Thread #37979

ooc thread >>37981 →

last time:
the team secured an airboat and head out into the swampy everglades
they had an encounter with strange fish-like rodents and ended up killing one of them by tossing it into the propellers
finally they saw a smoke signal and decided to head towards it
they stepped off the airboat onto the swampy land and thus we join our heroes in the hot, humid, sweaty, swampy, insect-infested everglades

The sun looms overhead. Felicity's suggestion that the group try to reach the source of the smoke signals before the sun sets may be a good one. After all, unknown beasts stalk the swamp.

(Is there a clear path towards the smoke signals?

The swamp plants reduce visibility but the path to the smoke signals does not seem a difficult one to make. In fact, it /// if one looked close enough, they may be able to notice that there is in fact a beaten path. Perhaps the local Indian tribes use this route.

Hmmm
Lemme just
(Oh no my character sheet isn't on my counter!)

Okay we're good.

"I guess we should follow this trail?" Thomas looks towards his companions. "Seems like a good // as good a way to get there as any."

I nod in agreement. "Keep an eye out for any Indians or signs of the scuffle that probably happened when...whatever's in these swamps grabbed the guardsman."
Turning back to the boat, I shout to Eddie, "would you rather stay and watch the boat or come with us, Vernon?"

Eddie glares at Felicity. "I ain't goin' out there."

"Gee Felicity, he says he ain't goin' out there."

I shrug. "Well maybe he can strike up a conversation with those fish...squirrel...things himself if they come back for the boat. They seem to get along fine with crazy people."
"Just don't give anyone the boat, Vernon!"

With that, I start trekking down the path towards the smoke signals.

VV turns to Eddie "Be careful not to be eaten while we're away."

As the group leaves, Eddie shouts out, "You better come back for me! Don't leave me here!"

The way towards the smoke signals is fairly boring - or at least, as boring as walking through a swamp can be. The shoes of the group squish as they move through the moist soil through the brush and trees.
The light of the sun begins to dwindle but the group continues on, finally reaching an encampment after about an hour of walking. The smoke signals have stopped, but the fire at the encampment still burns and there are a number of Indians standing or sitting about the area.
The group has finally made it there and now, under the setting sun, they watch the encampment.

Thomas gives a light wave to anyone looking in his direction

Nobody notices Thomas.

I step towards the fire. "Good evening." I call out. "Might we have a moment of your time?"

The natives all look startled. One of them draws his bow and points it towards Felicity, shouting in his native tongue.
"You may put it down, young one", announces an elderly woman leaving a tent. The native lowers his bow and bows his head to the elderly woman.
"It is rare that we see new whites in our land. What is it that brings you here today?" she asks.

"Well we caught sight of your smokes signals while we were uh... boating out here."

"And what brings you to our humble encampment?" It seems that she is the only Indian present that speaks English. There are about ten others present, all of which seem suspicious. They may be ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"We're looking for a strange ape-creature that may have made off with some people."

"You will not find any apes here, my child," she replies with a gentle laugh.

#1d6 (5) preparedness

VV finds the blurry photo among her belongings.

VV rummages through her dress and pulls out the photo and shows it to her.
"It looks something like this!"

The old woman takes the photo into her hands and holds it close to her face, squinting.
Her eyes finally widen and she shoves it back into VV's hands.
"Why do you wish to find this?"

"We have reason to believe, honored matron, that this creature is responsible for abducting men from the National Guard camp nearby. This is a matter of safety."

"This thing will destroy you. It is not your place. You must return home, my child." She waves her hand at one of the Indians who begins talking to the others.

VV pushes Thomas forward.
"Look into this guy's eyes! He's legitimately crazy, he can handle that thing!"

"Excuse me, I'm only a little crazy. Also WHAT?"

She looks at the ground with a sigh. "This child cannot fight a honka." The other natives watch closely.

Thomas actually has a sudden realization.
He remembers that, during one of his more simple days at University, that he had the off time to study some random subjects, one of which happens // happened to be native americans.
As a result, while rusty, he begins to remember their language.

VV looks the old woman straight in the eye and says
"He had a conversation with a fish just a minute ago."

"Ma'am, we're also here on the behest of Archibald Hamlin, a researcher who is familiar with these creatures. Fighting them may not even be the end goal here, but we do want to do what we can to stop the abductions of the men from the guard camp.

"I do not care for the guardsmen." She scoffs. "You act as if they are entitled to be there. They are trespassers on our land - as are you - and the spirits are unhappy with this."

One of the natives whispers something in her ear.

"Now hold here, ma'am. I'm not saying anything about entitlement. I'm saying we have come here with two goals: to investigate the creature in this photograph, and to stop the abductions."
"Once that is taken care of, we would be more than happy to leave the land alone."

