Paranormal Files: The Tall Man

**Paranormal Files: The Tall Man** is the second installment in the *Paranormal Files* series by Elephant Games.

## Plot

As the game begins, a group of college students are in a cabin in the forest, playing spin the bottle. Two of them, Elliot and Tina, go into a closet, but when the door opens, it reveals Elliot taking a cell phone picture of Tina's face as she closes her eyes and waits for the kiss. A few of the others in the group also take pictures, humiliating Tina, who runs out the door. One of the other girls yells at Elliot for his behavior, but the damage has been done. Tina is just another lost soul who has disappeared into the Forest of the Missing.

A year later, Rick Rogers is watching the news and sees a bulletin about how it's been a year since Tina Wise vanished. Shortly afterward, he gets a call from Nicky Summers, who was Tina's only real friend in the group. She's been searching for her friend all along, with no luck, and is now getting messages saying that anyone who returns to the cabin will suffer the same fate. The others have already gone to the cabin, which belongs to Elliot's parents, and are expecting her to join them; Elliot is even holding a necklace of hers, which had been a gift from Tina, as collateral to ensure that she comes. She wants Rick to go with her and protect her friends, and perhaps even resolve the mystery of Tina's disappearance.

At the cabin, Nicky waits outside while Rick searches the cabin. He retrieves her necklace, and finds a video of Nicky's friends Elliot, Terry, and Eliza, telling her they've already gone into the woods. Rick prepares to follow, using a map that he downloads onto his phone; the plan is for Nicky to remain behind. But before Rick can start his search, a white apparition materializes before them and frightens Nicky into running straight into the woods. As he gives chase, the "ghost" manages to wreck a bridge crossing into the swampy part of the woods. He repairs the bridge and continues tracking his quarry, arriving just in time to see the figure tumble into a pit. He quickly realizes that he's looking at a mortal human girl, not a ghost, and sets about finding equipment to help her get out of the pit. As he assembles spikes and a rope ladder, he finds notes and belongings left behind by other victims who have disappeared.

Helping the girl out of the pit, Rick learns that she's Jessie Rise, Tina's sister, and she wanted revenge on the ones who made Tina disappear. He explains that he's trying to help Nicky, and Jessie says that Nicky was the only one of the group who had helped search for Tina; she had sent the threatening notes hoping that Nicky would stay away while she frightened the others. Rick agrees to do what he can to find Tina, but before either of them can do anything else, a strange figure coalesces into being amid black smoke. This one really is some kind of spirit, and it prepares to attack the two of them. Before it can harm them, though, Nicky bursts onto the scene riding a four-wheeler, and shines the headlights directly onto the figure; it can't bear light and escapes. Rick tells the two girls to get on the bike and ride to safety, and he'll do what he can to find the others.

Deep within the forest is an abandoned mining town. Rick explores the run-down buildings and begins figuring out what happened; something began terrorizing the people, causing townsfolk to disappear and livestock to wither and die, and they decided to abandon the settlement despite the protests of the owner, Stephen Colt. Outside of the old chapel, Rick discovers the ghost of a miner, Bob Johnson, who is delighted to speak with someone who can actually see him. He explains that the settlement, which had stood on the spot roughly 300 years earlier, was a coal mining patch town. While digging in the mines, Bob's team had found what they thought was a strange statue. But instead, it turned out to be a sealed evil spirit, and they accidentally unleashed it. Bob alone had escaped the initial onslaught, as he'd been trying to tell his friends not to go near the figure, and he could hear their death screams from beyond a collapsed wall. He says that if Rick can destroy the spirit, known as the Tall Man, maybe Bob can rest in peace instead of being held back by his guilt over his friends' deaths.

Inside the chapel, Rick finds Eliza, who has accidentally locked herself in a storage room. After he unlocks the door for her, she says that the Tall Man captured her, Terry, and Elliot; she had managed to escape, but Terry, whose leg was injured, insisted she leave him behind so he wouldn't slow her down. She doesn't know where Elliot is. The Tall Man nearly got her again, but she insists that Tina's ghost helped her get away. Rick searches the chapel and manages to hoist the fallen bell off of the floor, revealing Tina's body. The discovery summons Tina, who is now a banshee, and she explains that she remains bound to the mortal plane by her guilt over an argument with her sister. She had wanted to borrow some earrings from Jessie for the party, Jessie had refused, and they had parted on bad terms. She tells him that ever since her death, she has haunted the forest and done her best to scare people away before the Tall Man could kill them, as he feeds off of life energy. She asks him to save the two boys, and to tell her sister that she's sorry. Elsewhere in the chapel, Rick finds Tina's diary, which has details about the argument and also talks about how Tina harbored a deep crush on Elliot.

