Realistic or Modern Welcome To Shearport

[Inari]

Red


-Out Back-


Zach’s news brought a growl from Red. ”Thieving paws left and right…” he muttered, shaking his head. ”We’re going hunting for child-stealers. Want to come along? Maybe it was the same one that got into the garden. Were there any prints like the ones out back?” he wondered, gesturing toward the pavilion which led into the patch of Hedge where everyone had seen the prints he had been tracking.

 

[The Fuzz]

The Kitchen (and therefore anyone in the kitchen)





Peg chooses this moment to bustle back into the kitchen, putting her phone away.


"Did I hear what I thought I heard? Something about a little pair of shoes in the Hedge?"


Zach





You gather some of the green apples, a patch of blueberries, and some of the younger mutfruit, who are still tawny gold in colour. They mutter and purr to themselves as you tuck them away.

 

[PixelWitch]

Zach - Back Garden Porch


He pouts sadly at Rita, "No, I know it wasn't you,"


He then lifts his heads to answer both Sage and Red at once, "And to that... I don't know... the whole crop's been nicked. Eaten. Pilfered,"


He looks down sadly at what little he has managed to salvage, "I dunno who... but yeah, there's more prints. Dunno if they match the ones you're looking for, but you're welcome to have a look for yourself..."


He jangles the keys at his hip and nods towards the shed, "And about Hedge hunting, well... unless we can find someone to mind the B&B while we're gone..."

 

[Axelgear]

Sackcloth


"You heard right, Peg." Robert answers unhappily, a grimace pushing some fabric slightly over his glass eyes. "We were about to all go take a look." He continues, then pauses, glancing to Zach.


"Well, most of us were..." He mumbles.


"I suppose I could stay here; I could get a lot done with everyone out and-... Hm... Unless, I don't suppose..." Robert mutters, setting his hands on his hips, glancing down a moment and turning between the group and Peg.


"I don't suppose you'd mind keeping an eye on the place while we're gone, Peg? You're welcome to avail yourself of the place's comforts, such as they are, to your heart's content and desire's depths. Shouldn't be gone more than a couple hours at most, unless something goes horribly wrong, in which case I think we might all doubly appreciate your keeping a tender eye peeled for our return." He asks with his prettiest smile.


It's like a twelve-year-old's rock collection, lined up in two neat little rows.

 

[risaphoeniix]

Lita the Magpie, Out Back





Lita has joined Red out back and is very obviously ready to go, pacing around the gazebo.

 

[The Fuzz]

---> Expedition





Y'all remember how to use the Hedge gate out back? Everyone got your strand of ivy, boots, water, jerky and dried fruit? Did you use the bathroom before you came out? Good.

 

[Ragoza]

Liam - The Garden





Liam lights up his pipe as he steps into the garden, taking a long drag as he stops beside Red.


"Lead the way"

 

[The Fuzz]

---> The Garden





Peg calls out the kitchen door after you. "Be careful, won't you? And try not to take too long, I'm supposed to be having my hair done at five!"


If anyone glances back, she'll be standing in the kitchen doorway, frowning in the direction of the gate with a mug of tea in hand.

 

[Grey]

Lucas Hood





"We'll try," Lucas calls back, but he doesn't sound especially invested in the idea. He follows Liam and Red.

 

[PixelWitch]

Zach - The Garden


"Well, okay... at least if it's in good hands..." he pockets the fruits in the oversized pockets of his cargo pants, the muttfruit warbling quietly as he does so, "Gus? You stay here and keep the house and Peg safe for me, ok?"


The slobbering ball of black fur glances lazily back and forth from Zach, to the house to Peg and back to Zach again. *Gus good* *Stay*


"Good boy" he ruffles the mutt's wrinkly jowls, laments momentarily of the drool, and turns on heel, joining the others.

 

[Alexandra]

Sage


Picking her way daintily around the massive black dog, Sage makes her way after Zach.


"Not to worry, Peggy; I'm sure we'll be back in plenty of time."

 

[Inari]

Red


-Out Back->Into the Hedge-


Red took the lead, pulling out his scrap of ivy as the motley approached the pavilion. Despite his concerns, he found his mood improving; he had his pack with him, and it was time to hunt. On the steps up, he covered his eyes and began to whistle the same diddy from earlier; a snatch of Peter and the Wolf. The gate opened, and one by one the pack passed through.


It wasn’t far to the paw-like tracks. Red looked up and down the trail as the group arrived; it all seemed more or less the same from earlier. ”I went back that way,” he indicated the back end of the trail with a nod of his head. ”That’s where I found the shoes, in a briar patch.” With a huff, he plucked a stray thorn that had been lodged in his jacket and tossed it aside. ”No idea how far they go this way, but we’ll find out,” he informed, beginning to follow alongside the trail. "Good to be careful. Either this is one really weird beastie, or a bunch of them." He indicated the strange front-front-front-front-back prints, but he didn't know how many of the group had the acumen to pick out the differences between fore and hind paws.

