[IC] Fear Itself — Ocean in the Forest

[Owlglass Moot]

http://i.imgur.com/3UQrgap.png

OOC Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=332996)

-:¦:- Dramatis Personae -:¦:-
Andrew Glass, played by industrious
Heather Wilson, played by Phobia
Jack Day, played by Surgate
Nerissa Baines, played by Ecksdee
Rory Hudson, played by Eonas

.

[Owlglass Moot]

Move I
Ocean in the Forest (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17057092#post17057092)

.

[Owlglass Moot]

Move I:
Ocean in the Forest

http://i.imgur.com/xGwuxC6.png

---

Within its gates I heard the sound
Of winds in cypress-caverns caught
Of huddling trees that moaned, and sought
To whisper what their roots had found.

— George Sterling, "A Dream of Fear"

.

[Owlglass Moot]

Friday, April 25th, 1997

It was the last weekend before the inevitable gloom of dead week and finals week … Which made it the final weekend to truly party before the spring semester ended.

The Greek Games at Sitka State University had officially ended that afternoon with Sigma Nu and Gamma Phi Beta winning the most money for their respective charities. But later that evening would come the real fun: The Freek Games. This massive competition/party was hosted each year by Kappa Sigma, typically in some out-of-the-way location where the noise wouldn't be likely to bother anyone. The university and police didn't officially condone the party, of course, but they almost always turned a blind eye to it; the $10 cover charge raised way more money for charity than the campus-held Games ever could.

Typically the fraternities and sororities rented buses to carry people out to wherever the party was being held. The last of the buses had already left by the time you arrived, but instead you found a ride in Beau McFarland, who was driving to the party in his ancient minivan (a hand-me-down from his older brother). The town lay thirty minutes behind, now, and the van was being driven down a narrow, twisting back road flanked on both sides by endless rows of somber trees.

---

JACK

Jack was in the front passenger seat. Beau McFarland sat in the driver's seat beside him, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of "All Along the Watchtower"—Which was barely audible over the anxious whirr of the cassette deck and the unhealthy splutter of the van's engine.

http://owlglassmoot.x10.mx/fearitself/characters/beau_mcfarland.png

Tall and fit, Beau looked like he could have been a stereotypical "jock", perhaps a basketball player. However, his shaggy blonde dreadlocks, scruffy facial hair, and the permanently bemused expression put him solidly in the "stoner" camp.

In high school, Beau's reputation had been legendary. He had been the first guy to get his driver's license, the first guy to own a vehicle, and the go-to for procuring alcohol and other illicit substances. He was one of those rare individuals who was able to mesh into any clique through confidence and his laid-back personality alone. Even now, nearly everyone on campus knew of Beau, even if they didn't actually know him.

Beau leaned forward slightly and glanced up at the sky through the windshield. "Looks like rain," he remarked idly.

---

HEATHER & RORY

Heather, Rory and "Tipsy" were seated in the middle row of seats.

http://owlglassmoot.x10.mx/fearitself/characters/tipsy_king.png

Tipsy was tall and slender, with straight brown hair, large eyes and a freckled nose. There was something slightly mousy about her features and the way she carried herself, a sort of cringing nervousness. Her mouth was permanently contorted in a small, vapid smile, as if she had failed to understand the punchline to a joke but wanted to save face.

After taking one look at Rory, she had made a point to sit between him and Heather to act as a buffer. What were friends for, right?

Tipsy had pointedly ignored Rory for the entire trip, instead blathering to Heather while chewing absentmindedly on a lock of her hair. "Ryan said it's supposed to be even bigger than last year. Jon Austin is graduating, and Ryan said he wants to go out with a bang." She let her hair fall from her mouth and shot Heather a coy look. "Brad will be there, right?"

---

ANDREW & NERISSA

Andrew, Nerissa and Sarah sat in the back seats.

http://owlglassmoot.x10.mx/fearitself/characters/sarah_reich.png

Something about Sarah's style had always evoked a "Roaring Twenties" ideal of beauty; her hair was pulled back from her face with an anachronistic peacock-feather hair clip, long jade earrings dangled from her ears, and her lips were painted a vivid pink. In contrast, her clothing seemed almost intentionally frumpy: A shapeless black cardigan worn over an equally shapeless black smock (both washed too many times), and well-worn purple flats.

