Not at home

[Grace]

For those who care, I have posted the story version of what I saw.

[Hannah]

I've been moved again. Finally to a place where I'm not sleeping in a couch or on a fold away. This person actually talks to me too, instead of treating me like I'm a hassle or something.

I hope I get to stay here a while. . . . well if I don't get to go home.

Thank you Nemesis. Please keep sharing what you find - it might help someone else to recognize something.

[Holister]

Its good to hear from you lil' lamb. We'll do everything we can to figure this out.

[cab312]

No story, just the facts for now.

Psychometry in and around Ron's house confirm two supernatural beings were in the residence. There was anger - a lot of it - and extreme fear in the room. Sarah was taken by surprise. Her last words were "You're home earl-" and that was when the attack occurred. It was vicious. The beings that were there left airborne, meaning that they didn't leave the house on the ground. Ron is alive and I was able to catch a glimpse of him tossing and turning in a dark room, trying to get some rest. He is in a state of extreme rage and fear; he clearly has not been able to accomplish the things which he has set out to do.

There was suggestion of a seance and try to contact Sarah for some more information. Also there was suggestion of hypnotizing Hannah and interviewing her as she might be able to provide some more leads to run down.

All indications are leaning heavy to Not Ron being responsible for this. We really need to come up with a way to track this monster down and destroy it.

But let's not forget, there were two beings there and some psychometry indicates one of them was experiencing some fear itself.

[Holister]

The other one has to be Khavik. Those two worked together in past to stop Ron.

[Grace]

The hardest part of any hunt is the waiting. . .

[Shang Li]

I have arrived. I will begin cleaning up soon, the person who I was told is "the officer in charge" says they will be done with "processing the scene" tommorrow, whatever that is. I do hope that everything here is legal, I heard one of the patrolmen who was guarding the entrance say something about "the boss having a hardon for this Caliburn guy."

Anyway, I am going to be allowed to clean up here. I will do my best to remove the echos of the horror done along with the blood.


Do be carefull, Mr. Caliburn - we still have the unfinished business of a conversation regarding the second death of Ms. Darken, I'll bring some tea.

[Grace]

I have arrived.

I find this to be surprisingly comforting. Like some of the burden has been lifted.

[Technocrat]

I'd heard this place was back up and kicking from a friend and colleague. But I had no idea just what was going on. I feel so bad that after my initial enthuastic arrival at this site I sort of just faded into the background. Life and stuff.

But damn, this is just something I can't just sit back and watch. If there's anything I can do, anything at all. Just let me know.

I've got some vacation time saved up and work is slow right now. I think I'm going to make a trip to D.C.

[Grace]

But damn, this is just something I can't just sit back and watch. If there's anything I can do, anything at all. Just let me know.

Maybe there is something you can do. I'll PM with the details.

[Shang Li]

I have removed the blood, and returned the flow of chi to it's normal state.

I wish there was more I could do, but as has been my habit of late I seem to always arrive too late to be of real service. If I knew how draw this being's ire onto myself, I would.

[Grace]

I have removed the blood, and returned the flow of chi to it's normal state.

I wish there was more I could do, but as has been my habit of late I seem to always arrive too late to be of real service. If I knew how draw this being's ire onto myself, I would.

At least Hannah will have a home to come home to.

And it's not too late yet, Mr. Li. Not by far. Mr. Caliburn is still out there as is Hannah. As are their enemies. There is still much that can be done and much to do.

[Kolya]

Hannah knows how to contact me personally. As for the rest of you, you can contact me here. When I'm done with this fucking moth man, we're going to be much more available. It sucks, the only time we get to see the Caliburns is on some operation or another.

[Hannah]

Ben, do you really think it could be Khavik? We should warn Wie.

Master Li, I wish I had been at home to greet you . . . I haven't seen you in too long.

I wish I was there to help all of you - I want to come back home and be with people I know.

Nemesis, be careful - if you cna help my father in anyway, please do so.

Kolya, I remember what dad said about that thing, be safe.

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Consider me warned, honey.

[GhostSpider]

Hey guys, I've finished up in Florida. If you need any help PM me. I really want to help.

[Grace]

You don't need permission to help, GhostSpider. Right now, I just can't afford to be chosey.

