Whispers by the Water

Hoffmann takes pictures of the strange arrangement of stones and items with his phone, from multiple angles and distances. Then, dad and son come up closer to give the objects a quick examination before heading back to the van with the others, not wanting to be left behind.

Hoffmann takes the pictures and everyone meets up at the van, although the mists continue to make that harder than it seems it should be.

Once there, you have a number of things to discuss:
- Was there anyone in the van? It appears not, but it is hard to say. There's certainly no one there now.
- You've obtained some clues as to the disappearances from the waterlogged journal, and the newspapers.
- You've obtained audio/visual samples from within the house, but haven't watched them in depth yet.
- You've got pictures of the ornamental or ritualistic stones
- Lastly, you've seen evidence of wild dogs and possibly strangers on the property or in the house

To put those together, each of you can make a roll, something appropriate for intuiting what might be going on. If you have an applicable Stunt, you can spend a Fate Point to bring that in effect (and this decision can be made after a roll, just edit the post and say you're retroactively spending the point).

Artur and Hoffmann try their best to make sense of the journal and newspapers, even though they'd rather wait to get to a safer place before investigating them.

"Let's head and get into the van and check our evidence? There is plenty of light in there. I also have wifi in that bad boy."

Hoffmann and Arthur put together that someone or something has collected these newspapers here for some reason, carefully curating only those regarding the murders and missing people. Whey would they bring such newspapers here is of course another mystery.

Burly can tell that the van has not been entered. The fog on the windows is from the inside, but that is some kind of atmospheric effect likely rather than from someone's breath. Of course, there are stories about fog and windows or mirrors and supernatural entities, but he's uncertain if that is at play.

Previous roll result: +2

Invoking Aspect: I Will Make My Son/Dad Proud

Artur feels conscious of his dad's presence as they both examine the papers together. Knowing his dad always loved to see him succeed at intellectual work (for Hoffmann was dumb as a door when he was Artur's age), he feels extra motivated as he investigates with Hoffmann by his side.

New result after invoking: +4

From what you can tell, the victims have no connections to each other. They include drifters, vacationers, and locals, and vary young to old.

Burt tries drawing his name in the fog on the windows, hoping his senses are just playing tricks on him. "Hey, does anyone else see this?"[b] While waiting for a response he gently knocks on the windows trying to greet whomever might be inside. [b]Is anyone in there?

The name disappears in the window and the fog replenishes itself. After a moment, lines form as an unseen digit writes back.

T R A P P E D

Burt takes a quick step back and reaches for his phone, hoping to snap a quick picture before the words fade.

Burt takes a picture and when he reviews it the words seem blurrier than they should be, as if the focal point was wrong.

"Do we open the van or...?" Hoffmann says.

"Wait, what's your name?" Artur says to whoever or whatever is in the van.

To counteract the problem with the photo, Burt sends himself a message outlining what the photo contains, making a special point to included the obscured word, "Trapped".

"I think it's safe to say we're collecting evidence," Burt says to the others. "Yeah, go ahead, open the door. I'll be your back-up." He gets his phone ready to record what's inside...

The message disappears in the window and the fog replenishes itself once more. After a moment, lines form as an unseen digit writes back.

H E C O M E S

From the lake, you hear a splash and then footsteps ponderously coming toward you. You're reminded of the footsteps you heard in the main house. Slow and methodical.

Oh crap! Another message, Burth blurts out and hastily tries to repeat the process from the last message. Is anyone else seeing this?

"...Yeah. So whatever 'he' is, now we know it's a 'he'... do we run now?" Hoffmann says, pointing his flashlight at the lake and searching by sight alone for whatever is making the footsteps.