Something Wicked - Summertime Blues

[Shameless]

Hank looked at the map, and listened as Silas spoke, doing his own figuring.  Without distances and such spelled out, it wasn't something he'd be certain of at any rate.

"Not just any federal land either.  Alot of it is nearly impassible.   We could hike it on foot, but it won't be easy by any stretch, if you're thinking to go try and find it."

"It's an Oilskin map too, and that means it's pretty old.  We'd literally be looking for a needle in very dangerous field of haystacks."

[Nina]

Hannah had been quiet as the other kids oohed and aahed at the map. She had been looking at the guns.

"These guns are really old," she said quietly.

Jordan heard her, "Yeah like form the civil war right?"

"No older, they used percussion cap revolvers from the late 1840s thru the civil war and a little beyond, these are what they would have had in the late 1700s or so. The burial ground is interesting. I have never read about any major burial sites for the Native Americans in our area, but those mountainous areas were not heavily traveled or explored, and before white men came this area was heavily contested in the Creek Cherokee war in the early 1700s."

 

Everyone was looking at Hannah. It never ceased to amaze them the things she seemed to just know out of the blue.

 

 

[SalmonMax]

"That," Rochelle said as she fished her phone out of her pocket to take photos of the stuff, "is good pitch. I'm gonna write that down for the eBay description. Ugh, the light here is shit, can we get another lamp here please?"

 

"I wonder if they still work. You guys wanna shoot some guns?"

 

She gave everyone a big thumbs up and nodded.

[Dawn OOC]

“No, we shouldn’t shoot these guns,” Quinn said, frowning at Roach. “We need someone who knows about guns to look at them. Let’s focus on the map right now. We should go find out what’s there, if anything,” Quinn said brightly, offering her hand to Silas so he could help her to her feet. As he did so, she added, “But nobody tell Beau or the Doubledumb Twins, or any of the Terrible Seven. They didn’t stand up for us last night, so screw them on this. They don’t get the glory.”

 

“Glory?” Roach snorted.

 

“Glory? Treasure? Whatever.” Quinn shrugged and said, “Let’s go and find out what it is.” 

 

“Let’s get some supplies, though,” Silas said quickly. “It’s going to be a hike.”

 

With a bit of grumbling about the walk from a couple of people -- and Quinn subtly pouting because they couldn’t ride -- the kids grabbed what they needed per Hank and Silas, and set out on the summer’s first adventure.

[Nina]

Hank picked up the map while Silas helped Quinn to her feet. “Silas you said you got some property up there? You know where it is?” Slias shrugged, “Never been there but my great uncle, Clay, he said his dad used to take em huntin out to a cabin they had out there. I think I know where it's at.”

 

Hank gave a single nod at Sila's answer. “Good, Walnut Cove is seven maybe eight miles from here, so that's a long hike just to get to the area and it's going to be rough climbing. But we have four horses here.”

 

He looks over at Quinn. “We can do it two ways, I can take a horse and ride home and see if I can get my dads truck. I have a hardship permit so I can drive. But I can't promise that dad will let me have the truck. The other way is we take the horse but we'll have to double up on a couple. Either way Silas can lead us to his property and we can leave the truck or the horses there and hike up the mountain.”

 

Silas nodded while Quinn considered. “If we want to keep this between ourselves we better take the horses. But we need to distribute the weight we carry evenly,” she said after a moment. and Turning to Jordan, “Hun you're going to have to ride by yourself,” she said with a smile.

 

With that decided, the kids packed some supplies and and after leaving a note telling the older kids, who were off swimming that they were going riding, the loaded up, mounted and with Banner trotting alongside headed out.

 

 

Spoiler

3 XP Awarded to all players.

 

III

The trip to Walnut Cove was uneventful and luckily young people on horses were not an unusual sight on the roads of northern Georgia. The kids in an effort not to be seen by their folks took the more direct route on the OLD Gumlog Road, stopping once at at the Dollar General to get a few things they thought they might need that hadn't been at the cabin. The journey took about two hours and by the time they arrived at the Cove it was hot and they were all sweating.