If you wish to co-ordinate efforts, we can do so.

How the hell did I go from unrepentent loner to co-ordinating a rescue effort?

[GhostSpider]

Just PM me. We can work it out. I'll need a location to teleport to as well.

[Shang Li]

You chose to join this society, they have that effect on people, Nemesis. In this matter, I will aid you as best I can, though I fear that I have little to offer other than setting my blades to foe and doing menial labor.

Konrad, It seems I must impinge once more upon your kindness. Would you be as kind as to take me back to my valley for two days? I must rest and cleanse myself, I feel..... weary.

[cab312]

When I heard I went to D.C. ASAFP, being concerned for our Society friends. It didn't take me long to find Ron's residence or to pick up two supernatural tracks coming out from Ron's residence. They were faint already. Being in a hurry, I ran to my car, slid into the driver's seat and as I began to start the car an electronically distorted voice from the backseat ordered me to not turn around.

"I am Nemesis. If you are active on the Lazlo Society, you know I will shoot you as soon as your head moves a degree more than I am comfortable with. Who are you, and why were you poking around Mr. Caliburn's place?"

"Yea, I heard of you," I said, being honest. "People call me 'Mack'. I'm trying to help and we're on a tight time budget. I could use a driver."

"You drive Mack," the Nemesis voice said after some hesitation. "We'll both talk as we go." Another pause. "Where is it you're going?"

"That way," I said, pointing forward out the car and slid the gear selector into Drive. I took my divining rod from its case and steered with my knees.

"What the hell are you doing?" I can't be sure how distress comes through electronic distortion devices, but I am pretty sure this was a case of it.

I smiled a little. "Following the tracks, they're not fresh though. This may not be very exciting."

Then there was a very long pause. "You're one of those psychic types, aren't you? That's why you were at Mr. Caliburn's house."

"Oh," I cleared my throat, "yea, that's me. You find anything that might help us tonight?" I asked, being genuinely curious.

"I've confirmed a lot about Mr. Caliburn that was already supposedly known."

"Right, tell me abou—hold on," I said, suddenly needing to turn, I dropped my divining rod in the passenger seat, grabbed the wheel with my hands, and cranked the wheel left to make the turn. The sound of screeching tires and honking horns from the oncoming traffic which I narrowly avoided almost broke my concentration. Assholes. Being trained for this though my concentration held. I took my divining rod back in my hands, and the wheel by my knees. "Sorry about that," I said, being honest.

"Pull over." There is some rustling from the back seat. "I'll drive."

"Uh, yea, sure," I brought the car to a stop at the safest possible place, being a firm believer in Safety First.

Being in the hurry that I was, I said, "alright, the tracks are faint now. The creatures were definitely airborne; my rod has been pointed upward from the start." I got settled in the passenger seat. "Go that way," I points in the way that I had been driving.

Nemesis seemed like a good driver, if a little bit too aggressive for my tastes. "If you tell anyone anything about what I look like... I will be quite cross." The implied threat hung in the air.

So. Here's the part you've all been waiting for, the physical description of Nemesis. The Australian Outback hat was a nice touch. It did go well with the long trench coat but the super baggy tops and bottoms weren't very flattering, violating all the rules of fashion. The gloves though sure were nice, at least they sure looked expensive. I took this all in as Nemesis nimbly crawled into the driver's seat.

But back to the story. "I'm concentrating on my rod. You don't have to worry about me anyway. I respect the need for secrecy. I just hope you're who you say you are," I chuckled at myself. Being serious, "I'm losing it, we need to get right as soon as possible."

Nemesis veered right, cutting through whatever the car would fit through: sidewalks, parking lots, alleys, between houses that don't have fences.....houses that no longer have fences....

Breaking the silence, Nemesis said, "You're right to be suspicious."

Being unable to track the faint trail with the bouncy car I said, "Smoother the better for me." I paused a second. "Oh I believe you. You'd already have me if you had designs for me."

"It's just that, if my suspicions are correct..." Nemesis paused while navigating around someone's dog who had run across the alley, "Then none of our faces should be taken at face value. Please excuse the pun." Nemesis continued, "It is only because I haven't released this suspicion on the boards that I'm even remotely tempted to trust you."

