Frank shrugged. "Well it's either that, or we wait for the Company to send us someone who can track..." he said. "If they end up seeing something they shouldn't, well, we can always kill them."

He gave Adele a wolfish grin, showing a sense of humour he rarely exhibited usually.

"I'd guess we'll find someone suitable in the bar."

"Ah. Spending all your pay on alcohol, as usual? I have to schedule you in for The Company's psychiatrist, I hear she's been complaining about you missing your regular sessions."

And the bar was...aha, that looked like it. "That one, I suspect?"

Sasparilla's Tavern is, despite the name, not the cheesy cowboy saloon you might be expecting. It is bright and somewhat modern. The neon signs on the walls and handles on the taps inform you that they serve nothing but the best American-style lagers here. Also on tap is Sasparilla's home brand of root beer.

The bar is about half full, with stragglers trickling in; the patrons are primarily composed of farmhands and day laborers with a couple of retail workers mixed in. Two families are eating dinner at the booths along the back wall.

Click for a picture of the bar

"Hmm, this is pretty nice," Frank said quietly to his colleagues, smiling. "Reckon we should actually stop for a few drinks when we're done with this mission."

Figuring the direct approach as the best, he approached the bar and laid down some notes.

"Pour a round for everyone, I'm buying," he said in a loud voice. He turned around and addressed the patrons. "Ok, now there's another few rounds for you if someone can point me in the direction of a good local tracker."

The room gets quiet. A younger guy sitting at the bar yells out in a thick western accent, Well gursh, I think Chief Little Big Balls down at the reservation can track. Are you on the trail of Jesse James?

He holds a straight face for about ten seconds then the whole bar busts out laughing. The man speaks up again, this time with no accent, C'mon, we might be a one horse town, but we ain't in a movie here. Thanks for the drink though.

As turns back to his drink the man sitting next to him nudges him and says, Hey Jim, wasn't numbnuts like a special ops guy or something? Maybe he can help these guys. Jim thinks for a second then replies, Oh yeah! I totally forgot. He turns back to you. The sheriff might be able to help you. It's been a while, but I think he used to be able to do that kind of stuff. What are you all looking for, anyway?

"Animals." Toby spoke up, shrugging. "What else?"

Adele shook her head and muttered something not pitched for the ears of the General Public. "At least we're not from the government...maybe we should film a movie, it'd be a nice cover..."

Animals? Why would you -- oh. You mean the animal. Yeah, leave it to ol' numbnuts to send out posses before following tracks.

The man sitting beside Jim speaks up again. Well, to his credit, it rained right after the first attack, and there was a big windstorm after the second one. If there were any tracks, they probably got obfuscated before the Sheriff could follow 'em.

Obsfucated? Jim inquires. Did your mommy get you a word of the day calendar or somethin'? And what do you know about following tracks anyway?

Just because I look stupid, don't mean I ain't know a thing or two.

Frank remained impassive even as Jim mocked him. The sheriff being former spec ops could prove useful, but he doubted it'd be easy to get him to work for them. On the other hand, the man next to Jim seemed to have some idea about tracking. He watched and listened carefully, trying to work out if the guy was just parroting stuff he'd read in a book or seen on a TV show, or if he did genuinely have a clue about this sort of thing.

23:47, Today: Francis 'Frank' Decourcey rolled 26 using 1d20+7. Sense Motive on Jim's mate.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:50, Tue 24 Nov 2009.

The man seems pretty trustworthy, but you get the impression that maybe he's just trying to sound smart in front of Jim.

Jim let's out a huge belch, then his friend pats him on the back in congratulations.

Frank left the two men to their japery, and walked back over to Adele and Toby.

"I'm getting the impression we're not going to get much more of use here," he said. "Guess we might as well head over and speak to the sheriff, unless there's something else you want to ask them?"

"not that I can think of." Tobias down the rest of his beer which he had managed to conjure up in the meantime. "But you've got a round to pay up for first."

Frank pays his tab and you leave the bar.

The sheriff's office is a few doors down on main street. There are two dated police cars in the small parking lot which borders the building. Just as you arrive, the sheriff is leaving the front door of the station, in the slow stride that indicates he's leaving for the night. The sheriff is tall, muscular, and surprisingly young for a man of his position.

When he catches sight of your approach he says, Ah, you must be the strangers in town. What can I do for you?

