Nomadic:Sessions:20180224
At the Lazy 8 Ranch, Rick adds wifi to a new Lincoln Navigator. Marcus has presented his credentials to the government intelligence agencies, and acquires excellent comm gear for the group to use on future missions. Vincente remarks to Marcus, "The ends justify the means," then to Rick, "You need to be our governor in regards to right and wrong. When Marcus and I work together, it spells DOOM for some people."
Enigma issues an invitation to dinner in the ranch's private dining hall for August 31. Valerie, who is working in Los Angeles, is given a Skype link. Vincente: "I've convinced some people not to kill me. Marcus, did you steal any secrets lately?" Marcus: "Not that I'd tell you about."
Enigma's face appears on a screen. "I've lost an observer in a nearby reality." Adam Nicholson (6'1", 180#, 40ish, black eyes, balding; Level 1 Marksman rating) has worked for Enigma out of Atlanta, Georgia in that reality for ten years. His last communication indicated that on Sunday, August 22, 2010 he rented a car in Sacramento to drive to Bridgeport in Mono County CA in order to "investigate abnormalities." Twelve hours have passed since he should have reported; he has never missed a check-in before.
Enigma expects that the group will drive from Denver to Sacramento (15-20 hours) in order to reach the portal that will take them to Adam's reality, and is nonplussed when Valerie suggests they can overnight air freight the Navigator and all their equipment; Marcus, Vincente, and Rick can take a commercial flight from Denver to Sacramento, and Valerie will fly up and meet them at the airport. Vincente to Rick, who had started to object: "Bad guys and gray guys really know the law. Good guys like you, don't. We know we can't carry guns on a plane."
Vincente: "We need a cover story, something where we can carry guns." Enigma will furnish private investigator identification for "Private Solutions" as well carry permits, $100K cash and a debit card.
The next morning the group meets in Sacramento. They have breakfast, catch up with each other, and go over the documents and photos Enigma had given them. Around 5:00pm they drive through the portal. Vincente notes that the mana level is low and that there are more spirits around than usual.
Around 7:45pm they arrive in the small town of Bridgeport (pop. 800) and are drawn to the Ruby Inn. The parking lot is 3/4 full. Valerie notes two broadcast production trucks for Collin Media. Rick reports "chronodimensional/spiritual energy" coming from a 2009 Impala with Los Angeles plates. Marcus pops the lock. Vincente sees an old paper California map on the passenger seat, candy wrappers on the floor, a tissue box on the dashboard. Inside the trunk are a gun case, a Geiger counter, and three tiki torches. He gives one of the torches to Valerie. Rick says the energy reading is coming from the tiki torches. The Impala is registered to Wade Miller, a PI with Tyler Investigations.
Vincente and Marcus find out Miller's room number. Vincente knocks; the door is answered by an athletically-built woman with dirty-blonde hair. She is dressed casually in a blouse, jeans, and jacket. Vincente, indicating the Impala: "Is this your car?" Woman: "No." She gives her name as Maya Cobb; "I'm an investigator, I'm checking out stuff." Vincente: "Where's your car?" Maya: "I rode up with Wade Miller." Vincente: "You wouldn't be armed, would you?" Maya answers "Yes," cutting her eyes over to where Marcus is pointing Miller's AR-15 at her. Vincente: "Would you slowly hand me your weapon?" She produces a 9mm pistol. Marcus, after giving her the once-over, points to her left ankle and says, "That one, too."
Vincente walks Maya back into the room, tells her to sit on the bed. Marcus: "Where's Wade?" Maya: "Out, checking out some stuff." Vincente: "Could you be more specific?" Maya: "He's meeting with Sheriff Barr." Vincente: "Would you speed up and tell me what I want to know? I'm not negotiating, I'm demanding." Maya: "Looking into some aspects of Collin Media Company." Vincente: "What makes them special?" Maya: "Our client lost money to them, wants to get them in trouble and turn them over to the law."
Vincente: "Tell me about the tiki torches." Maya: "One of Collin Media's film crews left them at the garbage pits, northeast of Bryant Airport." Vincente: "Why'd you pick them up?" Maya: "Wade did, two hours ago. He didn't tell me why. I told him they might draw attention." Vincente: "You were right. The tiki torches are why we're here. I guess we need to go to the garbage pit." Maya: "A film crew was out there. They're pitching some new reality show." Vincente: "Do you want to go to the garbage pit?" Maya: "No."
Vincente asks Marcus to check Wade's and Maya's luggage; Marcus drops a listening device in each. Vincente has Maya lie down on the bed, then casts Sleep on her. His spell works on her, but barely. Marcus tosses the firing pin from Miller's AR-15 to Vincente.