Being as honest and trustworthy as I could I replied, "Without trust, you have nothing."

"Please, less philosophy and more wild goose chase." And continued, "What is it we're chasing exactly, anyway?"

I wanted to give a thorough answer, but I couldn't. "It's not clear. But if it got in without much problem, could be an entity, a siphon, probably a tectonic." And it was getting out of my range by the yard. So I said, "and it's getting out of my range by the yard. Slow down, actually let's stop here."

"That... fits with what I've found." Nemesis said and then skid the car to a stop. "What?"

"Vibrations in the road are fucking up my mojo," I said as I got out of the car, being full of careful concentration and walked to the sidewalk. I blurted out a very clear "fucking hell".

Nemesis was out of the car and being suspicious of everything and was looking around and asked, "What is it?'

I responded, telling the situation like it was. "Tracks gone dead cold. Colder than a witch's tit, you could say."

"Would having something of the victim or Mr. Caliburn help?"

"Indeed it would. You have something on you?" I put the divining rod away in my cargo pants pocket.

Nemesis reached deep into the pockets of the trench coat, then pulled out two Ziploc bags. One contained blood splattered woman’s socks. "These were in the hamper of the bedroom." The other Ziploc bag contained a pair of clean men's boxers. "These were in Mr. Caliburn's drawer."

I took the underwear first and did an Object Read on them. I breathed a sigh of relief and informed Nemesis that, "Ron's alive. I'm getting very strong rage and fear at the same time from him, he's itching to kick ass. I reckon that means he's still on the hunt, looking for someone.....or thing."

Even through the super baggy ill fashioned outfit, Nemesis looked on edge. "Do you think you could tell the real Mr. Caliburn from... someone who was not Ron?

I waved the bag a little. "If these are his, it's him."

An electronically distorted sigh of relief came from Nemesis, "That's good. Because somehow Mr. Caliburn has been managing to be in two places at once. This has happened before."

"The thing from Hannah's psyche, you mean?"

"Uh sure... let's go with that. All I know is that he's been spotted in different places at the same time. Much further apart than he could have reasonably travelled."

"Sounds like that monster, yea." I nodded understandingly. "Like I said, if these are his." I shifted my stance a little. "Let's have a look at the socks now." Being honest here, I wasn't looking forward to this Object Read. I stalled and said, although I was being honest and not merely stalling, "we need a medium. Can you get somebody back in the room?"

Nemesis shifted. "Maybe. Depends how quiet they are and how good they are at following direction."

"Alright, but first," I closed my eyes again and pondered the bloody socks in the bag. After the read I must have had a look on my face as if I had just swallowed a handful of shit. "Fuck," I exclaimed.

"What's the matter?" Nemesis was again on edge. Tensed. Like a cat ready to pounce buy no mouse nearby.

"She was taken quite by surprise. Her last words: You're home earl..." I paused, swallowed, and continued. "There was a struggle and it wasn't swift."

"I had surmised as much."

I nodded solemnly. "I would rather have surmised," my voice trailed off. Regaining control of myself, I asked, "did you see any pictures of Ron there?"

Nemesis reached into the inside coat pocket. Briefly a pistol butt and holster was visible. Nemesis pulled out a picture of Ron and explained, "I'm going to need that back."

"Of course. Can you give me one more minute?"

"I have all the time in the world." Nemesis said somewhat darkly (with electronic distortion). "It's Hannah and Mr. Caliburn that do not."

"Yea. Let's see if we can get some more insight." I held the image and stared intently at it, being ready to pay close attention to what I was about to see. Within a few seconds my hands dropped to my sides as I sighed. I then held out the photograph for Nemesis to take back and said, "at this moment Ron's trying to sleep. He's somewhere dark, a room with the curtains drawn maybe. He's not sleeping well at all though. Tossing, turning, quite uncomfortable."

"I know how that goes." Nemesis accepted the photo back. "So where do we go from here?"

[cab312]

"Phone call," I said. "Phone's in the car." I added, "A buddy is already on her way, let's see how far she is. Meanwhile, let's get back near Ron's and see what's what there." I started for the car, "works for you?"

"Suits," Nemesis replied.

I motioned to the car with my head. "I'm driving?" I asked.

