Episode III: Chances AreBackground:
After following up a dead end in Hackley, LA, the PC's are headed south intending to proceed through Franklinton to Folsom, where they're to meet up with Randy's uncle, Vernon. Vernon has called his nephew home for help in dealing with some sort of problem though he hasn't elaborated yet on what. The PC's are discussing staying overnight and pooling their resources in Franklinton to purchase a second vehicle. The three folks in the back seat of Luther's SUV are starting to wear on one another's nerves. Randy is driving and they're currently traveling down Highway 25 only a few miles from the city limits.
ACT I, SCENE I:
The PC's come up the scene of a wreck, with two patrol officers checking it over. They pull up on the right side and Luther, Angelita and Felicity step over to speak with the officers. Angelita manages to get a few details from them, such as the driver being crushed in the ditch by his own car which was itself apparently pushed into the ditch by second vehicle. No one notices the ectoplasm staining the scene here and there.
Moving on into town the team pick up rooms for the night at the Liberty Inn, salt the doors and windows, turn on the police scanner and hit the hay.
The following morning Randy attempts to contact his uncle again with no luck. He and Angelita then head out to the nearest used car lot to do some window shopping, hoping to find something to replace Dusty's old truck. During the course of conversation with the dealer the two pick up on the rumors surrounding last night's apparent murder, as well as the name of the witness. Angelita starts pressing for details when the "ghost car" is mentioned and finds rumors already are circulating around town concerning the incident last night.
Angelita has the middle aged used car dealer wrapped around her finger in short order and soon picks up the story of Annie Mapes, the phantom Buick of Pico Road and the names of three of the more commonly known witnesses who claim to have seen it. She picks up a little info on Mapes and her habit of stalking some of the married men around town as well. Returning to the team the two report no luck finding a truck Randy deems worthy but the group is interested in the gossip they've picked up.
Heading back out to the scene of the accident, the team finds it already cleaned up by the local PD but give it a good once over anyway. Since the reported witness to the vehicular assault lives just off the road from the site Angelita and Luther head over there to interview the guy while the rest pick over the site.
During the interview Angelita doesn't perform all that well and can't get the reluctant witness to even agree to talk about it. Luther takes over and approaches the matter a bit more aggressively, eliciting only a basic recounting. Apparently the witness heard the man on the road yelling out and some kind of strange music playing loudly over a car stereo. From his front window he could barely make out the man seemingly having taken cover in the ditch behind his car, which he'd jacked up to change a tire. The Buick, the source of the strange music, then rammed the man's car right into the ditch trapping him. Then backed up and slammed the car a couple more times, crushing the man, before disappearing up the road to the north. The witness isn't able to identify the song he heard but is certain it was coming from the attacking vehicle.
Before they can leave the witness and return to the group, they find the man displaying an interest in Angelita and he attempts to engage her in conversation. When it becomes clear this is going to become a distraction for Angelita she barely makes her check against the man's own Allure (he's a good looking guy) and Luther is able to drag her back to the scene of the wreck.
Back at the road Dusty, Randy and Felicity are now easily able to make note of the ectoplasm lacing the scene but none of them recognize it. Felicity takes a sample for later study. When they discover the lug wrench still laying in the grass near the woods Dusty and Randy attempt to convince Felicity to use her Clairvoyance on it but she outright refuses, getting quite stubborn about it before they finally give up. When Luther and Angelita return, Luther and Dusty give the scene a good look while Angelita fills everyone in on what the witness relayed to them. Luther and Randy then discover that, though there are a couple of bits and pieces from the victim's car scattered about, there don't appear to be any from the attacking vehicle.
Figuring they've got all they can get the group puts their heads together and decides to check around town before trying to find another vehicle. Randy insists they wrap matters up before nightfall so they can get on over to his uncle without further delay.
ACT I, SCENE II:
Once the team has returned to their hotel rooms they find the ectoplasm sample Felicity gathered from the scene has already nearly evaporated, despite being kept in a sealed glass tube. This prompts Dusty and Felicity to finally recognize it as ectoplasm and a sure sign of a very, very angry spirit.
Felicity seizes Angelita's laptop and starts hitting the internet to researching the information they've picked up while Angelita and Luther head out to do some interviews. Dusty and Randy head for the nearest bar to play some pool and hit the bartender up for info.
Felicity easily finds on the recent news article concerning the phantom car sightings along Pico Road and announcements that the local Sheriff's Department is apparently hard after whoever's causing all the ruckus. From that she picks up the name Gerald Weise as a possible fourth witness, relaying that by cell phone to Luther and Angelita. She also finds a news article on the disappearance of Annie Mapes dated about a week prior to the reported first sighting of the phantom Buick, as well as indications in the story that she may have been committed to a psychiatric facility some time prior. Unable to find anything else useful she heads out to track down Dusty and Randy.
From their first witness, Chandra Weinman, Angelita and Luther get a firsthand account of the vehicle barreling down the middle of the road one night, running her off the road. They also identify the strange song, as it was playing loudly enough from the other car that she heard it clearly. "Chance Are" by Johnny Mathis. The witness recounts that a quick glance back after gaining control of her car showed the phantom vehicle had suddenly disappeared, though she admits it may have simply have had time enough to go around the far bend in the road.
The second witness recounts the black car coming up behind them late one night on Pico Road, behaving menacingly and frightening her enough that she sought shelter in a stranger's yard. When the resident came out to see what all the fuss was, the vehicle sped off but its behavior prior to that convinced them both to call the police before she felt safe enough to take to the road again.
The third witness is out of town, so the two PC's are unable to interview them.
Back at the bar Dusty, Randy and Felicity are playing pool and chatting with the bartender. They're able to get the local gossip on Annie Mapes pretty easily.
"That crazy woman stalked some fellah a couple of years ago. How she got a reputation for being all crazy in the first place. It went on for months and she even got herself arrested a couple times over it. Last I heard the fellah finally moved to Mississippi and she even chased him over there before things started to taper off. Then about eight months ago she starts in on this other fellah, one of the local cops. Jamie McClaren. Good enough fellah, I guess. Can't say I know him all that well but he comes in here now and then. In fact, just between you and me, I seen the two of them in here a couple times. Can't rightly say they was together, you get me, but they was both in here. Seemed like they got on alright, if you know what I mean, but it wasn't long before she started actin' a fool. And maybe she was just in here stalking him already, for all I know. Didn't see either of 'em in here ever since then, come to think of it.
So I reckon she started getting hinky again, with McClaren this time. And that went on for maybe six months or so before she got herself arrested a couple more times. Judge flat out told her she'd get herself locked up if she ended up in court just one more time on account of all that. Didn't slow her down none, though. She went on troubling McClaren, got herself on the wrong end of a restraining order and everything. Even got into a scrape with the wife once, I heard. Funny thing is when she went missing her car was found on that same stretch of road as all them phantom car sightings, out on Pico Road. Right around where McClaren lives if I ain't mistaken. Except that black car that's been raisin' Cain out that way...well, that ain't her car. Annie Mapes drove an old green VW bug, I remember real clear.
