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Department 32: The Mysterium


Barnum

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Ginny turned her head until she was nose to nose with Lt. Colby. "I have the shoe in my bag," she said. "I'm game to try that again. But I might, you know, die or something." Ginny grinned her bizarre little grin that was somewhere between "I'm kidding" and "I'm really not kidding."

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"Cool!"

Ginny sat up and rubbed her head again. She climbed to her feet, stepped over Lt. Colby, and headed over to get her pack. Carefully, she pulled out a large plastic bag that was sealed with a bright red seal. Ginny held the bag between her thumb and forefinger and held it at arm's length like it was deadly poison.

"Here's the dastardly footwear." Ginny handed it over quickly, took one big step back away from the offending shoe and watched to see what Catherine was going to do next.

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"Here's the dastardly footwear." Ginny handed it over quickly, took one big step back away from the offending shoe and watched to see what Catherine was going to do next.

Colby takes a step back herself, half-serious and half-joking, and reaches into her jacket to put her hand on her piece.

"I've got you covered, Miss Kato; let me know if I need to take the shoe out." She grins. "Won't be the first time I've shot footwear."

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"I've got you covered, Miss Kato; let me know if I need to take the shoe out." She grins. "Won't be the first time I've shot footwear."

Ginny's eyes grew as large as saucers, and for a moment she looked on in stunned disbelief at the young agent.

And then she started snickering so hard she snorted.

Ginny quickly covered her mouth with her hand. "Sorry," she giggled . . . and then snorted again.

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Catherine takes hold of the shoe, using her chalk to draw another diagram on the ground. Placing the shoe in the center of the diagram, the held her hands a few inches above and began reciting what she hoped was the right incantation for this...

(arcane ritual based on Super Senses:Postcognition [flaw], jury rigged, which should be a DC of 17 I think.)

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1598043/ (17, if I calculated it right, I just made it)

Search check if the post-cognition works: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1598045/

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In a moment, the whole world went dark for Catherine. When the light returned, she found herself standing in the woods. Sunlight was failing, barely penetrating the thick canopy, though whether it was morning or evening she couldn't tell. Just ahead of her through a shallow thicket was a narrow overgrown path. It disappeared into the darkness of the trees in both directions.

Catherine stood there, knee deep in thorns and thistles for what seemed like an eternity, transfixed on the path. Her trance was broken by the sound of crying . . . and panting. A shadowy form appeared on the path. It was a girl, perhaps Ginny's age, and she was running along the path. She wore a long dress and her clothing was badly torn. The girl clutched her shirt tight against her chest as she ran. Catherine's heart began to race and her stomach wrenched into knots. She felt as if she was being chased.

THUD

The girl tripped on a root and went sprawling face first into the dirt. She tried to get up but her ankle was twisted. As she put her weight on it, she yelped and fell back to the ground again. Catherin's ankle felt like it had just been stabbed with a knife. The girl started crawling along the path.

"There she is!"

Two more forms appeared on the path. One tall and thin the other small, like a boy. They were both dressed in black. The taller man ran over to where the girl was lying on the ground. He drew back his handâ€â€he was holding something in it . . . a bottle of some kindâ€â€and he struck the girl in the head.

The lights went out for Catherine again. Slowly, consciousness returned, and she was lying on the path. Broken glass was scattered on the ground around her head. Her whole body felt numb. And then she heard footsteps. Someone was coming. Catherine looked up and saw another girl, probably a little older than Ginny, and she wasn't wearing a long dress. The girl was walking away from where Catherine was stretched out in the dirt, so she couldn't see her face. The girl was wearing a little black dress, and it looked expensive, like something she'd seen on the red carpet at a Hollywood premier. The girl was holding a bottle in her hand and was staggering along the path. She was walking with a very irregular gate. Was she injured? No, she was only wearing one shoe. The girl hobbled into the darkness. And the lights went out again.

In a moment, Catherine found herself back in the park. Ginny was rubbing her hand and calling her name . . . very loudly.

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Lt Colby is standing next to Ginny, her eyes dark with concern. "You went in pretty deep there, kid. Here-" The detective produces a hip flask and offers it with a smile. "Yeah, I actually carry a little rum with me with, for just this sort of occasion."

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Catherine awoke from her trance slowly, taking her time to let her mind and body adjust to reality again. Her hands shook a little as she gratefully accepted a swig of the flask, then handed it back to Lt. Colby.

"That was...intense. But I think I got a clear view of where they went...if only we can find that part of the forest." she said, slowly rising to her feet again, stepping gingerly until she's sure that her ankle isn't really injured.

She recites what she saw in the vision in detail, hoping that perhaps Colby or Ginny might know what part of the forest that might be.

