Mitch and Roger Investigate Altamont

Michael

So, you know, most of the time the track sits idle; it's February and there won't be actual national circuit racing here for another couple of months. I would imagine they have various events here but obviously the stigma of '69 has stuck to the place to some extent.

I would imagine that while the place is closed the front gate is locked. But as you can see there are a number of hills over which you could approach the place overland on foot if you wanted (kind of like how the concert-goers got onto the grounds back in '69).

Bill

What, and not get to drive the track? If there isn’t a posted guard or cameras or something, I’ll pick the lock.

Michael

Yeah, there's a little ticket office and a couple of outbuildings (and of course the pits and the various tin-roofed shacks near the track's starting line) but there doesn't seem to be anybody here and certainly no cameras. Give me a Lockpicking check, take +4 for having tools and time.

Michael

Roger pops the lock easily. So the front gate is off the parking lot (outside of that picture) but as you two start walking toward the racetrack proper, the sky goes grey and cold. The green grass, trampled to mud four years ago on that fateful December day, starts to look brown and dead under the now-occluded sunlight. I would say Mitch gets one of those "someone is walking over my grave" shivers.

The air gets palpably dry, somehow, suddenly. It's almost like the two of you are viewing the track, the stands, and the surrounding hills through a scratchy pane of glass. Both of you give me a Hidden Lore (History B) roll at a -4 to your skill.

Jeff

Dang.

Bill

Yeah, was gonna miss that.

Michael

All right. What do you two want to investigate here? We got the pits, the stands, the fields and hills around the racetrack, the track itself ...

Jeff

Any of Mitch's supernatural lead-generating advantages apply?

Michael

I have rolled to see if Detect History B triggered and it did not.

Jeff

Fair enough!

Michael

As far as Serendipity is concerned, Mitch can certainly wander around the grounds and see where it leads him!

Bill

Roger’s keen to drive the track. Fastest way to cover ground, right? “Mitch, you good walking?”

Michael

A joyride, excellent. With the gate open you can drive your car right on there. (Now we haven't done the scene with Roger's mechanic yet, we can say he's been really busy the past couple of weeks or say this happened afterwards, your call Bill)

Bill

Hopefully this trip is after, considering the 5 hour drive tomorrow.

Michael

Fair enough. The Chevelle is purring.

Bill

Sweet!

Jeff

Hmm, what was the center of the disaster. The place where the people were. The stands? Mitch will wander in that direction.

Michael

Mitch has a bit of a wander around behind the stands, over by the pit area, and then walks behind to where the pit outbuildings sort of drift onto the soft earth surrounding the track. This would've been where most of the crush of humanity was during the concert, considering the stage was mounted just outside the racetrack proper. There's a parking/staging area for cars, trucks, and dirt bikes back here, with some tarps thrown over some go-karts, trucks, and a couple of big pieces of earth-moving equipment. Behind THIS is a massive 12-foot deep hole about the size of a school bus. Mitch gets dizzy all of a sudden. Give me a Detect History B activation roll.

Roger! Give me a Driving roll!

Michael

Okay, for Mitch it's now a Perception roll and if that succeeds an IQ roll.

Michael

A couple of tight corners but Roger gets up to a decent speed on the track. The steering feels good, the engine is nice and responsive. I think Roger needs to give me Perception check too. Okay, Jeff, I'm going to private message for this next bit.

Michael

As Roger rounds the final turn of his final test lap, he swears that the entire landscape beyond the racetrack flashes from green to full-on sepia for a moment, like Roger has just donned tinted aviators. But then it vanishes, and the landscape looks normal again. Car's getting warm, though. And what exactly is Mitch up to back there near the pits?

Bill

Roger will take a pit stop and check on his crew.

Michael

Roger pulls in neatly to the pits, gets out of the car and walks back to the car staging area where Mitch is sort of staring out at the surrounding hills. And staring ... down at the ground in front of him, maybe? It's warm over here but not 240 degrees Fahrenheit.

Jeff

Mitch declines to operate his Pyrokinesis 6

Michael

(See, Sheila and Lynn were right, you're training already!)

Bill

The Chevelle is many feet away ...

Jeff

"This is a bad place, Roger!" Mitch shouts. "This is where he was going to plant them!"

