Surprisingly quiet, and... uneventful. Which in itself worries me. I'm on edge, and incredibly pissed at myself.
I can't believe I let them get away with him. So close....so very close. Right within my grasp, and....
I guess our next location is a big city in Illinois...We followed the tracks to the road, and have been walking that way since. Skan and I have been deciding if it's worth it to try and hitchhike to get there faster, but.....Hypnos has a history of killing anyone who crosses paths with his plans. Not sure if a ride is worth potentially getting some unsuspecting person killed.
We did manage to pick up some more ammo for the shotgun, though. We were running a bit low for my tastes...So we bought some off of some old farmer who's probably been stockpiling since the invention of the shotgun. At least if the proxies get him, he'll only be out a few years. With the way he was coughing, he's likely been smoking tobacco since birth anyway.
No sign of the Rake for a while, either. Skan tells me that the clawed bastard has been tied up with a friend of hers (Faustus, I think..). Props to him for trying to end The Rake's shit....too bad it didn't work. Better luck next time, I suppose.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Shack.
Well. We found the shack......By pure, unholy luck. After nearly three whole fucking WEEKS of fruitless searching, dead ends, proxy phone-napping, and the Rake on our heels everywhere we look.
This morning around 6am, I awoke to the very strong smell of smoke. Rising from the forest about a half mile to the west was a thick column of black smoke. I shook Skan awake (which, for future reference to anyone who might come across a similar situation, is a bad idea..it will earn you a gun butt to the face) and, after holding my face in pain for a few moments, pointed at the smoke.
"There is no way that's a coincidence, Skan. It's out in the middle of the godforsaken forest. There's no town there, right?"
She stared at me blankly for a few moments, then her eyes got wide. "Our luck can't be that good. Can it?"
We took off in the direction of the smoke, as quickly and quietly as possible. The closer we got, the more....wrong.... the air felt. By the time the dilapidated (and now, burning) thing came into view, I wanted to throw myself on the ground and be sick. I heard shotgun shots from behind me...I spun to find Skan alternating between glaring daggers and popping off shells at a tree 30 yards away. The Rake. AGAIN. FUCKER.
I drew my sword and ran for the building. If Hawk was in there.......I had to get him. Had to. No choice. Those proxy fuckers better NOT have set him on fire.
I got closer and heard yelling and the screeching of car tires, but I couldn't see the front of the shack due to the amount of black smoke. It was so choking, I had to drop to my hands and knees to keep going. I felt Skan drop in behind me, trying to stifle a cough.
We rounded the corner just in time to see a black bundle roughly thrown into the backseat of a black truck. It was moving and making angry muffled noises, until Hypnos hit it with his cane.
They saw Skan and I then. Three proxies came running at us, faces half covered with bandannas to protect them from the smoke. Hypnos yelled something, and a woman with a screaming face mask (It's me, stupid little girl. Your detective skills are so poorly lacking. I thought you did this for a living?) jumped in the driver's seat. Squealing the tires, they took off with the bulk of their 'army'. And my Hawk.
Howling in rage, I jumped at the three proxies. I cut one across the face before Skan grabbed me and said, "Eternity! No! They aren't worth it. Come on, if we stay here we're going to be crispy!" She pulled at my arm, desperately. I happened to notice the roof of the shack beginning to fall...With reluctance, I stumbled away with Skan pulling on me. It fell on one of the proxies. He screamed and went down among the rubble..the one I cut. He was grabbing his face when he fell.....
The other two ran.
And that's all I remember of that day. I woke up in a tent, with Skan sitting at the entrance, my sword on her lap and the gun right beside it. I got up and walked by her. Surprisingly she didn't stop me....I walked out to the camp perimeter and pulled out my knife. One long, slow cut. Another addition to the notebook.
This morning around 6am, I awoke to the very strong smell of smoke. Rising from the forest about a half mile to the west was a thick column of black smoke. I shook Skan awake (which, for future reference to anyone who might come across a similar situation, is a bad idea..it will earn you a gun butt to the face) and, after holding my face in pain for a few moments, pointed at the smoke.
"There is no way that's a coincidence, Skan. It's out in the middle of the godforsaken forest. There's no town there, right?"
She stared at me blankly for a few moments, then her eyes got wide. "Our luck can't be that good. Can it?"
We took off in the direction of the smoke, as quickly and quietly as possible. The closer we got, the more....wrong.... the air felt. By the time the dilapidated (and now, burning) thing came into view, I wanted to throw myself on the ground and be sick. I heard shotgun shots from behind me...I spun to find Skan alternating between glaring daggers and popping off shells at a tree 30 yards away. The Rake. AGAIN. FUCKER.
I drew my sword and ran for the building. If Hawk was in there.......I had to get him. Had to. No choice. Those proxy fuckers better NOT have set him on fire.
