"Concealed carry," Roy says, gesturing to his handgun. "And a license to do so. It helps a lot. As for automatics, I don't really like 'em, too much recoil and too little accuracy, but to each his own. Just get some silver bullets."
You're really serious about this werewolf thing huh? You all are pretty convinced. Either this is the most elaborate practical joke I have ever seen, or there is something really going on.
Xannder thinks about the situation for a moment.
Do any of you all happen to play any role playing games? Are you, what do they call it, LARP-ing? That has to be what this is, you guys are imaging you are in some fantasy world where werewolves and vampires do exist. Right?
He says this with a hopeful tone.
Roy barks a short laugh. "You'd wish that, wouldn't you, norm?" He shakes his head and holds out the knife. "Feel for yourself--this isn't fake, and neither is my job."
Hey now, I-I was just askin', come on now. I believe yah, didn't m-m-mean to upset yah, p-p-put it aw-w-way.
Xannder backs away wearing an awkward smile trying to defuse the situation.
"Relax, kid," Roy says, sheathing the knife. He once again seems not to realize he's not much older than the other man. "I'm not gonna waste my knife on you, and I don't make a habit of killing humans. But if you're freaking out over a knife, it doesn't bode well for your hunting experience."
I just don't like pointy things aimed at me is all.
"Right, but crested butte is quite a ways from here you all got transportation?" says Harry
He takes out a map and shows you were it is.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_FXJLC5PfjGc21RTmM4cGdYREU/edit?usp=sharin g
You are at A crested butte is B.
"I've got Atlanta. Don't know about you folks." Roy shrugs and opens the ammunition box again, looking at the bullets inside.
Alisha nods, "I have a modest Ford Contour to get me where I need to go. It should be sufficient to get me to where I need to go."
I have my Chevy Bel Air outside. It was my uncles, but he went to prison so I'm borrowing it for now.
"Nope, my ride broke down on the way home. Anyone got some room for one more?"
Alisha says to Alex, "I have room in my car if you need a lift. So long as you're willing to take me along on your hunt."
"We already said we'd take you, girl. Don't worry, you'll see your fill of the Shadow."
Sounds like a party then.
"Thanks, so many new blood makes me nervous, but it's good to have people at my back for a change."
What's with the scars man? Seen a lot of action?
Alisha says, "Then it is agreed. I will of course leave the real fighting to those who are efficient with it. As for my part I will provide intelligence support as well as keep video records of our encounters. Eventually I am hoping that with enough evidence we will be able to expose the existence of the "Shadow" to the populace and get most people to believe it. We must bring an end to the ignorance that humanity lives under."
"I wouldn't, the government has a secret organisation in charge of keeping it a secret. They leave us be since we do the hard part of killing them and all they do is clean up after...They do some hunting themselves too I hear and when they notice a particularly good hunter they try and recruit them. Some people call it the big times, I call it giving up your freedom for a paycheck...Anyway it's getting late. If you plan on leaving in the morning your gonna need some rest. Unfortunate I cant accommodate you all here. There's a cheap motel just a mile down the road. It should do for tonight." says Harry
"The Government does not have godlike powers to stop all media leaks. They couldn't put a lid on Wikileaks so what makes you think they could prevent the "Shadow" from getting to the public. But do not worry about me, I know full well about government is involvement in the cover-up of the Shadow. Hence why when I do spread this information I will be sure it is vast enough to spread across so many media sources that the government will have no chance to bury the truth."
Secret organization keeping charge of secrets, Secretception.
Xannder stands smiling like a jackass for a short time and then composes himself when no one laughs at his horrible joke.
Thanks for the heads up Harry, I'll head to the motel shortly after dinner.
Xannder sits back down at his table and finishes his meal.
Xannder finishes his meal and you head to the hotel for the night. You rest up, have breakfast and get ready to leave for crested butte and the mysterious appearing castle and the werewolf infested woods.
You drive all the way up to the mountains and the area is filled with thick fog making it hard to see the road ahead.
Make a spot check.
Alisha follows the usual fog procedures, driving more cautiously, turning on her headlights and paying extra attention for obstacles.