Michael

And as Roger gets close enough, he can see in the soft earth a big, school bus shaped hole. Right behind a pair of heavy earth-movers.

Bill

Yes, you mentioned the school bus shape before. Oh boy.

Michael

Roger's definitely been getting odd vibes but nothing he could put his finger on. But yeah, Mitch seems pretty freaked.

Bill

“So this is the Place of Sacrifice? Madre de Dios.” Roger crosses himself. Then he looks around, carefully, mindful of glyphs.

Michael

Another Perception check for Roger?

Michael

No sign of any glyphs or weird inscriptions visible from the standpoint of this spot near the bus-grave.

Jeff

Man nothing here outside the unholy pit, surely that means there's nothing inside the pit, surely

Michael

Mitch isn't officially freaking out, of course, he did make his Fright check and Pyro check.

Jeff

Mitch has had a very stressful day

Michael

Pit's empty. There's, like a steep ramp of earth that leads into the grave of course. He was going to drive it in and then presumably use the earth mover to cover it up.

Jeff

OK so the giant mechanical insects are ignoring us, right?

Bill

Yeah, covering it up sounds good right now .... wha?

Jeff

I could try cooking one

Michael

They're not noticing you, no. But the view into History B is startlingly clear. Like the Ralph's that blew up.

Jeff

Might set them all on us, if I cook one, that'd be bad, probably

Michael

The fact that this is a subduction zone—a stable one, by the look of it—means that things are... thin here, but nothing's going to bust through without some kind of stimulus.

Jeff

So, wait, I can snipe across reality and kill things with my mind from a position of safety? That doesn't sound right.

Michael

Like, you want to hope that no other concerts using Hells Angels as security will ever play here again.

Bill

We gotta check out the pit, make sure there’s no weird thing in it. Keystone or something.

Michael

You can see these elements of History B clearly. You're not using pyro across the boundary, though.

Jeff

I'm not! I'm just speculating about trying. Mitch has been in situations not wholly dissimilar to this before, and in those situations the Red King's minions tended to be flammable.

Bill

Given Mitch is freaking out at things Roger can’t see (but maybe hears), he’s going to warn Mitch, then go down.

Jeff

But this could be a pretty different situation than the Ralph's, or the thing in the canyon. That's absolutely possible.

Michael

I can tell you that both the insects and the pods, your Detect tells you that neither are Irruptors proper. They are machines and plant life (?) respectively.

Jeff

Ok. Fun as it would be to snipe across dimensions at mechanical insect-monsters, Mitch isn't going to risk the many catastrophes that he can imagine spinning out from it, not unless a bug suddenly eats Roger or something.

Michael

Okay, so Roger shuffles down the slope into the pit. This feels like a Search roll ... which is Perception minus 5.

Jeff

Mitch watches Roger shuffle.

Bill

“So Mitch, I’m getting a sense that burning or killing here would be Bad.”

Jeff

"Yeah, probably."

"Usually is."

"You want I should go down there?"

Bill

Roger’s thinking about Not Opening the Way, and is distracted.

Michael

Yeah, Roger does a survey of the ground here, nothing. I mean, a more formal dig here would use Archeology, which SANDMAN trains you goofs in. But that would require, like, little sticks with string tied to them and sifting pans, etc.

Bill

“If you can remain ... calm.”

Jeff

Ok, Mitch will slide down to Roger's level, then.

Bill

Doesn’t look like Archeologists have been here, no.

Michael

Now Mitch has Observation, and he's going to get a +2 because his Detect (History B) is going off.

Michael

Mitch senses with his Detect (History B) power a sizeable object, on this side of the ontoclastic barrier, buried another 8-10 feet below his and Roger's feet. That's going to require some work and effort to excavate. And that is where we can leave off for now.

Bill

Woah.

Jeff

Cool. "Further down," Mitch tells Roger. "We gotta go deeper."

Michael

Plus, you know, you might want backup. More archeologists!

Bill

“Yeah, let’s get someone else to dig it up....”

Michael

This seems like the kind of thing you could call Granite Peak about.

Bill

“We gotta road trip tomorrow.”

Or Archie. I’m sure he lives for that kind of thing. Old stuff in the ground. Sure Sophie would bust a gut researching it hard.