Whispers by the Water

Hoffmann instinctively places himself ahead of the group and starts trying to fix his flashlight by feel, even as the room starts darkening. Artur places himself in the center of the group.

Myles' camcorder has clicked off. Turning the power to it back on, it seems to work fine for a few seconds and then the screen scrambles with digital noise and the device starts rewinding on its own (rewinding in a digital sense).

Owen's neck hairs raise at the symbols, and a sense of alarm rises the longer he stares at it. However, the identity or the meaning of the symbols eludes him.

Hoffmann twists the battery cap open, shakes them, recloses it, then twists the front lamp. The limp clicks on.

In front of you, a pair of eyes floats in a dark face at the bottom of the stairs, then disappears to the left, toward the collapsed basement stairs. You don't get much of it or anything about the face's body, other than a sense of a very dirty face and a hateful glare.

Hoffmann works as fast as he can, trying to get the flashlights and camcorder working again.

Hoffmann quickly sorts out the flashlights, realizing that they're functioning perfectly well. Maybe a magnetic interference thing.

The camcorder is the same, only it seems to have recorded something while it was glitching. He listens and it sounds like static, but with faint sounds nearly recognizable in the noise.

"Alright, there's someone in here with us and I don't fancy a fight in this rotten place even if we outnumber them. I suggest we skedaddle and check out the diary, newspapers and recordings in a safe place. We should wait for the sun before we even think of coming back..." Hoffmann whispers.

He is holding his son by the shoulder and has his screwdriver in a white-knuckle grip. Bloodthirsty dog packs and spooks in the dark, it's been a night.

"We can head back to the van. I have plenty of light and ways to hook up electronics if need be. I even have a couple of work lights i can hook up for the outside."

"Maybe we need to consider a plan B if the flashlights don't work, like a lantern that isn't battery operated," Burt says. "Unfortunately, we probably don't have that in the van, but we could try out what you do have in the meantime."

Escaping the main house carefully (lest you fall through the rotting boards), you get outside. The whispering that the Russian first heard is louder. Ground fog has risen, obscuring the area in a funeral shroud.

You make your way back to the van, but ... you're stop when you're standing at the edge of the lake on a road that became a boat ramp. Did you get turned around? At least your equipment seems to be functioning fine.

The sky is obscured by the mist. Looking about you sense movement just beyond what you can see to either side, but to the right, along the beach, there are darker shadows on the ground. Several stones placed evenly in a row maybe?

This doesn't look like where we parked, Burt says, his voice shaking a bit.

"Let's check this out together." Hoffmann goes to check out the "stones" with his flashlight, making sure to keep far away from the water, screwdriver ever in hand. Artur keeps his distance for now, but is ready to investigate the things closely if his dad isn't attacked first...

You know where you are, you're just not sure how you got turned around. The van is just over that away. Probably.

"OK, yeah, let's go," Burt says and starts heading toward where he thinks the van is supposed to be.

Myles will hit the fob on his key chain to show the location on the van via the lights.

Arthur and Hoffmann head toward the rocks. Their flashlights penetrate the fog and reveal a circle of thirteen stones. Within, there are a number of personal items: friendship bracelets, rings, hair elastics, and even an unopened condom packet. They're all carefully piled in the center.

Meanwhile, Myles successfully locates the van.

Burt immediately began to check the van for any signs of damage or that someone they didn't know wasn't lingering around their vehicle. "Hey! What a relief! It's right where we left it, I think," he says to Myles. "This is where we left it, right? Where did everybody else go?"

"The van is over here." I will open the door and turn on the lights so the others can see it. I look to Burt "I think this where we left it. there is definetly some wierd shit going down here."