sagebrush ♔

[sirstickuphisass]

♬ the good, the bad, and the ugly

WHO || Abigail, Barry, Jo, Sawyer and Eric [closed]
WHAT || Investigating a series of attacks in an old fashioned town
WHERE || Sagebrush, Nevada
WHEN || May 2016 [ backdated ]
HOW || Actionspam

The Knights arrive in the small town of Sagebrush and find it's almost like they've stepped back in time. Many of the buildings have been preserved for historical significance, and there's not even a paved main road - everything is just well trodden dirt. The marshal has agreed to meet them at the latest murder scene, and they'd seen him leaning against his police car outside the fence where cattle graze.

Comments

[sirstickuphisass]

[ eric leads the group, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, i'm not even fucking kidding you. someone stop him.

either way, he heads up to the guy by the car, nodding to him once in a manly fashion ]

Marshal McCray, I presume. [ the marshal pushes off from the vehicle and tips his hat at the others, before reaching out to clasp eric's hand in a quick shake.

"That'd be right. You the ones sent to look into this?" ] That'd be us. Eric Carpenter. This is Jo, Abigail, Barry, and Sawyer. Care to show us around the scene?

[ he nods and moves to lift the police tape for them to walk under. "Right this way."

on the ground lie the mangled remains of a strong young man. a gash runs from the right side of his chest diagonally to the lower left portion of his torso. his entrails and internal organs have spilled out onto the dusty ground, and his left leg has been almost completely chewed off. the marshal pauses next to it, frowning a bit as he gnaws on something that might be chewing tobacco. "Local cattle driver. Name of of Bill Elgin." in the background, about a hundred feet away they can see about a hundred head of cattle in a pen, lowing loudly. ]

[theminotaur]

[ as they walk, abigail quickly braids her hair over one shoulder, snapping an elastic around the end to keep it out of the way. after giving herself five seconds to be disgusted once they're inside the tape, she strides forward purposefully to crouch in one of the cleaner spots by the body to inspect it, pulling on a pair of purple latex gloves because this is nasty tbh. ]

Hey, Bill Elgin.

[ just gonna go to town grossly to find some cause of death or other stuff the locals might have missed? (treat injury 33, earth & life sciences 29, search 29??) ]

[supertardiness]

[Barry has been to gruesome crime scenes before and this is no different. Still, the look on his face is sympathetic as he makes his way closer, setting his forensics kit to the side as he looks over the body and starts gathering whatever evidence he can (investigate 25).]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ abigail would find telltale clumps of strange dark fur - almost purplish black - left behind near the wounds. there seem to be claws marks as well as stranger lacerations on the man's back, arms, and even shoulder.

barry would notice a set of pawprints leading away from the body, that seem to be followed by a set of human bootprints. both head in the direction of the road that leads to town. ]

[supertardiness]

[Barry looks up from his crouch before glancing back towards the rest of the group. Then he gets up and in his very dramatic crime scene fashion, he'll get up and gesture with his hands.]

These prints start out animal, but there's also a set of human boot prints, and they both seem to be heading into town.

[theminotaur]

[ much less dramatically, lifting a hand to brandish a clump of the fur: ] Purple fur. Well, purple-ish. It's definitely an animal, but not all animal. Probably those boot prints.

[huntersdaughter]

[Jo takes note of the tracks that are being pointed out to her. They seem a bit odd that they go from animal straight to boot prints. Most shifters she's seen don't really shift clothing and all. Unless the animal carries its clothing with it. Like in a backpack or something. She thinks about it for a second, but decides that they would at least have one set of people prints before the boots in that case, too. Standing to put them on.

She's thinking about these boots a bit much.]

Purple fur? [Very unlike anything she's seen before. Except in that one awful movie - Purple People Eater. (pop culture 17)]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ marshal mccray scratches underneath the brim of his hat as he glances over at that.

"Nothing natural, that's for sure. Guessin' we were right that this is a Shadow somethin' or other?" ]

Let's not jump to any conclusions until we know more.

[supertardiness]

[Barry glances up and nods.]

He's right. Just because it's weird doesn't necessarily mean it's Shadowkind.

[Though Barry is both weird and Shadowkind so maybe he shouldn't talk.]

Sometimes the weirdest stuff can happen right in your own back yard.

[But ... back to actual business at hand.]

We should probably try and follow the trail. See where it heads.

[incantatio]

[With that, barely passable fort save (10), Sawyer has been hanging back from the scene, listening in to what's being said but for the most part, averting her gaze from the gruesome remains.]

Yes. Good idea. [Quick to agree with Barry.]

[sirstickuphisass]

Who here's good at tracking?

[theminotaur]

[ abigail raises her hand, still covered in blood and guts. oh wait. she quickly draws it back down and peels the gloves off, turning them inside out and disposing of them properly because that's nasty. ]

I'm okay. [ and she's not lying, with her survival 31 + track. maybe more than okay honestly. but she's just gonna give it a shot? ]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ just a clarification also that it is TWO separate sets of tracks, but both of them abigail can follow about forty feet before the ground becomes incredibly hard and most of the tracks are swept clean by some sort of past windstorm or something.

abigail, however, can still make out the barest traces, and starts leading out of town. eric stops to turn back to the marshal. ] I think we'll take it from here. We'll let you know if we find anything.

[supertardiness]

[Barry will gather up his kit and make his way after Abigail, following in step next to her as she follows the tracks and keeping his eyes up to make sure nothing else was going to come at them (spot 20 total).]

[theminotaur]

[ VERY STUDIOUS TRACKING IS HAPPENING. ]

Anyone else waiting for the Sheriff to say it happened at high noon?

[incantatio]

[With a spot check to match Barry's (20), relieved to put the bloody mess behind her, Sawyer follows along with the rest of the group. Trying to keep an ear out for any movement beyond that of their group. (Listen 22).]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ the tracks lead them to a relatively new building outside the town in the countryside. heavy wooden doors are the only visible access. a small hand-made sign reads "Fellowship of the Common Path Church", but is the only thing that would denote the building as a church otherwise - neither barry nor sawyer notice anything resembling a religious symbol anywhere. ] Why is it always a creepy church?

[supertardiness]

[Barry wrinkles his nose a bit, before glancing around to scan the rest of the area for anything interesting (spot 36).]

Do you want to check out the inside or snoop around the back first?

[Because the end goal is to snoop around, right?]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ there's nothing really worth seeing on the grounds, but barry is at least very sure of that. ] Might as well try to get inside.

[incantatio]

Anyone else getting that... cult headquarters kind of vibe? [Church? Seems fake tbh.]

[theminotaur]

[ abigail's gonna look for traps and then try the door! (search 28) and if it's locked she's gonna try again! (disable device 20 total) ]

[huntersdaughter]

[Jo didn't feel the need to pipe up about tracking when Abigail mentioned she had a good handle on it. Jo follows the group, taking in the area and trying to make sure she keeps up with the group. (Listen 14, Spot 19)]

I'm wondering what the Common Path is meant to be. [Her head cants, staring at the sign.]

[sirstickuphisass]

[ the door isn't trapped, but it is locked solidly, and abigail can't even get it to budge. ] I'm not sure we're gonna like the answer to that.

[theminotaur]

[ after a bit more struggle, abigail rocks back on her heels before standing up. ]

I can't do this. My teenage delinquency only goes so far, I guess.

[supertardiness]

[Barry glances over to Eric.]

Want me to do a quick run around? See if there's another way inside?