Werewolf: Appalachian Moonrise, Ch 1

[Devonie]

Arianne waits off to the side with Adahy. "We need to get more information about Crier," she says quietly as they watch Sophie, Alex and 'Joe'. "Any ideas?"

[Charon]

Adahy damn near jumped three feet in the air when Arianne first spoke. "Gaia woman, don't sneak up like that!" The garou than looked around carefully. "Paper says there were mutilations at Cameron stables a few nights back." Adahy looked purposefully at Alexander then. "But I dunno. It all seems too convenient. Things just don't add up right." Breathes-the-Winds looked over at Arianne. Was she a plant? Probably... if the others were than she probably was too. That made the most sense. But what if she wasn't? What if she was the only one he could trust in this to tell the truth of the matter. No, trust no one. The metis was quiet for a very long time. "Errr, I mean... nothing. It's nothing." The garou grinned, very very unconvincingly.

[Devonie]

"Adahy," Arianne stops, then wets her lips and tries again. "We have to work together on this. If you have theories, I'd like to hear them." She gestures to the others.

"-They- don't know. It's up to us to figure out how Crier's involved in all this." She looks him in the eye. "This is our home Adahy, and it could be in danger. Galileo expects us to do the job - get the bone and get it back to the Caern."

She sighs as she watches Sees-Faces favoring his paw. "I wonder how badly he's hurt."

She walks toward the little group, as though a stranger interested in helping the dog.

"Hey," she says out loud in case someone's listening. "Your dog hurt?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Hi," said Alexander. "Don't worry, he's friendly. He hurt his paw."

[Charon]

Adahy grumbled to himself. Asks him to trust her and talk about what he thinks is happening, then goes walking right up to the guy he thinks is involved. And now he was truly alone. None of the others could be trusted, for various reasons which all tied together to point towards something. But what? He needed to find that out, and from there he could fix everything.

Breathes-the-Winds followed after Arianne. "Anything we can do for him?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Please, take a look," said Alexander.

[Jason_Firewalker]

Emerging from the forest in Lupus form, a large Eastern Timber wolf walks to the top of the falls. As soon as he reaches the peak of the falls, the Lupus form is shed for the form of Homid. Looking around he peers to left and right, up and down. He had felt a calling to this sept but was waylaid in his travels by a Baneling. In Homid form it is obvious where the Baneling bit him on the arm. He flinched as mist from the falls sprayed the wound. In a low voice he practically whispered "Garou-toa, I come looking for the Caern."

[LadyTevar]

"Yer late, iffen yer the young wolf the Wendigo sent," a woman's voice came from nearby as an older woman came walking out of the trees along the bank of the river. She was one of the Wyrm-Comers, a white woman with gray-touched auburn hair pulled back in a bun, making the thin angles and lines on her face more evident. She wore a gingham-print dress but there was no girlishness in her as she crossed over the rocks to meet him. Greenish brown eyes looked at the wound on his arm and her mouth tightened. "I'm guessin' ya ran into som'thing, then. What happened."

[Jason_Firewalker]

"Ran up against a Baneling. Not the most fun experience I have ever had." With a light grin he used his good hand to rub the still bloodied head of his tomohawk. "Is there anyway that this could be healed? Great Wendigo, although he appreciates honor wounds does not appreciate honor scars on his otherwise pristine Galliards."

[LadyTevar]

"You shouldo' cleaned that tom'hawk off," the woman muttered, before reaching out to lift his arm and inspect it. "Bleedin' clean... no Infection, seems like... bu' he gotcha good." there was the feeling she was talking Infection of a darker type. "Yer lucky t'was jis the one," she childed, before clasping both hands around the wound.

It hurt for an instant before a warm, comforting feeling spread out from her hands into the wound. When the woman let go, the wound was fully healed without a scar. "There. Now... welcome ta the Sept of the Moon's Blessing. I'm Hattie Thunderwife, leader of the Sept."

[Jason_Firewalker]

"Joe Feather Fall is my name. I am a moonspeaker for the Algonquin people. I heard there was a quest for Gaia's name around here. Maybe I will be able to help. Tell me how to get to where the pack is and I will see what I can do." Attempting to look strong, he knew he was failing compared to the old woman. He was not a happy little indian with that as the case.

[LadyTevar]

"Be welcome, Joe FeatherFall," Hattie answered politely. "Com'on ta the cabins... I'll find ya some breakfast an' then Galileo'll tell us both what those kids are doin'."

[Charon]

Adahy smiled to Alexander in a way of thanks, perhaps too fake, and then knelt down infront of Sees-Faces. The Garou whispered. "Sorry ta treat ya like a dog." Then looked at the foot in question. Breathes-the-Winds had never had any formal training in medical procedures beyond basic first aid and some practice when accidents happened back home. So whether the bone was actually broken or not was completely beyond him.

"Mmm, hard to say. I don't think it's broken, but I'm no doctor."

[Cynical Cat]

"Yeah," said Alexander, "that's what I get. He's says he's still got the scent though. And he clearly can still walk around. I say we keep after it."

[Jason_Firewalker]

Joe followed the older lady to the cabins. Looking around taking in the beautiful scenery in the area. He hoped this Gallileo would be able to tell him how he could help.

[LadyTevar]

Hattie waved to the picnic tables set up in front of the cabins. "You have a seat til I find Galileo. I'll brin' out some food directly." Without another glance, she walked into the largest of the cabins, the screen door shutting with a creak of springs and a snap of wood on wood.

The scene was lovely, the cabins a little ways off from the river, but close enough for the muted roar of the waterfall to be a constant undertone. Birds of all feathers sang from the surrounding trees, some of them just starting to show their fall colors. It was a peaceful site, one where any wolf could feel safe and relaxed.

