Jim looked away and rocked quickly back and forth a couple of times in thought, then rubbed the side of his face with his hand and eventually concluded "...no."

Andrew Sexton was closest, seeming concerned about the hares on the hill. After him in a straggled line came Maggie Yendale and Arnie Swanton with his spay bitch, who mostly seemed happy to be out. Beyond him was Kit Meaker's robust form, then Hessie Collins, just in easy shouting range. Her father was beyond her at the fenceline, though he could only tell that easily since the innkeep was the darkest man in the village. Beyond him it was hard to tell, though likely the beautiful rich blue coat at the height of the straggling line was Master Fox scanning the ground with alarcity.

"...we'll find her?" Jim asked, looking anxious.

"I am sure we will with your help Jim. Now go join the others in the field I'm just going to head up the lane a ways and then cut back into the paddock." Thomas will head towards the stone while scanning the hedge row for anything out of the ordinary that might relate to missing Polly.


-

Jim nodded and went down to Andrew, loping down the footpath then walking carefully over the field to draw level, since careful walking seemed to be what was going on. He stood next to the carpenter as though reporting for duty, though not sure what that was. "...?"

Up in the lane, Tom strode back for the Binding Stone on a thought, looking hither and yon. The hares still watched, though only two were troubling to stand now.

[[a Spot Hidden, there, Tom.]]

Andrew continued to study the hares a moment, still finding something of their activity unsettling, despite the dismissive attitudes of his fellow searchers. ”It looks as if one of them is biting one of its fellows. And it seems the hare being bitten doesnt care.”

His attention shifted to Jim as he came up beside him. Andrew had heard about stories of fear associated with the man when he was a child, that somehow his manner of being suggested something sinister and unnatural. Although that talk had largely ceased, he still felt an empathy for Jim, as it seemed his presence was merely tolerated by some, rather than welcomed, a fact that spoke less of Jim and more of those that felt discomfort around him. Andrew had had occasion to see Jim garden when he had put in some hitching rails at the Fox Estate. He’d felt envious of him. Jim had been lost in the joy of his work, something that Andrew wished he could emulate, rather than being weighed down with innumerable concerns, both real and petty, as he tried to focus on carpentry.

“We’re just going to be looking about. Seeing if we can find any sign of Miss Durbin. We think she may have passed this way,” he explained.

Young Jim stood for several moments frowning at his feet, then looked to the far end of the field, at the searchers and back up to the lane. "..."

He wandered off ahead of the line, crossing the ground Maggie was about to search and heading at a wary amble for the side of the boggy ground. Above them, the hares kept their own counsel.

Thomas took his time as he continued back along the lane, but his mind began to wander onto other things and he felt his searching was not as effective as it should have been.

Thomas Bees rolled 57 using 1d100.  Spot Hidden = 45%.



-

It was hard not to think of Polly, or his recent encounter with a character he'd always believed a made-up fancy. Hard not to think of hares and witches and the implacable, opaque ways of God that had left him and his sister alone to face the world. Hard not to think of Lucy this morning, covered in blood.

He approached the Binding Stone, ducking the nearby trees as he came free of the hedge. Above, one of the hares had stood to watch him in particular, very still against the field above. The Wyzenwood loomed silently, looking like only trees.

Taking his time and then stopping before the stone Thomas first scanned the edge of the wood before giving the area in front of him a thorough search.

Thomas Bees rolled 11 using 1d100.  Spot Hidden = 45%.

-
This message was last edited by the player at 01:06, Mon 18 Oct 2021.

The edge of the wood told him nothing, save that the hares close by it watched him still. It seemed two people had been by the Binding Stone within the morning, the dew in the shadows slicked and disturbed and the grass bent: one small-footed, quick-striding person who'd come right up, and one of unusual height who hung back. Perhaps some woman had come to straddle the angle of the stone and rub her belly on it the better to concieve, as sometimes people did, and her husband or best gallant looked on. Perhaps the stone had been consulted by a short-brisk-stepping woman like Goodie Westcott and some other.

The stone itself was slightly shorter than Tom was above ground but more massive in general, rising rugged from the grass. Putting a hand to its sunwarmed surface showed that it could not be rocked or moved, rooted perhaps deeper still than the portion that currently showed. He circled a bit and found the mark of the Devil's hoof that he'd marvelled at as a child, the even dimpling of an incomplete oval with a deep V cut almost deep enough to press his hand into.

Standing there, his ready-rattled nerves pictured a faint jingling of bells, and when he twisted to look at the empty air that wasn't entirely comforting he thought he saw something else.

Thomas made a note of what he had found and then took a closer look at the print that was under the hedgerow, making sure nit to disturb it as he scanned further back under the hedge.

Then stumbling somewhat he quickly regained his footing should he not fall head first into the hedge.

Thomas Bees rolled 100 using 1d100.  Spot Hidden = 45%.



-

Tom took a fair look at the partial print under the bushes, determining it to be that of a shod heel and the side of a foot. He leant to see if the person had gone along wedged into the hedgerow rather than just passing around the end as quickly as possible not to be seen: he determined they had not, then promptly got himself entangled with a hawthorn.

Straightening after a fierce squabble with the shrubbery, Tom found there weren't any serious holes in his person, but he had managed to stand on the one remaining print, smushing it away.

