Yesterday we finished up a Chill case. Here's last time.
The envoys are having a tough time of it. Well, two of them are. Britt Lepus and Amelia Rostov are in the hotel bar and asleep, respectively. Someone runs up to Britt and tells her to come along, quickly. Britt, with a sinking feeling, follows.
Britt is led outside, and sees Nicholas Failor leaning against a wall, shell-shocked. She sees the bodies of Leslie Gaytan and her boyfriend, and a crowd of people around Mercy Williams. There's an argument going on about whether to move her; Britt points out that she'll freeze if they don't, and someone runs to get a stretcher. Britt asks Mercy what happened, but doesn't get much (Mercy is in a lot of pain and has lost a lot of blood). She tries to talk Nicholas down a little, but then just leads him inside and gives him tea. She also texts Amelia and wakes her up.
Mercy is taken to the hotel infirmary and someone on staff with EMT training gives her painkillers and calls for help. The weather has cleared, so a helicopter can land. In the meanwhile, Nicholas focuses enough that he can explain to Britt and Amelia what happened, including that Roger just up and vanished. A life-flight arrives and Mercy is taken off to Seward for medical care, and police arrive shortly thereafter. Amelia gives a statement to the police and lets Nicholas and Britt get some sleep (Nicholas takes a bottle of whiskey to bed with him), since it's going to be a while before they're released.
Nicholas dreams. In his dream, he's walking through a forest, one that feels familiar. He can hear the ocean in the distance. He stops in front of an immense tree, and sees that the bark is moving - it's trying to communicate. He sees the tree's roots stretching out into the soil, wrapping around his ankles. He walks away, but knows that under some condition, the tree could pull him back.
Some hours later, Amelia wakes them both up and tells them to go and talk to the cops. The envoys tell the truth, for the most part: They came out here to find Roger at Granny Beth's behest, weather conditions or mechanical error forced their plane down, the murders happened, none of them can confirm that Roger was the killer, but it looked like him. An APB has been put out on Roger, and Amelia and the others talk about what happens now.
They still aren't sure to what extent the Unknown is involved. Is Roger possessed? Did the Unknown push him until he snapped? Is that someone wearing a Roger suit? Any of these are possible...but it's also possible that Roger started killing people on his own and the Unknown is just responding to that. Amelia calls Granny Beth and updates her (Granny Beth says that cops are already there looking for Roger). She asks Amelia to try and save Roger if they can, but gives her blessing to do what's necessary.
The envoys fly back to Seward, and pick up Mercy from the hospital. The stab wound was deep, but didn't hit her kidney or nick an artery (I suspect that it's not entirely realistic for her to be discharged this quickly, but I wanted her player to be involved in the case). They get together at Mercy's apartment and pool what they know, and Nicholas tells them about the dream. They remember that Roger was doing art at Fort McGilvray before all this started, and they look through his photo references and find some shots of a big, imposing-look tree. It's the same one as in the painting in his apartment, in fact.
Mercy does some research, and finds an interesting story from the 1970s: A man named Rupert Sherman robbed a bank in Anchorage and shot two people (a teller and a cop). He was arrested later that day in the parking lot of Fort McGilvray, and while it's not impossible for him to have made that drive, the fact remains that he just disappeared from the area near the bank. Also, reports indicate that there was no reason for him to shoot the teller; she was cooperating. Sherman was executed via the gas chamber, and as he was dying he was heard to scream "bring me back!"
With that as a jumping-off point, Amelia looks into the lore of the area and hits the jackpot. There are stories about evil spirits that live in trees that might offer a deal to a person wandering near them: if they kill someone, they will be instantly transported back to the tree. What happens then depends on the story; in some versions the tree eats them, in others the spirit jumps into their body and rides them around, and in others they just get away with the kill. The stories sometimes depict villagers learning the truth and burning or cutting down the tree, but just as often no one ever figures it out.
Amelia calls Granny Beth to ask if she's heard these stories, and she has: she refers to it as "the mooring tree." The envoys decide they're going to find this tree and kill it, and Granny Beth sends along Kenny and Dave, two brothers who aren't terribly bright but are quite handy and don't ask questions. Nicholas goes out to a logging camp and borrows some gear (chainsaw bibs, chainsaws) and everyone heads to Fort McGilvray.
Mercy, Britt, and Amelia walk along the path, using Roger's photos as reference. They leave Mercy at a picnic table (not wanting her to get too close to the tree, since she's injured). As they approach the tree, Britt's mind wanders to Las Vegas, and the man who summoned up the awful sand ghouls that killed some folks. She idly thinks that she could kill that guy, and maybe...
Amelia notices Britt muttering to herself and uses Disrupt. Britt's thoughts clear, and she explains that the tree doesn't really talk to you, it just puts thoughts into your head. Much more insidious than they realized. Amelia draws a Line of Defense around them while they wait for the boys.
Nicholas, Kenny, and Dave show up, fire up the saws, and cut down the tree. The tree tries to put thoughts into their heads, but Amelia is watchful and protects them. The tree eventually falls with an immense crack, and Nicholas stares into the rings. They move, rhythmically, like the ocean...
The others snap him out of it and they all flee. Roger, they find, has been arrested, but he knows enough to shut up until he talks to a lawyer. The police can't make a case against him for the murders - after all, Leslie Gaytan was killed this morning, the place was locked down, there was no possible way he could have made it back to Seward, which is where he was arrested. The killer, therefore, is assumed to be someone who looked a lot like Roger, and the police continue searching around the resort, but of course find no trace.
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