Post by chauliodus on Oct 10, 2021 19:50:05 GMT -5
---Scene 13---
{Another rock song plays as the final chase begins.}
The monsters chase the frightened teens back and forth between the rows of corn. Shaggy and Scooby spot a small, red corn harvester and duck behind it. The scarecrow runs past it, then turns around, noticing Scooby’s tail sticking out from behind the machine. He charges toward them, scythe raised. They circle around the harvester trying to keep away from him. The scarecrow leaps over it and lands next to them, swinging his scythe. Before it connects, they duck under the harvester and come out the other side. They jump into the front seat and lock themselves in. The scarecrow jumps onto the side of the vehicle and smashes his fist through the driver’s side window, desperately trying to swipe at them. In their panic, Scooby accidently hits the lever, turning the machine on. Grain shoots out of the short unloader pipe, pelting the scarecrow in the face and blasting him off of the side. Shaggy and Scooby jump back out the other side and run back into the field as the harvester continues to charge forward into the field.
Fred and Daphne swat leaves of corn out of their way as they run through the field. They suddenly find themselves face to face with the banshee. It lets out a billowing scream, causing them to clamp their hands over their ears. They go to turn around and notice the fear gorta stepping out of the corn. It sees them and begins charging towards them. They soon find themselves trapped between the two spirits. Fred suddenly sees something over the banshee’s shoulder and nods towards it so Daphne sees it too. They tuck and roll to the side. The banshee turns around to see what they were looking at, but it is too late. The corn harvester plows straight into her and then into the fear gorta, plastering them to the front as it carries them away.
Shaggy and Scooby run back into the farmyard and duck inside the chicken coop. They shake hands, believing they’ve successfully outsmarted the monsters and escaped. Suddenly, the axe blade of a mattock strikes through the wall of the coop. With a few more strikes a large hole is opened and the scarecrow sticks his head through. Terrified, Shaggy and Scooby burst out of the chicken coop and run towards the pig pen. Needing a place to hide, they dive into the water trough and hide underwater. Not seeing them, the scarecrow runs right past them. Shaggy and Scooby rise up out of the water and take a deep breath. Roaring, the fuath explodes out of the water right next to them. It attempts to grab them but they leap into the pen just in time. They land on the backs of a couple of pigs, spooking the whole drove. The frightened pigs burst out of the pen. The scarecrow, which had just doubled back, sees Shaggy and Scooby and then stops dead in his tracks when he sees the charging pigs. Before he has a chance to flee, he is quickly trampled by the stampeding hogs and Shaggy and Scooby ride off in victory on the back of their pigs.
Velma, Des, and Wendell run straight through the farmyard, the puca following in close pursuit. They run to the grain silo and take the elevator up. They run out onto the catwalk when a grey mist swoops down, materializing into the fear liath. The large beast runs after them and they run in circles around the rim of the silo. The fear liath soon comes to realize that this wasn’t working and turns back into mist, rematerializing in front of them. They leap back to escape it but accidently tumble over the rail and into the grain. As the creature lunges to grab them, it accidently hits the grain release switch, causing the grain to start draining out. Outside, the puca is searching around the base of the silo, still trying to find them. Suddenly, the hatch opens and grain comes pouring out, burying it. Velma, Wendell, and Des slide safely down the mound of grain and run off into the farmyard.
Shaggy and Scooby run back into the stable, the scarecrow in hot pursuit. Right before he can reach them, he steps on the prongs of a rake which flings up and smacks him in the face. In fury, the scarecrow grabs the rake and snaps it in half. He looks up just in time to see Shaggy and Scooby on an old hay wagon, pulled by a pair of horses, charging back out of the stable. Not wanting to get trampled twice, he rolls out of the way at the last second. As they barrel out of the old stable, they are quickly set upon by the nuckalavee and the Dullahan which run behind their carriage, one on each side. With its freakishly long arms, the nuckalavee reaches out to grab them. It just barely misses, though the tips of its claws do rake the side of Shaggy’s shirt, ripping it. They swerve the wagon to the other side, only to have to duck under the Dullahan’s swinging broadsword. Shaggy pulls back on the reins, causing the horses to abruptly halt. The two monsters are unable to stop in time and continue forward, ultimately crashing into one another and tumbling across the yard and through a fence into the cow pastures where they find themselves greeted by an angry bull.
