The Trickster Tricked - RPLOG
From Flexible Survival
Participants
Date
30/4/2016
Log
Glenwood is quiet and cool in the late afternoon. It seems that the distress beacon is coming from the town hall itself. The streets are mostly deserted, but every now and then a Fox can be seen going about its business. The helicopter that brings visitors from outside is already lifting off and leaving its cargo behind.
Kazel certainly does feel like cargo, unable to fit inside the helicopter she had to travel under it. The large dragon is helped out of the straps and sets her four feet onto the street. Its the first time she is here as she generally does not tend to leave Fairhaven and its surroundings. She cranes her long neck to get a good overview of the situation and waits for someone else to take charge.
A man in a black exosuit stared out the window of the helicopter. His visor was dull and green and not showing any of the anxiety he's feeling at the moment. There is a time and a place for walking around like one's pockets are full of spaghetti, and that is not whenever the case file for a mission comes with more bold red ink than black. Like don't touch anything. Don't let anything touch you. If you see an Oregonian, run. If you see a god, don't piss it off. If you have to fight, frontload the damage as much as you can. Forkbomb found these to be common sense. Which is exactly why he's so worried. Because if they're reminding him of these, then it stands to reason that it's a lot more difficult here than it is usually.
Edel steps out of the helicopter, smoothing down her luxurious robe. "It has been ages since I've been out here!" The tanuki chimes, taking a moment after the flight to restring her large bow and wave towards the Fox. "Hello there! Nice to meet you... Again? Perhaps."
"Fork, you realize, this is probably the safest square mile in all of Oregon, right?" Redd snickers, sitting on a box in the landing zone. "You can relax. Unless you do something really stupid, you're pretty safe here." The coyote isn't unprepared, mind, but he hardly seems worried.
Wess hops out of the helicopter, squirming and adjusting his armor, the man a bit more heavily armored than usual, holding his rifle at his side. Looking around at the various strangers, he lifts a hand, lowering it again to tap at the nametag on his chest for anybody interested. He idly checks his equipment, waiting to be told what to do.
Jojo taps his foot against the floor of the helicopter with unspoken apprehension, his eyes looking about for motions as they came down to depart. A foreign place for the mouse, Jojo steps off the helicopter, keeping close to Wess as he moves over to join up with the others forming their group. He does not speak just yet, instead letting his gaze wander about to the others.
A pair of passing foxes wave at the group. "Welcome!" they say in eerie unison. One comes trotting up to the group. "Glad you made it so quickly," he says, "I am in the town hall waiting for you. Straight down the street." Then the fox trots off again on his errand.
Kazel nods slowly at the fox and tilts her head a little as he walks away. She has never met a packmind before and it is kind eerie. Like creepy twins from pre P-day horror movies times a dozen. She shakes off the feeling and, with a look to the others in her group, sets her course down the street, towards the mentioned building.
Forkbomb's voice crackles mechanically as if he were sighing into a microphone. "If everything were safe and dandy, we wouldn't be here." He got off the helicopter with a leap and a grunt. He regards the passing foxes with a brief moment of silence and a quick check of the locations of his weapons before heading off in the direction indicated. The simultaneous speaking made his brain itch. "Someone has to play Angus, Redd. I can do it, but I warn you, I'm kinda crap at being all gruff and grumpy all the time."
"Gruff and grumpy?" Edel asks, raising her brow. "Angus? Huh." She shrugs and nudges up her glasses. "Not at all how he is at home!" TUrning, she follows towards the town hall where they were directed. "But! Let's see what we're needed for."
"Most things can be resolved peacefully. If not, I've got a couple dozen pipebombs in my bag. Explosives work well on most anything." The coyote grins, strolling towards the courthouse himself, hands in his pockets.
Wess raises an eyebrow at the foxes, turning back to face Jojo with a grin. "Come and play with us," he said, putting on a breathy and high pitched voice. He looks away to see the dragon leading them off, clearing his throat and swinging a hand through the air to beckon Jojo to follow him. He glanced around at the others as he listened to their conversation, turning back to Jojo again to raise his eyebrows twice. "Let's try peaceful first, save you the time of making more pipebombs," he suggests, giving a nod to Redd.
