Encounterlogs
Williams Odd Encounter Sr Syl 250108
In the quiet town of Haven, William, a resident known for his hunting skills and peculiar ability to see in the dark, receives a plea for help via text message. The message informs him that Sally Anne, a young student from White Oak, has gone missing near the ominous woods adjacent to the school, an area rife with both natural and supernatural dangers. Despite his initial reluctance and a hint of annoyance at being called upon once again for such a task, William gears up and heads towards the Camp White Oak, ready to join a search and rescue team that's been assembled to find Sally Anne. The group, composed of William and several White Oak students, each bringing their own mix of skills, knowledge, and weaponry, converges at the obstacle course near the edge of the forest, the last known location of Sally Anne.
As they venture into the foreboding woods, the gathering night and the ominous silence that envelops them serve as a stark reminder of the perils that lay ahead. The forest, already a dangerous place with a reputation for harboring creatures such as manticores, kobolds, and other monstrous entities, tonight seems even more sinister with the discovery of an unusual number of dead rats and kobolds, hinting at a predator or a force even more dangerous than usual at work. Despite William's experience and the assembled group's readiness for combat, the sheer magnitude of the threat they face becomes apparent. With a strategic retreat in mind and leveraging his unique abilities, William makes the difficult decision to abandon the search temporarily, slipping through the shadows back to the safety of his apartment. Determined to avoid the brewing confrontation, yet burdened with the knowledge of the lurking dangers and the unresolved fate of the missing student, William contemplates his next move, weighing the risks of heading back into the darkness against the potential cost of inaction.
(William's odd encounter(SRSyl):SRSyl)
[Tue Jan 7 2025]
In a combination of kitchen and living room
A space dominated by the presence of mahogany woods, the floor covered in planks of different tones, from lighter to darker colors of the same kind of wood not seeming to follow any kind of pattern of color or placement regarding their shape. The same kind of planks covering the walls, vertically oriented, and ending up in a pretty contrasting pastel color, between white and brown, but leaning far more to the previous, with a long spread of small circular lights that provide the room some dim lighting to lean into the whole cozy atmosphere.
The eastern side of the room displays two tall inside lamps with a soft brown colored fabric to dim out the light coming from them. A dark wood table of low height positioned relatively towards the center, surrounded from north, east and south by long white leather sofas, able to fit between two or three people each.
As one moves towards the western side though the room seemlessly transitions into a wall-less kitchen, starting with an isle topped with a black polished quartz countertop that works both as dining table and cooking space. Against the wall, a big counter, topped with the same stone slab as the isle, and presenting different utilities like a sink, a fridge, a diswasher and several cabinets and drawers to store both food and cutlery.
It is night, about 15F(-9C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds. There is a waxing gibbous moon.
(Your target's been contacted to help find a civilian who's become lost in the woods.
)
There are days and nights where nothing happens despite much time passing. There are also seconds in which ages pass over the course of a few moments. Time can feel more dramatic than its linear nature would imply when moments of import occur. Tonight had the potential to be one of those nights. One of the nights where the things that were happening weren't the hum dum drum beat of meritless pointlessness drossing over the night until it was as forgettable as every other night. Some nights were special and for William his choices in the next few minutes and moments would determine whether this one would be.
Winter had arrived and was in full swing. So the night was a cold night. Not cold to the point of freezing, but cold to the point that if someone were to be going without the proper clothing? Well, they would call it freezing. They would call it this and it would be a lie, but they would feel like they were telling the truth. It was the sort of cold that bit into someone, that made them realize that they were cold. That set them to shivering. Not the sort of cold that would form ice. Not actual freezing.
Darkness had already settles over the landscape. Haven was a small town. Darkness in a small town wasn't the same as darkness in a lighter place. Not just because of the light either. The dark in Haven was a heavy darkness, because unlike many places in the world the darkness of Haven was actually hiding things. There were monsters in the dark forests. There were predators that moves through the city, oftentimes because they were Pathing from one place to another, making it convienent. Still, there was the more common sort of darkness as well. The kind that set someone to shivering even though it wasn't cold, because it was so black that one had to wonder what might be happening just a bit out of sight.
