[Taocow PBEM] [Alex, Justin and Vesper] Book 3 - Chapter X - The Quest For Louissa

[Peter Perkins]

Someone is working with dimensional energies. Possibly a rift or working a teleportation or summoning magic.
[/Vesper]




________________________________
 From: Aaron Clausen <mightymartianca at gmail.com>
To: The Tao of Cow Rifts PBEM <taocowpbem at zork.net> 
Sent: Thursday, November 1, 2012 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: [Taocow PBEM] [Alex, Justin and Vesper] Book 3 - Chapter X - The Quest For Louissa
 
OOC: Many apologies for the lateness of this.

>> [GM]
>> As Oz, Sir Prrcyvel and their two groups walk away, Alex, Vesper and
>> Justin make their way eastward. After perhaps fifty feet the stream
>> flows into a small, deep pool. Here Alex finds more footprints, and
>> enough good ones to tell her that at least three or four different
>> people were here, in at least two different groups. A closer
>> examination by the edge of the pool reveals what appears to be foot
>> prints from bare feet, small, and possibly female.
>>
>> While she's checking the ground for more prints, Vesper spies a torn
>> piece of cloth caught in some thorny bushes. When Vesper goes to check
>> it out, he finds a concealed trail with more boot prints.
>> [/GM]

>> [Justin]
>> Justin peeks over Vesper's shoulder. "Another trail!" he announces.
>> "Vesper's discovered another trail, right by this torn cloth."
>> [/Justin]

>> [GM]
>> The three adventurers now have a choice; continue along the main trail
>> that sticks to the stream, or follow this concealed trail. Alex sees a
>> few more boot prints along the main trail, but they do not seem that
>> recent; rains have come and gone since they were made. There are fresh
>> boot prints on the concealed trail.
>> [/GM]

> [Vesper]
> Vesper nods, "Right, I think we should follow the concealed trail. Someone
> spent some effort in not wanting to be followed along this way." He hands
> the cloth to Justin so his dogs can get the scent.
> [/Vesper]

> [Alex]
> Every five minutes, Alex calls "Everybody check in" over the radio. The
> Coalition ranger is determined to keep everybody in contact. This
> includes the guards by the way."
> [/Alex]

[GM]
Both Oz's and Sir Prrcyvel's parties respond.
[/GM]

> [Alex]
> "I see some tracks on a concealed trail," looking carefully.
>
> OOC: Any signs of who the tracks are. Do they look like Louissa or
> Ted's tracks? [Tracking Humanoids Skill Check: 13%]
> [/Alex]

[GM]
The tracks are all from booted feet. Some of the marks look like they
came from City Guard armor, so it seems likely that those must be from
Louissa and her companion (whoever he is). The other boot prints are
of slightly different shape with different tread, none the same,
suggesting whoever else was here was not in any kind of regulation
armor.

Very close observation determines this critical fact; it appears that
the one city guard armored person was with the other group of
miscellaneous individuals (at least three, possibly four with two
people wearing similar armor). The other city guard, who was much
heavier than the other, seemed to be following the trail. That
person's boot prints are always on top of the others, and in muddy
patches are still much clearer than the others, suggesting that that
individual was following behind, perhaps several minutes behind.

As they follow the trail Vesper found, Justin's dogs pick up the
scent. With the dogs leading and Alex behind, analyzing the  prints
left behind, the new direction reveals a narrow trail that cunningly
follows the stream while keeping one well hidden from anyone at the
stream itself. The land begins to rise and the stream cuts a deep
gully, perhaps thirty feet down. As they continue on, the trail now
plunges down the gully at a precipitous angle. The wall of the gully
is shale, and loose pieces of shale cover the path itself, making the
going very difficult indeed.

As they progress, Justin in his armor finds the going much tougher,
and it forces them to slow down. Justin is unwilling to leave his
armor behind, so he brings up the rear at an ever increasing distance
from his dogs, Alex and Vesper.

As they make their way up the path, Vesper gets flashes of an odd
feeling, a somewhat familiar "scent" of some sort of dimensional
change ahead, getting stronger as they move up the side of the gully.
To get more information will mean stopping to get a better sense of
what it might be.

Above them some small chunks of shale fall down the side of the gully,
falling in front of their path. Alex's Sixth Sense goes off. There is
danger nearby, and they are in a dangerous spot, with a sheer drop
about forty feet to the bottom of the gully on one side, and a wall of
rock above them, the top not visible.
[/GM]

-- 
Aaron Clausen
mightymartianca at gmail.com
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