I got closer and heard yelling and the screeching of car tires, but I couldn't see the front of the shack due to the amount of black smoke. It was so choking, I had to drop to my hands and knees to keep going. I felt Skan drop in behind me, trying to stifle a cough.
We rounded the corner just in time to see a black bundle roughly thrown into the backseat of a black truck. It was moving and making angry muffled noises, until Hypnos hit it with his cane.
They saw Skan and I then. Three proxies came running at us, faces half covered with bandannas to protect them from the smoke. Hypnos yelled something, and a woman with a screaming face mask (It's me, stupid little girl. Your detective skills are so poorly lacking. I thought you did this for a living?) jumped in the driver's seat. Squealing the tires, they took off with the bulk of their 'army'. And my Hawk.
Howling in rage, I jumped at the three proxies. I cut one across the face before Skan grabbed me and said, "Eternity! No! They aren't worth it. Come on, if we stay here we're going to be crispy!" She pulled at my arm, desperately. I happened to notice the roof of the shack beginning to fall...With reluctance, I stumbled away with Skan pulling on me. It fell on one of the proxies. He screamed and went down among the rubble..the one I cut. He was grabbing his face when he fell.....
The other two ran.
And that's all I remember of that day. I woke up in a tent, with Skan sitting at the entrance, my sword on her lap and the gun right beside it. I got up and walked by her. Surprisingly she didn't stop me....I walked out to the camp perimeter and pulled out my knife. One long, slow cut. Another addition to the notebook.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Indiana
FRUSTRATING. That is what the last two weeks have been. Some....proxy idiot...Stole my mobile. Skan and I had to track him down to get it back. We finally found him on a playground hiding in one of those tunnel things..What a place to hide, dumbass. Seriously. Anyway, after a very heated exchange of words and a kick to the head from Skan, he dropped the thing and ran off in the direction of a soccer field.
And WHAT DO I SEE OFF ON THE GRASS?? Our favorite faceless freak. UGH. Skan still doesn't see him. I grabber her arm and pointed, but all she said was "Yes, Eternity, grass is in fact green. What's the problem?" Noticing my look, though, we took off at a quick pace back into town.
We're looking for a shack in the woods. A tiny, tree-covered, shack. And in case you don't know anything about this part of the country, it is COVERED in woods. We've tried the map trick again to no avail. All we have to go on is a slight clue provided by that proxy. It's within 7 miles of the Ohio/Indiana border. Helpful. Yet not, at the same time. That is a lot of ground to cover.
To make matters even more interesting, the Rake is still following us. I have had to take the shotgun away from Skan so as to prevent her from wasting all of our rounds on him. It's difficult to not want to unload clips after clip at the damn thing, it really is. It still seems to be doing its herding trick. Gets just close enough to freak us out, then pulls back and we won't see it for hours. Dammit. There it is again.
NO SKAN. DAMMIT PUT DOWN THE CAR KEYS. Ugh. Gotta go...
And WHAT DO I SEE OFF ON THE GRASS?? Our favorite faceless freak. UGH. Skan still doesn't see him. I grabber her arm and pointed, but all she said was "Yes, Eternity, grass is in fact green. What's the problem?" Noticing my look, though, we took off at a quick pace back into town.
We're looking for a shack in the woods. A tiny, tree-covered, shack. And in case you don't know anything about this part of the country, it is COVERED in woods. We've tried the map trick again to no avail. All we have to go on is a slight clue provided by that proxy. It's within 7 miles of the Ohio/Indiana border. Helpful. Yet not, at the same time. That is a lot of ground to cover.
To make matters even more interesting, the Rake is still following us. I have had to take the shotgun away from Skan so as to prevent her from wasting all of our rounds on him. It's difficult to not want to unload clips after clip at the damn thing, it really is. It still seems to be doing its herding trick. Gets just close enough to freak us out, then pulls back and we won't see it for hours. Dammit. There it is again.
NO SKAN. DAMMIT PUT DOWN THE CAR KEYS. Ugh. Gotta go...
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Shenanigans
The Rake, the Rake, the fucking RAKE. I am SO TEMPTED to devote my life to the study of KILLING THE DAMN THING. Ever since it caught us outside the wards, it has been furiously patrolling, and attempting to cross over on a regular basis. It was patrolling after the attack, but not like this. This is just unholy. Every time it sees myself or Skan, it rears up and does that horrid screeching thing. Goddamn otherworldly noise...
To make it worse, it picks at the wards almost...every time we see it. Like, it is doing it on purpose just to fuck with us. Skan, in particular. It will claw furiously at trees, rear up and screech, or just sit there and watch..Then it slowly makes its way at a ward, as if testing its power. It's always been repelled, but....