Now that stretch of road where they found her car is just a couple miles off from that fellah's house, right? So you know that looks awful suspicious and the cops was all over it. Didn't turn out to be nothing in the end, I suppose, but you know how folks like to put two and two together and figure they got something. Everyone figures Jamie finally took care of the problem when old crazy threatened to do harm to his wife - least that's the story anyhow. Except that car don't match up is all. That's the reason I figure whatever's going on out there probably ain't got nothin' to do with crazy old Annie. Not that that'll stop other folk from talkin', you know."
Meeting back at the hotel room at 3:00PM the team decide they've got a job here and discuss whether to pursue it or head on out to Randy's uncle. A third attempt to contact the uncle at home gets Randy's aunt instead, who doesn't seem to know anything or even that he's contacted Randy. According to her the uncle is at his shop working on some job or other. Randy's tries again to contact him there but fails. Agonizing over it a bit Randy decides at last to go along with the local gig, so long as they're all able to head out by tomorrow afternoon.
A quick check with the local PD reveals that officer McClaren is out on patrol around town. Angelita digs up his local address and the PC's decide to go interview the wife, since she's on their list of witnesses to the phantom car.
ACT II, SCENE I:
Arriving at the McClaren household the PC's find the young daughter, Donna, playing with her pet dog in the front yard. Pulling up in the driveway behind the family car, Angelita and Luther approach the front door and knock.
When Jessie McClaren answers Angelita drops 2 PP on her interview with her, convincing her to tell her story of her encounter with the phantom car. Inviting Luther and Angelita inside for coffee, she sits them down in the living room while Luther takes notes (playing the role of Angelita's assistant). Outside Felicity chats with the young girl, Randy pets the dog and Dusty plays with the radio while monitoring the police scanner in the SUV. Neither Felicity nor Randy notice anything unusual about the family car parked in the driveway.
Jessie McClaren surprises the PC's when they discover that she apparently encountered the vehicle in broad daylight, inside the city limits rather than out on Pico Road. Picking up her daughter from school she found her on the edge of the playground, seemingly conversing with some woman she couldn't see who was sitting in a parked car nearby. She remembers clearly that the vehicle was a black Buick GNX, though she didn't make note of the license plate number. When she mentions it Angelita doesn't notice anything unusual about her behavior but Luther drops 2 PP on the check, noting the vehicle itself startled the woman the first time she saw it. Jessie recounts approaching and calling out to her daughter to come away from the strange car, at which point it pulled away onto the street again and drove off. It reappeared later following them home, blaring a strange song far too loudly over the radio behind them and hanging around the house once they got home until she called her husband. It was gone again before a patrol car could came around.
Outside in the SUV Dusty's ghost decides it needs some attention. When Dusty feels the cold chill and sees his breath mist in front of him he attempts to get out of the SUV and fetch the tire iron (in case the old civil war ghost wants to tussle). The ghost locks the doors before he can however, then cranks up the radio to an uncomfortable level alerting everyone (including the three folks inside the house) that there's a disturbance going on.
While Luther, Angelita and Jessie McClaren get up to go see what's going on outside, Dusty vaults over the seats to get at the rear of the SUV and grabs the tire iron. When the civil war ghost appears, sitting on the back seat beside him and mouthing something imperceptible, he simply whacks it with the tire iron and disperses it before McClaren steps out of the house. Felicity and Randy have only enough time to try the doors of the SUV before Dusty's already taken care of the problem.
Everyone puts on a smiling face for Jessie McClaren, hoping to distract from anything she might have witnessed. Once outside however Jessie has immediately notices her daughter is gone and questions everyone where she's got off to. She quickly spots her heading down the driveway. When Dusty snaps the SUV's car radio off again the team is assaulted by the sound of "Chance Are", slightly muffled as it's playing from the interior speakers of the phantom car now parked at the edge of the property. Jessie's daughter Donna is heading straight for it, her dog Toby at her heels.
Jessie McClaren immediately screams her daughter's name, bringing little Donna to a quick halt, then sprints after her calling her back. Donna is a bit reluctant, glancing back at the Buick parked out on the road before walking back to be snatched up by her mother. Jessie has her daughter in hand in an instant and is now dashing back for the house in a blind panic.
As no one is packing heat the team jumps for the back hatch of the SUV to arm themselves. Luther decides instead to rely on his quick reflexes to keep him out of trouble and heads straight for the car, hoping to get a closer look before it takes off. Toby, the McClaren's dog, is at the car already, barking madly at it. When the team notices Jessie McClaren hasn't disappeared inside the house as expected and is watching from the porch instead (clutching her daughter to her chest and clearly terrified), they hold off on dragging armaments from the SUV right in front of her and stand ready to do so instead. They watch over Luther from where they are for the time being.
Luther is able to approach to within twenty feet before putting himself uncomfortably in the open. Over Toby's barking he can still clearly make out the song blaring from the car, far too loudly for the comfort of anyone (living) who might be inside. Pulling out his pocket EMF meter he gets a reading right off the scale from the car but the thickly tinted windows make it impossible to determine if anyone in the driver's seat. The phantom Buick appears real enough and lacks any discernable spectral properties, seeming for all the world as corporeal as any other car. He can even smell the exhaust pouring the rear of the Buick when it revs up menacingly as he approaches.
To everyone's surprise the Buick starts the action, slamming suddenly into Toby the family dog the moment in jumps near the front end to bark madly. Poor Toby is smooshed instantly when the black sedan leaps over it, eliciting more screaming from Jessie back on the porch. She promptly disappears inside the house with her daughter. Figuring they're free to arm themselves now, the rest of the PC's snatch weapons from the SUV while Luther angles around for a glimpse at the license plate. He finds the car doesn't seem to have a plate, though there's clearly a space for one on the rear bumper.
Having seized the Initiative over everyone but Luther, the black sedan doesn't flee or attack. Rather it take a moment to scare the heck out of everyone by leisurely reversing back over the bloody remains of Toby the family dog, grinding it further into the gravel and making an even nastier mess out of the poor mutt.
Luther stows his EMF meter to get his hands free for the handgun Felicity's bringing him but otherwise holds off to see what the Buick is going to do. While the rest of the PC's are running to join him it pulls away, seeming to purposefully peel out atop the remains of the dog and spraying a little gore Luther's way before zipping down the road to the north. When Randy arrives he shoulders his scoped rifle for a shot at a rear tire, dropping 2 PP on the roll and missing his shot. He decides not to make a follow up attempt and the black sedan barrels loudly on down the road, gone in a moment.
Heading back to the house (after stowing weapons away in the SUV again) the team finds Jessie McClaren inside on the phone with husband. Clearly hysterical she babbles, "It's back, it's her! She tried to get Donna and she killed Toby! Oh, God, Jamie! Please come home!" Spotting the PC's she screams at them to get out and Angelita attempts to calm her, dropping 2 PP on the attempt but failing nonetheless. Jessie runs them out of the house while informing her husband, the police officer, that strangers are there and they won't leave.