Not everyone was bothered by that sort of darkness. Some people could see in the dark. William was one of them. So theirs was a special place in Haven. The inbetween -- not quite a monster, but definitely not normal. He was the sort of person that others could reach out to.
He was in his living room -- a little combination kitchen and lounging area, a space dominated by mahogany wood and darker colors -- when his phone began to buzz buzz buzz and rattle crackle as it vibrated and rang out in announcement of incoming text messages. The texts told of a grim tale. Someone had ventured off into the woods. Sally Anne, twenty five, a student at White Oak. Last seen near the obstacle course and a search and rescue team was being put together to go look for them. Word had gotten around that William was a frequent hunter and while that far out was dangerous enough to have manitcores and even the occassional wooden woman prowling about, there was the hope that perhaps he was tough enough to be able to handle whatever might come. The information packet sent along with the request detailed all this and more in the hasty and informal manner that is so commonn among the young and texting: hey. heard u hunt. need ppl. white oak student missing after walking past obstacle course near Other. Not in the Other. want to walk through woods srching? pls response fast. ty.
With the texts arrival the phones gones silenct. Silent like the boring apartment. Silent, like the dearth of noise after a gagged college student is bound and left defeneless amid a dark forest.
Some moments are important and some don't matter at all. What would Sally's life be? A pointless moment, ignored? Someone to help? Maybe to get them into his debt? It would be up to William to decide.
Having been busy with his phone just moments ago, William is quick to turn his head towards the device once more with some excitement and maybe just a hint of a blush on his face, whatever he was doing before, it certainly had had his attention. But the machine had been silent for minutes now, and he had simply laid down on one of the couches while leaving it on the table, not even having bothered to peel off his winter clothes. Not like he needed them, they had a purpose for him, but it wasn't protect himself against the climate, he was more durable than most to it, specially since his 'gift' manifested, or was brought out.
So without hesitation, he reaches with his hand to fish the buzzing phone, unlocking the screen and looking through his messages, but he seems let down by what he reads, and he lets out a sigh "Oh, someone needs help... Again... We'll call, good ol' Bill" He musters with some annoyance, but despite his grumpy tone or the reluctance he seems to show, he slowly gets back on his feet, making sure everything is in place and heading out the door.
Walk past the hallway of the Elm Apartment Complex, he makes it to his car, in the secluded alley right next to the building, and heads towards the Other, or well, towards Camp White Oak, where the woman had been last seen.
He didn't have lots of sources to find someone, other than his ability to see in the dark, his sense of smell hadn't developed that much like his sister's or friends', but he had somehow proven successful at locating people in the woods in the past for some reason. Making it to the oh so familiar place, and getting out of the car, locking it with the keys and then looking around the place "Monsters over here shouldn't be too hard to handle..." And as he says that, he realizes his lack of weapons and unlocks the car again, taking his duffel bag from the trunk and then nodding to himself "Now, where could this girl be?"
The mahogany room had wooden features but they were nothing like the woods that William was agreeing to search. Camp White Oak was distant. It was right by the portal to the Other. It was so far down Suncrest Lane that monsters prowled the woods. Some of them looked at first like naked women made of wood. Others were horrifying manticores. There were the rat packs. The clutches of kobold. Beasts prowled that were part board and part man. Basically, it was a dangerous place. For many who went to White Oak that was part of the point. White Oak was a place that had students of a supernatural sort and the training facilities being so close to the Other and so close to danger were not accidents, but intentional choices.
These days Camp Oak was actually a tad bit safer than it usually was. In its earlier years it had been a lone bastion against the wild nature and otherworldly monsters. Nothing much else on Suncrest had been nearby. Now stone walls stretched out amid the forest with a white stone keep visible past it. Ongoing construction work could be heard in the distance as work on that keep continued. It had been planned out as a stronghold for the Knights of the Silver Dragon -- a group that William had once been a part of, forced into it by his sister for his own protection. Yet the lack of wilderness didn't mean the place was safe.