Roy slows his Ninja down enough to reach inside his jacket and flick the safety off on his handgun. Don't like this, especially with outsiders and norms along. Something's up.
You slow down as enter the mist and you notice a camp built a little ways of the road. A tent and a campfire but you don't see anyone.
Roy brings his bike to a stop and puts down the kickstand, drawing his pistol as he steps off. Really don't like this...
He approaches the camp with his handgun out, pausing to pull his flashlight from its position on his range pack. He turns the beam on, holding it in his left hand and using his wrist to support his gun hand. It's obvious that he's trained to do this. Roy moves forward slowly, being careful to step and hide the sound of his approach.
Xannder, surprised by the sudden stop of his companion slams on the breaks to avoid hitting him. He then slowly drives to the side of the road and gets out of the car. He gives Roy a WTF look, but then the camp catches his eye. He leaves his rifle in the car and brings along his pistol.
You approach the camp and find it deserted. The tent is ripped open on one side and on the ground near the fire you notice a rifle. There are empty cartridges scattered around the area and there is dry blood on the tent and on the ground.
Uhh, that's spooky.
Xannder checks to see if the rifle is still warm and get a sense for how long ago something happened. (fire is now embers, barrel is still warm, blood is still wet and streaking)
Alisha Quinn being the driver of a car and lacking the heavy weaponry of the rest is the last to leave the vehicle and approach the scene. She locks the car behind her and then joins the group moving as silently as she can. Her eyes widen at the scene of blood and carnage but after taking a moment to survey the scene quickly goes into analytical mode and starts performing an investigation hopes of finding clues of the event that occurred here.
It was some time ago you'd guess a day or two.
Alisha finds a journal in the remains of the tent.
Alisha pulls out a pair of plastic gloves from her pocket and puts them on. She reaches down and picks up the remains of the journal she then opens the journal and checks it for relevant information on the identity of the people camping here.
Currently mid-autumn season. Chilly but no snow for a while yet.
You find a Remington Model 700 with 15 spare rounds and near the tent you also locate a AMT Longslide Hardballer with no ammo.
The Journal seems to be a hunter's log detailing several hunts he has been on. The latest hunt entitled Werewolf hunt seems interesting.
Remington Model 700
American 7.62mm Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle
Damage: 2d10
Magazine: 5 int
Critical: 20
Size: Large
Damage Type: Ballistic Weight: 7 lb.
Range Increment: 100 ft.
Rate of Fire: Single
Restriction: Lic (+1)
AMT Longslide Hardballer
American .45 ACP Single-Action Autoloader Pistol
Damage: 2d6
Magazine: 7 box
Critical: 20
Size: Medium
Damage Type: Ballistic
Weight: 5 lb.
Range Increment: 30 ft.
Rate of Fire: S
Restriction: Lic (+1)
"I'll take that rifle, if no one minds." Roy continues to sweep the camp before picking the gun up, however, poking around with the light and gun on the same line as his vision, wary of an ambush.
Once things look clear, he holsters his pistol and picks up the Remington, accepting the rounds from Alisha. He checks the rifle for any ammo left inside and loads it full, then pockets the spare rounds. This'll be useful for hunting... though I'd like some silver bullets.
Alisha reads the Journal and then looks up to Roy and says, "This journal appears to belong to a hunter. Apparently his most recent hunt involved hunting werewolves. We definitely are on the trail of the Werewolves but from my through investigation of the scene, the attack was not very recent. In a period of one to two days by the look of the evidence. So either the Werewolves have moved on by now or if they are territorial like real wolves we are currently in their territory."
She looks to Roy and nods, "Yes you may as well take the gun but be careful. If you get caught with a stolen firearm you could get a pretty hefty prison sentence."
While the first couple hunts are certainly interesting but the one called werewolf hunt is the one that gets you attention.