 

Silas led them past the Cove and up into the hills and, with a couple of false starts eventually led them to a large copse of pine, in which a small wooden cabin rested. It was old weathered but sturdy built there was a small pen for horses with a lean to shelter but no real stable. The cabin itself was filthy and hadn't been occupied for decades, it was completely not livable.

 

Out by the horse pen was an old water trough and a pump. “I wonder if that will still draw water?” Hank said while they put the horses in the pen. Jordan tried the pump but it didn't move. “It's froze,” she said.

Hank pulled off his pack and rummaged around inside it before pulling out a small spray bottle of WD-40.

“Really? You carry WD-40 with you?” asked and incredulous Roach.

 

“Hey it has a lot of uses,” Hank replied as he sprayed the pump, “These old pumps were built to last and were built to withstand all kinds of bad weather and exposure. If we can get it pumping and if there's water down there we should be able to fill this trough.” He grabbed the handle and started trying to work it but it resisted.

“Let me.” Jordan pushed past Hank and wrapped her hand around the handle and exerted pressure. Her muscles corded and bulged and slowly the handle started to move. Hank sprayed more of the lubricant as the pump began to work. It took several minutes before the first bit of water spurted out then it slowed to a drip only to start up with an even steady flow.

 

As soon as the flow evened out Hank produced another device from his bag a simple water testing kit. No one said anything a but there were smiles and shakes of head as the ever prepared young man tested the water. A few more minutes and Hank pronounced the water safe.

 

While Jordan and Hank filled the trough for the horses the rest of the Kids looked over the crude map and determined the next step.

 

 

[Asarasa]

Jordan gave Hank a quick smile. She would never have though of testing the water to make sure it was safe, let alone bringing some WD-40 for a pump she hadn't even known about. She just had her water jug as always - she was big and active and staying hydrated was important - and carried another when she had Banner with her, along with some kibble for him. She'd only thought to bring a shovel and pick - if they had a treasure map, she figured they'd need something to dig it up, but she hadn't thought about all the other details.

 

With the trough filled, Jordan dipped her hands in and dumped some water over her face and hair to cool down, her pale hair darkened with dampness clung to her neck and back. She dipped her hands into the water again and did what she could to wipe the sweat from her muscular arms and legs. There was a soft, pleasant ache in her thighs. She knew how to ride, she just didn't care that much about horses or ride them much - preferring her own legs - not as much as Hank or Silas, or especially Quinn. And she swore the horse Quinn had offered her, Marmalade, had given her such a disgruntled look when she'd swung up in the saddle.

 

Banner shoved his way to the trough for a few laps of water and Jordan gave him a few hard scritches behind the ears before the large dog sauntered off to find someplace he could watch the horses and the surroundings. Then the horses all nosed in to the trough for their turn.

 

The huge girl retied her hair into a ponytail after wringing it out, then shaded her eyes against the sun overhead as she glanced up the rocky mountain and took a long pull of water. Silas had shown her some good trails and other places for climbing. She liked climbing, even if while she had greater reach now, her greater mass made it harder on the trickier spots.

 

"That's gonna a good hike, if we have to go all the way to the top," Jordan said, as she bent over to top off her water jug in the trough.

[Malachite]

Silas nodded to Jordan. "We should plan like we have to, just so we make sure we have what we need and keep track of time." He'd been taking a mental inventory of the cabin here and the grounds around it. It seemed like a great place to set up a second camera web and add new footage to his wilderness vlog. There'd be different animals wandering through and probably more since people weren't around here that much. 