The rendezvous point was the obvious place to start the search: the obstacle course itself. People had already started gathering there by the time William arrived. They stood beneath a white oak tree on the edge of the forest. The tree was old and gnarled, its branches stretching overhead like skeletal fingers. A few of them stamped their feet for warmth. One of them clutched a thermos, sipping a drink that steamed in the frigid night air. These were the individuals who had answered the call as well -- some from White Oak campus, one or two seemingly from around town, each bearing anxious expressions. They looked relieved to see someone who might actually know these woods, who had braved them enough times to carry themselves with confidence -- or maybe just experience. They were all young. White Oak students. Then, William got closer and closer and they could make him out better. The anxiety soon returned. Apparently, for all that William had been summoned out, the sight of him did not inspire much in the way of confidence.
One woman stared at William and then said, "Aren't you that guy that got abducted a few weeks back?" A report had been put in about the adbuction. The training ground here was so close to the Other's exit that it had been students at this very place who had noticed the abduction and whose report had ultimately led others to seek out William and save him.
Introductions were short and clipped. "Kyle", with the thermos, nodded and explained he was a, "friend of Sally Anne's." He had short, dark hair, a quick but nervous smile, and hands that shook slightly even as he tried to hide it. Maya, a tall, lean woman in a heavy coat, said she had "wilderness rescue training" from her time volunteering at a national park she "liked to Path to." Jackson, an older man with furrowed brows, said nothing of his reasons for helping, only that he owed a favor and was here to see it settled. And there were others as well, half a dozen more, each carrying flashlights and backpacks with a few basic supplies.
Their breath plumed in the still air, swirling ghosts that disappeared into the blackness. The night was quiet- too quiet in the sort of way that said: yes, there are monsters waiting in the forest, yes they will attack you. The area seemed to know that something was about to happen because no wind rustled the dried leaves on the ground, and any far-off owl or coyote seemed to have stilled its voice. Since there were monsters lurking in the trees, they kept to the hush, blanketed by the cold darkness that pressed in on all sides.
She was to the North, Maya said quietly, lifting the hood of her coat up as she surveyed the group. We head north from here. Past the obstacle course into the deeper forest. We have to assume that something grabbed her. Hopefully it was just one of the kobold packs. If that is the case, we're probably going to be following her trail toward the gate to the Wild. Look for that trail. Look for signs of a struggle. Look for anything that might help us find her. We're going to be staying a bit spread out. But not so spread out that we can't see each other. If she is knocked out and left behind we don't want to leave her on the ground."
While she spoke another student moved and got the sort of bright colors often used by peoplle in the forest. Orange. Orange was a very clever choice for hunters in particular. It was bright. Deer, as it happens, don't see that brightness. So when someone is hunting orange is a color invisible to some predators and yet hyper-visible to fellow humans.
Soon enough the group wwould be ready to move out into the forest. To venture into the unknown. There would of course be a chance for William to talk to the others before that happened if he wanted to. Flahslights began to be pointed as the lines would form. The heavy darkness fought off by little bars. Then the world grew stranger. Wisps came into being as well as one of the students used magic to light the area. White Oak being White Oak none of the people present showed any concern for that. Mostly people were getting their weapons ready. Mostly guns. The clacking of rifles, the turning off of safeties. This was not the casual search through a wood without danger. This was searching for someone in Haven's woods. This was searching for someone where the woods searched back -- searching for weakness, searching for blood.
Beyond the obstacle course was where the true gloom wait"
waited. Towering evergreens formed a thick canopy overhead, laced with the skeletal branches of bare oaks and maples. The path was narrowbarely more than a game trail. Soon, underbrush snagged at their clothing, the damp odor of moss and earth mixing with the metallic tang of winter air.
"Wait... is this really the right way to search? All spread out?" Kyle calls out. "I mean, wouldn't it be better just to track her by scent?" He points at his nose.