The PC's decide to skedaddle rather than face an irate police officer who'll probably have questions for whoever fired at the car. And Randy has a warrant out on him. They leave Jessie to her phone call and pile into the SUV, heading back to the hotel.
ACT II, SCENE II:
Within night coming on Randy makes another attempt at contacting his uncle and succeeds this time. After a quick conversation he discovers only that he's irritated that it's taking so long for him to arrive but otherwise refuses to discuss the matter over the phone. Afterward Randy declares he's more agreeable with wrapping up this job as the treatment poor Toby the mutt received pissed him off pretty good (Randy's a dog lover). After consulting on the matter a bit the team decides to head out to Pico Road to stakeout the McClaren residence.
Parking off the road a few hundred feet away the PC's are on stakeout for two hours and it's now coming up on 10:00pm. A sheriff's patrol car soon approaches and pulls off the road behind them. With Randy in the driver's seat it makes Angelita's attempts to engage with the deputy a bit awkward when he approaches to question them and she's fails to put the officer at ease. He asks for identification and since the PC's haven't gotten around to any fakes just yet, he soon has Randy's driver's license, heading back to his patrol car to check it out. The PC's figure they're largely screwed now and discuss pooling PP for a major plotline intervention.
Before the deputy can reach his patrol car the phantom Buick rounds the bend, heading down the road past the McClaren house and blaring "Chances Are" over its radio at everyone in the area. The deputy immediately spots it, steps back to hand the license back to Randy and advises the PC's, "Ya'll stay right here." He dashes back for his patrol car, calling in for backup over his radio on the run. He's in the patrol car peeling down the road after the Buick in moments, his bar light flashing and siren wailing.
The PC's discuss the matter quickly and decide they might as well go ahead and push their luck. They crank up and head out after them. Though the Buick and the sheriff's patrol car are a half mile down the road by the time they take after them, the PC's can at least see the headlights up ahead and are able to discern the two vehicles are accelerating quickly. Randy gets into the chase, attempting to catch up before they miss all the action.
With the sheriff's patrol car beginning the chase at Far range and the PC's at Distant the chase goes on for five turns. The deputy fails a check and drops back to Distant with the PC's halfway through the chase but neither he nor the PC's manage to get any closer than that to the Buick. With everyone "Sprinting" in the chase, speeds have gotten pretty high, well up around 80mph. The deputy has noticed the PC's breaking the speed limit to keep up, despite his orders to stay put.
When the Buick slides into a sharp turn and disappears into Gerald's Auto Salvage, the deputy slows to avoid sliding out of control on the gravel and continues into the yard to pursue. He and the PC's find the Buick has disappeared even though the gate to the junkyard itself is still shut and padlocked. The deputy makes a circuit scanning the area around the junkyard with his spotlight before radioing back to dispatch, killing the engine and exiting the patrol car to confront the PC's. The PC's have since parked back at the road and exited the SUV to move in on foot.
The deputy is in a bit of a huff after his quarry has disappeared into thin air and takes out his frustrations on them for a bit before informing them they're to stay put until backup arrives. Gerald Weise, the owner of the junkyard, steps out in his long johns to see what the fuss is all about, shotgun in hand no less, which thankfully distracts the deputy to go deal with him for a bit. The PC's figure the deputy is certain to have their license plate number already so staying put as ordered is probably a good idea. They spot the three freshly dug graves off to the side of the ramshackle house immediately while the deputy is busy talking down the grumpy old-timer on the porch.
Once the deputy has wrapped up matters with Mr. Weise, Angelita tries to settle accounts with him and get them all off the hook. She presents herself and the PC's as students researching the supposed "phantom car" for a parapsychology class. She drops 3 PP on the attempt and scores an Extraordinary Success, convincing him to let them go and avoid any embarrassment for their class or their college. The deputy finally waves them out of the area and the PC's hit the road before backup arrives. He checks their identification and takes down their names before letting them go however, leading the PC's to agree to get some fake identification as soon as possible.
ACT III, SCENE I:
Heading back to the hotel, the PC's hold up there and decide to wait until morning to do anything else. The sheriff's department is probably all over Pico Road, the McClaren residence and the junkyard by now so there isn't much they can do without risking further attention from local law enforcement. The following morning they head for Pico Road and find no sheriff's deputies there. They knock on the front door and get no answer.
Luther and Randy hear grinding noises coming from the nearby garage and the team heads over to check it out. With the main door shut Luther edges around to the side door to peer through the window. There he finds grumpy old Gerald Weise hard at work along the fender of a rundown Ford Galaxy. Once he's rejoined the others he knocks on the garage door as soon as the grinding noise lets up for a moment. Gerald Weise opens the garage door to confront his visitors and is clearly none too happy to have some. Angelita fails terribly in her attempt to charm the old man and he responds by running the lot of them off his property with a shotgun which, interestingly, he has close at hand in the garage with him.
Back on the road the PC's review the lyrics to "Chances Are" but can't come up with any link to what they know of the Buick so far. With Weise's behavior and the three fresh graves in his yard the PC's figure their best bet lies there and decide to approach the scrap yard more covertly that night. With many hours left until nightfall and no obvious police presence on Pico Road so far, they stop by the McClaren residence on the way back to the hotel.
Angelita fast talks Jessie at the door when she answers the doorbell, first offering her apologies for any trouble they may have caused on their prior visit, then moving in with some kind remarks to engage her in conversation. Again she fails to engage and Jessie, while accepting her apology politely, ends the conversation and shuts the door on the PC's. When an Alertness check is called for the PC's decide to let Randy go first, dropping 3 PP on the roll. He fails and none of the other PC's have the Alertness + Perception to pull off a Hard check, so for the second time no one spots the vague signs on the family sedan that Jessie's covered up (where she ran over Annie Mapes weeks ago).
Lacking anything else to go on the PC's head back to the hotel to regroup. They head to the local library for a second round of research, hoping to turn up something they may have missed. Felicity then finds the announcement in the local newspaper dated several years ago concerning Jessie Weise and Jamie McClaren's marriage. With another link to the junkyard owner Gerald Weise the PC's wrap up their research and head back to the hotel to wait for nightfall.
ACT III, SCENE II:
When night comes the PC's head out for Gerald's Auto Salvage and find Jessie McClaren's beat them there, just now getting out of her own car. When they exit the SUV and she sees who they are she rolls her eyes and stomps off to her uncle's front door muttering about them. Everyone can see the Ford Galaxy now parked, engine running, at the junkyard gates, Felicity and Angelita spot the body crumpled on the ground next to it. They all head over quickly to check the body and Luther then steps away, preparing to run interference against Jessie, who's just coming around the corner after having no luck at the door.
The PC's easily identify Gerald Weise's body, as well as the obvious cause of death (he was run over, several times in fact). When Jessie sees the corpse and immediately freaks out, Luther has her in hand doing his best to calm her down. Angelita springs up to take over for Luther and directs the woman back around the corner to the front step to sit. There she uses the opportunity to try to get anything Jessie McClarin hasn't told them yet and, after several minutes of prompting, finally hears the whole story.
