Dig for Victory (IC) (GM)

[Supercape]

GM

At Freedom University, three Archaeology students, Rod, Jane, and Freddy, had been set an assignment. They were not the best of students, but not the worst. However, parties and social activities over the past semester had seen their grades drop. They needed to pick up and pull something out of the bag.

As luck would have it, they had stumbled across information what they thought may just be a new Native American burial site in Wharton Forest. So off they had sneaked, hoping for a coup that would see them with straight As for the rest of their undergraduate career.

Meanwhile

All over Wharton Forest, mobile phone reception started to crackle. Radio communication phased in, then out. People started reporting odd noises. The more neurotic, or some would say astute, started reported they could here whispering, or chanting noises, wind. Some reported nightmares, and shivers down their spines.

Maybe the police would have ignored these reports, despite the volume. But many of the concerned citizens reported the same words...

"Arise.... Arise..."

[Lone Star]

Gregory was just finishing up at work. It was another late night, and Gregory was surprisingly not tired. It was midnight, and the full moon hung above his head as he walked out of his veterinary clinic. He breathed in the night air, and stretched. His back cracked in a very satisfying way. Gregory looked up into the night sky, and saw the ominious full moon. He walked around to the parking lot of his office, and mounted his Harley motorcycle. The motorcycle roared to life, and he began to ride down the streets.

[Supercape]

Slick sped into the forest in a top range Ferrari. OK, so he perhaps exceeded the speed limit now and again, but only when the traffic was clear.

It was midnight, and he had needed to get away from the city for a while. As Felix Fassbinder, he had had a hard days work with the board. He didn't need to do much for the company, but the little he did have to do was generally rough work.

The night seemed to have an unnatural chill to it. A shudder washed down his spine. True, he had wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle, but things seemed almost deathly still in the forest. Like he was a bit too far away from the land of the living, so to speak.

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, and turned on the radio. All he got was some static, with the occasional burst of odd radio stations.

Damn, there were some spooky sounds being broadcast.

All of a sudden, a woman's voice pierced through the radio "ARISE! ARISE!"

He swerved to a stop in the middle of the road, another chill running down his spine.

[Lone Star]

Gregory began to drive out of the city, towards the Wharton State Forest. He felt the wind race through his hair. As he sped down the highway, he passed a Ferrari zipping by, and swerved a little. It's a little late to be driving so quickly, Gregory thought to himself as he gunned the gas. He flipped on the radio as he drove. A shrieking voice shouted at him. "Arise! Arise!" Now that was strange.

[Supercape]

Slick got out of the car. He had lived for many years, but this really had him spooked. His father had told him of some of the Nazi occult experiments he had found in WWII.... he shuddered.

The motorbike passing by had some mean looking guy on it. Slick needed corroboration. Getting back into his Ferrari, he sped off and drew parallel with the motorbike.

"Hey, dude" he yelled, although the air was horribly quiet. "You getting anything strange on the radio?"

At that point, both engines started to splutter, and die. The headlights flickered.

[Lone Star]

Gregory didn't hear the man, but he felt his engine die. What the hell...I just got it checked... Gregory dismounted the motorbike and took off his helmet. "Uh, hey there. Am I the only one who's a little freaked right now?"

[Supercape]

"Uh huh... I mean, no way" replied Slick, eyeing up the man. "I'm getting some freaky sounds from my radio. " he peered around the cold, silent forest. It was just too silent.

"I mean really freaky. If this is some radio station playing a joke I'm going to kill them. 'Arise, Arise' it was saying, this horrible weird voice".

He turned the Ferrari's key. "And now the engine has died... yours too by the sounds of it..."

He gazed into the woods. "I don't want to freak you out even more, but I heard of some weird stuff down here yesterday, some native American burial site or something..."

[Lone Star]

Gregory sighed. "What is this, Evil Dead or something? This is some freaky stuff. Should we call the police, or something? Gregory said in what he hoped was a normal civilian response. He had his jacket and mask in the storage compartment of his motorcycle. He had never encountered a supernatural threat before, and hoped not to ever have an encounter to begin with.