The Colchester sisters run through the woods, the sluagh flying behind them like a torpedo. Diane runs past, but Samantha grabs hold of a thick tree branch, pulls it back, and releases it. It smacks into the sluagh knocking it back into another tree. It shakes its head to regain its senses and continues the pursuit with renewed vigor, now even angrier than before. They find themselves down by the creek and spot an old boat house, which they duck inside to hide. They breathe a sigh of relief believing they are free of danger when the fuath leaps out of the water and lands behind them. The sisters quickly run and hide. Diane jumps into an old rowboat that has been mounted on the wall while Samantha ducks into an old barrel. Diane pops her head out to see, which the monster immediately notices. Diane ducks her head back in in fright. Just before it can reach her, Samantha pops her head out from inside the barrel, then ducks back down when she realizes she’s been spotted. The creature runs over to her position when Diane pops her head out from under the tarps of one of the boats that’s been moored on the water. When he runs over to the boat, Samantha pops out from inside an old storage trunk, then quickly pops back inside. In a rage, the fuath smashes the boats, the barrel, and the trunk. Both sisters pop out from within a coil of rope behind him and toss an old fishing net over the top of him. The fuath easily slashes through it with its claws, but by that time the girls have already fled the boathouse.
Fred, Daphne, Velma, Des, Wendell, and the Colchester sisters all run into each other in the farmyard. They find themselves surround by the ancient Celtic monsters on all sides. Just then, Shaggy and Scooby come riding through on their hay wagon. Their haphazard driving causes them to plow into the monsters like bowling pins, knocking them aside and sending them flying in every direction. They stop the wagon and everyone crouches down in the hay. As they drive out of the farmyard and towards the old barn, the scarecrow rises out from under the hay. He stands up and prepares to swing his scythe at the terrified passengers in the back. At that exact moment, they pass through the barn doors, causing him to get clotheslined on the doorframe and fall off of the wagon. They waste no time in closing the doors behind them and sliding the wooden bar in place, locking him out.
{At this point the music stops and the chase ends.}
They can hear the scarecrow pounding on the door and the monsters growling in the distance. It sounds like they are getting closer.
“That door won’t hold them for long,” Fred declares.
“The only other entrance looks like it’s been boarded up for years,” Diane reports. “We noticed it when we searched here the other night.”
“So, we’re trapped,” Des murmurs to himself.
“What are you doing here, anyways?” Velma asks.
“The same as you I suspect. I was trying to find Kimberly and Derek. The Campbells didn’t want my help, but I knew I could make a difference in this case. I had access to resources they didn’t, resources that could really help, so I decided to conduct an investigation of my own.”
“That’s how he ended up contacting me,” Wendell explains. “As the lead investigator on the case, he knew I had access to information he couldn’t get elsewhere. He decided to hire me himself so he could lend me some new equipment and keep him apprised of my progress.”
“So that’s where you’d gone when you said you were checking the records,” Samantha says, nodding her head.
“Yes ma’am. We were meeting to go over my most recent findings. Like you, I had also found the altar in the clearing and we deduced that that would be the location where Jonas would make his move.”
“That’s right,” Des continues. “I remembered what Amanda Perkins had said about the threatening call she’d received so I met with her to investigate. I checked her caller ID and found that the number used to make the call was issued to an unlicensed burner phone. The only place in town that sells those is the old general store. I called Mason Walsh and he agreed to meet with me. He gave me a copy of his sales records which showed everyone who had bought one of those phones. There were a lot of names to go through but only one of them stood out to me: Jonas Salt. Having done extensive research on the history of Fox Grove Farm, I knew his family had been on the property since the very beginning. It was the only common link uniting the centuries worth of disappearances, except for the property itself of course. So, on a hunch, I had Mr. Travers here place camera traps around his home. Tonight, it paid off. The traps clearly captured Jonas entering the building and the masked man exiting. We raced here as fast as we could.”
“And you happened to bring a fire extinguisher with you?” Diane questions. “Why? Just on the off chance there would be a fire, or do you always carry one around with you?”
“I’ll never tell.”