"What was the purpose of what we assumed were smoke signals?"

I'm going to spend a point of assess honesty here!

On the elder?

>>38086
yeah

You sense that she is hiding something. Although you can't understand the conversations between the natives, their behavior leads you to believe that they are also hiding something along with her.

>>38081
"If they do not want their people to be abducted, they need only leave."
She turns to Thomas >>38084
"To communicate between encampments, of course."

"Ah. Of course."
"As for the abductees, clearly we need to get them before they can leave, right?"

"Are they not gone already? Is this not the problem?" She laughs, it sounds a bit smug.

"This isn't ideal."

She raises her voice, snapping back, "Neither is the theft of our land."

Thomas shrugs. "I'm afraid I can't help much with that."

#d10 (1)

She sighs. "It is dark. I will permit you to remain at our encampment tonight if you wish. You must leave in the morning, however. And then you will not return."

"That's very kind of you. What do you two think? It's probably our best option."

"We left Eddie on the boat..."

"He did say he wasn't leaving the boat."

"We should probably go back and get him, or get on the boat or something. It probably has a light".
VV points at the old lady. "Besides, that one is hiding something."

"He said he's not leaving the boat."

"Also please don't antagonize people who already don't like us."

The elderly woman's eyes narrow.

"That's right, you're hiding something! People don't just live in a swamp full of otherworldly horrors and not know it!"

Thomas grips // pinches his forehead and looks toward the ground.

She glares at VV. "Otherworldly horrors? You people are as rude as ever. This is our ancestral home - protected by the spirits of our ancestors. "

"To be fair, I'm not sure what you'd classify a naked fish-squirrel beast as other than otherworldly, in all honesty ma'am."

"If you wish to try your luck in the dark overnight, you are welcome to. I am not one to rescind a gift I have given, but if you refuse to respect this land and this people, I will be forced to expel you from the safety of our encampment."

"I would very much like to not be in the swamp at night thank you very much for your hospitality."

"Any further comments should be saved for later if ever." Thomas looks at VV

"We should at least go back to get Eddie. He'll surely be eaten if we leave him out there."

She sneers. "Did you leave a friend alone? He is certainly gone already. It is at night that the Stikini hunt."

"He refused to come with. I suppose it can't be helped."

"I hope he's not, that dirtbag was supposed to watch the boat."

When she says the word "Stikini", the indians in the encampment look uncomfortable.
>>38128
>>38129
She laughs. "You are an unwise group."

"Perhaps," she says, "We can trade. If you give us something of worth, I will send a warrior with you to lead you to your friend and back."

"How savage! You snap at me for speaking of your talking fish things derisively, and then you laugh at the idea of a man being eaten!"

Thomas CLASPS his hand over VV's mouth

>>38132
"What would be of value to you and your encampment, matron?"

"What do you have to offer us?"

"I have an assortment of knicknacks but mostly useless things. I don't even have explosions unless they're just REALLY deep down in my bag"

"I don't have anything I can part with so easily, but I think Miss Vane might have some first aid supplies and medicines."
"Would those be of use to you?"

Thomas stops presumably struggling with VV to let her (likely) give supplies.

The elderly woman nods. "Medicinal supplies for protection: A fine trade. It is good that you can barter!" She laughs. "You people are so obsessed with your imaginary currencies."
She snaps her fingers at a native and commands him in their native tongue. The native enters a nearby tent and drags out a young man, probably still in his teens.
"This will be your guide. He is Night-Seer. He will take you where you wish to go."
Night-Seer nods, "I will guide." His English is not as good as the elderly woman's, but he seems to understand English well enough.

"We will give him the respect a guide deserves," I say, turning to Thomas and Victoria and pausing for a moment. "Right?"

"naturally"

I gesture the direction we came from for Night-Seer. "We came from there. There was a path--can you guide us on it back to our boat?"

"I know way," he nods. "You will follow quietly. Bad safety at night for whites." He begins walking in the direction the team came from.

Thomas looks expectantly at VV before following.

"Just like the ghettos back home," I say under my breath, following the boy into the night.

Silently, the team continues down the path for roughly 30 minutes before being stopped by Night-Seer.
"Smell." He gestures to his nose.
A foul odor fills the air - like a combination of vomit and blood. "We must very silent walk. Yes?"

I nod.

The trees rustle violently as if shaken by the wind as they team continues on, but there is not even a breeze.
"It is Stikini," Night-Seer whispers. "Your friend maybe not alive. But we check. Are close to water."

After a short time, the team finally arrives at the boat.
Eddie is nowhere to be seen.
"Your friend not here. But if kill by Stikini, it mean he leave before. Possible he alive. If kill by Stikini here, body would still be see. What want to do now?
"

"We're more or less obligated to find him since we brought him out here."