Frank knows police officers tend to be pretty territorial, and he figures that the sheriff is unlikely to be particularly receptive to anyone who he perceives as 'muscling in on his territory'. Posing as employees as Tyson does give them some clout though, given how many people's jobs are due to Tyson in the local area.

"Name's Frank Decourcey," he says, flashing his Tyson ID at the young sheriff, falling back to the authoritarian manner and tone he learnt while serving as an officer of the law. "This is Toby Byrne and Adele Sienkiewicz. The company suits have grown a bit concerned that this animal is still loose here in your town, and have sent us down to assist local enforcement and ensure these attacks stop."

"We're ready to put it down, but we need local knowledge and knowhow to track this thing. I hope you'll be able to work with us in this matter, sheriff. Tyson don't forget those who help them out."

Frank tries to play things very carefully. On one hand he wants to keep the sheriff on-side, and making it clear that he's in charge seems a good way to do this. On the other hand, they don't really want the sheriff to be able to refuse, so showing the Tyson badge, and dropping hints that important people are disappointed in the way the situation's been handled so far. Finally a hint of possible reward seems the best way to seal the deal.

[Private to GM: Diplomacy Roll 29

18:08, Today: Francis 'Frank' Decourcey rolled 29 using 1d20+12. Diplomacy roll, sheriff.]

[Private to Francis 'Frank' Decourcey: Diplomacy: Success]

The sheriff tips his hat in introduction and looks almost relieved when you offer assistance. Nice to meetcha. Glen McGray's the name, and boy howdy could I use any help I can get. If you've met any of the posses I've sent out after the cat you probably understand they're, uh, not exactly trained for this sort of thing.

Everything I have, which isn't much, I'll grant, is at your disposal. The town's at my throat and I need to get this under wraps as soon as possible.

"Speaking of under wraps," Tobias chimed in, thinking of something to say that wouldn't sound particularly idiotic, "we noticed some strange markings in the cornfields on our way into town; you wouldn't know anyone who would know about that, would you?"

"Thank you for your help, Glen," said Frank, shaking the sheriff by the hand. "We should start by working out what ground your investigation has already covered, no point in crossing the same turf twice."

"So, you said it's a cat?" Frank continued once Glen had explained how far his investigation had progressed so far. "That mean you've actually got a look at this animal?"

OOC: We can assume that Frank gave the sheriff a chance to answer Toby's question before getting into the fine details here.

Well... no, I can't say I've heard anything about the cornfields. You talking like crop circles or something, because we've got a rather rambunctious group of adolescents with nothing to do all summer. Sometimes they think they are more clever than they really are.

He turns to Frank and says, unfortunately we haven't really found much to investigate. We assume it was a cat because, well, that's the only dangerous animal we get around these parts. The victims didn't have any wounds that looked like they could have been caused by weapons, and they were all discovered outdoors, in relatively secluded areas. I was hoping to follow the thing back to it's lair, but we just haven't been able to find any clue as to where it could be.

It sounded like the sheriff had been tackling things pretty well, but with sadly little success.

"We took a look up at Shaw Farms," said Frank, gesturing towards the other two. "Found some tracks. Problem is, none of us have the proper experience to follow them. We asked at Sasparillas, and some of the guys in there suggested you might know a thing or two about following tracks. That true?"

If the sheriff could help them follow its trail, then maybe they'd be able to track the creature down. The only problem then would be trying to kill it if the Company's theory was right; that it was a creature of Shadow.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:30, Tue 05 Jan 2010.

Did those boys tell you that? I did some special ops training in the service and now every time we go deer hunting they think I'm some sort of Indian guide or something. Well, let's head up there and see what we can find.

---

When you arrive back at Shaw Farms, you notice that the officer that was stationed at the entrance is now gone, as is the body of Bill Elgin. When you show McGray the tracks he looks disappointed.

Well, color me embarassed, he says. I guess I didn't make my search radius big enough; I never saw these tracks -- wait, what are these here? He points to the boot prints. Are those any of yours?

When you tell them they aren't, in fact, your prints, he eyes your boot sizes carefully and seems satisfied that you are telling the truth. He follows the tracks to the grass then looks across the field and gives a whistle through his teeth. Well boys and girls, I think I can follow these tracks, but it's not going to be quick. Hope you all aren't in a hurry to get home and watch Law & Order.