“Ahem,” Des coughs. “Shouldn’t we be focused on getting out of here before any of those things arrive?”
Outside, the roaring has gotten a lot louder. The creatures are right outside. The pounding on the door has intensified. It wouldn’t hold much longer.
“We know the back door is out,” Daphne says. “And we can’t go out the front with those…things out there.”
“Or can we?” Wendell asks. “We could try running them down with the wagon again.”
Velma shakes her head sadly. “That won’t work a second time. They’re too strong and fast. The only reason that worked before is because we caught them off guard.”
“Well, let’s take a look around,” Fred instructs. “There might be something in here that could help us.”
The old barn has clearly been used as an oversized storage shed. Various pieces of farming equipment and mechanical and farming tools have been scattered haphazardly about the place. Pieces of machinery have been piled high and old furniture from previous owners have been left behind to rot. Only half of the ladder to the hayloft remains, having rotted away and broken off years ago. An old combine has been raised up on a lift in the center of the barn, towards the hayloft, where it has remained abandoned since the Campbells failed to fix it. A large hole has opened in the roof on the left-hand side where a fallen tree limb had smashed through. A thick blue tarp has been tied over the hole.
“What do you think, Velma?” Fred asks, nodding towards the hole. “Could we get out that way?”
“I don’t think so. It’s too high up and there’s no place to safely climb down.”
“That’s it!” Samantha proclaims excitedly. “There’s a ladder on the outside of the barn that leads up to the hayloft window. Diane and I saw it the other night, but I forgot about it. If we can get up to that window, we can climb out and back down to the ground.”
“But the ladder to the hayloft is broken remember?” Daphne reminds them. “How are we supposed to get up there?”
“Maybe we could climb the lift,” Diane offers. “We should be able to get onto the loft from there.”
“Shhhh. Does anyone else hear that?” Des asks.
The night is silent. The pounding and growling have ceased. The only sound now is the creaking of the old wood.
“Where did they go?” Samantha asks.
“Like, the only thing scarier than creepy noises is the sudden lack of creepy noises!” Shaggy whimpers.
“Reah,” Scooby agrees.
“Maybe they gave up?” Daphne asks optimistically.
Just then, they hear a sudden ripping sound from above them. They look up to see the blade of a sickle slicing through the tarp. The scarecrow leaps down through the hole and onto the loft, then jumps down again to the ground and strides towards them. As he walks past the lift, he drags his sickle across it, producing a menacing scraping noise and sending sparks shooting outwards. Everyone backs up in fear. Suddenly, the barn doors explode into splinters as the ancient Celtic monsters pour through. The fear liath lunges toward the group, and Diane pulls out a pocketful of salt. She throws it at the monster, which recoils and howls in pain. The fuath comes up behind her and swats her to the floor. As it’s about to finish her off with its razor-sharp claws, Wendell sprays it in the face with the fire extinguisher. The sluagh suddenly passes through him and grabs the fire extinguisher, snapping it in half and sending foam everywhere. The puca lunges at the gang but slips on some of the newly dumped foam and crashes into a pile of old junk. The nuckalavee charges at Shaggy and Scooby, who scramble up the lift and duck inside the combine.
“He’ll never get us in here, Scoob!”
Suddenly, bark-covered tendrils explode through the windshield. At the base of the lift, the Scarecrow stands waiting as the tendrils sprout from his back. One wraps itself around Shaggy’s ankle. Another wraps around Scooby’s waist. The tendrils try to drag Shaggy and Scooby out of the vehicle.
Out of nowhere, the combine springs to life. The header begins to spin. Slowly, the old machine begins to roll forward. As it begins to roll off the edge, the Scarecrow looks up in fear at the spinning blades above its head. The scarecrow explodes in a burst of straw as the combine comes crashing down on top of him.
The combine drives forward a few feet, then slowly comes to a stop. Everyone in the room freezes and stares at the vehicle. Suddenly, dozens of ghosts come flying out of it. The gang recognizes them as all of the previous ghosts they had seen before. More and more ghosts come flying out of the combine, swooping around the room, shrieking angrily. The monsters suddenly find themselves being corralled into a tight group. The ghosts fly faster and faster around them, forming a tornado of misty white around the creatures. The spectral storm grows in size and strength until suddenly, it dissolves into white mist and vanishes. When the mist clears, there is no sign of the ghosts or the monsters.
