DF-S3: “I should have stayed in England”

Freya Korhonen (Bill)	"Youth Rehab Services" (YRS) Steuben, MI
Lukas Vertanen (Michael P.)	Lawyer, Lansing, MI
Henry Harvester (Michael H.)	Electrical Inspector, Detroit, MI
Joseph Blayne (Brian)	Dept Licensing, Bldg. codes, Detroit, MI
Satele Greenwood (Dalton)	Lawyer, Brit moved to Marquette, MI

[Satele’s musings]

Tuesday, 14 May 8pm: Satele stirred in bed at the muted vibration on the far bedside nightstand, “Lukas, you’re phone again.” Lukas peeked one eye at the screen, “Hank wants to know if I want to join him on a midnight walk to watch some local teens wander in the woods. He was able to persuade them to tell a little of the local legend. Only a 20-year-old legend as their grandpas didn’t know about it. A ‘right-of-passage’ as their dad’s would say. Irresistible woman in white wanders the woods at night. If they’re lucky to find her, maybe sex. GPS coordinates for a cabin but they are supposed to find it on their own.” Satele’s phone went off with the same message, “Why would you want to stomp around in the woods, when you have your own irresistible woman beside you?” Lukas couldn’t argue with that comment as they ‘cuddled’ again.

8:22pm: “Now what?” Satele looked at her phone again, “It’s that irritating Freya and her damn theories about…Holy Shit! The sheriff told her the seminal fluid was analyzed to be tree sap! Those baby bones? Cellular structure of a plant. I thought you’re American laboratories are supposed to be top-of-the-line. Sounds like the sheriff sent in the wrong samples. Or the local forensic is smoking weed.” Satele sat up to read more, “The Nelson girls lost 20 years ago? Sheriff says they found 3 of them the day after…frozen…in June. How does that happen?”

Lukas skipped over that message as he read the next, from Freya, “She’s telling Hank to get the boys’ names to do a social media search. See if the boys mention the link that gives the GPS coordinates to the cabin. Another of her theories: child molester or serial killer uses the cabin for his heinous crimes. Has a freezer in the cabin to keep the bodies preserved for some sadistic ‘play’ days later. I don’t want to know what Freya’s childhood was like. She scares me enough.”

10:30pm: Lukas’ phone lit up. Satele asked, “What? Did you set an alarm for another romp?” Lukas paused at the unlisted # but then answered, “Hello, Mr. Vertanen? Nurse Charlette from the PJ Nelson Training School for Boys. I understand you are now Chris Healey’s guardian? Just wanted to let you know the boy is waking. I know it’s late but thought you might want to talk with him.” Lukas hung up, “Get dressed. We’re going to go talk to my new son. Let me post a message to the others. I’m sure they’ll be interested in what Chris has to say.”

11:07pm: Bill Nelson met them at the gate and scanned the passenger faces, “Ah, Mr. Vertanen, decided to bring the whole team did ya. I appreciate you taking custody of the boy. Sure makes it easier for us. Follow me.” As they entered the main building, Hank remembered he wanted to check the files in Nelson’s office…that Lukas couldn’t access. As the long line of people headed to the Nurse Station, Hank slipped away.

Hank looked left then right for patrolling guards, and strained to listen for footsteps, before he took out a credit-card and tried to unlock the door. “Click.” He slipped in and closed the door before turning on the lights. Finding the desk not even locked. As for Chris’ file [Library 98], Hank struggled to find it in the accordion folder. So, he just took the whole folder. Meanwhile, Bill opened the Medical room door, “Nurse Charlette, Mr. Vertanen is here to see his ward-of-the-state.” After introducing himself and the others to the boy, Lukas began, “Chris, can you remember anything about your last night in the woods?”

Still groggy, Chris was slow in his recollection, “Worm and Jack, that’s my friends the Anderson brothers, and I were released that night around midnight. No car or bus service so we walked. Knew the ‘No Hitchhiking’ signs around town would hinder our chances of a ride, so we cut thru the woods to the main road. And that’s when we say that woman…she took Worm and Jack’s hands and began walking deeper into the woods. I followed till they reached that broken/collapsed tree where she began undressing with the brothers. I knew better and tried to stop her.

That’s when she…oh my God…she…she…turned into a snake with fangs. I musta blacked out.”

Chris was standing now and started to twitch, gasping and coughing. Then grabbed for his stomach and vomited into the nurse’s face. Like a slow-motion-flickering-1920s silent movie…Chris’ skin started rippling, his bones popping, his legs extending with the knees turned backwards, as horns grew from his forehead (a Satyr). Sanity check! Everyone gasping then trying to react. Lukas yelling, “Strap him down!” Satele fighting her fears to join her newest love. So focused on Chris, it took all of them a few seconds to recognize the popping and moans of Charlette transforming behind them.

