Spells
Honing the form, dex+3 (pot3)
Body control +3
Pulse of the living world
Organic Resilience 2E monthly pot2
Body control +3
Pulse of the living world
Organic Resilience 2E monthly pot2
"Anything you should know? Yeah. If you feel something reach out and touch your mind, it's probably me. Otherwise, let's have a little noise discipline and shut the fuck up, Talon," Avis growled back, before slinking several paces away and crouching down amongst the brush.
She would keep the other two in her sight (not that it would be that hard), but otherwise she'd do her best to walk softly and keep a low profile. It wouldn't be easy, but she would do her best.
1 success, stealth
Guru would have interjected on Skye's behalf normally, peace, serenity, all that bullshit was his modus operandi of course. But he was hyper focused on the trail watching it weave and wind before losing it in some brush. He let out a snort of frustration and followed the path it would logically take, catching a glimpse of a boot print and changing course before he found himself hot on the trail again. He was too focused and had to stay too close to the tracks to bother to hide unfortunately, not that it would do him much good.
At the moment he was following the trail like a bloodhound, obsessive and patient wanting nothing more than to find what was at the end of it. Pair of boot prints so there was at least two people but who knew if they were meeting more. Nervousness bubbling up in his belly as they walked wondering at what they might find.
failure
1 success
4 successes
The two Shaman's tag-team: Guru has the lead and the skill, but not the complete understanding to apply it; Skye is a skilled tracker and complements the Apostate with her practical knowledge. If it wasn't for her intervention early on, they would have lost the trail completely when the stream zig-zagged through rough country and the trail veered away from the bank.
Avis follows at a distance, moving carefully through the thick undergrowth.
The summer heat and the silence conspire to create an oppressive atmosphere.
The trail returns to the soggy bank and sticks with it to a point where the stream splits in two: one branch turns to the north and the other bends away to the south east. The undergrowth has grown thicker and the tree's taller. Vital energy pulses through the land for those that can see. The Warlock detects a note of subdued animal fear but nothing more.
Skye finds the first sign of their real quarry: a hand - or is it paw? - print almost concealed by tall grass. Slightly larger than a human hand and too bestial to belong to a regular human.
Guru finds a thick, coarse, tuft of ... hair - no, fur? - tangled up in the spiny branches of a thin, water loving tree.
The trail becomes convoluted. The hunter's took the south-east branch of the stream. A second trail appears, moving back along the stream bed and generally heading toward's them - a scouring, clumsy trail that obliterates much of the previous evidence. Dashes of brown mark trees and the thicker vegetation.
Spells
Honing the form, dex+3 (pot3)
Body control +3
Pulse of the living world
Organic Resilience 2E monthly pot2
Damn she was one rude girl but still they were out on a mission that could be dangerous so she was not gonna start an argument now and she was not one that got angry easily, her demeanor remaining as calm as ever as she walks along with Guru, offering him any aid she can give and looking out for danger all whilst being as silent as possible and speaking in low tones, one never knows who might be listening or how good ears people might have.
She was a bit annoyed though, she had taken a position that she herself fancied to use but to leave Guru alone in the front would not be ok, it was far to dangerous if anything would happen and it was her duty to keep him safe.
Tapping Guru on the shoulder and making sure to point the print out to him.
What could this be, whatever it was so did it not seem natural much to her dislike.
If dealing with such things would happen so was it best to prepare.
A glyph of green energy appearing around her as her eyes shimmer green for a second, her only move made is to quickly drag her left thumb and middle finger over her eyes.
Having no issues working an improvised spell from her primary arcana it quickly takes effect with little effort.
3 successes
She was over her quota as well, feeling how her body was not in its full form but it would hopefully not be to much of a hindrance to her.
Making sure that she have access to draw an arrow at any time she so chooses and gesting to Guru to hold a knife in his hand.
Her steps used to the terrain though walks surely and safely, leaving as little evidence of her own passing as possible
"There's nothing but animals around us," Avis said softly as she approached the tracking duo, still crouching low.
"What's your assessment?"
They had the expertise here. Best to let them share what they knew before trying to fit the pieces together.
He saw the hand, claw hybrid and pointed to the ground for Avis to see. Looked at his hand, pictured what it might look like like that, rearranged his atoms and came up with something that might not match the lie. He shook his head and saw the brown streaks.
"Dried blood." He whispered following Skye's lead and slipping his hand down to his belt, not withdrawing a dagger but keeping one at the ready anyway as he looked at the tracks. Did two turn to one? Was one tracking the other and injure it? what was the trail of dried blood he was following?