He was trying not burst at the seams with curiosity, impatience, and just excitement. This whole thing just fascinated him - he loved puzzles - and he knew somehow it was all tied to his family. Thoughts of the leather-creased Mr. Claireburn flashed through his mind as he wondered if maybe it had anything to do with the Walsh-Claireburn feud. Wouldn't that be something? They could tell the older man all about it once they figured it out, if that were the case. Silas was fundamentally a good kid and didn't hold with feuds as belonging anywhere but in a history book, so the thought just made him smile. His mind flashed up images of Dylan holding a tray of lemonade and then watching them all from the porch of the Claireburn house and his smile turned to a deep blush. He shook his head to try to clear out distractions and hormones - being a teenage boy, nothing short of godly willpower would make that successful, but he did try.

He hefted his backpack. It weighed as much as it usually did, but he'd swapped out his schoolbooks for extra provisions and a rope because you could always use a bit of rope out in the woods. "Everyone ready?"

[SalmonMax]

Roach took a swig of water and made a face at the slightly 'off' taste of it. The water lacked all those vital fluorides and germ-killing chemicals! Gross!

 

"Almost," she replied to Silas, and quickly delved into her arsenal of horrible trivia facts garnered from randomly looking things up online. "First, I want to say that warm water that hasn't been treated is a great place to find brain-eating amoebas. So...drink up."

 

"SECOND, I'll go on record right now and say Jordan should get tested for that, because when she says 'a good hike,' she clearly ACTUALLY means 'a soul-destroying trail of tears that we should really get dirt bikes to go on.'"

 

She inhaled deeply and exhaled.

 

"Okay. Now I'm ready."

[Nina]

Spoiler

This is the map the first red X is A large Oak tree now dead but still Standing, while not mention on the map it is about where the two boys think the X is on the map. The second Red X is where you all see the sky clouding up. any one can make a test if you have outdoors skills you can roll it as advantaged otherwise it's normal. Success let you determine that there is a good chance the weather is going to take a turn.

 

Hank was looking up at the peak beyond where they were going to have to hike. He had never been up this area, namely because while not forbidden, it was discouraged by the forest service. Hunting in season with permits and fishing the creeks was allowed but mostly done in the coves and hollows, the ridges and mountain faces , while not tall, tended to be steep and treacherous due to the rocky nature of the geography.

 

While Silas checked the weight distribution of the packs they were going to carry, Hank went over to Jordan.

“Jordan, it might be a good idea to leave Banner here to watch over the horses if you think he’d stay. Terrain is gonna be pretty rough and I don’t think we’ll be able to haul him up there without hurting him.”

 

Jordan who had been crouched beside her giant dog looped and arm around his neck and scratched his chest while looking up following Hank’s gaze to the peak they were about to assault. “You think we’re going to be able to make it up there?”

Hank nodded, “Yeah, I think so but we’re going to have to do some climbing. I just don’t know if we can carry Banner safely.”

She looked back at her dog who tried to lick her face with a big slobbery tongue. “I can put him in with horse, he won’t hurt them, but he could probably get out of the corral if he wanted too. I don’t want to tie him up I’ll see if I can make him understand”

 

Hank left her to her dog and joined Silas who was looking at the map he spoke to hank when he got close. “I wish we had a more detailed map. I’m really curious why the directions point into the cove then up the side slope. It’s going to be steeper and rougher there than if we skirted the cove altogether and climbed up this south slope. I been up there part way at least. It would be an easier climb.”

Hank scowled at the map in Silas’ hands. “I don’t know maybe there’s something we can only see from down in the cove don’t make much sense to me.”

 

“Stay Banner! Stay!”

Everyone turned and looked at Jordan who was trying to make the big dog stay instead of follower her She had joined the group and the dog was paused halfway between the corral and the humans and looking back and forth. He let out a little whimper.

“No you’re not being punished you’re a good boy, I just need you to look out for the horses.” Jordan crouched where she stood as she talked to her animal friend, Banner took a step forward and tilted his head then looked back at the horses. “Stay with the horses’ big boy, they need you to protect them.”

Banner let out a couple of muffled barks then with a wag of his tail trotted back to the water trough and laid down in the dampness from the leaking.

With the dog settled in to guard the horses, the kids hefted their packs and set off into the hills.

