"Don't think we could tell which one," he said. "Seems a bit cagey. Probably spooked from all this, and I could't blame him. Or her."

Once the others had gathered and lanterns were about, Bryan moved into the room, hoping to find the child that was hiding from them and bring him to safety - by force if need be. The kid would probably be scared half to death by the whole thing, but was better off back with their parents rather than bein' held by strange people among a buncha vines. That and they didn't need a kid running around in the line of fire if some other bad folks were lurkin' about.

OOC:

Notice: 5 - for trying to spot the little tyke
Agility: 12 - trying to catch the little rascal if he tries to run

15:15, Today: Bryan Lee rolled 12,3 using d8,d6, rerolling max.  Agility.
15:15, Today: Bryan Lee rolled 5,2 using d6,d6, rerolling max.  Notice.

Lee ventures across the hall, through the open doorway.

As the lawman had seen before, a desk, warped by moisture, is centered on the wall opposite the door. A cold lantern sits atop it, beside a stack of yellowing papers, which are held in place by a piece of black stone. Bookcases, clearly constructed by an amateur carpenter, hold a number of cloth and leather bound volumes. All of the books are coverered in dust and most bear no markings on their spines.

To the right of the door is a table. Scattered across its surface are a number of dried leaves and cuttings from plants, as well as several sprigs that have been collected in jars. A book lies in the midst of the samples, along with several pieces of rock of differing colors. Lee’s eyes are drawn to a lone piece of paper which sits close to the table’s edge which looks out of place, the color of it almost white, suggesting that it is much newer than the items surrounding it.

To the left is a trapdoor with an iron handle, which is closed, likely the entrance to a cellar.

Of the child, Lee sees no trace.

”Who you think?” he replies with a smile. ”I watch after Mr. Murphy’s cattle and other property. You considerin’ taking me back to Lincoln? Handing me over to the law?”

"Not likely," Jacinta grunted.  She gave him a smack on the ass as she took a drag from her cigar.  "Ain't stupid, yanno.  Ain't no law in Lincoln that we could trust you with, is there?  Smartest thing'd be to put a bullet in your noggin', 'cept I ain't the sort to go killin' an unarmed, helpless man.  Now, I could let you loose, give you your gun back, and we could see what happened, though that didn't go so well for you the last time."

"So what'd you think we should do with you?"  She glanced back up at Kate.  "Any ideas, chica?"

Kate drew her sixgun... then thought better of it and let it fall back in its holster, opting instead to come up with her knife.

"Oh a helpless man is one thing, but I got no problem with killin' an unarmed, helpless snake, especially one what ain't no help. This son of a bitch ain't got no problem pickin' on folks an' shakin' 'em down fer pennies when it suits 'em, he ought to understand business is just business."

Kate mentioned this all casually while cleaning the nails of her right hand.

"Ya ever met a feller named Pap Finn, down way of Louisiana?  Worst gambler you ever met, but the best knife fighter.  He showed me a spot once where if you stick a man in his neck, he'll bleed out for days, an' won't be able to tell no one what happened.  Poor son of a bitch winds up drowning in his own blood.  Nasty."

She spun the big knife in her hand, the hilt spiraling gracefully around her talented hand.

"Takes the right kind of knife though, one what comes to a sharp point... like this 'un.  Yessir, this'd do."

Kate was a callous outlaw, but she was running a bluff here.  Killing him wouldn't really get her anything, but if he buckled he might tell them something he shouldn't, or make some fool promise.  At the same time, she had no doubt were their situations reversed, he'd do much worse things to her, and it wouldn't be a bluff, so she didn't feel particularly guilty about it either.

Kate wants to make him squirm a little and bust that smug look off his face.  Maybe convince him to say or do something he otherwise wouldn't.

22:33, Today: Kansas Kate rolled 10,4 using d6+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of (6+2)8,2.  Intimidation.

Allgood goes down the hall to the room where he had seen the child through the window. He peers through the doorway for a moment. There's no need to rush the child.

"Child," he says quietly, "I am Reverend Allgood. I'm a preacher. I want to take you back to your family.

"Will you speak to me? Do you want to go home?"

[ooc: I'm presuming that Lee has entered room #3. Allgood is at the door to room #4.]

