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Shadow poncho

The shadow poncho is a nearly weightless, dark, see-through garment of surprising strength that the team took from a stranger they captured in the woods after the Radford church fire.
Type Item (cloak; apparently alien technology)
Aliases cloak; "the shadow of a poncho"
Holder Kurt Larson
First appearance Radford Horror 08

Description

The garment covers the area a poncho would cover, but instead of fabric there is only darkness: Andre described it as "the shadow of a poncho." Seen through, things look darker, and it can barely be felt when touched. The material is "profoundly strange." It packs down to almost nothing, like wadding up tissue paper (Radford Horror 08).

Properties

Kurt tested it after the team returned to the church. It is very light and whispery like spider web, yet on a Sharp roll (9) Andre ruled that it was extremely strong: it would not break however hard he pulled, and hooked over a tree limb it held his entire weight. Kurt's best guess was armor, possibly synthetic spider silk, synthetic moth silk or actual alien moth silk. The players had at first wondered whether it was a cloaking device, but Andre said it gave no such impression (Radford Horror 08). The episodes never establish any connection to the Radford Moth beyond Kurt's guess.

History

Taken from the stranger

After the church fight, armed strangers (special forces men and "volcanologists" in heat suits) arrived at the old-town church with flamethrowers and heat-ray flashlights. The injured team hid in the woods. One searcher who wore the poncho and carried a strange flashlight came close. Kurt lay hidden under bloody leaves as bait with a lasso, kicked the man in the groin to bring his head forward, and Andrew fired his church-issued mace, whose "nothing" passed through the man's head. The man dropped into a seizure and was tied up. Andre offered the players a choice between taking the weapon and the poncho; they took the flashlight at no cost and stripped off the poncho at the risk of drawing attention, but the other searchers were looking in the wrong places. The man's identity and fate are never learned. See the cleanup crew and the flashlight weapon.

Handed to Molly

Kurt wrapped the poncho in tinfoil and, when Deputy Molly Underhill found the team, handed it over as "special federal evidence" to hide and tell no one about. Molly pocketed it, and in the hospital she returned the flashlight and the aluminum foil. Kurt tested the poncho afterward (Radford Horror 08).

Quote

"Don't tell nobody. Don't give it to nobody. Don't eat it." (Dante (as Kurt), Radford Horror 08)

Trivia

  • In Radford Horrors 04, Kurt sleeps tied to a tree in "a poncho and thermal netting," a habit from his camping; the episode does not say whether this is the shadow poncho (Radford Horrors 04).

Appearances