 

Silas led the way with the girls stretched out in a semi line behind him and Hank bringing up the trail to keep and eye on how everyone was doing on the long hike in unfamiliar ground. Of all of them he was the most cautious and harbored some worry. He would have liked to have prepared more but he knew that any protestations would have fallen on def ears so he kept his worries to himself and kept a watchful eye on his friends for their well being.

 

The cove or what in other areas would have been called a small valley was heavily forested with Pine, Cedar and Oak along with some other smaller trees native to the area. The underbrush was heavy but the game trails were plenty so they could stay the course with little difficulty. It was hot and humid, but the cove was shaded by the tall trees and the canopy they offered. They hiked at first like kids do everywhere that they start an adventure full of laughter and swapping tales but as they climbed higher and the ground grew more difficult the talk and joking fell off. They crossed a couple of narrow creeks that neither Hank nor Silas had been aware  and noticed that the air grew cooler but the humidity rose and when they came across a clearing and could see the sky they saw that the cloud cover had increased.

 

 

 

 

 

[Nina]

Spoiler

For got a note  for the above post.   While hiking everything seems normal and just your usual summer hike but Silas and Roach both of you get the feeling that you are being watched especially if you go away from the group for anything like to go behind the bushes to tinkle or something.

 

[Malachite]

Silas motioned the group together once they'd reached the clearing. "So, we have to decide how much we're all okay with getting wet. We might be able to get back to the old cabin before the rain hits or the rain might end up passing us by. If we keep going, we risk getting drenched and spending the rest of the day cold." 

He shrugged. Out here, in the mountains he loved and away from everything in life that was just so exhaustingly complicated, Silas was much more his old self. He gave the group a grin. "So: are we pushing on, heading back to the dilapidated cabin for the afternoon, or splitting up? Make your choice and turn to the page indicated."

[Shameless]

Hank Frowned.  "Understand that if it does start storming we won't really be able to head back down during it.   It will be too dangerous to do so, and simply put, we probably don't have the right gear for that sort of climb.  We'll have to make do."
 

He nooded.  "I'm fine with either call, though you know me.  I'd play it safe by choice.  That's my vote, but If you decide to keep going, then of course, I'm with y'all."   

[Asarasa]

"It's just a bit of rain. maybe lotta rain," Jordan scoffed. "So we get wet. Who cares? There's enough tree cover, won't be that bad. And it's cooler now, that's just makin' the hike more bearable."

 

Hardy and brawny, the big blonde wasn't nearly ready to turn back just for a bit of bad weather. For her, the hike was still just starting.

[Noir]

Of all of the teens, the hike had clearly begun to take its toll on Hannah, though she tried to hide it as best she could, which wasn't much, given her current state. She was not stranger to hiking, but her usual hike were near her home on well-worn trails usual, with only the occasional true hiking needed. This trek had been different, trailblazing across rough terrain and the weather had not helped either.

 

As the others talked she listened, but let gaze drift up toward the summit that they were speaking of, the slope seemingly stretching out before her eyes, the peak moving every higher like she were looking through a perspective shifting lens of her camera. Her shoulders visibly slumped as she looked at what lay before them. Her muscles, or at least what she had of them, were already fatigued and aching, feeling like they were about to go on strike. She didn't want to be a wuss who brought their grand, first day of summer adventure and treasure hunt to and end, but this... a lot. 

 

"I..." she said kind of softly, and immediately caught herself, biting her lower lip. Did she really want to try this. There was some real danger here, but the thought of what they might find, be it anything like the antique pistols and history, nudged her forward.

 

"I'm sorry, but..." she managed to get out as she tried to find her resolve, or what was left of it. 

 

"I'm sorry, but I'm gonna need some help if we're gonna do this. I'm beat, and if we are going to hike and climb and stuff, and t's gonna be raining and storming, then I am gonna need to take my glasses off and put them in their hard case so I don't break or lose them on the way up." she finally said, not wanting to be wet blanket and finding the courage to ask for help.