Maya blushes, a thing hidden by the dark. "Oh.. um.. I've never led this sort of thing before. So... uh..." She clearly looks out of her element. Someone needs to step up. Provide real leadership. Perhaps that could be William. Or perhaps someone else could lead the group forward into the woods using whatever strategy seemed best to them.
"That was to the Wilds... To the Other it was more than a month ago..." William simply answers as he is questioned about an abduction, but as the group discusses and gets ready to leave, all that he does is open his duffel bag, taking out of it a rifle and strapping it directly to his back, grabbing ahold of a sword he also carried within the duffel, having swapped the rapier for a longsword. And last but not least, securing the protections to his own body, letting out a sigh as he follows the group into the woods.
He maybe seemed a bit annoyed at having to team up with so many people, specially considering he normally moved alone during these grounds, able to hunt every single creature around this area on his own, or, if he felt uneasy about a certain fight, or tired after a while of hunting, he was skillful enough to even hide from the monsters in their own terrain. But belonging to a bigger group only meant these tactics wouldn't be as effective. He couldn't move like he liked, and hiding wasn't as effective when having a dozen of people in your same location. At least the fire power to resist any strike would be enough to end any creatures lurking in the darkness.
But when the question is posed, William sighs out, running a hand across his face and commenting to Maya "I've found in the past a lot of times, having a demigod among your group is quite effective- Take it from experience, when you are bound by those monsters and awake once more, you cannot do anything but pray for someone to come get you before they do their thing with you- And demigods can listen to that kind of thing"
Then there's a little turn of his body facing the rest of the group as if he would be able to tell by sight who was one. He really couldn't do that sort of thing. But he still acted as if. "Otherwise, demons and angels might be able to pick up something if we get close enough- But scent is reliable, yes... You just gotta hope nothing has walked over it, or they went over something that cleaned the smell..."
The group proceeds deeper into the forest. It doesn't take long upon entering to realize that something is very wrong. There are dozens upon dozen of rat corpses. Just as many kobolds. It seems tonight is a night of an immense number of monsters hunting in larger than normal groups. Blood and gore coat the ground like dirt. And, as the loud tromping of a dozen different people moving into the woods sounds out, the forest breaks its silence, as the woods becomes a flurry of motion in the distance. There are too many to count. The noise has attracted a stampede, but what that stampede is, well, that isn't as clear. Not yet at least. Perhaps it is manticores. Perhaps mere rats. Yet whatever it is, it is coming.
"Societies tend to have scouts always posted by the entrances to the gates... They fight for control over the borders after all-" William adds on top of his previous comment, once more glancing around the group, before setting his eyes on the woods, not eager to get caught just for paying attention to his companions instead of what might be lurking out there "Mine hasn't reported anything- Has anyone had a notification about someone being dragged into the gate? Because otherwise, it's just looking for drag marks or trails to follow out here..."
[Fixed] When the group proceeds deeper into the forest. It doesn't take long upon entering to realize that something is very wrong. There are dozens upon dozen of rat corpses. Just as many kobolds. It seems tonight is a night of an immense number of monsters hunting in larger than normal groups. Blood and gore coat the ground like dirt. And, as the loud tromping of a dozen different people moving into the woods sounds out, the forest breaks its silence, as the woods becomes a flurry of motion in the distance. There are too many to count. The noise has attracted a stampede, but what that stampede is, well, that isn't as clear. Not yet at least. Perhaps it is manticores. Perhaps mere rats. Yet whatever it is, it is coming.
And having said his part, William glances around at the several dozens of monsters laid around on the ground. This had been either an apex predator, or some hunter going way too hard on the monsters, maybe a werewolf out of control even. Sure, people like him might be able to pull it off when a swarm descends upon them- But groups this big weren't that frequent, and so, something truly dangerous was out there.
Uncertain, William looks towards the group again, he couldn't hide when moving with them, and whatever had caused that, he didn't really want to have another run in with it, so, in one of his sneaky movements around the woods, he moves towards a tree. Being night time, shadows were all over the place, and so, just with a couple steps, he was already sinking into the ground, walking into the shadows covering the dirt of the forest, and little by little emerging out of the shadows of his bed, back into his apartment.