Back at the gate the PC's can't find anything else of note at the scene of Gerald Weise's death though Randy is able to recognize that the old Ford Galaxy has been customized like a demolition derby car. They head around to the front of Weise's house in time to hear Jessie McClaren spilling her guts about the incident with Annie Mapes weeks ago. When they learn Jessie "accidentally" ran over the crazy woman, panicked and stashed her body in the trunk of one of the cars in her uncle's scrap yard everything snaps into place. Now realizing the phantom car is likely lurking in the scrap yard they realize as well that old man Weise was apparently planning to go in after it with his modified Galaxy.
Realizing they have to get to the remains in the trunk to end this haunting the PC's discuss it at length, making note of the scrap yard magnet crane inside the yard and the demolition car old man Weise already prepared. With the obvious plan agreed upon they check the old man's body for the gate key, finally finding it knocked out of his hand on the ground nearby. The PC's then load up weapons from the SUV and head to the gate. Once they've sprung the gate Randy drives the demo car inside hoping to attract the Buick's attention at least long enough for Luther to get to the magnet crane's cabin and operate the thing.
Almost immediately the black Buick appears, engine racing with menace, phasing like a ghost out of the central pile of broken down old cars. Randy doesn't waste time and seizes the opportunity to start the showdown, using his free action to drive at a "run" to the Buick's opposite flank in order to hopefully drive it under the magnet for Luther.
Assuming Randy's captured the possessed car's attention, Angelita snatches a box of salt from her backpack and begins pouring a salt ring around the group while Luther sprints straight for the magnet crane to take position. When Randy floors it, attempting to ram the Buick from the side, he misses and crashes into a parked junker behind it. Felicity, now joining Angelita in pouring the salt ring, becomes the Buick's first target and the whole group is forced to jump out of the way when it tries to run her down.
While Luther scales the crane to enter the crane's cabin Angelita, Dusty and Felicity scale the crane's huge treads to seek shelter from the Buick. Before it can back up and come after anyone else Randy's already spun around and come at it again, forcing it to peel backwards out of the way. The Buick uses its momentum to spin around in reverse and slam into Randy's car in the process, damaging them both. Dusty meanwhile has a solid perch on the crane's treads and shoulders his shotgun while Felicity and Angelita drop their backpacks and reach for their handguns.
As Luther cranks up the crane and swings the huge scrap yard magnet into position the three shooters have weapons ready and are Aiming for the Buick's tires. Randy spins around from under the Buick's last impact to take position on the far side of the car, then attempts a "grapple" attack to push the Buick under the magnet. Though the possessed car attempts to shake free it's shoved halfway there in the first turn of the "grapple". With Randy's driving skill used up from the grappling and pushing, the Buick is free to make an unopposed check to break free for the next turn.
Dusty, Angelita and Felicity all decide to keep Aiming for a turn or two more, just in case, since their weapons won't do much damage unless they hit extraordinarily well. While Luther waits, Covering the spot with the crane's magnet, Randy attempts to "grapple" again and shove the Buick quickly under it before it can get away again. The Buick successfully resists two attempts, leaving it clear to abandon the Ford Galaxy and go after the three on the crane's tread. It rams the thread, taking a little damage and shaking the crane. All three manage to keep their feet and avoid falling to the ground where the car can get at them but their Aims are all lost in the process.
With the Buick rather tantalizingly near the magnet, Luther simply swings it over a bit and drops it right on the car, nearly knocking it out of the running with the resulting damage. Randy follows up by ramming the helpless car one solid time and putting its total damage high enough to cause the Buick's engine to start sputtering. The PC's are then on hand to witness the Buick spend a turn completely regenerating from all the damage it's taken, though that leaves it helpless for the turn. Luther is then free to hoist it up off the ground as he has Initiative over the possessed car.
Once off the ground Randy slides his Galaxy around to the rear of the car. Felicity and Dusty hop off the tread and onto the Galaxy's hood to get at the trunk while Angelita continues Aiming at the Buick's tire (just in case). Luther stays in the cab to monitor the controls. The Buick meanwhile spins its wheels, plays its song and revs its engine furiously but naturally doesn't accomplish much else while hanging in midair.
Intimidated by the Buick's behavior nonetheless Angelita lets loose her shot at the tire, hitting and blowing it out. Dusty pops the trunk with a crowbar and Felicity gets the salt and gasoline from her backpack. The Buick, unable to do anything about being stuck, spends the turn regenerating again and fully re-inflating the tire Angelita blew out. She takes Aim for a bit, preparing to blow it out again if the Buick does anything else intimidating. Felicity then salts the corpse of Annie Mapes in the trunk before grabbing the gasoline.
At that point the radio in the Buick suddenly fades out and the engine sputters and dies. In only a second the car seems to age and rust a bit until it's transformed again to the junker it probably was back when Jessie McCluren first dumped Annie's body in it. Annie appears immediately behind Felicity, slamming her with a Telekinesis attack and launching her off the Ford Galaxy's hood to the ground some ten feet away. Felicity is badly hurt by the attack but in no danger of passing out. Dusty, still gripping the tire iron, simply lays a swipe across Annie's ghostly form and dispels her for a bit. Long enough at least for him to snatch up the fallen gasoline canister, douse the corpse in the trunk and light it up.
With the trunk of the Buick now on fire Dusty leaps off the Galaxy, snatching his and Felicity's backpacks, and puts some distance between himself and the car. Randy likewise accelerates quickly backward and everyone else takes cover as well. After a while the fire begins to die down, somehow failing to ignite the car's fuel tank before dying out. After stirring the ashes a bit it's clear Annie Mapes has been taken care of. The team reassembles at the scrap yard gate where Jessie McCluren stands awed at all the goings on.
WRAP UP:
The following morning the PC's have since assured themselves that Jessie McCluren didn't intentionally kill Annie Mapes and the woman had apparently jumped in front of her car trying to stop Jessie from leaving the argument they were having that fateful night on Pico Road. While Jessie may have panicked and responded quite poorly to the situation she found herself in, the PC's aren't willing to follow up on it considering all that happened as a result. They are on hand to witness her confession to her husband who, as it turned out, had largely figured as much on his own.
Though he's skeptical about the claims of haunting and such, he accepts Jessie's accounting of events and moves quickly to call the authorities to the scene of her uncle's death. The old Buick GNX is found devoid of any sign of its use in the two deaths attributed to it and, in fact, lacks several engine components necessary to even run to begin with. Annie Mapes' remains are recovered from the trunk (what little is left of them), though it seems unlikely they'll be verified as such.
The PC's also stick around long enough to discover the three fresh graves on Weise's property held his three pit bulls, all of which used to guard the scrap yard for him. All three apparently having been run over recently and their deaths probably the motivating factor in the old man's decision to confront the haunted car on his own. With that the PC's figure the job here is done and they hit the road heading for Folsom before Randy's warrants are discovered.
