Nomadic:Sessions:20180310

With Marcus and Rick standing guard, Vicente, followed by Valerie (and Carmella), approaches the center of the cemetery in the ghost town of Bodie, California. A headstone has been placed there, pulled up from its original location several feet away; it reads

Malachi Johnson
    d. 1881

Placed over the top of the stone is a semicircular metallic cap that rises to a 4" tapered protrusion.

Vicente calls out: "Malachi! Is Malachi here? Step forward!" A ghost materializes next to the stone, and snarls "Yeah?" Malachi appears to be in his late 30s, but he talks like an old man. Vincente: "What's special about you?" Malachi: "I'm a stubborn bastard." Vicente: "What's that on your headstone?" Malachi: "A couple of younguns put it there a week ago." Vicente: "Any reason they put it there?" Malachi: "Some nonsense -- focus of temporal energies... something convergence... give them ability to push back further..." He confirms that the headstone had been moved several feet away from his grave.

Valerie touches the metal cap and gets a pleasant sensation. The metal looks smooth but she can feel spirals and circles centered around the protrusion. Vicente gets vibes of "smothered magic" and warns Valerie not to touch it. He adds that Malachi is ogling her lecherously. Valerie pulls her hand away momentarily and describes to Vicente a tingle in her mind like an attempt at a neurological bond. At the same time Vicente felt the "smothered magic" rise out from the cap. When Valerie touches the metal again, the "smother" effect collapses back in, and she feels that the patterns have shifted.

Vicente says that the metal cap seems to be connected with the fog. "I feel like destroying it, but the ghost is standing right there." He tries to Apport the cap but it is bonded to the stone.

Marcus sees to the south a brief glint as of moonlight reflecting off of a lens. He tells Rick "Cover 360° a moment" and takes out a thermal scope. Through the scope he sees a sniper and spotter 150 yards south of the cemetery; the glint must have come from the spotter's binoculars. Marcus: "Hey, guys, we've got some friends." Immediately, Vicente casts Missile Shield and steps in front of Valerie. Marcus fires at both the sniper and spotter, hitting the sniper in the chest. The spotter fires his pistol downward, then takes to his heels. Marcus shoots him in the back. Marcus: "Going to see if they're alive and what they have to say. Rick, cover me."

The sniper is clearly dead; the spotter had ensured that by putting a bullet in the sniper's head. The spotter lies on the ground some yards away; he had poisoned himself with cyanide. "Well, darn. He didn't want me questioning him." He searches the man, finding a billfold containing $200 cash, a fake ID for 'John Smith' of Los Angeles, a short-range communicator, and the keys to a motorcycle. Marcus photographs a tattoo placed over the spotter's heart, distorted by the exit wound. The sniper, whose ID reads 'John Jones', has a similar tattoo and similar belongings.

Vicente: "Malachi, what did you do? Why can't I get this cap off the stone?" Malachi touches the cap and then screams as though burnt. "That hurt! ... I didn't want to go anywhere. I just hung around, scared the 'sensitives', till those guys put that on my stone. I didn't remember till now. I can possess some people... tried to hurt one of them but they slapped me around." Vicente encourages Malachi to touch the cap again; "Maybe you'll remember some more." Malachi tries, screams again, and dissipates.

Meanwhile, a primly dressed, stunningly beautiful female ghost has stepped out of the crowd. Vicente: "Did you do that?" Woman: "No, I didn't. My name is Michelle Dalton. I am buried in this cemetery, but the marker is gone. When they put that thing on his headstone, he confronted them in the image of an old man, but then he looked younger. ... I am 33 years old. I died during an epidemic in 1893. I have been afraid.. to go on... of what might become of me... I don't want to take any chances." Valerie says softly, "If you were going to Hell, you'd be there. The Devil always claims his own." Michelle seems heartened. She offers a few more details: "The people drove motor vans. They talked about 'a focus for the gathering of ectoplasmic energies ... something, something... theoretical, 'this should work.' There is something in the ground around Malachi's grave."

Vicente has Rick bring some tools, including shovels, a hammer and chisel, and some metal snips. Valerie asks Carmella to show her where to dig. Vicente at first tries to cut the metal cap off the stone, then gives up and uses the hammer and chisel.

Carmella searches the ground, then exclaims and points. Valerie digs there, and two feet down she strikes a metal box. It is made of iron, 10" x 5" x 4", with an old rusty padlock. Valerie breaks the lock and raises the lid. Inside are several pieces of rock containing glints that sparkle like gold dust, accompanied by a rolled-up piece of paper which Valerie reads aloud: You sorry old coot, you said this was worth something and it's not. The note is unsigned. Malachi: "That's from Bruce, Bruce Fisher. We were out here trying to strike it rich. But I know that ore is important." Carmella: "I can see them shining like a neon light." Michelle: "I could see the glow."

Vicente sets Malachi's headstone back in its proper place. Valerie says to Michelle, "Your loved ones are waiting. Don't be afraid to move on." Michelle smiles hopefully and begins to fade away.

The group finds the two motorcycles that match the keys Marcus had taken from the sniper and spotter. The motorcycles are not very powerful, but as well as a gas engine they have an electric motor that allows them to run almost silently. Marcus points out some broken underbrush and the tracks of a third motorcycle. "Must have been an independent observer. Probably rushing back now to report to his leader."

As the group walks toward the Old Standard Mine, Carmella chatters to Valerie, describing hundreds of ghosts. Valerie: "What are they doing? And why aren't they leaving?" Carmella calls out, and thirty or forty ghosts approach and walk with us. Some of them say they're unable to leave, one or two say they've tried but they always "pop back."

Vicente: "Have you been able to talk to anyone else that's alive?" One of the ghosts says, "A few days ago there was a tourist, a teenage boy named Joshua... There have been film crews around the cemetery and the Standard Mill [the main stamp mill, used to extract metal from ore]."

Vicente is undeterred by the warning notices posted around the mine entrance. "I'm not going to let the big bad signs stop us."