Mission 3.5: Parker's Courthouse; the Old Historic Site #1

[Bluehorse]

The Firehouse
Judge Parker's Courthouse; the Old Historic Site #1
Aug. 9, 2018, 5:40pm
Hot and Humid Outside, cooling

Information on the historical site was easy to find. It was practically within walking distance from the firehouse. Unfortunately, it closes at 5pm. Fortunately... it closes at 5pm. Mac only got an answering service for the City Councilors this late, but he also had personal Cells for them both. On the first try, he got ahold of a familiar voice: Bill Maily here.

Jason was able to see volumes and volumes on Judge Parker's courthouse and the site in general. The site was where the first settlement of Fort Smith was made back on Christmas Day 1817. It was a trading and military post for years and soon became a town. It was a site of some minor civil war battles in the area, some well know and others not so well. It was a place full of outlaws and regular trade with the Indians of present-day Oklahoma, then called Indian territory. Years later there was the authorization of US Marshals the likes of such as Bass Reeves appointed by the Federal courts, including Judge Issac C. Parker himself. In fact, it is the basis for the novel that would be made into the movies True Grit. There was plenty of landmarks on those grounds, the original fort, the newer one... (what remains of both) the courthouse itself, and the infamous Hell on the Border jail located in the basement. Neighboring the grounds was the national cemetery that has graves dating back to 200 years ago.


Starting from here:
viewtopic.php?f=628&t=8100&p=404611#p404389

Actions?

Brownie Point Pool
Dr. Jason O'Roarke: 58/66
Dr. Vanette Conklin: 52/57 (*)
Lionel 'Freight Train' Williams: 52/58 (*)
Roy O'Dowd: 64/64  (**) (***)
David "Mac" McAuslan: 58/58 (**)


* - +1d6 on any one roll. (Xmas)
** - No Ghost Dice on any one roll. (Xmas)
*** - +1d6 for the next use of the Ghost Trap

[Pulpatoon]

Etta takes a leisurely stroll over to the courthouse. When she is on the grounds, or as close as she can get to them when they're closed, she begins taking PKE readings.

Brains: [3d6] = 12 Ghost: [1d6] = 5

[Taaz]

Jason follows along with Etta to the courthouse, still reading along on the courthouse You know I thought reading up might give us an edge, but with all this no telling what could be causing the phenomena. Etta pulls out her PKE and starts sweeping for valences, he takes his meter out but focuses on the buildings and grounds than the screen. He scans for hidden messages, or calling cards in the masonry, any areas where nature seemed disturbed, generally looking for tale tale signs of metaphysical.

Basically he is investigating the grounds for occult, let me know what you want me to roll, straight brains, occult, etc.

[Taaz]

Jason follows along with Etta to the courthouse, still reading along on the courthouse You know I thought reading up might give us an edge, but with all this no telling what could be causing the phenomena. Etta pulls out her PKE and starts sweeping for valences, he takes his meter out but focuses on the buildings and grounds than the screen. He scans for hidden messages, or calling cards in the masonry, any areas where nature seemed disturbed, generally looking for tale tale signs of metaphysical.

Basically he is investigating the grounds for occult, let me know what you want me to roll, straight brains, occult, etc.

[Rex]

Mac

Follows along, once there he will keep an eye out for anything unusual. "Going to see if I can find a hint just looking around."

[Bluehorse]

The Firehouse
Judge Parker's Courthouse; the Old Historic Site #1
Aug. 9, 2018, 5:40pm
Hot and Humid Outside, cooling

The PKE is going haywire! Full malfunction! It begins to smoke! Before Etta can even react the whole thing blinks out dead as a doornail!

Mac sees nothing out of the ordinary. Seems quiet. There is noise from the main street to the north where the nightlife is kicking up. The grounds are dark but the paths and buildings are all well lit with very well designed lighting to keep the grounds subdued but still artistically displayed. It is... quite. They readily see the Gallows to the south.. they are near the remains of the newer fort, part of the wall is still there. The courthouse is before them along with one of the original patty wagons. There is a civil war cannon nearby, and on closer inspection, there is a lower entrance to the side of the courthouse and higher ones to the north and west. A ground-level main entrance is on the sounds side, where there are glass doors which remain locked. There is a pentagon-shaped brick sitting area leading into the main entrance. On the west side of the courthouse is a large ship's mast with a large American flag, well lit. There are other buildings and brick gazebos scattered about, all paths seem to lead around the grounds and filter either to here or some train tracks to the west.

