Etta and the Mayor

[Bluehorse]

Mary Well, the mayor pretty well has the city in his pocket. People say he gets a nickel for everything that come in or goes out of the town. He has run unopposed for longer than I can remember. He has anyone remotely able to on his payroll in some way or other. I'm not saying things are necessarily bad, but as you said, he is a snake. He runs things his way and laws can change in a blink of an eye. He can ruin someone in the course of a single town meeting.

As for Belmont, I don't like speaking ill of clergymen, but he seems so... hateful towards people. Him and his watchdogs have everyone on edge. He loves to dig up dirt on folks and air it out for everyone to see right on his television show. He's all sulphur and bile. Every divorce and or time someone dares tie one on gets broadcast and shamed on his show. Most people pay him little mind, but in his own way he holds as much power over the town with his little congregation as the mayor and for the same reasons. No one knows what to do about him and fear him. I think most honest folk have little to worry about with him though.

[Pulpatoon]

Etta: "Thanks, that's very helpful. Tell me, have the Mayor and Father Belmont ever come into conflict? Hard to imagine two alpha peacocks like them living in peace."

[Bluehorse]

I dont know if there is anything they are not at odds about to be honest.

[Pulpatoon]

Etta: "Really? Belmont has never turned his muckraking against someone as mire in muck as the Mayor? Well, that seems mighty telling, doesn't it? OH! And here we are!"

Etta pushes through the front door of her daughter's flower shop and announces herself. "Daisygirl! Where are you? Come give your momma a hug! I brought a friend."

As soon as introductions are complete, Etta asks, "What's the occasion that the Mayor needs all these flowers for? Oh, and honey, you don't mind lending me your car do you? I need to drive out to see a church, this afternoon, and who knows how long it'll take my boys to buy a company vehicle?"

[Bluehorse]

Mary Oddly enough, no. But they very publicly dislike one another. Father Belmont is more the aggressor than the Mayor in this case, but somehow the Mayor is able to keep clean of it all other than what they publically call each other out on. I suppose that is just all the Father wants. Every hero needs a boogyman to point to, and both of them like pointing to each other.

DaisyConklin.JPG (25.74 KiB) Viewed 702 times

Daisy puts down a bundle of flowers and comes around to hug her mother. Sup mama? Sorry I couldn't make it, but the Mayor came and bought half of our displays for your ribbon cutting last minute. Well, his people did, but more or less the same thing.
Oh, hi. Mrs. Dunst you say? I'm Daisy. Sure you can borrow the car. What church are you heading to?

When Etta mentioned she is going to see Father Belmont, Daisy gets that look in her eye when she has something to say but is too respectful to say anything other than with her eyes. When pressed she looks at both women. He is a bad man, mama. No word of god there, just a wolf in sheeps clothing. He uses the bible like a weapon again people instead of trying to actually save them.

[Pulpatoon]

Etta: "I hear you baby, but remember, your momma hunts monsters.

She spends some time visiting, showing Mrs. Dunst around, and generally catching up. She checks her phone for messages from Julia, and then asks Daisy and Mary about the other churches in town. She plans on visiting one of the more reasonable members of the clergy to get additional information before seeing Father Belmont.

[Bluehorse]

Etta is able to find out a good deal about the area spiritually. There is a church seemingly on every other block, some as old as the town itself and others that are much newer. Large and small, ethnic and mixed. There are predominantly Christian but also several Buddhist temples, two mascs, and a synagog. Daisy also has a friend that tells her there are a smattering of pagan/Wiccan groups in town as well, though they are less official or organized.

Text from Julia
Belmont. 1pm.
Church of the Living God
1729 N 13th St,
Fort Smith, AR 72904

[Bluehorse]

Once you are ready to get on with the Belmont scene, we can jump forward if you like. I wanted to leave you some time to either drag the guy along or take care of other business before meeting him.

[Pulpatoon]

Etta picks up some lunch to bring back to the flower shop. While eating, she texts the boys: How's the car shopping going? Got any pics to send along?

Then she does a little googling on the Father.