 

[Axelgear]

Sackcloth - Backyard -> Hedge


"You're a peach, Peg! Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise!" Robert cheers, lifting a hammer from his belt, touching it to his brow and then gesturing to her in a tool-based salute. Immediately, he's off at a bounce, towards the Hedge; Sackcloth cannot help but have a spring in his step as he moves through the gate and 'takes off the wrapping'.


"Aaaah, feels so gooooood~" Sackcloth almost purrs as he feels the Mask dissolve, rubbing his arms and legs as if trying to get off a layer of dead skin. A euphoric shiver follows and he's back to life; bouncing like a rubber ball whipped at the floor. A few early jigs and he's back to himself again, albeit still carrying that aura of manic excitement to be out of the mortal world. Falling into step with the others, he occasionally bounces or skips, unable to help himself.


"Funny thing for a wolf-man talkin' to birdies and burlap to call something." Sackcloth titters at Red's conclusion, as he follows down the trail of footprints away from the location of the grim discovery.

 

[risaphoeniix]

Lita the Magpie - Into the Hedge





Lita darted through the gate after Red, pausing to shake out her feathers. She liked the hedge, it almost made her feel like if she spread out her wings and flapped she could fly again. When she saw where he was indicating, she crouched down next to the tracks, squinting at them. The beasts of the hedge weren't her specialty, but she considered the prints carefully, trying to figure out what the little marks had to say. "Whatdya think it looks like?" She asked.

Spoiler

[dice]3134[/dice]

 

[Ragoza]

Liam - Into the Hedge





The Mask melts away as he steps through the gate, leaving Liam looking more or less the same, if a little more windswept. There's something very relaxing about being in the Hedge, less restricted. Dwelling on it would only make him uncomfortable.


"Have we a plan, Red?" he asks, calmly hefting his harpoon. The Mask has fallen from the harpoon as well, shedding the disguise of a battered boat hook and instead appearing as a single length of dull bone.

 

[PixelWitch]

Zach - Into the Hedge


He had always been called flameheaded... but now as he stepped over the threshold and his mein no longer held in place, that term became literal. It truely glowed, the tips of his mass of locks glimmering with a soft amber radience, like the dying coals of what was once a roaring fire, incandescent trails of glittering motes trailing lazily into the air around him He breathed deep and sighed contentedly.


"Well, whether it's the kids or something else, I'm twattin' it for stealing my stuff,"

 

[Inari]

Red


-The Hedge-


Red’s sheepskin didn’t follow him through the gate. Leading the procession of rags and weeds and feathers and flames, all his features seemed stretched and sharpened and his body hair was thick enough it might be thought fur. At Sackcloth’s jape, he looked back with a grin full of teeth fit to rip another of the burlap man’s limbs off. ”Got me there. Maybe we’ll sit down with it and have a nice chat.” Liam’s question got a more serious answer. ”Follow the tracks and see what we’re dealing with. If it’s a goblin snagging children, we take care of it. If not…we do what we can. Keep your eyes open and ears up and we’ll make plans when we can.” There wasn’t much planning to be made until they found where the tracks led. So they got to it.


The hunter never walked on the tracks themselves, instead making a new trail parallel to the one they followed. His eyes were on the forest around them more often than the trail, at least where it was clear; inspecting trees, looking toward the sky, sniffing at the air. The group moved at a modest pace, careful and wary. ”It has furry feet at least, but I couldn’t tell you how many. They look like dog paws, but seems like it has more front paws than back.” He crouched down next to the trail to show Lita, indicating several prints. ”This is a forepaw. So is this one. And this one. And this one.” One after another, all front paws. ”But this is a back paw,” he pointed at the next, which was only subtly different in how the claws pointed and how the weight fell to indent the earth. ”Light prints, too, although it should be carrying a child.” He sniffed, frowned, and stood back up to get moving again, clearly lacking a clearer explanation.


A thought struck Red while they trekked. ”Who would steal children and goblin fruits?” he wondered, looking to his glowing friend for illumination.

 

[Axelgear]

Sackcloth - Hedge


"Careful, wolfen one; you might cut yourself on the thorns jumping so swiftly to conclusions." Sackcloth titters, unable to help being rather bouncy himself, continuing to merrily skip along.


"Quill and page, the world's a stage, and this act's just begun; we're missing facts, and though perfidiously waxed, the author's not yet done. Their story's told, in letter's bold, with innocence as a pun; if you're confused, or perhaps bemused, step back look anon." The Wizened sing-songs, pirouetting twice as he does so, nimbly dextrous feet keeping him from throwing himself into the thorns.


"Look again, Red; in my footprints, do you see pancakes and bacon?" He says more directly, gesturing down at his own tracks, which barely displace the mud save where he'd thrown himself up and about; Sackcloth is not very heavy, even with his tool belt.