"What ever we do, it has to be soon." Catherine says, as she reaches the end of her description. "I have a bad feeling about this."

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"Uh . . ." Ginny started. She had walked a few paces away from the other two toward the woods. "Uh . . . you mean a path . . . like that one?"

Ginny pointed toward the nearest edge of the woods on the west side of Lantern Hill. There was clearly an opening in the trees, forming a small path that lead off into the darkness. "Was that there before?" Ginny rubbed her eyes to make sure she was actually seeing what she was seeing.

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"Uh . . ." Ginny started. She had walked a few paces away from the other two toward the woods. "Uh . . . you mean a path . . . like that one?"

Ginny pointed toward the nearest edge of the woods on the west side of Lantern Hill. There was clearly an opening in the trees, forming a small path that lead off into the darkness. "Was that there before?" Ginny rubbed her eyes to make sure she was actually seeing what she was seeing.

This time Colby actually does pull out her piece and she slowly takes a few steps towards the newly-formed path.

"Either one of you ever seen Evil Dead 2? I am having major flashbacks here."

She turns back to the other two women. "I suggest we stick to the path if at all humanly possible; most of your stories about going off into the woods warn about straying from the path. I'm gonna call this in real quick, and then if you two are ready, we can head on in."

Keeping her weapon down at her side, she fishes out her cellphone and makes a hurried call back to the Department, keeping her voice low.

"Okay", she says as she puts the phone away and returns her gun to both hands. "Ready when you are."

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When Agent Colby looked back, Ginny just shrugged. She hadn't seen the movie, but many times when she closed her eyes, she did, in fact, see evil dead . . . and sometimes evil living too.

"Ready," she said, trying to sound brave.

Ginny fell in between Agent Colby and Ms. Cato. She didn't want to be last. Ginny had seen enough movies to know what happened to the people who were at the back of the line. And she sure didn't want to be in front of Agent Colby's gun. The middle seemed like a nice place to be . . . though the car would be better.

With the sun on the way down, the woods were in deep shade and getting darker. The investigators probably only had an hour or so to poke around before dusk settled in and the woods would be too dark for an investigation. Near the entrance the path was clear and wide enough for two or three people to walk abreast. It appeared to go straight into the woods without a twist or turn as far as the eye could see.

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"Evil Dead? No, I hate horror movies" says Catherine, brushing off her pants and gathering up her things. "There's nothing but trees in there though, right? No graves or anything, so we shouldn't have to worry about any evil dead things, eh?" she says, completely unaware of the reference.

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The trio entered the woods and followed the path for what felt like an eternity even though they kept checking their watches and could see that only minutes had passed. It was noticeably colder under the canopy of the trees, and a stale, sickly smell hung in the air. After about ten minutes of following the trail in a straight westerly direction (as best they could tell), Agent Colby noticed something up ahead on the path. It looked like a shoe and something else . . . a bottle maybe.

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A brief search of the are turned up little they couldn't figure out already. The shoe they foundâ€â€which Ginny kept far away fromâ€â€was an identical match for the shoe she carried in the evidence bag. The bottle was empty. By the look of the label it was some kind of expensive imported beer. There was red lipstick around the top, but other than that the bottle was intact and evidence free. Tracks were difficult to find on the forest floor this time of year, so if the shoe's owner went off barefoot, they couldn't tell.

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A brief search of the are turned up little they couldn't figure out already. The shoe they foundâ€â€which Ginny kept far away fromâ€â€was an identical match for the shoe she carried in the evidence bag. The bottle was empty. By the look of the label it was some kind of expensive imported beer. There was red lipstick around the top, but other than that the bottle was intact and evidence free. Tracks were difficult to find on the forest floor this time of year, so if the shoe's owner went off barefoot, they couldn't tell.

Colby fishes out two large ziplock bags out of her jacket and deposits the bottle and shoe into one of each. "Looks like she might have brought the bottle in with her; what the hell was she doing drinking out here by herself?"

She looks around the area, frustrated by the lack of tracks. "Catherine, in your vision did she just continue on down the path?"

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"Yeah, she just kind of...walked off into the darkness. She looked drunk in the vision. It was kind of confusing, since I saw two different girls when I tried to get a read from the shoe. One of them was fleeing from a man and a boy, and was struck with the bottle. The other one was holding that bottle and staggering like she was drunk."

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  • 2 weeks later...

"There are more than two," Ginny said rubbing her eyes. She looked really tired. "Girls that is. More than two have been this way, I'm almost sure of it. In fact, I think lots of people have been along this path before. Though not all recently. Walking through these woods . . . on their way to hell. At least that's what the whispering voices have been telling me." Ginny looked back at the other two women, that silly half-grin playing across her lips again. "I know . . . crazy, right?"

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