After following up a dead end in Hackley, LA, the PC's are headed south intending to proceed through Franklinton to Folsom, where they're to meet up with Randy's uncle, Vernon. Vernon has called his nephew home for help in dealing with some sort of problem though he hasn't elaborated yet on what. The PC's are discussing staying overnight and pooling their resources in Franklinton to purchase a second vehicle. The three folks in the back seat of Luther's SUV are starting to wear on one another's nerves. Randy is driving and they're currently traveling down Highway 25 only a few miles from the city limits.
ACT I, SCENE I:
The PC's come up the scene of a wreck, with two patrol officers checking it over. They pull up on the right side and Luther, Angelita and Felicity step over to speak with the officers. Angelita manages to get a few details from them, such as the driver being crushed in the ditch by his own car which was itself apparently pushed into the ditch by second vehicle. No one notices the ectoplasm staining the scene here and there.
Moving on into town the team pick up rooms for the night at the Liberty Inn, salt the doors and windows, turn on the police scanner and hit the hay.
The following morning Randy attempts to contact his uncle again with no luck. He and Angelita then head out to the nearest used car lot to do some window shopping, hoping to find something to replace Dusty's old truck. During the course of conversation with the dealer the two pick up on the rumors surrounding last night's apparent murder, as well as the name of the witness. Angelita starts pressing for details when the "ghost car" is mentioned and finds rumors already are circulating around town concerning the incident last night.
Angelita has the middle aged used car dealer wrapped around her finger in short order and soon picks up the story of Annie Mapes, the phantom Buick of Pico Road and the names of three of the more commonly known witnesses who claim to have seen it. She picks up a little info on Mapes and her habit of stalking some of the married men around town as well. Returning to the team the two report no luck finding a truck Randy deems worthy but the group is interested in the gossip they've picked up.
Heading back out to the scene of the accident, the team finds it already cleaned up by the local PD but give it a good once over anyway. Since the reported witness to the vehicular assault lives just off the road from the site Angelita and Luther head over there to interview the guy while the rest pick over the site.
During the interview Angelita doesn't perform all that well and can't get the reluctant witness to even agree to talk about it. Luther takes over and approaches the matter a bit more aggressively, eliciting only a basic recounting. Apparently the witness heard the man on the road yelling out and some kind of strange music playing loudly over a car stereo. From his front window he could barely make out the man seemingly having taken cover in the ditch behind his car, which he'd jacked up to change a tire. The Buick, the source of the strange music, then rammed the man's car right into the ditch trapping him. Then backed up and slammed the car a couple more times, crushing the man, before disappearing up the road to the north. The witness isn't able to identify the song he heard but is certain it was coming from the attacking vehicle.
Before they can leave the witness and return to the group, they find the man displaying an interest in Angelita and he attempts to engage her in conversation. When it becomes clear this is going to become a distraction for Angelita she barely makes her check against the man's own Allure (he's a good looking guy) and Luther is able to drag her back to the scene of the wreck.
Back at the road Dusty, Randy and Felicity are now easily able to make note of the ectoplasm lacing the scene but none of them recognize it. Felicity takes a sample for later study. When they discover the lug wrench still laying in the grass near the woods Dusty and Randy attempt to convince Felicity to use her Clairvoyance on it but she outright refuses, getting quite stubborn about it before they finally give up. When Luther and Angelita return, Luther and Dusty give the scene a good look while Angelita fills everyone in on what the witness relayed to them. Luther and Randy then discover that, though there are a couple of bits and pieces from the victim's car scattered about, there don't appear to be any from the attacking vehicle.
Figuring they've got all they can get the group puts their heads together and decides to check around town before trying to find another vehicle. Randy insists they wrap matters up before nightfall so they can get on over to his uncle without further delay.
ACT I, SCENE II:
Once the team has returned to their hotel rooms they find the ectoplasm sample Felicity gathered from the scene has already nearly evaporated, despite being kept in a sealed glass tube. This prompts Dusty and Felicity to finally recognize it as ectoplasm and a sure sign of a very, very angry spirit.
Felicity seizes Angelita's laptop and starts hitting the internet to researching the information they've picked up while Angelita and Luther head out to do some interviews. Dusty and Randy head for the nearest bar to play some pool and hit the bartender up for info.
Felicity easily finds on the recent news article concerning the phantom car sightings along Pico Road and announcements that the local Sheriff's Department is apparently hard after whoever's causing all the ruckus. From that she picks up the name Gerald Weise as a possible fourth witness, relaying that by cell phone to Luther and Angelita. She also finds a news article on the disappearance of Annie Mapes dated about a week prior to the reported first sighting of the phantom Buick, as well as indications in the story that she may have been committed to a psychiatric facility some time prior. Unable to find anything else useful she heads out to track down Dusty and Randy.
From their first witness, Chandra Weinman, Angelita and Luther get a firsthand account of the vehicle barreling down the middle of the road one night, running her off the road. They also identify the strange song, as it was playing loudly enough from the other car that she heard it clearly. "Chance Are" by Johnny Mathis. The witness recounts that a quick glance back after gaining control of her car showed the phantom vehicle had suddenly disappeared, though she admits it may have simply have had time enough to go around the far bend in the road.
The second witness recounts the black car coming up behind them late one night on Pico Road, behaving menacingly and frightening her enough that she sought shelter in a stranger's yard. When the resident came out to see what all the fuss was, the vehicle sped off but its behavior prior to that convinced them both to call the police before she felt safe enough to take to the road again.
The third witness is out of town, so the two PC's are unable to interview them.
Back at the bar Dusty, Randy and Felicity are playing pool and chatting with the bartender. They're able to get the local gossip on Annie Mapes pretty easily.
"That crazy woman stalked some fellah a couple of years ago. How she got a reputation for being all crazy in the first place. It went on for months and she even got herself arrested a couple times over it. Last I heard the fellah finally moved to Mississippi and she even chased him over there before things started to taper off. Then about eight months ago she starts in on this other fellah, one of the local cops. Jamie McClaren. Good enough fellah, I guess. Can't say I know him all that well but he comes in here now and then. In fact, just between you and me, I seen the two of them in here a couple times. Can't rightly say they was together, you get me, but they was both in here. Seemed like they got on alright, if you know what I mean, but it wasn't long before she started actin' a fool. And maybe she was just in here stalking him already, for all I know. Didn't see either of 'em in here ever since then, come to think of it.
So I reckon she started getting hinky again, with McClaren this time. And that went on for maybe six months or so before she got herself arrested a couple more times. Judge flat out told her she'd get herself locked up if she ended up in court just one more time on account of all that. Didn't slow her down none, though. She went on troubling McClaren, got herself on the wrong end of a restraining order and everything. Even got into a scrape with the wife once, I heard. Funny thing is when she went missing her car was found on that same stretch of road as all them phantom car sightings, out on Pico Road. Right around where McClaren lives if I ain't mistaken. Except that black car that's been raisin' Cain out that way...well, that ain't her car. Annie Mapes drove an old green VW bug, I remember real clear.