Inside the cabin, a conversation was going on. "Th last o' yer cubs finally show'd up," Hattie told her sept-mate. "He's a might older than I'd o' thought."

Galileo nodded, having just hung up the old rotary phone on the cabin wall. "Good. The others have met with Alma, and they've found several things the police would have missed." The young man with the mix of oriental, native american, and white features put his hand on Hattie's shoulder comfortingly. "A tainted Garou."

Hattie frowned, a fearsome look indeed. "Ah ain't surprised... What're they doin' bout it? Did ya call 'em back?"

"No... I didn't," Galileo answered with a wide grin. "Sees Faces caught such a strong scent off the room, he jumped out the window to track the thief down."

A slow blink, then a heavy sigh as Hattie turned and opened the door of the ancient Fridigaire. "Jis' like a lupus... action first, think later. Alma gonna be able to cover fer 'em?" she asked as she gathered up bread, ham slices, a chunk of cheddar, and fresh lettuce and a tomato from one of the kinfolk-ran farms.

Galileo gave her a hand grabbing sandwich fixings, as well as the milk and a jug of apple cider. "She thinks so. The other cubs are going to follow the scent as far as they can, it seems. Then it's up to them. We'll see when they contact me again how it's going."

"An' the new cub?" Hattie asked as she walked towards the door with the food.

"If the cubs don't call me, I'll call them and set up a meeting," Galileo promised, following her out. Once outside, he gave the young Wendigo a huge grin. "Mornin'! You missed the others, they've ran on ahead."

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds smiled. "Don't need to keep it for too long. I picked up a paper which might lead us to Crier. Though the longer we keep the scent is definitely better."

[Cynical Cat]

"Good," said Alexander. "We should keep at the scent trail and check out this other lead if it doesn't pan out."

[Devonie]

Arianne looked at Faces. "If you're sure you can go on," she said seriously. "I don't want you making it worse by running on it, Joe-Smith." She smiled at him briefly.

"Alright," she said quietly. "We gotta be smart about this. Sophie, Adahy, we'll go back to the Jeep. Alex, if you don't mind, stay with Faces. Sophie can pull up a map of the area to help us plot which way he may be heading. We can't stay with you without drawing attention to ourselves, but I'll keep within a block or two. Adahy will help me keep an eye on you so I can watch out for bone-headed drivers.

Sound good?" she waited for nods or comments before heading to the jeep. "I hope this thing gets good gas mileage," she muttered to herself.

[Cynical Cat]

"Sounds good," said Alexander. He looped the leather cord around Faces' neck as a false leash. "You can snap this easy. This is just to look for the humans."

[rhoenix]

Though Sees-Faces-In-Stars obviously disliked the loop around his neck, he was still able to find the scent, walking with it while favoring his hurt paw, following it as it led off the large grassy area around the buildings.

He kept himself going relentlessly, both out of raw curiosity, and out of pure stubbornness. He would hunt this...thing that had harmed Kin.

[General Havoc]

Something about a leash set Sophie's teeth on edge, but she didn't say anything about it. She had no idea if they had leash laws around here, but if Sees-Faces was going to pass for a dog, it only made sense. Still, she was certain that if it has been her trying to track the scent, she would have... strongly... objected to a leash of any sort. There were other ways to get the point across.

"Good luck," she said, patting Sees-Faces on the back as she turned to go back to the jeep, pulling out her laptop and bringing up a topographical road map on it that showed most of the surrounding area.

[Charon]

"Just be careful that he doesn't double back or do anything to get his trail lost." Adahy was relieved that he hadn't been asked to go with Alexander and Sees-Faces, but he didn't let it show on his face, there was too much at stake to let that slip-up through.

The Uktena got into the jeep and gave Sophie as much of an address as he had for where the cattle mutilations had happened.

[LadyTevar]

There is no doubling back on the trail, the scent runs straight south-east off campus. They are forced to stop for traffic on many streets as the scent trail rushed down the sidewalks and alleyways of Berea, always south-east. It seemed the thief did not want to jump any of the fences to cut across the yards, trusting darkness and speed to mask his passage along the roads.

The streets were tree-lined in places, great trunks that had been growing for decades, or newer, smaller decorative plantings in bright fall foliage. Most houses had the look of everyone out to work, although some older retirees were seen outside, fetching their mail or puttering around the yard.

The alleys were rough-paved or gravel, wide enough for city trash trucks to pass down. Unlike large cities, there were no smells of garbage or other offal. Any faint traces were overpowered by the scents of the trees and last flowers of fall growing in the yards to either side. A few had small vegetable gardens with the last of the harvest hanging. One yard the pumpkin vine had overran the fence, and two good-sized specimens were ripening where they sat in the alley's grassy berm.

As Sees Faces dragged Alex along, dogs behind fences or on chains whined in fear or barked a challenge to the strangers. Squirrels fled up tree trucks and telephone poles from them, and cats also found reason to be elsewhere. The animals knew when a predator was near, and a Garou was even moreso.

[Devonie]

Arianne glanced over at Sophie's monitor. "Good idea," she says. "Can you pull up the addresses of the places that have reported mutilations, and plot those and the college? Let's see if our boy is headed where we think he's going."

She returned her attention to the road. She had a job to do, she trusted the Glasswalker to do her part.

"Adahy, keep your eyes peeled for trouble; I hate splitting up like this." She too had trouble trusting the Shadowlord not to take the bone for himself if he found it first. Letting him go alone with Sees-Faces did not sit well with her.