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Dark Corners of the Earth Episode 1: Pilot Montezuma County, Colorado Nearest City: Cortez, Colorado, population approx. 9000. Nearest Town: Towaoc, Colorado (Navajo Nation), population 1087 The trip out to the middle of the Colorado mesas was chilly and took two hours - a quarter of that on old back roads that haven't seen proper care, or on grassy, rocky earth, which was about the same. The Range Rovers are getting a workout in. The Colorado State Police and the Navajo Tribal Police have cordoned off the scene with police tape and some wooden poles, and it's immensely clear once you arrive why you were called in. It's probably the messiest murder any of you have ever seen - certainly the messiest in a long time. The ground is a mess of bloodstains and strange markings made in what appears to be a mix of blood and some kind of chalk. Luckily, it hasn't rained since the murder. The body itself is...well, flayed. Only scraps of skin remain on it, and it looks like someone did some messy chopping in the organs and musculature, though the corpse is still mostly human-shaped. One of the uniformed state cops flags you over as you arrive. "I'm Sergeant Hawes, Colorado State Police. We haven't IDed the deceased yet, but we got someone going over missing persons in the area. Both departments. No clue what the hell any of this means, but I guess that's your department. You ask me, looks like some kinda Satanic poo poo. The Navajo liaison's over there - Detective Sergeant Creel." He gestures at a stout, dark man in a suit. "We're likely to get reporters soon - all these are good cops, but we're gonna have a leak, scene like this." He pauses, then laughs a bit nastily. "Lucky for me you got here before they did. This is gonna be your circus."
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Jan 18, 2018 18:18
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 12:36 |
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Hawes shakes his head. "Hikers found the body. Idiots being out here right now, but you know how the back-to-nature types get. Even in winter. We got them over there." He points at a small gathering of cars, and you notice three people huddled under heavy jackets, sitting in the back seat of one of the police cars. "Besides them...well, we didn't see any other witnesses when we did our initial sweep. It's just us, and..." And the first news chopper arrives overhead. "Ah, there we go. Them. The cars will be here soon." Latoria and Lottie take a look around the scene, taking notes on the symbols. Out here, with no wifi and barely any cell service, she won't be able to look it up easily...but it'll be useful later. The photos especially. (The photos will provide a +1 bonus to a later Int+Occult roll to look up the symbols.) There's not enough blood, though - the victim can't have been killed here. Hawes begins to go over the scene. "We got us the vic here, and we found a few cigarette butts around his body. We've bagged those to be sent to the labs for DNA, but that will take a week if we're lucky. More, if we're not. Ain't recognized any of the symbols, but Creel's on the radio to the reservation to see if their guys know poo poo about this. Hikers came up on the body early this morning. Their camp site's a couple miles northeast of here. Far as we can tell, they're with a local church, this is some kinda spiritual retreat for them." Jennifer sets up shop as the reporters start to arrive. The first to arrive is KRDO, a local ABC affiliate, but the other Colorado stations aren't far behind. The state cops manage to help Jennifer keep them corralled more or less into one mass, which begins to bombard her with questions. "Officers! We've heard there's been a murdere here! Confirm or deny?" "Can you confirm that the murder has occult symbolism?" "We've heard the body was skinned!" "What do you plan to do to protect the people of Colorado?" Benita goes over the rough ground. Her theory that there isn't nearly enough blood feels right - and when she finds tire impressions, she becomes more certain. It looks like there was a pretty large vehicle in the area some time in the past 24 hours. From the size, it could be a pickup truck or a particularly large ATV of some kind. The tires are designed for this kind of use, from the look of it, and from some faint splotches of blood on the ground, the victim was almost certainly taken from the vehicle to the site where it's lying now. James examines the scene. Years of experience have gotten him accustomed to figuring these things out, and while he is examining the area, he finds a patch of disturbed earth near the ritual site, missed by the cops on scene. A shovel is quickly called for, and the shallow hole is uncovered. Inside is a small canvas bag, soaked with blood. Inside it is what looks like a coyote skull, a smaller bag of some kind of powder, and a patch of what appears to be human skin, branded with the same symbol as was drawn around the body.
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Jan 25, 2018 18:22
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The sergeant is very A Cop. He's probably trustworthy enough - certainly on broad issues like solving crimes. He can be kind of a dick sometimes. That's really about it. Hawes isn't a very complicated man. Creel nods to Sheridan. "So far, no luck, but-" He pauses, staring at the bag being brought up. "-but we just got something new." He turns and goes back to his radio. Sheridan can overhear some quick Navajo as he relays what he's seen, and then gets an answer back. He grimaces, turning back to Sheridan. The squawky radio answer was no better. He relays it in English for everyone: "They say if that's corpse powder, we could be dealing with someone who's been reading about us. They don't think it's one of our own, though. Not our symbol."
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Jan 25, 2018 22:42
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Sorry for the delays - expect an update later tonight.
