Ron woke up to the sound of thunder outside and the drumming of rain on the roof. He was in the Cabin. Immediately, gaining a better understanding of his bearings, he noticed that Naomi was waking up too, she looked upset.

---

Naomi cleared her eyes. There was a loud crack of lighting outside. She realized that she wasn't, in fact, in a frozen lake but in the same cabin that she had fallen asleep in.

"You had bad dreams too, huh?"  Ron smiled at Naomi.  "I guess that being stuck in here doesn't stop that sort of stuff."  He spoke low to avoid waking Dawn, Bradford and the others.  "You got any ideas on what we can do to get back home?  I mean, all this stuff sounds like crazy talking to me, but what we saw yesterday was crazy too."

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" She wailed as she was still trying to escape the nightmare. "Y-you wouldn't come in! I-I tried! I tried I tried I tried!" Her words were blubbered and broken by a few tears running down her face as the girl whimpered, crawling into a ball as she found herself in reality again, but hardly in better shape. The girl's eyes were bringing back all sorts of horrible memories, the sounds, the sights, the smells, everything. She twisted and turned before balling her hand into a fist and bashing herself in the head. "J-just go away! Right now!" She said before her eyes shot open and her head pain started to catch up to her. She seemed to just realize Ron's presence. "R-right...I-I um...d-don't mean you." She started to take deep breaths. Just like Big sis taught her. Think about happy things. Let the bad things go away. She whimpered a bit and sighed. "A-are you um...alright?" She asked, seemingly trying to change the subject.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:05, Thu 06 Oct 2016.

Ron nodded.  "Yeah."  He looks uncomfortable for a few moments. "I guess that your family didn't make it and the clown got them.  I'm really, really sorry..."  Not knowing what else to say, Ron trails off.

Bobby was awake as well. "I've been watching guard." he said. "Took the night shift. This place sure doesn't change much. There's nothing but bread, cheese, and mayonnaise in the fridge." He added.

"I didn't see nothing out of the ordinary though. And I would have too, because I'm a G.I. Joe and deeply trained under cover."

Henri work up suddenly, jerking himself into a sitting position.  His shout came out raspy and hurt his parched throat.  Where he had hit his face still hurt, there was a line down his back that was not quite on fire, and his right arm  felt like it was in a million pieces.  He glanced around at his surrounding, confused as to where he was and how he got here.  He noticed three other kids sitting on the floor near him.  "l'eau l'eau" he begged.

Naomi sighed a little bit and curled up further into a ball when Ron spoke to her. Nobody made it out but her. But they could have. She screwed up! She screwed up! She remembered all of the looks of disappointment from her parents and her brother when she screwed up, when she failed on a test or something like that. IT was all horrible beyond belief. She turned and nodded to Bobby when he mentioned that everything was the same. "R-right now...keeping things safe and the same is probably good." She said with a deep breath.

Ron saw that Naomi didn't want to talk about what happened.  He didn't know her and didn't want to push, so he didn't.  He sighed to himself, thinking that his older brother was the one who was good at talking to strange girls.  Seeing the new arrival awaken and begin speaking, Ron stared for a moment.  Then he spoke a bit louder and noticeably slower.  "I don't understand.  Do you speak English?"

"Hey! Who's that?" Bradford asked, looking at Henri, adjusting his large glasses, the eyes behind them blinking like Mr. McGoo.

It was clear that despite the horrific things that had happened, Bradford was bringing his usual morning energy.

"We've got a new one, Ron!" he said. Bradford had been asleep the night before, and so he hadn't seen what had happened, how Henri had made his way from...wherever he came from, to get through to the other side of the wall.

Then he saw Henri's face: Swollen on one side. Saw Henri's hands: skin broken and blistered. Saw Henri's clothing: sticky with some kind of oily liquid.

"Hey, kid, you OK?" he asked softly.

It took a moment for Henri's head to start clearing at least some.  American English, he must still be somewhere in the States.  He called out again, this time in English.  "Water, please," his voice still raspy.

A girl that no one had seen before wandered out of the kitchen holding a glass of water. It swished and swashed as she walked forward, bits of water spilling out of the cup and onto the floor.

She took Henri into her arms--which were quite small--and then began to gingerly let him sip from the cup of water.

To Henri, the girl's hands felt practiced, but her emotions felt distant.

"Here. Take some of this." She said, trying to pour the water in Henri's mouth.

Naomi instantly recognized that the voice was that of the old Woman.

"What the....?" Bradford asked. "How many new kids are there in here?"

"She's not new." Bobby said, in a know-it-all voice. "That's the old woman from before. Just listen to her voice."

"He's right." the little girl said, trying to get the cup into the best position for Henri. "I touched the Babble Book. It's right over there." she said, nudging her head in the direction towards the corner.

There was a leather-bound book in the corner of the room. It sat there, the binding resting against the wall.

If he could have held it himself, Henri would have tried to drink the glass of water in one gulp, and probably spilled most of it in the attempt.  As it was he gratefully swallowed small sips of it at a time.  The water going down his parched throat felt better than almost anything he could remember and he began to feel somewhat revived, at least from the dehydration.  "Merci beaucoup," he murmured, the raspy edge to his voice lessening.  "I mean 'Thank You,'" he said, remembering to speak English.

Ron looked the new kid over for a few moments before introducing himself.  He took the little girl in stride now, and wondered how much more craziness he would have to just accept in the days ahead.  "My name's Ron and that's my friend Bradford and my sister Dawn is over there sleeping.  The little girl with the water says that this place is safe from the clown as long as we don't leave."  Remembering how ragged the boy had looked the other night, he queried, "Are you alright?  You looked pretty rough when you came through the wall last night."

Henri slowly finished the glass of water and nodded his head to the others.  "May I have some more please," he said, still having some trouble talking.  "I have not had anything thing to drink or eat for days I think.  I am not sure how long I was in the pet shop wall."  He swallowed with some difficulty.  "My name is Henri," he continued in accented English.

"Pet shop?" Bobby objected. "You weren't in a pet shop, you were in the wall. I saw you there and you came right out, just like that. What gives?"

April got up and walked over to the kitchen, fixed a drink for Henri and then resumed her same position, resting Henri's body against hers while she gave him the water.

"They come from all different places when they escape the road." She explained. "He could have been anywhere at any place. Once the Cherrywinks clown starts looking for kids, he doesn't stop until everyone on the list is crossed off. You're lucky you got away. I guess we all are. It's not really that common."

She looked down at Henri, whose head had sort of slumped into her lap.

"How are you feeling?" She asked. To Henri, there was a strange way about her. A voice that while, speaking English, reminded him of old movies on the Silver Screen.

Henri drank more of the water, savoring every sip.  He tried to sit up fully, but just didn't have much strength.  "My arm hurts and I can't really move my hand," he said, cradling his right arm.  "I think I have a cut on my back and I hit my face hard," he continued reaching up and gingerly touching the side of his face.  "And I feel like I'm covered in something."

He sipped some more water and looked over at Bobby.  "I think I was in a pet store, or something like a pet store.  It's hard to remember everything."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:22, Mon 10 Oct 2016.

Naomi's eyes widened as she looked around the room. It seemed that a lot had been happening. There were two new kids here now? Well, maybe just one new kid. It was strange seeing Ms. Humperdink as an ordinary kid now. She had gotten used to seeing her as an adult. It was almost disappointing. Before when she was an adult she had seemed like she might be more on top of things...but now she was just another kid. That just made things harder. It was a shame, but there really wasn't much she could do about it right now. She gulped a bit. "You were in...a pet store? That is...kinda scary." She had to admit that much. Could people really be brought to weird places after falling aside on the road? She was just walking through the forest...maybe she was lucky? She took a deep breath and nodded. "A-at least you're alright now...w-well, for the most part anyway." She took a deep breath as she tried to remember first Aid...could she help?

"The only thing to eat or drink around here is bread, mayo and cheese from what she says."  Ron points to the formerly old woman turned little girl.  "There's apparently all kids of weird, magic stuff going on here."  Ron hopped to his feet.  "I'm gonna go make some sandwiches or something if someone wants to come help.  I know Henri", here he pronounces it like 'Henry', "said he was hungry.  I figure we can eat and then think about what we're gonna do."

Ron got up and got to work on the sandwiches. It was good that he did. He knew that once Dawnie got up, she would bound to be grumpy if there was no food at hand.


OOC: Ron Rolls Wits + Crafts With the Following results

0 Successes, Too much cheese or too much mayo: its one or the other, and no one is satisfied with their sandwich. Ron manages to make everyone disgusted with his version of what was already a gross dish.

1 Success: Its pretty much the same as before. Just like the old woman made, nothing really changes around the cabin. Ron makes the same tasting sandwiches as before.

2 Successes: Ron manages to make the best of the few materials at hand. He finds the right combination. Everyone else feels good about their sandwich: All PCs get +1 to their next dice roll in this scene.

"It's usually hard when you come through to this place to remember everything." April said soothingly. "That's what happens to everyone. Don't feel bad about it. It happened to me in the 1930s."

"Whoa! 1930! That's when they only had horses." Bradford said, energetically. "Well, probably not, but you probably saw more horses and things" he self-corrected.