With a little sigh, he drops the weapons to a side, and then the duffel, shaking his head and then saying "I'll have to go back to get my car later... For now, this is better than- Being a big target for whatever that was... I can deal with as many kobolds and rats as possible- But that... I don't know if I want to know what that is"
As they venture into the foreboding woods, the gathering night and the ominous silence that envelops them serve as a stark reminder of the perils that lay ahead. The forest, already a dangerous place with a reputation for harboring creatures such as manticores, kobolds, and other monstrous entities, tonight seems even more sinister with the discovery of an unusual number of dead rats and kobolds, hinting at a predator or a force even more dangerous than usual at work. Despite William's experience and the assembled group's readiness for combat, the sheer magnitude of the threat they face becomes apparent. With a strategic retreat in mind and leveraging his unique abilities, William makes the difficult decision to abandon the search temporarily, slipping through the shadows back to the safety of his apartment. Determined to avoid the brewing confrontation, yet burdened with the knowledge of the lurking dangers and the unresolved fate of the missing student, William contemplates his next move, weighing the risks of heading back into the darkness against the potential cost of inaction.
(William's odd encounter(SRSyl):SRSyl)
[Tue Jan 7 2025]
In a combination of kitchen and living room
A space dominated by the presence of mahogany woods, the floor covered in planks of different tones, from lighter to darker colors of the same kind of wood not seeming to follow any kind of pattern of color or placement regarding their shape. The same kind of planks covering the walls, vertically oriented, and ending up in a pretty contrasting pastel color, between white and brown, but leaning far more to the previous, with a long spread of small circular lights that provide the room some dim lighting to lean into the whole cozy atmosphere.
The eastern side of the room displays two tall inside lamps with a soft brown colored fabric to dim out the light coming from them. A dark wood table of low height positioned relatively towards the center, surrounded from north, east and south by long white leather sofas, able to fit between two or three people each.
As one moves towards the western side though the room seemlessly transitions into a wall-less kitchen, starting with an isle topped with a black polished quartz countertop that works both as dining table and cooking space. Against the wall, a big counter, topped with the same stone slab as the isle, and presenting different utilities like a sink, a fridge, a diswasher and several cabinets and drawers to store both food and cutlery.
It is night, about 15F(-9C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds. There is a waxing gibbous moon.
(Your target's been contacted to help find a civilian who's become lost in the woods.
)
There are days and nights where nothing happens despite much time passing. There are also seconds in which ages pass over the course of a few moments. Time can feel more dramatic than its linear nature would imply when moments of import occur. Tonight had the potential to be one of those nights. One of the nights where the things that were happening weren't the hum dum drum beat of meritless pointlessness drossing over the night until it was as forgettable as every other night. Some nights were special and for William his choices in the next few minutes and moments would determine whether this one would be.
Winter had arrived and was in full swing. So the night was a cold night. Not cold to the point of freezing, but cold to the point that if someone were to be going without the proper clothing? Well, they would call it freezing. They would call it this and it would be a lie, but they would feel like they were telling the truth. It was the sort of cold that bit into someone, that made them realize that they were cold. That set them to shivering. Not the sort of cold that would form ice. Not actual freezing.
Darkness had already settles over the landscape. Haven was a small town. Darkness in a small town wasn't the same as darkness in a lighter place. Not just because of the light either. The dark in Haven was a heavy darkness, because unlike many places in the world the darkness of Haven was actually hiding things. There were monsters in the dark forests. There were predators that moves through the city, oftentimes because they were Pathing from one place to another, making it convienent. Still, there was the more common sort of darkness as well. The kind that set someone to shivering even though it wasn't cold, because it was so black that one had to wonder what might be happening just a bit out of sight.
Not everyone was bothered by that sort of darkness. Some people could see in the dark. William was one of them. So theirs was a special place in Haven. The inbetween -- not quite a monster, but definitely not normal. He was the sort of person that others could reach out to.
