Nomadic:Sessions:20041120:Day 1
{12/4/2004}
DAY 1 – Monday May 8, 1972
We are standing in a park in Carrollton, Kentucky (population 4000) on May 8, 1972. We have been told that the town is situated at the confluence of the Ohio and Kentucky rivers. It is mid-morning and the weather is clear and pleasant. Across a road marked as Highway 320 / 11th Street we can see a gas station and a mom-and-pop style convenience store; about 400 yards up the road a Greyhound bus depot is visible. Looking the other way, we can glimpse the park's Visitor Center.
Max and Valerie cross the street to the service station -- Wilson's Texaco -- where Max buys a maps of Carroll County and the state of Kentucky as well as some picnic supplies (to boost the group's cover story). The fellow at the cash register seems friendly enough and doesn't look askance at the mixed-race couple. Outside, Max and Valerie check the store-window postings, one of which notes that the end of wild turkey season is near. Another is a missing-person poster for one Dan Field of Sanders KY, last seen May 1st having gone out hunting in the area south of Carrollton.
Argus and Vicente go to the Visitor's Center and learn that they are in General Butler State Park, named after a hero of the War of 1812. ("When was the War of 1812?" Vicente wisecracks.) They browse through a display of brochures which describe the park's 30-acre lake, plans for a nine-hole golf course, and area hotels including the park's own lodge. Vicente casts (with some difficulty, since the mana level here is low) an Aura spell on the young lady working the counter; she shows as earnest and decent, with no mystic talent. He asks her about "evening entertainment" in the area, and she describes a honky-tonk in town and a roadhouse out on Interstate 71.
We regroup at the picnic pavilion, where JT and Rick have been keeping an eye on the group's stuff. Someone notes a TV van passing by, from the CBS affiliate in Cincinnati. We decide we're going to need transportation that can handle rough terrain, and we don't particularly want to go to either the Ford or Chevy dealerships (they might ask too many questions). Max suggests we call individual sellers and have them bring their vehicles to the bus depot. We walk to the bus depot (Valerie expresses concern about JT walking that far on his bad leg, but he assures her it won't hurt him any more than usual). Argus phones about a work truck for sale, and the lady says she'll have her husband swing by the depot when he leaves the plant for his lunch break. Max calls about a car and is given directions to a nearby diner. Valerie offers to race him there and takes off running.
JT, thumbing through last Thursday's edition of the weekly Carrollton Democrat-Herald, finds an article mentioning that the high school's baseball team would be at a disadvantage in an upcoming game due to the disappearance of their starting pitcher, Vic Daniels. The paper also mentions an alleged sighting of a pack of wolves during the last full moon.
Suddenly Vicente sees the ghost of a man, a redneck-looking guy with fresh gaping wounds in his neck and shoulder. The man flashes Vicente a strange hand signal, stares at him momentarily, then walks away. Vicente tries to intercept him, but the ghost passes through him (giving Vicente a shiver) and continues on a straight line through a wall. Vicente tells Argus, "I just saw Dan Field -- his ghost was just in here -- he's dead. He didn't want to talk to me." JT: "Can you track him?" Vicente: "Probably not."
Valerie and Max race past the hospital. She leaps over sidewalk obstacles and weaves through traffic to cross a street. They reach the 50s-style Riverside Diner about 11:15, and while there are 20-30 cars in the parking lot, it's easy to spot the one for sale -- a dark blue '67 Impala four-door with a replaced muffler. Max enters the diner and speaks with Joe Palmer, who's pretty busy with the lunch rush. Joe hands him the keys and Max leaves his duffel. Max starts up the Impala; the engine sounds pretty good but a bit rough. He and Valerie go for a spin past the Ford and Chevy dealers and over to the bus station to let Argus check the car over. Argus notes that the timing sounds a bit off and there is a moderate amount of rust on the undercarriage. Max and Valerie return to the diner, go inside, and order a meal, Max telling Joe he'll be thinking the car purchase over, over lunch.
JT finds a report in Sunday's Louisville paper that millionaire Brad Bolton, his fiancee Ella Parker, and nine other people died when Bolton's cabin cruiser wrecked on the shore of the Ohio River about four miles north of Carrollton. Several of the bodies had been torn apart by wild animals, apparently wolves.
Meanwhile, Vicente goes outside to sight along the ghost's path. One way leads NNW through town, the other back toward the park and wooded areas. He returns and tells JT, "I'm going to walk down where I think he came from." JT: "Do they usually stay near where they died?" Vicente: "Not necessarily." JT suggests there are several fresh ghosts by the river, indicating the Bolton article. Rick volunteers to cover Vicente's back.