Valerie has located Nicholson's car. It's a little dirty, as if recently driven on secondary roads. As she crosses in front of the car, at a certain point she experiences a sudden chill, an uncomfortable feeling, and thinks she hears a distant, unintelligible whisper. Valerie says aloud, "I can't hear you." Then she hears a pleasant, soprano voice speaking rapidly, "You feel different, like he did. You're stronger. I shouldn't be here. Can you help me? Adam hasn't come back to his car. I might be dead." "I'm Valerie. What's your name?" "Carmella Johnson."
Vincente walks up. Valerie: "Carmella, this is Vincente. He can help you." (Vincente doesn't see a spirit, only a faint blur.) Carmella: "Adam said he would help me." Vincente: "How did you die?" Carmella: "I was murdered by some men in San Francisco. I resisted, and they killed me. I don't know this place. I visited the ghost town a couple of years ago.... Last I remember it was 2009. I don't know today's date.... It took me five or six days to get here." As she speaks, Carmella edges nearer to Valerie. Vincente warns, "Don't move any closer." Carmella repeats, "Adam said he could help me," and points to the second floor of the inn.
Rick, based on a quick internet search, verifies that Carmella Johnson was murdered in San Francisco on the night of June 2, 2009 by three members of a street gang. Before succumbing, she had killed one of the men and scarred another (who is in custody); the third remains at large. She was an administrative assistant at a brokerage firm. Carmella adds, her voice getting stronger, "I'm into cosplay. I was dressed as Vampirella... they were going to rape me."
In answer to the repeated question "what help can we give you," Carmella says "I don't know until..." and doesn't finish the sentence. Then her faint blue shimmer becomes a red swirl, and she whispers to Valerie, "Are you a good fighter? Would you come with me and we can give them what they deserve?" Vincente interrupts: "Two questions. First, how are you able to talk to Valerie and Adam?" Carmella, hesitantly: "I've always had a little of the second sight... my grandmother was Irish." Vincente: "And how did you get to Bridgeport?" Carmella: "I woke up here... I remember the attack, and the pain... then I woke up here." Vincente: "Where were you?" Carmella: "Just outside the city, where I met Adam by the river. I rode with him in his car."
Vincente sees six more ghosts approaching, three male and three female; he touches Valerie so she can see these ghosts, too. Vincente: "Carmella, are these your friends?" Carmella: "I've seen them around town." The six ghosts circle them. Vincente: "Hi, is there a problem?" One man speaks up angrily, "Yes, there's a problem! I want to move on! I don't want to be here! And you're going to help me!" Vincente cuts off the man's rant: "Who the f*ck are you?" "Ralph Anderson! I died in a construction accident in Sacramento, September 3, 2007." Ralph starts going off on another rant, and Valerie says sharply, "Answer the man, Ralph!" "I was... wherever I was supposed to be, then I woke up here in a garbage dump!"
The other five ghosts are Tori Epps, who died in a traffic accident in Sacramento and "woke up" in an aircraft hangar; Teddy Buckley, age 20, who died of cancer January 10, 2009 in a hospital in Mammoth Lake (an avid D&D player, he recognizes the term necromancer); Rhea Jenkins, also from Mammoth Lake, who died in childbirth in 2004; Nelda Collins, who died in a traffic accident in Sacramento, July 4, 2007; Rory Lott, shot and killed October 11, 2008 while robbing a 7-Eleven in San Francisco.
Vincente: "How did you know to come here?" Ralph: "I sensed anger." Vincente: "I need to find another person you can sense, besides us." Teddy: "I get it! You're not of this place, you're from another realm!"
Valerie, with Carmella right at her shoulder, goes and fetches the Geiger counter. Vincente levitates himself up three yards. Teddy reports, "Something flared." Tori says she saw a bright flash followed by a glow, and adds that she has seen "weird auras" on certain antiques.
Vincente addresses the ghosts: "The person who brought you here wants to use your energy; it will hurt, and you will be here forever. I want you to find all the living people who don't belong here. That person, or persons, brought you here. I don't know necromancy; when I kill people, they stay dead. When I banish, they stay banished. Except demons." Valerie turns on the Geiger counter, which reads 9.6 on a 100-point scale.
In the meantime, Marcus had searched Adam's hotel room, number 214. There's a laptop and a suitcase, and a surveillance camera set up on the left wall. He notes an irregularlty on the back right wall, and, stepping over a laser beam, finds what might be a small airgun. He tells Rick, "Adam's laptop might be boobytrapped. It's connected to the hotel wifi." Rick tries but fails to hack into the laptop.
Looking out the window, Marcus sees Valerie surrounded by a dim haze, a red fog on one shoulder. He joins Vincente and Valerie in the parking lot, and Valerie introduces each of the ghosts by name. Ralph tries to communicate by shouting in Marcus's ear; Marcus hears him, barely, but it gives him a headache.
