Scion/Hero - Chaosium: A New Dawn, An Old Adversary

[SalmonMax]

Juno shook her head at what Tenchi was saying.

 

"Look, I'm not a doctor or...forensics guy or anything. But bone is tough. It's a lot tougher than most people think. The bigger the bone, the thicker, the tougher it is...and these bones are pretty goddamn big. Same thing with muscles. You can hack through muscles with something sharp, but just pulling them apart?" She looked away.

 

"I figure something like a gorilla or a bear might be able to do that to a person. But muscles...kinda like bones...the thicker they are, the tougher they are. Something as big as these guys, as muscular... I don't even know what'd be strong enough to do that to them. A whale maybe? If one was on land? Because at this point why not land whales?"

 

She paused, then added, "But I think it'd have to be BIG too. Punching one of them in the head means you can reach their head. Being that strong means you have to have bones to support all that muscle...and you need length of arm to get the speed, the...the momentum going. Takes space. And the bigger something is, the harder it is to be subtle, you know?"

[Nina]

Stacy who hadn't had much to say since they left California and had stayed in the back out of the way nodded right along with what Juno was saying, then she looked around at the ground and at Try. 

"Hey Try you said the only tracks in or out of this place are bigfoot tracks?"

 

Try nodded, "Yeah, I mean there are other animal tracks but none come close, probably kept away byt the smell. it's very over powering and is probably sickening to animals."

 

Tenchi's brow furrowed, "You are not suggesting..."

 

"It makes sense, something big or rather probably somethings, and then the tracks." Stacy looks at Karlee, "Could this be a rival tribe or fami;ly or whatever."

 

Karlee looks horrified at the suggestion, "No! The wild ones are protectors they are not violent, despite your white-man Hollywood bullshit. They do not even eat meat, no wild..." she stops in mid sentence looking around at the scene of carnage, "no, that isn't possible." She seems to shrink in upon her self shaking her head.

 

Raiko crosses to her carefully avoid the mess on the ground. "What is not possible?"

 

"Ithaqua," the native americans' voice is barely a whisper.

 

Spoiler

You may all make cutlture+int  tests send me your results in a pm on discord please

 

[Veral]

7 hours ago, SCION STORYTELLER said:

...

 

Karlee looks horrified at the suggestion, "No! The wild ones are protectors they are not violent, despite your white-man Hollywood bullshit. They do not even eat meat, no wild..." she stops in mid sentence looking around at the scene of carnage, "no, that isn't possible." She seems to shrink in upon her self shaking her head.

 

Raiko crosses to her carefully avoid the mess on the ground. "What is not possible?"

 

"Ithaqua," the native americans' voice is barely a whisper.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

You may all make cutlture+int  tests send me your results in a pm on discord please

 

Spoiler

1. Dozer — Today at 4:12 PM

   !roll 10d10t8

2. Dice MaidenBOT — Today at 4:12 PM

   Dozer Roll: [9, 8, 8, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 1] Result: 4

((Int+Culture= 4 successes.))

 

Tryfon muttered to himself, "That's not good. Gotta check." Try tapped a button on the bluetooth headset in his ear that is shaped like a snow fox leaping. "Hey, N.W. Got a question for you." there was a pause as if someone is responding on the other end of a conversation. "Ithaqua. What do you know?" He nods along with whatever response he got. "Thank you, o wise one." Finally done, Try hit the button to disconnect. "Okay, my mentor, N.W. just reinforced some info I remembered from a late night dive down a rabbit hole on the internet. Ithaqua are spirits, somehow related to the Wendigo. They aren't nice guys. They are evil spirits. Am I right, Karlee?" He turned to the native american woman.

 

[Nina]

"Not spirits, there is only one, but Ithaqua can be many. Those who have gone against nature, who have turned from the path, their hearts become open to him. He hungers and all he wants is to eat, he is a glutton, he does not eat for survival but because he is angry and full of hate." 

 

Karlee studies these unusual people she has brought here and wonders. "He must be found, and before he is killed we must discover if he is the first."

[Shameless]

 

"How would we go about doing this?"  Tenchi asked quietly.   He'd hunt before but it wasn't his forte, he preferred fishing as things stood, found it much more relaxing.  "if there are other family of sasquatch, we may want to warn them of danger, in case whatever did this is actively hunting them."  He thought about it for a moment.