JT asks the depot counterman for copies of previous editions of the Carrollton paper, and the man returns with the April 20th and 27th issues. The April 20th paper reports a gas explosion on the 13th in Prestonville, a town just west of Carrollton, in which several houses were destroyed; the article lists the names of those people who were killed. In the April 27th issue is a story about Vic Daniels and his girlfriend Gail Price, a couple of high-schoolers who had gone missing on the 21st; Vic's car had not yet been found. There is a note that sophomore Doug Weeks has been missing since he ran away from home in mid-March; his older brother had died in a shootout with law enforcement, and the article notes that Doug had not recovered from his grief.
A few minutes past noon a guy in a big green Buick pulls into the depot. "My wife says somebody wants to look at my truck. Hop in!" Argus rides out to Mack and Marge Reynolds' house, test-drives "the hunting truck" (Mack complains that Marge "won't let me go huntin' no more"), and gets it for $375 with a set of towing chains thrown in.
Vicente and Rick walk among the trees. Rick suggests they get a map to figure out what might be along the line the ghost seemed to come from. Vicente points out some dog tracks and asks Rick about him; the latter says the tracks appear to be about a day old and were made by 8-10 dogs, collie and German shepherd sized, heading south through the park.
x xx P.M.
The lunch rush finally slows down enough that Joe comes over to Max and Valerie's table and pulls up a chair. After a short bargaining session, Max agrees to pay $1400 for the Impala. Max leaves a good tip for Gertrude, the waitress.
By 1:00pm everyone is back at the bus depot, and we head for the park lodge. Some talk of staying in the lodge itself, but Valerie points out that we might not want people making note of our comings and goings. There are three bungalows available; we rent all three of them, though we all plan to stay in just one.
JT describes the newspaper article he read about the boat wreck. According to Vicente, "werewolves really don't like silver." JT knows that silver prevents them from regenerating. The dog tracks Vicente and Rick had seen earlier could have led from the wreck site on the river.
Vicente tells the group he saw Dan Field's ghost. The ghost's actions seemed "weird, disrupted." Vicente imitates the ghost's hand signal, which to Valerie looks like a Hawaiian greeting. Drawing a line on a map indicates that both the Carrollton honky-tonk and the I-71 roadhouse lie along the ghost's projected path.
Since the attacks have occurred not necessarily on nights of the full moon, JT says that if we are dealing with werewolves, they are willing themselves to change to beast form, indicating an evil purpose.
Argus suggests buying silver chains and chopping them up for shotgun loads. Max, Valerie, and Argus buy a number of chains from each of the two local jewelry stores; Argus purchases two silver crosses as well. Vicente visits an antique store, casts a Foolishness spell on the proprietor, gathers up a number of silver items and pays about half the asking price for them. By 3:15 they're back at the bungalow where Rick begins making up reloads.
Meanwhile, JT has located the Carroll County coroner's office in the basement of the hospital. There are people everywhere (including several wearing badges) and a number of bodies on gurneys. A reporter with a 35mm camera stands off to one side. JT addresses a harried-looking woman: "I believe I can be of assistance if I could speak to the coroner." She is wary at first, but after hearing an overview of JT's credentials, the woman admits "You're a Godsend if you're willing to help." She shows him to the coroner's office. Dr Dallas is a short, stocky man in his mid-60s with steel-gray hair; he obviously hasn't slept much lately. He was a practicing physician in Louisville before "retiring" here and becoming the coroner. "This whole year's been weird," he tells JT, with an unusual number of hunting 'accidents' and various fatalities. "Sheriff Powell's a straight-arrow guy" but he doesn't trust Tolbert, the Carrollton police chief. JT goes to scrub and tells the group via walkie-talkie, "You may not want to come get me -- I'm going to be busy." Soon he is examining the body of Ella Parker, the millionaire's girlfriend. His determination is that the woman literally died of fright, then her body was chewed by dogs.
Vicente and Argus head for the river landing. Lots of people are milling around the boat wreck site, including a number of curious locals. Vicente's attention goes quickly to a pair of ghosts sitting at the base of a tree. He tries to speak to them -- "Hey, you two!" -- but they don't react to him. Their expressions are glazed and shocked, and they are embracing as if to comfort one another. He tries a couple of spells on the ghosts to no effect. Vicente realizes that something monstrously evil and death-aspected had passed nearby and drained their essence, making them mere shells of ghosts.