"Pet stores do sound scary. Especially if their evil." Bobby agreed with Naomi. "But soldiers who fight for the American way do all sorts of things that are scary. And they do it anyway. You know why? Because knowing is half the battle."

He gestured towards Henri with one arm, the other one balled up into a fist and placed on his waist like a commander overseeing his forces from the rear of a large battalion.

"The way I see it, this kid, the one who just came through the wall. Ummm...what was your name?"

"Anyway, he's a hero. Like Rambo or like Mr. T. A Real American Hero. Because he did something scary and he did it anyway."

"Sandwiches are a good idea." April agreed as Ron left for the kitchen.

"They'll help everyone feel refreshed."

She paused, looking around the room as if to scan for doubters.

"But there's only one thing that will heal him completely." She said looking down at Henri to check to see if he was feeling better, and to make sure she wasn't spilling water on him.

"And that's the Babble Book."


Now maybe it was just the house settling. Or maybe it was, in fact, exactly what it sounded like. But every kid in that cabin that day heard, at that very moment, the same sound.

It was a fluttering sound, like pages being skimmed. Old pages, yellowed with parchment. The sound was crisp. It came from the corner of the room in the direction that April had nudged her head earlier.

"You hear that?" Bradford tilted his head towards the sound. Then, just as suddenly, the sound stopped.

Since he was in the kitchen making sandwiches, Ron didn't hear the noise or see the pages flutter.  After a few moments, he comes back with a plate piled high with some hastily made sandwiches and sets it down on a surface convenient to the other kids.  Pointing he says, "Most of them have mayo on them, but I made a couple that don't since Naomi and me don't like mayo."  Taking one of the mayo-free sandwiches for himself, he grabbed a regular sandwich for Dawn and went over to wake her up.

[OOC:

Today: Ron King rolled 1 success using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((3,2,6,6,8)).]

Naomi was quiet again for a while, lost in thought like she had been oh so many times that day. She took a few deep breaths and nodded to Ron. "Right...sandwiches sound nice." She said with a few deep breaths. She was about to go help him make the sandwiches, but then she heard the sound. It was one that was familiar to her. She had spent many hours in libraries, she had thumbed through many books. The ants brought back dozens, no hundreds of memories of a sound like that. It was a book, but who was moving through it? She nodded. "So that's...the Babble Book. What does the babble book um, do? Can you use it...more than once?" She asked, turning her head. Was it like a spellbook? Or something else? "I don't get what it does yet...before it made you look like an old woman right?"

Dawn got up and stretched. She rubbed her eyes. Then she took the sandwich without saying anything, checked to see that it had mayo on it. When it did, she placed it in her lap.

"The Babble Book is like a spell book."

April explained. "Because kids like us stole it from Mr. Cherrywink's Circus and brought it here. It actually belonged to the Evil Circus' fortune teller. It knows everything and the kids who brought it here...um...what's the word...re-purposed it. You know? So it could be used for good."

"It can do a whole bunch of stuff like make you feel better and tell you where things are. But the kids were using it to try to find clues about how to stop Cherrywinks the Clown. And how to save other kids like us."

"The only problem is that the Fortune Teller didn't want anyone messing with her books. So she put a kind of spell-lock on the Babble Book. And basically, you don't always know what its saying, because it babbles. And it can be confusing at times to know exactly what it's trying to say."

"That's why they named it the Babble Book."

"If they can go anywhere with the Bubble Book, then why didn't they just go home?" Bobby asked, a note of sarcasm in his voice.

"I told you, it's called the Babble Book. Not the Bubble Book." April said, slightly annoyed.

"There's no point to using the Babble Book if you're still on Cherrywink's list." she explained.

"Once you're on the list, he doesn't stop. He'll wait until you're sleeping and then come out of the closet or maybe from under your bed when it's night time."

"You ever see a shadow on the wall and get scared at night when you're in your house? Well once you're on the list, the shadow comes alive and it comes and gets you. Because it isn't a shadow anymore once you're on the list. It's him."


"He's like the Babble Book. He can go anywhere but he actually understands the magic.

Ron munched on his sandwich as he listened to the others talk.  "So, how do we use this book?  You said that we can find others and help them to come here?"  He paused for a moment.  "Can we use the book to hurt Cherrywinks?  Or maybe to kill him?"  Ron had been squirrel hunting before and didn't really like killing things, but he also wanted to go home.  And if all of this crazy talk about magic and stuff was true, then they'd have to get rid of Mr. Cherrywinks to do it.

Henri ate carefully, taking small bites, chewing carefully, and swallowing with some discomfort, but savoring each bite.  "You must get the noses.  That is how you stop them," he said between eating and drinking.

Naomi rubbed her head as she tried to get a bit more of a hold on things. It was difficult. Really difficult. She knew science and math really well. She was good at those! They made the world make sense! Gravity worked because things fell on eachother. Space was space and ground was ground. Everything normally made so much sense, especially when she was reading her science books. B-but this..this was wrong! It shouldn't work that way! Shadows were shadows and clowns were clowns. He coudln't just become any shadow! Life didn't work that way. Life was supposed to make sense. It was supposed to! Really! She bit her lip a little bit in annoyance. This was...it didn't make any sense! She mumbled to herself a little bit. "I see...but if the book just babbles, how do you get it to do things then?" She said, tilting her head. "Don't you need to say a spell to make it work?" That was how it worked in the stories. The kind of stupid stories that Naomi, a science lady, with a good reading level was too old to read! She didn't comment on it being called the Babble Book...that made sense as far as she understood it.

"Well, it can't actually hurt Cherrywinks. It was made by the Fortune Teller to attract kids to the circus. That's why it knows where they are. But each time, it brings you to a place, to where a kid is, usually Cherrywinks or someone from that Circus is going to be there soon, if they aren't already. Each time we learned a bit about weaknesses."

"She looked at Henri. Yeah, the noses. It took us four kids to find out about that. How did you know?"

"But do you need a spell to make it work?" Bobby asked again, reiterating Naomi's question

"You just have to touch it. And, I don't know, think hard. That's the only way I can describe it. Like  you're pretending, but  you're not."

Ron moved to sit near Dawn, taking a bite of his own sandwich and chewing while the others discussed magic, spells and books.  Still half-listening to the others talk, he speaks quietly to his sister. "Did you sleep okay?"

Listening to the others talk about books reminded Henri of the book that started it all for him.  "It was in the Pet Shop.  A Clown Bird told me about the noses.  But it wasn't a real bird, I think it was a soul-bird.  A victim's soul made to look like a bird maybe."  Henri paused and sipped water.  "But it started with a book."

"Yeah." Dawn said to Ron and she began to yawn a wide, deep yawn. "I'm still a little tired. I had a dream that we were back home on the farm. Then it turned out we weren't, or aren't."

She stretched. "Ron, when are we gonna go home?"

"That's why you've go to get your name off Cherrywink's list. And the other kids too. He can come at any time. But mostly at night. You probably didn't even realize that you were gone until you were."

"Maybe one day I'll get off his list so I can leave this place." she mused, philosophically. And there was a bit of choked-up sadness in her voice.

"The pet store might be a place that he made for the Circus or something. I'm not sure. We made a mistake in not writing this stuff down into the Babble Book. So when kids went out and they got caught or disappeared, a lot of the knowledge went with them." 

"Totally....weird." Bradford said, completely in a state of awe at what was being said. The sandwich, it appeared, would have to wait.

Ron shrugged at Dawn's question.  "I dunno, but it might be a little while.  And you have to stay indoors while we're here.  There are...bad people outside and they might hurt you, but they can't get in here."  Ron turns his attention back to the discussion.  "Bradford and me got a note from someone named Ralph that said that he'd been turned into a goldfish by the bad things and the evil circus.  That was before we ever got here."

"Yeah!" Bradford said, suddenly remembering. "We were fishing, it was a while back, maybe a year ago. I totally forgot about that. It sounds like it might be related. We found the note in a bottle. It was really strange. We didn't think nothin' about it at the time."

"I thought it was just some old bottle. But what was really weird is that it called Ron out by name. Almost like the kid who wrote it, was really writing it to Ron."

"Whoever it was, was also probably on his list." She said to Ron "Maybe even was at the Circus, like you were at the pet store." She motioned to Henri.

"Maybe they got to the Fortune Teller's tent or found some other way to communicate to you. The Evil Circus is filled with artifact like the Babble Book. It's just that the Babble Book is the only one that kids managed to steal and bring back here."

"Or maybe it was just a coincidence." Bobby said, playing a little more than Devil's advocate, taking the opposite position.

Henri frowned, trying to think and process what everyone was saying.  "Perhaps everyone should write down their story and all that they can remember.  Everything that they heard or saw."

"Do you want to write it down in the Babble Book? It will probably make you feel better." April offered.

If that is where you have to write things, then yes.  But if there is somewhere else to write then perhaps it should be written there also," he replied.  "But first I would like to get cleaned up.  This stuff on me makes me feel slimy," he said indicating the slick substance soaking his clothes.  "And something else to wear if you have it."

"I'd give  you some hero clothing." Bobby said to Henri. "Because you did something hero-y. You did it, even though it was scary. That's what Duke would have done, even though Cobra Commander can turn into an actual snake." he observed.

"Where is this Babble Book?" Bradford asked, in a tone that was somewhat annoyed or impatient.

