Actually, hospitals usually do have revolving doors, so it's not quite as evocative as I thought. Anyway. Last time, the envoys wrapped up a case, but three of them (Jeannie, BB, and Jennifer) were in the hospital after being mauled by a "bear" (actually a sasquatch).
Today, Monday March 5th, BB and Jeannie, who are roomed together, receive a visit from one Arliss Hatler, an Oregon state trooper. He's following up on the strange car accident that happened about a month ago, in which the characters (plus a few others) and a pickup belonging to one Casey Lynch wound up off the road and then on fire (this all happened here). Hatler isn't looking to make trouble for the characters, he's just concerned because Lynch went missing after the accident, and he wants to make sure the characters don't know anything useful. He talks to BB and Jeannie, and then to Jennifer (who's doped up enough that she's not terribly useful yet), and then heads out to find Dylan.
He finds Dylan, indeed, finishing up his Monday class, and asks him about Lynch. Dylan mentions something the others didn't - Lynch brandished a gun and seemed very angry at the characters after the accident (which is true, although of course there's some very important context missing), and Hatler notes this and confirms that Lynch was a Marine Corp vet. He leaves, and Dylan goes to the hospital to talk to the others, picking up Beth Anne on the way.
They all hunker down in Jennifer's room to talk. Lynch going missing is a concern; it might not be Unknown-related, but then, they told him about SAVE in an attempt to keep him from telling the police that they, y'know, set a dude on fire in front of him. They figure they should look into it, but Jeannie points out that they really need a solid base of operations first, and the ranch is still compromised. They decide to call in help - Jordan and Willa - and have Dylan, Jordan, Willa, and Beth Anne go out to the ranch and see how the land lays. Jeannie, Jennifer, and BB are still laid up, although Jennifer and BB are quite capable of doing research, so they'll see what they dredge up about Lynch and his disappearance from here.
The four envoys head out to the ranch, and right away see trouble - Chet's car is here. Everyone else who lives at the ranch - Chet, Darnell, and Ruth - were told to stay away. Dylan immediately raises a Mental Shield over the four of them. They go in, cautiously, and call out, and Chet responds. He comes downstairs with a duffel bag, and tells the envoys that he needed to get some stuff.
Jordan, who is both a Protector and remembers what the xaxog is capable of (she was part of the team that encountered it back at the university), uses Disrupt on Chet. He blinks for a moment, and agrees to leave. Jordan checks his duffel and notes that it contains tools - screwdriver, wrench, crowbar - as well as a couple of pistols. She asks what he needs this stuff for, and he responds that he doesn't know, it just seemed like what he needed to get.
They go outside, and Jordan notices Chet sway a little, so she hits him with Disrupt again. Dylan also notices that the Mental Shield has fallen - something is here. Chet says that he had a sudden urge to take his truck and drive around the access road that leads to the base of the missile silo (reminder: the ranch sits on a decommissioned missile silo; the silo doubles as the HQ's panic room). And then he lurches at Dylan, trying to punch him in the face. Willa trips him, and Beth Anne grabs a wooden owl decoration off the porch and bashes him in the face. He sits down heavily, blood pouring out of his nose, but seems to be less inclined to punch people.
Jordan tends to him (his nose is broken and one of his front teeth is loose, but he doesn't seem to be concussed), and draws a Line of Defense around him. The envoys decide to investigate the access road Chet was going to take, but leave Beth Anne there to watch him (and note that if he has to, he can leave the circle; he's not a creature of the Unknown, just under the influence of one). They get in the SUV and head down the road through the snow.
When they leave, though, Chet, talking with Beth Anne, sees something in the house behind her. She turns and spots something duck out of view. She goes in to investigate, and sees it - a humanoid creature, chalk white, no hair, and wearing normal human clothes (Boise State sweatshirt and jeans), which somehow just makes it all worse. She asks it what it is, and it tells her - "xaxog."