He was in his living room -- a little combination kitchen and lounging area, a space dominated by mahogany wood and darker colors -- when his phone began to buzz buzz buzz and rattle crackle as it vibrated and rang out in announcement of incoming text messages. The texts told of a grim tale. Someone had ventured off into the woods. Sally Anne, twenty five, a student at White Oak. Last seen near the obstacle course and a search and rescue team was being put together to go look for them. Word had gotten around that William was a frequent hunter and while that far out was dangerous enough to have manitcores and even the occassional wooden woman prowling about, there was the hope that perhaps he was tough enough to be able to handle whatever might come. The information packet sent along with the request detailed all this and more in the hasty and informal manner that is so commonn among the young and texting: hey. heard u hunt. need ppl. white oak student missing after walking past obstacle course near Other. Not in the Other. want to walk through woods srching? pls response fast. ty.
With the texts arrival the phones gones silenct. Silent like the boring apartment. Silent, like the dearth of noise after a gagged college student is bound and left defeneless amid a dark forest.
Some moments are important and some don't matter at all. What would Sally's life be? A pointless moment, ignored? Someone to help? Maybe to get them into his debt? It would be up to William to decide.
Having been busy with his phone just moments ago, William is quick to turn his head towards the device once more with some excitement and maybe just a hint of a blush on his face, whatever he was doing before, it certainly had had his attention. But the machine had been silent for minutes now, and he had simply laid down on one of the couches while leaving it on the table, not even having bothered to peel off his winter clothes. Not like he needed them, they had a purpose for him, but it wasn't protect himself against the climate, he was more durable than most to it, specially since his 'gift' manifested, or was brought out.
So without hesitation, he reaches with his hand to fish the buzzing phone, unlocking the screen and looking through his messages, but he seems let down by what he reads, and he lets out a sigh "Oh, someone needs help... Again... We'll call, good ol' Bill" He musters with some annoyance, but despite his grumpy tone or the reluctance he seems to show, he slowly gets back on his feet, making sure everything is in place and heading out the door.
Walk past the hallway of the Elm Apartment Complex, he makes it to his car, in the secluded alley right next to the building, and heads towards the Other, or well, towards Camp White Oak, where the woman had been last seen.
He didn't have lots of sources to find someone, other than his ability to see in the dark, his sense of smell hadn't developed that much like his sister's or friends', but he had somehow proven successful at locating people in the woods in the past for some reason. Making it to the oh so familiar place, and getting out of the car, locking it with the keys and then looking around the place "Monsters over here shouldn't be too hard to handle..." And as he says that, he realizes his lack of weapons and unlocks the car again, taking his duffel bag from the trunk and then nodding to himself "Now, where could this girl be?"
The mahogany room had wooden features but they were nothing like the woods that William was agreeing to search. Camp White Oak was distant. It was right by the portal to the Other. It was so far down Suncrest Lane that monsters prowled the woods. Some of them looked at first like naked women made of wood. Others were horrifying manticores. There were the rat packs. The clutches of kobold. Beasts prowled that were part board and part man. Basically, it was a dangerous place. For many who went to White Oak that was part of the point. White Oak was a place that had students of a supernatural sort and the training facilities being so close to the Other and so close to danger were not accidents, but intentional choices.
These days Camp Oak was actually a tad bit safer than it usually was. In its earlier years it had been a lone bastion against the wild nature and otherworldly monsters. Nothing much else on Suncrest had been nearby. Now stone walls stretched out amid the forest with a white stone keep visible past it. Ongoing construction work could be heard in the distance as work on that keep continued. It had been planned out as a stronghold for the Knights of the Silver Dragon -- a group that William had once been a part of, forced into it by his sister for his own protection. Yet the lack of wilderness didn't mean the place was safe.
