What's going on at the Old Quarry?

Despite the warnings from his allies, and the evidence of his own senses, John decides to head out and investigate the situation in town further.

 Most of the activity in the sleepy seaside burg seems focused around the docks and the cannery. Not surprising he thought, considering that fishing was the main source of employment and profit here. Though with the rumours of depleted fish stocks in the surrounding seas and no boats out in the bay, the constant workings of the cannery seemed unusual.

Where were all the fish coming from?

The other odd thing he noted were the to-ings and fro-ings at the old quarry. Rockport derived its name form the natural granite deposits in the hills just outside of town. In it's heyday the much prized stone was exported all around the east coast of America and beyond. All of the impressive old town buildings were made of the stuff.

But those days were a long time gone. Only the fishing and the cannery kept Rockport alive today.

John decided to go up to the quarry. His reporters instincts were telling him he would find some of his answers there.

...

On the long walk back Margaret tells her companions what she remembers about Rockport and its history, including the local legends and strange happenings that have circulated through out the local region. 

A news paper clipping framed on the wall in the police station in particular reminded her of the many disappearances over the centuries this land had been settled by immigrants, and vague myths and rumours about the first peoples that lived here before them. The seas around Rockport were fertile grounds for fishing, but from time to time the stocks seemed to deplete and then mysteriously replenish.

These hard times for the town seemed to coincide with disappearances, and those who did go missing were almost always visitors or the newly settled, as in Charles's case. This did not buoy Deborah's hopes in finding her farther.

They return to wood manor and have a good look around before unpacking. It was well past sundown when they begin in earnest, so the exterior of the building would have to wait till tomorrow.

The trio find nothing, absolutely nothing. This in itself they decide is a clue. The pristine condition of the manor is unlike her fathers normal habit, he is a distracted intellectual who spends most of his time in his head or at the canvas. The house would normally be unkempt and dusty, the kitchen a mess. Some one had given the place a good going over.

Strange hands had been at work in this house after her farther had gone missing.

Try as they might no other clues became apparent. Until that is, Leonard decided to play one of his mind games. He called this one "If I had kidnapped Deb's farther, how would I have covered it up?"

It was then that he noticed fresh paint on the front door, and recently re-polished floor boards surrounding it.

...

John walked a ways off the old road to the quarry. Far enough he hoped that he would avoid notice from the odd truck driving to and form the town and any passersby on their way to the old stone works.

Skirting the edge of the great excavation, he soon found a good vantage point. From high up at the rear side of the old granite rock face he observed men loading the trucks with what looked like large wooden produce crates they carried from a cave mouth in the older part of the work site. It looked as if it were the edge of some chamber that once would have been buried deep in the stone and had been uncovered due to the excavation of the ancient green granite.

As the day wore on more trucks arrived and were loaded with a seeming unending supply of these large wooden crates.

I needed to get a look inside that cave.

John settled into he long grass to wait.

The only sign of the men creeping up on him was the blinding pain as the truncheon connected with the back of his skull and the voice of one of them muttering,

"The Foreman will want to talk to him."

Then the darkness and pain claimed him.

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Just to keep you up to date on the workings behind the scenes and where the heck I get all this from.

Here is the Adventure tracking sheet updated for the scenes of the adventure related above.

The story above included Scenes 4 and 5 on the tracking sheet. The Chaos factor has risen to 8, mostly due to John's activities and calamities.

The others need to have a word to John for making their lives more interesting, and complicating the situation in Rockport :P

See you next time...