Shaggy and Scooby climb out of the combine and look around. “Like, do you think they’re gone?” Shaggy whispers, laughing nervously.
“We’re still here,” the ghost girl says from behind them.
“Yow!” they yowl, Scooby jumping into Shaggy’s arms.
Many of the ghosts that they’d encountered reappear in the barn. None of the spirits look angry or aggressive, instead appearing more exhausted and forlorn.
“Please don’t be scared,” the ghost girl continues. “We need your help. When the Horned God drained our souls, our spirits were trapped here. We can’t leave unless the Horned God is finally exorcised from this property. We are not strong enough to confront him ourselves, but you may yet find a way.”
With that, the ghosts fade away and vanish.
“No. No way. Scoob and I aren’t staying another minute in this horrible place. We’re leaving. Like, meet us in St. Louis!”
“We can’t leave now Shaggy,” Daphne says. “You heard them. They can’t leave unless we help them.”
“They’re ghosts! They’ve got bigger problems, man!”
“Daphne’s right,” Fred agrees. “We still have to rescue Kimberly and Derek. But I have no idea how we’re supposed to get past that…thing!”
“It’s a minor demon,” Diane explains. “They’re nasty pieces of work, but usually manageable. This one, however, is more powerful than any I’ve ever seen before.”
“It’s no wonder,” Samantha adds. “He’s come up with a real Jim-dandy of a scam. Posing as various old-world gods around the world and convincing worshippers to offer him souls in exchange for magical favors. They’ve been serving him up a buffet for centuries! At this point he’s got to be at least as powerful as the beings he pretends to be. But for all that strength, he’s still a minor demon. That means he still has the same old weakness that they all have: his anchor.”
“What’s an anchor?” Fred asks.
“It’s a magical object that allows them to exist in this world,” Diane answers. “Demons aren’t really attuned to our world and minor demons aren’t strong enough to withstand the difference. They need some kind of anchor to keep themselves here or they come undone. Destroy the anchor and the demon will be forced to flee back to whatever nightmare world it came from.”
“So, all we have to do is smash this anchor and the demon goes away?” Daphne asks.
“Temporarily, yes,” Samantha answers. “But the demon could always come back with a new anchor. From the sounds of it, he’s pulled off this scam in multiple forms. There’s no telling how many anchors he already has in our world. He could easily come back any time he wants to and you can bet he’ll be back with a vengeance.”
“So how do we stop him?” Velma inquires.
“Actually, it shouldn’t be that difficult,” Samantha responds. “He didn’t know it, but Jonas already did most of the work. He used a very ancient summoning circle to bring the demon into this world, but that particular form of summoning circle look very similar to the most powerful form of binding circles. All we would need to do is make a few quick alterations and we could convert it into a binding circle. He’d be trapped inside for as long as the circle stands. The one we set up earlier isn’t strong enough to hold a demon that powerful, but this new circle should do the trick.”
“I get it,” Velma says. “He can’t survive in our world without the anchor, which is why he’d flee back to his world if it was broken. But if he’s bound inside the circle when the anchor is destroyed…”
“Then boom! No more demon!” Fred continues excitedly. “This plan might actually work.”
“I doubt it will be that easy,” Des says. “There’s no way he’s just going to stand by and let us make this binding circle. We’ll need a distraction to keep him occupied while we make the necessary alterations.”
“We also need to find whatever this anchor is,” Wendell adds.
“It should be an old artifact, likely handcrafted,” Samantha explains. “He’s been visiting this property for centuries, so it would have to be something that dates back to the colonial era at least.”
“The idol!” Velma thinks aloud. “It’s been used to summon and pray to him from the very beginning.”
“That sounds right,” Diane agrees. “But it won’t be easy to destroy. That statue is solid gold and gold doesn’t break without tremendous force or melt without incredible heat. We’ll need to use his own powers against him and trick him into destroying it for us.”
“Sounds like we’ve got a plan,” Fred says. “The first thing we’re going to need is—”
“Like, we know, we know,” Shaggy says, holding up his hand. “Don’t say it…”
“Rive bait,” Scooby says, dipping his head sadly.
