Shudder Island - Part Two , The Whispering Pines Report
General Summary
At his office located in the town square of Hempstead, Dr. Sternwood treated Karl's wounds, as the serving girl in The Eagle's Nest recommended to him. The doctor bound them up and set Karl on the road to recovery from the gunshot wound he received from the would-be Tory horse thieves on their way into Hempstead from Jamaica.
Sternwood was definitely a Tory, but no one would gainsay his medical skills, not, at least, while Karl's life depended on them. Ham-handed beer hall bouncer Karl was, Elmo instead was diplomatic in his response to Dr. Sternwood's opinion of The Glorious Cause, and Karl bound up, the Stalwarts made their way on Hempstead road east, following the copy of the map by C. Johann Muller they made in City Hall, to Sag Harbor and thence to Shelter Island where intelligence perhaps in the possession of Thomas Dering, a leading citizen on the island, with regards to British fleet movements that might prove vital to victory in the upcoming battle. There was an ancient Chinese warlord, Sun Tzu, who said one good spy was worth 1,000 soldiers. Hopefully, the intelligence they brought would be sufficient to overcome the deficiency in numbers and training the Americans would face when the British arrived in New York.
The road east, after finally setting out from Hempstead, continued on past smallholders' farms into a deeper woods called the Pine Barrens, dominated by the Pitch Pine with its black, resinous bark and pine cones. You saw burnt out stretches where the dormant pine cones are now opening seed-laden to replace the trees destroyed by perhaps a lightning strike. There are also oaks, less tenacious in the face of wildfires. Both type of tree are relatively short in stature for their species, perhaps due to the heavily clay soil or some other less obvious reason. The pitch pine, coniferous, has needles all year round, but the deciduous white oaks are just sprouting new leaves now and beginning to flower with white petals. There is an aquifer underlying Long Island, so springs are not hard to come by. fresh water collecting in ponds along the road. The plentiful food and water sources feed a variety of wildlife, to judge by the spoor. There are also a large variety of bird species that make the Pine Barrens home, including Ospreys and Eagles. The twittering in spring goes on all night long, as Chaucer said in The Canterbury Tales, a collection of travelers' tales from April pilgrimages undertaken to offer gratitude to the One who kept them healthy through the winter months.
It was not far from the outskirts of Hempstead, they heard the sound of someone whistling Yankee Doodle in the woods, the marching song of the rebel armies, though usually accompanied by fife and drum . Coming into view then was a young fellow, tromping loudly through the woods more due to lack of frontier skills than indiscretion, really a hayseed of sorts, a common laborer who took up arms against the British because words like freedom and equality meant something, meant hope to him. Unlike the Tory's and Whigs keeping watch on what each other might incautiously say to strangers in the Eagle's Nest, Wilfred Bannister, the uncouth lout, was direct in warning them of a threat waiting in the Pine Barrens of Long Island.
The Pine Barrens became thicker, denser as the road continued onward. A carpet of needles under the canopy snuffed out most sound. Not even the birds could be heard above the deafening silence of the muffling canopy of needles. The darkness under the trees shadowed the road. There was a heavily aromatic scent of pine in the air. When did it become colder?
Elmo, scouting ahead, became Aware of a symbol suspended from a tree branch above the road, a strange symbol. The tree from which it was suspended also seemed twisted, suggesting to the imaginative mind the features of a person screaming in pain
With his knowledge of the Arcane and the Occult, Elmo determined the symbol and the tree from which it was suspended were both cursed by Hexerei, malefic witchcraft. Better not to touch either the symbol or the tree!
No telling how long ago it was hung from the tree branch.
This was the beginning of the fear.
The road continued, ever deeper into the heart of the Pine Barrens. It was midday, as far as you could tell, though the sky was clouded and there was a rumbling in the sky or is it underground? The Quartermaster made his daily test while the Stalwarts and their horses took time to rest and feed.
Yet farther along the road, Elmo, scouting ahead again, made out a foot sticking out from a bush at the side of the road.
In the gloom, it was not easy to make out, but there was no sound and no movement, even when poked and prodded, so Karl finally pulled the corpse, for so it was, from the bush. It was decapitated, wearing overalls but no boots, no shoes, a mute testimony to the frailty of humankind.
At the level of his neck, the wood of the tree has been gouged with what appears to be a curved weapon, perhaps a saber or a sharp sickle. The tree against which he sits is twisted into grotesque features like the tree from which the symbol hung
Elmo was able to determine that the trees have again been cursed with Hexerei, witchcraft
Scrutinizing further, the Stalwarts determined that given the blood everywhere is not completely dry, the decapitation probably took place in the last 24 hours.
The Stalwarts dragged the body off the road lest they themselves be accused of his murder, but no Christian burial was offered the poor soul, so Conflict arose in their breasts of the devout as they pondered their faithlessness.
The road continued onward, as did the fear of whatever was lurking in those woods, for most colonists, still fresh with the memory of King Philip's War, would surmise only the Indian tribes that would act so savagely.
Late in the afternoon, toward evening, you smelled smoke. It burned your eyes, made them water. Perhaps God was making you involuntarily weep for the headless man you did not bury.
As you approached a clearing ahead, you saw a tree in the middle of the road and a smoking ruin on your right hand.
It is a large white oak tree, larger than any you have seen so far in the Barrends, the color of bone. From this tree are hanging the headless bodies of a dozen or more folk, lashed by their bare feet to branches. The ground at the foot of the tree is wet with their blood, dripping down. Karl remembers the stories he heard from the time of the Thirty Years War, when whole villages were hung side by side from whatever large tree was available for the crime of their religion.
