Prelude to Being Stealthy
Prior to leaving the church grounds, the investigators promise to help Zebulon escape later that evening. They propose parking at Ringrose Mountain, near the church, around 7:00 pm. They hope that Zebulon can get away from the church and join them. He agrees to the plan.
On the way back to the Fresno place, Val reveals that she knows Alpha Solaris Maxima Est. Val knows her as Ruth Green, a small time criminal and con artist. Val says that Ruth framed her for a crime that caused her some trouble with the law. Val is very angry with Ruth and wants some kind of revenge.
Back at the house, the investigators discuss whether they should go to the police or search the church property for more evidence. They decide to split the difference. Father Wilk calls Alexander Sebastian, Mr. Fresno’s lawyer, and tells him he has a legal matter he wants to discuss. Father Wilk says that Zebulon knows where the body of Molly Scott is, but that he is in fear for his life if he comes forward. Father Wilk says that he and his friends will be retrieving Zebulon later, and plan to bring him to the police station so that he can make a full accounting of his involvement in the cover up. He asks Mr. Sebastian to meet them at the police station and serve as Zebulon’s council. Mr. Sebastian agrees to do so.
A Map of the Church
Back at Church
The investigators travel to Ringrose Mountain, park their car, and wait for Zebulon. He does not arrive. Fearing foul play, the investigators go looking for him at the church. Father Wilk and Val stay with the car while the others trek off through the wilderness.
They reach the church grounds without incident and begin exploring. Everything is very quiet, and there are no signs of foul play. They peek through a lit-up windows on the back of the church and see an empty bedroom.
At this point, for reasons of her own, Val ditches Father Wilk and goes alone to the church to do her own investigations. Father Wilk, concerned for Val’s safety, goes trekking off into the woods after her. His search does not go well.
He first encounters a young couple making out in a small clearing, whom he terrifies with his 6’7” height, long beard, and voluminous vestments. As the couple flees, the young lady promises that she will go to church on Sunday.
Father Wilk resumes the search, only to step into and trigger a fox trap. He screams very loudly.
At the church, the investigators split up. Dr. Miller, Saul, and Ada try to get a better look at the mysterious “silo” on the property, while Dale and Martin go to investigate the second smokehouse, which is Molly Scott’s alleged burial place.
Val, who has scampered through woods to the church, is already at the smokehouses. Realizing that the smokehouse doors can be barred from the outside, Val takes pains to gather up the bars and hurl them into the woods. She then begins picking over a large pile of ashes in the back of one of the smokehouses—likely the remnants of previous ritual fires.
Val spies the badly burned remains of a woman’s handbag, just as Martin spies a figure hunched down behind one of the smokehouses. He approaches, drawing his gun. Val hears him and turns, drawing her gun. The Keeper is surprised how heavily armed everyone is as Val and Martin both whisper, “oh, it’s you!” before putting their guns away.
Dale joins Val and Martin and demands to know why Val stayed with the car if she wanted to investigate the church. Val provides no solid answer to this question but does show the two men the handbag. They all suspect that it belonged to Molly Scott and was burned after the police investigation into her disappearance went cold.
The “Silo”
Dr. Miller, Saul, and Ada are about to investigate the silo when Ada hears a scream from the woods. She and her friends go to investigate and find Father Wilk trapped in the fox trap. They free him without difficulty and, after a brief investigation by flashlight, Dr. Miller confidently says that Father Wilk has avoided serious injury. Father Wilk joins the others in their silo investigation.
They are soon joined by Dale, who has come over to let the others know that Val is there and what she has discovered. They are baffled that Val offered to stay with the car if she wanted to come investigate, but Father Wilk says that he is at least glad to know where Val is.
Back at the silo, the four men easily hoist Ada up so that she can pull herself over the lip of the silo and see what’s inside. In the beam of her flashlight, Ada sees that the silo is more like a chimney, with a subterranean chamber somewhere beneath it. She also sees a raised circular platform with a golden, sundial gnomon on it. The platform also seems to be decorated with an occult symbol that possibly relates to the sun.
Hearing this, Dr. Miller insists on getting a look at the platform himself. He is also lifted into position. When he sees the platform, he undergoes a bit of a shock. He realizes that he recognizes the sun symbol from his previous occult research. It is a representation of Hylmunder, an entity associated with various forms of energy. Hylmunder is often depicted as a sphere of burning white light, and his only goal is to sear all imperfections from the universe.
When the others lower Dr. Miller to the ground, he is mumbling to himself about the church being a real cult and his suspicions that Molly Scott might have been offered up as a sacrifice to Hylmunder. He also mutters something about, “they control energy. A bolt from the blue. An energy bolt. They murdered Fresno with magic.”
The others manage to snap him out of his ruminations, only to become aghast as Dr. Miller explains that they need to go down into that chamber and do more investigations. His companions’ protestations are drowned out by the sound of approaching police sirens.
What Was Below the Silo
Cheese It, The Cops!
Two police cars drive onto the property. Two officers get out of the first one, while a solitary officer and his two bloodhounds disembark from the second. Dale, Ada, and Dr. Miller flee the scene, running pell-mell through the woods back to their car. Father Wilk and Saul, on the other hand, decide to go have a talk with the cops.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the church grounds, Martin and Val hear the approaching police and their conversation/confrontation with Father Wilk and Saul. Martin insists that Val leave the evidence in situ, and that he will stay and watch over it until the police come and investigate it. Val, who has a criminal record, decides not to take a chance with the police and runs into the woods on the north side of the property.
Father Wilk and Saul’s interaction with the police does not go well, at first. They are ordered, at gunpoint, to put their hands on the nearest police car, where they are roughly searched. They are then told they are under arrest for trespassing with criminal intent.
At this point, both Alpha Solaris and Helios Rebecca come out of the church, dressed in housecoats and nightgowns. They sob to the police about how afraid they were and thank them for coming to their rescue.
Saul points out that, earlier in the day, the two women had invited them to come back to the church, “any time,” and that, if the church is a “real” church, it is open to the public at all hours and not subject to trespassing laws. This confuses the three cops, who begin to question Alpha Solaris and Helios Rebecca.
Father Wilk takes his opportunity to explain that he had come to the church to get Zebulon, whose life he believes is in danger, and bring him to the police station for his safety. He goes on to say that he has already arranged this with Mr. Sebastian, who should be at the police station waiting for him. He tells the cops that this is all in connection with the missing girl.
The two women say that Zebulon is not on the property and is likely at his home in town. This directly contradicts what Zebulon told the players (who said he lives on the property), so Father Wilk demands to know Zebulon’s address so that he can be contacted to “sort everything out.”
The cops, dismayed that this situation has no easy answer, orders Saul, Father Wilk, Alpha Solaris, and Helios Rebecca get in the cars and come down with them to the station. They say that the chief is going to sort this situation all out. Helios Rebecca is allowed to fetch her address book, which has Zebulon’s contact information.
Epilogue
Ada, Dr. Miller, and Dale reach the car and drive back to the house, where they wait for word from the others.
Martin waits for everyone to leave before venturing into the second smokehouse to see if he can find Molly Scott’s body.
Val manages to stop running just long enough to realize that she has become utterly lost in the woods north of the church. She shouts an obscenity at the overcast sky as the credits roll.
No comments:
Post a Comment