Now that stretch of road where they found her car is just a couple miles off from that fellah's house, right? So you know that looks awful suspicious and the cops was all over it. Didn't turn out to be nothing in the end, I suppose, but you know how folks like to put two and two together and figure they got something. Everyone figures Jamie finally took care of the problem when old crazy threatened to do harm to his wife - least that's the story anyhow. Except that car don't match up is all. That's the reason I figure whatever's going on out there probably ain't got nothin' to do with crazy old Annie. Not that that'll stop other folk from talkin', you know."
Meeting back at the hotel room at 3:00PM the team decide they've got a job here and discuss whether to pursue it or head on out to Randy's uncle. A third attempt to contact the uncle at home gets Randy's aunt instead, who doesn't seem to know anything or even that he's contacted Randy. According to her the uncle is at his shop working on some job or other. Randy's tries again to contact him there but fails. Agonizing over it a bit Randy decides at last to go along with the local gig, so long as they're all able to head out by tomorrow afternoon.
A quick check with the local PD reveals that officer McClaren is out on patrol around town. Angelita digs up his local address and the PC's decide to go interview the wife, since she's on their list of witnesses to the phantom car.
ACT II, SCENE I:
Arriving at the McClaren household the PC's find the young daughter, Donna, playing with her pet dog in the front yard. Pulling up in the driveway behind the family car, Angelita and Luther approach the front door and knock.
When Jessie McClaren answers Angelita drops 2 PP on her interview with her, convincing her to tell her story of her encounter with the phantom car. Inviting Luther and Angelita inside for coffee, she sits them down in the living room while Luther takes notes (playing the role of Angelita's assistant). Outside Felicity chats with the young girl, Randy pets the dog and Dusty plays with the radio while monitoring the police scanner in the SUV. Neither Felicity nor Randy notice anything unusual about the family car parked in the driveway.
Jessie McClaren surprises the PC's when they discover that she apparently encountered the vehicle in broad daylight, inside the city limits rather than out on Pico Road. Picking up her daughter from school she found her on the edge of the playground, seemingly conversing with some woman she couldn't see who was sitting in a parked car nearby. She remembers clearly that the vehicle was a black Buick GNX, though she didn't make note of the license plate number. When she mentions it Angelita doesn't notice anything unusual about her behavior but Luther drops 2 PP on the check, noting the vehicle itself startled the woman the first time she saw it. Jessie recounts approaching and calling out to her daughter to come away from the strange car, at which point it pulled away onto the street again and drove off. It reappeared later following them home, blaring a strange song far too loudly over the radio behind them and hanging around the house once they got home until she called her husband. It was gone again before a patrol car could came around.
Outside in the SUV Dusty's ghost decides it needs some attention. When Dusty feels the cold chill and sees his breath mist in front of him he attempts to get out of the SUV and fetch the tire iron (in case the old civil war ghost wants to tussle). The ghost locks the doors before he can however, then cranks up the radio to an uncomfortable level alerting everyone (including the three folks inside the house) that there's a disturbance going on.
While Luther, Angelita and Jessie McClaren get up to go see what's going on outside, Dusty vaults over the seats to get at the rear of the SUV and grabs the tire iron. When the civil war ghost appears, sitting on the back seat beside him and mouthing something imperceptible, he simply whacks it with the tire iron and disperses it before McClaren steps out of the house. Felicity and Randy have only enough time to try the doors of the SUV before Dusty's already taken care of the problem.
Everyone puts on a smiling face for Jessie McClaren, hoping to distract from anything she might have witnessed. Once outside however Jessie has immediately notices her daughter is gone and questions everyone where she's got off to. She quickly spots her heading down the driveway. When Dusty snaps the SUV's car radio off again the team is assaulted by the sound of "Chance Are", slightly muffled as it's playing from the interior speakers of the phantom car now parked at the edge of the property. Jessie's daughter Donna is heading straight for it, her dog Toby at her heels.
Jessie McClaren immediately screams her daughter's name, bringing little Donna to a quick halt, then sprints after her calling her back. Donna is a bit reluctant, glancing back at the Buick parked out on the road before walking back to be snatched up by her mother. Jessie has her daughter in hand in an instant and is now dashing back for the house in a blind panic.
As no one is packing heat the team jumps for the back hatch of the SUV to arm themselves. Luther decides instead to rely on his quick reflexes to keep him out of trouble and heads straight for the car, hoping to get a closer look before it takes off. Toby, the McClaren's dog, is at the car already, barking madly at it. When the team notices Jessie McClaren hasn't disappeared inside the house as expected and is watching from the porch instead (clutching her daughter to her chest and clearly terrified), they hold off on dragging armaments from the SUV right in front of her and stand ready to do so instead. They watch over Luther from where they are for the time being.
Luther is able to approach to within twenty feet before putting himself uncomfortably in the open. Over Toby's barking he can still clearly make out the song blaring from the car, far too loudly for the comfort of anyone (living) who might be inside. Pulling out his pocket EMF meter he gets a reading right off the scale from the car but the thickly tinted windows make it impossible to determine if anyone in the driver's seat. The phantom Buick appears real enough and lacks any discernable spectral properties, seeming for all the world as corporeal as any other car. He can even smell the exhaust pouring the rear of the Buick when it revs up menacingly as he approaches.
To everyone's surprise the Buick starts the action, slamming suddenly into Toby the family dog the moment in jumps near the front end to bark madly. Poor Toby is smooshed instantly when the black sedan leaps over it, eliciting more screaming from Jessie back on the porch. She promptly disappears inside the house with her daughter. Figuring they're free to arm themselves now, the rest of the PC's snatch weapons from the SUV while Luther angles around for a glimpse at the license plate. He finds the car doesn't seem to have a plate, though there's clearly a space for one on the rear bumper.
Having seized the Initiative over everyone but Luther, the black sedan doesn't flee or attack. Rather it take a moment to scare the heck out of everyone by leisurely reversing back over the bloody remains of Toby the family dog, grinding it further into the gravel and making an even nastier mess out of the poor mutt.
Luther stows his EMF meter to get his hands free for the handgun Felicity's bringing him but otherwise holds off to see what the Buick is going to do. While the rest of the PC's are running to join him it pulls away, seeming to purposefully peel out atop the remains of the dog and spraying a little gore Luther's way before zipping down the road to the north. When Randy arrives he shoulders his scoped rifle for a shot at a rear tire, dropping 2 PP on the roll and missing his shot. He decides not to make a follow up attempt and the black sedan barrels loudly on down the road, gone in a moment.
Heading back to the house (after stowing weapons away in the SUV again) the team finds Jessie McClaren inside on the phone with husband. Clearly hysterical she babbles, "It's back, it's her! She tried to get Donna and she killed Toby! Oh, God, Jamie! Please come home!" Spotting the PC's she screams at them to get out and Angelita attempts to calm her, dropping 2 PP on the attempt but failing nonetheless. Jessie runs them out of the house while informing her husband, the police officer, that strangers are there and they won't leave.