"That depends." Nemesis said, the electronically distorted voice seemed to be sprinkled with a hint of smile. "Are you using your hands or your knees?"

Being loosened up a bit myself, I answered, being totally honest, "Hands. I promise."

Nemesis crossed in front of the car and got into the front passenger seat. "Very well. But I'm watching you." It was hard to tell if Nemesis was joking or not.

I smirked and it was hard to tell if I was amused or not. I slid into the driver's seat. I plugged my phone into my ear and said into the mic, "dial Stephanie" and slammed the accelerator to the floor whipping the car around 180 degrees to go back the way we had come. "I'm gonna stop a few blocks awa—op, hold on, yea, Steph hi, where are you?" I listened. "Oh, right, Meagan. So anyways where the fuck are you?" I noticed Nemesis fidget. Adrenaline junky, I thought to myself. Meagan answered and I replied, "great, get to..." I plucked the map from the dashboard and kept one eye on the map one on the road and told her the intersection we were going to. "See you there." As I hung up the phone I tossed the map back up on the dashboard and guided the vehicle through the intersection by fishtailing sideways through an intersection being perpendicular to the direction of the flow of traffic for a moment. I narrowly avoided taking out a Ford Fiesta that was driving dangerously slow. Asshole.

"Let me see that map," Nemesis said.

I tossed over the map. "I'm gonna go in circles, sniff out a tail if we've picked one up."

Nemesis nodded (presumably absently) while pulling out a pen and marking the map. "Mr. Caliburn's place is here. We went here, and then there before we finally wound up at this place and lost whatever it was you were after." Next he started making X's. "Mr. Caliburn has been spotted here, and here, and here... "

"Spotted? By you?" I asked, being curious.

"No." Check, check... "By street people. They see lots but are often ignored. But not by Mr. Caliburn. And they don't ignore him either."

"Ah," I responded, being somewhat distracted by the tail I was pretty sure we had picked up.

"So I'm thinking that the X's in the direction you were chasing were not Ron. The other X's were Mr. Caliburn."

"That's not really my thing," but I gave a quick look at the map anyway while I began circling the block. "I'm pretty sure we have a tail."

"Ah yes," Nemesis glanced at the mirror. "I've been meaning to get to that." Nemesis unbuckled the seatbelt, drew a pistol and leaned out the window. Nemesis fired once. The car behind us swerved and wound up crashing into a light post, one of their tires flat. "Turn left up here." Nemesis buckled back up and went back to the map, no longer concerned about the problem.

Having shaken the tail, I drove to meet my friend.

"There she is, up there," I pointed out the window. "You waiting here, how you wana handle this?" I asked, being curious.

"They're your contact. Bring them up to speed and ask if they'll help. Then I'll see if I can get them into the room."

"Yea," I stepped out of the car and pulled my leather jack straight and walked to my friend's car and got into the passenger side. I gave the bare minimum of the information so as not to introduce as bias or noise in her ability to investigate the crime scene. I got out of the vehicle and gave Nemesis the thumbs up, good to go.

Nemesis got out of the car and walked over. "What can I call you?"

"Meagan," my friend replied. Last iteration it was Stephanie—I need to update my phone—next month is could be Melody, Amanda, or even Steve. Oh the androgyny.

But tonight (s)he would be Monocle.

"Okay Meagan. I'm going to call you Monocle. You call me Nemesis. You ever do any clandestine work, Monocle?"

Monocle (rep)lied, "nothing blatantly illegal but I've crept threw a few places I shouldn't've been."

"That's what we're going to be doing tonight." Nemesis nodded. "Except it's illegal. Are you okay with that? If not, back out now and no worries. But once we start, we're committed."

"We're helping the good guys, right. I'm in."

"Yeah. We're helping the good guys." Nemesis paused. "Does blood make you squeamish?"

"Not in the least. Sometimes the more of it, the better."

"O-kay then." Nemesis said. Nemesis turned to me. "You have some interesting friends."

"You should've met the ones that existed only in my mind," I responded, being sincere. There was a long pause as Nemesis stared at me for awhile. Monocle wasn't as comfortable though with the insanity and said, "let's get a move on?"

