2021.01.28:HillfolkHijinks

Hillfolk Hijinks
A random adventure
IC Date	January 28, 2021
IC Time	After Dark
Players	Rian, Leif, Branton(st), Killigrew
Location	Somewhere on a rural dirt road
Prp/Tp	None yet?
Spheres	Gaian Garou
Theme Song	Three Weird Sisters - The Least of My Kind [1]

Branton was asked to check in with his goddess about a potential mission for himself, a sorceress cousin, and a couple of bored Ahrouns with itchy punching hands. And She Smiled. And gave directions to a homestead out in the countryside >They are kinfolk to Rat's children. They have not seen a garou in generations but they will know you for what you are. A daughter of the clan is pledged to me and called for aid. There have been livestock mutilations. Now Holly's neice is missing. Find the child, find those who took the child.< was said with an ominous tone, then with a bit of dry humor >Do what comes naturally.< Branton got the crew together and started that way.

Rian is, of course, THRILLED with this whole idea. For one thing, it's something to do other than 'lordly crap', and - as he's probably been VERY vocal about - ALIENS! "I've never beat up an alien before!!" Omg he's so excited! He will provide transport, he's got a car for every occasion probably so why the heck not put them to use, right? "If we find a blaster, can I keep it? Do you think alien heads mount well? Like, will taxidermy work? This doesn't make us the assholes, right? I mean, if they're mutilating our cows and stealing our wimmin, Duke Nukem tells me they totally have to get blown up. OH MY GOD! Do you think they have a mother ship?!" He's fully serious, he thinks this is aliens.

"I thought it had to be crop circles AND chupacabra shit to be aliens?" Killi pipes up from the back seat where she's all tucked in with a long hunting gear bag resting on the floor between her feet, and angled up to hug the contents a little and keep them from bouncing around.

Branton has a duffle with his gear and some spares for folks who might need weapons then he remembers that he's sold gear to this crew. Eh, maybe he'll arm some of the natives. Chuckling at the banter "I was going to say that aliens aren't real and it couldn't possibly be them. When I remembered that I'm riding in an SUV stuffed with werewolves and sorcerers. I guess...I'll reserve judgement."

Leif is WAY too fucking tall for this. For all of it. He's all scrunched and considering this morning, he's NOT in a great mood, but here he is. With the chance to possibly kill something.

"No, noooooo! Everyone knows that chupacabras are just black-spiral-goats!" Rian insists, though he'd never be able to supply proof of such a claim. "How are you surviving with your knees in the glove compartment, dude? Feel on the seat between your legs, there's a metal thing, pull it up and it'll scoot the seat back." he tells Leif. "Aliens are totally real! I've never seen one, but I beat a giant tentacle monster to death once, and if THAT can exist, aliens can totally exist. And, yeah. Werewolves and sorcerers. I mean... C'mon."

"Weregoats?" Zoe sounds a leeeetle dubious on that one. "Yeah, that's true, B. We do sort of live on the 'anything is possible' side of the line, don't we?" she teases, adjusting the case between her feet so it's a little more comfortable. "So what's the plan? Sniff for Wyrm taint and check out the cow corpses? Ask around for any witnesses? Or just go straight to the hunt?"

"It's all the way back," Leif says, squirming around and trying to find a place where his knees don't touch the glovebox and his head isn't rammed into the roof. One or the other works, both, not nearly so much.

Branton nods to Killigrew "I think we should make ourselves known at the house, there might not be any Garou here to respect their territory but I'd rather not catch buckshot from some Billyjoebob who saw strangers in the night." Then to the front seat he says "We're almost there. Turn right just up ahead onto a dirt road and the house is about two hundred feet."

"Weregoats, that's ridiculous. Evil vampire goats though, THAT makes total sense." Rian replies to Zoe, "Think about it. Vampires feed on people right, cause they WERE people, and the whole feeding on animals thing, that never lasts, they go after people. But a goat sucker? Obviously a vampire goat. It feeds on goats cause it used to be a goat. And who, WHO, I ask you, would think creating that kind of laughably awful thing was either useful or amusing? The Wyrm. The Wyld makes magic earthworms, so I mean..." His logic, it's so flawless. Rian, good driver that he is, whaps the turn signal and makes a right. "Tell me when to stop, Bromeo." he tells Branton, "I nominate you representitive of the group and person-who-has-to-get-out-first-and-risk-being-shot. But only cause you're probably bullet proof and also share the same goddess." He slows to a stop when told to, and once the parking break's on, he asks Leif, "Have you considered stopping being so large?"

