William shoots the creature, barely cracking the icy skin. Fang grabs hold of it by one arm and a wing, turning it to face the attacks of his companions. Naajy's shot goes wide, cracking near Fang's head. Jazz hits the monster cleanly, but the bullet bounces harmlessly off of its tough hide.
Digger nervously fires again. This his first time firing anything other than a handgun.
Seeing Digger hold a rifle in all the wrong ways, William shouts out."'f you need a gun, I got one in my bag! Could've asked!"
The bag in question lies just next to the doctor.
The blue demon bucks against Fang's grasp, wrenching its wings free. It flaps wildly, shrieking, maybe talking a language you don't understand. It attempts to rise into the snowy air.
Round 4
"I got my own heater, Doc, but Buffalo Bill I ain't..."
"Die darnit. Just die!!!"
for
He fires wildly into the air, clearly firing at airplanes was NOT part of his military training :-(
Fang pops the creature as it goes.
Fang swings his hand through falling snow as the creature retreats out over the ravine. It folds its wings around it and drops into the void below.
Once you break off pursuit, the silence of the settling snow is heavy.
"Well, we drove it away at least. Yay us?. "
Fang collapses to his knees and begins mumbling to himself.
He's praying for protection from his gods.
William's parting shot flies wide as he falls to one knee, holding his bleeding midsection. "So I guess this is the part where you lecture me on the existence of the supernatural, eh? Save it for a moment where I'm not leaking blood, please."
Clutching his bag, the doctor hobbles back to the cabin, leaving a crimson trail in the snow.
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Jazz replies to William calmly Um, William, nobody here is out giving a lecture on the supernatural, cause even those who believe in it thought they would have never seen it. Anyway, it doesn't matter if that is supernatural, nature or somewhere in between. The important thing is to learn about whatever creatures we are up against, and finding a way to fight them. We will take down whatever comes our way. Okay so here about that thing. It is small breathes cold, has seemingly icy skin, has claws and can fly. So how do we fight something with icy skin, has claws and can fly? This is the part where we have a group discussion on strategies and items we can use to take that thing out, especially if there are like a dozen more of them.
William's brain cuts away all the noise coming from Jazz's mouth as he gets back to the cabin. "Oy! Mister I've-Killed-Men-Before! Great help you've been back out there! Boil us some water, eh? I'm bleeding more than I'd like."
"Our bullets seemed to bounce off its skin. Anybody have any idea on how to deal with that?"
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Jazz boils some water. Boil water, sounds like a good idea, if that thing comes into the cabin we throw boiling hot water on it to melt its icy body Jazz boils the water, but takes Williams words to mean how to do with that thing. Or maybe you just want something to drink.
He also reloads his rifle too.
Fang finishes praying and is quiet upon returning to the cabin.
Roger seems deeply shaken, a man on the edge of sanity, or possibly past the edge.
"Ten-Penny, some of the men have been injured. Ten-Penny has some experience nursing injury, gentlemen. She should be able to assist the doctor. You see, now, that I am not mad or a lying. There are monsters in the wood. This is some sort of invasion, something straight out of a Wells novel."
William takes the pot of hot water. "Boiled water is sanitized, so- ah, wasted breath. But it doesn't look like the ice pierced the abdominal wall. If you'll excuse me, I'll bandage myself and assist you in a short time."
He moves to the nearest chamber, locking himself out and getting out a few minutes later, white gauze evident under his shirt and waistcoat. "All right, the doctor will see you now."
"Yes please, I'd definitely appreciate some healing"
"Even by somebody as pigheaded as you"
After Naajy is tended to, Roger stands by the fireplace and speaks. "You see now, our problem. These otherworldly creatures must be stopped. The monster spoke to me of having a master, so it is not even the most powerful of them. How can we possibly combat this threat! Creatures who can turn the very seasons against us...!"
The man's voice pitches higher and higher, and his demeanor threatens hysteria.
"Thanks for the help, Ten-Penny. Give me a second." says William, heading towards the fireplace.
Despite his apparently placid demeanor, the frustration of the day, the unlikely series of events climaxing into supernatural revelations, and the crumbling of all he thought he knew had profoundly shaken him. So, when he goes to treat Roger's hysteria, he's also somehow addressing his own panic. And his remedy is the traditional one.
"Get! A! Grip! On! Your! Self!" he barks, punctuating every syllable with an open-handed slap on the cheeks while holding Roger's collar. A treatment that also channels his rage against him at being abandoned to the weird creature, and a rage against the universe for throwing something so absurd at his perfectly rational life.
Releasing the man, William passes a hand through his hair, as if trying to place order in his unruly head. "Allow me a brief recap, would you? That... thing, that looked like it came from Notre Dame's decor, flew and shot blasts of ice from its hands. At the light of this, I'd say, indisputable evidence, and the fact that I don't recall having taken hallucinogens, either I've gone completely mad or I have to admit the existence of what can only be described as supernatural. Could I have a glass of something strong, please?"