 

"Come to think of it, there's no other animal caracasses around, so that might actually be it.  Something hunting the guardians of the land, to weaken it in preparation of something else coming here."

 

 

[SalmonMax]

Juno thought for a second, then shook her head.

 

"If these Ithaca guys are all about gluttony and eating, then it seems like they should be leaving a lot of dead animals around," she says. "Thing is, they might look like regular animal kills. Or...do you think these guys work like bears, and drag their kills back to their den? Bears do that, right?"

 

"Maybe we look for something like that. Some place there's a lot of dead animals, and maybe animals have learned to avoid it, you know? So...dead spot in the forest."

[Nina]

"No, you do not understand. The Ithaqua it goes by many names all tribes know him. It only eats itself," Karlee say obviously shaken.

 

"Wait," Stacy looks at Tryfon, " you said this is like a Windigo right aren't those cannibles?"

 

Karlee just nods as she hugs herself.

 

[SalmonMax]

At that revelation, Juno felt a little queasy. She looked at the gigantic creature again, then back at Karlee.

 

"So what you're saying is, basically, one of these guys is...rabid or psychotic or something like that, and we're going to have to hunt it down and take it out."

 

She went over to the bedside.

 

"And this cannibal bigfoot will know the land, will know how to stay out of sight and be quiet around humans, and has enough strength to just pull something the size of an adult bigfoot apart. And the brutally practical way to deal with something like this...which would be to isolate its approximate location then set up fires burning inward to box it off and burn off the tree leaves and bushes so it can't hide anymore...isn't going to work this time because we're preserving nature and habitat and...all of that."

 

Juno turned away and went to a window. It helped to look out at the woods outside.

 

"Where's the nearest fire station?" On seeing Karlee's expression she cracked a smirk and added, "No, I'm not planning to start a fire. Forestry fire stations sometimes have helicopters to douse forest fires from the air, right? We could use one of those for this."

[Shameless]

"I mean with abit of time I could see about renting one again."  Tenchi said quietly.   As he did, he he pulled out his phone and began searching.  "No need yet I guess, it says the LittleRock Fire department has an s70. Will that do?"

T

[Nina]

Karlee shook her head and stepped over to Tenchi, putting her hand on his arm above his wrist and pushing the phone down. "No it would be useless and a distraction. They know how to hide from men, they have been doing it for centuries." She looks around, "I don't know why but I believe that you can find this thing, and stop it before more deaths come. And more will. It will turn to the nearest like it, there are not so many Wild-ones, that it will waste time tracking them, it will go where prey are easy.

 

There is a fishing camp not far about seven miles from here.  If it is native to this area it would know of the camp and may have gone there to hunt."

 

[Shameless]

Tenchi nodded.  "Alright, we can try it that way."  He nodded to the others.  "Karlee, can you lead us to the camp?  If we get there fast enough, maybe we can prepare a proper reception for this creature, and put an end to its hunt."

He had no idea how exactly she expected him to find it and kill it, but there was a conviction in her voice that was hard to ignore.  "Do we need to do any funerary rites for the ones here?  I'd hate for them to not rest in peace and come back as some other kind of creature that preys on others."

[Veral]

Tryfon smiles, "Guess I get to show you guys and gals what i've been working on. My car now has some tricks up it's sleeve. We'll take it to the camp site. Everyone get in, we'll be there in not time flat." He leaves the site and heads toward his car,  "Come on. Let's get going. This thing isn't likely to let up." He gets to the car, and opens the trunk. He pulls out a small tomahawk, and puts on a pair of bracers decorated with a bison skull motif. "Now, finish any prep work you guys need to do." Try opens the driver's side door, and slides into the seat. Once fully seated, he turns over the engine and there is a very low rumble, almost imperceptible as the car starts.

[Nina]

It was crowded in the old car but they managed. Try pushed his foot down on the peddle and they sped away down the old dirt road that was more trail than anything.

Karlee gave directions but as they drove somehow Try started taking the turns and finding the right roads before Karlee gave the instruction, after the third or fourth time she simply stopped.

 

Try didn’t get lost.