Rick manages to repair a mine car and uses it to get to the mine, so he can see where it all began. After driving off a small pack of wolves near the mine entrance, he eventually finds more evidence about the situation. Sometime in the past, the Tall Man had been worshiped by people who performed sacrifices to keep him appeased. When the worshipers died out, the Tall Man became a statue-like figure, and remained in stasis until the miners disturbed his tomb; he has been terrorizing the forest ever since, and killing anyone who gets lost there. He finds Terry, who describes his capture by the Tall Man and how he had urged Eliza to escape without him, but says that he's not sure where Elliot is. The Tall Man can't abide light, so he gives Rick a broken flashlight to fix, and after opening a magically sealed door, Rick uses the repaired flashlight to drive away the evil which emanates from within the final chamber.

Elliot is in this room, which is where the miners had found the Tall Man. It's nearly dawn, and the Tall Man will be returning any second to stay in his tomb until night falls again. Rick acquires some dynamite and gives Elliot a lighter; if they can blow up a thin wall, the rising sun will destroy the Tall Man. Before Elliot can light the dynamite fuse, the Tall Man returns and battles with Rick, who defeats him long enough for the dynamite to be lit and blow up. The daylight incinerates the evil spirit, and the scene returns to Elliot's cabin, where law enforcement officials are interviewing the group about their experiences. As Nicky and Jessie console each other on the steps of the cabin, Tina's spirit appears once more and slips the borrowed earrings into Jessie's pocket. She glances at Rick and smiles before departing into the afterlife.

### Bonus Chapter

A few weeks after the conclusion of the Tall Man case, Rick is troubled to see that more people have disappeared in the Forest of the Missing. He wonders if the Tall Man has somehow resurrected himself and decides he'd better check it out. A reporter named Mika and her camera operator Dean have disappeared, so Rick heads for their campsite. They had pitched their tent near the entrance to the old mining settlement.

While searching for clues, Rick meets the local sheriff, Samuel Carter. Samuel isn't too impressed with Rick's credentials but agrees to let him investigate; however, if he doesn't actually find anything, he warns him that he'll arrest him for disturbing a crime scene. Fortunately, Rick soon turns up clues - a recording and a note, both by Mika, about how Dean was killed by a strange figure who seemed to be stalking them. He sacrificed himself to give her the chance to escape, but she's fairly certain it's only a matter of time before the maniac captures her too. Samuel's more willing to listen to Rick after this discovery, and they join forces to solve the mystery. They reach the old railroad tracks, where Samuel finds himself wrestling with the maniacal ghost; Rick shoots Samuel's opponent with a tranquilizer gun he found, and it's enough to drive the being away, though the tranquilizer clearly has no effect. They are definitely dealing with something paranormal.

Delving further into the old settlement, they find the abandoned mansion which had belonged to the mine owner, Stephen Colt. Inside the entrance hall is a large mural of the Tall Man and some of his sycophants; Rick can hear Mika calling for help from a lower level. He breaks into the mansion's underbelly and frees her from a prison cell, telling her to escape while he deals with the maniac once and for all. Rick finds an old diary and realizes that the maniac is Stephen Colt; after his miners all fled, he had gone down into the mine to find out what exactly had scared them so much. The Tall Man promised him wealth and fortune in exchange for his help in finding victims, and now - centuries later - he desires only blood.

Rick joins Samuel in the yard, where they find a large statue of the Tall Man, and engineer a massive light trap before summoning Colt with a flare gun. While Colt fights with Rick, Samuel uses the light trap to destroy their adversary much the way the Tall Man was destroyed. Samuel congratulates Rick on his excellent work and promises to make sure Mika gets home safely. He then admits that he can see the appeal of what Rick does and asks if he has any job openings; Rick invites him to send him a resume. They shake hands and Rick heads home, relieved that he can officially declare the Tall Man case to be completely closed.

## Characters

* Rick Rogers: The player character, a paranormal investigator.
* Tina Rise: A girl who ran from her friends in embarrassment and wound up dead. She has haunted the forest where she died ever since.
* Nicky Summers: Tina's friend from college, who misses her friend and wants to know what happened to her.
* Elliot, Terry, and Eliza: Nicky's other friends, who weren't as nice to Tina. Tina had a crush on Elliot and he used that fact to engineer an embarrassing situation for her.
* Jessie Wise: Tina's sister, who wants revenge for her sister's fate.
* The Tall Man: A monstrous ancient being which feeds on human life energy.
* Bob Johnson: The ghost of a miner, who is able to shed light on the Tall Man's origin.
* Samuel Carter: In the bonus chapter, the local sheriff. He works with Rick to resolve a reporter's disappearance.
* Mika: A missing reporter in the bonus chapter, whose disappearance suggests the return of the Tall Man.
* Dean: Mika's friend and cameraman in the bonus chapter, who sacrifices himself to protect her.
* Stephen Colt: In life he owned the mining settlement that was abandoned after the Tall Man awoke. He listened to the Tall Man's promises of wealth and power, and in death he's a bloodthirsty killer who continues to search for victims for his master even though his master was vanquished.

## Connections

* Rick's opening narration mentions a bit about his experiences during *Fellow Traveler*.

## External Links

* *Paranormal Files: The Tall Man* at Big Fish Games
* *Paranormal Files* at TV Tropes
* Elephant Games on Facebook