Welcome to The Misfits

"Good questions A’Ramis. When the people were attacked, were they alone? Obviously no one saw the creature, but we’re they working the fields alone or just separated from the other fieldhands?"

A'ramis took out his journal and began to write what they knew in short form, on the page with the sketch of Megan's map. Something in it might be important. He looks to Markus when he speaks. "That's a good point. It may not like groups of people." And if they were in groups, it might be fairly stealthy. Or there could be more than one, if multiple people all got attacked from behind.

"I think it prefers to attack those who are alone, but it has also attacked groups of people. And even the lone farmhands weren't too far from another person as they were quickly found and aided.

To be honest I can't rightly say how it feels about groups of people. I'm thankful it doesn't see us as food, though."

Markus nods again. He’s not sure how much to trust this man, their host, with, but he has a plan. He leans back in his seat, and waits for the others to finish.

He makes sure to look to the women and ensure they don’t have any questions and aren’t being over looked.

A'ramis nodded and jotted down a single note before he closed his book and tucked it away. He had to admit confusion about these accounts. This creature was large and dangerous, yet only took livestock usually. It did not seem to care if there was a group, but went for them one by one while being so stealthy about it that no one could get an actual look at it. It stayed mostly to the woods, but by their knowledge it wasn't territorial enough to care when someone went in if it wasn't hunting. Perhaps the community was holding something back, but why? He looked around at the other three, although it may have been difficult for them to see that. "Any other questions or comments? If not, we could head out and compare ideas." Even if the flora of the area had nothing to convey, he could enlist its aid to keep them safe should it get to that. Pits were always useful, for a start. But did he want to do so with these three? Hmm, there lay the problem.

Markus waited a few seconds to see if any of the ladies had any questions. If not, he stands up and offers to shake the hand of the host. "Thank you for the hospitality, sir. I hope to see you again once this is all resolved. "

The old man finishes his cup of tea and leads the four of you out of his house.

"Thank you all for your help. For all our sakes, I wish you success."

As the four of you stand outside, Wraith looks at the two of you and asks.

"Well, were to next? Are we camping or are we hunting!"

The cool air of the night is illuminated by a partial moon. Megan looks up to sky.

"It seems that we will have clear weather for tonight, so we may be able to avoid using a lamp or torch to get around. If we are indeed planning on searching the area tonight."

"I'm not entirely sure that camping would be the best bet, but if we can figure out a relatively central location to the attacks we could have a little base set up there. From the sounds of it, waiting for it to come to might be dangerous with how stealthy it seems to be. The entire thing feels a bit...odd, but not impossible." A'ramis paused, and continued. "If we can get within a decent distance of the woods the earth may be able to help. At the very least, I can lay some groundwork for possible help later on." He didn't like surprising it with need for help unless there was no other option. It often worked better that way. He was nervous as he spoke, which came across in tone and with how restless his body seemed.

Markus tests his muscles. The walk to the town was long, but not overly arduous. He feels pretty sort still. "Let’s hunt. Or at the very least try to lie in wait. We’ll go towards the woods now, and see if we can spot any potential targets. If so, we’ll try to set up an ambush. If not, we can rough it, sleep in shifts until morning and then figure out another move. What do we think?"

"That could work. We could always try to make ourselves the targets. Risky, but might be faster. I can say more, perhaps, once I've asked about it." A'ramis decided to let it go, after all he would most likely need to show them at some point. He closed his eyes to look for the tug he wanted, and when he found it he opened them and turned towards the woods. Now that he had alerted it, the earth didn't like to wait long. So he began to walk as the grass played along his path. He wasn't a stranger to co-operation, but he also knew the woods were his element far more than any city or town, and so wasn't overly concerned if the others followed or not. As he let himself open up to it, the feeling let him know that yes, this was his world.

Megan and Wraith follow behind A'ramis as he begins to walk toward the forest.

After walking only for about thirty minutes, the treeline comes into view. Stillness and silence fill the air as the moon's twilight reveals the forest.

The two guildmates ready their weapons and look to wear more serious expressions as the keep an eye on their surroundings.