"That shithead said he was going to stay with the boat.
"Night-seer, do you see any sign of a man walking away alone?"

Thomas speaks very quietly. "If nothing else it might be a good plan to head back for the night?"

Owls hoot.

Night-Seer looks around.

Thomas tries to follow his gaze

>>38185
"I do not see sign... White man's light box, you have one?"

Thomas reaches deep into his bag but clearly doesn't have to.

#1d6 (4) preparedness

#d4 (3)
good

"Good. Shine on ground. If move around, leave footprint. "

VV shrugs and shines the flashlight around, not sure exactly what he's asking.

"VV, shine your light on the ground and look for Eddie's footprints."

"Shine on ground, woman." He points to the ground. "Find footprints, follow, find man."

VV shines the light on the ground looking for footprints.

"I find. You follow." He begins walking along the side of the swampy water.

VV follows along behind him.

An owl howls loudly nearby. Night-Seer looks afraid.

(Sense Trouble! #d6 (2) + 1)
(...
Really.)

Sense danga
#d6 (4)

Thomas has an ominous feeling that something is about to happen.
He feels so uncomfortable about this feeling that he gets to make a preparedness check with a difficulty of 3 to see if he has any explosives.

Spending 2 points!
#d6+2 (6 + 2 = 8)

pfft

The one time

Thomas finds a couple explosives in his bag that he can use if needed.

Thomas finally realized they were in the bag within the bag.

"Hey! You gotta help me!"
Eddie's voice rings out in the distance. Night-Seer gestures in the direction of the voice and takes off in that direction.

Thomas, while having a flash of insight , follows, but keeps an eye out.

A dark shadow bursts out of the trees and slams into Night-Seer as the group runs, knocking him into the swampy water. He doesn't even have time to shout. A horrid shriek rips out from the shadow, floating above the water. It is shaped like an owl - a massive owl with blood-red talons and what appears to be blood all around its face.

A second horrid shriek resounds briefly in the forest.

Swamp even
x

I reach into my bag and pull out the handgun, leveling it between the owls eyes, firing one shot.

Thomas calms himself and grips the explosive beaker // one of possibly more beakers in his bag and waits for the result of Felicity's actions

The shot rings out through the silent swampy night followed by another shriek. The owl beast is struck in the wing and quickly retreats, limping through the air like a plane with one motor gone.
#d6 (1)

With its injured wing, it manages to create some distance but not enough - another shot could potentially reach it.

Keeping the gun trained on the creature as it flies away, I call out "Vernon! Are you there?"

VV shines her light in the direction of Night-Seer, looking to see his condition.

I'd need to roll explosives+athletics to kaboom right

#d6 (2)
The water is murky and dark, but there is clear movement beneath the water - it's Night-Seer. He sticks his head from the water, his face is bleeding.
>>38273
No reply comes from Eddie.
>>38276
yeah

Taking advantage of the opening Felicity gave, Thomas is going to chuck this explosive beaker at the stikini
Athletics (1 point) d6+1
oh
#d6+1 (1 + 1 = 2)
ffffffffffffffffuck
It's going to explode anyway so
#d6+2 (5 + 2 = 7)

VV grabs Night-Whatever and helps him back to solid land.

The beaker flies faithfully in the direction of the owl creature. Unfortunately, it does not fly far in that direction. It drops into the water of the swamp.

Night-Seer thanks VV for pulling him from the water. "Organs in trees. Need to destroy." He tries to explain while catching his breath.

"Softball was not my strong point."

#1d6+1 (2 + 1 = 3)
VV looks him over to assess and treat his injuries, while handing him the flashlight.

He coughs. "I am okay. Stikini return soon. Need to destroy insides. Stikini put insides out in a tree. Must be nearby."

Thomas begins observing the nearby trees.

Would "evidence collection" help in finding "evidence" of organs in a tree

#1d6+1 (2 + 1 = 3) stability

no

STABILITY
#d6 (1)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

(Pft)

everyone loses 1 stability

Are there any signs of organs in any of the few trees Thomas has been peeking at in the last minute

"Oh well, nothing new there. Time to look for organs in trees..."

As the adrenaline of the situation leaves my body, my breaths become sharp and rapid. The gun in my hand begins to tremble.

>>38322
"Uh. Yeah."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Organs, right?"

"Yo hey Felicity, you uh, you doing alright?'

Night-Seer does not seem to think the situation is particularly strange.
He looks through the trees, searching for organs. "Find in tree. Smell bad, follow nose."

Thomas is going to follow his nose as hard as he can.
And even roll a d6 to try his best
#d6 (5)

#1d6+3 (6 + 3 = 9) shadowing to find organs!