Lukas and Satele each labored to push an arm closer to the bed restraining straps. Freya raked her hand thru her hair to fit her brass-knuckle hairpin before swinging at Charlette (Brawl 97). Freya slipped, missing, thus exposed to the Satyr’s horns. Freya collapsed unconscious from her major wound (10 pts, CONsave 97). Joseph desperately searched for a weapon (scalpel, scissors, Luck-fail) but had to settle on a glass jar to bash on the nurse. Poor timing as Satyr nurse moved, lowing her horns to gut and disembowel Bill Nelson who collapsed dead.

Lukas managed (STR-Hard) to strap Chris’ right arm to then aid Satele struggling with the left arm. “We need help. HANK! Where are you?!” Indeed, Hank had heard commotion and was walking that way. The yelling prompting him faster, till he caught sight of the open security door. The sleeping guard and the rack of shotguns behind him. Hank grabbed a shotgun before kicking the chair to wake the guard, “We’ve got a runaway! Get up.”

Chris broke his left arm free to swing at his assailants (but missed). Satele had jumped out of the way in panic, “Should have stayed in England.” Joseph used the opening to pull a cabinet down on the partially restrained Chris Satyr. Which exposed his back to nurse Satyr (6 pts but not a major wound). The guard had already rushed past Hank and thus the 1^st to enter the room…and saw the Satyrs. [failed Sanity -5 pts; Temporary Insanity] “Momma!” Hank pushed thru the doorway, gasped at the scene, and unloaded his shotgun at nurse Satyr (she’s pissed off at the 11 pt back wound). Hank yelled, “Get behind me. Get the shotgun the guard dropped.” Just what Joseph was looking for as he ducked to retrieve it and came up firing…dropping the nurse dead. Joseph and Hank combined shots to disintegrate the Chris Satyr prone on the bed.

Chaos, confusion, screaming, blood, and Freya just waking up…only to roll over and face the disemboweled Bill, “Aaagh! Fuck This! Give ME a shotgun too!” Even thou Joseph handed her his, she walked out the door looking for the security room. Soon she returned with boxes of shells. Meanwhile, Hank saw all the wounded and called out, “Someone get the nurse. We’ve got bleeders!” [Remember, he wasn’t in the room when the nurse transformed.]

And the guard started to regain his memory and sobbed, “I’m going home.” But Lukas took charge, “Per the governor’s orders, we are now in charge. This is a government takeover to lockdown the scene. YOU are NOT going anywhere nor saying anything. Give me you phone, headset, and any communication devise till I can get your sworn statement to that affect.” Satele leaned into Joseph, “Isn’t he divine and manly! I just love the way he takes control.”

Hank remembered the security room, “They have Closed-Circuit-TVs. If I remember correct, they have coverage of the perimeter, school, Horse camp, Logging camp, and the farm next door.” He was back in the room, when he noticed the farm, and yelled out, “GUYS?! There’s the woman in white coming from the farm, headed this way. Looks like she’s cutting across the grounds and thru the gates towards the Horse camp.” Satele looked over his shoulder, “This ain’t happening! She has black eyes! Mrs. Nelson. She must be the demon who raped those boys. And why is that red truck pulling up? And why do they have hunting rifles?”

Hank looked at the perimeter TV feed, “Oh my God! The teen boys. What time is it? Almost midnight? They’ve come to find the woman in white. We have to stop them! Who’s coming with me for the boys?” Satele and Lukas volunteered to monitor the cameras as the others exited. Minutes later, Satele noticed, “Where is SHE going?” As the others had turned left out of the building, Freya turned right, toward the gate that led to the Horse Camp. Which is where the woman in white was headed. [On the brink of insanity, Freya had visions of finding Dante in the cabin and grabbing him by his lower lip or earlobe and dragging him back to the detention center so the team could report to the governor success and Freya could get back to her comfy desk. And forget this whole nightmare.]

Satele looked at Lukas, “I’M not going out there! How do you know she doesn’t have more of those Satyrs out there?! What is she??” Lukas called Hank on his phone, “Freya’s gone over the hill. She’s headed toward the woman.” Hank responded, “I’ve got a responsibility for the boys. I’ll deal with her later.” Hank and Joseph ran toward the boys yelling and flashing their phone cameras to get their attention without drawing fire. “Jimmy/Sam! Don’t go in the forest!” Jimmy looked up to recognize Hank at a distance, “Sorry man, but you’re too old for this. You’ve had your ‘right-of-passage.’” Joseph now pleaded, “There has already been 2 deaths; don’t add to the count.” [Intimidate: 78 vs 40] Sam yelling back, “Go find your own action you perverts.” The boys turned from the men and ran deeper into the woods.

Lukas tethered his phone to the TV hard-drive and began copying the data, “We’ll need evidence. Hopefully can copy the Nurse Station scene and this outside scene.” Satele quit watching the screens as she decided, “I’m calling the police.” She found the CB-radio (she was a ham operator back home in England), “Hello? Sheriff Webb? [Law: regular] Code 42. Two code blues. And bring a posse.” Jim Webb responded, “On my way. Posse? This ain’t the wild west. Bringing my deputy. Over.”