"Can we get him some help first. I mean, the clothes are what he's asking for. Also, I don't think I can possibly survive on these cheese sandwiches much longer.  Sheesh!"

"Alright." April said, getting up and dusting some of the slick, foul-smelling oil that Henri had been in off of her clothes. Or at least she tried to get it off, but only ended up making her own hands wet with oil.

"I'll be right back. I think we have some blankets or something."

"Oh, and don't forget what happened. You'll want to write it down." she told Henri

And with that, she got up and left.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:47, Sun 16 Oct 2016.

A few moments later, Dawn was talking to Ron and that's when the sound happened again.

It was a ruffling sound. The sound of crisp paper. Only this time it was louder and everyone could hear it. There was a dragging, scraping sound on the wooden floor. Henri looked up, and to his surprise he saw a leather-bound book, thick and old.

But it wasn't just lying there on the floor. It was moving. It was waddling. Waddling over to him. It didn't have legs. But it moved as if it did. Each corner on the bottom balanced the book, while the other corner moved forward. It scraped along, it's edges pushing hard against the worn wooden panels of the floor.

As it came closer, Henri could see that the book was leathery and old. Finally, it came to a stop right near him, the book opened to reveal old, blank pages.

It was like something right out of Merlin and the Sword and the Stone.

"Whwhw..th..thh..thh...!" Bradford stammered, pointing at the book.

"It's moving!" He yelled, hopping up from the mess of blankets and pillows the kids had slept in and jumping behind the couch to hide.

Henri stared at the spectacle of the Book moving under it's own power, and looking like it was heading right towards him though at a pace that even a toddler could outrun.  Part of his brain was trying to panic, but he ignored it easily.  This was not even in the top ten of strange things he had seen lately.  He spoke to the Book as if it could understand him, and maybe it could.  "Hey, Book, be patient.  I will write in you when I have gotten cleaned up"

Ron watched in wonder as the book "walked" up to Henri.  He looked over the younger boy's shoulder at the blank pages and laughed at Henri's comment. "Yeah, I guess it's acting a bit like a dog that wants to go for a walk!" 

"What the heck is that!!!?" Bobby yelled in his largest display of emotion of the night.

"It's moving. It's actually moving."

April came back with some rags and didn't even seem to pay attention to the book. She walked right by it and began to clean Henri up. She placed a neatly folded pair of baggy clothes next to him. They smelled like moth balls, as if they hadn't been worn in a while. Brown slacks and a stiff button down shirt.

"Oh. I forgot to mention something about the Babble Book." April said. "From time to time, it wants stuff. And if you don't give it what it wants, and I mean when it wants it, then, it starts to Babble really loud."

"We lost a kid to Cherrywinks clown because of it. The story goes that it was showing him how to save a kid and then it wanted something. It babbled so loud that Cherrywinks was alerted to him."

Henri looked over at April Brown.  "Thank you.  I will finish cleaning later," he said and then turned his head to glare at the Book. "After I write in the Book I suppose.  Is there anything that I can write with?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:00, Sun 16 Oct 2016.

Naomi nodded a little bit as she heard all of the strange things. IT was all so unreal...but she also understood that she could still write her story in the book. She breathed a heavy sigh. "The book wants to hear our stories right?" She said with a nod. The book looked really cool though! Maybe it wasn't a science book, but it was still pretty interesting looking. "So if that's what it wants I can give it my whole story. My memory is really good...and I can write it all down." She said with a nod. She fished through her little toolkit and pulled out a pencil. They were important tools! You needed it to mark things down. "I can go first...although I'll take a lot of time to write so maybe someone else wants to." Her prose and the like tended to be...long. She remembered every detail, so she tended to write down every detail.

"If you feel you need a pencil, then that works." April said. "But some kids just think about it, while they are touching one of the pages."

"It kind of works just the way you want it to. But you have to pretend. You have to feel and think it. You can't hide from the book, it might already know what you're about to say, but that doesn't matter. To record anything, you just need to imagine it, and use whatever you think you need to help you do that."

OOC: To Use the Babble Book in any way (Write or Heal), a player rolls Intelligence + Expression + Occult

Henri thought about that for a moment.  "Well, I think that I would rather actually put the words to paper myself and physically write my entry.  So if I could borrow your pencil I will get started."  He looked over to Naomi.

She gulped a bit and nodded, handing the man the pencil. "Alright...I'll let you go first then. I have a few more pencils too anyway..." She said with a bit of a shrug. She would give it a try herself soon enough. She had to admit that she was somewhat curious about it after all. This was a real magic book! And it was clearly quite special. Maybe she would give it a try soon enough.

Ron was also intrigued to see what happened when Henri wrote in the book and settled down to watch.  He turned to the old-woman-turned-little-girl.  "You said that the book can send us back to this Circus or to the road where the clowns are.  Can it send more than one of us?  How does that part of it work?"

"We were using it to go back to the scene of the..."

"Scene of the crime!" Bobby interrupted.

"...kind of." April said, looking at Bobby somewhat annoyed again.

"It can send back one, two or all of you. It really just depends. Because the fortune teller made the book, it often has some kind of predictive, ummm...predictiveness." She said, not sure if that last part was a word or not.

"It gives choices of where to go." She clarified.

"They were using it to save kids and find clues to stop the Clowns. When anyone uses the Babble Book, it usually heals you, but also gives you a choice about what is going on, who the Clown is trying to hunt and what areas have clues." she finished.

Naomi nodded a little bit as she considered her options. "Hm...so if we write in the Babble Book do we have to make the choice right away? Or is it that we just kind of can use it to go whenever we want?" Naomi was not the most suited to working with such metaphysical, arcane objects. She liked rules and facts, not babbles and goofiness. It was just the way that she was wired. If they were going in...she would want time to prepare anyway. She could maybe find something to piece together down in the basement...or create a tool that could help them maybe? Either way she didn't want to go anywhere dangerous, not right now anyway. She took a deep breath. "So is writing in the book the same as going somewhere?"

Bradford sat down, he was just staring at the book now. Not really focusing on anything else. He adjusted his large glasses.

"Sort of." April clarified.

"Anytime I used the book, it was to help find kids. So, in that way, just opening it will reveal something. Because, it was designed by the Evil Circus' Fortune Teller to do just that: find the kids that the Cherrywinks Clown wants to get. That's why kids like us stole it."

"Recording stuff in the book is something we didn't think about until it was too late. I mean until the other kids were gone. If you record stuff in the book, then other kids will be able to pick up where you...." she cleared her voice to clarify. "I mean, if you....don't make it." she said.

Ron continued to listen while he worked on a second sandwich.  "How many clowns are there?  Can the book tell us that?"  He gestures towards Bradford and Dawn.  "We only had the one, so if he only sends one after each group of kids, maybe we can use that somehow."  Ron was trying to think of things in terms of when he and the other kids played War or Army Man.

Henri listened to the other's comments and began to write his story in the book.

Henri began to write down his story in the book. He started to feel strangely refreshed. The others could see as his posture stiffened, face went from tired and injured to bright and free from wounds.

Blue, silk light, trimmed with silver, shimmered around Henri as he wrote.

Henri could feel the right side of his face knit together. His own arms felt loose and refreshed instead of tired and beleaguered.

Then, as the book closed, everyone could see that there was a face on the cover.



"Bricka bracka firecracker sis boom bah!
Bugs Bunny!Bugs Bunny! Bugs Bunny! RAH RAH RAH!"

It said to Henri in a deep voice.

Once Henri was finished, Ron began to write his story in the book while he waited for the answers to his questions.  Ron's handwriting was fairly sloppy and careless, although his spelling and punctuation were pretty good.  While writing, he thought up another one. "Do Bradford and Dawn have to write in it too?  I'm putting them in my story, so I wasn't sure."

"I don't think the book can tell you how many clowns there are. It was designed by the Fortune Teller to find out how many kids there were." April said.

Ron felt and enormous relief as he began to write in the book. He was instantly brought back to the moment that the clown had ground up in its gears. Despite what April said, Ron knew for a moment, just knew that the clown wasn't gone. It was still around. It hadn't died, even though it looked like it might have been dead. All tangle up in the gears of the bus.

This time it was Henri and the others watching as blue mist and smoke swirled around Ron, the air above his head shimmering.

When the book closed, the face on the front cover smiled a wide grin. Then its tongue lashed out and tried to grab the sandwich out of Ron's hand.

OOC: Henri and Ron now at full health and willpower

Ron Rolls Dexterity + Athletics or the book's tongue swipes the sandwich right out of Ron's hand, swallowing it in one gulp

"Book of Babble" The book said nonsensically "The roughest, toughest, he-man stuffest hombre’ is ever crossed the Rio Grande. The roughest, toughest, rootinest, shootinest claim-jumper that ever jumped a claim. The roughest, toughest, hombre that ever locked horns with a rabbit!”

After whatever had happened with the Book happened Henri sat there, observing Ron's interaction and trying to commit as much to memory as he could.  At least nothing hurt anymore.  He had been pretty sure that he had broken bones, possibly a lot, especially in his left arm and hand where he had beaten at the wall.  It had tingled a bit as they had knitted themselves back together or so he believed.  He felt fully refreshed and rested.  About the olny discomfort was the feel of his clothes, still saturated in whatever he had slid in as well as the dust and grime from the crack in the wall.  He got up from the couch, keeping a close eye on the Book, picked up the clean clothes, well at least clean compared to what he was wearing, and glanced around at the others.  "Is there a bathroom where I can get cleaned and change?"