Argus talks to some of the locals, who tell him that despite the presence of dog tracks, no dogs have been seen. One local suggests they are wolf tracks; others jeer "No wolves around here!" The local insists, "Last full moon I saw a pack of seven silver wolves running along the Indiana side of the river." Another man claims he was stalked by two bobcats while out hunting. Packs of feral dogs have been roaming the area; several have been killed, but more keep showing up.
Vicente addresses a state trooper named Wright. "Were the people alive when the ship hit?" Wright says two or three of the bodies were still on the ship when the wreck was discovered. He doesn't know how they died or whether their eyes were open. By appearances, the pilot had driven full-throttle into the riverbank. "Carroll County has gone crazy this year. I've asked to be transferred out... If I were you I'd get out of Carroll County."
Valerie and Max reach the roadhouse. There's one car parked in front in the gravel lot; a sign indicates the roadhouse is open 6pm-3am. There are tracks where six motorbikes peeled out of the parking lot, some of them cutting across fields. On the shoulder of the road they find bloodstains and patches of clothing... as if somebody had been dragged. There are signs of a struggle; had the bikes chased someone down?
Around 4pm JT consults with the coroner. The millionaire, Brad Bolton, had died from a single 9mm bullet to the forehead. He had been shot from a distance of at least 10 yards. The time of death cannot be established, and no 9mm casing has been found at the scene. The body had been dragged away from the pilot's cabin, apparently by dogs. Another woman had died after falling on a sharp object, part of a coffee table. JT reports, "I think the girlfriend was scared to death." He then recalls that there are certain drugs that will cause the "scared to death" symptom. He returns to Ella Parker's body and finds signs of inflammation in her nasal membranes and sinuses, like something hit her in the face near her nose/upper lip. The woman who fell on the coffee table also has such indications. Another woman's body had been hamstrung, and the corpse bore signs of animal savagery -- throat torn, spine snapped by teeth.
Max and Valerie follow the tracks northward toward Carrollton. After about two miles, at the end of a little dirt road, they find Dan Field's truck, the spare keys still inside it. Max marks the spot and Valerie drives the truck out.
The local gossips tell Argus how a man in the town of Sanders "went nuts" and killed his family.
Vicente addresses Sheriff Powell. "The couple found on the ship -- could you just look at them and tell how they died?" He describes the young couple and says "It looks odd to me." The sheriff looks interested, though a little wary: "Are you sure you're not a reporter?" Vicente: "I came to shoot some turkeys, then I found *those* turkeys [indicating the locals] talking, and it just looks strange to me." The sheriff says at least two people had been chased down by dogs. Vicente says four people were found on the boat -- the sheriff looks impressed -- "and the other couple, I bet you can't tell how they died." The sheriff orders two of his men to "run those yahoos off," then turns back to Vicente and says, "Help me out, or we can talk about protective custody." Vicente: "I'll be glad to help you out." Sheriff: "Something weird's going on in my county. You act like you investigate a lot of sites like this." Vicente, indicating Argus: "My friend's in the military." Sheriff: "Here's the deal -- I don't harass you, and you report to me what you find out." Vicente says he also has a medical specialist. Sheriff: "You have a military specialist, a medical specialist..." Just then Max radios, "We found Dan Field's truck." The sheriff says his men had searched for four days and haven't found Dan Field. Sheriff: "I'm not assuming you're running this team, but you're my contact point... If you can help me get my county back, I'll keep your anonymity."
There has been a series of weird occurrences around the time of each new moon this year, starting January 15th. On that date there had been a big accident on I-71 involving an 18-wheeler. Four people were killed and ten injured.
{12/18/2004}
It's around 6:00pm, still a couple of hours before sunset. Deputies escort away the gossiping hunters, and bring Argus over to where Sheriff Powell is speaking with Vicente. Powell agrees to walk them through the wrecked yacht. There's blood all over the place. They can see how the dogs walked across fallen tree trunks to get onto the boat. Neither Argus nor Vicente see any indications that the boat was damaged or the instruments tampered with before the crash. The boat was hand-controlled full speed into the riverbank, then the throttles were released. Powell comments that the pilot, Phil Parker, was a very experienced riverman; "It's almost like Phil was fleeing from something." Brad Bolton, the millionaire, was the only victim not killed by the dogs - he had been shot once in the forehead, but not at point-blank range. Powell doesn't know whether paraffin tests have been conducted on the other victims. Vicente finds indications of five dogs, one of which may have been wounded; two of the dogs had departed quickly - chasing down the couple whose ghosts Vicente can still see sitting huddled beneath a tree.