"Assuming the child didn't get away entirely, I must add; slippery little devils. And what if the one we're following now is neither the one that attacked the child or the precious garden?" He asks, quirking a brow. "One step forward and two steps back..."


"The list of suspects a mile long; instincts talking loud and strong; but let's not forget it might be wrong!" He sings again, tapping a knee with the side of his hammer for a beat. "You ken?"

 

[The Fuzz]

----> Y'all





This path in the Hedge is very slightly broader where the permanent gate opens into it, and then narrows beyond, curving out of sight behind walls of hostile foliage. As Red observed earlier, this part of the Hedge seems to have embraced Autumn a little before the real world. Leaves fall to the ground, a rustly carpet of red, gold and brown. The strongest green is the thorns.


The tracks are faint, and are more covered by leaves than you recall, Red. Perhaps the Hedge is covering for the beast?


Lucas, you can see the tracks and extrapolate a path. Here, in the Hedge, your personal foliage itches slightly, and you can feel your whiskers growing rustled and curled.


Lita, it's been a little while, but you remember how to get to the weird greenhouse place. You go along the path, same direction that Red is snuffling and Lucas is scowling, then you take a left, a right, climb a tree, come down the other side, glide over a patch of thorns, close your eyes and step to your right. Or left.

Spoiler

Ragoza, I can't see Liam's character sheet, you seem to have changed the viewing permissions on the doc.

 

[Alexandra]

Sage


The Darkling reaches out and picks a thorn. She grips it tightly, and the point digs into china flesh in a way mundane nature never could. A single drop of blood escapes her clenched fist, drips to the ground, and she concentrates on the Hedge around her.


A spider moves out of the cobweb wisps clinging to her head and settles in her ear; but she barely notices. She is far more concerned with the vibrations in the land.

Spoiler

Using Pathfinder, and the blood drop from the thorn is the Catch. I've detailed the rules for her Contracts on my character sheet, and I keep a link in my signature for ease of finding shit. So, tell me things about the Hedge!!


[dice]3304[/dice]


[dice]3374[/dice]

 

[Grey]

Lucas Hood





Bereft of Mask, Lucas can't but loom; an Autumnal fire of leaves over dark oaken scales. Little thorns sprout in sympathy as he mimics the surrounding Hedge.


"Don't get too excited, Robert," Lucas growls. "Something in here might like your singing too much."


So. Some manner of Hedge-beast, stolen children, stolen fruit...


Vainly, he scours his memory for something, or a fairytale. What does bandersnatch mean?


Seeing Sage working some magic, Lucas is content to wait. It pays to listen to grandmother, he thinks, and smiles like a wolf.

 

[risaphoeniix]

Lita the Magpie - The Hedge


"That's funny," Lita said, trying to imagine trying to walk on all fours with three arms (or would that be all fives?) She watched Red point out prints, trying to guess which was which before he pointed to them.


As she started walking down the path behind Red, she kept watch around her. She liked the hedge, but lots of what was in it wasn't so nice. "I hope they're not making children and goblin fruit stew" she piped in.

 

[Axelgear]

Sackcloth - Hedge


The dancing brownie looks like he's been struck from behind by a brick at Lucas's comment, complete with tripping forward to a stop. He looks back, and, even with head ducked in deference, seems like he might almost be growling too.


"Sackcloth..." He grumbles under his breath, setting his face back towards the road to trod on with gay merriment snuffed. Still holding his hammer, he rubs the thumb of his free hand across the claw over and over.

 

[PixelWitch]

Zach - The Hedge


He rolls his shoulders, inhaling the sweet scented air. He always loved the air in the Hedge... he always felt like it fed his flames, but that he shouldn't touch. His toes curl and ankles roll, stretching the back of his knees, preparing for a long walk ahead, idly thumbing the silver lighter in his pocket.


"So where to?"

 

[The Fuzz]

--> Alexandra





The Hedge whispers...


the soles of your feet feel the damp leaf litter, and then almost a painful roughness as they leave the ground behind. the tracks move from the trail to the lower branches of the trees, and then out of your awareness, around the bend, parallel to the path, but dangerously deep in the foliage.


off to the left, there's a clear patch in the thorns, one which has no handy path leading to it. you'd need the agility of a gymnast or a child to reach it, to gorge on the berries growing there, and someone has.


further up, you feel the highest branches swaying in the wind. the storm promised in the real world apparently has an admirer here in the thorns. it is coming.





--> Y'all





The path curves around, out of sight. The breeze is fresh and mild, but promising a chill to come. The path narrows and widens again, forcing you to squeeze past thorny growths, while brown and red leaves fall ever so slowly around you, twirling in the breeze, as if asking you to dance.


Up ahead, the path forks, left and right. The right path is broader, and moves straight on. The left path is narrower, and curls away.