Albert moved into the room with Bryan, looking in all directions as he did so. Once he finally felt reasonably certain no one was going to jump out of the shadows at them both, he waved Tamsin and McGraw over. Perhaps she would be able to make something of all the leaves and plant cuttings. And he was just a smart dude. Maybe he could help make sense of everything else. Plus they both had lanterns.

Albert moved toward the bookcase to take a look at what might be of interest there, if anything.

Jake headed Albert's way.

He pointed out some of the tracks he noticed to the others. "See there, maybe it wasn't a child but a small animal of some kind." The tracks he pointed out were small enough for a child, but only had three toes and looked like they might have some claws.

Moving into the room, Lee took a detailed look at the single newer sheet of paper, though he spared a cursory glance at the older one.

Albert glanced down at the tracks. "Or an imp, or a satyr, or a were-chicken. That last one is particularly nasty."

OOC: Albert have any clue about what kind of unholy creature might have made these tracks? (if it is indeed a creature)

07:53, Today: Albert Cooper rolled 7,5 using d4,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (4+3)7,5.  Knowledge (Occult).

"Could be worse." Jake grunts, then he decided to break the tension a bit. "I done read in the Epitaph about a town in Texas that was beset by vampire watermelons." He shrugs. "I ain't for sure how watermelons can be vampires, but that's what the article said. Those won't even leave tracks, just divots in the dirt."

((OOC: ;) to all of you folks who were there for that particular bit of oddness...))

"If I ever met a vampire watermelon, I'd shove it in a closet," he said absently, his mind not really on the subject, instead focusing on the letter at hand. Another Ranger had mentioned that story to him before - he just had never believed it. You saw some strange things working as a Ranger, but even then, you couldn't just believe everything you'd heard.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:10, Tue 15 May 2018.

Taking the newer sheet of paper from the table, Lee can see that it is a child’s drawing, which he recognizes as a crude representation of the exterior of the farmhouse. The thick, dark lines manage to convey the foreboding appearance of the place and the young artist has included the loops of thorn covered vines crowding the fields nearby. The picture readily transmits the feelings of terror the dilapidated home inspired.

But the Ranger notes one key difference between the drawing and the house he has seen. The child has included a figure, a pumpkin headed scarecrow, hanging from the crossed wooden beams in front of the house. Beams that were vacant when Lee and the others encountered them.

A cursory glance at the papers on the desk informs Lee that most are pieces of correspondence between a man named Elliot Blair and a number of different individuals, some from as far away as London and Berlin.

Examining some of the titles on the bookcase, Cooper surmises that most of the selections appear to be devoted to the study of magic. Several of the volumes are in different languages: German, French, and Latin and a number concern themselves with the religions of Ancient Egypt. A few are devoted to the shamanic legends of the Scandinavian countries, as well as Russia.

The tracks resemble nothing that Cooper has yet encountered, but the minimal outline of the prints suggests to him that whatever left them was very lightweight.

---

Allgood moves down the hallway to the bedroom he was able to view through the window. The minister is able to get a better view of the framed picture at the end of the corridor as he nears the doorway, seeing that it is a portrait, depicting a severe looking man wearing spectacles, his silver hair swept back from his face, a thick beard concealing his mouth and jaw.

The bedroom’s furniture is in poor condition. Besides the broken bed and wardrobe, Allgood can see, just left of the door, a washbasin that has been tipped over, the bowl within it broken into several pieces.

Of the small figure he saw, there is no sign. Nothing stirs within the quiet room.

21:17, Today: Manuel Segovia rolled 1 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1.  Spirit.

Segovia is Shaken.

Segovia swallows hard at the sound of Kate’s blade sliding from its scabbard. As she speaks, he becomes perfectly still, his breathing growing shallow.

”Listen to me. None of those kids have been hurt. Even Murphy wouldn’t stand for such a thing. He just wants people to fall in line,” he says, any confidence in his voice gone. ”I know that Dolan and Murphy, they had a hand in making this happen. In the kids getting snatched. But...I don’t know how. I swear. Somehow, they’ve got some kind of sway over...”

“If you want them, they’re down in the cellar. Not a hair on their heads harmed. But you’re better off leaving things be. It’s not gonna let you just waltz out of here with them. And even if you somehow get out alive, if Murphy finds out who spoiled his plans, there’ll be hell to pay. I promise you.”

Kansas Kate let the edge of the Toothpick pass over Segovia's Adam's Apple, with no pressure on it, just enough to give the filthy loser a bit of a shave.  She whispered harshly.