Map of Broader Area

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Satellite of More Immediate Area:

Map4.JPG (167.53 KiB) Viewed 4014 times

Actions?

Brownie Point Pool
Dr. Jason O'Roarke: 58/66
Dr. Vanette Conklin: 52/57 (*)
Lionel 'Freight Train' Williams: 52/58 (*)
Roy O'Dowd: 64/64  (**) (***)
David "Mac" McAuslan: 58/58 (**)


* - +1d6 on any one roll. (Xmas)
** - No Ghost Dice on any one roll. (Xmas)
*** - +1d6 for the next use of the Ghost Trap[/quote]

[Pulpatoon]

Etta waves the smoking PKE around, and then, when it goes dead, gives it several good thwacks against her palm. "Oh! You stupid thing!"

"Jason, are you getting anything on your PKE? Mine just went belly-up."

[Taaz]

Do I see anything or did my PKE fritz too?

[Bluehorse]

Do I see anything or did my PKE fritz too?

Yes. Both PKEs are fried. Sorry guys! You still have the phones themselves but both the attachment extensions and the function on the phones themselves are toast at the moment.

[Pulpatoon]

Etta looks exasperated at the gadgets. "Have either of you ever see anything like this happen?" She looks at the courthouse with wild surmise. "Just how haunted is this town?"

Has Etta ever heard of PKE overloading or failing in a similar way?
Brains: [3d6] = 13 Ghost: [1d6] = 5

[Bluehorse]

Etta looks exasperated at the gadgets. "Have either of you ever see anything like this happen?" She looks at the courthouse with wild surmise. "Just how haunted is this town?"

Has Etta ever heard of PKE overloading or failing in a similar way?
Brains: [3d6] = 13 Ghost: [1d6] = 5

Etta can recall several times when PKE meters have malfunctioned this way. It is always indicative of HEAVY paranormal energies that overload the readout receptors unless adjusted for such conditions. This place must be crawling with activity to short them out so quickly. She can recall an entry where Ego had set the PKE Meter to read infinity in order to read the location of Marduk in the netherworld, and it was the only way to get a solid reading on the Powerful God without causing the meter to explode or get false positives from all the ambient energies of being in a paranormal dimension. In theory, one could set a meter to infinity and dial down tot he ideal setting without damaging the equipment.

[Taaz]

Hmm.. Thats no good. He looks at the malfunctioning attachment. Jason walks back to the others in time to hear Etta's assessment of this town. You have no idea, he says as he puts the PKE meter into the messenger bag in exchange for a book. In addition to all the psychic turbulence that a courthouse kicks up on its own, this place has a gallows and he gestures in its direction. Eighty six men met pretty public violent deaths over the years. That's not all, this place is connected with the trail of tears somehow, and our other known entities around here, I'm willing to bet this place is a pressure cooker.

[Pulpatoon]

Etta, quietly: "Do you think the reason Belmont's, uh, source of power is stuck out past the outskirts of town is because there's something at least as powerful hunkered down in here? Maybe that's why the Mayor left the parish—he found a bigger fish to fry."

After thinking for a moment, she says, "I'm heading back to the firehouse to get another PKE—I'd rather not burn out my phone if I adjust it incorrectly. Hand me your old one, and I'll drop them both off, see if Roy can do anything with them. Back in a minute."

[Taaz]

Sure, Jason passes the PKE meter to Etta Thats not a bad hunch. You think maybe The Mayor is a mortal front man like Belmont? He looks around at the grounds, scanning it, Theres a lot going on here metaphysically so, I get why this town needs a franchise.

He walks over to Mac Hey you wanna help do a lap and check out the lay of the land here?

[Rex]

Mac

"Good idea, considering the activity we should be cautious until we know more."

[Bluehorse]

The Firehouse
Judge Parker's Courthouse; the Old Historic Site #1
Aug. 9, 2018, 6:00pm
Hot and Humid Outside, cooling

As Etta and Jason exchange ideas on what could be going on, Etta decides to head back the firehouse and drop off the PKE Attachments and their phones to Roy to see what he can do to fix them. Please be clear that the PKE is not a separate piece of equipment but a function of your company phones, there is an attachment that acts as an amplifier and increases the range and accuracy. So the PKE attachments AND your phones PKE function are what is shorted out.

