”Nope,” Kearney grins, ”Still red enough to get me in plenty of trouble.”

“Say, I’ve been meanin’ to ask you, have you ever...”

A sharp squeal breaks the quiet, the sound pealing through the pines to the south. Castillo recognizes the noise instantly. It is the vocalization of a suffering horse.

Jacinta's head snapped in the direction of the sound.  With a glance at Aileen, she nudged her horse toward the sound of distress, rifle still out and at the ready.  Her gaze shifted rapidly over the trees in search of the disturbance.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:34, Thu 09 Aug 2018.

Kearney pulls her pistol, drawing her mount alongside Castillo’s. The scout urges her horse several paces down the trail, her eyes looking southward, through the screen of trees, searching for signs of the distressed animal she heard.

A little further on, at the beginning of a northern curve in the trail, she spies what appears to be a dun colored horse laying on its side in a small, muddy clearing on the other side of a tangle of cottonwoods. From the trail, it is hard for Castillo to see much detail, but the animal still appears to be moving, though somewhat weakly.

Jacinta rode toward the beast cautiously, searching for any sign of trap.  She wasn't sure who'd be out here looking to ensnare people with an injured horse, but stranger things had happened.


19:31, Today: Jacinta Castillo rolled 8,13 using d8+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 6,(6+5)11.  Notice.
19:31, Today: Jacinta Castillo rolled 2,2 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,2.  Tracking.

Castillo pauses to carefully survey the area around the fallen horse. The scout sees nothing. No movement. No signs of immediate threat. Studying the nearby terrain, she can see gouges in the earth near the bloodied animal that she is certain the mustang did not make, but from all appearances, whatever attacked it has gone.

11:15, Today: Aileen Kearney rolled 15,1 using 1d8,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+7)15,1.  Notice.

”I don’t see anything out there,” Kearney whispers after a pause, ”I think whatever got that poor thing must’ve skedaddled.”

As she is speaking, Tom Horn rides up quietly, his rifle in hand. He remains silent, looking to the two women for direction.

Taking her rifle with her, Jactina dismounted and cautiously moved forward on foot.  Picking her way around the trees and across the muddied ground to see how badly the horse was injured.  If it could be saved, she'd take it into town for care.  If not, well she carried the rifle for a reason.

As she moves into the clearing, Castillo can clearly see that the horse is dead. Deep gouges have been torn into the animal’s flank. Six in total. Looking at the wounds, something about them immediately strikes the tracker as odd, but it takes a moment for her to recognize what it is.

The injuries are almost perfectly straight. They are not the kind of uneven tears that would be inflected by the claws of a natural predator. They are clean and even. Crouching beside the fallen horse, Castillo also notes a pair of puncture wounds on the animal’s neck. They are circular and deep, not like those inflicted by an arrow. More the result of some manner of spike driven into the flesh.

Glancing around, Castillo notices that a section of the earth is greatly disturbed, as though it had been trampled by a number of animals, or crossed over by a dust devil. The trail of agitated soil leads off into a dense copse of piñon trees.

Jacinta wrinkled her nose at the sight of the horse's wounds, crouching for a moment to inspect them.  Tilting her head, she followed the line of disturbed soil to the trees with her gaze, staring at the dark grove as if to pierce them with her mind.  At length, she stood and walked back to the others, speaking quietly.

"Whatever did that to the horse went into those trees.  Be it man or beast, I'm of a mind to track it down and put a bullet in it, lest it go attacking more horses or even people on the trail.  You game for a hunt?"

Kearney draws her pistol and cocks it. ”Lead the way, señorita.”

Horn checks his rifle, looks to Castillo, and nods.

OOC: Given the clear damage to the soil, Castillo won’t need to make a Tracking roll to follow the attacker’s trail, at least not initially. However, please give me a Notice roll. Also, given the whispering, I’m presuming you’re trying to stay quiet. So give me a Stealth roll as well, if that’s the case.

Leading the way, Jacinta crept forward, rifle in hand, following the trail from the horse.  She eased into the shadow of the trees, pausing to let her eyes adjust as she searched the area.




Notice: 16
Stealth: 5

20:01, Today: Jacinta Castillo rolled 3,16 using d8+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 1,(6+6+2)14.  Notice.
20:04, Today: Jacinta Castillo rolled 5,4 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,4.  Stealth.

Kearney and Horn quietly follow Castillo into the shadows beneath the canopy of piñons, the needles that blanket the soft earth quieting their footfalls. Ahead, Castillo can see that low lying branches and plants have been violently crushed or pushed aside as whatever attacked the horse moved past.