"I probably COULD make him smaller." Zoe, so helpful. "As for the goat-suckers, could just be a goat sucker, right? Legends and myths some from somewhere, often rooted in some awful truth." Zoe says, waiting until they stop and the brake is on to push the door open and climb out. The bowcase is tugged out a moment later.

Leif just kind of... stares.... at Rian, but he's listening. But then he shakes his head. "I thought about it once. And grew another six inches." He shrugs. Shit happens. He glances over his shoulder at Zoe and snorts.

Branton considers and switches out some jewelry and passes a necklace to Killigrew "Here, borrow this, Its got extra mana in it. Just in case." Then he nods to Rian "That's a fair point." And once the vehicle rolls to a stop by the fenced in front yard of a ramshackle farmhouse and the barking of alert dogs comes from inside the house. As Branton is considering what to do the door creeks open so he calls out "Hello the house! Is Holly around? The Lady heard her call and sent the help she asked for."

"Vampire goats, I'm tellin ya. Leif, You're doin it wrong, then." Rian tells Leif with a shake of his head to sympathize. "I'll have R&D look into a reverse-rack for you. Squish you down instead of stretch you out. Probably wont help, but since we're a clothing and cosmetics company, it's gonna look fuckin awesome while it's not helping." He IS being mindful of his surroundings while being a smartass, that's instinct and auto pilot, though there's only so much he can see with the cab light on from the door opening, and the night outside. "Oooooo, somebody's hoooooome."

Waggling her brows in a decidedly lascivious way, Killi grins, then sobers when the door opens, lifting a hand in greeting to the figure there. "Hello!" She calls over, setting the case on the seat of the car and opening it, revealing the ebon bow that's got seams of crushed moonstone where repairs have been wrought.

Leif stays where he is, being scrunched up a little bit. "Hi," he calls out, trying to extricate himself from the little sardine can that he's in

The person who steps out on the porch is in denim and flannel, really he'd fit right in with the Enduring Spirit kinfolk. Including the hunting rifle he's got in one hand. Calling back into the house he hollars "Girrrl, did you call strangers to my farm?!"

Branton turns to Rian and Leif "So I'm going to guess this isn't her territory to call someone into. Either of you want to approach and say something about the spirits having sent you to aid them? He might take that better, even happens to be true."

"I got it," Leif says, pulling one leg out of the car. It's set down on the ground. He reaches up and grabs the top of the car and wedges his thicc ass out and stands up... and up... and up... and up... and up.... He holds his hands out and visible and approaches slowly, lifting his voice. "I am The Wall. Fostern. Ahroun. We come on the orders of the spirits to aid you."

"I nominate Leaf!" Rian says while the guy volunteers, still getting the dude's name wrong at random while he gets it locked into memory over time. Rian doesn't attempt to leave the car as of yet though, but it's unlocked if he should need to. For now though, he just leaves it running, a hand rested on the parking break and one on the wheel. He's not scared, you're scared! Although really, he's just stuck with some certain formalities and hey, never know if a quick retreat is in order to avoid hostilities!

Killigrew settles the quiver over her shoulder and across her body, with the bow following a moment later. A wicked little karambit is already on her hip. The case is left on the seat of the carand she closes the door, leaning up against it. Leif being big is probably plenty to make folk uncomfy, let alone an armed to the gills kin heading over.

Branton relaxes as Leifm upacks from the vehicle and hears some more movement inside the house as a young sounding voice calls out something that could easily be 'you mean it worked!?' when a young teen (12-14) girl in overalls and a black tshirt comes out on the porch, gets one look at Leif and turns to run back inside. The man with the shotgun, presumably her paw, grabs one shoulder strap to stop her as he calls back to Leif "Come on up to the porch then, we've got a bit of a doozy for ya."

Leif moves slowly, but surely, up toward the stairs. "May my friends come in? I just got sent up here first because you have a gun and I'm the most likely to survive a direct blast."

From inside the car, Rian snerks when he hears the kid exclaiming, and then that flawless u-turn at the sight of Leif. Cant blame her, with his hands up and all moonlit, he probably looks like a giant bigfoot coming to get her.

Killigrew pats Rian's door, starting towards the porch. "Come on, Funshine bear, we got the invite." she says with a grin for the Athro Fang. Slipping the necklace Branton gave her around her neck and tucking it inside her shirt with a little bit of jiggling. "Evening. I'm Zoe." Short and sweet, super informal for now.

The farmer nods and explains as the group gathers in "I don't know what it is that's been hurting our stock. But someone needs to track it down, One of Holly's eldest brother's kids....Hannah got up before dawn for chores. You gotta find her, please."