Finally Vicente says, "I've taken in all I need to take in. I'll go share this information with my colleagues. I'll call and let you know what's been found out about that truck." Powell requests an update at least once per day.
JT finishes up the last autopsy. He makes a note that all the bodies should be tested for a particular drug. He concludes that the boat's pilot was dead before the dogs got to him. He has found bruises and scratches on the pilot's right arm, as if from a struggle; fibers found under Bolton's fingernails match the material of the pilot's sleeve. The dogs had gnawed a little on Bolton's body but then left him alone; was there something about him that didn't taste good? JT tells the coroner, Dr Dallas, that he wants to go see the boat. After making the request to the authorities, Dr Dallas says the sheriff told him, "You might as well bring out another one."
Valerie and Max drive Dan Field's truck back toward their car. After hiding the truck in some brush, they follow the motorcycle tire marks, drag marks and blood trail into a field, where they find a grave dug with an entrenching tool. Valerie radios that Dan Field has been found, giving their position at the northeast corner of the 2940 road at 36. Rick phones the coroner's office, which radios the coroner, who is driving JT, who turns on his radio. Vicente, as the group's "lazy-on," notifies the sheriff. Argus uses his scanner to determine the police radio frequencies.
Vicente and Argus return to the bungalow, where Rick continues to make silver loads. Vicente explains about the "ghost lites" he saw. "I touched something pretty evil."
JT and Doc Dallas arrive at the boat. Doc shows him the positions where each of the bodies was found, including the two that had been run down, and another that had fallen from the boat and landed at the river's edge. Four of the bodies had been found together, mangled. Up in the control cabin, JT notices that the glass is down in the windows. He pulls on a pair of latex gloves, then lifts the glass... and there's a bullet hole in the glass. Dallas comments, "Wish I'd thought of that." JT figures the bullet was some kind of special armor-piercing load. Then as JT touches the boat's wheel he gets a rush of impressions which freeze him in place for a few seconds.
Max, who had been walking around the field, notes the two-day-old tracks of nine different dogs coming in from the southeast, circling the area, doing some scratching around, then heading north toward the river. Two of the dogs were slightly smaller than the other seven. Sheriff Powell arrives at the field. Max introduces himself and Miss Vaughn, then describes the process we used to find the truck and then the grave. Powell says, "Sounds like you're describing Zed -- wish I could get enough to put him away." Powell goes back to his cruiser, then returns with a couple of shovels and an old Polaroid camera.
At the boat wreck, JT has narrowed it down to three trees where the shot that killed Brad Bolton could have come from. "There's gotta be some evidence of the shooter up there." Doc Dallas calls over a deputy, Earl Garrison, to look for a shooting platform; JT adds that he should look for claw marks. JT finds a spot on the ground where a dog picked up something -- a shell casing? Earl discovers climbing spikes leading up into one of the trees. JT says, "We need a team to get up there without causing damage; might have to build a scaffold."
Around 7:00pm, while Rick starts trying to melt silver, Vicente and Argus go up to the lodge to pick up some dinner. There's not much talk about the "hunters' problems." One of the lodge employees, a young lady, gushes to Vicente, "I saw some news crews around here from Cincinnati." Bolton was one of the richest men in Kentucky. There are lots of packs of wild dogs running about; hunters have been warned not to go out alone. Don Wells was the night watchman who saw Bolton's yacht pass by Carrollton the night of the crash. Vicente smiles at the young lady, picks up the food order, and leaves. Back at the bungalow, Vicente turns on the TV and tunes in the CBS station, Channel 12 out of Cincinnati. A reporter named Steve Danlee gives a summary of the boat wreck, stating nothing but the obvious.
Powell and Max dig up Dan Field's body. The damage on the body matches the shotgun wounds (earlier described by Vicente, that he had seen on Dan's ghost) and dragging damage. One of his legs had detached but was present, thrown into the grave. Valerie asks whether Field had family; Powell says Field had been divorced four years ago, and his ex and two kids (ages 16 and 12) live in Carrollton. Around 7:15pm Doc Dallas and JT pull up. They can't get a positive ID on the body immediately due to its condition. Part of an arm had been ripped off but was located in the grave. The boots show signs of having had a chain bound around them.