 

It was late afternoon when they arrived, but it looked later due to the over growth filtering the sunlight. The last few miles had been on a raised dike that meandered through the boggy swamp, moss covered cypress trees crowding on both sides and shallow canals winding between them.

 

The camp itself was like something from the last century, early in the last century at that. The road had ended at a wide built-up spot of land that served as a parking lot. There were a few pickup trucks and an old Wiley’s Jeep that looked as if it had seen service in either WW2 or Korea, it was that old. Leading away from the parking lot was a ten-foot-wide wooden walkway on short pylons which led into the bog and to several old wood sided tin roofed buildings the largest of which had a sign that read Parker and Grimes General Supply and Restaurant. There was no noise except the sounds of the swamp and no sign of any people.

 

Several of the buildings were for storage, one was a sort of motel with eight small separate rooms and then there was the largest the Store and Restaurant. The power was still on but there was just no one there. The place looked well stocked and like it should be full of people going about their business. There didn’t seem to be any signs of a struggle or anything, at least not until they arrived at the far side of the camp where a couple of piers stuck out into the swamp. There they found several sunken boats and an overturned airboat.

 

[SalmonMax]

Juno got out of the car and put her hand on the butt of her pistol as she surveyed the rustic little hamlet. The boats and plane were a problem, but there was something off about the situation. At first glance at least, the signs of violence seemed limited to the boats. No broken windows or doors ripped open. No splatters of blood or any kind of remains anywhere. It almost looked more like a storm had hit, except no broken windows or downed branches either.

 

She went around to the trunk, keeping her eyes moving and ears peeled as she went. "Tryfon, pop the trunk," Juno urged, and when he did she took her spear out; keeping grasp of it in her left hand as her right stayed ready to draw her gun. Already in her head she was trying to rehearse what to do when and if a crazy Bigfoot came towards them.

 

Too big for a center of mass shot to slow one down. No idea how thick their skull is either. Go for the knees, I think. Something that big, that heavy...their legs have to support all that. Can't be easy.

 

"Doesn't look like a massacre happened here," she says aloud as the others get out. "Evacuation maybe, but not a massacre. We'll need to look in the buildings to be sure though."

Edited January 19, 2022 by SalmonMax
airboat

[Veral]

Try warily looks around the camp. His eyes are immediately drawn to the flipped over airboat and other boats. He slowly makes his way over towards the boats, his tomahawk in his right hand, his left hand extended forward. Tryfon sighs and steps quietly, looking back over his shoulder at Karlee and the others occasionally. He taps his bluetooth headset on his left ear, contacting his guide. Try whispers, just loud enough to be heard by the headset, "Hey, N.W. Got a quick question for you... what are the supposed signs of Ithaqua possesion or being somewhere nearby?" 

[Shameless]

"Whatever was here, didn't want anyone leaving, or at the very least, heading out into the swamp."   Tenchi was concerned, and took his sword in hand, running it through his belt and tying the hilt in as he'd been taught.  Looking at the Airboat, he wondered.  "Maybe they're sensitive to noise, think about just how quiet it is."
 

He looked over to Juno, "An Evac works if it was by land,  still I think they'd have had more options by water, especially with so many boats.   I have another theory, but I want to see exactly how these boats were sunk.   Let's find the one with the least water in it, and see if we can drag it out.   I'm curious to see what sunk them."

[Nina]

An examination of the boats showed the all of the normal boats which were made of either wood or aluminum had had the bottoms holed. The airboat, which had a fiberglass hull had just been turned over and pressed into the mud below the dock.

 

Try stared off at the swamp the buzzing in his ear intensified then a voice distant and near became clear. It was husky but spoke clearly, "The Winter wind blows from all corners. Ithequa is a bad spirit, many are his name and not all of them are the peoples. He starts slow and builds strong. Like the Christians demon he is one but can be many. It is said that eating the flesh of your fellow man is what makes you the windigo, but this is false. The Ithequa can enter the heart of any that is broken. Once inside the heart will fester and rot, this will look like the whisky sickness, eventually the heart inside is black and the Ithequa will make you do things. one wioll be to eatthe flesh of your own. eventually you will die but your black heart with Ithequa inside will live on, now your body will belong to him your mind will be gone and you will do whatever he wants. you will begin to change then. That is when the wendigo is born."