Assuming nobody stops him, you walk for at least an hour. If you have anything you want to ask before he reaches the end of the trail ask it now, otherwise I'll continue on.

"I'm more of an X-Files fan, myself." Tobias shrugged. "lead-on."

[Private to GM: You rolled 27 using 1d20+10 ((17)). Listen check.]

When he saw that the body had vanished, along with the cop who had been guarding the crime scene, Frank grew worried. He had been starting to think that perhaps the company had got this one wrong, that they weren't looking for something supernatural, just a particularly vicious animal that had developed a taste for men. It wasn't unheard of.

Moreover, he'd begun to wonder if his belief that someone in the town was involved had been unfounded. None of the men he'd interviewed had done anything to strengthen those suspicions, after all. The boot marks made him realise that his original hunch was almost certainly right. Someone had disturbed the crime scene and removed the body. Whoever it was, those boot marks seemed the most likely way of identifying them.

He pulled out the compact digital camera he always kept in the pocket of his hunting jacket. Setting it to take at the highest resolution, for maximum detail, he took several careful shots of the boot marks and tracks, from various angles. He wanted to be able to have something to reference the tread from later. He dropped the camera back into his jacket pocket.

He tried to make a judgement on the boot size too, before asking the sheriff for his opinion.

"Any idea what size boots these made these?" he asked, nodding towards the marks, trying to see if there was more than one person who had been walking around here.

[Private to GM: OOC: Spot check for 30 to see if I can work out how many people made these boot marks. With that check, can I also see whether it looks like they were trying to scrub out the tracks?

11:22, Today: Francis 'Frank' Decourcey rolled 30 using 1d20+10. Spot check on boot-prints.

Also, that was all I wanted before we continued, so I rolled my listen check and got 25.

11:25, Today: Francis 'Frank' Decourcey rolled 25 using 1d20+10. Listen check.
]

Well, I'd say those prints look to be about average size, 10 or 11 maybe. Unfortunately for us they look like boots, which just about everyone around here wears.

OOC: To be clear, the boot prints are the same prints you saw before, and appear to go alongside the paw prints. There are new tracks which go to where the body laid; it appears someone put the body on a gurney then loaded it into a vehicle. The sheriff did not make a fuss about it so he was either expecting it, or wasn't bothered by it.

After while, you follow the tracks into a wooded area. Here you are able to see more signs of the tracks, but you largely have to take McGray's skills on faith. After about an hour of walking the sun is slowly starting to move lower in the sky. At the same time, all four of you hear a twig snapping in the distance.

I guess y'all heard that too, the sheriff says in a whisper. Well, I got a bad feeling about this.

[Initiatives!]

Glen McGray's intuition rarely fails him, and today is no exception. The first twig snapping is followed by another, and then another, and then another. Before you can react, the sound of shuffling feet heralds the arrival of a half dozen emaciated humans &emdash; or more accurately, creatures that may once have been human. These creatures stink of death, and tattered clothing hangs from their rotted forms. McGray reaches for his shoulder-mounted walkie-talkie but one of the creatures produces a gun and shoots it out of his hands.

It's then that you notice that all of the creatures have weapons.

14:11, Today: Facilitator rolled 11 using 1d20+7. Tobias Initiative.
14:10, Today: Facilitator rolled 16 using 1d20+3. Frank initiative.
14:09, Today: Facilitator rolled 6 using 1d20+3. adele initiative.
14:09, Today: Facilitator rolled 19 using 1d20-1. twig-snapper initiative.
14:08, Today: Facilitator rolled 2 using 1d20. McGray Initiative.

"Zombies?" Tobias mused, moving to cover inconspicuously. "I wasn't expecting these..."

Lining up carefully, he takes a shot at the nearest of the creatures before ducking behind a tree.

[Private to GM:
Moving from my current position to D-8, firing, and taking my 1/4 cover.
You rolled 14 using 1d20+6 ((8)). Attack
You rolled 7 using 2d6+1 ((2,4)). Damage
You rolled 10 using 2d6 ((5,5)). Bonus damage if evil.

Oh yes. I'm rolling...
You rolled 32 using 1d20+15 ((17)). Arcane Lore
and
You rolled 31 using 1d20+15 ((16)). Theology and Philosophy
...to figure out what these are, and any applicable weaknesses.]
This message was last edited by the player at 22:31, Wed 13 Jan 2010.