---------------------------------------------------
We've almost made it to the end! Tomorrow: the grand finale!
{Another rock song plays as the final chase begins.}
The monsters chase the frightened teens back and forth between the rows of corn. Shaggy and Scooby spot a small, red corn harvester and duck behind it. The scarecrow runs past it, then turns around, noticing Scooby’s tail sticking out from behind the machine. He charges toward them, scythe raised. They circle around the harvester trying to keep away from him. The scarecrow leaps over it and lands next to them, swinging his scythe. Before it connects, they duck under the harvester and come out the other side. They jump into the front seat and lock themselves in. The scarecrow jumps onto the side of the vehicle and smashes his fist through the driver’s side window, desperately trying to swipe at them. In their panic, Scooby accidently hits the lever, turning the machine on. Grain shoots out of the short unloader pipe, pelting the scarecrow in the face and blasting him off of the side. Shaggy and Scooby jump back out the other side and run back into the field as the harvester continues to charge forward into the field.
Fred and Daphne swat leaves of corn out of their way as they run through the field. They suddenly find themselves face to face with the banshee. It lets out a billowing scream, causing them to clamp their hands over their ears. They go to turn around and notice the fear gorta stepping out of the corn. It sees them and begins charging towards them. They soon find themselves trapped between the two spirits. Fred suddenly sees something over the banshee’s shoulder and nods towards it so Daphne sees it too. They tuck and roll to the side. The banshee turns around to see what they were looking at, but it is too late. The corn harvester plows straight into her and then into the fear gorta, plastering them to the front as it carries them away.
Shaggy and Scooby run back into the farmyard and duck inside the chicken coop. They shake hands, believing they’ve successfully outsmarted the monsters and escaped. Suddenly, the axe blade of a mattock strikes through the wall of the coop. With a few more strikes a large hole is opened and the scarecrow sticks his head through. Terrified, Shaggy and Scooby burst out of the chicken coop and run towards the pig pen. Needing a place to hide, they dive into the water trough and hide underwater. Not seeing them, the scarecrow runs right past them. Shaggy and Scooby rise up out of the water and take a deep breath. Roaring, the fuath explodes out of the water right next to them. It attempts to grab them but they leap into the pen just in time. They land on the backs of a couple of pigs, spooking the whole drove. The frightened pigs burst out of the pen. The scarecrow, which had just doubled back, sees Shaggy and Scooby and then stops dead in his tracks when he sees the charging pigs. Before he has a chance to flee, he is quickly trampled by the stampeding hogs and Shaggy and Scooby ride off in victory on the back of their pigs.
Velma, Des, and Wendell run straight through the farmyard, the puca following in close pursuit. They run to the grain silo and take the elevator up. They run out onto the catwalk when a grey mist swoops down, materializing into the fear liath. The large beast runs after them and they run in circles around the rim of the silo. The fear liath soon comes to realize that this wasn’t working and turns back into mist, rematerializing in front of them. They leap back to escape it but accidently tumble over the rail and into the grain. As the creature lunges to grab them, it accidently hits the grain release switch, causing the grain to start draining out. Outside, the puca is searching around the base of the silo, still trying to find them. Suddenly, the hatch opens and grain comes pouring out, burying it. Velma, Wendell, and Des slide safely down the mound of grain and run off into the farmyard.
Shaggy and Scooby run back into the stable, the scarecrow in hot pursuit. Right before he can reach them, he steps on the prongs of a rake which flings up and smacks him in the face. In fury, the scarecrow grabs the rake and snaps it in half. He looks up just in time to see Shaggy and Scooby on an old hay wagon, pulled by a pair of horses, charging back out of the stable. Not wanting to get trampled twice, he rolls out of the way at the last second. As they barrel out of the old stable, they are quickly set upon by the nuckalavee and the Dullahan which run behind their carriage, one on each side. With its freakishly long arms, the nuckalavee reaches out to grab them. It just barely misses, though the tips of its claws do rake the side of Shaggy’s shirt, ripping it. They swerve the wagon to the other side, only to have to duck under the Dullahan’s swinging broadsword. Shaggy pulls back on the reins, causing the horses to abruptly halt. The two monsters are unable to stop in time and continue forward, ultimately crashing into one another and tumbling across the yard and through a fence into the cow pastures where they find themselves greeted by an angry bull.
