Sight Unseen

Prolog

George was stuck in Thursday afternoon. It wasn't that the calendars had no other days; in fact, there were no calendars. It was quite a lot like being trapped in a huge, beautiful, bountiful park where it felt like Thursday afternoon all the time. A gigantic homo sapiens reservation. A human-beingiterium.
    The company of Rupert Merriweather quickly became sour. Apparently, everyone here was a weapon for the forces of Light, and was kept in this limbo until needed. There was no crime, no insanity, no problems or worries in this limbo. Of course, there was also no ambition, competitiveness, or excitement. Human beings were not the only inhabitants, but you can only see a unicorn or a sixteen-foot-long cockroach once or twice before it becomes commonplace.
    When not faced with a crisis, Rupert turned out to be a real weenie. He could see no reason to rebel against this inter-dimensional imprisonment, and would not give George the answers she needed unless threatened. Jeremiah, on the other hand, turned out to be exactly the same as he seemed through the Ouija board--self-important, smug, aloof, and possessing an annoying habit toward smirking. George had to get out.
    George decided to go exploring. A river led her away from the knoll on which she had sat for at least a week of Thursdays. Of course, there was no "night" or "day", but George measured time by how many times she had slept. While following the river, George discovered that she was being followed. Determined to pursue the only course that led to any excitement in this limbo, she tried to trap the tracker. Instead, he jumped into the river, swam a while, then hopped onto a car-sized insect and flew away.
    George could feel the heat before she got to the edge of the forest. Beyond the forest, a fifty-foot wall of flame rose; its flames so hot that the river was vaporized on contact. She followed the wall around--at a safe distance--until she found a great iron gate. The gate was firmly locked, and continually glowed darkly red from the heat. Overcome by heat and exertion, George collapsed, to be rescued by a slightly familiar-looking man. He had been following George on Jeremiah's orders. He had a startling ability to talk with animals, and demonstrated it by giving George a ride on a grizzly bear-back to Jeremiah's tree house.
    Jeremiah was forced to run rather than give George the answers she wanted. George had been trying to persuade Jeremiah with a stout length of wood. It was revealed, however, that the mysterious tracker would eventually be John Hunter, the man that George fell for in 2059. Faced with all of this confusion, George chased down Jeremiah, and was in turn chased by John and a strangely familiar chain-lightning phenomenon.
    Dr. Christopher Pierce was well known for his expertise in research. No icon would escape his scrutiny, no antique work of literature was safe from his roving eyes. Dr. Pierce always welcomed the challenge of an archeological dig--after all, why read books about antiquity when you can write them?
    They had gained access to the pyramid and almost fully explored the maze of tunnels when Jean-Paul, Chantal, Russel, Griswold, and Louis arrived. After a hurried exchange of information, they rushed to the sarcophagus chamber. The sarcophagus, unlike most, was upright, and did not feature a relief of the person interred. It was made entirely of black marble, and had been cut like a gem. When they openned the sarcophgus, none were really surprised to see George there, gasping for breath and squinting in the light.

    Louis told George that Nylarathotep had planned revenge against the humans who had thwarted his scheme to bring about the apocalypse. He had already killed Raphael, so they had to use an alternate--Dr. Pierce. However, since George was not precisely dead, they had had to bring her back. Only if they had a full group could they hope to survive Nylarathotep's revenge.
    The investigators discovered jars of the Dust of Ibnazi, the same substance that they had used to dispell the beast  years ago at Rupert's farmhouse. Soon, they were set upon my Shaowwalkers, and discovered that the dust had some effect on the monsters. Eventually, they defeated the Shadowwalkers, and blew up the tunnels of the pyramid.

The former was only a dream. George awoke to find a very startled Dr. Pierce openning the sarcophagus. Only George had memories of the dream, though the other investigators did seem to have restless dreams the night before. And now, back to the real story. I promise.

    Once in Boston, Jean-Paul and Chantal went to enjoy the local carnival. His grandmother had told him that he should enjoy life as much as possible, and a trip to the fair certainly seemed like an appropriate way to start. The Carnival was host to almost every act imaginable. The most thrilling and grotesque, however, was O'Dodd House of Nature. In it, the customers would see freaks of nature, especially the main attraction, Fish Boy. Jean-Paul stumbled into the environment of intrigue that surrounded Fish Boy, and tried to help. In the process, he met Paul LeMond, a man whose eyes were violet. By the time the rest of the investigators had returned, Jean-Paul and Paul LeMond had accidentally helped Fish Boy to be reunited with his people, the Deep Ones.

    While Jean-Paul and Chantal were off having fun, the other investigators met with Danny O'Bannien, the man who owned the book Louis wanted. O'Bannien turned out to be a mafia lord, and a tempermental one at that. He refused to negotiate for the book unless they found out who had tried to steal his friend's corpse. He seemed especially eager to get the celtic-knot ring from the corpse. The investigators agreed, and went to look for clues.
    The funeral parlor was appalingly dirty, and the director was singularly useless. The only thing of interest they were able to find were small, rat-like footprints, and a loose drain cover that was only six inches in diameter.