[Supercape]

GM

At that moment, a young man dressed in a university sweatshirt and jeans, both ripped, with fear in his eyes and bruised and cuts on his body stumbled into the road from the forest.

"Help! Help! please! you gotta help me!" he screamed, babbling almost incoherently.

It looked liked he had seen a ghost.

From both vehicles radio was a sudden blast of white noise and a much stronger voice screaming with horrible intonation "ARISE! ARISE!"

And with that, the young man started to scream in pure terror.

[Lone Star]

Gregory ran up to the man and stopped him, putting his hands over his shoulders. "Relax, sir. Now what the hell is happening? Just relax and try to tell us." Gregory was slightly more than freaked out by now, he was downright spooked. But this didn't stop him from being professional.

[Supercape]

GM

"My...my...my names Rod Robertson, i'm a history under grad at the university..." he gasped for breath.

"Me... and my friends, Jane, and Freddy, we came up here looking for some Native American burial site. We wanted to win the undergrad Archeology prize!"

"But then, we just heard this voice... ARISE! ARISE!... you heard it man! and then... I don't know what I saw... shadows... we ran... I don't know what I saw... something moved down there man!"

"SOMETHING MOVED!!!!"

[Supercape]

Slick

Slick looked at his Greg, and back at the scared Rod. "Sounds like trouble. I don't know what kind, but it sure sounds spooky. And two kids are in trouble."

He patted Greg on the back "My names Slick, guess I am one of those Superhero types, but to be honest right now my bloods run cold, my hair is standing up, and I don't feel like I have much of a spine left. But with two kids in trouble I got to help even if I don't feel to heroic. "

"Rod, you got to lead us to that site!"

[Lone Star]

Gregory straightened his riding gloves. "I guess if you're being so open about it, I'll say something. I'm a superhero too. Name's Mad Dog. Let's get to that site." Gregory said as he quickly slipped on his spiked leather jacket, and black dog mask.

[Supercape]

Slick wasn't entirely sure a spiked leather jacket and black dog mask made him feel any easier that night but said nothing. Too be honest, he was getting more spooked by the minute. He hadn't felt like this since the McCarthy years.

Together, the three men. Well, two men and one currently-a-man trudged towards the burial site. Rod needed encouragement for virtually every step of the way, and seemed to jump out of his skin at the snap of a twig. Not that there was much sound. The forest was deathly quiet.

Creeping forward, Slick could see a clearing. The wind gave off a horrible whistling sound. What looked to be ancient native American artifacts were strewn on the dusty ground, and a small but very black hole lay at the centre. Worst still, three withered corpses lay on the ground, and a red eyed coyote was sniffing and licking one.

Slick gluped. "This dosen't look too natural..."

[Lone Star]

Mad Dog shivered in his costume. "Yeah, I'm fairly alarmed here. What should we do? Paranormal stuff isn't my forte. Maybe we could call a magician for this?" He adjusted his gloves. If he was going to be kicking any paranormal ass tonight, he was glad to have a partner alongside him. This was one of the second team-ups he had ever had, the first being with Avenger.

"So can you tell us what exactly happened, Rod? We need to know."

[Supercape]

"I...I'm not sure I remember" gasped Rod.

Slick chimed in "calm down, Rod. I know its spooky out here, but if we are going to rescue your friends, we need to know exactly what happened!"

He gulped again. "Its kind of a blur. We were digging here, we knocked away a section of earth, and that hole there... it kind of opened up... there was a blast of wind, and some horrible voice. We freaked out, I mean really freaked. There was some movement... it went black... really black. It was hard to tell. I heard the others screaming, I think something... and I don't know what... dragged them down...."

