Anyone who's ever toured knows about getting lost. Numbskull stoner navigating? Satellite tracking? Doesn't matter. It happens to everyone once. It happened to us on a stormy night. We only had the numbskull, of course. We end up in Gold City and crashing with these dudes Big Ben and Hank.
Outsiders don't understand us. Small talk is bullshit. They prattle on while I steal a piece of cheese from a mouse trap.
This old west-style tourist attraction became a real-life ghost town when some goon called Miner '49 started scaring everyone away. Spooky stories and howling are enough to frighten most people, but we aren't most people. That night Velma taught me something I will never forget. We were hanging out in the parking lot and I was complaining about the lack of people here. She totally laid into me. One rolled up newspaper over the head and I worked my ass off the rest of the night.
We don't have anything to do other than sit around, so Fred leads us in an exploration expedition. I stumbled upon a map of the ghost town, not really sure where it leads or what it marks. There's a safe combination in the corner of it, and there was a huge safe at Big Ben's place, so we decide to follow where the clues take us.
Inside the safe was a secret elevator. I didn't want to go anywhere near that rickety old thing, but the temptation of Scooby Snacks was too much. All I see is run-down places, masks, and food. It's getting to the point where whenever I hear a ghost moaning, I start to salivate. Now that's damage.
The elevator takes us down into an old mine shaft. We continue to look for clues while Shaggy fools around with dynamite. The Miner shows up in various places - a fake mirror, a closet, amongst the mine tracks. Scaring the shit out of us and never leaving us alone. Getting in my face as much as he wants. People seem to think that since you bought a ticket to their haunted house, they own you.
After Shaggy and I get fucked up in a mine cart chase, we find oil. Not gold or whatever you would expect.
Fred hatches a plan to trap the Miner. I put a headlight on a mine cart while Shaggy makes train noises. The Miner was terrified of our little trick, and ran himself right into a trap. After some de-masking and de-stilting, we find out the Miner was really Hank (one of two guys that were in the town). Huh. He wanted the whole place to fail, go bankrupt, and then be sold on the cheap, so he could rake in the profits of owning an oil property.
There might have been more details, but I was too busy stealing apples to listen in. All these other people talking and I couldn't relate. I feel at ease with alienation. I have allies - HUNGER and INSTINCT. With these by my side, everything else can fade away.