The Fear fed on what was going on in your heart at this macabre sight!
Karl explored the smoking ruin. He first determined the signboard bore the scorched words "Whispering Pines Inn". There would be no food and lodgings provided this evening!
Karl also espied a canvas bag, miraculously surviving intact in the smoldering ruins of the Inn. He opened the bag. Inside was the severed head of a man identical in appearance to his own face! The gorge rose in Karl's throat and madness in his mind, as Terror overcame him. He threw the accursed canvas bag into the woods but the damage was done! He suffered a Nameless Affliction, yet to be determined.
Nightfall came and tt was time to make camp; you didn't know how you would sleep, but your jarred nerves require it.
Around midnight, a fog or mist will gathered around the camp and at the edge of the firelight, the Stalwarts will see a house such as the Eastern Indian tribes make that wasn't there before. There was a heavy silence and Elmo could sense the Abyssal within this Black Lodge.
Emerging from the door of the lodge, a blood-stained possibly human skin stretched across the doorposts, a figure that seemed one with the shadows flickering around your camplfire. It was draped in a black and hooded robe or blanket. The smell of rot, of sulfur, of death and damnation surrounded it. Under its hood, you can see nothing, only darkness. It seems to float just above the forest floor. As you watch, petrified, the thing divides into two. Both unseen hands raise curved sickles, covered with blood, to strike.
It begins to chant in a language no one understands who has not walked too close to the flames of Hell. It speaks, but only Elmo hears what is saying:
Ki-no-na'daga [We heard tell of him]
Ah-na-da-conda [A name]
Ah-na-da-conda
ogi-gacki't'-on [It would answer him]
tci-a'namit-a-gw'et-ot'c [When he spoke to it]
Wiske-djak [pronounded like Whiskey Jack!]
Wiske-djak
Elmo was successful in striking up a conversation with the thing and learned it had been summoned by the sorcerer Ah-na-da-CONDA who dwells in these woods and would have to kill them now. Elmo offered to serve, even to worship the thing, if it would let them pass. The thing finally relented of its death threat, on condition the Stalwarts respectfully bury the canvas bag they had found in the ruins of the Whispering Pines. They readily agreed to its proposal at which point the thing returned to the Black Lodge which vanished again in the fog.
The Stalwarts have received 175 reward points in this session. The next session will be Jan 30th, 3-6 pm EST.
Thanks again for a great session!
- Yar won't get no help from them Tory's in Hempstead, no sirree. But I can tell ye this much, if ye be minded to listen. On December 12th it was, Richard Hewlettt of Hempstead was summoned to appear before the New York Provincial Congress to answer questions related to him meeting, late at night in Rockaway with British marines rowed ashore from the British Man-o-War Asia with loads of muskets and ammunition
- Dickey boy didn't answer the summons, goes without saying, as many of the leading Tories in Queen's County refused to treat with the rebel authorities
- So, the Continental Congress in January, resolving in early January to arrest the Tory leaders in Queen's County and confiscate the muskets of those who wouldn't take an oath of allegiance to Congress.
- Richard Hewlett managed to escape into the Pine Barrens with 4 companies of 50 militia under him, when Colonel Heard arrived from New Jersey and Colonel Waterbury from Connecticut with 1500 militia to arrest him.
- The renegades are still out there, lurking in the Pine Barrens - have a care!
- Some Injuns out there yet, but they shouldn't hurt ye any if ye leave 'em be. Watch out for that Whiskey Jack! he finished with a chuckle
Martin Wiley Futch
The Mariner (Next)
Attributes
C
B
A
P
I
W
F
38
35
46
45
38
43
36
CB
BB
AB
PB
IB
WB
FB
3
3
5
5
3
4
3
Skills
Martial Melee +10, Martial Ranged +, Simple Melee +10, Simple Ranged +10, Toughness +10, Pilot +10, Ride +10, Awareness +10, Survival +0, Education +10, Navigation +10,
Peril Threshold: / 6 / 12 / 18
Current Initiative: 8
Current Movement: 8
Damage Threshold: 3 / 9 / 15 / 21
Injuries
Elmo Eshbach
The Braucher
Attributes
C
B
A
P
I
W
F
40
35
46
47
50
47
42
CB
BB
AB
PB
IB
WB
FB
4
3
4
4
5
4
4
Skills
Simple Melee +10, Simple Ranged +10, Toughness +10, Awareness +10, Scrutinize +10, Education +10, Folklore +10, Incantation +10, Resolve +10, Guile +10,
Peril Threshold: / 6 / 12 / 18
Current Initiative: 1
Current Movement: 1
Damage Threshold: 3 / 9 / 15 / 21
Injuries
Karl Sachtleben
The Brewer
Attributes
C
B
A
P
I
W
F
50
37
39
36
50
44
30
CB
BB
AB
PB
IB
WB
FB
6
5
3
4
5
6
3
Skills
Simple Melee +10, Simple Ranged +10, Athletics +10, Toughness +10, Awareness +10, Alchemy +10 [Distilling Skill], Folklore +10, Resolve +10, Tradecraft +10 [Beer Brewing], Rumor +10,
Peril Threshold: / 6 / 12 / 18
Current Initiative: 7
Current Movement: 6
Damage Threshold: 5 / 11 / 17 / 23
Injuries
Report Date
03 Jan 2022
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