Disappointed in himself and his big clobby feet Thomas gave the stone one last look as he started back for the top of the field to get a better understanding of how they were searching.

Once he could look down on the searchers Thomas would take his place in the line and begin looking for Polly.



-

Abandoning any further search along the line of the print he'd discovered, Tom strode back down the lane to the cart. He observed that the searchers were arrayed at intervals of about five paces, now halfway across the fields and heading for the distant woodline.

Young Jim Stone was the exception, apparently given some instruction he'd interpreted oddly or left to his own devices. He was crouched at the edge of the wet patch, looking intently at the wick-reeds and long grass. Bess turned an ear to keep track of Tom, one hind hoof cocked to rest it.


[[was giving the others a look in, but I think they're busy...d'you want to slot in right at the top edge of the field, taking in the hedgerow and coming up level with Andrew, or to go right to the other end of the line in the next field and look for prints, dropped ribbons, bodies in ditches etc. there? Or go see what Jim's up to, of course. Boy knows his soil types and disturbances, if not when to shake hands.]]

Thomas heads over to Jim, given he brought the boy out here he should keep and eye on him. He drops to a knee when he gets close to his side "What have you found Jim ?"


-

Jim gestured vaguely at the searchers and the view ahead, as though to show the lack of visible Polly to catch up with, still studying the wet vegetation. "..." He waved to indicate the boggy patch that no drainage works had ever cured, then specifically at a thick green patch of grass nearer their side than the middle.

"Not sound," he elaborated, scraping up some soft mud from around his feet and holding it up for Tom to see its boggy character. It was true - in moonlight and a sufficient hurry, one might easily mistake the lusher area for solid ground if already mired into the patch and worsen one's state. The reeds and mud might even conceal someone sunk by struggling and chilled to death, though such fate was surely more likely to befall a strayed child or pony than a grown woman.

[[Roll me a Natural World, Long Tom.]]

Looking at the mud and then Jim Thomas was able to follow the lads thinking. He stood and looked the patch over while also checking for foot prints in the mud that were not his own or Jims.

Thomas Bees rolled 8 using 1d100.  Natural World = 40%.


-

Noticing that Jim appeared to have come upon something of interest, Andrew halted his own progress, walking back to see what he and Thomas were examining.

Jim's conclusions were logical, though not particularly sensible in terms of following others' thought. Seeing that he'd been brought to search here, that Polly was not visible, and that those searching for her were looking at the ground, he'd seemingly concluded that underground would be a place she might be. It was possible, with the subsequent rain, that had Polly carried a heavy weight with her and for some reason passed this way, the bog might soften and seal over her should she have sunk therein, but had she merely become mired for the intervening days surely someone passing through the lane or along the footpath would have heard her cries. Tom watched the gardener's gesturing.

Concerned by the attention he was drawing and unsure if he might be doing things wrong, Jim started up and tried to pick his way across to the spot that had drawn his attention. He managed it mostway, stepping carefully reed to reed, then wavered, slid and abruptly sank to the knee. Jim looked at his leg, then at those on the side, as though to ask 'now what?'

Thomas was going to call out, but now it was probably to late. "Just stay still Jim we will try and get you out." Looking to see if he could pick his own way across the to stuck lad Thomas tried first to get closer by crossing the more solid ground around the edge of the mire.

Otherwise he could always go beck to the cart and retrieve some rope.



-

Maggie stands up straight and arches her back to relieve the ache of moving in a stoop across the uneven ground. She shades her eyes to look over to where Thomas and Andrew were looking at poor Jimmy Stone who had got himself mired in the boggy patch.

"Needin' help there?" she calls.

[[that's a DEX check, Thomas.

Andrew/Maggie, optional Natural World if you'd like to notice an anomaly in this rarely-stared-at piece of mire.]]

Jim looked uncertain, but tried to stay very still. Then a look of alarm crossed his features and he looked around wildly, trying to find somewhere to put his free leg that might give him any leverage and ending up with that bent and sinking too as he tried to flail far enough to grab something solid.

"Man! A man!"

"Yes if you would not mind, Jim's got a bit stuck." was the reply to Maggie. Thomas starts off to try and bring the lad back to dry land. Whn he started yelling about a man Thomas looked to wear the boy was pointing. "Calm down Jim I am coming."

Thomas Bees rolled 20 using 1d100.  Dex = 50%.


-

Tom picked his way across to within reach of Jim. The lad didn't seem to be pointing or looking at anyone, just struggling desperately to get his deeper-sunk leg free, eyes wide enough to show the whites almost all around. He gave a strange flat squawk of alarm.

"hnnk!"

"Think we ought," said Arnie to Maggie, stepping quicker that way.

"Hey Jim, look at me. You are going to be all right I'm here now. Lets get you out." He waited for the others to arrive with the lad and if he does not calm down Thomas will try to lead him out or to free his leg.


-

Jim neither looked at Tom nor seemed in any way convinced that the patch of mud wasn't actively trying to take him to itself. "Off! Get off!"

[[How do you mean to either lead Jim out or free his leg, Long Tom? Catching hold of him and pulling is a DEX then STR roll, otherwise I'll have to determins what's necessary to do that.]]