The group cautiously approaches the edge of the treeline and pauses for a moment.

Wraith breaks the silence first.

"It might be safe to assume that the creature is out hunting, so we might be able to find where it spends its days and ambush it when it gets back."

"Or we can track it while it is out hunting for prey."

Megan adds to Wraith's words, with barely a breath between the two.

"Hmmm. Well, this is technically not our hunt. Whatever you choose, we'll follow."

Wraith gives an exaggerated wink to A'ramis.

A'ramis didn't respond and knelt down on the ground. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he opened them. There were various plants where he had stopped and he held his hands out to them, reaching out with that odd magic he'd been born with. "I'm here." Some of the plants moved to wind around his fingers in greeting, and to ask what he needed. It was a warm, familiar feeling and he found himself smiling. This strange connection to the earth and it's flora may have made his life worse in many places, but this was something he would never want to give up. "There's something in these woods that is scaring the farmers. It kills their animals, and has threatened them as well if they get too close. I want to learn about it and see why this happening. If you could show me where it lives, or a place where I can learn what I need to know, I would be grateful." He could feel as the earth understood his request and waited for the reply. It was always different in how it showed up, which he chalked up to the personality of the local flora. He'd most likely need to focus on what they gave him to get the most amount of use out of it.

"New. New. New. Asking for new. Different. Unfamiliar."

A chorus of voices reach you as if flora was conferring with each other as they replied to your question.

"Unbalancing. Killing. Hunting."

A'ramis immediately gets the feeling that the creature is harming the natural ecosystem of the nearby forest as well.

"Sleeps nearby. Home. Sunlight sleep."

The leaves of the trees shift slightly, as if pointing in a direction into the woods.

"Follow. Safe."

A'ramis stands up carefully, aware that some of the plants could break if he doesn't. "Thank you, I'll follow." He starts to follow the directions of the leaves while he briefly explains to the other two. "The earth doesn't like whatever it is as the creature isn't natural to here and is thus causing problems. It sleeps during the day, and the flora will lead us to where it sleeps. From the sounds of it, at least. Wherever we're led will be helpful to us."

The plants guide you to a tree flanked on both sides by a small stream. The tree itself has a large branch that looks to be where it rests. There are also claw marks and dried blood on the trunk of the tree, presumably where the creature would climb up the trunk. You imagine the spot would be rather beautiful in the daylight.



"Here. Here. Sleeps. Here rests. Eats."

Nearby you can see the bones of many different creatures.

A'ramis thanks the forest for the guidance and crouches down to look at the bones that lay everywhere. It's so...wanton almost. His eyes go to the bloody and clawed tree trunk. Well, time to see what he can figure out. There was a lot he already knew, but A'ramis took out his journal to see if Kara had taught him anything about the things he didn't know already. Or perhaps he'd noted it himself before. He took the time to check the map as well, to add where this was and perhaps notice anything he needed to know regarding how it was positioned.

As A'ramis pulls out his journal, Wraith gives a quizzical look to A'ramis.

"Watcha lookin' for? If you've got any questions, you know can ask us, right?"

Megan interrupts Wraith's line of questioning.

"We will keep a lookout while you read. Let us know if you find anything."

Wraith throws a pout toward Megan, but gets the hint and starts looking out, away from the tree.

---

A'ramis' search starts slow, but eventually he finds a promising section. Unfortunately, by the time he finishes the section he finds he has wasted his time and discovered nothing within.

A'ramis sighed as he closed his journal. Of course there wouldn't be anything. It narrowed the field slightly to things unknown to him, but that didn't narrow it by much. While asking his companions had crossed his mind, the guild knew nothing about what this creature was. He supposed the two with him might know something now that they had seen evidence, but it might be another waste of time. A'ramis went forward and tapped the tree trunk as he thought before he half turned to the others. "If we ignore the actual area we are in geographically, would these signs mean anything to either of you in different terrain? Even if it seems contradictory?" If the thing had been forced here, then it was entirely possible nothing made sense on the surface.