"I still don't know why we're going to this," she said, giving Nerissa a skeptical look. "I mean, I'm all for a party, whatever. But this thing is the same every year: A bunch of obnoxious frat guys measuring their d*cks."

She turned to eye Andrew warily as if to gauge whether he was one of the frat guys in question.

[Surgate]

Jack lifted a boot up and down to the beat, cupping a hand around the lifted lighter as he dragged on the joint between his lips. The black cowboy hat casually tilted on his head blocked the darkening sky, so he leaned forward and nodded, finishing his toke. "Sure does." Jack replied almost as idly, choking on the smoke before finishing the statement. He held a closed fist to his mouth, trying to control the coughing while passing the fatty over to the driver. Jack was anxious to partake in the festivities as soon as possible, and not pass out too soon, unlike last year.

"Brother Beau ya need to take this old girl to my Pa's shop for a tune-up, sounds like she is ready to fall apart." Jack said, the remaining smoke coming out in little puffs of laughter. Out of everyone from High School, Jack got along with and liked Beau the best. Beau wasn't just his dealer but also a good friend, the very guy who got him high for the first time.

[Phobia]

"They always try to out-do themselves." Heather replied smugly, trying her very best to look disinterested. It was hard to cultivate such a reputation, but somehow Heather managed it. Truth was, she was excited- these parties always got wild. It sucked so bad that she missed the bus there tho.. it was just the universe going her way again that let her and Tipsy get a ride with these losers. She'd have to ditch this van asap when she got there, tho, it'd suck to be seen with them.

"What do I care?" She replied in a voice that was a little more shrill than she intended. "I mean.. me and Brad are on a break." The popular girl emphasized while clicking her nails annoyingly on the plastic door-frame. One of their famous breaks. It probably meant they'd be hooking up this weekend for some passion fueled hate-sex. "Maybe I'll find someone that actually respects me this weekend." She added as an afterthought. Unlikely.

"Got some for me?" Heather said in a sickly sweet voice while leaning up towards the front seat. She knew when there was marijuana around- that was one good thing about this ride, she wouldn't have to wait till the party. The girl batted her eyelash's at Jack in an effort to subtly manipulate him.

[Ecksdee]

Nerissa gave Sarah a look as she once again voiced her opinion on where they were going. "Because you said we needed to do something different for once. And I think this counts as outside of our comfort zone, don't you?" Being squeezed in the back of a minivan like sausages definitely did, at least. Too bad they'd missed the bus. Would've been a whole lot more comfortable.

Clad in a beige belted sweater dress and knee-high black leather boots, Nerissa had gone out of her way to shed her typical garb for once. It was a party, after all. She had to at least attempt to fit the part. Sarah had teased her for it but...

"I'm sure the frat guys will be easily avoidable. Most of them know you after all." She giggled, recalling the numerous confrontations her best friend had had with the illustrious fraternities situated on campus. She too cast a glance over at Andrew, wondering if he'd been seeking something out of the norm for himself by going to this party too. Her gaze then flickered over to the front of the vehicle, where she could certainly pick up the scent of pot wafting from. Her nose wrinkled in mild annoyance, having never been a fan of casual drug use. Still, she tried not to judge those who partook in it too harshly. Different strokes for different folks and whatnot. As long as her clothes didn't reek too strongly of it by the time they got to the party she would be alright.

[Eonas]

Rory glances at his two 'companions' discreetly. He was used to this kind of thing, to the point where he often didn't even notice it. And Heather and Tipsy were vapid enough that being ignored by them was practically a compliment. Except not really, because it was obvious they thought he looked like a piece of crap. Oh well, it didn't matter what they thought, right? Except that he did care about their opinion of him.

To dislodge his thoughts from Heather and Tipsy, Rory attempts to re-enter his own literary world. Unsuccessfully, of course; the easiest way to ensure that you focus about someone is to try not to think about that someone.

Fine, thinks Rory. I'll go and try to talk with someone else. He looks around at the other passengers and balks. How the hell was he going to talk with someone in another row of seats without looking desparate and awkward? Because you were supposed to talk with people in your own row of seats, right? That was the norm? And Azathoth knows he couldn't talk to those girls.

For the first time, Rory sincerely wishes he hadn't decided to participate in the Freak Games. What had he been thinking?