The Colchester sisters run through the woods, the sluagh flying behind them like a torpedo. Diane runs past, but Samantha grabs hold of a thick tree branch, pulls it back, and releases it. It smacks into the sluagh knocking it back into another tree. It shakes its head to regain its senses and continues the pursuit with renewed vigor, now even angrier than before. They find themselves down by the creek and spot an old boat house, which they duck inside to hide. They breathe a sigh of relief believing they are free of danger when the fuath leaps out of the water and lands behind them. The sisters quickly run and hide. Diane jumps into an old rowboat that has been mounted on the wall while Samantha ducks into an old barrel. Diane pops her head out to see, which the monster immediately notices. Diane ducks her head back in in fright. Just before it can reach her, Samantha pops her head out from inside the barrel, then ducks back down when she realizes she’s been spotted. The creature runs over to her position when Diane pops her head out from under the tarps of one of the boats that’s been moored on the water. When he runs over to the boat, Samantha pops out from inside an old storage trunk, then quickly pops back inside. In a rage, the fuath smashes the boats, the barrel, and the trunk. Both sisters pop out from within a coil of rope behind him and toss an old fishing net over the top of him. The fuath easily slashes through it with its claws, but by that time the girls have already fled the boathouse.
Fred, Daphne, Velma, Des, Wendell, and the Colchester sisters all run into each other in the farmyard. They find themselves surround by the ancient Celtic monsters on all sides. Just then, Shaggy and Scooby come riding through on their hay wagon. Their haphazard driving causes them to plow into the monsters like bowling pins, knocking them aside and sending them flying in every direction. They stop the wagon and everyone crouches down in the hay. As they drive out of the farmyard and towards the old barn, the scarecrow rises out from under the hay. He stands up and prepares to swing his scythe at the terrified passengers in the back. At that exact moment, they pass through the barn doors, causing him to get clotheslined on the doorframe and fall off of the wagon. They waste no time in closing the doors behind them and sliding the wooden bar in place, locking him out.
{At this point the music stops and the chase ends.}
They can hear the scarecrow pounding on the door and the monsters growling in the distance. It sounds like they are getting closer.
“That door won’t hold them for long,” Fred declares.
“The only other entrance looks like it’s been boarded up for years,” Diane reports. “We noticed it when we searched here the other night.”
“So, we’re trapped,” Des murmurs to himself.
“What are you doing here, anyways?” Velma asks.
“The same as you I suspect. I was trying to find Kimberly and Derek. The Campbells didn’t want my help, but I knew I could make a difference in this case. I had access to resources they didn’t, resources that could really help, so I decided to conduct an investigation of my own.”
“That’s how he ended up contacting me,” Wendell explains. “As the lead investigator on the case, he knew I had access to information he couldn’t get elsewhere. He decided to hire me himself so he could lend me some new equipment and keep him apprised of my progress.”
“So that’s where you’d gone when you said you were checking the records,” Samantha says, nodding her head.
“Yes ma’am. We were meeting to go over my most recent findings. Like you, I had also found the altar in the clearing and we deduced that that would be the location where Jonas would make his move.”
“That’s right,” Des continues. “I remembered what Amanda Perkins had said about the threatening call she’d received so I met with her to investigate. I checked her caller ID and found that the number used to make the call was issued to an unlicensed burner phone. The only place in town that sells those is the old general store. I called Mason Walsh and he agreed to meet with me. He gave me a copy of his sales records which showed everyone who had bought one of those phones. There were a lot of names to go through but only one of them stood out to me: Jonas Salt. Having done extensive research on the history of Fox Grove Farm, I knew his family had been on the property since the very beginning. It was the only common link uniting the centuries worth of disappearances, except for the property itself of course. So, on a hunch, I had Mr. Travers here place camera traps around his home. Tonight, it paid off. The traps clearly captured Jonas entering the building and the masked man exiting. We raced here as fast as we could.”
“And you happened to bring a fire extinguisher with you?” Diane questions. “Why? Just on the off chance there would be a fire, or do you always carry one around with you?”
“I’ll never tell.”
“Ahem,” Des coughs. “Shouldn’t we be focused on getting out of here before any of those things arrive?”