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Feb 3, 2018 15:47
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Jennifer's little spiel is boilerplate, but the boilerplate works for a reason. She gives up a few pieces of information - that this is not the kill site, say - and that's neough for the press...for now, anyway. Rather than barrage her with more questions, they seem content to start giving their reports, which should keep them fairly occupied for a while, and shouldn't cause too much trouble when the reports air...though they will mean the killer knows the police are on their trail and aren't idiots. The hikers look up at Detective Little. Two men, three women, all huddled under blankets and rather distraught. One of the women speaks, an older lady with a silver cross necklace on. "Ah, I'm Constance Mattie, and these are my son, Joseph, and his wife, Tiffany. And this is Frank Mayhew and his wife, Lottie. This was a little church outing, you know? To welcome Frank and Lottie to the congregation. And then all this...this occult monstrosity. We were out hiking, you know, to take in the glory of God's Creation. We'd stopped for prayer and lunch, and Joseph went to, ah, do his business, and...and then he screamed and we came running, and it was so horrible, officer! I don't think there was anyone around, but-" The others nod, and Constance stops, staring at the skull as Latoria picks it up, and clutches at her cross. "Oh, Jesus protect us!" Latoria feels the pounding headache that often accompanies her psychic powers kicking into gear. Her skin runs over the skull and the scene flashes before her. Moon in the sky, setting. Sun rising opposite. The moment of perfect dawn. She holds the skull high, her voice rings in her ears, a chant she doesn't understand. Blood runs down her arms. She turns, and beneath her is a body, spread-eagled. She places the skull on its face, then draws her long knife and the bag of powder. She sprinkles it, then puts it back away. Then she turns and goes to cut- And mercifully, the vision jumps to the skull being stuffed in a bag and then tossed in a hole, before she is back to herself. Sheridan thinks about the spot. There's a few stories about the area, but nothing about deaths. Just that out here, sometimes there are voices from spirits, ghosts - and they're clearer in these open spaces, especially under moonlight. Out here, in the wilderness like this, is spirit country. If you believe that kind of story, anyway.
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Feb 5, 2018 22:16
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Creel grimaces. "Well...there's some folks on the res who might know more. We've got a few scholars of our own lore, anyway. But you want the really obscure stuff...well, I've got some bad news for you." Sheridan has a sudden premonition of where this conversation is going. Creel continues, "There's someone who might know more...but Jesse Blackwater doesn't like cops. Or white folks. Or feds. And all of us are one of those at least. Problem is, she's probably the best there is if you want to know about superstitions or old stories for this part of the Navajo Nation." Sheridan can remember Jesse Blackwater - she's in her seventies now, but she's always been there, and always been tough as nails and dangerous. She's been at the center of one of the reservation's suspected gangs, the Thunder Boys, for as long as he can remember, but despite this, her word carries weight among the locals, if not the actual nation council. The Blackwater ranch has had numerous incidents in which visitors were run off, sometimes at gunpoint, for violating privacy. The Thunder Boys are, at least, not the worst criminals out there. They're suspected of running marijuana grows, some numbers games and smuggling operations, but never much worse than that. Latoria, meanwhile, was studying the blade while you were sleeping. The knife she saw in her vision is well-made. It's a skinning knife with a trailing point and Nessmuk design, mostly used for skinning wild pigs. No obvious brand on it, but this was a quality tool, high-end. Not a fighting blade at all, but very sharp. This kind of thing can only be gotten online or at dedicated hunting shops. The handle looks like some kind of hardwood. Classy. Jennifer remembers seeing a few of these symbols on a crappy Angelfire page about Navajo witchcraft. It was talking about using corpse powder to poison people, and had embedded music and eyesearingly bright fonts on a black background. It seemed like a crap source at the time, especially the parts about secret coyote witches and psychic vampires.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:31
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Benny manages to track the truck back to its origin - the highway. From the looks of it, from the direction of Cortez, rather than Towaoc. Beyond that, it's impossible to tell - a truck is much easier to track on earth than asphalt. Constance grimaces. "We're out here a lot - there's a holiness in nature, you know? And I didn't notice much out of the ordinary...I mean, there was...what was it, Joseph?" She turns to her son. She seems genuinely shocked and concerned. Joseph and his wife are similar. Frank and Lottie just come off as incredibly uncomfortable, as if they'd rather be anywhere else right now. Joseph shrugs. "Crows. I saw some crows - more than usual out here. I birdwatch. Wasn't sure what was up with it, until I went out and I saw the body. Helluva shock-" "Joseph!" Constance shakes her head. "I know you're shocked, but we can't use words like that willy-nilly!" "I don't use it light, ma. Anyway, other than that...Frank, you see anything?" "Uh...no? No, I was just - we weren't looking for anything odd. I think I saw a wolf? Or maybe a coyote? But that's it." Constance nods. "So there you are, officer." Any other things you want to look into here? Otherwise, we'll head back to the station soon.
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Feb 22, 2018 20:09
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Apologies for going radio silent - work and life happened. If y'all are up to continue, so am I, and posts will be forthcoming once folks sound off.
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Apr 16, 2018 17:31
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 12:36 |
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Sorry, some stuff came up that delayed this hardcore. At last, you make your way back to the station. It's not home, but it'll do for now. The bodies will be arriving at the lab pretty much now, as well. The locals have their own cases to work on top of this, which leaves you with some leads to follow up on. Obviously, the lab will be doing the autopsy, and checking in with them in the next day or so will probably get something useful, especially if your knowledge can help them out. Then there's the Blackwater Ranch, out on the res. That'll be a trip, and a dangerous one. It'd be best to go prepared. And, of course, the witnesses are probably back at home now, or at their church - the Congregation of the Blood of Christ, out on the outskirts of town. Tracking down where the knife came from, if local, might be worth doing, but it might not pan out, either, if it was bought online. Or any other leads you want to follow up, which the narrator has failed to mention. What're your plans of attack?
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May 12, 2018 01:10
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