The rendezvous point was the obvious place to start the search: the obstacle course itself. People had already started gathering there by the time William arrived. They stood beneath a white oak tree on the edge of the forest. The tree was old and gnarled, its branches stretching overhead like skeletal fingers. A few of them stamped their feet for warmth. One of them clutched a thermos, sipping a drink that steamed in the frigid night air. These were the individuals who had answered the call as well -- some from White Oak campus, one or two seemingly from around town, each bearing anxious expressions. They looked relieved to see someone who might actually know these woods, who had braved them enough times to carry themselves with confidence -- or maybe just experience. They were all young. White Oak students. Then, William got closer and closer and they could make him out better. The anxiety soon returned. Apparently, for all that William had been summoned out, the sight of him did not inspire much in the way of confidence.
One woman stared at William and then said, "Aren't you that guy that got abducted a few weeks back?" A report had been put in about the adbuction. The training ground here was so close to the Other's exit that it had been students at this very place who had noticed the abduction and whose report had ultimately led others to seek out William and save him.
Introductions were short and clipped. "Kyle", with the thermos, nodded and explained he was a, "friend of Sally Anne's." He had short, dark hair, a quick but nervous smile, and hands that shook slightly even as he tried to hide it. Maya, a tall, lean woman in a heavy coat, said she had "wilderness rescue training" from her time volunteering at a national park she "liked to Path to." Jackson, an older man with furrowed brows, said nothing of his reasons for helping, only that he owed a favor and was here to see it settled. And there were others as well, half a dozen more, each carrying flashlights and backpacks with a few basic supplies.
Their breath plumed in the still air, swirling ghosts that disappeared into the blackness. The night was quiet- too quiet in the sort of way that said: yes, there are monsters waiting in the forest, yes they will attack you. The area seemed to know that something was about to happen because no wind rustled the dried leaves on the ground, and any far-off owl or coyote seemed to have stilled its voice. Since there were monsters lurking in the trees, they kept to the hush, blanketed by the cold darkness that pressed in on all sides.
She was to the North, Maya said quietly, lifting the hood of her coat up as she surveyed the group. We head north from here. Past the obstacle course into the deeper forest. We have to assume that something grabbed her. Hopefully it was just one of the kobold packs. If that is the case, we're probably going to be following her trail toward the gate to the Wild. Look for that trail. Look for signs of a struggle. Look for anything that might help us find her. We're going to be staying a bit spread out. But not so spread out that we can't see each other. If she is knocked out and left behind we don't want to leave her on the ground."
While she spoke another student moved and got the sort of bright colors often used by peoplle in the forest. Orange. Orange was a very clever choice for hunters in particular. It was bright. Deer, as it happens, don't see that brightness. So when someone is hunting orange is a color invisible to some predators and yet hyper-visible to fellow humans.
Soon enough the group wwould be ready to move out into the forest. To venture into the unknown. There would of course be a chance for William to talk to the others before that happened if he wanted to. Flahslights began to be pointed as the lines would form. The heavy darkness fought off by little bars. Then the world grew stranger. Wisps came into being as well as one of the students used magic to light the area. White Oak being White Oak none of the people present showed any concern for that. Mostly people were getting their weapons ready. Mostly guns. The clacking of rifles, the turning off of safeties. This was not the casual search through a wood without danger. This was searching for someone in Haven's woods. This was searching for someone where the woods searched back -- searching for weakness, searching for blood.
Beyond the obstacle course was where the true gloom wait"
waited. Towering evergreens formed a thick canopy overhead, laced with the skeletal branches of bare oaks and maples. The path was narrowbarely more than a game trail. Soon, underbrush snagged at their clothing, the damp odor of moss and earth mixing with the metallic tang of winter air.
"Wait... is this really the right way to search? All spread out?" Kyle calls out. "I mean, wouldn't it be better just to track her by scent?" He points at his nose.
Maya blushes, a thing hidden by the dark. "Oh.. um.. I've never led this sort of thing before. So... uh..." She clearly looks out of her element. Someone needs to step up. Provide real leadership. Perhaps that could be William. Or perhaps someone else could lead the group forward into the woods using whatever strategy seemed best to them.
