We are at the base. Necros feels a psychic “tugging” to the north. We gear up and take the OctoPod north. We arrive at Reedsburg, an unincorporated town. There is a closed general store, a diner, and a municipal building. Up the hill there is a very old church.

Nitro sees someone vaguely familiar. Octo knows him — he is a mystery man from Carbon City. His name is The Occultist. He has spats, an Inverness cape, and a black top had with a blue band. He asks for some help with a presence in the church, and it may also help with Necros’ issues. He does not elaborate.

In the church there is a circle of candles and an altar. The Scarlet Scourge is inside the circle, unconscious. He is known as the “tool of God’s wrath on Earth” and is red as his name suggests. The candle flames have a strange smell to them, and The Occultist tells us that they are warding candles.

The Occultist says that there is a demon that has been alive for many years, recently referred to as the Black Coachman. He can be summoned and when he is, he takes thirteen souls. Cyrus Sharp, a convicted murderer, is trying to take out the jury that convicted him using the Coachman. The jurors are already dead, but the Scarlet Scourge’s alter ego is a man named James Rand, an investigative reporter who brought evidence against Cyrus. The murderer tried to kill James but The Occultist saved him. He is expending his life energy to keep James alive so he needs our help to stop Cyrus and the Coachman.

Necros fills us in on his backstory. His mask is stuck on. He is thousands of years old. He was in the service of an army long ago and was captured by natives, tortured and starved. But he did not die. This made the tribesmen fearful. They bolted a mask on his face, trapping him in darkness. He has dark powers but he doesn’t know where they came from. He needs to drink blood to survive. The Occultist says that a good deed may loosen one of the bolts on his mask.

The Occultist says that Nitro’s weapon will injure the Coachman but only he himself can banish him. We must use a binding stone to stop it, and then bring it to the Occultist for him to deal with.

The Coachman will come at 12:13 am, so we have about an hour. The Coachman must stay within 13 miles of the person who summoned him.