[Shameless]

Hank nodded to Jordan, "Fair enough, You know me though, I'm the normal voice of caution."  He gave her a knowing smile.  "I don't think we should split up though, that'd be a bad idea."

"If you need help, Hannah, I gotcha covered.  If not me, then I'm sure everyone here."  He looked to Roach with a smile  "Even Roach."

He looked at the others with a smile,  "All together, one way or another.  That's the way this should be done."

[Malachite]

Silas gave Hannah an encouraging smile. "Well, if we want to keep going, how about I give you a ride?" 

Quinn had loved when Silas had given her piggy-back rides when they were little, though usually she was calling him "Lightning" or "Diamond Aces" or anything else she thought sounding like a good name for a horse with a flannel-colored coat and a messy brunette mane. Once she'd gotten on a real horse, though, Silas had been retired to the occasional galomp when she thought he needed a good pouncing instead. Still, the boy had filled out some over the past couple of years and he was no stranger to carrying around a book-bag that weighed near as much as he did. 

He tossed his own (much lighter) bag over to Hank and turned to crouch down in front of Hannah. "You can be high-point look-out. See if you can spot better choices in trails or maybe spot what we're looking for before I can see it. Or Jordan." He winked at the taller girl, used to taking pot shots at his shorter stature than the Johansson daughter. 

[Asarasa]

"If you don't push yourself, you don't improve yourself," Jordan retorted, sticking her tongue out at Hank. Which was a bit funny coming from the huge girl, who had to be pushed to finish her math and English homework.

 

She flashed Silas a smirk. "I dunno, together, you two might barely be taller." Jordan stretched and rolled her shoulders, tilting her head up to feel the wind on her face, then shifted to precede Silas and Hannah on the trail. It if was unsteady for her, it would be for them, and she could give them a warning. She twisted around on her heel to look back at the erstwhile mount and rider with a grin. "If Hannah ain't set on a single mount, I'll trade off with you, Sy, so ain't only one of us doing all the heavy - or not so heavy," Jordan gave Hannah a teasing grin," - lifting. And Hannah can look from a real vantage point."

[SalmonMax]

"I love how we're all treating this like it's a huge plus," Roach grumped from her spot near the end of the procession. "If it was such a great thing, why not have us all do it? Half of us ride the other half's shoulders! We'll see four times as far! It'll be BOSS!"

 

She rolled her eyes.

 

"Look. Bad weather, girl down...lets just go BACK. The ancient secret pirate ninja treasure isn't going ANYWHERE. We'll just do it tomorrow! Who even cares?"

 

Rochelle looked around, half-expecting to see a shadow in the bushes or a drone or something. It'd been bugging her for awhile now, that nagging feeling. But that wasn't why she wanted to go back, no. She just hated being caught in the rain.

[Noir]

Hannah blushed at the offer from Salias. It was weird, or at least made her feel weird, among other things. She tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear, looking away for a moment to give the small rush of color to her cheeks a moment to drain away once more, though he brow furrowed at Roach's comment.

 

"I'm not 'down'." she protested toward Roach, "I'm just tired. And if we are going to be climbing up hill, I might need some help sometimes."

 

She took off her glasses and put them in their hard case and slipped them back into her back. It was odd seeing her without her glasses on, as about the only time she would remove them was to go swimming. As thin as the frames were, they did kind of give her something to hide behind, and without them, her full feature were laid bare, leaving her feeling, well, 'naked' is not the word exactly, but close enough.

 

"And besides, we have already come this far, the thought of doing it, again, tomorrow is just..." Hannah groaned and shook her head. "We're here, so let's just..." she said as she glanced up toward the summit and sighed, "Let's just finish it."

[Dawn OOC]

“You know, I’ll take the tail if you want,” Quinn told Hank as they started their hike.

 

“Let me,” he insisted. With a sigh, she took her position just in front of him, feeling a blush rise even before the exertion started. 