[Owlglass Moot]

JACK

Beau expertly took a deep drag off the joint, shaking his head at Jack and exhaling a thick cloud of smoke as he spoke. "The sound's part of her charm, man. Nah, it'd take an act of God to kill Yolanda—Old girl will outlive us all."

No one really knew why Beau's older brother Erik had christened the van "Yolanda", but the name had stuck. Beau had always suspected it to be the name of the girl Erik had lost his virginity to.

Almost as an afterthought, Beau cracked his window a bit to relieve some of the skunky smell.

---

HEATHER

"I know, right?" Tipsy said quickly, backpedaling. "Brad's scum. You can do so much better. And Ryan said that Brad might not even be on the team this fall, so he'll probably, like, drop out and go work at the mill and get fat."

The team in question was the university football team, the SSU Skookums (possibly the most ridiculous mascot in the entire PacWest conference).

---

NERISSA

"Fair enough," Sarah said, waving her hands in defeat. "Although I did mean something more along the lines of … rock climbing or something, I don't know. What the h*ll, maybe they'll have rock climbing as one of their Freek event things."

She grinned at Nerissa's frat guy comment. "They'll scatter like rabbits."

---

RORY

As Rory glanced around, he realized that the daylight was beginning to fade. The overcast sky had given a grey cast to the light of the setting sun, and the shadows in the woods seemed deeper than the normally might be.

Suddenly the trees on both sides fell away, leaving the van high in the air.

It was a narrow wooden bridge, its railing covered in peeling white paint. Fifty feet below lay a wide but sluggish stream, hardly more than a trickle. During the summer rains, however, the water would likely rise significantly.

A small sign right beside the mouth of the bridge read "Harris Creek". On the far side, another sign: "Alma Gate RV & Camping Resort Ahead!"

[Surgate]

This was the first he heard of the van's name, and couldn't restrain another bout of laughter at the remark in its entirety. "Oh yeah, Yolanda is fresh!" Jack said between chuckles, as if threatening to break out into tone deaf song before taking another drag on the joint, holding it in when Heather made an attempt to bum some smoke. He had every reason to refuse, yet he paused, turning to her and leaning close, letting her bat those 'eye-weapons' at him for another minute before blowing the smoke in her face, lips curving up into a wicked, stoned grin.

"You had that comin' darlin', but play nice till we get there and I'll let you have more." In a gesture of good will, Jack removed the fatty from his lips and held it out for her, having plenty to share between the three of them. From what he could tell, everyone else didn't have an interest in partaking of the sticky green. He saw Nerissa at the back and considered offering some, but a quick look was all the reminder he needed to decide against it. Maybe that was why they never really hit it off during Freshman year, that or her boyfriend at the time…Yeah it was definitely the boyfriend that was the issue.

The signs at the bridge were promising. Jack was getting especially excited now. "We almost there Beau?"

[Ecksdee]

"Rock climbing? Now that'd be a treat." Nerissa said with a small chuckle. "I have to admit though I'm not good at scaling things. You'd probably smoke me up that wall." It was nice when they joked like this -- despite any misgivings about whatever was happening around them.

"Hey, what was the name of that one frat guy who tried to hit on you? You know, the one you started quoting Sylvia Plath at? That was pretty hilarious. I laughed so hard I got a stitch in my side!" Sarah did have a special knack for dealing with people in fairly unique ways. It was like a rare art form that not many got to witness.

Nerissa briefly caught Jack's gaze soon after, and shot him a coy grin. She had privately admitted that she was quite pleased he would be at the Games tonight. All those times she'd brushed him off during their Freshman year made her feel as thought she owed him some of her attention. And it didn't hurt that she'd been single ever since the breakup. The weed smoking he partook in was an obstacle -- albeit one she could possibly overlook under the right circumstances. Either way, she hoped they could have some fun together within reason.

[industrious]

Andrew

"Never been to one of these," Andrew murmurs absently, staring at the window. Not out it - its more looking away from everyone than looking at anything in particular.

The teen scratches at his jeans, unused to the fabric.

"...Maybe I'll just take it easy for my first time."

[Phobia]

"Eww, fat? No way, I couldn't ever date someone that was gonna get fat in the future. What kind of girl do you think I am?" Heather responded to her friend, her nose wrinkling up in disgust. "He'll probably be a professional football player and make me his wife.." She trailed off, looking a little starry-eyed.

