 comes far too soon, and Jackie wakes to the sound of her alarm clock. She’s not exactly sure how early she has to get up to be ready- Black Cloud apparently keeps strange hours. She can smell baking bread, and follows it down to the kitchen. Another surprise awaits her there- Aunt Agatha is back! “Aunt Aggie! How long have you been back?” “Oh, for a few days, dear. Would you like some breakfast?” Jackie nods, and Aunt Aggie prepares for her exactly what she wants. While she eats, Jackie notices out the window that Black Cloud’s pickup is still there, and he’s standing next to it. She’s about to out to him, but Agatha stops her. “I don’t think you should bother him right now dear. He gets up and prowls about, then goes back to bed for a few hours.” Jackie ends up taking a short nap.
At 6:30 Bill gets out of bed and wanders downstairs. He sees that the pickup is still there, and gets fed by Aunt Agatha- he’s just as surprised as Jackie was that she’d returned. He finds out that her bridge partners are also back in town. When he finishes he makes his way to the garage to see what exactly he’ll have to do to repair the porsche. While there are no mechanical problems to deal with, the damage to the door isn’t something he can easily repair- he’s never done bodywork on a porsche before!
Bill remembers that Professor Dane had a porsche; the one that was traded to Willie McCoy for the repairs to Ms. White. He finds the Professor in the study, and asks if he still has the manual. He doesn’t, but indicates that he’ll cover the repairs for Bill! While Bill appreciates this, he hates the idea of a handout of that scale for something like a car. The professor sees his expression and indicates that Bill should wait. He steps out of the study for a moment, then comes back with a rake. He hands it to Bill- the repairs will be in trade for a frightening amount of yardwork and chores.
Bill goes out and sets to the work with vigor. Several hours pass and eventually Jackie and Black Cloud emerge from the mansion and head for the pickup. Bill finishes what he’s done so far (this is NOT a one day, or even a one-week job), and joins them.
Once back in the dormhouse basement, Black Cloud looks around at the walls where he’d placed the tobacco-ash markings the previous day. “What’s wrong? Weren’t the marks supposed to disappear?” Bill asks. “Do you think marking ash on a surface just disappears?” Growls Black Cloud. Bill can’t sense anything unusual whether magical or not. However, Jackie tries and finds that, indeed, the wards that were placed by Black Cloud are still there. He was testing them!
Once again, Black Cloud takes out the colored sands; Bill raises an eyebrow, but makes no comment. He starts forming a pattern on the floor, then after a while slides one of the jars to Jackie. She looks at it, wondering for a moment what exactly Black Cloud wants her to do, then sits down and tries making a pattern with it.
As Bill watches the pair, Black Cloud glances at him with an almost-smile. “Hey, White boy.” And he slides a sand-jar to Bill as well. Puzzled by what this all means, Bill at first tries to work along with the pattern that Black Cloud is creating. After a while however, the shaman looks at him again. “You cannot follow my path. You must find your own way.”
Thereafter, Bill tries to do just that, but he is continually tripped up by is own tendency to focus on a task. He’s very much a structure-oriented individual, and going outside of that nature isn’t easy for him. Jackie isn’t having much luck either, but for a different reason- she’s getting flashes of what may be memories; the sounds of an auto wreck, along with a woman screaming. This mutual impasse continues for hours, until Black Cloud stops the exercise. “So, grasshoppers, what have you learned?” Bill replies sardonically, “That patience is hard and frustration, eternal.” Black Cloud puffs on his cigar. “You try too hard to try.”
They pause for lunch, this time Jackie making the food run. After the meal, Black Cloud gives the pair different jars of sand, and they begin once more. The break doesn’t seem to have helped Bill all that much- he’s still hitting the wall. He can’t seem to un-focus himself enough to allow his subconscious to control the creative process. It doesn’t help that some of the discussions have caused uncomfortable memories to crawl back out into the light. “You cannot defeat the mountain in one day,” he’s told.
Eventually, Black Cloud tells him that it’s enough for the day and Bill heads up to his room. He’s offered a ride back to the mansion by Mr. Poulte, but declines. He’ll wait for Black Cloud and Jackie to finish.
Jackie is making some progress, though at a price. She’s got a growing headache that gets worse as they progress. She’s gained understanding of two more of the symbols- Eagle and River, and is starting to understand more about what she’s seeing in the spirit realm. However, her headache reaches the point that she simply can’t concentrate at all, and they end the session for the day. Black Cloud gives her some willow bark to chew, to ease the pain.
They head upstairs, Bill coming down from his room when he hears them moving below. A fair bit of work has already taken place at the front of the house, although it is still basically a gaping hole for the moment. Once again Black Cloud speaks with the Professor and Mr. Poulte, with the same result as the previous day, and the same smirk. Before they leave, Mr. Poulte buttonholes Jackie. “Is there anything actually happening down there?” She tells him that the basement has been warded, and that she and Bill are learning. The answer doesn’t really seem to satisfy him.
While Jackie just heads to bed, Bill finishes bagging the leaves and debris he’d been raking up earlier. He asks Aunt Aggie where he should put the bags of yard waste, but she just feeds him milk and cookies and shoos him off to bed. The night passes, but for Jackie it isn’t as restful as she’d like. Her alarm goes off, but she just switches it off and rolls over asleep once again. Soon though she wakes from a nightmare of twisting-metal sounds and a woman screaming!
She decides that she’s up for the duration after that, showers and wanders out of her room only to be intercepted by Agatha. She’s given warm milk and sent back to bed, and indeed goes right back to sleep.
Bill gets up at 6:30 (as usual), cleans up a bit and goes downstairs to once again be well-fed by Agatha. He asks again about where to put the bags, and is told “Oh, just put them by the incinerator dear; Cameron will deal with it.” He nods, eats to his hearts content then returns to his yardwork.
Jackie remains asleep until 9:30. She is also fed by Agatha, thereafter going to look for Black Cloud. Bill is out in the yard, and so actually spots the shaman first. He notices that Black Cloud’s eyes seem a bit glazed, and he seems to be looking somewhere not where he actually is- his lips are moving as if speaking as well. On a hunch, Bill tries to ‘look without looking’, aiming to try and ‘see’ what Black Cloud is interacting with. To his surprise, it works! He can see whispy whirlwind-like shapes rise from the grass to hover near Black Cloud’s head; they stay for a bit, then flit off only to be replaced by other such shapes which come from the trees and other places. As Bill watches, Black Cloud makes his way to the mansion, stopping to speak to each of the stone lions before he goes inside. Bill loses the ‘sight’ when he passes within.
For a moment Bill ponders what he’s seen, shrugs and smiles. “Heh. I understand the principle of the Zen garden now!”
And thus we end the Bonus Round of the Horror Campaign! One run remains before the return of the Traveller campaign!