Exposed. In the open, in certain times this would be called the vanguard position and was the most vulnerable and most exposed. The first to make contact with the enemy but he couldn't help but push forward. The tracks were a chaotic mess, likely intentional... but the blood. The blood didn't lie and lead him straight and true even as the footsteps scattered.
1 success
Thanks to Guru's gesture, Avis makes out the hybrid paw-handprint.
The two Thrysus are moving on down the south-east branch of the stream, Guru now more confident as he follows the trail of blood.
The stream bed eventually turns north. Where it does, the land flattens and the stream bed looses its identity in a large patch of soggy ground and stinking pools. Immediately north, the ground rises steeply and is thickly concealed in rampant brush and scrub. To the south and some way off, the waste ground fades out onto a patch of urban farmland (the fence line is squashed under rampaging vegetation and beyond that lies a rather ugly looking out building).
This area would have been covered in thick grass but it looks like a mini tornado has hit it: shredded grass and torn clumps lie drying out everywhere. The blood ends (or, rather, starts) here. The slick jellied earth clearly makes the passage of paw and boot prints.
Clearly the confrontation happened here.
Spells
Honing the form, dex+3 (pot3)
Body control +3
Pulse of the living world
Organic Resilience 2E monthly pot2
Speaking in a low tone towards Avis.
"That whatever were dealing with is not something natural, be it a shifter of some kind or an experiment still remains to be seen. The wound speaks of either trouble or double trouble for us." Blood meant a wound and whatever had been involved in that would not be good for them. There was more that could be speculated but that was just pointless speculations right now, she would gladly speak more of it under normal circumstances but now they were on a mission and this was not the time for such things.
As they arrived her eyes looked over the area, it was not a nice one, looking around, looking to the looking out building wondering if they would be able to see something of interest from up there. Speaking in low soft tone.
"What do you say searching on for clues or gain the high ground to see if anything can be seen?"
Looking over the area, trying to determine how long ago the grass was uprooted and the storm or fight had hit. Sadly she was not having much luck today, her focuses being kept on being ready to defend Guru should something happen.
failure
Avis considered the paw print she'd been shown, as well as the trail of blood that lead them here. Then she listened, though not with her ears, but with her mind, taking in the vibrations of all the thoughts around her.
After a moment, satisfied it was just animals keeping them company, she spoke again.
"My money's on werewolves. I know they're in the city. Few years ago I helped break up a fight ring the Seers had constructed. They'd accidentally kidnapped a werewolf. She changed while we were assaulting the arena, all the blood in the air, I guess, and some of her people came to get her. Saw a little of what they could do, though I have to say, I'm surprised there's not more evidence scattered around. More than just prints and blood, I mean. Which makes me think that, maybe, the wolves lost.
"These," she continued, pointing at the boot prints, "must have won. Must have chased one away, then carried whatever bodies there were out as they exfilled back the way we came. Though, that's just a theory. I'd like to poke around more, see if there's any evidence they missed. If there's anything living in that building, or on the higher ground, wait for me. Otherwise, see what you can find."
With that, she bent her eyes to the ground around them, looking for fur, shell casings, bolts, arrows, dropped knives, broken teeth, torn clothing, anything besides the prints and blood. Anything that could help re-construct the fight.
3 rolls, 7 successes
When he approached the clearing, he resisted the urge to let out a sharp whistle of amazement. He squats near the edge of the violent clearing and looked out over the scene looking at the blood spatter, the dance of the footprints trying to follow the tempo of the dance. He could see the Farmland to their south, possible witnesses there even maybe the perpetrators. Even without much knowledge the scene told one story there was a direct confrontation here. A gun might have been used but not from any distance.
He could check the area for Gunpowder Residue but that would tax him and it’d be such a trace amount it’d be hard to detect anyway. Would be easier to follow the blood see if they could find a corpse or where the victim lay. He listened to Avis and nodded, she knew more than he did here so he deferred to her when she finished he only raised a single finger to make a point.
“No body.”
They’d found the end of the blood trail and followed it to its source, there was a conflict here and whatever had attacked the werewolf followed it as it fled or as it bled out. Was it hoping to find more or was it like a cat playing with its food?
He also thought back to the trail, two sets of feet and one hybrid hand. Werewolf was seeming more plausible, whatever happened here it had run off with its pursuer in tow and the point which the blood trail started from his perspective is when he saw the strange hybrid paw and before that was two sets of boots. One hunter, One hunted?
“Might be my drug addled mind here but we were following two sets of boot prints. When the blood trail started is when we saw that weird half-hand-claw print. I don’t think it ended here, I think whatever it was fled and was pursued. I don’t know for sure though, just a hypothesis.”
Was there an ambush point? A perch? We can see where the major conflict took place and its epicenter but was that where it started?
4 successes