JT radios Vicente. "This point isn't on the path Field took. The 'object' originated from the point of death rather than the place of burial." Vicente replies, "There were no 'objects' on the boad, but there are two of them on the bank." JT: "The girlfriend died of fright." Vicente: "I have interesting news on that, too." JT: "Bolton tried to stop the pilot from steering into the bank, was distracted and looked forward, then was shot." Vicente: "How did the shooter know to be there?" JT: "Something caused the pilot to turn at that point." Argus asks whether any river navigation aids had been moved. JT: "The drugs are waiting on lab confirmation."
Sheriff Powell is very interested in what he can hear of JT's conversation. "We're talking about experimental governmental military drugs here?" JT doesn't know, but he does know of drugs that can cause the scared-to-death effect. JT also says "she was controlling him," that there was at least one other person on the boat besides the eleven known; there was a third presence in the control room at the time of the crash -- perhaps controlling the dogs. Powell, naturally, asks JT how he knows there was a woman in the control cabin. JT replies in all honesty, "I don't know how I know -- I just do." Powell advises him to be careful of the city police chief; JT replies, "Don't let them mess up your crime scene -- it's about 15 feet in the air." The mysterious female didn't try to stop Bolton from entering the control room, but after he was shot, she pulled him away from the pilot; then she somehow got the dogs in there to cover up evidence. The sheriff says he will keep JT out of his report.
Max explains to the coroner how he had found the spot where Dan Field had been attacked outside the I-71 Roadhouse. Max "borrows" stakes and marking tape from the sheriff's trunk, and tells Valerie that the coroner has requested that they mark the death site. They reach the Roadhouse parking lot around 8:00pm. Max does his staking, then he and Valerie go inside. A jukebox plays; there are four couples out on the dance floor. Max orders a draft beer, Valerie a Coke (they bring her a Dr Pepper), and they take a table in the corner.
Meanwhile Vicente and Argus head over to the Rowdy Rooster. A country-western band is playing on the stage. Argus quickly makes friends among the crowd and goes dancing with a couple of the local gals; Vicente gets a beer and a snack and a corner table.
Doc Dallas drives JT to the bungalow. The lab results should be back by the end of the week. The plan is to take Bolton's body to Louisville -- but he could "lose the paperwork" if JT wants to do the autopsy. JT wants prints to be taken behind the cabin door "because that's where she was at." Inside the bungalow, Rick is carefully pouring melted silver into hollow-points. JT helps himself to some food, remarking, "I don't think I've eaten all day."
At the Rowdy Rooster a little after 9:00pm, the ghost of Dan Field walks through a wall to the middle of the dance floor, turns all around, then walks back out. Vicente rushes after him. "How are you?" Field replies with a snarl, "I'm dead!" "Who shot you?" "Bastard biker." "What about the dogs?" "Her dogs circled me, didn't hurt me." The "bastard biker" is protected by "the witch." Field has to walk from the Rowdy Rooster to the I-71 Roadhouse and back. "What did you do to get shot?" "I called the bastard biker a bastard biker." Vicente says "We found your body" but this draws no particular reaction. Field describes "the witch" as "dark and menacing." "Are you scared of her?" "I may be dead, I ain't stupid." Field saw the witch a couple of days ago, not far from the Roadhouse. He won't say why he called the biker a bastard. Vicente: "I'll see you when you come back, Dan." Dan flips him the bird.
Back at the Roadhouse, around 9pm a chopper had pulled up in the parking lot, and a biker walked in and bellied up to the bar. Max (after carving his name in the edge of the table) wandered outside to check the bike over. The bike has been cleaned. Even the chain he finds in the saddlebag has been cleaned. The bike has New York state tags, and the name "Randy" embroidered on the saddlebag. There are shiny scratches on the fender where a chain might have rubbed.
Vicente radios, "I just saw Dan." Max replies, "I did too." "Do you have a bastard biker there?" "We got Randy." "Is there a woman there that looks out of place?" "Yes--" "Besides Valerie." Vicente says they're coming over to see the biker; he has to pry Argus away from the two women. Max goes back inside, goes up to the bar and gets a beer, and nods at Randy, who grunts and nods back.
A woman with dark blonde hair, accompanied by a tall man wearing glasses, enters the Roadhouse and takes a table in the middle of the room. Several people recognize them, including Randy -- who contemplates his beer. Valerie hears murmurs of "Hartman" "hotshot" "gathering" "news".