In the meantime, Jason and Mac decide to take a walk around the perimeter of the grounds and get a feel for the layout. There is plenty of signage around the grounds and everything Jason mentions is readily available offering a lot of information. There is the commissary building on the northwest corner... the olf officers quarters are gone, but the foundations preserved along with the old garden. There is plenty of information about the civil war era fort. A trail heads off towards the tracks that clearly marks where the old Oklahoma Arkansas border was located before it moved west. This route would take them to the old fort and Belle Point where the original settling, fort, and trail of tears are located. Then there is also the Trolly Museum mentioned in the paperwork tonight to the south of the gallows and the patty wagon all of which could be investigated, further on is the National Cemetary. There is the Courthouse itself that could be looked at closer, and to the far north, there is what appears to be a statue as well as a civil war cannon halfway between the two.

Okay. So Etta is walking back. I am going to say this takes about 20 mins to get from the Firehouse to here going forward based on Google maps. So she is probably not going to be back for another hour, depending on what interactions she has once she gets there.

Actions?

Brownie Point Pool
Dr. Jason O'Roarke: 58/66
Dr. Vanette Conklin: 52/57 (*)
Lionel 'Freight Train' Williams: 52/58 (*)
Roy O'Dowd: 64/64  (**) (***)
David "Mac" McAuslan: 58/58 (**)


* - +1d6 on any one roll. (Xmas)
** - No Ghost Dice on any one roll. (Xmas)
*** - +1d6 for the next use of the Ghost Trap

[Taaz]

That's my thoughts exactly. He starts walking slowly to the statue and pulls out his phone to check the time, and make sure hist timetable for tonight. He walks along occupied by that on the path to the statue, eventually putting it away. This place give you the creeps too Mac? he asks as they get to the statue. And he looks at it.

I keep trying to look up things on this and half the .gov historic pages are down

[Bluehorse]

The Fort Smith Historical Site
Judge Parker's Courthouse; the Old Historic Site #1
Aug. 9, 2018, 6:27pm
Hot and Humid Outside, cooling

Jason, Mac make it to the tall statue that stands about 25 feet from base to top of a cowboy on a horse accompanies by a hound dog.  He carries a shotgun and is well dressed.  On inspection, you can see that is is a statue of Bass Reeves, US Marshal from Judge Parker's time.  


Bass Reeves Statue:

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Enscription on Base:

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Lionel comes jogging up at about this time.  A true athlete?   Let's roll a mod Moves and see how you handle a jog not just to the park, but to the other side across the grounds   If you can break 10 you are not winded, if you break 20, I will say you don't even break a sweat!  #Date Night!   Either way, he arrives about the time that his teammates begin reading out the bronze plaque nearby.


Bronze Plaque:

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Other Signage:

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Free Meta from the GDGM:  Lionel having a working phone, (so long as he does not engage the PKE to your knowledge) can do an easy Internet search and find a plethora of information on this man.  He is much admired in this area and was known to have captured and brought in over 3,000 criminals alive to face justice at the hands of Judge Parker, including his own son when a warrant was issued.  He was a friend of the Choctaws and could speak their languages.  Later in life, he would "retire" to be one of the first sheriffs in Muskogee Oklahoma where he lived out the rest of his days.  This man was truly a legend of his time and was the chief inspiration behind the TV character, The Lone Ranger.

Actions?

Brownie Point Pool
Dr. Jason O'Roarke: 58/66
Lionel 'Freight Train' Williams: 52/58 (*)
David "Mac" McAuslan: 58/58 (**)


* - +1d6 on any one roll. (Xmas)
** - No Ghost Dice on any one roll. (Xmas)
*** - +1d6 for the next use of the Ghost Trap

[Scott308]

Lionel "Freight Train" Williams

Lionel comes jogging up as Jason and Mac are looking at the statue. Etta sent me to make sure everything is ok over here. How's it going? He asks, breathing normally but showing a bit of dampness on his shirt and a sheen of perspiration on his forehead.

Since Lionel is from Fayetteville and then went to school for a few years in Norman, Oklahoma, would Bass Reeves be someone he would have been familiar with or would that be more localized to Fort Smith and Muskogee?

Moves: [3d6] = 10; Ghost Die: [1d6] = 6

[Rex]

Mac

"Reading about Bass Reeves. Interesting individual. He certainly buried some bad people here, I think we may have a few issues at this sight."