Out of camera coverage, the others could not see Freya. Nor her reaction when the boys suddenly came out of the woods to her left. The boys and her seeing the woman-in-white at the same time. The boys lustfully dropping their guns and striding toward her. Following her into the woods to then strip and lay beside an old fallen tree split by lightning strike. Freya raised and fired her shotgun into the air to dissuade them. In Finnish, the woman called out, “Limpo, you are needed.”Freya was hoping to frighten the boys into running away. But they were too enthralled by the woman’s beauty and control.

But Freya did see the old tree start to shake and twist and form into…Freya’s mind snapped…”Nikolas? My husband! Oh how I’ve longed for you. Come, let us lay together.” There is no record or witness to describe how Limpo, a Finnish god, in tree form, complied with Freya’s desire by ramming a tree branch into her thus splitting her in half.

EPILOGUE

Henry dropped his suitcases as soon as he entered his house in Detroit, “Helen, I’m home.” Helen rushed into the Livingroom and wrapped her arms around him and planted a big kiss, “I’m so glad you’re safe and sound. You sounded frazzled on the phone. You scared me for a few minutes. So, did you bring me those fluid samples you mentioned?” The thought scared Henry again, “Do we have to talk about that now? Yes, yes, it’s in my suitcase. But let me shower first. And I need a BIG drink.” With the shower running, Helen opened the suitcase and found the sealed vial. She immediately placed a call, “Code 76482. Delta Green operative 24. I have the package. Send a pickup van.”

Satele unlocked her apartment, stepped inside, and kicked off her high-heels, only to find the Livingroom empty but a light glowing from the back room. “Lukas, are you back there again?! PLEASE, stop the replay. Once was enough seeing those horned transformations. I want to forget. I only want to remember Hiawatha as the place I met you. I’m having enough trouble settling back into my work at the Law firm as it is.”

Sheriff Webb opened his desk drawer, pulled out the shot-glass and bottle, and poured his daily medicine. “Damn meddling government asses. And that bitch Freya too afraid to show her face after I spilled all that info to her. Got the detention center closed and now most of the townfolk unemployed. Crime, domestic calls, and too many drunks for my small jail. ‘We’re here to help’…my ass!” 

THE PLOT

In the 1930s, Great-grandfather Nelson conducted a Finnish ritual to boost his harvest. The god Lempo was held in this small area due to the elder signs carved on the trees. Especially the large Oak tree prominent in the forest center.

During a 1998 storm, lightning struck the Oak tree that was the gate to Lempo's domain, freeing him to enter our world. Days later the 4 Nelson girls went out there and were killed by Lempo. (The oldest daughter taken back to his domain to be forcibly bred with.) Why the other girls were frozen is unknown.

The girls’ death snapped their mom's mind who would wander the woods looking for the girls. She was ensnared by Lempo and turned into a deathless creature, that would breed with the prisoners and lays husks of babies that snakes were attracted to and would nest in. If she mated with Lempo then one of Shub-Niggurath's young would be born (in the Cthulhu mythos canon it is never explained what that is).

With the start of the cash for kids scheme, Bill Nelson saw a way to maximize his profits through essentially slave labor. He also was able to make money logging the forest which destroyed elder signs. (At the logging camp you would have found harvested trees with the symbol carved into it.) This allowed Lempo to journey farther and he started to kill the kids in the forest (only started happening recently).

SATELE GREENWOOD’S BIO

Satele works for the Michigan Law firm, Fieger Law. This is her first assignment.

Satele's Father received a promotion which made him have to relocate to the USA, the move brought Satele and her mother with him. Satele moved with her family to MI, USA in 2009. She knows of and uses some American terms however her British origins do show in some of the ways she speaks. Her favorite movie is "Spirited Away" (2001 by Hayao Miyazaki) and she has very little of a social life.

She has no American family history, her family only moved to the USA due to her father receiving a job promotion in 2009.

Satele is feeling more uneasy as the hours go by and that the case is getting out of hand, fast. She hopes to gain experience from it.

Satele finds comfort in Lukas and finds him to be a natural leader, leading her to develop feelings for him. She feels she hasn't interacted with the others enough to gain a solid opinion of them; however, she does find Freya to be a nuisance and often wonders why she is even here. Satele likes that Henry seems to trust and support her.

Satele enjoys urban exploration and likes rock climbing. She is naturally beautiful and doesn't often worry about makeup, she only likes to ensure her hair looks nice and tidy. Her APP score is 80.

Satele has a keen eye (Spot Hidden: 85) and notices much of what goes on around her. To further bolster her skills with her employer, Satele has passed multiple first aid courses (First Aid: 50). As a mixed martial arts hobbyist (Fighting, brawl: 45), and thus more than capable of handling herself in situations that require it.