Her eyes adjusting to the dimness, the scout catches sight of an object, thin and white, jutting out of a tree trunk along the track she is following, several paces away.

Butting her rifle against her shoulder, Jacinta skirted the tree carefully, approaching cautiously.  She figured that long, white object was likely what had made the puncture wounds in the horse and it could very well be attached to something.

Approaching warily, Castillo is able to get a clear look at the object. It is a long, sharp fragment of bone, apparently propelled with such force that it was speared deeply into the trunk of the tree.

Frowning at the projectile, Jacinta circled it in search of what could have caused such deadly force.  Had it been thrown?  Driven into place by a powerful creature?  And why?

16:47, Today: Marshal, on behalf of Jacinta Castillo, rolled 2,4 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,4.  Tracking.

Castillo finds her gaze drawn to the heavily dusturbed ground once more. Studying the soft earth carefully, the scout finds two sets of hoofprints, neither shoed, moving out from amongst the trees. One leads in a straight line to the carcass of the fallen mustang a short distance away. The other set veers off to the right. Apparently, two mustangs were in this vicinity when the mysterious attacker came upon them. The bone missile must have been its first attempt to strike at them, but it missed both. One managed to escape, but the one near the main trail was caught.

Examining the tree itself where the bone has struck, Castillo can see no other evidence of anything having handled the bark in any way, leading her to conclude that the piece of bone had to have been propelled through the air somehow. The scout knows of no weapon capable of doing so and the depth that the fragment has bitten into the trunk makes her doubtful that it was thrown. At least not by a human being.

Jacinta studied the bone fragment with a frown, glancing through the trees in search of what might have thrown it.  Seeing no other tracks in the area, she started off in the direction that the other mustang had taken, thinking the creature was likely stalking it.  Her eyes lifted to the trees as she moved, darting about as she stalked through the wood.

Castillo’s instincts prove correct. Moving in the direction of the second horse, the scout finds another track of torn earth, wildflowers and brush scattered by whatever traveled along it.

Then, abruptly, it halts, the furrow transforming into a deep hole in the earth, large enough for plough horse to fall headlong into. Peering in, Castillo can’t make out the bottom of the cavity, but she is immediately struck by a strong, foul odor; the scent of a fresh carcass left beneath the sun’s glare for days.

Kearney wrinkles her nose in disgust.

”Smells like a damn grave,” Horn mutters.

"A den, I think," she said, peering into the hole with a frown.  After a moment of consideration, she shook her head.  Motioning to the other two, she gestured them away from the hole.  "In any case, going down there isn't a wise option.  Don't fancy meeting this thing in close quarters.  Maybe we can smoke 'em out, but it'd be better if we had a larger group."

The pair comply with Castillo’s direction, stepping away from the hole as she directs.

Kearney frowns. ”I’m not sayin’ I’m an expert on this valley. I’m not. But I have ridden it a fair piece lately. And I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“Have you?” she asks Castillo. ”Can you even guess what might’ve torn up the ground like that?”

Jacinta shook her head.  "No.  Ain't never seen anything like that before," she responded to Aileen.  "Especially nothing that shoots out giant bone spears.  Has to be something mean and dangerous.  Best if we don't tangle with it just now.  Let's get back to the horses." 
This message was last edited by the player at 06:11, Thu 30 Aug 2018.

The pair follow Castillo’s suggestion without question. Horn trails Kearney and the scout, keeping his eye on the tear in the earth as the group returns to the main trail.

Quinn Murdock is waiting when they reach it, patting the neck of his mount reassuringly. ”That spot’s going to work just fine. Exactly what I was hoping for.”

“You find what got that mustang? Sittin’ out here, waitin’ on you, I heard a few cracks to the west, in the direction of town. Sounded like gunfire.”

"We found what we were looking for, but not the beast that made it.  I'd be doubly careful out here if I were you.  Besides bandits, there looks to be some sort of dangerous beast hunting the wild horses.  Might come after yours if it takes a liking to them."  She tilted her head back toward the trail.  "If there's trouble, best we get back."

The group remains mostly quiet on the ride back into Lincoln, as does the trail itself. No further sounds of gunfire break the silence and Castillo, remaining watchful, sees no further sign of the creature that stalked the mustangs.

When the group reaches Ike Ellis’ store, they see the livery man speaking to a small group of people, Ranger Bryan Lee and Sheriff William Brady among them. Lee and a slender man in a dark colored duster are bearing the limp body of a young range hand in their arms. Ellis is addressing the gathering quietly, asking questions.

OOC: I’m going to move Castillo into the Young and Dead thread so she can join in the conversation at the Ellis Store, if she desires.