Outside, the roaring has gotten a lot louder. The creatures are right outside. The pounding on the door has intensified. It wouldn’t hold much longer.
“We know the back door is out,” Daphne says. “And we can’t go out the front with those…things out there.”
“Or can we?” Wendell asks. “We could try running them down with the wagon again.”
Velma shakes her head sadly. “That won’t work a second time. They’re too strong and fast. The only reason that worked before is because we caught them off guard.”
“Well, let’s take a look around,” Fred instructs. “There might be something in here that could help us.”
The old barn has clearly been used as an oversized storage shed. Various pieces of farming equipment and mechanical and farming tools have been scattered haphazardly about the place. Pieces of machinery have been piled high and old furniture from previous owners have been left behind to rot. Only half of the ladder to the hayloft remains, having rotted away and broken off years ago. An old combine has been raised up on a lift in the center of the barn, towards the hayloft, where it has remained abandoned since the Campbells failed to fix it. A large hole has opened in the roof on the left-hand side where a fallen tree limb had smashed through. A thick blue tarp has been tied over the hole.
“What do you think, Velma?” Fred asks, nodding towards the hole. “Could we get out that way?”
“I don’t think so. It’s too high up and there’s no place to safely climb down.”
“That’s it!” Samantha proclaims excitedly. “There’s a ladder on the outside of the barn that leads up to the hayloft window. Diane and I saw it the other night, but I forgot about it. If we can get up to that window, we can climb out and back down to the ground.”
“But the ladder to the hayloft is broken remember?” Daphne reminds them. “How are we supposed to get up there?”
“Maybe we could climb the lift,” Diane offers. “We should be able to get onto the loft from there.”
“Shhhh. Does anyone else hear that?” Des asks.
The night is silent. The pounding and growling have ceased. The only sound now is the creaking of the old wood.
“Where did they go?” Samantha asks.
“Like, the only thing scarier than creepy noises is the sudden lack of creepy noises!” Shaggy whimpers.
“Reah,” Scooby agrees.
“Maybe they gave up?” Daphne asks optimistically.
Just then, they hear a sudden ripping sound from above them. They look up to see the blade of a sickle slicing through the tarp. The scarecrow leaps down through the hole and onto the loft, then jumps down again to the ground and strides towards them. As he walks past the lift, he drags his sickle across it, producing a menacing scraping noise and sending sparks shooting outwards. Everyone backs up in fear. Suddenly, the barn doors explode into splinters as the ancient Celtic monsters pour through. The fear liath lunges toward the group, and Diane pulls out a pocketful of salt. She throws it at the monster, which recoils and howls in pain. The fuath comes up behind her and swats her to the floor. As it’s about to finish her off with its razor-sharp claws, Wendell sprays it in the face with the fire extinguisher. The sluagh suddenly passes through him and grabs the fire extinguisher, snapping it in half and sending foam everywhere. The puca lunges at the gang but slips on some of the newly dumped foam and crashes into a pile of old junk. The nuckalavee charges at Shaggy and Scooby, who scramble up the lift and duck inside the combine.
“He’ll never get us in here, Scoob!”
Suddenly, bark-covered tendrils explode through the windshield. At the base of the lift, the Scarecrow stands waiting as the tendrils sprout from his back. One wraps itself around Shaggy’s ankle. Another wraps around Scooby’s waist. The tendrils try to drag Shaggy and Scooby out of the vehicle.
Out of nowhere, the combine springs to life. The header begins to spin. Slowly, the old machine begins to roll forward. As it begins to roll off the edge, the Scarecrow looks up in fear at the spinning blades above its head. The scarecrow explodes in a burst of straw as the combine comes crashing down on top of him.
The combine drives forward a few feet, then slowly comes to a stop. Everyone in the room freezes and stares at the vehicle. Suddenly, dozens of ghosts come flying out of it. The gang recognizes them as all of the previous ghosts they had seen before. More and more ghosts come flying out of the combine, swooping around the room, shrieking angrily. The monsters suddenly find themselves being corralled into a tight group. The ghosts fly faster and faster around them, forming a tornado of misty white around the creatures. The spectral storm grows in size and strength until suddenly, it dissolves into white mist and vanishes. When the mist clears, there is no sign of the ghosts or the monsters.
