Happy Hunting Grounds

[Swift]

ooc rules explanation

For this purpose I think a simple roll is fine to determine whether or not you can keep the trail down the other path. Due to the age of this particular trail and the mercurial nature of the Hedge it makes more sense to narrate roll by roll anyway. Anya and Lou can roll Int + Survival - 2 to assist while Degnar's scent tracking should be a Wits + Survival with no modifiers (besides any bonus from the assists, of course)

[Degnar]

As they turned from that horrible place that is the Fleshmarket, Degnar began to track the scent of blood once more. He hoped that his nose would lead them to the right path this time around, but one could never be sure in a place like the Hedge.

  3 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-11-30 14:30:48		Degnar rolls 7 to Wits+Survival+1 (Pledge)+1 (Teamwork) (10 Again)		4, 4, 6, 3, 8, 8, 10, 3		3 successes

[Swift]

As the group heads back down the trod they just traveled, all of the changes they just went through reverse themselves: the sky brightens without the drama of dawn, the heat-tinged autumn foliage makes it's way back along the vines, and the summer heat seeps back into the air. Meanwhile the lurid and oddly enticing sounds of the hideous fleshmarket fade once more leaving a sense much like evanescence of a dream. The overall effect is as a near-brush with a nightmare never fully realized.

However, just as soon as the Lost reach the junction of trods once more and the last chill of the brief night fully fades, the burning scent of brimstone begins to make itself known. The blood scent lingers still and leads back down the last unexplored trod. The air grows heavier and hazy, thick with heat. Even Anya's combined Mantle and Wyrd are quickly subsumed into the greater effects of the local Hedge. The leaves along the walls grow lush and green, and to an enormous size. Behind them the thorns also grow becoming nearly the size of rapiers. In the distance a low, sluggish burbling sound can be heard.

Through all of this signs of hurried, but old passage can be seen. Anya notices a broken thorn here, a leaf torn and scarred there, as if someone were hurrying quickly through the trod, heedless of the dangers of the thorns. Both are touched with droplets of blood Degnar can confirm are a scent match to the shard. He is able to keep a hold of the scent, despite the growing scents blending with the sulfurous vapors. It soon becomes apparent to the Darkling and the others just what the source of the scent is.

Around the last bend the path terminates into a large clearing - a sort of natural Hollow. The foliage of the Hedge surrounds the area, but the ground itself is barren and rocky. Dotted through the field - and it is a field, at least half the size of a football field if not larger - are pools of thick, black, bubbling liquid. The smell, fainter before and covered by the native vegetation of the Hedge, is now familiar and obvious, at least to those who have visited some of California's more famous geological attractions.

As the Lost take in the prehistoric sight, a giant insect with a wingspan of at least 5 feet buzzes through the air and alights on a rock outcropping, only a couple feet away from the bubbling tar.

The scent leads into this Hollow, but there is no obvious place for it to go. Attempting to follow the scent will be a Wits + Survival roll with a -3 penalty for the overpowering stench of the tar. Tracking over rocks by sight is an Int + Survival roll also at a -3 penalty. Alternatively looking around the hollow for other clues besides tracking attempts can be a Wits + Investigation roll (largely a perception matter). Finally, any who wish can make a Wits + Occult roll, a specialty in the Hedge will apply.

[Degnar]

As they came upon the Hollow, Degnar stopped in his tracks for a moment. His black beady eyes blinked a couple of times as he studied the natural structure in front of them, as he slowly took a few steps forward as he began to take a closer look around the place. After all, it wouldn't be any good for them if they continued to follow the scent into someone else's den without checking for traps or security mechanisms first. While the overwhelming smell of tar filled the air, the Darkling still managed to make out the faint scent of their mark's blood coming from inside the Hollow. He was confident that they could continue to follow it, but before they did he continued to look around the place for any potential threats to their mission.

Falling into a pit of poisonous snakes is the last thing we need...

  2 suxx Occult, 2 suxx Investigation, 1 suxx to track scent

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-12-03 10:51:27		Degnar rolls 3 to Wits+Survival+1 (pledge)-3 (strong smells around) (10 Again)		4, 9, 3		1 success
2012-12-03 10:50:37		Degnar rolls 8 to Wits+Investigation+1 (pledge)+2 (BKS) (10 Again)		3, 10, 6, 4, 2, 9, 7, 1, 4		2 successes
2012-12-03 10:50:04		Degnar rolls 5 to Wits+Occult (10 Again)		6, 8, 2, 1, 8		2 successes

[Swift]

Occult success (everyone)

As the Lost carefully consider the strange Hollow a few facts start to line up for them. The path to the Fleshmarket - a place that no Lost has ever witnessed as anything other than night; the way the Hedge held onto the blood scent of their prey as if he had just passed this way, even though by all accounts it has been more than long enough for the trail to fade; the prehistoric setting of this hollow. All this adds up to one common element.

Time. While the Hedge is always a place where time flows oddly, this place seems to be a chaotic mess of time. And it's more than just the Hollow here, but the entire neighborhood here in the Hedge.

Investigation success (Degnar and Anya)

Looking around the hollow reveals a few additional details. Most notably are the bones. Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that such a place has bones of all shapes and sizes. But these bones are poking out of the stones, not sitting at the bottom of the tar pits. A femur can be seen lying mostly buried but visible lengthwise along one of the flat stones that make up the main part of the ground. A rib sticks out of another stone like a curving fencepost. The top part of what appears to be a spinal column protrudes from another.

On one side of the hollow large sections of the rock are missing bearing the obvious signs of tool use - like a pick axe or hammer and chisel have been used on the rocks. In one case a full hole has been bored through the flat rock revealing tar only a foot or two beneath the surface.

Most disturbingly, however, is the size of some of the bones. The rib bone sticking out like a fence post is at least 4 feet long, and only partially revealed.

Degnar

The scent goes directly toward the thickest collection of tar pools. It will take a closer inspection to determine exactly where it goes from there. However, one of the pools in that collection seems to give off more steam than the others. After a moment of two of study Degnar get's the distinct impression that the steam is not normal - even compared to the rest of the Hedge. That pool contains a gateway out of the Hedge.

  Degnar's Hedgegate Sense

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-12-03 22:40:44		Storyteller for Degnar rolls 5 to something. (10 Again)		3, 2, 10, 7, 8, 6		2 successes

ooc

Lou do you have some way of following scent trails? Degnar is currently utilizing a contract to be able to track by scent. If so then Lou might have more information about the scent trail.