"Oh my gosh!" Bradford exclaimed. "The Book talks!"

"Yeah, it's just around the corner near the kitchen." April said, like she knew the place well. "Just watch out. There's a cockroach and bug problem, so don't sit on the bowl too long. I tried cleaning it the first few years, but nothing around her changes."

Ron quickly snatches the sandwich away from the book's tongue, shouting in surprise and a bit of disgust.  "What the?!  Do we have to feed it too or something?"

"Sometimes." April answered. "But usually it lets  you know what it wants by babbling." April said.

"Just make sure you don't keep food near it." She advised.

"Merci," Henri replied.  He shook his head at the Book's antics as he went to get cleaned up.

"Well. This is crazy!" Bradford said once Henri had returned, looking cleaner and less disheveled.

Then he sighed.

"I guess its time to find out how this thing works." He said, looking around and expecting some support.

He approached the book and didn't do much of anything. Then he turned back around expecting others to follow.

"Well, whose with me?" He asked.

OOC: If a player joins Bradford in trying to use the Book, they roll Intelligence + Investigation + Occult

Henri thought about it for a moment.  "Well, what is it that you wish to try with the Book?"

OOC - Henri would be of practically no help, only having a 1d10 chance roll for that.

"Ummm...I don't know." Bradford said. He thought for a moment adjusting his spectacles. Then he reached out and touched the book.

Blue colors soared around his arms and legs and the book began to dance from side to side.

Oh crap, Henri thought ready to grab Bradford away from the Book.

"Hey, what's, I say, what's the big idea, son?" The book said nonsensically.

And with that its pages began to flick around until it opened to an old, blank page. Three names began to write themselves down in the book with no pen at all. It was in old time calligraphy. The ink just appeared on the page in long, drawn out whisps and flairs.

The names written in calligraphy were:

1) Shawn Cramer

2) Sebastian

3) Wild Child Jenny

"What does that mean!?" Dawn asked Ron frantically, face illuminated by the brilliant colors of the book, her cheeks a purple hue.

"I...I dunno." Bradford said, and he stepped away from the book, arm still extended, eyes wide with confusion.

"It means that those are the kids that the Cherrywinks Clown is hunting right now." Bobby said, with all of the confidence in the world. He didn't seem as phased by the book as the others, though his eyes still remained fixed on it.

"See, I was paying attention. When you're a G.I. Joe sniper, you have to learn to spend a lot of time 'in the bush' paying attention even when things get boring."

"That is what it means." April confirmed, though she seemed slightly annoyed, perhaps by the implication that she was boring the kids with all of her explanations.

"If you use the book correctly, it will tell you more things about what is going on with those kids. Like if there are any monsters or where they are. Things like that."

OOC: Each player may opt to roll Intelligence + Investigation + Occult. Successes will yield an additional clue at random to the names listed.

20:28, Today: Henri Aiton rolled 7 using 1d10, rerolling max ((7)).

OOC - no successes for Henri with a chance roll

Henri approached the book and it slapped his hand away with its long tongue. 'Thwack!' It felt like a leather belt but the sound was much worse than the sting it gave him.

"Suffering succotash!"

"Oh, sorry about that." April apologized. "Sometimes it gets fresh."

Ron watched the whole process with Bradford in silence, ready to jump in and help his friend if it looked like he was in pain or danger.  Seeing the new names appear on the page, he turned to April and Bobby.  "Do we have to pick one to help?  Or can we try to help all three of them?"

[OOC:   Ron King failed (no successes) using 1d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((5)).]

"Yes. But only if you split up. I mean, you don't have to. But, it's up to you. I'm not going anywhere. Those days are gone for me." April said. The book, meanwhile, was chomping away, its leathery tongue slapping around the air wildly.

"Oh, and make sure that the one with the book doesn't lose it. It's the only way back."

Naomi's eyes widened in horror as she saw the names on the list. Well, one of the names anyway. The other two names barely mattered to her, but the last name was...Jenny? Oh no! N-not Jenny too! Even if Jenny had been a bad girl sometimes...she wasn't bad deep down! Naomi was sure of it! She even tried to take the blame when they had both broke that table! It felt like so long ago when that happened...a lifetime ago given how horrible things had gotten for the girl. She whimpered a bit. "J-jenny...n-no..w-we've got to help her! Sh-she's my cousin!" The girl put her hand on the page, willing it to give more clues. Hopefully it would be something for Jenny!

07:46, Today: Naomi Brians rolled 1 success using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((10(+1),7,4,3,4)).
This message was last edited by the player at 12:49, Thu 27 Oct 2016.

Seeing Naomi's reaction, Ron nodded.  "We definitely help Jenny then."  He turned towards Henri and Bradford, and Bobby with more reluctance as he still didn't trust him.  "Do we try to help out more kids?"  And to hopefully stave off any potential arguments, Ron turned to Dawn and put on his Big Brother voice.  "And you aren't going with us and you're staying right here." 

"But I.." Dawn started. But when she heard how Ron was talking, she sat back down. "Alright." She said reluctantly, eyes down.

A wave of healing flushed over Naomi as she used the book. The pages swished from one side to the other. Revealing the list again, with one slight change.

The written in calligraphy were:

1) Shawn Cramer

2) Sebastian

3) Wild Child Jenny - Halloween Night

"Ah, this tempestous one. She is overcome by her emotions at seeing me again." The book said in a heavily accented English that sound almost identical to Pepe Le Pew.

And with that the book tried to land a kiss on Naomi's cheek.

OOC: Naomi Rolls Dexterity + Athletics if she wants to avoid this

Henri cocked his head to one side, thinking.  "How do you get the Book to send you to where another victim is?  And do you have to take the Book with you when you go," he said, mulling over the information.  "It seems to me that it would be a bad thing for the Book to be put in danger where it could be lost to the demons."  He looked over at Naomi.  "You must go after your cousin of course.  And I believe that you will need much help so both of you do not become victims."  He looked pointedly at Ron and Bradford.  "It may be that a larger group, prepared and better understanding what is going on may be able to easily defeat the demons.  But I must go and help my friend Sebastian.""

"One person decides to take the book, and then you have to jump into the letters. Into the book. Into the name." April explained. When Henri mentioned the idea that the Book could be lost to demons, April suddenly got excited.

"Oh believe you me, it can. That's why I never leave the house. Ever. I play marbles and draw." She said, warming to the idea that Henri might stay with her. Or might not leave at all.

"Shucks..." she muttered, when Henri finished by saying that he did, in fact, plan to go help save Sebastian.

Henri's brow furrowed in confusion.  "So someone could use the Book to send another person somewhere else and the Book stay here with the person who was using it?"  Henri thought for a moment more.  "What I mean is, say that you used the Book to send me to Sebastian.  Would you be able to stay here with the Book safe?"

"This is really confusing!" Bradford said, shaking his head. He gave a weary eye to the book, which was busy lashing its tongue out in the air.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:16, Fri 28 Oct 2016.

Bobby returned Ron's distrustful glare. "Not really. It makes sense to me." He said, offering a contrarian point of view.

"So, whose gonna take the Bubble Book?" he asked, checking to see if April would get annoyed again.

"It's the Babble Book!" April shouted, hands on her hips, neck pointed outward.

With that, Bobby smiled, the desired effect achieved.

April turned towards Henri.

"To go somewhere. Someone has to take charge of the book. The last person to jump in, is the person the book travels with." She explained.

"The Babble Book" she emphasized, looking at Bobby for affect, "Only goes to one world. Only one place. So take care of it if you decide to go somewhere."

She then began to explain some other things about the book.

OOC: See OOC to ask questions

Naomi let out a loud "Eeep!" As she saw the book try to kiss her. That was..not something she wanted. Not in the slightest. After all, she was trying to focus on rather horrible things...something scary beyond belief. She had to go back to some horrible world...but she had no choice. Not this time. She had...left someone behind. She had even left Jenny behind long ago...what felt like a lifetime ago now. If she could save Jenny this time...maybe it would be alright. Maybe she could make it. Make up for her previous mistakes. The girl whimpered a little bit and nodded. "W-we'll take care of it..." She said with a nod. She just hoped that...everything would go alright. That was what was important.


16:42, Today: Naomi Brians rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((4,3,4,9,9)).

"Whoa!" Bradford said as Naomi skillfully dodged the Book and its tongue. It looked like he was still amazed that the book was actually doing what it was doing. Actually moving and speaking.

"Crazy..." he muttered.

"Alright" Bobby started "Alright." He seemed less enthusiastic about the Book, the newness of seeing something so magical fading into the background as he focused on more practical matters.

"So we've got Naomi and Ron going off to find...Jenny...whoever she is."

"And then Henri is going off to find Sebashh...Sebashhheean? Is that right?"

"Where does it leave me and this kid?" he gestured at Bradford.

"And who is going to get the book. That seems most important."

Henri looked over at Naomi and Ron.  "Not me," he stated.

