BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Role Playing Games CoC Scene 8: Homecoming

Outside, the night sky shines with its usual collection of stars, and a full moon lights up the area. Mike whoops in relief from the stark sameness of the pink sky they'd been under. Jacob gets on his knees and praises God for their deliverance.

Larry leads Ray out of the basement, and for the first time since the original storm, Ray cannot feel the presence in her mind.

Clarissa slumps against the car, drained in her own right from the ritual.

Derek still seems tense as he looks up, then looks at everyone else.

As the shock of the transition back to a natural nigh sky starts to fade, rustling from the nearby brush startles everyone except for Derek.

Coming from the brush are smaller versions of the tentacled creature that attacked the diner.

"No," Mike says dully, the joy leaching from his face, "they can't have come back with us."

"Run Ray," Larry screams, as he grabs a nearby stick and prepares to fight.

"Run where?!" Ray cries, "Larry, what's going on?!" She starts to back away from Larry, slowly, trying to get her bearings.

Larry comes to his senses for a moment, realizing what he'd just asked.

"Get in the car, Ray," he calls back to her. "You, city boy," he gestures at Derek, "get her out of here!"

[I'll give this a bump, to give Derek a chance to act, before posting the results.]

Derek jumps in the car and floors it down the nearest road, not bothering to wait for anyone else.

Larry hesitates for a moment, cursing up a storm, then rushes Ray into the front seat of the other car as he yells, "Everybody in!"

Clarissa manages to get into the back seat, but Jacob ignores him, and approaches the creatures with his cross held high, shouting Bible verses. Mike hesitates, torn between the desire to help Jacob and the burning need to escape.

One of the creatures lashes out, catching Jacob around the arm with a tentacle, drawing him ever closer. Another catches his other arm, and they begin a grisly tug of war.

Shuddering, Mike dives into the back seat as Larry begins to accelerate away. Jacob's screams can be distantly heard as they drive down the road.

[Derek ended up with the car that had John passed out in the back seat]

Larry does his best to catch Derek, cursing the entire time he's driving, but he cannot match Derek's experience at escaping pursuit.

Eventually they all end up back in a reasonably sized town, where Mike makes a call to his contact in the government to report the monsters. The news over the next few days carefully do not mention the troop movements in the area, or what was found.

Clarissa is never quite the same again, her research into abandoned towns is forgotten, replaced by research into esoteric rituals. Mike refuses a lucrative offer by the government to go back to his watchman duties at the diner.

Larry's loss of sanity focuses on one thing only, tracking down Derek. He never has much luck, but he keeps Derek on his toes. Derek, for his part, becomes ever more a part of the shadows, jumping at unseen movements.

Ray never again feels the unsettling presence in her mind while she is awake, but her dreams are filled with nightmares.

John manages to convince himself that it never really happened, having spent much of the last part unconscious. But his dreams, too, keep returning to their time in that other world.

[Zoiks!]