Vincente re-enters the hotel, wakes up Maya Cobb, and tells her, "Come on." She walks ahead of him, deliberately emphasizing the sway of her hips; Vincente chuckles to himself and says aloud, "That will work until you see my companion." Coming into view of the others, Maya mutters, "Omigawd, it's Maria Berry."
Vincente says, "I'm going to show you something," then touches Maya's arm. Her eyes widen. Vincente: "What do you see?" Maya: "Ghosts..." Vincente has the ghosts introduce themselves. Maya identifies the Geiger counter as "one of Wade's gadgets. It locates where violent acts have occurred. I don't know what the numbers mean." Vincente: "If you don't pull a gun, we won't shoot you." Maya: "You remind me of Randall." Valerie: "Who's Randall?" Maya: "Operative for the US Government." Vincente gives Maya the Geiger counter; "It's not useful to us."
Vincente announces "We're going to the garbage pit." We climb into the Navigator and drive past a small airport. A sign with an arrow reads Garbage Pit Road. (Marcus: "Oh, yeah, I think I see it!") Valerie points out tire tracks, a couple of which might have been from Nicholson's car.
Three hundred yards from the main road they come to a flattened area the size of a basketball court. Vincente declares, "Magic was involved, but this place isn't magic." Inside the court there is no mana. He can see where three tiki torches had been placed, one at each end, one off to one side. Vincente and Marcus see at least eight sets of human footprints, and impressions from where heavy items had been set down, including an indentation in the center of the court. Vincente: "Carmella, do you sense that you shouldn't enter?" Carmella: "It feels like a void." Marcus finds the tracks of the Collin Media vans, plus a larger car. Valerie wonders aloud, "Why did they take everything else, but leave the torches?" (Maya had Wade had taken the torches when they found them here.)
Vincente sets up the torches and lights them. Marcus, feeling drawn to one of them, wanders over to inspect it. Carmella moves toward another torch, but then returns to Valerie's shoulder. Valerie: "I feel a lot of Carmellas." Vincente senses dozens of spirits being drawn to the court. He blows out the nearest torch and pulls it out of the ground; some of the spirits move away. Marcus seems fascinated by his torch until Vincente pulls it up and blows it out. When Vincente blows out the third torch, all the drawn-in spirits dissipate. Valerie: "Maybe they left the torches running to keep drawing spirits, so next time they'd already be here."
Back at the Ruby Inn, Marcus shows Adam Nicholson's setup to Vincente. Vincente touches the laptop and casts Seeker, which indicates that Adam is more than a mile away, then Trace, which gives him a "lock" and a direction -- toward the river.
We climb back into the Navigator, Vincente driving. He stops in an overgrown area just off the road near the riverbank. Valerie and Marcus follow Vincente, who stands over a particular spot. There's another packed-down area, not very big, with two tiki torches burning. Dozens of spirits coalesce around the torches, then are sent away. Many of the spirits are moving southeast toward the town.
Vincente announces, "Adam is here." He is not alive, but there's a 'residuum of life' in his corpse. We blow out the torches, then Vincente, Marcus, and Valerie grab shovels and start to dig. Before long they uncover a fresh corpse, no more than 16 hours dead. He was shot to death.
Marcus notes a depression in the middle of the packed area, along with some blood and the tracks of four people. "Something odd is going on here." [Thank you, Captain Obvious.] "I mean, I think time has been manipulated. He couldn't have been here if he was at the dump when we think he was." Vincente tries to speak to Adam's spirit, but admits "Adam has left the building." Marcus: "Has his spirit been broken in pieces?" Vincente: "The torches lock the spirits into... something. Adam is not of this world, so maybe that's the difference."
Marcus points out four 9mm slugs; Vincente Apports the one he senses is 'different.' Marcus: "There are symbols carved into it." Vincente: "The bullet is magic, and the carvings are runes." Carmella: "This is the place I came in."
Valerie: "So, if you brought up a map and marked this place, and the inn, and the dump, and southeast the way Vincente was pointing..." Rick: "Ooh, Bodie, California." Valerie: "Bodie's a ghost town."
We drive a little over 19 miles to Bodie. Vincente thinks we're being followed, but the following car keeps going after we turn off. At midnight we reach the Bodie State Historic Park and circle around to the old cemetery southwest of town. Vincente says there are hundreds of spirits outside the cemetery, milling about.
Marcus and Rick pull out AR15s and stand guard. Many ghosts approach and try to get our attention. One woman pushes forward. "I'm Addie Garner. I died in an accident in Nevada, January 26, 2007. I've been in the area a week, and suddenly now I'm here."
Marcus, peering through a scope, says "There's something in the very center of the cemetery." Vincente walks toward that place.
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