"Ahaha, I always play nice." Heater continued, laughing in a haughty way. She'd made no attempt to turn away from the front seat while talking to her friend, Tipsy. She hoped the chick in the very back had been listening, too. With little fanfare, she took the joint and greedily pressed it to her lips sucking in deeply.

"That's the stuff.. yeah, where is this place? I'm ready to party!"

[Owlglass Moot]

NERISSA

"Kevin Grady," Sarah replied, wrinkling her nose. "That boy could not take a hint."

---

JACK & HEATHER

"We're almost there, yeah," Beau said, stopping the van for a moment at the edge of the bridge. "Sh*t, I knew I was taking a detour, but I didn't know I'd have to cross this thing." He smiled impishly at Jack. "Think it'll hold us?"

---

EVERYONE

The bridge gave an ominous creek as the van began to slowly make its way across. If the warped wood and ancient paint were any indication, Harris Creek Bridge was very, very low on the Gray County road department's list of priorities.

The trestle that suspended the bridge over the creek still seemed sturdy enough, though. Despite the unsettling noises, the bridge held firm. Having crossed, the van was once again swallowed by the forest.

The road was worse on this side of the bridge, however. The path had narrowed even further. The overhanging trees created a dark tunnel, and only the shallow ditches running along both sides of the road kept the forest at bay. The pavement had vanished entirely, replaced by dirt and fine gravel.

The last riffs of "All Along the Watchtower" faded away, and a new track began to play. Beau let out a contented grunt and cranked the volume to high.

After all the jacks are in their boxes,
And the clowns have all gone to bed,
You can hear happiness staggering on down the street,
Footprints dressed in red …

Andrew, Nerissa and Sarah had the worst of it in the back. The resonating bass crawled through their hair and across their skin, feeling unpleasantly like ants. What was that feeling alcoholics got during withdrawal? Formication? Nerissa shivered.

And the wind whispers Mary ...

Another sign appeared on the roadside ahead: "Alma Gate RV & Camping Resort — .5 MILES".

A broom is drearily sweeping
up the broken pieces of yesterday's life.
Somewhere a queen is weeping.
Somewhere a king has no wife …

Sarah gave Nerissa a long-suffering look before leaning forward in her seat, sticking her head between Rory and Tipsy. "Can you turn it down?!" she shouted at Beau.

"What'd you say?" Beau glanced over his shoulder and yelled back.

And the wind, it cries Mary.

Beau turned his head for only a second, but it was long enough. Distracted by Sarah, he failed to see the other van that suddenly rounded the curve ahead.

He failed to see the other van pick up speed. He failed to see the other van's headlights suddenly flick off.

And most importantly, he failed to see the other van—without warning—swerve violently into the wrong lane, charging directly at Yolanda and her occupants.

Jack, please make a Driving roll (1d6 + however many points from your pool you want to use) to successfully grab the wheel and avoid the oncoming van. Good luck.

[Surgate]

"Of course Old Yolanda will hold" Jack grinned back, holding his breath as they crossed the bridge and letting out a lungful of air and smoke once they passed. He didn't mind the cranked up music, but something didn't seem right once they reached the other side of the bridge. Jack couldn't rightly put his finger on it, but this sense of wrongness only worsened as they continued along the path, until Sarah distracted Beau long enough to miss the oncoming van.

"Look out!" Jack yelled, reaching for Yolanda's wheel.

__________
OOC: Tried to roll in thread but I couldn't get it to work, so I went ahead and tried it in a test dice rolling thread and it worked like a charm: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=17100282&postcount=1160

[Ecksdee]

The bridge had definitely seen better days. But it held, and that was all Nerissa asked for. She let go of the breath she'd been holding on reflex once they made it across -- and the sign detailing the closeness of the RV Park helped ease her nerves. Of course, the music being turned up ruined much of that immediately. Nerissa fidgeted in her seat, a deep frown working its way onto her face once again. Sarah seemed to read her mind, taking it upon herself to request the volume be lowered.

And that's when everything took a turn for the worse. The oncoming van that came barreling around the corner heading straight for them was impossible to miss. "No!" Nerissa yelped, grabbing the back of the seat in front of her with widened eyes. If they got hit head on... it wasn't going to be pretty.

[Owlglass Moot]

Weird, I wonder why it's not working in here.

Random test roll: [roll0]
EVERYONE

Acting on instinct, Jack pushed at the steering wheel. There was a metallic screech as Yolanda jerked violently onto the opposite side of the road.

