A History of Steppesville

Part Four - The Creation of the Phial

Although the organization known as P.H.I.A.L. is one secret, the town of Steppesville also holds yet another dark secret, far darker than the one concerning the secret organization. It also has to do with a phial, however, but an actual one. In fact, the inspiration for the containment unit of this secret being a phial came from the organization, unsurprisingly.

In 1981, three researchers moved to Steppesville with the goal of creating something incredible. The leader of these researchers, a Canadian named Sylvester Grey (later known for being the proprietor of Mr. Grey's Northern Resort) teamed up with two friends, Laurence Kissinger and Jacques Johnson, and began work on a possible invention that was, in the words of Sylvester, supposed to "bring good to the world in an insurmountable way that has never been seen before in its perilous history."

The process of the creation of the mysterious secret within the phial was long and difficult. The researchers worked meticulously and long into the night. Eventually, Sylvester began having doubts about the process, and believed that the object within the phial could be utilized as a horrible superweapon. He begged his colleagues to help him destroy the superweapon, however they refused and dismissed his worries. He soon left the process and went to move on to far more hospitable ambitions - literally.

Laurence and Jacques continued to work with the superweapon, before they eventually finished it. They began to have a falling out, and the two split apart, with Jacques keeping the phial in his possession. About seven years after this falling out, Laurence was killed with the partial destruction of his homestead. Soon before that, Jacques had sent the phial to Laurence, but it never arrived at his home, however Jacques assumed that it did. After learning that it did not, he worked to track down the phial for several years, before finally discovering its location.

The phial had landed in the possession of a teenage boy, Jack Crowhill, who likely no longer resides in Steppesville. Throughout a span of a few weeks, Jacques chased this boy around town, eventually making it to Mr. Grey's Northern Resort. Jacques was able to obtain the phial and release its contents, and it is unknown what became of him afterwards, however some eyewitness accounts claim they saw him departing the building. Sylvester Grey, meanwhile, quickly fled up to Michigan, where his wife was living at the time.