[Cabin in the Woods] It Comes At Night

Gavin was happy to have another occultist along with him on the excursion. Each time presented as an opportunity to learn another aspect of universe or gain a new perspective on the more familiar. He'd endured limited understanding and experience from the Summer court recently and it had chaffed despite the resounding successes delivered on the work. Working with Callahan and Eis on a cure to an unknown illness ended up being an enlightening experience despite the extreme time crunch and Gavin's non-existent medical knowledge. This time looked to have the potential to be a camp site ghost story with a companion who could become a Gravewright if needed. That could be a clinch resource.

Gavin was cautioned that Rowan could be dangerous to work with as some of his companions had died working on some kind of unapproved project. The details had not yet come to light and it left a point of curiosity hanging in the air. The weight of passing Freeholders stifled asking the obvious questions. 

This was further out than he'd traveled previously since swearing to the Vegas Freehold. Even with his work as a trail guide he would generally keep closer to Vegas and only occasionally flirt with the edge of the wards. Being this far away left him feeling constrained by the glamour limitations in the face of a potential supernatural threat. It was going to be prudent to be prepared and he had made sure to bring his pouches of components to ease the burden of contract usage. 

He had also prepared for a camping trip in case they needed to go further afield than the apparent sites of reported incidents. What was reported could be the outer edge of a ranging predator and they might have to follow where the Jeep couldn't go. Gavin wasn't confident in his skill in harsher off-road conditions anyway. He'd much rather go on foot much of the time. 



"Yeah, we'd heard it had gotten to be pretty bad out here. Cavalry to the rescue--that's the saying, right?. Anything more since the last report?" he unfolded his copy of the local area map and shone a light on it for Arthur's input, "and maybe the lay of the land."  

"Depends on how far you go. Signal ends around here..." Ghillie gestures to the office area and main campground. "If you want the closest one where I got some of the evidence, can point it out to you. But if you're planning on talking to objects I can save you some time. Forest and rocks don't know shit. The things left behind are scrambled with ideas, or I just know about the victim. Stuff's been cleared, so the mundies don't start collecting trinkets...I was hoping that would be in the report. You know. If Winter asks."

He cleared his throat, shaking off his embarrassment at the inevitable Look he gets for destroying potential evidence. "My suggestion, if you'd like it, would be to start with the outskirts of a bigger group. Real quiet like, obviously, but it definitely targets groups."

At all the concern for phone signal, Gavin hadn't shown any noticeable concern were someone paying attention. He looked around the horizon for the shadows of major landmarks and compared them to the map to get a feel for it and model it in his mind. A quick check of a compass confirmed orientation. He adjusted the map position on the hood of the jeep to match the compass. 

"Alright, so you're worried about getting lost out here right? Look here," he points the long claws of two fingers at high ridged landmarks on the map and then their true forms. "So since we are going in that direction in general you turn toward this one on your left. If you are lost, on your own, and trying to get to safety, head toward that one. When you get closer put yourself between it and that ridge over there, it'll put you roughly here."

"We might get out of sight of those though, so we might need to pick up other markers along the way, but I'll cover that as we go." Turning to Arthur while pointing at a couple of streams or rivers on the map around the lake, "Which way do these flow, I mean if they have any water this time of year?"

Question about his stealth skills, Gavin knew he was generally not a quiet man. "Get me to a dark spot and I can get Light Shy going. Otherwise, not so stealthy in these sandals." His long and clawed feet made it obvious why he couldn't make traditional hiking foot-ware work for him. "Some difficulties since you wouldn't be able to follow me easily without leaving other marks. Chalk maybe?"

"Were we going to look at the other evidence you collected or was what you sent in those ten or so files the sum and total of it? Or any pictures of any of the scenes undisturbed?" He wasn't sure he was going to see much since he didn't expect there would be much focus on small breaks in plants or divots and drag marks like he wanted to see. Most people didn't think like trackers. 

Gavin marks down Arthur's points on the map and the directionality of any water flows to help with navigation and keeping Rowan's concerns in check. 

"It's alright man, I'm a trail guide for my day job. I grew up in Northern Oz. Done some time in the Outback. I run around in the Hedge all the time. The mountains can go on walkabout there," Gavin tried to keep the tone light as he was confident in his skill.

"If you are really worried, we could do up one of those questing pledges to help each other know where we are. Otherwise, I'd like to get moving," Gavin puts on a bit of pressure for Rowan to decide what he needs to feel comfortable out here. 

Gavin noted Rowan's continued concern toward getting lost. "Here, you can carry my map. I'll help you mark down landmarks that you feel are very distinct and you can remember by sight. Also, this is a fairly well used camping ground. There's probably a good number of signs around too."

"Let's go track the spooky phenomena. I'm thinking we go hang around the larger group of campers here that Arthur pointed out. It's a good place to start." Gavin points to a small island on the map. "We'll have to cross the water somehow." He looks over to Arthur indicating he was going to need some details.

With Arthur's inputs the pair work out the logistics of getting to the island and where to grab kayaks or a canoe along the way. It would be better for keeping supplies and tools dry than swimming. 

The group moved the equipment over to the truck offered by Arthur while the local had offered his advice to visiting pair. Once secured, Gavin coaxed Rowan to get in and rolling. 

The pair stopped a couple of points along the route to get Rowan in the habit of looking back the way they already traveled. It was important to have a sense of how things looked when going the other way in case it was necessary to backtrack, or to simply later go home. The back sides of landmarks would often make them appear completely different. These snapshots would increase familiarity with them from varied angles and the landscape. It was Gavin's hope that the navigation conversation would help settle Rowan's nerves and let the pair of them focus on the work at hand. He was familiar with inexperienced hikers and the jitters that came with feeling lost and putting that to task. 

He followed the approach as far as it would take the two of them. 

A question occurred to Gavin, "How are we going to communicate if we're both using Light Shy to hide?" It was a common difficulty of the contract. He was used to occasionally guiding people along a Trod by leaving varied claw marks. That habit would not be as useful here as it would add to the spook factor they were collectively trying to get a handle on.  

Across the water, sound travelled in a quiet muffle from those in the lake. The pair could see the very faint glow of a few fires on the island, clustered around what appeared to be the dark shape of a large cabin.

It was easy enough to drag one of the vessels to the edge. As the conversation continued, it looked like the fires were getting snuffed.