"That was to the Wilds... To the Other it was more than a month ago..." William simply answers as he is questioned about an abduction, but as the group discusses and gets ready to leave, all that he does is open his duffel bag, taking out of it a rifle and strapping it directly to his back, grabbing ahold of a sword he also carried within the duffel, having swapped the rapier for a longsword. And last but not least, securing the protections to his own body, letting out a sigh as he follows the group into the woods.
He maybe seemed a bit annoyed at having to team up with so many people, specially considering he normally moved alone during these grounds, able to hunt every single creature around this area on his own, or, if he felt uneasy about a certain fight, or tired after a while of hunting, he was skillful enough to even hide from the monsters in their own terrain. But belonging to a bigger group only meant these tactics wouldn't be as effective. He couldn't move like he liked, and hiding wasn't as effective when having a dozen of people in your same location. At least the fire power to resist any strike would be enough to end any creatures lurking in the darkness.
But when the question is posed, William sighs out, running a hand across his face and commenting to Maya "I've found in the past a lot of times, having a demigod among your group is quite effective- Take it from experience, when you are bound by those monsters and awake once more, you cannot do anything but pray for someone to come get you before they do their thing with you- And demigods can listen to that kind of thing"
Then there's a little turn of his body facing the rest of the group as if he would be able to tell by sight who was one. He really couldn't do that sort of thing. But he still acted as if. "Otherwise, demons and angels might be able to pick up something if we get close enough- But scent is reliable, yes... You just gotta hope nothing has walked over it, or they went over something that cleaned the smell..."
The group proceeds deeper into the forest. It doesn't take long upon entering to realize that something is very wrong. There are dozens upon dozen of rat corpses. Just as many kobolds. It seems tonight is a night of an immense number of monsters hunting in larger than normal groups. Blood and gore coat the ground like dirt. And, as the loud tromping of a dozen different people moving into the woods sounds out, the forest breaks its silence, as the woods becomes a flurry of motion in the distance. There are too many to count. The noise has attracted a stampede, but what that stampede is, well, that isn't as clear. Not yet at least. Perhaps it is manticores. Perhaps mere rats. Yet whatever it is, it is coming.
"Societies tend to have scouts always posted by the entrances to the gates... They fight for control over the borders after all-" William adds on top of his previous comment, once more glancing around the group, before setting his eyes on the woods, not eager to get caught just for paying attention to his companions instead of what might be lurking out there "Mine hasn't reported anything- Has anyone had a notification about someone being dragged into the gate? Because otherwise, it's just looking for drag marks or trails to follow out here..."
[Fixed] When the group proceeds deeper into the forest. It doesn't take long upon entering to realize that something is very wrong. There are dozens upon dozen of rat corpses. Just as many kobolds. It seems tonight is a night of an immense number of monsters hunting in larger than normal groups. Blood and gore coat the ground like dirt. And, as the loud tromping of a dozen different people moving into the woods sounds out, the forest breaks its silence, as the woods becomes a flurry of motion in the distance. There are too many to count. The noise has attracted a stampede, but what that stampede is, well, that isn't as clear. Not yet at least. Perhaps it is manticores. Perhaps mere rats. Yet whatever it is, it is coming.
And having said his part, William glances around at the several dozens of monsters laid around on the ground. This had been either an apex predator, or some hunter going way too hard on the monsters, maybe a werewolf out of control even. Sure, people like him might be able to pull it off when a swarm descends upon them- But groups this big weren't that frequent, and so, something truly dangerous was out there.
Uncertain, William looks towards the group again, he couldn't hide when moving with them, and whatever had caused that, he didn't really want to have another run in with it, so, in one of his sneaky movements around the woods, he moves towards a tree. Being night time, shadows were all over the place, and so, just with a couple steps, he was already sinking into the ground, walking into the shadows covering the dirt of the forest, and little by little emerging out of the shadows of his bed, back into his apartment.
With a little sigh, he drops the weapons to a side, and then the duffel, shaking his head and then saying "I'll have to go back to get my car later... For now, this is better than- Being a big target for whatever that was... I can deal with as many kobolds and rats as possible- But that... I don't know if I want to know what that is"