Leif nods to the man at the door. "That's why we're here, sir. If we can come in, and just find out everything you know, that'd help. Then we can track her down."

Rian kills the engine and the lights, popping open the door so's he can step out and swing it shut while he puts his keys in his pocket and follows along towards the house's door. "Hi, I'm Rian." he introduces himself super shortly so as not to detract from the far more important matters at hand. He's really not much of a negotiator or fact finder, so he keeps his trap shut and just listens, brows drawing down while he soaks in the information.

"We'll do our best. Can you show us where this all happened? And on the way, is there anything you can tell us about Hannah that might help us? Oh! Do you have some clothes or something with her scent? That might help, too." Killi asks, chock full of questions.

Branton nods as the farmer leads the group inside passing the young girl a small medallion carved from moonstone. A symbol of their Lady by way of showing his credentials. All the while the grownups explain that the attacks started happening just over two weeks ago when the moon was dark and yes Rian, the goats were targeted first. When Killigrew asks about clothes Holly runs off and comes back with a wadded up tshirt from Hannah's hamper. Directions are given with appologies that none of the clan go out when the sun isn't in the sky but they assure you that the site of the attack on the livestock isn't hard to find. Oddly enough the animals were all taken in the same place untill they were secured for their own safety.

Leif takes the shirt and sniffs it then offers it over to Rian to see if he wants to take the lead or not. Leif looks like he's fully capable of doing so, but he isn't going to step on the Athro's toes. Again.

Rian fucking KNEW IT. Not that he's going to blurt that out right now or anything, but he totally knew it, fuckin black spiral vampire goats. Or Aliens. That one's still a firm possibility no matter what way you slice it. He will take the shirt when offered though, and automatically folds it up neatly to tuck into a pocket. He's too homid to get the benefit of it just yet, and it might be rude to go shape shifting in a dude's house.

All in the same spot? That catches Killi's interest and she slides a sidelong glance at Rian, smirking faintly. "Perfect, thank you Holly." Scent might help the wolves get a better bead on things if there's a trail. Assuring them again that they'll do their best to help, she purses her lip in thought. Things in her head she doesn't really want to toss out in front of the kiddo's family.

Hay. Strawberry shampoo. the sweat of work. the sweat of play. What you'd expect on an eight year old's clothes. A description of the child is given. The background information is gotten, clues are gathered, and now's the time to go start looking. The chicken coop where the child's chores were supposed to be? The barn where the animals are secured now? Or the pasture corner where the attacks happened and blood was shed?

Once they're headed out to go get their investigation on, Rian withdraws the folded shirt from his pocket again, has another couple sniffs, and then passes it towards Leif again for a snoot refresher. "You lead, I'll stay two legged for translation and backup lookout." He might have the higher rank around here, but that's not the point on missions. Gotta give others a good chance to grow their skills and get that renown!

Leif nods to Rian. "I should shift outside. I'll literally break the floor." He stands and gives the little girl a reassuring smile. "We're gonna find her. Alright?" He heads toward the door, waiting until he's completely clear of anything wood before he shifts, just to lupus for now. He's still fucking huge.

"Chicken coop? But I have the feeling we'll end up where the cattle have been killed." Zoe says, following Leif out and waiting for him to shift. The bow is unslung from her shoulder and strung, carried at the ready. "Definitely a strong case for making that finding charm." she murmurs, looking to try and travel in the middle of the small group - behind Leif, but not at the back, either.

Branton gives an impressed whistle at the impressiveness of Leif's wolf form. He's pulled his sword out from somewhere, holding that in one hand and keeping the other free. He comments to Killigrew as they go "That's almost always how it goes. But odds are one or the other of these too have that gift or a good enough nose to pick up her trail."

Rian follows, bringing up the rear of the adventuring party so that no aliens or vampire goats can sneak up on the kinfolk. He's armed, but his hands are left free at the moment. It never fails, he'll be SURE a knife or a gun is the right call for the situation, and it turns out the opposite was true, every damned time. He keeps his senses opened, and he's got great night sight even if he hasn't got the great low-light vision of a wolf just now. He just likes being homid, it's what he's used to.

Fucknormous Wolf sniffle snurfs his way into the coop, then around, then around again, such a keen detection of scent and sight that he is actually following individual steps that aren't even there anymore. He weaves a little, as if unsteady, but it's just him following the steps. <<Unsteady. Someone check within the coop. Magic? Wyrm? Anything? Trail leads out to the fields>> And he heads that way, homing in on each step of the little kid.