Research: [6d6] = 26 Ghost: [1d6] = 5

Finishing up, she offers to drop Mary Dunst off wherever she needs to be, and then drives out to Father Belmont's church.

[Bluehorse]

The Firehouse
Etta & The Mayor
Aug. 9, 2018, 12:55am
Hot and Humid Outside

Will sync up the text with the other thread later when their time has caught up a little more. We are about an hour and a half difference now.

Great Roll BTW

Father Trevor Belmont is listed as being the longtime pastor of the Church of the Living God Church in Fort Smith. He was ordained back in 1911 at the age of 16 and quickly was appointed as the pastor of the small community church. He was known to have taken a very hard-nosed stance on fundamentalism in his interpretation of the bible. This sat well with many of the locals at the time since it was at the tail end of the Second Great Awakening which was a winding down in much of the rest of the country but had not quite begun to lost steam in this neck of the woods so to speak. His leadership brought high numbers as everyone came to see the young and fresh-faced preacher that spoke with such passion and offered salvation despite the scathing sermons he was already well known for.

In May 1916, he married one of the young women of the parish named Cordelia Moffet. They were happy and for all account had what seemed to be a perfect and respectable marriage. Cordelia passed away suddenly from a fever that December.

There are a few newspaper clippings on record that talk about the mourning pastor and how his church went into disarray for about a year.

There are even more about how he revived the church after that time and was strong a preacher as ever, but began to lose some followers as attendance began to drop. Currently, he is both the oldest practicing Clergyman in the state and the oldest citizen of the city. His church has had a leveling off of attendance which hovers around 30 people, most of them the great-grandchildren of his original flock.

Outside of his immediate church, most people hold him in ill favor. He runs a group out of his church called the Watch Dogs. He orders his church members to keep an eye out for those living immorally and to photograph and record them in the act so he can broadcast it on his weekly television show aired on Sunday Nights on Channel 3 @ 9pm. He names them, shares where they work, and where they live, what they have done, and when they have done it, condemning them and those that they associate with. He is said very open about what most people call blackmail, saying "They have like everyone else you see on this program given a chance to come to repent before me and the church but my pleads for their souls have fallen on deaf ears, so here it is..."

Unexpectantly, Etta finds a few connections to those that were shamed on his program to have lost jobs, had divorces (which he also condemned) and even a few suicides and disappearances. The later is odd in that some of the disappearances are even of those that have pledged themselves to the church, whether they are shamed on his program or not.

M. Dunst politely declines the offer and walks back to the firehouse to visit with Julia before leaving home in her own car.

At 12:55pm, Etta pulls up to the... church... It was not what one would have expected. Perhaps there was a front and staple at one time, but it certainly looks out of place compared to the more traditional churches she saw on the way here. This one doesn't look in any way welcoming but more like an old home that has been converted but not well taken care of. Certainly, this must be the most utilitarian facility she has seen so far in Fort Smith.

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When Etta approaches the door, there is an older man in his mid-60s that opens the door. He is white... sickly white... bald other than the salt and pepper over his ears and the back of his head. A thick mustache and sallow eyes. He is dressed in an old polo that might have been in style in the 1970s and trousers. He looks like life has not been particularly kind to him. Are you here for Father Belmont?

Brownie Point Pool
Dr. Vanette Conklin: 57/57

[Pulpatoon]

Before Etta gets out of her car, she turns on the PKE scanner, still in her pocket from this morning, and runs a quick scan. If she can leave it on in the voluminous pocket of her cardigan, she will.

She greets the man politely, "Yes sir, I am. I'm Vanette Conklin. May I have your name?"

[Bluehorse]

The PKE Meter registers very high and it is definitely coming from the church grounds. Enough so that it makes an alarm sound before Etta gets out of the car. She will have to set the sound to off if she wants to keep that a secret. There is a Class 6 reading on the meter with high readings on ecto and kinetic energy ambient in the air surrounding the church. No wonder it is giving off the creepy vibe; however, these reading are bouncing all over the place. The only thing for certain is that it is coming from the inside the church.

I am giving you a chance here before moving forward since I didn't expect a PKE reading just yet, to tell me you actions while still in the car after seeing this.