 

Quinn was graceful in the saddle, so comfortable and natural that the high school lit teacher often teased her about being a centaur. Hank got a first-hand show to the downside of that. Quinn wasn’t nearly as graceful on the ground.

 

She fell over logs. She got tangled in thickets. She caught her braid on branch after branch after branch. She tripped over her feet so many times Hank lost count, and once, she tripped over Hannah’s feet. He had to catch her arm, and once her ankle -- he still wasn’t sure how he came up with that limb when he grabbed for her -- to stop her from falling worse. All the grace she possessed in the saddle disappeared on the ground.

 

At a break, Hank sat down next to her and asked, “I don’t want to pry, but do you have an inner ear problem?”

 

Quinn sighed. “No, I’m just clumsy,” she mumbled, the cool in-charge attitude she tried to project fading at the admission. For a moment, she was just a foot-sore, tired teenager with a smear of mud like a crescent moon around her eye. “I was riding before I was walking, so Dad claims I failed to develop walking correctly since I always had a horse to carry me.” 

 

“If you need help, just let me know,” he told her, and she nodded.

 

By the time they stopped to discuss turning around, Hank had to help Quinn remove a branch from her hair. After trying to gently detangle, Quinn pulled out her pocket knife and said, “Just cut it.”

 

“You sure?”

 

“It’s just hair.” She shrugged, her vanity minimal compared to most teen girls. “It’ll grow back.” 

 

In the end, Hank managed to cut more of the branch than her hair but it kept them from putting in their two bits until the end of the conversation. Finally, Quinn said, “Sounds like most of us want to keep going. Anyone opposed?”

[Nina]

If there were they didn't say anything more about it.

As they moved up the cove the trees thickened and obscured the darkening sky. No one rode anyone's shoulders but they still managed to make good time.

 

By their watches and phones they made it to the slope at nearly 2PM, and as they broke free of the treeline there were many curses to be herd and the fear that they had wasted their time. A few yards form the trees the ground sloped up about ten yards to what was a rocky ridge face that would be hard for even the most dedicated rock climber of which none of them even Silas, were. The girls, except for Jordan, dropped to the ground to rest aching feet while Silas and hank went a few yards up toward the slope to see how bad it really was.

It was bad.

Neither boy thought they could make the climb not with out ropes and a lot of luck.

 

It was Hannah who discovered the way up quite by accident. She had taken her glasses out of their hard case and after a cursory cleaning slipped them on. At that very moment she distinctly heard a voice close to her left ear sort of whisper “You should leave them off, you are very pretty without them...”

It was not a voice she recognized and besides there was no one that close to her. With a startled jerk she spun in the direction the voice came from and there not six feet away from her was a weathered human skull nestled into a split in a boulder.

Hannah screamed.

There was confusion and a bit of panic, Jordan was the first to Hannah who was pointing at the skull, which startled Jordan when she saw it. Soon everyone was on their feet and crowding around the spot.

 

Spoiler

The boulder is very large standing some 4 ½ feet high and about 6 feet wide. While rounded the weather and age have worn the top almost flat. On the north face of the boulder a split from the top to about a third of the way down is visible. Nestled deep into the cleft is a human skull. It's kind of small compared to your heads but then, hank, Hannah, and Roach can point out that if its two hundred years old people were just smaller back then because of nutrition. The lower jaw is missing, and a nasty hole can be seen just above the right temple. The skull is situated in such a way as to be “looking” back up the slope at and odd angle. Everything is old and weathered and it is easy to believe that this could be a couple of hundred years old.

Anyone wishing to may make and observation/investigation test. Get with me if you are successful.

There is no phone service here so the phones cant make calls or connect to the internet.

It is overcast but not yet raining although the sky looks like it could burst at any time.

Also the slope is not bare of trees but it is not heavily wooded either.