There's a cut-in graphic showing close-ups of everyone's faces at the same time. It suddenly hits them all at once. They know where the organs are hidden!
The shine the flashlight into a nearby tree and sure as surely the disgusting mass of organs is hanging from the tree. Bodily fluids drips from them slowly. They smell terrible.
The owl's shrieks resound through the forest once more.

How high are the organs

Someone could climb up and grab them with a bit of athletics.

Thomas has totally got this
#d6 (3)
Not quite

Thomas attempts to climb the tree, eagerly hoping to get his hands on those organs, but is unable to climb.

"So, when we are in harms way you're perfectly fine with the idea of throwing explosives at us, but when presented with a tree that is a clear candidate for demolition, your first instinct is to climb it? Are you daft?"

"I mean, do you want a potential forest fire? Swampy-ness might cull the flames or maybe freaky swamp gas will make it worse. Also yeah, Night-Seer has the right idea."
Thomas crosses his arms.
"I was wanting to PUNCH these organs, but I'll let Felicity pop a cap in them or something"

"Hurting trees, bad." Night-Seer does not seem to like the idea of destroying the tree. "Sacred land, do not defile."

#d6 (3) + 2

what are you rolling? athletics?

(Yeah, for climbing up to the organs.)

Felicity climbs up the tree and takes the organs into her hands.
"Bring to me,
" Night-Seer shouts up.

"Hamlin is buying me a new fucking wardrobe for this," I mutter to myself as I clutch the organs carefully and climb back down the tree.
(Do I need to roll athletics to return to the ground?)

"Archie's gonna take me out to dinner when we get back." Thomas says to himself

>>38359
nah you can just slide down

Back on the ground, I unceremoniously dump the pile of organs on the ground in front of Night-Seer.
"Let's just do this, all right?"

"I can help with punchign the organs"

"Organs must ritually destroyed." Night-Seer reaches for his pouch. A look of embarrassment comes over his face as he realizes he does not have his pouch.
"Pouch fall into water?"

"I don't understand what organs in trees have to do with owls..."

"Aye aye captain." Thomas heads over to the water. "VV give me a light, I gotta get that pouch. Maybe call upon those weird squishes"

"Stikini, change form. Have human body and owl. At night, vomit up organs and hang from tree. Then Stikini go and kill men, eat their hearts. Then it swallow own organs and return to human. Must destroy organs to stop."

"That's metal as all hell."

#d6 (5)
Thomas finds the pouch quickly, but finds himself face-to-face with a large owl-like creature.

It shrieks.

Thomas shrieks

Fuckin
Sheeeeit
Uh
Fleeing #d6+1 (1 + 1 = 2)
GOD

Thomas attempts to run away but forgets that he is in the water. He falls down into the water, submerging himself.
>>38378
As he falls, he tosses the pouch heroically towards the party. Alas, it does not make it very far from him. Luckily, it does land on dry land!

Thomas, as a last ditch effort, tosses the pouch towards the party.
#d6+2 (1 + 2 = 3)

"PLEASE HELP"

I run forwards and pick up the pouch, returning to Night-Seer and -handing- it to him.

The Stikini seems unable to find Thomas who is submerged.
It flies up into the air.

#d6 (3)
The Stikini flies towards Night-Seer at breakneck speed, knocking him away from the party. He grabs onto its wings tightly, trying to keep its savage-looking beak out of his face.
"Cut open organs with knife!" he shouts as he fights for his life.

"Yeah, what he said!" Thomas blurbles from the water

Reaching into the pouch, I pull out the knife.
Turning to the pile of organs, I drive the blade straight into the thickest organ in the pile.
And then another.
And another.
And another.

Thomas, having pulled himself up from the water, observes this display of violence and looks towards the stikini expectantly

The Stikini shrieks violently as its body begins to dissolve.
Night-Seer pushes it away and scrambles back towards the group.
The Stikini 's shrieks begin to sound almost like words as it fades away.
"CURTIIIIIIIIIIS"

Panting with renewed adrenaline, I look down at the bloody pile of split organs.
"Birds are assholes."

Thomas raises an eyebrow at the dissolving Stikini
"None of us are Curtis."

"Very aggressive fauna here in the states, we don't have anything like this in Britain. Why did it say Curtis?"

"I think it was very mad at Curtis."

"By the way, I'm not Curtis."

Night-Seer brushes the dirt off of himself. "Perhaps this Stikini holds a grudge against the one called Curtis. There is a man who recently appeared named Curtis. He has been advising us with his friend that is call Chansky."
night-seer spoke like he usually does even though i forgot to do it right haha

"Chansky. Shit.

Vernon?"

TO BE CONTINUED

only 10 episodes