It tells her how much it loved the look of confusion on Chet's face when she bashed him in the face. She asks what it's doing, why all the dreams, and it smiles and says that they're missing one very obvious and important clue, which it is happier to share - if she lets it kiss her hand. She refuses (Beth Anne knows that if it wants to touch her, there's a reason for that, and in any case there's no guarantee it would tell the truth). It sighs, and says that while it doesn't usually like to get its hands dirty like this, sometimes there's nothing for it. And then it grabs a fireplace poker and swings.
Beth Anne tries to duck, but she can't quite seem to get her bearings. It strikes her in the shoulder, ripping out a chunk of flesh. She screams in pain, and Chet comes rushing in...which means he leaves the circle. He holds a gun on the xaxog, but then moves and points it at Beth Anne.
Down at the silo, the characters enter the panic room, and find it in disarray. The food packets have been opened, nibbled, and cast aside, the clothes have been rifled through, but the beds are untouched. Jorden concludes that this creature has at least some need of food, though maybe not rest, and that it's corporeal, which is probably good. The whole area, though, has a strong Unknown feel, even though the creature itself doesn't seem to be present.
They also find a notebook with all of their names in it, as well as some extra notes (that Jordan and Dylan are Protectors, that Emily suffers from PTSD, and so on). The creature is apparently interested in making this personal, at least to some extent. They decide to put a ward on the room, preventing the creature from coming back, at least until sunrise. Dylan draws the sigil...and his phone rings. It's Beth Anne.
Well, Beth Anne's phone, anyway. The xaxog tells Dylan to take off the ward or he'll shoot Beth Anne in the head. Dylan, boxed in, wipes the ward, and the three envoys whisper to each other, deciding that they'll leave (the xaxog's next demand), but one will stay behind and recreate the ward. They all three leave, and Jordan stays behind, waiting until the others drive away.
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Jennifer and BB do some digging. Jennifer discovers that Casey Lynch was indeed a Marine, saw combat in Somalia and Iraq, and was honorably discharged not quite a year ago. He's from Bend, OR, but currently lives in Burns, which isn't far from Lawen, the tiny little town where the accident happened. BB figures he might go to a VA, and finds one in Seneca, OR, about 60 miles north of Burns. Jennifer finds check-ins on Lynch's Facebook in Seneca, so he apparently visits occasionally. She also finds that a woman named Miranda Houston went missing while hiking in Seneca a couple of days ago, and the search is being called off.
Jennifer calls the police department in Seneca and asks about Lynch. She learns that they hadn't realized he was missing (he didn't go missing in Seneca, after all), but the detective tells her that it's odd that Houston disappeared - she was an experienced hiker and wouldn't have wandered off into an unsafe area or gone out without supplies. However, he notes, accidents happen to anyone, and besides, unpleasant as it is to consider, there have been a lot of reports of coyotes lately. Not that anyone has seen them, but they've been finding animal carcasses, and pets have been going missing.
Jennifer thanks him, and BB calls the VA. They tell him that while Lynch didn't come there much, he did come up and accompany a buddy of his. Said friend passed away a few months ago, though. Lynch still comes to Seneca periodically; the fellow from the VA remembers Lynch mentioning that his family used to camp in the Malheur National Forest, which surrounds Seneca.
BB and Jennifer agree that this is enough to investigate; someone ought to go to Seneca. And how are things going at the ranch?
Not good, as it happens. Dylan and Willa get back to the lodge and find Beth Anne and Chet in the kitchen. Chet is holding pressure on the wound on Beth Anne's arm. Dylan immediately raises a Mental Shield over all of them, and Beth Anne tell them that Chet has a gun in his jacket (which Chet confirms, but is confused as to why he put it there). They disarm him and bandage Beth Anne's arm.
Meanwhile, though, down at the silo, Jordan draws a Line of Defense around herself to avoid the creature messing with her, and then makes a run for the door. She slips and falls, though, her coordination failing her. The xaxog emerges and brains her with a tree branch, but she runs on adrenaline and makes it in the door. Her vision and hearing instantly fail her, and the creature hits her again. He strength fading, she raises a Sphere of Protection, and with her last bit of will, she scrawls a sigil on the floor, warding the room. And then she passes out.
Next time, we'll see if she survives, and what else the xaxog might be capable of.
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