The PC's decide to skedaddle rather than face an irate police officer who'll probably have questions for whoever fired at the car. And Randy has a warrant out on him. They leave Jessie to her phone call and pile into the SUV, heading back to the hotel.
ACT II, SCENE II:
Within night coming on Randy makes another attempt at contacting his uncle and succeeds this time. After a quick conversation he discovers only that he's irritated that it's taking so long for him to arrive but otherwise refuses to discuss the matter over the phone. Afterward Randy declares he's more agreeable with wrapping up this job as the treatment poor Toby the mutt received pissed him off pretty good (Randy's a dog lover). After consulting on the matter a bit the team decides to head out to Pico Road to stakeout the McClaren residence.
Parking off the road a few hundred feet away the PC's are on stakeout for two hours and it's now coming up on 10:00pm. A sheriff's patrol car soon approaches and pulls off the road behind them. With Randy in the driver's seat it makes Angelita's attempts to engage with the deputy a bit awkward when he approaches to question them and she's fails to put the officer at ease. He asks for identification and since the PC's haven't gotten around to any fakes just yet, he soon has Randy's driver's license, heading back to his patrol car to check it out. The PC's figure they're largely screwed now and discuss pooling PP for a major plotline intervention.
Before the deputy can reach his patrol car the phantom Buick rounds the bend, heading down the road past the McClaren house and blaring "Chances Are" over its radio at everyone in the area. The deputy immediately spots it, steps back to hand the license back to Randy and advises the PC's, "Ya'll stay right here." He dashes back for his patrol car, calling in for backup over his radio on the run. He's in the patrol car peeling down the road after the Buick in moments, his bar light flashing and siren wailing.
The PC's discuss the matter quickly and decide they might as well go ahead and push their luck. They crank up and head out after them. Though the Buick and the sheriff's patrol car are a half mile down the road by the time they take after them, the PC's can at least see the headlights up ahead and are able to discern the two vehicles are accelerating quickly. Randy gets into the chase, attempting to catch up before they miss all the action.
With the sheriff's patrol car beginning the chase at Far range and the PC's at Distant the chase goes on for five turns. The deputy fails a check and drops back to Distant with the PC's halfway through the chase but neither he nor the PC's manage to get any closer than that to the Buick. With everyone "Sprinting" in the chase, speeds have gotten pretty high, well up around 80mph. The deputy has noticed the PC's breaking the speed limit to keep up, despite his orders to stay put.
When the Buick slides into a sharp turn and disappears into Gerald's Auto Salvage, the deputy slows to avoid sliding out of control on the gravel and continues into the yard to pursue. He and the PC's find the Buick has disappeared even though the gate to the junkyard itself is still shut and padlocked. The deputy makes a circuit scanning the area around the junkyard with his spotlight before radioing back to dispatch, killing the engine and exiting the patrol car to confront the PC's. The PC's have since parked back at the road and exited the SUV to move in on foot.
The deputy is in a bit of a huff after his quarry has disappeared into thin air and takes out his frustrations on them for a bit before informing them they're to stay put until backup arrives. Gerald Weise, the owner of the junkyard, steps out in his long johns to see what the fuss is all about, shotgun in hand no less, which thankfully distracts the deputy to go deal with him for a bit. The PC's figure the deputy is certain to have their license plate number already so staying put as ordered is probably a good idea. They spot the three freshly dug graves off to the side of the ramshackle house immediately while the deputy is busy talking down the grumpy old-timer on the porch.
Once the deputy has wrapped up matters with Mr. Weise, Angelita tries to settle accounts with him and get them all off the hook. She presents herself and the PC's as students researching the supposed "phantom car" for a parapsychology class. She drops 3 PP on the attempt and scores an Extraordinary Success, convincing him to let them go and avoid any embarrassment for their class or their college. The deputy finally waves them out of the area and the PC's hit the road before backup arrives. He checks their identification and takes down their names before letting them go however, leading the PC's to agree to get some fake identification as soon as possible.
ACT III, SCENE I:
Heading back to the hotel, the PC's hold up there and decide to wait until morning to do anything else. The sheriff's department is probably all over Pico Road, the McClaren residence and the junkyard by now so there isn't much they can do without risking further attention from local law enforcement. The following morning they head for Pico Road and find no sheriff's deputies there. They knock on the front door and get no answer.
Luther and Randy hear grinding noises coming from the nearby garage and the team heads over to check it out. With the main door shut Luther edges around to the side door to peer through the window. There he finds grumpy old Gerald Weise hard at work along the fender of a rundown Ford Galaxy. Once he's rejoined the others he knocks on the garage door as soon as the grinding noise lets up for a moment. Gerald Weise opens the garage door to confront his visitors and is clearly none too happy to have some. Angelita fails terribly in her attempt to charm the old man and he responds by running the lot of them off his property with a shotgun which, interestingly, he has close at hand in the garage with him.
Back on the road the PC's review the lyrics to "Chances Are" but can't come up with any link to what they know of the Buick so far. With Weise's behavior and the three fresh graves in his yard the PC's figure their best bet lies there and decide to approach the scrap yard more covertly that night. With many hours left until nightfall and no obvious police presence on Pico Road so far, they stop by the McClaren residence on the way back to the hotel.
Angelita fast talks Jessie at the door when she answers the doorbell, first offering her apologies for any trouble they may have caused on their prior visit, then moving in with some kind remarks to engage her in conversation. Again she fails to engage and Jessie, while accepting her apology politely, ends the conversation and shuts the door on the PC's. When an Alertness check is called for the PC's decide to let Randy go first, dropping 3 PP on the roll. He fails and none of the other PC's have the Alertness + Perception to pull off a Hard check, so for the second time no one spots the vague signs on the family sedan that Jessie's covered up (where she ran over Annie Mapes weeks ago).
Lacking anything else to go on the PC's head back to the hotel to regroup. They head to the local library for a second round of research, hoping to turn up something they may have missed. Felicity then finds the announcement in the local newspaper dated several years ago concerning Jessie Weise and Jamie McClaren's marriage. With another link to the junkyard owner Gerald Weise the PC's wrap up their research and head back to the hotel to wait for nightfall.
ACT III, SCENE II:
When night comes the PC's head out for Gerald's Auto Salvage and find Jessie McClaren's beat them there, just now getting out of her own car. When they exit the SUV and she sees who they are she rolls her eyes and stomps off to her uncle's front door muttering about them. Everyone can see the Ford Galaxy now parked, engine running, at the junkyard gates, Felicity and Angelita spot the body crumpled on the ground next to it. They all head over quickly to check the body and Luther then steps away, preparing to run interference against Jessie, who's just coming around the corner after having no luck at the door.
The PC's easily identify Gerald Weise's body, as well as the obvious cause of death (he was run over, several times in fact). When Jessie sees the corpse and immediately freaks out, Luther has her in hand doing his best to calm her down. Angelita springs up to take over for Luther and directs the woman back around the corner to the front step to sit. There she uses the opportunity to try to get anything Jessie McClarin hasn't told them yet and, after several minutes of prompting, finally hears the whole story.