Jojo arches an eyebrow to the two strange vulpines that bounded up toward them, reaching around to ensure that his gear was exactly where he had left it upon his person. "We're gonna be alright, right?" he says to Wess, moving off with the others in the direction of the town hall, though his posture visibly relaxing at his words.
Up ahead at the town hall, two figures wait. One is one of the identical foxes of the packmind, and beside him stands a tall, dark skinned man with long, dark hair in a long braid. "Welcome! Welcome!" calls the fox, "I thought we had better meet out here with how big your friend here is." The fox points to the indian man beside him. "May I introduce Fox?" he offers, "He is the one who called you all out here."
Kazel flashes her teeth in a smile. "Thank you for that, it is much appreciated." She inclines her head to the man. "Greetings, Mister Fox." She pauses for a moment, lifting her right front leg a fraction of an inch, before remembering that she would better not touch anything and that that includes handshakes. "What exactly is the issue you are facing?"
Forkbomb rubs the back of his neck. "Don't piss off a god, don't touch anything that looks dangerous, and we'll be fine, Speedy." Aaaand more foxes. There goes the brain itch. Come play with us, Danny. Forever and ever and ever. "Fox? The god Fox?" He pauses. Shit, in a pickle here. "... If your brother asks, me and him totally put a bucket of water above your door or something." Now that the formalities are out of the way, he gives a polite bow. He doesn't look like he's very used to the motion. "How can we help?"
Edel waves towards the man, smiling. She remains quiet, though, folding her hands in front of her. Her tail flicks and sways back and forth, though, betraying her otherwise stoic pose.
"Considering your followers tend to appear as feral foxes, I'd have expected the same of you, I suppose it'd get confusing with all the other foxes here though." Redd grins, extending a hand to the man. "My name's Redd, one of, if not the first, to dedicate themselves to Coyote. Haven't been out to Glenstock often, admittedly."
Wess stopped near Kazel as Fox was introduced, lifting a hand in greeting before lowering it to tap his name tag yet again. His attention was back on Jojo for a moment as he whispered aside to him. "Yeah- we're going to be alright, alright? We have guns and that guy has bombs, you'll be alright." He gives the mouse a pat on the back and a kiss on the cheek, adjusting his grip on his rifle before he straightens up his back, staring at Fox expectantly.
Jojo steps up with the others, keeping toward the back of the group as he took on a more passive role in watching as hands were shook and words were exchanged. He tucks his hands behind his back, his tail idly swishing back and forth as he watched the two interact, though his heasitant gaze came down on the foxes multiple times.
"It is about my brother that I have called you," Fox says in a deep, sonorous voice, "I am pleased that you came so quickly." The tall, native man waves to the smaller fox creature beside him who nods and trots away, his duty done. "My brother, who you call coyote, has angered the Bird Woman," he explains, waving a hand toward the heavens in a vague way, "She sent Raven to take him away and imprison him. I cannot go and seek his release from Raven's house, but I will reward you for your aid." He turns away from the group and waves a hand through the air, creating a strange ripple in the air, like heat waves. He regards the group with a critical eye. "I warn you," he says, "Raven is powerful, and you will not be able to use this world's new magic in his house. Coyote will be trapped in stone somewhere in the house."
Kazel runs one of her front legs across her snout, thinking. Its probably best to let the more experienced people handle the talking and leading and just do as told here and wait for things to happen. The dragon nods and remains silent.
Forkbomb inhales deep. Oh. /Oh balls/. "Okay, so. Um. Please excuse me for a moment, sir." He quietly slides out for a moment out of earshot. He may be muffling himself. He may also be screaming obscenities. It's kinda hard to make out. After doing... Whatever it is he was doing, he comes back looking fit and confident. "Right! How'd this happen, where do we find the place Raven's holing him up, and do you know any easy ways in?"
Edel rubs her chin, humming. "Well, I do not fear winged things. And I do not rely on the 'new magic.' Tell us where they might be, and we'll see what we can do. Perhaps we can work out a trade with them for his release."