ITS SO UNNERVING. To watch it, I mean. The same feeling every time. Will it make it by this time? Will the wards fail, will it get used to them, so many questions with no answers...
In other news, The Faceless hasn't shown up again. And I keep dreaming about Hawk tied up in a dark room with a chain on the door.
To make it worse, it picks at the wards almost...every time we see it. Like, it is doing it on purpose just to fuck with us. Skan, in particular. It will claw furiously at trees, rear up and screech, or just sit there and watch..Then it slowly makes its way at a ward, as if testing its power. It's always been repelled, but....
ITS SO UNNERVING. To watch it, I mean. The same feeling every time. Will it make it by this time? Will the wards fail, will it get used to them, so many questions with no answers...
In other news, The Faceless hasn't shown up again. And I keep dreaming about Hawk tied up in a dark room with a chain on the door.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
The woods
Skan and I started our hunt today. The first place the second beetle stopped on the map was just a few paces out into the woods, so that's where we decided to go first, just to see if they left clues behind.
This is the first time that I've put on all of my hunting equipment since Skan picked us up. I was reluctant at first...Images of an old life. But it's that old life that's going to help me get him back. So I put on my black outfit, my boots, and strapped on my old, trusty swords. Both of them...Yes. I need to do this. I tucked the knives away, hid other miscellaneous gear, and stepped out into the living room to wait for Skan.
Oh, my god. The woman looks JUST like me, except in camo with a shotgun instead of swords. Well. All right then, let's do this.
We had also packed several pouches of rue, just in case we ran into the Rake. This is the first time in a while either of us had gone past the wards, and with the clawed one's recent feverish activity..Both of us are pretty paranoid people, which as an aside got me to thinking...What if we made a device that shot rue oil or something like it at the Rake...Sort of a destructive anti-Rake water gun apparatus? Hmm. Might have to consider that for later. When I have him back. Have to get him back.
The air changed on the other side of the wards...Out in the woods, things felt...oppressive. I think Skan felt it too. She looked as nervous as I did, if not more. We started in a clockwise direction and began a circuit of the house, eyes on the trees and the ground, searching for anything out of place. But the area seemed....It seemed TOO perfectly placed. No broken sticks, claw marks, displaced leaves, nothing.
Nothing until 4pm. That's when we stumbled across Hypnos' abandoned camp. It surprised me, actually. From the tracks and the layout lines, the camp was laid out in a typical military style, wasting no space..They had defenses set up as well. Stands in the trees, hidden holes..Did these people actually think we were going to attack them? Heh, I'm flattered Hypnos. Really, I am. I would have loved to.
And....wards? So that is how they kept the Rake at bay. They seemed to copy a lot of Skan's wardings, which slightly amused her, I think. They even hung up a few of our painted rock wards from the catapult after the assault. How touching. As we moved through the camp, Skan noticed a tent depression off in the far corner, barely inside the wards. The area bore little resemblance to the rest of the camp..Broken limbs, scratches in the trees, holes in the ground... And a hastily buried piece of rope with a washer attached to the end. One from his necklace...So this is where they held him.
Oh shit. Is that...moving in the trees? Fuck it, we've been out too long. The Rake found us. Skan and I booked it back to the house, but it didn't seem interested in trying to rip our throats out this time. It was more like...Well, you know how a shepherd dog runs cattle? Like that. Strange. Discomforting, too, in a way.
The next spot on the map is a small town to the east. Skan says we can take a day or two trip with the car and check it out in a couple days.
This is the first time that I've put on all of my hunting equipment since Skan picked us up. I was reluctant at first...Images of an old life. But it's that old life that's going to help me get him back. So I put on my black outfit, my boots, and strapped on my old, trusty swords. Both of them...Yes. I need to do this. I tucked the knives away, hid other miscellaneous gear, and stepped out into the living room to wait for Skan.
Oh, my god. The woman looks JUST like me, except in camo with a shotgun instead of swords. Well. All right then, let's do this.
We had also packed several pouches of rue, just in case we ran into the Rake. This is the first time in a while either of us had gone past the wards, and with the clawed one's recent feverish activity..Both of us are pretty paranoid people, which as an aside got me to thinking...What if we made a device that shot rue oil or something like it at the Rake...Sort of a destructive anti-Rake water gun apparatus? Hmm. Might have to consider that for later. When I have him back. Have to get him back.
The air changed on the other side of the wards...Out in the woods, things felt...oppressive. I think Skan felt it too. She looked as nervous as I did, if not more. We started in a clockwise direction and began a circuit of the house, eyes on the trees and the ground, searching for anything out of place. But the area seemed....It seemed TOO perfectly placed. No broken sticks, claw marks, displaced leaves, nothing.