But he was too late, just a fraction of a second too late.

Time seemed to freeze. The fading colors of twilight suddenly seemed too vivid, almost cartoonish in their intensity. For the briefest of moments Jack could see the passengers in the other van—A row of faces locked in silent screams.

And then, the collision.

Jack's maneuver hadn't been enough to avoid the other van entirely, but it managed to avert most of the damage from the impact. The other van struck Beau's a glancing blow, obliterating the front right headlight.

Time suddenly sped back up. The sounds of shattering glass and screaming metal filled the air. Yolanda spun violently. Gravel tore through the air like tiny missiles, accompanied by a rain of dirt and mud.

Beau's van spun once, twice … before grinding slowly to a halt.

Yolanda had come to a stop facing the direction she had just come from. A spiderweb of cracks had spread across her windshield, but through it the other van was still clearly visible.

The crash had hardly seemed to slow the other vehicle. The driver had followed through with their initial swerve, barreling across the ditch and slamming headfirst into an ancient redcedar at sixty miles-per-hour. The force of the impact had flipped the van onto (what remained of) its nose, and the metal of the roof had crumpled inward like tissue paper. The exposed bottom of the vehicle gleamed wetly in the fading light.

As the dust settled, Jimi Hendrix continued to boom from Yolanda's speakers. Something vital had broken inside the cassette deck, however; the pitch had shifted downward, transforming Jimi's voice into a toneless rasp. Every few seconds the tape would suddenly rewind and just as suddenly begin to play again, a maddening loop.

The tuneless voice echoed through the trees:

—The wind screams—
—The wind screams—
—The wind screams—

Everyone needs to make an Athletics roll to avoid injury from the crash. And just to save time, go ahead and make a Stability roll to avoid the mental trauma from seeing what happened to some of the passengers in the other van.

[Surgate]

Jack watched the entire scene play out in shock, and raised both arms to brace himself as the Yolanda spun and he yelled once again, as if shouting would somehow relieve the fear building in his chest.

Once the van stopped, he looked around, patting himself. "Everyone okay?" Jack managed to ask between gasps, uncertain of his own condition much less that of everyone else, and those people in the other van....


[roll0]
[roll1]

[Eonas]

Rory lets out a highly unmasculine screech as the van crashes, grabbing Tipsy's hand instinctively.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Owlglass Moot]

And remember: For all General Abilities, you can spend points from your relevant pools when making the roll (if you have any points, that is).

[Ecksdee]

The impact elicited a scream from Nerissa. Everything happened so quickly. Her grip on the seat never lessened, though, as if she was holding onto it for dear life. At some point she shut her eyes without realizing, only reopening them once the van came to a stop. Panting heavily as the adrenaline coursed through her veins, she looked around at the van's other occupants.

"I think so." She said in reply to Jack, spying the other vehicle through the cracked windshield of Yolanda. "Oh god... is anyone alive in there?"

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Phobia]

"Probably, just go for it." Heather absently suggested before checking her nails. It's not like anything could happen with her here, nothing bad ever happened to her. Those stories were for other people to experience.

But the next several minutes felt like a life-time and seemed engineered to challenge Heather specially. The Alpha Queen of the School was unprepared to deal with how little she mattered against random chance. All she knew was that they had connected, they'd actually hit another car! They were spinning, moving, bouncing around against each other! But her Dad could probably pay the... Her Daddy could make it all better..

"Oh my god..."

She muttered, staring in stark horror at the other car out the busted window on her side. Heather had a perfect view from her seat and seemed to be clutching her arm- it'd probably gotten bruised on something.

"We should get out of here..."

She offered meekly.


[roll1d6

[Phobia]

Whoops.

[roll0]

[Owlglass Moot]

Rolls for industrious:

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Owlglass Moot]

"Holy h*ll," Beau whispered, clutching the steering wheel with whitened knuckles.

"Wha—What happened?" Sarah said in a small, tinny voice that was quite unlike her usual confident snark.

Tipsy hadn't resisted when Rory had instinctively grabbed at her hand; in fact, she had squeezed back with equal fervor. Realizing now what she was doing, she disentangled her hand and stared at Rory with dark, frightened eyes before quickly glancing away.

Heather prodded at her arm gingerly, feeling for damage, but everything seemed to be in working order. In fact—aside from a small cut on the side of Nerissa's neck (likely from a fragment of shattered window)—Yolanda's occupants had emerged remarkably unscathed. They were all shaken, undoubtedly, but nothing beyond that.