Supernatural is just something that hasn't been explained yet. Right? Right?
"Welcome to the real world. Its always difficult to grow up and lose ones illusions, isn't it?
I think that we should investigate more. If nothing else, get the body of that beastie. Otherwise the authorities are just NOT going to believe anything that we say. They'll probably just lock us.
But first we need to return the girl. And, while we're at it, we NEED to figure out some way of hurting that thing. We should do some research and find EVERYTHING that some monsters are said to be vulnerable to. Bullets made of silver or wood (especially Rowan or oak), or gold or meteroic iron or blessed by a priest or ... Well, thats all I've got off the top of my head, hence my suggesting that we do some research"
"If she's all ice queen, why don't we just melt her?"
William turns around at Naajy's words, ready to deliver a biting retort, but bites his lip, taking a deep breath. When he speaks, his voice is calm and confident.
"Mock me as much as you want, Master Singh. But my beliefs are unchanged, whatever happened. I was wrong, as many smarter than me have been in the course of history, and here I am admitting my mistake just as I resolve to investigating this phenomenon. I will study this... thing, whatever it takes. I will wrestle Nature's mysteries from its unfeeling, unforgiving grasp, I will have it yield before the might of Reason. To me, there is no greater feat, no mightier celebration of human brilliance than discovery, the rationalization of the electrical phenomenon where cavemen saw the gods of lightning."
"I am a man of science, Master Singh, and my faith in it is unwavering. Setbacks are nothing but chances to learn."
Roger remains shaken, but regains some of his composure, "The Indian is right. We should take the woman and seek reinforcements. This area is far too dangerous. Our weapons have no effect against these mystical creatures."
Roger moves to talk to his men.
"Perhaps it would be best, gentlemen, if my men and I were to escort the lady back to civilization and see to her safety. You, then, would be free to investigate the frozen lands beyond the rope bridge."[b] He seems to notice hesitation on your part, [b]"I assure you, if I am confident that you are attracting the attention of the monster, I will be confident in our ability to escape with the damsel. We could carry any messages that you might have for the outside world and return with assistance."
As night falls, Ten-Penny fills the lamps with kerosene and lights them. One of Roger's men stokes the fire. Dinner is simple fare, roast venison and root vegetables.
Ten-Penny brings a plate of raw venison for the cat.
"Ten-penny, thank you for feeding Haamid. Not everyone would have thought to do so."
Naajy is, indeed, a vegetarian. Meat definitely interferes with ones perceptions and with ones spiritual advancement.
"How do we know that you'll take her back and safely release her?"
"My only reason for taking the girl was the demands of the creature. If you are distracting her, we can take our leave of the cabin and return her to safety."
He seems to be in earnest.
"That's all well and good, but how are we gonna tackle this thing? We didn't even scratch it before. Can we trap it in a fire? Maybe lure it here?"
"The only thing I remember about fairytales was werewolves fearing silver, not much else. Perhaps we may scrap together some old silver dollars, but I haven't the faintest inkling of how to make bullets of them."
"What are the White Men saying?"
Fang speaks in his native tongue as he looks back and forth at the group.
are trying to decide how we can kill the demon monster. Do you have any ideas?"
"Perhaps we can capture it? A net or a lasso? All Americans are experts with the lassoo aren't they?"
"We throw something around it and drag it to a fire."
"Fang agrees that capturing it should be the first step. Then we can see if we can burn it, drown it, etc"
"Well, in an exceptional homage to the melting pot tradition, all of us save Master Brautigan appear to hail from faraway shores. And as a city boy, I don't suppose you trained in cattle herding, did you?"
William looks out of the window.
"Does anyone remember how to make Greek fire? Or any other weaponized incendiary device? Related, Roger, do you have gasoline, naphta, kerosene or such?"
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All Americans are experts with the lassoo aren't they?"
"Of course, we have kerosene for the lamps. No gasoline. No automobiles here, so no need for it. I do have several bottles of brandy in the cellar that will burn nicely, though I hate to see them go."
"Soak the place, trap her here. Best idea I have."
William's Scouting instinct for tinkering activate at the mention of brandy, and he starts mumbling to himself.
"Combustion requires air, so we could light one up without fear of it exploding, then shattering it- we need ignition, something like a candle but that won't go out- a torch perhaps, so if we soaked a cloth- Alright, I think I have it. We can fill bottles with kerosene and cork them using a soaked rag. Then we light the rag on fire and throw the bottle, resulting in sudden ignition on contact with the air. Essentially a grenade with kerosene instead of black powder. For it to work best we'd have to force the creature on the ground somehow. Is it too much to hope that you have a net? Perhaps for binding woodpiles?"
"There are some old fishing nets, cast nets. They would not hold the creature for long, but perhaps for a short time. The beast is much tougher than a trout."