Date: xx/xx/xxxx
Day 1 (6 days ago)
Arrived in town and started asking around. People in town are terrified, I cant blame them. A mysterious castle appeared just outside of town and since then nearly a dozen folk have gone missing. I heard from someone at the hotel that four of the disappearances happened in a campground in the mountains to the west of town. The fourth person was a tourist that sounds like it could be Marie's husband. I kind of want to go check out that castle but I promised I would find her husband and bring him back or bring back his wedding ring...Looks like I'm going camping in the morning.
Day 2 (5 days ago)
Stocked up on camping gear and headed to the camping site. The park is closed obviously but a little disguise and a fake Id and Park Ranger Billy was let into the area to help search for the missing campers who are most likely just lost in the fog...Yeah right.
Day 3 (4 days ago)
Found and killed a werewolf. Problem is he wasn't alone and one of his friends ripped the tires right of my truck. Grabbing what I can carry and moving on. I have a bad feeling about this, gonna start making my way back to town and wait for backup.
Day 4 (3 days ago)
I have several on my trail now. Town is too far I wont make it. Going to make my way to the road and hope a vehicle comes along and gives me a ride.
Day 5 (2 days ago)
I setup a camp near the road. The werewolves came at me, six of them I counted. I held my ground and just barely managed to fight them off. Lucky for me they all retreated when I badly hurt the biggest one..I used up all of my silver ammunition during that fight and I didn't manage to kill one. Their most likely going to lick their wounds and make another go at me. I'm going to hold my ground and hope someone comes along before they do...
Alisha turns to the group and says, "The Journal says this individual was here hunting werewolves. The last entry two days ago hints that he was attacked by six werewolves and used up all his silver ammunition to drive them off. It appears the hunter made a last stand in this location. I do not know if he was successful in taking any of the werewolves down before they got to him so there could be a lot of werewolves out there."
Certainly is a lot of blood, kinda gives me the heebie jeebies. Not likin' this location neither. Maybe we should head into town, with a quickness yeah?
Xannder looks spooked out, and very alert.
Alisha nods to Xannder, "That might be a prudent choice. If it were one werewolf I am sure our motley crew here could handle the hunt. But six, I doubt we would make it out alive. We should take a step back and make a plan of attack before we go wandering off in the woods and get drawn into a potential ambush."
"Let me see." Roy takes the journal and flips through it to the back section, frowning. "This isn't good. Even one werewolf could be bad for us, and six or more is bad news. We'd best get to this town, see what's going on." He pockets the journal unless Alex asks for it, then begins heading back to the road, still with his gun and flashlight in hand. "Strange that nobody picked 'em up, though."
You continue on to the town and after a 30 minute drive you see the first couple houses. It's around noon and the place seems mostly dead. Every car you see is parked and the streets are deserted.
It looks like there isn't anybody here...
Xannder follows Roy to wherever he parks and gets out of the car.
Anyone else a little creeped out, I mean look at this place. I would think there would be at least some people walkin' around.
As you move deeper into the town you realize it's not empty some cars still drive around but very few and you catch a glimpse of people spying at you from nearby homes.
Alisha finds it is a bit odd that the traffic is minimal but relaxes when she finally sees signs of life and writes it off as just a sleepy small town. She looks around for a local motel or hotel to park the car and purchase a room for the night.
Roy keeps his Ninja slow as the group moves through town, just fast enough to keep balance and avoid a crash. Eventually he signals for everyone to pull over in a parking lot or on the side of a stretch of road and motions them over.
"Two things. First--can somebody take this rifle? It's not exactly comfortable or concealed on my back while I'm riding around. Second--anybody else getting a really bad feeling here? We should find out what's going on. Find somewhere public, a diner or something."
Alisha Quinn says to Roy, "You can store it in my car. We had best hide it in the trunk though as we do not want to have any firearms in plain sight in case the authorities pull us over. Currently I am looking to see if there is a motel or hotel around we can stay for the night. There we can make a plan of action and get some rest."
Yeah, I don't want to stay in the street longer than I have to. I'm gettin the willies just standin here.
People in the streets are looking at you with suspicion. They all look scared.
You've barely been there 10 minutes that a police vehicle shows up and parks nearby. The police officer, A woman in her thirties is coming over.