Cabin in the Woods

Hector picked up as many newspapers as he could while still holding his flashlight, "Cameron, grab some of these. We'll read them up there."

Astarte put her hands loosely over her ears and tried to sleep.

*Cameron nods and picks up as many newspapers as he can before heading out*

*Creaking floorboards, a heavy dragging noise, & footsteps in the hall join together with the wind to create a symphony of shit.*
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*Yes, she does.*
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N"Shouldn't you people be going to sleep?"

*Meanwhile, Thiera pulls her chair closer to Roatha, & they read more of Euryale's book, as there's basically nothing else to do.*

Eve:<I suppose. I'm almost too stressed to sleep.>
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*Monu waves at Cameron*

Monu:<Whatcha got there?>

Cameron:<Newspapers.>

Monu:<Awesome.>

*When Cameron reaches the doorway of the basement, he hands a few newspapers to Azuma, then Cameron and Monu look over the remaining ones*

Cameron:<Anyone see anything important?>

Azuma: "That was my plan."

Taiyo twitches.

"Well, the dates seem pretty important," Hector said. "Maybe not to our immediate situation, but knowing might help sometime. One of these looks like it's just over a week old."
He looked for more dates.

Astarte held her hands more firmly over her ears, cursing everybody and everything for being loud.

*Next, Astarte hears a low rumble of thunder.*
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T"I guess it could be useful to know something about the history of this cabin. It might indirectly tell us a way out of here."

*Of the approximately dozen newspapers, most are ripped, faded, or spilled on, leaving only 4 other dates legible: 2 from last year, 1 3 years old, & the final from 10 years ago.*

She continued to hold her hands over her ears and try extremely hard to ignore everything.

"Well, whoever owned or owns this cabin has been here- and probably with a way back to civilization- for a long time," Hector said. "And has only recently left. I suppose. Can anybody make out any interesting article titles?"

Azuma: "Bed time."

Azuma puts the stack of papers he was given down and goes to the bedroom, Mimiru still sitting on the bed.

Azuma: "Hey, roomie. What's shaking?"

Mimiru: "Huh? Nothing. Shut up, mutt."

Azuma: "Subtle."

*Anyone who picks through the papers will find that most of them are ripped, faded, covered with spills, or some combination, making it difficult to read most of the headlines. The ones that can be made out are: "Local Woman Goes Insane," (3ya) "Shootout Ends In Cop Killing," (N/A) "Mayoral Election Heats Up," (10ya) "Disappearing Pigs," (3ya) "Extinct Bird Rediscovered?" (3ya) & "New Insight Into Cyprus Disappearance" (N/A).
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*Rain begins falling on the roof again.*

Hector picked up the paper with the headline regarding the 'Cyprus Disappearance' and walked to the living room, closely followed by Eduj who was also carrying some newspapers.

Azuma: "Well, I'm going to sleep. I guess you can continue sitting there."

Azuma turns the light off and stumbles around to get to the other side of the bed.

Azuma: "So what do you think of that one girl. The one with the feline fixation."

Mimiru: "Taiyo."

Azuma: "Sure."

Mimiru: "What do you mean?"

Azuma: "Well, grouchy girl slapped her and you didn't deck her in return. It's odd."

Mimiru: "I guess...Well...She's pretty freaked out by this whole ordeal. I didn't want to do anything that might make her feel worse."

*Eve walks out to join the group at the newspapers, picking up the one about the Extinct Bird Found*

Cameron:<The cabin was too dusty for the owner to have just left a week ago.>

Monu:<Maybe.>

*Cameron picks up the newspaper about the local women who went insane*

*The article about the Cyprus Disappearance is faded, & thus difficult to read.*

...Cyprus, a local woman who disappeared 2 years ago, still hasn't been found...new lead in the case...half-dozen witnesses report seeing her enter the Black Forest, carrying containers of fuel. A search party was sent for her, but recalled after a week due to the outbreak on a forest fire. The fire...no word on when another search party were sent...is arguing to close the case, under the rationale that the original sighting was a case of mistaken identity.
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Local Woman Goes Insane

A local woman has been committed to an asylum, after shooting and killing her husband. The woman, whom we've been asked to keep nameless, told authorities that she had been aiming at a living shadow, which had been harassing her family for months. She goes on to state that she had attempted...