Argus and Vicente arrive. Vicente casts Detect Magic on the biker... but *everything* shows up as magical, and Vicente gets a slight headache. Vicente and Argus sit at the bar, flanking the biker. Randy looks to one side, then the other, then calls out, "Whiskey for my friends! I'll have a double!" Randy has a slight Brooklyn accent -- "I'm just a Mick from the Bronx." He tosses down the whiskey and chases it with a beer. Vicente: "Dan Field is pissed at you." Randy: "When Zed gets back he'll tell me... I thought Zed wanted to take me to the West Coast." He doesn't think Zed will show up tonight; thinks he ran up to Cincinnati. "Zed's a tough guy -- did two terms in the 'Nam -- ran with Hell's Angels -- he can take me apart." Vicente asks about women in the group; Randy laughs derisively. He does point out that the woman at the table is a big-shot newswoman from Cincy named Ellen something. Randy then leaves "before I get caught on camera."
Argus and Vicente take a table behind the newswoman, who gets up and starts mingling with the crowd. They gather that the man is her producer.
At 10:45 Dan Field enters, walks to the middle of the dance floor, turns around, then walks back out. Vicente chases him about 40 yards, then hears the baying of dogs. Dan says they don't bother him, they just sniff around. Vicente points out, "That means they can see you." Vicente radios Argus and Max that "the dogs are coming." Then he tries to cast Missile Shield, which takes him several attempts before it finally works.
The dogs are baying and howling. They will intersect the ghost's path before he crosses Highway 227. Argus and Max get into the truck; they can see Vicente crossing a field. Argus pulls on his night vision goggles. He gets a visual of nine dogs running in a pack; they are ignoring Vicente but seem intent on a certain spot. On the radio, Valerie makes some comment about a Wild Hunt.
The dogs spread out to encircle Dan, who continues forward.
Valerie rises and heads toward the ladies' room, but actually goes out the back door. Two of the dogs detach from the pack; one leaps high at Dan, the other goes for his legs. Vicente: "Looks like they're gonna double-team Dan." As the dogs pass through Dan's ghostly form, Max doesn't notice anything, Argus feels a slight chill, but Vicente is blinded by a flare of magic. Dan Field disappears and a cloud of black, sooty energy zooms off north-northwest in the direction of the Rowdy Rooster. Argus guns the truck, heading for the dogs, calling "Shoot 'em!" The truck hits one of the smaller dogs. Max takes aim at another dog. Vicente felt great evil as Dan vanished. It was as if a spell had been hung on the dogs, which was triggered by their touching the ghost.
Argus goes across the circle, hitting another dog. Vicente takes aim. Max fires his 12-gauge and severely injures a large dog. Six of the dogs take off at an angle toward the woods; the other three, wounded, limp toward Vicente.
Argus turns the truck to pursue the six dogs. Max fires and one of the three dogs heading for Vicente falls down. Vicente shoots, hitting two dogs, one of which drops.
The six dogs split off from one another, no longer running in a pack. Argus stops the truck, then leans out and aims at the dog closes to the woods. Max fires twice, misses.
Argus fires off his 30.06 and kills a dog. Max misses again. Vicente kills the last dog that was crawling toward him.
Max stops shooting -- the dogs are outside the effective range of his shotgun -- and starts reloading. Argus fires, bringing down another dog. Vicente runs over to the spot where Dan Field disappeared. Over each dead dog's body, Max sees something that looks like a heat shimmer; as he watches, the shimmer rises up into the darkness.
Argus kills another dog and says to Max, "Reload me." Vicente tries a spell... but there's no mana in this spot where Dan disappeared. He takes two steps and mana returns. He sees the body of an "evil, bad dog" that had a spell on it, and a black ball of energy that flashes away to the northwest. Out of the original pack of nine dogs, three of them reach the safety of the woods.
Meanwhile, a tall redneck-looking guy and a petite waitress had come running out the back door of the Roadhouse, looking for the source of the shots. After a few moments, Valerie sidles up and murmurs to the waitress, "Won't you get in trouble for leaving the building, honey?" The waitress rushes back inside. Valerie assures the redneck that "it's just turkey hunters -- they're not shooting this way." He, too, goes back in.
Argus, Vicente, and Max pick up their brass. The dogs look like well-fed, feral dogs. Nobody wants to touch the dead bodies. Argus asks, "Should we tell the sheriff?" Vicente replies, "Not while we're here." Vicente does call Dispatch about the dog attack and the dead dogs. Then Argus, Vicente, Max, and Valerie drive back to the bungalow. Vicente describes the black energy he saw from Dan's ghost and from the dogs.