"Yeah, fibbing's hard. But sometimes you have to do it." Shawn felt an odd sense of relaxation as he listened to Ralph. He didn't feel judged, which was unusual for him. "And sometimes you have to do bad things to keep people you know safe from the Circus."

"ummm...hmmm..." Ralph agreed, nodding his head. "That's why when I saw that Bobby thought that...that...that...that...your Mom and Dad was for being his I thought you probably got the Tweedberry. That's what...I used to pick before I got sent to Master Maker tent. For to prepare. That's what I had to do: for to prepare for Master Maker."

"But I had a dream that Master Maker not coming no more. When I have dreams, it has to mean that part of it comes true. Or something close to...to..to..to..to..to..to dr..dr..dream." He swallowed, the effort of getting the words out somehow tiring.

"So but now in the that dream is how of come I find it that a big contest is going on between Mr. Cherrywinks and the Fortune Teller. Its a contest that happens every time the Circus comes back. Someone has to be in charge."

"And the pr...pr...pr...pr...proprietor wants souls. So that mean that whoever gets the most souls the quickest gets for to be in charge."

Shawn nodded seriously. "The clowns seemed to think so. You and me both need to be extra careful."

A strange, foul smell descended upon the forest like eggs rotten. Or maybe like the time  the power went out during a winter storm in Milwaukee. Shawn had opened the refrigerator a few days later to find the putrid smell of rotten meat filling his nostrils.

Only now that same powerful smell was everywhere. Then there was a shuffling sound. A snorting.

Ralph put his fingers up to his lips, in a 'shhhhhh' gesture, cutting the conversation short.

Not needing any encouragement, Shawn cut the conversation short and crouched low behind the rock.

The smell grew stronger and so did the sound. It was a shuffling. From behind the rock Shawn could see what appeared to be a shadow-like figure walking towards them, through the thick foliage.

Closer...closer..

Shawn held his breath, not even wanting the sound of his breathing to give him away. He hoped Ralph was also doing his best to keep quiet.

There was a snapping of a twig and....

OOC: Shawn Rolls Composure + Expression with the following results

0 Successes: "Ahhhhhh!!!" Shawn screams, completely frightened

1 Successes: Shawn jumps but makes no sounds, startled

2+ Successes: Shawn jumps and feels his heart hop all the way up to his throat--but only on the inside--on the outside he manages to keep cool

Shawn is too frightened to even make a sound.

OOC: 14:18, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more with rolls of 2,6,3,10(+9,1),2.  Composure + Expression.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:24, Fri 26 May 2017.

"AhhH!" Ralph yelled, even as Shawn kept quiet

"Ha! You baby! I had you really fooled!" Eddy said, rounding the rock to surprise the boys and delighted at the sight of Ralphs cry by the looks of it.

Erica came running up behind Eddy. "Look he's crying." She said referring to Ralph. "You shouldn't scare kids like that Eddy." She punched Eddy in the arm somewhat playfully, but clearly annoyed.

Shawn looked around in confusion. Did things still smell like rotting meat? They could all be in serious danger.

The smell was pungent and fetid. It was a fishy smell that came on strong when Shawn had noticed it. But unlike most smells, it didn't seem to go away. Nor did Shawn's own sense of smell grow accustomed to it. Instead, the smell was strong. So strong that it seemed to wind its way up Shawn's notice, burning his eyes and making him squint, tears threatening to create a protective barrier, like his eyes were ready to defend themselves for some growing danger.

Eddy's laugh was cut short, the realization of the foul smell hitting him like a slap in the face

"Peeee-yooo!" He said, covering his nose. "Which one of you shit the bed?" He scowled, looking accusingly at Shawn and then Ralph, Eddy's own eyes watering up.

Shawn scrambled for a plausible reason to leave, lest the pig monster Ralph had mentioned show up while they were there. "That's way too gross to be a person - I bet there's like a busted sewer pipe or something."

"Yeah. Ewwww! Gross. That smell is awful. It's like one of you made spitballs in your pants. No, not spitballs, Shitballs. Like one of you made Shitballs in your pants, hahahah!" Eddy said, oblivious to the possible scary danger Shawn was thinking about.

Ralph wiped his tears....'wwww...we...shh...sh...sh...should be qui..quite...quiet. It's...gonna...gonna..gonna...be here."

He swallowed, pushing out all his effort into a sentence.

"Gonna be here s...so...soon."

Ralph was worried, Shawn was worried, and there was no time to even think of a cover story,
 really. "Shh, wait do you hear that? Quiet for a sec." So instead, he tried honesty; for a certain value of honesty, anyway. Hopefully they'd comply long enough to either avoid trouble or for him to come up with an explanation.

As the smell got worse, it became clear that something was, indeed, going on. Driven by the collective sense of the impending 'something', the kids almost instinctively lowered themselves until they were well hidden behind the large rock.

It came from the ground.

A large pile of leaves about 15 away began to rustle. The pile collapsed on itself, yellow, red and green leaves falling inward. It looked like a compost pile being slowly sucked into the earth. There was a clinking sound, like metal on metal. Then a small, dirty, child's hand appeared, grasping at the edge of the hole that had been formed. Soon Shawn could see an elbow, and then a dirty face. A kid emerged and then soon another followed. They were connected by a large metal chain that linked through a loop that passed through a metal collar.

Slaves.

After three kids emerged, their clothes all ragged and smelling of rot, it came out.  a large pig creature that was holding the chain.

Shawn kept absolutely quiet, and with the fear in his eyes tried to convey to the others that they should be silent as well.

The chaingang came out of the hole in the forest, and the Pig Monster began to order them around, gnarled fingers clasped around the heavy chain, demanding that they search the area for 'it.' What 'it' was, was anyone's guess.  Dirty hands from each chained up child began to search through the failen leaves of the forest.

"What...is...that?" Erica said, back of her head pressed hard against the rock, trying not to be noticed as she stared at Shawn, eyes wide with alarm.

" it's like some kind of....pig monster." Eddy said, head peeking around the corner.

"Shh..." They could discuss things later, right now Shawn just didn't want to alert the pig creature.

"Alright my pretties!" The Pig creature said in deep, snorting, somewhat effeminate voice. "I want as many acorns as possible put into those baskets. Anything else that we can use put in to the green basket. Get to work!"

Shawn could see this kids moving with the collective mind of ants, dirty hands shuffling through the leaves, dirty faces scrunched up in concentration, the stress of performing the action to the letter of their Master's commands weighing down on them.

"L...lead Carnie Hogwash." Ralph said in a low, barely audible whisper to the rest of the group. "He work the kids to make the prizes...he make the prizes for the Circus...he make prizes that people buy when Circus opens...they don't realize that they give their soul to b..b..b..buy prizes, and win prizes."