*At this point, the paper is ripped, & the rest of the article is lost.*
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*The only piece of the bird story surviving is a picture of a blurred shape in the sky. It almost looks as though one of its wings has been split in 2. Underneath it is the caption, "Scientists say this picture, with a wingspan of over 6 feet, could be explained by a number of bird species, but they were all thought extinct." The small paragraph beside it is ripped & faded by abrasions, & the story continues on another page, which is either lost or one of the illegible ones.*
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*Meanwhile, Nero fishes out Disappearing Pigs, & reads it out loud.*

<"Local farmers report a recent epidemic of pig disappearances. A total of 24 animals have disappeared from 4 farms in the area. Only one of the pigs has been found, identified by the tag on its ear. The animal was mutilated beyond recognition, its eyes and snout removed, and its body covered in lacerations. The corpse, found in a ditch in the Black Forest, had been drained of blood, and there was no blood on the scene. There are no suspects, though a local woman, Martha Zwei, believes that, 'It's obviously a cult. Kids these days have no moral compass. But God's reckoning is coming. You'll see.'" What the Hell is this nonsense?>

"The pig sounds like it's wounds were similar to those of the fox," Eduj said. "There could be connections."
"Well, this one is about my mother's disappearance into this very forest," Hector said. "Nothing I didn't already know, but strangely I hadn't made a connection... Maybe she... was in this cabin?"

Cameron:<This one here mentions a living shadow. That's pretty close to what we saw.>

Monu:<The woman who reported it was insane. Still, there may be a connection.>

Eve:<The one I have is about the sighting of a bird of an unknown species, but all the possibilities are extinct.>

*Eve falls silent for a moment*

Eve:<All these seem to have something to do with the situation...or maybe I'm thinking too much into it.>

N"Dead birds have nothing to do with our situation. And the rest of it's just the media trying to make a story."

R"I have to agree with Nero, these are kind of lame. Yours says it wasn't even the same woman."

*He points at Hector.*

T"Let's not write these off so easily. Someone built this cabin, & someone gathered these newspapers. In fact..."

*She gets up, striding around the living room.*

T"Why is there no chimney in here?"

*She points at the door.*

T"Why is there only one door?"

*She then goes into the kitchen & pulls open a drawer & a cabinet.*

T"Why is there enough food to feed an army, but no tableware?"

R"Are you approaching a point, or did you just decide that we're playing 20 Questions to pass the time?"

Hector and Eduj sat silently and looked at Thiera.

Eve:<I think the point is that this cabin doesn't add up.>

*Cameron and Monu shrug at Hector and Eduj*

T"Sort of. All of this must have a purpose."

N"And you think it's connected to that thing out there?"

T"Maybe. Maybe not. But there must be a reason for that, too."

*The lights dim to less than half, blink a few times, & then go back to normal.*

Monu:<Nooooooooooooooo! Please don't go out power.>

Eve:<I may sound crazy here, but I'm starting to wonder if this was all set up. The crash, the cabin, the shadow being.>

*Eve shakes her head*

Eve:<Now I sound like I'm going insane.>

"Well, I think Nero and that other guy mentioned seeing something just before the crash," Hector said, looking at Nero. "Yeah?"

N"Oh. Yeah, that was Shadow Man. Had the same stupid hat, & everything."

*He points to his head. Thiera keeps staring at the light bulbs.*

R"...Maybe it's just the storm?"

T"Maybe, but maybe not. It's not going to last forever, you know."

"It could be interfering with the generator," Eduj said in a monotone. "We will be easier to kill when we only have torch light."
"Considering what it did to Euryale, I think it could probably take out the generator easily," Hector said. "It could just be the storm."

Mimiru climbs under the covers.

Mimiru: "Night, mutt."