"Right. Okay." Nemesis recovered composure and seemed to get back into the game. "Okay. You're with me. Follow my directions to the letter. Mack, I'm going to get you to park the car in the street on the other side of Mr. Caliburn's house from the police cruiser. You're out escape route. That means Monocle and I will be crossing a neighbor's yard to get to the house."

Monocle said, "alright, take me to the room?"

[cab312]

Within some minutes they returned to the vehicle. They piled in and Nemesis said, "Mack, drive. Doesn't matter where. Monocle, tell us what you experienced." I started driving.

Monocle took out her notepad. "When I first entered the home I was smelling a faint rose smell. That's an indication of family type of thing. It quickly went into rotten flesh smell, death. I haven't asked yet but now I'm curious, is a loved on a likely suspect?"

"That's... hard to answer. The suspect may have appeared as though they were a loved one," Nemesis explained.

"The rose could be residual, if the victim didn't live alone but with loved ones. Hm?"

"It was a family residence. The victim was part of that family."

Monocle nodded, "but we can't rule out anything. Now there was a struggle. I heard specifically a female, almost certainly the victim begging to be spared and a lot of screaming. The room is permeated with extreme fear." Monocle looked at her notepad again. "Background noise...it was oddly silent, no dogs barking. Do we know when the murder occurred?"

At the mention of the extreme fear, Nemesis pinched the nose bridge in an expression of stress. Apparently sometimes it isn't a good thing to be right. "Some days ago. I'm not exactly sure when. During the day perhaps?" After a brief pause, "I wish I had my laptop and an internet connection so I could check."

I chimed in, "internet cafe?"

"Are any open this late?"

Monocle said, "I'm not familiar with this city."

Then Nemesis continued, "Let's shelve that for the moment. What else have you got, Monocle?"

I added, "when you said family I didn't want to interrupt but I picked up the victim saying You're home earl...."

Monocle replied, "she may have heard the door. She may have known her killer, or the killer was in disguise as her family. It's just not clear."

"Nothing else at all you can tell us?" Nemesis asked.

Monocle replied, "no, sorry, you always want more, but there's just no telling how an investigation will play out. There's the option of trying a séance. Otherwise, it's just orthodox leg work."

"A séance? Like with a ouji board?"

"Yea but Ouija is a game. If something happens, it's not because of the board."

Nemesis considered this for a moment. "Mack, you said you felt something when you were poking around? That was what we were chasing right? Could we talk to it with a séance? And what about Sarah?"

Being helpful as I could, I explained, "I was following the tracks that the supernatural leaves behind. It's footsteps in the ether, basically. Contact? If I was following an entity then, no, couldn't contact. Just spirits. Sarah, however, it is possible. Family members could improve our chances. Sounds about right?"

Monocle confirmed, more or less, "yea, pretty much."

"So we'd have to find either Hannah or Mr. Caliburn?" Nemesis asked.

"Hannah is the daughter?"

"Yes."

"Is there any other family?"

Nemesis with eyes closed and thinking said, "back at the compound maybe. It was so long ago that I read that. I don't remember if Sarah had family left there or not."

I added, "None that we're likely to even be able to ask, let alone have cooperate."

Nemesis let out an electronically distorted snort. "I can be very persuasive when I set my mind to it." And then asked, "would a possession of the deceased work?"

Monocle asked, "Did she leave the compound on good terms? I assume this is a kind of cult, so I assume the answer is no. And, no, possessions don't help in a séance, it's all about the mind of the participants. If they're not willing or coerced, they'd actually negatively affect the whole investigation."

Nemesis clarified, "I believe the term used for her extraction was 'rescue', so yeah. Not good terms at all."

"Well damn." Nemesis again pinched the nose bridge, trying to solve this problem. "It is starting to seem that we've gone as far down this rabbit hole as we can."

Monocle confirmed, "Basically. Have to think about likely suspects, natural or otherwise, and if we could get the witnesses hypnotized."

"The only witness is dead." Nemesis sounded electronically distorted and grim. "My number one suspect is a nightmare."

"That includes witnesses of the crime scene. I intentionally left myself in the dark on this so as not introduce bias. Who found the victim?"

"The rest of her family." Nemesis said, emotion draining from the electronically masked voice. "They were returning from the daughters archery match. I'm not actually certain how close the man of the house and Sarah were... they are both Hannah's parents but there seems to be some romantic complications or triangles with another woman... who has nothing to do with this case so far as I can tell."