Ron sighed and looked at Naomi.  "I guess we'll take the book with us.  I'll go last so it stays with me."  He looked at the book with some distrust and back towards April.  "So, how does this work to travel to other places?  Do we open it to some page or is there a spell we have to read?"

"You just jump into the name on the list." April explained, like it had been done thousands of times before.

"Just take a look at the name and jump into it."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:17, Mon 31 Oct 2016.

"You can't fit in there. It's a book." Bradford said, seemingly ignoring or forgetting the idea that the book and the experience that everyone already had was far from normal.

April shrugged. "That's just the way it's always worked."

"Alright." Bobby said. "I'll go with Henri."

"I'm going undercover."

With that he began to move his hands around as if he was 'dressing' the part, putting on a fake belt and army boots or some kind of super hero uniform.

Henri rolled his eyes at Bobby's comment.  He started to say something, but put it off for now.  "Um, hold off for a bit if you would please.  If we are going to do this then we should perhaps get more prepared.  It might be good to take equipment with us.  I didn't have anything with me in the pet shop and most everything was too big for me to use."

"Well, OK. I had a bike though. I like cars too." Bobby added, trying to account for things that could be of use.

"We'll need some supplies. I'll grab some sandwiches." Bradford piped in.

Ron nodded and mentally kicked himself for not thinking of getting supplies.  He turned to April. "Do you got any tools or anything like that?  What happens if something breaks in the house, like the fuses and stuff?"

Naomi nodded a bit, and scratched her chin. "I've got my tool set..." She said as she considered options. "Maybe I can make something we can use? I'm pretty good at building things..." It was true enough. She was even very good at jury rigging little devices together. In this case she might be able to get something to help them out. At least she hoped so. She wanted to save Jenny...but if they went in there completely unprepared they would just get in trouble again. What if Naomi wasn't able to escape this time? She searched through her mind, looking for any trivia or items on an item that could be useful. It might be something related to Halloween...

11:37, Today: Naomi Brians rolled 2 successes using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s.  Trivia Hound: Int + Wits + 2.

Henri nodded at Bradford.  "Good thought on food.  I had not considered it.  But get water also, for everyone."  He thought some more.  "Some, what do you call them," he said, pantomiming wrapping something around his arm.  "Ah, bandages or something to use as bandages would be good."  "And perhaps something to use a weapons," he mulled, looking to Ron.

"No one can find this place. No one can ever break in." April explained to the group. "So, I don't have any tools, but if I did I would lend them to you."

"If someone finds out about this place, it means that Cherrywinks has found out about it. And that's bad. That's when its time to run."

Naomi got to work, jury rigging an old radio and taking one of the lightbulbs out. She affixed some wires to one of the old switches and was able to fashion a flashlight. That would be of good use in the dark if that was indeed what Halloween would be like.

"Water, check!" Bradford said, giving a goofy salute and heading towards the kitchen.

"I can stay here and keep watch for you guys I guess." Dawn said, rather sulkily. She kicked her feet into the ground, scratching the front on the wooden floor boards and making a 'sciff' sound.

Naomi rubbed her head a bit, memories running through her head. She had done something like this once before, making a flashlight. One of the times was at school, they had all kinds of little projects like that. Another time was just for fun. She winced as she remembered her parents getting angry at her when she had taken apart the radio. She had put it back together alright...but they were still mad. B-but now, m-mom and dad were probably- she shook her head. It was probably best not to think about it that much. Right now she had to focus on saving Jenny...that was what was important. Still, the flashlight could help them...at least she hoped so. She gulped. Would they be alright out there? Sh-she just hoped...she wouldn't die.

Bradford came back from the kitchen, carrying several old wine skins. Water sloshed around inside of them. "Hey guys, look what I found!" he announced. "They're like old, and medieval like and...Whoa! What's that!?" He asked, looking at what Naomi was making.

Henri looked over at Bradford.  "Those are very good.  Make sure and," he paused and thought for a moment, "put water in and empty it out several times to get the," he paused again, "old taste out of them.  Excellent job."  He glanced over to Naomi.  "What is that you are making?"

Naomi looked up for a moment, but then went back to focusing on her project. She was always good at focusing on things like that, it was something that always made her parents happy since it meant she was really really good at schoolwork. She took a few deep breaths and rubbed her brow, unintentionally getting a little oil on it before she looked back over towards Bradford in curiosity. "Hm? Oh...it's just a flashlight. Not a great one either...b-but anything's better than nothing right?" She said with a nod. "Halloween nights are usually dark...so this might help." She said before moving to finish up her preparations.

"Alright." Bobby said, looking around the room.

"Henri, I think we should take the Book." He decided. "After all, we're the one's going with the least amount of people." He reasoned.

"That means we need to jump in last so the Book can come with us. Besides, the Book will be safer with us, because we'll go in undercover, G.I. Joe style."

"Wait...." April said, looking around.

The Book, it appeared, had started to move. It twisted and turned.

"Something is changing with one of the names..." April said.

The Book opened, and the name 'Shawn Cramer' started to blink, the calligraphy brightening.

Ron had been listening quietly and then suddenly spoke up.  "I think we just need to focus on one person rather than split up.  It'll go faster that way and there's no chance of all of us being stranded if we lose the book."  He turned to Bradford.  "Bradford, I want you to stay here and keep an eye on Dawn and everyone."  He emphasized that last word a bit, hoping that Bradford would catch on that he didn't trust Bobby enough to leave him on a mission where he wasn't outnumbered.  "Bobby, you can either come along with us or stay back here and hold the fort."

Having made a decision, Ron steps up to the book and looks at the brightening name.  "Alright, what does that mean and how do we use this thing to travel?"

At Ron's statement, Henri thought for a moment.  "You are right Ron.  If we all go together then we will have a better chance of success and will probably be faster.  Who do we go for first?  Naomi's cousin, my friend, or the one that his name is flashing?"  He looked around at the others.  "I think that Bobby and Bradford should stay here to guard things and be ready to help if we come back hurt.  And still some weapons would be good to have."

"Incoming!" The Book said suddenly, lashing its tongue out into the air and cutting off the conversation.

There was silence for a moment and the only sound was the fluttering of the books pages. It waddled a few steps backwards.

Then there was a loud crashing sound and plaster rained from the ceiling all over Henri's head. Ron could feel the dust from the ceiling choking the room.

Naomi was the one that saw it first though. Followed by Henri and then finally Ron:

A leg had punched a hole in the ceiling and was flailing around looking for a place to step onto. A kid's leg. Like someone fell through a soft spot in the attic between two beams.

Shouts could be heard from inside the roof of the cabin. It sounded like more than one person.

"Oh No! No! No!" April said, getting to her feet and looking at the ceiling.

"How many more of you are there!? Hurry, we've got to get them out of the ceiling and patch up that hole so the clowns don't find us!"

Shawn thought he was a gonner. But then all of the sudden he crashed into some kind of floor. It was only a few feet down from where he and Jody fell from the cliff in the cave. Instinctively, he looked up, but the Clown and its glowing lantern were no where to be seen.

His leg however, was trapped. It was dangling in the air having punched through the floor of some kind. It sounded like people were talking below him, but he couldn't see a thing.

Jody was yelling something at him. Something about asking if they were still alive.

Shawn's first instinct was that his leg was broken. He'd just had a big fall, and now he couldn't move his leg, it was logical, right? But he could feel it kick, and it didn't hurt, so that couldn't be right. He tried to twist his body left and right, but he couldn't see anything.

Still, he could still hear Jody, at least. "Umm, I think we're alive? But I can't really move much."

Henri looked at the leg that had suddenly come through the ceiling and shook his head.  The whole situation had started off strange and quickly become unreal.  And it was only going further in that direction.  He laughed at a stray thought that floated into his mind.  "At least I came in through the wall."  At April's instructions, he looked around to see if there was anything one of them could climb on to reach the ceiling.  "Where is the way to the attic to pull them up?"

Like Henri, Ron watched as the leg came through the ceiling before sighing when the new kid came falling through the ceiling.  He turned to the others.  "Any ideas on how to patch the hole in the ceiling?"  At a sudden thought, he turned to Naomi.  "You didn't see any stuff we could use to fix the wall or the ceiling down in the basement did you?"

"There's a string in the other room that pulls down a built in staircase." April noted.

"It's in the hallway. I usually don't go up there though. Not since the first couple of years to get the bugs out. But we've got to go up now to seal whatever hole has been made. I don't want any chance the Clowns will come upon this place." April reasoned.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 22:08, Sun 06 Nov 2016.

"Shawn, you OK?" Jody said, sounding worried.

To everyone else in the room below, it sounded like a muffled girl's voice.

"I'm fine, my leg is just stuck." Shawn wriggled some more, but the leverage was all wrong to actually get free. "I think I hear voices - it sounds like other kids."

"Here" Jody said, "let me help." She tried to grab a hold of Shawn's arm to pull him up.

Then when Shawn mentioned other kids she said.

"Hello!? Is anyone there?"

"It sounds like a girl!" Dawn said, excited.

"Yeah, a girl." Bobby said, disappointed.

"Naomi, you go see if you can find anything to close up the hole.  I guess I'll go upstairs and see if we can pull him up and then bring him down."  Ron went to the attic access and pulled the string to bring down the ladder.  "Henri, you can come up with me and we'll try to get them both down here."  Lots of kids were afraid of attics, including Dawn, but Ron had never been one of them.  Without a second thought, he climbed up the ladder.