"Hardly the first time Coyote's gotten in trouble and needed someone to bail him out." The coyote rubs at his muzzle. "When you say new magic, you mean what, stuff like breathing fire, hi-tech toys, etc? I assume claws, teeth and fists still work as well as ever?" Redd watches Fox with interest, considering how often one ends up rescuing his own god. Can't be that common, can it?
Wess nods along with Fox's explanation, giving a thumbs up when he's finished. "Do you have any tips on negotiating with 'em?" he asks, raising a hand up as he asks his question. "Or.. 'negotiating', whatever happens." He scratches his head, sighing deeply as he thinks over the mission he's undertaking.
Jojo tilts his head to the side at the mention of the imprisoned coyote, and mentions of a raven. Without much input to give himself, he resigns himself to listening to the others with rapt attention.
Fox nods his thanks to the group and points to the strange ripple in the air that has grown and spread to the size of a large, double door. "This portal will take you to Raven's house," he says, "It is in a place outside of your nanite bubble and their magic will not work. I leave it to you to decide how to rescue Coyote. Only be careful. Raven is clever and may deceive you." He jams his hands in the pockets of his worn jeans and watches the group. "If Coyote is not there, he will be in the Bird Woman's House nearby. This door will stay open until you return," he says, "Good luck."
Kazel eyes the portal cautiously before taking a step towards it. At least being outside of a bubble would mean that touching things is probably okay there. She takes a deep breath and steps through.
Forkbomb immediately collapses the stock of his laser rifle and slides it to the back. Great, that's not gonna be useful. "Anyone got regulation? I'd rather my laser rifle be good for something other than shining in something's eyes." He waits until someone speaks up, pulling out his sawed-off shotgun instead. "Any takers?"
"Nope. I've never needed it," Edel says, patting the sword at her hip before stepping through the portal. Coyote wasn't going to rescue himself! Well... He probably would, but it wouldn't be very time effective.
"I saw keep the weapons drawn until we see if we can't find a peaceful means to rescue, I mean, hell, we'd be fighting a god, after all." Redd sighs, following after Edel. "I'm good at turning nanites off, I'm not terribly bothered by them staying off." He hikes his bag up onto his shoulder. "Failing all else, we do our best to sneak in, grab Coyote, then run like hell."
Wess watches the others discussing weaponry, racking the slide on his plain old assault rifle and stepping in after Kazel. He patiently awaits the others on the other side, idly tapping his fingers along the side of the gun.
Not wanting to be left behind, Jojo scrambles in beside Wess, a moment of heasitance before stepping into the odd portal behind him. "I hope everything goes okay..." he whispers to himself.
The landscape on the other side of the portal could not provide a starker contrast to the cool green of Oregon. It is night and a huge, waning moon peers down on a dry, dusty landscape. Long, thick, grass waves in a gentle breeze. The group finds themself on top of a little hill amid short, scrubby trees. Below is a. . . trailer? What kind of god lives in a house trailer?
Kazel ducks down after stepping through the portal, she might be huge, but she can still try to not be too obvious about her presence. Then again, there is a huge portal floating in the air, so the stealth approach is probably out of the picture anyway. While she waits for the others to arrive, she pushes a button on a device on her left wrist and a group of four drones fly out of her saddlebags and take positions around her.
Forkbomb steps through and looks around. Okay, okay. Gotta be ready for /anything/. There might be fifty bird monsters on the other side of this portal. A wall of fireballs! A three-headed dragon that breathes fire, acid, /and/ lightning... Or just a rinky-dink fucking trailer. Forkbomb felt overprepared, somewhat. I mean, were things really that bad that a god has to live in a trailer? Seriously? "... Be, uh. Be careful, everyone! This could be one of those trailers that are bigger on the inside! Or this whole place could be an illusion!" Or maybe Coyote tried to steal from a damn trailer because of some sort of rivalry. "... Okay, um. Anyone know anything about Raven?"
Edel folds her arms, looking at the trailer. "Huh. I see," she says, before patting her hands off and trotting off towards the trailer door. "I'll just knock and say hello! I'm sure they're perfectly reasonable."
