Tulem chucked his smoke as he walked up to The Band Wagon Speakeasy. The Bulky Investigator was still shook up from the events of the previous day, and had declined to go out. Even more disturbing, Tulem had noticed the man drawing a spiral on his leg with his finger. Tulem was pretty sure The Bulky Investigator hadn't even noticed he was doing it.

@javo1096 was meeting a potential ally tonight, one "Hazel" (@la-fumettista)

They had agreed to meet for a drink, Tulem had heard that she would be willing to investigate the supernatural.

She had been involved in that business up on The Saxton estate a few months back, and word was she had come back a changed woman.

Tulem bought the first round, and as they sipped their Canadian gin, he explained to Hazel what he had witnessed the day before.

Spirals, spirals on spirals on spirals. All over the barn, all over everything. He left out the bit about the falling tractor, and his partner’s current mental state. Hazel was a dame after all, and there was no need to offer up every lurid detail...

Hazel sipped her drink, and listened. This Tulem seemed above board, but you couldn’t be too careful these days. Just because the Tea Factory cult had closed their front, didn’t mean they didn’t still have allies lurking around town.

She fingered the peashooter in her purse. Mookie had provided it without question, and she didn’t bother asking where he’d bought it. The serial number was filed off, a federal offense, and another sticking point that Hazel knew better than to question.

Weird things kept happening in this city, noises in the sewers, strange singing overheard in seemingly abandoned alleys, and now spirals carved into barns...

Three drinks later they both decided to check out the barn at night. If it was spirits that caused the destruction they’d be more likely to come out at night, and if it was people, it would be easier to spy on them in the dark.

For the last mile of their journey, the two investigators approached the barn on foot, through the withered remains of the property’s cornfield, they went.

The owner had been institutionalized prior to the discovery of the spirals, and no one had come over to salvage the crop in time. The first cold snap of October had rendered the corn, a soggy mess. Based on the smell, it was a rotting mess now too.

They crept through the half frozen, half rotted field, their breath fogging the air in front of them.

The moon was bright, it’s light unusually sharp. The shadows cast by the corn stalks were well defined, and looked like bladed whips, rocking back and forth.

As Hazel and Tulem approached the last leg of their trek, they spotted the barnhouse.

The hairs on Tulem’s neck went stiff, there was light inside the barn.

The air suddenly dropped several degrees, and the wind died down.

Hazel drew her pistol, Tulem did the same. Something was happening here, something unnatural...

Theresa: 9 + 10 + 3 = 21
Jav: 5 + 9 + 1 = 15

They heard it, a dry cracking, and then a semi damp, “plunk”.

Then it happened again, farther off, then again, but closer this time! With rising terror they both realized that the sounds were coming from all around them, from within the corn field itself!

The stalks were moving, the rotten stalks were moving!!

Hazel ducked and rolled to the side, narrowly missing a swipe from a cluster of frozen leaves.

Hazel gestures to the barn and yelled, “We need to make it to the edge of the field!”

Tulem nodded and they began to run. Rows of corn bent and swiped at them as they fled, leaving icy cuts on their exposed flesh as they stumbled through the muck.

But for whatever reason, Tulem couldn’t seem to keep up with Hazel, his body wouldn’t heed the orders of his mind, and Tulem kept finding himself listing to the right. Why?! Why couldn’t he run straight! He screamed in anguish as the cold leaves sliced his cheeks, burning with ice, and then with blood. Hazel kept pulling farther and farther away and he found himself no longer able to shout at her to help.

Right, right, always to the right, he found himself running madly in ever shrinking circles.

Running in a spiral, until he reached the center and collapsed. He heard two gunshots go off before darkness and ice overtook him.

Hazel knelt at the edge of the cornfield and looked at the bloody mess of corn that lay smoking in front of her. Instead of kernels, there were eyes, and slowly they all glazed over and rolled upwards. Whatever the hell this creature had been, at least it was dead now.

Tulem was nowhere to be found, but it couldn’t be helped, she wasn’t going back in there, not without some oil rags and a torch anyway.

Hazel hefted her pistol, and continued towards the dimly lit barn.

Hazel’s stamina increased to 4

Tulems sanity drops to 3