Fucknormous Wolf adds <<WYrm. Something bad. Bad bad. Heads up, kin back.>>

An affirmative little noise from Zoe with the warnings, raising her bow and dropping back. Her best help to the others is to provide ranged support and stay out of the way of the Garou. Falling back a little bit, she glances to Branton -looking to the more senior kin, briefly.

Branton collapses his sword back down to pocket size and steps back by Killigrew as he draws...a fighting knife that looks like its carved out of wood. Its pretty ornate and well cared for but doesn't /look/ like a ranged option as he asks "Still want someone to check inside the coop? I can get it."

"Get it, Tiki Torch!" Rian says, he for one doesn't want to cram his bulk into a chicken pen and take his eyes off the surroundings. He'd probably somehow break the coop, too, and that's a fine how do you do to the people they're here to help!

<<You two kin, watch each other's backs.>> Rian still hasn't told him what to do specifically, so he'll make his own judgments. And then Leif shifts up to crinos and lumbers forward. Still sniffing and tracking

"Yes, Leif." She doesn't often outright defer to wolves, but Killigrew does now. "Want to punt the door and sidestep?" She moves back a bit from the door, but lines up with it, nocking an arrow to the bowstring and bringing it up, drawing an arrow - so if the door gets busted open and there's something inside, she might get a bead on it.

Well, Rian DID tell him to lead, that's pretty specific! I mean... It's not, but Ahroun-ishly, maybe it is! He looks to Leif for his own orders, for that matter, shifting upwards to Crinos as well in a follow the leader sort of fashion. Just in case.

Branton holds up a finger and steps up to the door making some odd..clucking noises. A put upon sounding bwkaw comes from inside and Branton gives Killigrew a bemused look "I just got told to fuck off, they're trying to sleep. I thought it was just Murder Hen that was vulgar." Then he reaches up to lift himself to peer through the window and there's another more striden call then Branton clears his throat and says to the Garou "Coop's clear."

The Wall nods once. Once the all clear comes from behind, he trudges forward, lumbering on with his knuckles touching the ground every couple of steps as he prowls on forward, hopefully still trailing the drunken-like steps of the little girl.

Killigrew would laugh if it wasn't so serious. Branton having a chit chat with sleepy mother cluckers just tickles her funny bone. With the all clear given, she relaxes so there's no extra tension on the bowstring, falling into with her cousin to follow the werewolves as they move.

Rian sticks with crinos for the moment along with Leif since it seems the kinfolk don't need translation. Fortune! He is a bit poofy, but all sorts of excessively soft and glossy white fur. Perfect for stealth! >>I didn't know you could speak chicken, Branton.<< he says while following Leif, keeping his snarlyness quiet.

Branton does smile a he falls into step with Killigrew, as the group reaches the pasture. And there doesn't seem to be as much blood as the story given the group would indicate. There's signs of a struggle and all that. And there is some blood spatter (just animal blood, none human) but the odd thing is it all seems to be contained in the same general area. As if the animals walked over to the spot by the fence and something reached through and killed them. Hanging off one of the fence posts from where it got snagged though is a scrap of sequined fabric from the mermaid jammies the little girl pulled her overalls on over.

The Wall stops to sniff at the blood, all of it. <<Animal.>> And then the jammies. <<Okay. I'm going to track her. Everyone on high alert. No fucking around. Kinfolk watch yourselves. Death Before Dishonor, cover me.>> It feels... weird... leading over an Athro. But he was told to lead and he slips into that role easily.

Rian leans forward on his clawed hands for some sniffing about as they draw up on all this, >>Well, that ain't right.<< He's still not discounting aliens. Still really HOPING for aliens, but he doesn't have a Sense ET gift, just Sense Wyrm, which he uses. He falls in after a second, answering, >>Sure thing, sir.<<, taking things seriously, including the pseudo-pack rolls here. >>Let me know how you want me to roll.<<

"It's weird that it's all right here. Cows run, and get chased, and then die. There'd be big, deep furrows from their hooves when they spook or... something. Ground feel solid underfoot? Ever see Tremors?" Whole thing has Killi edgy and ill at ease. No sir, she don't like it.

Branton is wracking his brain trying to figure out what it could be "The lack of sufficent blood and some kind of luring mesmerism? Sounds almost vampiric. But this doesn't fit the MO of any kind of vampire I've ever read about." As the group follows along, the occasional sequin is found. In a pattern that almost seems deliberate, the child wants to be found.

<<She's helping us track her>> The Wall rumbles, keeping it down, moving his MASSIVE bulk along carefully. <<But she can't be far. High alert. Zoe, you stay with Branton. Keep range. If it gets ugly, you BAIL>> And this is the only time he turns to LOOK at her. <<Okay?>>

Rian gears up a little but while following, murmuring (gruffeling, really) under his breath to wake up his tattoo and such. His ears swivel and he moves his gold eyes about to scan while Leif keeps them on track.