Henri nodded and followed Ron up the ladder to the attic.  "I hope that they are in the attic so we can pull them up and not between the attic and ceiling."

Having pulled down the ladder to the attic, both Ron and Henri saw Shawn and Jody. Henri instantly recognized Jody from the rest stop.

OOC: To pull Shawn out, no roll required

Though he'd heard them before, it was just such an amazing relief to actually see some other kids. He felt his eyes well up, which reminded him he'd been crying - he quickly tried to wipe his eyes and look presentable. "Umm, hi. I think I need a hand up? My leg's stuck."

Ron moved to help the other boy up.  "Hey.  My name's Ron.  Let me help pull you out and we can see about heading downstairs."  He nodded to the girl in greeting as well as he grabbed Shawn's hand.

Shawn squeezed Ron's hand tightly as he pulled himself up, as if seeking reassurance that this was all real. "My name's Shawn, and this is Jody."

"Hi." Jody said simply. A sob coughed up from her throat. Ron and Henri could see what looked like tears stinging her eyes. Jody looked away as if to blink and stop herself crying.

"I...I'm glad do see you all." She said awkwardly as Shawn was helped up.

In the roof above the attic, there was a large hole, which led to inky, unknown, unknowable darkness. It wasn't the sky outside, but something else. A door to a place that couldn't be seen or touched. The darkness smelled different. Indeed, its smelled old and wet. Just like the cave that Shawn had been in. Because, that's exactly where it led to.

"There's a downstairs?" Shawn finally got a chance to take a look around. Of all the things he was expecting to find at the bottom of a cave pit, a musty attic wasn't one of them. His brow furrowed. "Where are we? What's going on here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:40, Wed 09 Nov 2016.

Henri stuck his head up through the stair opening into the attic.  He had needed to convince himself that the attic was not a cramped space.  "If you come over this way there are the stairs.  There is food and water, and other kids.  Someone might be able to explain what this place is better than I."

He looked around for anything that might be of use to block the hole from the attic.

OOC - is there light up here?

Dazed, Shawn wandered over to the stairs, still not entirely sure this was really happening. "This might sound crazy, but...were any of you being chased by clowns?"

Ron nodded as he helped Henri look for something...anything...to use to plug up the hole in the ceiling.  "Yeah, we were all chased here by clowns.  It's a long story and I guess we'll talk about it in a bit.  Right now, we have to fix the hole to keep them from coming in."

Henri nodded in agreement with Ron.  "Oui, something that looked like a giant clown."

Bradford and Ron managed to push a large dresser into the attic. They stacked boxes of clothing on top it and move crates over towards it. The whole structure seemed to teeter, but April came up and shored it up, using blankets. She used a hammer and nails to drape the blankets across.

"It just needs to be blocked off for now, but when you guys go out to...where ever it is you decide to let the book take you, bring back something to block this hole." She asked.

April pulled a small chain on the attic when everyone started to leave, turning on the light in the attic and brightening it significantly.

"Book?" Jody asked, confused.

"Yeah." Bradford said. And that's when he started to explain the whole thing. How where they were was some 'in-between-world' and how the Babble Book could be used to jump to other worlds to save kids that were being hunted by Mr. Cherrywinks the Clown and the evil circus.

Bobby waited for the story to end for adding wryly "You guys moved all that stuff to cover up the hole, but April waited to turn on the light."

"I don't come up here all of the time." April quipped. "No one has ever gone through the roof before."

It was getting clear to everyone that April was getting tired. Tired of Bobby's constant quibbling and nit-picking. Tired of kids coming through the roof and walls. Tired of having to explain everything. Tired of making sandwiches.

With the attic being lit, Henri poked around looking for anything that might make serviceable weapons.

Henri rummaged through the moth-ball smelling box in the attic. Inside, there was an old but well-kept baseball bat. It said 'Louisville' on the side of it.

It felt firm in Henri's hands.

"Hey, I know you." Jody said to Henri.

Then with more quickness in her voice.

"Hey..hey...have you seen my brother? Since the rest stop? Hey, he's been missing. I need to find him." She started  to cry all of the sudden, tears falling down her face and catching the light of the attic.

Bradford, who was halfway down the staircase, began to make his way back up.

Shawn sat down rather heavily on some random piece of attic detritus. This was a lot to take in; killer clowns, sure, but soul stealing demon clowns out to rebuild some sort of evil circus, with some book being the key to stopping them? It was almost too crazy even for the movies!

He tried to think about what to do next. These kids wanted to go rescue other kids, which seemed like the right thing to do, but at the same time, there was a selfish little part of him that wanted to seize this temporary bit of safety he'd found and never let go. He was so tired after everything he'd been through...

After making sure the hole was at least somewhat safe, Ron climbed back downstairs for the tail-end of the conversation.  "Shawn and Jody just got here, so maybe it's best if they stay and rest up while the rest of us go ahead on our mission."  He shrugs.  "That way, if something bad happens, they can come and maybe rescue the rest of us."

"You betcha!" Bradford agreed. There were more kids now. And because of that the cabin felt less stark and lonely.

Sure, the walls were still a dark brown, the wood having aged. The smell of old clothes still filled the house and the interior light was anything but bright. Still, with the amount of new kids in the house, there was a growing sense of comfort and safety. The cabin began to take on a cozy feel.

The only ones who didn't appear to sense the renewed energy in the house were Jody, Shawn and April.

"Ughhh.." April groaned. She took the moment to give Bobby a nasty look.

"I'm so used to being alone. I forgot what it was like to have a bunch of friends around. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy you guys are here, but at the same time, its overwhelming." She admitted, candidly.

Instead of responding to April or even following Ron down the stairs, Jody clutched desperately to Shawn.

"We made it." She said, her voice welling with relief. She quavered, but ultimately regained her sense of equilabrium, resting on Shawn's shoulder.

"I can't go anywhere right now." She said. "I think I just want to stay here. I'm not sure I ever want to go anywhere ever again." she said.

It was clear that Jody was too upset to have listened to Bradford's explanation of where they were or Ron's suggestion that they stay behind for a mission of some kind.

Then, as if finally realizing that she and Shawn were no longer in the cave, she suddenly said:

"Where the heck are we?"

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Bobby consoled. And then, "You're in the presence of an undercover G.I. Joe that's about to lead his troops into battle. Everything will be alright, you'll see."

"And this kid right here." He said, pointing at Henri "is a real American hero." He smiled.

"He survived an attack and other things. And he punched his way through the wall like the Incredible Hulk."

He let Jody and Shawn take that information in for a moment. Then, he finished by saying:

"Now you know, and knowing is half the battle."

"I really want to help you rescue the other kid, you're right, Ron. I'm dead on my feet, I wouldn't be any use at all.." Shawn was lying, of course - he wanted nothing more than some water and a chance to sleep a while, but he didn't want the others to think he was a coward. He tried to sound reluctant, like he hated having to stay behind.

"You'll be alright." Bradford comforted, completely taking Shawn for his word. "That's sort of what happened to us. We all made it here somehow or another. And after sleeping, we're feeling somewhat better."

"That's probably all you need. A good night sleep. Some rest. Time to think things over. And of course, water."

"If all that fails, when we get back, we'll help you out with the Book."

"The Book helps heal you if you're really injured too." April clarified for the new kids.

"Here, why don't you lay down. I'll get you both some water." She said, referring to Shawn and Jody.

"Also, I'll make you some sandwiches."

At that, Bobby wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Thank you." Hearing the offer, Shawn smiled for the first time in what felt like forever, a genuine one, at that, but he could feel the fatigue catching up with him as the adrenaline faded. "I think I just...need a rest."

Jody collapsed on the floor which was covered with pillows and blankets, falling asleep instantly.  The exhaustion, and the final relief and sense of survival wrapped itself around Shawn and held him in a comforting embrace.

By the time April made her way to the kitchen, Shawn was already practically asleep.

OOC: Shawn Joins thread - Shawn's Dream (Group 1): A Haunting Proposition

Shawn woke with a start, rolled over, and groaned. He wasn't sure how long he'd slept, but he still felt bone tired. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around for Jody.

OOC: Storyteller is rolling secret rolls.


Shawn looked around at the huddled mass of blankets. The pillows were bundled over in one clump on the far side of the center of the room. He palmed his hand around and felt nothing. Outside, the wind howled and heavy raindrops could be seen through the windows coming down outside in a torrential downpour.

Shawn tried to get up and look around. "Hello? Is anyone here?"

April came back into the room holding a tray of sandwiches.

"What?" She asked Shawn and the others, with a puzzled look on her face.

"Did you fall asleep already? You pour thing. You must be so tired. Here I was gone for only a second and you fell asleep. You don't have to eat these sandwiches now. You've been through a lot. We all have." She seemed to be  vacillating between pure annoyance that so many kids were in the house, and understanding empathy at what everyone was going through.

She sighed.

"I'll just set these down here. When you're ready,  you can have a bite to eat and a drink."

Shawn looked around and noticed that most everyone was there.

"Wow!" Bradford exclaimed. "He really is out of it. Good thing you're staying here." Bradford comforted. "Hey Henri, this might be worse than when you came through the wall!"

