Unspent: the Interview

Sorry on the late post here...but at least it's Tuesday!

Now that the group had been through another go-around with the church, gotten some research done in the library, and gotten a little scant bit of information from people in bars, it was time to get a fuller backstory. Sharon the forensic investigator decided to first go and conduct some tests on the wood she'd taken from a pew in the church (with the writing), and the others were going to meet with her later, to talk with Don Federo, the laicized priest who'd been the pastor of St. Luke's.

Testing...
Sharon took the piece of wood she'd retrieved from the church pew (the piece with the writing on it), and did some tests on it. The writing itself seemed to be a part of the wood: it had all the same properties as the non-writing wood, except for the color. Density, texture, and everything else was identical. That was rather baffling to the forensic investigator. She bagged everything, left it in the lab, and then went off for the interview with Don Federo.

Dark History
The group arrived at a small blue house, and knocked on the door. Mr. Federo was very, very reluctant to even completely open the door, asking what they wanted, and trying to get them to leave. The characters kept insisting that he let them in to talk, because, they said, he might hold the key necessary to save lives and stop people from disappearing. Eventually, they hit a nerve when the phrase "don't look at me" was mentioned. Very, very carefully, they found out that it was somehow connected to Hanna Strait, the daughter of Don and the parishoner.

Bit by bit, they uncovered parts of the story: Hanna had always cried out the phrase "Don't look at me," because of the condemning attitude that the town had taken towards her. As the former priest put it, she was a stain on their reputation, and didn't belong there. They did nothing but scorn her. Then, when she still 6 years old, Hanna died suddenly in her sleep. Federo always suspected some sort of foul play, just because of the convenience of her death, but the police found nothing. With all of that uncovered, the group went back to the church, this time during the day.

Angelic Visitors
This time, they went to the graveyard, to see if they could somehow get in touch with the little girl who had died. George knew that figuring out what a ghost wanted was key to putting it to rest, but this particular situation seemed to have some unusual kinks. Namely, the statue bit. He hadn't really dealt with corporeal ghosts at all, or met anyone who had. As they approached the church, they saw a crazy old bum, about 40-50 years old, who warned them away. George chased him into the woods--and then suddenly the guy vanished into nowhere.

That was rather puzzling. So, they headed to the graveyard, and wouldn't you know it--the other statues showed up behind them, in the middle of the day. Oh, and they were looking in much better repair than they had been, previously. The angels were now obviously angel statues. And they had pointy teeth bared. Sharon snapped a picture of one of them. (Broad wink goes out to all you Doctor Who fans in the audience.)

As some blinks fell here and there, the characters wrangled their way around, and then Sharon started glancing back at her camera. The angel in the camera was changing position, seemingly coming closer in the picture. She dropped the camera. And then things started getting chaotic. Somewhere in there, there had been a woman's scream, with no trace found of her, and there were angels in the woods by the church. The group ran back to the car, with the "Don't look at me," written on the hood, and found the crazy bum waiting outside of it.

He begged them to let him in, and they did so, peeling out of the parking place at a hasty speed. A ghost hunter, a forensic investigator, a journalist, and a crazy middle-aged man, all on the run from statues. That's where the session cut off, with an odd revelation...

The number of the angel statues had increased by one.