Nothing until 4pm. That's when we stumbled across Hypnos' abandoned camp. It surprised me, actually. From the tracks and the layout lines, the camp was laid out in a typical military style, wasting no space..They had defenses set up as well. Stands in the trees, hidden holes..Did these people actually think we were going to attack them? Heh, I'm flattered Hypnos. Really, I am. I would have loved to.
And....wards? So that is how they kept the Rake at bay. They seemed to copy a lot of Skan's wardings, which slightly amused her, I think. They even hung up a few of our painted rock wards from the catapult after the assault. How touching. As we moved through the camp, Skan noticed a tent depression off in the far corner, barely inside the wards. The area bore little resemblance to the rest of the camp..Broken limbs, scratches in the trees, holes in the ground... And a hastily buried piece of rope with a washer attached to the end. One from his necklace...So this is where they held him.
Oh shit. Is that...moving in the trees? Fuck it, we've been out too long. The Rake found us. Skan and I booked it back to the house, but it didn't seem interested in trying to rip our throats out this time. It was more like...Well, you know how a shepherd dog runs cattle? Like that. Strange. Discomforting, too, in a way.
The next spot on the map is a small town to the east. Skan says we can take a day or two trip with the car and check it out in a couple days.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
The conversation went a little like this.
Skan: So..How you going to know where to go? You've never been around here before...
Me: I'll find him. I have to find him.
Skan: I could help. Let me come with you.
Me: Hell no. If something happened to you...I'd hate myself forever.
Skan: I think I can take care of myself. You need someone to watch your back, and he's my friend as well.
Me: I'm not hearing it, woman.
Skan: I will duct tape your ass to a chair and beat you with a hose until you agree.
Me: .............
Skan: Yeah. I'll start packing.
So, Skan and I are going Hawk hunting. I'm afraid of what she'd do to me if I tried to leave without her.... And...I'm grateful for the company. We make a good team, I have to say.
Hawk, if you read this somehow, we're going to find you.
Skan: So..How you going to know where to go? You've never been around here before...
Me: I'll find him. I have to find him.
Skan: I could help. Let me come with you.
Me: Hell no. If something happened to you...I'd hate myself forever.
Skan: I think I can take care of myself. You need someone to watch your back, and he's my friend as well.
Me: I'm not hearing it, woman.
Skan: I will duct tape your ass to a chair and beat you with a hose until you agree.
Me: .............
Skan: Yeah. I'll start packing.
So, Skan and I are going Hawk hunting. I'm afraid of what she'd do to me if I tried to leave without her.... And...I'm grateful for the company. We make a good team, I have to say.
Hawk, if you read this somehow, we're going to find you.
Monday, September 26, 2011
It's real, the dream, we've decided....Oh god I wanted it to be a dream. I had Skan come downstairs and re-trace the dream with me step by step. She looked way uncomfortable playing the part of that girl, heh. When we got to the part where my head got smashed into the glass, I lowered my head and said, "Check. Please. Wounds, dried blood, bruising, anything."
So she did...And...Oh god...Right where I remember my head hitting the glass..Several cuts and a large bruise. Skan actually stepped back and gaped at me for a bit...Then ran to the phone. I don't know who she called. I don't know anything anymore.
And then there is the matter of how that girl even got in here in the first place. Skan and I...We think that she might have used Curtis' body as a lure. To get us to do exactly as we did, and bring the body on our side of the wards. And somehow she was able to use that as a connection to get over here. Skan could probably explain it better than me.
We did scrape that screaming face from the windowsill though...We weren't sure if it was just a mark of her victory, or if it somehow allowed her access through that part of the house. We aren't taking chances. We sucked it up and burned Curtis' body just on the outside of the wards, towards the wetlands. It smelled awful even from a distance, but...If that's the way she got in, then it had to go.
Gah, that smell...
Hawk, please be alive. Please.
I will find you, somehow. Some way, I will find you.
I promise.
So she did...And...Oh god...Right where I remember my head hitting the glass..Several cuts and a large bruise. Skan actually stepped back and gaped at me for a bit...Then ran to the phone. I don't know who she called. I don't know anything anymore.
And then there is the matter of how that girl even got in here in the first place. Skan and I...We think that she might have used Curtis' body as a lure. To get us to do exactly as we did, and bring the body on our side of the wards. And somehow she was able to use that as a connection to get over here. Skan could probably explain it better than me.
We did scrape that screaming face from the windowsill though...We weren't sure if it was just a mark of her victory, or if it somehow allowed her access through that part of the house. We aren't taking chances. We sucked it up and burned Curtis' body just on the outside of the wards, towards the wetlands. It smelled awful even from a distance, but...If that's the way she got in, then it had to go.
Gah, that smell...
Hawk, please be alive. Please.
I will find you, somehow. Some way, I will find you.
I promise.
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