"We'll be safe." Zoe says, looking up at the ginormous fucking crinos and offering a faint smile. "Promise." She'd pinky promise, but now's not the time for those shenanigans. "Always a chance and old monster finds a new way to be monstrous." she murmurs, looking to Branton and nodding to her bringing-up-the-rear battle buddy.

Branton nods at Zoe and frowns "I suppose that's true. I just really like being able to figure this sort of thing out." And then peering ahead through the underbrush, down between a couple of hills at the end of the trail of sequins and Leif's magic, is a cave. She's in there somewhere. And so is something else.

The Wall stops when he spots the cave and sighs. It comes out as a long, rumbly sound. <<Caves.>> Yup. It's always a cave or something underground.. or just a hole in general. Leif doesn't DISLIKE holes.. just very large ones with people in them are not his favorite place to be. <<Rian, I'll go in first. You come in second. Branton, you third. Stay outside unless you can see what's going on in there. Get the kin. Me and the Big Dog here are going to fuck up some shit.>>

>>You want some light while we're in there? Kinda sucks all the sneakiness out of things, but then again we can't see in the dark.<< Rian asks while patting himself to make sure his crap's all in place. Specticals, testicles, wallet and watch.

That leaves Zoe at the mouth of the cave. Running her fingertips over the sigils of Artemis and the Furies on her bow, the bow is awoken with an urging. No room for fucking up if shooting into a tight space, or dealing with something that might chase the boys.

Branton flanks the other side of the cave opening, watching the garou go first "This is going to get really really loud. Especially in a cave." And from deep in the cave comes a deep gutteral sound that...might have been a Bleat but down a few octaves.

Rian can hear the thing charging, he can see it a little bit, smell all the filth of the cave, and BAM! The Silver Fang errupts in a blaze of silvery light, shining like the king he totally thinks he is and lighting up the cave like a star. A SUPER STAR!

As the thing comes at him, The wall does what he does best. He blocks. He waits, watching, sizing up his opponent and SLAPS the horn to the side, reaching out with the other hand to make a grab for the second one as it spins his way

Branton can see all the bones and the giant fanged mutant goat thing. And then Branton spots the cage made of bone with the sleeping girl inside. Scratched and dirty but still breathing. Branton makes a run for it and he is /fast/. Pulling apart the cage with brute force.

With the tunnel lit up by Rian's fire, it makes it a lot easier to see. "Oh sweet babybel cheese." she mutters lowly, stepping out into a better position and drawing back the bow string. Another half step and she draws a bead on the hindquarters of the beastly thing, loosing an arrow that does an alright job of skewering the thick muscle group.

He slaps hte thing aside and then that arrow zips through. When the thing jerks its head back, Lyric pounces. Claws sink into the throat clear to the fingers. Leif closes his hand around, gashing open the wound and then jerks his hand out. Blood goes everywhere, splattering Leif, the wall, probably Rian, maybe even the little girl and possibly Branton. The thing is hoisted slightly and Leif turns, ready for more attackers.

Branton turns to catch the splatter so at least the girl's face stays clear and the instant he gets her scooped in his arms they both vanish. Appearing outside the cave by Killigrew.

Rian doesn't butt in on the kill, poised to give the creature a slap if it attacks before it's killed. And then it's like in 92 friggin pieces! >>Nice!<< his poised attack turns into an offer of highfive. Two Werewolves Highfiving, some visionary's ritename just became that, I'm sure of it.

High five? That's... that's dangerous. Leif does it, giving Rian a bloody paw high five once the coast is clear. He turns then, checking the ... where'd they go? Out there? Okay. Leif gives Rian a nice, gory little clap on the shoulder mostly just to mar the sparkly whiteness, then heads out to help get everyone home safe

Killigrew startles when Branton poofs in next to her, starting to turn, then nodding to her cousin and refocusing on... the chunky salsa painting the space. "Jesus, Leif." she says, surprised, then laughing softly. Putting the arrow back in her quiver, she slings the bow over her shoulder. Ready to return the child to the parents, and give Leif a -bath-.

When no further enemies appear the heroes are able to see the sleeping child safely back to her family. They are greatful and take contact information for Enduring Spirit and the Fianna enclave at the Distillery run by the Devil's Own Pack. Showing interest in being brought back into closer contact with the Nation. Branton has also accquired a sample for analysis to figure out what that creature was and where it came from. But that is a story for another time.