"I say, I say, I say, I say--he's out of it!" The Book mimicked.

To Shawn, this was a shocking sight. A large book in the corner of the room. It's tongue lashing about. And it was speaking. It was actually speaking.

Shawn could feel the pen with the black feather gripped in his right hand.

Shawn shook his head as if trying to clear it. "Right! Right. Sorry, I'm a little...it's been a really long day. How long was I asleep?"

Then he jumps as the book starts talking. He'd been warned about it before, but it was a completely different matter to actually seeing and hearing a talking book. "Umm, hi, are you the Babble Book?"

"That's the Babble Book." April said.

"At wast! The wong arm of the waw is reaching out and cwosing in on you. You scwewy wabbit." The Book said nonsensically.

It thrashed its tongue out in the air like some sort of parade ribbon and had a large smile on its face which took up nearly the entire front cover of the leatherbound book.

"Oh." Shawn seemed really disconcerted by the book, but he was trying to hide it since all of the other kids seemed fine with it. "So, uh, we write in you to get clues about the clowns, right?"

"Yes" April said, trying to instruct the new kid.

"If you write your story in it like the others, the Book will remember. You don't even need a pen if you don't have one." April explained, for the benefit of Shawn.

"You just need to pretend and then write."


She let Shawn take that information in. In the corner, Dawn was fiddling with some string on the blankets.

"I'll do it, but I'll probably hate myself in the morning!" The Book taunted.

Or maybe it was just the way the booked talked. Bradford laughed a little, warming to the idea of the book speaking.

"Oh, okay. I think I found a pen, so I'll just use that. Using my imagination just sounds weird." Shawn approached the book cautiously, as if unsure if it was going to bite. "I guess I'll give it a shot."

Assuming it didn't scream or bite or anything unexpected, Shawn opens the book and prepares to write.

The book slapped at Shawn's hands lightly with its leathery tongue as Shawn opened it. At first glance, Shawn could see that it was filled with strange symbols and old writings. There were blank pages too. Parchment that was thick, tea-stained and crisp.

The pages fluttered and Shawn could smell a certain odor in the air. Popcorn.

Then, the Book pushed itself to the page where Henri had written. Shawn quickly skimmed the paragraph about how Henri had survived an encounter with the Clown in a pet store that kept the souls of little boys and girls.

There was a space on the page, next to that story. And empty space. Shawn's own hand felt stiff as he pressed the pen against the paper.

Shawn started writing his piece - his brow furrowed as he the pen scratched along the pages.

Bradford started to talk about how great things would be once he, Dawn and Ron got home as Shawn started to write in the book. It was quiet in the cabin and the rain outside drummed on the windowsill nearby. From time to time the scratching of the pen cut through the heavy silence in the room.

The pen scratched and scratched, and as it did, the book shifted slightly, the tongue still waving in the air, as if it was somehow used to this sort of thing.

]]

OOC: Henri and Naomi Join Thread: Henri, Naomi: Just Names On A List
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:34, Tue 15 Nov 2016.

"So, what I'm trying to say, is that things are going to be great." Bradford told Dawn and Ron. "Just as soon as we get out of here. Save a few kids and get back  home. You'll see guys."  he said fondly.

Shawn continued to write like a kid possessed, giving no sign of even seeing the other kids. It was just him and the book now.

Bradford's voice was suddenly faint. His words sounded distant and tinny. Like they were coming from the far end of some giant metal tunnel. ]

All the while, Shawn continued to write.


OOC: Ron Joins Thread: Ron: Cast Out to The Evil Circus

"WAIT!" April suddenly screamed at Shawn, trying to get through to him.

The sound was pleading and desperate. It sounded like the last desperate scream of one of the 'scream queens.' Like a teenage girl that Shawn had seen so many times in movies like that. The scream was shrieking, ear piercing and filled with unadulterated terror.

It begged for mercy. Begged for anything. Begged for one more chance. It cried out for one explanation, trying to tell Shawn something.

Shawn looked up from his writing - there were tears rolling down his cheeks now, and his face had lost what little colour it had to begin with. "I'm sorry - I couldn't-I can't..." He turned back to his writing, but his hand was shaking and his eyes were blurry.

And with that, Shawn watched as April came towards him, her hand outstretched in a gesture of desperation. She took several steps forward, face a mask of worry and fear. By the second step, Shawn could already see through her to the other side of the wall. And by the third step, she was gone.

Shawn glanced behind him and saw that Dawn was gone as well. The pile of blankets and pillows where she sat lay empty like that of an unmade bed.

The cabin was suddenly quiet.

There was the tap, tap, tapping of rain on the outside. The book shifted its weight as if to accept more of what Shawn was giving.

"Now...listen." the one Shawn had heard them call Bobby started, sounding like he was trying to avoid certain doom. It was the voice of negotiation. He was backing against the wall. Pressing himself against it, as if he hoped to avoid Shawn's gaze. Bobby wasn't on the list that the Closet-Clown had given him.

Shawn felt the pen in his his hand for the first time in minutes. He looked down and saw that his fingers and knuckles were white with tension.

Shawn let out a scream, and threw the pen across the room. Then he finally broke, collapsing to the floor and curling up into a ball, sobbing and sobbing. He didn't even seem to see Bobby.

It went on for some time. A sob coughed up from his stomach. Tears stung at his
eyes. They ran down his puffy cheeks and collected at the base of his chin, patting down gently onto the cabin's floor.

"Listen..." Bobby said. And this time the voice sounded more certain. Less afraid of what Shawn might do, or what might have been done. Instead, Bobby's voice took on a sort of comforting, if not rationalizing tone to it.

"Listen, Shawn..." He pleaded, trying to break the spell that all of the emotions had on Shawn. And they did have him. Shawn could feel a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"You did...what you had to." Bobby reasoned. "It's alright." Bobby soothed.

He was still across the room, talking from a distance. But the words could be felt floating towards Shawn. A minute ago, it might have sounded harsh, like arrows flitting across the room, trying to stop Shawn from writing.

But now the room seemed to have lost its frenetic energy.

"Don't worry. He came to me too." Bobby reassured.

Shawn, still curled up on the floor, gave Bobby a bleary-eyed look. "H-he did?" His voice was cracked and hoarse.

"Just...calm down." Bobby said, looking not calm at all himself. He wasn't talking about G.I. Joe's anymore. Oh no. Now, he was looking just as bit as nervous as Shawn was. Maybe even more.

He brought his hands up to his hair, running it through the sides until the fingers met at the top of his head. His eyes squinted as if he was in pain.

"How are we gonna get out of here now?" He asked out loud to no one in particular. Then he looked back down at Shawn.

"I mean, yeah. I mean, not really came to me. Just, I don't know. I didn't even think the whole thing was real in that way. I didn't even see any clowns. I just heard a voice under my bed. It came to me the night before and told me I had to bring this kid named Will out. Out to where..." He stopped and looked around, almost as if preferring not to finish the sentence.

"In the dream, there was a map. The voice told me that I would have the map in my hand and if I wanted the G.I. Joe toy that I keep asking Mom and Dad for, that I had to take the map and follow it until I met a kid named Will." He kept on the with the story, lost in his own words. As if trying to recall how it all happened and not really paying attention to Shawn anymore.

"I mean, its the summer time, right? So I just took my bike out and kept riding. The problem was I kept riding for days and days. Right on that road named Route 50. It kept going and going and...strangest thing...I wasn't even hungry."

"Honestly, I did it mostly because I was afraid of the voice under my bed. I mean. Not scared like a little kid scared, but kind of like Duke would get scared if he was outnumbered by Cobra troops in a battle or something."

"So then I see this kid. And he tells me that his brother's car was stolen. So I did what the voice and the map told me to do. I led to him to a side area on the road. It just kind of felt like it was going to be there, you know? And it was. And I led him there and then that was that."

"I kind of knew what was going to happen to him. The voice said that he was on the list. And if I wanted to stay off the list, I had do it."

"The voice also said that if he got away, I had to follow him and find out where the kid named Will went. And that was here."

"So that's my story." Bobby said.

While listening to the story, Shawn managed to lever himself into a sitting position on the floor. The tears had stopped for now, partly from being all cried out, mostly from passing through sadness and guilt all the way to numb. "So what do we do now? The voice said if I did this, I'd be off the list and could go home."

"I don't know." Bobby said, abandoning the pretense of snarkiness that he had demonstrated earlier when Shawn had arrived alongside Jody.

Although he seemed upset, Bobby was also calmer than most kids would be in this situation. He appeared, by all means, to be thinking the problem through. And for a second, it reminded Shawn of the movie Rubert Gets Lost in Space. It was a kid movie that he had almost secured a part in about a year ago, were it not for Mom deciding the movie wasn't high profile enough for Shawn.

Now Bobby began to pace back and forth, feet sounding on the cabin floorboards and making them creak.

He bent down over the pile of sandwiches that April had left for Shawn and Jody and snatched one up.

"Let's think this through. There's something we must be missing." Bobby reasoned, taking a bite of the sandwich and then grimacing with a disgusted look before putting it down.

"And remember, 'mud' spelled backwards is 'dum'." The Book said in its low, Loony-tune style voice.

It wasn't open anymore, and Shawn could see the tongue was waving in the air in random directions, a big, broad smile on the Book's face.