The same could not be said of the occupants of the other van.

—The wind screams—
—The wind scrrrrrrrrrrr—

The cassette finally deck died with a pathetic whir, Jimi's voice trailing away and leaving a leaden silence in its wake. Only moments ago the air had been filled with flying gravel and the sound of rending metal, and now there was only the ancient hush of the forest.

"We should get out of here..."
"Oh god... is anyone alive in there?"

At these words, Beau shook his head as if waking from a doze and leapt suddenly into movement. Normally reserved in both speech and action, he now moved faster than anyone in the group had seen him move before. He shoved open his door, frantically unbuckled his seat belt, and practically threw himself from the van, stumbling as he hit the pavement before running in the direction of the other van.

"Come on!" he yelled over his shoulder as he ran. "They need help!"

Tipsy reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed 9-11 with trembling fingers. As she crawled past Rory, extracting herself from the van, he heard her whisper, "Please let there be signal out here. Please please please …"

Nerissa loses 1 point of Health from her minor cut. Everyone else is more or less okay.

Beau is running toward the other van and has requested help. Tipsy has left the van and is attempting to call an ambulance.

[Ecksdee]

Nerissa ran a hand over the cut, wincing a bit at the stinging. Other than that though she felt alright. Beau hopping out of the van caused her to spring into action also. She crawled from the back seat, slipping out to follow after him, heart pounding wildly in her chest. Oh god... please let those people be alive! But given the state of the other van...

[Phobia]

She felt her arm snap against the side of the van she thought for sure she'd broke it... but luck held out for the popular queen. Heather continued to cradle her potentially damaged arm both out of a fear that it wasn't truly okay and from the mental scars the other van had inflicted upon her.

"Please let there be a signal out here. Please please please..."

At these words, Heather seemed to be more aware and quickly pulled herself out of the seat in a bee-line after Tipsy. Once she exited the car she tried to take Tipsy's phone and hang it up without seeing if she had a signal or not.

"What are you doing?"

Heather whispered harshly, the kind of whisper that was still loud, quick and excited.

"Don't call anyone.. we don't want anyone.. do you really want to.. well, do you really want to be here when the police show up?"

Heather continued to whisper excitedly trying to convince her friend. She certainly didn't want to spend the rest of the night, or who knows how long, in jail.

"If those people.. if they.. didn't.. make it, what can we do? It wasn't our fault. They're just dead whether we take the fall or not. Maybe we can still make the party...?"

Heather suggested, certainly wanting to forget this whole event just happened. She was good at doing that, especially after a few dozen beers.

[Owlglass Moot]

NERISSA

Nerissa ran toward the other van, Sarah only moments behind. By the time the two arrived, Beau was already reaching into the wreckage.

Upon seeing the inside of the vehicle, Sarah immediately doubled over and vomited. She continued to retch long after her stomach was emptied, collapsing weakly to her knees.

The driver had been thrown through the windshield during the initial impact, and the van flipping onto its nose had crushed his body between the accordioned hood and the roots of the redcedar. All that remained was a single leg that terminated in a knob of grey gristle where it had been torn off at the knee. On the foot was a black leather shoe, fastidiously polished.

The front passenger had been a young woman. The front of the van had crumpled in so far that the dashboard had been driven into her chest, cutting her in half at the sternum. Her severed arms and head lay in a tangle of blood-soaked blond hair.

There had been two passengers in the middle row of seats, both men. They might have survived the head-on impact with the tree, except when the vehicle flipped onto its nose it had caved in the van's roof like a tin can. They both dangled limply forward, suspended by their seat belts. Both of the men were identifiable up to their noses—One with black stubble around his jaw, the other with a lined face and bristling mustache—but everything above that was a shapeless mess of gore where the tops of their heads had been crushed in.

Last were the two women in the back seat, now raised up to eye level due to the position of the vehicle. One of the women had been in her mid-thirties, attractive and well-groomed with expensive-looking jewelry. A white chunk of bone protruded through the skin at the base of her neck, and her head was bent at a horrible angle. She too hung forward by her seat belt.

And the final woman was still alive.