    While investigating the workplace and hangout-spots of O'Bannien's friend, Russel and Griswold found themselves being followed by two pale individuals. Feeling confrontational, they accosted their tails, only to be involved in a close-pitched fistfight. The sensation of being followed by pale people and following elusive monks in burnt-orange robes had begun to get a bit taxing.

    The three investigators convinced the widow to let them stay overnight in the house to protect the body. At about 2am, George left to find some coffee and sandwiches, and Russel and Griswold were put to sleep. George returned and woke them up to find that the corpse was gone. It had been dragged out the back door and into a manhole. The widow had been crucified upside-down in her room; her eyes and tongue had been chewed out. In the widow's room, they found a book, Folklore of the Emerald Isle.
    George decided to pay a visit to Dr. Pierce, and asked him about Irish legends. The doctor happened to have a copy of Folklore, and they discovered that evil little creatures may have been responsible for the theft of the corpse. They also discovered that being drunk would assist one to see the little folk, and forthwith drank a bottle of wine.
    They had heard about a recent string of antique store robberies, so they checked the closest one first. Their addlepated vision revealed an army of the little monsters invading the store. Using a spell he had transcribed from the pyramid, Christopher armored himself and George with the sparkling black skin of a Shadowwalker. They managed to capture six of the creatures, but by they time they had driven home, only one was still alive. George excitedly called Russel and Griswold on the phone, telling them to come as quickly as they could.

    This is where the trouble began. Russel and Griswold came barrelling into the house, expecting trouble. They heard George's voice in the basement, and went to go find out what was going on. In the basement, they saw two Shadowwalkers. In a very natural reaction, they openned fire. Christopher was unharmed, but George took most of the blast of her own four-barrelled shotgun and a rifle slug to the chest. Russel and Griswold stopped to reload, decided to run instead, and took Christopher's butler with them.
    George was unwell for some time, even with the assistance of Christopher's healing spell. After an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the Pierce home, George convinced Russel that there were no Shadowwalkers there. An uneasy truce was made, though Christopher did not trust these obviously homocidal individuals. The two most able bodied members of the group--Christopher and Griswold--went down into the sewers to deal with the little creatures and rescue the corpse. Eventually they found it, and hacked the ring off of its finger (the ring would not come off normally).

    Danny O'Bannien was thrilled to get the ring, and gave Griswold two books instead of just one. The books were Khor-eh-tin, an arabic work, and the Senetane, a journal left by Ezekiel Whitmore.

    The intrepid investigators, with Dr. Pierce and Paul LeMond, returned to Rockwood, Pennsylvania. Amelia was as charming as ever, but Louis was looking a bit anxious to get the books. He let Griswold read the Senetane while he read the other.
    While the two Lewises were absorbed in books, Paul disappeared, and Russel, George, and Jean-Paul went to look at the strange marker stones. A sound like thunder echoed from somewhere up in the hills, and the marker stones began to glow purple. Then a forked tongue of purple lightning ran along the ground from the hills. The lightning unerringly followed the path of the stones to a shed in Louis' back yard. Russel openned the shed door and they all saw a huge stone, cut in the same shape as the marker stones, glowing a deep purple and steaming slightly.
    When confronted with this, Louis had to admit that he could not properly remember that he even had a shed. All of the investigators (except Chantal) hiked back into the woods to find Russel's "Point Offense Cube". Unfortunately, they found it. Eventually, the combined attacks of all the the investigators did enough damage to make it flee. Upon their return, they collapsed in chairs and couches and caught their breath. Griswold noticed that a car had passed in front of the house several times--the same car that had followed them in Boston. Jean-Paul stepped outside to figure out what was going on, and was engulfed by a thick fog. The entire house had been encompassed by the magically induced fog. Then the vampires came.

    At first, it looked like they were attacking randomly, but once they got into the house, the vampires charged at Griswold. Just when things looked their worst, a band of men came bursting in through the windows, and helped turn the tide. The "leader" of this nondescript band drew an ornate dagger and threw it into the wall next to Griswold's head. Then, just as quickly as they had arrived, the strange band fled.
    Paul LeMond (who had returned just before the fighting had broken out) was mortally injured, and required immediate attention. Several days later, when Paul was just becoming able to sit up in bed, he asked to see George. He was only awake long enough to tell her some interesting news of his origins and the intentions of an old friend.

This chapter has not been played.

***CHAPTER NOT COMPLETE*** ***VOLUME NOT COMPLETE***

Hope you've enjoyed your stay. If you have, write me! If you haven't, uhm, you don't HAVE to tell me...