 

Tenchi finds a cut rope attached to the docks. none of the other boats were untied before being sunk.

[SalmonMax]

"Let's find the one with the least water in it, and see if we can drag it out.   I'm curious to see what sunk them."

 

Juno shook her head at that. "It's your call, boss, but I think we should focus on finding some people first. A few boats in a swamp might answer questions, but they're not going to kill us while we check this place out."

 

She nodded at the rickety old buildings.

 

"Figure we start by clearing the restaurant over there looking for survivors, or attackers. It's the biggest place...should have food and water, so if we secure it then we can use it as a base of operations. Then we clear door to door looking for anyone else. Once the camp's secure, we can go hunting for clues."

[Veral]

Upon hearing what Juno said, Try nodded, "Good idea, but I have a feeling that whatever happened here, the attacker is on the move already. Otherwise we'd be in a fight. As for survivors, that's the main reason to check. Those survivors could provide info we need to catch up with the Ithaqua, as well. We need to find any clue that could help us get to where they are going first." He changed his destination from the dock to the largest building which was the restaurant. Moving quickly, he walked up to the door, the tomahawk still in his hand, and quietly opened the front door. Looking inside, Try motioned for the others to follow.

[Shameless]

Tenchi shrugged, and then followed along, sword in hand, knowing Raiko would follow him as well.  "Makes sense, in case we have to stay here more than a little while."

He looked at Raiko who'd been quiet for awhile.  "any thoughts?"  he asked quietly.

[Nina]

They did a quiet and methodical search of the camp and the what the silence before had told them was confirmed. There were no living persons in the camp, however they did find several corpses stacked in the restaurants walk-in freezer. It was not a pleasant discovery.

 

The dead were  in a corner of the freezer, five corpses, three men two women all appeared to be in their forties or fifties, stacked one atop another. All of them were white and there was no sign of violence.

 

Karlee upon seeing the dead quickly left the freezer, Stacy followed her. "I know its hard see this sort of thing, just ry not to dwell on it."

 

"No, it isn't that, those are all white, the folks that own and run this place are native, Osage, mostly, maybe quarter blooded but they still look indian. None of them are in there." Karlee hugged herself.

 

Tenchi came out frowning, he had heard the last. "I found a cut rope at the dock, I think one of the boats is missing. I assume a wild-one wouldn't need a boat."

 

 

[Shameless]

"Most of the hulls are small but the airboat could easily have taken four or five people.   We don't know what was taken and without a boat of our own, we will never catch them in the swamp.   Is there anywhere else around here they might have gone?  A pumping station, or Wildlife management tower?  All the other boats are sunk or flipped over.   We can probably flip the airboat over with all of us, and maybe Try can get the engine running, but is there any indication where these missing people may have gone, anywhere else nearby they could have gone to escape?"
 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Shameless

[Nina]

While Tenchi and Tryfon worked on getting the airboat running after they turned it back over, Juno knelt down on the end of the pier and looked out into the bog, she narrowed her eyes and began noticing things that weren't obvious to normal persons.

 

Broken grass, a smear of mud ont he trunk of a cypress tree, a broken branch... things which jumpped out at her as if her eyes had just been opened.

 

"They took a boat and followed the wildone,  that way."

 

Spoiler

I had Juno use Keen eyed predator knack

 

[SalmonMax]

"What I don't know," she added after another moment, "is if they were following it because they wanted revenge...or if they were following it because they'd joined it."

 

Juno stood up and shook her head. "Either way, this is going to get messy."

 

Then she went to the flipped boat and took hold of it, trying to find good spots to grip it and start turning it back over.

[Veral]

Tryfon began cleaning the muck and mud off the motor for the airboat, using his hands as best he could. Once the motor was mostly clean, Tryfon unhooked the sparkplugs and began drying them on his shirt, carefully. After they were dry, Try began putting them back in with the ratchet he carried in his toolkit. 

 

"There. Should be good to go. Let's hurry and follow them. Even though it's gonna be noisy, it's our best chance. I'll operate the boat, Juno, you stay up front to guide us." 

 

He attempted to start the motor while the boat was in "Neutral," and listened to it idling to make sure it worked.