She was in her twenties, although she looked as if she had lived roughly. Under the waterfall of blood pouring from a wound on her scalp, her face was pale and terrified. Bruise-like circles ringed her eyes. She appeared to have been curled up in the back seat before the crash, avoiding the majority of the head trauma that the other rear passengers had all suffered. Instead, she had been impaled through her right side by a steel reinforcement bar that had broken free from the back of the middle row of seats. She was pinned, both on the metal bar and under the knees of the wealthy-looking woman's corpse.

The sole survivor of the other van reached out toward Nerissa and Beau, her fingers clawing weakly at the air. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth as she tried to speak. "H—huh—huh—"

There was a small flash of light, and Nerissa suddenly realized what the gleaming wetness on the exposed bottom of the van had been: Gasoline.

A spark had caught, and the bottom of the vehicle was suddenly aflame. A smell that resembled roast pork filled Nerissa's nose.

It will take the concerted effort of you, Beau, and at least one other person (Sarah isn't able to help at the moment) to rescue the woman and avoid being caught in the fire that's quickly engulfing the vehicle. Anyone who wishes to attempt to help needs to make an Athletics roll. Here's Beau's: [roll0]
---

HEATHER

Tipsy's eyes widened in shock as Heather slammed the phone shut in her hand. She listened to the her best friend's words before glancing over at Nerissa, Sarah and Beau gathered around the ruined vehicle.

"But what if they did make it?!"

Then came the dull whoosh of spreading flame as the other van's leaking gasoline caught fire.

---

RORY

Rory was stunned by the sudden bright burst of flame. The orange glow overpowered the fading twilight, turning the shadows of the surrounding trees into shifting, outward-grasping hands. Almost immediately the enticing smell of grilled meat filled the air, alongside the more acrid stench of burnt hair and burnt wiring. Rory's stomach roiled.

Rory was the only person to fail his Stability roll. He loses 4 Stability from the mental trauma of the crash and smelling the other van's occupants roasting.

[Surgate]

Jack, lost for words, followed after Beau towards the crashed van. How they managed to walk away nearly unscathed was beyond him, but he knew their luck hadn't worn off on the passengers of the other vehicle. Jack considered calling out, but a sense of hopeless dread stifled his voice, overtaken with a dead silence as he stepped closer and closer, knowing what they would find wasn't going to be pleasant.

He held his breath, and finally gasped at the plight of the sole survivor. He wasn't going to let this woman die if he had anything to say about it. Jack concentrated with Beau and hopefully one other individual to pull her out of the vehicle before the whole damn thing burned.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=17143248&postcount=3146

[Eonas]

For a brief, brief moment Rory had somewhat enjoyed the flash of eye contact with Tipsy - the next instant, of course, the gravity of the situation impressed itself upon him and Rory found himself glancing at the other passengers of the van whilst trying to unbuckle himself with trembling fingers.

When he finally managed to get out of the van and looked over the passengers of the other van, he felt waves of shock hit him so hard he felt dizzy. Clutching his head in his hands as if he was trying to squash it flat in between his palms, he staggered backwards, staring at the wreck and repeating "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God..." over and over again.

He'd never seen death before except in the movies, and to come face-to-face with it in such a horrible, gruesome, visceral way (and in a way so reminiscent of his dad's accident) was more than his mind could take. The almost overwhelming nausea was only the unpleasant icing on the loathsome cake.

[Ecksdee]

It took everything Nerissa had not to barf along with Sarah. The scene was not a pretty one. Twisted metal and mangled bodies stood before them, the aftermath of a crash that just as easily could've claimed their lives as it did the occupants of the other destroyed vehicle. Covering her mouth she turned away briefly to regain her bearings, knowing she would never be able to get the carnage out of her mind for quite some time.

Once she was sure she would be able to cope, Nerissa turned back, just in time to see the aforementioned lone survivor reaching out to them. Someone was alive?! Her mouth agape in disbelief, she only made a sound when the bottom of the van suddenly ignited. It was gonna blow!

Beau and Jack sprung forward to start trying to pull the woman free, and Nerissa managed to swallow her fear and join them in the effort.

Gonna be spending a point of Athletics:
[roll0]

[Phobia]

"They didn't... they didn't... oh god." Heather watched in stark horror as it came aflame and just kept repeating they didn't for a while before grabbing Tipsy harshly.

"We don't want our fingerprints on that! Or.. whatever." She said, unsure of exactly how criminals got caught. "We need to just.. put this out of our head."