Shaggy and Scooby climb out of the combine and look around. “Like, do you think they’re gone?” Shaggy whispers, laughing nervously.
“We’re still here,” the ghost girl says from behind them.
“Yow!” they yowl, Scooby jumping into Shaggy’s arms.
Many of the ghosts that they’d encountered reappear in the barn. None of the spirits look angry or aggressive, instead appearing more exhausted and forlorn.
“Please don’t be scared,” the ghost girl continues. “We need your help. When the Horned God drained our souls, our spirits were trapped here. We can’t leave unless the Horned God is finally exorcised from this property. We are not strong enough to confront him ourselves, but you may yet find a way.”
With that, the ghosts fade away and vanish.
“No. No way. Scoob and I aren’t staying another minute in this horrible place. We’re leaving. Like, meet us in St. Louis!”
“We can’t leave now Shaggy,” Daphne says. “You heard them. They can’t leave unless we help them.”
“They’re ghosts! They’ve got bigger problems, man!”
“Daphne’s right,” Fred agrees. “We still have to rescue Kimberly and Derek. But I have no idea how we’re supposed to get past that…thing!”
“It’s a minor demon,” Diane explains. “They’re nasty pieces of work, but usually manageable. This one, however, is more powerful than any I’ve ever seen before.”
“It’s no wonder,” Samantha adds. “He’s come up with a real Jim-dandy of a scam. Posing as various old-world gods around the world and convincing worshippers to offer him souls in exchange for magical favors. They’ve been serving him up a buffet for centuries! At this point he’s got to be at least as powerful as the beings he pretends to be. But for all that strength, he’s still a minor demon. That means he still has the same old weakness that they all have: his anchor.”
“What’s an anchor?” Fred asks.
“It’s a magical object that allows them to exist in this world,” Diane answers. “Demons aren’t really attuned to our world and minor demons aren’t strong enough to withstand the difference. They need some kind of anchor to keep themselves here or they come undone. Destroy the anchor and the demon will be forced to flee back to whatever nightmare world it came from.”
“So, all we have to do is smash this anchor and the demon goes away?” Daphne asks.
“Temporarily, yes,” Samantha answers. “But the demon could always come back with a new anchor. From the sounds of it, he’s pulled off this scam in multiple forms. There’s no telling how many anchors he already has in our world. He could easily come back any time he wants to and you can bet he’ll be back with a vengeance.”
“So how do we stop him?” Velma inquires.
“Actually, it shouldn’t be that difficult,” Samantha responds. “He didn’t know it, but Jonas already did most of the work. He used a very ancient summoning circle to bring the demon into this world, but that particular form of summoning circle look very similar to the most powerful form of binding circles. All we would need to do is make a few quick alterations and we could convert it into a binding circle. He’d be trapped inside for as long as the circle stands. The one we set up earlier isn’t strong enough to hold a demon that powerful, but this new circle should do the trick.”
“I get it,” Velma says. “He can’t survive in our world without the anchor, which is why he’d flee back to his world if it was broken. But if he’s bound inside the circle when the anchor is destroyed…”
“Then boom! No more demon!” Fred continues excitedly. “This plan might actually work.”
“I doubt it will be that easy,” Des says. “There’s no way he’s just going to stand by and let us make this binding circle. We’ll need a distraction to keep him occupied while we make the necessary alterations.”
“We also need to find whatever this anchor is,” Wendell adds.
“It should be an old artifact, likely handcrafted,” Samantha explains. “He’s been visiting this property for centuries, so it would have to be something that dates back to the colonial era at least.”
“The idol!” Velma thinks aloud. “It’s been used to summon and pray to him from the very beginning.”
“That sounds right,” Diane agrees. “But it won’t be easy to destroy. That statue is solid gold and gold doesn’t break without tremendous force or melt without incredible heat. We’ll need to use his own powers against him and trick him into destroying it for us.”
“Sounds like we’ve got a plan,” Fred says. “The first thing we’re going to need is—”
“Like, we know, we know,” Shaggy says, holding up his hand. “Don’t say it…”
“Rive bait,” Scooby says, dipping his head sadly.
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We've almost made it to the end! Tomorrow: the grand finale!