Welcome to Hemlock Falls

[Atrus]

Rourke and Craft made their way to the radio building. The building was clearly old, but taken well care of. A few windows dotted the walls, with panes of frosted glass.
The entrance door was metal, painted bright red some time before but now just a dull maroon with occasional bright patches. There didn’t seem to be a doorbell, so they settled for knocking. The metal rung loud and full.

A minute later the door was opened by a tall, lanky guy, wearing a fleece sweater over corduroy jeans. The man was sporting thick-rimmed glasses, a bald pate, and a reddish-brown moustache, and he also seemed utterly surprised by the presence of visitors, if not unfriendly. “Hello. Hi. What can I do for you?”

 

[Craft]

Craft offers the man at the door a smile and extends his hand, "Hello there! We're with a group of hikers who're passing through the area, and after talking with some of the locals in Hemlock Falls wanted to see your radio tower. Seems to be a point of pride and we were interested is all."

He waits a moment before adding, "I'm Craft by the way. Hope we didn't surprise you by just showing up."

With a quick nod to he waits for Rourke to introduce himself as well.

 

[Atrus]

“No, no, well, it’s just that we don’t get many unannounced visitors up here, least of all tourists!” The man extended a hand. “Craft, eh? That’s a handy name. I’m Denis.”

Denis’ gaze traveled beyond Craft and Rourke, taking in the small group behind them. “So, you want to see the station? I’m afraid it’ll be a bit boring but uh, sure, can do that. Might have to take turns, if you all want to go in.”

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

Sarah eases her pack off, and pulls the camelpack out of her backpack. She shakes her head to Denis. "I'm fine, but mind if we refill water bottles?" She nods towards wherever the water supply for the tower is.

 

[Atrus]

Denis looked at the silo, then back at the water bottle. "Uh, okay. There's a tap under the tank, or you can use the faucet in the bathroom sink. The water's filtered but it's OK to drink." He smiled. "I usually bring my own, but I'm particular."

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

Sarah nods, and introduces herself. "Sarah Whittaker. Kendrick's Crossing Whittakers. I'm playing hired guide." She smiles wryly, and says "So if there's a shortage later, you can make me haul a supply up here." She gives Denis a little salute, then goes to drain a litre or so from the silo's tap.

 

[The Dullahan]

Rourke nodded, even managed a small smile for the man that answered the door. "Rourke." He simply said as a way of introduction after Craft had introduced himself. "I'm sure its not that boring. You still using some of the old equipment? Or have you been upgrading over the years?" He nodded to Denis, indicating he should lead the way when he was ready.

 

[Marcos Medeiros]

While the others are busy chatting up the radio hosts (who are also the operators, and the DJs, and the weathermen, and...), Marcos falls back to where Molly is standing. He's standing far enough away from the townsfolk to avoid being overheard (or so he thinks), but he pitches his voice low, anyway.

"Olá." A friendly smile. "Do you still have your notes from the briefing? I can't remember when the transmissions were... transmitted. At night, yes?"

 

[Molly Dufrene]

Molly nervously shifts when Marcos approachs her but gives her best friendly smile back. It is a bit awkward seeming, but frankly most everything comes off a bit awkward with her anyway.

"Oh, umm, yah, the notes are in my backpack." She shifts the backpack off, putting it on the ground. Opening the backpack, she fumbles around inside it for a few moments, taking out a water bottle and putting it next to the bag, and then a slightly battered notebook. The notebook has colored deviders in it, and Molly quickly thumbs to the red one, going through the pages until she finds the right one. She adjusts her glasses as she looks at the page.

"3:23 through 4:17. So early morning." She then quickly stuffs the notebook back into her bag and closes it, then grabs the water bottle to take a drink out of it.

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

((Sarah's gone off to refill her water pack, so Molly and Marcos' conversation is almost certainly inaudible to her.))

 

[Atrus]

((Craft, Rourke, and anyone else who visits the radio station: your adventure continues here))

After a few minutes, the group outside heard a sound of boots on gravel coming from the same path they had come from. A raven-haired woman, wearing a cowboy hat and a plaid flannel, appeared from over the slope and started making their way towards the radio tower. The figure would have struck some people as familiar, although she was still too far to see her face.