Back at the gate the PC's can't find anything else of note at the scene of Gerald Weise's death though Randy is able to recognize that the old Ford Galaxy has been customized like a demolition derby car. They head around to the front of Weise's house in time to hear Jessie McClaren spilling her guts about the incident with Annie Mapes weeks ago. When they learn Jessie "accidentally" ran over the crazy woman, panicked and stashed her body in the trunk of one of the cars in her uncle's scrap yard everything snaps into place. Now realizing the phantom car is likely lurking in the scrap yard they realize as well that old man Weise was apparently planning to go in after it with his modified Galaxy.
Realizing they have to get to the remains in the trunk to end this haunting the PC's discuss it at length, making note of the scrap yard magnet crane inside the yard and the demolition car old man Weise already prepared. With the obvious plan agreed upon they check the old man's body for the gate key, finally finding it knocked out of his hand on the ground nearby. The PC's then load up weapons from the SUV and head to the gate. Once they've sprung the gate Randy drives the demo car inside hoping to attract the Buick's attention at least long enough for Luther to get to the magnet crane's cabin and operate the thing.
Almost immediately the black Buick appears, engine racing with menace, phasing like a ghost out of the central pile of broken down old cars. Randy doesn't waste time and seizes the opportunity to start the showdown, using his free action to drive at a "run" to the Buick's opposite flank in order to hopefully drive it under the magnet for Luther.
Assuming Randy's captured the possessed car's attention, Angelita snatches a box of salt from her backpack and begins pouring a salt ring around the group while Luther sprints straight for the magnet crane to take position. When Randy floors it, attempting to ram the Buick from the side, he misses and crashes into a parked junker behind it. Felicity, now joining Angelita in pouring the salt ring, becomes the Buick's first target and the whole group is forced to jump out of the way when it tries to run her down.
While Luther scales the crane to enter the crane's cabin Angelita, Dusty and Felicity scale the crane's huge treads to seek shelter from the Buick. Before it can back up and come after anyone else Randy's already spun around and come at it again, forcing it to peel backwards out of the way. The Buick uses its momentum to spin around in reverse and slam into Randy's car in the process, damaging them both. Dusty meanwhile has a solid perch on the crane's treads and shoulders his shotgun while Felicity and Angelita drop their backpacks and reach for their handguns.
As Luther cranks up the crane and swings the huge scrap yard magnet into position the three shooters have weapons ready and are Aiming for the Buick's tires. Randy spins around from under the Buick's last impact to take position on the far side of the car, then attempts a "grapple" attack to push the Buick under the magnet. Though the possessed car attempts to shake free it's shoved halfway there in the first turn of the "grapple". With Randy's driving skill used up from the grappling and pushing, the Buick is free to make an unopposed check to break free for the next turn.
Dusty, Angelita and Felicity all decide to keep Aiming for a turn or two more, just in case, since their weapons won't do much damage unless they hit extraordinarily well. While Luther waits, Covering the spot with the crane's magnet, Randy attempts to "grapple" again and shove the Buick quickly under it before it can get away again. The Buick successfully resists two attempts, leaving it clear to abandon the Ford Galaxy and go after the three on the crane's tread. It rams the thread, taking a little damage and shaking the crane. All three manage to keep their feet and avoid falling to the ground where the car can get at them but their Aims are all lost in the process.
With the Buick rather tantalizingly near the magnet, Luther simply swings it over a bit and drops it right on the car, nearly knocking it out of the running with the resulting damage. Randy follows up by ramming the helpless car one solid time and putting its total damage high enough to cause the Buick's engine to start sputtering. The PC's are then on hand to witness the Buick spend a turn completely regenerating from all the damage it's taken, though that leaves it helpless for the turn. Luther is then free to hoist it up off the ground as he has Initiative over the possessed car.
Once off the ground Randy slides his Galaxy around to the rear of the car. Felicity and Dusty hop off the tread and onto the Galaxy's hood to get at the trunk while Angelita continues Aiming at the Buick's tire (just in case). Luther stays in the cab to monitor the controls. The Buick meanwhile spins its wheels, plays its song and revs its engine furiously but naturally doesn't accomplish much else while hanging in midair.
Intimidated by the Buick's behavior nonetheless Angelita lets loose her shot at the tire, hitting and blowing it out. Dusty pops the trunk with a crowbar and Felicity gets the salt and gasoline from her backpack. The Buick, unable to do anything about being stuck, spends the turn regenerating again and fully re-inflating the tire Angelita blew out. She takes Aim for a bit, preparing to blow it out again if the Buick does anything else intimidating. Felicity then salts the corpse of Annie Mapes in the trunk before grabbing the gasoline.
At that point the radio in the Buick suddenly fades out and the engine sputters and dies. In only a second the car seems to age and rust a bit until it's transformed again to the junker it probably was back when Jessie McCluren first dumped Annie's body in it. Annie appears immediately behind Felicity, slamming her with a Telekinesis attack and launching her off the Ford Galaxy's hood to the ground some ten feet away. Felicity is badly hurt by the attack but in no danger of passing out. Dusty, still gripping the tire iron, simply lays a swipe across Annie's ghostly form and dispels her for a bit. Long enough at least for him to snatch up the fallen gasoline canister, douse the corpse in the trunk and light it up.
With the trunk of the Buick now on fire Dusty leaps off the Galaxy, snatching his and Felicity's backpacks, and puts some distance between himself and the car. Randy likewise accelerates quickly backward and everyone else takes cover as well. After a while the fire begins to die down, somehow failing to ignite the car's fuel tank before dying out. After stirring the ashes a bit it's clear Annie Mapes has been taken care of. The team reassembles at the scrap yard gate where Jessie McCluren stands awed at all the goings on.
WRAP UP:
The following morning the PC's have since assured themselves that Jessie McCluren didn't intentionally kill Annie Mapes and the woman had apparently jumped in front of her car trying to stop Jessie from leaving the argument they were having that fateful night on Pico Road. While Jessie may have panicked and responded quite poorly to the situation she found herself in, the PC's aren't willing to follow up on it considering all that happened as a result. They are on hand to witness her confession to her husband who, as it turned out, had largely figured as much on his own.
Though he's skeptical about the claims of haunting and such, he accepts Jessie's accounting of events and moves quickly to call the authorities to the scene of her uncle's death. The old Buick GNX is found devoid of any sign of its use in the two deaths attributed to it and, in fact, lacks several engine components necessary to even run to begin with. Annie Mapes' remains are recovered from the trunk (what little is left of them), though it seems unlikely they'll be verified as such.
The PC's also stick around long enough to discover the three fresh graves on Weise's property held his three pit bulls, all of which used to guard the scrap yard for him. All three apparently having been run over recently and their deaths probably the motivating factor in the old man's decision to confront the haunted car on his own. With that the PC's figure the job here is done and they hit the road heading for Folsom before Randy's warrants are discovered.