"What's not going to let us 'waltz out of here with them'?  You better jack them jaws boy."

”Old Man Blair,” Segovia stammers, ”Or...what used to be him. I think.”

Double K looked at Jacinta.  "We gotta warn 'em.  Five minutes ago."

"Right," Jacinta grinned at Kate despite the situation.  She hustled up the gag around Segovia's mouth to keep him quiet and then tied the rope restraining him to one of the porch posts.  She gave him a pat on the head and hopped up, bounding up the steps and into the house.

Searching for the boys, she found them clustered in the office.  Glancing about, she spotted the trapdoor and pointed.  "Anybody pop down in the cellar, yet?  Kids are down there, 'cept pretty boy outside said they were guarded by something nasty that ain't gonna let us take 'em."

Bryan folded up the white paper, and some of the others and shoved them into his back pocket for later consideration. When Jacinta joined them, he nodded at her suggestion.

"Keep your weapons ready. We're going down. I've got a strange suspicion that whoever is holding them hostage might be a lunatic dressed up as a scarecrow but just...stay sharp for whatever. I'll take the lead. And Reverend, if you could see to kindly not bangin' on things I'd be mucb obliged. Not that there's much surprise to be had after your last assault on the back door, but I'll take what I cam get." He took the lantern Kibbee had given him from whoever had it0 and lifted the lid of the trap door. If there were stairs or a ladder he'd proceed downward.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:17, Wed 16 May 2018.

Albert commented on what he found on the shelf. "Lotta, er, tomes on magic on this bookshelf. Somebody sure wanted ta figure out how they might tap that mystical power what seems so commonplace nowadays. Prolly ain't gonna be a dressed up lunatic we're gonna find. But here's ta hopin' yer optimism is accurate." Albert flipped through a few pages of the texts.

His attention went back to Bryan as the ranger opened up the trapdoor. The ranch hand held up a finger in a gesture that requested a moment of patience. "Whoa up there, pardner. There's some logistics ta headin' down under a trap door while leavin' some fella that would love ta trap us down there squirmin' around up here. And we ain't got no idea when someone else might be comin' by. It's sorta what sucks about trap doors - it's easy ta trap folk under 'em. I ain't volunteerin' ta hang back, but somebody's gotta."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:25, Wed 16 May 2018.

Allgood circles the room, calling softly in a reassuring tone. He searches every corner, not neglecting to look under the bed.

[That'll probably be my last post for a week. NPC me as needed.]

As quickly as he was about to open it to go down, he rested the trap door back down gently to take into consideration Cooper's advice. Curiosity was getting the better of his judgment.

"Did y'all untie him?" he asked Jacinta and Kate. "Either way, probably would work well if someone stayed back and kept watch over him and the general situation. Someone that's not averse to pulling a trigger if necessary."

He looked down the hallway to a door that by his sense of the place seemed to have been a room he hadn't seen. Probably the only one on this floor. "Just a moment. There's one more door on this floor that I don't wanna leave unexplored just in case there's someone in there that ain't friendly."

Bryan went down the hall quickly to test the door.

Tamsin came over when signalled, setting her lamp on the table as she took a look at the plants and rocks.

The new situation, lantern light and the stress of finding the children do no good for her memory. Tamsin can't tell, exactly, what this could mean. She does grab one of the jars and puts some of the dried leaves and cuttings off the table into it. Some rocks, too, just for good measure.

If the morning didn't bring her clarity, she could always ask Miss Winter.


09:56, Today: Tamsin River rolled 3,1 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,1.  Knowledge: Herbal. White chip reroll.
09:49, Today: Tamsin River rolled 1,1 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,1.  Knowledge: Occult.
09:48, Today: Tamsin River rolled 3,3 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,3.  Knowledge: Herbal.

Albert nodded at Bryan's wisdom, then did some mental calculations concerning who met the qualifications Bryan laid out, and swore under his breath. "Damn my big mouth, and pardon my French, Rev."

Albert looked over at Kate. "I think it's you or me what gotta sit this one out playin' guards-person, sunshine.  We both know it sucks, so I'll play guard this time so long as ya do so next time it comes down ta you and me."

"Oh fer cryin' out loud."  Kate sighed.  "I'm a hired gun here."

Although she wasn't being paid.  "An' I do what I'm hired for."

She headed back to Segovia.  She had other reasons too.