I injected into the conversation, "That explains the home early stuff."

Nemesis continued, "Bastard didn't wait long before he started scaring her."

Monocle asked Nemesis, "Can you use names, not pronouns?"

"Sorry." Nemesis didn't sound sincere. "Old habit."

Monocle went on, "The killer obviously knew their schedule then. Where was the third in the triangle? Probably knew her his? schedule, too."

"This thing, as a working theory, 'Not-Ron', murdered Sarah in the most horrible way possible." Nemesis paused, being thoughtful. "There was some estrangement with this other woman. She's moved out of DC, I believe." Nemesis drew chin to chest. "Some worthless pieces of skin mugged her and caused her to lose her and Mr. Caliburn's unborn child. It caused problems at home so she left." Nemesis continued, "she was close to Hannah. She may have been aware of the girls archery tournament."

Monocle inquired, "any experts on this monster in your theory?"

"Mr. Caliburn himself." Nemesis supplied. "It was some sort of dream creature that originated in Hannah's nightmares, apparently. I'm not sure how all that stuff works. Just what I read at the forums."

Again I injected, "Caliburn bolted immediately after finding Sarah so we can't talk to him at all. Maybe Hannah knows something helpful and she's still able to make contact on the forums."

"That reminds me, Mack. I need you to do me a favor."

Monocle explained, "the sooner the better, although she may have already smoothed over the most traumatic bits."

I asked Nemesis, "yea?" being totally willing to help.

"Post all of this to the forums. Hannah wants me to keep feeding information to the Lazlo Society in the hopes that a coordinated effort will produce results. I've posted some stuff but I am not exactly loved there. I lack credibility. If they see an older name, they may accept it all a little better. It's against my better judgment but there may be something to what she wants."

Nemesis said to Monocle, "we're leaving Hannah out of this. I'm not going to try and find her unless I am forced to."

Monocle responded, "fair enough, I considered my involvement pretty much over after we left the residence, that's my specialty."

I told Nemesis that, "I'll put it up there, sure, now that I am no longer living in my imagination and got my feet back under me."

"Good man." Nemesis said to me. "If you need to contact me again, you can do it through the boards. After you post, I'll know who are there to contact you if I need you again. I'm sure we'll need to compare notes again soon." Nemesis looked up the street. "Let me out at that gas station. I have to get some stuff. Then I have something I need to do. Or try to do. I may be absent from the boards for a couple of days."

I dropped Nemesis at the gas station as per the request. I gave my standard "stay safe".

"Not an option. I'll settle for staying alive." Nemesis then addressed Monocle, "For your own safety, and understand this isn't a threat from me, forget tonight ever happened." Nemesis nodded to both of us. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a wild Ron to capture and then release back into the wild." With that, Nemesis departed... taking the map.

"A bit of a freak, huh," I said to Monocle. "Hungry?"

[Hannah]

You saw my father?

Do you know where he was? Do you know if he was safe?

[cab312]

He was sleeping, if you can call it that. Being perfectly honest with you, Hannah, all indications were that he was not being held captive and was in no immediate danger.

[Hannah]

Thank you.

[cab312]

You're welcome of course, it's the least that I can do here. I've been keeping up with his situation as much as possible, being frank, essentially nothing has changed.

[Grace]

RON CALIBURN! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'M GOING TO SHOOT YOU DEAD IN THE FACE!!!

YOU HAVEN'T BEEN RUNNING AWAY AT ALL!

. . .

Okay, I've gotten that out of my system. I feel better now. That cunning bastard. And I'm not really angry at Mr. Caliburn. I'm angry at myself for being a damned blind fool. I should have seen it sooner. If I had, I probably would have caught up to him by now.

Don't worry Hannah. Where ever your father is, he's fine and raising cain. I know, because he's exactly like me.

All the better to hunt you with, my dear.

I may not shoot him in the face, but I don't think a punch in the jaw is out of order at this point.

[cab312]

Explain, like you're talking to a 2 year old?

[Grace]

Mr. Caliburn is doing what he does best.

He is on the hunt.

[cab312]

Oh I see.