Shawn wracked his brains for the answer, but between his exhaustion and the guilt, he was hardly in the right mind for it. He started looking around for where he'd thrown the pen. Maybe that had the answer?

Shawn walked over to the middle of the room and bent down to pick up the pen.

There was a feeling of loneliness in the cabin now. It weighed heavily on the room and made the air thick.

Then, as Shawn got up with the pen in hand, he could see headlights through the windows of the cabin. Bright beams of yellow light poured through the windows and shown on the far side of the room. The rain was coming down hard outside, but Shawn could see there was a car out there. It was hard to make out what kind of car, who was driving it, or really anything other than that it was there.

Then, Shawn heard the sound of a car horn. Sort of....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3SxEOvAOEg

Moving like he was a hundred years old, he pocketed the pen, then walked over to the writing desk and picked up the Babble Book. He felt tired and alone. "I think this might be it. If there's...if I...I'm sorry. About everything." He went to the front door and walked out into the rain, tucking the Book into his shirt to protect it from the water.

Bobby trailed off after Shawn, into the rain. The downpour was heavy and relentless.

"Wait!" Bobby said.

"Hey, Hold on!" he cried out behind Shawn.

"What about me?"

Shawn could see the car about a hundred yards away. It was a small Volkswagen Beetle. It sat there ominously waiting. The rain was too heavy for Shawn to see who was inside.

"You said that you made a deal too - maybe this is for both of us?" The sight of that Beetle made Shawn's stomach lurch - poor Mr. Sellick - but he didn't really have any other options right now. "Come on. I just want this to be over."

Bobby elected not to say anything and just moved quickly to get behind Shawn as they both approached the car. Pulling ahead of Shawn briefly, he came to a sudden stop a few feet away from the door.

Rain splattered against the passenger window and dinged off the curved hood of the Beetle, sliding down to the dull chrome bumper. The driver's face was obscured by fat droplets that hung suspended in the middle of the window.

Shawn saw the driver's face turn to face him.



The Clown that murdered Mr. Sellick opened the door to the passenger side seat.

Shawn stopped just short of the passenger door, trying to keep images of Mr. Sellick's death out of his head. He wasn't successful. In the end, he screwed his eyes shut and felt his way into the car seat. He couldn't find the words to say anything.

Shawn got into the seat and the car door closed. Bobby threw himself into the back of the tightly cramped car. It smelled like old clothes and rotten fruit. There was a heavy musk that wafted off of the Clown in behind the wheel.

With one, red high-heeled shoe, the acceleration pedal was pushed down and the car slowly trumbled forward, bouncing slightly on the rough, farm terrain.




"I know you did what you had to do." The Clown said in a wheening voice, filled with treble. "But it makes me sad all the same." She frowned. Tears of blood began to drip down each cheek.

Shawn could hear Bobby breathing heavily, nervously in the backseat. "Well, I...uh..guess we should be going" he prompted

Shawn kept his eyes closed, but tears of his own were leaking out anyway. He just concentrated on breathing - in and out and in and out - and prayed the ride would be over soon.

For once the book was quiet. In Shawn's lap, he felt the Book 'release' like it was relaxing, settling into the car and against Shawn's legs.







"I have to tell you a story now. It's a sad story. But there's a lesson in it. Do you like bedtime stories? I do."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:41, Fri 18 Nov 2016.

"Uhhh...sure." Bobby said. It sounded like he was willing to say anything. His voice came out choking, and he croaked slightly before coughing.

"Just..whatever we need to do."

"To, get where we need...to go." Bobby said, filling the empty space with words.

Shawn appreciated Bobby's attempt to fill the silence; the sound of the clown's voice made his stomach flip. But right now they were (possibly literally) a captive audience. "...fine."

"One day there was a shoe salesmen that wasn't able to work anymore. He was completely crippled, on account of his bad back." The Clown said, tears streaming down her face in red rivulets.

"He couldn't sell shoes anymore, so he became a doctor. He settled down in a city where no one knew of him. He started to talk differently, and he made his voice all nasely and different sounding."

"Then, he started to talk about how he had antidotes to all of the problems that the people in the city had. He was making all of these potions and cocktails that promised to help people and get them out of trouble. Soon, he was famous for his ability to cure people. Then one day he got sick."

"The King of the city called him and said that he wanted to try some of the potions that the man had made, to see how valuable they were. The King asked the man to bring some large cups filled with these potions so the King could try them."

"But the King was very skeptical. When the shoe salesman arrived, he ordered him to drink poison and wanted the shoe salesman to then use the antidotes to prove that it worked."

"Terrorized of the idea of being poisoned, the shoe salesmen confessed that he knew nothing of medicine and that all of his potions were made of nothing."

"The King then brought all of the citizens together and said to them:

-How could you all be so foolish? Here we have a shoe salesmand that no one trusted to fix their shoes, and you placed all your faith in him, just because he promised something to you? Promised that he would save you from your troubles and worries?

Why would you trust someone so blindly?"

"Because if they were sick, they didn't have a choice." Shawn forced himself to open his eyes, and started trying to figure out how to leave the car; the moral of the clown's story was a little too clear. "...what happened to Jody?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:52, Fri 18 Nov 2016.

Shawn opened his eyes as the car came to a stop. Red and blue lights flickered across his vision: police cars.

They were parked outside, across the street, in front of Shawn's house.  Shawn looked down into his lap and saw the book. It's tongue and face were gone. It looked like a normal book.


The Clown nodded slowly with a sad face.

"It's a sad story, for a sad situation. And I feel your pain and your sadness too. I'm so sad. You hold onto that book. Put it in your room in a safe place. Don't lose it. When he needs you, he'll come. And when he does, he'll take the book." The clown advised. She looked outside at the blue and red flashing lights.

"Only a few hours have passed since the incident with Mr. Sellick, if you head home now, you can still see your Mom and Dad cry"

Shawn just looked at his house for a bit; he hadn't been away for all that long, but the seeing such a familiar mundane sight made his heart feel like it was going to rip in two. Before getting out of the car, he glanced into the back seat. "What about Bobby?"

Bobby's head was already leaning forward in anticipation when Shawn asked the question. The expression of a prisoner trapped and destined for certain doom on his face.

"What about me?" Bobby echoed. Though his voice came through with a raspy, strained tone, like he needed to clear his throat.

"What about you?" Gaggles asked in a sad voice. "I'm so sad to hear you say that. You sound scared. It really makes me want to end your suffering."

"You know the head's where everything is at, the brain, eyes, mouth. That's the person. I remember being told at the Circus, you cut off the head and the body dies. the body is nothing after the head is cut off... well that's not quite true. With a little boy like you Bobby, there's a lot left without a head." Gaggles offered.

"Shawn, can I sleep at  your place tonight?" Bobby interjected in a pleading voice, desperately. He was already unbuckling his seat belt.

"Yes, c'mon." Shawn made sure he had the book, and then started to get out of the car. Bringing Bobby wasn't just so he wouldn't be left alone with the clown. The two of them had been through something together tonight, and perverse as it was, their shared guilt made him feel closer to Bobby.

Bobby got out of the car and made his way with Shawn across the lawn and up to the front of Shawns house. The police lights were on, flashing and lighting up the night sky.

"Thanks." Bobby said, voice filled with relied. "Is this your house? I mean, what are we gonna tell your parents?"

"Yeah, this is where I live. Hmm." If Shawn knew one thing, it was how to lie to people - especially his parents.  He tried to think about it like a movie scene. Two kids finding their way home from a dangerous situation to the relief of their parents. It was all about the framing. "We should stick close to the truth - after the car crash, I ran away, we found each other, and only now made our way back. If they ask something you don't know how to answer, just start crying. Here, take my hand. The younger you act, the less they'll question your story."

Bobby seemed enthusiastic about the approach. Shawn watched as the worry lines on the boy's face seemed to lighten considerablly. Wrinkles of worry which had been etched on Bobby's forehead gave way to relief, and a smile, albeit small, began to form. It was slightly mischevious. He took Shawn's hand, holding it firmly.

"Now we're talking." Bobby agreed. "That's the problem I had with the other kids in the cabin back there." Bobby insisted, gesturing behind him where the Clown car...

But where was the Clown car? It was gone. Bobby took note of that, quickly surveying the road beyond the police cars before turning back to Shawn.

"I kept trying to tell the other kids that being an an undercover G.I. Joe means more than just telling everyone that you're a good guy. Sometimes you can't let other people know what the mission is, because it's secret." Bobby justified. "That's why I didn't tell anyone about the dream that I had, even though everyone else was blabbing their mouths off. Of course, I didn't know that you were part of the secret mission too. To save ourselves and our families. That's also why I won't say nothing about what happened." He promised.

"Acting young is a good idea." Bobby said.

"What happened to the girl named Jody? Did you right her name in the book too." Bobby asked as he took a step up onto Shawn's door. They were in front of the door now, and a wave of relief and safety seemed washed over the porch as he looked at the familiar structure.

Shawn shook his head. "No, that was part of the deal. The voice said he'd take her off the list too..." He took a deep breath, and although it was just for acting, he squeezed Bobby's hand a little tighter before he rang the doorbell.

OOC: Shawn Joins Thread

Shawn: 6 Months Later