Slick turned to Mad Dog. "I'm not sure I relish going down there, but down there is probably where they are..." he sniffed the air. "Don't smell good. Smells of death... rotting. But I think I can smell life too. At a guess, they are still alive. For now. "

[Lone Star]

"So what do you think, Slick? Should we hop down in there and fight us some zombies? Too bad I left my boomstick at home." Mad Dog quipped as he cracked his neck. He popped the joints in his knuckles, and then cracked his back. MD adjusted his mask and jacket, and threw a few mock-punches at the air. "Ready, Slick?"

[Supercape]

"Ready as I can be" he replied "I mean, its not like I took a major course in zombie hunting in at the School of Evil Dead Studies" he quipped back.

Bit of humour never hurt the nerves. Mad Dog seemed like the kind of solid chap you wanted in a tight spot. Kind of attractive in his own way. Made him wish he had chosen a female form.

"Holy water...not check. Crucifix... not check. Boomstick... not check. Chainsaw... not check. Damn, where is my zombie kit when I need it?" he managed a wan smile.

Creeping forward into the open area, the red eyed wolf turned to face them and gave a menacing growl...

Sniffing, Slick whispered to Mad Dog... "err... good with animals? even ones which may not, um, technically, be still alive?"

[Lone Star]

Mad Dog nodded at Slick. "I'll give it a shot. Be prepared to attack if it leaps on me." He stepped a little closer to the animal, being cautious not to invade its space. He whistled at the wolf, and held his hands up, as if to surrender. He hoped this would work.

[Supercape]

Slick was more than happy to let Mad Dog try his animal magnetism on the wolf beast. He watched with admiration as Mad Dog approached with some subtle and primitive calm and confidence, indicating openness, but power if need be.

And despite its dubious state (was it undead? a spirit? or possessed? or just a beast attracted to the mystical energies?) the wolf responded, growling to almost a purr, and backing of gently, until it decided to leap back into the forest.

"Well done!" applauded Slick, without actually clapping his hands.

Peering into the sullen hole, which seemed to ooze some horrible cold air, and worse smells, and worse still... a chill of the soul, Slick continued "and for your next trick... how are you at seeing in the dark?"

[Lone Star]

"Hmm, could be better. Do you have a flashlight, Rod?" Mad Dog said as he looked back at the frightened youth. "We're going to try to beat up whatever took your friends. If that's even a possibility. I hope we can take these guys on. You sure we shouldn't call in backup, Slick?"

[Supercape]

"No, I'm not sure at all... do we have time?" He considered for a moment.

"No harming in calling in some help, I suppose" he concluded, and pulled out his mobile, punching in a number. Putting the phone to his ear, he got a brief crackle and a terrible voice whispering "arise.... ARISE!"

Slick went quite white.

"I don't think we can call in any help..." he gulped.

Meanwhile, Rod had found the students backpack, and produced three torches, although he was adamant he wasn't going in.

[Lone Star]

"Alright. So...want to jump in first? I'm not even superhuman." Mad Dog said as he crossed his arms. He pondered this for a moment, then hopped in. "Screw that! See you down there, Slick!"

[Supercape]

"Dammit!" cursed slick, as Mad Dog leapt past him. "That's the way to do it!" and with a similar leap, of both body and faith, he followed.

The air was dank and unpleasant, and something went crack under his feet as he landed. It sounded awfully like a bone. Just glad its not mine he reminded himself.

He played with his torch until the beam of light spewed forth, revealing a dug out cave, and ancient paintings on the wall. And yes, skeletons along with old ceremonial garments and items littered the floor.

As he stood aside Mad Dog in the near darkness, a howling wind swept up and the place was filled with ghostly voices screaming ghastly warnings in a language that Slick could not understand, but whose meaning somehow penetrated his brain, or soul, directly.

[Lone Star]

Mad Dog shrugged. He wasn't shaken, not quite yet. He didn't know how long he would hold out though. "You alright there, Slick?" He said as he patted his new friend on the back. "Don't let this place freak you out. I'm sure there's nothing here we can't take care of." Mad Dog said as he laughed nervously to himself.