[Pulpatoon]

A cold shudder passes through Etta as she sees the PKE go off. "I-I'm going to need some back-up before I take this one on," she says to herself.

She texts Julia, "Please contact Father Belmont and explain that an emergency has come up, and that I'm afraid that I can't make our meeting. Sincerest apologies, etc. Thank you!"

She puts the car in reverse, and gets away from Belmont's church.

She returns her daughter's car, uncharacteristically avoiding chitchat, and walks back to the firehouse. She makes notes of her busy day so that she can report it all to her fellow Ghostbusters.

1. Mayor Sanders: explicitly corrupt, controlling investor in franchise.
2. Escape Plan: what to do if/when Sanders tries to shutter us.
3. Father Belmont: very very bad.

Then she texts the boys: "Soon as you fellas are done, we need to have a firehouse meeting. This town has problems. Which means we have problems. See you soon!"

While waiting for the boys, she tries to do some research on phenomena that match the intense-but-fluctuating readings she was getting.

Brownie Points: [5d6] = 13
Research: [6d6] = 23 Ghost: [1d6] = 5

I've been enjoying the pace this one-on-one thread has allowed us, and am reluctant to wrap it up, but I think it's time to sync up with the rest of the team.

[Bluehorse]

Julia text back:

Will do.  We might have hell to pay for it though.  What emergency?


Daisy knows something is up and doesn't let her mom get away so easy.  Look... I know something is going on, you got that look you get when something bad is going on and you are getting lost in your own thoughts.  I know you are not going to let it go and it is your new job etc, but keep yourself safe., okay?  You know this stuff you are into scares me.  Before she leaves Dasiy gives her a pressed Daisy for good luck.


Again, great roll.  I will share what I can, but based on your initial roll there is little in the way of direct info I can give you but I will provide further connections.


Father Belmont:

According to some publishes journal entries in a copy of early Fort Smith history.  Father Belmont's father was a traveling preacher that settled in Oklahoma as one of the first settlers  following the Land Run on what was then called Indian Territory.  He had the goal of converting the Native peoples and was only somewhat successful.  Later he would suffer from depression and come back to Fort Smith to open a small church.  


There is a newpaper article saying that in 1909 the church burned down, apparently Belmont Sr. was held responsible.  Apparently the man was prone to drinking and had set the fire while alone in the church.  One of the only things saved was an old cross from the alter that had been gifted to the church by an alderman back east.  Belmont (the current one) saved the cross and displays it prominently in his current church where it has been since it was built.  "The Rood" is even registered with the Historical Society as a town artifact.


Church of the Living God:  Built by the congregation of the Fort Smith Church of God in 1910 when the original church burned in the accident that killed the pastor.  His son would take over as leader of the congregation in his father's stead.  The church took some time to get off the ground again but after a couple of years it prospered for about a decade before attendance began to dwindle.  


Missing Persons:  It takes some digging but when Etta cross references those that have come up missing since 1920 (when records were started to keep up with these kinds of cases) almost 30% of them correspond to attendees of the Church of the Living God.  After 1953 when the television show started, the percentage suddenly jumped to about 39% when both Church Attendees and those featured on the show. 


I agree that the independent forum moves a lot faster, even though it will likely slow down starting next week when I am back in classes, but this will be something I'd like to encourage others to do so they can focus more on the kind of story arch they are interested in and have the team come together as they discover threats and hooks.  Perhaps tonight I can get the Ecto hook resolved and we can sync up the threads into a new one and move forward from there.  Truth be told, I was not expecting this one to come to light so soon, so this is pretty cool.  I think you will enjoy it.  #UltraMegaSideQuest

[Pulpatoon]

Etta's text reply to Julia: The emergency is I got the pants spooked off me.

[Bluehorse]

Unless you have other plans, continue here

viewtopic.php?f=628&t=7683&p=397486#p397486

[Bluehorse]

Etta and the Mayor


Uncover that the Mayor is up to something: +1

Uncover the investment Snafu for the Firehouse +1


+2 BPs to Etta


Thread Closed