As the shuttle rolls through town, a Massachusetts State Police cruiser pulls it over along with two other vehicles, making a mess of downtown traffic. You spend five minutes waiting in dread until the door opens and you sink down in your seat. A minute later, you're back on the road again, but you're sure someone is looking for you. You just can't tell if it's because of something you did here or back home.
A bead of sweat slides down your temple despite the cold air; you wipe it away, leaving a dirty streak you can see as you watch your own reflection in the window. As a Shadow Lord, Elton may have connections with the local police; maybe once you learn more here, you can ask him.
You're dimly aware of the shuttle taking the bridge across the Connecticut River and turning north, then heading through frozen fields and past a restaurant. It stops outside a dilapidated, whitewashed wooden building in the federal style, apparently condemned. Nothing remains of the baseball field next door except a twisted fence beside overflowing dumpsters.
The students make for a postcard-perfect New England church up the street. According to your maps, J.L. Heaney's workshop is less than a mile away. And indeed, after ten minutes of walking, you pass a midcentury truck half-buried in snow and then find yourself in front of a blackened ruin: a house burned down to its foundations.
Someone needs to update their maps.
You examine the house, but nothing remains except a few scorched bricks where a chimney once stood. But there's an old wooden barn nearby.
You're just considering where to explore when something moves in the treeline on the far side of an empty field. Maybe something has followed your shuttle across the river. Or maybe a local is getting ready to dome you with his grandfather's rifle if you take one step onto his property.
I focus on the investigation. The barn: I check out the barn.
I'm not afraid of Banes or bullets. Ready to Change if I have to, I walk into the field toward whatever it is.
I need to investigate, but I don't want to get ambushed. I stay low and on the far side of the barn from the baleful presence and conduct a search.
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