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

After refilling her water pack, Sarah comes back over towards the outside-group. She leaves her backpack leaning against a nearby wall, and looks over with idle curiousity at the approaching stranger.

To the people still outside (rather than to the stranger), she comments "Busy trail today."

 

[Angelique Richter]

The woman approaches, a fairly full pack on her back. Her face is careworn, but the makeup seems to hide any blemishes. "Howdy! Glad I could catch up to you folks. Got a text from Klaus that y'all were off trail and 'round these parts." She looks around. "I can see why, though. Beautiful land up here an' that's a pretty nifty radio tower."

 

[Antistita]

Lu schlumped off her pack and barely remembered the cookies, softening the impact just in time. She looked about. Were was the man who'd gone to the store with her. He looked like he could take care of himself, like he could give a bear 30,000 volts of professor eye and stop it in it's tracks. Oh, there he was.It suddenly occured to her that she herself had hustled off without him rather rudely. She got the cookies out and brought them over to him as a peace offering.

 

[Atrus]

((Klaus is there with the rest of the group, just very silent because the player has been busy RL! If he had fallen behind on the trail, Angel would have likely caught up with him before she reached the radio tower.))

 

[Klaus von Richter]

((I'm so sorry, had something very serious pop up and I vanished from everything but Twitter for basically a month while I tried to deal with things. I'm back now that my future isn't in peril and will be able to post much more frequently!))

The dour Klaus had managed to catch up with the crew, despite his relative silence on the matter. He was angrily stabbing at his Phone's screen in some desperate attempt at getting some service.

He was not good with large groups, and had merely listened for much of the walk as the anxiety began creeping farther and farther upon him. Klaus instead kept his focus on the various sounds and sights of the wildlife, periodically creeping closer to the group at the sound of any particularly loud noise.

He looked warily to the tower and began to contemplate further investigation.

That thought had been swiftly cut as Angel soon revealed herself from the brush and excitement sprung forth.

"Angel!" Klaus shouted eagerly as he waved a hand to her, consequently announcing his continued existence to the group. Cheer had immediately taken hold of him and a big grin was already in place on his face. "You made it!"

 

[Molly Dufrene]

Explaining how a whole new hiker that we knew popped up all the way out here to our guide is going to be fun. Also, not it on that.

Molly took the opportunity to slip away from the center of events to take a look around the area. She was most interested in the tower itself. She wondered if whatever had sent the signal had done so from within the control station, of if maybe it was somehow manipulating the tower itself, possibly with some sort of elemental manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum?

Regardless, she pokes around the area of the tower, hoping that her investigation would just appear to be that of a curious hiker looking around.

 

[Angelique Richter]

She greeted the others cheerfully but came up and gave the lanky man a hug and kiss. "Honey, yer texts came through. Sorry for bein' late." Angel turned to regard the others.

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

If the main group ((of PCs)) has formed a cluster, Sarah is standing just a bit apart from them. She also looks impeccably rustic: her clothes are well-worn, with the right signs of wear to imply that she lives and works 'round these parts. Or 'round somewhere very similar to these parts. Certainly the dirt is the right sort to be local. And yes, she's wearing the stereotypical flannel shirt.

She watches Klaus and Angel, then frowns just slightly. From the side pocket of her pants, she pulls out an extremely sturdy phone case. Opens the case, and studies something on the phone.

 

[Marcos Medeiros]

Marcos casually follows along beside Molly, because his player completely forgot to reply earlier. He only speaks when he's fairly certain that he's out of earshot of anyone else.

"Hmm. If what Sarah said is true, there should be no one manning the station at that time." Marcos, too, studies the buildings, though he's looking for something else entirely; points of entry, security systems, anything that would keep an inexplicably curious hiker from taking a look around when he's not supposed to. "Do you think that they would have any prerecorded sets playing? Maybe there is something of interest in the tapes." A pause. "If they still use tapes."