 

[Noir]

It had been a quite a long time since Hannah had been scared like that. It had been a fright that would have made Roach envious. She was sore and tired, so not feeling well and hurting, and then the voice had spooked her, making her, putting her on edge. Finding the skull had been the last pushed needed to enter Screamsville, population; Hannah. 

 

She had seen that boy disappear off of Mr. Clairburn's front porch when they left, and now she was having skulls talk to her. Either she was losing her mind, or had been reading way too much H.P. Lovecraft and other authors lately. Or maybe it was just fatigue. Either way, she sure as hell was not going to hell her friends that she was freaking out and look like a spaz.

 

The thought of being embarrassed had not even crossed her mind when the others rushed over. As they gawked at the skull Hannah tried to compose herself. Normally, it would have taken her some time, but now, as she glanced over at the skull, her curiosity began to take over. Fishing her phone out from her pocket, Hannah turned the flashlight on and squirmed in along her friends, trying to quietly breathe deep to calm herself more. She held the phone with both hand to stop it from shaking and leaned in, examine the skull, moving the light around to illuminate the skull from different angles. it was not dark, but it was overcast and with the skull in the split in the rock, the light helped some.

 

"This is old." she first said, more thinking aloud than anything. "That could be a bullet hole, you know. If it were from a knife or tomahawk or something, then the bone would be split." she added, as she continued to examine the skull. "It was clearly placed her too, a skull is not going to accidentally fall in this crack and sit like this. I mean, it could, but the odds are.. well... It's fictionally impossible." she pointed out.

 

It bugged her though, as to why a skull would be intentionally placed in the rock. A warning maybe? But if that were the case, it could have been placed better. Instead it was turned and angled a bit/ Hannah's brow furrowed behind her glasses as she thought and looked closer. There seemed to be nothing inside the skull either. So why put it there?

 

Then it hit her. She looked at the skull and followed it's line of sight (if it had eyes and were looking at something) and noted a few very large rocks. She squirmed out from the group and with some effort, made her way to the rocks, and as she reached them, her eyes opened wide.

 

"Hey guys! There's a trail here!" She called down, excitedly. "The skull was looking right at these big rocks that were hiding it! I doubt we would have found this trail ourselves. These rocks hide it really well from down below." she added and then looked back to the trail. She did some hiking, but was not on par with Hank or even Salias for outdoor knowledge, but the trail looked decent enough. "It looks old, but I think it might be passable." she added, beconing the others closer to show them her discovery.

[SalmonMax]

Roach went over to the skull, grinning. "Whoa, that's badass," she said admiringly. "Do you think it's diseased? Like, if we pick it up will we get sick?"

 

"I kind of want to paint it. Sort of...flames along the sides maybe. Get something in the eyes. Oh shit, I could go all Terminator on it...get some cameras in there, poke some holes, have some wires and metal poking out..."

 

For the moment she was more interested in the grisly trophy than the revealed path.

[Dawn OOC]

“That was a person, Roach,” Quinn pointed out. “The only thing we should do with it is call the police.” As her friends blinked at her, the dark-haired girl shrugged. “I didn’t say we were going to do it, but Dad said if I ever found human remains, no matter how old, to call the police because they have to investigate it.

 

“But even if we don’t call, we’re not painting it or wiring it up. That’s disrespectful.” She reached out and pushed Roach's hand away from where it hovered close to the old skull.

 

“That would be cool!” Roach protested. 

 

“Let’s just take this trail and leave the poor skull alone,” Quinn said firmly, waving toward the revealed path.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Dawn OOC

[Shameless]

Hank looked from the skull to the path, and nodded.  "Alright we take the path."  He frowned at Roach, and sighed.  "I agree with Quinn.  Leave the skull there.  If we do anything that isn't telling the cops about it, later, we should dig a hole an bury it.  As Quinn said, it's someone's remains, they deserve to be buried, if nothing else."   

He started making his way to where Hannah waited, and shrugged off his pack for a moment, rolling his shoulders in relief, ready to go again after a little stretch, ready to retake his position at the rear of the line.